Say again. . .

. . . ????

 "I will not let my people live in the shadow of annihilation. . . " 

I will begin the annihilation! 

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So this is where I stand . . .

. . . in my dispute. . .

We received your letter dated 2/16/2012 on Saturday, 3/3/2012 and we're sorry to hear that your firm is unwilling to consider the position of a former good customer who could be a returning customer.

We talked with several 'Customer Service' representatives on 12/22/2011, were told and realized what we had done wrong not canceling the remaining inactive phone and thought it was settled.  Then we got another bill which prompted another letter from us and a response from you dated 2/2/2012 that stated, in part, "Unfortunately, our Customer Relations team does not handle account cancellations."  That was a surprise!  Why didn't they tell us that on December 22nd?  

We called again on 2/6/2012 and spoke with several more ‘Customer Service’ representatives and that was when someone did take the initiative to transfer us to the Customer Care Department to formally cancel the last phone.

While we would like to have the one remaining phone cancelled at the same time we transferred the other phones, we are willing to pay the charges due on that last remaining inactive telephone up to 12/22/2011. Also, since this issue has been in dispute since 12/22/2011, we ask that you kindly remove the past due charges.  No tangible service was provided to the phone (ending in 4461) anyway between late summer 2011 and 2/6/2012 and that can be verified by your records.

You got us on a technicality for a phone that wasn't even in use. 

We hope that you will kindly re-consider the situation with these facts in mind and forward a revised bill to 12/22/2011 for us to pay and consider this matter closed.

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At Brewer’s Alley . . .

. . .  Songwriters’ Showcase this Monday, March 5, Mr. Rod Deacy tells us. . .

 ". . . we welcome back one of my personal favorites, a dynamic performer and terrific songwriter well-known in the DC area -- JUSTIN TRAWICK! Mr. Trawick is a bundle of energy, with great chops and a bunch of literate and interesting songs, which adds up to a riveting show!
    
Justin always brings fans with him, too, which will be a shot in the arm – Brewer’s Alley has been a little less full than we like these last few weeks… I know it’s hard to get motivated to leave the warm and comfortable home cocoon on a winter evening – but we need you at Brewer’s Alley! Please come out and support FREE LIVE ACOUSTIC MUSIC on a Monday evening – you don’t have to stay up late, as we finish around 10:30 pm, but we need a full room, not only because it enables us to keep putting on the Showcase, but because it makes for a better experience for our performers – who play for free… Frederick is a culture-rich town that only stays that way with strong support!
  
For the piano prelude this week, we welcome Rhianon! As usual, come early to find good seats for the evening and to catch the entire 30 minutes of the prelude. You can come upstairs from 7:15 pm on (sometimes earlier if Sarah is ready; performers can come up when they arrive).

For three-song cameo performers this week, we have Canadian-born now Maryland resident Eugene Benjamin, and the splendid duo of Kate Maguire  and Claudia SanSoucie known as Beggar’s Ride; Kate and Claudia are featuring in August. Todd’s Pick is Scott Barrett, a regular performer in local venues… We will also be hearing from the usual crew; poet John Holly reciting his poems in between other performers, Tomy Wright, playing percussion, then guitar and singing at the end of the evening, plus Todd C. Walker who also takes photos, helps emcee and helps run sound. We plan on Tomy, Todd and I all playing after the feature this week, as we haven’t had much microphone time recently…

Tomy One M Wright will be joined again by Ron Goad this week – together they form the Semi-Grateful Percussion Section…  (I figured Semi-Grateful was better than Almost Dead…) I promise that no other Showcase in the USA has percussion like us! And watch out this week, as Mister Goad says his “thoughts are turning to Spring,” whatever that means… Is he going to vacuum out his car again? Polish his djembe? Hammer out the dents in his hi-hat? Only he knows… I’m pretty sure it’s too soon for him to start wearing shorts again, but stranger things have happened…"

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Dreams . . .

 . . . to me, are a very strange, yet probably a very normal, uneventful function of a human organ - the brain.

In fact, I believe that dreams are the waste products of the brain.  Why not?  If you pay attention (if you can remember your dreams at all) there is usually one element (sometimes multiple elements) within your dream that you can directly follow back to something real that happened to you or that you thought of, most likely (but I doubt without exception) the day before you had the dream.

I remember distinctly when one summer evening as a teenager, my best friend at the time and I were sitting near the curb of my family's quiet street having one of our many usual discussions on life.  When one,  lone automobile came down the road, stopped politely at the stop sign before proceeding through the intersection and slowly out of our site, my friend remarked that life was quite arbitrary and one could never be sure that when that car stopped at the stop sign, the barrel of a gun would not become apparent aiming out the car window directly at us and . . . BOOM!!!  And he was and is correct.

That very night, I found myself at the same location on the curb near my house, talking with the same friend on another warm, summer night - in a dream, of course.  And since these discussions frequently involved laughter as well a matters of substantial gravity, we were laughing.  That laughter was interrupted by one, lone automobile slowly approaching our location and the stop sign at the corner of the intersection of Gough and Old North Point.  Upon stopping we noticed the car window was slowly being lowered.  We saw no face but began to perceive an object being leveled through the open window in our direction.  It appeared ring-like at first, but in what seemed to be hours, but was in reality only seconds, it registered upon the young psyche of each of us that this was, indeed a weapon of some sort.  As we groped for words and more importantly to summon the energy to take some action, I only remember staring directly at that gun barrel for a small eternity before eventually hearing a tremendous . . .

BOOM!!!

. . . which awakened me. 
Dreams!

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This town's like the one . . .

. . . sang about in 'The Green Green Grass of Home'

This photo of Gingerbread House is courtesy of TripAdvisor

All the perfect picket fences
And gingerbread cottages in a row
Brightly colored walls on every house
And if figure on the lawn
Peace and calm
I found where I belong
Til the murder in our Avalon

You could hear the children laugh and play
All their games on any day
Pretty Moms and Handsome Daddies
Would walk hand-in-hand down the street
Any summer night
You could never find another place
Where your life would be so good
I considered this my jackpot won
Til the murder in our Avalon

Now and air of uneasiness
Pervades everything
I can't seem to get any rest anymore
Might have been a heaven on earth
A place we could be
Safe from all the rest of the world and humanity
There was no stranger
No homicide
You killed our love
It was clearly a job from the inside

Now the trees are greener than before
But a chill is in the air
People go about their business
And everyone acts like I'm not even there
I've been told it's time to move along
And that life continues on
I've described your heinous crime in song
It was murder in our Avalon

AVALON
© 1997 Raymond M. Jozwiak




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Enough is enough. . .

. . . of the same old same old . . . 

 There is no “lesser of two evils” in the upcoming election, with both parties controlled by corporate money. If we elected a leader like Rocky Anderson, and then got behind him at different levels of government, including local levels, think how much could be accomplished. These issues, mentioned frequently in editorials but not frequently enough discussed by voters or by the BIG media, desperately need to be discussed.  Don't our children (and their children) deserve a brighter future than anyone can envision now?

Some say “it can’t be done!" If no one ever begins to try, to start, to do what they can, then maybe it can't be done. People doubted America would be founded (or even discovered); they doubted the Berlin Wall would ever come down; that the Cold War would end, before the world did; that World Wars would ever end; that slavery would never end, that women would never vote, that the Civil Right’s Act would never pass;

The Wright brothers, Henry Ford, Clarence Birdseye, John Kennedy are just a few who attempted and achieved the impossible. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball produced the "I Love Lucy" pilot with their own money after the major networks poo-poohed their premise for a television sitcom. Fred Smith received a C on his term paper about overnight delivery because the idea wasn't feasible long before Federal Express was on its way to long-term success. Steve Jobs wanted to give everyone a computer at a time when nobody realized computers were necessary to have.

So why not NOW?!!
(Thanks to Daniel Geery's  Justice Party: “Not a Snowball’s Chance in Hell!”)

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Now that I am grown up. . .

. . . at least SOMETIMES I feel like I'm grown up . . . 

. . . I need to take a stand on the future of my country.  Even well into adulthood, more politically- vocal elders of mine voiced opinions about 'wasting' a vote or 'throwing away' a vote that would elect 'his' opponent.  Well it's time for principle.  At the core of any political disagreement, it seems that many debaters actually agree on issues like waste in government,  a bloated and expensive campaign process or inequality in one form or another.  And not matter how many good things the current President has accomplished (for those concerned with facts), he could have done much more. Be aware that we also have, in addition to the BIG TWO,  Socialist, Libertarian, Green and Liberty parties involved in the election.  Educate yourself, heaven knows the network news is NOT going to help you out there.  And vote your conscience and your heart.

Ten reasons to vote for Rocky Anderson (Liberty Party):

1. The promotion of the public interest through the defeat of the systemic corruption that has caused massive failures in public policy.
2. An immediate end to the on-going wars.
3. Essential health care coverage for all citizens.
4. Urgent international leadership by the U.S. to prevent against the most catastrophic consequences of climate disruption.
5. Adequate revenues to balance the budget through fair taxation.
6. Treatment of substance abuse as a public health, rather than criminal justice, issue.
7. Control of the Federal Reserve by the Treasury Department and Congress.
8. A balanced budget (or a surplus) except in times of war or major recession.
9. An end to the legal concept of corporate “personhood;” a constitutional amendment to overrule Citizens United.
10. An end to the stranglehold on our government by the military-industrial complex.

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