Preserving The American Political Philosophy

ba·nal bəˈnäl,bəˈnal/ adjective so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring. "songs with banal, repeated words" On November 30, 2012 , Jeff Koons, star of the blue chip art galaxy, was awarded the first United States Medal of Art by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The main reason given for selecting Koons is that he is very famous and shows in  top of the market art galleries. In the honorary speech, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton recognized Koons for the time in that year when he spoke before an audience of 1000 listeners in China. According to Secretary of State Clinton Mr Koons "inspired cross-cultural appreciation and thought-provoking discussions among the city's art community". Inspire he did- but not exactly in the way Koons and Clinton fantasized "One of the great characteristics of our country are our  public-private partnerships . They are really at the core of how we do everything. De Tocqueville noticed th

Click to read story on Lincoln County News TWEET THIS http://goo.gl/ra1NDv Anna Morkeski sounds good but in terms of right to work, it has to be factored in that while no union dues are charged to its beneficiaries, the Maine gov is currently writing statutes that mandate employee pay and benefits for its targeted sector (companies providing above average income) as a bargaining chip in exchange for giving owners of the means of production up to 100% tax exemption on corporate and personal income tax and a tax credit of up to 80 % payroll taxes - the largest payroll taxes in the state which the Maine Gov passes the lion's share on to the general tax payer via the Pine Tree Zone tax incentives program. This means that while beneficiaries of the state's negotiations do not pay union dues in effect the general Maine tax payer covers the union dues regardless of whether or not the taxpayer is the beneficiary, while the corporation of Maine ends up with an high end em

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT  http://goo.gl/aFQQ4q This is an interesting new development coming out of New Hampshire. When I first saw these words "Governor Hassan Ceremonially Signs NH Benefit Corporation Act at Badger Balm"- I thought Uh Oh New Hampshire is now going the way of Maine- but upon further reading I found this was not the case. This is a bill about Benefit Company certification . I think I mostly like it. Over the years of operating as a private enterprise, which has donated to umpteen hundred non-profit causes, I was often offended by non-profits as well - especially when I found them operating in the free market while conducting practices that go against the conventional standards of the free market - and when asked why would  answer such as "because we serve the public good" always with the undertone of "if you are not non-profit then you do not serve the public good" and I know this is not the case. There are plenty of private en

TWEET THIS USING THIS SHORT LINK http://goo.gl/u2fKk0 New Hampshire features a state by state comparison on its website. This is the comparison to Maine . Interesting to note that despite New Hampshire NOT taxing personal income, NOT having a sales tax, and NOT having an estate tax, it's top corporate income tax is still lower than Maine's . Top Corporate Income Tax New Hampshire 8.5% Maine 8.93% An explanation for this may be Maine's two-tier income tax whereby Maine offers corporations providing jobs of an income level above the median household income, tax exemptions and cash payouts - but taxes businesses offering jobs that pay the medium household income or below under general laws. I would argue that such a practice is unconstitutional by Article IV Part Third Section 14 of the Maine Constitution which stipulates that "All corporations, however formed, are subject to general laws" I suspect that all of the state by state comparisons tha

Totally New- A narrative that has never been told before: A Maine Citizen's Journey Through The Statutes Of Transformation- from State of Maine to Maine State Inc. Filled with links and bookmarks for easy navigation and a special section on the 126th legislature http://wp.me/s4928O-timeline

TWEET THIS:  http://goo.gl/9y2MiH  Recently a message appeared  on my screen , being identified as from Facebook. It brought up the Facebook login screen and warned against sending friend requests to people that one does not know in one's circle of friends , family, work, and classmates I first received the message several months ago. The first message included a list of twenty names of people who did not respond to my friend request over all the years that I have been on Facebook. It asked that I delete all the requests and suggested that I stop sending friend requests for a week. The next was a list of 7 names - some of them very recent requests, which I did not think were given adequate response time. The third message to appear  told  that I am blocked for a week from adding friends and displayed a list of five names- all very recent requests- all in response to those with whom I interacted on Facebook- and one within the last hour of receiving the message This is

Tweet This http://goo.gl/mhpgyp While I was researching the University of M, I came across a thesis written by Shelby K Lane: State-Level Government: An Evaluation of Maine's Conflict of Interest Laws and Amendments to Improve Transparency Through Financial Disclosure The paper is dated 5/1/2013 . It became the basis for a bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Lepage on 7/3/2013 Co-incidentally during 7/2013   I was researching the statute for the Department of Economic and Community Development , which led to further questions about the Maine Technology Institute. During the process, I contacted the State Ombudsman, Brenda Kielty, at the Attorney General's Office where there is a published introduction promoting government transparency . I suggested that if the government really wants to be transparent and keep things honest they should have the database online and allow the public to search the database themselves and create their own repo

The viability and constitutionality of Maine's centrally managed economy, which I have called Maine State Inc- is perpetually kept out of the political dialogue by politicians and the Maine media alike, but these programs serve the interests of the few at the expense of the many. All of the candidates in the gubernatorial race are co-conspirators in "targeted sector economics". The last accountability on Maine's "economic development" programs was in 2006 which concluded that there was no evidence that these programs create jobs and that they do invite corruption. See Pine Tree Watch Dog article http://pinetreewatchdog.org/tax-break-deals-studied-and-studied-but-questions-remain-unresolved . If Independent candidates emerge taking on the issue of Maine State Inc, all of their opposition will be part of the singular force of the political oligarchy, which has intentionally excluded discussion and awareness of these programs from public dia

• KEY FINDINGS PULLING THE STRINGS : Maine's digital education agenda is being guided behind the scenes by out-of-state companies that stand to profit on the changes.- quote from Colin Woodrtds Award Winning Report meriting a full page ad in the Portland Press Herald I have been doing my own investigative reporting on the "investigative report" on digital education in Maine, for which my nephew Colin Woodard- who writes for the Portland Press Herald received an George Polk Award for investigative reporting: This is my latest post on AS Maine Goes- where I am recording my investigation in segments . As Maine Goes is the best alternate media that Maine has- it is an internet discussion forum: In Colin's report , the claim is made that The American Legislative Exchange Council - the conservative organization-submitted bills to the legislature “motivated by their bottom line”. The only reference I have found thus far as to the what the legislative bi