Don’t miss Austin discussing Ataturk on the C-Span2 channel this weekend. C-Span2 is covering the Texas Book Festival, and is scheduled to run the following panel at 4:00 PM eastern on Sunday:

4-5pm ET: Panel on the Arab Spring with Austin Bay, “Ataturk,” Robin Wright, “Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World,” and James Zogby, “Arab Voices.”

In the meantime, click below to listen to our interview:

(21 minutes long; 20MB file size. Want to download instead of streaming? Right click here to download this show to your hard drive. Or right click here to download the 6 MB lo-fi edition.

If your browser/Internet connection balks at the Flash player above and/or downloading the audio, click on the player below, or click here to be taken to YouTube, for an audio-only YouTube clip.  Between one of those versions, you should find a format that plays on your system.

For any of our recent podcasts at the PJM Lifestyle blog, start here and keep scrolling.

Among the topics discussed:

• The CEO of Starbucks has called for an end to partisan rancor. Given that the price of a monthly Ricochet membership is tied to the price of grande latte at the flagship Starbucks in Seattle, does this signal a moratorium on new podcasts?
• What is it like for a conservative working in Hollywood?
• Was Cheers a liberal TV show?
• Is Los Angeles now the most puritanical city on the earth?
• Is living — and dining well — the best revenge against the puritan left?
• Is TV’s small screen shrinking President Obama’s stature?
• And more!

30 minutes long, tune in here to listen.

As Mark Steyn writes in the introduction to his new book, After America: Get Ready for Armageddon, just out today from Regnery Publishing:

Nobody writes a doomsday tome because they want it to come true. From an author’s point of view, the apocalypse is not helpful: the bookstores get looted and the collapse of the banking system makes it harder to cash the royalty check. But Cassandra’s warnings were cursed to go unheeded, and so it seems are mine. Last time ’round, I wrote that Europe was facing a largely self-inflicted perfect storm that threatened the very existence of some of the oldest nation-states in the world. My warning proved so influential that America decided to sign up for the same program but supersized. Heigh-ho.

As  I said to Mark at the top of our 20 minute interview this morning, I received a copy of his book from his publicist on Wednesday, the Dow Jones dropped 512 points on Thursday, and S&P shorted America’s credit rating on Friday.

Now that’s a publicity campaign.

Mark discusses what H.G. Wells’ Victorian-era Time Traveler would think about life amongst the “Eloi” of the 21st century. He offers his take on Bloomberg.com’s presumably unintentionally hilarious headline yesterday, “Geithner Says European Nations Must Get ‘Fiscal House’ in Order.” And he’ll answer the question that’s been on Thomas Friedman’s mind in recent weeks — “Can Greeks Become Germans?”

All this and much more of the most fun you’ll have contemplating the Spenglerian collapse of a nation near you. (And watch this space for a transcript of the interview, hopefully online tomorrow. UPDATE: Transcript added here.)

Click here to listen:

(21 minutes long; 19MB file size. Want to download instead of streaming? Right click here to download this week’s show to your hard drive. Or right click here to download the 6 MB lo-fi edition. And for any of our recent podcasts at the new PJM Lifestyle blog, start here and keep scrolling.)

Update (11:59 PM PDT): A couple of people have complained of difficulties with the Flash player above and/or downloading the audio. Click below on the player below, or click here to be taken to YouTube, for an audio-only YouTube clip.  Between one of those versions, you should find a format that plays on your system.

In the meantime, welcome those clicking in from:

• Instapundit.com
• Hot Air.com
• Ace of Spades.com
• Power Line
• Small Dead Animals
• The Brothers Judd
• Steyn Online
• And the Pajamas homepage.

Update (8/9/11): Transcript of interview begins on next page.

Note: No puppies were blended in the making of this interview.

I think.

Click here to listen.

(Incidentally, greetings from 30,000 feet, as this and the last few blog posts were delivered via American Airlines’ onboard Wi-Fi system.)

Since CNBC’s Rick Santelli first suggested a Chicago Tea Party to protest President Obama’s plans to “stimulate” the economy and bailout homeowners through unrestrained government spending, organized demonstrations have been occurring across the fruited plain. In fact, as Glenn Reynolds reported moments ago, there’s one happening today in Cincinnati.

Unfortunately, unless you frequent conservative websites, you’d have no idea that such events were being staged.

Of course–because the modern job of the MSM is largely to keep news out, not let it in. Or like the Swift Vets, the John Edwards scandal and Charles Freeman, debate stories on the op-ed pages that the general public is familiar with thanks to blogs and new media, even though MSM’s news departments never bothered to report them.

Related: “Nice To See Kathleen Parker Knows What Is The Cause Of The Demise Of Newspapers.”

Update: Trust me, if it was 2003, and/or there was a Republican in the White House and/or this was an ANSWER-organized protest, this photo would be all over the MSM. On the other hand, as Glenn Reynolds writes, “Yeah, it’s kind of cool the way people are sending me coverage in realtime via Blackberry and cellphone. Somebody should write a book about this phenomenon…” Heh, indeed.™

Ed Morrissey’s latest post explores similar ground — and it focuses on a state (New Jersey) whose fiscal and gubernatorial woes were the subject of one of our very first podcasts.

Update: This comment underneath Ed’s post crystallizes the opinions I’ve heard from several of my friends and family still in New Jersey.

• PJM Political host Steve Green–fresh off his usual soiree into debate drunkblogging, plus:
• James Lileks.
• Glenn Reynolds.
• Jennifer Rubin.
• Produced by your humble narrator and multimedia maven.

>The PJM Political All-Stars: That Was The Week That Was” href=”http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/the-pjm-political-all-stars-that-was-the-week-that-was/”>Tune in here to listen!