Horrible Story on TSC forum

I'm breaking my silence simply to point out the horrible story that Gary Long of the Brownsville Herald did on the forum for the TSC board of trustees races.

First off, shame on the Herald for ignoring the forum held by the South Texans Republicans for a Conservative Good Government. They always prove to be invaluble, and were strangely ignored here.

The story, found here is the type of story that would get an F if this were a college-level news writing class. So without going into to much details, let me dissect this:

"Candidates for the Texas Southmost College board of trustees found plenty to disagree on at a forum Monday"

Oh really? Well, what did they disagree on? Because if you continue reading the article, it totally does not go into details. In fact, no major disagreements were ever stated. Let's move on...

"Herrera listed elimination of TAKS testing as a top priority if elected."

Alright, so he fails to mention what the candidates disagreed on and he only mentions one thing about each of them, but he somehow finds time to throw something negative about Herrera? Why not just leave it out, because we all know that TAKS falls under the jurisdiction of TEA and not the board of trustees. If he made his article short because he was told to, why did he include this? Does he have soemthing against Herrera? That's fine if the article were a bit longer, I could see him pointing out his flaws, but for an extremely short story, it was unecessary.

The rest of the article points out how they all agreed that tuition was too high... wait a minute, I thought they had "plenty to disagree about" what the hell happened here Long? I know your lead said they agreed with the high costs, but you totally did not fulfill your promise that they had "plenty to disagree on." Why even mention that if you were not going to write about it? I hope Chris Davis was there to record it, because now I really want to see this for myself.

Gary, if you're reading this, I'm sorry to come down hard on you. For all I know, you could have had a much longer and interesting article that was cut down by the copy editors. And if that is the case, then I'm sorry. The real blame ultimately should fall on the editor-in-chief, who let the story pass like that.

I shouldn't be surprised though, this current Herald editor has given a free pass to the university and either ignores negative news, or spins it in a positive light. It's like she's afraid of angering TPTB (that's "the powers that be" for the acronym challenged) in case she wants to go back someday and get a degree from there.

Opps, that was a personal comment. Sorry about that.

Nothing so close can make you go so far?

I was talking to some of my college friends last night over a couple of beers, and the subject of UTB's tuition came up. My friends told me some rather interesting and illegal things they've heard of students doing to pay their tuition.

[Like my Rumor has it series of posts take all of this with a grain of salt.]

Actually, when you think about it, it isn't at all unplausible that students would use dealing pot as a way to build up additional capital for school. I wonder if they can use this as credit for a Business course?

This one actually surprised me. Not because of the fact that it happened but because of the fact that when I was told it happened I was told it happened more than once. Also, how do you embezzle money over time without any attentive boss picking up on it? This one is creative and possibly a little sophistication goes in to this one.

The students that do this are indictative of the larger body of students who are stuck scrounging up what money they can in order to take college courses. It is almost like an addiction most will pay higher tuition in order to get out of the low paying jobs they're in. However, when it comes to giving out monies for school, it is the students that are working that are penalized for that fact.

The musical selection for this post is "Money" by Pink Floyd.

Local News More Depressing than National! Wait, nope not today.

[Read this post at your own risk]

I was doing my daily rounds of the Herald at about 1:30 this morning when a story just jumped out at me. Every so often I find myself in a cynical mood and the News usually reinforces it in their quest for ratings covering the most depressing, stupid or otherwise mindnumbing stories. Usually national news is far more depressing than local but when I looked at the E-Edition of the Herald at about 1:00 AM this morning just before going to sleep I thought that local had finally taken the cake. The first story that caught my attention was this story about three Ben Brite Elementary school students in possession of pot on campus. The following questions/thoughts filled my mind...

• Damn, and I thought there were problems when I went to school.
  
• Is Drue Brown spinning this so a larger problem is concealed. Perhaps, Marijuana is easily accessible there either by growing or selling and Ben Brite doesn't want to lose students to other schools when the torrent of concerned parents comes in.


• Is the B.I.S.D. going to hush this problem at other schools?

All these questions being to tedious to process that late at night I decided to close my browser believing whole heartedly that local news had won this battle of patheticness. No more than 10 minutes later I was flipping channels and came across Headline News. National took the cake many times over with this story. A plastic surgeon created a book for children under the guise of communicating to them that they should not fear their parents (namely, mothers) going under the knife. In reality this book communicates "Your mommy will be happier if she gets plastic surgery and you will love her more". [Pause for expletives] If you click that link above you'll see what I mean. What a way to drum up business! Thankfully, this fine piece of literature hasn't found its way on to mainstream book selling sites like amazon... yet. Worse of all CNN in their infinite wisdom chose to interview the author of the book for sometime. After seeing this I had to go online and see what CNN had on the book (I was expecting to find it front and center).

I didn't find it instead I found something even more disturbing a news story about a young couple forcing their 18 month old niece to smoke a Marijuana pipe (Click this link at your own risk). They were even stupid enough to tape it. To say the least the Herald didn't have many stories that could rival those two grand slams of stories both brought to my attention by one national news source. Should I tie the National stories in with the local? I don't think I can I am depressed enough about our future as it is.

In keeping with the subjects on this post the musical selection is inappropriately enough, "I Love Marijuana" by Linval Thompson.

And now for our feature presentation...

In light of the Press Announcement by the D.A.'s office and the $1 Million recovered in the Dannenbaum fiasco Sancho Panza productions is proud to present the dramatic retelling of this story in Dude, where's my money? Armando Villalobos plays himself with a strong supporting role played by Jamie Waylett as Assistant D.A. Chuck Mattingly. All proceeds from the film will go to benefit the Another Drop Foundation which helps those looking to forget about this sad chapter in our town's history by buying them up to 21 beers a person.

Please help the Another Drop Foundation by donating money in the sums of $1 Million, $ 5 Million, $ 10 Million or hell even $ 20 Million to the following entity that will be trustee of the funds.

The music selections for this post are the Theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by John Williams and Beer, Beer, Beer by someone other than John Williams.

Avila wins by 51 votes with provisional ballots

I just got word that the provisional ballots, all two of them, were counted were counted this morning and Pete Avila's win against Abel Gomez has increased to 51 votes. This Thursday the election will be canvassed and if it confirms that Pete Avila is the winner, Gomez has the ability to call for a recount provided he pays for it. From the indications I've seen Gomez seems to be ready to fight the result with at very least a recount. I wonder if Gomez took up the services of a local blogger/malcontent in this potential fight against democracy. It is easy to scream fraud when your candidate doesn't win, I for one am not happy with Rosas's loss, but I am willing to believe a person is innocent until proven guilty. It is naïve to believe politics does not permiate the Courthouse and that election fraud doesn't occur. They have occurred before. However, we are talking about this case at this time and until its proven "miracle votes" and Rogelio Ortiz rigging the election in the favor of certain candidates is nothing more than speculation.

The musical selection for this post is "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys.

A leave of absense

I don't post on a regular basis, but I wanted to let our readers know that I will not be posting anything about the BND or TSC elections because I am personally involved in both elections. It would be flat out unethical for me to comment on such races when I have a personal stake in the outcome. So I will recuse myself from this blog until such time as both elections have been completed.

I may post on something else during this time period, but I doubt it. I'll let Faux stand aside for the rest of this race and come back when it's over. So until then, adios.

Law Day 2008 - 1 month away

This is a message from Briana Bassler she sent me yesterday the 3rd. about a Law Day in alittle under a month from now. Even though it has already been posted elsewhere I will still post it. Mrs. (Ms.) Bassler I apologize for my tardiness.

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

My name is Briana Bassler and I'm working with a group of local lawyers, including my boss Judge Felix Recio, to organize a big Community-Wide event for Law Day on May 1, 2008. The City of Brownsville has agreed to cosponsor along with the Cameron County Bar Association and they have provided us with use of the Events Center. We have no budget, as it's an all volunteer group just trying to do some good for Brownsville people, and so we really depend on word of mouth and any free press we can get to publicize the event. The organization is called Community Law School, and we hosted a session on Elder Law last week at the Brownsville Public Library that we're repeating this month in Harlingen. We're hoping for monthly informational events on different legal issues people here commonly face. The May 1 event is focusing on Immigration Law and Individual Rights in Criminal Law, and we've got some great lawyers who've volunteered to speak.

I'd appreciate any mention of the event on your blog. I know a lot of Brownsvillians read the local blogs, and I figured I'd try to use that medium to spread the word. I'm attaching the press release I sent out to mainstream media for your information. Thanks for any help!

Sincerely,

Briana J. Bassler
Law Clerk to the Honorable Felix Recio
United States Courthouse
600 E. Harrison St., #203
Brownsville, Texas 78520
TEL: (956) 548-2701
FAX: (956) 548-2630

The Press Release

A friend of of mine said I should put up alittle Mozart on this blog so here is "The Marriage of Figaro" and its the musical selection of this post.

Three P&Z spots up for reappointment/appointment Today

The P&Z Commission will have three spots open to reappointment at today's commission meeting. The terms of David Vela (Cisneros appointee in 2005), Abraham Galonsky (De Leon appointee 2005) and James Cortez (Betancourt appointee in 2005) expired on the 15th of March. These three members were appointed three years ago on the 15th of March. It remains to be seen who will be reappointed/appointed today.


Click for larger image.

Judge denies Rubio

The Collegian has done it again in breaking a story of vast significance.
http://blue.utb.edu/collegian/stories/rubioruling.htm

In that article, it is stated that Judge Euresti ruled against Joe Lee Rubio. What I found most interesting, however, were the details of his actual arrest. It really throws into doubt, at least in my opinion, that he was ever guilty to begin with. How many times have we found ourselves in a friend's car and discovered interesting "items"? The mere fact that the Mexican justice system is stacked against defendents and as reliable as a hurricane hitting Brownsville, I'd say that Joe Lee's case deserves some looking into.

The article has also severely lowered my opinion of Chest Gonzalez. When asked about why the board passed a resolution (was that really necessary to begin with?) he says, and this is a direct quote:

“He appears to be a nice person; however, he committed some acts that incarceration alone does not qualify him to redeem himself. I think that the nature of the transportation of illegal drugs itself is just bad for higher education and for the community and bad for any elected official.”

I have put emphasis on certain points that I want to talk about. Now, if I were in his situation, I would have said something to the effect of, "Unfortunately, despite Mr. Rubio's exempulary record, the decision to not allow him on the ballot is based on a question of eligibility given his conviction in Mexico. Until he could show us evidence to the contrary, we are going to follow the current statutes."

Did he say that? Was his tactful in his response? No. The blowhard first makes a stupid comment that these acts (in which there is reasonable doubt he never did) he committed cannot be forgiven by imprisonment alone. As a lawyer, Gonzalez should know that the entire basis of the criminal justice system (in theory) is to rehabilitate individuals so they won't make the same mistakes again. Rubio is a CLASSIC example of the system working out. And what does this blowhard do? He claims that prison alone does not qualify Rubio for redemption. Then what does? The appeals offices have all said they can't do it, so what are his options?

I know, I know. Some of you (like Chris Davis) are going to come out and say, "Well, he did the crime, tough." And it's true, he was convicted of the crime, but if he can never run for office because of this, what is the point of imprisoning him? Why wasn't Rubio just executed right then and there since he, according to blow hard Chest Gonzalez, has no hope of redemption by prison alone?

Hell, why stop there. Let's just kill every damn criminal in the system, because prison cannot redeem them. Oh!!! Even better, let's cut off hands for minor traffic violations, because if you make a mistake or accidently make one, you ARE FLAWED, and did the crime, so you must pay! That's harsh, isn't it? Just like it's harsh to believe a country that has a joke of a legal system where KILLERS and MURDERERS are allowed to be on the run for 10 years (look at the recent "arrest" of Hernandez, the kid who killed 3 boys back then. Mexican officials were protecting him for a long time), but someone like Rubio, who proclaimed innocence., was burned at the stake for a crime which I seriously doubted he committed. (In the US, he would not have been convicted, due to the reasonable doubt factor).

Oh, jeez, there I go on another tangent. The other point I meant to make was Gonzalez's comments that the transportation of drugs is bad for a college community. I agree, it is bad, but I found it really presumptuous of him to make that statement. It's like he's assuming Joe Lee is guilty, and standing on a morale high ground. He should have something like, "According to the court of his law... he is guilty" or something like that. And even if Joe Lee is guilty, Chester's extra little comments at the end were completely unecessary, like rubbing salt in a wound.

Oh well, Rubio can still appeal it. Wouldn't it be ironic if he ran against Chester and won? Oh wait, Chester has married into the Leal's, he won't lose.

ETA:Fixed the link, the typos remain... for now. But thanks for pointing out the link mistake.

Misguided Energy

The Recall Ahumada movement is a lesson in misguided energy. You have a very competant and educated individual leading a charge that is doomed to fail. I like to think that I do have some faith, but if we put that aside for a second, the simple logic of it all does not add up. I'm not going to get into the exact details, there have already been excellent blog posts and newspaper articles on that issue already. When we get down to it, it's just impossible to recall our mayor.

These people running it are young, and full of energy. Why are they doing this? I believe they do sincerely believe in their cause, and want to do the right thing. But I also feel that this is a way for several young politicians to get their names out there and gain some political exposure. And don't think for a second that this is not "political." This is ENTIRELY political, even if these kids are not, there is someone, or something, backing them up with resources that include some heavy money. I'm not about to name anyone since I would just end up sounding like a crazed lunatic, but I think people can pretty much figure it out.

Thus, this recall movement is an odd conglomeration of activist political newcomers with established politicos, which has created a very convenient, albeit very precarious, marriage. Will it work out in the long run? As long as they have a common enemy, they will. Once Ahumada is gone, the established politicos will ditch the newcomers like a stranded dog. (Oh boy, another bad political joke)

My suggestion to the Recall Ahumada Movement is to ditch the recall attempt and focus instead on getting more people to participate in the civil process. Divert your resources, time and energy to eliminating voter apathy. You could coordinate with many businesses and boards out there for this means, as well as with BISD and UTB/TSC. The possibilities are endless, and this is a worthwhile cause that will last long after Ahumada has left office. It can really lead to the start of a glorious foundation/movement that in the long run, will make a huge difference. Think of the impact, and the amount of people that could be involved. It could be the start of a TRUE revelation to save Brownsville. So yes, we may have made a mistake in electing Ahumada, but a recall is NOT the answer. The answer is to get more people involved in the process so someone like Ahumada does not get elected again. (We need you Sally, come back).

Or does the establishment NOT want to increase voter participation because that might mean an end to their power? OK, I'll stop with the conspiracy theories, otherwise I'll sound like the mayor.

But anyway, my hope is that Roman Perez reads this and does some serious thinking on the matter. In fact, I'll be willing to help with such a movement to end apathy. Heck, I'm sure the entire blogosphere would LOVE such a movement. And this way, it isn't negative at all, it's a positive thing. Sure, Bill Hudson probably won't donate a thousand dollars, but I'm sure if the right people ask him, he could lend some help. Alright, enough blabbing, this has gone on far too long and I haven't even proof read it yet. You know what, I won't. Enjoy!

ETA: OK, so I lied, I ended up editing it beacuse everything came out as one big block of text.