Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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I could never be talked into sending my daughter on a cross-country trip with a stranger. Or worse, with an acquaintance I couldn’t trust because of a history of dangerous or unethical behavior. If I did, and something tragic happened, how could I live with the guilt? I know better. For this same reason, I would never entrust anything I value to government’s control. Government has a history, stretching back thousands of years, of dangerous and unethical behavior. I can...
Someday you may have to stand up for something you know is right, or against something you know is wrong, when it appears the whole world is against you. You may not believe you’d change your position in that situation. There was a social experiment where test subjects were told to choose, from among three choices, a line that was the same length as another line. The experiment was designed so the correct answer was obvious. Only one person in the group was actually a test s...
“War is a racket.” — Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler I’m not a good subject for war propaganda. I see the atrocities committed on all sides, going back through history. I also can’t ignore or accept civilian casualties -- “collateral damage” -- under any circumstances. It’s non-negotiable. One innocent person harmed means you’ve done wrong, no matter what justification you use. Blame politicians, not populations. I condemn any new attack, but there’s no such thing as an...
Someone recently asked me if the "government shutdown" had happened yet, and I didn't know. I didn't care enough to find out at the time. Later I learned, purely by accident, that Congress had delayed it for a month and a half with some procedural hijinks. Instead of doing the responsible thing and shutting it all down, they kicked the can down the road. Calling it a "shutdown" is dishonest, anyway. The truly harmful parts of the federal government -- the FBI, CIA, other...
I value liberty -- the freedom to exercise my rights -- enough to leave you alone to exercise your rights. I respect your liberty as much as I value my own. It shocks me to realize how many people don’t do the same. Instead, I see people who want so badly to control what other people are allowed to do that they eagerly sacrifice their own liberty in order to give government the power to govern others. To me, this seems insane and self-destructive. How can people be so a...
Politics changes hearts and minds. Not in a good way. The more partisan the politics, the worse the obvious damage. Politics brainwashes people. It drives reasoned thought right out of the human brain. Being too political doesn't do good things to your emotions, either. I try to warn people of this danger, whether they want to hear it or not. They usually don't want to. A mind damaged by politics can lead the victim to say things like "If you don't support my politician you...
Political crimes aren't like ordinary crimes. They are worse. They are also outside the "innocent until proven guilty" standard, which applies to most other crimes; crimes committed by people without political power. With an ordinary crime, you often have to figure out whether any crime was committed at all. Maybe it was an accident or a natural occurrence. Then, if it is discovered there was a crime, you have to try to find out who committed it. This isn't how political...
I saw firsthand the fear and confusion some employees of the Clovis Walmart felt after their store burned. These are our friends, family, and neighbors just trying to earn money to pay their bills; suddenly the rug was pulled out from under them through no fault of their own. The company has stepped up, under difficult circumstances, to do what they can for the employees. This is appreciated. My family, like so many others in the area, has been directly affected by this fire....
When it’s important, when it’s life and death, when it matters most — that’s precisely when you don’t need government involved. This is when you don’t need politicians and bureaucrats dictating a one-size-fits-all standard, backed with the threat of violence. This is when government power is most dangerous to society. I’m not only talking about unusual or emergency situations. The same applies to ordinary everyday matters, which are important for your health, safety, and gener...
Any time a court sides with a government employee, giving government more power over your life, liberty dies a little. There isn’t much liberty to spare; the last remnants are circling the drain, washed down with public apathy. Or approval. Such is the case with the recent Supreme Court of New Mexico ruling that allowed a police officer to question a vehicle passenger -- a suspected thief. You may approve of the officer’s actions, but it isn’t good for your future right...
If you depend on government -- or anyone else -- to save you from danger, you’re risking your life unnecessarily. The tragic wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui are awful beyond words. I hate when horrible things happen to people who are just going about their lives. Unfortunately, the fires were probably far more deadly than they would have otherwise been because too many people have been conditioned to be dependent on someone else to tell them when they are in danger a...
A good idea is a good idea even if it comes from the worst person on Earth. Good ideas can come from both the political right and left; conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats. When anyone on either side has a good idea I’m happy to agree with them. I’m just as eager to disagree with the bad ideas either side offers. Respecting everyone’s equal and identical rights, no matter who they are, is the best idea humans have ever had. Both political sides wade caref...
Do you ever get a tune stuck in your head; playing on a loop in your mind whether you want it to or not? Hopefully, it’s something you enjoy. For me, the sound of “liberty” is always playing in the background. Besides being something I love, it drowns out the competing songs of “safety,” “victimhood,” and “nationalism.” Those who hear those alternate songs can’t usually hear “liberty.” At best, they’ll hear the cheap substitute, “freedom”* (*void where prohibited). I try to r...
“Government is not reason, it is not eloquence - it is force! Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.” This quote is often attributed to George Washington, but scholars insist he never said it. Scholars consistently fact-check away intelligent quotes that support liberty. The most accurate quips and observations are usually denied as ever having been said. That’s too bad; if Washington had said...
If you don’t understand, love, or want liberty -- fine. If you’d prefer having powerful governments take most of your money, tell you what you are allowed to do, and watch your every move, go for it. It’s not my place to deprive you of what you want. I draw the line when you don’t return the consideration. When you say I am required to live under your conditions when I don’t place the same constraints on you. When you are willing to throw people in a cage for preferrin...
You’ve probably been told you should try to make a difference in the world. This is stated, especially to the young, as if it were undeniably true. Who pauses to clarify that it’s vital to make the right difference? Before you try to make a difference you need to think about whether the difference you want to make would be helpful. Every mass-murdering head of state has unquestionably made a difference. Millions dead, and millions more enslaved to an authoritarian gov...
Sometimes the ignorance and childishness of those living among us shocks me. It probably shouldn’t after this many years of life, but it still can. I don’t believe the phrase “hate crime” has any real meaning. It means whatever those who use it want it to mean; to serve a purpose they want served. It’s a government fiction used to justify extra punishments -- in other words, additional revenge. Some things called “hate crimes” aren’t even actual crimes at all. An act has to b...
I miss Independence Day. Independence Day was once a celebration of liberty; a tribute to revolution, insurrection, and secession. It has mutated into a day to worship government and its employees. It has become a parody of itself. Maybe this is why it is more commonly known today as “the Fourth of July.” This downplays its anti-government roots and dismisses independence. Of course, most of this happened before I was born, so what I miss is the idea of an Independence Day I’v...
It frustrates me that we so often allow the worst people among us to dictate how we live our lives. We arrange society according to their whims and behavior. I’m not only speaking of traditional politicians but of freelance bad guys like those who caused the Draggin’ Main “Saturday Night Cruise” event to shut down early. Recently, a shooting incident between motorcycle gang criminals in Red River caused officials there to end their Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally e...
I’m no fan of former President Donald Trump. I’m also no fan of those who keep trying to prosecute him. It’s a stale rerun no one cares about; no one other than those who keep trying to sell it as something new. It’s past time to move on. They won’t. Is it an obsession or a vendetta? It appears to be both. His main crime, of course, is keeping their Anointed One -- Hillary Clinton -- out of the White House. Even if they deny it, I’ll always believe this is why they can’t...
I need more money. I think it’s time I raise my debt ceiling. The creditors get no vote. I’ll still be broke, but as long as I can spend someone else’s money I won’t notice. I’m accustomed to a certain standard of living and it would be unreasonable to expect me to be more responsible with my spending. After all, people make demands of me and I can’t just say no. There might be unpleasant consequences! So every year or so I’ll increase the amount of debt I allow myself to be...
I oppose allowing tornadoes to terrorize people and destroy property. Think of the children! Any politician who doesn’t support common sense weather regulation has blood on his hands. Politicians must pass a law saying tornadoes are not permitted within city limits, but only in rural areas without structures, crops, or livestock and strictly between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. That should fix it, or at least be a good first step toward banning them entirely. Then, when p...
It’s going to take either climate change or a technological breakthrough to keep this region livable, as far as water is concerned. Drilling more wells into a shrinking aquifer or relying on pipelines connected to vulnerable reservoirs, which in turn depend on unreliable precipitation, isn’t a viable long-term strategy. Neither approach is a solution; only a temporary patch. Maybe patching the problem can get us far enough into the future for a proper solution to be fou...
The reality of not being trapped in the Republican/Democrat quicksand is that everything you say will upset one side or the other. Sometimes both. The side you upset will automatically assume you align with the other side. This is because they can’t see another option. Their range of possibilities has been pruned to nothingness. It’s like believing every movie has to be either a Star Wars movie or a Marvel superhero movie; allowing no other option to be considered. If thi...
There is a common weapon of mass murder on our streets; nearly everyone has at least one sitting around. They’ve probably been used to kill more people in total than any other weapon. They are routinely left in yards, on the streets, and scattered around town; unattended and often unlocked. One was used to kill my older daughter. Knowing this, do I believe they should be banned or regulated? No, because I’m not an idiot. I’m talking about cars. The argument to ban guns or mo...
