Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
Merced City Council, Aug. 4, 2014
Item #10 on Consent Calendar would authorize staff to prepare a lease to UC Merced and others for 5,951 square feet of office space in the Parcade office/parking complex next to City Hall for a dollar a year for 10 years.
Almonds, dairy products, table grapes, oranges, lemons, cotton, pistachios, beef, melons, raisins, pomegranates, and agricultural and oil-drilling related manufacturing are major exports from the south San Joaquin Valley CA district of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, "Scourge of the Import-Export Bank," R-Bakersfield.
We haven't found much in the press that mirrors our own view of the drought. We see that it is the third or the second or the whatever-worst drought in a long time. We see the drought is inflicting economic pain. We see the political games being played to extract more water from the Delta for farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley -- whose farms are rapidly salting up with heavy metals. We are wondering if the new Farm Bill will deliver more or less funds to impacted farmers and agribusinesses.
For us to become literate in the present California water dilemma, in addition to reading all the "California Drought" stories in the press, we should devote a certain amount of attention to the topic of "Water Bills," those statements of special interests and political ambition upon which members of the state Legislature and Congress vote.
"The past is never dead. It's not even past," said William Faulkner and the stunning lack of political leadership exhibited by the League of California Cities reminds us -- not of growth and prosperity -- but the manic reaction of our leaders in times of stress when they follow the fundamental notion of the State of California: Steal the resources! -- blj
9-11-14
Association of California Water Agencies
League of California Cities Board Votes to Support Water Bond
by Pamela Martineau
As the drought crisis grows and the flood of scientific-technological fixes flow through the media, we thought to consult Mark Twain on the nature of a relationship between humanity and water, which is the opposite of the one we Far Westerners are experiencing at the moment.
While even the Wall Street Journal quoted the figure of 400,000 that the climate-change march organizers announced, the babble-ocracy on almost all the rest of the mainstream media kept to the safe topic of More War.
The Pentagon is the largest consumer of petroleum in the world.
There is nothing more environmentally destructive than war.
It is late September and we were talking over coffee this morning about the San Joaquin Valley water situation the way valley residents will do when fire fighters on the King Fire above Placerville are worried about flash floods and all we see is vague overcast composed of many substances as well as some water vapor. Mothers wearing winterish jackets are taking their children, also in jackets, to school.