VERMONT

Vermont has a large number of homes and commercial structures that were built in the early 1800s-to-early-1900s and, over the years, Vermont's frugal citizens have maintained, repaired, restored and reallocated these buildings.

In 1791, Vermont became the Union's 14th state. Oklahoma, my home state, was admitted to the Union as the 46th state in 1907. With over a century head-start, Vermont's moneyed families employed skilled, immigrant workers to erect magnificent edifices, while Oklahomans were still living in tents, sod-houses or ram-shackled, wood-frame dwellings.

Vermont's early buildings were built to last. They were set upon deep foundations of granite, which enabled their roof lines to remain straight and their brick and stone walls to be without cracks.

In the ultimate form of recycling, many of Vermont's elegant, 19th-century mansions now house health clinics, senior citizen centers, libraries, state agencies and offices for attorneys and insurance agents.

Other brightly-bedazzled, Victorian homes are no longer occupied by single families, but have opened their doors for many guests to sleep beneath their roofs. In Burlington, the windows of these homes frame many families in their daily routines and countless students at their studies.

In addition, Vermont's abandoned factory buildings, often previous fabric mills, have transformed into apartment buildings, restaurants and shops.

Built in the early 1800s, many of Vermont's massive, stone churches continue to hold Sunday services. Likewise, many banks of similar vintage, with their original vaults, continue to transact business.

Unlike Vermont's architectural heritage, Oklahoma's aged buildings are too often demolished, with the remains deposited in a land fill, while new structures, of dubious quality and scant beauty, take their place, to repeat the cycle anew in 30-to-40 years.

Oklahomans, too often follow society's illusions and build their dream McMansions, which keep the builders and bankers in money, but leave the new homeowner with a large mortgage and a lifetime of work.

On the flip side, Vermont, as does Oklahoma, has it's trailer-house blight, with no aesthetics and a short life expectancy but, gratefully, trailer homes do not have a significant presence in most of Vermont's towns and villages.

Because Vermont's residents often live in smaller, more centralized communities they frequently walk or ride bicycles to shop, visit friends or go to school, work or church. Vermont also sports numerous fit mothers pushing baby carriages, with their elder children in tow.

Frequently, Vermont's children can be found playing outside. Its high school students can be seen walking home after school. These same students are frequently without cell phones or DVD players plugged into their ears, and they actually laugh with and talk to each other.

In contrast, after the last school bell rings, Oklahoma's mothers are usually lined up, with engines running, in their over-sized vehicles, waiting to pick up their darlings, the latter of which, upon arriving, promptly put on a head set or start pushing buttons on their electronic gizmos.

Overall, Vermonters are much slimmer than Oklahomans. Our state ranks dead last on the health polls and at the top of the obesity charts.

Besides recycling, repairing, maintaining and reusing their buildings, Vermonter's environmental consciousness was also evident by their volume of pedestrian traffic, clothes billowing dry on clotheslines and well-placed, recycling containers.

I love Oklahoma and its people, but it is time for Oklahomans to wake up and get with the program, and Vermonters have much to teach us.

UPPER-STATE NEW YORK

Driving the lower tier, one sees rolling, tree-laden hills, lush, green fields with their accompanying barns, farm houses, hay bales, cattle and horses. The roadway is dotted with exits to quaint villages, full of unrecorded history, such as Cuba and Bath.

Cuba is known for its cheese production, and the Cuba Cheese Shoppe has free samples of that product, along with samples of other locally produced foods. With such tasty treats, you can't leave empty handed, so carry in your tote bags.

Bath's streets are lined with vintage churches, homes and business dwellings. Victorian homes abound with frilly flowers and lattice work of every description and color. My favorite home, on East Steuben Street, has a white-picket fence, yellow and orange trim and a yard that overflows with an array of flowers, including zinnias, marigolds, sunflowers and such.

Chat-a-Whyle eatery has resided on Bath's Liberty Street for 52 years and continues to provide its customers with a sense of family and good, home cooking.

Everywhere one looks in Bath, the young and the old can be found walking, on sidewalks shaded by towering, graceful trees. In this lovely village, walking is a way of life.

We, from the Midwest, only hear about New York City and often believe it is the sum and total of the state. Thankfully, that notion is far from the truth.

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY

Tracy Letts,
Brilliant,
Comedic,
Sad,
Oklahomans,
We're fair game,
With our burping and slurping.

Beverly, Violet and their kin,
Deep varicose veins of psychopathology,
But, not restricted to them,
Same story, different slang,
From New York to L.A.,
My God,
Haven't they had a belly full yet?



Addendum: On the last leg of my journey, this piece fell from the sky, also known as cosmic downloading. I believe we create our reality by our thoughts, which result in our actions and emotions of like kind. A work of "art" which glorifies the appalling dysfunction of our society, contributes little to the collective healing of the human community.

PALIN AND BACHMANN

Poorly informed,
Irrational,
Flapping mouths,
Embarrassment to their gender,
On a bright note,
They'll fragment the 2012 Republican ticket,
However,
Recalcitrant congressional members of that tribe,
Have already thoroughly pissed in their Wheaties,
In this case,
Not the breakfast of champions



Addendum: This piece was originally written about Sarah Palin, but the Tea Partiers have expanded their stable of equally odious candidates.

ENTITLEMENTS

Hey you,
The entitlement generation,
Get off your butts and go to work.
You've been powdered and diapered too long.
Baby-sat by computers, TVs and video games,
Not your fault your parents were asleep.
Time for you to hitch up and go.
I'm retiring.
I paid my social security.
The government spent it.
I'm entitled to get some back.
It's you turn.

A BEAUTIFUL EVENING

My youngest son,
Handsome,
Gay,
Has fun playing drag queen,
Went to gay bar,
First time to see him perform,
Along with other lovelies,
Participated in the fun,
Tipped the dancers,
Introduced as Nicole's mother,
By my son's drag-queen mother,
Preparing to leave,
My son was obviously pleased by my presence.
Many others, with unfamiliar faces, hugged me.
The club owner, with tears in his eyes, thanked me for coming.
Then, I knew I had mothered and approved of them all.

AMERICA

Nation of the rotund,
Home of the "Big Mac,"
The "Whopper" and
The "Happy Meal,"
Get them while they're young.
Obesity, an epidemic,
Swine flu got more press.
The silver-haired, cherub-cheeked mama,
The calorie queen,
Has another lush confection on her magazine cover.
At least, she's not skinny,
As she sells dietary death, with
High blood pressure,
Diabetes,
Hip and knee replacements,
Heart attacks and
Strokes.
All await you,
In America,
Land of the free.
That is, unless you're starving.

A HUMAN RIGHT

Health Care,
A Civil Right?
Absolutely!
Even more,
A human right,
What does it look like?
Less procedures,
Tests and
Gadgets,
With spurious results,
More physicians
Nurses and
Human caregivers,
Healing comes with being
Seen,
Heard and
Touched.
Eyes of compassion
Heal the body and the soul.

PHYSICIANS

Many begin with altruistic motives,
Others with dollar signs,
After long years of training,
Bloodied and beaten,
They arrive on the shores of doctordom,
Feeling entitled to a piece of the American
dream of more, more, more,
They build their practices.
But, as the years go by,
Their dream fades,
Their possessions own them.
Some realize,
"Less is more," and
"Enough is Enough."
Yes, they have helped people and
Loved and cried with many.
As retirement approaches,
Many ask themselves,
"What do I really want to be."

UNITED STATES

"United" States,
An oxymoron,
Richest nation on earth,
Higher death rate than Canada, France, Denmark ...
Fancier medicines,
With bigger price tags,
Machines with pretty pictures that
Sing,
Dance,
Tell jokes,
Their construction resembles penile fixation,
The biggest and the best,
Where is the Health Care?
Where is the human touch?
In the unemployment lines

GREED

Insurance Companies,
Organized crime,
Rape,
Pillage and
Fill politicians' pockets.
They don't cover most
Medicines,
Care or
Procedures.
Cheaper to let people die,
Top execs need
End-of-year bonuses,
Merry Christmas

HEADED TOWARD NASHVILLE

Gaylords have bastardized the Opry,
Just like my home state.
Plastered their name all over the place,
Like they owned us,
They do own a lot of Oklahoma stock,
Including the newspaper.
Stinks before the fish hit it,
Republican rag,
Feeds you lies,
While they steal you blind,
Something's real wrong,
With a family needing that much money.

AMERICAN PRIDE

Mobile Home,
Big Sucker,
Cranked up to 80,
Bet it gets 3 miles a gallon,
Cost at least half a mill,
Could have educated lots of kids

THE SUIT

Stuffed in suit,
Driving fast,
Looking tense,
In his sixties,
Sporty, red BMW,
Bought the illusion

CIVILIZATION

Cross-country drive,
Giant billboards screaming
XXX Adult Store,
Ethanol tainted petrol,
Hearts over signs selling sandwiches,
Roadside crosses named Billy, Bob and Charlotte.
Scenic route,
One-hundred miles of hell,
Traffic lights galore,
Road lined by chain food, gas, you name it.
"America the Beautiful"

GRAFT OR LOBBYING, IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE?

General Electric, the nation's largest corporation, has a "giant tax department" and employs former IRS and Treasury Department officials and former members of Congressional tax-writing committees. Of course, these "employees" have knowledge on many levels and very powerful political connections. Then you add to this mix, millions of dollars for "lobbying," and what do you have? Tax loopholes to G.E.'s advantage.(1)

Since 2002, G.E. has eliminated a fifth of its U.S. workforce and moved the jobs overseas. During that time, G.E.'s offshore profits have risen from $15 billion to $92 billion, with no tax paid on funds kept "offshore."(2)

In 2010, G.E. made $14.2 billion in world-wide profits, but its tax bill was zero. In fact, G.E. claimed $3.2 billion in tax credits, which leaves the average American worker to shoulder the nation's tax burden.(3)

With Wall Street's shenanigans and high U.S. unemployment over the last two years, Americans have lost jobs, homes, savings and sometimes their lives.

When a U.S. citizen purchases items in Target, Walmart, Hobby Lobby or any large U.S. corporate chain, over 90% of the goods are manufactured abroad, usually in Asia or the Middle East, occasionally in South America or Africa.

These manufactured goods are then shipped to the U.S., at an enormous environmental cost, and priced to undercut goods manufactured in the U.S. A hefty carbon tax on products manufactured abroad would help the environment, level the economic playing field and increase U.S.employment.

Eliminating tax loopholes for corporations, would enormously increase Federal tax revenues and fund education and other social services.

G.E. employs "former" political insiders of the IRS, Treasury Department and Congressional tax-writing committees and stacks the deck in its and other corporations favor. Then, you add millions in "lobbying." It sounds like graft to me.


Notes 1-3: New York Times, 3/25/11, A-1,A17.

PLUTOCRACY

In the United States, we do not have a democracy. We have a plutocracy. Like marionettes, we are controlled by a few very wealthy families and the government officals they influence and/or purchase.

Individuals addicted to money and power have been labeled "triple-A self-aggrandizers" by archaeologist Brian Hayden. Hayden describes triple-As as arrogant, aggressive, acquisitive, alarming and ambitious about getting their way.1

A professor at British Columbia's Simon Fraser University, Hayden realized the rich and the powerful, the triple-As, bent laws, exploited neighbors and seized every little advantage.2

Hayden concluded that "triple-A self-agrandizers have created the world as we know it. But in their other lives as pirates, these same people have caused 90% of the world's problems." In their greed, they "ruin the lives of others, erode society and culture and degrade the environment."3

America's history is rife with triple-As. Economics professor, Robert Heilbroner, stated that America's 19th century robber barons used "deception, violence, kidnapping and extraordinary dishonesty to gain economic power and industrial supremacy. Robber barons bore such names as Astor, Carnegie, Ford, Morgan, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt.

Former President George W. Bush is fourth generation wealth created from the sale of munitions and oil dating back to World War I. As CIA director, vice president and president, one of George H.W. Bush's priorities was U.S. weapons trade and secret arms deals with Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the moujahedeen of Afghanistan. The Bushes' oil interests are heavily invested in the Middle East.

In 1991, as George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney orchestrated the bombing of Iraq in Operation Desert Storm. Many believe this action was aimed at securing U.S. oil interests in the Persian Gulf.

In 1995, Chaney became CEO of the Halliburton Company. After leaving that position, Cheney continued to own shares in the conglomerate and its financial interests in the Balkans, Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department made allegations that Halliburton unlawfully received special treatment for work contracts, often no-bid contracts, in Iraq, Kuwait and the Balkans. An example of such favoritism includes Halliburton's $18 billion worth of contracts in Iraq, $7 billion of which went into the building of oil-infrastructures. I doubt that the run-of-the-mill American taxpayer received much benefit from the latter $7 billion.

In 2000, Cheney also sat on the board of Lockheed Martin, the world's largest military contractor and the world's largest arms exporter. No doubt, Cheney had less than altruistic motives for being on the Lockheed board.

No matter the cost in human lives and the viability of the environment and the planet, oil and war are big bucks for the world's triple-A self-aggrandizers.

We have seen the Democratic Clinton administration's federal surplus dissolve into the Republican George W. Bush administration's multi-trillion dollar deficits. To achieve this deficit, Bush gave himself and his cronies tax cuts, engaged the United States in two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, and deregulated banks, Wall Street and other businesses, which resulted in "The Recession" of 2008.

Now, with ultimate gall, these same Republicans, who supported George W. and Cheney, are bouncing up and down about our nation's debt, which they created, and are demanding huge cuts in the federal budget, especially targeting health care, education, Social Security, Medicare and the needs of lower income mothers and children.

On the state level, these Republicans are on a rampage to destroy the collective bargaining power of state unions and to squeeze the middle class into non-existence.

Where do these people get off? Do they have a conscience? Apparently, they do not. Such are the triple-As and the plutocratic governments they spawn.

1. Smithsonian, Blame the Rich, 12/07, 102-109.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.

CONNECT THE DOTS

An infinite number of children's coloring books contain pages in which the child is challenged to connect the numbered dots, with a picture emerging. Unfortunately, the dots of America's coloring book aren't numbered.

Dot: On January 21st of 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled, by a 5-4 majority, that corporations, unions and ideological groups could spend as much money as they liked on political advertisements.

Dot: With enormous amounts of money, pomp, pageantry and tea parties, the November 2010 elections ushered in a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives and many new Republican governors.

Dot: In the waning days of 2010, Republicans, subsidized by the wealthiest of Americans, threatened to bring the U.S. Government to a halt, if the latter group did not receive a 2-year extension of their Bush tax cuts, which decreased the annual U.S. tax revenues by $130 billion.

Dot: Currently, the top 1% of all income receipients in the United States receive 23 1/2% of all income generated in the U.S., which is more than the total income of the bottom 50% of American wage earners. Also, the wealthiest 0.1% of U.S. citizens recieve 12 cents of every dollar of income generated in the U.S. In regard to this wealthiest 0.1-1%, I purposefully did not use the word "earn," which in my mind implies labor.

Dot: Today, the Republican-dominated Legislatures and the Republican governors of Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio are attempting to pass bills to eliminate the collective bargaining power of their state's unions.

Dot: Regarding the above legislation,, Steve Kriesberg, of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, a major public-sector union, said "This is about trying to abolish the unions, pure and simple."1

Dot: Thousands of pro-union protestors are marching on the respective capitols, of the above states. Labor experts say the bills are the largest assault on collective bargaining in "recent memory" and strike "at the very heart of an American labor movement that is already deeply atrophied."2 B. Patrick Bauer, the minority speaker of the Indiana House of Representative, said, "The union legislation ... has been one of many 'wrongful bills' that would 'rip the heart out of the middle class.'"3

I am beginning to see a picture. How about you?


1. The Economist, The Wisconsin Way, 2/19/11.
2. The New York Times, After Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana Face Union Fight, 2/23/11, A1,A2.
3. The New York Times, More Standoffs and Protests, Plus a Prank Call, 2/24/11, A20.

SHEEP

The United States Government is not about democracy. It is about the financial "elite" increasing their wealth and controlling what goes on in our country and the world at large.

In the waning days of 2010, the Republican Party threatened to grind the U.S.Government to a halt unless the wealthiest of our nation received a two year extension of the Bush tax cuts, which decreased federal tax revenues by $130 billion a year. And, estate taxes were held to 0% for the first $5 million inherited and to 35% thereafter. Do you know how many Americans will benefit by that move? I am sure it won't be those of us who work for a living.

Now, the Republicans are performing high drama around decreasing the federal budget and the federal deficit by cutting spending on education, health, Social Security, Medicare and hungry children. These budget cuts will constitute a huge loss for working people but will have a negligible impact on the wealthy.

Meanwhile, the sacred cow of the defense budget goes unscathed. The U.S. spends 6 times more for "defense" than China and almost more than the rest of the world, combined. Cut this budget by half and there would be plenty of money to fund desperately needed social programs at home. But of course, the military-industrial complex would lose revenue, which means financial loss to the wealthiest 1-2%.

To add insult to injury, where the Pentagon spends its budget, about $700 billion a year, cannot
be audited or explained. So, we taxpayers don't know where or for what the government spends these unaccounted for billions. That kind of accounting system for me or you wouldn't fly when the IRS comes to call.

Then, we look at foreign aid. How many billions does the U.S. annually spend on despots in power, all in the name of "stability?" Please note, stability is not defined as democracy, equality or freedom for the country's citizens.

"Stability" in Egypt and Bahrain translated into protecting U.S. oil interests, maintaining control of the Suez Canal and paying rent for the "home" of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Visible to the public eye, Egypt receives $1.5 billion in foreign aid a year, with Bahrain receiving $1.3 billion.

Wake up Americans. Turn off your televisions, video games, cell phones and any other electronic gadget you're plugged into. Get your brains out of hock. In the names of "national security" and "defense," a large % of our tax dollars disappear abroad and into the pockets of the wealthy. We're being fleeced.

IMMIGRATION

I am appalled and embarrassed by Oklahoma's current immigration laws. I am reminded that we are all immigrants or their descendants. Some of us just came more "legally," whatever that means, and more recently than others.

Some individuals proudly hold themselves forth as descendants of the Mayflower's Pilgrims, illegal immigrants. They didn't apply to the Native American citizenry for admittance to this country. As the descendants of these Pilgrims and the immigrants who followed spread from the East to West coasts of this country, they didn't ask permission of its inhabitants to steal their land or destroy their food supplies.

We fought a war to steal Texas, New Mexico and California from Mexico and the Mexican people. Our Southern borders once belonged to the very people who we now deny admittance.

To say the least, Henry David Thoreau would have been quite vocal about Oklahoma's immigration policies. In opposition to the Mexican War (c. 1846-1848), Thoreau refused to pay his taxes and spent a night in jail. In his treatise,Civil Disobedience, he wrote, "Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them ...?" If the law "is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law." He went on to write, "Ours is the invading army ... If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood."

Likewise, I applaud the Catholic Charities' stance that Oklahoma's House Bill 1804 is "immoral."

I have Mexican family members. In my experience, the Mexican people are honest and hard-working. They are often devout Christians, and their families and children are cherished.

Likewise, I have many friends who are immigrants from countries such as Jordon, Morocco, Vietnam, Cambodia and Afghanistan. They bless my life with their heritages and customs.

Americans are a rich blend of immigrants. Our strength is founded in our diversity. Let us not forget from whence we came. Let us dare to live our lives with open arms to all of our brothers and sisters.