School vouchers
Re: the Sept. 2 article “Voucher applicants already at private schools.”
Microcosms seldom fail to attract me and the article showcasing “what can possibly go wrong” with “the best laid plans of mice and men” has given me heartburn all day. The school voucher system was intended to give perhaps under-advantaged kids a chance to achieve their potential. However, apparently 75% of that money has been requested by families already having kids enrolled privately.
At best, this is lousy state government planning; or is it a transparent political boondoggle? Or, would someone be thought foolish to pass up an opportunity to save oneself $7000 bucks?
Reread first sentence.
Susan VonKersburg
Foothills
Pro-life not what it seems
As a PhD in life sciences who used to teach human reproduction to college students, I assert that the so-called pro-life movement is nothing of the kind. While the individual forms at conception, unless the conceptus implants properly in the uterus there is no pregnancy and the conceptus is lost. The so-called fetal heartbeat is not a heartbeat but a mere pulse, the heart does not actually form for many more months of gestation. Many fetuses fail to carry to term for reasons that are often indeterminate. Fetuses born too early are lost. Many malformations are known to occur and monsters incapable of life on their own have been delivered at childbirth. Many women die from complications of pregnancy. Both offspring and mother must make it to the end without misadventure for an actual baby to be delivered. There is no “right” to life, just a chance.
David P. Vernon
East side
Here or there: Why not both?
With the passing of another season, Arizonans get closer to selecting candidates for the 2022 elections. Choosing leaders who prioritize both domestic and foreign policy is important, as more people are being pushed into extreme poverty around the world, and the instability of the U.S economy intensifies. The Borgen Project — a nonprofit with volunteers in over 1,800 U.S cities — works to fight this global poverty issue that causes unnecessary financial stress. The suffering of those in less developed areas doesn’t respect borders, resulting in threats to national security and lost opportunities for American businesses. Arizonans are fortunate to have representatives Tom O’Halleran of the 2nd Congressional District and Raul Grijalva of the 7th Congressional District who support foreign policy and know that the effort put into less developed areas around the world ultimately saves U.S dollars with grand returns on investment. In the upcoming election, vote for the representative in your district that supports foreign policy, because widespread change starts with you.
Chloe McKendry
West side
Trump’s documents
The Presidential Records Act of 1978 establishes that presidential records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the archivist as soon as the president leaves office. In other words, a former president has no right to warehouse classified materials outside of the legal custody of the National Archives. The act was enacted after President Richard Nixon sought to destroy records relating to his presidential tenure upon his resignation in 1974. There it is, in plain English, so why the coddling of Donald Trump? He is entitled to the very same rights as any other U.S. citizen, but not more, even though he is an ex-president. Any other U.S. citizen would be in prison by now, but after more than a year and a half, Trump remains at large; with one excuse/reason or another as to why he has the documents. Why?
Jerry Lujan
SaddleBrooke
Monsoons during climate change?
Thus far at the National Weather Service’s sole official rain gauge located at Tucson International Airport, it has thus far been an average Monsoon season with about 4 inches of rain recorded. Other parts of metro Tucson, especially on the northwest side, have received more rain. Pusch Ridge is covered in green vegetation, great for those bighorn sheep living up there. Roadways are lined with high green grass. Butterflies and moths have returned, unfortunately for my car. Nogales, Safford, Sierra Vista, Wilcox, Ajo, and Picacho Peak all have had above normal rain amounts. So how is it that we still have a Monsoon season with ongoing catastrophic climate change and global warming? The atmosphere is full of human-caused CO2 emissions, yet the monsoon storm clouds rolled into Southern Arizona right on time in mid-June. And our summer temperatures have been more or less average. How can this still be with all the carbon-emitting vehicles on the road, cows emitting methane gas, and coal-powered electric plants still operating?
Langhorne Bilby
Marana
Projection
Of course the former president thinks that the search and seizure of our documents was political in nature. That is exactly what he would do. Since Richard Nixon tried to use the FBI against his political foes, all presidents except Donald Trump have adhered to strict policies separating the DOJ from the White House. It makes us safe from the abuse of any impetuous acts of an immoral man like Trump. Trump TV pundits have posited that either President Biden is incompetent for not knowing about the search beforehand or lying about not knowing. No, that would be how Trump would handle it.
Jeff Rayner
SaddleBrooke
Green energy myth
I continue to be shocked to see how many people lack the ability for analyzing a problem — especially involving green energy. They fail to recognize that the biggest majority of electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. Whether it is burned for energy production to charge a car battery, or it is burned in a gas-powered auto engine, it doesn’t make much difference. So, they are submitting to higher automobile investment costs with no effect on carbon dioxide emissions. If they are willing to pay higher auto costs just to avoid buying gasoline, that might be understandable, but it doesn’t do anything for the environment. Nuclear energy is the best solution to reduce carbon emissions. It is dependable and safe and doesn’t depend on the wind blowing or the sun shining.
Ken Wolfe
Marana
Code-talkers exemplify strength in diversity
Last month, ground was broken for a new museum to honor and tell the story of 400 Navajo code-talkers who helped America win World War II.
They took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942-45. Code-talkers reported on enemy troop movements by telephone and radio using their native language — a code that the Japanese never broke. Watching NBC’s coverage of this event, I couldn’t help but think about Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson and his famous theory that cultural diversity actually undermines America’s strength.
Ironically, the “Indian schools” that our Navajo heroes attended as children thought the same way, and punished students for speaking their native language. Thank God they failed, as Carlson will fail, to create a monoculture in America. They were not, as the saying goes, “riding the horse in the direction it’s going.”
Greg Lewis
Midtown
College tuition
If President Biden really cared about providing higher education for the masses, rather than the select few, he would have made tuition at community colleges free for all. He would have also decreed that those colleges be allowed to issue bachelor degrees in certain fields of study. He would have also made all 100- and 200-level courses at those colleges transferable to all public universities as long as a certain grade was obtained.
Stanley Ponczek
Northeast side
