Idea for Michigan’s Budget Impasse: Stop Harassing Baby-Sitting Moms

by Ben DeGrow | 10:37 pm, September 30, 2009

Creating a little 2007 deja vu, the state of my nativity has officially shut down non-essential government operations as Republicans and Democrats bicker over the budget and a daunting $2.8 billion deficit.
Welcome to Fiscal Year 2010: Oh Michigan, my Michigan…
It won’t solve the impasse by itself, but one part of the state budget that could [...]

Rules for Radicals, anyone?

by infinity3 | 10:05 pm, September 30, 2009

After being on the waiting list for awhile, I checked out Rules for Radicals, by Saul Alinsky from the Denver Public Library. Even after a few pages into it, I felt Alinsky held a dim and grim view of life in the free world. In his view, the only way …

Light in the Digital Age: Media Panel

by Ari Armstrong | 1:08 pm, September 30, 2009

I joined a media panel September 24 at Tattered Cover in downtown Denver. There were a few sparks. I sat right next to fellow panelist Greg Moore, which was a great position to heap abuse on the Denver Post (which Moore edits). One guy treated the question period as his personal monologue time and finally was asked to leave with security.

Yet the panelists also shared much common ground, and the discussion was interesting. Here I recount much of it. (Due to the fact that I sat on the panel, I was unable to capture any photographs or video of the event.)

The event was sponsored by the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition and moderated Thomas Kelley. The other panelists were Wendy Norris, founding editor of the Colorado Independent; Dominic Graziano, editor of the campus Metropolitan; and Adrienne Russell, a professor at the University of Denver.

The title of the event was ominous: “Darkness in the Digital Age: Has the Advent of Citizen Journalism, the Blogosphere, and the Demise of Newspapers Made Us Less Well-Informed?” When Kelley asked us for our comments beforehand, I send back a note, “I do not see ‘darkness’ in the digital age, but more light. The average person can much more easily obtain quality news and views than ever before in human history.”

In case you’re wondering how I came to sit on a panel with the likes of Greg Moore, here’s what Kelley said in his introduction: “Finally we have Ari Armstrong, a writer of several prolific and eloquent blogs, some say veering toward the right. I find him to be thoughtful.” This elicited a chuckle. So I was the token conservative (even though, as I later noted, I’m not really a conservative). At any rate I was delighted to be invited, and Kelley ran an informative and well-attended event.

Prior to the event, Kelley sent out some questions to set the tone for the evening:

1. What will become of the newspaper business model in the next five to ten years? Is there any hope for advertising as a means of supporting original reporting? Is public or non-profit subsidization the answer?

2. Is what we see on the internet from sources other than mainstream media really journalism? Are we entering a “post-journalism” era? If the industry of independent reporting is dying, where are the bloggers and the cable commentators going to get their content?

3. What do we need to keep the public service component (by that I mean digging out information on all subjects of public interest and reporting it according to a code of ethics that requires disinterest) of the newspaper business alive?

4. What is the cultural effect of a post-journalism era? Are we becoming more partisan, less broadly educated, and more exposed to un-debunked bogus information?

By luck of the draw, I spoke first. Following are my (slightly redacted) comments. In a follow-up post I’ll continue with the comments of other panelists.

One of the questions that was asked of us in e-mail prior to the event had to do with what’s going to happen now — it’s kind of a “woe is us” scenario — what’s happening now that many newspapers are going out of business. I think the title is “Darkness in the Digital Age.” … To me, I see a lot of lightness in the digital age. So that’s kind of the theme that I want to focus on.

To me, there’s been no better time, ever, to be a consumer of journalism. Today I read articles from the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Denver Post, Denver Daily, Westword, Colorado Independent, and I could probably name a dozen others if I’d kept track of that during the day.

At the click of a button you can read the best quality journalism in the world, which you simply couldn’t do before [the interent]. I remember years ago, stringing a telephone line to my computer, and that was pre-internet. So now we have more opportunity than ever as consumers of news.

But then of course there’s the problem of if you’re a professional journalist. I guess we’re shipping some more of ours off to Canada these days, from the old [Rocky Mountain News] positions. So there are definitely some transitional problems here.

I’m sure other people here know more about the industry. But I just wanted to mention a few examples of how other publications are solving these problems.

So the Wall Street Journal has in fact gone to paid, online subscriptions, and then they make their editorial content available for free.

The weeklies, Westword and Boulder Weekly, seem to be doing pretty well with a combination of online ads and print ads. But they have less printing costs, obviously. And the Westword has cut back, obviously, too.

Other things like NPR, Face the State on the right, Progress Now on the left (which does some journalism), operate by philanthropy. And this is great. So I tend to be free-market oriented, but to me voluntary charity, philanthropy, is a perfectly legitimate part of the free market.

I just looked up the Christian Science Monitor. They’re going from a print publication to a strictly online publication. But they do have a subsciption-based weekly publication, and they also will charge you for a “Daily News Briefing” for $5.75 per month. So I don’t know if that’s going to work for them, but there are certainly people who are trying to find the balance between philanthropy, online advertising, print advertising [and subscriptions].

I’m going to jump now to one of these points that was mentioned prior to us coming on, which is: What’s going to happen if the flow of journalism stops going from established newspapers to bloggers? I want to say that that whole premise is basically false.

There’s not a one-way flow of information. There’s a two-way flow of information. Now it’s true that a lot of bloggers tend to focus on commentary, which means they’re integrating news facts that they’re reading around them, such as Mike Littwin might do at the Denver Post or the editorial staff might do. So it’s a similar function.

But that’s not the only function. Just like Mike Littwin might do original journalism, original investigative work, so bloggers might do the same thing. And often the journalism flow is coming back to the newspapers. So I’m just going to give a few examples here.

Last year, Katy Human of the Denver Post wrote an article about health insurance, and about the effects of children and health insurance, and the effects of not having any. And she mentioned these studies that prove her point. Well, the studies sounded a little bit fishy to me, so I sent her an e-mail and said, hey, why don’t you send me what the list of your studies is. And she hemmed and hawed, and finally I sent an e-mail to David Kopel and Jason Salzman, because at the time they were the media critics at the [Rocky Mountain News], and finally she was persuaded to hand over her studies.

But then David Kopel wrote up a follow up for the Rocky, pointing out that none of the studies supported her point.

So this is an example I thought of bloggers and people on the editorial side sending feedback to the journalism side of the news.

I’ll just give one more example. The Denver Post published an op-ed by a guy named T. R. Reid (again on the health policy issue, since that’s what’s hot). [Read my critique.] And he completely misstated international comparisons on waiting times for elective surgeries. Now I know this because I looked it up. I did the research, I looked at the original sources, and I found the real stats. He simply misstated them. And he also omitted stats on emergency visits and specialists. Unfortunately, the Denver Post chose not to run my letter correcting that piece. But nevertheless the flow of journalism goes both ways.

I wanted to quickly run through a few examples of some real journalism being done by bloggers. And I also contribute to a group of vaguely right-wing, conservative bloggers called the People’s Press Collective. So I want to mention several examples.

If you want to hear what people are saying at some of these rallies — the tax rallies, Tea Party rallies — there’s really no other place to look, if you want extended interviews with the actual participants, than my web page. [Listen to interviews from 4/15, 7/4, 7/28, 8/6, and 9/12.] Because I got my video camera, interviewed them extensively, and had a lot of them published online. The Denver Post maybe quoted one or two people in very short snippets (and that’s just the nature of the medium). So that’s one example of positive journalism.

When an economists named Thomas Woods came to Colorado to speak about his new book on economics, I looked up some of his older articles in which he blasted abolitionists and was praising antebellum culture. So I thought that was a little odd. I thought that was worth looking up as a journalistic enterprise.

Earlier this year, in response to a CNN report, I conducted my own “Low-Carb Food Stamp Diet.” Now this was more proactive, obviously — I was part of the story. But I thought it was a fun way to illustrate some of the facts surrounding the story.

In 2007, I solicited and published a letter from Mark Udall about the separation of church and state, which I thought was a pivotal issue in that election.

So you heard about the vandalism at the Denver Democratic Headquarters. Thankfully Denver police caught the [alleged] perpetrator, the name of Schwenkler. One of my friends, Michael Sandoval, did some searching online and found that this character had been paid by a left-wing organization to do Democratic campaign work. So this was an important break in a big story.

I’ll just give one more. A guy named Todd Shepherd, who actually works for the Independence Institute, recently found that Jared Polis, the congressman up in the Boulder area, was investing in medical tourism, meaning companies that specialize in taking people to other countries to get medical treatment. Which I thought was an interesting detail given the current national debates.

My main point here is that journalism works both ways. Independents and bloggers can feed back journalism to newspapers, and they can do their own original investigative reporting. And this is a great thing. So, while it stinks if you were an employee of the Rocky Mountain News (and I don’t know if the Post is looking at any layoffs, hopefully not), in the world of independent writing and blogging, there’s been an explosion of great content.

Wednesday Wrap-Up

by Jon Caldara | 12:56 pm, September 30, 2009

***Feels great to be back in the States! Our Canadian Health Care Fact Finding Trip was a resounding success. We were able to get coverage on the Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier and a whole slew of local Fox affiliates (including our Fox 31), in addition to being published in The [...]

Why Chicago is a Bad Choice For the Olympics

by Mr. Bob | 8:55 am, September 30, 2009

#tcot #teaparty #chicago #olympics
My bottom line is we need to stop rewarding bad politicians who are screwing up our country, our cities and our community with more money. Chicago has been sliding into third world status right behind Detroit in it’s most dangerous places in the United States category. I have been wondering out loud if Rudi Guliani is doing anything and might want to run for mayor of Chicago next. Obviously the corruption is so deep in Chicago they can’t function. Kids are killing each other (black on black mostly) in the streets and still blaming racism and poverty for their behavior… in spite of the fact that a lot of it is happening some of the best funded schools in the country. Liberalism does not work.

From Newsblaze

Chicago is a very poor choice to host the Olympics, it will showcase the worst of America, not the best. If Chicago can’t protect its own citizens from brutal street thugs, how can it possibly protect thousands of non-street savvy foreigners?

In a surprising move President Barack Obama is traveling to Copenhagen to campaign for Chicago hosting the Summer Olympics. This is a risky and silly move by Obama, if Chicago loses its bid he will be perceived as a loser by the world community.

With the economy in shambles, and Obama’s health care plan going nowhere (not to mention two senseless wars), the leader of the free world needs to get his priorities in order. Read the rest

Clear The Bench Colorado Director does Grassroots Revival week – Part Two: South Denver 912 Project (Castle Rock)

by CTBC Director | 2:23 am, September 30, 2009

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 [...]

Bite me, Jew boy

by Rossputin | 1:59 am, September 30, 2009

Now that I have your attention with that blog post title…

How many of you have heard about the mini-scandal regarding NBC and the libertarian/conservative non-profit called Americans for Limited Government?

The short version of the story: ALG sent out an e-mail regarding Congress and funding for ACORN. One of the e-mail recipients was Jane Stone, a producer for NBC’s Dateline program. ALG claims that her response to Alex Rosenwald of AIG was “Bite me Jew boy” and they provide this copy of the e-mail as evidence. The president of NBC News is saying that the e-mail is bogus, but ALG is equally firm in their claim that “the hateful email was indeed sent from NBC’s server, and this can be verified, and was not tampered with, which can also be verified.” ALG has offered to help NBC find out who sent the “hateful” e-mail if NBC truly believes Ms. Stone didn’t send it.

Before I go further, let me make one thing clear: I’m not a person who is easily offended, and as a “Jew boy” myself I recognize there are anti-Semites out there, whether or not Jane Stone actually sent the note. I don’t care much about them.

What this episode reminds me of, however, is my recent question (one also posed by smarter and more influential people than me, such as Larry Greenfield and Norman Podhoretz), of why Jews are so stubbornly supportive of the Democratic Party, or more generally why Jews are liberals, given what liberal has come to mean in today’s society.

It’s the Democrats who support the UN, which is the world’s leading anti-Semitic organization.

It’s the Democrats in Congress who support the Palestinians and who, like the UN, criticize Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism.

And, as I’ve said before, the home of anti-Semitism in today’s “mainstream” politics is the Congressional Black Caucus, a subsidiary of the Democratic Party.

I realize that the question of Jewish political affiliations is complex, that it includes an entirely rational historical distaste for Republicans who run country clubs and corporations which excluded Jews.  But times change. The GOP is far more supportive of Jews in general and Israel in particular than is the non-Jewish majority of the Democratic Party.

The Democrats are the party of beggar-thy-neighbor. And whether you like it or not, Jews tend to earn higher than average incomes – making us a prime target for the Democratic politics of jealousy.  Jews tend to be very charitable. Indeed, part of the Yom Kippur requirements to atone for misdeeds of the prior year is charity. Jews are probably tending to confuse charity with the Welfare State.  They are NOT the same thing.  Beyond issues of efficiency, i.e. the state wasting a lot of money as it redistributes wealth, the key point is that charity is not something given at the point of a gun or the threat of prison.  Supporting government redistribution of wealth is not charitable. It is coercion.  And if there is anything that our history should cause Jews should oppose, it is government coercion.

Obama lies (or misleads) on health care

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, September 30, 2009

Michael F. Cannon (Cato) and Ramesh Ponnuru (National Review Online) list 21 misleading or false statements in president Obama’s speech about health care a couple weeks ago.  Here’s the list.  To see why these are false and/or misleading, read the article on how Obama misleads.
1. “Buying insurance on your own costs you three times as [...]

The Destruction of ACORN, the Strategy of Breitbart & Why We Must All Remain Vigilant

by Mr. Bob | 10:43 am, September 29, 2009

#pjtv #teaparty #acorn #tcot
click here for a Great Video from PJTV

More Coverage and Stories

by Jon Caldara | 10:12 am, September 29, 2009

Wow, we must be doing something right if even the L.A. Times writes such a favorable article on the southward escape routes that exist in Canada. Medical “brokers” arrange these routes south to us in the States as a last ditch effort to relieve someone of chronic pain or keep them alive. The author [...]

Clear The Bench Colorado Director does Grassroots Revival week – Part One: ROAR tonight! (Revive Our American Republic)

by CTBC Director | 9:12 am, September 29, 2009

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 [...]

Vetting? What Vetting? Does Obama care who is in his cabinet?

by Mr. Bob | 8:28 am, September 29, 2009

#tcot #teaparty #education
hat tip HolyCoast and the Wash Times.

A teacher was told by a 15-year-old high school sophomore that he was having homosexual sex with an “older man.”….
That former teacher, Kevin Jennings, is President Obama’s “safe school czar.”….

In this one case in which Mr. Jennings had a real chance to protect a young boy from a sexual predator, he not only failed to do what the law required but actually encouraged the relationship.

According to Mr. Jennings’ own description in a new audiotape discovered by Fox News, the 15-year-old boy met the “older man” in a “bus station bathroom” and was taken to the older man’s home that night. When some details about the case became public, Mr. Jennings threatened to sue another teacher who called his failure to report the statutory rape “unethical.”

Read the rest if you can stomach it.

If any of you are still worshiping ‘the one’, like these young minds below perhaps you should rethink whether Obama is worthy of your prayers.

If you believe that Obama has the power to deliver you from bad things like the people below, perhaps you should repent from your idolatry.

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold at R Block Party grassroots forum (Thursday 24 September 2009)

by CTBC Director | 7:44 am, September 29, 2009

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold spoke last Thursday at a candidate and issues forum hosted by local grassroots organization R Block Party.
 
Video coverage of the event has been provided courtesy of TL James of Peoples Press Collective – “if you’re getting your news from the mass media, you’re not getting the news.”
Get involved in defending YOUR rights – vote [...]

Covering Government Health Care Stories North of the Border

by Ben DeGrow | 6:31 am, September 29, 2009

Some of my Independence Institute colleagues have taken the show north of the border, organizing a conference to introduce journalists to the real-life stories of Canadians adversely affected by their government health care system’s painfully long waiting lists. Great coverage in the Los Angeles Times (shock!) and Washington Times.
For more, the prolific Gateway Pundit has [...]

Global Warming: If you don’t have good science, lose the science you have

by Rossputin | 2:18 am, September 29, 2009

One thing you can say about global warming climate change alarmists is that (like all leftists), they are almost amusingly utilitarian, i.e. they will do or say anything to reach their goals, even if their goals are based on a concept that has no foundation.  Actually, that’s not fair.  It’s not that their goals have no foundation; it’s that their goals and the foundations are not what they claim.

For example, I’m sure there are a few global warming alarmists who really do believe the planet is warming and the end of the world is nigh.  However, far more of them are simply anti-capitalists and big-government supporters and rent-seekers trying to gain wealth or power through psuedo-science.

As we all know, the public is becoming increasingly skeptical of global warming claims (not least because none of the major alarmist claims are true) and of the cost to address the non-problem.

President Obama spoke at the UN Climate Change summit last week and offered some of the same tired mythology that we hear from Algore, James Hansen, and other self-serving scare-mongers.  In particular, he talked about a warming planet, rising seas, and increasing storm intensity.

However, as the data show, the planet hasn’t warmed since about 1998 and has cooled since 2002.  Sea levels are barely rising…to the tiny extent they are rising, it is much slower than in prior history.  Also, “hurricane intensity is at its lowest since satellite monitoring began” and there is no evidence that droughts have been getting worse.  In fact, in recent years, the planet has been getter greener, not dryer.

That’s the counter-alarmist side: The ACTUAL DATA show that the alarmists are wrong, not to mention the fundamental fact that they try to blame climate change on human-produced CO2 even though the data show that atmospheric CO2 concentrations primarily change AFTER, not before, temperature changes.  In other words, a warmer climate releases more CO2 into the atmosphere.

So, what do you do if you’re an alarmist researcher and you realize that you’re losing the argument (and maybe the road to easy lifetime funding)?  Apparently you lose the data which you collected with other scientists might be able to use to disprove your claims.

In a remarkable story, climate scientist (and rather funny guy) Pat Michaels tells us the story of how “The Dog Ate Global Warming“, recounting how some of the people who had the oldest temperature sensor data in existence now say the data is gone, but only after asking one scientist who had requested the data “Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it?”

To quote Michaels: “Reread that statement, for it is breathtaking in its anti-scientific thrust. In fact, the entire purpose of replication is to ‘try and find something wrong.’ The ultimate objective of science is to do things so well that, indeed, nothing is wrong.”

As I said, it’s not surprising that the alarmists will cheat, lie, and destroy data to protect their precious government funding, their path toward regulating absolutely everything and taxing absolutely everything, and their rent-seeking behavior (not least by Algore.)

The public is slowly but surely catching on.  Skepticism about people causing climate change is rising. In a Gallup survey earlier this year, two interesting highlights:

• Among all environmental issues, global warming was the one people cared about least
• The percentage of Americans who think the threat of global warming is exaggerated is at its highest level ever, and far exceeds the number who think the threat is underestimated, by 41% to 28%

A new Rasmussen poll shows that 65% of Americans believe creating jobs is more important than trying to stop global warming (as if stopping climate change is possible, anyway.)  The rest of the poll is also interesting to read, for those of you interested in such things.

And separately, polls consistently show that support for climate change legislation or renewable energy mandates falls off a cliff when people learn how much their energy prices will rise if those things pass.

Americans are not stupid.  They’re just mislead consistently by their (primarily Democrat) leaders and by the leftist media who love the idea of government regulation of everything (except of them, of course.)

Outlawing affordable health insurance

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, September 29, 2009

A few months ago Jon Caldara and others at the Independence Institute put together a great video about how Obama Care would outlaw affordable insurance. In All the President’s Mandates: Compulsory Health Insurance Is a Government Takeover, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute explains this in detail. That is, how mandatory insurance proposed by the [...]

The Deadline Approaches: Time to Send a Message with Your Money

by Ben DeGrow | 10:03 pm, September 28, 2009

We’re two days away from the close of the political fundraising quarter. And maybe you’ve been getting harassed by the same amount of emails and other contacts as I have, urging you to give before the next reports come out.
But I’ll repeat it, too: If you have a clear favorite in one or more [...]

Colorado GOP Hopefuls at R Block Party Candidate Forum

by T.L. James | 8:00 pm, September 28, 2009

Last Thursday, GOP candidates for statewide and local elections took part in a candidate forum hosted by local grassroots organization R Block Party. The event had great attendance, not just with a nearly-full room at Bemis Public Library in Littleton (there were another ten or so people standing off-camera to the right) but with a broad selection of candidates from [...]

Greetings from Vancouver!

by Jon Caldara | 11:59 am, September 28, 2009

Wondering where I was were ya? Well, I’m hanging out with our neighbors to the north in Vancouver, Canada (eh?) on a mission to get a closer look at the Canadian health care system. We’ve got 6 Canadians who were denied treatment under their “public option,” and are willing to share their stories.
We [...]

Time to question NRSC strategy is NOW

by Mr. Bob | 11:43 am, September 28, 2009

#tcot #nrsc #conservative #boxer #teaparty
From HOLYCOAST.com

The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the part of the GOP charged with electing Republican Senators, is apparently planning to lose the race next year to Barbara “Dumb as a Box of Rocks” Boxer. Red State reports from the California GOP convention in Indian Wells:

I’m writing to tell you about the loose talk here about Carly and the NRSC, emanating from the friends of Larry Elder.

You know Larry Elder: the African-American, Californian, libertarian, popular radio host and firebrand. He’s been around for a while, and he’s a solid presence on the California media-and-politics scene. Elder is a serious name and presence among California Republicans. He just wrapped up his radio show. “Why,” you might ask, “doesn’t Larry Elder run for the Senate?”

There is an answer according to many of Elder’s friends at the Republican Convention — Senator Cornyn and the NRSC told him not to.

California Republicans are used to a parade of incompetence and self-defeating stupidity at the highest levels of our beloved party. But this goes beyond what we’re used to. The NRSC nixed a perfectly viable and unique candidacy in favor of a candidate whose own website ponders if she is “coming soon?” READ THE REST AT HOLYCOAST

The time to send money directly to conservative candidates has arrived, if the NRSC cannot see the tide coming, cannot discern the wall of rejection coming for both Democrats and incumbent Republicans screw em. I will still send money to the NRCC but only with direct instructions to where I want it to go. I do not trust their judgment, I have seen too many mistakes made, too many strategies gone awry. They think they don’t have enough money to help all races, that may be true, but not because there isn’t enough money to go around it is because we don’t trust them with it. I realize beating Boxer is a long shot but this is the first chance we’ve had in decades…we need to try.

Obama doesn’t communicate with Afghanistan Commander

by Mr. Bob | 11:18 am, September 28, 2009

#tcot #gwot #terror #afghanistan
By Amanda Carpenter on Sept. 28, 2009 into The Back Story Washington Times

U.S. commander in Afghanistan talked with Obama only once

The military general credited with capturing Saddam Hussein and killing the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, says he has spoken with President Obama only once since taking command in Afghanistan.

“I’ve talked to the president, since I’ve been here, once on a VTC [video teleconferece],” Gen. Stanley McChrystal told CBS reporter David Martin in a television interview that aired Sunday.

“You’ve talked to him once in 70 days?” Mr. Martin followed up.

“That is correct,” the general replied READ THE REST

Fifty Ways to Leave Obama

by Ari Armstrong | 10:00 am, September 28, 2009

The following article originally was published in the September 28, 2009, edition of Grand Junction’s Free Press.

Fifty Ways to Leave Obama

by Linn and Ari Armstrong

“I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free / There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.” — Paul Simon

If you’re a leftist Democrat, you may have started to question your love affair with Barack Obama.

Secularists of the left probably noticed that Obama has ramped up George W. Bush’s program of faith-based welfare, trampling the wall between church and state. Civil libertarians may scratch their heads at Obama’s fervor to extend the PATRIOT Act, and he has hardly been a friend to gay rights.

Pacifists can’t be happy that the military remains in Iraq while the war in Afghanistan flares. Anti-corporate Democrats may wonder why Obama advocates so many billions of dollars for corporate welfare and proposes that the federal government force citizens to buy (politically controlled) products from the insurance industry.

If you’re an honest leftie, Obama’s administration has got to seem in many ways like George W. Bush’s third term.

Obviously conservatives dislike Obama’s anti-energy policies and his plans to increase controls of medicine.

Thankfully, as Obama’s inaugural honeymoon comes to an end, there’s a new book out that offers fifty ways to leave Obama.

The book’s authors, however, are so codependent on the Chosen One that they write as though Obama walks on water — when he’s not changing it to wine. Thus, they titled their book, “50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America.”

But if you get past the title, you will find that the book is mostly about civic participation. Thus, it might be moderately useful regardless of your political goals. Ironically, the book may prove most useful for those fighting Obama’s policies.

The book is written by Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman. Readers may recall that your younger author Ari and Huttner have had a couple of run-ins in the past. Last year, Huttner tried to go after the Independence Institute’s Jon Caldara for saying “bitch slap” on the radio. Caldara was “demeaning women,” Huttner proclaimed. Unfortunately for Huttner, left-wing comments on his own web page used the same phrase, Ari pointed out.

Earlier this year, Huttner went after Michelle Malkin when some random yokel with a sign posed for a photo with Malkin at a rally. The sign inappropriately compared Obama with Nazis. Huttner also blasted gubernatorial hopeful Josh Penry for speaking at the rally, even though neither he nor Malkin had anything to do with the sign.

Again Ari pointed out that many leftists inappropriately compared Bush to Nazis, including posters to Huttner’s own web page.

The lesson in all of this is to adapt Huttner’s political advice with some common sense, lest, like Huttner, you end up looking like a mean-spirited hypocrite.

Though we often disagree with Salzman, we find him to be a more measured and thoughtful activist, and he graciously sent Ari a review copy of the book.

In its policy advice, the book is utterly worthless. For example, on medical policy, the book with apparently straight text cites union statistics on the uninsured and bankruptcy — figures that have been blown out of the water by serious analysts. So just skip the entire first part of the book.

We were initially fearful that you can “help Obama” if you “plant your own garden” or “quit smoking.” Neither of us smokes, and Ari and his wife planted 48 tomato plants this year.

But then we realized that Huttner and Salzman must be growing something special in their gardens if they take their own advice here seriously. “Eating food that’s grown nearby eliminates pollution,” these authors tell us. That’s nonsense: growing a garden requires production of soil, seeds, tools, etc.

Notably, production and distribution of the book also generates pollution, but strangely we found no advice for publishing only ebooks, not paper ones.

Huttner and Salzman also claim to endorse “supporting small farmers.” But doesn’t growing your own food mean you’re not supporting small farmers?

The key point the book misses is that, if you grow your own food, you don’t have to pay taxes on your labor or the produce, and that is surely not helping Obama’s (or Governor Ritter’s) tax-and-spend agenda.

So let’s move on to the serious advice. “Attend a leadership training.” We agree! Some of our friends attend Liberty Toastmasters, People’s Press Collective technology training, and the Leadership Program of the Rockies. Contact legislators and testify at hearings.

“Get news that’s truly fair and balanced.” For instance, read FreeColorado.com and PeoplesPressCollective.com, along with this column

“Stage or attend a rally, media event, or protest.” while the left obviously hates it when free-market advocates take to the streets, we fully endorse peaceful, civil protest.

We’ve followed a lot of the book’s advice in fighting Obama’s agenda of political controls. We urge you to do the same.

“Slip out the back, Jack / Make a new plan, Stan… Just drop off the key, Lee / And get yourself free.”

Linn Armstrong is a local political activist and firearms instructor with the Grand Valley Training Club. His son, Ari, edits FreeColorado.com from the Denver area.

Beneath Surface of Sept. Survey: Josh Penry’s Biggest Gains with Older Voters

by Ben DeGrow | 8:01 am, September 28, 2009

For those who wish to dig a little deeper, today (at the end of this post) we release some more analysis of the results of our September survey of Colorado’s political temperature. A few highlights — in no particular order:

The biggest gains fueling Josh Penry’s surge in the latest poll come among those in the [...]

Six figure jobs

by Amy Oliver | 7:00 am, September 28, 2009

Joe Biden said the Obama stimulus is all about a three letter word: J-O-B-S. 
Colorado’s share of the stimulus money, $819,313,005 spent thus far, has created 5232 jobs according to Governor Ritter’s report The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: What it means for Colorado.  A closer look reveals that 2862 were temporary summer youth jobs.  Another [...]

Don’t trust polls from a fake “Institute”

by Rossputin | 1:45 am, September 28, 2009

[Update: I was pleased to see that the Grand Junction Sentinel published my letter…]

As Ben DeGrow has noted in some detail, the Colorado Policy Institute, although named to sound like an independent think tank, is essentially an arm of Scott McInnis’s gubernatorial campaign (and also has close ties to the Jane Norton Senate campaign.)

Following a straw poll in Keystone/Frisco last week in which State Senator Josh Penry trounced Scott McInnis, I noticed (while visiting Grand Junction) that the Grand Junction Sentinel ran an article which, after noting the Keystone/Frisco result, mentioned a poll put out by the Colorado Policy Institute.

The following is the letter I sent to the Sentinel in response to their article:

The Sentinel does no favors for its readers by allowing Scott McInnis to “tout” a poll released by the Colorado Policy Institute showing him leading Josh Penry. The Colorado Policy Institute is run by Sean Tonner, whom McInnis has said is working for his campaign. McInnis also has said that  Monica Owens, daughter of our former governor, is working for him.  And guess what? She’s an employee of Tonner’s political consulting company.  In other words, the people behind the Colorado Policy Institute are anything but objective and their polls, whether about the Governor’s race or anything else, are not to be trusted. Given the poor quality of Scott McInnis’s campaign so far, it is more likely that the result of the Keystone/Frisco straw poll, showing Josh Penry well ahead among the GOP activist base, represents the true current situation.

[Note: CompleteColorado.com has the audio of a McInnis phone call where he says the things I assert in my note to the GJ Sentinel.]

 

Probably the single best economic argument against Obamacare

by Rossputin | 1:07 am, September 28, 2009

There are lots of reasons to oppose Obamacare, from the fact that the leftist goals it entails are unconstitutional to the fact that the plans currently being discussed won’t even accomplish those goals.  On Friday, an opinion piece by three economists in the Wall Street Journal had what I think is the single best article destroying Obamacare with economic arguments.  It’s a must-read…

See “Doubling Down on a Flawed Insurance Model“, by John Cogan, Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel Kessler, WSJ, 9/25/09
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204488304574426872264215790.html

KRCX Seng Center 9/17 Constitution Day Special – Part Two

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 7:00 pm, September 27, 2009

The following is Part Two of the 9/17 “Constitution Day Special” on Regis University’s Seng Center radio show, featuring our discussion with Andy McKean, President of the national nonpartisan organization Liberty Day, and Jimmy’s monologue on the greatness of the USA.  For more information about Liberty Day, visit them online at LibertyDay.org.

Direct Link
49.78 MB Download

Comments are more than welcome!  E-mailed Jimmy at Jimmy@SengCenter.comor post on the site!  As always, please be respectful in your remarks.

Tune in LIVE to Seng Center every Thursday night from 6-8pm MTN online at krcx.org, official website of KRCX 93.9 Regis University.

KRCX Seng Center 9/17 Constitution Day Special – Part One

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 7:00 pm, September 27, 2009

The following is Part One of the 9/17 “Constitution Day Special” on Regis University’s Seng Center radio show, featuring our interview with Matt Arnold, Director of Clear the Bench Colorado, and our chat with Sean Doherty, publisher of The Constitutional Reporter, in which we preview the 9/19 “Save Our Constitution Rally.”

For more information about Clear the Bench Colorado’s effort to convince Coloradans to vote NO on retaining the 4 Injustices of the Colorado Supreme Court up for retention in 2010, visit them online at ClearTheBenchColorado.org.  To learn more about The Constitutional Reporter, check them out at TheConstitutionalReporter.com.

Direct Link
48.96 MB Download

Comments are more than welcome!  E-mailed Jimmy at Jimmy@SengCenter.com or post on the site!  As always, please be respectful in your remarks.

Tune in LIVE to Seng Center every Thursday night from 6-8pm MTN online at krcx.org, official website of KRCX 93.9 Regis University.

No transparency in stimulus grants

by Amy Oliver | 4:21 pm, September 27, 2009

Let’s face it; we can put a man on the moon, bring down the evil empire, and cure diseases, but we cannot track $787 billion of taxpayer money.   
Denver Post reporter Miles Moffeit reports that “despite federal lawmakers’ pledge of transparency, the final stages of most money trails, along with key information about job impacts, will remain [...]

Hear me talk health care: Sunday 6 PM

by Brian T. Schwartz | 4:20 pm, September 27, 2009

I’ll be on John Andrews’ radio show Sunday July 12 at (or a bit after) 6 PM on 710 KNUS AM.  Here’s the slated line up for Sunday, July 12.   The station broadcasts on-line here.  For my writing on health care, see PatientPowerNow.org and my recent publications.

Thanks to Matt at …

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