August 2014

Ah shucks, is that land sinking again?

 "We have a groundwater crisis in California, and if we're not coming up with ways to reduce its use in wet years to allow it to rebound, we are going to be in trouble," said Andrew Fahlund, deputy director of the California Water Foundation, which studies water management issues and supports regulation. "And groundwater storage is exactly the kind of project we need to see more of." -- Fagan, San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 2014

Porgans/Planetary Solutionaries' public comments on latest Delta plan

 Badlands Journal has been fortunate to receive the public comments of Patrick Porgans & Associates on behalf of Planetary Solutionaires on the Bay Delta Conservation Plan          and Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement, July 31, 2014. --blj
 
BDCP Doomsday Plan Ends Public Comment Period
 
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT  31 July 2014
Five Years in-the-making Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) public comment period closed

New possibility for labor in the orchards of today and tomorrow

 One of the great advantages to farming almonds and other nut trees has always been the small amount of hand labor required relative to the former preferred monocrop: cling peaches. If anyone does any real work on almond orchards, it has been the bees. But, as we know, those busy workers are themselves in short supply these days.

How m any Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas rockets?

 We thought it might be interesting to try to find the answer to the question since our government is paying for the continuing slaughter of civilians in Gaza who cannot afford  lobby groups as rich, powerful and corrupting as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the infamous AIPAC and the American arms manufacturers. 
According to the reliable televised report this morning we could find, the number of Israeli civilians killed by Hamas rockets from Gaza hovers in the low single figures, at three.  More than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed.

Naomi Klein draws a bead on TNC

 The Nature Conservancy “has just lost its moral compass,” said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, a group that works extensively on endangered species. “The very idea of oil drilling inside a reserve is utterly wrong, and it’s especially disturbing in this case because the Attwater’s prairie chicken is one of the most endangered species in the entire country. It could very well be the next species to go extinct in the United States.” -- Justin Gillis, New York Times, Aug. 3, 2014

We're not into necrophilia, but thanks for thinking of us

 In the last several weeks, a member of the Badlands Journal editorial board has received 88 emails from various appendages of the Democratic Party, from Congressional candidate Amanda "Cotton Queen" Renteria (collecting on her fine work on the latest Farm Bill, which guaran-damn-tees agribusiness income if they buy the right insurance from the insurance industry) all the way past Steve Israel (aptly named chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, to be renamed "Friends of Israel" in honor of the latest act of genocide in Gaza), and from both the President and the Vice Presi

Introducing... The Fabulous Klugoza

      

“With Dennis and Scott — a bipartisan team of former congressmen — at the helm … Foley will offer our business clients the comprehensive strategic and legal counsel needed on the myriad of complex public policy and regulatory issues that they face,” said David T. Ralston, Jr., chair of Foley's government and public policy practice, in a statement.-- Megan Wilson, thehill.com, Feb. 6, 2014
   

Idyllic monounsaturated fats and the fifth level of drought

One of our eastcoast editors sent this insightful article about the political economy of the Sacred Nut that appeared in The Atlantic, from Boston. We were intrigued by the literate good sense of the author, James Hamblin, MD, so included some other titles from his recent work at the bottom.

Enjoy Spanish Marcona almonds -- blj

Russia says "Nyet" to Sacred Nut along with Khaganate of Nuland

Or as we sometimes say, "Das Kaganreich des Nulands." However you spell it, here in the Valley, even Ukrainian Nazi militia, backed by American neocon elites, can be a cause for whining. -- blj
 
 
8-8-14
Voice of America
US Almond Growers Feel Impact of Russian Import Limits
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