BackboneAmerica

(Denver Post, July 5) In lieu of fireworks, a cannon boomed at sunrise and sunset over Lewis and Clark’s campsite on a Missouri River tributary in present-day Kansas on July 4, 1804. They drank a toast and named the place Independence Creek. It was the first-ever Fourth of July celebration west of the Mississippi, writes Stephen Ambrose in Undaunted Courage. This weekend, 233 years after the Declaration of Independence claimed for Americans our “separate and equal station… among the powers of the earth,” the Colorado map abounds with reminders of the nation’s heroes (more…)

Slated on Backbone Radio, July 5

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

Imagine a Congress with no party labels, no limos, no spin, the courage to risk the gallows, and the humility to submit their work to judgment by Almighty God. Such were the men who met at Philadelphia in defiance of the strongest empire on earth and enacted the Declaration of Independence, 233 years ago this week. By that action, and with Americans’ representatives “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of [their] intentions,” the crown colonies of June 1776 became the “free and independent states” (more…)

The Ricci decision shows she’s undeserving of a promotion, says a web TV spot produced by the Colorado Judicial Network. (more…)

Slated on Backbone Radio, June 28

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

“O beautiful for pilgrim feet, whose stern impassioned stress a thoroughfare of freedom beat across the wilderness!” So wrote Katherine Lee Bates in the inspiration of climbing Pike’s Peak on a summer day in 1893. Have you been to a mountaintop lately? A friend of mine recently did his first 14′er and came back all aglow. But it’s easy to lose the lofty vision in the flatlands of daily life. Time overtakes nations as it does individuals. If we allow America in its third century to grow soft and tired, (more…)

Book Review by John Andrews

I’m honored to help an old friend, Allen Orcutt, bring out a little book of poems, prose, and pictures that explores how a year at war can change a man for life. And much for the better in this Marine pilot’s case, searing as the ordeal was. No Rest Elsewhere: Vietnam Notes, 1968-2008, expands on a poetic collection initially published in 1973, just after Allen came home. It includes his account of reconciling war-shattered relationships in later years, climaxing with a trip back to Vietnam in 2007. (more…)

Slated on Backbone Radio, June 21

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

What would become of Father’s Day if the whole culture and political system grew indifferent to men and women marrying each other, if most babies came from labs and acquired their parents through agencies, if the family itself were declared a toxic institution as some feminists and Marxists claim? Sorry for the downer, but doesn’t that seem to be where Western civilization (formerly so called) is heading unless some of us (more…)

(Denver Post, June 21) “It is a small state, and yet there are those who love it.” Sen. Daniel Webster, arguing the Dartmouth case before the Supreme Court, actually said “college,” not “state.” But my paraphrase is apropos for Coloradans in a summer when the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor has everyone talking about senators and justices. We do love this smallish state of ours, and jealousy for Colorado’s prerogatives of self-government is in order as we debate replacing David Souter. “Don’t tread on me,” the defiant flag of the founding era, (more…)

Amidst US passivity toward Iran’s stolen election, “some doctor needs to give President Obama a backbone transplant.” says John Andrews in the June round of Head On TV debates. But Susan Barnes-Gelt praises Obama’s “calm and neutral” approach to the Islamic republic’s “internal wrangling.” John on the right, Susan on the left, also go at it this month (more…)

RTD and its Fastracks rail system are a mess. In his June 11 radio special, John Andrews asked why. The podcast is now up. (more…)

(Denver, June 5) A coalition of Colorado groups and concerned citizens joined forces today in opposition to President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. Organized as the Colorado Judicial Network, they are urging the US Senate confirm only highly qualified individuals who put the rule of law ahead of personal political agendas. As former State Sen. John Andrews put it: “Barack Obama said he wanted to remake the Supreme Court with his judicial nominees. (more…)

(Denver Post, June 7) Colorado high school graduates of 2009, how exciting to see you gathered by the tens of thousands at Invesco Field. Following up your commencement ceremonies in May, here we are in June for the young citizens’ Responsibility Rally. As your keynoter, I’ll be brief. (Applause.) Even from last month, you’ve likely forgotten your graduation speaker’s message. Mine from 1962 is long gone. I do remember a Bible verse (more…)

Slated on Backbone Radio, June 7

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

Whoa, does Obama think he’s president of the planet? A community organizer from Chicago gets 60 million votes to be the trustee of power in one country for 48 months, so he jets off to the ancient capital of the pharaohs to fix things up with 1.2 billion followers of Muhammad across the globe. Amazing. Obviously he does think that’s what he is, but he’s not, and only bad can come of the man’s wild grandiosity. (more…)

Dr. George Tiller’s murder in cold blood at a Wichita church today should shock the conscience and grieve the heart of every (more…)

Ted LaMontagne, a longtime pillar of the idyllic mountain community of Evergreen, Colorado, passed away this week. With his business (more…)

Slated on Backbone Radio, May 31

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

Tough times, deadly enemies, and political upheavals can force a nation to search its soul. America is going through that right now. Who are we as a country, anyway? What do we stand for? What’s worth fighting over and what’s not? These questions echo through the identity politics of Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, the assault on limited government by liberals in Colorado and Washington alike, the hypnotic mantra of change that currently substitutes for common sense. Again this Sunday, Backbone Radio steps up (more…)