Late Late Nite FDL: Duo Solo’s with Amy Kuney & Sam Prekop
Two songs from a couple of unique solo artists. First, from Los Angeles, Amy Kuney – All Downhill From Here, followed by a member of a Chicago band called The Sea and Cake, Sam Prekop – Something.

Amy Kuney – “All Downhill From Here”

Sam Prekop – “Something”

Two songs from a couple of unique solo artists. First, from Los Angeles, Amy Kuney – All Downhill From Here, followed by  a member of a Chicago band called The Sea and Cake, Sam Prekop – Something.

What’s on your mind tonight?

Kids Shouldn’t Be Learning About Sex from TV
Kids that don’t get sex ed in school don’t run to the Bible for information — they get their ideas about sex from sordid teen dramas.

Should we let communities “be themselves”?
“We don’t need more diverse communities, maybe, we just need to let communities be themselves, without interference beyond making sure that the basics of human rights and health are respected and cared for.”Well, that’s an option — one that, apparently,…

Confessore in the Times … Four Spitzer administration officials violated the state’s ethics law when they used the State Police last summer to gather travel documents they hoped would tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, then the State Senate majority leader, according…

Palin on Hannity and Colmes

Sean Hannity interviews Governor Sarah Palin in part one of their 140 part series (I have no idea how many parts of this series will be.) After the pleasantries, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asks Governor Palin about the economy. She begins her explanation by stating that we need reform. She also states that we are working with 1930s laws in order to govern these modern companies. Then, probably most importantly, she backtracks and states that the government alone is not the answer. That’s it. As expected, Sean Hannity does not ask any follow-up questions. What reform? And if governments not the answer what is? Is there a Palin echoing the same type of verbiage we heard from President Bush after the Enron scandal that CEOs and CFOs need to have more moral fiber? Sean Hannity is done with this line of questioning.

The Fox News host then asks whether the Barack Obama campaign is politicizing this issue. Governor Palin responds with some gobbledygook then dovetails into her talking point — Senator John McCain has worked with both sides of the aisle. Of course, this has nothing to do with the question.

Sean Hannity then pitches the softball right down the plate — who was responsible for the market collapse that we are seeing on Wall Street (this is paraphrased)? Corruption on Wall Street. Wall Street corruption — that is the problem. Of course, there were no follow-up questions. But, what specific corruption is she talking about? Is she saying that the US Attorney General needs to prosecute some of these companies? Or she just talking about bad behavior? Again, she talks about a role for government without being specific. Is she talking about more regulation? Is she talking about enforcing the 70-year-old regulations (she said they dated back to the 1930s) that we already have? Governor Palin can’t even hit a softball.

Somewhere in this interview I’m hoping there’s going to be some meat.

Hannity follows up with a statement and not a question about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The statement is about government intervention. It appears that Governor Palin has done some of her homework since she has a better understanding of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and she did a little over a week ago. She states that the government had to step in because it would have been to “impacting” on the American people. What? What does that mean? Anyway, Hannity concludes this segment with an extraordinary statement that Barack Obama received the second most amount of money in the form of campaign contributions than any other politician, from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Really? Governor Palin did not take the bait. Instead, she stuck to her talking points — lobbyists are evil and cronyism is evil. This is almost laughable when almost all of John McCain’s top advisers are former lobbyists.

I can’t wait to see more of this hard-hitting interview. (Dripping with sarcasm)

Will Katrina victims lose federal aid in February?
Washington Whispers reports that “there are some 28,000 people receiving free rent and assistance” from the federal government.” The federal government, however, is unsure how much longer they will continue to give the assistance: Housing Secretary Steve Preston, asked how long the feds are planning to pay, says: “That’s a great question, and that’s an […]

Washington Whispers reports that “there are some 28,000 people receiving free rent and assistance” from the federal government.” The federal government, however, is unsure how much longer they will continue to give the assistance:

Housing Secretary Steve Preston, asked how long the feds are planning to pay, says: “That’s a great question, and that’s an important point of conversation right now.” At issue is the rental assistance aid that ends in February. Recipients are being advised on what federal programs they can apply to for further help. In the end, only 4,000 are expected to get aid.

What’s the Top Electoral College State This Year?
Two months ago in this space, I identified five states that I argued would pick the next president. Tell me how these states — Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Nevada and Michigan — will go in November, I wrote, and I’ll tell you who will be our next president (“The Big 5: Picking the States That Will Pick the President“). As the presidential race has developed, those five states seem to hold the same predictive value now that they did then. Sure, there are a handful of additional states that could turn the election to either Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) or Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — New Hampshire, New Mexico, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina — but the longer the list, the less it tells us about who’ll win. I’ve become convinced that my initial list of five states probably can be boiled down to just one — one state that is most likely to determine who will be the next occupant of the White House. And that state is Colorado.

The Party’s Over
The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another. The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The “Omnipower” and “Indispensable Nation” we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history. Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.