I am an admitted advocate of the environment. I cherish our planet and I work my hardest to preserve its beauty and legacy. I am not in favor of abusing any of our animals or vegetation. But I am completely opposed to the abandonment of humanity. Such a case of loss may be taking place in a profound way in the Central Valley of California.
It has long been known that the Central Valley, when properly irrigated, farmed and cultivated, is considered the bread basket of America. But now farms all over that region have been allowed to dry up. Why?
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This is illogical to stop all water flow to an area because a minnow might get caught in the pumps. It sounds like an ingredient for hunger distribution. Why not move the minnow and establish it in other waters? The snakehead problem apparently started with two fish illegally released so I would think dozens of minnows wouldn’t have any problems reestablishing themselves. Surely government wouldn’t have any problems displacing fish because they certainly had no problems doing it to the Indians.
Perhaps it’s a conspiracy. In my opinion some prominent members of government are working feverishly to change government from a free society to a society of complete government control. This is effectively accomplished by destruction and collapse of the economy, control of the banking industry, forcing people into fear where they have no option but to rely on government, disarming the public, and turning the people against one another. Hunger would definitely turn people against one another. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Again, it is my opinion that these words are playing out today and government is making a stand against the people. Government leaders are acting against the wishes of their constituents and doing what they want over what the people want. They are turning a deaf ear. It won’t be long before you are going to see the military controlling angry mobs in our own city streets.
A patriot in the power structure is going to have to step up and do what they know is the right thing to prevent shortages of food and turn water back to the valley. Tell the save the minnow folks to move their minnows. That’s not rocket science!
This is the result of too many homes needing water, farmers watering very arid land, and water supplies drying up with the increase of world-wide winter temperatures. This problem is rooted in the reduction of snowfall caused by an increase in average temperatures, and excessive demand for water.
Their water supply is overtaxed by demands of the population. Government was already pulling more than 50% of the available water before the drought in some areas, which already is a grossly excessive and unsafe amount. Farmers use a large portion of that publicly diverted and publicly funded water systems to farm what is normally very arid valley land.
The low stream levels kicked in the Endangered Species law signed by former Republican president Richard Nixon, who we all know was not a top environmentalist. That law prevents extracting more water than natural species can withstand.
Now they have an unfixable mess.
If they don't let the smelt live, they will also kill off California salmon and steelheads native to that area. This will also impact coastal fishing by changing the ocean in that area.
It is possible to override the Nixon-era Endangered Species laws, but long term if they keep pumping and the temperature keeps rising they will run out of water anyway. They'll buy a few years time but likely forever change the ocean and fishing in that area to support the farms.
Maybe they better get smart and let huge farms move back to the natural farmlands the USA has so much of, and let their arid valleys go back to their natural state during droughts.
Wouldn't it be nice to grow cotton and other crops here again instead of in a desert valley?
Gary, I'm puzzled by your suggestions. Isn't ruining the earth and God's great gifts countering what the Bible says? What justifies taking a species and making it extinct, especially when it will trigger even more extinctions while not solving the real problem?
Is that how all conservatives think? Is that what tea parties are about?
Since you are a self-described, "logical thinker", it was genuinely disappointing to read your insipid offering.
This sandwich of spurious statements contains no meat between the many slices of your usual stale bread.
Quoting Clara Peller, "Where's the beef"?
Your "logical" talking points are voided by the inclusions of "...increase of world-wide winter temperatures.", "Fox news","ruining the earth", "Republican", "Richard Nixon"..."God's gift", "Bible", "conservatives think..." and
"tea parties".
These misdirections foist your "non-debatable" position of Global Warming upon THG readers. No "logical" scientific evidence was presented in the Farmers or Fish debate.
I will dust off my computer generated reasonable facsimile of the Laymans Doctor Of Psychology Degree and dispense my diagnosis of your literary indisposition.
Your symptoms appear to be an 'in the wild' manifestation of
"Conservative Envy Impotency" exacerbated by multiple 'Latent Reaganite Tendencies'. This can be debilitating without prompt and progressive pseudo-medical intervention.
"Political Impotency" creates flaccid positions and is not treatable with pharmaceuticals such as Viagra and Cialis.
My prescription for this beguiling disease is to view 15 hours of Glenn Beck on Fox at 5PM. If a booster regimen is needed to quell your withdrawal, I prescribe 10 viewing hours of Sean Hannity backed up with at 30 minutes daily of Bill O'Reilly.
Take this medicine and hope for the best!
BTW: I worked for 36 years in Kalifornia and used thousands of Delta Smelt for fish bait. They smell like cucumbers!
Call N. Alcars 10-10
In June 2009, The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) ordered 5-7% of water flows into the valley (330,000 acre-feet) to be used to restore creeks and estuaries for chinhook salmon, which are being threatened with extinction. In addition to the salmon, the NMFS order will help boost populations of other threatened species - including sole, crab, herring, smelt, steelhead, sturgeon, bass, and killer whales. Regional commercial and sport fisheries have collapsed over the past 2 years, and an independent economic research firm estimates that recovery of the salmon fishery alone would create $5.7 billion in new economic activity for the state, and the creation of 94,000 new jobs.
“The water needed to save Pacific fisheries is a drop in the bucket compared to what is being lost with irresponsible irrigation techniques and business practices,” says Mike Hudson, President of the Small Boat Commercial Salmon Fishermen’s Association. “Local fisheries have completely collapsed and thousands of our lives have been destroyed, but Hannity ignores our families to promote his politics.”
Hannity made no mention of of a recent Pacific Institute report showing how simple, and cost-effective irrigation techniques could be adopted by valley farmers to save nearly 6 million acre-feet of water per year (over 18 times the amount re-routed by the NMFS order). Nor did he address the growing practice of water speculation, in which rural land owners purchase subsidized water from the federal government and sell it for profit on the open market (Sandridge Partners, a Sunnyvale real estate company, recently sold 14,000 acre-feet of water out of the valley for $77 million). Finally, Hannity failed to explain why the Westlands Water District from which he broadcast from is sitting on nearly 275,000 acre-feet of water that it is not distributing.
Despite the drought and water restrictions, valley farms are full of bumper crops this year. Agricultural surpluses of water-intensive crops such as almonds, tomatoes, walnuts, and pecans are expected.
This SF Bay group is dedicated to radical community organization via media activism.
It is hard to fathom that Media Contact, "real" Ryan Schwartz, peruses the pages of this fine newspaper looking for an opportunity to comment on one of Andrew Odom's articles.
Give the "real" Ryan Schwartz credit for his work!
Pardon my ignorance if I don't believe this comment was submitted by the "real" Ryan Schwartz! It was generated with the "cut n' paste" method by one of the weak and ill-informed.
These mindless robots are unable to disengage any perceptive abilities from their minds and transfer such cognition to the keyboard. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!
ES? Izzit u?
The "real" Schwartz slams the "grassroots" mass gathering by using a term spewed by Nancy Pelosi and her Politburo comrades in referring to the Central Valley "grassroots rally" as an "Astroturf Rally". Isn't that cute?
To wit:
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS, WATER ADVOCATES, AND FISHERIES REACT TO SEAN HANNITY SPREADING MISINFORMATION ON CALIFORNIA WATER CRISIS
Burson-Marsteller PR Firm Hosts ‘Astroturf’ Rally at Expense of Pacific Ecosystem / Economy
I know where the problem lies! FOX NEWS!
They are to blame because they reported news the FRINGE media refuses to report.
Many are FOXATED on FOX and have lost it!
I love it! I love it! I love it!
Call N. Alcars 10-10A
I am only half-way joking. Just remember that CA supplies a large percentage (>40%) of the nation's food using only a small percentage of land.
(for the record, I'm a fourth generation NorCal native and have family long involved in agriculture, so my bias against SoCal cities runs deep)
Of course Fox news would blame it on a fish in a pump and the present administration, and others will blindly repeat the lie. Fox probably didn't tell anyone that Buena Vista, Tulare, and Kern Lakes have already been drained as agriculture kept expanding, and that was before the drought.
The heck with fishermen and native fish, let's drain the rest of the water to nothing ASAP.
I guess I’ve been in the dark about this. I never heard anything until I saw the segment on Sean Hannity.
This is illogical to stop all water flow to an area because a minnow might get caught in the pumps. It sounds like an ingredient for hunger distribution. Why not move the minnow and establish it in other waters? The snakehead problem apparently started with two fish illegally released so I would think dozens of minnows wouldn’t have any problems reestablishing themselves. Surely government wouldn’t have any problems displacing fish because they certainly had no problems doing it to the Indians.
Perhaps it’s a conspiracy. In my opinion some prominent members of government are working feverishly to change government from a free society to a society of complete government control. This is effectively accomplished by destruction and collapse of the economy, control of the banking industry, forcing people into fear where they have no option but to rely on government, disarming the public, and turning the people against one another. Hunger would definitely turn people against one another. Remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” Again, it is my opinion that these words are playing out today and government is making a stand against the people. Government leaders are acting against the wishes of their constituents and doing what they want over what the people want. They are turning a deaf ear. It won’t be long before you are going to see the military controlling angry mobs in our own city streets.It sure gets quiet when the facts come out. "
After that jewel, where did you go Gary? What happened to your "government takeover by shorting people of food theory" go?
Aren't you a little embarrassed you believed Hannity and Fox?
What is obvious to me is that people like you or Ryan Schwartz is much more in the know about the fact than me. Like I said in the beginning, I haven’t heard anything on it before. So perhaps I should reserve any more comment until I become more educated about what is actually taking place. Maybe we can all set down and have another famous beer session. Do you think it might be news worthy? Not hardly, but make mine an O’Doul’s.
Referencing Call N. Alcars, I check out other news but find their liberal slant and unwillingness to report any negativisms against their savior or his administration repulsive. My personal opinion is that Fox is the better of all others and I think their ratings substantiate it.
Now Tom, this is still just an opinion but I still do believe that unless things change, we will see the military in our streets trying to stop violence from the advancing left. The direction in government has shifted far left and many Americans will fight to stop the destruction of our freedoms by government takeover.
What does that mean? I guess it means that you, if that is your belief, can set back with your blindfold on and call ma a racist. Either way, there’s a fight brewing in our nation.
P.S. Tom –
Definition of theory –
1. Abstract thought : Speculation
2. A hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation
3. An unproved assumption
Thank you for pointing that word out to the readers.
Someplace between Al Sharpton and your present mindset is the truth.
Eyes that see vast conspiracies everywhere and voices that call for action without understanding basic problems are the very reason we are in this mess. Under-education about problems and the willingness to launch into attacks without knowing facts is what sets us back, and will be our real downfall.
All this stuff about the fish and water pumps in the valley (based on a law Nixon signed in) was going on when Bush was in, but it wasn't any advantage to "conservatives" to make a scene then. Tea Parties and Fox News had to wait until a rival was in office.
Glen Beck is another rabid Fox. He reported a government power play to mine people's information when they visited the cash-for clunkers website. Beck omitted a few key words from a warning he put up. The warning came from the government system when he tried to log into a restricted from public dealers-only part of the website. That's why he claimed the "website wasn't working" when he tried to demonstrate his great government conspiracy, he didn't have a password.
The warning he put up for viewers was the same warning I see when logging into financial transaction pages with the FCC. It is a standard issue warning (shown for years now)whenever someone uploads information or data into the Government computer system. The warning tells people they are part of the Federal computer system while being logged in to upload data into the Federal computer system, and that any information uploaded or downloaded might be watched or used any way they want. Beck lied, saying it was a way individual computers and personal information was being watched, and he changed the wording he showed from a protected part of the website that only dealers asking for money use.
The obvious lies by Fox News should be especially disturbing to those who fear conspiracies. They are manipulating people by making them believe things that are not true. It is a form of brainwashing, just like Hitler used and like we commonly use in our political campaigns and rallies. It is all designed to stir people up and get them into angry mob mode.
Understand I am not saying Democrats or liberals are any better. They play the same games, making it very time consuming to sort out the truth.
We have to start thinking for ourselves again, as difficult as that might be when caught up in the fantasy that either side is actually working for any goal but preserving themselves.
We are the only nation in the world dumb enough to believe we have security, when anyone can move anything and anybody through our borders. We are the only nation in the world that deals with foreign trade in a way that allows weaker smaller countries to screw us constantly for years on trade deals. We pay people to sit on their rears, we fight population control for the unproductive reproductives as immoral. We have money for large stadiums and facades on buildings, but cut education in areas where we are critically short of people.
Do you know we do not have qualified Americans to work on, upgrade, and design defense systems? I suppose we will farm that out to the Chinese though our IDA's.
This is because we listen to lies on both sides and fight each other, and we look for short-term "feel good" rewards and eye-candy.
Regardless, please tell me Tom; to which news reporting agency should I rely on? I would certainly appreciate the opinion of one capable of knowing true fact from fiction. Did Fox manipulate the ACORN videos? Did the CIA lie to Nancy Pelosi? Are the Czars dangerous? Will health care reform be passed? Is Israel going to allow Iran to become a nuclear power? It’s just unimaginable the time I can save by getting the facts from you without Fox or some other agency. Perhaps I should rely on NBC? No! I’ll just wait until you have it published here. Then I’ll know without doubt the information is 100% accurate.
In closing, you go on to say that “we do not have qualified Americans to work on, upgrade, and design defense systems?” Sorry Tom but your crystal ball has deceived you. I am an American and I work with improving design and upgrading defense systems everyday. The kind of systems that keeps you free to compare me somewhere between Al Sharpton and myself. I must be qualified because I’ve been at it for almost 40 years now.
I do hope I didn’t offend you as it was all in jest. However, I took issue with your perceptions. I still respect what you have to say even when you are attempting to knock people like me down with the Sharpton comparison. Go back and read the words I wrote, “Perhaps it’s a conspiracy “ and “In my opinion” . Please allow me to provide you a definition of each.
OPINION – (Wikipedia) An opinion is a belief that may or may not be backed up with evidence, but which cannot be proved with that evidence. It is normally a subjective statement and may be the result of an emotion or an interpretation of facts; people may draw opposing opinions from the same facts.
PERHAPS – (Dictionary.com) Possibly; Maybe; Conceivably.
Perhaps it will rain. Perhaps I could have chosen my words better. Perhaps I am unaware of my thoughts. Perhaps I’ll wait until you issue the facts.
Perhaps, but don’t hold your breath. Because I found it much easier to say I formulated an opinion based on the information I had at the time without the continuous attempts to discredit an individual with the constant spreading of chicken manure. Oops, perhaps I just spread some of that fertilizer myself. Perhaps I should learn to practice what I preach. But that is just an opinion. Have a nice day.
Dr. Phil won't be calling you.
There are "some" OCD contributors to this blog who have double shielded their Fox News feedlines resulting in reduced connectivity to their synapses.
Dr. Phil should be calling some.
"Some possess technical skills, but, lack common sense".
Thelia
You are correct. Many people have educated themselves beyond common sense, especially engineers. They rely on math equations and cannot comprehend common sense. Yeah; the common sense approach is just about gone.
Sheila is opinionated on most topics and presents herself very well. Whereas, I am more of a passive blogger who posts only when my arrayed receiving directivity factor parameters are overloaded.
Someone has to keep these brainy types honest.
Theila
That is not what I said.
I said you are as far one way as Sharpton is the other. Somewhere between your mindset and the mindset of people like Sharpton will be the truth. Your wild statements and paranoia about a giant government conspiracy to control people with food are as paranoid as Sharpton is with race.
"I wonder if Dr. Phil might be concerned about your diagnosis."
Why on the subject of abnormal psychology :-)
Do you really think the lakes and rivers going dry in California are the result of a secret government conspiracy, like you claimed?
I hope most people understand the problem is a combination of natural resources overuse brought to a critical state by the drought caused by low snow accumulation in the mountains that feed the valley.
Despite what some might think, no one in Washington has been hiding trillions of gallons of water for the last several years. They have a very real problem out there, and it will only get worse as global temperatures rise.
obama will renew his commitment to green America's economy and join international action on Global Warming in a televised teleprompter reading today at The United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York City.
obama will speak...err, uhh,...obama will read his commitment for America to participate internationally on global warming. His spiel most likely will affirm policies birthed by "former" Green Czar Van Jones. Thanks to FOX NEWS, Van Jones is now underemployed and free to spread his socialist ideology from another cell of this radical administration.
My plans to tune in FOX NEWS today and watch obama's performance have been altered, because Tom Rauch posted his philosophical causation of California's water woes and global warming. His non-aphorisms could be called 'Inconvenient Truth Of Tom' garnered from the Algore book of fiction, An Inconvenient Truth.
There is no compelling reason for me to view obama's reading session today after being so enlightened by the 'Inconvenient Truth Of Tom'.
While waiting for more Global Warming 'truisms' to be posted in this fine newspaper, my viewing routine will now include Rachel Maddow, Chris Mathews, Olberman and Bill Maher on the obama networks in order for me to continue my elucidation progress.
Are Pelosi and Reid tapes available at Amazon.com?
Call N. Alcars QRN
It appears the water folks and the fish folks are taking turns peeing on each other’s leg while they produce enough BS to manufacture enough methane to generate power for the west coast. Appearances show that the problems are man made but that they have nothing to do with any type of climate change. The salmon fisheries have over fished and the agriculture farms are making way for people.
The California Central Valley is approximately 42,000 square miles or about the size of Tennessee. It produces one forth of all the food America eats. It is made up of the northern Sacramento Valley and the southern San Joaquin Valley. The northern valley receives about 20 inches of rain annually while the southern valley is very dry. California families are looking for lower cost housing so the once-fertile fields are being paved over to make way for subdivisions. Included in the change is the huge population of illegal immigrants. The agriculture's power shrinks as the population of the valley's cities grows. Estimates of the valley's farm laborers are illegal immigrants that run as high as 90 percent. The Central Valley is the fastest growing region in California with 6.5 million people living there today.
“The primary threat that has affected Chinook salmon is the construction of dams and diversions on rivers and streams. Over 80 percent of their holding and spawning habitat is no longer accessible. Salmon runs in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers have been affected by a combination of factors, beginning in the mid-1800s when hydraulic gold mining methods resulted in severe sedimentation in many streams. In addition, the human population increase in California during this period was associated with a large increase in salmon harvest, the development of large salmon canneries, and subsequent overharvest. More recently, the construction of dams for water diversion and storage, the beginning of water export operations in the delta in the 1950s (federal Central Valley Project) and 1960s (State Water Project), and continued habitat degradation from a variety of causes (e.g., in stream gravel mining, flow modifications, physical disturbance from recreational activities) have reduced available habitat, increased mortality of both adults and juveniles, and led to increased predation in some locations”
http://science.calwater.ca.gov/pdf/eco_restor_all_salmon.pdf
The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), a decadal shift in ocean climate conditions that has been demonstrated to be strongly correlated with salmon abundance. The PDO shifted in 1977 from a cold-water regime favorable to salmon along the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts to an unfavorable warm-water regime; it shifted back to a cold-water regime in 1998. Because of this long temporal scale, the actual status of the population can only be assessed over the long term.
Bla – bla – bla! It goes on and on but in a nutshell it looks like pointing fingers and calling names. No water problems and no global warming climate change, just a lot of whining.
You don't "rile me up". As a matter of fact if you look back I may criticize your statements or viewpoints, but I don't call you names or engage in personal attacks. It seems conservatives consider anyone who does not buy into all their drama a "liberal".
I'm so liberal, I want to boot out illegal aliens. I'm so liberal I want us to have workfare for both unemployment and welfare.
Now if you check Saxby the conservative, he does nothing about the borders, illegals, or workfair. Two of the politicians YOU were going to sue for taking county taxpayer money and resources for the city in the Ag Authority swindle were highlighted as being at the Tea Party, and I think one of them was a highlighted speaker.
We really need something to take back our government, not hand it back to the same group of clowns that have stiffed us for years.
We can go out and find all sorts of snips of information, but it all boils down to farmers are farming an area that was already arid. They depended on water projects by the government to irrigate farms, and now for various reasons the population in the valley has exploded.
It is also a fact, although some people don't like to admit it, that snow accumulation in the Sierras that feeds water into the valley is way down, and they have a drought going on.
All of these things have combined to make a problem.
We should be concerned that Fox News and others are not giving us the entire story, but are only focusing on areas that support their particular agenda. The core problem is the same as Atlanta has. Locally, unfettered development was allowed without long term thought about available resources.
Allowing farms to pump things dry (they have already drained several lakes) will not fix the problem, it will just push it closer to a real tragedy when the entire arid area of the valley isn't livable for natural species, man, or farm crops.
I'm seriously concerned about Fox News and how they distorted stories, because they seem to be perpetuating the very things that have gotten our country into the big mess it is in. If we go back to doing exactly what we have been doing for the past 40 years, and do even more of it as they want to do, we will eventually have a mess that will just collapse without any hope of propping it up.
it is so refreshing to see 'ol Tom share with us, you "don't rile me up." The patronizing platitudes posted by the FOXINATOR in response to your mea culpa evokes sympathetic sadness of bygone eras.
The 'Fixation on Fox' forfeits any creditable points that Tom scored in the Farmer or Fish debate with his ceaseless referencing of Fox News.
Metaphorically speaking:
Along the mainline travel of 'cognitive process' his engine jumps the tracks and the subjective 'train of thought' derails and FOX NEWS becomes the modifier.
When an untimely re-rail occurs, the train limps along through a long dark tunnel searching for an adjacent siding where box cars of FOX NEWS can be picked up and inserted into the train manifest in order to complete the trip. "All ABOARD"! shouts the Foxinator.
This baffled blogger sits like an uncoupled caboose waiting to be picked up by the "FOX NEWS EXPRESS" and be told, you "don't rile me up".
My trip ticket is in hand and ready to be punched.
Call N. Alcars QRQ
Well, Tom Rauch, "there you go again" with another "cut-n-paste" affair. This modus operandi followed with another reference to Fox News, offers evidence that you posted the Ryan Schwartz article incognito.
With piteous supplication, it behooves you to immediately fill the prescription that I issued in one of my above comments. Your obsessive psyche needs urgent purging of the omnipresent "Foxation Fixation".
Review ALL of your commentaries and count the number of junctures where you were stranded in search of meaningful articulation only to insert FOX,FOX,FOX NEWS. Embarrassing.
You asked "Gary", Aren't you a little embarrassed you believed Hannity and Fox?
I won't answer for Gary, but, I will ask you, Mr. Foxation, "Aren't you embarrassed?"
You want to kill the messager!
Call N. Alcars 10-8
Your simplistic terminology was insightful, well received, and understood! You have just described the largest and elusive member of Genus Vulpes, the Georgia Foxinator.
Call N. Alcars 10-8