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HOUSTON, Texas — Members of the Texas National Guard currently in training at Camp Swift, near Austin, have been told to stand by for a personal briefing from Texas Governor Rick Perry. Perry is expected to arrive at Camp Swift this morning to brief the troops on his expectations of their deployment. It is still not clear as to exactly where this first batch of troops will be deployed, according to one of the soldiers currently at Camp Swift. The soldier has been at the camp receiving training this week and expects to be deployed somewhere along the border this...

EL PASO, Texas — Authorities say a 21-year-old Texas National Guard soldier was one of two men killed on a street in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Spokesman Arturo Sandoval of the Chihuahua state attorney general's office says family members identified the soldier as 21-year-old Jose Gil Hernandez of El Paso. The identity of the other man was not available, and details on the incident and the dead were few. A message left with FBI El Paso spokesman Michael Martinez by The Associated Press on Wednesday night was not immediately returned. However, he told the El Paso...

CAMP MABRY, Austin, Texas (May 16, 2006) – In an address to the nation Monday evening, President George W. Bush advised the American people of his plan to work with governors to temporarily deploy 6,000 National Guardsmen from California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to the southern border. The Texas National Guard is in the planning phases to boost border presence until more border patrol agents are trained and ready to replace the Soldiers and Airmen. Texas Guard men and women will serve as force multipliers to the U.S. Customs & Border Protection Agency and are expected to assist with...

CAMP MABRY (26 Sep, 2005) – The Adjutant General visited Ellington Field yesterday with the purpose of seeking out a reluctant hero and awarding him for his tireless efforts. The Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Charles Rodriguez, was specifically interested in speaking to one of the eighty essential personnel who had initially hunkered down at Ellington Field in Houston to wait out the storm, but who subsequently had been sent out before the storm. Master Sgt. Lynn Bailey was awarded the Army Achievement Medal because Maj. Gen. Rodriguez said: “This man is my hero too. When I was awakened at 1:30...

  For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretarySeptember 24, 2005 President's Radio Address      Audio      THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This weekend I will visit U.S. Northern Command in Colorado where we're monitoring Hurricane Rita. As the hurricane continues along its destructive path, the American people can know courageous and dedicated men and women are responding to our citizens in need. We are marshaling resources of the federal government to save lives and property, and bring comfort to those who have evacuated because of this storm.  Radio Address 20052004200320022001  Radio Interviews 20052004 Over the past week, federal, state and local governments...

CAMP MABRY, Austin, Texas (Sept. 1, 2005) – The number of Texas National Guardsmen in Louisiana for hurricane recovery assistance is now approaching the 1,000 mark.Last night and today, three C-130 Hercules aircraft from the 136th Airlift Wing carried Air National Guard security forces to Naval Air Station Belle Chase near New Orleans. These Airmen, from Air Guard units based in San Antonio, Houston, Fort Worth and El Paso, will provide support to civil law enforcement authorities in Louisiana.Task Force 536, consisting primarily of medical professionals, began convoying toward Louis Armstrong Airport, New Orleans, Wednesday. Besides medical support, this joint...

AUSTIN — The state's first Hispanic adjutant general took command Sunday of a Texas National Guard at war and on the cusp of profound changes. Maj. Gen. Charles G. Rodriguez, who was sworn in to the job here by Gov. Rick Perry, will oversee a force that now has thousands of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They'll continue playing big roles in overseas operations for years to come, but changes loom — some of Rodriguez's making and others from planners in the Pentagon. An Army reorganization under way likely will increase the number of women in the ranks, as units...

600 Rio Grnade Valley Guardsmen of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Inf Regiment of the 36th Inf Division of the Texas Army National Guard received their call up orders to report to Fort Hood in March for possible deployment to Afghanistan in the War on Terror. The Weslaco-based unit includes Guardsmen from Laredo to Brownsville, and is the first time the whole battalion has been called up since WWII. The above link is to the TV station broadcast only.

CBS Relied On Dems for Documents Burkett, Moore Both Tied to Memogate Story September 18, 2004 01:06:47 EDT Memogate is the story that just keeps giving. The Washington Post and The New York Times both have huge stories in today's editions on the connections between Bill Burkett, CBS News, and the Democratic Party. First from the Post's: The former Texas National Guard officer suspected of providing CBS News with possibly forged records on President Bush's military service called on Democratic activists to wage "war" against Republican "dirty tricks" in a series of Internet postings in which he also used phrases...

Dan Rather came under criticism after it was revealed by the Washington Post that he had given a keynote speech at a fund-raiser for Texas Democrats: GERALDO RIVERA: Let me just read you this news account, April 5th, USA Today: "Conservatives and pundits had a field day at Dan Rather's expense Wednesday after the CBS anchor apologized for being the star attraction at a recent Democratic fundraiser in Texas that raised 20 grand." Was that one of the worst mistakes you've made at least recently? DAN RATHER: Well, it certainly was one of the dumbest mistakes I ever made. But...

September 9, 2004 Documents Suggest Special Treatment for Bush in Guard By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE and RALPH BLUMENTHAL ASHINGTON, Sept. 8 - President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard came under renewed scrutiny on Wednesday as newfound documents emerged from his squadron commander's file that suggested favorable treatment. At the same time, a once powerful Texas Democrat came forward to say that he had "abused my position of power" by helping Mr. Bush and others join the Guard. Democrats also worked to stoke the issue with a new advertisement by a Texas group that featured a former lieutenant colonel,...

Have at him!

Excerpts.... The Kerry end is near? At this precise time every four years, the most media-savvy members of the Gang of 500 begin to think about their roles in the premiere post-election forum that revisits the actions and players of the presidential race. But if nothing changes in the race as it now stands — with President Bush winning a decent-sized victory — much of the talk will be about the greater technical proficiency of the Bush-Cheney effort.Democrats, who deny up and down that they had anything to do with the documents, tell ABC News that they plan to continue...

<p>September 10, 2004 -- THE populist revolu tion against the so- called mainstream media continues. Yesterday, the citizen journalists who produce blogs on the Internet — and their engaged readers — engaged in the wholesale exposure of what appears to be a presidential-year dirty trick against George W. Bush. What the bloggers and their audiences did was call into profound question the authenticity of four documents proudly trumpeted by CBS News in a much-heralded investigative report on Wednesday night's edition of "60 Minutes" about the president's National Guard service in the early 1970s.</p>

This is a serious crime, altering military records to not only slander a war-time President, but that also suggest criminal activity. These forged memos suggested serious charges against our President, and should not be taken lightly. Whenever the Democrats suggest the Republicans might have done something wrong, they demand a full-scale congressional investigations. These memos are linked to sources inside the DNC, and it is important to get to the bottom of this. Whomever did this commited a serious crime. Our limp-wristed Representives must grow a backbone and demand that this be thoroughly and quickly investigated. I can guarentee you,...

Here is a pretty good current summary of the situation: The Shot Heard Round the World   The echoes of the big Internet bang which annihilated a 60 Minutes story in under 12 hours are still resounding. The key riffs apparently started at Powerline and as Samizdata notes, the distributed intelligence of the Internet took over. Under the scrutiny of thousands of analysts, the CBS story began to melt down.   The start of it all:  Documents Suggest Special Treatment for Bush in Guard   -more- The Thread that broke the Camels Back:Post 47, and the Freepers who busted C.B.S. Let us...

(CNSNews.com) - The White House says the Kerry campaign is "coordinating" the attacks on President Bush's National Guard record, just as the Kerry campaign accused the Bush administration of coordinating with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "You absolutely are seeing a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president," White House press secretary Scott McClellan was quoted as saying on Thursday. "The polls show Senator Kerry falling behind, and it's the same old recycled attacks that we've seen every time the president has been up for election." McClellan's comments drew a huffy response from former Clinton...

The White House yesterday accused John Kerry of "coordinating" attacks on President Bush's National Guard service in response to the president's widening lead in the polls. "You absolutely are seeing a coordinated attack by John Kerry and his surrogates on the president," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters aboard Air Force One. "The polls show Senator Kerry falling behind, and it's the same old recycled attacks that we've seen every time the president has been up for election." Mr. Kerry refused to denounce Texans for Truth, a group known by its tax code classification as a 527, for...

<p>More than six weeks ago, an opposition research staffer for the Democratic National Committee received documents purportedly written by President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard squadron commander, the late Col. Jerry Killian.</p> <p>The oppo researcher claimed the source was "a retired military officer." According to a DNC staffer, the documents were seen by both senior staff members at the DNC, as well as the Kerry campaign.</p>

DOCUMENTS CITED Wednesday by 60 Minutes in a widely-publicized expose of George W. Bush's National Guard Service are very likely forgeries, according to several experts on document authenticity and typography. The documents--four memos from Killian to himself or his files written in 1972 and 1973--appear to indicate that Bush refused or ignored orders to have a physical exam required to continue flying. CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported the segment and sourced the documents this way: "60 Minutes has obtained a number of documents we are told were taken from Col. Killian's personal file," he said. The 60 Minutes story...