Nov 15 2009

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Do You Need to Be Re|Educated? PPC to Host Third Re|Education Camp for Online Activists and Citizen Journalists

Category: Events, Grassroots, PPCT.L. James @ 12:00 am

 This post will be pinned to the top of the page until December 5. For new posts, scroll down…

reedu2Are you able to harness the full power of the internet for your grassroots political movements?  Imagine what you’d accomplish if you were able to fully use available technology.

People’s Press Collective will be conducting its third “Re|Education Camp” on Saturday, December 5, for pro-liberty organizations interested in using technology to supercharge grassroots movements, mobilize action for local politics, and organize state-wide in Colorado.

“Turning volunteers who are online into Internet activists for liberty”

  • Understanding the Opposition: Learn how the Colorado Democracy Alliance and related “netroots” groups outflanked the Right with technology, and what can be done to reverse the trend.
  • Internet Activism 101: Learn best practices and techniques in Blogging, Twitter, Video Podcasting, Facebook and other social networking sites, and what you need to know to start an effective on-line movement.
  • Technical Skills: Learn effective techniques for search engine optimization, online identity management, wikis, live video and the many other means available to promote and frame your issues and candidates.
  • Legal Issues in Activism: Protect yourself by learning about the legal considerations in becoming an activist. Our seminar will teach you how to use the Colorado Open Records Act, avoid defamation and other liabilities, train you to deal with confrontations and police, and make you aware of exactly what your 1st Amendment rights cover as an activist.

The Re|Education Camp will be held in the Beckman Center [PDF] on the campus of Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, on Saturday December 5, 2009 from 9AM to 4PM.  Cost is $50 per person ($25 for CCU students with current, valid CCU student ID), which includes lunch. Check out the “Citizen Journalists” tab on the menu at the top of the site for further information and camp registration instructions. 

For more information or to confirm your reservation, contact us at services@peoplespresscollective.org.

***Limited spaces available - RSVP below to guarantee your spot!***

PPC Camp Reservations

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Nov 15 2009

Candidate Search 2010 Interviews

Category: Colorado Politics, PPC, Syndicatednighttwister @ 2:15 pm

I’m here at the Budweister Event Center in Loveland, CO for Candidate Search 2010. I was going to summarize the points of each of the candidates, but things went too fast and furious and I didn’t have the full text of the questions beforehand. Therefore, I’ve decided to just post some of my favorite quotes from the evening.

U.S. Congressional District 4 Candidates

Cory Gardner

“This race isn’t about Republican or Democrat, but for every American afraid of losing their freedom. We need to send people to Washington that will stand up for people. I’m going to Washington to stand up to big spenders.”

Tom Lucero

“The Constitution is being kicked to the curb. We need to get the government out of the home, banking, health care businesses, and out of the way of small businesses who are the backbone of the Country.”

Diggs Brown

“While in Afghanistan, I was reading intelligent reports every day, and for the first time I fear for my Country. What’s with the government that is taking control and not listening to the people? I’m going to Washington to make sure they’re listening to you, and to kick some people in the butt.”

Dean Madere

“I’m angry, worried, scared about where we’re going. I’ve been involved in Tea Parties. I’m tired of voting for politicians. My grass roots are deep.”

U.S. Senate Candidates

Cleve Tidwell

“I’m a businessman, not an attorney or a politician. It’s time to put common sense business people in Washington.”

Tom Wiens

“I’m a rancher, businessman, and former State Senator. There is no respect for the people of Colorado because Congress doesn’t even read the bills before they spend a trillion dollars of our money. We need to vote for change one more time.”

Shawn Mitchell for Ken Buck

“I’m a lawyer, I’m a politician, and I’m from California. Lucky for me, I’m not the one running for office.”

(Ken Buck showed up later, but I had already left for the evening)

Colorado Governor Candidates

Dan Maes

“The Revolution is On. If you can beat the mob in NJ, you’re doing something. I know what it is to be an executive. The Governor’s office isn’t a playground for legislators.”

Special guest Matt Arnold, director of Clear the Bench Colorado was also there. I had to leave to attend to some personal business before he had a chance to speak, but the Coloradoan and Greeley Tribune were there also to provide coverage of the event.

Thanks to the candidates that were willing to show up and meet with their potential constituents. For those that decided not to show up, it’s going to be hard to convince us that you’re willing to represent your district or State when you can’t even show up to answer questions and meet with those same people. Elected Government officials become less accessible after election, not more. Quite frankly, the American people are tired of sending people into office only to have them ignore the very people that sent them there.

All of the candidates for Congressional District 4 did well at the event. Cory Gardner was very sharp, and I appreciated his appeal to his family. To be honest, I’d rather be out in the backyard playing catch with my kids than sitting in front of this computer, but doing what I am here is more important to their future, so I have to take time away from that. Gardner seems to understand this as well. I know he’s had to sacrifice a considerable amount of time away from his family, as have the others running for office.

Tom Lucero was very good, and is now starting to take a stand on today’s issues and stand up for his record. I appreciated his candor and where he is on the most important issues. Diggs Brown just arrived home after another tour in the Army. Although he’s still making the transition from soldier to candidate, he did well in addressing the most pressing issues of the day. Dan Madere, a newcomer to politics, gave an impassioned speech when explaining why he decided to get into this race.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with the candidates for U.S. Senate. I had hoped to hear from Ken Buck, but as I stated earlier I had to leave before he arrived from a previous commitment in Pueblo. The fact that he rushed to get her at all shows he knows the importance of meeting with the people in his home district.

Dan Maes was very impressive in his open comments and answers to questions. If he’s able to find a way to start raising some serious money and get some name recognition, he could give Scott McInnis a run for the opportunity to run against Bill Ritter. He definitely has many in the grassroots movements behind him.

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Nov 15 2009

Democrats Changing Their Tune About Bush-Cheney

Category: PPCMr. Bob @ 11:27 am

#tcot #gay #Hillary #Bush #teaparty
Interesting article from a self described Gay Hillary supporting group from Chicago “comes out” this week that they were wrong, dead wrong about GW, Dick Cheney and Laura Bush.

Thank you former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush

We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura.

If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker.

Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.

We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster. President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it. ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.

Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush. We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11.

READ THE REST

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Nov 15 2009

Obamacare in a nutshell.

Jump Start

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Nov 15 2009

The Victim Mentality as Political Discourse

Category: PPC, SyndicatedDavid K. Williams, Jr. @ 9:58 am

Cartoonist Keith Knight, in his comic The Knight Life, today asks “Do you think, when people say socialist, they mean something else?”

The character responding to the question says:
“Listen… I got nothin’ against ‘em!! I sat next to one in 2nd grade!! My uncle hates ‘em, but he has a good reason to: he got robbed by one when he was younger!! I’m fine around one or two.. but any more give me the heebie jeebies!! I wouldn’t let my daughter marry one. Their kids would be confused!!”
The implication is that people that use the word “socialist” are racist.
If one believes this, one can avoid any actual discussion of statism, because one equates the political discussion with racism. There is no need to engage with someone that calls you a racial epithet, so you can dismiss them as idiots.
However, the premise is wrong. Calling someone a “socialist” is not the same as using a racial epithet.
Karl Marx was an Aryan. Nancy Pelosi is a rich old white lady. Michael Moore is a rich white fat man.
They all have socialist ideas. Asking them about those ideas is not racist. If one attempts to avoid the discussion by crying “racist,” one is either immersed in the victim mentality or is intellectually dishonest.
Both of these choices, of course, are symptomatic of the left.

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Nov 15 2009

Clear The Bench Colorado continues Grassroots Revival tour - tonight at “Colorado Change the Change” in Parker, Colorado

Category: Colorado Supreme Court, Grassroots, PPC, TABORDirector @ 5:56 am

The resurgence of “We The People” in the form of local citizens banding together in grassroots civic action organizations to defend our constitutional rights is THE political story of the year 2009 in America…

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is both proud and humbled to have been invited as a guest speaker to several such groups over the last several months - beginning with the massive (7000+) crowd at the Tax Day Tea Party rally at the Denver Capitol and continuing through several events throughout the Spring (examples here, and here), Summer (examples here, here, and here) and Fall (examples here, here, herehere, and here) and Winter (here, and most recently, here) of 2009.

The Grassroots Revival continues - tonight at 7PM (Sunday November 15),  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is speaking at an event sponsored by the Colorado Change the Change (a.k.a. the SE Denver 9.12 Project) grassroots organization at the Parker Mainstreet Center (Click for directions).

Join Clear The Bench Colorado and the Grassroots Revival in restoring “power to the people” - get active, get involved, raise your voice and help to restore accountability to the Colorado judiciary by exercising YOUR RIGHT to vote NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to retain unjust justices in 2010!

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Nov 15 2009

Two excellent political photos

Category: Politics, SyndicatedRossputin @ 4:17 am

Thanks to CMR for sending these along…


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Nov 15 2009

Market-based alternatives to big-government health care reform

Category: PPCBrian Schwartz @ 1:30 am

Congress to Healthcare Market: Drop Dead, economics Professor Mark J. Perry summarizes “market-based healthcare solutions have gone largely unnoticed, despite the fact that they have successfully lowered medical costs and improved both access and quality of service.” He describes the success of:

  1. Retail clinics
  2. Retail clinic-hospital partnerships
    “full range of medical services, from flu shots to major surgery”
  3. On-site workplace healthcare clinics
    References this story from Milwaukee Public Radio.
  4. Affordable $4 generic drugs
  5. Prepaid medical plans: “affordable, pre-paid healthcare plans that cover basic medical services …from a participating board-certified physician, with no deductibles, no additional premiums, and no co-payments.” $480 per year.
  6. Concierge medicine
  7. High-deductible health insurance plans along with individually owned and managed health savings accounts (HSAs).

Perry concludes that while politicians in DC are figuring out how more political intervention into medical and insurance makets can reduces costs and increase access (it won’t), the private marketplace is already doing it. Read the whole article at The American: Congress to Healthcare Market: Drop Dead.

(via State House Call)

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Nov 15 2009

Obama icon: the power & danger

Category: PPCBrian T. Schwartz @ 12:30 am

From Pajamas Media TV:

“Barack Obama ran an unprecedented Presidential campaign - utilizing the power of design to help secure the seat of the President of the United States of America. However, his iconic emblem, the ever present “O”, holds more power than even Obama knows. Bill Whittle points out the …

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Nov 14 2009

State of Colorado’s Republican Race for Governor: After Penry, the Deluge?

Category: Colorado Politics, Liberty, PPCBen @ 5:45 pm

Chuck Plunkett is one of the more liberal members of the Denver Post’s editorial board, but he’s a straight shooter. And his Friday posting on the state of Colorado’s Republican primary for governor — “Whither Tancredo?” — is full of spot-on insights, such as:

Party insiders say the problem is that the campaign [Scott] McInnis has structured to date has created a vacuum that conservatives abhor.

And:

The conservative knock against McInnis is that he has so far simply marked time; that he has never really taken up the good fight as an advocate for fiscally responsible government.

That he feels it’s simply his turn to be governor.

And:

Denver political analyst Eric Sondermann tells me that the firebrand [Tom] Tancredo would run a tougher campaign than [Josh] Penry would have.

Penry, because he is young, would know he has a potentially longer career if he plays his cards correctly. Therefore, Penry wouldn’t have pulled the trigger on any “nuclear” weapons.

But Tancredo “wouldn’t leave any cannonballs in the cannon,” Sondermann says.

And:

“Having a conversation with Josh Penry and having a conversation with Scott McInnis are two different things,” Brad Jones, a conservative radio talk-show host, tells me. “(McInnis) is not connecting with a lot of the grassroots supporters.”

And, finally:

That Penry doesn’t already know what his erstwhile opponent [McInnis] stands for is the problem bedeviling Tancredo and many others in the party.

Today Colorado Democrats — and most of all Bill Ritter — finally have some reason to smile about their prospects at keeping the Governor’s mansion in 2011 and beyond. Josh Penry may have miscalculated in his belief that getting out of the race would improve the Party’s chances to defeat Ritter.

Such a belief would have to be predicated on Scott McInnis actually shaping up, talking specifics, and showing some serious interest in fiscally conservative reform. If McInnis falters on this front, the door is wide open for a Tom Tancredo challenge. And then, it might be said of the Republican primary campaign: “Apres Penry, le deluge.”

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Nov 14 2009

Killer: National Organ Transplant Act

Category: PPCBrian Schwartz @ 3:07 pm

From the Institute for Justice:

Every year, 1,000 Americans die because they cannot find a matching bone marrow donor. Minorities are hit especially hard. Common sense suggests that offering modest incentives to attract more bone marrow donors would be worth pursuing, but federal law makes that a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Read more at the Institute For Justice’s site about Flynn v. Holder, a Challenge to the National Organ Transplant Act.

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Nov 14 2009

AFSCME Sends Union Membership Cards to Colorado State Employees

Category: Colorado Politics, PPCBen @ 2:50 pm

Reports indicate that thousands of Colorado state employees received AFSCME (American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO) union membership cards in the mail yesterday. Many of them are wondering just why they received them, as they never signed up to join any union — especially not one that is spending plenty of member dues money to shill for the unpopular Obama Care socialized medicine fiasco.

AFSCME is one of three partner unions (SEIU and AFT are the others) that joined together to form the Colorado WINS organizing coalition but a few days after Bill Ritter signed an executive order opening the doors of state government to unionization. According to Section 12, page 9, of the Colorado WINS organizing agreement (PDF):

All members of Colorado WINS shall be members of SEIU, AFT and AFSCME.

As commenter (and presumably Colorado state employee) Eldon wrote on this post of mine: “I received a afscme membership card today. What the H— is this. I never joined any union, and voted against the union. Is this happening to anyone else??” Eldon, did it look like this?

And did it come with a letter like this?

AFSCME Letter to Colorado State Employees – November 2009

The membership card and the letter leave us with a series of questions:

  • Why is AFSCME sending membership cards to many Colorado state employees who never signed up to join a union (and while addressing them as “Dear AFSCME Member”)? (one comment forwarded to me from an employee said: “I called my payroll person and he said that human resources send him a list every month of people to make deductions for dues.. but that I have not been on any list as of yet .. I told him if he does get my name on a list to call me.. BECAUSE I DO NOT WANT THEM TO GET DUES from me..”)
  • Why is AFSCME advertising a “2008-09″ union membership that would last no longer than the next seven weeks?
  • Why is AFSCME advertising itself to state employees separately from Colorado WINS and its other organizing partners — SEIU and AFT?

I’m sure there are more questions. But these are just the first three that popped into my head. I know of at least two workers who have contacted AFSCME headquarters and/or the local field representative to get more answers. You can be sure I’ll follow up on it here.

Until then, maybe the Denver Post can pick up on this story, too.

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Nov 14 2009

Clear The Bench Colorado continues Grassroots Revival tour - appearing this afternoon at “Ladies for Liberty” forum

Category: Colorado Supreme Court, Grassroots, TABORDirector @ 9:12 am

The resurgence of “We The People” in the form of local citizens banding together in grassroots civic action organizations to defend our constitutional rights is THE political story of the year 2009 in America…

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is both proud and humbled to have been invited as a guest speaker to several such groups over the last several months - beginning with the massive (7000+) crowd at the Tax Day Tea Party rally at the Denver Capitol and continuing through several events throughout the Spring (examples here, and here), Summer (examples here, here, and here) and Fall (examples here, here, herehere, and here) and Winter (here, and most recently, here) of 2009.

The Grassroots Revival continues - this afternoon starting at 1PM (Saturday November 14),  Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is speaking at an event sponsored by the Ladies for Liberty grassroots organization (Click here for directions).

Join Clear The Bench Colorado and the Grassroots Revival in restoring “power to the people” - get active, get involved, raise your voice and help to restore accountability to the Colorado judiciary by exercising YOUR RIGHT to vote NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to vote on tax increases, your right to defend your homes and business from seizure by rapacious governments, and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule by activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote to retain unjust justices in 2010!

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Nov 14 2009

No beer summit for white girl?

Category: Politics, SyndicatedRossputin @ 4:25 am

The second half of this note is a guest blog post by one of my former Tahoe Trading colleagues who went by the acronym SAT; I thank him for finding the news report and contributing this piece to my site.

(First, in the section in brackets below, a few comments from Rossputin…)

[Ed: SAT’s comment is in reaction to a NY Post story about a male black Columbia University professor who sucker-punched a white female colleague in the face while discussing race relations in a bar.  As an alumnus of Columbia, I renew my often-stated opinion that it is deserving of our scorn and of none of our money.

The police have refused to charge Mr. McIntyre with a hate crime, though they did charge him with assault and harrassment.  And although I oppose the very existence of hate crime laws, I am disgusted by the police’s obviously treating this action differently than they would have if the colors of the assailant and victim had been reversed.  Is it not entirely obvious from the story that McIntyre’s actions were motivated by hatred of white people?

Separately from the so-called justice system, I want to see how hard Columbia will try to protect this racist.  Any reasonable place would fire him immediately. But Columbia represents the worst of America and while I think there’s a decent chance he will lose his job, I think it will take an unnecessarily long time with the forces of political correctness and black cries of victimhood initially getting the better of Columbia’s administration, which is not known for its good judgment to begin with.

FYI, here is an excerpt from a bio of McIntyre from a Columbia University site:

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, Professor McIntyre worked in civil rights and labor organizing in the deep South. His international experience began with travel abroad in 1972 as co-liaison for the first “People to People Friendship Delegation” to the People’s Republic of China and conducted a subsequent study tour in 1979. Other experiences in the international community have included planning studios in Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and South Africa. He also served as director of planning for the Harlem Urban Development Corporation from 1989 to 1994 and advisor to the president of Columbia University on community development and the Empowerment Zone.

While not an explicitly racist bio, it is nevertheless a bio of someone who wants nothing to do with whites. To be clear, I don’t have a problem with his wanting to work with, for, or among anyone he chooses.  I do have a problem with him punching a white person almost certainly because she was white, and then not being treated the same way a white guy would have been treated had he sucker-punched a black guy, much less a black woman.

With that preamble, here are SAT’s thoughts, with a philosophical focus that I particularly appreciate…]

Two nights ago in a bar near the Columbia University campus, 59 year old Aftrican American professor Lionel McIntyre sucker-punched a white female university employee in the face, apparently because she wasn’t “…doing enough about ‘white privilege’”.  A patron commented that the punch was so loud it was heard in the back of the kitchen over all the usual noise.  We’re left to contemplate how to think about the situation, which is especially difficult absent instruction via teleprompter from ‘Dear Leader’.  Maybe Mr. McIntyre will show up in the White House as a czar of something or other.
A few obvious questions come to mind:  What if a white professor drilled a black girl in the face while ranting about affirmative action?  Would that be a hate crime (whatever that is)?  Would Sharpton and Jesse run over for a bus ride to the bar from the campus? (as Jesse so valiantly did to solve the violence in Chicago).  How about a Riesling summit at the White House?  Or maybe the prof was simply having a “teachable moment” and the receiving end of a cheap shot was what this woman deserved for not completing her ’self criticism’ session for being born white?
The deeper question is this:  Why is what he did wrong?  In the current liberal university climate (surely Columbia qualifies) where absolute truth is scoffed at, why does anyone have the “right” to tell him he was wrong?  Doesn’t he have a right to “happiness”?  Surely he shouldn’t have to be concerned with this young woman’s rights or happiness.  Maybe that emotional release made him happy, or maybe it “worked for him”.  Who are we to say violence is not the “proper” way to settle a dispute?  Isn’t that what we allow our children to be spoon fed by the elite “thinkers” of our day, that whatever may be morally acceptable by one person/society/culture MUST be accepted by all in the all holy name of tolerance?
Is sucker punching someone to prove a point always wrong?  Who are you to say it is “always wrong”, because in our society “always wrong” cannot exist if absolute truth does not exist.  And if there is no absolute truth, one’s values/morals/ethics are merely a product of his experience, emotion and culture.  So maybe instead of being shocked and not being able to justify why, we should simply applaud his “unique expression” of how he “feels”, which nobody has the ‘right’ to say is morally wrong.

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Nov 13 2009

PPC Citizen Journalists Query Ed Perlmutter’s Office on Pelosi Care

Category: Colorado Politics, Health Reform, Liberty, PPCBen @ 6:11 pm

So yes, my Representative Ed Perlmutter voted for the costly, restrictive monstrosity known as Pelosi Care (HR 3962). But how does he justify his positions? How did his office respond to last week’s House Call on Congress rally? And how were citizen-journalists from the People’s Press Collective received when they came to discuss Perlmutter’s position on the legislation? Go straight to PPC, or watch the videos below:

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Nov 13 2009

Remembering the Victims of Communism

Category: PPCMr. Bob @ 3:42 pm

#tcot #socialism #communism #che
With America hurtling headlong towards more socialism than free marketeering, we need to remember that socialism is communism without the testosterone to man the barricades and build the prison camps. The leap however is not far.

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Nov 13 2009

When Fear of Being Accused of Discrimination Costs Lives

Category: PPCMr. Bob @ 12:56 pm

#tcot #redco #islam #gwot #PC
hat tip to Red County

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Nov 13 2009

Independence Institute: Founder’s Night with P.J. O’Rourke

Category: Capitalism, Coloradoelpresidente @ 12:23 pm

Dear Friends of Freedom,

The Independence Institute is founded on the eternal truths of the Declaration of Independence. On November 19 at our 25th annual Founders Night, we proudly celebrate a quarter-century of defending and promoting these truths. This event is going to be a huge celebration of liberty! Book your seats now for this celebration with keynote speaker P.J. O’Rourke! We will also be presenting awards to such freedom fighters as businessman Terry Considine and activist Natalie Menten. That’s Thursday, November 19, at the Infinity Park International Ballroom in Glendale, CO. Individual tickets are $150 and Patron tickets are $250 (which also gets you into the Patron reception to meet P.J.) Tables are also available for sponsorship. Details and RSVP info here. Or you can call Mary at (303) 279-6536, or email her at mary@i2i.org. Hurry, this event is filling up fast.

pj_orourke-small


Nov 13 2009

What is the Real National Debt? 56.4 Trillion

Category: PPCMr. Bob @ 12:10 pm

Information from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation #teaparty #debt #socialism

“How exactly does a $56.4 trillion bill add up?” you ask. We know that the federal government carries both publicly held debt and debt for money it has borrowed from itself. Together, these sums are closing in on $11 trillion. This is the figure most commonly cited as our “national debt,” but actually, that’s only the start of the REAL national debt.

Right now, you are carrying a burden of about $184,000. That is each and every American’s share of the US government’s approximated $56.4 trillion in current obligations. And every year in which no down payments or reforms are made to these obligations, the total grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion – or $6,600 to $10,000 per person – on autopilot.

How exactly does this $56.4 trillion bill add up? First, there are the federal government’s known liabilities that it is legally obliged to fulfill. These include publicly held debt, military and civilian pensions and retiree health benefits. As of September 30, 2008, these liabilities added up to $13.5 trillion.

Then there are various commitments and contingencies – i.e., contractual requirements that the government is expected to fulfill when, and if specified conditions are met. These include federal insurance payouts, loan guarantees, and leases. As of September 30, 2008, they added up to $1.4 trillion.

So where does the remaining $43 trillion or so come from? That’s what the government has promised to pay in Social Security and Medicare benefits in excess of related revenues. As of January 1, 2008, current and promised future Social Security benefits amounted to $6.6 trillion. And between Medicare’s three programs (hospital insurance, outpatient, and prescription drug), current and future promised Medicare benefits amounted to $36.3 trillion.

Keep in mind that although people rely on the promise of these benefits, the government can – and does – change these programs in ways that increase or decrease the value of the expected benefits, which has the effect of expanding or shrinking the total amount of obligations. Such changes can be made to the size of payroll tax contributions, cost-of-living adjustments, beneficiary premiums, eligibility ages and benefit levels, among other examples.

That’s how you get to $56.4 trillion. And remember: every year in which no down payments or reforms are made to any of the obligations above, this total grows by $2 trillion to $3 trillion.

Stick with www.pgpf.org to keep track of how much you owe.

SOURCE: 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government. Social Security and Medicare benefits are present values as of January 1, 2008. Burden per person calculated using estimated December 2008 US Census Bureau data. Other data as of September 30, 2008.

The Peter C Peterson Foundation has a Citizen’s Guide to the State of the Union’s Finances. I recommend printing out and sharing.

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Nov 13 2009

“House Call on Congress” - Peoples Press Collective coverage of Washington DC rally against government takeover of Healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill - HB3962) (Part 2)

Thanks to the generous contributions of Peoples Press Collective readers and especially the R Block Party grassroots organization, Peoples Press Collective was able to send a correspondent to cover the national “House Call on Congress” rally against government takeover of healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill, HB3962) at the steps of the U.S. Capitol. 

Unfortunately, despite the impressive attendance (10,000+) and clearly expressed voice of the people - at the rally and nationwide - against this “worst bill ever” the U.S. House did pass the bill the following Saturday at midnight (or just before).

Subsequent events - the Fort Hood massacre, commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin WallJosh Penry’s withdrawal from the Colorado Governor’s race, Veteran’s Day commemorations (plus technical delays in processing the videos) have delayed publication of PPC’s coverage of the event.  Which is a shame - because PPC correspondents got some fantastic coverage of the rally itself and even better interviews with many of the participants - and even got in to speak with a Colorado Congressman’s office (the Congressman, Ed Perlmutter, was conspicuously absent - but PPC did sit down for an interview with his point man on healthcare, before Perlmutter’s chief of staff rather brusquely pulled him away).

PPC Video interviews of rally participants (and congressional staffers) follow - for video coverage of the rally itself, view “House Call on Congress” part 1)


(”House Call on Congress” - All the way from Albuquerque)


(”House Call on Congress” - A colorful interview)

Continue reading ““House Call on Congress” - Peoples Press Collective coverage of Washington DC rally against government takeover of Healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill - HB3962) (Part 2)”

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Nov 13 2009

“House Call on Congress” - Peoples Press Collective coverage of Washington DC rally against government takeover of Healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill - HB3962) (Part 1)

Thanks to the generous contributions of Peoples Press Collective readers and especially the R Block Party grassroots organization, Peoples Press Collective was able to send a correspondent to cover the national “House Call on Congress” rally against government takeover of healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill, HB3962) at the steps of the U.S. Capitol. 

Unfortunately, despite the impressive attendance (10,000+) and clearly expressed voice of the people - at the rally and nationwide - against this “worst bill ever” the U.S. House did pass the bill the following Saturday at midnight (or just before).

Subsequent events - the Fort Hood massacre, commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin WallJosh Penry’s withdrawal from the Colorado Governor’s race, Veteran’s Day commemorations (plus technical delays in processing the videos) have delayed publication of PPC’s coverage of the event.  Which is a shame - because PPC correspondents got some fantastic coverage of the rally itself and even better interviews with many of the participants - and even got in to speak with a Colorado Congressman’s office (the Congressman, Ed Perlmutter, was conspicuously absent - but PPC did sit down for an interview with his point man on healthcare, before Perlmutter’s chief of staff rather brusquely pulled him away).

Videos of the “House Call on Congress” rally follow (view the participant and congressional interviews on part 2)


(Opening remarks by Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann)


(”House Call on Congress” clip 2)
Continue reading ““House Call on Congress” - Peoples Press Collective coverage of Washington DC rally against government takeover of Healthcare (the “Pelosicare” bill - HB3962) (Part 1)”

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Nov 13 2009

Michelle Malkin: US gov’t to bring 9/11 mastermind to NYC for trial

Category: SyndicatedRossputin @ 8:22 am

I thought we’d never again have an Attorney General as bad as Janet Reno. But Eric Holder is making Reno look downright competent:

See “Bombshell: Obama bringing KSM to NYC for trial“, Michelle Malkin, 11/13/09

Yet the latest example of the Administration trying to bury horrible decisions in Friday news…

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Nov 13 2009

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold appearing at Candidate Search 2010 tonight at Budweiser Events Center

Category: Colorado Supreme Court, Grassroots, PPC, TABORDirector @ 7:57 am

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold is appearing as the “special guest” at tonight’s Candidate Search 2010 forum at the Budweiser Event Center, First National Bank West Exhibition Hall (program starts with dinner at 6PM, speaker presentations beginning around 7PM, Friday Nov. 13th).  The forum invites candidates (of all parties) for Colorado’s statewide offices (Governor, U.S. Senate, and Secretary of State) along with regional candidates (Colorado Congressional District 4) to present their case to We The People (click here for the updated list of Candidate Search 2010 participants).

Northern Colorado grassroots organizations Fort Collins Tea Party, Loveland 912 Project, and We Will Not Fail have come together to organize the candidate search forum so that voters from across northern and central Colorado can listen to and ask questions of the candidates running for office in 2010.

Come out to hear, meet and question your candidates for office - and learn more about the most important votes you may not have known you could cast in the November 2010 elections: four “NO” votes on the question of retaining the unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority on the Supreme Court.

YES, YOU CAN exercise YOUR right to vote “NO” on retaining the four unjust justices of the Mullarkey Majority (Justices Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, Nancy Rice, and Chief Justice Mary Mullarkey) who need YOUR approval to continue taking away your rights: your right to have policy decided by elected, accountable legislators (not unelected judges); your right to vote on tax increases; your right to have a say in how you are represented; and your right to enjoy the benefits of the rule of law, not rule according to the whims of activist, agenda-driven “justices.”  Support Clear The Bench Colorado with your voice (Sound Off!), your contributions, and your “NO” vote on retaining unjust justices in 2010!

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Nov 13 2009

Gallup: Americans abandoning desire for government healthcare

Category: Health Reform, SyndicatedRossputin @ 7:44 am

In a new poll, Gallup finds that for the first time since they started asking the question (in 2001), “More Americans now believe it is not the government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have healthcare coverage (50%) than think it is (47%).”

From the Gallup article on their poll:

Also, when it came to the question of whether to maintain or replace the current system, maintaining the system outpolled replacing it by 29%, close to its all-time strongest support:

Interesting notes:

The poll was taken in the few days before the House vote on healthcare “reform”.  It wouldn’t surprise me if the numbers were even more anti-government if the poll had been taken a few days later.

The results are very partisan, with 3/4 of Republicans saying healthcare is not government’s responsibility and 3/4 of Democrats saying it is.  I wonder how much of the Democratic response is because they really believe it is and how much is because they feel a need to support the president for whom they went “all-in” without any basis other than his being young, black, hip, and (the one part which is rational) not John McCain.

The opinion of Republicans has changed much more than the opinion of Democrats in recent years, with GOP believe in government health care making a significant new low, but Democrat opinion only roughly matching a level it’s reached in the past:

Regarding the partisan divide on the question of whether to maintain or replace the current system, 86% of Republicans (or Republican leaners) said maintain while 56% of Democrats (or Democratic leaners) said replace.

As we watch Democratic leadership plunge headlong into a government takeover of heatlh care (even if they claim that isn’t what’s happening, it is), one is hard-pressed to think of a time when government was trying to hard to pass something which was widely known to be unpopular.  Immigration reform comes to mind – and we know where that went.  But the political imperative for the Democrats is (or is at least believed by them) to be so large that they cannot afford not to pass something, even if it would be arguably the single wosrt, most destructive piece of legislation in American history, and even if it would substantially raise the chances of a political rout of Democrats in next year’s elections.

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Nov 13 2009

HealthcareSpy.com Website Launched

Category: Colorado, Health Reform, Healthcarewesley @ 7:38 am

spyguyA new website creating quite a splash gives you the good stories and the horror stories of real people dealing with our health care system. 

As the health care reform debate continues in DC, it seems that every progressive congressman and senator has no shortage of tear-jerking stories from constituents whose lives have been ruined by a broken health care system (which apparently only Government regulation can fix).  But for every health care horror story, there are many more stories of people who have had great experiences with their health care providers and their insurance companies. 

Earlier this week, a Colorado mom launched HealthcareSpy.com, a website where both good and bad health care stories can be heard.  Pregnant with twins, unemployed, and denied health coverage, the website’s creator realized that she could actually be an educated consumer and ask medical providers about the cost of their services.  Surprisingly, “it was not a horrible experience like the mainstream media made me think it would be,” she writes. 

Her only bad experience was having to pay for tests that were mandated by Colorado law that she could not opt-out of.  She launched HealthcareSpy.com not only to tell her own story, but to paint a more accurate picture of the current American health care system by encouraging others to post about their own personal experiences.  The current posts and comments on the website have already started heated discussions between those on both sides of the health care reform debate.  For more information,  point your browser to HealthcareSpy.com.

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Nov 13 2009

Your patriotic and economic duty: Fire a Democrat

Category: Health Reform, Politics, SyndicatedRossputin @ 5:01 am

Since before Barack Obama’s election, there’s been an urban legend “letter from the boss” that goes something like this (there are always multiple versions of such things):

As the CFO of this business that employees 140 people, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack Obama will be our next President, and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, I figure that the Clients will have to see an increase in our fees to them of about 8% but since we cannot increase our fees right now due to the dismal state of our economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been eating at me for a while, as we believe we are family here and I didn’t know how to choose who will have to go.

So, this is what I did. I strolled through our parking lot and found 6 Obama bumper stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the first to be laid off. I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. These folks wanted change; I gave it to them.

If you have a better idea, let me know.

Sincerely,
The Boss

While this note is meant as a half-joke, I’m coming to believe we should look at the non-joke side of it. Particularly when combined with the common wisdom that “a recession is when a neighbor loses his job; a depression is when you lose your job”, I am led by logic to make the following suggestion:

If you are an employer who will be forced to fire employees (or not hire) because of the damage done to your business either by the weak economy (made much weaker by the Democrats’ policies) or by Democrat-passed legislation, such as if health care “reform” or cap-and-trade were to pass, fire Obama supporters first.

Of course, you can’t actually say that’s your reason. But if Obama supporters work in the same way they think about politics, namely that the rest of the organization/society owes them something, they’re probably your least productive workers anyway and their firing would make sense in any case.

If you don’t hire someone, make sure they know that it’s the fault of Democrats that you are unable to afford to give that applicant a job.

Last month’s 10.2% unemployment rate is not despite the stimulus and other wrong-headed liberal economic policies; it is because of them.  And therefore, as we continue to be given doses of the same poison, we will continue to suffer the same symptoms.  I predict that unemployment will not improve in any substantial way (i.e. go below 9%) before the next elections – the single biggest thing the Republicans should campaign on.

Some will say that I am reveling in the despair of American citizens, wishing for failure, and they may ask how that’s different from the Democrat’s wishing for failure in Iraq as they did before The One became President.   The difference is that, in my view, the long term success – even survivability – of this nation is dependent on people learning that socialism is death.  And it may be that, as Ayn Rand posited in Atlas Shrugged, that Americans will keep drifting toward being a society of economic looters and moochers until capitalists, indeed capitalism itself, go on strike.

The average American voter supported “hope and change” in the absence of even a shred of principle.  It’s understandable that Barack Obama won. That’s not my point.  The Republicans had been simply terrible and Obama is a young, good-looking, charismatic black guy running for office during a time when the public has come to think that nothing really matters except iPhones, organic food, and American Idol.  Indeed, Barack Obama is the American Idol president, judged by young idiots with nothing better to do – but who will soon come to realize that they have voted for their own economic destruction.

But it’s not just “hope and change”. They voted for a guy who was an overt socialist (remember “spread the wealth around“?) and whose circle of friends and influences going all the way back to his youth was full of Marxist haters of America and politicians or “organizers” with an unlimited thirst for power, Chicago style.  Obama was not a mystery, but those voters, especially the young, simply refused to see it, seeing instead a haloed blank slate in which they could reflect their own hopes and dreams.

Unfortunately for America, our government schools don’t teach people what American hopes and dreams should be, or rather what they should not be.  They should not be the hopes to increase your standard of living by having government give you the money of someone else who earned it.  They should not be the dreams to have bureaucrats intruding into people’s private lives to make decisions for citizens too lazy to learn enough to make a wise decision for themselves.  American hopes and dreams must not be about dominating other Americans through the power of government.

Given that we have been given an Administration which wants to do just that, our options prior to the next election are limited.  Although Jefferson’s admonition that “the tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants” has a certain appeal, this is not a time for violence.  It is a time, however, for every forceful action short of violence to remind this nation of the inevitable result of their support of tyranny.

As long as the owners and managers of companies have the authority to run their own businesses (and who knows how long they’ll even still have that?), to the extent that government is doing you harm I urge those owners and managers to distribute the harm as much as possible to those who have caused it with their handout-grubbing, anti-American, anti-liberty votes for Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress.

And don’t let the few “Blue Dog” Democrats who voted “no” on the health care bill fool you.  Until the Democrats lose their majority in at least one house of Congress, particularly while we have this Manchurian Candidate of a president, nobody’s liberty is safe.  Therefore, I encourage employers to be particularly aggressive firing (and not hiring) Democrats in those districts where a Democrat is serving in Congress representing an area that voted for Bush, McCain, or both – and making sure that former or would-be employees are told in no uncertain terms that the economic climate which is causing their unemployment is due to Democratic policies.

As Charlie Cook reported in September,

Most House Democrats live in blue America and show little awareness that their party has a problem. However, the Democrats’ majority is built on a layer of 54 seats that the party picked up in 2006 and 2008 that are largely in purple – or even red – America. Democrats ought to keep in mind that 84 of their current House members represent districts won by President Bush in 2004 or John McCain in 2008.

A whopping 48 of those Democrats – eight more than the size of their party’s majority – are from districts that voted for both Bush and McCain. That America is very different from the Democratic base in blue America, and it sees many major issues very differently.

These are the politicians we need to unseat, the politicians whose vulnerability gives America the best chance to stop its descent into the economic hell which Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and their union masters are dragging us toward despite public opposition to their agenda.

And the best way to unseat an incumbent politician is for their constituents to be unemployed.  (Note: This strategy clearly does not work in Detroit…)

So, as the urban legend suggests, they wanted “change” and I encourage employers to give it to them.  The more Democrats who suffer from the policies of those they elected, the more likely America can return to a path of respect for the benefits for all which economic liberty brings.  The sooner that voters recognize that they are not owed anything, the sooner they start becoming more self-reliant not just in terms of earning a living but in terms of being informed, the sooner we have a chance to start undoing the tremendous damage of the past year (including damage begun by George W. Bush.)

So, here’s my new bumper sticker slogan:  “Save our country: Fire a Democrat!”

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Nov 13 2009

More “jobs created or saved” lies and errors

Category: Politics, SyndicatedRossputin @ 3:42 am

I reported a couple of weeks ago on an AP story describing how errors or lies are massively inflating the “jobs created or saved” number touted by the Administration as a sign of the effectiveness of the so-called “stimulus”. In that note, I pointed out that when as pro-Obama an organization as the AP is critical of the Administration, the offense must be grievous indeed.

If there is any publication to the left of the AP, it’s the Boston Globe.  And it’s that very Boston Globe which had a lead web site article on Wednesday entitled “Stimulus job boost in state exaggerated, review finds.

The first sentence of the article, from the normally pro-Obama paper, reads: “While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.”

The stories are becoming common-place: Private companies don’t understand the report filing instructions (and I actually believe that’s frequently true). Some recipients of taxpayer money are reclassifying money that wasn’t “stimulus” money as if it did come from the stimulus, giving credit where none is due. And government agencies are likely overstating the stimulus-related jobs intentionally. After all, even if a government agency is not dominated by pro-Obama people, it’s still likely to be dominated by people who believe in big government and who want citizens to believe that their tax money isn’t wasted (though most of us know better.)

As Glenn Beck has been saying lately, we’re seeing “scattered showers of journalism” appearing. Now we’re just waiting for the downpour…but I have rather little confidence in its impending arrival.

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Nov 13 2009

Health care bill: fewer insured, higher premiums

Category: PPCBrian Schwartz @ 1:30 am

Obama Care - more uninsured, higher premiums, writes economist Martin Feldstein in the Washington Post:

A key feature of the House and Senate health bills would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions. The new coverage would start immediately, and the premium could not reflect the individual’s health condition.

This well-intentioned feature would provide a strong incentive for someone who is healthy to drop his or her health insurance, saving the substantial premium costs. After all, if serious illness hit this person or a family member, he could immediately obtain coverage. As healthy individuals decline coverage in this way, insurance companies would come to have a sicker population. The higher cost of insuring that group would force insurers to raise their premiums.  …

The higher premium level would cause others who are currently insured to drop coverage, pushing premiums even higher. The result would be a spiral of rising premiums and shrinking numbers of insured.

In an attempt to prevent this, the draft legislation provides penalties for individuals who choose not to buy insurance and for employers that do not offer health insurance. But the levels of these fines are generally too low to cause a rational individual to insure.

The answer is not to increase the penalty for not buying insurance.  Just ask those in Massachusetts, where insurance premiums are increasing at nearly twice the national rate.  (Family premiums are also most expensive.) It’s time for free-market health care reforms.

(via John Goodman)

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Nov 12 2009

Confirmed: Tom Tancredo to Run for Governor

Category: UncategorizedSeng Center @ 11:08 pm

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo (CD-6) will run for Governor.  News of this possibility began surfacing on Monday, and it has now been confirmed by various sources.  The astounding development comes on the heels of the withdrawal of Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry - who Tancredo had originally endorsed - from the race on Monday.

“Early rumors that Tancredo had formed an exploratory committee ‘are not accurate,’ [Tancredo] noted. ‘We’ve not filed any papers exploring anything. I fully intend to run. It’s just that I have to do a few little things in the meantime before we can make a formal announcement. I need to get my own house in order.’”  (Westword Blog)

The news is sure to shake things up considerably in what many observers had thought was an open-and-shut race after Penry’s withdrawal.  Currently small business owner Dan Maes is the only official challenger to former Congressman Scott McInnis.

In an interview with Jimmy Sengenberger on Regis University’s Seng Center radio show on 10/29, Tancredo was posed the question, “What’s next for Tom Tancredo?”  His response: “You know, I really believe that there is a plan for all of us, God has that plan for everybody on this planet.  And I will leave it up to him as to what’s next for Tom Tancredo.” Well, now we know what God’s plan is.

To hear to the exclusive interview in full, listen to the podcast at SengCenter.com.

Click here for further details on this major development from Westword’s Michael Roberts.


Nov 12 2009

Colorado Governor Candidate Forum Video

I’m disappointed that it too so long to get these processed and published, but here are the videos from last week’s GOP governor candidate forum. With Josh Penry’s sudden withdrawal from the race they’re now somewhat dated, but they’re still informative and worth watching for the comments from Dan Maes and Scott McInnis.


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