Mayor John Cook, Where's my Apology? Texas vs the Nation?

Texas vs the Nation?
Who cares, who cares?
Well, I'll admit I did care.
I cared a lot!
I cared enough to go out and purchase a ticket
to watch this college showcase game
and root for our Texas boys.

Now?
Well, let's just say...
I'm all about this:
The City of El Paso vs Mayor John Cook!


Mr. Cook, this butt's for you.....

As I sat there in the Sun Bowl stadium, doing my part for this cause, I heard the disparaging comments on radio 600 coming from our disgraceful politico head honcho yet again. Mayor Cook should be ashamed at how poorly his tourism development works. He should be ashamed that his head is so far up his rear he cannot look himself in the mirror and see that this event should have been hyped by those who are paid to do so. Who dropped the ball? Really?

So, the mayor spends the evening before the game discussing the future of this event, only to find that he is the individual who is severely lacking when it comes to supporting our city. How much time did he spend previous to February 5 discussing advertising, hype, tourism and the like with Hansmire etal? Talk about epic fail...John Cook, you owe me and the other people who supported this game a huge apology. I saw so little about this game in Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, or ESPN magazines, not to mention the lack of hype online. The EP Times managed to get some hype going during the week of the game, but where's the year round advertising? Where's the blurb in the AAA Texas guide for events in El Paso? Where do we see El Paso Tourism doing the job it is paid to do?

I was so ticked off by Cook's and other's comments on the radio, that I left the game during the 3rd quarter. My husband was hard pressed to calm me down after that. I'm still fuming mad about this

...and another thing!
When UTEP prevents us from parking on their property to attend sporting events held on their property, what are they saying to us? When tickets are advertised at one price, and $5.00 surcharges are added to that price, what are they saying to us? Service charge for me to drive over to the box office on campus and stand in line to buy a ticket? That really chaps my hide!

UTEP is notorious for double booking or overlapping events at the Sun Bowl and the Don, or having sporting and concert events occuring on the same days. It never works out well, and some aspect is going to suffer for it. Of all the idiotic moves, scheduling this event on a UTEP basketball game day is injurious to UTEP basketball and to the city, as seen in this fiasco.

To schedule it the day before the Super Bowl is adding insult to injury. Planning a Super Bowl party is a highlight of the year for many folks in the USA, and it costs money! Discretionary funds to see a game like Texas vs the Nation won't come so easily at a time like this, when there's beer, sodas, smorgasbords, snacks and betting pools to contribute to.

As to the comments about this town not having what's needed to attract an NFL team...Just look at how many families sport their $100 football jerseys every Sunday. From the littlest kids to the adults, they're all sporting their colors for the NFL.
Texas vs the Nation is not the NFL.

I was really looking forward to see Trindon Holliday run like the wind, and glad to see his abilities were not hampered by the Nation's defense. Having UTEP's Cornelius "Cornbread" Brown named MVP was icing on the cake.


Maybe this game won't be back in El Paso next year, and I will be sad to see it go. Certainly, Mayor Cook will not be back again when his term is over, and that's a change I'll embrace with open arms.

Get a Rope?

I admit it. I'm very late to the party, and not fashionably so.

photo: www.rampantscotland.com

No way could I have foreseen that I'd be jumping into the fray where local politics are concerned. I find others really have an aversion to discussing politics in mixed company. They are always trying to change the subject, or avoid looking me in the eye. Once I dig in I can be just like a pit bull who thinks she's just a little old lap dog. You didn't see that one coming, did you? Oh, the multitude of things I could say about how stupid people are about their so-called knowledge of "menacing" pit bulls. Alas, this is not my intent today.

photo: haynespitbulls.com

No doubt, I've got my ass-backwards opinions and self-righteous 'tude just like anybody else, but I mainly disturb my immediate friends and family with them. Why I ever decided to begin blogging about my idiosyncratic life, I'll never quite be able to fathom. This no doubt says a lot about me, and my troubled *pysche. I've spent a long time doing things I thought were important. Listening to and respecting the voices of children who grace me with their wonderful presence has always seemed so important to me. Those kids have taught me so much about life; yet I realize there is still something missing. That something was "civic involvement" and actually striving to leave something better for those children I hold in such high regard.


(*furtive glancing, to-and-fro, for the men in white coats)

Many moons ago, at an El Paso high school far, far away (about a mile from my house which I walked to every day) I was granted the


Rona Barrett critic of the year award during my Junior year. My Senior friends found this an apt title (those bitches!). I had no idea what they were talking about. Probably had my head stuck so far up my ass, I was simply oblivious to my own BIG MOUTH.

The next year, I was told by "Skeets" Aguilar that I talk a lot of shit. My jaw dropped. I gave him a good hard slug in the arm, but I knew he was right. Then he called me a Candy Ass, and the game was on. I rather enjoy talking a lot of shit. It's good for the soul, to let out what ails you. I enjoy forcing debate, even when I know I am dead wrong. It is amazing how some folks can be easily swayed by words. It is also amazing how some folks can see right through the bullshit.

How dare they?

Anyway, there's actually another party that I will not be late to, and that's Mayor John Cook's so-called lynching party. "I never mind going to a lynching as long as I'm the guy holding the rope, not wearing it," --El Paso Mayor John Cook.

I'll be sure to drink a few Margaritas to numb the pain, and maybe some refritos while I'm at it (you never know when backup power may be called for). I'll be sure to wear a steel collar around my neck, just in case. I do expect Cook to bring his now infamous rope, and I expect to keep my own neck out of his line of sight by any means possible. If this meeting actually does take place, I'll try to keep my feet moving...float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, and all that. I'm hoping we won't have to resort to the rope-a-dope tactics. I swear, vigilantes get no respect, whether they're giving or receiving injustice.

Convoluted logic: The best kind!


www.motifake.com/demotivational-poster

The fiasco of Johnnie Washington forcing her will upon Cook to kowtow to some perceived racial slur or politically incorrect slight just absolutely amazes me. Mayor Cook, you never should have apologized to her. You should have apologized to those you directed your statement to, if you actually thought there was anything wrong with your joke. I smirked when you directed your comment to us, because it was slightly amusing...but you fail to see that you already hold that rope, and you're trying to lynch your citizenry with many of these "progressively divisive" tactics of late.

What a bunch of hoo-haw over Cook's comments, which were fairly straightforward and most decidedly directed towards the few individuals who deigned to darken the city council meeting last week, trying to talk about bridge locales. Another overblown cry of racism for nothing. NOTHING? I'm no fan of politically correct humor. Political correctness is the worst oxymoron of our times. I'm no fan of Mayor Cook, but his remarks were nothing about race, and everything about desperation. While most would see lynching as no laughing matter, the impetus for Cook's use of the phrase is decidedly humorous.

It still galls me that no proper plans are forthcoming before the bridge feasibility can be determined. Is this a 2 lane proposal, a 15 lane monstrosity? A commuter footbridge?

Where's the meat of the matter? Where's the public disclosure? My own witnessing and realization that half of city council has no idea how their MPO works, or how they conduct their business is appalling. I assume they are too busy taking time off to get to the real nitty-gritty and boring paperwork involved in deciphering that mess. I lost a good part of my life these past few weeks doing just that, only to be greeted by city council with stone-cold stares, and a few suspiciously over-anxious remarks from Steve Ortega. I'm no public speaker, but I said my piece for what that's worth. City council could give a rat's ass about what any of their constituents have to say. (apologies to Eddie Holguin, who actually seems to be hearing something). It creates more work for them if they actually have to pay attention to any of it.


Before anyone gets their panties further bunched up, I'll preface this next part by saying that I wish no harm to come to any person of any race, creed or political affiliation. It's merely my summation of the absurdity of what compels us to act and react to life as it assails us. (my own absurdity included!) My husband has warned against posting this, but I don't listen to him most of the time. Why does he put up with me? Cuz I'm special? Yes. That's it, exactly.

Here is a little politically imbued ditty that sums up fairly well what I think of all this bollocks:


Cock Sparrer: Get a Rope

Get a Rope

From the streets of Aberdeen to the Brighton scene
There's something going wrong
From the Woolacomb shore to the tots dance floor
They all shout what's going on?

You promised us a country fit for a queen
But the queen doesn't have to pay
You promised us a future bright and clean
For a vote on election day

Is there no-one left to shout?
There's some people round here need sorting out
'Coz for you there's just no hope

Get a rope, get a rope

Sitting warm and snug in your council seat
In comfy shoes and tweed
With your rules and regs wrapped nice and neat
Deciding what my kids can't read

We're sick and tired of your liberal views
What's politically correct?
Come judgement day, I'll be tying the noose
And slipping it around your neck

Can't you hear us shout?
There are a lot of people like me about
But for you there's just no hope

Get a rope, get a rope

We want to make life one big joyride
But the roadblocks get in our way
We want to fly off to the Spanish seaside
But the plane's always delayed

We want to sing songs on radio 1
but the BBC says no!
And we want to do deals on a mobile phone
and have something left to show

Can I stand up and say
There's some people round here need blowing away
'Coz for you there's just no hope

Get a rope, get a rope
Get a rope, get a rope
Get a rope, get a rope


So, I have posted this with full expectations that I will now be called a racist, card carrying member of the KKK, a Commie asshole, skinhead, or an Oi! idiot.

Alt Press review on Cock Sparrer's Here We Stand

Idiot may not be entirely stretching the truth, but I'm willing to be your scapegoat on this one. Go for it. I welcome the discourse and I have no regrets.