Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Larry Being Larry
A few weeks ago Larry Medina resigned from the Ethics Commission telling the local media that he did so to concentrate more on the expansion of his business. I sure hope he fills out all those I-9 forms properly for those new employees he has to hire. If you don't remember, Medina owes ICE over $30k for discrepancies found on 31 of his 33 employees' work verification forms.
We all just took his resignation at face value and moved on. But did he really resign?
According to an e-mail from the city attorney's office obtained by a good source, Medina called in and resigned by phone saying his resignation was effective immediately. When asked if he was going to submit his resignation in writing he said he was not going to submit anything.
If you all remember the Chairman of the Ethics Commission was recently arrested and resigned from his position. It is to my understanding that the Chairman had to send his resignation in writing to the Civil Service Commission who had nominated Medina to the commission to make it official.
If I understand that correctly, that means that Larry has to submit his resignation to Emma Acosta who nominated him. And since Medina said he was not going to submit anything, and has not to my limited knowledge, his resignation is not official. He is technically still a member of the ethics commission.
Oh great, here we go again. He just did the same thing with the County Judge race. He said he was in, then he shed some tears and said he was out. Then he was told he missed the deadline to withdraw so he was back in. Then he said he would sue to get his name off the ballot to be out. That failed so his name was left on the ballot but he said he would not campaign so he was out of the race. But if you drove down I-10 his huge campaign billboards still were up telling us he was in the race. What is wrong with this guy?
Larry must either love to be in the headlines or thinks we are all that stupid. I just hope this doesn't earn him another conquistador award.
We all have to admit, this is just another example of Larry being Larry.
We all just took his resignation at face value and moved on. But did he really resign?
According to an e-mail from the city attorney's office obtained by a good source, Medina called in and resigned by phone saying his resignation was effective immediately. When asked if he was going to submit his resignation in writing he said he was not going to submit anything.
If you all remember the Chairman of the Ethics Commission was recently arrested and resigned from his position. It is to my understanding that the Chairman had to send his resignation in writing to the Civil Service Commission who had nominated Medina to the commission to make it official.
If I understand that correctly, that means that Larry has to submit his resignation to Emma Acosta who nominated him. And since Medina said he was not going to submit anything, and has not to my limited knowledge, his resignation is not official. He is technically still a member of the ethics commission.
Oh great, here we go again. He just did the same thing with the County Judge race. He said he was in, then he shed some tears and said he was out. Then he was told he missed the deadline to withdraw so he was back in. Then he said he would sue to get his name off the ballot to be out. That failed so his name was left on the ballot but he said he would not campaign so he was out of the race. But if you drove down I-10 his huge campaign billboards still were up telling us he was in the race. What is wrong with this guy?
Larry must either love to be in the headlines or thinks we are all that stupid. I just hope this doesn't earn him another conquistador award.
We all have to admit, this is just another example of Larry being Larry.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Should We Start To Worry.........How About Now?
For the last few weeks I have been criticized for something I wrote on a previous post and have been ridiculed on the radio by my friend and colleague on the left. All I did was ask a few simple common sense questions. This is the one that got ridiculed the most.
"How many of you feel so safe that you don't have look over your shoulder when you drive down I-10 by UTEP considering that Juarez is literally only a few feet away from you at that point?"
I posted that question on August 11th and had been made fun of for doing so. "Oh stop it", "it is disingenuous" and "do you really drive home looking over your shoulder on your way home from the West Side?" insinuating the West Side of El Paso is the safest side of town.
But as many of you have seen on the news or read in the papers another stray bullet came over from the spill over violence in Juarez, Mexico and hit a building here in El Paso. And where did it hit you ask? According to the El Paso Times "A single bullet struck Bell Hall on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso sometime Saturday night." Yeah that is also known as UTEP. The same UTEP I talked about looking over my shoulder when driving home from the oh so safe West Side. What excuse am I gonna hear now?
It is just a coincidence. It could happen anywhere. It didn't hurt anyone so it doesn't really count. Come on!
Stray bullets hit City Hall and the most that was done about it was a question posted by City Representative Emma Acosta on her FaceBook profile.
"Emma Acosta- As the City Rep for District #3 and Mayor Pro-Tem of El Paso, I'd like to know your thoughts on the several gunshots apparently fired from Juarez, Mexico that hit City Hall on Tuesday Afternoon, and actually went through a wall where a meeting was being conducted by employees." June 30, 3:05 pm. I honestly had to hit the "unlike" on this one. I think the matter deserved more than just a post on a social website.
Just on Saturday we have a bullet hit the University and the El Paso Times is quick to write "Students not alarmed after stray bullet strikes UTEP building" to prevent mass hysteria. Yet on that same article a student was quoted as saying "It was scary that it could it have hit somebody.... You never know when it's going to happen again." Headlines like those are intended to influence those who don't take the time to read all the articles. Those people see the pictures, read the headlines and then go staright to the sports section or the wanted ads only having read half truths.
I can't believe that the media and our city and county leaders are trying to sweep this under the rug. The spill over violence is so under reported that we live under a false sense of security.
Jaime O. Perez, the El Paso County chief of staff and Republican candidate for El Paso County Judge, told the El Paso Times that relatives of an El Paso elected official were recently victims of a carjacking in Juarez. "The carjackers pointed a gun at a 7-year-old girl to intimidate the driver into surrendering the vehicle."
"I asked at a meeting of U.S. law enforcement officers why the carjacking wasn't publicized, and they said they did not want to create a panic," Perez told the El Paso Times..
They did not want to create panic? Keeping information from us makes us panic. Giving us the information as it becomes available makes us aware and allows us to prepare properly. I rather be ready than be scared.
But like always, it's all politics. This city is ran by a DemocratIC majority who has been fighting the border security issue by calling it racist and calling those who ask for border security xenophobes. So they will fight tooth and nail so they won't have to admit they are wrong and lose their biggest argument of calling those who are for border security anti-immigrant.
Now let's see how liberals turn this statement into a racist comment and make it into something that is only intended to eliminate a certain ethnic group from the face of this earth. They tend to put on their super decoder rings and somehow read between the lines and find extra words and meanings that the rest of us mortals just can't see........
"How many of you feel so safe that you don't have look over your shoulder when you drive down I-10 by UTEP considering that Juarez is literally only a few feet away from you at that point?"
I posted that question on August 11th and had been made fun of for doing so. "Oh stop it", "it is disingenuous" and "do you really drive home looking over your shoulder on your way home from the West Side?" insinuating the West Side of El Paso is the safest side of town.
But as many of you have seen on the news or read in the papers another stray bullet came over from the spill over violence in Juarez, Mexico and hit a building here in El Paso. And where did it hit you ask? According to the El Paso Times "A single bullet struck Bell Hall on the campus of the University of Texas at El Paso sometime Saturday night." Yeah that is also known as UTEP. The same UTEP I talked about looking over my shoulder when driving home from the oh so safe West Side. What excuse am I gonna hear now?
It is just a coincidence. It could happen anywhere. It didn't hurt anyone so it doesn't really count. Come on!
Stray bullets hit City Hall and the most that was done about it was a question posted by City Representative Emma Acosta on her FaceBook profile.
"Emma Acosta- As the City Rep for District #3 and Mayor Pro-Tem of El Paso, I'd like to know your thoughts on the several gunshots apparently fired from Juarez, Mexico that hit City Hall on Tuesday Afternoon, and actually went through a wall where a meeting was being conducted by employees." June 30, 3:05 pm. I honestly had to hit the "unlike" on this one. I think the matter deserved more than just a post on a social website.
Just on Saturday we have a bullet hit the University and the El Paso Times is quick to write "Students not alarmed after stray bullet strikes UTEP building" to prevent mass hysteria. Yet on that same article a student was quoted as saying "It was scary that it could it have hit somebody.... You never know when it's going to happen again." Headlines like those are intended to influence those who don't take the time to read all the articles. Those people see the pictures, read the headlines and then go staright to the sports section or the wanted ads only having read half truths.
I can't believe that the media and our city and county leaders are trying to sweep this under the rug. The spill over violence is so under reported that we live under a false sense of security.
Jaime O. Perez, the El Paso County chief of staff and Republican candidate for El Paso County Judge, told the El Paso Times that relatives of an El Paso elected official were recently victims of a carjacking in Juarez. "The carjackers pointed a gun at a 7-year-old girl to intimidate the driver into surrendering the vehicle."
"I asked at a meeting of U.S. law enforcement officers why the carjacking wasn't publicized, and they said they did not want to create a panic," Perez told the El Paso Times..
They did not want to create panic? Keeping information from us makes us panic. Giving us the information as it becomes available makes us aware and allows us to prepare properly. I rather be ready than be scared.
What are we going to have to see before these "leaders" do something about it? Will bullets have to hit Bowie High School, or Guillen Middle School? Or will a child have to loose his or her life at Aoy Elementary before our leaders do something about it? All those schools are very close to the border.
Rick Perry said it best: "We must ensure El Paso and other border communities remain a safe place for people to live, work and raise a family. It's time for Washington to stop the rhetoric and immediately deploy a significance force of personnel and resources to the border to protect our homeland."
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Some Answers to Harry Reid's Question
Yo soy Republicano por que creo en la igualdad de oportunidades para todos los Americanos.
Soy Republicano por que creo que el gobierno que gobierna menos gobierna mejor.
Soy Republicano por que creo en la familia.
Soy Republicano por que creo que somos dotados por el creador con ciertos derechos inalienables y entre ellos se encuentran el derecho a la vida.
El derecho de libertad y a la busqueda de la libertad.
Soy Republicano por que creo en la constitucion como nuestros fundadores tenian la intencion.
Soy Republicano por que creo que los estados desempenan un papel vital en el sistema federal de los controles sobre el poder del gobierno
Soy Republicano por que creo en la libertad de la fe, la libertad de esprecion y el derecho a portar armas.
Soy Republicano por que creo en el sistema de libre comercio.
Soy Republicano por que creo que debemos retener la mayor parte de nuestro salario.
Soy Republicano por que usted y yo somos iguales.
E iguales libres para seguir nuestros propios destinos
Sin ataduras por la regulacion excesiva o interferencia
Yo Soy Republicano por que creo en el sueno Americano
Yo Soy Republicano por que creo en el lugar excepcional en la historia de los Estados Unidos y en el futuro.
Yo soy Republicano por que creo que la fuerza Americana y el liderazgo son fundementales para la paz y la prosperidad en todo el mundo.
Soy Republicano por que yo creo que America es la ciudad brillante sobre la loma y un faro de libertad para todas las personas.
Soy Republicano por que creo en America.
Y por que creo en la libertad.
Yo soy un orgulloso Republicano.
Soy Republicano por que creo que el gobierno que gobierna menos gobierna mejor.
Soy Republicano por que creo en la familia.
Soy Republicano por que creo que somos dotados por el creador con ciertos derechos inalienables y entre ellos se encuentran el derecho a la vida.
El derecho de libertad y a la busqueda de la libertad.
Soy Republicano por que creo en la constitucion como nuestros fundadores tenian la intencion.
Soy Republicano por que creo que los estados desempenan un papel vital en el sistema federal de los controles sobre el poder del gobierno
Soy Republicano por que creo en la libertad de la fe, la libertad de esprecion y el derecho a portar armas.
Soy Republicano por que creo en el sistema de libre comercio.
Soy Republicano por que creo que debemos retener la mayor parte de nuestro salario.
Soy Republicano por que usted y yo somos iguales.
E iguales libres para seguir nuestros propios destinos
Sin ataduras por la regulacion excesiva o interferencia
Yo Soy Republicano por que creo en el sueno Americano
Yo Soy Republicano por que creo en el lugar excepcional en la historia de los Estados Unidos y en el futuro.
Yo soy Republicano por que creo que la fuerza Americana y el liderazgo son fundementales para la paz y la prosperidad en todo el mundo.
Soy Republicano por que yo creo que America es la ciudad brillante sobre la loma y un faro de libertad para todas las personas.
Soy Republicano por que creo en America.
Y por que creo en la libertad.
Yo soy un orgulloso Republicano.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Response To Harry Reid's Comments
The El Paso Latino National Republican Coalition finds the comments made by Harry Reid to be racialist and demeaning to the Hispanic Community. For many years Hispanics have been a part of the Republican Party not only in El Paso but nationally and the numbers have been steadily growing as more and more Hispanics find themselves being over taxed, don't want big government and are tired of working hard so others can live off of social programs. For Harry Reid to even think that all Hispanics should think a certain way only feeds into the stereotype that all Hispanics should also all look a certain way and should all talk a certain way. His comments should not be taken lightly as Mr. Reid has a history of making racially charged statements. We ask that the Senate Majority Leader step down as his actions are not those of someone who should be leading. El Paso LNRC Mission Statement:
To Engage the Latino community in local Republican Party activities and to work for the advancement of the Party’s principles, policies, and candidates, and to support the platform of the Republican party
To Empower the Latino community by given them a voice, insuring the rightful participation of members in local, state and national elections.
To Educate not only citizens of Latino and Hispanic origin, but all citizens of El Paso in the American political process, the LNRC and the Republican Party.
To Elect qualified Latinos, Hispanics and all qualified Republican candidates to office at all levels of government.
****The Latino National Republican Coalition will be active and influential in national, state, and local politics. Our family of grassroots activists invite you to participate and make a difference*****
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Safety Survey Commissioned by BNHR and Conducted By The Reuel Group
Here is the link to the poll itself. Read it for yourself then take the poll on the right of the page.
Border Residents Feel Safe. Only Concerned About Graffiti and Dogs
Border Network for Human Rights, a group who claims to be a human rights activist group has commissioned a poll conducted by the Reuel Group that claims that 86.5% of border residents said they feel safe walking or driving in their neighborhood during their regular daily activities. Almost 70% said they felt their border neighborhood was as safe as most U.S. neighborhoods and 67% said they felt safe living in their border community.
Fernando García, Executive Director for BNHR, said "politicians creating border policies need to talk to the people who actually live at the border instead of listening to pundits and opportunistic politicians set to score political points by fanning the perception that the border is out of control,”
Who answered the poll questions? Members of BNHR? This poll doesn't pass the smell test.
These numbers and statements were released in attempt to change legislation that will send more Border Patrol agents to the southern border. They decided to get Richard Wiles, Sheriff of El Paso County, to help their cause. Yet his stance on the level of safety on the border is much different than the one he takes when talking to commissioners court over budget cuts.
"In law enforcement, there are two things we look at. One is the crime rate and the other is the fear of crime. Because it doesn’t help to have a low crime rate, which we do, if people are afraid of going outside,” said El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles. “What we see in our community is that people are concerned with graffiti and stray dogs. All the issues of urban areas. Extreme violence is just not happening here and we need to revisit how resources are expanded on the border. That’s a message to send the administration.”
First of all, if all we have to worry about is graffiti and stray dogs why can't Richard Wiles cut $3.8 million from his $80 million budget? Its typical Wiles double talk. He did it as the Chief of Police, he did it as he ran for Sheriff and he is doing it again now when talking about border security and budget cuts.
Fernando García, Executive Director for BNHR, said "politicians creating border policies need to talk to the people who actually live at the border instead of listening to pundits and opportunistic politicians set to score political points by fanning the perception that the border is out of control,”
Who answered the poll questions? Members of BNHR? This poll doesn't pass the smell test.
These numbers and statements were released in attempt to change legislation that will send more Border Patrol agents to the southern border. They decided to get Richard Wiles, Sheriff of El Paso County, to help their cause. Yet his stance on the level of safety on the border is much different than the one he takes when talking to commissioners court over budget cuts.
"In law enforcement, there are two things we look at. One is the crime rate and the other is the fear of crime. Because it doesn’t help to have a low crime rate, which we do, if people are afraid of going outside,” said El Paso Sheriff Richard Wiles. “What we see in our community is that people are concerned with graffiti and stray dogs. All the issues of urban areas. Extreme violence is just not happening here and we need to revisit how resources are expanded on the border. That’s a message to send the administration.”You can find the entire article that was in a message that has been sent out by BNHR on Facebook.
First of all, if all we have to worry about is graffiti and stray dogs why can't Richard Wiles cut $3.8 million from his $80 million budget? Its typical Wiles double talk. He did it as the Chief of Police, he did it as he ran for Sheriff and he is doing it again now when talking about border security and budget cuts.The report claims that border residents feel safe and Fernando Garcia states that politicians should talk to those who live on the border. I am not a politician but let me ask you guys who live in a border city a few questions. Do you really feel safe? How many of you feel so safe in the border area that you go over to Juarez? How many of you feel so safe that when you see an expensive SUV with Chihuahua plates you don't even think twice about your safety? How many of you feel so safe that you don't have look over your shoulder when you drive down I-10 by UTEP considering that Juarez is literally only a few feet away from you at that point?
I was driving to the radio station a couple weeks ago and saw a police stand off with three Federal Police vehicles and at least ten officers pointing their high power rifles at a house just across the border. I was going to pull over and film the stand off but then remembered the stray bullets that hit City Hall and decided my life was more important.
Border security is intended to increase our safety on the border yet bleeding heart liberal groups like BNHR always find a way to distort the truth and make it about themselves. They should realize what the name of their group is and represent what is best for all humans and not use it just for tax purposes. They should be called BNCHR; Border Network for Certain Human's Rights
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Time To Trim The Fat
In less than an hour County Commissioner Dan Haggerty will be on a local news station defending his statements he made about cutting the El Paso County Sheriff Department's budget. The county has to cut $15 million from its budget for 2011. The commissioners have already cut $7.4 million and are $3.8 million short of their goal. Sheriff Richard Wiles was asked to cut those $3.8 million from his budget.
According to the El Paso Times "The county is requiring that all departments reduce their budgets by about 5 percent after requiring 2 percent cuts last year. The Sheriff's Office, which has an $83 million budget, did not meet that target."
Times are tough for everyone even for those in city and county government. Nobody wants to see anyone loose their jobs and considering what is going on across the border nobody wants to see law enforcement be cut either.
Wiles threw a hissy fit and called Haggerty's comments "irresponsible and reckless." But if you read Haggerty's comments laying off people is only an option if Wile's can't save money in other places.
KVIA's Darren Hunt said we only had two choices, raise taxes or sacrifice safety. He and Wiles must riding in the same bus. Making those type of comments puts fear in people and forces them to make an emotional decision instead of a logical one. It makes for great ratings I guess. Come one, Wiles has an $83 million budget and he can't cut $3.8 million without laying off anyone?
This is where he as a leader make a decision. Do we really need this? Can we live without that to save people's jobs? Then if you cut every last thing possible and you do have to lay off people, witch I doubt he will get to that point, who does he need to lay off? Non essential personnel like an over paid command staff(cough cough Bill Ellis) or patrol men who keep us safe? I would take safety over Bill Ellis any day! Does anyone know how much he makes? Why do you need your personal lawyer on your staff for anyway? Doesn't the County Attorney represent the Sheriff's Department? It is in the county......
Maybe he can also stop allowing officer to take patrol cars home. Why should we pay for their gas to go to and from work? You don't believe me. Take a drive through the Tierras and count how many Sheriff patrol cars you see parked in drive ways at night.
Its the little things that we need to get rid of so we don't have to raise taxes or sacrifice safety. For instance, as soon as Wiles named his primadona Command Staff and their bios went on the Sheriff Department's website, that I assume is being paid for by our tax dollars, one of his commanders decided he would advertise on it. Commander Jesus "Eddie" Campa (Support Services Division)decided he would use the website to advertise his own business. He had the business' name and address,I'm surprised he didn't have the business hours and some sort of Internet special on it. I wrote letters and sent e-mails to many and after several months it is off now.
Richard Wiles said "I took an oath to protect the public safety,", but tif you look at the Sheriff Department's website you will see this statement "To fulfill our mission, we will strive to attain the highest degree of ethical behavior and professional conduct at all times."
Richard Wiles needs to follow that mission statemet. Calling a press conference and throwing a hissy fit is not proffessional conduct and neither is disobeyingan order. But then again Wiles' has never been known for his proffessional conduct. Oh shut up, I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about the accussations of him not handling Internal Affairs reports properly and retaliation that were first brought up in an article written in the New York Times and continued untill his last days of his police career. But that's a whole different post all in itself that will be written in the future.
I have plenty of friends who wear the tan or grey uniform. I don't want to see any of them loose their jobs while others get a raise and I sure as heck don't want to have my taxes raised, we are taxed enough already. Do me a favor Wiles.You gloat about being great at saving the county money, do it one more time and save people's jobs at the same time. And do me one more favor; don't have me arrested for blogging about you.......again.
Hey boss! Can I get my one call now?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Crime on the Rise Against Latinos
The number of hate crimes against Latinos in the U.S. rose nearly 40 percent from 2003-2007 when the Latino population only rose by 14 percent according to FBI statistics. With all that is going on in Arizona and with our current administration who is failing to address immigration reform the numbers are only getting worse. You can go on any search engine and type in Hate Crimes Against Latinos and you will get pages of stories from across the country.
I am appalled not only as a Latino but as a human being to see what is going on. There is absolutely nothing to justify committing a hate crime. It is not our job to take justice into our hands and hurt somebody or even kill them because we do not agree with how they got here or why they are here. We have to remember that two wrongs never make a right. They may be here illegally but they are still human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. Stand up for what you believe in as I do but don't let hate consume you. Nothing good ever comes out of hate.