Save the delta smelt, lose the Mexicans. Is that such a bad deal forCalifornia?

Save the delta smelt, lose the Mexicans. Is that such a bad deal for
California?

Local TV ads from White farmers decry the drying up of California
agricultural land which normally receives water from the Sacramento
River delta via the California Aqueduct that runs the length of the
state.


Agriculture accounts for half of California's economy, and the
spokeman for the farmers is saying, "If you like foreign oil, you're
going to love foreign food," implying that California, and much of the
rest of the nation will be eating produce imported from Mexico and
Chile, where it will be grown and harvested by Mexicans and Chileans,
etc.

San Hannity's TV show about the irrigation water shortage in
California's central valley takes place in Huron, CA and recent news
programs have shown Mexican farm workers lined up at food banks,
tearfully embarrassed to be taking charity again.

They say that they want to work, that they don't want welfare...

But why did Hannity pick Huron, out in the middle of an area which is
technically a *desert*, receiving less than 10 inches of rain a year?

Huron is a small town in Fresno County, California, in the United
States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,306. During
the harvest season, the population swells to over 15,000 people due to
the influx of migrant farm workers.

In the 2000 census, 98.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of
any race. The per capita income for the city was $9,425. About 38.3%
of families and 39.4% of the population were below the poverty line,
including 48.4% of those under age 18 and 10.7% of those age 65 or
over.

The greatest percentage of farmland surrounding Huron is devoted to
the production of lettuce, onions and tomatoes. The city has only had
5 violent gang related homicides since 2003.

In July 2009, action by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation to protect
threatened fish stopped irrigation pumping to parts of the California
Central Valley causing canals leading into Huron and the surrounding
areas and the farms that rely on them to dry up.

Delta smelt used to be a common fish in the Sacramento - San Joaquin
rivers estuary. The population is much smaller than historically and
the species was listed in 1993 as threatened under the California
Endangered Species Act (CESA) and Federal Endangered Species Act

On August 31, 2007, California Federal Judge Oliver Wanger of Federal
District Court protected the rare declining fish delta smelt by
severely curtailing human use water deliveries at San Joaquin-
Sacramento River delta from December to June. These are the pumps at
the Banks Pumping Plant that send water to Central and Southern
California for agricultural and residential use.

The judge said pressure from the pumps helped reverse the natural
direction of water within the estuary, damaging habitat and killing
delta smelt, a fish that experts say might be on the brink of
extinction.

“The evidence is uncontradicted that these project operations move the
fish,” the judge said. Under the ruling, limits would be put in place
from the end of December, when the fish are about to spawn, until
June, when young fish can move into areas with better habitat and more
food.

Unemployment in Huron has reached over 35% as farms dried up. Governor
Schwarzenegger stated the Federal action is putting the fish "above
the needs of millions of Californians." The issue received coverage on
the Hannity program from Fox News broadcasting from Huron.

Comedian Paul Rodriguez acted as a celebrity spokesperson criticizing
the action as his mother owns a farm in the area.

Rodriguez has another interest in farming: he is the chairman of the
California Latino Water Coalition, a group trying to draw attention to
California's dire water situation.

Over here on the east side of the central valley, farmers don't depend
on water from the California aqueduct, they receive snow melt from the
Sierra Nevada, and they're not so affected by the delta smelt issue.

One of our hispanic city councilmen recently boasted about his
political activism and his march with the California Latino Water
Coalition and locals wondered why there would be a *latino"
coalition.

Now we understand. The latinos need to water to keep flowing into the
California desert, or they will have to go back home to find work
picking lettuce...

 

Save the SPAM Tim Morrow.

 

On Sep 17, 9:59 am, Tim Morrow impersonating <>
wrote:
(snip)

I sure wish Tim would share his cocaine or crystal meth with the rest
of us.