Welcome To Badlands Journal

Results coming in on government by FIRE

The decisions that have created the enormous mess in real estate in the north San Joaquin Valley were made by corrupt local land-use authorities, corrupt state and federal regulatory agencies, with state and federal politicians working the backrooms, all for the benefit of finance, insurance and real estate.

“This year, we’re going to see prices drop in every market across the country for the first time since the Great Depression,” said Steven Smith, a property appraiser and consultant from San Bernardino. -- Modesto Bee, June 3, 2007.

Steinberg's Blueprint for Growth

Better regional planning will help make the state's metro areas more attractive and livable, and that will allow them to grow and attract jobs in a cleaner, healthier setting.-- Sacremento Bee editorial, June 4, 2007

Endorsing a bill authored by state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, the Sacramento Bee editorialized today that the Sacramento Area Council of Government's (SACOG) "blueprint" should be made statewide policy for urban areas.

FEMA floodplain maps redux

On June 1, the Lathrop Sun-Post reported that Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Shrimp Slayer-Merced paid the Lathrop City Council a visit on May 29 to warn Lathropians that the Federal Emergency Management Agency "is in the process of redrawing flood-plain maps and casting more stringent levee requirements in a post-Hurricane Katrina, climate-changing world ..."

Another Sonny Star scoop

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.

War pork: soft and hard

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.

UC Merced environmental permit retrospective

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?

Case study of hypocrisy

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.

What is the biosafety level of the UC Merced infectious disease laboratory?

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.

Congressional acts of flakulence smog north Valley

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.

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