April 2009

3-31-09
Fresno Bee
Congressmen want more water for California farmers
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1298951.html

The Associated Press – 3/31/09
By Kevin Freking

Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Atwater, said thousands of families were moving out of his district. He called the exodus the "Dust Bowl migration in reverse."

4-2-09
Valley Voice
Little Good News for Water Users...Rick Elkins
http://www.valleyvoicenewspaper.com/vv/stories/2009/waterusers.htm
Back home in Tulare County Friday, Rep. Devin Nunes, Raver-Visalia, explained to more than 100 farmers and water-district officials that drought is caused by radical environmental groups.

 
4-4-09
Merced Sun-Star
Stimulus to deliver $2 million to Merced County for Castle Airport
Airport will use money to improve runway...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/773670.html
More than $2 million in economic stimulus money will be landing in Merced County to revamp Castle Airport.

 
4-6-09
Badlands Journal
Summer of our discontent...Badlands Journal editorial board
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-04-05/007168

 
4-7-09
Merced Sun-Star
Our View: A sobering look at state's climate future
Californians will have to change way we farm, protect coast and deal with water supply.
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/181/v-print/story/777794.html
The latest report from California's Climate Action Team contains some sobering conclusions from a broad collection of new research on global warming's likely effect on the state.

 
4-9-09
Merced Sun-Star
Amid milk price turmoil, dairy owners consider getting out...CAROL REITER
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/782144.html
With 2009 shaping up to be among the toughest years on record for dairy producers, some dairymen who have been in the business for generations may be making the ultimate decision in the next couple of weeks -- getting out of the business entirely.

This is the sound of one more bully's self pity, the whine of a big shot who rode a political escalator, powered by big money, arrogance and greed, to the top of the cliff. You could hear him bragging all the way up. He cut a fat hog. Then, the power went out and the tiny bully found himself falling in the immense darkness and he hasn't reached the bottom yet. As he falls and falls, he bellows his bitter pieties, but they don't have the magic to turn on the lights and stop the fall, for him or anyone.

The Republican Party at the moment seems to be as militantly organized as ever, but lacking any idea beyond pure opposition. Their ideology, never terribly factual, is now veering toward nihilism in the totality of its denial of any responsibility for the present economic collapse, its denial of memory and of history, even very recent history.
Ellen Brown, in an open letter to President Obama, reminds us of what Lincoln did when facing banks that sought to extort profits as he fought to preserve the Union during the Civil War.
Badlands Journal editorial board
 

...except history. Actually, UC has had a campus in the Central Valley for more than a century, at Davis. Nevertheless, when in 1988 UC announced plans for three new campuses, it was expected that the one most likely to be built would be in the San Joaquin Valley, probably in Fresno. But, Brown is right, it is a lovely piece of land. It is a terrible thing to realize that a prolonged economic depression is likely to be  a principle obstacle to UC and other developers completely ruining most of it.

 
4-14-09
Badlands Journal
Clarifications from the Sun-Star...Badlands Journal editorial board
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-04-13/007182

 
4-15-09
Badlands Journal
Local currencies: an overview...Badlands Journal editorial board
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-04-14/007184

The Mendo Credits being circulated in Willits CA today are a recent example of the increasing interest in local currencies. More examples will follow.
Badlands

 
 
The letter cited below, from valley congressmen Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa is a testament to the dissolution of local journalism. If newspapers were doing their jobs, the boys from Congress would not have dared to write such drivel. 
 

 
4-19-09
Badlands Journal
From balance to rebalance, the Shrimp Slayer and his new dance partner lurch on...Badlands Journal editorial board
http://www.badlandsjournal.com/2009-04-18/007189
The letter cited below, from valley congressmen Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa is a testament to the dissolution of local journalism. If newspapers were doing their jobs, the boys from Congress would not have dared to write such drivel. 

Reading books and articles about money and banks takes us into strange worlds, but we'll go anywhere for any lick of sense we can find. Below, Ellen Brown describes the Swiss Bank for International Settlements. Brown wrote a brilliant book on banking called The Web of Debt, based on the Wizard of Oz, originally a populist fable. And what of populists? Their heyday was around the turn of the last century and they were the last broad political movement in the nation that was literate and articulate about money and banks. Another treatment of the banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, is G.

 
4-21-09
Funding not quite locked up for Merced's G Street underpass project
Despite financial crisis, city staff confident money will be released for construction...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/802143.html
Merced has been moving ahead to build a railroad underpass on G street, though the world's financial mess has kept the city from locking in all the money needed for construction.

 
4-23-09
Merced Sun-Star
Bill would even playing field for home buyers
Customers must use lenders' title companies at higher cost...SCOTT JASON
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/806491.html
In a way, the real estate market is burning as hot as it was three years ago.

 
4-25-09
Merced Sun-Star
Tweaking of admissions at UC has Asian-Americans feeling pushed aside...TERENCE CHEA, The Associated Press
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/167/v-print/story/810548.html
SAN FRANCISCO -- A new admissions policy at the University of California system is raising fears among Asian-Americans that it will reduce their numbers on campus, where they account for 40 percent of all undergraduates.

 
4-27-09
Fresno Bee
Builders urge tax credit extension
Permits around Valley see slight boost since February...Sanford Nax
http://www.fresnobee.com/business/v-print/story/1358032.html
Homebuilders, encouraged by evidence that a new $10,000 tax credit is helping spur construction, want the incentive extended.

4-28-09
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Secretaries Salazar and Locke Restore Scientific Consultations Under Endandered Species Act to Protect Species and Their Habitats    
Contacts
Hugh Vickery, Department of the Interior: 202-208-6416
Scott Smullen, Department of Commerce-NOAA: 202-482-1097
http://www.fws.gov/news/newsreleases/showNews.cfm?newsId=EE78C309-C119-D9DC-042421265ACD62A4

"It ain't even skin deep." Badlands Journal editorial board member
Sign seen outside a G Street market: "Chiewawas for sale."
We find this sign is evidence of the continuing vitality of the authentic culture of the San Joaquin Valley, despite a decade of pretentious university Bobcatflak. Why should we spell the name of the little dog with megalomanic aspiration like some state in Mexico? Spelling, as our Founding Fathers frequently taught us, ought to be a matter of individual choice and an expression of personal character.