Midday Open Thread

• Happy 5th Birthday to the Swing State Project:

  But most importantly, I have to thank you, the readers. You truly have turned this into more than just a site but a flourishing community of intelligent, inquisitive, and committed Democrats always eager to learn more - and to keep each other on our toes. When people ask me for advice about starting up a new blog, I always say, "Write for yourself - don't expect an audience." But the fact is, there is nothing like the feedback and validation that a thriving community can provide. You guys make it all worthwhile.

  So please join me in wishing the Swing State Project a very happy fifth birthday, and to many more to come. To victory in November!

• Do you remember Barney Smith, who was such a hit at the Democratic National Convention? He's in a new ad for Barack Obama.
• Via Americablog, Claire McCaskill continues to be one of my favorite Obama surrogates:

  "We have reached a new low in American politics when someone dares to say that one part of America is more pro-American than another part of America,” McCaskill said at an afternoon Barack Obama rally. [...]

  McCaskill criticized the McCain campaign as “stumbling, erratic, all over the map” and said it is trying to “distract American with small, petty, unfair personal attacks.”

  “As America has taken the measure of these men, they have looked at their judgments on the campaign trail. One picked one of the strongest candidates for vice president he could’ve picked in the United States. The other didn’t,” she said.

• And in related news, John McCain continues with his baseless attacks.
• More from Colin Powell, following his endorsement of Obama:

  And now I guess the message this week is we're going to call him a socialist. Mr. Obama is now a socialist, because he dares to suggest that maybe we ought to look at the tax structure that we have. Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them, in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good. And there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more or who should be paying less, and for us to say that makes you a socialist is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.

• Does Sarah Palin "sexualize prudery"? Rich Lowry anxiously awaits the answer.
• An Archbishop in Denver called Barack Obama "the 'most committed' abortion-rights candidate from a major party in 35 years." He said that he was speaking as a private citizen, not as a representative of the Church, but I'm guessing he was in uniform while making his remarks.
• Drill, baby, drill?

  If New Jersey allows drilling for oil and natural gas off its coast, it may dredge up an ugly and dangerous past.

  The U.S. Army has admitted to dumping 64 million pounds of chemical weapons into U.S. waters from World War I until the early 1970s.  [...]

  Chemical agents such as mustard gas, sarin gas, arsenic, cyanide and VX nerve gas were all dumped off the Atlantic Coast, raising questions about safety and the volatility of weapons in those dumpsites.

• Despite Palin's objections, the US government has listed beluga whales as endangered:

  The federal government on Friday placed beluga whales that live in Cook Inlet in Alaska on the endangered species list, rejecting efforts by Gov. Sarah Palin and others against increased protection.  [...]

  "In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," James W. Balsiger, the acting assistant administrator for the fisheries agency, said in a written statement. The whales are in danger of extinction, Dr. Balsiger said.

  - Plutonium Page