Letters to the Editor: Feb. 17

What a sad spectacle the state Legislature was in their rejection of Dr. Theresa Cullen as state health director. Republican legislators, with a meager one-vote majority, continue to think they know best what health measures should be taken during a pandemic. Arizona ranks highest in the nation for COVID mortality rate, thanks to the policies of the former governor and health director...yet, even so, the Republican Legislature felt that their measures were too extreme! Pima County, under Dr. Cullen’s directorship, has experienced approximately half of the death rate of the rest of the state. Thankfully, Dr. Cullen will continue to look out for the well-being of Pima County residents.

Jan Jurnecka, MD

West side

GOP candidates

I’m sure you all heard some or all of Nikki Haley’s speech, jumping into the 2024 election. She’s trying to distance herself from Trump, but still, her visions of America are doom and gloom. How come you guy’s promote fear, there’s no praise for our country. Reagan was one of the last Republicans to praise our institutions, “the shining city on the hill.” Republicans have been practicing their grievance politics for so long, that they’re losing elections over and over. People don’t want your “white supremacy,” your hate of the “other.” For the country’s sake, get over yourselves!

Mary Bradley

Northeast side

Medicare, Social Security aren’t entitlements

Excuse me, but the news media needs to stop referring to Medicare and Social Security as entitlements.

This term is a slur invented by Republicans and MAGAs to disparage retired people like me. Their platform is to defund “entitlements” so that America’s 56 million seniors will wind up sick and living in cardboard boxes on the sidewalk.

Medicare and Social Security must be referred to as “earned benefits.” During the 52 years that I worked for a living, I paid FICA taxes to fund my senior earned benefits. These benefits are not “welfare,” I earned them.

Republicans and MAGAs have been saying out loud and in writing that they want to cut Medicare and Social Security payments and make them harder to get. They forgot that seniors, more than any other demographic, vote during elections.

I will vote those Republicans and MAGAs out of office, and am organizing hundreds of Tucsonans to do the same.

Larry Bodine,

chair of

Legislative District 18

Democrats

Foothills

Outrage

How can such brain-dead people be in leadership roles? In Arizona we have Kavanagh trying to legislate against use of pronouns. Are you serious when we have water, crime and guns staring us down for our future?

Then we have the classless Republicans trying to take away Social Security and Medicare because it benefits real people not them. Oh yeah, let’s investigate Hunter Biden, whose actions have hurt no one except the small egos of people like Jordan and McCarthy. Why bother with such pressing issues as immigration when they can act like surly brats hell-bent on revenge for some reason or other?

Republican plans: that is surely a joke, sort of like trickle-down economy. If they laugh hard enough behind our backs, surely these will come to pass.

Listen people. Biden actually has our backs and works for the people, not against us.

Carl Olson

West side

Legislature public records

I am deeply disturbed by the Arizona state Legislature’s recent vote permitting members to delete public records, including text messages and calendar entries. It also permits the deletion of emails after 90 days. This manipulation of the state’s public records statutes will have devastating long-term effects, inhibiting voters from making the best educated decisions, which no doubt is why cynical legislators passed the rule.

Open public records are fundamental to a free and open society, and anyone who tries to impair public access is not working for the public, though he or she is paid to do so. I am grateful to the Daily Star for publishing columns by Domingo DeGrazia, Curt Prendergast and others about this matter, but it seems to me this issue has been under-reported. The Daily Star has its share of critics, but it is an important tool for maintaining pressure on governmental entities to do the right thing. Please keep a spotlight on the Legislature regarding this irresponsible act.

Lisa Turner

West side

Separation of Church and State

For a lesson in what happens when the church takes over your government consider the lesson of Yugoslavia. Although some hold this to be an ethnic division that caused the civil war, it was driven by religion. Orthodox Serbians, Catholic Croats and Muslim Bosnians shared power for many years after WWII, but then the power sharing broke down and the Serbians decided to take control. This erupted in open warfare and genocide.

The “Roe” over abortion isn’t about pro-life so much as it is about religious power. Children can be groomed and indoctrinated, but sentient adults are “unredeemable.” Save the unborn and cast off the sinners? The pro-life (anti-human?) group is just doing a political power grab with a resonating battle cry, but it really isn’t about life at all. It’s about using the Church as the State. How long before we go the way of Yugoslavia?

Dan Pendergrass

West side

Enough with teen sexuality on TV

I don’t like watching 14/15 year-olds performing sexual acts, do you? Most people answer “no.” Then why do popular shows like “Stranger Things” and “Ginny and Georgia” have to shove that in my face? Is it any wonder that teen girls (boys, too) are experiencing a national mental health crisis. With the pressure that these behaviors and perfect (surgically altered) appearances are normal and desired, what happened to being a kid? The answer might be to turn all that off and get out in nature, easier said than done. Anyway, I ask producers, please stop!

Lindsay Monroe

Sahuarita