TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalCongressman Ralph Hall seriously injured in Fannin County traffic accident
U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, 91, has been hospitalized after a car accident Saturday afternoon in Fannin County.
He was taken by helicopter to Medical Center of Plano with serious injuries, according to the Department of Public Safety.
A representative for the hospital, Joy Dover, said Hall was in stable condition about 5 p.m.
Hall was a passenger in a vehicle when the accident occurred about 3 p.m. on State Highway 121 in the town of Trenton. He was the only person who was hurt.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/local-news/20141004-breaking-congressman-ralph-hall-seriously-injured-in-fannin-county-traffic-accident.ece
Rick Perry’s lawyers say indictment should be dropped because of procedural errors
AUSTIN — Lawyers for Gov. Rick Perry filed their third motion seeking to dismiss his indictment Friday, this one charging that the special prosecutor and judges haven’t filed the proper paperwork.
In the latest challenge to the charges that the governor misused his office and coerced a public official, the governor’s attorneys say procedural bases were not tapped on the way to the grand jury.
When Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg recused herself and her office from looking into the charges against Perry, the judge failed to sign a recusal motion or properly place it in the file, they argue.
Also, while special prosecutor Michael McCrum apparently took an oath to assume the responsibilities of Lehmberg in this case, not all the paperwork was signed and filed in the the proscribed manner, the defense attorneys say. So McCrum, they argue, was not legally authorized to present the case to a grand jury.
Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20141003-rick-perrys-lawyers-say-indictment-should-be-dropped-because-of-procedural-errors.ece
Tough Texas abortion law may head to Supreme Court
EL PASO, Texas — Abortion-rights lawyers are predicting "a showdown" at the U.S. Supreme Court after federal appellate judges allowed full implementation of a law that has closed more than 80 percent of Texas' abortion clinics.
As of Friday, abortion services for many Texas women required a round trip of more than 200 miles — or a border-crossing into Mexico or New Mexico.
Operators of some of the affected clinics and their lawyers from the Center for Reproductive Rights vowed to appeal Thursday's decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans that allows Texas to fully enforce a sweeping abortion law approved by the Republican-controlled legislature last year. They depicted the law — and similar measures proposed in other states — as an unacceptable infringement of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion.
"This case is ultimately going to end up with the Supreme Court," said the reproductive rights center's president, Nancy Northup. "It is going to be a showdown ... on whether the promise of Roe will have meaning in the United States."
Read more: http://www.statesman.com/ap/ap/top-news/tough-texas-abortion-law-may-head-to-supreme-court/nhbmf/
Will GOP Extremists Be Able to Dislodge Boehner From The Speaker's Chair?
Yesterday Boehner was boasting that he hadn't talked to Ted Cruz, the man who would like to name the next Speaker of the House, since Cruz was first elected to the Senate 2 years ago. A little bravado from the man who knows he has a struggle to keep the top job in the House. The extremists and radicals inside the House Republican caucus-- Team Cruz-- are determined to depose Boehner… and Roll Call's Matt Fuller took a look at their chances yesterday. A couple weeks ago, we listed 17 Republicans who had either flat out pledged to vote for someone other than Boehner or who had refused to commit to voting for Boehner.
In 2012 a dozen Republicans voted against him. Because the DCCC refuses to back, Tom Poetter, the Democrat running against Boehner in OH-08, Boehner has no worries about the kind of surprise Eric Cantor had. So he's been able to spend-- up until the June 30 FEC reporting deadline-- $14,164,990 on helping other Republican candidates… buying friendship and support. He's grateful enough to Israel, to make him the only Member of Congress from a district with a neutral PVI to not face his own NRCC electoral challenge. Funny how that works and how Congress' most corrupt members, regardless of party affiliation, scratch each other's backs.
One of the Republicans who is backing Boehner, Indiana right-wing extremist Marlin Stutzman estimates that as many as 50 disgruntled Republicans could vote against him, enough to drive him out of the Speaker's chair. But, as Stutzman told Fuller, "it’s hard to beat somebody with nobody." And right now the extremists don't have a plausible candidate to replace Boehner. Ryan is too cautious and chicken-shit to take the chance and Texas crook Jeb Hensarling is also afraid that if he takes on Boehner and fails, his House career will get flushed down the toilet.
“And at this point he expects that person will be John Boehner,” she said.
- See more at: http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2014/10/will-gop-extremists-be-able-to-dislodge.html
John Wayne's heirs lose 'Duke' legal brawl
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — John Wayne had a two-fisted image but heirs of the late movie star have lost a legal throw-down over use of his nickname, Duke.
A federal judge in Southern California on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that John Wayne Enterprises filed against Duke University in North Carolina.
The two have squabbled since 2005 over use of the name. The university objected last year when Wayne’s heirs tried to register the name “Duke” to market bourbon and other alcoholic beverages.
Duke University said that could cause confusion and diminish its own trademark.
Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-10-01/john-waynes-heirs-lose-duke-legal-brawl#.VC0IIBbuPoE
Grand Prairie man sending $2.8 million worth of medicine to Liberia
As North Texans struggle to handle the arrival of the Ebola virus, a Grand Prairie man is sending $2.8 million worth of medicine to help victims of the epidemic in Liberia.
By the time the disease had grown to infect thousands this summer, Andy Perkins was operating BESTWA Inc., a nonprofit he founded in 2004. With an annual budget of about $130,000 plus in-kind donations, the organization’s staff of 22 Liberians feeds about 900 children daily and sends more than 500 to school.
But this year, the little charity is providing more help at one time than its founder ever dreamed possible.
BESTWA is distributing $2.8 million worth of medication this week, 2 tons worth, that should help 10,000 Liberians for three months. The massive donation came together through contacts Perkins has known for years and a new one he met on an airplane.
Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/10/01/6166737/grand-prairie-man-sending-28m.html (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Former Texas A&M student bans Muslims from her Arkansas gun range
In what is either a marketing ploy targeting hard-line conservatives or just a case of a local business owner standing up for her beliefs, Jan Morgan, a gun range owner in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has ignited social media with her announcement declaring her business a "Muslim Free Zone."
Morgan, who said she was instituting the ban in the name of public safety, studied political science and mass communication at Texas A&M, according to her Facebook page.
-snip-
Morgan cited Muslim involvement in the 2009 Nidal Hasan Fort Hood shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, and even 9/11 as reasons for her concern, according to the Arkansas Times.
"This is more than enough loss of life on my home soil at the hands of Muslims to substantiate my position that Muslims can and will follow the directives in their Koran and kill here at home," Morgan wrote, according to the Arkansas Times.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Arkansas-gun-range-owner-Jan-Morgan-bans-Muslims-5793905.php
Cross-posted in the Texas Group.
Former Texas A&M student bans Muslims from her Arkansas gun range
In what is either a marketing ploy targeting hard-line conservatives or just a case of a local business owner standing up for her beliefs, Jan Morgan, a gun range owner in Hot Springs, Arkansas, has ignited social media with her announcement declaring her business a "Muslim Free Zone."
Morgan, who said she was instituting the ban in the name of public safety, studied political science and mass communication at Texas A&M, according to her Facebook page.
-snip-
Morgan cited Muslim involvement in the 2009 Nidal Hasan Fort Hood shooting, the Boston Marathon bombing, and even 9/11 as reasons for her concern, according to the Arkansas Times.
"This is more than enough loss of life on my home soil at the hands of Muslims to substantiate my position that Muslims can and will follow the directives in their Koran and kill here at home," Morgan wrote, according to the Arkansas Times.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/local/article/Arkansas-gun-range-owner-Jan-Morgan-bans-Muslims-5793905.php
Cross-posted in the Arkansas Group.
Bryan man gets six years for raping and impregnating teen
A 25-year-old Bryan man was sentenced to six years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to raping and impregnating a 14-year-old in 2012.
Eddie Robert Miguel Lemus was convicted of two counts of sexual assault of a child, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He was sentenced to six years for each offense with the terms to be served concurrently.
Lemus was arrested in July 2013 following an investigation by Bryan police who were notified by the teenager's mother in March 2013 that her 14-year-old daughter was pregnant and had told her mother Lemus had raped her several months earlier, according to a police report.
In an interview with a Scotty's House official, the teen said she was sitting on the couch with Lemus -- a relative of a family friend -- when he began kissing her, then held her down while he undressed and raped her, according to the police report. The girl told the interviewer she told Lemus to stop more than once, according to the report.
Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/bryan-man-gets-six-years-for-raping-and-impregnating-teen/article_907ebc24-98e7-5c63-8a75-f0bdb3779c95.html
[font color=green]Who is going to pay for taking care of that child for the next eighteen years? Six years does not seems inadequate as punishment.[/font]
Report IDs 'weaknesses' at nuclear weapons lab
ALBUQUERQUE — A report issued Wednesday by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Energy squarely places blame for the shutdown of the nation’s only underground nuclear waste repository on failures at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
The inspector general’s office identified several major weaknesses in the lab’s procedures for packing contaminated gloves, tools and other radiological wastes that were destined for permanent storage at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in southern New Mexico.
Not all of the lab’s procedures were properly vetted and some procedures didn’t conform with environmental requirements, according to the findings.
The report reinforces the findings of internal reviews done by the lab and the Energy Department after a canister of waste from Los Alamos leaked in one of WIPP’s storage rooms in February, contaminating 22 workers and forcing the indefinite closure of the nuclear waste repository.
Read more: http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-10-01/report-ids-weaknesses-nuclear-weapons-lab#.VCzCfBbuPoE
[font color=green]At least it isn't Ebola.[/font] 
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Gender: MaleHometown: South Texas. most of my life I lived in Austin and Dallas
Home country: United States
Current location: Bryan, Texas
Member since: Sun Aug 14, 2011, 03:57 AM
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