Who's betraying whom?

Slated on Backbone Radio, September 16 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

What? "General Betray Us?" The notorious MoveOn.org ad in Monday's New York Times, apparently subsidized by the Times itself to the tune of $102,000, shows the surrender lobby and its Democrat allies reaching a new low. The defeatist complaint against America's distinguished commander in the Iraq War, Gen. David Petraeus, seems to be that unyielding determination to see our country win on the battlefield is now a betrayal of the national interest.

Military obedience to the elected civilian commander-in-chief suddenly constitutes, according to the MoveOn loonies, disloyalty to some higher duty known to them alone. Crazy, outrageous, unpatriotic, and dangerous are my words for this smear. As for the refusal of leading Dems to condemn the ad, "cowardly and shameful" sums that up.

Backbone Radio this Sunday looks at where wartime America stands now, after the congressional testimony by Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker and the speech by President Bush. I hope you will listen in and call in.

** About the war and the threat of radical Islam, I will talk with frontline correspondent and Special Forces vet Michael Yon... with intelligence analyst and Claremont fellow Michael Tanji... and with Kenneth Timmerman about his new novel on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

** Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal joins me to discuss his startling research on how the millions from Gill, Polis, and Stryker are turning Colorado blue.

** And former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline, speaker at next week's Colorado Right to Life dinner, talks about his battle against the abortion industry and its allies in both political parties.

Our little radio show isn't Rush or Sean or Laura, not yet at least, but listeners in Colorado and (via Internet across the nation) have recently called it "indispensable" and "uniquely valuable." One even said we "do wonders." Flattering indeed; listen carefully this Sunday and you'll hear me blushing as we fire up another edition.

Yours for liberty & victory, JOHN ANDREWS

The Long War

Slated on Backbone Radio, September 9 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

"Time to move past 9/11" said the headline on a syndicated column in Friday's Denver Post. That's one view. Another view, which we uphold on Backbone Radio, is the one that says "Never forget. Never relent. Never again." The conflict waged against America and the free world by radical Islam since at least 1979, and with unmistakable ferocity since September 11, 2001 -- when we finally began to fight back -- has been called by various names.

The most common, War on Terror, fails to name our enemy: Mohammed's fanatical followers continuing a 1300-year obsession with universal conquest. World War III (by Gingrich, or IV, by Podhoretz) has also been suggested. It has the advantage of stressing the huge stakes involved.

But this epic struggle, whatever else we may call it, is certainly well termed the Long War. Its roots tracing to the 7th century after Christ, and its horizon stretching toward AD 2100 with both military and cultural-demographic dimensions, conclusively prove that.

So for purposes of this Sunday's show and next Tuesday's infamous anniversary, there is no way Backbone Radio agrees to "move past 9/11." We must dwell on it, learn its lessons, and redouble our determination for victory -- nothing less -- in the Long War defending liberty worldwide.

** Charles Kesler, political scientist and editor of the Claremont Review of Books, is my featured guest for this discussion as it relates to Iraq today, elections next year, and the Bush legacy.

** Jimmy Sengenberger, a high school student working to rally teens from across Colorado for a Constitution Day conference on 9/15, also joins me in the studio.

** Plus former senator Mark Hillman on the Ref C spending scam, home-schooling expert Mike McHugh, and civil rights leader Ward Connerly.

Our little radio show isn't Rush or Sean or Laura, not yet at least, but listeners in Colorado and (via Internet) across the nation have recently called it "indispensable" and "uniquely valuable." One even said we "work wonders." Flattering indeed; listen carefully this Sunday and you will hear me blushing at the praise as we fire up another edition.

Yours for liberty & victory, JOHN ANDREWS

Labor and liberty

Slated on Backbone Radio, September 2 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

Labor and liberty are inseparable in our American understanding of human equality and God-given rights. Each person's ownership of himself and his work-product is foundational to a free society. A day to honor those who do the hard physical work is fine. But the deprivation of economic liberty is nothing to celebrate; it hurts the poorest the most. Michael Reitz, who works on labor issues for the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, understands this. Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-CO7) doesn't seem to; he voted for the bill that would have denied a secret ballot in union organizing elections.

Perlmutter and Reitz are two of my guests this Sunday for our Labor Day weekend edition of Backbone Radio. I hope you'll be listening.

** Economist John Lott also has a great handle on issues of liberty and labor, as shown in his new book, "Freedomnomics." He's back to talk about it, after being with us recently to discuss gun rights.

** We'll also talk with Larry Greenfield, chairman of the California Republican Jewish Coalition, about 2008 races, and with University of Colorado political scientist Vincent McGuire about student honor codes.

What a tribute to conservative talk radio that the left is begging for on-air quotas to push its less persuasive views. And what a kick for us at Backbone Radio to provide your weekend conservative update every Sunday. Tune in, please!

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS

In memoriam: Josh Hager

Slated on Backbone Radio, August 26 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

"Call me! Please. Is that too much to ask?" So ends one of the most powerful letters to the editor I have ever read. It was a cry from a father's heart in the Rocky Mountain News one recent morning. After Army Ranger Joshua Hager of Pueblo West died heroically in Iraq on Feb. 22, his dad Kris has been ignored by leading Democratic politicians (and vilely cursed by Code Pink protesters) as he repeatedly asked to talk with them about this ultimate sacrifice.

Finally Kris wrote the editors, calling for Dem presidential candidates to be held to "a new baseline of behavior" if they want to lead this country: phoning with condolences "to the families of the troops they claim to support." I agree with this Gold Star Father that such a simple humane act -- from the party that claims to care -- is not too much to ask. Don't you?

Tune in Sunday for my special hour of conversation in studio with Kris Hager and his wife Wendy, about who Joshua was, why he volunteered for combat, how he typifies so many other heroes living and dead, and what the angry antiwar movement has done to the grieving Hager family. You'll be as moved as I was when first meeting this quiet patriot by phone after his letter appeared.

** Congressman Duncan Hunter, defense hawk, border-fence leader, and Republican presidential candidate, returns to the show this week as well, with an update from the campaign trail.

** Jon Caldara of the Independence Institute reports on his lawsuit to halt Ritter's TABOR-busting property tax hike, after a week when Dems talked up an extra 1/2 billion for RTD, $1 billion in new highway taxes, and a cool $26 billion for "free" health care.

** And Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy checks in with the latest on his PBS-banned film about Islamofascism, as well as a warning about two sovereignty-sapping ideas from the transnational progressives, or "tranzies" -- the Law of the Sea Treaty and the North American Union.

What a tribute to conservative talk radio that the left is begging for on-air quotas to push its less persuasive views. And what a kick for us at Backbone Radio to provide your weekend conservative update every Sunday. Tune in, please!

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS

The last fortress

Slated on Backbone Radio, August 19 Listen every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, Denver.. 1460 KZNT, Colorado Springs... and streaming live at 710knus.com.

"America is the last fortress. That's why I bring my message here." So said Pierre Rehov, director of seven documentaries about radical Islam, during his Denver visit for our premiere showing of his newest film, "Suicide Killers," last Tuesday.

Born in Algeria of Jewish parents, Rehov now carries both French and Israeli passports. This dual status gained him access to the gripping footage screened for a full house of almost 300 at the Claremont film event. The message was multiplied through his numerous talk radio appearances (including my show) in preceding days; print and TV publicity will continue in coming weeks.

Explaining the "fortress" analogy, he noted that Europe, Canada, and sometimes even Israel itself are often hesitant about confronting the Islamist threat. The entire free world looks to the United States for the moral, political, and military resolve to defend liberty and human dignity against the barbaric theocrats seeking to destroy or subjugate us.

You can order "Suicide Killers" on Amazon.com, and learn more about the director at PierreRehov.com. His accolade -- and warning -- that America is the last fortress will keynote this week's edition of Backbone Radio.

** Joseph Farah, founder of WorldNetDaily.com and a pioneer in conservative new media to bypass the MSM, heads my guest list. Denver Post columnist Al Knight, equally sharp at puncturing liberal windbags, joins me as well.

** Phil Mitchell, who used to be one of the few conservatives on CU's faculty, brings an update about his legal fight with the campus leftists who forced him out.

** And in the authors' corner, I will talk with investigative reporter Lee Strobel about his new book, "The Case for the Real Jesus," and with our regular contributor from Hollywood, Joseph C. Phillips, about the waves made by his outspoken collection, "He Talk Like a White Boy."

What a tribute to conservative talk radio that the left is begging for on-air quotas to push its less persuasive views. And what a kick for us at Backbone Radio to provide your weekend conservative update every Sunday. Tune in, please!

Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS