Special Announcement!!!

The LionStar Blog is moving!!!

Click here (http://www.thelionstarblog.com/ls/register.cfm) if you’d like to register for an email notification of when the NEW LionStar Blog site is launched.

The new site will allow source documents, audio files, pics, and video files to be posted. In addition to the same great stuff we’ve been bringing you, we are beginning a weekly PODCAST that will be available on the new site! You can listen to it on the site or download it and listen to it at your leisure. Feel free to rip it off and share it with your friends!!!

Until then, we will still continue to post new blog entries here. The old content will continue to be available here once the new site is launched, but will also be available on the new site.

If you don’t want the email notification, keep an eye-out for a formal announcement on this site once the new one is launched.

Sorry for the delay, we initially announced the coming change a while back, but this virus thing was a real set back. Thanks for reading and all of your support!

Fix the Toilets at Ascarate Park Today!

It almost sounds like a punchline to a joke. I can imagine Jay Leno using it in his monologue if he ever did a live show from El Paso.

Jay Leno: Boy the restrooms at Ascarate Park are really bad!

Audience: How bad are they?

Jay Leno: They are so bad that the county is bringing in port-a-potties as an improvement!!!

Okay, maybe it would’ve been a bad joke. But the point is that you just can’t make this stuff up. The restrooms are so bad that port-a-potties are seen as the cleaner alternative!

The restrooms didn’t get in the shape they are over night! This is something that has been allowed to happen for a long time. Ascarate is one of the great treasures of El Paso and the conditions of the restrooms there is a disgrace to us all. We should never have let it get that way and we should act faster to fix the problem.

No running water, toilets don’t function, and no doors on the stalls. So the band aid solution is to put in port-o-potties. If you saw the news footage of the ones being put in, you’ll notice they weren’t even new port-o-potties. They were older ones, probably well-tagged by now. I’ll look into it further, but there are nicer models available that are ADA compliant that could be used at the park.

A long-term solution needs to be developed and implemented immediately. Remember that it’s getting hotter by the day and use of a port-o-pottie and it’s contents baking in the hot west Texas sun will quickly make the port-o-potties a waste of money because they will not get the use the county paid for.

Lets make this right.

The LionStar Visits with Sito Negron on KHRO 1650am

I had a chance to be a guest on Music & Politics with Sito Negron on 1650am Wednesday morning. A big thanks to Sito for having me on and recognizing the importance of discussing blogs, their influence, and their place on the internet.

 

With the departure of Barbara Perez there has been a lot of chatter on the internet and on the other talk shows as to the reason why she left. During the chatter and discussion, the subject of blogs arose. Being a fairly prolific blogger myself, I thought I’d spend some time with Sito (editor of NewsPaper Tree found at www.NewsPaperTree.com) talking about the phenomenon of blogging.

 

Just to give you some background, blogging started in the mid to late 1990’s. The term web log was coined in 1997 by a guy named Jorn Barger. Another guy, Peter Merholz, shortened the term to blog, shortly thereafter. Originally it was a log of visitors to a website or a list of websites visited, depending on the usage and was primarily unique to the geek community.

 

But the concept of what we now call a “blog” has developed simultaneously throughout the digital world from people that used the concept of a weblog to create an online diary or journal. Being the voyeuristic culture that we are, more and more people started to read the online journals and eventually wanted to participate themselves.

 

This led to what is now the most explosive amount of information since the creation of the internet. Everyone wants to put their thoughts, feelings, opinions, and ideas on the internet, including yours truly.

 

But one of the greatest assets of a blog is also its greatest weakness…blogs are raw and unfiltered. Its like any conversation. Discussion is great and important, but sometimes raw and unfiltered discussion can be controversial, hurt feelings, or create dissention. Sometimes they can inform, motivate, entertain, and inspire.

 

But like any discussion, it is a two way street. Both parties have a certain level of responsibility. If the reader doesn’t like what’s being written, they can send a message to the author by not visiting the site any longer. Bloggers or Bloggists (“Blogger” is the name of an actual blogging platform so people are migrating away from that term) have a responsibility to maintain a certain level of responsibility and credibility with their readers. If they don’t, they lose their readers.

 

It’s a lot like talk radio. People notice the crazies or controversial at first, but it’s the people that have credibility with their audience, and the biggest audience, that end up sticking around. And like talk-radio, it is NOT meant to be a news source. Both talk shows and blogs contain information and are good sources for information but are largely editorial in nature. You will get strong opinions in both places. In fact, sometimes stuff breaks on talk radio and blogs. But you should know what you are getting into when you go to a blog.

 

There are a lot of legitimate criticisms about the blogging phenomenon and with specific blogs, including my own. My blog is not, nor do I assert it to be, perfect. But what I can’t stand is to hear people paint all blogs with a broad brush. I hate statements like blogs are trash, or they aren’t worth reading. That’s elitist talk, similar to saying that someone’s opinion is trash or not worth hearing.

 

If you have a bad experience with a restaurant you will do one of three things, a) nothing, b) complain, c) never go back to that restaurant. But most people won’t stop going to restaurants entirely. Most people won’t say all restaurants are trash or not worth visiting. Their criticism, valid or otherwise, will be directed at a specific restaurant. Some people will like the food, some people will hate it. The restaurant’s survival depends on whether they can have enough regular business to sustain the effort.

 

That’s a lot like blogging. The crazies and controversial get noticed, but the ones that stick around are the ones that build credibility with their audience. They entertain and inform, just like talk radio. They satisfy a hunger and craving just like a restaurant.

 

Blogging & Message Boards – There is a Difference

 

A blog is usually a single, or very few authors, and is based on posts. A post is usually an article-style or article-length piece written on any subject.

 

A message board is a little different. A message board is a place where there is more discussion involving several users simultaneously. The discussion is usually more wide open because there are more people in the room as it were, and the conversation is usually based on a “thread”. You can go into one thread, read what’s going on, join the conversation, and then go check out another thread. A great example is the forum hosted by local talk radio giant, Paul Strelzin (www.TheStrelz.com). There are a couple of crazies there, but for the most part, it is a great exchange of some of the most in-the-know people in El Paso. I know for a fact that there are a lot of elected officials, media personalities, and powers that be, that check it out. They don’t always post something, but trust me when I tell you, they are watching.

 

A little creepy now that I think about it…

 

Picture it this way, a blog is like a conversation between two or three people. Like a radio talk show that has a host, maybe a guest or two and one caller at a time. A message board is like a mixer. Several people all talking at the same time, in different groups, about a range of issues.

 

They are different and it’s important that people understand that crucial point.

 

Anonymity in Blogging, Message Boards, & Letters

 

One of the biggest criticisms of blogging and message boards is anonymity. Some people say that it is cowardly that posts can be written using a fictitious identity or screen name.

 

I think that to some degree, that is a valid criticism, but I must say that most posters on forums like the Strelz post responsibly. It’s pretty well self-policed by the users. Trust me, we have no problem challenging one another!

 

It’s also easier to be more candid about things when you don’t have to fear reprisal. That’s not being a coward. Reality, especially in a small town like El Paso with several political cliques, you almost have to sometimes.

 

But that kind of practice isn’t something new in this country. Many of our founding fathers were world-class ghost writers and spent a lot of time writing under a pseudonym. Ben Franklin wrote as Mrs. Silence Dogood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silence_Dogood) Google it or check out any middle school history book and you’ll be amazed. These guys, some of whom are now on our currency, often hated each other’s guts and wrote some really personal shots. Most of the time, they saved their best stuff for good ole’ King George.

 

Although the El Paso Times doesn’t publish anonymous letters to the Editor, I know that it’s a pretty easy thing to do if you want to have a letter published under a different name. Whenever I’ve had a letter published, all I had to do was fill out a form online, enter my name, email address, and phone number and that’s it. Seems like it’d be pretty easy task to make up a fake name, creating a new email account takes about five minutes, and you’d only have to remember the name you used when the Times calls to verify. So if someone wanted to hide their identity when writing a letter to the Editor, it’s not like its rocket science or something.

 

Owning Your Words

 

If you author a blog, you have to be responsible for your words. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have to say what you think or feel. It just means you have to be prepared for the consequences, and I am okay with that. If you talk about someone in your blog and they don’t like it, expect a nasty phone call, email, or cold shoulder. You probably won’t be on their Christmas card list anymore either.

 

The thing about my blog is that it can get pretty rough here, I know. But I don’t write ANYTHING that I wouldn’t say to someone’s FACE. I might be many things, but a chicken shit isn’t one of them. Anyone who knows me if well aware of the fact that I have no problem telling an elected official, candidate, off-spring of a candidate, political operative, board member, radio show host, department head, lobbyist, party hack or even my parish priest (sorry Father Leo) exactly what I think.

 

It’s cost me my job and affected my career, but you have to brave enough to speak truth to power.

 

Rant About Courage (Not really related to the rest of this post)

 

Maybe I took it a little too personal on the radio on Wednesday, but I have a problem with people calling in and insinuating that someone is a coward because they “hide” behind a screen name. I proudly served my country for seven years and did two combat tours before I was old enough to buy a beer. I’m not saying I am some kind of superhero, just that I did my part for God and Country. I was scared out of my ass in combat. I did my job and probably even cried afterward if I remember right. So having survived that, I am not in the least bit scared of writing my blog, hurting someone’s little feelings, or getting a political payback (okay, maybe payback worries me a little).

 

Getting Back to Restaurants & Talk Radio

 

Visiting a restaurant is voluntary, no one forces you and your life doesn’t depend on it. Neither is going to a blog.

 

But just like selecting your favorite restaurant or talk radio show, it’s all about trial and error. You like some right away, you hate some right away, others grow on you after a while.

 

At any rate, El Paso has some of the best restaurants, talk radio shows, and blogs around. Sample as many as you can.

 

Buen Provecho.

Danny Anchondo Playing Both Sides of the Fence?

I received a letter from the local President of the El Pasoans for Hillary Club. There was one interesting section that I thought I’d share with you all.

Judge Williams and Mr. Anchondo recently appeared (can you say appeared when talking about a radio show?) on the El Paso on the Move Weekend Edition with Hector Montes (http://www.khro1650.com/). During the show, Mr. Williams remarked, on more than one occasion, that Mr. Anchondo discussed how to award the at-large delegates. Mr. Williams characterized the conversation as Mr. Anchondo AGREEING with him that the proper way to award the remaining delegats would be to award them in a way that would balance out the delegation to roughly a 75-25 split.

Mr. Anchondo did not disagree with, dispute, or challenge that characterization by Mr. Williams.

Interestingly, in the letter sent from the President of El Pasoans for Hillary to the Hillary Delegates, the author states:

As you might already know, Obama’s supporters are challenging our status as delegates to the state convention. Many of you have contacted me recently to get clarity on this issue and to organize. Mr. Anchondo, the County Democratic Chair, will be mailing all delegates very soon an explanation of the status of our delegation.

The most interesting part to me is this:

What he has indicated is that Mr. Williams misinterpreted his comments at the convention to be supporting Mr. Williams argument, and that the challenge is just that, a challenge.

So this leaves me wondering. Is Mr. Anchondo playing both sides of the fence on this one? If Mr. Williams did infact misinterpret his comments, why didn’t Anchondo say anything during the show and why hasn’t he said anything since? He was on the radio again yesterday on Fernie the Attorney Show and had another chance to set the record straight but he remained silent on the issue.

I’d really like to know what the real story is.