Rep. Joe Barton Hospitalized

Staff members confirmed yesterday that Rep. Joe Barton [R-Arlington] was briefly hospitalized this last weekend. His press secretary, Karen Modlin, said, "Congressman Barton felt ill on saturday night. He went to the emergency room of a local hospital and underwent a series of tests, the results of which were negative." She would not identify the hospital or the tests performed. Rep. Barton, who is 56 years old, had a heart attack last December 15th while in Washington. At that time, surgeons from George Washington University Hospital inserted three stents to open blocked arteries. He was released from the hospital on December 20th. Rep. Barton is expected to fly back to Washington today.


In other political news:

The Dignity Memorial, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will be coming through the mid-cities area on June 20th, on its way to Wichita Falls. The memorial will be traveling down Texas Highway 10 through Hurst, Bedford, and Euless. I urge anyone in this area to help line the highway on that date. This is a great way to honor our soldiers of all wars.

Eleven state parks and Wildlife Department properties received $3.1 million in damage when Hurricane Rita hit Texas last year. The state was expecting the federal government to pick up about $2.2 million of the costs. Now it looks like that may not happen. State officials have received word from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that there may not be any money coming from them to help clean and rebuild state parks. FEMA said the state did not have flood insurance and that is a prerequisite for reimbursement of costs. Of course, all Texas state agencies are self-insured. FEMA has not yet made a final determination, and are still in talks with state officials.

Robert Luskin, attorney for Karl Rove, said he has been told by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that Karl Rove will not be charged in the CIA leak case. Rove has testified before the Grand Jury 5 times. White House officials said Georgie had been notified and was pleased.

Retired New York City policeman Bruce DeCell, who lost his son-in-law during the attacks on 9/11, was granted access to the headquarters of Homeland Security Department with a fake ID. Mr. DeCell used a fake Mexican Consular card that he had purchased for $20. The card listed his real name with a fake birthday. What's really crazy is that the card does not constitute ID acceptable to enter a federal building. They should'nt have let him in even with a real consular card. Looks like DHS still has a long way to go.