AMERIQUE:


A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: It is the unspoken statistic, but it is as real as anything to do with the lingering U.S. war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the military, 1,800 American servicemen have killed themselves since the initial invasion of Baghdad. That is in addition to the more than 4,000 who died in battle. This week, families of the soldiers who committed suicide asked President Barack Obama to change the government policy of not forwarding letters of appreciation to mothers and fathers of these servicemen. By week's end, the White House had reversed the policy and agreed that such letters are needed, as well... - Eduardo Paz-Martinez, Editor of The Tribune

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

MORNING COFFEE: Awake In The Era Of Losers...


By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor-In-Chief

BROWNSVILLE, TX - In this the Season of Insanity, we pause from the graceless rage to note a few things about our politics, namely the Republican Party's refusal to die and, in Cameron County, a sprinkling of laughable Democrats fully believing image - and nothing else - is king. On the latter point, we speak of Mssrs. Ernie Hernandez and Ruben Pena, perplexing candidates for the Cameron County Commission.

In an earlier post, we noted the significance of health care reform, and we said it was a good thing that the federal government again turned its attention to the citizenry, helping Americans battle rising - and lack of - medical care. Now, it seems that even though Congress appears to have done its job of approving the measure, Republicans are vowing to do the ridiculous to overturn the legislation. A handful of so-called red states (Republican) have sicced their lawyers on the federal government, howling plans to fight it in the Supreme Court by way of a misguided belief that the new law is unconstitutional. Nevermind that it is, in its concept and packaging, a carbon copy of legislation that led to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.

Among the states doing this is Texas, its wheelchair-bound Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott, safely cocooned thanks to taxpayer-funded health insurance, leading the charge. It is a pathetic display of stupidity, but there it is. Republicans shown the path to Waterloo by President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are rabid. In a way, it substantiates the belief that Republicans do not care about the whole. They could live with all non-Republicans leaving the country. Perhaps it's time to wave adios to this cabal of malignant cancer.

These red states will go nowhere with their lawsuit. Republicans will pull their hair from here to the November elections, threatening to target those who voted for Health Care Reform. They will unfold brainless Sarah Palin (she of the Canadian health care program) and Rush Limbaugh (he of the drug addiction) and John McCain (he of the lovely health insurance Congress avails him) and a few others. But it is for naught. It is as a popular GOP pollster put it yesterday: Health Care Reform is a stunning defeat for the party. And all that yelling , posturing, racism, tea partying? None of it could stop a law whose aim is benevolent, a mark of our desire to help ourselves for once in the last 50 years.

Now, about Mssr. Ernie Hernandez, the Demo candidate for Precinct 2 on the Cameron County Commission. This is a politician whose public service road has come to a dead end. The four-term city commissioner is floating spiffy flyers that make him appear to be a worthy candidate. His past, however, betrays him. Nothing can paint over his controversial years as a city commissioner. He has zero for the county populace. There is not just an empty promise here, but an empty suit. The Hollow Man is not one to support.

And, as much as we damn Mssr. Hernandez's candidacy, we must note that his opponent, Harlingen lawyer Ruben Pena, is just as woeful. He, too, seems to want to run from his professional history. These are strange times, yes, but not that strange that we cannot see through the stained drapings that front both of these campaigns. For the county citizenry, these two are the worst of times and, well, the worst of times.

Oh, how we wish that Mssrs. Hernandez and Pena rolled under the GOP banner. They'd fit in nicely...

- 30 -

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Republicans are the party of no. that's what i heard.

Anonymous said...

your writing is going over everybody's head. write about our politics. national stories don't interested us. sorry, patrick

Patrick Alcatraz said...

Here's the rub: On paper, the Republican Party talks a good ballgame. And there are many Republicans who are decent people. But it's the Bozos and racists and criminals within that party that have hijacked the ideals and turned it into something akin to the Neo-Nazi gangs. There is no sign that indicates today's Republican Party wants to be a part of overall America. (2.) This stuff should not be over your head. It's information about your country. It's true you're far from Washington, D.C., but no matter what some insipid locals tell you, the Rio Grande Valley is still in the United States... - Editor

Anonymous said...

hey.

Don Pancho said...

Anony, please tell me what the party of looser, the Republican party has done for the Valley?? They have done not one iota.
Let us look at the state conditions, because there is nothing to speak about any accomplishments here in South Texas. Nothing, who are you trying to impress and with whom???
Carlos (The tuna) Cascos. What has this clown done??
Well he increase taxes, what else has your party done????
What????? That's just what I thought, nothing.
8.8% down on state sale taxes, a fail corridor, under achieving schools, and on, and on, and on.

Patrick Alcatraz said...

Anon (1.) Hey back. The rest of that song lyric is "...hey, you, you, get offa my cloud." (2.) The Carlos Cascos legacy (if you can use that word after one term as judge) is spotty at best. Accomplishment , we say, has to include something "significant," something memorable. For Cascos, we don't see anything like that. Heck, if he'd erected a statue to the Mexican immigrant, we'd have said, "Yeah, alrightee!" But, alas, there is nothing, nothing... - Editor

Don Pancho said...

How dare Anony 1 impune my party, the party of inclusion, a progressive party, Como Diablos, and where are the rest of my fellow Democrats ???
And how dare your pair the democratic party, with Conrado Cantu, he was probably a zeta for all we know, he was campaigning in Matamoros the last time I heard.
Sometime back during an interview, Edna Tamayo precinct 4 refuse to show her voter registration card after she was accused of being a republican, by her action, I am assuming she was one. And for all I know so is Wood, and Garza, and look at the county, just look around, some of these guys are closets gop's they aren't man enough to admitted, I am still waiting for your response, What has the rebublican party done to the Valley????? Let me help you,"Nothing".
As for Sophia Benavides, she is probably a member of the P.R.I, she can't read or write, that is for sure.

Rosario said...

When you think about it, don pocho is right, there hasn't been too much progress when the GOP has been in office in Cameron County.
Here in the Valley things are depressed as they have ever been, unless you are single and young you can survive with he horrible paying jobs, the county is dirty, is very ill taken care off. There are junk pyles all over the county roads, there is no planning dept. very little enforcement, no zoning laws, house, abutting mobile homes, it is just not good.
I don't know the County Judge, but I would think that if he is running for re-election, He would need a record of "Accomplishments" at this time, I couldn't list any.

truth said...

Please, it couldn't have been the wine at the olive garden that got you all bent out of shape.
Control yourself, don pancho, easy up.
Anony doesn't know what she is talking about, she just want to ruffle hard core demos feathers, But she like you and me, know she is wrong

Patrick Alcatraz said...

The connection you make between local Democrats and Mexican political parties (PRI?) is a worthy analogy. A sheriff like Conrado Cantu could be sheriff in Mexico. Gilberto Hinojosa wouldn't skip a beat in Mexico. Ernie Hernandez could rule Matamoros. That's the tragedy here... - Editor

Don Pancho said...

Conrado Cantu was politicking in Matamoros untill they him off, Ernie H. would do better in the Gran Old Party of Nothing and what's in it for me. So could big mustache Hinojosa, and his tutty frutty friend, college drop out Ramy Garza.
As for the all the others rotten apples, for all I know they were closet Republican. (End of Story)

Patrick Alcatraz said...

We recall someone telling us that Border bandido Conrado Cantu (the sheriff) once funded a newspaper called The Cameron Post...or something like that. The point is that they try, they try to play the honest game. But they always blow it...- Editor