Nancy Pelosi, Water, and the New Gods of Prosperity

[WhiskeyGirl]

I watched a report on TV the other day about new water restrictions in California.

Previously lush farmland was turned to dust.  Farmers were going bankrupt.  No jobs, no means to earn a living, no food security for you Americans. 

Productive trees, now dead and dying.  Save the fish.  No one seemed to care about the workers or farmers. 

Who bought all that farmland at bargain prices?  Global carpetbaggers?  Chinese investors?  American investors?  Politicians?  Dark Pool traders?

How long before the restrictions are lifted?  The new owners to benefit?

I saw a small piece yesterday on BOR.  Apparently, Nancy Pelosi is having a doing at her winery.  Invitation only...

I wonder how dry and dusty her farmland is? 

Or, does the Pelosi spread remain lush and green?  Good productive land? 

I wonder how much irrigation water is used on a daily basis?

Anyone going? 

Is this the future of farming in America?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"It's farmers vs. fish for California water"

"Big Ag must now learn to do more with less," campaigner Brian Smith wrote on Earthjustice.org. "The days of copious taxpayer-subsidized water exports from the Delta are coming to an end. And the idea of killing off numerous native fish species, decimating Northern California fishing communities and turning the Delta into a fetid swamp is simply not allowed under federal law."

The situation for farmers is likely to get worse before it gets better. Federal regulators are poised to enact more water restrictions to protect the chinook salmon, the steelhead and other fish. Estimates are that the cutbacks could result in the removal of 500,000 acre-feet of water.

http://www.washtimes.com/news/2009/aug/20/its-farmers-vs-fish-for-california-water/?feat=home_headlines

I wonder what's going to happen to Nancy's wine?

[WhiskeyGirl]

The two-day "issues conference" starts next Friday night with a dinner for roughly 170 guests on the back lawn of Pelosi's multimillion-dollar home in the fashionable Pacific Heights neighborhood in San Francisco.

The following day, Pelosi will shepherd her guests to a Napa Valley winery with buildings designed by world-famous architect Frank Gehry; the speaker and her husband, investor Paul Pelosi, own a nearby vineyard worth between $5 million and $25 million, according to her annual financial disclosure report.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/06/politics/politico/main5218560.shtml

I wonder if it's now worth more than $25 million due to the water shortage in the rest of California?

I wonder if the Pelosi place will be spared?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Socialists speak out -

This serves as nothing more than a rhetorical smokescreen for the Obama health care counterrevolution, which seeks to ration coverage and gut Medicare assistance for the elderly. Every component of the plan championed by Obama and Pelosi aims to buffet the profit margins of the major players in the health care industry: the HMOs, the pharmaceuticals, and, of course, the insurers. (See: “The drug lobby demands, and gets, Obama pledge to protect health care profits”).

I suggest the 'new' insurers created by the Obama administration will profit greatly.  Why is Goldman Sachs investing in an insurance venture?  One is which they take no risk, but make money on 'fees'?  What exactly is their contribution? 

Who pays the fees?

Pelosi’s professed outrage at the insurance industry does not hold up to even cursory examination. In the current election cycle, the insurance industry has been Pelosi’s third-largest donor, giving her $31,000. HMOs and pharmaceuticals contributed generously as well, handing over $17,500 and $15,000 respectively. The finance/insurance/real estate sector has been by far the largest donor to Pelosi’s DCCC, giving it so far $3.4 million in the current cycle.

Pelosi is in fact playing a protagonist’s role in the most far-reaching attack on the social position of the working class in US history. Collaborating closely with the Bush administration, Pelosi helped pushed through congress the bailout of Wall Street last fall. The trillions extended to the financial aristocracy must now be paid through cuts to the jobs, wages, health care, and retirement of workers.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/aug2009/nanc-a08.shtml

No jobs for you American worker.

While other countries get lifted out of poverty, your children will be paying off the Obama burden for generations.  Payment extracted by foreigners, elite politicians, debt, financial ruin...

No opportunity for you America, big business needs to profit off the backs of those in poverty, and take the little wealth accumulated by those who had a job yesterday...

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Is Water the political ax of Pelosi?

I remember watching Barney talk on tv about being heavily invested in municipal bonds.  Evertime I see him support TARP money for commercial real estate, I wonder how he benefits too.

Nancy gets water, Barney gets TARP funds...

jmho

[WhiskeyGirl]

Petition: Pelosi’s Drought, Breadbasket Goes Hungry

Each day thousands of farmers in California’s Central Valley depend on water to produce America’s food, but that water isn’t being delivered. Inaction from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress and state legislators are leaving thousands unemployed, threatening national food security and further crippling the American economy by causing a man-made drought in the most fertile land in America.

I wonder if Pelosi's vineyard is dry?  Her plants dead?

One scholar predicts that up to 30,000 jobs will be lost in the Central Valley, all because Speaker Pelosi and many of her colleagues in Congress have decided to turn their backs on California’s farmers, families, and small businesses.

 

What did partygoers see at her ranch this month?

...Workers in California’s San Joaquin Valley cannot grow food, they cannot afford to buy food and many have turned to food banks to feed their families. America’s breadbasket is going hungry.

http://townhall.com/columnists/StevePoizner/2009/08/19/petition_pelosi%E2%80%99s_drought,_breadbasket_goes_hungry

Is this the future of America?  Depending on foreign nations for food?

Who's buying up the land?  Foreigners?  Special interest groups?

Will the water be back next year?  After all the current owners leave?