"Progressive Radio Network Host Mitchell J. Rabin, Monday @ 6pm(est) - The Frightful Subject of Fracking
July 13, 2011 The Frightful Subject of Fracking
By Mitchell J. Rabin
No matter how many times it happens and no matter how much older I get, I simply do not get used to man's willingness to, en masse, defile the Earth and cause his fellow man such difficulty and harm. I do not get accustomed to man's willingness to lie, cheat, steal and kill to achieve a certain selfish goal. It boggles my mind, breaks my heart and fractures my soul. Perhaps I came into this world too sensitive for these kinds of "grown-up values and means" of operating.
I am painfully aware of my own shortcomings and any I may have missed I don't for long as they are quickly pointed out by those close to me. My call is toward impeccability yes, but I also understand that while that may be the goal, if we can at least attempt it, approximate it, I believe that we'll all be a good deal better off than we are now! But when it comes to injecting toxic, that means poisonous chemicals, known to be toxic, into the ground and knowing that it must eventually reach the ground water and in the NY watershed which provides water to millions of people in NY, PA and NJ, it is just outrageous that these gas companies do not diversify, go into wind and solar, or at least experiment with this highly unproven methodology in places far away from human habitation, but even that I really don't want to see. It's as though the owners of these companies don't drink water themselves, breathe air, and don't have spouses or children who do same. Is it possible that they don't?
Interestingly, the NY Times this past Sunday posted an article in which gas industry experts are suggesting that the numbers don't yield much profit if any in recovering natural gas from fracking, and the numbers promoted by the industry suggest that they are running something akin to a Ponzi scheme. Other articles which have been published even by the NY Times relatively recently, even this rather conservative paper, suggest same, giving one the notion that the industry is actually imploding, or more accurately, "fracturing from within". (see http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=june+26+edition+on+natural+gas+companies&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 for some articles.)
So it is nothing short of bizarre that Governor Andrew Cuomo, in the face of more criticism of the gas industry among financial analysts on Wall St. and even within their own ranks, has made this radical decision just this past Friday, to lift the moratorium on fracking in NYS amidst this terribly bad press. In fact, this is a perfect environment for him to say "Sorry guys, I really was considering giving you a break here, but even your own are saying that fracking isn't a very sound idea, either for the environment or even for profit. In fact, I'm going to have to refer you to my AG because it looks like you may be up to some funny business, making promises to investors you can't begin to keep. If you learn how to pull gas up from shale without polluting or making outlandish promises to investors that you cannot keep, give me a call and we'll talk. In the meantime, the good legislation that's been proposed by Senator Avella I will sign into law. No worry, it allows for you to receive permission from the State if you can prove, beyond all shadow of a doubt, that fracking cannot and will not harm the environment, air, water or soil, in any way whatsoever. If you can truly prove it to our satisfaction, the ban will be lifted, no problem..."
But he didn't do that. Even in this charged environment, a plum for voting for and with the People (as a governor always should anyway...) he didn't make the right decision. So we may have to help him do that. Please call Cuomo's office and tell him to immediately rescind that poor decision and vote for Avella's bill: 518 474-8390. To hear Senator Avella be interviewed by me on A Better World on PRN, as well as Carl Arnold of the Sierra Club, and others on hydro-fracking at: http://www.abetterworld.net/?s=tony+avella .
A blog about this of mine will be posted in the Huffington Post likely by the end of next week.
Is Everyone Bought Off?
I asked Chris Hedges during our interview if every elected official in government, City, State and Federal, is bought off. It appears that this notion of "buying votes" is a perfectly acceptable one to the American public. There is no apparent outcry about it. It's not only completely unethical, but it's also got to be illegal, despite Citizens United, in which the Supreme Court, in their infinitely corrupted wisdom, voted that corporations are people.
Do they dance, eat and make love like people too dear Supreme Court? After this ruling and after their appointing GW Bush to the Presidency, they lost my respect, no matter how long their robes may be or long their list of credentials. Their obvious partiality and vested interests render many of them unqualified for their positions, and there are an increasing number of people across the country who feel that way, ready to call for many of their resignations.
We Need to Take the Money OUT of Politics
I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it's the only way we can actually have a government that does the right thing by and for The People. I've proposed a 12-step plan to transform government back into The People's Government and it's notso hard. It just requires a touch of discipline, yet with exceedingly pleasing results. More on this another time.
Remember that Man's Nature is Basically Good
People love helping each other, people love being in service to each other. Our nature is cooperative every bit as much, if not more, than it is competitive. It can also be competitive within a cooperative context and structure.
People want to belong to a couple, a group, a family, a community, a tribe, nation, planet and solar system! It's hard-wired into our nervous system. A recent interview I did with renowned journalist and writer, Lynne McTaggart, based on the science in her latest book The Bond, goes into this in depth--I strongly recommend it. When people are awful with each other, kill, rape, steal, from each other and Earth, it's because of a fundamental confusion and ignorance, as the Buddhists would say, and it's not because people are inherently evil or bad. Confused? Oh yes, very. So the behaviors follow suit. But with love, understanding, compassion, long talks, good bodywork working out the trauma form the neuro-musculature (see Art Jaffe's interview Tuesday evening on TV or on-line), get psychotherapy and get in touch with the vivifying nature of one's soul, crazed, abnormal (perceived as normal, business-as-usual) attitudes and behaviors can change. We need to step back and look in. And go from there.