Just some babbling...
This oil spill has really been eye opening for me. I've obviously been aware of the opposition to off shore oil drilling, but I always assumed it was opposed mostly by rich folks with condos on the beach who didn't want to see the rigs from their back porch. Environmentalist never got my attention as to why they were so concerned about them. I get it now, unfortunately it took such a disaster to change my mind. I was indifferent to off shore oil drilling.. that's not the case now. Perhaps it's reactionary, but we cannot risk the economic and environmental survival of dozens of states for a marginal amount of oil.
I grew up in a fishing community, a lot of the kids I went to school with had parents who were shrimpers. I can't fathom what the thousands of fishermen in that one county are going to do for work, much less the tens of thousands up and down the gulf coast. This will literally destroy communities for generations to come, ravage natural hurricane barriers, and potentially wipe species off the earth (such as manatees).
The thing that scares the piss out of me is I was on the OrlandoSentinel.com yesterday and 70% of those who took the online poll still favor expansion of off shore drilling. It's time to wake up and realize that the 150 mile trip to Grandma's house in your F150 is going to cost a bit more than it did in the past. Start charging $6+ a gallon for gas and see how quickly the American public demands a rapid creation of viable alternatives and mass transit.
This situation is sickening and I hope BP pays through the nose.
PS - I'm not sure what's happening to me, I'm reverting to a bleeding heart environmentalist liberal. Perhaps that Kenyan fella' in the WhiteHouse has an evil African spell on me. ;)
More conservatives should be
More conservatives should be for conservation of the environment. Foolish to call yourself conservative if you aren't trying to actually conserve anything. -Josh