Colorado Political Analysis: 2010

by Mr. Bob | 10:00 am, December 31, 2009

#redco #conservative #tcot
Colorado’s own (and the Rocky Mountain Alliance’s own) Night Twister has been published on Red State with his Colorado Political Analysis for 2010. If you are interested in getting involved in Colorado Politics, taking our state back from Progressives, this is a good place to start.

Reflections on 2009

by Rossputin | 5:44 am, December 31, 2009

Before I start on my note for the day, please allow me to thank all my readers (and especially those who took the time to offer comments) for an interesting 2009 from the perspective of a blogger.  It’s increasingly difficult to find the time to have at least one new blog note for all but maybe a dozen days a year.  Hearing from readers (whether you agree, disagree, or just want to have a conversation) helps keep me going.

2009 for me was better than 2008 in all ways except for the trends in our nation’s government.  It’s been an amazing year watching my kids grow.  My 2-year old son now almost seems like a real person, versus last year when he was less than a year old and wasn’t really that interesting.  Similarly, my 4-year old daughter has developed a personality that lights up a room.

Financially, it wasn’t great, but it was certainly better than 2008.  I’m sure the same is true for most people.

Writing was fun, particularly writing for Human Events, and I enjoyed each of my opportunities to guest-host talk radio shows in Greeley and Denver.

Around the house, my wife spent dozens of hours (and many hundreds of dollars) building beautiful gardens in rock-walled terraces, full of spectacular flowers and relatively drought- and animal-resistant plants called sedum (aka “stonecrop”.)  Although the flowers only stick around for a few months at our altitude (well over 8,000 feet), it’s really changed the character of our property for the better…and given my wife enthusiasm to stay where we are rather than trying to sell the house to avoid the long, cold high-altitude winters.

On one hand, those who only know me through my blog may think that my entire life revolves thinking and writing about politics.  It’s not true, and I realize that politics is just one part of life.  That said, at some point politics because truly important and truly impactful on our lives.

And we are at that point, thanks to the American voters who decided to elect a president for no real reason other than his skin color and despite many bright red warning flags waving in their faces.

I’m very torn as we watch what’s happening here.  Part of me believes, as I’ve said many times, that we’re living Atlas Shrugged and that the only quasi-permanent way to keep voters from supporting fascist/socialist candidates like Barack Obama is to let the suffer through what comes from actually electing one.  And part of me believes the permanent damage to the country I love may be intolerably great and nearly impossible to undo.

At this point, I have to hope that my Randian approach is correct because at least for the next several months the tyrannical Democratic majorities in Congress will keep going down their radical path of government takeover of absolutely everything.

The moochers and the looters are in charge.  Americans are getting the government they deserve.  But I can’t feeling that my children are suffering for the brain-dead idiocy of Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans who voted for Barack Obama.  For the record, and in line with my Randian approach, I maintain my position that I was correct to vote Libertarian. If John McCain represents winning, then we’ve already lost.  I’d rather take my chances with living through Barack Obama and having the public possibly learn a multi-generational lesson than to have people believe that someone like McCain is the best America or the GOP can do.

So, as America suffers through the Obama Administration, all I can do is try to show my children (admittedly too young to understand political lessons, even by example) what is important and to try to impart some of those views to my readers. At some point, there will be another American revolution.  Whether it’s more like 1776 or 1994 is yet to be seen.

In the meantime, I plan to remind myself that politics isn’t everything and to take pleasure from life’s “simple things”, like my family and even my wife’s garden, and to notice that those are really what’s important.

Colorado ballot inititiative to block parts of Obama Care

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, December 31, 2009

Update: Become a fan of this cause on on the Defend Colorado from ObamaCare Facebook page.
From the Denver Post:
Coloradans will likely be asked in November to blunt the impact of federal health-insurance reform with a state constitutional amendment that would attempt to undo some of what Congress is trying to pass.
Jon Caldara of the Independence [...]

Transparency for taxpayer funded non-profits?

by Amy Oliver | 4:55 pm, December 30, 2009

In her recently published opinion editorial, COST intern Elizabeth Matecki suggests that transparency should extend to taxpayer-funded non-profits such as Community Centered Boards (CCBs), which are state-established service providers for the developmentally disabled.
Elizabeth discovered that some CCBs hide behind their 501c3 status, refuse to answer questions about how they spend taxpayer dollars, and claim they can’t provide necessary [...]

Defend Colorado from Obamacare

by Jon Caldara | 3:59 pm, December 30, 2009

Help Colorado opt-out of Obamacare!! I’m calling for an amendment to the Colorado Constitution that would opt Colorado out the onerous health insurance mandates coming out of Washington DC.

What’s in a name (or title)?

by Rossputin | 12:38 pm, December 30, 2009

Over at Politico.com, they have an article about security reviews ordered by President Obama.  At least, that’s what you get when you click on the article’s title from the main page.  However, based on the title itself, I wondered if Politico wasn’t delving into proctology:

Exclusive: Details from Obama’s probe

I’m not necessarily suggesting you read the article.  Just thought you might enjoy a brief chuckle, at least if your sense of humor is as easily dragged into the gutter (or other less than clean location) as mine is…

Night Twister Comes Through Again with Colorado Political Analysis 2010

by Ben DeGrow | 9:32 am, December 30, 2009

Randy Ketner, aka The Night Twister, has outdone himself once again. He started off the year back in January with an encyclopedic blog post for political activists titled Getting Connected in Colorado. Now, to close down 2009, on the eve of a most crucial election year, he has created the thorough and aptly titled “Colorado [...]

Another Obama Administration travesty of justice

by Rossputin | 6:48 am, December 30, 2009

[Update: Coincidentally, over at the WSJ, Shelby Steele has written a note on the same path as this one, though with a wider view about Barack Obama: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254604574614540488450188.html?]

While the Obama Administration is busy charging a Muslim bomber with a standard criminal charge, they’re also doing their best to protect domestic terrorists, the New Black Panthers.  After an obviously criminal evening at a Pennsylvania voting location during the 2008 election during which members of the New Black Panther Party were intimidating voters, the career Justice Department attorney who wanted to pursue the charges against the thugs has been transferred out of DC to a US Attorney’s office in South Carolina.

So much for a post-racial presidency, when the Black president and his Black Attorney General and his Black assistant, Loretta King, drop charges against a group whose only reason for existence is anti-white racism mixed with virulent socialism.

If there were ever a slam-dunk conviction for violating voting rights, this was it.  In fact, a judge had already issued default rulings against the defendants…which Holder and Co. simply dismissed.

Apparently the only criminals in America are bankers…particularly bankers who didn’t break any laws.

The Obama Administration becomes more reprehensible and tyrannical by the day.

America, you are getting the government you deserve with your lazy, brain-dead, cult-like following of The One, despite all you knew about his friends and influences, his lack of experience, and the fact that the only reason he is president is because of his skin color.  Yes, it’s that simple.  For those of you who are not socialists but who voted for him anyway, feel free to apologize.

To defeat government-controlled medicine, repudiate morality of need

by Brian Schwartz | 1:26 am, December 30, 2009

Opponents of the Democrats’ health care “reform” proposals have said the new legislation would lead to higher costs, lower quality, and less access.   But with the passing of HR 3692 (House) and HR 3950 (Senate) looks like the Democrats will have their way. Why?  In the Investor’s Business Daily, Yaron Brook and Dan Watkins of [...]

Year in Review Dave Barry

by Mr. Bob | 11:38 am, December 29, 2009

#davebarry #2009yearinreview #tcot #teaparty

Obama and Democrats are not going to like this one…he’s only supposed to make fun of conservatives. DB is an equal opportunity offender. Happy New Year to everyone. Here are some excerpts but take the time to read it all!

It was a year of Hope — at first in the sense of “I feel hopeful!” and later in the sense of “I hope this year ends soon!”

It was also a year of Change, especially in Washington, where the tired old hacks of yesteryear finally yielded the reins of power to a group of fresh, young, idealistic, new-idea outsiders such as Nancy Pelosi. As a result Washington, rejecting “business as usual,” finally stopped trying to solve every problem by throwing billions of taxpayer dollars at it and instead started trying to solve every problem by throwing trillions of taxpayer dollars at it….

The No. 1 item on the agenda is fixing the economy, so the new administration immediately sets about the daunting task of trying to nominate somebody — anybody — to a high-level government post who actually remembered to pay his or her taxes. Among those who forgot this pesky chore is Obama’s nominee for Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, who sheepishly admits that he failed to pay $35,000 in federal self-employment taxes. He says that the error was a result of his using TurboTax, which he also blames for his involvement in an eight-state spree of bank robberies. He is confirmed after the Obama administration explains that it inherited the U.S. Tax Code from the Bush administration.….

FEBRUARY

. . . that Congress passes, without reading it, and without actually finishing writing it, a stimulus package totaling $787 billion. The money is immediately turned over to American taxpayers so they can use it to stimulate the economy.

No! What a crazy idea THAT would be! The money is to be doled out over the next decade or so by members of Congress on projects deemed vital by members of Congress, such as constructing buildings that will be named after members of Congress. This will stimulate the economy by creating millions of jobs, according to estimates provided by the Congressional Estimating Office’s Magical Estimating 8-Ball…

The Obama administration’s confirmation woes continue as Tom Daschle is forced to withdraw as nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services following the disclosure that he, too, failed to pay all of his federal taxes. He blames this oversight on the fact that his tax returns were prepared by Treasury Secretary Geithner…

Baseball star Alex Rodriguez admits that from 2001 through 2003 he used steroids, which he claims he got from Treasury Secretary Geithner….

MARCH

. . . an angry nation learns that the giant insurance company AIG, which received $170 billion in taxpayer bailouts and posted a $61 billion loss, is paying executive bonuses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This news shocks and outrages President Obama and members of Congress, who happen to be the very people who passed the legislation that authorized both the bailouts and the bonuses, but of course they did that during a crisis and thus had no time to find out what the hell they were voting for….

READ IT ALL HERE

2010 Political Predictions Show

by Jon Caldara | 6:29 am, December 29, 2009

So what’s on tap in Colorado politics for 2010? Tune in to Independent Thinking to find out as Dan Haley from the Denver Post and Adam Schrager from Channel 9 News join me for a 2010 political predictions show. If you are a Colorado politics junkie, this is a great way to get your [...]

Health bill: In defense of Senate “obstructionism”

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

OK, the Senate passed HR 3590 last week, but Gene Healy at Cato has some great observations:
In [the] Washington Post, E.J. Dionne cursed “the bizarre habits of the Senate,” which show that “we are no longer a normal democracy.” In a “normal democracy,” apparently, you get to ram through a scheme that the public opposes [...]

Paul Krugman: “crazy,” “lunatic,” “irrational extremist”

by Brian T. Schwartz | 11:20 pm, December 28, 2009

I’m not calling Paul Krugman any names.  I am just quoting what Dr. Krugman  says about people who disagree with him on Congress’s requiring guaranteed issue medical insurance:

So why are so many people complaining? There are three main groups of critics.First, there’s the crazy right, the tea-party and death-panel people — a lunatic fringe that [...]

Paul Krugman: “crazy,” “lunatic,” “irrational extremist”

by Brian T. Schwartz | 10:57 pm, December 28, 2009

I’m not calling Paul Krugman any names.  I am just quoting what Dr. Krugman  says about people who disagree with him on Congress’s requiring guaranteed issue medical insurance:

So why are so many people complaining? There are three main groups of critics.First, there’s the crazy right, the tea-party and death-panel people …

Colorado Political Analysis

by Night Twister | 9:56 pm, December 28, 2009

I was asked to write a political analysis diary of Colorado for the 2010 election cycle at RedState.com. With the help of the good folks at Peoples Press Collective and Rocky Mountain Alliance of Blogs (without their knowledge, of course), I put together a rundown of the major races next year.
This is my own [...]

Josh Penry Closes Out 2009 with Good News … and a Head Scratcher

by Ben DeGrow | 1:56 pm, December 28, 2009

As 2009 winds down, some half-good, half-headscratching Colorado political news reported by the Grand Junction Sentinel:

State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, said he isn’t interested in joining the ticket of his onetime rival, Scott McInnis, as the candidate for lieutenant governor.
“If I were hell-bent on being on the ticket, I’d still be in the race,” [...]

Spending Frenzy Continues – Your Tax Dollars Still Propping up Corruption

by Mr. Bob | 1:43 pm, December 28, 2009

Treasury removes cap for Fannie and Freddie aid http://tinyurl.com/ybrr4y3
#tcot #teaparty #obamanomics

NEW YORK — The government has handed its ATM card to beleaguered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Treasury Department said Thursday it removed the $400 billion financial cap on the money it will provide to keep the companies afloat. Already, taxpayers have shelled out $111 billion to the pair, and most analysts hadn’t expected the companies to hit the limit.

Treasury Department officials said it will now use a flexible formula to ensure the two agencies can stand behind the billions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities they sell to investors. The formula will provide the companies with a sufficient cushion based on projected losses over the next three years. READ THE REST

Newspaper recognizes importance of transparency

by Amy Oliver | 10:31 am, December 28, 2009

The Greeley Tribune, in its Sunday house editorial, acknowledges the role that transparency played in the recent defeat of 3A, a massive property tax increase for Greeley Evans School District 6.
A lack of transparency in its financial records was one of the reasons some cited for voting against the recent mill levy override. It became evident during that [...]

Don’t be fooled by Senate Dems pushing to “drop Cap-and-Trade”

by Rossputin | 6:02 am, December 28, 2009

The Politico is reporting that Senate Democrats are urging the Obama Administration to stop pushing cap-and-trade.  If they are correct that “at least half a dozen” Democrats are against the massive tax on everything produced or transported using energy, then even the caving in of climate moron Lindsey Graham will not be able to save the Boxer-Kerry monstrosity.  Thank goodness.

Democrats know they will already be in a political fight for their lives having fallen on the sword for Obama in the health care debate.  They’re now saying “enough is enough”.  Obama may be The One, but it’s Mary Landrieu who’s going to lose her next election.

It’s actually almost amusing to see the list of names put out by Politico as those opposed to cap-and-trade:

Landrieu, Nelson (NE), Bayh, Conrad – all (with the semi-exception of Conrad) people who were on the fence about the Senate’s health care bill and widely expected to pay the ultimate political price for putting their fealty to Reid and Obama over the wishes of their constituents and the (literal) health of the nation.

This is not over, though.  While cap-and-trade may be dead, the concept of raising the price of carbon emissions to control man-made global warming – a non-existent hoax designed purely to allow and propel just this sort of government-growing, anti-capitalist, anti-American legislation – remains alive and well with support from the usual GOP suspects, i.e. both Senators from Maine in addition to Lindsey Graham.  (Strangely, John McCain seems to have seen the light.)

We must remain vigilant against any form of carbon tax and we must be particularly critical of Republicans who support any such plan, particularly as they try to make the sales job easier for the left by suggesting taxes where the money “is returned to the people”.  Right.  It’s returned to the people in the same way Social Security is? In other words, in a way in which government actually spends all the money while racking up budget-busting debts which are already crushing the financial futures of our children?

One thing that’s helping “our side” is that the climate is not cooperating.  Whether actual temperatures, sea levels, ice accumulation, the planet is clearly moving away from a natural cyclical peak (even as CO2 concentrations have risen.)  It’s hard to say the world is going to overheat when it’s getting cooler consistently.

Also, two scientific points which need to be made repeatedly when discussing the issue with less well-informed members of the public:  First, cven if you buy the idea that CO2 causes a “greenhouse effect”, the effect is logarithmic, meaning that each additional CO2 molecule in the atmosphere has less of an effect than the prior CO2 addition.  Doubling CO2 concentrations from here will have a much smaller impact than the increase from half of today’s concentrations to now.  Second, 95% of the total “greenhouse effect” is caused by water vapor, which is essentially 100% naturally occurring.  Carbon Dioxide, which represents less than 0.04% of the atmosphere accounts for less than 4% of the greenhouse effect.  Furthermore, only about 3% of all CO2 is man-made. In fact, combining all greenhouse gases, humans are only responsible for less than half of one percent of the entire greenhouse gas effect.  And for this, the Democrats and a few RINOs want to saddle the economy with hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes?

Yes and No.  The RINOs and a few idealistic but uninformed liberals may actually believe in man-made global warming. But mostly this is a battle for money and power.  For your money and for the power of the free market and private industry.  This is as important a battle as health care reform and I hope that if something ever comes up for a vote, rational people across party lines will bombard their elected representatives with an unmistakable message: A vote for this bill is a vote for your next election opponent.

State Attorneys General challenge Senator Nelson’s Nebraska bribe

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, December 28, 2009

From Stateline:
The Republican attorneys general of Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, South Carolina, Texas and Washington State are threatening to challenge as unconstitutional a provision written into the U.S. Senate’s national health care bill that cuts a special deal for Nebraska.
The prosecutors’ effort is led by South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who was asked [...]

An American Story

by ToxicHypoxic | 12:18 am, December 28, 2009

It’s odd how internet forums raise questions, or at least they lead to connections that weren’t previously apparent. So it was with a set of commentary regarding some of the tribe’s recent emphasis on purchasing land. What’s that have to … Continue reading →

I kept myself from tears…but just barely

by Rossputin | 4:01 am, December 27, 2009

Hat Tip: Rusty S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWH_f8D-hgM

 

Satire: Santa Claus is a registered Republican!

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 2:00 pm, December 25, 2009

Commercialism Only Adds to Joy of the Holidays

by Brian T. Schwartz | 11:23 am, December 25, 2009

Some excerpts from Onkar Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute in US News and World Report:
I’m an atheist, and I love Christmas. If you think that’s a contradiction, think again. …

“The best aspect of Christmas,” Ayn Rand once observed, is “that Christmas has been commercialized.” The gift buying “stimulates an …

Commercialism Only Adds to Joy of the Holidays

by Brian T. Schwartz | 11:01 am, December 25, 2009

Some excerpts from Onkar Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute in US News and World Report:
I’m an atheist, and I love Christmas. If you think that’s a contradiction, think again. …
“The best aspect of Christmas,” Ayn Rand once observed, is “that Christmas has been commercialized.” The gift buying “stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in [...]

Merry Christmas to all (yes, even the Colorado Supreme Court) from Clear The Bench Colorado!

by CTBC Director | 9:12 am, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas from Clear The Bench Colorado!

In the spirit of the season today, no commentary or analysis on Colorado Supreme Court rulings that have taken money out of your pocket, eroded your constitutional rights, or usurped the powers of other branches of government.  No comparisons of the Mullarkey Majority to the Grinch Who Stole Christmas…
Matt and celebrity [...]

Merry Christmas and Happy Kung Pao Chicken

by Rossputin | 4:43 am, December 25, 2009

To all of my Christian friends, I wish  you a very Merry Christmas.

To all my Jewish brethren, I wish you a lovely traditional Jewish Christmas meal: Chinese food

Senate passes health care bill. Is the battle over?

by Brian Schwartz | 2:03 pm, December 24, 2009

The Senate has passed the health care (”reform” =  entrenchment-of-everything-bad-about-health-care-policy) bill. But is the battle over?  From Dan Perrin at Red State on Jim DeMint’s objection to conferee appointments:
because of the Senator DeMint’s objection, unless the House votes for the Senate bill unchanged — which is highly unlikely (see below) — then the Senate ObamaCare [...]

We The People – Ray Stevens – Merry Christmas

by Mr. Bob | 8:54 am, December 24, 2009

#tcot #obamacare #beck #glennbeck #teaparty
Merry Christmas to all. Happy Holidays if you don’t celebrate the birth of the son of God. I leave you with this today. The indomitable Ray Stevens, telling Congress and the President just what We the People think of Obamacare.

What a surprise: Democrats lied about health reform “savings”

by Rossputin | 3:50 am, December 24, 2009

To the surprise of nobody to the right of Chris Matthews, the CBO reported yesterday that Democrats are double-counting savings in their so-called “reform” bill.  Essentially they claim money as saved in Medicare costs but allow government to spend that money on other things – while just counting the savings.

The accounting minutiae are somewhat complicated, but explained reasonably well HERE and HERE.  The error, about $300 billion over 10 years, means that the current bill, even with its massive up-front tax hikes, will add about $170 billion to the deficit (and that’s accepting the Democrats’ unrealistic assumptions) rather than the initial claim that it will cut $130 billion.  In all likelihood, the numbers will be MUCH worse as people change their behavior to avoid costs or get their free lunch.

Although I have been somewhat tough on the CBO in these pages from time to time, it is clear that CBO Director Doug Elmendorf is tired of the Democrats’ shenanigans, gaming the CBO score for political purposes.  In his letter to Senator Jeff Sessions, Mr. Elmendorf was as devastating to Democrats’ claims as someone in an utterly non-partisan position could be.

Here’s Senator Sessions on TV laying out his discussion with Elmendorf:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK9QEkUQLeQ

Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) called the Democrats’ claims of savings “Madoff Accounting”.

This is very big news just hours before the final Senate vote on Harry Reid’s “legislative train wreck” that is health care “reform”.  But at the end of the day, it’s very hard to see any Democratic Senator changing his or her vote.

Just when the Democrats thought the political ramifications of being forced by Harry Reid and Barack Obama to support a bill that is not even popular with the liberal base (because the bill isn’t socialist enough), it has now gotten even worse since several of them has said that they will not support a bill that is not at least deficit-neutral, if not better.  Putting aside the fact that all of the bills will be much worse in terms of deficit than the CBO score, now they can’t even honestly claim a CBO score that doesn’t increase the deficit.

Democrats in Congress are being put in the position of having to lie – transparently, obviously lie – because of the political demands of their party’s leadership and the brass knuckles Chicago politics of Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

Any Democrat who claimed to support fiscal responsibility and is thinking of supporting this bill at its final vote can already see the campaign ads which will be run against him or her at the next election: “You lie!”

keep looking »

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