Refuse the Juice

You Don't Seem to Understand Your Reality

A reader of this blog left the following comment today:

"norma, shapleigh and others" -what ru talking about? Like there in some sort of conspiracy to keep us poor? they hate each other! if you were at all connected in this town you would know that by now.

Don Onate Shapleigh is constantly worried someone (like Norma) will run against him (which is why you have to be his slave -ie marquez -in order to be his friend)

I hope norma does run against him - She'd get so much more done in austin than he does - medical building funding,job creation programs, and no stupid toll roads.

Very interesting - I've got a lot of Norma people carrying out her wishes on my blog.  It's a good thing because it allows me to clear some things up.

As for being "connected" in this town, I am not.  It would be impossible for me to be "connected" seeing as how I have Conservative ideals.  Being "connected" is not my goal.  In fact it's the complete antithesis of my goal.  I don't want to be "connected." I don't want to be a part of the system of corruption that plagues this city.  Being "connected" is to be something I hate.  Go read lionstar's blog if you wish to read the words of a person who spends every waking moment trying to be "connected."

There are two ways to accomplish political goals - brute force or political connections.  I'm a fan of brute force, it was the way of our founding fathers.  The spineless loyalists were "connected" and I would never want to be thrown into that stew of rotten meat. 

However, I do know that within the different factions of the democratic party in El Paso there lies tensions.  Extreme tensions in many cases.  Shapleigh and Norma may hate each other, but their strategy is exactly the same.  The Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees hate each other with a passion, but they both still subscribe to the strategy that your best hitter bats third and your likely power hitter hits fourth. 

Democrats in power in this town tell their constituents constantly that they are poor, uninsured, jobless and all around treated like dogs.  Norma and Eliot's sales pitch is identical - elect them and they will "cure" these ills.  Incidentally, they have no intention of curing any of those ills.  To cure them would be to execute the soul of their strategy - self awareness leading to weakness and eventually the forfeiting of control over their own destiny.  It's a simple concept as old as man.  Men often use this strategy on women.

Conversely, politicians in rich districts spend all their time pumping their constituency up with the success they've achieved.  The pitch then becomes - "We're the best and I'm the reason you're going to stay that way." Yet another concept as old as man. And another strategy men use on women.

Shapleigh and Chavez hate each other because they crave the padded seat of the throne and they know only one of them will fit between the armrests.  Their tiff isn't over what's best for El Paso, it's over who's going to be more powerful.  Being "connected" is to be a sponsor of that ideal.

Shapleigh, Chavez and their kind have no plans to turn us into a success.  It would ruin their hold on power. If our problems were solved, voters would be looking for someone positive who champions their successes (not poverty) instead of poo pooing them all the time.  Just look at how our city council shits on business l while showering those who refuse to help themselves with money, praise and support.  That's what we do here and it's no coincidence. It's a plan.  It's a strategy to retain power.

A thriving business economy based on solid growth and good jobs leaves no room for liberal politicians who themselves thrive on the poor and needy.  Changing our dynamics would change our leaders.  We couldn't do that now, could we?  When no one needs a handout, then those who promise handouts will be useless. 

Have you ever stopped to examine republican districts vs. democratic?  Maybe you should.  Being red or blue can be the difference of an entire way of life. 

And one last thought - there's only one job creation program that ever worked - TAX CUTS.  Mercado Mayapan is a great example of how job creation programs work... or actually, don't work.

Late Prefacing on the Norma Being Right Post

I don't think I made what I was thinking clear enough.  Norma is right about people not using toll roads.  The way she comes to that conclusion isn't correct.  It's not a poor or rich thing, it's a cheap thing and El Pasoans are notoriously cheap - ask a business owner some time.

Norma and other democrats here in town have made being poor something to be proud of.   Somehow they convinced people that not only is okay to be poor, it's something to brag about.  People who work in Austin have pointed this out to me and many others for years.  Other Valley reps do no champion their poverty status.  They work very hard to get out of that hole.  Just look at Brownsville and Laredo - they kick our ass. 

Maybe if Norma, Shapleigh and the others would stop working so hard to keep us poor by demanding handouts instead of jobs, we'd  be able to have real dignity and hold our head high when talking about the economics of a border city. 

So, Norma did come to the right conclusion, just not through the right reasoning.

Norma is right... Oh My God

Rep. Chavez put her publicly funded education to use when she wrote a nice little letter to some chick who uses the handle "Desire Delisi, Chairman Texas Transportation Commission."

Although Chavez's premise is a little off, she's right - toll roads won't work here.  It's not really because we're poor per se, it's because we are cheap.  El Pasoans by nature are frugal.  The poor nor the rich will spot a dollar to drive a toll road when there are two perfectly free lanes with little traffic on them going to the exact same place. 

Maybe I shouldn't say that we are "cheap."  We are practical!

http://newspapertree.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/9-24-09-chavez-to-delisi-txdot_delisi_loop_375_letter.pdf

I have a hankering to do a spoof on what the letter would have said if it had come from Chavez's phone via text instead of a letter. 

For Once It's Not the Economy, Stupid!

The El Paso Times wrote an odd and disjointed editorial on the Mercado Mayapan fiasco.  Somehow they managed to start their piece by blaming the economy for City Council's refusal to loan them more money.  They couldn't be more wrong and more out of it if they tried.

I don't know of the Times didn't send a reporter to the meeting or what, but something has gone seriously wrong. 

They wrote:

"Tough economic times call for some tough economic decisions on the part of City Council."

Where did they get that? 

The money is grant money from the federal government (your tax dollars).  The money is going to be spent whether the economy is good, or bad.  The issue at hand was not whether or not to spend the money, but instead WHO to spend the money with.

Mercado Mayapan was denied the money because their program sucks, not because of the economy.  Anyone who spent five minutes watching the proceedings could tell you that.  At no point did anyone indicate that the funding distribution was based on the country's economic woes. 

What we have here is a writer who needed a catchy opening and he or she just screwed it up by inventing something off of the top of their head. 

Somebody over there needs to pay attention to what's being written. 

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On another media front, KVIA ABC 7/place where Gary Warner once worked, really screwed up this story.  Ken Molestina,who is the best midget in local news (in my opinion), gave the fakest piece of crap story I've ever seen on local news.  KVIA basically played the "poor hispanic women get beaten by rich white men" card.  They did zero research as to what the issue was and what the realities of the employment situation at Mayapan were.

Their story lacked depth and was propped on lies.  Had they been listening they would have screwed it up so badly.  They did the typical local news thing - go dramatic when you don't want to work hard.

Maybe they'll invite me to the Sunday show to teach Mr. Molestina the midget a little about the story so that next time he can stop with the stupid dramatics and stick with the facts.

Cindy Arnold - Is She Gaming the Unemployment System?

I noticed yesterday that Cindy Arnold admitted that she has filed for unemployment recently.  That's interesting, very interesting.

So, let's see how good you readers are with unemployment rules and regs.  Too bad the Lion Star is out of town, he's an expert on unemployment stuff given his background in that industry. For now, we'll have to depend on our collective intelligence to figure this one out.

If Cindy Arnold is filing for unemployment, she must have lost her job in some manner.  So why was she assuming the position of a paid employee yesterday when arguing the case of Mercado Mayapan? 

Shouldn't the city have rules about making sure they are negotiating and hearing testimony from actual employees of the groups represented at the meeting?

Does this mean I can speak on behalf of groups I'm not employed by?  Maybe I could represent a rival construction firm and go call everyone on council a "jerk" on their behalf.

If this lady isn't an employee of La Mujer Obrera/Cafe Mayapan, how does she control their bank accounts and fund-raising?  Seems odd that a former employee seeking unemployment would have access to all of that.

If she hopes to get unemployment, she's going to have to state that she was laid off.  You can't get unemployment if you were fired for cause or quit your job.  Seems to me like she quit a paying job unless she's going to try and convince the Texas Workforce Commission that she laid herself off, but kept her job... without pay.

Who does the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) call to verify her reason for leaving?  I guess it would be Cindy Arnold since she's in charge.  Here's how I imagine that conversation going:

Cindy:  Hello, Mercado Mayapan

TWC: Hi, we're calling in reference to an employee matter.  Who would we speak with?

Cindy: That would be me.  How can I help you.

TWC:  Okay, are you familiar with a former employee named Cindy Arnold.

Cindy: Yes, that's me.

TWC: Excuse me...

Cindy:  I'm Cindy Arnold.

TWC:  So you are still employed with Mercado Mayapan.

Cindy: No.

TWC:  So, you're not an employee, but you answer the phones there and handle issues relating to human resources?

Cindy: Yes.

TWC: Okay... Ms. Arnold did you quit, lay yourself off or fire yourself for cause?

Cindy: I was laid off, by me.

TWC: But you still work at Mercado Mayapan.

Cindy: No.

TWC: Then why are you there answering the phone and serving in a capacity only and employee can serve in?  Are you working or not?

Cindy: No, I'm not working here, I just run everything.

TWC:  So you don't work there, but you run everything?

Cindy: Exactly.

TWC:  Are you currently looking for employment?

Cindy: No, I'm too busy here at Mercado Mayapan performing all the functions of a regular employee.

TWC: I see... 

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You get the idea.  

If she is claiming unemployment, that means she has to be actively searching for a new job.  I wonder where she's put her resume in. 

I think it's bullshit that she quits and gets on the public dole until she can get back on the public dole... wait a second!! Somebody is getting screwed here and they look a lot like you and I.

----------------------------------------------------

AND THEN IT JUST CAME TO ME! 

When she had to state her name and title when she took the podium, what did she say?  How did she describe her involvement? A ha!

The second she said she was unemployed the council should have cut her mic!

Good Question - Does Government Care About Outcomes?

One of the many astute readers and commenters on this blog took time to ask a good question (without calling me an asshole for once) today and it has inspired me to talk about the government's tracking of outcomes when it comes to their funding of non-profit ventures.

The question submitted by Mike No. 2

Caught a good portion, via Channel 15, of yesterday's City Council debate on this issue.

Did I UNDERSTAND one item correctly?

Thought I heard City staffer Mr. Lilly say, other than looking a the outcomes referenced in the grant proposal, there is NO FOLLOW UP or AUDITING to see if any of these people were successful in getting jobs after graduating from the program?

Thank you Mike, that's a wonderful question.

Politicians who hand out taxpayer dollars to various non-profits are often supporting the "mission" of that group and not the results.  In the latest instance here in town the mission to support is job and small business ownership training.  Any monies that they awarded were to the idea that these entities  will produce our next Paul Foster or J.O. Stewart. 

Let me be the first to tell you that it's highly unlikely that will happen, but that's just my brain using the reality of the world we live in to assess the situation. Those of you who live on planet Idiot think that a six week training program and a few get rich quick books can lead you to becoming some business Tycoon like Steve Jobs.  Those of you on planet Idiot are wrong.

Anywho...

These programs are not measured for outcomes, because their outcomes suck.  Politicians use these programs as a campaign tag-line.  You will often hear them say things like, "I supported a multi-million dollar grant to train low income residents of my district to get better jobs so they could better their lives."  It sounds great.  To the poor guy out there it sounds as if this guy is redistributing wealth from the rich directly to him.  All he has to do is elect this guy and he'll pay me a million dollars to enter a training program.  To the regular voter with a job it's an appeal to their sensitive side.  They feel like the candidate cares enough to give people who "never had a chance" a chance at having a chance... if you can follow that.

Most of these programs only serve to employ an executive director and a few full-time and part-time staff members who shuffle people through the program.  Most of the time the employees are actually creating handouts on the potential of the program.  They have graphs, charts and detailed expansion plans of what they plan to do if given more money.  Never do they provide solid numbers of how many people achieved the desired outcome of the program - that's not the goal.

As we saw with the chick from Mercado Mayapan yesterday, she could only point to a few success stories from the 15 years they've been in "business."  Literally hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars have been used to achieve an outcome of a few successes.  I think it was Rep. Byrd who respectfully pointed out that it seemed as if Mercado Mayapan simply hired hundreds of women who never left the program.  They simply are employed as kitchen workers and never go off to start the next great restaurant in town.  And why would they?  Outcomes aren't measured, so the staff at La Mujer Obrera just pays them as full-time staff and holds their employment hostage against entities like the city.  By that, I mean that when it comes time for handout money the executive director tells city council that 150 women will be unemployed if they don't give them a bunch of cash ASAP.  That's exactly what that chick was doing yesterday.

ACORN had never been measured for outcome, just mission.  It wasn't until some young white devils posed as a pimp and ho at the offices of various ACORN outlets did we find out what their outcomes were.  Cheating your way through taxes and home loan applications seemed to be the "outcomes" that ACORN offered. (and we wonder why some many mortgages failed - people like ACORN were teaching people how to falsify their income).

Here locally this money for job training is really a front for paying a few staffers here and there to beg for more money each year.  None of them can give solid numbers as to what they are doing to have a positive impact on our region.   Believe me, if they had a bunch of success stories they'd be dragging them out for the whole world to see.  Why do you think high schools make such a big deal out of graduations to this day even though failure is nearly impossible and over 95 percent of kids outside of urban areas graduate?  Because they can - they have an outcome.

Mercado Mayapan was too egregious for too long.  They demanded public dollars and then pulled some stunts that gave too many people the impression that they didn't care about oversight, they just wanted their free money.  Their leader struck everyone as entitled and above scrutiny from the very folks who control her destiny.  That's never a good thing.

In the world of taking your tax dollars and giving it away to charities without your permission, there is no means to an end, there's only a means to a means.

Maybe in the future politicos will be less eager to hear about the mission of the group and more interested in the outcomes the group has achieved. 

By the way - we spend more and more on these job training programs each year and our unemployment rate is still very high and our employers are still screaming for a quality workforce.

Mayapan Chick Fired Herself and Got on Unemployment!

This Cindy Arnold chick is ballsy.  She just admitted that she fired herself and then went on unemployment while staying in actual charge of the group.

She's getting unemployment, but yet still runs the Mayapan.  You're now paying her to run this thing into the ground through unemployment benefits instead of through the city loan of your tax dollars.

It's probably legal, but it's not desirable.

Mayapan Can't Sustain - Kudos to Holguin and Others...

I'm watching the city council meeting where this Cindy Arnold chick is showing the signs of someone both hiding something and lying her ass off.

Holguin asked her flat out if they could operate without charity funds from the government.  He has enormous balls.  He asked the right question.

He then looped her into making her answer the question of how she was going to train future business owners if she's a failure herself.   Bigger balls.

Of course she can't explain how her terrible management translates to training others to be good managers.

Oh yeah, Arnold provided some kind of updated report yesterday that shows their imaginary numbers, or "projections" for the group through 2010.  Most of it based on the hope that all of the people who have pledged to give them money will in fact do that.  Of course, they also project their sales, which we know have been crappy in the past.

I'm really happy Rep. Holguin really did what the people of El Paso wanted him to do - stand up and ask the tough questions. 

They're going to get the money because the progressives need that "poor, poor pitiful me" vote from that district to continue to run things, but that doesn't make it right.

Your tax dollars are actually going to be used to pay this very shifty Cindy Arnold chick. She needs to be asked how much she's being paid.  That's important.

Now you have Rep. Robinson weighing in... Good questions. 

Cindy Arnold just admitted that Cafe Mayapan can't self sustain. 

Should be the end of this - they should vote her down.

I hope you are listening because Cindy Arnold is telling you how to run a very unsuccessful business on top of a very unsuccessful non-profit.  It's a refresher course of how not to do anything well and get a lot of praise for it. 

Score another knock out for Rep. Robinson who used her words against her.  He basically pointed out that nobody has to move through the program - they can squat there forever and never excel in business.

Rep. Anne Lilly just asked about the salaries and Arnold said $50,000 is the CFO's pay and the highest. Arnold now claims she does not get paid.  Talk about a very bad business owner!

Rep. Ortega just read what they were chanting on the 10th floor.  Too bad it was in spanish and I only got a few of the words.  I'm guessing it wasn't a good thing because he's not speaking to her like they are in love.

He gave me the impression that she told her workers that they weren't going to get paid anymore and it was city council's fault. That helps explain her harping on the fact that she didn't know the money would be delayed 30 to 90 days.  So basically this woman was counting your tax dollars before she received them.  She feels so entitled to your money that she had the nerve to demand that not only should she get the money with no questions, but on their schedule if not earlier.

What's LULAC Really Looking For?

Newspaper Tree was on the ball when they reported on LULAC's attempted shake down of City Manager, Joyce Wilson.  They have now backed off and it's not because they are satisfied with how brown city hall is.  It's uglier than the racial (actually ethnic) division they seek in this city.

I do find it funny that a group that is based on helping only people of one ethnic  background is calling someone else "racist."  They seek to differentiate themselves by race just like the KKK does, however they're somehow not identified as racists.   Always remember that if I had a club that only helped white people and only sought white members, it would be "racist."  Therefore when they have a club that only serves one race (ethnicity) and allows only one race to be members, they are in fact "racists" as well.  There is no room for double standards in our society.

Anywho...

The real problem for them here is that former Mayor, Joe Wardy cleaned house during his term and a vote of the people allowed for city manager form of government.  Those two events did more to curb the outright lawlessness wreaking havoc with our city's procurement system than any other single act to date.

Before we had four year terms and a city manager, city staff ran around under the radar doing whatever the hell they wanted to do.  Rep. Emma Acosta is a perfect example of someone running a department rife with fraud.  People did federal time for the crimes committed on her watch.  Many others got away with ripping off the taxpayers of El Paso for years.

What the folks at the top of LULAC were concerned with was getting "their people" in high positions in order to re-game the system and fill their pockets with gold.  Everybody needs a friend in the procurement department - it helps them make sure that your competitor's bid is always missing one piece of vital information that gets them disqualified.  Yep, LULAC wants the old the system back.  Their buddies can't cheat the system like they used to and it pisses them off.

I think once they were pressed to show why their friends should have been hired for positions over the people who got those jobs, they backed off. 

The game is easy to play.  Say you have a guy bidding on a contract to provide the city with toilet paper.  He gets the specs and puts his price together.  All the interested parties submit their bid.  His bid is low, but rejected because all of a sudden they can't find a single piece of paper that was to be included in the bid package.  He knows for a fact that he included that piece of paper, but has no recourse - it's his word against the city staff's word.  A month later he finds out that the winner of the bid just happened to be the brother-in-law of the guy who opened the bids. 

It happens every single day of the week and twice on Friday at the city and county level.  Favors for your buddies are a part of every day life in local government.  LULAC got complaints that their buddies weren't getting in positions to hand contracts out to friends, so they pulled the race card.  Typical El Paso.

Look at the leadership of LULAC and examine what each of them does.  Who do they shake down using their position?  I bet you'll find some fascinating facts if you look hard enough.

It's funny that their group split after the shake down artists went after each other over their big party.  Seems like everybody and their mother wanted in on the kickbacks and the take was getting too small, so they just kicked out half of the looters and moved on.  Anybody who couldn't see that is an idiot.

LULAC and their efforts are the reason we have such a corruption problem in this town. I'll debate them on the merits of their organization anytime at any place.  If they wanted to help Latinos, they'd put the race card away and start acting in an ethical manner.  Good, ethical influences are needed in this town and if they don't want to lead, the need to get out of the way.

Begging is not a Skill - Mayapan at City Council

I've been inundated with emails from people telling me about the Mujer Obrera item on the city council agenda for tomorrow.  I guess it's their item.  I haven't really understood exactly what the whole item exactly means for Cafe Mayapan, but it seems to have to do with the standards set for the city to lend (give) money away to various entities.

What really gets me is that some of the people who have emailed me are folks that I would never in a million years think were against this program.  After asking a few questions of those people, I learned where the problem lies.  They don't like the chick running the place - this Cindy Arnold person. 

I asked them why they couldn't go after the program publicly, and they all had the same answer - it's not cool to be uncool with handout programs.  They have to put on the appearance that they like handing out wads of cash to those who can't earn it.  They want me to stomp on her toes and poke her in the eyes on their behalf... Would that make me a "hired stooge?"

So this puts me in a weird position.  I really want to deliver a signature David K blog beating to the Mayapan folks, but I don't want to do the dirty work for a group of people too scared to do it themselves.

Screw it - let's get to business.  I'll leave any personal attack on Ms. Arnold out of it since I don't know her or exactly what her position within all this is.  However, Ms. Arnold needs to know that she has a lot of people who think poorly of her.  In that respect Ms. Arnold and I are very much alike... for different reasons, though.

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Whatever the original intent of this program was, has been lost.  I keep reading that their purpose is to hire women without jobs.  That can't possibly be their real and stated goal.  Hiring based on age, sex, race etc... so on and so forth is illegal.  Just ask Hooters.

I hear they originally came into existence after the garment industry left town.  The original group was tasked with retraining women to do new and different jobs.  Now 15 years later they somehow started a really shitty restaurant that nobody wants to go to. 

Unlike other non-profit organizations that raise the funds they need to stay in "business" (I use that term loosely), Cafe Mayapan can not garner enough public support to stay open.  Why is this?

Somehow they convinced someone to give them seed money for a business venture that would both help train women for new jobs and be a resource for future funding.  Unfortunately they ventured off into the restaurant business.  It's no secret that restaurants are notoriously hard to make into long-term profitable successes.  The best way to get a bank to not loan you money is to tell them you are going to open a restaurant with it.

Because the organizers of the program have completely failed to build a manageable and sustainable non-profit institution, they need an emergency cash infusion to stay alive.  Here's where they start begging.

Instead of the non-profit group itself heading out to the general public to plead their case in an effort to garner tax deductible donations, they go straight to the local government.  There's an old saying that goes; "It's easier to fool five city council members into giving me $1 Million than it is to fool one hundred thousand members of the public into giving me $10 each."  (it's really not an old saying, I just made it up... but the concept is not new)

Either way the members of the general public will be giving this non-profit the money it needs to fail again.  Our city council is set to spend our dollars on a charity not of our choice, but of theirs.  That's bullshit and exactly why the government should not be in the business of handing out one single cent of taxpayer's money to non-profit groups - I don't care which side of the aisle they come from.

If the non-profit group is seen as useful by the general public, then the general public will support it.  Obviously the general public does not find Cafe Mayapan to be useful.  The proof is in the pudding - and nobody likes their pudding.

They're not even going to be made to restructure their efforts in order to avoid a future shortage in funding.  City council will happily hand them hundreds of thousands of your hard earned (and then stolen) tax dollars tomorrow knowing that they'll be back asking for more next year.  Meanwhile our crazy and retarded people are not getting the care they need in this city (see MHMR troubles and don't cry because I called them crazy and retarded - at least I'm advocating for their funding.  Would you rather me be sensitive and not supportive?).

I know they claim to do job training, but do they really?  And why are we funding yet another redundant service?  Upper Rio Grande Workforce blah blah blah whatever you call it (why does it have to have 42 words in the title?  Why not just be named"Get a Job Here?") trains people and gets them jobs along with a whole bunch of other publicly funded entities on the federal and state levels.  Why do we need to fund another job placement center that runs at a tremendous loss?

A useful and successful non-profit is well funded because the public believes in their cause.  Look at Susan G. Komen.  They raise millions of dollars in charity dollars and ask for very little in the way of government funds.  Do you know what Susan G. Komen gives you in exchange for your donation?  They dress you ass up in titty pink and make your run three miles once a year.  And then when they are done running your fat ass into the ground, they make you cry for two hours at something they call a "survivor's ceremony." Obviously people believe in what they do.

I see no reason to give these people another infusion of cash so that money can disappear with little or nothing to show for itself in the end... again.  Why hurt legitimate downtown restaurants by propping up their direct competitor with taxpayer dollars?  I'm sure that money could go to bettering (there's that word again - used it twice in two weeks!) the public areas around downtown so that more El Pasoans could enjoy them and thus patronize existing downtown businesses or spur the growth of new ones that might hire these ladies.

Where's LULAC? Oh wait, they're on white people witch hunts and can't be bothered with actually doing anything good for the community.  La Raza?  They're probably too busy making more maps showing Idaho as Mexico's northern boundary. 

I guess their fate is in the hands of the city of council.  A body, mind you, who hates taxpayers and love tax takers.  This should be a slam dunk, come to think of it.  By the time city council is done with this item tomorrow, they'll have imposed another tax on developers in order to fund Cafe Mayapan.  I can see them imposing the fee on any new house that has a stove. It fits in with the theme.

I expect mass righteous indignation at this blog post.  I expect that I have done the right thing, then.

Some of you need to stop hiding behind me, though.  If you don't like this Cindy Arnold chick, you need to write her an open letter.  It's liberating.  Trust me.