Badlands Journal

Let's make a deal

Planning and Conservation League

August 26, 2009                                                                             

Court Supports Claims that the High Speed Rail Authority's Environmental Review is Faulty

Sacramento - Today Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny issued a decision supporting contentions by the Planning and Conservation League and other plaintiffs that the California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) did not adequately study the potential impacts before choosing the Pacheco Pass route into the Bay Area from the Central Valley. This decision means the choice to build the train along the Pacheco Pass route will be rescinded and the impacts and alternatives thoroughly studied.

The visit from Hoyer highlights Cardoza's pull in Washington at a time when he's facing vocal critics at home. It's also notable that he didn't invite San Francisco-based Pelosi, who could have tarnished his reputation as a Blue Dog -- fiscally conservative -- Democrat. -- Merced Sun-Star, Aug. 26, 2009

First, from Cardoza's twisted viewpoint, it would make more sense to bring the Majority Leader from Maryland rather than the Speaker from California, since Cardoza lives in Maryland.

Second, former Rep. Gary Condit, D-Ceres, brought Rep. Nancy Pelosi to one of his congressional breakfasts in 2000. She was just as liberal as she is now and wasn't even the Speaker yet. And she brought Dolores Huerta with her. Condit was one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition. So, once again, we have the Gutless Wonder in action.

Badlands predicts that any member of the Berryhill family capable of tying his shoelaces will take this bozo in 2010. Cardoza's elementary failure to show the minimal solidarity of continuing to live in the district he represents as it goes through massive economic trauma -- his whole cut-and-run attitude -- has made him despised by the people who voted for him. His idea of a district visit is meetings and calls with local fat cats and a drop-in to the editorial boards.

          Water Resources, the Public Trust doctrine and Racanelli 

                                                                       by

On June 6, 2008, Badlands Journal editors wrote an article comparing the 1974 movie classic, "Chinatown," with the  campaign against the ecology of the Delta and for a peripheral canal and more dams fomented by Westlands Water District, finance, insurance and real estate interests and the Hun, our governor. At the time we were taking a measure of the rhetoric being used to frighten residents of the state already made anxious by the collapse of the speculative real estate bubble. This week, the California Sportsfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) has discovered an internal Westlands memo showing that all the time last year that Westlands was crying DROUGHT!, it was storing hundreds of thousands of acre-feet of water, just as LA was – as was observed by the San Francisco Chronicle's veteran outdoors reporter, Tom Stienstra, on October 26, 2008. The Westlands memo is only the most recent evidence that begs the lie behind the high-priced propaganda campaign for a peripheral canal and new reservoirs on the San Joaquin River and in Colusa County.

On August 12, the Atwater City Council held its second meeting on how to avoid dealing with the rampant racism within its city hall and within the town. The two agenda items that were supposed to smooth this over were:

3.1 Consideration of a Letter Expressing the City Council’s Disapproval of Former Mayor Pro Tempore Frago’s Actions in Forwarding Inappropriate Emails to City Staff

 

4.1 Selection of a City Council Member to serve as Mayor Pro Tempore (i.e. instead of Frago, the present mayor pro tempore)

8-13-09

Truthdig.com
Chris Hedges on Alex S. Jones’ ‘Losing the News’
http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/20090813_chris_hedges_on_alex_s_jones_losing_the_news/
Posted on Aug 13, 2009
By Chris Hedges

I have spent most of my life locked in the embrace of two of the most sanctimonious institutions in America—the church and the press. They each bow down before their self-created holy creeds, never tire of trumpeting their supposed virtues, which they hold up as the highest good, and are blind to their glaring inadequacies and mounting irrelevance. They are also, in a time of seismic cultural change, dying.

       

http://globalmindshift.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/the-unforgettable-commencement-address-by-paul-hawken-to-the-class-of-2009-university-of-portland-may-3-2009/


The Unforgettable Commencement Address by Paul Hawken to the Class of 2009, University of Portland, May 3, 2009



When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there.

Denny, the musician, speaks:

Modesto Blue Dog Democrat Dennis Cardoza, who was leaving Pelosi's office as liberals were streaming in, has more uninsured citizens in his district than any district in the nation. Cardoza, who wasn't among the four Blue Dogs who negotiated the deal but supports it, said the legislation will be "like an accordion for a long time, where members become concerned and then they get comfortable and then they become concerned. Everybody who has ever gone to the doctor has an opinion on what should be in this bill."—San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 5, 2009

We invite you to join us in enjoying the fine journalism of the two best water writers in the state, Lloyd Carter and Dan Bacher, whose courageous writing is animated by the idea that people, wildlife and fish species, and natural resources matter and that California should not be ruled absolutely by finance, insurance and real estate special interests.

Badlands Journal editorial board

7-30-09

lloydgcarter.com

The Merced Sun-Star recently reported on a number of pornographic racist emails being channeled through an Atwater City Hall computer server by Councilman Gary Frago. Last week, Atwater City Council held a hearing on the issue at the community center. About 300 people showed up.

To remove any suspense from this report, after hearing the testimony of 58 members of the public and oratory from four council members, the council voted unanimously (Frago not permitted to vote) 4-0, to direct staff to draft a letter of reprimand to Frago..

Merced's Medical Assistance Program, which provides medical care to among the county's poorest residents, needs $500,000 or it will have to cut 400 patients off its eligibility list. The issue was heard at the July 21, 2009 Merced County Board of Supervisors meeting and board consideration of this issue will continue at the August 18, 2009 meeting.

Badlands Journal editorial board has several suggestions for the supervisors that would avoid cutting 400 patients off the MAP program, sending them to the far more expensive emergency room.