If last summer will forever be known as the public’s apex of discontent over outrageously high energy prices – a sentiment that led to Congress’s overturning of a long-held ban on responsible offshore energy development – the summer of 2009 will be known by a different moniker: the summer of the town hall meeting.

Health care, energy, climate, a brief chat about birth certificates – this summer, the American people were revved and ready to go. And earlier this month, we saw one of the most poignant of these displays take place in upstate New York, where thousands of local residents of Chenango Co. gathered in a field (40 years after Woodstock) to demand access to the jobs, revenues and opportunity that energy technologies like hydraulic fracturing deliver each and every day.

Sure, they got rained on in buckets. But the guy who ended up all wet was U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey – author of the anti-FRAC Act, and object of the crowd’s serious discontent.

Here’s a snapshot from that rally – just to give you a sense of the thousands of folks who came out to support the responsible develop of New York’s abundant natural resource base:

In contrast to this scene, there are others who stand in strident opposition to safely producing energy in America. Take for example a very small group of individuals outside a city council meeting today in Denton, Texas, which included “members of the International Socialist Organization.”

According to the Pegasus News:

“The organization held the protest because profit is superseding human rights, said Charlie Grand, member of the International Socialist Organization.”

We’re not sure if this is Charlie, or if this is Charlie’s personal assistant. He’s probably not his driver. Either way, though, for those wondering what’s at stake in this debate and interested in finding out more about the other side of it, here you go. We just hope Charlie never finds out his shirt was made from natural gas.