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Will you hear about this group (see story below) if your a listener to Brownwood Talk Radio ? If not, why not ? It appears that bashing those standing for Peace is Politically Correct in Brownwood ! I recommend listening to this mornings KXYL interview with Col. Harry Riley. Despite icy weather, 3,000 Christians gather in Washington to protest war By Robert Marus Published March 19, 2007 WASHINGTON (ABP)-- Thousands of Christians braved frigid temperatures, icy conditions and even arrest March 16 in Washington to protest the Iraq war. The "Christian Peace Witness for Iraq" began with a service at Washington National Cathedral and ended with about 200 protesters being arrested in front of the White House. It kicked off a weekend of demonstrations marking the four-year anniversary of the war, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 3,000 American military personnel and thousands of Iraqi military and civilians. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Atlanta's historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, addressed an estimated 3,000 worshipers at the cathedral, criticizing the Democrat-controlled Congress as "too morally inept" to bring a speedy end to the war. But he also dressed down President Bush, who has begun implementing an unpopular plan to "surge" America's troop levels in Iraq with more than 20,000 new personnel. "Mr. Bush, my Christian brother, we do need a surge in troops. We need a surge in the nonviolent army of the Lord," he said, according to the Associated Press. "We need a surge in conscience and a surge in activism and a surge in truth-telling." According to organizers, the 3,000 at the cathedral were augmented by 400 more who watched a closed-circuit broadcast of the service at Washington's New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. Katie Barge, spokesperson for the sponsoring coalition, said about 1,500 of those marched three miles from the cathedral to Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. There, she said, about 1,500 other protesters joined them for a candlelight demonstration. Of those, Barge said, 222 crossed the street to pray in front of the executive mansion, resulting in their arrests. Protesters on the sidewalk in front of the White House are required by law to keep moving or face arrest. Barge said more than 700 had originally signed up for the civil-disobedience demonstration but the inclement weather may have suppressed their numbers. Evangelical, Catholic, mainline Protestant, Pentecostal and other Christian groups opposed to the war -- including the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America -- helped organize the protest. Its organizers called "for an end to the U.S. occupation, real support for our troops, a total rejection of torture and an international commitment to the physical and human reconstruction that is so desperately needed in Iraq." Lucas Johnson, a student at Emory University's Candler School of Theology and a member of the Baptist Peace Fellowship board, participated in the event. He said he felt so compelled to provide a Baptist witness against the war that he caught a bus from Atlanta to Washington with Presbyterian protesters -- and returned to Atlanta the same night. read more here: http://www.abpnews.com/1857.article
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Have you heard this group on KXYL ? http://www.veteransforpeace.org/
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Far From Iraq, A Demonstration Of a War Zone By David Montgomery Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 20, 2007; Page C01 There's a lot of weirdness every day in the capital city, but this one pushed the envelope: 13 Iraq war veterans in full desert camo going on "patrol" from Union Station to Arlington National Cemetery. They carried imaginary assault rifles, barked commands, roughly "detained" suspected hostiles with flex cuffs and hoods -- and generally shocked, frightened and delighted tourists and office workers. "How does occupation feel, D.C.?!" shouted Geoff Millard, head of the local chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War, who previously served on a brigadier general's staff in Tikrit. They cut a swath across downtown, taking imaginary sniper fire and casualties on the grounds of the Capitol and the Washington Monument, scouting the White House, performing mock arrests at the foot of the Capitol steps and a vehicle search on the Mall. At the Capitol, the veterans almost got detained themselves by civilian peace officers with real guns. The vets brought their act to a military recruiting station on L Street NW and concluded with a memorial ceremony in the cemetery. The 12 men and one woman included one veteran of Afghanistan, and they represented the Army, Marines and Navy. They were young, intense, disillusioned. Home from the war, on yesterday's fourth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, they wanted to bring the war home to Washington. They called it Operation First Casualty -- citing the adage that truth is the first casualty of war. The premise of their guerrilla-theater incursion was that, for all the yellow ribbons and "support the troops" sloganeering, life goes on at home pretty much oblivious to what it's like for American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. "When I got home, the hardest thing for me was realizing the war does not exist here," said Aaron Hughes of Chicago, who was a sergeant in a transportation unit that convoyed troops and supplies in and out of Iraq from Kuwait. read entire article here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/...
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Two quotes you have not/will not(?) hear on Brownwood Talk Radio ! " "I felt comfortable with the idea of protecting America based on the assumption that Saddam (Hussein) had weapons of mass destruction,'' said 24-year-old Sean O'Neill of Fremont, a former Marine sergeant who served two tours in Iraq. "I started having real problems with the war when those assumptions proved false.'' There's growing discontent in the military over the war in Iraq, O'Neill said, even among soldiers who went to the Middle East for idealistic reasons. "Things change for them when they get over, when they see the way things are going on the ground,'' O'Neill said. " read article here: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines07/0319-...
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Too Taboo for KXYL Talking Heads too ? Military Support for GOP Is in Free Fall By Bonnie Erbe US News and World Report Wednesday 14 March 2007 Pardon my tardiness. While searching online for interesting political tidbits, I came across a two-month-old story of towering significance that received a paltry amount of media exposure. The Los Angeles Times reported in January that the Military Times's annual poll of active-duty service members found support among them for the Republican Party is dropping significantly. So significantly, in fact, that the 30-year trend of "Republicanization" of the military has reversed and is in a free fall. The Times reported on a one-year decline of 10 points from 56 to 46 percent from January 2006 to January 2007 among active-duty service personnel who self-identify as Republicans. The year before, a 4-point drop cut Republican identification from an all-time high of 60 percent. One has to infer the Iraq war is taking its toll on Republican supremacy not only at the voting booth but also among the good and honorable folks actually doing the fighting. Only during the past several decades has the military moved right as a voting bloc. My father-in-law, a career Army major in World War II, was a Democrat, although not particularly partisan, as was the case with his generation. The Times reports that all that started to change in the 1970s: "The rightward shift was dramatic: In 1976, 25 percent of civilians characterized themselves as Republicans, while 33 percent of military officers were Republicans - a military-civilian "gap" of only 8 percent. By 1996, the military-civilian gap on party affiliation had grown to 33 percent; while 34 percent of civilians self-identified as Republicans, so did a whopping 70 percent of military officers." Not long ago, I was speaking with a conservative Republican congressional staffer who told me all her friends from high school now serving in Iraq were becoming more and more vehement in their opposition to the war. I explained to her that two close friends of mine (both military wives) remain vehemently loyal to President Bush and to the war effort. "Are their husbands in Iraq?" she asked. "No" was my answer. "That's the difference," she explained. These polling data bear out her argument. My impression was erroneous. Hers was correct. source: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/031707F.sht...
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Fallen trooper didn't believe in war Dreamed of military glory as kid growing up on D-M air base By Carol Ann Alaimo Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.21.2007 As a kid growing up on Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Christopher Brevard dreamed of military glory. As an adult, he spent the last months of his life fighting a war he didn't believe in. In e-mails to his family, the Army paratrooper, a father of two who considered himself a patriot, talked about what he saw as the futility of military operations in Iraq. He worried about the chronic exhaustion of the soldiers he led and felt U.S. troops were dying overseas for no good reason. "He said,'Mom, I would lay my life down in a heartbeat fighting for America. But if I lose my life over here, I will not feel like I died for my country," said the soldier's mother, Michele Brevard, 51. On Friday, she received word that her 31-year-old son had been felled by a homemade bomb in Baghdad. The sergeant first class was killed in action on March 16 — the 29th service member with Southern Arizona ties to be claimed by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. His hometown was mistakenly listed as Phoenix in a Defense Department news release, his mother said. In fact, Christopher Brevard was born in St. Louis and spent his formative years — from ages 6 to 16 — in Tucson, attending Borman Elementary School and then Palo Verde High School, until his Air Force father was transferred to Alaska in 1991. Even as a child, Christopher Brevard was enraptured with the military, his mother said. By age 9, his bedroom ceiling was strung with model warplanes and camouflage net, and his favorite backyard pastime was playing battle games, complete with homemade slingshots and trip wires. His father, Christopher E. Brevard, now 49, was a career airman who spent a decade stationed at D-M, much of it with the 41st Electronic Combat Squadron. His son, then finishing his sophomore year at Palo Verde, "did not want to go," when it came time to leave Tucson, the father recalled Tuesday. After enlisting in the Army, the younger Christopher Brevard ended up stationed in Alaska himself. He was in Iraq with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, from Fort Richardson, Alaska. Michele Brevard said no one in her family, including her son, agreed with the U.S. government's decision to wage war in Iraq. But when it came time for him to deploy last fall, he put on his game face and set his personal feelings aside, she said, because "military people don't have a choice." Her son's messages from the front lines often were wrenching, Michele Brevard said. He was distressed, she said, that the soldiers in his platoon were severely sleep-deprived, often going for 10 days at a time with no more than a two-hour nap here and there. And he was outraged at the attitudes of the Iraqis he met. For example, the Iraqi police, who are supposed to be preparing to take over the country's security, sometimes flat-out refused to perform their duties, her son wrote. "They told our guys,'Why don't you (expletive) go home," she quoted her son as saying. "He said,'Our guys are dying over there, and those people don't even care,' " Michele Brevard said. She said she's sharing her son's observations because she believes it is what he would have wanted. He strongly believed the U.S. public does not fully understand how badly things are going in Iraq and how thinly stretched the military is, she said. read entire report here: http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php... Note: Remember this story (just one of so many!) when you hear Iraq War promos on KXYL 96.9FM !
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TYC crisis shielded by pattern of neglect Officials failed to act despite many chances to stop sexual abuse 12:08 AM CDT on Thursday, March 22, 2007 By EMILY RAMSHAW and AMY ROSEN / The Dallas Morning News eramshaw@dallasnews.com and arosen@dallasnews.com AUSTIN – Ambivalent officials, superficial investigations and a breakdown of management and oversight at almost every level allowed the Texas Youth Commission's sexual abuse scandal to fester for years, a Dallas Morning News review of the case shows. An aggressive investigation into numerous complaints from the West Texas State School in Pyote might have unraveled the case and allegations at other TYC facilities. But e-mails, reports, minutes and testimony in the case show that board members overseeing the agency didn't ask follow-up questions about abuse. The local prosecutor consistently put the case on the back burner. And lawmakers and their aides notified of the investigation gave it little attention. Those failures, along with an inadequate system of internal investigations at TYC and Texas' diffuse state government, let a string of opportunities to deal with the scandal slip by. "Every single person in this entire system – from the very bottom up to the very top – failed in their duty to protect the children," said Isela Gutierrez, coordinator of the Texas Coalition Advocating Justice for Juveniles. "When you're relying on someone else to do the job, it becomes incredibly easy for no one to do their job." Now, spurred by media reports and a flood of horror stories from TYC facilities, lawmakers and the governor have dismantled TYC's leadership. And they're working to remake the agency and its culture. But there were plenty of chances to stop the abuse much sooner. read entire article here: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/d... --------- Note, sure wish the KXYL Talking Heads would have read the above to Brownwood's State Rep., Republican Jim Keffer, as he was defending the TYC Board over the Brownwood airwaves ! Call KXYL and request a tape of the interview.
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"The criminal justice system in Texas is so cracked it makes an armadillo look smooth" Dallas Morning News Editorial
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Confederate Flag Discussion: http://www.thebrogan.org/ http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue... KKK diverts attention from real race issues San Angelo Standard Times In our opinion Oh, great. Our Ku Klux Klan has been at it again, this time traveling to Stephenville to show support for students at Tarleton State University that the white supremacists think have been mistreated. News outlets across the state carried accounts of the San Angelo-area Traditional Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan’s demonstration, as has happened with other tantrums by the local group. How much Chamber of Commerce advertising will it take to counter the bad publicity? What makes the racists’ antics even more frustrating is that the KKK is a joke and has been for decades. Even most other bigots look upon the modern Klan as an absurd collection of misfits who get attention by riding the shirt-tails of a once-frightening organization. Given that reality, the press coverage of today’s KKK is almost always overdone, and we flinch at spending this space to provide more of the notoriety they obviously covet. Even so, it bears noting that the KKK still uses hateful tactics to try and intimidate minorities. And it seems necessary to clean up the mess made by our local yahoos, to make a public statement that San Angeloans not only don’t support the ridiculously named Traditional Christian Knights, we regard them as buffoons. If we really thought they were dangerous or had any influence, we would shout loud and frequent warnings. That isn’t the case. They are inconsequential, their only weapon the still-chilling images that linger from the truly dangerous men who could have been the latter-day Klansmen’s grandfathers and great-grandfathers. The real damage done by the KKK is that it diverts attention from what should be the actual focus. It does no good to work oneself into a lather over men who are more comical than threatening when truly harmful racism goes on elsewhere. For the record, the San Angelo Klansmen are neither traditional nor Christian by local standards. Sadly, though, as long as people can get noticed by attaching themselves to an outdated, but still outrageous ideology, they’ll keep turning up like cockroaches every time the media shines a light on them. source: http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2007/mar/23/k... Q: How many Confederate Flags can you view flying (on private property)between Brownwood and San Angelo ? Brownwood (?), Bangs (1), Santa Anna (2), etc.
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Hagel: There are ways to deal with' a president who says 'I don't care' Ron Brynaert Published: Sunday March 25, 2007 Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is considering running for president in 2008, stopped just short of threatening impeachment against President George Bush on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday morning. Hagel has been a vocal critic of the war in Iraq and recently referenced impeachment in an interview published in April's edition of Esquire Magazine, telling Charles P. Pierce, "The president says,'I don't care.' He's not accountable anymore. He's not accountable anymore, which isn't totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don't know. It depends how this goes." Hagel disagrees that "right now we're actually seeing the increase in forces actually start to deliver some results in Baghdad," as the White House has argued. "No, I don't see that," Hagel told Stephanopoulos. "In fact, there are more incidents, not less. Sure, in parts of Baghdad, in overall Baghdad, over the last two or three weeks, we have seen some fewer, but not around the country. Look at what happened two days ago, one of the two vice presidents of Iraq was attacked there at his own compound and is lying mortally wounded in a hospital." Hagel added, "No, it isn't getting any less dangerous, and the fact is that was predictable, the more American troops you flood into a zone, sure, you're going to see some immediate effect of that but that has nothing to do with the long-term or lasting effect. This solution in Iraq is not going to come by continuing to put more and more Americans in there because we're bogging ourselves down. We are further eroding our credibility and stature in the Middle East. It's going to make it more and more difficult for us to get out because we are going to have to get out." Hagel mentioned that the Inspector General testified before Congress this week, and "reminded all of us that we have now spent almost a half a trillion dollars in Iraq," and "have put at least 40 billion in economic development there,[w]hich we don't know what we got out of it." "There's still no oil law," Hagel added. "Billions of dollars have been ripped off, unaccounted for, and one more point on this -- over $12 billion of Iraqi money still sits in the accounts of the Iraqi government that they haven't spent. So something has to give here, George." Hagel then expanded upon his "impeachment" comments in the Esquire interview. "Well, any president who says 'I don't care' or 'I will not respond to what the people of this country are saying about Iraq or anything else' or 'I don't care what the Congress does, I am going to proceed,' if a president really believes that, then there are, what I was pointing out, there are ways to deal with that," Hagel said. Hagel added, "This is not a monarchy." read entire article here: http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Hagel_There_are... Note: I'd love for the morning Wendlee Broadcasting talking heads to give Chuck Hagel 30 minutes of airtime like they did Brownwood Mafia Putter Jarvis on this mornings show. I wonder if his (Hagel) interview would be interrupted two times by emergency broadcasts as Putter's was ? Question for KXYL: How many soldiers who had boots on the ground in Iraq have you interviewed that are speaking out against the war ? None ? Why is that ? I'd thank Brownwood Talk Radio (as Putter Jarvis did) if they were better stewards of the Brownwood airwaves by having some balance with opposing guest interviews !
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Below statement, from the tillman Family, must be much too strong for the Wendlee Broadcasting Talking Heads (KXYL's J.R.Williams & Mike Cope) in Brownwood to cover thoroughly ! ---------- Pat Tillman Family Statement Tuesday March 27, 2007 11:31 AM By The Associated Press Statement by the family of Army Ranger Pat Tillman, following a briefing the family received from Pentagon officials Monday. Tillman was killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004. Our family will continue to pursue the full truth about the circumstances of Pat Tillman's death and the so-called ``missteps'' of the Army, the Department of Defense, and this administration. The briefing we just received was unsatisfactory. The characterization of criminal negligence, professional misconduct, battlefield incompetence, concealment and destruction of evidence, deliberate deception, and conspiracy to deceive are not ``missteps.'' These actions are malfeasance. In our opinion, this attempt to impose closure by slapping the wrists of a few officers and enlisted men is yet another bureaucratic entrenchment. The Army continues to deny the family, and the public that pays for the Army with its taxes, access to the original investigation and the sworn statements from that investigation, conducted by Capt. Richard Scott, former commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Ranger Battalion. His investigation contained the unaltered statements, taken when memories were still fresh, by witnesses to the events surrounding Pat's death. We know from subsequent sworn statements that more than one of the original statements was altered, after Captain Scott's investigation ``disappeared.'' This is not a misstep. It is evidence-tampering. The Army has yet to provide the family with a copy of the original narrative required by Army Regulation to support the award of the Silver Star. While they admitted today that there were improprieties in the submission of the award, they appear to have intentionally stopped short in every single ``misstep'' of actual criminal actions. Submitting fraudulent awards is a crime. More than one person participating in the construction of a fraudulent award is conspiracy. The general officer who appears to bear the brunt of this so-called investigation is Lt. Gen. Kensinger. While he is not blameless, we believe he is the pawn being sacrificed to protect the king, that king being secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Investigators from the Army ... tell us that Secretary Rumsfeld was not even aware that Pat's death was friendly fire for almost a month. Anyone familiar with former Secretary Rumsfeld's reputation as an unforgiving micromanager must find this claim to be extremely disingenuous. The Army regulation on the award of the Silver Star requires a detailed summary, elicited from witness statements, of the exact circumstances of the event which precipitates the award. We know, from sworn statements, that the award was directed by then-Regimental Commander Col. James Nixon on April 23rd, before the unit with the witnesses had even returned from the field for debriefing. We know, from sworn statements, that the original draft of the award falsely claimed that Pat was killed by enemy fire, when Pat was not subjected to enemy fire throughout the entire incident. We know, from sworn statements, that the draft was changed to exclude explicit reference to enemy fire - probably as a precautionary legal measure - while maintaining the impression that Pat was killed in an intense firefight with the enemy ... which he was not. The Army can still not cite a single instance of any Silver Star, before Pat, that was awarded in the case of fratricide, when the subject of the award was never fired upon by the enemy. (cont) source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0...
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No one who knew Pat ever doubted his physical or moral courage. But the award of the Silver Star appears more than anything to be part of a cynical design to conceal the real events from the family and the public, while exploiting the death of our beloved Pat as a recruitment poster. The characterization of this fraudulent award as a list of ``deficiencies'' has the powerful odor of intentional minimization to a level just below criminal, in a case for which the accumulation of errors and missteps has long past the laws of probability for coincidence. E-mails discovered in the conduct of investigations refer to a ``Silver Star Game Plan.'' This certainly at least suggests conspiracy. The entire military, we believe, compelled by the Secretary of Defense's office, was seeking to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative, as it was embroiled in a huge tactical setback in Iraq in April 2004, and as the Pentagon was preparing to deal with the public affairs crisis engendered by the about-to-be-revealed horror stories from Abu Ghraib. This investigation draws conclusions, conclusions that are meant to be implanted in the minds of the American public, that say the wrongdoing flowed from bottom to top. We base our beliefs on the relentless pattern of the Bush administration of deception, evasion, and spin in the conduct of the entire dual-occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. We remain convinced that the priority of the Pentagon was to prevent the public knowing that Pat was killed by the military's highest priority shock infantry unit; and that he was killed by a combination of shoddy leadership and clear violations of the Rules of Engagement, as well as violations of the Law of Land Warfare. We detail only two major themes in a much larger story. These themes exemplify the way this case has been handled, and the way it continues to be handled. These examples show that we are not dealing with ``missteps.'' There is an overpowering suggestion of violations of law, regulation, and policy that reaches from the vehicle that fired on Pat and took his life to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, who - with his reputation as a world-class micromanager - was certainly aware of every move made in this case. In three years of struggling with the Pentagon's public affairs apparatus, we have never been dealt with honestly. We will now shift out efforts into Congress, to which we appeal for investigation.(Cont) source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0...
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Perhaps subpoenas are necessary to elicit candor and accuracy from the military. We do not think that Pat's notoriety - about which Pat himself was self-effacing - gives him a special qualification for Congressional attention. But if that notoriety can serve as a catalyst to open dozens of cases - many of the families known to us - of troops who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by fratricide, and whose families, like us, were deceived about the circumstances of these deaths. We believe Pat would approve of this. These cases will further establish a pattern - now well-known by the American public - of spin and deception by the Pentagon and the administration it serves. Our family has worked hard to stay out of the spotlight. We have continued to hope that we might receive satisfactory answers from the Pentagon and the executive branch. Now we ask the assistance of Congress and the press. Human beings continue to be sacrificed on the altar of a dual foreign military occupation. Thousands of Americans and Afghans, hundreds of U.S. allies, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis' lives have been lost and shattered. We say these things with disappointment and sadness for our country. Nonetheless, we will persevere in our search for the truth. The truth is not what we received today. Once again, we are being used as props in a Pentagon public relations exercise. source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0...
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Tillman: Too Tough a statement for KXYL Talking Heads (JR Williams and Mike Cope) to cover thoroughly ? Why do they continiously skip over such information for their listeners ? I'd love to hear the Tillmans on the Brownwood airwaves. I'll remain standing with the Tillman's. http://www.wacotrib.com/hp/content/shared-gen...
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"Bash a Muslim for Jesus 101" with Teachers Mike Cope and J.R. Williams now underway at Brownwood's KXYL 96.9FM ! After a steady diet of lumping all Muslims into the same negative light, will KXYL Producer Peter Seward now schedule Seantor Shapiro or Brownwood's Senator Fraser on as a guest to bring some balance to the Brownwod airwaves ? Brownwood Hate Radio Now Broadcasting ! Imam's prayer in Senate makes one senator a no-show Houston senator didn't want his attendance 'to appear to be an endorsement' By Mark Lisheron AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Thursday, April 05, 2007 Nothing is more routine on the floor of the Texas Senate than the morning prayer. Unless the prayer is delivered during Passover, four days before Easter, by a Muslim cleric whose background is questioned by conservative radio talk show hosts, one of whom happens to be a senator. The senator, Dan Patrick, who has from his first day in office challenged tradition, may have become the first senator ever to leave the floor in protest of the prayer. The invocation itself was a first for the Senate, delivered by Imam Yusuf Kavakci, with the Dallas Central Mosque. Before he could stand before the Senate, Kavakci faced accusations by conservative groups such as the Texas Eagle Forum, suggesting that he was a member of a radical Muslim religious sect, a charge he has denied. Radio talk shows in Houston took calls from listeners who said it was sacrilege for the Texas Senate to welcome a Muslim to pray during a holy time for Christians and Jews. In a Houston Chronicle story Wednesday, Jared Woodfill, chairman of the Harris County Republican Party said, "I'm shocked that the day before Easter recess that a Muslim is leading the prayer. They should be having a celebration about the death and resurrection of Christ." Patrick, R-Houston, brought those concerns to the Senate floor on Wednesday. Conspicuous in his absence during the prayer, Patrick later returned and was granted a rare personal privilege to explain himself at the end of the day's session. "We witnessed something this morning that was extraordinary," Patrick said. "The imam is fortunate to be in this great country, a nation that is so tolerant of others' dream and faiths." The senator told the assembly that the world must be puzzled by a country that would allow someone to bring a Quran into the Senate while it prohibits a child from carrying a Bible into a public school. Afterward, Patrick told reporters that he chose to step out during Kavakci's prayer because "I didn't want my attendance on the floor to appear to be an endorsement. I think that it's important that we are tolerant of all faiths. That doesn't mean we have to endorse all faiths." Sen. Florence Shapiro, who introduced Kavakci, one of her constituents, with a lengthy résumé that includes serving on several interfaith boards and the Peace Institute Advisory Board at Richland College, said she was at first puzzled and then bemused by Patrick's actions. Shapiro, who is Jewish, said she has during her eight Senate sessions prayed along with hundreds of Christian ministers of the day. Shapiro, R-Plano, said it was appropriate for a scholar with the Dallas Central Mosque, which serves more than 150,000 Muslims in the Dallas area, to lead prayer on a day to honor the more than 400,000 Muslims who live in Texas. In her introduction, Shapiro said, "Our country prides itself on freedoms, the most relevant today is freedom of religion. Allowing a Muslim to express his freedom demonstrates what we all have in common in the United States. We are all Americans." read entire article here: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/...
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"Fireworks" at the Brown County Courthouse, so say KXYL's "Talking Head" Mike Cope, as he refers to the Eddie Gomez hearing and LULAC's attendance & participation ! Just about what I'd expect from Wendlee Broadcasting and Pontificating Partisan Republicans !
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Brown County rally held in protest over voter's arrest By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com October 6, 2006 BROWNWOOD - More than 20 people gathered at the Brown County Courthouse on Thursday for a peaceful rally to show support for Eddie Gomez, who could be indicted by the Brown County Grand Jury on two counts of aggravated assault of a public servant after getting into a disagreement with local election officials. The rally began at just before 8 a.m. inside the courthouse where the grand jury was convened. Supporters wore ribbons and badges and carried signs that read ''We Support Eddie.'' read more here: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/ar... Note: Wonder what part of "peaceful" KXYL Talking Head Mike Cope doesn't understand ? KXYL's Mike Cope: LULAC = Fireworks ? What type of "on air" comments will Mike have for Members of the Pecan Valley Chapter of the Marine Corps League who will most likely be attending today's hearing as well ? Maybe the "Big Show Boys" will have local reporter/columnist Steve Nash on to do the play by play ! I'd put them all in the same league: Brownwood's "Drive By" Media !
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Gag order issued in case of assault on Brownwood officer By Celinda Emison / emisonc@reporternews.com April 6, 2007 BROWNWOOD - A Brown County judge issued a gag order Thursday in the case against a Brownwood man under indictment for assaulting a police officer. The order was issued by 35th District Judge Stephen Ellis. Eddie Gomez will stand trial Aug. 6 on two counts of aggravated assault on a public servant for an incident that occurred during the municipal election at the Brownwood Coliseum annex May 13, 2006. ''I'm doing this to ensure Mr. Gomez gets a fair trial and the case isn't tried in the media,'' Ellis said. In October, a Brown County grand jury handed down a two-count indictment against Gomez. He was jailed the day of his arrest, May 13, and released on bonds totaling $17,500. Gomez, a disabled combat Marine, has no prior record, according to Brown County officials. Police reports indicate the altercation began when Gomez was told he could not use his cell phone at a polling place. Supporters allege Gomez was unfairly provoked by personnel at the elections office and later by police and witnesses. If convicted, Gomez could receive up to 10 years in prison. He could be fined up to $10,000 for each of the two third-degree felony counts. The case has garnered support from the League of United Latin American Citizens, which has been conducting an investigation into the case. Gomez, 34, was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1994 after serving in the Gulf War in Iraq. He is 100 percent disabled, and if convicted, he could lose his military benefits. On Thursday, it was stated in open court that Brownwood police officer Bryan Keith, who arrested Gomez, was a veteran of the war in Iraq. Keith had returned home shortly before the May 13 incident. Also on Thursday, Gomez's attorney, John Lee Blagg, asked that a special prosecutor be appointed due to pretrial publicity from District Attorney Michael Murray and from the local radio station and newspapers. Blagg also asked that the case be dismissed based on the ''vindictiveness of the district attorney.'' ''We believe the DA has harmed Mr. Gomez tremendously,'' Blagg said. Assistant District Attorney Perry Sims called Blaggs motions frivolous and ''without merit.'' Those motions were denied by Ellis. Blagg also is asking for a change of venue, based on pretrial publicity. Ellis set the change of venue hearing for June 26. Ellis also reset the trial for Aug. 6. EDITED: LORETTA FULTON; HEADLINE AND COPY EDITOR: JEFF WOLF source: http://www.reporter-news.com/abil/nw_local/ar...
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Steve
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I'd love to hear KXYL's Muslim Bashing Talking heads read this letter (below) over the Brownwood Airwaves. Don't count on them doing so ! If they want to understand Muslim Extremism, they should take a long look in the mirror and replay their comments ! Religious extremism is not confined to Islam and it's as close as Brownwood Texas ! "I am a southern baptist and iraqi war veteran. I totally support your request to have a muslim start the daily session with a prayer. Our country prides itself on freedoms which the US forces and I have defended to the death. I support any freedom that has not been perversed or manipulated to personal benefit. Thank you for standing your ground against the opposition." source: http://www.texasmonthly.com/community/blog/pa...
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