Schaffer’s eye-opening primer for Rep.-elect Gardner

by Kelly Maher | 10:51 pm, November 7, 2010

Former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer wrote a fantastic piece for the Fort Collins Coloradoan about what awaits U.S. Rep.-elect Cory Gardner when he makes his way to Washington to represent Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. At left is an interview with Gardner a month ago by Michael Sandoval of National Review Online.

Colorado Utilty Fees On The Rise; Government Responsible

by PerlStalker | 7:53 pm, November 7, 2010

This is rich. The Denver Post has a fear inducing story about the effect of utility increases on an already lagging economy. Unfortunately, the Post misses a couple of very important points.

Nowhere in the story does the Post mention that part of the…

For House GOP, It’s Time To Bring Out the Shotgun

by PerlStalker | 4:08 pm, November 7, 2010

With their big win, Republicans took hold of the House of Representatives. With that control, Republicans will be able to control the Federal purse strings and push their own legislative agenda. There are several ways to accomplish that but I propose w…

Nov. 15th Meetup – Elections Have Consequences

by redrocks | 3:58 pm, November 7, 2010

Ross Kaminsky/Ryan Call – Up On The Roof!

Join us for an election wrap-up and a discussion on the future of our Colorado political parties. Ross (an authoritative capitalist blogger and small “l”) and Ryan (counsel to the Colorado Republican Party and Denver chair) will tackle the issues confronting fiscal conservatives, and discuss the good, the [...]

The mind of a liberal…

by Rossputin | 8:46 am, November 7, 2010

An appropriate follow-up to yesterday’s note about the mind of an Ivy League “philosopher”…

From time to time, I can’t help but wonder whether it’s some sort of unjustified elitism (an attribute I usually attribute to the left) which causes me to wonder whether people who support Progressive policies and politicians despite months or decades of failure are ignorant, stupid, or just self-serving.

There are plenty of Progressives who are smart; indeed the Progressive model of technocratic control over almost every aspect of our lives would appeal to intelligent people who aspire to be among the ruling class.

Still, this is a nation with some chiefs but lots of Indians, namely lots of people who would never be in the left’s ruling class and therefore I’m left believing that many of them support Obama, Pelosi, and other liberals (as well as supporting past liberals) primarily out of stupidity and intentionally-inculcated (by the media and the Progressive elite) ignorance.

Like everyone else, I always enjoy evidence that confirms my existing beliefs.  And while anecdotes are not data, the video below certainly helps cement the idea that people who support liberals should not be given the intellectual benefit of the doubt.  And on a slightly more serious note, there is some real information here as to the type of argument which will – and more importantly, which won’t – resonate with these people as we try to knock them out of their cult-like stupor.

Oh, before I get to the video, allow a “still” version of the mind of a liberal, thanks to The Peoples Cube, which sells t-shirts of this particular representation of the liberal brain:

(Click HERE or see Peoples Cube link for larger version)

 

OK, now for the video evidence that people who still support Barack Obama are a few cans short of a six-pack…or maybe a few cans over their limit…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-37qUrgFXQ

‘Mad Men’s’ Don Draper Reacts To Colorado Election Results

by Laura Victoria | 12:51 am, November 7, 2010

Seems as if  mystery ad man,  Mad Men’s Don Draper, was about as stunned as I was by all the young Dems robotically marking their Ds last Tuesday.

Running against Nancy Pelosi

by Kelly Maher | 8:30 pm, November 6, 2010

This isn’t about the dim possibility that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be challenged as she seeks the nod of House Democrats to become Minority Leader (after her party lost 60+ seats!). No, we’re talking about a man who – in the words of blogger and radio host Ross Kaminsky – “led one of the most amusing, hopeless, and courageous campaigns in America.”

The Evil That Men Do…..

by ToxicHypoxic | 8:29 am, November 6, 2010

And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. Matthew 13:57 Do not suppose that I compare myself to the Almighty. Still … Continue reading →

Backbone Radio, November 7, 2010: Colorado election post-mortem

by Rossputin | 8:00 am, November 6, 2010

While Republicans made huge gains in the House of Representatives – the largest pick-up by a party in the House since 1938, even while we still don’t know the precise total – and while Colorado did boot two incumbent Democrats and give Republicans control of the state House, it’s hard not to see this election as a modest failure in Colorado.

We’ll discuss a wide range of state-oriented election issues with my in-studio guest for the whole show, State Senator Greg Brophy.  We’ll also try to speak with several winners in Colorado elections; scheduling still ongoing as I write this note, but Treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton is confirmed to join us during our first hour.

For the rest of our Sunday line-up, including the gentleman who ran perhaps the most hopeless and courageous campaign in America, and for studio call-in information, please see our blog note at the Backbone Radio blog page here:

http://rossputin.com/blog/backbone.php/2010/11/06/backbone-radio-november-7-2010-colorado-election-post-mortem-1

Backbone Radio, November 7, 2010: Colorado election post-mortem

by Rossputin | 7:59 am, November 6, 2010

Audio archives for this show:

Segment 1 – Intro
Segment 2 – Colorado Treasurer-elect Walker Stapleton
Segment 3 – John Dennis, libertarian Republican who ran against Nancy Pelosi in 2010 election
Segment 4 – Isaac Smith discusses the Colorado Democracy Alliance (CoDA) and possible conservative responses to “The Colorado Model”
Segment 5 – Discussing the implications of the 2010 elections; liberals think voters are stupid
Segment 6 – National debt; is political optimism well-founded?

While Republicans made huge gains in the House of Representatives – the largest pick-up by a party in the House since 1938, even while we still don’t know the precise total – and while Colorado did boot two incumbent Democrats and give Republicans control of the state House, it’s hard not to see this election as a modest failure in Colorado.

We’ll discuss a wide range of state-oriented election issues with my in-studio guests for the whole show, State Senator Greg Brophy and Rich Sokol who is, among other things, a Board Member of the Colorado Republican Business Coalition.  We’ll also try to speak with several winners in Colorado elections; scheduling is still ongoing as I write this note, but we have confirmed soon-to-be Treasurer, Walker Stapleton, as a guest in our first hour.

What happened to the Colorado Republican candidates in this 2010 anti-Democrat tsunami?  Sure, some of the answers are obvious such as with the candidacy of Dan “I’m not going anywhere” Maes leading to the election of Governor (wow, it’s hard to type that) John Hickenlooper.  But some are much less obvious, such as the surprising loss of US Senate candidate Ken Buck to Michael Bennet and the surprisingly large margin of victory for Ed Perlmutter over Ryan Frazier.

Also, while the GOP did take over the state House of Representatives, they managed to only pick up one seat in the State Senate, a surprising outcome for the chamber that a couple of months ago seemed more likely to flip back to Republican control.

In our second hour, we’ll be joined by a man who led one of the most amusing, hopeless, and courageous campaigns in America.  That man is John Dennis, and he challenged…wait for it…Nancy Pelosi, getting 21,000 votes, or about 15% of the total.  (There was actually a Republican in another CA congressional race who did worse than 15%, but I imagine that candidate spent a lot less money…)

Dennis, who is much more libertarian than Republican, is perhaps best known for a campaign video portraying Nancy Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West.  (EMI Entertainment, which owns the copyright to the Wizard of Oz, has forced YouTube to restrict the availability of this video; thanks to Rich for sending me a link to a working version  We’ll talk with him about his political views, his race, and – continuing a regular theme on Backbone Radio – the intersection of Republicans and libertarianism.

We’ll then continue our discussion of the 2010 elections and the future of Republican politics in Colorado – hopefully with your thoughts and calls as well – for the last hour of the show.

Please join me by listening to (and calling in to) this week’s Backbone Radio program from 5 PM to 8 PM on 710 AM KNUS in Denver and 1460 AM KZNT in Colorado Springs.

If you’re not in range of the radio waves, you should be able to listen to the show online by clicking HERE.

I hope you’ll actively participate in the conversation with me: Call the studio at 303 696 1971, e-mail me at rossputin(at)rossputin.com, or instant message from my site at http://rossputin.com or through AOL Instant messenger to screen name Rossputin.

The “Amazon tax” . . . it’s baaaaaaaack!

by Kelly Maher | 11:32 pm, November 5, 2010

Now that Republicans will control the Colorado House of Representatives in January, it looks like the so-called “Amazon Tax” may be on the chopping block. And to recall what a pro-business state DOES NOT look like, see the video (at left) from March in which state Sen. John Morse, D-Colo. Springs, accused Amazon of “tyranny.”

Post-Election Media Review: Colorado Supreme Court, judicial retention elections, and Clear The Bench Colorado in the news

by CTBC Director | 7:20 pm, November 5, 2010

Suppose they gave an election, and nobody (well, only a few) knew?
(Shamelessly paraphrasing Bertoldt Brecht’s epic quote, “Suppose they gave a war, and nobody came?“)
Sadly, we’ve just seen the question answered: the status quo wins – especially when the status quo is aided and abetted by big money.
Curiously (or perhaps not), there has been [...]

2010 Post Election Wrap-Up Show

by Jon Caldara | 3:36 pm, November 5, 2010

Olbermann Suspended Indefinately – without PAY!

by Mr. Bob | 12:15 pm, November 5, 2010

#teaparty #socialism #che #tcot #redcoRT Olbermann Suspended Indefinitely for Political Contributions http://www.theblaze.com/stories/olbermann-suspended-indefinitely-for-political-contributions/ via @theblazeif you have watched him, you know he is a h…

Let’s Shed Light, Not Heat, on Douglas County School Choice Reform Efforts

by Eddie | 10:46 am, November 5, 2010

Update, 11/9: Blogger Ben Boychuk at Somewhat Reasonable gives a plug to Douglas County and to little ol’ Eddie. He echoes our remarks and raises a great point: “Indeed, what if the public schools in Douglas County, Colorado served the interests of taxpayers and parents, and not those of the unions and ranking members of [...]

Shocker! CO Higher Ed Committee Recommends Tax Hikes

by PerlStalker | 6:34 am, November 5, 2010

No surprise here

Lawmakers need to find a sustainable funding source for Colorado’s public colleges and universities, and it may mean a tax increase, a committee formed to contemplate the future of higher education said Thursday.

The Higher Educat…

Non-Union State Employee Closes Up Tongue-in-Cheek ColoradoLoses

by Ben DeGrow | 11:16 pm, November 4, 2010

Today marks the end of an era. The state employee who started the non-union group ColoradoLoses as an answer to Colorado WINS, the union coalition outgoing Governor Bill Ritter invited into Denver by executive order in 2007. Dave Ohmart posted the announcement on his website earlier today: I am shutting ColoradoLoses down. Thaks so much [...]

Governor Ritter’s ‘Phantom Carbon Tax’

by Mike Krause | 8:53 pm, November 4, 2010

So how do you implement a “phantom” tax on Colorado’s energy rate payers? As the Independence Institute’s Amy Oliver Cooke and the Competetive Enterprise Institute’s William Yeatman describe it:
In order to make Ritter’s New Energy Economy appear affordable, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) allows Xcel Energy to incorporate at least a $20-per-ton carbon tax [...]

If Only We Had Known That ObamaCare Would Drive up Prescription Drug Prices

by PerlStalker | 7:56 pm, November 4, 2010

Remember that emergency bill that had to be passed right now to bring health care costs down? Guess what? It’s making things more and more expensive. This time, according to the Congressional Budget Office, we find out that ObamaCare is driving up the …

10/28 Pt 1 – Is Obamacare constitutional? Chat w/ Geoff Blue, Deputy Attorney General in Colorado

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 6:00 pm, November 4, 2010

In Part One of the 10/28 edition of Seng Center, host Jimmy Sengenberger sits down with Geoff Blue, a Deputy Attorney General for Colorado, for a discussion about the Obamacare lawsuit that 20 or so Attorneys General, including Colorado’s own John Suth…

The Second Amendment’s Great Election Night

by David Kopel | 3:15 pm, November 4, 2010

(David Kopel) In an article just published at The New Ledger, I examine the long-term implications of the many right to arms victories in state constitutions, the U.S. Congress, and state legislatures on Tuesday.
Copyright © 2010 This feed is for personal, non-commercial use only. The use of this feed on other websites breaches copyright. If this content [...]

Amending the Constitution to Save It: The Final Chapter

by Jon Caldara | 1:23 pm, November 4, 2010

In the first part of our three part iVoices.org podcast series on “Amending the Constitution to Save It,” Senior Fellow Professor Rob Natelson laid out the two ways in which amendments to our constitution can be proposed. The first is the most common. Congress itself proposes amendments to the constitution and passes them in house [...]

Colorado and National Election Result Links

by Mr. Bob | 12:37 pm, November 4, 2010

#teaparty #tcot #ppc #stopsocialism #election #links*Republicans win control of the Colorado State House*Republicans win 680 State House Seats Nationwide Republicans picked up 680 seats in state legislatures, according to the National Conference of Sta…

Let’s Talk Election Results 2010

by Jon Caldara | 8:50 am, November 4, 2010

Still haven’t had enough of election season? Then be sure and tune in to this week’s Devil’s Advocate as I am joined by Denver Post reporter Lynn Bartels and Fox 31 political reporter Eli Stokols for a reporter’s-eye view of Colorado’s election results. That’s Friday, November 5th at 8:30PM on Colorado Public Television [...]

The mind of an Ivy League "philosopher"

by Rossputin | 6:51 am, November 4, 2010

I’m taking a much-needed blog-day off from writing about elections.

H/T (or maybe curses) to Mike R. who sent me the link to the professor’s web page…

Brown University “philosopher” and Assistant Professor in that discipline (and after reading this page, I use the word “discipline” very loosely except for what he wants to do to you), Jason Brennan offers a vision of “ethical” voting and “moral” voting rights which should scare anyone considering sending his or her child to Brown or perhaps any other Ivy League or expensive liberal arts college.

The conclusions Brennan draws from his “research” are shocking for their utter incompatibility not just with America but with any free society.  I urge you to read the above-linked web page for yourself.  It’s not long and my description won’t do it justice.  You simply won’t believe me if I told you.

Once you read that, I ask you to consider my note to Mr. Brennan, sent to him on Wednesday, and copied just below.

—————-

Professor Brennan,

I read with some horror your “research description” in which you encourage people to vote for the “common good” and in which you attack federalism and democracy which, I admit, channeling Churchill, are the worst systems of government except for all the others.

Faulty but typical ivory tower thinking (as an Ivy League grad myself, I’ve seen people like you before) begs at least a few questions:

1. Why should the common good not include one’s own good?
2. Why is my perception of my own good any different than the other guy’s perception of his own good?
3. How can the common good be achieved is not by the achievement of at least a major part of each person’s individual good?
4. If one’s own good can only be achieved by voluntary transactions in which each party at least believes he’s gaining a net benefit, then does not pursuing one’s own good accomplish the common good much more effectively than government redistribution?
5. Is there not a huge game theory problem with your approach where some muddle-headed socialist (such as yourself, apparently) votes to give “society” control over his life, but society is playing a different game with unpleasant outcomes for the socialist as well as for the more rational people who are now subject to the government elected by the muddle-headed if they somehow reach a majority, as they have here in Boulder, Colorado, and have for a long time in Rhode Island?
6. Is there any example in history where thinking like yours on a large scale (rather than in a tiny commune of flower-worshiping unwashed hippies who can easily agree to such things until their little organization collapses due to free rider problems) hasn’t led to at best a lower standard of living than the US and, more likely, tyranny, repression, and mass murder?
7. Speaking of Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot – people who shared much of your view, at least in their public rhetoric – at what point is it OK for society to start judging the enablers of death and destruction (such as “philosophers” who trash democracy in the name of an ill-defined “common good”) based on the always-bad outcomes of their views rather than on their stated intentions, positioned as noble but really simply elitist?
8. How do you “encourage a division of labor in which people serve the common good in different ways”?  How is that different from what Vladimir Illych Ulyanov (as an obvious inspiration for you, I assume you don’t need me to tell you the name by which he is better known) and his successors did in the USSR with such oh-so-beneficial impact on the quality of life of Russians and their surrounding victims for the better part of two generations?  Would you try to enforce such a division if it weren’t going the way you wanted, and if so how is that different from slavery?
9. Are you seriously telling me that $51,360/year (Brown’s undergraduate tuition according to the web site) buys me tripe like your “research”?  Really, can’t we hire some socialist French street protester or Hugo Chavez’s propaganda minister to give a couple of lectures and then let the students out 8 months earlier and $50,000 richer while having received roughly the same information?

I could go on, as I’m sure you can tell.

I’ll be most interested in hearing your response to any of this.

In the meantime, my opinion of American higher education has sunk to a new low.

Ross Kaminsky
http://rossputin.com

———————————————————–

Update:  The philosophy professor responded as follows: “I stopped reading at the quoted line below.  Please don’t email me again.”  (The quoted sentence was the second sentence of my note.”

My reply to Brennan: “You gotta love a philosophy professor without the backbone to defend his views or read other views.  How very “liberal” of you.”

Frank McNulty and New GOP House Leadership Team Prepare to Step In

by Ben DeGrow | 10:30 pm, November 3, 2010

As pointed out on the Denver Post blog, Colorado’s new majority Republican state house caucus is proceeding with leadership elections tomorrow. At 10 AM, to be precise. Colorado Democrats have protested, saying not all the decisive races have been resolved to their satisfaction. Sure, I appreciate it’s hard to accept being in the minority after [...]

Unable to mount a halfway-serious challenge to Mayor Hickey, how are we to stop the bastard now?

by Eileen McGuire-Mahony | 8:56 pm, November 3, 2010

Political Breath’s first post-election tid-bit comes, oddly enough, courtesy of a friend’s FaceBook post.  We saw a comment to the effect that Hickenlooper won’t know what hit him once Colorado’s Tea Parties show up. Pardon? The same Tea Party groups who have an irksome habit of not vetting their candidates for major office?  The ones [...]

Pres. Obama: “There are easier ways to learn these lessons.”

by Kelly Maher | 4:54 pm, November 3, 2010

“How do you respond to those who say the election outcome, at least in part, was voters saying that they see you as out of touch with their personal economic pain; and are you willing to make any changes in your leadership style?” Pres. Obama was asked today at a press conference. See video at left for his reply…

San Francisco’s leaders think you suck as a parent.

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 2:23 pm, November 3, 2010

Today’s dose of statism:San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, which I believe loosely translates to “City Council,” has banned McDonald’s from giving away toys with Happy Meals within the city.They are not happy that parents are able to make decisions …

Wishful Numbers in Tim Leonard’s State Senate District 16 Race?

by Ben DeGrow | 1:10 pm, November 3, 2010

Although it’s not crucial to winning the majority in the state senate — the Democrats have held on — it seems like we have a small dispute over the actual standing of the race in District 16, where conservative Republican Tim Leonard and liberal Democrat Jeanne Nicholson are locked in a close count. Lynn Bartels [...]

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