Is tonight the magical third date with that certain someone special? You know what that means, right? Finally time to watch the Independence Institute’s public affairs television show Devil’s Advocate together. First, Independence Institute Energy Policy Center director Amy Oliver sits down with host Jon Caldara to discuss the increasingly threatening and aggressive behavior of anti-fracking protestors in Colorado. Then local author Karen Kataline swings by to discuss her new book, “Fatlash!: Food Police and the Fear of Thin.”

That’s tonight at 8:30 on Colorado Public Television 12, right after Colorado Inside Out at 8:00 featuring Independence Institute research director Dave Kopel.

After months of frustration with the Denver Post refusing to cover the explosive Abound Solar debacle, last week we put up these billboards around the Denver Post:

Yesterday the Denver Post’s front page, top-of-the-fold story was on the failures of the new energy industry, writing, “The Weld County district attorney’s office is investigating the failure of Colorado solar-panel manufacturer Abound Solar, and congressional Republicans are asking tough questions about Abound’s federal loan guarantees.” Full story here: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_21825181/layoffs-failures-test-colorados-new-energy-economy

Thanks to the Post for reporting the story.

Why is this Billboard now across the street from the Denver Post building?

I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea, so let me explain. I really miss the days of Denver being a two newspaper town. The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News for a century had a competition which gave Coloradans superior news coverage of state and local issues. Those days are gone. The Rocky went under a few years ago and sadly, the Post is a frail shadow of what it once was.

Much of this demise is not the fault of the Post. Younger people don’t buy papers, they get their news for free online. Online classified ads like Craigslist took away the paper’s largest steady income source. The Post is also straddled with crippling debt.

But the Denver Post is still the paper of record for Colorado. And it needs to act like it.

I want to see the Post survive and thrive. The state needs a trusted news source. But just like when a friend needs an intervention, the Post needs to hear the truth no matter how painful.

To the good and extremely overworked people at the Post, we have to tell you that you are failing to cover news. My guess is you know this. We understand your staff has been slashed to a fraction of what it was and how this economy has hurt your industry. But we rely on you for actual reporting, and you are failing to do that job. Rerunning Associated Press stories and writing about gardening tips and Bronco games are fine. However, you have a responsibility to report the news.

When Denver Public Schools changed their evaluation for teachers, judging them on how well they got our children to get involved in “social justice,” there was no news coverage from the Post. 9News did the story. When DPS reversed this politically-driven policy, there was again no coverage. You could read about it in the Washington Times, however.

When it was found that the co-chair of President Obama’s reelection committee, Denver’s former mayor Federico Pena, was a venture capitalist just like Mitt Romney, laying off a thousand workers and closing three domestic factories, there was no coverage. Rush Limbaugh did a better job informing Coloradans about this story than the Post did.

But hiding from the Abound Solar story is beyond excusable.

In our own backyard is Solyndra on steroids, and not a peep from the Denver Post. A politically-connected solar company gets a $400 million guarantee of government loans. And we learn of the Pat Stryker connection from Complete Colorado. http://completecolorado.com/stories/markey-stryker-pay-to-play.html

When the firm went belly-up the company execs told a Congressional committee it was because of cheap Chinese competition. But when whistle blowers show that the product was so faulty it would catch fire, it was the Daily Caller that told the story http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/02/sources-documents-suggest-government-subsidized-abound-solar-was-selling-faulty-product/. As one worker said – it was a fine product, so long as you didn’t put it in the sun.

When documents were found suggesting Abound falsified its books to secure funding, there was no story in the Post. You had to go to Fox News http://nation.foxnews.com/abound-solar-inc/2012/10/08/congress-local-authorities-investigate-doe-loan-recipient-abound-solar

When the District Attorney of Weld County opened a full investigation into Abound, you could find the story on Channel 7 http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/abound-solar-under-investigation-by-weld-county-district-attorney-received-68-million-stimulus but not in the Post.

When the US House Energy and Commerce Committee announced a further investigation into Abound, http://energycommerce.house.gov/press-release/committee-leaders-probe-does-knowledge-loan-recipients-faulty-solar-panels – now the story made it to Reuters, but not the Post.

We put a billboard across the street from the Denver Post to remind them that they are STILL the paper of record in Colorado. And it’s time they stopped turning a blind eye to news that matters. We want the Post to succeed.

Billboard: Post Hides from Abound Solar Investigations

Ad Near Post Building Highlights Failure to Cover Prominent Local Stories

DENVER, Colo — A new Independence Institute billboard sends a message directly to Colorado’s largest newspaper, taking it to task for failing to cover prominent local stories.

Placed right across from the Denver Post building at Court Place and 15th Street, the billboard highlights a recent major story ignored by the daily publication: “Solar Panels Fry. Abound Solar Lies. Jobs Died. The Denver Post Hides.” The message also has been placed near Lincoln Street and 18th Avenue.

Abound Solar, touted by President Obama and bankrolled by federal stimulus dollars, now faces both a Congressional inquiry and local criminal investigation. Stories have revealed the Colorado-based renewable energy company’s product consistently fell short of commercial expectations and occasionally caught fire, causing many of their installations to suffer catastrophic failure rates.

“Our solar modules worked as long as you didn’t put them in the sun,” an ex-Abound employee told the Daily Caller. Whistleblowers also have alleged substantial use of accounting fraud to secure both private and federal loan guarantees.

“We’re calling for an intervention,” said Independence Institute president Jon Caldara. “We’re trying to help stop the state’s only major newspaper from speeding off a cliff.”

The Abound Solar scandal represents one in a series of major local stories with significant political and cultural impact that the Post‘s news coverage has neglected, which also includes:

Each of these stories was brought to light by local TV or alternative online media.

“Competition from the Internet and sites like Craigslist has definitely made it challenging for newspapers to adapt,” Caldara said. “But the Post could help itself by giving some print to major stories in its backyard.”

More information on the Abound Solar story is available at Complete Colorado.

Listen to Caldara and investigative reporter Todd Shepherd on this morning’s Peter Boyles Show (630 KHOW).

The Independence Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy research organization based in Denver, Colo.

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*** PS – Billboards will be unveiled tomorrow ***

Bad economy got you down? Feeling like you can use a break from the “economy tax?” Well, the Independence Institute is here to provide relief! Come party with us this Friday, October 19th, 5-8 pm at the Freedom Embassy (727 E. 16th Avenue, Denver, Colorado)

We will be providing relief in the form of hot dogs, chips and lemonade (for the first 200 people), and FUN! FUN! FUN! (yes, we’re going to have a big bouncy house). We will have a drawing for gift certificates for BOTH groceries and gas! After all, the economy won’t give you groceries or gas…. but we will! RSVP for FREE with Mary MacFarlane at 303-279-6536, ext. 102 or mary@i2i.org

For more information, visit our “Groceries or Gas” Facebook page.

Last week our Energy Policy Center put on the third in a series of women-only energy debates. This one focused on vehicle regulations (like CAFE standards) and was titled, “Minivans vs. Smart Cars.” As always, it was a great output of high powered intellectual forces, with both sides making excellent points and engaging in an entertaining style. If you’re like me and unable to attend these debates because of your testosterone, then don’t worry. Here is the audio file from the debate. ENJOY!

LADIES! Please join us tomorrow, Wednesday the 10th, for our 3rd women’s energy debate!

TOPIC: Smart Cars vs. Minivans

Ladies debate CAFE standards, smart cars, hybrids and government subsidies. Are higher CAFE standards good for families? Are kids safe in a smart car? Can these products thrive in a free market.

Panelists include:

Marita Noon, author of Energy Freedom and Director of Energy Makes American Great. http://energymakesamericagreat.org/

Linda Gorman, economist and Director of the Independence Institute’s Health Care Policy Center.

Susan Perkins, Principal at Perkins Energy Law, http://www.perkinsenergylaw.com/

Angie Layton, attorney and alternative energy advocate, http://www.angielayton.com/meet/

Attendance is FREE!

Lunch and On-Site Child Care is also provided for FREE!

Event starts at 11:30am, here at the Independence Institute Freedom Embassy in Uptown Denver.

RSVP to Cherish@i2i.org or call 303-279-6537 x118.

This is only for women. NO MEN ALLOWED! An audio podcast of the debate will be available on this Facebook page after the event for anyone to listen to.

It’s Monday. Booooooo. No one likes Mondays. But allow me to help you cope with today.

If you happen to be male and reading this, then I’m certain you did not attend our women-only renewable energy debate we had this past Wednesday. I snuck in to watch for a few minutes here and there and let me tell you, it was fantastic. (It was even better than I thought after I listened to the full debate audio). We had an all-star panel for the debate, highlighted by none other than Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center and Reason Magazine. If you were unable to attend the debate either because of your gender or your day job, check out the full debate audio here.

Secondly, I’d like to point you towards a couple of articles from I.I. authors that deserve a look. First, Ben DeGrow of the Education Policy Center saw a sneak preview of Hollywood’s take on the school choice/reform movement called “Won’t Back Down.” Ben admits in his review for Ed New Colorado that even though Won’t Back Down is no Citizen Kane, it still gets across a vital message: School reform will not wait!

Finally, frequent I.I. guest author Ari Armstrong published an op-ed in yesterday’s Denver Post arguing against Amendment 65, which appears on this November’s ballot and would demand that Colorado legislators get on board with more onerous and restrictive campaign finance reform. In other words, to be FOR Amendment 65, one must be against free speech. Ari is fervently pro-First Amendment rights however, and thus, makes a good case against Amendment 65. You might recall that our Research Director Dave Kopel is also a big fan of free speech rights and recently appeared on KNUS to debate Ken Gordon on the issue. You can hear that debate audio here.

I want to give a big thanks to Amy Oliver Cooke for guest hosting my show while I was away. In the first episode, she sat down with former petroleum engineer Donovan Schafer to discuss fracking. Should we fear it like everyone seems to be telling us?

In the second segment, Krista Kafer joins Amy to discuss messaging to women in the 2012 election cycle. How are candidates trying to reach out to women specificially? What’s working?

Plea bargains, corporate welfare, twinkie taxes and fracking are all topics of recently published works by Independence Institute writers.

In the Colorado Springs Gazette, frequent Independence Institute guest author Ari Armstrong examines the consequences to the right of a jury trial from having over 97 percent of Colorado’s criminal convictions be from plea bargains.  Writes Ari:

Colorado criminal statistics for the years 2006 through 2011 show that Colorado prosecutors rely on plea bargains to reach convictions an overwhelming 97.6 percent of the time, according to documents obtained by the Independence Institute through a Colorado Open Records Act request.

According to those documents, only 4,241 felony convictions resulted from a jury trial, or 2.4 percent of the total of 175,015 felony convictions. A total of 6,101 felony cases went to trial, so the conviction rate at trial was 70 percent.

Read the whole thing here.

In the Denver Post, senior fellow Fred Holden and research director Dave Kopel explain that Gaylord style corporate welfare violates the Colorado Constitution.  Fred and Dave ask:

By what authority can the state government take tax money out of your pocket and give it away to a private corporation? The answer is that corporate welfare schemes, such as so-called “public-private partnerships,” flagrantly violate the Colorado Constitution.

Check it out here.

Also in the Denver Post, Health Care Policy Center Director Linda Gorman makes the case that giving government more power to tax and control “bad” food (think twinkie tax) is offensive to liberty.  As Linda notes:

Obesity can impose costs on others, and the obvious solution is to allow people who provide services to charge the obese more when they are more costly to serve.

Full piece is here.

In the current Denver Business Journal, research associate Donovan Schafer reminds us to keep the relative risk of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) chemicals, Benzyne in particular, in perspective, finding that:

While Benzyne and other air pollutants shouldn’t be ignored when discussing oil and gas development. it’s important for the public to recognize the estimates and limits set by the EPA represent very small-though perhaps not insignificant-risks, and that these risks are comparable to those associated with automobile emissions, urban living and industrial activities in general.

The piece is behind the DBJ’s subscription wall, but can be read on the Independence Institute energy blog here.