That's the Sound of a Dying Empire, Not Freedom
I would like to respond to Charles Walker's letter ("That's Not Airplane Noise; It's the Sound of Freedom!" Aug. 4).
I guess Mr. Walker missed the debt/deficit "crisis" and the economic collapse caused by dozens of unfunded wars and the posting of American legions of occupation all over the world.
He also seems to have missed the facts of peak oil and global climate destabilization caused by overuse of fossil fuels. The Pentagon is the No. 1 consumer of U.S. petroleum.
It also seems to have escaped his notice that the F-35s he's defending are overpriced boondoggles designed to fight the F-16s the United States has supplied to others while lining the pockets of Lockheed, etc. Or that the military-industrial complex will be selling these planes below cost to other countries.
When I hear military jets overhead, I hear the dying blasts of the end of the age of cheap fossil fuels coupled with the financial and moral bankrupting of our society by the Permanent War Economy.
Chet Gardiner
People Experiencing a Mental-Health Crisis Have Long Had a Place to Go
I am writing in response to "Help Is on the Way" (Currents, July 14). I work at Southern Arizona Mental Heath Corporation crisis center (SAMHC), which has been serving members of the Tucson community in mental-health crises for 50 years (2502 N. Dodge Blvd., No. 190; www.samhc.com). I was disappointed that our agency was not mentioned, and am even more concerned that members of our community may not be aware of the important service we have been providing.
We are a 24 hour walk-in crisis center and provide the community with mobile acute crisis teams, assistance with the Title 36 petition process, and important services for all of Pima County, regardless of a client's ability to pay.
While the Crisis Response Center may be a new facility, the services it will provide are not new to Tucson, as we have been providing them (with some differences) for a very long time.
Betsy Gershman
