Be Careful What You Wish For

by Joshua Sharf | 11:46 pm, May 31, 2011

Back in 2009, the Colorado legislature decided they had had it with citizen oversight.  They passed HB09-1326, which, among other things: People who successfully challenge the validity of signatures in court could sue sponsors of the measure to recover attorney’s fee. Circulators who collect more than 100 signatures are required to go through a government-sponsored [...]

My 2012 Prediction

by Al Maurer | 8:58 pm, May 31, 2011

Running against Barack Obama is going to be like winning the Tour de France.

What’s the Real Price Inflation?

by Ari Armstrong | 5:37 pm, May 31, 2011

Recently economist Bruce Yandle wrote, “Inflation doubled from 1.1% in the fourth quarter to 2.2% in the first quarter, but that’s when they take out food and energy prices. For real people, inflation is 3.8% (including food and energy prices).” (We ca…

Natelson Drives Large, Rusty Stake Into Heart of TABOR Lawsuit

by Jon Caldara | 3:48 pm, May 31, 2011

Let’s put another stake in Herb Fenster’s TABOR lawsuit shall we? As if there weren’t enough stakes in the heart of this silly lawsuit, we’ve got perhaps the largest, most rusty stake yet courtesy of Senior Fellow Rob Natelson. As you might remember, Vincent Carroll cited Rob many times in his Denver Post editorial on [...]

June 6th Meetup with CNN’s Jim Spellman

by redrocks | 3:28 pm, May 31, 2011

Up on the Roof with a “National” Perspective!
We hope everyone takes advantage of this opportunity for an “off the record” Q&A with national, award-winning, CNN journalist, Jim Spellman!  He was originally scheduled for our May 16th meetup, but had to travel out of town to cover the devastation in the south and the Joplin tornado.  [...]

Use Tax Criminals

by Ari Armstrong | 1:01 pm, May 31, 2011

In a recent op-ed published through the Independence Institute, I argue that Colorado’s “use tax” is “a nuisance tax that turns good citizens into tax criminals.” (If, like most people I’ve talked to, you have no idea what the use tax even is, I refer …

5/12 Pt 1 – Romney’s Romneycare problem, oil company tax breaks, & the legislature’s epic redistricting fail

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 1:00 pm, May 31, 2011

In Part One of the 5/12 edition of The Seng Center Radio Show, host Jimmy Sengenberger dissects Mitt Romney’s Romneycare problems, explaining how the state law compares with Obamacare, how it’s failed to achieve its stated goals, and precisely why Romn…

Fordham Report on Special Education Trends Raises Important Policy Questions

by Eddie | 11:16 am, May 31, 2011

If you think American K-12 education policy is a complex and tangled web of laws, bureaucracies, incentives, politics and emotions — and you would be quite normal to do so — then treading into the narrower world of special education services might make your head completely spin. It’s the day after a long and fun [...]

5/12 Pt 2 – Where Amycare goes wrong

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 11:00 am, May 31, 2011

A little late, but worth a listen.  In Part Two of the 5/12 edition of The Seng Center Radio Show, host Jimmy Sengenberger gives his take on Colorado’s SB-200, known as “Amycare” by opponents.  The legislation, which passed the State Senate w…

Quick shots from today’s WSJ

by completecolorado | 10:51 am, May 31, 2011

Interesting nuggets from today’s Wall Street Journal:
Lead story, “The Pentagon has concluded that computer sabotage coming from another country can constitute an act of war…”
Germany on Monday said it would close all of its 17 nuclear reactors by 2022.
In 2008, Libya gave Goldman Sachs about $1.3 billion to invest.  GS lost almost all of it. [...]

Independence Institute Writers In The News

by Mike Krause | 9:19 am, May 31, 2011

Recently published works by Independence Institute writers cover a wide variety of topics, from taxpayer subsidized health coverage for kids and the dreaded “Amazon” tax to the cost of recidivism and the true meaning of a “republican” form of government. Let’s get to to it.
Over at the Health Policy Solutions website, health care blogger [...]

The immorality of government medicine vs. your right to your own life

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

To save American healthcare, not to mention to save the country itself, advocates of freedom, free markets, & capitalism must take the moral high ground from the proponents of government-control, Dr. Yaron Brook tells patients and doctors at a Doctors Town Hall.

Contempt of Constituents

by Joshua Sharf | 1:45 pm, May 30, 2011

Looking at the events of the last couple of weeks, it’s difficult to escape the conclusion that certain public officials in Colorado hold their constituents in contempt for the sin of not handing over their pocketbooks. Legislative Democrats, with the cooperation of too many Republicans, have gone along with efforts to water down the state’s [...]

Clear The Bench Colorado honors our Veterans on Memorial Day

by CTBC Director | 5:56 am, May 30, 2011

Clear The Bench Colorado salutes those who have contributed most to establishing, and preserving, our freedoms as Americans: on this Memorial Day, we honor those who serve (or have served) in our nation’s armed forces, particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  As a military veteran and proud “Citizen Soldier” I strongly believe in [...]

Memorial Day 2011

by Ben DeGrow | 4:21 am, May 30, 2011

In honor of Memorial Day, here is a well-done, two-minute video produced a few years ago by my friends at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation: I post this verse from “America the Beautiful” most every Memorial Day, but it remains appropriate: O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife, Who more than self their country loved, [...]

More Pension Risk

by Joshua Sharf | 6:44 pm, May 29, 2011

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that pensions are moving more money back into hedge funds: Also, pension officials are using the historically strong returns of hedge funds to justify a rosier future outlook for their investment returns. By generating more gains from their investments, pension funds can avoid the politically unpalatable position of [...]

No Backbone Radio this Sunday, May 29

by Rossputin | 10:01 am, May 28, 2011

Due to a last minute family emergency for my producer, there won’t be a new edition of Backbone Radio this weekend. The station will play a “best of” show. We’ll be back next Sunday, June 5.

Memorial Day Links

by Ari Armstrong | 9:44 am, May 28, 2011

My great-grandfather Ralph Garver served in World War I.My grandfather Theo Eversol served 44 months in WWII. Some of his remarks are recorded in a first and second article. My paternal grandfather Otto Armstrong served in the same war, also in the Pac…

Louisiana Seeks to Beat Colorado to Open Teacher Union Negotiations

by Ben DeGrow | 4:02 pm, May 27, 2011

A lot has happened in the month since I last posted here about the open negotiations controversy in Jeffco Public Schools. I was glad to see Mike Rosen bring attention to the issue on his show and in his May 12 Denver Post column, in which he concluded: A number of other states have laws [...]

A 19th Century Solution to a 21st Century Recession

by Jon Caldara | 1:26 pm, May 27, 2011

There is almost no better venue for unintentional comedy than politicians proposing economic policies. Today’s laugh out loud award goes to Denver mayoral candidate Michael Hancock, who with one really bad idea, earned himself TWO references to socialist economic planning in one newspaper article. Somehow Chuck Plunkett of the Post was able to contain his [...]

Dean Singleton makes soft allegations against McInnis

by completecolorado | 12:49 pm, May 27, 2011

Just dropping this post in quickly, but this minor unreported story needs to be memorialized in “print” somewhere.
On Monday, 630 KHOW’s Caplis and Silverman program was at its best, discussing the new developments in the Scott McInnis story.
Besides scoring the big interview of Seeme Hasan, producer Brad Lopez also nailed down an interview with Dean [...]

Michelle Rhee Hits a Denver Home Run While Her Critics Swing and Miss Again

by Eddie | 10:59 am, May 27, 2011

Even when you’re forever 5 years old, time flies. I can hardly believe it was last October that I cried to learn my edu-crush Michelle Rhee was leaving her important superintendent job at D.C. Public Schools. Or that it was only a couple months later we all learned she was starting the new national group [...]

Michael Hancock’s ‘Collective Farm’ Foolishness

by Ari Armstrong | 9:38 am, May 27, 2011

Talk about great timing! Just as Grand Junction Free Press publishes an article from my dad and me on the economic harms of spending more for local goods, the Denver Post releases an article by Chuck Plunkett discussing the “buy local” proposal of Mich…

Why Spending More for Local Goods Harms the Economy

by Ari Armstrong | 9:17 am, May 27, 2011

The following article by Linn and Ari Armstrong originally was published May 27 by Grand Junction Free Press under the title, “Channel 11 piece peddles economic nonsense.” Stay tuned for a related update about the views of Denver mayoral hopeful Michae…

Salazar, Hickenlooper Burden the San Luis Valley with More Regulations

by PerlStalker | 7:46 am, May 27, 2011

The six counties that make up the San Luis Valley are some of the poorest in Colorado. Ken Salazar and John Hickenlooker want to keep it that way. They’ve named the San Luis Valley a conservation zone as part of President Obama’s Great Outdoors program…

Education: It’s All About the Results

by PerlStalker | 11:08 pm, May 26, 2011

Eddie wrote an interesting post on the a batch of education spending data from the Census department. The data itself is interesting, especially in how it relates to K-12 spending in Colorado. What I really found interesting was this comment (emphasis …

Colorado State Patrol wasting money and time prosecuting a rude gesture.

by David K. Williams, Jr. | 3:11 pm, May 26, 2011

Colorado State Troopers are spending your tax money prosecuting someone that made a rude gesture to them. Yep, that is right. Thin-skinned traffic cops clearly have too much time and resources on their hands if they have time and resources to spend on …

Life in the FASTER lane – updates on the Colorado Car Tax

by CTBC Director | 2:55 pm, May 26, 2011

Surely make you lose your mind…
The Colorado Car Tax (er, “fee”) increase – ironically dubbed ‘FASTER’ – passed in the 2009 legislative session made another lap in media coverage this past week with a broadcast on the ‘Devil’s Advocate‘ television program and publication of a pair of “Issue Backgrounder” papers.
The “Issue Backgrounder” papers each address [...]

Nook Advances

by Ari Armstrong | 12:25 pm, May 26, 2011

I’m a Kindle man. Not only do I have a book about Harry Potter selling for Kindle, but I own a Kindle, and I read books on my iPod Touch with Kindle software.But I like Barnes and Noble (BN), largely because a local store allows Liberty In the Books (a…

Look Closer at Census Spending Data, Big Picture: Colorado’s K-12 Sky Isn’t Falling

by Eddie | 11:19 am, May 26, 2011

Talk about one of your below-the-fold news stories. Yesterday a Denver Business Journal headline declared: “Colo. near bottom for education spending.” The story references newly-released data from the U.S. Census Bureau, which shows Colorado fell from 36th in per-pupil spending in 2007-08 ($9,079) to 40th in 2008-09 ($8,718).
There is good news, though. The best I [...]

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