Female US cop caught on tape giving two women body cavity search during routine traffic stop... and 'using the SAME gloves on both'

Daily Mail

• Angel Dobbs, 38, and niece Ashley Dobbs, 24, were pulled over on State Highway 161 near Irving, Texas


• Trooper searched car for marijuana before requesting invasive cavity search


• Older woman claims search by trooper Kellie Helleson irritated an anal cyst she was suffering causing 'severe pain and discomfort'


• Also suing the Texas Department of Public Safety for failing to act on previous complaints about 'violating' searches

Two Texas women are suing after state troopers subjected them to a humiliating and invasive 'roadside body cavity search' that was caught on video.

Female trooper Kellie Helleson is seen in the footage aggressively searching the private parts of Angel Dobbs, 38, and her niece, Ashley Dobbs, 24, in front of passing cars.

The women, who claim the trooper used the same rubber glove for both of them, were initially stopped by Helleson's colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving after he saw one of them throw a cigarette butt out the window.
SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO

Invasive: Female trooper Kellie Helleson, left, aggressively searched their private parts

Farrell can be heard in the disturbing video questioning the pair about marijuana though he failed to find any evidence of the drug in the vehicle.

However, he requested the women be searches after allegedly claiming they were 'acting weird.'

The lawsuit states he then tried to 'morph this situation into a DWI investigation,' according to the Dallas Morning News.

Angel Dobbs passed a roadside sobriety test and the women were given warnings for littering.

Pulled over: The women were initially stopped by Helleson's colleague David Farrell on State Highway 161 near Irving, Texas

Angel Dobbs said Helleson irritated an anal cyst she suffers from during the search, causing her 'severe and continuing pain and discomfort.'
The suit said: 'Angel Dobbs was overwhelmed with emotion and a feeling of helplessness and reacted stating that Helleson had just violated her in a most horrific manner.'

The two women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, who they claim ignored previous complaints about 'unlawful strip searches, cavity searches and the like.'

Lawsuit: The women are also suing the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety for ignoring prior complaints about searches

The Dobbs' lawyer Scott H. Palmer said the shocking incident, which was filmed on one of the trooper's dash-mounted cameras, was a roadside 'sexual assault.'

He said the Texas Rangers investigated his clients' complaints but failed to take any action against the troopers.

'You can see what's happening clearly,' he told the Dallas Morning News of the video. 'No one's ever seen the likes of this. We can't let them get away with it.'

 VIDEO  Women given body cavity search during routine TRAFFIC STOP

Man Attempts to Open Fire on Crowd at Movie Theater, Armed Off-Duty Sheriff’s Deputy Drops Him With One Bullet

San Antonio Police stand guard near the Mayan 14 Theatres after an incident Sunday night, Dec. 16, 2012.

With one shot, an off-duty sheriff’s deputy took down a gunman who attempted to opened fire at a crowded movie theater lobby during a late night showing of “The Hobbit” in San Antonio, WOAI reports.

Police say a gunman, identified as Jesus Manuel Garcia, chased patrons from the nearby China Garden Restaurant into the lobby of the Santikos Mayan 14 movie theater at around 9 p.m. on Sunday. Garcia, an employee of the restaurant, reportedly walked in the establishment looking for a woman.

When the woman, also reportedly a restaurant employee, wasn’t there, Garcia pulled out a gun and attempted to open fire in the restaurant but his weapon jammed.

“It started at the restaurant and then went into the parking lot and then into the movie theater,” Deputy Lou Antu told 1200 WOAI news.

The commotion sent horrified restaurant patrons into the movie theater lobby, but the gunman followed. He again attempted to open fire, and this time his gun didn’t jam.

 Garcia reportedly shot one man in the chest before Antu says an off-duty sheriff’s deputy working security the theater shot him once, dropping him to the floor.

Bexar County sheriff’s Sgt. Lisa Castellano reportedly chased the gunman toward the back of the theater. The 13-year department veteran cornered him after he ran into a men’s restroom and shot him before taking his gun.

“The officer involved, she took the appropriate action to try to keep everyone safe in the movie theater,” Antu added.

Due to the off-duty deputy’s bravery, the gunman was not able to make it into the theater where he could have potentially taken many lives.

Police question a man near the Mayan Theater after an incident late Sunday, Dec., 16, 2012.

Police question a man near the Mayan Theater after an incident late Sunday, Dec. 16, 2012.

The gunman and the man he shot remain hospitalized, according to WOAI. Police say a recent breakup set off the man’s shooting spree on Sunday, MySanAntonio.com reports.

Jesus Manuel Garcia, 19, an employee at a China Garden restaurant next to the Santikos Mayan Palace 14 theater, apparently became upset Sunday night after his girlfriend broke up with him.

He lashed out by sending her a message saying he planned to go to the restaurant and “shoot somebody,” said Bexar County sheriff’s Sgt. Raymond Pollard.

Pollard said the woman called to warn restaurant employees, but by the time she saw his message, Garcia was already outside the China Garden firing a Glock 23 at the front door about 9:25 p.m.

If Garcia survives his attempt at mass murder, officials say he will likely face a charge of attempted capital murder as he allegedly shot at the San Antonia police car on Southwest Military Drive as he ran from the restaurant and into the theater.

Iowa warns international observers of arrest

Politico
Bobby Cervantes

We don't need your oversight.  That's what the machines are for.

Iowa has joined Texas in warning international election observers of possible criminal prosecution if they violate state laws and get near polling places on Election Day.

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz — like Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott last week — on Tuesday threatened Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe election observers with arrest if they came within 300 feet of a polling place’s entrance, in violation of state law. (In Texas, it’s 100 feet.)

“My office met with two delegation representatives last week to discuss Iowa’s election process, and it was explained to them that they are not permitted at the polls,” Schultz said in a statement. “Iowa law is very specific about who is permitted at polling places, and there is no exception for members of this group.”

The OSCE — comprised of 56 countries, including the United States — is chiefly a crisis mediation and conflict resolution group in Europe, Asia and North America. Since 2002, the organization’s poll watchers have observed six U.S. elections, without incident, said Janez Lenari, the OSCE’s director for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Lenari wrote, “The threat of criminal sanctions against OSCE/ODIHR observers is unacceptable. The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections.”

Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokesman, said last week the group assured Texas authorities and the State Department that observers will respect Texas laws.

“To my knowledge, [Texas] is the only state that came forward and said ‘please reassure us that you’re going to follow our state electoral law.’ And they have now been reassured,” Nuland said.

Welcome to America: Texas Police Sniper Guns Down Immigrants From Helicopter

Information Liberation

Remember a few months ago how a DEA helicopter was used to gun down two pregnant women and tw o 14-yr-old boys in Honduras because they were "suspected" of being drug dealers? Well, those same tactics are now being used in America. After being pulled over for having a suspect "covered truck bed," a vehicle which fled from Texas game wardens was shot at by Texas "Department of Public Safety" agents with a sniper rifle from a helicopter. While the police claim they were intending to disable the car, they instead killed two passengers, and sent another to the hospital. No drugs were found, and the DPS says their shooting was "within policy." My San Antonio reports: LA JOYA — Skid marks and a patch of dried blood in the gravel of a desolate country road were about the only signs left Friday of a deadly pursuit that happened here. Two men from Guatemala died Thursday when a Department of Public Safety helicopter opened fire on a red pickup suspected of smuggling immigrants. A third person was hospitalized and six were arrested in the latest in a string of smuggling attempts that turned deadly while packed vehicles flee from state or federal authorities. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said the chase began when Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens attempted to pull over the truck they thought was carrying drugs. When the driver didn't stop, the wardens called DPS for assistance.

“During the pursuit, the vehicle appeared to have a typical ‘covered' drug load in the bed of the truck,” Vinger said. “DPS aircraft joined the pursuit of the suspected drug lord, which was traveling at reckless speeds, endangering the public. A DPS trooper discharged his firearm from the helicopter to disable the vehicle.”

No drugs were found in the truck.

During interviews at a Border Patrol facility, survivors told consular officials that the men died from gunfire, and that their cover was flimsy and blowing off, enough so that the trooper in the helicopter could see them.

Vinger said the officer who discharged his weapon was placed on administrative leave.

[...]The policy warns that when shooting at a vehicle “there may be a risk of harm to occupants of the suspect vehicle who may not be involved, or involved to a lesser extent, with the actions of the suspect creating the threat.”

Use of force expert Geoffrey Alpert, a professor at the University of South Carolina who has studied pursuits at police departments across the country, said he'd “never heard of” law enforcement agencies allowing officers to shoot at vehicles from helicopters.

“There's a trend to restrict officers from shooting at vehicles at all,” Alpert said. “It's not an efficient or effective policy to let officers shoot from vehicles, and certainly not from a helicopter.”

[...]“We can't give up swaths of land to organized thugs and criminals,” DPS Director McCraw said recently. Indeed, we can't "give up huge swaths of land to organized thugs and criminals," that's why we need to shut these out of control police and border patrol down immediately.
_
Chris runs the website InformationLiberation.com, you can read more of his writings here. Follow infolib on twitter here.

Texas attorney general threatens to arrest monitors observing US election

Guardian
Chris McGreat

State attorney general calls international group's plan to watch for fairness at the polls 'legally irrelevant in the United States'

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has monitored
several previous elections in the US.

The Texas attorney general, Greg Abbott, has threatened to arrest international election monitors invited by liberal groups to observe the conduct of next month's presidential vote in states accused of attempting to disenfranchise minorities.

Abbott has written to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe warning that its monitors have no right to monitor the vote even though they have observed previous US elections.

"The OSCE's representatives are not authorized by Texas law to enter a polling place. It may be a criminal offence for OSCE's representatives to maintain a presence within 100 feet of a polling place's entrance," he said. "Failure to comply with these requirements could subject the OSCE's representatives to criminal prosecution for violating state law."

The OSCE is sending 44 observers to voting stations across the US at the request of various groups, including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union, because of "an unprecedented and sophisticated level of coordination to restrict voting rights in our nation". These include attempts by several states, including Texas, to introduce voter identification laws and other measures blocked by federal courts which have ruled they were motivated by racial discrimination.

In his letter, Abbott glossed over the recent judgements striking down the Texas identification law and pointed to a supreme court ruling in a case involving another state.

"The OSCE may be entitled to its opinions about voter ID laws, but your opinion is legally irrelevant in the United States, where the supreme court has already determined that voter ID laws are constitutional," Abbott said.

The US routinely sends poll watchers to elections in foreign countries, particularly those where there are concerns about the fairness of the vote. In television interviews, Abbott denounced the OSCE as an interfering foreign body even though the US is a founding member and it was invited by President George Bush's administration to monitor the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections in the US.

"If OSCE members want to learn more about our election processes so they can improve their own democratic systems, we welcome the opportunity to discuss the measures Texas has implemented to protect the integrity of elections," Abbott wrote. "However, groups and individuals from outside the United States are not allowed to influence or interfere with the election process in Texas. This state has robust election laws that were carefully crafted to protect the integrity of our election system. All persons – including persons connected with OSCE – are required to comply with these laws."

The OSCE responded later on Wednesday in a letter to the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, calling Abbott's threat "unacceptable" and noting that the organisation's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has an agreement with the US permitting it to monitor elections.

"The United States, like all countries in the OSCE, has an obligation to invite ODIHR observers to observe its elections," it said. "The threat of criminal sanctions against OSCE/ODIHR observers is unacceptable."

A Florida congressman running for the Senate, Connie Mack, also waded into the debate, saying that reports the United Nations wants to send election monitors was an outrage. The OSCE was founded under the UN charter.

"The very idea that the United Nations - the world body dedicated to diminishing America's role in the world - would be allowed, if not encouraged, to install foreigners sympathetic to the likes of Castro, Chavez, Ahmadinejad, and Putin to oversee our elections is nothing short of disgusting," he told the Orlando Sentinal.

"The United Nations should be kicked off of American soil once and for all. And the American people should demand that the United Nations be stopped from 'monitoring' American elections. The only ones who should ever oversee American elections are Americans."

Robert Francis, the Texan judge closing America's jails

Guardian
Ian Birrell

He's the tough-on-crime Republican radically overhauling the criminal justice system – with rehabilitation programmes

I am getting the biggest bang possible for taxpayers’ bucks while
achieving something positive for society”: Judge Robert Francis. 

The motley gaggle of miscreants shuffles into the court, lining up silently in three rows on the benches. There are some 20 of them, men and women of all ages, most with long records of theft, violence and weapons misuse, and all with hardcore drug problems. I am passed their court biographies; the top one describes a man who has spent 12 years in jail, has 26 convictions over two decades and lists his "drugs of choice" as cocaine and heroin.

While Felin Bell's fellow convicts look like they have walked straight off the set of a Hollywood crime caper, he is a portly man in a smart check shirt who could pass as a middle manager. Almost before he has sat down, he is picked out by the judge as the week's shining star, commended for his positive attitude and sent home as a reward. "You look surprised – you shouldn't be," he is told.

Already it is clear this Dallas court for drug offenders is no normal court. As proceedings unfold, it seems like therapy crossed with a reality television show. The judge doesn't wear a robe, seldom sits on the bench and swears a lot. His name is Robert Francis, a fast-talking 52-year-old Republican, a rock fan and a keen hunter who proudly showed me, in his office before proceedings started, the heads of huge hogs he has shot.

As the offenders troop in, he warns if anyone lies or bullshits he will go "fucking ballistic". Then he discusses the difficulties of staying straight as he dissects their jobs, their families, their desires for the future. He responds to their comments with bawdy jokes, short homilies or sharp threats. "Stay positive, brother," one man is told, while another is warned: "You might think I'm crazy but I'm the crazy bastard who can put you back in jail."

There are outbursts of applause, then cheers for a young man who looks embarrassed as he reveals he got married two days earlier. The judge tells a woman who has started helping her mother around the home that she makes him proud. "You gotta be proud, too," he says.

Until recently, these people would have been discarded in overcrowded prisons. After all they were caught in Texas – the toughest state of a nation that locks up more offenders than any other in the world, with more than one in every 100 adults behind bars. Instead they receive counselling and assistance with housing and employment, although they can be sent back to jail if they fail drug tests, abscond or reoffend. One woman, a crystal meth addict, tells me the sessions in court are like walking on eggshells. But there are small incentives for those doing well, such as $10 gift vouchers or – on the day I visited – barbecue lunch out with Francis. "These people have to believe we care and want them to succeed," he tells me later. "Once they believe in me they can start to change."

They are beneficiaries of a revolution in justice sweeping the United States, one with illuminating lessons for Britain. It is a revolt led by hardline conservatives who have declared prison a sign of state failure. They say it is an inefficient use of taxpayers' money when the same people, often damaged by drink, drugs, mental health problems or chaotic backgrounds, return there again and again.

Remarkably, this revolution was unleashed in "hang 'em high" Texas, which prides itself on its toughness and still holds more executions than other states. But instead of building more prisons and jailing ever more people, Texas is now diverting funds to sophisticated rehabilitation programmes to reduce recidivism. Money has been poured into probation, parole and specialist services for addicts, the mentally ill, women and veterans. And it has worked: figures show even violent crime dropping at more than twice the national average, while cutting costs and reducing prison populations.

In the process, right-wingers have allied with liberals who long advocated such an approach, detoxifying one of the most poisonous political debates at a time when US party divisions have never been sharper. "This used to be one of the most emotive and ideologically divisive issues in the country," says Adam Gelb of the Pew Center on the States, a social-policy research charity which is backing the initiative. "We are starting to see the triumph of sound science over soundbites.

"There is not agreement on the causes of crime or even the purpose of punishment," Gelb continues, "but there is agreement on the solutions. Liberals and conservatives are getting to the same destination from very different routes." Now the Texan tactics are being adopted in other "deep red" republican states such as Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Oklahoma and South Carolina, while well-known conservatives flock to promote the cause, including Newt Gingrich, Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal and Grover Norquist. It is a Nixon in China moment. "The fact that it began in Texas has resonated around the country," says Gelb. "We hear again and again that if Texas can do it, then it cannot be soft on crime."

Just as in BRITAIN, it has been an iron rule in US politics that candidates win elections by talking tough on crime. The result has been a wave of stiff sentencing laws which, combined with the backfiring "war on drugs", mean that the prison population is currently growing 13 times more quickly than the general population. As a result, a nation with 5% of the global population accounts for 25% of prisoners worldwide – and is spending £43bn a year keeping them there. The criminal justice system also stands accused of worsening racial inequality, with Hispanic men three times as likely to be locked up as white men and black men nearly seven times more likely. According to a landmark Pew report, one in nine black men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars.

Vote counting company tied to Romney

FreePress
Gerry Bello
Bob Fitrakis

Several Tanker trucks full of political ink have been spilled on Mitt Romney's tenure as a vulture capitalist at Bain Capital. A more important story, however, is the fact that Bain alumni, now raising big money as Romney bundlers are also in the electronic voting machine business. This appears to be a repeat of the the infamous former CEO of Diebold Wally O’Dell, who raised money for Bush while his company supplied voting machines and election management software in the 2004 election.

In all 234 counties of Texas, the entire states of Hawaii and Oklahoma, half of Washington and Colorado, and certain counties in swing state Ohio, votes will be cast on eSlate and ePollbook machines made by Hart Intercivic. Hart Intercivic machines have famously failed in Tarrant County (Ft. Worth), adding 10,000 non-existant votes. The EVEREST study, commissioned by the Ohio secretary of state in 2007, found serious security flaws with Hart Intercivic products.

Looking beyond the well-documented Google choking laundry list of apparent fraud, failure and seeming corruption that is associated with Hart Intercivic, an ongoing Free Press investigation turned its attention to the key question of who owns the voting machine companies. The majority of the directors of Hart come from the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. has been heavily invested in Hart Intercivic since July 2011, just in time for the current presidential election cycle. But who is H.I.G Capital?

Out of 49 partners and directors, 48 are men, and 47 are white. Eleven of these men, including H.I.G. Founder Tony Tamer, were formerly employed at Bain and Company, and two of those men, John P. Bolduc, Douglas Berman, are Romney bundlers along with former Bain and H.I.G. manager Brian Shortsleeve.

Additionally, four of these men were formerly employed at Booz Allen Hamilton. Booz Allen, now owned by the Bush family friendly Carlyle group, also made voting machines for the United States military. Booz Allen was also the key subcontractor for the controversial PioneerGroundbreaker program, an NSA data mining operation that gathered information on American citizens until it was shut down and replaced with even more invasive successor programs like MATRIX and Total Information Awareness.

H.I.G. Capital employees have given $338,000 to Mitt Romney's campaign. That amounts to over $1500 per employee. Bain Capital, Mitt's former company, by comparison, only gave him $268,000. H.I.G. is the 11th largest donor to the Romney Campaign. Clearly they are working really hard for their man. It appears that they will work even harder on election night. Although not boisterously promising to deliver states where their machines are to Romney as Wally O'Dell of Diebold did for Bush in 2004, they can launder hundreds of thousands of votes and swing the vote in the crucial swing state Ohio.

Will Mitt's cronies steal our democracy the way they stole our jobs? Time will tell, but they have certainly positioned themselves to do so if they choose.

In our first investigative article Who owns Scytl? George Soros isn’t in the voting machines, but the intelligence community is.

the Free Press revealed that Scytl, a Spanish-based company now contracted to count 25% of the U.S. presidential vote, has ties to Booz Allen. Scytl's start up funding comes from three European Venture Capital Firms, Balderton Capital, Nauta Capital, and Spinnaker SCR. The director of Nauta's American operations is Dominic Endicott, who went from Cluster Consulting to Booz Allen Hamilton (NYSE: BAH) where he oversaw wireless practice. He then rejoined his former colleagues from Cluster Consulting at Nauta. In his capacity as a Nauta partner Endicott also sits on the board of CarrierIQ.

Scytl has emerged as the most mysterious election counting company in this presidential election. Scytl claims to have a Scytl USA division located in Glen Allen, Virginia. The following is a photo of the Scytl USA national corporate offices at 6012 Glen Allen Drive. The land deed records show that the ownership of the property at that address is Hugh Gallagher, now listed as the managing director of Scytl USA. The deed, which was prepared in Ohio by a relocation firm in 2002, pre-dates the creation of Scytl USA. A Scytl USA sales office is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and appears to be a Rent-an-Office, often referred to as a “virtual” office with a shared secretary that serves as a mail drop.



The ties of Hart Intercivic to Romney fund-raisers and Bain alumni should cause concern in the Obama re-election campaign. So, should the mysterious Spanish owned company, Scytl, with a U.S operation that seems to be an illusion. 

Austin Police Provocateurs Coordinated With Houston Through Fusion Center

OccupyAmericaSocialNetwork

For more on the Gulf Port 7 and Austin Police Infiltration of Occupy Austin see Undercover Austin Officer Enabled Houston Felonies, Judge Campbell Is Not Amused, and Kit’s Gulf Port 7 Interview.

Austin Police coordinated felony arrests at the Gulf Port Shutdown with Houston Police through the fusion center known as Austin Regional Intelligence Center.

The pre-trial hearings for the Gulf Port 7 case continued on September 6, 2012; although the Austin Police Department presented the information Judge Joan Campbell requested at the previous hearing, most of it was done in camera – in private, where defense and accused activists could not access it. What was revealed is troubling — that APD coordinated the day’s actions with Houston police through the local Texas fusion center, known as Austin Regional Intelligence Center. This, of course, raises the question of to what degree federal authorities were involved in the entrapment of Occupy activists; I personally witnessed Department of Homeland Security vehicles on the ground at the Occupy Houston encampment on December 12, in addition to photographing men in unknown military-like uniforms who were observing the port shutdown.

Further, it appears that officials involved may have made a decision to withhold information that was requested by Ronnie Garza’s defense attorney. This is in direct violation of Brady disclosure. Campbell’s frustration with the behavior of the state is clear in court transcripts, as she gives lawyers a lesson in this essential aspect of criminal law:

Read more:

Austin Police Provocateurs Coordinated With Houston Through Fusion Center - posted by james at Occupy America Social Network

APD: Officers infiltrated Occupy movement

MyFoxAustin

In December, Occupy protesters, some of which were from Austin, blocked the entrance of a Houston port.

A group of protestors were charged with a felony because they linked their arms with a device called a "lockbox". They claim Austin Police helped them make it and now they want charges to be dropped.

Dave Cortez, an Austin Occupier claims he had interaction with one of the undercover officers.

"Supplying and encouraging these folks in Houston to be more aggressive with their actions," said Cortez. "This man would attend our meetings pull me aside and say we need to do more aggressive actions which he encourage the folks to do in Houston."

Austin Police confirmed Friday undercover officers infiltrated the group to gain intelligence about plans of breaking the law.

"Based on concerns from citizens in the movement and actual criminal activity taking place in downtown and city hall plaza it was determined plain clothes officers blending in with the surroundings was necessary in the safety of participants and the community," said Austin PD Assistant Chief Sean Mannix.

Maninx says one of their detectives testified in Harris County Court.

The Assistant Police Chief walked out afterwards dodging reporter questions saying there is no internal investigation. He says because of the nature of the ongoing criminal trial in Harris County he can not make any further comment.

"If it's true I'd expect city council to hold everyone of those officers and the police chief accountable," said Jim Harrington with the Texas Civil Rights Project. "These are the people who are supposed to be applying the law and upholding the law."

He says if the allegations are true, APD went too far.

"It's perfectly fine to infiltrate and watch but when you cross the line and enable a crime and become part of a crime you're called a provocateur," said Harrington.

TSA installs undercover agents on Texas busses

Russian Today

A Transportation Security Agency (TSA) worker
runs her hands over the head of a traveler

If you are one of the select few that actually enjoys riding the bus, you might have a change of heart after hearing what the TSA is doing in Houston, Texas.

Democratic Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee held a press conference last week to discuss the details of Houston’s newest initiatives. It is being branded as a program called “BusSafe” and the press release describes it as a necessity for enhancing safety in the city’s public transportation system. Just exactly how they are going about accomplishing that has already attracted its fair share of critics, though.

Under the program launched last week, passengers on busses run by the Houston METRO system will be subjected to random questioning and searches from “counter-terrorism experts” hired by the Transportation Security Administration. Yes, the very same TSA that has become notorious for invasive pat-downs at airports across the country are opening up a new front in their war on privacy, and it’s on Houston’s public busses.

Riders of the Houston METRO won’t be waiting in line for security checkpoints like they do before boarding flights, though. According to the press release, authorities will “ride buses, perform random bag checks and conduct K-9 sweeps, as well as place uniformed and plainclothes officers at Transit Centers and rail platforms to detect, prevent and address latent criminal activity or behavior.” Both local police and undercover TSA agents will be carrying out the city-wide searches.

“If you think you’re going to be a bad actor on buses, get ready. You are going to have a short-lived time frame,” Congresswoman Jackson Lee explained.

And if you think you’re safe from this scrutiny by being outside of Houston, think again. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County say the searches starting in Houston are part of a national pilot program. BusSafe, it says, may be introduced in cities from coast-to-coast.

Dallas Fed: Top five U.S. banks hold over half of industry’s assets

Raw Story
Stephen C. Webster

 In its annual report for 2011, issued on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas released a startling report revealing that 52 percent of all the assets held by the entire banking industry have now become aggregated into the hands of just five companies, and the top 10 institutions have swollen so large that they possess wealth that equates to roughly half of America’s annual gross domestic product (GDP).

It is for those reasons that Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher, who’s otherwise known as a conservative budget hawk, has embraced the radical cause of breaking up the nation’s largest banks and forever ending “too big to fail.” In a letter introducing the 2011 report, he cautions that Congress may not have gone far enough with prior attempts at financial reforms, and that those bills may even be working against the struggling economic recovery underway.

Alarming as that sounds, it’s the Dallas Fed’s chart of U.S. banking assets that’s most startling.

In his letter, Fisher adds that if the wealthiest sample group is expanded to the top 10 banks, their total assets are worth approximately half of America’s annual GDP, which eclipsed $14.5 trillion in 2010.
He goes on to suggest that Congress did not go far enough with the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Financial Protection Act (PDF) because it did not effectively deal with the problem of institutions growing to such heights that their fall threatens the whole economy.

Black Man Executed In Texas Despite Evidence Of Retardation

NewsOne

A Texas man convicted of murdering two people, and paralyzing another, was executed Tuesday, despite evidence he suffered from metal retardation.

Milton Mathis, 32, was convicted in 1999 for shootings that killed a 24-year-old, Travis Brown III, and 31-year-old, Daniel Hibbard.

The Texas Correctional system discovered that Mathis suffered from mental retardation after IQ tests were administered, but decided to go through with execution because prosecutors contended that his criminal behavior indicated “near-normal intelligence.”

In 2001, Gov. Perry vetoed a bill passed by the Texas legislature banning the execution of the mentally retarded, saying that the state’s judicial system already contained adequate protections for such defendants. Supporters of the bill disagreed, pointing to evidence indicating that at least a half-dozen prisoners with mental deficiencies had been executed since 1990.

Steven Rocket Rosen, who defended Mathis in his original trial, said there was “no excuse” for the actions of his client. But he said Mathis’s mental problems were severe and had been aggravated by heavy drug use from a young age.

According to court records, Mathis began smoking PCP and marijuana soaked in formaldehyde, known as “fry,” as early as age 12.

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Health bill would require hospitals to develop vaccine policies for employees

Statesman
By Chuck Lindell 

Under a wide-ranging health care bill approved Friday by the Texas Senate, hospitals would have to develop policies requiring immunizations for employees who have contact with patients.
The provision, which can include everyone from housekeepers to doctors, is intended to protect patients from exposure to preventable diseases, particularly the flu.

"It's a patient-safety issue," said Denise Rose with the Texas Hospital Association, which supports the requirement. "If someone is in a room with a patient who's very ill or whose immune system is compromised, they should be vaccinated."

Studies have shown that hospitals with higher vaccination rates among workers have lower patient mortality rates, and organizations including the American College of Physicians have said that health workers have an ethical obligation to immunize.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all health care workers receive annual flu shots, but CDC surveys in 2006 and 2008 found less than half had received the influenza vaccine. The agency also recommends that health workers be immunized against chickenpox, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and whooping cough.

In the Austin area, all employees in the Seton Healthcare Family's 10 hospitals must get flu shots; the seven St. David's HealthCare hospitals require the vaccine for all employees who work in patient areas or come in contact with patients. Both hospital systems require unvaccinated employees to wear a surgical mask during flu season, roughly November through May, when dealing with patients.
The proposed state rule — included in Senate Bill 7, the special session's omnibus health care measure — would let hospitals determine which immunizations to require and which employees to include in the policy.

Employees could opt out of receiving shots for certain medical reasons, but they would have to follow procedures — such as wearing masks and gloves — to protect patients from potential exposure.
In addition, hospitals could include exemptions for reasons of conscience or religious beliefs.
"We cannot have our colleagues, co-workers and health care workers potentially carrying a deadly infectious disease that they can transmit to others," Dr. Erica Swegler, with the Texas Medical Association, told a House committee in May.

Opposition has come from vaccine opponents who say immunizations carry a health risk.
"We think it goes too far for government to say that in order to keep your job you have to take this injection," said Dawn Richardson with Parents Requesting Open Vaccine Education.
A bigger concern should be the growing number of antibiotic-resistant infections in hospital patients, Richardson said. "This is not such a big problem that you can justify trampling on peoples' rights to have control over what happens to their bodies."

The requirement for hospital vaccination policies, however, enjoys wide support from Texas medical organizations and in the Legislature. Both chambers approved the requirement in the just-concluded regular session, though time ran out before final passage.

Nobody spoke against the immunization proposal during committee hearings Thursday and Friday on the omnibus health care bill, approved unanimously Friday by the Senate. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve the bill today, with a House vote expected early next week.
clindell@statesman.com; 482-8516

When Government Fails or Refuses to Act. It is up to us to Restore the Republic

Lone Star

Potential "Balkanization" could shape this new map if
widespread consensus fails with a proper overthrow.

The truth is if we are waiting for the ballot box to make those fundamental changes in government. I would not hold my breath waiting for it to happen. We have been trying for many election cycles to put the right people in office to reverse course of our nation or state only to be burned. We can not wait for the next election because time is crucial and they highjacked counting the vote with Electronic voting machines so politicians can maintain power.

                The people we sent to Washington and Austin Texas completely ignores the will of the people. They are following the agenda of a power completely alien to the people and not in the interest of the State. When the people we elected had the opportunity to do the right thing with overwhelming support from the people.They cave in, get weak knees and compromise with the special interest. We can not get the courts to rule in favor of the Constitution when it comes to our privacy and being secure in our persons. They decide in favor of a corrupt police state. The oath of office is for those in government from local up to the top people in power. That oath is just a ceremonial right of passage that really has no meaning to them.

                 We wanted the debt ceiling not raised in Washington and the people we sent to stop the spending caved in. Congress ignores its responsibility when the President is starting wars around the world who have not provoked any attack on us or threatened our national security.  Congress cares nothing about keeping the executive Branch in check on his power to wage war or the corruption rampant in the White House. These war or police actions are costing this nation to the point of bankruptcy.When it would serve the congress well to do the right thing. They do the opposite. They reinstated the Patriot act and expanded the war powers of the President. They are not listening to the will of the people.

                 In Texas were I live. I think what happened last week was the last straw that broke the camels back.Because when the State Senate caved into the demands of the Federal Government if they passed a bill the Texans overwhelmingly supported that reenforced state law prohibiting the TSA form groping Texans as a condition to board a plane. This agency violated Texas state law. They are charged with a felony. No one in the State government is defending Texas from the onslaught of the Federal government on Texas.The EPA shutting down our oil fields and drilling offshore.The unwillingness and the lack of security securing the southern border.The state is rolling over to tyranny without a fight. There is no leadership taking a stand against this illegal incursion in the State of Texas against a bully out of Washington DC.

                 All confidence is lost in Texas.There are calls for a convention to be formed to discuss the dissolving or dismissing the present State government holding elected office with a delegation from each county going to represent each county. This is a fail safe measure under the Texas state Constitution when the state government becomes destructive to the people. When the State legislator no long serves for the benefit of the people in Texans.It is the right of Texans to alter, or abolish the present form of government. Activist in the state of Texas are arranging getting a delegation from each county in Texas to hold a convention to alter and abolish as it is the right in the Texas state Constitution. Texans will make their own way if the government is standing in people's way. Texans will find a way if the government will not. When push come to shove Texans will throw out the parasites of the state and not submit to tyranny. Sam Houston Stated” Texas will lift its head again and stand among the nations".

A Year After BP Blowout, Lawmakers Say Drill

A year after the BP oil spill put the brakes on full-bore domestic production, it's

back to "drill, baby, drill" as federal lawmakers, anxious about rising gasoline prices, push legislation to open offshore leases and make it easier to drill domestically.

Nowhere is this emphasis on increasing domestic production louder than in the Gulf Coast states hit hard by the oil spill - Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas - where the calls for drilling from members of both parties are louder than last year's calls for caution as oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.

"Louisiana is home to the nation's oil and gas industry that is trying to get back to work after the Deepwater Horizon accident," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana. The Pelican State lawmaker, one of the Gulf Coast's few Democrats, is critical of the drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration after the spill, as well as its slow restarting of the oil well permitting process on the Outer Continental Shelf.

"We need to rapidly accelerate the permitting process in the Gulf to increase production," she said, as well as expanding it to offshore Alaska and other areas.

Last April 20, the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded, killing 11 men and injuring 17. The rig's blowout preventer failed, sending oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico for three months, causing widespread economic and environmental damage. The leak was stopped on July 15, after more than 4.9 million barrels of crude oil contaminated the Gulf. The wellhead was permanently sealed on Sept. 19.

BP initially underestimated the size of the spill. Tony Hayward, then BP's chief executive, downplayed its impact without much challenge from the Obama administration, which coordinated the response to the spill with the oil company.

Still, Gulf Coast lawmakers say, it's time to get back into the oil business. Republican lawmakers are pushing legislation that would give leaseholders an additional year to make up for production lost during the moratorium.

"At the one-year anniversary mark, I believe progress has been made to clean up after the spill and to begin rebuilding the economy along the coast," said Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Mississippi. "I will continue to support legislation to ensure that Gulf energy exploration, and the jobs associated with that industry, are not unjustifiably obstructed by the federal bureaucracy."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Tuesday indicates that 69 percent of Americans favor increased offshore drilling. That's up 20 percentage points from last June, while the oil spill was still in progress, and is back to the level of support seen in the summer of 2008.

In the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, the Natural Resources Committee last week approved three bills that would force the Interior Department to speed up permits, open leases in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Virginia coast, set a domestic production goal and, as Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Washington, said, "end the administration's de facto moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico."

The House is expected to vote on the bills, which includes the one-year extension for leaseholders, when Congress returns from its spring break.

The reason for the push: instability in the Middle East and $4-a-gallon gasoline in several states, with the national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded at $3.83 a gallon. Crude oil reached a high of $112 a barrel on April 8, with the Energy Information Administration warning that "crude oil prices are currently at their highest level since 2008."

Environmental activists are alarmed at what they say are short memories by lawmakers on the dangers of offshore drilling.

"We are seeing the chronic effects of the oil spill with 65 (baby) dolphins washing up on the coasts of Mississippi, Alabama and Florida," said Louie Miller, head of the Sierra Club in Mississippi, who added that there have also been 87 dead sea turtles since March 15. "Our concerns are that we haven't recovered from the first disaster."

Tyson Slocum, the director of energy programs for Public Citizen, the grassroots organization founded by Ralph Nader, said, "People tend to forget that the industry screwed this up. BP cut corners." All the legislation moving to open up drilling, he said, is going in the wrong direction. "It's crazy that Congress has not passed reform in response to the largest environmental accident in our history."

But lawmakers from oil-producing states - who are getting an earful from constituents - say drilling has to be part of a comprehensive national energy strategy.

"The lack of a coherent energy policy is one of the drivers that clearly leaves us vulnerable to fluctuating energy prices," said Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas. "We feel it, especially in Texas." And drilling, he said, has to be a part of that policy. "We're fooling ourselves if we think we're beyond that point."

Democratic lawmakers from other regions are urging the tapping of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve - the federal government's oil storage tank - to help increase supply and lower prices, and encouraging the administration to promote alternative fuels.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, is pushing for releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But President Barack Obama cautioned in a television interview Friday that the U.S. should be "very careful" about going that route. "The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was designed for when oil actually shuts off," Obama told ABC.

Oil industry supporters in Congress say that the U.S. has to drill.

"The longer this administration chooses to delay on issuing permits," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, "the longer they endanger jobs for thousands of America's Gulf Coast workers."