(from Robyn Morton https://medium.com/@Lookingforrobyn/when-you-ask-me-to-vote-for-hillary-174becdb5ccc#.8bwk6t3qm)
". . . This isn’t about policies with which I disagree. . . You are asking me to consciously give up on any hope I may have of living a sane life in our country. . . To vote for her in the primaries, I would need to believe that the establishment on both the right and the left have so thoroughly strangled the political system that it is no longer “reasonable” to even try for reform. I have to be so scared of political opponents gaining power that it is worth it to sacrifice even the hope of being able to get ahead, have a savings cushion, access healthcare, send our kids to college, retire, or just not feel like we’re constantly living on a knife’s edge, all because of fear of a potential future. . . If you think it is reasonable to fear the opposition more than to hope for having a better life — then I’m guessing you live a fairly comfortable life and don’t feel strong motivation to change it. . . maybe you don’t really understand what you’re asking of me when you advise me to make decisions based on “practicality.” And notice, I’m not even saying you’re wrong. What I am saying is that for me to choose Hillary over Bernie right now is to literally choose to give up on the best chance we have ever had to finally become a reasonable, civilized nation, and say instead “No, we can’t do it, I am too scared of what might happen. . .” "
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
(from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/fingers/)
“Your heart just breaks, that's all. But you can't judge, or point fingers. You just have to be lucky enough to find someone who appreciates you.”
-Audrey Hepburn
“The two most misused words in the entire English vocabulary are love and friendship. A true friend would die for you, so when you start trying to count them on one hand, you don't need any fingers.”
-Larry Flynt
“On the other hand, you have different fingers.”
-Stephen Wright
“When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.”
-Louis Nizer
“Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers”
- Hans Christian Andersen
“Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.”
-Dorothy Parker
OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music is now available at - Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
The Baltimore Sun's Nilay Saiya brings up a valid point. . .
(From http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-putin-pov-20140406,0,6960703.story)
". . . The White House has responded to Russian actions in Crimea by taking a number of steps against Moscow: It has ramped up sanctions, verbally denounced the Kremlin's flouting of international law, effectively kicked Russia out of the G8 and given rhetorical support to Ukraine's new government. Such measures, however, are likely to deepen and prolong the crisis, not resolve it.
The conventional view in Washington is that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a belligerent authoritarian intent upon expanding Russia's borders and confronting the West. What the White House refuses to acknowledge, however, is that the Russian leader is simply acting in what he believes to be his country's best interest.
A more holistic and accurate picture emerges when one considers things from the Russian perspective. After the end of the Cold War, NATO began expanding eastward to include countries that had previously been in the Soviet sphere of influence: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Croatia. In the last six years, NATO has attempted to expand its membership right up to the Russian border by enticing Georgia and Ukraine to join the institution.
For their part, Russian leaders question why the West seeks to move NATO — a military alliance designed for the specific purpose of containing Soviet power — closer to its borders. While Russia might have been willing to accept some limited NATO expansion, it drew a clear red line when it came to its immediate neighbors, Georgia and Ukraine. To make matters more complicated, some in Washington have spoken openly about their desire to deploy missile defense systems in Europe.
With respect to the current crisis, Washington kept no secrets about which side it supported in Ukraine when American diplomats backed the protesters who overthrew pro-Russian president Victor Yanukovich and lent immediate support to the new government in Kiev. It was at this point that Moscow intervened in Crimea for the express purpose of reclaiming what it sees as a strategically vital ally, to which American policymakers responded with shock and indignation.
American attempts to portray Mr. Putin as a power-hungry, war-mongering tyrant conveniently ignore how America itself has acted under similar conditions. When pro-American leaders were removed from power or Soviet-leaning leaders came to power in places like Iran, Guatemala and Panama during the Cold War, the U.S. either directly intervened or supported anti-communist rebels to defend its national interests. As recently as 1994, it deployed troops in Haiti to reinstate President Jean-Bertrand Aristide who had been removed from office in a coup.
Yet the U.S. continues to demonstrate a remarkable ability to whitewash its own motivations and actions in its foreign relations with other states, while ignoring the legitimate security concerns of rival countries. Political scientist Robert Jervis pointed out nearly 50 years ago that the inability to put oneself in another's shoes constitutes a key source of "misperception" in international politics. On the other hand, the skill to consider events from an opponent's perspective demonstrates strategic and sophisticated thinking — a necessary component of effective and informed decision making.
It would have been helpful, for instance, for the Obama team to have considered how it might have reacted if the friendly governments in Canada or Mexico were suddenly replaced with regimes hostile to American interests. From such a perspective, is it any wonder why Mr. Putin has fought so hard to salvage Russia's ally in Ukraine?
What, then, should the U.S. do? To start, President Obama should recognize three things. First, he should understand that Mr. Putin is acting less like a madman and simply doing what any leader of a major power would do in his place. Second, the president should also recognize that "punishing" Russia will likely lead to further reprisals by Moscow, thus deepening the crisis. Russia might also retaliate on issues of key issues of concern for American foreign policy where Russian cooperation is needed like Syria and Iran. Finally, the president should acknowledge that both Russia and the U.S. have a mutual interest in regional stability and Ukrainian neutrality.
To this end, the U.S. should reverse course on Ukraine. It should renounce any desires to incorporate Russia's immediate neighbors into NATO and not interfere in Ukraine's internal politics. It should also demand that Moscow do the same. Some pundits might criticize this approach as self-defeating. On the contrary, it is a strategic way to recognize Russia's security concerns and secure American interests in the region, while avoiding the possibility of another unnecessary war. Unfortunately, such an approach is unlikely to materialize so long as American policymakers refuse to consider things from the Russian point of view. . ."
OHO's
"Ocean City Ditty," the
CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if
you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD)
My latest solo release, '2014', can be downloaded digitally at:
(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak4)
I think sometimes, probably more so during the year-end holiday season (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years for all of the 'religiously-persecuted') that we as a species have arrived at a particularly crucial point in our development.
On the one hand, the more educated and sophisticated we become, the greater our preoccupation with our self-realization. As this takes place, we find ourselves less involved with the intricacies of our extended families. In fact, sometimes we find that while we love the members of our extended family we don't, in truth, like them as much as other, more-similarly (within the realms of intellectual, artistic, political, and humanitarian areas) disposed people.
So as we attain greater freedom, movement, awareness and development, we lose the commitment, duty, obligation to care for our family members who, in tribal times long gone, we would have spent our entire lives with- day in and day out.
I don't know what or where the happy medium between these two extremes exists. I most certainly understand and appreciate the value of existence at both ends of this spectrum.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
You can NOW download
your
very own copy of Ray Jozwiak's
newest release:
AMBIENCE & WINE
Aren't we all a little too cryptic at times. . . trying to mention a thought, make a point, illuminate some concept of which we believe we have some insight but maybe we really didn't . . . and of course the mere mention of same can, is, and will rightly be perceived as entirely too CRYPTIC.
. . . and then there are . . .
. . . secrets. Secrets can be fun, deceitful, intriguing, necessary . . . but they are always difficult to keep. Particularly if they must be kept in advance of an event and for a very, very, very, loooonnnnggggg time!!! And I'm always the one who seems to give them away. But, alas and AH HAHHH. . . NOT THIS TIME!!! . . . at least I hope.
What
do YOU think?
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html
Also download
your
very own copy of
AMBIENCE & WINE
by Ray
Jozwiak
. . . I take such great pride in what I do. I think you should take some too. I believe. Pride in me. Not in you. It's just my ego. It gets the best of me. It's just my ego. It's just my ego. It just won't let me be. It just won't let me be alone. It's not one of my more redeeming qualities. Still though, it serves me rather well sometimes. It won't be easy to just let it go though, it's just my ego.
Sometimes I can get my point across and I do it rather well. Don't you think? It's a gift. You can tell. It's just my ego. It's just my ego. It just won't let me be. It just won't let me be alone. It's not one of my more redeeming qualities. Still though, it serves me rather well sometimes. It won't be easy to just let it go though, it's just my ego.
There's a fine distinction between confidence and pride. There's a fine distinction that I'll never know. Cloaked with some discretion you emerge from the inside. I emerge in all my glory. What is there to hide?
Mother said that I would never make any friends if I don't see what I'm like; if I don't lost some pride. It's just my ego. It's just my ego. It just won't let me be. It just won't let me be alone. It's not one of my more redeeming qualities. Still though, it serves me rather well sometimes. It won't be easy to just let it go though, it's just my ego.
small.jpg)
