Celebrity Fixation

I swear this post isn’t about Michael Jackson.  I have nothing to add to all..that.  To my mind this following story is even more pathetic. 

I wrote earlier about the California Latino Water Coalition and the problems facing West Side farmers because of a three year drought and recent court rulings under the Endangered Species Act. Water law and politics are the most convoluted subjects I’ve ever dealt with and I don’t want to get into minutiae here. Suffice it to say fresh water is the lifeblood of California.

Some regions of the state have an abundance and some regions have very little.  Over the years there have been projects to build dams and canals to help store and distribute the water. Some of these projects are under state control others are federal, some are combined.  Historically water has been divided among urban and rural customers.  Cities need drinking water, farmers need irrigation water and they’ve been fighting each other for years.  

Recently a wild card has been thrown into the mix and that wild card is environmental  activists.  It seems that after decades of flushing their toilets into the San Francisco Bay, many people up there are now concerned about water quality. What they want is more Sierra Nevada water let out of storage facilities to run free into the bay to dilute and flush their mess out to the Pacific Ocean and they are using the Endangered Species Act to get that done.  

The pumps at the Tracy plant have now been turned off in order to save a little baitfish, the notorious Delta Smelt.  This results in significantly less water down the California Aqueduct going to SoCal cities and Central Valley farms and more water running through the Delta and on out to the Pacific.  In SoCal this translates into higher residential and commercial utility rates.  In small farming towns like Mendota it translates into dying crops, thousands of acres gone fallow, financial ruin and death.  There have been suicides. Out on the westside there is open talk of violence.

Enter a celebrity. Paul Rodiriguez might not be on anybody’s A-list but he is a celebrity. He also owns a small farm here in the valley that his parents run.  It was Paul that really put the California Latino Water Coalition on the map.  For some reason, people in San Francisco or Santa Monica have no sympathy for white farmers, but you get some downtrodden Latinos with some T-shirts and signs and they just might pay attention between sips of their Venti soy mochas.  

Rodriguez was able to finally bring a bit of national attention to this issue. He has given interviews with many national news shows and been a regular on Ray Appleton’s radio talk show.  Appleton’s mike is plugged into a 50,000 watt blowtorch of an AM radio station that covers most of central and northern California and he has also done a great job of keeping us locals informed and fired up.  All the information I have about this episode of the water war has been gleaned listening to the radio while driving up and down Hwy 99.

Together, Rodriguez and Appleton have raised such a stink that the politicians had to get involved. I’m really trying to keep party affiliations out of this but congressman Devin Nunes was more than up for the challenge and has been aggressively crafting and promoting legislation that will get the pumps turned back on.  Lets just say Jim Costa is more of a behind the scenes guy and probably has his loyalties divided between Nancy Pelosi,  environmentalists and the Latino community.  

Nunes had come up with some legislation that would at least temporarily get the water flowing to valley farms. It was all set to be voted on last night.  Nunes was hopeful that a fragile coalition of Republicans and Democrats was forming. Rodriguez ,  Appleton and some local experts were set to come to Washington DC to lobby lawmakers. For some reason after talking with Jim Costa last Friday, Paul Rodriguez decided to bail out.  

Now here comes the pathetic part.  According to Appleton, those lawmakers that were all set to receive our valley’s little delegation suddenly had no desire to talk with a guy like Mario Santoyo, a lifelong water manager because he’s not even a little bit famous. The trip was cancelled and Nunes’ amendment went down in flames last night. In Appleton’s own words they wanted to talk to somebody famous that could speak Spanish. 

There is something very very fucked up wrong when Congress would rather talk water issues with a comedienne than a guy that has spent his adult life turning Sierra snowmelt into crops and drinking water.  As far as I know Mario Santoyo doesn’t Twitter or have a Facebook Page. He certainly doesn’t have an agent.  Working people…people that make this country run shouldn’t need an agent to have their voice heard.

Tam-a-lanche!

Thanks to Emmylou Harris and Tamera’s blog, my blogstats have gone ballistic. At least by my standards.  It takes me awhile to approve  your comments as I am out and about serving subpoenas  most of the time.  Today I’ll be working down in Twangtown, home of Buck and Merle.  Thanks for stopping by y’all.

4th of July Weekend 2009

Can't do this in Iran!

My daughter Micha Sepulveda came up this weekend to help us celebrate the 4th.  God it’s great to have her back home for even just a couple days.  She brought her boyfriend Eddie up with her and wanted to show him how Central California is nothing like Southern California.  We probably have more in common with his home state of Texas than we do with SoCal.  No gridlock, no velvet ropes, no celebretards. 

The Kings River was flowing good Friday. Too big and fast to fish really, but that didn’t stop us from trying.  The canyon was hot but the river and beer were cold so we had a great day in the Sierras.

Life can get pretty rough for a Marine far from home

Saturday the 4th of July, Micha wanted to go to the range.  OK so maybe it was me that suggested it, but I’ve never had to twist her arm. The girl loves to shoot that .45 

Can't do this in North Korea!

Lance Corporal Eddie had recently qualified Expert with his M16 but confessed he’d never fired a shotgun.  A few speed drills with my old Winchester and he handed it back chuckling “heh…fun.”  

Boom-lakka-boom-lakka-boom-lakka

Over on Tamera’s blog she posed the question as to what was the most patriotic gun one could shoot on the 4th of July.  To my way of thinking it has to be a rifle of some sort.  The 4th is all about standing up to tyranny, not a pistol shot from behind and a leap from the balcony. Nothing says “Don’t tread on me” quite like a rifle owned by a person that knows how to use it.  Which brings me to my last picture.

Central California gets hot in July and the 4th was no exception. 100 degrees in the shade. Our only company at the range was a guy and his two sons  shooting a Mini-14 and a bolt action .22 rimfire.  I made a comment to the father about there not being a better way to celebrate the 4th and he heartily agreed.  I didn’t do much shooting yesterday. I loaded magazines for Mischa and Eddie and fiddled with my Buckmark’s adjustable sights, but mostly I watched the father and his boys.   

I asked them if I could take their picture for this blog.  ”Sure no problem.”

“Do you want me to obscure your faces you know, it’s the internet and all?”

“No that’s OK we’ve got nothing to hide” 

If I talked like Ward Churchill, I would say “on that day….. my heart….it soared like an eagle”.  What’s the most patriotic gun you can shoot on the 4th?  This one right here.

‘‘To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them’’ Richard Henry Lee - 1787

The 70’s Were Cooler: Emmylou Harris

 

BFFs backstage

One of these days I might be able to write my definitive Emmylou Harris essay, but for now I’m enjoying the research too much.

California: Jan 22, 1966

Reclusive musical icon, still heavily medicated, still working through some issues…still breathing.

Must have video.

Delaney and Bonnie and Friends 1970

Everything the Manson Family could have been if it weren’t for all those murders and all.

Lost River-Lost Coast

 Russian River just upstream of Johnson’s Beach

We spent the last few days up along the Russian River. When I was much younger, I rode a bicycle from Sacramento up into Sonoma County then down along the river to the ocean and eventually across the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. Not a bad way to spend a spring break. I never forgot that river and camping in those redwoods. I’d heard astonishing stories of huge salmon and steehead runs and promised myself I’d be back. 

Nowadays it’s the wineries and resorts, not water temperature and clarity that dictate the pace of life around here. Looking for a room around Guerneville on the internet, I couldn’t help but notice the region is extremely gay freindly. “We have a dog, are pets allowed?” 
“I’m sorry no they’re not.”
“Well what if I told you my dog is gay, would that help?”
“No pets allowed sir”
“OK OK! I get the message. And for the record my dog is straight.” 

Hetero as the day is long

We eventually found an overpriced, run-down room that only charged us a $50.00 pet fee.  Then we found out the area is still beautiful but the fishing absolutely sucks.  The river is dying. Basically it’s just an irrigation ditch till it hits the resort area, where summer dams turn it into a swimming pool.  I fished hard for two days and didn’t get any indication Shad were in the river. Wading upstream of Hacienda Hole, I did notice lots of small steelhead smolts drifting by in the current headed out to the Pacific. 

 

Later in the week, the town began to fill up with people for Guerenville’s gay pride parade.  We decided to head down the coast for some oysters on Tomales Bay.

 

 

 

Dr. Feelgood 1975

This video reminds me of that ancient proverb “All women are just two or three drinks away from being lesbians.”  Two or three drinks and and some jack-hammer guitar courtesy Wilco Johnson. 

Interesting Times

From the Wall Street Journal

Back when the Bush Administration was warning about Iran’s nuclear progress, or its deadly meddling in Iraq, the typical Democratic and media response was to treat the Islamic Republic as innocent until proven guilty. This month, Democrat Robert Morgenthau supplied the proof.

In testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that was largely ignored by the media, the legendary Manhattan District Attorney opened a window on how Iran is secretly obtaining the ingredients for an arsenal of mass destruction. Mr. Morgenthau, whose recent cases have exposed illicit Iranian finance and procurement networks, has discovered what he calls “Iran’s shopping list for materials related to weapons of mass destruction.” They add up to “literally thousands of records.”

Read the entire article 

And then there is this:

Deployment of the Sajjil-2 will eventually eliminate those problems.  Solid-fuel is far less volatile and can be stored in the missile airframe for longer periods of time.  Elimination of fuel trucks and other support vehicles reduces the operational signature, making it easier for the missile crew to remain undetected.  And, most importantly, a solid-fueled system has a much shorter response time, making it ideally-suited for a surprise attack. 

Consider this possibility:  A fully-fueled (and armed) Sajjil-2 emerges from its underground bunker near Bakhtaran, some 200 miles southwest of Tehran.  Moving to a pre-surveyed launch site, the missile crew quickly raises the Sajjil-2 to firing position, and launches the missile.  Within seconds, Defense Support Program (DSP) satellites detect the sold-fueled missile, which is already in flight.  A warning is instantly transmitted to Israeli leaders–and their missile defense forces–but the reaction time is already measured in seconds, rather than minutes.

Sound and Fury

Tuesday I hurried back from SoCal so me and Mrs. Sepulveda could vote in the special election. I voted no right down the line.  Yesterday as the results were being analyzed, the overall consensus was that we here in California are fed up with our nation leading high taxes, out of control state spending and dysfunctional politicians.  All the propositions went down in flames except for 1-F (a feel good solution to limit legislative pay raises) that was a huge success.

The problem is the election turnout was very low (under 25% of registered voters) in most counties.  The problem is that many of the people who voted no in Tuesday’s election will blissfully vote yes when their free spending/high taxing Assemblymen and Senators come up for re-election. The problem is that many of those same people that voted no on Tuesday are pleased as punch that the Obama Administration is doing their damnedest to turn the whole country into California.