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, May 25, 2011

As New Mayor Takes Oath In Brownsville, Trouble And God Keep Watch...A Happy Day...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
Editor of The Tribune

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - The days of wine and roses known elsewhere as happy times always arrive here in the form of cheap wine and wilted roses. That's the poetry of the poor. Today we suffer; tomorrow we are saved. Divine intervention will win in the end, goes the tired line in the streets. It's a peculiarly Country & Border tune.

Not much out of the ordinary happened here yesterday, other than the swearing-in of Antonio "Tony" Martinez as the new mayor. He takes hold of the weathered, leather reins at City Hall. He is the one replacing outgoing Mayor Pat Ahumada, the last of the party boy mayors.

Interestingly, the new mayor went All-Holy, welcoming the mortal figurines of the local Catholic church to his installation ceremony. The Bishop was there, as was a church choir and members of this and that congregation. All were on hand to see the new man take charge.

"We can’t thank God enough," Martinez told the giddy crowd of well-wishers.

God has a strange relationship with politicians, Martinez being only the latest one to invoke his name in the run-up to a term of office sure to try God more than Martinez. But that's Valley politics; the Catholic Church serves as that game's co-conspirator, its accomplice, its spine and its refuge.

The church, of course, will have little to do with solving this city's wild unemployment; its marital, social, and economical problems. Catholics are okay with the eternal suffering dogma they are given every Sunday morning, when the dour-faced priests stand and sing about what it's like up there. Religion and politics: the worst cocktail.

Tony Martinez will ease into the job. He'll try to work with the city commissioners, some saints and some sinners. And he'll throw out his ideas, his vision for this dusty bordertown that never has been able to shed the under-achieving tag assigned to it by neighboring communities in the ruthless and wicked Rio Grande Valley. It won't be long before Martinez sends out his pleas to the apostles, to Jesus Christ, to anyone who will hear his words.

Brownsville is not St. Louis. It is not St. Paul. It is not St. Augustine.

It is more like Mexico's San Fernando.

And perhaps that is why the new mayor wanted God front-and-center during his oath of office ceremony. It couldn't hurt, could it? Hooligans roam the streets, a step ahead of the stray animals. Cheap cantinas roil the hottest of nights. Women take their evening slappings in Southmost. Rough-hewn men, losers of the first order, lift their Mexican grass to lying lips, to endure the struggle that is poverty, to claim their place in the gutter. God is the answer here. God is great.

Brownsville, unfortunately, does its best to go against God's tenets most days of the week. Goofing off is embedded in the city's DNA. And when they get angry at the world, they damn their God in the strongest of vulgar terms.

The same God that the new mayor welcomed in the commission chambers over at City Hall. God have mercy...

- 30 -

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tony Martinez will do the job Pat Ahumada could never do. God was not on Pat's side. But we'll see.

Anonymous said...

Browntown will be okay. weeds never die.

Henry said...

Tony Martinez will be a caretaker. Brownsville willnot get any better. that's what i say.

El De Los Fresnos said...

Tony Chapa writing about politics again? I mean trying. That dwarf is a dropout, no? Hey, Rick Morales, get away from this loser!

Anonymous said...

Paz-Martinez, dude, you are way to hard on Browntown, you take no prisoners. May I ask why???
Give Tony Tormenta Martinez his first 100 days. Then if nothing is on the horizon, remind him of his platform.
I live in Harlingen, but I applaud the Brownsville electorate for getting rid of Pat Auhmada, he was, well, what can I say, an animal lover, no more no less.

Kiko said...

Side bar video, well what can we expect. We need soldiers at the borders. Two years ago I visited Canada, the custom agents, were rude, sarcastic, and disrepectful.
Border Custom agents need to be polygraph annually.
Sometime back, I worked at a place where they polygraphed employees at random.
No and it wasn't at a goverment job.

Anonymous said...

The silliness of hand padding good citizens like ordinary criminals has stop. We have already lost too many rights. I would rather drive than be x-rayed or padded down.

Kiko said...

What,,, Champaneco, writing about politics. What a bummer, he doesn't even vote. I can's believe people actually read the garbage on myhns.

sofia said...

Man, the BLR and el Runrun are throwing knockout punches to Tony Torny, Tormenta Martinez hard.
Who in the world were this two blogs endorsing???

Anonymous said...

Believe it or not, God is all they have left in Browntown. I have never seen another town like it anywhere else. Nothing happens, just same old stuff.

Patrick Alcatraz said...

ANON:...We're not throwing the book at Brownsville's new mayor, Tony Martinez. Not yet anyway. We merely caught the mood of his oath ceremony. But we'll see what he accomplishes. Ahumada will go down in local lore as having done more for the town's stray dogs than its citizens. Out of fairness, Tony Martinez has a clean slate with us. But, sadly, Brownsville does not... - Editor

Anonymous said...

Chapaneco is crying to his brother or boyfriend Jakie. He is upset because another with the same name is hammering is dumb ass.
Tony, you have been bad mouthing everyone you don't like.
Ora aguantate te putito, pos no que te cres muy hombrecito.

Sal said...

Mr. Editor, el chaperrete is blaming the big dawg, joe rubio, as the new blogspot's operator. The new blog is hammering anthony chapis, unmercifully.
He is squiling like a grease hog.
"Guess what he wants to call the police," sorry tonies, the police are in the donut break, chingate hotito.

Mr. Brownsville said...

ha ha ha ha ha. Tony Chapa is calling out Joe Rubio. Big Dawg will squeze the you know what out of that dwarf! Chapete better start eating tamales from delia's so that he can grow to be a normal man size. He keeps caling people out but he never leaves his house. Cobarde! Eres un estupido!

Cable Guy said...

Does Chapa have a death wish or what? TAKING ON THE BIG DAWG? Wow!!! He's asking for it. Dawg's gonn ago to chapete's house and pull him out of his computer chair ny the wedgie. ha ha ha ha

Anonymous said...

You are killing me with the new sans-serif font.

I can tell you are getting bored.

Patrick Alcatraz said...

ANON:...Well, we do get bored from time to time, like every other Human Being on the fast-ragging planet. But if you've read this Blog for the past year you know we have done this sort of Blog redesigning three-four times now. I read it too, so when it starts looking dull to me, I have it re-cast. This "look" will eventually give way to another, as well. Variety is the spice of life, is what I read the other day on the package of a bottle of black pepper.. - Editor

Blogger M said...

Well shucks, so TC is no longer accusing the editor of the Tribune of being the author of that singularly ass-kicking blog. The problem is that TC has so many enemies that if he goes down the list accusing each one, it's going to take forever. To top it off, TC writes so badly that anyone who's completed 3rd grade has the ability to out-write him. As far as meeting anyone face-to-face, well that's going to involve a serious step-ladder. Maybe Jake could hold it for him.

Anonymous said...

He wanted to call the police on the Big Dawg, Tony, if you are a real man, the dawg, was eating this morning with four other men, at Las Casuelas, Jerry Prep, was there to.
Cobarde, they aren't hiding, you are.
I wager to say, anyone of those two can kick your dumb ass butt. Miedoso, gallina, inservible, el cobarde de el condodado de Cameron.

Anonymous said...

For someone that doesn't like Police officers, chapete is going to shine the shoes of the new police chief. He wants to file a complaint on the big dawg.
Go ahead, shine his shoes, that isn't going to help you. Miedoso, go cry on the back seat of Jakeylin. Y llevate a la cholona.

Anonymous said...

Did the San Antonio campaign management team write Father Martinez' opening prayer? It was pretty much on theme. Not that God doesn't "believe in Brownsville".

Anonymous said...

Editor notes: Paz-Martinez, Toni is a coward, I was there when the dawg called him out during a commission meeting.
He just looked at the floor and kept his mouth shut.
El viejo hotinchon, has baggage, the daughters boyfriend had him running like a grease pig, because he was afraid of him.
He wanted police protection 24/7, until the guy was killed him. He was shot, outside the Maryland apts.
He was so afraid after the guy was killed, he moved to Austin to hide.
Orale, viejo sonso, date un round con el Perron, para que te metan un chingisa.

TheNew Brown Resistance said...

... Amen --- and also with You !!!