Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

Home Archives for Ben

By 2 Comments

Getting Beyond “Conservative”

Thought-provoking read for the day: Selwyn Duke at American Thinker questions where adhering to "conservatism" has gotten us and whether we need to re-assess our approach:I don't want to preserve the cultural status quo, I want to overthrow it. Then we can pull the statist weeds up by the roots and burn them in freedom's fire, just like our Founding Fathers did. Do you think they were conservatives? Conservatives don't start revolutions; they simply make sure their shackles are made no heavier. Political victory rests on cultural victory, and changing the culture starts with changing our mentality. We have only two choices: We can be revolutionary. Or we can be wrong. Read the whole thing. … [Read more...]

By 6 Comments

Who Fits the Bill as McCain’s VP?

In his column today, Quin Hilyer at American Spectator lays out a blueprint (and a very good one at that) of the qualifications for John McCain's ideal running mate. By the time you near the end of the article, you may be wondering if there is anyone who matches all of the specifications. Hilyer concludes:So there you have it: McCain needs a solidly "full-spectrum" conservative, reformist, youngish, cool, well-rounded, brainy, all-media-respected, articulate, telegenic, border-state/constituency-challenging, non-party-weakening, executive-experienced, running mate who can handle the presidency at a moment's notice. Good luck to McCain in finding such a candidate. The good news, amazingly enough, is that there are several potential … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Dog Bites Man: “Left-Leaning” Group Attacks GOP Official

The Denver Post reports today:A watchdog group filed a complaint with the state's Independent Ethics Committee against Secretary of State Mike Coffman on Wednesday. The complaint is the first one filed with the committee since voters created it in 2006, said Colorado Ethics Watch director Chantell Taylor. It is also the latest complaint Ethics Watch, generally seen as left-leaning, has lodged with various agencies about Coffman, a Republican. [emphasis added] "Generally seen as left-leaning"? It's more apparent than just "generally seen," as this well qualifies as a partisan, politically-motivated attack. The only thing that's changed is the name of Taylor's group - from Colorado Citizens for Ethics in Government to Colorado Ethics … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Pitchers, Catchers Report: Here Comes an Amazing Tigers Season

Baseball is right around the corner. This morning, spring training begins for Detroit Tigers pitchers and catchers. In all my life, I've never looked forward to a season with such anticipation. After a couple spectacular offseason maneuvers, the Tigers sport an absolutely fearsome lineup and a starting rotation that will be the envy of most of Major League Baseball. Don't believe me? How about ESPN's Jayson Stark?Beware of Tigers: How many runs will the 2008 Tigers score, anyway? A thousand? Two thousand? More than the rest of their division combined? That will be one question we'll explore this spring, now that Miguel Cabrera and Edgar Renteria have pulled into Motown. But there's just enough uncertainty about issues like (A) Joel … [Read more...]

By 2 Comments

Roe v Wade at 35

Tomorrow is the annual Blogs for Life conference at Family Research Council headquarters in Washington, DC, a somber commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the terrible and infamous Roe v Wade decision from the U.S. Supreme Court. A provocative NewsMax essay today from Joseph Sobran summarizes three and a half decades of the debate:Note the strange progress of the advocates of abortion. A generation ago, just before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that virtually all legal restrictions on abortion violated the U.S. Constitution, these people agreed that killing the unborn was evil; but they held that its evil might be minimized by legalizing and regulating it. Then they shifted to what might be called an agnostic position: that nobody … [Read more...]

By 1 Comment

Teacher Union Prepared to Thwart Autonomy Reform, Its Own Members?

Today is the day of truth (again) for the union that represents Denver public school teachers. As the editors of the Rocky Mountain News highlight today, observers want to know whether they will vote Yes and grant the request for freedom from district bureaucracy and union work rules, or vote No and stand squarely in the way of educational progress for a high-poverty school: We're heartened by this spontaneous uprising. It has been led as much by unionized teachers as by school management; two-thirds of Bruce Randolph's DCTA members backed autonomy, and at Manual the vote was unanimous. The DPS board unanimously approved Bruce Randolph's request last month, so the district is open to giving some schools more control. But the union brass … [Read more...]

By 5 Comments

Mitt for President

Sadly - but arriving with an increasing sense of inevitability - Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race to be our next President. A classy departure worthy of an honorable man who ran an honorable, if less than inspirational, campaign. Most telling is his lack of endorsement: a non-endorsement that has to hurt John McCain. Yes, my predictions for South Carolina clearly were wrong, altogether too much made from the heart rather than the head. I'm not ashamed of holding out hope for Fred while hope was still there. Nor should my blogger friend Steven be ashamed of holding out hope for his man Huck (though we disagree on his candidacy). I share the sentiments of Dr. Rusty Shackelford at The Jawa Report (H/T Hugh Hewitt):Dear fellow … [Read more...]

By Leave a Comment

Look at (State) Senate Candidate’s Taxpayer-Funded Expenses

As my colleague noted on the Schaffer v Udall blog, a recent audit of taxpayer-funded expense accounts by the state board of education has shown just how frugal Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer is - as he claimed only $521. Reporters did ask board chair Pamela Jo Suckla about her $25,851, and got an answer:Suckla said her expenses were higher than other members' because she has to commute from her home in Slickrock on the Western Slope, rent cars and stay in hotels, while others live along the Front Range. She said the board held more meetings than usual last year because members were searching for a new education commissioner. Sure, that's worth extra scrutiny, but it at least gives a plausible explanation. But … [Read more...]