Boy, do I wish I used that word disparagingly. Because it really applies here. Just the other day, an out-of-stater remarked (again) that she just doesn’t understand my state of Arizona — a place where you can have Down syndrome but not qualify for services for the developmentally disabled.

Yeah, I don’t understand it either. Maybe State Senator Linda Gray would care to explain. I try not to directly mix work in with Girl in a Party Hat very often, but check out the post on Phoenix New Times’ blog today about a letter Gray wrote in response to a high school student who had the audacity (in Gray’s view) to write to her questioning the state’s decision to cut education funding:

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2009/03/senator_linda_gray_apologizes.php#comments

Be sure to click on the blog post after that, where Gray apologizes and reveals that the student is special needs. What’s Linda Gray’s excuse?

Arizona is a great place to be a journalist (you can’t make this shit up) but it can be a really lousy place to be a human being.