EL RRUN RRUN
http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/
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THE FUTURE CHEATS YOU FROM AFAR: THE SHERGOLD-"W" BUSH PHOTO OP
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">By</span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "> </b><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; ">Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Aren't politics something?</div><span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 381px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJg_Y7AGiyrGJ6vd9R4Wx9fyUblDqVOZI2fsS0xPaMXMRwI6K3qi4_1AsW69W0SxF-ze_TnqR687WZGadZBZp0SqT9iF1jVsm1R-evcYbIpVyO-1klfX5De7DUzmHrcBJKyKgdc04jR7A/s400/shergold1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747691805720292290" /></span></span><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">When I was attending the University of Michigan, among one of my required Journalism classes was one on constitutional law.<br />Now, having been raised in South Texas, I had no idea that people like Clarence Darrow, Mike Wallace, Margaret Bourke White, Williams James Mayo, and other heavy hitters in their diverse fields had attended school there.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">So it was with some surprise when we walked into class one day and had to be patted down by Secret Service agents before they let us in the classroom.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">To our surprise, President Gerald Ford was speaking with our instructor and after a small introduction, took some of our questions. After the perfunctory questions, "How's Betty doing after her rehab?" asked a classmate, the questions got a little heavier.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"Why did you pardon Nixon before he even faced a jury?" and "How could you sign off on the magic-bullet theory on the Kennedy assassination?"</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Ford, if you'll remember, was on the Warren Commission that explained how a bullet could go through Kennedy's spine, exit though his throat, make a 90-degree turn toward Connally, go through his shoulder blades, make another 90 degree turn and strike his right wrist and was found up virtually unharmed on the hospital gurney the next day.</div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"> If so, this bullet traversed 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, and approximately 15 inches of tissue, struck a necktie knot, removed 4 inches of rib, and s</span>hattered a radius bon<span style="font-size: 100%;">e</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; ">.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; "></span></div><span><span><span>Of course no one believed it then, and probably some of us still don't believe it now.</span></span></span><div><span>After the Q and A, some of the students had their photos taken with Ford, I not being among them. In those days, the memory of the Nixon pardon was still too fresh for the militant mindset of the time.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; ">But the reason this story comes to mind is because we at <i>Rrun-Rrun</i> received this Email showing John Shergold, a Brownsville attorney who has run for various offices in the Democratic Party, including this year's try at the chairmanship of Cameron County.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; ">This photo (judging by Shergold's ample hair) was probably taken just about the time that George W. Bush had beaten Ann Richards in a no-hold-barred election where the trademark cutthroat Bush politics would be refined on his way to his two disastrous presidential terms in office.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: georgia; ">In other words, the wound was still too fresh for most Democrats to stomach a handshake with W. </span><span style="font-family: georgia; ">This is probably the last thing that John would probably want to see as we head to tomorrow's election, but it is a keeper, isn't it? </span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7683193801770620101?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/05/by-juan-montoya.html
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THE HEROES OF MEMORIAL DAY TOO MANY, TOO YOUNG
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<span style="font-weight: normal; "><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGjuCaUXc_2Yv9-IAAT1EVkX35Hy7n6GB286ycuaQb-p6Y_hk2IWxD3vFQtyuI4GZzM5emzNhq3xV272ySEqFNiQ8cb0ODKmYhneJkgFF19aSCvlXVicgb2BPhTkIYotwzFCyQQ4SS9o/s1600/vetsday1.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 328px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGjuCaUXc_2Yv9-IAAT1EVkX35Hy7n6GB286ycuaQb-p6Y_hk2IWxD3vFQtyuI4GZzM5emzNhq3xV272ySEqFNiQ8cb0ODKmYhneJkgFF19aSCvlXVicgb2BPhTkIYotwzFCyQQ4SS9o/s400/vetsday1.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747649812525666834" /></a>By</span><b> Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-weight: normal; ">That's my friend Felipe "Fito" Castañeda's name in the bottom of the middle road at the Veterans' Park off Central Boulevard.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Like others who have gone on before us, Fito came back from the Vietnam War and enrolled at Texas Southmost College and sought a degree in education.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">He's been wounded in the 'Nam and to his death was convinced that the numerous dousings of Agent Orange defoliant he and his Airborne unit buddies got there contributed to his many kidney and liver ailments that weakened him over time.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">In a sense, a lot of our soldiers who didn't die immediately in the jungles and hospitals of that country came back to die a slow one here.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">But Fito wasn't one to complain. He was drafted to go serve and â€" like many other Rio Grande Valley patriot soldiers â€" he did.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Throughout our history this country has seen its young go off to fight the wars of this nation on foreign soil. Sometimes it is a clearcut threat to our national security or </div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 292px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwkH95-dVUlQA_6NzE8ujl4Z3DnDvUu71PVDZwy2ym4LF4sk7CDROghbP1UzaBlYN_W7QcUQuzgbC6vzq2kCIVO9qxQi1rAdJiYJ661gXsnePykmdzOCMmH4PIXNkkNnlb_1J7qQOUpGM/s400/vetsday.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747649695228000642" /><div style="font-weight: normal; ">our interests. Sometimes, unfortunately, it is because the politicians failed at diplomacy and a blood quotient was required of the new generation.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Since the start of this country, the flower of freedom and democracy has been watered by the renewing force of its patriots' blood.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">The Civil War cost the young nation more than 625,000 dead. WWII took 405,399. WWI took another 116,316. Vietnam followed with 58,209. Korea took 36,516 (conflicts also kill). The American Revolutionary War took 25,000. The War of 1812 took 20,000. The Mexican-American War took 13,283 mostly to disease and unsanitary conditions. The War of Terror continues to take our young, now at 6,280 and counting. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">And so so go on.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">When old men fail at getting along, their young must often be called upon to settle their scores. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Like my friend Felipe, they accepted their duty and performed their responsibilities ungrudgingly. </div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">Whether we agree with the justifications for the wars (Vietnam, Iraq, etc.) or we don't, there is no denying the courage and valor of those that served and our respect for the memory and courage of those that fell. We remember them on this Memorial Day.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-5851153767574341579?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/05/heroes-of-memorial-day-too-many-too.html
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DID PRO-NELSON PAC BREAK THE LAW DIVULGING CHALLENGER FARIAS' EXPUNGED RECORD?
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<span style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">By </span><b style="font-style: normal; ">Juan Montoya</b><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">One of the liveliest race in Cameron County has t be the one between incumbent 138th District Judge Arturo Nelson and challenger Veronica Farias.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">In a series of ads running the last two weeks, a Political Action Committee named Citizens for a Better Judiciary, has run a series of ads calling Farias a "troubled attorney" and listing details of previous charges against her.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">This was preceded by an ad run by Farias taking Nelson to task questioning Nelson's judicial performance in the case of a child molester that she claimed the judge allowed to go free on probation only to have the defenda<span style="font-size: 100%; ">nt engage in sexual abusive criminal cond</span></div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3nHTUj2QeB3PT-RYf_jyzurKkpmyRHZPFwoGc2IEefwOrUATDXu8QvxUsLDgpELhsdiDVIrHHjV03gRbek2Y5J8pPcV-ee_2cIFQqQ3sBtiq-a47P0rDANZJfL26CY1_4Wi6-PYuJdqs/s320/veronica.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747647055128460018" /><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">uct with a minor.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">This drew the heated response of Nelson's supporters such as former district judge Robert Garza and others who defended their colleague and accused Farias of misstating the record.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">But it was the PAC â€" Citizens for a Better Judiciary â€" that listed at least two previous charges filed against Farias in 2008 and 2011 in newspaper ads and listed the specifics of the cases.</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">There was only one problem, however.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">According to Farias, both charges listed prominently in the PAC's ads were expunged from her record by a court order last July. The order prohibits anyone (whether a PAC, law enforcement official, or any individual) from opening the files or the expunged records of the arrests and are "not open for inspect6ion by anyone..."</div><div style="font-weight: normal; ">When Farias approached the <i>Brownsville Herald</i>, which ran the PAC's ads, the editors there went back to their files and made a notation tat the charges arising from the police reports had been expunged from the public records by a court.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">But there is more.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Apparently, the principals in the PAC (and the search is on to find out who it is) may not only have viola</div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUjL7oZZN3-pSr8IWG9qrhMj8BSk31SdgVwUt7sFWnwcBTHkF04Gy9IOvaGIHDCNVb5X4jiI_O53-_b2M1fQModDyI2Kq8uEl9_a4qMwiVgHhv7U6BfQspxXotsNHQAR1NIhf-rU3fwW4/s200/Arturo_Cisneros_Nelson2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747646915574579250" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 200px; " /><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">ted the court order, but also broken the law contained in Title I, Chapter 55 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. And what's more, not only did the PAC apparently break the law, but in not clearing its ads with Nelson may have violated yet another criminal statute. </div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">The law states that: "the release, maintenance, dissemination, or use of the expunged records and files for any purpose is prohibited..</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"A person who acquires knowledge of an arrest while an officer or employee of the state or any agency or other entity of the state or any political subdivision of the state and who knows of an order expunging the records and files relating to that arrest commits and offense if he knowingly releases, disseminates or otherwise uses the records or files...</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"An offense under this article is a Class B misdemeanor."</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">This comes into play, according to Farias supporters, because the PAC lists its address as 855 W. Price Rd., the same building that houses the offices of Roreig, Oliveira and Fisher, principals with State Rep. Rene Oliveira in the law firm.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">It is also the same address listed for the Cameron County Bar Association. Should the investigation reveal that Oliveira or his law firm were involved in the preparation of the ads and the dissemination of the expunged files, it could result in sanctions applied to whoever is found to have been involved. Oliveria falls under the definition of an officer or employee of the state. </div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">So far, the Brownsville Police Dept. has looked into the complaint and has forwarded the evidence it uncovered to the Cameron County District Attorney's Office.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">But Farias is not stopping there. She says she will to journey to Austin to speak personally to officials with the State Ethics Commission and file a complaint against the PAC, and Nelson, if necessary.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"I will be there eat 8 a.m.at the doors of the Ethic Commission," she said.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Farias said that under the Texas Election Code, all candidates must follow the Code of Fair Campaign Practices that states that: "I will not permit the use of character defamation, whispering campaigns, libel, slander, or scurrilous attacks on any candidate or the candidate's personal life....</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"I will not use campaign material of any sort that misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies the facts, nor will I sue malicious or unfounded accusations that aim at creating or exploiting doubts without justification, as to the personal integrity or patriotism of any opponent...</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">The code that every candidate signs with the state also states that a candidate "will immediately and publicly repudiate methods and tactics that may come from others that I have pledged not to use or condone. I shall take firm actions against any subordinate who violates any provision of this code..."</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">Now the question becomes: Did Judge Nelson authorize the ads using expunged records and files? And if he did not, will he disavow the ads? Farias said that all candidates' who have signed the code have their pledges on file with the Ethics Commission.</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">"If Judge Nelson didn't sign the code of fair campaign practices, why didn't he?" she asked. "He may just try to wash his hands of responsibility by saying it was a committee that did it, but that is not very credible. The Ethics Commission requires any "committee" acting on a candidate's behalf to get the candidate's authorization for an ad."</div><div style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; ">With election day coming on Tuesday and word spreads of the Farias-Nelson controversy, there's no telling whether the result will be a backlash against the PAC's tactics in support of the incumbent.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7620356686926174000?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/05/did-pro-nelson-pac-break-law-diviulging.html
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IF ANYTHING, CORTEZ SHOWS HE'S THE ULTIMATE POLITICIAN
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<div style="font-style: normal; "><span><span>By <b>Juan Montoya</b></span></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">Even as he defends himself and members of the former Brownsville Independent School District board majority for violating civil rights of former employees and conspiring to rig an insurance contract and steer it to his political supporters, former trustee Ruben Cortez continues to bamboozle voters in the northern reaches of the Texas State Board of Education's District 2.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">Cortez, who was roundly rejected by BISD voters tired that he and the majority of which he formed part, pulled down the district from an all-time pinnacle of having been awarded the prestigious Broad Award and in two short years gobbled up a $175 million reserve fund to just under $68 million.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">The district, which gained a $2 million student scholarship award as a result of the Broad, went literally as his detractors said, from "Broad to Broke."</div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">And the firing of three major administrators â€" superintendent Hector Gonzales, Chief Financial Officer Tony Juarez, and Special Needs Director Art Rendon â€" sparked lawsuits in</div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 133px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0m_2WSKmcIwqXf8C5x6mvdZ080tmSGwbvpw1sybq65IFBNWArK9i4rrpyoWiuIQUU6rzgGa2G_0VZcP5JFEobsnPF9g_DfWG3K0W6MhlAWQGYzdNTFuhZ8GmcsUmh-yCcl31nS8vwWLg/s200/celeste.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5747615817150322146" /><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "> state and federal court. A federal judge denied the four defendants â€" Cortez, Rick Zayas, Joe Colunga and Rolando Aguilar â€" qualified immunity meaning that they would have to answer the charges as elected officials and as individuals.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; ">A federal appeals court upheld the local decision and later refused to reconsider.</div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "> Yet, still after all that, Cortez has somehow managed to convince the leadership of the Texas State Teachers Association, <span style="font-size: 100%; ">part of the National Education Association, and the Victoria, Texas, b</span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">ranch of the Service Employee International Union to endorse his candidacy over his two opponents, both highly-qualified and educated. One Larry Garza, is a Kingsville pharmacist with over a decade on the local school board, and the other Celste Sanchez, is an assistant superintendent of curriculum at the San Benito ISD where she was also a board member and a sitting city commissioner.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Cortez has only a high school diploma as his educational credentials.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">"You have to give Cortez credits for his chutzpah," said a voter waiting outside the Central Blvd. Public Library in Brownsville during early voting. "But thinking it over carefully, the voters would be doing our schools and our children a disservice to reject these other highly qualified people and vote for a career politician."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Yet, that is the very choice that </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">George Borrego, president elect of the Association of Brownsville Educators, is advocating.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">"Ruben has supported educational issues and employees important to education," Borrego said."We feel we need someone with his view to represent us at the State Board of Education. We are out-numbered. We feel very secure that Ruben's going to win and represent us well."</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; ">To think that this professional union rep would pick Cortez, whose slogan "Keeping Politics out of the Classroom," goes contrary to what he did while on the BISD board defies belief.</span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%; "><div style="font-style: normal; "><span>Cortez was sued by former </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">Special Needs Department Director Art Rendon, who stated in a sworn deposition </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">in his case (Southern District of Texas 1:10-cv-00198) against Cortez and the board </span><span style="font-size: 100%; ">majority that:</span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><span><br /></span></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><i><span>"58. On or about June, 2008, Ruben Cortez, a sitting board member on BISD, </span><span>contacted Plaintiff directly via telephone. He instructed Plaintiff to hire his sister, </span><span>Linda Aguilar, for summer school employment as a Special Education teacher.</span></i></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><i><span>59. Plaintiff informed Mr. Cortez that BISD had hiring policies in place and instructed </span><span>him that the hiring application for the summer of 2008 had already been accepted and </span><span>processed.</span></i></div><div style="font-style: normal; "><i><span>60. Cortez sent Plaintiff his sister's application and insisted Plaintiff call her </span><span>immediately and giver her a job. Plaintiff set up a meeting between Cortez's sister </span><span>Linda, Ana Lerma, who was a Special Education supervisor, and Dr. Lee Garcia, </span><span>Assistant Director for Special Services. At the meeting, Ruben Cortez's orders were </span><span>followed, and Linda Aguilar was given a job for the summer of 2008.</span></i></div><div><span>And this is the kind of person the teachers union â€" whose members were probably elbowed out by Cortez's interference in the hiring process so the district could hire his ssiter â€" wants to represent us in Austin?</span></div></span></div><div style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; "><p style="color: rgb(85, 85, 85); font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-7771692166831921051?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/05/if-anything-cortez-shows-hes-ultimate.html
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