Scales of justice
Are the scales of justice unbalanced?
Recently, the DOJ targeted a Catholic Franciscan Priest (Father Fidelis Moscinski) and he was found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by blocking the entrance to a New York Planned Parenthood facility in order to save the lives of babies. The Catholic priest is one of at least 25 pro-life leaders targeted by the Biden Justice Department under the FACE Act.
By contrast, more than 100 crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), pro-life organizations and churches have been attacked, some more than once, since the May 2 leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v Wade.
Only two alleged pro-abortion vandals have been charged in connection with crimes against pro-life groups in the same span of time.
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It appears the scales of justice are out of balance.
Thomas McGorray
Northwest side
Risks of policing
It didn’t take long before a letter appeared in the paper halfway justifying the actions of the five Memphis police officers. Of course, there is danger every time an officer stops a car. Police are familiar with incidents where a traffic stop becomes use of deadly force against them. It is certainly a harrowing and uncertain situation for police, and they approach vehicles with a sense of caution and preparation.
But the situation in Memphis was anything but this. Five officers surrounded the car. Not only were they ready for danger, they seemed ready to escalate the encounter evidenced in the video. There are myriad issues surrounding policing and appropriate behavior. But for the moment can we lament what happened to Mr. Nichols and recognize the danger, in this case, was not the lives of the officers but the death of Nichols? I hope no traffic stops result in the killing of officers doing their duty, nor the traffic suspect killed by overreaction or an angry officer.
John Kautz
Midtown
The real culprit
Just for the heck of it, I spent an evening listening to right-wing media. Wow! That Hunter Biden fellow sounds like a really bad guy. Apparently, he is actually the one who surrendered West Point to the British during the Revolutionary War, shot Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre and coordinated the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Regular reading of the letters to the editor in the Arizona Daily Star, however, shows that we Tucsonans are much too smart to be fooled by such claims. We recognize that the person who is really responsible for these atrocities is Bill Walton.
David Parmenter
Northwest side
Call out the Cyber Ninja
A witness testified at a Republican hearing of the state House and Senate election committees on Feb. 23 that there is election fraud in Arizona! Golly, I am shocked! The Republican witness also charged that Mexican cartels are bribing the state House and Senate members, local office holders, county supervisors, prosecutors and 25% of active judges. I am shocked, yes, shocked to hear this! (She omitted any mention of UFOs.)
It’s time for state Senate and House Republicans to investigate by calling in the Cyber Ninjas, the Republican Cochise County supervisors and Republican ex-Attorney General Brnovich. Republicans should also get McGruff the Crime Dog and Inspector Clouseau to investigate. It may take 10 months and cost $10 million, but isn’t that what Republicans think taxpayer money is for?
Larry Bodine
Foothills
State must regulate groundwater
Climate change drought is causing permanent declines in Arizona’s water supplies. Water from the Colorado River system for the Central Arizona Project will face inevitable large future federal cutbacks. The pressure on Arizona’s rural groundwater, both surface water and underground aquifers, will only increase in the coming years. The state government will have to get heavily involved in all rural groundwater regulation or a potential catastrophic disaster awaits this state’s future.
1. Active Management Areas with strict metering, permitting and licensing with fees on new water wells must be established in all rural areas, excluding state, federal or tribal lands.
2. Large water-guzzling corporate agricultural factory farms must be shut down through legal actions (Willcox).
3. Large water-guzzling corporate real estate projects near fragile environmental watersheds must be canceled (Benson).
4. The governor needs emergency drought executive regulatory powers to appoint water experts to a water board to limit alfalfa, cotton, orchard, and other industrial and mining operations that consume large amounts of groundwater.
Kyle Stoutenburg
Sierra Vista
Fentanyl
If we lived in Israel, the Mossad would go into the neighboring country and eradicate the source of the attack. But we live in the U.S., and we have lost our initiative. We have elite warriors and world-class intelligence but lack the will. How easy would it be to send a covert operation to wipe out the labs where fentanyl is formulated? Our neighbor won’t do it for us. The world would applaud!
Bill Blaine
Marana
Drag queen performances
The sudden rush to protect children from drag performances by Republican politicians would be laughable if it wasn’t for the waste of legislative time and resources. I can save them a lot of time and money by reporting that I have been to several drag shows, and never once have I felt compelled to go home and put on a dress! Now could we please get back to repairing bridges and highways? Thank you.
Dan Nelson
Foothills
Religion question
Re: the Jan. 27 letter “Threats to First Amendment freedom.”
Yes, there is an obvious trend to put religious beliefs into our laws. The Supreme Court now seems to be a branch of the Catholic Church. We are being forced to obey religious beliefs under penalty of law. So, here’s my question: Is that the way your religion is supposed to be spread? Are you not supposed to spread it by example of goodness, not revert to the days of the Crusades where death by the blade greeted non-believers? That is a dark chapter in religious history. Yes, church and state are supposed to be separate. Today in America, they are not.
Thad Appelman
Northwest side
Let them eat cake!
If you get angry when checking out at the grocery store, go online and search for the recent profit history of the food and grocery industry. There were lots of billionaires created during the pandemic selling you overpriced food, and they haven’t stopped there. The prices continue to go up and are expected to in the future. Marie Antoinette had the idea first — apparently, greed never falls out of style.
Stephen Franz
Green Valley
Medicare
Re: the March 2 article “Privatizing Medicare wrong way to go.”
Although it’s true that original Medicare is the better way to go, it’s not cheaper for my bank account. I can’t afford to pay for gap, vision, dental, hearing and prescription drug premiums separately. I don’t want to give my Medicare premium payments to a private insurance company but at this point in time, I don’t have a choice. Private insurance companies are the bane of my existence. The author is correct in asking Congress to increase benefits to cover 100% of the charges instead of 80%. Original Medicare should also cover vision, dental, hearing and prescription drug charges without paying extra premiums to private health insurance companies. It’s ludicrous to think that eyeglasses, hearing aids, dental services and prescription drugs aren’t a necessity for us older folks.
Joyce Bertschy
East side
