An oddity today on Press the Meat – something actually worth watching – as Tom Brokaw welcomes President Al Gore, on to talk about how refreshing it would have been to have had an intelligent Nobel Prize winner in the White House. Oh, and David Gregory and Chuck Todd will be on too, for whatever it is they do.

Faze the Nation’s website advises us to watch “Sunday, June 29 at 10:30 a.m. ET on CBS.” You know, if they don’t give a shit what’s on their show, I sure as hell don’t. ut rumor has it Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be on to praise the Bush economy.

On Fux News Sunday, Joe Liebermann will try to out-weasel Weaselface Wallace, and there’ll also be appearances by Evan “buh” Bayh, Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the usual fuxheads.

Thanks to the British Open, there will be no “This Weak” this week on the Goebbels network. Too bad they can’t play every week.

CNN’s Late Emission mit Wolf Blitzer includes an encore appearance by Heny Paulson, Lizard Queen Condi Rice, Botox Queen Nancy Pelosi, and Missouri Moron Roy Blunt.

As for us, well, our hot water heater blew last night, so today we’ll be running out to buy a new one and installing it. The old one was 14 years old, so it isn’t a surprise, and I feel quite lucky that it happened when it did. The damn things have gotten pretty expensive, but at least it’s something that I can replace myself. I’d hate to be at the mercy of a plumber.

Y’all have a good Sunday.

Junior is off to visit his kinfolk in Minnesota today. That means leaving from either Rochester or Buffalo (Buffalo, I think; flights from Syracuse are ridiculously expensive), so Granny got up in the middle of the night to pick him up and take him there. So I reckon that means I have most of the day to myself, since even when she gets back, I suppose she’ll probably want to take a nap. So I guess I should probably get some quality time with the XBox.

In other news, for some reason I started wondering if Monty Hall is still alive. Happily, he is. And so is Carol Merrill (I think they both look pretty damn good, too; they’re not exactly spring chickens, though Monty’s about 20 years older than Carol, so I give him the “best preserved” award).

Sadly, Jay Stewart passed away in 1989. A sad story, that. His daughter committed suicide in 1981, and apparently Jay – despite finding Jesus and getting tight with Pat Robertson – never got over it. He hit the bottle pretty hard, and wound up shooting himself in his car park. 🙁 You folks of a certain age will know who I mean. You younger folks, I envy. I wish I was too young to know who Jay Stewart was.

Have a good day.

Today marks the start of this year’s Syracuse Nationals, which is the largest Hot Rod and Vintage car show on this side of the continent (this side of the Rockies, I think). Not only does that mean 7,000 tricked-out cars and trucks and some 80,000 visitors will be in town, but this year you can go out and meet the Fonz and Shirley Feeney (that’d be Henry Winkler and Cindy Williams, for you younger folks)!

I don’t generally go to the show, but, for the next few days, our streets will be filled with some of the coolest looking vehicles you’ll ever get a chance to see. A lot of the folks stay at the Econo-Lodge a block down the road, and the street behind my house (which was once the Erie Canal, but is now Erie Boulevard) is a divided six lane road where the cars traditionally love to strut their stuff (with enough nice straight stretches in between traffic lights to do a little drag racing, which of course is discouraged by the local Carabinieri).

Oh, I know. Cars burning gas and dumping CO₂ into the atmosphere is bad for the planet and contributes to global warming and all that, but, well, these cars are pretty cool, and a lot of fun to watch. So, screw it. It’s gonna be in the 90’s today anyway; might as well go for 100.

Have a good ‘un.

Oops. Almost forgot to get something up for this morning. See? That’s why we need some new blood. Of course, if you want to post here, you have to submit to a credit check and a psych evaluation. If your credit is good or you’re considered emotionally ‘stable,’ we don’t want your kind around here.

Supposed to be too damn hot again today. Even worse tomorrow. I hate that.

Of course the big news around here is that Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies got busted with a quarter ounce of coke at one of our fine establishments. Bummer.

So, last week there seemed to be some interest in spreading the opening thread duties around. Sounds like a good idea to me. It should make things more interesting for both our regular commenters and our lurkers, who are no doubt getting pretty tired of listening to me.

So, if you want to take part, shoot me an e-mail (pjsauter AT morningseditionists DOT com) and let me know what day(s) – if any – you prefer (Sunday through Saturday), and we’ll see about working out a schedule. If we get more than 7 volunteers, we can figure out a way to spread the wealth. I’ll also set up a mailing list (and maybe a shared calendar), so everybody can stay up on whose turn it is, exchange days (even collaborate; whatever works), whatever. And if you don’t want to commit to doing something every week, that’d be cool, too.

Who knows? Maybe we can even get some of our estranged former regulars to contribute a post now and again.

So, let me know.

So, I see the Republicans have raised $39 Million for their party in St. Paul. That should buy an awful lot of purple heart band aids. Oh, wait, that was last convention. Any display like that this year would be deemed unpatriotic and anti-military, I guess. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be quite a good time anyway. Too bad I won’t be able to make it.

Meanwhile, speaking of Minnesota, according to Rasmussen, Al Franken has a two point lead over Norm “Jaws” Coleman – 44%-42% (a net five-point swing from last month).

Go get him, Al.

Oh, by the way, do you realize that last night (or early this morning) was the second anniversary of the final Marc Maron Show? July 14, 2006. Two years gone in a flash. Damn.

The thing that sucks about actually doing something on the weekend for a change is that you need a couple days to recover from it. Instead, it’s back to work again. And I’m really not in the mood for that today.

Oh, BTW, this is post number 1,000.

No chance to see who the boobbleheads are today (and we were not visited by the ghosts of Tim Russert or Tony Snow), but fortunately Kevin was able to take some time out from listening to the Victrola and let us know what’s in store for us today.

And now, a few pithy Ben Franklin sayings:

There are three faithful friends — an old wife, an old dog, and ready money.

Well, two out of three aint bad.

Keep your eyes wide open before marriage, half shut afterwards.

Helps if you can disconnect your ears, too, and develop your smile and nod muscles.

One good Husband is worth two good Wives; for the scarcer things are, the more they’re valued.

I’ve seen “Big Love.” One good wife is plenty.

Fear not death; for the sooner we die, the longer shall we be immortal.

Or not. Either way, there’s not much point in worrying.

There was never a good war or a bad peace.

Or a bad piece, for that matter.

Hunger is the best pickle.

I have no idea what that means, but I think it would make a great bumper sticker.

Have a good Sunday!

Granny and I are off in a couple of hours to go to Lily Dale, which is a spiritualist community. In honor of our anniversary, we’ll be attending a Victorian Seance tonight, and we’ll be staying overnight in a 130 year old haunted hotel. It supposedly has Wi-Fi access, but I think you’ll be on your own to see what the bobbleheads have planned on Sunday (unless we’re visited by the ghost of Tim Russert). Expect a generic Sunday thread with perhaps a pithy quote. Though if the wi-fi works and we see some ghosts, I’ll be sure and report in.

Supposed to be in the 90’s today. Good day to get the hell out of town.

Enjoy your Saturday.

July 11, 1998. A day that will live in infamy. It was on this date that I finally gave in to all of Granny’s stalking, and let her make an honest man of me. Hard to believe it’s only already been 10 years. We’ve gone through half a dozen cats, one mother (mine), three cars, one really great morning radio show, at least ten (probably more like fifteen) different jobs between the two of us, and got all the kids out of the house.

I think we’ll celebrate tonight by me taking the dogs out to the park while Granny works a 12 hour day for 8 hours pay. Enjoy your Friday, y’all.