Punt McInnis and Maes

If the Republicans want to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory this fall, then run either Scott McInnis or Dan Maes. They will get creamed. Neither man is competent for the job.

Seldom do we get into the business of individual politics but this year, much is riding on whom will sit in the Governor's chair in January of 2011.

With quirky John Hickenlooper, the Democrat mayor of Denver, we know what we will get from him and his liberal minions: more of the same business-wrecking, government growing statism.

Surveys of Coloradans of all political stripes reveal a desire for a return to fiscal conservatism, pro-job growth policies and limited government.

Perhaps either Ken Buck or Jane Norton should tack a different course and run for Governor.

Tea Party Racists? Bogus...

It's started.

With a turn of the calendar into July, 3 months before a swing election, lefties have begun their normal subterfuge of bogus allegations of conservatives.

The latest is charges of "racism" amidst Tea Party elements.

Here's the story.

The author is uber-liberal Washington Post editorialist E.J. Dionne, who seems to have slipped a few cogs with this article.

Are there racists in the Tea Party. Probably. Are there racists among the lefties, yup.

Move on.

No More Spending Obama

One of the hallmarks of Keynesian economics is that deficit spending promotes sustainable growth.

It does not work. History has proven it so.

Hooray to today's Denver Post op-ed which does get it. Here it is.

Even as Europeans move further and further away from this philosophy, Barack Obama remains a disciple of it.

The G20 conference in Toronto this weekend was an embarrassment for Americans. As European leaders gave Obama dismissive looks, Obama continued to make his flawed case for more deficit spending, money that America does not have. You see, Obama believes that government spending stimulates a private market economy and creates jobs. Mr. President, with all due respect, you must have been asleep during your college economics classes.

Here is a little inconvenient problem with this approach: when the government spends "money", it spends your tax dollars. As it takes money away from you, it lessens how much money you can spend on things like job creation, productivity, capital investments et al.

But our President and his star-crossed advisers refuse to get it.

November is only 5 months away.

New Laws for CO Medical Marijuana

We have commented much this year on Colorado's medicinal marijuana fiasco. Our view has always been that medicinal marijuana is a fraud and truely a front for the legalization of this drug.

We have also advocated for the repeal of the 2008 voter approved amendment. Perhaps that will happen in 2012.

When a majority of Coloradans voted for this measure in 2008, it was under the premise that a few Coloradans would have legal access to it for pain management purposes under a physician's supervision. Time has shown that premise to be false.

Yesterday, Governor Bill Ritter signed several laws that inject "regulations" upon medicinal marijuana and its use. These measures are mere tokens. Here is the story.

We have a marijuana problem in Colorado. Voter approved or not, there are now more medicinal marijuana outlets in the Denver metro area than Starbucks state wide!

Ted Haggard Returns to CO

He's back.

Here's the latest.

Five years ago or so, Haggard was forced to resign as pastor of the mega-church, New Life Fellowship in Colorado Springs.

Let's take Ted at his word that he has recovered from the inner demons which caused him to stumble the last time.

Defense of Marriage Act Targeted in Massachusetts

The Massachusetts attorney general asked a Federal judge to strike down the Federal Defense of Marriage Act. The Federal judge has not announced when he will rule.

Since 2004, nearly 15,000 homosexual couples have wed under Massachusetts judicial mandated gay marriage law, a law that was never voted on by the public.

The state's rational: The Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) interferes in the distribution of Medicaid and other "married" couples in Massachusetts.

The Federal DOMA puts the Obama administration between a rock and a hard spot. On the one hand, Obama is the most pro-homosexual rights President in US History. On the other, his administration will be forced to defend DOMA.

Being conflicted comes as the result of being on the wrong side of an issue with God and nature.

Wanted-Historic Americans

Our nation needs a new generation of lawmakers and leaders who believe in the historic American notion that our liberties and freedoms are only preserved by limited government.

We have lost our way on this issue. Barack Obama is the poster child of this confusion.

At his inauguration, Barack Obama promised change. That change includes multiculturalism eroding common American values, political correctness, record Federal debt, insecure borders, unreasonable Federal business regulation, constriction of religious values in the public square, ana an entitlement mentality.

They all need to be rejected.

We are a nation of immigrants for the most part, arriving on these shores from distant points around the globe. However, we have glued ourselves together to form the most remarkable society in the history of the world.

However, whether intentional or not, most young Americans are not being consistently taught the civil uniqueness of America; the founding ideas which under girded our nation's birth; and, the need for each generation to believe and agree and pursue American exceptionalism.

Instead, a murk has descended. From the White House to Congress to Main Street USA, more and more Americans no longer believe in what John F. Kennedy stated, "ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country." Instead, we are following the failed path of European socialist states and the rights of entitlement. Now the mantra is what will the government do for us.

The cure: a return to those values which birthed our nation. They are limited government, liberty and justice for all, economic opportunities with reasonable government regulation, low taxes, secure borders with a reasonable path to citizenship for immigrants, etc.

On top of it all, young Americans must be taught that their success is not based on what the government will do for them but upon the sweat of their own brow.

Finally, as a nation we need to embrace and acknowledge God. Our founders knew that a moral government relied upon the maintenance of private virtue anchored in faith in the Divine.

No to Federal Bailout of Teacher Unions

Here they come.

The next great bail out will be for teacher unions around the nation.

Below is an excellent article describing the $23 billion dollar federal bailout of public education systems around the nation.

Click here.

Deemed the "Keep Our Educators Working Hard Act" this bill would provide emergency funding for financially strapped school districts around the country.

Let me say first, I love teachers. I am married to one. Both of my parents and sister were and are public school teachers.

However, there are problems galore with this most recent bailout.

First, there is a small thing known as the current Federal budget deficit, which if left unchecked will destroy this nation. We cannot afford another bailout.

Second, this money is like heroin to an addict. A quick fix is not going to solve budgetary crisis' faced by many states. In fact, these monies likely will make things worse.

The bottom line is that cuts are needed in the public school systems. You cannot have something that you cannot pay for with dollars today (something that our politicians do not understand). These tough decisions have to be made now.

Finally, kids and public school systems will survive.

The Arizona Temptation for Colorado

Don't do it.

Somewhere, someplace, Governor Bill Ritter is getting pressure from his leftist coalition to knuckle under and announce a state ban on everything Arizona.

That would be a bad move.

Even though California (aka as the American "Greece") has taken the misguided lead in this exercise of futility, Colorado should have no part in it.

Last weekend, I was in Arizona attending a conference. I bought meals, beverages and as much Arizona as I possibly could. All of the Arizonians I talked to support this law as a reasonable attempt to reel in a bad situation. Frankly, if the truth be known, this law will make little or no dent in the tsunami of illegal immigration. What it may do is fire up the Obama Administration to constructively look for bipartisan solutions.

While I am compassionate to the plight of illegal immigrants, I want the law enforced. I want these immigrants to do it legally and not sneak here in the dead of night. I want them to get in line and become either U.S. citizens or be a part of ta guest worker program.

Arizona has done what any state would do to protect its sovereignty. Phoenix alone has almost 500,000 illegals!

Resist the urge Mr. Governor and keep Colorado out of the boycott Arizona madness.

Wear the American Flag

The United States is not a province of Mexico, France or Canada.

Yet, some folks living here seem to have forgotten that fact.

Here's the story.

The answer to this one is really common sense which seems to be lacking in some politically-correct quarters.

Here it is:

I have no problem with Mexican-Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo or Irish-Americans celebrating St. Patrick's Day. Americans come from all over the earth and our nation is made richer because of these heritages.

But, we are all Americans, at least we should be or should be in the process of becoming one. America has always been an immigrant melting pot. But, let's remember that our greatness is not defined by our ethnicity's but by our common ground and shared values, language, flag and customs.

The American flag unifies us as a nation. There is no other flag that should be on equal footing in our country.

Fort Logan, Freedom of Speech and the Westboro Church of Kansas

Later today (Friday), Pastor Fred Phelps and his hate-mongering followers will be exercising their constitutionally protected rights of freedom of speech.

Their location: Fort Logan National Military Cemetery here in Denver. Their target: the funeral of a soldier recently killed in Afghanistan.

Pastor Fred Phelps and his Kansas based church are traveling the country promoting a message that espouses that God hates homosexuals and that God hates America because we have gays and thus, God allows our troops to be killed on foreign soil....

Awful, right? Baloney. Do they have a right to say these things? Yes.

Here's the challenge. Phelps and his crew have a right to free speech as Americans. But what they don't have a right too in my view is to disturb a private funeral and a grieving family. At some point, freedom of speech has a waterline.

Just as you cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater, disturbing a private funeral is unconscienciable too...

Thanks Mom!

Thanks Mom!

I had a great mom. Like everyone else, she had her flaws but she was still a great woman.

She passed away 13 years ago, way too early. But, it was her time as cancer wracked her body.

In her memory and to all other great mom's out there, I thank God for you

PS-Here is some more info that you may not know about the origins of Mother's Day.

As it was earlier "Mother's Day" in the U.S. was mostly marked by women's peace groups.[1] A common early activity was the meeting of groups of mothers whose sons had fought or died on opposite sides of the American Civil War. There were several local celebrations in the 1870s and the 1880s, but none achieved resonance beyond the local level.[2]

In 1868 Ann Jarvis created a committee to establish a "Mother's Friendship Day" whose purpose was "to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War", and she wanted to expand it into an annual memorial for mothers, but she died in 1905 before the celebration became popular.[3][2] (Her daughter Anna Jarvis would continue her mother's effort shortly later, see below.)

In New York City, Julia Ward Howe led a "Mother's Day" anti-war observance in 2nd June, 1872[1][4][2], which was accompanied by a Mother's Day Proclamation. The observance continued in Boston for about 10 years under Howe's personal sponsorship, then it died out.[5]

Several years later, a Mother's Day observance on May 13, 1877 was held in Albion, Michigan, over a dispute related to the temperance movement.[6] According to local legend, Albion pioneer, Juliet Calhoun Blakeley, stepped up to complete the sermon of the Rev. Myron Daughterty, who was distraught because an anti-temperance group had forced his son and two other temperance advocates to spend the night in a saloon and become publicly drunk. In the pulpit, Blakeley called on other mothers to join her. Blakeley's two sons, both traveling salesmen, were so moved that they vowed to return each year to pay tribute to her and embarked on a campaign to urge their business contacts to do likewise. At their urging, in the early 1880s, the Methodist Episcopal Church in Albion set aside the second Sunday in May to recognize the special contributions of mothers.

Frank E. Hering, President of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, made the first known public plea for "a national day to honor our mothers" in 1904.[

Arizona Common Sense-Colorado Craziness

Right off the bat, two facts.

First, Arizonians have the right to pass laws to address their issues and protect their state.

Second, the "objectionable" Arizona law stems from the Federal government's failure to address the issue of immigration.

So, the Arizonians did it themselves. Oh and by the way, 70 percent of Arizonians approve of the new law!

All of the complainers who live in San Francisco, Denver et al don't have their lives and property being overrun by drug smugglers, drug gangs and illegal immigrants.

Sounds like common sense to me.

But, here in Denver, the crazies rule. Denver Public Schools announced on Thursday a prohibition on work related travel to Arizona.

I am already giggling. Here's the full story.

Really. First, DPS is broke and teachers/administrators should not be conferencing in Arizona. Do it here on the internet. Second, since when does a public school district get involved in law making? Third, spend your time and effort educating the children in your schools.

Finally, must I remind the well-intentioned yet misguided DPS officials that being an illegal immigrant is against the law?

Sounds like craziness to me.

Colorado Education and Keno? Give Me a Break...

Surprise, but Colorado's Higher Education is lacking money again to the tune of nearly $300 million. Currently, the state provides $104 million each year to higher education. And, our state legislature has an answer. You guessed it-more taxes and more gambling!

Under a new proposal weaving its way through our state legislature, voters may be asked this fall to approve a referendum which will expand the current limited gambling operations in Colorado to bars and restaurants. The target game- Keno, a gambling game which betters select numbers and hope that the computer matches them. Early estimates predict an annual net of between $20 to $100 million if the games prove popular.

Our state's higher education institutions are in a corner. The Federal stimulus money will run out in a year. That leaves painful decisions for school administrators and state lawmakers-cut costs, raise tuition's and reduce the amount of student aid.

While thinking outside of the box for creative funding sources for higher education is admirable, expanding gambling beyond what it is now is obtuse.

Your thoughts?

Denver Post and Tim Gill's "Husband?"

Words matter.

Today's edition of the Denver Post business section was either a major feaux pas or an intentional piece of journalistic editorializing.

We believe it was the latter.

Today's story involves the purchase of the historic Phipps mansion by Colorado homosexual activist Tim Gill and his partner Scott Miller. But this is not the real story.

Throughout the article, the Post reporter editorializes and describes Gill's partner as his husband. One year ago, Gill and Miller were wed in Massachusetts under that state's gay marriage law (a law that was never voted on by the electorate).

Unfortunately for the "Miller's" or the "Gill's" or whatever they call themselves, they are not married here. In 2006, Coloradans overwhelmingly voted for a state constitutional amendment that defined marriage between a man and a woman by a margin of 57-43 percent. Simultaneously in 2006, voters rejected another referendum that would have created a de facto gay marriage law in Colorado.

Words matter and the Post got its words wrong today.

See the article here.

Beware of Unusual Circumstances

We are going spiritual today. This is the day that the Lord has made and with it comes a unique assignment or two for each of us.

What is your's?

Attached is a great article from one of my favorite writers, Os Hillman.

You can get it here or see it below.

"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit?" (1 Cor 12:7-9).

Whenever something unusual happens in daily life, these are often signs that God is up to something. We must have a heightened sense of awareness of what God may want to do in these situations. My mentor once shared how he was upgraded on an airline unexpectedly. A woman sat down next to him who was very troubled. He began to quietly pray for the woman and God gave him supernatural insights that her problem related to the fact that she had not forgiven her mother in a family-related issue. He decided to politely share his insight. The woman was shocked. My mentor began to minister to her on the airplane and ultimately led her to Christ.

God is raising the spiritual bar for Christians who want to impact the world for Christ today. He wants to break through into people's lives supernaturally by giving them insights into the needs of people in order to bring them to Christ.

Jesus often spoke supernaturally into the lives of others based on the circumstance of the moment. He often spoke of their current condition in life and invited them to make a change.

As you go about your day, there are situations that we can find ourselves in that are open doors for bringing Christ into the circumstance. In fact, He is the one orchestrating the circumstance!

Next time an unusual situation develops, be aware that God may be creating such a circumstance to bring His glory into the situation.

Contact Os Hillman at www.marketplaceleaders.org.

Guns and Colorado Starbucks

Local Colorado Starbucks are now in the cross-hairs of the local anti-gun rights activists led by Tom Mauser, father of Columbine victim Daniel Mauser.

The issue: Starbucks allows customers to carry permitted concealed weapons in their stores, which is the current law in Colorado.

These activists want to force Starbucks to change this policy.

Their argument goes like this. Starbucks does not permit weapons in their corporate offices but they do allow them in their stores, depending on local laws. They also believe that banning weapons in private stores is a good idea.

Our question to the activists: how would you have Starbucks enforce such a rule even if they were to change their policies? Their would be a cost and it would get tacked onto the cost of my favorite latte....

By the way, last time I checked, there was not a lot of gun violence at Starbucks in Colorado. There have been very few crimes connected with permitted owners of concealed weapons.

Our anti-gun friends are barking up the wrong tree again.

Besides, if a criminal was to consider a crime at a Starbucks, a gun-free zone won't make a difference.

"Clean" Needle Exchange a Bad Idea

Last week, the Colorado State Senate seriously engaged a bill that would offer clean needles to drug addicts.

If you missed the story in the Denver Post, read it here.

This is a bad idea. Here's why.

The real issue is being avoided here: curtailing illegal drug use. I understand the public health sentiment, as put forth by the advocates of this bill.However, offering drug addicts needles will increase drug use.

For five years, I directed the downtown Denver Rescue Mission. Drug use was a common daily occurrence there. Most of the alleys in that area were filled with needles. But what these addicts needed was not a clean syringe to continue their destructive lifestyle, but counseling and support to kick their drug habits.

Most Coloradans support drug rehabilitation. Most will not support their tax dollars subsidizing illegal drug use.

Lacking Wisdom

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him...

Our nation is lacking wisdom. Our President lacks wisdom. Our Congress is just as foolish. A lack of wisdom also affects our Colorado state legislature.

Why? Because we are not asking God how to do things. Our created world runs on natural laws. God's wisdom installed it.

James goes on to state that but when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind."

Godly wisdom is a partnership with God. It is based on seeking God for it and then believing He will provide it.

It is a rare commodity today in America.

The Cost of Obama Health Care

The cost facts of Obama care is beginning to seep out.

My goal here is not to be partisan but fiducially responsible. Good feelings aside, our nation cannot afford to cover another "30 million' (dubious number) uninsured Americans.

We don't have the shekels. Our kids and their kids will curse us one day for the debt burden we are placing on their shoulders.

My good friend Brad Hawkins from Integrity Financial here in Denver has assembled this fact sheet on the cost and impact of Obama care.

You can get the full report here at http://www.rmfc.org/

Here are some highlights:

-The cost of insurance will skyrocket. Some premiums in the individual market would triple under these new burdens.

-This legislation imposes a new 3.8 percent tax on investment income.

- A series of of new taxes and fees to pay for expanded health care coverage will push up costs for employers resulting in fewer new jobs and lesser benefits.

-Businesses will have to surrender 8 percent of their payroll to the government if they do not offer insurance or pay at least 72.5 percent for their workers' premium. There is no such mandate like this in place right now for American businesses.

These facts are outrageous.

Our Federal government is out of control. Irregardless of your political perspective, the bottom line is that we cannot afford this new entitlement!

Your thoughts?