Andersen Studio Evolution Diaries: Re-Constructing Andersen Design Ceramics For The Age of The Internet

Andersen Design's re-capitalization plan reaches back to the past of the American free enterprise system's boot strapping philosophy and marries it with Google's internet marketing strategies used by large online retailers !
http://bit.ly/1DGR1W1

When my father died, I became 50% owner of Andersen Design with my sister. A 50-50 ownership is far from ideal.  On the surface, my sister and I do not always see eye to eye, but I  think that we do so on a deeper level. Human communication takes mostly takes place in conscious awareness while deeper levels are subliminal. If I had to chose between agreement on one of those levels, I would choose the subliminal because it transcends the here and now, which is a for ever evolving process emergent from the subliminal. Most people have families and know that the family dynamics are unique to each family and not easily communicated to those who have not been existing within that dynamic for their whole lives- or a good part of it and it is not my intention to try to do so. Our business seeks to find other partners. I am finding the most immediately accessible connections are those that are part of the existing free enterprise system- the independent ceramic slip casting productions with which we are in  a process of  establishing relationships and Google Products and adwords, which I am just now starting to understand, which I did not when I first targeted Google Products as a solution.

I feel like the plan that will transform this business is emerging as if reading a book. I know the whole plan is outlined in the book but I as I am reading it, only a part of it is revealed to me- but I know the entire plan is there and will continue to unfold.

A while back someone came into our retail store and told us about crowdfunding and said that we should do it. I tried this and found that I had no network of support. We had plenty of likes and shares on Facebook but hardly any responses to the "call to action", This is the nature of Facebook, where more people respond to images and headlines than actually click on links to read what the images and headlines are there to communicate. So I said to myself, we need to be in an environment where people are in the shopping mode and that's how I hit upon Google Products.

But even then I did not understand that Google Products is designed as a system interacting with Google adwords and that Google adwords is an online auction for ad spaces which are constantly emerging when ever a user instigates a search and Google delivers the results, Some searches take place in Google Shopping clearly identifying that the user is in shopping mode- other ads may be distributed on related websites that feature ads. The merchandiser must target his own audience through selected keywords.

Google has developed an advertising campaign system. Large companies selling many products on the internet are using the Google adwords campaign all of the time for all of their products, or at least all in stock products, although there is a pre-order option which requires a specific date when the item is anticipated to be in stock. All products sold through Google Products must be in stock.

Since Google Products is an online auction, one must plan ones bid strategically. The bid (percentage going to Google) times the quantity in stock = the dollar value of one's bid for the ad space but Google's explanation of the auction emphasises that quality is also a factor and that one may win the auction with a lower bid if the quality is right.

Google does not explain what constitutes quality but I think we have that factor for the search term "ceramic birds' because we have been on the top of that search page since we launched our website and if you search "ceramic birds" on images, we are found throughout the page of displays. However if you search "ceramic birds" on shopping, we are currently not to be found and that is because we have not yet launched our adwords campaign.

We are working on launching an adwords campaign for our Chickadee. I have no idea until I try by trial and error what the magic numbers are for "unit price x quantity"  needed to win a top spot on Google adword auctions - but I know that Andersen Design has been doing catalogue sales through out our history and I extrapolate that if the in stock numbers for Google products could be maintained in the range of the quantities needed to satisfy catalogue orders, that probably is a winning number. If a catalogue can sell that quantity of stock- so can we through Google Products. We have an established record as top sellers in high profile catalogues and other retail venues. The established marketability and classic appeal of our product is our strength.

Google adwords directly links to this app on our new Ready To Ship website 

At this point our production capacity has been reduced to a fraction of what it was once was and so I will be launching the Chickadee with relatively small stock quantities. I will be running an ad campaign in which we pay whenever there is a call to action response- in other words whenever a sale is made. If results are slow at first, I will keep the price per unit constant until we meet our target for a minimum number of items in stock. At that point one can play around with changing both sets of numbers in the bid equation. We will also be paying attention to which key words are generating the highest response, which I believe is information that will be available via Google analytics. This is a very interesting process requiring talent and skill.

Our entire business is composed of interacting interesting processes. We need to establish a larger team- perhaps at first a board and then perhaps stockholders as well as independent outside contractors and of course employees.

This business can generate business for outside American slip-casting productions-I have located about three in the United States and they are interested. I feel our business has a unique capacity to revitalize American ceramic slip-casting, an industry which was one of the first to be re-located in global low cost labor markets. I believe that in terms of the way the world is turning - pointing the the way China is currently building sand castles in the sea to change the definition of international waters - that this is an opportune moment to revitalize American ceramic slip casting.

Andersen Design can work with an outside shipping and customer service providers- and all sorts of other functions, generating middle class jobs which can train unskilled workers and provide a stepping stone to high income jobs based on performance - for anyone.

Ultimately we would like to develop training centers to pass on the special glazes and decorating techniques needed to produce our line of American ceramic nature art. We can easily work with  outside American ceramic slip casting productions to produce our functional designs. Functional designs are attractive in may different glazes. However of line of American Ceramic Nature Art is inseparable from our own original art glazes. To pass this on we need to work with slip casting productions in close proximity to us  that will have their own management team with Andersen Design functioning as professional consultants. Once we have passed on our understanding to a manager, that manager may also become a professional consultant for Andersen Design art glazes and other processes.

We welcome inquiries from anyone with an interest in becoming part of this project.

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Rhode Island Legislature Follows Maine's Lead in Support of Trans Pacific Trade Agreement

In 2013 The Maine Legislature passed a Resolution Affirming Maine's Friendship with The Republic Of China. In 2015 The Rhode Island Legislature followed suit . Thanks to Rhode island Governor Gina M. Raimondo for NOT signing the resolution !
http://bit.ly/1gcSJcK

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: The Maine Legislature and the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement

The Trans Pacific Trade Deal is in the news with much concern over provisions allowing companies to use secretive international tribunals to sue sovereign local governments when they pass pass public-interest policies . The same issue was raised in 2012 in a letter from the states signed by the Maine Legislature and yet in 2013 the Maine legislature passed a Resolution of Friendship between Maine and China which endorsed the Trans Pacific Trade Agreement. The Resolution was passed silently without coverage by the Maine media- with one exception from the fringes- this blog When the independent media is delivered as a singular voice and selectively reporting the news with a singular bias- that is the definition of propaganda- the antidote to propaganda is to have many voices of diverse opinions and perspectives. Please become a backer for my crowd-funder.
http://bit.ly/1JvnYJD

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Public Support Needed for Independent Journalism in Maine

Update 1:23 PM- I took the leap of faith in myself and took the deal- biggest concern is spreading my self too thin which at this time in my life is particularly risky- but the deal and payment plan are the best I expect to find and this is the best time of year, cash flow wise to take this leap of faith and of course a very persistent sales person factored into the decision. Still it would be nice to see some public support in the form of a response to my call to action- that makes a world of difference. So expect to see less blog activity as my energy goes to this project- other than trying to get the public to support my project goal so that I can also become a Beacon Reader author. I can't do that one on my own- Becoming a Beacon Reader journalist depends on showing that the public is willing to support me through financial contributions - so Please consider extending your generosity in support of my project. I will let you know what I think of the iuniversal program in futu
http://bit.ly/1R2gQv0

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Confessions of A Blogger Writing In Her Pajama's - Well House Robe !

This is a crucial day in deciding to put a down payment down on the Iuniversal program for self publishers at a discount of 50%. Seeing public support for my mission is key . That is the most missed ingredient for me to make a decison. This is not just about Iuniversal but also about the Beacon Crowdfunder for Journalists . If I can reach my modest goal of $800.00 I can be a Beacon author and connect with that community as well. I can't do it without public support. Please become a backer on this crucual decision making day- READ MORE HERE !Mackenzie Andersen
http://bit.ly/1BRdPGX

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: The Maine Media Coverage of Government Economic Development Policies Fits the Definition Of Propaganda

In this post I make the case the the entire Maine media coverage of Maine's economic development policies meets the definition of propaganda- consistently for decades presenting, in unison, a singular point of view from the perspective of those who benefit, told in unison by a chorus of supposedly independent news media and in unison also omitting significant facts. My blog represents a different voice and is based in years of researching the history and when I report on current legislation- I start by reading that legislation- that is how I know that important details are being omitted by the Maine main stream media like a well orchestrated symphony. Tomorrow is the deadline for the 50% discount on iuniversal's self publishing program which would put me in contact with a much needed network of self publishing professionals. I need to make a down payment then. Please become one of my backers- if only in support of a free press in Maine that presents a diversity of opinions.
http://bit.ly/1BYZgS5

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Day Three Of Crowdfunder- Weighing Conflicts of Interest

Day Three of Crowdfunder but only a couple of days away from the deadline for the 50% discount on iuniverse. A significant increase in backers would make it easier to decide what to do. If you believe the story I have been uncovering for the last six years needs to be p-art of our public dialogue- Please consider becoming a backer to make my decision easier.
http://bit.ly/1BK92av

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: MISSION: To Connect Global Popular & Local Understanding

I am trying to raise funds for a special deal on ipublishing's self publisher program. This would connect me with a network of self publishing professionals who can help with my project at every level. The deadline for the 50% discount is Monday June 29, 2015. Please become a backer of my mission. All contributions give encouragement that is beyond measurement in mere dollars. It means you believe in my mission ! That means everything !
http://bit.ly/1JnFfar

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Networking Essential For A Successful Crowdfunder And Developing Such A Network Is It's Purpose

This is my crowdfunder up date from yesterday before I got my first backer. I thank George Colby for his generous contribution, a person I know only from FaceBook where I post my blog posts. This post will go out to my Andersen Studio ( Now officially Andersen Design) pages. I know it is not ususal to mix business and politics but I would never have become involved in the research that I do had I not encountered the first evidence of what is going on behind the media presentations, at a business networking event where in I was trying to find funding for redoing Andersen Designs molds. The centralization of capitalization in the hands of a "public private relationship" which has access to the use of taxpayer money effects the ability of all businesses in Maine to attract capital. What ever size, if that business is not in the corporate welfare sector, that business has to compete with the corporate wellfare sector-on all levels- my space is up- Please consider backing project.
http://bit.ly/1Jnxlhc

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: A Lttle Help From My Freinds !

I have been researching Maine economic development statutes for over six years and have presented a view of the history, content, effect and purpose behind those statutes that you will not find elsewhere. For a while I have been thinking of writing a book. I have been offered a 50% discount for a self publishing program that will connect me with a community of self publishing professionals which can help me with every aspect of self publishing but I have to accept it by Monday, June 29 2015. My budget is tight and so I need a little help from my freinds to take advantage of this offer. Please support my ambition with whatever you can afford, however small or large. Click here to see how. Thank You, Mackenzie
http://bit.ly/1IdMG2u

This is an issue that affects the ceramic and hand crafted industry in teh USA and especially in Maine where Andersen Design has its roots.

Remembering Weston Neil Andersen

Weston Neil Andersen was an American ceramic designer, craftsman and entrepreneur who in 1952, established Andersen Design Stoneware with his wife Brenda in the coast of Maine, USA, . He was also my father whom I loved and cared for and was cared for by during the latter years of his life. This is the story about the last five years in which he suffered from a brain injury. Weston was known throughout his life for his analytical mind, which was not affected by the brain injury but it compromised his ability to express his thoughts in complete sentences. During the last five years of his life, Weston spent many hours in deep reflection, seldom seeming to be bored. At times he would sleep for a very long time and when he awoke , he would say that he gotten a lot of work done. In mild weather, he spent many hours of the day sitting on the front porch taking in the natural surroundings and the community walking up and down the street which usually left him in a very good mood.

During his younger days, both Weston and his wife Brenda professed to be agnostics but both in their own unique ways came to accept the existence of God.

Brenda died in 1994.  Before her death, Brenda was in a coma for many hours with the family gathered around her. I was at a turn of holding her hand when suddenly I felt a spiraling motion swoop down. encompass and transport me into an open sky colored pink and filled with gold rimmed clouds. I felt an indescribably deep love and then just as suddenly l was back in the room and Brenda was conscious and calling for Weston. Brenda told Weston that she loved him, not words that came easily to her during her life and then she died.

Some will surely find the telling of this experience unbelievable but I can only testify to what happened as I experienced it, which seemed an experience in which there was no separation between my mother and myself as she/we were embraced by God's love. My Mother's encounter with death as revealed to me through the experience was as emotional as the way that she lived her life. As Dad used to say, she was always emoting. The visual imagery that I experienced was consistent with the Catholic background in which my mother was raised as a young English girl in London before and during World War II.

Weston & Brenda in the 1950's - photograph by unknown

During the years after Brenda's death and before Weston suffered macular degeneration which interfered with his ability to read, we shared many common reading interests uncommonly found in our larger community. Dad and I both read extensively in esoteric wisdom and quantum theory- which is to say the philosophy emergent from quantum physics, which does not prove the existence of God but which is consistent with the teaching of esoteric wisdom. Dad read Carlos Castaneda and I read Christian Hermeticism and we both read David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order and The Non-Local Universe by Menas Kafatos and Robert Nadeau among many other books. When he could no longer read, Weston listened to the entirety of the New Testament on tape.

These three early wine decanters display Dad's approach to ceramic design and glazes

Through out his life Dad was accustomed to seeing ghosts in our very old house in Maine. This did not frighten him, nor did he consider it to be anything unusual. The ghosts were as much a part of the natural world as any other phenomenon  He often spoke of the Sea Captain in the living room. Once he told me that the woman in the other room was very up set and that I needed to go that I needed to go and talk to her. I did so, although I could not see the woman.

Weston was a man of great intellectual and analytical capacity but with the brain injury limiting his ability to express his thoughts, his heart took on a stronger presence. He spent hours contemplating his life and often spoke of his wife, his mother, father, siblings and others he had known in his life. At his age he was aware that his days on this earth were numbered and it appeared to be that he was preparing himself for his own judgment day as he spent hours upon hours in contemplation of his life, past present and the future when he was gone.

 During the period after his brain injury, Weston relived his life chronologically and so we came to know him at many different stages of life As a boy.Weston lived on a chicken farm. One day, as an elderly man he suffered a seizure. When we entered the hospital we heard someone screaming  "Chicken" . It was Dad, who appeared to be reliving an early memory when he first realized that the chickens were destined to be killed. and was very upset by it.

When World War II broke out.Weston considered declaring conscientious objection but realized that if someone were trying to kill his family, he would kill them and so he enlisted. One day during his latter years he was in tears over a recollection of a man who had returned from the war missing his legs.

The morning that I took this picture of Weston, the expression on his  face was clear and innocent. I probably told him that he looked so handsome. Many of the caretakers who saw Dad over the years would say the same. At many times he had a engaging  and gentlemanly nature that charmed the people around him.

On other days he looked like this:

I am thinking thoughts too intense for words !

When my parents started their ceramics business in 1952, they did so on a shoe string budget and so they took their own photographs and published their own catalog

Years later I followed in their tradition designing our website and taking the photographs of the ceramic work. I set a makeshift studio up on the kitchen table where my father usually sat. 

In this picture Dad is sitting at the table on which my makeshift photography studio is being constructed. The bright sunlight comes streaming in through the window as father is sleeping in his chair.  Weston designed and constructed The kitchen table in the 1950's when we first moved into the house and it became the center of many different activities.

This is a photo that I took  in one of the kitchen table photography sessions of of the ceramic Blue Jay designed by Weston,

This Portrait of an Eating Dick is the last sculpture that Dad created in his life time.

The bright afternoon light streams in the window interacting with the shadows and light of the makeshift photography studio on the kitchen table. Suddenly Dad became very animated and was in a verbal rhapsody describing the rhythms and forms in the display and counting them.

After Dad's brain injury counting and the spelling of words took on particular significance, used for emphasis or explanation. If in pain, the word "ow" was spelled. Once when we called the paramedics because Dad had fallen out of bed, Dad explained everything to them by spelling the words as if spelling the words clarified the meaning, a curious phenomenon indeed. Spelling has to do with the ability to express thoughts to others involving the part of Dad's brain, which never fully recovered. leading one to wonder if the actual process of thinking is primordial to the process of communicating in language. Did spelling take on such meaning because of its function as a tool of communication?

Despite the brain injury and despite the fact that cameras had changed dramatically in appearance since the days when Dad took photographs, he understood the process of taking pictures from within and without. Once, when the afternoon sunlight was particularly bright, he said "I hope you know what you are doing !" It amazed me that he grasped the process of taking a picture and how such a bright light might affect the results. In this picture he is smiling for the camera,  So sweet !

In the years after Brenda died, Dad worked on this sculpture. After his brain injury he spent time observing it. One day while sitting on the front porch as he often like to do, he turned to me and asked that I would make a sculpture of him.

Dad would become involved when I worked on a sculpture, turning it as I worked and always letting me know what he thought. Here he is touching some wax sculptures in the works.

Here Dad sits in the morning having his coffee. The mug on the table with the funky tear drop designs is a form created by Weston, who designed a series of original mugs and a large line of functional forms  in addition to a line of wild life sculptures.

The day Dad fell and injured his brain, he was working on a project to have the mugs produced for the commercial market. I have now taken over the project. This is one of my favorites. Dad hand scraffitoed the spiral on the mug himself. I have to figure out how to translate this decorative technique into a commercial process. I understand his thinking on this project, not just in terms of the mug but in terms of the evolution of our family ceramic business.

Two hand cast stoneware steines, one decorated by Brenda and the other decorated by Weston

 One day Dad was looking sad and said that he had nothing to do. A few weeks later he said, "There are three people here and so there a three musicians." (This was said as a full sentence which was extremely rare.) I gathered up all the instruments I could find and we all played. Dad took to the keyboards. As a young man Dad's mother had wanted him to learn to play the piano but he refused. He did not play in a learned way but he played with deliberation, He preferred to play when no one was around but we could hear him in the other room.

Throughout his life Weston enjoyed classical jazz. As a young adult he went to Chicago and New York and listened to the greats playing in small venues.

One day we put on Sade and he listened to her for several hours. He said it is very involved. We introduced him to Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan and Mazzy Star, He stayed up late into the night listening to trance like music of Mazzy Star over  and over again. A few days before Dad died I was picking out the notes to Sweet Georgia Brown. I asked Dad if it sounded right and he looked at me and smiled his sweet smile,

During his life Dad was in the hospital on many occasions and we became accustomed to hearing the  lectures about how he may not make it this time around. The most convincing time was when he fell down and suffered the brain injury. The doctors said that what was good for the heart was bad for the brain and that Dad would never be off the breathing tube. That night as I drove from Portland to Boothbay with my nephew we both agreed that although Dad had had many miraculous recoveries this time it sounded much more challenging and then we both said at about the same time- But this is Weston! The next day Dad woke up and removed the breathing tube. By the time I returned to the hospital he was already walking around the place in his walker although he had a giant bruise on his head. The older doctor looked at the younger doctor and said "Forget your ever saw that MRI !"

In the days afterwards, while recovering from the brain injury Dad was speaking over and over again about system management. That is when it hit me how that Dad's unique talents were as much about system management as about art and design. He was system managing his own brain recovery. He was also speaking a great deal about fishermen and fishing, It did not escape me, with the common interest I shared with my father in esoteric wisdom, that the fish is an ancient symbol of Christianity.

Dad survived that injury to live five more years, dying at the age of 93. Three days prior to his death he was sleeping deeply and as peacefully as I had ever seen him sleep. Around five in the morning of the day that he died, my sister checked on him and found him sleeping with a karge smile on his face. Dad often worried during his life time and I would tell him, you just have to have faith. I think he found that faith. He chose when to go. Of course I wanted him to stay longer but I have accepted the wisdom of his decision. People say the are sorry for our loss, which I appreciate, but I really do not feel a loss because I do not feel my father is gone, he just went on to another stage of his journey, like the ghosts he used to see in our house and consistent with the nature of time in quantum theory and esoteric wisdom, Dad is still very much with us. 

And still enjoying the view from our front porch.

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Fixing The Blame For the New Markets Tax Credit

The Maine Media and Political Culture do damage control for the New Markets Tax Credit scandal hoping to contain it before the revelations spread throughout the entire corproate welfare system and set their sites on out of states investors to whom to attach the entire blame for a scandal of their own making. What? Me? Responsible?! Your'e Kidding !
http://bit.ly/1BBlQ32

Andersen Studio Evolution Diaries: Honor Thy Father - Remembering Weston Neil Andersen

A photo journalism truibute to my Dad, Weston Neil Andersen, who suffered from a brain injury during his last five years, only adding another dimension of understanding about what went on inside the mind and heart of this lovely man. Dad died at the age of 93 on the last day of February 2013.
http://bit.ly/1GlBM9B

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: 25% for You- 75% for Public-Private Hegemony in Maine's Put ME to Work Bill

Maine's latest job creation program,Put ME to Work, lauds the virtues of the public-private hegemony as it ups the requirements for recieving corporate welfare benefits parsed in the new terminology of "high compensation" to replace the former "above average income- all to be finnaced by labor and businesses in the bottom half of the economy ! and all for the "public benefit" or so we are told !
http://bit.ly/1FBaiLk

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Very Significantly Different ! - The Public Benefit Corporation and the Benefit Corporation.

Public Benefit Corporations and Benefit Corporations could easily be mistaken for one and the same thing but they are completely different. In this post I examine Wikipedia's pages on each type of corporation and discover that the verification links identifying states that have passed Benefit Corporation legislation are not what they appear to be. The similarity between the names of two very different philosophies behind each type of legislation is just another act in the slippery art of political linguistics.
http://bit.ly/1IKvuAI

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: New Markets Tax Credit Program To Be Distributed to MRRA- High Paid Hotbed of Corporate Welfare !

Now that the Cate Street Scandal, costing Maine Taxpayers 76 million dollars is fading from the news cycle, the Maine legislature is already talking about increasing by 100% the limit for this transfer of wealth from tax payers pockets to corporate bank accounts and to distribute that wealth not to the low income high unemplyment areas but to unconstitutionally state governed municipalities located at former military zones which are hotbeds for Maine's corporate welfare system creating the highest paid workers in the state at a continually escalating rate !
http://bit.ly/1GvY2cT

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Cate Street Capital- Legal Fraud Staus Checks Out -Here's How it Happened !

I am correcting my earlier assesment on this statute as I found the New Markets Tax Credit fully embedded in an amendment to teh bill that The House and Senate Voted on. That means, that although it seems compromising to put a statute into a budget with many other items, it is true that the House and Senate voted on it. The reason why the bill of the same name as the statute died is because the bill was inserted into the budget and so instead of going by the name of the statute, it goes by the name of the budget/
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Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Cate Street Capital - A Legal Faud: By What Rule of Law?

The media tells us that the Cate Street debacle is a "legal fraud" on the Maine Taxpayers indebting them to the tune of 76 million dollars. The main stream story is that the statute on which the taxpayer debt is premised was enacted during a budget meeting and that when the House and Senate approved of the budget, they also enacted the statute. Research comes up with two separate bill status for LD 1043 (HP 778) - One that states that it was enacted and signed byThe Governor.The bill text includes a summary for the New Markets Tax Credit statute. The other bill status records the vote for the House and Senate. The text for that bill status makes no mention of the New Markets tax credit.
http://bit.ly/1Gt0UqY

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Statute Enacted By Maine's Budget Committee Basis for "Legal Fraud" Foisted on TaxPayers !

"Legal Fraud" reported by the Maine medai as rsulting in the Maine taxpayers owing shsyters $91 million dollars is premised in a statute enacted not by a vote by both legislative houses- but by the budget committing inserting a nearly identical statute into the Maine budget. As reported by an FOA response received from Maine legislative library- this statute resulting in a huge burden on Maine taxpayers was enacted by teh budget committee which now wants to double the limit for teh New Markets Refundable Tax Credit.
http://bit.ly/1z6olsG

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Rule Changes proposed by Lepage Threaten Private Property Rights in Maine

Maine Governor LePage is sponsoring an act to limit the authority of the State Attorney General over state agency rule making processes. The act also includes a new rule that says statutory law can over write the constitutional protection of private property rights, underscoring why we need an Attorney General with concern for our constitution to reign in politicians
http://bit.ly/1A4gA1y

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Maine Media Reports LD991 New Markets Tax Credit Passed- FOA Response Says It Didn't !

In his otherwise well researched and informative article, Mr Whit Richardson continues to report that the ever more expensive scandal which costs are thrown on the backs of the Maine tax payers is a "legal fraud" - but I ask how legal can it be when the bill upon which the statute is based died in the Senate as is cofirmed by my own FOA request to the Maine Legislative Library. How can the Maine taxpayers owe these continually escalating sums to out of state shysters when our representatives never signed off on the deal ?- or if they did it is a very closely guarded secret to which even the Maine Legislative Library has no access !
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Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Maine's Minimum Wage Bill Ties Increase to Inflation

Increase in Wages must be tied to productivity not inflation #mepolitics #minwage #Maine
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Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Mystery of the Missing Maine Senate Vote Passing New Markets Tax Credit

Can The Maine taxpayers owe out of state shyters 16 million dollars if New Markets Tax Credit was never voted upon by Maine Senate before it was published into law?
http://bit.ly/1yWRC9q

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Maine Media Breaks It's Silence on The Refundable Tax Credit

In Whit Richardson's article in the Portland Press Herald, Payday At The Mill, the Maine media finally breaks its code of secrecy about refundable tax credits, which are the life blood of the state's corporate welfare system but no one seems to have noticed that although there is indeed a bill for the New Markets Tax Credit published in the Maine Statutes and dated 2011. the bill status says that the bill died on adjournment of June 259 2011.
http://bit.ly/1DsUm9L

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Maine Media Breaks It's Silence on The Refundable Tax Credit

I have been saying for a long time that nothing will change in the state of Maine until there is a change in the Maine media. One of the subjects I have been writing about is the refundable tax credit and being frustrated by the fact that the Maine media not only does not explain to the public what a refundable tax credit is but doesn't even mention the fact that the tax credits that we hear about so often are refundable. Refundable tax credits are at the heart of this story of a carefully orchestrated legal theft of 16 million dollars from the Maine taxpayers. This was made possible by the Maine legislature which allowed the beneficiaries of a new program to write the program them selves, including the refundable tax credit which is ubiquitous through our Maine's unconstitutional corporate state's corporate welfare programs. Thanks to staff writer Whit Richardson of The Portland Press Herald for getting this story out there using a much larger microphone than my own
http://bit.ly/1DsUm9L

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Big Money, Redistributed Wealth and Legal Opacity Make For Happy Bed Fellows!

This is an update of a post written in 2013 in response to the Expanded and Improved Seed Capital Tax Credit unanimously passed by the Maine legislature amid a flurry of biased news coverage focusing almost exclusively on businesses that stand to get a cash infusion from the passage of the bill. No single bill is passed in isolation but is part of a larger and incremental strategy dating approximately back to the charter of the Maine Development Foundation Corporation serving as the foundation stone for the ever expanding corporation of Maine- a corporation that goes without an official name but is in fact an interlink web of state corporations all of which do have names. This post adds recent information expanding the historical context from past to present which sheds light on the true function of the Seed Capital Tax Credit and its role as a device for implementing special interest politics. This post is technical but a perfect example of "the devil is in the details"
http://bit.ly/1CLqAwG

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Bill Proposed to Include Town of Berwick, Maine in Pine Tree Zone Corporate Welfare Benefits

Representative Beth O'Connor is sponsoring a bill to include the town of Berwick, Maine as an area qualified to receive Maine's Pine Tree Zone Corporate Welfare benefits. When I joined the conversation and pointed out that there is something wrong with a picture where in there has to be special acts of legislation passed in order to include a specific town in Maine for a benefit which was originally created in 2003 for any area in the state of Maine that has high unemployment and low income. The Pine tree Zone statute was fundamentally transformed in 2009 amid minimal media coverage. The minimal media coverage reported that the Pine Tree Zone was being expanded to cover the entire state. If that was true why is Representative Beth O'Connor proposing a special act of legislation to include the town of Berwick in Pine Tree Zone benefits?
http://bit.ly/1D9mHoF

Andersen Studio Evolution Diaries: Andersen Design Seeks Slip casting Production Collaborator in Developing Prototype

Andersen Design of Maine has been designing and producing American slip cast ceramics since 1952. We have a large line of wildlife sculptures and functional forms which have maintained marketability over the decades establishing Andersen Design as a classic in their field. Andersen Design has traditionally used our own proprietary body and glazes. We will continue this tradition but are looking to develop another line based on standardized & widely available solutions applied to our classic line of functional forms. We are seeking another American slip casting company with whom we can collaborate in developing the prototype of our first product produced in this way.
http://bit.ly/1Fr4Isj

Preserving The American Political Philosophy: Lepage Seeks Control of Legal Settlement Funds Over Standard & Poor's Credit Rating Practices

Governor Lepage of Maine is seeking control of legal settlement funds of the Standard & Poor 's credit rating practices. Suddenly a Governor notorious for disregarding the Maine Constitution is calling it repugnant to the Constitution that Attorney General Mills currently retains control over the distribution of the funds so coveted by LePage, the current CEO of post-constitutional Maine. Consistent with established history as examined in this blog post, If LePage succeeds in his power grab, the beneficiaries of the lawsuit are unlikely to be those harmed by Standard & Poor's practices but instead private individuals in the State's hegemonic public-private capital investor's club
http://bit.ly/1GA6gEo