Thursdays start my weekends, and we got it off to a good start today!  Mix a blogger with a journalist and a couple of comedians and me… and you’ve got today’s show.

My first guest was blogger Zerlina Maxwell, with whom I feel a bit of kinship as we both won DFA Scholarships to last summer’s Netroots Nation in the same round of voting.  Zerlina blogs at This Week in Blackness and The Loop 21, where her latest piece, “Republicans Will Impeach Obama” is posted.

Yesterday marked the 6 month anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.  What’s that? You’d forgotten about it?  Well, the mainstream media sure has. As soon as the oil stopped spewing from the well, they turned our attention elsewhere.  But to make sure we remember, the Natural Resources Defense Committee has released a new book, In Deep Water: The anatomy of a disaster, the fate of the Gulf, and how to end our oil addiction, written by NDRC executive director Peter Lehner with journalist Bob Deans.  Bob Deans joined me on the show this morning to talk about it.

We also had some laughs today.  John Fugelsang usually joins me on Thursday mornings, but couldn’t make it today. So I invited two masters of comedy on in his stead.

I had the pleasure of meeting Lizz Winstead in Las Vegas this summer at Netroots Nation.  The co-creator of the Daily Show and co-founder of Air America Radio is on the road with her “My State of the Union” show.  She’s in Asheville, NC tomorrow night, heading toward Washington DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity happening next Saturday.  She’s got two shows that night for post-rally fun (tickets available here).  Lizz will join us back on the show a week from Monday with a recap of all of the fun and festivities.

I was also thrilled to welcome Andy Cobb to the show, who will also be at the Rally next weekend.  We talked comedy and played some of his video humor… check them out below and have a great weekend!