Arizona ranks in top 10 for charter school movement

When it comes to charter school enrollment, Arizona ranks in the top ten nationally, according to a recently released report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

Arizona enacted its charter school laws 15 years ago. The concept has caught on with parents and students seeking alternatives to traditional public schools. There are now 502 public charter schools serving more than 100,000 students — approximately 10 percent of Arizona’s K – 12 students.

The report, How State Charter Rank Against the New Model Public Charter School Law, ranked state charter school laws according to the following measures:

Quality and Accountability, Funding Equity, Facilities Support, Autonomy and Growth and Choice.

Read the report and check out Arizona’s comparison ranking here.

Liberal Harry Reid joins AZ Republicans in disappointment with McCain

In an absorbing tell-all article in the New York Times magazine, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is, of course, depicted as a man struggling to maintain his senate seat. But interestingly, he also lashes out at John McCain. 

Reid, 70, said he had been shocked by the behavior of Sen. John McCain, since returning from his failed bid for the presidency. “My disappointment — no, that’s the wrong word; I’ll try to find a better word. My amazement has been John McCain. I thought he’d turn out to be a statesman, work for things. He’s against everything. He’s against everything! He didn’t used to be against everything.”

Even Harry Reid has noticed that McCain is desperately attempting to veer right —  to the chagrin of his Democrat comrades. If he is to survive as a Republican, he can’t continue to lend his support to Democrats.

Reid, of course, has ample reason to be worried about being ousted from his long-held seat and membership in the exclusive Club of 100 — the U.S. Senate.  According to a recent poll published in the Las Vegas Review Journal, a significant 52 percent of Nevadans had an unfavorable view of Reid.

Bro McCain isn’t faring any better. According  to the latest poll conducted by the Behavior Research Center, a mere 40% of Arizonans approve of the job McCain is doing for them in D.C.

A Rasmussen Reports statewide survey of Arizona Republicans found that 61% thought McCain was out of touch with those in his own party. And as dismal as those numbers are, they were up eleven points from 50% in May. Only 33% of Republicans in the state believe McCain has done a good job representing GOP values, according to that same poll.

In this campaign season, in the campaign of his political life, McCain is paying heed and is even risking disappointing his Democrat pals. Republicans have been disappointed in his antics far longer.

Weekend reading to make you smarter

Jonah Goldberg has an excellent take on President Obama’s State of the Union address. We recommend it.

Read Obama letting it ride on a bad bet.

Money can’t buy you love: U.S. Senate seats are not for sale

We read that Sen. John McCain’s re-election campaign started the year with $5,054,667.96 in its war chest, more than $50,000 more than it had at the end of September, according to his campaign finance report for the last three months of 2009.

McCain started the fourth quarter with $5,003,814.77. He raised $811,658.32 from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31 and spent $760,805.13 in the same period.

The fourth-quarter reports are due to the Federal Election Commission by the end of Sunday, but AZ/DC obtained an early copy of McCain’s, according to the daily’s McCain point man, Dan Nowicki in his AZ/DC blog.

Former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, a popular conservative, is on the brink of announcing a formal primary challenge to the senior senator. Hayworth has set up a web site to take online contributions at www.JD2010.com.

“Pro-Choice” groups want to limit yours

The upcoming Super Bowl XLIV — pitting the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, is creating an uproar in circles that often are not focused on football. The element of the upcoming Super Sunday that is drawing a significant amount of attention is, of all things, the commercials. Actually the focus is on a specific commercial.

The ad that has caught the attention of the National Organization for Women, the Feminist Majority Foundation and the Women’s Media Center and has feminist groups in a tizzy, features the true story of a mother choosing to continue her pregnancy despite a doctor’s advice that she abort her unborn child.

The mother featured in the commercial is Pam Tebow. And the child she carried to term is her son, college football star Tim Tebow.

Bob and Pam Tebow traveled to the Philippines in 1987 as church missionaries. Pam was pregnant with the couple’s fifth child. During the trip, Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, a life-threatening condition. Doctors recommended an abortion. Pam rejected the advice and gave birth to Tim on Aug. 14, 1987.

Focus on the Family, a pro-family organization, is paying for the compelling Tebow story, as related by Pam, during a commercial break.

Last year an estimated 148 million people tuned in to watch the Super Bowl. The rare opportunity to get the pro-life message out to millions of viewers, and make them think about the blessing that is life, catches like a bone in the throat of the so-called “pro-choice” crowd.

The truth is, the only choice they want people to have is the one they offer.

The McCain boys hold us in high regard…‘ya think?

The fact that John McCain’s worshipful younger brother, Joe, has compared Tea Party patriots to Nazis is getting ample play on the Internet — as it should.

Giving his incoherent and manic rant further publicity would be pointless. Joe, 68, is a dinner theater actor, who has labored a lifetime in the shadow of his older brother.  It would be difficult to imagine him releasing this vicious rant without the expressed approval of his brother, John.

They should both be aware that the actions of the original Tea Party patriots in Boston Harbor were the result of frustration with intolerable government policies.  That is what drives Americans across this nation today to participate in Tea Party events.

In comparing patriots to murderous Nazis, the McCain boys have given us an insight into their convoluted thinking and told us in no uncertain terms what they think of us.

Simcox: He’s in, he’s out, he’s all about

That Chris Simcox is a real cut-up. Previously acknowledging his bottom-dragging standing in the polls, he had indicated he would drop out of the U.S. Senate race if former Congressman J.D. Hayworth got in.

Now he is sending out emails, apologizing for “glitches,” in which he pummels both John McCain and J.D. Hayworth with equal vigor.

The word “spoiler” comes to mind when dealing with a man who has no chance of winning, yet is content to siphon off the few votes that might be the difference between Mavericky politics as usual and a fresh approach with a proven conservative.

OhBama, aren’t there bigger things facing the country these days?

The Obama Justice Department is reviewing the legality of the Bowl Championship Series, since several lawmakers and many critics want the BCS to switch to a playoff system, rather than the ratings system it currently uses to determine which teams play in the championship game.

Prior to being sworn in as president, Barack Obama stated he preferred the playoff system. Obama said he was going to “to throw my weight around a little bit” to push college football toward the playoff system.

In view of his massive governmental overreaches, maybe we should be glad he’s taking time off for meddling in college football.

McCain-Scott Brown mystery solved: We’ve got another “Maverick”

It was more than odd when this call came in shortly after Republican Scott Brown was elected to the senate seat in Massachusetts. 

Now we get it.

McCain tries on a ill-fitting conservative cloak

Roll Call writes that former Rep. J.D. Hayworth’s all-but-official primary challenge to Sen. John McCain has already started to re-ignite long-simmering tensions within the state’s Republican faithful.

Those divisions — combined with both men’s reputation for bare-knuckle politics, a volatile electorate and a state in financial crisis — equal a recipe for one of the country’s fieriest political contests of 2010.

McCain’s campaign has already signaled that the issue of fiscal conservatism is where it plans to do battle, running radio ads last week in Arizona dubbing Hayworth “one of the biggest spenders in Congress.”

Hayworth’s advisers say they are prepared to go head to head with McCain on spending issues.

Hayworth spokesman Jason Rose said there is “hypocrisy” in McCain touting a conservative record on spending when he supported bailing out the banking and mortgage industries in 2008.

However, Rose said the Hayworth campaign expects illegal immigration to continue to be a hot-button issue in the campaign, in addition to the economy and spending.  “In Arizona you can’t ignore the Republican animus against Sen. McCain on immigration, especially when you have someone like Sheriff Arpaio supporting J.D. Hayworth,” Rose said.

Hayworth certainly has his supporters, most of whom make up a wing of the state GOP that has long been critical of McCain for taking “maverick” positions and working across the aisle on things like amnesty, campaign finance reform and climate change legislation.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) cited those differences in endorsing Hayworth on Sunday.

And Rob Haney, Maricopa County Republican Party chairman and a longtime McCain nemesis, said conservative activists are rallying around Hayworth. “We’ve been begging J.D. to get in the race,” he said. “We will campaign to our utmost for J.D.”

Haney said Hayworth easily won a straw poll at the county Republican Party’s most recent meeting; McCain came in fourth, behind Chris Simcox, an activist against illegal immigration, and another little-known GOP candidate.

The Arizona Republican Party is remaining neutral, though McCain has had his share of battles with Chairman Randy Pullen, who has also been active in politics against illegal immigration.

A new poll released today by the Behavior Research Center showed  a mere 40% of Arizonans approve of the job McCain is doing for them in D.C.  And a Rasmussen Reports statewide survey of Arizona Republicans in September found that 61% thought McCain was out of touch with those in his own party.

The Maverick will have trouble mending the fences he has allowed to go too long without basic maintenance.