Unscrupulous People

Police Chief Mark Wright has proposed ordinances intended to regulate certain "unscrupulous" elements wishing to do business in Murrieta; specifically, astrologists and massage therapists.

In certain areas, these professions have degraded to fraudulent fortune tellers and prostitutes, and Chief Wright would like to make it known from the beginning that these people are not welcome here. Fair enough.

Singling out massage therapists and astrologists for special regulation of unscrupulous behavior might be warranted, but then the next logical step is to pass ordinances regulating sober houses. But the City Attorney assures us that any attempt to do this will be illegal.

How is it that we have difficulty regulating proven offenders but independent citizens are more subject to control? Again, the conflict between individual rights and public necessity raises it's ugly head. I do know this much, a private citizen usually lacks the bottomless legal defense fund that corporations enjoy, which would apparently make them less of a threat to Murrieta City. Corporations that take a stipend from the state in order to do business, like the sober houses depend on the Dept. of Corrections, for instance,

If anyone knows Chief Wright, it would be good to hear some examples of difficulties other communities have had with astrologists and massage therapists. His proposed controls might be warranted, but if possibility of unscrupulous behavior is the reason cited, then car dealers and developers might also be subject to City regulation.

The Cindy Sheehan question

Cindy Sheehan, mother of Army Sp. Casey Sheehan who was killed in action on April 4, 2004 in Sadr City, Baghdad, has become a rallying point for both anti-war and pro-war sentiments. Many feel that her vigil in Crawford, Texas (Camp Casey) is bringing the war to George Bush’s front yard, confronting him with the real effect of his administration’s policy. Since the time he arrogantly called an end to the war one month after it started, he has been comfortable making threats from the side lines (bring ‘em on), protected from exposure to the consequences of his decisions regarding Iraq.

Many others feel that her vigil shows total disregard for her son’s ultimate sacrifice and that she dishonors both him and America. Casey Sheehan died defending his country and that his mother should shut up and let Bush alone. By becoming a focal point for the growing anti-war movement in America, she is being disloyal to her country and she is dragging her son’s death into the spotlight just to attract attention.

She is frequently reviled on conservative talk radio and by that fair and balanced bastion of right-wing propaganda, Fox news, but beyond all the right-wing rhetoric, does anyone who has not suffered such a loss have the right to call her a traitor? I have a son and daughter who are of conscription age, and if George Bush keeps throwing his weight around the world, I believe that it is only a matter of time before volunteer forces will become insufficient to maintain his apparently insatiable appetite for conflict.

In World War II, it was readily apparent that stopping the axis powers was a just cause, and after that time, the only justification required for a war was to stop the spread of communism. This excuse began to show some wear and tear by the time Vietnam rolled around, and now that the Berlin Wall is ancient history, the war on terror is the justification for invasions abroad. But what does Iraq have to do with terrorists? I mean pre-invasion Iraq. No link has been proven, and the prolonged occupation of Iraq has taken money that would have been better spent eradicating terrorism where it is actually found, i.e. The Philippines, Indonesia, and possible terror cells in every American city.

It is hard to portray the Iraq invasion as a just war when the reasons for the invasion (weapons of mass desrtruction) were later proved to be lies. Does an American citizen have the duty to support a government that has used deceit to summon support when it is suspect that part of the underlying purpose was personal gain for a few prominent among the power elites? (Dick Cheney, Halliburton)

No doubt, these questions crop up in the minds of many Americans with children or spouses fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. If war is good for American business, should I invest my son or daughter? Cindy Sheehan has sadly realized that to her, her son was killed in an unjust war and that George W. Bush is partly to blame for it. She feels that her loss has given her the right to question Bush’s motives in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Iraq.

It is difficult to imagine Bush investing his children.

There's another gas protest on Sept. 9

This one supposedly started in Ohio, I probably won't need any gas on September 9th anyway, so why not? It'll no doubt hurt the small gas-station owner in the short term, but if enough people do it, it might send a signal to Washington (not the oil refining and energy companies).

Question du jour: Do Americans who drive gas-guzzling SUV's have American servicemen's blood on their hands?

Hidden Cameras...

I offer this post to those who would like to continue the camera debate, the original string being hijacked early on by a debate about Mayor Enoch's license plates, the legality and inherent character flaws thereof.

BLOG SPAM

This blog spamming is pissing me off. It just goes to show that whenever something good is created, the sleaze quadrant will rise en masse to insert their own little self-interested and incredibly irrelevant commentary. The guys at blogspot have created a word verification option to ensure that each post is original and not machine-generated. So if you don't mind the extra step, this should hopefully keep the tweakers at bay.

Another political storm is brewing.

I just received a direct-mail piece from Granite Construction Materials about the proposed "Liberty Quarry" project. This Quarry is to occupy a 311 acre site adjacent to Riverside County's southern border at I-15 and Rainbow Valley Boulevard, near to Temeku Golf Course.

My first impulse was to think: "Temecula, not my problem." but a question nagged in the back of my mind, "Why did I receive a mailer in Murrieta?" Those closest to the site of the proposed quarry are naturally going to be infected with a bad case of the NIMBY's, so why are they hitting Murrieta?

Murrieta where housing tracts sprout like weeds?

I think I am beginning to see a connection.

On Granite Corporation's side, much of the construction materials (concrete and gravel) are traveling through Temecula and Murrieta on the I-15 from Corona and Lake Elsinore. With the cost of diesel fuel topping $3 a gallon in some places, the ability to economically transport their merchandise around Riverside and North San Diego Counties is quickly becoming a catastrophe for suppliers to the development industry, especially the low profit to weight concrete industry. The Granite Corporation expect to remove five million tons of material per year from this new quarry, and their mailer neatly summarizes why this quarry is necessary for the continued well-being of southwest Riverside County; (1) No quarry threatens dwindling construction material resources (or Granite financial resources?), (2) It endangers transportation improvements, (3) Delays school construction (with Murrieta Unified, who could tell?), (4) Increases Freeway Congestion, and there is also the nebulous, catch-all, miscellaneous category: (5) "Lack of suitable alternatives".

On the other hand, the things that this dusty, loud, and permanent quarry will bring to the area are: (1) Decreased truck traffic, (are they going to get rid of their 2000+ trucks?), (2) Jobs and economic benefits, [the flyer claims that a quarryperson will make $94,000 a year, other estimates put that amount at $53,795 (2003)], (3) Local resources for our schools and roads (It's for the children!), (4) Long-term supply of resources, (digging a giant hole in the ground will "conserve our natural resources"), and finally, that the area located immediately adjacent to the I-15 and the Riverside/San Diego county line is the (5) "Ideal Location".

On the Environmental side, San Diego State has an ecological reserve immediately downstream from the quarry site. Along this unspoiled five mile stretch of the Santa Margarita River, there are approx. $42 million in ongoing experiments that will be compromised or destroyed. The hole that this quarry will eventually occupy, say, in 30 years time, is to be a mile long and 1,000 feet deep (155 acres). The Granite Corporation has promised that noise and diesel emissions from the heavy equipment required to blast, scrape, and process hard rock into tract home foundations will be minimal. So I would like to know, how stupid do they think we are? Dennis Hollingsworth and Ray Haynes (don't forget to vote for whoever runs against him) have both heartily endorsed this project, that should tell you something.

So how stupid are we? Well, Bush is in the White House for another four, so perhaps that well hasn't run dry just yet.