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6/6/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

D-Day Plus 65 Years

Last night I watched again the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan. It's hard to put such moving sacrifice into perspective, on this the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion to begin the liberation of Europe. But I leave you with portions of two relevant addresses -- one contemporaneous and one retrospective. First, from General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the eve of invasion:You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers-in-arms on other Fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, History, liberty, Movie Reviews, PPC Tagged With: 65th anniversary, 67th anniversary, achievement, addresses, Allies, American, appreciation, Army Rangers, Battle of Midway, behalf, belief, boys, brave, cliffs, conquest, countries, country, D-Day invasion, democracy, Dwight Eisenhower, dying, dying for, Europe, faith, fitting, force, forget, France, free people, generation, German, Great Crusade, humanity, ideals, liberation, liberty-loving people, listen, loyalty, men, moral difference, Nazi tyranny, never, Normanday, opening scenes, oppressed peoples, Pacific, perspective, Pointe du Hoc, profound, reflect, Ronald Reagan, sacrifice, Saving Private Ryan, Second World War, serving, show, tide, tremendous, trenches, turned, ultimately, veterans, war, war machine

5/27/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Carroll: Sonia Sotomayor “Expression of Bigotry” Calls for Full Repudiation

Great piece by Vince Carroll in today's Denver Post on Barack Obama's Supreme Court appointment:If racial and gender bigotry truly have no place in American public life today, then Judge Sonia Sotomayor, during her confirmation hearing for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, needs to utterly repudiate her 2001 assertion that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Putting that statement "in context" or explaining what she "really meant" will not do. Nor can Judge Sotomayor credibly argue that her assertion was an ill-considered mistake, since it was part of a prepared speech at the Berkeley school of law. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cultural Conservatism, General, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC, property rights, Second Amendment Tagged With: absurd, affirmative action, American, analysis, appointment, assertion, Barack Obama, Berkeley, better, bigoted remark, biological, blind justice, city council, conclusion, cultural, Damon Root, Declaration of Independence, Denver Post, determinism, early roundup, elected, experiences, expression, groupthink, gun rights, ill-considered, individual liberty, Joshua Sharf, judge, Left, limited government, loco, mistake, nomination, personal responsibility, political correctness, positions, principles, pronouncement, public life, Q and O, racial identity politics, reaction, Reason Online, Republican, repudiate, repudiation, response, richness, rule of law, school board, school of law, Sonia Sotomayor, speech, supreme court, undergirded, Vince Carroll, weighing in, white male, wise Latina woman

5/25/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Memorial Day: “Remembering”

Click here to watch a Complete Colorado video commemorating Memorial Day with a local flavor. Also, The National Moment of Remembrance recommends taking a special respectful moment of silence at 3 PM local time in honor of all the brave American servicemen and women who have fallen in wars past and present. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Commemorative, General, liberty, PPC Tagged With: American, brave, Complete Colorado, Memorial Day, moment of silence, National Moment of Remembrance, past, present, Remembering, servicemen, servicewomen, video, wars

5/22/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Big Labor Ramps Up Pro-EFCA Efforts with Biased Report, Religious Lobbyists

Update, 10:00 AM: Labor Pains' Justin Wilson has a more thorough refutation of Big Labor's new report here. In an effort to ramp up their efforts to pass the Employee Forced Choice Act (EFCA), Big Labor is touting a new report that suggests employers are rampantly breaking the law (PDF) during union organizing elections. The problem? The report's data all are based on interviews with union organizers -- hardly an unbiased source. But anything goes. While Big Labor appeals to EFCA apologists who need rational cover with impressive-sounding reports, it seems they also think they must appeal to the populist masses of religious believers. So they have sent clergy member lobbyists to Washington, DC, to insist that card-check legislation is … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: advocacy, aligned, American, apologists, appeal, appointed, balance, believers, Big Labor, binding arbitration, breaking the law, card-check, chances, clergy member, coercion, Colorado, Democrat, deprive, economy, EFCA, efforts, elections, emerge, Employee Forced Choice Act, Employer Advantage, employers, expensive, George McGovern, God, Heritage Foundation, impressive-sounding, interviews, intimidation, jobs, labor law, legislation, liberal icon, lobbyists, mandatory, manufactured, masses, Michael Bennet, moral imperative, myth, nation's capital, new report, opposes, payouts, phenomenon, political desperation, populist, pro-union, procedures, protect, ramp up, rational cover, religious, Religious Left, secret ballot, skewing, social justice, source, stars, struggling, tactics, teetering, thousands, transparent, twin, U.S. Senator, unbiased, union, union organizers, union organizing, Washington DC, weak, weeks, workers, workplace

4/30/2009 By Ben 3 Comments

GOP Needs Problems Fixed, But Arlen Specter Defection Isn’t One of Them

I will not deny that the Republican Party (nationally and locally) has had its share of problems and dysfunctions in the recent past. My purpose here is not to write an in-depth treatise analyzing the causes, suffice it to say that a gross lack of fiscal responsibility and a glaring absence of fealty to other mainstream conservative ideas played major roles. But let's be honest: the Party deserves little if any of the blame for the Arlen Specter defection. The man is far less principled than the average member of Congress, and that's saying a lot. Specter's party switch (and his ham-handed, self-serving approach in doing so) showed a lack of respect to the voters of Pennsylvania, and to the intelligence of the average American. That … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Cultural Conservatism, Fiscal Policy, liberty, National Politics Tagged With: absence, add people, American, Arlen Specter, average, beating heart, blame, causes, Congress, conservativce base, conservative, defection, deny, dysfunctions, explanations, fealty, fired up, fiscal responsibility, GOP, ham-handed, hands-off, honest, ideas, intelligence, John Hawkins, Joshua Sharf, jump ship, lack, lack of respect, left-wing radical, livelong day, mainstream, major roles, member, moderates, out-of-whack, party leaders, party switch, Pennsylvania, Porkulus, primaried, problems, psychologically, recent past, Republican Party, Right Wing News, self-serving, slack, status, suggestion, Tea Party movement, tolerant, treatise, voters, White House

3/5/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Study: Union Card-Check Could Cost Thousands of American Jobs

A new study released gives you one more reason to write your Congressman and Senators to tell them to vote No on the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Economist Anne Layne-Farrar's quantitative analysis finds that "for every 3 percentage points gained in union membership through card checks and mandatory arbitration, the following year's unemployment rate is predicted to increase by 1 percentage point and job creation is predicted to fall by around 1.5 million jobs." Let's simplify: EFCA (or union card-check legislation, if you prefer) will keep many, many Americans from a productive job and a paycheck - an especially devastating effect in the midst of our current economic turmoil. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: American, Anne Layne-Farrar, arguments, Barack Obama, binding arbitration, card-check, challenge, Congressmen, devastating effect, economic turmoil, economist, Ed Morrissey Show, Employee Free Choice Act, employment, holding my breath, Hot Air, job creation, Labor Pains, Labor Relations Institute, massive threat, Michael Bennet, money, mouth, newly-selected, paycheck, poorly-named, productive job, quantitative analysis, rights, secret ballot, senators, sound research, U.S. Senator, unemployment rate, union, wasteful spending, workers, write

11/13/2008 By Ben 3 Comments

Survivor Corps Operation Survivor: A Worthwhile Cause to Consider

In honor of Veterans Day being this week, I'd like to bring your attention to a worthwhile private program that benefits our troops and veterans, especially those affected by some of the invisible wounds of combat. Please consider if you are able to help Survivor Corps' Operation Survivor:Survivor Corps launched Operation Survivor in 2008 to help American service members returning home from war. This program enables these brave men and women to overcome the debilitating effects of trauma and to reintegrate into their families and communities. You can read more about it here. God bless America! … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: American, combat, communities, families, invisible wounds, Operation Survivor, private program, service members, Survivor Corps, trauma, troops, veterans, Veterans' Day

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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

  • Tips to Teach Kids to Set and Achieve Goals
  • The Christmas Music Countdown You’ve Been Looking For: 2022 Edition
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
  • 8 Original Ways To Leverage Influencer Marketing
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