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Our Plates were
Full
November 16, 2011 by Jack Ott
We
are not referring to the pre-meeting buffet dinner plates of spaghetti at Blossom's
Restaurant in Aurora. This was last night's monthly meeting of CCM - Denver. There
were not one, not two, but four speakers sharing the limelight. The result was a very
informative and thought-provoking hour and a half of presentations and discussions
covering a wide range of issues from Entitlement Reform to the presidential candidates to
collective bargaining for teachers.
The
meeting opened with the usual individual meditation and flag ceremonies. Board member
reports were limited to JACK OTT's reporting that he had just heard that the Colorado
Supreme Court had sent back for modification the Legislative Redistricting Plan that had
been drawn up by a special committee.
Bob Pfeiffer
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The
first speaker was Mr. BOB PFEIFFER, founder and editor of the website FederalSafetyNet.com. Bob's topic of discussion was
how to reform our Federal Antipoverty Programs which, as he pointed out, our outspent by
only Social Security and Medicare. They accounted for $358 billion in Federal spending in
2010. He listed and described the 12 programs that make up this spending category, and
pointed out the lack of coordination and the overlap that results in many recipients
having no incentive whatsoever to get off of the welfare rolls because of the lucrative
payouts of these programs. He went on |
illustrate
that, in the last fifty years, there has been no significant decrease in the poverty level
(percentage) in America despite massive spending increases to address the problem.
Finally, he outlined a 4-step strategy to correct the many problems. More detailed
information, including his recommended solution, can be found at his website at: http://www.FederalSafetyNet.com
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next item on the agenda was a tag-team presentation by Mr. MATTHEW MILLER and Ms. LEAH
PARRY, both from the Youth for Ron Paul Organization.
Matthew focused his comments on the historical aspect of Rep. Paul's current run for the
Presidency, while Leah described his positions on most of today's issues, both foreign and
domestic. Inasmuch
as Ron Paul is a very controversial candidate, the give and take between the speakers and
the audience became very animated. |
Matthew Miller
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Inasmuch
as Ron Paul is a very controversial candidate, the give and take between the speakers and
the audience became very animated. Eventually, the question came up regarding Mr. Paul's
political intentions if he is not nominated to be the Republican candidate in 2012. Matt
and Leah both responded that Ron Paul had made a strong commitment that, under no
circumstances, would he run for office as a third party candidate.
There
was concern expressed by some in the audience about Paul's foreign policy positions,
especially those regarding overseas conflicts. Among other points that Matt made, Ron
Paul, he said, would support any effort by Israel to defend itself against Iran or any
other potential enemy. He would not, however, support any effort on the part of the United
States to assist Israel in such activities.
The
fourth speaker of the night was Mr. ANDY PETH, who was the primary speaker at last month's
CCM meeting. Consistent with last month's message on conflict resolution, Andy's topic
last night was why teachers in public education should not be the beneficiaries of
collective bargaining with teachers' unions. He explained that the
management-employee-customer triad that form the basis for collective bargaining in the
private sector is not available in the public sector, in that in the latter, the
"customer" (the tax-paying citizen) has no say in the negotiations.
After
these very interesting and informative presentations, Roy Caldwell turned to Unfinished
Business, where he discussed the ongoing Federal Budget debate going on in Washington, and
the need for CCM members to have there voices heard by sending e-mails, letters, or phone
calls to our elected officials to let them know that they should not increase taxes to
reduce the deficit.
The
next portion of the meeting was a rundown of upcoming events, The first was an scheduled
conference entitled Have the Media Failed America?
Scheduled for Friday, December 2 from 9AM to 5PM at CCU's Beckman Center. The conference
features nationwide columnist Brent Bozell. The cost is $75. See the Events page for more details.
The
next item announced the movie spOILed the Movie,
which tells the truth about the "oil problem" in America and the world. The
movie will be shown at the AMC24 Theaters in Highlands ranch on Wednesday, December 7th at
5:00PM.
Training
for the upcoming Precinct Caucuses will be held on Monday, January 16, 2012 and on
Thursday, January 26. See details on the Events
page. Members are strongly encouraged to attend this training and become active in the
2012 elections at the precingt level.
Other
scheduled events:
February
7, 2012 - Precinct Caucuses
Late
March - County Republican Assemblies
April
14, 2012 - State GOP Assembly
June
26 - Colorado Primary Election
JACK
OTT briefly discussed the availability of books in "CCM Library" at each monthly
meeting, and announced that the DVD Waiting for Superman was also available there.
The
group reached consensus to hold the traditional CCM Christmas at the December meeting,
which will be held at the normal time on Tuesday, December 20. It will inckude the regular
"white elephant" gift exchange, with a gag gift limit of $10.00.
The
meeting adjourned at 8:00PM
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We Won a Few and
Lost a Few
November 2, 2011 by Jack Ott
Reading the election
results from yesterday in this morning's Denver Post brought mixed feelings. On the plus
side, we were pleased to see that Colorado voters soundly rejected State Senator Rollie
("I Never Saw a Spending Bill I Didn't Like") Heath's Proposition 103, which
would have increased our taxes significantly in the name of improving public education.
The results were not even close, with 64% of the voters going against the measure and only
36% in favor of it. You can rest assured that the teachers' unions were very disappointed
in the results.
The news was disappointing
for those of us in Jefferson County's School Board race, where our conservative favorites
Preston Branaugh and Jim Powers lost their bids to give the county's Board a more
conservative face. But the results coming out of Douglas County were far more positive,
with pro-voucher candidates winning all of the races. Incumbent Craig Richardson defeated
two challengers who were both anti-voucher, and voucher supporters Justin Williams and
Kevin Larsen won the other two races.
In the City of Aurora, CCM
favorite Ryan Frazier and four other candidates running for Mayor lost the election to
former City Councilman Steve Hogan.
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