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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Lefties & Scooter

In case you need to be reminded what sort of demented apoplectic fits Colorado Lefties can inflict upon themselves with their irrational, knee-jerk Bush hatred, take a look at today's posting from the angry El Paso County Democratic Party: With his horrible, cynical, and constitutionally corrupt act of pardoning Scooter Libby, George Bush will have firmly cemented his reputation as the worst president in history. First, there's the inconvenient part about having to get facts straight: commutation is not pardon. Second, there's the hyperbolic rhetoric. Finally, and most noteworthy, is the selective outrage shared by the El Paso Dems and their Speaker heroine Nancy Pelosi: Pelosi was unwilling to criticize a president of her own party … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Quashing Liberal Rumors

Liberal distortions about Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer's early fundraising totals continue to circulate among the blogosphere's left-wing echo chamber without any serious reflection or criticism. The latest repeat of an unsubtantiated rumor that the $717,000 has fueled the fire for a more "moderate" Republican to join the race shows up at a site called The Political Realm: Bob Schaffer, Udall's likely opponent, apparently has some Colorado Republicans worried that he may not be able to keep up with Udall's strong fundraising. Of course, I already refuted the distortion earlier, but Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi has taken the explanation even further on a new blog to which he contributes: Republicans of a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ritter out of Touch on Iraq

Phil Mella at Clear Commentary draws our attention to a story in the Colorado Springs Gazette about Gov. Bill Ritter's encounter with a group of Iraqi teenagers. As usual, Phil has a lucid grasp of events and provides keen insights that put Ritter's "veneer-thin understanding of events on the ground in Iraq" into a broader and deeper context. His conclusion is worth quoting: Politics has a way of infecting collective thought in ways that create a kind of lemming-like group think which effectively relieves us of the charge of thinking for ourselves. Let's hope that as real progress continues in Iraq our arm chair strategists such as Ritter begin digging a bit deeper into the situation so that they can rise above the din of the mainstream … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Washington Post on Schaffer’s Arrival

Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog still ranks Colorado as the most competitive race in the upcoming round of U.S. Senate campaigns, but has noticed the recent encouraging news for Republicans: Republicans (finally) have their man. Former Rep. Bob Schaffer quietly announced his candidacy last week and all indications are that he will have the Republican primary field to himself. Democrats quickly sought to portray Schaffer as a conservative extremist, citing as evidence some of the positions he advocated during his three terms in Congress in the late 1990s. There's no question that Schaffer is more conservative than the average Colorado voter, but he also built up a grassroots following based on the "straight-shooter" … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

On This Independence Day, Why Not Listen to the Declaration?

When you celebrate the United States' 231st birthday tomorrow, here's a suggestion to make your family's Independence Day a bit more meaningful: Read aloud the Declaration of Independence. Or better yet, you can listen to someone read it aloud for you. The Independence Institute (where I work my day job) has released today a Podcast recording of Jon Caldara reading aloud the full text of the Declaration. A full listen from beginning to end will take less than 12 minutes, but it will help put into perspective where we've come from as a nation and the Founding principles that make America great. God bless America, and may you all have a Safe and Happy Fourth! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Udall Undercuts Enforcement of White-Collar Crime

Boulder liberal Mark Udall has cast his lot with the Democrat caucus and corrupt union leaders at the expense of law enforcement and defrauded workers. Udall voted to defeat an attempt that would have spared the modest budget of the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) from draconian cuts. So, apparently, OLMS was a highly ineffective and wasteful branch of government, right? The Democrats just wanted a leaner and more efficient operation, right? Wrong on both counts. As John Fund noted in yesterday's Opinion Journal: In the past six years, the Office of Labor Management Standards, or OLMS, has helped secure the convictions of 775 corrupt union officials and court-ordered restitution to union members of over $70 million in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ref C’s $5.9 billion tax hike not enough for Ritter & Company

News comes today from state economists that the Referendum C "forever tax increase" projects to yield $5.9 billion in revenue: That amount is $2.2 billion more than originally expected in November 2005 when voters approved Referendum C, suspending the state constitution's revenue limit for five years. Most telling from the piece in today's Denver Post is the defensive response from the governor's office - responding to questions of how to justify further tax increases (such as this one): Jim Carpenter, chief of staff for Ritter, said voters sent Ritter to the Capitol to "solve problems," which is what the commissions studying health care, transportation and higher education will do. "It's an easy thing to throw out this comment, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Anchors Aweigh

Godspeed to Mr. Bob, the Daily Blogster, leaving this week on deployment aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. If you haven't read it before, check out Bob's essay explaining why he joined the Naval Reserves after 9/11 at age 38. I have great admiration for Bob and am glad to count him as a friend, a friend I may not have met apart from the strange and fantastic world of the blogosphere. Fittingly, Bob's last post before deployment includes photos and a brief account from yesterday's unveiling of the Danny Dietz Navy SEAL memorial in Littleton. (Also covered at Slapstick Politics and picked up by Michelle Malkin.) Though raised in a family with many more Army connections than Navy ones (and it's been a LONG time since the Cadets won an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

“Tax ’em all” Udall and Another Liberal Double Standard

Liberal gotchas like this one might hold more credibility if they were accompanied by a little consistency. Citing a CBS-4 Denver report, a diarist on the Dead Guvs' site highlights the following critique of one part of a Republican ad against Boulder liberal Mark Udall: He didn't vote to raise taxes, he voted against a tax cut passed by a Republican Congress and vetoed by President Clinton. While critics say Udall's vote had the same effect as supporting higher taxes, the fact remains, Udall voted to maintain the status quo, which is not the same as voting for a tax hike. "He didn't vote to raise taxes, he voted against a tax cut...." When was the last time you saw a liberal attacking a conservative lawmaker with the allegation of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Help Sen. Salazar Take a Stand for Workers’ Rights

In today's edition, the editors of the Rocky Mountain News challenge Colorado's junior U.S. Senator with the question: Who are you going to put first - the rights of Colorado workers or the interests of labor bosses? The poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act, which already passed the U.S. House, would rob employees of a secret ballot in workplace organizing elections. It would rig the process in favor of union officials. America is great because workers have the right to volunteer to join and pay dues to a union. But equally respected should be the right of workers NOT to join and pay dues or fees to a union. The Democrat-sponsored legislation does not respect that right. It uses the excuse of declining union membership to justify giving … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics

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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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Completing the Blogroll

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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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