Ross to host Mike Rosen show on Friday

by Rossputin | 10:31 am, April 21, 2011

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll have the privilege and somewhat daunting opportunity to host the Mike Rosen show on Newsradio 850 KOA tomorrow, Friday, April 22, 2011.

During the 10 AM hour, our guest (for the full hour) will be personal finance expert and best-selling author Jordan Goodman. You can visit Jordan’s web site at moneyanswers.com

And I’m honored to let you know that from 11:05 until 11:30 my guest will be the one and only Dr. Walter Williams, George Mason University professor of economics, columnist for Townhall.com and occasional guest-host for Rush Limbaugh.

If you’d like to join the conversation with me and/or any of my guests, you probably know the number already… (303) 713-8585.

Wish me luck!

Weigel’s Static Reasoning

by Rossputin | 6:45 am, April 21, 2011

Slate’s David Weigel responded to my article about the S&P downward revision of U.S. federal debt by making arguments that strengthen my point and demolish his own position.

Let’s take his so-called rebuttal head-on because Weigel’s assertion, while not a strawman (as he incorrectly termed my points), is simply wrong.

I argued that both data and common sense suggest that no amount of tax increase will prevent entitlements from bankrupting the country. (One would think the implication is clear that I was talking about tax hikes in the absence of massive entitlement cuts. After all, I was responding to Weigel’s correct assertion that “Democrats won’t give on entitlements.”) Weigel responds with an IMF report which suggests that the U.S. “can restore fiscal balance by raising all taxes and cutting all transfer payments immediately and for the indefinite future by 35 percent. “

My usual response to something as preposterously hypothetical as this is “And if my aunt had balls, she’d be my uncle.” But rather than just discarding the IMF argument as rapidly as it deserves to be circular-filed, let’s explain why it’s so misguided.

Please read the rest of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/21/weigels-static-reasoning

DMYR April General Meeting feat. Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call!

by Brett Moore | 9:00 pm, April 20, 2011

 Join the Denver Metro Young Republicans on Tuesday, April 26th for our April General Meeting. We are pleased to welcome the Chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, Ryan Call!! Recently elected, Chairman Call will discuss his plans for the Party, discuss strategies for the upcoming 2012 elections, and how Young Republicans can get involved. Come [...]

Elliot Fladen and Bob Clark on the rise of social media – 3rd Amy Oliver Fill-In – Hour 1

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 9:00 pm, April 20, 2011

On Tuesday, April 19, Regis University online radio host Jimmy Sengenberger of the Seng Center Radio Show filled in for Amy Oliver on 1310KFKA’s The Amy Oliver Show, making his third foray into mainstream AM talk radio!

In the first hour of the fill-i…

Ken Buck on nat’l debt, Gregory Carlson on college conservative uprisings – 3rd Amy Oliver Fill-In – Hour 2

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 6:00 pm, April 20, 2011

On Tuesday, April 19, Regis University online radio host Jimmy Sengenberger of the Seng Center Radio Show filled in for Amy Oliver on 1310KFKA’s The Amy Oliver Show, making his third foray into mainstream AM talk radio!

In the second hour of the fill-…

Let’s vote on renewable energy, month, by month, by month

by completecolorado | 5:03 pm, April 20, 2011

In 2004, Colorado voters approved Amendment 37, requiring certain (larger) utility providers to obtain 10 percent of their energy from “renewable” sources, like wind or solar power. And since then, the General Assembly has twice voted to raise that limit, so that it now stands at 30% renewable by the year 2020.
And no doubt, [...]

Interview with Cato’s Ilya Shapiro on the legal challenges to the new federal health control law

by David Kopel | 4:18 pm, April 20, 2011

(David Kopel) Ilya Shapiro is senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and editor-in-chief of the Cato Supreme Court Review. On Monday, I interviewed him for 39 minutes about Cato’s litigation program on constitutional issues, his traveling the country during the last year to debate the health control law, and the constitutional issues involved in [...]

Redistricting versus Reapportionment – the confusion continues

by CTBC Director | 4:11 pm, April 20, 2011

As the battle over redistricting Colorado’s Congressional districts dominates the state’s political news this week, the general lack of knowledge about how district boundaries are determined (and the very different processes for deciding Congressional versus state legislative district boundaries) is striking.
The confusion is not restricted to the general populace alone (who might be excused for [...]

Why Atlas Shrugged Part I Is a Good Movie

by Ari Armstrong | 1:29 pm, April 20, 2011

The views on Atlas Shrugged Part I range from lavish praise to moral denunciation. My reaction immediately after viewing it opening night was that it is “basically good,” despite some obvious problems with it. See my initial review as well as some audi…

Xcel Sees Green Again

by Jon Caldara | 11:44 am, April 20, 2011

I wanted to update my readers on the continued love affair between Xcel and our General Assembly. Yesterday, unsurprising to anyone following this close relationship, Xcel was able to get it’s way again under the gold dome as HB 1291 – legislation that approves the Air Quality Control Commission’s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan – [...]

Win a Free iPad!

by Jon Caldara | 11:08 am, April 20, 2011

Want to win an Apple iPad? It’s like winning 1 million cool points and really cool new technology all at the same time!
Sign up today to get connected with us at the Independence Institute and the fine folks at Liberty on the Rocks and you will be entered to win an Apple iPad!
In an effort [...]

Douglas County Reports 28 Private Schools Apply to Accept Voucher Students

by Eddie | 9:47 am, April 20, 2011

Update, 12:30 PM: The Denver Post says it’s 27 schools, not 28 — as stated on the Douglas County web page linked below. Looks like 27 is the correct number, if you count multiple campuses of Denver Christian and the Denver Street School as one school each. The Post also says 8 of the schools [...]

Grassroots Radio Hosts Atlas Shrugged Event

by Ari Armstrong | 8:51 am, April 20, 2011

Ken Clark and Jason Worley of Grassroots Radio broadcast from Westminster April 15 to celebrate the release of Atlas Shrugged Part I. Here three people who attended the event share their thoughts on the political scene.

Solar Assumptions

by Joshua Sharf | 8:00 am, April 20, 2011

Some of my favorite listening is to Stanford’s Entrepreneur’s Corner.  It seems to be guest lecturers to one of Stanford B-school classes, and they’re almost always entrepreneurs who’ve made good, coming back to share their wisdom.  (The lectures tend to be entertaining, in Guy Kawasaki’s case, highly so.) One of the recent lectures is by [...]

A right to see your food?

by Rossputin | 7:24 am, April 20, 2011

The latest example of how far America has drifted from regulatory and judicial sanity was sealed on Monday with the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal of a verdict against Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The far-left 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, by far the most overturned federal Appeals Court, had its way this time when they ruled that Chipotle’s near-four-foot high wall between their food preparation area and the customer line infringed on the “right” of a wheelchair-bound customer (and I use that term very loosely in this case) to see his potential meal and its preparation.

This quote from the 9th Circuit’s decision, referencing a ruling from a lower court, says all you need to know about the plaintiff:

 

The court found that Antoninetti had failed to show irreparable injury because he had not revisited either restaurant after Chipotle adopted its written policy and because his “purported desire to return to the [r]estaurants is neither concrete nor sincere or supported by the facts.” It also stated that Antoninetti’s “history as a plaintiff in accessibility litigation supports this Court’s finding that his purported desire to return to the [r]estaurants is not sincere. Since immigrating to the United States in 1991, Plaintiff has sued over twenty business entities for alleged accessibility violations, and, in all (but one) of those cases, he never returned to the establishment he sued after settling the case and obtaining a cash payment.”

 

Chipotle already had a policy in place allowing various ways to accomodate disabled customers who wanted to see their food ingredients and/or their meal preparation.

The District Court had awarded the plaintiff about $136,000 in legal fees – one quarter of the amount he had requested because he had originally succeeded on one quarter of his claims The plaintiff had also been awarded $5,000 by a District Court for “parking lot violations.”  The Court of Appeals sent the case back to the lower court for reconsideration of all of these amounts.

If a court were a place of justice, this plaintiff – an obvious shakedown professional – would have been found liable for Chipotle’s attorney’s fees rather than the other way around, and he should be banned from going to restaurants. He’s nothing more than the restaurant equivalent of an ambulance chaser and a perfect example of why this nation is now paralyzed by fear of litigation, along with the higher business insurance costs – and thus higher costs passed along to consumers – that come along with a society which tolerates behavior like Mr. Antoninetti’s.

Really, in America there is a defendable-in-court right to look at your food just because someone else can look at his?

I don’t want to sound overly glib or harsh, but it’s called a “disability” for a reason. Someone with a disability is presumably less able than someone else to do a particular thing. It’s sad, often even tragic, depending on the particular case, but the costs to society to cater to the tiny minority of the population are out of control. The nation has spent and continues to spend billions of dollars to offer “accessibility” to the minuscule percentage of the population which uses a wheelchair and goes to office buildings, hotels, or restaurants.

How much are Americans supposed to spend to subsidize the ability of someone in a wheelchair to see his food being prepared, or other such conveniences? Changes at these restaurants could easily amount to a six-figure number per location. Given that restaurants are a very low margin business in most cases, it’s likely that between these direct costs plus the knowledge that a shakedown artist will likely beat them in court one day in the future, restaurants will have to raise prices for the thousands of customers, almost all of whom are not disabled to cover the costs of compliance and legal risk. Chipotle might be able to just absorb the costs but they’re the exception rather than the rule.

It’s time for a return to sanity. It’s a fact of life that not all people are equally capable in all things. We can’t and shouldn’t spend huge sums on trying to change that. Restaurants should voluntarily make reasonable accomodations. To the extent that there must be a federal law, its interpretation should be restrained to prevent the travesty of justice and the incentive for shakedowns with the 9th Circuit has allowed and encouraged by their ruling. It’s one thing to say that people in wheelchairs should be able to get into a restaurant or use a bathroom. It’s another thing entirely to say they need to be able to see everything that standing customers can see.

Politically-controlled Colorado health benefits exchange bill reaches Senate

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, April 20, 2011

Colorado Senate Bill 11-200 advances to the state Senate without the provision that “would nullify the bill unless the state is allowed to opt out of the federal Affordable Care Act,” reports the Denver Business Journal

Do private insurance exchanges already exist?

by Brian T. Schwartz | 9:55 pm, April 19, 2011

The Denver Post has quoted Colo. state rep Amy Stephens as saying that “Most people viewed exchanges as the most free-market part of Obamacare.” But viewing state-run exchanges as somehow free-market is also wrong because privately-run exchanges already exist.

Get Your Constitutional Wonk On With The Independence Institute

by Mike Krause | 3:39 pm, April 19, 2011

The Independence Institute is pleased to present the upcoming event: A Constitutional Guide to Fighting Federal Overreach. Come join Independence Institute constitutional scholars David Kopel and Rob Natelson on Sunday, May 15 from 1:15 to 5:00 PM at Red Rocks Community College for this important program designed to arm citizens with reliable, factual information [...]

Should Colorado Establish An ObamaCare Health Benefits Exchange?

by Mike Krause | 1:39 pm, April 19, 2011

The Associate Press reports today that Senate Bill 200, which would create a health benefit exchange in Colorado, cleared a procedural hurdle and is headed to to floor of the Colorado Senate. According to the article, “A health insurance exchange allows private consumers and small businesses to pool buying power to get lower premiums.” [...]

Hoping Colorado’s New Education Commissioner Will Be a Chief for Change

by Eddie | 11:34 am, April 19, 2011

Yesterday the Colorado State Board of Education was in deliberations to interview and consider one or more applicants for the state’s next education commissioner. Right now everything is in the hush-hush, so don’t even bother to ask me who any of the finalists are. Why? Because I don’t know.
The new commissioner is scheduled to be [...]

Voices of the Tea Party

by Ari Armstrong | 7:58 am, April 19, 2011

So what do Tea Party supporters actually think? Listen to these April 15 interviews from Denver.

S&P warning brings Orwellian response from Democrats

by Rossputin | 7:21 am, April 19, 2011

Monday’s outlook change by ratings agency Standard & Poors (S&P) for U.S. federal government debt – going from stable to negative while affirming the current AAA rating – brought Democratic responses that would have made George Orwell proud.

Please read my entire article at the American Spectator web page:
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/19/democratic-ceiling-wax

Mart Laar’s words still ring true

by Rossputin | 5:58 am, April 19, 2011

Back in 2006, former President of Estonia, Mart Laar, received the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty from the Cato Institute. Every once in a while I return to the speech he gave at the event, finding it timeless and inspiring.

I offer it to you today as both intellectual ammunition and fuel for your pro-liberty fires. Please watch this when you can really pay attention to Laar’s words, and please share the video link “liberally”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c1ZLRH_gNk

The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal

by David Kopel | 11:31 pm, April 18, 2011

(David Kopel) That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, the war against the Libyan dictator still needs to be voted on [...]

The Libyan intervention is not wholly legal

by David Kopel | 11:31 pm, April 18, 2011

(David Kopel) That’s my argument in a new article for The Daily Caller. As I’ve previously explained, I strongly support the use of force against the Gaddafi tyranny. Indeed, I wish that President Obama were not so half-hearted in taking action to remove Gaddafi. However, the war against the Libyan dictator still needs to be voted on [...]

Remember the Economy in Jan 2009?..not good, compare it today -

by Mr. Bob | 8:11 pm, April 18, 2011

The Obama Economy January 2009 TODAY % chg Source Avg.. Retail price/gallon gas in U.S. $1.83 $3.104 69.6% 1 Crude oil, Europe…

College host & PPC contributor to return as guest-host on AM 1310′s “The Amy Oliver Show” Tuesday morning from 9-11

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 5:30 pm, April 18, 2011

Guests will include Ken Buck, Gregory Carlson, Elliot Fladen, and Bob Clark.  Listen online at 1310kfka.com ————————— Jimmy Sengenberger, host of Regis University’s pioneering Seng Center Radio Show and a PPC contributor, will be filling in this Tuesday morning for the third time as a guest host on AM 1310′s The Amy Oliver Show. The [...]

Cleaning up the “Dirty Dozen” – Agriculture Tax repeal moves forward in state House

by CTBC Director | 4:11 pm, April 18, 2011

“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” – Mark Twain (1866)
Occasionally, however, the legislature can succeed in undoing previous acts putting one’s life, liberty, or property at risk…
State legislators made some progress this week towards repealing one of last year’s “Dirty Dozen” tax increases (which exploited a Colorado [...]

Atlas Shrugged – Part I

by Joshua Sharf | 2:18 pm, April 18, 2011

Susie and I went to go see Atlas Shrugged last night over at the Aurora 16.  I’m not a big fan of saying something just to hear myself blog, so I’ll limit myself here to comments that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere before. The consensus – that the acting seemed good, the fidelity to [...]

Unions & Civil Rights

by Joshua Sharf | 11:29 am, April 18, 2011

One of the themes of April 4th’s Union Rights rallies across the country was the attempt to link state workers’ collective bargaining rights with civil rights.  The date chosen was not only just before the Wisconsin Supreme Court special election, it was also the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, when he was [...]

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