Amanda Laux is one of those people who stands on street corners, begging for your change.

Alan Sears: Whenever Planned Parenthood and The Center for Reproductive Freedom team up, something dies. Sometimes, it's a freedom. More often, it's a life. If the two organizations' respective lawsuits - one state, one federal - succeed in dismantling a new Arizona law designed to protect pregnant women and those who serve them, you'll see mortal wounds nationwide to both lives and liberty.

March 23, 2005

Every legislative session, far too many bills are filed to pander to this or that special interest, rather than actually solve a real problem.

Linda Turley-Hansen, guest commentary

No one can fault Guillaume Grenier-Marmet for not giving it his best shot. But neither should he blame the city of Mesa and its people for the Symphony of the Southwest’s failure to attract customers and financial support.

When I found out I was going to die, I asked Slim if he would mind letting me use this space as sort of a farewell message.

November 14, 2004

That inner voice called "conscience" and how it affects your life and the lives of others will be examined Tuesday at the next discussion sponsored by the Scottsdale Office of Diversity and Dialogue.

I find the opposition to Obamacare a gross, contradictory, and hypocritical position held by certain elected officials who represent the citizens of this great country.

April 14, 2005

Democratic and Republican lawmakers now vote in virtual lockstep; their primary loyalty isn't to their constituents or to their consciences, but to their party. That's not democracy, and it's certainly not governance. It's warfare.

In response to whether “It’s OK to be gay in Arizona” (Tribune guest commentary, Aug. 13) in which Jon Beydler commented that state government should not legislate moral issues:

Gov. Janet Napolitano refused Wednesday to let pharmacists legally decline to fill prescriptions for the “morning-after” pill.

I’ve always known it: Readers quite often say it better than — well, the usual columnists. In an unusual move, I’ve dedicated this space to a letter written by Diana Smith, the mother of nine children, grandmother of seven children. Smith, a long time East Valley resident is doing what she can to awaken women to frightening games being played in the political arena. She warns women their emotions are manipulated, while their freedoms to choose for themselves are at high risk. Read on:

“We the People” have spoken. Not against Democrats or for Republicans, but against a philosophy that trivializes individuality while promoting central power in big government.

Many citizens feel ripped-off by wasted tax money and want to squeeze whatever self-serving monies they can get out of our government services. Take the billions of dollars spent (wasted?) in Afghanistan. What's a few bucks for me in whatever form? Not exactly critical thinking, but that's the problem.

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration Thursday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.

PHOENIX - A Glendale man was sentenced to a year in prison in an animal-cruelty case that made a list of the nation's 100 worst cases in the country.