A presidency shaped by demons and events

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. On the homestretch of this presidential election each candidate is campaigning frantically 20 hours a day. The media have exhausted all logical questions and now we are learning of their favorite songs and how many teeth each has. These final two know that only one will win and the other will spend years sleeping like a baby — that is, waking every few hours crying. Each is trying to out-promise the other: “If elected I will give you, my friend, everything you want, just vote for me.” So there is no mistake, I am talking about both candidates. Each is spending every second making all sorts of promises and campaigning like a water rat in heat. Continue Reading

The most unnecessary gas user

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Some government issues are complicated. This is not. I listened with disbelief last week when a national politician said that proper tire pressure is a real good way to deal with the fuel crisis. He did not mention what really would help. Differences in tire inflation vary mileage by as much as 3 percent. Continue Reading

There is no accounting for school accountability

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” – Albert Einstein The Average Yearly Progress numbers for New Mexico public schools are in. If we just left the numbers in a folder and never looked at them, there would be no problem other than the time and money the testing took from teaching. But the numbers reflect changes already in place to deal with the tests and projected changes in our schools to deal with the supposed problems. First, the numbers can mean whatever you want them to mean since the accountability they represent is a political rather than an educational measure. Second, the core socialist political agenda measures are deeply flawed and do not reflect the general state of educational offerings in our public schools. But No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is the law of the land and we must deal with it. Continue Reading

Carrot or stick: Use the one that works

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. My hometown public school district is taking on often-absent high school slackers by announcing that, regardless of how a student does academically, if absent 10 percent or more, he or she fails the course. The idea is that under threat of losing credit the slackers who somehow could not get themselves to go to school will suddenly put their noses to the grindstone. Will they? What published research supports this approach? Sure, when we smack students with our stick there is a chance that the students will thank us in their prayers for teaching them discipline. Continue Reading

Requiem for departing NMSU President Michael Martin

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “Friends come and go, enemies accumulate.” – Benjamin Franklin New Mexico State University President Michael Martin is leaving next week after four years on the job. Parties are being thrown — some to say thanks and honor him and others just to celebrate his leaving. Michael Martin’s friends came and went, while his enemies accumulated. This did not force him out; rather, some people think it made him uncomfortable and therefore receptive to moving on. We do not know for sure, though it is like the old west saying, “Only the cattle know why they stampede, and they ain’t talking.” Why the conflict? Continue Reading

Wars before the war now and the wars after

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. The Iraq War is very much in line with the dozen or so other wars in our nation’s history that, for the most part, we have gotten into rather reluctantly. But you would not know that from the highly charged media rhetoric now describing this conflict. Even though it was just a few years ago, the national memory of the build-up to war has eroded. The notion is now that President Bush was sitting in his Oval Office Barcalounger when he suddenly snapped his fingers and instantly 175,000 military personnel flew to Kuwait and the next day invaded Iraq. The reality is that the invasion was debated and planned very publicly for almost a year. Continue Reading

Feathering nest activities by elected officials

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Last week I posted a comment on this blog that raised the ire of many people. I was told in no uncertain terms that a Las Cruces city councilor has the right to advance the interests of a company or organization paying him even though he is also paid as a city councilor. Really? What started the controversy was a column by District 4 Las Cruces City Councilor Nathan P. Small, “Setting the record straight: wilderness truths,” in which Small, an employee of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance, rebutted a column by Jim Scarantino, “Pearce’s conservation bill: What’s not to like?” I did not get into the wilderness protection argument. I see the central problems we face in southern New Mexico and nationally as the rising price of energy, the rising price of food and the threat of terrorist attack. Continue Reading

The rules of engagement in your right to survive

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question, ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” – Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry The Supreme Count in District of Columbia et al. v. Heller handed down a landmark decision last week. Justices ruled that the Constitution’s Second Amendment grants an individual, not just a “well-regulated militia,” the right to bear arms. I grew up watching squinty-eyed Dirty Harry (Inspector Harry Callahan) face down bad guys who tried to kill him but were unable since Harry (actor Clint Eastwood) had a big gun. Continue Reading

A Border Patrol bordering on wrong

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Defining moments are not always of our choosing. Often they appear suddenly, like last week. Because I live in Las Cruces, traveling every direction but south means I have to go through a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint where I am asked my citizenship. I have gone through these checkpoints thousands of times over four decades and every time been carefully questioned as to my nationality despite the fact that, at the actual U.S. border 60 miles away, millions of illegal people have streamed across relatively unmolested because of the political policies of our leaders. Last week I was headed to Alamogordo. Continue Reading

Our primary goal: make things better

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. No matter how educated, I believe we all have a hint of superstition. Speaking for myself, I am superstitious about whatever happens at the beginning of a week. To my way of thinking it colors the rest of the week for me. For example: One Monday a few years ago when I was working at the university I was heading to my office at 8:02 a.m. with a cup of coffee along with a substantial donut when one of the people in an office near me leaned out his door and said to me, “Hey Michael, happy Pig Day to you.” I was startled by him and looked at the donut and thought, I do not have to take this kind of insult, especially since it is Monday and this would affect the whole week. Besides, as far as I was concerned the donut was generous but not overly so. Continue Reading

The real nature of the dropout problems

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Education Week featured a report this week, Diplomas Count: 2008, looking at public school graduation rates nationwide and by state. The top states graduate about 80 percent of their students, while New Mexico is second from the bottom at 54 percent. In 2005 New Mexico only graduated 44 percent of Hispanic males. Gov. Bill Richardson, the No. 1 Hispanic politician in the nation, leads a state that leads in Hispanic dropouts. Continue Reading

Driving like gas is cheap

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. With all of the angst about high gas prices it is reasonable to expect concerned drivers to slow down, since driving slower dramatically increases gas mileage. So, the predicted market effect of four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline is that it should slow people down. While traveling this last week I undertook an unscientific study about the effect of gas prices on drivers. I found that I was the only person on the roads who drives the speed limit or a bit under. This was during two business trips: one to Albuquerque and then, later, one to Amarillo. Continue Reading

My companionship with A Prairie Home Companion

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Garrison Keillor is bringing A Prairie Home Companion to New Mexico State University’s Pan American Center on Saturday. For someone who loves the challenge of staying alive in a snowstorm, we may be too mild with our non-lethal scorpions and rattlesnakes. I have been a fan of storyteller Garrison Keillor since the early 1980s. I own most of his tapes and CDs. Over hundreds of thousands of miles he has been my great traveling companion as I drove between Hobbs and Farmington, Animas and Clayton and most New Mexico towns in between. Continue Reading

Unambiguous laws needed for our society

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. “As I grow older and older, and totter toward the tomb, I find that I care less and less, who goes to bed with whom.” – Dorothy L. Sayers The most obnoxious thing our government does is to make situations more rather than less ambiguous. A recent example of this is the California Supreme Court striking down that state’s same-sex marriage ban. Without arguing the merits of the case other than agreeing with the above quote, we now have more ambiguity. Previously, the accepted definition of marriage was one man and one woman, both of the age of consent, both who willingly consent to be married, both of sound mind and not too closely related. Even that definition has lots of ambiguity. Continue Reading

With love to all of the mutts

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© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Recently there has been a move to make the Las Cruces municipal animal shelter a no-kill facility that would instead place these pets in homes. Success is tied to changing the behavior of people. Let us talk about dogs. Paris Hilton fueled the boutique dog craze in which women want cute, fashion-accessory dogs peeking out of their purses. These dogs have to be pure-breed, hoity-toity dogs. Continue Reading