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"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

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    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
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Home Archives for My Life

3/17/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Passion Week: Monday

By nearly all scholarly accounts, the following are from passages that happened on the Monday before Christ's crucifixion (both from the New American Standard Bible): Matthew 21:21 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it shall happen. Luke 19:45-46 And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling, saying to them, "It is written, 'AND MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER,' but you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN." … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, General, My Life Tagged With: Holy Bible, Passion Week

3/16/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

“Who Writes This Blog?”

FYI: Last night I added a permanent page titled "Who Writes This Blog?" as a means of providing greater clarity and transparency. A link will remain in the top, right-hand portion of the main page. In addition to basic information about myself and the things I like to write about (for those who don't read Mount Virtus regularly or have yet to figre it out), the page includes my general policies for comments. Writing the page was a good exercise. It really helped me to focus on defining a bit better what it is I do here exactly. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life Tagged With: Who Writes This Blog?

3/15/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Blue Elephants

If you feel like your life has been devoid of elephant sightings - in particular blue elephant sightings - you might want to drop by and visit my house. In the past week, we've had somewhat frequent visits from various "big" and "heavy" pachyderms. Or so my 2-year-old daughter tells us. Sometimes the elephants are "babies," but lately they've all been "blue." Hey, if you've got half an imagination, it'll beat most anything you see on The Discovery Channel. Seriously, though, I'm taking this fascination with elephants as a sign of some innate Republican sensibility. And when I say Republican, I interpret it in the sense of the traditional Reagan conservative coalition. The blue part? Beats me. Any theories out there? Personally, I just … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Blue elephants, Family, Republican Party

3/12/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

A Season-Long Baseball Grudge Match with Hugh Hewitt?

The Detroit Free Press has the scoop in today's sports section: "Tribe, Tigers rivalry already intense." Sure, Hugh will do a lot of blustering between now and September that his Cleveland Indians will repeat their American League Central crown. But faced with the harsh specter of reality, he may well find himself hoping and praying for his team to stay competitive with the offensive juggernaut coming out of Motown. Jim Leyland's Detroit Tigers are hungry for payback, with a bolstered lineup that can deliver ... and then some. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Hugh Hewitt, rivalry

3/10/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Jeffco GOP Assembly: Recap & Reflection on Renewed Hopes

At Saturday's Jefferson County Republican Assembly, the person who got the biggest ovation was a self-proclaimed Democrat. A bad sign? Not at all. The Democrat was Rose Moniak, a courageous elderly lady who seconded the nomination of Scott Storey for a second term as District Attorney. The victim of a heinous crime that nearly took her life, Moniak had the highest praise for Storey's personal diligence and compassion as a prosecutor. Storey was emotionally touched by the introduction, and Moniak was emotionally touched by the warm, prolonged standing ovation from the Assembly crowd. Moniak was also one of the personal stories from the crowd that U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer addressed from the podium. Schaffer has really honed the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, My Life Tagged With: 6th Congressional District, Best Destiny, Bob Schaffer, Jeffco GOP Assembly, John Bodnar, Libby Szabo, Mike Coffman, Rep. Jim Kerr, Rep. Ken Summers, Scott Storey, Steve Ward, Ted Harvey, Wil Armstrong

3/1/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

My 90-Year-Old Great Aunt: The “Cool” Florida Swimming Role Model

Featured on the United States Masters Swimming website:Three 90-year-old swimmers -- Kay Schimpf (left), with 1,525 yards, Frances Cichanski (center), with 1,700 yards, and Brud Cleaveland (right), with 1,700 yards, of the Florida Mavericks, completed the popular January postal event. They then joined teammates June Reynolds, 86, Cliff Eastwood, 86, and Charles Edwards, 88, to form a men's, a women's, and a mixed relay - all in the 85+ age group! Margie Hutinger of the Mavericks reports, "They are a special group of swimmers, as they showed a lot of spunk to do their swims, in spite of the adversities they had to overcome. They are cool role models for Masters swimming." [emphasis mine] That's my great aunt Frankie, my grandpa's "baby' … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous, Sports and Leisure Tagged With: Swimming

2/29/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Happy Leap Day Everyone, Especially to All Ye Leaplings

It's not often we get to wish one another Happy Leap Day - the only other time for this blog was in the very early days of its existence. So let's celebrate the opportunity to catch our calendars up to the earth's solar revolution schedule, and enjoy the irony of what this day means. One of my favorite February 29 memories comes from my freshman year in college, walking to the buildings on "the Hill" and seeing homemade signs posted urging us to wish fellow student Sam a happy 5th birthday. No, Sam - whom I later got to know and appreciate for his good nature and good humor, not to mention his artistic and literary gifts - wasn't some sort of amazing prodigy. He was what Wikipedia informs me is called a "leapling." Another "leapling" is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Leap year, leaplings

2/22/2008 By Ben 3 Comments

Battle of Cambria 46 Years Later

Diverting from our regular blogging fare on this Friday, we pause to remember the 46th anniversary of the decisive and destructive Battle of Cambria. It is also the 12th anniversary of the founding of Cambria Tours (Facebook account required to view page). The ill-fated, crushing defeat of February 22, 1962, along the frozen pond and quiet streets of a midwestern hamlet, marked the ultimate demise of the small and short-lived Socialist Union of Al Gansee. It's all chronicled in the biography of the quixotic and eccentric, Michigan-born dictator, Passion and Purpose: The Rise and Fall of Al Gansee. Rumor also has it that the battle's story is being adapted into a screenplay. We'll see if it goes anywhere. Questions linger regarding how … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Al Gansee, Battle of Cambria, Cambria Tours, Socialist Union of Al Gansee

2/20/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Here’s Your Chance to Hear the Scoop on Unions in Colorado

If you missed my live online radio interview earlier today on Gov. Ritter and Colorado union issues, you can still listen to the show. The one-hour edition of RighTalk radio's "Leave Us Alone" program will replay every hour up to noon local time tomorrow (Thursday, February 21). So you can head over now to RighTalk and hear what you missed. I'm on from about 5 minutes past the hour to 42 minutes past the hour. Enjoy! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, Labor, My Life Tagged With: Gov. Bill Ritter, RighTalk, Unions in Colorado

2/19/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Ben On Air: Backbone America Podcast, RighTalk Tomorrow

If you missed my guest appearance on Sunday evening's Backbone Radio to discuss the push for autonomy in Denver Public Schools, you can pick up the recorded podcast on their website. Also, don't forget to call in for Wednesday's online radio talk on union issues in Colorado. … [Read more...]

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

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Inside

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  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • 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
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

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

Colorado News

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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
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
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Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
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Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
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Colorado Blogs

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Other Sites

  • Technorati
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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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