Skip to content
As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not The 1% Who Profit From Austerity!
Images of the Day:
The following article is based on George Orwell’s novel entitled 1984. I will keep the article as spoiler-free as I can for those who haven’t read the book yet. “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength;” is one of the three slogans of the English Socialist Party (“INGSOC” for short) of Oceania. The goal of the INGSOC is to achieve total control over the people and, more importantly, over their minds. And here lies the answer.
War is Peace refers to to the fact that while a country is at war, it can get away with murder on the home front, on the pretext of “rooting out traitors.” A good example of this is the Espionage Act passed by Congress and signed by Woodrow Wilson in 1917, which had little to do with spies, and a lot to do with allowing the feds to round up anyone who criticized the Government‘s actions during a war. (Fun trivia fact: Since the United States has officially been in a state of emergency since the Korean War, the Act is still in force). Freedom is Slavery means that you are supposed to treat your supposedly natural rights as privileges that you need to constantly earn. For instance, in the United States, convicted felons are not allowed to vote, even after they have been released from jail. Ignorance is Power means that as long as you believe what you are told, the state has the power to justify whatever it wants. Example: in 1998, Clinton ordered tomahawk missles to be fired at a Sudanese Pharmaceutical plant. His rationale was that it was being used to construct bio-weapons. Six months later, the government quietly admitted that it had no conclusive evidence of this. — War is peace, Freedom is slavery, Ignorance is strength
Videos of the Day:
The Battle for Aleppo is Over Several U.S. administrations have pursued a strategy of arming rebels to fight in proxy, and it has created a catastrophe in the Middle East, says Vijay Prashad
U.S.
Rolling Back the Empire: Washington’s Proxy-Army Faces Decisive Defeat in Aleppo Syrian Army helicopters dropped leaflets on parts of eastern Aleppo on Sunday warning anti-government fighters to surrender while they still had the chance. Hundreds of jihadists have already laid down their weapons and surrendered while a hardline corps of deadenders continue to fend off the rapidly advancing army. by Mike Whitney
Breaking: Assange Releases SMS Records Showing He Was Framed by Police in Rape Cases Julian Assange, for the last six years, has been persecuted and held captive because of rape allegations; allegations that we have now found out are entirely fabricated by police. By Matt Agorist
Environment:
Quote From Boxer, Feinstein in angry split over new California water-bill plan: . . . “Boxer, along with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice and other environmental groups, charged that the measure would roll back the Endangered Species Act, risking drinking water and fishing jobs in California by shifting water from the environment to large-scale corporate agriculture.” . . .
From pages 133-135 of the book, Two Californias: the truth about the split-state movement by Michael DiLeo and Eleanor Smith:
Cheap Water + New Land = Big Money
Some of these corporations bought up land in the Central Valley because of the vast oil deposits lying beneath many of the now-rich croplands. Since this oil is a thick and viscous crude that must be mined with steam, extractors need large volumes of water to develop it. Though they haven’t done so on a significant level yet, the petroleum giants of the Central Valley may soon be able to double their money by drilling and processing the black gold below their fields while they grow the highly profitable cash crops on the surface both with the aid of cheap state project water.
Although it was designed to replenish the depleted underground aquifers in the Central Valley, the State Water Project actually served to bring new lands into production, A number of large corporations, foreseeing the enormous profits to be made once state water began flowing into previously unwatered areas of the valley, bought up huge tracts of land and installed irrigation systems. “The Tejon Ranch Company had its [irrigation) equipment in place when the first water came through because they had the capital to do so,” says Donald Villarejo of the California Institute for Rural Sludies.
The institute conducted a study entitled “New Lands for Agriculture,” which found that on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, primarily in Kern County, which has no underground supplies, “about 250,000 acres have been placed in production as a direct result of State Water Project deliveries,”
More than 227,000 acres in this part of the valley, known as the Westlands Water District, are owned by Chevron USA Inc., Tejon Ranch Company, Getty Oil Company, Shell Oil Company, McCarthy Joint Venture A, Blackwell Land Company, Tenneco West Inc., and Southern Pacific Land Company,
‘The big corporations grow permanent, high-cash crops: almonds, pistachios, olives, and grapes, not exactly dinner table fare,” stated Thomas Schroeter, a Bakersfield attorney and former member of the defunct Kern County Planning Commission.
These corporations were attracted to the Central Valley not out of a love of farming but because of the tax benefits afforded to them if they grew the permanent crops. During the 1960s, the Internal Revenue Service allowed investors to immediately write off their entire share of development costs for growing almonds and other permanent crops.
Some of these corporations bought up land in the Central Valley because of the vast oil deposits lying beneath many of the now-rich croplands. Since this oil is a thick and viscous crude that must be mined with steam, extractors need large volumes of water to develop it. Though they haven’t done so on a significant level yet, the petroleum giants of the Central Valley may soon be able to double their money by drilling and processing the black gold below their fields while they grow the highly profitable cash crops on the surface both with the aid of cheap state project water.
Schroeter points out that the oil companies and other big corporations in Kern County “have no long-term commitment to agriculture. Blackwell Land Company [which has 13,000 acres of permanent crops and uses 42,000 acrefeet of SWP water a year] is not an agricultural company. Nor is Tejon Ranch Company, nor Tenneco, nor Shell, nor Prudential Insurance (which owns 7S percent of McCarthy Joint Venture A), nor are most of the others. They’re “land developers.”
The Tejon Company has filed draft plans with the county to build a new community of 700,000 people, and other corporations have long-range plans for residential developments on their land, according to Schroeter and Villarejo.
What’s most interesting about all this corporate interest in Kern County agriculture is how it translates into the Barnum and Bailey arena of California water politics.
Ever since the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California helped tip the scales in favor of the State Water Project, it has teamed up with Central Valley growers to press for more water development. The happy alliance is based largely on a surplus of SWP water, which the MWD is entitled, to but does not use. The surplus, which MWD must pay for in order to maintain its right to the water, in case the district ever does need it, goes to Kern County’s farmers at wildly reduced rates-about $3 to $4 an acre-foot. Although the state is obligated by law to sell any surplus SWP water to the highest bidder, it has never done so. Explains National Land for People board member David Nesmith, ‘They’ve taken it and sold it at the cheapest cost they could [just] to pay for transportation.”
Because MWD gets one-third of its income from property taxes in its vast service area, it is the urban water user who ends up subsidizing Kern’s farmers, many of them wealthy corporations. (See chapter 6 for more discussion of water subsidies.)
Schroeter points out that the oil companies and other big corporations in Kern County “have no long-term commitment to agriculture. Blackwell Land Company (which has 13,000 acres of permanent crops and uses 42,000 acrefeet of SWP water a year) is not an agricultural company. Nor is Tejon Ranch Company, nor Tenneco, nor Shell, nor Prudential Insurance (which owns 75 percent of McCarthy Joint Venture A), nor are most of the others. They’re land developers.” 21
The Tejon Company has filed draft plans with the county to build a new community of 700,000 people, and other corporations have long-range plans for residential developments on their land, according to Schroeter and Villarejo.
What’s most interesting about all this corporate interest in Kern County agriculture is how it translates into the Barnum and Bailey arena of California water politics.
Ever since the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California helped tip the scales in favor of the State Water Project, it has teamed up with Central Valley growers to press for more water development. The happy alliance is based largely on a surplus of SWP water, which the MWD is entitled to but does not use. The surplus, which MWD must pay for in order to maintain its right to the water, in case the district ever does need it, goes to Kern County’s farmers at wildly reduced rates-about $3 to $4 an acre-foot. Although the state is obligated by law to sell any surplus SWP water to the highest bidder, it has never done so. Explains National Land for People board member David Nesmith, ‘They’ve taken it and sold it at the cheapest cost they could [just] to pay for transportation.”
Because MWD gets one-third of its income from property taxes in its vast service area, it is the urban water user who ends up subsidizing Kern’s farmers, many of them wealthy corporations. (See chapter 6 for more discussion of water subsidies.)
The Big Shift: Why Banks Need to Stop Investing Our Money Into Fossil Fuels One of the under-reported outcomes from the recent COP 22 climate summit in Morocco in November was how the developing world is leading the way in the promotion of renewable energy. Despite not having the historical responsibility of industrialised nations for the changing climate these countries are now facing, these poorer states are the ones pushing the transition to a zero-carbon world, which will ultimately save the planet. by Joe Ware.
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
White Supremacy, U.S. Exceptionalism and Capitalist Dogma are All “Fake News” The U.S. ruling class faces a crisis of legitimacy, having no solution to any of the multiple crises of capitalism. Therefore, it is compelled to lie about virtually everything, and to call speakers of truth purveyors of “fake news.” The false narrative must be maintained because “the world is outgrowing the U.S.-led, rigged economic and political system that is the last vestige of half a millennium of colonialism and white supremacy.” by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Labor:
Preparing to More Fully Apply the Iron Heel: Reuters: Trump names fast food executive Andy Puzder to head labor department Puzder, chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc, which operates the Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, often argues that a higher minimum wage would hurt workers
Economy:
The Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Rate for November 2016 is 22.8%.
Bombshell Dropped in Federal Court: Proof of a Silver Market “Mafia” Among Big Banks Lawyers representing traders who allege they were ripped off by a group of colluding global banks filed eye-popping evidence in a Manhattan Federal Court yesterday showing that even as global banks were being criminally probed for rigging currency markets, they continued to engage in rigging the silver market, with a UBS trader referring to the group as the “mafia.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens 
World:
Ignorance is Strength
Quotes of the Day:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: