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In an interview with Todd Gillman, U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards of Waco says the antics of a similarly named, slick-talking, lying philanderer probably helped sink his chances of becoming Barack Obama's running mate. The other guy went on television to confess his pecadillos -- guaranteeing his status as a national laughingstock -- just about the time the Obama campaign was considering floating Chet Edwards' name.

One of the dumbest things about the Clark kerfuffle is that because there are so many elements of military service that people respect, the narrow critique he’s offering against McCain seems almost beside the point. I see service mainly as a testament to character and fortitude; others see it as evidence of good judgment, and others as an important lesson for a C-in-C to have (i.e. “experience”) before committing other men to war. So far as I know, McCain has never staked his own wartime ordeal to any one of these, preferring to let voters draw whatever they find most...

Barack Obama just delivered a speech on patriotism in Independence, Mo., hometown of what was once America's most powerful haberdasher, and offered a mild rebuke to Wesley Clark, who took on John McCain's military record the other day in rather scorching terms. And just to make it clear, an Obama spokesman sent out this brief statement as Obama was speaking: "As he's said many times before, Senator Obama honors and respects Senator McCain's service, and, of course, he rejects yesterday's statement by General Clark." Obama's speech focused on his own sense of patriotism, quoting Mark Twain (it's good to quote...

Ollie North calls Wes Clark "petty and small"

He says he is — seriously devoted to building and maintaining highways. But he is just as devoted to fencing state government into fiscal straits that make these goals impossible without privatizing highways through tolls. Perry last week said that going full-bore with toll roads is the only way for Texas to build new highways. That’s not so. The history of Texas tells us it’s not. Toll roads have their function without question. But so do bonds. So does a gasoline tax that has not kept pace with inflation. So does a reexamination of how Texas funds highways in general...

NEAR WACO - 15-years-ago Saturday, a huge fire ended a 51-day stand-off near Waco. It all took place at the Branch Davidian Compound. The standoff started with a government investigation into illegal possession of firearms and explosives. The Feds tried to enter the compound and were met with gunfire. By the end of the day, the compound was burned to the ground. 80 people were killed, including 22 children and four ATF agents.

At 5:59 a.m., SAGE telephones the Davidians, notifying them of an imminent tear-gas assault. SAGE reads a message over the loudspeaker, advising the Davidians that they are under arrest and should come out. At 6:02 a.m., two FBI combat engineering vehicles, or CEVs, begin inserting gas into the compound through spray nozzles attached to a boom. At 6:04 a.m., the Davidians start shooting, and the FBI begin deploying Bradley vehicles to insert ferret rounds through the windows. At 6:31, the HRT reports that the entire building is being gassed. At about 7 a.m., RENO and senior advisors go to the...

VALPARAISO, Indiana (CNN) — Hillary Clinton appealed to Second Amendment supporters on Saturday by hinting that she has some experience of her own pulling triggers. “I disagree with Sen. Obama’s assertion that people in our country cling to guns and have certain attitudes about trade and immigration simply out of frustration,” she began, referring to the Obama comments on small-town Americans that set off a political tumult on Friday. She then introduced a fond memory from her youth. “You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside...

For those of you in the Baylor University area, tonight is your chance to ask Juan Hernandez about his radical, open-borders agenda and his role in the McCain campaign. The event is free and open to the public. Bring your video camera: Dr. Juan Hernandez, author of The New American Pioneers, will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday in Kayser Auditorium on Mexican immigration. His lecture will be based on his notes, “Why are We Afraid of Mexican Immigrants?”Hernandez, a member of former Mexican President Vicente Fox’s cabinet, will be the final speaker for The Academy for Leader Development and Civic...

As the state's population continues to grow in its urban centers, expansion plans for the highway system continue to be the focus for transportation improvements. The Trans Texas Corridor proposal is aimed to alleviate traffic congestion, improve air quality and provide safer traveling for drivers, among other goals. In 2002, Texas Governor Rick Perry released the plan to create the passageway, which spans northeast from Laredo to Oklahoma and is set to total 4,000 miles in the next 50 years. The $140 billion project calls for the incorporation of new toll roads, commuter railways, power lines and gas pipelines, while...

Yes, polygamy is illegal,as is pedophilia, and old men marrying too-young girls in Eldorado, Texas. But, how did one anonymous voice message from one girl at the Yearning For Zion Ranch instigate Texas Child Protective Services to confiscate 400 children without an investigation? Irony of ironies - A child protective services official, Marleigh Meisner who is overseeing the kidnappings, was also involved in the disastrous rush to judgment at David Koresh's Waco compound in 1993. "In my opinion, this is the largest endeavor we've ever been involved in the state of Texas," said Children's Protective Services spokesman Marleigh Meisner. Meisner...

BELTON - There appears to be no easy way to address the challenges that inflation has brought to the Texas Department of Transportation. “We’ve seen 60 percent inflation over the last five years for transportation projects,” said Chris Lippincott, a TxDOT spokesman. To look to the federal government for assistance would appear foolhardy at this point as the Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to become insolvent by 2009. The fund was created in 1956 to ensure a dependable source of financing for U.S. interstates and highways. “The Federal Highway Trust Fund is expected to go into the red very...

When events like the Virginia Tech massacre occur, The Times and other newspapers quickly become forums for people who favor stronger gun-control laws and those who oppose such measures, or who think that we have already gone too far in the direction. The division is so wide that the only common ground you can find is probably in the O.K. Corral. Different folks have incredibly strong opinions both ways. I don't expect this issue to be resolved in my lifetime. Nothing I can contribute to the general discussion will change anyone's mind one way or the other. I hereby -...

At about 9:30 a.m. agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempt to execute arrest and search warrants against David KORESH and the Branch Davidian compound. Gunfire erupts. Four ATF agents are killed and 16 are wounded. An undetermined number of Davidians are killed and injured. Within a few hours, the FBI becomes the lead agency for resolving the standoff. Jeff JAMAR is named the on-site commander. By the afternoon, advance units of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) arrive, and telephone conversations are under way between KORESH, Steve SCHNEIDER, and Wayne MARTIN on one side and the...

"Waco Siege, a fifty-one-day siege by federal agents of the Branch Davidian religious group's commune headquarters outside Waco, Texas, in early 1993. The siege, which began after a botched and bloody attempt on 28 February 1993 to arrest the group's leader, David Koresh, on a weapons charge, ended in the deaths of four federal agents and seventy-eight Branch Davidians. The stalemate ended when U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the use of force on April 19. Soon after federal agents moved, fire engulfed the compound, killing seventy-two, provoking controversy over the use of force in dealing with dissident sects....

Former Attorney General Janet Reno said the U.S. government must be careful to avoid selectively using facts when prosecuting suspected terrorists. Reno, who served as attorney general under President Bill Clinton, said prosecutors often allow prejudices to skew their use of facts. "But what I've discovered (from being a prosecutor and attorney general) is that we get tunnel vision," Reno said. "We want the facts to be something and we wish them into being." Reno made her comments while speaking to an audience of mostly students and professors at the S.J. Quinney College of Law on Tuesday. Her speech focused...

Anyone whose feet are set in concrete against toll roads is going to get run over. Toll roads are here. They are coming. The need is undeniable, as is the rationale in many cases. But you can’t defend toll roads in every instance, and the proposed I-35 toll lanes through Waco sound indefensible. Two concerns present themselves immediately — one about Waco’s self-interest and one about fairness to motorists. First, the provincial concern: The proposed self-contained toll lanes would deliver a lot of travelers through Waco without access and egress to take advantage of what the city offers, even if...

The problem for Hillary Clinton that arises from the incident in which a disturbed man invaded her Rochester, New Hampshire, campaign headquarters is not any kind of physical threat. Clinton is the most carefully-managed and thoroughly-secured presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan, who when he began to show the first signs of the dementia was placed in a sort of protective custody during the 1984 campaign. Clinton is is no greater danger now than she has been in since the start of her campaign; and neither, thankfully, were her New Hampshire supporters, who exited the headquarters without injury. The problem for...

Waco, Texas (AP) -- An 84-year-old woman accused of trying to run over a neighbor amid a land dispute has been arrested. Ester McCullough of Downsville, near Waco, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. Later Monday, she was released from the McLennan County Jail on a personal recognizance bond, a jail spokeswoman said. McCullough could not be reached for comment Wednesday. In May, she drove into her neighbor's yard, knocking over part of a brick wall, then drove into the...

Janet Reno CD in stores now Published: Sept. 18, 2007 at 8:20 PM KENDALL, Fla., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A three-CD album of historical songs from former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno debuted Tuesday. "Song of America," a 50-tune "history book'" that Reno helped shepherd, is in stores now, the Miami Herald has reported. Reno is listed as an executive producer on the collection, which starts in 1492 with "Lakota Dream Song" and spans 25 eras of U.S. history, concluding with "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning," a song about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Reno said...

Could high-speed rail service with a stop in the Hillsboro area be a reality by 2020? That is the goal set by the Texas High-Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation (THSRTC) following the final planning and design charrette in Fort Worth. The charrette preceded the 10th annual Transportation Summit held in Irving Tuesday through Friday, August 7-10. THSRTC board members met in Houston in May at the Continental Airlines headquarters for the first of the charrettes. Attending were eight international suppliers of high-speed rail for nine different systems in France, Germany, Korea and Spain. In addition, 14 consulting firms of varying...

(AP) OKLAHOMA CITY Oklahoma City is marking the 12th anniversary of the bombing that killed 168 people here by reaching out to victims of the Virginia Tech shootings and victims of violence everywhere. Mourners gather each April 19 at the former site of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building to observe the anniversary of the bombing, which injured hundreds. Participants will observe 168 seconds of silence, followed by family members reading the names of their lost loved ones. Organizers said attention also will focus on the killings of 32 people at Virginia Tech by a student who then killed himself....

After announcing in February that they hope to renovate the New Mount Carmel property, once home to David Koresh’s Branch Davidian sect, the current occupants say they are hoping Waco and Central Texas residents will pony up the funds for the renovation. “Our plans are big,” said Charles Pace, leader of The Branch, The Lord of Righteousness sect of the Branch Davidians, who maintain and worship on the property at 1781 Double EE Ranch Road in Elk. “But we have to get support. We’d like to get support from local people because it’s not going to be something we can...

In a recent poll, more than 250 college and university history professors placed former President Bill Clinton as the best president of the last quarter entury, Ronald Reagan as the second best, followed by Jimmy Carter and then the first President Bush. (The current president was excluded since his term of office had not yet ended.) The survey also asked the historians to rank the recent Secretaries of State and Supreme Court justices as well as the relative threat to constitutional liberties posed by presidential actions. Dr. Tim H. Blessing, Professor of History and Political Science at Alvernia College, Reading,...

1993 : Federal agents raid the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid the Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas, prompting a gun battle in which four agents and six cult members are killed. The federal agents were attempting to arrest the leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh, on information that the religious sect was stockpiling weapons. A nearly two-month standoff ensued after the unsuccessful raid. The roots of the confrontation between the federal government and the Branch Davidians went back 10 years before the Waco siege. In 1983,...

This movie is moving around the country. They are sometimes having discussions after it. I think that anyone who thinks they know what happened at Waco has another thing coming.

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) - The two dozen FBI agents who swarmed Park City Mountain Resort weren't busting anybody Friday. They weren't even armed - unless you count the sharp ends of ski poles. With the temperature near zero, agents hit the slopes - some on challenging runs, others on bunny hills - in an unusual drive to publicize the FBI and perhaps attract a few recruits. Many skiers and Park City regulars were perplexed or even a bit unnerved. Some thought the whole effort was nutty. Jokes were flying about agents skiing on the public dime, but nobody seemed...

<p>FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON ON NOT CAPTURING BIN LADEN: 'At least I tried. That's the difference between me and some, including all the right wingers. They ridicule me for trying. They had eight months to try, they did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed'...</p>

Discover the truth about the 1993 WACO incident through never-before-seen transcripts of FBI negotiations, tapes, bugged conversations from an undercover agent and rare interviews with some of the few Waco and Branch Davidian survivors.

The city of Cooper City, Fla., has given itself the power to seize residents' personal property in times of emergency. Officials deemed this new law necessary because of what is expected to be a busy hurricane season. But don't worry, they say. The law would never be enforced unless there were no other options – presumably meaning that the city could not persuade private citizens to permit the government to borrow, rent or buy their equipment. Think of it as eminent domain for generators, power tools, trucks and anything else local czars determine they need. Not surprisingly, this plan has...

Clinton turns 60: Second wind with the Stones By Laszlo Trankovits Aug 18, 2006, 12:20 GMT Washington - Bill Clinton is a master of self invention. Nearly every American knows the photograph of the star-struck 16- year-old youth, worshipfully shaking the hand of President John F Kennedy - symbolic of his teenage dream to live in the White House someday. Nearly six years after the end of his spectacular presidency, Clinton is still mining the suggestive power of photographs. His picture is everywhere - at the AIDS conference in Toronto with Bill Gates, in Southeast Asia with the elder President...

Blood is the fluid of life, coursing through our veins and providing oxygen to the body. Cindy Sheehan has just been released from a Waco hospital where she was treated for exhaustion and dehydration and was transfused after losing almost five pints of blood. This ordeal is nothing compared to the heart-shattering agony of hearing the words, "We regret to inform you," a message delivered over and over as more blood seeps into the Iraq sand each day. The dangerous amount of blood that Cindy Sheehan lost has been replenished. But medical experts can do nothing to ease the grief...

Bush's Anti-Terrorism Record (CBS/AP) SCHENECTADY, N.Y. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, a possible contender for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008, on Monday criticized the Bush administration for failing to do enough to protect the country from terrorists. Clinton's comments came after authorities in the United Kingdom last week said they thwarted a terror plot involving airplanes bound from Britain to the United States. Conspirators allegedly planned to blow up as many as 10 planes flying from Britain to the United States using liquid explosives, which the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's security equipment cannot detect in carry-on luggage. "We've done...

A little Cuban boy named Elian, who in 1999 was scooped up by a federal SWAT team in Miami and shipped back to Cuba, is in the news again for the get well card he and his family sent to communist dictator Fidel Castro. The youngster addressed the 79-year-old as my "Dear Grandfather" and wished Castro a happy 80th birthday. For those not familiar with this child's story or for those who've forgotten, Elian Gonzalez was the center of one of the biggest news stories during the Clinton Administration. Not as big as Monica, but close. While escaping the communist...

Earlier this year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives posted the winners of their Kid’s Art Contest. The agency “requested artwork from ATF employees’ children under the age of 14 that depicted what they thought their parents did at work.” Pictured above is a winning entry drawn by a 6-year-old. Ostensibly a drawing of an ATF agent investigating a church arson, the image, especially the ambiguous child-like figure on the left side, eerily calls to mind the ATF’s central role in the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas. That confrontation—which started with a bungled...

Be sure to add your favorite locations to: (Clinton Liebrary and Message Parlor, Little Rock, AR)

Waco Police tasered and arrested a US Secret Service agent at a downtown Waco bar after a scuffle. The arrest affidavit say the dispute between the special agent and a bar manager at Crickets all got started. Police say there were reports that in the early morning hours of July 21, 30-year-old John Scott Lewis was being rude to some customers at Cricket's Bar and Grill. Lewis is a special agent with the US Secret Service and is from Crofton, Maryland. The report and Police say Lewis got into an argument with the manager and when the manager asked him...

WILLIAM Jefferson Blythe III was born on August 19, 1946, in Hope, Ark. After his mother remarried, he took the family surname, Clinton. Clinton was a good student. He enjoyed playing the saxophone and even considered a professional musical career. While in high school, a fortuitous meeting with President John Kennedy led him to choose a life of public service.

FREDERICKSBURG — Pancho Villa's death mask, featuring the famous Mexican outlaw's prominent mustache and eyebrows, sold at auction Sunday for $17,000. The mask was sold to a private collector who wished to remain anonymous, said Scott Franks, owner of Waco-based A&S Antique Auction Co., which held the auction. The mask was among hundreds of eclectic items from the collections of Charles Trois, an eccentric retired artist who built a European-style village across from Enchanted Rock near Fredericksburg. The Villa death mask is said to have been made the day after his assassination in 1923. Villa, born Jose Doroteo Arango Arambula,...

Spoiling from the edge By Salena Zito TRIBUNE-REVIEW Sunday, June 11, 2006 The year 2008 will be the first open presidential race since 1952 without a sitting president or vice president in the mix. It's the ultimate free-for-all for both parties. Not surprisingly, Democrats are looking for a rock star. They have spent the beginning of the 21st century not being the party in power; they're so desirous they can taste it.

Thursday, June 1, 2006, at 11P Through narrative and accompanying visuals, the series, Final Report, will be the story-behind-the-story. The Final Report: Waco Tragedy, examines and answers the questions central to understanding the events that lead to the deaths of 4 ATF agents and80 members of the Branch Davidians including their leader, David Koresh, in a raid and subsequent grisly fire in April, 1993.

For the second consecutive weekend, severe storms caused heavy damage in the Waco area, snapping trees, knocking down power lines and leaving significant parts of Waco in darkness, prompting the mayor to declare parts of Waco disaster areas. Striking between 12:30 and 1 this morning, the storm destroyed the roof at one of the apartment buildings at Ashton Oaks, 5100 Hawthorne Drive, forcing at least a dozen residents to take refuge elsewhere. Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy signed a disaster declaration this morning that she said is necessary to “mobilize and help bring in state resources.” “We’re grateful no one was...

Danforth: Ban on Gay Marriage a Silly Idea WASHINGTON — Former Sen. John Danforth says a conservative push to ban gay marriage through a constitutional amendment is silly, calling it the latest example of how the political influence of evangelical Christians is hurting the GOP. Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech Saturday night to the Log Cabin Republicans, which support gay rights. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided. "Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human...

A storm alarm two blocks down Kendall Lane remained silent as the walls of 19-year-old Shelby White’s second-story bedroom caved in. She had just climbed into bed with her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Margot, when the tornado hit at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning. The Baylor University freshman crawled through the mound of shattered glass and fragmented beams that was once her parent’s house at 2629 Kendall Lane and walked down the street to find help. Neighbor George Gobea answered the door. The retired city purchasing agent had been huddled in a hall closet with five family members during the minutes of...

WACO, Texas - Thirteen years after the Branch Davidians' armed standoff with federal agents ended in an inferno that killed nearly 80 people, six sect members who were sent to prison are about to be released from custody. Most of those who will be freed over the next two months escaped from the compound near Waco as it burned to the ground on April 19, 1993 — 51 days after a shootout that erupted when federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to arrest religious leader David Koresh for stockpiling guns and explosives. The six men went to...

(April 19, 2006)--An informal memorial service may be held Wednesday at the site of the Branch Davidian compound to mark the 13th anniversary of the fire that killed almost 80 Davidians and ended the 51-day standoff with federal agents, but survivors don’t plan to attend this year, according to the Mt. Carmel Survivors Newsletter.

April 19 1775 The American Revolution begins At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen under Captain John Parker waiting for them on the town's common green. British Major John Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment's hesitation the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the "shot heard around the world" was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight...

I have a few thoughts for you in response to some letters of late. The voices now crying for the impeachment of Bush were silent during Waco, Elian Gonzales and the first World Trade Center attack, Ruby Ridge and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. Their favorite president presided over the the largest bubble burst in U.S. economic history (DOT.COM). China, India and Pakistan get nukes. The U.S. bombed Yugoslavia for weeks; hit the Chinese embassy and killed thousands of untold civilians. The U.S. did a lot of bombing from 30,000 feet because Clinton was afraid to lose one soldier....

WESTWOOD ONE LAUNCHES THE MONICA CROWLEY SHOW --New Program to Air Saturdays, Noon - 3 p.m. ET-- Beginning Saturday, April 1, 2006 New York, NY Monday, Mar 20, 2006 - Westwood One (NYSE: WON) is proud to announce the national launch of The Monica Crowley Show, the three-hour talk program hosted by author and news personality Monica Crowley. The show begins Saturday, April 1, 2006, and will air from noon to 3 p.m. ET. The Monica Crowley Show will debut on major market stations across the country including: WABC-AM New York, WTKK-FM Boston and WTNT-AM Washington DC. The show will...

This is a new channel on Dish Network. They play Ducumentaries 24/7. This is the first time I have seen "Waco, The rules of engagement.