Fanatical about the deficit and debt

Dr. Ray Graap volunteers each week at our free clinic in South Tucson. Yesterday the Arizona Daily Star published this crystal-clear, no-gobbledygoop letter from him:

DEFICITS ACTUALLY DO MATTER

"Deficits don't matter" - Republican mouthpiece Dick Cheney extolled not that many years ago. This comment came after Bush No. 2 went to war and cut taxes; the deficit and associated debt subsequently ballooned.

The current crop of Republicans in Congress are now fanatical about the deficit and debt; it just took about 10 years for them to make the 180-degree swing. Of course, it is an important issue - always has been.

The Republicans now also refuse to close tax loopholes or increase taxes to increase revenue to keep this country from bottoming out. Very patriotic behavior. The McClatchy poll reported April 10 of this year showed 63 percent supported raising taxes on those with an annual income of over $250,000; only 34 percent were opposed. Even 43 percent of Republicans supported a tax increase. And overall, 80 percent opposed cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

Conclusion: Congress no longer represents the majority of citizens in this country. The only way to change congressional members' allegiance is to cut off the river of money from special interests and vote them out.

Raymond F. Graap

Physician, Tucson

The ongoing borderlands tragedy

Right now our minds here in Arizona are on the devastating fires in the east and south of the state. In the meantime, the migrant tragedy of deportation, forced family separation and death in the desert continues.

Since the federal fiscal year began on Oct. 1, the remains of 88 migrants have been found along Arizona's border with Mexico. And now we are in the fierce heat of June -- triple digits here in Tucson for at least the next seven days. The number of merciless deaths by dehydration and hyperthermia is bound to go up.

Anyone reading this who also follows me on Twitter has seen a lot of border information links that I have posted. Here is a brief update on some factors.

* 10,581 men, women and children were deported to Nogales (62 miles south of Tucson) during January and February. (Source: Mexico's National Institute of Migration) Many of those folks had been in the US for years, in some cases decades. These are the latest Nogales numbers that I have, but I see the deportations continuing relentlessly. Many deportees do not even have so much as a traffic infraction against them.

* Last month, the number of backlogged federal immigration court cases was approaching 300,000.

* President Obama could singlehandedly stop the deportation of young people eligible for the always-blocked Dream Act, but he refuses to do so. (And I don't know why.)

* The United Nations estimates that smuggling migrants across Mexico's border with the U.S. alone is a $6.6 billion business annually, compared with an estimated $10 billion to $29 billion in illegal drug running.

Yet comprehensive immigration reform is nowhere to be seen on the horizon.

Sarah Palin's latest gem

Howard Dean thinks Sarah Palin could beat Barack Obama in next year's election. Could an American majority of voters really be that stupid?

Her latest gem, speaking at Boston's Old North Church:

"He who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and, um, making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were going to be secure and we were going to be free."

President Palin? Egads.