Move Over Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail, You've Got Competition

Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail - 'Threatened' in NY State

Behold the 'Threatened' Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail!  While you can, any way...  

This cuddly little slime dragger is on the New York State endangered species list.  My only hope is that someday soon its name be replaced by the Emerald Ash Borer Beetle. 

Bye, bye Emerald Ash Beetle, you miserable little insect...  Long life to you, Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail!!!  


December 27, 2012:  I woke this morning to find that 'Euclid' has pretty much blown itself out during the night as I slept.  The sound of rain and wind that lulled me to sleep on Wednesday evening has moved on.  While my Mom, Dad, Wife, and two-thirds of my Kids continue to sleep on this overcast Thursday Morning I find myself once again at the keyboard of my trusty Gateway laptop - just in time to read of another storm. 

This is a storm from which none of us will escape in our lifetimes.  A storm of our own making; a tempest of our own design.  One which we have earned after fifty years of continual effort.  As I turn my head away from the whine of the fan in the old PC I can hear the thrum of the not-to-distant storm approaching from all sides.  

I'm not talking about the Fiscal Cliff (and let me be the first to say, "Enjoy the ride!" as we all go down together) but rather another man-made unnatural disaster:   
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The disappearance of Fathers throughout the Nation

The threatened "Americanus Dadus" and "Cuteous Daughterous Maximus"

Once believed to be a renewable natural resource, 'Fathers' are disappearing at an alarming rate from the American Family landscape.  I wrote about this originally back in mid-2011 in a post entitled, "The Late, Great Society" .  I sourced some charts from the folks at Heritage.org, added a bit of commentary, inserted a photo of a cute little girl getting ready to serve up a 'Poop Sandwich' and viola -- a post was born! 

(Moos Note:  Okay, admittedly the 'Poop Sandwich' was NOT entirely necessary, however it was extremely appropriate to the post as the government's been cooking them up for you 24x7 for almost Five decades!  Yumm-O!)

I take no comfort knowing that almost two years later...  Nothing has gotten better.  In fact, according to the article I read this morning on the WashingtonTimes.com site, my original post was chocked full of "Sunshine and Butterflies" compared to the actual state of 'Dadhood' today... 

From the Washington Times online, December 25, 2012, by Luke Rosiak: 

Nicole Hawkins‘ three daughters have matching glittery boots, but none has the same father. Each has uniquely colored ties in her hair, but none has a dad present in her life.

As another single mother on Sumner Road decked her row-house stoop with Christmas lights and a plastic Santa, Ms. Hawkins recalled that her middle child’s father has never spent a holiday or birthday with her. In her neighborhood in Southeast Washington, 1 in 10 children live with both parents, and 84 percent live with only their mother.

In every state, the portion of families where children have two parents, rather than one, has dropped significantly over the past decade. Even as the country added 160,000 families with children, the number of two-parent households decreased by 1.2 million. Fifteen million U.S. children, or 1 in 3, live without a father, and nearly 5 million live without a mother. In 1960, just 11 percent of American children lived in homes without fathers.

America is awash in poverty, crime, drugs and other problems, but more than perhaps anything else, it all comes down to this, said Vincent DiCaro, vice president of the National Fatherhood Initiative: Deal with absent fathers, and the rest follows.

Dangerous spiral

The spiral continues each year. Married couples with children have an average income of $80,000, compared with $24,000 for single mothers.

“We have one class that thinks marriage and fatherhood is important, and another which doesn’t, and it’s causing that gap, income inequality, to get wider,” Mr. DiCaro said.

The predilection among men to walk away from their babies is concentrated in the inner cities. In Baltimore, 38 percent of families have two parents, and in St. Louis the portion is 40 percent.

The near-total absence of male role models has ripped a hole the size of half the population in urban areas.

Among blacks, nearly 5 million children, or 54 percent, live with only their mother. Twelve percent of black families below the poverty line have two parents present, compared with 41 percent of impoverished Hispanic families and 32 percent of poor white families.

The schism is most apparent in the District, which has a higher portion of two-parent families among whites, at 85 percent, and a lower share among blacks, at 25 percent, than any state.

In all but 11 states, most black children do not live with both parents. In every state, 7 in 10 white children do. In all states but Rhode Island and Massachusetts, most Hispanic children do. In Wisconsin, 77 percent of white children and 61 percent of Hispanics live with both parents, compared with more than 25 percent of black children...


The bottom line is, of course, that after almost 50 years of well-meaning politicians and caring DC-based Folks spending BILLIONS to 'solve the poverty problem' in America...

We (or more specifically, 'they') have simply made matters worse by allowing the 'Government' to take the place of the 'Man' in the historical family relationship.  Fatherhood is no longer the cultural 'norm' in vast sections of America.  In fact, the 'Father' may soon appear right up there next to the Chittenango Ovate Amber Snail with his status listed as, 'Threatened', on the Nation's endangered species list. 

The question I have is this:  Are the 'Old Rich White guys' of 1776 still considered America's Founding Fathers in 2012? 

Or, will they simply be referred to in future history books as "The Nation's Baby Daddies"?

I honestly don't know. 

The only thing that I do know is that when I began posting this I was sitting at the kitchen table by myself with all the lights off as my family slept.  A couple of hours, one shower, and one big hunk of German Apple Ring (the powdered sugar looks good on my sweatshirt) later I'm sitting at the same oval table with my parents, my wife, two of my kids and the two dogs circling the table waiting for SOMETHING to drop to the floor (preferably a hunk of my German Apple Ring).  Better luck next time Fuzzies...

Two days past Christmas and I am once again reminded of how lucky I am.

I only wish that our Nation might have some similar 'good luck' for a change.  This WOULD be change I could believe in.  I'm not sure that this year's 'FORWARD!' is our best theme for the New Year as it portends continual progression along the current path we find ourselves on. 

Given that I am viewed by many others as an old, White guy (sorry, NOT rich - and less so in 2013), would it be wrong for me to nominate the word, 'Backward' as the theme for 2013? 

You know, back to a time when men (and women) lived up to their responsibilities as parents to raise their kids together?  Back to the days when you had to PAY for your contraception 'gear' when you KNEW you were ready to run the 'risk' of being a parent?  You know, back before it was 'all good' to sow your seed willy nilly with whomever you could 'hook up with'?   

Sorry to offend anyone (ah, not really), but like I said, I'm an old White Guy (and an actual Father to our three sons).  Sometimes I do find myself yearning for the past as I stare wide-eyed into the gaping maw of our anticipated future. 

But hey, that's just me.   

Happy New Years folks, and best wishes for 2013! 

See ya on the other side of the cliff...

"Have a nice trip...  Next Fall!"  (Ultimate Rank Out from 1973)

No Chittenango Ovate Amber Snails were injured in the generation of this post.