From our education policy analyst Ben DeGrow:
Our Education Policy Center recently co-sponsored an important discussion about a new strategy to promote choice and accountability in our public schools. Last Tuesday’s conference in downtown Denver (also sponsored by the University of Colorado at Denver’s School of Public Affairs, Donnell-Kay [...]
I can’t help but be impressed with every post I’ve read on the Colorado Spending Transparency (COST) blog run by our transparency Czar (just kidding), I mean Transparency Director Amy Oliver. Following our investigative reporter Todd Shepherd’s report, Amy’s thoughts on Bill Ritter’s lack of disclosure transparency [...]
Why can’t the state be more transparent like Jefferson County? While Colorado’s largest county actively pursues detailed financial transparency with its new website Transparent Jeffco, Governor Ritter and the state controller violate the spirit of the Colorado Taxpayer Transparency Act by providing taxpayers with confusing, aggregated numbers with no [...]
Thanks to the lovely Nancy Miller for taking these photos from our Real Canadian Health Care Fact Finding Trip. You can see the pics here, but I have to admit, this one is my favorite:
Also, I finally came across the footage of Fox News’ [...]
I told you last week about the meet and greet KBDI channel 12 is hosting for me in downtown Golden. Well, the time is upon us! Tomorrow from 6pm to 9pm at the Golden Hotel, I will be live in the flesh, glad-handing, kissing babies, and signing [...]
Subtitle: Or How He Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Disclosure
Last Friday, our investigative reporter Todd Shepherd broke this story about Governor Ritter and his cabinet largely ignoring a 1999 ethics executive order for nearly 3 years. Todd and I also recorded a podcast for iVoices.org on [...]
Prison spending in our state has tripled over the last 20 years. Unless Colorado has suddenly become a vacation destination for the common criminal, something has gone awry on the sentencing law front. Thus, we have the Colorado Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) to address sentencing reform, [...]
There is an on-going debate about the extent to the First Amendment bars congressional campaign finance limits. That debate is important, but it doesn’t address a more fundamental question: What empowers Congress to regulate congressional campaign finance at all?
Remember that the Constitution gives Congress only the powers the Constitution lists. [...]
There is abundant evidence that government “stimulus” programs hurt the economy more than they help. The auto industry is getting a taste of that right now. The “Cash for Clunkers” program accelerated sales for a while, but since then car sales have crashed.
But that describes only the damage to the auto [...]
What do health care, the economy, bailouts and deficits have in common? They all somehow involve the Obama Administration, and have all been covered by Denver Post columnists David Harsanyi and Mike Littwin. Tune into Independent Thinking as Harsanyi and Littwin join me to talk about the President’s agenda and [...]
Washington state is mulling over whether they’d like to adopt a TABOR-like amendment for themselves. Resident economist and senior fellow Barry Poulson thinks they ought to. After all, it has been TABOR that has helped us evade situations like California’s current bankrupt fate. Like clockwork, Washington residents are already hearing [...]
The full quote from our Jessica Corry’s HumanEvents.com piece is, “The Canada Health Act is responsible for more pain, more suffering, and more death than any other piece of domestic legislation in history,” he said. “Imagine a law that prevents you from taking care of yourself and preventing [...]
Wow, we must be doing something right if even the L.A. Times writes such a favorable article on the southward escape routes that exist in Canada. Medical “brokers” arrange these routes south to us in the States as a last ditch effort to relieve someone of chronic pain or [...]
Wondering where I was were ya? Well, I’m hanging out with our neighbors to the north in Vancouver, Canada (eh?) on a mission to get a closer look at the Canadian health care system. We’ve got 6 Canadians who were denied treatment under their “public option,” and are willing to [...]
“The words ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ are everywhere,” writes reporter Betsy Cohen in a Montana daily paper. “Used casually and broadly, they seem to have become attached to nearly every facet of daily life. . . ”
Although the story details how businesses are using “green” and “sustainable” in their marketing, [...]
KBDI Channel 12 is hosting a meet and greet for me on Thursday, October 8th, from 6-9pm at the Golden Hotel in downtown Golden.
This is your chance to not only meet yours truly, but to meet the good folks behind our TV show Independent [...]
What is former Colorado Governor Bill Owens up to these days? Find out tonight on Independent Thinking as Bill Owens joins me for a one on one conversation. Tune in tonight at 8:30 pm to KBDI Channel 12; repeated the following Monday afternoon at 1:30 p.m.
[...]Ari Armstrong has a reply to the ever present response to criticizing Obama Care: ok Mr. Smarty Pants, what’s your solution?
[...]Let’s see, the Denver Post endorsed Amendment 23, which I campaigned against. It busted the state budget. The Post endorsed and worked double time for the RTD Fastracks 67% tax increase, which I campaigned against. Fastracks is so over-budget RTD needs to double the tax just to get close to [...]
Want to know who’s up and who’s down in Colorado’s political races? Or how about the status of Colorado’s efforts to close budget gap? Denver Post reporters Lynn Bartels and Tim Hoover join host Jon Caldara for an end of summer wrap up of Colorado’s political races and ongoing state [...]
Can you believe it? The Independence Institute is turning 25 years old this November, and this year’s Founder’s Night celebration is going to be the best ever, bar none. We’ve outgrown our previous Founder’s Night location (the Sewell Ballroom) and will be moving to bigger and better digs at [...]
This is what it sounds like to me when I hear politicians promising government “solutions” to public policy issues. It makes about as much sense as them promising us unicorns, fairies, Santa Clause, and a Broncos Super Bowl victory…
© 2008, Benjamin Hummel. To see more cartoons like [...]
The anti-free speech aspects of federal campaign finance reform laws have been getting a lot of attention lately. As those laws come before the Supreme Court, their “progressive” advocates have been urging the Court to be “restrained” rather than “activist,” and uphold those laws.
There is a delicious irony here.
When “progressives” [...]
There has been some blog attention (see, e.g., here) recently to a pair of U.S. District Court rulings that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service did not meet legal standards when it limited permission to possess eagle feathers for religious purposes to members of recognized Indian tribes only. (U.S. v. [...]
As traditional print media continues to shrink in Colorado, who will step in to fill the void? Alan Gottlieb from Education News Colorado and Todd Shepherd from the Independence Institute’s “Independence Investigates” project join me to discuss the challenges and future of non-profit based news gathering and investigative reporting outlets [...]
From our good friends over at the Sam Adams Alliance…
An entertaining look at the ever-so-tough job of being a health czar.
Listening to the NPR coverage of Denver’s Liberty on the Rocks (south metro) meet-up last night to watch Obama’s health care speech, you can hear how foreign Jeff Brady feels in such a pro-freedom environment. It must be difficult for a reporter from NPR to grasp that there [...]
There remains some significant details to be ironed out.
- President Obama, on his own health reform plan
[...]What is the outlook for the Colorado state budget? What are the proper functions of state government? The Independence Institute’s Amy Oliver-Cooke and Renny Fagan of the Colorado Nonprofit Association join me on Independent Thinking for an update on the ongoing work of Colorado’s Long Term Fiscal Stability Commission. Tune [...]
In recent months, we have heard voices on the Left cry “foul” at the town-hall tactics of Americans upset at current political leadership. The Left professes to be shocked — horrified! — to see Americans defending themselves passionately, unapologetically, and confrontationally. The confrontational tactics the Left now finds so troubling include [...]
We just had a great event featuring Congresswoman Michele Bachmann from Minnesota. She addressed a sold out crowd at the Denver Athletic Club where she railed against the federal debt, encroaching big government, and Obama care. Just in case you couldn’t attend, but would like to see what you missed [...]
Here is some ammo to use when fighting for health care freedom from the Independence Institute.
If you haven’t kept up with all the noise I.I. has made in the chorus to stop Obama care, we’ve done a lot including these two online videos. They are only about a minute long [...]
The Freedom Conference is an educational event that will introduce you to the Constitution and demonstrate how the Federal Reserve monetary system is destroying liberty. Education is the first line of defense for our freedom and country. You will learn what you can do to stop the destruction of [...]
Thanks to Rossputin, I just got to view this incredible video. This Marine took no prisoners (pun intended) with his tough questions. I get the feeling that this type of health care hostility is more prevalent than the major news outlets are telling me….
[...]Art Laffer, world renowned economist - most famous for the Laffer curve - recently put out an incredible paper for us titled, “The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Colorado Perspective.” Juiciest bit of information from study,
The study concludes that President Obama’s health care reform agenda will [...]
Remember this “wee-weed” story? Our cartoonist took it to heart…
© 2009, Benjamin Hummel. To see more cartoons like this go to www.politixcartoons.com.
Like we showed in our health reform video, when you politicize medicine, politicians decide who gets treated and when. Here is a rather frightening video that demonstrates our point even further - also using the Oregon health care system as the example:
[...]It’s unfortunate that so much of the health care debate is about whether insurance companies — or for that matter, the government — are good or bad. The cost problem, which in turn is the accessibility problem, is due to the third-party payer system, and that system exists whether one [...]
(Seems they aired the Cuba episode last week, and will air Downzoning Denver tonight. The ol’ switch-a-roo.)
Why do the Denver city central planners hate senior fellow Mike Krause’s property rights so much they want to downzone his entire Berkeley neighborhood - so that no one can ever add value to [...]
Just in case you couldn’t be there at the July 28th Hands Off My Health Care rally on the Capitol steps. Here is my speech in its entirety thanks to LiveFreeColorado. Although I must point out that they did spell my name incorrectly (no “e” please).
The wife of one of the greatest economists the world has ever known died today of heart failure. Rose Friedman, who happened to be a damn good economist in her own right, was believed to have been 98 years young. I’ll never forget the day when I met both [...]
Rep. Doug Lamborn just released these town hall dates:
Congressman Doug Lamborn will hold a set of town hall meetings in Southern Colorado beginning Tuesday (TODAY) to discuss health care reform and other subjects.
The first will take place in Woodland Park at the Woodland Park City Hall, Tuesday, August 18th, [...]
During the Bush administration, many within the dominant culture expressed concern about the constitutionality of detaining several hundred alleged enemy combatants in Guantanamo.
Whenever legal restrictions on abortion are proposed, many express doubt about the constitutionality of interjecting government between patients and their doctors.
But those voices have been mostly silent about [...]
