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Home Archives for General

9/24/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

Rita Evacuees Await Return

From a Christian camp director in Louisiana - affiliated with the work of Operation Renewed Hope - who is housing evacuees from the areas most directly hit by Rita's fury this morning: I thought I would give you all an update while we still have power. We currently have around 250 evacuees housed at the camp. Our staff is doing a great job taking care of them and feeding them. The people have been very patient and understanding in the midst of a difficult situation. We are still a couple of hours away from the strongest part of Rita hitting us but we are not expecting too much damage. Most of the folks with us are from the hardest hit areas in South Louisiana and Texas. Many of them will be going home to nothing. We are already … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, General

9/22/2005 By Ben 1 Comment

Holtzman Returning Fire

The cannon fire is gaining strength within Colorado's Republican camp, as the Marc Holtzman team shoots back and asks where rival Bob Beauprez has been on the Referenda C and D campaign. Lest the Holtzman attack gets carried away too far, there is no doubt that Beauprez opposes the twin tax increase measures, though he may feel conflicted about making too public an opposition to his friend Bill Owens. Both sides have elements of truth on their side. Holtzman has been in the limelight and absorbed the public backlash far more than his opponent. Gradually, he is establishing himself as the political leader on the issue, building inroads into the GOP's fiscally conservative base and trying to establish his credibility for next year's big … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

9/21/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

Why You Should Votes for C and D

You have to love this tidbit caught by Rocky Mountain News political columnist extraordinaire Peter Blake: You've seen the TV ad a dozen times by now. A couple of teachers are promoting the Vote Yes on C and D campaign. While a teacher identified as Elizabeth Henry is talking, the yellow caption on the ad says: "Kids takes [sic] the hit." Better vote yes. Maybe the state will collect so much extra money there will be enough left over to subsidize the return to syntax school of big-time copywriters and media producers. Fodder for ScrappleFace or some other talented Web satirist? The ad's producers could have been less subtle and said: "Vote for C and D so the state can spend more money on remedial education." Though, of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General

9/19/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

The Bible or the Axe: A Review

The following review is made possible by the hard work of Stacy Harp at Mind and Media. Your mind trapped in a world that ends at the United States borders? Living a life of relative comfort and ease? William O. Levi's The Bible or the Axe might be just the wake-up call the average Christian in America may need. The Bible or the Axe recounts Levi's early life journey, which began with a large, tightly-knit, strongly-rooted Messianic Jewish family in east Africa before he endured persecution at the hands of Sudan's Islamic regime in the 1980s and ultimately escaped to the United States. He later founded Operation Nehemiah, a mission still actively helping the Christian community in Sudan rebuild its broken walls. Levi tells … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Book Reviews, Christianity and Faith, General

9/19/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

Underpaid Union Picketers

This story in the Las Vegas Weekly has some of the richest irony I have ever seen: The shade from the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market sign is minimal around noon; still, six picketers squeeze their thermoses and Dasani bottles onto the dirt below, trying to keep their water cool. They're walking five-hour shifts on this corner at Stephanie Street and American Pacific Drive in Henderson—anti-Wal-Mart signs propped lazily on their shoulders, deep suntans on their faces and arms—with two 15-minute breaks to run across the street and use the washroom at a gas station. Periodically one of them will sit down in a slightly larger slice of shade under a giant electricity pole in the intersection. Four lanes of traffic rush by, some drivers honk … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, Random and Miscellaneous

9/16/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

Pigs in a Poke

The release of a new report from the Independence Institute (formerly known as Piglet) detailing wasteful government spending, and an emotionally-charged rally at the State Capitol yesterday featuring a large, pink papier-mache pig, have taken the campaign over the forever tax increase to a new level. Yesterday, pro C & D spokeswoman Katy Atkinson, a self-described "homegrown flack," made some inappropriate personal attacks against gubernatorial candidate Marc Holtzman for his televised opposition to the "pork"-laden measures. Atkinson set the model for others who have taken the pig reference personally. Officials' scare tactics have frightened people into believing that without C and D, legislators' hands will be completely tied as … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

9/14/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

Statehouse Dems Want MORE Tax Dollars

Reading this story in today's Rocky Mountain News, I'm reminded that I wasn't the only one who sat and suffered all day through yesterday's School Finance Interim Committee meeting at the State Capitol. Weeks before, the Interim Committee (under the direction of State Senator Sue Windels, D - Arvada) charged a task force of school officials, school finance experts, and a variety of interest group representatives to come up with a report making recommendations for a new way to fund K-12 public education in Colorado. The Task Force has sat through the series of meetings, as have I, listening to a variety of presentations, the details of which I will not bore you with. But today's story in the Rocky reflects the problem with the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General

9/12/2005 By Ben Leave a Comment

RMA Back in the MSM

Devoted fans of Clay Calhoun and View from a Height finally get to see what two of the Denver area's finest bloggers look like in the flesh (or at least in digital photography), thanks to the Denver Post today with a Jim Hughes article on "Colorado activists" playing a role in the Judge Roberts confirmation hearings. Here's one interesting graf in the story: In addition to NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado, the coalition includes the American Association of University Women, the Colorado Education Association teachers group, the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and the Colorado National Organization for Women. [emphasis mine] I can't be the only one bold enough to ask why the state's largest teachers union (and why … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General, National Politics

9/12/2005 By Ben 3 Comments

Sitting Down with Beauprez

As Joshua Sharf has already ably recounted, he and I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Rep. Bob Beauprez last Friday. The Republican gubernatorial candidate graciously shared an hour of his time with us and addressed our questions with candor and confidence. Rather than rehash Joshua's assessments (too much), I'll supplement his remarks with some of my own. Beauprez confidently asserted his conservative bona fides to strengthen his case for why he deserves the Republican nomination: his executive experience, his Washington connections, his traditional Colorado values. I believe the candidate's assessment is correct that "the governor's race is ground zero" for reestablishing Republican leadership in other areas of Colorado … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

9/8/2005 By Ben 3 Comments

C and D: A False Step and the “Great March South”

Could supporters of Referenda C and D be so desperate as to try to exploit the hurricane tragedy to sell their forever tax increase? So then, creating a parody Web site that compared sound arguments against the tax increase with calls to deny aid to Katrina victims seemed like a good attempt at political discourse? The perpetrator of the now-defunct tasteless screed is, according to the Denver Post, a Web developer for and devotee of the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network, Colorado's congregation of left-leaning political activists. At least someone in the group deserves commendation for pulling the plug on the phony Web site. Meanwhile, supporters of the tax increase have undertaken the less controversial but much more symbolic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General

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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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bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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