ObamaCare Might Fund Viagra for Sex Offenders

by Ari Armstrong | 1:15 pm, October 27, 2010

Most of the attack ads I’ve seen this political season take something out of context. These ads, while technically correct, omit relevant context and thus lie by omission. However, a recent attack ad against Congressman Ed Perlmutter is technically inc…

Bennet campaign goofs with KOA

by completecolorado | 1:11 pm, October 27, 2010

Late in the morning, Oct 27, CompleteColorado.com linked to a Facebook posting from KOA’s morning show, “Colorado’s Morning News.”
The post showed “suggested questions” that had been sent by someone within the Bennet campaign to the show hosts prior to the Senator’s appearance on the show.  The hardball questions included:
Q. In what ways are you a [...]

State Rep Jeanne Labuda lies about co-sponsoring increase in car taxes

by Rossputin | 11:39 am, October 27, 2010

I got an interesting press release from the campaign of Danny Stroud who is running for Colorado State House District 1, trying to defeat incumbent Democrat Jeanne Labuda.

Here’s the short version of the story:

As you can see in the video below (or link HERE), Labuda recently denied having been a co-sponsor of SB 09-108, also called “FASTER” (as in take the citizens’ money faster), the bill which raised vehicle registration taxes and late fees.

However, looking at the top of the actual bill as published by the state legislature’s web page, Labuda’s name is indeed listed among the co-sponsors.

See bill here: http://www.leg.state.co.us/clics/clics2009a/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/636E40D6A83E4DE987257537001F8AD6?open&file=108_enr.pdf

My own research shows that Labuda was also against lowering the exorbitant late fees which FASTER put on campers and trailers, many of which are rarely used by their owners who then sometimes forget to register them on time.  Her argument was an amusingly blatant explanation that your money actually belongs to the government, not to you:

“Anytime I see a bill like this where people are pleading, ‘Please exempt me from the late fee because I don’t know whether I’m a little guy or whether I don’t use my trailer or whatever very much,’ this takes away from the funding to repair those pot holes that the driver’s probably going to drive over and then break an axle in his car that we couldn’t pay for because we exempted his vehicle,” said Labuda.

“Pay the $100 fee one time and you’ll remember next time,” she concluded.

It’s a heads-I-win, tails-you-lose argument from Labuda who in the above video said she supported the higher car taxes because they are user fees, meaning people are paying the costs of the damage that their own driving does to the road.  (For the record, I’m generally for user fees and they make a lot of sense in transportation, but FASTER went too far and, not surprisingly, too fast.)  But, in opposition to reducing late fees, she says that people who don’t register campers and trailers that they don’t actually drive anywhere should have to pay the big fees because without the state taking that money from him, the camper owner might drive over a pothole that someone else made.  Unbelievable.

Can you say “dictator”?  Does anyone in Colorado really want someone like that representing them in the state legislature?  Yeech.  I’ve never seen or heard of Jeanne Labuda before today.  But just 5 minutes of video and research prove to me that she is everything that makes people rightly disgusted with politicians, and especially with Nanny State hand-in-your-wallet Democrats.  There’s no subtle way to say it: Labuda makes me sick.

Stroud is jumping on this, as well he should, with this from his press release:

 

“I guess it’s easier for Jeanne Labuda to deny co-sponsoring the Car Tax Bill,” said Republican
opponent and small businessman Danny Stroud, “than take responsibility for the harsh reality that bill has created. SB 09-108 raised taxes on Colorado’s hardest working families, many of whom were least able to afford it, because doing so was easier than finding money elsewhere in the state budget. In the end, she also supported taking the money collected from this tax and putting it back into the general fund rather than using it for highway repair as it was intended. Labuda has a long record of spending money and raising taxes, and that record is finally catching up with her. She cannot deny it anymore.”

 

Monticello Revisionism

by ToxicHypoxic | 11:06 am, October 27, 2010

It’s really been some time since I’ve added to this particular blog. However, a recent family vacation has given me the opportunity to observe what is quite obviously a creeping case of political correctness emanating from one of the country’s … Continue reading →

Politico already apologizing for Dem losses

by Rossputin | 7:55 am, October 27, 2010

In an article almost pathetic for its transparent bias and excuse-making, the Politico’s lead story yesterday was about Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine, with the story entitled “Tim Kaine: Nice guy in a nasty time“.

The gist of the story is that while arguing that Tim Kaine is so Obama-like that he can be effective without being mean – except that he really hasn’t been – and that Democrat’s upcoming electoral obliteration is partly due to Kaine’s just not being enough of a bad-ass.

The article makes sure to insult Kaine’s Republican counterpart, Michael Steele, while comparing Kaine to Barack Obama due to their both being – get this – “above politics.”

Politico quotes David Axelrod speaking charitbly of Kaine but intersperses that with statements by other Dems saying that Kaine is the wrong man for the job and placing blame-in-advance at Kaine’s feet.

Politico’s combination of attack and half-hearted compliment regarding Kaine remind me of someone cutting a person several times with a knife and then trying to appear “fair” by offering band-aids.

As if all that isn’t enough, trying to make a leader of the Democratic Party look like a sympathetic, misunderstood near-victim of the oh-so-mean Republicans, Politico’s next article on the page was entitled “Karl Rove unbowed“.  Yes, the left’s favorite bogeyman, described in the article as “controversial”, as a “mastermind”, as “particularly unpopular” (in Delaware), etc., is Kaine’s obvious foil.  The evil genius to the get-along-too-well nice guy.

To be clear, I’m no fan of Karl Rove even though he’s clearly very smart and has a deep knowledge of politics.  He is, as some criticize, part of a GOP establishment elite and not strongly enough in support of the Tea Party movement.  That said, it’s hard to be too upset with the guy for not supporting Christine O’Donnell, someone who many, including me, simply can’t take as a serious candidate.

As for the Politico, they always leaned a little left, but they seem to have fallen off the port bow lately.  They cheer for Democrats, chide Republicans, and now are already apologizing for the Dems’ soon-to-occur electoral spanking as being because of anything other than what Democrats actually believe and what they actually do.

A couple of other examples from the same day as the two above stories.  I’m not even going to read these articles because the subtitles tell you what message the Politico is trying to send.  (Regular text is title, italics text is sub-title/teaser on the main blog page.)

• Blanche Lincoln: Blame Bill Halter The Arkansas Dem says she wouldn’t be so far down if she hadn’t faced a primary challenge too.
• GOP winning the early voting? “Use extreme caution in interpreting early voting as a sign of voter turnout or enthusiasm.”
• Can GOP leaders keep the peace? As speaker, Boehner would have to deal with a set of factions no longer united by a common cause.

You get the idea.  A Democrat would be doing better if not weakened in the primary.  The GOP’s early lead in early voting should be ignored/dismissed. And then the GOP takes back the House, expect ineffective leadership.

Really, who needs another left-leaning “news” site?  Don’t liberals have enough “mainstream” echo chambers?  Hasn’t Politico noticed the lesson of cable TV news, namely that Fox is killing everyone else because the level of trust in the former leaders has been so diminished by their obvious partisanship?  (Yes, I know the left thinks that Fox is ultra-right-wing.  But it only appears so in contrast to the liberal crap we’ve been force-fed for the last few decades.  In reality, they go out of their way to include opposing views more than any other network on TV.)

It’s sort of amusing to see their obvious attempts to appear balanced, such as putting these two articles next to each other:

• Gallup: GOP ‘in position to win’ A new poll shows Republicans leading Democrats by 9 percentage points among likely voters.
• Tea party candidates losing steam? Several movement-backed nominees are in statistical dead heats or sinking in the polls

But even then, it’s hard not to nice that it’s Gallup saying the GOP might to well, but it’s Politico saying that Tea Party candidates aren’t doing as well as before.  I’ll chalk the latter up to wishful thinking by a “news” organization that’s slid off the journalistic road into the Democrat cheerleader ditch.

Obama’s secret Israel policy

by Rossputin | 7:27 am, October 27, 2010

H/T Rich Sokol

Perhaps because DirecTV does not carry Israeli news channels, I hadn’t seen this important Middle East Peace Process news until my friend Rich, who is closely tied into issues related to Israel, passed it along.

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

African Immigrants Support Tancredo; Angry at Obama

by El Marco | 7:15 am, October 27, 2010

What NPR will never tell you about Tancredo … or Obama Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo is an extraordinary man with no shortage of friends, and detractors. Tancredo has been branded a racist by the political left for being a leading critic of illegal immigration, and yet he earned a standing ovation from the NAACP. Recently I [...]

Hickenlooper = Obama

by Rossputin | 6:47 am, October 27, 2010

I’ve said repeatedly that John Hickenlooper is just a pasty white version of Barack Obama, and that Coloradoans should have learned enough about what that means in the last two years to have learned not to vote John Hickenlooper into office.

More specifically, they’re both radical environmentalists for whom economic growth plays a distant second – or third – to mindless “green” policy, to “social justice”, and to a “Progressive” agenda which does nothing but saddle our children with everything from bad schools to crushing long-term debt.  They’re both blank slates, hoping that the electorate will see them just as “nice guys” who will move away from the mean ol’ politics of the past.  And they’re both nothing but career politicians who hope they can keep fooling voters into giving them the next promotion.  (Clearly, Obama’s reached the pinnacle here, being voted in for many reasons, but none of them due to actually being qualified for the job.)

The good folks over at WhoSaidYouSaid.com have put together this excellent little montage making the point that Hickenlooper = Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXP75ME8hP0

 

Ed Perlmutter Swings and Misses with Desperate Charter School Attack

by Ben DeGrow | 9:30 pm, October 26, 2010

The desperate silly season of electoral politics is upon us. Nowhere does the silliness and desperation resound more than from the campaign of an out-of-touch liberal Congressional incumbent in the fight for his political life. Look no further than my home district, Colorado’s 7th, where Congressman Ed Perlmutter has fired a wild miss: Incumbent Democrat [...]

Amendment 63′s Foes Only Want You for Your Body

by Brian T. Schwartz | 9:18 pm, October 26, 2010

Should Colorado mandate that each car owner buy a comprehensive lifetime vehicle warranty? By the logic of a common argument against Colorado Amendment 63 and for mandatory medical insurance, the answer is “Yes.” Mandatory insurance treats your body as a means to political ends, rather than respecting your rights as an individual. An editorial in [...]

Amendment 63′s Foes Only Want You for Your Body

by Brian Schwartz | 9:00 pm, October 26, 2010

Should Colorado mandate that each car owner buy a comprehensive lifetime vehicle warranty? By the logic of a common argument against Colorado Amendment 63 and for mandatory medical insurance, the answer is “Yes.” Mandatory insurance treats your body as a means to political ends, rather than respecting your rights as an individual. An editorial in [...]

Amendment 63′s Foes Only Want You for Your Body

by Brian Schwartz | 9:00 pm, October 26, 2010

Should Colorado mandate that each car owner buy a comprehensive lifetime vehicle warranty? By the logic of a common argument against Colorado Amendment 63 and for mandatory medical insurance, the answer is “Yes.” Mandatory insurance treats your body as a means to political ends, rather than respecting your rights as an individual. An editorial in [...]

Countdown: Top Ten Reasons I’m Voting for The Tanc (Reasons 6-5)

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 6:00 pm, October 26, 2010

A few weeks ago, I publicly announced my endorsement of Tom Tancredo for governor on my Seng Center Radio Show.  There are 10 major reasons why I’m voting for “The Tanc” this election, and I felt a detailed treatise on the subject was called for.  In my first installment, I discussed Reasons 10-7  (listed below) [...]

Figuring Out the Union Cost Premium and Our Priorities for Public Education

by Eddie | 4:40 pm, October 26, 2010

One argument in education I’m already tired of is what’s the impact of union collective bargaining on student learning. Do unions help or hinder achievement? The problem is it’s an oversimplified question, as I once explained a long time ago.
But the ever insightful Mike Antonucci from the Education Intelligence Agency put forward an interesting twist [...]

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold discusses judicial retention elections on TV – Devil’s Advocate with Jon Caldara

by CTBC Director | 3:03 pm, October 26, 2010

Clear The Bench Colorado Director Matt Arnold appeared on the Devil’s Advocate TV program (with host Jon Caldara) this past Friday, 22 October 2010 at 8:30 and again (rebroadcast) on Monday, 25 October at 1:30 PM, to discuss judicial retention elections and the drive to hold 3 incumbent Colorado Supreme Court justices (Michael Bender, Alex Martinez, [...]

Judicial Retention in Colorado

by Jon Caldara | 2:06 pm, October 26, 2010

Hickenlooper Praised Communist Agitator Jones

by Mr. Bob | 1:43 pm, October 26, 2010

#teaparty #tcot #colorado #whyimnotvotingdemocratHickenlooper and his love of Obama.Mr. Bob is a contributing author at the People’s Press Collective. Your source for Colorado Politics.hat tip Malkin

Hickenlooper on Obama: “100 percent community activist”

by Kelly Maher | 11:03 am, October 26, 2010

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper likes President Barack Obama. No, I mean really likes him. As in, fawning. WhoSaidYouSaid compiled some of his remarks since 2006 and put them into a fun video: “Hickenlooper & Obama: A Love Story.”

Reefer Madness and the Prohibition of Marijuana in the United States

by David Kopel | 10:19 am, October 26, 2010

(David Kopel) My short essay for the Encyclopedia Britannica blog looks at the racist origins of marijuana prohibition. The essay is part of a two-day series of pro/con articles related to California’s proposition 19.
Copyright © 2010 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content is [...]

Steve Milloy: Chicago Climate Exchange ends carbon trading

by Rossputin | 9:23 am, October 26, 2010

The Chicago Climate Exchange sold out, much to the pleasure of Algore, to a greater fool just in time, namely shortly before the market for US carbon trading collapsed.  We can only hope that the November 2 elections spell the end of any serious discussion of the tax disguised as carbon trading, at least the end for quite a few years.

http://greenhellblog.com/2010/10/26/carbon-trading-rip/

With trading volumes like THESE, it’s no wonder they closed down…

They’re not giving up, though, on trying to collect commissions and make a market around a product nobody wants; now they’re going to focus on “carbon offset” trading.  So, if government decides to make us all plant trees, maybe CCX will actually have a business.  Well, to be fair, the probably do have a small business dealing with the pointless trading forced by European governments and by those countries so self-destructive as to participate in things like the Kyoto Protocols.

John Andrews worries too much about the GOP

by Rossputin | 7:07 am, October 26, 2010

While my radio show partner, John Andrews, as a “party stalwart” and former candidate for governor, has deep knowledge of Colorado politics, he nevertheless overstates the negative ramifications of the rare situation presented by the 2010 Colorado election for governor in his October 10 opinion piece in the Denver Post.

In our two-party system and despite my having been registered Libertarian in the past, I recognize that the GOP is today our only serious (or at least theoretically so) bulwark against ever-increasing cost and intrusiveness of government – notwithstanding that they’ve utterly failed in that role at the federal level for a decade.

It is against the state leviathan which I fight, and it is only for this fight that the Republican Party has any value.

John worries that the inevitable result of a Tom Tancredo candidacy, win or lose, is a “self-wounded GOP (which) will be disadvantaged under the gold dome.” I disagree.

The 2010 governor’s race says much less about the Republican Party than it does about the GOP’s two primary election candidates and about the process of choosing them.

Scott McInnis was forced upon us by “the establishment.” A man with a less-than-zero reservoir of goodwill, he was unable to survive the “Musings on Water” plagiarism scandal and his attempt to blame it on a retired 82-year old geologist. Combining this fiasco with the Pete Coors loss to Ken Salazar in 2006 after the establishment forced Bob Schaffer out of the race, the lesson is clear: monied Republican political elites need to recognize that they’re better at earning profits than choosing candidates. They should stick to what they’re good at.

Dan Maes was foisted upon us by well-meaning but inexperienced Tea Party groups, many of whom have recently withdrawn their endorsements, after an initial vetting process which didn’t seem to go much deeper than the conclusion that Maes’ utter lack of qualification for the job was a sufficient reason to endorse him. Unlike the establishment, Tea Party and 9/12 groups will probably not make the same mistake again.

None of this, however, implies long-term division among the GOP on policy or governance. This is a critical difference between now and 2006, following the passage of Referendum C. That did fracture the Republican Party, with Republican Governor Bill Owens and those monied establishment players supporting the biggest tax hike in state history. Other prominent Republicans, including John Andrews, opposed it. If there were ever a GOP family feud in Colorado, that was it. Nevertheless, I saw little evidence that the scars of Referendum C – mostly healed now – have impacted the functioning of Republicans in the General Assembly.

What’s more, Ref C split the Republican vote more than this governor’s race will. To get its 52% “Yes” vote, I estimate that Ref C needed support from about 20% of the Republican electorate. Dan Maes will be lucky to get half that much.

What’s brought Tom Tancredo into the race is not a major policy difference; rather it was a recognition that a Maes candidacy meant a certain Hickenlooper victory.

Despite Tancredo’s American Constitution Party affiliation, most people will think of him as a Republican governor. Nobody believes Tancredo’s ACP registration represents the sudden catapulting of a third party into long-term significance, nor will Coloradoans be looking to the ACP for “a defense when liberals go on offense.”

While John Andrews subtly chides Tom Tancredo’s “ambition”, I remain unable to see how Tancredo’s is stronger or different than any other candidate’s ambition. Indeed, Tom could have gotten into the race earlier and didn’t, whereas the other candidates both saw this race as the golden ring they absolutely had to reach for: Hickenlooper as the next rung in his political ladder, Maes because it seemed to be the only job he could get in this economy.

John Andrews notes the Declaration of Independence’s warning that “Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes”. But he misses the more important part of that Founding Document: that whenever “Government becomes destructive” of its purpose to secure our unalienable rights, “it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it.”

A brief interlude of a Republican running on another party’s ticket in order to try to ensure that government does remain faithful to its true purpose is, contrary to Andrews’ assertion, in keeping with the best spirit of America.

While Tom Tancredo may not represent everybody’s first choice in candidate, he deserves consideration on his own merits (and his opponents’ demerits) and not with particular focus on the election’s impact on the Republican Party, an impact which is substantially overstated and an argument which is intended to elect John Hickenlooper.

I understand John Andrews’ concerns and admire his commitment to principle, party, and process.  But my take is that my radio partner-in-crime is furrowing his brow more than necessary.  A Tancredo win – or at least a Hickenlooper loss – should be fervently hoped (and worked) for by all lovers of liberty and champions of limited government, even by people who have some substantial policy disagreements with Tancredo (a description which applies to me as I nevertheless strongly support Tancredo in this race at this time in our state’s history.)

Widespread fraud in Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment?

by Rossputin | 6:01 am, October 26, 2010

Following up on an important story reported by the Independence Institute, Spotlight On Corruption has apparently found new information pointing toward fraud in Colorado’s Department of Labor and Employment which could be costing taxpayers of this state millions of dollars in lost revenue and perhaps in payments to illegal aliens.

Spotlight on Corruption’s press release on the story, which I’m told is the first in a series of in-depth discussions including whistle-blower reports on several serious problems within CDLE, can be found here:
http://spotlightoncorruption.wordpress.com/

While John Hickenlooper is not associated with CDLE, it seems likely that he would be inclined to continue the policies of his Democrat predecessor, especially – knowing Hick’s soft spot for illegal aliens – those policies which allow taxpayer money to be given to illegal aliens.

Stay tuned for more on these issues.  These will be worth real consideration for anyone who is thinking about, but unsure of, voting for John Hickenlooper.  The only question is whether these reports are coming out just slightly too late to be helpful in an election only a week away.  We’ll see…

Amendment 63: Dr. Hsieh says it’s right for Colorado

by Brian Schwartz | 5:00 am, October 26, 2010

In a Denver Post Guest Commentary, Paul Hsieh, MD of Freedom and Individual Rights in Medicine says: Suppose the government required everyone to purchase their meals from state-run restaurants. The government would also select the menu items. If you liked spinach but their vegetable choice was broccoli, then tough luck. Everyone would also have to [...]

Glenn Beck factual error

by David Kopel | 1:23 am, October 26, 2010

(David Kopel) Glenn Beck often does great research and reporting on stories that the rest of the media fail to cover. His deconstruction of the Woodrow Wilson administration is long overdue. However, his reporting is sometimes inexcusably sloppy. All the more so considering that Beck, a television host on a major network, is not exactly bereft of [...]

Countdown: Top Ten Reasons I’m Voting for The Tanc (Reasons 10-7)

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 9:46 pm, October 25, 2010

The 2010 race for Governor of Colorado has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride.  The latest development of note is the significant rise of my former congressman, Tom Tancredo, in the polls.  The news that the two latest polls have Tancredo between just one and three points behind liberal Democrat John Hickenlooper, with [...]

Conservative Guv Candidate Tom Tancredo Reaffirms Backing of Scott Gessler for Secretary of State

by Ben DeGrow | 5:36 pm, October 25, 2010

For those still wondering how third-party conservative gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo is more likely to govern — at least when the choice is between showing support and loyalty to a highly qualified and credible Republican or an American Constitution Party spoiler — it was encouraging to see today’s release: GREENWOOD VILLAGE, CO—Conservative independent gubernatorial candidate [...]

Sen. Bennet clear as fog on where government doesn’t belong

by Kelly Maher | 3:59 pm, October 25, 2010

Where abortion is concerned, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., is adamant: government keep out. On the issue of health care, Bennet wants more and more government involvement. It’s the height of political hypocrisy to say the government shouldn’t be involved in decisions like abortion, yet still vote for ObamaCare, the largest government hijacking of healthcare to date.

Dean Singleton: I don’t know who I’m going to vote for in Senate race

by Rossputin | 3:38 pm, October 25, 2010

Denver Post Publisher Dean Singleton just said on the Caplis and Silverman radio show (roughly between 3:20 and 3:35 PM on Monday, 10/25) that he has not decided who he will vote for in Colorado’s US Senate race even though his newspaper endorsed appointed Senator Michael “Who?” Bennet.

Singleton said he could have chosen a better candidate for each party.

Perhaps most surprising was Singleton’s statement that after meeting several times with Ken Buck, he has determined that “Buck is not extreme.”  Singleton said that while Buck would vote to the right of Singleton’s centrist position, Bennet has a voting record to the left of his position.

Singleton also agreed without hesitation with Craig Silverman’s assertion that the Bennet campaign ads castigating Ken Buck for declining to prosecute the now well-known alleged rape case are “a very cheap shot” against Buck, noting that it appeared Buck did everything right in determining whether this was a case which could convince a jury.  (A prosecutor has an affirmative duty not to bring a case which he’s essentially certain cannot be proven to a jury. Buck got the opinions of others, including the Boulder DA, before determining that the case of a drunk girl who invited her former boyfriend over and then claimed rape was a sure loser, and the concurring opinions were apparently unanimous.)

Barbara Boxer worked so hard

by Rossputin | 3:00 pm, October 25, 2010

H/T Mike F.

From Hollywood producer/director/writer David Zucker (Airplane, Naked Gun), comes this great video about Barbara Boxer’s enormous and unwarranted ego:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixiYZ9DPk8o

‘Airplane!’ Director David Zucker Spoofs Hardworking Barbara Boxer in Video

by Laura Victoria | 2:56 pm, October 25, 2010

Describing his move from a center-left Clintonite, to a center-right activist, Airplane! director David Zucker, who has worked on myriad films including the “Naked Gun” and “Scary Movie” franchises, directed the “Call Me Senator” spot for Right Change.  The orgnization is … Continue reading →

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