I have met my match, and it is the Raging Grannies.

In a recent blog I professed my “love” of the Raging Grannies’ name, but I abhorred their stance against the twin-tunnels in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan as being selfish. (See Selfish few continue trying to derail Bay Delta plan.)

The commentary made the website LobbyWatch, which “helps track deceptive PR involving lobbyists, PR firms, front groups, political networks and industry-friendly scientists.” Not sure which one I am.

“Agribusiness supporter Harry Cline, in a recent blogpost for Western Farm Press, says that he ‘loves’ the name of activist group the Raging Grannies but accuses them and others who oppose the Bay Delta Conservation Plan of being selfish.” I said the cost would be individually miniscule, likely more than the Raging Grannies spend each month at Starbucks.

“In the past Harry Cline has been called out by Lobbywatch.org and other groups for extreme rhetoric, referring to anti-GMO activists as anti-society, anti-science crowd and likening them to Neo-Nazis and the KKK.” I will admit to anti-society and anti-science, but not to Neo-Nazi and KKK charges.

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The Raging Grannies responded on their own blog that "as a matter of principle we oppose large, powerful corporate interests that represent oil and corporate agribusiness, and join with like-minded groups in our actions". They further stated that the author (me) doesn't know much about their coffee drinking habits if he thinks members of their group can be found at Starbucks.”

I thought the whole world went to Starbucks.

I apologize to the Raging Grannies for my demeaning comments. I had no idea of the ravenous horde I was dealing with. They are formidable foes whose motto is:

“Oh, we’re a gaggle of Grannies,
Urging you up off your fannies….”

Raging Grannies is an international group of seasoned women who will protest and support causes at the drop of a funny hat.

The Grannies are “totally non-violent, believe in only peaceful protest (with lots of laughter), work for the ‘many not the few’ and see our work as the spreading green branches of a great tree, rising up to provide shelter and nourishment for those who will come after us.”

Grannies are best equipped, they say, "to make public, corrupt things that have been hidden (often for profit). Local toxic waste sites that no one seems prepared to tackle, asbestos sites employing young people desperate for work, nuclear waste products being dumped outside an uninformed small town, laws that affect an entire community, passed quickly with no opportunity for study.” The list goes on.

Delights of grannying

The “delights of grannying include: dressing like innocent little old ladies so we can get close to our ‘target’, writing songs from old favorites that skewer modern wrongs, satirizing evil-doing in public and getting everyone singing about it, watching a wrong back down and turn tail and run, sharing a history with other women who know who they are and what they’re about."

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To be a granny, you need “a sense of humor and an ability both to be objective and to compromise when working with others. Willingness to make noise. An open heart to learn something new. No singing ability. Passion. Joy. Delight. No color sense, obviously. A friendly disposition. Kindness. Scientific curiosity can’t hurt. Maybe a sense of history and our place in it.”

Check out their website where you will also find song great lyrics like:

(To the tune of Home on the Range)

Oh, give us a beach
Where oil spills can’t reach,
And there’s no sticky goo on the sand,
Where children can play,
And the birds and fish stay
Free from harm… that’s our simple demand.

CHORUS:

No frackin’! No way!
We say keep those frackers away!
We say NO to those rigs
And those comp’nies so big!
Mother Earth still comes first in our land.
There are so many ways
To make power these days
From the wind and the sun, don’t you see?
Let’s stop hydrofracking
And mountaintop hacking
Let’s treat the Earth as it should be

My apologies ladies. You have earned my respect, certainly more than some of the annoying whacko groups I enjoy calling out. Admiration, however, does not mean agreement with the Raging Grannies’ opposition to the Delta plan.

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