Cartoon worth 1,000 words
Re: the March 31 editorial cartoon by Bill Day.
The actions of the GOP members of the Judiciary Committee during the nomination hearing of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court were despicable. The cartoon in the letters to the editor page showing the GOP sucking up to Trump after disparaging Jackson was on-the-spot, hilarious and worth a 1,000 words. Kudos to Bill Day, Cagle Cartoons.
Herman Lucero
East side
A train wreck of bad bills
Rather than protecting the health and safety of Arizonans, I think our current Republican legislators have gone off the rails by persistently inflicting harm at every turn.
They began by banning common-sense mask and vaccine mandates, prolonging the pandemic and guaranteeing widespread disease, suffering and death.
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They barreled ahead with bills allowing concealed weapons on campuses , endangering the lives of students and school employees.
They crashed through the barriers of decency and compassion by condemning women to carry a nonviable fetus to term, banning abortions for victims of rape and incest, and attacking trans children, jeopardizing their health and causing untold physical and psychological injury.
Every Republican legislator in Arizona has been on board with inflicting this kind of damage and creating a train wreck of cruel and malicious bills.
We have the power to correct our course by voting them out of office and getting our state back on track.
Karen Harris
Northwest side
Climate change
Re: the April 1 article "Replacing fossil fuels is best weapon against Putin"
Sadly, climate change isn’t just another April Fool's Day joke. Mike Carran’s opinion regarding the Ukrainian war and fossil fuels is one part of the story. Another part is the health risks of air pollution. Hundreds of thousands of asthma and COPD ER visits cost billions of dollars every year. These are partially related to air pollution. Extreme weather causes property destruction, injuries and deaths. Last year, the cost was in the billions. Warming allows a broader range of disease-carrying vectors like mosquitoes. West Nile virus health costs also are in the billions every year. These costs are currently excluded in the price of fossil fuels. A price on carbon levels the field so everyone pays fairly. Adding a dividend makes it an equitable way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It has been supported by many liberals and conservatives. Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema should work to make it part of the budget reconciliation bill.
Bill Jones
East side
Bravo to the Star
Today’s (April 5) column reminded me, again, how important the Star is to our community.
Two letters described two unpopular subjects, to me, defeated Trump and “The Slap.”
Kudos for showing both sides, nobody should believe that this is a partisan newspaper.
For me, only, anyone who can blame the present administration for the high price of gasoline is unfortunately grossly uninformed, please check your history to get a full understanding.
And, “The Slap,” too, deserves more thorough understanding. Alopecia seems to be a lifestyle problem, not a progressive disease, although I’m not entirely aware of what it all means, alas, as a woman losing my hair would be very difficult. I truly hope, if that was my situation I would be very insulted that my husband would resort to a physical display to “defend” me.
So, again, kudos to our valued newspaper, again, thank you so much.
Binky Luckhurst Woodward
Foothills
Trump tax cuts keep economy strong
In December 2017, Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It lowered five of seven individual federal income tax brackets and reduced corporate taxes from 35% to 21%. The worldwide average corporate rate is about 23%. Small businesses got a 20% Qualified Business Deduction tax break.
The tax cuts spurred robust economic and job growth. Then in early 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic struck America. Businesses shuttered their doors and laid off employees. Trump unselfishly shut the economy down for almost two months in the spring of 2020 to help reduce the spread of COVID. The economy collapsed. Now in 2022, COVID is on the decline and jobs and the economy are rebounding. But Biden cannot leave the one positive aspect of his administration alone, the economy due to Trump's tax cuts. Biden is proposing a budget that increases taxes by $2.5 trillion by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, affecting about 25% of small businesses filing as corporations, and rates on higher earners.
Christy Daniels
Foothills
Grammar police at it again
Re: the March 5 letter "Correct pronunciation of Sahuarita."
I was amused by the letter to the editor. I understand the writer's frustration at people pronouncing it "Sa-ri-ta," but she and others should keep in mind that "rules" of pronunciation evolve with the language as does usage in general. A word pronounced over and over will begin to suffer the ill effects of "lazy" pronunciation (especially of multisyllabic words), and city names are examples. Would she castigate citizens of Milwaukee for pronouncing it "Mwaukee" as they do? And should someone start a "campaign" to correct this atrocity? Language usage police abound, but language evolves — including pronunciation, and attempts at forcing that change are futile.
Jeffrey St. Clair
North side
Thoughts on GOP
Letters to the Star continue to expose the extent of fear and ignorance in our community. I think these letters mostly just repeat the same old tired and pathetic complaints of the conservative right, with no grasp of history, economics and reality. This just reinforces the fact that the GOP is the party of grievance and whining, but no real substance. Do they really think voting for the GOP/Trump is the answer? What is their answer to the world's problems? Think about it. The GOP is the party of no: no platform, no answers, no clue. As far as holding criminals accountable, how about we start with Donald Trump?
Stanley Steik
Midtown
Old folks at home
They say that "getting old is not for sissies."
Well I can attest to that.
I've got gold in my mouth,
And silver in my hair.
My kidney's full of stones.
I ache, just everywhere.
I'm often not more sociable,
With every passing day.
Five gentlemen come a calling
I see them every day.
There's Will Power in the morning
He gets me out of bed.
Then "John" I go a visit.
Enough 'bout him said.
Charley Horse is ever near,
I'm talking 'bout a muscle.
And Arthur Ritis comes and stays
He tries to make me hustle.
My favorite friend he comes to me
At the end of every day.
I call him Mr. Smooth …
His real name is Ben Gay
PS
Help the old folks when you can, be it a woman or a man.
Won't be long 'til you are there, arthritis and silver hair.
Thomas McGorray
Northwest side
