Oh, and Newt's fat. And sort of pink. And was trained in France to look for truffles...

Time to redirect the Nation. I feel it's my duty, on occasion. But first of all, a few corrections.

My earlier review of the new Beck album (The Information) was all wrong. It is sensational. If anyone took my prior snap judgment seriously, please reconsider. My new rating - a solid, guilt-free A-Minus.

My earlier review of The Hold Steady's album (Boys and Girls in America) stands. But I missed a major point of reference, as was pointed out by Sarah when she got back from a run with the iPod. I'd referenced The Replacements. She hears Husker Du. Everyone should. And while those of us that can somewhat parse the minutia from the Minneapple's legendary scene-dom will certainly see the difference, I'd nonetheless be remiss if I didn't point out the striking sound similarities. Or, put another way, "way cool album."

One new review of note - Scott Smith's suspense thriller "The Ruins" sat largely untouched on my bedside following a Stephen King rave a few months back. I finally got focused on it over the weekend. It's flawless. Scary as hell. And since his prior novel "A Simple Plan" so confidently made the leap to the big screen with Sam Raimi's help, I expect this movie will scare the beejeezus out of the masses in a few years. Beat 'em to the punch. Read it now. My rating - a rare solid A.

Newsiness-wise, I'll let everyone else fall all over themselves trying to track what's going down in the midterm election lead-up. Predictions are for suckers. So here's mine - Dems pull down two dozen-plus seats in the House and put Murtha in the Speaker's office. Pelosi becomes Majority Leader. The Senate's the real quagmire, though. Dems pick up six seats, lose one. Santorum, Talent, DeWine, Burns and Allen all lose. Ford wins Frist's old seat in TN. But Menendez in NJ loses to Keane Junior who's just riding on his Dad's 9/11 Commission coattails anyways. Lieberman's back as a castrated Indie. Sanders takes over confidently 900 yards to the Left of the pre-Alzheimer's Jeffords. And who's left with the tie-breaker vote? Dick "Big Time" Cheney. Meanwhile, Waxman begins the investigations into the rationale for going to war in Iraq given his new supeona powers as Chairman of the House Goverment Reform Committee. Smoke a little bit of THAT future, if you will.

Much more importantly, I'd like to draw added attention to the passing of Gerry Studds (D-MA, former U.S. Rep) over the weekend. After Foley blew up all over the faces of the GOP attack monkeys, they invoked Studds's name repeatedly for the controversy that arose 10 years after Studds had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old page. Studds went on to become a big gay rights activist, especially because he'd been forcibly outted and was able to continue serving as a Rep from the Cape Cod and nearby district of Massholedom. The GOP attack monkeys were of course hateful and wrong wrong wrong in their attempt to pass the buck for the current scandal of covering up for this Foley creep. But the fact that they did it so blatently and then Studds dies so sadly this past weekend...I mean you just owe it to yourself to read at least one good obit on the guy. If Foley's own obit someday features the sort of obvious growth and achievement after years of embracing his homosexuality, then I'll eat some crow and say that I'm wrong about this. Until then, guys like Newt Gingrich are complete pigs who've wallowed in their own filth so long they can no longer discern the stench that has become their very essence. Exclamation point.

Hope your own exits from the room to do something as mundane as make a sandwich feature the same sort of self-administered high fives. Rock on.