The presidential election will be over by the time the November edition of The Times hits the streets, but I thought the sight on my street today deserved a Sound Off. There are 18 McCain-Palin campaign signs on my block, with all of them pleading with passersby to look at me, look how stupid my homeowners are. They don’t know what’s going on or don’t care what’s going on in our country. McCain voted 93 percent of the time with Bush. That’s 93 percent, which includes votes for torturing people, elimination of the Fourth Amendment, eavesdropping on American citizens, invading Iraq knowing there never was any weapons of mass destruction, no-bid contracts for Halliburton. An economic meltdown leading to a depression and fifty-one million Americans without health insurance, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It’s really pathetic that my neighbors either through stupidity or ignorance would have McCain-Palin signs in their front yard asking for more of the Bush insanity. My name is Bill Dempsky, Glendale. Thank you. Goodbye. I see the same people who voted for the Cardinals to have this beautiful new stadium here aren’t filling it up this year like they did last year. Oh, sure, the Cowboys had the crowd, but wait ‘til the end of the season when it’ll be empty on top. I hope the city gets what it deserves this time around. My name is Scott Hall. Let the Cardinals’ sad song begin again. Give us a break, people! That’s all. Thank you. I am so tired of the people of this country who are trying to do whatever it takes to scare us and divide us and shame us for voting for Obama. In your last issue, a writer dedicated an entire letter about Obama being an Arab-American. Why would he or anyone else make a big distinction about that? Because when you think of Arab, you think of terrorist. It’s a scare tactic that W. rode to a second term, that Hillary used for a brief moment in her campaign, and now the McCain supporters are going to use to get the “undecided” people to vote for McCain. Now they are going on calling Obama a Socialist. Ninety-five percent of the people who are calling Obama a Socialist don’t know what it is. They just assume it’s the same thing as a Communist, because we have been taught that Socialism is bad. (Socialism is a broad stroke of economic theories, not a government dictatorship.) This is not the 1950s, and there is no Sen. McCarthy. People can argue all you want about Obama’s ancestry. His dad is from Kenya (a democratic, free voting country on the continent of Africa), his mom is from Kansas, his maternal grandma now lives in Hawaii, and Obama was born on U.S. soil. Sounds American to me. This idea that we have to try to stir up American anti-Arab or terrorist feel for this man is disrespectful and divisive at best. These scare tactics worked for McCarthy in the 1950s, worked for W. after 9/11, and are still being used today. When do we stop using fear to keep everyone controlled, and start allowing Americans to use one thing that the Constitution guarantees all of us: our right to “freely” choose who we want to represent us? Without fear, or scare tactics. – Gus R. Have you noticed how people who love animals hate people? They leave their dogs’ excrement in other people’s yards. They let their pets jump all over anyone they meet. If anything is said, the person jumped on is at fault, not the dog owner who feels he is above the law and doesn’t need to have his dog on a leash or controlled. He feels his dog is more important than any mere human. Hello. (Call ends abruptly.) Hi. My name is Lois (leaves last name). I’m calling about the Bogus Ad. It’s on page 27. It’s called “Skin Thickener.” (Caller laughs.) I don’t think there is such a thing. My phone number is (caller leaves Bogus Ad contest entry information). Yes, I’m calling and hope that this will appear in all the papers you have across the Valley. I’m calling about celebrities and their constant complaining about the paparazzi. First, I’ll say that of course no paparazzi should endanger the life of a celebrity, but after that’s clear I want to make it known that if you get into show business at any time in let’s just say the last 15 years, you know what’s going to happen. So especially these stars in the last 10 years or so, you know that the fame and fortune you want is gonna attract paparazzi, well, too bad. Okay, you want people to fall in love with you as an actor or actress and go see your movies, but as soon as they want to know something about your personal life or take your picture, you start crying like a baby. You know what? Go back to making 30 or 40 grand a year and shut your mouth, because if you don’t like it then get out of the career. That’s all. I wonder just how much more abuse of power, mismanagement and misuse of county funds the voters in Maricopa County are willing to tolerate from Sheriff Joe Arpaio and County Attorney Andrew Thomas. In light of recent events alone, I am hopeful that the majority of voters have finally come to the only logical and ethical conclusion: They must be fired! Vote for Dan Saban for county sheriff and Tim Nelson for county attorney. We need a sheriff and a county attorney who work well with the other law-enforcement agencies in their jurisdiction, and Arpaio and Thomas are not those people. They are self-serving bullies, and they do not deserve to represent us. We have been very complacent over the years in this county, and we have neglected to stand up for our constitutional rights, and we have failed to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions. We have a governor, board of supervisors, lawmakers and judges who have let us down as well by bowing to the wishes and whims of these two self-serving individuals and not holding them accountable. None of this has lowered the crime rate because they are not being smart about crime, but they have created an atmosphere of hate and hostility that is unacceptable. It is incomprehensible to me that some normally sensible and intelligent individuals may actually still be considering casting their votes for the current sheriff and county attorney. – Kathy Laramee I saw this question on a TV show recently. It reminded me of last month’s malaria rumor. The question was, “What is the deadliest creature, in terms of killing human beings, on the face of the earth?” The answer? Mosquitoes. And guess how they kill most of the over 2 million people they kill each year? Through the infectious disease malaria. Stick that in your rumor mill. After 9/11, politicians decided that to improve communications for safety reasons, national security reasons, because of problems they encountered during 9/11, umm, the switch from analogue broadcasting to digital should occur. So, these politicians decided that for those of us who had analogue they had to have a program where they paid to mail cute little plastic coupons that look like credit cards. Now, plastic coupons have to cost more than paper coupons. It’s politicians again spending our money to send us these cute little coupons. Most people ran out and spent $500 for a digital TV, which was like an economic stimulus, wasn’t it? My prediction is these converter boxes will be in everybody’s trash can when the switch is made in February. You do not need to pay for them. The government should be paying for them. They already have our money. I am concerned because Proposition 202 is very, very misleading. It is titled “Stop Illegal Hiring.” One would think that this is intended to stop the hiring of illegal immigrants. But it is so cleverly worded because it does just the opposite. It exempts all the businesses that are known to be the primary employers of illegal immigrants and basically gives a pass to the higher-ups in the remaining businesses. It is funded by a group that has a vested interest in hiring illegal immigrants. The title was designed to be misleading, a technique that has become popular in our thirty-second sound bite culture. From previous elections we know that the majority of Arizona voters oppose the hiring of illegal immigrants, as our current laws do. Sheriff Joe recommends a No vote on 202. You should vote your conscience. I only hope you become fully informed before you vote. Thank the great Budda for the Times Publications! I moved to Arizona last December from a beach community in sunny southern California, and until I found The Times, I was beginning to think I would have to endure the endless conservative opinions of “Naive Nervous Nellies” for the rest of my natural life. Now I know that I can get conservative and liberal viewpoints all in the same paper, and that neither one necessarily has to make any sense at all. I’m good with that! – Bill