We are the butchers we've been waiting for

Make your own Obama button here.

Brand new day

What will we learn about the Palins today?

Poor Joe

Ezra Klein on Joe Lieberman:

Eight years ago, you were the vice presidential nominee. Four years ago, you were begging Democrats for their presidential nomination. Two years ago, you were defeated in a Democratic primary. Now you're at the Republican convention. Lieberman is at the Xcel Center for much the reason that my a goldfish spends his days in a neon castle: He has nowhere else to go.

A bounce we can believe in

CNN has a curious outlier poll, finding no convention bounce for Obama. But everyone else seems to have him up 5 to 10 points since last Thursday.

Of course, there's no way to know if this will be an enduring bounce, or if it will be erased by the GOP holding its convention just a few days later. Either way, it looks like the Democratic convention had the effect that its organizers were hoping for.

Another cautionary tale about social networking software

Levi Johnston, the boyfriend and purported fiancee of Bristol Palin and the alleged father of the Republican vice presidential nominee's first grandchild, has a MySpace page.

On his MySpace page, Johnston boasts, "I'm a f - - -in' redneck" who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes.

"But I live to play hockey. I like to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some s- - - and just f - - -in' chillin' I guess."

"Ya f - - - with me I'll kick [your] ass," he added.

He also claims to be "in a relationship," but states, "I don't want kids."

Place your bets

Will Palin withdraw? Intrade has a betting line:

I wondered if Denny's ever closed...

Posted without comment:

MODESTO, Calif. — Police say a man tried to cut off his own arm at a restaurant in Modesto, Calif., because he thought he had injected air into a vein while shooting cocaine and feared he would die unless he took drastic action.

Authorities say 33-year-old Michael Lasiter rushed into the Denny's restaurant late Friday and started stabbing himself in one arm with a butter knife he grabbed from a table.

They say that when that knife didn't work Lasiter took a butcher knife from the kitchen and dug it into his arm.

Police Sgt. Brian Findlen says Lasiter told officers he thought he needed to amputate his arm to keep himself from dying from the cocaine injection.

Lasiter was taken to a hospital for treatment of severe cuts.

The Denny's closed for the night.