The bishops'
list is lengthy
I am a lifelong Catholic. Years ago, I attended a Catholic university where I learned that pro-life Catholicism is anti-abortion, death penalty, euthanasia and suicide.
I was taught that all human life is sacred and only God should determine when a human life ends. According to the church, the taking of a life by an individual or the state snuffs the divine spark that resides in all God’s children.
Catholic bishops are creating lists of elected officials who are deemed unworthy of Communion based on their abortion views. Based on my Catholic education, I can only assume the bishops will next create a list of those politicians who will be denied Communion based on their pro-death-penalty views.
This must be the case because Catholic doctrine holds that the life of a criminal is as sacred to God as the life of the unborn. At least, that is what I learned in Theology 101.
People are also reading…
Laura Hagen Fairbanks
West side
Remembering
our 1871 shame
Re: the June 22 letter "Remove shameful city names" and the June 19 article "We have our shame: 136 Apache in 1871."
I was very glad to see David Fitzsimmons’ column on the Camp Grant Massacre of 1871, a massacre that has not received sufficient attention in Tucson and Arizona.
I would also like to second the suggestion of letter writer Peg Kazda, that the city remove the names of the ringleaders of the massacre from places of honor in Tucson.
These would include streets, schools, neighborhoods and mountain peaks. Perhaps replacement names could include some of the Apache women slaughtered that day.
Clay Mering
Foothills
Fireworks don't
belong in desert
In the face of the reality that is our region’s severe drought and ravaging fires, I pray the county and cities cancel fireworks for this year. Use emergency measures to prohibit fireworks.
Replace them with water and firetrucks shooting streams of water, light shows, water guns and mud play. Fires from fireworks are guaranteed; look at your own decades of news coverage of "A" Mountain after fireworks.
There are so many costs and dangers from fireworks — from fires to air pollution health problems. Even fire retardant contains PBDE, which can be harmful to humans.
It seems a terrible waste of money, risk to human health, and destruction of vegetation to allow fireworks. Like many past traditions, i.e. lighting up a cigarette while at the bar, the dangerous fireworks tradition in a dry desert needs to go away.
Sharon Foltz
Northwest side
Conover's folly
encourages crime
Re: the online article "Pima County Attorney's Office faces rampant turnover, staff upheaval."
In just a few months in office, progressive Democrat Pima County Prosecutor Laura Conover has already caused a mass exodus of rank-and-file prosecutors. The Daily Star reported 58 employee departures as of June 14 that resulted in the loss of more than 450 years of experience.
Former employees say they believe the County Attorney's Office is no longer prioritizing accountability for offenders and in some cases, not prioritizing victims' rights.
Prosecutors say Conover looks for mitigating circumstances of historical, psychological, and even "immigration consequences" in charging and sentencing. Claims of retaliation and being closed out of conversations have been levied against her.
Victims are being encouraged to not press charges against their perpetrators. Remember, Conover decided not to seek the death penalty against Chris Clements for his brutal murders of Isabel Celis and Maribel Gonzales.
Progressive prosecutors like Conover and their sympathy for criminals are why we are experiencing a crime wave across America.
Cherry Thompson
East side
On water, city
acts arbitrarily
The most appalling aspect of the differential rate adoption is the attitude that “this water is ours and we can charge whatever we want.” Is it? Are the aquifers all on Tucson land? Were resources developed with Tucson general funds?
Is the Colorado River share based only on Tucson residents? No. Yet all of the council voted without any cost-of-service study for this arbitrary and capricious rate.
As I read the court decisions that upheld differential rates, they all require rates must be reasonable and based on cost differences, not the bogus claim that county residents must back up Tucson's general funds.
In 30 years as a consultant for state and local government finance, I've never the seen this nonsense. The water is not the city’s, but the decision leaves county residents in a “we vs. they.”
At a time of increasing droughts, being subject to a council that ignores legalities and makes arbitrary decisions cannot end well for county residents.
Thomas Walsh
Northeast side
Catholic Church
is out of line
The Catholic Church has gone too far!
The very idea bishops would even consider withholding the Eucharist to keep parishioners in line is absolutely appalling.
Kent Jacobs
Oro Valley
Filibuster serves
critical purpose
There are only three things wrong with the federal government today: the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches. Don’t blame our Founding Fathers; they foresaw pitfalls and tried their best to provide checks and balances to prevent abuse of power.
Let’s pick on Congress since the F-word (filibuster) is in play today. The House is the voice of the hoi polloi, while the Senate is designed to be the more deliberative body, older and wiser, hence it has internal rules that promote pause and rational legislative processes.
The filibuster, while not demanded by our Constitution, is a rule the Senate established at a time when they understood their elevated responsibility. Tie vote plus one is the tyranny of the majority that our Founding Fathers feared.
Keep the filibuster and keep America.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
Trash, now water,
are subsidized
All of our Tucson Water bills include a line item for trash collection. City of Tucson residents get free pickup. Unincorporated Tucson residents pay private companies for pickup.
Tucson has already been getting subsidized trash and now water thanks to the new increased rates for non-Tucson residents. How much is enough?
Vern Roberts
Northeast side
