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Mount Virtus?

Every day is seeking to rise to the challenge, 'neath the shadow of the mighty Rockies.

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Sometimes the choices are daunting or confusing, sometimes they're as clear as a Mile High view.

Writer / Editor For Hire

If I had five more writers just like him, I think my job would be the easiest in journalism....

2/7/2026 By Ben 10 Comments

Nearly Half of Coloradans Admit They Don’t Know Who Michael Bennet Is

Congressional Quarterly says Michael Bennet "needs to get better known" -- who? Oh yeah! Colorado's junior junior U.S. Senator. The Democrats' Public Policy Polling - in a herculean effort to put an impossibly meaningful spin on an election that's more than 21 months away - finds almost half of Coloradans will admit they don't even know who Bennet is. (How many of the 54 percent were fibbing, or thought maybe pollsters were asking about this AFC West rival running back?) We're a long way from knowing much of anything about the dynamics for the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado. But we'll at least begin to have a good idea of the terrain when we see how Bennet casts his vote on union card-check legislation. With the announcement … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: 2010, admit, AFC West, Attorney General, card-check, Coloradans, Colorado, Congressional Quarterly, dark horse, Democrats, election, fibbing, fundraising steam, herculean effort, John Suthers, junior, Michael Bennet, Michael Bennett, political junkies, pollsters, Public Policy Polling, Ryan Frazier, spin, terrain, U.S. Senate race, U.S. Senator, union, vote

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Rocky Mtn Alliance Blog Talk Radio at 8:30 PM: Jan Tyler, Sen. Greg Brophy

Tune in starting at 8:30 PM local Mountain Time this evening for the 11th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio, the third of 2009. Tonight's scheduled guests are locally-based elections expert Jan Tyler and state senate assistant minority leader Greg Brophy (R-Wray). Don't forget. If you miss the live broadcast of tonight’s show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. More information on past and future episodes is posted at Slapstick Politics. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General, My Life, PPC Tagged With: 2009, Blog Talk Radio, elections expert, Greg Brophy, guests, Jan Tyler, leader, live broadcast, Mount Virtus, podcast, Rocky Mountain Alliance, state senate, tonight's show

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Financial Transparency Makes Public Education a More “Public” Enterprise

The Colorado state legislature has been a place of little significant action lately. But one bill first scheduled to be heard in committee this week is Senate Bill 57 (PDF), which would open up the spending of school districts and other local education agencies in an online searchable database. Read about the advantages of this sort of policy change in my new Independence Institute op-ed:Colorado has a tremendous opportunity to lead the way in making public education a more truly public enterprise. School officials should place detailed and useful spending information where citizens can access it freely: the Internet. Such a simple and highly cost-effective approach promotes public accountability and transparency. Public schools … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, PPC Tagged With: bill, Colorado, committee, financial transparency, Independence Institute, local education agencies, online searchable database, op-ed, policy change, scheduled, school districts, Senate Bill 57, state legislature, taxpayer money

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Nancy Pelosi Triangulated by Japanese Corporations, California Octuplets?

These three stories all appeared today: Nancy Pelosi has no apologies for saying birth control is economic stimulus Japanese corporations cut workday to boost birth rate California octuplets join Houston set as 2nd of kind God truly has a sense of humor. And if you haven't read it already, now is the time to pick up a copy of Mark Steyn's masterpiece America Alone. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cultural Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, General, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous, World Events Tagged With: America Alone, birth control, birth rate, California, economic stimulus, God, Japanese corporations, Mark Steyn, Nancy Pelosi, octuplets, sense of humor, stories, today

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Night Twister’s Online Guide to Colorado Conservative Political Activism

Fort Collins' Randy Ketner - better known to online readers as Night Twister - has just officially entered his name into contention for 2009 Colorado Conservative Activist of the Year. How is that? See what Randy compiled over on his RedState page: "Getting Connected in Colorado". It's a seemingly comprehensive list of government officials, political organizations, online conservative organizations (including my Independence Institute), bloggers and talk radio shows, Colorado Web 2.0, Colorado "mainstream media", and online national groups. If you see anything missing, leave Randy a note so he can keep it updated. When it comes to local political blogging, Randy is a relative newcomer - only about 18 months under his belt at Night … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, General, My Life, PPC Tagged With: bloggers, bookmarked, Colorado, combination, compilation, comprehensive list, conservative activist, conservative renewal, El Presidente, Energy, excuse, Fort Collins, getting connected, government officials, involved, mainstream media, missing, Night Twister, note, online national groups, political blogging, political organizations, Randy Ketner, relative newcomer, Republican State Assembly, Rocky Mountain Alliance, savvy, talk radio shows, thank you, time, updated, useful page, Web 2.0, zeal

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

A Glimpse at the Not-So-Softer Side of Barack Obama’s “Hope” and “Change”

Once upon a time the word bipartisanship was one of the most sacred words in the liberal lexicon. Now the concept is well on its way to becoming an inconvenient obstacle to the superior virtue of Obama-worthiness. Fox News has afforded us the first glimpse into the hubris of bare-knuckled, Saul Alinsky-radical, Chicago-style politics that moved into the White House less than a week ago. It took less than four days to show the less seemly side of what hope and change really mean ("Keep hoping all you want, but America only gets the kind of change I say they're getting. End of story.") I could go on, but Ken the Blue Collar Muse already has tackled this one pretty well. As Rush Limbaugh astutely told Byron York, President Obama is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: bare-knuckled, bipartisanship, bloated, Blue Collar Muse, Byron York, campaign promise, change, Chicago-style, concept, David Bernstein, debate, economic package, Fox News, glimpse, gloating, hands-down, hope, I won, Left, liberal lexicon, Obama-worthiness, obstacle, politics, pork, public, radical, reminds, Rush Limbaugh, sacred words, Saul Alinsky, substance, super-expensive, superior virtue, Volokh Conspiracy, White House

2/7/2026 By Ben 17 Comments

Governor Bill Ritter Wants to Welcome Gitmo Terrorists to Colorado Prison

Update: Welcome, Michelle Malkin readers. Perhaps you'll agree that Colorado can do much better than our current Democrat governor. Any article (this one happens to be from 9News) that starts with the following line spells bad news:Gov. Bill Ritter supports the idea of bringing terror suspects to Colorado to be housed at the federal Supermax prison in Florence. Go ahead, read the rest of the article. Governor Bill Ritter clearly has a long way to go making a compelling case to the people of Colorado. So why do it? Theories abound: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, PPC, World Events Tagged With: 2010, 9News, article, Barack Obama, Bill Ritter, Buffie McFadyen, Bureau of Prisons, California, Camp Pendleton, chief executive, civilian prison, Colorado, compelling case, Congressman, contracted. campaign plan, convicted felons, Democratic Party, Department of Defense, enemies, federal cash, federal prison, Fort Leavenworth, Governor, Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, legislation, line, magical money tree, military detainees, Obama administration, operatives, persuaded, prisoners, Pueblo West, Republicans, San Diego, skepticism, state budget cuts, stooge, Supermax, terror suspects, terrorists, theories, thesis, truckloads

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Huzzah: The Oklahoma 3 Are Free!

Months ago I introduced readers to the story of outrageous injustice against Paul Jacob and the Oklahoma Three. For a little closure, yesterday brought some great news:Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson has dropped criminal charges against The Oklahoma Three–Paul Jacob, Susan Johnson and Rick Carpenter–who had been accused of conspiring to violate the state's now unconstitutional law against out of state petition circulators. Kudos to these three for their courage and conviction. In this age, we all should be proud to have citizen watchdogs like them on our side. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, General, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: accused, Attorney General, citizen watchdogs, closure, courage, criminal charges, Drew Edmondson, great news, Oklahoma Three, outrageous injustice, Paul Jacob, readers, state petition circulators, story

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

Intriguing… A Ryan Frazier Run for U.S. Senate Might Not Be a Bad Idea

Update, 1/23: Slapstick Politics has great analysis on the speculation and ideas for the GOP to seize these sorts of unique opportunities that 2010 provides. Face The State went deep into the rumor mill today:The U.S. Senate race recently made its way on to Republican radar after Ritter appointed the little known Michael Bennet, who at the time was serving as DPS superintendent, to the seat. Bennet’s biggest weakness right now is that he’s part of the East Coast political aristocracy. Republicans need a fresh face and a down to earth candidate to challenge him, which is why we were so excited to hear that Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier may be considering a run for the seat. “It’s fair to say that right now I’m considering … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, General, National Politics Tagged With: aristocracy, Aurora, Big Line, Bill Ritter, candidate, Colorado, councilman, Dead Governors, Denver Public Schools, down to earth, East Coast, Face the State, fresh face, intriguing, Left-leaning, liberty-loving, Michael Bennet, outside the box, political establishment, Republican, Republican Party, Ryan Frazier, strong credentials, superintendent, U.S. Senate, youthfulness

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Remembering the Clarion Call for Life After 36 Years of Roe v Wade

Update II: El Presidente has posted an excellent video produced by Catholic Votes, which makes the case against abortion using Barack Obama's own story. Updates: Gateway Pundit notes that Obama is using the occasion to expand American taxpayer funding of abortions overseas. Kyle-Anne Shiver appreciates taking on intellectually honest, pro-abortion atheists in debates. And LaShawn Barber points us to a sad account of a woman who deeply regrets her abortion. Lest all the pomp and circumstance accompanying the 44th President's bold new Leftward agenda drown it out, we should pause to remember that today is the 36th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision. The devastating consequences of this terribly rendered Supreme Court ruling rest … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, General, Labor, My Life, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: 36th anniversary, Alternatives Pregnancy Center, Americans United for Life, Barack Obama, belongs, births, Blogs for Life conference, circumstance, Colorado, conservative, daughters, decision, demoralizing, Denver, disagree, emotionally, establishment media, fantastic work, friends, intellectually, Leftward agenda, March for Life, middle, nation's capital, neglected, occupant, overturning, personal, persuade, poignant, policy differences, pomp, pray, pregnancy, President, private groups, pro-life, ranking, Roe v Wade, speak out, spectrum, spiritually, state lawmakers, states, support, theoretical, U.S. Supreme Court, unborn child, Washington DC, White House

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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

  • AI-Enhanced Cyberbullying: The Dark Side of Teen Innovation
  • My Baker’s Dozen of Top 2023 Reads
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  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition

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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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