Congratulations and welcome home, Jared! Sounds like a lot of waiting on God and just plain waiting has been rewarded. It brought a smile to my face to see the picture with your new son. All the best and richest blessings to you and your family!
I heard a rumor that some (unnamed) someone had offered the State Supreme Court a promise of a new building if only the Court would find the illegal property tax imposed by Governor Ritter and his Democrat legislature was constitutional.
That would explain why Bill Ritter seems so confident that the State Supreme Court will rule his way.
If the Court is dumb enough to appear to be bought and if the legislature is dumb enough to send a hundred million their way immediately after the ruling, Colorado will have a black eye for years to come.
Again, this is a rumor, but a rumor that might have some substance.
I’ve seen this one come through the grapevine, too. Gov. Bill Ritter’s actions have only made the rumor more credible. If it’s untrue, the state’s highest court and elected officials still would be wise to act circumspectly for the good of the state.
Here’s a roundup of new media coverage of Monday’s premier public debate between Colorado U.S. Senate candidates Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall.
From Schaffer v Udall…
- Schaffer v Udall Debate: Update, Quick First Impressions
- Bob Schaffer’s Clear Debate Victory over Mark Udall Sways Uncommitted Voter
- Schaffer v Udall Debate Photos
- Missing the Point of Bob Schaffer’s Powerful Zing on Mark Udall’s Iraq Record
- Mark Udall Healthcare Quips
From Rocky Mountain Right…
- Pictures from the Schaffer-Udall Debate
- Breaking News from the RMN: Udall Staffer Approves of Udall’s Debate Performance!
Also check out Face The State’s slideshow of the debate.
And, of course, though it’s not new media, 9News has a report from the debate and links to the full video.
Enjoy!
Today I’m taking a few personal hours from work to go cover the first debate of Colorado’s 2008 U.S. Senate campaign. Hopefully, El Presidente and I will be live-blogging the event between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall over at the Schaffer v Udall blog. Doors open to the public at 9:30 AM local time, with the debate scheduled to take place from 10:00 to 11:00 AM.
Via American Thinker, here is quotable wisdom Tony Snow shared in a May 2007 commencement speech, advice to “live boldly, to live a whole life”:
1. Think; use your brains.
2. Take risks; don’t be content with what you know.
3. Commit to God. Faith is as natural as the air we breathe. Religion is the introduction to the ultimate extreme sport.
4. Get out and experience life. Get your fingernails dirty… and laugh, a lot, at yourselves. ..the pain, the poignancy, the aches are essential; they bring us together.
5. Love. It is everything…to love is to acknowledge that life is not about you…to submit willingly, heart & soul, to things that matter. Think not only of what it means to love but what it means to be loved. I have a lot of experience with that. Since the news that I have cancer again, I have heard from thousands and thousands of people and I have been the subject of untold prayers. I’m telling you right now: You’re young [and you feel] bullet-proof and invincible. [But] never underestimate the power of other people’s love and prayer. They have incredible power. It’s as if I’ve been carried on the shoulders of an entire army. And they had made me weightless.
Rest in peace, Tony Snow (1955-2008). Condolences to his family and loved ones.
Do you ever wonder why there’s such skepticism about Big Labor’s support of legislation that attacks workers’ ballot privacy, not to mention Big Labor’s opposition to legislation that gives workers more freedom over their earnings?
Underreported news like this from the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) would give a satisfactory answer. Here’s the letter from AWF to the Internal Revenue Service:
On behalf of the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and rank-and-file working Americans, I urge you to investigate the apparent incongruence contained within the 2005-2006 tax filings by the AFL-CIO.
According to their annual LM-2 financial disclosure form filed with the Department of Labor, the AFL-CIO spent $41,620,583 on political activities in 2006.
However, on the AFL-CIO’s Form-990 for July 1, 2005 – June 30, 2006, they report spending zero dollars ($0.00) on direct or indirect political expenditures.
If the AFL-CIO did not pay taxes on all or part of the $41,620,583 reported to the Department of Labor as political expenditures, then it can be assumed that they owe the IRS (and the American public) upwards of $14,000,000.
With the recent budget cut from the only government agency responsible for monitoring union financial activity (the Office of Labor Management Standards), every effort should be taken to ensure that rank-and-file union workers dues are not being mismanaged or misreported.
Tax evasion? Corruption? Misuse of workers’ funds? It’s not just the AFL-CIO that faces such scrutiny. For years, the National Education Association (NEA) has been under investigation for claiming zero dollars in political expenditures to the IRS while spending countless millions on political activities.
For the sake of fair elections and a level playing field, Big Labor should stop getting a pass.
The Denver Post reports good news from Aurora - with a catch:
The Aurora school district and its teachers union have reached an agreement on a new contract that calls for a 2 percent increase in pay for all employees this coming school year.
But there’s a hitch: The school board must agree to put a property-tax hike on the November ballot to fund it and voters must approve it or else there will be no raises.
Aurora Public Schools hasn’t asked for a mill levy increase since 1990 but feels that is the only way it can fund salary increases for the 2008-09 school year, said chief personnel officer Kari Allen.
The timing isn’t good. School property taxes for Aurora homeowners and business owners already increased about 6 percent this year, thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter’s so-called mill levy “freeze.” It’s not clear yet how much these taxes will go up for 2008-09 - depending on property valuations - even without this year’s mill levy election.
Here is a case where Bill Ritter’s unauthorized tax increase may yield the opposite effect that was intended.
How, you ask? The extra property tax money raised gives slight relief to state funding for school finance, taking more money from local taxpayers to finance state government programs. In other words, Aurora homeowners and business owners are paying more in school property taxes, but their local schools see no net benefit. When the local school comes asking this fall for funds that may be needed, they have to ask taxpayers who are already taking an extra hit from Bill Ritter’s property tax hike.
Belt-tightening is affecting everyone. And Ritter may make it tougher for Aurora voters living on family budgets to agree to increase funding for local schools. But at least the Democrats in the State Capitol have more money to play with.
Did you hear what Phil Gramm - former U.S. Senator, McCain for President economic adviser - said? If you’re reading this blog, it’s almost impossible to have missed it. (Hey - don’t whine at me if you haven’t heard what Gramm said!)
It’s become so bad that less than 24 hours into the story the big media is referencing the extent of its own coverage:
Remarks by former Sen. Phil Gramm (R), a top economic advisor to Sen. John McCain, are drawing heavy negative attention for the candidate in the latest media cycle.
1996 was a long time ago - it was the first Presidential election in which I was eligible to vote. Yesterday helped to remind me why the Phil Gramm campaign never left the ground. The man is an economic whiz and one of the most principled conservative statesmen to have served in the U.S. Senate in recent years, but he also is afflicted by a serious case of “foot-in-mouth” disease. Unfortunately, the political give-and-take of the campaign trail doesn’t care much about how accurate Gramm’s assessment was. He could have and should have spoken more artfully, and is paying the expected price.
The result? The mainstream media is all over the remark like maggots on rotting meat, creating the meme that John McCain and Republicans are out-of-touch economic elitists. Maybe, though, Phil Gramm’s biggest problem is that he lacks a certain Leftist messianic aura or the weak-kneed media crush that comes along with it. Barack Obama’s gaffes? Condescending cultural elitist remarks this week by the Democrat candidate himself got little attention from a media establishment that largely shares his views.
If you think there’s no double standard when it comes to Barack Obama, you just aren’t paying attention.
Liberal Democrat Rep. Gwyn Green, whose state house district covers part of Denver’s western suburbs, is a poster child for economic illiteracy. This fact has only been reconfirmed today by a Face The State report on her ill-informed but zealous refusal to attend a party sponsored by the Colorado Oil and Gas Association:
“I see no point in attending the COGA Conference,” she wrote. “Your announcement does not indicate any desire to moderate the ungodly profits the oil and gas companies are reaping at the costs for [sic] consumers.”
Of course, the report goes on to explain her fallacy:
According to the American Petroleum Institute, statistics through the first quarter of 2008 show that, on average, only 7.4 percent of each dollar paid at the pump is realized as profit by oil companies. Seventy percent of the per-gallon price is attributable to the cost of crude oil, with 13 percent paid in taxes.
But here’s the proof she hasn’t come close to learning her lesson from before:
Green said Tuesday she is interested in reintroducing legislation similar to House Bill 1251, vetoed by Gov. Bill Owens in 2006, to address alleged “price gouging” at retail gasoline stations. But that bill would have applied only during times of “emergency,” and only covered retail gasoline sales, not production.
Once upon a time, Rocky Mountain News editor Vince Carroll demolished Gwyn Green’s economically illiterate attempt to impose oil and gas shortages on the unsuspecting consumers she represents. You know what the real sad part is, though? The Republicans can’t find a strong, credible business-minded candidate to take on Green. How hard should that be in a state like Colorado?
Sigh….
The warped, whiny, politically correct victim culture has reached a new milestone of insanity:
A homosexual man who has a blog on Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign website is suing two major Christian publishers for violating his constitutional rights and causing emotional pain, because the Bible versions they publish refer to homosexuality as a sin.
Bradley LaShawn Fowler, 39, of Canton, Mich., is seeking $60 million from Zondervan and another $10 million from Thomas Nelson Publishing in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the Grand Rapids Press reported.
I’m sure if he goes judge-shopping long enough, Mr. Fowler the Barack Obama blogger may even find one who agrees with him that scholarly translations of sacred texts should be obliterated if they cause offense. News flash: The Holy Scriptures and the Christ they tell us about are an offense and a stumbling block to people everywhere determined to live their own way - including Mr. Fowler’s hubris to think that he has unveiled a biblical interpretation that has eluded scholars for centuries.
In this showdown of Leftist lunatic zealotry vs. religious freedom and common sense, there’s every reason to believe the latter will prevail. But as a Right Wing News blogger observed:
Christians are advised to find secure places to store Bibles, where they will be safe from authorities after the book has been banned for failing to comply with the one true commandment: There is no god but moonbattery, and Obama is its prophet.
Wow. Simply wow.
Face The State yesterday featured a campaign money breakdown for what figures to be Colorado’s hottest state legislative race - and quite possibly a bellwether for others across the state - and that’s Senate District 19:
In Jefferson County’s closely contested Senate District 19, Democrat Evie Hudak has started raking in union cash, while Republican Libby Szabo has seen her large-donor support come mostly from pro-business organizations and the state’s energy providers.
Libby Szabo is a personal friend and a common sense conservative with plenty of real-world experience in raising a family and running a business. Unfortunately, I live just outside her district and can’t vote for Libby. But I’m glad to commend her to readers, especially those looking for a local Colorado candidate they can get behind and perhaps contribute a little money to:
“People in my district believe in me so much that they’re willing to support me financially even in times of economic uncertainty,” Szabo said. “That truly means a lot to me. It’s one thing when millionaires donate money to campaigns, but when average citizens donate their hard-earned cash, that really means something.”
Knowing Libby, I’d say these words are sincere. Though to many she’s a political unknown, she has done a lot of the right things to put herself in a position to win this November. And when you consider the nature of the opposition, it makes this campaign more imperative than most for freedom-loving conservatives who believe in limited government and personal responsibility.
Consider finding a way to show your support for Libby Szabo.
Colorado’s mega-rich liberals Tim Gill and Pat Stryker have it in for conservative Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, who has represented northeastern Colorado since 2003. They have spent countless amounts of money trying to unseat her in the past two election cycles, and are committed to doing it again. This time they believe they have a winning candidate in Democrat Betsy Markey, someone to fulfill their obsession.
But this video clip of Betsy Markey trying to explain her position on the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act shows that Tim Gill and Pat Stryker still have some work to do with their out-of-touch candidate:
As the Labor Pains blog points out, this is the same Betsy Markey who has sought to woo small businesses but struggles to explain why she supports Big Labor legislation that is unpopular, would needlessly harm business owners - and take away workers’ secret ballots.
It looks like Betsy Markey has just handed Marilyn Musgrave an easy talking point for part of a winning message, thus making a bigger bill for Tim Gill and Pat Stryker to pay if they want to overcome it and somehow find a way to win. It will be hard for Markey to paint her incumbent opponent as out of touch when she is so out of touch on the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Lefties might need to cut back their expectations for their 4th Congressional district darling.
Public confidence in the U.S. Congress has never registered lower than it does today under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid:
The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category.
The level of cynicism is stunning across the board (only 13% support from Democrats, 8% from Republicans, 3% from unaffiliated voters). Based on what Townhall columnist Jon Sanders pointed out last year when Congress’ approval rating was 14 percent, as many Americans believe that astrology is “very scientific” as believe that Congress is doing a good job. Twice as many (19%) believe that Elvis may still be alive. Which of the three groups clings to a wackier belief?
For a more serious analysis of the Rasmussen poll and what it indicates about voter sentiments and realities vs. perceptions, check out Rossputin’s take.
As a baseball sentimentalist and lifelong Detroit Tigers fans, this is painful to read:
A much bigger swath of Tiger Stadium is coming down today as efforts to save part of it keep amping up.
A ragged hole the size of a baseball diamond is now gashed into the north end of the stadium, near the corner of Trumbull and Fisher Freeway West service drive.
The historic stadium is a scene of massive back hoes and smoke from the crumbling cement and iron within the chain-link fence area where demolition is taking place. Beyond the hole, the blue and orange seats can be seen and the grass field itself still looks inviting and green.
It also looks like one more big swing from a wrecking ball is all it will take for the left field bleachers on the upper deck to pass into history.
On the other side of the fence along the freeway service drive, a growing number of grown men are clutching video cameras and walking around, shaking their heads as they document the moment.
Ah, the memories of a classic ballpark with a unique character and history all its own….
Today at the Schaffer v Udall blog, I gladly take the opportunity to quickly correct a small mistake while getting another chance to emphasize a major point:
As the National Republican Senatorial Committee documented well, it took Mark Udall two-and-a-half years after 9/11 to drop his co-sponsorship of the Department of Peace: March 17, 2004. Coincidentally, though, it came one week after he first announced he was running for U.S. Senate. Does anyone still want to argue credibly that he changed his position on the issue because of 9/11? Or is it much clearer now that the move is part of Boulder liberal Mark Udall’s careful calculation to remake his image as he runs for statewide office?
You can read the whole thing here.
Other recent highlights from the blog on Colorado’s U.S. Senate campaign:
- Thanking Mark Udall for the Gas Price Pain that Keeps Many Home This Fourth of July
- Greeley Parade Officials Boost Mark Udall, Leave Out Own Board Rep Bob Schaffer
- A reminder to submit your questions to 9News for the upcoming July 14 debate between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall
Veterans of Colorado, visit The Mortgage Center.com to use your Veteran Benefits and for help in obtaining an affordable Colorado Veteran Loan.
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