John Mark Reynolds (H/T Hugh Hewitt) has penned a clever parody of a classic ballad - here's an excerpt (you'll have to imagine your own guitar vocals, or if you're ambitious enough, record an MP3 in hopes of getting on Hewitt's program):Does any one know where the love of Gen Y goes When the press turns the minutes to hours? The pundits all say they’d have made Chesapeake Bay If they’d put Reverend Wright far behind him. They might have split up and so not have capsized; Instead he pressed on and took water. And all that remains is the faces and the names On the Internet lists he was compiling. As a son of Michigan, I know the original Gordon Lightfoot song well, respecting its peculiar and unforgettable blend of the … [Read more...]
Grand Rapids School Board Pulls Plug on Union Payroll Deductions
I have family that live near Grand Rapids, Michigan. And when it comes to teachers unions, you might say my research interests and writings have not exactly put me very high on their Christmas card list. Take these two things together, and I found this story from last Friday rather interesting:In Grand Rapids, the school board today took a no-confidence vote in the leadership of the district's teachers union. The board also said it will no longer deduct and transmit dues for teachers' paychecks, effective May 30, the next pay period. Ladies and gentlemen, for the uninitiated, please understand that union leaders surely view this action by the Grand Rapids school board as equivalent to a nuclear weapon detonation. Ending automatic … [Read more...]
Colorado Civil Rights Initiative Seeks Fair Hearing in Traditional Media
Jessica Corry, the new executive director of the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative, has a Speakout column in today's Rocky Mountain News that clears up many of the charges made against the effort to eliminate government-sponsored discrimination:In 2007, when we first proposed our initiative language, our opponents challenged us all the way up to the Colorado Supreme Court. We won. In February, our opponents attempted to get a competing amendment onto the ballot. We won again after the state's Initiative Title Setting Review Board struck down their misleading and confusing language. On April Fool's Day, our opponents staged a widely covered press conference where dozens of activists falsely alleged that our signature gatherers had … [Read more...]
Rogue Denver Teacher Bloggers: Is It The Beginning of Something New?
Nowhere in Colorado is rank-and-file teacher dissent with the union so apparent as in the heart of Denver - for a multitude of reasons that cannot begin to be explored in this brief post. But an increasingly strained contract debate with the school board (Barack Obama alluded to it in his speech yesterday) - after the board offered a substantial raise as part of a progressive compensation system. Now a new splinter teachers group with an online presence has emerged in Denver (H/T Alan Gottlieb). It would be great to see these teachers continue posting on the blog they started. Interestingly, the local union president hasn't posted anything to her blog since this splinter group has emerged. The National Education Association, to which … [Read more...]
Denver Post Exclusive: My Commentary on Big Labor in State Government
The Denver Post has put up my exclusive commentary on Gov. Bill Ritter's November executive order, which may soon end up unionizing two-thirds of state government. Here's a taste:Thanks to Gov. Bill Ritter's gold-plated invitation, union leaders are on the verge of taking a major role in state government. Taxpayers and dissenting workers should pay attention. Under the terms of Ritter's November 2 executive order, 30 percent of the affected workers in an occupational group have to express formal interest in a union "partnership" election. The Colorado WINS union coalition that formed four days after the order has collected enough signatures to hold five separate elections that could make it the "exclusive representative" of more than … [Read more...]
Sign the Petition to Tell Congress to Increase Domestic Energy Production
Conservatives have been behind the curve on mobilizing activism on the Net, but as Patrick Ruffini points out at The Next Right, there's a new opportunity to change the trend. I invite you to add your name to Newt Gingrich's petition to increase domestic energy production - at "Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less." It's a commonsense issue that is catching like wildfire. Sign the petition and spread the word. … [Read more...]
Springtime in Denver
It's the first day of May, and big flakes of snow are falling in my backyard. Yesterday it was 80 degrees and sunny. Call it springtime in Denver. Maybe global warming is taking a holiday. … [Read more...]
“Have you been waiting to give up your money…?”
From my friends at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation ... Wouldn't you like to see that during the break of your favorite television program? … [Read more...]
Would Katie Casey Still Want to be Taken Out 100 Years Later?
Obscure question: What special connection does the name Katie Casey have to baseball aficionados today? Well, it was 100 years ago today (May 2, 1908) that America's universal musical standard Take Me Out to the Ball Game was published. Jack Norworth penned the words; Albert von Tilzer the unforgettable melody. To clear up the connection, Norworth's and Van Tilzer's Tin Pan Alley creation was written to be sung by a young female character:Only a handful of fans realize that the two verses of the song are about Katie Casey (later changed to Nelly Kelly), a girl who was mad with baseball fever as she asked her young beau to take her to a ballgame rather than a show. This faint whiff of romance added to the song's success on vaudeville, … [Read more...]
Blogging the GOP Convention
FYI to readers: I will be blogging from the proceedings at tomorrow's Colorado Republican State Convention in Broomfield. Among other activities, the GOP will nominate Bob Schaffer as the candidate for U.S. Senate, adopt a state platform, and entertain a guest speech from former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Other confirmed bloggers: Slapstick Politics and Night Twister. Stay tuned. … [Read more...]
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