A Lively Discussion On Prop 8

Here's what I posted on my wall at Facebook.com. "The Proposition 8 campaign intends to call a handful of expert witnesses who also will testify about the history of marriage and who will contend that "traditional" marriage benefits children."

And then I posted this:

That is SOOO laughable!!! ALL my gay friends are products of "traditional" marriage...hmmm...makes one wonder

Then these are the comments that followed:

"Traditional marriages produce Neanderthal gun toting macho red necks. What does that prove? Traditional marriages also produced the majority of people in prison. Most people with mental and physical defects come from traditional marriages. Hitler came from a traditional marriage.And how on earth does what two people down the block affect some other married couple? Are they suddenly going to exclaim "Oh yes! I want to be gay too!" Not bloody likely. The good charitable and forgiving couple will spread rumors, innuendos and hatred about their neighbours and attempt to control and direct their behaviour.While heterosexual myself I have worked with and been friends with both gays and lesbians, some of the brightest, most engaging people I have known and I wouldn't trade them for a minute for the many dull, narrow minded red necks I have also known and worked with."

Can you tell where Mr. Paddle hails from? Oh, look, he's made friends with a red neck. This should be interesting.

"Mr.Paddle, being one of those gun toting, snuff dippin', god fearin', macho neanderthal red necks, I beg to differ. A few of us knuckle draggers are fairly level headed and open to opposeing views. I also had freinds that were gay\lesbians, in fact, a few family members swing that way. Although what I think of there private lives should be of no consequence, but by the same token, I shouldnt have to be beat 'bout the head shoulders in order to make me believe its right.With all due respect."

I figured at this point that I should intervene and bring the discussion to an end, you know, have the two fellows shake hands and pretend to be friends.

"It's quite interesting to observe two ends of the spectrum debating quite nicely, sharing lovely opinions and enlightening the other... Tis a truly amazing time we live in, would you agree?"

Mr. Paddle responding to Mr. Red Neck:
"I never mentioned right or wrong. It's none of my or anyone else's business how others conduct their lives. Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happiness, as I recall. Who gave the Christian church ownership of the institution of marriage? They don't own it and shouldn't be able to control it either. Separation of Church and State."

Well, I'm truly shocked. I was completely ignored. I mean it was my wall after all...and the comments continued on and on and on...

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.

You Don't Put A Toilet In A Kitchen

Reminds me of an old Roger Miller song, "You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo Herd." Miller suggests some pretty crazy things that you just can't do. Like you can't put a water waste injection well next to a pristine clean reservoir!

Jim Legieri, general manager of the Bartonville Water Supply Corp, gets it:

"You don't put a toilet in a kitchen, which is what they want to do."

The injection well would suck up 25,000 barrels of waste water per day, that's a lot of possible contamination. Why can't we take a moment and realize that if contamination occurs, how are we going to get the water uncontaminated? Why risk an entire county's drinking supply to find out?

Clane LaCrosse, president of Bosque Disposal Systems, doesn't understand why we should be concerned. Hey, Clane, can you tell us how to rollerskate in a buffalo herd?

Alicia Diehl, team leader of the Texas Commission on Environment Water Quality, doesn't understand why we should be concerned. She says there's NO EVIDENCE of contamination. I guess that sort of thing only raises concerns in New York.

Hopefully the Railroad Commission will be concerned.

My Sights I'm Seeing On The Road To Work

Very rarely am I surprised at what I see on my way to work. Once there was a cow standing in the middle of the road. I called my mommy so she could call the local law enforcement so they could call the rancher and put Betsy up. I don't really know if the name of the big brown cow was Betsy, but I'd like to think it was.



I was driving along as usual except I was going a bit slower due to the ice and snow on the road and I suppose that's how I come to notice the guard rail. Usually a guard rail protects you from going into the water or to keep you from going off a high embankment. If you knew my area of West Texas you'd laugh a bit at the thought of both suggestions!



Not to let my curiosity get the better of me I pulled over to see exactly what is was that this particular guard rail was protecting. It was a big hole! Now, you can't immediately assume that it's another sink hole and I'll tell you why. A while back I posted about running the dogs at the caliche pit out by the airport. It's a possibility that this hole is an old caliche pit, but it seems way wrong for someone to purposely put it this close to the highway. Also, back in the good old days before tanks, the oil industry stored oil in earth tanks and also transported oil in canals and not pipe.

Express Energy Sued For Multiple Violations

Could it be that Express Energy is no stranger to a courtroom? Could it also be true that Express Energy is not only appearing in court for bankruptcy proceedings, but also for MULTIPLE violations of employment discrimination, personal injury negligence, breach of contract and well...you name it, they've done it! (look on page 253)

It's a good thing that Express Energy didn't inflict any personal injury on our very own Eyes on Texas... Durango, but looking at the most recent court filings...I wouldn't put it past them.

There are multiple cases filed with the EEOC for all kinds of employment violations including, but not limited to:

Sexual discrimination, retaliation, age discrimination, racial discrimination, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Then there are several health and safety suits filed by the Department of Labor. Under these are the personal injury suits filed against Express Energy.

One court case in particular caught my eye: Defamation and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Case No. CV-09-04-338

Jeffery A Bell and Wanda E Bell vs. Dickey Pate, Jr.; Dicky
Pate Jr.; Dickey L. Pate; CD Consulting & Operating
Company; Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc.; Gary Cherry; Premiere,
Inc.; Express Energy Services Operating LP DBA Express Energy Services; Mike Byrd; Randy Davis; Richard J
Wiggins; Kendall Bennett; KRB Consulting, LLC; Michael
Barton; Champion Exploration Corp DBA Champion
Exploration; Quicksilver Energy Company DBA Quicksilver;
Quicksilver Resources, Inc. DBA Quicksilver; Quicksilver
Gas Services, LP DBA Quicksilver; Quicksilver Gas
Services, GP LLC DBA Quicksilver; Quicksilver Gas
Services Operating , LLC DBA Quicksilver; Quicksilver Gas
Services Operating GP, LLC DBA Quicksilver; Quicksilver
Service Company, Inc. DBA Quicksilver; Denbury
Resources, Inc; Denbury Onshore, LLC; Denbury Holdings,
Inc.; Chesapeake Energy Corporation; Chesapeake Operating Inc

As hard as I looked I couldn't find anything out about this one. Maybe a person in Wise County can go and check this out.

Northern New Mexico Conservation Project: Nothing Sacred

Northern New Mexico Conservation Project: Nothing Sacred

Picture of a veterans cemetery next to a frac pit. One would think that the two aren't related, but haven't some made a correlation that the push for invading the Oil Rich Desert is directly related to the need to have that oil?

Dangling dollars doesn't diminish death.

Marc Hall Jailed For Being A Conscientious Objector

Conscientious Objector, Marc Hall, finished his tour of duty in Iraq and expected to be honorably discharged from the military. Then can you blame him when he gets a tad bit upset with the information, that "No, Marc...you're not getting out like you're supposed to...you have to go BACK TO IRAQ!" To let off a bit of steam, Marc Hall wrote a little ditty about his objections and feelings of having to have his time extended beyond the normal date, by something that's been referred to as the Stop Loss Policy. Here's Marc's Song posted at Courage to Resist Website. You take a listen and see if it warrants him being arrested and jailed.

Express Energy Emerges Easily

I'd not given much thought to who or what Express Energy is, but in the light of it's recent mafia like characteristics I decided to do a bit of research. Oh, so you think I'm being a bit harsh, well before you judge me follow the link and observe the treatment of my friend Durango.

Well, let's discuss exactly what organized crime is. Organized crime is any group that has an organized structure of bosses--advisers and working members--whose main goal is to obtain money and PROPERTY through illegal activities. Durango has been searching diligently for signs of a permit that grants Express Energy the right to siphon water from the Trinity River. Since we see NO PERMITS posted then we can only assume that Express Energy is obtaining property from the Trinity River illegally.

Organized crime uses extortion and force to gain money and property. Wouldn't you say that pinning someone in is an example of a threat?


Organized crime activities negatively impact a community or region. Wouldn't you say that the damage being done to the levees of the Trinity River fall into that category? And the damage being done to the ecosystem of the area fall into that negative impact zone as well?


Photo by Don Young.


Express Energy was a small start up in 2000 that in the beginning dealt in coil tubing for offshore services. That business grew into a diversified oil field service company with 1200 employees and 30 service locations.

Express Energy filed chapter 11 claiming that in July of 2008 they started to see a downward spiral in profits. Really? Hmm...July of 2008? Then explain why they expanded operations? Express Energy borrowed 325 million dollars in July of 2008 to pay off lenders because in 2007 they borrowed 189 million dollars to acquire H2S Safety, Byrd R&S Oilfield Services Companies, Ace Rathole Services, Laydown, LTD, Brazos Oilfield Services, LTD, J&L Tank Services, and CST Drilling Fluids. And in September of 2008 they leased the penthouse, ya know...the real expensive part of a building.

"Express Energy Services Operating, L.P. signed a long-term, full-floor lease for 25,113 square feet at Phoenix Tower. The 34-story, 629,000-square-foot office tower is located at 3200 Southwest Freeway."

Then in June of 2009, Express Energy decided not to pay their bills anymore. By this time, Express Energy owed creditors 330 million dollars. Do you think Express Energy ever had any real intentions of paying that back? You want to know what your beloved giver of the community did to make a dent in what they owed? They made their workforce take a 10 percent reduction in salary and then laid off 850 employees. Yeah, the oil & gas industry is good for our local economy.

And under the Chapter 11, who do you think isn't going to be paid? Nope, you're wrong...the big banks are going to get their money...here's the short list of local companies that have been wronged and won't be receiving a dime for services:

Acadian Monitoring Services
Aramak Uniform
Cannon Copier
Cintas Corporation
FNCC
G&K Services
Unifirst Corporation
1stel, Inc.
American Ice Machines
ATNI, Inc.
FSP Phoenix Tower Corporation
Midland 5, LLC
MHS, LLC
RAM Lands, LLC
Randy Davis
Red Diamond Energy Services
Santosh Skariah
Warehouse Opportunities
Xerox Corporation

When you play with snakes, you can guarantee...you're gonna get bit.

Driving Way Too Much, New Fractures & Stolen Tailgates

I've had a busy driving day. First I drove to work over in Pyote, twenty three miles. Before leaving the house though, I dressed in lots of layers. First an under shirt, a sweater shirt and finally an over shirt. I wore tights covered by a pair of slacks. I then had gloves, a scarf and a wool coat. I dressed warmly for the occasion of below freezing weather made to feel even more below freezing due to the wind that kept whipping through the West Texas landscape.

You may wonder why I clothed myself so warmly if all I was doing was driving. Upon arriving at work, it's a good half a mile walk past the education building to the vocational buildings where us teachers now have taken residence in order to facilitate learning. Did you happen to notice that I said "past the education building"? On December the 14th, the education building at West Texas State School in Pyote experienced a power failure. A few lights, some outlets and phones were working, but there was absolutely no heat or computers.

The boys stayed on the dorms where there was electricity and of course heat. Us teachers stayed, sitting in the dark and the cold for several hours waiting for information regarding our dire situation. Being the brazen outspoken one that I am...I decided I was taking an early lunch across the railroad tracks at the Pyote Cafe and Grocery. Others decided to join me. At lunch we met up with TYC employees who informed us that the transformer had blown and another would need to be ordered, it could take a week before getting the problem fixed.

Long story shortened, the powers that be in Austin, you know, all those lovely representatives chosen by us voters, decided not to fix the problem, but instead have us the teachers move into the warehouses behind the education building. Do I need to tell you that I was not pleased? None of the moving occurred until after we returned from the holiday, so the rest of the week was spent in the partially lighted, extremely frigid building.

That explains why now I walked past the education building this morning after arriving to work. After working a few hours, I then drove to Iraan, one hundred seventeen miles, to meet with the superintendent to discuss worst case scenario in regards to my soon to be unemployment. Worst case scenario is that the school will close in March and to work out my contract and still receive a paycheck, then I and the other teachers would need to drive to Iraan everyday to work.

I then drove home to Wink, one hundred forty two miles thinking about the possibility of driving two hundred eighty four miles every day to collect a pay check. I'm really hoping the school stays open until the end of May, that would be super sweet.

A few updates and a public service announcement before I go. Seems that a former student of mine has been nabbed by the Odessa Police for stealing tailgates from pick up trucks. Apparently, there's a high demand for tailgates and now the police have suggested that those of us with these valuable tailgates should park our rears up against something so that the perps can't make off with our tails.


The comish told me at the gym tonight that County Road 201, the one leading to the predicted third sink hole has developed a few more fractures. He's picking me up tomorrow at 4:30PM and taking me out to get some pictures of the ever spreading problem.