Elderflowers NYT 1-18-10

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Movin' out

It rained long and hard last night.

Today the Fox, the Mighty Fox, overflows its banks.

ARTIST: Billy Joel
TITLE: Movin' Out
Lyrics and Chords
Anthony works in the grocery store
Savin' his pennies for someday
Mama Leone left a note on the door
She said, "Sonny, move out to the country"
Ah but working too hard can give you a
Heart attack-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack
You oughta know by now - You oughta know by now
Who needs a house out in Hackensack
Is that all you get for your money
/ Dm - Gm - / C C7 F - / : / Dm - G7 - / Gm7 - C - /
/ Dm - G7 - / C7 - F - /
{Refrain}
And it seems such a waste of time
If that's what it's all about
Mama, if that's movin' up then I'm movin' out
Mm, I'm movin' out
/ Bb - C - / A7 - Dm - / Bb - Em7 - A7 - /
/ Dm - Gm7 - C7 - Fmaj7 - /
Sergeant O'Leary is walkin' the beat
At night he becomes a bartender
He works at Mister Cacciatore's down on Sullivan Street
Across from the medical center
And he's tradin' in his Chevy for a
Cadillac-ac-ac-ac-ac-ac
You oughta know by now - You oughta know by now
And if he can't drive with a broken back
At least he can polish the fenders
{Refrain}
You should never argue with a
Crazy mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind
You oughta know by now - You oughta know by now
You can pay Uncle Sam with the overtime
Is that all you get for your money
{As refrain}
And if that's what you have in mind
Yeah, if that's what you're all about
Good luck movin' up 'cause I'm movin' out
Mm, I'm movin' out
I'm movin' out

play this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRD_XiGru1Y

water movin' out......

Telling it like it isn't

http://www.readersupportednews.org/opinion/75-75/2429-limbaugh-uses-steinbrenners-death-to-race-bait

by Scott Galindez

Reader Supported News Perspective

Just when I thought Rush Limbaugh could not stoop any lower, he goes deeper into the cesspool.

I am an Oriole fan, I hate the Yankees with a passion, but when someone dies or has a tragic injury I still can show compassion for them personally. I wish that baseball wasn't dominated by greed. When I learned yesterday that the owner of the team I love to hate had died I was sad, and I will take this opportunity to offer my condolences to his friends and family.

What did Rush do within hours of his death? Call him a "cracker who made many blacks millionaires." He can say it was tongue in cheek all he wants, but we know it was race-baiting. He might have gotten a pass if this was his first tasteless, racist statement. But we have a pattern established over decades of racist statements.
For example, the statement that ended his brief stint with ESPN: "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."
"They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well," he said during a discussion of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. "I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve."
Or how about: "Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it," he said in 2007.
These are just a few from the sports world; lets go further back. A Google search of racist statements by Rush Limbaugh brings up more than I have time for here, but here are a few:
"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"
"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."
As a young broadcaster in the 1970s, Limbaugh once told a black caller: "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back."
In 1992, on his now-defunct TV show, Limbaugh expressed his ire when Spike Lee urged that black schoolchildren get time off from school to see his film Malcolm X: "Spike, if you're going to do that, let's complete the education experience. You should tell them that they should loot the theater, and then blow it up on their way out."
Once, in response to a caller arguing that black people need to be heard, Limbaugh responded: "They are 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
Source: http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2549
The list could go on and on, but we can stop there.
Ok, so we know Rush is a racist. Now how about a classless jerk, who hours after someone's death takes the opportunity to race-bait.
This is not the first time Limbaugh has made insensitive statements about someone's death. I had the honor of working with and learning from the late homeless advocate Mitch Snyder. When Limbaugh learned of Mitch Snyder's death he glibly told his listeners that, "Mitch had finally reached room temperature and no longer needed a home." I would have set my non-violence guidelines aside and punched Limbaugh in the mouth if I was in the same room with him then.
C'mon A-Rod, Jeter, or better yet CC Sabathia, don't let Limbaugh get away with disrespecting your boss. Limbaugh listeners, is this not enough for you? This time it wasn't one of us lefties. George Steinbrenner was a conservative-market Republican. When you support Limbaugh's show, you are supporting a man with no class who is a bigot.

Scott Galindez is a co-founder of Truthout, and the Political Director for Reader Supported News.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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PLAY THIS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rm-A6bGhiE

THE IRISH PROSTITUTE...

An Irish daughter had not been home for over 5 years. Upon her return, her Father cursed her heavily.

'Where have ye been all this time, child?
Why did ye not write to us, not even a line?
Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old Mother thru? '

The girl, crying, replied, ' Sniff, sniff....Dad....I became a prostitute... '

'Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this Catholic family. '

'OK, Dad... as ye wish. I just came back to give mum this luxurious fur coat, title deed to a ten bedroom mansion plus a $5 million savings certificate. For me little brother, this gold Rolex.. And for ye Daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that's parked outside plus a membership to the country club...(takes a breath)... and an invitation for ye all to spend New Years Eve on board my new yacht in the Riviera. '

'Now what was it ye said ye had become? ' says Dad.

Girl, crying again, ' Sniff, sniff.....a prostitute Daddy! Sniff, sniff. '



'Oh! Ye scared me half to death, girl! I thought ye said a Protestant. Come here and give yer old Dad a hug.

Op-Ed Columnist
The LeBron Angle to Everything
By GAIL COLLINS
Published: July 9, 2010

There are certain points in the year — like summer — when the country does not seem to be in the mood to think about politics or public policy. Nevertheless, we know where our duty lies, and it is not in celebrity name-dropping.
So let’s talk about something serious, like the rapidly escalating trend of extremely rich people running for high office. In Connecticut, it looks as if both parties are going to nominate candidates for governor and senator who live in the superupscale town of Greenwich.
Which is, of course, the place where LeBron James made his big basketball announcement. What was that all about, anyway? He lives in Akron, Ohio. He played in Cleveland. He’s moving to Miami. But ESPN said that James wanted to reveal his life plans in Greenwich.
Apparently, the site selection had something to do with James’s desire to attend the wedding of the Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony to the television personality LaLa Vazquez. They’re getting married in New York City, and Greenwich is the place where very rich people go when they want to be in New York City but not actually.
“Greenwich amenities include great schools, country clubs, parks, beaches, shopping, restaurant, convenient access to airports and only 40 minutes to the center of the universe ... Manhattan,” says a Web site for a local realtor, who promises that you can be neighbors with “Ron Howard, Mary Tyler Moore, Mel Gibson, Diana Ross ...”
Not sure how many people are dying to hang with Mel Gibson right now. But if the primaries work out as most polls project, the next governor and junior senator from Connecticut will be neighbors, too.
For the United States Senate, the Republicans seem bent on nominating Linda McMahon, the Greenwich-based wrestling czarina who has promised to spend $30 million of her own money on the campaign. For governor, it’s probably going to be Tom Foley, the former ambassador to Ireland whose name can never be mentioned without pointing out that he owns a mansion in Greenwich and a 100-foot yacht.
The current leader in the Democratic primary for governor is Greenwich resident Ned Lamont. When we last saw Ned, he was spending $17 million of his own money in an unsuccessful attempt to win a Senate seat. The Democratic Senate nominee, Richard Blumenthal, is the poorest of the bunch, having spent virtually his entire adult life being the state attorney general, which pays $110,000 a year. However, his wife’s family owns the Empire State Building.
We hear a lot about how elected officials are afraid of being primaried by someone from the extreme right or left. But, lately, there’s been just as much danger of a superrich challenger dropping down from nowhere, like Paul the Octopus grabbing for the box of mussels covered with the Spanish flag.
In California, Democrats are in despair over how their gubernatorial candidate, Jerry Brown, is going to compete against Meg Whitman, a billionaire who spent $91 million just to win her primary. Brown is not personally wealthy, although he did once date Linda Ronstadt.
Florida, where LeBron James is going to be playing, is Rich Candidate Central. The presumed Democratic candidate for the Senate, Representative Kendrick Meek, now appears to be in danger of losing the nomination to a hitherto unknown billionaire named Jeff Greene.
Greene is moving up in the polls even though he made most of his money betting that the housing market would tank and suck hundreds of thousands Floridians into the maw of foreclosure. And Mike Tyson was best man at his wedding. And, we learned this week, he had Lindsay Lohan on his 145-foot yacht last New Year’s Eve.
“This is not what’s important,” Greene said about the Lohan connection. “Floridians are worried about jobs, getting results.”
This is an extremely common rejoinder these days. Try it in your own life. If your neighbor points out that your car is wrapped around her front porch, tell her that a lot of Americans don’t even have porches anymore. Because what they care about is not trivial traffic mishaps but jobs, jobs, jobs.
Meanwhile, in the Florida governor’s race, Bill McCollum, a Republican, is having a tough time dealing with his extremely rich guy, Rick Scott. Scott is the former chief of Columbia/HCA, a chain of for-profit hospitals. He has spent more than $20 million on campaign ads so far while McCollum has managed to come up with only about $6 million.
Scott’s argument is that the state needs a good businessman to run things. While he was C.E.O. of Columbia/HCA, the company paid fines, penalties and damages of more than $1.7 billion for Medicare and Medicaid fraud. But maybe Florida voters won’t notice, what with all the excitement over LeBron James.

Had a Zep today?