NCAA Men's Basketball Recap: Final statistics from the Kansas Jayhawks vs. Texas Longhorns game played on February 08, 2010

The Texas Nationalist Movement, whose motto is “Independence, in Our Lifetime,” was going to hold its first-ever Texas Independence Conference in mid-March at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown San Antonio. But that event is being slated for later in the year due to scheduling conflicts.~~~In the wake of AFP’s coverage in its Feb. 1 edition of 10 Vermont candidates seeking elected office on a secessionist basis, this Texas secession exploration movement is yet another sign that Americans are growing tired of trying to get the U.S. government to acknowledge their existence—let alone stop representing super-rich interests over those of the common citizen.~~~As for the present day, details for rescheduling the postponed conference will be posted as soon as possible on the TNM website, TexasNationalist.com., and the conference’s full agenda will be published as it becomes available. A spokeswoman for the movement told AFP on Jan. 26 that it’s only known that the conference will not be in March. So, it will have to be in April or later. The underlying premise in Texas, Alaska, Tennessee, Vermont and other states flirting with secession is stated in the Declaration of Independence: “That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

Texas unemployment up; Austin's tech economy fading... Texas, a traditionally poor state, is now strongly feeling the effects of the national economic slump... Since Texas has borrowed all it can, and since a state can't print money like the federal government, the feds are now under enormous political pressure to function as the job creators of last resort... With the decline of Austin's past economic drivers, Austin's future is now more closely linked to conditions in both the Texas and national economies. The Austin area will continue to rely on state government and higher education for its traditional and reliable economic base of support, but if so, it will have to be through increasing federal participation...

The Texas Observer has been Texas' crusading progressive newsweekly for 56 years. This post features articles by editor Bob Moser on teabaggers and "dimwitted populism" -- and by publisher Carlton Carl on former Observer editor Molly Ivins and Barack Obama: "Barack, Molly and me of little Faith."

For a long time now the dynamics of the struggle over abortion rights have been predictably characterized as the "Pro-Life" forces against those who are "Pro-Choice." Now the illustrious Rick Perry, governor of Texas, has added a decidedly new wrinkle, as he thanked those attending an anti-abortion rally in Austin for their "Anti-Choice" views. Ah the philosophical implications...

"(Texas) Gov. Rick Perry's campaign has unknowingly paid convicted felons as part-time workers under its incentive program to turn out voters for the Republican primary. ... Perry has described the campaign as a grass-roots effort that would help sweep him past Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the primary. But the voter turnout program has been problematic, requiring campaign staffers to spend crucial time verifying the voters who are recruited, campaign e-mails show. And the revelation that some have criminal histories, including some for drug-related crimes, could open the campaign to charges of carelessness."

'In late 1976 I decided on a move to Austin to work as a singer/songwriter ... It was just in time for the Progressive Country days, and I was booked all over Texas doing half-music, half-comedy shows wherever they would pay me...' [Vince Bell's songs have been performed and recorded by such diverse talents as Little Feat, Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith, and he has had a ballet set to his work. His song "Sun & Moon & Stars" is featured on Lyle Lovett's new CD, Natural Forces.]

'An investigative report reveals that Texas continues to execute mentally retarded prisoners despite a U.S. Supreme Court ban. The state has been basing its decisions on unreliable mental health testimony by a court-appointed psychologist. In The Texas Observer, Renée Feltz reported the mistakes made by George Denkowski in psychiatric evaluations -- and how catching a similar mistake saved the life of Daniel Plata...' [With Video of Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman interviewing Feltz]

Why won’t Texas just get on with it and secede from the Union? Despite the fact it is unconstitutional to execute mentally retarded prisoners in the United States, Texas has found a loophole to the law, according to a published report. According to a new report in The Texas Observer, psychologist George Denkowski, an expert witness often used by Texas prosecutors, practices a form of “junk science” to erroneously boost the intelligence evaluation scores of mentally deficient death row prisoners.

'Governor Perry ignores student needs: Turns down $700 mission in fed funds... Among the Republican leadership in Texas, politics is much more important than educating children or solving social problems...Texas ranks near the bottom of all the states in funding its public education... [while] Texas schools only graduate 65.3% of high school students... The [Board of Education] members are afraid that [federal standards that would accompany the funding] would prohibit their efforts to inject their religious and political beliefs into the school curriculum...'

'Now, in the home stretch of a process that will set the state's nationally influential standards, a liberal watchdog group is worried that the State Board of Education will try to push through changes to claim that communist-hunting Sen. Joseph McCarthy has been vindicated by history, among other right-wing pet issues.' Also 'Who stays and who goes? Texas Board of Education meeting in Austin' -- see which Hispanics make the cut...

If Denkowski loses his license, 17 men on death row may have their cases re-evaluated, according to the Observer. But some have already been executed. In one case, Denkowski first determined that an inmate was mentally disabled but changed his mind when prison guards found books in his cell.

KVUE News | The Texas Department of State Health services has about four months to destroy blood samples taken and stored without permission from millions of babies.

"Such tales have played out across Texas over the last year, as pending food-stamp applications have soared, from about 38,000 a year ago to more than 65,000 in October. Two-thirds of those people had waited longer than the federally mandated 30 days and nearly half had waited more than 60 days. The worst delays, the agency concedes, have stranded families without help for months on end. And those figures tend to undercount the total case load because they don't capture many applications until a worker starts processing them."

"Over the past 15 years, the forensic science of arson has undergone a revolution(.) With nearly 800 people serving time for arson convictions in Texas prisons alone, the wider implications aren’t hard to grasp. It now appears that hundreds of Texans have been wrongly convicted on the basis of outdated and inaccurate forensic evidence. Nobody knows exactly how many, because no one’s looked comprehensively at the cases of those in prison for arson."

"When Texas reopens its execution chamber after a Thanksgiving break, the first man set to die may be mentally retarded. A 2002 Supreme Court ruling bans the execution of mentally retarded prisoners."

Despite the state Board of Pardons and Parole voting to spare Robert Lee Thompson's life, Bush Jr's successor, Rick 'Hair Club of Men' Perry voted to kill him anyway. Why have a board when you have a dictator?

In 2005, homophobic lawmakers in Texas inserted this clause into the state constitution: “This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.” Their intent was prevent same-sex civil unions, but instead their incompetence may have opened the door to costly lawsuits and expense to the state.

The appeals court today rejected Soffar's argument that the trial judge erred by refusing to admit evidence that another man confessed to committing the murders, and that this man committed a series of highly similar robbery-murders in Tennessee. The man, Paul Reid, formerly of Houston, now awaits execution on Tennessee's death row. A photograph of Reid, taken in Houston nine days after the crime, strongly resembles the composite sketch the police prepared based on the description of the sole witness to the crime.

Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general, says that a 22-word clause in a 2005 constitutional amendment designed to ban gay marriages erroneously endangers the legal status of all marriages in the state. The amendment, approved by the Legislature and overwhelmingly ratified by voters, declares that 'marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.' But the troublemaking phrase, as Radnofsky sees it, is Subsection B, which declares: 'This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.' Architects of the amendment included the clause to ban same-sex civil unions and domestic partnerships. But Radnofsky, who was a member of the powerhouse Vinson & Elkins law firm in Houston for 27 years until retiring in 2006, says the wording of Subsection B effectively 'eliminates marriage in Texas,' including common-law marriages."