This episode of The Kim Munson Show is packed with thought-provoking discussions and heartwarming stories. Kim starts by analyzing significant legislative sessions that impact the lives of Coloradoans, followed by an inspiring story of bravery from Captain Paul W. Bucca’s Medal of Honor citation. Cowboy poet Jim May adds a touch of poetry, capturing the spirit of Mother’s Day with reflections that remind us of the importance of family and heritage.
SPEAKER 13 :
It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 19 :
An early childhood taxing district? What on earth is that?
SPEAKER 13 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 19 :
I don’t think that we should be passing legislation that is so complicated that people kind of throw up their hands and say, I can’t understand that.
SPEAKER 13 :
Today’s Current Opinions and Ideas.
SPEAKER 19 :
And it’s not fair just because you’re a big business that you get a break on this and the little guy doesn’t.
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Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 19 :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation. And welcome to The Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You’re each treasured. You’re valued. You have purpose. Today’s drive for excellence. Take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body, my friends. We were made for this moment in history. And we are in Colorado today. For this moment in history as well, we are at the tip of the spear. And so we are doing this show to help you get through all this chaos and confusion. And it happens because of great people such as Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Friday, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 18 :
Happy Friday, Kim.
SPEAKER 19 :
My gosh, we have packed in a lot this week. And check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. That way you’ll get first look at our upcoming guests as well as our most recent podcasts. And you can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com. Text line is 720-605-0647. I do want to hear from you. Thank you to all of you who support us. And the show comes to you 6 to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. on all KLZ 560 platforms. First hour is rebroadcast 1 to 2 in the afternoon, second hour 10 to 11 at night, and those platforms are KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM, the KLZ website, the KLZ app, and you can say, Alexa, play KLZ, and it comes in nice and clear. Our word of the day, yesterday I had a couple of quotes from Alexander Hamilton, and those guys, they knew how to use words. There were a So I thought, okay, I’m going to learn how to do that. And the first word, this is our word of the day. And it is exigency. And it’s spelled E-X-I-G-E-N-C-Y. And it could be a pressing or urgent situation. Number two, an urgent requirement or a pressing need. Number three, the state of being urgent or exacting want, pressing necessity or distress, a need, a case demanding immediate attention. So there are so many things right now that are demanding our immediate attention. And so that is exigency. And again, E-X-I-G-E-N-C-Y. And our quote of the day comes from the Medal of Honor quote book from the Center for American Values. I would suggest that you have that at home in your Freedom Library. And to get that, you can go to their website. That is AmericanValuesCenter.org. This quote is from Paul W. Bucca, a United States Army Medal of Honor recipient, born 1943, died 2024. The actions were March 16, 1968. And this is the citation. And I give these to you on Friday, my friends. We are in a battle of ideas, and we can take great heart from these guys and engage in this battle of ideas. So this is what he did on March 16, 1968. He says, Captain Bucca distinguished himself while serving as commanding officer at Company D on a reconnaissance-enforced mission against enemy forces in Vietnam. The company was inserted by helicopter into the suspected enemy stronghold to locate and destroy the enemy. During this period, Captain Bucca aggressively and courageously led his men in the destruction of enemy fortifications and base areas and eliminated scattered resistance, impeding the advance of the company. On 18 March, while advancing to contact the lead elements of the company, the company became engaged by the heavy automatic weapon, heavy machine gun, rocket-propelled grenade, claymore, mine, and small arms fire of an estimated battalion-sized force. Captain Bucca, with complete disregard for his safety, moved to the threatened area to direct the defense and ordered reinforcements to the aid of the lead element. Seeing that his men were pinned down by heavy machine gun fire from a concealed bunker located some 40 meters to the front of the positions, Captain Bucca crawled through the hill of fire to single-handedly destroy the bunker with grenades. During this heroic action, Captain Bucca received a painful shrapnel wound. Returning to the perimeter, he observed that his unit could not hold its positions and repel the human wave assaults launched by the determined enemy. Captain Bucca ordered the withdrawal of the unit elements and covered the charging enemy. When one friendly element retrieving casualties was ambushed and cut off from the perimeter, Captain Bucca ordered them to feign death and he directed artillery fire around them. During the night, Captain Bucca moved throughout the position, distributing ammunition, providing encouragement, and ensuring the integrity of the defense. He directed artillery, helicopter gunship, and air force gunship fire on the enemy strong points and attacking forces, marking the positions with smoke grenades. Using flashlights in complete view of enemy snipers, he directed the medical evacuation of three air ambulance loads of seriously wounded personnel and the helicopter supply of his company. At daybreak, Captain Buka led a rescue party to recover the dead and wounded members of the ambushed element. During the period of intensive combat, Captain Buka, by his extraordinary heroism, inspirational example, outstanding leadership, and professional competence, led his company in the decimation of a superior enemy force which left 156 dead on the battlefield. His bravery and gallantry at the risk of his life are in the highest traditions of the military service. Captain Bucca has reflected great credit on himself, his unit, and the U.S. Army. And this is what he says. He says the Medal of Honor is proof that ordinary men and women have within them potential to challenge fate and literally change the course of history. It only requires the courage to try. And so take a little inspiration from that. And I am so pleased to have on the line with me, you know him, Jim May, cattleman with Lavaca Meat Company, cowboy poet. Jim May, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 20 :
Hey, good morning, Kim. Good morning. Happy Friday again and happy Mother’s Day weekend to everybody.
SPEAKER 19 :
And did you get some rain on the eastern plains?
SPEAKER 20 :
We got some rain, lots of good rain today. in the last week or so. And I think the night before last, we got another like half inch or three quarters out there at the ranches at the Palmer Divide. And it’s much needed, much appreciated. The grass is turning green in springtime. It’s fun. It’s a good time of year.
SPEAKER 19 :
It really is. And it is Mother’s Day this weekend, and you’ve got a fabulous cowboy poem. So set this up for us.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, yeah. And happy Mother’s Day to everybody out there, I think. Without our mothers, nobody would be anything. I’m just saying it’s a very important role that they play. My take on it is Mother’s Day at the ranch. Most of my poems, there are memories that I have over time. One time I had my little girl pick up with me and we were tagging calves. These things kind of actually happened and I just embellished them a little bit. We did see some deer that day with some fawns. This is Mother’s Day on the ranch. Are you ready to go?
SPEAKER 19 :
I’m ready.
SPEAKER 20 :
Okay, here we go. Mother’s Day on the ranch. Dad, there’s another one I heard my daughter say as a mama cow turned her head and slowly looked our way. He’s so cute, Dad. I will name him Silver, she said with a laugh. I really love him. Can I have that pretty silver calf? I said she belongs to her mama, darling, at least for the next year. But after he grows up a bit, he’d make a nice show steer. Look, Dad, he was just born and he can walk and eat right now. I really like him. Can I raise him? I said, I really like that cow. She’s given me at least six good calves. Every one a winner. She’s got the genes. She’s got the love. Now let Silver have his dinner. If you love him as good as Mama, you can take him to the fair. But you must promise you will handle him with tender love and care. What’s that, Daddy, on the next hill? It looks like a herd of deer. Yeah, I’ll give Silver a tag. We’ll take a look. I think we’re all about done here. The bucks took off as we got close, but Ado remained behind. She stood so still, you could barely see her. It almost blew my mind. Then two fawns walked out in front of her, and she slowly walked away. I told the girl there next to me this was her lucky day. To see two new birds on the same day, just a few hundred yards apart. God must have shown you this for a reason. So get this in your heart. I guess it’s Mother’s Day here at the ranch, so don’t take this for granted. It takes time and work and lots of love to raise the seed you planted. That’s why I think so much of mamas and the job they have to do. I know when your time comes, my girl, it will mean that much to you. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone.
SPEAKER 19 :
Oh, Jim May, that is absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing that with us as we’re coming into Mother’s Day weekend.
SPEAKER 20 :
It’s good to be with you guys, and I hope everyone has spent some time with your kids or your wives or whoever your mom is. If you can, give them a call. Hope you all have a great Mother’s Day weekend.
SPEAKER 19 :
Jim May, thank you so much. And again, Jim May with Lavaca Meat Company, thank you for sharing that with us.
SPEAKER 20 :
Adios, my friend. Thanks.
SPEAKER 19 :
Bye. That’s awesome. And actually, yeah, pretty amazing. So the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team is another great sponsor of the show. And Roger’s been in business for 49 years, taking care of his family and his community and his clients. And set up a complimentary appointment. Make sure that you have the insurance coverage that you need. That phone number is 303-795-8855. Like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan Team is there.
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SPEAKER 19 :
It is Friday. Welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. I wanted to say thank you to Laramie Energy for their goal sponsorship of the show. It is reliable, efficient, affordable, and it’s free. and abundant energy from oil, natural gas, and coal that powers our lives and fuels our hopes and dreams and empowers us to change our own personal climate to be warm in the winter and cool in the summer. And as I talk about searching for truth and clarity, the next guest is someone that really sheds light on what is happening at local, county and state government levels. And that is Natalie Minton. She’s a director with the Tabor Foundation. Natalie Minton, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thanks, Kim. Glad to be here.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, you’ve been watching this legislative session very closely. And interestingly enough, there had been a resolution that had been introduced that would have the state of Colorado sue to say that the TABOR, Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights Amendment, that is in the Constitution, is unconstitutional. But that looks like that’s not going to happen. So bring us up to speed on this.
SPEAKER 09 :
Okay, I’d be happy to do that. So the bill measure we’re talking about is actually a resolution numbered House Joint Resolution 1023. The resolution was initiated March 31st in the state legislature. And as you described, what it was going to do was direct legislative staff to initiate a lawsuit against the voters of Colorado to suing us to overturn the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights. So it would say, go out, hire a lawyer, sue the taxpayers, have the courts determine if Tabor is constitutional. It went through one hearing, one committee hearing, and then stalled out. because there was such outrage, really, from the public in how dare you? How dare you even question it? And through that pressure, which was a lot of testimony, a lot of letters, a lot of editorials, it eventually withered and died before it even made it to the House floor. Now, that’s partly because of the pressure, but also partly because They knew they were doing a risky thing. By challenging Tabor, they would have been challenging a series of other measures we’ve put in our Constitution. And so that’s the summary of it. But then also, they have a ballot issue brewing for 2026, but potentially 2025. So those were the pieces in movement. down there while it was brewing through.
SPEAKER 19 :
So ballot initiative. Tell me about that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, they have been talking since probably February about running another statewide measure that would affect our taxpayers bill of rights. I refer to it as a rough C plus. Okay. And that is going back in time with that reference. Ref C was put on the ballot in 2005 and basically said, we’re going to change the base of basically the baseline of what the government gets to keep. And then above that is what the taxpayers get back, those overcollected taxes. The baseline changed in Ref C. And since 2005, the state’s actually kept over close to 38 billion dollars more than they should have that is 38 billion dollars that actually should have come back to taxpayers they are talking about a ballot measure that would do a repeat of refc because rusty is actually still in effect it’s still affecting us and it would add to that so it would mean a shift from what it’s supposed to come to back to us in the future and allow the government to keep even more. And so that’s brewing in the background. So they said, with a lawsuit, you know, this is risky. First of all, the lawsuit is going to take years if it went through the courts the last time. They tried to challenge Tabor. It was a 10-year case, and it eventually failed, thank goodness. And now they were coming back to try it again. And the kicker on the lawsuit was, We, the taxpayers, were going to be paying for this. We were going to be paying to sue ourselves. We would be paying for both the plaintiff’s case, which would be paying the General Assembly’s lawyers. And I don’t mean all of the state senators and representatives down there. It was a select group of Democrats who were going to be suing us. And we would be paying the plaintiffs. legal fees we would also be paying the defense fees which would be the this is this really frightening part phil weiser the attorney general would have been the lawyer defending us and so he’s already said he doesn’t like tabor he doesn’t want tabor this is a guy running for governor by the way and he would be the one defending us so we would be paying for both sides of the case so thank goodness it failed but as i say they’ve got they’ve got their Plan B in action. And there’s been a rumor, which is now becoming more than a rumor, that there is going to be a special session. So I don’t even have my desk cleaned off from the regular session, which just ended Wednesday evening. And it’s fairly certain, I would say, that we’re going to have a special session called here whether it’s a few weeks, a couple weeks, several weeks, and the legislature is going to open up again, and that is where they could potentially refer some other ballot measure to the voters, and that could occur in 2025.
SPEAKER 19 :
So what’s your ear to the ground? What would be the focus of the special session?
SPEAKER 09 :
It centers around… To me, it centers around number one, they still want our taper money. They don’t like the limits. But the reasoning they will use for this special session is the federal administration, meaning Trump, because of the reduction in federal money going not only to Colorado but to other states to address our federal deficit, which is out of control, because Colorado is not getting all the money they normally would get. The legislature has to fix that, and they’re eyeing our tapered refunds, all the limits we’ve got in government, and changing that so the government can keep more of our money here because we’re not getting it at the federal level.
SPEAKER 19 :
So instead of reducing spending, they’re going to figure out how to wring more money out of Coloradans?
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes. Yes, ma’am.
SPEAKER 19 :
So, Natalie, I went out to – Ramey and Walt Johnson had a screening of a Half-Life documentary. And so I went out around on 470. The road is unbelievably bad out there. What on earth have they been doing with all of the money for our roads and bridges?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, there’s – That’s a very long discussion. I don’t know that we can fit that in a few minutes. But basically, the priorities are still not prioritizing the basics. The basics, where there’s many of us that say, OK, government, you should be able to do, you know, should be doing a few things. And they don’t focus on those things. You know, we dump millions of dollars into RTD, Regional Transportation District, instead of doing a road. And over here, we’re going to do this pet project. And here, this pet project. And this one, and this one, and this one. And you being the president of the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, you know out of the 600 bills, I mean, they say 700, but look at the actual bills, there’s measure after measure that is 100,000 here, 1.5 million here, 2 million there. And in a lot of cases, these are wants. But they’re not needs. And the needs are roads and the things that we’ve said, government, okay, you go do it because, you know, we agree that’s something that is within government’s realm. And they just keep stepping outside of that circle of the things that we should be getting for our money. and buy pretty shiny little things over here and there. Shiny to them, not to us. Yeah, because there are so many nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, that are down there being paid to show up at every committee hearing, one group or another or 10 or 12 of them, saying, we want you to go spend money on this. You’ve got money. You’ve got money. Go give it to us for this special project and this one and this one. And we just, we don’t have enough people who are able to, you know, they’re retired. go down to the Capitol and sit there literally for 8 or 10 hours a day just testifying on stuff.
SPEAKER 19 :
I know. As you mentioned, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, first of all, an amazing group of people that spend their weekends, pay money to be members because we’re all volunteers. It’s only $25. Please join us. But it could be a full-time job just reaching out to legislators on this. Last question, what can we, the people, do about this? Natalie Minton.
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I would agree. One, join CUT, become a member, get on the list, help with these bills. Two, there’s the Tabor Foundation. I’m a board director with that. We’re available at the Tabor Foundation, thetaborfoundation at gmail.com. Get on those groups because, one, you’re going to get an email versus having to dig through social media and news outlets, which are very thin at this point in time. in our life and be on top of it. Get involved in your local neighborhood social media next door. Once you know the news, share it with the people who are just trying to get by, figure out, you know, how to get their water heater fixed or whatever on the social media. Share it with your neighbors and say, here’s the deal. They’re just trying to take more of our money instead of addressing the core problem, which is a priority problem that’s that’s the best i could say right now and keep listening to your show and this is the best way i mean the special session news i’ve known about for probably a few weeks it just became more solidified yesterday so we hear people are getting news that is is very fresh and when the special session opens up we need to have measures to counter theirs And by getting involved with the groups we just discussed, they can be more active. And then we show up with, like we did with the Tabor lawsuit hearing, when we have 50 people signed up to testify against whatever they want to do, it does make an impact. And virtual testimony, folks, makes it, you can do it from home. You could be sitting on your job, work at home, whatever, listening to the procession and Join in within minutes and tell the legislators what you think. You don’t have to drive to the Capitol anymore. It’s so easy to get involved.
SPEAKER 19 :
And Natalie Menton, when I was down there for 1312, I did take one for the team. I went down to the Capitol. But you came in, as you mentioned, online for your testimony. You are a warrior for the people, Natalie Menton. You’re a director of the Tabor Foundation. And I am honored to call you my friend.
SPEAKER 09 :
Ditto right back at you, Kim.
SPEAKER 19 :
Natalie Minton, thank you so much. And we are going to reclaim this state, but we have to know what’s going on. That’s why we do this show. And it happens because of all of our sponsors. And so pleased to have the Second Amendment, or excuse me, the Second Syndicate as one of our sponsors.
SPEAKER 18 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Munson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 19 :
It is Friday. Welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. And thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice on an independent station searching for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And next Thursday, I will be out at the second annual golf tournament for the USMC Memorial Foundation’s raising money for the remodel of the USMC Memorial. And would love to have you see it, see out there. And if you’re a golfer, you could have a great round of golf, meet some great people, support the foundation. And so be sure and check all that out at USMCMemorialFoundation.org. That is USMCMemorialFoundation.org. Please have on the line with me Amber Todoroff. She is the deputy policy editor at Open the Books, an amazing organization shedding light, transparency on where the money is going. Amber, welcome to the show. Hi, Kim. Thanks for having me. You are doing amazing work at Open the Books. And before we get into it, you have a tool for even looking at your local government at Open the Books. It’s amazing what you’re doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, thanks a lot, and it’s true. You can come to our website, OpenTheBooks.com, and search for vendor information and salary information for government officials and checkbooks at the local level. So even, like, we have many towns and cities and school boards and… and such, so if you’re curious what your government is spending money on, go to OpenTheBooks.com.
SPEAKER 19 :
And what’s amazing is, for example, I’m at the website right now, and I’ve signed up, and so it’s bringing up all of these different organizations Within my area, for example, we’re in Aurora. So the Aurora Fire Rescue, the police department, public schools, CU systems, administration offices, all of these things. But my town was not on there. My little city, Lone Tree. So I mentioned it to you guys. And next thing I know, it’s there as well. So if you’re looking for something and it’s not there, just reach out to Open the Books and you will go to work to try to get it on there.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, that’s true. You can contact us right on the contact page on the website, and we’ll do our best. We file like 50,000 Freedom of Information requests a year, so we want to make our database as useful as possible for as many people as possible.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and so something that’s gotten a lot of press lately, and you’ve done a recent report, this was at the end of April, regarding Harvard data. And Amber, I had no idea that these universities and colleges were getting so much federal money, and they’re getting state money as well. But this was published at Open the Books on April 24th, and it says, Harvard’s endowment holds $7 million per student and still receives $550 million from the government annually. And then you had another piece that was that Harvard is receiving more money from the federal government annually than what they’re bringing in on tuition. This is monumental, I think, Amber.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, everyone knows Harvard has really gone off the deep end in terms of left-wing policy, ideology, and activism. And so it’s kind of galling that this once crown jewel of American academia, we’re giving so much money to them. They’re becoming more of a government contractor than an educational institute. So they get about maybe four, if every student pays their full tuition, if every undergrad pays the full tuition, they’ll get about $400 million in tuition. But they’re getting, as we noted, about $500 million in government grants. So that’s very interesting. And, of course, when we say how much they’re getting in tuition, that doesn’t include the Pell Grants and the student loans that the federal government is also paying them in a way. So, yeah, it’s real interesting, and it will be very interesting to see how they’re going to react to Trump’s cutting them off with the federal funds.
SPEAKER 19 :
So, Amber, so I’ve seen headlines that where the leadership at Harvard has said we need to have free speech. So apparently, you know, one of the issues is anti-Semitism at Harvard. Of course, also where we’re seeing or learning that at our colleges and universities, it’s been an indoctrination to teaching students to hate the American ideal. And it’s crazy to me that we are paying these institutions, which is paying these professors really extraordinary salaries to teach kids to hate our country. And so they’re trying to hide behind free speech. And I believe in free speech, I guess. And if you hate America and you want to say you hate America, we’re in America, you can do that. But I don’t think the taxpayers should be paying you to do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, of course. Harvard is free to have whatever opinions it wants, but they do not have a right to the taxpayer dollar. The government is certainly able to direct what it invests in. And it seems like Harvard is no longer a worthy investment for the federal taxpayer. We’re paying taxes in order to improve our country. And Harvard just doesn’t seem to be having that sort of value. Of course, some of their research and science is top notch. It’s very good. But there are other universities in the United States that have great research programs. We can fund those instead.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and what we’ve seen over the years, though, with these research programs is that politics have gotten involved. And so money has been used for, and I have this in air quotes, research. that apparently the research that they have developed then has come down to promoting a narrative that I call them PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties are trying to push. And I think this Trump administration is going to get that turned around. But it’s been interesting to me to see all these research grants that ultimately get to a decision that was, in a way, I think, predetermined. What do you think about that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Oh, of course. The federal grants are often extremely left-wing. Just looking at some of the ones that Harvard got in the past few years, $700,000 For to study the effects of advanced in stem discipline faculty diversity women and leadership and institutional transformation. For our two and a half million dollars to improve diversity and biomedical science via personalized research and education programs 200,000 to study societal transformations. it’s like. Yeah, everyone knows that these grants are extremely left-wing, and they need to be stopped. And luckily, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, they’re working really hard to kind of excise these woke components of the grants, get us back to pure science without the added systems change component, and hopefully lead us to American greatness. innovation in science again.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and so this is going to be really interesting to see how this plays out between the Trump administration and Harvard. But all of these grants, it’s like candy to all of these different institutions. And I saw it at the local level when I was on city council. And it goes from local to county to state to Of course, Colorado out here, we’ll talk about it when we come back. Colorado has gotten a lot of federal money, but yet has put money into the legislatures, put money into a fund to fight the federal government on different issues. And so we’ll talk with Amber about that. Todorov about this whole thing that’s going on as well. She is with Open the Books. She is the deputy policy editor there, and they are doing amazing work. And we have these discussions because we have great sponsors. And for everything mortgages, reach out to Lauren Levy.
SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
That’s 303-880-8881. Call now. You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 19 :
Yes, and welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice on an independent station searching for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom, if something’s a good idea. Shouldn’t have to force people to do it. Have on the line with me the Deputy Policy Editor at Open the Books. And be sure and check them out. It’s OpenTheBooks.com. Amazing work that they’re doing. Shedding light, transparency. A little bit of light, a little bit of transparency goes a long way. And so I’m talking with Amber Todorov. Amber, a question came in on the text line. They said this. It says, I must be ignorant. Is it true that NGOs receive
SPEAKER 10 :
taxpayer dollars uh what’s your answer oh yeah of course non-profits receive taxpayer dollars it’s a huge industry and um it really becomes a problem when those non-profits are also involved in policy advocacy or other like political um agitation i suppose But certainly nonprofits receive many federal funds. Not open the books that we’re a nonprofit, and we do not take any federal funds.
SPEAKER 19 :
And we need to stop this. This is not the proper role of government. And I remember when I was on city council, I served from 2012 to 2016. That was during the Obama administration. And there was something called Community Development Block Grants. And what they were doing is the federal government was giving money to local governments, county governments, to, I have this in air quotes, improve their communities, community development block grants. And so I saw all these nonprofits that were applying for this money. And I asked staff, I said, I would like the financials on all of these nonprofits to see what that looked like. I guess that was – I was trying to be open to books on the local level at that time. That was a long time ago. And I wanted to see their financials. I wanted to see results. And staff said, nobody has ever asked us that before. And I thought here and I also thought, is this the proper role of government to be choosing which nonprofit gets money and which doesn’t? And I think the answer is no on that, Amber.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I think your instincts on that were right, Kim. I think when people think of nonprofits that get these federal funds, you know, maybe you’re thinking of like a homeless shelter, like a soup kitchen or something. But very often they’re quite ideological organizations that are involved in policymaking and advocacy as well. And that’s where it really becomes a serious issue for taxpayers and the investments that we’re making into it. into our own communities.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and you mentioned homelessness and soup kitchens. Those are things that people, they want to help. They really want to help. But what I’ve seen is PBIs, politicians, bureaucrats, and interested parties use our compassion and they then turn that around to create more programs and tax us to help with that And then the problem just gets worse. Denver is a prime example. Denver mayor has spent over a half billion dollars on homelessness. And instead of getting better, it’s getting worse. And so government is not the answer, Amber. I think the answer is lower taxes. reduce government spending, and let the people with their own dollars do the compassionate thing regarding helping the homeless and helping feed people.
SPEAKER 10 :
I’m with you there, Kim. It makes perfect sense to me. And you’re totally right. A lot of these so-called compassionate nonprofits become big industries in themselves. And a lot of those nonprofit leaders make a lot of money, too, off of their fundraisings. those state and local governments as well.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and so we’ve got to work on that. That’s why what you’re doing at Open the Books is just, it’s so important. I love the work you’re doing. I’d like to pivot over here to a recent post that you all had, and that is that President Trump’s savings target should be a floor, not a ceiling. We’ve got to reduce this government spending. Do you think Trump’s serious about that?
SPEAKER 10 :
I think Trump is very serious about reducing federal spending, especially with the cabinet agencies and the non-DOD spending. He seems to be interested in keeping our DOD spending high. But otherwise, very serious in reducing non-defense discretionary budget. And the problem, of course, is Congress giving them the will to follow through with that. It’s proving to be quite a challenge.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and Amber, just it’s human nature. We as people – and again, I saw this on government – want to reduce spending for everybody else. But I would see people come in with pet projects to present to city council, and they wanted their pet project to be funded but to reduce spending on everything else. It’s human nature. Although we’re going over a cliff as far as spending. We’ve got to man up here as people and say we’ve got to tighten our belts across the board. How do we get that kind of message out? That’s pretty tricky.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is really tricky. I think the DOGE team has been trying and has been doing kind of a good job in exposing just how unhinged some of these grants are and how some of this funding is just completely out of control and the waste, fraud, and abuse, which I hope motivates Congress to take action and to put maybe their self-interest aside and follow these prescriptions. to lower funding and that the funding is not being lowered to like cut completely, although maybe it should be, but we’re just talking like pre-pandemic spending levels. Why is that unreasonable? We just need to keep raising awareness of how wasteful this federal spending is and also how detrimental it is to the American project, like we talked about with Harvard.
SPEAKER 19 :
So, well, I think that what Doge is uncovering, we need to reduce all that spending. If we had all these other agencies, as you mentioned, just get back to pre-pandemic spending, this could really move us significantly to getting rid of the deficit and starting to ratchet down the debt. And if we get this economy really going, I was talking to someone yesterday, and they’re concerned that the uncertainty is freezing people from doing things, freezing the economy. What’s your thoughts on that, Amber Todorov?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I get that. I think the economic policy is a challenge for Trump right now. I’m not an expert in the tariff situation, but I understand that it is causing some uncertainty. What I would like to see from the Trump administration, and there seems to be some moves on that, is deregulating energy production and making that cheaper. And I think adding that to… the economic situation will improve things for people as long as we have cheaper energy and reducing a lot of that red tape along with businesses and operating businesses in general. That could really help. Trump is doing that, and I know it is a priority for the administration. So we’ll see how that goes.
SPEAKER 19 :
Okay, Amber, we’ve got just about a minute left. Again, openthebooks.com. People can contribute to help you with the great work you’re doing. You are not paid by the government or anything like that, and you’re shedding great money. light and transparency on what is occurring. So what’s your final thought you’d like to leave with our Coloradans today? Because I guess the other thing is, is Trump is saying to Colorado that he’s going to reduce federal money coming into Colorado, particularly because of our policies.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, well, I encourage your local listeners, as we mentioned early on, go check out OpenTheBooks.com. Check out your federal spending levels, the local officials’ salaries, and get involved with how your local and state government are spending your money. Draw attention to that. If you see something crazy, feel free to contact us at OpenTheBooks. We do write local stories as well. So just stay engaged and hold your – Hold your elected officials accountable as much as you can.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, you’re doing great work, Amber Todorov, at Open the Books. She is the deputy policy editor. That website is OpenTheBooks.com. And Amber, thanks so much for shedding light on all that you do. You’re doing amazing work. And this transparency and light on what is going on is going to be what’s going to help us reclaim our country. Thanks a lot, Kim. And our quote for the end of the show is from Thomas Paine. This is The Crisis. Number one, he wrote that in 1776, and he said this, I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm and whose conscience approves his conduct will pursue his principles unto death. So today, my friends, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals, and like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you are not alone. God bless you. God bless America. Stay tuned for hour number two.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I don’t want no one to cry. But tell them if I don’t.
SPEAKER 14 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
SPEAKER 13 :
It’s the Kim Munson Show, analyzing the most important stories.
SPEAKER 19 :
An early childhood taxing district? What on earth is that?
SPEAKER 13 :
The latest in politics and world affairs.
SPEAKER 19 :
I don’t think that we should be passing legislation that is so complicated that people kind of throw up their hands and say, I can’t understand that.
SPEAKER 13 :
Today’s current opinions and ideas.
SPEAKER 19 :
And it’s not fair just because you’re a big business that you get a break on this and the little guy doesn’t.
SPEAKER 13 :
Is it freedom or is it force? Let’s have a conversation.
SPEAKER 19 :
Indeed, let’s have a conversation. And welcome to our number two of the Kim Munson Show. Thank you so much for joining us. You each are treasured, you’re valued, you have purpose. Today, strive for excellence, take care of your heart, your soul, your mind, and your body. My friends, we were made for this moment in history. Thank you to the team. That’s Producer Joe, Luke, Rachel, Zach, Echo, Charlie, Mike, Teresa, Amanda, and all the people here at Crawford Broadcasting. Happy Friday, Producer Joe.
SPEAKER 18 :
Happy Friday, Kim.
SPEAKER 19 :
It was a great first hour, wasn’t it?
SPEAKER 18 :
It definitely was. Some really good stuff.
SPEAKER 19 :
And if you missed it, you can listen to it today, 1 to 2 in the afternoon, because the Kim Munson Show comes to you Monday through Friday, 6 to 8 a.m. First hour is rebroadcast 1 to 2 in the afternoon. Second hour, 10 to 11 at night. And that’s on all of KLZ’s platforms, KLZ 560 AM, KLZ 100.7 FM, the KLZ website, the KLZ app. And you can say, Hey, Alexa, play KLZ. And check out the website. That is KimMunson.com. Make sure you are signed up. You can do that at the website for our weekly email newsletter that goes out on Sundays. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com. And the text line I do want to hear from you is 720-605-0647. And thank you to all of you who support us. We are an independent voice searching for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. Something’s a good idea. You should not have to force people to do it. And socialism is not about free stuff. You’re offered free stuff to try to get you to vote for socialism, but ultimately it’s You run out of other people’s money, and it has to come down to force. And so that’s why we shed light on all of these different things that are going on. Hooters Restaurant is a great sponsor of both the shows, the Kim Munson Show and America’s Veterans Stories. And America’s Veterans Stories, you can hear that 3 to 4 p.m. on Sundays. And we are going to rebroadcast for Mother’s Day, an interview that I did with my Aunt Irma. She was married to my father’s oldest brother, and he served in World War II. And they had all these letters that they sent back and forth. And my cousin has those, and so we did an interview with my Aunt Irma, really an amazing woman, great health. We do the interview, and either two or three weeks later after the interview, she passed on. And so I thought this would be a great interview to rebroadcast and that’s going to happen this Sunday. And I did not realize it, I think I can use the word of the day, the exigency of getting that interview done because I had no idea that she was going to pass on. She was in great health until the day she died. And again, really a wonderful woman. But exigency is spelled E-X-I-G-E-N-C-Y. It could be a pressing or urgent situation. Number two, it could be an urgent requirement, a pressing need. Number three, the urgent or exacting want, pressing necessity or distress, need, demanding immediate action. So it’s exigency. And I… I found the word because of a quote of the day I did yesterday of Alexander Hamilton. And he had a couple of different words in there that I needed to look up and learn how to pronounce. And this was one of them. So your challenge is to use exigency words. uh exigency in a sentence today our quote of the day comes from the medal of honor quote book from the center for american values of course the center is located in pueblo doing amazing work honoring our medal of honor recipients great educational programs for k-12 students And also their On Values presentations. The next one will be the 28th of May down at the center. Get all the information by going to AmericanValuesCenter.org. And they are focusing on these values of honor, integrity, and patriotism. And love the work that they’re doing there. And our quote is from Paul W. Bucca. who Medal of Honor recipient for actions he took on March 16, 1968. He was born in 1943, died in 2024. And he said this, The Medal of Honor is proof that ordinary men and women have within them potential to challenge fate and literally change the course of history. It only requires the courage to try. Again, that is Paul W. Bucha. And I think that’s a great segue into our next guest, a great sponsor of the show, and that is Alicia Garcia. And she is with the Second Syndicate, and the Second Amendment is in place to protect the First Amendment. And she’s doing amazing work in engaging in this battle of ideas. Alicia Garcia, welcome to the show. Good morning, Kim. And good to have you. You’ve been watching this assault, this attack upon our Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms to protect ourselves against bad actors. And Colorado, I think, is at the tip of the spear on all of this that’s going on, Alicia.
SPEAKER 08 :
Indeed, we are. We are the playing ground for what is going to happen for the rest of the states in America. So it’s very important that we hold the line. And since our legislative session is officially over, now it’s time for us to throw it into overdrive. And now we can start making sure we have better candidates for office and start procuring people that actually represent our values for the state.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and what would you say those values are? I think we need to, we talk about values, and I think it’s important that we articulate it. I look at the Declaration of Independence, and that’s the foundational value that we’re all created equal. We have these rights from God of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. I think that’s the starting point that we need to talk about with people on our values.
SPEAKER 08 :
I agree. I think there’s a lot of things that are overlooked. I always think about the preamble. when it comes to how we’re supposed to live our life, I think about when they talk about, you know, not just education, but our right to desire those things and our right to protect those desires, regardless if they’re in alignment with what other people believe or not. It gives us an opportunity to say no. And I think people forget the importance of being able to resist and to establish justice. And, you know, we talk about domestic tranquility and the common defense the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity. Those are the foundations that our state and our country was founded on. These are the things that should be important to everybody, and these are the things that should be in the forefront for the fight.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and I think that we as Americans have gotten fat and happy. We have been living on the fumes of freedom that was fought for to give to us from the Revolutionary War with all of our military, our veterans. And we are now at a point, we’ve had all of the… the blessings of liberty and uh we’ve taken it for granted and um you talked about elections the work that you’re doing at the secondsyndicate.com to bring these voices together because amazingly to me there’s been animosity in the um the um different groups that want to protect our second amendment and you are working to bring that all together And we’ve got to come together. We’ve got to unite. We are called the United States of America. We’ve got to unite around these important principles, Alicia.
SPEAKER 08 :
Very much so. And I feel like sometimes, you know, I can’t really blame anybody because I understand and I appreciate that everybody is passionate about freedom and they’re passionate about the Second Amendment. What I do want to see is that, you know, sometimes you’re going to have to agree to disagree. Sometimes we’re going to have to say, you know what? I don’t have to be like you in order to continue with my mission. I don’t have to, you know, understand that, hey, your way is this way and my way is that way. But you know what? When it all comes down to it, we all have a right to be different. We all have a right to ensure that. our ideologies are perpetuated in our communities and what we support. And the way we do that is our ability to provide for ourselves and to be able to resist. And that comes down to the second amendment. And that comes down to the ability for us to say, you know what? I can exist over here peacefully. If you don’t like it, that’s just fine. Leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone. It’s the live and let live. And when you talk about, you know, we become fat and happy and, I think it’s apathy. I mean, when we look at the things that have affected our community, why people behave the way they do, I think it’s because people have really, really succumbed to a lot of apathy where they’ve kind of thrown their hands up and they’ve learned to live with compromise. And we’ve compromised so much that we forgot that we don’t have to.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and certainly compromising, you know, coming to an agreement is important. But the but on that is that we – and I think you alluded to this – that we don’t try to put our will on other people. I think that – and so if you start to – start to damage other people, that’s antithetical to the American idea. And so if you want to, I’m going to go to taxes. If you want to go to government and say, hey, tax my neighbor so that I can have some special whatever I want, that’s not right. And in fact, it was the taxation that started the Revolutionary War.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it, that America was founded in all the crimes that we’re being told that we can’t commit. Right. It’s on resistance, on tax evasion, on racketeering, on, you know, vandalism and crime. And these are the things that American citizens said, you know, no, we’re not going to pay extra money. We’re not going to fall in line. We’re not going to do what we’re told. We’re going to make sure that we have the resistance to. and we have the ability to resist. And when we’re talking about securing blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity, Sometimes that means being able to hold a line and say, no, I’m sorry, that doesn’t work for me.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and that’s why our founders put the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights as the last resistance. But they put in place the Constitution in 1787 that we should be able to settle our differences effectively. Without the use of firearms, which was unique to be able to settle differences without weapons, was unique in the history of mankind. And that’s what they put in place with the Constitution. And we need to have free, fair, honest, and transparent elections. to be electing people to protect the Constitution and protect this vision of the Declaration, which brings us back to why the work that you are doing at the Second Syndicate is so important. How can people… help you get more information. I was talking with someone recently, people that hunt and fish, many of them don’t vote. And yet, these things that are so important to them are under attack. So how can people come together with you at the Second Syndicate?
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, I would love for people to go over to the secondsyndicate.com, the 2ND, thesecondsyndicate.com. We can take your donations there. We have a give, send, go at the Second Syndicate where you can donate. We are a 501c4, so we are here to make sure that we’re supporting the people and we’re supporting the Second Amendment. Please also register to vote, and each one teach one. Get as many people that you know registered to vote. We don’t have to register, you know, only when it’s election season. Get them their vote and make sure that they’re speaking out and they’re representing their voices of freedom.
SPEAKER 19 :
And again, that website is thesecondsyndicate.com, and it’s the, and then 2ndsyndicate.com. Great new sponsors of the show. I’m so pleased to be working with you, Alicia.
SPEAKER 08 :
Likewise, Kim. I really appreciate your voice and what you do for the people.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, we’re going to keep it up. And again, that’s Alicia Garcia with thesecondsyndicate.com. We’ll talk with you next week. Thank you, Kim. You have a great weekend. You as well. And all this happens because of our sponsors, and one of those is Hooters Restaurants. They have five locations, Loveland, Aurora, Lone Tree, Westminster, and Colorado Springs. Great place to get together with friends and family to watch the games. And they have, again, great specials Monday through Friday for lunch and happy hour. How I got to know them. Important story about the proper role of government. You can find that at my website. Another sponsor of the show, and he was in yesterday. We did some recordings as the Roger, as Roger Mangan with the Roger Mangan State Farm Insurance Team. And we talked about these personalized insurance plans and bundling things together. You might be able to save some money if you bundle your home and your auto and your camper and all those things together. And the only way to find out is to give them a call for a complimentary appointment. That number is 303-795-8255. 8855, like a good neighbor, the Roger Mangan team is there.
SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
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SPEAKER 12 :
You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of The Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, kimmonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s right.
SPEAKER 19 :
It is Friday. Welcome back to The Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is KimMunson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. And thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And I want to say thank you to Laramie Energy for their gold sponsorship of the show because it is reliable. efficient, affordable, and abundant energy from oil, natural gas, and coal that powers our lives, fuels our hopes and dreams, and empowers us to change our own personal climate. And Mother’s Day is this weekend, and I am excited about the next conversation with Colonel Bill Rutledge. And he is 96 years young, and he has traveled the world in the Air Force. And he has this great curiosity about people and places. And I met him through a mutual friend from our Tapas and Topics group up in northern Colorado. And I would say over our conversations, we’ve become friends. And he grew up on Amelia Island in Florida. I grew up in western Kansas. But we have this common, I think, love for people and And our country. And so he said, let’s talk about mothers and wives this time right before Mother’s Day. Colonel Bill Rutledge, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, good morning again.
SPEAKER 19 :
It’s good to have you. And you wanted to set this up. I remember this song. And Glyn Campbell, an amazing musician, and he had a lot of very popular songs back in the, I guess, probably the 60s. And he had one that we wanted to play, set this up, because it really kind of sets up mothers and wives. And it was a very popular song. Joe hit it.
SPEAKER 05 :
Slowly starts dancing, remembering her girlhood and all of the boys she had waiting in line. Oh, such are the dreams of the everyday housewife you see everywhere any time of the day. An everyday housewife who gave up the good life for me.
SPEAKER 19 :
That was a really popular song, Colonel Rutledge. And I think Howes’ Wives and Mothers, with the postmodernism and relativism and feminism, all the isms, really has tried to discount wives and motherhood. So address that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, first of all, I was very fortunate enough to have been born to a mother who didn’t have to have it all at one time. And so she was what was called then just a stay-at-home mother or a housewife. And that’s why I use that title and ask about Glen Campbell, because it covered so well the role of the mothers back in the 1930s. And the mothers provided for the children. Very few of the mothers actually worked away from home. Because. The the fathers were working in earning enough for the families to survive the Great Depression, and it was a very difficult time economically. But the mothers had very great responsibility in those days. We did not have a lot of shots to prevent illness. So almost all of us as preschool children had measles and mumps and whooping cough and all of these various contagions. And I had scarlet fever. Scarlet fever was the biggest killer of preschool children in the 20s and 30s. And they never did figure out exactly what caused it. But with antibiotics, they were able later on to pretty well clear it out. So they had a tremendous responsibility. And I was most fortunate to have a great mom who had a loving husband and was employed. But in those days, we didn’t have an automobile until I was nine years old. Nobody had expectations of owning houses. You always rent it. And we moved almost every year. Only one time I can imagine during that era where we lived in the same house for two years. So that was a unique and difficult time. And now when I hear young people talking about, well, it’s so stressful, I don’t even know that I would like to have children. They don’t know what stress is like. They have been in a generation where they’ve had so much given to them, and they have great expectations for having everything, which you can’t have at once. You can’t raise a family. You can’t have children. You can’t have a husband or a wife unless you’re willing to give a little bit here and a little there. And eventually you can have all these things, but not when you’re starting out. You have to make sacrifices and make decisions and make commitments.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and it is… It’s important for a healthy society, a healthy family. Well, it’s important for a healthy society to have children. And as you mentioned, I remember I was at a restaurant and we’re talking to the bartender. And he had just recently gotten married. And then his next sentence was, but my new wife does not want to have children. She wants to travel. And I thought, huh. And children are a commitment. Sleepless nights and sick kids, and it’s a commitment. But yet it’s a great blessing as well. And I thought, huh, there are so many young women that are making that decision. And it made me sad, I think, Colonel Rutledge.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I think they are putting their priorities in the wrong place. This this is an outgrowth of the transition. It began in 1960. That’s when the pill came online so they could control whether or not they’re going to get pregnant. And then Roe versus Wade again changed the birthing situation. And then with the so-called women’s movement of greater independence, These three factors have all created a national dilemma in that in prior generations, for example, in the 50s and 60s, it was very common that most couples actually married in their 20s. Most of the people that I knew very well had three children. Some had two. But the whole atmosphere about being a parent and having your children and doing this when the wife is in the best of health, which is in her 20s, all of this is transitioned so that now people are so often in their 30s or even some in their early 40s, and they still don’t have any children. And they’ve been wanting too many things. And so their priorities are not like ours were. And in one of the craters, what I really can’t understand is when these young ladies will say, well, I just don’t want to raise a child in this kind of world. Who knows how long we’ll be here? And they get So concerned about some of the propaganda that’s been put out about the world is going to end or it’s going to get so hot that we can’t continue and survive. It’s crazy.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, it is, and this narrative has just been pushed so much on our young people. I think that we’re seeing things start to change, but we’ll talk about that when we come back. I’m talking with 96-year-young Colonel Bill Rutledge, and he’s just a gem to share all of this information and his thoughts about things with us, and we’re just blessed to let that happen. And it all happens because of our sponsors. And for everything residential real estate, reach out to Karen Levine.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 16 :
All of Kim’s sponsors are in inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of The Kim Munson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s kimmunson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.
SPEAKER 19 :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N.com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter. You can email me at Kim at KimMunson.com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice, and we search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And next Thursday, I’m going to be out at the USMC Memorial Foundation’s golf tournament, which is at the Ridge. And I’ll be out there for lunch. Would love to have you join us. You can come out just for lunch, but also a great round of golf if you’re a golfer. Get all that information by going to usmcmemorialfoundation.org, usmcmemorialfoundation.org. And on the line with me is Colonel Bill Rutledge. retired United States Air Force, 96 years young. He’s traveled the world, reads extensively, great curiosity about people and places and history. And we’re talking about mothers and Mother’s Day wives. And Colonel Bill Rutledge, while I was on the air just a few moments ago, I had talked to a friend of mine a couple of days ago, Annette, and she was waiting for the arrival of her little baby granddaughter, and she arrived this morning. I have a picture, and I almost want to cry looking at her daughter and the picture of the baby. There’s something about a new mom. It just takes your breath away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, that gets back really to my relationship with… with my wife and how she was so influential in everything that we did for 69 years married and for seven years before that dating beginning when she was 14 and I was 15 my mother died when I was 14 and my wife Virginia came into my life when I met her a few months after my mother’s death And the rest of my life was influenced very strongly by Virginia when we were just friends and dating. And then when we became husband and wife, we started raising our children. Then we were called into the military when we already had one child. And I was 25 and she was 24. And after that, Just about every place we ever went for the next 20 to 30 years was determined by my relationship with her and her having a direct voice in what was going on. For example, in 1955, I received orders saying I was going to go on an isolated tour to Thule, Greenland. And Virginia was already there. five months pregnant with our second child and she said. I told her I said I could get a delay and then we could go. I could go for a short tour somewhere after the child was born and she said no, go ahead and go now. I have a good support here in this community. I have a good doctor, good medical support. And so I did. Had I not gone to Greenland then, we then would not have had the various succession of assignments that we had for the next 25 years. For example, when I went to Greenland, I met a colonel from the Pentagon who had a two-day workshop. And by just meeting him and talking with him, And six months later, I had assignments to go to Greenville, Mississippi. And I received a call and said, would you rather go to the Air Force Academy? And certainly I did. But that determination was based upon me going to Greenland, going to this meeting with this colonel, and him thinking that I had the best qualifications possible. for what they needed at the Academy, and they needed it on short notice, and I was coming out at the right time. So this happened. And then, of course, having been in Greenland, many, many years later, there was a colonel that I had met there, and he called me seven years after I left Greenland. He said, would you like to come to the Pentagon and work for me? And I said, sure. Sure. But then he said, oh, but you need to go overseas. Where would you like to go? So I talked to my wife and the sergeants, and we said we’d prefer to go to Germany. So we did. And then subsequently, as all these assignments would come along, Virginia always had a voice in what we’re going to do. But there were a couple that were just unique. And one is that After we were in Germany, we came back. The war was going on in Vietnam. And so I need to go to somewhere in the Pacific. So I was assigned to headquarters of the Pacific Air Force in Hawaii. And Virginia found out that our dog would have to be quarantined for six months. And she said, I don’t like that. They said, you call Colonel DeBoer. Are you sending a message to Colonel DeBoer in Korea and see if he can change our assignment? So I did. And he said, well, would you like to go to Japan? And she said, yes, let’s go to Japan. Because they didn’t have a quarantine on our dog. So we go there for four years. Then we come back to Texas, where everybody in the Air Force gets to Texas. And then I had over 20 years active duty, and I was turning 50, and I needed to find a second career area. So I told her, I said, I think I better look for a job and get out. And she said, well, you know, I would much rather go back to Europe. And we only live three blocks from the Air Force personnel assignment branch. So I said, okay, I’ll go check. And I went down and asked about things. And they said, well, we have a number of assignments in Europe, several in England, some in Germany. And I said, what have you got in Germany? And they said, well, we’ve got Wiesbaden, we’ve got Ramstein, we’ve got Bitburg, and we’ve got Garmisch. And I said, whoa. Garmisch was one of the most beautiful assignments in the world. It’s right at the foot of the Zugspitze, the highest mountain in Germany. It’s in Bavaria, and Bavaria is just a beautiful place. And it was a perfect assignment also based upon my qualifications. So, again, we went over there. because my wife had made a good, smart recommendation. And not only did she do things like that, but when we came to Fort Collins to teach ROTC, she just enrolled full-time and got her degree in home economics. So when we were in Japan, she taught that. And meanwhile, while raising three children and being a Girl Scout leader, a Cub Scout leader, a Sunday school teacher, all of these things that she did. And so when we got to Germany and Garmisch, she had a competitive interview, and she became the official registrar for the University of Southern California and the University of Maryland graduate programs that are offered in Bavaria.
SPEAKER 19 :
Remarkable. And you married for 69 years and wife and mother and home economics. Yeah. We no longer teach that. And I know younger women that have never learned how to sew a button on. And we need to know these life skills to be able to run a household. But running a household with the feminism movement, postmodernism, relativism, has discounted, made it seem menial to run a household. But running a household takes time, it takes work, and you need to have the skills to do so.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well… not only do the young ladies need the skills, the men need the skills also. When we were in Japan, Virginia just, she added a couple of courses that were not required for the curriculum, but she felt that they were needed. She created a course called Bachelor Living. It was designed primarily for young men who were juniors or seniors in high school, and it The first thing they did was they learned how to use a sewing machine. And then they got materials and they made aprons that they could use when they went in to learn more about cooking. And then when they got into the kitchens, then they were creative. But they learned all sorts of things like the big difference between dry measures and wet measures and all these basics of As a matter of fact, some of them would go home and tell their mothers things that their mothers didn’t even know. But it created a greater self of independence for them. And she also took them to meet the children at the preschool areas. She taught, as a part of the curriculum, more about child care and their responsibilities as they became young fathers. So this is, she was versatile. She could do anything. She could design a pattern, then make the clothes and fit them on the people. And she taught all these things to the girls. She taught the girls certainly more. And she offered a special course in cooking. So she had a gourmet cooking class. for the young ladies who were seniors. And they had a dinner night at the officers club in which they invited their parents to come over and the young ladies prepared everything so that they had to do all the food preparation, the table arrangements, the presentation, and other matters that were very valuable to them as they grew older.
SPEAKER 19 :
These are fabulous skills. And I remember as a child, I was in 4-H and went through the 4-H program on cooking. And I learned so much from that. And again, just the proper way to set a table. These are great life skills. And we’re going to continue the discussion with Colonel Rutledge regarding his wife, Virginia, a mother to three children. and how important motherhood is. And so we’ll continue the discussion when we come back, and we get to have these discussions because of our sponsors. And if you’ve been injured, be sure and reach out to John Bozen and Bozen Law.
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SPEAKER 19 :
And welcome back to the Kim Munson Show. Be sure and check out our website. That is Kim Munson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter and you can email me at Kim at Kim Munson dot com as well. Thank you to all of you who support us. We’re an independent voice. We search for truth and clarity by looking at these issues through the lens of freedom versus force, force versus freedom. If something’s a good idea, you should not have to force people to do it. And it is Mother’s Day weekend. And happy Mother’s Day to all of you mothers out there. And, of course, at the first hour, Jim May shared a great poem about mothers. We’re talking with Colonel Bill Rutledge, retired United States Air Force colonel, 96 years young. He’s traveled the world, so interested in people and places in history. And, in fact, this came in on the text line, Colonel Rutledge. It says, Colonel Rutledge embodies wisdom. But I think part of that is just your great curiosity about all of these different subjects, Colonel Rutledge.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I certainly have the curiosity. One thing is very timely is that most of you have learned that our president is very much concerned about our population. In the 50s and 60s, most couples had three children. Now we have a situation where We’re down to one child plus for a couple. And as a result of that, he is now talking about offering a baby bonus that would be available to help pay the cost for raising or birthing, really, a child. But this is not unusual. I was in Canada in 1956. when they had a baby bonus there. And their problem was similar to ours, that they were not reproducing one for one even. And so consequently, they needed a baby bonus to motivate greater population in Canada. And we certainly have a need or some incentive to create at least a one for one reproduction for the next generation.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, I think, and I’ve heard about the baby bonus. Of course, you know, I really like this idea that we treat everybody equally from a taxation standpoint. So what I think we really need to work to do is to reduce the cost of government, reduce government and lower taxes so that across the board people can afford their lives more and make the decision better. that they would like to have children. But I understand what Trump is talking about and trying to figure that out. But I’d love to reduce government spending across the board and reduce taxes across the board, Colonel Rutledge.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, you are a doggie advocate, and so am I. And all of these cuts that are being made are necessary, long overdue. I was in the military for all those years. And I can always remember one of the first things that I experienced when I was a second lieutenant. We were near the end of the fiscal year, and somebody said, oh, well, you have to spend X thousands of dollars by the 30th of the month. And I said, what for? And they said, because if we don’t spend it, we won’t get as much money next year. So I was exposed to through this huge government bureaucracy that permeated just about every agency within the federal government. And also it’s true in state government. And consequently, it created the tremendous debts that we have today.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, and so we need to get government back in its proper role. And I think people will have more children. And having children, it’s a commitment. Little ones take a lot of time, take a lot of sleep, or you lose a lot of sleep with that. But Colonel Rutledge, you and I were talking about Virginia, your wife, and I didn’t have the great honor to get to know her because you and I met right, I think, during COVID. And Virginia passed on during COVID. Tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, we both got COVID in February 2021. I went to the hospital one day. And she went the next. Part of our problem was that she already had some respiratory problems that she had had some fluid build up in her chest and had to have it extracted a few years before. So her breathing was more inhibited. And when we got to the hospital, our COVID-19 degenerated into double pneumonia, which was very common for older people. And this was before shots were available. And I’m thankful that they weren’t available now. But consequently, we both got double pneumonia. And there was one night when both of us were on 15 liters of oxygen. If you go any higher, they put you in the ICU. And most of the people who went there did not come back. So I was in the hospital for 16 days. Jenny was there for seven. And she expired early in the morning of the 25th of February, 2021. And I then met you the following June. And my association has been most beneficial to me by having a chance to research and share ideas with you and others in your listening audience.
SPEAKER 19 :
Well, we’re all better for all of this that you share with us. And you’ll call and you’ll say, hey, why don’t you consider… And then you’ll present the idea. And out of that, there’s been such a richness. For example, last Friday, we had Mark Schneider on with Colonial Williamsburg. He’s a historian. He portrays Lafayette as well as Napoleon at Colonial Williamsburg. And so then you said, hey, so you called. We had him. We did an interview regarding Lafayette. I think that was it was either Thanksgiving, Christmas. I can’t remember exactly. So you said, hey, Kim, there’s going to be this is going to be the anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. Why don’t you get that guy who does Napoleon? Well, we had him on last week. And again, with all the craziness that’s going on in our world, to be able to look back at history. With these people, it’s amazing. And this is coming in across the – so many people are texting. And so let’s – this is from Sandra. She said, Colonel Rutledge, thank you for sharing your wonderful life memories. This is going to make me cry. Listening to you, Colonel Rutledge, really takes me down memory lane. Happy Mother’s Day, and God bless you. This is another one that came in. It says, Colonel Rutledge is a gem. And, Colonel Rutledge, we have just a couple of minutes left. I am so grateful for our friendship. How would you like to button this up regarding your mother, Virginia, Mother’s Day? What’s your final thought on all this?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I’m one of those people… who believes in a guardian angel. And my case, it was my mother, it continues to be my mother. There have been a number of times when I should have been dead. And my mother, in the short time that she was with us, saved my life on two specific occasions. Once I was being asphyxiated, because from a kerosene heater in Florida in the wintertime. It was not properly vented. She broke a door down and came in, and I was already unconscious. And she sat me up and slapped me in the face, and she revived me. And on another occasion, again, she was there. She spent three weeks with me, with scarlet fever, and President Eisenhower’s first child was a preschooler just like I was, about four years old, and he died. And I survived three weeks, 105 degrees, and she was a nurse. She was there all the time. And I was blessed, and I believe that she’s still an influence in my life.
SPEAKER 19 :
Colonel Rutledge, thank you. And you were blessed with two amazing women, your mother and Virginia. And we’re going to be doing a great show for Memorial Day with you regarding Eddie Rickenbacker. So stay tuned, everybody. We’re going to have another great show with Colonel Bill Rutledge. I love you dearly. Thank you, Colonel Rutledge.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thank you, Kim.
SPEAKER 19 :
And our quote for the end of the show is Thomas Paine from The Crisis, and he wrote this in 1776. He said, “‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm and whose conscience approves his conduct will pursue his principles unto death.” So my friends today, be grateful, read great books, think good thoughts, listen to beautiful music, communicate and listen well, live honestly and authentically, strive for high ideals like Superman, stand for truth, justice, and the American way. My friends, you’re not alone. God bless you, and God bless America.
SPEAKER 06 :
And I don’t want no one to cry. But tell them if I don’t survive.
SPEAKER 14 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
