Letters to the Editor: Feb. 16

What is wrong with our Arizona Legislature that one party-Senate’s newly-formed Committee on Director Nominations can deny the approval of one of the best candidates for the Arizona health chief because of a partisan belief in anti-masking? And the way they did it, with personal denigration of the nominee with no respect for her experience and actions because they disagreed with COVID preparations and safety. How dare they? Pima County, besides being the home of Tucson, as well as two Indian Reservations, managed the pandemic with best practices, no thanks to the GOP governor and Legislature. Theresa Cullen has been an excellent director of the Pima County Health Department, particularly in covering all the bases of pandemic needs, vaccinations and many other public health needs over the past two years. Shame.

Mary Andersen

East side

Entitlements

Re: the Feb. 13 article “Quadrillion-dollar national debt? Don’t nibble on this math.”

George Will’s column contains an important message. Unfortunately, one has to follow Will’s circuitous reasoning and his ambiguous references to Rep. Chip Roy to get the message. I had to read it twice. But the message is too important to get lost in the presentation. Our entitlements programs, mainly Social Security (SS) and Medicare, are going bankrupt.

The U.S. population is older and living longer. There are fewer workers paying to support seniors. Many of us believe that our contributions to SS guarantee each of us retirement income for our lifetime. But this isn’t the way the system is financed. Without increased revenues and reduced costs, the system is unsustainable. Congress should consider increasing the age of full retirement and increasing the maximum income at which annual SS contributions end.

Taking on entitlements reform in an election year is daunting, especially since President Biden got everyone at his State of the Union address to promise that changes to SS and Medicare are “off the table.”

Dale Keyes

Downtown

Classified documents

I’m considering having my house searched for classified documents. These things could be anywhere.

Tim O’Connor

Southeast side

Stop paying the bully

It’s lunch time on the school yard and the class bully demands your lunch money or he’s going to kick your butt. So you pay him thinking now he’ll leave you alone, but guess what? He comes back the next day and so on. It’s called paying the bully. You may get your butt kicked but at some point you have to stand up to the bully.

Once again, Ukraine has pleaded for U.S. fighter planes and advanced weapons systems to defend itself against the Russian bully. The war is not going well for Putin and he’s ramping up his efforts there, so it is imperative that Ukraine immediately receive all the military assistance the West can provide. There’s little doubt that properly armed Ukraine can defeat and drive the Russians out. We can’t let Putin’s escalation threats of what he might do deter the U.S. and its European allies from providing Ukraine the arms they desperately need. It’s way past time to stop paying the bully.

Jeff Aronson,

former Marine Captain,

Vietnam vet

Northeast side

Poor judgment in traffic

I’ve found it annoying that “professional drivers” don’t drive professionally. I recently came head-on to a County Deputy who didn’t use his directional signal and caused confusion at an intersection. Subsequently, I came beside him and tooted, he lowered his passenger’s side window and I said: “Officer, I think you may want to use your directional signals, as all good drivers should do.” He didn’t respond, so I moved on.

Subsequently, this Deputy found a need to speak to me, he pulled up to my right, so I lowered my window and he said: “Do you watch the news on TV?” He further told me that it is best to call 911 than to speak directly to an officer.

It dawned on me a while later that he was telling me that very bad things happen to people who take police officers to task. What I’d like to know — who takes this kind of person to task. Are you listening, sheriff?

Vincent Allen

Northwest side

Trump’s wall

Re: the Feb. 8 article “Trump’s wall settles into a costly afterlife.”

Francis Wilkinson argues that the border wall is a waste of taxpayers’ money at state and federal levels; that it’s ineffective as policy and deterrence; and that it’s an environmental disaster. “A costly symbol of failure and futility.” He wonders why this wall continues to have support, and concludes that such support is “a silent scream of fear and loathing...It’s therapy.”

I was a licensed psychologist for 25 years. Such a scream may feel therapeutic, but it ain’t therapy. Such support is an addiction. There can never be enough of this “Wall,” it’s like a drug or activity that creates more damage and more anger, not just for its users, but all of us who pay taxes and care about our country.

Real therapy heals, it does not build or maintain destructive walls.

Sherry Machen, retired psychologist

Green Valley

We want the details

OK. The objects flying over us get shot down. Now everyone wants to know everything about them. The information about the objects should be classified as the details are important to the defense and intelligence communities. Not so much to the rest of us. Either way, about half of us would reject the facts and follow the favored conspiracy theory of the moment.

Jeff Rayner

SaddleBrooke

Romans did it better than U.S.

The old Roman government was a model of stability and success, due to its unique features that provided citizens with strong civic responsibility, reliable legal system, communal sense of responsibility and extensive public works projects. These features were integral in providing the people with an equitable form of governance that focused on their collective welfare rather than individual interests.

Civic duty was a cornerstone for the old Roman government; it encouraged citizens to participate in their community by taking part in political processes such as voting or holding office. This participation helped create a stronger bond between individuals, which benefited everyone involved — from local business owners to members of the military — creating an atmosphere where all voices could be heard equally. Additionally, Rome’s extensive public works projects provided necessary infrastructure such as roads and aqueducts, which allowed for greater access to resources while also increasing economic activity throughout cities like Rome itself. Finally, Rome had one of world history’s most reliable legal systems; this ensured justice would always served.

Benjamin Bernstein

East side

Stupid is as stupid does

That would be totally ignoring the catastrophic consequences of climate change when discussing energy production. That would be blaming the current administration for the effects of 50 years of deficit spending. That would be charging it’s politically motivated to investigate obvious crimes by the former president (an attempted coup, intentionally concealing classified documents). Real solutions to our many problems requires us all to look at facts and not political ideology. An example is climate change. There is overwhelming scientific evidence showing fossil fuels are heating the planet, and unfortunately we can see it happening right before our eyes. Yet a major party calls it a hoax without ever refuting any of the scientific evidence. It serves none of us to deny the facts and obstruct solutions to a serious problem that affects all of us.

William Garrity

Foothills

Transportation funding

Re: the Feb. 12 article “A plan to meet transportation needs.”

Supervisor Scott is correct that the residents of Pima County need to invest in their future by supporting a sales tax for transportation. I just disagree as to how we should get there.

I believe the way forward for Tucson is the Move Tucson plan. This plan was developed over several years with direct input from the community. Move Tucson addresses climate change, community preferences for multi-modal options, safety enhancements, and the needs of historically underserved neighborhoods. Move Tucson is the plan for the future.

I can’t support an RTA plan that includes suburban sprawl roadway projects in the farthest corners of Pima County. I can’t support a plan that is governed by the RTA Board, which has delayed much needed improvements on North First Avenue. I can’t support a plan that repeats the mistakes of RTA 1 and follows a 20-year-old framework.

I think the best path forward for Tucson is collecting its own taxes and following the Move Tucson road map.

Ruth Reiman

Midtown

Rare gift for Tucson music lovers

On February 10-12, while thousands shopped for gems nearby, a few hundred music lovers benefited from the most ambitious concert series of the Arizona Early Music Society’s four decades.

Postponed from last year, the Baroque Music Festival brought nine specialists in 18th century instrumental performance to Tucson at the invitation of festival director Avi Stein, an organist and choir director at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York. Internationally renowned vocalists Tyler Duncan and Nola Richardson joined them in three programs, created for the festival. A variety of vocal and instrumental works were performed with breathless energy and irrepressible wit.

Music-making on this level would amaze audiences in Boston or Berlin. These concerts are a precious gift to southern Arizona from the society and its executive director Dominic Giardino. (I have no affiliation with the society: I’m just a Michigan snowbird and music fan, amazed to find such musical treasures on offer in my winter home.)

David Hoekema

Green Valley