Category: Uncategorized

Dear Friends:

This message is sent to family members and friends
to provide an update on the medical status of my husband,
Ramsey Muniz. In a previous message I stated that he had
shown improvement, but since that time he has again become
ill. His abdomen area has filled with bile. He has
infection which is accompanied by fever. Tomorrow
morning (Monday, September 19) Ramsey will undergo surgery
which will give doctors a new opportunity to fix the
source of his illness. We welcome everyone’s prayers,
and ask God that Ramsey be granted a long awaited recovery.

Thursday, September 8: Ramsey undergoes an ERCP procedure for
the 3rd time. The doctor removes two stents previously inserted, and
replaces them with a larger one. He expresses confidence that this will
solve the problem. When I visit with Ramsey, he is heavily sedated.
Friday, September 9: For the first time Ramsey has eaten an entire cup of cream of wheat. Under the circumstances, this is
tremendous progress. His face alone reflects improved health.

Saturday, September 10: Early in the morning Ramsey has
problems breathing and he is given oxygen. In the morning he is taken
to walk because of the long amount of time that he has spent in bed. I
visit with him later and he is very weak. He hardly speaks. Because he
has remained in a lying position for so long, he has developed a very
painful bed sore.

Sunday, September 11: Ramsey’s abdomen is again filled with
fluid. He forces himself to walk , in an effort to rid himself of the
fluid. His liver enzymes are down, which is positive.

Monday, September 12: Ramsey is taken for another paracentesis
procedure to drain around the stomach area. They remove about
2 1/2 liters of what appears to be bile. They attempt to do
hemodialysis, but his catheter is clogged, so dialysis is postponed,
and they instead repair the catheter.

Tuesday, September 13: Ramsey is given hemodialysis again, as
his kidneys need to improve. It seems that the antibiotics are
effective, as his white blood cell count is lowering.

The physician has ordered a consultation with a surgeon to
determine if surgery will help.

Wednesday, September 14: Ramsey begins to eat solid food,
though he remains very ill. His stomach has again filled with bile, but
the amount seems less. The doctor does not want to resort to surgery,
and instead wants to wait to see if the fluid can be fought through the
body’s normal functions. He feels that the stent is just taking longer
to be effective.

Thursday, September 15: I called the nurse’s station at 5:45
AM for an update on Ramsey’s status. He has not been feeling well and
his stomach is bloated but he is sitting up in a chair, in an attempt
to fight the illness through mobility. His body is extremely tired.


Friday, September 16: I visit with Ramsey and he remains
very weak. I do everything possible to impart faith, spirituality,
hope, and strength. He has been told that surgery has been scheduled on
Monday morning or during the noon hour.

Saturday, September 17: Ramsey remains very weak.

Sunday, September 18: Ramsey remains very weak. We welcome
prayers from family members and friends, and ask God that Ramsey be
granted a long awaited recovery.

Our sincerest gratitude goes to all who have expressed
compassion, love, and concern, and more importantly to
those who have said prayers on behalf of my husband.

Irma Muniz

Received via email Sept. 18

I have been an Austin Police Officer for seven years. I graduated
from the Austin Police Academy 3/29/98. I was in the 91st Cadet
Class. I am currently assigned to the Souteast Street Response
Unit for about 20 months. Prior to being assigned to the
Southeast Street Response unit I worked George 200’s. I also
worked Walking Beat at night. I also worked Charlie sector, 300’s
and 500’s.

In the street response unit my partner is Officer Michelle
Borton. I have worked with Michelle for 1 year and 4
months. We work street level narcotic investigations and assist
in prostitutions stings. We talked about working property crimes
but have not had much success with property crimes.

On this Bittercreek operation, Michelle and I have have worked the
Bluff Springs area and researched the area for suspicious
activity. What happens is that we watch the pay phones in the
area, especially the pay phone at Cannon Food Mart at 1719 E. William
Cannon. The way this drug activity works is taht these mobile
drug dealers will drive around to these homeless/drug addicted people
and give them phone numbers where they can call and order some
drugs. The way it works is that the drug dealer will dleiver the
narcotics to the person at a designated place and time.
One time Michelle and I were at the Cannon Food Mart and this guy comes
up to us. We were working undercover trying to buy some
crack. He asked us if we wanted to purchase some crack. We
told him to use our city cell phone but something spooked him and we
didn’t get anything from this transaction. He also wanted in our
car to speed things up but we didn’t do that.

Michelle had worked Frank sector prior to coming to street response and
knew this crack user and dealer named [X name withheld by editor]. [X]
lives at [address withheld by editor.] She is a white female
between [age withheld by editor] years of age. We don’t always
make contact with [X] when we are working. If we are out on
someone at the Cannon Food Mart and [X] is in the area she will stop
and talk to us. We have watched [X] and her residence for some
time. We suspect [X] of being a coordinator or middleman for
these crack dealings. [X] would walk to the Cannon Food Mart and
use the pay phone and make short phone calls. If [X] was not
successful she would loiter around the pay phone and make another
call. If she was successful she would walk directly back to her
residence. We would watch her and [X] would wait for someone to
roll up for a delivery.

On 6/9/05 I came into work at 2:00 p.m. Did some research on some
addresses and names and checked e-mails. The research that I did
yesterday was on other names of people that have come up about some
guys that got busted at the airport with some meth. Michelle and
I went to eat about 4:00 at the Boiling Pot. We were there about
45 minutes then headed to Henry sector to check the address from a
vehicle that had run from us last night. The vehicle had left
[X’s residence.] We tried to stop this vehicle to detain and
identify the occupant. It was a [description withheld by editor.]

We checked some houses over off of Honeybee Bend. One of the
occupants who had involvement in the [vehicle described above] that ran
from us the night before came back to [address withheld by editor]
Honeybee. We got some citizen complaints of drug
dealing. Lots of drug dealing activity, cars coming and
going. We drove past this area looking for the car and didn’t see
it.

Michelle and I drove to the south sub and dropped off our cool car and
picked up the army green/grayish unmarked police unit. We hooked
up with Officer [Y name withheld by editor] about 5:30 p.m.
I don’t remember the exact time. [Y] was driving the black
suburban and we all drove to the William Cannon/Bluff Springs
area. We were in the area trying to see what was going on as far
as suspicious activity.

It was very light out when Michelle and I sat up at [address withheld
by editor] Elm Creek while [Y] had an eye on [X’s] house. He was
atually shufflling from watching the pay phones at Cannon Food Mart and
[X’s] house and the pedestrian traffic in the area. He was
watching to see what looked more promising.

It was very slow so Michelle and I broke off to do regular
patrol. We drove around Frank sector to look for suspicious
activity. We broke loose about an hour before sunset.
During this time I heard another street response unit looking for
F307. They wre following a heroin dealer to a known address at
[address withheld by editor] Echo Lane. We checked by with
them. When they were code 4 we left. We headed back to
William Cannon/Bluff Springs and called [Y].

We sat up at the Sonic, took our vests off and pulled our shirts out
and sat in the picnic area of the Sonic and ordered a burger. We
ate the burger but we were also watching the pay phones. We had
already coordinated with Sgt. Doyle and [Y]. The plan was for
Sgt. Doyle to come to the Sonic and get into the black suburban and
drive [Y] back to [address withheld by editor] Bittercreek. [Y]
was to be in the back of the suburban and keep an eye on [X’s]
house. Sgt. Doyle drove [Y] back to Bittercreek. Sgt. Doyle
walked back to the Sonic when [Y] was on the radio telling us that a
[description withheld by editor] four runner had just driven up
to [address withheld by editor] Bittercreek. This vehicle
was there for a little bit.

Michelle and I got into our vehicle to conduct a traffic stop on the
four runner. It pulled into the car wash on William Cannon and we
went out on a Hispanic male. I was trying to speak Spanish to
this Hispanic male he tried to speak English. We checked him and
he only had a condom in his pocket and he had a previous arrest for
prostitution. We determined he was probably looking for a
prostitute. We cut him loose.

[Y] came up on the air and said that [X] was getting into a
[description withheld by editor] truck witha white male driver.
Michelle and I had briefly gone back to the Sonic but we didn’t want to
be around the Cannon food mart so that [X] would see us. I
dropped Michelle off on the east side of Sonic and she took her vest
off. I then drove around that general area of Sonic.
Michelle was out doing surveillance for about 5 minutes before I picked
her up. I don’t remember who told me [X] had made the call.
I got on the radio and told officers [A & B names withheld by
editor] to come over to our location because we needed another take
down vehicle. I was coordinating the incident. We have had
cars run from us in the past and earlier I had talked to Sgt. Doyle
about doing a stationary take down. I thought it would be safer
to do it in this manner and not get into a pursuit situation.

In the past, maybe in March/April we have ad two vehicles run from
us. A [description withheld by editor] had left [address withheld
by editor] Bittercreek and we tried to get a stop on it and it
fled. The second time the same [description withheld by editor]
was on William Cannon and we tried to stop it again but it fled.
The [description withheld by editor] I told you about also left
[address withheld by editor] and fled from us.

The [description withheld by editor] with [X] and the white male driver
had driven back to [address withheld by editor] Bittercreek after
having been at the Cannon food mart and made a quick phone call. [Y]
has got the eye and says the pedestrian traffic had increased. I
am coordinating the take down. We had coordinated where Michelle
and I are coming from the east and Sgt. Doyle and [A & B] are coming from the west. I was on the radio
making sure everyone knew that we were talking about [X’s] residence
and where we were going to do the takedown. I even came up on the
radio and said that Michelle and I were carrying tasers. I wanted
this to be simultaneous where everyone converged at the same time.

[Y] said that another white male from the front yard of [X’s ] place
had go

tten into the [description withheld by editor] truck and they
drove to the Cannon food mart. Michelle and I had been on Elm
Creek and we hustled back to the Sonic and saw them at the food
mart. I saw the passenger get out of the truck and he went to the
pay phone and made a call. It was a short phone call. I
think he had on a bright yellow shirt but I don’t really
remember. While we were at the Sonic this guy [description
withheld by editor] had come up to Michelle and gave her the name of
this guy who was dealing. The [description withheld by editor]
truck has left the food mart and drove directly back to [X’s]
house. Sgt. Doyle told us the truck was back at [X’s].

[End of Part One]

Imagining Genocide as Crime Reduction

By Greg Moses

OpEdNews / CounterPunch

Taking a page from his Book of Cracker Virtues, Texas trained
philosopher William Bennett this week performed a little thought
experiment where genocide by means of abortion might be used to bring
down the crime rate. Of course it is appalling how Bennett’s mind plays
around with the souls of black folk, one moment imagining a whole
peoples aborted, but such is the nature of the souls of white folk,
flying right through the concept of genocide without noticing the
horrific criminality in that.

In Bennett’s concept of the American crime rate, of course,
genocide never counts. Neither does theft of labor. With these two
great and obvious categories of crime dismissed, the souls of white
folk may then be quite easily imagined to have worked their way to
Democracy in America by means of honest trade, fair elections, and
saintly patience, never bothering no one, and only occasionally
dismayed by inappropriate displays of ingratitude.
The logic of the club is how W. E. B. Du Bois once punned it.
And everywhere one looks, that logic holds like double epoxy. Of
course, the USA Senate is the ultimate club in both senses of the term,
with its predictable traditions of genocide, labor theft, war, and today’s
nominee as Supreme Court Chief Justice who need not even bother to
produce his work product as understudy to a civil rights bashing
attorney general.

Or how about those grand juries? About half of white America
is cheering the Travis County Grand Jury for yesterday’s indictment of
the House Majority Leader. But where was anybody last month when that
same Grand Jury no-billed a white police officer who shot an unarmed
Latino in the back? That killing wasn’t even considered a tiny bit
criminal. And that story barely made state news. But politicians
taking money from Sears? My god, that sounds like a felony for sure.

So anyway, thanks again Bill Bennett for teaching your Intro
to Cracker Virtues class again this Fall. Your instructions serve as an
indispensable refresher course to the criteria of educational
excellence that continue to dominate the definition of American
intelligence. And your civics of justice remind us what the heart of
the American system sounds like as it continues to make such a small
world of us all, from Biloxi to Baghdad alike.

The Censorship in Texas Petition,
written by prison Blogger William Bryan Sorens,
recently freed and deported to Oklahoma

To: TEXAS LEGISLATURE

WHEREAS, the First Amendment gives to all Americans the guarantee of
free speech and to all publishers the guarantee of a free press, and,

WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has decided
to implement new prisoner mail censorship rules, under Board Policy
(BP) 03.91; and,

WHEREAS, the new rules violate the Supreme Court’s four-prong test
for prison censorship as set forth in TURNER v. SAFLEY, and, WHEREAS, new rules include opening and reading prisoner mail to media
and government officials; and,

WHEREAS, this mail has been protected from government oversight in
this manner for 25 years; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ is virtually unregulated and has been the subject of
constant federal litigation, corruption, abuse and exists as a
political spoils system for Texas politicians and bureaucrats; and,

WHEREAS, prisoner correspondence to media and government officials is
often the only way the public becomes aware of corruption and abuse,
and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ has already limited prisoner stamp purchase and
possession, has ended Saturday mail service including mail to and
from attorneys, courts, media and government, has banned
prisoner-to-prisoner mail, has punished prisoner-writer William Bryan
Sorens by effectually sentencing him to another year in prison for
the stated offense of “writing articles for publication,” and has
outlawed prisoner art or messages drawn on outgoing envelopes; and,

WHEREAS, the new mail rules ban publications containing nudity; and,

WHEREAS, the Texas media and most mass media refuse to cover such
subjects as corruption and abuses inside Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, only such “edgy” publications as PLAYBOY and PENTHOUSE
have dared publish investigative reports about Texas prisons; and,

WHEREAS, publications containing nudity have been permitted in Texas
prisons for a quarter-century, with no security-related problems; and,

WHEREAS, sufficient rules already exist in TDCJ for punishing sex
offenders who harass staff and which protect staff from coming into
unwanted contact with “offensive” material; and,

WHEREAS, it appears TDCJ’s ban on nudity is a moral ruse and pretense
for egregious censorship; and,

WHEREAS, TDCJ’S censorship of both outgoing and incoming media mail
appears to be retaliatory and punitive in nature and design, aimed at
silencing voices from inside and harming the subscriber bases of
media most critical of TDCJ; and,

WHEREAS, the only deterrent to government censorship is a free press,
including publications we may not like nor agree with, and including
prisoner writers we may not like nor agree with; and,

WHEREAS, conservatives and liberals and everyone-in-between should
agree that under the Constitution criminals are sent to prison AS
punishment and not FOR punishment; and,

WHEREAS, government censorship begins in obscure public institutions,
as a matter of public policy, and tends to grow to include other
disfavored persons or publishers; and,

WHEREAS, this wave of public censorship is already evident in current
affairs, including U.S. marshal confiscation of reporters’ tapes
after a public speech by Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia, and
including theft and destruction of campus newspapers, and including a
“decency war” on popular radio personalities, and so much more;

THEREFORE, WE THE PEOPLE insist that the Texas Legislature compel the
Texas Board of Criminal Justice and TDCJ to reinstitute TDCJ
Correspondence Rules 3.0 as they existed in policy and practice for
25 years, and to rescind Board Policy (BP) 03.91 establishing the
above censorship of prisoner mail.
William Bryan Sorens