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Home Archives for 2008

Archives for 2008

7/9/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Sad Days: Demolishing Tiger Stadium

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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: Baseball, classic ballpark, Detroit News, Detroit Tigers, sentimentalism, Tiger Stadium

7/9/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Mark Udall’s Dishonesty about 9/11 and Other Recent SvU Blog Highlights

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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: 9/11, Bob Schaffer, Department of Peace, Mark Udall, National Republican Senatorial Committee, Schaffer v Udall

7/8/2008 By Ben 2 Comments

Bill Ritter’s Fox News Stumble May Point to Bigger Problems Lurking

Rocky Mountain Right has posted a video from last night's Bill O'Reilly Show that demonstrates Colorado Governor Bill Ritter isn't ready for primetime:Bill Ritter recently was approached by a Fox News reporter asking a simple question about sex offender laws. Ritter proceeded to stammer, become visibly frustrated, and try to escape as soon as possible. Other Governors approached with the same question (Butch Otter of Idaho and Dave Freudenthal of Wyoming) performed far better and calmly responded. The observation is correct: Bill Ritter sure doesn't look ready for primetime in this video. But maybe there's another explanation, or some sort of mitigating circumstances that haven't been explored. The stresses and frustrations could … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: Bill O'Reilly, Bill Ritter, Brian Schweitzer, Butch Otter, campaign finance scandal, Colorado Supreme Court, Dave Freudenthal, Democrats, Denver Post, Fox News, legal defense fund victims, not ready for primetime, one-term governor, Property Tax Increase, Rocky Mountain Right

7/8/2008 By Ben 3 Comments

Wrangling Colorado Center-Right Blogs

Hooray, a positive - and promising - development in Colorado's center-right blogosphere has emerged. The conservative-leaning news site Face The State announces its "Blog Wrangler". The Wrangler features some of the latest posts on this page. It doesn't update as quickly as the Rocky Mountain Alliance feed (see sidebar of any member's page), but then again it's more attractively laid out and covers a broader collection of blogs. Face The State also has what looks like a comprehensive list of Colorado center-right bloggers - I'll have to compare it to my own blogroll some time. Several of us bloggers out here are glad to see Face The State take on this complementary role, even if we wished it had come sooner. (But "don't look … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Blog Wrangler, blogroll, blogs, center-right, Face the State, Rocky Mountain Alliance

7/7/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Vince Chowdhury Should Resign Both the School Board and House Race

There is an interesting contrast in two blog commentaries on the recent story of Vince Chowdhury, the Jefferson County Board of Education member and Democrat state house candidate who allegedly choked his daughter in a recent incident reported by The Columbine Courier. He denied the choking, but admitted to losing his temper and slapping her. In any case, Chowdhury was arrested for domestic violence. Denise at Colorado Charter Schools makes the adamant point that Vince Chowdhury should resign from the school board:Elected officials responsible for making decisions on behalf of children must adhere to high moral standards. They act on behalf of tens of thousands of children every day. Our children are too precious to have someone with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General Tagged With: child abuse, Colorado Charter Schools, ColoradoPols, Columbine Courier, Dead Governors, Democrat, Jason Bane, Jefferson County Board of Education, resignation, state house candidate, Vince Chowdhury

7/7/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Bob Ewegen’s Crocodile Tears for GOP Ironically Show Need for Right-to-Work

Liberal Denver Post editorialist Bob Ewegen wants readers to believe he is really concerned about the plight of the Republican Party, so he sends us this warning:...[U]nions are enjoying something of a revival in Colorado, especially in the public sector, and they are a vital source of political volunteers and campaign funds. That's why spitting in labor's face in the name of "right to work" may well awaken the sleeping giant of the Colorado union movement in 2008 just as it did a half-century ago — with similar woeful results to the GOP. Bob Ewegen is cloaking his antipathy for workplace freedom in the garb of concern for the Grand Old Party's political welfare. While it's unclear how well Amendment 47 will fare at the ballot box … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Big Labor, Bob Ewegen, campaign finance laws, Colorado, Denver Post, Grand Old Party, Republican Party, right-to-work, small donor committee, workers' rights

7/7/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

120 Days of Barack Obama Pandering Until Election Day 2008

Today marks 120 days until the November 4 general election - 120 days of obnoxious pandering by Presidential candidates, 120 days of campaign television and radio ads, 120 days for lovers of the Republic to hold their collective breath. Sigh. Speaking of candidate pandering, Barack Obama's recent whiplash-inducing rush away from his Leftist voting record and positions should give cause for concern. As one noted for his aptitude at quoting Scripture out of context, though, Barack Obama does have a ready-made passage he can abuse to justify his major switcheroos:I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. Of course, it goes without saying that I Corinthians 9:22 doesn't say anything of the sort … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, General, National Politics Tagged With: Barack Obama, Bible passages, election, pandering, presidential candidates, Scripture, summertime, switcheroo, whiplash

7/4/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Happy Independence Day

Happy Independence Day to all fine Americans - who shouldn't be reading this blog, but should be enjoying the time with family and friends - picnics, fireworks, outdoor fun, the whole bit. And hopefully celebrating the "true reason" for the holiday. In that spirit, here are some suggestions. You could listen to Jon Caldara reading the full text of the Declaration of Independence, or read a fine brief essay published last year by the Independence Institute from Don Beezley. If you only have less than 2 minutes, here's a new YouTube from the Evergreen Freedom Foundation commemorating the Fourth of July: Happy Independence Day! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

7/3/2008 By Ben 9 Comments

1861 Was Not 1776: An Essay

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 … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, History, My Life Tagged With: "cornerstone" principle, "Peculiar Institution", 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, Abraham Lincoln, Alabama, Allen Guelzo, American Burke, analogy, Andrew Jackson, Andrew Johnson, antebellum, antislavery, antislavery cause, civil libertarian, civil liberties, Claremont Review of Books, Confederacy, Confederate Constitution, conscription, Daniel Webster, Declaration of Independence, Deep South, Democrat Party, dictatorship, Dred Scott decision, economic nationalization, Emancipation Proclamation, federal government power, Fire-Eaters, Fort Pickens, Fort Sumter, Founders, Fugitive Slave Act, global holocaust, Great Britain, Henry Clay, historian, House Divided Speech, income tax, James Madison, Jefferson Davis, Jeffrey Hummel, John Calhoun, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Leviathan state, libertarians, Maryland State Legislature, neo-Confederates, nuclear bombs, Nullification Crisis, party platform, personal liberty laws, plantation slavery, popular sovereignty, pro-Southern, Progressives, racism, radical abolitionists, Republican Party, republican principles, right of revolution, Robert E. Lee, secession, Second Inaugural Address, slaveholders, slavery, South Carolina, states rights, statist, tariffs, Tennessee, Thomas DiLorenzo, Tim Sandefur, U.S. Congress, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court, Unionists, Virginia, Western territories, Whig, Woodrow Wilson, World War II, writ of habeas corpus, Yankees

7/2/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bill Ritter Leaving a Trail of Legal Defense Fund Victims in His Wake

Greg Kolomitz, once upon a time the campaign manager for Gov. Bill Ritter, is now embroiled in a bitter legal showdown with his former boss over campaign violations totaling $300,000 (or more). Interestingly, Kolomitz's laptop computer (containing relevant, important records) disappeared under mysterious circumstances just as the story went public. Now the Denver Post reports that Greg Kolomitz now is raising money to defend himself legally against alleged "false accusations," apparently made by Bill Ritter:The e-mail plea never mentions Ritter by name, but leaves no doubt about who the family thinks is responsible for the "false" accusations that led to an ongoing investigation of Kolomitz. "We have found ourselves in a legal battle … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Bill Ritter, campaign violations, Carla Kolomitz, Cory Voorhis, Denver Post, Greg Kolomitz, laptop computer, Legal defense fund

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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
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
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  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

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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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