BROWNSVILLE

These are some random thoughts about Brownsville as I sit in an Austin bar drinking a glass of wine. The Third World Capital of the United States has never had leaders with vision as it has flowed straight downhill into the Rio Grande.

The Port of Brownsville is selling its soul (Does it have a soul?) to the refineries. The marriage of the Beauty and the Beast was a fairy tale. Why would we want to ruin our tourism industry by flirting with both an ecological and aesthetic disaster? But the port is no better than a Market Square whore. The entity will perform any perverted act for a buck.

The Brownsville Independent School District finds itself in a deep hole. According to credible sources, the board wants to elevate the terminated fire chief to the presidency. Recently jailed and accused of theft and double-dipping after he cheated on a test in order to become fire chief, he is the perfect role model for our students. But we should never forget that St. Joe graduates specialize in breaking rather than obeying the commandments.

As long as our current county judge remains in power, then the corrupt, incompetent and contemptible Cameron County Democratic Party will continue to exploit the ignorant and impoverished masses of South Texas. How is it possible that our leaders have allowed the utility company to make our county judge a millionaire as the board's newly appointed lawyer by raising utility rates while he lies about another $500 million boondoggle that benefits the insiders at the expense of the general public?

The city commission should make the revitalization of downtown their number one priority. They must force the economic development corporation, financed by the taxpayer, to subsidize a major bar & grill as a downtown anchor.

The Brownsville Herald represents nothing. Stop buying it. Read a few paragraphs on-line. It has no commitment to the truth. The entire editorial staff lives in fear of their own shadows. Any self-respecting journalist would no longer write if he or she were condemned to reporting for the dying daily.

There is a glimmer of hope that our institutions are capable of meeting the needs of the common man. Texas Southmost College is rising from the ashes. The terminated president did her best to destroy higher education in Brownsville, but el pueblo rose and saved the junior college.

Will la raza ever rise and save Brownsville? Will a Brownsville football team ever win a state championship? Do our undersized Hispanics have a chance against the bullying Anglos? Our reality is bleak at best.