JustGetThere

Examiner | After being interviewed by Glenn Beck and characterized by the talk show host as a '9/11/ Truther',

Debra Medina issued a statement Feb. 11 on her website regarding the Beck interview. She stated in part:

"I have never been involved with the 9/11 truth movement, and there is no doubt in my mind that Muslim terrorists flew planes into those buildings on 9/11. I have not seen any evidence nor have I ever believed that our government was involved or directed those individuals in any way.... The real underlying question here, though, is whether or not people have the right to question our government. I think the fact that people are even asking questions on this level gets to the incredible distrust career politicians have fostered ..."

Questioned by Dallas talk show host Mark Davis last week, Medina had stronger and more derisive views of 9/11 truthers, agreeing with the host that anyone who dare would believe that the U.S. government was involved in the 2001 attack is "despicable'. Partial transcript:

Davis: "...it would have been over in a day, if after the Beck thing, you'd have said boy, I'm sorry, I messed up. I should've identified this 9/11 truther movement as the despicable paranoid cult that they are, what a horrible hateful belief to have in your head that 9/11 was an inside job. Why didnt you do that?

Medina: "Yeah I um, I agree with ya Mark, I laughed it off whenever he said I was a truther cause I thought it was so absurd and i should have just said NO, absolutely I'm not a truther. I think it's abundantly clear I'm not a truther; um ya know those things happen to us and we pick up say should've done that better, move on, and that's what we've done."

Later the host continues "someone walking around with the belief that America would do this to its' own people .. that president Bush and those around him would slaughter our own citizens in order to justify war , is a despicable thing to believe.

Medina: "Agreed!"

Davis: "And you want to be on record as agreeing with that?"

Medina: "Agreed . yeah"...I'm..I...I was thinking in terms of the commission report, not in terms of what, ya know, individuals are out there doing, and the commission report is the thing that I was getting back to.

Medina later explains, "we've got some real serious issues in Texas. If we want to talk conspiracies, let's talk the trans Texas corridor deal let's talk the Merck vaccine deal , lets talk about the bailout. Those are the things affecting us everyday in Texas .

By DARLA MILES

WFAA | A treasure trove of priceless photographs were recently found dumped under a bridge in South Fort Worth.

Among the found photographs were images of President John F. Kennedy's motorcade just moments before his assassination, a young President George H. W. Bush and Gwendolyn Brooks, the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize.

The photographs were found underneath Interstate 20 and Oak Grove in South Fort Worth by the Code Compliance iIllegal dumping team. The location is a well-known dumping ground monitored by the department.

Whoever tossed the pictures away apparently had no idea they were throwing away history.

"Here's a picture of a much younger President George Bush presenting a football trophy," said Brandon Bennett, director of Fort Worth Code Compliance, while browsing through the images.

The photographs were found in City Council District 8, which is represented by Kathleen Hicks.

"This isn't just Fort Worth history, this is American history," she said.

The Kennedy motorcade photograph was taken 46 years ago. The original photograph of Dealey Plaza on November 22nd, 1963 captured onlookers turning in an attempt to get a glimpse of the motorcade.

There were also photographs of former Texas Gov. John Connally and founder of the Fort Worth NAACP Chapter Dr. George Flemming.

Then there were the images of Gwendolyn Brooks, who won the Pulitzer in 1950, and Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics.

"I've got goose bumps," said Sarah Walker, President of the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society. "When Mr. Brandon Bennett, our code enforcement director called me and said we need to look at these photographs, I almost didn't eat lunch today."

Surprisingly, the pictures aren't weathered at all. They were found in file folders, cataloged with typed labels on the front or back.

"I truly believe that they belong to the Genealogical Society because they're so well kept," Walker said. "They've just recently been dumped and I really believe that they would probably be the ones that were stolen from the building before we started the organization."

That was almost five years ago. Where those photographs have been during that time is the mystery behind the treasure.

The photographs are now being stored in a secure location by the city of Fort Worth. Code Compliance will hold onto them until it can complete the legal process of finding out who may have dumped the pictures before possibly turning them over to a museum.

Editor: Please contact Sheriff Dee Anderson's office through email or phone and give him some kudos!

AP | FORT WORTH, Texas — The sheriff of Tarrant County is bucking the trend of issuing Tasers to his deputies even as Texas' largest metropolitan law enforcement agencies continue to adopt the use of the weapon.

Sheriff Dee Anderson says he was concerned that an officer might cause someone's death with a Taser. Anderson says he conducted his own research in which Tasers were used. He said in cases where people have health issues or who have used alcohol or drugs, the electric shock could be deadly.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports Anderson sought advice from Tarrant County Medical Examiner Dr. Nizam Peerwani in making his decision.

By Gordon Dickson

Star-Telegram | The Texas Department of Transportation has formally pulled the plug on the Trans Texas Corridor, a hotly contested plan to build toll roads, rail lines and utilities across the state, officials said.

But the state’s once-lofty plan to build $184 billion worth of new statewide infrastructure promises to live on in the governor’s race, where the need to reduce gridlock is often pitted against issues such as property rights, the impact of tolls on residents’ pocketbooks and foreign control of toll projects.

State officials have scheduled a news conference for 11 a.m. today in Austin to announce that the department has selected the "no action alternative" for the proposed first leg of the Trans Texas Corridor from the border region to Dallas-Fort Worth.

During months of testimony in the project’s environmental review, a process governed by the Federal Highway Administration, simply too many Texans voiced opposition to the project, officials said.

"The reason that’s being given for the no-build option is that people don’t want it," Texas Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows of Fort Worth said Tuesday in a phone interview. "They said, 'Hell no.’ What we basically are doing is we are terminating the process. Formally, absolutely, TTC-35 is dead. We are canceling the contract with Zachry."

Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio and Cintra of Madrid have been under contract to create a Trans Texas Corridor master plan and to provide a more detailed development plan for the first Trans Texas Corridor leg along the I-35 corridor.

But while that process has reached an end, Gov. Rick Perry and his challenger in the Republican primary, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, continued to exchange barbs Tuesday over the Trans Texas Corridor.

Perry, who initially proposed the corridor in 2002 as a futuristic way to pay for roads — and to revolutionize highway safety and freight movement — has said in recent interviews that he still believes that Texans must find creative ways to pay for transportation improvements.

Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner noted that the Transportation Department had already announced less formally in January that it wouldn’t pursue the Trans Texas Corridor.

"The Trans Texas Corridor has been out of existence since January, so it’s further proof that the senator and her campaign lack any knowledge of transportation issues in Texas," Miner said. "Since Sen. Hutchison has been asleep at the wheel in Washington, Texas has been shortchanged on transportation dollars coming back to Texas, and it has forced us to look at transportation alternatives in the state."

But Hutchison accused the department under Perry’s guidance of continuing to plan the corridor behind the scenes.

"The Trans Texas Corridor will not be officially dead until Rick Perry is no longer governor and his political appointees are no longer running TxDOT," Hutchison campaign spokesman Joe Pounder said in a statement.

"Texans can’t trust Rick Perry when it comes to protecting their land from the government, ceasing to lease our highways to foreign companies or ending the Trans Texas Corridor," he added.

By Muriel Kane

Raw Story | The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday filed a brief with the Texas Attorney General's office arguing that either the county or state must be forced to represent a county district attorney accused of illegally seizing money from mainly black motorists -- in amounts ranging from $4000 to $50,000 -- under the pretext of anti-drug forfeiture laws.

Shelby County District Attorney Lynda K. Russell is the subject of a federal lawsuit (pdf), along with the Deputy City Marshall, the mayor, and other local officials.

According to the ACLU, "Russell is accused of participating in a scheme in which authorities pull over mostly African-American motorists driving along a state highway in Tenaha, TX without cause, ask if they are carrying cash and, if so, order them to sign over the cash to the town or face felony charges of money laundering or other serious crimes."

Reports of similar cases are common throughout Texas, but legislation to tighten up the asset forfeiture laws has been stalled in the state legislature.

Shelby County has refused to represent Russell because she is a state employee, and the state Attorney General has also refused. Russell is therefore asking permission to use the seized money that is the subject of the lawsuit for her own defense.

"It would be completely inappropriate for the district attorney to use assets which are the very subject of litigation charging her with participating in allegedly illegal activity to defend herself against these charges," said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director at the ACLU of Texas. "Texas has a long history of having its law enforcement officials unconstitutionally target racial minorities in the flawed and failed war on drugs and it is of paramount importance that those officials be held accountable."

Additional information about the ACLU Racial Justice Program is available online here.

By Dave Montgomery

Star Telegram | Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.

Interviewed by conservative talk show host Mark Davis of Dallas’ WBAP/820 AM, Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan, which both Perry and Davis described as "Obama Care." But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate.

"I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats."

Read full article

By Terri Hall

TURF | Today, ordinary Texans brought Governor Rick Perry’s road privatization, toll road, and Trans Texas Corridor agenda to a screeching halt. The Legislature adjourned without re-authorizing private toll road contracts called Comprehensive Development Agreements (or CDAs). The grassroots scored another victory by KILLING the revolving fund in HB 1, preventing the $2 billion in bonds from being spent to build toll roads, convert freeways to toll roads, or subsidize private toll deals, as well as protecting public employee pension funds from risky toll roads schemes that are failing all over the world.

“It is a hard-fought victory for the grassroots. We killed Goliath, not just Perry’s controversial toll road policies, but we defeated a sold out Senate and the BIG MONEY, the lobbyists, who sank millions into pushing for the sale of Texas highways,” Hank Gilbert, Texas TURF Board member and President of Piney Woods Subregional Planning Commission.

“We applaud Rep. David Leibowitz, once again, for standing up for Texas taxpayers and leading the charge to fix the bill that created a revolving fund that would have raided teacher retirement and public employee pension funds for risky toll road schemes. He authored the bill to KILL the Trans Texas Corridor and another to prevent the conversion of freeways to tollways during the regular session. He’s a proven taxpayer hero and Texans owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude,” said TURF Founder, Terri Hall.

“However, no session is without a few villains. CDA proponents and senate leaders like John Carona and Steve Ogden need to be taken to the woodshed for promising to promote the MOST expensive method of road funding, CDAs, next session, and for wanting to continue to raid public pension funds over the LOUD objections of Texans. None of this is dead in their minds, just postponed until they can resurrect this controversial public fleecing for another day,” Hall emphasized.

Taxpayers wanted Perry’s controversial and virtually universally detested road privatization schemes to die a natural death August 31 as scheduled, which will also KILL the mechanism to build the Trans Texas Corridor (or TTC). Today, they achieved just that. However, TTC-69/I-69 was excepted out of the moratorium, SB 792, in 2007, so TxDOT has the authority to enter into CDAs for that project through 2011. TURF, in cooperation with two private property rights foundations (Stewards of the Range and American Land Foundation) and local governments, have been instrumental in forming subregional planning commissions in the path of TTC-69, and plan to use these commissions to challenge the TTC and keep it from ever being built.



Senate leaders: Private toll-road bill DOA

By Mike Ward

Austin-American Statesman | Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and Senate leaders just announced publicly what senators had confirmed an hour ago: A bill to continue to allow more privately built toll roads to be constructed is dead in the special legislative session.

And lawmakers plan to finish their other business — approving the issuance of $2 billion in road-building bonds and continuing the operations of five state agencies — and then go home later today.

Dewhurst said attempts for a compromise on the toll-road bills — Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 3 — failed amid growing questions about whether any action on the matter was needed before the Legislature convenes in regular session again in January 2011.

State Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, said the urgency of the matter waned after local and state transportation assured legislative leaders that no projects would be killed or delayed by the lack of a vote.

“If it was a critical issue, we’re here to deal with it,” Corona said. “But we have been assured … that no major project is going to be left behind … We will take this (issue) up in 2011.”

Gov. Rick Perry had called lawmakers back into special session to address three issues: The bonds, to continue the operations of the five agencies that otherwise would have shut down, and to give the authority of the Texas Department of Transportation continued authority to contract for the privately built toll roads — through deals called “comprehensive development agreements.”

Dewhurst said Perry’s reaction to let the third issue on the agenda die without action was: “roads need to get built.”

“They will,” Corona said. “It would be a mistake to do away with CDAs. But we need to take some time to look at this issue, and we can do that in 2011 without any impact on projects.”

So with the controversial issue off the table, here’s what the schedule for the rest of the special session looks like:

At 3:30 p.m., the Senate Finance Committee is expected to approve House Bill 1 (bonds). It will then go to the full Senate for a vote, probably about 5 p.m.

The House earlier today approved Senate Bill 2 (continuation of the agencies, also called the safety-net bill).

Adjournment of both the Senate and the House is expected by early this evening.

Rick Perry set to push revamped agenda to sell freeways to foreign-owned private companies and convert them to toll roads



By Paul Joseph Watson

Prison Planet | The Trans-Texas Corridor, part of the NAFTA Superhighway projected to link the United States with Canada and Mexico as an integral cog of the North American Union, is back on the agenda after Texas Governor Rick Perry lied in claiming that the proposal was dead earlier this year.

The open plan to merge the US with Mexico and Canada and create a Pan-American Union networked by a NAFTA Superhighway has long been a Globalist brainchild, but fierce opposition to the plan from activists across the country has stalled the plan at least temporarily.

A key component of the NAU transport system was the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, a massive 4,000 mile network of highways that were to be sold to the Spanish company Cintra and operated as toll roads - creating a huge new tax on the American people which would be paid directly to a foreign-owned private company.

Texas Governor and Bilderberg invitee Rick Perry launched a PR stunt in January when he claimed that the Trans Texas Corridor was dead, when in reality as Jerome Corsi and others pointed out, the project was merely to have its name changed and its design slightly altered.

“Close examination shows Perry’s declaration from Iraq involves yet more public relations efforts by the governor and TxDOT to defuse criticism from voters and reposition a hugely unpopular initiative by dropping the designation ‘Trans-Texas Corridor,’ or ‘TTC,’ while still allowing TxDOT to proceed with the components of the original TTC plan that had been scheduled for implementation now,” wrote Corsi.

Corsi’s warning that the TTC was still very much in the pipeline has proven accurate with the news that the authority of the Texas Department of Transportation, TxDOT, will run for at least 2 more years with a fresh injection of $2 billion in state funds that will be allocated to new transport projects.

Using the cover of a special session of the legislature, Perry will push “a measure that allows private companies to build more toll roads across the state,” according to the Houston Chronicle.

“Gov. Perry wants to get the legislature to reauthorize through 2013 the ability of Texas to enter into Comprehensive Development Agreements, or CDAs, with foreign developers to develop Texas highways under public-private partnerships,” Hank Gilbert, a board member with TexasTurf.org, or Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom, told World Net Daily.

“We are fighting to defeat any attempt by Gov. Perry to extend CDAs,” he said. “Without CDAs, TxDOT will have a difficult time getting foreign development companies to come into Texas to convert our freeways to toll roads.”

Perry’s attempt to force through toll roads owned and operated by foreign companies as part of the wider agenda for a NAFTA Superhighway and a North American Union is a perfect example of how those in power try to neutralize dissent by pulling dirty tricks - claiming a project is dead and then simply renaming it and continuing with the same agenda.

However, the many activist groups opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor were well prepared for this bait and switch. The resistance to the agenda for a NAFTA Superhighway will now rally to fight Perry’s move to sell off key infrastructure to foreign corporations, and in turn create a huge new tax for already financially battered Americans.

The Newspaper | The Texas state Senate voted Monday to give federal, state and local authorities the ability to track and identify every passing vehicle on state highways. The provision calling for "automatic license plate identification cameras" was slipped into the Senate version of the must-pass Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) reauthorization bill. The provision was not part of the bill introduced in the state House of Representatives, whose less sympathetic members will have to accept or reject the entire 1274-page compromise hammered out by a conference committee. The House voted yesterday to instruct its conferees to insist that the House-passed ban on red light cameras remain in the final text.

The Senate's surveillance camera proposal promises taxpayer funds to the same private companies that operate photo radar and red light camera systems threatened by the House bill. License plate readers use the same basic technology as automated ticketing machines. Instead of tracking, for example, only those who exceed a certain speed threshold, the plate readers will store a video image of the front passenger compartment and rear license plate of every single passing vehicle. Optical character recognition software identifies the registered vehicle owner and allows for easy indexing of the time and location of travel for each person identified using the highway.

The Senate-passed bill gives police broad authority for the first time to use this information to prosecute any state or federal crime, as long as it is not a traffic violation "punishable by fine only." The bill also specifies that the cameras may be used to find suspects in amber alert cases, missing senior citizens and those accused of killing a police officer. The capability to search for suspects is exactly what troubles one civil rights group.

"Proponents will argue the readers are looking for bad guys -- drug smugglers and other criminals -- but the cameras cannot distinguish between your SUV and a drug smuggler's SUV," the Texas branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. "The readers are technology and as with any technology, they have a tendency to make errors. In this case, the implications are traffic stops of drivers misidentified as suspects wanted for serious crimes."

In some cases, those errors can turn deadly. On May 19, 2008 a Northumbria, UK police officer received an Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) alert about a passing Renault Megane automobile. Believing the vehicle could be driven by a dangerous criminal, the officer began following the Renault and hit speeds of 94 MPH in a residential neighborhood without using his siren. After cresting a hill, the police Volvo slammed into and killed sixteen-year-old pedestrian Hayley Adamson who did not see the police car coming. It turns out the database was wrong and the driver being chased was completely innocent. (View video of the incident up to the moment of the crash).

British authorities have been using ANPR for several years, working to centralize ANPR data to allow police to keep tabs on criminals and political opponents. A data center in North London offers real-time, nationwide tracking capability. Australian and American red light camera companies hope to offer the same centralized tracking services in the US.

The license plate provision attached to the TxDOT sunset bill passed the full Senate last month without debate as Senate Bill 1426. The language was drafted by state Senator Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands). View the full text of the surveillance camera provision in a 90k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: PDF File House Bill 300 excerpt - Senate engrossed (Texas State Legislature, 5/28/2009)

By Ken Herman

Statesman | House foes of a resolution affirming Texas’ sovereignty scored a victory - perhaps a temporary one - Tuesday evening when Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, successfully raised a point of order ending consideration of HCR50.

Thompson’s point of order involved procedures used by the House committee that sent the resolution to the floor.

Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe and the sponsor of the resolution, says he hopes to have it back on the floor as soon as the committee can approve it again. Could be as early as Wednesday, says Creighton.

The resolution, backed by Gov. Rick Perry, has been interpreted - misinterpreted, says Creighton - as a move toward Texas secession.

“In my letter to the membership that I sent in February, it was very clear, it had nothing to do with seceding from the union,” Creighton said. “It had everything to do with succeeding in the union. And a strong independent Texas makes for a very strong national government and strong union.”

By Eva-Marie Ayala

Star-Telegram | Fort Worth will close all of its 144 schools through at least May 8 because of swine flu concerns.

Superintendent Melody Johnson said only necessary staff at central administration would work.

The school district has about 80,000 students and 11,000 employees.

So far, Texas has 17 confirmed cases of swine flu.

Johnson had closed four campuses earlier in the day after probable cases were reported at those schools. They were McLean Middle, McLean 6th Grade Center, South Hills Elementary and Westcliff Elementary. The case at McLean Middle has since been confirmed.

Johnson had said earlier this week that she would only close schools if a case was confirmed. But after it was taking longer than the expected 48 hours to get such confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Johnson said today that she would close schools when there were probable cases.

She said the decision was based on a recommendation from the Tarrant County Health Department. The earliest students can return is May 11.

Tarrant County now has 10 probable cases in addtion to the one confirmed case. The health department also has five probable cases from nearby counties.

The Cleburne school district in nearby Johnson County has also closed its schools after four probable cases in its high school.

Richardson has closed one elementary amid swine flu concerns.

Office of Governor Rick Perry

Press Release | Gov. Rick Perry today joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

HCR 50 is authored by Representatives Brandon Creighton, Leo Berman, Bryan Hughes, Dan Gattis and Ryan Guillen.

Link to HCR50 here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HC00050I.htm.

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the
United States reads as follows: "The powers not delegated to the
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the
States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people";
and
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of
federal power as being that specifically granted by the
Constitution of the United States and no more; and
WHEREAS, The scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment
means that the federal government was created by the states
specifically to be an agent of the states; and
WHEREAS, Today, in 2009, the states are demonstrably treated
as agents of the federal government; and
WHEREAS, Many federal laws are directly in violation of the
Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of
the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union
of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal
government may not usurp; and
WHEREAS, Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says,
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a
Republican Form of Government," and the Ninth Amendment states that
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not
be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people";
and
WHEREAS, The United States Supreme Court has ruled in New
York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that congress may not
simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the
states; and
WHEREAS, A number of proposals from previous administrations
and some now pending from the present administration and from
congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas
hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise
enumerated and granted to the federal government by the
Constitution of the United States; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That this serve as notice and demand to the federal
government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective
immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these
constitutionally delegated powers; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That all compulsory federal legislation that
directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal
penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation
or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed; and, be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.

Infowars | Texas has joined the states’ right and Tenth Amendment movement by introducing House Concurrent Resolution No. 50, filed earlier this week by Republican state representatives Leo Berman, Brandon Creighton, and Bryan Hughes. H.C.R. 50 cites Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution, the Tenth Amendment, and the Ninth Amendment.

“The Tenth Amendment assures that we, the people of the United States of America and each sovereign state in the Union of States, now have, and have always had, rights the federal government may not usurp,” the resolution declares, while “Section 4, Article IV, of the Constitution says, ‘The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,’ and the Ninth Amendment states that ‘The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.’”

A number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the 81st Legislature of the State of Texas hereby claim sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States…

H.C.R. 50 serves “as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers” and that “all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.”

Finally, the resolution directs the Texas secretary of state to forward official copies of the resolution to president Obama, Speaker of the House Pelosi, the president of the Senate, Joe Biden, and all members of the Texas delegation to the Congress. In addition, there is an official request that the resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a “memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.”

Texas joins Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California, and Georgia, states that have all introduced bills and resolutions declaring sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment. Colorado, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Nevada, Maine, and Illinois are also considering such measures.

“While the ramifications of these resolutions are still uncertain, one thing is clear,” writes Barbara Minton. “People are sick and tired of the federal government’s usurpation of power not granted to it by the Constitution. They have had enough of fear based economic terrorism and underhanded promotion of policies and procedures that bypass public scrutiny and the will of the people.”

It should be noted that a resolution is a statement and not law and does not necessarily represent a consensus of a state legislature. “Still, the fact that two states, California and Georgia, have already passed their versions of state sovereignty may be setting the stage for secession down the road if the federal government continues to show its scorn for the Constitution. The Oklahoma resolution has already passed in the House and is awaiting vote in the state Senate to be codified,” writes Minton.

For more information on the Tenth Amendment and states’s right movement, see this Infowars resource page on the subject.

As should be expected, the corporate media has all but ignored H.C.R. 50, while Vince Leibowitz of Dallas-based Pegasus News calls the resolution “bizarre” and intimates that Berman, Creighton, and Hughes are insane. Leibowitz’s comments are a sad testament on how out of touch many Americans are when it comes to the Constitution and the increasing encroachments of the federal government.