Stick to your guns. . .

Stick to your guns
Stick to your guns
Don't let nobody make you run
Just stick to your guns

I'm not talkin 'bout weapons
automatic and such
If you have some conviction
Principles mean so much
Principles mean so much

Stick to your guns
Stick to your guns
Don't let nobody make you run
Just stick to your guns

I just want to sing
Hear the many vibrations ring
Maybe my music's not your kind of thing
I've got to get the others listening
I've got to get the others listening

Stick to your guns
Stick to your guns
Don't let nobody make you run
Just stick to your guns

I don't need no pickup truck
Don't do much haulin' or that kind of stuff
My masculinity and I are okay
I'm what you see don't need to look that tough
I'm what you see don't need to look that tough

Stick to your guns
Stick to your guns
Don't let nobody make you run
Just stick to your guns

It's a human thing
We're eas'ly led when there are two or three
Yes two is company and three is a crowd
That group of voice can be very loud
Those other voices can be very loud

Stick to your guns
Stick to your guns
Don't let nobody make you run
Just stick to your guns

Stick To Your Guns

©2009 Raymond M. Jozwiak

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Crepuscule

 . . . without Nellie

(from Thelonious Monk:  The Life and Times of An American Original by Robin D.G. Kelley)
". . . The Smith family was ecstatic over the news.  Sonny's best friend was now his brother-in-law and the kids had known their uncle Thelonious since they were born.  The Monks welcomed Nellie into the family, though Marion could hardly hide her disappointment that things never worked out between Thelonious and Rubie Richardson.  The other Mrs. Monk was pleased, in part because her unpredictable and special middle child had finally found someone to take care of him and give her some more grandbabies.  And as a devout Christian, she would not accept anything less than holy matrimony. . . "

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Do You Know. . .

. . . me?

Why do I feel that it's all about me
That no matter what happens
I must get my fee
The most wonderful people
One could possibly meet
If I have any say
Remain under my feet

I put on a good show
Always get in my say
Make it lengthy as possible
Then just go on my way

I feign great concern
Pretend caring affection
Make the people on top
Fail to make the connection
That would help them to see
That I always come first
In all things, situations

And no matter what happens
Good or bad comes to be
The one standing constant
Like an old redwood tree
Is I'll always be there
Off'ring generous attentions
But the fact still remains
That it's all about me

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Read. . .

. . . and think [Note to Mitt and friends, you may continue talking amongst yourselves]

 (from NBCNews.com by Jim Maceda, an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London and currently on assignment in Cairo. He has covered the Middle East since the 1970s.)

 ". . . This paroxysm of protest – and violence – had begun in Cairo. But what, really, began there?

Much of the mainstream media has played it as a spontaneous reaction to a disgusting film clip which denigrated Muslims and happened to be made and promoted in the USA.

But New York Times editorialist Ross Douthat argued it had nothing to do with a "genuine popular backlash," but everything to do with old-style power politics. For Jim Clifton, chairman of the pollster Gallup, it wasn't about religion or politics, but rather the desperate expression of young Arab males, deeply humiliated because they couldn't find jobs.

'Political manipulation'
Egyptian analysts seem to be more in agreement: Many protesters outside the U.S. Embassy were genuinely offended by the film. But the real driving force behind the protest – in Cairo and Benghazi – were radical Islamist groups who know how to exploit rage for political gain.

Actors and the assistant director of the film "Innocence of Muslims" told NBC News that the original spoken lines in the screenplay were dubbed over without their knowledge. NBC's Mike Taibbi reports.

"There are still a lot of questions that need to be answered," said Mona Eltahawy, an Egyptian journalist. "For instance, why after two months of being on YouTube did this film suddenly explode on the anniversary of 9/11? That is political manipulation and manufactured outrage that the right wing is all too happy to use.''

Egypt issues arrest warrants for Terry Jones, Coptic Christians over anti-Islam video

By "right-wing" Eltahawy means ultra conservatives – often called Salafists – who practice a strict, puritanical form of Islam and make up the fastest-growing Islamic political and social movement in the world. On the night of the Cairo embassy attacks, the Salafists saw an opportunity to flex their muscles.

"A lot of people went to the U.S. Embassy not just because of the film, and after the film died down, it wasn't about the film anymore," Eltahawy explained. "They went because of anti-U.S. sentiment, because they know in this region how easy it is to fan the flames of anger.". . . "

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Dreaming? . . .

 . . . white? . . . this ain't Christmas we're talking about here. . .

George Washington was a white man
Adams and Jefferson too
Abe Lincoln was a white man, probably
And William McKinley the whitest of them all
Was shot down by an immigrant in Buffalo
And a star fell out of heaven

I’m dreaming of a white President
Just like the ones we’ve always had
A real live white man
Who knows the score
How to handle money or start a war
Wouldn’t even have to tell me what we were fighting for
He’d be the right man
If he were a

I’m dreaming of a white President
Someone whom we can understand
Someone who knows where we’re coming from
And that the law of the jungle is not the law of this land
In deepest darkest Africa nineteen three
A little boy says, “Daddy, I just discovered relativity.
A big eclipse is coming
And I’ll prove it. Wait and see!”

“You better eclipse yourself outta here, son
And find yourself a tree
There’s a lion in the front yard
And he knows he won’t catch me.”

How many little Albert Einsteins
Cut down in their prime?
How many little Ronald Reagans
Gobbled up before their time?

I don’t believe in evolution
But it does occur to me,
What if little William Howard Taft had to face a lion
Or God forbid, climb a tree?
Where would this country be?

I’m dreaming of a white President
Buh buh buh buh
‘Cause things have never been this bad
So he won’t run the hundred in ten seconds flat
So he won’t have a pretty jump shot
Or be an Olympic acrobat
So he won’t know much about global warming
Is that really where you’re at?
He won’t be the brightest, perhaps
But he’ll be the whitest
And I’ll vote for that

Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Yes
Whiter than this?
Oh yeah


Music & Lyrics by Randy Newman (© Copyright unknown)

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The real deal. . .

. . . nevermind what that ass says. . .

 (from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/17/romney-my-job-is-not-to-worry-about-those-people/)
". . . Let’s set aside the question of whether this is what Mitt Romney really believes deep down in his heart. Maybe this is what he thinks. Or maybe he just thought it was a good line to buck up jittery donors. What we can say is that the last part is wrong. There is no fair accounting in which 47 percent of Americans take no “personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Take this simple breakdown from the Tax Policy Center of what households paid in taxes in 2011:

— 53.6 percent of households pay the federal income tax. Presumably Romney is okay with these folks.

— 28.3 percent of households pay no federal income tax, but they do pay the payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. That means they don’t need Mitt Romney to convince them to “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” They already have jobs.

Most of the households in this group don’t pay any federal income tax because they qualify for enough deductions that their income tax liability has shrunk to zero. See this Tax Policy Center report for more, which gives an example of “a couple with two children earning less than $26,400. They get an $11,600 standard deduction and four exemptions of $3,700, and that takes their liability to zero.” Indeed, it’s worth noting that many of these deductions and credits were part of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which Romney wants to extend.

— 10.3 percent of households pay no federal income tax because they’re retired and elderly. Many retirees aren’t taxed on their Social Security benefits, which they earned by paying into the system over many years. If Mitt Romney secretly thinks that these households are all irresponsible freeloaders, he has a weird way of showing it, as he keeps insisting that he doesn’t want to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits for those over the age of 65.

— That leaves 6.9 percent of households which are non-elderly and have incomes less than $20,000 per year and aren’t paying the payroll tax. These poorer households pay neither income taxes nor payroll taxes. Perhaps Romney thinks that they should all pay more in federal taxes. It’s hard to say. But this is also a much smaller fraction of Americans.

Meanwhile, just as a reminder, the vast majority of Americans still pay state and local taxes — in fact, these taxes tend to be more regressive. When you add up all the different types of taxes, most income groups in the United States tend to pay an amount that’s roughly commensurate with their share of the national income.  .  ."

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Impressive. . .

 (from http://ginadesimone.com/presskit/index.htm)
". . . Moaners Party Recipe
-Start with one woman, a bunch of guitars and a whole lot of blue smoke
-Add unstoppable energy and chilling harmony
-Set on a foundation on rock solid rhythm and quick wit
-Top with the best amaretto whipped cream frosting guitar and trumpet work you can imagine

Blend musicians to achieve and eccentric, eclectic mix of music from all era's. The Moaners diverse backgrounds come together to offer a night of music delivered with fun loving humor and entertainment.

The Moaners are a danceable, upbeat band that plays blues and swing with 3 part harmony being central to their sound. . ."

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