Sometimes I'm ignorant, so let me know if I don't know, but it appears this new energy bill that is probably going to pass Congress has been stripped of the wording that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling.
Sure, the rest of the bill sucks (except for that Daylight Savings Time thing), but that's very good news. I was very depressed when it looked like that was going forward earlier -- I can handle just about every bad political thing that happens, but development of the beautiful places in this world always seems so short-sighted to me. Once you start screwing with something like the ANWR, you can't really reverse it in the same way you can reverse bad political legislation.
Last election I heard a number of people (or maybe I was just listening to myself talk) remarking that the environment is one issue that cuts across party lines and that Kerry made a mistake by never putting it on the table, especially with his excellent track record. This is an issue that Democrats need to embrace again. It may not sway people in the way that terrorism issues do, but it could be the deciding factor for those who think both parties are full of s***.