Refuse the Juice

Out of Touch from the Beltway Bandwagon

I'm tickled at all the fuss being made for the late Senator Kennedy in Washington and within the circles of the political and media elite.  Their God is dead. 

Meanwhile, the rest of us connected to the real world are fascinated by the chick who was kidnapped 18 years ago and presumed dead, but showed up alive the other day against all odds.  What a story! I'm sure they're writing the screen play right now.  This chick will have a reality show soon no doubt.  Hell she may even be on the next "Dancing with the Stars"season.  The frenzy among the common folks has just begun with this young lady. 

So why don't we give a shit about Kennedy like the media elite do? 

It all goes back to JFK.  Some politicians are bigger stars after they're dead and he's the poster child for that theory.  In reality, JFK was a wreck.  He was said to have been sleeping with literally thousands of women who were not his wife each year and doing it quite out in the open.  His leadership was severely suspect and his decision making even worse.  He was a big mess and a huge failure as a President.  Those who can clear their mind of what my next paragraph says can honestly admit that.

Why JFK was popular and is still popular today is quite simple.  He was a man of many firsts for us.  First Catholic president.  First guy that wasn't 105 to be president.  First good looking president whose charisma and charm were addicting and undeniable.  He was our first mass media president.  You may remember the famous debate with Nixon where he came across so well and Nixon so badly.   He was the first guy we hired through the beauty contest we now call televised presidential campaigns. 

Even his assassination was a first.  Other presidents have been assassinated.  Never had one been assassinated in the era of mass media.  The impact was all that much bigger because of the manner in which the news traveled to the masses.  It wasn't a headline in the next day's paper, it was a  first TV event that provided what is now a very familiar feeling - instantaneous shock. 

For many of the political and media elite it was the biggest moment of their young lives.  You often hear people ask others, "where were you when you found out Kennedy had been shot?"  My generation has the space shuttle explosion and of course the O.J. Simpson verdict (sadly). 

What many people mistake about their recollection of the Kennedy assassination is their grief versus the first major mass media event in their life.  People want to say it was Kennedy's death they still remember and react to.  In all actuality, it was the world getting all that much smaller thanks to technology.  The news would never be the same again.  Breaking news changed so much that day that media history classes have spent whole semesters on how it changed our reporting.

For the people who are making a big deal of Ted Kennedy's death, they're really laying to rest the memory of JFK.  Having lost RFK long ago, they only had Teddy to hold onto when idealizing their false memories of their favorite president - JFK. 

Ted Kennedy was an outspoken, back slapping hell of a good time guy who was loved by people on both sides of the aisle.  It wasn't because he was much of a good legislator that he was liked.  He didn't do anything by himself and was a master at riding other people's coat tails.  However, he always put on a good face and could lie like it was saying "good morning" to a neighbor in front of a crowd, so he was often the point man for large causes like Title IX.  Chuck Schumer has taken that position from him now.

He was a good time and picked up that tab a lot of the time.  That's why he was liked by the Beltway dwellers.  His long career was filled with terrible decisions, questionable ethics and a complete disregard for those who were not born rich even if he paid them lip service all the time.

Let's not forget that middle America has thought this guy was a joke since the 70's.  Those in the media are shocked today that the nation isn't in mourning.  They don't understand how we see the guy - a fat drunk who had a popular brother that was murdered.  We don't care. 

It's just another example of how the opinion leaders in this country are so out of touch with the majority of Americans.

Another Battle in the Valley War

My buddy Jaime is really upset that his "the valley only matters"  assertion is being challenged. 

He now thinks that I'm just attacking Norma Chavez's popularity and not the validity of someone claiming that the valley rules all votes.  After all, I have quite easily shown that our sitting county judge was elected county wide and he's from the west side.  But what about the rest of our elected officials?

 Our mayor?  Northeast.  Our congressman?  Canutillo.  State Senator?  Kern Place (snob) Sheriff? not sure, but for sure not the valley. 

So it seems to me that if the valley were so powerful, El Paso's county wide elected officials would all be from the valley.  The fact is, they aren't.  The fact is, the valley votes but we don't know for whom or we can't always guess accurately.

He wants to make this all about Norma and her one and only win against a very unpopular and unknown woman who happened to be related to a congressman who did nothing to help her in her race.  So she beat an opponent when she was popular and had done nothing wrong - how's that proof of anything?

Here's the real deal.  If Norma is really the "People's Rep" then she'd be holding court and having people kiss her feet for an endorsement.   Guess what?  NOBODY WANTS HER ENDORSEMENT!  I have asked several people who have run in those districts and two people saying they may run for Judge and they most certainly hope their OPPONENT GETS NORMA'S ENDORSEMENT! 

If she's so powerful, why is it that nobody is seeking her out?  Maybe it's because she's not powerful.  She's not popular.  After all, she put her bid to run for congress on hold after figuring out that she has to win more than her district.

The valley is a great place, it's just not the only decider in our elections.

Rep. Acosta - Typical Democrat

I hope all of you caught Newspaper Tree's three part series on the Mayor Pro Tempura. 

The third and final installment was a doozy for Acosta.  While she wanted to bitch about the landfills and being ignored, the real issue was the study proving that she was pouring millions of tax dollars down the drain through her management practices.  Those practices seemed to include paying people for shit they didn't do (sorry for the curse word, but it just sounds better than "crap").

Like a typical democrat, she stayed away from the real topic and instead focused on something ridiculous and unnecessary as a diversion.  At no time did she give an explanation as to why her department was so in the red.

I think any person with half and Aggie's brain could see that they had more than enough on her to show her the door.  However, her history of lawsuits and complaints against the city seemed to have it desired effect - "pay me to go away or I'll make things worse for you whether it's right or wrong."

The problem with city and county government is that when the employees find the chink in their armor (and no, I'm not talking about an Asian knight, so don't accuse me of using racist language), they exploit it on a grand scale.  There are many employees at both entities who are in positions way above their abilities due to the fact that they have sued and complained their way to top.  Any attempt to stop them and they would spread their secret to everyone and thus we'd have thousands of lawsuits to pay out with taxpayer monies.  The confidentiality agreement pretty much insured that wouldn't happen.

I'm sure nobody in her district really cares, though.  They had to choose between the devil with no brain (Lozano) and the devil with no brain and sharp claws (Acosta), so why should they care at all. 

I do want you to take note that her buddy is a candidate for County Judge (unofficially, but the dude is running because he can't enough of losing).  Yep, Larry "Mumbles the Ethically Challenged Loser" Medina is her best buddy.  What does that tell you about him?  Make sure you ask Mumbles that next time you see him.  After all, she demanded the mayor give him another Conquistador award.  You paid for that award so those two could plot to put more ethically challenged people in charge of your tax dollars.  

Wake up people. 

Keep Chief Leon in Your Prayers

I just got the news that former police chief and friend of many, Carlos Leon was in a bad motorcycle wreck.

Chief Leon is a stand up guy.  A really amazing individual for whom I have a tremendous amount of respect for.  I'm hoping he pulls through this with ease and gets back to being a great servant to our community.

Keep him in your prayers.

Why I haven't Weighed in on Gay Benefits at the City

It's pretty simple for me.

Marriage is a concept completely religious in nature.  For the government to make laws with respect to religious practices is to operate in conflict with the Bill of Right (First Amendment).  We screwed up there big time to begin with. 

Most people get married in a church and then the state certifies that they are married.  Very rarely do people get married in front of a government employee and then go have the church certify their marriage - it just doesn't work that way.

So we are offering benefits to people who find a way to be defined as married based on a principal set forth by religion.  I don't think our government should be in that business.

Marriage is a moral practice.  It's a moral contract to honor your vows - whatever they may have been.  To say that one type of marriage is more valid than another is to overstep your authority.  Who are you as an individual to judge others and their marriage?  Just think about how you'd feel if you were surrounded by people who judged your marriage to your wife to be illegal because of some factor of their religious beliefs that don't fit in with your Christian beliefs.  In some countries they won't consider you married without proof of the dowry offered by the brides family.  Christians don't do that, so you wouldn't be getting any benefits in that country.  Sucks huh?

The question I have is the reality of unmarried couples receiving benefits who aren't gay.  If you offer unmarried gay people benefits you have to offer it to straight people.  While "common law" governs when the state says straight people are "married," it says nothing of when you consider gays to be married.  Basically you have to hold them even when considering their partners for benefits.

Now you have a circumstance where if you give gays benefits with no evidence other than their word that they are serious about the other person, you must do the same with the straight people. 

What's to keep a straight employee from switching his benefits to a new girlfriend every time he decides to leave one and get another?  What about employees making arrangements with their single friends to appear together so they can get benefits? 

The rules are clear enough to keep fraud out.  I don't think it's a good idea to offer the benefits until the chance of fraud is reduced. 

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Now, as for why this was passed - THE CHICO'S TACOS INCIDENT.

Yes, city council had to do something for the gays of El Paso and since the police officer didn't do anything actually wrong (against the law), they decided to take this step.  They would have rather publicly hanged the young officer, but we stopped doing that in 1980's. 

It was a gesture to the gay community saying, "we love you, please stay!"

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Disclaimer:  I don't care if you are gay.  I don't care if you are straight.  I do not make judgments on your sex life.  I will, however, make applicable jokes about you if you just happen to look and play the part of anextreme stereotype.  If you prance around like Richard Simmons, I'm going to joke about it.  If you're a guy that acts like Andrew Dice Clay, I'm going to joke about it.  If you're a 300 pound chick riding a Harley with a shirt that says "I like Bush," I'm going to joke about it.  That's fair game no matter what side of the batter's box you hit from.

El Paso is not a gay tolerant town.  We don't have the demographics to be a city that is okay with the gay.   There is a direct correlation between income, education and tolerance.  Face it - we're not there yet.  I'm not happy about it, but that's the way it is.

Waiting for More on the Tempura

Newspaper Tree is doing a three part series on Mayor Pro Tempura, Emma Acosta and her secret history at the city.  The third installment should run today.

This is the kind of stuff I like to see.  Although I have some insider knowledge of exactly the kinds of things she was doing and who was profiting illegally from them, I can't say anything yet because my sources would be fried. 

She was into some very bad things and the reason she wasn't canned and indicted is beyond me.  I guess too many people would have gone down with her.  We're talking almost all of the sanitation department's hourly wage earners at the time.  Imagine trying to fill that gap with trash piling up every day.

She's going to threaten to sue me again for writing just that little bit above, so It's not financially worth me going further.  She's in office until she get indicted or loses an election, so we have to deal with it.

One thing I did notice in the article is her supreme jealousy of Ms. Smythe at the city who has her old position.  Smythe has the credentials, Acosta never did.  Acosta rides her ass anytime she's given a chance because she's mad at what a good job she does.  The petty bullshit never stops with these people.

Quick note on Which District Votes - and Aguilar's Black Eye

Just heard that Carlos Aguilar has a huge black eye.  So either he fell, or Marquez's friends actually gave him what he deserved.  Your guess is as good as mine.

My buddy Jaime says the Valley votes huh?  That the West and Northeast doesn't?

2006 will be a year a lot like the upcoming 2010 off year vote.  Let's look the turnout for each state rep's race that year (remember the districts have the same amount of eligible voters roughly)

See the results HERE

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 75 (Chente) = 16,627 Votes

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 76 (Chavez) = 16,270 Votes

STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 77 (Moreno) = 15,480 Votes STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 78 (Haggerty) = 28,677 Votes STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 79 (Pickett) = 16,600 Votes Seems to me like Haggerty's district has a way better turnout than the either of the valley reps (Moreno is not all valley - not much valley at all).  If I'm looking at what parts of town has consistent turnout of a lot of voters I'm looking at the North East and the West Side.  Facts are facts.

 

MHMR and the Funding Problem - Shocking Suggestions!

The County Commissioners took up the case of the underfunded Mental Health and Mental Retardation (MHMR) Center during Monday's meeting.  A needlessly long and detailed presentation was put up to make a simple point.  They need money or crazy people are going to be walking among us untreated. 

Here's how the conversation went for a half hour:

County Commissioner #1:  So you are saying that if we can't find you some money there will be people who are suffering from mental illness who won't get immediate treatment.

MHMR Representative:  Yes.

County Commissioner #2:  You're telling us that if we can not find funding for your center that some people may go longer without care.  That is if we don't find funding right now.

MHMR Representative:  Yes.

County Commissioner #3:  So the crux of this issue is that people who could be a danger to themselves or others could in fact end up being a danger to themselves or others if you are not funded soon.

MHMR Representative:  Yes.

County Commissioner #4:  Correct me if I'm wrong here, but you need money in order to treat people with mental health problems.

MHMR Representative:  Yes.

County Judge: It takes money to pay for the treatment of people who are suffering from mental health problems?

MHMR Representative:  Yes.

Yes, it was the most annoying conversation I've ever been within earshot of.

Here's the juice for you breakfast -

The County Judge asked how much the city was putting in for the MHMR Center.  He determined that the city government represented 80 percent of the county's population and therefore should be paying some of the expense.

Commissioner Gandarareported that the city had already spent around $150,000 from a "block grant" on the program.   This did not back Cobos off of his wish to have the city pay more.

At about that time the court started bantering back and forth about the ISDs raising taxes and sending the money to the county.  The idea being that since the schools identify kids who need the care of MHMR and then send them to the center they should pay for it.  And by "they," they mean the taxpayer should pay for it.

All of a sudden someone actually asked the question; "who is responsible for health care at the county level in the State of Texas?"  The answer from those in the know was, "the county."

They're right about that.  State law puts each county's government in charge of the health care funded by taxpayer dollars.  This is where things get interesting.

Jim Valenti of the University Medical Center (Thomason) had his budget ready to go.  He was simply waiting on an up or down vote. 

Cobos tells him that he wants to table his budget so that they could look at this problem and possibly add to that budget.  Jim Valenti was not going for it.  Then Commissioner Haggerty blurts out "just increase it by $2 million and we'll put it in escrow just in case we need it."

WOW.  Couple of major issues here.

The first issue is the idea that the University Medical Center would have to increase their budget and therefore raise their tax rate.  This would be very bad for Jim Valenti, Veronica Escobar and just about any other big wig who promised us that the Children's Hospital wouldn't add to the tax burden.  Even if this had nothing to do with the Children's Hospital exactly; they told us back when it was up for a vote that Thomason was making money and wouldn't need to increase taxes.  Adding $2 million dollars to a budget that sits at around $39 million would require some drastic measures to make sure the money was there.  Basically they'd have to break a promise and take more from you in taxes and they really don't want to do that.

The second issue here is that you have elected officials in El Paso just throwing seven figure sums around like they're nothing.  In a time where our property taxes are crushing us, it's dangerous to talk about having not just on entity tax you more, but three entities doing so (City, ISDs and Hospital district). 

And now that I think of it, it's dangerous to throw $2 million into a budget with no line item attached to it and then place it in escrow for anything that might come along.  Once the budget is passed, the taxpayers have no more say on where that $2 million might be spent.  It's just a dangerous situation for taxpayers any way that you look at it.

So how did all of this happen?

The big pink elephant doing back-flips in the corner of the room is our state delegation.  Nobody wanted to put the blame exactly where it belongs - on our Representatives and our Illustrious Senator.  They dropped the ball big time on this issue.

The funny part is that they were all claiming a huge victory for having secured millions in state money slotted for the MHMR Center.  They couldn't pat themselves on the back hard enough

In fact this quote appeared in an article on Newspaper Tree touting their huge success in the last session. (remember mental health funding was one of their primary goals before the session)

"EP legislators on the session: "The delegation has achieved success" LINK

"I am excited to report that the move to close State MH Centers like ours on Delta Drive was stopped and there was also a doubling of crisis funding for local mental health services state wide to $162 million dollars," add Rep. Pickett."

Our rumored take was to be $17 million or so.  Obviously what they took credit for didn't happen for El Paso.  Actually what happened was that our delegation took credit for submitting a request for money to go to MHMR.  It's like taking credit for a million dollar loan just because you filled out the application.  Who cares if they don't approve the loan, you asked for at least and in El Paso that amounts to a success.

Their request never made it into the budget and the lobbyist I talked to yesterday said it was because they were all too busy fighting about ethics legislation, PSB legislation and generally being a bunch of assholes at our expense to get anything done that would be of great help to their constituents.

The county knows that while they are responsible for the health services provided by taxpayer dollars, their state reps and senator are responsible for getting money to the district for those services.

Nobody was willing to spank their butt publicly for letting us down.  I'm disappointed in the county commissioners for not throwing a bigger fit over our delegation's most recent failure.  I shouldn't say "most recent" because they failed months ago, the rest of us are just finding out about it right now, which makes it recent to us. 

So why won't they say anything about the delegation?  They all have their reasons.

Haggerty needs Norma to tell democrats to vote in the Republican primary if I decide to run against him so he's not going to say anything to her.  He won't go after Joe Moody either considering he's holding his brother's seat.  He might also need to make nice with Shapleigh in order to fend off a primary challenger on the democrat side.

Escobar and Perez can't step on the toes of their allies Moody, Marquez and of course the border's own version of Bill Clinton, Senator Shapleigh.  They probably also might want to keep Norma from working harder than she already is to have them publicly caned and then banished to a hostile Indonesian island.

Gandara can't make enemies so early on so he wouldn't call them out on the failure. I did, however, notice that he was pretty passionate about making something good happen. 

Cobos kind of mentioned briefly that the money wasn't secured during the session so they were unfortunately left to deal with the problem.  The way he said it made me think he might say something more direct, but he stopped.  He needs people in high places if not only to avoid a very long prison sentence.

So again we were fooled by a lie told to us by those who said they'd represent us.  We have people with special needs that won't get help without a drastic strain on our local taxpayers who already see much of their money shipped out of town to help other counties in Texas that actually have effective representation.  Lucky us.

Keep voting the way you vote El Paso and you will always Keep El Paso Backward (http://www.cafepress.com/kepb).

Posting for Norma Chavez - One Blogger's Big Problem

I like Jaime Abeytia and his blog www.thelionstarblog.com/.  He also has a regular column on Newspaper Tree.   Too bad he has now sold his soul to the devil... or the person we think most resembles the devil - Norma Chavez.

His big article this week is an introduction and handicap of the county judge race.  All things aside (he missed a lot of election themes for the last two elections that would help him handicap the race) he just ends up doing what Norma Chavez told him to say.

He wants a piece of the political pie in town.  I do too.  I just go about it a different way.  I can not be owned by any politician. I can not buy their bullshit. Jaime is buying Norma's bullshit like it's on sale.

Somehow she's convinced him that she is the king maker of the entire valley and that only those she chooses win.  That's clearly not the case. 

There is not one instance, other than a debatable endorsement of Marisa Marquez, where Chavez's endorsement meant anything.

Not one politician who is sitting in office anywhere in the county attributes their win to her support.  Not one former politician attributes their win to her support.  No currently elected official is seeking her support.

So why would Jaime claim that the big winner of the county judge race would need her approval?  Especially since she has lost a tremendous amount of popularity resulting from her recent craziness.

(Remember real quick that by the time Marisa was elected, Norma was completely in HATE with Marquez)

We also must remember that the last time we had an election for county judge, the lower valley candidate lost to the west side candidate - Anthony Cobos.  So how important is the valley vote when their darling of the time, Barbara Perez, loses to the coconut from the west side?

I think I'll be submitting my own handicap not based on what Norma wants the viewing audience to think of her.

I hope Jaime can get past Norma's spell because I think he can really do some great work if he can get free.  He'll also gain more credibility when he cuts ties with the woman who has the least credibility in the city.

What's on Tap?

I'm sorry for the my absence, but I was out of town and you all know that I do notrelate that information on my blog because some of you are a little weird and may burn down my house while I'm gone.  Others of you are really weird and may burn my house down while I'm in it, though.

I have a few things coming up for you.

1.  The mental health care funding issue.  I was at the county commissioner's's meeting today and heard some very interesting things. 

2.  Religion and our government - the bottom line on who should be influencing policy. (this may go on NPT).

3.  Health care stuff.  The talking points the media won't tell you about, but we all know about!