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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Interesting statistics below about how farm labor
has mostly gone up in San Joaquin Valley communities between March 2008 and
March 2009.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tom Stokely<BR>Water Policy
Coordinator<BR>California Water Impact Network<BR>504A Lennon St. (USPS and
UPS)<BR>Mt Shasta, CA 96067<BR>V/FAX 530-926-9727<BR>Cell 530-524-0315<BR><A
href="mailto:tstokely@att.net">tstokely@att.net</A><BR><A
href="http://www.c-win.org/">http://www.c-win.org/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=danielbacher@fishsniffer.com
href="mailto:danielbacher@fishsniffer.com">Dan Bacher</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 04, 2009 6:32 PM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> The Big Lie of Schwarzenegger and Corporate Agribusiness:
Fish Vs. Jobs </DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P></P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT>
<HR>
<P></P>�
<DIV><FONT class=Apple-style-span face=Arial color=#111111 size=3><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 13px"><BR
class=webkit-block-placeholder></SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=Apple-style-span
style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17); FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Photo:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, worshipped as the "Green Governor" by the
mainstream media and corporate-funded "environmental" groups such as the Nature
Conservancy, engages in a corporate greenwashing opportunity on Earth Day, just
a couple days before campaigning for a peripheral canal and more dams at a
"March for Water" organized by the "Latino Water Coalition," a front for
Corporate Agribusiness.</SPAN><BR><BR></DIV>
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<CENTER><IMG
src="CID:{96ABDF6A-D22F-48E0-A596-98013C3E5048}/governor_greenwash.jpeg"></CENTER>
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<HR>
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<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17); TEXT-ALIGN: center"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><FONT
style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111" face=Arial color=#111111
size=4><B>governor_greenwash.jpeg</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>The Big Lie of Schwarzenegger and Corporate
Agribusiness: Fish Vs. Jobs�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>by Dan Bacher�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�The Big Lie� is a propaganda technique
developed by Josef Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda, and Adolph Hitler in
the 1920s prior to their taking power in Germany in 1933.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating
it, people will eventually come to believe it,� said Goebbels, in explaining the
technique that he helped perfect. �The lie can be maintained only for such time
as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military
consequences of the lie.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>In his autobiography Mein Kampf, Hitler defined
the �Big Lie" as a lie so colossal that no one would believe that anybody "could
have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Since the Nazis came to power in 1933, many
governments, corporations, and corrupt individuals throughout the world have
used this tried and proven propaganda technique to seize power and to brainwash
the population into believing unsubstantiated �facts� to further their
goals.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>In California, the greatest practitioners of the
�Big Lie� are Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lester Snow, the Director of the
Department of Water Resources, the state water contractors and their accomplices
who have spread outrageous claims about the �need� for a peripheral canal and
more dams in order to increase water exports to unsustainable subsidized
agribusiness. Their most recent use of the classic �Big Lie� propaganda
technique is to blame �fish� and �drought� for farm �unemployment� to further
their campaign to build a peripheral canal and more dams.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>As part of the preparation for the State Water
Board hearing on the DWR/Bureau petition, Bill Jennings, chairman of the
California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, researched the claims made by DWR
and various water agencies and politicians that the drought had a huge impact
upon farm labor unemployment. He found that the contention that the �drought�
has been devastating for farmworkers is a classic case of �The Big Lie,� with no
basis whatsoever in fact.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>For example, Schwarzenegger portrayed a false
crisis of farmworker unemployment "skyrocketing," due to the supposed favoring
of �fish� over �jobs� by state and federal agencies, when he addressed the
recent �March for Water� organized by corporate agribusiness without the support
of the United Farmworkers Union or farmworker advocacy groups.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>This is similar to �The Big Lie� spouted by
Schwarzenegger in the summer of 2007- that "no dams had been built" in
California during a 30-year period - until myself and others exposed his lies
and he finally stopped telling them.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�This march is about opening our eyes to the
reality of California�s water crisis � and the reality is that farmers do not
have a reliable water supply they can count on, farm workers fear losing their
jobs because crops are not being planted, and in towns across the Central
Valley, unemployment is skyrocketing,� claimed Governor Schwarzenegger. �I am
determined to getting a comprehensive solution done once and for all that will
update our water infrastructure, increase our water storage and restore our
Delta.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Likewise, actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez
claimed, "We cannot ask a tree to wait a week, Governor," trying to convey a
gloom and doom scenario for west side San Joaquin Valley agribusiness unless
exports into the Delta pumps are increased. "The tree has to have water. Our
fields are turning into kindling wood.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><FONT
color=#000000 size=2></FONT><FONT color=#000000 size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>The Corporate Agribusiness Big Lie was repeated
as scriptural truth by the corporate media, with little if any critical analysis
of actual economic data as Jennings has done.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�Water agencies and politicians have been
relentlessly claiming that the drought and environmental restrictions have had a
devastating impact on farm worker employment,� said Jennings. �These claims have
been widely reported in numerous newspapers and broadcast media articles.
Unfortunately, they are substantially lies; facilitated by those seeking to
relax environmental protection and facilitate a peripheral canal.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Contrary to the claims that farmworker jobs have
decreased, the fact is that farm labor employment in the San Joaquin Valley has
increased since the "drought" began three years ago, according to
Jennings.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�In fact, agricultural employment in the San
Joaquin Valley has generally outpaced all other economic sectors,� said
Jennings. �The rise in unemployment is recession-based and focused primarily on
the construction, manufacturing and leisure and hospitality
sectors.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Jennings reviewed files from the State of
California Employment Development Department (EDD) Labor Market Information
Division between March 2008 and March 2009. These files revealed that there was
no basis for claims that farm labor "unemployment" was caused by the �drought�
and court-ordered restrictions on pumping.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Here is the startling data that the Governor,
DWR and the state water contractors didn�t want you to know:�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Fresno County total farm employment increased
by 1,100 while nonfarm employment decreased by 8,900.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Kern County total farm employment increased by
1,300 while nonfarm employment decreased by 2,500.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Kings County total farm employment increased
by 100 while nonfarm employment decreased by 700.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Tulare County total farm employment increased
by 1,200 while nonfarm employment decreased by 3,200.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Merced County total farm employment decreased
by only 200 while nonfarm employment decreased by 2,100.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>� Stanislaus County total farm employment
decreased by only 300 while nonfarm employment decreased by 4,900.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>The same is true between 2006 and 2008,
according to Jennings. Total farm employment increased by 2,600 in Fresno
County, 4,000 in Kern County, 3,400 in Tulare County, 100 in Merced County, and
500 in Stanislaus County. Only in Kings County, the smallest of all valley
agricultural counties, did agricultural employment drop - and then only by
600.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�The trends are the same, whether you're
comparing annual farm and nonfarm employment between 2000 and 2008 or historical
monthly employment data (2000-current),� said Jennings. �The significant rise in
unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley over the last few years is clearly not
due to a loss of farm labor jobs, with the possible exception of King County
where farm labor unemployment averaged over 10% between 2000 and 2008 Kings
County has, by far, the smallest farm and nonfarm employment of any county in
the San Joaquin Valley.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Jennings noted that much has been written about
the exceptionally high unemployment in the town of Mendota, as evidence of
impacts from the �water crisis.� However, he emphasized that �unemployment in
Mendota has always been high.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�It exceeded 32% in 2000 and was the highest of
the state's 494 towns,� added Jennings. �Per capita income was below $8,000,
which was the lowest level in the state. Unemployment is a serious problem in
areas like Mendota and begs to be addressed. However, it is a structural
long-existing problem not primarily caused by reductions in water
deliveries.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>The unemployment numbers may change during the
course of the coming year but, for now, �they shout lies� to the claims by
agencies and water districts, Jennings concluded.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><FONT
color=#000000 size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>On the other hand, state and federal water
policies that favor subsidized corporate agribusiness have helped to devastate
Central Valley Chinook salmon, striped bass, sturgeon and other fish populations
that the recreational and commercial fishing businesses depend on. Delta smelt,
longfin smelt, threadfin shad and juvenile striped bass have declined to record
low population levels in recent years, due to massive increases in water exports
out of the California Delta, toxic chemicals and invasive species.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�The Big Lie� that the �drought� and
court-ordered restrictions of pumping to protect delta smelt and endangered
winter-run Chinook salmon have led to massive unemployment in the farmworker
community is a cynical attempt by Corporate Agribusiness and their allies,
Schwarzenegger and Snow, to pit fishermen against farmworkers, and Delta
farmworkers, who are threatened by the peripheral canal, against San Joaquin
Valley farmworkers.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>As Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director
of Restore the Delta, so eloquently said, �Pitting the needs of one farm worker
community against another is wrong. Environmental justice advocates, who address
environmental impacts on the poor and people of color, do not advocate for the
benefit of one environmental justice community against the needs of other
environmental justice communities.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>�Solving the economic challenges of farm worker
communities in the Central Valley and the Delta must be done in a compassionate
and moral way so as to recognize the dignity of the work that farm workers
perform in the present, while providing them with new opportunities to become
productive members of a diverse middle class California economy,� she concluded.
�In addition, numerous workers in the fishing and recreation industries are
workers of color who must also be protected by environmental justice
advocacy.��</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>Jennings has exposed Corporate Agribusiness and
Schwarzenegger for the "Big Liars" they are, but in the classic tradition of
"The Big Lie," they will probably come back with an even more outrageous lie to
replace the one they are spinning in the mainstream media now.�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN: 0px"><FONT style="FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: #111111"
face=Arial color=#111111 size=4>The charts extracted from EDD data by Jennings
include: 1) March 2009 employment data, 2) annual nonfarm employment, 2000-2008;
3) monthly farm employment, January 2000 - March 2009 and 4) annual industry
employment by labor force (including unemployment percentages), 2000 - 2008. The
data are available at: <A
href="http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=131"><FONT
style="COLOR: #0c2e5a"
color=#0c2e5a><U>http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=131</U></FONT></A>
and <A href="http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=166"><FONT
style="COLOR: #0c2e5a"
color=#0c2e5a><U>http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=166</U></FONT></A>�</FONT></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><FONT
color=#000000 size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 15px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 13px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV>
<DIV
style="MIN-HEIGHT: 18px; MARGIN: 0px; FONT: 16px Arial; COLOR: rgb(17,17,17)"><BR></DIV></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
<P></P><BR><BR>Photo: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, worshipped as the
"Green <BR>Governor" by the mainstream media and corporate-funded
<BR>"environmental" groups such as the Nature Conservancy, engages in a
<BR>corporate greenwashing opportunity on Earth Day, just a couple days
<BR>before campaigning for a peripheral canal and more dams at a "March
<BR>for Water" organized by the "Latino Water Coalition," a front for
<BR>Corporate Agribusiness.<BR><BR><BR><BR>governor_greenwash.jpeg<BR><BR>The
Big Lie of Schwarzenegger and Corporate Agribusiness: Fish Vs. Jobs<BR><BR>by
Dan Bacher<BR><BR>“The Big Lie” is a propaganda technique developed by
Josef <BR>Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda, and Adolph Hitler in the
1920s <BR>prior to their taking power in Germany in 1933.<BR><BR>“If you
tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will <BR>eventually
come to believe it,” said Goebbels, in explaining the <BR>technique that
he helped perfect. “The lie can be maintained only <BR>for such time as
the State can shield the people from the political, <BR>economic and/or
military consequences of the lie.”<BR><BR>In his autobiography Mein Kampf,
Hitler defined the “Big Lie" as a <BR>lie so colossal that no one would
believe that anybody "could have <BR>the impudence to distort the truth so
infamously.”<BR><BR>Since the Nazis came to power in 1933, many
governments, <BR>corporations, and corrupt individuals throughout the
world have used <BR>this tried and proven propaganda technique to seize
power and to <BR>brainwash the population into believing unsubstantiated
“facts” to <BR>further their goals.<BR><BR>In California, the greatest
practitioners of the “Big Lie” are <BR>Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,
Lester Snow, the Director of the <BR>Department of Water Resources, the
state water contractors and their <BR>accomplices who have spread
outrageous claims about the “need” for <BR>a peripheral canal and more
dams in order to increase water exports <BR>to unsustainable subsidized
agribusiness. Their most recent use of <BR>the classic “Big Lie”
propaganda technique is to blame “fish” <BR>and “drought” for farm
“unemployment” to further their <BR>campaign to build a peripheral canal
and more dams.<BR><BR>As part of the preparation for the State Water Board
hearing on the <BR>DWR/Bureau petition, Bill Jennings, chairman of the
California <BR>Sportfishing Protection Alliance, researched the claims
made by DWR <BR>and various water agencies and politicians that the
drought had a <BR>huge impact upon farm labor unemployment. He found that
the <BR>contention that the “drought” has been devastating for
farmworkers <BR>is a classic case of “The Big Lie,” with no basis
whatsoever in <BR>fact.<BR><BR>For example, Schwarzenegger portrayed a
false crisis of farmworker <BR>unemployment "skyrocketing," due to the
supposed favoring of <BR>“fish” over “jobs” by state and federal agencies,
when he <BR>addressed the recent “March for Water” organized by
corporate <BR>agribusiness without the support of the United Farmworkers
Union or <BR>farmworker advocacy groups.<BR><BR>This is similar to “The
Big Lie” spouted by Schwarzenegger in the <BR>summer of 2007- that "no
dams had been built" in California during a <BR>30-year period - until
myself and others exposed his lies and he <BR>finally stopped telling
them.<BR><BR>“This march is about opening our eyes to the reality of
<BR>California’s water crisis – and the reality is that farmers do not
<BR>have a reliable water supply they can count on, farm workers fear
<BR>losing their jobs because crops are not being planted, and in towns
<BR>across the Central Valley, unemployment is skyrocketing,” claimed
<BR>Governor Schwarzenegger. “I am determined to getting a comprehensive
<BR>solution done once and for all that will update our water
<BR>infrastructure, increase our water storage and restore our
Delta.”<BR><BR>Likewise, actor and comedian Paul Rodriguez claimed, "We cannot
ask a <BR>tree to wait a week, Governor," trying to convey a gloom and
doom <BR>scenario for west side San Joaquin Valley agribusiness unless
exports <BR>into the Delta pumps are increased. "The tree has to have
water. Our <BR>fields are turning into kindling wood.”<BR><BR>The
Corporate Agribusiness Big Lie was repeated as scriptural truth <BR>by the
corporate media, with little if any critical analysis of <BR>actual
economic data as Jennings has done.<BR><BR>“Water agencies and politicians have
been relentlessly claiming that <BR>the drought and environmental
restrictions have had a devastating <BR>impact on farm worker employment,”
said Jennings. “These claims <BR>have been widely reported in numerous
newspapers and broadcast media <BR>articles. Unfortunately, they are
substantially lies; facilitated by <BR>those seeking to relax
environmental protection and facilitate a <BR>peripheral
canal.”<BR><BR>Contrary to the claims that farmworker jobs have decreased, the
fact <BR>is that farm labor employment in the San Joaquin Valley has
increased <BR>since the "drought" began three years ago, according to
Jennings.<BR><BR>“In fact, agricultural employment in the San Joaquin Valley
has <BR>generally outpaced all other economic sectors,” said
Jennings. <BR>“The rise in unemployment is recession-based and focused
primarily <BR>on the construction, manufacturing and leisure and
hospitality <BR>sectors.”<BR><BR>Jennings reviewed files from the State of
California Employment <BR>Development Department (EDD) Labor Market
Information Division <BR>between March 2008 and March 2009. These files
revealed that there <BR>was no basis for claims that farm labor
"unemployment" was caused by <BR>the “drought” and court-ordered
restrictions on pumping.<BR><BR>Here is the startling data that the Governor,
DWR and the state water <BR>contractors didn’t want you to know:<BR><BR>•
Fresno County total farm employment increased by 1,100 while <BR>nonfarm
employment decreased by 8,900.<BR>• Kern County total farm employment increased
by 1,300 while nonfarm <BR>employment decreased by 2,500.<BR>• Kings
County total farm employment increased by 100 while nonfarm <BR>employment
decreased by 700.<BR>• Tulare County total farm employment increased by 1,200
while <BR>nonfarm employment decreased by 3,200.<BR>• Merced County total
farm employment decreased by only 200 while <BR>nonfarm employment
decreased by 2,100.<BR>• Stanislaus County total farm employment decreased by
only 300 <BR>while nonfarm employment decreased by 4,900.<BR><BR>The same
is true between 2006 and 2008, according to Jennings. Total <BR>farm
employment increased by 2,600 in Fresno County, 4,000 in Kern <BR>County,
3,400 in Tulare County, 100 in Merced County, and 500 in <BR>Stanislaus
County. Only in Kings County, the smallest of all valley <BR>agricultural
counties, did agricultural employment drop - and then <BR>only by
600.<BR><BR>“The trends are the same, whether you're comparing annual farm
and <BR>nonfarm employment between 2000 and 2008 or historical
monthly <BR>employment data (2000-current),” said Jennings. “The
significant <BR>rise in unemployment in the San Joaquin Valley over the
last few <BR>years is clearly not due to a loss of farm labor jobs, with
the <BR>possible exception of King County where farm labor
unemployment <BR>averaged over 10% between 2000 and 2008 Kings County has,
by far, the <BR>smallest farm and nonfarm employment of any county in the
San Joaquin <BR>Valley.”<BR><BR>Jennings noted that much has been written
about the exceptionally <BR>high unemployment in the town of Mendota, as
evidence of impacts from <BR>the “water crisis.” However, he emphasized
that “unemployment in <BR>Mendota has always been high.”<BR><BR>“It
exceeded 32% in 2000 and was the highest of the state's 494 <BR>towns,”
added Jennings. “Per capita income was below $8,000, which <BR>was the
lowest level in the state. Unemployment is a serious problem <BR>in areas
like Mendota and begs to be addressed. However, it is a <BR>structural
long-existing problem not primarily caused by reductions <BR>in water
deliveries.”<BR><BR>The unemployment numbers may change during the course of the
coming <BR>year but, for now, “they shout lies” to the claims by agencies
and <BR>water districts, Jennings concluded.<BR><BR>On the other hand,
state and federal water policies that favor <BR>subsidized corporate
agribusiness have helped to devastate Central <BR>Valley Chinook salmon,
striped bass, sturgeon and other fish <BR>populations that the
recreational and commercial fishing businesses <BR>depend on. Delta smelt,
longfin smelt, threadfin shad and juvenile <BR>striped bass have declined
to record low population levels in recent <BR>years, due to massive
increases in water exports out of the <BR>California Delta, toxic
chemicals and invasive species.<BR><BR>“The Big Lie” that the “drought” and
court-ordered <BR>restrictions of pumping to protect delta smelt and
endangered winter- <BR>run Chinook salmon have led to massive unemployment in
the farmworker <BR>community is a cynical attempt by Corporate
Agribusiness and their <BR>allies, Schwarzenegger and Snow, to pit
fishermen against <BR>farmworkers, and Delta farmworkers, who are
threatened by the <BR>peripheral canal, against San Joaquin Valley
farmworkers.<BR><BR>As Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director of Restore
the Delta, <BR>so eloquently said, “Pitting the needs of one farm worker
community <BR>against another is wrong. Environmental justice advocates,
who <BR>address environmental impacts on the poor and people of color, do
not <BR>advocate for the benefit of one environmental justice
community <BR>against the needs of other environmental justice
communities.<BR><BR>“Solving the economic challenges of farm worker communities
in the <BR>Central Valley and the Delta must be done in a compassionate
and <BR>moral way so as to recognize the dignity of the work that
farm <BR>workers perform in the present, while providing them with
new <BR>opportunities to become productive members of a diverse middle
class <BR>California economy,” she concluded. “In addition, numerous
workers <BR>in the fishing and recreation industries are workers of color
who <BR>must also be protected by environmental justice
advocacy.”<BR><BR>Jennings has exposed Corporate Agribusiness and Schwarzenegger
for <BR>the "Big Liars" they are, but in the classic tradition of "The
Big <BR>Lie," they will probably come back with an even more outrageous
lie <BR>to replace the one they are spinning in the mainstream media
now.<BR><BR>The charts extracted from EDD data by Jennings include: 1) March
2009 <BR>employment data, 2) annual nonfarm employment, 2000-2008; 3)
monthly <BR>farm employment, January 2000 - March 2009 and 4) annual
industry <BR>employment by labor force (including unemployment
percentages), 2000 <BR>- 2008. The data are available at: http://
<BR>www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=131 and http://
<BR>www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=166<BR><BR><BR><BR></BODY></HTML>