Dear Editor, I have noticed that when I drive around the valley, I notice a “swap meet mentality” going on at quite a few of our city streets. You probably have seen the flower, fruit, tamales, flags, etc. being sold at many locations around the valley. My first thought is, why does our city allow this? When I drive through Temecula, I do not see this. Does Temecula have more pride about how they want people to view their city? My other thought is, what about the businesses that struggle to make a go of it? They pay various fees to operate like local and state fees, employee costs, utility fees, (more…)

■ Lawrence Wittner / Contributed The Trump administration’s campaign to topple the government of Venezuela raises the issue of whether the U.S. government is willing to adhere to the same rules of behavior it expects other nations to follow. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, U.S. foreign policy was characterized by repeated acts of U.S. military intervention in Latin American nations. But it began to shift in the late 1920s, as what became known as the Good Neighbor Policy was formulated. Starting in 1933, the U.S. government, responding to Latin American nations’ complaints about U.S. meddling in their internal affairs, used the occasion of Pan-American conferences to proclaim a nonintervention (more…)

■ Jon Coupal / Contributed Even before California’s High Speed Rail bond proposal appeared on the ballot in November 2008, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association commissioned a study in conjunction with the Reason Foundation because of deep concerns about the project’s viability. The study, published in September 2008, just prior to the election, confirmed our worst fears. Specifically, the executive summary of the nearly 200-page document warned: “The CHSRA plans as currently proposed are likely to have very little relationship to what would eventually be built due to questionable ridership projections and cost assumptions, overly optimistic projections of ridership diversion from other modes of transport, insufficient attention to potential speed restrictions (more…)

■ Chronicle News Staff Why not discard intermediaries, all with hidden agendas in the raised curb median on an eight-mile stretch of Florida Avenue/Highway 74 and get the real feeling for this project from the residents of Hemet. During the last several weeks, a number of citizens purporting to represent various segments of the overall population regarding the Florida Avenue median have expressed their opinions either in favor of or against the project. When Caltrans was confronted with the accusation that they have not involved the city sufficiently in the process, the state agency claims to have been in contact with city authorities since 2013. A “great project” Back then, Traffic (more…)

■ John LaForge / Contributed Donald Trump: “America will never be a socialist country.” Too late. We already have socialism for the rich, with the nuclear power industry as a prime example. On a level playing field, nuclear power would go bust. Those owners get financial supports or subsidies that safe renewables like solar power, geothermal, and wind power don’t get. Two particularly large government handouts keep the reactor business afloat, and without them it would crash overnight. 1) In a free market, the US Price Anderson Act would be repealed. The act provides limited liability insurance to reactor operators in the event of a loss-of-coolant, or other radiation catastrophe. The (more…)

Dear Editor, Howard Rosenthal’s letters in the Valley Chronicle were enlightening. Thank you Mr. Rosenthal! Most people agree City of Hemet is not thriving. Most people suspect City Council of malfeasance. In two separate letters, Howard Rosenthal fully documents City Council’s clear disregard for the law. Most people know about the Brown Act; it stops city officials from doing exactly what Hemet City Council did. The Brown Act requires a notice to the public 24 hours in advance of any meeting discussing city business when three or more council persons are present. Mr. Rosenthal clearly stated there were four councilmembers in Sacramento talking about Hemet business. I am on the distribution (more…)

■ Robert C. Koehler / Contributed Seven-plus decades ago, as humanity was ensnarled in a monstrous world war, its instinct to win — to dominate others above all else — achieved ultimate manifestation: the capacity to annihilate all life on Planet Earth. Nuclear weapons are, you might say, the logical outcome of the 10,000-year journey of civilization: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.’” And so we have. Now we’re stuck with ourselves, as are all other forms of (more…)

Editor’s Note: A flurry of letters between businessman and community leader Howard Rosenthal and city officials on responsibility for the impending construction of the median down Florida Avenue is published in the Jan. 31 issue of The Valley Chronicle. The following is Rosenthal’s follow-up response to the city manager’s published reply to Rosenthal’s original complaint. Howard Rosenthal responds to City Manager Allen Parker Thank you for sharing your response. I stand by the factual comments of my letter with (four) council members, and the Fire Chief along with Assemblyman Chad Mayes, his chief of staff, legislative director, Malcolm Dougherty, the then director of Caltrans, and other officials to name a few (more…)

Progressives complain about gas prices ■ By Jon Coupal / Contributed Only in California. Progressive policies in California have forced drivers to pay some of the highest gas prices in the nation. Now, a group of liberal legislators want the California attorney general to investigate why this is true. Let’s recap what the progressives have inflicted on working Californians who are simply trying to get to work and get their kids to school and soccer practice. According to the California Center for Jobs and the Economy, gas prices dropped slightly in December but declined faster in other states. In the United States other than California, the average gas price was $2.26 (more…)

■ By Jon Coupal / Contributed “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me,” so the saying goes. Unfortunately, California voters have been fooled (a.k.a lied to) so many times by our political leaders that perhaps they have come to expect it. For a politician to actually keep his or her word is now the exception, not the rule. And it’s not just voters who get fooled. Interest groups and other officials are often snookered by those with more political power. Several recent displays of this political behavior show beyond any doubt that promises made in Sacramento have an extraordinarily short shelf life. The first example deals (more…)