I was listening to Sean Hannity last night. Apparently, the government has shut off the water to the farms in the San Joaquin valley. I haven't kept up with the news lately, so I wasn't aware of this, til last night.

Hannity was talking about the San Joaquin valley, producing the most productive crops in the world. He called it the "bread basket of the world". I thought, "what??? What are they raising, fruits and nuts? :lol: He also talked about the drought, and how everyone is losing their farms. I thought, "A drought?? Shoot, we have a drought every year in north west Texas. What are they hollerin about." The way Hannity talked, everyone is boiling mad at President Obama and that it's his fault for the farms going to pot. :lol: Well, they voted him in..now they mad at him. Fruit cakes.

But...

I kept listening. Apparently, there is a minnow (Delta Smelt) that is going extinct, and the government has shut off the water to the farms, in order to try to save these minnows.
I can just imagine what would happen if the government shut off the water to farmers in west Texas, and Kansas. In the last few years, there have been droughts in Kansas that have been just as bad as the droughts here in Texas. Farmers rely on their irrigation for their crops. (the bigger farmers that have irrigation) After listening, and doing some reading this morning, I understand how the folks in California feel. I could give a hoot about California but that aint right. I understand that the government always rushes in to help the animal kingdom, but I think this has gone far enough. A minnow. Where I come from, minnows are bait fish. I could see it, if it's fish that feed us, but a minnow.
I know California is known for their fruits and nuts, but I hope things get better out there. That aint right for the government to shut off the water. Farmers are America's back bone. They are the heartbeat of America.
The government needs to step in there and get that water flowing in. Heck with those minnows.

Never cuss a farmer with your mouth full.

 

Dejanh, it isn't just the small farmers who are getting subsidies. The major farms get millions in subsidies from the government. I would prefer to see them compete in the market just like every other business enterprise. I can't believe that California has shut off the water and is putting these farmers out of business. People are much more important than a minnow.

 

I understand but farmers have been crying about loosing their farms to big coorporations for years Mike. They held protests and government just bailed them out. subsidies are bad for everyone, it distorts real pricing mechanism and makes thing more expensive.

But, yeah, they should have keept the water flowing, i agree with u on that.

 

Subsidies are used to keep crop prices up for the farmers. They receive a check from the government if they don't plant certain crops. They can plant other crops and still receive their check unless they have changed the program in recent years. It doesn't make any sense.

 

The Bay Area environMENTALists were probably the first to raise a big stink about this minnow.
Instead of using their time to do something more effective, they'll run around and find something else to attract useless government intervention into.

Somebody should just take those guys and dump them in Oakland already, see how their "less violence against state inmates!!" cries will turn on them.

As I've said before, after living here since I was a kid, I've learned that this place majorly blows.
Any young adult that comes here for school is making a big mistake.