Badlands Journal
Social, Economic, and Environmental Justice
An odd letter appeared in the Merced Sun-Star on Oct. 12. It was written by local attorney, Ken Robbins, in praise of Dennis Cardoza, who represents this area in the House of Representatives. The ,letter appeared about the time a spate of letters in praise of Cardoza appeared. Apparently, in our Valley, we praise a politician who has no serious competition in an election.
Some recent clips on one of the greatest enemies of working people.
If this keeps up, Wal-Mart may go down in history as the poster child for resurgent unionism in America. If so, thank you, Wal-Mart, for being such a loud, domineering, shrill, braggart, rapacious and ugly corporation that you have become a huge symbol for corporate harm to working people, even to the extent of creating sustained, militant labor resistance to the pain you have caused through almost every one of your policies.
Lydia Miller
San Joaquin Raptor/Wildlife Rescue Center
P.O. Box 778
Merced, CA 95341
(209) 723-9283, ph. & fax
raptorctr@bigvalley.net
sjrrc@sbcglobal.net
Steve Burke
Protect Our Water (POW)
3105 Yorkshire Lane
Modesto, CA 95350
(209) 523-1391, ph. & fax
sburke3105@sbcglobal.net
A: Quintero: We want to provide job opportunities, retain our position as a regional market, and then take Merced's economy to the next level, which would be the knowledge-based economy.
Q: When you say knowledge-based economy, what do you mean?
A: Cahill: It tends to focus on industries which are more cutting-edge industries, where the products have a shorter life cycle, where the products are unique, rather than being commodities.
Well, folks, here they are again. The Big Shots that want you to raise your sales taxes to fund the roads to their development projects have brought out Dennis Cardoza to make their arguments. Cardoza explained today in the local McClatchy Chain outlet how, if you vote to raise your sales taxes, he might be able to use it for leverage when petitioning the Federal Highway Administration, The Mother of Pork.
We were not impressed by Wal-Mart's public forums, held months ago, to sell its distribution center to the Merced public. We took one look at the corporation's discount hucksters (we dubbed them "empty T-shirts"), dutifully took notes, listened to the local chamber of commerce types, and were not surprised by anything said. Project proponents said the center would bring jobs, jobs, jobs. Opponents said it would bring low-paying jobs and a great increase of air pollution, traffic congestion and noise, lowering property values around the site. No one has changed their tune.
Tuesday's events raised about $400,000 for Pombo, $600,000 for Doolittle and $1.2 million for the Republican National Committee.
-- Los Angeles Times, Oct. 4, 2006
Cardoza can afford to campaign
Cardoza is a leader among the Blue Dogs, House Democrats who have staked out centrist positions on issues such as the budget. He will be spending time this fall campaigning for his fellow Blue Dogs; in part, because he can afford to. -- Modesto Bee, Sept. 25, 2006
Pombozastan, the sourthern tier, the 18th Congressional District
The University of California/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is bidding to site a mile from the Tracy city limitsthe most dangerous level the government designates of biowarfare laboratory. The issue and UC management problems are discussed in the articles abstracted below.
Below, you will find a series of abstracts of newsclips about the San Joaquin River Settlement. On Sept. 13, fourteen environmental and recreational organizations and 29 irrigation and water districts and four federal agencies, submitted a settlement agreement to United States District Court, Eastern District of California. The agreement proposes a plan for one of the greatest river restoration projects in American history.