Arnold Schwarzenegger's in town today to sign some anti-global warming legislation and he's got local activists rallying. They're going to stake out Bluffs Park at noon, right in front of the planned signing site on Pepperdine's vast, water-guzzling lawn, to protest the Cabrillo LNG terminal. That's the pollution-spewing liquefied natural gas platform an Aussie mining company's trying to install thisclose to the Channel Islands Marine Reserve.

The Sacramento Bee puts it in context:

Even by Arnold Schwarzenegger's standards for highly orchestrated public appearances, today's ceremonies for signing California's landmark anti-global warming legislation will be elaborate and carefully choreographed for maximum media exposure.

The governor's production designers chose Treasure Island, in the middle of San Francisco Bay, for one bill-signing ceremony in the morning, and Pepperdine University, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Malibu, for another in the afternoon, thereby providing scenic marine backdrops for television news crews in the state's two largest media markets.

But rally leaders don't think the Governator's handlers chose the Pepperdine backdrop for purely aesthetic reasons. According to an e-mail sent today:

"We believe that the Governor DELIBERATELY picked Malibu to sign AB 32 to try to stifle opposition to the BHP Billtion LNG Terminal."

So. Noon today at Bluffs Park in Malibu. Posters, flags and banners. Think Pierce Brosnan will show?