Woman Has Brain And Wants To Use It

"Really good observations lately, CT&CT.

These virtual realities and so called friendships certainly murky reality and true human relationship. Media, but particularly social media, has its up sides. However, for people lacking sophistication or critical thinking skills, like the younger set, it can be sort of de-humanizing. Something the world needs less of, not more...but in clever ways developed by creative but profit driven people of flesh and bones.

Again great posts. Sure miss the real life stories of the mom, teacher, and community activist on small town west Texas, though."

This was a comment that was recently posted on a little fluff piece I wrote about Face Book. I say it's fluff because it is...I didn't have to do any research, I wrote exactly what I thought on the matter. Sometimes, showing your intelligence only lands you into hot water, and if you're a bit attractive you sometimes get approached or treated as if you don't own a brain.

It's true, I haven't been blogging or digging up information on the misdeeds of the oil and gas industry as of late, so I decided to do a little activism tonight just by liking NADR's link. If you know anything about drilling reform then you know that NADR is a group that promotes just that...drilling reform.

And low and behold here come the threats:

Kevin Prather: Oh? You live in Wink, right? You would not even have a job, if it were not for oil & gas, baby. Just a fact.

I wish I knew how to take a snapshot of Face Book and put it onto my blog, but my good buddy Durango has yet to teach me such things.

Browning's Mystery Pits

Like I've said before, my drive to work is normally uneventful. I can usually identify what it is that I see, like cows, coyotes and trucks. Recently though, a couple of mystery pits have popped up and I have no idea what they are for.






A blogger friend of mine told me that in his area they truck in a lot of sand for drilling purposes. Then I was thinking, that maybe that could be it, we dug up sand out here and trucked it there, except that the sand piles are still standing out here after months of being dug up.





Another blogger friend of mine told me that the pits could be where somebody is going to bury something, maybe like toxic waste. I've been keeping my eye out for that and so far, the pit remains unfilled.







Then I was thinking that maybe they are big caliche pits. We do have an enormous amount of caliche in this area, and that could be a possibility that someone is mining caliche.








It seems that Browning owns these pits or the land that these pits sit on or the mineral rights under the land that these pits reside on. Could someone tell me what these pits are for, please?

Gathering Line

Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.

The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.

Express Energy Uses Mafia Like Tactics On A Fellow BloggerNEW Information On Express Energy! Express Energy Being Sued For MULTIPLE Employment ViolationsRead it at Cheap
Tricks and Costly Truths.

Take a photo-tour of some of the wells in our backyard in Upstate NY at Marcellus Effect

The Texas Department of State Health Services is looking into a possible cancer cluster in Flower Mound. 5 children and 2 adults have been diagnosed with Leukemia. All live near gas drilling activity. Read about it at www.stopthedrilling.blogspot.com

How does Texas compare with other states? A statistical analysis with graphs reveals the truth at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

How do yoga, the Bible, and hydrofracking relate to each other? Peacegirl sees a connection. If it were an answer by Karnak the Magnificent (you would have to be a certain age to know about Karnak!), it would be amusing, but it's not. Yoga, the Bible, and Hydrofracking brings up the issue of doing harm. Is hydrofracking harmless? No. Another question: Who will listen? There are many people who are telling their stories about how gas drilling has adversely affected their lives. Is anyone listening? From Peacegirl at Gas Wells Are Not Our Friends.

From atop the Marcellus Shale, Splashdown reports that a recent PA Supreme Court ruling states local municipalities can regulate where gas wells are located through zoning ordinances, pre-empting PA's Oil and Gas Act. Read how Greenfield Twp. stopped Exco Resources from drilling a misplaced well, despite their DEP permit.

ExxonMobil Adding Some Hmm? To The Benzene Symposium

A few weeks ago I blogged about reading an article that had an environmental oil & gas spokes person say something really incredulous. I also remember thinking how similar that was to what the tobacco companies had done. Didn't the tobacco industry fund their own health studies to prove that there were no ill effects from smoking? If I remember correctly the method the tobacco industry used was erroneous thus leading to provide false conclusions that smoking didn't lead to lung cancer.

Imagine my surprise then when finding out that at the 2009 Benzene Symposium, two members on the organizing committee happened to be ExxonMobil employees from their BioMedical Division. Hmm...makes one wonder what the heck they had to say about Benzene?

The document I read was 63 pages in length, and a lot of it discussed the tests that were run and how they were conducted. I read and processed a bunch of information from it, and on page 36 I read this:

Benzene causes a spectrum of hematotoxicity ranging from reduction of peripheral blood cell counts to aplastic anemia and leukemia in humans.

I've heard about Benzene before. Isn't Benzene found in the toxic emissions of oil and gas drilling operations? And hasn't there been evidence showing that high levels of Benzene have been found in the air over the Barnett Shale? And isn't there quite of bit of oil and gas drilling going on in the Barnett Shale? Curiouser and curiouser...

Now, as I put two and two together...like those two ExxonMobil employees at the Benzene Symposium, Michael Bird and Robert A. Schnatter,...what do ya suppose they were posing as? Concerned benefactors of society? Shocked and amazed polluters turned environmentalists? Unbiased and impartial contributors? Eh, I highly doubt it.

Holiday Hiatus

With school finally out for my kiddos, and the ex hubby coming in Christmas Eve, and with me still needing to get food supplies to make Pennsylvania Dutch Butterscotch Pie, I'm thinking that this will be the last blog for a few days. It's not that I don't love each and every one of you, because you know I do. It's just that well, this is a very special time of the year for me and the kids and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Santa has got some nice surprises which I can't wait to share with you when I get back. Also, I did manage in all the hectic running around to get over to Dr. Anna's and get another round of the HCG Diet. I'll be starting that on Christmas Day. I'm gonna do a better job of detailing and profiling my success on the diet and share my tricks & truths.

Just a few days ago, Annie and I were riding over to Kermit via the Kermit HWY. Well, the oil/gas smell was really bad that day, and I mentioned it and then Annie said, "I grew up here, so I don't even notice it." I replied, "That's what worries me baby girl. That you've become desensitized and you won't even know that it's harmful until it's too late." Then she said, "Well, thank goodness I have you, mom. You're like an underground hero." I asked her what she meant by that and she went on to explain that I'm doing things to protect her and other people, but they don't even know it. I'll have to say, she made me feel really good.

I may not truly be an underground hero, but I know a few folks that surely are. For instance, how about Durango? He has asked the FEDS to do something about Mayor Moncrief. His exact words are:


"THE MAYOR OF FORT WORTH, MIKE MONCRIEF, IS TAKING $600,000 A YEAR FROM NATURAL GAS DRILLERS WHO ARE ABUSING EMINENT DOMAIN TO TAKE FORT WORTH CITIZEN'S PROPERTY & POLLUTING THEIR AIR WITH DANGEROUS CHEMICALS WHILE STEALING WATER FROM THE TRINITY RIVER."

Then there's TXSharon. Wow, she champions the causes of all the people suffering from exploitation of the Oil & Gas Industry. How many times has she challenged the EPA to intervene in Texas and do it's job?

"Dear EPA, I know you are watching us in Texas.

We need federal intervention."

Finally, there's Don Young. He's my daughter's favorite underground hero. His unwavering Protection of the Tandy Hills has now been Annie's inspiration to plant her own Tall Grass Prairie. Here are Don Young's words:

"What makes Tandy Hills so special is the preservation of native wildflowers and grasses. Biologists say that this little slice of land is still very much as it was in presettlement times. I find that to be something of a miracle! A report by the Fort Worth Nature Center notes that the the quality of the prairie grasses covering these hills in an undisturbed state, are the best in Tarrant County, even better than the Nature Center. Another miracle! Tandy Hills and other city parks are by definition NOT places to drill for gas. City leaders need to be protecting the few places we have left, not allowing them to be burdened by shortsighted greed. To paraphrase an official with the Nature Center,"You don't play soccer in the Kimbell Art Museum and you don't drill for gas in a nature preserve."

A big thank you from Annie to all her Underground Heroes! You Rock!