Don't punish kids, state for one poor childhood
Re: the Sept. 6 article "School standards mandated with no funds to pay for them."So state school Superintendent John Huppenthal grew up in a "household where the food ran out on Sunday and shopping day was Wednesday" and that is his justification for severely underfunding the educational process.
By that standard it is OK to send our children for a year of school knowing that funds, supplies and school lunches will run out by Christmas break. In the second semester we'll have our kids doing 'rithmetic with sticks in the dirt in the playground.
He'll play that like we're improving student health with increased outdoor exercise.
Mr. Huppenthal, education equals good-paying jobs and growth for the Arizona economy. Starving the system isn't a solution.
Jennifer Jones
Manager, Tucson
Budget balancer: Move everything to Defense
I think I've finally come up with the entire solution to the budget problem in the White House. Let's move all of the other departments under Defense!
Apparently our government is totally inept at every single thing, other than defense. Somehow every single intelligent person works for the Department of Defense. It is such a success that its budget should be awarded extra trillions that it didn't even ask for. This should have broad appeal, as the left can realize unlimited growth in government, and the right can realize unlimited growth in defense spending! Voilà!
Matteo Dinero
Tucson
US workers bear brunt of world economic woes
The Labor Day edition of the Star featured an article on the front page titled, "With Focus On Productivity, Many Skip Vacations." This is in reference to the 65 percent of working Americans who had unused vacation time. Several employees interviewed expressed concern for their job security if they used their earned time off.
In the business section of the paper an article appeared titled "Next 2 Weeks To Bring Flurry Of Reports, Actions That Could Move Market."
David Kelly, chief strategist for J.P. Morgan Fund, states, "The most important thing is that all the Europeans come back from vacation in September. Unlike Americans, Europeans really take a vacation, and it's hard to have a European debt crisis if everyone's on vacation."
American workers, like Atlas, bear the weight of the world's economic well-being on their weary shoulders.
Marlene Carol Skinner
Retired dental hygienist, Tucson
Education sales tax would be squandered
Resist the temptation to support the education sales tax because of the misleading arguments given by our anti-education Legislature for opposing it.
This regressive tax would not increase the total tax funding for education. Rather, it would permanently shift the load from those most able to pay on to low- and middle-income people. Millions of this education tax would be squandered to build roads.
As soon as the temporary sales tax passed, the Legislature permanently cut taxes on the wealthy and diverted more money to private schools. This time they promised to do worse - cut the state income tax by an amount equal to the income gained from the sales tax.
Hold their feet to the fire. Do not make it easy for them to cut any more progressive taxes. If they starve K-12, the majority will vote them out of office.
Ruth Stokes
Systems analyst, Tucson
Full fallout of Obama's policies hasn't been felt
In Bill Clinton's speech on Wednesday he proclaimed that there is no president in the history of the United States who could have fixed the bad economy in four years that Barack Obama found when he took office. Ronald Reagan did a darn good repair job in his first four years.
The bigger question before us is whether or not there was any president in the history of the United States who could have ruined the economy so quickly and so completely as Barack Obama has done. I know Jimmy Carter comes to mind, but the full fallout from President Obama's policies is yet to be seen. It isn't looking good.
Tom Martin
Retired, Tucson
Skip letters on Fitz for room on other topics
Re: the Sept. 5 editor's note in letters to the editor.
The Star recently stated it would try to print more letters during this election season. The newspaper could stop wasting space printing the never-ending letters about David Fitzsimmons' editorial cartoons.
Most of these letters are diatribes against whatever cartoon offended the writer and accusing the Star of liberal bias. What part of "editorial cartoon" do these writers not understand? There is a reason why these cartoons appear on the opinion page. They express the opinion of the cartoonist and are not intended to be objective news stories.
I almost gag whenever I try to read Jonah Goldberg's or Charles Krauthammer's columns, but I know they are opinion pieces. I don't expect them to be factual or nonbiased.
Jessica Hamdan
Tucson
Fine for care-home death disgusts reader
Re: the Sept. 5 story "$500 fine levied for death at care home."
$500! Are you kidding me!? Sabino Canyon Rehabilitation & Care Center leaves an elderly man outside in 102-degree weather, at the hottest time of the day, for over an hour, and all they get is a $500 fine? And Tucson police say it's "unlikely" any charges will be filed?
This organization should be charged with at least negligent homicide.
Their license should be pulled; Medicare and Medicaid funding withdrawn, and any caring family get their loved ones the hell out of there.
I hope the family's civil suit bankrupts them. As a senior, this story disgusts me. This was an unconscionable, and totally avoidable death. $500! It's an insult to elderly people everywhere.
Micky Schap
Retired social worker and teacher, Tucson
Intent of mining law has been accomplished
Just came from another U.S. Forest Service presentation in Patagonia explaining to us that the General Mining Law of 1872 is a federal law of the land, passed by Congress 140 years ago, upheld by the president, and is to be obeyed like it or not. This was conveyed in as pleasant a manner as possible to a crowd of silent residents ringed by a half-dozen armed officers.
I believe that the law's original intent was to encourage western migration of the country's population at that time; well, we are here now, thank you!
R. Smith
Retired, Patagonia
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