Fresno Bee letters: On Kevin McCarthy and Trump, Starbucks workers, high speed rail

Bar is set pretty low for politicians

For those who think the most recent lie by Rep. Kevin McCarthy about telling others that he was going to ask President Trump to resign after the Jan. 6th riot is going to have any lasting damage to his reputation, I would say think again.

The bar we set for honesty and integrity for most politicians is pretty low. Unless he was to lie under oath and commit a crime, he can say whatever he wants on opinion news stations.

Fact check all you want, but in general we the public do not hold him or most politicians accountable for what they say. Until we start raising the bar and expect more from all those in government who are supposed to serve us, just expect to keep on electing the type of person like Rep. McCarthy.

Buffer-zone rule is simply wrong

I am compelled to respond to your article: “It soon will be illegal to enter homeless camp cleanup in Fresno. So ACLU is suing,” updated March 22. The amendment to criminalize people who enter a “buffer zone” without “permission” could land a homeless advocate or reporter with a misdemeanor charge and $250 fine for attempting to observe or report on how the homeless are treated, with this very broad ordinance.

I believe that the ordinance violates two important natural and constitutionally protected rights: freedom of speech and private property. Without the access of common citizens to these common areas to observe and speak about what is transpiring in the “cleanups,” the rights of the homeless are more easily violated. That includes the right to private property, which is reportedly destroyed or lost.

As a formerly homeless person living on the streets, everything I owned was in a two-man pup tent. I would hope that the general public would be able to observe and speak about any action to forcibly move me and confiscate my belongings. The Libertarian Party of Fresno County stands with the ACLU in this litigation.

Maybe pirates should unionize

I was glad to see that local Starbucks employees are hopeful that unionizing will satisfy their workplace demands, most notably against sword attacks. All I could think was if only pirates had unionized in the 17th and 18th centuries, how much unnecessary swashbuckling could have been avoided.

I also hope the local Starbucks employees hold out for eye patch and wooden leg benefits. You know, the first syllable of Starbucks is pronounced "st-ARRRRRR."

Tower Theatre is Fresno’s Americana

What the city of Fresno did by buying and preserving the Tower Theatre is preserve a piece of American history

The Tower will now be more historical; we don’t have many Main Street USA left in America, true American businesses, you usually only see preservation like this at Knott‘s Berry Farm’s ghost town or Disneyland USA Main Street

Now Fresno will have its own preserved Main Street, which is the iconic corner of Wishon and Olive.

This will preserve a moment in history for years to come, like when our grandparents came after World War II and started their families, when all walks of life started coming to Tower and living a one true Fresno. You could live in Tower and take the trolley to downtown to work and shop and then be back to your homes.

I believe it’s a start of a new historical park preservation, which Measure P could help.

Letter on farmers was off the mark

In an April 17 letter, Timothy McKever says farmers are the victims of all things. What a ludicrous statement. He says, ‘Farmers are growing orchards in places that were never intended to grow orchards.’ I must be missing something. Is that like growing tomatoes in places that were never intended to grow tomatoes? Or raising dairy cows in places that were never intended to raise dairy cows?

He then says almonds are one of the thirstiest crops around. Google what it takes to produce one walnut, a gallon of milk, a pound of hamburger, one tomato. Perhaps he’d rather all farmland in the valley go back to sagebrush. Maybe that’s what all that farm ground was intended for.

Then, Mr. Alberto disparages Aubrey Bettencourt for her views on water storage and seems to think building more water storage is strictly for enabling farmers to sell more products overseas. What?

And Mr. Mendez says that building more dams will not increase the supply of water. To which I ask, “Yer kiddin’ right?”

I challenge these three men to ride around with a farmer for a day. Ask a few questions. Better be there at 6 a.m. and plan on a 12-hour day.

Make it a high-speed party train

It is now an accepted fact that the $90 billion high-speed railway that was planned to carry pasengers from the Bay Area to Los Angeles will never (in my lifetime) be compoleted. But all is not lost. The train can become a money-making: It becomes a party train.

Running round trips from Modesto to Bakersfield, with stops along the way, perhaps Thursday through Sundays.

Imagine beautifully decorated rail cars that serve as dining rooms, lounges that serve drinks, cars that provide live music, host children's events, holiday parties clubs, education classes, The list is endless.

Who;would use this party train? Business groups, birthdays, wedding parties, graduation celebrations, Yosemiste tourists, and many more. So don't despair, the railroad to nowhere has become party time.

Climate change is real deal for ag

I have noticed that, whenever a letter writer or the author of an op-ed cites concerns about climate change, there is inevitably a large number of people who leave comments on The Bee web page for the letter or op-ed, saying something to the effect of “why should we worry about possible future problems.”

I can only assume that these same commenters have failed to notice that California has begun to experience yearly record-breaking fire seasons, that they are unaware of aquifers in Florida no longer useable due to saltwater intrusion from warming seas, that they are unaware of massive drought and famine now occurring routinely in South America and the Middle East, and that they have failed to notice that what had long been described, with reason, as once-a-century floods are now routinely hitting the Midwestern U.S. and Europe.

Indeed, last year alone, multiple locations in normally frigid parts of Canada experienced hotter weather than Fresno...truly odd.

Climate change is not a “possible future” problem, it is here now and is impacting agricultural yields, something that should be of concern to an agricultural region like our home. We cannot keep sticking our heads in the sand.

This story was originally published May 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Fresno Bee letters: On Kevin McCarthy and Trump, Starbucks workers, high speed rail."