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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; New Mexico</title>
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	<item>
		<title>Leftist Terror Leader Endorses “Pro-Jobs, Pro-Environment Progressive Democrat.”</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/leftist-terror-leader-endorses-pro-jobs-pro-environment-progressive-democrat/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=leftist-terror-leader-endorses-pro-jobs-pro-environment-progressive-democrat</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/dgreenfield/leftist-terror-leader-endorses-pro-jobs-pro-environment-progressive-democrat/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Apr 2014 14:09:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mark rudd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weather Underground]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=223983</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[No word on Alan Webber's position on setting off bombs in public places]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/webber-rudd.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-223986" alt="webber-rudd" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/webber-rudd-450x253.jpg" width="450" height="253" /></a></p>
<p>No word on <a href="http://freebeacon.com/politics/dem-gov-candidate-supported-by-weather-underground-terrorist/">Alan Webber&#8217;s position on setting off bombs in public places</a>, but according to a guy who was an expert in that field, he is a pro-jobs and pro-environment progressive Democrat.</p>
<blockquote><p>KRQE reports Democrat hopeful Alan Webber has received funding from a source connected to radical anti-government activities. Webber has received donations from Mark Rudd, a co-founder of the radical anti-government coalition Weather Underground. The organization is responsible for detonating bombs at targets across the United States during the late 1960s and mid 1970s.</p>
<p>Maria Painter, Rudd’s wife, hosted a campaign event for Webber a week and a half ago at the couple’s home. The next day, Webber received a formal endorsement from Rudd.</p>
<p>In his endorsement letter, Rudd touted that Webber is a “pro-jobs, pro-environment progressive Democrat.”</p></blockquote>
<p>If New Mexico needs a governor with terror ties, they&#8217;ve got a progressive choice in Webber.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Police Anal Rape Search May Have Happened Because Victim was White</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/police-anal-rape-search-may-have-happened-because-victim-was-white/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=police-anal-rape-search-may-have-happened-because-victim-was-white</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/police-anal-rape-search-may-have-happened-because-victim-was-white/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Nov 2013 17:20:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[police authorities]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[white privilege]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=209954</guid>
		<description><![CDATA["He's a white boy, a scraggly white boy, and all these officers are Hispanic."]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/its-hard-to-see-racism.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-209956" alt="its-hard-to-see-racism" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/its-hard-to-see-racism-450x206.jpg" width="450" height="206" /></a></p>
<p>It would seem that New Mexico got its own Abner Louima case. And t<a href="http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.com/2013/11/man-seeks-millions-after-nm-police.html">his time the race of the victim is white</a>.</p>
<p>The horrifying story about a man who was subject to repeated anal probes over a completely baseless suspicion that he was harboring drugs because he was &#8220;clenching his buttocks&#8221; h<a href="http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S3209305.shtml?cat=500#.UnvKvvl961h">as been widely reported already</a>&#8230;</p>
<blockquote><p>While there, Eckert was subjected to repeated and humiliating forced medical procedures.  A review of Eckert&#8217;s medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:</p>
<p>1. Eckert&#8217;s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.</p>
<p>2. Doctors then performed an exam of Eckert&#8217;s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.</p>
<p>3. Doctors performed a second exam of Eckert&#8217;s anus with their fingers; no narcotics were found.</p>
<p>4. Doctors penetrated Eckert&#8217;s anus to insert an enema.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.</p>
<p>5. Doctors penetrated Eckert&#8217;s anus to insert an enema a second time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.</p>
<p>6. Doctors penetrated Eckert&#8217;s anus to insert an enema a third time.  Eckert was forced to defecate in front of doctors and police officers.  Eckert watched as doctors searched his stool.  No narcotics were found.</p>
<p>7. Doctors then x-rayed Eckert again; no narcotics were found.<br />
8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert&#8217;s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines.  No narcotics were found.</p></blockquote>
<p>&#8230;but his <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/05/man-seeks-millions-after-nm-police-force-colonoscopy-in-drug-search">lawyer is saying that the stop was racial</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>The apparent justification for the search, Kennedy said, was that police believed Eckert&#8217;s buttocks were clenched during the traffic stop.</p>
<p>But, she said, it&#8217;s also possible the officers just didn&#8217;t like how her client looks.</p>
<p>&#8220;Maybe the officers who did this don&#8217;t like him living in their community,&#8221; said Kennedy. &#8220;He&#8217;s a white boy, a scraggly white boy, and all these officers are Hispanic. It&#8217;s a New Mexico thing.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>I blame white privilege.</p>
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		<slash:comments>53</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Court Rules Christian Photographers Must &#8220;Compromise their Religious Values&#8221; for Gay Wedding</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/new-mexico-rules-christian-photographers-must-compromise-their-religious-values-for-gay-wedding/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=new-mexico-rules-christian-photographers-must-compromise-their-religious-values-for-gay-wedding</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/new-mexico-rules-christian-photographers-must-compromise-their-religious-values-for-gay-wedding/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 22 Aug 2013 22:49:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gay rights group]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Mexico]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=201701</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Why gay marriage is such a basic threat to civil rights ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_201703" style="width: 460px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/mb01_jd_25feb_bosson.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-201703" alt="Say goodbye to your freedom of religion" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/mb01_jd_25feb_bosson-450x312.jpg" width="450" height="312" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Say goodbye to your freedom of religion</p></div>
<p>The First Amendment. It<a href="http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/nm-court-says-christian-photographers-must-compromise-beliefs.html"> was nice while it lasted, wasn&#8217;t it</a>?</p>
<blockquote><p>In 2006 Vanessa Willock asked Elaine and Jonathan Huguenin, owners of Elane Photography, to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony” in the town of Taos.</p>
<p>Huguenin and her husband declined the job because their Christian beliefs were in conflict with the message communicated by the ceremony.</p>
<p>Willock found another photographer at a cheaper price but nevertheless filed a complaint with the New Mexico Human Rights Commission accusing Elane Photography of discrimination based on sexual orientation. She was later found guilty and ordered to pay thousands of dollars in fines.</p>
<p>“The Huguenins today can no more turn away customers on the basis of their sexual orientation – photographing a same-sex marriage ceremony – than they could refuse to photograph African-Americans or Muslims,” Justice Richard Bosson wrote in the court’s unanimous decision.</p>
<p>Bosson said the Christian photographers are now “compelled by law to compromise the very religious beliefs that inspire their lives.”</p>
<p>“Though the rule of law requires it, the result is sobering,” he wrote. “It will no doubt leave a tangible mark on the Huguenins and others of similar views.”</p>
<p>Bosson said the case provokes reflection on what the nation is about.</p>
<p>“At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others,” he wrote.</p></blockquote>
<p>Why must we &#8220;compromise our values&#8221; to accommodate clashing values. Why can&#8217;t the people acting out their imaginary wedding compromise their values instead by leaving photographers who don&#8217;t want their business alone?</p>
<p>Why is the need of two lesbians to have a wedding photographers more compelling than Freedom of Religion?</p>
<p>Isn&#8217;t that freedom what the nation is about? If we had wanted a system that would force people to compromise their values because the state decided they should, why even bother with a revolution?</p>
<blockquote><p>He said the Constitution protects the rights of the Christian photographers to pray to the God of their choice and following religious teachings, but offered a sobering warning.</p>
<p>“But there is a price, one that we all have to pay somewhere in our civic life,” the justice wrote. “The Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different. That compromise is part of the glue that holds us together as a nation, the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us as a people.”</p></blockquote>
<p>But it&#8217;s not the Huguenins who squeezed out the lesbian couple. It&#8217;s the lesbians who squeezed out the Huguenins.</p>
<p>Under the existing scheme, the lesbian couple had the right to hire anyone who would take their business and the Huguenins had the right to accept anyone&#8217;s business.</p>
<p>Under the new scheme, the lesbian couple get to compel a wedding photographer to perform for them while the Christians lose their religious freedom.</p>
<p>They&#8217;re the ones who have no more space left. And that is why gay rights is such a basic threat to the civil rights of everyone in the long run.</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The New Mexico Human Rights Act does not violate the photographer&#8217;s free-speech rights, the court concluded, because it &#8220;does not compel Elane Photography to either speak a government-mandated message or to publish the speech of another.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Ah but it does.</p>
<p>Gay rights is a government-mandated message. That is why it has special protection.</p>
<p>One of the more hilariously absurd passages in Judge Bosson&#8217;s twisted ruling is that the <a href="http://www.volokh.com/2012/06/04/do-religious-freedom-restoration-acts-apply-when-courts-enforce-civil-causes-of-action/">New Mexico Religious Freedom Restoration Ac</a>t which protects the right of freedom of religion applies only to government agencies, but not to the courts.</p>
<p>Meaning that Justice Bosson is free to compel you to violate your religion.</p>
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		<slash:comments>164</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>New Mexico Supreme Court Says Non-English Speakers have Right to Serve on Juries</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/new-mexico-supreme-court-says-non-english-speakers-have-right-to-serve-on-juries/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=new-mexico-supreme-court-says-non-english-speakers-have-right-to-serve-on-juries</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/new-mexico-supreme-court-says-non-english-speakers-have-right-to-serve-on-juries/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Aug 2013 03:07:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Daniel Greenfield]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[The Point]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[basic English usage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spanish language]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=200517</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If necessary, a trial should be delayed a reasonable time in order to secure an interpreter for a juror]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/MjAxMy1hZmUzOGVjOTcwYzQ5ZTJk.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-200524" alt="MjAxMy1hZmUzOGVjOTcwYzQ5ZTJk" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/MjAxMy1hZmUzOGVjOTcwYzQ5ZTJk.png" width="420" height="294" /></a></p>
<p>Oddly enough I thought that the purpose of a juror was to satisfy the defendant&#8217;s right to have a jury of his peers. But apparently serving on a jury is now a right, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/13/non-english-speakers-can-be-jurors-new-mexico-court-says/?test=latestnews">which cannot be taken away if you don&#8217;</a>t understand the proceedings.</p>
<p>Because this is Obamerica now.</p>
<blockquote><p>The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning the state&#8217;s trial courts that citizens who don&#8217;t speak English have the right to serve on juries.</p>
<p>The court issued the admonition in a ruling that upholds an Albuquerque man&#8217;s convictions for murder and other crimes in the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend and a subsequent armed robbery and stabbing.</p>
<p>Michael Samora&#8217;s appeal argued that his convictions should be reversed because the Bernalillo County court excused a Spanish-speaking prospective juror who had trouble understanding English.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court says it agrees with that argument but also says Samora&#8217;s defense needed to object during the trial but didn&#8217;t.</p>
<p>The ruling issued Monday tells judges and lawyers that they must reasonable efforts to protect the rights of non-English speaking citizens to serve on juries.</p></blockquote>
<p>What about the right of the mentally handicapped to serve on juries? Or the right of people who have formed a strong opinion on the case?</p>
<p>If being a juror is a right <a href="http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/20130813_ap_e364289c101e481285c8d72247a26608.html">without regard to competence</a>, then everyone has a right to be on a jury. Just like voting, there shouldn&#8217;t even be an ID issue.</p>
<blockquote><p> The ruling said the prospective juror&#8217;s dismissal violated a constitutional provision that said a citizen&#8217;s right to vote, hold office or serve on a jury cannot be restricted &#8220;on account of religion, race, language or color, or inability to speak, read or write the English or Spanish languages &#8230;&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>But why stop at Spanish and English? What about German and Swahili speakers? And the illiterate?</p>
<blockquote><p>In Samora&#8217;s case, the prospective juror said on his jury questionnaire he didn&#8217;t understand English well enough to write in English, and the judge told him an interpreter would be provided if the man was selected to serve on the jury.</p>
<p>However, the judge dismissed the man after he acknowledged he was not able to understand a large of the court proceedings.</p></blockquote>
<p>Let&#8217;s put aside the English-speaking country thing for the moment. If amnesty goes through, that will probably not last very long anyway. But there should be a single unified language for court proceedings that all of the participants understand.</p>
<p>A juror functioning through an interpreter is completely unacceptable. It adds an inappropriate second layer and inhibits competence.</p>
<blockquote><p>In a 2002, for example, ruling on juror service for Navajo speakers, the New Mexico high court said inconvenience alone doesn&#8217;t suffice to excuse a juror who cannot speak, read or write English or Spanish.</p>
<p>If necessary, a trial should be delayed a reasonable time in order to secure an interpreter for a juror, that ruling said.</p></blockquote>
<p>Again, is the juror there for the rights of the defendant? Apparently not.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>Revising the Revisionists</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-forsmark/to-hell-on-a-fast-horse/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=to-hell-on-a-fast-horse</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2010/david-forsmark/to-hell-on-a-fast-horse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:02:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[David Forsmark]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bill Hickok]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Billy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brady]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cop killer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cop killers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corrupt sheriff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gardner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Garrett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hell]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Henry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jesse James]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Dillinger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[John Tunstall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juanita]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Juanita Gutierrez]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Justice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[kid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lincoln]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lincoln County]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lincoln county new mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Louis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Louisiana]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[man]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mark Gardner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mark Lee Gardner Morrow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[New Mexico]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Old]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pat garrett]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rebel threat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[saga]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[saga of billy the kid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sam peckinpah]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sheriff]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Times]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tom Mix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tunstall]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[West By]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[western genre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[William Bonney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wyatt Earp]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=58388</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the epic chase to justice in the Old West.]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Gardner.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-58394" title="Gardner" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Gardner.jpg" alt="" width="375" height="526" /></a></p>
<p><em>To Hell on a Fast Horse:<br />
Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West</em><br />
By Mark Lee Gardner<br />
Morrow, $26.99, 336 pp.</p>
<p>Some things never change.  The New York Times, for instance, can always show sympathy for a cop killer with an excuse.</p>
<p>In 1926, a Times book reviewer criticized <em>The Saga of Billy the Kid</em>, one of the first books on the Kid and Pat Garrett that relied on actual reporting, for presenting Garrett as a hero.  The critic, who apparently had watched a few too many Tom Mix movies, thought the lawman with eight kids to feed should have given Billy “a chance to fight for his life.”</p>
<p>I didn’t know liberals were so into dueling. The statement is doubly ironic since the Kid’s most famous killing was the straight-up bushwacking ambush of the (admittedly corrupt) sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico.</p>
<p>Nearly a century later, the Times can still find fault with nearly every police shooting, while it romanticizes cold-blooded cop killers for &#8220;standing up to the Man&#8221;—especially if their politics are radical.</p>
<p>The story of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid often has been used as sort of a pseudo-Marxist fable&#8211; though, unlike Jesse James, John Dillinger and other outlaws who attained such status, the Kid didn’t rob banks.</p>
<p>One of the more infamous accounts of the legend is Sam Peckinpah’s <em>Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, </em>a glum disaster of a movie that basically killed what was left of the drunken director’s career (plus nearly snuffed out the Western genre itself in the early &#8217;70s).  Peckinpah imagined Garrett as a man who is bitter about being used as a capitalist tool to kill off a young rebel threat who sits around grousing about the greedy businessmen who have destroyed the code of the West.</p>
<p>But the truth comes out in Mark Gardner&#8217;s <em>Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West. </em>He reports Garrett was an enthusiastic, if not terribly successful, capitalist himself who had invested in and started several large cattle concerns and other enterprises.</p>
<p>And while Billy may have been on the right side in the famed Lincoln County War, it was the only time in his life that the career horse thief and casual killer had any justification for his actions.</p>
<p><em>To Hell on a Fast Horse</em> may not present a lot of new information, but it is a vividly told, action-packed and thoroughly enjoyable look at the complete lives of two of the Old West’s iconic figures.</p>
<p>Gardner tells the story as parallel biographies. The Kid was not born William Bonney (as usually reported) but probably Henry McCarty, the son of a poor Irish refugee.  A petty thief who gradually drifted West ahead of the law, the Kid graduated to stealing horses and constantly practiced with his pistols.  Personally charming, the Kid attracted a loyal band of cohorts — and women — and his dash and daring earned him admiration among some in the general public.</p>
<p>Garrett, meanwhile, was almost the Kid’s direct opposite.  A tall man of few words, Garrett was born on a prosperous Louisiana plantation but sought his fortune in the West. He worked as a buffalo hunter and cowboy, saving his money until he opened his own saloon in Lincoln County.  Garrett married Juanita Gutierrez, who died within months of the wedding. (The Kid, along with most of the county&#8217;s folks, probably attended the wedding reception, leading to the myth, central to Peckinpah’s film, that Garrett and the Kid had been good friends.) Garrett then married Juanita’s sister, Apolinaria, who bore him nine children.</p>
<p>Two things would forever shape how the American public would view both men.  First, the irony that the Kid worked his first straight job for John Tunstall, the most sympathetic figure in the Lincoln County War, a smaller entrepreneur looking for fair treatment in the cattle market. After Tunstall was shot down in cold blood, many saw the Kid’s subsequent actions — including shooting a corrupt sheriff from ambush — as honorably seeking vengeance and justice for his dead boss. His real motives, however, were far cloudier than that.</p>
<p>Garrett, on the other hand, would never live down the fact that he ultimately shot the Kid from a position of advantage in the dark, even taking into account the number of deputies Garrett had lost in the pursuit of the Kid, and his belief that the Kid was armed and making a move on him.</p>
<p>Garrett never garnered a reputation like Wyatt Earp, Bill Hickok and other legendary lawmen because of how he shot the Kid in the dark. Ironically, Garrett’s detractors generally ignore that the Kid had shot Lincoln County’s Sheriff Brady from ambush&#8211; and that Garrett had captured the Kid alive once, only to have the outlaw murder one of his deputies and escape.</p>
<p><em>To Hell on a Fast Horse</em> at times reads like a Louis L’Amour book, especially when Garrett’s posse pursues the Kid and his band and engages in a series of gun battles and hairbreadth escapes.  While such modern Western movies as <em>Open Range</em> have tried to be more “realistic” about the marksmanship in the Old West (if they couldn’t shoot better than that, many would have starved to death), Gardner relates gun battles in vivid detail that reminds us that these people were <em>very</em> familiar with weapons—and some of them could <em>really</em> shoot.</p>
<p>More importantly, Gardner gives a balanced and complete portrait of Garrett, a flawed and fascinating man whose ambition often exceeded his reach in business. He nonetheless remained an effective law enforcement officer who was constantly called back into service to solve particularly troublesome situations.</p>
<p>The legend surrounding Billy the Kid remains fascinating, as it does not quite fit into the usual template of the outlaw who becomes an American folk hero. He may have been charming and had flair to spare, but he also casually gunned down men who had no chance to fight back.</p>
<p>The Kid also was, by trade, a horse thief.  Unlike most other crooks-turned-icons, he didn&#8217;t rob banks that were regarded as the bad guys for foreclosing on American home and farm owners during hard times. (Though in pre-Federal Reserve times, small investors and farmers could lose their life savings because of such robberies.)  His only virtue was seen as standing up for the little guy against bigger corporate interests in avenging his murdered boss.</p>
<p>Of course, it’s elected officials today who rob the banks blind, call <em>them</em> the bad guys and seem to be hell-bent on killing small businesses …</p>
<p>Maybe moderns shouldn’t feel so superior and sneer so much about the “Wild West.”</p>
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