Mild Rants

With the usual brutal competition at the gas pumps in full swing, I had to mention an unlikely source of customer loyalty wondering if other readers shared my point of view. The picture that you see is a Free air compressor pump outlet for your vehicle tires at the Chevron Station across from the civic/convention center in Roswell, New Mexico. Don't be confused by the natural gas meter next to air hose nozzle, the hose pumps out safe air! I was so moved by this that I promised myself to use this gas station even if the price of Gas was cheaper at Sam's or Murhpy's Express! We were pissed off when we pulled into a Stripes convenience store parking lot and noted that you had to pay a dollar for air from a machine that was credit card ready. The free air hose was next to a gas pump that was affixed to automated car wash with a do not enter sign posted on the exit of the car wash. Sad that the sign is needed, but I guess late enough at night inebriated motorist might attemp

I was browsing at, shall we call it a mature adult web site, when as you can see in the below screen shot was accused of doing something illegal and told I could settle up or clear my record by paying $300 online to an entity which referred to themselves at MoneyPak Vouchers who claimed they had the FBI hot on our trail! Was accused of committing a crime envisaged by article 161 of United States of America criminal law which apparently involves viewing/storage and dissemination of banned pornography. All we were doing was watching an older white male spank a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader which constitutes only the softest type of porn. MoneyPak also threatened to charge us with fraud based on Article 377 of US criminal law. Please comment if something similar has happened to you so the appropriate class action can be initiated.

Did you hear about the white police officer who shot and killed the UNARMED black man who had just raped a white woman? Maybe you did not hear about that one. I know you heard about this account of white officer shooting an UNARMED black man who had just committed a strong armed robbery and refused to comply with the officer's request to get out of the road: Enraged protesters set fire to buildings and cars and looted businesses in Ferguson, Missouri(St. Louis) after a grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer in the death of an UNARMED black 18-year-old  in one of America's most racially significant cases in the last decade. At least Michael Brown's parents know he was a  gangsta and have not been vocal in their opposition to the non-indictment of the white officer named Darren Wilson who followed the law when he shot the thug and scofflaw. Darren Wilson would have shot anybody who charged and assaulted him in the fashion Michael Brown did. Any memb

A 12-year-old boy carrying  a replica gun died Sunday after he was shot by a Cleveland police officer responding to a 911 call about a person pointing a gun in a park. Deputy Chief Ed Tomba said the officer fired twice after the boy pulled the fake weapon which did not have the orange safety indicator usually in view on the muzzle. The boy did not threaten the officer or point the gun towards the policeman, but reached into his waistband and grabbed it after being told to raise his hands, Tomba said. The officer then shot the boy as he was reaching into his waistband not being aware the gun was an authentic looking replica of a semi-automatic pistol. I sure hope this does not play out in the media as a case of an innocent unarmed kid being shot by a police officer. When I was a kid, play guns did not look anything like real automatic weapons. This kids parents should take on the responsibility of being award of their kids whereabouts and what kind of "toys" they are c

Keith Bell of Roswell, New Mexico should be listed as a state national treasure as his cartoons often reveal penetrating commentary on the idiocy of our leaders and the policy they espouse. Today's cartoon in the RDR humorously amplifies a significant traffic problem that exists in cities with an over abundance of four way stop signs. There are the folks that do the infamous rolling stop and then drive right on through without yielding to those who were at the intersection before them. Then there are the motorists who hand signal you to go through even though they were at the intersection well before you. Some of his work  has to do with all the farmer and cowboy types who drive in Roswell. These good old boys are used to driving and working in the country where driving is less formal and less controlled by traffic laws. All of this is a strong argument for making all major intersections controlled by traffic lights. Bell's hilarious  cartoon reminds me of the inter

I thought John Stossel was intelligent until I read his syndicated column titled force control freaks to give smokers more places to smoke. I don't know what John is smoking when he declares that secondhand smoke is not harmful to non-smokers, but he apparently also smokes cancer causing cigarettes. Sounds like he is getting some payola from cigarette manufacturers and tobacco producers. Anytime somebody does anything that is harmful to the health of those around them they lose all their rights John. If I were the editor or the owner of a newspaper I would revoke your rights to write your column in it. You lose the trust of loyal readers who used to value your opinion when you publish such nonsense. If cigarette smokers want to slowly kill themselves than that is their right, but that right ends in public places and restaurants where families are assembled and trying to enjoy themselves.

Many citizens in the small towns of New Mexico are dirt poor. Roswell is a large town by NM standards but is no exception. Many of its people live below the poverty level which elevates crime and drug use. So in a town where money is scarce, payday loans abound, and folks live from paycheck to paycheck I was surprised to learn that thousands of residents in the Alien City are owed substantial amounts of money! Money is very hard to come by creating a sense of helplessness and depression, so an announcement that many dollars in unclaimed funds are there for the taking has to be very uplifting and an answer to the many prayers for those suffering through difficult times. Two pages in the Roswell Daily Record newspaper disclose that hundreds and hundreds of poor working class residents are collectively owed thousands of dollars in Unclaimed Funds!  This mean hard working citizens like Mayleen Agostini,Desi Aguilar,Shane Adams,Lois Cagle may have a windfall payout in the future if t

We always enjoy our thanksgiving trip to Roswell,NM. Reading the local newspaper is always a special treat. We were intrigued by a couple of real estate ads in the classifieds. There was an advertisement for a charming home and a beautiful spacious home. Adjectives like charming and spacious are code in real estate parlance for hidden electrical and plumbing problems. Not always, but often these hollow advertising terms are deceptive because they really say nothing positive about the house that is for sale. The charming house on 313 east Poe does not accept HUD renters. I would carefully check the plumbing as once we rented a home on Evergreen there for $900 per month and the friggin shower had no water pressure. The slum lords, I mean landlords insisted we still pay the full rent even though we could not shower on those brutally cold winter mornings in Roswell. Eric and Luis are trying to rent a beautiful spacious home in the Briar Ridge area without divulging what he want

As the Christmas season approaches, the signs of high pressure consumerism are already quite manifest. Shoppers hustling from one retail outlet to another frantically trying to make that right gift choice for an inlaw that they despise or find just that right choice for their autistic child. The following fascinating attempt by a group in San Francisco to separate from the maddening high paced pressure and anxiety imposed on us by corporate America and technology is a must read for anyone who is looking to rid themselves of the ulcer causing pressures many of us live through and grudgingly  tolerate daily! Globally, people want to live more naturally and stress free and are willing to sacrifice material wealth and comfort to achieve this             It began as a simple, or simply terrifying, pledge             taken by a small group of friends feeling overwhelmed by all the             things in their lives. Over a potluck dinner two years ago, they             made a pact:

Can you believe that as recent as 10 years ago, college administrators denied financial aid and support for a gay student at Baylor in Waco, Texas?. Matt Bass revealed that he was effectively forced to drop out of his lifetime passion of becoming a minister when school admins questioned his sexual orientation. These days that would be an easy lawsuit to win as there are many legal protections which protect employees and students..  A potential employer can not even legally ask you if you are married or are a Christian. Asking about your sexuality is even more off limits during job interviews.              Supporters of a former Baylor University seminary student             who lost his scholarship because he is gay rallied Saturday to             protest the school's decision.             Matt Bass and other gay students and alumni say they don't expect             the world's largest Baptist university to shun the church tenet that             homosexuality is a

The two pictures you see of a Roswell, New Mexico pauper/"street person" is quite misleading. This appropriately attired gentlemen lives in the southeast part of town known for its rough neighborhoods, shootings, burglaries, and meth labs. The first picture shows the beggar standing across from Marshalls next to Sams Club gas station on this busy Saturday afternoon. The beggar knows that with a such high volume of traffic, maybe one in 30 motorists will feel sorry for him and donate enough for him to collect around $150 for standing around for 3 hours. The second picture is a close up where you can see his very standard pity invoking "God Bless" sign. The beggar apparently does not know that the Good Lord helps those who help themselves. Whats really sad is that many Roswell citizens have seen this guy around town minus the beard and wearing nice clothes! I think he should be arrested for deception and something equivalent to stealing based on creating t

What could  Compression of morbidity possibly mean with respect to the American way of life? It has to do with the strong positive correlation between increases in lifespan and increases in disability and reliance on those motor scooters that the imfirmed depend upon in public places. Put another way, our health care system has not slowed down the aging process very much, but it has slowed the rate of dying.  So even though the natural goal of increased longevity has been attained, the United States has high volumes of weak, elderly, immobile, and sick people who would opt for suicide if they could find a way to do it. Who wins in this miserable state of affairs? Doctors, insurance companies, nursing homes, hospitals, assisted care, and any other medical professional who stands to benefit from unnaturally extending the life of somebody who would be better off dead.

If you borrow money, shouldn't you have to pay it back? If you don't pay your debt, then hard working people who do pay their debt have to pay more when credit card companies raise their interest rates to cover for the scofflaws who did not pay their debt.  Kevin Evans did not pay his $7000 dollars in in credit card debt back in 2009. His 25-year career selling office furniture collapsed. He had to sell a nice home he could no longer afford,  He was pursued by debt collectors, but never paid a penny of his $7000 dollar debt. After years of on again, off again employment, Evans, 58, thought he'd finally recovered last year when he found a better-paying, full-time customer service job in Springfield, Mo. . To his immense dismay , his credit card lender, Capital One, had garnished his wages to the tune of 25% per paycheck. Capital One did this to collect on Evans' debt which had skyrocketed to $15000!  Creditors and collectors have pursued punch drunk cardholders and

The black man who was pulled over by the Fairfax County police cruiser has much more of a grievance against law enforcement than the family of Michael Brown. Mandrel Stuart was pulled over because his windows were tinted and he was viewing a video while speeding 75 mph down interstate 66. That is reason enough to pull anybody over irrespective of their ethnicity! He had a lot of cash on hand, so much that the cops confiscated it because they assumed it was drug money which a very natural assumption when a black man has over 17000 dollars in cash. The reason for the police stop: Stuart’s SUV had tinted windows and a video was playing in his sightline The officers found that he had a police record after they pulled him over.. He was never charged with a crime, and there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. But police took his money because they assumed it was related to the drug trade. So there were actually three pretty good reasons to pull this man over and doubt his inte

RoseMary Anderson, of Watsonville, California borrowed $64,000 to pay for her education  in her 30s, as she worked toward her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She bought a house that she could not afford and accumulated massive credit card debt.  Due to her choice to lead a lifestyle that she could not afford, she hasn't been able to make a student loan payment in eight years. The amount she now owes has almost doubled to $126,000.  Anderson declares  "I find it very ironic that I incurred this debt as a way to improve my life, and yet I still sit here today because the debt has become my undoing,"  Let me rephrase this for the debtor, now 57. "I still sit here today because MY CHOICE to incur debt has made my life miserable". Anderson would prefer the government relieve her of all student loan debt and have hard working taxpayers pay her way through school. She should have to endure the worry of the federal government reducing her social securi

We love Guacamole and are always on the look out for good deals on the tasty and healthy Avocado fruit. Imagine our surprise when one of the grocery stores in Roswell, New Mexico place an advertisement in the Roswell Daily Record for five good sized Avocados for one dollar. That right, Farmers Market on North Main advertised 5 Large Avocados for the erroneous price of a single United States dollar! The mistaken ad brought in so many customers that Farmers Country Market management had to post the sign you see next to the Avocados noting the misprint in the RDR. We will never really know if the newspaper actually misprinted or if they were just printing whatever the grocery store staff sent them. In any event, many headaches could have been avoided if the marketing staff had been familiar with a basic proofreading precept which states have at least two different people double check the figures. It is easy to ascertain how the advertising error transpired. Five Large Avocados for

The newspaper scan you see is part of an announcement/advertisement in the local newspaper indicating the arrival of a much needed neurologist in Roswell,NM. Strokes and other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Bell's Palsy are quite common in this small town in southeastern, New Mexico. Also liver disease/hepatitis, fatty liver, diabetes is prevalent due to high incidence of alcoholism. I am sure most of the community is excited about a new doctor coming to town, but we just wish it would be sooner! Dr. Mahsa Matloobi will be starting her practice of medicine sometime in October, but the advertisement you see was from an RDR published in early August. Physician shortages are so common in the Alien City that many have given up on establishing a long term relationship with a medical professional and just go to either Lubbock,TX or Albuquerque or maybe even El Paso,TX. Many young doctors come to Roswell because the Dairy Capital of the United States is designated as

One has to have loads of empathy, sympathy, and compassion for  mother Shirley Sotloff as she despairingly has to listen to the words of her son's beheader:  I am back, Obama, and I am back due to your arrogant foreign policy toward our Islamic State even though we have warned you countless times. So just as United States missiles continue to strike our people, my knife will strike the necks of your people until you quit bombing our people. The murderer specifically mentioned the recent US airstrikes near the Mosul dam and the devastated Iraqi town of Amirli. I hope that the mother of Steven Sotloff understands that the group of people who killed her gentle son feel as strongly about killing an American as the American policy to kill those near to and served by the Mosul dam.  When any country starts killing citizens of another country, that country has the right to reciprocate by killing the attacking country's citizens. Unfortunately for all the heartbroken families

This is intended as a rant against all those who unconditionally oppose suicide. Frank Stack, 82, died after he shot himself, while Joan Stack, 82, Mary Stack, 57, and Francis Stack, 49, had all been murdered, according to the initial findings from the DuPage County Coroner's office. All had been shot in the head.  The coroner's office did not say whether Frank Stack had shot his wife, Mary, and Francis. The DuPage County court records, said the adult children of Frank and Joan suffered from severe mental disabilities and were in residential care programs.  Only those who have raised retarded or severely mentally disabled children have the right to weigh in on this one in my humble opinion. The burden of raising healthy and capable children is challenging enough these days and my hat is off to any couple who can preserve their sanity while raising retarded progeny! I have so much sympathy and compassion for Frank Stack and his wife for lasting as long as they did

I guess this really not much of rant but more of an historical account of the history and unintended function of bath houses. Bathhouses in the United States were built in many of the larger cities to maintain and promote public hygiene among the lower socioeconomic social strata and immigrant communities. Chicago and NYC each had around 20 public bathhouses. But guess what happens when naked people sit next to each other? Since our major function is to procreate, discharging sperm to unite with egg cells is certainly an important activity for our species to survive. If we do not remain adept at it, then we will become one of the many extincted species this planet has seen. Even if a male has to "practice" with another male getting sperm from testicles to outside the body is imperative even if it ends up somebody's mouth or colon. As Matt Hamilton points out, most folks have their own showers these days and public bath houses are not a necessity. The gay bath hous

Everybody has heard the pithy claim that prostitution is a victimless crime. This writer certainly agrees with this proposition as the only victim of prostitution is,perhaps, the prostitute themselves. We are all prostitutes to some extent. We brown nose our boss to improve our job security and we tend to flatter anybody who might have the influence to make our lives easier. Its hard to be faulted for that type of behavior as self preservation is an attribute we all possess.  I am extremely impressed the values of a Chicago Judge who has implemented an intensive two year program which gives women who are arrested and have plead guilty to prostitution charges the opportunity to attend rehabilitation and receive counseling and job training. Judge Rosemary Grant Higgins is a major advocate of the WINGS program which stands for Women in Need of Gender Specific Services.  Higgins apparently understands that the world's oldest profession is not going away and is looking for an

Despite all the mass shootings in public places by punk kids and adults with automatic and semiautomatic weapons, the redneck country bumpkins in Roswell,NM still don't want their second amendment rights encroached upon. Read the scan of the article in the RDR with the sign at the Western Frontier Gun and Craft Show. Yes, the sign reads If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns . If the rednecks would only replace guns with automatic weapons, then the argument would be sound. We have relatives in Roswell and enjoy visiting for many reasons including the exceptionally friendly people and the beautiful sunsets, BUT Roswell has its roots as a cattle trail town with brothels and Saloons and gambling. All of this is, of course, accompanied by gun toting Cowboys who would shoot you if you messed with or stole their horse. There are very few shootings in Roswell that are of the crazy ilk notwithstanding the kid that had a screw loose at Berrendo Middle School. His par

Just read a Reuter's article about a police chief near San Antonio getting shot to death during a traffic stop. The dead officer's name is Michael Pimentel  and he died of multiple gunshot wounds during a struggle with a motorist around noon in Elmendorf, a rural community of about 1,500 people just southeast of San Antonio, according to Bexar County Sheriff Susan Pamerleau. The shooter's name is Joshua Manuel Lopez, 24, who was taken into custody on charges of capital murder of a police officer. When Lopez was stopped, he was wanted on a misdemeanor warrant for graffiti. I feel for the young 24 year old tagger whose life could have been turned around, but now will either die of lethal injection or spend the rest of his years locked up with hardened convicts who have sex with any young man they desire in return for protection from prison gangs. Lopez had no discernible reason to kill the police chief with such a minor infraction as graffiti on his record. There wi

Ryan Foley's excellent AP article provides support to the claim that some black communities in the United States keep victimizing themselves over and over because one of their irresponsible, unaccountable, criminal types continue to cause problems at the expense of the honest and hard working Blacks which are in the majority. Angelia Dickens has not been able to go to work since Michael Brown was shot by a police officer who was defending himself from a violent attack by a thief and a criminal who is still being labeled as an "unarmed black teen" by a media that distorts the truth so much it can no longer be trusted. So why don't all you demonstrators admit that Michael Brown put himself in harm's way by his actions and get off the streets and let the city of Ferguson rest a little from all this stress you are creating because you won't admit Michael Brown was a thug who pushed it too far! The police did NOT shoot just a boy. They shot a 6 foot 4 in

This post wishes to expose the hypocrisy of New York Times reporters PETER BAKER and JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS. Both reporters have certainly attended funerals or hospitals where pain and suffering were pervasive only to escape the melancholy by going to a bar or enjoying an evening out with a loved one? These two reporters, apparently with nothing newsworthy to report, were highly critical of Obama for playing golf just after declaring he was devastated by the murder of James Foley. There are horrible tragedies pretty much daily worldwide where our president is expected to express his views. What do these two promulgators of the news expect him to do? Go into morning for at least 48 hours. Baker and Davis would have a better chance of preserving their tenuous reputations as reporters by keeping their mouth shut rather printing such pathetic tripe about something most Americans do which is to NOT mourn too long after a tragedy. The President can not be expected to become too emot

Robert P. Jones, writing for the Atlantic, displays his ignorance of the two black symbols of power in the United States called the President and the Attorney General. Jones stresses that the shooting of unarmed black Hoodlum Michael Brown by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the extreme disdain by the residents of Ferguson’s mostly black population, has catapulted the deep problems of race into the national spotlight. The incident has created a much larger dialogue, causing many Americans to question just how far racial equality and race relations have progressed, even though our nation has a black president and a black attorney general.  Robert never contemplates that Blacks are arrested and shot disproportionately, not because of the race card, but because they are inherently louder and more disruptive than most whites. White people are arrested at a lower rate than Blacks because they mind their own business and do not cause problems as frequently as Black

Plenty of NYC citizens live in rent-stabilized apartments. The following snippet from an article written by Jennifer  Peltz details how some renters living in rent-stabilized apartments are mad that that they don't get the same benefits as market-rate renters. Nobody treats me like a second-class citizen in my own home," says Jean Green Dorsey, who filed a complaint with the city Human Rights Commission this spring over her Manhattan building's fitness center. She and fellow rent-stabilized tenants aren't allowed to enter it despite a willingness to pay a fee; market-rate renters use it gratis. First things first, Jean Green Dorsey is confused about the notion of home ownership. Jean you are a renter and you only have the opportunity to complain because you are paying lower rent due to tax payer dollars making up the difference in what the market-rate renters pay and you pay. You do not live in "my own home". You live in the landlords home, so ye

The following account of naughty boys spitting in a police officer's drink comes to us from Lufkin,Texas in September of 2004. Brian Strban noticed that the officer that pulled up at the Sonic he worked at was the same officer who had caught Brian having hot sex with his girlfriend in a car at a secluded Lufkin park. This particular park was a common cruising area for people looking for random gay sex which apparently turned the young couple on. The couple, who was told to break it up and move along, were upset that the officer noticed the anonymous homosexual sex that was going on in hedges and did nothing. They felt singled out in an area where everybody was "doing it" which led to a festering rage that culminated in spitting in the police man's Coke. DNA analysis was done on the saliva to corroborate that it was the Sonic employee who spit in the drink.             Two young men could be charged with felony  after one of them             allegedly spat in

I hope you all had the opportunity and pleasure to read that excellent article by Tom Dart regarding the ever present abortion controversy is the great state of Texas.  Closing arguments took place on Wednesday in a federal lawsuit challenging new Texas abortion restrictions. If these restrictions are allowed to remain in effect, then only a very few of the state's abortion clinics will remain open forcing women in remote areas of the state to make long journeys in order to get an abortion.  I believe having laws that make it more difficult to get an abortion will make both the men and women think twice before having casual unprotected sex. We are all aware of the significant financial and emotional burden of raising a child. Life as a couple knows it comes to a screeching halt after having a kiddo. The romance can wane, arguments can flare up, and general marital discord is much more likely to occur when there is conflict on how to raise the children.  Finally in an a

Much of what follows is due to the assiduous fact uncovering efforts of Randy Kehler and his pamphlet titled Political Bribery in the United States. Kehler writes about an 80 year old woman named Nishi Martin who was employed as a nurse in DC for 35 years. At retirement she was afflicted with high blood pressure, diabetes, and bad cholesterol. He points out that Nisha and her husband, living on fixed income, spend circa $400 per month on prescription drugs which was close to one third of their limited income. Kehler also laments the fact that companies like Pfizer and Merck should be paying around 35% in federal income tax, but pay accountants to to drop that rate down to around 16%. These legal drug pushers also received 10 billion dollars in tax breaks due to their death grip on lawmakers including Republican Bill Thomas who received 93 thousand dollars in campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry! Thomas and his colleagues have fought hard to prevent Medicar