Thoroughly disgusted by seeing Christmas commercials for Target and Old Navy today. I just looked, it's November 9th.

I couldn't believe it yesterday when I heard that Bruce Dern resigned. Then I realized it was "Rumsfeld", not "Rumsfield", who fell on his sword. The mystery to me was why that didn't happen six weeks ago. I'm not sure it could have saved the Senate for the Republicans, but it might have. Wow, Rummy must have woke up Wednesday saying, "They hate me. They really hate me.".

I stayed up until about 2:15 on Tuesday, trying to make sense of the election. I was surprised at some of the Senate results. I really thought Allen was going to hang on in Virginia, "macaca" and all. And how would you like to be Lincoln Chaffee of Rhode Island? This guy was an anti-war Republican, did not back Bush in 2004, was the only guy in the GOP to support full marriage equality, had a 66% approval rating...AND STILL LOST!

As for Rick Santorum's family, God, are they taking a beating via Photoshop for the appearance they made during his concession speech. Poor kids. Here's a normal pic.















As for the House, I was overwhelmed at some of the Republicans who got tossed. And the numbers were way above what I thought would happen, so it truly was a wave for the Democrats. I think it's easy to get caught up in some wild predictions of good news, but this time they proved correct. So, let's hope the Democrats don't blow this chance.

Meal of Links

Nice pop reference on "Dexter" this week. See, Dex is a serial killer and used the alias of "Patrick Bateman". Surely, you know that Christian Bale played Patrick Bateman in "American Psycho".

R.E.M. or U2? Who's better?

Another example of why I hate modern celebrity. Maybe I should just read books and not watch TV. The star of Fox's latest sitcom? Kellie Pickler!

Video of the Week

Speaking of R.E.M., here's a look at "Pop Song 89". This is probably my favorite song of theirs, as I really like the beat. It's a black and white video and at some points, dizzying to watch. Things to look for: Michael Stipe's hair. Not difficult to see the censorship. I like the little waves when saying, "Hi". And the graphic, "Should we talk about the government?".

R.E.M.-"Pop Song 89"



Exercise Yard

The Indians made a terrific deal for Josh Barfield. We gave up two minor-leaguers who are already 25 years old in Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown. Kouzmanoff can hit, but he's hardly ever healthy and Brown...well, with all of our bullpen troubles last year, it's a mystery why Brown was not called up. Barfield is 23, and as Hubie Brown would say, "He has tremendous upside". Hit .280 with decent power, only had 9 errors last year, and gets out of Petco Park. Doesn't walk much though, but he's only a rookie. Considering the other free agent second basemen out there, this is outstanding. Plus, no more Joe Inglett starting next year. Yippee.

Visitor

16 Across: Jazz flutist Herbie (4 letters) Answer: Mann