By JEFF CARLTON and MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writers Jeff Carlton And Mike Baker, Associated Press Writers – 25 mins ago

FORT HOOD, Texas – An Army psychiatrist suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood cleaned out his apartment in the days before the rampage that left 13 people dead, a neighbor said Friday.

The neighbor, Patricia Villa, said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came over to her apartment Wednesday and Thursday and offered her some items, including a new Quran, saying he was going to be deployed on Friday. She wasn’t sure if he was going to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Authorities said Hasan went on a shooting spree later Thursday at the sprawling Texas post. He was among 30 people wounded in the spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator Friday. All but two of the injured were still hospitalized, and all were in stable condition.

Investigators were still trying to piecing together how and why an Army psychiatrist facing deployment allegedly gunned down his comrades in one of the worst mass shootings ever on an American military base.

“This was an individual who took it upon himself to attack and murder his colleagues, people who were on the base with him,” Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Sky News from Brussels, Belgium. “That investigation is under way by law enforcement authorities, and let’s let that be the No. 1 priorty in terms of ascertaining what motivations he had.”

Officials at the post hospital where Hasan worked said they weren’t aware of any problems with his job performance.

One of Hasan’s bosses praised his work ethic and said he provided excellent care for his patients.

“Up to this point I would consider him an asset,” said Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center.

She described Hasan as “a quiet man who wouldn’t seek the limelight.”

An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers.

Soldiers who witnessed the rampage reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment before the shooting spree.

Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were “despicable and deplorable” and don’t reflect how the family was raised.

Villa, who recently moved next door to Hasan, said she had never spoken to him before he came over to her apartment.

She said Hasan gave her frozen broccoli, spinach, T-shirts and shelves on Wednesday, then returned Thursday morning and gave her his air mattress, several briefcases and a desk lamp. He then offered her $60 to clean his apartment Friday morning, after he was supposed to leave.

The motive for the shooting wasn’t clear, but someone who used to work with Hasan said he had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Retired Col. Terry Lee told Fox News said Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.

But another neighbor said Hasan appeared to be OK with his pending deployment, which he said was supposed to be to Afghanistan.

“I asked him how he felt about going over there, with their religion and everything, and he said, `It’s going to be interesting,’” said Edgar Booker, a 58-year-old retired soldier who now works in a cafeteria on the post.

Col. Steve Braverman, the Fort Hood hospital commander, said early Friday that Hasan was on deployment orders to Afghanistan. A military official later told The Associated Press that Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq. It was not immediately possible to verify the discrepancy.

The military official, who did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Hasan had indicated he didn’t want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan.

Cone said authorities have not yet been able to talk to Hasan, but interviews with witnesses went through the night.

As some of the wounded began to recover, tales of heroic action during the shooting spree emerged.

Base officials lauded an officer, Kimberly Munley, who shot the gunman and was wounded herself.

“She happened to encounter the gunman. In an exchange of gunfire, she was wounded but managed to wound him four times,” Cone said. “It was an amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer.”

Cone said some 300 soldiers had been lined up to get vaccinations and have their eyes tested at a Soldier Readiness Center when the shots rang out. He said one soldier who had been shot told him, “I made the mistake of moving and I was shot again.”

Sgt. Andrew Hagerman said before the first ambulance even arrived, soldiers were tearing off their clothes to help the wounded.

“You had people without tops on. You had people ripping their pant legs off,” said Hagerman, a military policeman from Lewisville, Texas.

Hagerman said he saw Hasan laying on the ground receiving medical assistance for a gunshot wound as responders tried to get his handcuffs off to better treat him.

Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of “friendly fire,” that in the confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.

Cone acknowledged that it was “counterintuitive” that a single shooter could hit so many people, but he said the massacre occurred in “close quarters.

“With ricochet fire, he was able to injure that number of people,” Cone said. He said authorities were investigating whether Hasan’s weapons were properly registered with the military.

The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.

Friday was designated a day of mourning at Fort Hood. There also will be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.

For six years before reporting for duty at the Texas post in July, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. The Army major received his medical degree from the military’s Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

But his record wasn’t sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some “difficulties” that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said “I got the impression that he was a committed soldier.” He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan’s desire for a wife.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan’s aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and he wanted out of the Army.

“Some people can take it and some people cannot,” she said. “He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military.”

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

FBI agents who searched Hasan’s apartment early Friday seized his computer, a law enforcement official said. It was not immediately known if they found anything suspicious on his computer files.

A military official said investigators were sifting through materials Hasan carried with him during the shooting and evidence left in his vehicle, which was found parked at the base.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation

___

Baker reported from Killeen, Texas. Associated Press Writers Lara Jakes, Devlin Barrett, Brett J. Blackledge and Eileen Sullivan in Washington, April Castro in Killeen and Matt Curry in Dallas contributed to this report.

via Neighbor: Fort Hood suspect emptied his apartment – Yahoo! News.

Pelosi Plan Makes Millions of People Pay Fines

Monday, November 2, 2009 9:39 AM

By: Ernest Istook Article Font Size

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s healthcare plan presumes that about 8-14 million American workers will pay fines rather than buy health insurance. Unless they do, there’s a $167-billion hole in her financing plan and everything falls apart.

Like the rest of us, this group would face higher-than-ever insurance prices under Pelosi’s proposed bill.

Speaker Pelosi, President Obama, and others claim they will make coverage cheaper, yet the official projection relies upon millions who would prefer to pay fines rather than join their system. In some cases the individuals would pay the penalty; in others their employers would pay; and sometimes both.

The estimate of 8-14 million who would be fined is based on the official projections made by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The plan is built around a major contradiction. Only if it fails to make insurance more affordable would the bill generate the promised $167-billion by fining people who would still remain uninsured.

Why would this happen? Because insurance would become more expensive if the legislation passes, thus increasing the disincentives to buy coverage.

Premiums under the new government-run “public option” will probably be higher than from private insurance, according to the CBO (page 6 of its report). The Associated Press reports that “premiums in the public plan would be higher than the average for private plans.” Rather than inducing private carriers to lower their premiums, other experts agree that private insurance will also be costlier under Pelosi’s plan, as insurers pass along the bill’s tax increases.

Yet Speaker Pelosi claims the measure will bring “lower costs for every patient” by “lowering healthcare costs for all of us.” President Obama campaigned on a promise that the plan would save families $2,500 a year in lower premiums. He doesn’t mention that figure anymore.

The exact number of those who will pay fines is unknown, but it is huge. Here’s how the projection of 8-14 million was calculated, based on the CBO report:

• It starts with the finding by the CBO that $167 billion in penalties would be paid in the next 10 years — $135 billion by employers who don’t provide insurance and $32 billion by workers who don’t buy it. For companies, it’s an 8 percent payroll tax; for individuals it’s a convoluted formula that comes out to about 2-2.5 percent of income.

• CBO concluded that by 2019, the employer tax would generate $27 billion a year. Since that’s 8 percent, it represents a tax on $340 billion in wages. If aan average wage were $40,000, that would represent 8.4 million workers for whom fines would be paid.

• CBO also says by 2910 the annual fines paid by individuals would be about $6 billion per year. If their average wage were $40,000, it would represent 6-million tax filers (individuals and couples) paying the penalty.

• There would be overlap between the groups, so the total paying the penalty should be in the 8-14 million worker range — akin to about 1 worker in every 10 nationwide.

For this group of uninsured, the Pelosi plan makes them pay a lot and get little or nothing.

This is not a “millionaire’s tax.” It’s a tax on the uninsured. According to The New York Times, these tend to be “the working poor.”

Only a fraction of these Americans might receive some form of subsidy or assistance under the Pelosi plan. Yet sponsors claim they will finance the plan by collecting $167 billion in taxes from the uninsured! It contradicts the very premise of the legislation.

While attention has focused on the “public option” provision, the notion of collecting billions of dollars from millions of Americans — and still leaving them uninsured — is a serious wrong that deserves serious attention.

Ernest Istook, a former U.S. congressman from Oklahoma, is a distinguished fellow at The Heritage Foundation. This article is cross posted from The Foundry.

via Pelosi Plan Makes Millions of People Pay Fines.

Wallbuilders Voting Recommendations for
2009 Texas Constitutional Amendments

dates and locations where you may go to vote. (Our Christian Voter Guide website has voter guides from other pro-family groups, as well as additional information.) Please vote, pass this on, and encourage those in your circle of influence to vote!
WallBuilders Recommendations

: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the financing, including through tax increment financing, of the acquisition by municipalities and counties of buffer areas or open spaces adjacent to a military installation for the prevention of encroachment or for the construction of roadways, utilities, or other infrastructure to protect or promote the mission of the military installation.”Proposition 1

Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: The language of this amendment is so vague that it will allow cities and counties to enlarge infrastructure, increase the use of eminent domain, and thus elevate property taxes under the laudable excuse of helping military bases. Municipalities already have the right to use eminent domain, but this amendment would authorize them to finance an expanded use of that power. While the stated purpose of this amendment is laudable, the potential for abuse and misuse is too great.: No Proposition 2

: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to provide for the ad valorem taxation of a residence homestead solely on the basis of the property’s value as a residence homestead.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: Currently, residential property is taxed on its “highest and best use,” thus allowing excessive property taxation by taxing residential property as if it were commercial property. According to the Texas House Select Committee on Property Tax Relief and Appraisal Reform, “appraisal values increased from 200-400% in one year as a result of the ‘highest and best use’ standard.” This amendment helps provide a limit on property tax appraisal hikes by ensuring that residential homes are appraised at a residential rather than a commercial value.: Yes Proposition 3

: “The constitutional amendment providing for uniform standards and procedures for the appraisal of property for ad valorem tax purposes.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: This amendment provides for equal treatment among Texans, ensuring that property tax appraisals will be calculated by uniform standards and methods, thus reducing bias and manipulation in appraisals. Local decision-making on this tax issue will be eliminated by this amendment, but on this issue, equal treatment of all citizens under the law is a more fundamental and compelling principle than that of local controls.: Yes Proposition 4

: “The constitutional amendment establishing the national research university fund to enable emerging research universities in this state to achieve national prominence as major research universities and transferring the balance of the higher education fund to the national research university fund.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: This amendment will increase spending on non-essential government services at a time when the economy is poor and there is a likelihood of a deficit in the coming legislative session. This is the wrong time for increased spending on non-essential governmental services; current educational resources should be focused on student education rather than research expansion. Furthermore, free enterprise already provides extensive and productive private research whereas government funded research often results in questionable projects and endeavors that would never withstand free-market scrutiny or competition.: No Proposition 5

: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the legislature to authorize a single board of equalization for two or more adjoining appraisal entities that elect to provide for consolidated equalizations.Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: This amendment will help reduce government duplication and redundancy. Since rural counties with small populations often have a limited pool of qualified persons to serve on appraisal review boards, this consolidation will make it more likely that review boards will be staffed with competent and qualified personnel.: Yes Proposition 6

: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the Veterans’ Land Board to issue general obligation bonds in amounts equal to or less than amounts previously authorized.”Recommended Vote

: No strong recommendation; NO: The Veterans’ Land Board (composed of both elected and appointed officials) has been one government agency with a record of efficient operation. Currently, the Board must seek legislative approval every two years in order to issue low risk bonds, but this amendment will eliminate that bi-annual requirement. Based on the positive record of this Board, this amendment might possibly increase government operating efficiency. But on the other hand, for a board to seek a bi-annual legislative approval helps ensure accountability and maintains checks and balances, therefore remaining a sound principle of governance.weak Reasoning

Proposition 7

: “The constitutional amendment to allow an officer or enlisted member of the Texas State Guard or other state militia or military force to hold other civil offices.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: From the time of the Founding Fathers, state elected officials have been allowed to serve in state militaries (e.g., Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry). While this practice is not permitted on the federal level (the Constitution separates the civil authority from the military authority, and federal law reinforces that separation of power), it has been traditional at the state level. This amendment will permit Texas civil officials who wish to do so to also serve in the Texas State Guard.: Yes Proposition 8

: “The constitutional amendment authorizing the state to contribute money, property, and other resources for the establishment, maintenance, and operation of veterans hospitals in this state.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: Veterans hospitals and veterans benefits are services provided by the national military and are under the direct supervision of the national Congress (a fact made clear by George Washington in his letter resigning from the Continental Army at the end of the American Revolution). While there is currently a proper resistance to federal intrusion into state powers, the issue of veterans is one that constitutionally should be maintained at the federal rather than the state level. Veterans do need excellent services and facilities, but it is the responsibility of the federal and not the state governments to provide the necessary excellence in this area. Opposing this amendment preserves the constitutional separation of powers between the federal and the state levels.: No Proposition 9

: “The constitutional amendment to protect the right of the public, individually and collectively, to access and use the public beaches bordering the seaward shore of the Gulf of Mexico.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: Constitutionally requiring that there must be public access to these beaches infringes the private property rights of those owning property along those beaches. The Open Beaches Act of 1959 already provides protections for easements along those beaches. This is an expansion of government power that infringes on private property rights.: No Proposition 10

: “The constitutional amendment to provide that elected members of the governing boards of emergency services districts may serve terms not to exceed four years.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

: Currently, Emergency Service Districts have great powers, including the power to levy taxes, and board members serve two year terms. Lengthening these terms would reduce public oversight over these board members and their extensive powers. These board members should be as accountable to voters as are members of the Texas and the U. S. House of Representatives and therefore should face elections every two rather than every four years.
: No Proposition 11

: “The constitutional amendment to prohibit the taking, damaging, or destroying of private property for public use unless the action is for the ownership, use, and enjoyment of the property by the State, a political subdivision of the State, the public at large, or entities granted the power of eminent domain under law or for the elimination of urban blight on a particular parcel of property, but not for certain economic development or enhancement of tax revenue purposes, and to limit the legislature’s authority to grant the power of eminent domain to an entity.”Recommended Vote

Reasoning

Here’s what you can do:

: In 2005, the U. S. Supreme Court’s Kelo decision wrongly allowed cities to depart from the tradition exercise of eminent domain for “public use” (i.e., to obtain private property for the construction of schools, bridges, roads, etc.) and instead to apply an expansive “public purpose” measurement whereby cities could seize private property and turn it over to economic developers who would generate increased tax revenue for cities. However, the Supreme Court did note that state legislatures could limit this power by defining “public use”; this amendment properly narrows the definition, thereby better protecting private property rights.: Yes

Find your polling location!

Please pass this information on to others and encourage them to vote! You may also visit

Early voting locations (open from October 19-30) may be different than Election Day locations (November 3). Because you never know what last-minute emergencies may arise, please early vote and encourage others to do the same!www.christianvoterguide.com for additional information.

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Document sheds light on ethics probe in Congress – washingtonpost.com.

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 2, 2009

By Ann Gerhart

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The crisp cadence of a fife-and-drum corps reverberated through the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday morning, the august room packed with nearly 500 people craning their necks to see the remarkable tableau arranged on a stage before them.

There sat Edward William Brooke III, who grew up in a segregated neighborhood not far from the Capitol, fought in a segregated Army in World War II and returned to Washington in 1967, the first African American elected to the Senate by popular vote — and on this day, the recipient of the highest honor Congress can bestow, the Congressional Gold Medal.

And there sat President Obama, whose stunning electoral journey to the White House seemed no more improbable than the one made four decades earlier by the 90-year-old man who sat beside him, a black Protestant Republican who won in the overwhelmingly white, Catholic, Democratic state of Massachusetts. After Obama heralded Brooke for a life spent “breaking barriers and bridging divides,” the two men embraced tightly. It was a reminder of how much this country has changed in their lifetimes.

Brooke is a tall and expressive man, unstooped by age, quick to smile and careful to put others at ease. His voice carries more of his youth at Shaw Junior High than his adulthood in Boston. On Wednesday, he wore a gold-striped tie and a dark jacket. And he turned his full charisma on  Nancy Pelosi, noting, with some wonderment, “now the speaker of the House is . . . a . . . lady!”

In his two terms in the Senate, Brooke took up the causes of low-income housing, increasing the minimum wage and furthering mass transit. He took on big tobacco. A strong proponent of civil rights from his days as Massachusetts’s attorney general, he was a lonely Republican voice against school segregation and for reproductive rights for women. Eventually, he took on his own president. Brooke, noted  Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) on Wednesday, introduced legislation to name a special prosecutor in the Watergate scandal, and he became the first senator in either party to call for President Richard M. Nixon’s resignation.

Such a coalition-builder was Brooke, Obama said, that his “fan base includes Gloria Steinem,  Barney Frank and  Ted Kennedy — as well as  Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush,” who awarded Brooke the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004.

“He didn’t care whether a bill was popular or politically expedient, Democratic or Republican — he cared about whether it helped people, whether it made a difference in their daily lives,” Obama said.

Brooke’s way was “to ignore the naysayers, reject the conventional wisdom and trust that ultimately, people would judge him on his character, his commitment, his record and his ideas,” the president said. “He ran for office, as he put it, ‘to bring people together who had never been together before.’ And that he did.”

It was a far different time, of course. A third of the Republican caucus was considered liberal or moderate. The South was still a Democratic stronghold.

Wednesday was the first time Brooke had met the president. When Obama entered the Senate, the two men talked on the phone once. They exchanged their books, “each with kind inscriptions,” Brooke said in an interview. “He wrote, ‘You paved the way for us’ or something like that, and I said something like, ‘You are a worthy bearer of the torch.’ “

He is proud of what Obama has accomplished, he said. “What really pleases me is that he is trying his best and succeeding with what he said he would do. The problem people have with politicians is that they say what they are gonna do, and that is the end of it.”

Brooke added that he was particularly touched that Obama signed legislation Wednesday that extends protection from hate crimes to gay men and lesbians, a cause he first advanced in the 1960s.

Brooke said the two men “share a pragmatism” that enabled each of them to vault over old fears. When he first sought statewide office as attorney general, he said, “I heard it: ‘White voters will never vote for you.’ And I would say: ‘We’ve been voting for whites all these years. I can’t see any reason why, if the candidate has integrity and intelligence and commitment and ideas, he can’t be elected to statewide office.’ “

via Former senator Edward Brooke receives Congressional Gold Medal – washingtonpost.com.

The Washington Post has a delightful story on Edward Brooke, the first African American Senator elected by popular vote. Having recently celebrated his 90th birthday, the former Republican Senator from Massachusetts was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday. In the audience sat the third African American to head to the Senate via the popular vote, President Obama.

Brooke has always been a hero of mine, for breaking a racial barrier and for being a solid moderate Republican. He is one of the reasons I am a Republican. So, it is truly an honor to see this man be feted- and it is also amazing that in the same room sat the first African American Senator elected by popular vote and the first African American President.

What a country.

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via Honoring Edward Brooke – Hip Hop Republican.

DL replacements must be done online or by mail

Updated: Monday, 19 Oct 2009, 2:07 PM CDT

Published : Monday, 19 Oct 2009, 11:40 AM CDT

Shane Allen

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Texas Department of Public Safety announced changes Monday that officials said will reduce the time you’ll have to wait in line at the DMV.

Starting Oct. 29, those who need to re-instate their driver’s license or get a copy of their driving record will have to do it all online or mail it in. With this change, DPS officials said the agency will let its employees to focus on driver’s license renewals or issuing drivers permits or new licenses.

Visit the Web site to handle your driver’s license reinstatement or driving record. You can also renew your license there if you live in a participating county.

The service is $1 extra, but in a world where time is money, it could be worth it. DPS has offered eligible people the option of renewing their driver’s license or identification card over the internet since 2001.

Starting at the end of the month, it’ll be mandatory for people who meet the criteria.

You must be 18 years or older, within one year of the license or identification card expiring, and did not renew online, by mail or telephone at their last renewal.

You can also change your address, register their vehicle, file a driver record record request, pay driver responsibility surcharges or access the driver responsibility program on line.

Ineligible driver’s license and ID card holders include: Those who have expired, revoked, or suspended license or identification card, people with a provisional or commercial driver’s license and drivers 79 and older.

“The elimination of these services at Driver License offices will not change the processing time for driver records or driver license re-instatement, which will remain at seven to 10 business days,” said DPS spokesperson Tela Mange in a press release.

“However, customers should submit their paperwork in a timely fashion and keep a copy of the paperwork they have submitted.”

Only three of DPS’ driver’s license offices provide driving records and reinstatement services – Houston on Gessner, San Antonio on Universal City and Austin on Denson. Those three offices will not close. They’ll still remain open for other driver’s license transactions.

This move comes after complaints this year with wait times at DPS offices. The department add that summer months were busy as usual but that a new $48-million computer system was plagued with problems.

via DPS trying to reduce wait times | KXAN.com.

October deadliest month for US in Afghan war – Yahoo! News.