SWEET VICTORY IN THE SENATE!

Thanks are in order to Republican Senators who joined the Democrats in voting down the ANWR drilling proposal. The vote was 56-44, short of the 60 votes necessary to avoid a threatened filibuster. Now maybe the Senate can get down to the business of getting the funding approved for our troops in Iraq, relief for Katrina hurricane victims and help for low-income families to pay energy bills. They can do this quickly, by withdrawing the legislation so it can be reworked without the divisive ANWR language. I think Democrats rightly accused Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens of holding the spending bill hostage by attaching something contentious and unrelated... I think this makes the Republicans look like they care more about oil than about our troops, our hurricane victims, and Americans who can't afford to heat their homes. Despite feeling good about this turn of events, I feel this is just another temporary reprieve... We still have three more years of Bush, and he will do his damnedest to get approval for drilling in the ANWR... but for now, I'll savor a sweet victory for common sense over one man and his party's selfish motives.