I’m headed down an alley to get where I’m going, to the thoroughfare at the end, where traffic can move freely. I turn the corner and I’m struck by an unusual sight: there’s a car stuck in the alley, crossways. The front of the car is obviously badly damaged, with a crumpled bumper and the headlights bashed in, no doubt from previous collisions with the wall of the alley that is in front of them. The rear of the car is equally damaged; it rests against the high alley wall behind them, and it’s obvious it’s not the first time it’s met that wall.

I n January, I was asked to speak at a local health care rally. This was around the time that the State of Maine was debating cuts in Medicare & prescription drug coverage for people who were elderly and/or had a disability, in order to balance Maine’s budget. Here’s part of what I said that day…

A merica the beautiful…land of the free… The America I knew no longer seems to be. We go to war to help those who cannot help themselves, the helpless. Yet, we fail to fight the war on poverty that is within our own borders. Thus, threatening to destroy us from within, deteriorating the fabric of our cities causing many of us to become homeless and put into financially precarious positions. We send financial assistance all around the world, for any and all disasters and humanitarian exhibitions; nevertheless, we choose to cut off assistance to those who are most vulnerable and unable to fight back. I understand desperate times call for desperate measures, but cutting off aid and assistance to the ones who desperately are in need seems absolutely ludicrous.

A hhh! Spring!! With it comes the birds, the bees, the blooms, oh, and the work. As soon as the garden plot dries out from this latest rain the work of turning and seeding will begin. As the old saying goes: the first crop a Maine farmer picks is rocks. Thanks to the glaciers that transversed our state over many millennia farms in Maine have a fresh crop of rocks to pick in their fields each spring. As my sweetheart likes to say”If you can pick it up it’s a pretty little stone, if you can’t it’s a goddamn boulder.”

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L ast Friday was a 4-20 to remember. Pat LaMarche played my song "Heartless Bastards" on the Pulse Morning Show, and she likes me on facebook "a lot". "Heartless Bastards" was inspired by Pat's notion about the latest attempts of Governor LePage and the Republicans to cut benefits for people in need.

While in real life I am a normal father and professional worker bee, for about half a day a week I transform into the political songwriter blogger comedian known as Jimmy Reefercake. I often write plain old angry protest songs like this one that Pat liked so much:

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B eing a senior in high school is more than what you see on television. Sure, there are spats of drama, exciting love triangles, and even the occasional spouts of senioritis; however, there are other, more important problems to worry about that has left my classmates and me wondering about the future ahead of us. Where will we go once we are handed that diploma? Whom will we meet? Will we fulfill our aspirations? Will we fail? Right now, students face the prospect of never finding our dream career, let alone a sustaining job. We enter the world as we did when we were first born: scared, unfamiliar, and sometimes crying our eyes out. Yet, high school has equipped me with the materials necessary to venture out into the world with my head held high, and a determination to prove that I am not just some kid that will become the next “average” generation.

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G ay Marriage is quite possibly the single most controversial, inflammatory topic in the news these days, and I know that by voicing my opinion, I am likely to be praised by some, but blacklisted by many others – so let’s start with something we can all agree on: the bedrock American principle of equality is central to the political and legal convictions of liberals and conservatives alike.

This revolutionary concept is expressed in the Declaration of Independence in words that are among the most noble and elegant ever written: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

As wonderful a concept as this is, sadly, it has taken us, as a people, a long time to live up to that premise. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln simply but eloquently reminded the warring nation of its foundation: "our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

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I n the olden days, say 50 years ago, most knew that “when mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.” Today, pissing off mama seems to be all the rage. Women--of all colors, shapes, ages and sexual orientations—seem to be fair game.

Male legislators seem to be competing for how to piss off the most women. The latest entry into the “how to make women most miserable” contest is a doozy. Maine’s Senator Saviello (Franklin), joined by Representative Casavant (Biddeford) and Senator McCormick (Kennebec) decided to up the ante of punitive welfare (TANF, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) policies. They’d like to penalize families for staying on welfare too long. So, at the end of TANF’s 5-year federal limit, which effectively cuts families off any federal assistance—things like medical care.....
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