BackboneAmerica

By Tom Graham – Part 2

(Editor: Graham continues his brief, begun here, for specific policy evidence of President Barack Obama’s socialist ideals and intentions.) Another one-two level economic mainstay, the construction industry, especially housing, is also an Obama target. Control of housing is cleverly approached from different angles. The issue of increasing traffic congestion makes public transit projects popular. However, the moving of people without autos is only an incidental byproduct of “transit oriented development.” This features aggressive campaigning by advocates of very high-density, heavily-subsidized housing. Although this was around before the emergence of Obama, it was announced (more…)

By Tom Graham – Part 1

During a recent “Meet the Press” the host, with feigned indignation, asked a Senator, “You’re not calling the President a socialist, are you?” Without waiting for a response, he repeated the question for emphasis. This performance highlights the hijacking of political semantics. “Socialist” was replaced by “Liberal” which, in turn, became a pejorative, and now “Progressive” is preferred, and used in titles of dozens of political and welfare advocacy groups. Constantly morphing ideas and permutations of definitions make it hard to compartmentalize politicians. An accepted basic view is that Socialism advocates state or collective ownership of the means of production (more…)

By William Watson

When the Spanish first arrived in Mexico, they discovered that Aztec high priests sacrificed 10,000 still-beating hearts to the god Quetzalcoatl every December 22nd in order to cause the days to stop growing shorter. This religious belief was confirmed, as the days began to grow longer again. Al Gore is the high priest of our new religion, global warming. He insists that if we sacrifice our standard of living, our economy, and millions of American jobs, that we can save the planet (more…)

By John Guandolo

As we look at recent events, it becomes clear that the evidence points to the fact that these were not just acts of jihad linked by Islamic doctrine. They were also operations which drew on most or all of the key elements that we see in overseas operations, and which have we previously seen prior to or during operations here in the States. Here is what we might call their five-part planning matrix, along with a look at how it maps out for two homeland incidents this year as well as the strike in India last year. (more…)

What the Berlin Wall Anniversary Means
By Joe Gschwendtner

The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago this week. Anyone in Central or Eastern Europe today, 70 or older, has spent over two-thirds of their life under Communism or jackbooted Nazis. That is, unless your courage and ambition made you willing to risk life itself like our neighbor, Emerencia Marton Kanan. Emi was born into impoverished, post-war, Communist Hungary in 1945. At age four, weakened by ingested chemicals, Emi was near death on a straw bed until a man with rare Rh negative blood offered an 11th hour transfusion. (more…)

By Bill Moloney

States with constitutional and/or statutory restraints on taxing and spending have strong financial foundations because those restraints greatly militate toward the positive business climate and robust economy that invariably generate increased revenues across the board.
Colorado, which has had such restraints since 1992, is a prime example of their great benefits. California — today having the nation’s most disastrous state economy — once had such restraints but cast them aside some years ago and consequently has become the poster child for what happens to states that fall into the trap of unrestrained taxing and spending. (more…)

By Joe Gschwendtner

Poland’s expansive plains have made her lands a military corridor in regional skirmishes and world wars. Teutonic Knights, cavalry and tanks have controlled her vast spaces and she has been uniquely oppressed by outsiders. Outstripping this history and braving long odds, she is now a successful recovering Soviet client state, defiant and free, the beneficiary of a robust capitalism flourishing within her borders and Eastern Europe. We would do ourselves great harm to not remember that this is the Poland of Generals Kosciusko and Pulaski who fought for our freedom (more…)

Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions
By Greg Schaller

On September 17, 1787, thirty-nine of the delegates at the Constitutional Convention, having met for four long, hot, and humid summer months in Philadelphia, had finally completed their task. On that day, they lined up and signed their names to the completed document. The debates had often been heated and the disagreements significant, concerning the powers of the national government, the representation of the states, and, of course, slavery. Yet in the end, the final version was a Constitution that has endured for over 221 years. It is the longest surviving (more…)

By Michael Sabbeth

Words are powerful tools. Words relating to gun rights have unique power because they contour thoughts about exigent life and death issues. The rhetoric currently employed by those that seek to diminish or eliminate any or all variants of the right to possess and to use firearms employs a cascade of deceits that go beyond false assertions and half truths. False analogies, false choices, straw man arguments, distortion of facts, omission of critical facts and over emphasis of insignificant facts are other rhetorical tricks used to craft a façade of rationality to justify limiting or eliminating access to firearms. (more…)

Join us Friday, Sept. 11, 730pm at Colorado Christian University when author and organizer Brigitte Gabriel speaks on “America Confronts Radical Islam.” Take Cedar east from Garrison to CCU Event Center. Admission free but you must register at Centennialccu.org.

Daniel Andrews completed the Pike’s Peak Marathon on Aug. 16. The Denver Police corporal, seen here on the summit, halfway through the race, bettered John’s time in the same event 34 years ago.

Nagel Diagnoses the Unrestrained Judiciary

“If the root cause of judicial excess is the way lawyers think, what is to be done?” So asked CU law professor Robert Nagel in an important article four years ago, with insights even more timely as we anticipate the seating of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. “It is necessary,” Nagel answers, “to look for those lawyers who are confident enough and independent enough to challenge established patterns of thought and deeply ingrained instincts. And it is necessary to recognize that the nomination and confirmation processes may even then not be fully adequate to restrain the Court. Renewed attention needs to be directed at other political checks (more…)

Taxpayers fight back

With Colorado’s governor, legislature, and Supreme Court actively colluding to gut or repeal the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, just when California’s fiscal collapse dramatizes the need for TABOR, citizens are circulating three petitions to fight back. We featured them July 5 on Backbone Radio. Here are the web links where you can find out how to sign the petitions, (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…)

(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…)