World and USA problems
Thoughts for problems of war, climate and bump stocks. WWII was largely won by Allies, with the USA building more military equipment than the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan).
NATO is now supplying Ukraine with military equipment to try to do the same thing and supplying more money than Russia can raise.
And how can people be climate change deniers when we have had so many extreme weather events tornadoes, heat extremes, floods and droughts that produce climate migration?
And, those that want an AR-15 will want a bump stock.
Donald Plummer
People are also reading…
Northwest side
Political signs
I find the proliferation of political signage to be both annoying and confusing. Annoying because the signage makes our streets trashy. Confusing because I find it hard to believe that these signs have much, if any effect on the voting public. Would a voter see a particular candidate’s sign and think to themselves, “Wow, I really like that sign. I’m going to vote for that person?” I’m betting that never happens. These signs might have made more sense years ago when we weren’t being flooded with other forms of media. Now these signs just are a blight in our neighborhoods.
Larry Smith
Northwest side
Loyalty to Trump
The Republicans have a plan to staff a new Trump administration with Trump loyalists — Project 2025. A few decades ago Marion Barry, then the mayor of Washington DC, used loyalty to him as the sole criterion for hiring, competence be darned. Everyone from police to teachers. It took Washington years and several administrations to clean up the mess. And yes, like Trump, he was popular. Before voting this November, just imagine an entire Federal government full of incompetents. Think Kari Lake as a member of the cabinet. Joe Biden may be old but at least one can’t manipulate him just by telling him he’s pretty.
Dave Bertagnoli
West side
Arts live on to speak to us
To the Editor:
I was disappointed to read that the state legislators have allocated such a miniscule amount of their $16.1 billion dollar budget to the Arizona Commission for the Arts — a mere $2 million. Why do politicians always think the arts are expendable? If they knew anything about history, they would realize that the majority of what we can learn about ancient cultures comes from their art — paintings, sculpture, writings, architecture. From ancient Egypt to the Easter Islands, art is what remains to tell us about their people and culture.
The arts deserves a bigger part of our budget, because long after these legislators are forgotten, the creations by Arizona artists will survive to speak to future generations.
Karen Micallef
Oro Valley
Copper vs. water
I have to comment on a recent opinion letter comparing copper to water. The writer was suggesting that one should take a test and go 3 days without using devices with copper and then go 3 days without water. He concluded, although inconvenient, you could go without the devices, but not really without life sustaining water. In this community he fails to understand miserably that without copper you can’t have the water either. Ooops!
Dave Efnor
East side
Original law giver?
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry just signed his state’s new law which requires the posting of The Ten Commandments in every public school from kindergarten through university. He said, “If you want to respect the rule of law, you gotta start from the original law given which was Moses. He got his commandments from God.”
Sorry, governor, you’re mistaken.
The Code of Hammurabi, from ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia, was written in about 1754 BCE. That was roughly 300 years before Moses was even born. The Code of Hammurabi is widely known (outside of Louisiana, I suppose) as the earliest and most complete written set of laws in the world ever discovered.
Perhaps the governor should have concentrated on signing substantive laws that actually improve education rather than promoting religious indoctrination.
James Nesci
East side
Politics and big money
Corporations, nonprofit organizations, and PACs, such as the Koch Brothers, spend millions or billions to support candidates and issues of their choice. Much of this money is used to finance ads that spew misinformation and skew the truth, all in the interest of “buying” thousands of votes. Most ordinary citizens have one vote to cast on each candidate or issue and can’t afford to “buy” another’s vote.
Lavish spending became possible in 2010 when SCOTUS ruled against a bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, stating, in the Court’s majority opinion, that prohibiting these deep-pocket, special interest groups from lavishly funding their chosen political candidate or issue would be a violation of the First Amendment. In so ruling, the Court devalued the voice of the “little guy”.
Let’s stop this absurdity and spare us all from exposure to negative and misleading political ads and having to sift through an avalanche of misinformation. Let’s return to government of, by, and for the PEOPLE.
Robert Holl
Foothills
The devil vs. God
Re: the June 23 article “Have Trump supporters been seduced by the supernatural?”
What a well-founded guest opinion by Gil Shapiro, a concise and insightful analysis of various phenomena in our country (and elsewhere): Trumpism, Evangelicalism, and MAGA. I would like to add some comments from an educator’s perspective since I regularly work with young people. In absolutist regimes, schools serve the purpose of making the young ones into dedicated followers of the leader without any criticism. That’s why the Taliban, e.g., are so opposed to schools at large. They embrace a Manichaean worldview of black and white, of good vs. evil. Evidence is unnecessary and dangerous because the ‘deep state’ represents the devil, and Trump is the new Messiah. He cannot do wrong. Teaching, however, means to help students grow intellectually and also emotionally, and ultimately to gain more knowledge than I have today. The teacher is the critical bridge toward tomorrow, but when religious belief rules, the pathway toward growth and development is blocked. Critical thinking about our leaders is crucial for democracy; the opposite is dictatorship.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Drafting women
Congress is discussing legislation that would create a new draft that would also call up women. Frankly, I support the proposed legislation. However, I wonder if our congressional representatives realize that, with the help of SCOTUS, they have already taken control of women’s bodies and now they want to militarily train and arm us? Just asking ...
Barbara Benjamin
Foothills
Pima County importance
People have more faith in local government to get things done. Polls say about 60% for local to lower 30% for federal. Maybe it’s because of partisanship played by members of Congress, working on their next reelection instead of focusing on what their constituents want. Independents do not like that!
It also may be that local government focuses on important things we feel immediately like police protection, roads, zoning issues, water and sewer. And of course the amount of property taxes to pay for those services. I have been impressed with Supervisor Rex Scott and all he does for Pima County. Pima is a huge geographic county in the top 20 in the United States, and has only five supervisors. A lot of geography to cover, and a lot of responsibility. Rex is a leader on the Board, and finds time to assist residents.
Dave Locey
Foothills
It’s the economy — let’s be less stupid
There’s great nostalgia on the Trump side for the pre-COVID economy. The economy had more affordable inflation presumably due to there being less government interference in the private sector, less expansion of the money supply, and less handouts. What is forgotten: production of needed goods and services is the bottom line of any economy. During COVID all three nostalgic principles were countered and countless businesses and production not easily restored were saved. We are paying an inflationary price for some of this, but price gouging is also a factor.
COVID policy isn’t the only time the public sector has saved the private sector. Remember the 2008 mortgage meltdown. Without Social Security and Medicare continuing to circulate money through the economy the death knell of deflation and its loss of production may have started ringing. Imagine 2008 if Bush had managed to privatize Social Security. The private sector needs the ‘handouts’ of the public sector especially when boom goes to bust or there is a pandemic.
Eric Gormally
Oro Valley
Brougle vs Dudash
Re: the June 24 articles “Who represents Arizona teachers?” and “Playbook for Republican faithful this year.”
Well done Jim Brougle! You really had me going for awhile. Then I read it again. I confess I read the Dudash pitch in between. You know the one suggesting that Arizona teachers should dump their union of long standing and joining his. So I googled Freedom Foundation, scrolled down a couple of times and discovered an ad naming some of its big backers: Fox, Federalist Society, WSJ, National Review. Ah ha!
Need I say more?
And an atta boy to the Star for printing these two “contributions” on the same day.
Susan Vonkersburg
Foothills
History repeats itself
To a 96-year-old history buff, it’s apparent from our worldwide societal dysfunction that history truly does repeat itself. The story of our species is primarily one of warfare, violence, cruelty and oppression. Doubters need only read daily headlines. Each generation spawns its sociopaths and false prophets preying on the vulnerable and gullible to support their own dreams of power and glory. Donald Trump exemplifies this. A baffling paradox pits advances in medicine and science against episodes of inhumanity, such as the Holocaust and endemic systems of slavery over the ages.
The solution to these cycles of violence and oppression appears simple but unattainable today. Heed the lessons of the great moralists, Jesus, Gandhi and King among others, lessons well known but the greatest, the Golden Rule. In a time where nuclear arsenals proliferate these values must be imprinted on our DNA lest the future of the planet itself be at stake.
Joseph Stanley
Northeast side
Bag of wind
Hurricane Trump is a big bag of wind. Still, he has somehow, by spewing continuous hot air at one mob of door mats after another, became a folk hero without ever being anything of the like. His visage is everywhere to be admired. He even has his mug on a mug.
The Democrats desperately require a new strategy to deal with this car crash. Trump needs to be mocked and made fun of personally, instead of us wallowing in fret as if there lurks an ogre at the door, “and oh my, there is nothing we can do about it.” Wrong! His ego is a nice target. And he is so ripe for a clown show. First, we need to gird ourselves for a battle of mockery like no other. Hit him where it draws blood, his conceit. And watch what happens.
Ron Lancaster
North side
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe
Preparing to enter the voting booth is different for everyone, is this election is different than others? It seems like we are standing on a precipice. Making the best decision requires just a little homework, putting together a priority list instead of considering which party. It is difficult to admit, but everyone wants a better life, not just a life based on talking points. So, make a list and check it twice so you can decide who is naughty.
What is important to you? Based on the recent murders of our citizens by undocumented immigrants, add closing the border. The rising cost of food is also out of control. People are concerned for their personal safety even walking to the corner. Do you have a credit card bill? The interest cost of the national debt is scary. Add to your list the items that concern you. How would you rank the items in your list and which candidate will fight for you?
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
Finally
Finally someone has read the Bill of Rights. In case you don’t follow the news, Louisiana requires the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom.
Some people think the Bill of Rights calls for the “Separation of Church and State”. Well Louisiana says no it doesn’t. In fact that phrase cannot be found anywhere in our Constitution. I used to think it was a chief justice of the Supreme Court back in 1817 who made that interpretation, but I was wrong. I searched Wikipedia and found out it was our 3rd president Thomas Jefferson who came up with the phrase back on January 1, 1801.
No matter who came up with it, “Separation of Church and State” cannot be found in our Constitution. To that I say good for you Louisiana. Now let’s see how many states will follow their example.
Steven Barker
East side
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