ACC needs to move to the future
Re: the Oct. 10 article “ACC’s Peterson wrong about energy.”
I agree with Mr. Carran that we need to move forward toward renewable energy. Why stay in the past? The future is not with expensive fossil fuels, but with renewables that are rapidly becoming more cost effective every year. My vote is for Sandra Kennedy and Lauren Kuby for the Arizona Corporation Commission. They will work toward this renewable future.
Corliss Jenkins-Sherry, Member of Tucson chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby
Northwest side
Abortion — who is actually hurt?
Every time I hear an abortion commercial, I hear that women’s rights are being taken away, but I wonder when a woman, or any human being is endowed with these rights? Science has determined that when life begins at conception, the unique DNA structure of a member of the human species has already been established. Does this human being have the same rights as the women that are going to abort them? As with so many things in society today, there is a failing to recognize biology as compared to recognizing emotions or feelings. If anyone wants to see themselves as a frog, who cares, but the moment of conception determines the species, which will remain human from a biology and DNA perspective. Have your identity tattooed on your forehead, but give the rights you demand to every other human, born or growing in the uterus.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
Real cause of inflation
Re: the Oct. 11 letter “Real cause of inflation.”
There had better not be any college economic textbooks that offer this fractured explanation for current inflationary pressures, or we are all in big trouble. The Fed did indeed increase money supply, but in response to a possible looming catastrophic economic collapse brought on by the worst shutdowns in 100 years, induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was not “in response to massive relief handouts.” Furthermore, media has listened to, and properly reported responsible business news outlets’ identification of the Russian invasion and supply chain issues as very heavy contributors to inflation. You are right sir: “It ain’t rocket science,” but it ain’t what you said it was either.
Gary Susko
Midtown
Social Security credit
Trying to give credit for the impending Social Security 8.7% cost of living increase to President Joe Biden and the Democrats is ridiculous. Congress enacted the cost of living adjustment provision as part of the 1972 Social Security amendments, and automatic annual COLAs began in 1975. Before that, benefits were increased only when Congress enacted special legislation. President Biden wasn’t elected to the Senate until November of 1972 after the legislation was passed. It passed during President Richard Nixon’s administration.
Jerry Knoski
East side
A watershed election: Don’t miss it!
Blake Masters criticizes Mark Kelly’s voting for President Joe Biden’s agenda, never mentioning whether the votes benefited Arizonans. Masters seeks a total abortion ban despite the majority of Arizonans opposing it.
Mark Finchem wants to oversee the compliance of voting rules while frequently violating the rules for candidates! His former law enforcement employer issued a “do not rehire” edict against him. He declared Donald Trump already won the 2024 presidency because it’s the only possible outcome.
Vying with Finchem’s claim for outrageousness is Kari Lake’s self-assessment as the personification of “the second coming.” She’s more qualified as a candidate for a padded cell than for the governor’s mansion.
“Honest” Abe Hamadeh doesn’t comprehend that one doesn’t anoint himself with that distinction.
Mitch McConnell’s comment decrying Republican “candidate quality” defines Arizona. Four proven, honest public servants against four mendacious, cartoon, wannabe autocrats and it’s currently a tossup. Kafka is spinning in his grave!
Rick Cohn
West side
Reproductive choice
As a Libertarian, I support both personal and economic freedom. I am pro-school choice, pro-reproductive rights, pro-gun, pro-marijuana, pro-free markets, and pro-universal health care. So each major party has things I like and hate. How to decide? To say that I am disgusted with most of the bills coming out of the Republican-controlled Arizona state government would be an understatement. Even if I have to lose school choice, I will vote straight Democratic to make abortion legal. But in the national races, I want the government to rein in spending. The best way to do so is to keep it divided. I will vote Republican for the House of Representatives and hold my nose to vote for Mark Kelly for the Senate.
Al Westerfield
Southwest side
GOP contempt for voters
In a recent interview on CNN, Kari Lake refused to say that she would accept the results of the upcoming election — unless she wins. This should be a real concern to all voters. Lake, like many other Republican candidates, is rejecting our nation’s founding principle that voters have the right to choose their leaders. This rejection, along with ongoing efforts to suppress certain classes of voters and gerrymander voting districts (not to speak of the Big Lie), is clear evidence that the GOP has shunned the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The GOP used to claim to be the party of law and order. They have become the party of lawless disorder and need to be rejected writ large at the polls in November.
Tom Ryan
East side
A return to statesmanship
As a lifelong voter, I believe in our two-party system. In the past, it has prevented either party from becoming too extreme, since each candidate had to appeal to a wide variety of voters within their party to get elected. Once those moderate Republicans and Democrats were elected, they became statesmen who worked across the aisle for the betterment of all Americans.
This is no longer the case. Moderate Republicans have been replaced by far-right MAGA extremists who have made a mockery of our democracy and ultimately sought to overthrow it.
If we are ever going to have a viable two-party system that fosters statesmanship and the progress it brings once again, we must vote the MAGAs out. Only then, can a new, revitalized Republican Party emerge. That is my plan and I hope it’s yours as well.
Joe L. Smith
Oro Valley
Republicans have no solutions
If Republicans win in this election, they plan to cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy, again! They claim that will reduce inflation. We know how well that worked for the UK last month (inflation increased, the British pound tanked, and the economy is in shambles; their Prime Minister had to resign).
We also know cutting taxes for the wealthy has starved funding for police, fire, and education. We can’t fight crime, solve homelessness, and meet community needs without tax revenue.
Cutting taxes for the wealthy is the Republicans’ only solution to everything. It does not work. Vote against Republicans.
In addition to huge tax cuts for billionaires, Republican state legislators had the audacity to overturn the law we passed in 2018 preventing private/church school vouchers from draining public school funding. The new voucher law is another tax cut for the wealthy at the expense of public schools. Vote against Republicans. They do not represent our interests.
Lisa Wolfe
North side
Civility
It is obvious to me that our country has lost its civility. People are espousing lies as truth, and being confrontational over issues of the day without using the common courtesy that I am hopeful their parents taught them. If their parents did not impart basic civility, grammar school should have. To get back to where we once were schools need to teach critical thinking and social civility. People need to be able to perform unbiased critical examination of information on their own, and learn that society expects polite and courteous social intercourse. Impassioned opinions should be encouraged but presented with polite and respectful civility. If we do not teach these basics, I feel we will dissolve into a chaotic and confrontational nation full of nothing but hate and resentment.
Carl Foster
Green Valley
Hobbs won’t joke about crime
Republicans tout themselves as the party that will address crime, yet their candidate for governor, Kari Lake, makes light of an 82-year-old who was attacked in his own home with a hammer to his head. If that’s addressing crime, I think I’ll vote for the Democrat. Katie Hobbs won’t joke about her constituents’ pain.
Carol Schaedler
North side
One-vote majority
Re: the Oct. 23 article “Local Senate races key for Legislature.”
As the Arizona Republican-led Legislature and our current politician-for-the-rich governor have demonstrated over the past two years, it only takes a one-vote majority to turn Arizona in the wrong direction: tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy; prosecuting citizens’ initiatives; constraining women’s rights; limiting public education spending with the Aggregate Spending Limit; and siphoning off public tax monies to private and parochial schools.
It’s time for a Democratic majority in the Legislature and a champion for the people in the governor’s office to turn our state in a positive direction for all Arizonans.
Voters in LD17, LD18, and LD21 hold the future of the state in our hands. Neighbors, please vote Katie Hobbs for governor; Mike Nickerson, Priya Sundareshan and Rosanna Gabaldón for state Senate; and the Democratic candidates for the state House. Vote blue for change.
Judi Moreillon
Northeast side
