Udall, Bennet Pretend to Worry About Debt Ceiling

by PerlStalker | 8:03 pm, June 30, 2011

Hmmm.

Fed up with inaction as the federal government inches closer to its borrowing limit, Colorado U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall are assembling a bipartisan group to speak out in hopes of reaching a compromise.

Inaction, huh? I notice …

Obama Gives New Grant to ACORN; Did He Violate Federal Law?

by Mr. Bob | 3:34 pm, June 30, 2011

#acorn #teaparty #votefraud #amspecJudicial Watch discovered that the Obama administration is flouting the will of Congress by giving federal taxpayer money to ACORN….againObama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave a $79,819 grant…

Colorado Reapportionment Commission takes a time out for Independence Day week – resumes on 11 July with final public testimony and hearings for metro Denver counties

by CTBC Director | 1:30 pm, June 30, 2011

Colorado’s Reapportionment Commission (charged with drawing our state legislative districts) takes a time out for Independence Day week before resuming the summer schedule of meetings and hearing of public testimony for the final marathon round (covering six metro Denver counties) on 11 July in Denver.
The commission’s most recent meeting (27 June) discussed the preliminary district maps [...]

Denver Post, Durango Herald Reporters Join Me

by Jon Caldara | 12:12 pm, June 30, 2011

Tune in to the Independence Institute’s public affairs television show, Devil’s Advocate, this Friday at 8:30PM on Colorado Public Television 12 as I am joined by Durango Herald reporter Joe Hanel and Denver Post reporter Tim Hoover for an update on summer time political happenings around Colorado. Episode airs tomorrow night on Colorado Public Television [...]

Sending Out an “S.O.S.” to Find a Clear Understanding of Education “Status Quo”

by Eddie | 11:54 am, June 30, 2011

Over at the Ed News Colorado blog, progressive teacher-activist Sabrina Stevens Shupe lays out a critique against reformer types for “the intellectually lazy use of ’status quo.’” She says that reformers like me use the term as a blunt object “meant to suggest low achievement,” but that in reality the No Child Left Behind [...]

Sending Out an “S.O.S.” to Find a Clear Understanding of Education “Status Quo”

by Eddie | 11:54 am, June 30, 2011

Over at the Ed News Colorado blog, progressive teacher-activist Sabrina Stevens Shupe lays out a critique against reformer types for “the intellectually lazy use of ’status quo.’” She says that reformers like me use the term as a blunt object “meant to suggest low achievement,” but that in reality the No Child Left Behind [...]

Obama’s medical mystery shoppers

by Rossputin | 6:43 am, June 30, 2011

On Tuesday evening, after being outed by the NY Times, the Obama Administration abandoned plans to have “mystery shoppers” call primary care physicians to determine how easy or difficult it is to get a doctor’s appointment and whether being part of a government health insurance program impacted that ease or difficulty.

The original proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services, dated April 28^th, 2011, specified that a division of HHS would contact 465 Primary Care Physicians (“PCP”s) in each of nine states: “Each PCP’s office will be contacted twice; once using a privately insured patient scenario, and once using a publicly insured patient scenario. The scenarios will simulate requests for an appointment with the sampled PCP from a new patient with both public or private insurance and either an urgent medical concern or routine exam appointment.”

HHS also planned to call 465 more PCPs (in total, not per state) who would “be informed about the study and asked directly if they are accepting new patients and how long it would take to obtain an appointment. The purpose of this additional data collection component is to evaluate the validity of the mystery shopper approach in generating accurate estimates of physician availability and timeliness of services.” Does anyone believe that a doctor really wants to tell a government questioner that he’s avoiding taking new government-funded patients?

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/06/30/obamas-medical-mystery-shopper

Ross on WTIC (Hartford) with Ray Dunaway

by Rossputin | 5:10 am, June 30, 2011

I had the opportunity to join Ray Dunaway’s morning talk show in Hartford, CT, on Tuesday morning.The topic was basically “energy myths of the left”.
Click here to listen to the audio.Link to Original post at Rossputin.com.

Video: “Hi, Koch Cameras!”

by elpresidente | 5:02 pm, June 29, 2011

At about 2:00 in–the speaker gives a shout-out to the “Koch cameras” of WhoSaidYouSaid.com and People’s Press Collective: PPC eagerly awaits to hear from the HR folks at Koch, as we never seem to have received our checks. ProgressNow and the other organizations’ checks from CoDA, Pat Stryker, et al. on the other hand . [...]

Best line of the day

by Rossputin | 2:28 pm, June 29, 2011

From Roger Simon’s article in the Wall Street Journal about now-convicted former Governor of Illinois, Rob Blagojevich:

Having risen to high office due almost solely to the political machine of his father-in-law, Chicago alderman and ward boss Richard Mell, Blago is now exposed to the jury for what he really is. “You could cut off his head and he wouldn’t be any dumber,” a Chicago insider tells me.

A Koch Protest and a Smile

by Ari Armstrong | 12:01 pm, June 29, 2011

The leftists were out in full silliness mode protesting the Koch brothers near Vail on June 26. Both Progress Now Colorado and Colorado Common Cause promoted the protest, as did Colorado Pols and Colorado Independent.I love the Denver Post’s headline: …

Podcast: Rob Natelson on the Time Mag Article

by Jon Caldara | 11:47 am, June 29, 2011

Our Constitution scholar Rob Natelson’s deconstruction of the highly inaccurate Time Magazine article on the Constitution has received a ton of attention. (Thanks Instapundit)! I also wanted to point you towards a podcast Rob did on this very subject. You can find it over on iVoices.org here. In it, Rob goes into some more detail [...]

Larry Levy: Citizens Aren’t the Only People Who Vote

by Rossputin | 9:23 am, June 29, 2011

Attorney Larry Levy of the law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani has penned this important article relating to voter fraud in Colorado.

On March 8, 2011 Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler issued a non-partisan report suggesting that thousands of non-citizens registered to vote, and, indeed, did vote in Colorado in 2010.  The study draws few conclusions, but indicates that something is awry with the Colorado voter registration process.

In 2006, Colorado started requiring an individual to show documentation proving lawful presence in the State to obtain a driver’s license or State identification card.  Although birth certificates and passports are the best form of identification, Colorado also three types of other documentation for non-citizens: an Employment Authorization Document, commonly called a “work permit,” which allows an alien to work legally in the US for a specified time; a U.S. Permanent Resident Card or “green card,” which grants permanent legal resident status and offers a pathway to citizenship after at least a three-year wait; and an INS arrival/departure record, which allows foreign citizens to visit for 90 days or less. Colorado law also permits residents to use a driver’s license issued by another state to obtain a new license or identification card.

By comparing the State’s driver’s license/personal identification database with Colorado’s voter rolls, the Secretary of State study was able to identify the number of non-citizens who had successfully registered to vote, as well as those that voted.  The results of the review are shocking.  The study demonstrates that of the 139,379 people who presented a green card to obtain a license or identification card, 10,048 registered to vote and 4,214 actually voted.  Similarly, of the 33,561 individuals who had used a work permit, 1,228 had successfully registered, with 603 of them actually voting.  Finally, INS arrival/departure records were used by 69,023 people, producing 419 people who were registered to vote and 130 who voted.

Given that the voter role information does not indicate specifically how the non-citizens registered to vote, it cannot be said with absolute certainty that these voters, who had used proof of non-citizenship to obtain their driver’s license or identification cards, were still non-citizens at the time of voting.  However, it is highly unlikely that most of them had obtained citizenship before voting.  While, for example, those who used a green card may have obtained citizenship between the time of getting a drivers license and voting, given the lengthy processing time to actually obtain citizenship, it is more likely that most registrants were not entitled to vote.  Further, given the limited purposes of a work permit and INS arrival/departure record, it is even more unlikely that those voters had obtained citizenship prior to voting.

One thing is absolutely certain: 106 of those who were non-citizens at the time they obtained their license or identification card voted illegally, as State records show they presented proof of non-citizenship to the State after having voted.

This important study reveals troubling flaws in Colorado’s voter registration system while providing a wake-up call to the many states with similar systems.  While it is possible that some of these illegal voter registrations were a result of either nefarious or negligent conduct by those seeking to swell voter rolls, it is more likely that the implementation of the national motor/voter registration system is to blame, either through clerical error or willful manipulation.  Further, it is likely that many other registrants who were not part of the study used a driver’s license from another state as proof of lawful presence, a document that suffers from the same defects as Colorado’s license.

These problems are not specific to Colorado.  A 2005 U.S. Government Accountability Office study identified that in one U.S. District Court, over a two-year period, as much as three percent of the 30,000 individuals called for jury duty from voter registration rolls were not U.S. citizens.  Given the estimated 12 million illegal (undocumented) aliens in the United States this small sample may well portend a much larger problem.

While citizens must demonstrate their commitment to our democracy by voting, a proliferation of illegal votes undermines the very democracy we seek to protect, dilutes citizens’ votes and encourages illegal activity by those seeking political advantage from illegal voters.  The flaws exposed in this study will only be exacerbated by the blind rush in some states to increase voter participation through mistake-prone and easily manipulated programs such as same-day registration. We must encourage and protect every citizen’s right to exercise the sacred franchise, but must do so in a manner that ensures the integrity of elections and preserves our constitutional imperative.

A Taste of Tavern-Style Politics

by Al Maurer | 8:40 am, June 29, 2011

Amy Stephens showed up Tuesday at Liberty on the Rocks for a taste of tavern-style politics.

Today’s deep thought

by Rossputin | 6:06 am, June 29, 2011

What do “big oil”, “big pharma”, and “big finance” have in common other than being big? They all provide a product or service without which modern life would be nearly impossible. What can you then conclude about the left, which attacks all of these groups? That – even if they are unaware of it – their policies are anti-human.

I do not say this as hyperbole.

When you see the left attacking an industry, or even a company (like WalMart), it bears asking “what would the world, or my life, be like if the left’s desired destruction actually happened?” It’s one thing to want to support “the little guy” or “the underdog”. That’s quite within American tradition and many of us do so either consciously or subsconsciously in everything from business to sports. But wanting to destroy something just because it’s big and successful is not the logical extension of that coin. Such destruction is not just destroying the “other” but destroying what makes our lives better, or even possible.

And you thought the EPA was bad

by Rossputin | 6:03 am, June 29, 2011

In a new article entitled “Crib Death“, Quin Hillyer brings us sadly typical news about the behavior of our federal government, destroying millions of dollars and perhaps quite a few jobs in over-the-top Nanny Statism. If you’re not mad already, you will be when you read this:

http://cfif.org/v/freedom_line_blog/10252/crib-death/

Democrat Super PAC Targets Scott Tipton

by PerlStalker | 11:27 pm, June 28, 2011

I April, Roll Call reported on the creation of a new “Super PAC” called the House Majority PAC.

A group led by Democratic strategist Ali Lapp launched a new political action committee Wednesday intended to help Democrats win back the House.

House …

Hooray! Institute for Justice Stands Up for Dougco Choice Scholarship Families

by Eddie | 4:30 pm, June 28, 2011

Update, 6/28: Coverage also available from Nancy Mitchell at Ed News Colorado, including a 3-minute video clip of Tuesday’s press conference.
Very, very good news today! Both the Denver Post and Associated Press report that the Institute for Justice (IJ) has intervened to defend four Douglas County families who face potential harm from lawsuits filed by [...]

VIDEO: Cato’s Patrick Michaels on the Climate Coup

by Jon Caldara | 2:49 pm, June 28, 2011

If you were one of the many who did not make it to our Patrick Michaels event last Thursday (it was sold out), then boy do I have a treat for you. Here is the lecture that Patrick gave to our sold out crowd. Enjoy!

Why Rosen is Wrong about Vouchers

by Ari Armstrong | 11:39 am, June 28, 2011

Does the U.S. Constitution support the Douglas County voucher program?Ed Quillen and Ben DeGrow have fought it out on the origins of the so-called “Blaine Amendments,” which inspired Article IX, Section 7 of the Colorado Constitution prohibiting tax fu…

Independence Institute Writers In The News

by Mike Krause | 10:08 am, June 28, 2011

Independence Institute writers have been a busy crew recently, publishing works on issues that include out-of-control public sector hiring, challenges to Obamacare, Governor Hickenlooper’s poor veto choices, and correcting misinterpretations of the U.S. Constitution. Let’s get to it.
Senior Fellow Fred Holden’s piece on how public sector hiring has dramatically outpaced private sector hiring in [...]

The long knives already out for Bachmann

by Rossputin | 6:35 am, June 28, 2011

I was listening to CNN on my car’s satellite radio yesterday afternoon (during an ad break on Fox News) and caught Wolf Blitzer along with a couple of the DNC’s other useful idiots talking about Congresswoman and presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann. Were they talking about policy? Nope. Politics? Nope. They were talking about the two or three “gaffes” she’s made, such as thinking that Lexington and Concord were in New Hampshire, and stating that John Wayne lived in Waterloo, Iowa, when he lived in another “W” town.

The left’s strategy regarding Bachmann is already clear: act as if she’s not a serious candidate, indeed not a serious person.

Fox News’ Chris Wallace didn’t help matters on Sunday when he asked Rep. Bachmann if she is a flake. Bachmann gave an aggressive response. Wallace apologized, as he should have, but when even the closest thing conservatives have to an ally in the media (Fox, not Wallace) is posing such questions, the candidate has a real problem.

Bachmann is a charismatic speaker, a good “retail politician”, though her persona somehow doesn’t reflect what I believe is her true brain power. And her gaffes don’t help, but she’s absolutely right that media bias is causing the focus on her errors in a way which Joe Biden, for example, routinely escapes.

I’ve met Michele Bachmann. I like her, though she’s far more conservative on social issues than I am. I still wonder about the “gravitas” and particularly about her inexperience. Yes, I understand that in 2008 the nation elected someone even less experienced than she is. Nevertheless, these are serious times and I don’t yet know whether Bachmann’s self-characterization as a serious person will be accepted by the electorate. It’s already clear that it won’t be by the media.

The other side of the coin: Someone can be very smart in his or her field (tax law in Bachmann’s case) but still be less solid in other areas. While Politifact’s judgments of Bachmann show the site’s somewhat liberal bias, they also show that the congresswoman’s rhetorical record is likely to continue to offer a target-rich environment for her opponents (perhaps Republican as well as Democrat.) And to be clear, it’s not a bogus argument. It’s one thing to make one or two mistakes on either irrelevant or complicated issues, but if she continues to leave a trail of error crumbs to follow, it will be Chris Wallace who ends up looking prescient.

My other question is whether Bachmann can beat Barack Obama. I don’t know. Maybe she can, maybe she can’t. I think Romney is more likely to beat Obama, but can I support a guy who believes in an individual mandate and ethanol subsidies? In 2008 I couldn’t support a RINO, but I don’t think our republic can or should tolerate another four years. Atlas is shrugging and its time to recover our nation from the abyss that is Progressivism.

Is Bachmann ready to lead the way? The jury is still out. My guess is that she’ll never get a fair shake in the media, which will make it that much harder for her to convince the nation that she’s ready for prime time. And it remains unclear to me, separate from any media bias, whether Michele Bachmann is ready to be president.

Finally, I have not been able to verify this, but I and others have been told that Bachmann has been through eight Chiefs of Staff in her 5 1/2 years in Congress. In July, 2010, Politico reported that her fifth chief of staff had quit, so the current number is believable. To be clear, the most recent resignation appears to be in order for the chief of staff to take a campaign position with Bachmann, s0 perhaps seven is a more fair number than eight.

Following the resignation of another chief of staff in 2009, Politico quoted an anonymous Republican (I understand that Politico is probably using any source it can to make Bachmann look bad) who said “When your captain’s crazy, it’s time to find a new ship.”  If someone can’t even run a congressional office without chaos, can she be expected to manage the Oval Office?

Again, some of this is basically hearsay and might sound like I’m against Bachmann. I’m not, and I don’t want to sound down on Bachmann, but perception is frequently reality in politics. I could imagine voting for her or supporting her in the primary if she could deal with these issues. And even if I couldn’t end up supporting her, I do like the presence of a fiery Tea Party conservative in the race, perhaps forcing Mitt Romney to make statements of policy which are less liberal than what he’s been saying so far.

If no new people enter the race, it’s likely to be basically a two-person fight between Romney and Bachmann for the nomination. If Texas Governor Rick Perry enters the race, that’s very bad news for the Minnesota Congresswoman, but that’s a story for another time.

A ProgressNow Welcome

by admin | 4:27 pm, June 27, 2011

Wisconsin Makes It a Lock: 2011 Is Definitely the Year of School Choice

by Eddie | 12:09 pm, June 27, 2011

Update, 6/28: If you want a comprehensive look at all this year’s school choice bills introduced and enacted state by state, check out this memo from the Alliance for School Choice and American Federation for Children.
2011 is the Year of School Choice. I may have missed it happening, but can somebody make it official already? [...]

Time Magazine: Meet Professor Rob Natelson

by Jon Caldara | 11:22 am, June 27, 2011

The fiery debates over our national debt, ever expanding undeclared wars, and Obamacare have resurrected a new found interest in Constitutional matters. This is great for us because we happen to have one of the leading scholars on the Constitution in our Independence Institute offices, Senior Fellow in Constitution Studies Rob Natelson. He writes a [...]

K-12 Education Funding and Mothers Against Debt

by Jon Caldara | 11:07 am, June 27, 2011

Lobato v. Colorado K-12 education funding debate:

Amy Oliver discusses her organization of “MAD” Moms against the national debt:

Ed Quillen’s Argument against Douglas County Vouchers Flunks U.S. History

by Ben DeGrow | 10:43 am, June 27, 2011

In yesterday’s Denver Post Perspective section, hoary-bearded columnist Ed Quillen further expounded on his ignorance of 19th century American history, with particular venom directed at the Douglas County Choice Scholarship program. Under the almost-witty headline of “Thou shalt smite vouchers” Quillen takes a leap of faith that goes something like this (I’d insert a direct [...]

Colorado Reapportionment Commission continues redrawing state legislative districts, public testimony for Larimer and Weld counties this week

by CTBC Director | 9:19 am, June 27, 2011

Colorado’s Reapportionment Commission (charged with drawing our state legislative districts) continues the summer schedule of meetings and hearing of public testimony this week in Denver.
Last week’s meeting (20 June) discussed the preliminary district maps for state House and Senate districts for Region 3 (Western Slope) - public testimony on districts in that region actually occurred a week earlier, [...]

Hickenlooper’s veto of SB 11-213 insults low-income parents

by Brian T. Schwartz | 5:30 am, June 27, 2011

Maintaining current Child Health Plan fees would not only be an injustice to taxpayers, but also an insult to eligible parents. The fees imply that parents value enjoying life’s amenities more than their own children’s health.

Crashing the ProgressNow Anti-Koch Rally

by admin | 8:18 pm, June 26, 2011

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