(from It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis)
". . . ". . . everything that is worthwhile in the world has been accomplished by the free, inquiring, critical spirit, and that the preservation of this spirit is more important than any social system whatsoever. But the men of ritual and the men of barbarism are capable of shutting up the men of science and of silencing them forever.". . . "
Other Ray Jozwiak Offerings
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
". . . sometime between the 1860s and 1936, the (Democratic) party of small government became the party of big government, and the (Republican) party of big government became rhetorically committed to curbing federal power. How did this switch happen? . . . Eric Rauchway, professor of American history at the University of California, Davis, pins the transition to the turn of the 20th century, when a highly influential Democrat named William Jennings Bryan blurred party lines by emphasizing the government's role in ensuring social justice through expansions of federal power — traditionally, a Republican stance. . . Republicans didn't immediately adopt the opposite position of favoring limited government. "Instead, for a couple of decades, both parties are promising an augmented federal government devoted in various ways to the cause of social justice," Rauchway wrote in a 2010 blog post for the Chronicles of Higher Education. Only gradually did Republican rhetoric drift to the counterarguments. The party's small-government platform cemented in the 1930s with its heated opposition to the New Deal. . ."
(from https://www.boldprogressives.org/ronald-reagan-in-1984-social-security-has-nothing-to-do-with-the-deficit/)
". . . Social Security, let’s lay it to rest once in for all…Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. Social Security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. If you reduce the outgo of Social Security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. It would go into the Social Security trust fund. So Social Security has nothing to do with balancing the budget or erasing or lowering the deficit. . . . "
. . . between EXPRESSING a point of view and DISPARAGING someone, something or some group!
(from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/technology/inside-facebook-employees-political-bias.html)
". . . The post went up quietly on Facebook’s internal message board last week. Titled “We Have a Problem With Political Diversity,” it quickly took off inside the social network. . .“We claim to welcome all perspectives, but are quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology.”. . . The new group has upset other Facebook employees, who said its online posts were offensive to minorities. . ."
"A 2018 Gallup survey in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, a Miami-based non-profit that supports journalism, reports that 58 percent of respondents say staying well informed is difficult, while only 38 percent say they believe it's easy. . . "We are seeing people pulling back into their own little domains," Busteed says. "Seven out of of 10 Americans share articles only with people that they feel are like-minded. We have all these different sources of information out there but people are retrenching into their own social networks.". . . When it comes to who is responsible for ensuring Americans do get access to an accurate and politically balanced understanding of the news, the public is divided: 48 percent say the news media should be up for this task, while same percentage say the responsibility rests with individuals. . ."
Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin thinks video games, song lyrics and social media kill more people than guns (my interpretation of his statements in a recent post). No action whatsoever on gun control is necessary, because THAT would not reduce the number of innocent deaths from school shootings. (!!!???) While I'm not a fan of violent games, and would much prefer promotion of games that require critical thought instead, does Mr. Bevin truly believe that enacting and enforcing regulation of video games, song lyrics and social media (read 1st Amendment Rights) is a practical and effective route to reducing school shootings? Whatever his answer, you can rest assured he will take much too much of your valuable time and much too many words to express it.
. . . Scapegoating - to play off one group against another . . .
. . . be WARY!
(from Outsider in the White House by Bernie Sanders with Huck Gutman)
". . . For a hundred years, the white workers of the South were the most exploited white workers in America. They were paid the lowest wages, they endured the worst working conditions, their housing was abysmal, their kids went to the most backward schools, and very few could send their children to college. But what did they have? They were given "niggers" to hate and look down on, "niggers" who couldn't vote, drink at their water fountains, use the same bathrooms, or sit up front in the buses or movie theaters.
The political, economic, social, and educational systems of the South enforced those divisions and continually fed the antagonisms. Above all things, white workers were encouraged to despise, and protect themselves from their black neighbors, or face losing what little they had. The rich folks in the the South - the bankers the manufacturers, the cottonfield owners - laughed all the way to the bank. . .political activists. . . brought black and white workers together to fight for justice. They did this not only because they believed in civil rights and equal opportunity but also because they undersood that real economic and political transformation would never be achieved as long as whites and blacks were busy fighting each other - rather than their common oppressors. . . "
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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-specific_and_gender-neutral_pronouns)
A gender-neutral pronoun, by contrast, is a pronoun that is not associated with a particular grammatical or social gender and that does not imply, for instance, male or female. Many English pronouns are gender-neutral, including they (which in certain contexts can also refer to a singular antecedent such as everyone, a person, or the patient).
Many of the world's languages do not have gender-specific pronouns. Others, however – particularly those that have a pervasive system of grammatical gender (or have historically had such a system, as with English) – have gender specificity in certain of their pronouns, particularly third-person personal pronouns.
Problems of usage arise in languages such as English, in contexts where a person of unspecified or unknown sex or social gender is being referred to but commonly available pronouns (he or she) are gender-specific. In such cases a gender-specific, usually masculine, pronoun is sometimes used with intended gender-neutral meaning; such use of he was also common in English until the middle of the twentieth century but is now controversial. Use of singular they is another common alternative. By using "he" or "she" the speaker may make assumptions about gender identity. Some people express their identities more ambiguously and appearances can be deceptive. Some attempts have been made, by proponents of gender-neutral language, to introduce invented gender-neutral pronouns.
She/He
OHO duo (Jay Graboski & Ray Jozwiak) live at Johnny's (Ocean City, MD), September 2015
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)
Saw a lot of social media talk the other day about 'all lives matter', white racism, etc. etc. and rightly so. This is a good thing. As long as we talk. As long as we are sincere. And as long as we LISTEN. We must listen to each other. Let us all enter the discussion with open minds and hearts. Preconceived notions and know-it-alls are NOT welcome here. I grew up with racism. While not defending it, I can recognize the source of it. . . and as they say, acknowledging the problem is the first step in resolving it. It's not easy and it's not simple. Still, I believe it is noble and worth working toward. Like campaign reform and redistribution of wealth, it probably won't be accomplished in my lifetime. But it will be accomplished.
So let's be careful to avoid generalizations. People are people, and much like music, there are only two kinds. . . good and bad. Be sincere.
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)
(from Michael Phelan, Social Security Works)
". . . And now, with Sen. Bernie Sanders formally announcing his run for President, we have our first declared candidate who is in favor of expanding Social Security. That means we have the support of 1 out of 2 Democratic candidates so far—let's change that. We have been working together to keep the numbers in Congress going up—we need to keep the same pressure on every candidate that wants to be our President. We need to make sure that expanding Social Security is a core Democratic plank—and that those who would cut benefits and services are the ones on the fringe. . . Senator Sanders joins Hillary Clinton as an official candidate. So far Clinton has not taken a public position on expansion. But with 79% of likely voters (including Democrats, Republicans and Independents) in favor of expanding Social Security, the choice is obvious: We need to expand our Social Security system! . . ."
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)
(from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/books/review/the-social-conquest-of-earth-by-edward-o-wilson.html)
on ‘The Social Conquest of Earth,’ by Edward O. Wilson
". . . one can stack up log-style all humans alive today into a cube that’s about a mile on each side, easily hidden in the Grand Canyon. And all the ants on earth would fit into a cube of similar size. More important, humans and certain insects are the planet’s “eusocial” species — the only species that form communities that contain multiple generations and where, as part of a division of labor, community members sometimes perform altruistic acts for the benefit of others. . .
. . . Wilson’s own theory is far too extreme, though. He adopts a Manichaean view of evolution, in which group selection is responsible for all of our virtues (“honor, virtue and duty”), while individual selection produces nothing but sin (“selfishness, cowardice and hypocrisy”). But it’s long been known that unrelated individuals can benefit from repeated cooperation with one another, so long as there are mechanisms in place to encourage reciprocity and punish betrayal. There is now evidence — from computational modeling, observations of real-world human interactions and laboratory studies — showing that our altruistic and eusocial choices are sensitive to past interactions with individuals and that we are inclined to reward cooperators and punish cheats and free-riders. This evidence suggests that group conflict is not the sole force that has shaped human eusociality. Wilson must be familiar with this research, but doesn’t acknowledge how it complicates his account. . . "
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 will be released April 7, 2014 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)
In a 5-to-4 ruling, the Supreme Court conservatives struck down some of the last remaining limits on how much wealthy donors can donate to electoral campaigns. The reason, they claim, is freedom of speech. FREEDOM OF SPEECH? How can donating large sums of money to a candidate, who takes that money and pays Hollywood to make an entertainment spectacle full of emotion and not small amounts of misinformation, slanted (by the way) towards the political and or social position of the donator of the large sums of money, which a great percentage of American people sitting comfortably in their lazy boys with a beer in their hand interprets as FACTUAL. . . be called freedom of speech?
With those limits gone, it will be even harder for everyday people to have their voices heard in Washington.
I’m all for freedom of speech but I don’t believe buying a politician is freedom of speech. Let the Koch brothers spend lots of money, go on TV, identify themselves and speak. That would be freedom of speech. The way it’s done now deceives all the bumpkins whose major form of recreation (and for some, their highest level of education) is watching TV.
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)
(from wikipedia.com)
Fishbone is a U.S. alternative rock band formed in 1979 in Los Angeles, California, which plays a fusion of ska, punk rock, funk, hard rock and soul. Critics have noted of the band: "Fishbone was one of the most distinctive and eclectic alternative rock bands of the late '80s. With their hyperactive, self-conscious diversity, goofy sense of humor, and sharp social commentary, the group gained a sizable cult following during the late '80s, yet they were never able to earn a mainstream audience."
Fishbone first assembled in 1979 with John Norwood Fisher (bass); his brother Phillip "Fish" Fisher (drums); Angelo Moore, who sometimes uses the stage name "Dr. Madd Vibe" (vocals, saxophones ranging from sopranino to bass, theremin); Kendall Jones (guitar); "Dirty" Walter A. Kibby II (vocals, trumpet); and Christopher Dowd, who sometimes uses the pseudonym "Charlie Down" (keyboards, trombone, vocals). Founding members John Norwood Fisher, Angelo Moore, and Walter Kibby remain with the band as of 2013.
Fishbone got started in 1979 as a "disparate, all-black oddball crew" when the members were in junior high school. The Fisher brothers, Jones, Dowd, and Kibby were all from South Central Los Angeles. and were included in a school busing program that sent them daily to the San Fernando Valley, where they met Moore, who was native to the area. After first using the name Megatron with Titus Norris on vocals, the sextet adopted the name Fishbone and formed a unique stew of different styles that became popular in the Los Angeles club scene and was a great influence on several subsequent alternative bands.[citation needed] They were close friends with Los Angeles bands like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Thelonious Monster. Fishbone were signed to Columbia Records in 1983 after being spotted at a club gig by producer David Kahne. Their first release was the 1985 single "Party at Ground Zero", followed by a self-titled EP, Fishbone. In 1987, in support of their first full-length album, In Your Face, the band performed "Jamaica Ska" in the Annette Funicello/Frankie Avalon reunion movie Back to the Beach. Fishbone's first major international tour was as the opening act for the Beastie Boys.
Fishbone was mostly considered to be a ska and funk band in their early years, but later became more guitar-driven with a focus on rock and soul music. The 1988 album Truth and Soul brought Fishbone wide critical acclaim. With this album, the band also added left-leaning social commentary to their lyrics, covering important topics such as the breakup of families, early 1990s racism, fascism, nuclear war, and oppression in lower income housing projects. The album was highlighted by a hard rock-inspired version of Curtis Mayfield's classic "Freddie's Dead" from the film Super Fly. The music video, directed by Douglas Gayeton, became the band's first hit on MTV. That same year, the group toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and became nationally known in the burgeoning alternative music scene. Also that year, Fishbone and Little Richard recorded the Lead Belly song "Rock Island Line" for the tribute album Folkways: A Vision Shared.
The band added former Miles Davis sideman John Bigham on guitar and keyboards in 1989. The 1991 album The Reality of My Surroundings was a critical and commercial success, reaching #49 on the Billboard albums chart. One month before the album's release, the group played a memorable performance on Saturday Night Live of "Sunless Saturday," a song which later featured an MTV video directed by Spike Lee. The song "Everyday Sunshine" also became a modest hit on radio and MTV.
While the band retained their roots in funk and ska, the 1993 album Give a Monkey a Brain and He'll Swear He's the Center of the Universe included songs with hard rock, punk, and heavy metal elements. At the time of the album's release, the band began to tear apart internally. Just before Fishbone joined the 1993 Lollapalooza tour, guitarist Kendall Jones, reportedly suffering from mental instability, quit the band and joined a religious group. Bassist John Norwood Fisher tracked Jones down in the belief that he needed rescue from the religious group, only to be charged with attempted kidnapping; Fisher was acquitted at trial. A benefit concert to help with Fisher's legal expenses featured Porno for Pyros, Primus, Tool, and Alice in Chains. Keyboardist Christopher Dowd left Fishbone in 1994 and released an album titled Puzzle in 1997 under the name The Seedy Arkhestra, with various guests including Jeff Buckley and N'Dea Davenport. The album included an anti-Fishbone song called "Flog Your Dead Horse."
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
small.jpg)
