Not only is Barack Obama's record on human life atrocious and frightening, but he seems utterly unable to give a clear, honest, or reasonable answer on the topic: "Above my pay grade"? So the buck stops where? More Americans need to wake up to the hollowness of the Barack Obama candidacy, and to think seriously about what kind of leader they want. Perhaps Barack Obama is genuinely confused about when human life begins and should be protected. After all, in some cases his confusion seems to extend beyond the point of birth (Scott Johnson at Powerline has more). No matter how he tries to dress it up, it's hard to deny that Obama is in the pocket of the abortion absolutist lobby. Meanwhile, one Red State diarist is just thankful … [Read more...]
Colorado’s Initiative Deadline Today
In Colorado, today is the last day initiative proponents can hand over their signatures to the Secretary of State to certify measures on November's statewide ballot. By the end of the day, we should have a fairly clear idea of how crowded the ballot will be -- though we have to await the roughly two-week certification process. Currently, the ballot contains: Amendment 46, the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative Amendment 47, the Right-to-Work Amendment Amendment 48, the Personhood Amendment Amendment 49, the Ethical Standards Initiative Another measure to clean up the government contracting process turned in more than 120,000 signatures a few days ago, and figures to make the ballot, too - likely as Amendment 50. Last week we … [Read more...]
Pollster Floyd Ciruli Rehashes Reasons for Bill Ritter’s Sinking Popularity
In today's Rocky Mountain News, Colorado Democrat pollster Floyd Ciruli takes a cold, analytical look at Gov. Bill Ritter's approval ratings -- boiled down, the picture isn't pretty for the potential one-term governor:Surprisingly, new Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter may be in trouble. When compared with his Montana counterpart, Gov. Brian Schweitzer, in recent Rasmussen polls, Ritter's job rating lags behind Schweitzer by 19 points. Only 45 percent of Colorado voters gave Ritter an excellent or good job rating, whereas 64 percent of Montanans rated Schweitzer as doing an excellent or good job. Floyd Ciruli cites a litany of reasons for Bill Ritter's sagging popularity, reasons that have been regular themes of this and other local new media … [Read more...]
Canadian Parents, Beware
Say what? As absurd as some of our court decisions seem to be, the Euro-wannabes north of the border have trumped us when it comes to sheer lunacy (H/T Doug Bandow):A recent court decision in Canada should send chills down every parent’s spine. The ruling is so out of bounds that the news story sounds like a parody — but it isn’t. A Canadian judge ruled that a 12-year-old girl was “excessively†punished when her father told her she could not go on a school camping trip because she had broken rules for use of the Internet. O Canada, the nation with tribunals that enforce politically-correct government censorship of speech, now gives us micromanagement of parental responsibilities. Wherever Canada is, I fear the United States is … [Read more...]
Bad News for Colorado Lefties
From Face The State's latest "Buzz":Americans for Prosperity, a center-right grassroots organization currently focusing on encouraging responsible energy policy, has announced that it is opening shop in Colorado with its 22nd chapter. The effort is being headed up by social conservative Jim Pfaff, a former president of the Colorado Family Council known and praised for his ability to make nice with social libertarians. This can't be seen as a positive development by Colorado's liberal Tim Gill-Pat Stryker-Mark Udall-Bill Ritter axis. Whenever the fiscal conservatives and social conservatives start playing nice, working behind a savvy and respected person like Jim Pfaff, that means the Left can't fall back so easily on its "divide and … [Read more...]
Bill Ritter and the Democrats’ Senate Bill 200 Also Bad for Business
I haven't written much about Senate Bill 200, so-called "anti-discrimination" legislation, recently signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter. But I certainly took notice when libertarian Ross Kaminsky assailed it in his latest Human Events column:In the quadrennial marathon to see who can be the nation’s worst governor, Colorado’s Bill Ritter is in a full sprint. On Thursday, Ritter signed Senate Bill 200 which expands “anti-discrimination†law to cover sexual orientation, meaning not only homosexuality or bisexuality, but also “transgender status or another person’s perception thereof.†The bill is so ripe for abuse and creates so much risk for private business that it’s no surprise the ordinarily media-hungry Ritter signed … [Read more...]
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...]
Better than Earth Hour
Blogging from Chicago... The silly publicity stunt known as "Earth Hour" is coming to a close here in the Windy City, while it's about to start back home in Denver. Instead of participating in this self-absorbed deception, I'm joining Tim Blair in celebrating "The Hour of Power" (H/T Slapstick Politics). Not only are all the lights on here, and the computer running (of course), but so is the television (March Madness) and the room heater. It's also a good time to recharge the cell phone. One of my new friends here, Jeff from Louisiana Conservative, also has some advice for liberals who are serious about tonight's event. … [Read more...]
Corry: Colorado Conservatives Uniting?
My Independence Institute colleague Jessica Corry has a column up at Politics West about a Denver event last night that she says holds out hope for re-uniting key wings of the old Reagan Republican coalition. Former Owens adviser Sean Duffy and Colorado Family Institute president Jim Pfaff were two of the panelists:Duffy calls himself a "pro-life, pro-gay" Republican, jokingly claiming that he's been kicked out of the Republican Party multiple times only to come back for more abuse. You may remember him as the right-hand man of former Gov. Bill Owens, a conservative Republican. "At the end of the day, as Republicans, we should all just want the government to leave us alone," he told me. And Pfaff, while frequently identified by his ties … [Read more...]
Top Initiative on Colorado’s 2008 Ballot: Yes on Amendment 46
From the Rocky Mountain News today:The secretary of state certified a measure for the Nov. 4 ballot Monday that would ban race and gender-based hiring preferences in Colorado. Supporters of the the measure, Amendment 46, submitted 128,744 signatures March 10. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared that a random sampling showed that enough of them were valid. The measure is pushed by Ward Connerly, a black Republican who has been vilified by civil rights groups for supporting anti-affirmative action policies. Connerly has led similar successful initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan. Supporters say that the measure's language mirrors the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This should mean Connerly's Civil Rights … [Read more...]