An observation
Almost 80, Paul McCartney performed 2½ hours during each of his just completed tour shows playing guitar, piano and ukulele. I then observe President Joe Biden’s movements, speeches and outbursts and think to myself, “This is not a well man.” I cannot and will not vote for his reelection.
Mark Moral East side
Migrant deaths avoidable
As a border area resident, I mourn and rage, along with others, over the needless, tragic deaths of over 50 Guatemalan, Honduran and Mexican children and adults, left to die of asphyxiation in an airless truck on a back road near San Antonio. Mexican and Central American migrants confronting cruel U.S. turn-back policies such as Title 42 and “Remain in Mexico” are forced every day into decisions that cause at minimum lifelong trauma and far too often their lives. A functional immigration system would follow international law allowing orderly processing at border crossings. A functional foreign policy in our backyard would fund fair and just land ownership, meaningful community-based jobs and educational opportunities in countries wracked by apathy, corruption and barbarism at the top. As we wait for these changes, migrants scrape together money for death-defying journeys and end up dead in trailer trucks and on desert trails.
Laurie Melrood West side
Even Elvis knew better
Pro-abortion factions promote “woman’s choice” of her personal body. Other arguments include rape, incest and proven physical defects. What about pro-lifer religious groups (church) that won’t take an unborn life, but allow the death penalty (state). I don’t see a separation of church and state there.
Some want to represent the unwanted babies. To paraphrase some of the lyrics in the Elvis composition “In the Ghetto”: another baby is born and mama cried — don’t need another hungry mouth to feed. We’re not assuming only ghettos and barrios.
The song continues to suggest that the baby grows into a life of crime, and dies “by the sword.”
Mark Tornga Oro Valley
Ducey’s hypocrisy
Gov. Doug Ducey is offering up to $7,000 to all Arizona school children. Most poor families won’t be able to afford the rest of the tuition, so the money will be used by middle class families. If Ducey would give $7,000 extra to all underperforming schools, then every family would have access to quality education.
I do not vote Republican, but my parents did, they would be appalled at his actions.
Yes, Ducey is a hypocrite. Where will he get the money? Possibly from the public schools and teachers, thus making them more inadequate. I doubt if he will raise my taxes.
I am 82 years old. My three children and five grandchildren have all attended public schools. Two are still in TUSD schools. I have lived in Ohio, New York, Georgia and now here. I have never seen such duplicitous behavior from any other governor.
Eleanor Soler East side
Protection from guns
In our country, the owners of approximately 400 million guns, including millions of AR-15 assault-type weapons, have their gun rights safely protected by the Second Amendment. But there is no right to be safely protected from massacre by gunfire which can happen anywhere, even in schools and at a Fourth of July parade where families gathered to celebrate freedom.
Helen Murphy Sierra Vista
A new political party
As a female senior citizen, I have seen my medical rights and those of my sisters of all ages taken away by a group of white, conservative males. As a result, I would suggest a new political party be formed called the Peyronies Party. Membership would be open to all females over the age of 10, as that seems to be the acceptable age for female children to be forced to have a baby. Part of the platform should include but not be limited to: 1. Requiring all males who want to consult with urologists or other medical personal to get prior approval from the state Legislature; 2. Medical personnel would be prevented by law from providing services relating to erectile dysfunction, prostate issues including cancer screening and incontinence; 3. Prescriptions for ED and the sale of condoms shall be banned.
The Peyronies Party logo and anthem will be coming soon.
Jeanne Herstad SaddleBrooke
A plea to gun owners
Mass shootings are continuing. The mood of the country is changing. Old norms of respect for hunters are falling before the cult of high-capacity guns. Most Americans now favor banning or regulating high-capacity weapons, or so I understand. Even my gun-owning friends agree in principle, but feel they can’t go public for fear that will kill gun ownership altogether.
Taking guns away has never been true, so far. Maybe, though, it will happen now, as mass shootings continue, the mood of the people changes, and attempts to regulate are stonewalled. I am hearing more calls to rescind the Second Amendment entirely.
You can stop it. Unite. Call for rewriting the Second Amendment your way. Protect your hunting rifles and small-capacity handguns and ban or regulate high-capacity weapons. Only you can lead a charge like this.
Your time is now. The more you delay, the more calls for rescission. Give me the choice to support a revision of the Second Amendment, and not its demise.
James Owens Marana
Transition time
Like it or not, it’s time to transition from fossil fuels. The technology is here and it is cost effective. Now we need to change our way of thinking.
You can get solar panels and an electric vehicle. This could be an electric bike, car or whatever comes next but you can bet it will be electric.
Another side benefit is no reliance on oil companies. Pollution and climate change will improve. Oil and power companies will fight out of self preservation but will eventually lose.
Just because you have done something all your life doesn’t mean it is the only way or best way. They said the automobile would never replace the horse and buggy.
Robert McNeil Midtown
Must be a Democrat
Re: the July 9 letter “GOP welcomes radicals.”
Response to this letter, but also to Democrats that ascribe the most nasty, vile traits and beliefs to all Republicans. Back at ya! The definition of a Democrat — if you believe it’s OK to “peacefully protest” by burning businesses and ruining lives, attacking and damaging government buildings, wearing black and attacking tourists — antifa, you must be a Democrat. If you believe in opening U.S. borders to Chinese fentanyl and killing more men between the ages of 18-35 than anything else and allowing cartels to make millions from sex trafficking vulnerable young women, must be a Democrat. If you’re fine with shortages and crippling price increases on food and gas, must be a Democrat. If you worry more about law-abiding citizens having guns than young men killing each other every day in our major cities, must be a Democrat. And lastly, if you’re OK with ripping a God-given baby from the womb, murdering an innocent for your convenience, and claiming some “right,” you must be a Democrat.
Debra Berthelot Marana
A boy and his dog
An 8-year-old whose spinal cord shattered by a round from an assault rifle, a victim of the mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, awoke from surgery the other day and asked to see his twin brother and his dog, maybe unaware that he may never walk again. This little boy along with the others in Uvalde, Sandy Hook. etc., etc., didn’t ask for this to happen to them but we cowering fellow Americans made it possible.
What kind of country do we live in where greedy gun manufacturers, the NRA and gutless politicians allow these war weapons to be available to anybody, nut case or not, while we stand by watching, offering pointless thoughts and prayers? Why aren’t we raising holy hell and demanding that these merchants of death be prosecuted, sued into bankruptcy and thrown out of office? Our God-given right to bear arms? Explain that to the little kid who probably won’t ever be able to run again with his brother and their dog.
William and Angela Muto SaddleBrooke
Prime concern
Amazon isn’t an illegal monopoly, but it wants to monopolize you. Prepare to be monopolized. I’m a senior living 30 miles from a town of any size, and Amazon has been my main retail purchase outlet, especially during the pandemic and concurrent troubles.
Amazon Prime is something else altogether. Once Amazon had sold you all they could, they wondered how they might get just a little more. They needed a way to charge you when you weren’t buying. So they formed a club, Prime, which guaranteed them an ongoing membership payment from you. For a monthly or annual retainer, you will receive deals, if you buy more; and even if you don’t buy, you will retain membership!
The Prime algorithms shift the pea beneath the shells with Machiavellian touch, until you are subsumed by the Prime. Don’t buy from Amazon on Prime Day. Prime marketing is beyond just business, it’s the Blob.
Hal Hill Benson
Astronomers are dazzled
Re: the July 13 article “Even astronomers are dazzled.”
The telescopic accomplishments of this dedicated group of scientists, some being from our own U of A, are amazing. The front page picture before Henry Brean’s comprehensive article was, indeed, dazzling. And according to Wikipedia, as of this July 13, there are “at least 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe.”
Imagine what they will see.
Regents’ science professor George Rieke states in the article that “… Researchers are almost assured to discover things no one has seen before. We’re going to make people have to rewrite textbooks.”
My hope is that they will come across lifeforms that exist without killing their young, each other or their habitats. My prayer is that they will be allowed to share this with us, no matter how humbling or unbelievable.
As my mother always told me, “The truth will come out.”
Sadly, mother didn’t know we might run out of time.
Karen Papagapitos
Northwest side
Focus on AG race
On the heels of the failed attempt to get enough signatures to add reproductive rights to the ballot, I’m looking for alternatives that don’t take waiting until 2024. They got 175,000 signatures in 61 days and it took two years to get 800,000 in Michigan. This is encouraging and discouraging. Where was democratic leadership on this issue? I didn’t even hear about it until the last day and was unable to sign.
Kris Mayes is the only candidate in the race for attorney general in Arizona promising to fight on this issue. The incumbent is promising to enforce a 100-year-old ban from before Arizona was a state and women could vote. The attorney general will control which laws are enforced for the next two years as we get enough signatures to add ballot initiatives.
Regardless of where one falls in the debate personally, a majority of Arizonans believe that women should have abortion access. Vote for Kris Mayes.
Thanks!
Katie O’Rourke Northwest side
Do away with conferences
All this talk about the Pac this and the BIG that. Let’s do away with them. The NCAA already regulates college sports, some would say poorly. It is my opinion athletic conferences have outlived their usefulness. Pac/BIG conference suits are great at getting wealthy and other than being useless participants in large TV deals, and providing un-needed cable channels which televise, or not, games we can watch for free on the internet. Go get real jobs, you overpaid unimportant conference big wigs and let universities make their own TV/postseason deals!
Scott Thompson East side
Response to throwing chairs
Re: the July 13 article “Throwing chairs across the floor.”
The writer compares former Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight to Donald Trump in a most unfavorable manner. The most important item he fails to note is that Knight never cheated. I attended IU, arriving the same year as Knight so I got to enjoy the years of success. I never agreed with some of the things he did and I always thought the university should have made an effort to rein him in. He insisted his players go to class and graduate. When 17,000 fans started chanting “bull——” after a questionable call, Knight, no stranger to profanity, grabbed the public address microphone and told the crowd “This is Indiana University. We don’t do that here.” He was cheered for it. Knight, like most of us, had many faults, but he has more integrity in his fingernail than Trump ever had. Please don’t ever compare the two.
Roy Wait SaddleBrooke Ranch
