Late Afternoon at the Last Manatee

For many of us, one of the most profound influences on our lives has passed away at the age of 90--Alexander Anderson, Jr.. Anderson teamed up with his childhood friend Jay Ward to make low-budget TV cartoons. He created "Crusader Rabbit", which was the first animated television series in the 1950s. But it was his greatest creations, Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose, who shaped a younger generation growing up at the height of the Cold War. "Rocky and His Friends" debuted in 1959 and ran for many years, bringing up great moments like Fractured Fairy Tales, Boris and Natasha, the sinister but hapless spies, and Dudley Do-Right and Nell. Besides Mad magazine, "Rocky and His Friends" was one of the m0st subversive influences in America, encouraging young people to question authority.

For someone like myself with eye and brain issues, it's timely that Oliver Sacks has just published The Mind's Eye ( Knopf), which delves into the complexity of vision and the mind's adaptive powers. Sacks is a practicing physician and most known to laymen for The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. In this new book, Sacks gets a little autobiographical when he explores how his eye cancer affected his sight and the odd sensation of seeing when he had totally lost vision in one eye.

The election continues to produce more oddities than ever before. Our teabagger Joe Miller seems to have mislaid his 40-acres in the Alaska wilderness and never declared it on his personal financial form for the FEC. No problem, teabaggers don't believe in government agencies. But it may prove a slight problem for the Alaskan voters. You see it is held in the name of the Wilmington Trust, whose only trustee has no awareness of it. It seems it was bought by Miller during the time he applied for his hunting and fishing license as an "indigent". Alaskans are wondering whether Miller was gaming the system to get his licenses. No problem. But there may be an issue since it was discovered there was a two-story house on the property and not the cabin most people supposed.

Usually, criminals play behind the scenes in politic but this year they are actually real candidates. A Republican running for congressman in New Hampshire is refusing to reveal his finances and how he could loan his campaign the large amount of money he's recently taken in. We already know Rick Scott, a healthcare racketeer, may be the next Governor of Florida. Art Johnson , who is running against Russ Feingold, slipped when he started accusing Feingold of backing a string of wasteful spending. Feingold just countered with every government subsidy the guy ever got and refused to admit. Not quite criminal but larceny.

Texas discovered today that it's $18 billion budget gap ballooned to $25 billion. There is only one politician to blame--Rick Perry. But it does look like he will be re-elected. I read an article by a Texan who explained that none of the scandals in the state government ever made it into the peoples' consciousness. Besides, the author wrote Texas is fourth in illiteracy in the nation.

Intratrade, which is the political betting wire, has the Republicans gaining 8 Senate seats and 55 in the House. The Senate figures have shown the most volatility, ranging from 4 to 9 seat gains.

Latin Decisions Poll records that Latin enthusiasm for the election, which was only 40% in September has shot up to 60% now. There is alot of disappointment with Barack Obama for failing to get immigration reform the first year as promised. But the uptick in enthusiasm has been caused by the anti-immigration sentiment expressed by Republicans.

Dick Morris appeared on Fox News to warn that the SIEU was trying to rig the elections for the Democrats. Wish that were so. But this type of nonsense has motivated the platoons of voter integrity squads by conservatives and chilling ads that you will go to prison if you commit voter fraud. I expect there will be several incidents around the country on election day as the goons try and muscle voters.

Early voting in California has Jerry Brown seven points ahead of Meg Whitman and Barbara Boxer only two points ahead of Carly Fiorina, who was hospitalized today. In Colorado early voting, Michael Bennet is ahead of Ken Buck. No one knows what the Nevada race looks like now.

Rand Paul seemed to be breaking way in Kentucky. We don't know the effect of last night's debate and the stomping of the Move On person by a Paul staffer. Will this be his Altamont moment? OK, probably not. They probably think it's cool down there.

MSNBC had a fascinating analysis of what the Republican Congress would look like. Quite frankly, they indicated that there were several areas where compromises can be made. The great laffer was Bohner being interested in alternative energy. Not when the oil companies just bought you the majority. And, yes, I was right, the Republicans are going to ditch thePayGo rules, just like they did under W. Instead, they are going to call it PayCut. They resolve to find government programs to cut for every program approved.

MSNBC claims that Republicans will seek cover behind the Catfood Commission's recommendations of the debt. Alan Simpson has said that the Commission is likely to reach some consensus positions even though it's been tough. Alice Rivlin claims there will be lots to create a bipartisan consensus around. Frankly, I doubt it.