Raising Taxes in the DNA (good or bad economy makes no diff) of Colorado Senate Democrats

by Mr. Bob | 12:07 pm, February 12, 2010

#tcot #redco #colorado #teaparty
Funny when progressives express faux outrage at a conservative who wants to CHANGE the tax system to be more fair …when they themselves never met a tax increase they don’t like if it is their idea. What a bunch of hypocrites. They love taxes if they hurt business owners (whom they like to refer to as the rich), job creators, risk takers and…well you know the people who provide our jobs.

For instance;

Democrats move tax increases from temporary status to permanent

Dems cop to tax hike, and then re-start dancing on head of a pin

Yesterday the Minority Leader had to give them a lesson in Economics 101…although I doubt it will help…this is what they do. However Republicans would like to get the Democrats more involved in the consequences of their decision to raise taxes by helping business owers choose which workers will lose their jobs;…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 11, 2010
Contact: Rachel Boxer 303-866-3931 Andrew Cole 303-866-2318
COLORADO SENATE REPUBLICANS

GOP to Morse: Who would you fire?

The GOP is asking Sen. John Morse, a Democrat from Colorado Springs, to get specific about which employees should be laid off is a package of tax increases he supported this week become law.

Morse and 17 of his fellow Democrats passed a slew of “dirty dozen” tax increases yesterday that Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel in Pueblo estimates will cost the company $2 million annually and force the company to lay off workers. Pepsi Bottling Co. also expressed concern, telling the Associated Press last week that the tax hikes would jeapordize some 800 jobs.

“We are asking Sen. Morse, Gov. Ritter and all of the other Democrats that voted for the tax increases to tell us which workers they think should be fired so companies can afford to pay higher taxes,” said Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch.

Republicans — joined by a handful of Democrats in a bipartisan coalition opposing the the new taxes — proposed trimming state spending across the board last week as an alternative to the tax hikes. At the time, Morse, Ritter and Budget Committee Chairwoman Moe Keller ridiculed the GOP’s measured, across the board approach, demanding instead that Republicans identify specific bureaucrats for layoffs and salary reductions..

“The tax hikes Sen. Morse and others supported this week are going to kill jobs,” Harvey said, “So let’s hear some specifics — which Evraz and Pepsi employees does Senator Morse think ought to be fired or take pay cuts?”

The tax increases amount to $335 million and will raise taxes on everything from Big Mac containers and electricity bills to candy and even Internet purchases.

John Hickenlooper’s Flip-Flop on Global Warming

by RMR | 10:37 am, February 12, 2010

John Hickenlooper’s view on a variety of major issues are suddenly shifting now that he’s a declared candidate for Governor. While far-left 527s might want to make hay about Scott McInnis’ "makeover" (AKA ‘a shave’), they are simply attempting to distract from John Hickenlooper’s makeover on the issues. Several days ago, "bi-partisan gubernatorial candidate" Hickenlooper declared to a crowd of oil and mining executives that he believes there is no consensus on global warming and that it might not be that severe (if it exists at all):

“I don’t think that the scientific community has decided with certainty that climate change is as catastrophic as so many people think,” said Hickenlooper, a former geologist in the energy industry. 

He likened the discussion over climate change to when the scientific community as a whole turned on the issue of plate tectonics in the 1960s.

“Suddenly what was the standard accepted dogma of the field, was suddenly discredited,” he said. “So, my thinking with climate change is I can’t tell you, I don’t think anyone can tell you for sure if the climate is changing that fast, and certainly, in a snow storm like this, you have to look at it with a little bit of skepticism.” (Denver Daily News)

Contrast that statement with liberal Democrat Mayor Hickenlooper’s statements only a few months ago while attending the Copenhagan conference on climate change:

Global warming skeptics out there, take note: Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is looking to change your mind.

The city’s chief executive is in Copenhagen, Denmark this week for the world’s climate change conference and says the evidence he’s seen from scientists across the world is "shocking."

"It’s pretty compelling," the mayor said by phone on Tuesday morning. "It really does make you say, ‘Gosh, I know it’s going to be hard. It’s going to be unpopular [to change].’ My takeaway is I want to come back to Denver and sit down with every skeptic I can find and just walk them through all the evidence." (9 News)

You can’t have it both ways, John.

Recommending Lewis Lehrman’s Lincoln at Peoria for Honest Abe’s 201st

by Ben DeGrow | 9:09 am, February 12, 2010

On this 201st anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, no lengthy tributes are needed — I don’t even have time to replicate the modest one I wrote last year for the bicentennial. I did, however, want to take the occasion to recommend a book to you that was recommended to me by fellow RMA blogger Don [...]

Texas politics and Tea Parties

by Rossputin | 8:20 am, February 12, 2010

Popular Texas Governor Rick Perry has been challenged in a poorly-conceived primary run by “moderate” Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.  Hutchison, who should have been content to stay in her Senate seat rather than think that this was a time when people, especially Texans, were looking for a Republican “moderate” (look how highly the GOP base thinks of John McCain – not), was joined in challenging Perry by Debra Medina, a nurse, Tea Party participant, and self-described GOP grassroots activist.

A recent poll shows Perry with a solid plurality of 39%.  Before yesterday, the big news was that Medina had come from low single-digit support up to 24%, within spitting distance of Hutchison at 28%.  If the primary went this way, it would force a run-off between Perry and whoever came in second, with Perry the likely winner.

Since Medina voters are (in my inexpert-on-Texas view) more likely to break for Perry than for Hutchison, bad political news for Medina might be enough to give Perry an outright majority in the first round of voting and thus eliminate the need for (and cost of) a run-off.

And that’s what happened yesterday with Debra Medina’s appearance on the Glenn Beck radio show (which I happened to be listening to at the time.)

Beck, who had gotten e-mail from listeners saying he shouldn’t invite Medina on the show because of her views on 9/11, asked Medina “Do you believe the government was any way involved with the bringing down of the World Trade Centers on 9/11?”  Medina responded (with one of her apparently usual long-winded answers): “I don’t have all of the evidence there, Glenn, so I’m not in a place…I have not been out publicly questioning that. I think some very good questions have been raised in that regard. there are some very good arguments and I think the American people have not seen all of the evidence there.  So I’m…I’ve not taken a position on that.”

Beck and his staff actually laughed out loud at her and said “Some people in America might think that might be a ‘yes’.”

The rest of the conversation was no better for Medina who came across as a 9/11 “truther” and, dare I say, moron.  When Medina hung up, Beck said, again laughing sarcastically, “While I don’t endorse anyone, I think I can write her off the list.”

Regardless of what one thinks of Glenn Beck, he’s particularly influential among the Tea Partiers who are presumably Medina’s primary base of support.  After her disastrous appearance on his show, I would expect “are” to change to “were”.

Medina’s semi-retraction of her answer is too-little, too-late, and not particularly credible.  Either she’s lying about her beliefs or she thought she had a political base to pander to who actually believe that the US government killed thousands of American citizens.  I know there are people who think that way but even in Texas they can’t be an important political force.

It is quite possible to imagine Medina’s support cratering enough that, combined with Hutchison’s inexorable slide from a race she should never have entered, Rick Perry could win an outright majority in Texas’ March 2nd primary election.

I don’t live in Texas and don’t have a big axe to grind in the election. That said, I strongly prefer Rick Perry to Kay Bailey Hutchison.  No politician is perfect, but Rick Perry is better than most.  Indeed, any Governor who knows what the 10th Amendment is, much less make a big political push to support it as Perry has done, starts the race with a big lead in my book.  Perry was also wise to turn down “stimulus” money which would have put the state’s educational system even further under the federal thumb.

But beyond the implications for this particular primary, I was disappointed, angered, even saddened by Medina’s performance on the Glenn Beck show because she is one of only a few relatively high-profile candidates closely affiliated with the Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party movement is not a movement of conspiracy theorists and “right-wing kooks” as the left would like to characterize it.  Indeed, I saw a recent poll which showed that 20% of Tea Party participants voted for Barack Obama. (Maybe those people are the wingnuts of the movement?)  Tea Partiers are generally people who believe our government is out of control, particularly with spending, but also with its incessant and lately increased desire to control everything from health care to energy to banks to “junk food”, which is to say the desire to control everything. Tea Parties follow in the best tradition of American political activism.  I understand why incumbents in general and Democrats in particular fear and loathe the Tea Party movement and I understand why they must not be allowed to successfully demonize or marginalize us.  (Yes, I include myself as a Tea Partier.)

People like Debra Medina make ridiculing Tea Parties easy. She is suddenly a one-woman target-rich environment which the left will paint with a broad Tea Party banner before making her (apparently deservedly) look like an idiot, thus tarring the hundreds of thousands of Tea Party participants who think that Medina’s answer to Beck was somewhere between ignorant and reprehensible.

So while I would normally like to see a Tea Party candidate do well in an election, I hope that in this case Debra Medina rides off into the Texas sunset never to be heard from – at least not in the same paragraph as “Tea Party” – again.

I encourage libertarian-leaning Republicans to vote for Rick Perry.  Even if you’re a Tea Party activist, voting for Medina because she’s associated with us is no better than the voters we criticize for choosing a candidate based on his party affiliation rather than his principles. Debra Medina most certainly doesn’t represent me (and wouldn’t even if I lived in Texas.)

Insurance company profits, trial lawyers and Saul Alinsky

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 8:08 am, February 12, 2010

Top 10 Reasons Why Both Parties Are in Tea Party Hot Water — #7

by Lu Busse | 7:30 am, February 12, 2010

This is Day 4 of a 10-part installment. 7. Women are the Tea Party Super Majority. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Is The Hand That Rules The World Blessings on the hand of women! Angels guard its strength and grace, In the palace, cottage, hovel, Oh, no matter where the place; Would that never [...]

Perhaps We Should Get Smart on Crime Instead

by Jon Caldara | 6:55 am, February 12, 2010

For two decades Colorado lawmakers have enacted “tough on crime” legislation. But with a budget gap to close, and sentencing reform recommendations flowing out of the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ), is it finally time to start being “smart on crime” instead? On this week’s Independent Thinking, State Representative Mark [...]

Challenges to “Dirty Dozen” tax increase bills likely to end up before the Colorado Supreme Court

by CTBC Director | 11:45 pm, February 11, 2010

After the Colorado Senate voted in favor of the “Dirty Dozen” tax increase bills under consideration by the Legislature on  a mostly party-line vote Wednesday (following last Monday’s similar mostly party-line approval of the bills in the Colorado House), the legislative battle over the tax increases (er, “elimination of tax credits and exemptions“) is all but [...]

Scott McInnis Endorses Mark Hurlbert … I Back Conservative Tim Leonard

by Ben DeGrow | 11:29 pm, February 11, 2010

How often do you hear of a gubernatorial candidate in a contested primary endorsing another candidate in a state senate primary? Oh, I haven’t done any exhaustive research. But it can’t happen too often. What advantage can be gained? I only ask having heard about this:

Today, former West Slope Congressman and leading candidate for governor, [...]

FDR and the legacy of his malignant “Second Bill of Rights”

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 10:19 pm, February 11, 2010

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of the most successful presidents in our history. This is unfortunate.

His vision of a government that could provide bounty to all is fanciful. Far worse, it is malignant. And it lives on today as strong as ever.

One may assume FDR had good intentions. But we all know what paves the road to hell, or, in our case, the road to serfdom.

FDR’s version of utopia was laid out in his State of the Union address on January 11, 1944.

In this speech, he lays out a “Second Bill of Rights,” which include:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

All of these rights, no matter how well-intentioned, have disastrous results.

Let us look at just one: “The right of every family to a decent home.”

If such a right were to exist, then every family would have the right to demand it.

If they have the right to demand it, then someone has the obligation to provide it.

If someone has the obligation to provide it, that person MUST provide it. What if they don’t? Then the government must use force to make the person provide it.

The result is not freedom. It is the opposite.

And this is perfectly acceptable to FDR and the “progressives” he has spawned.

Are conservative bloggers trying to re-elect Michael Bennet?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 9:24 pm, February 11, 2010

Eric Erickson, a conservative blogger with a following in Colorado, has decided to endorse Ken Buck for U.S. Senate over Jane Norton. The big difference between the two candidates is that Norton is running a good campaign and appears to be the presumptive nominee, and Buck is not and does not.
After watching both candidates in action several times, I like them both and am still neutral when it comes to picking a candidate.
But it strikes me as absurd for Erickson to pick Buck, who raised less than $40,000 in the fourth quarter and is hanging on by his Ron Paul-funded ads. Sen. Michael Bennet, the appointed Democrat incumbent, has millions in the bank. Therefore, despite his tremendous unpopularity, he’s going to be tough to beat. I guess Erickson wants to make it easier for Bennet by trying to make Norton waste her still limited funds fighting Buck in a primary.
Erickson’s ego seems to be in the way of his common sense. Or is he just looking for links? Some of the comments that follow his announcement show that several Coloradans don’t think much of it. Does Erickson secretly want Obama to have another super majority in 2011? Well, at least we no longer will have to watch Buck’s supporters cry about outsiders who support Norton.
I don’t think the savvy readers of newspapers’ editorials and of blogs care who they endorse, which is why I won’t.

Senators Bob Corker, Chuck Grassley, Judd Gregg show Republicans ready to deal; will Obama?

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 3:29 pm, February 11, 2010

It must be a cold day in Washington because three Republican Senators today agreed to help break logjams on Democrats’ major legislative efforts to enact health, finance and jobs bills.
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) agreed to try to negotiate a bipartisan deal with Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) on financial reform. Sen Judd Gregg is ready to deal with President Obama on a health deform bill. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) agreed to negotiate with Max Baucus (D-MT) on a jobs bill, but Sen. Majority leader Harry Reid (D-NV) immediately killed their bill. So the Republicans showed bipatisanship. Reid showed partisanship. And what’s your bet on Obama?

City of Denver full of love this Valentine’s

by The Constitutional Reporter | 2:54 pm, February 11, 2010

This holiday weekend promised to bring about something I have not had in a long time… a date. I planned out every small detail and put together the itinerary, made reservations, etc. But it was not to be. Alas, my local government, in the interest of…

Ken Buck Wins Senate Primary Backing from Red State’s Erick Erickson

by Ben DeGrow | 2:43 pm, February 11, 2010

An interesting development in Colorado’s Republican U.S. Senate primary: Ken Buck has won the full-spirited backing of influential Red State master blogger Erick Erickson — who among other accomplishments has helped fuel Florida’s Marco Rubio rise from upstart to frontrunner over Charlie Crist.
Can Erick help do the same for Ken Buck here in Colorado? Perhaps. [...]

Important Message from Liberty on the Rocks – Red Rocks

by Jon Caldara | 1:55 pm, February 11, 2010

Handgun Safety Class for Concealed Carry Permit
Who should consider this class? This class is designed to cover handgun safety and a review of Colorado statues pertaining to handguns, and will satisfy the requirements necessary to apply for a concealed handgun permit (see below for more detail). We will not be firing any handguns and request [...]

Idols and Ideals.

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 11:13 am, February 11, 2010

The phrase I am looking for is ‘stunningly disappointed’.  And I’m surprised, too. But should I be?  I consider myself more than a bit cynical and am well acclimated to the idea that people whose ideas and accomplishments I greatly admire still have deep flaws.  For a woman like me, the usual comment on a [...]

Phony Big Labor Front Group Exposes Lefty Fears about Tea Party’s Strength

by Ben DeGrow | 11:02 am, February 11, 2010

Update: The intrepid Mike Antonucci has more insights on this story, including the involvement of the National Education Association and the fact that the story first was broken by blogger Lee Doren. Credit to where credit is due.
You may have already heard about this, but just in case not — an original investigation from Fox [...]

Who was the real Che’ Guevara – repost

by Mr. Bob | 10:51 am, February 11, 2010

#Che #communism #Guevara #marxists
Repost, read it again this morning, know your history.

Who was the real Che’ at the Daily Blogster

Top 10 Reasons Why Both Parties Are in Tea Party Hot Water – #8

by Lu Busse | 7:30 am, February 11, 2010

This is Day 3 of a 10-part installment. 8. Tea Party encompasses wider political spectrum than those controlling either party. The power players in both parties comprise small subset of the Party, and in the case of the Democrats – most currently appear to be from the farther left group – Progressives. So, it is not [...]

Highly skilled lawyer, Herb Fenster, will try to kill TABOR in Federal court

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 6:52 am, February 11, 2010

Herb Fenster says he will sue in Federal District Court to overturn the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). Colleen O’Connor’s impact graphs:

Colorado Dems digging their own political graves

by Rossputin | 6:20 am, February 11, 2010

In one of the most destructive votes of this General Assembly session, the State Senate yesterday passed, by an 18-16 vote, a measure to tax energy used for industry.  Ironically, the Denver Post notes that one of the biggest victims of the tax, a steel mill in Pueblo which has said it will have to lay off as many as 120 workers because of the tax, was the prior employer of a Democratic State Senator, Abel Tapia, who was laid off from the same mill 20 years ago and voted for the job-killing bill.

The bill, HB10-1190, sponsored by two of the most leftist members of the General Assembly as were almost all of the “Dirty Dozen” Democratic tax hikes, was, in my view, actually a jobs bill.  The problem is that it’s a jobs bill for other states.  Let’s call it “Jobs for Utah.”

The bill, which actually removes an existing exemption from “state sales and use taxes for the storage, use, or consumption of electricity, coal, coke, fuel oil, steam, nuclear fuel, or gas for use in processing, manufacturing, mining, refining, irrigation, building construction, telegraph, telephone, and radio communication, street and railroad transportation services, and all industrial uses…”

But removing an exemption is no different in impact than adding a tax.  And when you increase taxes at such an early stage of production, not only do you kill industrial jobs in the state (indeed, what sorts of jobs if not industrial jobs to Democrats routinely mourn the loss of?), but you also increase the cost of everything manufactured in the state.

Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry attempted to make this point to State Senator John Morse (a rare and hopefully soon extinct Colorado Springs Democrat) by presenting him with a copy of Milton Friedman’s Free to Choose and explaining again that raising taxes during a recession is economically insane.

What will be particularly interesting to watch is how the Democrats spend this money they’re stealing from taxpayers.  If they had spent the extra money taken in from Referendum C in a responsible way, including a rainy day fund, if they had spent it as supporters of Ref C said it would be spent, the state’s budget issues would not be as large as they are today.

Democrats routinely claim that teachers will lose their jobs if taxes aren’t raised.  Teachers are, after all, the sacred cows in our political system.  In a press release, Senate Republicans argue that the threat to teachers is simply a myth.  While I am not in the habit of quoting press releases, this issue is important enough and well-enough explained in the release that I’ll quote it almost in its entirety:

Senate Republicans saw through the guise and are calling on their Democrat counterparts to knock off the false rhetoric.   “Democrats know full well that K-12 education won’t see an extra dime from these tax increases,” said Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial.  “It’s time for the Democrats to stop lying to the public about where this money will go.”

Democrats even went as far as to evoke the falsehood in a fundraising e-mail.  Increasing taxes “means $145 million we do not have to cut from K-12 education,” the Democrat fundraising e-mail said, specifically claiming that one tax could save up to 1,700 jobs for teachers.

Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, even offered multiple amendments during the tax debate that would have allocated 40 percent or more of the money to K-12 education funding.  Democrats overwhelmingly defeated Penry’s amendments.

Yet Democrats have not given up perpetuating the fairy tale notion that the tax increases will save K-12 education from cuts.  Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, asserted just today that this package of tax increases is “necessary to prevent deeper cuts” to K-12 education.

“All we’re asking the Democrats for is truth in advertising,” Penry said.  “For goodness sake, don’t say this is for the kids and teachers when your votes prove all you want is another slush fund of cash.”

Democrats also mislead the public about their intentions behind a 2007 property tax increase, saying at the time the money would go to schools.  Democrat Gov. Bill Ritter even touted the measure as the “Colorado Children’s Amendment.” However, none of the money was set aside for K-12 education.  As such, no discernible increase in K-12 funding from the property tax increase can be seen.

Democrats are charging full-speed ahead with tax hikes that will raise less money than they expect while angering large numbers of Coloradoans.  With the Obama Administration and Democrats in DC taking the same approach, we’re seeing the actions of both state and federal Democratic governments reinforce the view in voters’ minds that Democrats are utterly and irredeemably fiscally irresponsible.

It takes a hell of a lot of big spending and being out-of-touch with voters to make people forget just how bad Republicans were (at the federal level; Colorado’s GOP politicians have been much better) during much of the past decade.  For Democrats to make people think of George W. Bush and the Congresses he served alongside as relatively responsible, and to do so in just one year, is a remarkable achievement.

I’ve said many times that Republicans can’t sit by and just wait for people to vote against Democrats.  The GOP has to give voters something to vote for. Luckily, we are seeing that at the state level and to a lesser but still important degree in DC.  In Denver, Senate Republicans proposed a modest across-the-board cut in state government salary spending which would eliminate the need for every one of the “Dirty Dozen” tax hikes.  In DC, Congressman Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap”, while not a new plan, is finally getting enough attention in the “mainstream” media to make it extremely difficult for Obama/Reid/Pelosi to claim that the Republicans are not offering alternative plans.  While Democrats live in their Progressive (aka socialist) echo chamber, the GOP really does seem to be offering people something to vote for.

It’s about time, but better late than never.

Removing insurance anti-trust exemption is misguided

by Brian Schwartz | 1:30 am, February 11, 2010

The Denver Business Journal reports:
A recent salvo against the insurance industry came in a missive from U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colorado. From an email her office sent out Monday:
“For too many years the health insurance industry has been allowed to fix prices, collude with each other and wield monopoly control over us without fear of [...]

All But One Colo. Democrat State Senator Enable Passage of Tax Hikes

by Ben DeGrow | 11:17 pm, February 10, 2010

Nine days ago I pointed out the number of vulnerable Colorado state house Democrats who voted to push through the “Dirty Dozen” tax hikes. Today it was the state senate’s turn. Based on my recent projections, much of the voting activity makes sense.
Take a quick look at today’s Senate Journal, and what do you see? [...]

Abuse of power: Dems at the state capitol

by Amy Oliver | 11:02 pm, February 10, 2010

Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should…
I get it.  Democrats are in charge in Colorado and therefore they can pass or defeat pretty much whatever legislation they want.  They do not need Republicans at all.  But just because they can doesn’t mean they should.
Tonight the Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs defeated [...]

Energy Debate: Rigs Lost and Unfavorable Energy Climate

by Ari Armstrong | 8:53 pm, February 10, 2010

With Scott McInnis beating the energy plank hard today, I thought this was a good time look into the background of the debate. My dad and I are currently working on a column for the Free Press; these are a couple of important issues I’ve come across in…

‘C’ is for Corpulence, Governmental and Otherwise

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 7:16 pm, February 10, 2010

If there’s one thing you can say to justify anything, it’s, “But, it’s for the children“. This covers a lot of ground, and our elected leaders have made hay with it for a long time.  Whiny soft-socialists want to micromanage our money for us, including yelling at us for dipping into our own piggy banks.  [...]

Support Global Warming! Sleep with a Polar Bear!

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 6:02 pm, February 10, 2010

Hi-ho, D.C. Bureau Chief Eileen here, I’ve been more or less trapped inside since this time last week. I made it out long enough to stock up on coffee and Guinness. Other than that, my trips outside are to make snow angels and throw myself off balconies into snow drifts. (Seriously, it’s deep enough to [...]

Senator Michael Bennet voted to confirm most anti-business, anti-worker nominee to NLRB

by Donald E. L. Johnson | 1:48 pm, February 10, 2010

Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) continues to show that he works for the unions that represent government employees and that he is as anti-business, pro-union as anyone in Congress. He was one of 52 Democrats who voted to confirm an anti-business, anti-worker labor lawyer, Craig Becker, to the National Labor Relations Board even though Nebraska’s Democrat Senator Ben Nelson and three other Democrats voted against Becker. Becker didn’t get the 60 votes required for confirmation. If he’d been confirmed, he would have voted to force many of the more than 90% of workers who don’t belong to unions to join a union. And he would have cost union workers their jobs by forcing employers to accept uneconomic work rules and contracts. 
Bennet also is expected to vote for more spending and taxes in President Obama’s jobs bill, which also may include anti-employer card check rules demanded by the union. Union leaders are crying that because Congress hasn’t enacted their hard left and radical wish lists. They’re threatening to hold back on supporting Democrats in next fall’s elections. Bennet’s working very hard to preserve his Senate seat in his home town of Washington, DC, and he’s playing the game he has to to make sure that union leaders will support him. He’s the unions’ man in Washington, not Colorado’s.

Obama on Health Bill: ‘I Wish We Had Gotten It Done Faster’

by Mr. Bob | 11:40 am, February 10, 2010

#obamacare #healthcare #ppc #teaparty #socialism
From the WSJ Healthcare Blog – my comments in red

It’s still unclear what the Dems are going to do about the health-care overhaul, now that they’ve lost their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. So much of the health coverage this morning (including the lead stories in the WSJ and New York Times) keys on an interview President Obama gave to ABC News on Wednesday.

Here’s a passage from the interview that gets lots of play in the morning news: My responses to the president’s pleas to keep this train going are in Red.
I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on. I don’t think we agree on what we agree on Mr President. We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. umm, no we don’t know that, most of us are happy with our insurance and think it’s fair. If you want to tweek it to keep costs under control that’s fine but an overhaul is not necessary. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don’t, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insurance to their families. Whose budget? My budget or the federal government? Is Medicare unsustainable, that’s your problem to fix your broken socialist programs…don’t ask me to pony up for your bad ideas. ? Fix that..streamline, take out waste, bring in some NON-government managers to clean it up, fire people, make it like a real company rather than a bloated bureaucracy. The problem is competition stifling laws (like across state lines) and cost of litigation Mr. President, if those aren’t addressed, you aren’t getting anything passed sir. Those are … some of the core elements of … this bill.

As the papers note, this list notably excludes a mandate that everyone buy health insurance READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Say No to the CSU Self Defense Ban

by Chuck Moe | 9:15 am, February 10, 2010

Last week, RMGO and NAGR staff held a News Conference on the CSU campus to render the draft policy — which bans even permitted citizens from carrying concealed on campus — null and void.

Here is a video of the  RMGO news conference

Since CSU students have been allowed to carry a concealed weapon on campus, crime has dropped. As I heard…

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