Sign Against California Fracking

An LA Times Editorial in September said

"SB 4 is the state's first attempt to exert oversight over fracking, a controversial process that involves the high-pressure injection of water, sand and chemicals to fracture rock and release the oil or gas locked within. Fracking has taken place in California for years, but it has been limited in scope, with most wells located in a remote area of Kern County. Now, with the revelation that the Monterey Shale in the Central Valley might contain 15 billion barrels of frackable oil, the practice is expected to boom.
"There are reasons to be concerned about possible effects on groundwater and air quality. Even more worrisome for California is the danger of setting off seismic activity; studies in other states where fracking is more established have linked earthquakes to the injection of wastewater into wells, even in areas that are not quake-prone.
"The Legislature should be embarrassed by its reckless attitude on this issue."

To read more, go here.

Today there's a Petition to sign, from CREDO, who say:

"On Monday, CREDO activists and our allies had a chance to directly confront Governor Brown and demand a ban on fracking at an event in San Francisco. And he may have signaled an opening for a reversal on his position in support of fracking and SB 4, the dangerous fracking bill he recently signed.¹

Ironically, Brown was in San Francisco to ink a climate agreement with Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. We know Governor Brown is committed to action on climate change, which he described on Monday as "the world's greatest existential challenge."²

But from his statements on Monday, it seems like Governor Brown, who greased the wheels for expanded fracking in California by pushing for and signing SB 4, may not realize some of the basic facts about how bad fracking is for the climate. If he stands by what he said on Monday, he should put a moratorium on fracking.

Tell Governor Brown: Impose a temporary moratorium on fracking while you fully investigate the science behind fracking for oil production. Click here to sign automatically."

[The above link will take you to the Petiton, and to a clear description of the situation in California.]

Want to Ban Fracking?

 - at least in Ventura County, maybe later in all of California?

Claire Wilson has a Petition for you -

Fracking is a toxic method of oil and gas extraction that involves blasting vast quantities of water and toxic chemicals deep underground--and it's endangering countless Californians' health, safety and livelihoods.

But Big Oil has plans to massively expand fracking in a huge section of the state -- roughly 1,750 square miles from Southern to Central California, from Modesto to San Diego County.

Claire Wilson started a campaign on CREDOMobilize.com, which allows activists to start their own petitions. The petition, which is to the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, asks the following:

Fracking is an inherently dangerous threat to our air, water and health. Ban fracking now.

Tell the Ventura County Board of Supervisors: Ban fracking now.

Despite the clear risks posed to Californians by the oil industry's plans to frack our state, legislation that would have placed a moratorium on fracking died in the Assembly and Governor Brown appears eager to encourage the expansion of this toxic industry.

That's why we have to take matters into our own hands and ban fracking at the local level. Cities and counties in California have broad authority to ban fracking, and we should pressure our elected officials to step in where the state government has so far failed to act.

Local bans on fracking may also be one of the most effective strategies for winning change at the state level. If a wave of cities and counties in California reject fracking, it will put increased pressure on Governor Brown to ban fracking in all of California.

Will you join Claire and urge the Ventura County Board of Supervisors to ban fracking in Ventura County?

Thank you for your support.

Zack Malitz, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

House INTELLIGENCE Committee?

I wasn't going to bother posting this Petition about Representative Michele Bachmann, "the Tea Party’s queen of crazy" - but then they reminded me about her ranting claims about the Ha-Ha Socialist, not to mention this corker: 

“The influence today of the Muslim Brotherhood at the highest levels, from the White House, to the Pentagon, to the FBI, even to our United States military, truly is breathless and people have to know about it.”

Yes, folks, they're "breathless" - can't you hear them panting as they come down your street, ready to steal your first-born, and defile your daughters, yelling to their evil God as they seize all the levers of power with cunning, ruthless help from their shadowy accomplices, from B.H. Obama on down?

CREDO is concerned enough about Bachmann to say, "what kind of a signal does it send that she's on the House Intelligence Committee where she has access to sensitive national security information?

"Bachmann has actually said that gay marriage is the biggest problem facing the nation, financial reform efforts equate with Mussolini-style fascism, and that President Obama is "anti-American" and "turning our country into a nation of slaves".

"Her loose association with the facts and her willingness to believe in all sorts of completely baseless conspiracy theories makes her one of the last people in Congress who should be entrusted with our nation’s secrets."

Personally, I'm not too concerned about the House Intelligence Committee and its "secrets".  We know most of the "secrets" are complete BS.  The only reason they're secret is to prevent the American people from knowing what is being done in their name.  But having an idiot like Bachmann anywhere near the decision-making process is enough to get my signature on a Petition, and CREDO make a persuasive case for their Petition, here.

Where I think the Mad Minnesotan Mama is really dangerous is in her McCarthyism.  This country has already seen what hysteria and paranoia can do to our democratic society.  At the LA Times Festival of Books I attended a panel on McCarthyism, with very cool, highly-informed speakers including KPFK and UC Irvine's Prof. Jon Wiener.  I asked the question which has always frustrated me about that ghastly time in America's shameful past:  why was there not a popular uprising against McCarthy's brazen theft of our due process and our Constitutional Rights?  The answer came back, "It was a time of fear".

Fear is the weapon of choice of the Bachmanns of the world, and it damn well works.

I'll blog soon about McCarthyism, as discussed in my Book Proposal, "The War On The 60s".