Badlands Journal

University of California student "occupiers" are calling for the 1% who sit on the UC Board of Regents to pay for the rising costs of UC education.

But, where to begin? How do we fairly apportion the costs among the millionaire regents?

A place to begin would be to seize every dime US Senator Dianne Feinstein ahd her husband, UC Board of Regents Chairman Richard Blum have made from information their privieged positions have allowed them to gather for unfair business advantage.

Badlands Journal editorial board

11-27-11

Sacramento Bee

Anti-Wall Street protests planned at UC meeting…Terence Chea, Associated Press

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/11/27/v-print/4082613/anti-wall-street-protests-planned.html

Although responsible journalists have been using the term "oligarchy" to describe the American form of government, we here at Badlands have been prone to call it "plutocracy" for several years now. We do it for the same reasons Bill Moyers has come over to the "plutocracy camp:" familiarity with agriculture, agribusiness and especially, agro-politics.

Badlands Journal editorial board

Bill Moyers: Our Politicians Are Money Launderers Not Too Different from Tony Soprano

Americans have learned the hard way that when rich organizations and wealthy individuals shower Washington with millions in campaign contributions, they get what they want.

November 2, 2011  |  

We can hardly wait to see how UC flaks its way out of this one. Prof. Nathan Brown is to be congratulated for writing clear language any Eglish speaker can understand to one of the biggest bullies in this state, the University of California, its campus shock troops and its legions of propagandists.

Badlands Journal editorial board

11-21-11
Change.org
Police Pepper-Spray Peaceful UC Davis Students: Ask Chancellor Katehi to Resign!
http://www.change.org/petitions/police-pepper-spray-peaceful-uc-davis-students-ask-chancellor-katehi-to-resign

Join University of California at Davis Assistant Professor Nathan Brown in calling for the resignation of UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi for her failure to protect UC Davis student's First Amendment right to assemble, or even their physical safety.

Nathan Brown's Open Letter To The Chancellor is below:

Open Letter to Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi

Linda P.B. Katehi,

IF you don't read another article on the environment over the holidays, we suggest you might read this terrific piece on Alternet by Tara Lohan about the five most toxic energy companies.

The basic scenario in the "free" market on energy supplies is that huge energy corporations, mining and pumping increasingly scarce raw energy materials, which command escalating market prices producing astronomical profits, have now bought a culture in which it is expected that regulatory agencies, legislators and judges in the highest courts are bought and sold. We have seen how these companies have created something so much larger than the individual acts of corruption that compose it, that we must call it the culture itself -- the plutocracy, a culture in which society, economics and government are all arranged for the primary benefit of the rich, with less and less apology as the plutocracy matures and putrifies, giving off a stench that is the reason for the occupation movement from Wall Street outward across the country. The economy created by the rich stinks so much it cannot even employ the people of the host nations it seeks to suck dry of all wealth.

We urge everyone to read this excellent survey of these energy companies at work on the ground killing their employees and destroying the environment and in the halls of Congress killing laws to protect workers and the environment. The posting here is just the first page.

Badlands Journal editorial board

11-12-11

CBS 60 Minutes

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57324034/pelosi-defends-record-after-60-minutes-report/

11-12-11

San Francisco Chronicle

...these numbers need to be tattooed on our minds. Between 1947 and 1979, productivity in the US rose by 119%, while the income of the bottom fifth of the population rose by 122%. But from 1979 to 2009, productivity rose by 80%, while the income of the bottom fifth fell by 4%. In roughly the same period, the income of the top 1% rose by 270%. -- George Monbiot, Nov. 8, 2011

11-8-11
Common Dreams
The 1% Are the Very Best Destroyers of Wealth the World Has Ever Seen
Our common treasury in the last 30 years has been captured by industrial psychopaths. That's why we're nearly bankrupt
by George Monbiot
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/08-7

If wealth was the inevitable result of hard work and enterprise, every woman in Africa would be a millionaire. The claims that the ultra-rich 1% make for themselves – that they are possessed of unique intelligence or creativity or drive – are examples of the self-attribution fallacy. This means crediting yourself with outcomes for which you weren't responsible. Many of those who are rich today got there because they were able to capture certain jobs. This capture owes less to talent and intelligence than to a combination of the ruthless exploitation of others and accidents of birth, as such jobs are taken disproportionately by people born in certain places and into certain classes.

Angels arise where every day is a Day of the Dead, -blj

11-06-11
New York Times
Ciudad Juárez Journal
Angels Rushing In Where Others Fear to Tread
 Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/10/world/americas/angels-in-ciudad-juarez-try-to-reduce-violence.html?_r=1

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — Angels are not a common sight here in Mexico’s most violent border city, where the public cemetery is putrid and overflowing, and where a handful of churches worship the skeletal saint of death, Santa Muerte.

Lately, the group has been traveling to other dangerous cities where they join other young Christians dressed as angels to promote their message.
But at crime scenes and busy corners recently, more than a dozen angels have appeared — 10 feet tall, with white robes and wide feathered wings. The fact that these angels are mostly teenagers from a tiny evangelical church on a dirt road makes their presence no less striking: they carry signs to murder scenes that say “murderers repent.”

11-06-11
LA Times
There's too much pork on the table
Gov. Brown and the Legislature need to trim the fat from the water bond and serve it to voters...George Skelton
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-me-cap-water-20111107%2c0%2c7667745.column?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+GeorgeSkelton+%28L.A.+Times+-+George+Skelton%29

Gov. Jerry Brown recently said, "I've got a lot on my plate." One item is a big slab of pork — formally called a water bond proposal.

The plate is shared with the Legislature.
 
Together, they must decide whether to serve up the bond whole to voters, trim it down first or shove it back in the fridge.

Or maybe they'll just toss it in the garbage. That's the most unlikely scenario. But voters might dump it for them if the bond isn't pared and recooked.

Let's back up.

After years of fighting — south vs. north, farmers vs. enviros, water buffaloes vs. fishing interests — then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature settled on an $11.14-billion water bond two years ago. It was passed by sleep-deprived lawmakers at dawn after an all-night session.

11-06-11
Modesto Bee
DA says Andersen knew of asbestos risk in Merced school
By Victor A. Patton
http://www.modbee.com/2011/11/06/1935528/merced-county-andersen-knew-of.html

MERCED -- Merced County's former education chief broke state law by knowing that high school students were exposed to cancer-causing asbestos, but waiting more than a year to notify law enforcement.

Those accusations have been lobbed against former Merced County Office of Education Superintendent Lee Andersen after an investigation by the Stanislaus County district attorney's office. Prosecutors say that Andersen would have been charged with a misdemeanor had the one-year statute of limitations not run out.

Andersen, in a letter to the Merced Sun-Star, insists he acted quickly to look into the asbestos exposure. He told a grand jury that he wasn't obliged to report it "because it was in the past." He asked the people of Merced to keep an open mind in reading the report.

11-5-11
Modesto Bee
Editorial: West Park project has possibilities

http://www.modbee.com/2011/11/03/v-print/1932615/west-park-project-haspossibilities.html

In the last several years, discussions about the potential uses for the former Crows Landing Naval Air Station have focused on manufacturing, processing and distribution facilities that would benefit from the site's proximity to Interstate 5 and the potential for short-line rail to the Port of Oakland.

Ag exports often have been cited in the conversations, along with air cargo operations or business start-ups.

So we have to admit we were surprised — in a pleasant way — at the prospective user for West Park Logistics Center that was announced earlier this week. It's not the kind of industry we have much experience with here in the valley — an independent movie and TV studio.

Mare Island Studio sent a letter to the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors stating its interest in locating on 415 acres in West Park. It's important to remember that it's nothing like a done deal. But it definitely is an interesting possibility.

The letter from a studio executive was part of a quarterly update to the board on developer Gerry Kamilos' progress on West Park.