Bar the Door! We're Here!

A Marine's Pride

As most of you know by now, my ancestors on my father's side were members of the Iroquois nation. To them we are all illegals. John Kelly's remarks on NPR made me wonder what the story was behind his own family history.

Here's a useful tidbit of information. File it under: "Bar the door! I'm here!" (General) John Kelly's ancestors, who arrived in America before we began classifying immigrants as documented and undocumented, included his Great Grandfather Giuseppe Pedalino and Pedalino's second wife Concetta. (Kelly's great-grandma died in 1898.)

Giuseppe Pedalino was a wagon driver. It is unlikely that he had more than a few years of schooling but we don't know this (yet) His wife was illiterate and could not speak English 10 years after arrival.

John Kelly's maternal grandmother Teresa is shown below as a child in the 1900 census. Her father, a day laborer named John DeMarco had been here for 18 years.

He had not become a citizen.
He could not read, write, or speak English.

The 1930 census shows his great-grandparents living with their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren, one of whom was Kelly's mother.

John DeMarco had been here for 47 years and was STILL not an American citizen ("AL"). His wife Crescenza had been here for 37 years and STILL spoke no English.

pic.twitter.com/N9AfuLNvb1

These facts tell us a number of things:

1. In only 3 generations this immigrant family went from "the great unwashed" to the ancestors of the Chief of Staff to the President of the United States of America. That is nothing short of a true American success story.

2. General John Kelly is either completely ignorant of his own family's history or a hypocrite - I'm guessing the latter. This is less of a disappointment than his behavior in not having the courage to speak out against the treatment of John McCain at the hands of his own Whitehouse Staff but it's right up there.

Spirit Buffalo Before a Frozen Lake

The Value of Native American Indian Investment in America

In the last few months I have been thinking a lot about the values and obligations that we Americans share with one another.

In December I wrote a column that asked the question of whether GDP (also called GNP or Gross National Product) was the best way to measure American success and happiness. (InDepthNH.org - http://bit.ly/2I38p1q );

In February, I wrote a column titled "Restoring the American Voice" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2Kfuvyn) advocating the need for us all to moderate our differences by remembering and respecting those values that we all share. . . Singing the American Song together as we find our way through the sea of changes ahead.

In my March 3, 2018 column "A National American Social Dividend and a New American Paradigm" (InDepthNH.org http://bit.ly/2r1HYRB ) I suggested that we recognize an American Social Dividend. Essentially making the case that beyond the inheritance of private wealth that we have long recognized in America, that there should be a recognition of an inheritance of public wealth. A recognition of those contributions made over the centuries to the nation's wealth by those who are not in the 1%., including both the collective personal investments made (willingly or unwillingly) and the collective investments created by laws and institutions that have provided the legal and economic framework for a successful economy and a robust democracy. Those investments have played a role in the long term success of the American economy and our way of life that is every bit as important as the Plutocrat, who is able to pass along to his or her children the wealth generated during their lifetime. In fact, it could be argued that, without the robust institutions of Democracy, Capitalism - which is more of an "Operating System" than it is an ideology - could not have produced the rewards it has produced for those Plutocrats.

Now don't get me wrong. . . I am a "Capitalist" and there is nothing , in my opinion wrong with being wealthy; frankly, I wish I were. The sooner we stop denigrating people for being wealthy, or poor, the faster we will rediscover our American Voice. But the myth of the "self-made man" is just that, a myth. Behind every self-made man is an education financed by taxpayers, or a patent protected by a law and perhaps financed through a government research grant; a government infrastructure and a physical infrastructure, paid for by taxpayers at every level; or, a government guaranteed loan for a business . . . do I need to go on?

In the Column I cite just some of the ways in which, over more than two centuries, we have padded the GNP at the expense of one group or another concluding, finally that "in some way or another we are all aggrieved, we are all due reparations; we are mutually responsible for our successes and our failures and mutually entitled to an American Social Dividend paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of every American. . ."

Naturally in thinking about all this I began to wonder if there were not a way to show that both the political and economic success of our nation is grounded in the contributions and sacrifices of all Americans, even those who have been marginalized historically.

So I began to construct a series of questions that I wanted to try answering to help me better explain all this and to defend the proposition.

Our Time Comes

Here is the first question I asked myself (hey give me a break I'm Iroquois!) How does the value of the land taken from Native American people in the conquest of the US relate to GNP today?

As far as I know, no one has done extensive academic research on this topic and for good reason. It would be almost impossible - without Big Data and a powerful computer - to figure out, given differing land values and differing time tables, to say nothing of the fact that knowing when a land transaction was actually voluntary (not very often). On the other hand there is enough data out there to do a "back of the envelope" calculation generally, so here goes:

Using very rough estimates and not including the land taken from Native American people prior to 1776 and also not including improvements on the land such as the towns established in Georgia and the Carolinas by tribes like the Cherokee. It is generally understood that since 1776 Native Americans have been moved from lands totaling 1.5 Billion acres to a small set of reservations dotted around the country. If you simply use the general value of an acre of land prior to the Gold Rush ($1.25) the 1.5 Billion acres had a rough value back then of 1.9 Billion dollars. Using another rough calculation, real dollar values, we can estimate that $1.00 in the early 1800s is roughly (very roughly as we have no data related to inflation before 1913) equivalent to about $49.00 today. Since we know that no land in California today sells for $49.00 per acre (Average 2012 California farm real estate values set an all-time record - $7200 per acre) we can be sure that this is a conservative number, the value of the theft of native lands is, at a minimum $87 Billion dollars. If we use the $7,200/acre value, the value - still conservative - is 10.1 Trillion dollars. A glance at an estimate of the total value of US land is $14.48 Trillion dollars. The numbers show a surprising correlation. While about 80% of the lands of America were taken from native people after 1776, the value of that land today represents 70% of the total value of "unimproved" real estate (land only) in the US.

OK but the way we measure the wealth of our nation is not by real estate value, its by GDP. So how do we figure out what portion of the nation's wealth has been generated from lands taken from Native American people?

Well, let's try this: 18% of GDP is generated by real estate activity. 70% of 18% is 12.6%. GDP in 2016 was 18.57 Trillion. 12.6% of 18.57T is 2.32 Trillion dollars or 12.5% of 2016 US GDP generated from the 1.5 Billion acres of land taken from Native Americans since 1776.

While this is a seat of the pants calculation - I suspect the actual numbers would be higher - and certainly subject to legitimate criticism as there are many variables in the cost and value of land across the USA, the point made is the same. A large portion of national wealth has grown from the lands that we expropriated from Native American Indians.

Native people have not sought reparations. The loss of culture and marginalization for them has been far more important and can never be remunerated. It would be a step in the right direction to at least recognize that a substantial portion of our bounty today can be attributed to the land their ancestors called home.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

If you know of better sources for the information on the back of my "envelope" I'd love to find out about them so that I can update this information. If you disagree with my points, I'd like to hear you, especially if you have a well thought out response and not just a snarky or snide remark. Lets have an honest dialog and we'll all benefit from it. wdk

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Alton Washday Expressions

Alton Washday Expressions

Produced by special request in an affordable limited edition of 100 signed and numbered originals for the good folks at the Rumney Village Store - that would be George & Sheila - a beautiful 8" x 20" signed image with a certificate of authenticity. You can purchase this original art for just $95.00 at the Rumney Village Store on Main Street in Rumney, New Hampshire. If it's too far to travel and you'd still like an original signed print, you can order it right here and we'll see to it that the Rumney Village Store gets credited - but you can save the cost of shipping by stopping by RVS and buying it directly and maybe purchasing one of their great deli offerings! or grab a copy of Sacred Trust 😉 . http://bit.ly/AltonEXP

As a way to support local businesses and nonprofits I have created this Adopt-an-Image program. If you or your nonprofit have an interest in adopting your favorite image its easy, just click here: http://bit.ly/AdoptImage 

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

News Release

For Immediate Release

1/23/18

For more information: 603-515-6001

“Sacred Trust” Now Available in Bookstores and on Amazon

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

If the cover of “Sacred Trust”, created by Mike Marland, doesn’t clue you in, it won’t take long to realize that this novel is written as a vicarious homage to New Hampshire’s own ongoing battle over the controversial “Northern Pass” project and other similar projects.

Author, former State Senator and 1994 Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Wayne D. King adroitly weaves a story with a familiar ring . . . the clash of ordinary people confronting money and power in an epic battle to protect the land they love.

“Sacred Trust” is the tale of a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience against a private powerline, pitting nine unlikely environmental patriots, calling themselves “The Trust”, against the “Granite Skyway” transmission line and its powerful, well-connected consortium of investors.

With an obvious deep fondness for both the people and the land, King weaves a fast-paced tale filled with both real and fictional stories from the political world and life in the Granite State.  In a rich tableau that includes sometimes hilarious and sometimes hair-raising stories of Senators driving North in a Southbound Interstate lane after a night of drinking at the Highway Hotel; Doctors sneaking a pregnant Llama into a hospital surgical ward for ACL surgery; A bear and a boy eating from the same blueberry patch atop Mount Cardigan as his father, the Ranger, watches helplessly from the fire tower, and more.

Among the heroes of the story is Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada. While hiking the Mahoosuc Range of the Appalachian Trail with her companion - a wolf named Cochise - Brandt meets Daniel Roy, a New Hampshire “boy” and now a guide and outdoorsman. After a unique first encounter they continue their trip together, eventually finding themselves camping with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a conservative deer farmer, a retired spook, sidelined when he became the first US victim of Lyme disease; and an iconoclast and former Army Ranger named Thomas who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak – aptly named for the “Lone Survivor of the Megalloway” tribe, who in the late 1800’s was reputed to ride a moose himself.

The group quickly discovers that – despite their very broad range of ideological beliefs - they are united in their deep concern about the Consortium’s proposal to bisect the most beautiful parts of the state with massive 150 foot towers and clear cut forests for the sole purpose of transporting electricity from Canada to more affluent markets beyond its borders.  Like Oligarchs of the Gilded Age who minimized their costs by creating a legacy of polluted land and water, these modern Oligarchs stand to reap 100% of the benefits while passing off a large portion of their costs through the generations-long visual pollution of the public commons and all the economic shockwaves that result.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak. Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau and Dr. King proud.

Although “Sacred Trust” is a work of fiction, King says that educators will find the novel a great classroom resource as well. Adding a new dimension and lively discussion to classes on the emergence of the renewable energy era, sustainability, and the American tradition of protest and its place in an “Era of Terrorism”.

“in the coming “Age of Electricity” “ King says, “a principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of electric power. Across America today, the battle lines are being drawn. Utility companies, many in an existential battle for survival, are pitted against advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power sources replace today’s large electricity generation plants.”

“Most Americans” King asserts, “notice that things are changing, but have yet to fully grasp what a sea change in life it will be for every American.”

“Sacred Trust” follows the trail of heroic citizens banding together to stop one especially egregious powerline. The citizens who stand to lose most are dead set against the project . . . but the political winds are against them. It is in this setting The Trust takes on the Consortium.

As the actions of The Trust gain traction and momentum, other citizens join in support including a wave of supporters on social media; “The Gazetteers”, a group of citizen activists writing in the style of the Federalist Papers; and journalists including one business writer who weaves together details of the historic record leading his readers through a virtual primer on the evolution of a post-carbon energy paradigm beginning with the 1972 election of Jimmy Carter and the passage of the National Energy Policy Act into which NH Senator John Durkin inserted an eight word amendment that rocked the world.

"Sacred Trust" is a hilarious and vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the “Granite Skyway” leading the reader through the hijinks of The Trust, and the series of choices we all are currently confronted in the emerging “Age of Electricity”.

For each of the members of The Trust it is a sacred campaign fought against an impending legacy of steel towers and scarred lands - an existential threat to an entire way of life. The Trust is all that stands between the people and their worst fears . . . and they are willing to pay any price to prevail. 

                                                             

“Sacred Trust”

Paperback: 354 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-10: 1981490302

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Price: $14.95*

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

Price: $2.99*

https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/

* Special discounts are available to schools, libraries, and nonprofits. Please contact 603-515-6001

Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters

Asquamchumaukee 

Place of Mountain Waters

A photographic ramble through the Baker River Valley of New Hampshire

King Releases Photographic Book of Baker River Valley

Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters

Rumney, NH . . .New Hampshire photographer and artist, and former Senator Wayne D. King has released an art book of images captured along the Baker River Valley entitled: Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters. The title, taken from the Pemigewasset Indian name for the Baker River and the valley through which it flows, harkens back to the artist’s own Native American heritage.

King created the book at the urging of friends who had seen a collection of his images from the region and indicated that they would have an interest in a book that included the images. “ I wanted to make the book one that would both share the images of the area and serve a larger purpose as well.  We came up with the idea of creating a large format book, printed on high quality paper in a signed limited edition that could be sold to raise funds for local "Got Lunch!" programs in the Baker River Valley.”

"Got Lunch!" provides nutritious lunches for children who qualify for the free school lunch program; providing them with nutritious meals during the summer when the program does not cover them. 

Only 250 copies of the hard-cover limited edition, fine art book is printed and numbered and signed by the artist. 

The book is also available in an open edition (unsigned) in four different sizes and styles: a large format open edition, a standard size (8”x10”) in both hard-cover and soft-cover, and an eBook. “The hope was that we could create a way for anyone to participate in helping the “Got Lunch!” program by creating a wide range of options for purchasing the book.” said King.

In addition to the books, King has also made cards, posters and prints of many of the individual images from the book available to benefit “Got Lunch!”. There are also a number of mugs, tote bags and clocks made using the images from “Asquamchumaukee”.

“The book or product created from an image in the book would make a great Christmas or Holiday gift” said King. “For those who purchase the book as a gift for someone else, we will also provide a free gift card of the cover image telling them that the proceeds from the book will be providing nutritious meals for deserving children.”

King’s images are a celebration of life, blending the real and the surreal to achieve a sense of place or time that reaches beyond the moment into what he calls a “dreamlike quintessentialism” designed to spark an emotional response. Using digital enhancement, handcrafting, painting, and sometimes even straight photography, King hopes to take the viewer to a place that is beyond simple truth to where truth meets passion, hope and dreams.

As with most of King’s images, only one original signed print is available but open edition fine art prints, posters and greeting cards are also offered as an affordable alternative for people who love art for the pure joy of it and don’t require a signed original.

Book Description

In the heart of New Hampshire, the geographic center of the state, is a beautiful meandering river that is the focal point of a very special community of people and a landscape that grows into the heart like a spreading wildfire. The Baker River, called Asquamchumaukee by the original natives of the region, is an archetype of a river,  beginning with the fast flowing waters of the Moosilaukee region and ending in broad lugubrious oxbows where it meets the Pemigewasset River.  Anyone who has canoed the Baker or climbed Rattlesnake Mountain or hiked Mount Cube; anyone who has bicycled or driven along the Buffalo Road, can't help but fall in love with this area. 

If the landscape isn't enough the people will seal the deal: pragmatic, serious-minded in their politics, and deeply devoted to their families; people who work hard, play hard and who immerse themselves joyfully in the life of their community and the other communities of the valley. 

In that spirit, a portion of the proceeds from sales of this book will benefit the local "Got Lunch!" programs in the Valley. 

“Got Lunch!” provides nutritious lunches for children who qualify for the Federal free lunch program but who are not provided with meals during the summer vacation. “Got Lunch!” assures that the children of the Baker River Valley will return to school, ready and able to learn and unhampered by the challenges of poor nutrition. 

This book and the images from it are available in a number of different formats including a large landscape hardcover, signed and numbered, limited edition art book; an open edition in hardcover, softcover and eBook formats as well as other related products including calendars, clocks, mugs, cards, posters and prints.

http://bit.ly/BakerRiverValley

Signed, Numbered Limited Edition - Large Format

Hardcover 13” x 11” 

42 Pages printed on Proline Pearl Photo Paper

Hardcover with Dust Jacket: $165.00

Hardcover with Image Wrap Cover: $175.00

Shipping & Handling: $10.00

http://bit.ly/OrderAsquam

Open Edition (unsigned) - Large Format

Available through Amazon.com

Large Landscape Hardcover 13” x 11” 

42 Pages printed on standard paper

Hardcover with Dust Jacket: $98.76

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo3

Hardcover with Image Wrap Cover: $110.29

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo4

Open Edition (unsigned) - Standard Format

Available through Amazon.com

Standard Landscape Hardcover 8” x 10” 

42 Pages printed on standard paper

Hardcover with Dust Jacket: $59.35

ISBN-10: 1320165141

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo5

Softcover: $39.58

Plus shipping & handling

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo6

eBook from Blurb

42 Pages

$4.99

http://bit.ly/AsquamNo7

Catalog of Special Related Products

Proceeds also benefit “Got Lunch!”

Open Edition Fine Art Prints
Many of the images from Asquamchumaukee - Place of Mountain Waters are available as open edition fine art prints in various sizes, framed or unframed, even printed on canvas and metal. A catalog of available images, including some that were not includedin the final book can be viewed at this web address:

http://bit.ly/FAA_Print_Cat_Asquam

Asquamchumaukee Calendar 2015

13 Images from the book in a beautiful Calendar

Suitable for Framing 

http://bit.ly/RB_ASQUAM_Calendar

Asquamchumaukee Limited Edition Poster

Cards, Posters, Clocks, mugs and other related products. Click here:

http://bit.ly/BakerRiverValley

Other Links
Facebook Page

Portrait of Molly Clock

How Wolves Change Rivers

How Wolves Change Rivers : If you have ever wondered why it matters that we restore a healthy wolf population to Yellowstone (and other places) take the time to watch this beautifully done video.

Eyes of Pride

The Eyes of Pride
One original
24x32 Fine art Giclee, Archival inks
Unframed
$785

Open Edition
Print size 8x12
Matted on acid free 16x20 frame-ready matt
Luster photographic paper
$125.00

Choose Size and Edition

Eyes of Pride Original $795.00 USD Eyes of Pride Open Edition $125.00 USD

This image is also available as an Open Edition reproduction. Open Edition