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Mount Virtus?

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

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Rossputin Takes On The Government General Motors Takeover Travesty

Last night I wrote about my personal connection to a General Motors plant closing. To put that into meaningful (and frightening) perspective, you simply have to read Rossputin's insightful account of the travesty that is the wildly unpopular government takeover of GM. It's the lead story at Human Events, and for good reason. Congratulations, Ross! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Fiscal Policy, General, Journalism, liberty, PPC Tagged With: account, closing, Congratulations, connection, frightening, General Motors, good reason, government takeover, Human Events, insightful, meaningful, personal, perspective, plant, Rossputin, travesty, wildly unpopular

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Candidates Dan Maes, Cleve Tidwell

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 29th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Guests for tonight's show are a pair of political newcomers making longshot bids for statewide office. Evergreen businessman Dan Maes will join us to talk about his grassroots campaign for Colorado's Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010. Causing a stir in the local blogosphere this week, U.S. Senate hopeful Cleve Tidwell will make an appearance in the latter half of the program to discuss his candidacy. If you miss the live show, you can go back and download the podcast, or just use the handy widget on my sidebar to listen directly from Mount Virtus. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, Colorado Politics, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: 2010, bids, Blog Talk Radio, blogosphere, businessman, campaign, candidacy, Cleve Tidwell, Colorado, Dan Maes, download, Evergreen, grassroots, gubernatorial, guests, hopeful, local, longshot, Mount Virtus, nomination, podcast, political newcomers, Republican, Rocky Mountain Alliance, show, sidebar, statewide office, stir, U.S. Senate, widget

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

One Year Without a Wristwatch

Today is a perfect occasion to show off my predilection for recalling and recounting trivial information. Today is the first anniversary of giving up my wristwatch. Or more appropriately, of my last watch giving up the ghost. From age 7 to age 31 I wore some kind of wristwatch on my left arm. When the last one broke, I decided to see what it would be like to give up the instant time-telling habit cold turkey. The good news is I have gone a whole year without a timepiece on my arm. Of course, having a cell phone that keeps track of time sure helps. But I never would have thought it would be so easy to live life wristwatch-free. Now back to your regularly scheduled broadcasting of truly important news and commentary. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, My Life, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: arm, broadcasting, cell phone helps, cold turkey, commentary, first anniversary, ghost, giving up, good news, habit, important, information, instant, left arm, life, news, occasion, perfect, regularly scheduled, time-telling, today, trivial, truly, wristwatch, wristwatch-free

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

The World is Changing: GM Pontiac Plant Closing Strikes Close to Home

This report from the Detroit News strikes close to home:Oakland County is taking a major hit in General Motors Corp.'s restructuring in bankruptcy, with an estimated 6,600 of the 8,900 factory jobs lost in Michigan based in the affluent county north of Detroit. But one of the plants to be idled, in Orion Township, is in the running to build a small car in the future, said GM spokesman Chris Lee. The Orion site currently assembles the mid-size Chevrolet Malibu and Pontiac G6. "It's a real sad day," said UAW Local 549 President Doug Bowman in Pontiac. Workers at Pontiac Assembly, which makes the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, were told by plant officials at 8:15 a.m. the 3.4 million-square-foot plant will close in October … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, Labor, My Life, National Politics, PPC

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Denver Post Catches On to Anti-Bill Ritter Roadside Sign Phenomenon

Several weeks ago I brought your attention to a sign of Bill Ritter's sagging popularity. As the Denver Post's Tim Hoover reports today, it seems the handmade signs attacking Ritter and his tax hike policies are popping up all over the place in different parts of Colorado. The article raises the query of who is responsible for the homemade, roadside creations. All I can tell you is they aren't being paid for by taxpayer dollars -- which cannot be said about Bill Ritter's highway re-election signs. I cannot tell a lie. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, PPC, property rights Tagged With: article, attacking, attention, Bill Ritter, brought, Colorado, creations, Denver Post, dollars, handmade, homemade, policies, popping up, popularity, query, re-election, roadside, sagging, signs, tax hike, taxpayer, Tim Hoover

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Obama DOJ Drops Black Panther Voter Intimidation Lawsuit… But Why?

Remember the story of the Black Panthers intimidating Philadelphia voters on our most recent Election Day? Well, there's an interesting update at The Next Right that strongly suggests the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) is happy to let the issue drop. Author Mike Roman makes some cogent points in his conclusion:These actions raise a number of troubling questions. For example, why did the Civil Rights Division voluntarily dismiss a lawsuit that they had effectively already won, against defendants who were physically threatening voters? Is the Division concerned that this dismissal will encourage the New Black Panther Party, or other groups, to intimidate voters? Why did the Division seek such limited relief against a defendant who … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Education, General, Journalism, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: author, Barack Obama, Black Panthers, broadcast, Civil Rights Division, cogent, conclusion, defendants, Department of Justice, dismiss, drop, Election Day, front page, happy, interesting, issue, lawsuit, Mike Roman, network news, New York Times, points, story, The Next Right, threatening, update, voter intimidation

2/7/2026 By Ben 1 Comment

Strange Twists and Turns Following Obama’s Sonia Sotomayor Nomination

The other day I highlighted Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's indefensible statement and the need for repudiation. But more serious than a statement at Berkeley is Sotomayor's actual judicial record. It certainly is interesting to see serious criticism directed at Barack Obama's nominee from outside the center-right political spectrum -- and not because she is insufficiently liberal. Take the Denver Post's Chuck Plunkett, for example:You’re supposed to say out-there stuff at Berkeley. Otherwise everyone thinks you’re dull and boorish. But while wearing the robes of justice you’re supposed to be fair. And the Ricci v. New Haven decision Sotomayor was involved in looks just terrible – even to some prominent Democrats. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Cultural Conservatism, General, Judiciary, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: abortion rights, arguments, Barack Obama, Berkeley, boorish, Catholic, center-right, Chuck Plunkett, concerning, confirmation, conservative, Democrats, Denver Post, doubts, dull, expect, groups, highlighted, indefensible, insufficiently, Jonathan Turley, judicial record, justice, lack of depth, law professor, leader, leading, liberal, nominee, oppose, out-there stuff, political, President, pro-abortion, pro-life, prominent, reports, repudiation, Ricci v New Haven, rooting for, Rossputin, seated, serious, serious criticism, Sonia Sotomayor, spectrum, statement, supreme court, terrible, uncertain, unexpected, video, virtual certainty, Washington Times, wild turns, William Donohoe

2/7/2026 By Ben Leave a Comment

Rightosphere and I Agree on the Basics

I participated in the latest edition of Right Wing News' "Rightosphere Temperature Check". In case you're wondering, I happened to vote with the majority on each of the seven A or B questions. Digging further into the details likely would yield more disagreement, but when you only have two options.... … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: details, digging, disagreement, edition, further, latest, majority, options, questions, Right Wing News, Rightosphere, vote, yield

2/7/2026 By Ben 2 Comments

San Diego Petty Tyrants: Pay Out the Nose for Permit to Host Bible Study

From Fox News, a reminder that the federal government has nowhere near cornered the market on petty tyranny: Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County. "On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News. Wow ... simply wow. Just a friendly reminder that we need fellow liberty-loving citizens representing us at all levels of government. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, General, liberty, PPC, property rights Tagged With: Bible study, citizens, code, cornered, David Jones, federal government, Fox News, government, levels, liberty-loving, market, pastor, petty tyranny, religious assembly, reminder, San Diego County, violation, wow

2/7/2026 By Ben 5 Comments

Say It Ain’t So, Cleve Tidwell

Here's a good bit of important advice to candidates for major political office that apparently isn't self-evident to all -- Don't go posting comments online under a false identity:Cleve Tidwell was posing as someone named "Craig Platon" and posting about how "he gave me and everyone else that waited in line all the time we needed and seemed only interested in what I had to say." He also describes himself as a "warm individual." This is a little narcissistic even for a would-be politician. It is troubling to say the least that a candidate for United States Senate has no apparent ethical qualms with posting as imaginary people supporting himself. Simply posting under a psuedonym [sic] and dropping a comment saying something positive about … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: advice, bit, bizarre, candidate, candidates, Cleve Tidwell, conspiracy theory, Craig Platon, elaborate backstory, email address, ethical qualms, false identity, falsehood, GOP, important, Kattie Botts, major, observation, online, pathetic, political office, private, pseudonym, Rocky Mountain Right, Ryan Frazier, sad, same-sex marriage, smarter, strange, straw poll, U.S. Senate, weird

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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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