Peoples Press Collective

Ever the libertarian wit, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi highlights some “lessons in capitalism” based on a new USA Today investigation that finds safer meat at your local fast-food restaurant than in the government’s National School Lunch Program for poorer students.

“Doesn’t the USDA care about the children?” Harsanyi asks with more than a hint of sarcasm.

Seeing his thoughts in writing made me think: Perhaps we should be giving poorer students vouchers to buy Happy Meals for school lunches? I don’t know about the value of such an idea as a practical policy prescription. However, the mere fact I’m bringing it up might make some heads spin in the USDA office on the floor below the Independence Institute where I work.

Let’s see if anyone comes storming upstairs after this is posted ….

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

This week I’m joined by Colorado State Senator Ted Harvey and Kevin Miller of the National Freedom Initiative to discuss the role of social conservatism in American politics and whether people can or should be coerced into virtue through force of government, or if the state should leave us all alone to pursue our own definition of virtue. Tune into KDBI Channel 12 this Friday at 8:30 pm. Re-broadcast the following Monday at 1:30 pm.

Tags: Syndicated, the cauldron

Quick round-up of gubernatorial and grassroots news . . .

Quick highlights:
“The political elite have decided that they know best. And they’re going to say we need to unify behind this candidate,” said Lu Busse, chairwoman of the Colorado Coalition of 9-12 Groups. “That is not their decision.”
. . .
“That’s wrong,” McInnis said. “I’ve never taken a vote for granted. Real power rests at the grass roots, and frankly if you’re not going to go out and talk to people from every walk of life, you’re not going to be successful. My Platform for Prosperity has been built by listening to lots of people.”

Joshua Sharf interviewed Sean Duffy, the Communications Director for the Scott McInnis for Governor campaign. They discussed a number of issues, from state budget issues and small business, to the sometimes contentious relationship with the Tea Party movement.

Duffy also responded to the Westword’s Michael Roberts:

“Our job is building the broadest possible coalition to elect Scott governor,” Duffy says. “That takes a lot of work, a lot of meetings, a lot of conversation and dialogue. And the folks in the tea party movement are a very important part of it.”

Lesley Hollywood of the Northern Colorado Tea Party coalition responded:

In a blog yesterday, Scott McInnis spokesman Sean Duffy shrugged off suggestions that his candidate was masquerading as having won support from tea party groups — but he added that McInnis was actively courting members of such organizations.

That wasn’t always true, says Lesley Hollywood, a spokeswoman for the Tea Party of Northern Colorado. Back in November, her outfit sponsored a well-attended political forum in Loveland. Plenty of candidates showed up to speak, but not McInnis, who didn’t even respond to her invitation to participate until afterward, “when he found out what a success it was.”

Rick Wagner points out the left’s role in trying to avoid propping up Ritter and instead fomenting discord between the Tea Party/9-12 groups and the McInnis campaign with charges of fringe extremism and racism.

Michael Roberts (Westword) profiles Lu Busse, chair of the 9-12 Projects in Colorado.

McInnis faces non-Tea Party, Republican-related opposition over property rights in SE Colorado because of his stance on the proposed Piñon Canyon expansion by the U.S. Army.

I attended a fund-raiser last night for Cory Voorhis and his family.  The crowd was over 100, including local radio talk show host Peter Boyles.  People lined up to thank Cory for the fight he’s taking on.  Perhaps the most moving moment was when a 5-year old boy donated his allowance to Cory and his family as a Christmas gift to then.

It was fortuitous timing that this event was scheduled just hours after Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, which is where Stephanie Villafuerte will have to go to get confirmed as US Attorney (I think she’ll withdraw soon and she’ll never get to committee), offered the first hint that he is aware of and concerned about the Voorhis case:  (See the below video, starting at the 6-minute mark)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN7mkH_mIGA

The Denver Post picked up the Sessions/Napolitano/Voorhis issue with a front-page story:
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13964964

The Voorhis prosecution is about to blow up in the governments’ faces – by governments (plural) I mean the federal side with the corrupt Denver ICE office and the Colorado side with the malfeasance by the Denver District Attorney’s office and the Ritter Campaign during his run for governor.

Tags: Rossputin, Syndicated

Update, 9:50 AM: The Patient Power Now blog presents more explanation why the new Harry Reid “compromise” is a bad deal.

So the big news from Capitol Hill is that Democrat leaders in Congress have ditched the “public option” — which means we can claim some small victory, right? WRONG. What’s the matter with the Democrats’ new “compromise” deal on so-called health care reform? Keep on reading….

At National Review, health care expert Sally Pipes explains how this new proposal still leads the U.S. down the path to unpopular, single-payer government health care in the next five years:

The idea of establishing a type of Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan managed by OPM where individuals, families, and small businesses can buy insurance from non-profit insurance entities in exchanges is giving government more power and control. There is also discussion on mandating that insurance companies spend 90 percent of the premiums they collect on providing health services. This will have a negative effect on their ability to earn a profit. And, if insurance companies do not offer the plans deemed appropriate by the federal agency, then the trigger will kick in for the public option. In other words, the public option is not dead yet.

Hence, Jillian Bandes in her newest Townhall column calls the “compromise” proposal “Public Option Lite”, because it still bloats the existing debt-ridden government bureaucracy:

The expansion of Medicare presented the biggest problem.

“Medicare is currently $50-100 trillion in debt, depending on which accounting measure you use. Allowing younger workers to join the program is the equivalent of crowding a few more passengers onto the Titanic,” said [Cato Institute Senior Fellow Michael] Tanner.

Further probing the bizarre claims behind the bizarre new planMark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner writes:

If the claim that government-run health insurance can be a “private” program is patently absurd, this latest Senate Obamacare deal actually includes something even more bizarre. Millions more Americans are to be made eligible for Medicare, which is supposed to be cut by $500 billion to pay for this Rube Goldberg contraption. Go figure….

And, of course, as Fox News reports, the price tag for the new brand of government so-called health care reform is still excruciatingly high:

Most of the uninsured will be covered, but not all. As many as 24 million people would remain uninsured in 2019, many of them otherwise eligible Americans who still can’t afford the premiums. Lawmakers propose to spend nearly $1 trillion over 10 years to provide coverage, most of the money going to help lower-income people. But a middle-class family of four making $66,000 would still have to pay about 10 percent of its income in premiums, not counting co-payments and deductibles.

(It’s worth noting that health care expert Sally Pipes estimates the cost of the new plan at more than $2 trillion.)

Smoke and mirrors, my friend. The American people are shouting at Congress to stop the madness and try again some other time. And when next you pursue so-called health care reform, do something that actually addresses affordability and quality by de-regulating the market and doing more to empower consumers — not impose mandates, raise taxes and expand government bureaucracy, whether it goes by the name “public option” or not.

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

Writes Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has announced that he has reached a super secret compromise on how to deal with the so-called public option for health reform.”  Instead of a public option, “Congress would establish a program similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP), which currently covers government workers, including Members of Congress. … In addition, the compromise plan would expand Medicare, allowing workers ages 55 to 65 to “buy in” to the program, and may also expand Medicaid.”

Tanner points out why this is a bad idea. To summarize:

1. FEHB premiums are rising faster than average.

2. Many insurance plans are dropping out or reducing participation.

3. Medicaid and Medicare are budget busters.

4. Medicare expansion threatens providers though cost-shifting.

Read the whole post: FEHBP Plan Is No ‘Moderate Compromise’.

Tags: PPC, Syndicated

“Weatherization!”

Via Hot Air:

Two quick updates from the Republican primary campaign trail in Colorado’s increasingly competitive 7th Congressional District. First, an unsurprising big-name endorsement for newcomer Lang Sias from U.S. Senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain. I’m not sure how much that excites the Republican base locally.

Meanwhile, Ryan Frazier — who has managed to garner a much longer list of local endorsements — sent out a challenge to sitting Democrat Rep. Ed Perlmutter on Harry Reid’s outrageous public comments:

“Congressman Perlmutter owes it to the citizens of the 7th Congressional District to repudiate the incredibly hurtful statements made by Democrat Harry Reid and his intentional distortion of history.

“Let me be clear: When Harry Reid compares Republicans to slaveholders, he insults me and every other African American who has spent so many years attempting to put the horrors of slavery behind us….

Democrats must be so proud to have Harry Reid as a leader of their party.

Also, Don Johnson reports that this morning, to a crowd of over 100 at the Arapahoe County Republican Men’s Club, Frazier went after Ed Perlmutter for “voting with the San Francisco liberal Speaker Nancy Pelosi 97% of the time.”

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

This is probably one of the best (of thousands) of articles about climate change in the last couple months…..the first two paragraphs tell you why.

I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia’s compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.

FullCAM models carbon flows in plants, mulch, debris, soils and agricultural products, using inputs such as climate data, plant physiology and satellite data. I’ve been following the global warming debate closely for years.

When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old ice core data, no other suspects.

The evidence was not conclusive, but why wait until we were certain when it appeared we needed to act quickly? Soon government and the scientific community were working together and lots of science research jobs were created. We scientists had political support, the ear of government, big budgets, and we felt fairly important and useful (well, I did anyway). It was great. We were working to save the planet.

But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”

Read NO SMOKING HOTSPOT at the Austrailian.
Hat tip to IwatchObama

Tags: Daily Blogster, Syndicated

According to an article by the Denver Post’s Michael Riley, “Feds settle suit over mismanagement of Indian trust land,”

the federal government agreed Tuesday to settle for $3.4 billion a lawsuit that claims it badly mismanaged millions of acres in Indian trust land over more than 100 years.

…

The federal government would return those lands to tribal ownership, reversing a controversial policy of privatization that dates to 1887, was reversed in the 1930s and is seen by many in Indian country as contributing to a legacy of poverty and underdevelopment that continues to this day.

…

the announcement finalizes a monumental legal struggle that had become a symbol of government neglect and mismanagement, one that a district judge last year called an “irreparable breach of fiduciary duty” by the Department of the Interior.

…

federal officials appeared to have lost millions of critical records dating back decades that were supposed to record income from trust lands and what was done with the money.

Tags: BlueCarp, Syndicated

The friends of the Colorado Republican candidate for Governor, Dan Maes, have organized the Defend the Republic Rally this Saturday, December 12 at 1-2 pm on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol in Denver.

This rally is being held in light of the recent developments in the race, with Josh Penry dropping our of the race.  Penry and Tom Tancredo have both endorsed Scott McInnis after McInnis committed himself to the Platform for Prosperity.

McInnis has been portrayed by many new conservative activists as the sort of Republican candidate that has caused many of the problems for the GOP at the state and national level.  These same activists are demanding a voice in the candidate selection process, beginning with the caucuses in March through the Colorado GOP state party convention, to select a candidate who more closely holds their values and views on the role of government.

Speaking at the Defend the Republic Rally will be Lu Busse, Jerry Denny, Nancy Rumfelt, Leslie Hollywood, Max Brewster, Freda Poundstone, Dan Maes, and Mike Holler.

Dan Maes – Colorado Defend the Republic Rally

For the lastest on the McInnis/Maes/Activist dynamic, keep in touch with the Peoples’ Press Collective search on this topic.

Tags: Dan Maes, Defend the Republic, Executive, Freda Poundstone, gop, Jerry Denny, Leslie Hollywood, Live Free Colorado, Lu Busse, Max Brewster, Mike Holler, Nancy Rumfelt, Republican, Scott McInnis, State, Syndicated

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34748

Tags: Rossputin, Syndicated

As promised, last week the state senate; this week the state house. Currently, the Democrats own the chamber by a 38-27 advantage. It’s a fairly safe bet that the Republicans will have more representatives than 27 come 2011. But winning back the majority will be a tough challenge, so just how many can they win?

All 65 seats are up every two-year cycle, and a lot of jockeying can still be expected to take place. Of current Republican-held seats, the only truly vulnerable one belongs to one-term incumbent Kevin Priola (HD 30, Adams County). On the other hand, based on voter registrations and incumbent strength, here are what I see as the dozen Democrat seats that are potential pick-ups — as you’ll see, some likelier than others:

1. House District 27 (Jefferson) You might say I am partial to this race because it’s my home district. But of all the Democrat-held seats, only one has a higher share of Republican registered voters than HD 27’s 35 percent. And incumbent Sara Gagliardi has a pro-Ritter voting record. A strong GOP candidate at the top of the ticket and/or a strong fiscally conservative Republican challenger should help swing this one back to the good guys. Leans GOP pick-up

2. House District 17 (El Paso) Looking for a possible rematch of 2008, hard-working GOP candidate Kit Roupe is vying against attorney and former police officer Mark Barker for the GOP nomination. Their goal is to take on the weakest incumbent in the field: liberal Democrat Dennis Apuan — whose narrow 2008 win during an Obama sweep looks mighty thin right now. Leans GOP pick-up

3. House District 38 (Arapahoe, Jefferson) Thirty-eight percent of the voters in this suburban district are Republican. A credible, fiscally conservative challenger who can point out the pro-Ritter votes of incumbent Joe Rice should reap the rewards of any GOP enthusiasm that may come in 2010. Toss-up: Slight edge GOP pick-up

4. House District 33 (Broomfield, Boulder, Adams, Weld) Republican challenger Don Beezley is off and running in an attempt to unseat two-termer Dianne Primavera in what was a strong GOP district until 2006. Toss-up: Slight edge GOP pick-up

After the first four, the real challenges begin….

5. House District 56 (Eagle, Summit, Lake) If incumbent Democrat Christine Scanlan opts to run for Senate District 16 — which will make that seat a difficult Republican pick-up — move this one up the list. If she stays put, slide it down. Toss-up: Slight edge Dem hold

6. House District 47 (Pueblo, Fremont) This is one of a few state house districts where the registrations have trended Republican, though Democrats still have the edge. Without term-limited incumbent Buffie McFadyen on the ticket and with a strong Republican contender in place, favorable winds certainly could push this race into the GOP column. Toss-up: Slight edge Dem hold

7. House District 18 (El Paso) Another chance for the Republicans to benefit from term limits resides in southwest El Paso County, where union-backed hellraiser Mike Merrifield steps down in 2010. The scenario here is much like HD 47, except there are fewer Republicans and more unaffiliated voters in HD 18. Toss-up: Slight edge Dem hold

8. House District 29 (Jefferson) Democrat incumbent Debbie Benefield figures to be tough to beat, but if the Republican Party can rally behind challenger Robert Ramirez with a strong, credible fiscally conservative message that appeals to independent voters, a win in north Jeffco probably would help seal a transfer of power in the Colorado House of Representatives. Leans Dem hold

9. House District 31 (Adams) A strong Republican wave behind a hard-working candidate could topple teachers union favorite Judy Solano, but I see nothing there at this point to convince me it’s more than a faint hope. Leans Dem hold

10. House District 50 (Weld) Republicans should be more competitive in Greeley and the surrounding area, but incumbent Democrat Jim Riesberg is one of the harder-working legislators on the scene. A mighty Republican electoral wave could unseat him in this somewhat heavily unaffiliated district, but several things would have to fall into place first. Leans Dem hold

11. House District 23 (Jefferson) A place-filler for economic illiteracy poster child Gwyn Green, incumbent Democrat Max Tyler has yet to face election on his own. But the GOP in the Lakewood/Golden area need to show they have overcome the divisive fallout of former Rep. Ramey Johnson’s bitter 2004 defeat and a slight dip in registered Republican voters. Likely Dem hold

12. House District 64 (Otero, Las Animas, Prowers, Huerfano, Baca, Bent) Of the dozen on the list, this southern Colorado district certainly feels the farthest from the State Capitol. Incumbent Democrat Wes McKinley is a man all his own, with 40 percent of district voters registered in his party. While he didn’t perform as strongly in 2008 as some of his fellow Democrat incumbents higher up the list, here’s guessing Obama withdrawal and anti-Ritter sentiment affects his chances less than theirs. Likely Dem hold

The gurus at State Bill Colorado have weighed in with some valuable insights and observations — as well as a complete list — of the 65 districts and potentially hot races. But in my opinion, they also have missed the boat a little bit by omitting from discussion HD 38, 47 and 18.

Okay, now it’s your turn to sound off on Round 2 of my political armchair quarterbacking. Since Rasmussen is a heck of a bigger deal than yours truly, your disagreement with any or all of my projections may just be spot-on.

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

Just as the small nations in the world thought they would be able to attach to the US as climate leeches, sucking off billions of dollars from American citizens to repay the outrageous claims of “climate debt”, a leaked document being put together by a small group of “rich nations” threatens to disrupt the entire Copenhagen Climate Summit.  We should be so lucky.

The document, which was leaked to the UK’s most pro-warming-alarmist newspaper, the Guardian, is notable for havin no mention of Kyoto and for apparently pushing aside the UN in favor of a climate “fund” structured within the World Bank.

It’s not surprising that someone from the left would try to torpedo this plan.  While still moving in the direction of socialst world government on the basis of the hoax of man-made global warming, it nevertheless puts the power in the hands of the developed world and begins with a fund of $10 billion which, while being approximately $100 billion more than the Third World owes the rest of the world, is nevertheless smaller than the extortionists and anti-capitalists were hoping to see drained from the US and Western Europe.

The draft document contains some of the same mindless notions that we hear regularly from the alarmist/socialist camp:

• Limiting global average temperature rise to two degrees above pre-industrial levels.
• Reducing global annual CO2 emissions to 50% of 1990 levels by 2050, with developed nations in particular reducing emissions by 80% over that same period.
• Redirecting taxpayer money to developing nations to bribe them to reduce their emissions

Assuming that governments can limit the planet’s temperature rise to two degrees is roughly as sensible and as up to human control as limiting the drift of the Atlantic continental plate to two centimeters from its pre-industrial position.  Not only are humans an insignificant factor in planetary climatic changes, but the impact of increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmospheric is logarithmic, meaning every new molecule or ton of CO2 has less warming influence than the molecule or ton before it.  Beyond that, 95% of the “greenhouse effect” is caused by water vapor, which is 99.999% naturally occurring.  And, as if that weren’t enough, only about 3% of all the CO2 in the atmosphere is man-made!

But as the public has learned from ClimateGate (and many of us knew already), this debate is not about science. It is about power and money, whether one country trying to steal from another, scientists trying to grab grant money from taxpayers or foundations. or Algore trying to profit from fooling us into buying into his “green” investments.

Massively reducing CO2 emissions over a short time is nothing more than economic suicide. CO2 emissions correlate remarkably well with a nation’s standard of living and its citizens’ life spans. CO2 emissions are a product of a productive society, and will remain so for a century or more.  A Bloomberg News story makes the point nicely:

Carbon dioxide output from the U.S. energy sector has already fallen half as much as needed to meet the 2020 emissions reduction target the Obama administration took to the Copenhagen climate-change summit.

Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions will be 5.45 billion tons this year, or 8.6 percent below the 2005 level of 5.96 billion tons, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said today.

Before United Nations talks on a new global emissions treaty started yesterday in Copenhagen, White House officials said the U.S. is willing to reduce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases “in the range of 17 percent” below the 2005 level by 2020.

Falling U.S. emissions are the result of the “weak economy,” which grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter after shrinking for a year, and a cleaner fuel mix in the electricity sector, the EIA said in its December Short- Term Energy Outlook.

After falling 6.1 percent this year, energy-related CO2 emissions should increase 1.5 percent next year on “projected improvements in the economy,” EIA said. This would put 2010 emissions at 7.2 percent below the 2005 level, making the 2020 target harder to reach relative to the 2009 total.

In other words, the way to make Obama’s low CO2 dreams come true to to have massive unemployment.  How’s that hope and change working for you now, industrial union members?

And here’s another version of the same concept, this time from Japan: http://www.climateactionprogramme.org/news/japan_to_meet_co2_goals_due_to_recession/

As for redirecting taxpayer money, we do far too much of that already with foreign aid.  The last thing America needs to feel guilty is about is that we don’t dump enough money into Third World rat-holes for which we get corruption and swollen Swiss bank accounts of dictators.  Climate debt?  To put it plainly: Go screw yourself.

091127copenhagen

Tags: Rossputin, Syndicated

“It doesn’t help one poor person get insurance who doesn’t have it now. It doesn’t compel one insurance company to provide insurance to somebody who has an illness.  And . . . it doesn’t do anything to reduce the cost of insurance.” — Joe Lieberman, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 5 2009

This means a lot coming from a former Democratic Party vice presidential nominee.

(Via Scott Harrington)

Tags: PPC, Syndicated

Some of my co-conspirators at People’s Press Collective have been having a little fun with the “global warming insurance” video…

“It’s not like you’re gonna give up your whole paycheck, it’s just a few bucks a month [that you're gonna give up]“.

Dude…it’s not your money to take.

[hat tip: WhoSaidYouSaid]

Tags: MarsBlog, Syndicated

I’ve pointed out before the lack of transparency in the Obama administration’s Labor Department. But this new Associated Press story about so-called Obama transparency takes the cake with a new level of irony:

It’s hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.

Political cartoonists are probably already putting pen to paper now to mock this amazing self-parody. Imagine the scene:

Citizen: Hi, I’ve come for the meeting on open government. Is this the right place?
Security guard: Where’s your invitation?
Citizen: I, uh… W-what? This is about open government, right?
Security guard: Right. Which is why President Obama says it’s too important to let in just anyone….

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

Many advocates of health-care reform are admirers of Canada’s state-run, no-opt-out, single-payer system. Indeed, in 2003, President Barack Obama voiced enthusiasm for such a health-care program.

Proponents of Canadian-style health care should meet Cheryl Baxter, a Canadian citizen who waited years for hip-replacement surgery, only to be told that her operation would not happen any time soon. Instead of waiting, Baxter did what an increasing number of Canadians are doing: She flew to a clinic in the United States, paid out of pocket, and had a life-altering surgery in a matter of weeks rather than years.

More on Canadian health care at Reason.tv, with assistance from the Independence Institute.

HolyCoast.com click here

Tags: Daily Blogster, Syndicated

You might remember that we boiled Canadian Cheryl Baxter’s story down to just a few minutes on YouTube.  Cheryl was one of several Canadians we met up with in Vancouver who got a raw deal from their “public option.”  And by raw deal, I mean waiting years to get a new hip, then finally escaping to the U.S. to receive treatment.  The question still remains: if we go all Canada on our health care system, where will the Canadians escape to?

Reason Magazine came along on our trip and put together this video highlighting Cheryl’s story and some great insight from the Fraser Institute.

Tags: Syndicated, the cauldron

I’ve been criticized for using the terms Socialist and Marxist to describe what the Obama administration is doing. I don’t use these terms lightly. The Russians lost the cold war but did not lose….they infiltrated. They are now trying to bring about the largest communist expansion in global history…without many shots being fired. They got their guy in and he has his people in place. PRay that there are enough Patriots in the balance of power to stop it.

hat tip to Stop Marxism.

Tags: Daily Blogster, Syndicated

Want to learn more about the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and how you can use it to obtain information bureaucrats don’t want you to see?

TOMORROW at 2pm, we will be holding a FREE how-to CORA session here at our office in Golden! That’s right, you heard correctly. A FREE class on open records requests taught by none other than the CORA master himself, Todd Shepherd.

As Todd explains,

A lot of times, the media can make ‘open record requesting’ sound incredibly hard. The opposite in fact is true. Within 60-90 minutes, I can teach you just about everything you need to know about Colorado’s Open Records law, and how to use it effectively.

Please contact Mary MacFarlane if you are interested in taking the class. Either call 303.279.6536 or shoot Mary an email.

Space is limited so please call today!

Tags: Syndicated, the cauldron

Update, 5:00 PM: Witticism of the day goes to the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto, who observes that “[Reid's] success to this point seems something of a miracle–an inspiration to dour, foolish men everywhere.”

Was that one of the painful throes of sheer desperation we heard from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took his GOP-blasting rhetoric to a new level Monday, comparing Republicans who oppose health care reform to lawmakers who clung to the institution of slavery more than a century ago….

“Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, ’slow down, stop everything, let’s start over.’ If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right,” Reid said Monday. “When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said ’slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’”

Wow, what an apt analogy comparing us pesky ObamaCare opponents with the 19th century American defenders of chattel slavery because, you know, ObamaCare is so much about liberty. How else would you explain the extra layers of costly medical bureaucracy awaiting Americans if we vote for Harry Reid’s idea of health care reform:

Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin says: “Don’t confuse Reid with history….”

Memo to Nevada: send this washed up hack home in 2010. Judging by his latest actions, I’d say he has started preparing for a post-Senate, village-based career.

Tags: Mount Virtus, Syndicated

By Julian Dunraven, J.D., M.P.A.

Honorable Friends:

At the People’s Press Collective Reeducation camp this past weekend, I was pleased to see so many people gathered to learn how to become more effective advocates for the cause of restraining government, promoting individual liberty, and restoring free markets. Truly, an army of Davids is indeed rising to oppose the Goliath of obscenely bloated government. Those who attended this camp hardly needed to be told that the U.S. government has become the biggest liar in the history of the world; they attended the camp to gain the tools needed to begin correcting that problem. They face an uphill battle, though. I was horrified to hear that at least a few of our government’s lies had penetrated even the PPC camp when one of the attendees claimed that, with the nation now in recovery, it is critical to elect Republicans so as to resist any further bailouts and allow the recovery trend to continue.

Make no mistake: whatever illusion of recovery we have entered into is just that—an illusion. Nothing has been altered in the fundamentals of our economic situation. In fact, we have done substantial damage to the soundness of our currency and the wealth of our people, leaving us in a much weaker position to face the problems quickly rushing toward us. Those who do not prepare themselves and their families now are likely to be ruined in the coming economic storms. The Obama Administration’s assurances that we are in recovery may be one of the most atrocious lies ever told in a long history of deceptions.

I wish I could agree with my honorable friend in thinking that merely electing Republicans will offer a solution to this problem. Yet, many in the Tea Party movement correctly understand that Republicans have been almost indistinguishable from Democrats in their profligate spending practices. Many of them voted in lock step with Democrats as Congress issued one bailout after another, assaulted our civil liberties, dismantled the free market, and shredded the Constitution.

While it is true that no Democrat will ever reform this obscenity, we can no longer afford the Good Old Boy mentality of deal making, back scratching, entitlement, and the politics of pull that has too long infected the GOP. We require men and women of true principle. Merely demanding principled politicians, however, will do nothing unless we understand the nature of the problem ourselves, and can hold our politicians accountable in how they address it. Otherwise, we are simply asking to be lied to once more.

At the PPC Camps, several attendees have asked me where they can obtain concise, reliable, and comprehensive explanations for our economic situations and what each of us can do to prepare ourselves and our families. In answer, I strongly recommend viewing the free “Crash Course” by Mr. Chris Martenson. Even if you have no background in economics, finance, or natural resources, you will find Mr. Martenson’s webinar easy to understand. His advice will leave you in a better position than many who graduate college with Economics majors. After that you may want to move on to “Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Fiat Currency Abuse,” a webinar presented by Richard Karn of Emerging Trends Report and hosted by the Bullion Management Group, Inc. While parts of this may be a bit dense, especially at the beginning, I advise you to stick with it. You will have a good grasp of our financial situation by the end.

These two webinars will give you the basic knowledge you need if you want to have any hope of holding our Republican candidates to anything resembling real principles. We cannot afford to get it wrong anymore. We cannot continue to watch our government pervert capitalism in favor of unequal patronage whereby favored insiders profit while all others struggle. We cannot allow our government to burn the savings of our people and spend away the wealth of this nation to leave our children, for the first time in U.S. history, a standard of living which is less than our own. We cannot let our government continue to weaken what should be the greatest nation on earth.

Tags: Slapstick Politics, Syndicated

In a sign of bad news for both political parties, a new Rasmussen Reports “generic ballot” poll shows “Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.”

At the same time, the generic ballot question without the “Tea Party” option continues to show a substantial GOP advantage.

These reports, in combination with other data such as an October poll showing the vast majority of Republicans believing that GOP politicians are out of touch with the GOP base, are sending a none-too-subtle message to Republican leadership:

The Democrats’ overreaching is offering Republicans an enormous electoral opportunity.  But so far, the Republicans are not even reaching for the brass ring, leaving conservative and libertarian-leaning voters hungry for a party we can affirmatively support rather than asking us to hold our noses and vote for the lesser of two evils, a strategy which failed spectacularly in the 2008 elections.

Let’s be clear about something: No third party is going to make any headway in this country anytime soon.  There will not be a successful “Tea Party”, at least not on a national level.  This is about getting liberty-minded Americans excited about the Republican Party. And that won’t happen until the Republican Party gets back to supporting liberty without apologies.

There is always some Republican, whether Snowe, Collins, McCain, or Graham, trying to “work with” Democrats, to “make the bill better”, to “reach across the aisle”, or some other nice-sounding excuse to abandon principles in an effort to make personal headlines or to take credit for “getting something done”.  But what use is getting something done when the outcome in any case is disastrous for the American people?

It’s as if these senators are working to have the mugger use a knife instead of a gun when robbing and assaulting his victim.  The victim has still be stolen from and, more importantly, has nearly as large a chance of ending up dead.  Yippee.  We “got something done”!

Erick Erickson of RedState.com has been pounding this drum for several days, excoriating Senate Republicans for not using the few tools available to them to try to kill the Democrats’ disastrous health care “reform”.   Erickson argues that Republicans are effectively giving Democrats political cover – something that can’t work out well for anybody but Reid-Pelosi-Obama.

Investors Business Daily agrees, saying “What’s needed, plain and simple, is opposition.”

Pro-capitalist and pro-liberty Americans, whether Republicans or not, want to see the GOP leadership show some backbone, not “go along to get along.”  Sure, the Republicans are mostly holding together in rhetorical opposition to current Democrat plans, but their actions are far less convincing.

The Rasmussen polls should tell Republicans and Democrats in Congress that the mood is fiercely against them, fiercely anti-incumbent.

And while the momentum is clearly for the GOP, the polls are also clear that the Republican Party is not doing enough to stand up for what Americans care about.  Offering modest opposition to Democratic takeovers of health care, energy, and everything else is not enough.  And “modest” is all the opposition is as long as their actions don’t match their words, as long as they don’t do everything possible to kill this health care “reform”, cap-and-trade, and every other leftist idiocy being foisted upon us by the union-owned leadership of the Democratic Party.

It might be that anti-Democrat fervor will be enough for Republican victories in 2010. But even if that’s the case, it won’t last long.  At some point, the Democrats will moderate their behavior (but only when they have to) and at that point, unless the GOP has given the “Tea Party” crowd something they can really support, the Republican party will remain, if not in the wilderness, at least unable to gain or maintain any significant majority.

Michael Steele and Mitch McConnell, are you listening?

Tags: Rossputin, Syndicated

Bob Mook of the Denver Business Journal describes how the House Bill (HR3962) would limit competition and force patients to give up their children’ speciality dental plans:

Kate Paul, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado, said that the House’s health care reform proposal would disrupt dental coverage for more than 815,000 Colorado children, limit competition for dental benefits and splinter patient-dentist relationships all over the state.

Paul said while she applauds Congress for tackling health care reform, she takes issue with a provision in the House bill that forces families receiving government subsidies for insurance to purchase children’s dental insurance from medical insurers, not specialty dental insurers like Delta Dental.

Essentially, politicians are saying that they know what’s best for parents when it comes to how they pay for their own children’s dental care.

Tags: PPC, Syndicated

Wow.  I’m still in awe.  I just finished listening to this epic iVoices.org podcast with Dave Kopel interviewing none other than Alan Gura himself!! Or as Dave aptly refers to Mr. Gura, “the Luke Skywalker of the Second Amendment.” Alan Gura is the man behind the huge DC v. Heller Supreme Court gun rights victory. Because of his previous victory, Mr. Gura has taken on the new McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case. This new Second Amendment case will decide whether the Second Amendment is enforceable at the state and local level via the 14th Amendment. Now that may seem like a lot of legalese and Constitutional law jargon, but I promise that if you listen to a few of these previous iVoices.org podcasts before jumping into the newest one featuring Alan Gura, you’ll be fine. A special thanks goes out to Mr. Skywalker Gura for taking time of his day to speak with us.

Tags: Syndicated, the cauldron

—– Original Message —–
From: Kathleen *****
To: Chairman@cologop.org
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 11:36 AM
Subject: Why the Tea Party is so upset about McInnis

Mr. Wadhams:

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “”In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. ”

Last March I joined a movement to help preserve and defend the Constitution of the United States. Since that time I have been called by my own government - including two presidents, the Department of Homeland Security and the speaker of the house - a right wing extremist, a domestic terrorist, a paid astroturf protestor, a tea bagger, a brown shirter, a racist and an angry mobster. (The best was a gold conspirator.) I was one of those that the White House asked Americans to flag at flag@whitehouse.gov. Who am I really? A 43-year-old married, mother of two, PTA member, and team mom who loves her country. I belong to neither political party. They have both let me down.

I have watched the nightly news where they either completely distorted the truth on our movement or censored us completely. I have asked my senator, Michael Bennet, and my representative, Jared Polis, to protect and defend the Constitution, and both times they did not respond but gave me an arrogant smirk.

I jumped on an airplane and flew across the country at a moment’s notice last month to stand outside the nation’s Capitol to defend the Constitution. I stood there with tens of thousands of Americans from every state in the Union. It was beautiful. Did the media report on this? Briefly, and no mention of the number of people there.

I have lost friends, many friends, in my fight to uphold the Constitution. I have been ridiculed and the target of vicious gossip. My children will switch schools next year because I stood up and said no to Obama’s school speech. I have spent countless, unpaid hours in this fight. I have spent my own money to make this happen. I have pushed aside my personal life to save our freedoms.

I have stood alone. Yet, I will never give up. Too many people have died for the Constitution. It is my turn to defend it.

During all this, I remember those who did stand with me. In Colorado - Jon Caldara, Dan Maes, Josh Penry, Bob Beauprez, and the thousands of new friends I have met along the way. Nationally - Michele Bachmann, Jon Voight, Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Jon Ratzenberger, Joe Wilson, John Mackey, Doug Hoffman, Glenn Beck. Those on the national level are true heroes. They have been smeared and ridiculed far more than I could ever imagine handling. Yet, they too still get up every morning and continue the fight. They put their necks on the line every single day.

One person who did not stand with us is Scott McInnis. He was asked to appear at a ROAR barbecue last summer in Golden. It was a family picnic with 300 attendees. Bob Beauprez, Dan Maes, and Josh Penry showed up. I have heard from sources in both camps that McInnis did not attend because he was afraid of us. It was a family picnic.

My friend, Lesley Hollywood, of the Northern Colorado Tea Party, sent repeated requests for him to debate at last month’s CandidateSearch2010 in Fort Collins. He would not return her phone calls. She had 550 attendees at that event. I have heard of similar stories from other groups, including the Western Slope Conservative Alliance. Several weeks ago, a representative for Tom Tancredo came to speak at our state leadership meeting. Where was Scott?

About two weeks ago, after my group, the Evergreen/Conifer Tea Party, endorsed Dan Maes, there was an uproar. We were asked to meet with McInnis’ people, which three members of our group and Colorado 912 did. We were very clear that to show any support for Mr. McInnis he needed to pass the third party, non-partisan vetting procedure outlined by the Independence Caucus. He said no, which was his perogative. He can do what he wants. I respect that. However, no vetting, no support. Dan Maes took and passed this vetting. It is not difficult to pass and holds a candidate accountable to uphold the Constitution. We are asking candidates from both political parties to go through this process.

So, you can understand our dismay when we saw the Wall Street Journal article on Monday and his appearance on Neil Cavuto stating he was going after tea party support. Huh? Whether or not Cavuto was fed the story that he was tea party-backed by McInnis’ campaign or they came up with that idea from the WSJ article, I don’t know. I do know, McInnis did not correct him, especially when he knew Maes already had three tea party endorsements. I think it is great the Republican Party wants to listen to the people. You have no idea how much we want our voices to be heard by those in both political parties and the media. However, where has McInnis been during this fight? Unlike the White House, we do not accept party crashers. We will support those who stood with us, not those who remained silent.

If you want to win elections, you need to provide us candidates who are honest leaders with principles and ethics. I want elected officials who will return my phone calls and speak at my events. I want candidates who will vote the way the majority of their constituents wants them to vote, instead of following the party line and getting paid off with hundreds of millions of tax payer dollars. I want more than one choice of candidate at the primary level. I am tired of public servants who feel they are superior to the own people they represent. They are not above us. They are equal to us.

I want LEADERS who are willing to stand up next to me and fight for the Constitution, especially the Tenth Amendment, at all political costs. I have done it. I expect them to do it as well.

Actions, not words,

Kathleen *****
Assistant Organizer, Evergreen/Conifer Tea Party

#tcot #teaparty #obamacare #harryreid
The majority of Nevadans do not want the government meddling with health care but Harry is flipping them off…he knows better than you.

If you are against government run healthcare, you’re like those who opposed the abolition of slavery.

Tags: Daily Blogster, Syndicated