Over the river and through the woods ...

By Jennifer J. Foster

... to Grandmother’s house we go!

Actually, we’re going to Grandmother and Grandfather’s house, and we’re leaving in just a little while. So posting will be sporadic for the rest of the week.

I was going to post about the specifics of Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan, but ... well, he hasn’t offered any specifics for us to discuss.

So! Enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday, and remember those less fortunate than you! Even in these tough economic times, no matter what your circumstances, there is someone, somewhere, who is worse off today.

As the old hymn goes, count your blessings, name them one by one.

Check back here on Saturday for my column from the print edition of the Opelika-Auburn News.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Disunited States of America?

By Jennifer J. Foster

The Drudge Report has a disturbing piece this morning about the analysis a Russian political observer has provided about the United States, given the current economic crisis.

Click here for the full piece, but the bottom line is that this analyst believes the USA is headed for breakup—its place on the world stage filled by China and, of course, Russia.

Why? In his words:

A whole range of reasons. Firstly, the financial problems in the U.S. will get worse. Millions of citizens there have lost their savings. Prices and unemployment are on the rise. General Motors and Ford are on the verge of collapse, and this means that whole cities will be left without work. Governors are already insistently demanding money from the federal center. Dissatisfaction is growing, and at the moment it is only being held back by the elections and the hope that Obama can work miracles. But by spring, it will be clear that there are no miracles.

Other factors in the collapse include the United States’s “vulnerable political setup”, “lack of unified national laws”, and “divisions among the elite, which have become clear in these crisis conditions.“

The world’s last remaining superpower will break up into six parts, the analyst predicts:

The Pacific coast, with its growing Chinese population;

The South, with its Hispanics;

Texas, where independence movements are on the rise;

The Atlantic coast, with its distinct and separate mentality;

Five of the poorer central states with their large Native American populations; and

The northern states, where the influence from Canada is strong.

This analyst began making this prediction 10 years ago, Drudge reports, when the economy was strong.

Events of the past three months have lent credibility to his predictions, which seemed to outlandish and impossible just a decade ago.

One more thing: The analyst notes that Russia may have an opportunity to take back Alaska. “It was only granted on lease, after all,“ he said.

Maybe Sarah Palin will wind up with some foreign policy experience through the Alaska National Guard after all.

Hannity & ... Powers?

By Jennifer J. Foster

As a follow-up to this morning’s post about Alan Colmes’s departure from the Fox News Channel show that bears his name, Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics.com has thrown out a couple of names of potential replacements for the bespectacled liberal host.

One is Susan Estrich. The other is Kirsten Powers.

Estrich would be a poor choice. On the up side, her liberal credentials are unquestioned: She clerked for Justice John Paul Stevens, aided U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy and ran Michael Dukakis’s 1988 presidential campaign. But her personality is a bad fit with Hannity. I get a kick out of listening to Estrich, but it’s mostly for entertainment value.

SIDEBAR: When I was working in the Florida Legislature, my roommate during session was another legislative aide who was also a political junkie like me. We were both pregnant, and our babies were due within a month of each other. After long days at work, we would grab take-out, sit in front of the TV and have great fun mimicking Susan Estrich’s voice. It was hilarious. SJ, if you’re out there reading this somewhere, you’re awesome! END SIDEBAR

Anyway, Estrich works as a guest, but she wouldn’t work as a host. Hannity needs someone on the other side of the table who can actually call him on his outlandish statements and articulate a scholarly, substantive response that doesn’t smack of Democratic Party talking points.

Someone ... like Kirsten Powers.

Powers, on the other hand, would be perfect. She’s a proven winner on the set, both as an analyst and host. She’s filled in for Colmes a few times and done well. She has just the right mix of poise, personality and intensity to give Hannity a real run for his money. (And, she’s from Alaska!) Watch her get Ann Coulter all flustered and annoyed in this 2006 clip (shot, incidentally, when Powers was filling in for Colmes).

I’m split about whether I actually want to see Hannity & Colmes become Hannity & Powers, though. Part of me wants it to happen just because the world demands a capable foil to Sean Hannity. But the other half of me doesn’t want to see Powers sullied by sitting across from The Sean every night.

OK, maybe I’m being a little tough on Hannity. He does do great things for veterans, and I appreciate that. But wow, he’s shrill.

Actually, you know what he is? He’s the Paul Begala of the right.

What do you guys think?

Hannity minus Colmes

By Jennifer J. Foster

So ... the 9 p.m. Eastern hour on Fox News Channel is about to get a whole lot more annoying.

Uberconservative Sean Hannity has finally run off his liberal counterpart, Alan Colmes. Colmes will depart at the end of this year, according to the New York Times:

While the network remained quiet about its plans for the political debate program, two people close to the network said that Sean Hannity, 46, Mr. Colmes’s conservative counterpart for the last 12 years, would become the sole host of the hour.

Colmes reportedly told FNC’s network’s senior vice president of programming earlier this year that he wanted to move on and “develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network.”

I wonder what that means.

In the meantime, Colmes will be focusing on his radio show, which is on from 10 p.m. until 1 a.m. (weeknights? I’ve never heard it).

I guess Colmes figures that with Barack Obama in the White House, he’ll be able to get in even fewer words with Hannity than he has managed over the past few years. As Hannity has become shriller and shriller, Colmes has been more and more visibly annoyed. I join in his amazement that neither he nor Hannity has been harmed during the filming of their show.

So Hannity gets what he’s always wanted, and what he’s managed to finagle out of FNC so far only on Sunday nights: His own one-man show. H&C gets a new name—“The Sean Hannity Show”?—that will almost certainly do Hannity’s ego problems no favors. And Alan Colmes gets to move on to comment on America under the leadership of a Democratic Congress, a Democratic Senate and a Democratic president.

Hmm. Come to think of it, maybe Colmes’ departure is a pre-emptive strike—or a move borne of self-preservation.

Nice someone out there

By Jennifer J. Foster

Hey folks, as I’ve been telling you, I’ve been getting a lot of feedback on the Big Three bailout column I wrote for the Opelika-Auburn News this weekend.

(If you missed it, you can read it here.)

Well, I’ve heard from people who agreed with me, and I’ve heard from people who disagreed with me, and I’ve heard from people who are trying to find their way through the issue.

Everyone has been thoughtful in their comments, and they’ve shared their comments with me in a forthright, honest and respectful way.

As I said the other day, I appreciate all these e-mails. It’s always interesting to read other people’s points of view, and they can share information and a perspective with you that you simply didn’t have before.

Well, they can, but apparently, they don’t always choose to do so.

Here’s an e-mail I received tonight from someone who apparently read the column, either in print or on the web:

Pond Scum

That’s it, in its entirety. No explanation, no elaboration ... not even any punctuation.

Scholarly, isn’t it?

Pond scum.

The e-mail came from bcmcshurley AT yahoo DOT com , but the writer identifies himself as hmcshurley AT yahoo DOT com in the user field. You can google both and see what you find.

This person believes that I am pond scum simply because of what I believe about the bailout.

Pond scum—as judged by someone who makes a personal attack instead of sharing his thoughts about why he disagreed, as others have done—and as judged by someone who lacks even the integrity to sign his name to an e-mail.

Make of that what you will.