More indicators from Texas

As Bob has noted, as goes Texas, so goes the country.

According to a partial transcript the customs bureau released late Thursday, the DPS officer told the bureau’s tracking center, “We got a problem, and I hope you can help me out. We had a plane that was supposed to be going from Ardmore, Oklahoma, to Georgetown, Texas. It had state representatives in it, and we cannot find this plane.”

The urgent phone call set off a scramble at the customs bureau’s Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center near Riverside, Calif.

“I don’t begrudge a federal agency for doing its job,” Mr. Laney said Thursday from Ardmore. “My concern would be with who caused their activation.”

In Washington, Rep. Jim Turner of Crockett, the ranking Democrat on the House committee that oversees homeland security, denounced the effort to use the nation’s security apparatus in such a manner.

Many Democrats blame the chain of events on U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who has pushed for redistricting.

“That domestic intelligence capabilities would be used for partisan political purposes should be deeply disturbing to this committee and to all Americans,” Mr. Turner said.

DeLay aides have said there was no contact between his office and the Homeland Security Department or the FBI.

Remember when the Bush apologists were busy assuring us that Homeland Security would never, ever be abused?

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