Gun policies, gun policy reforms
by David Safier Friday I participated in a national conference call for bloggers sponsored by Media Matters: "Common sense gun policies in the wake of the Tucson shooting." Featured speakers were Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL 5), Arkadi Gerney from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and Cliff Schecter, blogger and commentator. Advertisement I'm now in the pipeline … Read more
Education notes
by David Safier A few short, related, education-in-the-news takes: 1. One of the latest education buzz terms is "value-added," meaning teachers are successful if they increase the learning of their students. Though the concept is obviously true, using standardized tests as the measure of "value" is fraught with problems. A review of the literature from … Read more
For old school Dylan fans
by David Safier I just went on iTunes to hear some clips from the recent release of "The Witmark Demos," rough recordings Dylan made between 1962 and 1964 for his publishing house — raw versions of songs we know and others he never recorded. Amazing stuff, if you're an old Dylan hand like me. Here's … Read more
The coming week: legislative edition
by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings Welcome to the first schedule post of 2011… All information gathered from the website of the Arizona Legislature and subject to change without notice. Note: An "HHR" prefix indicates that the meeting place is in a hearing room in the House building, and an "SHR" prefix indicates a … Read more
Another Fischer article without Democrats
by David Safier Howard Fischer has an article in Sunday papers across the state quoting Brewer, Pearce, Adams and Harper on their stand against stiffening the law on extended ammunition clips. How do Democrats feel on the issue? Cue the crickets. FIscher doesn't offer a clue. The article does a fair job of presenting the … Read more
Eric Fuller’s outburst and arrest
by David Safier I'm posting out the arrest of Eric Fuller for making threatening comments directed at Trent Humphries for two reasons. First, I've written quite a bit about right wing threats and assaults on Democrats, and it seems hypocritical to ignore this incident. Second, I've seen Fuller at a number of events and had … Read more
McCain gets it right in WaPo op ed
by David Safier Seeing McCain getting it mostly right in today's WaPo op ed — I have a few quibbles, but they're tangential to his main point — gives me another glimmer of hope. It's rare I can read or listen to any of McCain's pronouncements without almost total disagreement, so this is a welcome … Read more
