Tucson speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Sep. 17, 2021
- Updated
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: What went wrong in Afghanistan
UpdatedIn a nutshell, US policy in Afghanistan was not reflective of Afghan history, culture, and geography Primary objectives were a strong central government and the end of the opium and cannabis trades. Afghanistan has never had strong central government and doesn't want it. Every attempt to institute it in the last 20 years was met with civil war. The Afghan climate is essentially high desert, so there are no cash crops that can grow there besides opium and cannabis. Afghanistan is a tribal country, with thirteen recognized ethnic groups, the largest of which comprises only 48% of the population, so tribal ethnic conflict is the source of the traditional annual fighting season, a feature found in no other country in the world. Any uniformed foreign force is automatically everyone's enemy, so no invasion of Afghanistan has been successful since Alexander the Great. The mistake was sending in Americans in uniform.
David Vernon
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Voting rights
UpdatedWhatever your thoughts are on voting, I would like you to consider a couple of things. As an individual who has had the privilege of working at multiple voting locations I believe I can speak with some firsthand knowledge.
The voting process is really quite simple, you go to the polls, show your ID, sign the voting rolls, you are given a and you vote your conscience. Should there be some concern regarding your voting eligibility (usually someone who hasn't returned their mail-in ballot) you will be given a provisional ballot to again vote your conscience. Never in my years of work in the polls have I ever seen anyone turned away because of who or what they are. Should you have transportation issues I know the various parties have people who will drive you to the polls.
People died to give us the right to vote, is it that hard to carve out one hour of your time once or possibly twice a year to exercise that right.
Kevin Acorn
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Violence in the Streets
UpdatedRemember in the 1990s when many people were concerned that violent video games would lead young players to become violent in real life? Video designers (and sellers), along with "expert" psychologists and sociologists assured us that was not the case.
Over the past 30 years it is apparent that our country is becoming incredibly violent with road rage killings, school shootings and even armed insurrections becoming common place. Are we SURE raising our youth on violent video games is not having an effect?
Bruce Hilpert
North side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Milley is a true patriot
UpdatedUS Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor. His overwhelming concern about the mental instability of President Trump prompted him to take steps to save the world from a nuclear holocaust. Predictably, he has been criticized by some Republicans who recommend that he should be fired. Unpredictably, retired US Army Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman who testified at Trump's impeachment hearing that Trump asked the Ukrainian president to get dirt on Joe Biden, also recommended that Milley resign.
I greatly admire Vindman for all that he's done for the country. He even put his own career on the line when he testified at Trump's impeachment hearing. However, sometimes the rigidity of military-mindedness is counterproductive or even dangerous. Milley did not go through channels. He put country over self to save the world from a madman. For Milley, protecting the country from a seriously deranged man trumped protocol.
How about the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Congressional Medal of Honor?
Sandra Katz
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Responsible Women
UpdatedWhen is a woman being irresponsible? Is a Catholic woman with 10 children being irresponsible? If she decides to abort her 11th fetus is she being irresponsible? Should the doctors and others who help her be punished? Is the priest who refuses to give her permission to use birth control or have an abortion being responsible? Is the church who made the policies and trained the priest being responsible? I remember when you couldn't even buy contraceptives in some states dominated by The Church.
I am not only pro-choice, I am pro-abortion, for two reasons. 1. A despirate woman will abort with or without help. Women have died trying to self-abort. Women need access to safe assistance, without traveling to find it.
2. The world is over populated. Before Covid people were still dying of starvation. Mistakes happen. Abortion needs to be available. Abortion is the only birth control. Everything else is conception control.
Eleanor Soler
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: The Failed War in Afghanistan
UpdatedOnce again Americans see the attempt to institute Democracy on people who historical not ready. Afghanistan has been fought over for centuries, Alexander the Great was there, Genghis Khan, the Mughal Empire all attempted to control Afghanistan. Don’t forget the Britain’s and Soviet’s failed attempts before leaving the country to the dusts of history.
Along comes 9/11/2001, immediately President Bush declares war on terrorism. Did President Bush consider history? No! He called for an invasion with no clear goals to determine when the mission was completed.
The failure in Afghanistan was going to war without considering history and without mission goals for success. It was President Bush for sending me and my fellow Warriors, President Obama’s and President Trump’s fault for leaving us there. The only President that didn’t worry about his political future is President Biden, he brought your Warriors home.
Chief Warrant Officer Four, 31 Year service in the US Army, two tours on the war against Terrorism
Dennis Quincey
West side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 17
UpdatedWhat went wrong in Afghanistan
In a nutshell, U.S. policy in Afghanistan was not reflective of Afghan history, culture and geography. Primary objectives were a strong central government and the end of the opium and cannabis trades. Afghanistan has never had strong central government and doesn’t want it. Every attempt to institute it in the last 20 years was met with civil war.
The Afghan climate is essentially high desert, so there are no cash crops that can grow there besides opium and cannabis. Afghanistan is a tribal country, with around 13 recognized ethnic groups, so tribal ethnic conflict is the source of the traditional annual fighting season, a feature found in no other country in the world. Any uniformed foreign force is automatically everyone’s enemy, so no invasion of Afghanistan has been successful since Alexander the Great. The mistake was sending in Americans in uniform.
David Vernon
East side
The failed war in Afghanistan
I’m a Chief Warrant Officer Four with 31 years of service in the U.S. Army, including two tours in the war against terrorism. Once again Americans see the attempt to institute democracy on people who historically are not ready. Afghanistan has been fought over for centuries, Alexander the Great was there, Genghis Khan, the Mughal Empire all attempted to control Afghanistan. Don’t forget Britain’s and the Soviets’ failed attempts before leaving the country to the dusts of history.
Along comes 9/11, immediately then-President George W. Bush declares war on terrorism. Did Bush consider history? No! He called for an invasion with no clear goals to determine when the mission was completed.
The failure in Afghanistan was going to war without considering history and without mission goals for success. It was Bush’s fault for sending me and my fellow warriors and President Barack Obama’s and President Donald Trump’s fault for leaving us there. The only president that didn’t worry about his political future is President Joe Biden, and he brought your warriors home.
Dennis Quincey
West side
Voting rights
Whatever your thoughts are on voting, I would like you to consider a couple of things. As an individual who has had the privilege of working at multiple voting locations I believe I can speak with some firsthand knowledge.
The voting process is really quite simple, you go to the polls, show your ID, sign the voting rolls, you are given ballot and you vote your conscience. Should there be some concern regarding your voting eligibility (usually someone who hasn’t returned their mail-in ballot) you will be given a provisional ballot to again vote your conscience.
Never in my years of work in the polls have I ever seen anyone turned away because of who or what they are. Should you have transportation issues I know the various parties have people who will drive you to the polls.
People died to give us the right to vote, is it that hard to carve out one hour of your time once or possibly twice a year to exercise that right?
Kevin Acorn
East side
Gen. Milley is a true patriot
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor. His overwhelming concern about the mental instability of then-President Donald Trump prompted him to take steps to save the world from a nuclear holocaust.
Predictably, he has been criticized by some Republicans who recommend that he should be fired. Unpredictably, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman who testified at Trump’s impeachment hearing that Trump asked the Ukrainian president to get dirt on Joe Biden, also recommended that Milley resign.
I greatly admire Vindman for all that he’s done for the country. He even put his own career on the line when he testified at Trump’s impeachment hearing. However, sometimes the rigidity of military-mindedness is counterproductive or even dangerous. Milley did not go through channels. He put country over self to save the world from a madman. For Milley, protecting the country from a seriously deranged man trumped protocol.
How about the Nobel Peace Prize along with the Congressional Medal of Honor?
Sandra Katz
Foothills
Violence in the streets
Remember in the 1990s when many people were concerned that violent video games would lead young players to become violent in real life? Video designers (and sellers), along with “expert” psychologists and sociologists assured us that was not the case.
Over the past 30 years it is apparent that our country is becoming incredibly violent with road rage killings, school shootings and even armed insurrections becoming common place. Are we sure raising our youth on violent video games is not having an effect?
Bruce Hilpert
North side
Letter: Forgotten group in "Roll Call"
UpdatedThe letter "Roll Call for the unvaccinated" provided a list of groups who are resisting vaccination, and the reasons why. Pretty accurate, but one significant group was left out - those with a political axe to grind. Many are still embracing the original words and messaging of Donald Trump - "its a hoax, it will disappear, it's like the flu, kids don't get it" etc. As did Trump, some conservatives are still promoting quack cures and ineffective drugs. (Horse wormer, anyone?) Though the ex-president is now saying "take the vaccine", his prior words and messaging have done a great disservice to public health and have done much to keep this pandemic alive and well. How unfortunate many still buy into that dangerous and false messaging, keeping us from vanquishing the virus and getting back to some degree of normalcy.
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Our Body
UpdatedTo the 'Pro Life Movement" I would like to say, -So it's okay to take control over someone's uterus, any woman's uterus?! I am SO glad that I had to have a very necessary complete hysterectomy at 40 years of age. I am also glad that I had very diseased organs, so that it was my choice to take the 'pill' until the situation became unbearable. NO one could make those choices for me either!
MY 82 year old partner is So glad no one could stop him from having a vasectomy! I'm also glad for him.
Now the US is suing the state of Texas on behalf of women's rights! Let us respect the rights of all women & men!
Let us help keep women who endanger their lives by getting backstreet, unsterile abortions! Making ridiculous laws will not stop helplessly desperate women who have been beaten, raped & tortured for the enjoyment of men!
Janice Campos
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Covid
UpdatedThank you covid believers for;
Wearing your masks to protect our frail, elderly and children so they might breath without a respirator.
Agreeing to get vaccinated for our public health and not insisting your rights are being trampled on.
Looking forward and appreciating the fact with freedom comes responsibility for all.
Not burdening our healthcare workers and not allowing non-covid patients to be sent far away to receive health care.
Not contributing to the health care costs that our insurance companies will pass on to all consumers.
Educating yourselves off social media and finding credible sites that speak credible information.
Not letting your friends die with the misinformation
Continuing to get the word out to help move us up from #40 of the top 50 vaccinated countries.
Susan Bennett
Southwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Re: the Sept. 14. article “Letters to the Editor Sept. 14”
UpdatedIf there was a shot to help mitigate diabetics and people with heart disease, I would be the first to get the vaccine. It Is not necessarily due to exercise and diet. My brother fell and was in the ER for 5 days, no beds and subsequently died. People who are not vaccinated are selfish and the cause for the overcrowding in hospitals. I do not get it. This pandemic will never be over, do not try to justify why these people deserve more treatment, when people are in harms way of other people getting help.
Andrew Kunsberg
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Entity?
UpdatedRenée Horton argues in her Opinion piece on abortion that “The embryo and fetus are separate entities from the pregnant woman and we need to be honest about that biological fact.” She bases her objection to abortion on this; apparently a woman should be prevented from deciding the future of her embryo/fetus – this “entity” in her uterus.
The embryo/fetus may be a separate entity, but it is completely dependent on the woman and must reside in her uterus to become a fully developed human being. We quibble about weeks, but the fact is that there is only a 50% chance of survival outside the uterus at 24 weeks. Separate entity or not, the question remains: who bears the responsibility for the fetus/embryo? I assert that the woman alone has that responsibility: her decision to make while it is in her body.
Horton’s suggestions on curbing abortion are fine, but they do not obviate the need for the procedure itself and who should make that decision.
Kathy K.E.S. Donahue
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Who's Paying
UpdatedI see our White House mainstays, Biden and Harris, have everything under control. COVID, the southern border, Afghanistan, etc. Who is paying the salaries and expenses to spend time campaigning in California for Gavin Newsom?
Having just mailed my quarterly estimated income tax, I think it is me and that is not what I see in the President and Vice President job descriptions. Neither of these two have a very good record of accomplishing anything, so get to work and focus on your job.
Don Flood
Green Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Hospitals Have it all Wrong
UpdatedEvery day there are reports of people requiring emergency care and being denied, while Covid cases fill all available beds. The vast majority of these are people who have refused to take the vaccines, so easily available. Why should they be given preference? If it was up to me they would be allowed in after anyone else. I suppose there is a rule somewhere. If so it should be rescinded immediately.
Jack Walters
Northeast side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Daily Star Report: “Democrats revise voting rights bill”.
UpdatedDaily Star front page headline reads, “Democrats revise voting rights bill”.
The progressives are now on board with the revised bill stating that all human beings, citizen or not, living or dead, and of any age must be allowed to vote in US elections anytime, anywhere and as often as they chose; by any means (in-person, mail-in, telepathy).
Anything less is voter suppression, a GOP partisan power grab.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Trumpeters - grow up!
UpdatedI want what I want when I want it and I don't want to do anything to get it. The attitude of an aggressive child. Sorry folks -for no effort you get no results. Worse, if you try to fight natural law you get farther behind, not ahead. Unlike romantic fiction, in real life the outcomes follow the odds, or actually, the odds literally follow the frequencies of past outcomes. The only thing in life over which you have some control is your own behavior. If you want no one to control you, you must reciprocate and control no others. If you want to live in a group, or city, or town, you must agree to follow the rules of the group and to be penalized if you defy them. Facts are not what some talking head on your favorite media channel says, they are what actually happened in real life.
David P Vernon
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: LET'S ALL GET ON THE SAME PAGE
UpdatedTo the Editor:
We need to turn a deaf ear to the misinformation, baseless 'facts' espoused from far right gangs that have confused and angered many Americans. The spineless SCOTUS has backed away from overruling the Texas horrendous unconstitutional abortion law. Women have a constitutional right to choose and science/medical experts have proven getting vaccinated and wearing a mask will save your life, family members and citizens around the world. While extreme right gangs demand to choose to not wear masks and not get vaccinated, it will increase their chances of becoming infected with Covid-19 thereby increasing the possibility of transmitting the disease to people who are seemingly protected. Stop politicizing these issues!
The president has a huge job of getting SCOTUS and the spineless lawmakers in Congress to do the right things that will ultimately put us all on the same page.
Herb Stark
Downtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: The Peace Corps 'Style'
UpdatedEditor: re “Military money better used in style of the Peace Corps”. Column on Sept. 14.
Opting for the Peace Corps Style
That Peace Corps memory by Jim Herman really nailed it. Just imagine that we’d diverted war costs to send more volunteers to help in agriculture and education for 60 years, to work in fields and clinics and training centers. Imagine returned volunteers among us, speaking Vietnamese and Afghan languages, understanding the cultures. What could we "have produced"? Informed conversations? Wiser policy? A better USA?
Ford Burkhart
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 16
UpdatedWho’s paying?
I see our White House mainstays, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, have everything under control. COVID, the southern border, Afghanistan, etc. Who is paying the salaries and expenses for them to spend time campaigning in California for Gov. Gavin Newsom?
Having just mailed my quarterly estimated income tax, I think it is me, and that is not what I see in the president and vice president job descriptions. Neither of these two have a very good record of accomplishing anything, so get to work and focus on your job.
Don Flood
Green Valley
Save our water
With the grave threat of Lakes Mead/Powell becoming “DEAD POOLS,” common sense is mandatory: 1) Don’t develop new tracts of houses in the desert; 2) Don’t build any new dwellings; 3) Don’t allow private swimming pools; 4) Don’t plant green grass (use fake or gravel) or thirsty plants; 5) Golf courses must use recycled water; 6) Clean up poisoned water sources; 7) Don’t allow the southern Tucson mountains to be destroyed by Rosemont (we can’t drink copper); 8) Collect shower water in a big bucket while the water is warming up, then use it to flush the toilet; 9) Don’t use the dishwasher or washing machine until you have a full load.
In Maine, houses with septic tanks near a lake have signs, “If it’s yellow, it’s mellow”....”If it’s brown, flush it down.”
Let’s implement water-saving measures before it’s too late.
Diane Stephenson
Foothills
Remembering Don Shropshire
Re: the Sept. 12 insert “Rotary Club of Tucson Centennial.”
This insert, concerning the great accomplishments of the Tucson Rotary Club, contained a remembrance of long-term and fellow Rotarian, Don Shropshire the iconic former CEO of Tucson Medical Center.
I was fortunate to have worked with both him and Jerry Gilmore, who headed up the program, as they joined us in Green Valley in the 1980s to create and develop La Posada. Today it is rightfully honored for being one of America’s most prestigious continuing care retirement communities. He was, and remained so his entire life, a man of great character, honor, vision and fortitude, as was his counterpart, Mr. Gilmore. I appreciate the Tucson Rotary Club for including him in the article.
Carl Bosse
Green Valley
Forgotten group in ‘roll call’
Re: the Sept. 12 letter “Roll call for the unvaccinated.”
The letter provided a list of groups who are resisting vaccination, and the reasons why. Pretty accurate, but one significant group was left out — those with a political axe to grind. Many are still embracing the original words and messaging of Donald Trump — “it’s a hoax, it will disappear, it’s like the flu, kids don’t get it” etc.
As did Trump, some conservatives are still promoting quack cures and ineffective drugs (horse de-wormer, anyone?). Though the ex-president is now saying “take the vaccine,” his prior words and messaging have done a great disservice to public health and have done much to keep this pandemic alive and well. How unfortunate many still buy into that dangerous and false messaging, keeping us from vanquishing the virus and getting back to some degree of normalcy.
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Dead pool? Really!
Re: the Sept. 12 article “’Dead pool’ in Mead, Powell?”
What will it take to get us to take climate change seriously? I’m sure that I, like many Tucsonans, was dismayed to see on the front page of Sunday’s paper that now the experts feel a dead pool of our water CAP source is a distinct possibility. We need to plan now for adaptation. But we have ignored too long the root cause, climate change. We need to address it now aggressively.
We have a great opportunity to do so with the budget reconciliation process in the U.S. Senate. According to climate scientists and economists alike, putting a price on carbon is the most efficient and doable path forward. Rebating households with those fees provides a buffer to protect lower income households. The Senate finance committee is really considering this; we must encourage Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to support this and encourage their colleagues to do so, too.
Linda Karl
Northeast side
Entity?
Re: the Sept. 12 article “To curb abortions, support women at work, in their lives.”
Renée Schafer Horton argues in her Opinion piece on abortion that “The embryo and fetus are separate entities from the pregnant woman, and we need to be honest about that biological fact.” She bases her objection to abortion on this: Apparently a woman should be prevented from deciding the future of her embryo/fetus — this “entity” in her uterus.
The embryo/fetus may be a separate entity, but it is completely dependent on the woman and must reside in her uterus to become a fully developed human being. We quibble about weeks, but the fact is that there is only a 50% chance of survival outside the uterus at 24 weeks. Separate entity or not, the question remains: Who bears the responsibility for the fetus/embryo? I assert that the woman alone has that responsibility, her decision to make while it is in her body.
Horton’s suggestions on curbing abortions are fine, but they do not obviate the need for the procedure itself and who should make that decision.
Kathy K.E.S. Donahue
Foothills
A woman’s choice
To the ‘Pro Life Movement” I would like to say: So it’s OK to take control over someone’s uterus, any woman’s uterus? I am so glad that I had to have a very necessary complete hysterectomy at 40 years of age. I am also glad that I had very diseased organs, so that it was my choice to take the ‘pill’ until the situation became unbearable. No one could make those choices for me either.
My 82-year-old partner is so glad no one could stop him from having a vasectomy. I’m also glad for him.
Now the U.S. is suing the state of Texas on behalf of women’s rights. Let us respect the rights of all women and men.
Let us help keep women who endanger their lives by getting backstreet, unsterile abortions. Making ridiculous laws will not stop helplessly desperate women who have been beaten, raped and tortured for the enjoyment of men.
Janice Campos
Foothills
Think of others!
If there was a shot to help mitigate diabetes and people with heart disease, I would be the first to get the vaccine. It is not necessarily due to exercise and diet. My brother fell and was in the emergency room for five days, no beds available, and he subsequently died. People who are not vaccinated are selfish and the cause for the overcrowding in hospitals. I do not get it.
Andrew Kunsberg
East side
Thank you, COVID believers!
Thank you, COVID believers, for: Wearing your masks to protect our frail, elderly and children so they might breathe without a respirator.
For agreeing to get vaccinated for our public health and not insisting your rights are being trampled on.
For looking forward and appreciating the fact with freedom comes responsibility for all.
For not burdening our health care workers and not allowing non-COVID patients to be sent far away to receive health care.
For not contributing to the health care costs that our insurance companies will pass on to all consumers.
For educating yourselves off social media and finding credible sites that speak credible information.
For not letting your friends die with the misinformation.
For continuing to get the word out to help move us up from No. 40 of the top 50 vaccinated countries.
Susan Bennett
Southwest side
Hospitals have it all wrong
Every day there are reports of people requiring emergency care and being denied, while COVID cases fill all available beds. The vast majority of these are people who have refused to take the vaccines, so easily available. Why should they be given preference? If it was up to me, they would be allowed in after anyone else. I suppose there is a rule somewhere. If so, it should be rescinded immediately.
Jack Walters
Northeast side
Letter: A Pathway To Unity
UpdatedOne of the most troubling questions frequently asked throughout America today in all walks of life is, especially after observing the anniversary of 9/11, when will we as a nation set aside our individual differences and become once again people of prideful “unity?” Not just in a universal sense; but in personal relationships that challenge us from day to day. When? Hopefully when the “adults” in the room ensure that our public education systems at all levels preach and teach “unity.” That’s it! One pathway for developing the foundation for the commitment to the inherent values of “unity” is offered to us by Robert Fulgrum, author of “All I Really Need To Know, I Learned In Kindergarten.” A classic. Regardless of age or grade level, none of us are too old to learn. Just show up for class. Yes, it’s that simple!
Don Weaver
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Vaccines
UpdatedHow sad that it comes to needing a vaccine mandate to get people vaccinated. Growing up we were vaccinated against small pox, and then polio, when it became available. No one talked about rights or constitutionality, we did it because it was the right thing to do for the health of all citizens, especially the children. George Washington mandated vaccination against smallpox because the disease was killing many more soldiers than British bullets. Small Pox and Polio are now essentially eradicated. This pandemic could well be on the way to elimination if we had continued the vaccination rates started in the spring. Please get vaccinated for all our children.
Don Ries
Southeast side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Anti-vaxxers suffering from oppositional defiant disorder
UpdatedMany of the millions of Americans who refuse to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus remind me of Professor Wagstaff, the character depicted by Groucho Marx in the 1932 comedy film, Horse Feathers. Wagstaff, who was the headmaster of Huxley College, refused to accept any suggestions from its trustees. The factual soundness of their recommendations was irrelevant to Wagstaff. Like some anti-vaxxers, he seemed to be suffering from a psychological condition typically associated with adolescents, something today’s psychologists might refer to as oppositional defiant disorder. The lyrics to the epic song performed by Groucho’s character say it all about today’s neurotic contrarians: “I don’t know what they have to say, makes no difference anyway, your proposition may be good, but let’s have one thing understood, whatever it is, I’m against it”. Politicians who champion such irrational and dangerous thinking should be ashamed.
Charles S. Sabalos
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Injection photos
UpdatedWhat is the point of the endless photos of vaccinations in news stories, both print media and TV? Those who are needle-phobic will be turned off by seeing them. Those who oppose vaccinations will not be persuaded by seeing them.
Much better, I believe, would be pictures of COVID victims on respirators - scary, but more motivating for getting vaccinated. Or, pictures of families in mourning as another Covid victim in a coffin is lowered into the ground.The newspaper's choice of what photos to run can have as much emotional impact as the text, and will be seen even if the text goes unread. So why keep showing injections?
Chris Gilbert
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Federal Vaccination Mandate
UpdatedIn the September 10, 2021 article "President announces new vaccine mandate" this was stated: "Federal workers and contractors will have 75 days to get fully vaccinated. Workers who don't comply will be referred to their agencies' human resources departments for counseling and discipline, to include potential termination." Hum, China's re-education??
Leona Kolbet
Northwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: We Hope Congress Acts Now for Citizenship Pathway
UpdatedIt is so important that we as Arizonans take a moment to appreciate the diligence of undocumented essential workers – including the many Dreamers, TPS holders, and farmworkers among them – who continue to contribute to the fabric of American society under the threat of being separated from their families and community.
The budget reconciliation process is our best opportunity to secure a pathway to citizenship that would modernize our outdated immigration system. And supporting citizenship in this way merely conforms with the views of an overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle; about eight out of 10 Democrats and six out of 10 Republicans agree with providing a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants instead of deporting them.
As a Latino-serving non-profit fighting for community empowerment, we hope Sens. Mark Kelly and Kristen Sinema recognize that these immigrants have earned the opportunity to fully contribute to our country without fear. The time to act is now.
Ricardo M. Jasso, CEO and Carlos Gonzalez, Chairman Amistades, Inc.
West side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Vaccine Mandate
UpdatedThank God for Joe Biden. He has the guts to stand up to the anti-vaccers, the silly Republican Governors, that say “don’t wear a mask durning a pandemic. Thank God for Merick Garland, standing up to Texas’ illegal abortion law. You know, yesterday was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, 3 past President’s showed up for the ceremony. Not Trump, he hosted a “prize fight” that evening. Of course, besides being pathetic, this man and his followers, are the problem. Glad more and more of us are getting SICK and TIRED, of these selfish fools. I got a news flash for these guys, it’s not about your rights, it’s about the common good!
Mary Bradley
Northeast side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Global warming
UpdatedI keep hearing from all these politicians about global warming and I have a suggestion about how they can really do something about it. Stop flying around in a 747 and taking several very large cargo plans with you that all take thousands of gallons of fuel every trip and members of Congress can stop flying relatives across the country to visit DC. SO lets get after all of them to do something about global warming or stop talking about it.
Thomas R Crawford
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 15
UpdatedVaccinate for the good of
others
How sad that it comes to needing a vaccine mandate to get people vaccinated. Growing up we were vaccinated against smallpox, and then polio, when it became available. No one talked about rights or constitutionality; we did it because it was the right thing to do for the health of all citizens, especially the children.
George Washington mandated vaccination against smallpox because the disease was killing many more soldiers than British bullets. Smallpox and polio are now essentially eradicated. This pandemic could well be on the way to elimination if we had continued the vaccination rates started in the spring. Please get vaccinated for all our children.
Don Ries
Southeast side
Federal vax
mandate
Re: the Sept. 10 article “President announces new vaccine mandate.”
In this article, it was stated: “Federal workers and contractors will have 75 days to get fully vaccinated. Workers who don’t comply will be referred to their agencies’ human resources departments for counseling and discipline, to include potential termination.” Hum, China’s re-education?
Leona Kolbet
Northwest side
Lessons from
Groucho
Many of the millions of Americans who refuse to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus remind me of Professor Wagstaff, the character depicted by Groucho Marx in the 1932 comedy film, Horse Feathers. Wagstaff, who was the headmaster of Huxley College, refused to accept any suggestions from its trustees. The factual soundness of their recommendations was irrelevant to Wagstaff. Like some anti-vaxxers, he seemed to be suffering from a psychological condition typically associated with adolescents, something today’s psychologists might refer to as oppositional defiant disorder.
The lyrics to the epic song performed by Groucho’s character say it all about today’s neurotic contrarians: “I don’t know what they have to say, makes no difference anyway, your proposition may be good, but let’s have one thing understood, whatever it is, I’m against it.”
Politicians who champion such irrational and dangerous thinking should be ashamed.
Charles S. Sabalos
Foothills
Citizenship pathway
It is so important that we as Arizonans take a moment to appreciate the diligence of undocumented essential workers — including the many Dreamers, TPS holders, and farmworkers among them — who continue to contribute to the fabric of American society under the threat of being separated from their families and community.
The budget reconciliation process is our best opportunity to secure a pathway to citizenship that would modernize our outdated immigration system. And supporting citizenship in this way merely conforms with the views of an overwhelming majority of Americans on both sides of the political aisle; about eight out of 10 Democrats and six out of 10 Republicans agree with providing a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants instead of deporting them.
As a Latino-serving non-profit fighting for community empowerment, we hope Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema recognize that these immigrants have earned the opportunity to fully contribute to our country without fear. The time to act is now.
Ricardo M. Jasso. and Carlos Gonzalez
West side
Stop the injection
photos
What is the point of the endless photos of vaccinations in news stories, both print media and TV? Those who are needle-phobic will be turned off by seeing them. Those who oppose vaccinations will not be persuaded by seeing them.
Much better, I believe, would be pictures of COVID victims on respirators — scary, but more motivating for getting vaccinated. Or, pictures of families in mourning as another COVID victim in a coffin is lowered into the ground. The newspaper’s choice of what photos to run can have as much emotional impact as the text and will be seen even if the text goes unread. So why keep showing injections?
Chris Gilbert
Foothills
Stop bills that are
anti-education
Arizona ranks 48th in the US for spending on K-12 education. Improving education is good for our kids and our economy. Arizona voters recognized this, by passing Proposition 208, a bill that would raise up to $1 billion for public schools. Proposition 208 would be funded by a 3.5% tax surcharge on wealthy filers.
But the Legislature has passed three bills aimed at undermining education investment and the will of the voters. 1) The flat tax, which will result in a permanent $1.9 billion loss in state revenue per year. A similar flat tax wrecked the Kansas economy and was eventually repealed. 2) The Tax Cap, for wealthy earners. This would result in decreasing Arizona’s general fund, including K-12 spending by over $250 million per year. And 3) SB1783, which creates new tax categories for the wealthy.
Each of these bills disproportionately benefits the rich and undermines Arizona voters. Please sign petitions against these bills, and let your representatives know.
Bill Hatcher
Midtown
Global
warming
I keep hearing from all these politicians about global warming, and I have a suggestion about how they can really do something about it. Stop flying around in a 747 and taking several very large cargo plans with you that all take thousands of gallons of fuel every trip and members of Congress can stop flying relatives across the country to visit D.C. So let’s get after all of them to do something about global warming or stop talking about it.
Thomas R Crawford
Foothills
Do your
part
Re: the Sept. 13 letter “Thanks a lot, anti-vaxxers.”
I agree with the gentleman in Benson. There are many who do not want to take the vaccine for whatever reasons, then end up sick with COVID. Why? Your selfish actions by not getting vaccinated are causing too many problems throughout the health care system. The hospital staff are overworked because of individuals who refused to take the COVID shot. Accidents, stroke or heart attack patients, etc., and their families are left wondering, and even waiting for a free bed for their loved ones.
I understand small children, etc., are exempt; for those unvaccinated individuals who are perfectly healthy, you should be setting a good example for others by getting your COVID shot, helping our country to get back to normal, instead of thinking only of yourselves. I am a kidney transplant patient, and I had my COVID shot in April. I am careful to not get around individuals who have not had the shot.
Please do your part, you could be saving a family member by getting your shot.
Sonia Heindel
South side Vaccine
mandate
Re: the Sept. 10 article “President announces new vaccine mandate.”
Thank God for Joe Biden. He has the guts to stand up to the anti-vaxxers and the silly Republican governors who say “don’t wear a mask during a pandemic.”
Thank God for Merrick Garland, standing up to Texas’ illegal abortion law.
Saturday was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and three past presidents showed up for the ceremony. Not Donald Trump — he hosted a “prize fight” that evening. Of course, besides being pathetic, this man and his followers, are the problem. Glad more and more of us are getting sick and tired of these selfish fools.
I got a news flash for these guys, it’s not about your rights, it’s about the common good!
Mary Bradley
Northeast side
Letter: Re: the Sept. 10. article “Lisa Askey: Arizona can't handle a tax hike now”
UpdatedThe West is on fire. Arizona is in a decade-long drought. The South and East are flooded by historic hurricanes and tornados, but let's concentrate on the truly important things that matter in Biden's climate change infrastructure package - the potential that a part of it may be paid for by returning corporate tax rates to where they were a few years ago.
Vern Lamplot
North side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: National Pain Month
UpdatedSeptember is Pain Awareness Month. Does anyone know or care? Maybe only the 50 plus million of us who suffer from chronic pain, now mostly unrelieved. Because of the 2016 edict written by the CDC, we are the ones who have paid a very high price. Yes there were abuses of opioid medications but it has been taken way out of proportion. Many of us were living a tolerable life before that little bit of normalcy was ripped away. Sometimes suicide is the only way out. Now, even those in acute pain and post op pain are sent home with OTC meds. Please think about your worst pain- multiply that by 24/7. That is what some of us have to try to live with! Write to your Congress reps and let them know how intolerable life can be. Maybe some day we will get relief!
Cynthia Quigley
Marana
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Re: the Aug. 25. article “Letter: Vaccinations against COVID 19 virus”
UpdatedRe: the Aug. 20 letter "Anti-vaxxers full of bluster."
The man who suggests that we not treat the unvaccinated for covid makes a ridiculous argument. That is if it was not so dark. So many vaccinated people are in the hospital (60% in Israel) Should we ask them to sign a DNR because they did not do their research about antibody enhanced immunity and thus got a worse case of the virus then they would have otherwise? Should we not treat people with lung cancer who made the choice to smoke? Should we not treat overweight people who made the choice to overeat and got diabetes? She we not treat people with heart disease because they refused to exercise? Also does this gentleman understand that there are safe treatments for covid to keep people out of the hospital, but that they have been suppressed in favor of an experimental vaccine with new MRNA technology and not longer term studies? Does he understand it is all about big pharma making money?
Heidi Wise
Downtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: The Virus Keepers
UpdatedPlain and simple, the Republican Party is pro-Covid. Their goal is to keep it going. From the initial denial (Democratic hoax) to incessant downplaying, science denial, hyping of unapproved drugs and dangerous "cures" (ingest cleaning chemicals) there is no inkling of sanity showing from the Party of Death. Republican governors have banned mask mandates for schools, willing to sacrifice your kids to show allegiance to Trump. Shameful attacks on public health workers and school employees are tolerated. Over 660,000 dead now - oh well! Being pro-Covid will keep the economy from recovering. That is their plan. Then blame Biden. In his recent speech about fighting Covid, our president said "patience is wearing thin" with those resisting vaccination. Former VP Mike Pence took great offense, claiming those words were highly inappropriate. This from the guy who was OK with Donald Trump's words commanding his supporters on Jan. 6 to storm the Capitol, with the murder of Mike Pence on their "to do" list. Incredible.
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Re: the Sept. 24. article “A new way to submit letters and guest opinions”
UpdatedMany of us saw the recent news story about a Murfreesboro, Tennessee 11th grader speaking before his school board about the importance of masks in preventing the spread of Covid. He spoke of his grandmother, a retired teacher who had been infected and who died from the virus. As he eloquently talked about his grandparents and elderly people being at a higher risk of infection, a woman sat behind him at the podium shaking her head, smiling and nonchalantly chewing her gum (or maybe her cud). Audible jeers and laughter can be heard from others in the crowd. This gut churning and heartbreaking scene reminded me of something once said long ago to another, (paraphrasing) "Have you no sense of decency, at long last have you left no sense of decency?"
This is what the wrath of Trumpism has wrought: No shame, no decency, just cruel ignorance. Not the country I grew up in. We learned by our parents' example. What examples we are leaving our kids?
William Muto
SaddleBrooke
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 14
UpdatedRaising rates, waning service
Tucson Water used to ensure that its customers could locate their meter boxes, access them to see the meter inside for reading it, checking for flow/leak, or turning a valve off in case of an emergency. Since the city has replaced all of its mechanical meters with AMR or electronic meters, the meter readers don’t even have to locate the meter or get out of their truck to read the meter, as they just press a button on their handheld computers.
The city has replaced all the metal meter box lids with plastic lids so the computers can get a strong signal from the ERT which registers the reading. The plastic lids are now seen during a downpour floating down the street. The meter boxes now fill up with mud, sand and debris, thus blocking the customer’s view. In many cases the entire meter box is essentially buried from view of the customer and Tucson Water employees. Don’t Tucson Water customers deserve better? Pay more, get less!
Max LaPlante
Southeast side
Biden nominee will hurt AZ
Re: the Sept. 5 article “Don’t let PRO Act gut entire gig economy.”
Thank you for this piece by Tim Steller on independent contractors. I write to highlight that President Biden’s nomination of David Weil to the Department of Labor is another grave threat to the livelihoods of Arizona independent contractors.
As a franchise business owner, I am also an independent contractor. While most people have not heard of Weil, he served in the same Labor Department role from 2014 to 2017. Weil’s re-nomination is based on his work as a researcher, and yet his academic views show a misguided bias toward the local businesses he would again regulate.
The bottom line is, Weil wants to turn dynamic Arizona into the restrictive California economy where so many independent contractors have lost their livelihoods to the recent A.B. 5 law.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to harm so many small businesses, I urge our Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to stand up for Arizona small businesses and oppose David Weil’s retread nomination.
David Haase
East side
Finger pointing and no solutions
It is easy to criticize, and difficult to create. Afghanistan withdrawal was never going to be pretty, but our military did an amazing job, evacuating over 120,000 people in mere days. I am tired of hearing their efforts dissed as a lame way to get at the president. The visa issuers were sluggish under Trump and still sluggish under Biden. Therein lay the problem of why many didn’t leave a year and a half ago when withdrawal was announced.
We have had a border crisis as long as we’ve had a border. The idea that Vice President Kamala Harris is supposed to wave a magic wand and fix all when the last four (and more) presidents tried to and could not, is preposterous. Will she make any headway? I hope so, but she just got here, and it is too early to judge. Again, just a not-too-subtle ploy by some to criticize anything and everything while offering no better solutions to difficult problems.
Christi Driggs
Northwest side
You can bet on Ducey
Priorities are skewed when it comes to Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent support of online sports betting. That seems to be more important than protecting our state’s health! The almighty dollar wins the bet!
Paula Palotay
Marana
Armchair QB in Afghanistan
I love how people find it so easy to sit back in their armchairs and second-guess every move that President Biden’s Administration has made as it pertains to ending the war in Afghanistan. (A war that should have never been initiated as 15 of the 19 hijackers on Sept. 11, 2001, were from Saudi Arabia; but then, oil is thicker than blood). Trump negotiated with the Taliban, a terrorist group, to end the war and exit by April 1, 2021. President Biden extended that deadline, which gave Americans who were in the country plenty of time to leave, except those deemed necessary to the mission.
War is ugly; ending war is ugly. I pray that the Afghans who supported us get out safely. While executing the plan of evacuation could have gone better, to say the current administration is a “threat,” is nonsense, especially considering that the last administration almost toppled our own democracy in their “exit.”
Terri Hicks
Northwest side
Climate change
Recently, 200 medical journals around the world published the same editorial urging all nations to respond to the public health threat of climate change. It states that “the greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius and to restore nature.”
Here in the U.S., the most important step we can take is for Congress to pass the budget reconciliation bill, which provides funding to set the U.S. on target to reduce our share of global warming and limit future climate disasters. It is imperative that Sens. Kelly and Sinema support this bill. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that global warming will intensify, but we have a chance to limit the worst outcomes if we act now. We have no time to waste.
Eve Shapiro
Foothills
Children and COVID
In response to Gov. Ducey’s ban on mask mandates in schools, a recent letter compared this situation to combat and said students have better odds of surviving COVID than a soldier does of surviving combat. His statement that students have a better chance of survival implies and acknowledges that some unmasked children will not survive COVID unscathed.
There are always casualties in combat, and some soldiers are considered to be expendable to accomplish the mission. What mission justifies a no-mask mandate that makes educators and children expendable? In contrast to decisions made in the heat of actual battle, Ducey’s decisions on masks and vaccines seem to be based on his cold-blooded political calculations of appeasing extremists of his party and exerting his power. Has our society declined such that children are expendable virus fodder at the whims of politicians to score political points?
Ducey is a little man who should never hold another public office.
Ronald Pelech
Midtown
Withholding treatment not the answer
Re: the Aug. 20 letter “Anti-vaxxers full of bluster.”
The man who suggests that we not treat the unvaccinated for COVID makes a ridiculous argument. That is if it were not so dark. So many vaccinated people are in the hospital. Should we ask them to sign a DNR because they did not do their research about antibody enhanced immunity and thus got a worse case of the virus then they would have otherwise? Should we not treat people with lung cancer who made the choice to smoke? Should we not treat overweight people who made the choice to overeat and got diabetes? She we not treat people with heart disease because they refused to exercise?
Heidi Wise
Downtown
GOP pro-COVID so it can blame Biden
Plain and simple, the Republican Party is pro-COVID. Their goal is to keep it going. From the initial denial (Democratic hoax) to incessant downplaying, science denial, hyping of unapproved drugs and dangerous “cures” (ingest cleaning chemicals), there is no inkling of sanity showing from the Party of Death.
Republican governors have banned mask mandates for schools, willing to sacrifice your kids to show allegiance to Trump. Shameful attacks on public health workers and school employees are tolerated. Being pro-COVID will keep the economy from recovering. I think that is their plan. Then blame Biden.
In his recent speech about fighting COVID, our president said “patience is wearing thin” with those resisting vaccination. Former Vice President Mike Pence took great offense, claiming those words were highly inappropriate. This from the guy who was OK with Donald Trump’s words commanding his supporters on Jan. 6 to storm the Capitol, with the murder of Mike Pence on their “to do” list. Incredible.
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Not the country I grew up in
Many of us saw the recent news story about a Murfreesboro, Tennessee, 11th grader speaking before his school board about the importance of masks in preventing the spread of COVID. He spoke of his grandmother, a retired teacher who had been infected and who died from the virus. As he eloquently talked about his grandparents and elderly people being at a higher risk of infection, a woman sat behind him at the podium shaking her head, smiling and nonchalantly chewing her gum. Audible jeers and laughter can be heard from others in the crowd. This gut-churning and heartbreaking scene reminded me of something once said long ago to another, (paraphrasing) “Have you no sense of decency, at long last have you left no sense of decency?”
This is what the wrath of Trumpism has wrought: No shame, no decency, just cruel ignorance. Not the country I grew up in. We learned by our parents’ example. What examples are we leaving our kids?
William Muto
SaddleBrooke
National Pain Month
September is Pain Awareness Month. Does anyone know or care? Maybe only the 50 plus million of us who suffer from chronic pain, now mostly unrelieved. Because of the 2016 edict written by the CDC, we are the ones who have paid a very high price. Yes there were abuses of opioid medications, but it has been taken way out of proportion.
Many of us were living a tolerable life before that little bit of normalcy was ripped away. Now, even those in acute pain and post-op pain are sent home with over-the-counter meds. Please think about your worst pain, multiply that and experience it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is what some of us have to try to live with. Write to your Congress reps and let them know how intolerable life can be. Maybe some day we will get relief.
Cynthia Quigley
Marana
Letter: 9/8 headline: Biden calls climate everybody's crisis
UpdatedMonster storms and wildfires are our new climate norm. Human costs are incalculable as are the costs to our economy from devasted farms, ranches, businesses and energy supply lines. Hurricane Ida alone will cut oil output for months. Rebuilding ravaged communities cost billions every year: just look at last year’s disasters in California, Texas, and an unprecedented hurricane season.
The two infrastructure bills circulating in Congress seem like bargain basement deals compared to the cost of doing nothing. “Building back better” means that we cannot rebuild stone age structures, and It means we need to develop clean energy technologies and build infrastructure for the 21st Century and beyond. Regrettably, too many members of Congress continue to ignore science and the realities of our human caused climate crisis. Many members - from both political parties – are bankrolled by special interests wanting to keep us reliant on carbon-based energy. I hope these bills pass, but like all voting in Washington, follow the money!
Kathy Krucker
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: “McCarthy’s telecom threat….” (9/7/‘21)
UpdatedThe Star published a editorial from the St. Louis Post Dispatch which skewers House Republican Leader McCarthy for his outrageous threat to our telecom companies should they comply with an information gathering effort pursued by a House Committee, which seeks to uncover evidence of wrongdoing by the former President and some allies (including McCarthy)in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capital and our democratic processes.
Last I looked we are supposed to be a democratic republic governed by the rule of law. McCarthy, as has been his practice, attempts to undermine an unquestionably legal governmental investigation, threatening our rules of law. Further, he threatens to use Congressional power to punish American companies, clearly an abuse of the legislative process.
I understand Congress is supposed to serve the people (read the Const.), not McCarthy’s
own pursuit of power at our expense. The Founders would be horrified,
Jim Greene
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Armchair Quarterbacking in Afghanistan
UpdatedI love how people find it so easy to sit back in their armchairs and second-guess every move that President Biden's Administration has made as it pertains to ending the war in Afghanistan. (A war that should have never been initiated as 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11/01 were from Saudi Arabia; but then, oil IS thicker than blood). Trump negotiated with the Taliban, a terrorist group, to end the war and exit by 4/1/21. President Biden extended that deadline, which gave American's who were in the country plenty of time to leave, except those deemed necessary to the mission. War is ugly; ending war is ugly. I pray that the Afghan's who supported us get out safely. While executing the plan of evacuation could have gone better, to say the current Administration is a "threat," is nonsense, especially considering that the last Administration almost toppled our own democracy in their "exit."
Terri Hicks
Northwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Thank you, Anti-vaxxers!
UpdatedAs I write this, my wife is in a local hospital awaiting transfer to a Tucson hospital that can perform a life saving operation. This is the third day of waiting because the hospitals are overflowing with COVID patients. Most of the covid patients have not been vaccinated. Some are children too young for shots and others who are physical compromised and cannot be vaccinated, they should get the care they need.
I do not care if the unvaccinated bring Covid home to their parents, grandparents, or children. But now you have endangered my wife of 57 years. Why should you be given precious beds in the hospital for you lack of concern for others? The triage people should only give you a cot in the parking lot.
William Hewes
Benson
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Biden Nominee Will Hurt Arizona Small Businesses During the Economic Recovery
UpdatedThank you for the Sept. 4, 2021 piece by Tim Steller on independent contractors. I write to highlight that President Biden’s nomination of David Weil to the Department of Labor is another grave threat to the livelihoods of Arizona independent contractors.
As a franchise business owner, I am also an independent contractor. While most people have not heard of Weil, he served in the same Labor Department role from 2014-2017. Weil’s re-nomination is based on his work as a researcher, and yet his academic views show a misguided bias toward the local businesses he would again regulate.
The bottom line is, Weil wants to turn dynamic Arizona into the restrictive California economy where so many independent contractors have lost their livelihoods to the recent A.B. 5 law.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to harm so many small businesses, I urge our Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly to stand up for Arizona small businesses and oppose David Weil’s retread nomination.
David Haase
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Finger pointing
UpdatedIt is easy to criticize, and difficult to create. Afghanistan withdrawal was never going to be pretty, but our military did an amazing job, evacuating over 120,000 people in mere days. I am tired of hearing their efforts dissed as a lame way to get at the president.The visa issuers were sluggish under Trump and still sluggish under Biden. Therein lay the problem of why many didn’t leave a year and a half ago when withdrawal was announced.
We have had a border crisis as long as we’ve had a border. The idea that Vice President Kamala Harris is supposed to wave a magic wand and fix all when the last four (and more) presidents tried to and could not, is preposterous. Will she make any headway? I hope so, but she just got here and it is too early to judge. Again, just a not-too-subtle ploy by some to criticize anything and everything while offering no better solutions to difficult problems.
Christi Driggs
Northwest side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: climate change
UpdatedRecently, 200 medical journals around the world published the same editorial urging all nations to respond to the public health threat of climate change. It states that "the greatest threat to global public health is the continued failure of world leaders to keep the global temperature rise below 1·5°C and to restore nature.” Here in the US, the most important step we can take is for Congress to pass the budget reconciliation bill which provides funding to set the US on target to reduce our share of global warming and limit future climate disasters. It is imperative that Senators Kelly and Sinema support this bill. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted that global warming will intensify but we have a chance to limit the worst outcomes if we act now. We have no time to waste.
Eve Shapiro
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 13
UpdatedSports betting is
bad public policy
Arizona has recently legalized sports betting, allowing people to gamble anywhere and use their credit cards to go into debt. Enticed by glitzy commercials, some will bet money they do not have and carry that debt with credit-card interest rates of 24% and more. This is a recipe for individual and family economic disasters.
It is shameful that wealthy actors appear in commercials to endorse sports betting. It is equally shameful that the supposedly moral Republican legislative majority voted to legalize this form of gambling to modestly increase state revenues. The politicians would not legally permit heroin or oxycodone use, but they have legalized another deadly form of addiction to make money. Now, Arizonans can go broke by wagering in the comfort of their own homes.
James Williams
Oro Valley
Carbon reliance
hard to shake
Monster storms and wildfires are our new climate norm. Human costs are incalculable as are the costs to our economy from devastated farms, ranches, businesses and energy supply lines. Hurricane Ida alone will cut oil output for months. Rebuilding ravaged communities costs billions every year: Just look at last year’s disasters in California, Texas, and an unprecedented hurricane season.
The two infrastructure bills circulating in Congress seem like bargain-basement deals compared to the cost of doing nothing. “Building back better” means that we cannot rebuild stone-age structures, and it means we need to develop clean-energy technologies and build infrastructure for the 21st century and beyond. Regrettably, too many members of Congress continue to ignore science and the realities of our human-caused climate crisis. Many members — from both political parties — are bankrolled by special interests wanting to keep us reliant on carbon-based energy. I hope these bills pass, but like all voting in Washington, follow the money!
Kathy Krucker
Midtown
'A' Mountain
being neglected
The city recently destroyed a citizen’s unobtrusive memorial while ignoring decades of neglect. The surrounding neighborhoods and advocates have long warned that highly flammable buffelgrass densely carpeting the south slope would soon consume the park and now it’s becoming a reality. When dry, a cigarette easily ignites the hot burning grass destroying the ecosystem. "A" Mountain's neglected south slope is now a "dead zone" where buffelgrass has smothered everything.
With over $100 million in tax abatements given corporations, then-Regina Romero’s Ward 1 and city authorities insisted volunteers be responsible for controlling invasive species and trash from vehicles while relying on understaffed police to address incidents of gunfire and frequent crashes on a steep, winding, shoulderless road never designed to commingle pedestrians and cyclists with speeding intoxicated drivers.
Tucson's unique iconic park and historic landmark needs restoration and dedicated maintenance after years of official neglect and abuse from vehicular occupants ignoring park rules.
Candace Charvoz Frank
West side
Thanks a lot,
anti-vaxxers
As I write this, my wife is in a local hospital awaiting transfer to a Tucson hospital that can perform a lifesaving operation. This is the third day of waiting because the hospitals are overflowing with COVID patients. Most of the covid patients have not been vaccinated. Some are children too young for shots and others who are physical compromised and cannot be vaccinated, they should get the care they need.
I do not care if the unvaccinated bring COVID home to their parents, grandparents or children. But now you have endangered my wife of 57 years. Why should you be given precious beds in the hospital for your lack of concern for others? The triage people should only give you a cot in the parking lot.
William Hewes
Benson
Letter: Justice to "protect" abortion seekers
UpdatedIn one short article you have published an oxymoron. In it, the word "protect" is used for those seeking to obtain "reproductive" health services. If I understand the concept correctly, reproduction is defined as creation of an offspring, while abortion means the "intentional and artificial termination of a pregnancy that destroys an embryo or fetus preventing birth (of an offspring)"
It appears that "reproductive" services shuld be relabelled "destructive" services
Zenovia Kunasz
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Seeking Information
UpdatedOdd how the people who wouldn't ask their physician about the latest news are sometimes the same people who seek medical information from their favorite "news" outlet.
Sharron Roemer
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Biden Declares Disaster
UpdatedWhen I saw that heading in bold letters, I thought the article was going to be about his presidency. I thought he was going to admit that Trump's southern border policies should have been kept in place. Instead, we have thousands of people illegally flooding into our country daily, some bringing the coronavirus with them. I thought he was going to admit that paying people not to work has been a disaster for employers trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic and the disastrous decision to lock down the country. He could have talked about how students, especially poor and minority ones, have fallen disastrously behind in their education because he wouldn't stand up to the teachers unions. The article might have been about how he orchestrated the pull out of Afghanistan abandoning thousands of Americans and Afghanis who aided us in fighting the Taliban so he could have a 9/11 photo op. Alas, the article was about the hurricane. C'mon Joe, admit it. You're a disaster.
Kevin Kaatz
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: abortion
UpdatedCan we at least be honest? Abortion bans only ban poor and working class women from choice. I dream of a time when no woman needs to choose to abort, but until then, all options need to be available.
Richard Snyder
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: We are all to blame
UpdatedEven though nearly one eighth of a million people were evacuated from Afghanistan in 15 days some letter writers complained that President Biden is the worst president of our era or he should be impeached.
In my lifetime President Eisenhower cut and ran out of Korea as did President Ford out of Vietnam, President Obama out of Iraq and President Biden out of Afghanistan. Retreating from losses in disastrous foreign wars seems less an impeachable offense and more a job description for American Presidents.
All of this could have been avoided if the advice of President Dwight Eisenhower, our last general who one a major war, had been heeded. He warned us to not get involved in land wars in Asia and to beware the military industrial state. Americans did neither. Perhaps we should all accept the blame.
Susie Morris
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Texas you don't scare me...
UpdatedHad my womb removed this past year.
Texas…You don’t scare me!
I must admit, I’m very ready to give you back to Mexico.
Years ago, Sam Houston did us no favors.
P.S. – I’m 80.
Sue Thompson
SaddleBrooke
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letter: Woman'sUterus belongs to her
UpdatedRe: the Sept. 9 letter "Woman's uterus belongs to her"
According to that letter, "The issue is body autonomy. A woman has the right to decide what goes on with her body."
Don't responsibilities go hand-in-hand with rights? And why do people who espouse this argument seem to propose that this right ony begins AFTER the woman becomes pregnant.
Other than in the case of rape, if a woman has the sole right to determine whether or not a child is born, doesn't a woman have the right and resposibility to prevent an unwanted pregnancy?
Seems to me that some believe that "getting a woman pregnant" and financially supporting a child is a man's responsibily, while only a woman has the right to decide if that child is born.
John Cioffi
Northeast side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
Letters to the Editor Sept. 12
UpdatedWe have met the enemy
Perhaps you, like I, have noticed the local news lately swings between stories of massive new development projects in our desert Southwest and articles outlining the ongoing effects of our drought and unabated water usage. The contrast is rather striking. Afterall, water is crucial to our well-being and is an incredibly precious and valuable resource for life in the desert. I’ve begun to wonder when we will realize that perhaps the most intractable and dangerous invasive species in the Sonoran Desert is us, human beings.
Melinda Sims
Northwest side
Abortion an act of destruction
In one short article you have published an oxymoron. In it, the word “protect” is used for those seeking to obtain “reproductive” health services. If I understand the concept correctly, reproduction is defined as creation of an offspring, while abortion means the “intentional and artificial termination of a pregnancy that destroys an embryo or fetus preventing birth (of an offspring)”
It appears that “reproductive” services shuld be relabeled “destructive” services.
Zenovia Kunasz
Oro Valley
Biden’s been disastrous
When I saw that heading — Biden declares disaster — in bold letters, I thought the article was going to be about his presidency. I thought he was going to admit that Trump’s southern border policies should have been kept in place. Instead, we have thousands of people illegally flooding into our country daily, some bringing the coronavirus with them. I thought he was going to admit that paying people not to work has been a disaster for employers trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic and the disastrous decision to lock down the country. He could have talked about how students, especially poor and minority ones, have fallen disastrously behind in their education because he wouldn’t stand up to the teachers unions. The article might have been about how he orchestrated the pullout of Afghanistan abandoning thousands of Americans and Afghanis who aided us in fighting the Taliban so he could have a 9/11 photo op. Alas, the article was about the hurricane. C’mon Joe, admit it. You’re a disaster.
Kevin Kaatz
Oro Valley
Consult your doctor, not TV
Odd how the people who wouldn’t ask their physician about the latest news are sometimes the same people who seek medical information from their favorite “news” outlet.
Sharron Roemer
East side
Roll call for the unvaccinated
April 15 was eventful for two reasons, first of course it’s tax day. Secondly it was when the supply and the ability to administer lifesaving mRNA technology COVID vaccines exceeded demand and all Americans could make this personal health choice.
Many have said no and I ask why. If America is to put COVID in our rearview mirror we must understand the unvaccinated:
(1) Evangelical Christians who may believe that illness is God’s will
(2) Illegal residents who fear that they will be deported if they come forward
(3) Libertarian groups who maintain that our Constitution allows all Americans to opt out
(4) Black Americans who suspect that this is just another century-old syphilis experiment
(5) The young and invincible that are tuned out and don’t care
(6) Busy, working people who don’t have time to get vaccinated.
Have I missed any of you?
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
With rights come responsibilities
Re: the Sept. 9 letter “Woman’s uterus belongs to her”
According to that letter, “The issue is body autonomy. A woman has the right to decide what goes on with her body.”
Don’t responsibilities go hand-in-hand with rights? And why do people who espouse this argument seem to propose that this right only begins after the woman becomes pregnant.
Other than in the case of rape, if a woman has the sole right to determine whether or not a child is born, doesn’t a woman have the right and responsibility to prevent an unwanted pregnancy?
Seems to me that some believe that “getting a woman pregnant” and financially supporting a child is a man’s responsibility, while only a woman has the right to decide if that child is born.
John Cioffi
Northeast side
Lots of plants produce pollen
There has recently been a Pima-centric discussion on whether or not to lift the ban on “fruiting” olive varieties. These fruiting varieties have been banned in Pima County for years due to the high allergic reaction to its pollen.
I wonder what the surveys at the time reveal about the level of mesquite, palo verde, and Parkinsonia tree pollen in the same samples. They seem to release highly allergic pollen as well.
It would be impossible to ban them as they volunteer everywhere, but they are natives. A letter writer said that’s why olive trees should be banned period, as they are not native.
Just a reminder that our Sonoran Desert has many great native plants but we have in our gardens and parks scores of plants that come from Australia, South Africa, Mexico & south, aloes from Africa. You get the point. I’m not ready to give up my Mediterranean fan palms just yet.
Allan Rose
Northeast side
Maybe we’re all to blame
Even though nearly one-eighth of a million people were evacuated from Afghanistan in 15 days, some letter writers complained that President Biden is the worst president of our era or he should be impeached.
In my lifetime President Eisenhower cut and ran out of Korea as did President Ford out of Vietnam, President Obama out of Iraq and President Biden out of Afghanistan. Retreating from losses in disastrous foreign wars seems less an impeachable offense and more a job description for American presidents.
All of this could have been avoided if the advice of President Dwight Eisenhower, our last general who one a major war, had been heeded. He warned us to not get involved in land wars in Asia and to beware the military industrial state. Americans did neither. Perhaps we should all accept the blame.
Susie Morris
Midtown
Coaches need to put kids first
I read an article in the paper a while ago about youth football returning after a year off. Those of you running organizations and coaching, please remember what you’re there for. I’ve been involved in youth sports for many many years and have seen the good and the bad from it.
Youth football is not about coaching the kids anymore; it’s about parents and coaches now and that needs to stop.
So please do your jobs correctly and get rid of the ego. You are not the lords of all creation — if you were, you wouldn’t be coaching youth football.
Just because you were named head coach or elected to the board does not mean you know everything or are above everybody else. You’re there for the kids to help them and do what’s best for them. Please remember that!
Joe Vega
Midtown
At 80, I don’t scare easily
Had my womb removed this past year.
Texas…You don’t scare me!
I must admit, I’m very ready to give you back to Mexico.
Years ago, Sam Houston did us no favors.
P.S.: I’m 80.
Sue Thompson
SaddleBrooke
Hansen, Davis much appreciated
I feel so lucky that both Greg Hansen and Tony Davis continue to provide depth, information and Tucson context to Star readers.
I rarely care about the sports pages, but read all of Hansen’s 100 articles. Especially glad he provided a lot of focus on coaches at all levels/sports and the long-term positive support/example the best provide for their players. Also, the excellent historical context that he detailed on racism in sports.
Tony Davis not only covers the many environmental issues we face, but gives background/context. When I came to Tucson, the Sierra Club and Arizonans for Water Without Waste (Juel Rodak) were the only voices in town. Tony knows that history, and more from times before.
Grateful thanks to them both!
Carolyn Leigh
West side
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