The Departed Manager...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

McALLEN, Texas - When he came here earlier this year to manage a start-up, semi-pro baseball team, Matt Stark was ballyhooed as a professional with some Big League experience. He'd batted a few times in the majors, not many, but enough to have local sportswriters write that he had faced prime time pitching. It is par for the course in minor league baseball, where an ounce of Big League experience counts for tons.

Stark, shown in photo above, is gone as manager of the woeful McAllen Thunder. He was relieved of his duties last Monday by team management without much of an explanation. Something happened during the team's visit to San Angelo, Texas, where Stark's squad recently faced the local Colts. What that was the team is not saying, and reporters in the Rio Grande Valley are not asking. It is a weird way for Stark to exit the field of play.

What happened?

The Thunder has left a slew of questions many here are asking: Did Stark get drunk? Did he abuse a player? Was he busted by San Angelo cops for something or another? Was a prostitute involved? Drugs? What happened? It had to be something serious.

Smalltown baseball is known for giving fans a show. Teams often pump-up player resumes or arrive making grand promises and characterizations. The McAllen Thunder, which actually plays home games in neighboring Edinburg because the team has no field, held a press conference upon Stark's hire, telling story-hungry reporters he had a way with young players and enough experience to bring credit to the team. Reporters and bloggers up and down the Rio Grande Valley bought into the fairy tale.

Baseball, as played in the North American Baseball League of which the McAllen Thunder is a member, is not even A baseball, the lowest rung in the established minor leagues. But there was the proud-as-punch Stark, once a hero to a few million Mexican League baseball fans during his playing days in Aztlan, promising great things for ambivalent McAllen fans.

Something happened.

The Team is not talking and area bloggers are uninterested, the same bloggers who religiously shill for the local NABL teams here, in Edinburg and down the road in Harlingen. They merely report that Stark is gone and that no explanation will be forthcoming from team officials. End of story, they agree.

But, of course, it isn't. Stark was offered to local fans as a consummate pro, as a name to be identified with by fans, as is Manager Eddie Dennis of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings in Harlingen. To merely swallow the nothingness coming from The McAllen Thunder is absurd.

One of the Bloggers, Jerry Deal, editor of MyLeaderNews.com in Harlingen, even counts major Journalism experience. He has not asked the Big Question about why Stark was let-go. Deal has taken his seat and pocketed questions he knows should be asked, questions any self-respecting reporter would jump to ask, to get info, to then write it for the same fans sought by this league.

Ask it: "Why was Matt Stark fired?"

It is as relevant as when these same reporters asked: "Why was he hired?"

They asked that one, and they got glowing words about Matt Stark, which they then raced to print...

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Evening In San Marcos...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

SAN MARCOS, Texas - Driving into town from the north, I-35 eventually shows you Exit 202. You take it and follow the access road to the next intersection, turn right and look for Hunter Road about a mile west. If you turn right on Hunter, you'll roll past a string of tree-lined historical houses of the sort that sport parapets and steeples. And just when you think it's merely a looksee at Old San Marcos, there, on the right, is M&M Corner Tacos. The joint looks sort of okay, if you can get past the image of a full-length mobile home possibly being a taqueria.

We didn't stop.

Instead, we drove up a bit and then turned back and headed south on Hunter until we came up on our destination - Tres Hermanas Restaurant and Cantina (see photo above of main entrance). It had caught our attention during an earlier drive, or I thought it had, although when we went looking for it, well, we didn't think we'd been down this way before.

But that's country drives. You think you know a lonely outpost after one roll, but, in smalltown Texas, one just never really knows. Anyway, we found it tucked in the elbow of a modern-looking strip mall, in between a fried chicken joint and a pasta place. Inside, it was owner Sharon Chiu, wife of former mayor David Chiu, who eventually greeted us. The restaurant looks more like something you'd find in the anglo section of Denver or Dallas, but it served its purpose. Obligatory Mexican do-dads lined the walls, including a too-red, football-sized lizard that seemed to have been painted by Diego Rivera. Required beer neon signs hung over the bar in one corner of the high-ceiling dining area.

Its menu is utilitarian, armed with the traditional Mexican fare of enchiladas and fajitas and taco plates, plus a children's menu of largely American grub, like cheeseburgers. No music on this afternoon, not even coming from the kitchen. A piano rested in one corner, there with a well-dressed mannequin at the pianist's stool waiting on who knows what, perhaps a tip jar.

Beef enchiladas came my way; Margaret had a chicken salad. Iced teas, with lemon. Courtesy salsa and chips decorated the table, both sub-par for this hungry cat.

It's not a hurry-up place. Tres Hermanas counts enough tables to seat about 60 patrons. A second-floor verandah adds small tables and highbacks, seemingly for the Happy Hour crowd. San Marcos, home of Texas State University and an estimated citizenry numbering 50,000, rests about 20 miles south of Austin. It is a college town with an assortment of shops and eateries in its old downtown district, pizza joints sprinkled here and there, ready to feed students looking for filling grub under ten bucks.

We ate, paid the $23 tab and left, really because that's what you do when you hit a cafe and finish your meal.

It was an okay outing on a somewhat scorching Tuesday afternoon. No rain was in the air, and the weatherman was predicting at least five more days of 100-plus-degree days. It would have been easy to just head on home and wait on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, where we were sure to get the latest on the bullshit playing in the nation's capital.

Instead, we drove over to the bookstore and I picked up a biography of Zelda Fitzgerald...

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[Tres Hermanas Restaurant & Cantina is located at 2550 Hunter Road in San Marcos, Texas. Dress is casual. Cash and all credit cards are accepted...]

The Road To Brownsville...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

The rococo age of border feminism has its center in Brownsville. It is said, at times proudly, that the women of Brownsville are all Libertines able to please even the most naked and lecherous of brown-skinned devils. Historians will say, no insist, that modern moans originated in this town of some 140,000 love-starved souls, moanings of the midnight variety, those that speak not of pain, but of pleasure.

In this most chimerical community, it is the woman who labors at work, who offers herself as mule, who cannot help but know that she is the vehicle for what does its best to appear as sangfroid comedy. Was it here, a visitor from the north was driven to ask upon arrival, that the utilitarian condom was invented, that sheath of protectant rubber that allows a man to go at sexual escapades with all the bold panache of a skilled, main-corrida bullfighter, and that allows a woman to go gently, willingly, into the soft rockings of the bedsprings?

Was it here?

In fact, there is no answer to that and to an avalanche of other pertinent questions one could ask the locals, all flailers at the brightened phantoms that arrive as dreams. One dare not ask: Who invented this awful place? The reply would be as if a symphony of a murder of crows, so loud and painful to the ear as if to drown out the very screamings coming from the spousal whippings that move across town like mini-tsunamis soon after suppertime.

The acknowledged Bard of the Barrio, one Dr. G.F. McHale-Scully, has been studying the entire female aspect of his neighborhood. He has begun what promises to be the last & final tome to do with characterization of dusty, sleepy Brownsville in his blog, http://www.browntownnews.com/. Mssr. McHale-Scully, known for partaking in the essence of border life, is traipsing across the local geography like a detective in search of the lost hymen. He has been especially kind in writing about Herminia, a gregarious young prostitute from the innards of the poor, but proud Southmost sector.

In describing that affair, he notes that the skilled Herminia is really the daughter of a washerwoman who has, of late, been taking-in his clothing, black cape included. He remembers her for piety and a coyness unexpected in a profession whose representatives are regarded as fair game in area motels. Perhaps her coyness, he noted in a report titled Long, Long Night With Animals, could be explained by a singular characteristic she displayed when she had succumbed quickly to his advances at the Inn of The Camerons: in the absence of underwear, Herminia proceeded to fart in time to his every thrust. She continued to do so 'like the bass of an orchestra marking time in a piece of music', thereby reducing him to helpless and impotent laughter.

"I remained there sitting in the lobby for more than a hour before I could shake off the comedy, which makes me laugh even now every time I think of it," he wrote at dawn.

That giddy prostitute's experience is but one vista into the women of Brownsville. It is, say many, a road still being charted, mainly by the vagabonds, the politicians and the dispossessed, of which there are many.

Central to the region's women is a certain psyche lapped on them by the very men they serve. Some will say that things are changing in favor of the weaker sex, but a closer look at their claims yields profound suspicion. The women pictured in the photograph atop this report are leaders in Brownsville governance. They represent a recent surge, a stab, at belonging. Yet, as could be expected in a priapic town, they have been mentally undressed at most turns, their efforts to be and act like men stunted at every oportunity, even by the aforementioned Dr. McHale-Scully, a bon vivant who admits he chronicles things, women included, as he sees them, especially late at night and when drunk.

Still, the writer has plowed through more than his share of local women, marrying a half-dozen and fathering almost a band of kiddoes. But, and this is important, he is but one of the musketeers! There is an entire male army of swordsmen in town, each and every one of them quick to stake his claim as the Biggest, Baddest Sword in the Kingdom. What say the women?

To date, their story has been largely ignored, as countless reports have sailed to the high skies telling of the male escapades. Has that been fair? Is the town's recorded history reflective of woman's contributions? Nyet, says the local politician aware of some Russian lingo. Not even close.

Woman, in this town, has been the mother to a thousand and one bastards.

They have, as the French might say, been the ones to "ecarter" their lower limbs; that is, they have pushed their legs aside for the benefit of the whole, birthing the very men who have as yet not granted them even the slightest of praise.

In time, the Brownsville woman will write her story.

In time, the ledger will be balanced. Pray for Brownsville men...

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That Mitt Romney...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

Whenever Americans want to talk-down anyone, they always look critically at a person's past, at his ancestors and at what the family may have done back home. We are a nation of immigrants, the citizenry having come from all posts of the globe. President Barack Obama has African roots by way of his father, although his mother was a native of this country.

Hay is forever being made about that, some Far Right dolts even questioning his birthplace just because we, as free Americans, can question any damned thing we want to question. Obama has said he was born in Hawaii, and records seem to prove it. But we're also a nation of critics.

We'll see how that plays out for front-running Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

He has deep and well-defined roots in Mexico.

His great-grandfather, the Mormon Miles Park Romney, left the U.S. in 1885 to avoid polygamy laws, helping to settle a variety of Mormon expatriate colonies (see "colonias" in map shown above) in the harsh Chihuahuan desert with his four wives. They bore him 30 children. Romney's grandfather did the same thing.

It is a peculiarly America thing to diss anyone by way of his or her ancestral background. Of course, the larger portion of today's Americans have roots elsewhere in the world. That criticism aimed at the president always was laughable, but it created the so-called birther movement that, to the extremists, seemed cause enough for impeachment. We'll see how Romney fares with those Americans who cannot stand to look south of the border.

Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has not said much about his grandfather or great-grandfather. In fact, the Mormon angle has been lapped on the other Mormon Republican in the nomination hunt - Jon Huntsman, who at least acknowledges his Utah roots in those neat motorcyle-ride-through-the-mountain political advertisements. Mitt Romney has largely flown under the radar on the Mormon issue, although it surfaced early in the 2008 GOP campaign, when he left the race after a dismal showing in the South Carolina primary.

It's okay to look at any candidate's past. Some are just not worthy. But, short of an Al Capone, it should never be the sole deciding factor. George W. Bush and his dad became president even though George's grandfather, Prescott, had a clearly affection for Nazi Germany. But, then, so did American hero Charles Lindbergh. Romney's Mexican connection might even help him with Hispanic voters if he avails himself of it. But he won't. Too many Republicans, the very base of the conservative party, are not interested in enlisting Hispanics as a large bloc. They'll take the tokens, like Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Georgia businessman Herman Cain.

So, it'll be interesting to see how Romney finishes in this race.

Truth be told, he is a much safer Republican candidate than are Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Texas secessionist Governor Rick Perry...

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America: Bloated Politics...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

That stuff crippling Washington. D.C. to do with the federal debt ceiling? Not as big a deal as you may imagine. Political posturing by both of the country's dominant parties is really what that's about. The nation has a debt, and it manages it by way of a ceiling; that is, the amount of money it borrows. It's been part of modern day America.

Yesterday, President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Speaker of The House John Boehner, a Republican, sparred in dueling press conference - each blaming the other for the stalemate in arriving at a deal that will set this cycle's debt ceiling by way of either cuts in spending, increased taxes or both. Obama said Boehner walked out of the ongoing discussions; Boehner said the president had "moved the goal posts" toward more taxes, something the Republicans do not believe is ever needed to pay the nation's way down life's highway.

But Republican opposition to every move by the president is par for the course. The Democrats did it to former war President George W. Bush, and it was then-Sen. Barack Obama who fought it and who labeled it a "failure of leadership." The party in power, in other words, always gets opposition when taxes are concerned. That is the game Washington, D.C. has known for decades. As for the debt ceiling itself and its threat to the country, well, there are many views about that. This week, Wall Street effected a "fail safe" scenario just in case, however. America will not default, and even if the important date of August 2 given by the Administration comes and goes without a congressional deal, economists say the country can weather a 3-4-5 day wait. Foreign investment bondholders may rebel, yes. But America is the world's stock market of choice. It is the world bank, no matter what China may believe.

Will it mean anything then?

Well, some federal services may be halted, as happened for the three weeks recently in Minnesota when that state 's politicians could not wrangle a budget agreeable to all concerned. National parks may close and some agencies, such as the Forest Service or the EPA or the IRS may see a few days off, but it will be a temporary inconvenience. Wall Street will react (it is a gambling enterprise, as you know) and money will be made and lost, but the angst to play on TV will also be temporary. The world is a smaller world all the way around. Failure may apply to Third World countries in the true definition of the word, but the U.S. economy is a Big Sky economy. Some opine that this is yet another move at re-organizing wealth.

Still, it is intriguing.

Politics has its ebb and flow, its historical sway. Next year is an election year.

This debt ceiling imbroglio is just part of that dance...

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Tough Days For News...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

This week's soap opera in England regarding the bizarre foibles of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation did several things news junkies should wonder about - it highlighted the power of the press, and it brought home its very excesses, which now threaten the separation of government and the press.

Its fallout likely will not bring change to the American journalism landscape, but it is a sobering example of how things can go wrong from one day to the next. Reporters always know that they're on probation, that every story they write and submit carries the weight of the newspaper's reputation. It doesn't take much for an editor to say you blew it and so you shall pay the price. Usually, that means quick dismissal.

In the British case, it was overzealous editors and managers wanting to gain influential power over celebrities and politicians. Newspapers of old used to have the ammo and the resources to aid or sink any would-be elected official. If it wanted to, a newspaper would dispatch its reporter forces against a candidate it felt was not the one it wanted. Conversely, it would laud and use kid gloves on a candidate it did like. Examples of that unwritten philosophy can be found in the U.S. The Dallas Morning News favors the conservative crowd; the Village Voice in New York stands largely on a bit more liberal ground. The Washington Post is fair; the Washington Times is Far Right. The Boston Globe is fair; The Boston Herald is a Republican drum.

That is known and understood by most experienced reporters. You sign up with an outfit and things are said to you so that the mission is made clear. Still, the stories have to be objective, although that in itself is a mirage. reporters cover their bases, but there are ways to steep a story to one side or the other. The publications define themselves, as well. The New York Post is a sensationalist tabloid. It is owned by Rupert Murdoch's media company.

In a way, all print enterprises were stained by the illegal doings of Rupert Murdoch's crowd in London. The press has taken a beating for a decade. Major newspapers in this country have seen their fortunes drop, and on that list is included The Los Angeles Times. Things have changed. The Internet has been a huge entry into the dissemination of news and information. Any monkey can now start a Blog and believe himself to be a newsman.

The other aspect of the Murdoch mess that is more troubling is the injection of the politicians into that particular story. Parliament summoned Murdoch and his son and one of his senior editors to answer questions about the phone hacking, payoffs and bribes it used to conduct business. It has only begun. There are rumblings that Murdoch's American enterprises, including the disgraceful Fox News, may eventually be snared in the probe.

Government intrusion into the role of the press is never good.

Here, however, the British government is after violators of the law. Murdoch has paid millions to assuage people whose reputations his tabloid - the now-defunct News of The World - damaged. Revelations about the extent of the illegality have been stunning. Phone tappings of survivors of English casualties in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were shocking, as was the case of the hacking of a cellular telephone belonging to a teen-age girl who disappeared and was later found dead. In that case, authorities allege employees of News Corp. hacked the girl's phone's cell messages and deleted some, giving police and her family hope that she was still alive if, they hoped, she, herself, was clearing messages off her phone. She wasn't. The News of The World merely wanted to hype the story of her plight and thus keep the story alive, which, as could be expected, helped newspaper sales.

It is a story still too young to see any sort of clear ending.

Murdoch stands to lose big, and he and his son and his senior managers may yet face charges in this country.

Fittingly perhaps, since this is Murdoch, the tale grows sensationally by the day...

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For Earth, A Moment In Time...

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
The Paz Files

We live in a troubled world at a troubled time. Much is expected of today's citizen. Much comes his way and much is asked. It is a time for action and a time for general discourse.

We shall strive to bring you timely news and information related to those things breaking across the planet, from the economic to the political. We will not write about fires or car accidents or local bureaucratic messes.

For the most part, this site will focus on the larger essence of our existence.

We trust that you will join us on this particular journey. Also being availed is a comments feature at the bottom of each post, which we hope you will use to offer your thoughts and opinions. It is part of being a citizen. One cannot merely climb aboard the train and simply sit back and watch the scenery pass by. Not today.

So have your say.

It is needed...

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