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Home Archives for 2008

Archives for 2008

10/23/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Barack Obama’s Taxpayer Trick or Treat for Union Bosses, Welfare, ACORN

(Compliments of ALG Feature Syndicate) If there's one thing undecided voters need to weigh in the waning days of this presidential campaign, it indeed is Barack Obama's desire to give taxpayer-funded goodies to union bosses, the welfare state, and ACORN. Meanwhile, Obama's campaign continues to raise questions about the integrity of his online fundraising process. The bare minimum security opens the door to all kinds of potential fraud and federal campaign violations. An experiment by PowerLine readers highlights the extent of the problem. (Update: < em>HotAir has tons of mounting evidence.) Yes, you have correctly sensed a theme developing.... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: ACORN, Americans for Limited Government, Barack Obama, election, federal campaign violations, goodies, online fundraising, potential fraud, presidential campaign, security, taxpayers, undecided voters, union bosses, welfare state

10/23/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Barack Obama Would Play Jimmy Hoffa by Getting Union Bad Guys Off

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards reported its 900th conviction of union leaders for criminal activity. From the press release:During the month, OLMS obtained three convictions, seven indictments and court orders of restitution totaling more than $80,000. The office’s totals for fiscal year 2008 (which ended on Sept. 30, 2008) are 102 convictions and 130 indictments, with restitution of more than $3.2 million. The bulk of the cases involved the embezzlement of union funds. “The triple-digit numbers of indictments and convictions obtained by OLMS in the 2008 fiscal year demonstrates that criminal activity in unions is still a major problem. This problem points to the critical role … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: bad seeds, Barack Obama, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Colorado, conviction, corruption, criminal activity, Don Todd, embezzlement, endorsement, federal agencies, forgery, Governor, indictments, Jimmy Hoffa, Office of Labor-Management Standards, oversight, restitution, rollback, Teamsters, theft, U.S. Department of Labor, union funds, union leaders, Wall Street Journal, workers

10/23/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Ballot Guide 2008 Updated

While early and mail-in voting continues, I once again have made a couple small updates to Ben's Colorado Ballot Guide 2008 - including a new link. Check it out, and share the word with any voters still uninformed or undecided about the 14 issues on the statewide ballot. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Colorado, early voting, mail-in ballots, statewide initiatives

10/23/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Parents for School Choice Backs Libby Szabo, Holly Hansen, Shawn Mitchell

Denise at Colorado Charters has shared information on three candidates officially backed by Parents for School Choice, a group that puts its support into races that make a real difference on behalf of charter school families. In other words, these three candidates are strong supporters of charter schools, while their opponents have an anti-charter school record: Libby Szabo, Holly Hansen, and Shawn Mitchell. Speaking of Shawn, here's a creative video highlighting his record and candidacy: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General Tagged With: candidates, charter schools, Colorado Charters, Denise, Holly Hansen, Libby Szabo, opponents, Parents for School Choice, Shawn Mitchell, video

10/22/2008 By Ben 7 Comments

Teachers Union Twists Facts to Cover for Anti-Amendment 49 Violation

Joanne Kelley reports on the Rocky Mountain News Stump blog:Supporters of Amendment 49 filed a campaign finance complaint over $2,800 of "in-kind" contributions a teachers union committee made to a group fighting the ballot measure. The complaint alleges the Colorado Springs Education Association's issue committee made contributions to a group created to address statewide ballot issues when the teachers' committee was created to promote issues in its own district. "I find it disturbing to see the teachers union funnel resources earmarked for local education issues into a fight against statewide political issues they don't happen to like," said Colorado Springs resident and former school board candidate Reginald Perry, who was named on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 49, campaign finance complaint, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Springs, Colorado Springs Education Association, Deborah Fallin, different, Ethical Standards, in-kind contribution, Joanne Kelley, local education issues, Protect Colorado's Future, purpose, Reginald Perry, reports, Rocky Mountain News, School District 11, Secretary of State, Stump, teachers union

10/22/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Slapstick Politics Covers Colorado: Still Very Much in Play for McCain-Palin

Update: Gene Kinsey provides photos and first-hand reporting of Sarah Palin's Monday rally in Grand Junction. Short on time for in-depth blogging this morning, I'd point you to Slapstick Politics' coverage of unfolding national campaign events here in our fair state: Colorado "Gone" For John McCain Despite Appearances By Sarah Palin? Battleground Colorado: Sarah Palin Interview; "First Dude" A Rockstar; Biden "Blitz" John McCain Concedes Colorado By Campaigning in Denver, Durango On Friday Don't buy the lies from the Left or the media hype. The race isn't over in Colorado. Mid-October polling in this state traditionally tilts slightly to the Democratic side. It did for Al Gore in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004. Last time I checked, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: Al Gore, Centennial State, Colorado, Denver, Durango, First Dude, Joe Biden, John Kerry, John McCain, Lefty lies, media hype, national campaign events, national election, polling, Sarah Palin, Slapstick Politics

10/21/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

My Shameless Boss Sells His Used Socks on Ebay (for a Good Cause)

There's something you ought to know about my boss Jon Caldara: He is perfectly comfortable with shameless attention-grabbing. Did you see the "Amendment 49 - Ivory Tower Explanation" sock puppet video? Well, now the sock puppets make an encore appearance: A bid for the used socks (ew!) on Ebay goes to fund the Amendment 49 campaign. You all can do better than $14.08 (the current bid). For the sakes of the poor sock puppets, please.... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Amendment 49, attention-grabbing, campaign, Ebay, encore, Ethical Standards, Ivory Tower, Jon Caldara, shameless, sock puppets, used socks, YouTube

10/20/2008 By Ben 9 Comments

Yes, Virginia, ACORN’s Voter Registration Fraud Leads to Vote Fraud

Update: Blue Collar Muse answers more liberal efforts to shift blame from ACORN, and provides a boatload more evidence. And Palestra documents more sinister voting activity connected with the Obama campaign in Ohio. It's hard to keep up with all the evidence pouring forth. A liberal denizen of my comments section likes to repeat the claim that ACORN's repeated acts of voter registration fraud are harmless, that I shouldn't waste my time writing about it, and that he is so bored by the topic that he just has to keep commenting on it. Yes, the same ACORN under FBI investigation that prominently endorsed the deceptive issue campaign Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future. But then you look at New Mexico, and you see where … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: ACORN, Ballotpedia, Barack Obama, Board of Elections, campaign, commenter, credit card numbers, crisis of legitimacy, Cuyahoga County, Darnell Nash, deception, Democratic primary, fake address, FBI investigation, Justine Fox Young, Lefties, liberals, New Mexico, Ohio, paper ballot, Protect Colorado's Future, Republican, reregistered, review, Soren Dayton, state representative, Transparency, voter fraud, voter registration fraud

10/20/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Time to Vote, Colorado

The Virtus household are casting our ballots today, finally getting it over with. If you live in Colorado and still need insights and/or suggestions on the statewide ballot issues, please check out my updated Colorado ballot guide 2008. And now a joint message from a group of local bloggers: AN URGENT MESSAGE TO ALL COLORADO REPUBLICAN VOTERS From the Colorado Coalition of Conservative Bloggers As you know, Colorado has been labeled a "swing"state in this year's elections, and will be one of the states that will determine the direction of our nation for the next four or eight years. Historically, the voters in Colorado elected Republican candidates, largely because of the higher numbers of registered Republican voters. This … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, My Life

10/19/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Denver Post Backs Grassroots GOP HD27 Challenger John Bodnar

The Denver Post gave its complete endorsement round-up for Colorado state house races today. It's impossible for us mere mortals to divine the rhyme or reason behind the Post's endorsements. As expected, the center-left editorial board has backed more Democrats than Republicans, and nearly every incumbent. But interestingly, the Post threw its lot behind two Republican challengers over Democrat officeholders. One of them is here in Arvada, where a hard-working, truly grassroots, common-sense candidate has emerged:HD 27 (Jefferson) — First-term incumbent Democrat Sara Gagliardi, a nurse, has focused primarily on health care. But we're more impressed with Republican challenger John Bodnar because of his balanced views on energy and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Andrew Romanoff, Arvada, candidate Sara Gagliardi, challengers, closer contests, Colorado, common sense, conservative blogosphere, Democrats, Denver Post, editorial board, endorsements, Energy, environmental issues, grassroots, health care options, incumbents, Joshua Sharf, Libby Szabo, Lois Court, officeholders, Republicans, rumors, staffer, star, state house, state senate, taxpaying citizens

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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

Recent Posts

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
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Completing the Blogroll

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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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