Tucson Speaks Out: Nov. 8 letters of the day

Re: the Nov. 1 article "Israelis have only one choice to survive: Leave."

This is in response to the opinion column written by Gil Shapiro. It appears that he has forgotten the history of the Jewish people. We have been "leaving" for over 5000 years beginning with Moses leading us out of Egypt into the Promised Land; from which we were then chased by the Romans. We had to leave Spain (the Inquisition). We had to leave Russia, Poland, Ukraine, etc. (the pogroms). Some were lucky to leave Nazi Germany. Israel was carved out of the British Empire by the Balfour Declaration. It became a nation in 1948 and was immediately invaded by the Palestinians and various Arab nations. They have repeatedly attacked us, vowing to drive us into the sea for the past 75 years. Enough is enough. We are leaving "NEVER AGAIN".

Evelyn Shapiro, (no relation to Gil Shapiro)

Oro Valley

Reap what we sow

Re: the Nov. 5 letter "Wake up parents!"

The problem is not parents failing at “educating and humanizing” their children as the letter writer proposes — the problem is children being raised in toxic poverty where their chances of developing self-worth, goal-setting, impulse control, and ability to learn, is so impaired, so profoundly warped, that their attempts at productive adult lives are limited or impossible. Today’s problems of homelessness, opioid addiction, and crime, can all be linked to children raised in poverty, by parents (mostly single, overworked, underpaid and over-stressed) who themselves were raised in poverty. This world lacks humanity not because of parents trying to raise children as best they can, but because of wealth inequality and an economic system that allows so many children to live as second class citizens. We reap what we sow.

Linda Dobbyn

Midtown

Speaker of the House

Fourteen words that should alarm all people who are concerned about protecting the remnants of our eroding constitutional republic and democracy: “Mike Johnson, second in line of succession to the office of U.S. President.”

Mike Johnson’s ascendancy to the Speaker’s office reveals an unforeseen flaw of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947. Johnson, an Evangelical Christian, can certainly be defined as a Christian Nationalist. When asked by Hannity about his views on any issues, his response was “Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.” Johnson supports a national abortion ban, believes the Bible should be taught in public schools and that LGBTQ people live “inherently unnatural” and “dangerous lifestyles.”

Johnson was also a key participant in the effort to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election and believes that the solution for the nation’s debt problems is to gut Social Security and Medicare.

These are only a few examples of Johnson's dangerous beliefs.

Jessica Hamdan

West side

A terrible day

October 25th was a terrible day in this country. In Maine, a firearms instructor known to have mental problems and threatened violence (you can't make this up) legally purchased weapons designed to rapidly kill a lot of people and he did just that. In the nation’s capital, a member of the House of Representatives and “good Christian,” with extreme political and religious views was elected Speaker of the House. Following baseless claims, he refused to certify the 2020 presidential election and he was involved in the January 6 plot to subvert our democracy. He also promotes hatred of the LGBTQ community and wants to make criminals of them. He is now two people away from the presidency. Those incidents speak volumes about the state of the nation.

Vance Holliday

Foothills

Gratuitous act of kindness

For all who love to see gratuitous acts of kindness (and especially for the family and friends of Dr. Paul Everett Dicus M.D, as well as friends of the University of Arizona), U of A President Robert C. Robbins recently did a wonderful thing. He awarded a BA degree to Paul Dicus just before Paul passed away. As Paul was about to graduate from the U of A in 1967, only a few units short, he was accepted to medical school elsewhere, so Paul didn’t graduate. Lifelong, Paul regretted not graduating and wanted to get that elusive degree. Near the end, understanding President Robbins’ kindness, Paul held the degree in his hands for a photo.

Paul, his parents, his siblings, and the extended Dicus family have always loved the U of A. The family channel to and from the university runs deep and wide, and President Robbins just filled it with love and kindness.

Gerald Farrington, Arizona Daily Star Editorial Advisory Board member

SaddleBrooke

U of A football stadium

My wife and I, along with out of town UCLA guests had the opportunity to attend the UCLA/U of A football game on November 4th. The pre-game activities were wonderful - energy and excitement all over the place. And then, GAME TIME, and having to enter the West Side of the AZ Football Stadium! Have you been there lately? It was like entering ancient Rome catacombs, and the stadium bathrooms were far below the level of ancient catacomb standards! What is it going to take to fix that embarrassing environment — we love our Wildcats, but never again on the West side!

Joseph McCollough

East side

No one-size-fits all

Re: the Nov. 5 article "Reading education restrictions worry Tucson teachers."

I write to support teacher Marivel Yanez's assertion — backed up by important information from my colleagues Kathy Short and Carol Brochin — that a one-size-fits-all approach of any kind to reading instruction is bound to fail. I worked as a reading specialist in public schools for over 20 years and then as an associate professor of literacy instruction at University of Arizona. I want to reinforce Dr. Short's assertion that research affirms the Science of Reading approach — (that is, phonics first and little else) ONLY "if you throw out 90% of the research in the field." Fourth graders who failed a state reading test, for example, had clear strengths and weaknesses and few struggled with all aspects of reading. As a result, they needed different types of instruction. My own research has demonstrated that a powerful approach to supporting struggling readers was to ask them what was hard for them and teach them accordingly — producing gains of 2 years in a single school year.

Elizabeth Jaeger

Midtown

TEP isn't listening

Re: the Nov. 5 article "New TEP power line effort draws ire."

TEP continues to pretend that they are interested in what the community wants, holding open houses and neighborhood meetings to explain their side of expansions that include ridiculously tall poles planted almost on every property line, scaring neighborhoods and thoroughfares; building electrical stations next to old, established neighborhoods and insisting these are the most "cost-effective" answers; threatening that we customers will bear an unimaginable and untenable expense otherwise. They even ask for our input so it looks like we are buying into their plans. All of the angst about the visual assault, the ugliness of each and every thing they plan to do to our neighborhoods and streets could be answered with one solution — BURY THE LINES, split the costs with the customers. Because we have no other option here in Tucson for electricity, no competition to help give leverage to our proposals, TEP will do what they have already proposed despite all of the community input. They have too much invested in it already.

Christie Cummins

Midtown