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May 31
To the selfish woman who complained about the mountains being “blocked” by her neighbor’s shed, in the picture printed in the paper, you can clearly see the mountains from your back yard. So, sorry that your neighbor’s need for storage blocked teeny tiny bit of the mountains and now you have to get out of your chair to see them. Maybe you should stop and realize that there are so many worse things going on in the world than a view from your back yard. How about our soldiers who are dying overseas? I bet they would love to have the little bit of view that you are so selfishly complaining about. The entire town is surrounded by mountains. To the people complaining about Best Buy, Best Buy is the best thing that has happened to this town. Who cares where they are positioned outside of the mall? Again, there are so many worse things that you should be concerned with. The opening of Best Buy keeps our dollars right here in town instead of up in Tucson. They are going to generate more tax dollars for Sierra Vista.
I recently saw a couple of letters knocking our swamp coolers and the amount of water they use. Seventy yeas ago in Tucson, only the well-to-do could afford one. Then the people from the East and California started swarming in after the war with their non-native trees that took watering not like our salt cedar, Arizona elm and desert rose, which we never watered. And they brought the hay fever and lung troubles. Then around maybe 40 years go, these people had to have refrigeration using big-time electricity. We have had to build more and more coal-fired electric plants, so we can’t see the mountains and the Grand Canyon the way we used to. And they sit around in their houses breathing the same stale air over and over and wonder why they are sick. We with our swamp boxes breathe nice fresh air that smells like the cedars in the mountains.
As the race for the presidential “wannabes” continues, the plans of various candidates are constantly malformed to propel a specific aspirant into the limelight. It has been categorically acknowledged that the news media tends to be definitely anti-Bush and exhibits the present Democratic empowerment of Congress in a very favorable manner. The unusual inclusion of a female candidate this year to the roster does present a rather interesting format; therefore, it requires that all their words and platforms be scrutinized very carefully. Actually, it might be rather interesting if former vice president Al Gore declares his intention to run also, as his qualifications have been tremendously embellished in these past few years with all the worldwide traveling he has done and the acceptance and expansion of his global warming awareness enterprise. He should give it a try again. It may bring about some surprising encounters. This is indeed a varied group in the running. It will be most interesting as time goes on.
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The general American public relies upon information as offered through normal media of newspapers, TV, etc., and much of it is slanted to suit the writer and presenter. Books are another source of detail. A particular suggestion was presented in a book published in 2002. One of the authors resolves for the CIA to become more valuable, was to change FBI and CIA cultures from dog-in-the-manger to a wolfpack morality. And that was ignored with the carryover of the director of CIA, George Tenet, a Clinton holdover. If ever thoroughly checked and revealed, it may be proven that many of the holdovers from the previous administration were definitely not in faithful sync with the new Bush management, and no wonder things twisted into turmoil and defeat at times.
The manner of questioning a candidate’s qualifications may be more lenient nowadays, especially since the media show a more soft-hearted approach to a couple of candidates. However, the general public now should be well aware of the tenacity of the various candidates and their advisers and staff, who have literally used various questionable means and methods to win. Surely, the voters should not be unduly impressed with the enormous amounts the candidates accumulate for funding their campaigns. That is not the criteria for a candidate’s qualification or ability. And as for their “gift for gab,” some of them speak from both sides of their mouths in a very careful manner of acceptable dialect.
JUNE 1
I have noticed that smokers and businesses are not following the law that went into effect on May 1, that all smokers are to be at least 20 feet from a public entrance and this is not happening. And this is to be posted on all public entrances. But it isn’t being followed or there isn’t even a sign.
The front-page color photo, plus article, and another long article on page 5, both in the May 31 edition, read as if the Herald has become the paid publicist for Democrat Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. I cannot remember Republican Congressman Jim Kolbe ever getting a color photo on the front page. And why is the Herald always trying to have Giffords appear as the new political Florence Nightingale coming to our rescue? And why does the Herald make her local appearances seem like stellar events when local appearances have always been the norm for a congressman, especially during a congressional holiday break like the Memorial Day weekend? When is the Herald going to discuss Giffords’ ultra-liberal voting records in Congress, especially after voting to support our troops in Iraq, then voting to deprive them of funding with timetables and voting for $23 billion of pork barrel spending? The Herald’s readers deserve balanced reporting and are not getting it when it comes to Giffords, whom the Herald supported in the 2006 November election.
EDITOR’S NOTE: When Kolbe was in office, many of his visits to Cochise County were reported as front-page news with photos.
JUNE 2
Our up-and-down reactions to the course of events in Iraq have convinced me that all too many Americans have veered toward becoming isolationists. That the United States is the most dominant nation in the world, both economically and militarily, seems to leave them with a guilt complex and unable to accept the international responsibilities that go with that dominant position. These isolationists crave for world approval, although other nations historically have always viewed the United States with envy, mistrust or as a soft touch. They surprisingly still think with a pre-9/11 mentality, for in their minds the horrors of 9/11 have faded, and they believe the global war against fanatical Islamic terrorists is more fiction than fact. Actually, their thinking apparatus seems to be controlled by political correctness for being politically correct absolves them of the responsibility of thinking for themselves. And their concept of American values unfortunately seems to be shaped by fickle public opinion polls and less-than-honest media.
I frequently read in this newspaper the advice to “shop local,” and the kudos and pictures of the SV chamber of commerce. I’m afraid after a shopping trip this past Saturday, there is much work to be done in the areas of correcting false advertising, customer service, and making a shopping trip hassle free. For starters, I only went shopping for one reason, an ad that appeared in the Friday SV Herald showed an attractive halter dress I was interested in buying. When I arrived with ad in hand, two different clerks told me they didn’t carry the dress and it was just an ad, not meant they had the item. OK, while running down this info, one clerk got a phone call, apparently from a friend, and immediately began a conversation in Spanish leaving two customers waiting at the check out stand while she chatted. I turned to the jewelry aisle. I was one foot away from three sales persons, all talking about the color of nail polish they should try and the benefits of various manicurists. I browsed for a good 15 minutes. There were several items I would have bought, but three clerks and not an approach. The trip went down hill from there. I’d say there’s a lot of work to be done if local businesses wish to be successful and attract my dollars.
Republicans just don’t seem to get it. They’re so worried about fighting terrorists that they forgot they’re doing all the hard work for them. Terrorists want our constitution, freedoms and lifestyles destroyed. With the Patriot Act and NSA alone, they’ve done that. Terrorists want thousands of Americans to die and to break our will to defeating radical Islam. Iraq has certainly done that. Terrorists want us to fear them. Our government’s repetitious use of terrorism-based-fear to capture votes does that, too. In the end, it’s not the terrorists ordering our troops to Iraq, they’re not falsifying intelligence or spying on our citizens’ phone calls. They aren’t creating laws to break the backbone of the constitution out of fear — it’s the conservatives in our White House that have done that. Whether intentional or not, the president is doing to America what the terrorists could never have done on their own.
JUNE 3
There is a national drive that is making the rounds on the Internet and its aim is to bring down the price of gas. It is very simple to do. Stop buying gas at the two biggest oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. If people stop buying gas from them, they will be forced to lower their price, and other oil companies will have to follow suit. The trick is to stop buying gas from Exxon and Mobil until the gas price comes down at least to $2 a gallon. It can be done if we are persistent and consistent. The buyers can control the market and not the sellers. If you have a computer, e-mail 10 friends and ask each of them to e-mail 10 more friends with this novel idea, and they e-mail 10 more, etc. If you don’t have a computer, just don’t buy gas from Exxon and Mobil. We all need gas for our cars. Buy it anywhere else except at Exxon and Mobil.
JUNE 4
What if everybody who smoked in a bar — just did? Have you seen the change in bar business since the new no smoking law went into effect? Have you seen all those happy non-smokers enjoying their favorite adult beverage in the now smoke free environment? No, overall bar business has taken a dive and for what? There are only two health department officials within all of Cochise County that are to enforce this new law. What if everybody just ignored the law? Staged a peaceful civil disobedience? Then when fined went to court, pleaded not guilty and demanded a jury trial. What do you think the financial impact to the already overloaded court system would be? Sure you’d probably still lose and wind up paying the same amount in fines but the financial impact to the county and state would be huge — maybe big enough for them to rethink their lunacy.
Someone phoned in about a Mexican dentist who received a dental degree at the University of Arizona. There are no dental programs, and there have never been any programs like this.
If you don’t receive medical care in Mexico, then why would you get dental work done over there? The dentist and doctors in Mexico will tell you they graduated from an American university, but most of it is not true. There is only one dental school in the state of Arizona and that is in Phoenix, but it has been open only four years.
I looked at the On Your Mind on Friday, and the comments were the same ones that had already run. I look forward to reading people’s opinions.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Yes, an error was made because the file used was not updated.
President Carter is going to be remembered as the man who gave away the Panama Canal. (President) Bush, (Sen. John) McCain, (Sen. Hillary) Clinton and (Sen. John) Kerry are going to be remembered for giving our country away for $5 million.
JUNE 5
There is not a dental school at the University of Arizona, but I am not surprised that they are misled.
Isn’t it wonderful that you can have two drunken driving charges and kill two people and the premonition that two people would have lived if they were wearing their seat belts.
I am upset that the Superior Court is blaming the victims in another trial for a drunken driver killing them. When is this going to stop being the victim’s fault and the drunken driver taking the blame for his or her actions?
Stay off private land.
To the person who thanked Castle & Cooke and county, Castle & Cooke promised that we would have a driveway but that didn’t happen.
I recently read the comments concerning the problems the humane societies are facing. I wholeheartedly agree. There are people who are not responsible pet owners, and therein lies the problem. If people would only spay and neuter their pets instead of breeding them not only with their own breed but also crossbreeding just for the sake of the almighty dollar, we wouldn’t have so many unwanted animals. People should also learn about the breed they are considering on buying, which is really easy to do. Just get online, type in the breed you are thinking of buying and read about them. They may not be what you think they are. I would also like to see Arizona pass laws making it mandatory for pets to be spayed or neutered with little leeway. Also it should be illegal to have pets riding in the back of an open vehicle. Animals aren’t the problem, it is the people who own them that are. Be responsible. Please, get your pets spayed or neutered.
JUNE 6
I am calling to comment on the protest of the children at the Sierra Vista Middle school. I think that the students at the school should be happy they are getting an education. Children in other countries would be happy to be able to get this kind of education. They were protesting five minutes added to their school day. These kids and their teachers should be ashamed of themselves.
I appreciate the restaurant inspections report you put in the newspaper periodically, especially after 14 cases of e coli occurred in Sierra Vista. Restaurants getting satisfactory or unsatisfactory ratings I avoid now. Some of the areas of concerns I have observed include waitresses bussing the tables with a not-so-clean rag and turning around to take your order without washing their hands, even though an antibacterial foam dispenser is close by in the counter area; people with plastic gloves on who have prepared your sandwich forgetting to take the gloves off before they handle your money; and bathrooms that are unclean with paper towels and toilet paper littering the floor. If you are in business, remember that customers are scrutinizing your actions, as we do not want to be the victim of disease due to your negligence.
The Herald’s June 5 front-page article “A view inside the cartel underworld” featuring an interview with a highly reputable Mexican journalist confirmed that corruption permeates all levels of local, state and federal governments in Mexico. Which brings to mind the Herald’s June 4 editorial, “Neighbors keep talking,” featuring the border summit organized by U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, in which American and Mexican officials discussed drug-cartel-related crime on the border. Is Giffords’ border summit supposed to be novel? It seems no different from the numerous other border summits that have taken place in past years and about which the Herald has always reported. And what has been the net result of these past border summits? A lot of hot air, and the drug cartels continue on their merry way. Give me a break, Herald. Why are you plugging Giffords for something that is nothing more than political fanfare that our politicians do year in and year out with these border summits to appear as if they are doing the people’s business? Nothing ever gets done. Is Giffords supposed to do a magic number for us? Enough of the political correctness, Herald. Get honest with your readers.
Anna wrote on Jun 12, 2007 9:31 PM: