When 9News reporter Nelson Garcia wanted a different perspective on school district bond elections, he asked to interview me. If you want to see the video - or just read it in print so to avoid having to look at me - the story is here:
Ben DeGrow is the education policy analyst for the Education Policy Center within the Independence Institute, which is a conservative political think tank. DeGrow says too many middle class families are coping with high gas prices and a poor real estate market to think about raising their own property taxes for schools.
“This may be a tough year for JeffCo and other metro school districts to be asking for money,” said DeGrow.
JeffCo is just one of the major districts around Denver poised to ask voters for money this fall. Denver, Aurora, and Cherry Creek have also expressed the intent to place bond issues or mill levies on the November ballot along with a number of other districts across Colorado.
DeGrow says school districts place bond issues and mill levies on the ballot during presidential elections because that means more un-informed voters will come to the polls.
“You’re reaching into a base of voters who don’t necessarily have as much information who may be inclined to just give more money to schools because it sounds like the right thing to do,” said Degrow.
DeGrow says, instead, people should be asking districts how it can spend the money it already has more efficiently instead of trying to fix all problems by throwing more money into the system.
“Most studies show, there’s no connection between how much is spent and what the results are as far as student tests,” said DeGrow.
You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog reading.
Yes, after several days off, mostly busy and relatively sleepless though enjoyable, I’m back. Thank you for your patience and forbearance. Few things could rouse me from my blogging slumber so fitfully and so excitedly as that AMAZING Olympic swimming relay comeback victory by the United States.
The image of American swimmers Michael Phelps and Garrett Weber-Gale in raw exultation as teammate Jason Lezak helped secure them and Cullen Jones a USA victory in the 4 x 100 freestyle relay has become indelible. Only slightly less rewarding was watching the stunned and sullen looks on the faces of the French swimmers, the favorites in the race, whose anchor leg teammate and 100-meter freestyle world record holder Alain Bernard couldn’t close out on his arrogant prediction that they would “smash” the Americans.
Thanks to Lezak’s heroics, the question of whether Phelps really will win the eight gold medals is more intriguing than ever.
Yes, it’s safe to say I’m now into the competitions of these Olympic games - with as much time as I can reasonably give in admiration and loyal enthusiasm.
A significant and very exciting change came to the Virtus household yesterday. Needless to say, blogging will be sporadic, at best, for awhile. More important things are going on!
A few days ago I had a conversation with some non-political family members about the pains of hosting a national political convention. One of them lives in the Twin Cities. The rest of us live in and around Denver. Doubtless this means some inconveniences and annoyances for denizens, regardless of whether it’s the Republicans or Democrats coming to your town.
But the Denver Post today reports a small outrage I hadn’t even considered before (H/T Slapstick Politics):
Several Denver City Council members are questioning why the Democratic National Convention Committee has a contract with the city to fill up their fleet of vehicles with tax-free fuel.
The $466,000 contract, only $9,700 of which has been paid so far by the DNCC officials, allows them to use the city’s car wash and gas stations for their vehicles. The city’s fuel pumps should be used by government employees only because they don’t charge $.40 cents per gallon of state and federal taxes.
I’m not a lawyer, but this sure sounds like an unethical use of government tax-exempt status. Local media ought to give it further examination. And what about Denver mayor John Hickenlooper? The article cites Hick making a false claim that a similar deal was in place between Minneapolis and the Republican National Convention. What will the city do about the contract?
In the meantime, the rest of us private citizens pay $4 a gallon for gasoline, Democratic party officials get a standard 10 percent discount that takes resources away from funding our highways and other transportation needs. The DNC hasn’t even arrived in Denver yet, and you can already start to feel the public resentment and seething begin to rise.
Here’s a little insight for the day … Recently, I posted at the Schaffer v Udall blog a response to the latest trumped-up faux controversy heaped against the Republican U.S. Senate candidate. Rossputin followed it up at Politics West with an even abler and more thorough refutation of the charges - using relevant facts and evidence.
I got a chuckle today when my friend pointed out to me the first comment added to Rossputin’s post:
when are you going to stop dodging my question about your work for the Heartland Institute?
“DeGrow points out a few subsequent articles which show the attack to be erroneous as well as discussing how two of the “big names” leading the attack, former high-level diplomats, are now Democratic activists and at least one works with the Obama campaign.”
Let me get this straight. You’re saying that because the attacks are coming from Democrats, it’s not valid? Nice argument. I now reject all your arguments as they come from a right-wing shill who formerly directed the Heartland Institute.
And speaking of Ben Degrow, isn’t he a right-wing partisan hack of the Independence Institute?
I posted the comment here not to give repute to the nameless commenter, but to highlight a series of tactics featured early and often in the Lefty political playbook:
- Ignore the relevant facts. Go back and read both my post and Rossputin’s post linked above. Notice the weight given to the “fact that the attacks are coming from Democrats” as an argument refuting the original charge. Yes, it’s a secondary point, at best, one that highlights the very duplicity of this commenter’s self-righteous attacks against partisanship.
- Distort other facts. The commenter totally misidentifies the nature of Rossputin’s former relationship with the Heartland Institute.
- Name-calling. The argument ad hominem is the last recourse of an empty argument. Never mind that the phrase “right-wing partisan hack” suffers from its own absurdly illogical construction.
- Guilt by association. The commenter too easily conflates my open and clearly stated political philosophy and leanings and the research and writing I do in my spare time with my employer. Apparently, this is supposed to detract from the substance of what I say. Okay….
- Hide in anonymity. Admittedly, this is a tactic used by some both on the Left and the Right. Note that it tends to encourage the other kinds of behavior listed here.
To the anonymous Lefty commenter, thanks for the instructive example. Oh, by the way, my name is spelled with a capital G, too.
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!
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.
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.
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….
Update: An astute observer has corrected a factual mistake. James Madison wrote “much of” - not “most of” - the Federalist. Alexander Hamilton wrote more, though Madison wrote many of the key essays that frame the meaning of Union. My faux pas.
The following is adapted and expanded from an email listserv essay I wrote recently, inspired initially in response to the following phrase someone had written: “The American Republic created by the founding fathers was destroyed by the civil war….” Here is my argument why libertarians should think long and hard before embracing a defense of the Confederate cause:
Quite simply, the noble libertarian impulse to champion resistance to government encroachment on people’s freedoms has led many astray to assail the Union’s cause during the Civil War and to embrace the validity of the Confederate cause.
This is not to imply in the contemporary spirit of relativist debate that holding this reflexive position necessarily makes one a racist or slavery apologist. But the line of argument that has been used takes the misguided tack of placing all blame on the eventual victors of the Civil War, while giving short shrift to the question of the war’s causation. Understanding who is responsible for the war and the political context of the era shrouds the ability to cast easy reflexive judgments against Lincoln that can be used to draw a straight line of rising statist oppression from then until now.
Read the rest of this entry »
It was my privilege to spend time with Fred Barnes - executive editor of Weekly Standard and co-host of Fox News Beltway Boys - at yesterday evening’s Colorado Rockies game. Thanks to Tom Roche of Roche Constructors, Inc., for generously providing an extra seat in his guest suite (which included a nice spread of baseball-friendly food and fixings), and to my Independence Institute colleague Amy Oliver for inviting me along. It was the first time to Coors Field for Fred Barnes, an avid fan of baseball, most especially (and regrettably) of the Boston Red Sox.
Fred Barnes has been a guest of the Independence Institute in the Denver area for the past several days - centered around his keynote speaking appearance at Saturday’s ATF Party.
I had last seen Fred Barnes give a speech at my alma mater Hillsdale College in days long past. But I’d never had the privilege of sitting down and talking to him in-depth before. With Amy and others, we talked about education, state issues, national politics, international events, and of course, baseball.
Fred asked before the game what had been the cause of the Rockies’ 2008 woes. By the end of the game, he had seen it for himself: a 15-8 late-innings drubbing brought on by a bullpen collapse. With the numerous home runs and other extra-base hits, he also got to witness firsthand just how well the ball travels in Coors Field’s mile-high air. For many of us our first time watching Hall of Fame-bound pitcher Greg Maddux in person, we also all got to witness the aging veteran as the winning San Diego Padres’ only lowlight. Strange.
Yesterday evening was memorable for the way it brought together three of my favorite pastimes: baseball, politics, and food. And I confirmed that the real Fred Barnes is very much the Fred Barnes heard on radio and seen on TV.
Monday morning, little time to write. As I get ready to head back for another week of work, I ironically find this posting for a job that probably isn’t in my future. Given my credentials, I doubt I would even get a phone call for an interview. Oh, well.
The hackles have been raised over at the Dead Guvs, as a post by reliable conservative blogger El Presidente has been promoted to the front page: For whatever it’s worth, he highlights the revelation of the story behind the online debate between Bob Schaffer and Mark Udall that never materialized.
The debate was the brainchild of respectable liberal blogger David Thielen, who had hosted several of these debates during the Democratic primary. For the U.S. Senate race, he sought the fair and balanced approach, and I agreed to co-moderate. Kudos to David for promoting El Presidente’s entry, for verifying the facts presented, and for defending the truth against the slings and arrows of outrageous insults.
My already significant respect for Mr. Thielen has risen even higher. I expected (and was quite amused) to be called absurdly false names like “sockpuppet” and “paid shill.” He on the other hand is taking grief from people who generally agree with his political point of view.
Meanwhile, a watcher offers his own perspective on the excuse alleged by the Mark Udall campaign for running away from the online debate, in three parts: here (where he writes, “Mark Udall is, after all, a coward”), here, and here.
Quite an amusing saga that says more about Mark Udall and most of the Lefties who defend him on the Internet than anyone.
The Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 keeps growing: Welcome aboard Steve Nielson from The New Conservative (also a new father!). In his spare time, Steve is a Lockheed engineer, as well as the secretary of the Douglas County Republican Party. He’s also the third RMA member to be a graduate of the Leadership Program of the Rockies.
Make sure to bookmark his site for regular visits if you haven’t done so already. Welcome aboard, Steve!
How surprised I was this morning as I went to the driveway to collect the newspapers to also find a cleverly packaged piece of white supremacist “nationalist” hate-group literature nearby on the ground. After opening it and being repulsed, I then looked around and saw that our house wasn’t the only one on the block to have been so greeted. With the help of my 2-year-old daughter, we walked the block and cleaned up more than a dozen pieces of trash littered along the sidewalk and street.
After writing this, I may come to find out that I inadvertently insulted the work of some local neo-Con blogger’s friends. Nevertheless, the kind of ideology littered along my street this morning is a repulsive affront to true Christian religion and our nation’s founding creed, the Declaration of Independence.
I’m glad to participate in this kind of neighborhood clean-up program: it’s community beautification on multiple levels.
