(John Andrews in the Denver Post, July 17) If you go west on the Arkansas River from Pueblo, up the Royal Gorge and then north past Salida, the Heart of the Rockies, you come to Buena Vista, “the place of a lovely view.” It’s pretty much the route taken by Lt. Zebulon Pike, the first American to explore this high valley, just before Christmas 1806. Then if you branch off the Arkansas at Bueny and follow Cottonwood Creek to its headwaters between Mt. Princeton and Mt. Yale, just below the Continental Divide, with luck and a sharp eye you’ll find the old mining road that climbs into a side canyon where my imaginary hometown, Backbone, Colorado, lies hidden.

(John Andrews in the Denver Post, July 3) The Independence Day barbecue at our house tomorrow will be a time of celebrating patriotic spirit and reliving family memories, some of them anyway. We do not plan to reenact the great fence-crashing incident of 1976.

(John Andrews in the Denver Post, June 19) “Government is not eloquence, it is force,” cautioned George Washington. “Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.” The downfall of Richard Nixon, an episode I lived through as a young presidential assistant, has to be seen in the light of Washington’s warning if we are to learn its real lesson. Ordinary Americans get this, but to judge from the Deep Throat uproar, intellectuals still don’t.

“Head On,” John Andrews’ daily debate feature with Susan Barnes-Gelt on Colorado Public Television, this month dives into topics from Iraq and the Supreme Court to flag-burning and the campaign against TABOR. Democrats’ defeatism on the war draws John’s strong condemnation.

"Backbone Radio with John Andrews, " 5-8pm on 710 KNUS this Sunday, July 10, will look at the people and policies of our U.S. Supreme Court -- after a spring of big decisions and heading into a summer of confirmation battles.