Part Coastie, Almost Alaskan

I found this article today and since we are a Coast Guard family moving to Alaska, it piqued my interest. If you want to read it in the original form, here is the site

Here is the text, unchanged by me:

You're likely aware that the notorious Exxon Valdez case is back in court yet again. Yesterday, the Most Profitable Company of All Time argued before the U.S. Supreme Court that it shouldn't have to pay $2.5 billion in damages to Alaskans harmed by the spill. (That was reduced from the original $5 billion, but Exxon argues it shouldn't have to pay any damages. Yes, really.)

It is, of course, morally repugnant almost beyond measure for the company to be fighting this still today. But my outrage and disgust aren't particularly interesting. What might be interesting is a fact you may not know about the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain.

Just four months after the Valdez spill, Sen. George Mitchell introduced S.686, a measure relating to oil spills and liability. Sen. Brock Adams then introduced an amendment (S.Amdt.669) requiring double hulls on all new tankers over 20,000 tons operating in U.S. waters. (Valdez was a single-hull tanker.)

Big Oil's Best Buddy Sen. John Breaux moved to table the amendment. When the vote was taken, the amendment was indeed tabled, by an extremely narrow 51-48 vote.

Guess who voted with Breaux and Big Oil? That's right: Straight Talkin', Special Interest Hatin', Enviro-Maverick John McCain!

Again: four months after the biggest environmental disaster in U.S. history, McCain voted against requiring double hulled tankers.

To this day, Exxon is the only oil company that doesn't use double-hulled tankers to ship oil in and out of Alaska.

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Such a shame. Why keep the same old same old in office? We can make a change. Support Obama '08.

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Thanks everyone for your awesome comments and emails regarding my last post. I am not digging this grieving business at all, and I think that I have hit only the tip of the iceberg. Wouldn't you know that yesterday as I was having an irrational meltdown and put myself in time out by going outside to hang up laundry, "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor came on the radio (one of Mom's songs) and DH turned the radio up so I would be sure to hear it outside. Some people call it goosebumps, but I call it chicken skin. All I know is that I was rocking it.

I will play catch up this weekend and post our family pictures from Japan. Pinky swear.

Peace.