Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
The Merced Sun-Star's big agricultural/environmental story today was a Modesto Bee story about a press conference called by Rep. Dennis Cardoza-Merced, about the plight of the honey bee. Perhaps Madame McClatchy is concerned about brand identification with a collapsing species. Cardoza seems concerned that research doesn't focus too much on pesticides.
The San Jose Mercury News, under its former Knight-Ridder ownership, distinguished itself above all the mainstream press by its healthy skepticism about the trumped up reasons for invading Iraq during the preliminary Bush-Blair propaganda campaign. Later, it was sold to the McClatchy Company, which peddled it to MediaNews Group. The rapid descent of the once-great paper through the media-corporation shuffle apparently extinguished healthy skepticism.
Below is a list of articles reflecting the major milestones in the UC Merced Clean Water Act permitting process. Will our 800-Pound Scoflaw Blue-and Gold Goose Anchor Tenant pass the test? Will Merced achieve the greatness of Modesto, recently voted in one study the worst city to live in in the nation? Or will we become just another Fresno with UC and development from Highway 99 to the foothills?
The level of hypocrisy around here has reached its gentle level of sufficiency for me. We know why Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Merced, of no known political affiliation, is in office. We know who pays to keep him there: a cabal of special interests, including but not limited to finance, insurance and real estate and the University of California.
Cardoza offends in ways that sound like wounded children's cries in a Baghdad hospital.
News that UC Merced is to receive its first shipment animal lab victims is sad. The lab is to be operated by UC/Bechtel et al/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) until such time as UC Merced gets accreditation to torture and kill the animals itself, as befits the "greatest research university" in the world.
It could be because the breezy late May has brought relatively pleasant air to breathe in the north San Joaquin Valley. But, it's probably because of some flak offensive cooked up by Baltimore's top Democratic congressmen. Whatever the reason, we are currently under a full-scale attack of flakulence by representatives Dennis Cardoza, Shrimp Slayer-Merced, and Jerry McNerney, the Pleasanton Wind Machine.
About 80 percent of our smog-causing pollutants come from mobile sources over which the air district has no jurisdiction. More than ever, we will need the state and federal government to do their fair share for the Valley by providing funding and regulatory assistance to reduce emissions from cars, trucks and locomotives. -- Merced Sun-Star, May 19, 2007
Sonny "Loose Lips" Star mentioned the name of a real nice lady Friday night. We miss her. But, under cover of this fine person, Sonny took another shot at the county's natural resources. Sonny's taste is all in his mouth.
"Now the Cold War is over, and our excuse for this behavior is gone. We need a new and better vision. I'm exploring ways to define that vision. I would be satisfied with small but definite steps in a new direction, but what direction? Neither technology nor economics can answer questions of values. Is our path into the future to be defined by the literally mindless process of technological evolution and economic expansion or by a conscious adoption of guiding moral precepts? Progress is meaningless if we don't know where we're going.
The latest milk production figures for March 2007 show that 13 out of 23 top dairy states produced less milk in 2007 than they did in March of 2006. Most of the states producing additional milk are Western states. That additional milk from Western states is not the result of efficiency or market forces. Milk production in Western states is driven by California real estate values and the IRS tax code 1031.