Jason Aldean performs during CMA Fest 2022 in Nashville, Tenn., on June 9, 2022. Aldean released the single "Try That in a Small Town" this month.
Power corrupts
Re: the July 21 article “The Supreme Court’s worst new ruling you never heard of.”
In response to Mr. Reich’s questions regarding the former Supreme Court:
Term limits: In the arrogant world in which they live, absolutely, as “absolute power corrupts, absolutely.”
Expanding the Court: helps or hurts?
Code of Ethics: nothing but blah, blah without teeth. Real teeth.
Most humans have a “fairness” gene and can smell duplicity in even the best disinformation garbage. With notable exceptions for whom no amount of evidence will be convincing.
People are also reading…
While we’re blue-skying here, how about making DOJ truly independent, a stand-alone entity answerable to no branch of Government, just the Constitution and the body of law?
Virginia Gethmann
Northeast side
Aldean’s small town
I’ve read about Jason Aldean’s song praising small towns. I don’t believe in canceling anyone, but he’s another like Donald Trump trying to appeal to rural voters despite nothing in common with them. He lives in a suburb of Nashville in a castle. He has a bowling alley, basketball court, river raft swimming pool and two-story closet. I doubt that any of his targeted audience lives in such opulence. It’s incredibly easy to dupe the gullible. Trump has made a living doing this. Remember Trump Airlines, Trump Steaks and Trump University.
Craig Miller
Northwest side
Fake bipartisan
Re: the July 25 article “Ciscomani embraces bipartisan approach.”
The Star republished a Republic campaign pamphlet/article by Tara Kavaler with a headline proclaiming: “Ciscomani embraces bipartisan approach.” There is nothing bipartisan about Ciscomani on the toughest issues. I am referring to water for 100% of us and the right of 50% of our people to control their own bodies without religious, judicial or political intrusion.
On July 21, Ciscomani participated in a “committee hearing” hosted by Gosar, Biggs, Lesko and Crane where he sat between Biggs and Crane while mine shills urged More Mines, including Rosemont and Oak Flat. You cannot assemble a less bipartisan group or one caring less about future water quality or supply.
I want a Rep. who does everything possible to protect a safe, reliable water supply and protect the right of a woman to make her own private health decisions. Kirsten Engel is uniquely qualified and devoted to do exactly that. Ciscomani, the hyper-partisan, wants more mines and more intrusive presence in the examining room.
Douglas Williams
Foothills
Business water use
We are all urged to take shorter showers, turn off the water while we brush our teeth, save rainwater for our yards and get rid of our pools. Agriculture is urged to find ways to irrigate crops with less water and grow crops that use less water. Where are recommendations to businesses? Why do we seek businesses that will use enormous amounts of water? Why do we not require businesses to install greywater systems? Why aren’t businesses that use lots of water required to recycle, clean and reuse that water? We all need to conserve our precious and scarce water, but we seem to be willing to allow any business to use all it wants with no restrictions. We need to make changes here.
Bette E. Richards
Northwest side
Multi-dimensionality of drug use
Re: the July 25 letter “Drugs and homelessness.”
As a scientist and addiction professional, I feel compelled to respond to the statement that “drug addiction is a personal choice.” While this view of addiction as moral failure is quite prevalent, it has been debunked by decades of research suggesting that multiple factors — including genetic makeup, underlying psychiatric conditions, family background, cultural context and personal experiences — influence how addictions develop. Although “no one forces anyone to start doing drugs” or alcohol, many young people do experiment with substances; while most people do not develop addictions, some predisposed individuals escalate to problematic use and experience physiological and behavioral changes, which make it difficult to make choices. So, while choice does play a role in the trajectory of addiction, it is a serious oversimplification to say “drug addiction is a personal choice.” The temptation to oversimplify is understandable because it suggests a simple solution (“just say no”). Unfortunately, the complexity and multi-dimensionality of drug use will require a deeper level of understanding to drive compassionate and effective policy and interventions.
Martha Ackerman-Berrier, M.S. Pharmacology, M.S. Addiction Counseling
West side
Road rage incident
Re: the July 27 article “Tucson man sentenced to prison for road rage incidents.”
Let me get this straight.
A guy experiences road rage, and as a result, he shoots into a vehicle occupied by numerous people (including children). It was a miracle that he didn’t kill anyone.
As a result, he gets one year in jail. No kidding, he shoots at numerous people and gets one year in jail. So it’s not a big deal since he missed.
And we wonder why there are so many mass shootings.
John Arnold
Green Valley
Prop 211 is law; live with it
Along with many others, I supported Terry Goddard’s efforts to eliminate dark money from Arizona politics for a decade and finally Proposition 211 passed with 70% of the vote in Nov. 2022. Now the Free Enterprise Club and the Center For Arizona Policy want their donations to be exempt from the law. Cathi Herrod would have us exempt donors to her campaigns against abortion and LGBTQI+ Arizonans. And the Free Enterprise ‘Club’ wants to hide the identities of donors who fund the Club’s work on behalf of conservative causes, including regulatory reform and the expansion of Empowerment Scholarship Accounts. I cannot fathom why donors to such causes would be reluctant to be known as supporting them.
Sorry folks but no one, especially advocacy enterprises, should be exempt from the requirements of the law, and that is exactly what Proposition 211 now is, thanks to the people who put it on the ballot and then voted for it overwhelmingly in last November’s election. Live with it.
Frank Bergen
North side
Hunter!
Hunter Biden is escorted into court in big black Cadillacs with Secret Service protection. I hadn’t realized he worked for the U.S. Government! He doesn’t but works for other governments. So what did the escort service cost us? Do we have a president or a king?
Richard Aufmuth
Foothills
America is a country of immigrants
Economists agree that America needs more workers (Wall Street Journal article). But one of the problems not addressed is that the majority of immigrants are not skilled enough to pick up the slack in the labor market. We are living in a Kafkaesque world, asking desperately for more high-tech immigrants and building an ever-more expensive border wall against immigrants. Most of the money spent on the southern border seems to have been wasted. Would it not be better to use a major portion of that money to collaborate with countries south of the border, establishing new schools, colleges, and universities down there and giving more work permits for trained individuals? A freer flow of workers who could easily go home for vacations and then return to their jobs in the north would solve huge problems. The real problem is, of course, political ideologies in our country, which only hurt both economies. Militarizing the border is the worst response to immigration issues.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
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