Oppose offshore drilling!

I just found out there is a huge offshore drilling disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico. While the conservatives and the liberals are both getting really good at their shit slinging from their fancy seats we got real problems going on! And it's all thanks to idiots from both sides of the aisle who think that not only is offshore drilling great, but we should do more of it! What are you rich, narrow-minded fucks thinking??? There are alternatives, it's just that then you would have to have ethics, take on a challenge, you know, actually do some work. Because how fun is it going to be to drive to the beach or go for a boat trip when there isn't anything there worth enjoying?

This is your sentence soundbite:
"The well could be spilling up to 336,000 gallons of crude oil a day, the Coast Guard said, and the rig carried 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel."*

*=for the full MSN article that has made me blow my top check out:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36683314

Oppose offshore oil drilling and Liquified Natural Gas facilities. Support alternative energies and a better environment. It's not impossible. We only get one world so we have to slow down how fast we are screwing it up!

I don't get it

I am a devout member of the Surfrider Foundation and I think they are an exceptional group of men and women. The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education. I am also a great fan of president-elect Barack Obama and look forward to the leadership he will provide in the coming years. And yet, I have absolutely no idea why Barack Obama could stand behind the notion of allowing increased off-shore oil drilling when any educated person can see that we must utilize safer and more ecologically sound alternatives immediately. If I have heard of things like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) then I would think perhaps Obama has too. Hell, he's surrounding himself with some genius people, and yet we as a nation are going to allow the same atrocities to happen?

I now turn to a few exerpts from "Soup", Surfrider Foundation's weekly digital newsletter on the latest stories and issues concerning your oceans, waves and beaches. ...and I quote:



October 2008 Issue No. 1:
The Wrath Of Hurricane Ike
An assessment of environmental damages from Hurricane Ike has just been released (based on federal agency reports). At least a half million gallons of crude oil was spilled on to the Texas and Louisiana coastline (as well as in the Gulf of Mexico). The Coast Guard, EPA and other state agencies has responded to over 3,000 storm-related pollution reports since Ike hit. The storm destroyed 52 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and damages and threats to local wildlife are still being assessed.

For more information please visit:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1847378,00.html

December 2008 Issue No. 1:
Florida Tourism Group Backs Offshore Oil Drilling
In a surprise move, the Florida Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus has flipped its stance on offshore drilling. Once opposed to it, the board is now supporting the idea of drilling 30 miles offshore claiming that the state needs the money (the federal government will potentially share royalty and lease revenue generated by offshore drilling).

For more information please visit:
http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/florida-tourist-group-endorses-drilling-0-miles-offshore-568569

December 2008 Issue No. 2:
Oil Spill Off California Coast

The Joint Committee on Emergency Services & Homeland Security
has just announced that a 1000-plus-gallon oil spill has occurred off the coast of Carpenteria in Santa Barbara County. The petroleum, which was spilled from "Platform A" was reported yesterday after platform workers discovered oil had leaked froma finger-sized hole in a pump line. The spill was initially reported by Dos Cuadras Offshore Resources as just a 33-gallon spill. However, after aerial surveys by the Federal Minerals Management Service, the spill estimate was increased to over 27 barrels.

For more information please visit:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_11169943

This happened in the same area and is a scary reminder of the terrible Santa Barbara Oil Spill of '69.

For more information please visit:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/14/the-santa-barbara-oil-spi_n_112605.html



End quote.

Oh yeah, did you catch that part in the middle, it was kind of subtle, the part where we as a nation elect Obama as the next president and no one makes a big deal of his stance to support off-shore oil drilling. Hmm, yeah, funny that. What ever happened to "think globally, act locally"? It's a hokey saying, I know, but isn't it about time we got real and stepped up to the plate to try and fix this mess!?!? Well, guess everyone can't win. Sorry environment!

...oh brother.