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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Alternative Professional Teacher Group Emerges in Colorado

The Colorado Springs Gazette editorialists bring our attention to a new alternative professional organization for teachers in Colorado: the Professional Association of Colorado Educators (PACE). PACE offers liability insurance, legal coverage, and professional development opportunities without the political baggage: PACE will not give union dues to political candidates, nor involve itself in political causes, which will come as a relief, we’re sure, to teachers whose politics differ from those of unions that purport to represent them. Remaining apolitical allows PACE to keep membership dues low, at just $15 a month. PACE dues come to about a quarter of the typical Colorado Education Association dues (amounts vary from local to local, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

See Free Market Cure, Sept 19

Having written about health care reform a few times in recent months, I would like to bring your attention to a FREE opportunity to see the Colorado premiere of an exciting new film: Free Market Cure by independent filmmaker Stuart Browning. The event is sponsored by the Independence Institute, home of my day job. Details from the press release: The premiere will be on Wednesday, September 19, at the Shwayder in the Mizel Center for Culture and Arts at 350 S. Dahlia Street in Denver. The movies and Browning's commentary will begin at 7 p.m. and will be followed by coffee and dessert. The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited so reservations are requested. Please contact Kay at 303-279-6536 or kay@i2i.org. If you've … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, My Life

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

10 Straight Wins – Go Rox!

Colorado baseball fans have stood up and taken notice at the amazing, unexpected run made by our Rockies down the regular season homestretch. Ten straight wins in September? Coming back from the brink to the thick of playoff contention? One game back in the wildcard with a chance to win the NL West Division? It's a feel-good story for a young ball club that is gelling a season sooner than this amateur pundit expected. Clutch hitting, quality starts and fine work from the bullpen have anchored this underdog team. Michael, a fan with a longer history of Rockies loyalty than myself (Colorado is my favorite National League squad, but all bets are off when they face my Detroit Tigers), has blogged his enthusiasm. Now I'm just waiting for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Sports and Leisure

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Slapping Down the Dems on Tuition Privileges for Illegals

El Presidente brings us a Friday reminder of the cost of having Democrats in charge of our state. He highlights a Rocky Mountain News article that tells us how Colorado's Democrat Commissioner on Higher Education David Skaggs wants to extend in-state tuition privileges to illegal aliens. Is this the Democrat solution to the higher education funding shortfall? Meanwhile, Governor Ritter ignores a potential energy revenue windfall to fund our state's colleges and universities. Why? Apparently, Democrats would rather tax hard-working Colorado citizens and spend the excess on privileges for illegal aliens. El Presidente also makes a clear and strong point on an issue to which he has given repeated attention: No Mr. Skaggs, the disconnect … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Get a Life, Lefties

Via the Denver Post today, another example of Colorado's liberal/Lefty activist blogger community with not enough to occupy their time and interest this slow news August: "Schaffer's 'if' stirs a ruckus." The only people who have stirred a ruckus are the usual suspects. Here is a voice of reason quoted in the Post story, basically saying "What's the big deal here?": ...Bob Loevy, professor of political science at Colorado College, said excessively long campaigns lead to extreme scrutiny of candidates' words. The Senate election is more than a year away. "My feeling is that he misspoke, the campaign manager corrected it and that's the end of it," Loevy said. My only quibble with the story is its failure to identify the undisputed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Democrats Still Not Owning Up to Property Tax Increase

Leading Colorado Democrats still don't seem to understand how property owners paying a higher tax rate constitutes a tax increase, even though the new law signed by Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter will raise $114 million in new tax revenue: But Rep. Jack Pommer, D-Boulder, who sponsored the House version of the school-finance bill, said Gardner doesn't understand how the law works. "It's not a tax increase," he said. " . . . The money that comes from the school district never leaves the school district." He said the money was not going to the state budget and that all the local school districts affected by the law had held a vote to exempt themselves from the TABOR limits to keep the property tax revenues. How else can Democrats justify … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Impeach Cheney” Moonbat Alert for Denver

If you're driving through downtown Denver this afternoon, watch out for the "Impeach Cheney" Moonbats: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Friday Tiger Fan Ramblings

Baseball seasons are long for a reason, but these are the times that try Detroit Tigers' fans souls. For a group of fans used to years of futility, the sudden rise to dominance can bring us to a state of insecurity in the wake of their recent 3-8 road trip. Injuries have taken their toll on an overworked, underprepared bullpen, while nearly all of the normally potent lineup has gone cold at once. Somehow, though, they cling to the narrowest of leads in the American League Central division. After a day off, they have their opportunity to turn things around by coming home to play their next 3 series at Comerica Park. It's easy to get impatient when things aren't going your team's way during the long baseball season. But perspective … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Sports and Leisure

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Unions Sidestep Campaign Laws, County Officials Crack Down

With stories yesterday and today, Face The State brings out the 1-2 punch, exposing the bonus Democrats get from groups that exploit Colorado's campaign law, and then highlighting an effort by some local governments to clean up the act. From yesterday: During the last election, the nation's largest unions utilized a loophole in Colorado's campaign finance laws that allowed them to give millions of dollars in anonymous political contributions to Democrat candidates—all while never revealing the name of a single individual donor. For the Service Employees International Union, the nation's largest union with more than 1.6 million members, this setup allowed its leadership to transfer portions of membership dues to small donor committees … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

I Second Rossputin’s Letter to Schaffer’s Would-Be Challenger

Rossputin has written an open letter to Wayne Wolf, the would-be primary challenger to Bob Schaffer for the GOP Senate nomination: While I certainly appreciate the effort (and risk) that a person takes when running for office, especially an office as important as US Senate, I would like to suggest to you that unless your goal is to assist Mark Udall you should pick a different battle than challenging Bob Schaffer. I do not intend to sound unkind, but I truly believe there is no chance you could beat Schaffer. On the other hand, you could cause him to waste time and money that could end up being the difference in a very close general election.... Consider this post a "ditto" to Rossputin's letter (which you can read in full at his … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

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Inside

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    • Colorado Ballot 2008
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  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
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  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • The Westfield Gardener
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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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National News and Politics

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  • Reason
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Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
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  • E!! The True Conservative Story
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  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
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  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
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Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
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  • IMAO
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Christian Commentary et al.

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Conservative and GOP Sites

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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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