John Ward, an auditor at the Arizona Department of Education, explains Wednesday's new estimate that vouchers will cost state taxpayers $900 million next school year. With him is state schools chief Tom Horne.
Military promotions
Re: the Aug. 20 article “Sinema seeks ‘middle ground’ on abortion fight.”
Regarding Senator Tommy Tuberville’s stance on military promotions, it would seem that he is trying to make a name for himself as a conservative and anti-abortion advocate. Since occupying his senate seat, he seems to be relatively unknown except for being “coach” Tuberville. His delaying tactic to military promotions will eventually cost the lives of those who deliberately go into “harms way” since those people up for promotion are deemed to provide highly competent leadership and thus save lives.
I would admonish those in Congress that sometimes the easiest route to a target is not always the most efficient, and when faced with an obstacle — such as Tuberville — an immediate return to individual votes — no matter how time consuming — will be the most efficient route to overcoming this danger to our professional military. Until this impasse is resolved, every death and injury to military personnel should be lain at the feet of Senator Tuberville for his callous leadership and grandstanding.
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Richard Rebl
East side
Poor ol’ TEP
Re: the Aug. 26 article “Tucson Electric Power’s new solar customers to see lower credits.”
Just a few thoughts: I thought the Corporation Commission was there to protect consumers from the corporations, not the other way around. They should be doing everything possible to encourage conversion to solar. Sounds more like they are hostile to it.
Our planet is overheating, and TEP is still clinging to burning fossil fuels. Yet they are whining about losing profits and want to cut rates for solar buybacks. Why is TEP not installing Megapacks to store excess power to protect us from all the blackouts instead of punishing people who have installed solar and are helping TEP? Seems to me these folks are actually (gasp!) subsidizing TEP. To paraphrase Commissioner Nick Myers: if an industry that is 131 years old cannot survive without a subsidy, how bad of a business model is that?
Klara Cserny
Southwest side
Dumbing down
I have come to question our collective intelligence as a species — our dumbing down so to speak. After considerable thought, I thought the plethora of tattoo ink might be somehow affecting our cognitive ability, then the prolific use of nose and eyebrow rings was considered as potentially affecting brain function. Rush Limbaugh was a candidate for cause and effect — but he died. Tucker Carlson came to mind as a sure source to blame, but then he was fired. I thought it must be the “woke” movement dragging intelligence down, but no one could tell me what woke meant. Everyone pointed to Trump, but he is just a megaphone for dumbness, not the cause. COVID only caused a dip in the learning curve, not the total collapse of critical thinking. I now think evolution is simply moving to eliminate a species that serves no real purpose and adds no value.
Carl Foster
Green Valley
Doing the right thing for the right reasons
Re: the Aug. 26 article “After 60 years, ‘Dream’ remains unfulfilled.”
Supreme Court decisions aside, the military teaches its members to be leaders — to live by a set of values and beliefs established to create a foundation of ethical conduct, understanding that to do otherwise destroys the morale and cohesion of the unit as a whole. It’s doctrine consistently stresses doing the right thing for the right reasons, establishing solid character in individuals with the primary purpose of creating a culture of trust amongst strangers. It’s an institution that, frankly, helped change my life and my immediate family’s life for the better.
When I joined the Army in 1997, I was desperately trying to escape an environment that was increasingly marred by social depravity. Despite this fact, it was not a popular choice amongst my peer group—in part because of sentiments like some that were expressed in this article, which were prevalent even then. Years later, many of my old acquaintances told me they wish they had joined me in my endeavor. So do I.
Jamar Ellis
Sierra Vista
TEP subsidies
Re: the Aug. 27 article “New utility regulators fight ‘tree socialism’.”
I read with interest how TEP and its promoters on the Corporation Commission have all sorts of problems subsidizing socialized trees.
This outcry against subsidizing things, and socialism in general, by TEP and its mouthpieces is confusing to me because TEP and the corporation commission have absolutely no problem with the citizens of Tucson subsidizing a shift to renewable energy by making us pay for solar panels that TEP buys (ha!) energy from. My solar panels cost orders of magnitude more than a few pennies for some trees, and the purchase rate for energy my panels produce is stagnant at best while TEP selling rates go up.
I believe there is a term for this. Oh yes. It’s called Corporate Welfare and it’s a good argument against renewing any sort of TEP franchise.
David Reynolds
East side
Official legislator containers
Re: the Aug. 29 article “End of case adds to cost of containers.”
A recent Daily Star article summarized the costs of the Doug Ducey stunt to fill in the border wall with old semi-truck containers. It will eventually cost $163M to make the 2,200-container wall disappear. Only 142 containers have been sold — leaving 2,000 containers to sell. A partial solution can be found with the Arizona Legislators. Several AZ Legislators are not truly residing in their Legislative Districts and now have a trailer parked in their Legislative District — claiming this is their true home. These Legislators had to obtain the trailer using their funds or donations. How about we designate the Ducey containers as the Official AZ Legislative Home Trailer? The containers could be dressed up with AZ colors and have an official plaque that this is the lawful home of a Legislator. Since our AZ Legislators often jump to other Legislative Districts to improve their odds of election, the Legislators can easily transport the container to their new supposed homes.
Jay Gandolfi
East side
Horne’s job
Tom Horne is on television ads telling parents that if the public school their child attends is substandard, get a voucher and send your child to a private school, which will be better than the public school. I am confused. Isn’t it Tom Horne’s job to ensure that public schools are up to standard? I believe the message is that he is not doing much to improve the schools that all children need, but he will pay parents to go to schools that are better than the schools he is responsible for. I’m just saying.
Richard Bechtold
West side
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