It’s time to privatize Gilbert.

Instead of making our kids college ready, let’s make them ready for life

I voted for Barack Obama, twice.

How are the United Nations, the Arizona legislature, and our state’s schools linked?

Ten years on, what do we have as a result of our involvement in Iraq?

It was the system.

So let’s look at Arizona’s reaction to the gun control controversy.

What hath the Tea Party wrought?

So the President released his list of executive orders and suggested legislation last week — nothing surprising there, given the President’s previous comments. None of them will stop a madman from killing. Even the President recognizes that. But they might diminish the amount of carnage the madman can inflict. And if we’re lucky, might even prevent him from carrying out his murders.

So we’re two weeks out from the latest gun massacre, and we’ve heard a lot about how to quell the next one.

Twenty-seven dead. Twenty of them little kids, who as President Obama said, won’t see their graduations, won’t get a job, won’t get married. Murdered in childhood.

You might’ve noticed that Valley mayors want to get in the education reform game. After the defeat of the one-cent sales tax, combined with half of the budget overrides going down, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and Phoenix’s Greg Stanton appeared at a press conference to announce a group of mayors had formed to promote education reform and to find more funding for education.

Thanks to the Independent Redistricting Commission, we might see something done in Congress this year.

So here in the East Valley, most of our large school districts had overrides -- Chandler, Gilbert, Tempe High School District, and Higley -- on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Remember a year ago, when the circus came to TV?

“Seven Mesa High students taken to hospital.”

Arizona: Mexico’s firearm superstore

Columnist Linda Turley-Hansen has written a couple of pieces lately, exhorting us to vote in the upcoming presidential election. In one, she ended with this: Our choice was either socialism or freedom (guess who the socialist is?). In her more recent one, she tells us to vote because Obama is killing the coal industry. In other words, a second Obama term is Apocalypse Now.

‘Slightly worse than Alabama.”

Let’s be honest here. The newest Gilbert controversy seems just an attempt to win an election.

Chicago’s recent teacher strike was -- for an old teacher like me -- depressing. Depressing because the kids went without school while their teachers complained about many things.

While the tea party’s influence seems to wax and wane, in Gilbert, anyhow, it’s running the show, determined, apparently, for a Total Tea Party Takeover.

Are you as depressed as I am?

Do you know Scott Dickinson? Richard Rivera? How about Greg Buckley? Matt Manoukian? Heard of Ryan Jeschke? Sky Mote? Ever run across Greg Trent? What about Tom Kennedy? Did you meet Kevin Griffin? Bump into Walt Gray? How about Ethan Martin, Clayton Beauchamp, or Dan Linnabary?

One of the Truths of the modern conservative movement is this: The private sector can do it better.

Let’s all be Mormons.

When the Horror happens, as it inevitably does, we look for the simple explanation, something to salve our fright and disgust.

Around late 2007, early 2008, did you notice something about your 401(k) or 403(b), your retirement accounts?

Around late 2007, early 2008, did you notice something about your 401(k) or 403(b), your retirement accounts?

Andy Griffith’s death — at least for Baby Boomers — is another sign of our mortality. And a reminder of what we are, mostly.

Once again, the Law of Unintended Consequences makes an unintended appearance in education.

With the mixed verdict the Supreme Court gave SB 1070, Jan Brewer’s comment that the Court “vindicated” Arizona was one of the silliest reactions to the decision.

Three points about Goldwater Institute’s Jonathan Butcher’s column on education funding in Arizona:

Three points about Goldwater Institute’s Jonathan Butcher’s column on education funding in Arizona:

Our Republicans don’t need to be in legislative session to assault us. No, all they need is a law and our money to attack us. Which is what they’re up to right now.

If it wasn’t so sad it’d be laughable.

So what do we make of J.T. Ready, the white supremacist who murdered four people before turning his gun on himself?

It’s naïve to believe SB 1070 hasn’t had an effect on the illegal immigrant population in Arizona. It’s equally foolish to believe that the law has any kind of larger effect.

Given Congressional Republicans’ recent behavior, isn’t that what they believe?

“Senator McCarthy, have you no sense of decency?”

As the Trayvon Martin tragedy has unfolded over the last month, one thing has become clear: We are still in the infant stages of dealing with race. And pop culture adds a trivialization to his horrible death.

Why are teachers the new piñatas? Why do politicians make teachers a kind of enemy to be attacked so much?

What do Justin Olsen, Justin Pierce, Frank Pratt, Cecil Ash, Steve Court, Eddie Farnsworth, John Fillmore, Tom Forese, J.D. Mesnard, and Steve Urie have in common?

We live in interesting times, no doubt about it. Politically, we are more divided than ever.

We’ve had almost 1,400 bills introduced by our intrepid state senators and representatives this session.

Our Republican state legislators are not-so-skilled illusionists. That's the only way to describe this year's circus that we call the legislative session.

If you're a Republican in this state, you ought to be embarrassed. No, not by the governor's recent finger wag - who knows what actually went on there?

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has made several clumsy attempts to portray himself as a "Man of the People," down to wearing jeans at his campaign stops. Romney's trying to somehow identify himself with the common folks.

By now, everyone's seen at least a still picture of the four American soldiers urinating on dead Taliban.

State Senator Ron Gould is one persistent man.