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Home Archives for PPC

11/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Friday PM Quick Hits

A devastating story for the scaremongering "climate change" religionists breaks today because of illegal hacking activity: Climate Audit, "Mike's nature trick" Ed Morrissey, Hot Air, "Do hacked e-mails show global warming fraud?" Paul Chesser, American Spectator, "Get that hacker a pimp coat" On a different note, George Will has a great column about the power of states to nullify a coercive Obama Care law -- a Plan B I hope we can keep in mothballs. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Climate Hysteria, General, Health Care, liberty, National Politics, PPC

11/20/2009 By Ben 2 Comments

Ryan Frazier Touts Endorsements from Wide Range of “Influential Coloradans”

As Don at Business Word notes, the Ryan Frazier campaign yesterday touted a list of endorsements from "nearly one hundred influential Coloradans" in his bid to be the next Congressman from the 7th District. Yes, the list contains the names of some heavy-hitters -- including Phil Anschutz, Pete Coors, Attorney General John Suthers, and former Governor Bill Owens. But at least as telling to me is that Ryan Frazier has earned the support from both my friends Jessica Corry and Libby Szabo, the last two Republican candidates for state senate District 19. Why so significant? Jessica is a young up-and-comer from the more libertarian wing of the party. Libby is more of a traditional conservative and a longtime activist well known in Jefferson … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, General, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC

11/19/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Celebrating the Independence Institute’s Silver Anniversary This Evening

This evening the Independence Institute celebrates its 25th anniversary with a sold-out Founders' Night dinner featuring keynote speaker P.J. O'Rourke. It should be a good family reunion of sorts. Count me as one of the crazy, freedom-fighting cousins. No one in the area is better at leveraging the media spotlight than my boss Jon Caldara. Witness today's perfect-pitch feature by the Denver Post's Jessica Fender:Asked what has allowed Colorado's free-market think tank, the Independence Institute, to live long enough for a 25th-anniversary celebration tonight, the organization's famously bawdy president offers a joke. "Embezzlement," says Jon Caldara. "Embezzlement and glossy black-and-white photographs of politicians in compromising … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Commemorative, Education, General, liberty, My Life, PPC

11/19/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Someone Doesn’t Like Senator Mark Udall’s Autoreply Form Letters

This was forwarded to me a little while ago. Someone named Kathy from Evergreen apparently (and doubtless with good reason) is not happy with the responsiveness of Congress to her concerns about Obama Care and a rapidly growing and spending federal government. She took a mechanical form letter from Colorado Democrat U.S. Senator Mark Udall's office and interjected her own thoughts in italics. I gathered a screenshot and pasted it below (click "fullscreen" and use the "Zoom" for greater reading ease): … [Read more...]

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

11/19/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Listen to Colorado Loses’ Podcast Update: AFSCME’s Mass Mail Screwup

Last Saturday I reported that thousands of Colorado state employees who never signed up to join a union were barraged with membership cards from the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) -- one of the union partners in the "Colorado WINS" coalition brought to life by Governor Bill Ritter's 2007 executive order. Well, apparently, AFSCME somehow reversed their membership and non-membership lists, and in the process annoyed a lot of state workers and wasted tons of paper. As to where they found the home addresses, the State of Colorado says it didn't hand them out. And I guess AFSCME isn't telling. Click the play button below (or follow this link) to hear a 10-minute podcast as state employee and "The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous

11/18/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Arm Yourself with Knowledge … Fight Back Against Senate Democrat Tactics

Update, 12:30 PM: If you have the same experience as I did, you'll find the voice mail in Senator Bennet's D.C. office to be full. Then go ahead and call the regional office near you. You'll likely talk to a tired-sounding staffer who will take your message in opposition to the Baucus health care bill and the vote to proceed, along with your ZIP code. It's that simple. Now is the time to speak up. Writing over at Red State, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) shines light on the deceptive approach he believes Harry Reid and the Senate Democrat leadership will take to ram their government health care takeover through:To begin debate on this new version of Obamacare, Reid will play a shell game. He needs 60 senators to “vote to proceed” to … [Read more...]

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

11/17/2009 By Ben 3 Comments

Senate District 16: Rob Witwer, Dan Maes Out; Penry Touts Cheri Gerou

Update, 11/18: Count out another one, too. Ali Hasan left a comment following my earlier speculation that included his name as a possible candidate: "Sorry Mount Virtus, but I won’t be getting into SD16 at all – I got my eyes on a different race. Honestly, Don Ytterberg ran a great campaign and he would be a terrific candidate for this race, especially since Gibbs’s 2008 win mostly came off of his 75% vote total in Summit County, which propelled his victory – a non-Summit Dem puts this race in the R column, imo." Last night I noted Democrat state senator Dan Gibbs' announced decision not to seek re-election in 2010, and started the speculation about which Republicans might be enticed to step up to the plate. After all, this key seat very … [Read more...]

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

11/17/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Recovery.gov Fail: $1.1 Million Per Stimulus Job in Jeffco May Be Low

Earlier this month I did a little research on the Obama administration's multimillion-dollar Recovery.gov website and found that one Jefferson County, Colorado, job was created for every $1.1 million spent. And now we find that dollar figure in fact may be low! Why? Among other reasons, $6.4 billion of stimulus money has been spent in phantom Congressional districts -- including, as Mike Robinson points out at Rocky Mountain Right, on Colorado's imaginary 64th Congressional district. Because it comes from the government's own website, and there's reason to believe the figure is if anything on the conservative side, all Jeffco Republican candidates would be wise to repeat the $1.1 million per job point about the wastefulness of their … [Read more...]

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

11/17/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

November Survey: Ken Buck’s Support Rises, Jane Norton Seen as Strongest

Introducing the top-line results from the 3rd edition of the survey of Colorado's political temperature. Participation dropped to 281, but results still demonstrated some remarkable consistency. As always, thanks to those of you who took the time to help out! Coming later in the month will be an analysis of some key crosstabs and correlations. But for now here's a quick rundown of the survey's top-line results: In the U.S. Senate race, with Ryan Frazier dropping out of the race, momentum has grown behind Ken Buck as the candidate with the most support and behind Jane Norton as the strongest candidate -- an interesting dynamic given the credible rumors circulating at Rocky Mountain Right Josh Penry was on track for his best showings … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, Judiciary, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC

11/17/2009 By Ben 5 Comments

Democrat State Sen. Dan Gibbs to Forego Re-election: Start Speculating

New RMA member Don Johnson reports that Democrat state senator Dan Gibbs will not run for re-election in his mountain district in 2010. A good opportunity for the Dead Guvs to pine that state lawmakers aren't paid well enough. Suddenly, SD16 has to look a lot more appealing to Republicans. Last time around Gibbs beat Don Ytterberg (now the chairman of the Jefferson County GOP) by a nearly 3-to-2 margin. But the political environment makes the seat a lot more competitive for Republicans in 2010, and I don't see any scenario where they can win back the majority without it. If the rumors haven't already started to circulate, allow me to ask: Will first-term Rep. Cheri Gerou in HD 25 make the leap? Might someone coax former Rep. Rob … [Read more...]

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

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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

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