Fitz cartoon on rodeo hits home
Re: the Feb. 20 editorial cartoon.
In a photo of a bronco rider posted in the Daily Star a few weeks ago, a close up of the horses’ leg revealed a split and badly overgrown hoof. Repeatedly, calves are choked to the ground and steers’ horns are twisted grotesquely. Rodeo stock doesn’t likely get much medical or maintenance care.
I am from the West, I grew up in New Mexico and Arizona. Throwing calves or steers is a way of life here, and those skills are necessary for cowboys on the open range; however, I hope that the same animal is not subjected to it over and over again.
I am not naive enough to believe that rodeo-as-entertainment will go away. However, as spectators, we have a moral obligation to ensure that these animals are treated ethically and humanely.
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LM Swann
SaddleBrooke
People deserve a say in corporation commission
Members of both the Arizona Senate and House are proposing bills to restrict and challenge voter initiatives, and now state Rep. Ben Toma’s bill, HCR 2014, aims to change the current law through which Arizona voters choose the state’s five utility regulators on the Arizona Corporation Commission. In the 2018 election, more than a million votes were cast for each of the five commissioner positions, clearly indicating voter interest.
Toma’s current bill intends to remove voters from commissioner selection and give this power to the governor, a potentially partisan maneuver. I urge Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona voters to speak out against this blatant effort to ignore voter rights. Otherwise, our legislators and governor are circumventing rather than representing the voters who placed them in office.
Roger Shanley
East side
The ‘wall’ is a scam, and we are on to it
It’s no surprise that a lawless president would ignore federal law and the Tohono O’odham Nation before blading sacred lands. It’s no surprise that saguaros are bulldozed, cottonwoods cut down, groundwater threatened and migration patterns disrupted.
No one is shocked when the president plunders funds from the military budget to build his wall. It’s business-as-usual when Donald Trump pressures the military to give a $400 million contract to a CEO who lobbied for the job on Fox News and a steel company that donated $1.7 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Trump’s monument to fear is just another example of the chaos and corruption that infests this administration. Instead of the comprehensive and humane immigration policy this nation so sorely needs, Trump has saddled taxpayers with medieval technology that failed in a 30 mph wind. Arizonans are onto this scam, and will vote blue in November.
Alison Jones, Chair, Pima County Democratic Party
Midtown
Don’t blame Trump; blame his supporters
Several possible mental health disorders make it impossible for our president to behave like a normal human being. First he is a narcissist, so in love with himself that he can have no empathy for others. He has the extreme version, egomania.
Second, paranoia. He only trusts those who agree with him and viciously strikes out against all who disagree. This makes improved character impossible for him.
Third, he is a sociopath. Having no conscience, and thus feeling no guilt, about anything he says or does. If not for family wealth, he would probably be incarcerated.
Fourth, he is pathological liar and has told more lies than all previous presidents.
Therefore, don’t blame Donald Trump, but blame all of those who still support him in spite of three years of disastrous behavior.
Jeff Blackburn, MD
Northwest side
Warren took down Bloomberg; Trump next
After watching the recent Democratic debate, one conclusion seems inescapable. The candidate most able to take on Donald Trump is Elizabeth Warren. Regardless of what candidate you favor, you must admire the skill with which she took down Mike Bloomberg.
She challenged his racism and misogyny in a factual and highly effective manner. She financed her college education with debate scholarships, and it certainly showed. I’m confident that what she did to Bloomberg, she can do to Trump and win in November.
Lynn Carey
Tubac
We can’t afford current health-care system
The Democratic candidates shun Bernie Sanders’ platform because “he wants to make a revolution with socialism, and Americans don’t want a revolution.” But, the American people need to understand that both a mandate to cut the expenses in our private health-care system and implementation of nationalized health care will create regulations that may feel like a revolution.
Many Americans may fear nationalized health care due to the unknown. The richest in our country may object to nationalized health care because they will have to fund a good portion of it. And big, health-care-related companies probably fear both because their astronomical profits, salaries and bonuses will also be cut.
Nationalized health care covers everybody, where private health care covers only whoever can afford it. However, the Democratic nominee will need everybody’s support — even if it’s Bernie — if we want a Democratic president.
Hanne Owens
Northwest side
Real journalism providing helpful info
Re: the Feb. 29 article “Answering questions, concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.”
Thank you for publishing the article by Stephanie Innes of The Arizona Republic regarding the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. In this age of misinformation that floods the internet, the article by Innes reminds me why I subscribe to a newspaper. The article quotes actual health-care experts and provides common-sense advice for the public.
This is one of the things that newspaper journalism does best: It educates and provides perspective. If more people subscribed to and read their local newspapers, maybe we would see less irrational behavior driven by fear, e.g., clearing stores of face masks that do not protect people from infection. I will be turning to my newspaper to learn more about the current outbreak.
Gary Huckleberry
Foothills
Airbnbye-bye
Re: the Feb. 21 article “State closer to letting cities regulate short-term vacation rentals.”
Having just sold a house in Ruidoso, New Mexico, because of a daily rental next door, I am happy to see that the city is trying to level the playing field between the established businesses and the daily rentals. Many times they convert a house in a residential neighborhood to a commercial property. In New Mexico, the house next to me had different groups every weekend with mostly loud parties.
Thomas Flood
Catalina
Musical Carousel asset to Tucson’s arts scene
An article in the Feb. 27 edition of Caliente listed four reasons to attend the classic American musical “Carousel,” performed by Tucson’s own Arts Express. After attending last Sunday’s matinee, I would like to add a fifth reason: the Performance. A cast of 34, all locals, brought to life a story as relevant to today as it was when first produced 75 years ago, filled with raw emotions of lust, love, self-loathing and more — as universal as time itself.
Singing, dancing, acting and live orchestra combined to create a show par excellence, and the standing ovation was well deserved. The musical was presented at the Berger Performing Arts Center on West Speedway, but it could have been Broadway in New York, New York.
Bravo, Arts Express! Thank you for a memorable afternoon of great theater. Tickets are available for this weekend’s productions of “Carousel,” which runs through March 8.
Barbara Russek
North side
Walls can’t stop germs
So here we are. Trump has made building the wall the key to his presidential campaign. The wall would keep us safe from the non-native born peoples of the world. In order to help pay for his wall he cut programs related to the CDC by 80%.
Now, this little coronavirus wasn’t stopped by the wall. It flew right over it and is infecting a weakened America, thanks to the wall and Donald Trump.
David Rubin
Midtown
