Backbone Radio

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Father of our country

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Slated on Backbone Radio, Feb. 22 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

Who is your exemplar of the model American? Mine is George Washington. Even as the city named for him seems tarnished and small, the Father of our country stands tall across the centuries. We're in awe of Washington's valor in persevering to victory against all odds in America's war of independence. Washington's self-denial in surrendering his command when he could have been king. His wisdom in chairing the Constitutional Convention. His integrity in demonstrating what the Presidency should be. His nobility in standing down after two terms.

The nation once honored this giant on his birthday every Feb. 22. Now he is marginalized in memory, diminished in textbooks, irrelevant to current issues and politics. That's wrong. All of us, as patriots, are George Washington's spiritual descendants. Backbone as he exemplified it is our keynote this Sunday.

** What's next from Obama and Congress, now that the stimulus monster has been birthed? I'll talk with Katie Packer of the Workforce Institute about card check and the labor unions... and with DA Ken Buck about illegal immigration.

** How do Colorado conservatives get back on offense? I'll talk with Amy Oliver of the Independence Institute about transparency legislation... with CU Regent Tom Lucero about academic freedom and clean government... and with GOP vice-chairman candidate Leondray Gholston.

At the inaugural, our new president quoted General Washington. Fair enough. But try to imagine Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden at the commander's side at Valley Forge, deliberating with him at Philadelphia in 1787, or in his cabinet during the French crisis in 1793. Citizens have their work cut out with these mediocrities in charge. Let's get to it.

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS

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Spine in the Senate

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As Heard on Backbone Radio, Feb. 15Sorry, no podcast of this show

Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver... 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

What a sad showing of vanity and weakness by Senators Spector, Snowe, and Collins in helping pass the generational theft bill, misnamed stimulus, for President Obama. In contrast, what a display of backbone by Sen. Judd Gregg in walking away from a cabinet post after he realized the price of bipartisanship was going to mean betrayal of his principles. It goes to remind us there are Republicans and Republicans. The GOP label can mislead. What's inside the package should be, but isn't always, individual freedom and responsibility, limited government, market economics, and personal integrity. Caveat citizen!

Our purpose at Backbone Radio is to help you exercise the "caveat" with solid facts, analysis, and constitutional fidelity. I invite you to listen in, and call in, this Sunday as my guests include...

** Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-MN... State Board of Education Chairman Bob Schaffer... and our regular contributor Dr. Bill Moloney.

** Plus Metro State student Sean Doherty, editor of the newly launched conservative paper on campus, the "Constitutional Reporter," which had administrators panicked just by announcing its name.

** Plus my special one-hour exploration of Colorado conservatism in the wilderness with Penn Pfiffner, Independence Institute fellow and former state representative.

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS

Lincoln now & forever

Reagan's birthday was Friday, and Lincoln's is next Thursday, the bicentenary of the 16th president's birth. What a contrast between the statesmanship and nobility of those two magnificent Americans, and the uncertain mettle of the man in the White House today. The title by which Abraham Lincoln is known to the ages, the Great Emancipator, shows how sharply his ideas diverged from the collectivist and elitist thinking now dominant in Washington DC. He knew and proved how limited constitutional government upholds freedom and dignity for every person. The fallacy that the state knows best, currently believed by many in both parties, couldn't be more opposite. The legacy of Lincoln, Reagan's participation in it, and Obama's departure from it, will be our keynote for Backbone Radio this Sunday.

** I'll talk with Dr. Peter Schramm of the Ashbrook Center in Ohio... author and columnist Joseph C. Phillips... and college conservative activist Jimmy Sengenberger.

** Plus analysis of US & Colorado headlines with state Republican Chairman Dick Wadhams... and Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Littwin.

Yours for the self-evident truths, JOHN ANDREWS

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