Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
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OK, my fellow Republicans, you got rid of Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Eight of you joined with every Democrat in the House of Representatives – the only part of the federal government we control – to vote McCarthy out, 216-210. In the process you threw the House into chaos, killed any hope of passing important bills anytime soon and made yourselves the laughing stock of the political world. OK, so you made history. Now what’s your plan? And where is it? What? You have no plan? You don’t even know who you’ll replace McCarthy with yet? Many Repu...
Besides specific holidays, October is designated as the month of remembrance for many things. Likely, we all have special memories in October; some glad, some sad. For me, the month includes several special events – starting my first job after college, quitting smoking before my first child’s birth, my first date with Lisa, going to the Balloon Fiesta, and the births of Lisa’s mother and daughter (on the same day of the month) and my first granddaughter. Some memories should be kept; others are best forgotten. For example, because love keeps...
Is libertarian political philosophy compatible with Christian faith? There are evangelical leaders who would say it is not. These tend to be cheerleaders for one party in our current system. I’m jaded enough to believe the real danger they see is that a Libertarian Party candidate might siphon votes from their favorite lesser-of-two-evils. In fact, I’m convinced that libertarian economic philosophy is the only one advocated in the Bible. It rises directly from its pages. Outrageous, you say? Here are three ways the Bible may be pushing you in...
I had a Charlie (Broz) moment this past week; a few of them actually. I am a mad scientist baker. I see new photos and I take them as personal challenges. Most times, that works out just fine. Not the same with cooking. A few days ago, I decided to try a new Mediterranean chicken dish. It was sort of a jacked-up cacciatore thing with some fancy spices. The photo was beautiful. I thought this was something I could make without setting the oven on fire. I mostly followed the recipe and was rather surprised it came out so well. Without skipping a...
Sweats and a hoodie on the U.S. Senate floor? Well, why not? Why not, I mean, a dress code for the U.S. Senate appropriate to the present habits and pastimes of the, ahem, world’s greatest deliberative body? We know, I assume, how the Senate’s Democratic majority leader, Charles Schumer, put the matter the other day. He instructed the sergeant-at-arms to cease enforcing an unwritten rule prescribing business dress on the Senate floor — suits, neckties and all that stuff. And dresses or pantsuits for women members. “Senators are able to choose...
Those of us who work in academia understand that academic freedom represents the cornerstone of successful colleges and universities. It epitomizes the right of freedom to teach, discuss, engage in research and freely publish your findings. It also means the ability to dictate one’s own teaching and scholarship agenda, the security of academic positions and shared governance to ensure independence. Despite such facts, the mission of academic freedom is under severe attack from varied quarters, resulting in ominous and potentially dangerous t...
From the first dumb question to the abrupt ending that caught everyone by surprise, the GOP presidential primary debate produced by the Fox Business channel was a total disaster. I know. I was there Wednesday night – in Row 5 of the Air Force One pavilion in the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, Calif. At the beginning of the debate it was a special treat to see and hear the praise that the Fox people bestowed on my father, his historic accomplishments and his strong and personable brand of conservatism. But from then on it was all downhill...
My wife approves my church attire. Recently, having picked out everything but a shirt, I asked what shirt to wear, to which she replied, “Cream.” As we loaded to go to church, she said my shirt was white instead of cream. I held something white against it and it certainly looked white. Shortly after we turned east into the sun, I noticed that the shirt was clearly cream-colored. So, I exclaimed, “Hey, when light is shed on any subject, the truth comes out!” Light is critical for many things. Light was the second act of creation after the ear...
This has been a pretty good month for interaction with readers … A sampling: Ron Mask read a report in the Quay County Sun that New Mexico State’s interim president has decided this “is not a good time” for a merger with Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari. This pleases Mask, who prefers Mesalands link up with Eastern New Mexico University in Portales. “NMSU's decision is heaven sent,” he wrote in an email. “ENMU is a much more logical partner for Mesalands Community College students who wish to further their education at a four-year sch...
Get your popcorn ready, because a gut-wrenching level of drama has gripped the House of Representatives. To quote Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, “The Republican party is currently in a civil war.” Speaker Kevin McCarthy slid over to a lectern and called for an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden. After rabidly weaponizing the term “corruption,” he turned around and walked away, assuming he had performed another crucial task required of him, regardless of how absurd this effort was in his attempt to retain his tenuous...
The idea of a “universal basic income” has been around a long time. Most supporters are broadly on the left of the political spectrum, but many conservative thought leaders, including Charles Murray as well as Reagan officials like James Baker and George Schultz, have also been willing to consider the idea. The idea behind UBI is simple: replace welfare payments to the poor with cash payments to empower the poor to manage their government benefits. Welfare programs have a bunch of hoops and phase-outs that can often disincentivize going fro...
In the first line of the book, we find out that God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning. It’s a pretty big book, and a lot of stuff follows that. None of it could happen, though, if that first bit didn’t. The Bible unfolds in actual time and history. The reality it describes is the objective one we live in. God created the heavens and earth. This is not an illusion. Without that truth, all bets are off. You are reading these words with your eyes. But are you really? How can you be sure that you’re not a brain in a vat somewhere,...
Have you ever Googled yourself? Mostly you don’t find yourself. David Stevens has over 35 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry. David Stevens is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Highly skilled 168-pounder David Stevens scored a wild last-second KO of Sean Hemphill in January. None of those David Stevens are me. There’s a David Stevens on a wrestling roster, a David Stevens on a football roster, a lawyer named David Stevens who specializes in bankruptcy, a David Ste...
Malcolm X said it best in a 1962 speech: “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is a black woman…” More than 60 years later, these words still ring true. Recently, it’s an apt description as it relates to footage of a horrific incident that occurred recently in Houston. Ro Bashe, a Somali immigrant, took to social media to show viewers her badly injured face. Bashe said a man hit her with a brick and then ran away. The reason...
Thank God for Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana. I wish every major television and radio network in the country had covered what the smart and colorful Republican did in the Senate last week. As part of a hearing looking into the alleged threat to freedom posed by parents who want to have sexually explicit gay and trans books removed from their school libraries, Kennedy bravely quoted some choice excerpts from two of the books. While he read out loud from “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Gender Queer,” every adult in the room with a brain and a lic...
This past Monday was Patriot Day. Like Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Sept. 11, 2001, is a day to remember attacks on U.S. soil that led to a massive loss of American lives (2,403 at Pearl Harbor and 2,977 on 9/11) and got us into a war. Unlike World War II, after which we made real peace with our attackers, we never should consider peace with terrorists such as those behind the 9/11 attack. Rather, we must protect ourselves even to the point of personal inconvenience for the good of all and always be on the alert for more attacks. Terrorism is...
New Mexico’s governor last week issued an “emergency health order” that bans firearms in all public places in Albuquerque. The only people exempt from the ban are police and security officers. And criminals, of course. Criminals don’t follow laws, so this nonsense does not apply to them either. Michelle Lujan Grisham herself said she expects opposition from those who care about liberty and the U.S. Constitution. She was right. New Mexico’s House and Senate Republicans immediately announced plans to file a federal lawsuit. “It is unacceptable th...
It appears some Republican donors are really concerned that presidential candidate Tim Scott, South Carolina’s junior senator, is a 57-year-old bachelor — and whatever implications that may entail. Top party donors are raising concerns about the fact the conservative Black senator has never been married. and want some of their concerns about the matter addressed before they decide to become committed to his candidacy, according to Axios. Scott has never been known to talk about his romantic life. Apparently, his reluctance has “raised conce...
Almost 100 years ago the great American author Sinclair Lewis wrote a political novel called “It Can’t Happen Here.” The 1935 book was a warning that what was happening then in Europe – the rise of fascism and Nazism – could come to America in the form of a Hitler-type politician who gets elected and then becomes a dictator. Though the power of the federal government has grown enormously since FDR’s days, we never became a totalitarian country like the fictional one Lewis imagined. But out here in California, where parents, public schools and...
The brilliant man in the video was asked whether he believed in God. He said the amount of suffering he sees in the world makes it hard for him to believe in a God who is good and loving. This is a common argument among skeptics. Suffering is bad, so God must not be good. He’s either too weak to do anything about it or unconcerned with it. For an atheist to make the whole suffering argument, however, is inconsistent with atheism, which can have no objective morality. He doesn’t believe in God, but he’s somehow confident that suffering is bad....
We don’t always end up where we think we’ll be when we start out on our journey. For some, the journey is straightforward. I think about the people in my life who knew what they wanted to do and be, and then set out to make it happen. For others, myself included, there were more twists and turns than the normal straightaway. It isn’t just that plans change, but that we change. Or our situations change. Or we discover what we thought we wanted, just didn’t work for us. Or it just took longer to find our path. Everyone has a special bit of work...
In May 2005, a federal committee charged with reducing the nation’s military installations recommended that Cannon Air Force Base be closed. Local, state and federal lawmakers joined the community to rally behind the base in hopes of saving it. Area residents wrote hundreds of letters and thousands lined the streets of the city when the federal Base Closure and Realignment Committee came to town for a public hearing. If the local efforts had a vocal leader, his name was Bill Richardson. New Mexico’s governor never claimed he saved Cannon, but...
After whipping themselves into a frenzy, conservatives have tried to do a rapid U-turn of their embrace of YouTube sensation Oliver Anthony and his hit song, “Rich Men North of Richmond.” The flip-flop comes after Anthony (real name Christopher Anthony Lunsford) derided Republican politicians, radio hosts, and conservative news outlets for brazenly adopting his song. “It was funny seeing that (Republican) presidential debate,” Anthony said. “I wrote that song about those people.” The tune, which Anthony uploaded to YouTube last month, had...
Seriously folks. Maybe we Republicans better stop banging on Old Joe Biden for the serious cognitive issues he obviously has. Unless we hold the players on our own team responsible for their cognitive issues, we have to stop harping on the obvious mental declines of President Biden, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Diane Feinstein, my home state’s ancient senator. I’m talking of course about the problem of what to do about Sen. Mitch McConnell’s shaky brain. The Republican Senate minority leader had another one of his sad and scary...
This year’s flying by, with Labor Day being next Monday. While shopping recently, I saw the store I was in already had Halloween candy for sale, which made me wonder when the Christmas candy and ads would be out. Then, I thought again about Labor Day and wondered if Santa Claus and Labor Day had anything in common. We usually only hear about Santa doing anything, like work, when he delivers presents overnight before Christmas morning. Completely encompassing the globe north, south, east and west is a pretty big job. So, he and his reindeer prob...