Hospitals should
change policies
Re: the Sept. 13 letter "Thanks a lot, anti-vaxxers."
Thank you to the writer for his letter. Readers are pulling for him and his wife.
I, too, experienced waiting in emergency rooms on two different days, walking out after 18 hours and no response. The crowds there finally heard why we waited: no beds. Staff is overwhelmed, quitting, no technicians, no way to treat those coming in. βSorry,β they said.
Why, by no choice of our own, are we, the injured and ill, going through this? You know. The numbers of unvaccinated COVID patients now demanding scienceβs attention to make them well.
Hospital policies must change to care for remaining personnel, and to practice medicine for those who need it and are socially responsible. Itβs crisis standard of care time, not surge time. Those unvaccinated presenting COVID receive lowest care priority, except children and religious exemptions. Non-COVID patients needing ICU facilities get the beds. Those needing cardiac care, injury and illness care all come first, not last.
Nancy Jacques
Northeast side
Disappointing
UA football loss
No words to describe how disappointing it was for UA to lose to NAU. Inexcusable! We've been losing seasons since Dick Tomey was our coach. How do you expect to recruit quality players? How do you expect to keep fans? I hope someone comes up with answers soon!
Wanda Blades
Sahuarita
Need politically balanced districts
The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) is currently drawing maps for state and federal legislative districts. Creating districts that strongly favor one political party results in the election of extremists.
LD 11, where Republicans heavily outnumber Democrats, has repeatedly sent extremists to the Arizona Legislature. QAnon follower, Rep. Mark Finchem, is a Trump-endorsed promoter of the Big Lie and the βfraudit.β Recently resigned Rep. Bret Roberts promoted legislation to prevent private businesses from adopting COVID work-place safety requirements. Senator Vince Leach promotes public funding for private schools despite Arizonans' rejection of such programs. Leach also brags about passing a tax cut that heavily benefits the top 1% at the expense of the 99%.
Because LD 11 Republicans far outnumber Democrats, these legislators can be elected and reelected without having to consider the wishes of anyone but their far-right base. As a result, the voters of LD 11 are not being fairly represented. The IRC must avoid creating districts like LD 11.
Eileen Hollowell
Oro Valley
Authoritarianism
Re: the Sept. 19 letter "Authoritarianism sounding familiar."
I find myself in violent agreement. Although veiled, I assume that the real subject is presidential executive authority.
If correct, then I feel I must point out that there are checks by Congress and the Judiciary on presidential executive authority:
1. Congress can pass a law invalidating the executive order and can pass it over the presidentβs veto.
2. The Supreme Court can declare the executive order unconstitutional.
Because politicians cater to the whims and desires of their supporters, our system has inherent faults. If you are fascinated by train wrecks, check out President Rooseveltβs Executive Order 9066. For details, I urge all to read βThey Called Us Enemyβ by George Takei.
I believe whether one supports the concept of Orders by Executive Authority depends almost entirely on whether your party affiliation is that of the president. The last president issued 220 such orders, Biden 61.
Michael Burdoo
West side
Free to choose
Re: the Sept. 12 article "To curb abortions, support women at work, in their lives."
As a firm believer that well-considered philosophy is vital in our troubled world, I find the glib pronouncement βthe fetus and embryo are separate entities from the pregnant womanβ lacks objective foundation.
This dichotomous viewpoint, largely non-secular and regarded as given and absolute, is squarely at the root of the abortion conflict. It may be considered a βbiological factβ that every living being is the terminus of one long chain of life transfer stemming from a common origin, revealing that other than that origin, strictly speaking, life does not begin but only ends.
Defining pregnancy as two separate entities appears necessarily arbitrary in this context. Philosophical honesty demands that we concede that the human condition, particularly this distinctly female phenomenon that unifies and carries forward that condition, is not predefined.
Just as all of humanity might be regarded as a unity, so might a pregnancy. To paraphrase a famous sentiment, we are condemned to choose. Shouldnβt we then, additionally, be free to do so?
Robert Gavlak
Midtown
How to get the win
Re: the Sept. 20 article "Loss to 'Jacks causes more pity than pain."
Thereβs no doubt about it, the defense is going to have to carry Arizona this year, and that means having a standard of allowing no more than 13 points a game to give our team a chance to win. We need defensive players with βgiant chipsβ on their shoulders, playing over their heads and out of their minds. They need to bring it every game, with hard-nosed, hard-hitting Chuck Cecil, Byron Evans, Tedy Bruschi style all-out attacking on defense with rotations of players so that when one group is tired, the next comes in to βGive βem Hell.β
The reality is that the βflexboneβ needs to be built in as part of your offense and used situationally. Make the other team beat us. This year it has to be defense first and grind it out offense playing smart field position football. Iβm not apathetic about Arizona football, 0-15 is old news, build a hard-hitting solid defense, the βWβsβ will come.
Richard Harper
Northeast side
UA loss to NAU
There is a proverb in Japan that says, "on the rock for three years." A Buddhist monk came to Osaka from South Korea and sat on a rock in the lotus position for three years, so the story goes. It means that you have to give three years before you are in any position to judge or criticize.
One of my supervisors in Japan said that he did not want to hear my opinion until I had been "on the rock" for three years! So forget about NAU, forget about the shame, and forget about this season for that matter.
Let's be patient and realize that the magic does not happen overnight. We still have a lot of dues to pay to get where we want to go. If we can see three years of continuous improvement, that will have been better coaching than we have had in a while.
Robert Shatz
Foothills
GOP and death panels
I'm old enough to remember when the GOP was trying to scare everyone by saying Obama would have "death panels" if the Affordable Care Act passed.
Well, guess what? We now have the equivalent of "death panels" in Idaho, where the health care system has been so overwhelmed by COVID cases that care has had to be rationed.
Why did this happen? Because the GOP has made wearing masks and getting vaccinated a political issue.
So, thanks a lot, GOP. We now have those death panels you wanted so much.
John Wheeler
Downtown
Marijuana tax
Re: the Sept. 20 article "Tax revenue for pot in AZ over $115M."
I just read the article in the Star regarding where the tax money from marijuana sale goes and was shocked to learn that none of the money goes for public education in Arizona. No wonder our public school system is lacking!
Ken Wright
East side
