Thursday, April 25, 2013

Nostalgia. . .

Nostalgia brings back “compassionate conservatism”. What a crock that was.

GWB's presidential library in Dallas, Texas is now open.  Legacy? The controversies of the Bush administration from Iraq, the “global war on terror,” the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis come to mind.  So do crimes against humanity.

Some legacy. And even his supporters think that he won’t win the kind of historical vindication THEY once thought inevitable.  Vindication??!!  Damned fools!

His presidency was based on deceit.  Or maybe it evolved into Meantime he and his buddies reaped tremendous financial gain on war accessories and oil.

Supporters describe the new library as a "blunt and forthright assessment of the Bush presidency". Visitors will experience a "frank discussion of what was done and why it was done. . . it doesn’t shy away from controversy. The museum takes on the biggest issues for which the president was criticized.”

Objective assessment?  I don't really care.  I won't be visiting.

I, among many others, have had, directly and indirectly, enough of the GWB fallout.  My only hope is that one day, he AND his accomplices are brought to justice.
(thanks to Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News)








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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
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Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Good medicine. . .


U.S. Senator Max Baucus -- known as the "Senator from K Street" because of his ties to corporate lobbyists -- is retiring! Former Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a bold progressive populist who supports single-payer health care, would be a strong ally of Elizabeth Warren and lists Paul Wellstone as one of his heroes wants the job. If you're in Montana, let Baucus know where to find the exit by shaming him for voting with gun manufacturers against 79% of his constituents who want background checks. While Max Baucus takes millions from Wall Street, insurance companies, and special-interest lobbyists, Schweitzer is one of the most popular public figures in Montana precisely because he fights big corporations.

Asked about his political heroes, he says, "One is Teddy Roosevelt, who took on the trusts, who recognized—as we ought to recognize today—that corporations are controlling not just our governments but our everyday lives, and there needs to be some equity for families and small businesses. It was Teddy Roosevelt who recognized that there are some pieces of land on this planet that are so special that they need to be conserved for future generations. It was Teddy Roosevelt who warned us about getting into foreign entanglements: “Speak softly, carry a big stick . . and the second would be Paul Wellstone, for many of the same things. Paul Wellstone was the conscience of the United States Senate. When other Senators would line up and cower behind the curtains of big insurance and the military-industrial complex because of their huge campaign contributions...it was Paul Wellstone who often times was the one vote when 99 votes went the other way. Those are the kinds of leaders that we need in this country.
(source:  wwww.boldprogressives.org)



By The Way,  Two Upcoming Performances in the Maryland Area:

1.  Friday, April 26, 2013 @ 6:00PM
Bread & Circuses Bistro
27 E. Chesapeake Avenue
Towson, MD  21286
410-337-5282
http://bandcbistro.com/

2.  Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 6:00PM
Elk Run Vinyards
15113 Liberty Road  Mt. Airy, MD 21771 
Phone: 410-775-2513 • Fax: 410-875-2009 •
TOLL FREE: 800-414-2513
elk_run@msn.com



What do you think?
Tell me at  
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

People. . .

. . . are like music. . .
"There are two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind. "    -Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington


Muhammad Robert Heft, a Muslim community leader in Toronto  said Muslims had helped the security services detain the suspects in an alleged "al Qaeda-supported" plot to blow up a U.S.-Canada rail line.

"We have to be on the front lines," Heft said. "To either nip it in the bud in the very beginning or co-operate with authorities so they can be brought to justice."

"In our community we may look a little different, but in our hearts we love Canada. It's our country. It's our tribe," he added. "We want safety for all Canadians regardless of their religion."

U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley into New York wine country and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.






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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

Also, be sure to visit:
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Monday, April 22, 2013

So much music. . .

. . . so little time. . . 

Here's an instrumental performance of an older, never recorded composition, rife with imperfections.  (You sing it.)


Words are all that I have to express all the things I would
Like to be able to tell you  but don't quite know how
Couldn't before and still can't do it now
During all of this time that's transpired little's changed but
A lot has occurred in my thoughts and my feelings for you
Countless superior intellects have searched for answers
I never gave it a whole lot of thought

Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
for you

I have always believed that it's true very few things I'll
Ever encounter will be quite as precious as you
The magic between us so rare and so new
Though I'm not one of those that you find who has always the
Need to express to so many  exactly what he has in mind
I find I have this burning that's deep down inside me
For words I never needed before

Until I tried to let you know how much I feel  inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel  inside
for you

I can't imagine ever having my life depend upon eloquence
And maybe it doesn't
But after all this time together it seems long overdue
And in the end it probably doesn't make a difference in how you feel
If I never say it

Now I'm daily rehearsing the way to articulate
Every syllable nuance and stress when I say
How much I need to have you here today
And I won't give it up easily I suspect that it's
Just as important to you as it is now to me
The words we use themselves have no meaning
So all the more must I make them right

Now that I try to let you know how much I feel  inside
Until I tried to let you know how much I feel inside
for you


Until I Tried
©2007 Raymond M. Jozwiak





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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

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your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Good things. . .

. . . come in threes. . .
Ray Jozwiak (that's me) brings his Gonzo (gonzo:  idiosyncratically subjective but engagé) Piano to you three times in the upcoming weeks:

1.  Monday,  April 22, 2013 @ 7:30PM
Brewer's Alley Restaurant & Brewery (Songwriters Showcase-Upstairs)
124 North Market Street Frederick, MD 21701
Telephone: 301-631-0089 Fax: 301-631-1874
http://www.brewers-alley.com/

2.  Friday, April 26, 2013 @ 6:00PM
Bread & Circuses Bistro
27 E. Chesapeake Avenue
Towson, MD  21286
410-337-5282
http://bandcbistro.com/

3.  Friday, May 3, 2013 @ 6:00PM
Elk Run Vineyards
15113 Liberty Road  Mt. Airy, MD 21771
Phone: 410-775-2513 • Fax: 410-875-2009 •
TOLL FREE: 800-414-2513
elk_run@msn.com

(For Ray's complete schedule, see http://www.rayjozwiak.com)
Get the complete BLACK & WHITE THEN BACK download at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3





What do you think? 
Tell me at  
http://www.rayjozwiak.com/guestbook.html

My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Burning Grey. . .

. . . Oho working hard. . .

Do you mean you were just lying there?
Out of reach of anyone who cares
They have bound you with their loving arms
In the distance I still hear you sound the alarm

Can you see yourself more clearly now?
As if you stepped out of a cloud
Beginning when it seems to end
Above below merging

Your mind doesn't feel
Your fingers don't think
Your eyes do not touch
While the heartbeat goes skipping away

It's now and then you're living
While you wait start the giving
Prove it it's always there
Burning grey without its flare

Obligated but one hand is tied
Constant chattering within your mind
How to leave it no one cares
To hear the silly language spoken there

Your mind doesn't feel
Your fingers don't think
Your eyes do not touch
While the heartbeat goes skipping away

It's now and then you're living
While you wait start the giving
Prove it it's always there
Burning grey without its flare

There's a love that empties its own veins
As they spend they fill up again
The flow traffics through eternity
Carries on in all purity

Now you feel and you think
You see and you touch
With a matrix that springs from your heart
To your hands through your head
Burning grey

It's now and then you're living
While you wait start the giving
Prove it it's always there
Burning grey without its flare

  

BURNING GREY by John P. Graboski
Performed by Oho:  Jay Graboski, David Reeve and
Ray Jozwiak (from an April 2013 rehearsal recording)




What do you think? 
Tell me at  
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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

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your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

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Friday, April 19, 2013

Two. . .

. . . things I hate. . .
. . . about a politician and that is HIS FACE!!

(By binaryloop,  at http://libertycrier.com/forum/congress-quietly-repeals-insider-trading-ban/)
While Congress might be stuck in a deadlock on just about every issue imaginable, there’s one piece of legislation that both Democrats and Republicans hate unanimously: the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a law passed last year designed to prevent insider trading among lawmakers and government officials by requiring them to post disclosures of their financial transactions online.

Both parties and both houses of Congress hated the disclosure portion of the law so much that it was repealed last Friday (4/12/13) without debate—the measure was sent to the President by unanimous consent. The ordeal took about 10 seconds in the Senate and 14 seconds in the House, according to official records.

The STOCK Act would have required members of Congress, their aides, and other federal employees making more than $119,554 a year to disclose their financial dealings in an online database. It was supposed to prevent government officials from using insider knowledge about policy-making to profit from stock trades and other investments.

Upon the signing of the bill into law last year (pictured above), President Barack Obama said, “The idea that everybody plays by the same rules is one of our most cherished American values. It’s the notion that the powerful shouldn’t get to create one set of rules for themselves and another set of rules for everybody else, and if we expect that to apply to our biggest corporations and to our most successful citizens, it certainly should apply to our elected officials—especially at a time when there is a deficit of trust between this city and the rest of the country.” The White House has not said whether the President will sign the repeal.

Despite the repeal, government officials will still have to file disclosures of securities trades over $1,000 within 45 days, but they no longer have to file them in a searchable database that was to be easily accessible to the public.

Congress and the President had delayed the online posting portion of the act from going into effect 3 times already, but the ultimate repeal came after the National Academy of Public Administration, a nonprofit group, found that publishing the information would create an “unwarranted risk to national security and law enforcement, as well as threaten agency missions, individual safety and privacy,” in a report delivered last month. The group suggested that the online posting requirements should be suspended indefinitely.

Lisa Rosenberg of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group advocating for government transparency, said that the repeal “sets an extraordinarily dangerous precedent suggesting that any risks stem not from information being public but from public information being online.“




What do you think?  
Tell me at  
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My latest release, Black & White Then Back,
can be downloaded digitally at:
Ray Jozwiak: Black & White Then Back

(or you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rayjozwiak3)

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