When the Senate came out with its underwhelming energy bill, which they then proceeded to fail to pass, I described it as a crossroads moment for the environmental movement. They would either accept what the Senate Democratic leadership handed them, or try to force some changes.

It’s worth a shot to pressure members of Congress on the issue. And Senators are the correct target. The House at least got a carbon cap through already.

The economy is really bad right now, so it is no surprise that it is hurting President Barack Obama. While his job approval numbers are not yet terrible (47 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove), drilling further down into the results from the new NBC/WSJ poll (PDF), danger is lurking for Obama if the job market doesn’t turn around in the next year or two.

While everyone has been focused on the hope that gays and lesbians may soon get the rights straight people enjoy, in Florida a court ruled that womb-bearers have some rights too, specifically to decide their own medical treatment when pregnant.

The argument that reducing U.S.-caused civilian casualties and contrasting their number with the Taliban’s brutality will contribute to a “strategically decisive” embrace of the U.S.’s allies in Afghanistan has been trumped.

It’s very important to keep on top of the implementation of the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill, because Congress basically outsourced the writing of the bill to the regulators. There are 67 studies and 200 rules that regulators will have to conduct, enact and implement. And so it’s worth looking into their progress, which has already begun.

Dude. Really. You need to quit talking smack, sit up and pay attention. You lost my vote last week and it won’t be the first time, either.

With most voters having already made up their minds about how they plan to vote on Prop 19, and with only about 50% certain to vote yes as of today, it looks like the initiative’s success or failure will come down to turnout.

With the public’s approval ratings of Congress at near-historic lows and not budging, it’s hard to see how this could be the fault of a couple of bloggers nobody has heard of. More likely, it’s the result of constituencies who aren’t happy with symbolic gestures while the government’s priority is to battle for the dollars of big corporate donors.

According to Gallup, Obama’s approval ratings among Hispanics has dropped 20 points this year. They note that “the two major drops in Hispanics’ approval of Obama this year — in February and May — coincide with two periods when the president was under fire for not doing enough to promote comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.”

Judge Walker has made his decision on the motion to stay his judgment in the Proposition 8 case.

So, the stay has been denied. But that judgment has been stayed, basically, for another week. At that point, Prop 8 is toast. But this gives the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals the ability to stay Judge Walker’s ruling within the next week. So that’s the next phase.