Mount Virtus

"Happy to come back to Michigan, but I miss the mountains!"

Ben on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About Ben
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Writer / Editor For Hire
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
  • Archives
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
Home Archives for reminder

5/28/2009 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

2/28/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Democrat Shell Game: Raise Your Car Fees to Grow State Government

John Ingold at the Denver Post reports, not surprisingly, that Governor Bill Ritter plans to sign SB 108 (aka FASTER) the Democrat bill in the state legislature to raise car fees by an average of $41 a year per vehicle. A reminder for Colorado: You put Democrats in charge, you pay more taxes for bigger government entitlement programs. What, you say? The state has legitimate transportation needs that SB 108 is designed to fund. Those aren't entitlement programs. Except that the so-called "FASTER" bill is merely half of a liberal shell game. The other half is SB 228 - which would rip away limits on state appropriation increases and enable the Democrats to divert hundreds of millions of dollars dedicated to the highway fund (PDF) … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: backfill, bill, Bill Ritter, car fees, Democrats, Denver Post, divert, entitlement programs, FASTER, filibuster, future years, government, government spending, Governor, highway fund, highways, increases, John Ingold, raise, reminder, Republicans, shell game, state appropriations, state legislature, transportation needs, vehicle, violated

2/24/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Democrats and Marostica: “Forget the Constitution, California, Here We Come”

When talking politics or economics, it's usually a powerful rhetorical tactic to compare our own Colorado to California - especially these days. In that light, here's a fitting and timely reminder from state senator Ted Harvey:The lesson Colorado’s legislators must learn from this recession is clear: fiscal responsibility works. Even though the legislature collectively fell short of creating a rainy day fund, TABOR and the Arveschoug-Bird 6% spending cap forced Colorado legislators to keep spending low. Had the government enjoyed free rein in ramping up spending – which is a great temptation to many lawmakers tasked with spending other people’s money – Colorado’s budget crisis would be as serious as California’s. [emphasis … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, PPC, transportation Tagged With: 1992, 6 percent cap, Al Jolson, Arveschoug-Bird, best case, budget crisis, California, cap, Colorado, committee, conclude, court, Democrats, Don Marostica, economics, entitlement programs, Face the State, fiscal responsibility, fitting, good idea, government, government growth, legal advisers, legislative prerogative, legislators, lesson, memo, override, politics, recession, reminder, rhetorical tactic, Senate Bill 228, state constitution, state legislature, state senator, TABOR, Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, Ted Harvey, temptation, timely, transportation, voter approval, voters

2/6/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Arming with Knowledge in Debate for Economic Liberty & America’s Future

A must-read end-of-the-week Linkfest, in the midst of a critical national debate: American Thinker's Randall Hoven strikes again, this time with a less controversial and heavily fact-laden piece - reviewing some of the abundant evidence that economic freedom promotes economic growth and the failed history of massive government so-called "stimulus" projects. It's a worthy read. (If the article above triggers your curiosity and interest, and you live in Colorado, then I also strongly recommend you take a look at signing up for the Free People, Free Markets class.) Along the same lines, the Wall Street Journal has been a great place to stay informed. Earlier this week the Journal featured a terrific, hard-hitting piece by economists … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiscal Policy, General, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: American Contrarian, American Thinker, bill, brings attention, Bruce McQuain, Colorado, columnist, Congress, critical, Dan Henninger, debt, Dick Armey, economic growth, economic liberty, economists, excellent, failed history, Free People Free Markets class, Freedom Works, government, Great Depression, Harold Cole, Kevin Williamson, Keynesian, laugh, Lee Ohanian, Linkfest, lost brand, must-read, national debate, National Review, outrageous, pork, pork-laden, Randall Hoven, Reason TV, reminder, Republicans, Rossputin, socialism, Stephen Spruiell, stimulis ad, stimulus, Tom Coburn, U.S. Senator, Wall Street Journal

11/21/2008 By Ben 5 Comments

What I’m Thankful for #14: Blessings (and Responsibilities) of Children

This is one in a series of daily posts I conceived of writing many weeks ago while the election still raged on, as I looked for something to write about of more lasting value. The weeks leading up to Thanksgiving seemed perfectly appropriate for it. Just in case you wondered, the topics introduced are not necessarily in any particular order. I hope the series is of some small encouragement to you, even as my site traffic takes a dive. There is a divide between parenthood and non-parenthood that you don't really get until after it's thrust upon you. It seems to be one of those well-known secrets of the generations that doesn't completely make sense to try to explain to the uninitiated. But I will weakly try to tag it as a unique … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Christianity and Faith, Education, General, My Life Tagged With: all bets are off, blessed, burden, combination, conveniences, curious wonder, definition, effective parents, generations, glimpses, hassle, hopes, imagination, individuals, investment, learning, Mrs. Virtus, natural fallen state, newcomer, novice, our own kingdoms, parenthood, patience, plans, positive fruit, prayers, priorities, Psalm 127, reference, reminder, Scriptures, secrets, tears, thankfulness, Thanksgiving, time, tremendous responsibility, understanding, uninitiated, womb

Inside

  • About Ben
  • Archives
  • Colorado Ballot Reviews
    • Colorado Ballot 2008
    • Colorado Ballot 2010
    • Colorado Ballot 2012
    • Colorado Ballot 2014
  • Mary and Jacob: From the Forgotten Dust
  • Mount Virtus?
  • Passion and Purpose:
    The Rise & Fall of Al Gansee
  • What I’m Thankful For
  • Writer / Editor For Hire

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

  • 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
  • Sleep Deprivation and Parental Controls: How to Ensure Your Kids are Safe from Media Exposure
  • 8 Original Ways To Leverage Influencer Marketing

Colorado News

  • Colorado Senate News
  • Complete Colorado
  • Independence Institute
  • Loveland Politics
  • The Colorado Observer

National News and Politics

  • Drudge Report
  • Hot Air
  • National Review
  • Politico
  • Real Clear Politics
  • Reason
  • The Washington Times
  • TownHall
  • Wall Street Journal
  • Weekly Standard
  • World Magazine

Blogs Extraordinaire

  • American Thinker
  • David Harsanyi’s Blog
  • E!! The True Conservative Story
  • EIA Intercepts
  • Evangelical Outpost
  • Hugh Hewitt
  • Instapundit
  • LaShawn Barber
  • Lileks
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Michelle Malkin
  • NRO's The Corner
  • Power Line
  • Red State

Completing the Blogroll

  • Alarming News
  • Black Five
  • Blogs of War
  • Eduwonk
  • Flypaper
  • Fraters Libertas
  • Historical Conversations
  • IMAO
  • Jay P. Greene
  • Mike Anderson
  • Mullings
  • Professor Bainbridge
  • Right Thinking
  • Right Wing News
  • Right Wing Nuthouse
  • Shot in the Dark
  • Talking Points Memo
  • Virginia Postrel
  • Volokh Conspiracy

Christian Commentary et al.

  • Kevin Pierpont
  • Sharper Iron

Conservative and GOP Sites

  • Backbone America
  • Cal Thomas
  • Colorado Republican Party
  • Colorado Republican Study Committee
  • Dennis Prager
  • Denver Metro Young Republicans
  • Free Republic
  • Heritage Foundation
  • Jefferson County Republican Party
  • Mackinac Center for Public Policy
  • Mark Steyn
  • Michael Medved
  • Rush Limbaugh

Colorado Blogs

  • American Kestrel
  • Bob Agard
  • Colorado Charter Schools
  • Colorado Peak Politics
  • Colorado Pols
  • Colorado Right
  • Conservative Libertarian Outpost
  • Coyote Gulch
  • Ed Is Watching
  • Free Colorado
  • Jeff Crank Show
  • Mark Hillman
  • Patient Power
  • PirateBallerina
  • Protein Wisdom
  • Reagan Girl
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 1.0 (Archive)
  • Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0 (Archive)
  • Rossputin
  • Stop the ACLU Blog
  • The Spot (Denver Post)
  • We Stand Firm

Other Sites

  • Technorati
  • Word Press

Rocky Mountain Alliance 2.0

  • Reclaim the Blue
  • The Business Word
  • The Daily Blogster
  • View from a Height

To Contact Me:
bendegrow-at-gmail.com

Copyright © 2023 RSS Feed · WordPress · Log in