Monday, September 28, 2009

Back In The Saddle Again Again


The Yanks are back in the saddle again
Where they were meant to lead
And the woeful Bosox left to plead

Back In The Saddle Again



I'm back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again
Ridin' the range once more
Totin' my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin' to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again
I'm back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again
Ridin' the range once more
Totin' my old .44
Where you sleep out every night
And the only law is right
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin' to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again

Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Kings Of New York


new lyrics
Scores of Bosox fans with hangin faces
Attempts at scoring C.C. erases
A porcelain tub with freezing water!
A Saturday night with Arnold's daughter!
Look at me
I'm the king of New York
Suddenly
I'm respectable
Starin' right at 'cha
Lousy with stature

The King Of New York


Worth every cent

Friday, September 25, 2009

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What Would Don Or Joe Do #4?


In episode 6 of Mad Men viewers might have been struck by Don Draper's sensitivity to his daughter's fears. Also he didn't take advantage of the beautiful and shapely Joan Holloway on her last day at Sterling Cooper. What were Don's thoughts on those matters. What would Joe have done?

Robby Cano As A Clutch Hitter


Yankee fans argue over the clutch hitting of Robby Cano
Fan K: Just before he grounded out weakly to first to end last night’s game with runners on first and second, they flashed a stat on Cano. His average with runners in scoring position this year is .205. Since May 31st, it’s .171. This may be the worst clutch-hitting performance in the history of baseball.

Fan J: You have to be the king of pessimistic baseball stats in the history of the world. Or just plain pessimistic anything in the history of the world.
Cano's batting .320 and all you can do is bring up something that makes me want to puke. How about all the other times he gets on base (well he is batting .320) and other guys drive him in?
Did you know that Marilyn Monroe had a wart on her ass?
I bet is you had a date with Marilyn, you'd be telling us, "Ah, this Marilyn, she'd kinda cute, but you should see this wart on her ass."

Fan K:And for the record, I would never complain about Marilyn Monroe’s ass. But how is Cano the equivalent of Marilyn Monroe? Cano is maybe Margaret Dumont. On a good day.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Kansas City: The Boston Red Sox Are Done


with a h/t to Joe Bruno..And a one, and a two, and a three....
I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
I'm going to Kansas City
Kansas City here I come
They got a crazy way of pitching there
And now the Boston Red Sox are done.......

Zack Greinke Demonsrates The Kansas City Shuffle On The Red Sox

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

What Would Don Draper Say About Health Care In America


Above based on the ultimate man's man Don Draper and the blog, What Would Don Draper Do?
Below Will Ferrell on health care reform, along with Jon Hamm of "Mad Men," Olivia Wilde of "House," Thomas Lennon of "Reno 911," Robert Ben Garant of "Reno 911," Masi Oka of "Heroes," Jordana Spiro of "My Boys," Linda Cardellini of "ER," and Donald Faison of "Scrubs."

from move on a h/t to Stephanie Stein

Friday, September 18, 2009

What Would Joe Do #3?

In regard to the bench clearing brawl from the game from Tuesday, Sept. 15th
Hot-headed Jorge Posada's temper cost him a suspension and a fine, punishment for touching off Tuesday's bench-clearing brawl. Posada and Toronto relief pitcher Jesse Carlson got $3,000 fines and both got three-game suspensions, as did Yankee reserve Shelly Duncan.
Posada and Carlson's original four-game bans were reduced on the condition they not appeal, so both began their suspensions last night. That's wise in Posada's case, so that he doesn't risk missing games vs. the Angels and Red Sox next week; Joe Girardi likely would've preferred Posada show that kind of common sense a day earlier

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Nick Swisher's Tribute To Patrick Swayze

from nomaas.org
Nick Swisher having the time of his life
In a trade that seems more criminal with each passing day, Nick Swisher went 2-4 with a HR and a double on Monday night to help give the Bombers a win over the arch-nemesis Angels. With this performance, Swisher raised his season OPS to .880, his highest since the .865 he posted in 2006. When all is said and done, this may go down as the best season of Swish's career.

Nick is dating Joanna Garcia

Patrick Swayze Tribute

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Three Texas Jewish Rangers Find A Place To Celebrate Rosh Hashonah


Complete with three gorgeous jewesses as hora partners.

Texas Jewish Rangers Contemplate Where To Spend Rosh Hashonah


Scott Feldman, Ian Kinsler, but the Dominican Neftali Feliz?
The first known Jews to reach the island of Hispaniola were Spanish Jews. They arrived in 1492, when the island was discovered by Christopher Columbus. Anti-semitism, and the Spanish Inquisition, caused many Jews to flee the country of Spain which was home to Jewish people for hundreds of years. Columbus' crew set sail from Spain, the very day of the Alhambra Decree. The crew had at least five Jews on board. They were Luis de Torres, interpreter; Marco, the surgeon; Bernal, the physician; Alonzo de la Calle, and Gabriel Sanchez. Luis de Torres was the first man ashore Hispaniola. Later, when the island was divided by the French and the Spanish, most Jews settled on the Spanish side which would later become the Dominican Republic. Eventually, Sephardim from other countries also arrived. In the 19th century Jews from Curacao settled in Hispaniola, but did not form a strong community. Most of them hid their Jewish identities or were unaffiliated with Jewish tradition by that time. Among their descendants were Dominican President Francisco Henriquez y Carvajal[1] and his son Pedro Henriques Ureña.
The Dominican Republic was one of the very few countries prepared to accept mass Jewish immigration during World War II. At the Evian Conference, it offered to accept up to 100,000 Jewish refugees. The DORSA (Dominican Republic Settlement Association) was formed with the assistance of the JDC, and helped settle Jews in Sosua, on the northern coast. About 700 European Jews of Ashkenazi Jewish descent reached the settlement where they were assigned land and cattle. Other refugees settled in the capital, Santo Domingo. In 1943 the number of known Jews in the Dominican Republic peaked at 1000. Since that time it has been in constant decline due to emigration and assimilation. The oldest Jewish grave is dated 1826.
The current population of known Jews in the Dominican Republic is approximately 400, the majority live in Santo Domingo, the capital. A very high percentage of the nation's Jews have intermarried although some spouses have fomalized their Judaism through conversions and participate in Jewish communal life. There are three synagogues. One is the Centro Israelita de República Dominicana in Santo Domingo, another is a Chabad outreach center also in Santo Domingo and the other is in the country's first established community in Sosua, . An "afterschool" at the Centro Israelita is active on a weekly basis and a chapter of the International Council of Jewish Women is active. The synagogue publishes a monthly magazine "Boletin Shalom". The Chabad outreach center [5] focuses on assisting the local Jewish population reconnect with their Jewish roots and (because Chabad is of the Chassidic Jewish tradition) it is the source for traditional Judaism in the Dominican Republic. In Sosua there is a small Jewish Museum next to the synagogue. Moreover, there is a Sephardic Bet Midrash which is dedicated to instruction of classical Hebrew, the Spanish-Portuguese rite, and teaching of Jewish Law. On the High Holidays, the Sosua community hires a cantor from abroad who comes to lead services. Both communities maintain well kept Jewish cemeteries.

A new book entitled Tropical Zion: General Trujillo, FDR, and the Jews of Sosúa
Allen Wells

"This is an extraordinary and original contribution to Latin American, Jewish, and U.S. history. In a remarkable work, Allen Wells describes and assesses how and why one of Latin America's bloodiest dictators was willing to rescue Jews from Nazi persecution." Friedrich Katz, Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Latin American History, University of Chicago "This is a masterful study of Jewish refugees who found an unlikely haven in Rafael Trujillo's Dominican Republic, written with the head and the heart by a gifted historian of Latin America. Their full story is firmly anchored here in its salient contexts--personal and local, national, New World, European, global, and temporal. It will be of lasting value to students of Latin American, European, and world history, as well as modern Jewish studies." William B. Taylor, Muriel McKevitt Sonne Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley "This illuminating and irony-laden study deftly integrates twentieth-century Latin American, Jewish, and American history with that of the Holocaust. Readers interested in any of these fields will be rewarded and have their perspectives widened. An admirably researched and crafted book, and a touching one, too."--Peter Hayes, Theodore Zev Weiss Professor of Holocaust Studies, Northwestern University
Seven hundred and fifty Jewish refugees fled Nazi Germany and founded the agricultural settlement of Sosúa in the Dominican Republic, then ruled by one of Latin America’s most repressive dictators, General Rafael Trujillo. In Tropical Zion, Allen Wells, a distinguished historian and the son of a Sosúa settler, tells the compelling story of General Trujillo, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and those fortunate pioneers who founded a successful employee-owned dairy cooperative on the north shore of the island.
Why did a dictator admit these desperate refugees when so few nations would accept those fleeing fascism? Eager to mollify international critics after his army had massacred 15,000 unarmed Haitians, Trujillo sent representatives to Évian, France, in July, 1938 for a conference on refugees from Nazism. Proposed by FDR to deflect criticism from his administration’s restrictive immigration policies, the Évian Conference proved an abject failure. The Dominican Republic was the only nation that agreed to open its doors. Obsessed with stemming the tide of Haitian migration across his nation’s border, the opportunistic Trujillo sought to “whiten” the Dominican populace, welcoming Jewish refugees who were themselves subject to racist scorn in Europe.
The Roosevelt administration sanctioned the Sosúa colony. Since the United States did not accept Jewish refugees in significant numbers, it encouraged Latin America to do so. That prodding, paired with FDR’s overriding preoccupation with fighting fascism, strengthened U.S. relations with Latin American dictatorships for decades to come. Meanwhile, as Jewish organizations worked to get Jews out of Europe, discussions about the fate of worldwide Jewry exposed fault lines between Zionists and Non-Zionists. Throughout his discussion of these broad dynamics, Wells weaves vivid narratives about the founding of Sosúa, the original settlers and their families, and the life of the unconventional beach-front colony.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Len Berman: Pseudo-Name Dropper


Len just loves to name drop on his top 5 list
5. Name Dropping
Last night at the U.S. Open I sat next to Stanley Tucci and right
behind Judd Hirsch and Matthew Broderick. Tony Bennett and Bruce
Willis were across the aisle. Pretty cool. And in a weird
juxtaposition, Jack Nicklaus was a few rows away. I was wondering if
he was thinking, "aha, Federer is stuck on 15 and Tiger on 14. Maybe
my record of 18 majors is safe after all!"

Thursday, September 10, 2009

NY Mets' All Stars


Suggested by this email exchange
Loved the Times piece today about how Eddie Kranepool still holds half the Mets’ hitting records: “Who’s the Gehrig of the Mets? Ed Kranepool.”
Now, I love Kranepool—who was, as the article notes, a fellow Yankees fan. But this headline just lends itself to almost infinite ridicule.
Who’s the Rembrandt of the Mets? Leroy Niemann.
Who’s the Mozart of the Mets? Barry Manilow.
Who’s the Lincoln of the Mets? Millard Fillmore...well, you get the picture.
Who is the Marilyn Monroe of the Mets? Phyllis Diller
Who is the Rachel Maddow of the Mets? Sarah Palin

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

What Would Joe Do #2?


Based on the ultimate man's man Don Draper and the blog, What Would Don Draper Do?
Joe is informed that an old buddies kid (the one with the Transfiguration baseball cap) is in attendance at the Spike Lee celebration for Michael Jackson in Prospect Park. He knows his friend would disapprove. What would he do?
I wouldn't say a word to the kid. He's got enough trouble being exploited by Spike Lee, who never had any shame. But I would grab Spike Lee by his scrawny neck, wring him like a wet towel, then drop him into the nearest trash can, with the warning, "If I ever see you in Little Italy, I will make pork sausage out of you. Understand, creep?"

Great Footage Of Spike Lee's Michael Jackson Celebration

Jeter Breaks Yankee Hit Record #1


As of 9/8/09 he is 4 hits shy of breaking the record, but these 5 have not been included

Monday, September 07, 2009

What Would Joe Do #1?


Based on the ultimate man's man Don Draper and the blog, What Would Don Draper Do?
The question was posed to another man's man, Joe.
You see your son trying on a helmet of a dead German soldier given to him by his grandfather. The boy is impressed by stories of the grandpa's WW1 killing escapades but you disapprove and tell him that a living person once occupied that helmet. The grandfather ignores your request that he take the helmet off of the kid. What would you do? Joe's response

I saw Mad Men last night and I was disturbed by the scene where the grandfather usurped the power of Don Draper, a man much too handsome for his own good. Don Draper handled it in typical Don Draper fashion. He calmly got out of his chair, walked into the kitchen and took the German helmet off his son's head, sneering at his father-in-law. Way too cool. If it were me, I'd pull a typical lower east side move with a touch imported from Sicily. I'd grab the World War I German helmet off my poor son's head, stick the sharp point on top of it right into Grandpa's eye and twist until his brain matter dotted the linoleum. Then I'd call my pregnant wife Betz and tell her to promptly clean up the mess and then to please make proper arrangements with the local funeral home. Cremation would be the cheapest and best option.
Then I would eat a double-decker chicken salad sandwich, heavy on the mayo, and split it with my son. A pickle on the side from Guss' on Essex Street wouldn't be a bad idea either. Any questions?

It's Good To Be A Yankee

The Brooklyn Flea Meets The Spanish Flea


from my youtube description

Compared to the big New Paltz Craft's Fair I went to the next day, "pound for pound" this market has more interesting stuff and better food. A big plus is the beautiful Clinton Hill neighborhood featuring the magnificent Queen Of All Saint's Church and the Brooklyn Masonic Temple. See if you can spot Jeffrey Wright

Friday, September 04, 2009

A-Rod Cops A Feel

The officer was examined after the game. No injuries were sustained but she tested positive for steroids. Maybe she got it via contact.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Stop Squawking And Back To Selling Out


A follow up to the story about the strange passengers on a plane and a comment from a public school parent list serve
Am I the only one who finds the notion of Randi Weingarten flying from the Hamptons in Mayor Bloomberg's private airplane, accompanied by Kevin Sheekey, to be a step or two below disturbing? What's next -- that she's house-sitting one of his luxury estates in Bermuda or the Bahamas?

Longoria Gores The Monster

Did Evan drive the fatal blow to the Sox last night? Let's hope so.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Profiles In Cretinism

from nomaas.org
schilling mulling run for Senate
Former right-hander Curt Schilling -- who has always had an interest in politics -- confirmed Wednesday that he has been contacted about running for the seat vacated by late Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy...... While acknowledging how busy he is in his post-playing career, Schilling did not rule out the possibility of making a run at the Senate.
"While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority, I do have some interest in the possibility," Schilling wrote on his blog at 38pitches.weei.com

Revenge Of The Birds

Now lets get this straight, we're not advocating any harm come to anyone. As Don Rickles would say, "I'm just kidding. I love everybody, we all need to laugh and laugh at ourselves, yada, yada.. "
From the nypost, KAMIKAZE BIRD SLAMS BLOOMY
By DAVID SEIFMAN and CHUCK BENNETT
Maybe it wanted revenge.A bird struck a jet carrying the mayor and about a half-dozen others from the Hamptons to Boston for Sen. Ted Kennedy's funeral Saturday, The Post has learned.Unlike the geese that forced US Airways Capt. Chesley Sullenberger to bring his jet down in the Hudson in January, Bloomberg's bird did not gum up the engine. After Sullenberger's miraculous splash landing, the mayor made his views on birds very clear. "There is not a lot of cost involved in rounding up a couple thousand geese, and letting them go to sleep with nice dreams," he said. In last weekend's incident over Long Island, Bloomberg's pilot feared that possible unseen damage to the French-made Dassault 900EX could make a landing problematic......But the mayor, himself a licensed pilot, didn't pass on the news to his entourage, which included longtime girlfriend Diana Taylor, Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey and teachers-union head Randi Weingarten.

What's Randi doing hanging out with Mike?
As for the slaughter of the geese many pilots are in opposition
Pilot & Flight Crew Quotes:
"I have accumulated over 300 hours flying C172's, C182's all around the Tri State area including major airports such as Teterboro, Linden, Morristown, Caldwell, Westchester, Islip, & Republic airports. I have never had a close call with any wildlife including Canada Geese. I have never seen a Canada Goose, but have seen sea gulls every time I've been up. I think this is preposterous and the government should be stopped. This is unnecessary murder."
     - Andrew King, Private Pilot, Teterboro Airport  (CEO, Kings Cages International, LLC)

"I have been flying skydivers on Long Island for over 20 years, and I have never had a close call with migrating geese, even though they come to Swan Lake Golf Course every year.  The golf course is right next to Calverton Executive Airpark, which is the Home of Skydive Long Island in Calverton.  The idea of gassing the Geese is ludicrous!  Keep the garbage away from the Airports to get better results in controlling bird strikes--Seagulls are a much bigger threat to downing an aircraft than geese will ever be!"
    -Ray Maynard, Commercial Pilot, Calverton Executive Airport (President, Skydive Long Island)

"In my 19 years as a flight attendant, I have never seen geese on the runway."
     - Name withheld, Flight Attendant for American Airlines, J.F.K. Airport

"As a Private Pilot for over 35 years being born and raised on Long Island I've seen more sea gulls at low altitudes than geese.  Either way the geese are not the problem and if a need is shown to remove them it should be done in a safe and humane way, not by gassing our natural wildlife."
     - Gene Merkle, Private Pilot, Long Island MacArthur Airport

a h/t to Norm and Phil

A Special Blessing From KV Rabbi Marv For Derek's Wedding


Quite an honor for Marv considering he's a Dodger fan