Free Republic

AUSTIN - When it comes to road improvement and maintenance, by most accounts, the South Plains and Panhandle are fortunate. Despite a $1.1 billion accounting error, the Texas Department of Transportation recently reported no projects in the region have been canceled or delayed while cities like Dallas, Houston and Laredo had at least a half dozen highway projects delayed. But the $1.1 billion-error, which occurred because TxDOT inadvertently counted some bond money twice and consequently allocated more funding than it had, is just the latest problem plaguing the beleaguered agency. For months, TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz and other transportation...

ROBSTOWN, Tex. — Leon Little’s farm here near Corpus Christi would not be seized for Texas’s proposed $184-billion-plus superhighway project for 5 or 10 years, if ever. But Mr. Little was alarmed enough to show up Wednesday night with hundreds of his South Texas coastal neighbors to do what the Texas Department of Transportation has been urging: “Go ahead, don’t hold back.� Don’t worry. Texans have gotten the message, swamping hearings and town meetings across the state to grill and often excoriate agency officials about a colossal traffic makeover known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, a public-private partnership unrivaled in the...

Even though he didn't get a majority for re-election last year, Gov. Rick Perry's 39 percent was ahead of everybody else. And so he's now in a term that lasts into 2011. In the eyes of some of his detractors in the blogosphere, that's too long. Political activist Linda Curtis has started a website calling on legislators in 2009 to impeach the governor (www.impeachperry.indytexans.org/). That's a pretty rash idea. But since Texas doesn't allow for recall elections, like the one that nailed California Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003, Texans' only way to toss Perry out before the 2010 election...

There are two universities operating under the name the University of Texas. One is a world-class academic institution. Its faculty is professional and dedicated to disinterested scholarly inquiry. Its courses observe the principles of scientific method, and its students are taught to respect evidence and to demand more than one perspective on matters that are controversial. But there is a second university, which is quite different in its methods and goals. This university's faculty regard themselves as activists, not scholars, and their method is that of authority, not science. Their curriculum is designed not to teach students how to conduct...

As Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath lay dying of alcohol poisoning, members of the club he was trying to join defaced his body with anti-gay epithets and obscene drawings, according to a medical examiner's report. "It was disgusting and despicable behavior," said Houston attorney Randy Sorrels, who represents Phoummarath's family. Sorrels said Phoummarath was not gay. The 18-year-old freshman from Houston, who wanted to join the Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternity at the University of Texas at Austin, died Dec. 10, 2005, after ingesting large amounts of alcohol at a party at the fraternity house. The medical examiner reported his blood-alcohol content was...

This is absolutely hillarious! The Young Conservatives of Texas - University of Texas Chapter announced today that they will be displaying an “ACLU Nativity Scene” on the West Mall of the University of Texas campus on Monday and Tuesday, December 4th and 5th. The group’s intent is to raise awareness on the extremity of the ACLU, and bring to light its secular-progressive efforts to remove Christmas from the public sphere. The display, the first of its kind in the nation, will feature characters that are quite a bit different than the standard crèche. “We’ve got Gary and Joseph instead of...

AUSTIN - A University of Texas biology professor has been targeted by talk radio, bloggers and vitriolic e-mails - including a death threat - after a published report that he advocated death for most of the population as a means of saving the Earth. But Eric Pianka said Monday his remarks about what he believes is an impending pandemic were taken out of context. "What we really need to do is start thinking about controlling our population before it's too late," he said. "It's already too late, but we're not even thinking about it. We're just mindlessly rushing ahead breeding...

WASHINGTON — A Texas congressman has received "most of the materials'' he requested about why the U.S. Energy Department awarded a contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory to a team that includes the University of California, his spokeswoman said. Lisa Miller, spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee that Joe Barton heads, said discussions between DOE and the committee were continuing. She had no details about Barton's reaction. Barton, R-Texas, demanded the information last month when the DOE awarded the contract to run the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab to UC and three corporations instead of to a team...

The bitter truth, as we feast on the bounty of the empire -Our myth of Thanksgiving warps a history of genocide ONE indication of moral and intellectual progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day with a National Day of Atonement. Indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas. But the thought of changing this white-supremacist holiday is hard to...

A student who cursed, gestured after Ann Coulter's speech is escorted out in handcuffs AUSTIN - Note to hecklers at the University of Texas: When jeering, keep it clean or face possible arrest. Ajai Raj, a 19-year-old English major, thought he was exercising his right to free speech when he quizzed conservative pundit Ann Coulter on her definition of marriage after a lecture she delivered at the LBJ Library. Trouble was, he used profanity and then made obscene gestures while walking away from a microphone set up for the question-and-answer portion of Tuesday's event. Moments later, university police were inside...

MAY 5--Months after members of "Al Pieda" marred a campus speech by Ann Coulter, another appearance by the controversial conservative commentator has been disrupted by a protester. During a speech last night at the University of Texas in Austin, a 19-year-old UT student was busted after asking Coulter a lewd question, which he followed up with equally inappropriate hand gestures, according to the below police affidavit. The student, Ajai Raj, was arrested by campus police and hit with a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. The police affidavit notes that Coulter's lecture was attended by "several children under the age of...

Robert Jensen (rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu) is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the author of Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity. In an article written for The Austin American Statesman, Jensen recently claimed that “The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.” While Jensen was careful to say that the loss of American lives is not to be celebrated, he insulted our soldiers deeply by saying that their deaths “haven't protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis.” Instead, he brushed off their service to our...

Robert Jensen (rjensen@uts.cc.utexas.edu) is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also the author of "Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity." In an article written for The Austin American Statesman, Jensen recently claimed that “The United States has lost the war in Iraq, and that's a good thing.” While Jensen was careful to say that the loss of American lives is not to be celebrated, he insulted our soldiers deeply by saying that their deaths “haven't protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis.” Instead, he brushed off their service to our...

AUSTIN, TEXAS — The University of Texas is considering requiring students to study another culture, and some students are upset. "It absolutely is political correctness gone amok," said Mark Tait, director of internal affairs for  the Young Conservatives of Texas. Arguing that the University of Texas is already culturally inclusive, Tait said, "Students don't need bureaucracy to tell them to increase and broaden their cultural perspective."

University of Texas President Larry Faulkner announced this week a plan to make UT a more welcoming place for minorities. One suggestion calls for moving the statues of Confederate icons (on campus).

The University of Texas at Austin would appoint a senior diversity officer, require a cross-cultural course and rearrange statues of Confederate leaders under a new proposal that aims to fix strained race relations. The recommendations, announced Monday by UT President Larry Faulkner, are a response to a report submitted in January by a task force on "racial respect and fairness." The task force was formed in response to incidents of racial insensitivity at UT. "We'd like to position UT to be a more positive agent in developing students' knowledge and skills so they can work across cultural boundaries in a...

D A L L A S, Dec. 13— University of Texas journalism professor Robert Jensen is an unapologetic liberal who openly expresses his strong views, both in and out of the classroom. "My political views are left," Jensen said. "Some people would call me a radical." In the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, student Austin Kinghorn felt Jensen crossed the line. "We walked in, and he had the overhead projector turned on, and on there was a sentence, 'What is terrorism?' " Kinghorn said. "And Jensen took the next hour and 15 minutes of class to basically make his point,...

Nightline is doing a show about Young Conservatives in Texas who established Professor Watch in the wake of Prof. Robert Jensen's rhetorical attacks on America in the wake of September 11. They are keeping track of leftist profs on campus. The specter of McCarthyism has been raised. Oh the horrors!

I was happy to learn last week that a conservative student group at the University of Texas had published a "professor watch list" of instructors who "push an ideological viewpoint on their students through often times subtle but sometimes abrasive methods of indoctrination." I have long held that one of the most serious problems on our campus -- the largest in the country, with more than 51,000 students -- is that the student body is largely depoliticized. Given that lack of political engagement, I'm grateful for anything that gets students talking about politics, especially the role of politics in the...

Fire at UTA cuts power to campus, area streets11:27 PM CDT on Friday, October 24, 2003By JAIME JORDAN / The Dallas Morning News A three-alarm fire at a University of Texas at Arlington utilities building disrupted power to most of the campus Friday night. Firefighters responded to a call about 5:20 p.m. at the utilities building at 606 S. West St. The building was scheduled for demolition to make room for a new research building, UTA spokeswoman Donna Darovich said. Two workers were on the roof when a fire started there, she said. Officials are still investigating the cause. One...

Four days ago Warblogging reported on the story of Maher (Mike) Hawash. Mr. Hawash's problems have now been the subject of an article in the New York Times. Mr. Hawash is a programmer, working at Intel, who was detained by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force as a material witness. He has so far spent just about two weeks in jail without being charged with a crime and without being questioned or told why he is detained. He is being kept in solitary confinement. Mr. Hawash was detained by FBI agents wearing helments, body armor and carrying assault rifles...

Texas to Get Reporters' Watergate Papers By KELLEY SHANNON, Associated Press WriterAUSTIN, Texas - The Watergate papers of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein will be housed and made available for study at the University of Texas at Austin in a $5 million deal announced Monday.   The school said it is paying Woodward and Bernstein to archive the documents, enough to fill about 75 file boxes, at its Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center. The center will preserve the papers, including notebooks, assorted pieces of paper and photographs. The vast majority will be available to the public...

Views On War Clash On UTSA Campus LAST UPDATE: 2/20/2003 9:43:34 PM Posted By: Maritza Nunez Tough talk on Iraq this week, as US leaders confirmed they would begin their push for a second UN resolution next Monday. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein is issuing double food rations to his people in anticipation of a long war with the US and its allies. But people here in the US are still sharply divided over Iraq. Many anti-war demonstrations in recent days show the sharp division between those calling for peace and those wanting war. That became clear in San Antonio Thursday...

“RLC of Texas Privacy Proclamation” with Congressman Ron Paul: February 17, 2003 - University of Texas - Austin The Honorable Congressman Ron Paul is coming to Austin February 17th, 2003, for the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Austin PRIVACY Proclamation! The next generation of Americans will enjoy the freedoms purchased through the sacrifice of America’s founders and contemporary supporters, and not tolerate government spying through the PATRIOT Act or Homeland Security Departments. The government that failed to protect America from foreign attack by a credible, identifiable enemy (i.e. bin Laden’s Al Quaeda), in spite of trillions of defense tax...