Chicago-style politics here
n his 2002 book “Shakedown,” Ken Timmerman exposed the fundraising style of the Rev. Jesse Jackson. It’s pure mob. Jesse’s goons quite literally go to a corporation tell them to donate or face charges of racism by Jesse’s operatives. The corporation makes a purely business decision. It’s less expensive to just pay him off.
We don't need to show our darn ID
The new Rosa Parks? Probably not. But Deborah Davis could become an icon for privacy.
Davis is the woman who refused to show her ID to security officers at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood and may be prosecuted for her crime. The center is technically federal property and home to about 7,000 employees and up to 2,000 visitors a day.
Utah Gains Special Needs Vouchers
Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed HB249, the Carson Smith Scholarships for Students With Special Needs Act. The scholarships allow students with Individual Education Plans to take as much as $5,700 of public funds for tuition at a participating private school. For more details please see the Institute for Justice Press Release and the text of […]
The invisible B.C. government and your rights to property
In May 2005 I notice a parking ticket on my motor home for $100.00 the ticket said that I was guilty of parking a large vehicle for more that 3 hours abutting private residents. Ok I am choked. You see I work in the movie industry as a first aid attendant and work long hours..
Poll Shows Little Support to Weaken TABOR or Raise Taxes
The results of a new poll commissioned by the Independence Institute and the Colorado Club for Growth shows a lack of voter support for modifying Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) or seeking a TABOR override (known as De Brucing).
According to a scientific survey by the nationally-recognized polling firm TelOpinion Research, only 33 percent of likely Colorado voters who voted in the most recent election approve reducing their TABOR tax refunds or removing the so-call ratchet mechanism…
More than half (52%) of the survey’s 600 respondents altogether opposed weakening TABOR or giving up $500 million in tax surplus refunds. Only 33% are in favor of a proposal.
Creating a Housing Crisis:How Government Makes Housing Unaffordable in the Denver Metropolitan Area
The Independence Institute’s Center for the American Dream works to give people freedom of choice in land use and transportation while protecting urban livability and environmental quality. The “dream” of the Center for the American Dream is affordable homeownership, mobility, a clean and livable environment, and personal freedom for all Americans, not just an elite few.
What Have They Been Smoking
Background: Amendment 35 would raise the state tax on cigarettes and tobacco products. The money would be redirected to groups working to expand enrollment in Medicaid and CHP, to anti-tobacco programs, and to community health centers. The statements in bold are from the Citizens for a Healthier Colorado Amendment 35 backgrounder, published in September 2004 […]
Tobacco Tax Follies
Amendment 35 imposes a 320 percent increase in state taxes on a pack of cigarettes. In what should be a clear warning to anyone who cares about good government, it simultaneously zaps TABOR restrictions and prohibits the legislature from overseeing how the money is spent. nbsp; Along with gutting legislative oversight, the Amendment guarantees that […]
The Mobility Plan for Denver
In 2001, Denver was the nation’s twentieth-largest urban area, but by most measures it suffered the nation’s fourth or fifth worst congestion. The Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) predicts that, under its 2025 regional transportation plan, the amount of time the average Denver resident wastes sitting in traffic will increase by 73 percent by 2025. RTD’s plan to build FasTracks will reduce this only slightly to a 65-percent increase.
TIF: The Hidden Cost of FasTracks
To promote DRCOG’s vision of a more compact urban area, RTD has plans to build transit-oriented developments— high-density housing combined with retail shops and offi ces—near most of the FasTracks train stations. But the market for such developments is limited. So Denver, Lakewood, and other cities plan to subsidize them using hundreds of millions of dollars of tax-increment fi nancing. In other words, any new property or sales taxes generated by the developments will be used to subsidize the developments. This means other taxpayers will have to pay for schools, fi re, police, and other costs imposed by those developments.
Why Rail When Bus Works Better?
FasTracks calls for building six new rail lines and one bus-rapid transit line. Yet RTD’s own data show that the bus line will provide faster, better service at a lower cost. So why build rail when bus is better?
School of Jocks
I was nine years old the first time I heard of the University of Colorado. That year, CU was the best collegiate football team in the country, and thats all that was important.
Fourteen years later on the other side of the country, the citizens of Raleigh are breathing a sigh of reliefMike Krzyzewski is going to be on the sidelines for Duke next year after all. This means that Duke can remain as one of the best collegiate basketball programs in the country, which is important.
