Colorado Ethics Watch’s Chantell Taylor has filed an especially frivolous complaint, reports Face The State.
While a frustrating annoyance, it’s also a badge of honor for Fort Collins city council candidate Andrew Boucher, who is running a tireless and effective pro-liberty campaign.
The uncanny timing and sheer desperation of this complaint makes me wonder if Colorado Ethics Watch has been watching what happened to their state sister Media Matters (after all, they have the same rich Lefty sugar daddies as part of their common affiliation with the Colorado Democracy Alliance), and whether the group has observed the right lesson from its demise.
Does Ethics Watch believe that the plug was pulled on Media Matters because the phony watchdogs weren’t active enough, so Taylor felt impelled to do something to justify her organization’s existence? Or is the liberal “ethics” group trying to pick up the slack for the recently-departed Media Matters – which had become known as the butt of many jokes for its theater of the absurd?
Just curious….
Update, 5:00 PM: Snowfall has lightened up, visibility has improved to nearly normal, heavy gusts of wind are far less frequent. We have just under a feet of snow, which indicates that the heaviest precipitation occurred this morning. But it hasn’t stopped. And with a layer of ice under much of the snow, it will be awhile before travel is back to normal.
Today is suitable for a little random weather blogging here in central Arvada … Snow started falling at sometime around 6 AM. I’ve spent the morning working inside, but ventured outside at high noon.
Observations: Blowing snow (heavy at times), visibility is about 100 feet or so (occasionally much less than that), the nearby side streets are barely passable for standard 2-wheel drive vehicles, traffic is exceptionally light and generally slow-going. Outside our house we have 8 inches of snow on the ground, with a few drifts over a foot deep. No sign of letting up. I’m happy to be inside today.
As bad as this storm is, so far it pales in the inevitable comparisons to the December 2006 blizzard and especially to the March 2003 monster snow (we had more than 50 inches outside our Golden apartment).
Mr. Bob has some downtown Denver snow pics from this morning … nothing too substantial yet.
I was looking forward to visiting my parents this summer near Grand Rapids, Michigan — maybe catching some minor league baseball action. Now I know there’s a genuinely tempting challenge involved, I’ll have to make a point of going to Fifth Third Ballpark.
4,800 calories? Methinks it’s not on the Weight Watchers plan. But a reason to miss the state of my birth? Perhaps.
From Gateway Pundit, more evidence of the kind of “change” in diplomacy we voted for: Barack Obama writes to FORMER president of France Jacques Chirac saying he looks forward to working together “in the coming four years” — while altogether snubbing current president Nicolas Sarkozy. More at EuroPumas.
(Here’s the original Le Figaro story, in case you’re interested. It’s not every day I get to link to something en Francais.)
Way to go. Just one more in a string of diplomatic embarrassments emanating from the Oval Office. But keep on laughing, Mr. President.
(Cue music to “Mrs. Robinson”) “Where have you gone, Colorado Media Matters? A state barely notices you’re through … Woo, woo, woo….” Nice (“don’t let the door hit you on the way out”) post-mortems from Slapstick Politics and Rossputin.
Curious silence from the various Lefty blogs I’ve read, though. Maybe they are just relieved that the embarrassment is gone.
As for me, I feel bad I’ve already wasted the last 5 minutes of my life…
After a so-so 12-4 showing in my first day selections, here are the picks for Friday’s scheduled first round games with my projected winners in bold: (more…)
I’ve decided to do something a little different with this year’s NCAA Tournament and the blog. I’ll be posting my picks on a day-by-day basis. Below are a list of tomorrow’s scheduled first round games with my projected winners in bold: (more…)
I agree with Rocky Mountain Right: Who? I’ve been reasonably involved in the Jefferson County Republican Party for six years, and have never heard of this fellow from Evergreen. Methinks he’s not the Republicans’ best hope to take on Bill Ritter.
Too much good stuff out there, too little time. Here’s a quick Wednesday morning roundup of the best from the Colorado blogs (in no particular order):
The Colorado blogosphere is certainly on a roll… and then some. I’m sure I’ve missed other good entries, but this is probably more than enough to keep you busy for awhile.
An interesting tidbit from Cherry Creek Schools:
Jana Frieler, principal of Overland High School in the Cherry Creek School District since 2005, was voted president-elect of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) at the organization’s national conference in San Diego February 27, 2009.
Frieler will lead the 30,000- member organization in 2010-2011. Frieler has been active in principal leadership through national-level committee work and service on the NASSP Board of Directors.
Congrats to Jana Frieler on her new position. What’s the big deal with this announcement, you say? You may remember Frieler as the principal who during her first year was thrown into the fire of national controversy over teacher Jay Bennish’s outrageous and fact-challenged tirade against then-President George Bush and capitalism that was recorded by a student in his geography class.
At a press conference in March 2006, Frieler welcomed back Bennish as “a member of our Blazer family”. Well, it was precisely about this time three years ago that the controversy was brewing, and even though he still is listed as a faculty member, we haven’t heard a lick from Jay Bennish since. That very well may be due in part to Frieler’s effective leadership.
Reading the news on the Cherry Creek website was like a blast from the media frenzy past. Any connection of significance or relevance? Probably not – it just seemed like an opportunity for a quaint, provincial version of “Where Are They Now?” And to dredge up a link to one of my past writings: Because, after all, I still think the Bennish controversy makes the case for school choice.
And what about the academic record? Interestingly, Overland High’s School Accountability Report (SARs) for the past few years have earned an “Average” rating, while the new academic growth model shows Overland making above-average progress in reading, below-average progress in writing, and mixed results in math.
Perhaps I’m making this post in more of a sleep-deprived than clear-thinking state, but can’t we just end the “daylight saving” twice-a-year-time-switch madness? My personal preference would me to put us on daylight saving time all year long, but you can make your voice heard on an online petition. There’s also a group on Facebook.
As the weekend in which the late great news commentator Paul Harvey will be memorialized and laid in his final resting place, I wanted to offer a tiny tribute.
Like anyone who turned on an AM radio in recent decades, Paul Harvey’s news and “Rest of the Story” segments were almost always irresistible. I didn’t get to see him speak in person until he delivered the commencement address at Hillsdale College in 2000, when I watched some of my friends graduate. About that same time, he began singing the praises of my alma mater on his radio program. Subscriptions to Hillsdale’s free speech digest Imprimis have soared.
Many people I’ve met in recent years, people of various ages and backgrounds, the only connection they have to Hillsdale is they remember Paul Harvey talking about it. It’s just one small example of the tremendous reach of his influence and the widespread appreciation for his work.
Very few (if any) remaining figures of public stature are so quintessentially American and down-to-earth as Mr. Harvey was. A reassuring, friendly voice heard on radio stations across the country – and on mine – who by all accounts was genuinely genial both on the microphone and off.
Paul Harvey’s warm personality, folksy charm, and trademark vocal delivery will be greatly missed. Condolences to his family and loved ones.
Good day! RIP, Paul Harvey (1918-2009)
From Michelle Malkin and Right Wing News (take your pick):
The Obamessiah meets one of the more well represented figures on all-time “most annoying TV characters” lists.
The first person who can accurately identify the reference in the title of the post, please leave a comment below to win the prize …
… of a satisfying job well done.
Win or lose, here’s hoping you enjoy the humor and smile today.
“And people wonder why union card-check legislation is such a problem for workers” Exhibit # 2863. From the Chicago Sun-Times (via The Union Label):
[United Food and Commercial Workers staff employee Agnes Sobczyk] said she passed a letter to a co-worker detailing her concerns about State Rep. John Fritchey, the candidate the union has endorsed to replace [Rahm] Emanuel.
She passed the letter to her co-worker on Wednesday night and on Thursday morning, she said Union President Ron Powell called her into his office.
“He shoved this in my face and said, ‘Explain this!’” she said. Sobczyk said she told Powell she was concerned about some stories she read about Fritchey and that she thought [Victor] Forys was a better candidate.
“Then I just stopped talking and said, ‘I’m fired, right?’” she said. “He said, ‘Yes you’re fired.’ I couldn’t believe it. I got nothing but good reviews there.”
The candidate Sobczyk was supporting is another Democrat. One can only imagine her fate had she come out in favor of a Republican. This is Rahm Emanuel’s neck of the woods after all.
Though he hasn’t been affected to the same degree, Dave Ohmart of Colorado LOSES probably has some sympathy for the now-ex-union employee.
Today is absolutely the last day you can sign up to attend the annual Leadership Program of the Rockies retreat in Colorado Springs on March 6-7 – featuring speakers Bill Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Mike Rosen, Congressman John Shadegg (R-AZ), and more.
What are you waiting for?
