Dems Did It

Ritter and Udall trash Colorado's economy

Colorado's liberal Governor Bill Ritter has long avoided specific solutions to specific issues. He's relied on delaying tactics like blue ribbon panels to sidestep making any actual decision that would do anything of substance. The two exceptions, of course, being to kowtow to dirty labor union politics and shutdown major segments of Colorado's economy via astronomical tax increases.

One of his favorite targets, also a convenient whipping post for liberal U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, is the oil and gas industry. He's even gone so far as to propose a half-baked $300 million tax on this specific industry. The money, of course, would go "to the children." None of it -- he promises -- would end up going to labor unions, or Planned Parenthood, or any of Ritter's other favorite government pork projects.

Many times, the result of half-baked ideas is the Law of Unintended Consequences. In this case, Ritter's latest tax increase has had real consequences for Colorado's economy. According to an article in the Denver Business Journal,

"Oil and gas executives put Colorado in the same league as Ukraine, Pakistan and Indonesia in terms of investment potential, according to the Global Petroleum Survey 2008."

If you're in Colorado, we feel for ya. Congratulations. A huge international industry sector once had the potential to bring great prosperity to Colorado thanks to the state's vast reserves of oil, gas, and especially oil shale. But that industry now looks at bringing jobs to Colorado about the same way you or I would look at taking a family vacation to Pakistan.

Is it malice that drives Bill Ritter and Mark Udall's extreme left-wing agenda, or is it simply idiocy? Do they know they are wrecking the state's economy, or is it just a natural byproduct of his desire for a socialist utopia?

Business is packing their bags. Voters should ask Ritter and Udall to do the same.

'Colorado on Autopilot'

From The Colorado Index:

"We think it very likely that Bill Ritter will be a one term Governor. We think that THE major issue in the next campaign will be his willingness to put the state on auto pilot and let those he trusts take it in any direction they choose without any supervision...

"We now know that the campaign was so far over budget that alarm bells should have been tolling in Bill Ritter's head in September, 2006. He ended the campaign with a half million dollars in bills, and now claims/admits not to have known that."

The Index also has several links to related media articles.

Ritter aide misspent $300,000?

On Tuesday, Colorado's Democrat Governor Bill Ritter threw former campaign manager Greg Kolomitz under the bus after being forced to admit his campaign committee and inaugural committee danced a little too close, apparently committing embezzlement and fraud to the tune of almost $300,000.

"Greg was the signer on the account," Ritter said, "and all of the checks in question relating to the campaign expenses and the overpayment were all checks that he wrote and that he signed."

Ritter, a former lobbyist at a high profile Denver law firm, expressed "disappointment" in his former aide, refusing to shoulder any responsibility for the deceit, which the governor apparently knew about several months ago.

"The financial discrepancies were discovered as the inaugural committee's accountant prepared tax records in February.

"The firm reported that $217,164 in campaign expenses were paid with inaugural money and that Greg Kolomitz, Ritter's campaign manager and the head of his inaugural committee, overpaid himself $83,250."

At issue is how closely Ritter was involved in the decision to make the illegal transfer. GIven the Ritter campaign's propensity to take hundreds of thousands of dollars of questionable small donor committee transfers from unions, the news that inaugural funds were used in roughly the same manner should come as no shock.

In the face of over $250,000 in outstanding campaign debt, Ritter pushed forward with a portentous  inaugural costing over $1 million. In his own words, "The people of this state were very excited about the fact that I'd been elected..."

Ritter pulls back on health plan

Another broken Colorado promise.

Progressives ward off evil Legos

Some people fight terrorism. We call them soldiers and heroes.

Some people fight fires. We call them firemen and heroes.

Some people fight crime. We call them police officers and heroes.

And some people fight... Legos. We call them Communists.

A group of commrades, er "teachers" in Seattle clearly identify more with Karl Marx than Thomas Paine. When children under their care at an after school program built a large Lego structure known as "Legotown" the values of our society came out as well. Values like competition, leadership, creativity and enterprise. This, of course, was too much to take. Drastic steps must be implemented. Ergo, ban the Legos.

We met as a teaching staff later that day. We saw the decimation of Lego-town as an opportunity to launch a critical evaluation of Legotown and the inequities of private ownership and hierarchical authority on which it was founded. Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation. We knew that the examination would have the most impact if it was based in engaged exploration and reflection rather than in lots of talking. We didn't want simply to step in as teachers with a new set of rules about how the children could use Legos, exchanging one set of authoritarian rules with another. Ann suggested removing the Legos from the classroom. This bold decision would demonstrate our discomfort with the issues we saw at play in Legotown. And it posed a challenge to the children: How might we create a "community of fairness" about Legos?

Their conclusion, of course, was to just ban those little Devil-blocks outright.

Fortunately, other people have caught on to this nonsense. John Miller from National Review takes on Lego-bashing with gusto.

My vision of social justice for children of elementary-school age is as follows: If you’re tagged, you’re it; if the ball hits you, you’re out; and pig stories are fun, especially when told over microwaveable hot dogs.

It's because of just this sort of liberal brainwashing that more and more families are choosing to homeschool their children.

Colorado: Which Colorado Promise was that?

Newly minted Colorado Governor Bill Ritter (D) has found himself in some hot water... again.

Recently, Ritter vetoed pro-labor legislation he had earlier supported, clearly a half-hearted attempt to shield his liberal agenda with some pseudo-moderate persona. It, well... didn't work.

Now the unions are back. And this time, they're pissed.

So pissed, in fact, that they are threatening to pull the whole freakin' 2008 Democrat National Convention from Denver. Colorado Democrats worked tirelessly to beat out New York City to host the liberalpalooza and now this... this... Ritter is going to throw it all away?

So we'll see if Governor Ritter, who campaigned on the back of a "Colorado Promise," decides which promise he plans to keep...

Colorado: Dems hate math, love sex

This may be a foregone conclusion nationally, but in Colorado the Democrats are outdoing themselves to look naive, incompetent, and shrill.

The latest flap is over a bill in the statehouse that would simply require Colorado students to pass four years of math and three years of science. Sounds easy enough, eh? The Democrats hate it. Can’t stand it. Why, you ask?

It violates the concept of local control.

WHAT??? When was the last time we heard that Democrats were worried about local control? That’s like Democrats worrying about spending in Washington. Democrats love spending in Washington!

Ok, so really -- what’s the hold up? The real opposition is arts groups, who protest that by spending more on math and science, Colorado will have less to spend on arts.

Sorry folks, but the last time we checked, the United States was not falling behind in the arts. We’re facing rapid decline in math and science relative to other countries, like China and India, who are cranking out top scientists by the truckload.

Anyway, the state Senate begrudgingly passed the bill, sponsored by witty State Senator Josh Penry. We’ll see if the “local control” argument comes back up in the House.

Meanwhile, while opposing ANY basic standards for math and science, Democrats in Colorado have embraced sex education as the elixir to our education woes. Local control, ironically, has not been brought up as they push to mandated sex education across the state.

Let's continue with the governor. Newly elected Bill Ritter, who's only experience in public office before this was as the District Attorney of Denver, is having a hard time getting a handle on his new job. He won by riding the wave that saw a lot of good, mainstream Republicans removed from office. Since then his performance has been less than mediocre.

Just as an example, he campaigned as a "business-friendly" Democrat (as if there were such a notion) then cheered as a grotesque "labor-friendly" bill raced through the Democrat-controlled statehouse. Now here’s where it gets interesting. He vetoed the bill. Yeah. Seriously, we couldn’t make this up.

"In substance, I agree with House Bill 1072, and made that clear to labor as I was campaigning," said Ritter, a Democrat.

But, "a substantive change like this, that has been in the law for this long, should have more of a dialogue among the communities of interest, and that didn't happen."

Translation: "I supported the bill before I vetoed it." Note to Mr. Ritter: John Kerry is the wrong guy to call for political advice. You really need to look elsewhere, sir.

He vetoed the bill, not because he disagreed with it, but because he didn’t like the tone of the debate. The state Senate opposes math and science standards but wants to mandate sex education. Hold on to your hats, Colorado. The Nanny State is moving in.

Aww snap! Al Gore's hypocrisy starts at home

Anyone see Al Gore win the Oscar? Anyone surprised? Of course not. Hollywood supported the Communists during the Cold War, why would they not support the terrorist during this war?

Anyway, that aside has nothing to do with Al Gore. But this article [link] does. An Inconvenient Truth indeed! Maybe this is why he lost Tennessee in 2000.

Armed with Gore's utility bills for the last two years, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research charged Monday that the gas and electric bills for the former vice president's 20-room home and pool house devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours in 2006, more than 20 times the national average of 10,656 kilowatt-hours.

Once again, Democrats on a moral crusade to save the environment while their own homes are burning 20 TIMES the average amount of energy as the average American. There's just a lot they don't understand about average Americans, I guess. For instance, read this ridiculous statement:

Scoffed a former Gore adviser in response: "I think what you're seeing here is the last gasp of the global warming skeptics. They've completely lost the debate on the issue so now they're just attacking their most effective opponent."

Here's a quiz: how many false statements are bombasted in this one quote? Hint: no less than three. Just because the French think there's global warming is no reason to fall in line and sing along too. When was the last time the French were right about anything? When was the last time we even listened to the French anyway?

Eh... go Google that, Gore-addicts. And don't forget to turn off the lights when you're done.

al gore

Mayor Vetoes English, Fears 'Less Safe' City

The mayor of Nashville, Tenn. (aka Music City USA) is singing the ol' liberal tune today after he vetoed a bill that simply acknowledged English as the official language of the city. This demonstrates just how out of the mainstream even Southern Democrats such as Mayor Bill Purcell (D) have become. In this liberal's frenzy to attract Hispanic voters, he is ignoring the fact that mainstream Americans don't care to have bilingual ballots, drivers licenses, or parking meters.

So how does he justify this craven abuse of power? Someone call Comedy Central, b/c this is pretty funny:

"If this ordinance becomes law, Nashville will be a less safe, less friendly and less successful city," Purcell said.

What??? Care to justify that, Mr. Mayor? How exactly will Nashville be a "less safe" city for simply acknowledging English as the official language???

Hyperbole is always a ready tool of the liberals. "If we scare them enough, they'll do what we say" goes the donkey party handbook.

Dismissing the opponent's argument is another quick draw for the Democrats. See Purcell's further explanation of his veto:

Purcell said English is too well established to be brushed aside in favor of other languages. "It is the language we use to conduct the city's business," the mayor said. "In order to get ahead in Nashville a person needs to be able to speak English."

So... if English is "the language we use to conduct the city's business" then why veto an ordinance which simply acknowledges that fact? Oh... that's right, because English is "too well established." Sorry, excuse me. Should never have brought it up. My bad. I'll go home now and finish reading the Manifesto of the Communist Party like you told me, Mayor.

Oh, and lest we forget, our good ol' friend the mainstream media is here to help out too. The Nashville Tennessean starts out this article with a straightforward explanation of the facts:

The debate about making English the official language of Nashville has drawn attention from far and wide, making headlines from Wyoming to England.

Ok, fair enough. So of course this next sentence only makes sense:

Mayor Bill Purcell attempted to tamp down that potential blow to Nashville's image Monday by taking the rare step of using his veto pen...

Please join me in congratulating Nashville in not receiving that "potential blow" to its golden image.

I'm sure the French, as well, are relieved...

Manipulating the Mainstream

If you were a bazillionaire, and you had fringe political views, but wanted to be accepted as mainstream, what would you do?

Buy your way to the middle, of course.

That's exactly what gay geek Tim Gill did, after selling the company he founded, Quark Software, for a half-billion dollars. According to a recent article in the Atlantic Monthly, he hired a team of politicos to tell him how best to "punish the wicked."

They advised him to move away from a "just because he's cute" strategy and focus his political giving on state and local races instead of presidential campaigns, where large donations can have a huge sway on the outcome. Gill then organized other wealthy members of the gay and tech worlds to donate outrageous sums of money to liberal, gay-friendly candidates. In fact,

In the 2006 elections, on a level where a few thousand dollars can decide a close race, Gill’s universe of donors injected more than $3 million, providing in some cases more than 20 percent of a candidate’s or organization’s budget.

Not to mention his own personal giving:

In 2000, he gave $300,000 in political donations, which grew to $800,000 in 2002, $5 million in 2004, and a staggering $15 million last year, almost all of it to state and local campaigns.

With the gusto of a 1920s mobster, Gill seeks out mainstream candidates who oppose his fringe politics and will "move quickly to eliminate them." He has sponsored giving conferences to siphon money from needy charities and put those dollars in political races.

In his home state of Colorado, Gill has become the top political donor, pushing his single-issue checkbook into enough races to ensure the "Democrats captured both chambers of the legislature for the first time in forty years."

So what's wrong with this strategy? In financing such passionate attacks, one easily becomes a target themselves. Before too long, with his glee for exacting vengance, Gill will drive away the very people he hopes will embrace him. A candidate with a donation from Tim Gill on his or her finance report will have to saddle the burden of his fringe agenda, and it tight elections, that sort of public perception (a la John Kerry and George Soros) can turn off many a mainstream voter.

Money can't buy you love, but for Gill, it can buy you power. At least for the time being.