Ask anyone who lived through the depression or a world war and they will tell you sometimes you will have to put the pursuit of happiness on hold for a while, sometimes out of bare necessity and sometimes out of the greater good. We as citizens, and as earth bound living organisms, have a responsibility to maintain our surroundings and manage resources wisely. Grow up and take some social responsibility. Nobody forced you to have children.
The phrase, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is in the Declaration of Independence....the pursuit of happiness is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution.
Un-Bee-Leave-Able!!! Exxon Valdez $2.5 billion oil spill ruling overturned http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080625/bs_nm/exxon_valdez_court_dc Anyone else want to say the administration and the courts are not partial to big business, specifically oil? For the 32,000 people affected by this the reduced amout of $507 million is about $15,000 per person. If a fishrman could not fish and provide for his family for a period of, say, three years is $15,000 going to make up for that? The proposed 2.6 billion meant about $80,000 per person, which over three years is about $26,000 per year. If we can't hold these companies accountable for their mishaps, why would we want to allow them to drill offshore?
What does it say about the court system that the spill happened over 19 years ago and is still being contested? Wonder how many of the fishermen have already passed on? What a system.
They already received compensatory damages, which was to "make them whole" for financial damages. http://law.freeadvice.com/general_practice/legal_remedies/damage_compensatory.htm Punitive is for the company being "bad". I am not saying punitive should not have been more, but they have been reimbursed for their losses already. I guess those costs were proved in court earlier.
But Harvey, we are not living in a depression or a world war era. What is the greater good here? The rich get richer and the poor get poorer? That's your retort? I should grow up? Well golly, I think selling my truck and reconfiguring my day to life was pretty grown up, although it was not necessarily for social responsibility - more like necessity. And nobody forced your mother, either. Yet here you are. FTR, my kids were all born before gas was 3 & 4 dollars a gallon. I guess I could be more socially responsible and give them up for adoption to somebody who drives a Hybrid. You lookin' for some kids? I gotta warn ya though - the oldest plans on joining the army and hates hippies. It might be uncomfortable at the Father-Son Picnic.
What, that you didn't give up any constitutional rights like you claimed?? Or that you're a poor history student??? Sorry, just my inner Clif coming out. :hurray:
Really? Maybe a recession with things continuing to head down hill? No? Not even a little bit? Okay. You're right, it is a grown up thing to do. But whining about having to do it...not so much. I realize the minivan is a necessity for you, but the MPG jump from a Durango to a minivan is not that big, although I could be surprised. Again, you're right. Except my mother never complained about what a drag her kids were and how expensive they were. In fact, she was a single mom raising kids in the 70's when the price of gas was pretty darn high for a while. She drove what she could afford which was a little Datsun which was pretty good on gas for the time. Nobody is saying you can't have kids or a Durango/minivan. However, don't complain about your lot in life when it is the lot you chose. If someone tells me that they saw the price of gas coming a mile away, I wouldn't believe them. That being said, you can pretty much bank on some sort of financial crunch at multiple points in your adult life. Kind of like those people with the big houses and screwy mortgages...one little burp and the fit hits the shan. No one forced them to buy a 4,000 sq. ft. house they couldn't afford with a funky ARM. Typical. I am a hippy and your oldest son can beat me up some day. Wonderful. It is good that he is joining the army while so filled with hate for hippies. Seems like you're teaching him well... If it comes to pass I will be thankful for his service and protection of hippies like me even though he will hate those he enlisted to protect.
I wish Clif were here, I would love for him to chime in on this. My point was that, the current state of this union is not what our founding fathers had in mind - just in general - not this specific example.
50-miles offshore The proposal introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Dole restricts off-shore drilling to be at least 50 miles off the coast, so we won't see any platforms from the beach.
This is a picture of the ocean currents off our coast. The red coming up from Florida is the Gulf Stream. It collides with the Labrador at the north end of the outer banks. This one point in our earth’s eco-system produces and is one of the controlling factors of life, weather, and sustenance. But you say because you want gas for your cars your willing to take the chance in planting potential bombs smack dab in the middle of that area? Sounds like the greed and selfishness of our society has taken the next step. Where's the "Y" generation when you need them?
Nice article in the Sunday N&O that has even the Bush Administration concerned about the reefs off of North Carolina. But then again our SUVs are more important than "Gods Creations". http://www.newsobserver.com/150/story/1124227.html
Not so much here, compared to other parts of the country. I'm not whining, Harvey. I am bitching, there's a difference. The jump from the Durango was 13.5 mpg (regardless of how/where I was driving with the exception of 15.9 I achieved on long trips) to almost 22/23 when I mind my rpms and do mostly highway driving. In the first month or so I saved around $150.00 on gas. And I could afford a Durango, and I can afford this minivan. What I cannot afford now is to drive it anywhere. I drove a little compact car for yers when it was just my son and I. I married, expanded my family, my son got older, played sports, played a large instrument, my husband enjoys hunting/fishing. I'm not somebody who is living beyond their means, and wants it all. I just want to get my children and their belongings safely from point A to point B. I am perfectly happy with my lot in life. I am a SAHM and have made many changes/sacrifices to do it. I have a 1600 sq ft house with a nice low rate VA loan. That and the minivan is the only debt I have. If it comes down to working and putting my children in daycare to afford gas/needs in general - the minivan will go - I will take a hit -and I will Enlightened person some more. Harvey, you oughtta know me by now. I don't preach hate. My son, even at 13 is his own person and l loves America, laws, order, and upholding the ideas that this country was founded on. I would compare him to Patton, except he compared Patton to the Devil studying the Bible.
Something just occurred to me... There is so much chatter in the news about offshore drilling. Who supports it, how it should be done, how/when will it help, etc. I think it is funny how folks debate offshore drilling, but offshore windpower isn't given a second thought. Cleaner, safer, renewable, creates just as many jobs. I know we are talking about fuel for cars vs. electricity, but still... There is a case where some business was blocked from putting up three wind turbines near Beaufort, basically because people did not want their view ruined (despite a cell phone tower being located in the vicinity). How do you folks feel about windpower offshore, or onshore for that matter?
Sorry new dude....People like hugh and a few others are skeptical of random knowledge. But be weary of where you gather your intel. It will never be good enough for the couch politicians.
