The Bush administration (despite pressure from everyone, even the recently stacked Supreme Court) has no plans to do anything about the environment for the rest of Bush's term. The EPA will instead throw open the doors of the process to the people and hear multiple months of public comment on whether they should, you know, do stuff about the environment or just generally let it slide.

Iran test-fired more missiles. Yesterday the media projected that the first round of test-firings wouldn't necessarily increase the pro-war rhetoric in the US but would definitely give the Bush administration a strong sales pitch for the missile defense shield. I don't know that anyone expected Missile 2: Test-Fire Boogaloo. The news coverage today should be interesting.

Josh Marshall has been hinting for a while that the Associated Press might be in the bag for McCain, reporting bamboozling things about Obama's Iraq stance or nonsensical news items, like how pet owners prefer McCain and Obama doesn't keep any animals.

Things get busy fast in the Middle East when something is afoot.

Sociologist Marion Levy said that "to know thyself is the ultimate form of aggression." John McCain's campaigns are notorious for their internal tumult, and among major campaigns throughout history this is certainly not a unique quality. Those internal politics may play more of a part in John McCain's latest campaign than they would have in other years against other candidates. The New York Times' Adam Nagourney breaks it down.

... there really is something special happening in Texas in Democratic politics. The Nation's Bob Moser examines the resurgence of Texas Democrats and talks to me and a few of our friends in the process.

You've heard that the Democratic National Convention will be very hard to get into, but one event in particular has a new venue as of this morning with a few more seats: Barack Obama has announced that he'll accept the Democratic Party's nomination for president at Invesco Field. Formerly known as Mile High Stadium and home to the Denver Broncos, there's just over 75,000 seats to be had.

Confused about which lobbyists Senator McCain hangs out with and which ones don't make the cut? TPM Muckraker provides (in an easy-to-use graphical format!) a guide to McCain's network of helpful pals.

Would you have believed just a few short years ago that long-standing Republican seats in the House like Dennis Hastert's would be claimed by Democrats in 2008? Would you further believe that, in the Senate, Democrats would have legitimate chances at winning in places like Alaska, Mississippi, and even North Carolina? We know the former to be true. According to the Los Angeles Times, you can also certainly believe the latter.

Happy 4th of July. We're all celebrating in our traditional ways. My wife and I went to the waterpark before hosting a family cookout, The Fix is at the beach, and John Conyers is threatening to hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress. Have a great time and be careful out there.