Tucson Speaks Out: Sept. 23 letters of the day

Re: the Aug. 10 "A call for action on road safety."

The solution is so very simple ... traffic cameras and automatic ticketing for those who run red lights and those who speed on our streets. It's the Wild, Wild West out there and there will never be enough police or deputies to catch the offenders .. .and they know it.

Eric Watt

Southwest side

Election moral values

As children, we were taught or instructed that those we associate with and support creates our values. Our ethics, character and morals are a reflection of those associations. There are no best of two evils. Our children will be a reflection of our associations and actions.

Arthur Garrett

Oro Valley

Political support

The term for believing someone without question is credulous, which means to accept something willingly without much evidence. A synonym for credulous is gullible. If you describe someone as gullible, it means they are easily tricked because they are too trusting. Gullibility is a failure of social intelligence in which a person is easily tricked or manipulated into an ill-advised course of action. It is closely related to credulity, which is the tendency to believe unlikely propositions that are unsupported by evidence. Wake up, people.

De Spie

Northeast side

Numbers without context

Re: the Sept. 18 letter "The numbers do not lie."

Numbers without context fail to tell the whole story. Comparing economic conditions between Trump and Biden-Harris must include circumstances such as COVID-19 pandemic-induced supply line disruptions and requisite emergency federal mitigation programs. To help, the Biden-Harris administration enacted six major bills costing about $5.3 trillion. Inflation and price increases followed. But not enacting those programs would have led to failures and extreme conditions for individuals, businesses, and ultimately the economy.

Percentage-based comparisons can also be misleading. The "numbers" quotes Nasdaq percentages up 138.2% for Trump and up 39.4% for Biden-Harris, but both the Dow and Nasdaq reached their highest levels ever under Biden-Harris (Nasdaq: 18,647.45 on July 10, Dow: 42,025.19 on Sept 19).

For a strengthened democracy, please remember President Kennedy's challenge, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country". Join a growing number of Republicans and Veterans and vote patriotically for Harris-Walz.

Michael Houghtaling

Ronstadt has a way with words

Re: the Sept. 13 "Trump's Tucson stop a 'hate show'."

Linda Ronstadt is a local icon and a national treasure. It was good the Star reported on her letter to the public regarding Trump's 'hate show' visit to Tucson. The Star included everything in Linda's letter except her very best line, which was — "Trump first ran for President warning about rapists coming in from Mexico. I'm worried about keeping the rapist out of the White House." Linda's always had a way with words!

Dale Foster

Oro Valley

The jerk

If you wanted to invite a jerk to a party, Trump would be the guy. He could be relied upon to play the ignoramus, say stupid things, and be coaxed into aping some outlandish theory and taking it as his own.

Loud and boisterous, he would insist on being in the center of everything and refuse to leave because he made himself "head of the party."

But once removed Trump would maintain he was still the jerk of the party, the vote to expel him was a fraud.

Of course, party or no, he will always be a top-of-the-line jerk. He does not belong in any Party.

Ron Lancaster

North side

Numbers game

Re: the Sept. 18 letter "The numbers do not lie."

While "The Numbers Do Not Lie," as the letter writer claims, they also don't tell the whole story.

Much of the current economy can be directly tied to the effects of the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, not Biden and certainly not Harris. The writer pretends that money is not an emotional topic. What a hoot!

This election is about so much more than numbers. It is about not electing a man who said suspending the constitution should be allowed. That, alone, has more red flags than a Beijing parade.

The writer tells us to only pay attention to the trains running on time and wants us to ignore the cargo.

Christi Driggs

Northwest side

Energy costs

There seems to be consternation regarding TEP rate increases, blaming TEP greed and Corporation Commission ineptitude. TEP must cover its costs with rate increases. However, to stay in good graces with the governing bodies, they intentionally do not point out that the conversion to solar and wind inevitably causes costs to increase. Germany, a leader in the quest for total green energy has a cost of 37.8 cents/kwh. California, another green leader, has a cost of 29.1 cents/kwh. Arizona has a cost of 14.3 cents/kwh. Your $200 monthly AC bill in Tucson would cost $407 in California and $489 in Germany. Obviously and unquestionably, this cost increase is due to the unmitigated and unwise quest to achieve total green energy with total disregard for the economics of green energy. These increased energy costs raise the costs of all goods produced, another hit on the consumer's budget. Solar and wind produced energy are higher than conventional energy, in fact are significantly higher!

Loyal M. Johnson Jr.

Oro Valley

You don't get to quit

Nope. You don't get to stop caring for the air you breathe, the creatures you love, the land you walk on and the water you drink. Nope. You don't get to quit because: you're too busy, you're out of time, you're out of money, you're too old, you're too young, you're too tired, you're too upset, (your excuse here:________)

You love the amazing animal kingdom posts on social media. That baby hippo. You don't get to quit them, either.

You don't get to quit caring, and you don't get to stop acting to do something about it. Send money, give time, shout it out from the rooftops, phone bank and for God's sake vote for those who will also do something about it. Start with the Arizona Corporation Commission and vote for Polacheck, Aguilar and Hill. Vote for Engel and Gallego. These folks really do care. Put them in a position to do something about it.

Rick Rappaport

Oro Valley

Prop 139 is a slap in the face

That outside special interest groups are trying to supersede a bipartisan abortion law passed just this year shows just how radicalized politics has become. Politicians both on the left and the right came together to overturn Arizona's 1864 law, but apparently it's not enough. Instead of celebrating a rare moment of bipartisanship, Arizonans will now be asked to vote on an abortion law that is more radical than all but a few countries in the world. Prop 139 isn't about women's reproductive rights, it's about enshrining a narrow, dehumanizing worldview and declaring total political victory over those who eschewed polarization and reached out a hand of accord.

Andrew Haines

The Party that respects and honors women

I can sympathize with those who oppose abortion.

But what happens when the government intervenes in a decision that should be between a woman and her doctor? We've seen it already, in states where abortion has been outlawed or severely restricted.

Women whose fetus is not viable forced to carry it to term. Doctors afraid of being imprisoned, forced to make a decision that could imperil the mother's life. Girls who have been raped forced to go to another state to terminate their pregnancy.

If Trump is re-elected, we can expect a national abortion ban — possibly followed by a contraception ban. Trump has repeatedly bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade.

Once a national abortion ban is in place, women and girls will not have the option of going to another state to receive care.

If reproductive freedom is important to you, you must vote!

Vote for Kamala Harris. Vote for the party that respects and honors women.

Philip Riffe

West side

To the undecided

A small but significant number of voters are apparently undecided about who to vote for this November. Some say they need to do more research. To those few I say: only one candidate attempted the violent overthrow of the government. Only one candidate refused to accept the election results and failed to engage in a peaceful transfer of power. Only one candidate surrounds himself with white supremacists. Only one candidate spews hate upon immigrants, causing threats to be made against them, schools closing and the proud boys patrolling with guns. Only one candidate consistently lies about everything from immigrants eating your pets to fixations on crowd size. Only one candidate tried to take away health care from millions of citizens and, after years, admits to no plan for replacement, just a "concept." I could go on. And on. That candidate cannot be allowed anywhere near the White House.

Rick Unklesbay

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, cancer being the number one cause of death by disease of children in the US. It's good to see coverage of cancer-related issues in the AZ Daily Star, but I had hoped to see more coverage of this devastating diagnosis in our children this month. The average age of a child diagnosed with cancer is 10 years old, the average length of treatment is 21⁄2 years and often up to four years. The financial impact on the family is significant at all income levels. A combination of loss of work hours, loss of job and increased costs associated with treatment, insurance deductibles and co-pays, and increased transportation costs all add to the increased financial burden experienced by a family. Locally, approximately 70 children a year are diagnosed with cancer. Several local non-profits provide financial assistance to these families. Please consider how you might help a local family challenged with a child's cancer diagnosis.

Beverley Tidwell

Doubling down on hypocrisy

To this writer, it seems to be the height of hypocrisy and partisanship for the current CD6 representative to have voted not once but twice against the better interests of his constituents.

First, the border bill. While not perfect, it would have been a good start on a solution. But, the congressman voted 'Nay,' so he continues to run for re-election on border issues. Why? Because his puppet master — not a member of Congress — told his caucus not to vote for any Biden-proposed legislation on border and immigration issues. Don't want to lose control of a toxic campaign issue, do we?

Second, he votes 'Yea' on the continuing resolution to keep the government in business until spring 2025. Why? Because the appropriations bill was really disguised as a voter suppression bill. Fortunately, Democrats and a handful of responsible Republicans voted 'Nay,' and in doing so, avoided a veto and protected existing voter registration requirements in their home states.

Voters know who pulled his strings on both votes.

Bryan Lane

Green Valley