Readers
GOP would cut off its nose to spite its face
A few years ago when I was still young enough to be a United Airline pilot, I was at the vending machine in our Philadelphia operations when a TWA mechanic came in for a Coke.
The TWA mechanics were to go on strike at midnight of that day, so I asked the young man if it looked as though the strike would take place and he answered in the affirmative.
I believed at that time that if the strike did take place, TWA would be in serious financial trouble, and I said to the young mechanic, “If you guys strike, your company might go down the tube.” His reply was, “Yeah, but they’ll go down the tube on our terms.”
Duh. Needless to say, I had no response. Apparently it was OK for his company to go broke as long as it was on the mechanics union’s terms.
I really didn’t think many of the TWA mechanics were as intellectually challenged as the young man I was talking to, but I also believed the majority of them didn’t understand the financial condition of their company.
Many years later, I recall that the mechanics did strike and TWA, of course, is no longer in business.
I see a marked similarity in what the Republicans in Congress are doing in regard to President Obama’s attempt to restore our economy after almost eight years of George W. Bush’s “war on terror.”
The Republicans have a plan, however. Ensure that Obama fails, and they will be back in power in four years.
Now this is extremely risky for the country, but getting back in the driver’s seat is worth the risk. In other words, if the country goes down, it’ll go down on the Republicans’ terms. It looks as though history is being repeated, but on a much larger scale.
CHUCK CAVANAUGH
Oro Valley
Paper dared to print broader view of war
Lou Pavlovich Sr.’s letter Jan. 28 also expressed my reaction to the sad news about the Tucson Citizen.
I worked at the Citizen for 17 years as a reporter, columnist and Editorial Board member.
Before coming to the Citizen in 1973, I worked fior several newspapers and a television station in the Detroit area after getting my journalism degree from Michigan State University.
But none of the people I worked with then could compare with the reporters and editors at the Citizen who helped me to be a better reporter and columnist.
As for the letters you receive saying that the Citizen is too liberal and prints too many “Bush-bashing” articles, most American newspapers and TV news programs didn’t tell the truth about Bush invading the wrong country and how many American soldiers and innocent Iraqi civilians died because of his ignorance.
A recent Associated Press report in the Citizen said, “Stressed by war and long overseas tours, U.S. soldiers killed themselves last year at the highest rate on record, even surpassing the suicide rate among civilians.”
Thank you, George W. Bush!
ROBERT C. McCORMICK
World War II veteran
Give it up for comics; let Citizen have last laugh
We must save the Citizen! My wife and I have subscribed to the Citizen and the Star for the past 55-plus years. We enjoy reading the newspapers.
I suggest a consortium of conservative business people such as Jim Click, Don Diamond, Humberto Lopez, Paul Ash, Pat P. Lopez Jr., Tony Ziehler, Lute Olson, Dr. Robert Estes and 99 other MDs and many others purchase the newspapers.
I will take at least 1,000 shares.
Then bring back the editor who has been exiled to Cincinnati all these years and fire the likes of Billie Stanton and her ilk! Keep Mark Kimble. I believe the circulation would triple in a very short time, and we would own our own newspaper!
All of the above would be contingent on Gannett’s selling its portion of TNI (JOA) as well. In addition, the Citizen has the best comics!
PHILIP M. BUDINGER
small-business owner
Investing in public ed better bet than Wall St.
Re: your Feb. 5 editorial “You will feel UA budget cuts”:
Every dollar invested in the University of Arizona generates $6.70. That’s a great investment. Much better than Wall Street. So why aren’t we investing in education?
Unfortunately, too many have come to see the funding of public education as a cost rather than an investment. Costs need to be cut or eliminated. Wise investments need to be encouraged.
For the sake of our communities, our state and our nation, we must once again view public education as an investment. A very wise investment.
David W. Gallagher
Lakeside
One-size prison system is not fitting for all
Barbara LaWall has been county attorney for a very long time, not that this is necessarily a bad thing.
Building more and more prisons is a dramatically ineffective approach to the establishing and maintenance of sanity.
Putting mentally ill and drug-dependent people into prisons creates criminals out of sick people.
We need more rehabilitative approaches, not more incarceration. It is a simplistic approach to our reality.
Cletis Harry Beegle