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Home Archives for General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Moral Equivalence and Democrat Leadership

The case of U.S. Rep. John Dingell's advanced foot-in-mouth disease has been amply covered over at Powerline, so I won't rehash the Michigan Democrat's ludicrous remarks - except to re-emphasize the blatant moral equivalence characterized in them. On a personal level, Dingell is the poster child for career politicians, having held his Congressional seat for nearly 52 years. A friend of many union officials and party leaders, Dingell's seat is considered one of the safest. His father and namesake held it the 22 years before he did. The last time the U.S. Congress didn't feature a representative from Michigan named John Dingell, Herbert Hoover was in the White House and the big issue was the Smoot-Hawley Tariff. But I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics, World Events

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Bad Press Day for Colorado Dems

And about time, I should say. Why not take a minute to point out a couple of interesting stories highlighted in today's Rocky Mountain News? First, the latest in the controversy about Nayyera Haq, the staffer for Democratic Congressman John Salazar who verbally lashed back at Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo for defending the Pope's right to free speech. The Rocky reports that Haq has taken a temporary leave from Salazar's campaign. Meanwhile, the Rocky took a miss on Haq's unfair distortions of Tancredo's comments as anti-Islamic and her role in inviting Islamic extremists to Capitol Hill, which have been documented by the local blog To the Right and the national blog Red State. And a Google News search for the name Nayyera Haq or … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, World Events

2/7/2026 By Ben 17 Comments

The Latest Colorado Blogosphere Controversy

To summarize ... To the Right: Have you read National Review? Some investigative journalism done there shows that the Dead Governors (aka Colorado Pols) is funded by liberal sugardaddies Gill, Stryker, and Polis. Dead Governors: Nuh-uh. Are not. Our views and agenda may happen to closely align with the wealthy Lefties, but we're raising all our own money through paid advertising. You can't trust that National Review anyways. To quote the Pols: "We've never had financial backing at any point, nor is it required to do what we do; it really doesn't cost much money to keep a blog running every month." No, but it sure can be a nice incentive for giving your time to the cause. If it hasn't been said here clearly before, it should be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

RMA Updates

The Rocky Mountain Alliance welcomes its first addition in a long time: we are very honored to be joined by my internationally-respected think tank colleague David Kopel, Independence Institute research director and Second Amendment Project director. For all the best analysis on gun laws and related issues, check out Kopel's Corner. Also, our good friend and Alliance member Jim has switched domains. Visit Thinking Right's new digs at www.thinking-right.com, and don't forget to update your blogrolls. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

An Educational ‘Amen’

Neal McCluskey at the Cato Institute Blog has a must-read post on how universal vouchers or tax credits could be used to end the high-stakes political creation-evolution debates. This is an argument I've made before, and I'm glad to see it "up in lights," so to speak: Of course, the creationism conflict in Kansas – and, indeed, across America – isn’t a prize fight. It’s a battle between the deeply held values of regular people, and unlike Mike Tyson or Evander Holyfield, Kansas children, parents, and other citizens aren’t being richly compensated for the punishment they’re taking. They’re fighting because they have to. They all have to support one system of public education, and they all, rightfully, want their beliefs and morals … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Education, General

2/7/2026 By Ben 3 Comments

Supremes to Decide Union Member Rights

If there's one case I'm going to be following in the U.S. Supreme Court's new docket, it's this one: The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to decide whether public employee unions must get special permission before spending some workers' dues on political causes. Justices accepted an appeal from the state of Washington that involves fees paid to the Washington Education Association by teachers who decline to join the union. Those workers still can be charged dues by the union to help pay for labor negotiations that affect them. But they can't be forced to pay for the union's political activism, under a string of Supreme Court rulings that reach back nearly 30 years. At issue is whether the union needs teachers to say "yes" before the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Blizzard Blogging

Update, 5:45 PM: Well, the 18 inch estimate I made a little less than 7 hours ago was definitely a lowball. We're at 15 inches and counting here in Arvada. It looks like some other parts of the Denver metro area are getting hit even worse. With the snow set to continue until noon tomorrow, there's no telling what the final total will be. But worse than the raw snowfall totals are the high winds, the white-outs and blizzard-like conditions. Pray for safety for those still on the roads. To get an idea of the effect of the winds in creating heavy snow drifts around here today, I've posted this picture I took about an hour ago. Stay warm! Jared has posted more pics from his location on the other side of Denver. For the official … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

An Education Conversation That Ought Not Be Ignored

Over at Edspresso, one of the very best edublogs out there, is my new column on last month's national report calling for a drastic overhaul of the K-12 public education system and a well-attended meeting last week in Denver to promote its findings. Colorado is at the forefront of this conversation, and appears to be most serious about studying the proposals, discussing them, and working toward implementation. Anyone interested in the future of Colorado or national education policy - students, parents, and teachers - would do well to familiarize themselves with the basic ideas that already have started to be debated here. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General, My Life

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Little Virtus: Cutest “Weepublican” Ever

Jim has already posted about the Sunday RMA picnic here and posted a couple pictures here. Richie D also posted on the event here. It was a good time had by all, but in my humble and honest opinion, this is the best picture of all from Sunday's picnic. Let two things be known here and now: 1) That her fair appearance is overwhelmingly a product of her mother's genes; and 2) That being a daddy is the best job I've ever had. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

The NIE: Putting Iraq in Perspective

I usually leave the details of the bigger issues of the GWOT in the hands of experts more capable than I. If you want to pick a fight on this issue, take it up with one of them. Let me start by answering a few common questions about Iraq that get tossed about. 1. Have we made mistakes in prosecuting the war in Iraq? Yes (but isn't that every war?) 2. Is the violence in Iraq between Shi'ites and Sunnis troubling? Yes (but civil war can still be averted) 3. Are American forces viewed as friendly liberators by most of the Iraqi population? No (but many more are eager to make the democratic experiment work on a permanent basis) 4. Therefore, it was a mistake to go to war in Iraq, right? Wrong! 5. Were there other justifications for going … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics, World Events

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Inside

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    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
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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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Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
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  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
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  • NRO's The Corner
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Completing the Blogroll

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

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Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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