BackboneAmerica

The oil spill in the Gulf has created a mess. President Obama expressed outrage that no company is willing to take responsibility. (more…)

The Icelandic volcano may be old news for some, but the flights in and out of Ireland have been cancelled for several days (more…)

What happens when ethics and politics collide? I did a quick online interview about this with Kelley Harp, one of my key staffers from Senate (more…)

Editor: Fire up a group blog and you never know who may want in. A Denver businessman asked me if his daughter and her college pal could (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…)

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

What some people won’t say about themselves with bumper stickers or tee shirts. I saw a charming one and an infuriating one this week. (more…)

Americans typically are very thoughtful this time of year. We have retrospective thoughts about the past year and we ponder (more…)

Last night the Backbone Radio audience was subjected to some wretched holiday doggerel performed by Kathleen LeCrone and me. (more…)

Looking out the airplane window, on about the twelfth hour of a fourteen hour flight to Ethiopia, the hazy streak of water (more…)

My friend Marshall was that rare combination, a devout Christian and a rigorous libertarian. Heroically he led the Alliance for Separation of School and State, (more…)

If you haven’t visited the GOP War Room, McCain’s rapid response media facility at 2810 Speer Boulevard, it’s worth a look today (more…)

A young friend of mine started at Hillsdale College this week, and his dad, with whom I attend church, gave the new freshman (more…)

The campaign grows ever more bizarre. Today the segmented electorate and micro-targeting reached a new extreme. (more…)

I am of Scottish and Danish stock: what could be sterner stuff? Yes, Braveheart and Norsemen. My people made Europe (more…)