California's Central Valley is a 450 mile long stretch of flat and fertile land that produces much of the food that we enjoy every day. But the people in small towns like Mendota (the cantaloupe capital of the world) are suffering these days, in part due to two federal policies.
In order to protect a threatened fish species called the Delta Smelt, much of the water that used to be pumped from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to farms on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley is now allowed to flow into the ocean. The result is predictable: hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land lies fallow and tens of thousands of jobs have been lost. In Mendota, the unemployment rate is over 40% and food lines are the norm.
But people going hungry in a region dominated by agriculture is only one of the contradictions in the Central Valley.
Nearly all the valley's farm workers are immigrants from Mexico and Central America, and many of them are undocumented. These people are crucial to the valley's economy, but they're breaking the law according to the federal government.
To learn more about the Central Valley and its discontents, we spoke to Robert Silva, mayor of Mendota; Kim Sullivan, a small business owner who makes gear drives for irrigation pumps; Maria Angel, a cafe owner and GED instructor; and Chris Collins, who recently authored a special Fresno Bee series about illegal immigration called "In Denial".
Approximately 8 minutes. Produced by Paul Feine and Alex Manning.
Visit Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live
News on Buzz Brings You Daily what's buzzing on the web , the best news, blogs and entertainment From all over The Internet
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Popular Posts
-
We are on a road that leads straight to the World War 3, but in order to see that and to fully understand what is at stake you have to loo...
-
Syria’s President Assad would surely not use chemical weapons, knowing it would be suicide, and the perfect excuse for the West to inter...
-
From Wall Street, gold price and US finance to conspiracies, latest global news, Alex Jones, Gerald Celente, David Icke Illuminati, a pote...
-
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Below I will try to answer some frequently asked questions concerning myself and my YouTube channel. I get asked ...
-
A prophecy by a 90 year old woman in 1968. It was given to a norwegian apostle and preacher Emmanuel Minos. He wrote it down, thought it was...
-
Both of her interviews are condensed here with the total time being the same as one interview. What I find fascinating is that there was an ...
-
The Coming Four Blood Moons 2014 2015 A Warning to Israel Joel 2:31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the com...
-
Webbot Clif High Wujo, Written ALTA Report for August Earth is about to grow by 5% in diameter with the corresponding increase in...
-
www.FinancialSurvivalNetwork.com presents Jim Skinner is an expert in health insurance. As founder of the SmartPatientAcademy.com he knows ...