NMPolitics.net (https://nmpolitics.net/index/category/swickard-columns/page/9/)
There are those people who think that rattlesnakes can coexist with grandbabies. Not so. Most of us kill varmints without public comment since there are wingnuts out there who weep copious tears and want us to walk around rattlesnakes at our peril. I was raised differently. Continue Reading
Medians of divided streets are built to give drivers safety space in case “stuff” happens. So why do we put trees, rocks and boulders in them? Continue Reading
To improve, New Mexico’s public schools should forget everything else and concentrate on making reading at grade level THE GOAL. Any attention to anything else is wasted if the core competency of reading on grade level is not achieved by all students. Continue Reading
In the last month I have had a front-row seat to a controversy in which the Las Cruces leadership has acted improperly. At stake are millions of dollars and jobs for our local economy. Also at stake is the reputation of our city, with companies wanting to do business but unsure if the city leadership can be trusted. Continue Reading
The nanny health care government: People know where they want to start, but the more interesting question is where should they stop? The easy answer is that probably they should stop before they cause a revolution against a government not smart enough to leave us fat people alone with our comfort foods. Continue Reading
Opponents of the New Mexico oil industry would have you believe that state government must intensify the rules on drilling or the water, air and land of New Mexico will be ruined for generations. Not true. Continue Reading
It is the absolute pinnacle of hypocrisy for the American news media to decry the influence of money in American politics since said money is most often spent in the media. Continue Reading
I love talk radio – it is like sitting in a coffee shop with friends just talking about the news. Starting today I return to the airwaves with co-host Jim Spence, Monday-Friday from 7-9 a.m., for News New Mexico on KSNM-AM 570 in Las Cruces. The webpage is newsnm.com. Continue Reading
I was talking at the coffee shop recently about the upcoming elections and I indicated that my gullibility does not run deep. I used to be much more gullible than I am now. I was cured while taking pictures at a rodeo. Continue Reading
A terrible fraud is being perpetuated on the citizens of Doña Ana County. This week we are hearing that the 911 dispatch center is critical to saving lives and it needs to be modernized, so citizens are just going to have to increase taxes or there will be dire consequences. But why can’t we cut less-critical services instead? Continue Reading
I wonder: Is it the goal of the wilderness folks to use the wilderness act to force the closing of the White Sands Missile Range, Holloman and the spaceport to boot because of the auditory 21st century pollution? Continue Reading
The founders of our country wrote the Constitution to severely limit the power of the federal government. It is the rule book for the government, not the citizens. It tells the government what it can and cannot do. Over time power has concentrated in the federal government to where we are on the brink of tyranny. Continue Reading
Government workers who anger citizens without good reason should beware the fury of citizens who have been sneered at once too often. There is a day of reckoning. This year politicians who have not been listening to the citizens have been swept from office. As incumbents have found, citizens who are furious can make changes. Continue Reading
My family’s old ranch house costs an extra $240 a year in trash fees even though there’s no trash to collect because it’s uninhabitable and no one lives there. It’s considered livable for tax purposes because the government needs the money. Continue Reading
We are a nation set to walk away from space, because our political leadership lacks the will to continue. It makes me wonder if the political leadership now in our nation’s capital does reflect the character of the American people or of people in general. Continue Reading