Border Blogs: Expressing our Border Culture

My name is Theresa Caballero (TC) and I am running for the position of Judge of Criminal District Court No. One.  I am a true Democrat and I will bring the values of the Democratic party to the bench.  What are those values?  What have I done to earn your vote?  What sets me above and apart from both of my opponents? 

Theresa Caballero’s Experience  v. Her Opponents’
I am the only candidate who has the rich experience of having been a defense attorney. I am the only candidate who has worked for the government and for herself.  My opponents have always been employees of prosecuting offices. I am the only candidate who represents the poor for free. I am the only candidate who has tried cases in Federal Court, US Military Court, Tribal Court, Justice of the Peace Court, and Municipal Court.  My opponents have never been in these courts. Are they afraid? I am the only candidate who has tried complex federal drug conspiracy cases.  Drug cases make up the majority of the cases in the court I am seeking to preside over. I am the only candidate who has defended and battled for the First Amendment/the right to Free Speech.  My opponents are part of a team of prosecutors seeking to intimidate and perhaps criminalize ordinary El Paso Citizens who sought to recall the mayor. I am fighting for free to protect these innocent El Pasoans.  Conversely, my opponents belong to the team that is violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution. I am the only candidate who has defended private property rights against a City Government that wanted to seize private property and give it to wealthy business interests (TIFFs).  My opponents sat silent. I am the only candidate who has tried to protect the taxpayer against the high property taxes which reign in El Paso (second highest municipal property taxes in the State).  Not only did both of my opponents sit silent during crippling tax increases but they contributed to them; Both of my opponents, with their limited experience, manage to draw over $100,000/year in salary and benefits of taxpayer money while campaigning openly during work hours.  You are paying for their campaigns.  I pay for my own campaign. I am the only candidate who has fought corruption. Amongst other issues, I am the attorney who discovered that former El Paso County Medical Examiner, Dr. Paul Shrode, had lied in court under oath about his experience and credentials.  For three and a half long years, I fought, ALONE, to have Shrode removed from the county payroll and I won.  I had to fight against many lawyers who belong to a team, a team both of my opponents are a part of.  Not only did my opponents not join me in my effort to remove the dishonest medical examiner but rather they remained part of the team fighting to keep him on. Both of my opponents turned their backs on El Pasoans when El Pasoans were demanding an honest medical examiner. Public Criticism A judge should not be swayed by power or influence or fear.  I am the only candidate who is willing to do the right thing against all odds, against corrupt judges, against a corrupt government, against a corrupt system.  Last year I represented an innocent woman, mother of four, who the State (my opponents are part of that team) was trying to imprison.  A judge from East Texas (Steve Smith) was assigned to hear the case.  He decided that he wanted the jury to convict our client and he did everything in his power to turn the trial against our client.  My trial partner Stuart Leeds and I fought hard, shielded our client and saved her from the dishonest judge AS GOOD, ETHICAL ATTORNEYS SHOULD DO.  The El Paso jury came back in less than an hour with not guilty verdicts.  We won.  The East Texas judge was mad.  He held Leeds and me in contempt and asked the State Bar to carry forward his dishonest gripe.  The State Bar asked Leeds and me to consent to have a committee, in secret, hear the issue. We told them NO.  We want everything to be in public for the world to see what happened. We told them we want a good old fashioned El Paso jury to decide the matter.  We know the jury will agree the judge was bad.  We are proud to have stood up to the crooked judge.  We are proud to be the type of attorneys who honor their oaths and sacrifice themselves for their clients.  Between the two of us, we have over 50 years of experience and have appeared in every court in the county and never once have we been held in contempt until the judge from East Texas came to town. The El Paso Times will not endorse me nor did I seek its endorsement.  The newspaper represents a small, elite, oligarchy in this town, mostly republican, big monied interests.  I have long criticized the paper’s inaccurate, biased and dishonest coverage (my blog www.theresacaballero.com).  In the last six months alone I have sent numerous e-mails to editor Bob Moore asking for corrections on court cases he inaccurately reported on.  None was forthcoming.  I have long criticized the fact that employees of the Times/media have gotten “passes” on DWIs.  Why are they special and you are not? Also, the law clearly prohibits a corporation from making a campaign contribution to a candidate with the candidate’s consent.  It is a third degree felony.  The El Paso Times is a corporation.  An “endorsement” is a contribution.  When El Paso Times’ publisher Mr. Salinas asks me to come down to the paper to interview for the corporation’s endorsement, what is he asking me to do?  I did not go nor did I fill out his application.  I will not break the law, nor am I a supplicant for his and his corporation’s approval.  I am independent and only work for the good of the People. – My time is better spent following the law and asking you for your endorsement. Education I am the only candidate who graduated from an Ivy League School, Barnard College/Columbia University 1988. I am the only candidate who graduated from a tier one law school, Univ. of Texas at Austin 1990.  I graduated early. I am the only candidate who helped draft the County’s First ethics code. I am the only candidate who will make sure when you walk into court you will be given a fair fight.  A fair fight is what we have the right to expect but with inexperienced, biased, lop-sided judges on the bench, a fair fight is but an illusion. Ask yourselves.  Who do you want presiding over your cases?  Theresa Caballero or either of her opponents who both work for the same office (one is a Republican backed candidate running as a Democrat) and who ignored your cry for justice and simply cashed their government paychecks year after year? Vote for Theresa Caballero (TC) who has an education, experience, and a winning record neither one of her opponents can come close to.  Protect your families and vote for Theresa Caballero (TC). PUNCH NO. 114

Existe una iniciativa muy buena, para convocar a todos los bloggers a cooperar a cuidar el medio ambiente.
Se trata de que por cada blog que se una a la causa, se apadrina un árbol para que no sea cortado en su fase de crecimiento y dicho árbol pueda contribuir a neutralizar el CO2 del medio ambiente.
Segun los datos de la iniciativa proTierra, nos dice lo siguiente:

Según un estudio del Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross, un activista medio-ambiental y físico de Harvard, un blog produce por cada visita aproximadamente 0,02g de CO2. Supongamos que un blog tiene 15.000 visitas al mes, entonces produce unos 3,6 kg de CO2 por año. La producción de CO2 proviene sobretodo del consumo de electricidad, el uso de ordenadores, servidores y la refrigeración de estos.

El Marco de la Convención del Cambio Climático de las Naciones Unidas (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC), calcula que un árbol absorbe aproximadamente 10kg de CO2 por año. Pro-Tierra, la iniciativa de Ofertia, apadrina árboles para que no sean cortados en su fase de crecimiento, y asume para la acción “Mi blog es CO2 neutral” una cifra de solamente 5kg de absorción por año.

Un árbol neutraliza las emisiones CO2 de tu blog.

Así que, convoco a todos los bloggers para que corran la voz, apadrinen un árbol y sean un blog con CO2 neutral.
Es muy sencillo ser parte de esta iniciativa, solo hay que seguir los pasos que se encuentran en este link:
http://www.ofertia.com/protierra/co2-neutral
Y ellos te expedirán un Certificado de Apadrinamiento que renovarán cada año. Así contribuyes a que tu blog sea socialmente responsable en lo que respecta al cuidado del medio ambiente.

Experts suspect that drug kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman could sway the 2012 Mexican presidential election.
www.elpasotimes.com/ci-20553866/


Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman
The first televised debate by the presidental contenders is tonight May 6.The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

As you enjoy sometime with friends and some beer please take a moment to reflect on the meaning of Cinco de Mayo. The celebration is about a country’s right to self-determination and a people’s determination to safeguard their way of life.

For a quick history of Cinco de Mayo in English and Spanish please go here.

¡Viva México! Have a fun and enjoyable celebration.

La versión en español sigue abajo.

Many individuals in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo without really understanding the significance behind the holiday; so I thought I’d write a quick explanation of what the holiday means to Mexicans. Cinco de Mayo is simply Mexico’s notice to the world that no matter how difficult it is Mexico will never again allow its sovereignty to be taken away from it.

Such was the arrogance of the French invaders that General Ferdinand Comte de Lorencez, commander of the invading army, had sent a dispatch to his Minister of War declaring that the French were so “superior in race, organization, discipline and morality” that as of that moment he owned the Republic of Mexico, even before firing his first shot.

He did not count on the will of the Mexican people, the leadership of President Benito Juárez and General Ignacio Zaragosa who ultimately forced him to retreat in disgrace from the battlefield.

On May 5, 1862, the French invaders saw firsthand the determination of the Mexican lines as the French soldiers met death at the foot of Loreto each time they tried to submit the Mexican defenders. Three times the French attempted to pierce the Mexican lines until Mexican General Porfirio Diaz forced a humiliating French retreat.
To understand the significance of Mexico’s victory, it is important to remember that the Mexican people had been at war since the 1800’s. Mexico had declared its Independence from Spain in 1810, a war that lasted until 1821. In 1835, the Guerra de Texas, as it is known in Mexico, or The Texas War of Independence, was fought between the Texas rebels and the Mexican Army. That war lasted for a year, until 1836. Then, from 1838 to 1839, the French attempted to intervene in Mexico in a war now known as the Guerra de los Pasteles, or the Pastry War. That was the first French intervention of Mexico.

A complete timeline of Mexican conflicts can be found here.

The American Intervention

Between 1846 until 1861, Mexico and the United States fought two full scale wars and some border skirmishes. In a war that started in 1846 and ended in 1848, Mexico lost over half of its national territory to the United States in what is now referred to as the First American Intervention of Mexico. In 1853, William Walker invaded Mexico in an attempt to establish a colony in Sonora. In 1859 and 1861, Mexican irregulars from Tamaulipas and Matamoros fought the United States Army and Texas Rangers in border skirmishes. In Mexico the border skirmishes are known as the “Primer Guerra de Cortina” for the 1859 skirmishes and the “Segunda Guerra de Cortina” for the skirmishes in 1861.

The Second French Intervention

In 1861, The French, along with Spain and England invaded Mexico. England and Spain withdrew shortly after the invasion of Veracruz. At that time, the French were a World Power with the capability to wage war across the Atlantic with its superior force projection capability. Analogous to today, the French capability to wage war extraterritorially then is similar to the United States’ ability to project a military force to the Middle East today. The French were considered one of the superior armies of the time.

Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, or better known as Napoleon the III, led the French from 1852. This period in French history is known as the Second Republic. Napoleon had embarked on the expansion of France’s sphere of influence across the world. He used Mexico as a launch pad for French control of the Americas.
Meanwhile, Mexican president Benito Juárez had suspended payment on debt service to Britain, France and Spain on July 17, 1861 for two years to allow the country to recover from the massive debt accumulated over the many years of war. In late December of 1861; Britain, France and Spain responded by landing troops in Veracruz.

After negotiations concluded between the belligerents, Britain and Spain withdraw their forces. France, on the other hand, used the debt payment suspension as a pretext to establishing a beachhead in the Americas for Napoleon’s world influence doctrine. The French mobilized towards Mexico City in order to assume control of Mexico.

The “Ejército de Oriente”, composed of about 4,000 soldiers, under the command of General Ignacio Zaragoza, marshaled defensive positions in Puebla in order to repel the 6,000 French invaders. The French army was repelled three times before they retreated in defeat towards Orizaba at 5:00 in the afternoon. This was the first defeat of the French Army in 50 years. Cinco de Mayo began the four-year battle to secure the Mexican borders against an invading army.

During the war, President Benito Juárez established his capital in El Paso del Norte, today’s Cd. Juárez Chihuahua, which was later renamed in honor of him. The French established Fernando Maximiliano of Habsburg as the Emperor of the Second Mexican Empire. By 1867 the French had been expelled and Maximiliano was executed by the victorious Mexicans.

Thus Cinco de Mayo represents the victory of overwhelmed Mexican forces against a well-armed and well-trained invading French army. Cinco de Mayo put countries around the world on notice, that as Mexicans we may differ and bicker among ourselves but when it comes time to defend our national territory we will put our differences aside and assert Mexican sovereignty no matter the cost. On May 5, 1862, the world took notice that Mexico will never again surrender anymore national territory to any invader.

So as you down your beers this Cinco de Mayo, take a moment to raise your beer mugs up high and proclaim; ¡Viva Mexico!

En Español

Cinco de Mayo, es más que una fiesta en estos tiempos tan importantes para México
Este Cinco de Mayo, cuando estemos celebrando la victoria contra los invasores del suelo Mexicano, es importante recordar que este día es cuando dimos aviso a todos los países con interés de imponerse dentro de nuestro país que jamás volveremos a perder un solo centímetro más de nuestro territorio nacional.

Con la arrogancia del imperio antiguo de Europa el general Fernando Comte de Lorencez, dirigente del ejército invasor, comunico a su alto mando que desde este momento se adueñaba de la república mexicana con su “superioridad intelectual, disciplina y ética”.

Solo que no contó con el heroísmo y el coraje de los personajes tan importantes en nuestra historia como la de Don Benito Juárez, los generales Porfirio Diaz y Ignacio Zaragoza entre todos de los que dieron de su esfuerzo, humanidad y en muchas ocasiones de sus vidas pare defender el territorio nacional.

El cinco de mayo de 1862, los invasores franceses se enfrentaron con muerte a la punta de las espadas mexicanas. Tres veces intentaron someter al ejército mexicano hasta que el general Porfirio Diaz los forzó retirarse de la escena de batalla humillados y vencidos.

Para entender el significado de esta victoria mexicana hay que hacer un poco de memoria de nuestra historia como país. En ese tiempo, hay que recordar que el pueblo mexicano tenía años sufriendo la guerra. México sufrió guerra tras guerra desde el momento que declaro su independencia de España en 1810. Una guerra que duro hasta 1821. En 1835, la Guerra de Texas interrumpió al pueblo mexicano de nuevo. En 1838, Francia intento de apoderarse del pueblo mexicano durante la guerra denominada como la “Guerra de los Pasteles”.

Aquí esta una lista de las guerras que sufrió México en su historia.

Las intervenciones norteamericanas

De 1846 hasta 1861, Estados Unidos y México se enfrentaron en dos guerras y varias intervenciones. Entre ellas, México perdió más de la mitad de su territorio nacional durante la primera intervención norteamericana en México. En 1853, el norteamericano William Walker intento tomar Sonora y en 1859 y 1861 se enfrentaron contra el ejército americano y tropas de los Texas Rangers guerrilla mexicana en enfrentamientos ahora conocidos como la Primera y Segunda Guerras de Cortina.

La segunda invasión francesa

En 1861, los franceses, España e Inglaterra invadieron suelo mexicano de nuevo. España e Inglaterra se retiraron un poco después de la invasión. En ese tiempo hay que recordar que los franceses eran una potencia mundial con un ejército altamente equipado y capacitado. En comparación, nuestros tiempos, los franceses tenían el poder militar que hoy tiene Estados Unidos para imponer su deseo en cualquier parte del mundo. Los franceses contaban con uno de los ejércitos más poderosos de esa época.

Louis Napoleón Bonaparte, mejor conocido como Napoleón III era dirigente de los franceses desde 1852. En Francia su imperio es conocido como la Segunda República Francesa. Napoleón soñaba con establecer la influencia francés a través del mundo entero. Con ese fin, se dirigió a México para establecer un punto de entrada para establecer doctrina francés en el continente americano.

Al mismo tiempo, el presidente mexicano, Don Benito Juárez se enfrentaba con una deuda externa sumamente sofocante para el pueblo mexicano. En fin de poder recuperar, Don Benito Juárez suspendió los pagos a la deuda por dos años el 17 de abril de 1861. Para diciembre de 1861, Francia, Inglaterra e España habían invadido Veracruz. Después de negociaciones entre los gobiernos involucrados se retiraron del territorio nacional los ingleses y los españoles. Francia rechazo la paz y su ejército empezó su marcha hacia la capital mexicana con el fin de apoderarse del pueblo mexicano.

El Ejército de Oriente, bajo el comando del General Ignacio Zaragoza se enfrentó contra los invasores franceses en Puebla. Los 4,000 mexicanos defendieron terreno mexicano para impedir el paso a los 6,000 integrantes del ejército francés. Tres veces, los franceses intentaron derrotar al ejército de Zaragoza hasta que a las 5:00 de la tarde dieron marcha hacia Orizaba, derrotados por primera vez en 50 años. Así empezó los cuatro años necesarios para expulsar a los franceses del suelo mexicano.
Durante esos cuatro años, el presidente mexicano se vio forzado a establecer la capital mexicana en el norte del país, primero en la ciudad Paso del Norte, ahora Cd. Juárez y luego en la ciudad de Chihuahua. Los franceses, por su parte, con ayuda de algunos mexicanos, establecieron el Segundo Reino Mexicano encabezado por Fernando Maximiliano. Maximiliano fue derrotado en 1867.

Durante el Cinco de Mayo se celebra la victoria mexicana en Puebla contra un ejército que no había sufrido una derrota en cincuenta años. A la misma vez, México anuncio al mundo que no importa la diferencias internas, entre nosotros, cuando nos enfrenta una amenaza contra nuestro territorio nacional ponemos nuestras diferencias aparte y nos unimos como mexicanos para defender nuestro país sin importancia nada más. El 5 de mayo de 1862, el mundo noto que México jamás volverá a regalar ni un centímetro más de territorio mexicano.

Este Cinco de Mayo, tómense un momento para brindarle al pueblo mexicano su unidad nacional con un grito de ¡Viva México! alegre y lleno de orgullo, especialmente en estos tiempos peligrosos para nuestro país.

Screen capture of mobile version of the article

Yesterday at about four in the afternoon the El Paso Times published an article titled; “El Paso lawyer in DA primary wants inquiry into allegations against Jaime Esparza”. Within half an hour the article by Times’ reporter Diana Washington Valdez had been pulled from the Internet. This action by the El Paso Times raises many questions regarding El Paso Corruption, journalistic integrity, manipulation of the electorate and possible criminal wrongdoing.

The published article, that was later removed, states that District Attorney candidate James D. Lucas “asked the FBI and two state agencies to investigate his allegations against District Attorney Jaime Esparza which he had posted on a website this week”. The article that was removed by the Times, quotes Lucas as stating that the reason he asked for the investigation “is that I wanted people to know about the expenditures in the district attorney’s office”. Lucas added, according to the retracted article that; “(t)he expenditures are all a form of taxpayer money”.

Google results for the article

The removed article adds that Lucas had sent letters asking for an investigation of Jaime Esparza to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Texas Attorney General Office and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The article quotes FBI Special Agent Martha Terrazas, a spokeswoman for the FBI office in El Paso as stating that “agents are looking at the website”, adding that they have nothing further to say”.

Times search results for the article

The article further adds that the State Attorney General’s Office has the letter from Lucas and the “matter is under review”. According to the now removed article, no one from the comptroller’s office was available to comment.

The article, before it was removed by the El Paso Times quotes Jaime Esparza as stating that he saw the website on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 and denies the allegations. Esparza is quoted by the article as stating that the allegations levied against him by Lucas are “not true” and that they are “political” in nature.

The now removed article seems to comply with the basics of journalism integrity as it presented both sides of the issue, the topic is relevant as it involves a political race about to be decided in the next few weeks, it quotes sources that have confirmed the accuracy of an initial probe of the allegations against a sitting district attorney by at least two investigative agencies, the FBI and the State Attorney General and most important it involves allegations of public corruption in a city involved in a far-reaching corruption investigation.

El Paso Times removes the article

The censoring of the article by the El Paso Times begs the question, why was it removed?

All elements of a public need to know are present in the article that is written by a well-respected journalist and it is current and relevant information important to the community. Who benefits from the censoring of the article and more importantly who caused the Times to censor its own article?

The El Paso Times is a private corporation that, in my opinion, has the right to choose what they report and how they do that. The problem is that the action of self-censoring raises questions about whether the El Paso Times is an unbiased reporter of information for the citizens of El Paso or is it an editorial vehicle for vested interests in the community. Not only does the censoring of the article raise the question of whether the El Paso Times has the integrity to be the newspaper of record for the city but also whether the censoring of the article is, in itself, a corporate donation to a political activity, a violation of Texas law?

On August 13, 2011, the El Paso Times reported that District Attorney Jaime Esparza disclosed that he had launched an investigation into allegations that Pastor Tom Brown may have violated a Texas State law during the attempted recall of Mayor Cook. The Texas Election Code referenced in the allegation states that corporations are prohibited from making a political contribution or political expenditure in connection with an election. The El Paso Times is a corporation.

The article, which has now been removed by the El Paso Times, involves two candidates involved in a political race about to be decided by voters of the community. It appears that someone within the El Paso Times, a corporation, decided to censor an article that would have an impact on the upcoming election results. The article itself meets all the requirements of fairness in that it reports information relevant to the community, it expresses facts about the status of an investigation and it gives both sides an opportunity to state their relevant positions, yet it was removed, for no apparent reason other than because it seemed to hurt one candidate directly.

As a corporation, has the El Paso Times not influenced the outcome of an election by first choosing to publish an article and then remove it? Would this action not be a violation of the Texas Election code relevant to corporations contributing to political causes in Texas?

Who is tasked with investigating a violation of the Texas law in question? Who makes the determination of whether an action warrants an investigation for this law?

Jaime Esparza makes the determination on whether an investigation is launched against a corporation for violations of the Texas election laws. Notwithstanding the recent Supreme Court ruling in regards to corporate political participation the Texas law has recently been employed to launch an investigation on at least one occasion. It stands to reason that Jaime Esparza was most likely to be hurt by the publication of the article that has now been removed.

Is there likely to be an investigation launched against the El Paso Times for a possible violation of the law? Probably not, as the likely investigator would be the very same person that may have benefited by the activity that allegedly would be a violation of the law in the first place.

Regardless of whether an investigation is ever launched what is more important to El Paso is whether the El Paso Times can be trusted to inform the community ethically and without outside undue influence.

How many articles has the El Paso Times chosen to censor? What reasons are used to make the determination of whether the community should be informed about current and relevant information? Who makes that determination? Who instigated the removal of the article? Does this mean that the El Paso Times allows itself to be influenced by outside forces as to what issues it covers or not?

Is this the type of news coverage the citizens of El Paso deserve? Can you trust the El Paso Times to report unbiased news free of outside influences important to the community, especially in light of the multiple corruption probes going on in the city today? Likely not as the El Paso Times self-censors articles whenever it likes.

This morning I received an email from Matt LeBaron, a student at Brigham Young University who is biking across America along with his sister Amber. Matt asked that I mention their passage through El Paso. They started out on April 25 and will be biking through El Paso, tomorrow, Thursday, May 3, 2012.

Visit their website here for more information.

Show them some El Paso hospitality!

A political article by Attorney Stuart Leeds

Steve Smith of Brazos, TX is running against incumbent Justice Gray of the Tenth Court of Appeals.  Ironically, Smith has levied charges against Justice Gray for not having the temperament and neutrality to be a judge.  It just goes to show how dishonest Smith is.  Having tried an eight day trial against the State and against Smith, “judge” presiding, my trial partner, Theresa Caballero, and I have no qualms about saying Smith is, by far, hands down, the worst “judge” we’ve ever seen in our 52 years of combined experience.

Smith doesn’t even need to get warmed up.  He convened proceedings by sneering and pointing at us demanding we come to the bench.  The voir dire panel was outside.  He held ex parte, off the record conversations, with the prosecutors.  He threatened to have us arrested if we didn’t engage in off the record conversations with him.  He allowed clearly perjured testimony by the State.  He allowed the State to violate its Brady obligations and threw a fit when we objected.  He admonished our client in front of the jury for hiring us, this was after she was acquitted.  He harbors hatred toward Mexicans and Catholics as evidenced by e-mails and court rulings in this and other cases.

He was voted the second worst judge of the Brazos county court house.  No doubt the lawyers in Brazos are supporting him so they don’t have to suffer him anymore.  Up and out is the prevailing sentiment when dealing with local rubbish.

Smith locked down the court room after the jury came back with a full acquittal of our client, ordering jury and audience not to move while he went into an apoplectic tirade against us, the winning side.    He actually ordered that everyone witness his madness.  Real normal behavior there.

And witnesses there are.  They are coming up off the street offering their names and testimony against Smith.  The average, busy woman/man is so disgusted by Smith’s behavior they are wondering where to sign up to tell all.

Smith also loves to drop names.  It makes him feel important.  Anyone who has to try a case in front of him will have to put with incessant “I’m so important” conversation with him.  It’s all about him.  His insecurity (another great quality in a judge) does provide for comic relief though.  Just make sure you hide your laugh behind a cough. Someone ought to do a psychological profile on Smith.  If the above described behavior is the gold standard where Smith comes from, all we can say is better them than us.

El Paso just doesn’t get it. It is simple but the El Paso hierarchy wants you to stay placated. It is actually very sad, hardworking El Pasoans are decimated by the corrupt elite.

El Paso does not deserve a boxing match! That’s it. Forget the indignant attitude and the allegations of collusion. It comes down to a simple truth; El Paso officials are not to be trusted to safeguard the taxpayers of the community.

I know many of you are rallying around the cry of “it’s not fair” and “it’s about the money another city will make off this event”, but stop for a moment and think about the facts surrounding the city and the event.

Not only are El Paso’s public officials embroiled in an ever growing public corruption scandal but El Paso is also in the middle, and I argue complicit in the ongoing drug cartel wars. The ongoing corruption scandal did not start with the investigation of NCED in 2005 and will not end with the pending court cases.

I’ve been doing research on the current scandal and the very same people being implicated and whispered about are the very same people who were involved in corruption scandals in the 80’s and the 90’s. Remember Maury Kemp, El Paso Electric’s Evern Wall and Tad Smith who were indicted in 1991? Former El Paso Mayor Raymond Telles, Jr. was also indicted, in 1990, based on the Kemp investigations that had started in 1987. The same law firms and people were also quietly whispered about back then as they are today.

In doing my research for my upcoming book; Narco War; The Rise and Fall of the Mexican Drug Cartels – a pattern is starting to develop that puts El Paso squarely in the middle of the ongoing cartel wars. Do you remember Jimmy Chagra?

The Juarez Cartel, coincidently, or maybe not so coincidently, began to assert itself at about the same time the Chagra case became public knowledge. The rise of the Juarez Cartel correlates closely to El Paso’s economy.

Remember George De Angelis who alleged cartel influence in Carlos Leon’s police department in the 90’s?

The city’s political establishment quietly whispered but no one stood up and demanded accountability. In the end, George De Angelis was exonerated even though the city’s political machine tried to marginalize him and Carlos Leon was reprimanded by then Carlos Ramirez, the city’s mayor. But no investigation was ever conducted publically or transparently into the drug cartel influence alleged by De Angelis.

The same department involved in the fiasco with the same figure heads is the same department that gets its drug lab decertified. Who benefits from a decertified drug lab? This is also the same police department embroiled in the ticket fixing scandal that is seeing, rank-and-file police officers prosecuted for offenses that could not possibly have been conducted in a vacuum without upper echelon involvement. It is a continued pattern of feeding the populace something to chew on while the management continues to be insulated.

Meanwhile, all indications suggest that El Paso continues to be a major transit point for drugs, as it was back in the days of the cartel rise to challenge the Mexican state.

As if that wasn’t enough, look at the names of the people implicated, jailed or awaiting trial in the latest scandal. LKG Enterprises was incorporated in 1991. Robert Jones takes control of NCED in 1995 and begins manufacturing chemical suits for the military in 1997, under the Javits-Wagner-O’Day Act. Cirilio Madrid forms New Beginnings of Texas in 1996. In 1999, Carlos Leon is appointed Police Chief and almost immediately it is alleged that there is drug cartel influence within his immediate hierarchy while NISH has serious concerns about NCED.

In 2003, EPISD started to unload the Blue Flame building, a taxpayer debacle. Look at the names involved in that transaction. Does Access Administrators, Mena, Roark and Tafoya sound familiar? How about Robert Jones?

Bob Jones didn’t just appear on the El Paso scene out of the blue in the early 90’s. He had been chased out of Houston for malfeasance, but the El Paso elite was so eager for money to be doled out to them that they either didn’t care or kept it quiet. They even named Robert Jones, the “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2005. Is the timeline starting to make sense now?

That’s just ten percent of the timeline I’ve developed so far!

El Paso’s modus operandi has and continues to be to marginalize or outright threaten people when they dare question the obvious. El Paso’s elite even goes so far as to embrace the crooks as long as the monies continue to flow into their pockets.

Remember Hector Villa and Villafam? Convicted right across the border in New Mexico and immediately embraced in El Paso. The El Paso Housing Authority is involved in scandal after scandal with the State threatening to step in. Yet, not one serious local investigation is initiated. The local school districts spend the local taxpayer’s money in one scam after another and the only thing that goes up, are the taxes.

I haven’t even mentioned the debacle of Shrode, the former medical examiner, and the numerous payouts of taxpayer monies to settle citizen demands for a better police force and the cases of drug trafficking levied against political and security forces. Does former police officer Alberto Madrid and former County Commissioner Willie Gandara ring a bell?

Madrid is hired to provide security for a wedding party and then allegedly steals the wedding gifts? What kind of police department employs someone willing to steal wedding gifts? Gandara, on the other hand, is alleged to be dealing drugs while a sitting county commissioner. What kind of community elects someone to office that is alleged to be a drug dealer? Is it the same community that elects Susie Byrd and Beto O’Rourke, whose own mother pleads guilty on behalf of her company to money laundering, to office while they publicly condone drug legalization?

And now the city, the very same people involved in protecting those dolling out money to them, are the same people once again floating the idea of a taxpayer funded sports arena? Guess who gets to fund that? And guess who stands to make millions from it?

It’s a revolving door; the taxpayers fund the playgrounds of the elite.

Now ask yourself, do you trust your city officials to safeguard and secure your home while the fight is on? Allowing the fight to happen at UTEP is putting the citizens of the community in the hands of the same people who can’t keep their own house in order and also have a history of looking out only for themselves instead of the community.

Anything that happens at the event will ultimately be paid for by the taxpayers of El Paso.

Remember the One-percent Doctrine? If there is even a one percent chance that something may go wrong then it is incumbent upon those who are tasked to protect the community against the danger.

The truth is, if something were to happen, the very same people demanding that UTEP hold the fight will be the very same people asking for someone’s head on a platter, not from among the elite, but from the everyday grunts that work in the community. The power elite have conditioned El Paso to blame everyone else except themselves. And that is exactly what is happening today. So stop the whining already and do something for yourselves.

The economic nexus for El Paso is clear; corruption and drugs. A boxing match is only a publicity stunt to placate the masses and give the elites something else to play with.

You want change El Paso? Rise up and demand accountability, not from Austin, but from your own official’s malfeasance. Until then, El Paso will just remain the same, a transit point for drugs heading north and guns heading south. That’s the simple truth of why El Paso does not deserve the boxing match.

Release in latter 2012.Sale en el 2012.The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

Aprovechando que me encuentro en Monterrey, voy a operarme de la vista para ya no usar lentes. Mi esposo me dió la noticia esta semana pasada y me dijo con qué doctor fuera y todo. Estoy muy ilusionada, pero a la vez me da ñáñaras ¡Aaahhh! Me operan mañana sábado 21 de abril y tendré que tomar unas vacaciones de la PC, de perdido por una semana, para descansar bien mis ojitos.
Ahi les encargo mi blog para que me lo cuiden. ¡Nos leemos en unos días!

Una tarde de septiembre de 2011, recibí una llamada de mamá para darme la noticia de que después de ocho meses que la tenian brincando de doctor en doctor en su clínica familiar, apenas le habían detectado que su sangrado se debía a un tumor maligno. Son de esas noticias que no quieres oir y que no te esperas…
Yo me había mudado a Veracruz y tenía ya nueve meses sin verla, pero al decirme esa noticia, mi esposo y yo lo platicamos y decidimos que yo viajaría a Monterrey para apoyar a mamá en todo el proceso que se debía hacer para que mamá pudiera salir adelante del llamado Cáncer de Colon y Recto, por el tiempo que fuera necesario.
Mamá había bajado mucho de peso, pero al llegar a Monterrey, vi más preocupado a mi papá que a ella. Mamá seguía con la sonrisota y solo me decía que se sentía bien, que sólo la molestia era el sangrado y la frecuencia en que tenía que ir al baño.
Como no sabía mucho acerca de la enfermedad, llevé a mamá a una segunda opinión al Hospital Universitario. Después de varios estudios ahí, el doctor que vió los resultados nos dijo: “Llegamos a la misma conclusión y tipo de tratamiento que el IMSS, ¿Dónde se van a tratar, aquí o en el Seguro?”. Y mis papás decidieron que en el IMSS.
De la clínica familiar, la mandaron a la Clínica No. 4 y de ahí al Hospital de Especialidades No. 25 del IMSS al área de Oncología.

Ahí en oncología, al primer doctor que nos tocó visitar fué al Dr. Agustin Muñoz Villagomez, él nos explicó el tratamiento de Radioterapia y las indicaciones para checar las listas de espera (ya que hay mucha gente en el IMSS) y hacer la simulación. La simulación es un proceso donde marcan a mamá para saber dónde aplicar la Radioterapia. Una anécdota con el Dr. Muñoz, fué que cuando a mamá le estaban dando las indicaciones de la dieta que debía llevar (quitarle todo lo que podría causarle diarrea), ella en son de broma le preguntó al Dr.: “¿Puedo tomar caguama?”. El Dr. se le queda viendo y muy serio le contesta: “Bueno… pero bien poquitito Sra. en un vasito, nadamás para que se le quite el antojo”. Y en eso mamá le dice bien apenada: ¡No se crea Dr.! yo no tomo, ni consejos… y el Dr. le contesta muy risueño y también en broma: “Pues ahora en la otra consulta me trae una caguama a mi…” jajaja ya me imaginaba nosotras cargando una caguama en el hospital jaja

Luego tuvimos consulta con el Dr. Jorge Sanchez Guillen para el tratamiento de Quimioterapia, muy amable el Dr., pero se ve muy serio y muy propio, tanto así que mamá le comentó que parecía Sacerdote por la forma en como le explicaba las cosas, pero al doctor como que se sacó de onda por el comentario, tal vez no es católico jeje
Su primer fase de tratamiento de mamá consistió en tres semanas de Quimioterapia vía intravenosa (sólo cada viernes) y después 25 sesiones diarias de Radioterapia combinadas con Quimioterapia en pastillas. Todo esto para hacer más pequeño el tumor y extraerlo con éxito. Días antes de comenzar las sesiones de Radioterapia, mi prima Luz Minero le dijo a mamá: “Tía tu ten fé en Dios, piensa que estas sana y dí ‘Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece’”. Mamá como es una persona de mucha fe, en cada sesión de Radioterapia en su mente repetía la frase “Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece” y al salir de cada sesión siempre me contaba que sentía como que la camilla se movía como si la mecieran. Hasta le preguntó a los enfermeros de Radioterapia que si la cama se movía y le dijeron que no, que la cama no se puede mover. Y se dió cuenta mamá que es Jesus que la tenía en sus brazos.
Fué casi un mes de ir a diario al hospital, que valió la pena, porque a mamá le cesó el sangrado. Después de todo eso nos dieron un mes de vacaciones para que se desinflamara su colon (debido a la radioterapia), antes de comenzar la segunda fase: la cirugía.
Para ésto, ya habíamos tenido varias consultas con la Dra. Irma Sandra Garcia González de Cirugía Oncológica, para ver los avances de la primera fase y checar si mamá ya estaba lista para la cirugía. A finales de enero, programaron a mamá para cirugía el día 29 de marzo de 2012. Días antes de la cirugía tuvimos consulta con la Dra. García para checar últimos estudios y darnos la Orden de Internamiento para el día 27 de marzo de 2012. También fuimos a trabajo social, ya que nos pidieron tres donadores de sangre (que fueron mi hermano y sus amigos) y fuimos a farmacia ahí mismo en el IMSS, por un medicamento que debía tomar mamá antes de la operación. La Dra. Garcia, muy acertadamente, siempre nos proporciona una copia de las hojas de su consulta, por aquellas ocasiones de que no haya sistema, ya uno tiene con qué demostrar el tratamiento a llevar. ¡Gracias Dra.!
Y se llegó el día, el martes 27 de marzo, estábamos antes de las 2 pm en el área de Admisión Hospitalaria. Ahí en la espera hicimos bonitas amistades, que aunque nos tocaba en diferente área, de repente nos visitábamos por si se ofrecía algo. Nos tocó en el 4to. piso en la cama 406, por suerte en ventana. De ahí la vista era muy linda. De noche se veía así, como en la siguiente foto.

Ahí en el hospital, se viven tanto días angustiantes, como días de alegría por mejoras. Mis respetos para los familiares que tienen a sus pacientitos internados por semanas o meses. No es muy agradable (a nadie le gusta ver enfermo a un familiar) y también es algo incómodo, sobre todo que acaba el familiar más adolorido que el paciente por tratar de acomodarse en la silla para dormir (bueno, a mi me pasó)…
Ya en piso, durante dos días prepararon a mamá para la cirugía y el día 29 de marzo a las 9 am, la bajaron a quirófano. De las 9 am a las 2 pm, fueron las horas más angustiantes en la sala de espera. De repente se abrío la puerta corrediza del área de quirófanos, la Dra. Garcia ve a papá y nos llama. Ya mi cara cambió cuando la Dra. nos dijo que estaba muy contenta con la operación de mamá, que sus órganos estaban bien y que como ya habíamos platicado, tuvo que cortar parte del colon para quitarle el tumor y que ahorita estaba en recuperación, que nos fuéramos a comer algo ya que, en unas horas más la subían a piso.
Y sí, ya pasadas las 5 pm vimos como sacaban a mamá del área de quirófanos y la subieron a piso. Mamá aun andaba adormilada, pero cuando vió a papá le hizo ojitos jaja
Ya que despertó bien, le pregunté a mama que si le dolió y me dijo que no, que no sintió nada. Solo recuerda que se acercó el anestesiólogo y le dijo que le iba a poner una raquia. Mamá comenzó a cantar una canción de Pedrito Fernández: “♫ Lo primero que hice cuando vine al mundo fué llorar ♫…” y el anestesiólogo le dijo: “No diga eso Sra…” y mamá le contestó: “Déjame cantar… ♫ La primera palabra que yo pronuncié fué mamá y a tí ni en el mundo te hacía ♫…Ssssshh…” y se quedó dormida y ya no recuerda nada, hasta que una enfermera la llamó por su nombre y despertó.

Al día siguiente de la operación, llega una enfermera a bañar a mamá y a cambiar las sábanas de su cama. Mamá me contó que sintió como si la enfermera la estuviera amasando jaja y no le gustó, la sintió un poco tosca. Luego el otro día, mientras mamá dormía, llegó un enfermero muy jovencito y la despierta para preguntarle si la bañan o ella se baña solita. Mamá recordando la enfermera del día anterior, le dijo que ella se bañaba sola. Cual fué su sorpresa, cuando vió que el enfermero jovencito estaba bañando a la paciente de enfrente con mucho cuidado jajaj
Mamá como es tremenda, empezó a darse de topes en la cama jajaja porque se le escapó la oportunidad de que la bañara un jovencito jejeje Y le pidió que se tomara foto con ella para el recuerdo, de que lo dejó ir, por su falta de astucia jajaja

Un momento de angustia lo pasó mi papá, una noche que se quedó de guardia, ya que a mamá por poco la meten a cirugía de nuevo, pero afortunadamente detectaron que era una reacción de mamá a un medicamento y la controlaron. Le pusieron sangre y mejoró su hemoglobina de tal forma que fué mostrando mucha mejoría, ya cuando llegué yo a mi guardia, mamá ya estaba muy bien.
De repente llegaban varios Doctores a verla, a los que les puse “Los frijolitos”, porque llegaban todos “en bola” a revisar a mamá.
Ya el día que nos dieron de alta, el 4 de abril, mamá quiso tomarse foto con sus enfermeros que estaban en turno para el recuerdo.

Queremos agradecerle a la Dra. Irma Sandra García González, que iba hasta el piso que le tocó a mamá a sus chequeos, porque ahí en el hospital, uno se entera y se da cuenta de que no todos los Doctores Titulares visitan a sus pacientes. Y la Dra. Garcia siempre estuvo muy al pendiente. ¡¡¡Muchas gracias Dra. Garcia!!!
Y aquí la foto con la Dra. Garcia con el Dr. Gerardo Rosales que le ayudó en la cirugía, Doctores y enfermeras de oncología.

También un agradecimiento total a todos y cada uno de los doctores residentes, doctores de guardia y enfermeros, que hacen su trabajo con esmero y que contribuyeron a que mamá se recuperara y que me permitieron tenerla por muchos años más.

Two true stories from the El Paso County, Texas Court House.  One story illustrates the corrupt and the other goodness.

First the bad:

I am running for Criminal District Court No. One.  I have two opponents. Both are assistant district attorneys, employees of DA Jaime Esparza.  Neither one has resigned  in order to run.  Both are campaigning during business hours.  Both were at Democratic County Headquarters at 11:00 am a month ago.  Two months ago, one was at the El Paso Bar meeting candidate forum at 11:30 a.m.  This morning one came sauntering into the court house at 8:45 am, 45 minutes after start time.  These are just the times when I have caught the two not at work.  Do you really want to be financing the campaigns of two assistant district attorneys?  Is this honest?  Of the two, Diane Navarrete I found to be the most dishonest.  Instead of quitting her job and campaigning on her own time, she is milking her $100,000/year plus taxpayer position for all that it’s worth.  When confronted with this at forums she simply ignores the fact that she is chronically out campaigning during business hours.  When a person takes money from the taxpayers to render a service and then instead spends time out promoting herself, most people would call this stealing.

Navarrete is also the prosecutor in charge of cases assigned to the court where her office dismissed Sexual Assault of a Child charges against EPPD officer Phil Amato-they said they were dismissing the charges because the “girl lied about her age.”  Navarrete knows that the “girl lying about her age” is no defense in the state of Texas.   Navarrete routinely prosecutes non-cops, in fact young boys, for having sex with underage girls who “have lied about their age.”  When you ask why she has the double standard between the average boy and the COP (who should know better than to have sex with his partner’s daughter’s 13 year old best friend)  Navarrete just walks off.  In fact Sherrif Wiles was not happy that Aamato’s case had been dismissed.  Wiles, then police Chief, had worked hard to get Amato fired.  With the dismissal out of Navarrete’s case load, Amato was reinstated in the PD and is back out on the streets.  You can thank Dianne Navarrete personally for that one. Is this Judge material?

The good story:

Few people in the wider community know that they have a great judge in charge of CPS court.  His name is Oscar Gabaldon.  He was appointed in the early 2000′s by Judge Fred Chavez of the 65th Judicial District Court to handle CPS matters.  Judge Chavez made a wonderful selection in hiring Judge Gabaldon (All of Judge Chavez’ judicial appointees are excellent:  Richard Ainsa, Terri Ligon, Jose Juarez.).  Judge Gabaldon is never on one side or the other.  He listens carefully to each word that is said.  He treats all the participants with dignity.  He is aware of the pain and suffering that goes on in CPS cases.  He is aware of the community’s need to protect children as well as the community’s need not to have abusive, invasive, heavy handed government.  You will never hear anything but praise from those who appear before him-Fairness and Justice here we come when the case is in front of Judge Gabaldon.  Judge Gabaldon is a sight for sore eyes.  He is a cool pool of water in a barren desert.

Brilliant video censored in Mexico features child actors portraying corruption in Mexico; it's aimed at the presidential candidates. It's a real wake-up call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNarN3cjK_gThe Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=107380

  OP-EDGet Your Boot Off My Neck
By Kerry Kennedy*

AYUTLA, Guerrero, Mexico, Apr 10, 2012 (IPS) - Last weekend, my 14-year-old daughter, Michaela, and I were en route to Easter Sunday mass in Acapulco. We were stopped, harassed, threatened, and detained by eight soldiers in battle fatigues brandishing automatic weapons.

At first, I was merely concerned; after all, we were travelling with RFK Human Rights Award Laureate Abel Barrera and his legal team, among the brightest lawyers in Mexico. Our attorneys immediately cited four articles of the Mexican constitution that the infantry lieutenant violated.

After establishing that we were an international human rights organisation, the lieutenant responsible for the checkpoint maliciously demanded to inspect our belongings for narcotics. He raged menacingly, "I am the authority, I have the power." At that moment, my heart stopped.

The day before I had sat in awe at the courage of José Rubio as he told us about his brother, Bonfilio, who was murdered by the Mexican military at another illegal roadblock, not unlike this one. Like tens of thousands of men and women from La Montaña, the poorest region in the poorest state of Mexico, Bonfilio had left his indigenous community intent on landing a job in the United States during the growing season.

Forty minutes after he boarded the bus on Jun. 20, 2009, infantry soldiers stopped the vehicle to search for drugs but found none; when the bus driver confronted them for the stop, they became enraged.

As the bus pulled away, the soldiers opened fire, killing Bonfilio, who had fallen asleep in the last seat. When the driver pulled to a stop, the army, seeing the corpse, decided to conduct a second search. This time, they claimed they "discovered" five bales of marijuana beneath passenger seats. They give no explanation as to how they missed the five shoebox-sized bales on the first inspection.

Over the past three years, José has been harassed and visited at home in the middle of the night by soldiers dressed in civilian clothes. He has been offered bribes, threatened with death, and pressured by family and friends who were threatened and bribed themselves, all in a campaign to get José to drop charges against the military for his brother's wrongful death.

This is the pattern that those who seek to enforce basic human rights protections can expect in La Montaña. But, because of his extraordinary courage, José Rubio has achieved something extraordinary for his brother and his countrymen: the Rubio case is the first in which a federal court has ruled that a human rights violation committed by the military must be tried by civilian, rather than military, court.

Unfortunately, instead of accepting civilian jurisdiction, the military has appealed.

Today, Mexico faces a turning point. Will the long history of military impunity prevail? Or will the executive, judicial, and legislative branches finally live up to the promises they have made to the international community and their own citizens, and ensure that cases of military abuse of civilians are tried fairly in civilian courts?

In 2010, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in the cases of indigenous human rights defenders Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo, who were raped and tortured by soldiers in retaliation for their community's activism; the court stated that Mexico must try such cases in civilian court. In response, the Supreme Court of Mexico confirmed the Inter-American Court decision.

On December 9, 2011, President Calderon, along with the Attorney General, publicly stated their support of the measures.

The Rubio case is the first time that the Supreme Court and the President have had their resolve tested, and the military appears determined to maintain the status quo and act above the law.

President Calderon should make a strong and unequivocal public statement clarifying his support for civilian jurisdiction in cases of military abuse of civilians. Furthermore, he should immediately instruct the military prosecutor to stop appealing cases on jurisdictional grounds.

Mexico's Congress should pass pending legislation that would require all cases of military abuse against civilians to be tried under civilian jurisdiction. And the President should state that he will immediately sign the legislation into law.

The Supreme Court should deny the appeal of the military and establish binding jurisprudence that all cases of military abuse against civilian will be tried in civilian courts.

Through the Mérida Initiative, the United States has supported the Mexican military's narco-trafficking reform efforts to the tune of $1.6 billion since 2008. We should make clear that we believe that illegal road blocks, harassment, unlawful detention, and other abuses of civilian rights undermine faith in the institution of the military and are unacceptable.

On Sunday, I experienced what few leaders in Mexico's elite know: the fear of a military that turns its power on the very people it has vowed to protect, the rage engendered when that power is challenged, and the arbitrary nature of its wrath.

The next day, Michaela and I were able to continue with our plans to visit the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Our ordeal lasted about 30 minutes, but for many Mexican human rights defenders, confronting the military does not end so well. It is time to rehabilitate the reputation of the Mexican military. Ending impunity will be the first step.

*Kerry Kenndy is president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Not for publication in México.

(END) The Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

http://gangs.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

Includes other incidents, too, and is constantly updatedThe Killing Fields: Harvest of Women, the first investigative book about the Juarez murders by a U.S. journalist.

Former armed forces member Michael D. Hayes launched a new recall effort against Mayor John Cook on April 5, 2012. He provides information about his effort here.

It is an interesting read.

¿Se acuerdan que hace tiempo escribí un post muy contenta acerca de la jardinera que me compró mi esposo y que me gustaba mucho? ¡¡Pues nos la robaron!! Segun nosotros la teníamos encadenada para que eso no sucediera. Pero se la llevaron con todo y cadenas y sus dos candados jajaja
No se como le hicieron, tuvieron que haber sido mínimo tres pelados, porque estaban pesados los mueblecitos… pero bueno… ya ni llorar es bueno… buaa…
Más me preocupa que la van a mal baratar, si es que la robaron para re-venderla… ¡Ay!… y tanto que batallé para convencer a mi esposo que me la comprara… chinwetas… ni modo jajaja

Al menos tengo muchas fotos de la jardinera…

El Paso's own Phillip Mena is saying adios to the Sun City. The KTSM/KDBC anchor and reporter recently celebrating his going-away with a cake at the station, as shown in the photo on the left which was Tweeted out by...

According to sources, 16 El Paso Times employees were laid off, three in the newsroom, one of them being long time editorial page writer, Charlie Edgren.  It will be called an “early retirement.”  Sources say Edgren’s last day is at the end of this month.

There used to be a time when every lawn in my neighborhood had a paper on it in the morning.  That was a long time ago.  The El Paso Times has made it a point not to hire anyone with any talent and when they do, by accident, that person is gone.  The reading public hates the El Paso Times and many refuse to buy it on principal.  Can you blame us when the paper’s main sources are Susie Byrd, Veronica Escobar, Beto O’Rourke, his father-in-law Bill Sanders, and anyone else the oligarchy dons with a scepter?

In the three in a half years that the scandal regarding El Paso Medical examiner Dr. Paul Shrode was above the table, Charlie Edgren never wrote one word about how bad it is for the community to have a medical examiner who lies about his credentials and under oath.  Nor did Edgren write one word about how damaging it is for the community to have sitting county employees run for office while on the county clock or what an outrage it is that El Paso Public Service Board (water untilty) manager, Ed Archuleta, earns over half a million dollars a year, hundreds of thousands more than his counterpart in San Francisco.  But what we did hear from Edgren’s limp pen is how much we need to support Woody Hunt’s figure heads (Susie Byrd, etc) and pay more taxes.  Thanks to Edgren and the politicians he has promoted, El Paso has the second highest municipal tax rate in the state of Texas.-Edgren’s legacy will be a wildly unpopular, failing newspaper, his own lay off and a corrupt government filled with his picks, not to mention crippling taxes.

Whatever will we do without Charlie Edgren and his invaluable opinions or his political endorsements?

The El Paso Times has insisted on lying to the community and people have grown tired of it.  Advertisements are down and so are readers.  The paper is pathetically thin every day.  Edgren, et. al. have written themselves out of a job.