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The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.
The article in it's self is very misleading, other than this brief statement about water issues:
Quote:
On the western side of the Central Valley, the effects of arbitrary cutoffs in federal irrigation water have idled tens of thousands of acres of prime agricultural land, leaving thousands unemployed
Few urbanites understand about how farming works, in CA, there has been fights over water since the 1930's (anyone remember the movie Chinatown? it was about water rights and based on fact). No water rights no farming.
Those "idle acres of prime ag land" is a very misleading statement, for decades farmers have fought to keep their water from going to urban California and have lost and what the author is seeing is the result of loosing their water rights. I've seen plenty of programs about this on RFDTV, something most non farmers would never watch. California is an aird state, so ANY farming needs irrigation.
Soooo, if the author and the rest of urban Cali is ready to give back the water they've taken and live with sever water restrictions, farms would flurish again.
California is not the only western state this is happening to.
Not surprising considering California has 12% of the U.S. population and over 30% of its welfare recipients and chose to ignore the welfare reform that helps wean people off of welfare, not to mention the huge illegal immigration population and all the drains on the system that that brings.
The article in it's self is very misleading, other than this brief statement about water issues:
Few urbanites understand about how farming works, in CA, there has been fights over water since the 1930's (anyone remember the movie Chinatown? it was about water rights and based on fact). No water rights no farming.
Those "idle acres of prime ag land" is a very misleading statement, for decades farmers have fought to keep their water from going to urban California and have lost and what the author is seeing is the result of loosing their water rights. I've seen plenty of programs about this on RFDTV, something most non farmers would never watch. California is an aird state, so ANY farming needs irrigation.
Soooo, if the author and the rest of urban Cali is ready to give back the water they've taken and live with sever water restrictions, farms would flurish again. California is not the only western state this is happening to.
umm.. the author doesn't live in 'urban Cali.' did you miss this part?
Quote:
"My own farmhouse is now in an area of abject poverty and almost no ethnic diversity; the closest elementary school (my alma mater, two miles away) is 94 percent Hispanic and 1 percent white, and well below federal testing norms in math and English."
the author's family has been growing grapes for several generations.
This is what happens from Boxer's war on farmers. There is a concerted effort in this country to strip us of our ability to feed ourselves. When you get to the point where your food is mostly imported, the government can cut it off at any time. To hell with the smelts, California needs cheap water.
Last edited by jimhcom; 12-16-2010 at 04:13 PM..
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The poor always end up in the crap areas.
