The Colorado Index

A comment on CFL's From a Reader

As usual, when we get good comments, we do bring them forward because so few people are curious enough to click the comments to see what was said.

Mr. [ a ] Watcher

Let me state up front that I believe that the Congressional incandescent light ban is foolish and anti-free market. In many ways, the entire "green" movement is based on feelings-this is "green", therefore it is good. I am an engineer, and emotionally-based arguments do not have the impact on me that they did when I was younger. However, I believe that Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL's) get an undeservedly bad rap.

I've used CFL's for more than three years. When I lived in Ohio, I used them in the stairwell in my apartment. While it took a few seconds for the light to attain full luminescence, I was surprised in the increase in light output compared to the typical 60-watt incandescent. Thence, upon my relocation to Northglenn, I've replaced nearly all of my lights with the CFL's, even in my outdoor storage area. Surprisingly, they have performed admirably. They cost slightly more than $2 per bulb when purchasing multi-packs from Wal*Mart or Sam's Club.

I do have a few caveats for the use of CFL's. First, though I have yet to replace a CFL, they have worked for over 20 months straight. Second, the CFL version of the outdoor bug light (yellow-bulb) does not work well and should be avoided. These cost three times a normal CFL, and the light is too white to effectively deter mosquitoes and moths. Finally, they do not work with dimmers properly. They do work in a three-way bulb socket, but you do not get the brightness variation

I believe that one reason people are hesitant to install CFL's is that their proponents typically overplay their hands. My visceral reaction to hearing the latest "green" proposal is to cringe and prepare for more government regulation and interference.

The most amusing thing about the CFL controversy is that emerging technology may render CFL's obsolete before the incandescent light bulb ban goes into effect. Light-emitting Diodes (LED) light bulbs are beginning to arrive on the market. Supposedly, they will last 100,000 hours (over 11 years continuously on), and the quality of light is better than CFL's. Pretty soon, manufacturing costs will go down, and I'll begin to see them competitively priced at Wal*Mart.

Oddly enough, while I was writing this response to your article, Instapundit.com linked to an article from Forbes on this very subject. The link is here.

Thank you for your time. As always, keep up the good work!

David Carpenter, P.E.
Northglenn, CO

Thanks, David, for your comment.  Adding to it, perhaps we should have said that we once owned a retail store and the building it was in.  The building was 100 years old and had been remodled with new lighting, but the previous owner didn't stay open at night.  The service he put in was all fancy incandescent bulb fixtures with 100 watt bulbs.  The place was like a cave at night.

We replaced many of the fancy fixtures with florescent lights and replaced the bulbs in the remaining fixtures with CFL's in order not to change the electrical load.  We easily doubled the light in the store, and probably tripled it.  If a customer can't see what he wants to buy, he won't buy it, which is why successful stores are well lit. 

CFL's at the time cost $17 each, but they did last for years.  This author sold out in 2002, and seldom visits the place, but we suspect that there are still compact bulbs in that store that have been there ten years. 

Does the current owner, who is an environmentally friendly sort, know that the bulbs have mercury in them?  We'd bet not.  Would that discourage him from using them?  We'd bet not.  Still, that environment is different than a home with small children who will be crawling around on the floor, a home that must one day be sold. 

The purpose of the post was to be informative.  Thanks again, David, for adding to our pool of knowledge, and for the nice complements.

Odds & Ends

Those of you who live near Colorado Springs and have 16 year old kids looking for summer part time jobs might like to know about the Sky Sox Job fair.  Heck, they might even take on retirees.

The Sky Sox have game day positions available in several different areas such as Batboys, The Fox Den Gift Shop, Concessions and Catering as well as Stadium Staff which ranges from Ushers to Ticket Takers to Customer Service staff.

We got a personal thank-you note from Greg Garcia for going in to help out after the caucuses.  It was a nice touch, though unnecessary.  We'd guess that this answers the question Greg put at the bottom of the note.  When we signed in, we used our short signature because it is faster, and we were already behind.  He'd asked for two hours and we only had 90 minutes to spare.

Have you started using the new florescent light bulbs yet?  We put our second one (in the house) in on Wednesday and then had a friend send us a link as to how bad they are. 

And although fluorescent bulbs are less expensive to use in the long run, some consumers are turned off by the cost: $3 to $10, compared with about 50 cents for regular bulbs. Meanwhile, retailers such as IKEA are setting up recycling programs in response to concerns about how to dispose of CFLs, which contain mercury and could pose a health hazard if they break and are not cleaned up properly.

Such drawbacks help explain why, even though one in five bulbs sold in the USA is now a compact fluorescent, a lower percentage of American homes — estimates run as low as 11% — have at least one of the bulbs.

You might as well get used to them.  The do gooders in Congress have outlawed the Edison bulb after 2012.  That will change though, after someone points out that they don't work well above 77 degrees or below 30 degrees which limits their usefulness outside.

Do follow the link.  The USA Today article is well balanced, but it does play down the mercury problem.  If you break one of these hummers, you run the risk that your home will become a small scale hazardous waste site.  We predict that there will come a time when, in order to sell your home, you will have to pay for a mercury sweep and provide full disclosure just as you do for lead based paint.  No one with small children or animals will want to buy your home if it is contiminated. If the problem is bad enough, and given enough time, some will be bad enough, you might see a neighbor's home condemned as uninhabitable and demolished by men in protective suits.

The next time you see Mr. unthinking environmentalist, Mark Udall, ask him if he voted for this.  You might also ask him what the risk of mercury poisoning to a small child is if one of these light bulbs breaks and is not properly cleaned up.

February 29, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  Mark Udall Loves Solar, But Why?  If Mark Udall gets beat in November, he will be looking for a high paying job. Peter Blake describes his prospects in a round about way in the Rocky Mountain News today.

Schaffer v Udall  Udall Mourns William F. Buckley 

Ritter Watch  Ritter's Approaching "Health Care Quandary" May Lead to Butt Covering   I don't think lining trial-lawyers' pockets was the kind of health-care reform Coloradans elected [ Bill ] Ritter to enact.

The Cauldron  Cato Is Coming and more!  Next Thursday, March 6 you are invited to ask questions of one of the nation’s leading experts in responsible health care reform.

The Cauldron   Hey! What About Washington?  Pop quiz time, true or false.

Slapstick Politics  Recreate68's Moniker, DNC Plans Draw Moonbats, Derision From Fellow Liberals  You can't recreate the moment--but the moonbat stupidity is eternal

Slapstick Politics    Rocky Mountain News Inquiry Prompts Clinton Campaign To Remove "Bill In Blackface" Event From Web Site  Whoops! A little too late in this case--not what Hillary needed at this moment.

Slapstick Politics  Recent News Indicates Global Cooling Currently Under Way

Slapstick Politics  Max Karson's Campus Press "Satire" Draws Rally And Suspension, Even More Calls For Apologies  So much for diversity of opinion at CU.

Slapstick Politics  Colorado's December Missionary Shootings--More Details Emerge   Matthew Murray went home after the first round of shooting at a missionary training center in Arvada, slept in his own bed, and then left home once again, attacking New Life Church in Colorado Springs,

FTS  Bi-partisan Coalition Says Insurance Bill Payback to Trial Bar   Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have assailed a bill they fear will drive up healthcare costs and potentially force quality doctors to flee the state.

FTS  FTS Humor: Holy Prime Rib Batman! 

Colorado Charter Schools  Douglas County Schools of Excellence  Congratulations to American Academy, Platte River Academy and Parker Core Knowledge

A Line of Sight  William F Buckley Jr, 1925-2008

Comment: 

Letting Boulder be Boulder

Today, Peter Blake has one of the best and most informative editorials we have seen in the Rocky Mountain News of late.  It is called "That's Why They Call It Green."  If you read nothing else today, including the rest of this essay, go read that editorial.  Read it twice.

For some time, we've been thinking about a letting Boulder be Boulder essay. Peter Blake's essay pushed us over the edge.

Let's face it.  Boulder has a lot of really good ideas.  Their residents have a lot of money and time to think and act on them, usually by trying to force them down the rest of the state's throat.  The Mark Udall Senate candidacy is, in the final analysis, nothing more than an attempt by Boulder residents to shove their philosophy on the state and nation. 

A University town attracts idealistic thinkers who often don't apply economics to their ideas and ideals.  Despite what happened in the Soviet Union, Boulder still has its share of socialists. Not liberals, socialists.

What the state and nation needs is a test bed for liberal ideas. 

Boulder seems ideally suited to be just such a test bed.  It has mountains on one side and has managed to isolate itself from the rest of the state with green belts on the other side.  We could run experiments there, even economic experiments with almost no impact on the rest of the state.  We could test out some of these grand ideas and Ideals.

For example, the citizens of Boulder doubtless support the Governor's new climate plan, so let's impose it on them.  It wouldn't be hard to do.  If greenhouse gas emissions are to be cut by 80% while the population doubles by 2050, it would be realistic to cut electrical power and natural gas inflows to the city by 90%, and that could be done immediately. 

The people of Boulder seem determined to drive the coal and gas industries out of business, or at least make their products so expensive that wind and solar power seem cheap.  What power Boulder gets should be very expensive to simulate 2050.  Those homeowners who choose to put solar panels on their rooftops should, in the spirit of communal living, be required to dump the power into the grid and take back only 10% of it, and that at the rates everyone else is paying.

It probably wouldn't bother the people of Boulder to make caloric sacrifices, though getting them down to a level of 10% of their current level might be hard.  Food production and transportation emit greenhouse gases, and those gasses must be curbed!

If we wanted to impose speed and gas consumption limits on the people of Boulder, we could require that all vehicles registered in Boulder County be painted lemon yellow.  Lemon yellow cars could only refuel in Boulder.  Ration cards would be issued to ensure that fuel consumption was kept at a rate of 10% of today's consumption.  $100/gallon seems a fair price for the gas they do buy, given their aversion to oil and gas development.

Lemon yellow cars caught exceeding a 55 mph speed limit anywhere in the state could be seized and their drivers jailed.

Boulder residents seem to believe that businesses can shoulder any level of taxation and regulation without impact, and we would need to simulate that.  The easiest, and most fair way to do that is to require Boulder businesses to pay a minimum wage of $50/hour and full and complete health care benefits.  That would allow a Boulder family to live on $100,000 a year.

Of course, people who make $100,000 a year are by definition "rich" and need to be taxed like it.

Ah, health care!  Single payer is socialized medicine by another name.  In every nation that has adopted socialized medicine, medical services have been rationed.  People with fatal illnesses aren't refused services. They are told to wait months to be seen and treated.  The state makes life and death decisions.  That wouldn't be all that hard to simulate except that the folks in Boulder would doubtless travel to Wyoming, India, or Mexico if they thought that would save their lives.

Letting Boulder be Boulder wouldn't be that hard, and it could be fun to watch. 

We may come back to this theme.  We've just scratched the surface of its potential.

February 28, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  Colorado Voter Registration Numbers And "Uncommitted" Dems Spell Trouble For Udall   This is not good news for Udall the Senate candidate--the latest Colorado voter registration numbers have been released (more complete analysis at Slapstick Politics), and a growing unaffiliated bloc stands in contrast to a stagnant Democrat base, which Udall obviously hasn't fired up enough with 32% refraining from selecting him in an essentially non-binding preference poll.

Schaffer v Udall  Nearly One-Third of Democrat Caucus-Goers Give Udall Cold Shoulder  Strangely, either the writer or the editors thought the fact that more than 30 percent of the Colorado Democratic faithful chose "None of the above" over Udall was worthy neither of the story's lead nor of a follow-up question.

Schaffer v Udall  Faux Candidacy Over?  We speculated that he never was serious and that this was nothing more than an attempt to make Mark Udall look more "centrist" in the same way Mike Miles made Ken Salazar look more centrist in 2004.

Ritter Watch  Destroying Colorado's Economy and Values One Commissioner Appointment At A Time   Bill Ritter got himself elected by promising to be pro business. He is not.

Ritter Watch  Bill Ritter's Health Care Quandary  Today's Gazette has an exceptionally good editorial on the subject. They end it profoundly:

CUT  Statehouse Dems Struggling to Give Taxpayers Even a Small Break   With ever more of Colorado taxpayers’ money in hand at the State Capitol these days, following the Referendum C “forever tax increase,” the Denver Post reports the Democratic majority is having a hard time deciding whether to give us even targeted small breaks - out of fear that a few tax incentives now may cut into future state revenues:

Slapstick Politics  Colorado Voter Registration--February Update   **Update--from my new post over at Schaffer v Udall: what the new numbers and a mediocre showing by Democrat Senate candidate Mark Udall in his party's preference poll on Super Tuesday mean for Colorado's much-hyped Senate race

Slapstick Politics  Ward Churchill Denies He Pulled Out Of Debate With Victor Davis Hanson  The likelihood for miscommunication rises, and could give the impression (in this case, a false one) that one party "unexpectedly pulled out", when in fact no such thing happened.

Mark Hillman  Trial lawyer protection is Dems’ priority  In Congress, 66 trial lawyers who donated $1.5 million to Democrat candidates are "credited" with derailing an anti-terrorism bill that passed the Senate with 67 votes.  Our Legal Ethics Audience Will Want To Read This 

Mark Hillman   MUST READS: The Obama File

Mount Virtus  Bill Buckley (1925-2008)  While very few writers and speakers have ever had a greater facility with the English language than Buckley did, there was much more to him than the elegance of his prose.

FTS  Pro-Affirmative Action Initiative Clears Title Setting Board  If liberal activists have their way, voters could see dueling initiatives on this November’s ballot that would ask similar questions but would have dramatically different impacts on state law.

FTS  Denver tax authorities inspect, inventory offices under "education" guise  Denver tax authorities are taking inventory of business property subject to the state’s business personal property tax during visits ostensibly conducted to raise awareness of the city’s business tax regime.

FTS  Colorado a dream to nation's tourists?  In a Denver Post business report today, reporter Elizabeth Aguilera writes that "Colorado ranks fifth among states as a dream destination behind Hawaii, Florida, Alaska and California. Yet it ranks 22nd in actual visitation."

Colorado Senate News  State-employee strike ban heads for full Senate; lacks teeth, GOP says  A Republican-inspired, Democrat-authored ban on state employee strikes passed a Senate committee today with bipartisan, but lukewarm, support amid GOP concerns that the measure needs stiffer penalties.

Colorado Charter Schools  Exclusive Chartering Authority  Friday is the deadline for school district's to request exclusive chartering authority for the 2008-09 school year.

Backbone America  Centennial shouldn’t be ‘600 lb. gorilla’  Centennial Home Rule is a bad idea. Establishing home rule grants the city more power to govern. With more power comes more government. With more government comes more power to control our lives.

Backbone America  Hoekstra warns of Jihadist threat  "Our next president will need to exercise leadership to defeat radical Jihadists, perhaps the most important national security challenge facing our nation” said Congressman Pete Hoekstra during a Michigan speaking tour for the Claremont Institute during Presidents’ Day week

Best Destiny  Why Can't Democrats--MY Democrats--Think Reasonably?  So why would anybody vote against this? For that matter, WHO voted against this?

Comment:

 

Climate Change Follies

Earlier this week we had a link to a site that was claiming that the Pentagon was claiming that climate change would make the climate of England like the climate of Siberia by 2020.  Brrr Humbug!

Part of the scam of the change in name from "Global Warming" to "Climate Change" is an effort to cover all short term climate bets.  The socialists like Al Gore, Bill Ritter, and Mark Udall are pushing Climate Change as a mechanism to take over our lives and our fortunes.

Did you know that anyone who argues against Global Warming is no more intellectually honest than John C. Calhoun when he argued for slavery in the 1830's Congress?  So sayeth Marc D Davison of the University of Amsterdam and a high ranking member of the Hate America First Society.  Someone else opined:

Whilst at first this sounds like an unlikely theory, it starts to fall into place. Slaves were a massive resource with powerful men standing to lose a lot if slavery was abolished. Senators argued first that there was no problem, then that the costs of change would be too great, that the cause was not proven and that doing the right thing before others would be counter-productive. Later the same things were argued about climate change. Which just goes to show - the obstructive arguments have a long history.

Did you know that the "C" in John C. Calhoun stands for "Caldwell?"  Neither did we!  Who knows what other valuable information you will learn while tromping though this document.

And one of our favorite environmentalist extremist organizations, the Wilderness Society is up in arms over their fear that a proposed wind farm will threaten caribou.  We admire their attitude about this global warming hoax:

Global warming is being used as a Trojan horse to justify all manner of high-impact energy projects, and Hackney Hills is a prime example," said Wayne Sawchuk, an award-winning Peace Valley conservationist and member of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society board.

We didn't know that anyone in Canada had ever owned slaves or argued to keep them.  How dare Mr. Sawchuk call Global Warming a Trojan Horse?  Would someone send this on to Mark Udall and Bill Ritter?

Best of all was an email we received on an education event on global warming held in Denver on Friday, February 22, sponsored by the Professional Engineers of Colorado...

I was told by another observer that the Governor’s climate adviser, Heidi Van Genderen, required that her PowerPoint be deleted from the laptop that displayed the presentations when she was done. The alarmism advocates are paranoid, folks

We will have more on that email in the next day or so.  We asked for and received permission to quote it.  One of our big concerns is that we may be transmitting anti-global warming/pro slavery arguments and we don't want to be thought of as pro slavery. 

We will think on it, which is more than most of these asylum escapees are willing to do.

February 27, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  McCain and Udall Compared and Contrasted   This is in response to the Lynn Bartels article in today's Rocky Mountain News. We left a comment promising to explain why Bob Schaffer will not have a problem if Mark Udall tries to cozy up to John McCain.

Schaffer v Udall  Another Inconsistent Mark Udall Comment   Now that 2008 is two months old, Mark Udall is running from the anti-fossil fuels energy record that he has fought so hard to make since he entered public life.

Ritter Watch  Global Warming - British Style  We thought we would give Bill Ritter a short and well deserved break to explore global warming in Britian.

The Cauldron  Another DC v. Heller Viewpoint  David Kopel found himself on the other side of a recent ivoices.org podcast when he interviewed Joe Olson, Professor at Hamline University School of Law, and one of the authors of the Academics for the Second Amendment Amicus brief.

Slapstick Politics  CU Campus Press Faces Censorship  But poorly written satire or editorial opinion that offends protected minority groups?  Censorship--or perhaps more correctly--self-censorship.

Mark Hillman  MUST READS for February 

Mount Virtus  Nature Dousing the Global Warming Crowd with Ice-Cold Water    Now there’s another giant splash of ice-cold water in the face of Algore’s Nobel Prize tour. 

Gang of Four  Obama's definition problem  Jack Farrell is correct in reminding Barack Obama his opponents are eager to define him negatively unless he positively defines himself, and soon.  But Farrell's post on the Politics West campaign blog underplays a couple of key points.

FTS  Marshall's Bill Would Shut Legislative Door to Ordinary Citizens    A bill set to be heard Thursday in a state House committee would significantly limit the number and scope of documents within the legislative process subject to disclosure to the public.

FTS  Kudos to Cadman  But [ Bill ] Cadman had a change of heart late Monday when he withdrew his name from the bill, a move we applaud ahead of a legislative hearing on the proposal this Thursday

Colorado Senate News  Bill to empower employers, deter illegal immigrants sails through Senate  With only four "no" votes, the Senate overwhelmingly approved a Republican plan today helping employers screen for illegal immigrants in the work force.

Colorado Charter Schools  CSI and Accountability The schools authorized by the Charter School Institute have recently met to organize a "Council of Schools," which is essentially an accountability committee for CSI

Best Destiny  Hillary's Last Stand   So, let's work from the assumption that Obama is going to be the nominee.

Comment:  The colored links only mean that we were too lazy to try to guess the correct color to make them after we copied them.  We've guessed in the past and are always wrong. 

Odds & Ends - Politics

Our favorite liberal blogger at Liberal and Loving It tells why he will be voting for Jared (Amendment 41) Polis over the other two candidates, Joan Fitz-Gerald and Will Shafroth. 

I will be voting for Jared Polis at the County convention. There are way too many people in Washington who see the limits on what is possible, on what should be attempted, on what should be addressed, and work within those margins. Jared won't even notice those margins.

I am also impressed with how Jared in his campaign has continued to try very innovate ideas, and has learned how to frame them better so they don't cause him blow-back. He's been hammered for those innovative attempts and keeps riding forth to slay the dragon. I expect to see some amazing successes from Jared.

Not to mention, it will help to have someone who actually understands the high-tech world in Congress.

The sad fact is that the most dangerous kind of Democrat is one with new ideas.  Even other
Democrats recognize this.  Elected Democrats uniformly hate Amendment 41, a new idea bankrolled by Polis, and which, if he makes it to Washington, conveniently won't impact him.

Amendment 41 is in the news again today, and we do intend to write about it, but not here.

FYI, while our friend David (whom we have never met) is liberal, and while he sometimes has some flaky ideas (like this one), he is a free market liberal.  Free market liberals tend to do a lot less damage to the economy than the socialists.

Speaking of friends whom we have never met, we sometimes write things that we expect will get us in trouble if the wrong people see it.  We laugh as we do it, certain in the expectation that the folks who would chastise us won't be sophisticated enough to understand what we are trying to do and will take what we write literally.  That's why blogging is so much fun.  Follow all of the links.

Debbie Stafford has the veterinarians up in arms with her new bill (pdf) to transfer wealth from vets to lawyers.  One wonders if she would vote for the bill she wrote if she were still a Republican.  We understand that she is an animal rights fanatic, but it seems counter productive to try to drive the costs of vets up such that they leave the state.  She may think that there are too many vets in the state. 

Ken Gordon and his cohorts are trying to foul up the voter registration rolls with HB 1329.  The Rocky Mountain News has not nice things to say about the bill.

In the course of making phone calls for Bob Beauprez in 2006, we made our share of calls to deceased voters.  The families were understandably upset, especially when their loved one had been dead for years.  Perhaps Ken Gordon and company would lose their enthusiasm for this kind of insanity if the families could bill the state $100 per political phone call if the registered voter had been deceased for more than a year.

February 26, 2008 Sweep

Schaffer v Udall  A New Udall Bumper Sticker  Who does he [ Mark Udall ] think he is fooling by declining to co-sponsor the bill this year?

Schaffer v Udall  Udall Remains Quiet On Superdelegate Vote   

Ritter Watch  Who Will Be Bill Ritter's Willie Horton  it is not too early to be wondering who Bill Ritter's Willie Horton will be and what he will do.

The Cauldron  Liberty’s Love Life: The Saga Continues Upon hearing the news, economic prosperity was last seen typing furiously on various Internet dating sites. Stay tuned for more drama.

Slapstick Politics  Study: Hurricanes No Worse Today Than In The Past Says Leading Climate Scientist  Unfortunately for the global warming industry, there are scientists more interested in discovering what is actually happening to the Earth's climate--both causes and effects--than belonging to any mythical "consensus".

Slapstick Politics  More Speculation--State Democrats Support Sen. Ken Salazar As Potential VP  Sen. Salazar, for his part, would say "yes" if asked by either candidate to join the Dem ticket in November

Slapstick Politics  Despite Global Warming, North America Has Most Snow Cover Since 1966   More scientists are doubting that "consensus" Al Gore and other global warmongers have repeatedly cited as "evidence" of anthropogenic climate change:

Slapstick Politics  Weekend Blog Wrapup 

Mark Hillman  Must Reads:  Terrorism 

Gang of Four  Undemocratic impact of Centennial charter  Centennial's elected treasurer warns that elimination of her position under the proposed city charter would result in less protection for taxpayers.  It makes sense.

FTS  Leadville mayor throws a tantrum  You would think this would be what is making Leadville Mayor Bud Elliot mad

Colorado Senate News  Mitchell's push for solar power heads for House  A GOP bill making it easier--and more cost-effective--to install solar power on homes and businesses won a final, unanimous vote of approval from the state Senate today

Colorado Senate News  Harvey, Senate GOP advance effort to shield kids from porn  A Republican proposal making it a class 2 misdemeanor to sell or distribute pornographic material to a minor was nearly gutted today by ruling Democrats in the Senate

Colorado Charter Schools  Ensuring At Will Employment  Almost all charter schools employ on an at-will basis. It's very important to make sure their verbal or written agreements don't change that at-will status

Line of Sight  Rage Grows over Pelosi's Obstinance  The AG and DNI said in part, “Our experience in the past few days since the expiration of the Act demonstrates that these concerns are neither speculative nor theoretical: allowing the Act to expire without passing the bipartisan Senate bill has had real and negative consequences for our national security.

Line of Sight  Wiretaps Go Day by Day  On Saturday, the White House announce that phone companies “with understandable misgivings” are going to day-by-day cooperation with intelligence tracking of terrorist activities.

Line of Sight  VFW to House Democrats:  "Asinine"   VFW National Commander George Lisicki said, “Americans are protected from illegal search and seizures by the Fourth Amendment, but critical legislation is now being delayed because some would extend these same constitutional protections to those who want to harm America.”

Line of Sight Video History of House Democrats Wiretap Debacle

Best Destiny  Reports of God's Death A Bit . . . Premature  By and large, Americans are clearly still a religious people, predominantly a Christian people. Thirty years of ACLU ascendancy can't change that, no matter how hard they try.

Comment: 

Another LPR Perspective

Rossputin left a comment on our last post, which we publish here:

As someone who also attended the LPR event, I agree with your assessments of the speeches.  I am not interested in seeing Mike Huckabee as our next president, but his speech was excellent, interesting, funny, and showed him to have more depth than I expected (even though I already expected a good speech from a guy who is clearly the best communicator in the GOP race this year.)

Also, I'd add that it's good to hear that you and Jeff Crank had a cordial discussion. While you have been neutral, Jeff clearly could have taken some of this site's content as non-neutral. Maybe it's part of the reason I like Jeff.

With turnabout as fair play, I'd mention that I spent some time having equally cordial conversations with General Bentley Rayburn even though he's well aware that I've been supporting Crank.

I told the General in no uncertain terms that while I continue to support Jeff, I would not consider it a horrible outcome if Rayburn won the CD5 primary, whereas I would consider it a very bad day for Colorado if Lamborn wins again.

Although we were not in private and there were other people around, and although I've taken a public position against Rayburn's candidacy, what he said to me will remain confidential.  I've picked my horse in that race and continue to believe Jeff Crank is the best choice, but as I always I have great respect for General Rayburn, and in particular for his military career (as I'm the son of two Navy officers.)

I thought the LPR event was a big success all around, and I hope more readers of your site and mine will attend in 2009.

There are many advantages to being an incumbent, and one of them is that when someone like this blogger tries to tamp down untruthful or unfair attacks, the incumbent can say nothing and be the beneficiary when others try to attack him unfairly.  If the blogger attempts to keep the party down to a dull roar, it is almost impossible to appear neutral when the incumbent is saying nothing.

Jeff has attracted some very enthusiastic supporters who have sometimes set higher public standards for his opponents than we think fair or achievable.  We'll leave it at that.

We would be quite comfortable with whomever of the three wins the primary, so it is quite easy to be neutral even when it is difficult to appear to be neutral.