House Majority Leader McCarthy: The Obama administration fiddles as California's long drought drags on and water allocated for environmental purposes is flushed into the ocean

 House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his words:

 "The historic drought has been one of the more devastating and frustrating challenges our community Like many natural disasters, the American people have a history of rallying around solutions to help pull a region out of crisis. To achieve the solutions that will prevent this man-made crisis from griping our state in the future, public opinion will play a role, which makes getting the facts straight surrounding the drought so important. 

has faced in some time. And as I said last week following the executive order by Governor Brown to reduce water consumption by 25 percent, our state’s crisis is front and center to millions of Americans from the Mississippi to the Potomac River as they gasp at the sights of fallowed fields and dried up lakes.

 "A popular meme within the mainstream media, Internet blogs, and cable television over the last week was how agriculture in California is such a water hog—using 80 percent of California’s water. However, this leaves out water usage that serves the benefit of fish over people. As the Public Policy Institute of California reports, this is “water in rivers protected as 'wild and scenic' under federal and state laws, water required for maintaining habitat within streams, water that supports wetlands within wildlife preserves, and water needed to maintain water quality for agricultural and urban use." When added to the usage referred above, agriculture’s take drops to 40 percent and environmental usage stands at 30 percent. And as we know, water for agriculture is water for America’s salad bowl.

 "But as we have hit the fourth year of the drought, our farmers, their workers, and consumers of American-made produce and beef have been hit the hardest while the fish, that 30 percent of the water is used to protect, swim carefree throughout the delta. And now, painful reverberations to families has reached urban and suburban communities. In a recent Bakersfield Observed post, Richard Beene highlighted the buried lead in a Los Angeles Times article that “low income households are carrying the heaviest load when it comes to conserving water.”

 "So the very communities that many Democrats claim to be top advocates for will soon face water shortages and or higher bills for their vociferous defense of fish.

  "This imbalance has to stop and that is what the House plans to do with legislation. Unfortunately, the legislative storyline to this point has been Democrats standing in the way of progress. But the state of this crisis transcends traditional battle lines.
 "Far from a common theme in the White House briefing room, the California drought has the White House defending its harmful position. At a press briefing last week, CBS White House correspondent Major Garrett asked press secretary Josh Earnest if, as a result of the crisis, the White House is reconsidering their veto-threat of House legislation. Unsurprisingly, the Earnest deflected.

  "But the brief exchange was instructive as the House continues to work towards legislative solutions. Continuing to stand behind fish as human suffer is an untenable position. And as the truth reins over “facts” that tell half the story, the American people will stand firmly behind the fight our community is in.
 "Congress’s role is critical and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the House to continue to move our state and country forward with commonsense California water policy.

When the Central Valley feeds the nation, California's drought belongs to all of us, and more on those scams about town

 * … DROUGHT: A friend directed me to an essay that really puts the California drought in perspective. The writer, Steven Johnson, correctly notes that folks on the East coast often sneer at California and its water woes but they miss a single important fact: The Central Valley consumes 80

percent of California's water because of farming, and those farmers provide 25 percent of the food that the entire country consumes. Said Johnson: "In other words, even if this drought is a sign of climates to come, California has plenty of water to support its lifestyle. It just won’t have enough to support its crops, without significant changes to make those farms more water-efficient. It seems bizarre that a region like the Central Valley with just six million people — barely more than 10 percent of the state’s population — should use 80 percent of the water. But then you realize that the vast majority of people benefiting from that water don’t live in California at all. The Central Valley takes up only 1 percent of the landmass of the United States, but it produces 25 percent of the food we eat, and almost half of the fruits or nuts we consume. California is running through its water supply because, for complicated historical and climatological reasons, it has taken on the burden of feeding the rest of the country. The average Times reader sneering at those desert lawns from the Upper West Side might want to think about the canned tomatoes, avocados, and almonds in his or her kitchen before denouncing the irresponsible lifestyles of the California emigres. Because the truth is California doesn’t have a water problem. We all do."

 * … HUMOR: Today's one liner comes compliments of the great Henny Youngman: "Do you know what it means to come home at night to a woman who'll give you a little love, a little affection, a little tenderness? It means you're in the wrong house, that's what it means."

* … SCAMS: Here's the latest internet scam, this one from my friend Gene Bonas: "You consistently warn your readers of scams going around. Here's a new email scam I recently received from Bank of America. It was listed as 'Irregular account activity.' The email looked legitimate since it used the BOA logo. I opened the attachment that asked for my online ID and passcode. Then, it asked for my full name, address, social security number, answers to security questions, and other information I felt BOA already had. Without responding, I called BOA and asked them about my account while informing them of the email I received. I was told the email was a scam and to send the entire email to their fraud address. Another example where due diligence is a must!"

 * … DINNER: Tickets are still available for the annual Vino Amore dinner set for Saturday, April 18, at Monsigner Leddy Hall at Garces High School. Luigi's Delicatessen will cater the event and Croads Vineyards will supply the wine. Cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner art 7 p.m. This is an East Rotary fund raiser for some worthy local causes.

 * … HEAT: With the summer heat coming, Shafter resident Sandra Larson posted this question: "I asked a woman who cleans homes for a living if it is harder work in winter or summer. She said summer. I asked if it was because of more dust and she said no. It is because so many people who aren't home while they clean don't leave the air conditioning on and won't allow it to be turned on by the cleaning crew. I have to admit I was shocked by her answer. "

 * … SPONSOR: And finally, my thanks to Mary Christensen of Watson Realty for sponsoring this blog and supporting the work we do here. Mary was a friend long before becoming a sponsor, and I have used her to both buy and sell residential property. Our community is blessed with many good Realtors, but I don't know of any who work harder than Mary C."

Lower income households bear the brunt of California's water conservation efforts and Paramount Farming tags Rob Yraceburu to succeed Joe MacIlvaine as president

 * … DROUGHT: This probably should not come as much as a surprise, but low income households are carrying the heaviest load when it comes to conserving water. That's according to The Los Angeles

Times which reported that residents in the wealthy enclaves like Newport Beach, La Canada Flintridge and Malibu are using more than 150 gallons of water per capital per day in January, simply because they can afford to do so. Meanwhile, in lower income Santa Ana the average is just 38 gallons but they too are being asked to curtail use.

* … PARAMOUNT: Paramount Farming is about to have a changing of the guard as president Joe MacIlvaine prepares to step aside. The global farming company has picked Rob Yraceburu, a long-time exeuctive with Wells Fargo and a graduate of Fresno State, to succeed MacIlvaine when he retires in 18 months. Yraceburu, who formerly headed up the Wells Fargo operation in Bakersfield, will join the company in May and work on a transition plan with MacIlvaine. When Yraceburu takes over, MacIlvaine will head special projects for the company. Paramount Farming is one of the largest producers of almonds and pitachios in the world and is owned by Roll Global, the holding company for Stewart and Lynda Resnick.

 * …SPOTTED: On a friend's Twitter feed: "Yawning is our body's way of saying '10% of battery remaining.'"

* … KINDNESS: This from reader D. Szczepkowski: "My neighbor and I (both senior citizens) went to Coco's for  Easter dinner and much to our surprise were told that our meals were paid for   We wish to thank this person for his or her kind and generous act. It really made the day a truly special one. "

 * … ACHIEVER: I am happy to pass along some of the achievements of the youth in our community, but this latest one stands out from the rest. This from Bakersfield High principal David Reese: "BHS Senior Alexandra (Ali) Vaughn will be completing her last days as a student with a smile on her face. After previously being accepted to attend UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine and UC Davis, Ali was nervously awaiting word on her other applications. Over spring break she finally got the word she was waiting for. She got more than the perfect trifecta that she was hoping for, it was the perfect quad special! She was admitted to Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, and Harvard. Right now she is leaning toward following her childhood dream of attending Stanford to major in English and minor in art. Proud parents are Jeffrey and Jennifer Vaughn. "
  
 * … SKEET SHOOTING: Some of the best skeet shooters in the country are in town this week for the annual Ken Barnes Open, named to honor Kenny Barnes who is in the national skeet shooting Hall of Fame. The event runs from Friday though Sunday at the Kern Country Gun Club out near the Buena Vista Lake recreational area. If you haven't been to the club recently, you should stop by if for no other reason to see the huge expansion that sporting clays have brought to the club.

* … MEMORIES: Judi Plaskett wrote to ask "if anyone from the old days at North High remembers the Art-T-Q drive in on North Chester where Winchel's Donuts was. I remember the cherry Cokes yum!  Also I haven’t seen anyone reminding us of Michener’s drive in and the special hamburger sauces and the lime freezes. Those were the good old days!"

Monday Bako Bits: Easter in Bakersfield, more on those outrageous telephone scams and some really good - and bad - form about town

 * … WEEKEND: If you were in town and didn't get out an about this weekend, shame on you. Restaurants were full, and those with outdoor seating (like Cafe Med, Uricchio's Trattoria downtown and Tahoe

Joe's and Eureka Burger in the southwest) were particularly popular as diners ventured outside to enjoy the cool temperatures. Cirque du Soleil was playing to full houses at Rabobank Arena, there was a 10k run on the bike trail Saturday, and the Easter sunrise services were nothing short of spectacular. Enjoy these spring days.

 * … SCAM: Alice Merenbach is sure her telephone number must be on a master scam list. "This time," she said, "a call to my phone for my adult child advised me that Chris Wilcox (in a very foreign sounding voice - actually, same voice when I received the bogus call from the IRS) stated that he was with the Department of Legal Affairs for the U.S. Treasury and wanted to discuss illegal activities
on 'our end/' He suggested we call immediately to (661) 980-3960 and if we didn't, that we should have our lawyer call for us, as this was very serious.  I didn't bother to respond, but I am assuming that some people might be frightened by such a call.  Oh, and my child does not live here.

* … SPOTTED: I picked up this nugget on Twitter: "There are no bad photos. That’s just how you look sometimes."

 * … GOOD FORM: Frances Mitchell wrote to thank the stranger who came to her assistance after her car lost power on the Union Avenue exit off Highway 178. "He pushed my auto around the corner into Snider's parking lot and into the shade.  I did not get this gentlemen's name but I know his bravery/strength came with help from a higher power. This 74-year-old cancer survivor is ever so grateful as this could have been one serious accident/situation. Thank you again and God bless you and your family!"

 * … MORE GOOD FORM: Linda Welch shops at the Von's on North Chester and recently left an 80 cent can of soup on the counter. What happened next is the sort of customer service you don't experience every day. "The store manager happened to be the person who answered the phone. He asked my address and told me he was going to bring me a can of soup. He had no idea if I lived a block away or 10 minutes away. I thought he deserved some recognition." Well said, Linda.

* … BAD FORM: You know what was coming next: bad form. And this is almost too incredible to believe, but my colleague David Vanderpol insists it's true. Said David: "My wife got a robo-call a few weeks ago from a 'Christian' church in Shafter telling us if we weren't going their church we were going to Hell. Needless to say my wife had to call their office the next day… and sure enough the guy was DEAD set in his ways, and insisted the only church was HIS church. She did let him know there were better ways to get noticed, if he was trying to attract people to his church, and that she will be praying for him. He hung up on her. " Wow.

 * … SANDSTONE: One last memory of the old Sandstone store, compliments of Mary Curran-Means, daughter of Robert and Yvonne Curran and granddaughter of James and Mary Curran. "I remember when school was out, when my sisters, brother and I were little kids our mother would take us across the street to the hardware store, then located on Sonora Street.  Guard Ray would put us on the nail scale to weigh us, then down to the corner of 18th and Union we would get our hair cut and then off to Breckenridge for the summer. This was not to get out of the heat but out of the valley to escape Valley Fever and the dreaded Infantile Paralysis. The family referred to Sandstone as the 'Yard' and at Christmas time yard sticks were given to customers as gifts."

House Majority leader casts doubts on the proposed nuclear deal with Iran, says the country's history of deceit makes it a bad partner

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Majority leader, responds to the proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

"Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced a framework with Iran on its nuclear program.



"I am profoundly concerned by initial reports of the framework that has been established for a

comprehensive technical deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding its nuclear program.  In coming weeks, Congress will subject this framework and the Obama Administration’s Iran policy to significant scrutiny and carefully weigh legislative options.



"It is hard to see how any agreement that allows Iran to keep operating an industrial-scale centrifuge program or continue conduct advanced research and development into more efficient centrifuge designs can be said to ‘cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon,’ as the President stated.



Iran’s decades of deceit do not inspire confidence.  Complete disclosures of the military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program must come at the beginning of a final agreement, and a truly invasive inspections and verification regime must emerge in the technical agreement.



 "Finally, I remain concerned the Obama Administration continues to ignore the growing threat Iran poses to American interests and allies in the Middle East.  Iran’s support for terrorism, its burgeoning missile force, its rampant proliferation activities, its violent bid for hegemony, and its efforts to destabilize the region continue unabated. Relieving sanctions and pressure on the regime in Tehran at this pivotal moment in the region risks emboldening a regime whose violent sectarian agenda is at the source of so many of the region’s crises.



Whatever the ultimate outcome of the nuclear negotiations, the United States and its international partners must confront Iranian aggression throughout the Middle East from Yemen to Gaza.



 "Also, Governor Brown issued mandatory water restrictions for our state this week. This order from the governor should not only alarm Californians, but the entire nation should take notice that the most productive agriculture state in the country has entered uncharted territory. We have experienced extreme drought conditions in years past but thanks to the most sophisticated water system in the country that captured and stored water during the wet years for use during the dry years, our communities and farmers survived. Unfortunately, state officials have turned their back on this proven infrastructure system.



The governor’s order is the culmination of failed federal and state policies that have exacerbated the current drought into a man-made water crisis. Sacramento and Washington have chosen to put the well-being of fish above the well-being of people by refusing to capture millions of acre-feet of water during wet years for use during dry years.



These policies imposed on us now, and during wet seasons of the past, are leaving our families, businesses, communities, and state high and dry. These rules and regulations must be changed.



My House colleagues and I have acted aggressively to enact legislation that would have helped protect us from the current situation. In 2011, and again in early 2014, the House passed comprehensive water legislation to increase the amount of water we could capture and store. Unfortunately, the Obama and Brown Administrations and Senators Boxer and Feinstein opposed these proposals. As the drought continued to worsen, the House passed emergency drought legislation in December of 2014 to allow us to capture storm and rainwater from early season storms. That too was blocked by the Senate.



It is time for action, and House Republicans are developing another legislative proposal to help put California water policy back on the path to commonsense. This time I hope Governor Brown, Senator Boxer, and Senator Feinstein will join my colleagues and me in this effort.

Friday Bako Bits: more on those rattlesnakes about town, big time Spring events are coming up and Metro Galleries features best of the best show

 * … RATTLESNAKES: Rattlesnakes are common in our area, but the long drought seems to have brought out more on the bike path, roads and hiking trails. Here is some sound advice on how to deal with them while protecting your pets, compliments of Tommie Sue Self. "We live out in

the northeast, Rio Bravo area where there are lots of rattlesnakes and other wild critters. So, we have our two dogs get  annual rattlesnake venom and separate Leptospirosis immunizations from awesome Dr. Rose Rakow or other great vets at Stiern's Veterinary Hospital. The Leptospirosis is to protect them from what's commonly carried by all the coyotes, skunks, rabbits or other wild critters we have roaming around out here. That time several years ago when fire burned the mountainsides above the Kern River Canyon, the fire also drove a lot of mice etc. out of the hills, inundating us that spring/summer. The rattlesnakes followed, and showed up in folks' yards, garages, or on the streets and in vacant lots. That convinced us to add the rattlesnake shots to our dogs' regimen. If a rattler does bite them, they'd still need to see the vet, but they're not likely to die if immunized."

 * … EVENTS: Are you ready for event season in Bakersfield? If not, get out your calendar and consider some terrific events coming our way. First up is the return of the Macaroni and Cheese Festival at Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday, April 18. On Thursday, April 23, three members of the Desert Rose Band (Chris Hillman, Herb Pederson and John Jorgensen) will be in town as part of Rick Krieser's acoustic Guitar Masters series. It is set for Bakersfield College with tickets going for $32, or $17 for students, available at Vallitex. On Saturday, May 9, the Kern County Nut Festival returns at the Kern County Museum, followed by a huge day on Saturday, May 23, when Imbibe Wine and Spirits will host a craft beer festival at Cal State Bakersfield and George Martin's rock and country concert will be competing for your attention at the Kern County Museum.

 * … BEST OF THE BEST: Meanwhile, the Metro Galleries is celebrating its eighth anniversary in business with a terrific "Best of the Best" show at its 19th Street location. The show opens today and will feature some of the most popular paintings that have been sold at the gallery. Make sure to stop by this weekend to check out some really terrific art.

 * …DRILLERS: Two Bakersfield High Drillers held a reunion of sorts in Scotland this week. Cooper Adamo, son of Felix and Teresa Adam, and Katy Baker, daughter of Rob and Sally Baker, shared memories when Cooper showed up as part of the Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Spring Concert Tour. Katy is there wrapping up her second year of a five-year veterinary program at the University of Glasgow. Katy and her boyfriend, Erich, attended the BYSO concert at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, reporting that Coop and his fellow musicians did Bakersfield proud. Katy is a class of 2006 Driller and graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Cooper is a junior at BHS.

 * … SMALL WORLD: Local businessman Scott Mitchell was visiting San Antonio recently with his wife Teresa when he ran into a stranger in the Riverwalk area. "He asked if I was local or a tourist. I said tourist from Bakersfield, and he replied that he loved Bakersfield because his favorite musician was from there! It is Monty Byrom, and he knew a lot about Monty. I told him that I would try to get the message to Monty that Eddie from San Antonio is his biggest fan."

 * … MORE GOOD FORM: And I will end with this uplifting story from Warren Junior High, where one of their students, Brandyn Tinlin, is battling cancer. Each year the school holds its own Relay for Life event before spring break, but Tinlin's disease brought it home in a special way. Said principal George Thornburgh: "We challenged our students and had the theme of Be Brandyn Strong.  Over the years we have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the American Cancer society. Well, this year our kids hit a homerun. As of this morning the Wildcat Family has raised almost $10,000 in a few weeks and we strongly believe we will go over $10,000 by the time we finish counting. We also have a surprise visitor.  For the first time this year Brandyn will actually get to step foot on our campus and walk (actually he is confined to a wheel chair) with his fellow Wildcats. We also hope that Brandyn will get to present to our student body the final amount of our efforts right before the walk."

Thieves find a new way to break into garages, it's rattlesnake season around town and a huge weekend with Easter, Cirque du Soleil and Fleetwood Mac

 * … THEFTS: Here's a new technique that thieves use to break into our garages, and pay special attention if you own bicycles or motorcycles. A friend who lives on Country Club Drive in the

northeast awoke to find his two very high end mountain bikes (worth some $18,000) gone from his garage. The thieves, it turned out, punched a hole into the garage door and used coat hangers to release the emergency manual pull for the garage door. The whole process likely took just a few minutes. The quick fix: use a zip tie to anchor the emergency pull. Meanwhile, there has been a rash of home burglaries in the downtown area, including several where thieves entered through windows that were cracked open to enjoy the cooler weather.

 * … RATTLESNAKES: The warming weather ushers in snake season, and already they are out on our hiking and riding trails. Pat Bentley was walking her Airedale on the dirt path west of Coffee Road when she came upon two rattlesnakes. "Usually I let her off the leash when we're away from the path. For whatever reason, I didn't this time. Thank God! I was about 10 yards away when I saw them. They didn't move until I bent to get a stick. The scary part was how FAST they moved then. Like lightening. I knew there was a reason that I'm totally snake-phobic! Needless to say, she won't be off leash at all from now on."

 * … SPOTTED: A colleague posted this on Twitter: "Discovering mid-bite that the Jelly Belly is cinnamon rather than the Very Cherry you expected — life is made of these disappointments."

 * … WEEKEND: This is a huge weekend for our local restaurants, so if you are planning to be out and about, make your reservations now, particularly if you plan on being downtown. Besides being Easter weekend, Cirque du Soleil is in town at the Rabobank Arena and Fleetwood Mac will perform there for a sell out crowd on Monday.

 * … WINGS: Wings of Rescue is a terrific organization that flies stray dogs and cats to loving new homes. This note came from organizer Kristi Townsend: "I would like to thank the people of Kern County for their recent flood of donations to Wings of Rescue. They will be doing another massive airlift in April. In addition to spay and neuter, Wings of Rescue has been a very cost effective way to save countless dogs and cats and send them to their forever homes in other states. Please, can we keep a good thing going?"

* … ACHIEVER: Hats off to Kylee Koland Hoelscher who will graduate from Cal State Long Beach in May with an MFA in creative writing. The daughter of Pamela Koland, she is 1997 graduate of Bakersfield West High School and a 2001 graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, with a BA in English.

 * … MEMORIES: Here is a blast from the past complim's ents of retired teacher Gail Oblinger: "How many people remember when the bookmobile used to be a regular feature at the Hillcrest Shopping Center? That was maybe in the 1970s. It came once a week in the late afternoon. If for some reason you missed getting there, it would be on Mt. Vernon Street in the Freddie’s Top o’ the Hill parking lot on a different day. Lots of the same adults and children showed up each week, and pretty soon everyone knew each other and it was a social time as well as book check out.  In summertime, folding chairs were set out and  children’s movies were shown in the parking lot at dusk.  Sometimes little craft programs were included.  I made a cornhusk doll there. "

Welcome to our abbreviated Bakersfield spring, sure to be followed by intense heat, which brings out the snakes along the road

 * … WEATHER: How great has our weather been the past week? I slept with my windows open

(making my tabby a happy cat) and I picked up the unmistakeable scent of meat on the grill throughout my downtown neighborhood. But it won't last long. On a bike ride to Woody on Saturday, I spotted no fewer than six snakes (two dead and four alive) sunning on the Granite-Woody Road, a sure sign that heat is on its way. Meanwhile, closer to home Californian photographer Felix Adamo snapped a picture of a rattlesnake on - where else? - on the bike path extension called Rattlesnake out at Hart Park.

 * … HOMELESS: Homeless encampments are cropping up in the dry Kern River bed west of Yokuts Park, the first time in my memory that this has happened that far toward Cal State Bakersfield. This is all accompanied by litter, trash and abandoned shopping carts that unfortunately the city has to periodically clean.

 * … WATER RATES: My comments about my sky-high monthly water bills drew this response from Sandy Dralle: "I just want to second the story from the woman in downtown. I am a single senior citizen living in East Bakersfield who pays $90 a month to California Water Service which recently raised the price by 12%. My friends in the more affluent Southwest are on meters and only pay $30 - 50 a month for water. Now they want us to conserve water and pay the same price. I don't mind paying for what I get but do resent paying for what I don't get."

 * … MS: I ran into my friend Ray Karpe the other day, a local businessman who also serves as a director on the Southern California Multiple Sclerosis Society Board. Karpe said researchers are in the early stages of trying to develop a reliable and effective way to measure the progression of MS. It is believed that finding new ways to measure MS susceptibility and progression will help scientists better understand the biology of the disease and identify treatments. Although the results are years away, The National MS Society is encouraged by this hopeful new development.

 * … SANDSTONE: Tim Horton sent me this message: "I read your column with regularity even though I live in Texas now. I remember the Sandstone on Truxtun as my grandpa would take me there after a trip to get my free roll at the Pyrenees bread store across from what is now thr Salvation Army in old town Kern. The reader is correct; they had everything in that store. I was always fascinated by the tree he referred to. That's one of the best memories I have of being with my grandpa. He would be over 100 tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me."

 * … MORE SANDSTONE: Add this from reader Mark Thompson: "Saw in Bakersfield Observed about the old Sandstone store. As a child I LOVED going there with my dad. As for the sequoia tree, in Kettleman City there is an awesome new place called Bravo Farms.  In their lobby is a cross section of an old sequoia with the dates of significant history events tagged to the rings.  Pretty awesome place, with BBQ and a ton of antiques.  Word of warning though, do not drink the water, soda or tea as it tastes terrible due to the LOUSEY water in the area."