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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.

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

3/13/2008 By Ben 2 Comments

PJM’s Gettysburg Metaphor Daily Reminder of Bitter Democratic Primary

Today's reminder that the Democrats are engaged in a bitter intramural fight for the presidential nomination: Rick Moran at Pajamas Media compares the upcoming Pennsylvania primary (upcoming as in April 22 ... 40 days or so) to the Battle of Gettysburg for its potential to dictate the final outcome in the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton showdown:A Hillary Clinton win in Pennsylvania – especially a big win – will probably start a movement of Super Delegates in her direction. It won’t be decisive given that a number of Supers will hold off endorsing anyone until the convention. But it will almost certainly allow her to catch up and perhaps even surpass Obama in total delegates. This is hugely important because it will cut into Obama’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, History, National Politics Tagged With: Barack Obama, Democrat primary, Hillary Clinton, Pajamas Media, Pennsylvania, Rick Moran, superdelegates

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

3/12/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

$10,000 Apiece Awaits America’s 10 Worst Teachers … What a Deal!

The Center for Union Facts (which brought us such memorable 30-second video gems as this and this) hasn't made a name for itself by being bland, demure, or run-of-the-mill. Therefore, it was hardly surprising to see them unveil the new Teachers Union Exposed website, complete with a sponsored contest that promises "to pay the ten worst union-protected teachers in America $10,000 apiece to get out of the classroom." Of course, $10,000 is a bargain compared to the princely sums sometimes paid to dismiss the worst-offending or poorest-performing tenured teachers. I have many, many friends who currently are teachers - traditional public school, charter school, private school - and I know plenty more who have spent time in the teaching … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor Tagged With: $10, 000 contest, Center for Union Facts, teacher tenure, Teachers Union Exposed

3/11/2008 By Ben 2 Comments

Serious Climate Science without the Socialist Scare Agenda

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a group of expert scientists came together to analyze climate change, without the vested interest of socialist governments driving the agenda? Well, wonder no more. It was past time to take a closer look at the oft-touted but seldom-scrutinized "findings" of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). If you can wade through the figures, graphs, charts, acronyms, and scholarly references embedded in the vast new report from the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), you'll get the answer to three basic questions:The central problems for policymakers in the debate over global warming are (a) is the reported warming trend real and how significant is it? (b) how … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Climate Hysteria, General Tagged With: Enviro-socialism, global warming debate, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change

3/11/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Denver’s School Autonomy Push Reaches New York Times Opinion Page

The local story that has grown out of the Bruce Randolph School's quest for autonomy from Denver's red tape and union work rules reached the op-ed pages of the New York Times yesterday. Andrew Rotherham, a center-left Democrat reformer who co-runs Education Sector and famously blogs as Eduwonk, writes in the column:While laws like No Child Left Behind take the rhetorical punches for being a straitjacket on schools, it is actually union contracts that have the greatest effect over what teachers can and cannot do. These contracts can cover everything from big-ticket items like pay and health care coverage to the amount of time that teachers can spend on various activities. Reformers have long argued that this is an impediment to effective … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, Labor Tagged With: Andrew Rotherham, Bruce Randolph School, Denver Public Schools, Education Sector, New York Times, ProComp, school autonomy

3/10/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

Random Bits o’ Spitzer

Spent a few minutes surfing the Web, and found this collection of tidbits on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, the frenzied media's scandal du jour. From the sublime to the ridiculous ... first, Mickey Kaus notes that a Spitzer resignation (unless he's brazen enough to stick it out) would put school choice supporter Lt. Governor David Paterson at the helm of the Empire State. That's good news. And on the lighter side, Scrapple Face's Scott Ott notes the chief clue that tipped off investigators to Spitzer's illicit behavior:A spokesman from the prosecutor’s office said, “Typically, when a Democrat Governor comes to the nation’s capital, he’s got his hat in hand and winds up leaving town with a bunch of money. The fact that Spitzer … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Barack Obama, Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, Lt. Gov. David Paterson, Mickey Kaus, school choice, Scrapple Face, Tony Rezko

3/10/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Iowahawk Attacks Negative Political Campaign Tactics

The master satirist Iowahawk speaks out against negative campaigning in the Democratic presidential primary with zingers like this one:As participants in the American democratic process, both sides of this increasingly bitter intra-party feud should know better. Just because someone associated with your opponent's campaign might at this very minute be circulating a story that your candidate is a white supremacist lesbian child molester, does that mean you automatically have to counter it with stories about their candidate running a Chicago sex slave-for-crack ring with R. Kelly and the Syrian mafia? Come on folks, your campaigns are better than that, even if it is clear to everybody that the other guys started it. A little word for the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Democratic presidential primary, Iowahawk, negative campaigning, satire

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

3/7/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Why Democrats Are Saying TGIF

If you're a Democrat, Friday has to be feeling really good right about now. Maybe for the weekend, at least, you can take your thoughts off what seems increasingly likely to lie ahead:So it will come down in Denver to the Party's super delegates, a mechanism reeking of rule by elites, adopted by the party which proclaims its devotion to the common man and woman, and which has made huge amounts of noise about making every vote count. Thanks to its convoluted primary process, with proportional arrangements frustrating the desire to have a decisive winner to allow the party to get on with hammering the GOP nominee, the edge in pledged delegates that belongs to Barack Obama will be difficult to overcome among the super delegates, who have been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, National Politics Tagged With: American Thinker, Democratic National Convention, tragedy

3/6/2008 By Ben Leave a Comment

Liberal Activist Judge Threatens to Criminalize Homeschool Parents

Update: Richie D at exvigilare has more Out in California, an activist judge has all but put the kibosh on educational freedom - apparently generating law from whole cloth that says parents who school at home have to be credentialed by the state. At least a higher court will have something to say about it:A "breathtaking" ruling from a California appeals court that could subject the parents of 166,000 students in the state to criminal sanctions will be taken to the state Supreme Court. The announcement comes today from the Pacific Justice Institute, whose president, Brad Dacus, described the impact of the decision as "stunning." "The scope of this decision by the appellate court is breathtaking," he said. "It not only attacks … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, General Tagged With: California, homeschooling, Liberal activist judiciary, Pacific Justice Institute

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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
  • 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

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Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

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To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

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