A solution to budget problem
When I read the report of the pay cut for state workers because the Legislature did not have the budget finished, and the governor cut the pay for workers as a penalty, because the Legislature doesn't do their job, I was appalled.
But I have a solution for this problem. Have a lockdown on the governor's office and the Legislature, and give them day-old bread and water only for the duration until they have a budget so the workers can get their well-deserved pay for their work.
I'm sure the governor and Legislature get their pay without any cut.
Sandor Muller
Temecula
Don't confuse Liberty Quarry with Indio
Granite Construction invites people to visit its Indio Quarry as an example of its quarry operations. The Indio Quarry is not comparable with what Granite proposes for Liberty Quarry.
In 2009, Granite reported working 22,297 man-hours at Indio, as reported to the Mine Safety and Health Administration and taken from the www.MSHA.gov website report. According to Granite's draft environmental impact report, they will be working significantly more man-hours per year at Liberty. Their DEIR states that the quarry would be operating up to 10 hours a day, six days a week. Liberty would also require 1,600 truck trips entering and exiting from their facility to Interstate 15 daily.
There are other differences. There is no blasting at Indio; Indio does not need a noise ordinance exception. Granite has requested one for Liberty, where it will be blasting. There is no ecological reserve adjacent to Indio. Indio does not use 472 gallons of water per operating minute, as Liberty would. Indio is not above the Santa Margarita River. Indio has no brightly lit, extremely visible mountain access road such as the one that would be blasted above I-15 for Liberty.
Indio Quarry is not what Liberty Quarry would be.
Laurenn Barker
Fallbrook
Most tragic presidency
In response to "Hilarious liberal parody," by Julie Gilbart (June 22), I am confused. I assume she is defending President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The 6 1/2 years of the Bush Administration's nation-building will be remembered as the most tragic ever.
First, a little history. ... Please read the history in the years of 1095 to 1291, the Crusades. The British, German and French tried "nation-building."
Read "The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2,000 Years," by Bernard Lewis, "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005," by Thomas E. Ricks, and "State of Denial" by Bob Woodward.
President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex. Republicans want us to forget past events and the continuous costs in lives and national treasure in the eight years of Bush and Cheney and their nine years of nation-building. ...
The Israelis destroyed an actual Iraq nuke research building in 1981 and in Syria in 2007. They were not watching Iraq? There was no nuke threat, just programs on paper. ...
It is all about oil, Julie. And greed.
Bill Wasley
Murrieta
Why must some put a damper on fun?
Re: Edward Williams' note regarding the birthday party for Murrieta (June 24): It's a party –– a birthday celebration, a time to have fun. How can spraying some water for kids to play in be such a terrible waste?
It's part of the fun, or are there still some Scrooges out there who put a damper on everything?
Margaret Ray
Murrieta
