Descriptive . . .

. . . or pretentious? . . .



(from http://www.erobertparker.com/info/glossary.asp)
Robert Parker's Glossary of Wine Terms
aggressive: Aggressive is usually applied to wines that are either high in acidity or have harsh tannins, or both.

angular: Angular wines are wines that lack roundness, generosity, and depth. Wine from poor vintages or wines that are too acidic are often described as being angular.

astringent: Wines that are astringent are not necessarily bad or good wines. Astringent wines are harsh and coarse to taste, either because they are too young and tannic and just need time to develop, or because they are not well made. The level of tannins (if it is harsh) in a wine contributes to its degree of astringency.

austere: Wines that are austere are generally not terribly pleasant wines to drink. An austere wine is a hard, rather dry wine that lacks richness and generosity. However, young Rhônes are not as austere as young Bordeaux.

backward: An adjective used to describe (1) a young largely unevolved, closed, and undrinkable wine, (2) a wine that is not ready to drink, or (3) a wine that simply refuses to release its charms and personality.

barnyard: An unclean, farmyard, fecal aroma that is imparted to a wine because of unclean barrels or unsanitary winemaking facilities.

big: A big wine is a large-framed, full-bodied wine with an intense and concentrated feel on the palate. Most red Rhône wines are big wines.

brawny: A hefty, muscular, full-bodied wine with plenty of weight and flavor, although not always the most elegant or refined sort of wine.

briery: I think of California Zinfandel when the term briery comes into play, denoting that the wine is aggressive and rather spicy.

chewy: If a wine has a rather dense, viscous texture from a high glycerin content, it is often referred to as being chewy. High-extract wines from great vintages can often be chewy, largely because they have higher alcohol hence high levels of glycerin, which imparts a fleshy mouthfeel.

closed: The term closed is used to denote that the wine is not showing its potential, which remains locked in because it is too young. Young wines often close up about 12-18 months after bottling, and depending on the vintage and storage conditions, remain in such a state for several years to more than a decade.

decadent: If you are an ice cream and chocolate lover, you know the feeling of eating a huge sundae of rich vanilla ice cream lavished with hot fudge and real whipped cream. If you are a wine enthusiast, a wine loaded with opulent, even unctuous layers of fruit, with a huge bouquet, and a plump, luxurious texture can be said to be decadent.

dumb: A dumb wine is also a closed wine, but the term dumb is used more pejoratively. Closed wines may need only time to reveal their richness and intensity. Dumb wines may never get any better.

extract: This is everything in a wine besides water, sugar, alcohol, and acidity.

exuberant: Like extroverted, somewhat hyper people, wines too can be gushing with fruit and seem nervous and intensely vigorous.

fat: When the Rhône has an exceptionally hot year for its crop and the wines attain a super sort of maturity, they are often quite rich and concentrated, with low to average acidity. Often such wines are said to be fat, which is a prized commodity. If they become too fat, that is a flaw and they are then called flabby.

flabby: A wine that is too fat or obese is a flabby wine. Flabby wines lack structure and are heavy to taste.

fleshy: Fleshy is a synonym for chewy, meaty, or beefy. It denotes that the wine has a lot of body, alcohol, and extract, and usually a high glycerin content. Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Hermitage are particularly fleshy wines.

green: Green wines are wines made from underripe grapes; they lack richness and generosity as well as having a vegetal character. Green wines are infrequently made in the Rhone, although vintages such as 1977 were characterized by a lack of ripening.

hard: Wines with abrasive, astringent tannins or high acidity are said to be hard. Young vintages of Rhône wines can be hard, but they should never be harsh.

hollow: Also known as shallow, hollow wines are diluted and lack depth and concentration.

hot: Rather than meaning that the temperature of the wine is too warm to drink, hot denotes that the wine is too high in alcohol and therefore leaves a burning sensation in the back of the throat when swallowed. Wines with alcohol levels in excess of 14.5% often taste hot if the requisite depth of fruit is not present.

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For REAL???!!!. . .

(from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB40001424052702303519404579352551767664072?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB40001424052702303519404579352551767664072.html by James Piereson)
""Income inequality" has emerged as the issue du jour in U.S. politics, threatening to displace the unpopular health-care law and the slow-growing economy this election year. Speeches and columns now routinely attack the banks or "the undeserving rich" and call on Washington to do something to redistribute income from the "super rich" to the poor and middle class. Democrats from President Obama to the new mayor of New York City are leading the charge on behalf of the "99%."

This crusade is based on three questionable claims. One is that the wealthy are mostly Wall Street bankers benefiting from rising stock and real estate prices, or executives who pay themselves extravagant salaries. Another claim is that such people unfairly benefit from a system that taxes capital gains at half the highest marginal rate paid by those who earn salaries and wages. Then there is the assertion that the "super rich" have abundant funds that can be taxed to improve the living standards of everyone else.

All of these claims are false. By promoting them, the president and his supporters may hope to distract attention from ObamaCare and the economy. Yet they are igniting hopes they can't possibly fulfill. . ."


(from http://scalar.usc.edu/works/growing-apart-a-political-history-of-american-inequality/index)
" . . . This shared prosperity of the postwar years was no accident or lucky combination of circumstances.  A "rising tide" of robust economic growth does not necessarily lift all boats.  Political struggle and policy choices determine whose boats rise. The inequality of the 20th century's early years actually began closing before economic growth took off in the 1940s, as a consequence of the political response to the Great Depression. . . "


(from me. . . )
Mr. Piereson seems content with making the sole point that wealth inequality is basically untrue because the 1% of the population holding the majority of wealth does not consist exclusively of bankers and Wall Street wizards but includes sports, movie, rock and roll and other 'entertainment' types in addition to 'business' executives who draw salaries.  And this point alone contents Mr. Piereson that there is no inequality of wealth (with no mention of course about caring for the less fortunate) and that ". . . At a time of slow economic growth, mounting government debt, a stalemated politics and the impending retirement of the "baby boomers," the attacks on the "one percent" look more and more like a diversion from America's real problems."

FOR REAL, Mr. Piereson???!!!

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Unlock . . .

. . . the box  (a work in-progress)



There comes a time when
You’re out of time then
You’re backed in a corner
With no place left to go
So you cut your losses
Don’t look for causes
Don’t say I didn’t warn ya
Because we both know, I told you so…

Unlock the box, like we agreed
It’s full of things we’re going to need
Give me the keys, we’ll drive right now
We got nothing left here, anyhow…

Our days are shrinking
We’re done with thinking
Behind the eight ball
It’s time to cut and run
It’s not so strange
The rate of exchange --
Oh, it never was our call --
It’s settled by the one who holds the gun…

Unlock the box, like we agreed
It’s full of things we’re going to need
Give me the keys, we’ll drive right now
We got nothing left here, anyhow…

       So buckle up now, step on the gas
       We’ll sneak out via the underpass
       We won’t be back, so say goodbye
       We’re going to take a little ride
       You know we have to do what’s best
       We’re heading west, we’re heading west

Unlock the box, we’re good to go
It’s full of things we gotta know
Give me the keys, we’ll drive right now
We got nothing left here, anyhow
We got nothing left here, anyhow
Unlock the box…


Unlock The Box
(piano demo)
lyrics by Rod Deacey
music by Ray Jozwiak





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A Matter . . .

. . . of trust



“The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust.”
-Henry L. Stimson (American statesman, lawyer,  politician and civil servant)

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True Colors? . . .

(from http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/12/confidants-diary-clinton-wanted-to-keep-records-for-revenge/?hpt=hp_t2)
"Shortly before Hillary Clinton’s effort to pass health care reform died in the summer of 1994, the first lady asked a close friend and confidant for advice on “how best to preserve her general memories of the administration and of health care in particular.”

When asked why, according to the friend’s June 20, 1994, diary entry, Clinton said, “Revenge.”

That exchange is among thousands of pages of notes, letters, and diary entries penned by Diane Blair, a political science professor and longtime Clinton friend whose papers were donated to the University of Arkansas after her death in 2000. . . "

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Photos . . .

(from http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/11/politics/e-mail-photos-destroyed-osama-bin-laden/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)
Within two weeks of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the head of U.S. special forces issued orders that all photos of the body be either turned in or destroyed, a newly released document shows.

In an e-mail dated May 13, 2011, then-Vice Adm. William McRaven wrote the following: "One particular item that I want to emphasize is photos; particularly UBLs remains. At this point -- all photos should have been turned over to the CIA; if you still have them destroy them immediately or get them to the [redacted.]"

The e-mail was obtained by the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, which has called for the public release of photos of the raid in Pakistan that killed the al Qaeda leader. The e-mail, which was almost entirely redacted, was released under a Freedom of Information Act request.


. . . but . . .


(from http://www.corbettreport.com/osama-bin-laden-pronounced-dead-for-the-ninth-time/)
When Obama pronounced Osama Bin Laden dead in a televised announcement heard round the world May 1, 2011, he was at least the ninth major head of state or high-ranking government official to have done so.

On December 26, 2001, Fox News reported on a Pakistan Observer story that the Afghan Taliban had officially pronounced Osama Bin Laden dead earlier that month. According to the report, he was buried less than 24 hours later in an unmarked grave in accordance with Wahabbist Sunni practices.

What followed was a string of pronouncements from officials affirming what was already obvious: supposedly living in caves and bunkers in the mountainous pass between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Osama would have been deprived of the dialysis equipment that he required to live.

On January 18, 2002, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf announced quite bluntly: “I think now, frankly, he is dead.”

On July 17, 2002, the then-head of counterterrorism at the FBI, Dale Watson, told a conference of law enforcement officials that “I

Osama Bin Laden in December 2001

personally think he [Bin Laden] is probably not with us anymore,” before carefully adding that “I have no evidence to support that.”

In October 2002, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told CNN that “I would come to believe that [Bin Laden] probably is dead.”

In November 2005, Senator Harry Reid revealed that he was told Osama may have died in the Pakistani earthquake of October that year.

In September 2006, French intelligence leaked a report suggesting Osama had died in Pakistan.

On November 2, 2007, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto told Al-Jazeera’s David Frost that Omar Sheikh had killed Osama Bin Laden.

In March 2009, former US foreign intelligence officer and professor of international relations at Boston University Angelo Codevilla stated: “All the evidence suggests Elvis Presley is more alive today than Osama Bin Laden.”

In May 2009, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari confirmed that his “counterparts in the American intelligence agencies” hadn’t heard anything from Bin Laden in seven years and confirmed “I don’t think he’s alive.”

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Tweaking. . .

. . . NOT twerking ! ! ! . . .

Paleolithic Goddess Figurine
(accordion part ) . . .



Round every corner and fade into blue
The Angelus rings, she comes into view
Nine is her number
In nine she is due
She will never fail you

Singing creation, look into her eyes
Out of her mouth she is speaking the sky
Circling heaven, higher than high
She in time is movement

Why should I move from her world vibration?
Molding this clay into
Paleolithic Goddess Figurines

Streaming to rivers, she floats on the sea
Gathers her children who sit on her knee
Showing and telling them where they are free
She is softly speaking

Holding the line when she seems unpleasant
Molding this clay into
Paleolithic Goddess Figurines

There is no real dilemma
She has her own agenda
Though there's a vulture hovering above our heads
Go on and trust the pattern
Her sun and moon are lanterns
Painting the firmament with stars

She is the vision of attention engaged
Breaking the spell of automaton rage
A circuit of heaven, a luminous wave
All is seen before her

Why should I move from her world vibration?
Molding this clay into
Paleolithic Goddess Figurines

Round every corner and fade into blue
The Angelus rings, she comes into view
Nine is her number
In nine she is due
She will never fail you


Paleolithic Goddess Figurine
written by John P. Graboski
performed by OHO- Jay Graboski, David Reeve and Ray Jozwiak






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

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