Tag: justice

MAR 23, 20134 - We all know that life for a struggling musician is hard when it comes to paying bills (and getting paid for a gig!!), and for decades it has been virtually impossible for them to afford health insurance. The Affordable Care Act is addressing that issue but JTMP has found that it is being hampered not by "Obamacare", but by Republican state lawmakers who, because of a US Supreme Court ruling, do not have to take the money...so they don't. Kathleen Sebilius of the Health and Human Services said in a statement, "Texas taxpayers are losing roughly $18 million a day while the state turns down federal dollars to expand Medicaid." They could take the Federal funds, and then struggling musicians like Christian from The Hates (pictured right) in Texas would be able to apply for Medicaid and get health insurance, but no. It is more important for the Republican lawmakers to take a stance against "Obamacare" than to help their constituents. Unbelievable. Read about the struggle of Texas musician Christian Arnheiter aka "Christian of The Hates" not only fighting disease and our decrepit SICK care system but also battling their elected representatives that are supposed to help them on the HoustonPress.com website.  (photo credit: The Hate)

MAR 23, 2014 - I was flipping around the channels the other day, and I stumbled upon a cool music video of the song "Surrender" by the band Angels and Airwaves that paid homage to the Occupy and Anonymous movements, and singing about the youth uprisings not only in America but across the world. It was tastefully done, and the music is pretty cool. Check out the video below.

MAR 20, 2014 - JTMP has met James Haley, a great musical-activist out there singing for the 99.9% and against the .01% elite hoarding all the wealth, and I thought I would blog about him today and share one of his songs. James talked to JTMP and talked about his new song, "An American Income Inequality Song - Land of the Free"; and said, "As history has shown, music catapults movements. This is my song about inequality or to be more to the point it is a call to action to do something about it. I share this with you so you can share with others. I wrote this it to question the corporate greed that has overrun our government and weakened our democracy. Let's get this going and move this conversation to the real world. We live in a time where people are not getting active enough despite the social injustices that are taking place so I am creating songs like this to fuel the fire." JTMP agrees with James, and urges we progressives really start to make income inequality and raising the minimum wage into a huge movement going into the 2014 midterm elections and the 2016 Presidential elections. Remember, there are local offices, state senators, governors, US Senators and many offices you should pay attention to and assure your voice is heard is heard in each and every election, as well as bugging your elected representative for the things you need. They are your servant and serve you, not for-profit lobbyists and corporations. Watch James' song, "An American Income Income Inequality Song" below, and check out his Facebook page here, and his website here.

MAR 13, 2014 - US Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the US Justice Department will adopt new policies that will result in shorter sentences, shaving off as much as 25% of the mandatory minimum sentences they were subjected to before. JTMP does applaud this, but we feel we need to go even further and treat drug issues like the health problem issues they are, and not with handcuffs, courts and prison. Read more about this exciting development on HuffPO here.

MAR 11, 2014 - MusiCares, an arm of the Grammy organization that is dedicated to helping musicians with financial problems and other issues, has teamed up with GetCoveredAmerica.org and their full scale campaign traveling the country to try and get every musician in America covered by health insurance. They are holding workshops and events from California to Florida to get musicians informed on what their options are, why they need health insurance, and most importantly how the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare", makes the process easy and affordable. 

MusiCares is in Florida with GetCoveredAmerica.org for a workshop on March 19, 2014 at Sweat Records to talk to musicians and get them educated and informed on what the new law is, what their options are, and even get them signed up. A local musician's federation, South Florida Musicians, even posted about it on their website. JTMP has found there are thousands of musician federations, musician unions, organizations, bands, musicians and individuals out there working at the grassroots level getting musicians signed up for health insurance, which has always been a problem for musicians to afford and obtain. Read more on Grammy.org's website and find events here, and watch musician Korby talk about how easy, affordable and necessary it was for him to get health insurance coverage under Obamacare in a YouTube video below.

If you are a musician and haven't signed up for health insurance yet, find an event near you at GetCoveredAmerica.org and also visit HealthCare.gov to get informed and sign up!