And now, a ban on telecommuting?

Rather than governing with his business experience in mind, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg uses government to impose an intrusive regulatory agenda. There’s his ban on selling beverages with sugar in containers larger than 16 ounces in New York City restaurants, movie theaters and food carts. This follows a 2006 ban on trans fat […]

Randstanding renews an important argument

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s filibuster was not only enormously fun to watch, but demonstrated a piece of political genius to boot. If nothing else, the filibuster was a symbolic victory for conservatives sorely in need of a public show of resistance against an increasingly engorged leviathan. On the merits of Sen. Paul’s arguments, we enter […]

Real state of the union: Government “solutions” seldom solve problems

President Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union speech last week that, for all of its soaring rhetoric, presented very little beyond a deeply flawed analysis of the American condition. What stood out most in the speech was not Obama’s assessment of the problems the nation faces — with the exception, perhaps, of his […]

I doubt there’s Tacit(us) approval to Rand(y) government overreach

 In a rather simple quote from the first century A.D., Tacitus said this about government: “The more corrupt the state, the more it legislates.” Find me a more appropriate quote to describe what government at way too many levels is up to in our country today, although I’ll provide another quote as to its reasoning. […]

Group out to make connections

There’s no denying the growing influence of a growing Latino population in terms of politics, culture or economics. So it’s fitting an organization has been formed to not only respond to this important change in demographics, but also help in making connections between Latino and non-Latino businesses and people. The Western Colorado Latino Chamber of […]

Declining tax collections troubling economic news

Counterbalancing the good news about economic recovery in the Grand Valley is the increasingly worrisome news about sales tax collections. According to the latest monthly reports, sales tax collections dropped on a year-over-year basis 4.4 percent in Mesa County and 4.1 percent in Grand Junction. The declines are doubly troublesome because they reflect sales in […]

I serve at the pleasure of … the local newspaper?

Craig Hall, Publisher Any of you remember the television series “The West Wing?” Regardless of its left-leaning scripts and message, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it. Perhaps it was the way all of the liberal utopian ideas actually worked instead of how they fail in reality. Perhaps I just enjoy escaping into the romantic aura of […]