Thread: Texans to Launch ‘Citizen Filibuster’ Over TSA Groping

Texans to Launch ‘Citizen Filibuster’ Over TSA Groping



Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
June 27, 2011


Texans outraged by repeated attempts on behalf of state representatives working in consort with the federal government to kill legislation that would ban invasive TSA groping are set to launch a ‘citizen filibuster’ that seeks to pressure public servants into following the will of the people.

Despite the fact that the anti-groping legislation in Texas passed the House unanimously last month and also looked set to sail through the Senate, repeated dirty tricks by the likes of Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst have sabotaged a bill that merely seeks to reinforce laws already codified in the Fourth Amendment.

With lawmakers going AWOL for a vote on the legislation Friday, we have now learned that a hearing by the Texas House State Affairs Committee scheduled to take place today has been cancelled and the bill is all but dead. The legislation is likely to be replaced with a toothless Joint House Resolution that does little to address the epidemic of TSA abuse, most recently characterized by an incident in which TSA goons forced a 95-year-old sick woman to remove an adult diaper..., and merely recommends that Congress pick up the baton.

In response to Texas lawmakers’ failure to follow their constitutional duty, Austin-based radio host Alex Jones is leading a ‘citizen filibuster’, calling on people to contact their representatives over the next three days to salvage the legislation before the special session of the legislature ends on Wednesday.



This represents a continuation of last month’s actions which forced Governor Rick Perry’s hand in having the bill added to the special session when at one point it looked doomed. The first protest will take place today at 4pm CST.

Jones wants all Texans to launch a massive and sustained campaign this week to lobby lawmakers both in person and over phone and email, with a particular emphasis on people showing up at the Capitol building to protest against Dewhurst and Straus’ underhanded efforts to kill the legislation.

By promoting this grass roots campaign, Jones hopes to pressure Governor Rick Perry into extending the special session beyond Wednesday in a bid to get the TSA bill in its original format, stripped of the amendments added by Straus and Dewhurst that have g..., signed into law.

Jones wants Texans to encourage their lawmakers to filibuster against efforts to kill the bill in any way they can, be it mass walk outs or any other form of resistance.

The fact that this bill in its original form has not been enacted despite having enough votes to pass both chambers is a harrowing reminder of the fact that the federal government and the Supreme Court have all but declared the .... The real reason the likes of Straus, Dewhurst and the Justice Department are so terrified of the anti-groping bill becoming law is the fact that it would re-instate a constitutional liberty that has been eviscerated by stealth.

This issue is not just about TSA policy in Texas, it’s about the fact that the 4th Amendment is on life support nationwide. Become part of the citizen filibuster and tell your public servants to grow a backbone and stand up for freedom in the face of intimidation and threats from the federal government.

Click here to contact Texas Senators. House members can be contacted here. Find out who your representative is in Texas by clicking here.



http://www.infowars.com/texans-to-launc ... -over-ts...

Related Thread
Elderly woman asked to remove adult diaper during TSA search
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-241768.html


http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-241936.html

Texas bill on TSA pat-downs facing final showdown today


By Dave Montgomery

dmontgomery@star-telegram.com

AUSTIN -- After surviving a progression of near-death experiences, a controversial bill to ban intrusive searches by federal airport security officers faces a final showdown today, the last day of the special session.

House members will consider the bill in what is make-or-break time for Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, and Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston. The two conservative Republicans have waged a vigorous effort to push the measure into law and concede that today's vote is their last opportunity.

Simpson can pass the bill with a simple majority of the 150-member House but he needs a four-fifths vote -- 120 members -- to suspend the rules and bring the measure up for consideration on the final day. He cleared one hurdle Tuesday when the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee voted 7-1 to advance the bill to the House floor.

"I'm encouraged, and we'll see where people are tomorrow," Simpson said after the committee vote.

The bill, which has provoked opposition from the Transportation Security Administration, died during the regular session after TSA officials threatened legal action. But it surged back to life after Gov. Rick Perry included it on the special session's agenda.

The bill has a die-hard fan base of largely conservative supporters, who are rallying behind it to end what they call widespread and invasive screening procedures by TSA agents. Dozens of supporters converged inside the Capitol on Monday to denounce changes in the legislation that they say severely weakened the bill.

House Speaker Joe Straus earlier denounced the bill as a "publicity stunt" but dropped his resistance to the measure after the House gave preliminary approval to a bill substantially retooled by Simpson. The measure that will be up for a vote today is Patrick's Senate-passed measure, which he described as "significantly stronger" than the House bill.

The bill would expand the federal definition of "official oppression" to prohibit federal employees from improperly touching a person's private areas. Violations would constitute a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $4,000 fine.

News reports about a 95-year-old woman being forced to remove her adult diaper during a pat-down at an airport in northwest Florida has fanned renewed criticism over TSA procedures.

Dave Montgomery is the Star-Telegram's Austin bureau chief. 512-476-4294

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Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/28 ... z1QfL3Lbcy

Texas House, Senate approve reworked bills over airport pat-downs
Posted Monday, Jun. 27, 2011

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/27 ... z1QgELwnly

By Dave Montgomery

dmontgomery@star-telegram.com

AUSTIN -- The Texas House on Monday gave preliminary approval to legislation that prohibits invasive pat-downs by federal airport security agents after incorporating changes that led House Speaker Joe Straus to drop his resistance to the bill.

The Senate passed its own watered-down version of the bill Monday night. The measure now goes back to the House for another vote today.

The substantially reworked measure, however, ignited a new wave of hostility from another direction as scores of former supporters staged a noisy protest inside the Capitol to denounce the changes. Austin radio talk show host Alex Jones, who led the rally, said the changes "completely gutted" the bill.

The controversial measure, which has drawn national attention, also faced another adversary: time.

Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, chief sponsor of the bill in the Senate, acknowledged that it will be a challenge to get the measure to Gov. Rick Perry's desk before the Legislature's special session ends Wednesday.

Despite all the obstacles that have arisen, the bill showed unexpected signs of life just days after Straus denounced it as a "publicity stunt" and vowed that it would not come to the House floor in its original form.

The reworked House bill emerged from talks between Rep. David Simpson, R-Longview, and senior members of Straus' leadership team.

Straus said that "after substantial revisions to the bill," he was satisfied that the legislation "lets Texans travel safely, protects the privacy of citizens and enables law enforcement to do its job."

The bill would expand the federal definition of "official oppression" to ban federal employees from improperly touching a person's private areas. Violations would constitute a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail and a maximum $4,000 fine.

The Transportation Security Administration opposes the measure and has threatened legal action if it becomes law.

The revised bill has changes urged by the Texas attorney general's office to help counter possible constitutional hurdles. One key change allows agents to argue, as an element of defense, that they believed that they were acting within the scope of the Constitution.

Another major revision changes the proposed standard for conducting searches from "probable cause" to "reasonable suspicion" of wrongdoing. The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas said a "probable cause" standard would unduly restrict law enforcement searches.

But, conversely, supporters of the original bill said permitting "reasonable suspicion" as a basis for airport screening allowed a more relaxed standard that would give TSA agents broad latitude to conduct pat-downs. The bill applies to searches involving people seeking access to public buildings or transportation.

At least 75 protesters led by Jones crowded outside the House and Senate and packed into the governor's reception room to assail the House bill.

Patrick and Simpson defended the changes as necessary to get the bill passed. They predicted that it would force the TSA to make policy changes to prevent abusive behavior.

Dave Montgomery is the Star-Telegram's Austin bureau chief. 512-476-4294

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/27 ... z1QgEQmH9C



http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/27 ... orked.html


PS The comment section is good as well

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/27 ... orked.html


Kathyet

Texas lawmakers let pat-down ban die
By Keith Laing - 06/29/11 05:31 PM ET

Texas lawmakers adjourned their special session Wednesday without passing a ban on Transportation Security Administration pat-downs, to the dismay of staunch conservative critics of the agency.

The bill, which would have criminalized touching passengers' genitalia during hand searches at airport security checkpoints, had already been watered down by the Texas Senate. The upper chamber of the Texas Legislature added provisions to allow TSA agents to deliver a hand search if they have a reasonable suspicion one is necessary.

The provisions were added to the House version of the bill, but the chamber adjourned without taking a vote on the tweaked bill it had already passed.

The bill's sponsor in the Texas House, state Rep. David Simpson (R), vowed Wednesday to try again next year.

"We will never give up the fight for liberty," he said on his Facebook page. "Though we were not successful in passing the TSA bill to protect travelers' dignity, I am continually encouraged by the efforts of so many Texans who have fought hard to see the Constitution upheld."

Democrats in the Texas House were happier about the outcome.

"It's disconcerting that we spent the last moments of the special session attempting to take a petty political swing at our president," Texas state Rep. Garnet Coleman (D) said in a statement. "The truth is, SB 29 could never have become law because the constitutional deadline for passage in the House had already passed. It was never their intent for this legislation to become law, just to posture and pander for political gain."

TSA has argued that the ban would be unconstitutional because the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution allows federal law to trump state law, and the Department of Justice said that it could result in flights to Texas being cancelled.



http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation ... wn-ban-die




Now that is what I call taking the bull by the horns, oh but wait I think it was neutered instead...way to go Texas, so much for the Lone Star state. Of course I haven't seen any other State's step up either.

Kathyet