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Home Archives for liberty

6/22/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Liberty on the Rocks Red Rocks A Veritable Who’s Who of Local Politics

I go out of town for a week, miss an edition of Liberty on the Rocks - Red Rocks, and organizer Jeff Sacco outdoes himself. Face The State reported on the growing political heft that attended last Monday's meeting. If you live on the west side of the Denver metro area, and you haven't dropped by to one of the meetings yet, now is your chance to get connected. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, liberty, My Life, PPC

6/18/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Democrats’ Taxpayer-Funded Arrogance on Full Display Now

Colorado Democrats ... arrogant? Can't exactly say I'm shocked. But the brazenness of using taxpayer dollars for a Democrats-only team-building retreat only heightens my desire to make Brandon Shaffer's term as state senate president as short as possible. The least we can hope for (and work for) is divided government. Republicans should have their sights set on the governor's mansion and one of the two house of the state legislature in 2010. In the meantime, Mr. DNA at Rocky Mountain Right has some good advice:I hope every reader of this blog will join me in calling their leadership office and telling them that I am not going to stand for this kind of pork. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC

6/11/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

A Critical Mass Awake to the Destructive Effects of Obama’s “Stimulus”?

Remember all the pomp and circumstance of four months ago when President Barack Obama flew out here to Denver to sign the "stimulus" bill? The legislation that had to be rushed through? The legislation that was supposed to prevent "irreversible decline" in our economy? While anyone with decent sense knew the "stimulus" was long-term poison, I can't say I anticipated how badly it would flounder even in the short-term. The Competitive Enterprise Institute's Hans Bader put together a well-documented Open Market blog post noting that public opinion clearly favors canceling the $787 billion spending spree. How many of them have watched this unforgettable video? A few days ago, Mr. Bob posted up the now well-circulated graphic showing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, National Politics, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous

6/11/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

More Bad Unintended Consequences from Media Swine Flu Hysteria?

So some of y'all must be thinkin' ... Whatever happened to that thar' swine flu thing? Apparently, the World Health Organization is set to issue an alert for a "level 6 pandemic" -- the first such designation in 40 years. Before you start stampeding through the streets in panic, take note:The declaration of a global epidemic was expected Thursday as WHO officials huddled in an emergency session in Geneva in the wake of 141 swine flu deaths worldwide, including 12 in New York City.... If WHO moves from level 5 to level 6 on its pandemic alert scale, it would be the first flu pandemic declared since the Hong Kong flu killed an estimated 1 million people in 1968. On Wednesday, WHO reported 27,737 cases worldwide, most of them mild and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, Journalism, liberty, National Politics, PPC

6/10/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Harmful Card Check Bill Union Cash Cow, Michael Bennet Still Undecided

Update: It's also worth noting that EFCA supporters have engaged in a full-fledged campaign of deception. Someone should ask Senator Michael Bennet if he's buying it. We know the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (aka card-check): Deprives workers of a secret ballot in workplace elections, exposing them to intimidation Imposes costly government bureaucratic intervention in private workplace negotiations Threatens to cost our fragile national economy and hard-working Americans of many thousands of jobs Now, thanks to a new report released by the Workforce Fairness Institute, we see more clearly and concretely the real beneficiaries of this three-headed monster legislation: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Americans, appointed, bailout, beneficiaries, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, bureaucratic intervention, card-check, cash cow, clearly, Colorado, concretely, decide, disability, Employee Free Choice Act, fragile, good, government, Governor, hard-working, hide out, intimidation, jobs, labor unions, legislation, little, longer, membership, Michael Bennet, mismanaged, monster legislation, months, national economy, pension funds, political activity, private, report, Republican Party, revenue, Rocky Mountain Right, secret ballot, silent, Sotomayor, spending, still, take the heat, trust funds, U.S. Senator, union dues, vote, workers, Workforce Fairness Institute, workplace elections, workplace negotiations

6/10/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Calling All Colorado Congressmen to Back Federal Reserve Transparency

Update, 6/11, 10:30 AM: Impressively, HR 1207 now has 208 Congressional co-sponsors. But only two from Colorado: Republican Doug Lamborn and Democrat Ed Perlmutter. Open government is an important non-partisan issue. I recently brought readers' attention to the need to persuade Republican Congressman Mike Coffman to sign on in support of transparency for the nation's Federal Reserve bank. It's good to see Face The State join the cause and raise the stakes by urging members of Colorado's delegation across the political spectrum to back HR 1207. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: attention, cause, Colorado, Congressman, delegation, Face the State, Federal Reserve, HR 1207, join, members, Mike Coffman, persuade, political spectrum, raise, readers, Republican, sign on, stakes, support, Transparency, urge

6/6/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

D-Day Plus 65 Years

Last night I watched again the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan. It's hard to put such moving sacrifice into perspective, on this the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to begin the liberation of Europe. But I leave you with portions of two relevant addresses -- one contemporaneous and one retrospective. First, from General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the eve of invasion:You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, History, liberty, Movie Reviews, PPC Tagged With: 65th anniversary, 67th anniversary, achievement, addresses, Allies, American, appreciation, Army Rangers, Battle of Midway, behalf, belief, boys, brave, cliffs, conquest, countries, country, D-Day invasion, democracy, Dwight Eisenhower, dying, dying for, Europe, faith, fitting, force, forget, France, free people, generation, German, Great Crusade, humanity, ideals, liberation, liberty-loving people, listen, loyalty, men, moral difference, Nazi tyranny, never, Normanday, opening scenes, oppressed peoples, Pacific, perspective, Pointe du Hoc, profound, reflect, Ronald Reagan, sacrifice, Saving Private Ryan, Second World War, serving, show, tide, tremendous, trenches, turned, ultimately, veterans, war, war machine

6/4/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ritter, Kennedy, and Morse Loosening Fiscal Knot for Taxpayers’ Necks

Today's Denver Post news story on Governor Bill Ritter's signing of Senate Bill 228 offers the generous headline: "Colorado's fiscal knot loosens". I've taken the liberty to complete the thought with my own sub-headline: "Noose nearly large enough to fit around taxpayers' necks". The article is correct insofar as it points out that the impact of this bill in repealing limits on the growth of discretionary government spending likely won't be felt for a couple years. But that provides little solace, especially when you listen to the righteous confusion coming from the Democratic cast of characters behind this anti-taxpayer legislation. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, media bias, PPC Tagged With: 10-point margin, 2010, Amendment 59, another dimension, battle plan, Bill Ritter, black, California, Cary Kennedy, caucus, Colorado, complete, conflicting, crystal clear, Democratic, Democrats, Denver Post, disaster, discretionary, down, expounds, Face the State, fight, fiscal knot, fiscal troubles, fitting, generous, Gordian knot, government, government spending, Governor, growth, headline, heaping, heart, increase, John Morse, liberty, limits, majority leader, measures, memo, mess, message, multi-billion dollar, necks, news, noose, November, offers, old-fashioned, prudent, rainy day fund, raise, reasonable, recipe, repeal, repealing, righteous, Rod Serling, sacred, Senate Bill 228, shell game, shooting down, signing, simple, soul, spending, stake, state budget, state senate, state treasurer, step, story, sub-headline, TABOR, tax dollars, tax-and-spend, taxes, taxpayers, thought, trip, up, vote, voters, white, work

6/3/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

Continuing the Tiller & Long Discussion

Update, 6/4: Thanks to a comment left by Politically Correct Death author Francis Beckwith, I refer you to his newer and more relevant book Defending Life. I'll have to check it out myself very soon. Update, 9:30 PM: My final thought (for now) on the matter, from Doug Wilson: "The question is whether you would be willing to reduce a society to anarchy for the sake of saving that kid, when you (should) know that the anarchy you introduce is going to be responsible for the deaths of far more children than you managed to save." And for further edification, I will commend the thoughts of Dr. Albert Mohler as being squarely right on the matter. Thanks to one of the more thoughtful liberals I know, David Thielen, a link to this morning's … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, Labor, liberty, My Life, World Events

6/3/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Lessons: Unparallel Treatment of George Tiller & William Long Murders

No two events are perfectly parallel, but seldom are two such similar and terrible stories juxtaposed for our edification. Within 24 hours and within 500 miles from each other, two notable murders occurred -- both evil acts perpetrated in public by two different men, but both for apparent ideological reasons, both sudden and horribly unexpected events for the families and loved ones of the victims, both suspects quickly brought into custody. That's where the parallels end. What's most informative is some of the prominent responses to the two incidents: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, General, History, liberty, National Politics, World Events Tagged With: abortionists, act, antebellum, anti-government, anti-military, attention, Barack Obama, bigger view, blog, brought, care, ColoradoPols, comment section, communicate, conclusion, context, couple, custody, death, definitions, deprived, destructive, diarist, disagreements, edification, enforced, events, evil acts, families, fanatical, Free Speech, fringe, George Tiller, Google News, greater, groups, hate crime, heinous, ideological, implications, individuals, informative, killed, language, larger, legal concept, liberal, likewise, lone nut, loved ones, military recruiter, Moonbattery, movement, murder, murders, Muslim convert, notable, nut, parallel, peaceful, people, perpetrated, politically correct, preliminary, President, private, pro-life, prominent, Quenton Ezeagwula, quickly, ratio, reasons, relevant, responses, rights, short-sighted, similar, slavery, Southern, speech codes, statement, states, suspects, terrible, terrorist, thought, threats, unjust, victims, White House, William Long, wounded

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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.

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