Unified Behind the Notion that GOP Primaries and Unity CAN Co-Exist

by Ben DeGrow | 10:17 pm, December 10, 2009

Rocky Mountain Right brings our attention to an important story from another part of Colorado that sharply undermines one of the prevailing pieces of accepted wisdom among certain Republican elites in our state. From the Steamboat Pilot and Today, about the three-way Republican primary in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District:

“You may not actually, for the most [...]

Of Capitalism and Safe Meat: Happy Meal Vouchers for Poor Students?

by Ben DeGrow | 3:39 pm, December 10, 2009

Ever the libertarian wit, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi highlights some “lessons in capitalism” based on a new USA Today investigation that finds safer meat at your local fast-food restaurant than in the government’s National School Lunch Program for poorer students.
“Doesn’t the USDA care about the children?” Harsanyi asks with more than a hint of [...]

Freedom Nationally, Virtue Locally: Debate on Social Conservatism

by Jon Caldara | 1:12 pm, December 10, 2009

This week I’m joined by Colorado State Senator Ted Harvey and Kevin Miller of the National Freedom Initiative to discuss the role of social conservatism in American politics and whether people can or should be coerced into virtue through force of government, or if the state should leave us all alone to pursue our own [...]

An Obama Yuletide Carol

by redrocks | 1:10 pm, December 10, 2009

On the first day of Christmas, Obama gave to me,
His trillion dollar deficit spending spree!

On the second day of Christmas, Obama gave to me,
Bigger health care woes,
and his trillion dollar deficit spending spree!

On the third day of Christmas, Obama gave to me,
Record unemployment,
Bigger health care woes,
and his trillion dollar deficit spending spree!

On the fourth [...]

McInnispalooza: Latest News from McInnis Campaign, Tea Party/9-12 Groups

by elpresidente | 12:50 pm, December 10, 2009

Quick round-up of gubernatorial and grassroots news . . . Quick highlights: “The political elite have decided that they know best. And they’re going to say we need to unify behind this candidate,” said Lu Busse, chairwoman of the Colorado Coalition of 9-12 Groups. “That is not their decision.” . . . “That’s wrong,” McInnis [...]

Cory Voorhis update

by Rossputin | 10:24 am, December 10, 2009

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

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKG1NXUZHKs

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

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

The New Health Care “Compromise” Doesn’t Improve on the “Public Option”

by Ben DeGrow | 9:03 am, December 10, 2009

Update, 9:50 AM: The Patient Power Now blog presents more explanation why the new Harry Reid “compromise” is a bad deal.
So the big news from Capitol Hill is that Democrat leaders in Congress have ditched the “public option” — which means we can claim some small victory, right? WRONG. What’s the matter with the Democrats’ [...]

Harry Reid’s “compromise” FEHB public option a bad deal

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, December 10, 2009

Writes Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute: “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has announced that he has reached a super secret compromise on how to deal with the so-called public option for health reform.”  Instead of a public option, “Congress would establish a program similar to the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program (FEHBP), which [...]

Jon Stewart Targets Jobs, Spending Initiatives of Democrats

by elpresidente | 12:31 am, December 10, 2009

“Weatherization!” Via Hot Air: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c

CD-7 Update: McCain Backs Lang Sias; Ryan Frazier Calls out Ed Perlmutter

by Ben DeGrow | 6:38 pm, December 9, 2009

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

Radicals Use Climate Change For Anti-Western Agenda – Best Article

by Mr. Bob | 2:26 pm, December 9, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s put these guys in charge of health care.

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 11:47 am, December 9, 2009

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

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

Defend the Republic Rally Being Held in Denver

by Live Free | 11:42 am, December 9, 2009

The friends of the Colorado Republican candidate for Governor, Dan Maes, have organized the Defend the Republic Rally this Saturday, December 12 at 1-2 pm on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol in Denver.
This rally is being held in light of the recent developments in the race, with Josh Penry dropping our of the [...]

My initial thoughts on Obama’s “Jobs Speech”

by Rossputin | 10:45 am, December 9, 2009

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

Colorado 2010 State House Showdown: A Dozen Democrat Seats In Sight?

by Ben DeGrow | 7:01 am, December 9, 2009

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

“Leaked agreement” roils Copenhagen talks

by Rossputin | 3:23 am, December 9, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

091127copenhagen

 

Joe Lieberman on the public health plan

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, December 9, 2009

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

Global Warming Insurance: Annotated

by T.L. James | 9:52 pm, December 8, 2009

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

“It’s not like you’re gonna give up your whole paycheck, it’s just a few b…

Seriously Rich Obama Irony: Closed Door Meeting on Open Government

by Ben DeGrow | 6:17 pm, December 8, 2009

I’ve pointed out before the lack of transparency in the Obama administration’s Labor Department. But this new Associated Press story about so-called Obama transparency takes the cake with a new level of irony:
It’s hardly the image of transparency the Obama administration wants to project: A workshop on government openness is closed to the public.

Political cartoonists [...]

A True Tale of Canadian Health Care

by elpresidente | 2:01 pm, December 8, 2009

Many advocates of health-care reform are admirers of Canada’s state-run, no-opt-out, single-payer system. Indeed, in 2003, President Barack Obama voiced enthusiasm for such a health-care program. Proponents of Canadian-style health care should meet Cheryl Baxter, a Canadian citizen who waited years for hip-replacement surgery, only to be told that her operation would not happen any [...]

Global Warming Cartoon of the Day

by Mr. Bob | 1:38 pm, December 8, 2009

HolyCoast.com click here

Reason.tv Takes on Canada’s Obama Care

by Jon Caldara | 1:18 pm, December 8, 2009

You might remember that we boiled Canadian Cheryl Baxter’s story down to just a few minutes on YouTube.  Cheryl was one of several Canadians we met up with in Vancouver who got a raw deal from their “public option.”  And by raw deal, I mean waiting years to get a new hip, then finally escaping [...]

Marxism On the March

by Mr. Bob | 11:13 am, December 8, 2009

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

hat tip to Stop Marxism.

Reminder: Open Records Request Class Tomorrow!

by Jon Caldara | 10:40 am, December 8, 2009

Want to learn more about the Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) and how you can use it to obtain information bureaucrats don’t want you to see?
TOMORROW at 2pm, we will be holding a FREE how-to CORA session here at our office in Golden! That’s right, you heard correctly. A FREE class on open [...]

Harry Reid Compares ObamaCare Foes to Pro-Slavery, Makes Case for His Own Post-Senate, Village-Based Career

by Ben DeGrow | 9:01 am, December 8, 2009

Update, 5:00 PM: Witticism of the day goes to the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto, who observes that “[Reid's] success to this point seems something of a miracle–an inspiration to dour, foolish men everywhere.”
Was that one of the painful throes of sheer desperation we heard from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday?

Senate Majority Leader Harry [...]

Understand the Financial Crisis: The Lie of Recovery Will Devastate the Unprepared

by Julian Dunraven | 9:00 am, December 8, 2009

By Julian Dunraven, J.D., M.P.A.Honorable Friends:At the People’s Press Collective Reeducation camp this past weekend, I was pleased to see so many people gathered to learn how to become more effective advocates for the cause of restraining governmen…

An R Block Party Christmas!

by elpresidente | 3:33 am, December 8, 2009

Rasmussen: Tea Party Tops GOP on Three-Way Generic Ballot

by Rossputin | 3:31 am, December 8, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Michael Steele and Mitch McConnell, are you listening?

HR 3962 limits competition for dental benefits

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, December 8, 2009

Bob Mook of the Denver Business Journal describes how the House Bill (HR3962) would limit competition and force patients to give up their children’ speciality dental plans:
Kate Paul, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Colorado, said that the House’s health care reform proposal would disrupt dental coverage for more than 815,000 Colorado children, limit [...]

Second Amendment Royalty on iVoices.org

by Jon Caldara | 4:58 pm, December 7, 2009

Wow.  I’m still in awe.  I just finished listening to this epic iVoices.org podcast with Dave Kopel interviewing none other than Alan Gura himself!! Or as Dave aptly refers to Mr. Gura, “the Luke Skywalker of the Second Amendment.” Alan Gura is the man behind the huge DC v. Heller Supreme Court gun [...]

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