You're a jurist,
not a caseworker
During the Supreme Court discussions about getting rid of legal abortion, Amy Coney Barrett said that pregnant women could have their babies and put them up for adoption. Since when did she become a social worker? Her comments did not reflect a legal argument in favor of abandoning abortion but reflected her personal views which were entirely inappropriate.
Susan Hetherington
East side
Photo choice
disappointing
I was disturbed by the Daily Star’s front page coverage of the Supreme Court hearing on Roe v. Wade. A large colorful picture with only anti-abortion signs, including “Ask me why you deserve hell.” Of all the pictures you could use, you chose one that’s most incendiary. A picture of people on both sides with signs would have been more responsible.
Front and center in the picture is a man proclaiming “I oppose abortion.” It made me think of a cartoon on the issue. A wife turns to her husband and says, “Feeling the way you do about abortion, Arthur, you probably shouldn’t have one.”
Sylvia Thorson-Smith
East side
Vaccination is
a patriotic duty
I was delighted to hear when President Joe Biden finally pointed out the obvious, that vaccination is a patriotic duty in the worldwide war with COVID. As a veteran, I recall no option, as a member of the military, to pick and choose among the dozens of inoculations I received. As horrible as the Vietnam War was, it was a much less dangerous conflict for our nation than this pandemic.
Yet, somehow, many patriots find the most effective weapon against the virus is unacceptable because it is not their personal choice. Politics should have no place in a time of war, but the very weapon developed by the Trump Warp Speed program, and put into his arm, is not acceptable to many of his followers.
Patriotic Americans, it’s your shot and duty to fight the virus, literally. Save yourself and your country. Roll up your sleeves!
Mark Day
East side
Anti-science GOP
must be rebuked
It's about time President Biden took off the gloves and went after the anti-vaccine, anti-science wing of what has become the Trump GOP. That millions of Americans somehow think they are being loyal Republicans by putting neighbors and family at risk shows just how far the party has degenerated. What a shame the party of great men like John McCain has fallen under the spell of a divisive and mendacious demagogue.
Mark Hall
Foothills
Hoping the Star
remains useful
I have been a been an online subscriber to the Arizona Daily Star for years. It shows up, without fail, in my email every morning around 4:30 a.m. Some of the many benefits of an online subscription is that you can click on the links within an article, public notice or ad for more detailed information, you can sign up for the weekly reader chat that highlights a wide range of local folks, and you can easily translate an article into Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese or Russian (cool beans). I applaud the journalistic standards of our paper, if these standards or any of the other benefits I prize are lost due to the takeover I will cancel my subscription.
Abreeza Zegeer
West side
Mining threatens
Patagonia range
Re: the Dec. 9 article "Hucksters and hype at Hudbay Minerals."
Thank you, Stanley Hart, for writing this piece and the Star, for publishing this fact-filled, most useful article on the proposed mines in the Santa Ritas.
I hope the same attention is paid to what is happening in the Patagonia Mountains and mining there.
Michael J Bruwer
Midtown
Biden said he'd
end pandemic
In the October 2020, presidential debate, candidate Joe Biden declared that he would "end this" meaning the COVID pandemic. His remarks were meant as a rebuke of Trump's handling of COVID. Remember it was Trump's Warp Speed project that developed vaccines Moderna and Pfizer in use today. Fast-forward 14 months and we are still in the pandemic with an average of 119,000 new cases a day and COVID-related deaths are averaging 1,600 per day. Six states including Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York have the highest cases. ICU beds in Pima County are almost maxed out with COVID patients. Most cases in America are from the delta variant. Biden previously said in a debate that “anyone who is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America.” At the time under Donald Trump, the U.S. had 220,000 COVID deaths. COVID deaths in the U.S. under Biden now exceed 353,000. He should not remain as president!
Tricia Thompson
Marana
Cowards allow
virus to spread
When young American men were fleeing to Canada to avoid being drafted into the armed services during the war with Vietnam, politically conservative Americans labeled them as traitors for refusing to serve their country. I see a definite parallel with those who refuse to be vaccinated against the COVID virus. They, too, are refusing to serve their country by allowing the virus to freely spread across America, causing needless suffering and death. Those who are able to take the vaccine but refuse should be called out as the cowards they truly are.
Tony Banks
Oro Valley
Vehicle-charging
obstacles abound
Millions of people like me reside in apartments across America. If we wanted to get on board the Biden and Democrats' electric car scheme by driving up gasoline prices, how would we charge our electric vehicle? It would require charging stations placed at thousands of apartment complexes. People would need to wait in line or schedule their charging. Charging times vary from 30 minutes to overnight depending on the type of charger and the battery pack. The infrastructure bill that passed in Congress provides federal government subsidies for the building of electric charging stations, but to my knowledge, not at apartment complexes. I have not heard anyone on the left mention this. It frankly is discriminatory against apartment dwellers and a disincentive for them to purchase an electric vehicle. Think of all the unnecessary CO2 they will continue to emit. All the commercials on TV advertising electric cars have them at individual houses with the charging station in or at the garage. No commercials showing electric vehicle owners charging at apartments.
Gusher Adams
Midtown
To ease scarcity,
collect rainwater
I am a Tucsonan born and raised and a college student here at Pima Community College. I have concerns regarding the water shortage. The climate situation has our state and local agents looking to enhance the quality and conserve our water supply. The Colorado River recently declared a water shortage. Severe drought conditions, dry vegetation fueled wildfires and climate change has added to this water shortage. This shortage is seen firsthand at the Arizona and Nevada borders at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, two of the river's main reservoirs. The city of Tucson’s guidance for 2000-2050 is detailed. I wanted to see if anyone has considered rainwater harvesting?
There are basically three areas where rainwater can be used: to water gardens, wash vehicles and even bathe your pets. Rainwater collection is environmentally positive in many ways. These systems counteract stormwater runoff and so reduce flooding, erosion and groundwater contamination. When combined with enlightened infiltration designs like rain gardens, a natural state can be regained.
Thank you for reading.
Erica Buelna
South side
Pup doesn't need
any stinkin' ID
Voter ID is so anti-democratic, everyone should be able to participate in an election.
My dog would love to vote for my candidate. Signature verification? He doesn’t want his paw print collected and verified; it would violate his right to privacy.
He also doesn’t want to walk to the polls, the pavement and potholes are hard on him. He wants to mail in his ballot.
He believes that because he is a mixed breed that his right to not be discriminated against because of his breeding is being violated.
He wants to be registered in the 11th hour of the election without ID and be able to vote for his master’s candidate. I have educated him well!
But I digress, I have more than one dog who would like to use “voter suppression” as a reason to be able to vote for my candidate.
Gotta love being suppressed and not having your vote counted!
Woof, woof!
Rich Barnes
East side
