There are very few people I pay to see these days--mostly talented musicians who are really trying to do something clever with words.

Elvis Costello--Excellent musicianship and a wry ego that makes the between song stories entertaining. He's an artist that has truly developed over the decades from a talented punk to significant performer and songwriter.

Indigo Girls--It's hard to find pop performers who have a stronger spiritual sound to their music. The concerts are an experience--the fans know every word to every song and the songs mean something to everyone in the place. Often you catch Amy and Emily singing harmony with the audience during the songs instead of trying to sing over them.

Ani Difranco--She's apt to tell an audience to stop singing along with a song because it means something personal to her and she doesn't want it devolved into a soccer chant, but in terms of raw energy, raw emotion, and performance chops, she has no equal. She mixes bits of folk, rock, jazz, poetry and hip hop in a way that is just astounding. She also surrounds herself with kickass musicians. Her live album "Living in Clip" is one of the best live albums ever recorded.

RIchard Thompson is spectacular. You can go to one of his shows not ever having heard a single one of his songs and still enjoy the performance immensely. He holds the stage with great presence, and he's funny.

Peter Mulvey--a smaller name who tours around the country playing small clubs, but he has a great presence, great songs, and great musicianship.

I've been really upset with the news coverage of the Daschle withdrawal last night and this morning. The news media has framed the story in terms of "damage" and "failure" and "blame." Since when is it a bad thing for a President to set standards for his appointees and to hold them accountable for their actions when problems come to light? Reporters, please notice that the sand has shifted beneath your journalistic feet.

This becomes a fascinating question. If NPR sees itself as reporting the “truth” and not just telling interesting stories, when does torture become truth? Apparently not when the sitting President and Attorney General say it is. Would it take a decision by a court of law? An eventual preponderance of historians? A poll showing that a majority of NPR paying subscribers believe that water boarding is torture? At what point is NPR willing to say that the hanging of a black man at a KKK rally is a “lynching?” At what point is NPR willing to say that someone stabbed 37 times is “murdered?” At what point is NPR willing to say that the gassing of a million members of an ethnic group is “genocide?”

And how does a reporter decide what to report? If a reporter’s job is to “show and not tell,” why is describing water boarding more interesting than describing having detainees wear orange jump suits? Is it an inappropriate political choice for a journalist to decide that water boarding is worth air time?

I've moved to Iowa, and here in mid America the banking crisis and the mortgage crisis has meant economic distress and unemployment which has meant lower state tax revenues. After big budget cuts earlier this year, the state has just imposed a 10% across the board budget cut for all state agencies. The state universities are going to be eliminating departments, public schools will fire teachers, public services are laying off counselors and advocates that protect abused children, hundreds of prison guards and state troopers are going to lose their jobs. If every state is facing calamity like this, Wall Street will not only have ruined banking, they will have destroyed the educational system and public services in most of America with their malfeasance.