Just follow the money.....

The Cameron County Democrat Party has the following receipts and expenditures for the period October 7-27, 2008:

Linebarger, Heard, Goggan, and Blair, the county tax attorney collector, has donated $2,000.
Letty Carmona has earned five different checks totaling $10,277.50 for phone banking.
Ernie Hernandez has earned $600 for operating a van. His company, Ernie’s Fiesta Graphics, has earned $258.00 for stationary. It is not the first time this year he has earned money for stationary from the Party ($116.91, $27.06, $498.00, and $504.00)

The following are some of the “contract labor” the party has hired for the general election:

Israel Araujo has collected $840.00
Natividad Araujo has collected $100.00
Veronica De Lafuente has earned $500.00 as a contract laborer and $289.37 for mileage.
Samantha Garza has collected $462.00 for contract labor.
Sylvia Garza-Perez has collected $2000.00 for contract labor on top of the other $1,000 she obtained in September. I sure hope she is reporting her wages.
Pedro Rangel has collected $83.21.
Desi Serrata collected $500.00 for contract labor in August.

Between July 15 and October 6, 2008, these following individuals have donated or pledged money for the Party. I assume their money paied for the contract labor above.

Begum Tijerina and Willis $2000.00 Attorney
Richard Burst $100.00 Attorney
Rick Canales $2500.00 Self-employed Attorney
Robert Collins of Houston $1000.00 Self, Attorney
Michael Cowen $2000.00 The Ammons Law Firm, Attorney
Helen Delgadillo $100.00 Self,Attorney
Mary Diaz $100.00 Self,Unknown
Denis Downey $500.00 Self,Attorney
Esparza & Garza LLP $500.00 Law Firm
Santiago Galarza $100.00 Self,Attorney
Esequiel Garcia $667.00 Self,Business
Jacinto Garza $1000.00 Self,Engineer
Reynaldo Garza III $100.00 Self,Attorney
Alex Grossman $150.00 Self,Businessman
Patricia Hernandez $500.00 Self employed,attorney
Hockema & Longoria of McAllen $2000.00 Law Firm
Brian Janis $100.00 Self,Attorney
Edgar Juarez $100.00 Self,Attorney
Judge Migdalia Lopez $150.00 State of Texas Judge
Magellan’s & Hinojosa $2000.00 Law Firm
Ray Marchan $1000.00 Self employed attorney
Tony Martinez $2000.00 Self Attorney
Judge Menton Murray $500.00 State of Texas Judge
Judge Bennie Ochoa $500.00 Cameron County Judge
Rene Oliveira (state rep) $1000.00 Self employed attorney
Otis Powers $250.00 Self Bookkeeper
Catalina Presas $150.00 Self Chiropractor
Gloria Rios $100.00 Retiree
Tara Rios $1150.00 Dentist
Joe Rivera $500.00 Cameron County Clerk
Hon. Richard Rodriguez $100.00 Self Attorney
Rodriguez Colvin Chaney & Saenz Llp $2000.00 Law Firm
Marc Rosenthal of Austin $2000.00 Self Attorney
Rebecca Rubane $1000.00 Self Attorney
Jaime Saenz $100.00 Self Attorney
Jesse Salinas of Mission $1000.00 TEDSI Engineer
Ruth Skaggs $100.00 Homemaker
Jim Solis $2000.00 Self employed attorney
Ignacio Torteya $1000.00 Self Attorney
Touchy and Green $3000.00 Law Firm
Trevino and Bodden $2000.00 Self Attorney
Anthony Troiani $500.00 Self Attorney
Anthony Vasquez $100.00 Self Businessman
Vidaurri Lyde Gault and Quintana $250.00 Self Attorneys
Randy Whittington $200.00 Self Attorney
Charlie Willete $2000.00 Self employed attorney
Dr. Asim Zamir $500.00 Self employed doctor
Rick Zayas $1000.00 Self Attorney

Pledged Donations:
Carlos Cisneros $250.00 Self Attorney
Costilla,Frank $2000.00 Self Attorneys
Rene De Coss $100.00 Self Attorney
Jaime Diez $1000.00 Self Attorney
Hector Garza $100.00 Self Attorney
Chester Gonzalez $500.00 Attorney, Judge Leal’s husband, TSC Trustee
Benigo Martinez $1000.00 Self Attorney
Nat Perez $100.00 Self Attorney
Rodriguez & Nicolas L.L.P. $1000.00 Law Firm
Roerig Oliveira and Fisher LLP $2000.00 Law Firm
John Shergold $100.00 Self Attorney
Rick Zayas $1000.00 Self Attorney

Strike Three!! You're outta here!

The new ball park just isn't going to happen. With the all the nebulous clouds surrounding it to begin with and the addition of the weight of the economy and the Sports Park, it is doomed to a quiet death, unless any commissioners are foolish enough to shop for another partner just because they stupidly committed to spending 7 million bucks anyway. My bet is on Atkinson trying to keep this loaf on the shelf far past its expiration date. The other three can see the writing on the wall, and it isn't graffiti.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know" The Merovingian

Media Hype Misleading - So what else is new?

Cameron County Voter Facts and Figures
YEAR-----Reg.Voters----Voted----Voted%---Early----EV%
1988-------97,854--------55,552---56.77%---16,422--29.56%
1990------94,489--------36,526---38.66%----8,992--24.62%
1992-----100,193--------59,150----59.04%---18,975--32.08%
1994-----103,521--------40,405----39.03%---14,577--36.08%
1996-----126,888-------56,493----44.52%---18,454--32.67%
1998-----137,673--------33,301----24.19%----11,127--33.41%
2000-----148,854-------62,057----41.69%---25,132--40.50%
2002-----154,193-------45,754----29.67%---16,199--35.40%
2004-----162,369-------69,156----42.59%---34,842--50.38%
2006-----167,636-------41,051*---24.48%---18,848--11.24%
Source: Texas Secretary of State

According to the Cameron County Elections Office, they report 21,433 Early Voters in Cameron County as of Monday, October 27, 2008. That number accounts for 12% of county registered voters, which is a total of 174,428 voters according to the Texas Secretary of State.

With four days left in early voting, why is the media so interested in trumping up “the record turnout” when percentage wise it is nowhere near the amount of early voters in presidential years?

* Denotes the number of voters for governor, since the number of voters for that year was unavailable. It was the highest number of votes in any of the offices up for election that year.

Reply from Red States

Dear Blue States:
How y’all been? As long as you are leaving the neighborhood, could you please return a few items, my lawnmower, for instance? I remember a lot of years ago, you sent some folks around the neighborhood doing what you called “redistributing”. It kind of sucked and we would all like our stuff back. With you all gone, we will have no need for the Federal Income Tax, so you can take that as well. I am glad to see that we get to keep Texas A&M, Rice, and a quite few other Universities in your offer. Also, please return Chuck Norris and Arnold Swartzenager. Under no circumstances will we accept Geneane Garafalo or Al Franken, we will now require visas to visit, and those two are persona non grata. Thank you ever so much for taking Hollywood. We were so happy that we get to keep NASA, NORAD, and the US Marine base at Quantico, VA and the Air Force Academy in Colorado. They will come in handy in the coming years. Oh, by the way, would you please consider taking France with you? We talked it over with most of the EU and they thought it would be best for all concerned if you would. Our big question is why, when WE suggested the split over a hundred years ago, did you all think it was such a bad idea?
Signed,
Red States

After Hours

I am sorry that I haven't written more often. As is my habit when these times of drought occur, I did something that hopefully makes it worth your while to keep checking for some new stuff. The story is entirely fictitious. There are no hidden meanings (that I know of). In the middle of the 4 year silly season and the current climate of meanness and the usual conditions of self serving, cousin hiring, buddy compensating, deal cutting with public money and general lack of any competence whatsoever, I offer this expense paid vacation from the daily grind that is survival in the Valley.
M.



It ain’t really much of a story, but seeing hows you are interested, I’ll tell how it happened.

The other day I found myself staying at the bar a little too long after payday. Just a regular Friday night, till the police came and run everybody in for drinking after hours. Well sir, the next morning judge says we all has to pay a fine for drinking after hours and I didn’t have no money left after drinking for hours. The judge says I can work off my fine with community service, so I says ok because my head really hurt and I wanted to get back to my own bed.

Well sir, Monday morning come round and I reported to the County Courthouse for my community service and they give me a job emptying the trash cans around the offices. I thought that was a hell of a deal working indoors with air condition and such so I smiled real big an made sure I was the best trashcan emptier they ever saw.

After I finished with all the trashcans, they sent me to one of the offices to pick up some records. I got to the place they said, but I didn’t see no records. I didn’t even see a record player. This little girl pointed at some boxes and said that these had to go to the records room. Well, I figured the reason I didn’t see no records was that she had packed them in boxes. Well, I had done so good with the trash cans, I figured this must have been some special assignment, so I took the boxes with a smile and said, “No problemo!” and I took them down the hall where she told me. A little red head seemed to be expectin’ them boxes, so I put ‘em where she told me. She pointed at another bunch of boxes and told me that they was ready for the prosecutor to dispose, so I picked up the boxes an took ‘em down the hall. I didn’t need no help to dispose of a couple of boxes, so I didn’t bother the prosecutor and took ‘em to the dumpster myself. I already knew the way to the dumpster from emptying all them trash cans, but I didn’t figure that that little red head knew that. After disposing of those boxes I went up to the prosecutor’s office to tell them what I had done, but when I got there this leggy brunette pointed at some more boxes and said that they was ready for final disposition. Shoot, that little red head was just tryin’ to save me a trip, bless her heart. That brunette was about to tell me exactly what to do with them boxes, but I held up my hand and said, “Done this lots of times, ma’am, thanks!” She smiled and said, “Good, can you come back in about half an hour for some more?” I said as it would be my pleasure to do that and smiled back then took them boxes straight out back, like before.

While I was sneakin a smoke out by the trash, I spotted a couple of the fellers what was at the bar when we all got picked up. They was cleanin up trash outside the court house and I was glad it weren’t me ‘cause it sure enough was hot outside. They came over to sneak a smoke, too. They was a couple of outta work movers named Cletus and Jasper. Nice enough sort of folk. After we finished our Winstons, we went back to it.

After makin a round emptying trash cans I went back to office with that little red head to tell her that I had taken care of the prosecutor and did she have any thing for me to do seein as I still had 10 minutes before I had to go back to the prosecutor’s office for some more final dispositions. She asked me if they had me doin that now and I said “Oh hell yea, it ain’t no thing.” She seemed a little surprised but didn’t say nothin more about it. She gave me a couple of more boxes to go to the judge for disposition. I said I had time to do it before I was due back at the prosecutor’s office. I put them by the back door till I could get a full load for the dumpster. It seemed kind of funny to me that all these different people seemed to be in charge of taking the trash out. Maybe they should just take turns or sumthin. It sure seemed to be goin faster with me handling it.

When I went back to talk to that brunette at the prosecutor’s office she asked me what else I had been doin. I told her about emptyin them trash cans and all and she said that if I could handle final dispositions, that I shouldn’t be wastin my time emptyin them trash cans, so she sent me to the County Clerk’s office.

The guy was as old as my grandpa and didn’t look so good. He said he wasn’t feeling well and would be goin home early today. The way he looked, all pale and sweaty and such, I thought it would have been better if his kids came to pick him up and put him in an old folks home instead. He said he had got a call from the prosecutor’s office and I told him I knew about that. He asked how much did I know about dispositions and I told him “A fair piece, more than most.” not to brag, but I was getting pretty good at this. He asked if there was anythin I saw that I thought could work better. I said, ”Funny you should mention that, I was just thinkin about the very same.” I went on to say that things would work a LOT quicker if the boxes for disposition were just put out in the hall, that way whoever’s turn it was wouldn’t have to be asking if there was work to do. Just look up and down the hall. He asked me how long I had been with them. I told him that I had just started today. He thought about it for a minute then punched some buttons on that fancy telephone on his desk and wheezed at some young thing to send a memo to all the folks to put their boxes in the hall for disposition. Hell yea! Now we’re talkin! She asked him when this would be official and he said right now because he finally had someone who knew what he was doing and that we should all listen to him. That part made me right proud, but I was just doin my job. The old guy said he was goin home, but to come back to his office first thing tomorrow. I said ok . I don’t know how that old guy got out of the chair, but he did and shuffled out. I saw two big boxes on top of a file cabinet that had disposition and last year’s date on them, so I did the old guy a favor and grabbed them on my way out the door.

By the time I got to the top floor, there were already boxes in the hall. I grabbed a dolly from the utility closet and started loadin up. I must have lost track of the day, it was quittin time by the time I cleared all them halls and the two boxes by the back door.

The next morning, I went to the old guy’s office, like he said, but he didn’t come in that day. That young thing from the telephone came in to the office where I was sitting and asked if I was that new fella that had all the new ideas from yesterday? I said, “That must be me, but theys just common sense.” She asked me if I needed anything and did I get my office assignment yet. I said,”No they haven’t that I know of.” She said, “They are so slow sometimes at HR. I’ll get right on it. You can work out of this office until we get you squared away”. They sure must have liked my work to want to give me an office for just one week. I found out that the old fella called in sick. Didn’t really surprise me none, cause he looked like the devil when he left yesterday. I asked that young lady what I should be doin, and she said that the Records Clerk was out today and did I know anything about that? Shoot, I been handling records since my daddy gave me that Hank Williams record for my birthday. So I said, “Why not!” She told me how to get to the records room and I told her, “I already been.” “That’s great!” she said.

I was a bit surprised when I got to the records room, I couldn’t find a single record in the place. Then that telephone kept ringin with folks wantin to schedule a hearin. Hell, how could I schedule a hearin with no records to play? I told them that I was sorry, but I couldn’t find any records. They kept askin me if they could reschedule the hearin. I said that made the most sense to me providin I could find the records they wanted. They didn’t seem to get annoyed at this and said this happened all the time. Small wonder when there ain’t a single record in the records room. I did find that every shelf was full of boxes marked “For disposition”, so I did. Some of them boxes were marked “Prosecution”, “Judge” and what not. I took care of them all myself. Between clearin the halls of boxes and boxes and the shelves in the records room, that took dang near the whole day, even using the dolly. I was near dead tired when the day ended, but I felt real good about the job I did that day.

The next morning, when I went back to the old man’s office, I told that nice young lady that everything at records was taken care of for at least a week, I think. She looked real impressed, and then told me that she had some terrible news. The old man died of pneumonia last night. I was surprised it wasn’t the night before, cause he looked so bad when he left. I said I was sorry, cause that is what you do when folks tell you that someone died. She asked if I would mind terribly taking the old files from the cabinets to the warehouse. I said, “Anything to help.” She said she really appreciated my team spirit. I thanked her and privately really appreciated the view of her walking away.

I followed her directions to the warehouse and when I got inside I thought I would mess my pants! There was them disposition boxes stacked to the ceiling ‘bout 12 feet high in god knows how many rows and pretty darn near a hundred foot long. The person at the desk took the box I give ‘em. I asked, ”How long has this been this way?” He said, “At least the eight years that I have been here. Why?” I didn’t have the heart to yell at the poor guy.

I got back to that office and the young girl asked if everything went ok. This was too much for me. I asked how things could get so bad and all and nobody seemin to get the job done. I can fix it, but I am gonna need some help. She seemed to be used to people asking her to do things, cause the next thing I knew, she came back in with a bunch of papers and pictures of folks. She said that we could pick a couple to get started and would that be ok? I could feel that them halls must be fillin up with boxes right about now, so I told her that the sooner we got it done, the better.

I never seed such a sorry lot of folks as the ones she wanted to give me for help. Them pictures of the fellas showed pasty faces and not an ounce of muscle on a one. I asked her about one that was specially pansy lookin. She said that he spent 8 years at Yale. I thought prison would do that to anyone. “What about this one?”, I asked about one who looked more like the head waiter at some fancy eatery, like Denney’s. “Oh, he has 6 years of continuing education”. I thought that trying the same grade for six years running was a sign that maybe he weren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. “Would it maybe be ok if I picked out a couple of fellers myself?”, I asked. She said if they come with your recommendation, it should be ok. I said,” Hold that thought, darlin!”, and ran out to find Cletus and Jasper.
There they was at the dumpster sneaking a smoke when I asked them if they wanted to work inside in the air condition. They asked if I was makin a joke, cause if I was, I was gonna get a ass whoopin! I told them it was no joke, but they had to come right now, so tell their field boss that they gotta go to the County Clerk’s office. So they did and he let them go.

I met them at the back door when they came in all hot and sweaty for workin outside. I told Cletus, who was the skinnier one to get all the boxes he found in the halls and take them straightaway to the dumpster, and would he check the trash cans while he was at it. He wanted to know why he was doing all the hard work. Here I take the good time and trouble to get this idiot out of the sun and he is throwin a fit about the easy part of the job! Jasper and me got in my truck and headed to the warehouse.
We got there about 11 and when I told Jasper what we had to do, he looked like he was gonna mess his drawers, too. I asked the guy at the desk if we could work late. He said fine, and that the old man’s secretary had called and said to give me anything I needed. He then gave me the keys and asked what else I wanted. I told him he could go back to the main building and we would take it from here. He got a whole bunch of stuff out of his desk and left, saying thank you for getting him out of there. I didn’t know why he was there in the first place, so I said “Good luck!”

Jasper and I got busy fillin my truck till the axle bottomed out. There wasn’t room in the dumpster, so we went straight to the landfill. We got in 4 more trips before 3 o’clock. This still wasn’t goin as fast as I wanted, so we stopped by and picked up Cletus and borrowed a horse trailer from his brother-in-law. This sure sped thing up a might and we had about ¼ of the place disposed of by quitting time.

The next morning, it was me an Jasper an Cletus last day. They waited with the truck and trailer in the parking lot so we could get an early start. I went back to the old man's office, like I had been doin and that little girl who seemed to take a likin to my work was there cleanin up the office. She was pretty happy to see me. She goes on 'bout how most of the staff was goin to be out that day for the funeral an could I stay, bein the new fella who didn't really know the old man that well. I said "Sure, but I wanted to ask you if I could keep those other two fellas on." She said,"I have their contracts ready." HR couldn't find your papers, so they will have new ones by this afternoon" I was very confused so I asked, "What?" She said to me that "She was sorry but most of the departments probably wouldn't meet my expectations of efficiency." She went on to ask if I could have my two picks come in to sign. Like yesterday, I asked her to hold on an high-tailed it out to the parking lot.

The way I run up, Cletus an Jasper thought we was all in trouble for somthin and that it was my fault. After I got them to quit yellin an shut up, I tol them that they liked our work so much, they's putting us on part-time, maybe even full time, so we all run back up to the office. The girl brought out some papers and Jasper started askin questions. I thought he was gonna blow the whole deal. "How much overtime?", cause he had to pay child support. She said,"Oh, there is no overtime" Dang it! I knowed it was too good to be true! "Well how much?", Cletus chimed in.

Continued......

What is it with the charter review?

All you guys that are on it and reading, please get this: The number of registered voters is only of any consequence to unelected candidates schmoozing for votes; it has NOTHING to do with who actually votes!

Who is afraid of holding officeholders accountable? There is nothing sacred about the precincts. I still think it was a bad idea, but since we are stuck with it, as we are with many bad ideas, set the stupid recall levels at 75% of the count that put the officeholder in! It is so simple! The recall level is thereby stamped indelibly on the forehead of the elected official and he or she IS ACCOUNTABLE!

I am sick of hearing "We don't want to make it too specific."

When it is not specific, then it needs interpretation. If it needs interpretation, it needs lawyers. If it needs lawyers, it needs courts. Now I am one of the first people to stand up and shout that this whole county needs to be operated under direct court supervision (along with the Texas Rangers), but that is for other causes. I can't be more plain. Leave NO wiggle room. Spell it out.

Even when it was spelled out in black and white, perks abounded. Lawyers said, "It's ok", even the charter WAS specific. Imagine what these yahoos will do with "general" guidelines? Nail their feet to the floor and hold them accountable to the citizens. If they don't like it, tough. They are each only one individual voice. Take back the City for it citizens.

"Of course I know. It is my business to know." -The Merovingian

Too bizarre not to repost

From FOXNews.com

GREAT BEND, Kan. — A Kansas man whose girlfriend was physically stuck to the toilet in their home wins $20,000 in the state Lottery — for the second time this year.

Kory McFarren of Ness City cashed in his winning $2 Bonus Crossword ticket in Great Bend Monday. On July 29, the 37-year-old McFarren received six months of probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor mistreatment of a dependent adult.

McFarren called Ness County deputies in February to report that his girlfriend, Pam Babcock, had refused to come out of the bathroom for two years. Authorities found her stuck to the toilet.

Medical personnel estimated Babcock had been on the toilet for at least a month and said the seat had adhered to sores on her body. She was released from a Wichita hospital after several months of treatment.

Wakeup call

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