Kjersten Forseth on ProgressNow’s Latest Boogeyman

by T.L. James | 10:59 pm, March 31, 2011

Today’s fundraising appeal from our friends at ProgessNow is so ill-considered that it’s actually comical. If you give generously, maybe they’ll have enough left over to hire someone who can write better emails.

How To Help In Wisconsin – Now

by Joshua Sharf | 8:23 pm, March 31, 2011

Game on. We all know about the efforts by unions and other lefties to recall eight Wisconsin Republican state senators, and to overturn the results of last year’s election, and this year’s vote to limit public sector unions. You may not know about another effort to do so by politicizing a race for the Wisconsin [...]

Best Blog: Westword Taps “The Spot”

by elpresidente | 5:31 pm, March 31, 2011

For what appears to be the first time, Westword has honored a traditional media outlet in the new media category–best blog honors for the Denver Post’s “The Spot.” Past winners have included individual bloggers and outfits from both sides of the political spectrum. Say what you will about the Post’s political coverage–that is up for [...]

An End To Big Sugar’s Sweet Deal?

by Mike Krause | 4:25 pm, March 31, 2011

Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) calls the New Deal-era federal sugar subsidy program “one of the worst forms of government interventionism in America,” and wants to undo the corporate welfare scheme between Big Sugar and Uncle Sugar with his “Free Sugar Act of 2011.”
Here’s Lugar writing in the Washington Times:
In sugar land, as in communist countries, [...]

Civil Unions And Beer Wars On Devil’s Advocate

by Mike Krause | 10:22 am, March 31, 2011

It’s civil unions and Colorado’s beer wars this Friday on the Independence Institute’s television program, Devil’s Advocate. Same half-hour of top-notch public affairs programming, but in two segments. First, host Jon Caldara is joined by Troy Ard of the Colorado Federation of College Republicans and Jimmy Sengenberger of the Seng Center radio show for [...]

Celebrate Opening Days for School Choice, Major League Baseball with Media Bullpen

by Eddie | 10:04 am, March 31, 2011

Baseball season’s Opening Day means it’s not only time to start rooting for my Colorado Rockies. It’s also a great opportunity to introduce you to a relatively new baseball-themed website created by the Center for Education Reform, The Media Bullpen:

The Media Bullpen is a dynamic, virtual newsroom that covers the news and the news of [...]

Xtranormal: Liberal confusion on Libya

by Rossputin | 9:27 am, March 31, 2011

Xtranormal has a great exposition of the thinking of liberals:

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

Is Health Insurance “Commerce?”

by Jon Caldara | 8:20 am, March 31, 2011

Our resident constitutional scholars, Dave Kopel and Rob Natelson, joined forces to write an article for the National Law Journal titled, “Health insurance is not ‘commerce.” In the article, Kopel and Natelson make the case that one solitary and erroneous Supreme Court case from 1944 is to blame for the false idea that buying insurance [...]

If low-income Coloradans spend big bucks on booze, candy, & movies, they can afford higher Medicaid copays

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, March 31, 2011

Are Colorado Medicaid recipients spending hundreds of dollars on candy, booze, cigarettes, and movies while the state forces taxpayers to fund their medical care? Yes, suggests the 2009 Consumer Expenditure Survey.

Ethanol and Natural Gas

by Joshua Sharf | 11:38 pm, March 30, 2011

UPDATE: And as if on cue, this morning, JJG, Barclays ETF on grains, is up almost 5% this morning.  This is not just a generalized inflation play (meaning this isn’t just about the Fed printing dollars), since GLD and TBT (the bearish bet on the 10-year Treasury) are up, but only about 1%. Much has [...]

Left behind? Media critic Jason Salzman misses the HuffPo strike

by Kelly Maher | 10:47 pm, March 30, 2011

Left-leaning media critic Jason Salzman has been crossing an “electronic picket line” to write for The Huffington Post. When I first asked him about it, he replied he hadn’t heard of the strike. Once he looked into it, he sent me an email Tuesday that read, in part, “I’m unsure about what to do.”

Morse Wants Per-Diem Ethics Investigation Dropped

by T.L. James | 8:05 pm, March 30, 2011

Well of course he does. His response to the ethics complaint concerning an apparent excess charging of per diem is that his leadership responsibilities necessitated additional outside-of-session work days whose actual events weren’t recorded in his calendar.

One Contract or Two, Making Employees Opt Out of Union Dues Each Year Isn’t Fair

by Eddie | 10:18 am, March 30, 2011

As reported in the Pueblo Chieftain, today is the day a newly combined union of teachers and classified employees in School District 70 begins its master agreement negotiations. That’s fine as far as it goes. I guess one contract is easier to negotiate than two. At the risk of repeating myself from last June, the [...]

Kopel on the Right of Self-Defense

by Jon Caldara | 8:35 am, March 30, 2011

My minion Justin Longo wonders whether, in the absence of our Constitution and thus our Second Amendment, how we could make a positive case for our human right of self-defense, which comes with it, our right to bear arms. In this iVoices.org podcast, Research Director Dave Kopel answers that question and provides some background in [...]

Can an Interstate compact (HB 11-1273) protect Colorado from ObamaCare?

by Brian Schwartz | 5:30 am, March 30, 2011

“Rather than wasting scarce legislative time trying to find the least harmful way of “implementing” Obamacare, state politicians should invest in reforms that will survive long after Obamacare is relegated to history’s dustbin. Including health insurance in an interstate compact would be such a reform.”

Gaddafi’s possible role models

by Rossputin | 4:00 am, March 30, 2011

Just because America is in a war we shouldn’t be, put in by a president whose first reaction – to stay out – was correct, only to have his mind changed by France, England, and “the ladies” of the US’s foreign policy apparatus, doesn’t mean this has to end badly for us or for the world.

While I’m not predicting a good outcome, and while a good outcome if it happens won’t be thanks to Barack Obama, those of us who are disinclined to give the benefit of the doubt to anything this president is involved with should take a step back and consider, separate from American politics, how events there might unfold.

Moammar Gaddafi is so hated by most Libyans outside of his own tribe and home citythat he is unlikely to be able to pull a Mubarak, i.e. to resign and go to a resort city by the beach in his own country, he might be able to pull a Ben Ali: the president of Tunisia fled the country, perhaps not least because of pressure from his wife who scurried around the country piling up 1.5 tons of gold she basically stole from banks, arriving in Saudi Arabia in mid-January.

Some, including the British Foreign Secretary, are making noises about allowing Gaddafi to escape prosecution for his many crimes if he were to leave Libya voluntarily and soon, though there is little clarity on a possible destination.

It’s true that after 40 years of dictatorship there are no democratic institutions in Libya and that a transition to some sort of representative democracy would be a slow and rocky road, perhaps including flare-ups of inter-tribal violence.  Still, that’s likely to be much tamer than anything Gaddafi would unleash on his own people given the opportunity.  So, that’s probably the best outcome we could hope for and one which would certainly leave the US with minimal risk and cost for ongoing military missions.

On the other hand, if there is any let-down in the “coalition’s” ability to restrict Gaddafi’s military actions, the Mad Dog of the Middle East could try to pull a Hafez al Assad: In 1982, in the Syrian town of Hama, the Muslim Brotherhood seemed intent on fomenting a revolt against Assad’s Alawite regime.  Assad responded by shelling the city, killing a large though unknown number, generally estimated between 10,000 and 40,000 people.  I have to say it’s hard to get upset when two groups of horrible people find ways to kill each other, but there’s no way a slaughter of that size was confined to members of the Muslim Brotherhood; certainly many innocents died when Assad attacked Hama with bombers, fighter jets, artillery, tanks, and soldiers in the streets.  No doubt, it was images of Hama which people like President Obama had in mind when deciding that the humanitarian interest in Libya justified western military action.  (Well, not Obama, since he has less sense of global history than my dog, and my dog is much less smart than the average dog.)

Perhaps the most interesting role model for Gaddafi would be João Bernardo “Nino” Vieira, former president of Guinea, who was assassinated by his own soldiers in 2009 after he apparently ordered the murder of the Army Chief of Staff whose loyalty to the president had apparently fallen below the threshold at which Vieira felt he could trust the general.

This would indeed be a happy ending (except for Gaddafi and his remoras.)  It would allow the west to stop spending money on a no-fly zone (at least until and unless the “winners” in Libya started attacking the losers in a game of revenge for the losers’ prior support of Gaddafi.) It would allow the death – hopefully fairly slow and painful – of a man who deserves to rot in hell (or worse) without anyone (including Osama bin Laden) claiming that America killed a Muslim leader. Yes, many people want Gaddafi to be tried for his years of murder and barbarism. But the odds of Gaddafi going to trial are extremely small, whether alive or dead. And since that’s the case, let’s go with dead.

Libya is a remarkably complex and dynamic situation, not least because we know so little about its people in general and the rebels in particular.  They could be pro-democracy or they could be allies of al Qaeda. Or they could be some of each, leading to more bloodshed after Gaddafi goes.

To be frank, as long as Gaddafi is no longer breathing and as long as they keep exporting oil, I couldn’t really care less what happens in Libya, and certainly not in comparison to almost any other Arab nation currently in turmoil.  We just need to let them know that if radical Muslims take control and we trace the loss of one American life to Libya, Coke and Pepsi will be using much of that nation as their supply of glass.

Colorado Senate Passes Big Fines for Buying Sex

by PerlStalker | 9:12 pm, March 29, 2011

Alternative headline: Colorado Senate hates free markets.

Let me preface this with the statement that I don’t support prostitution. I think the world would be a better place if the practice ended. That said, I don’t think it’s the government’s place …

Bottom Up or Upside Down, It’s Still More Government

by Vande Krol | 4:47 pm, March 29, 2011

Yesterday I attended the Governor’s Bottom-Up Economic Development Initiative Regional Meeting.  These meetings are part of the executive order Hickenlooper signed on his inauguration day.  His plan is to “to engage Coloradans across the …

Keep Hope Alive: D.C. School Choice SOAR Act Faces Key March 30 Vote

by Eddie | 2:19 pm, March 29, 2011

Tomorrow is a big day in Washington, D.C. I’m not talking about any big speeches by the President regarding overseas kinetic military actions or about Republicans and Democrats fighting it out over federal spending cuts.
On Wednesday the U.S. House of Representatives is slated to vote on the SOAR Act, which would restore and expand [...]

Dick Wadhams on the Role of the GOP Chair, Last Election Cycle

by Jon Caldara | 11:16 am, March 29, 2011

Colorado Public TV CEO Talks Taxpayer Funding

by Jon Caldara | 11:13 am, March 29, 2011

Obama’s Libya evasion

by Rossputin | 6:43 am, March 29, 2011

Before President Obama’s Monday evening Libya speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell posed four questions he hoped the president would answer. Obama gave partial and unconvincing answers to two and left the other two unaddressed.

Instead, the president spent nearly half an hour trying – and failing – to make a cogent argument for U.S. military action for humanitarian purposes and presenting the Obama Doctrine justifying risking American blood and treasure “when our safety is not directly threatened.”

Please read the entirety of my article about Obama’s speech at the American Spectator web site:
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/03/29/mission-unaccomplished

The 12 Worst Features Of ObamaCare

by Brian Schwartz | 5:30 am, March 29, 2011

The worst parts of ObamaCare include the Basic Health Plan, waivers, Accountable Care Organizations, and Medicaid Expansion.

How much does the state spend on cell phones?

by Amy Oliver | 10:22 pm, March 28, 2011

Want to know how much Colorado taxpayers pay for cell phones for state employees? That’s a good question that no one is able to answer.  Welcome to the opaque world of Colorado spending transparency. The Associated Press sent a Colorado Open Records Act request (CORA) to 19 state agencies and couldn’t get anything more than [...]

2011 GOP Central Committee Meeting: Ryan Call vs. Ted Harvey

by T.L. James | 8:41 pm, March 28, 2011

From the GOP Central Committee meeting on Saturday, here are the nomination speeches for new state Chairman Ryan Call and his main competitor for that post, State Senator Ted Harvey.

A New Way to Contact Elected Officials; A Solution for Grassroots Apathy?

by Ben DeGrow | 11:22 am, March 28, 2011

Efforts to organize constituent groups to contact and lobby their elected officials have grown more sophisticated in recent years. Many of us like the ease of the online petition that automatically directs messages to our representatives based on our input location data — though I frequently prefer to tailor the pre-fab messages with my own [...]

New Orleans Charters Latest to Show Positive Results, But Challenges Lie Ahead

by Eddie | 10:47 am, March 28, 2011

A few weeks ago I pointed you to a study that showed Indiana charter schools outpacing their public school peers in making student academic improvements. Another place where charter schools are being done right — and on an unsurpassed scale — is New Orleans. Six of 10 public school students there is served by one [...]

Bill Johnson "Detests" Liberty in Beer Sales

by Ari Armstrong | 8:49 am, March 28, 2011

Denver Post editorial columnist Bill Johnson (whose tirades inexplicably appear on the news pages of the paper) “detests” a bill to expand economic liberty and consumer choice in the beer trade, he writes in in his latest piece.Johnson dislikes a bill …

Salena Zito: 2012 elections starting in 2011 in Wisconsin

by Rossputin | 5:30 am, March 28, 2011

Salena Zito of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Gazette, one of my favorite political opinion writers, has penned an important piece about Wisconsin.  Republicans, supporters of liberty, and others who want to curtail the destructive influence of public sector unions should read Zito’s article and find a way to contribute to helping the good guys – which is to say the Republicans in this case – win re-election.

Zito noted that the Republican State Leadership Committee seems to be the only major group from outside Wisconsin trying to help Wisconsin Republicans battle the big money coming into the state from unions and pro-union groups around the country.  You can read a little about RSLC’s efforts and make a contribution (I did!) here:
http://rslc.com/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=7

As Zito says, “…Republicans could face massive losses nationally if they don’t win those Wisconsin recalls.  Just because the Democrats returned from Illinois doesn’t mean the left surrendered.“

Please see her article here:

GOP Can’t Ignore Wisconsin Recall Battle

Ethanol Changes Tactics

by Joshua Sharf | 9:56 pm, March 27, 2011

The ethanol industry is changing tactics to keep those universally unpopular subsidies coming. Today’s ethanol industry can prosper without government incentives, the founder of Green Plains Renewable Energy Inc. said Thursday. Ethanol has become an integral part of the country’s energy picture, in demand not only from motorists but also from oil refiners who use [...]

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