Let's end the day-- and launch into Labor Day-- with the best new Sheryl Crow song I've heard in years. My old pal, music critic Michael Snyder, turned me on to this live Zoom version (above) of "In the End" today. He called the song "a powerful reaction to the current state of the world and the nightmarish turn taken by American politics" and noted that "she initially released a scathing animated video to accompany the studio recording of the song, but she expressed concern that it overemphasized the heinous behavior on one side of the aisle, so she replaced it with a re-edit of the 'toon that was a more evenhanded attack on all sides of the divide while still taking square aim at the Orange Ogre on top of the heap." You'll find that after In The End's powerful and compelling lyrics:
There's a fly on the wall, in the house on the hillWhere the king of the world watches TVAnd the people all wait for his latest mandateTo a nation of angry believersWell, his words are a drug, while his loyal band of thugsCover up all his many transgressionsThe fly, lands on his ear and whispers,"What's there to fear, as long as you're still the obsession?"Is it too late to turn back now?Too late to see the light?Do you make a vow to Heaven and Hell?When you wake up at night, do you ask yourself? In the endDid you feed them? How'd you treat them?Is it so hard to love?In the endLike you mean it, like you seen itYou get back what you giveIn the end There's a man on the cross with His arms open wideAnd a tear that’d quench the world's firesBut His name is a shield to the ones who revealTheir own power and greed and desire In the endDid you need them? How'd you treat them?Is it so hard to love?In the endLike you mean it, like you've seen itYou get back what you giveIn the endIn the end Well you only live once or maybe you live twiceDepending on how well you spent itYou see, karma's a drag, you come back as a rat[Dodging traps set by your own descendantsIs it too late to turn back now?Too late to turn around?You get one chance in this lifeYou can turn around things or you can close your eyes In the endDid you feed them? How'd you treat them?Is it so hard to love?In the endLike you mean it, like you’ve seen itYou get back what you giveIn the endYou can hear them, did you feed them?Is it so hard to love?In the endLike you mean it, like you’ve seen itYou get back what you give in the end(You get back what you give in the end) In the endIn the end
WAIT! There's MoreAndy Ruff is running to represent a southern Indiana swing district that stretches from the suburbs north of Louisville through Bloomington and into the suburbs south of Indianapolis. He sounds like the right kind of populist candidate for the district. Remember, the Democrats couldn't have picked a worse candidate for this area than Hillary and Trump trounced her 61% to 34%. Obama had taken over 40% both times he ran and in 2018 a mediocre Democrat got 43.5% against incumbent Trey Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth is one of the Congress' wealthiest men, an arch-conservative representing his own class. And Tennessee-- which is where he's from.Ruff, who was elected to the the Bloomington City Council as an at-large member, is a high school science teacher and has worked as an environmental planner for the Monroe County government. He's also a talented songwriter and musician. He's making a big noise about how Hollingsworth is a carpetbagger who shouldn't be representing Indiana in Congress. On his website, Ruff wrote that "Trey 'moved' to Indiana in 2016, the same year he and his family spent $4 million buying out the IN-09 Republican Primary. It’s entirely possible, of course, to become an 'adopted' Hoosier, to be as practiced and knowledgeable in our ways and traditions as someone who was born and raised in Southern Indiana. But you have to earn the right to that title. It takes time, and real effort, to immerse yourself in our community and culture. These are things Tennessee Trey has yet to do. To be honest, I don’t think he’s even trying. For instance, recently asked to name his favorite John Mellencamp song, Hollingsworth couldn’t do it! That’s right. The congressman for Indiana’s 9th couldn’t think of a single song by the living rock legend born and raised in this very district. Show me a Hoosier who can’t name ‘Jack and Diane’ or ‘Small Town’ in less than three seconds, and I’ll show you a politician from Tennessee who spends all his time in Washington. As inconsequential as that may sound, it’s just one example of the fact that Trey doesn’t even have a baseline grasp of simple Hoosier knowledge-- and he’s ‘lived here’ for four years now (supposedly). This is essential to understanding his continued misrepresentation of this district. If you’re as appalled as me that Joseph Albert Hollingsworth III has been using our seat in the nation’s capitol to make himself even richer and has the gall to call himself a 'Hoosier' while doing it, I’m asking you to help me send him and his family money back to Tennessee on Election Day."This is the best campaign song I ever heard a candidate do-- the ending disclaimer is hilarious too: "I'm Andy Ruff and I wrote, sang and approved this message." He also played guitar on it. It's so cool; you should listen to it: