Gas prices perspective
So gasoline prices are up about a dollar over the past year.
If you drive a 20 mpg vehicle 10,000 miles per year, you use about 500 gallons of gas, which now costs an extra $500.
Keep in mind that over the past year, there have been three rounds of COVID stimulus payments:
1. $1200 per adult, $500 per child
2. $600 per adult, $600 per child
3. $1400 per adult, $1400 per child
Total: $3200 per adult, $2500 per child
Compared to $500 per year extra for gas?
Anthony Vassallo
Green Valley
Trucker protest convoys convoluted
The U.S. is in the middle of a supply chain nightmare. Shelves are bare everywhere. There’s still a large number of container ships waiting to enter the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Currently, the U.S. reports a shortage of around 60,000 drivers.
Meanwhile, we have to endure these freedom convoys in Canada and the U.S. causing loss of jobs while workers miss out on millions of dollars in lost wages, all because of vaccine mandate protests at key U.S.-Canada trade crossings. It’s uncertain if any of these truckers are aware of this, but several companies in the U.S. are coming out with autonomous self driving trucks.
Tusimple is currently testing their trucks in Tucson, and another company, Aurora, is set to launch a driverless commercial by the end of 2023. Are these protesting truckers part of the solution or part of the problem?
Max LaPlante
Southeast side
West vs. East in college hoops
I believe there is a reason the West hasn't won a national championship since Lute and his team, and it's all about how the game is played. It was and is so obvious when playing both TCU and Houston that how the game is played in the Midwest and East is very different from the west.
At McKale and throughout the West, touch fouls are the rule. The game is played from a distance. In the East, it's hands-on push and shove your way to victory. It's let them play and the rougher the better.
Many of our players simply disappeared in the new style combat being executed and allowed by the refs. It's not about the skill and ability of our West teams, it's about how the game is played and allowed to play. Unless this problem is resolved in a national system of refereeing, we will enjoy our games and watch them being eliminated by physical combat.
Roger Engels
Green Valley
On banning books
On April 6, 1933, the Nazi Student Union ordered cleansing their nation of un-German spirits by burning books authored by Jews, liberals, homosexuals and Communists. The first of the many book-burning ceremonies occurred later on Bebelplatz, Berlin, led by Propaganda Minister, Joseph Goebbels. A quote often attributed to him, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it," still holds notable American adherents.
The large cobblestoned Bebelplatz surrounds a square glass window, revealing below white empty library stacks. A bronze plaque nearby quotes the 19th century poet Heinrich Heine, “That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people as well.” Today we see a fervor to “cleanse” America by banning certain books from our public libraries. Such assault accompanied by new state laws punishing LGBTQs and certain segments of voters prompted me to rephrase Heine, “That was but a prelude; where they ban books, they will ultimately ban people as well.” Please vote for honesty and compassion!
Ke Chiang Hsieh
Midtown
Abortion
You have quoted Sen. Nancy Barto, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of the 15-week abortion ban as saying “The baby inside of a woman is a separate life and needs to be protected."
The bill in question, SB 1164, includes the following definition: "Human being" means an individual member of the species homo sapiens, from and after the point of conception.
Every defense of anti-abortion laws that I have ever seen is based on the idea that individual human life begins at conception. They try to couch it in science by citing the creation of a new DNA sequence. In fact, science does not define when an individual human life begins. This is a religious concept.
For those of us who do not accept this concept, the law is an attempt to incorporate religious beliefs in the law, a clear violation of the First Amendment. Stop it.
Steven Brown
Midtown
Tucson treasure
This past Sunday we were treated to an outstanding performance of the musical "Rent," put on by the Arts Express Theatre. After many years of moving from venue to venue, Arts Express has found a permanent home in the Park Mall shopping center where they have acres of parking near the former Macy's entrance. We have been to three of their shows, and we have found their cast to be as enthusiastic and passionate in their performances as anything we have seen before in Tucson.
If you are a fan of good affordable entertainment, give Arts Express Theatre a chance.
Bill Hallam
Northeast side
Teaching children to litter
Re: the March 28 letter "A lot of selfish jerks out there."
The letter writer who referred to "selfish jerks" forgot to mention clueless, uncouth and inconsiderate. Two instances related to littering made me upset and depressed. One is when I went to Lakeside Park and discovered litter and garbage all along the lake, both inside and out.
The more upsetting, though, was when driving down Swan Road toward Speedway and saw a 20-something mother with her toddler eating something while sitting on the bench waiting for a bus on the other side of the street. A garbage can was right next to the bench. But instead of throwing her garbage in the garbage can, she threw it in the street.
I kept wondering if that is the type of behavior that she is teaching her children — if all her family and friends are that inconsiderate toward others and if they just reinforce each other's behaviors. Then I started wondering if her learned behaviors impacted her relationships to others in a variety of ways and that littering is just one component.
Dave Abbott
Southeast side
Consequences of behavior
To make this short and sweet, violence at the Academy Awards should not be tolerated without punishment. It is not accepted in other arenas. Medals and titles revoked often with fines. Why should this event be any different? The support of peace for Ukraine attacks was marred by their behavior. Attacks are attacks regardless of size.
Sometimes apologies are not enough. Strip Mr. Smith of his award. Ban Mr. Rock from further attendance or participation in the event, not because of the joke but because of the animosity between the two. He chose this public platform as a power play.
Harsh as it may sound, a level of professionalism should exist.
Up to the Academy to decide, of course, but it did happen on their stage and overshadowed the elation of the other actors and accomplishments.
Jennifer Galler
Southwest side
