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Home Archives for Ben

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

More Deception From Foes of Colorado Amendment 49, Amendment 54

In a campaign characterized by hypocrisy, deception, and cowardice, the opponents of Colorado's Amendment 47 (Right-to-Work), Amendment 49 (Ethical Standards), and Amendment 54 (Government Contracting Reform) are at it again. The People's Press Collective documents the latest misleading campaign flyer from Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future, noting: "You won’t be surprised that they’re still abusing Colorado’s real heroes as puppets for their elaborate LIES." Indeed. At this point, I'm not sure how low the opponents of good government and worker freedom would have to go to take me by surprise. The campaign isn't over yet, though. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: abuse, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, campaign flyer, cowardice, Culture of Corruption, deception, Ethical Standards, good government, government contracting reform, heroes, hypocrisy, misleading, Peoples Press Collective, Protect Colorado's Future, right-to-work, surprise, worker freedom

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Introducing Ben’s Guide to the Colorado Ballot 2008

Due to the unrivaled success of providing a guide to Colorado's 2006 ballot measures, and an even larger slate of Initiatives and Referenda to consider, I give you Ben's guide to the Colorado ballot for 2008. The author is solely responsible for the opinions contained therein. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, property rights Tagged With: 2008, ballot initiatives, Colorado, legislative referenda

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Newsbusters: Soldier’s Family Told Barack Obama Not to Wear Bracelet

Do you remember in Friday's presidential debate where the Obamessiah had his little "me too" moment, and showed off the deceased soldier's bracelet given for him to wear? Well, to his credit, Warner Todd Huston at Newsbusters dug a little deeper and found that the family asked Barack Obama not to wear the bracelet:[Father Brian] Jopek began by saying that his ex-wife was taken aback, even upset, that Obama has made the death of her son a campaign issue. Jopek says his wife gave Obama the bracelet because "she just wanted Mr. Obama to know Ryan's name." Jopek went on to say that "she wasn't looking to turn it into a big media event" and "just wanted it to be something between Barack Obama and herself." Apparently, they were all shocked it … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics Tagged With: Barack Obama, bracelet, Brian Jopek, debate, Newsbusters, Obamessiah, soldier, Warner Todd Huston

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Mount Virtus Hosting Group Liveblog of Thursday Biden-Palin Debate

You're invited to tune in this Thursday evening (7:00 PM local Mountain time) for a group liveblog of the vice-presidential debate. Members of the Rocky Mountain Alliance and Peoples Press Collective are coming together to give you their on-the-spot responses and insights as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin duke it out on national television. You can come here to follow along and even add your (moderated) comments. Others who have agreed to participate in the group liveblog so far are: Thinking Right, Rocky Mountain Right, and Drunkablog. I'll notify you if more bloggers agree to participate. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, General, National Politics Tagged With: Drunkablog, Joe Biden, liveblogging, Peoples Press Collective, Rocky Mountain Alliance, Rocky Mountain Right, Sarah Palin, Thinking Right, vice-presidential debate

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Taxpayer Resources Used to Campaign Against Colorado Amendment 46

Despite Governor Bill Ritter's denial, a state official acknowledged to the Rocky Mountain News that Ritter's administration used official taxpayer resources to invite people to an anti-Amendment 46 campaign event (H/T Face The State):Even as Ritter announced his opposition, Amendment 46 backers complained his administration had used state resources to campaign against the measure, which would be a violation of state law. Ritter denied that. But later, his director of economic development, Don Elliman, acknowledged his office had used state time to invite people to a Sept. 22 forum on Amendment 46, which featured a well-known opponent of such measures, but no one who supported them. "We blew it," Elliman said. "It would appear from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General Tagged With: administration, Amendment 46, Bill Ritter, campaign event, citizens, Colorado, Don Elliman, economic development, equal rights, Face the State, Fair Campaign Practices Act, forum, opponent, Rocky Mountain News, special interest groups, state law, state official, supporter, taxpayer resources, transgression, violation

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Wake Up, America: Why We Can’t Give Democrats Keys to the Treasury

Update: Ross Kaminsky has a great column at Human Events explaining this in more depth. In case you haven't figured it out yet, and are wondering what's the main reason why our nation is in the financial mess it's in, take 9 minutes of your life to watch this: Barack Obama and the Democrats have been given way too much of a free pass on this issue. And their House leader Nancy Pelosi doesn't seem too serious about solving the problem either. If Americans elect these people into power, we get what we deserve. Just don't punish the rest of us -- wake up before you cast your vote! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics Tagged With: Americans, Barack Obama, Democrats, deserve, financial crisis, free pass, House, Nancy Pelosi, punish, voting, YouTube

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Will VP Debate Moderator Gwen Ifill Disclose Her Conflict of Interest?

Question before tomorrow night's vice-presidential debate: Will moderator Gwen Ifill disclose to the viewing audience her clear conflict of interest? Just wanted to lay that out up front. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, General, National Politics Tagged With: conflict of interest, debate, disclosure, Gwen Ifill, moderator, vice presidential, viewing audience

2/7/2026 By Ben 5 Comments

Protect Colorado Future’s Deception Starting to Get Monotonous

Protect Colorado's Culture of Corruption Future, opponents of the good government reforms Colorado Amendment 49 and Amendment 54, must be going after the world record for most deceptive campaign. They're certainly making a run for it, as their latest effort may take the cake. In today's Rocky Mountain News, CBS4 reporter Raj Chohan dissects their latest out-of-this-world fable:A new political commercial suggests that a trio of Colorado ballot measures would give special breaks to multinational corporations such as Halliburton. The 30-second spot comes from a union-backed group called Protect Colorado's Future. Ad: This is a voter alert. Colorado ballot amendments have built-in loopholes. Amendments 49 and 54 would not apply to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: "educational" forum, advertising, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, ballot measures, CBS4 reporter, Colorado, deceptive, ethical reforms, global warming, good government, Halliburton, international terrorism, labor unions, lobbyists, Lyme disease, mailer, male pattern baldness, millions of dollars, misleading, most deceptive campaign, multinational corporations, North America, political clout, Protect Colorado's Future, Raj Chohan, reforms, Rocky Mountain News, scare tactics, special interest groups, television ad, voters, world record

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Gov. Bill Ritter’s “Slow (Hiring) Freeze” vs. Bill Owens’ Immediate Action

Here's a nice, clear contrast in leadership for you. Last Thursday, Gov. Bill Ritter sent out a press release announcing ways to save state taxpayers money. First on the list:Implementing a hiring freeze for the Executive Branch effective Oct. 1. For those doing the math, that left a few extra days to give all departments notice to fill all open positions. In 2002, then-Gov. Bill Owens, also facing a fiscal crunch, issued an executive order with a similar purpose:Pursuant to C.R.S. § 24-2-102(4), I order a hiring freeze applicable to state government. This hiring freeze is effective immediately. [emphasis added] It will be interesting to see how many last-minute hires came in before Bill Ritter's "slow freeze" went into effect. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General Tagged With: Bill Owens, Bill Ritter, contrast, departments, difficult economic circumstances, Executive Branch, Executive Order, hiring freeze, immediately, leadership, open positions, press release, savings, taxpayers

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

CoDA’s “Educate the Idiots” Members Biggest Funders of Protect Colorado’s Future’s Campaign of Deception

If you haven't seen or heard it by now, Colorado's "progressive" Democrat coalition got a little more behind-the-scenes exposure yesterday than they would like. A series of slowly leaked documents by Face The State are uncovering the inner workings of the coalition - known as the Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA). The light of the day has given us some useful insights. We are starting to see what the Left's agenda for Colorado is, why they have coordinated the spending of so much money to take over the state legislature, the governor's office, and so much more. No document has received quite as much attention as this one:In a confidential internal memorandum obtained by Face The State (PDF), the Colorado Democracy Alliance outlines a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: "Educate the Idiots", AFL-CIO, African-American, agenda, Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Amendment 54, Andrew Romanoff, behind-the-scenes exposure, Bill Ritter, Bridget Johnson, campaign message, campaign of deception, change we can believe in, children of color, Colorado, Colorado Democracy Alliance, Colorado Education Association, Colorado Ethics Watch, confidential, covert, Democrat, Democrat leaders, document, donors, dropouts, dues, education employees, Evan Dreyer, exclusive list, Face the State, freedom, GEDs, government ethics, Governor, Hispanic, hoodwinked, idiots, indignant response, individual rights, institutional members, issue committee, Joan Fitz-Gerald, John Stocks, leaked documents, Left, liberal structure, lies, members, memorandum, minorities, National Education Association, Native American, off the record, Okie Campaigns, operatives, progressive, ProgressNow, Protect Colorado's Future, represent, Rocky Mountain News, Rocky Mountain Right, SEIU, Slapstick Politics, smart people, special interest groups, state legislature, state Republican Party leaders, strategy group, teachers, The Daily Blogster, union elite, union leaders, union power, worker welfare

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Inside

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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

Colorado News

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National News and Politics

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Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
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  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
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  • NRO's The Corner
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  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
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  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
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Christian Commentary et al.

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Conservative and GOP Sites

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Colorado Blogs

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Other Sites

  • Technorati
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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
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  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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