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

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Politics & Catholics: Why Things Change, But Don't Change In Poor, Little Brownsville...Life As A Bad Sermon...Abre, Maria...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor-In-Chief

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - It's almost May and another long round of elections looms for this haggard town on the banks of the Rio Grande. Hope springs eternal. This'll be the one to turn things around, goes the accordioned line in the bars. Say adios to poverty, to corruption, to politicians out only for themselves, to a horrible way of life.

It is the church's mantra - you suffer here, but you'll rejoice in Heaven.

Pay the collection man.

Some say you can tell a whole lot about a town by the candidates it postures for elected office. Faces, they say, faces tell it all. Are they honest faces, or can you see a selfish gleam in their eyes? Are they attractive people, or are they people with faces that seem to have been mauled grotesquely by way of bad forceps? Is the cheekbone high? Bad news. Is the face askew? Worse yet. Is the length of nose at odds with the angle of the chin? Forget it.

This year, collectively, candidates for the Brownsville City Commission offer some interesting faces. One would like to say that they are attractively Catholic, but, ah, no, they are not. These seem to be pretty run-of-the-mill faces, the sort you see almost everywhere, from the convenience store counter help, to the carwash attendant, to the grocery store bagging corps, to the perspiring yardmen. Is there not one soul in town with a proportionate face and head?

Doesn't look like it.

This election's crop looks as if it came out of some cancelled border bandido flick. It's not their fault, of course. Everybody is a victim of their parents, although some go a bit farther down the pier and say it's all about the partners their parents chose on that fateful coupling.

We do not wish to be pretentious or hold ourselves out to be better than anyone else; it's just that, well, some things are clear to a reporter, and a reporter has a hard time losing an angle to a story he knows is there. So indulge us with this one.

Can it be said that Brownsville, a blind-obedience Catholic town, suffers the pangs of all-out belief? The church goes about its business laying down the law: the congregation must acknowledge that it's okay to be poor, beaten, abused, harangued, whipped and everything else. You do the time on Earth and you'll be rewarded in God's Kingdom. Suffering includes suffering bad politics and bad politicians. Take a number, Maria. You, too, Juan. St. Peter will call it at the Pearly Gates upstairs. He'll know exactly where you came from and what you went through. The church also bleeds.

Nothing great will come out of next month's elections, this year or any year henceforth. It'll be business-as-usual here, with maybe a new face or two. There are no visionaries in this town; they all headed for the coast - the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. Symbols persist, however. The Holy Grail here is a cold mug at a 14th Street cantina; the Ark of the Covenant a battered Buick struggling to make it to the gas station. It is true: residents here live by Ecclesiastes. They agree that if you're not written into the Book of Life, you shall be cast into the Lake of Fire.

A few will say they have their favorite verses in the Big Book, and yet there they are on Friday night, drinking their asses silly while in the warm company of the neighbor's wife.

The election will come and go, so we won't give the names of some of the candidates whose photos you see with this story. They are not handsome people, unless handsome is defined in local, low-rent terms. They may have big hearts, but the hands and faces betray them. They may have one good idea for governance between them, but it is buried beneath layers of crippling cultural dogma.

It's a town with a myriad of problems, the least of which is its reason for being. Brownsville is here and not going anywhere. It will play its games and the people of the little village will do their Life Impulse. There is general acceptance of that, even up and down the fanciest pews. And they will stand on Sunday mornings, think about what's up there while forgetting what's brought them here. It has been proven time and time again that, here, in this tropical suburb of Hell, the day of reckoning is up ahead for everyone, up ahead and all that can ever mean is that they must get what they can while traversing the harsh geography under their feet and moving toward a place where it may eventually all work out. God is a concept by which we measure our pain, absolutely.

The face of the coming elections are the faces of the betrayed citizens. They know each other well. They accept and they make their allowances. They rise to applaud, and they sit back to listen, to take it one more time. It is in between their ears that they hold the secrets of this small, dusty bordertown.

Life lived by the Book of Genitals...

- 30 -

42 comments:

Ralph said...

Outrageous, but true. some things just have to be said. And you did it well. I agree. The church let me down years ago.

Anonymous said...

Interesting angle. is it saying we suck? I think so. It's pretty much right, tho

Brown Town Man said...

WWWOOOwww, Duardo, please...easy on the politicians. The woman who is running as a writing, can't speak, I heard her in a tv interview.
The current Brownsville Mayor, sucks. Tony guy with the long hair, he seems to party most of the time.

Styling and Prolfiling man said...

"Neighbor's wife", Mr. Editor, man that stone landed kind of close to yours truly.
Let's change the topic here a little, man you turned the Artilleray on. Take easy, on us sinners.

Mr. Brownsville said...

I feel like someone kicked my ass. this story is heavy, dude!

Roy said...

Those are some unattractive people. But that's Brownsville, no? I don't see the pretty people anywhere! McAllen has them.

Anonymous said...

One of the candidates has a criminal record, a felony to be exact for drunk Driving. Pat Auhmada will have a binge drinking buddy.

Anonymous said...

Well, you hit the nail right in the top. Brownsville is as you say, a comatosed town.
The candidates look boring as hell, all of them.

Pancho del R.G.V. Rancho said...

All we care and do in Ejido Brownsville is eat a lot of unhealthy, greasy and fatty cheap stuff from the vast array of Buffet restaurants That's our only fun and entertainment to raise our insecurities and very Low - self - steem.... The Food Stamps and Welfare capital Town of the U.S.A. is rocking with sick people!!!

Brown Town Man said...

Mr. Martinez, I think the people from Brownsville are used to the life of nothing happening. Gossip, cheating judges, worthless county employees, a newspaper next to the Bargain book, cheap cantinas, like el siete mares, el 1-2-3 bar, minimumn wage an hour pay.
You are right, it is a dead town.

Anonymous said...

[Pancho Del Rancho] you are right, I forgot about the cheap greasy restaurants.
And all the over weight, morbidly obese locals. Eating is the only form of entertaining in Browntown.
Pura food stamps, Y viejas y viejos pansonas y pansones.

sofia said...

[Mr. Rancho and Anon} you forgot about the ugly houses on 14th street, Y la Southmost, and all the illiterate people who live in Browntown usa.

Anonymous said...

Mr.Paz-Martinez, you forgot about Texas All Most college and all the troubles it has with with Big Mama, Juliet Come lately Garcia.
A comatosed community college.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Editor, nothing against the locals, but most of the Hispanics, don't vote, lately, I have noticed, everytime the tv stations interview people, hell, many can't speak English. I don't see, how anyone could accuse somoone else of gerrymandering.
If they can't speak English, they probably can't read the voting ballot.

Anonymous said...

Okay, okay lay-off Brownsville, look at Harlingen, or San Benito, they're sleepy little towns.

Anonymous said...

Brownsville is a good city full of History. Anyone that doesn't appreciate it, well something is wrong with your compass.

Anonymous said...

I don't know much about the town, but the women are pretty foxy looking.

Anonymous said...

Just to let all my good friends know, that I am moving to Brownsville.
I was staying at El Ranchito/La Paloma. But Brother, Bufford Jones, aka, brother Jonesy, feel a little uncomfortable living around here.

Brown Town Man said...

Mr. Bufford Jones, what happen did they ask you to leave the walmart parking lot??? Or did the flea market didn't like your preaching. Say brother Jones, Cameron county's Jail Farm, needs a Gideon's Preacher.
You could ask Lucio if you could preach and then asking him if you can occupy a bed in one the pods.

Anonymous said...

Enough of Brownsville, the whole Valley is comatosed. Just take a real close look. UGLY!!!!!

The Barron said...

Chapaneco's Blog, is comatosed, JAJAJAJAJAJA....... police stories again, and again, and again, how boring!!!! and Breaking News, and Exclusive, and take a hike, and get your facts straight, here today and gone tomorrow, famous chapaneco introductions, to his pathetic, outrageous, non-sense stories from FAKE WRITERS.

Ruben H. said...

That Tony "The Hemorrhoid" Chapa cannot stand being left behind. he is like the dog whose owners move and don't tell him. LOL!!!

Fan of Big Dawg said...

I didn't know Rick Perry was a cheerleader in college. Maybe that's why Chapaneco endorsed this Republican. Didn't Chapete also endorse Greg Abbott, the republican Attorney General. Chapete knows as much about politics as that gumball-size hemorrhoid he carries in his ass. LOL!!!

Anonymous said...

Chapnenco, is critizing the big dawg, because he file an ethics complaint against Tony Soprano, I meant Chris Boswell, the Harlingen Mayor.
What has Chapnecno done?? Nada.

Mary lou Tovarez said...

Duardo, whats happening, the BLR, el Run run and now the Trib. is trashing Brownsville and all the politicos. Is this a blog revolution???

Anonymous said...

Well, didn't know, Rick Perry was a cheerleader, so was George W.Bush in Yale.
Two cheerleaders, no wonder we are where we are at.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Editor, if you or any of the bloggers have a chance read a post on Chappencos blog.
That Kingi canute just lectured Chapete on law enforcement procedures. What a slam!!!

Connie said...

We know, we know. Chapa is plain stupid. he knows about police work like I know about Nasa's second-stage rocket boosters. Es un pendejo! get it through your heads. Nothing will change until Big Dawg sits on his dwarf ass.

Julio said...

Brownsville has the most unattractive people in the Valley. that is true. Just go there. It's an ugly sight.

Anonymous said...

I seen some of the women in Browntown, and some are very good looking, like always there are some that lack in social graces. Heck they need loving to.
El Pinche Valley esta bien salado, The Editor, is correct.

Chela Marinero said...

Tony Martinez is going to win the Mayoral position in Brownsville. He is hanging around with good looking women, plus making parties and feeding the moochers who like free beer and free food.

Anonymous said...

what's that about my tax refund? I'm supposed to get a check for almost $500! Help! Goddamned republicans. Get your s@!t together. You don't mess with people's refunds! Hijos de la.

Anonymous said...

sad story on the Rio Hondo teacher. they look like anice family in the picture you have on the sidebar. That man must have been loco.I feel sorry for the daughters. Viejo malvado.

Anonymous said...

For $120.000 dollars this flea market preacher, must have been loco. Does anyone knows if he is here legally??

Anonymous said...

So does that mean, I won't have to pay the taxes that I owe the irs??? With my luck they will charge me interest even if it's there fault.

Roy said...

That pastor who hired the guy to kill his wife must be nuts. He's an ugly pendejo lucky to have had her. What i want to know now is what does his movida look like. a tamalera no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Living in brownsville is like being in one big barrio. It's not easy on the eyes and its the same old thing everyday. You described it perfectly.

Cable Guy said...

There's got to me more to the murdered teacher story. Much more. It can't just be a bad pastor wanting to kill his wife. Why? what would he gain.The insurance money? No, there's always another woman in these cases. the truth will come out.

Pochotitlan said...

Brownsville is the capital of POCHOS / AS = ROTTEN FRUIT THAT EVERYBODY DISPOSES OFF !!!

Anonymous said...

Look fellow bloggers, the pastor wanted the mula. That is it, why would he want to share the loot with a movida chueca. Hell, she would turn him in, in a heartbeat.

Anonymous said...

What a great idea, people that receive food stamps, should buy food, not junkie stuff to eat.
I was at El Taquito today, and nothing but heavy duty men and women, fatsos and more fatsos, and more fatsos with fat kids, eating like feral hogs.
I came right back home and got on the tread mill for 2 hours.

Anonymous said...

Is it true that Camarillo is still living at home with his PARENTS????