Badlands Journal

We are going to preface this detailed reply to Bill McEwen’s Fresno Bee Sunday column, “Valley on verge of a catastrophe,” with three remarks:

1. Environmentalists did not create the drought. In fact, it is possible the drought would have been less severe if environmentalists’ warnings about global warming had been heeded earlier.

Death is immortal; real estate values do not rise forever.

2-21-09
Reuters/CommonDreams.org
Soros Sees No Bottom for World Financial "Collapse"...Pedro Nicolaci da Costa and Juan Lagorio
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/02/21-0
NEW YORK - Renowned investor George Soros said on Friday the world financial system has effectively disintegrated, adding that there is yet no prospect of a near-term resolution to the crisis.

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union.

He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

His comments echoed those made earlier at the same conference by Paul Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman who is now a top adviser to President Barack Obama.

Volcker said industrial production around the world was declining even more rapidly than in the United States, which is itself under severe strain.

2-16-09
The Guardian
Saving social security--Here's a cheap and effective form of economic stimulus – tell America's baby boomers that their welfare benefits are safe...Dean Baker
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/feb/16/obama-social-security-economy

The stimulus bill approved by Congress last week - and due to be signed into law by President Obama tomorrow - is a very good first step toward slowing the economy's decline, but it clearly is not large enough to accomplish the job. The US economy will be seeing a loss of close to $2.6 trillion in demand over this year and next due to the collapse of housing and commercial property bubbles.

To counteract this collapse, Congress gave President Obama just over $700bn in real stimulus. President Obama will have to make further requests from Congress to close the gap between what the economy needs and the stimulus package approved last week.

2-16-09
CounterPunch.com
Is Delta Pumping Driving Salmon and Orca Decline?
By DAN BACHER
http://www.counterpunch.com/bacher02162009.html
Increases in freshwater exports out of the California Delta, the operation of Shasta Dam and other inland habitat problems have not only led to the collapse of Central Valley salmon populations, but also threaten the southern resident killer whale population.

These were the conclusions of National Marine Fisheries Service scientists disclosed during a frank discussion of the recently released rewritten draft biological opinion on the impacts of the state and federal water projects during a meeting in Sacramento with representatives of fishing and environmental groups organized by Richard Pool, coordinator of Water for Fish. The NMFS opinion currently concludes "jeopardy" for winter run chinook salmon, spring run chinook salmons, green sturgeon and the southern resident killer whale species.

As a result of litigation by NRDC, Earthjustice and fishing groups, a federal judge ruled that the previous biological opinion violated the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The court ordered the agency directed to issue a new opinion by March of 2009 - and the draft opinion was released in December 2008.

Central Valley Safe Environment Network

P.O. Box 64
Merced CA 95341
CVSEN@sbcglobal.net

CVSEN.com

Central Valley Safe Environment Network reply to Rominger/Dimock op-ed in SF Chronicle, Feb. 11
 

Central Valley Safe Environment Network (CVSEN) is a coalition of grassroots groups that has defended environmental, social and economic justice in the San Joaquin Valley for 25 years, built largely on the principles of organization of Saul Alinksy in Chicago.

CVSEN is outraged by the smear of Lloyd Carter by Richard Rominger and Michael Dimock in the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 11.

Rominger and Dimock wrote in part:

"Even more disturbing is that rising emotion over water is sparking hostility. Last Thursday in Fresno, a representative of the California Water Impact Network told a television reporter during a debate that saving farmworkers' jobs is a mistake because they are the "least educated people in America ... they turn to lives of crime, they go on welfare, go into drug trafficking ...." This is this blatantly racist, and evokes images of Europe in the 1930s and '40s." --http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/11/EDKB15RJ1M.DTL&type=printable

Westamerica Bank, San Rafael, California, Acquires All the Deposits of County Bank, Merced, California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 6, 2009  Media Contact:
David Barr (202) 898-6992
Cell: (703) 622-4790
E-mail: dbarr@fdic.gov 

County Bank, Merced, California, was closed today by the California Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Westamerica Bank, San Rafael, California, to assume all of the deposits of County Bank.

County Bank's 39 offices will reopen as branches of Westamerica Bank. County Bank branches that had Saturday hours will reopen tomorrow. County Bank's remaining branches will reopen on Monday. Depositors of County Bank will automatically become depositors of Westamerica Bank. Deposits will continue to be insured by the FDIC, so there is no need for customers to change their banking relationship to retain their deposit insurance coverage. Customers of both banks should continue to use their existing branches until Westamerica Bank can fully integrate the deposit records of County Bank.

Over the weekend, depositors of County Bank can access their money by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards. Checks drawn on the bank will continue to be processed. Loan customers should continue to make their payments as usual.

A Sacramento law firm, Somach, Simmons & Dunn (SSD), on Feb. 4 filed a complaint in Sacramento County Superior Court against Merced County and the Merced County Board of Supervisors concerning unpaid bills arising from the Riverside Motorsports Park (RMP) case.

The complaint alleges that Merced County staff, Assistant Planning Director William Nicholson, committed acts of fraud and intentional misrepresentation, fraud and negligent misrepresentation, violation of state Civil Procedures code for levies and unjust enrichment.

SSD is represented by Donald B. Mooney of Davis CA, who is familiar with the operations of Merced County government.

The background facts alleged in the complaint are:

"On August 19, 2008 , the Sacramento County Superior Court granted SSD's Motion for Summary Judgment against Riverside Motorsports Park, LLC, for recovery of the amount due to SSD under a promissory note executed by Riverside Motorsports Park LLC. (Somach Simmons & Dunn, LLP v. Riverside Motorsports Park , LLC, Sacramento County Superior Court, Case No . 07AS0499 1.) The Judgment Granting Motion for Summary Judgment was entered on August 26, 2008.

I attended a debate on water policy in the San Joaquin Valley last night (more in a later posting). The latest agricultural idea from the irrigated salt flats of the west side of the Valley is to declare the area a National Security Zone, presumably policed by Homeland Security forces. This, the growers seem to believe, would guarantee continuing supplies of water conveyed through the Delta pumps. This pumping, if not the only cause, has been the major cause of catastrophic damage to several species of fish in the Delta and courts have ruled that the pumping must be cut back by law.

One argument that seemed to be suggested by a west side nut grower was that it was a patriotic act in the War Against Terror to compete in the world pistachio market with Iran. If he could only get some water this year, a Nobel Peace Prize is next.

If the growers got their National Security status, any criticism of water policy could presumably be legally declared an act of treason and the Zone would probably be an obstacle to union organizing.

Officially establishing such a "republic" within the boundaries of the nation's largest water district seems an excessive response to one of Calfornia's periodic droughts, but west side growers are famous for their agricultural innovation.