Tag: politics

Creativity and Moody Muses

jamie

A lot of creative people I know seem to create constantly. Some people claim you have to force yourself to write daily.

Me, I don’t think you should force yourself to do anything, and my muses would only get angry at me for abusing their good nature. I’ve come to appreciate the long periods of nothing as rest between the motherlode dumps. It’s almost seasonal, except the seasons are random and droughts frequent. But I’m NOT complaining.

Muses are Everywhere

True Creativity is a gift. It comes from inside, but also from someplace else. Muses. Belligerent as they are generous, if you try and steal their gifts for gain. For Profit. For me, anyway.

I don’t think it’s wrong to make a career of music. But for ME, the career part doesn’t make sense. I don’t want to sell you something. I just want you to listen, if it makes you feel something. Anything. Otherwise, fuck off. Seriously.

Because having a great beat and fun lyrics isn’t a bad. I’ve had many great nights that were just plain fucking good FUN. But I also think there has to be more to the music (or at least a lot of xstasy). Listening to music without feeling something besides the driving bass, leaves a whole realm of emotions unfelt. Buried. Seems empty. Noisy.

There are millions of artists streaming their work, and some of them really grab your attention, for diverse and spectacular reasons. Then there is a lot of noise. A LOT. Amongst all the noise, I try to offer back the gifts I’ve received.

If you are chosen by fate to find my music, and it actually reaches you…makes you feel something, then we are probably kindred spirits. Touched by the same demons and dragons. Dazed by the beauty, hope and sadness of it all, and frustrated by humanity’s stagnation on the road to evolved existence. There’s a lot of those themes in my songs, even if you don’t hear them the first time.

But I mean…How fucking hard is it to love each other, learn to feed everyone, and stop fighting over real estate, money, and power? Why is it so difficult rein in the entitlement of the elite overlords who use division to bend history for their own benefit, while depriving much of mankind of the benefits of unity and the resources of a bountiful planet?

Elite Carrot Overlord

Anyway, thanks for reading. Thanks for listening. In peace and hope. ~j

The War on Fishermen

jamie

Once upon a time, there was a clear boundary between war and peace. War had to be declared, against another nation, by Congress. Otherwise, peacetime rules of engagement applied.

Since 2001 and the declaration of “war on terror” our leaders no longer respect the boundary. War is peace. Peace is war. People are making a LOT of money selling weapons. It’s good for business.

The result is, the USA is now the largest terrorist army in the world, and this administration is using it to strike fear in other nations, so that their people and resources can be plundered by the billionaires. It’s organized crime backed by nuclear weapons and the strongest army on the planet.

I don’t care if the cartel leader was on those fucking boats. You take him into custody, along with the evidence of criminal activity. Put him on trial, and imprison him if found guilty.

You don’t blow up the boat, kill everyone including survivors, and destroy all the evidence. That’s what criminal terrorists do.  Inflicting fear. Abusing power.

This isn’t about drug cartels or the supposed “war on terror”. Trumpy just pardoned the Honduran Ex-Prez who was, yeah you can’t make this up, convicted of DRUG TRAFFICKING. A convicted narco-terrorist. Yup.

Be Not Afraid. Socialism is Everywhere.

jamie

ALL GOVERNMENT SPENDING IS SOCIALISM. Every penny.

They just use that word “socialist” (often erroneously paired with “Communist” or “Marxist”) to convince you (using FEAR) that it’s better if they spend YOUR TAX DOLLARS on tax breaks for the few, the wealthy and privileged. And maybe a few for-profit prisons to lock the rest of us up in (if we get high to try and forget the atrocities done by these miserable sons of bitches who are running this country).

Most people in prison are there for non-violent DRUG POSSESSION. In for-profit prisons, many of which hire them out for a fraction of minimum wage. Modern slavery.
Why? Profit. Exploit ordinary citizens for their own gains. People go to jail, or die, but they make money. So it’s OK.

They don’t make as much money if the government decides feeding the poor, or housing the homeless is a better use of the money. Because it helps people, they call it “charity”. The only reason they give to charity at all is for the tax write-offs and PR.
They call people who need help LAZY.
They say refugees who need help are ILLEGAL.
They say children who need help are EXPENDABLE.
All excuses NOT TO HELP

Like walking past a disheveled person asking for help on the street. Don’t look at them. Ignore the problem. Make excuses not to help.

Folks, THEY blame the poor, but the RICH are the problem. The WEALTHY have set up this system to exploit us, from cradle to grave, and they keep turning the screws, hoping we die. Less LAZY ILLEGAL EXPENDABLE HUNGRY mouths to feed, equals more profits for THEM.
Pure Capitalism is CRUELTY.

It’s $38 Trillion Now


Socialism recognizes the things people need to survive and thrive, and tries to guarantee those things to all through government ownership of those resources. Food. Medicine. Clothing. Housing. Education. Police. Fire Dept. EMTs. Energy. Military defense. Research. Good stuff for ALL. Democracy decides what’s important to us.
We all chip in to make sure everyone has what they NEED to survive and thrive. Importantly, innovators can still get rich selling people NEW creations and advances. For as much profit as they can. Things people WANT. Not what they NEED to survive.

In either Socialism or Capitalism, those with more must give more. That’s the social contract.

But Capitalism must be regulated to protect the social contract. Socialism IS that contract. Democracy decides. Capitalism doesn’t go away. It just gets deprioritized over survival, and human decency. Profits are NOT more important than the social contract to help each other.

Getting rich by exploiting what people NEED to survive is IMMORAL.
Getting rich by imprisoning people for profit is immoral.
Getting rich by controlling all of the food production and constantly raising prices to ensure “economic growth” (aka increased profits) instead of eliminating hunger, is immoral.
Getting rich by sending our children off to die, protecting “economic interests” (aka oil profits, weapons revenue) is IMMORAL.
Getting rich by controlling (for profit) all of the ENERGY society needs to exist and grow is Immoral.
Getting rich by deciding who deserves medicine by how much they can afford to pay is IMMORAL.

This is NOT a RED vs. BLUE situation. The two parties are BOTH working against US, The American People. This is a HUMAN DECENCY issue. Greed vs. Kindness and Decency.
This is a HAVE-TOO-MUCH vs HAVE-NOT-ENOUGH situation. Most of us fall into the SECOND group. We should start acting like it.
Towards THEM, and especially towards Each Other.

Here’s The Damn Thing S1:E1

jamie

I been around for awhile and
Here’s The Damn Thing…
“Nobody owes you anything”
So they say.
Well, I DISAGREE.
We owe each other kindness by default.
We owe one another Human Decency.
Acceptance. The opportunity to be who they are, without expectations. Without exceptions.
Everyone.

Look, I can accept that people have different points of views. We should still be able to get along. War and crime exist because gross inequalities prevent some people from having what they NEED to survive. This is a choice the rest of us have made.
We choose to go to war to protect borders which exist to divide, instead of using our great wealth to share the bounty we’ve been fortunate to receive. A handful of people use their power to extract resources, and grow more powerful and wealthy doing so.

There is nothing wrong with profit. I am not a communist. But with great wealth comes great responsibility. If that wealth is practically unlimited, and you choose to keep extracting, rather than giving back enough to ensure ALL the less fortunate are not suffering, you are a just a cruel fucking human being.
It IS your responsibility. You can’t just leave the homeless to suffer. The children hungry or sick. In your own country. In other countries. Does it matter?
You have BILLIONS and all you can think about is making MORE MONEY, taking away basic necessities from the poor. Medicine. Food. Shelter. Clothing. These things should NEVER be denied to any human being.

There are more than enough resources to feed everyone in the world. But humanity chooses to spend those resources building bombs to lob at each other from our warplanes, ships and tanks instead.
Billions spent fighting over oil, rather than feeding people, or harnessing clean, free energy from the sun. We allow a few to amass huge fortunes, exploiting millions of people for their labors while paying them as little as possible for their work.
It’s become tragically laughable that more people aren’t outraged. That billionaires are treated like celebrities, when they should be ashamed to show their faces in public.


YOU FUCKERS could DO something about the problems we all actually care about. But you CHOOSE NOT TO.


Billionaires should be ashamed, (not afraid, and I stress that, NOT afraid), of showing their faces in public. The paparazzi should expose their excesses in shame, rather than celebrating their conquest of other human beings.


Because you don’t become a billionaire by paying people what they are worth. You don’t stay a billionaire by giving enough back. At least not until all the problems are solved. Millions should enough for you. For anyone.

Capitalism without a conscience is just tyranny by the elite.

If (Revisited for the 2020s, with no apologies to Kipling and Dr Seuss)

jamie

If you can keep your head
when you’re surrounded by idiots
who blindly believe

If you dream of a future
where no one goes hungry,
no one in need

If your head spins from lies,
corruption and greed,
from sources empowered,
trusted to read. us the news.

If you care about kindness
and feel pain when others,
are hurt due to ignorance
of assholes unkind.

If you respect all creation,
and don’t understand,
why people and creatures
suffer at the hands
of inhumane humans
who don’t have a plan
to make anything better
if they can’t make a buck,
I know they all mock us,
think we’re all dumb as fuck
keep telling us it’s just
a run of bad luck
while they reap giant profits
Did i say reap? I meant SUCK
till there’s nothing to suck
because they’ve sucked it all up

If you believe in equality
and justice for all,
while living in horror
or hiding or fear
at the hateful who profit
by war and division
and shameless abuse
of the poor and the meek

If everything around you
seems way too insane,
a fucked up new normal,
a pain in the brain,
each new profanity
a breath of insanity,
making the last one
seem comfortable, fuzzy and warm.

If this is a world
that ain’t one you prefer,
and the people in power
seem doomed to make things worse

If you keep falling and getting back up
when the world seems dead set
on knocking your ass
right back to the pavement
as soon as you do.

If making things better
still seems important,
even after all
we’ve all been through

Then remember one thing,
my friend most of all.
The bigger the asshole,
the louder they fall

For so many have eyes
but refuse to be able
to see through the lies
to the truth on the table
in Freedom’s last light
We fade into denial
with barely a fight,
Staring into the Void
of our future destroyed
Pretending the darkness
Is too fucking bright

time to wake up now
the nightmare won’t end until we do
If…

Jamie Gray is a songwriter from upstate NY