Whether “haggling” at a garage sale or for the best deal on a vehicle, most of us understand the give-and-take that often determines a fair price.

A seller asks a price that is more than he needs to cover costs and a potential buyer responds by offering less than she is actually willing to pay.  If the two parties settle on a price, common sense tells us that price is reasonable – i.e., it meets the seller’s need to cover costs and fits the buyer’s ability and willingness to pay.

A 4-3 majority of the Colorado Supreme Court doesn’t seem to understand that the advertised price and the actual cost are often vastly different.  In Volunteers of America vs. Gardenswartz, the court considered whether someone injured by another’s negligence is entitled to recover the amount originally billed for his medical expenses or the only the amount actually paid to the hospital and doctor. (more…)

In this year’s race for U.S. Senate, Colorado voters have a clear choice both in substance and in style.

Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet has backed President Obama 97 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly.

His opponent, Republican Ken Buck, opposes virtually every significant measure passed or pending in the current Congress – massive “stimulus” spending, government-mandated health care, and cap-and-tax energy policy. (more…)

Correction:  The NRA ultimately decided not to endorse Harry Reid.  They gave him money and seemed to agonize over the decision — which should tell you all you need to know.  NRA lobbyist Chris Cox suggested that Reid’s votes for Supreme Court nominees Elana Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor were deal-breakers.  That it was even a close call before those votes is ludicrous.

To anyone who still believes the National Rifle Association cares more about protecting your Second Amendment rights than it does about kissing up to powerful politicians, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

For the NRA, the Second Amendment has become little more than an expedient tool for raising money, striking political compromises, and maintaining access to those in power.

This week, the NRA’s Political Victory Fund endorsed liberal Democrat Congresswoman Betsy Markey, who cares so deeply about the Second Amendment that she didn’t even bother to return the NRA’s survey when she first ran for Congress two years ago. (more…)

As we observe the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this Fourth of July, we should consider the unique form of government for which our Founding Fathers chose to risk “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor” against the militarily-superior British.

The definitive passage in the Declaration reads:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” (more…)

After imposing more than $1 billion a year in tax and fee increases – without once seeking voter approval – liberal Democrats in the Colorado legislature now want voters to permit them to raise taxes without limitation and without ever asking voters again.

Can you say, “Oblivious to irony”? (more…)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d00a6Zb8I_w&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Continuing his “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” routine Michael Farrand Bennet is spending some of his $4.8 million campaign war chest on a new television commercial that strongly suggests that Bill Ritter’s personal senator believes Coloradans are suckers – or at least that enough can be suckered in order for him to win his first real election.

The commercial toggles between the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and scenes from Washington County on Colorado’s Eastern Plains.  Bennet, who grew up in Washington, D.C., and has lived in Colorado for a mere 13 years, wants us to believe that he’s a regular Joe, just a common, hard-workin’ good ol’ boy. (more…)

Economic illiteracy has its advantages, especially for liberal agitators who seem disproportionately afflicted by it.

A few weeks ago, the whiny left erupted with feigned outrage when Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jane Norton noted the obvious — that Social Security has become “a Ponzi scheme.”

For anyone who understands economics and the fraudulent way the federal government constructed Social Security, Norton’s observation was a simple statement of fact. (more…)

Legislators talk frequently about the Law of Unintended Consequences but rarely seem to recognize when a bill they support will, if passed, inevitably collide with that law.  Such is the case with House Bill 1021, which would require individual insurance policies to cover a normal pregnancy, childbirth, maternity care, pregnancy management and contraception.

At first glance, that sounds like a reasonable idea: women who buy their own health insurance ought to be able to purchase coverage for pregnancy.  Now stand in the shoes of another woman — one who isn’t pregnant, or plans not to become pregnant, or is beyond childbearing years, or is unable even to have children:  if state law requires all policies to cover pregnancy, then state law requires everyone to pay for pregnancy coverage, whether they want it or not. (more…)

The anti-taxpayer majority on the Colorado Supreme Court soon will have another chance to stand the constitution on its head, thanks to a remarkably unambiguous ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals. (more…)