It has been a year and a month since the day the shots pierced the heart of Arizona on January 8, 2011. In all, 19 victims were shot. Six lives were taken and Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords gravely wounded. Friends, families, a state and a nation were torn at their emotional seams.

The news crews came for their live shots, talking heads talked, pundits opined, quick clues to a deeper cause and meaning sought and catharsis stated to have been reached in a stirring memorial led by an eloquent President. Over time, the initial raw wounds seemed to merge into the amazing evolving story of strength, resilience and recovery of Gabby Giffords. And, to be sure, there are few parallels in public life to the resilience and recovery of Gabby, it has been stunning, heartwarming and inspirational.

“Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Secures $18 Billion California Commitment for Struggling Homeowners,” the headline blares. But wait: the foreclosure fraud settlement is only a total of $25 billion. Even if you believe HUD Secretary Donovan’s figures about principal reduction credits being worth more in actual principal reduction, you don’t get higher than $40 billion. How did Harris get so much?

Arizona Republicans are proposing a bill to strip public unions of collective bargaining rights and impose limits even more egregious than those adopted in Wisconsin. Even though it’s been strongly opposed elsewhere, it’s a strategy to defang unions and undermine political funding for the Democratic Party.

I’m not going to get into the drama of Barack Obama’s run-in with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer at the airport. It’s just cable news fodder, so let them handle it. What does interest me is the fact that the biggest sub-group of Arizonans fascinated with the exchange are the Latino community, an indicator of why Obama went to Arizona in the first place.

Democrats see the chance that President Obama’s heated exchange with Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona on the airport tarmac in Phoenix could help him with the Hispanic voters he came West to court this week.

While students were on their holiday break, Arizona issued a disturbing wake-up call to anyone who thought the education system had evolved to reflect America’s diversity. In a legal challenge to a controversial law passed in 2010, an administrative law judge pummeled a flagship educational initiative by supporting restrictions on programs based on Latino history and culture.

According to current polling, January is shaping up to be a tough month for Mitt Romney. There are four contests in January: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida. Romney currently leads only in New Hampshire while Newt Gingrich has a double digit lead in the other three states. But the Republican primary calendar in February looks more favorable for Romney. It could be the month that Romney breaks Gingrich’s January momentum before Super Tuesday, March 6th.

My, my Santa, what a big gun you have! A Scottsdale, Arizona gun club will let families pose with fully automatic assault weapons for their holiday Christmas cards. And Fox’s “funny” news commentators sure enjoyed it (though there was some debate about the appropriateness of the photo they couldn’t/wouldn’t show which not only featured young children, but Daddy pointing a gun at Mommy’s head).

Joan was a little jacked when I caught up with her after her overnight incarceration, a little hyper still. After she had a chance to say hi to some friends and exchange some hugs, we sat underneath a tree in the park and had a quiet conversation. Turns out she had never been read her rights, which fits rather well with all else that is occurring in our nation. Neither had she been allowed a phone call to her attorney. In the morning she was arraigned via video conferencing, albeit the arraignment did not include a mention of what the charges were against her. The judge did manage to tell her when she would be required to appear before the court once again.

Alabama’s immigration law, which is as punitive as Arizona’s SB1070 and which has been partially validated by a conservative federal judge, has already generated some harrowing implications for residents of the state. The latest consequence comes from a public water company in the city of Allgood.

Just as Norm Coleman and other relatively progressive — or at least pragmatic — Republicans try to reassure Latino voters that the GOP isn’t stuffed stem-to-stern with lily-white bigots cowering in fear of skins browner than theirs, Michele Bachmann has to go harsh their mellow by visiting Joe Arpaio for the second time this year.