Visiting the End Result of California's Prop 2

I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.

I have been looked at in life with the look of "You have no idea what it is like to go hungry!" I remember that comment made to me with the look of disdain. I remember my reply. Both individuals I was eating lunch with in a public place were my co-workers. I was angry and insulted that I had no idea what it was like to be poor. I do know what it is like. We didn't qualify for help with food stamps because we had owned our own business. We lost a business, a house and couldn't put food on the table for our children. That's really hard! I suppose the hardest thing for me to handle is what the government does with so called "animal rights" which will cost an increase in the cost of food and those at the lower end of the economic scale.

What is currently before the California Assembly Bill 1437 is to not only require producers within the state to conform to Prop 2 but all eggs coming into the state must conform to Prop 2. So the argument the cost of eggs will only go up a penny a piece or twelve cents a dozen has become mute. When you go to the grocery store the next time take a look at the price of a dozen eggs and the price of cage free eggs. There can be as much as $2.00 difference in cost. So my point stands with the individual who left a comment on my last post. The state is more humane to the chickens then to people being able to afford to eat. On top of it all eggs are and always have been considered a staple food item. The same as flour, bread, sugar, and milk.

I agree with Troy and Stacy on how embolden HSUS has become over this issue. If we allow animal rights activist to go to this extreme we endanger our National Security and leave a legacy of hunger in this country.

I'm stunned, or rather once again I get to pick on the stupidity of California Liberalism. Once again I invite you to visit Advocates for Agriculture.
You ask how this endangers our National Security. Hungry people only think about being hungry and how to get food for their stomach. As a result internal strife can occur. Remember the food riots of last year in some of the third world countries over food prices. Remember the problems in Africa with hunger. It was worse in countries with civil war. Don't ever forget you enjoy the lifestyle you have only because of the American Farmer and Rancher. Photo Credit: Flying J&L Ranch, 2009 Senior Champion Open Lowline Angus Fulblood Bull, LTL Peyton, very tired on day four of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo found it much easier to eat laying down then standing. The HLSR is the largest show dedicated to the celebration of the farmer and rancher in the world.

Please start to care, I know what it is like to be hungry!

Kim

California's Farmers and the Liberal Establishment

California is once again at the for front of stupidity when it comes to humanity and agriculture production. I have yet to understand why some individuals put animals over humans first, especially when it comes to fish.

In 2007 a federal judge sided with liberal environmentalists and put the Delta Smelt on the endangered species list. In the grand scheme of things the environmentalist, state government and the federal judicial system puts priorities for water in a very interesting fallacy. The population gets water first, the fish second and the farmer third. How in the world can people think this way! The fish comes before humans eating!

Let's take a real look at the situation. Pumps that feed water to agriculture production in the Central Valley of California are turned off during the time period farmers need the water the most, spring and summer. This is to protect the fish, or rather so called protecting the fish. Inflow and outflow areas of water into a water system actually protects the fish. Introduction of game species of fish such as bass endanger native stocks of fish. There are problems with more then just the Delta Smelt (a minnow) to include salmon. Hello folks a human induced problem. Pollution is the other problem to the fisheries. Who is the number one polluter in the country. The home owner! It isn't industry or agriculture. I use to work in an environmental lab who serviced the Petro-Chemical industry along the Gulf Coast. All of the chemists I worked with agreed it was the home owner who caused the most chemical pollution in the country. Need to get rid of the weeds in my lawn or the fungus caused by brown patch, etc. The attitude of the home owner when they read the directions in spraying for these problems they are using think that adding a little more the spray will work better. WRONG! The minimum amount runs off somewhere, eventually into our waterways. Humans need to use the right amounts or go organic in the care of their lawns.


Now here is a novel approach, as I stated in California the population gets water first. That means having a green lawn has priority over agriculture production to feed people. Why?

How about the economic impact of this species being protected. California in this recession already has the highest number of tent cities in the nation due to recession. Job loss to the Central Valley is 40,000 jobs and could be as high as 70,000. Jobless figures as of this date in the Central Valley is 20%. Why do we not turn the water on? California's government is already struggling not to go broke. Or actually they already have as they decided not to return income tax refunds to the populace. Just the job losses in California means there will be less tax revenue to the state and instead a larger tax outflow from the state. Last I checked we are in a very severe recession.

So you think, well that's California and it doesn't affect me. Guess again, the Central Valley grows 25% of the fruits and vegetables in the nation. You'll pay more because the supply just went down. It's spring....don't laugh at the Obama's for planting a garden on the White House Lawn. Maybe you should be doing the same. It really infuriates me that those at the bottom end of the economic scale go once again to the bottom of the list as a priority to our governments, environmentalists and judicial system when it to feeding people. You should be as mad about this as AIG bonuses. Right now I'm watching on ABC's This Week and projection for the next several months is a loss of 600,000 jobs per month. It is so simple to save a minimum of 40,000 jobs by turning water on. It's so simple to not force our population to pay more for food by turning the water on.

I found a host of articles on the web about the crisis of job losses in the Central Valley. My two favorites are below. I invite you to read these articles or search your own. If you live in California I invite you to tell your legislature to do something! The logical solution is to build a bypass for the Delta to supply water to farmers. The Delta is an aqua duct running through the state north to south.

The Ironic Danger in Becoming an Endangered Species

The above article written in October, 2007 is as pertinent today as it was when the article was written.

Despair as California's Central Valley Dries Up

Other Bloggers gives an insight full post:

Life in Small Bites Environment Blog
Coffee Muses

Then there is the crazy view from the liberal side:

Views from the Left Coast

Of course it is always great to find a California gardener that has the right idea to help being a part of the solution then part of the problem!

The Yard Farmer


Photo credits from top to bottom: Student Britannica and US Department of Interior Bureau of Reclamation

Kim