Ceremony. . .

. . . at its best?

No 'white smoke' for these folks.

(from nbcnews.com)
". . . Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church chose a new pope, Bishop Tawadros, in a sumptuous service on Sunday that Christians hope will lead them through an Islamist-dominated landscape and protect what is the Middle East's biggest Christian community.

Many Christians in Egypt, who make up about a tenth of the population of 83 million, are worried about political gains made by Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. They have long complained of discrimination in Muslim-majority Egypt.

In a ritual steeped in tradition and filled with prayer, chants and incense at Abbasiya cathedral in Cairo, the names of three candidates chosen in an earlier vote were placed in a wax-sealed bowl before a blindfolded boy picked out one name.

Copts believe this long-established process ensured worldly influences did not determine the successor to Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for four decades until his death in March at the age of 88.

"Pope Tawadros II is the 118th (leader of the church), blessed congratulations to you," said interim Pope Bakhomious, dressed in gold-embroidered robes, who has temporarily been in the post since Shenouda's death. . ."

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Control. . .

I guess it's beyond my control.  

YouTube offers a wonderful opportunity for folks to express themselves, present talents and abilities, show the world practically ANYTHING that they want.  Yeah so it doesn't cost me anything to post my videos on YouTube.  And now they've provided me the option to get paid by allowing ads to run on my videos.  It's truly great.

I do however, resent the fact that the pop-ups that appear on videos are beyond my control.  Let me make this absolutely clear. . .  I would not encourage anyone to contribute $5 (or any amount, for that matter) to Mitt Romney's campaign even though I saw a pop-up on MY OWN VIDEO that urged watchers to do the same.

See if it appears on this one. . .

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Reel. . .

. . . I mean REAL. . . the real deal!

(from http://www.raybly.com/)
"Ray Bly
U.S. Congress, District 2
My run for 2010 Congress
Why I am disillusioned about America is because of the money involved in getting elected to office. It takes millions of dollars to become a U.S.

Congressman and millions more to become a Senator and hundreds of millions to become President. The average campaign for a candidate for office costs them $1 to as much as $10 a vote and I've heard it's gone as high as $30 a vote. The only way you can get this money is from special interests and the corporate world and of course, if you get elected with corporate and special interest money, you have to vote on behalf of these groups. This is why our government for close to a century is now wholly owned and controlled by our special interests and our corporate world. No candidate wants to stand up against them because they will not get elected, or get the money they need to run."

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

The Point . . .

 

. . . of view of an atheist . . .

(From God is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens)
". . . This raises gigantic objections to the argument from "design," whether we choose to call that design "intelligent" or not.  Clearly, the human species is designed to experiment with sex.  No less clearly, this fact is well-known to the priesthoods.  When Dr. Samuel Johnson had completed the first real dictionary of the English language, he was visited by a delegation of respectable old ladies who wished to congratulate him for not including any indecent words.  His response - which was that he was interested to see that the ladies had been looking them up - contains almost all that needs to be said on this point.  Orthodox Jews conduct congress by means of a hole in the sheet, and subject their women to ritual baths to cleanse the stain of menstruation.  Muslims subject adulterers to public lashings with a whip.  Christians used to lick their lips while examining women for signs of witchcraft.  I need not go on in this vein: any reader of this book will know of a vivid example, or will simply guess my meaning. . . "

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Righteous. . .

 . . . and true. . .

(from http://www.npr.org/2012/10/27/163728141/at-93-pete-seeger-keeps-the-fire-burning-low)
". . . Tall and lean, in faded Levi's and corduroy shirt, Pete Seeger still pretty much looks like he did when the young Harvard dropout met the man who helped him find his life's work: Woody Guthrie.

"I was working in Washington, D.C., at the time with Alan Lomax, the folklorist," Seeger says. "And in Alan's house I met Woody, and he found that I could follow him in any song he played. I had a good ear and I stayed in tune, played the right chord, didn't play anything too fancy. So pretty soon, I was tagging along with him."

Seeger says Guthrie taught him not only lots of songs but also how to play in saloons, get paid first, how to ride the rails — carefully — and that no matter the consequences, to stick with your beliefs.

In a spoken-word track on his new Guthrie tribute album, Pete Remembers Woody, Seeger tells the story of Guthrie's famous slogan.

"He went through WWII with a piece of cardboard pasted to the top of his guitar: 'This machine kills fascists,' " Seeger says on the recording. "He really wanted his guitar to help win the war against Hitler. When Woody went into a hospital in 1952 ... I put something similar on my banjo: 'This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender.' ". . . "

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Home. . .

. . . is where the heart is. . .

 (from wikipedia.com)
". . . Woodrow Wilson is the only American President to select Washington to be his home following his final term in office. Late in 1920, Woodrow Wilson's second term neared its end, and Mrs. Wilson started to search for an appropriate residence. On December 14, Mr. Wilson insisted that his wife attend a concert and when she returned he presented her with the deed to this S Street house. Built by Henry Parker Fairbanks in 1915, the red brick house of Georgian style was designed by the architect Waddy B. Wood. The Wilsons installed an elevator and a billiard room, constructed a brick garage and placed iron gates at the entrance to the drive. Some partitions were changed and shelves were built for Mr. Wilson's 8000-volume library. Wilson, partially paralyzed from a stroke he suffered in 1919, spent his few remaining years in partial seclusion at the house, under the continuous care of his wife and servants. On February 3, 1924, he died in the upstairs bedroom and was laid to rest in Washington National Cathedral. Mrs. Wilson continued to live in the residence until her death in 1961. Prior to that time, she had donated it and many of the furnishings to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which opened the Woodrow Wilson House to the public in 1963. Included in Mrs. Wilson's gift to the American people are furnishings, portraits, books, autographed photographs of personages identified with events in Wilson's administration, a Gobelin tapestry, commemorative china, and early furniture owned by the Bolling family of Virginia. . . "

. . . and a piano. . .

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet

Storm. . .

. . . cloud

We're all hunkering down and the news (our beloved media once again) has informed us how much water, toilet paper, batteries, milk, fruit juice, bread and many many more things that would never occur to you to purchase before a storm or for any other reason, for that matter.

What would we do without them.

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

Please visit
http://www.rayjozwiak.com

Tweet