View From a Height

Last night saw the debut of the RMA's Blog Talk Radio show. Michael "Best Destiny" Alcorn, Randy "Night Twister" Ketner, and I had a great time introducing ourselves, the show, and interviewing Seeme Hasan of Muslims for America. Even if we didn't agree with everything she had to say - in particular as regards CAIR - we think it was a valuable interview.

We had 46 live listeners, and as of right now, we've had 69 listeners to the archive, either streaming or download. Not bad for opening night.

Remember, Tuesday nights at 9:00!

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

...book David Freddoso or Stanley Kurtz as a guest.

Now Obama's presidential campaign is increasingly using the list to beat back media messages it does not like, calling on supporters to flood radio and television stations when those opposed to him run anti-Obama ads or appear on talk shows.

It did so as recently as Monday night, when it orchestrated a massive stream of complaints on the phone lines of Tribune Co.-owned WGN-AM in Chicago when the radio station hosted author David Freddoso, who has written a controversial book about the Illinois Democrat.

And as early as the same show's interview with Stanley Kurtz.

Did someone say something about "digital brownshirts?" In the best tradition of Saul Alinsky.

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Tomorrow night, we'll be interviewing Rima Barakat, local Muslim activist and author of a...remarkable...piece in the Rocky Mountain News a few weeks ago.

We'll also be interviewing Rebecca Hagelin, author of Home Invasion, a book about the hurricane of popular culture that too many parents are trying to fight with duct tape and a few sandbags.

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We discussed Barack "The Phenom" Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope. I think Obama's star is probably peaking a little too soon, especially since he hasn't actually done anything to deserve the attention. If you're going to look for an ethnic Democrat, Colorado's own Ken Salazar is a better choice.

Unfortunately, scheduled VIP Joseph C. Phillips seemed to have vanished without a trace last night, as we were unable to get in touch with him. Hopefully, we weren't just getting played, and we'll be able to have him on again soon.

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This Sunday, we'll be interviewing Bruce Frohnen, editor of American Conservativsm: an Encyclopedia, among other books.

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Last night, we were lucky enough to interview Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania, and author of Battle Cry For a Generation, and Dr. David Gratzer of the Manhattan Institute, author of The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care. You can buy them both right here:

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We'll be talking about Limit the JudgesTM, Danny Ortega's attempted comeback in Nicaragua, school safety, the swamp that is CU Boulder, market reforms in health care, and property rights here in Colorado.

It's on 710 KNUS at 5:00 PM Mountain Time, so turn the TV volume down on the 4th quarter, and turn the radio up.

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After a holiday-enforced absence from Backbone Radio, I'll be rejoining John Andrews and Krista Kafer this evening. We'll be talking about Referendum 40 (Limit the Judges), South Dakota's initiative to limit abortion, TABOR issues in Littleton, US Attorney Troy Eid, and more.

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For those of you intrigued by the Free Markets, Free People class being offered by last night's radio guest, Paul Prentice, but who either don't have the time to attend class, or don't have the time to commute from California to attend class, here's the reading list:

Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt
Between Power and Liberty: Economics and the Law
Free to Choose, Milton Friedman
Economic Fallacies, Frederic Bastiat
Human Action, Ludwig von Mises
Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal, Ayn Rand
The Road to Serfdom, Friedrich von Hayek
The Mystery of Capital, Hernando de Soto

A little light reading for the beach, maybe?

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Remember, Matt Dunn and I will be hosting Backbone Radio this Sunday night at 5 PM Mountain Time, as John Andrews searches for missing ballot boxes in Washington State.

We'll be talking with Matthew Sheffield of Newsbusters; Rabbi Barry Freundel of Kesher Israel and author of this book; Lance Cottrell of Anonymizer.com, and Paul Prentice of Free People, Free Markets.

Mmmm. Politics and religion. Hear it here.

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With John off surveying Washington State wetlands for development, I'll be sitting in the Big Chair this Sunday night, with fellow LPR graduate Matt Dunn, reprising his old role.

We'll be interviewing Paul Prentice, who, much to the dismay of Ward Churchill, will continue teaching a free-market class for credit at CU even as Ward frees up office space.

I'll have a chance to meet my editor at Newsbusters, Matthew Sheffield, as well as chat with the head of my New Favorite Company, Anonymizer.com, who's helping to play Mongol to the Great Firewall of China.

Finally, we'll have a chance to talk with my old rabbi from Georgetown, Rabbi Barry Freundel, on the Modern Orthodox approach to some issues at the intersection of science and technology. He can explain much better than I where and why we differ with our evangelical friends on these things.

You can listen on 710 AM, if you happen to be in Denver or environs, or online at www.710knus.com.

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I was remiss in getting up the schedule for this week's interviews, so here are the links to our guests' websites of interest.

Former Governor Richard Lamm - who, contrary to comments made here, did not appoint most of the partisan justices on the Colorado Supreme Court - is a co-leader of Defend Colorado Now. So much for the Denver Post turning this into a "Republicans hate Hispanics" issue.

Ted Harvey, who helped expose the Democrats', er, discomfort with the results of late-term abortion-on-demand.

John Fund joined us to discuss the Yale Taliban.

Steve Chavis, Communications Director for Promise Keepers.

And Geoff Segal of the Reason Foundation joined us to talk about privatizing bits of government, in particular toll roads.

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We'll be talking with Rick O'Donnell, who's trying to keep The Most Evenly Divided District in the Country - the Colorado 7th - in Republican hands. Wendell Cox, a toll roads booster, will make the case for toll roads as the answer to congestion. Along with geography, expect bond assessment fraud to come up.

Bishop Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition will talk about the Black Contract With American on Moral Values. Black America, at least, voting Black America, has long been socially conservative on basic issues. The problem is, these haven't been voting issues for them. Whether or not Republicans can benefit from Black attempts to break free from the Faustian Pact they've made with the Democrats remains to be proven.

Plus, it's All Beauprez-Holtzman, All The Time!

Listen from 5-8 MT, this evening, at 710 KNUS.

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Andrews, titular head of Backbone Radio, will be leaving Krista Kafer & me in charge on Sunday night. We'll be interviewing Tom Tillapaugh, the President of the National Association of Street Schools, schools aimed at at-risk youth.

State Representative Dave Schultheis, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee of Colorado will join us to talk about how the party can win through this fall, and what issues it will have to join to do so.

Saturday is the state Republican Assembly, as the nominating convention calls itself, and we'll have John Marshall from the Beauprez campaign, and Marc Holtzman from - guess where? - the Holtzman campaign. No pushing, gentlemen.

The last hour is all Life all the time, as we hear from Connie Pratt of Colorado Right to Life, and Carl Lundblad of the Christian Legal Society's new Law of Life Project.

You can hear the whole thing on 710 KNUS, or via their streaming audio.

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Krista Kafer & I will be joining John Andrews again this Sunday as co-hosts for Backbone Radio from 5-8 pm Mountain Daylight Time.

We'll have an hour-long discussion with Angelo Codevilla, the Prince of Darkness when it comes to the War on Terror. Codevilla's a frequent contributor of well-researched and persuasive doom-and-gloom when it comes to the war to the Claremont Review of Books. Of particular interest is a Fall 2002 symposium on his views, along with his response.

Sandy Froman of the NRA will be on to discuss 2nd Amendment issues. Here's a copy of her speech to the NRA convention last year in Houston.

Larry Donnithorne, who's written a book on why West Pointers tend to end up running so many corporations, The West Point Way of Leadership, will be on discussing why higher education can't seem to get it right. My own recent b-school experience suggests he's right.

And the GOP challenger in the 3rd Congressional district - a chance to return a blue district to red hands this fall - Scott Tipton, will be on hand as well.

UPDATE: The link to the sound file has been fixed.

Posted by Joshua Sharf at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Co-hosting the show this evening was a blast. Here's a list of relevant links to tonight's guests, for those who'd like to read up.