Lion Star is an El Paso blogger and delegate to the Texas Democratic Party State Convention. Check out what happens when he tries to bring unity to the Convention.
In fact, check out his blog for all proceedings from the Convention. It’s a hoot!
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Unity? At a Democratic Convention?
Monday, June 9th, 2008El Paso: That City of Walls
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008Check out this cartoon. Then check out the landscape of El Paso. The cartoonist is so taken with the horror of the planned border fence (whether real or virtual) that s/he doesn’t see the irony in their own back yard.
El Paso is littered with rock walls. Practically every home has a wall surrounding its back yard. Businesses are divided by them. Streets and schools enjoy the coolness of the shadows they provide. FBI agents lurk behind them, looking for the next bribe-taking local yokel politician stumbling toward a wad of cash.
Fact is, El Paso is the embodiment of the sentiment expressed in this cartoon: it seems people think that some problems in El Paso can apparently be solved by building rock walls everywhere.
If they don’t think that, then why do they build so many of them?
–Walls to keep out news of suicidally-drunk underage teenage drivers screaming down Country Club at three in the morning.
–Walls to keep us from seeing the legion of abused and neglected pets in our unthinking neighbors’ yards.
–Walls to keep us from viewing the latest TAKS scores from our next generation of geniuses (or bribe-takers).
–Walls to hide us from the view of white and African-American beggars at street-corners, selling candy and bullshit at Airway & Montana, Fred Wilson & 54, or Redd & North Desert.
–Walls to keep out the latest bad news of the antics of the Commissioners Court.
And one more thing. The author of the article, listed as a Professor Emeritus at Sul Ross, should go back to school. His analogy to the Berlin Wall misses on a main point: it was East Germany that erected that wall, not West Germany. To bring his fantasy to reality, then, it would be Mexico building the wall on the Southwest Border, not the United States.
Well, “emeritus” means “retired” in academic circles, and for that, we can come out from around our own wall, and be thankful.
Texas Caucus Ca-Ca: The Update
Sunday, March 30th, 2008Hillary scores big in El Paso. That’s not too surprising, given Hispanic love for the Clintonistas all along the Texas border with Mexico.
Dada’s Daily has exclusive video footage of the El Paso caucus.
Things are different elsewhere in the Lone Star State. At least in one Texas locale, Obama wins.
Expect Obama to take the cities, and Clinton to take (to) the hills and backwaters. Texas goes to Obama.
But the fun’s not over for Obama: stillnotaphase parodies Obama’s ex-favorite racist preacher.
Nor for Hillary: Check out this parody. I thought Mini-Me was reserved for Dr Evil.
El Paso Corruption Update 25 March 2008
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008Here are some updates to the ongoing El Paso corruption case.
– Raymond Telles Pleads Guilty
– Socorro Independent School District Added to Link Chart
– El Paso Community College Added to Link Chart
According to The American Chronicle, five of the seven EPCC trustees are to be indicted.
With all that juicy goodness, here’s the updated link chart with the above added. Clicky on the thumbnail for full-sized corruption goodness:
Your 24 Feb Updated El Paso Corruption Link Chart
Sunday, February 24th, 2008If it’s Sunday, a few changes to the El Paso alleged corruption link chart are in order.
We’re putting in Dee Margo’s interview with the FBI (he said he is not implicated) and his association with the Chicago-based McCormick Tribune Foundation, which founded Margo’s project Border Fund. There may have been rent-free (aka “pre-paid rent” dealings with both NCED and Hospice El Paso.
Here’s the gory graphic, in all its gore:
24 Feb 2008 Corruption Chart
Sunday, February 24th, 2008If it’s Sunday, a few changes to the El Paso alleged corruption link chart are in order.
We’re putting in Dee Margo’s interview with the FBI (he said he is not implicated) and his association with the Chicago-based McCormick Tribune Foundation, which founded Margo’s project Border Fund. There may have been rent-free (aka “pre-paid rent” dealings with both NCED and Hospice El Paso.
Here’s the gory graphic, in all its gore:
ASARCO’s Ad Campaign… and our First Response
Monday, February 18th, 2008So ASARCO got their air quality permit, thanks to the State of Taxes Texas.
An air quality permit is not the same as a politically-accurate permit asserting that the quality of air emitted by Texas bureaucrats is any finer than the sublime perfumes of the nearest stockyard.
It’s just a permit, and permits are permitted, by law and by the very nature of the word.
That’s the reality of how home-grown carpetbaggers roll in The Lone Stud State.
Thus, despite our potentially-choked lungs and could-be lead-laden watery eyes (or not), and surrounded by our devoted MS-afflicted offspring and our three-legged dogs, we are pushing through with a series of parodies. The first comes now, and why did ASARCO make it so easy for us?
Now here’s a world-class ASARCO original ™ ad, suitable for parody naked adulation. Note the dramatic effect of black-and-white postering, which is not to say it’s fascist in design, as there are no red spot color calls that would complete the Teutonic Triumvirate of black-white-red (often used by Nazis, South American political parties, Chicano farm workers movements and beret-wearing, scooter-riding, grandma-killing commie Guevaristas (which is the same as at least one Obama campaign worker). The designer could have just had a bad day. What with the bankruptcy and uncertainty over pay stubs, it’s possible ASARCO had to cull the bottom of the advertisorial barrel for a graphic artist who would work in exchange for stock futures. Which is not to say the Artist was a punk, except s/he could have been just a tad desperate. Or s/he could have been a corporate wonk alarmingly left alone with PowerPoint of a frantic afternoon, with a 5 p.m. deadline to fax ad thumbnails to Guadalupe or Rio de Right Wing, Argentina, or Hull, or Kosovo, or wherever ASARCO decides its off-shore corporate HQ is this week. (Click for full-sized badness):
And here’s our new ad, built during an all-nighter in between coughing jags, blood tests for lead poisoning at the ER, and furious phone consultations with both lead poisoning specialists at the Mayo Clinic and alcohol-poisoning specialists at Acetunas (click for full-sized goodness and click again for print-sized wonderfulness, if your so-called Internet browser supports that):
Later on, once we’ve exhausted all medical approaches to our health issues as well as creative approaches to parodying ASARCO, we’re going to explore other reasons for Mayor Crook’s Cook’s opposition to the re-opening of ASARCO. Can anyone say “land grab?”
Can anyone say, “FBI El Paso Corruption Investigation?” We knew you could.