Mount Virtus

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

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • The Westfield Gardener
Home Archives for National Politics

12/19/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Freedom-Loving Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my freedom-loving friends at Liberty on the Rocks: Singing along with the chorus can be quite a cathartic experience, given all the recent federal government bailouts. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics, property rights, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: cathartic, government bailout, Happy New Year, Liberty on the Rocks, Merry Christmas, YouTube

12/19/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

No Means No

When it comes to the federal bailouts, I think this letter from Grover Norquist to President Bush (PDF) just about says it all. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics Tagged With: federal bailouts, George Bush, Grover Norquist, letter, no, says it all

12/19/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Pre-Christmas Friday Laughs

It's Friday, so I'm keeping it light and to the point. Besides the close proximity to the Christmas holiday and other reasons, I'm just too mad about our lame-duck President Bush copping to the auto bailout and too mystified by the intensity of the Senate appointment process for Governor Ritter to replace Ken Salazar. So here goes an opportunity for a few laughs: Yesterday, a friend introduced me to the It's Lovely! I'll Take It blog, which glibly pans bad real estate listing photos (something in the spirit of this humorous masterpiece of a book). If you're looking for something a little more Christmas-y, you ought to read "Twas the Night Before Single-Payer" posted by Dr. Paul Hsieh over at the We Stand FIRM blog. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: auto bailout, Bill Ritter, Christmas holiday, Friday, George Bush, Interior Desecrations, It's Lovely I'll Take It, Ken Salazar, lame-duck president, laughs, light, parody, Paul Hsieh, real estate listing photos, Senate appointment process, single-payer health care, We Stand Firm

12/17/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

If You Think the Auto Bailout is Bad, Wait for the Price Tag from Card-Check

I've written before about the bad deal for workers if Congress passes the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (aka union card-check legislation). But what kind of impact could it have on the economy? In a recent 8-minute iVoices podcast interview, Barbara Comstock of the Workforce Fairness Institute says it's "more of a threat" than the proposed bailout of the Big 3 auto makers: As my good friend Joshua Sharf frequently remarks about putting the Democrats in charge:Progressively more intrusive. Progressively more expensive. Progressively more restrictive. Sadly, the disease is all over Washington D.C., with no apparent hope for recovery any time soon. Hold on to your hats. And your wallets. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, National Politics Tagged With: Congress, economy, Employee Free Choice Act, impact

12/12/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Have You Seen Just How Big a United Auto Workers Contract Is?

(Via Michelle Malkin) The Labor Pains blog has a great visual and links to the huge labor contracts negotiated between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Detroit's Big Three:Ever wondered what a UAW contract looks like? Here is all 22 pounds of it (in this case, Ford’s 2,215 page 2007 master contract; Coke can is for scale and because I was thirsty). I’ll tell you this much, those 2,215 pages don’t include much regarding efficiency and competitiveness. What you’ll find are hundreds of rules, regulations, and letters of understanding that have hamstrung the auto companies for years. One of my claims to distinction (certainly not fame) is I have read all 45 or so collective bargaining agreements between Colorado school districts … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics Tagged With: auto companies, Big Three, Chrysler, collective bargaining agreements, Colorado, commercial parody, comparison, competitiveness, Detroit, efficiency, Ford, General Motors, labor contracts, Labor Pains blog, Michelle Malkin, Saturday Night Live, school districts, teachers unions, UAW contract, United Auto Workers, volume, weight

12/12/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Chesser Gives Climate Change Alarmism a Well-Deserved Slap in the Face

A great read for this Friday is Paul Chesser's well-documented rant in the American Spectator. He gets it rolling as follows:Someone please tell me it's about to end. That it's O-V-A-H in New England. That's it's D-U-N in Rio Linda. That it's fini in France and finito in Italy. I've experienced a build-up of evidence that undermines climate change alarmism, and I'm at the tipping point. My head has formed a canopy of truth-trapping that can only contain so much before my circuits overheat, blood pressure elevates, and my faith in broad-based common sense melts away. So please: polish it off in Poznan -- wishful thinking, you might think, but signs point to the beginning of that end. Read on. As global warming pathologists insist that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Hysteria, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: 2008 Presidential campaign, American Spectator, Antarctic ice swells, anthropogenic, Arctic ice loss, Bill Ritter, candidates, carbon dioxide, climate change, climate change alarmism, climate trends, common sense, cooling pattern, Denver, disaster, global warming pathologists, Governor, great read, obsession, on the wane, Paul Chesser, phenomena, planetary meltdown, Poznan, public support, retrospect, scientists, solar cycles, temperature monitoring stations, valid theory, warming bias, well-documented rant, white Christmas, wishful thinking

12/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Auto Bailout Dead for Now: GOP, UAW Won’t Strike Last-Minute Deal

Update: Colorado's own Ken Salazar voted for the bailout. John Hawkins at Right Wing News reports within the past hour that the automotive bailout deal is dead in the U.S. Senate for this year. Confirmed by the Associated Press:A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers has collapsed in the Senate after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts. Michelle Malkin reports only 52 votes in the U.S. Senate, eight short of the 60 needed for cloture to move the auto bailout forward. Good news. If this economic disaster ends up going forward, the Democrats and their UAW sugar-daddies will own it. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, My Life, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: automotive bailouts, Democrats, economic disaster, good news, John Hawkins, Right Wing News, sugar-daddies, U.S. Senate, United Auto Workers

12/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Associated Press Notices Barack Obama’s “Questionable Associations”

About 5 weeks after the election. (H/T Gene Kinsey) At the top of the list? Fellow Democrat Gov. Rod "Pay-for-Play" Blagojevich, of whom the AP writes:Obama's circle of major Illinois political allies and supporters is largely separate from Blagojevich's, with two major exceptions. Both Obama and Blagojevich got extensive money and support from Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko. At least one top aide to Obama, Michael Strautmanis, previously worked for Blagojevich. But Blagojevich's disdain for Obama was clear in court documents released Tuesday after the Illinois governor was arrested. Blagojevich, accused by federal prosecutors of conspiring to sell or trade for personal benefits the Senate seat left vacant by Obama, was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, General, National Politics Tagged With: Associated Press, Barack Obama, Blago, Chicago politics, co-conspirators, come clean, corrupt schemes, court documents, credible, cryptic statements, disdain, election, Gene Kinsey, Governor, Illinois, list, Michael Strautmanis, news reports, pay-for-play, political allies, President-elect, Questionable Associations, Rod Blagojevich, rubbing off, stink, taint, Tony Rezko

12/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Would Ed Perlmutter Vote our Taxpayer Dollars to Bail Out the Big Three?

From The Hill (via Rocky Mountain Right):Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) sat on an exercise bicycle at the Wheat Ridge Recreation center this weekend, hearing unvarnished advice from constituents about the auto bailout. “It was one after another,” Perlmutter recounted. “One guy would come up and say, ‘You can’t let them fail.’ The next guy would say, ‘Let them go bankrupt.’ ” Perlmutter said he was leaning in favor of the bailout, but couldn’t say for certain until he sees final language. As a constituent of Ed Perlmutter who is paying very close attention to these developments, count me among the latter: Let them go bankrupt. It's the bitter medicine needed, certainly not a vast government takeover at the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics Tagged With: 2010, advice, auto bailout, bankrupt, colleague, Colorado, Colorado delegation, constituents, Democratic, Ed Perlmutter, fail, Jared Polis, leaning, massive bailout, Rocky Mountain Right, The Hill, Wheat Ridge Recreation Center

12/11/2008 By Ben 4 Comments

And on the 12th Day of Christmas…

So now that I've become famous enough to make the title of a post concerning my "eleven Christmas wishes", I feel impelled to respond. Seriously, though, a watcher's post - somewhat more thoughtful and reasonable than previous endeavors of post-election analysis - requires some significant clarifications. It is because I believe this debate about the future of conservatism and the GOP is important that I wade in so thoroughly in this post that so few of you will actually read from beginning to end. Here are the overarching problems I see with a watcher's declarations. First, he has a strong tendency to lump all "social conservatives" into a box without distinction, shake them up, and spill them out with one accusation after another. How … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Christianity and Faith, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, My Life, National Politics

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • …
  • 94
  • Next Page »

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • 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

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • 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
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

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

Copyright © 2025 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in