jamie gray's personal blog, featuring his always unique perspectives on life, love, politics, corruption, traffic...and whatever else makes him rant. and rant he will. count on it.
People who want to live their lives by their own rules
People who want to tell others how to live
If you’re in the second group, kindly go fuck yourselves with a fire hose. ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
New York Native Jamie Gray is a Conjurer of Bytes, Notes & Words; Seeker of Truth, Peace, & Harmony.
Racism isn’t the real problem, labels are. Don’t get me wrong, racism is a very real problem. I think we all need to practice anti-racism daily. But, that means finding the causes of racism, and effecting changes.
Because racism is more than just learned hatred. It’s about how we think. How we form our subjective opinions about the things we experience around us. That’s what needs to change. Because, one of our biggest problems is that, for some reason, we have the need to lump everything into a group of similar things, and then put a label on it.
When we label something, all objectivity goes out the window. Find an unlabeled jar of green, leafy material in your kitchen cupboard…you might draw the subjective opinion that it’s Oregano. Someone else might start looking for a bong to stuff it in. If there’s a label on it, your opinion doesn’t matter any more. Which is fine, until you open that mislabeled jar, and you smoke yourself into a huge headache instead of making spaghetti.
Objective thinking means overcoming the impulse to label everything, and instead letting everything label itself via discovery. Asking extra questions, rather than assuming the answers, based on labels that may or may not be fact. Observation, rather than intervention. Considering infinite possibilities of our futures, rather than just using past experiences to guide our present actions.
Objective thinking means that everyone gets the benefit of the doubt. Each person we meet becomes an opportunity to grow, rather than someone you can trust, or someone you should fear. Using our subjective opinions about events from our past should inform us in the present, but not control how we see unfamiliar experiences and new people in our lives.
Because a lot of times, we’ve got a mislabeled jar in the cupboard, and before making purple kush pizza for the family, maybe we should open the jar and give it a sniff. ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Jamie Gray | Conjurer of Bytes, Notes & Words. Seeker of Truth, Peace, & Harmony.
Is everyone properly horrified yet?
Or will some folks continue to sit silent while even MORE of our liberty is sold to the highest corporate bidder?
Because THIS America we have now is complacency’s reward. We MUST demand a BETTER America. Better for ALL, not just a privileged few. E Pluribus Unum. From many, one.
Happy July 4th. Happy Birthday to the most divided America since the Civil War…Funny how little we’ve REALLY changed in 150+ years. Except the Mason-Dixon line now runs through every town, right down Main Street.
But we don’t have to accept this America as Ours. We can change Our America to become the Home of Freedom for realz, Freedom for ALL, not just Freedom for the ones who can afford it. ~jg
What if your vote mattered, and the money you paid in taxes was actually spent on things that mattered to YOU? Imagine if you got to vote on where that money got spent. What if you could check boxes on your tax return to determine what purposes your tax money could be spent on, and the government HAD to spend it on those things only? Yes, spend my taxes on education. No, don’t spend anything on military. Yes, feed the poor. No, tax breaks to ExxonMobil.
Well, it probably wouldn’t work because rich people would start paying just enough taxes to fuck over the rest of us…but the point is this: We don’t live in a democracy. It’s a plutocratic oligarchy. Your vote may count for WHO you elect, but what they do when they get there is decided by money. Legal bribery, really. They call it lobbying, but rich people pay cash to get the government to do what they want. The more money you have, the louder your voice and the more likely you are to get your way.
Most of us have better things to spend our money on, because we know the puny amount we could spend wouldn’t buy us a second thought from our government. But wealthy people and corporations have deep pockets, and control the outcome of our votes. We don’t get to decide ‘pass gun control’ or ‘don’t pass gun control’. All we can do is vote red or blue and wait for nothing to happen.
Our voices have been silenced by big government and a rigged two party system that is designed to self perpetuate and grow, exploiting the masses more as it does. The rich get richer. Pandemic Recession. War. None of it matters when you’re rich as fuck. Bank accounts keep growing. Lobbyists are hired. Votes are solicited. Laws are changed to spend more government money here or there. Never where it’s really needed by the majority of our citizens.
People who need help go without, while the rich get tax cuts. Billions go to subsidize fossil fuel corporate shareholders while our veterans are forgotten. Teachers use their own money to buy paper and pencils because schools are underfunded. Folks lose their houses because of medical bills, while Jeff Bezos blasts his ugly bald head and all his rich buddies into space. It doesn’t matter who you vote for. As long as money makes the decisions in DC, it doesn’t matter who you elect. Not in this system.
But a system that pretends to be democratic can’t last. Good intentions or not, this is not what the framers could have forseen. They were wise, not psychic. They built checks and balances, but there’s a way around everything if you’re willing to sacrifice your conscience, and well, most of the politicians we elect have none.
So it keeps growing. Bigger. More corrupt. More money for the wealthy, less of everything for everyone else. Less happiness. Less free time to think about being unhappy. Less money. Less LIFE. Until it ultimately implodes, thanks to corruption and greed, or explodes in revolution, whichever comes first.
There’s still time, for a ‘peaceful revolution’ at the ballot box, but since one party is going out of their way to erode our faith in elections, the other kind of revolution will quickly become the only game in town.
Your VOTE still matters. Choose wisely. Choose Independent. Choose Implosion. Demand better candidates. Demand term limits. Demand money OUT of politics Demand a VOICE in the future. Demand DEMOCRACY. Don’t buy the party lines. EITHER of them. They are both designed to polarize and divide. They are both designed to exploit. Designed to fail.
United we Stand, Divided we Fail. ~jg
Conjurer of Bytes, Notes & Words. Seeker of Truth, Peace, & Harmony. | Jamie Gray jamiegraymusic.com
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
I would never want to tell you what to think, any more than try to tell you what to do. What to eat. What to buy. Who to Fuck. These are your decisions, not mine. You don’t even have to think at all, for fuck’s sake. Living your best life without thinking might make me a little jealous, but I wouldn’t ever seek to deprive you of that joy.
But I will urge you one thing. If you chooseto think, think for yourself. The act of Thinking is, again, completely optional. I don’t judge you for your ability to turn off the silent, running commentary in your head. Go for it.
But please don’t try to sell me someone else’s thoughts if you have none of your own. Chances are I’ve already heard their opinion…maybe even from them. Nobody likes an unsolicited parrot, pretending to be something they are not. ~jg
“Today may not feel like Tuesday. But what is Tuesday supposed to feel like, anyway?
…Talk amongst yourselves.”
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter
Yesterday was about 70°F. First nice day of the Spring. So we took the dogs on a hike up the hill that is our land. The dogs had fun. We got some here-comes-spring exercise. Yay us.
Back in the house about 15 minutes later, I felt something crawling on my arm. A little teeny tick! The fucking snow just melted, and these little fuckers are already out?!
FUCK. Panic ensued, of course. Clothes stripped off, straight into the washer. Both dogs were bathed within the hour (because my sweetheart Navi is amazing) and both the floofs got their first spring flea and tick treatment.
I couldn’t stop feeling ticks crawling on me, even after a shower.
I don’t go outside as much as I’d like. Ticks are one reason why. They keep finding new and scary tick-borne diseases that can really fuck you up. Fleas and ticks can give you everything from bubonic plague to Lyme’s disease, while they’re sucking your blood.
Ticks. Fucking Parasites.
Indoors is my haven. When vampire insects hitchhike their way in, breaching the sanctum walls, I kinda freak out. I felt ticks in the bed all night long (there were no ticks). I think I still feel them crawling on me this morning. (Is THAT one?!?)
It’s warm again, but it’s raining, so I’m not even tempted to go out for a hike. I don’t know when the next time I’ll be hiking up there, but there will be repellents involved. Bug spray. Long, light-colored pants. Hair in a ponytail AND a hat. Then I’ll avoid the tall grass, and woodpiles and logs, and stay out of thicket and undergrowth where they may be hiding, hoping to hitch a ride. So they can kill me.
Or maybe I’ll just stay inside, and enjoy the Great Indoors.
Insurance seems like a good idea. You pay some money each month in case bad stuff happens. If bad stuff happens, somebody else pays to fix the damages.
But then it creeps into every corner of our lives. We insure our cars, our homes, our health, and more. Our lives.
Then the insurance company decides to cancel your policy. When they think you’ve become a bad risk (for whatever reason they choose), they can just decide to kiss you goodbye. Sometimes they don’t even explain why. That would make it easier for you to appeal their decision…if you can figure out how.
So, now you can’t drive because you can’t get car insurance. Or your bank calls in the mortgage on your home because they get notified that their investment is no longer protected. If you can’t find coverage, they can foreclose on your house.Losing your health insurance can literally kill you.
Some states have laws to protect your rights, and help for those who can’t find insurance at all. I’m guessing it’s far from universal, and if anything like NY, hard to even find out about, much less apply for help.
Which brings me to our tragic tale, which I think is important to show the kind of absolute testicular vise-grip that the insurance industry has over our lives. They make the rules, and they expect us to bend the knee. This writing is me, refusing to yield.
Welcome to New York (NY welcome sign pic)
New York State is a beautiful place. Utica is a wonderful little city. But the insurance company that shares it’s name, UTICA National Insurance? Not so much. #UticaNationalInsurance is a legit dumpster fire. I don’t usually rant specifically about a named company unless I’m convinced that the world needs to know just how bad we’re talking about. Oh, It’s BAD.
Utica National Insurance is actually a Texas corporation, so they are just exploiting the name (Utica logo pic)
A few weeks after we moved in, UTICA started sending nasty notes threatening to cancel the policy if we didn’t cooperate with their inspection. Apparently, we’d been ignoring calls from “Mueller Reports” that were inadvertently blocked as spam. Seriously. “Mueller Reports.” Oops. My bad.
It ain’t much, but it’s all ours.
#NoMortgage #OurFarm (Pic)
OK. So, we bought a cute little fixer-up farm house, in a little upstate town near Ithaca, NY. We knew it needed some work, but nothing major. We had it inspected. Everything was basically working, and there were no major safety risks. As we waited for the closing our old house, we made a list of all the things we wanted to fix, once we had the money from the sale.
A couple days later, the inspector showed up and I walked around with him throughout his visit. He was helpful. He pointed some stuff out. There were some obvious things, like a missing railing we weren’t sure was required. I pointed out a couple problems I’m sure he also saw, and explained how we would be addressing them. He didn’t test anything. He just looked at it.
He also asked a lot of questions that we, as brand new homeowners, knew nothing about.
-We didn’t know the wood stove was installed professionally, because it was here when we got here. One demerit.
-We didn’t know that the older heating system was an EXCELLENT system, with a LIFETIME WARRANTY on the heat exchanger, fully transferrable. We didn’t know, because we didn’t have it serviced yet because we just moved in. Two Demerits. Now UTICA wants a perfectly good furnace REPLACED.
-The inspector pointed out a small amount of moss on the garage/kitchen roof. He said it should get cleaned off before it becomes a problem, but it’s wasn’t that bad. UTICA says: REPLACE the ROOF. In the middle of winter. Demerit #3.
-We bought the house knowing that siding on one wall needed to be redone. Three windows in the same wall also were slated for replacement. Thanks to a leaky oil tank found in the yard of our old house during the sale, causing months of delays and lack of cash, this project got pushed to this coming Spring. UTICA of course wants all the siding replaced and repaired in the middle of winter. Demerit #4.
-There’s an old wooden Bilco-style door to the basement that needs replacement this spring. Water leaks around the door and there’s some seepage due to standing surface water and lack of gutters and drainage. The water dried up completely this winter, so it’s not from plumbing. A drainage and gutter project is the top of the list for when the ice melts and the ground thaws this spring. Demerits anyway. #5 and #6.
There’s probably a couple others I missed, but the point is, most of these are minor hazards at best, in terms of safety and risk. Some are blatantly wrong, like demanding a furnace be replaced or a wood stove be inspected because we didn’t have the chimney cleaned before we moved in (and because the inspection they DID wasn’t good enough).
Here’s the worst though. Two days before Christmas…no shit, December 23. I get an email from my agent. She tells me, she just talked to the adjuster from Utica. They want a whole bunch of stuff fixed in 45 days, or they will cancel 30 says later. She included the “Mueller Report” that I was required by law to get a copy of.
Utica National Insurance – The Grinch the Stole Christmas (Grinch Pic)
I reviewed the report. It didn’t specify exactly what needed to be fixed. It was just the report that Utica’s adjuster supposedly based his decisions on, not the decisions themselves. My agent’s list of items needing to be addressed seemed random and incomplete. I also told her that re-roofing in January wasn’t going to happen, and that UTICA needed to be reasonable on their time frame. I further advised her that I would wait until I got the official notification from Utica, and respond directly to Utica upon receipt.
I never got a thing. Not a word, from UTICA or my agent. Until this past Saturday Feb 26 when I got a cancellation notice. 30 days. March 27. Alrighty then.
So, apparently the 45 days have been ticking away, and Utica felt no need nor obligation to actually contact me directly until now. Why actually give me 45 days to fix stuff in the middle of winter in Upstate NY?
It’s pretty clear that they don’t want my business. They’ve been treating me like a criminal or confidence man, since they wrote the policy last summer.
As if I was plotting some heinous future insurance fraud or something. Which is ironic as hell, considering we were the victim of a fraudulent hit and run auto claim, and UTICA REFUSES to actually investigate themselves, forcing me to fight with the police for information that UTICA should be requesting, not me. The police inspected our vehicle (and found no damage) 60 minutes after the supposed accident. All Utica needs to do is pick up the phone and dial the numbers and talk to the cops. Ask for the full report. Nope, that’s my job.
UTICA would rather persecute their customers. They are going to cancel our insurance because the furnace looks old and there’s moss on the roof. Meanwhile, a road raging asshat files a false police accident report that 3 people in our car can testify never happened, and they REFUSE to investigate, putting the burden of proof (and to keep my rates from going up due to a hit-and-run claim) squarely on me.
Are you kidding me? How can they do this?
How can Utica National Insurance be this inept and stay in business? How is it that huge insurance companies can do whatever they want and get away with it? Because they have the biggest Congressional lobbies on K Street. Because they know we can’t do anything to hurt them. Because their profits are ‘regulated’ too.
Jamie Gray (pic)| Writer Refuses to Bend the Knee to Insurance Dictatorship.
Did you get here? If so, I love you. Thanks for reading my rant. ~jg
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
If Ben Franklin had his way, we’d be eating the national bird ? every Thanksgiving. Or maybe we’d eat bald eagle, because Turkeys would be a protected symbol of America’s deliciousness? #YouTellMe ~jg
America’s love-hate relationship with the bald eagle https://bit.ly/3hszvBi
The Bald Eagle is protected in the US, but I bet it tastes just like Turkey.
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
What the fuck? Wake up, Joe! I’m just saying. Biden should’ve been at the UN before Putin’s troops crossed the border into Ukraine, demanding a vote for UN Troops be sent in to defend the Ukrainian people.
Not NATO. The United Nations. And No, Russia doesn’t get a vote because they just lost their seat on the security council, thanks to this criminal act of aggression.
UN Peacekeeping Troops
I’m serious. UN troops should be defending Kiev. I mean, isn’t this what the UN is for? To defend democratic, peaceful nations from war pigs like Putin, who would invade sovereign soil and attempt to overthrow a duly elected government, and replace it with a Kremlin puppet.
I’m really not a war monger, in favor of American troops being used as ‘peace keepers’. But under the UN Flag, those same troops make an important statement: “Civilized people don’t do this shit, Vlad”. UN troops are a deterrent. He’s not just attacking Ukraine, he’s attacking the World.
War Pig Vladimir Putin.
Where’s a CIA assassin when you need one?
This bold move would send Putin a message:”The World is against you on this”. If Putin chooses to fire on UN Troops, he’s declaring war on the World. He truly would be over the edge, to do that. I would argue that anyone THAT unstable is going nuclear eventually anyway.
Yeah, I said it. That’s what we’re all afraid of: Putin’s Nukes. If he doesn’t get his way, he’ll throw a big boy tantrum. Then, how does this not escalate to ICBMs unless he backs down or we do? I’m sure the generals have a plan for this. Time to roll Operation Pig Roast?
Bullies only understand strength.
It’s Time To Eat Our Spinach.
Because appeasing a bully never works. He took Crimea, now he’s back for the rest because no one made him pay for his crime. If the World lets him take control of Free Ukraine, what will he plunder next? UN Troops in his way are an IMPORTANT statement that the World will not stand for it. Not America. Not NATO. TheWorld.
Defending fledgling democracy from criminal acts of warfare by autocratic dictators should be Mission #1 for the UN. Defending peace, and those who struggle to defend their freedom.
“You can say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us, and the world can live as one”.
~John Lennon /Imagine
If the UN will not stand up for a free Ukraine, what the hell is it good for? Let’s just get rid of it. Scrap the useless den-of-shuck-and-jive United Nations, and replace it with a United World that is willing to act. Willing to do the right thing.
For Ukraine, and for everywhere democracy and freedom struggle to survive. ~jg
I grew up with a bunch of religious taboos and social rules to follow. My parents were consumed with appearances and fitting in. By the time I got to high school, I was pretty messed up. Confused. Ignorant. A normal teen, growing up, without Internet, back in the day.
Apparently, I’m one of the last boomers. My parents were part of the Silent Generation. I guess the silent part was for realz because I never even heard of the Silent Generation until I looked up the folks to see where they fit in. Silence is golden I guess.
I miss my parents. Maybe they helped mess me up in the head. They caused some pain, but they didn’t do it on purpose. By and large, they did a pretty good job for their day. I mean, people didn’t really have a clue back then about parenting. You just did what your parents did. Funny how once you become a parent, you can see it from your parent’s perspective, and it suddenly makes a lot more sense. You know, all that shit that didn’t make sense back then, it’s pretty clearly stupid as fuck now.
I tried really hard to blame mom and dad for a lot of pain that was clearly my own fault. It took time to grow up and own the responsibility. It’s fine to acknowledge the damage that others cause us. But ultimately it’s up to us what we do with that pain. We do best when we own it and choose not to be defined by it, but rather defined by how we overcame it. Own the pain by owning the triumph.
The pain just keeps coming, and as you get older, each day gets a bit more full of pain. But also more full of joy. I find more joy in everything I do. Peeling through the skin of bitter pain to savor the joyous fruits, makes the fruit all the more sweet. ~jg
Jamie Gray
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
Rationality. If you look at American politics right now, you don’t see much of it. No, you mostly see two heavily armed camps, ready to flirt with disaster, risking all of our futures to achieve some set of higher principles that, if left to the other party, mean nothing short of destruction of everything we hold dear.
If you lean left, you’re being told that the evil Republicans are trying to stop the valiant Democrats from purging corporate control of our government and giving money, and the country, back to the people.
Share your fire. Feed the blaze.
#happiness #N0H8
If you lean right, you’re worried the stupid Dems will spend us into doom, while taxing the rich until they can’t afford their summer homes and ski retreats.
If you’re on the far right, they’re trying to convince you that Socialism is the root of all evil, and that Satanic forces are killing babies in the womb, as they hand our God fearing Nation over to Hillary and Obama’s army of godless heathen Democrat pedophile pizza-politicians.
Now, I’m not saying I believe politicians from either party (especially the MAGA Republicans). Politicians are liars. It’s what they do. But some things they say make a grain of sense on their own, while others require a leap of faith to believe. I’m too old for leaps of faith. Especially when they require lapses of logic.
US Capitol – Washington DC
None of the MAGA Republicans claims hold up to rational thought. They are based in conspiracy theories, rumors, and full-on mistruths, lacking in facts or proof of any kind. There simply isn’t much in the way of a rational argument. For anything.
When it’s all said and done, proof is best measured in actions and results. Rich people always do well. They do better when Republicans are in power. Since the 80s they’ve claimed the wealth will “trickle down”, while it gushed up to the millionaires…who became billionaires as millions died in the Pandemic. Meanwhile, America is deep in debt, and sitting on the edge of climate disaster and insurrection. Suffice to say, the trickle they’ve been promising for 40 years ain’t enough.
Poor people rarely win in America. Their voices, while numerous, are routinely ignored and rejected by all in power. At least when Democrats act, the average goes up. Poor gets less poor. Inequity decreases. Usually not by much, of course.
Jan 6 Insurrection| Capitol police defend The Capitol from Trump supporters in Washington DC – Jan 6 2021
We’re reaching a tipping point where debt threatens to collapse our economy as injustice and inequity are rising to unsustainable levels. The seeds of revolution are deeply sown, and change WILL come, one way or another.
Our choice is to usher it in gracefully, or let it take us by force, and at great cost. If the way we’ve handled climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic so far are any indication, we are in for a REALLY hard ride, folks. ~jg
Musician and Writer, Jamie Gray
Authors Note: All opinions expressed here are just that: opinions. If you don’t like mine, I probably won’t like yours either. Let’s just nod, and walk away. Maybe come back with solutions instead of opinions. Because of the two, only solutions actually matter.
They know you already. You don’t have to believe it for it to be true, and knowing the truth doesn’t make you crazy. Unless they need you to be, and generally speaking, they don’t.
So…Once the NSA knows-that-you-know that they ‘listen’ to everything you do online, it’s basically #GameOn. Are you a subversive? Who are your followers? Who do you follow? Are any of them ‘terrorists‘? Because since 2001, that’s the best way for the .gov folks to shut down the voices that are violent. Preach revolt. Or maybe just make too much sense.
We’re Watching. ~The NSA
I know they’re watching me. Because they watch everything. Everyone. They have some pretty slick AI that screens for connections and the tell-tale hearts of anti-american hostility and malcontent. It sniffs it out chunks of terrorist cholesterol from the Internet’s arteries, as gigabytes of data streams past their hidden packet snatchers. Filters the digital goo. Combs thru it all, looking for nuggets of evil against Uncle Sam.
Uncle Sam Towers Above The Danbury CT Railroad Museum
Good ol’ patriotic malcontent used to be ok, back in the day. You can still say the government sucks, if you’re careful, but thanks to the MAGA Revolution, we now know that even patriots can be terrorists…and so does the NSA. Even a gentle grumble can raise the AI hackles these days, which flags you for human eyes to review your dossier. Everyone’s got a dossier if they have any sort of online presence at all. I bet you think you don’t, but if you’re reading this, you know me, so they definitely have you in their crosshairs too.
The good news is, as long as you don’t go too far, they would rather just keep watching. Of course, if you suddenly ‘radicalize’ by plotting violence, or maybe worse, disappear from the Web, don’t be surprised if that generic panel van parked on your street is full of feds with heat tracing cameras and parabolic mics. These are scary times…it makes sense. Sort of. In hugely Orwellian fashion.
Jamie Gray|Musician and Writer
I suppose I should worry. I talk a lot about revolution and rebellion. I DO think the government sucks. But I’d never condone violence, except in self-defense. And I’d never advocate for a coup. I think we SHOULD overturn our government…from inside. Through VOTES and legislation and policy. Kick the moneychangers out of the temple of democracy, so to speak. Voting and peaceful protest. Through free speech, empathy and kindness, educating people to see the corruption that is right in front of them, and show them how to be a part of the solution rather than a victim of a system that pretends to care.
I’m not a threat to anybody’s safety. I’m an advocate for a better America. One that takes care of the little guy…and the victim. An America like they told us about in Civics class. Do they even teach Civics anymore?
Most importantly, I’m not a threat to the status quo. Nobody actually listens to me. I’m just a crazy old guy on a couch, with a guitar, a remote control, and a lot of ideas. If I ask my followers to do anything, most of them might get around to doing something.
If it’s not too hard or uncomfortable.
Someday. Soon, for sure.
One of my favorite songs puts it best:
“I’d start a revolution…
…If I could get up in the morning”.
~ Aimee Allen
Thanks for reading to the end. Please #Vote. ~jg
“I’d Start a Revolution (If I Could Get Up in the Morning)” Aimee Allen
I solve problems. I believe have a solution to everything. It’s who I am at the core, I suppose. Please don’t judge me if I try to solve yours.
When I look at the absolute mess in Washington DC, I see problems that need solving. Unfortunately, politicians aren’t very good at solving problems…at least not without creating more problems. Bigger ones usually. Expensive ones, dangerous ones, that cost us all.
“The US Capitol stands for what We The People are willing to sacrifice for the greater good.” ~jg
To me, things seem simple. There are gray areas, but by and large, there are simple, obvious solutions to every problem we face. We know must face them, but thanks to our bullshit pay-to-play political system, we usually choose to wait until it’s a fucking emergency.
Because God forbid we take one unnecessary fucking penny of profits from our corporate overlords. The economy will come crashing down and everyone will lose their jobs, if Amazon stock doesn’t continue to rise.
Well, Bezos can blast himself into space and fucking stay there, as far as I’m concerned. He’s a fucking pirate. No one should make billions of dollars in a pandemic. Even if it’s not TAXABLE income (so it doesn’t really count anyway). Give it BACK!
“Bezos can blast himself into space and fucking stay there, as far as I’m concerned. He’s a fucking pirate.”
I truly believe we can solve all of our problems. But the American people need to become engaged in our government. The People should vote for Solutions, not for people who make those choices for us, based on bribes (that’s what political donations really are) from powerful people and businesses.
We can hold Congress accountable to the vote of the people on those ISSUES. Right now, career politicians only REALLY answer to the fat cats who bankroll their elite lifestyles, and pay for their manipulative political propaganda.
And…Oh yeah. We gotta stop electing lawyers and career politicians. Congress should be people like you and me, who serve a term or two and do the best job they can for ALL of the Country (not just their party). Then they go back to their lives as teachers, truck drivers, and chefs. Lawyers shouldn’t make laws. They can write the laws AFTER regular people tell them what we want the Law to MEAN.
Bottom Line? We’ll solve a fucktonne of problems with TWO easy fixes. Get rid of political contributions, and implement term limits for every elected office. Simple shit, man.
But what do I know. I’m just a guy on a couch. ~jg
Jamie Gray | Writer. Musician.
Just a guy on a couch.
