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Aw, shucks

"If we lose that act, California will never be the same. It will not," Payen said. "We'll lose our Western heritage, everything. It's a huge issue for everyone who is a Californian." -- Sacramento Bee, Feb. 2, 2011

Green history (6)

2/4-6/11
Counterpunch.com
A Concise History of the Rise and Fall of the Enviro Establishment
How Green Became the Color of Money
"Smoke Screens"
By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
http://www.counterpunch.com/stclair02042011.html
 
How is power really leveraged in Washington? Read Bob Packwood's diaries. The private record of this disgraced Oregon senator and top recipient of campaign contributions from the timber industry from 1985 to 1995 tells the story.

The splitting sound

Why did this happen? Why did even the near-collapse of the financial system, and its desperate rescue by two reluctant administrations, fail to give the government any real
leverage over the major banks?
By March 2009, the Wall Street banks were not just any interest group. Over the past thirty years, they had become one of the wealthiest industries in the history of the American economy, and one of the most powerful political forces in Washington. Financial sector money poured into the campaign war chests of congressional representatives.
 

Angelides commission report (2)

A more critical view of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission than the one offered by McClatchy editorialists a few days ago in a shallow defense of one of its favorite son, Phil Angelides, Sacramento developer, protege of Angelo Tsakopoulos, former state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate, who chaired the commission.
Badlands Journal editorial board

Angelides commission report

Phil Angelides, California treasurer from 1999 - 2006, chaired the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that recently made its report on the financial meltdown, focusing on the real estate market. As treasurer, he was an ex-officio member of the boards of the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), when combined the largest public retirement fund in the nation. In 1984, he was appointed president of Sacramento-based AKT Development Corporation, owned by Angelo Tsakopoulos.

Small bank failure

In the last three years 333 small banks have closed their doors and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation estimate that there are 860 "troubled" banks now. The FDIC insurance fund was $8 billion in the red at the end of September. It is the worse rate of bank failure since 1993, in the depths of the savings and loan disaster.
Badlands Journal editorial board
1-29-11
Washington Post
Regulators shut banks in Colo, NM, Okla, Wis…MARCY GORDON, The Associated Press

Green History (4)


Jeffrey St. Clair is the author of Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: the Politics of Nature and Grand Theft Pentagon. His newest book, Born Under a Bad Sky, is published by AK Press / CounterPunch books. He can be reached at: sitka@comcast.net.  This essay is excerpted from the forthcoming book GreenScare: the New War on Environmentalism by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank.

1-21-11
counterpunch.com
A Concise History of the Rise and Fall of the Enviro Establishment

Come fly the westside thermals

This announcement is excellent news for the farmers and communities that rely on water from Reclamation to grow the crops that provide over 50% of the food supply for the United States. -- Thomas Birmingham, general manager Westlands Water District, Jan. 18, 2011
Comments in blue supplied by Lloyd Carter, editor in chief of Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood, www.lloydgcarter.com
Toto, I've a feeling we not in Kansas anymore. -- Badlands Journal editorial staff

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