Lightning Round--Joe's a Prick, Fear President Joe, Air-Gate, Hank the Dog, More

Eschaton: The AP called Joe Lieberman a prick. Some say it was an error. I say they know whereof they speak.

Think Progress: Gingrich accuses Obama of being in the pockets of Big Air.

Unconventional Conventionist: UC has some notes for David Plouffe re: kicking ass.

Firedoglake: Jane Hamsher fears Senator Joe Lieberman could become Vice President Joe Lieberman, then in turn become President Joe Lieberman, which would result in her becoming Jane Hamsher Guantanamo Bay inmate.

Monkey Muck: Hank the Dog wants answers and food.

Mother Jones: You notice how McCain keeps dropping John Lewis's name as someone he would go to for advice if her were elected President?

Influence: Harriet Miers has a new jobbie job--lobbyist for Pakistan. Shit! I applied for that gig. Didn't even get an email.

More Stimulus Coming

More free money coming soon! The next stimulus package should be voted on sometime in September, and which party is going to vote against giving out money two months before an election? That's right, the imaginary pixie dust party. The checks should be here just in time for Christmas.

Incidentally, that's right around the time SMU economist Ravi Batra told Air America host Thom Hartmann that the economy will take a major plunge. As much as economic stimulus packages are gimmicky bullshit that amounts to the same kind of stimulus that public works projects could generate with some return for the public good, it's probably a damn good idea to get some money to the bottom before the end of the year.

Maddow In, Abrams Out at MSNBC

Congrats to Rachel Maddow, who will be replacing Dan Abrams at 9pm on MSNBC starting September 8th. Excellent news for Maddow, and for us.

Abrams show had become more tolerable in recent months, but even at his best Abrams could not hold a candle to Maddow.

Google "Colony Collapse Disorder"

Is the Bush Administration covering up the bee problem? Don't know what bee problem I'm talking about? Well, I would say then that they have successfully covered it up. Case closed!

Here's a hint: It has nothing to do with these guys. This picture is for the amusement of old WWF fans.

A True Blogger Finds Her Calling

Roseanne has found her calling. When she tried to host a radio show on Air America it touched a nerve with me, but on blogs, no one can hear your voice! And it's not like she took the spot of better bloggers. There's plenty of room on the blogtrain, Ro. Just stay off the radio. Those jobs we really need for true pros like Marc Maron who are still not getting their due.

UPDATE: Looks like Roseanne's been doing her blog since the Fall of 2006. My bad. I guess she's making a splash these days for ripping on Angelina Jolie. I wish I woulda thought of that.

The whole Morning Sedition thing... I guess I just can't let that go.

One thing I can let go of--my Air America subscription. I'm walking. Until they get serious and sign some real acts, I'm done with that outfit, and I am seriously addicted to podcasts. AAR signing up Maron Vs. Seder would be a good start, although, at this point I would be happier seeing that show go to another vendor. Screw Air America.

Not a Good Time For Musharraf to Go

Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is getting out of town one step ahead of impeachment. Smart move by him, but what does this mean for a region that he may have been holding together single-handedly? Does al-Qaida now have the opening it's been waiting for to take over and gain control of a nuclear weapon? Probably not, but since no one knows who's going to be calling the shots in Pakistan now, the situation could easily degrade into a multi-factional power struggle. If a big enough power vacuum ensues, it's not hard to imagine China and India getting involved simply for the sake of stabalizing a nuclear nation on their border.

Most likely, everyone will be cool. If Pakistan makes a smooth transition to a more democratic form of government that maintains its secular roots, then there's a fresh opportunity for a new administration in Washington to work with the new folks in Islamabad on clearing out al-Qaida and closing the book on Osama bin Laden once and for all.

But that's next year. This is now. Call me a pessimist, but with over five months left for George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to completely fuck this up, seeing Musharraf hit the bricks is a bit disconcerting. While his regime was a horror for democracy, and it seemed very clear that he played Bush for the fool he was over and over, there was never much doubt that Musharraf could control his nukes.

UPDATE: McClatchy's Saeed Shah writes about the many challenges that face Pakistan now that Musharraf is going.

Campaign Now Officially Groundhog's Day

"I'll give you a winter prediction: It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life."
--Phil Connors.

"I'll give you a election prediction: It's gonna be long, it's gonna be stupid, and it's going to last you the rest of your life."
--Station Agent

Six Words

Don't you think he looks tired?

Denise and I on BlogTalkRadio

The headline says it all. Christina from Yestodemocracy.com and Kevin from Rumproast were on, and Denise and I called in to add to the cacophony. There was lots of PUMA talk, and some cursing. I fucking like cursing.

Denise and I are mainly in the last hour, but listen to the whole thing, OK?

Video of the Week

Jay is a very astute judge of talent.

I have nothing to add politically, but I would like to offer this conveniently-timed bit of personal humiliation, for the enjoyment of all at the Station.

Yo Tommy, Ship Me One of Them Kirbys!

Brilliant post by Tommy Christopher on Political Machine today. Tommy used to sell vacuum cleaners and he likens the selling of Obama to the selling of a Kirby Vacuum cleaner. In fact he does such a good job, I kinda want to buy a Kirby vacuum for the station.

I used to sell Kirby vacuum cleaners, which are the best vacuum cleaners in the world. They also cost more than a pocketful of engagement rings. As such, we had to put on quite a demonstration to close that deal. The thing that did it every time was "The Salt Test."

It was an elegantly simple test, designed to not only show what the Kriby could do, but what your current vacuum cleaner could not. The first step was to write "Kirby" on the rug with thick lines of salt, then grind it into the rug. Next, I'd have the customer go over the spot with their own vacuum cleaner. Two hundred times. We had to make them count it off out loud.

It was fun. Sometimes, the kids or a neighbor would be there, and I'd make them take turns.

Usually, they'd get a little annoyed at 50 or 100, but I had to get them through it, all the way to 200. As their motor wound down, I'd try to make excuses for why their vacuum cleaner might have gotten all of it, tried to make the case that their shouldn't be a single grain of salt left. If there was, that would be all the proof they needed, etc.

Then, I'd take the Kirby, and put on a demo bag. It was just a dark, circular cloth about 2 feet in diameter, rubber-banded onto a gasket that fit onto the machine. We'd park the Kirby right on the spot they had just gone over 200 times, and negotiate how many passes to take with the Kirby. 20? 10? After a minute of this, I'd just push the power button on the Kirby, let it run for 10 seconds without even moving it, then shut it off.

Next, I'd take the bag off, place it on the rug, and open it, laying it out flat. The result was always the same. A huge pile of salt, and a bunch of dirt mixed in, too, that their machine had missed. At that point, we would lay their old vacuum on its side and bow our heads reverently.

The point of the Salt Test was not just to show that the Kirby was better than their old vacuum, but that they had to have it!

Right now, McCain is going over that spot 200 times. You can hear the motor straining, as he continues to attack Obama for being popular, and as he tries to debunk Obama's ads by saying, "No, I'm actually worse than that." He even had his ass handed to him by Paris Hilton, the equivalent of a Dust Buster in this analogy.

Meanwhile, Obama is showing off his attachments, his gleaming chrome finish, his versatility. I think the convention and the debates are where Obama steps on that power switch and shows America what McCain has missed.

Tommy also offers some great insight into the difference between the playing fields for Obama and McCain--the media.

Tommy writes:

In order to do what [Michael] Moore suggests, Barack Obama would need to overcome 20 years of right-wing echo chamber and piss-poor Democratic messaging. He's right, most Americans believe as the Democrats do, but the right wing has managed to label most Americans as "left-wing liberals" without their knowledge. Ask anyone their stands on key issues, and as Mike asserts, they'll gladly tell you they support reproductive choice, universal healthcare, treating gay people like humans, making corporations pay their fair share, and ending the war. Ask them if they're liberals? Hold the phone!

Additionally, Obama has the unenviable task of trying to sell vegetables at a fried Twinkie stand. To make matters worse, the assembled nutritionists (the media) think the fried Twinkies are delicious! The press is ill-equipped to convey even the slightest complexity to combat the Republican bumper-sticker machine.

How so many smart, experienced observers have made the mistake of thinking that victory for Obama is as simple as overwhelming parallel response is maddening. McCain throws a couple of incoherent haymakers and people want Obama to do the same just for the sake of matching McCain's effort, as if the media wouldn't completely ignore the initial ridiculous attack from McCain and then characterize Obama's attack as some over the line, Howard Dean-like anger from the suddenly insane and un-Presidential Barack Obama.

Tommy's right, Obama needs to show people all at once the difference between himself and McCain and the reason it will work is because he will have banked 18-months of unflappable sanity with the American people.

Warp Drives Could Work

Next stop: Space Station Tango!

From The Telegraph:

In the long running television series created by Gene Roddenberry, the warp drive was invented by Zefram Cochrane, who began his epic project in 2053 in Bozeman, Montana.

Now Dr Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and Richard Obousy have come up with a new twist on an existing idea to produce a warp drive that they believe can travel faster than the speed of light, without breaking the laws of physics.

(more)

All I want to know is if my MP3 player will work in space.

By the way something, I love the way these huge step forward stories always end with the buzzkill buried at the end of the article. In this case, it's the wicked smart Dr. Cleaver playing killjoy with this massive caveat, "We are still a very long ways off before we could create something to harness that type of energy." I bet there's a contractor getting paid a lot of money to research it.