Satellite Synergy

Sirius Addict isn't a fan of the deal:

"If there is one thing I am happy about is that Sirius knows how to do music and can teach XM a lesson or twenty. At the same time, Clear Channel still owns a huge stake in XM and I assume they'll want to get a bit greedy and say, 'Well, hey . . . you have all of these channels now so we can make a few more' and there's not a thing either company can do about it' . . . I think the whole deal is ludicrous and I hope it's never approved."

King's Chronicles is more optimistic:

"One of the frustrations of being a Sirius subscriber was that I always wondered if I picked the right company. Since much of their premiere content is mutually exclusive I knew subscribing to Sirius meant I would not get any of the good content from XM. So while it sounds like it will take about a year for their programming to merge, it is nice to know I that eventually I will have the best of both worlds."

Shawn's Blog (self description: "a hair-band lovin' techni-junkie") doesn't like change:

"Am I happy? Hell, no. While this could bring some good things to satellite radio, I was quite happy with the way things were. I have listened to XM radio online, and to be honest, I didn't like it nearly as much as I like Sirius. One of my biggest concerns is that the channels I listen to regularly will be messed with.

"I am pretty much assured that the Stern channels will remain unchanged, but the music channels I listen to all have similar format channels on the XM provider as well. There is no doubt in my mind that the channels will be merged at some point, as there is no sense having duplicate stations on 1 provider."

Meanwhile, there seems to be a media drumbeat over why Hillary won't say she's sorry, rather than what she would do now about Iraq--especially now that she's told those who disagree to vote for someone else. Paul Krugman likens HRC to W.:

"For the last six years we have been ruled by men who are pathologically incapable of owning up to mistakes. And this pathology has had real, disastrous consequences . . .

"The base is remarkably forgiving toward Democrats who supported the war. But the base and, I believe, the country want someone in the White House who doesn't sound like another George Bush. That is, they want someone who doesn't suffer from an infallibility complex, who can admit mistakes and learn from them . . .

"Although she's smart and sensible, she's very much the candidate of the Beltway establishment -- an establishment that has yet to come to terms with its own failure of nerve and judgment over Iraq."

Markos says Hillary is off his list: