Superintendent Chris King took time out of his busy life to underscore the value he places on Boulder Valley School District teachers. He spoke as a special guest as the Boulder Colorado Stake, a local geographical subdivision of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, honored 11 as “Most Inspirational Teachers” on Feb. 24 at 701 W. South Boulder Road, Louisville.

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When President Obama wanted to talk directly to our nation’s children in September, I had no problem with that. He’d been on T.V. nearly every night with one press conference or the other. A speech directed to children sounded fine. Though it turned out children were in school rather than with their parents, I didn’t even mind that much. However, his initial writing assignment to accompany his speech left me shocked at his narcissistic political move.

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Superior Town Trustee Elia Gourgouris plans to give hands-on help in Haiti after its devastating earthquake on Jan. 12.

Gourgouris explained over the phone last week how he came to that decision. He said he felt “a prompting” to go to Haiti and donate with his expertise and training and whatever gifts God has given him “to do something really hands on.”

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The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that government is out of the business of regulating corporate political speech.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the 5-to-4 majority “If the First Amendment has any force, it prohibits Congress from fining or jailing citizens, or associations of citizens, for simply engaging in political speech.”

The Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, No. 08-205 put into law what government has long accepted, that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to political speech.

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Health care reform compromise talks between the House and Senate bill versions need a heavy dose of disinfectant or, in other words, plenty of sunshine.

During the campaign, candidate Barack Obama touted openness in government. He said, “I’ll make our government open and transparent so that anyone can insure that our business is the people’s business.” Obama continued by saying the late Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said, “Sunlight is the greatest disinfectant.”

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We’re not in as much need as New York City in the 1984 made-for-TV movie “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear,” starring Mickey Rooney. The city had no Christmas spirit and Annie Potts’ character, a reporter, couldn’t find one uplifting story for the Christmas Eve newscast.

However, reporters have brought us lots of hard-to-receive news this year. So, it was nice to hear an upbeat story focusing on the true meaning of Christmas on Sun., Dec. 13. Chris Denham, a husband and father of two young children, started out his talk to a Broomfield congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by quoting the English poet, Christian Rossetti.

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A recent CBS news poll on global warming asked, “Do you think there is solid evidence of man-made global warming?” Seventy percent of the respondents questioned whether humans have anything to do with climate change. Forty-six percent responded, “Global warming is a myth” and another 24 percent said, “No, the evidence is inconclusive.” Only 28 percent responded, “Yes, definitely.” Three percent responded, “What is global warming?”

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Just like most Thanksgivings, this year I thought about one thing a University of Colorado political science professor taught me in the 1990s. Dennis Eckert told the class you don’t leave a tip on the table after Thanksgiving dinner. As I remember it, he was making the point that you don’t mix values. So, this underscored for me the meal had nothing to do with monetary values. Grandma wasn’t fixing the meal for a price but out of love and other reasons.

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President Obama’s signature tax break of up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for couples is turning into a confusing mess for millions of taxpayers. What looked to some like free money in February amid the hoopla of Obama’s $787 billion “stimulus” bill was really a decrease in federal income tax withholdings for the 2009 and 2010 tax years. However, because of the speed in getting the bill passed, IRS withholding tables weren’t in place in April when workers started seeing less taxes withheld from their paychecks.

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