New Education Books Mean No Reason to Be Bored This Summer Season

by Eddie | 10:20 am, June 14, 2011

Camping trips can be fun, but no one told me just how hard it would be to blog while out in the middle of nowhere in the great outdoors. No, seriously, it was fun to get away for awhile. But I hope none of you were left to wonder: If little Eddie isn’t watching the [...]

Technology Catches Up with Harry Potter Magic

by Ari Armstrong | 9:56 am, June 14, 2011

J. K. Rowling’s first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, came out June 30, 1997. The release of the series spans the 20th and 21st Centuries, and new technology has started to catch up to Harry Potter magic.In the novels, newspapers show …

Employment ignorance from Obama

by Rossputin | 9:06 am, June 14, 2011

Yesterday while visiting a North Carolina company which has received millions of “stimulus” dollars (while having major operations in China), Barack Obama announced a plan “to train 10,000 new American engineers.”

While it’s true that America is lagging in training of scientists and engineers (and in allowing foreigners who study here to stay here to work), focusing on adding supply of labor into a stagnant job market is like putting a constipated person on a low fiber diet. It’s no way to get things moving.

If entrepreneurs weren’t so uncertain about what tax or regulation they’ll be hit with next by the Obama Administration, and particularly if they’re in easily demonized industries – which is to say industries which actually produce the things Americans most need, whether oil, medicine, or banking services – they would be hiring.

If businesses were hiring, those businesses and individuals who would like to work for them would help create the appropriate work force, whether that means training more engineers, pilots, nurses, or dog catchers.

As usual, Barack Obama’s economic prescriptions betray an utter lack of understanding of business, free markets, and of America itself.

I Don’t Know. The Administration Has Seemed Pretty Shovel-Ready To Me From Day 1.

by Joshua Sharf | 8:12 am, June 14, 2011

By now, you’ve probably seen this rueful admission by President Obama – evidently part of a longer comedy routine – that the stimulus didn’t actually do much the stimulate: Over at Powerline, Scott Johnson takes Obama to task for laughing at unemployment, and imagines Obama & Immelt as the new Hope & Crosby, and suggests [...]

Global warming claptrap

by Rossputin | 6:20 am, June 14, 2011

I sent the following letter to the editor of the Fort Collins Coloradoan newspaper in response to this article about Northern Colorado’s higher than average snowpack for June.

Your article about Northern Colorado’s current snowpack suffers from an immediate lack of credibility when reporter Bobby Magill claims that “human-caused climate change has been causing Colorado’s snowpack to progressively shrink.” Not only is the science on climate change far from settled, with many scientists doubting any significant human contribution, but even members of the cult of Al Gore frequently blame “global warming” for massive snow storms.

Perhaps that’s the beauty of “climate change” theory: its proponents can blame warming and cooling, major snow or lack of snow, cats and dogs living together all on one thing. But any theoretical phenomenon which can be simultaneously blamed or credited for both a particular outcome and its opposite can’t and shouldn’t be taken seriously. At the end of the day, it remains likely that we don’t have man-made climate change as much as we have man-made desire to tax and regulate based on the environmentalist industry’s latest scaremongering.

Could It Be… SATAN?

by Ari Armstrong | 11:38 pm, June 13, 2011

Apparently Satan is making a comeback these days. First came an over-the-top silly article from First Things titled, “The Fountainhead of Satanism,” in which Joe Carters claims, “[Ayn] Rand’s doctrines are satanic.” The argument goes something like t…

No State Assaults Their Petitions Like We Do

by Jon Caldara | 1:59 pm, June 13, 2011

It’s not everyday that you find your name in lights on the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Although I guess it’s a little different when you’re an international superstar like myself. This weekend’s WSJ featured an article by ultimate insider and all around great guy John Fund about the assaults on the citizen initiative [...]

6/2 Pt 1 – Mark Hillman on TABOR lawsuit, Art Carlson on all things politics

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 9:00 am, June 13, 2011

In Part One of the 6/2 edition of Seng Center, host Jimmy Sengenberger talked with RNC Committeeman and former State Treasurer and senator Mark Hillman about the frivolous lawsuit, brought on by Herb Fenster and others, over TABOR filed that week.&nbsp…

6/2 Pt 2 – Reps. Kathleen Conti and Robert Ramirez on Amycare and the 2011 legislative session

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 8:00 am, June 13, 2011

In Part Two of the 6/2 edition of Seng Center, host Jimmy Sengenberger sits down with State Representatives Kathleen Conti (HD-38) and Robert Ramirez (HD-29), two of our great Republican legislators, for an in-depth discussion on the 2011 legislative s…

Colorado Reapportionment Commission continues redrawing state legislative districts, public testimony for Western Slope this week

by CTBC Director | 7:27 am, June 13, 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 introduced the first preliminary district maps, for state House and Senate districts in southern Colorado (public testimony on districts in that region actually occurred a week earlier, on 31 [...]

Congratulations to the Mavs

by Rossputin | 6:05 am, June 13, 2011

Every once in a while a team comes along – the Detroit Pistons of the late 1980s and the Oakland Raiders of every year come to mind – whom you’re just happy to see beaten, almost no matter who does it.

Thus it was that most of the nation was cheering for the Dallas Mavericks last night as they won their first NBA Championship, beating the Miami Heat (in Miami no less) to take the series in six games.

Hating the Heat has become a national pastime after Lebron James’ unceremonious departure from Cleveland. They’re a team with great individual talent, and one would have to bet that they’ll win a championship any year now.

But with too much Heat swagger and the Maverick’s team of 30-somethings, most basketball fans (including me) wanted to see the Mavs win, despite the odious personality of their owner, Mark Cuban.  In particular, I’m happy to see Jason Kidd win a championship at the age of 38. He’s always struck me as a class act, as does the 32-year old Dirk Nowitski. (It’s unlike me to cheer for a German, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.)

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle becomes the 11th man ever to win an NBA championship as both a player and a coach. (He was part of the 1986 Boston Celtics team.)

One other thought: As a long-suffering Washington Redskins fan, I’m well aware that teams whose rosters read almost like all-star teams often have trouble putting it all together because the individuals’ personalities and egos get in the way. Miami didn’t have that problem to the degree that the Redskins have had for a decade; after all, the Heat did get to the championship. But still, getting so many big names to play together is not an easy thing to do; Heat coach Erik Spoelstra deserves commendation for getting his team as far as he did.

Again, congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks, in part for winning and in part for not losing to the Miami Heat.

We’re #7!

by Joshua Sharf | 11:01 pm, June 12, 2011

Which is sort of good news.  Except that a couple of years ago, we were #2. I’m talking about the Mercatus Center’s Freedom Index. If you think you see a pattern in that map, by the way, your eyes are not deceiving you.  Blue states tend to be darker, red states tend to be lighter; [...]

Dept of Education, SSA and IRS to Violate Student Privacy

by PerlStalker | 8:44 am, June 12, 2011

Many of the Federal government’s programs collect data. Usually, it’s just a list of who is using the program but, sometimes, there is a lot more data collected. In most cases, the government promises that the data will not be shared with other departm…

Backbone Radio, June 12, 2011: FASTER; Alabama illegals

by Rossputin | 5:35 am, June 12, 2011

Audio archives for this show:

Segment 1 – Intro; Weinergate
Segment 2 – Ross & Rich Sokol discuss the pros and cons of Mitt Romney and other GOP presidential hopefuls
Segment 3 – Tom Ryan explains how Colorado’s FASTER car “fee” is really an unconstitutional tax
Segment 4 – Rick Sokol explains how the Colorado Bridge Enterprise is an unconstitutional sham designed to sidestep TABOR.
Segment 5 – Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies discusses Alabama’s new immigration law, emphasis on e-Verify provisions
Segment 6 – More with Mark Krikorian; discussion with caller Elliot about immigration policy

Please join this weeks edition of Backbone Radio when I (Ross Kaminsky) will be joined in studio by my friend and all-around smart guy Rich Sokol.

In our first hour, we’ll discuss economic news of the week and perhaps make a few Weiner jokes.

The our second hour, we’ll be joined by Tom Ryan who has, along with Rich, written two papers exposing the unconstitutionality of the FASTER automobile (and other) taxes and the related debt issued by the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Bridge Enterprise. The papers have been published by the Independence Institute, with “Backgrounder” here.

And in our third hour, we’ll be joined by Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies to discuss Alabama’s controversial new law relating to illegal immigrants. (Text and summary of law here.)  Among other things, the law requires public schools to verify the immigration status of a child. While federal law doesn’t permit a school to refuse to teach an illegal alien child, the statue will require the schools to report accumulated data on an annual basis including analyzing the impact of the illegal aliens on the quality and cost of education in the state.  It also makes it illegal for someone to get into a vehicle to be hired to work at a different location if the vehicle is impeding the normal flow of traffic. The law requires the use of E-Verify by businesses and requires the police to check the immigration status of anyone they stop or arrest if they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the country illegally.

You get the idea. This was signed into law by the Governor of Alabama on Thjursday. You can bet an ACLU lawsuit is only days away. We’ll get Mark Krikorian’s take.

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.

Colorado Reapportionment Games Begin

by PerlStalker | 10:56 pm, June 11, 2011

The work of reapportionment is underway in Colorado.

The southern Colorado region was selected first for drawing maps because one of its House districts, HD 62, falls under a mandate from the federal Voting Rights Act that it be drawn as a majority-minority district. Under the map approved Monday, HD 62 would be 50.33 percent Hispanic, down about 2 percent from its previous Hispanic population. Commissioner and Democrat Dolores Atencio of Pueblo said that by drawing HD 62 at 50 percent, it would meet the VRA requirements and allow for greater Hispanic representation in neighboring HD 46, which would increase from about 44 to 47 percent Hispanic.

I’ve included the maps for HD 62 and SD 5 below. The rest are or will be posted on Colorado’s redistricting site.

One of the nice things about the new plan, drawn by Alamosa Democrat Arnold Salazar, is that is takes the San Luis Valley out from under the thumb of backstabber Gail Schwartz.

Take a look, too, at why they choose to redraw those two districts first. It’s all about race. You know, I get kind of tired classifying people by race. After all, we all know that everyone of the racial background thinks exactly the same way. For those of you who missed the sarcasm, no, I don’t think it makes sense to group people by race. If you don’t believe me, look at Rush Limbaugh and Harry Reid. The last time I checked, they’re both old white guys but they couldn’t be farther apart on their views.

The other victim of all this reapportionment goodness is Senator Kevin Grantham. Salazar’s map drew him right out of district.

Grantham accused the commission of deliberately moving him out of his district, pointing out that the new district took eight of the nine counties in his current seat and left out the only one in which he lives. He indicated that the commission had gone back on its vow not to “mess around” too much with current districts and to keep incumbents in place. “It’s silly to take counties from three Senate districts and create a new one when there’s no open seat,” he told The Statesman Tuesday. “It’s ridiculous to come up with this scenario when there are other alternatives. It smacks of something rotten in Denmark.”

This is what we call fun.

H1002v1 as Adopted Maps

S1002v1 as Adopted Maps

A Note on the Hancock Affair

by Ari Armstrong | 1:12 am, June 11, 2011

Michael Hancock was elected mayor of Denver on June 7. On June 2 Complete Colorado courageously or irresponsibly (depending on one’s point of view) ran a story with the following headline, “Mayoral Candidate Hancock Linked to Prostitution Ring.” Soon a…

Colorado Supreme Court hears arguments in CU Gun Ban case; are Coloradans’ gun rights in the crosshairs?

by CTBC Director | 4:11 pm, June 10, 2011

“No man’s life, liberty, property, or constitutional rights are safe while the Colorado Supreme Court is in session.”  (again, with apologies to Mark Twain)
Clear The Bench Colorado has publicized the threat posed by the Colorado Supreme Court to our constitutional right to keep and bear arms in Colorado for some time (including an attempted exploitation of [...]

Spending Limits Protect Against Factions

by Ari Armstrong | 11:41 am, June 10, 2011

The following article by Linn and Ari Armstrong originally was published June 10 by Grand Junction Free Press.”Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner.” It’s mob rule; fifty-one percent of the population voting to enslave the re…

Dave Kopel v. Anti-Gun Thom Hartmann

by Jon Caldara | 11:35 am, June 10, 2011

What happens when an avowed anti-gunny named Thom Hartmann tries to take on Dave Kopel? Well, find out yourself.

Oooooohhhhhh, that must sting a little.

The WSJ’s John Fund on 2012

by Jon Caldara | 10:34 am, June 10, 2011

This week’s Devils Advocate finds the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund joining me for an in-depth discussion about the upcoming presidential election in 2012. Find out who John Fund thinks will run, not run, and have a shot at beating Obama next year. That’s tonight at 8:30 PM on Colorado Public Television 12. Re-broadcast the [...]

Protectionist arguments against free markets disguised as immigration concerns.

by David K Williams Jr | 6:48 am, June 10, 2011

Alabama has now passed legislation tougher than Arizona’s on illegal immigration.One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said the law “will put thousands of Alabamians back in the workforce.”Beason believes that thousands of Alabamian…

Protectionist arguments against free markets disguised as immigration concerns.

by David K Williams Jr | 6:48 am, June 10, 2011

Alabama has now passed legislation tougher than Arizona’s on illegal immigration.One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said the law “will put thousands of Alabamians back in the workforce.”Beason believes that thousands of Alabamian…

Protectionist arguments against free markets disguised as immigration concerns.

by David K Williams Jr | 6:48 am, June 10, 2011

Alabama has now passed legislation tougher than Arizona’s on illegal immigration.One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said the law “will put thousands of Alabamians back in the workforce.”Beason believes that thousands of Alabamian…

Protectionist arguments against free markets disguised as immigration concerns.

by David K Williams Jr | 6:48 am, June 10, 2011

Alabama has now passed legislation tougher than Arizona’s on illegal immigration.One of the bill’s sponsors, Republican Sen. Scott Beason, said the law “will put thousands of Alabamians back in the workforce.”Beason believes that thousands of Alabamian…

Save the prairie dogs?

by David K Williams Jr | 6:36 am, June 10, 2011

A front page story on today’s Denver Post is about efforts to save prairie dogs from the wake of habitat destroying construction of a train to the airport. (See “Wanted: prairie dog homes.”) Someone wants to spend money on relocating prairie dogs? They…

Save the prairie dogs?

by David K Williams Jr | 6:36 am, June 10, 2011

A front page story on today’s Denver Post is about efforts to save prairie dogs from the wake of habitat destroying construction of a train to the airport. (See “Wanted: prairie dog homes.”) Someone wants to spend money on relocating prairie dogs? They…

Save the prairie dogs?

by David K Williams Jr | 6:36 am, June 10, 2011

A front page story on today’s Denver Post is about efforts to save prairie dogs from the wake of habitat destroying construction of a train to the airport. (See “Wanted: prairie dog homes.”) Someone wants to spend money on relocating prairie dogs? They…

Finale of Pioneering, Top-Rated College Radio Talk Show “Seng Center” TONIGHT at 6pm to feature Mitchell, Tancredo, ‘Clinton’

by Jimmy Sengenberger | 12:06 pm, June 9, 2011

Shawn Mitchell, Tom Tancredo, and ‘Bill Clinton’ on Weinergate on the finale of the Seng Center Radio Show Tonight at 6pm at krcx.org ————————— TONIGHT at 6pm online at krcx.org, The Seng Center Radio Show, Regis University’s first political talk show built up over three tireless years of pioneering conservative showmanship, is coming to a [...]

Good Times, Mixed Ingredients

by Ari Armstrong | 11:27 am, June 9, 2011

I prefer Fat Head to Super Size Me. I don’t think much of anti-fast food hysteria. I regard forcing restaurants to post calories as both foolish and tyrannical. I oppose the Nanny Statist campaigns against fast food and Ronald McDonald.Yet I also belie…

Benjamin Netanyahu at 28 years old

by Rossputin | 5:47 am, June 9, 2011

I’m traveling today, so please allow me to offer you the following remarkable bit of history. It’s so hard to watch Bibi either years ago or today and not remark at how much better a leader and statesman he is than President Obama, Hillary Clinton, or anybody else I know of who serves at a high level in the Obama Administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lixYEZ9M_dU

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