Like everything else in Alaska, the state’s education problem is big. Despite being one of the richest states in America (CNN News), Alaska has one of the lowest graduation rates in the country (U.S. Department of Education). But more distressing than lagging behind the poorest states is the undisputable fact that education is not a priority for Alaska’s lawmakers.

Barack Obama can use an executive order and take away our second amendment rights. Governmental interference in regards to gun control would be a direct violation of our constitutional right to bear arms. This issue can be traced to recent shootings, especially at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Everyone wants children to be safe, but taking guns away from the general public isn’t the answer.

In my world of 80-plus years, I have never been so embarrassed by a representative of the United States Of America. And to think that we have had millions of service men spent service time of two or more years at a wage of around $140.00 a month during the Korean war, 24-7 duty to have a person make reference to 4 Americans serving the United States in very dangerous service as “What difference does make” that they are dead. And this person thinks they have presidential ambitions.

All I seem to read lately is mental patients and firearms. How did these two become so entwined? Some history. In the 1980s a conservative congress took Reagan’s promise to cut federal spending literally by passing a bill that said in essence, “No citizen may be committed to a mental institution against their will.” The effect was two pronged in nature. One, It saved billions in healthcare funding and two, within weeks our cities were inundated with tens of thousands of ex-mental patients sleeping in cardboard boxes, under bridges and begging for money on every corner.