Don't get 'Primed'
It's Amazon Prime days. On July 7, streaming ABC News was shilling for Amazon by making the newly imagined Amazon Prime Day an upcoming and ongoing news item. I object to Amazon's repeated attempts to join me to Prime. Their methods rely on tricks as cheesy as making "join" hooks and links in real big fonts, and your choice to not join (which you have to check) is in small fonts at page bottom.
A month ago Amazon was offering free shipping for orders over $25; today, Amazon still offers the free shipping offer, but only if you are a Prime member.
Unlike the flamboyant robber barons of the 1920s, Amazon is content to pick your pocket for loose change using Prime. I think Amazon wants to bind your decision to renew annually, they want a guaranteed annual income from you. Don't join Amazon Prime, don't be assimilated. Amazon Prime Day is a marketing ploy designed to sign up more revolving annual subscriptions, not a holiday. ABC should be ashamed.
Hal Hill
Benson
So you want my vote?
Attention all candidates seeking elected office, if you want my vote you must:
1. Tell me what you will do to make Arizona, Tucson and my life better.
2. Refrain from any reference to your opponent(s). I don’t care what you think they did or didn’t do.
3. Immediately disassociate yourself from the self-serving, narcissistic pathological liar who pretended to be the 45th president
Taylor Reed
Northwest side
Water conservation
Late afternoon the other day I drove south on Oracle Road and passed Evergreen Cemetery. It was shocking to see the amount of water gushing. I wondered if it is effluent water and even if this is so, it seemed so wasteful and unnecessary. Maybe it is time to rethink keeping this space “ever green” and the long-term price to be paid for doing so.
Joan Meggitt
Midtown
Biden's $3B EV battery plan
In May, President Joe Biden announced a $3 billion electric vehicle lithium ion battery production package. It was part of the $1 trillion infrastructure deal. The $3 billion will go toward producing and recycling critical minerals, without new extraction on mining or sourcing materials for domestic manufacturing. One of the main components of lithium ion batteries is blue cobalt and 70% of the world's supply comes from the Congo. China owns many of the Cobalt mines there. The New York Times reported, "Yet currently, lithium, cobalt and other minerals needed for electric car batteries and energy storage are processed primarily in Asia. China alone controls 80% of the world’s processing and refining of those critical minerals." In March, Biden used the Defense Production Act to support federal funding of mining for cobalt, nickel and other elements in batteries. But will Democrat progressive environmental activists turn a blind eye to more open-pit mining projects and their impacts on the environment? Will they not, as with the Rosemont mine, litigate to halt them?
Linda Kelly
East side
Immigration offices in other countries
Why doesn’t the U.S. have immigration offices in Central American countries and Mexico where asylum and work permit applications can be tendered by persons who otherwise are traveling to and crossing our southern border illegally? Such applications can be transferred electronically to the same offices in the U.S. that now handle them. I think a large majority of asylum seekers are actually seeking to improve their living standards. Considering the volume of unskilled jobs available in the U.S. economy, many of the asylum applications should be for seasonal or multiyear work permits instead. Persons with work permits would help address labor shortages in the U.S. while money sent home from such individuals would improve the quality of life for those in their home country. These workers would contribute to our Social Security system and be eligible for Social Security payments in their futures.
John Schmitz
Marana
Supporting Sundareshan
As an Arizona citizen, a product of Tucson public schools and a graduate of the U of A with a Ph.D. in education, I need to share my support and admiration for Priya Sundareshan. Arizona needs her as our state senator. She was born and raised in Tucson, and attended our public schools. She graduated from MIT in engineering, and teaches natural resources at the U of A law school. She and her husband have two preschool children. I am confident that she will advocate for our students, teachers and parents and our community. The power of education does transform lives. Her key issues include water, security, renewable energy, public education and perhaps most importantly the protection of democracy. I know Priya, I value and trust her. She cares deeply about Tucson, and has the knowledge and desire to represent us well as an Arizona state senator.
Klaire Kaufman Pirtle
Foothills
Bungled health care
Adding to everyday frustration is trying to address health-care billing. A service provided in February is being billed to me every month, now with threats to send it to a collection agency. I have paperwork from my insurance provider that this was paid. Even these hospital bills say that, but in the next column Banner insists I must pay this amount also even after Banner accepted the AARP MEDICARE payment. I thought that was fraud. I tried calling the state government office of insurance only to find that no one was in the office and the message box was full. I tried calling my health-care insurance provider only to be told their office was closed and to call back during “business hours” which were not stated. I’ve written letters and called Banner with no results. I appreciate how hard it is to get problems solved!
JoAnne Hungate
Foothills
American racism
I grew up in a small California town that had no African Americans. I went to a state college where African Americans represented less than 3% of the student body. I then served in the Marine Corps infantry in Vietnam during the 1960s. About 15% of our troopers were African Americans. Their competency and bravery matched that of the other Marines. When I returned home, I found that racism was just as prevalent as when I left. Since the Democrats had passed the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, I switched my political affiliation to their party. I am more convinced than ever that I made the right decision.
David Byrne
Northwest side
Ducey, GOP sabotage education
I think Gov. Doug Ducey and the Republicans in the state Legislature have undercut public education in this state by giving massive public monies through vouchers to private and religious schools. Ducey said "Our kids will no longer be locked in underperforming schools." Maybe public schools are having trouble because Ducey and his Republican cronies have consistently denied them funds they should have received. Our teacher pay and per-student state support are near the lowest in the country. But with the new voucher system private schools can become even more segregated for the wealthy and religious schools can provide more students with religious indoctrination. Those who labor to pass on the benefits of civilization and democracy to future generations deserve our support, not a financial punch in the gut.
Wes Jernigan
Midtown
Wake up, America
I look around today and feel a deep sense of sadness. What has happened to our great America? Mental illness is rampant as the news proves. Our country is in shambles. An emotional war has ravished our country. Yet we think we have a right to decide the fate of a little egg that cannot speak.
If those little eggs could talk, would they choose being a part of this world? We are deciding their fate yet we cannot love our neighbor!
We do not take good care of each other as it is. Mass shootings, child abuse, spousal abuse, elderly abuse, drug abuse is proof of this. Fighting, fighting, fighting!
Who are we to decide one's fate when we don't take care of ourselves or our loved ones? We travel a heartbreaking road.
I grieve for my country!
Pamela Fauxbel
Green Valley
Ready, fire, aim
For all the talk of gun control, the rhetoric being used today does nothing to help prevent the shootings in the inner city and the affluent suburbs. But there is a common denominator to all this and that is the gun itself. I cannot for the life of me understand the logic of the NRA in opposing any kind of gun control. Just think if the NRA would work with John Q. Public either through the local or national government to come up with a set of guidelines for gun ownership that include background checks, training and age limitations. Don’t you think we could have a more civil and safe society? Democracy is an experiment that our forefathers initiated with the idea in mind that “all men are created equal.” So how does that justify a society where we live in fear of the state of mind of a gun owner, given today's lack of rules a regulations for gun ownership?
Frank Flasch
North side
Previewing candidates
Re: the July 8 article "Looking at Arizona legislative candidates."
Carmen Duarte has nailed it in her series. These articles should be required reading for all Tucson-area voters. She has written a clear, unbiased description of each candidate’s accomplishments and positions.
I find her previews very useful as I peruse my mail-in ballot, especially as I go down to some of the lesser-publicized offices. Voters should pay attention to all the candidates, not just those at the top of the ballot. The old saying, “All politics is local” is really true.
Writing such a long, detailed description of all the candidates’ positions must have been an arduous, demanding task.
Duarte is a treasure! Small wonder that she was recently added to the U of A’s Journalism Hall of Fame.
Jerry Helm
Northwest side
Arizonans under attack
At best, we expect our elected representatives to protect our rights and improve our lives. At the very least, we expect them to do us no harm. I think our Republican legislators have failed Arizonans on all counts.
They were relentless in attacking our right to vote, proposing over 140 voter suppression bills, each designed to intimidate, harass and discourage us from voting.
They were relentless in attacking our children’s right to a quality education, withholding billions from our public schools, denying teachers their right to free speech, imposing limits on what can be taught, banning books and preventing professionals from doing their job.
They were relentless in attacking women’s rights, inflicting untold suffering, altering their lives and preventing doctors from acting in the best interests of their patients.
Rather than protecting our rights, our Republican legislators diminished them. Rather than improving our lives, they harmed them. It’s time to vote them out.
Lois Postil
Oro Valley
Political campaign signs
Around Tucson, I have seen signs for Tom Horne. On each sign, there are the words “Stop Critical Race Theory.” I wonder if Horne knows that critical race theory is only taught in law schools, certainly not in the public schools or in the private schools that are being financed by Republicans’ vouchers. A person who offers himself as a candidate for the position of superintendent of public instruction ought have a basic knowledge of what is being taught in Arizona’s schools. I suspect that Horne doesn’t want anything taught in Arizona schools that talks about our shameful racial past and the progress our country has made in managing racial issues. If that makes students uncomfortable, perhaps they will take the next step to being more open to people who don’t look like them. That would represent a step forward in public instruction in our state.
Rick Smith
Foothills
Pac-12 and realignment
Apparently it's all about market forces, but how and who pays for TV broadcasting rights? Must be the advertisers, but how do they know this is a good return on investment? First, half the demographics watching college football must be over 50 and predominantly male. Are any of these folks influenced much by ads? Second, who watches them anyway? Spoiler alert: The savvy fan turns on the game, puts it on pause for 45 minutes while doing chores, comes back and zips through both commercials and halftime. Third, who watches games after 8 p.m. in that age demographic? Most of us are an hour into sound sleep.
Thomas Rothe
Foothills
