The Rocky Mountain News reports:Each day in Colorado one person dies unnecessarily because he or she doesn't have health insurance, a group advocating universal coverage said Tuesday. The nonprofit Families USA used a 30-year study of deaths and insurance status to reach the conclusion that 360 Coloradans die prematurely every year because they didn't have health insurance. The assumption, based on death statistics, is that a person without coverage has a 25 percent greater chance of dying prematurely. So when it comes to health care reform, it's safe to assume that it would be better to do almost anything than nothing at all - right? Not so fast. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this report. Besides the assumption … [Read more...]
Top Initiative on Colorado’s 2008 Ballot: Yes on Amendment 46
From the Rocky Mountain News today:The secretary of state certified a measure for the Nov. 4 ballot Monday that would ban race and gender-based hiring preferences in Colorado. Supporters of the the measure, Amendment 46, submitted 128,744 signatures March 10. On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Coffman declared that a random sampling showed that enough of them were valid. The measure is pushed by Ward Connerly, a black Republican who has been vilified by civil rights groups for supporting anti-affirmative action policies. Connerly has led similar successful initiatives in California, Washington and Michigan. Supporters say that the measure's language mirrors the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This should mean Connerly's Civil Rights … [Read more...]
Iowa, Like Colorado, Bending to Government Employee Union Pressure
The pressure to expand the power of government employee union officials at the expense of taxpayers is not isolated to Colorado. The Des Moines Register reports:Ignoring pleas from the governor and a slew of local elected officials to give Iowans time to weigh in, Democrats in the Iowa Senate today approved a labor-backed bill that would give unions more power at the negotiating table. House File 2645 would give public employees the same power as managers to open up contract talks to almost any workplace subject. The Senate approved the bill on a 27-23 vote. Six days passed between when this proposal was offered and the bill’s passage by both chambers. It marks the first substantial change since the collective bargaining law was … [Read more...]
“Democrat” Label Featured Less in Scandal Reporting: More Proof
Any fair-minded and honest observer of political events knows that neither major party has cornered the market on scandals. Public officials elected both as Republicans and Democrats have been exposed for various types of corruption, malfeasance, and other prominent moral failings. So why are major media outlets so unbalanced in their presentation? Sure, anytime there is a salacious scandal or other revelation that results in the resignation of a big-city mayor, governor, or member of Congress, the news has to talk about it. But there has been a clear and measurable tendency on the media's part to ignore the party label far more when the story is about a Democrat. More proof emerges today: My Independence Institute colleague David … [Read more...]
Putting Iraq in Perspective
Today's lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal puts our five-year-long war in Iraq in perspective - surveying where we've come from, where we are today, and what the near future portends. The editorial, which deserves perusal from beginning to end, concludes:In our March 18, 2003 editorial on the eve of Iraq's liberation, we supported the war while noting that "toppling Saddam is a long-term undertaking" and "the U.S. has never been good at nation-building." We wish we had been wrong on both counts, but our view has always been that nations shouldn't begin wars they don't intend to win. And newspapers don't endorse wars only to walk away when the fighting gets difficult. The U.S. sacrifice in Iraq has been honorable, our soldiers have … [Read more...]
Obama Train Slowing Down?
Earlier today I pointed out the troubles Barack Obama is having with skeptics on the political Left who even after his "courageous speech" say he's still in trouble. Well, if early signs like a large-scale Internet poll mean anything, these critics have a strong point. John Hinderaker at Power Line notes an AOL Hot Seat poll that shows an overwhelming percentage of Americans don't think Obama solved "his Jeremiah Wright problem with his speech yesterday." By a margin of 68 to 26 percent. This might be (wait, just might be) the lead weight around Obama's campaign. If this is true, it's because more people are seeing what Jonah Goldberg saw:For all the wonderful rhetoric and tantalizing promise of Obama and his speech, there’s not … [Read more...]
Ohio Can Have Hillary and Terrelle – Colorado Is Just Fine, Thank You
Jim Geraghty looks at the Rasmussen poll data (showing McCain and Obama tied at 46, but McCain clobbering Hillary 52-38) and muses:We've seen Obama running ahead of Hillary in some states, but an 11 or 12 point difference? What's got him so popular there, and her so unpopular? Does Obama come across as a mountain state kind of guy? Is he related to John Elway or something? I don't have a good answer to that question, but many hypotheses abound. Coloradans don't like the old-style Eastern politics that Hillary Clinton represents. Colorado swing voters are more open to vapid liberal platitudes than cynical ones. Frankly, it beats me. Hillary polls terribly unpopular here and would have virtually no chance to win the Centennial State in a … [Read more...]
Civil Rights Initiative Upheld
Good news yesterday for the Colorado Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI). The Detroit News reports that a federal court has rejected legal attempts to undo the same sort of measure that was recently approved by Michigan voters:A federal judge Tuesday upheld the constitutionality of a Michigan law that prohibits racial and gender preferences in government hiring and public university admissions. "To impugn the motives of 58 (percent) of Michigan's electorate, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances which do not exist here, simply is not warranted on this record," U.S. District Judge David Lawson wrote. Michigan voters approved the constitutional amendment known as Proposal 2 in November 2006. Several groups -- including the NAACP … [Read more...]
Obama’s Speech Panned on the Left
Sure, I could sit down this morning and link my readers to a dozen critiques of Barack Obama's Tuesday Jeremiah Wright "damage control" speech from conservative bloggers and other commentators. That wouldn't prove very much, I think. Besides, it would require more time than I have to give a thorough spectrum of responses. Instead, here are a couple of takes from the Left. One not-too-surprising source is Mickey Kaus. On his Slate magazine blog, he highlights the "troubling equivalences" in Obama's speech. One of his more salient observations:In general. Obama's explanations of black anger seem intimate and respectful. His explanations of white anger seem distant and condescending. ("They are anxious about their futures, and feel their … [Read more...]
DC v Heller Argued Today
Oral arguments are being held today before the U.S. Supreme Court in the truly landmark DC v Heller case about the meaning of Second Amendment rights. My Independence Institute and blogging colleague - and writing mentor - David Kopel is sitting with the plaintiffs today as the case is made for gun ownership as a Constitutionally-recognized individual right. You can visit David's website to find a copy of the Institute's amicus brief filed with the high court. You also can head over to iVoices to tune into David's discussion of the case and his trip to Washington, DC, with Jon Caldara. For a quick and insightful summary of what DC v Heller is (and isn't) about, read Prof. Randy Barnett's column in today's Wall Street Journal. Also, … [Read more...]
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