David Letterman: Fracking Is Ruining America

Please, "Battlestar Galactica" afficionados. Change your shorts, then do sit back down and chillax.

David Letterman's latter years hosting CBS's "Late Show" have seen him transition from "funny" to often "choke-a-b***h pissed" particularly when subject matter skews political. Perhaps most memorably, he took some questionable potshots at former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol when news broke that the teenager was expecting one out-of-wedlock bundle of joy.

He didn't mince words then. Nor did Wednesday night when he took a few minutes to go off on a fracking tangeant. Known properly as "hydraulic fracturing," fracking is practice that extracts natural gas from beneath Earth's surface. It's also a political lightning rod.

With its adoption as a practice increasing despite acknowledgement of environmental risks rising proportionally, Nationwide Insurance recently set a precedent by becoming the first U.S. insurer that refuses to cover damages sustained due to fracking because, to quote a recent memo, "the exposures presented by hydraulic fracturing are too great to ignore."

Activists have been breathing down New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to decline the practice - which has been banned since 2008 - which he's reportedly considering allowing in the state's Southern Tier.

"The Delaware Water Gap has been ruined. The Hudson Valley has been ruined. Most of Pennsylvania has been ruined. Virginia, West Virginia has been ruined. Colorado has been ruined. New Mexico has been ruined," Letterman said, further pronouncing, "We're screwed."

In addition to the video below of Letterman's rant (via The Huffington Post), also check out the clip from NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" featuring Fallon joining Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon in a duet called "Don't Frack My Mother."