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Home Archives for 2008

Archives for 2008

4/16/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Teachers Union Corruption and Abuse Served Up South of the Border

I am critical enough of the Colorado Education Association and the National Education Association. But to be fair, NEA/CEA has been outdone by their counterparts to the South: Mexico's National Union of Education Workers. The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has documented the waste and corruption and horrible inefficiencies of the Mexican education system due to the union's political power and influence (H/T Mark Krikorian at The Corner). Teachers unions in this state and country have caused their own significant share of problems, but their work is cut out for them to match the scale of abuse and destructive influence that CIS has documented about their sister union south of the border. Wow. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor, World Events Tagged With: Center for Immigration Studies, Mark Krikorian, Mexico, National Education Association, National Union of Education Workers, teachers unions, The Corner

4/16/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Chesser Documents the State Template for Climate Change Rip-Offs

At the American Spectator, Paul Chesser writes about some of the highlights of his work he has documented, connecting the dots to compare how different states adopt climate change policies. His conclusion should be upsetting to taxpayers:Every state amazingly produces the same strategies: increased taxation upon coal-fired energy generation; higher electric bill surcharges; increased tailpipe emissions standards to encompass CO2; subsidized mass transit; "green" standards in school curricula; and more. Can you feel the pain? CCS and the climate commissions can't. Seems they promise only positives, as the new taxes and regulations that they always recommend are amazingly said to save state economies money and create jobs. Indeed, Colorado … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Hysteria, Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: American Spectator, Climate Change Strategies, Colorado, Gov. Bill Ritter, Gov. Jim Doyle, Paul Chesser, Wisconsin

4/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Typically White Merchandise

If you're like me, you may identify closely with the famous Barack Obama phrase: "typical white person." But I was never moved by the entrepreneurial spirit like a couple friends of mine who created the Typically White website, where you can go to order "Typically White" shirts and bags. Who knows? You might find a great present to one of your conservative - or any typically white - friend or family member. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Barack Obama, Typically White

4/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Tackling Colorado Socialized Medicine

Every once in awhile I step back and realize that I should bring my readers' attention to people with important ideas who they may not have heard. In that spirit, one of Colorado's brightest and most articulate writers challenging the effort to socialize medicine is Brian Schwartz, who introduced a free market proposal to the state's blue ribbon commission on health care reform (since the proposal advocated for more freedom, it was unsurprisingly rejected). Besides blogging regularly at wakalix, Brian also is quite prolific in penning published columns. His latest, assailing the arguments behind "universal health care," appears in the Pueblo Chieftain (H/T We Stand Firm). If you are interested in health care reform, make sure you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, Health Care Tagged With: Brian Schwartz, Pueblo Chieftain, universal health care, wakalix, We Stand Firm

4/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Government Waste, Toledo-Style

Colorado center-right bloggers take notice: One of the sharp and ambitious bloggers I met at Samsphere in Chicago a couple weeks ago - Maggie Thurber - shows the power of doing a little original research to expose government waste on public swimming pools in her Toledo backyard:For sake of argument, let's estimate that individuals likely to use the pool facilities will do so five times during the season. This seems a reasonable estimate considering the number of days the pools are open. Using this assumption, the pools had about 5,000 unique visitors. The 2006 Census data shows that there are 74,896 children (under 18 years of age) in Toledo. Even if every visitor to the pools was a child, we would be serving less than 7% of the kids in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

4/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Affirmative Action for Complaints Against Colorado Civil Rights Initiative?

Face The State is onto another big story, uncovering facts about complaints filed against the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative - which recently qualified for the November statewide ballot. Face The State's report has uncovered serious issues with two of the major complaints, issues neglected in the drive-by media coverage. Here's the first:On February 26, Chloe Johnson filed a complaint with Secretary of State Mike Coffman's office alleging that she was tricked into supporting Amendment 46, also known as the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, a ballot effort designed to end race and gender preferences in government hiring, education, and contracting. The complaint was formally dismissed by the state's Office of Administrative Courts … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, General Tagged With: affirmative action, Amendment 46, Chloe Johnson, Colorado Civil Rights initiative, Dara Burwell, Face the State, Secretary of State Mike Coffman

4/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Can’t Blame Tax Day

Tax Day. The Ides of April. The anniversaries of two epic tragedies: the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the sinking of the Titanic. Monday / Tuesday. All very compelling reasons - but none actually bear the responsibility - for the sparse blogging in the last day or so. I hope to get a substantive post or two up tonight. We'll see. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous

4/14/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

On the Air This Morning

I am scheduled to be a guest on the Amy Oliver Show on Northern Colorado's AM 1310 KFKA this morning at 10:00 AM (Mountain Daylight Time). I will be talking about my new report on Gov. Bill Ritter's union "employee partnerships," including a breakdown of the weak arguments used to defend Ritter's executive order and potential harms that it creates. For those who don't have time to look at the full-blown report, I also have created a two-page overview. You can listen live online here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

4/14/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

After Political Prosecution, Cory Voorhis Still Able to Say “God Bless America”

In his latest Human Events column, Colorado's own Ross Kaminsky highlights the amazing character of Cory Voorhis, the politically-targeted federal immigration agent who last week was exonerated in a case that stems back to the 2006 election:Cory Voorhis looked me in the eye and said “God Bless America”. It was a remarkable statement from a man whose life has been turned upside down by a justice system which was hijacked by politicians and turned loose on this unsung American hero. When I said to Voorhis that it was remarkable he still felt that way, he pointed to his American flag lapel pin and said, still choked up from the news five minutes earlier, “This is what I stand for.” Five minutes earlier, at about 1:45 PM on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: Cory Voorhis, God bless America, Gov. Bill Ritter, Human Events, politically-motivated, Ross Kaminsky

4/13/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Write a Letter (Email) from Home to Sailors Overseas

The idea was great the first time, so it's good to see fellow RMA blogger Jim Cannon pursuing it again:In other news, it’s time for a new Letters from Home project. This time I will be collecting letters for the Navy. I’ll be sending them off to the USS Russell — DDG-59. So, just like last time, please send generalized supportive emails to me, and I will make sure that they get to the men and women aboard the Russell. When you send your email, please be sure and put “Letters from Home” in the subject line. We’re aiming for about 250 emails, so I’m hoping to have them collected and packed up by the end of the month. As with last time, anything you all can do to help spread the word would be greatly appreciated. I encourage … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Random and Miscellaneous, World Events Tagged With: Jim Cannon, Letters from Home, Navy destroyer, USS Russell

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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
  • Common Learning Disabilities in Children
  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

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bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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