Free Republic

CBS) The venerable Rocky Mountain News published its final edition Friday, just two months shy of its 150th anniversary. Colorado's oldest paper is just the latest to succumb to severe, industry-wide financial pressure stemming from declining ad revenue and circulation. Other high profile publications, including the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Tucson Citizen, and, perhaps most importantly — because its home is already a one-newspaper town — the San Francisco Chronicle. Thirty-three U.S. papers have filed for bankruptcy protection. What does it all mean for the nation, and where is the trend headed? The demise of the Rocky Mountain News is, says...

Gov. Bill Ritter called it "a very, very sad day." Ritter was speaking to newspaper executives at a luncheon today at the Governor's Mansion when the news came. Someone in the audience stood and said it was official: The Rocky Mountain News was closing. "We're losing a Colorado icon," Ritter said of the nearly 150-year-old newspaper. "We're losing a newspaper that has helped create history." Ritter expressed dismay over the crumbling state of the newspaper industry, saying blogs with anonymous contributors are no substitute for reporters and editors that public officials know by name and can actually contact. "I hope...

DENVER – Questions about the future of the Rocky Mountain News had become so common, the newspaper's staff put up a handwritten paper sign on the news desk that said, "We don't know." On Thursday, someone wrote over it in heavy black marker: "Now we know." Colorado's oldest newspaper, which launched in Denver in 1859, printed its last edition Friday, leaving The Denver Post as the only daily newspaper in town. Since 2001, the News has shared business operations with The Denver Post in a joint operating agreement between Scripps and The Post's owner, MediaNews Group Inc.

Friday's shutdown of the Rocky Mountain News made headlines around the nation as a further sign of the deteriorating daily-newspaper industry. ...These are dark days for the newspaper business. Hearst threatened this week to close the San Francisco Chronicle unless major budget cuts are imposed or a buyer is found, and is prepared to close the Seattle Post-Intelligencer if it cannot be sold before April. Gannett is looking for a buyer for the Tucson Citizen in Arizona.

Chris Romer is a freshman Colorado Senator. He's a bright fellow with a degree from Stanford in economics and more than 20 years of experience in the private sector as a public finance investment banker, specializing in municipal and state budgets. The son of former Gov. Roy Romer, he has a good political pedigree. He describes himself as a "lifelong Democrat," but I don't necessarily hold that against him. After all, Ronald Reagan was once a Democrat. Romer was awarded a seat on the Education Committee. Since Colorado governments - at all levels, combined - spend more money on education...

Conservative Republicans will make a huge mistake if they fail to treat Rudy Giuliani as a serious option for the 2008 presidential nomination. The former New York mayor may have a liberal record on abortion and gay rights - actually, there's no "may" about it - and his messy personal life includes three marriages, but his record as mayor was at times Reaganesque in its willingness to battle an entrenched liberal establishment along a host of fronts. Those who have forgotten his record, or only followed it after 9/11, should read Steven Malanga's article "Yes, Rudy Giuliani is a Conservative"...

Rosen: Populists equalize poverty January 19, 2007 With the Democrats back in power in Congress and with the 2008 election campaign already upon us, you'll be hearing much more about "income inequality." This is a major issue for "progressives" (when you hear that word, think "socialists") like Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Populism is back in fashion. By populism, I mean the exploitation of the uninformed, angry impulses and unfiltered passions of the masses. That anger and resentment has historically been directed at the usual villains and cardboard stereotypes: bankers, insurance companies, "big pharma" (that means drug companies), agri-business,...

Dear Mr. McManus: I don't have to tell you that things have changed a lot since the glory days of CBS News when it sat atop the ratings and Walter Cronkite was "the most trusted man in America." Back then there were only a handful of over-the-air broadcast channels and the Big Three networks presided over something of a shared monopoly in early evening news. TV was in its adolescence and viewers were less sophisticated about the medium. Although there were fewer gadgets (not even videotape), newscasts had more substance. Today, the mix of news and entertainment leans increasingly toward...

Elton John - make that Sir Elton John - recently declared in a magazine interview that "religion should be banned completely." At least he didn't say it should be banned selectively; that might smack of favoritism and discrimination. It seems his animus toward religion is driven largely by his status as a homosexual. He resents religiously based disapproval of his lifestyle and says that religion directs "hatred towards gay people." His ironic remedy is that religious intolerance, as he sees it, shouldn't be tolerated. He's also critical of religious leaders for not coming together to end war. Now, Elton John...

It's said that a picture is worth a thousand words. I only have room for about 700 here so let me be more concise. Just the other day, an editorial cartoon, set in the 1600s, depicted a rowboat full of Pilgrims coming ashore in the New World and encountering a group of Indians constructing a log wall to keep them out. Standing next to a boulder marked "Plymouth Rock" (in case you didn't get it) on the shoreline, one of the Indians, with his arms folded in an unwelcoming position and a disapproving frown on his face, blocked their way....

Perhaps you've heard those mean-spirited, hyper attack ads on Denver radio slandering Colorado Secretary of State Gigi Dennis. They're sponsored by Clear Peak Colorado, one of those free-wheeling 527 groups that sprang up to get around campaign finance reform laws like McCain- Feingold. This one is bankrolled by Pat Stryker and Tim Gill, a pair of liberal Democrat fat cats who lavishly support a cornucopia of partisan and left-wing causes. According to Clear Peak's most recent IRS filing, through June of this year Stryker and Gill have poured in just under $180,000 to the cause. Former Colorado Democratic Party Chairman...

Rosen: Our silly little 'addiction' Sometimes you get great life lessons in unexpected places. Kudos to Scott Adams, the cartoonist who writes the Dilbert comic strip. Adams cut through the fog and gave his readers a valuable insight into the real-world international politics and economics of the energy conundrum. In a recent strip, Dilbert readers were treated to the following exchange: Dilbert: I'm thinking about buying a more fuel-efficient car. Dogbert: Why? Dilbert: It's my patriotic duty to reduce this country's dependence on foreign sources of oil. Dogbert: Why? Dilbert: Because then the countries that hate us will have less...

It's time for the 18th annual Media Research Center's awards for the most biased, manipulative or downright goofy quotes from liberals in the "mainstream" media. I'm honored to serve, once again, on MRC's distinguished panel of conservatively biased judges. Here are some of the highlights from among the winners and runners-up of Best Notable Quotables of 2005:

The pendulum swings both ways. Last year in Denver, it was Mayor John Hickenlooper proposing to replace the city's traditional "Merry Christmas" sign with one that said "Happy Holidays." The mayor wisely backed off in response to the public outcry, as did the Parade of Lights, this year, reversing its policy barring religious floats. Earlier this month, Speaker of the U.S. House Dennis Hastert, issued a directive instructing the architect of the Capitol to drop the name "Capitol Holiday Tree" - adopted in the late 1990s under the authority of no one who's now willing to admit to it -...

Rosen: College: No free lunches December 16, 2005 If you want something and don't have the money to pay for it, you have two choices: You can save up until you're able to buy it or you can borrow the money and get what you want now rather than later. This works well with the purchase of a house or a car. It also makes sense for a college education. Borrowing is the fun part. Paying it back can be less pleasant. So say students who have posted their gripes online in something called the Student Debt Yearbook, a project...

Rosen: Education friends, foes December 9, 2005 'Mike Rosen is no friend of public education." This assertion was passed on to me by an ally, a lonely free spirit within the public education establishment. It wasn't his view, mind you; it was the opinion of one of his colleagues. Au contraire, Pierre. That indictment couldn't be further from the truth. Who could possibly be opposed to an educated public? It's the pathway to success in our society. I'm very much a friend of rigorous programs to create an educated public. And I'm also committed to our traditional approach of funding...

Liars lying about lies, by Mike Rosen Vice President Dick Cheney gave a speech on Nov. 21 at the American Enterprise Institute defending the administration's Iraq policy. This was part of a long overdue counterattack against the tactics of the president's political critics and their allies in the liberal media. Cheney made a particular point of setting the record straight about his criticism of some of the critics. He said, "Several days ago, I commented briefly on some recent statements that have been made by some members of Congress about Iraq. Within hours of my speech, a report went out...

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I gave a talk recently on one of my favorite topics: liberal bias in the media. In the course of my remarks I referred to a quote made famous by Finley Peter Dunne's fictional alter ego, Mr. Dooley, a caricature of an Irishman from the old country who once sarcastically declared that the job of the newspaper is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." Dunne, himself, was a one-time Progressive who saw the light and became a Teddy Roosevelt Republican and a critic of sanctimonious do-gooders. Contemporary journalists may be unaware that the context of the Dunne quote...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Martha Burk is taking aim at the NHL's newest television advertisement. Burk, who led an unsuccessful effort to allow female members at Augusta National three years ago, called the ad "gratuitous" because it shows a scantily clad woman dressing a hockey player before he heads onto the ice.