Tumbling Dice

No, Exiles on Main Street is not the greatest rock-and-roll album of all time, despite what Matt Lauer thinks. It still is great. Are we supposed to laugh when Lauer asked Keith Richards whether he was on drugs while recording it? Look at that face.

The Baked Alaskan addressed the Susan B. Anthony Foundation, a group of conservative, anti-abortion feminists the other day. As I wrote about the group during the Massachusetts Senate race, they have no connection to Susan B. Anthony and Anthony had literally no connection to the abortion issue. But Susan B. Anthony's biographer and archivist weighed in on Palin's embrace that Anthony was a hero of hers. She did say that, yes, Republicans could claim Susan B. Anthony as their own if they wanted. Anthony did in fact cast a vote in 1872 for Ulysses S. Grant. The act of casting the vote led to her conviction of a felony.

But the author noting that Susan B. Anthony was a Quaker until later in life she became a Unitarian has some interesting things to say about the righteous religious folks she encountered. " I dislike those who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires," wrote Anthony. A blogger notes that Sarah Palin is more like Carrie Nation,'s self-description "a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn't like."

Minnesota Public Radio and the Humphrey Institute are now going to fact-check statements made by Michelle Bachman. They claim that local journalists are not doing their job. On the PoliFact "Truth-O-Meter", Bachman was caught lying on nine statements. They only tested nine.

The Proposition 8 Trial took an intresting turn. It seems that the anti-gay position was "supported" with research by Dr. Rekers, who won fame with the Rent Boy scandal. Apparently,the pro-gay marriage team will be asking the court to rule out this testimony and to identify all the witnesses who used Rekers' research.

More Mid-Term Republicans need 38 seats to take control of the House. According to Congressional Quarterly, if Republicans won every toss-up election, they would barely pick up 30 seats.

The vote counts are in from yesterday's elections. Democrats received 65-75% of all the votes cast--which puts a damper on the whole intensity question.

For a measured analysis of yesterday's events, check out Nate Silver's article at www.fivethirtyeight.com.

Richard Blumenthal's Senate campaign has collapsed. His lead in the polls vanished overnight when it was revealed he lied about serving in Vietnam.

Democrat John Spratt suffers from Parkinson's and is running for re-election. The GOP is conducting a smear campaign that he is suffering from Alzheimer's. The surprise here is that the GOP never used to go after Spratt because he's a pro-defense Democrat.

Rand Paul's victory speech was a piece of work. He blasted President Obama for going to the Copenhagen talks on climate change saying that Robert Mugabe,Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales were there and that they demanded the end of capitalism. He's a piece of work. I doubt whether he has said these things before to the people in Kentucky. He's an arrogant wacko.

Glenn Beck says that no one will write about Obama's McCarthyism. I will. Beck claims that the Obama Administration is attacking him and urging all his sponsors to boycott his show. He claims that another Obama apparatchik is now going after Goldline, his major sponsor, to get at him. The Obama functionary is Anthony Weiner, New York congressman, who is investigating Goldline for its sale of gold coins at twice the market value to unsuspecting customers as a "good investment". In short, he is investigating Goldline for "fraud". But, never fear, Glenn Beck has picked up another sponsor--Dick Armey's Freedomworks paid for by the Koch Industries. Beck promises you a DVD with his Plan for America.

Dana Milbank in today's Washington Post has a leisurely review of all the scandals that affected the Republican Class of 1994. Mark Souder's extramarital affair kicked off this nostalgic review. It also should be sent around by the Democrats, warning what a Republican take-over of the House would mean.

Concerned Women of America, another conservative so-called feminist organization,weighed in on Mark Souder's sex scandal saying," If it happened to him, it could happen to anyone. The environment on the Hill is so poisonous."

Could we hear applause for Kevin Costner. I never liked him as an actor but he has done something really terrific. Since the Valdez oil spill, Kevin Costner has been funding 15 scientists to develop an invention that could be used to clean up large oil spills. Today, British Petroleum said that they would be using this machine now. It's a fantastic device and was engined to clean up 250,000 barrels of oil through a process I don't understand. As far as we know, this is the first time it will be used. Good Luck.