The Colorado Index

Societial Meltdown, Part 2

Last week one of our regular commenter's left the following comment on our "We are about to have a societal meltdown" post:

The price of a gallon of gas is now more than half of the minimum wage. Within a year or two it will be equal to the minimum wage. At that point, it will take two days of work for a minimum wage worker to fill a gas tank. "

It **WILL** be? Really? How do you know that? Sounds like the same tired hyperbole that leads us to bringing the oil execs before congress to answer for their single-digit profit margins.

The answer to your question has to do with the time it takes to ship oil from the middle east to the United States.  In periods of rising prices, that shipping time creates a lag between the rise in the price of a barrel of oil and the resulting increase at the pump.

If we assume that it takes two months for a shipment of oil to arrive at the refinery from the day it was loaded, then the oil that arrives today was bought at prices set two months ago. Whomever owned the oil on board the ship benefited from or suffered from the price change.

It isn't unreasonable to guess that the price of gasoline will go up sharply in the next two months as more expensive oil begins to arrive at our shores.  Will the price of gas equal or exceed the hourly minimum wage?  Very likely, and very quickly.

It is Hard to Respect the Denver Post

The unpopular Tax Freeze foisted on the public by Bill Ritter was found to be unconstitutional today.  The Denver Post's John Ingold wanted to impress Greg Moore with his brand of lying when he reported on the supposed Republican reaction to the court's findings:

Word of the decision that the freeze was unconstitutional quickly spread to GOP lawmakers via text message. They soon began exchanging high fives and handshakes in the Capitol hallways and at the Republican gathering in Broomfield.

I was at the Broomfield meeting when the announcement was made.  There was applause.  Most people there believe the freeze to be a violation of the state constitution.  There were no high fives and likely were no handshakes.

The reaction was more subdued than one might expect because of the timing of the news.  It came about a minute before the assembly was adjourned.  Care to bet that the Denver Post had no reporters in Broomfield and didn't know that?  Since the legislature has been out of session for nearly a month, there probably weren't that many Republicans at the Capitol late on a Friday afternoon.

If there were high fives anywhere this afternoon, it was more likely at the Denver Post whose leftys passed off another Big Blue Lie Machine lie.

Edited to add:  The Denver Post has rewritten the offending paragraph in the article to read:

Word of the decision that the freeze was unconstitutional quickly spread to GOP lawmakers at the assemblies via text message. They soon began exchanging high-fives and handshakes in hallways at the Republican gathering.

No longer are they claiming that the high fives were at the Capitol or even in Broomfield.  They are now reported to have occurred at some generic Republican assemblies somewhere.

Edited to add:  John Ingold sent me an email this afternoon.  I had criticized his article in comments left on the Denver Post.  I have edited those comments thusly:

EDITED AGAIN TO ADD: In a private email this afternoon, John Ingold provided me with the names of the legislators doing the high fives. His description of the event is entirely believable. It could easily have occurred outside my view since it involved individuals who would not have been at my 5CD assembly. Kudos to Mr. Ingold for providing additional information. It is obvious to me that he cares about his reputation for journalistic integrity, and I can and do respect that.

This blog specializes in criticism, but the criticism must be fair.  This criticism assumed that the Denver Post in general and John Ingold in particular was intentionally making up events when the problem was bad editing.  It is still hard to respect the Denver Post because this happens too often.  It is easy, however, to respect John Ingold.

A Necessary Economics Class in a Time of Economic Illiteracy

The Independence Institute has an excellent course offering called Free People, Free Markets: The Foundations of Liberty. People of any age can take it either for college credit or just to bolster their own economic knowledge. Classes begin Saturday, July 12, and will meet for five consecutive Saturdays.

From Jon Caldara’s blog:

Our Free People, Free Markets class! A class that features so much “intellectual diversity,” it has a disclaimer that reads, “if you live, or have lived in Boulder, please be aware. What you hear in the classroom might induce a conniption fit or make your head explode.”

For those thinking of attending, don’t think, just do it. It will change your life. The class will take place for five consecutive Saturdays here at the Institute, from 9am to noon, beginning July 12th and going to August 9th. You can reserve your spot by either calling Kay at 303.279.6536 or emailing rsvp@i2i.org.

I took this class at the Independence Institute last winter and learned more about economics in those five weeks than in high school or four years of college. The pre-course work includes Commanding Heights, a PBS film available to watch online that covers economic history from the collectivist Keynesian economics of the mid-twentieth century to the “Free to Choose” economic theories of Milton Friedman.

John McCain should visit the Independence Institute for this economic refresher course. This could help prevent the potential "Conservative" President problem that A Watcher detailed earlier today.

Barack Obama would benefit even more from this class. However, with Obama’s firm grounding in Marxism and radicalism, it would likely challenge his assumptions too much.

A Watcher opined about Obama:

It is interesting that Barack Obama would like to claim Kennedy as his presidential model when Obama is a on the lunatic fringe of liberalism. Kennedy was never as far left as Obama is.

This is true. Some believe that Obama is more akin to a Jimmy Carter presidency.

I believe that Obama will be more like Clement Attlee, the Labor Prime Minister of the United Kingdom immediately following World War II. His position was that since centralized planning won World War II, then the government should plan the peace. During that time, the UK nationalized utilities, the steel industry, and the health care industry.

It is amazing that after seeing the failure of nationalizing industries for more than sixty years, Barack Obama’s platform is to return to those failing policies. The Free People, Free Markets class will provide intellectual ammunition against the resurgence of Keynesian economic policies.

by Civil Sense

Durango Police to Store Owner: Don’t You Dare NOT Call Us!

A Durango liquor store owner developed an ingenious way of dealing with shoplifters. From Channel 9 News:

Gabe Fidanque was tired of losing $1,000 worth of merchandise a month, so he started telling shoplifters he caught in the act that they had two choices: Give him one of their shoes or he'd call police.

A handful gave up a shoe. But Durango police have told Fidanque to stop the practice, or he could find himself facing felony robbery charges. 

Shoplifting, in contrast, is a misdemeanor.

It is unfortunate that the Durango police decided to take this position. Mr. Fidanque caught these people shoplifting. He could have just called the police, filed a statement, and taken time out of his day to attend court to confront the criminal. Instead, he shamed them; he took one of their shoes. Unless Findanque has a peg leg, having one shoe is worthless to him.

Here is another textbook example of the force of government interference. People should use the police force sparingly and judge whether or not a call to them is required. Police departments should not threaten to charge the victim of a crime with a more serious offense than the perpetrator.

Obviously, there are limitations on the philosophy. However, as long as the owner is not causing physical harm to the thief, and he gives the thief a free choice between calling law enforcement and the alternative method, it should be legal in most instances. In any event, expect the Durango police department to receive many more calls for minor offenses since they are chomping at the bit to arrest everyone attempting to shoplift in the city.

by Civil Sense

"Conservative" Presidents in My Lifetime

This was written two weeks ago and never published.  In the time since it was written, John McCain has picked Eisenhower as the model for his presidency should he win that office.  I haven't changed a word:

Having made sixty plus trips around the Sun, I have a memory of every President since Eisenhower.

While Dwight Eisenhower certainly wasn't a liberal, he wasn't a conservative either.  He was more of a caretaker president, confused about his politics.  He played golf less and got criticized by the press more for playing golf than any other recent President.

John F. Kennedy was much more conservative than either of his brothers.  There is at least an even chance that a modern JFK would be a Republican if freed from the money and influence of his father.

Richard M. Nixon was a flaming liberal, more liberal than JFK.  He gave us the 55 mph speed limit and the only wage and price control scheme the nation has had since WWII.  It failed miserably.

Gerald Ford picked Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President under the brand new Constitutional amendment allowing him to do so.  He doesn't qualify as a conservative.

Ronald Reagan was a conservative before the country knew what it really meant to be a conservative.  Even so, he wasn't as conservative as many would like to believe or claim today.  His strength was in national defense and the people he surrounded himself with.

George H. W Bush signaled that his Presidency would be a disaster when he gave his inaugural and promised a "kinder and gentler" brand of conservatism.  His lack of core values allowed the Democrats in Congress to run over him and then blame him for raising taxes.  He was bewildered when voters punished him for his Read My Lips - No New Taxes speech.

George W Bush also lacks core values.  He may have wrecked the Republican party with his ill-advised decision to veto nothing in his first six years but a stem cell bill.  That policy made it seem that he was a captive of social conservatives while simultaneously totally ambivalent about fiscal conservative issues.   

It is interesting that Barak Obama would like to claim Kennedy as his presidential model when Obama is a on the lunatic fringe of liberalism.  Kennedy was never as far left as Obama is.

6th CD Debate on Independent Thinking

Jon Caldara hosted a one hour debate between the four Republicans running for the 6th CD tonight.  They are, in alphabetic order, Wil Armstrong, Mike Coffman, Ted Harvey, and Steve Ward.

The first half was on KBDI's independent thinking.  It will air again on June 3d at 5 pm.  There are four good, articulate candidates in the race.  None are weak sisters.

The second half of the debate can be viewed on the Independence Institute web site.  In terms of very gentile fireworks, the second half is better than the first.

I think that a viewer can tell the most about a man's character by the way he answers certain questions.  Here are my two favorite questions.   

Jon Caldara came up with a "hit by a bus" question.  If you were hit by a bus, who among the other three would you want to get the nomination.  The most genuine answer was made by Steve Ward.  (Note that I am not telling you what he said, you have to watch it.)

Jon also asked for the biggest mistake each had made.  With one possible exception, the biggest mistake might have been to answer that question.  Mike Coffman made a lame joke that went flat.  Two of the others gave answers that they might have thought served them and their candidacies well.  I think it did the opposite.  (Again, you have to watch)

It is a shame that we can't spread these four candidates around to the other Congressional districts.  They are all good folks.

As with all primaries, except one (HD6), this blog is neutral on the 6CD.

While Visiting Colorado, Barack Obama Provides His Two Cents on the DCTA Childishness

Meanwhile, Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama visited Thornton yesterday. A Rocky Mountain News story details his brief statement on the impasse between the Denver Public Schools and the Denver Classroom Teachers Association.

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama briefly touched on the contentious Denver Public Schools teacher negotiations Wednesday during his appearance in Thornton.

The reference came midway through his speech at the Mapleton Expeditionary School of the Arts, when Obama said: "I realize that the teachers in Denver are in the middle of tough negotiations right now, but what they've already proven is that it's possible to find new ways to increase teacher pay that are developed with teachers, not imposed on them."

Barack Obama, not being from Colorado, likely does not understand the present situation with the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the ProComp program. Perhaps he reflexively sides with unions in salary negotiations, as unions are significant financiers of the Democratic Party. At any rate, his statement is misleading, at best.

The ProComp website provides further details on the program:

ProComp is a nine year bargained agreement between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and Denver Public Schools that is designed to link teacher compensation more directly with the mission and goals of DPS and DCTA.

The system accomplishes the following goals:

* Rewards and recognizes teachers for meeting and exceeding expectations

* Links compensation more closely with instructional outcomes for students

* Enables the district to attract and retain the most qualified and effective teachers by offering uncapped annual earnings in a fair system (snip)

The ProComp Agreement was approved by the Denver Board of Education Feb. 19, 2004, by DCTA members March 19 and by the Denver voters on November 1, 2005. That mill levy election raised $25 million annually to help finance the system.

This agreement was not imposed upon union schoolteachers; votes of the union, the Board of Education, and Denver residents provided for this program.

Individual accountability and local school-level autonomy seem to provide the best education to students based upon student performance. Unions, being collectivist in nature, are against incentivized pay. Unions look for equality of pay outcome, not equality of opportunity.

It is likely that the union leadership will continue to fight against incentivized pay. By doing so, the union will only lose power and continue to lose support from the dominant mass media. Unfortunately, in the meantime, the customers (students) of the Denver Public Schools will lose the most.

by Civil Sense

Naif Joins Re-Create 68, Claims Media Misrepresents Group's Troublemaking Ways

The author of today’s Rocky Mountain News Speakout piece, Ryan Voss, is a new member of Re-Create 68, the anarchist group planning protests at the Democratic National Convention:

I only recently started attending Re-create 68 meetings, wanting to find out for myself what the group was like and if what they were doing merited support.

What I've seen has been worlds apart from how the group has been portrayed in the Rocky Mountain News and elsewhere; a wide variety of people from many different backgrounds, coming together to find an effective way to voice their opposition to, among other things, the complicity of the Democratic Party in the Bush administration's war and other wretched policies, and all totally committed to nonviolence in doing so.

I haven't seen any trace of the violent, destructive troublemakers that the group has been made out to be. Just the opposite; much of the organizing I've witnessed has revolved around such "troublemaking" activities as feeding the displaced homeless, training first-aid responders in case other groups or police become violent, arranging speakers and bands, and the like.

This is a prime example of naivety on display. Glenn Spagnuolo, head of Re-Create 68, is well known for his previous Columbus Day protests:

[ Glenn ] Spagnuolo, who is of Italian heritage, and Glenn Morris, an organizer and an American Indian, said they have invited a large number of sympathizers to help disrupt Saturday's parade.

"There will be a large action Saturday morning to confront this parade," Spagnuolo said. "This holiday is going to die here. The time for talk is over."

In January, the Post reported the results of the “nonviolent” protest:

A jury found three protesters who tried to block a Columbus Day parade in October guilty today in Denver District Court.

The three were charged misdemeanor offenses involving blocking the street, interfering with a parade and and resisting arrest. They were among more than 80 protesters who delayed Denver's parade by sitting down on 15th Street and pouring fake blood on the street to represent the plight of Indians since Columbus landed.

Glenn Spagnuolo explicitly told Jon Caldara on Independent Thinking that his group would break laws if the group could not camp in Civic Center Park in Denver during the Democratic National Convention.

The difficulty with anarchist groups is that there is no clear chain-of-command. The author states that “other groups or police” may become violent. Therefore, whomever is arrested can claim he or she is acting alone, not with Re-Create 68.

Perhaps, one day Ryan Voss will write a Speakout piece apologizing once the Democratic National Convention shenanigans cease. Until that day, he is just another useful idiot for the cause.

by Civil Sense

Denver Post Scolds Denver Public School Teachers

When a union loses support of the Denver Post, it needs to take a hard look at its negotiating position. Today’s lead editorial about the battle between the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the Denver Public Schools is quite hard-hitting:

After five months of talks, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association and the [ Denver Public School ] system have yet again reached a contract negotiations impasse, particularly over distribution of ProComp money. (ProComp, approved in 2005, is a type of merit-pay system that links teacher compensation to the school district's goals through incentives and wage increases.)

The district has proposed the largest compensation increase in the history of Colorado public education.

The response? Some teachers failed to show for work Tuesday. 

The average teacher would get an 18 percent increase in base pay and incentives under the DPS proposal. Eighteen percent. Nearly every teacher would get at least a 5.2 percent increase. All would get a cost of living increase.

How can you complain about that — much less walk out on your students?

Those are significant increases, especially in tough economic times, and the teachers union will be hard-pressed to justify turning its nose up at the offer.

The emphasis on the eighteen percent pay raise is contained in the original article. Kudos to the Post for taking a hard position against its erstwhile union allies.

Without media support, it will be interesting to see how long the Denver Classroom Teachers Association will continue its childish crusade for union power against the interests of the majority of the teachers it claims to represent.

by Civil Sense

Using The Law For Political Retribution

One of the most unsavory practices in modern politics is the use of selective enforcement of the laws to punish political opponents. 

Bill Ritter and his accomplices appear to have attempted to ruin Cory Voorhis, and may have done so.

Several attempts have been made to "get" Doug Bruce.  The Gazette Reports on the latest one with a headline:

‘DILAPIDATION' LANDLORD FREE
City's claim against Bruce pure harassment

Read the whole story at the Gazette.  It includes the following tidbits and more:

Bitter about governing with reasonable restraints, some politicians and bureaucrats like to hit Bruce with petty accusations and fines that seldom make sense. In recent months he has been accused of sexual harassment for apparently smiling at a woman at the state Capitol. He was accused of seeking a pittance of state reimbursement someone balked at, even though he donates all his legislative income. He was fined by his former colleagues on the El Paso County board of commissioners for an unexcused absence of sorts, when they knew full well he would be serving in the Legislature that day.

When Colorado Springs officials slapped him with a charge of owning a dilapidated building, it smacked of harassment. City officials believe they have the authority to force property owners to make improvements or risk losing their properties, based on a 2006 ordinance that ostensibly addresses blight. The new law says a building is "dilapidated" if it's dangerous, boarded up, vacant, tax delinquent, or has received more than three code violations in a year.

As the Gazette notes, this isn't the first time that he has been harassed.  The city of Denver was notorious for its legal harassment of Doug Bruce.  We think, but cannot confirm that Bill Ritter was involved in some questionable prosecutions of Bruce.  It is possible that we are wrong, but that is our memory.

In any event, Denver prosecutors allowed a lawyer who had opposed Amendment 1 to volunteer to prosecute Bruce for an offense that was too low on their priorities to prosecute.  They later wanted to seize a Doug Bruce rental because cocaine was found on the property in a commonly accessible area.

It is time for the harassment to stop.