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Patients are spilling out of Parkland Private hospitals shoulder half of indigent burden, study says 09:40 PM CST on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 By SHERRY JACOBSON / The Dallas Morning News Patients seem to be spilling out of the overcrowded public health system in Dallas County into private hospitals, where officials say they are treating more poor and uninsured people in emergency rooms. A recent study financed by the Dallas County Commissioners Court estimated that 10 local hospitals, including Baylor University Medical Center, Presbyterian Hospital and Methodist Medical Center, had to foot the bill for $285 million worth of uncompensated...

Man suspected of smuggling people TIJUANA – A people-smuggling suspect is facing charges after Mexican immigration authorities captured him with two people of Iraqi origin at the city bus station. The suspect, Mouakkeh Mouhamed Rouchdi, is apparently of Syrian-French background, according to Mexican authorities. He arrived in Tijuana this week with the two others after traveling from La Paz, Mexican authorities said. He was allegedly charging the two others $10,000 each to transport them illegally into San Diego, Mexican authorities said. The other two people were of Iraqi origin but had Greek nationality, Mexican authorities said. The two flew from...

WASHINGTON – Despite increased anti-terror demands, immigration inspectors guarding the nation's borders are laboring under an internal budget crisis that has forced freezes on overtime pay and new hiring – as well as the release of hundreds of illegal immigrants from detention centers. The funding crisis, which some lawmakers blame on possible financial mismanagement at the Department of Homeland Security, is expected to last at least through the fall, even as DHS warns that al-Qaida is planning another large-scale attack here before the November elections and has ordered airport inspectors to increase scrutiny of Pakistanis and other foreign nationals entering...

BROKE A HUNDRED LAST NIGHT, 99 DAYS LEFT TO GO! Looks like even CNN can't hold it back, the clear majority want AWB outta here.   Created: Sunday, May 09, 2004, at 22:12:03 EDT Should the federal ban on assault weapons be... Lifted   59% 216613 votes Extended   41% 152340 votes Total: 368953 votes This QuickVote is not scientific and reflects the opinions of only those Internet users who have chosen to participate. The results cannot be assumed to represent the opinions of Internet users in general, nor the public as a whole. The QuickVote sponsor is not responsible...

Border Patrol receives land seizure By Karen Gleason The News-Herald Published May 08, 2004 Land once used as a staging ground for smuggling drugs and people into the United States will now be used by the U.S. Border Patrol to establish a way station. The land, about 4.5 acres along the Rio Grande near Quemado, was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol in a brief ceremony at the Border Patrol's sector headquarters here Friday morning. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said the land seizure was a perfect example of what could be accomplished when local, state and federal lawmen work...

What the heck is up with the price of gas? Check this.  The gas prices started to climb (unexpectedly) about the wrap up of GWII.   Normal market balance returned the average price back to near pre GWII levels.  Then the prices started climbing again.  Steady.  Sure.  Climbing. Is there another "factor" we are not seeing?  Perhaps there is a "signal" we need to send. MOAB?  Corporate investigation?  Something is jacking the prices and it needs to get "squared up."  We are looking at $2.00 gal gas at MID-SUMMER. Info?  Theory?  Explanations? TLI

HOUSTON - Crystal Gonzalez, 17, gave up on high school in Houston's East End neighborhood earlier this year. She never made it past ninth-grade. ''They told me there was no hope. It would take me so many years to graduate,'' said Gonzalez, held back twice at Channelview High School because of poor attendance. ''They told me it would be better for me to get my GED. They probably had other students that needed to be in school more.'' She left a system that doesn't consider her a dropout since she is working toward a General Equivalency Diploma. Some say...

WASHINGTON - Crisscrossing the country to defend the USA Patriot Act from the slings and arrows of conservatives and liberals alike, Attorney General John Ashcroft praises the law as invaluable to the war on terrorism and national security. "We have used these tools to prevent terrorists from unleashing more death and destruction on our soil," he said last month as he kicked off a multistate defense of the law. Virtually unmentioned, however, is the fact that the Patriot Act extended the government's powers well beyond the terrorism arena. The creatively named law - USA Patriot stands for "Uniting and...

This article is from CRN (http://www.crn.com/). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ <beginstory> Border Checkpoints Prepare For Biometric Security By Brian Bergstein, 7:54 PM EST Mon., Aug. 25, 2003 Biometric technology that scans faces, fingerprints or other physical characteristics to confirm people's identities is about to get its biggest, most public test: at U.S. border checkpoints. Yet significant questions loom about whether the U.S. and foreign governments can meet an Oct. 26, 2004, deadline set by Congress for upgrading passports and visas to include biometrics. "This is the mother of all projects - there's no question about it," said Joseph Atick, chief of Identix...

Did anyone catch the comments of the Feds (and other cops) on the Dateline bit about 10 minutes ago regarding the missing couple from the northeast? Seems as though they were ALL bent out of shape because a young college couple apparently got away from overbearing parents to celebrate there 5th anniversary by going to Florida. Problem was... get this.. they did not use there cell phones, credit cards or an ATM machine. The feds were actually referring to this as though they considered it to be a crime. They used the phrase "cellphone avoidance" several times and did everything...

08/07/2003 The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — Thousands of complaints are pouring into the Texas secretary of state's office after voters with Hispanic surnames received election information written only in Spanish. The four-page fliers explain the Sept. 13 constitutional amendment election. About 1.8 million Spanish versions were printed to comply with voting rights laws. Some Hispanics were offended by the suggestion they only speak Spanish. Others were concerned that Spanish speakers with nontraditional Hispanic names wouldn't get the information. The office has been using this method since the 1980s, and officials said this is the first year they've been bombarded...

WARNING ! ! ! Industrial Strength BARF Alert Trial lawyers feel heat 08/05/2003 By WAYNE SLATER / The Dallas Morning News SAN FRANCISCO ? The Learjet lawyers have landed ? targeted by the White House, vilified by business, unrepentant against a storm of legislation in Congress and statehouses coast to coast. By the time James Carville lit up the ballroom at the Hilton hotel, the battle cry to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America was loud and clear: You are outnumbered and under siege by powerful Republican forces. "A lot of you have been blessed, you've done better than...

In the past three days I have actually heard a radio add by Corporal Cueball hizself for .... long distance service? Yep! The second time I caught the ad (today) was on WBAP AM 820 Dallas Texas, about 2:35 - 2:40 pm. My first thought on this was "times must REALLY be getting tough" with the dems.  Then I had a really scary thought.  Could this be some opening move for a radio time/personnel endorsement swap to get around the new election laws? Eyes and ears open, the election race appears to have begun. Thoughts? Conformations of (other) ads outside...

RANCH RESCUE BACK IN THE SADDLE, GOING BACK TO JIM HOGG COUNTY ! http://www.ranchrescue.com/texas.htm#falcon From what I see on the Operation Ranch Rescue website they have regrouped and are going back in strength.  It is my understanding that the usual number of participants is 50.   This time they are putting together about 200 (sounds like FReeping to me!) and are headed back at the end of the month.  It looks like there will be a LOT of documentation going on, I suppose County Sheriff E-Raz-Mo is gonna have some `splanin to do. GO TEAM! Check out the site link and...

Man arrested in alleged Smart extortion plot Wednesday, November 6, 2002 Posted: 8:16 PM EST (0116 GMT) Man arrested in alleged Smart extortion plot Wednesday, November 6, 2002 Posted: 8:16 PM EST (0116 GMT) SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- FBI agents arrested an 18-year-old man in Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday who allegedly claimed to have kidnapped Elizabeth Smart and who was demanding $3 million for her return.

National Firearm Purchase Day Check it out!&nbsp; Scroll down a bit....

I just came across this and had to share, I have never seen one quite like this.. Use the "NASA" link above or cut and paste this http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights2_dmsp_big.jpg

Attention Dallas Ft.WORTH FREEPERS CHN. 4 Fox running AUBABTU on 9:00.... More to follow

An apparent record high in low, CNN resorts to comedians to push political agenda. His website tells the tale. Known scam artist, what was CNN thinking putting this in front of the American people as someone with a shred of credibility? http://www.martinlewis.com/resident.html

Just saw on FOX News... Dems Caught Red Handed placing Bush votes into Gore Stacks. Implications unknown, but it looks big.