Weep No More , My Lady

The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
Tis summer, the people are gay;
The corn-top's ripe and the meadow's in the bloom
While the birds make music all the day.



The young folks roll on the little cabin floor
All merry, all happy and bright;
By'n by hard times comes a knocking at the door
Then my old Kentucky home, Good-night!



Weep no more my lady. Oh! Weep no more today!
We will sing one song for my old Kentucky home
For the old Kentucky home, far away.

from Holland with Criticism

Jimmy Holland gave a big thumbs down to the food selection at the new shea....."The Sausage and Peppers hero seemed to be missing something" the duty driver fumed when reached for a comment in the Jackie Robinspoon Rotunda...."I ate it , but it did not fill me up......it was almost as if they completely forgot the sausage part" he continued......the rest of the gang was swayed by the Bottled Beer in a can/plastic cup and had little to complain about......"batting out of order or missing your spot in the rotation is a real problem" one Metropolitan faithful quipped , and of course from our vantage point in the Promenade Bar it was tough to see into the Marlin Dugout....the photo op with the plexiglass Mr. Met was a real croed pleaser and help to flatten out the wrinkles of a new ballpark...

citifield debut.

army of one

i sent a letter to the NY Post but I doubt it will be printed, the jist was that this recent flyover, arrogance and true intentions aside for the moment , was for me a stark reminder of just how far i have progressed in the past 8 years......sadly that's nowhere. There is an invisible army of us survivors from the World Trade Center that aren't really surviving at all....existing maybe, but growing wearier and wearier, ignored by the mainstream media and friends and family alike....albeit friends and family avoid the topic out respect more so than out of neglect, trying to avoid a spark next to the powder keg. I have become to object of ridicule for my idiosyncrasies the past 8 years....I don't travel well and am mocked for it. It's not that I don't want to ever go to the islands or that I love the train, I can not fly......that next plane i ride may not and probably won't crash , but i may very well have a heart attack at takeoff.....it's not that I don't want to go to opening Day of the Giants...haven't been to one in 9 years, but I am concerned that the upper deck will come crashing down in a dynamite explosion if I am there...I am a little surprised each year when nothing horrific occurs...i make simple plans to stay over in brooklyn a few times each year , only to call for a ride home at midnight....i have backed out of more get together at the last minute than i can recall , and it's not because i am not social , and it's not always clear to me why i am backing out , but i feel a stress relief the minute I voice that phrase " I am not going" ....as if I have excused myself from dying this day..But hidden behind my grand failures is some "everyday" success. i get up every fkin day and get on that train that takes me to a desk, just like my old desk, against a window, waiting to be killed....I put on a brave face, i play the clown, i talk sports and joke around and live a normal life because that is what i want and that is what everyone who has to deal with me wants.....but things are different now, I have a razor sharpe edge, I can cut like a knife with a streak of vengeance, I have a mean spirit that I am not proud of , I have ANGER.

Monday morning i found myself once again running for my life, running from a plane, Like Kerouac being pursued across the desert by the Shrouded stranger, I run. I found myself with thousands of others incredulously screaming "This can't be happening again" I am shell shocked , I am fkin tired , I am back to square one. The scariest thing is that i know i am not alone, there is an nameless , faceless invisible army in the tristate area just like me , and any baby steps forward we may have taken were wiped out with a massive leap back, thanks to a photo-op.

today it is news, by tomorrow it will be history

this pompous condescending skumbag can travel to Europe and South America and issue a heartfelt apology for the arrogance of my ancestors , but can't stop issuing press releases about swine flu long enough to address the issue of his plane "terrorizing" lower Manhattan......I am not a conspiracy guy , but if this is in some way a message of Power for the Evil Wall Street Bankers , than we are doomed as a nation.

CAPTURED ! !

at approx 7:oo pm this evening , near the backyard shed at 42 edgewood ave , fugitive #1 ...AKA Myrtle the killler snapping turtle was apprehended.......NO , NOT BY Dano Cousteau , but by none other than Gravey....Top Watchdog in Monmouth coutny and a killer in her own right......it appears that Myrtle first became ensnared in a discarded tomato cage and thats when Gravey pounced......Chloe next door gets an assist for arriving on the scene for backup , but it was Graves that pinned this elusive foe.....sadly, before the killing was done, Valerie got the pool skimmer and saved the turtle and walked him down to the SHREWSBURY River....one can only hope his wound prove mortal , for I would not want to be a goldfish in the Harry Kalas Memorial Pond should that ornery Turtle return.....but if he does, we will be serving turtle soup in Club Gato for days to come.

This is the last time I will ask you

where are the bad guys hiding young man ? ?

This is freakin laughable, we are so gonna get bombed again in the next few years, please someone hold these liberal skum accountable when the next shoe drops...

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday she hopes public outrage over Bush-era interrogation methods subsides so Congress can calmly investigate the issue.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein , a closet lesbian and manhater, said she wants congressional hearings to move forward on the interrogation techniques. The memos detailed waterboarding, a simulated drowning tactic, and other techniques used on a captured suspected Al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

The California Democrat said her committee already was investigating the methods detailed, but Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wants independent investigators to determine whether any Bush administration officials should be prosecuted.

"I have recommended that the Department of Justice select one or two or three people outside of the department who will have credibility, perhaps retired federal judges, who will make a recommendation to the Department of Justice as to whether or not anybody ought to be prosecuted on this matter or any other action ought to be taken against lawyers, for instance," Levin said on "FOX News Sunday."

He added that he objects to the idea that the interrogators who carried out the tactics should be the only ones prosecuted.

Derby Week

at last.....my love has come (trottin) along........Derby Week is Here....Derby Week is here......theres a certain jump in your step , the heart skips a beat , spring is in the air, hope springs eternal.....what a glorious time of year.......it is time to really figure out who we like........subject to change after the post positions are drawn, but on the Sunday before the Saturday ...This Cat Loves Pioneer of the Nile with an Exacta Play of Quality Road......and it does not bear reminding , but i have been VERY WRONG before....

Big Shea

hey hey , whatta ya say, pass some beers the other way.....DRAFT Beer, not football players.........and it's on to the new shea we go.....this wednesday matinee metsie vs marlins , big crew forming ,,,,,,if u can swing it .....swing it.....johan to throw first no hitter , but loose 1-0 on a 4 base error by danny murphy....

every picture tells a story

don't it ?
although we walk this land as tired weary old men , on this day the prodigal child shall return.

Tonight we drink like kings

And the Lord Decreed....."Slay the Fatted Calf, bring me the stored Vatts of Wine, prepare the finest linens for Today we welcome home the Prodigal Son


as the olde saying goes....when the cats away the mice shall drink like fish !

Where the Heck is Peter Cotton Tail ?

well for the 8th straight year I woke to find absolutely nothing awaiting me on Easter Morning....where in the name of san juan hill is the Easter Bunny....aka Peter Cotton Tail ? could it be that i have failed so miserably at my lentin sacrifice ? or could there be another reason he does not dare venture onto my property ? the world wonders.

Holy Saturday

Swung the clubs yesterday and I am delighted to say that after all these years of practice...I SILL CAN'T PUTT.........but it was great to be out there...played a round at Quaill Ridge, followed by a Good Friday lunch in Mulligans....bar pie and mucho Coors Light....follwed by a marathon session in the Dublin House.....holy renovations...Eugene outdid himself.....I was shocked to see the totally redone ground floor and new bar....very impressive....

Good Friday memories

of all the chaotic Good Fridays spent in 102 schoolyard watching the venerable hari rohl patrol centerfield in the old sneaker-bomber softball game, one day sticks out more than others......Cracker Jack...he keeps poppin up on the memory pages....spent the whole day repeating "It's good Friday, gotta go to Vesuvio'z later...cant forget"...Consciencous Catholic that he was, he was not going to eat meat ....problem is , we drank the better portion of a case in the schoolyard and were hammered when we finally trekked up to third ave for some late afternoon chow......Me, Clancy and Freddy Roc get our slices and get a boothe, 5 minutes later Mac sits down ...not with Pizza , but a Meatball Hero.......after his third bite we reminded that there is meat in a meatball hero....which of course sent him into a memorable rage.......sorry Mac...can't forget that one......of course Dano had his moments in 102 , but we'll save those for another day.

Patsy Cline

there is a movement in the administration to replace that old National Anthem with soem progressive change....a new song, that reflects a new attitude.......cue Ms. Cline

"i'm sorry......soooo sorry....please accept my apology"

I am glad I didn't Die for this country.

truth always funnier than fiction

so i am having my morning cup of joe at 3:15 this morning and I turn on the tube for 3 imperative reason.......how did the Rangers do, how are the futures and what's the weather........big win, down 100 and still cold.....

but then i happen to catch a story on Sand Diego Real Estate and how street gangs are now involved in home equity fraud because it is so lucrative, basically getting fake apraisals, taking out huge equity loans, and walking away.........serious stuff brought to you by the very serious natl news....shocking eh? lets hang those dam bankers......first lets cut to a commercial....and no joke....the first commercial is a sock puppet talking to a guy and girl in a bus stop about what suckers they were because they did not have a car....."I have a car" the puppet says to the pretty young lady.....wow even a puppet can get a car.....he goes on to tell them that at 1-800-bar-none EVERYONE can get financing for a new car....EVEN if you have bad credit....
.....it's that effin easy...........no back to the news, and let's go find the real killers.

what are the odds

how can 1 man be soo wrong about soo many bets in 1 day ?

go win gat ? scratched
nowhere to hide ? nowhere to be found
imperial council? still running
Pioneer of the Nile was my lone victory , but the pampelmousse scratched

I know less today about the derby than i did yesterday and that's kind of frightening.

oh yeah.....i twisted an ankle at the big dance....o for 2 on hoops du jour.

however...it was an all start cast at PC's .....quite possibly the best assortment over the last 10 years....could not have made it up....sometimes reality is stranger than fiction....if i told you who was there, you would swear i was pulling your leg.

Bid Day for Racing

The big 4 are finally here, no not basketball, but 4 of the most telling prep stakes takes place tday.

The bayshore, The Iliinois Derby, The Wood and The Santa Anita Deby will be run today in the span of 60 minutes. ( 4:40 to 5:36 to be exact)

who doe we like you might ask ....go ahead and ask....who do we like?

"Gato Go Win" in the Bayshore....that's not Graves talking to me , that's the horsey's name...never heard of him before today , but I love em just the same...he sets the tone for a Big BIG day for this Cat.

Onto the Illini ...and even though Todd Pletcher has half the field, we are avoiding that big baby....we are gonna tie Mr Zito's "nowhere to hide" in with "Giant Oak" .....big blue trying to salvage his derby hopes....has a lot to proove.

that takes us to the Wood......can't put my finger on it , but i do not like "I want Revenge" ...I know he is the Big NY Favorite ,and a huge derby hopeful, but not my cup of tea........I am taking a shot on that old Aquaduct master Edgar Prado and Imperial Council.

And Alas the Santa Anita and very likely the Derby Winner will emerge today....it promises to be a duel between the bizare looking Pampelmousse and Mister Bob Baffert and Pioneer of the Nile........I am going with Bob and tie the mouse in an exacta...

caveat emptor.....i have been very wrong before....in fact...i have had a disastrous Prep Season 09 , but that all changes today.


in the shiny olympics i will stay east young lad....POINTS ?

layem with the Huskies, take em with the Cats....

Carve your name in ice and wind

I hope nobody tuned in here for an April Foold Joke.....The Greatest Joke of our lifteime is playing out in D.C. before our eyes..........and as the taliban chief treatened an "amazing attack" on us soil , we bury that story and tackle the real problems like funding overseas abortion, apparing on late nite tv and socializing the country........this lil blip appeared in the sunday Post by our good friend Phil.

As a registered Democrat since the age of 18 and a newspaperman since I was 20, I never wanted to believe, as I suspected, that the news media for the most part leans hard left.

I used to figure that, if people felt the media leans too far to the left, it was only because the media were usually in the habit of getting things right.

But what we identify as "the mainstream news media" are so often inclined to tip so far to portside that looking straight ahead can mean looking sideways.

President Obama two weeks ago made a horrifying gaffe. While appearing with Jay Leno on NBC's "Tonight Show," he spoke what was once indelicately and insensitively known as "a retard joke."

Worse, he seemed so eager to compare his bowling acumen with that of a "Special Olympian" he actually waited for the audience to settle a bit from his previous remark before making the comment. It therefore wasn't "a slip." Clearly, he considered his quip to be both hip and clever, a crack he wanted to be heard cracking.

The President very clearly didn't understand his crack for what it is by modern standards: Cruel, cheap and, for only the best of reasons, antiquated.

And while an issue was briefly made of the issue, Obama was quickly and widely excused. He'd committed an "oopsie," and nothing worse.

Imagine, though, if George Bush II had said the same. Good gosh, he'd have been bashed for first-degree insensitivity; his remark would have stood as clear evidence of a man insulated from the world by wealth and privilege, sorrowfully and even frighteningly detached from real life, not to mention the progressive and caring ideals that those on the right seem least able to grasp.

The beating Bush would have been handed, from editorial cartoonists to David Letterman, would have been merciless -- and in large part deserved.

But even President Obama's apology badly missed the mark and the point. He apologized to the Special Olympics as if he'd made a naughty crack about a club instead of an entire population of unfortunates and their loved ones who never thought that in 2009 the President of the United States would be capable of making a "retard joke" on national TV.

Obama's apology wasn't merely inadequate; it again served to prove that he wasn't fully aware of why his "clever" remark -- the one he couldn't wait to crack -- was so hurtful.

But by then, the news media were pretty much done with the issue; no harm, no foul. And the entertainment industry -- the daily and nightly presenters of monologues -- didn't go near it. Unlike the last President, this one was excused.