so we're going to just let governor perry

sweep what very well may be a grave injustice under the carpet?

as i've said before, i don't know if cameron todd willingham was innocent or not. i DO know many experts believe he did NOT commit arson, therefore did not kill his children. i DO know the original investigation was conducted by people not really skilled in arson investigation. i do know many of the witnesses in the original case changed their stories once law enforcement said willingham had to be guilty.

i DO know the governor should be MADE to allow the investigation to continue. we may be able to prove texas is just one too kill-crazy state

i don't know how people can go to sleep at night especially with BLOOD on their hands

Fourth member replaced on Texas panel probing execution

(CNN) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry has removed a fourth member of a state commission charged with investigating claims that an innocent man may have been executed, his office said.

The Texas governor has now replaced all of the four members that, under law, he is allowed to appoint to the commission. The remaining five members are appointed by the state's lieutenant governor and attorney general.

Perry's critics say his actions are politically motivated, a charge he denies.

The investigation into claims that faulty evidence led Texas to execute an innocent man in 2004 was at a "crucial point" when the shakeup occurred, one of the replaced members said.

The commission was to hear from the author of a scathing report in the case of the executed man, Cameron Todd Willingham, when Perry announced on September 30 that he would replace three members.

The session was postponed indefinitely because of the new appointments, and Perry's critics accused him of trying to quash the Willingham probe.

"I think people are making a lot of this issue," Perry said earlier.............

these are the very same people

who used to yell at ME to get the f**k out of america if i didn't like it. if i was protesting the war or something like that. i also loved america even if i didn't like some of the things she did or was responsible for. this is my home. i'm not always 100% happy, but i love her. i guess these asswipes don't love her as much as i do. perhaps THEY really SHOULD be the ones steppin'

'We hate the United States': Secessionists rally in Texas
-- Daniel Tencer

For some folks in Texas, the prospect of a universal health care scheme isn't just cause for protest and debate -- it's reason enough to secede from the United States altogether.

Some 200 people rallied at the State Capitol in Austin on Saturday, a small but vocal crowd that set itself in opposition to pro-health care reform protesters.

Larry Kilgore, a Christian activist that the Texas Observer says has advocated execution for homosexuals, "drew some murmurs of disapproval" when he told the crowd: “I hate that flag up there. ... I hate the United States government. … They’re an evil, corrupt government. They need to go. Sovereignty is not good enough. Secession is what we need!”

“We hate the United States!” he declared later in his address.................

those wild and wacky folk with their shotguns are

at it again!!! and, they're NOT charged with murder either (although they may be). i will bet y'all though, THEY DO NOT get convicted nor will they have to do any time. i'm guessing in some parts tis ok to shoot a 7 year old boy in the face and kill him (it's NOT ok in MY world though)

to the family and friends of donald coffey jr, my most sincere sympathy. my thoughts and prayers are with you

Boy dies after Liberty County shooting
Charges against couple accused of firing at passers-by may upgrade

By PAIGE HEWITT, CINDY HORSWELL and CINDY GEORGE

picture:

Mayra Beltran Chronicle

The four victims were shot Thursday night as they passed this house near Dayton. Despite the warnings posted in Gale and Sheila Muhs' front yard, authorities say, the road and the nearby levee are accessible to the public.

Meet the Muhses
And the award for Craziest Neighbor goes to...Gale and Sheila Muhs, of Liberty County, Texas.

Except the couple's cringe-inducing yard sign and Confederate flag aren't actually funny, given what happened Thursday evening to 7-year-old Donald Coffey Jr.

The Muhses followed through on their sign's promise – although, it's not at all clear yet that Coffey, his father and friends were actually trespassing when they stopped their vehicles near the Muhses' house. Not that trespassing would make shooting a shotgun at total strangers in pitch blackness even remotely sane, necessary or legal.

Donald Coffey Jr., his father and friends were on their way back from joy riding near a levee and swimming in the Trinity River around 9 p.m. Thursday when homeowners Gale and Sheila Muhs fired at them with a 12-gauge shotgun, police say..........

freedom states alliance working to reduce gun violence in america

wow

rather hard to believe someone in this day and age would say this, but it appears they did

you know when some of our ancestors came through ellis island

their names were butchered.

betty, we can't ALL have names like brown. MY name sure is nowhere NEAR there AND i don't want it to be either. i'm proud of my hard to spell name. it's not really hard to pronounce but people are intimidated by it 'cause it's so long and chuck full o' vowels
Asians should simplify their names, GOP lawmaker says
John Byrne

In a puzzling move which she insisted isn't about race, a Republican state lawmaker in Texas said in House testimony Wednesday that Asian Americans should change their names to ones that are “easier for Americans to deal with.”

Democrats jumped on the comments by state Rep. Betty Brown. Her remarks came during a Texas House Elections Committee hearing, who'd invited a Chinese American representative to testify about ballot accessibility.

“Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?” Brown remarked.

“Can’t you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with?” ...................

i think this is real

i DO know it's the chuckmeister's birthday today! happy birthday chuckie! you and i are both a pisces. what got YOU all f**ked up and me so right? huh chucky?

is this where i FINALLY get to tell 'the other side', america-LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT (but i won't because i'm better than they are)

What the Huck? Chuck Norris' roundhouse kick to the gut of American democracy
-will bunch

That was fast. It was just one year ago that right-wing martial arts guru Chuck Norris was a sought-after "get" for the GOP presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee, who paraded the star of "Walker, Texas Ranger" around the nation after the anti-abortion actor endorsed him in the primaries.

But now it's 2009, Barack Obama is in the White House, and the inventor of chun kuk do is preaching the martial art of insurrection against the U.S. government. He also wants to run for -- and no, I'm not making this up -- "the president of Texas.":

The call by some right wing leaders for rebellion and for the military to refuse the commander in chief’s orders is joined by Chuck Norris who claims that thousands of right wing cell groups have organized and are ready for a second American Revolution. During an appearance on the Glen Beck radio show he promised that if things get any worse from his point of view he may “run for president of Texas.” The martial artist/actor/activist claims that Texas was never formally a part of the United States in the first place and that if rebellion is to come through secession Texas would lead the way.

Norris really comes close to crossing a line with this:

Norris claims that; “Thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation.” The right wing cells will meet during a live telecast, "We Surround Them," on Friday March 13 at 5 p.m.

......................

it really is hard to believe it's 2007 sometimes

yesterday i posted a 'go to the back of the bus story'. today it's the world is flat story (again)
this stuff scares me the most. george bush will eventually go away. his court will eventually go away. we'll have good people in the white house and bad people in the white house. we'll have good politicians and bad ones. we'll have good leaders and bad leaders.
but
we'll always have people who want to discredit science. SCIENCE. people and dinosaurs did NOT roam the earth together. the world is NOT a few thousand years old. my body is MINE and i make the choices about it (just thought i'd add that in here.)

science schmience. science? we don't need no stinkin' science!!!

Texas Science Curriculum Director Canned for Mentioning Evolution
By Brandon Keim
A Texas science education official forced to resign in October wasn't -- as her bosses inisted -- fairly punished for insubordination. Her real crime: daring to tell people about a lecture critical of intelligent design.
The Austin-American Statesman reported last week that science curriculum director Chris Comer's ouster followed her circulation of an email announcing an upcoming speech by Barbara Forrest, co-author of Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design and an expert witness in Kitzmiller v. Dover. That lawsuit was brought in 2005 by Dover, Pennsylvania parents upset with a school board's decision to teach intelligent design -- the belief that some phenomena can only be explained as divinely manufactured -- as a scientific theory comparable to evolution.
A federal judge sided with the parents and legally established intelligent design as religion, not science. But Texas education officials seem to disagree. .............

and more

Official Leaves Post as Texas Prepares to Debate Science Education Standards

...............Ms. Comer said state education officials seemed uneasy lately over the required evolution curriculum. It had always been part of her job to answer letter-writers inquiring about evolution instruction, she said, and she always replied that the State Board of Education supported the teaching of evolution in Texas schools.
But several months ago, in response to an inquiry letter, Ms. Comer said she was instructed to strike her usual statement about the board’s support for teaching evolution and to quote instead the exact language of the high school biology standards as formulated for the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills test.
“The student knows the theory of biological evolution,” the standards read, and is expected to “identify evidence of change in species using fossils, DNA sequences, anatomical similarities, physiological similarities and embryology,” as well as to “illustrate the results of natural selection in speciation, diversity, phylogeny, adaptation, behavior and extinction.”
The standards, adopted in 1998, are due for a 10-year review and possible revision after the 15-member elected State Board of Education meets in February, with particular ramifications for the multibillion-dollar textbook industry. The chairman of the panel, Dr. Don McLeroy, a dentist and Sunday School teacher at Grace Bible Church in College Station, has lectured favorably in the past about intelligent design. ..............

.....Ms. Comer said that barely an hour after forwarding the e-mail message about Dr. Forrest’s talk, she was called in and informed that Lizzette Reynolds, deputy commissioner for statewide policy and programs, had seen a copy and complained, calling it “an offense that calls for termination.” Ms. Comer said she had no idea how Ms. Reynolds, a former federal education official who served as an adviser to George W. Bush when he was governor of Texas, had seen the message so quickly, and remembered thinking, “What is this, the thought police or what?”...................

top picture: gary markstein bottom picture taken from: mattdowling.blogspot.com/2006_08_01_archive.html looks like rex babin is the artist though

justice?

not in this case (if indeed it's true shaquanda's sentence was extended for having the HORRID contraband of an extra pair of socks AND a foam cup)

i don't know if she's guilty of pushing the hall monitor or not. if she is, i agree she should have been punished. BUT A YEAR? then MORE TIME for socks? if her name was buffy instead of shaquanda i don't think i'd be posting an article because i don't think there would be any issues.

Texas Teen's Imprisonment Sparks Protests

By Sylvia Moreno

AUSTIN, March 28 -- Civil rights activists are rallying around a 15-year-old black girl who has been in a high-security juvenile detention center for a year for shoving a hall monitor at her school and whose sentence was just extended for what authorities call possession of contraband: an extra pair of socks and a plastic foam cup.
One of 4,562 juveniles in the Texas Youth Commission's custody, Shaquanda Cotton may have remained incarcerated in obscurity, fretted over by her mother and a handful of supporters in her home town of Paris, in northeast Texas near the Oklahoma border. But a Chicago Tribune article has prompted an inquiry by the Rev. Al Sharpton and spurred several hundred protesters to travel this week from Dallas to the courthouse where Cotton was convicted. ........

..............Cotton and her supports also say a white judge who gave a white 14-year-old girl probation after she was convicted of burning down her family's home treated Shaquanda unfairly.
Representatives of the Paris school district and the criminal justice system adamantly dispute the allegations. Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville, who sentenced Cotton and the arsonist, was not available for comment. But a spokesman for the Lamar County district attorney's office addressed questions...............