Carbon tax
needed now
Amid a frightening pandemic, we need to imagine the world we have and the better world we want. Regardless of our political beliefs, all want to feel secure, all want a healthier planet. Our political leaders do, too, but they too are uncertain how to proceed to face both a deadly disease and a looming climate crisis. There is one action we can take to promote that better world.
We can limit the impact of climate change by imposing a tax on its major cause, the use of fossil fuels. A gradually rising fee on carbon emissions rebated to American households simultaneously reduces the use of those fossil fuels and protects those least able to pay. It will be one step toward a better world. Ask Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, Raúl Grijalva, and Tom O’Halleran, and Sens. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema to protect our country by supporting a tax on carbon.
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Mike Carran
Northeast side
Policy ‘successes’
piling up for GOP
The Arizona Daily Star seems to publish so many letters describing Donald Trump and Republican COVID-19 policies as abject failures. This is inaccurate and unfair. For example, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas eloquently summed up the Republican position vis-a-vis the ravages of the COVID-19 virus on the U.S. population when he suggested that senior citizens should “chance their survival” in exchange for shielding their children and grandchildren from economic discomfort, reminding them “there are more important things than living.” Policy success! Estimates are: Nursing homes and assisted living facilities account for 43% of the 130,000 COVID-19 deaths so far.
Another policy triumph for Trump and the Republicans? Not withstanding any copyright fees owed to George W. Bush, the “leave no billionaire behind” strategy is working spectacularly. Handcrafted fiscal bailout of Wall Street’s giants with trainloads of taxpayer money, plus the Federal Reserve’s $4 trillion backstop for their risky loans has the stock market soaring!
Gary Susko
Midtown
Trump just
wants your vote
Donald Trump called the family of George Floyd, but they reported that he wanted to do all the talking. Not much interested in what they had to say. For him it was just a campaign stop, nothing more. Coronavirus deaths are climbing toward a predicted 200,000 deaths on his watch, plus hundreds of thousands with permanent damage from the disease.
His response has been too late, too slow, too weak, too little. Our economy is a train wreck. He has no plan other than to encourage us to have more contact and therefore more coronavirus. Black Lives Matter have been marching in the streets to talk about four centuries of agony. He calls them thugs and other names and threatens to call the “heavily armed” army on them.
He has stood idly by while the Russians pay bounties for dead American troops, promoting for them to be hunted like animals. All he cares about is your vote. Don’t give it to him.
George Yost
Vail
Supremacy
the original sin
The Prophet Muhammad was raised in an era when slavery was not only the norm but glorified. Islam effectively abolished slavery, but we barely hear about it. Bilal, a Black freed slave and disciple of the prophet was elevated to the status of the first caller to prayer, five times a day. Bilal even became a spiritual “master” and leader.
Muslims married slaves. Freeing of slaves was prescribed as atonement to minor sins and was promoted as “the steep ascent” that led to divine nearness. Islam systemically eradicated slavery.
The root of slavery lies in the pandemic of supremacy, the original sin committed by Iblis against Adam in the Holy Quran. Although a simple declaration was made to emancipate slaves by President Abraham Lincoln, we’re still uncovering more and more subliminal racism deeply rooted in our societies, suffocating equal dignified opportunity for our Black siblings.
Until we defeat the egoistic arrogance lurking inside each one of us, we’ll lamentably keep losing sacred lives senselessly.
Amir Ayubi
South Tucson
President plays
deadly political game
The U.S. is in the middle of a health crisis unknown in modern times. Our president continues to deny the severity of the pandemic while worrying more about national monuments than the spike of the virus in most states and the deaths of 130,000 citizens he has sworn to protect. Instead of serving as a model to Americans by wearing a mask and avoiding large gatherings, he does just the opposite of what health advisers recommend.
Donald Trump continues to make the pandemic into a political issue and thereby endangers the lives of his supporters, staff, Secret Service agents and many other people with whom they come into contact. The lunacy of this defies reason!
Sandra Beecher
Northwest side
Use lie detector
to root out racists
Can the polygraph weed racism out of law enforcement? I am told the FBI uses the polygraph to determine drug use as part of its recruiting process.
I would think the polygraph would be helpful in law enforcement recruiting as well, if the right questions were asked.
Such questions as: Do you use the “n word?” Have you committed a hate crime? Are whites superior to Blacks? Do you support the philosophy that Black lives matter? Are you empathetic to Blacks in America? Was MLK a good person? Do you have any close Black friends?
This polygraph could also be given to all officers every five years.
It would surely sensitize all police officers to the reality of racism among their ranks.
Tom McGorray
Northwest side
Pooled testing doesn’t
add up for Arizona
Re: the July 6 article “Could ‘pooled testing’ help fight virus?”
Recently, some of the nation’s top health officials have begun advocating “pooled testing” to help stretch our COVID-19 testing capability. I am afraid that this approach could fail in areas with high rates of positive tests such as Arizona.
Through some simple calculations, I was able to determine that the positive test rate would need to average less than 6% for there to be a worthwhile reduction in testing requirements. Since Arizona has a positive testing rate of 20% or more, it would actually require more tests to do pooled testing. Not to mention the delay in results because many retests would be required if just one in the pool tested positive.
I hope our health officials are consulting statisticians before making these kinds of decisions.
Lee LaFrese
East side
Are schools even prepared to open?
I’ve read very little regarding plans and protocols for opening schools safely but quite a bit about how to open bars, salons, gyms and restaurants. Where are our priorities? I am certain that educators at all levels across Arizona are working diligently to develop plans for their own districts.
Our state government needs to support them by financially compensating them for their time and expertise and by providing funds to make necessary physical adjustments to campuses. Free public education remains the foundation of a society working to correct institutional racism and income inequality, and it deserves the full support of all Arizonans.
Becky Hilst
SaddleBrooke
Biden had 8 years to address racism
For the Fourth of July, Joe Biden released a video in which he said “America’s history is no ‘fairy tale,’ as the country has never lived up to the words of the Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal.’ ... We have the chance to rip the roots of systemic racism out of this country.”
But how, Joe? President Barack Obama and Biden had eight years to address “systematic racism.” Remember under them, there were national riots and protests over white police officers killing Black men like at Ferguson, the Bronx, Baltimore and other places. What was Obama and Biden’s legacy in addressing racism?
What we got were Obama’s infamous rhetoric of “just words.” Under the dynamic duo there was no sweeping police reform legislation passed. Their priorities were doing the ACA, DACA, and attempting immigration reform for Latinos. Not much for Blacks. Now all of a sudden, feeble Joe will end systematic racism and “transform America” if elected president.
Shane Foster
East side
