Dawdlers fell to the decisive today when United States senators voted to approve oil exploration in a speck of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Democrats were unhappy and unguarded:
"We won't see this oil for 10 years. It will have minimal impact," argued Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., a co-sponsor of the amendment that would have stripped the arctic refuge provision from the budget document.
Poor choice of argument. If not for Cantwell and her party, we'd be three years along.
As for the effects of drilling on wildlife — ask the caribou.