Republican Congressmen Blast Administration’s Misleading Announcement on Water Delivery to San Joaquin Valley Farmers

Reprinted from Sen. Nunes Newsletter;

Dear friends,

Today, House Republicans responded to the Obama Administration’s announcement that it would deliver nearly 400,00 acre feet of water to our communities.  The statement we released is included below.

Sincerely,

Devin Nunes

MEMBER OF CONGRESS

If you would like to contact me, please visit my website at www.nunes.house.gov.  If you would like to be removed from my mailing list, please send a message to LISTSERV@LS1.HOUSE.GOV with the text "SIGNOFF NEWSLETTER-CA21" in the body of the message.

 

Republican Congressmen Blast Administration’s Misleading Announcement on Water Delivery to San Joaquin Valley Farmers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Republican Members from California and the House Natural Resources Committee criticized Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar for his misleading announcement yesterday that his Department is taking “additional steps” to provide relief to California’s San Joaquin Valley farmers who are suffering from a man-made regulatory drought.

The Department of the Interior announced that it would “make available” nearly 400,000 acre feet of water from the San Luis Reservoir.  Secretary Salazar failed to explain that this is not “new” water, but actually saved water bought and paid for by water users.   In this case, at the end of every year, farmers conserve water to ensure that they will have enough water for the beginning of the next planting season.  Farmers have paid for this water and store it in the San Luis Reservoir, as they do every year.  The Department of the Interior is under contract to deliver this stored water back to the farmers.  Secretary Salazar’s claim that this “assured water supply” is a result of recent storms is misleading and provides false hope to Valley residents.

“The actions of the Department of Interior are a classic ponzi scheme that would make Bernard Madoff jealous.  In this case, the Secretary is providing water users with the water they already bought.  The Secretary’s generosity knows no bounds. Mr. Salazar seems to think he can gift to farmers their own water. This kind of thinking is exactly why radical environmentalists dominate Washington. Salazar, the Obama Administration, and the Democratic Congress refuse to recognize property rights. Whether the property in question is your water, land or hard earned tax dollars, everything is fair game to them. If you are lucky enough to get to keep what you have worked hard for, Obama and his crew will send out a press release and take credit.” - Congressman Devin Nunes, sponsor of H.R. 3105 (CA- 21) 

“The Administration is publicly patting itself on the back for doing exactly what they are obligated to do – provide farmers with the water they already own.  Political spin will not help the thousands who are unemployed, and it will not help the farmers who have had no choice but to sell their land and lay off workers.  They need real action, and they need it now.  We have the ability to solve this problem - all we have to do is turn on the pumps.  If Secretary Salazar wants to prove that this Administration hasn’t turned its back on San Joaquin Valley communities, he will support legislation to restore the flow of water.” - House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Republican Doc Hastings (WA-04) 

“The day after our water forum in Fresno, the Interior Secretary used his authority to “release” up to 400,000 acre-feet of water already owned by Central Valley farmers.  Having demonstrated his authority to act, he now needs to follow through and release the water that he holds hostage to the Delta Smelt,” said Congressman McClintock – House Water and Power Ranking Republican Tom McClintock (CA-04)

“This is just one more example where this Administration gives the appearance of addressing a problem, when all they are really doing is providing window-dressing.  Secretary Salazar is playing politics when we need real, long-term solutions that bring people back to work.  As I heard at our recent Congressional Water Forum in Fresno, the time to act is now.” - Western Caucus Chairman Rob Bishop (UT-01)

“We are in a dire water situation in California, and are facing a situation where a tiny fish is taking precedence over our local farmers and workers, which is killing jobs and our local economies.  The Central Valley should not be ignored as we suffer thorough a man made drought caused by regulations resulting in mandated water reductions.   Our farmers, families, and communities are tired of the continued lip service paid to our problems, and it is time for the Administration and the Democratic Leadership to wake up and get the message that jobs grow where water flows.” - Congressman Kevin McCarthy (CA-22)

Background:

On Monday, January 25^th, Republican Members of Congress hosted a Water Forum in Fresno, California on addressing the San Joaquin Valley water crisis.  Secretary Salazar turned down an invitation to participate in this forum or send a representative from the Department of the Interior.

Hundreds of famers and residents throughout the Valley attended the meeting and expressed the urgent need for the government to take action to restore the flow of water to farmers. 

Congressman Devin Nunes has introduced Turn on the Pumps Act (H.R. 3105), to provide immediate relief.  This bill would suspend portions of the Endangered Species Act to turn the pumps on to full operating capacity.  Secretary Salazar and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have refused to support this legislation. 

This week's "Videos You Can Use!"

This week's "Videos You Can Use!"

This one's recommended by our 

Roving Correspondent,C. Brooks Neilsen:

This video speaks for itself, and speaks eloquently of the lies that we've been taught all of our lives. Send it to a friend, and help them to wake up, too. I think you'll agree that it should be a mandatory part of civics classes.

----------------------

Next up is the landmark program by Glenn Beck from January 22, 2010:

"Revolutionary Holocaust."

 

When my life partner and I sat down to see this, "rapt attention" would be a pale description of our attitude. Don't expect to sit down to dinner with this one. The Truth has seldom been quite so raw, quite so grim, and quite so appropriate. 

See it, or you may live it!

Not "What?" ... "Why?"

This last Saturday, the Visalia Times-Delta published it's own "stab" at answering the persistent and puzzling question of "What IS the Tea Party?" They were very lucky. They asked Tulare County Tea Party Coordinator Deanne Martin-Soares to answer their questions.
Deanne answered them in a serious, plain and thorough fashion.
Yet they still came across as rather puzzled or, more fairly put, completely baffled.

It's clear that there's a deep puzzlement, a deep "disconnect" in the understanding of The People by the "elite" ruling class, and their associates, the "Mainstream" Press. Yes, I state that partly in sarcasm and ridicule, but also in the very personal understanding that those words so often describe what "they" feel and believe about themselves. However, the Press don't realize that, rather than asking "What?" they should be asking "Why?"

The "Why?" behind the "Why?" surfaces in the fact that the current grassroots political tsunami after the election was a surprise to Obama supporters in the electorate, was of little surprise to the unwashed Independents such as myself, and most of all, deeply dismaying to those of us who understand the political uses of psychology.
The use of "memes" such as "Hope" and "Change" were, to me, enormous red flags about Obama.
I am suspicious of many things in this life, but nothing makes me more suspicious than a Politician who goes around spouting amorphous "keywords," words that have a different, gut level meaning to each and every person. And the Users who used the memes were more than happy to let everyone who would buy their bull ascribe their own, oh-so personal meaning to those declarations.
Was this use of the psychology of subterfuge an open and undeniable fact? Oh yes. We have admissions, not of a conspiracy, but of open manipulation in plain sight. Comments such as "never waste a good crisis" and the clueless attitude of the President as to "what went wrong, " as illustrated in the following clip from Glenn Beck:



The saddest fact of the "ruling class" is that they have little or no understanding of the abject absurdity of their continual assertions of superiority. They show open contempt for the electorate that elected them, and prove themselves totally oblivious to any exhortations upon them by that electorate to act in a a sensible and sane manner. They act in a puzzling and irresponsible fashion, continually making commitments in the name of the People which show no benefit to the People. Why? Because it benefits THEM, personally.
Here in California, we have an out in the open object lesson of what happens when a "ruling elite" are allowed to "take over." Even when they run on a platform of "Responsibility," as Gov. Ahnold did, it turns out that what they desire most is the adulation and admiration of individuals who're just as vain, callous and irresponsible as they prove themselves to be.

So, just one short week ago, the People of Massachusetts sent a message to Washington, a message that should have woken them like a bucket of ice water. Clearly, some Politicians were jarred awake. The loss of the Kennedy "hereditary" seat in the Senate was a clear message.
The "politics of privilege" are in open peril, if not already dead.
Hail Teddy, Long Live the "Man who would have been King!"

We now see the "Why?" that the "ruling elite" need to see, understand and FEAR. "They," the Elite, the "Mainstream" Press, the Progressives and Users, have been unmasked in their irresponsibility and greed. Their plan to bankrupt first California, and then the Nation, has been made apparent to all who will see.

The open admissions by California's Senior Senator, Dianne Feinstein that she chose to ignore the People's email, phone calls, petitions and letters on more than one vote make clear the obvious message; She votes not in our interests, but in her perceived self interest. The same is made apparent by Rep. Radanovich's admission of voting first against, then for the original TARP bill.

The rise of the Tea Party scares the hell out of the politicians!  It is proof simple that a rising segment of the population not only sees their lies, malfeasance and self service, we aren't going to buy the cries of "Wait 'til they see what's in it for them!" anymore. Their falsity has become openly apparent, as has the fact that they serve only their own interests.

 "Is He live, or just Memorex?"

"Why?" Because it's become apparent that what's in it for us is nothing less than the tightening grip of yet another regime of elitist, Progressive idealists. It's easily and readily apparent that the President and His cronies are just the latest in a never-ending parade of Ruinists, bent on the creation of a personal Utopia for themselves and their "equals" at any cost, and ready to crush the necks of all who oppose them.

So, "What is the Tea Party?" It is a group of Individuals, brought together by the realization that if we all stand alone, we will all fall together!
I can guarantee you that, when they first saw me, with my long hair & beard, many of the more personally conservative of my fellow Tea Party members were unsure of this loud mouthed blogger.
I know for certain that I've annoyed many of them. But, one thing that is never in question among those who stand with the Tea Party is that I will defend their personal freedoms and liberties with the same fervor that was shown by our Founding Fathers.

"Why?" Because I know, by the record of History, that if I chose not to do so, the politics of an even older philosophy than is taught in our Constitution will return. We will bow before "our betters," kiss the rings of the Kings, and live in a world where we pay for the dictates of others, without any choice of our own.

I stand with the Tea Party, and it's members will stand with me. How do I know? Because they have.


UP THE VOLTAGE!

Action Alert! Support the Fleming Amendment: Make Congress have the same Health Care the People will "enjoy!"

A newsflash from C. Brooks Neilsen informed me of Congressman John Fleming's Amendment  to the Health Care Bill that would urge the members of House & Senate to "enjoy" the same care as the People eventually get.

The text of HR 615 follows:
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Members who
vote in favor of the establishment of a public, federal government run
health insurance option are urged to forgo their right to participate
in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) and agree
to enroll under that public option.

Now, I don't personally feel this is strong enough, but so far, Rep. Fleming is the only House Member inviting the People to comment on such an Amendment.

You can make your voice known to Congressman Fleming and the entire Congress by going to his House web site. He's serious about this Amendment, and has devoted the FRONT PAGE of his site to a comment form that you can send to support OR oppose his Amendment. Go for it, folks!

Can you say "Martial Law?" President Obama can!

As reported by a savvy listener of KMJ 580 AM on the Chris Daniel Show, President Obama stepped that little bit closer today to making Martial Law "fears" a reality:

President Obama Signs Executive Order Establishing Council of Governors

is the headline of this page, brought to us by the miracle of Current TV. Yes, it's a real White House page, but never fear, the Gov't won't be planting any cookies on your 'puter. Current mirrors the page, protecting your ID. 

Shades of "My very own Politburo!" I'm still looking and analyzing this one, but it seems to be a Congressionally mandated requirement to establish a "Ruling Cabal." Be ready for the inevitable "stacking" of the Council, and be aware that this is yet another move to "spread the blame" for any "tough decisions" that He might have to make. Can He get any more passive/aggressive? 

STAY TUNED!

2010: Facing Reality ... "When opportunity knocks ..."

Happy 2010! Happy New Year!

It's been awhile since I posted on this Blog, and a few folks have actually contacted me wondering where I went, and why I stopped posting.

The answer is, strangely enough, pretty simple; I decided to get some things done that I needed done.

The Blogging, the demonstrations and marches that consumed my time and attention last year were good,  admirable and necessary, but did little to further my long range personal goals. Add to that the tendency to sit at the computer all day Blogging about what innumerable other individuals were being paid to write about, and my own life was being consumed in a seemingly never-ending game of "I told you so." And that game has no winners, just angry participants.

My life partner has a business that I participate in, a fact of which I'm most thankful for, but which we both wish to someday leave behind, since it requires us to be "home bound."
Being cheap, this works pretty well, but leads to an inevitable outcome; I've become a "motor mouth." I tend to, at the first opportunity, to jump in and take over any and all conversations.
This is ok sometimes, but ultimately, some folks feel, well ... overwhelmed.
Sorry 'bout that, folks. It may be a character flaw. Maybe.
So, instead of "just" shutting up, I'll ask your forgiveness and thank you for your understanding, my friends, as well as your forbearance in the face of my verbal onslaughts. I'll try on to be too strident.
If overwhelmed, just "duck & cover," and I'll get your drift.

My darling partner and I are in the Child Care business, which is, as are all businesses, endlessly challenging, and sometimes rewarding.
The small bright children we care for every day are wonderful and wondrous, but provide precious little intellectual feedback when conversation occurs. They're also rather "unsophisticated," leaving me to conclude that my attitudes toward them could easily become the same as Democrat politicians attitudes toward "mere" Citizens have proven to be.
I do my best to not do as our legislative "Representatives" have done, and not just stop listening.
To do so would brand me the same sort of fool that our Senators, Representatives and all of the innumerable Bureaucrats, Lobbyists and Elites who seem to be their actual Constituents, have proven themselves to be.

Now, it's a proven fact that, whenever someone asks what business anyone is in, conversation revolves around how challenging said business is in comparison with the questioners business.

Think about it. Go ahead, I'll wait right here. (Filing fingernails, folding underwear, blowing bubbles in my coffee ...)
See, I knew that you'd agree with me.

So, rather than going on ad nauseum about changing diapers, wiping sticky substances from diminutive body parts following lunchtimes that are often actually just bellowing contests between 2 year olds, and all of the myriad joys and duties, I'll make it quick:

I've decided to have a Life. I've decided that it was a good thing to be different.

Because, when you have only one small 'topic of conversation,' folks tend to drift away after awhile. No matter how well intended, how earnest, how incredibly sincere you truly are, you have to give in to the fact that someone, somewhere really does care about 'Dancing with the Stars.'

Really, someone does.

And, if you're going to keep anyone's attention, you need, at the very least, to have some information, some 'frame of reference' about what they want to talk about.
You need a "touchstone" beyond water, or politics or even our mutual dislike and disdain for elected Representatives who turn into shills for interests that are contrary to the Citizens of the District they were elected to Represent.
You need to actually tell them something about yourself, and not just make a "game" of seeing who can quote or cite the newest "thing" that Rush or Glen or Sean or whoever said today or last week or whenever.
You need to help them see how much you're really like them, the way your life is like their life, without allowing your life to be as boring as they think their life really is.

My Life is, well, different. It's been "a Life less ordinary." So I've decided to live it, and talk about it, a little more.

~

I am blessed with having the life experience of suffering with a genetic neurological syndrome.

It causes me to have, among myriad other things, constant pain, a noticeable hand tremor, nervous "tics," and an immune system that guarantees that I catch & suffer through every virus or cold or whatever that's "going around" this week.

Now, why would I say, "I'm blessed"?

Because, in the wee dark hours, I know that I have learned some things that others have not come to know.

I am more patient than most folk, and also more "matter of fact." Patience is born of that which cannot be avoided, and Reality comes easier when you live in terms not of "Will I hurt today?", but of "How am I going to hurt today?"

Truth isn't an option for me, since "going along" with whatever silliness others may partake of, such as getting a "little tipsy" or "overdoing it" can mean days or even weeks of recuperation for me.

Truth starts with owning my decisions, since I know that I will pay a price for any excesses I commit.

I am blessed with good days and bad days. A good day is always relative, since my good days are always accompanied by "types" of pain. At my last count, these "types" include over 300 different and distinct sensations, allowing me to be thankful that at least the pain isn't boring!

 

A good day is one without too much fatigue, and when the pain is not too terrible. A great day is one that doesn't start with fatigue.

Patience is unavoidable, since I'm going to hurt whether I like it or not. This brings us to the question of my attitude, which some friends have described as "remarkably sunny." (I'm sure that it doesn't always show through in my blog posts. Lucky you, eh?)

Back in my childhood, and the pain which is now old and familiar first began, I was already a "sunny" child. I made, at that time, a conscious decision to be happy.

I had noticed that pain often made people seem angry or sad or somehow actively unhappy. I had already almost died in childbirth, and had almost drowned when I was 6, so I was aware that my very survival, my life was a gift from God.

But for His hand, in the form of what others who'd been unwilling to give up had done to save me, I would have been but a memory.

My Mom was a Special Ed teacher, and so many of my friends were "physically challenged." Looking at the pain that they faced, my own seemed so much less. Their challenges required braces and wheelchairs, whereas my own had required only orthopedic shoes, and eyeglasses. My blessings in life always seemed to outweigh my sorrows. Thankfulness was, it seemed, so much better a way of living than bitterness.

It was apparent that happiness was a choice, as I made my way through a childhood filled with people who laughed, even as they knew that they really might not wake the next day. A sobering reality, to be sure, but one that saw the opportunity that could not be passed up.

The best way to meet pain is with laughter. After all, isn't every joke you know about some kind of pain?

~

Now, I can hear you asking, "What about politics?"

Well, you don't need me to lecture you about politics anymore, do you? If you're not awake and aware by now, you're likely a Democrat shill. Or a Progressive who asks only "What's in it for me?"

For this is the answer that President Obama gave us. His take with Health Care Reform was and continues to be "Wait 'til they see what's in it for them! Wait 'til they see what we're giving them!"

President Obama was, and seems to still be, blind to the fact that Americans are aware of just what they're going to "give us." He also seems to be unaware that we know just what they intend to take from us, as well.

How can we possibly applaud a Health Reform Bill that is filled with exceptions and favors and favoritism, that requires us to surrender so many freedoms and so much treasure, granting us in return only the "right" to the level of Health Care that the Government decides we deserve, according to their heretofore blatantly faulty "Wisdom?"

To attempt to cite examples here is pointless, as we all have a favorite example of how incompetent the Federal Government is in its execution of its largely self assumed, extra-Constitutional 'duties.' I don't need to give even one, much less chapter and verse.

The saddest testimony to the evils of the Federal government is the fact that so many honest, well meaning folks who try desperately to do a good job for the People are so consistently thwarted by Bureaucrats whose only concerns seem to be "What's in it for me?!!!"

So, what can we do? My answer is "UP THE VOLTAGE!"

Keep bombarding the Government, lest they think we've given up. Don't accept the excuses anymore, and don't give them an excuse to make excuses.

Anyone who doesn't get my drift need only look to the plaintive defenses and apologies of Senator Ben Nelson in the last weeks. They need only to look to the "strategic retirements" of such luminaries as Christopher Dodd to see the continuing political game that the Politicians are attempting to play upon what they think is a gullible and unsuspecting public.

And any who think that this is a "Democrat only" game should look at the juxtaposition of what Micheal Steele is saying as opposed to what is actually being done in the Republican Party. The continued attention to the Media cry of "Where are the Moderates in the Republican Party?" should be answered with "Why should there be Moderates running the Republican Party?"

The painful Truth continues to be that Moderate Republicans are still trying  to "Just get along" with Democrats in Congress! And the painful Truth to that is that it requires them to be and act like the very Liberals they claim to oppose.

The politics of appeasement must end. The never-ending bargaining by Moderates such as George Radanovich has been proven to be, most literally, "Giving away the FARM!"

Bargaining with those who, as in the case of the San Joaquin Settlement and the "Environmentalists" who forced it and then betrayed it and have no "good will" or good faith, much less any real answers, must be brought to an end. For, even as they "enjoy" the fruits of that settlement, they break their word and seek to deprive the People of NObama County of their livelihood by commandeering even MORE

of the less than sufficient water that has been left for Agriculture.

~

So, even as I say "NO MORE!", I'm dedicating my energies more selectively. My online collectors mineral business is "getting there," and other plans continue to bear fruit. Life is good, even in these poor economic times, since I know how bad it can be.

Be well, dear friends.

PAX!