BackboneAmerica

The First Cold Warrior, Elizabeth Spalding’s new book on Harry Truman, quotes this little prayer that the Missourian used daily during his presidency:

Oh Almighty and Everlasting God, Creator of heaven and earth and the universe: Help me to be, to think, to act what is right, because it is right: Make me truthful, honest, and honorable in all things: Make me intellectually honest for sake of right and honor and without thought of reward to me. Give me the ability to be charitable, forgiving, and patient with my fellow men — Help me to understand their motives and shortcomings — even as thou understandest mine: Amen.

I used this to open and close today’s edition of Backbone Radio, remarking how different our political and media discourse would be if more us made this our standard of conduct and truly sought God’s aid in living up to it. If only–

As noted tonight on Backbone Radio, there is a fundraiser on Thursday, Feb. 1 for the legal defense of immigration whistleblower Cory Vorhis. He’s the heroic ICE agent who revealed those lenient plea bargains for illegal alien felons, during last year’s Ritter-Beauprez campaign.

It will be an evening event in the DTC area – donation optional. If you want to come and show your support, email me at andrewsjk@aol.com for the details.

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
and now also on 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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The Sunni insurgency in Iraq, writes Nibras Kazimi in the New York Sun, “is being slowly, and surely, defeated. The average insurgent today feels demoralized, disillusioned, and hunted.”

But meanwhile at home, as Daniel Henninger warns in the Wall Street Journal, “The United States is talking itself into defeat in Iraq. Its political culture is now in a downward spiral of pessimism.”

Has America become a nation of quitters? Will Osama and Ahmadinejad laugh last? Will the coming decade bring us the global disaster that would have occurred after 1938 if appeasement in the mold of Chamberlain and Lindbergh had prevailed over the warrior spirit of Churchill and FDR? (more…)

By Krista Kafer (krista555@msn.com)

Governor Ritter announced in his state-of-the-state speech that he intends to return funding to Planned Parenthood for “pregnancy prevention and family planning programs.” Nationwide, Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion providers, receives some $272 million in tax payer funds annual under Title X of the Public Health Service Act for “family planning and reproductive health.” The program, enacted in 1970, funnels state and federal taxpayer funds to public and private agencies for birth control, STD testing and other activities. Such entities can even provide “neutral” information on abortion which seems like an opportunity for some to expand business. (more…)

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to view Steve Emerson talk about his new book “Jihad Incorporated” on CSPAN2 Book TV. The book basically is a compilation of court actions involving Islamic fundamentalists. Two things struck me:

** How widespread Jihad activities are in the United States, (in 40 States according to Mr. Emerson’s book).

** That a young man called in and accused Mr. Emerson and his book of “fear mongering”.

To me, it was a perfect example of the success of Islamic strategy in the United States. They have purposely positioned themselves as a persecuted minority, wrapped in the cloak of religion and “Civil Rights”. The Islamics study us, game our system and are very successful. (more…)

By Krista Kafer (krista555@msn.com)

On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court struck down most state laws protecting unborn children in the notorious Roe vs. Wade decision. Thirty-four years and 50 million lives later, there seems to be no end in sight for this American holocaust. New “uses” for unborn children as scientific guinea pigs does not bode well; as Eli Whitney’s cotton gin accelerated the demand for slaves, new “uses” for unborn children will likely increase the death toll. Although legislative victories have reduced the incidence of abortion since the late 1990’s, new technology could unleash the demand for human life. (more…)

Colorado Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon is distraught in his belief that “the Iraqi patriots are those who fight against us”– so he wants to relive his youthful Vietnam War protester days in dissent against the US military effort over there. The other day he invited his email list to suggest what form the protest should take.

Gordon offers an incoherent psychoanalysis of President Bush to justify all this. A deranged soldier killed in a tragic incident with Maryland police is his starting point for alleging the President’s unfitness to lead. The outrageous line about Iraqi patriots is down in his 11th paragraph, but you have to read the senator’s entire rant to get the full impact. What any of this has to do with his duties in the state legislature is not clear. Ken Gordon’s complete 1/7 email is shown below. – John Andrews (more…)

(Andrews in the Denver Post, Jan. 21) Martin Luther King must have wept on the night Darrent Williams was slain. It was not for this, an urban hell where murder is the leading cause of death among young black men, that the great hero of liberty and equality risked and sacrificed.

Who killed the popular Bronco in a drive-by shooting on Jan. 1, we don’t yet know. But what killed Williams is clear, and it was not merely a “gun culture,” as a Post editorial suggested. It was the widespread lie that if you are not white in America, your choices matter less and your life is worth less. Dr. King saw the troubling evidence for this, but he gave his all to prove it false.

Gang culture, demanding respectability with bullets, flourishes in the poisonous atmosphere of that lie. Gangsters with their deadly ethos were probably in the chain of events leading up to Darrent Williams’ shooting. The Million Dolla Scholas, for whom Williams threw the fatal nightclub party, glorify wanton violence in their rap. Brian Hicks, suspected cocaine dealer and witness-killer, owned the murder vehicle. (more…)

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
and now also on 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
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Remember all the talk we heard last year on the campaign trail and in the new media, warning of the consequences if voters were to gamble on giving Democrats power? All the talk of “Wouldn’t it be awful if….”

Well, hang on for the ride, because last year’s unpleasant forecast has become this year’s harsh reality. The left is in the driver’s seat, and the future is now. (more…)

Democrats in control of the Colorado House, ignoring Gov. Bill Ritter’s inaugural criticism of narrow-interest legislation, are racing to put on his desk a pair of bills that empower organized labor and the teacher union at the expense of workers and parents.

Both bills sailed through committee this week on party-line votes and are up for approval by the full House on Friday morning. Insiders say Senate Democrats will then speed them to Ritter for signature before January is out. Heavy political support for Dems by the AFL-CIO and CEA in 2006 would thus reap an early payoff in 2007. (more…)

By Krista Kafer (krista555@msn.com)

Two days after the scientific community heralded the benefits of stem cells taken from amniotic fluid, the US House of Representatives passed Rep. Diana Degette’s bill (again) to use taxpayer funds to kill unborn children for their stem cells, a practice that has yet to produce any benefits. (more…)

Update after the show: Hilmar von Campe, tonight’s leadoff guest, will sign his book “How Was It Possible?: Story of a Hitler Youth,” Thursday at 730pm at the Tattered Cover, 2526 E. Colfax. Click here for bio & book details.

Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver
and now also on 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs
To listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com
————————————————————————-The President rightly insists failure in Iraq is not an option. Yet “we’re losing and can’t win” has become a mantra on the left, voiced with smug satisfaction. Former Sen. Gary Hart lectured Dan Caplis on the air the other day to stop talking about victory, stop it! Sorry to violate your PC speech code, Senator. Guess we didn’t get the memo.

** I’ll probe the issue on Sunday evening with Colorado’s two new congressmen, Republican Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs and Democrat Ed Perlmutter of Lakewood. Killing embryos for research, socializing medicine even more, and tracking Pelosi’s power trip will be other topics for that segment.

** “Why not victory?” will be my question as well to Richard Allen, national security adviser to President Reagan, and to Diane Carman, liberal columnist of the Denver Post. We’ll also get Carman’s view on new governor Bill Ritter, Colorado’s own “man from hope,” and on the Dems’ convention coming here next year. (more…)

The “Head On” debate between former state Sen. John Andrews (R) and former Denver councilwoman Susan Barnes-Gelt (D), seen daily on Colorado Public Television since 1997, began its January series this week. Andrews spelled out the arguments for Denver electing a new mayor. Other topics this month include good riddance to Saddam, turnover of the Colorado governor’s chair, and challenges facing majority Dems in the state legislature and Congress.

1. DENVER MAYOR DESERVES AN OPPONENT

John: There’s an election this spring, but Denver’s mayor is not facing the healthy competition that swept in new leadership nationally. John Hickenlooper blew it on the voting mess, the justice center, and the holiday blizzard. To earn a second term, he should face a heavyweight challenger. Interested in running, Susan?

Susan: What? And give up swimming, knitting and sparring with you? Not a chance. However, the voters and the Mayor would be well served if a thoughtful opponent forced Hickenlooper to articulate a vision, a strategy and priorities for his second term. One voice does not a democracy make. (more…)

By Dave Petteys (dpetteys@comcast.net)

Financial Times columnist Jacob Weisberg (see FT.com, subscription required) this week voiced the absurd premise, “if Congress is serious about ending the war” — as if any war can be “ended” unilaterally, short of complete surrender. This notion demonstrates clearly his (and the FT’s) appalling lack of understanding of the true nature of Western Civilization’s struggle with Islam.

Evidently they subscribe to the George Soros premise that “fighting the war on terror is what’s causing it”. Therefore, if we quit, somehow terrorism will dwindle away and we can all go back to building our welfare state utopias with tax and spend programs. Obviously, Weisberg has not read the Al Qaeda documents setting forth their goals for the new global Caliphate. Or he has chosen to ignore these warnings, presumably dismissing them as “false CIA documents manufactured to scare people”.

An “inconvenient truth” (to borrow from Mr. Gore), is the ten years of terrorist attacks during the Clinton administration, which were treated as a “police matters” — though how you discipline suicide bombers with the threat of fines and imprisonment is never quite explained. These attacks grew in ferocity and frequency rather than ebb with benign neglect. Yet what is the response from FT and its ilk? “We mustn’t react in kind to terrorist attacks, because it might irritate terrorists and cause terrorist attacks.” Excuse me? Does this make any sense?

(Andrews in Denver Post, Jan. 7) Bill Owens, you done good. Colorado is going to miss you.

That’s my verdict on Colorado’s 40th governor as he leaves office Tuesday. We’ve been friends and allies (as well as infrequent adversaries) for over two decades, back to his days in the state House and mine at Independence Institute. Owens’ eight years as chief executive have seen our state thrive despite challenges. His honorable and capable leadership will wear well in history.

A free society is not defined by its government, let alone by any government official. To make politics the totality of our lives is the road to serfdom. It is people one by one, individually and with voluntary cooperation, who define America. Even to put a president’s name on an era is oversimplification. Still less can a single governor stamp his state’s destiny.

A governor can make a difference, though. That’s why we fight over electing them. And Gov. Bill Owens has made a big difference here. Either of his rivals for the Republican nomination back in 1998, the moderate Senate President Tom Norton or the conservative purist professor, Terry Walker, probably would have lost to liberal Democrat Gail Schoettler. The principles on which Owens has since governed contrast sharply with Schoettler’s – as her column on this page often attests. (more…)