The fascinating and the just plain weird

Like many of us, I am always wondering who is going to be the next Ross Perot. Might one of the also-rans in either party break off and make a run for it? Would it be someone sufficiently quirky to live up to the Perot legacy? For this reason, Ron Paul, Texas congressman and sometime Libertarian party presidential candidate, sort of fascinates me. He has some serious word-of-mouth support-building going on right now, to judge by the huge number of random people who call in to C-SPAN or comment on blogs in favor of his presidential candidacy. He was one of 2 Republicans to vote in favor of de-funding the Office of the Vice President.

But he does not fascinate me nearly as much as Mike Gravel.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLE

Last night, as the House of Representatives considered the Interior Appropriations bill, the environmental community scored a huge pile of victories.

In fact, it would be fair to say that the enviros completely rocked it, contributing to wins in a series of votes that point to some shifts in the political landscape. A couple of highlights:

1. Passed: Amendment to end "royalty relief" to oil companies in a time of record profits.
2. Passed: Amendment to restore the moratorium on oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf. The ocean and its critters thank you.
3. Passed: Amendment to end subsidies to support clearcutting in Alaska's Tongass National Forest.

I smell fear...the good kind of fear. Bad guy fear.