Obama campaign quickly responds to Hillary's Ads. I think the way Obama sheds Hillary's attacks by bringing up specific issues is very clever. She's getting the creeping nervesprints now, truly in the animal soup of it.

You may recall back in December when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied the state of California its petition to institute plans to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. This ruling, by EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson, was made over the objections of the EPA's own professional and legal staff. It was a curious and disappointing decision at the time — and Senator Barbara Boxer, in her capacity as the Chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, demanded that all documents concerning the decision be turned over to her staff. This past week the Committee released many of the documents and they tell a tale of politics and willful ignorance over the needs and desires of the people of California, as well as the other 17 states that want to implement their own, tougher greenhouse gas emissions programs.

The EPA documents tell an interesting story — that Johnson was obviously pressured by someone in the White House to deny California's request for a waiver to the Clean Air Act so that the state could implement their program — that this pressure primarily came due to outside lobbying from the auto manufacturers — and that the internal EPA staff tried hard to justify a waiver, but could not even under the strong pressure pressed upon them. When the waiver was denied on December 19 of last year, it was done under the guise of three main reasons: That there shouldn't be a"confusing patchwork" of state rules for attacking the greenhouse gas problem; That California didn't show that its problems were unique enough to have its own plan; and, California's proposal was weaker when it came to automobile mileage standards than the new federal CAFE standards.

All these rationales have been shown to be false.

The New York Times says that 1 out of 100 adult Americans was incarcerated in 2006, and probably more than that today. A startling rise, especially on those always visceral charts. The prison-industrial complex is a nasty thing indeed. Throw in the voter manipulation mentioned earlier by Mac, as felons of course lose voting rights in some states, add the racism that's endemic in our legal system, mix, serve frothy. Paranoia shakes, a wee prison bit in the craw.

It's the definition of a criminal that we've gotten confused, I think. Being crazy or weird or irrepressible isn't worthy of prison. Violence or theft, aye, but we live in a country where yelling on a street corner or knocking over a single symbolic shopping display can get you tazed and dragged away. Maybe we need to add the Right to Perform Art into the Bill of Rights.

50 bucks for a street performer's license?

There's a new Obama video in town, much in the line with the last "Yes We Can" video:

Seems like Obama's got the creative types on his side.This is an open thread, so what's up?

Almost everyone I know thinks Obama has a shot at winning both Texas and Ohio. And hell, he very well might. But I can't help but thinking there is a lot of expectation control coming from the Clinton camp. Chris Bower's has the polling numbers and Clinton's latest statement. I'll have more on this later this weekend.

Future Majority looks at the "Colbert Bump:"

It turns out that the much-fabled "Colbert Bump" is real. In a paper titled The Colbert bump in Campaign Donations: More Truthful Than Truthy (pdf), James Fowler, a political scientist at UC San Diego proves that Democrats appearing on the show receive 44% more money in the month following the appearance than those who do not appear.

And finally, Circus 68 draws a fascinating, if odd connection between September 11th, American pop culture, and the evolution of Britney Spears:

Britney Spears, once America's darling sweetheart. She was wholesome, sweet and virginal. She, more than anything else, represented the wavelength of pre 9-11 American naivety. She unassumingly paced the American tempo, proclaiming the importance of family values, religion, the sanctity of the institution of marriage, monogamy, material wealth, and the list goes on and on. She was American Values personified and plastered across our televisions, movie screens, magazine stands, etc. in the guise of the cute girl next door in pig tails and short shorts.

…

It was on September 11th, 2001, that everything changed. Our would as we knew it came crashing down around us with the demise of the world trade center. The beacon of our American dreams and capitalist imperialism was destroyed along with our innocence and naivety. We had to wake up and acknowledge the effect we were having on the world existing outside of America. And not surprisingly, as the political climate in America changed so did our Britney.

Has Britney personified our decent into the paranoid, dangerous world we think we live in post-9/11? I must admit, I've never thought of it that way, but it almost makes sense.

Do you agree?

Hillary takes another idea straight from the GOP playbook.

Text (from Dkos)

It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep, But there's a phone in the White House, and it's ringing — something's happening in the world. Your vote will decide who answers that call.

Whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders, knows the military, someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It’s 3 AM and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone?

Bill Clinton, stumping for John Kerry in 2004.

"If one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to make you think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

Democrats are better than this. I'm thinking this will put Obama over the top in Ohio.

Stocks continue to fall amid fears of recession:

Stocks fell sharply Friday after a series of economic and earnings reports and a further rise in oil prices stoked concerns about the health of economy. The major stock indexes fell more than 1.5 percent, with the Dow Jones industrials giving up more than 200 points.

Bonddad has an analysis of Ben Bernanke's latest testimony before Congress and what it means for our economy. Short version:

The only good picture in all of this is exports — one of the few benefits of a crashing dollar.

Bottom line: Ben has a lot of reasons to be concerned right now.

Of course, we're also spending all sorts of money in Iraq, which isn't helping at all. Your thoughts on the economy?

Turkish troops have pulled out of Iraq:

Turkey launched the incursion into northern Iraq more than a week ago against the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, a group fighting for the autonomy of predominantly Kurdish southeastern Turkey. The rebels have carried out attacks in Turkey from bases in Kurdish Iraq.

…

The Turkish military said that 300 rebels were detected in Iraq's Zap region, and 240 of them were killed in the operation.

Hopefully, this will be the end of cross-border conflicts between Iraq and Turkey. Hopefully next time, Iraq and the U.S. will stand up against these violations of national sovereignty. I'm just glad things didn't spiral out of control.

Thoughts?

The Sierra Club endorses my boy Andrew Rice in its first Senate endorsement this year. Downwithtyranny has more.

I believe Rice can win. But it's going to take an unusual coalition: progressive evangelicals, swing voters, young voters, conservationists, women, and others. As Rice said himself during an interview with Grist:

It's definitely an uphill battle, but the political climate in Oklahoma this year, like in most of the country, is unique. There's anti-incumbent sentiment. Inhofe is more vulnerable than he normally would be, because the electorate has moved away from him. He hasn't taken any independent stances from Bush.

Some of the stuff he's well-known for, like his comments on global warming, have happened since his last election. The famous comment about the hoax — that was in 2003.

We have our base votes of around 40 percent Democrats; he's got about 40 percent of the electorate as Republicans; we're going for that 20 percent swing vote in the middle. They tend to be angry with Washington, D.C., and anxious about the future of the country. They're angry with him, and they really feel like he doesn't get it. With that in mind, we're running an outsider campaign against him.

So let's hope the endorsements keep coming, and maybe the outsider can take down the craven, corrupt insider.

There's no such thing as a long shot in 2008. 50-state-strategy-minded Dems should take a close look at Rice. So should conservationists and environmentalists from across the political spectrum. So should any Oklahoman whose economic livelihood has been threatened by Republican corruption and mismanagement - because unlike Inhofe, who seems skilled only at playing to the interests of his anticompetitive corporate buddies, Rice can lead the fight against climate change and help families put food on the table.

Reviewing the New York Philharmonic's performance in North Korea this week, Jason writes,

But this is about more than politics. When art is involved, some things suddenly seem more important.

I couldn't have said it better myself. If you haven't heard/seen this performance already. It's worth viewing. Powerful even when its striped of its political implications.

Whether you're a fan of classical music or not, you can't deny the beauty and emotional might of the New York Philharmonic's performance in North Korea earlier this week. Watching it makes me regret not having more music in my life. How 'bout you?