Join us on radio every Sunday, 5-8pm on 710 KNUS, DenverTo listen online from anywhere, click 710knus.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update after Sunday's show: [Name censored for his protection], a presidential hopeful in his native [African country censored], onetime persecutor of Christians and now a follower of Christ, was one of our best interviews ever. See below for his contact information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You had to be there. George Washington University, a few blocks from the White House. Thursday evening, an auditorium full of opinionated college students. Conservative organizer David Horowitz debating radical CU professor Ward Churchill. It was gasoline and matches, figuratively speaking, though civility was well maintained.
To the main question of the debate, "Can and should politics be taken out of the classroom?" Churchill said flatly no. "There is no truth," he asserted, merely a dominant orthodoxy enforced by power, which results in there being no real democracy in America today. Hence teachers at all levels are not merely allowed but obligated to aggressively question the status quo, Churchill argued.
By this standard, what Jay Bennish said regarding Bush and Hitler was therefore for the classroom, Churchill insisted near the end of the hour-long exchange. His dogmatic Marxist worldview was defiantly (if implicitly) evident throughout.
I was in the hall and saw the whole thing. Friday I'll take part in a national conference on academic freedom, chaired by Horowitz and featuring Sean Allen, the Overland High School student who blew the whistle on Bennish. The energy here is high. You can feel the determination to take back our classrooms from those who want to turn America left.
** Don't miss my report on the DC conference, this Sunday on "Backbone Radio with John Andrews," 5-8pm on 710 KNUS. Brad Shipp, who covers the campuses for David Horowitz as a field rep with Students for Academic Freedom, will help me paint the picture for you.
** I'll also talk about the RTD strike with free-market transportation expert Randal O'Toole... about Islamofascism with jihad-watcher Daniel Pipes... and about Colorado's looming pension bust with Christine Burtt.
** And since April 9 is Palm Sunday, I'll have a special report on global Christian evangelism from [an African political figure], who converted to Christianity after heading an "enemies of Jesus" movement in his country.
Please join Beth, Matt, and me from 5-8pm this Sunday, April 9, on 710 KNUS in Denver and 710knus.com around the world. Call in with your two-cents at 303-696-1971. Or comment by email, during the show or right now, at backboneradio@aol.com.
There's nothing else quite like Backbone Radio, the most principled, most patriotic, most faith-based, most Colorado-proud spot on the dial. I invite you to join us for another lively Sunday evening of fact, opinion, and insight.
Yours for self-government, JOHN ANDREWS