Teacher Performance Pay Alive and Well: But Just What Will It Look Like in Jeffco?

by Eddie | 11:44 am, September 24, 2010

Two days ago I commented on the big splash Denver Post story about a new study calling into question teacher performance pay. Today the Post’s big headline touts that “Jeffco schools to increase some teachers’ pay to more than $100,000″:

Top-level teachers in select Jefferson County schools could be paid more than $100,000 a year under [...]

How to Save a Billion Dollars

by Mike Krause | 10:45 am, September 24, 2010

Colorado taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in unfunded liabilities incurred in the defined benefit retiree health plan administered by the Public Employee Retirement Association (PERA). An additional $79 million in unfunded liabilities was incurred in 2008, reflecting both a rapid growth in retiree benefits and losses in the assets held [...]

Auto Unions Still Out of Control

by Mr. Bob | 9:46 am, September 24, 2010

you’d think the economy being in shambles would wake some folks up? nope, not if they are a protected union….protected by the President of the United States. If this doesn’t piss you off, you need a labotomy. Are all workers like this? no…but will they be fired….hell no. They are union.

Hat tip to Michelle Malkin.
Mr. Bob is a contributing author at the People’s Press Collective. Your source for Colorado Politics.

Preexisting conditions

by Rossputin | 7:08 am, September 24, 2010

Progressives don’t understand economics; it’s that simple.  It’s most often seen in the “elite” liberal media by supporting policies with an implicit free lunch.  Such is the case with The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn, a guy who I’d bet has never studied economics.  And if he has, his professors should be ashamed.

In what we should expect to become part of the left’s consistent rallying cry going into the election, Cohn bemoans the possibility that Republicans aren’t really going to force insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions if, as promised in the GOP’s new “Pledge for America”, the Republicans have the opportunity to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Quoting Cohn’s deepest fears of what a world under a non-Obama health care regime might look like: “So if you have diabetes, an insurer could sell you a policy that doesn’t cover complications from the disease. If you survived cancer, insurers could refuse to cover recurrences. And even if the policy did cover these things, there’d be nothing to prevent insurers from imposing huge cost-sharing–or doubling or tripling your premiums. Again, that’s pretty close to the situation today.”

Jonathan, I realize you’re utterly untrained to think in terms of products and services not being free once the government gets involved, but do you really think that cost goes away if “cost-sharing” goes away?

If someone without insurance has diabetes and is likely to cost $50,000 more for medical care over the next decade than someone who doesn’t have the disease, requiring the insurance company to cover him for the same premium as a health person simply subtracts (actuarily) $50,000 from the insurance company’s bottom line, all else being equal.  Remember, though, before you say you don’t feel sorry for health insurance companies, that they are a very competitive and low-margin business.  They won’t be able to just absorb that loss, so what will happen in the real world is that everybody else’s insurance premiums will increase.

Calling that premium hike “cost-sharing” would be amusing but it diverts from the critical point that it turns the rest of those with health insurance policies into servants of the diabetic.  We all have to work extra hours to pay higher insurance premiums to cover the cost of someone else’s health care.  It is outright socialism.

We need to distinguish here between people who get diagnosed with conditions or suffer accidents while they are insured.  Insurance is, after all, by definition a way to get financial help in the event of an unexpected calamity.  Insurance companies should be highly restricted from dumping customers who require more medical care than expected if they were insured before the medical condition became known.

But requiring companies to take all comers with all pre-existing conditions turns the idea of insurance on its head.  Why wouldn’t everyone just wait until he had a major problem and then sign up?  Why “waste” all those months paying insurance premiums while you’re feeling great?

Sure, it’s lovely to say “everyone should be able to get coverage at the same price”.  But that’s just living in a fantasy world, and one with very dangerous outcomes.

Should everyone be allowed to buy a Ferrari if they only have the money for a Honda, with the rest of us footing the bill?

Or, back on insurance, should people be allowed to buy car insurance just after an accident, so the rest of us who have been paying premiums will effectively have to pay to buy him a new car?  What about letting someone buy homeowner’s insurance while her roof is on fire?

All these things are obviously wrong and obviously shouldn’t be allowed.

It’s only when it comes to health care that peoples’ thinking gets confused.

And why does it get confused?  Because conservatives have allowed Progressives to make Americans think that health care is a right.

Let’s get this straight: It isn’t a right.

Health care involves using the time and expertise of someone who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars getting the necessary education, getting the benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars of pharmaceutical research and development expense, using technology developed at great cost by corporations which not only expect, but need to recover those costs and more.

Where else but health care do people feel like they should be able to use the time of highly trained people operating million-dollar machines without having to pay for it?

And how does that approach differ fundamentally from slavery, or at least indentured servitude?

Hint: it doesn’t.

Health care is not a right.  Doctors are not our servants, nor are the companies which make quality health care possible, scientifically speaking.  And neither are we each other’s servants, required to pay for the other guy’s health care just because he had worse luck than we did.

I feel bad for people with pre-existing conditions.  Indeed, for many years, I had been diagnosed with one (it turned out the diagnosis was an error!) and was unable to get health insurance.  But life isn’t fair, and it’s not government’s job to make it feel fair to the unlucky by stealing from the more fortunate.  (Obviously that statement applies well outside the realm of health care, but it’s particularly obvious here.)

If there were a really free market in health insurance, forces of supply and demand would create functional high-risk pools for people with pre-existing conditions.  Of course, those people will pay more for insurance than those who don’t have potentially very expensive problems.  But that, and not muddle-headed leftist plans for insurance premium “equality”, is the only fair and just outcome.

Whenenver you read people like Jonathan Cohn suggesting that people should be allowed to pay less than the market would normally charge, make sure to ask the question (or at least wonder to yourself) who’s going to make up the difference.  One thing is for sure: someone is paying the bill.

Could the GOP Become a Minor Party?

by Jon Caldara | 1:14 pm, September 23, 2010

Could Republicans become a minor party in Colorado? Check out this Friday’s Devil’s Advocate as the Denver Post’s Chuck Plunkett and Independence Institute investigative reporter Todd Shepherd join me for a discussion of the Colorado Republican Party’s post-election prospects. That’s Friday Sept. 24 at 8:30 PM on Colorado Public Television 12. Re-broadcast the following [...]

Waiting for Superman Approaches: It’s Hard Waiting for the EduFilm Phenomenon

by Eddie | 1:14 pm, September 23, 2010

I am so excited, I can hardly wait. Another great education movie is coming out, and this one may be the best of them all! Get a taste of Waiting for Superman by watching the trailer:

After a lot of well-deserved attention, the movie’s national premiere comes tomorrow: Friday, September 24. To mark the opening of [...]

The failure of the “judicial performance evaluation” commissions illustrated by Larimer County Judges Blair & Gilmore

by CTBC Director | 11:23 am, September 23, 2010

Colorado voters are being bombarded with a series of ads (on radio, television, and online) promoting the “evaluations” of incumbent judges and justices conducted by the various “Commissions on Judicial Performance Evaluation” at both district and state levels.  This so-called “education campaign” funded by legal establishment special-interest groups is spending tens, if not hundreds, of [...]

One rat staying on the sinking ship

by Rossputin | 8:12 am, September 23, 2010

With the announced resignation of White House economic advisor Larry Summers, three of the four legs of Obama’s economic stool (double-entendre most certainly intended) are now gone.  With the departure of Summers, preceded by Peter Orszag and Christina Romer, the only rat not yet fleeing the sinking ship is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, the tax cheat in charge of our nation’s money and taxes.

The left is making noises about being pleased that Summers is leaving, causing one to wonder whether Obama will choose a member of his Marxist echo chamber to give him the sort of advice that even the notoriously socialist Swedish are now moving consistently away from.

How much could Obama learn from the current (and likely to be continuing) Swedish Prime Minister with some economic-electoral history like this (from article above)?:

Reinfeldt and his Alliance ended Social Democratic hegemony four years ago on a platform of lower taxation and trimmed welfare benefits After winning the chancellery, his coalition struck a blow against the traditionally powerful trade unions by eliminating the income tax deduction of membership dues. Members left in droves.

He then lowered personal income taxation and eliminated the inheritance tax while also cutting unemployment benefits…

The Alliance also succeeded in carrying out a wave of privatizations, selling off the state’s shares in a number of companies, including Vin & Sprit, the makers of the famed Absolut vodka brand. The state pharmacy monopoly ended as well. And the management of a number of schools, old age homes and daycare centres was picked up by private interests.

In addition, tax breaks were extended to middle class homeowners choosing to renovate, and a tax incentive system was introduced to encourage the hiring of home help.

Wow, these are the Swedish!  While here in the “capitalist” US, we have Obama fighting hard to raise taxes, reinstate the inheritance tax, buoy union membership at the expense of basic justice (by trying to eliminate the secret ballot), and causing the government to take massive stakes in banks, auto companies, and insurers while attacking small business with the economic blunderbuss of ObamaCare.

Summers and Romer, while too far left, are nevertheless real economists who have some sense of the way the world really works.  Orszag is barely better than a political hack, but it’s not really his fault as he was taught at Princeton by ivory tower liberal academics, including the increasingly incoherent Joseph Stiglitz.  (Orszag and Stiglitz wrote a paper in 2002 about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac which offered this stunning bit of analysis: “…on the basis of historical experience, the risk to the government from a potential default on GSE debt is effectively zero.”)

Last-rat-standing Tim Geithner is about as worthless as a political functionary can be.  He’s never had a private sector job and understands shockingly little about how the economy and capitalism work; at least that’s the only conclusion I can reach by his redistributionist rhetoric which, even though his boss supports it, is worse than any of the already departed rats.  As befits a man who’s never had a private sector job, Geithner was and is the least competent senior member of Obama’s economic team.  He can’t operate TurboTax, can’t keep the government from giving out tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to pay bonuses called for in private contracts while apparently trying to hide that information from the public.

How typical for the Obama Administration to be left with the least competent advisor.  The smart ones have been smart enough to leave before they can be tagged as the people who were the real puppet-masters behind Obama’s disastrous socialist/fascist economic approach.  Obama is wearing it now. The only good news for Obama is that he can try to blame Geithner.  Given Geithner’s weak position, made much weaker by the appointment of Elizabeth Warren as the dictator of the economic Nanny State, my prediction is that persistently high unemployment will lead Obama to throw Geithner under the bus, offering him blame and a pink slip by the end of 2011.  Or, if Geithner feels that coming, he’ll resign before it does – the last rat off the sinking ship.  Given his resume, even if full of incompetence, Geithner can certainly get a high-paying private sector job as a glorified lobbyist now (except perhaps at a tax software company as his incompetence is clearly too much for such a taxing job.)  Getting  out of “public service” would be the greatest possible service Tim Geither could offer the public. 

12 Percent of Economy Goes to Pay the Bureaucracy

by PerlStalker | 9:45 pm, September 22, 2010

Good news! Government bureaucracy is only taking $1.75 trillion out of the economy. The total GDP for the United States in 2009 was $14.14 trillion. For the mathematically challenged, that’s 12.4 percent of the economy going to deal with all the red ta…

Mourning In America

by Mr. Bob | 2:46 pm, September 22, 2010

Mr. Bob is a contributing author at the People’s Press Collective. Your source for Colorado Politics.

Glass: Communist Groups Rally for Islamic Center

by Ari Armstrong | 2:07 pm, September 22, 2010

Special by Bob Glass from the 9/11 NYC ralliesIt is critical to note that the mainstream media have failed miserably in their responsibility to report the facts about the events surrounding the 9/11 rallies for and against the proposed Islamic center i…

“Working Stiffed”: Daily Show Pans Organized Labor Hypocrisy

by Ben DeGrow | 2:01 pm, September 22, 2010

It’s not often I post up clips from The Daily Show, but this mock-up of a Nevada UFCW local’s anti-Wal Mart protest had me in stitches. If you have five minutes for the laugh, take it:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
Mon – Thurs 11…

The mourning didn’t start in 2008

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 1:09 pm, September 22, 2010

Good commercial, except for the implication that our failed government is Obama and the Democrat’s fault. The GOP is complicit and should not be rewarded just because they aren’t Democrats. We used to have rebels in this country. Now, we just let the R…

‘Personhood’ Blue Book Challenge Lacks Merit

by Ari Armstrong | 12:25 pm, September 22, 2010

I never have liked the Blue Book. It forces Colorado taxpayers to finance the distribution of beliefs with which they disagree, thereby violating their freedom of conscience. The state’s Constitution (V(1)(7.5)) requires that “the nonpartisan research …

Stop ‘corruption on steroids’: Become a Citizen Auditor

by Amy Oliver | 11:33 am, September 22, 2010

What happens when government is allowed to operate outside the purview of the public? “Corruption on steroids,” as District Attorney Steve Cooley described the abuse of taxpayers in Bell, CA.  Cooley further described the situation in a news conference announcing the arrest of eight elected officials and government employees from the small town outside of Los [...]

What Does the Vanderbilt Study Really Say (and Not Say) about Performance Pay?

by Eddie | 11:22 am, September 22, 2010

The Denver Post reports this morning (via the Washington Post) about a newly-released Vanderbilt University study on teacher performance pay:

The study, which the authors and other experts described as the first scientifically rigorous review of merit pay in the United States, measured the effect of financial incentives on teachers in Nashville public schools and found [...]

Buck-Bennet Debate in Colorado Springs

by Al Maurer | 11:12 am, September 22, 2010

I watched the debate between Ken Buck and Michael Bennett in Centennial Hall in Colorado Springs on Friday, September 17. Channel 5 televised the debate. There’s not much point in repeating or recapping what was said—you can see that for … Continue reading →

Better late to the dance than to miss it entirely.

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 9:25 am, September 22, 2010

I am amused at the tremendous amount of support many Colorado Republicans are giving a third party candidate for governor when they decide they don’t like the GOP nominee.Welcome aboard. Some of us have felt that way for decades. BlueCarp

Hump-Day Humor edition: “Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) says they can’t get it up, asking Clear The Bench Colorado for Enlargement

by CTBC Director | 7:07 am, September 22, 2010

Apparently “Colorado Ethics Watch” (CEW, pronounced “sue” – it’s what they do) has more than just ethical issues…
After decisively losing to Clear The Bench Colorado on a bogus attack (er, “campaign finance complaint”) filed on 5 May 2010 – being roundly rebuked (and ordered to pay attorneys fees) by the judge hearing the case on [...]

Time for some disestablishmentarianism

by Rossputin | 6:54 am, September 22, 2010

I’ve spent a fair bit of time beating up the Tea Party movement for their understandable but nevertheless damaging political naivete which manifests itself in poor vetting of candidates and excess focus on lack of political experience as a major qualification for office.  How else could they have been so enthusiastic about and done so little homework on Delaware US Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell or Colorado Governor candidate Dan Maes?

But the existence of the Tea Party (or Tea Parties) is neither accidental nor negative.  It’s a beneficial response to (primarily) a Republican Party which had become soft and corrupt and anything but a bulwark against bloated, overpriced government. And it’s given us the chance to vote for apparently good (or at least not insane) candidates like Joe Miller (AK) and Rand Paul (KY) and Nikki Haley (SC). It’s been a primary force in RINO elimination including Lisa Murkowski (more on her in a moment), Arlen Specter (PA), and Bob Bennett (UT).

The Tea Party represents a reawakening of an essential revolutionary spirit in America, a tradition we should be proud of.  There is of course the major difference that in the 18th century, political discussion, reading newspapers, and being aware of one’s political surroundings and history was a common hobby among Americans (pre- and post-Revolution), giving them an intellectual foundation almost entirely missing among the American populous today and not as common as it should be even among Tea Partiers.

In today’s distracted world of texting and Nintendo and on-demand movies and a blog for every person, how many Americans have read any of the Federalist Papers (or even know what they are)?  If a 21st century version of Common Sense were written today by a reincarnation of Thomas Paine, would more than a few dozen people read it or appreciate it?  With all the news and entertainment sources available, could you even blame people for not knowing about it if it were written?

Perhaps this lack of political wisdom and historical context is the reason that Republicans have for years and with increasing recent speed (perhaps paralleling the development of the Internet) let their party drift into the control of people who barely offer lip service to the U.S. Constitution, who appeal to its importance only when it suits them – which is almost never.  After all, it would be a problem for Lisa Murkowski to frequently reference any of our Founding Documents when she then goes on to support cap-and-trade, an idea as unconstitutional as it is quixotically stupid – unless your real goal is control of the economy rather than the stated wildly egotistical presumption that humans can substantially influence the future path of a planet’s climate.

The Tea Party movement exists in reaction to Murkowski and friends, in reaction to a modern analog of the same sort of indulgence-selling corruption which (in part) caused the Protestant Reformation.  That corruption is ingrained in the “establishment” of both political parties.  However, since the Democratic Party has been taken over by people who want to control the economy and who believe the latest “global warming” myth or other gifts from useful leftist idiots, the Democrats’ behavior isn’t so much corruption as it is appropriate behavior for a corrupt philosophy.

The real corruption is among Republicans, among people who claim to stand for liberty and limited government, who claim to respect our Constitution, federalism, and the fact that all of these things together has been the cause of this nation’s being the greatest success in history but behave as if the Constitution is an annoyingly-placed speed bump on the road to their Wikipedia entries. The real corruption is because “establishment” Republicans believe that success, for them and the nation, is contingent on and defined by their names being written in a history book as part of that success.

So, in Delaware, Mike Castle refuses to endorse Christine O’Donnell (a flawed candidate to be sure, but not beyond being worthy of Castle’s good manners if he had any.)  And in Alaska, like a fungus which is unexpectedly resistant to the prescribed balm, Lisa Murkowski not only didn’t endorse primary election victor Joe Miller, but she plans to run a write-in candidacy against him.  Castle and Murkowski are working to help Democrats keep control of the Senate, each playing a juvenile game of “if we can’t play what I want, I’m taking my ball and going home.”

O’Donnell seems likely to lose Delaware regardless of Castle’s actions, though Castle is popular enough and Delaware small enough that his endorsement could make a real difference.  It seems that O’Donnell had Castle nailed when she said (indirectly) to him that “this is not a bake-off, get your man-pants on.”  When Castle was assumed to be the likely primary winner, political betting had the GOP with about an 80% chance of winning the Senate seat.  When O’Donnell won, that fell to about 25%.  With recent revelations and attacks on her, she traded down to 15% yesterday before rebounding to about 21%.

Conversely, there’s a good chance that Joe Miller wins in Alaska despite Murkowski’s stunningly egotistical write-in campaign – a campaign which started, appropriately enough for such an unwinnable but damaging enterprise – with an ad directing readers to an incorrectly spelled web site.  Despite breathless optimism by Democrats, Miller’s primary election victory over Murkowski had almost no impact on political betting for the general election with the odds of a GOP victory in November remaining well over 80% on Intrade.com.

However, news of Murkowski’s write-in bid knocked that down as low as 57% before a bounce (in a thin market) up to about 70% now.  Murkowski’s odds are around 13% and the Democrats’ odds around 22%.  (The odds can add up to more than 100% because of the “margin” costs involved in holding positions.) In other words, Miller remains likely to win as Murkowski doesn’t gain the traction she vainly hoped for. Meanwhile Murkowski, who can’t win, remains the only reason that the Democrat’s odds have nearly doubled.

Incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski and incumbent Congressman Mike Castle are the establishment.  They are living breathing justifications for the Tea Party despite its growing pains.  As Robert Romano points out, “Had Miller and O’Donnell lost their primaries, the establishment would have expected them to endorse their opponents. If, however, they did what Murkowski and Castle are doing, they would have rightly been accused of sabotage.”

It’s time for some disestablishmentarianism.  I’m not talking about attacking the GOP establishment just for the sake of doing so.  But rather a steady, consistent purge of those who put themselves before good government, before the constitution, and even before the Republican Party itself.

The “establishment” need not always be an enemy of the good.  We need not be disestablishmentarians out of the same dogmatic urge to attack and destroy which seems to motivate Democrats when it comes to free enterprise, health care, energy supplies, etc.  But we do need steady, consistent pressure against the GOP establishment until it becomes less a force for self-preservation and more a force for reinstilling our Founding Principles into the behavior of our government.

I would also note that being an incumbent, even a long-term one, does not necessarily make one part of the establishment for purposes of this discussion.  Consistently pro-liberty politicians who do not put themselves ahead of the nation should not be opposed simply on the basis of having been in office.  (Think of Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Jim DeMint…)

The Tea Party, flaws and all, is by far the best tool – to be sure, we need tools, not weapons, to deal with the “establishment” – to accomplish this purge.  But as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, even a reformed establishment will be subject to the same pressures which corrupted our recent and current establishment. Indeed, those are the same forces which allow it to be the establishment, and make its eventual corruption inevitable. Therefore the Tea Party’s relevance and importance will remain over time, no less if we enter an unusual period of competent principled government than if we remain in a world of Murkowskis and Castles.

———

A comment on “disestablishmentarianism”:

Since some of my readers are undoubtedly well-read enough to tell me that I’m misusing “disestablishmentarianism”, allow me to plead guilty to that up front and say that I’ve simply wanted to use the word for a while and that I mean the use more as a pun than anything else.  The word generally relates to disestablishing a state church (like the Church of England) or at least separating church and state.

In this case, however, I mean to discuss the current “establishment” of the Republican Party – and what should be done to reform it.  Perhaps to the extent that the establishment views itself as the shepherds of us sheep, like the high priests of a twisted view of the constitution, rather than as our employees – and temporary employees at that – the term works more appropriately than it first seems.

Colorado Town Hall Meetings Give Chance to Learn about Obama Care

by Ben DeGrow | 6:33 am, September 22, 2010

If there’s one easy clear issue to support on the November ballot, it’s Amendment 63 — Colorado’s right to health care choice. Among other things, the amendment protects Coloradans from the unprecedented and counterproductive federal mandate to purchase health insurance. You know, the one that came with the Obama Care “We have to pass the [...]

Why Do the Media Ignore the Crazies On the Left?

by Ari Armstrong | 5:53 am, September 22, 2010

Reporters who castigate the small minority of nuts among the Tea Partiers, while utterly ignoring the more numerous and dangerous crazies on the left, lie by omission.Leftists who smear the Tea Parties based on a few isolated (and in many cases fictiti…

CO Facing $1.1 Billion Shortfall Next Year

by PerlStalker | 10:41 pm, September 21, 2010

Colorado is facing a $257 million shortfall for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. And that’s the good news. According to Colorado’s official Economic and Revenue Forecast, the deficit could be has high as $1.1 billion.

Tax revenues are expected to go up ove…

Ironically-Named Accountability for Colorado Dishing Up Vicious Anti-GOP Smears with Teacher Union Money

by Ben DeGrow | 10:32 pm, September 21, 2010

As a political junkie, among the funniest things I find are the terribly misleading names given to those 527 groups. The Lefty Democrat big donors and unions have operated a slew of them. Remember the misleading Coloradans for Life from election cycle past? Well, in 2010 we have the Lefty 527 group Accountability for Colorado… [...]

Delaware political betting

by Rossputin | 9:55 pm, September 21, 2010

Although I’m far from certain I even want Christine O’Donnell to win, I’m going to read a little more about her and form a more well-informed opinion.

In the meantime, yesterday I thought that the odds of her winning election were too low, so I bet (a very very tiny amount) on O’Donnell at 17% to win. (It traded down to 15%, then I bid 15.1% but didn’t get filled on any of those.)  By the end of the night, it was trading 22%.   I think fair odds are probably about 1/3 right now.  The main reasons she could have a chance is a nationwide wave of GOP or at least anti-Democrat turnout combined with the fact that the Dem candidate is very far left, an undesirable place to be in 2010.

HMRC Wants All Workers’ Pay Checks Sent to Them

by PerlStalker | 9:17 pm, September 21, 2010

Ari Armstrong passes along this perfect example of the liberal mentality. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs is suggesting that all employee paychecks be sent to the UK tax collection agency. The agency will then send whatever is left after taking their…

On the occasion of the death of Kenny McKinley

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 5:36 pm, September 21, 2010

Second year Denver Bronco wide receiver and kick returner Kenny McKinley was found dead in his home yesterday, Monday, September 20, 2010, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.He was 23 years old. (See Broncos’ McDaniels discusses death of Ke…

WWII Vet Seymour Glass of the 445th Bomb Group

by Ari Armstrong | 10:25 am, September 21, 2010

Seymour Glass recounts his service in World War II as a lead radio operator with the 445th Bomb Group. Bob Glass (his son) and I interviewed him on September 4, and he gave me permission to publish selections.First I recommend listening to Glass’s acco…

Ben DeGrow Tells Family News in Focus about Edujobs Bailout Discrimination

by Eddie | 10:03 am, September 21, 2010

Update, 10:30 AM: And surprise of surprises, more evidence emerges that the figures of teaching jobs lost — used to promote the Edujobs bailout — was wildly overblown (H/T Education Intelligence Agency).
A couple weeks ago I told you about how the ill-advised Edujobs bailout discriminates against charter schools. So you’d think the national news service [...]

Will Colorado “hammer” insurers into selling child-only policies at a loss?

by Brian Schwartz | 5:00 am, September 21, 2010

Update to: CO insurers stop selling child-only policies – blame health control bill: “It’s strictly information-gathering, as far as I’m concerned — no hammers, no nails.” — State of Colorado Insurance Commissioner Marcy Morrison on her meeting with insurance companies about their decision to stop selling child-only policies because of insurance price controls. From the [...]

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