Minimum wage hike detrimental
Forty-five years ago, I lived in a small mining town in New Mexico. There were three main mining companies.
One mining company would get a raise and prices would go up in town. The second mining company would then get a raise and prices would go up again in town. The third mining company would get a raise and prices would go up again in town.
After all the raises and price increases were computed it was a wash. The cost of living went up equal to the raises received.
Who was hurt be this increase in prices? The people on fixed incomes, the elderly and disabled.
Now it seems like everyone is in favor of raising minimum wage. If history repeats itself no one will gain, only the people on fixed incomes — the elderly and disabled — will suffer.
Thomas Wenzel
East side
TP rampage is upon us again
The other day, I went to Costco to purchase a few items. Upon reaching the bathroom tissue area, I noticed a huge hole where that stock is normally in abundance. Not one roll of any brand existed.
I needed TP as I’d not bought any in quite a while and asked an employee if it was the insidious “TP Crazies” again. He just shook his head.
Didn’t the hoarders from the last episode learn? Those with 300 rolls stored in their garages must be happy. Maybe they can now sell some.
No Costco location had any bathroom tissue remaining. This helped me create a slogan: “Who needs a vaccine as long as you can keep your bottom clean!” I may make up a T-shirt with that printed on it.
Barbara Mongan
West side
Republicans culling own herd
In the Richard Nixon era, Republicans adopted a strategy to build a solid conservative base in the American South, and allied areas. This followed the demoralizing Goldwater defeat and seemed to be validated by the Reagan victories.
Now there are several red-state governors who seem determined to manage the pandemic with such ignorance and weakness that they may lessen the numbers of Republican voters and shamefully their children.
Higher pandemic infections and deaths in some red states could lead to a weaker Republican Party. Deceased persons are dropped from voter rolls.
Jim Greene
Oro Valley
Praise for Sinema on infrastructure deal
Arizonans should be so proud of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema for being a leader in negotiating landmark infrastructure legislation that will improve the United States for future decades.
Presidents in the past have attempted this and never brought it to fruition. This is very real testimony that the bipartisanship she wants works!
Dave Locey
Foothills
An electricity dump
The plan to bring a 138-kilovolt overhead transmission line through the city center and residential neighborhoods, which violates restrictions voted by citizens, is obscene.
How destructive this would be! Tucson prides itself on its visual beauty.
I noticed the DeMoss Petrie substation has the acronym “DMP.” They’ve got that right. Sounds like “dump” to me. Dumping on Tucson.
Don’t let them do it and don’t let them charge Tucsonans massive assessments to put the lines underground. TEP should place the line underground as a matter of course.
Beverly Rutter
Midtown
The right to vote is fragile
Article 15 of the Constitution gives the right to vote to people of color, and along came the filibuster to give the Southern states the ability to block that article.
Article 19 gives the right to vote to women, Article 26 gives the right to vote for people 18 and over. What happens to a democracy when the right to vote is taken away from them by a minority party?
Roger Engels
Oro Valley
The “virtue signaling” coin
Re: the Aug. 11 article “Rebellious schools right, Ducey wrong on masks.”
If one considers that “virtue signaling” has two or more sides: good or bad, real or fake, then its meaning may have more to do with the interpretation of the receiver than the intent of the sender.
Case in point. Tim Steller stating that the governor is “playing footsies with the faction of his party that has gone anti-vax and anti-mask, Ducey has been signaling to GOP voters that he’s an acceptable politician by opposing masks and vaccine mandates.”
Ah, so this could be the “fake” side of the coin.
The governor is simply courting favor from a select political class with a different point of view.
Not surprising, that’s Tim’s view. My view, and certainly other “open-minded” readers, would support the idea that maybe the governor actually believes in the “moral correctness” of “freedom of choice” when it comes to mandates.
Or comes from an “acceptable politician” of either party.
Don Weaver
Midtown
We must go back to Afghanistan
Everyone is obviously dismayed over the lack of resolution following a 20-year NATO military mission to train and support Afghan troops in fending off the Taliban’s brutality against Afghan citizens.
Clearly, however, the abrupt withdrawal of NATO troops has gravely exacerbated an intolerable situation.
An Aug. 10 AP article reports that the Taliban wasted no time in turning their guns on Afghans and has been waging an assassination campaign targeting senior government officials.
Immediate United Nations response was limited to a warning that a Taliban military takeover would not be recognized. In reality, Taliban leaders could care less whether the UN recognizes their brutal oppression of Afghan citizens.
To restore a semblance of decency and order, President Joe Biden must call upon both our Department of Defense and NATO to immediately return their troops to Afghanistan to bring the Taliban under control and prevent massive slaughter of innocent citizens.
John Newport, Ph.D.
Northwest side
It is not our kind of war
Throughout history, religious wars have gone on for years. The religious fighters are doing it for their strong beliefs, no matter how long it takes. They believe it is God’s will and are willing to die for it as they believe they will enter a better life.
The Afghan and U.S. troops are fighting a political, military war and are not willing to die for a political belief.
The crusades went on for years. Some simmer but never end, as in Northern Ireland. Many in the Afghan army are Muslim and may be willing to put up with the Taliban if it brings peace.
Fighting in Afghanistan has been going on longer than the 20 years we have been there. The population is tired of war and is willing to put up with the Taliban if it brings a few years peace.
Afghanistan has been called “the graveyard of empires.”
Donald Plummer
Northwest side
