Say no to ethanol
The genius in the White House has a scheme to lower skyrocketing gasoline costs, costs I think he single-handedly caused by his war on fossil fuels launched on Day 1 of his administration. His scheme now is to allow sale of 15% ethanol blended fuel (E85).
Folks, you better read your car manuals. I have a 2019 Tacoma and a 2020 Mazda CX-5. Both manuals state that the vehicles are not to use fuel with more than 10% ethanol. Besides damaging the fuel system (ethanol is well known to be incompatible with a lot of sealing materials), using E85 will void the warranties, per the manual. Some vehicles allow for the use of E85, but most don’t.
Besides having negligible impact on gasoline prices while further exacerbating skyrocketing food prices, the genius in the White House will wreck the fuel systems of tens of millions of American cars while simultaneously voiding the vehicle warranties.
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Rick Cunnington
Oro Valley
Germany stands up to Russia
Re: the April 13 article “I won’t cheer end of German anti-militarism.”
In light of the Russian war against Ukraine, it is unbelievable that Nicholas Goldberg, Op-Ed columnist for the LA Times, severely warns against Germany’s effort to strengthen its military. It’s true, there is a “Zeitenwende,” the military budget is getting a huge influx, and Germany is also delivering considerable amounts of weapons to Ukraine (not enough!).
But to raise the specter of Nazi Germany in this context is outlandish and a reflection of an utter misunderstanding of what the Russian attack really means for all of the West. The fall of Ukraine would have been a direct endangerment of all of Eastern, and then also Western Europe. Talking about “militarized rivalry in Europe” is a dangerous mischaracterization of Russian strategies, putting the blame for the war on both sides.
Goldberg does not want to cheer for German military build-up; so does he hence believe that Putin is entitled to conquer any country west of its borders? Germany is a bulwark of defense for the entire West!
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Carbon fee
Re: the April 25 article “Enacting carbon tax is critical to our future.”
The column on climate change and carbon tax was excellent. The old commercial of “You can pay me now or you can pay me later” comes to mind. Americans subsidize the oil industry over $20 billion annually. Other costs are excluded: drought, desertification, wildfires, thawing permafrost, flooding and extreme storms.
All taxpayers support these costs through disaster relief when a town or city is destroyed and Americans are injured or killed. All home and building owners pay higher insurance premiums to cover the increase in costs to insurance companies when disasters happen. Two examples: Hurricane Ida caused over $30 billion in insured damage, and the winter storm Uri killed an estimate of 275 Americans and cost citizens over $100 billion.
A carbon fee and dividend to citizens that equitably decreases the impact to the lowest income families is needed.
William Jones
East side
Save Santa Ritas
I think Hudbay Minerals of Canada is determined to destroy the beauty and natural habitat of the Santa Rita Mountains and the surrounding area. All the reasons why the mining should be stopped have been repeatedly presented. Most importantly is the wasting and polluting of possibly trillions of gallons of water that Arizona desperately needs.
A federal judge has heard these reasons and has put a hold on the mining permit. Sadly, the United States Army Corps of Engineers can’t seem to come up with a reason to stop the mining. Perhaps the lobbyists of Hudbay with pockets full of money are influencing the Corps to decide in favor of Hudbay.
It is time for the Corps of Engineers and all the other agencies involved, who are paid by our government to do their duty and stop all the drilling and mining in the Santa Rita mountains.
Ted Crisboi
Southwest side
Relying on experts
Re: the April 26 article “Smart people.”
This letter is a glaring example, and great reminder, of the amount of uninformed and politically motivated nonsense being fostered today. It would be impossible to have substantive knowledge of all subjects being discussed, and therefore it seems many politicians rely on other “experts in that field.”
It seems in many cases the politician is satisfied with a cursory explanation and when questioned can’t fully articulate why he/she takes the stand that they do.
Political motivation, I feel, is partly/mostly responsible for the divisions in this country. It’s almost impossible to have a reasonable and courteous discussion about current national events, before going down the road of that person taking the position of their political affiliation. Regrettably, neighbors included.
Sad!
Peter Strauss
Marana
Poverty
Re: the April 26 article “Poverty isn’t as simple as we like to think.”
Jim Kiser’s excellent insights on poverty help us to see through the current stereotypes. Kudos to the Tucson City Council for creating a task force to understand the issues of poverty and hopefully move on to deal with it. Right now, Congress is considering tax policy that could help: renewing the Child Tax Credit, which lifted 4 million children out of poverty. Then of course they were dumped back in when 51 senators stood in the way of renewing this powerful ladder out of poverty. So while the task force studies, we can take action: requesting our members of Congress to renew the Child Tax Credit and other initiatives that deal with the housing crisis and child care that too often doom those experiencing poverty to be locked in. Our voices can make a difference, let’s use them!
Willie Dickerson
Northwest side
Street repairs
Despite the fact that there may be no organized opposition to Tucson’s Proposition 411, there are plenty of people who are ready to vote “no” for a variety of reasons.
We know that trust of government is at an all-time low. The distrust extends all the way from the three federal branches to local leadership. The causes and consequences of that distrust have been well-documented.
In Tucson, there’s a free-floating argument that runs something like this: “I keep voting for road improvements (city, county, RTA, Rio Nuevo), but somehow the funds must be misused because I never see results. Therefore, I’m voting ‘no’ on 411.”
At the same time, no one has answered the question: If the proposition fails, will your street be repaired any sooner, if at all?
I hope that voters regain their sanity. I’ve voted “yes” on 411 and hope others will, too.
Bob Kovitz
East side
No more tax
I understand that Chuck Huckelberry is a nice guy, but I’m stunned by the muted response to his essentially stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money. One supervisor amusingly wrote that we learned a lesson. The only lesson is that the taxpayers get the shaft.
He’d really learn a lesson if we took the money out of supervisor pay for screwing up.
It’s like the lesson we learned when we voted for a five-year sales tax (approximately $140/resident/year) to fix roads only to find that the roads are apparently not any better. Now they’re asking us to renew the sales tax for 10 years. Not surprisingly, the new tax is endorsed by many corporations that essentially don’t pay sales tax.
I hope that voters will apply lessons they have learned when they vote against the new tax.
John Kromko, Treasurer, Pima Assn. of Taxpayers
Downtown
Sex-ed for K-3?
It mystifies me that K-3 educators and schools feel they that have the authority, the time and feel the need to educate these young children in the LGBTQ area. These youngsters have been pummeled by COVID restrictions and the accompanying in-fighting. They have been in school, in home school or in no school for better than two years. I imagine that if tested, less than 10% are up to satisfactory levels in reading, mathematics, history or geography or any other core subject.
When the teachers, unions, schools and school boards can look the public straight in the eye and say that they are up to acceptable levels, then the discussions can be had about adding other subjects.
Mark Wurz
Northwest side
