Refuse the Juice

Get Your Facts Straight - Transmountain Edition

I keep reading  where anonymous people claim that the only reason Transmountain is being "widened" (that doesn't really cover all that is going to happen) is because rich developers stand to gain so much money from the project.  I read these claims, but don't hear them - why?  Because they are total bullshit and nobody is going to get in front of a camera and tell what they know to be lies.   Too bad some people believe more of what they read below the word "comments" than above.

Here's the real deal - the whole project actually strips land owners ("developers" as you greenazis like to call them) of profit. Here's the kicker - they volunteered to give away their land even though it meant profit going out the door.  They did this through a change in zoning that they could have fought.  Land owners along Transmoutain could have made the state pay them millions for their land that abuts the roadway.   Instead, they all volunteered to give away their land.

The fact is they will develop that land along Transmoutain with, or without a freeway.  If the freeway isn't built, it's better for the developers.  They can have more "street cuts" to their commercial sites.  This means they can stack exits and entrances back to back to back to back to back to back all the way up that damn road if they want.  Retailers LOVE THIS!  It means that passers-by have to slow down and while they're slowing down they are checking out the shopping centers.  Any roadside retailer will tell you that "speed kills - your business."  They'd rather you walk by against a stiff wind while dragging a lead weight than drive by at 90 MPH where you might miss their signs because you're going to fast. 

The bottom line - this doesn't necessarily increase or decrease traffic.  What it does do is safely and conveniently move the traffic currently using the road back and forth over the mountain.  Project or no project, the land will be developed.  The new plan with all the bike paths and huge setbacks make for a much nicer environment. 

As for the entrance to Tom Mays park - GIVE ME A BREAK!  None of you loud-mouthed greenazis have said a word about the entrance to Tom Mays park since 1968, but all of a sudden it's going to be a huge problem?  People right now are whizzing by that turn lane at 80 and 90 MPH and it doesn't bother you one bit today.  Why should it bother you in the future? 

Bottom line (again... we've got lots of "bottom lines" which confuses people on which one is truly the "bottom" - "bottom line" is a lazy man's way of wrapping up his thoughts and you can tell I'm being ultra lazy today... don't get into this bad habit when writing.  Also, try to avoid huge breaks in the flow of your writing using parenthesis.) - this is a mobility issue.  The land owners gave up an ideal situation for themselves in order to create an ideal situation for you.  A "thank you" is in order. I suggest you send them a card soon.  After all, they've put their money where their mouth is so that we can be a better city.

If you're not growing, you're dying.  And if you're dying, nobody is going to want anything to do with you.  Move up or move on.  I'm sure there's a community somewhere with little or no aspirations to be great that will accept your anti-progress views with open arms.  Want to live in a cave?  Follow a bat and leave us that don't alone.

Indignant responses to my micro-imperialistic views on life in El Paso go below.  Be sure to take some shots at my mom while you're at it.  God knows it's her fault you can't stop reading this blog.  How come you guys always take shots at me for working for my mom and not my dad?  Is it somehow more sociably acceptable to work for your dad instead of your mom?  Are you a  sexist because you fail to poke fun at my employment under my father?  Rember that the next time you mention my mom - you're setting the cause of women back decades. 

You Can't Have it Both Ways

I really can't say that what President Obama is doing in Libya is any different than what we did in Iraq.  Well, the vote Bush got from congress makes it a little different, but not much.

You can't cricize Obama for this war and not criticize Bush for his -  you just can't do it.  You're playing politics if you do. 

I don't agree with engaging the people of the middle east in any manner now... I've lost the taste for it and think that we should leave them to themselves for a while ever.

We need bring the troops home from those lands as soon as possible.  They can all get big jobs drilling oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska. It'll be beautiful.

That's all I've got to say about that.

Stupid in Action

I'm watching the end of the debate on the Transmountain issue right now.  The pompous asses on council are risking all the money from the state over complete bullshit.  In a time when communities in the state of Texas are begging for money to simply keep community centers for troubled teens open, we're turning our nose up at the money.  And don't forget, we've cried for years that we never get "our fair share."

Do you know why we are last in everything?  We have people like this running things around here.

Pickett Isn't Going Anywhere... Margo May Be, Though

I finally got around to reading the article in the EP Times and Jaime Abeytia's blog post about Rep. Joe Pickett's vote on the Voter ID bill.  I don't really care to debate the merits of the bill because if you're against it, you have nogood argument against the bill.  However, if you are against the bill and admit that it hinders your ability to have people illegally cast votes in place of others, you have a good argument... at least a good argument as to why it's going to screw with how you conduct your get out the vote campaign.  

Pickett isn't going anywhere because he's loved by at least 90 percent of the ten or so voters in his district.  The one voter who doesn't like him is a republican.  Pickett's laughablecar collection and creepy office decor endear him to his people.  He's absolutely a raving ego maniac like all the rest, but he keeps it under wraps for the general public.  Besides, most people in his district don't buy the "poor little abuelitas will be shot with fire hoses for trying to vote" plea. 

I think it's funny that some democrats last year were crying "but but but SENIORITY!!!!" when it came to Norma Chavez's race and now all of a sudden don't care too much about Pickett's.  A little reflection on their previous words would save them the embarrassment of having a blogger like me make them look like amateurs.

The bottom line is that Pickett is safe because he's always been a middle of the road type of guy and his district is a middle of the road district.  You put up some loud-mouthed Chicana  in that district who calls everyone a "racist" and promises welfare instead of jobs, you'll lose worse than I did.  La Raza isn't playing well anywhere but below the freeway and even there it's dying as people assimilate into American culture where racism and racial separatism (prevalent in Central and South America) is frowned upon.  I know this last paragraph will irk my buddy Jaime and others who identify themselves first by skin color, but it's the facts and sometimes they aren't pretty.

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As for Dee Margo... Well, he's doing a great job.  However, Joe Moody and friends are quietly gearing up for the 2012 election and are going to depend heavily on the straight-ticket presidential year voting that is so common in El Paso.  Unfortunately for Margo, there's not much he can do that he's not already doing.  In all honesty he's delivered on his promises.  He's in a position of power off the bat, he's fighting for economic boosters instead of begging and he's taken at least one prominent white guy to task for a bad metaphor used indirectly to describe UTEP.  I also revel in the fact that for once we've got a guy who looks and feels like a Texas legislator.  He's rich, well connected and confident.  We're used to poor, angry and confrontational... or Fat, clueless and indifferent (guess who that is!). 

I don't like Margo's chances in 2012, but I'm sure he will put up one hell of a fight. 

El Paso Times Gets Story WRONG!

Read this story - http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_17714352.

When I drove by at 8:15 a.m. there was a dude taking a permanent nap under a crisp white sheet on the ditch bank while two cops stood there waiting on the meat wagon.  The report says "he later died at an area hospital."  I guess the folks over at the EP Times think "ditch bank" constitutes "area hospital" these days. 

Bad reporting.

Bonart, PSB, El Paso Electric and the Hidden Agendas

Warning: I really didn't know how to put this together so you get the crap below and it ends abruptly.

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If you've been reading the El Paso Inc. lately you've seen all the hoopla over Richard Bonart's experiences on the PSB board.  Here's what's really at play here.

Richard Bonart is on the PSB board because the anti-development crowd begged, pleaded and lobbied for a new seat on the board and got their wish.  Their goal - make sure Ed Archuleta doesn't sell any more of their vast land holdings to developers.  They can't control what private landowners do with their land, but they felt they could do something about the land that the taxpayers own through the PSB. 

Mind you, the land the PSB owns and frequently sales is all a part of a hideous scheme to give El Paso the cheapest water in the state in the most reliable and safe manner possible.  Terrible, I know. 

Bonart and friends also don't mind that their goal of making PSB land off limits for anything but lizard habitat will increase your water usage fees because they'd like you stop using water too. 

Bonart and the Study

Once again we want to spend literally millions to study a problem we all already know the answer to.  It was much colder than usual.   Our utilities suffered during the unusual event and short of adopting the very expensive standards for utilities like they have in Fargo, North Dakota, we'll just have to stay the course until the next severe freeze we may never experience comes around again.  Oh hell, our power may go out again for a grand total of three hours over four days - the horror!

The PSB commissioned study will be used by interested parties to further beat El Paso Electric over the head.  EPE is everyone's enemy.  The high six figure cost to embarrass them through an audit of another unrelated utility is an easy check to write for those who bitterly hate EPE (vendetta paid for with your tax dollars).  This is why the mayor and everyone else needs Bonart to play along. 

Bonart just doesn't know how to play along so that the only ones who have something to win, can win.  God knows his efforts at stopping PSB land sales aren't going to go anywhere.

Shocking News Update! Political Candidate Lies!

Actually, I knew Mr. Ernesto Villanueva was lying about his endorsements when a few friends of mine in Acid Heights (Sunset Heights to those of you who didn't grow up here) called to tell me what he said to them when he rang their respective doorbells.  Yesterday's post was an exercise in publish shaming I like to call "don't lie to people or I'll make an ass out of you."

I received an email from Representative O'Rourke today admonishing me for not contacting him first.  I didn't contact O'Rourke because I knew what his answer would be - "I have not, and will not endorse anyone."  In fact, his email to Mr. Villanueva back on March 3, 2011 reads as follows:

"Ernesto,
I hope all is going well. I received your campaign card at our home on Prospect, so I know you're out there walking. As we discussed, this is the best way to meet voters, get your name out there and find out what their interests are.
While I'm glad you've chosen to run, and I'm here to answer any questions you have along the way, I do want to make clear that I am not endorsing anyone in this race.

Thanks and good luck,

Beto"

I haven't heard from Representative Steve Ortega, but I'm sure he didn't endorse Mr. Villanueva either. 

So what's going on here? 

Well, my buddy Jaime Abeytia has already declared me a liar because... well three reasons:

1.  He assumes that all candidates tell him everything and this candidate didn't tell him about these key endorsements in their many conversations (you see Jaime is in the can for Villanueva 100% - he doesn't protect anyone unless he's playing "king maker" with their political future otherwise he wouldn't have even blinked at my post).

2.  He hates Cortney Niland and thinks that any bad news for her many opponents is good news for her.

3.  Can't stand the fact that he didn't get this "scoop," which isn't a scoop at all since Villanueva was telling people of his endorsement and order from O'Rourke to run for this seat when he was gathering signatures.  Even I have at least one friend that lives somewhere other than the "12" and isn't a Palin supporter.

I'm not going to really get into numbers two and three - they're pretty self explanatory.  However, number one is worth talking about.

The last time I heard of Villanueva telling people of his nonexistent endorsements, it was from people he approached while apparently block-walking.  This method of campaigning has been used extensively since Mayor Cook used it to win his first mayoral bid.  The likely cause of Cook's win was not his incessant walking, but some very negative media for Wardy and a very well organized whisper campaign in the Lower Valley that said Wardy was planning on sending Latino males under 30 to Iraq (I've seen the flyer).  Nonetheless, walking has become en vogue and has had at best mixed results.

The thing about this type of campaiging is that as a candidate, you're free to really say anything you want to a prospective voter.  There are no reporters present.  There are no bloggers present.  There's just you, the prospective voter and whatever amount of bullshit you want to cover their porch in.  I can tell you as a former candidate and a Grand Master Bullshitter, the urge to tell them what they wanted to hear was strong.  What would be the harm in saying that you're endorsed by so and so, or the Mayor and the top general at Ft. Bliss?  Are they going to check it out?  Doubtful.

Jaime Abeytia believes that candidates speak to him as they would any person they meet on the street.  He's wrong.  You may remember Rachel Quintana's surprising victory over Wonder Geek - Jimmy Suerken four short years ago.  It was widely reported that Rep. Quintana's schtick on the front porch ranged from eliminating taxes to promising everyone a new BMW... okay - just the first part and some other things she couldn't deliver that weren't as nice as a BMW.  The reports were all about the same when it came to her promises - promises she never made in her very infrequent public appearances before the election.  What she said on the radio was vastly different than what she told people on their porch.

What Jaime needs to realize is that Villanueva isn't going to make an obviously false statement to anybody in the media who might go check out his story.  He will, though, tell Joe Sixpack whatever he thinks it will take to get hisvote when it's the two of them chatting on a doorstep.  He knows that Joe Sixpack isn't going to call Beto O'Rourke, so what's the hurt in telling a little fib?  None - it gets him a vote and Joe Sixpack is none the wiser.  But... sometimes Joe Sixpack knows David K and runs and tells David K what he heard.  At that point things get tricky.

God love Jaime, but he knows as well as I do how Mr. Villanueva would pull this off.  Again, I'm sure Jaime is playing King Maker with Villanueva otherwise he wouldn't have been so upset about my admission.  Just think about the many posts about politicians I have on this blog that Jaime never even bothers to read, but all of a sudden is coming to the valiant defense of a guy nobody has ever heard of before and will probably never hear of again after May. 

As for me supporting Cortney Niland... Please - the best thing I can do is leave her alone.  With my help she may end up like me and score in the low 30s.  If I had some axe to grind for Niland, I'd be helping her by endorsing her opponents - my endorsement is like cancer, nobody wants it and it's likely fatal if you get it.   

I can tell you right now in that race Lisa T share my values on just about every single thing to do with the budget and that may be the most important issue facing us for a while.

Breaking District 8 News - Huge Endorsement Coup!

I have now fielded several calls from District 8 friends of mine who have met Ernesto Villanueva - one of the many candidates running for Representative Beto O'Rourke's soon to be vacated seat.

I didn't really have an opinion on Villanueva either way since I haven't met him.  I did hear that he has quite an interesting Myspace page (favorite word is rumored to be "fuck" - his word, not mine - have to quote accurately or Sito will bust my chops)...

I should be clear (just like Obama is always asking permission to be i.e. "let me be clear") and admit that just because I don't know someone, that doesn't mean they're not okay to run for office.  I have no ring that must be kissed.  You guess is as good as mine in most cases... I take that back - if you're a democrat, your guess is stupid and killing this country faster than people like me can repair it.

What usually helps a candidate is the endorsement of someone well known.  In Ernesto Villanueva's case, he's got the endorsement of two very well known city council persons - Beto O'Rourke and Steve Ortega. Yep, Villanueva admitted as much to my district eight buddies.  Not only does Beto O'Rourke endorse him, Villanueva has said that Beto asked him to run for the office.

I didn't really see this coming seeing as how Ortega usually stays out of other people's races since his help for Jimmy Suerken was all for not.  I also didn't know that Villanueva was an insider in the now loosely associated Shapleigh Campers Club.  I'm learning a lot about this sudden "player" on the city political scene.

I can only guess that Representative Susie Byrd's and County Judge Veronica Escobar's endorsements are on the way.  Again - WOW.   

I really can't express how surprised I am about these endorsements given that the interview Jaime Abeytia got with the guy shows a nearly clueless guy in faux eye glasses - check it out HERE.

I really expect less out of Beto and Steve... I mean, they're not the endorsement types.  I guess I was wrong.

 

We Need City Councilers Who Know Stuff

I just saw a bid get hijacked by a contractor who didn't follow the rules.  Because no one on city council has any experience or knowledge of this process outside of what is told to them from the podium on the day the item gets a vote, the people of El Paso and a contractor got screwed today.

We don't need another member on city council with a "vision" or a "plan for the future."  We need new city council members to be knowledgeable in the bid selection process from top to bottom.  Dreaming big and talking big doesn't solve the real issues this city faces. 

This is basic stuff that is written down for the whole world to absorb, yet our city council has never taken the time to understand any of it.  They'd rather argue with spotlight seeking pastors over benefits for less that one half of one percent of the entire employee population.   Meanwhile, the daily business of screwing the taxpayers goes on unnoticed. 

We need smart people, not popular people.  I can't stress enough the importance of our legislators knowing the following document backwards and forwards - Municipal Code.

We Need to Mind Our Own Business

Depending on where you get your news, you may have noticed that Libya is about to made an example of by nations dependent on middle eastern oil.  It seems Egypt and Bahrain were a little too risky to interfere with, but Libya makes a good canvas for the westerners to express themselves.

Don't be fooled by any excuse for this action other than the fact that oil is going up in price. Nobody really cares about Libya's struggle with "freedom."  I put the word "freedom" in quotes because those people are interested in freedom so much as they are interested in letting a new vicious dictator take over for a while.

Any action against these nations is in the interest of the price of oil and frankly I don't think we ( the United States of America) have any business messing around over there.  We shouldn't be telling those folks how to live in the first place.  And we sure as hell shouldn't be telling them how to live (by "telling" I mean by killing the faction we don't like in favor the one we kind of like) because we refuse to use own oil.  It just shows how much influence they have over our economy and it's not right.

All of our dependence on foreign countries for goods is keeping us involved in a bunch nonsense that creates an inexcusable bottom line - less American jobs.  We have it here and we can control the means and methods of how those good are procured.  We won't need to send out fighting men and women out to secure our interests in those goods if they are manufactured right here. 

I wish this article was more wonkish, but it's a simple concept - we are too damn dependent on others for what we need.  It leads us into stupid wars with no chance for positive results. 

And now that the media hype has forever damaged the nuclear energy industry, we're going to need a lot more of that oil for a lot longer - might as well start in our own backyard.

All Kinds of Problems for Brown's Candidates and Others

Go read Jaime Abeytia's blog now!  He's up with all the city council scoop - click HERE.

Looks like at least two of Tom Brown's candidates have major troubles and might not even make it to the ballot.  Malcolm "In the Middle" McGregor supposedly lives in Anthony, New Mexico and Zulema "Where am I?" Lazarin can't fill out the paperwork correctly.

Other notables are Abe Peinado's forgetting to file a campaign treasurer appointment and Ernesto Villanueva may have some signature problems with his petition.

Typical El Paso - can't do the paper work!

I hate to pick on conservatives here, but Zulema Lazarin and Malcolm "In the Middle" McGregor are killing us.  Zulema is just too dumb for her own good and Malcolm is trying to pull a fast one.  Word on the street is that Malcolm's brother was going to run against him and that Malcolm's brother plays on the other team.  And by "plays on the other team," I don't mean the Redskins. 

Campaign forums are going to be a zoo and bound to be solely aimed at rehashing the gay benefits fight.  BORING.  However, I'll go to a few and make fun of them.  That's how dedicated I am to politics in this city.

Oh, one more thing.  I heard Paul McCartney isn't going to Juarez, but instead coming to El Paso and playing Tim Besco's campaign kickoff.  Should be fun until Besco shows up with his own food and DJ. 

....

Maybe Jaime is the only one laughing at that, but it was worth it.

Single Issue Candidates Abound

I haven't seen the whole picture of the upcoming city council races, but my friend Jaime Abeytia is doing a very good job of tracking it.  I do know that we've got more than a handful of candidates running solely on the gay benefits issue.  This isn't good for anyone.

The bottom line here is that this gay benefits issue is going to be decided in the courts.  Anyone running now will probably never cast a vote on the subject.  Their candidacy will be a waste of time for them and us.

What are these gay benefits people (I'm referring to candidates both for and against the issue) going to do when they aren't voting on gay benefits?  Do they really have any grasp of the other issues that affect our city on a daily basis - and I do mean "daily basis."  It's important that a candidate have stance on the day-in and day-out issues like the budget. 

If you elect a guy because he's going to "sock it to them queers," you run the risk of him socking it to your wallet too when you find out that the two of you don't agree on taxes. 

A seasoned political odds maker I worked for years ago always talked about single issue candidates and their awkward lives as politicians when that issue went away.  And she wasn't referring to a single issues like taxes or abortion, she was talking about real niche issues.

She always brought up a guy, whose name escapes me, from the Dallas area who ran for either state senator or state rep after his son fell off of his bike, hit his head and died.  It was a tragedy that I couldn't even begin to fathom until I had a child of my own.  As any grieving parent with a good heart would do, the father ran for office so he could introduce a bill that would make kids riding bikes without a helmet a crime punishable by a fine.  The bill literally called for the police officers to ticket parents if they caught their kid on a bike without a helmet.  The moral for the story comes down to the fact that he was in the Texas legislature that only meets every other year and his issue was off the table in minutes and replaced with some really tough ones.  He was worthless to his constituents once his single issue was out of the way.  He had no real understanding or stance on anything other than bike helmets.  The folks in his district may have cheered him up after a tragic accident, but they screwed themselves out of effective representation at the same time. It's a story that every level of government in every state sees in every election (that's a lot of everys for one sentence). 

Whether you love the queers or hate them, you need to make sure you vote for someone who has a grasp of the issues they're likely to vote on, not the single one they will probably never see on an agenda.

And just so you know, I'm not a legal scholar so I can't tell you who they'll rule on this issue at the judicial level.  I could guess, but it wouldn't do any good.  Why waste my time?  I can tell you how to make a quick million if they approve the benefits for the gays... but we'll wait on that for another post.

Exactly What Are You Celebrating?

I'm going to take a lot of flack for this post... That's why I have a comments section.

So, apparently the "country's poorest zip code" is celebrating itself.  Of course, I'm not sure it's the poorest or if they claim it's the poorest when they want something.  I don't know the truth, but I can tell you it's not the richest neighborhood in the country.

Segundo Barrio is celebrating it's history... why?  Its history is 90 percent poverty, five percent crime and five percent broken homes.  Most of the area is rundown and the people who live there because they have no other choice.

Now I know my liberal friends have already shit their pants in shock over my declaration here.  It's okay - they think anything old and rundown is "neat" and "historically fascinating."  They don't see the real problems there and how a cycle of poverty and broken homes isn't "neat" or "historically fascinating" to the people who have to live there.  Besides, I'm saying what most of you are thinking, but are too afraid to say.

As the paper points out - successful people from Segundo Barrio tend to point out that they are proud to be from Segundo.  So proud in fact, that they live no where near the place and only bring up their connection to the place when trying to promote themselves for something - whether it be a run for office or some other self-fancying award they seek.  It's what the kids are calling "street cred" these days.  ("street cred" is short for "street credibility" - the kids these days are so stupid they can't pronounce the letters after the "d" in "credibility")

We can continue to romanticize the harsh realities of Segundo Barrio, but it will do nothing but feed a bunch of people hot dogs on a warm Saturday in the spring each year.  It accomplishes little for the people in the neighborhood. Tomorrow they'll still be the poorest people in the nation living in run-down homes because they have no choice. 

So - hip hip hooray for Segundo... the poorest place we got. 

Remember - in El Paso we celebrate our failures and bad mouth our successes. 

Keep El Paso Backwards!

And for God's sake stop messing around and post your righteously indignant comments about silver spoons and my mom and dad below before you explode!

Big Changes Coming with Ambulance Service

The city is seeking proposals for "non-emergency" ambulance services.  You can see that HERE.

I have had a bunch of email traffic from people on this issue.  It's also partly related to the billing contract controversy that I wrote about in December. 

Here's how I understand how this is all going to work.  When you get hurt and an ambulance comes, you'll be accessed by the emergency personnel on the scene. If they think you aren't hurt that bad, the city ambulance is going to leave and you're going to wait until a private ambulance company can come pick you up. 

There's some major problems with this model with safety being the biggest concern.  God forbid they say you're okay to take the slower private ambulance to the hospital and it's a mistake - you need to be at the hospital ASAP!  People who are not doctors will be making the call on your condition based on what they can see on the scene.  Are you okay with that?

Other problems arise when you start thinking about this from a taxpayer standpoint.  Is the city going to pay the private ambulances to pick people up? Or, are the private ambulances going to deal directly with the people they pick up?  If the city is paying the private ambulances and not collecting the money for the ride, we are out a lot of dough.  Remember, the new collections agent is only going to collect 27 percent of all ambulance bills owed by the public.  The old one was collecting 50 plus percent, but they were not offering fun golf outings etc...

I wonder if the city is going to reduce the budget for emergency services now that they won't have to transport people who aren't all that sick. There must be tremendous savings in not having our boys transport upwards of 75 percent of their calls to the hospital, right?  I bet their budget remains the same.

And what's this rumor I hear that the company that does the ambulance billing also buys up private ambulance companies in cities where they do collections?  Could Intermedix be trying to monopolize the entire ambulance industry here in El Paso?  What part is the fire chief playing helping them do that?  Let's be honest, I have posted a rather disgusting email from Intermedix reps to our current fire chief and the continued changes don't leave anyone feeling confident about the future of our emergency services.

Lot's of questions need to be asked that haven't been asked here.

Less is More When it Comes to Voting in El Paso

Recently city council voted to keep the mobile voting unit away from churches and businesses during city elections.  Today they yanked all polling locations, mobile or otherwise, from businesses and churches - at least for city elections. 

Well... I guess disfranchisement is okay when it's people who are perceived to be likely conservative voters who are being disfranchised.  I can't shine a brighter light on my friends like Jaime Abeytia and Sito Negron who have long held the opinion that any impediment of any kind to voting is a bad idea.  I wonder why they are so silent on this issue. 

Basically what is going to happen here is that early voting locations that are in strip centers or old folks homes are going to be moved to a public place.  This may mean moving some early voting locations way out of the way or simply doing away with them in areas where there isn't a public place very close.  Again, this will only be for city elections.

These "business" locations aren't exactly the lobby of Western Refining or ADP.  They're vacant store fronts that the property owner volunteers for use.  It's not as if there is some kind of influence being peddled through mystic rays emanating from the walls of a business that are going to make people vote one way or another.  There are rules as to what can go on withing a certain distance of a polling place.  Any claim otherwise is complete bullshit and person making the claim is a liar.  

Council is making this move in response to the vote they didn't win on the gay benefits issue.  Like the typical liberals they are, they can't accept the fact that they lost because their issue was unpopular with the masses.  They think they lost the vote because businesses and churches had too much influence over people at the polls.  Their solutions is to remove those barriers to their success and increase their influence over voters at polling places by putting those polling places in public places run by public employees.  What better way to influence voters than to bring them to your turf!

Here we have an assumption that laws will be broken, with zero evidence to back up that assumption.  Oh well, I guess... This is a direct assault on a certain type of voter (even if it won't be an effective one) and nobody really seems to care. The truth is that they won't get their way even if they make it harder to vote.  They don't know about the problems they may have caused for the precincts they actually like.  We'll see how this stands when certain parts backfire on them.

I truly believe that my first blog post on the issue inspried this second agenda item and subsequent vote.  They read my blog.  They knew they could push the envelope and nobody but me would say anything. 

I have to watch the meeting to see how Rep. O'Rourke spoke on this issue to gauge the truthfulness of his response to my prior post. 

As for the argument for not having polling places at public places because we can't have them at private places... well, if it ain't public, it's private - there's nothing in between.  We've got to vote somewhere.

What a city.

This Won't End Well for Gandara

Willie Jr. picked his right-hand woman to be on the UMC board and it went over about as well as you thought it would - badly.  The EP Times covers the particulars and their thoughts HERE.

Willie Jr. had originally picked Barbara Perez to fill the spot when he got into office.  Observers could only guess that he was trying to show the other board members what an ethically challenged member might look like.  Actually, he was trying to solidify Babs' voter base while giving her something to put on her resume for her justice of the piece run.  The good news is that the board was so suspect of Babs, that she really didn't get much done other than sitting there looking stupid, which she's an expert.  Her interest was lost when she figured out that the board doesn't get flown anywhere by folks seeking to do business with the hospital district. 

Anywho...

Willie Jr. is mired in controversy over something his father allegedly did.  Again, this is "allegedly" and it may be found that he did nothing at all wrong.  He has his day in court and the prosecutors have to prove he's guilty - not the other way around. 

So it's a little disturbing that Willie Jr. isn't wise enough to realize exactly how it would look if he appointed this woman to the board. He had to know that people would have a problem with this move.  He also has to know that she's going to be stopped before she has even started.   So suspect of her are the other commissioners and the entire board, everything she does will be examined for Willie Jr.'s fingerprints.  If they find he's pulling the strings, they'll yank the rug out from under both of them. 

You have to understand just how serious people are about UMC and its success.  Nobody involved wants anyone messing with its bright future.  They have a lot going for them and any hint of controversy would hinder the futures successesof the hospital and all its related programs.  I can't tell you enough how important UMC is to El Paso's major players.  It doesn't get the coverage in the press that adequately expresses to the public what's at stake here.

To be frank - Willie Jr. should have picked some no-name who he controls for the board spot.  At least the tie to him wouldn't be so obvious.  We all know that the puppets have strings, but we don't often readily know who's pulling them.

One of these days I'll tell you about the Socorro City Council meeting I attended.  If Willie Jr. grew up with that... well his move here explains a lot.

Constables Like the Ladies

I was hesitant to write "pretty" in the title because I'm not sure it applies here.  What am I talking about?  Maybe I should get to that before I start citing El Paso's median beauty quotient.

I happen to have several projects spread around the city (I'm one of the few people each morning who takes the border highway east to Zaragoza - it's very quick!), and I have noticed a disturbing pattern.  It seems that I frequently see constables with a car pulled over to the side over the road and the officer is chatting up some young coed outside the vehicle.  And by "chatting up," I mean leaning against the back of the car with one hand and laughing and talking with the other.  It appears that the officer either knows the person he pulled over, or is "getting to know" that person if you know what I mean.

As I saw this happening frequently on Zaragoza road just below the freeway, I started to notice it other places.  Then I got to asking a couple of friends and they had noticed that the Constables were present outside certain bars and night clubs chatting up the ladies.  A worker of mine told me that a constable hangs around his neighborhood waiting for a certain young pretty lady to walk to the bus stop.  He stops and flirts with her, but never gives her a ride (I'm sure he's no supposed to).

Regular cops can't partake in this behavior anymore because there are now systems in place to account for their whereabouts at all times. And yes, I do know one cop was allegedly picking his kid up at school in his patrol car - it's against the rules, but give the guy credit - it was his child that he was picking up, not a prostitute.  Punish him, but don't fire him.  Obviously this guy's priority is his kid, so he can't be all that bad of a guy.

(before I had a child of my own, I would have probably seen the incident differently... but since the birth of my daughter - I see the world in a whole new light)

Texas law governs the existence of constables.  They're not all that useful these days, but they do provide people who can't be real cops an opportunity to be cops... or at least carry a gun and harass people.  And truth be known, the unintended consequence of the existence of constables is really the fact that people who can't be real cops for good reason end up getting to be cops.  This is why we have had the problems here in town with constable deputies that we've had.  My sources have told me that it was no surprise that these guys have acted the way they've acted and that includes shooting someone for no reason!

The latest use of their badge to chat up chicks on the side of the road is just another disturbing part of the story that gets worse every year. I wish we'd put a bill to do away with them on the legislative agenda for next session.  Besides the money we save, we could also keep pretty little girls on the road driving instead of on the side of it flirting. 

I don't know... maybe I'm wrong.  However, I'm sure I'll be pulled over by a constable as soon as this blog post gets around.  Let's hope they're just flirting with me!

Questioning Emma's Picks

This item appears on Tuesday's council agenda:

Gerardo Licon to the Building and Standards Commission by Representative Emma Acosta, District 3.  [Representative Emma Acosta, (915) 541-4572]

I wonder if this is the same Licon that was once accused of billing Emma's department for too much money when she worked at the city?  I wonder if it's the same guy whose former employer turned him in and then sued him for allegedly over-billing Emma's department?  The same (obviously politically connect) guy who Jaime Esparza failed to get a grand jury to indict? (Where's Caballero when you need her? This failure to get a grand jury indictment stunk to high heaven of political connections and cronyism)

It's probably not the same guy - just a coincidence of name, but someone in the media might look into it just in case Emma Acosta is giving positions of power to people who may not have been responsible in their dealings with the city in the past. 

I wonder if Emma has Hector Villa up for any appointments?  Is she done appointing Scary Larry to offices as well?

Charlie Sheen and the Liberalization of America

I, like many of you, have been watching this Charlie Sheen story unfold over the past few weeks.  I'm hardly as shocked and appalled as the rest of the country by his behavior.  After all, he does live in Hollywood and that place isn't exactly located on the planet earth anymore.  "Sex, drugs and rock'n roll" is a phrase based on something real. 

Now, I don't think drug use is a good thing.  However, I'm not Charlie Sheen's boss.  He can do whatever he wants.  Unlike other celebridiots, Charlie confines his reckless behavior to his own home. He's not driving around town high as a kite crashing into innocent people and causing all kinds of other public problems.  If you're going to be a druggie, I prefer you keep within the walls of your own home.  The point of this piece isn't to talk about his drug use, though.  I'm not arguing that.

The real point of this piece is to point out our reaction to his statements after the big news of his drug abuse broke.  I want to talk about our outrage over his statements to the press about himself.  And when I write "our outrage" - I mean your outrage.  I'm fine with what he has said.

Charlie Sheen basically went out and proved himself to be an arrogant, self centered bastard whose focus is on "winning" and being as larger than life as he can possibly be.  You people call him crazy for daring to speak his mind on his own perceived secrets to success.  You do this because you've been victimized by the liberal left who have taught every American boy and girl that individuality and a competitive spirit are traits to be frowned upon.  Most of this victimization takes place in school where teachers are more interested in teaching their view on the world than long division.  If you don't believe me - go talk to a teacher about what students they "like" and which ones they "dislike."  I bet you can take the description of the students they don't like and simply put the word "individual" in place of that description.  Try it, it's haunting.  And don't forget - we've stopped keeping score and everyone gets a trophy... tell me I'm wrong.  All the facts to back my post are in front of you.  We are a bunch of wimps these days and our reaction to Charlie's rants is proof.

Charlie Sheen has been saying that he's a "winner" and a "warrior" and that he's basically going to win every fight because he's the best, he's the baddest and he's right.  He also says he has "tiger blood" and "Adonis genes." This pisses you off because you're thinking "who does this guy think he is?" and "where does this asshole get off?"  Well, he thinks he's better than you and he gets off on this by actually being better than you.  And that's what really pisses you off - his success and the fact he's not afraid to flaunt it.

Most of you have met an extremely driven person.  People who are driven are often successful.  If they were to externalize that drive - it would sound like what Charlie Sheen is saying.  It takes a tremendous amount self confidence to be successful in life.  You have to be arrogant, even if you keep it to yourself and don't scream it out loud to the world like Charlie.  If you don't think that you're 100 percent better than everyone else - then you'll never be even one percent better than anyone.

You've been conditioned to hate the kind of speech Charlie Sheen gives because the people who taught you about life are losers.  Success offends them.   That's why we make villains out of rich people - the people who don't have the stones to earn their way to the top would rather sit at the bottom and bitch about those who do.  That business man in the red Ferrari is saying "I've got tiger blood and Adonis genes and I'm a winner" by driving that car.  And you can't take it because a real sniff of what it takes to be a successful person scares the shit out of you. 

We'd all like to think that the richest man in the world became so because he was nice to everyone, loved puppies and had a great smile - something you think you can pull off.  The truth is that he became the richest man in the world by smashing all his competition through an intense desire to succeed.  The rage of success is only fueled by arrogance and an extreme belief in your own abilities.  There is no true competitor without a competitive spirit, and that spirit looks more like Charlie Sheen than it does Mr. Rogers.

If you only knew what kind of attitude it takes to be Tiger Woods, LeBron James or Barrack Obama... if you only knew. 

The secret to being successful is like the secret recipe of a hot dog - you may not like it anymore once you know what's in it.  Charlie Sheen is showing you what's in it and you obviously aren't too happy about it.

Envy is a good thing.  However, it will kill you if you don't have the desire inside you to do something about it.  Your spirit was badly damaged when you were young.  You were taught that competition is bad.  You have to dig deep inside you to find what God gave you - instinct.  Once instinct kicks in again, you'll be at the top of your game.  You'll have "tiger blood" and "Adonis genes" and you'll be able to accomplish whatever it is you want to accomplish. 

That's all I have on that.

Please put your spineless, loser inspired reactions to my revelations about your lack of testicular fortitude below in the comments section.  I can't wait to see you all prove me right.

Emma Goes to Washington

I noticed that Mayor Pro Tempura Emma Acosta had an item on the agenda for today's meeting.  It seems as if she was off on yet another trip paid for by some group or association seeking to get her to do something for them.  That group is most assuredly not called "her constituents."  You may be familiar with the group known as "her constituents" and their primary request of her - make her once a week obligation at city hall known as "city council meeting."

As the custom goes on city council (rumored to have been started by another vertically challenged former member of citycouncil, Pressi Ortega), when you go out of town you give a presentation on where you went and what you did.  Just check out Emma's incredible detailed and informative back up Download Emma presentation. 

Looks like the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) sent her out to their seminar in Washington, D.C. on how to make sure Latinos segregate themselves in the next redistricting effort.  That's not racist at all - right?

I mean, is Representative Carl Robinson a member of NALEO?  What about the Mayor?  Nope - non-Hispanic whites and blacks need not apply!

What if the mayor, or Rep. Lilly, went to a conference that focused on how to make sure they gerrymandered their districts to have the highest concentration of white people as possible?  What would be said about that?  I'm sure people wouldn't be very happy about that.  So why is it okay for Emma to go participate in racial/ethnic segregation training sessions? 

Of course, why the hell would anyone from El Paso need to take trip to learn about making sure districts here are loaded-up with Latinos in the redistricting process?  We're 80 percent Hispanic -it's impossible to have any other result than districts with lots of Latinos in them.  What could she have learned on her trip that would help El Paso become more Latino-centric? 

Sounds like a wasted trip to me.  Even worse - a lousy presentation followed.

Not to kiss Beto's ass twice in one day, but did you his presentation on Oregon Street?  That's a presentation.

Representative O'Rourke Responds

Earlier I wrote about the council's move to keep the mobile voting units away from businesses and churches during city elections.  Representative O'Rourke had been quoted in the EP Times, so I directed my remarks at his remarks.  Well, as my luck would have it... the paper didn't quite give all of O'Rourke's side of the story. 

Here's what O'Rourke wrote to me:

"David, hope all is well. In response to your recent column, a few things I wanted you to know:

 
- I tried to get rid of mobile voting completely, but did not have the votes. In my comments before the motion to eliminate mobile voting completely (you can check the video feed to confirm) I said it was wrong that there was voting at city hall, wrong that there's voting at PD headquarters, for the very reasons you outline in your column.

- It wouldn't matter if the institution were liberal, conservative, religious, or otherwise - I firmly believe that no organization should have easier access to the polls than any other person or organization.

- We provide early voting and a day of voting polling place that's convenient to anyone in El Paso - no reason for anyone to complain about the loss of mobile voting sites.

- They cost $3,000 a day to run, let's do away with them

thanks,

Beto"

 

I didn't have to print this, but decided to since it gives some insight into what his position was - there's video proof of it. 

I wish he had the votes to remove the polling locations from the city and county (I don't think they have much say at the county polling place, but if they are buying the election, who knows?).  If you're going to strip one group, strip them all.

While O'Rourke doesn't fear the suits and the Jesus vote, many of his colleagues do.  I would suspect my hypothesis applies to them. 

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Next up - Emma Acosta takes a field trip instead of going to work and then makes it all better by submitting the worst presentation anyone has ever produced since the dawn of electronic presentations.  And let's not forget - she went away to learn how to better segregate our community!  This latest trip makes me wonder if she's going to join the ranks of Barbara Perez who took every trip offered to her while in office.  She's almost there!