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.
This is what happens when lawyers and corporate money steer public policy, rather than the votes of The People. Corporations don’t care if you die (unless it affects their profits) and corporate bosses can almost never be prosecuted if their decisions kill you. A HUGE majority of Americans want action. All we get from our government are excuses why it can’t be done.
We need to elect INDEPENDENT candidates who are ready to overthrow the two-party, dog and pony shit show they pretend is democracy. If America were an actual democracy, we’d have fixed this after the first time school children were murdered in Sandy Hook…or long before. ~jg #vote #N0H8
Jamie Gray | Conjurer of Bytes, Notes & Words. Seeker of Truth, Peace, & Harmony. (Photo: Gray Area Productions)
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.
Holy Shit, right?!? So, I’ve been saying it for a few years now. Since around the time Trump won the 2016 election. Our democracy. Our freedoms. Our democratic way of life. They are all in jeopardy.
US Supreme Kangaroo Court
The rumored leak that the US Supreme Court is about to strike down 50 years worth of precedent-upon-precedent on abortion should strike fear in your heart. Not just fear. Terror.
Because this horror is just beginning, I’m afraid. The Republicans have accomplished nothing less than a political coup of our highest ‘impartial’ court, in order to further the extreme Right Wing’s agenda. 80% of Americans think women should have the right to choose, but here we are anyway. Experts say #LGBTQ rights and #Obamacare are next. The War on the Rest of Us has begun.
This ‘Us vs. Them’ phase that we’ve entered into is actually predictable, as the far right religious extreme that steers the Republican Party finds themselves in a battle against Satan to bring about some ‘New Jerusalem’. This is not just Red vs. Blue for them. It’s a battle for their very souls. This is about God’s Will, and what their leaders have taught them was right and true. It’s worth dying for. Or killing.
Approximately 25% of our country is trying to purge themselves of their sinful nature and guilty consciences, by forcing their religion on the rest of us for our ‘own good’. They say it’s what The Founders intended, when the First Amendment clearly says the polar opposite. They say it’s about #RightToLife, but threaten to kill women who have an abortion via the death penalty. This is a powerful cult, and they’ve found a validated soapbox, thanks to Donald Trump.
The Truth is, they fear their decline. They are staging this battle, this Holy War, because they see a growing threat from a majority that knows we need change. We can’t go on pretending that everyone is equal while clearly some of us are ‘more equal than others’. While so many of us are hungry or homeless. Billionaires cannot multiply their wealth while the masses die, in any society that will succeed without drastic change.
“No one is looking out for the little guy, except to carefully place a foot upon his head as a boost up the ladder.”
~Jamie Gray ’22
Social justice doesn’t just happen. It is a hard won prize, awarded through protest and politics. It can happen here. It IS happening here. But the same guys that brought you the #WarOnDrugs and #WarOnTerror are not kidding around this time, and they are out to stop it from happening at all costs.
The leaders of The Right are against equality under the law. No equality for women. No equality for black and brown people. No justice for all. They believe in the Almighty Dollar, and use God-the-Whisperer to control their zombie hordes. They believe in lies, and use guns to enforce their unpopular beliefs upon others, and they have mobilized for War.
It’s time the rest of us get serious too, because if we keep saying ‘This is Fine’, we’ll soon find out it’s much worse than we can take. Worse than it is already. ~jg #Vote. #Protest. #Resist.
Jamie Gray is a writer, musician, and critic of the inane and insane.
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
Good Friday. They want you to focus on the divinity. I prefer reality, and historical fact to religious propaganda.
It’s another page of the same old story. Politicians and religious leaders conspiring together to keep the status quo, the ignorance of the masses, using it to effect control, exploiting the talents and labors of the unwary.
Jesus was no saint. He was a fucking radical. He was killed by the leaders of Israel, because he spoke out against them, and they feared a revolt. They feared that Jesus would lift the veil of ignorance, and they would lose control. So they killed him. Today, #GoodFriday is the rememberance if that day. I choose to remember Jesus for the Anarchist that he was, not the ‘Son of God’ they paint him to be.
Over the last 2000 years, his message has been repackaged by church elders and ‘scholars’, to be used to control and exploit the masses, just like before. With the help of politicians, of course. I choose to believe the truth about Good Friday, that it was more like the day they killed MLK. ~jg #Resist #ThinkForYourself
——- How Donald Trump reminds us of an important Good Friday lesson https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/donald-trump-good-friday-warning-far-right-christian-nationalism-rcna24491
Donald Trump – The ultimate tool for right-wing radicals.
I couldn’t stop feeling ticks crawling on me, even after a shower.
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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.
