Truth stays the same
Re: the June 5 letter “Vets sacrificed so you can say no.”
First, I would like to thank Marvin Montez for his service, as well as his letter.
His wrote, “People who served in the military sacrificed every day so you can have the freedom to say no. Especially when it comes to government overreaches into our basic liberties.”
Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest systemic violence against people of color, by police. By exercising his First Amendment rights (his basic liberty), he was ridiculed by “leaders” and was persecuted for being disrespectful to our military.
Aren’t both these examples of basic liberties? So which way is it, do we treat those that speak out equally? Or do we condemn those who disagree with our point of view?
Larry Robinson
Northwest side
Wildcat softball coach is best
The Star’s recent coverage of Wildcat softball has been superb! Thanks. I particularly like the banner headlines and the online photo essay showing Coach Candrea over the years.
Mike Candrea is the best coach the University of Arizona has ever had and probably the best coach the U of A ever will have. Reaching the championship series in Oklahoma City again this year adds to his and his wonderful athletes’ long list of accomplishments. It will be impossible to replace him.
Ricardo Small
Northeast side
Living wage for whom?
Re: the June 6 article “Make Tucson a living-wage community.”
Jim Kiser’s opinion on making Tucson a living wage community, while informative, still begs some questions. First, who should get the living wage? Is he targeting the service industry only? And if so, what segments? Or is he just targeting all those currently making under $15 an hour. Also, will the wage be more than the current generous unemployment benefit which is keeping people from going back to work?
And he is ignoring the impact on prices? History dictates that whenever a large segment of society get a a wage increase, the cost of goods and services will almost certainly increase. So, alas, we will also need price controls to make this work.
Bruce Dockter
West side
Change the filibuster
Many Americans gave up their beliefs in government because nothing has been getting done for years. We are desperate now to see climate action, infrastructure action, minimum wage hikes, wage improvement for middle class, so many desperate issues that Republicans have refused to move toward to help lesser income Americans in everyday life.
We need our Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin to help change the filibuster so we can finally see improvement in our lives. They have the ability to give us faith in America again. We desperately need their help.
Rose Shoppach
Catalina
Removing the filibuster
There have been many letters wanting the Democrats to remove the filibuster and upset that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema may not vote for this. I would like to remind you of when the Democrats removed the filibuster for selecting a Supreme Court Justice, this was back in 2009, after Barack Obama became President and Harry Reid, the Democrat majority leader in the Senate decided to remove this.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, had said to Reid that he shouldn’t do that, because some day the Republicans may have the majority and they would be sorry, but Reid didn’t care, he just wanted to make sure Obama got who he wanted and that did work, but then later the Republicans became the majority and Donald Trump was elected, which meant he was able to get who he wanted. Removing the filibuster, may work for you now, but eventually if the Republicans get the majority, they can very well remove or change all those bills.
Linda Hammond
Marana
Ducey’s tax plan
Greed conjures thoughts of insatiable desire for wealth, often at the expense of others when the greedy see life from a zero-sum perspective. It also describes the ideologue exercising political authority leading to gains for some while harming others.
Why is our greedy Governor pressing so hard for a tax cut helping only wealthy Arizonans? Is it a legacy desire to be the “tax-cutting governor,” or an arrogant desire to abrogate the will of the people who passed Prop 208?
Whatever his motivation, there are losers in his zero-sum tax scheme. Arizona’s education system, already the third-worst funded in the nation, is a clear loser, along with the General Fund; it would lose funding of $1.5 billion or more.
Gov. Doug Ducey, please honor your office by working to help the bulk of Arizonans, many of whom are struggling to build their post-pandemic lives. The wealthiest among us can probably get by okay without further help from you.
David Coatsworth
Midtown
For the people
Apparently, we need to codify in law that voting is an inalienable right of every citizen. Because the Republicans don’t think this is a good idea for them, they are doing everything they can to make voting tedious, difficult and for some people impossible. And once voting is over, it looks like Republicans want to be able to overturn the results of elections they don’t like.
Republicans have been braying about rampant voter fraud for decades but have never been able to prove it because it exists erratically in extremely small numbers. Currently, there is a problem and it consists of a systematic, coordinated effort at election fraud by Republicans. Republicans in Arizona are conducting what they call an audit, but is really, according to all the election experts, an incompetent sideshow trying to disenfranchise voters. The purpose: nullify the votes of the voters of Maricopa County. That is election fraud.
Pass S.1 For the People.
K.E.S. Donahue
Foothills
Our democracy must be saved
I was shocked by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s statement to reporters when she toured the border with Sen. John Cornyn. Her reply made no sense if we are to save our democracy. Worse yet she did not even show up to vote for the bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection.
She does not seem to value the votes of the people. With no vote we have no democracy.
Douglas Brinkley stated on CNN it is time for Sen. Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin to get on board with the rest of the Democrats to restore the voting rights act and repeal the filibuster. He stated the late President Lyndon B. Johnson led senators in his time to pass the voting rights act whose provisions have been stripped away in recent years.
A problem is that one cannot even write an email to Sen. Sinema’s website unless one’s subject is among the pre-assigned subjects listed. Is this by design?
Fran Gordon
Green Valley
Nothing new
from Nanos
Re: the June 6 article “Nanos resists records requests.”
Elections have consequences. It’s really no surprise that current Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos, despite his campaign pledge to uphold high standards of openness and transparency in his administration, is alleged to have already in his first five months of his second stint on the job illegally kept public records from seeing the light of day.
Considering the documented history of obfuscation in the Sheriff’s Department under the regime that proceeded Mark Napier, should we have expected anything different this time around? Electing Chris Nanos to serve the good citizens of Pima County as its chief law enforcement officer fits Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Kurt Schmidt
Northwest side
