Destiny - and a childs graduation

It has been a time since I have written and posted. It feels good to be here again, though it may be brief as it seems I am drawn in many different directions these past months. This post is special and it wasn't without a swelling of emotion on many levels for many reasons, and in a way it only barely scratches the surface.

As always I hope it evokes some thought and reflection by each reader and that in some way it finds a spot in your heart and soul, to relate to your own experiences and how you see and treat the world and everyone in it.

Destiny –

My daughter Siena is our oldest child and she  graduated from High School this class of 2013.

She is our oldest surviving child. I clarify that because we had two other early second term children lost to miscarried pregnancies. Siena was delivered by Caesarian after her mother became weaker with preeclampsia and Siena’s infant heart rate began to drop. Siena was born healthy, strong, and beautiful. She was monitored and in infant ICU only because her mother was fighting her own battle to regain strength and become strong enough to hold and nurse her baby girl.

Siena grew, and sat up, crawled, talked, and walked at early stages according to the various charts and doctor schedules, she was a “good” baby and her parents were proud and loving.

She became a big sister at two years old and was just as curious, loving and helpful as a two year old could be. And her mama needed a helper and big sister that was caring, patient and loving, as this too was a difficult pregnancy, long labor and challenging delivery. Siena’s sister Remi was born strong and healthy as well but needed oxygen and stayed in ICU for a time as mama and baby grew healthier and stronger.

Over the years Siena displayed humor, intelligence, wit, creativity, empathy, caring, devotion, love and we were proud! She often seemed a bit beyond her years in how she perceived and related to situations and various life events. Her daddy worked lots of extra hours and had changing work schedules, her mama was the traditional “stay at home” mother who loved that job and title, but fought postpartum depression and anxiety while raising her daughters.

Siena, the oldest, sure of herself, became a strong reader and grew in her insight and awareness of situations beyond the surface and deeper in context. “Reading” to her began before she was even born and was an on-going event and nightly ritual for years, until daddy began falling asleep reading to her and she began picking up where he left off and reading ahead in the Harry Potter novels at seven or eight years old. I learned this one night when she “woke” me and corrected my last mumbled sentence; “daddy that’s not what it said, I read that part the other night.”

She experienced living in six homes in two states before she turned ten years old. She experienced the grief and loss of a baby brother, stillborn, when she was six years old. She experienced the grief and depression parents and a whole family experience in a significant loss like that, and its impact over the years, and beyond. She saw the news events of 9/11, experienced an intense and unsettling 6.8 magnitude earthquake while living in Seattle, WA, and then moved from her home and developing friendships to a new state and home in Pennsylvania just in time to experience hurricane Isabel. She was stoic and strong, but this presented difficult challenges for a young girl. New state, new home, new school, no extended family or friends, she tried but it wasn’t easy. Then another move, new home, new school but in the same state. Then the death of a grandmother. More challenges and strength gained in lessons learned.  Elementary school finished, and moved on to middle school and more challenges and changes, maturing, growing, developing, finding her way, her voice, herself.

Then High School and teen years, and teen relationships, discovery of self and the broader world around her in travel domestic and abroad.  Driving and voting. She was excited to vote and to have her vote counted on issues and elections she felt strongly about. Another home move in-state, another change of school; cyber this time, a very difficult choice driven by a complicated and heart wrenching 11^th grade year and eventual withdrawal from this Catholic High School in the middle of the last semester. It’s true “children can be so cruel”, but bullying is carried in very institutionalized ways in certain school settings. Their doctrines and principals literally can be the cause of verbal and emotional abuse as institutionalized and accepted teachings. They leave bruises and scars inside. She overcame and Siena adapted to cyber school from home and her first semester achieved Honor Roll grades. At the start of the second semester she experienced the loss of her grandfather and two weeks of class time missed due to travel and funeral services out of state.

Upon her return she was 37 lessons behind and for the remainder of the school year she had to whittle away and get caught up, she had community service hours to complete and her Senior Year project. She went to an additional pottery class nights two days a week, participated in an improv theater troupe, babysat and assisted at a local Farm Camp. And on her last official day of her Senior year she was caught up after a couple “all nighters” and finished with a cumulative GPA of 3.8, Honor Roll.

Eighteen years, nine months,  12 days since her birth and she graduates High School as a strong, intelligent, opinionated, independent, proud, artistic, vibrant, spiritual atheist, and exceptionally beautiful woman, set to discover so much more and to find her way with determination, persistence, love and compassion gained through all her young life experiences to date.

Siena - You are our daughter, you make us proud, I love you, your destiny awaits, your future is yours to create and live. Live it in your way, as you dream it, and be happy in the moments that will make up your life.

XOXOXO

Photo credit - Remi Crist

Re-Post of the Batmobile Christmas Story - Cheers

Ø  I knew I was in for one of those days – A Christmas Story

It started with a stubbed pinkie-toe on the bedpost, in the dark, of a very early and cold morning. I held back the welling profanity at my lips because everyone else was still asleep. A few crippled steps later and I step in some wet slimy stuff (that turns out be dog puke I find out once I turn a light on and go back to check) and now I do swear and storm into the bathroom. I clean up after the pet, get myself ready for the rest of the day totally aware of these signs and expecting more to come. Today is my Karma payback day no fucking doubt about it. So on it goes: take the dogs out for their morning break and the screen door slams me in the elbow “funny bone”, it wasn’t in the least bit funny, and I swear again startling the dogs now a tangle in their leashes around my feet. It’s freezing outside (and still dark) and they seem to take forever to pee. Back inside and during breakfast, I drop the sugar spoon into my Cream-o-wheat and it splashes onto my work shirt. The smoke alarm begins to scream at an ear piercing level damn near rendering me immobile wincing in some weird mind-melding torture, and its going off because I’m burning my toast! Seems I must have bumped the setting knob from my perfect toast setting of 3-dash all the way to 7-dash-dash (as high as the thing goes – why? Why a 7 dash dash setting at all, hell it burns at 5-dash-dash, what the world is the reason for those other extreme settings – arson maybe?) By the time I get around to eating, every things cold – and its cold outside, and dark, because it’s still early. Now I’m wondering, actually thinking carefully and seriously, if this is some omen and I should just take my ass back to bed. Really, what next, was it even safe to try to go to work? But was it safe to stay home? Shit can happen anywhere, anytime. I decide to head to work. Everything is hunky-dory until I’m almost there. When, CRUNCH ! I get rear ended sitting at the last stoplight before getting to our work parking lot (that parking lot is a freaking hazard too, but that’s another story for a different day). I pull over and the car behind me follows along and I can see there’s some damage to the headlight and hood of this little black car. Then I notice the big white decal or painting on the hood – the Batman logo! The windows of the little car are darkened and I can’t see in, but I’m fuming and pissed, but kind of amused at the little “Batmobile” sitting there crunched. I’m already late and now this, what a screwed up day, how much more can I take, I’m sure to be dead before the end of it at this rate! I get out and still no sign of movement inside the other car, and now I’m getting even more steamed because I have to go back to this guy? He’s not getting out? WTF? I take a glance at my rear bumper and it is fine, a big somewhat rusty, heavy steel solid bumper. A bumper that is a real bumper. A bumper that stops shit. A hit me at your own risk bumper. Just as I’m getting to his hood, checking out his poor busted headlight, smashed plastic grill, dented hood crumpled just to the edge of the Batman logo, the door begins to open slowly and the loud Christmas music is pouring out and a large hand grabs the top of the door jam, and out comes a very rotund, apologizing but smiling, happy round faced black dude wearing a Santa suit ! Now I am smiling and assuring him there is nothing at all wrong with my car, apologizing to him for what has happened, refusing to let him call in the accident since there is no damage to my car and he’s worried about a ticket and his insurance. He tells me he’s on his way to Walmart, he explains to tend the Salvation Army kettle and ring his bell for the day. As I help him back into his car and he’s telling me “bless you” and “Merry Christmas”, I realize this is one of the coolest moments and experiences I’ve had and how my day had just become “one of those days”, one I’ll never forget and one I’ll tell about the rest of my life! 

Holy Holly Berries Batman, Santa is a jolly black dude that drives a Hyundai Batmobile!

Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays !

Revolutionary thinking

History and change –

When I arrived in Lancaster PA, onw of my Aunts suggested I go do some genealogy research for relatives on my father’s side of our family. So I did, and I found a good deal of information and history from the mid 1700’s. It actually had a very good deal of history for as we all know European arrivals to this continent came to create a new life with freedoms not had under European rule at that time. They escaped persecution, they escaped tyranny and religious controls, they escaped hardships and feudal systems. Then they had a Revolution that establish a new democracy, a new government, founding principles, Declarations, Rights, Congressional representation, all of which have held the present test of time.

I found that I have ancestors that were gunsmiths, in fact they were very good gunsmiths and I found documents validating their commission to build arms for the Revolutionary Army. These were the famous Pennsylvania Long Rifles. A smoothbore blackpowder .50 caliber rifle. These, along with relatively few blackpowder pistols, were treasured and valued tools and were considered as personal property of the owner and became part of an estate to be passed down to younger generations. Craftsmanship, skill, and true artistry went  into the hand creation of these tools. They were treated with care and respect, and as a most valued tool for survival in primarily providing for food, and when needed, protection. As such, care and respect went into the use of the tool, and the same for the teaching of younger users to be certain no damage or harm came for accident or misuse. Respect for their power, respect for the life of the game they would hunt.

They were owned by the citizens and became the arms used to fight in response to tyranny and for revolution. When commissions were granted for building them for a Revolutionary Army, it was done by hand, no mass production was had at that time, and parts were made by hand locally and in secret, as every participant was in their action breaking the law of an English King, treasonous actions subject to prosecution by the King. They went from a family “tool”, to weapons, arms. Families split, Loyalist and Revolutionaries, or Patriots in their words, over this relovution and sided with Kings Law or with the Patriots, but until such time they were truly “free” and recognized as members of a won and newly formed Country with independent rule, the Patriots were traitors, farmers, militants, innkeepers, anarchists, subjects of England, criminals, shopkeepers. They organized and formed a citizen militia that had leaders, formed a structured representation, formed an organized Continental Army and township colonial militias. There was a common cause, organization to the goals of that cause, observance of order, structure, “rules” of engagement.

Upon winning their freedom and creating doctrines to govern, language was drafted significant to that time but also with core elements and careful wording to outline a long-term basis of Rights. There was debate, heated discussion, politics, negotiation and in the end compromise that had wisdom on ideals far more reaching than that of the day.

As this nation and the world developed so did “arms” to more effectively fight battles over conflicts. Arms were developed and improved for greater mass production, greater accuracy, and greater power to kill more people faster. Military actions, conflicts, wars, drove the enhancement of these weapons development far beyond a tool for hunting and simple home and family protection. They became weapons used in mass murders; of women and children, of elderly, and often times unarmed civilians, used on “heathens, animals, savages” , Native Americans and so often innocent civilians in their homes, beds, yards, schools, and at play. Slaughtered by weapons designed to kill, and to kill fast, and to kill many. To inflict deadly carnage en mass. And so it has continued over the ages increasing in the efficiency to kill other human beings.

My immediate family lived in Colorado and one of my daughters was attending her pre-school class on a school campus of children aged pre-school through 12^th grade. That school was less than a Mile from Columbine High School when that mass murder was committed. It shook the entire community, state and country to its core. We had school friends who lost loved ones in that horrible ordeal. We moved not long after, then moved again to quite Lancaster County PA. Home of many “Simple People”, the Amish; peaceful, god loving, farming families of German and Dutch decent, family histories in the area back to the 1700s just as as my own family ancestors. Then there came another horrific mass murder of innocent school children in a single room Amish school house. Again a community and nation shaken to its core.

Aurora Colorado, yes family leaving in that community, in fact family that frequents a movie theater there. Not on that day thankfully for them, but so tragic and horrible for many others; children, innocent, families, friends, lovers, civilians mass murdered with big powerful multi-shot military grade weapons.

Now Newtown CT. And again, I have some close association to that town, as I have driven past it, stopped in it for gas, thought what a quiet, peaceful, pretty town it is on my travels between Lancaster and Hartford CT. Who would ever imagine a mass murder taking place in an elementary school there? Innocent victims; little children, teachers, civilians, killed from multiple gunshot wounds inflicted by weapons of similar military grade.

Our Founding Fathers of a great nation formed from a citizen militia, did not draft a doctrine of Rights with the intent to allow for the mass murder of its civilians by way of the protected Right to “bear arms” to form a militia to combat a tyrannical government. And I believe by way of many years reading American History and biographies of many of those Founding Fathers, they would certainly have they wisdom, respect for life, clarity of the constitutional principal, and quite frankly they'd have the balls to establish and institute a change of laws to protect the citizens and their right to pursue “life, liberty and happiness” and still allow for the basis of the 2^nd Amendment to “bear arms and form a militia” as needed. There is a big and distinct difference in citizens continuing to have the right of owning arms for hunting, home and personal protection of property, and that of citizens forming a militia and "arming" themselves with military grade weapons to confront another opposing militia.  Those Founding Fathers would act swiftly, strongly, and as national leaders to protect innocent civilians. My greater fear is that we no longer have any congressional leaders with any balls (women of Congress included), to take a stand as bold, inspirational, and revolutionary as those Founding Fathers.

I wish you peace and strength to stand and speak out. Citizen revolutions start small these days!

Holiday from the heart

Heartfelt giving -

I find it heartbreaking that so many people feel such a need to marginalize and demonize others in an effort to establish themselves as compassionate, caring, righteous, moral and above all, superior.

I was verbally affronted the other day when dropping some clothes off at the Goodwill. As I placed my bags into the bin, a lady pulled up and hopped out of her car and began placing paper bags of items by the side of the container on the ground. “I can’t reach all the way up there to throw these in, they wash all these things before selling them anyway” she stated matter-of-factly.

“I can put them in for you” I said.  “You can if you want to but it doesn’t really matter, they have to sort through all this junk we leave and clean whatever they want to keep of it anyway. Besides those kind of people who buy it don’t expect this stuff to be perfect, just cheap!” she replied. “The Goodwill expects people to donate items that are in good shape and clean, not junk” I said with a bit of a glare at her. “Whatever, you are crazy if you spend your time washing stuff before you bring it here. I do my part for charity; I even gave some to their Bell Ringers ”.  “The Bell Ringers are the Salvation Army” came my response and then her immediate “Whatever!”Those were her parting words as she climbed into her car and sped off. 

Now I’m not so perfect and I can be as judgmental as anyone, in fact my first “judgment” was that she probably never actually even entered a Goodwill or Salvation Army, let alone considered ever buying and using something from them. Then I judged her as a prissy well to do Bitch. But I didn’t judge her that way to make myself feel better about “me”, or to belittle or demean “her kind”. My judgment was of her at that moment, of her action and of her words with me, so it was really my conclusion of her character in that brief exchange.

Regardless of whether it was my conclusion, or a judgment, or a label, or a group that I had just associated her to, I was later just as troubled with my own anger at her and that compulsion to connect her personal action and words to anything greater, to some group or class.

Finally it came to me. And it’s important this time of year as Holidays approach and with the recent weather  disaster – Charity, Benevolence, Donations, Giving , if not truly done from the heart in an action to share and care for others in good will in order to help them as equals, actually subjugates them or elevates you.

We are for the most part a compassionate and caring society, for the most part we embrace justice and equity, fairness and equal opportunity, the freedom to become better off and prosper. We want to help people with a “hand up”. But that has to be heart-felt. It has to start truly from there, from your heart, you have to feel it and believe in that. Otherwise it’s more an action of duty or a kind gesture but without real compassion. In those cases your spirit of “giving” is not present, there is no empathy. It is just another action or task or “to do” on your list; went to the bank-check, washed the car-check, dropped stuff at the Goodwill-check, eat lunch-check.

We all have our causes and favorite charities, we donate a great deal of time, money and effort into these and sometimes we really do feel a sense of caring and sharing. I have to remind myself of this often, I’m human in a very fast paced “me” world, and holidays bring out the best and worst in all of us.

Care, share and give from your heart and I believe you will “feel” a special gift within yours.

May the Spirit of giving be with you now and through-out the year, Good Will to you and yours this holiday season. Enjoy your Holiday celebration and respect others in theirs.

Peace and cheers to everyone!

A boy, my boy

Joshua –

Our little boy would be in sixth grade, a twelve year old today, the day he came into this world, born but not living. His arrival was anticipated and agonized as we became aware of his death several days before the final delivery of his birth in the very early hours of a November morning. He came quietly into the world, we cried and held each other and we held him. We smiled some too, but mostly we wept. There was beauty and distinction in his tiny face, hands, fingers, toes, ears, nose, eyelids. He was beautiful but still.

There is grief I feel quite often and will be forever, and there is remorse from me as well. I wish I had requested a picture of him as with any other child’s birth, as with other “live” births. I could have asked for that, but didn’t at the time as we were really unable to think or make choices with any clarity. I wish I would have had his young sisters there to see and hold him briefly. I regret that and I am sorry for that decision, that still hurts me even now and it always will, so I hope they can forgive me in that choice of the moment.

I wish he was here today, learning and playing in a sixth grade classroom. Acting silly, teasing and loving his sisters, loving pets, hugging mommy and daddy.

My faith was rocked by that event.  My following of a particular Religion and church teaching has never been the same. To me his conception seemed a miracle. There had been miscarriages before, fertility concerns, but two sisters were born and healthy, though with challenging pregnancies and deliveries, one c-section and the other natural but with complications for mother and baby after. It had been four years since the last birth of our baby girl, and no form of birth control all those years. We wanted another child and looked into fertility and other options and then,  he was there.

A tiny heartbeat, and he grew, past the scary first weeks, 8^th, 9^th, 10^ththrough 12^th weeks, 13 weeks and counting so I felt more at ease. We were going to have another baby, we had another baby, we heard his heartbeat, we saw his image. 15 weeks, 20 weeks, 24 weeks, and then silence. No prayers would change it. No science or religion strong enough to change it. There was no longer a heartbeat, only a tiny body that now had to be delivered premature and stillborn. It was agonizing, torturous, unbelievable. For me it was an emotional nightmare, for my stoic, loving wife and the mother of our child, of our children, it was both an emotional and physical contradiction. Pain physical and emotional, labor and delivery heartbreaking and still in a moment wonderful, yet real in its drama, sorrow and devastation.

We were comforted by family, friends, doctors and nurses, pastors, clergy and Priests. We were comforted in prayer that God would help us through. But there were no answers to why. No spiritual answers, no Religious answers, no scientific answers, no comprehension or understanding then, or now for that matter.

There are many phases of grief the experts will tell you, and there are, and they come and go depending. My faith allowed me to believe that my sons soul had past and was at peace in a better place, in Heaven with others and family that too had died. There was, is, comfort he is there, my belief and faith helps me with that. MY faith, MY beliefs, not those of the Catholic Church which I had chosen to be confirmed into prior to marriage.

Grief played a part in my mounting anger, but the anger was more pointed at Institutions, State Laws and Church rules. The contradictions.

See Insurance for medical covers the pregnant mother, not the living child yet to be born. There are laws to protect the life of the living unborn baby, but not that allows for a life insurance policy of that unborn child as example. You can get life insurance for the mother, but not for the living unborn “life”. Insurance death and burial benefits of a family member don’t count if the person wasn’t born “live”. In fact since it isn’t a “live” birth there is no Birth Certificate, and therefore no Death Certificate. The hospital records show a female patient delivering a stillborn male child, but no birth or death, no name of the child recorded or tally on a census record. Just a hospital statistic. The Insurance benefits I paid for over the years for family death and funeral costs would not be supported by my insurance company because my son was not born alive.

The Catholic Church has Sacraments and rites. The Sacrament of baptism is only performed for a living person.  The sick cannot be anointed if they are dead. Last Rites cannot be given if the person has not been baptized. The stillborn child is not recognized into the body of the Church, but “is in Gods hands”. There couldn’t be a Catholic funeral and Mass for my son because he wasn’t born alive, he was born still, his life stopped at 24 weeks, protected by laws to protect anyone from taking his life within a pregnant mother, but a natural unexplainable death before birth and he’s nobody in eyes of State Laws, Insurance Companies and Church Rules. So we decided to have his body cremated (against Catholic teaching, but they didn’t officially recognize him anyway), and we hold his cremated ashes dear and cherished in our own safe vessel and await the passing of mother or father to be buried along-side one of us, to be present at a funeral recognizing both parent and child.

I love my son and cherish his short life and time with us, unborn, and I am happy I saw him and held him. I have faith and believe in one God, a universal spirit. I believe in Jesus, and some teachings of Christianity, I also believe an omnipresent God shares a Spirit in many, many ways and through many means of teaching, different stories, different peoples and different events. I believe in Angels and Spirits, I believe the Souls and Energy of all life is part of the omnipresent. I find comfort in various Religious images, icons, monuments, statues, writings, and practices, not just Christian, but from all of them. I believe in connecting with God though intentions, meditation, prayer, and just being open to enlightenment. I believe in the universal spirit and good will of all people. I believe it is all in Gods hands, within Gods universal structure, but I think that we make choices and do things as humans, that are not “Gods will”. I believe my relationship to my God in my way manifests the love and good in me to empathize and care for humanity and all things in this world. I believe that firm Religious dogmas, Politics and power of separate Religious Institutions and those Leaders of Church and State are often ironically at odds with their Gods intentions and the natural balance of Gods spirit. I still go into a church and attend Mass, as I feel Gods presence there, me and My God, but I don’t really listen to the Priest, I don’t hear the Catholic Church, I go to feel the presence of God and to have my own connection to him, and to share a greeting of peace to others. I’ll light a candle, I’ll kneel and pray and share an intention, I’ll give thanks to my God, to him, not to the Church or it’s politics.

I believe my sons Soul and Spirit contributes to help balance and provide positive, loving, peaceful energy in his very, very small way. I believe I must live up to his contribution, live up to his potential, live up to his expectation of me, small as he was in that still body, he is now a part of Life as large as the universe, and that is immensely more enormous in Spirit and will take my lifetime to strive to achieve daily.

I hope in some small way this heartfelt and personal sharing benefits you, that it has even a small impact in your life, that it may stir an emotion and an honest moment of your own, with your own beliefs. We all need to check into our own Spirit and deep into our Souls, time and again.

Love and peace be with you, blessing of the Spirit be upon you, go in peace and serve the world every small step of your way as best you can, always first for the good of others, and you too will find peace along that path.

O X O

New States of America - a science fiction story

The Oracle & The Bain States of America –

Science Fiction has roots in possibilities, history, probabilities, statistics, power, money, apathy, greed, rises and falls of empires, kingdoms and dominions. This is a short story, as with the course of human creation, evolution, and possible extinction, so goes history as it’s told of a higher thinking civilized society. The United States of America is but a blip on the historic timeline, a quick blooming then self absorbing flower with too many thorns and shoots to sustain. It cannibalizes itself for sustenance until death.

Before a nation reaches its 300^th birthday it will further split and divide and topple and be no more. The inhabitants, some, will remain. Not in an apocalyptic “tumult” of utter destruction left from self inflicted ignorance and warfare, though surely in isolated and divided camps with authoritarian plutocratic superficial democracies. As nations topple wealth adn power prevail and retain thier dominion in the new higherarchy. Russia, East Germany, the middle east, our domestic chieftans know the game, they have been creating it and establishing rules for decades. Little experiments played out across history, lessons learned, strategies adjusted, orders executed, casulites a part of the war.

Alaska is first to go as exchange of resource asset in property for debt payment and forgiveness to China. The exchange will have a contract entitled Treaty, but will be in the manner of a business deal private equity exchange offering. It will be then known as the Alaskan Republic of China.

Northern California, Oregon and Washington will be granted the title of the Western Democratic State of America.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin will be entitled with Northern Republic State of America. Note, North Dakota will be the sole grant of new Country status sold back to the Native American Nations, with a provision that they all relocate to the newly established Country and all existing Reservations be abandoned, and are required to tithe 30% of all future gaming revenues to the Dominion Capital Bain State of America.

Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont become the Eastern Democratic State of America. Maine is exchanged with Canada for western pipeline and commerce free routing between the Alaskan Republic of China and the New States of America.

Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina all become the Rebel-publican State of America.

Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado become the Hispanic State of America and all “illegal immigrants” at the time will be granted asylum and immunity and allowed to relocate as an American citizen to this enclave.

Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas be granted OPEC status as the NewAmerican Oil Empire State with exclusive Gulf of Mexico Oil and Gas drilling rights. 50% of all revenue goes directly to the Dominion Capital Bain State of America to further support governance.

Florida is established as a Universal medical and retirement colony primarily funded from oil and gas surcharges. All Americans who so choose at the age of 79 must relocate there to live out their lives in carefree luxery, having relinquished all other froms of Entitlement, or they may depart the New United States immediately revoking citizenship with a one-time projected 5 year Cost of Living stipend. All funded from the Native American Nations gaming revenue endowment trust equal to 25% of all their revenue, but administered via an Offshore Dominion Capital Bain State trust fund protected and free of any taxation.

Hawaii becomes the new “Las Vegas” and vacation island playground establishing the “American Pacific Riviera”, owned by the Dominion Capital Bain State of America. Where odes the Dominion Capital Bain State reside, clearly it must be established in the only remaining location: Utah.

Footnote - the District of Columbia; Washington DC is dismantled and absorbed into Maryland. The White House, Capital, monuments, excetera, all become part of a masive Public Zoo and parkland.

Choose your state carefully and live happily ever after.

The END.

Trickle-down my ass!

Editorial comment below: this opinion is that of the author; no association or agreement, no fees, no subsidies, no wages real or implied, have been given or paid by any Fortune 1000 Company, CEO, CFO, Senator or Congress memeber current or former, or any other PAC or Media entity - they keep that among their own 1%. 

Ø  How’s that “trickle-down theory” working for ya –

The language is simply offensive, as it relates to finance and economics, nothing in the word “trickle” instills any confidence, success or acceptable outcome for more than a select few.  A planted field of crops does not grow with a trickle of irrigation, but a trickle of oil seeping from a tanker can pollute and kill an entire eco-system.

Heaping scoops of ice cream melt and trickle down the cone.  Water trickles from a leaking faucet. Piss trickles down your leg.  A shattered domestic economy doesn’t need “trickle-down economics”, hell we’ve been trickled on for too damn long. 

Likewise any economic policy that anticipates those demigod gatekeepers of big business, financing, banking and commerce to actually care about what value and domestic economic improvement in poor, low-income and middle-class real wage could be, are so full of shit I imagine that is trickling down upon us too!

A few lines from Monty Python’s Holy Grail where the lowly commoners, servants and serfs are muddy in the fields goes something like – “How do you know he’s a King?”, “He hasn’t got shit all over him!” as King Arthur heads on his quest for the Holy Grail and riches. Our Corporate, Banking and Political “elite” preside over their power, wealth and quest for more, in open mockery of any premise to see domestic median income and wealth improve. Quite the opposite, as their control and use of monies to influence policy and lawmakers has become legal (or illegal and not prosecuted) in campaign financing, lobbying, monopolization actually broadens the wage gap and increase poverty levels domestically.  Those dollars flow in the hundreds of MILLIONS, BILLIONS, to TRILLIONS while their “trickle-down” of wages continue to go to developing third-world labor and emerging markets, and are whittled away by their policies to help ensure shareholder and corporate revenue. Wages and benefits are always the first on the chopping block, “low hanging fruit” in the business lingo for easy things to manage.

Now as far as Capitalism goes, and a sound business practice of securing the lowest wages and material costs, they are indeed doing the right and profitable business. They should go to those places for low cost labor and materials. There is no reason, incentive, regulation that would compel them to keep jobs, wage, and production domestic, or in the very least give consideration to wage stability in line with expanding production of these labor resources. They can trickle-down much less outside the US and therefore make more profit. That’s just good business. More profit means more money to spend on things that benefit their futures individually and as Corporations; business incentives, tax breaks, government contracts, R&D grants, and reduced regulation so they are free to help the economy grow through trickle-down economics.

A recent Wall Street Journal review of 35 multi-national US companies discovered that they collectively added 446,000 jobs between 2009 and 2011, 3/4s of them overseas and 60% of their revenue growth came from overseas where they contributed to those locations economic growth. At the same time domestic production per capita continued to increase  at a greater percent than real wages – domestic workers are producing more, are more efficient and effective, without any wage benefit to their efforts.
“Trickle-down” is the expectation that the companies bring their profits back to the U.S.A and create jobs here, but this doesn’t happen, because the low wage and profit margin is over there and they are incented, and given tax breaks to do it, and their CEOs and large shareholder investors (often foreign banks and countries like China profit on stock growth). American companies' investment in US plants and equipment as a percentage of GDP is around 10%percent, the lowest it had been since 1964.
Unfortunately for our Middle-Class this has meant that since the 1970s the Middle-class has shrunk steadily and has now been surpassed by Upper-Class, and our Middle-Class net worth has plummeted based on numerous Economic and Demographic studies. Another sad note from demographics shows that Middle-class family size has also shrunk since the 1970s and it take two and three incomes within the household to keep from declining further and faster. Glad that moral high-ground emphasis on core family values and two parent families is so important in agendas too; not to actually have a parent at home, but just to make enough money to pay for necessities of food, shelter and clothes. WORKING families mind you, in fact economists and demographers have begun using the term “working poor” for the lower income group that used to make up a portion of the “middle-class”.  Note the poverty guideline is approximately $23,000 for a family of four! Two fulltime incomes at minimum wage jobs is only about $32,000. So in a “traditional” family, a mom and a dad would be both be working fulltime at their minimum wage service jobs (since those are what our domestic economy is growing at the fastest rate, though still with a double digit unemployment rate) and little Jack and Jill would be cared for by another minimum wage caregiver or at school until they got home to be alone.
More deregulation, more tax breaks, more freedom to allow these major Corporations, Business Leaders, Politicians to take the lead to improve our domestic economy? I don’t think so  – there’s a great big crock of shit, and you know exactly where it will be emptied, and on whom.  There is a growing oligarchy and they are buying elections and elected public servants, and they are doing it clothed in Red, White and Blue while touting a moralistic family values agenda. But really it’s a reinvention of Aristocracy and Nobelmen.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well folks shame on all of us for continuing to watch and even support this magical sleight of hand, snake-oil selling, silver-tongued, bullshit con-job over and fucking over again. I say no more. Show me just one major US Corporation, CEO, or former Congress member or Senator that has up and left the USA to live and do business under another countries tax code because they were over regulated or taxed too much here. They stay here because we are easy targets, willing Johns to their prostitution, gambling addicts sitting in their casinos knowing the house always wins. And one particular Casino owner is the poster boy – Michael Corleone has nothing on this guy.

Our Congress, Senate and President need to pull their collective heads out of these guys asses, work as a collective National Government, do some seriously hard work to redefine National interest and business interests, reverse some past shity legislation and adjust the tax codes to benefit in a more balanced way the income and net worth of all people, ensure special interests keep their greedy hands out of everyones pockets - stop the "payola", and be held accountable to the American populace -the "us" in USA. A Goverment "of the people and for the people".