Uncivil behavior
poisons the well
Begin 2022 by imagining what some of our legislators are committed to as defined by their New Year’s resolutions. Let’s guess. Could it be to simply agree to a solution to some long-standing problems? There are lots of those. Or simply becoming more personally respectful to those across the aisle? There are lots of those, too. How about always advancing the truth? Not half-truths. The real truth. Still not enough of those. The list could go on. Here’s a clue. After the senator from West Virginia expressed his views of not supporting the president’s Build Back Better bill, he was characterized by a fellow member of the chamber as a white man who doesn’t care for Blacks, Latinos, immigrants, women or the poor. Setting aside disparaging quotes from other colleagues, can you imagine “peace” and “goodwill” on anyone’s list? Or what our resolve as a nation might be a year from now?
Don Weaver
Midtown
Prices jacked up
by monopolies
Prices are off the charts for food, cars and housing. As a result, inflation is the highest it’s been since 1990. But it’s not the fault of workers, supply shortages, or government spending.
The true culprit, in my opinion, is corporate monopolies.
Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon dominate the technology industry. Tyson and Cargill rule the market for chicken, beef and pork. The profits of oil companies Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and others soared to $174 billion in 2021 as U.S. gas prices rose.
These companies all raised prices for consumers, laid off workers and scored record profits during the pandemic.
Fortunately, Joe Biden will not stand for price gouging. He’s put together a team of trustbusters at the Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and the White House.
Biden will become the greatest trustbuster since Theodore Roosevelt.
Larry Bodine
North side
Ariz. Legislature
rightly reined in
Re: the Jan. 7 article "AZ high court reasserts power over Legislature"
What wonderful news, a huge improvement for our state, although the heading sounds ominous and threatening! It’s not that the AZ Supreme Court suddenly asserts its power over the Legislature; instead, it correctly chastises a Legislature gone haywire pushing through all kinds of bills by attaching them to omnibus bills that have nothing to do with the central issue. Our lawmakers ought to decide on individual bills as they emerge irrespective of their own party affiliation. The last years have witnessed a terrible widening of the political aisles, whereas the political process requires true majority votes to move our state forward. New bills must be discussed openly and honestly and should not be secretly folded into other legislation. We need to move beyond myopic and parochial viewpoints in politics and ought to embrace honest and informed opinions that will shape the future of our state. If legislators are opposed to critical race theory, for instance, they ought to explain this openly and then consider counterarguments, before they vote.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Space telescope
uplifts humankind
Look up on a clear moonless night. The view of the universe is infinite in all directions. The James Webb Space Telescope will look back to the dawn of creation, capturing light from brilliant stars that lived and died billions of years before our world condensed out of dust and gas in our little run-of-the- mill spiral galaxy. As impressive as JWST is, however, it is nothing compared to the imagination and startling creativity of those who made it. All of their ideas, musings and hard work are for you. The story of the universe is for everyone. We are lucky that our society values learning, exploring, dreaming, a desire for novelty, new places, new understanding. The search for our origins is deep in our culture and woven into art, music, writing, the endless varieties of storytelling that entertain us as they teach us. It’s hard to put a tangible worth to any of this, but we know that we would be terribly diminished without it.
Tod Lauer
Foothills
Guess I'm now
a communist
Re: the January 7th letter, “Free bus service is communism”
If free public transportation is communism, than I will gladly join arms with my comrades on the Tucson City Council in the noble fight to create a robust transportation system for all of the metro area! Color me a pinko commie but I look forward to next Wednesday when I am able to rid myself of my four-wheeled ball and chain that is my private vehicle and instead, simultaneously listen to Westside Gunn and scroll Twitter while getting to class. Even better, why waste time with Uber and Lyft when after a tough day on campus, I can take the responsible roundtrip transport to my local watering hole? Nothing like a fish bowl from the Hut and some modern streetcar camaraderie. But sure, “communism”! Ooga booga!
Rodrigo Guerrero
Midtown
McKale Center
a superspreader
Re: the Jan. 5 letter "Mask mandate at McKale farcical."
McKale, formerly the pride of Arizona basketball, is now Tucson's "Destination Superspreader." While athletic staff chat with unmasked fans during Monday's Washington game, "Stub Hubbers," (many season ticket holders had the good sense to stay away,) thumbed their noses at powerless security people holding "Mask Up" signs. The letter writer was right. McKale has become a petri dish, a danger to players and fans alike.
Mary Peachin
Foothills
Biden has failed
on testing front
On Jan. 4, there were 885,000 new cases of COVID in America and 2,384 new deaths. The weekly average now is about 547,000 cases under Biden. The previous weekly record of 250,100 was on Jan. 8, 2021, under Trump. The latter number was within just a couple weeks of the FDA's approval of vaccines. Biden was in large part elected because of attacking Trump for his handling of COVID. In a presidential debate, Biden remarked that he would end the pandemic. All Biden needed to do was to get people tested and vaccinated. He has done good on the latter but been caught flat-footed on testing availability. As of Jan. 4, 2022, there have been 828,000 COVID deaths in America, 400,000 under Trump and 428,000-plus under Biden. Remember on July 4, 2021, Biden declared, "It (COVID) no longer controls our lives, it no longer paralyzes our nation and it’s within our power to make sure it never does so again.”
Claudia Wilson
Midtown
On population,
think smaller
Re: the Jan. 3 article "US would be more happy with more people."
This piece ranks in the top three most absurd articles I've read in the Star's opinion pages in several years. Cowen claims America is in a funk, needing more people to achieve "momentum" and "ascending successes" to push us toward "successively stronger positions" (whatever those are). Then the clincher — the more patriotic among us realize we need a larger populace. Tyler must support totally open borders, a quick way to achieve his wish to grow America's population. Much faster than procreation. He tells us how much more exciting he finds cities and states with lots of people. To each his own, I guess. At what point might the realization dawn that more people might not be a desirable thing? Environmental issues? Not to worry, according to Cowen, more people translates into more chances to solve our dire climate crisis. You know, that planet-threatening crisis caused by too many people and their irresponsible handling of "ascending successes."
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
