
Get married without leaving your car
Posted by
Michael Swickard
on Thursday, September 20, 2012
KRQE-TV.com - Kim Vallez - ALBUQUERQUE - It's a first for New Mexico: a drive-through wedding chapel. This is the story of a businesswoman who wanted to bring joy in a way no one else could. "I've officiated over 555 weddings and counting," Pearl Gabaldón told KRQE News 13. She just loves weddings. Now she's taken her love one step further. A few months ago she decided to open her A Celebration of Love Wedding Chapel on Wellesley Avenue SE. "Here we needed a small wedding chapel and needing something that was cute and with shiny walls," Gabaldón said. Inside is a quaint setting for small weddings. Outside something for the more adventurous. Gabaldón has done only one drive-through wedding so far but looks forward to many more. Why a drive-through? "For fun," she said. "People who use a drive-up window are fun people. "If I was inside I would say, 'Welcome everyone. Please turn off your cell phones.' In the car I say, 'Please turn your radio down." No matter how bad the economy, people still get married, and this is a less-expensive alternative, she added. Read more

Clovis Commission denies zoning change request
Posted by
Michael Swickard
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Many protesters were just following the herd |

Clovis Commission denies zoning change request
Swickard: A nation of criminals made by millions of laws
Posted by
Michael Swickard


Swickard: A nation of criminals made by millions of laws
The "Middle Class" and "Safety Net"
Posted by
Jim Spence
Labels:
Spence Columns
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comments
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Jim Spence (left) |
If the answers to these very simple questions are “yes,” then we are done. No country that wants to continue to be the most prosperous nation on earth provides a safety net for half its population. And no such nation that has a government as deeply involved in managing everyday life as Washington can legitimately count those who pay nothing to support that government as members of the esteemed middle class. The dialogue on this subject would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. Few elected officials in either party will even dare to answer these questions regarding what percent of the population needs a safety net and roughly where are the dividing lines on the so-called middle class everyone seems so concerned about.

In the meantime, back in the real world, astonishing trends continue right under our noses. Tattoos sell like hotcakes to people who are not asked to pay federal income taxes. I-phones are selling faster than hotcakes to people who pay no federal income taxes. Obesity (not hunger) is the biggest health threat to people who pay no income taxes. And not just a small percentage of senior citizens in need of a safety net, but ALL seniors hand over everything but a small fraction of their healthcare bills to their children and grandchildren through their agents….. in the federal government. The federal government blindly pays claims for a non-means tested giveaway program we call: "Medicare As We Know It."

This week Mitt Romney was shouted down in many quarters for a brief moment of clarity. The media wondered what he was thinking. Not me. I was wondering what all of us Americans are thinking and how did we go so terribly wrong.

The "Middle Class" and "Safety Net"
Were You Better Off 6-years Ago?
Posted by
Jim Spence
Labels:
Commentary
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Jim Harbison |
Partisan politics and the resultant gridlock have contributed to ongoing high job losses with long term unemployment, lower standards of living, reduction in individual wealth, lower property values, and increased foreclosures. Unfortunately, social safety net programs have become entitlement programs that are unsustainable and are heading for financial collapse. Congress has failed to pass a budget for three consecutive years and the President’s last proposed budget didn’t get a single vote.
The unemployment numbers are horrendous and are often under reported and then quietly readjusted upward several weeks later. In nearly every case the actual number is worst than initially reported. In order to make them look more favorable this administration has readjusted the criteria to reduce their adverse political impact.
Let’s look at the real unemployment numbers. According to a 9/7/12 article by Terence Jeffrey (http://cnsnews.com ) there was a record of 88,921,000 Americans not in the labor force and 119,000 fewer people employed in August than in July. He reported that the unemployment rate dropped from 8.3% to 8.1% because 368,000 people simply dropped out of the labor force in August and are therefore not counted in unemployment statistics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the August participation percentage (those working or looking for work) has steadily declined since 2008 and is at a 30-year low. It dropped from 63.7% in July to 63.5% in August which ties the horrible September 1981 rate established by President Carter.

Were You Better Off 6-years Ago?