What Would Touchdown Jesus Do?

When the University of Connecticut kicked that game-winning field goal -- sending the University of Miami and Notre Dame to the Sun Bowl -- it was as if God (only one god) had blessed the Sun City. A football matchup for the ages that stood up to any of the BCS blockbusters. Wow, the Fighting Irish finally in the Sun Bowl, El Paso's baby.
 So, it was no surprise that the Cathedral High School Fighting Irish were gushing like a little girls. And in no time, the community was invited to the Cathedral Fighting Irish Sun Bowl Menudo Breakfast, the enchilada dinner, chicharrones and the tacos de nopal sale.
There was even a Mass celebrated at St. Patrick in honor of the game and El Paso's Irish fans. I remember seeing pictures of people sitting in the pews, rockin' the gear during Mass. Amen.
The high school is in the heart of El Paso, right there on old Stanton Street. It's celebrating its 85th anniversary this year and has some big plans, including an appearance by Henry Cisneros, who was mayor of San Antonio and a member of President Bill Clinton's cabinet. It's gonna be a party ($100 a plate).
And to top it off, the school will have to get a new mascot and logo. The University of Notre Dame has asked Cathedral High School to stop using its leprechaun logo and to stop calling themselves the Fighting Irish. Citing a trademark violation, La Cate,, is, well, shit out of luck. It's hard to believe, since both are Catholic schools. I'm sure they teach sharing and aren't they brothers? If you think about it, maybe Cathedral could have tweaked the logo just bit. ...

Above is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish logo, and below it is the Cathedral's.

 Pues, no wonder.

They're gonna cut your pipis off

Texas state Reps. Marisa Marquez and Naomi Gonzalez, a pair of El Paso Democrats, knew their proposed amendment to a House sonogram bill (HB 15) would not be adopted. Under the bill, women who want to get an abortion will have to take a sonogram a whole day before the abortion, and the doctor will allow the woman to hear the fetus's heartbeat and get an full explanation of the sonogram. But Marquez and Gonzalez, who believe that because men are equally responsible for the pregnancy, said men should undergo a vasectomy. A VA-SEC-TOMY. According to an article in Friday's El Paso Times, the woman would be allowed to seek a court order "mandating a vasectomy on the unmarried man who got her pregnant." The woman, though, would have to agree to not have the abortion, and the man would have had to have "fathered at least two children with different women out of wedlock." And you know who you are, cabrones.
Point taken Rep. Gonzalez and Rep. Marquez, thank you. Even though the proposal was struck down in Republican-led House, it certainly got our beloved legislators talking -- and laughing. Times reporter Zahira Torres described the scene as "rare light-hearted moment." I can just picture them -- the men of Texas -- spilling out of their chairs while slamming their fists on the desk and wiggling their Lucchese boots in the air. State Rep. Sid Miller, a Republican from Stephenville, Texas, even cracked a joke. Leading with constituents' concerns about budget cuts and all the budget cuts being proposed, he told the Times he's, "going to draw the line at this point and say no more cuts." Oh Sid, any way you slice it.

Even though I applaud our state representatives, I have to wonder what would happen if the proposal did pass (I do so as I cover my mid-section and fall into the fetal position). Anyway, it certainly gets us thinking about lawmakers trying to decide what we do with our bodies and our doctors.
On Friday, the House voted in favor of the sonogram bill, a whopping 103-42. And they did so without any of the provisions one would expect. That means women who are victims of rape and incest would have to undergo the sonogram, too. The state Senate's version of the bill exempts women in these cases.

Welcome to my world

Hi everybody, and welcome to what is technically my second blog. During a recent class, we were asked to create an education blog. I really liked it and thought I could do so much more than be annoying, you know, like posting the  "Quote of the Day." On Facebook, I really refrain from saying what I'm thinking. I guess I just don't want to be "that guy." But I know some of you actually like me, and hopefully you'll appreciate what I have to say. I went to school to be a writer, and I haven't written anything in years. It's kinda sad there on the copy desk sometimes. If you ever find yourself there, you'll learn that you're surrounded by the smartest people in the newsroom. I don't think we're as liked by the reporters, photographers and editors as you would think. They make us laugh, though.
We were once asked to pitch blog or column ideas, I think (I might be making that up). I thought how cool it would be to do some sort of newspaper insider blog. Then, the guy in the corner office started doing something similar, though he'd rather talk about himself. In the blog, I would have discussed how we came up with certain headlines, why we chose the photos we did, or the other hundreds stories that don't make the paper (roasted bear, anyone?). Alas, we just ended up getting more pages to do, and instead we hold these venting sessions late at night when no one is there -- just the copy editors and the web person, or whatever they're called.
Anyway, welcome. I hope to give you insight into the world of The Desk, and other things that take place on the West Side, Central and Lower Valley. Yeah, I know.