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Home Archives for Independence Institute

6/22/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Come Meet Daniel Hannan, British Voice for Liberty, Friday in Denver

That's MEP Daniel Hannan, a breath of fresh political air from the other side of the pond. And he'll be in our Rocky Mountain backyard at the end of this week. Hannan will be the guest of honor and speaker at a Denver reception sponsored by the Independence Institute. You're invited! Stirring oratory ... a voice for liberty and fiscal sanity ... with a British accent. Sounds like a winning trifecta to me. Hope to see you there. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, liberty, PPC, World Events Tagged With: British accent, Daniel Hannan, Denver, fiscal sanity, Independence Institute, liberty, MEP, oratory, reception, Rocky Mountain, stirring, trifecta, winning, YouTube

5/26/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

RMA Blog Talk Radio Tonight at 8:30: Statewide Races, Higher Education

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM local Mountain time for the 28th edition of Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio. Guests for tonight's show are: Longtime GOP political consultant Patrick Davis to dissect the state of play in Colorado's major statewide races for 2010, as fields of Republicans seek to challenge Governor Bill Ritter and appointed U.S. Senator Michael Bennet Jessica Corry from the Independence Institute, to talk about the ongoing budget controversies at the University of Colorado and possibly the increasing attention on the drug legalization debate 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, clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, National Politics, PPC, property rights Tagged With: 2010, appointed, attention, Bill Ritter, Blog Talk Radio, budget controversies, challenge, Colorado, debate, drug legalization, GOP, Governor, guests, increasing, Independence Institute, Jessica Corry, major, Michael Bennet, Patrick Davis, podcast, political consultant, Republicans, Rocky Mountain Alliance, sidebar, statewide races, tonight show, U.S. Senator, University of Colorado, widget

5/13/2009 By Ben 7 Comments

Breaking: Jeffco Teachers Union Calls for Impasse over Pay Dispute

Developing story... Last night the board of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA)( (Colorado's largest local teachers union and an affiliate of the Colorado Education Association) voted to declare an impasse in negotiations over renewing the collective bargaining contract with Jeffco Public Schools for the 2009-10 school year. This morning JCEA notified the school district of its decision. According to the school district, the core of the dispute revolves around a proposed compensation agreement to address relative funding shortages during the current economic downturn. Under this plan, teachers would continue to receive their automatic steps and levels for acquiring seniority and credit hours. The plan rejected by JCEA … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: 2007, 2009-10, 2009-2010, acquiring, action, additional, agreement, analysis, arbitrators, automatic, backgrounder, bill, board, bonus, budget projections, carefully, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Education Association, compensation, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, contention, contract, controversial, core, credit hours, current, decision, declare, developing, dig deeper, dispute, district officials, doubtless, economic downturn, emerge, eminently, expenditures, extra, fair, financial status, footing, funding, grievance, hard times, harmful, healthy, higher pay, impasse, increase, Independence Institute, interested parties, iVoices, JCEA, Jeffco Public Schools, Jefferson County Education Association, job protection, Jon Caldara, listen, mediation, negotiations, no work no pay, notified, occur, offer, official timetable, paid days, permanent, podcast, point, probationary period, probationary teachers, process, proposed, qualified, rejected, relative, report, reserve fund, reserved, seniority, shortages, sides, specify, stance, state funds, stay tuned, steps and levels, story, strike, substantive, taxpayers, teachers, teachers union, tenure, terms, threats, unfold, union leaders, used

5/12/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Joe The Plumber at ATF?

A clear sign that I'm not talking enough to people around the office (or someone is just keeping secrets from me) ... I learn that the Independence Institute is courting a famous speaker for our summertime Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms Party by reading a Bill Husted column in the Denver Post:Institute boss Jon Caldara says he's this close to closing the deal to have Plumber (a.k.a. Samuel Wurzelbacher) as the speaker. [Joe the] Plumber would join a distinguished roster of former speakers, which includes Christopher Hitchens and Fred Barnes. Westword named the party the "Best Place to See a Drunk Conservative." One problem. Joe the Plumber announced last week that he was quitting the Republican Party because he is outraged by GOP … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General, liberty, My Life, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: Alcohol Tobacco & Firearms Party, ATF, Bill Husted, Christopher Hitchens, column, Denver Post, Fred Barnes, Independence Institute, Joe the plumber, office, people, Republican Party, Samuel Wurzelbacher, Sarah Palin, secrets, spending, Westword

4/25/2009 By Ben 4 Comments

A ‘Nonpartisan’ Reason to Challenge California Anti-Taxpayer Media Bias

It's quite often the subtle bias in the dominant liberal media that can make a significant difference. Witness yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle piece on a California ballot initiative to impose tax-and-spending limitations on state government. Writer John Wildermuth quotes from two Colorado sources to establish views on our own state's experience with the stronger Taxpayer's Bill of Rights limit (emphases added):"Nobody disagrees that (the cap) kept government spending lower," said Carol Hedges, a senior fiscal analyst for the nonpartisan Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, which opposes the state's budget cap. "But supporters don't like to talk about the human cost of keeping government smaller."... Across the nation, anti-tax … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, media bias, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: accurate, adjective, anti-tax advocates, argue, ballot initiative, budget cap, California, Carol Hedges, Colorado, Colorado Fiscal Policy Institute, conclusion, credibility, degree, Democratic, descriptor, difference, dominant liberal media, downhill, establish, experience, fiscal analyst, fiscal conservatives, free market, full disclosure, Independence Institute, John Wildermuth, Jon Caldara, machine, misleading, newspapers, nonpartisan, objective, out of business, outsourced arm, predetermined, President, primary source, progressive, quotes, rolls, San Francisco Chronicle, significant, sources, story, subtle bias, tax-and-spending limit, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, technical sense, think tank, undeserved, views, writer

4/8/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

RMA Blog Talk Radio Solo Hosting Stint: Helpful and Humorous Links

Last night I was honored to host Rocky Mountain Alliance Blog Talk Radio by myself. I was blessed to have three great conversations - including an update on the Fort Collins city council elections with Randy Ketner, a discussion on a range of fiscal issues with prospective state treasurer candidate J.J. Ament, and 12 minutes with my wife and Independence Institute colleague, the lovely Mrs. Virtus, to talk about parental rights and homeschooling freedoms. A rank amateur flying solo by the seat of my pants, I filled in the rest of the time with a monologue referencing several stories. Here are the links for anyone who is interested: Vince Carroll's excellent "Blowing the lid off TABOR" column in yesterday's Denver Post -- which Ament … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: adoptable, apostates, apostles, Arne Duncan, Blog Talk Radio, BYU, candidate, city council, colleague, column, Complete Colorado, conversations, Denver Post, Education News Colorado, Education Secretary, elections, flying solo, Fort Collins, freedoms, great sources, homeschooling, Independence Institute, J.J. Ament, links, lovely, monologue, Mrs. Virtus, parental rights, PETA, pets, photo caption, podcast, Randy Ketner, rank amateur, Rocky Mountain Alliance, state treasurer, stint, student newspaper, TABOR, Vince Carroll, vouchers, Washington DC, wife

4/1/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Colorado Government Transparency Facing a Crucial Crossroads

Everybody's talking about "transparency" as the buzzword at the Colorado state legislature this year: even the Sterling Journal-Advocate has taken notice. I've spent plenty of time talking about what happened to Senate Bill 57 and school district transparency. But there's also the promise of greater transparency in House Bill 1288's proposal for a state government spending database, and the threat to transparency in House Bill 1293's sick person tax. My Independence Institute colleague Amy Oliver joined me to discuss these different proposals at the State Capitol on a 9-minute iVoices podcast: The last month of the current legislative session will be a crucial time to see whether Colorado - with the Democrats in charge - will … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, My Life, PPC Tagged With: Amy Oliver, backward, buzzword, colleague, Colorado, Democrats, forward, House Bill 1288, House Bill 1293, Independence Institute, iVoices, plenty of time, podcast, promise, school district, Senate Bill 57, sick person tax, State Capitol, state legislature, state spending database, Sterling Journal-Advocate, threat, Transparency

3/12/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Poor Timing of FasTracks Tax Announcement Only Tip of Iceberg

It's kind of surreal to find these two headlines in the same edition of the Denver Post: Colo. jobless at 21-year high: "The unemployment rate hasn't been this high since April 1988, when it was at 6.7 percent. It is also higher than the 6.3 percent rate reached during the depths of the dot-com bust from 2001 to 2003." Doubling FasTracks sales tax gets nod: "On Wednesday, a majority of the Metro Mayors Caucus tentatively approved a plan to salvage FasTracks by asking voters for another 0.4 percent sales tax. The mayors, hoping to see the entire $6.9 billion expansion finished by 2017, are gambling that voters will maintain support for the project despite higher costs and some of the weakest economic conditions in the past … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Energy, Fiscal Policy, General, PPC, RTD, transportation Tagged With: alternatives, benefits, collision, costs, deceptions, Denver Post, disproven claims, edition, encroachment, expansion, expensive, expert, FasTracks, headlines, higher costs, Independence Institute, inefficient, irony, jobless, land use, laughable timing, light-rail plan, majority, mayors, metro Denver, Metro Mayors Caucus, more, overpriced, Randal O'Toole, report, RTD, sales tax, skeptical, sorry, striking, support, surreal, tip of the iceberg, Titanic, transportation, unclean, unemployment, voters, weak economic conditions

3/5/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

How Does a Federal Agency Lose So Many Computers, Cameras, & Forklifts?

You hear a lot of talk about waste in government, especially in the bureaucracies at the federal level. But then you see an investigation by my Independence Institute colleague Todd Shepherd (also the founder of Complete Colorado), and that waste sort of comes to life. It becomes a little less abstract. If the headline doesn't draw you to take a peek, I'm not sure what will: "Excuse me, Homeland Security Department, how do you lose two forklifts?" (H/T Amy Oliver) During one calendar year, the Customs and Border Patrol Agency by itself lost $7.1 million of material, including 171 desktop computers, 28 motion picture cameras, and - yes - 2 forklifts. Check it out for yourself, then do what the Independence Institute did: write members … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, clean government, Fiscal Policy, General, Journalism, Labor, liberty, My Life, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Amy Oliver, bureaucracy, calendar year, Complete Colorado, Congress, Customs and Border Patrol Agency, desktop computers, federal level, forklifts, founder, government, headline, Homeland Security Department, Independence Institute, investigation, material, members, motion picture cameras, take a peek, talk, Todd Shepherd, waste

2/24/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Boulder Valley School Board Considers Costly Appeal in Anti-Charter Lawsuit

After spending nearly $200,000 in taxpayer funds to sue the state to stop students from attending state-authorized charter schools, and being ruled against twice, the Boulder Valley School Board meets tonight to decide whether to appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court and spend even more. Aren't there any more effective ways they could be using this money to ... (I don't know) ... educate children? Read more at the Independence Institute's new GoBash website. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Colorado Politics, Education, General, PPC Tagged With: appeal, Boulder Valley, charter schools, children, Colorado Supreme Court, educate, effective ways, GoBash, Independence Institute, lawsuit, money, ruled, school board, taxpayer funds

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    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
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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
  • Why Every Single Business Needs A YouTube Channel

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Completing the Blogroll

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