The Rocky Mountain News reports that the Secret Service, ATF, and the U.S. Attorney’s office are investigating a possible plot to assassinate Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL). Details of the efforts by the Denver-area police so far:

Aurora police arrested a longtime drug user Sunday afternoon during a routine traffic stop where the man was seen “weaving,” sources said. Two possible other accomplices also were arrested, according to police. Police found four weapons, including two rifles and two handguns, in a rented pickup.

That arrest then led authorities to a second man staying at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Blvd in Glendale. When authorities knocked on the man’s door, they say he jumped out of his sixth floor window, landing on an awning and running from the scene. They say they soon found him with a broken ankle. He too was arrested. [...]

Police found a rifle in the man’s pickup and methamphetamine. The man allegedly made comments about Sen. Obama, but sources wouldn’t say what they were. It was enough, however, to make police believe the man might have been plotting to somehow harm Obama.

In 2007, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation giving the Justice Department the discretion to prohibit gun sales to terror suspects. The legislation was supported by gun-control groups as well as the Bush administration.

Siding with the gun industry in opposing closing this “terror gap” was Randy Scheunemann, now Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top foreign policy adviser. Newsweek reports that Scheunemann lobbied against the bill on behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

One group opposed to closing the loophole is the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun manufacturers’ trade association. Until this spring, one of its congressional lobbyists was Randy Scheunemann … Registration documents filed by Scheunemann’s company, Orion Strategies, list the terror-gap bill as one of its specific lobbying objectives, and the registrations listed Scheunemann as a lobbyist until he took a leave.

In response, the McCain campaign “declined to say if Scheunemann had ever lobbied McCain on gun-control bills.” McCain spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker said that Scheunemann is a “foreign-policy adviser.” In March, however, Scheunemann told National Journal that “he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues” in advising McCain:

Officially the top foreign policy and national security adviser to McCain’s campaign, Scheunemann told National Journal in March he has weighed in with advice on Second Amendment and firearms issues. He said he had stopped lobbying for all his clients early this year, and his lobbying registration forms show that the NRA work ended at the end of 2007.

After McCain spoke to the NRA national convention in May, “Scheunemann spent most of his time at the event backstage — where McCain had a brief meeting with NRA leaders.”

Hinting at yet another conflict of interest, the McCain campaign “refused to answer questions about whether the senator supports or opposes the White House plan to close the loophole” giving expanded gun rights to terrorists, reports Newsweek.

A ballot initiative “aimed at effectively banning gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents” was cleared to appear on this fall’s ballot in Arkansas. The measure “would prohibit unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children.” Sen. John McCain has caved to the right wing on this issue, recently stating that he doesn’t “believe in gay adoption.” “I am for the values that two parent families, the traditional family represents,” McCain said recently, presumably indicating his support for the Arkansas initiative.

In April, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) promised that the Democratic National Convention this week will be the “greenest, most sustainable” convention in history. The Democrats greening efforts include the use of biodegradable balloons and signage, an army of volunteers for recycling, and a calculation of the convention’s carbon footprint.

Responding to the Democrats’ efforts, conservative global warming denier Glenn Beck is mockingly calling on his listeners to participate in a “carbon ONset program” aimed at counteracting progressive efforts to offset the environmental impact of the convention. On his website, Beck is encouraging Americans to “use more energy for mother nature“:

What can you to help? Take part in our carbon ONset program. We are asking you to make just a few small sacrifices to completely wipe out any potential energy savings the Democrats claim credit for. (By ‘energy savings’, we mean buying their way out of the energy they’ll use by flying in tens of thousands of people to a city so they can announce Barack Obama as their candidate. Seems like most people already knew that, but I digress).

Sign up for our carbon ONset program. Use more energy for mother nature. Do it for the earth (or more accurately, the people living on it.)

Beck posted a survey on his website (see graphic on the right-hand side) where listeners can say what they’ll do to “use more energy.” On his radio show today, he also offered suggestions for how his listeners can help “raise 70 million pounds of carbon.” Beck repeatedly kept claiming it needed to be done “for the children“:

What I’m just, I’m asking you to participate because it’s for the children. You go to the website. Now, how many, how many extra miles can you pledge? Can you drive five extra miles a day? Can you take the long way home, the long way to work? Can you just warm up your car? I know it’s August. Can you cool down your car? Can you get up like you do in the winter and just start your car?

Listen here: