Page 12 - the Noise November 2017
P. 12

Dear Editor:
To the Noise:
It’s a real ding dang deal that our Senators and Congressmen can “find” $640 bil- lion for the Military Industrial Complex in their budget before the President, but have trouble giving 1% of that to Health Care for the Poor, or .01% of that to Public Educa- tion, Public Media, or the Arts and Sciences.
Not even during the great World Wars have we spent such a huge percentage of our Gross National Product on things that go “boom.”
Are we totally living in a Military Coup that no one’s paying attention to?
Decidedly claiming “exempt” on my W2s from here on out,
Jack Nougat
Dear Editor
The Citizens of Arizona attempted in vain to include the State in the profitability of Medicinal Marijuana — in return for non-prosecution — when it passed the Marijuana Stamp Act to an overwhelming majority (69%) of Arizona voters in 1996.
The Arizona State Constitution clearly states that citizen initiatives are to hold the same weight as legislative bills, and the legislature has no right to amend or impede a citizens’ initiative.
Documented and prescribed into law on February 14, 1912 ... On that day, miners, ranchers, farmers, and teachers bound together to form a new state to the Union, a perfectly crafted state that would not be corrupted by the corporate or big plantation families of the Eastern seaboard.
Our state’s early visionaries, women and men, Native American, Mexican, and Eu- ropean, desired a government that respected women’s voting rights, that endured to serve the citizen, that ensured justice was accomplished at all times by way of recall and referendum of judges, governors, legislators and legislation, and that special inter- ests could never grab hold of the freedoms the land affords.
Our forefathers and foremothers made it easy to gather up petitions, to enlist citizen participation, and to check the balance of power every step of the way.
And since 1996, our state has been under attack by the powers of big industries (namely pharmaceutical and for-profit prisons), who have illegitimately placed our lives and properties in an unrecognizable police state, characterized by a judicial, legislative, and executive branch who have wrested the wills of the people in favor of illegitimate laws that place an inordinate number of the state’s citizenry in jeopardy of losing their inalienable rights for doing nothing more than engaging in nonviolent activity of their own choosing.
49% of the state’s prison population have not committed murder, have not stolen money or property, have not raped or pillaged, yet have been bound to serve years of their lives in captivity because some politician was bribed to capitalize on the human condition. Unwilling to check or prosecute the pharmaceutical industry in the same way it does the “farmed drug” industry, the state has co-opted the very balance of com- merce it is sworn to protect ...
To the tune of $1 BILLION in tax payers’ money EVERY YEAR ...
Dare say public officials are now reaping the rewards of industry-determined legisla- tion; all the while human lives are lost in the concrete caverns of lubricated unlawfulness. We must turn back the dial on a ruthless take-over of our People’s Sovereignty under
the codes of national and international democratic unions.
We must maintain our innocence in the vitality of this state’s enduring Constitution
and adhere to the advice written to us from the echoes of lasting human endeavor: al- low freedom to exist, and all will prosper.
Drug laws are meant to curb addiction, but the only proven method of rehabilita- tion is through therapy and psychological approaches that encompass a humanistic approach, akin to treating an illness. No jury would ever jail another citizen for cutting off an arm, why are judges sentencing citizens for cutting a neural connection?
Behavioral therapy must be considered akin to medical therapy, and needs to be provided to every citizen in equal share to what the state currently provides for impris- onment of nonviolent activity.
Karen Smith
Cottonwood
I appreciate your coverage of APS/Corporation Commission and smart meters. I have followed your work for years, including the Red Rock pass issue.
A few years ago, APS installed a smart meter on my house without my knowl- edge. When I found out and learned about the potential health issues, as well as the fact that they made the change without informing me, I had it removed. My electric meter is on the outside of my bedroom wall, only a few feet from my head at night.
As of September’s bill, I have been informed that they will now add $5/month to my bill if I don’t let them install a smart meter immediately.
In addition, I am being subjected to another rate increase. As a senior living on less than $1000/mo. social security income, I qualify for the APS S.H.A.R.E.S. program that provides a discount on my electric bill. This is a huge boon to me; for the first time I can be warm in the winter (68 degrees by day/60 by night) without having to worry about being able to afford it. (I also get a small winter months discount from the gas company.) I know there are many seniors and others living with limited in- comes that are very dependent on these programs.
However, I have discovered as of the current bill that my daily cost of electricity has been increased from $0.55 to $1.10 — a 100% increase! They didn’t even do the courtesy of informing me of this change. I figured it out when I saw that my bill was double the prior month even though I knew I had not used more electricity.
I have tried to call APS to get more information, but after wading through their maddening phone system, I wound up on hold with an announced wait time of 20- 30 minutes. (this is typical — it’s very difficult to actually talk to anyone at APS) They have a call back system, but advise you that they will use your phone number to call or text you whenever they please, so that’s a no-go. It’s not worth using up my limited phone minutes given that they are unlikely to give me any real information.
I wanted you to be aware of this latest APS boondoggle. I believe the reduction in the S.H.A.R.E.S. program was rubber-stamped by the Corp. Commission. If you have access to any more information about this change than I do, I’d like to know.
Thanks,
Cynthia Loucks
Jerry Ploombeck
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Joachim Fennelworth’s knowledge of US History only seems to extend back about 9 months. Let me bring him up to speed. The Constitution has been under attack by the federal government pretty much since the ink was dry. Lincoln was the 1st major offender. He had no interest in freeing slaves. His Emancipation Proclamation executive order only freed some slaves — general freedom came years later. He was however, interested in extending federal power in contravention of the Constitution.
Fast forward to 2002. Bush II (whose election *I* consider to be illegitimate) stomped on the remaining shreds of the Constitution with his Patriot Act. He also is the one who got us into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which have been disastrous for the U.S. in many ways. Obama was a professor of Constitutional Law. Yet the 1st thing he did in office was to sign Executive Orders — blatantly unconstitutional and illegal. Under his Presidency, SOS Hillary Clinton spread the war to Syria.
I’m not defending Trump — I was not thrilled when he won. But I understand the non-liberals were tired of the Political-Correctness-fascism they’d been living under. Trump has done nothing that his predecessors didn’t do for 8 years each before him. And remember, Vietnam was also an undeclared war. Congress has sat by and done nothing in opposition all these decades.
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Kingman
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