It's a duck....

As the saying goes, " If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it is probably a duck...."

5 non-citizens from Morocco, breaking into a old courthouse in possession of "photographs of infrastructure including photos of shopping malls, water systems, courthouses and other public buildings which they say were taken in cities nationwide" sounds like these idiots were looking to do something that would not have ended well for our country and it's citizens. Glad that they were caught before they could act on their plans.

Have fun in GITMO guys as that will be the next destination on their travel plans....


Terror Link Downplayed in Courthouse Break-In
'Pictures of courthouses, water systems' from around the US found in the van used by five men believed to be Moroccan Muslims.
Jim Forsyth - WOAI San Antonion, TX

Five men in their twenties, described as French-Moroccan Muslims, are being questioned by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and by officials of the Department of Homeland Security after they were arrested inside the 120 year old Bexar County Courthouse in downtown San Antonio shortly before 2 this morning, 1200 WOAI news reports.

Officials say three of the men crawled through a window to get into the 120 year old Courthouse, which is a landmark in downtown San Antonio, and the other two were found in a van parked in front of the building.

Inside the van, officials say they found "photographs of infrastructure" including photos of shopping malls, water systems, courthouses and other public buildings which they say were taken in cities nationwide.

"They got travel documents, parking passes, they have been all over the country," one law enforcement officials who asked not to be identified told 1200 WOAI's Michael Board on the scene. "A lot of photographic equipment, a lot of documentation equipment inside their vehicle."

Officials say the five men entered the country legally on visas from Heathrow Airport in London. They didn't immediately know how long the men have been in the U.S., or what places they may have visited.

Officials immediately blocked off a two square block area of downtown San Antonio around the Courthouse, and bomb sniffing dogs fanned out throughout the building. About two hours later, the streets were reopened, indicating nothing dangerous was found in the building.

"They are going to be held for interrogation by the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the joint terrorism task force," the law enforcement source said.

The men are described as in their early twenties. One law enforcement official said the men told him they climbed to the fourth floor of the courthouse at 2AM "to get a better view of the city."

There is a military intelligence convention underway at the city's Convention Center several blocks away, with top intelligence officials including White House officials set to speak, but investigators didn't say whether there was any connection.

Investigators were tight lipped about the incident this morning.

"All that, coupled with the fact why they can't explain why they are in the building at 1:22 in the morning raises questions," the law enforcement officer said

An issue with Rick Perry's programs - "You're taking from the average taxpayer and giving to someone who has a connection with government officials."

Rick Perry jumps into the 2012 Presidential Race and many in the collective media get all pitter-patter as they want to see as much discord on the GOP side of things, giving hope to their liberal friends and POTUS.

Let us as a nation choose carefully on the GOP side as hucksters like SLICK MITT ROMNEY only embolden the MOONBATS that they will get Obama another 4 years.... If the wrong republican is put up against POTUS, it could cause people to be complacent....and all in the military know the adage, " Complacency Kills "

Perry is a POL and he has baggage (Texas sized baggage)...while this is a given, we really need to think twice before people give him a free pass. This article points out a serious issues that will make people worry that PERRY is just another " Say one thing, do another" POL.....we have plenty of them already and we don't need another one in the White House.

For a guy who runs himself as BEDROCK Conservative, this program sounds like a redistribution of taxpayer's $$$ to those who are connected....not good.


Rick Perry's Crony Capitalism Problem
The presidential candidate's signature economic development initiative has raised questions among conservatives.

By CHARLES DAMERON - Wall Street Journal

Gov. Rick Perry's presidential pitch goes something like this: During one of the worst recessions in American history, he's kept his state "open for business." In the last two years, Texas created over a quarter of a million jobs, meaning that the state's 8% unemployment rate is substantially lower than the rest of the nation's. The governor credits this exceptional growth to things like low taxes and tort reform.

It's a strong message. But one of the governor's signature economic development initiatives—the Texas Emerging Technology Fund—has lately raised serious questions among some conservatives.

The Emerging Technology Fund was created at Mr. Perry's behest in 2005 to act as a kind of public-sector venture capital firm, largely to provide funding for tech start-ups in Texas. Since then, the fund has committed nearly $200 million of taxpayer money to fund 133 companies. Mr. Perry told a group of CEOs in May that the fund's "strategic investments are what's helping us keep groundbreaking innovations in the state." The governor, together with the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the Texas House, enjoys ultimate decision-making power over the fund's investments.

Among the companies that the Emerging Technology Fund has invested in is Convergen LifeSciences, Inc. It received a $4.5 million grant last year—the second largest grant in the history of the fund. The founder and executive chairman of Convergen is David G. Nance.

In 2009, when Mr. Nance submitted his application for a $4.5 million Emerging Technology Fund grant for Convergen, he and his partners had invested only $1,000 of their own money into their new company, according to documentation prepared by the governor's office in February 2010. But over the years, Mr. Nance managed to invest a lot more than $1,000 in Mr. Perry. Texas Ethics Commission records show that Mr. Nance donated $75,000 to Mr. Perry's campaigns between 2001 and 2006.

The regional panel that reviewed Convergen's application turned down the company's $4.5 million request when it presented its proposal on Oct. 7, 2009. But Mr. Nance appealed that decision directly to a statewide advisory committee (of which Mr. Nance was once a member) appointed by Mr. Perry. Just eight days later, on Oct. 15, a subcommittee unanimously recommended approval by the full statewide committee. On Oct. 29, the full advisory committee unanimously recommended the approval of Convergen's application. When asked why the advisory committee felt comfortable recommending Convergen's grant, Lucy Nashed, a spokesperson for Mr. Perry, said that the committee "thoroughly vetted the company."

Starting in 2008, Mr. Perry also appropriated approximately $2 million in federal taxpayer money through the auspices of the Wagner-Peyser Act—a federal works program founded during the New Deal and overseen in Texas by Mr. Perry's office—to a nonprofit launched by Mr. Nance called Innovate Texas. The nonprofit was meant to help entrepreneurs by linking them to investors. It began receiving funding on Dec. 31, 2008, soon after Mr. Nance's previous company, Introgen Therapeutics, declared bankruptcy on Dec. 3. According to state records, Mr. Nance paid himself $250,000 for the two years he ran Innovate Texas. Innovate Texas, whose listed phone number is not a working number, could not be reached for comment. (Two phone calls left for Mr. Nance at Convergen's offices went unreturned.)

ThromboVision, Inc., a medical imaging company, was also the recipient of an award from the Emerging Technology Fund: It received $1.5 million in 2007. Charles Tate, a major Perry contributor, served as the chairman of a state committee that reviewed ThromboVision's application for state funding, and Mr. Tate voted to give ThromboVision the public money. One month after ThromboVision received notification that it would receive a $1.5 million state grant in April 2007, Mr. Tate invested his own money in ThromboVision, according to the Dallas Morning News. The Texas paper later found that by 2010 Mr. Tate owned a total of 200,000 preferred shares in ThromboVision.

According to a Texas state auditor's report, ThromboVision failed to submit required annual reports to the fund from 2008 through 2010, when the company went bankrupt. The report noted the tech fund's managers were "unaware of ThromboVision, Inc.'s bankruptcy until after the bankruptcy had been reported in a newspaper." ThromboVision's bankruptcy filing revealed not only that Mr. Tate had been a preferred shareholder in ThromboVision, but so had prominent Perry supporter Charles Miller, who owned 250,000 preferred shares in the company and has donated $125,000 to the governor's campaigns. Three phone calls and an email seeking Mr. Tate's side of the story went unreturned.

All told, the Dallas Morning News has found that some $16 million from the tech fund has gone to firms in which major Perry contributors were either investors or officers, and $27 million from the fund has gone to companies founded or advised by six advisory board members. The tangle of interests surrounding the fund has raised eyebrows throughout the state, especially among conservatives who think the fund is a misplaced use of taxpayer dollars to start with.

"It is fundamentally immoral and arrogant," says state representative David Simpson, a tea party-backed freshman from Longview, two hours east of Dallas. The fund "opened the door to the appearance of impropriety, if not actual impropriety."

In April, the state auditor's office called for greater transparency in the fund's management, and some legislators began looking for ways that the fund might be reformed. With the state facing a $27 billion budget shortfall in the last legislative session, Mr. Simpson filed a motion in the Texas House in May to shutter the fund and redirect the money to other portions of the budget. That measure passed 89-37 to cheers from the chamber. But the fund was kept alive by the legislature's conference committee. The fund currently has $140 million to spend, according to the governor's office.

Michael Quinn Sullivan, the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, sees in the Emerging Technology Fund a classic example of the perils of government pork. "The problem with these kinds of funds is that even when they're used with the best of intentions, it looks bad," says Mr. Sullivan. "You're taking from the average taxpayer and giving to someone who has a connection with government officials."

Mr. Dameron is a Robert L. Bartley Fellow at the Journal.

A real-life band of brothers....US Marines “Lone Star Battalion” includes five sets of brothers

CNN SUX.....no other way to put it......CNN stands for "Confidential Navy News" as CNN tells our enemies what we are doing when we don't want them to know.....it is a "lefty" leaning organization....that's why it was also known as "Communist News Network"....

That aside, I decided to feature this story simply because it is a great story, not because of who published it....

SEMPER FI GUYS !!! Band of Brothers, indeed.

A real-life band of brothers
Camp Pendleton, California (CNN) ­

– Daniel and Joshua Beans don't spend a lot of time together and don't have much in common. But these brothers share a bond only troops who've marched into battle can fully understand.

Three years ago, Daniel, a Marine corporal, and Joshua, a Marine lance corporal, patrolled the streets of Ramadi, Iraq, together as part of the same infantry unit.

“We were lucky enough to be in the same platoon," Daniel said. “We both traded out being turret gunners and drivers for our respective vehicles.”

After returning home, the Beans brothers said they felt there was still more work to do.

“Both of us feel like we have something we owe to our country,” Daniel said. “And we have the means to repay it with our service.”

The brothers started looking for another Marine Reserve unit preparing to deploy. They wanted to fight the war in Afghanistan, and that's when they volunteered for the 1st Battalion, 23rd Regiment known as the “Lone Star Battalion.”


Marines think of themselves as “brothers in arms.” But when the Beans brothers joined the unit of mostly Texas reservists they discovered brotherhood runs deep.

The “Lone Star Battalion” uniquely includes five sets of brothers:­

– Lance Cpls. Guillermo Hernandez, 27, and Raul Hernandez, 24, from Corpus Christi, Texas;

– Cpl. Daniel Beans, 24, from Gainesville, Florida, and Lance Cpl. Joshua Beans, 23, from Tampa, Florida;

– Lance Cpls. Jonathon Faseler, 21, and Matthew Faseler, 19, from Jourdanton, Texas;

– Gunnery Sgt. Hector Vega Cigarroa, 35, and Sgt. Francisco Vega, 32, from Houston; and

– Lance Cpls. Cody Henrichsen, 22, and Bobby Henrichsen, 19, from Katy, Texas.

This real-life band of brothers has even surprised longtime veterans of the Marines Corps. The unit's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Todd Zink, said the family bonds make this Marine unit stronger.

“I was surprised when I heard it myself,” Zink said. “I think it can be a force multiplier in the sense that no one knows you better than your brother and to have him close by probably gives you strength in trying times and the difficulties that lie ahead.”

There are no U.S. Marine Corps policies that prevent brothers from serving together on the front lines. But Marine officials said it's more unique to the reserves because these Marines usually join units near their hometowns.

The journeys of each set of brothers to this point are unique. Most had no idea that their unit included so many blood brothers.

“It’s pretty incredible,” said Hector Vega Cigarroa, who is serving alongside his younger brother, Francisco. “Years from now, when we're both grandfathers, we can sit there and talk to our grandchildren about it.”

The “Lone Star Battalion” is wrapping up its final training missions in Camp Pendleton. In the coming weeks, it will begin a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan.

The intense final preparations bring into sharp focus the hazard and danger they’ll soon face in Afghanistan. And each set of brothers admits that having family around helps ease the stress.

The Hernandez brothers come from a family with deep military ties: Their father fought in Vietnam. Guillermo Hernandez, a lance corporal, joined the Marines first. His little brother, Raul, recently promoted to lance corporal, followed in his footsteps, and now they'll go to war together for the first time.

“I don't think there's anyone better to keep me safe than him,” Guillermo said. “It's a little reminder of home. It’s comforting having him here, knowing he’s safe.”

But for the families of these soldiers, the strain of war deployment is doubled. And each set of siblings said the idea of watching two brothers march off to war triggers a complex set of emotions for their parents – fierce pride and gut-wrenching anxiety.

The Hernandez brothers said their mother has cried a lot.

Cody Henrichsen said his mother is “emotional about the entire thing.”

But the families do find comfort knowing the brothers will be fighting together.

“I think they take comfort in knowing we're both going,” Daniel Beans said, “being able to get each others' backs instead of going separately.”

TEXAS

Dallas/Ft. Worth - arrival went well and the weather here is nice...had a thundershower which was something I would not see at home.

Nice accommodations and the preparations seem well organized....

Going to meet with some people this evening and then watch the Patriots / Colts game.

Take The PATS as this is their game to win (or lose)....