Whoop: Charity homes funded by Hollywood names and built by former Prez Jimmy Carter are crumbling.

Well, at least a lot of big names felt good about their work. At the time.

And, I didn’t know that these homes had a mortgage attached; I thought they were free.

Steve’s Gastronomic Homepage is hands-down the finest food blog in the El Paso area (OK, that’s not saying much since he pretty much owns the space, we just eat in it). But besides, it’s about a thousand times better than you know who posting you know what at the El Paso Times. Steve has posted his “Best Of” for El Paso dining in 2008.

It seems he’s in Oklahoma much of the time these days, but his local reviews still ring true for this year, in my opinion.

Chopes, check.
Tacos Santa Cecilia, check.
Los Jarrones, check.
Carnitas Queretaro, check.
L&J, check.
Little Diner, check.
Moon Star and Moon Day, check.
True Thai, check.
India Palace, check.
Hello Pizza, check.
Bella Sera, check.
State Line (ribs), check.
Cattleman’s, check.

I’d go a little different with a few places. I like Pho Tre Bien for pho; and I like Frisco’s better than Roscoe’s because of the better dining room (I’ve heard some rumors about how Frisco’s started, but don’t really care once I dig into a cheeseburger basket).

Sadly, as Steve thought, Edelweiss is closed. The dining room was horrible, but geez, the food was excellent; take it from a long-time Germany resident. I’d like to hire that cook to move into my house. Well, maybe not, because I’d rather hire whoever is running the spit at Tacos Santa Cecilia.

Now I gotta check out Cafe Mayapan.

You ought to check out Steve’s El Paso restaurant reviews; they are remarkably complete, with a rating system, lots of photos, and none of that high-falutin’ language about “triumphs” and so on that is used by you know who posting you know what at the El Paso Times. This 2008 roundup is better, for that matter, than the Times’ vote early, vote often, “Best of the Border” extravaganza, even though yours truly benefited from it (no, we didn’t vote for ourselves, mainly because since we can’t afford to hire the spit guy from Santa Cecilia, we certainly can’t afford to hire a Java guru who would allow us to out-vote and beat Jay Koester and Roy “Mr Multimedia” or better, “Blog-H8TR Blogger” Ortega. Or for that matter, don’cha know, that triumph of a you know who posting you know what about El Paso dining at the El Paso Times).

Well, at least, Steve’s 2008 review really is a triumph. The El Paso Times ought to hire him.

Because, you know, I can’t afford to.

Not if Newsbusters has its ridiculous pro-law enforcement way.

El Paso Times’ Roy Ortega, the blogging anti-blogger, might benefit from this Instapundit post. Instapundit writes, It seems that often when big-media types write about the failings of blogs, they engage in the kind of lazy inaccuracy they condemn.

Well, F7, my personal online spell-checker (which also includes grammar and punctuation options), gives The El Paso Times a C for English comprehension, and a B for effort. On the curve of local online and print publications, that takes them to a D for comprehension and, oh hell, a B for effort (we’re talking CSS effort here, not Web 2.0 effort).

Now as for that defunct AM drive-time radio show he appeared on, well Ortega’s multi-media companions got an F all around. Except for Amber Sullens; she got an A- (dropped down for not always being ready for the timing miscues of the station’s staff), and an A+ for effort — for the effort of putting up with the F Troop of El Paso radio for so long.

It’s unheard of. Remember, these citizens overwhelmingly and repeatedly chose Code Pink, Palestine, Iran and Pelosiboxerstein.

UPDATE: From a commenter at SF Gate, the online portal to the liberal San Francisco Chronicle Commenter mexilad speaks for the community: “Same old story. All of these folks are economically poor (Or they should not be getting assistance). But, a god [sic] portion of them are poor in character and values. They make it bad for everybody. Color and race have nothing to do with it. It is a about class. Some folks just don’t have any. There is nothing wrong with helping people out and getting rid of them if they cause problems. Rock on.”

They, them, they them. I especially like the part about “getting rid of them.” But, where would they go? Presumably, to a less-white part of the Bay Area, where their lives can go under-reported by the Bay Area’s MSM. That would certainly relieve the consciences of BA liberals, as they strut about crime-free and black-free Antioch, resplendent in their 1990s-era Malcom-X baseball caps.