The Most Efficient Way to Drive Through All the Contiguous United States

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Stephen Von Worley of Data Pointed has found the most efficient way to drive through all the forty-eight connected United States.  Needless to say it is quite creative and relies in part by quick drive through certain states.  I do not know if this would meet TDAXP's requirement of visiting states (getting out of the car and buying something) but bravo to such a neat, fascinating effort.  Interestingly thinking outside the box, the trip ends in Montana while I would probably of had the trip in California or Washington.

The Beautiful Counties of (Historic) California

The vast majority of time I decline offers of advertisements.  In fact, I do not accept any funds for any post with the exception of Amazon.com links to books I reviewed.  I even tend to decline press releases.  So when cartographer David Frank McCarter reached out to me about his Beautiful Counties of California asking me to mention it I was almost ready to send him a "thanks but no thanks" e-mail.  However, the map is just too pretty not to mention. 

Here is part of the press release

The California decorative wall map uses California paintings to represent counties David Frank McCarter has launched a Kickstarter campaign (http://kck.st/1ahHrcE) to crowd fund his new artistic wall map of California, The Beautiful Counties of…California, which uses California paintings from the mid-1800s to the early-1900s to represent California’s 58 counties. 

“The paintings in the map were chosen to provide the map reader with a sense of place and history of this beautiful and geographically diverse state,” says McCarter. “For example, a painting of Mt. Shasta is used to represent Siskiyou County; California Redwoods for Del Norte and Humboldt Counties; scenes of Pomo Indians in Colusa and Lake Counties; and forty-niners in several of the counties that had large goldfields during the California Gold Rush. The map was made to do more than just show where places are, it was made to tell a story of the places themselves.” 

A table is provided on the right hand side of the map which lists the artists and their paintings that are used. Some of the famous artists that have paintings in the map include Albert Bierstadt, Edwin Deakin, Grace Hudson, Thomas Hill, and Charles Christian Nahl.
The map includes the county boundaries, county seats, and important cities of California. It measures 24” x 36” (standard frame size). 

If the project’s goal of $2000 is reached, the money will cover the cost of printing and shipping. He will also donate 100 of these California wall maps to elementary schools in low-income school districts in California to be used as educational tools in the classroom. For a $20 pledge, the contributor receives a map (shipping included) - other pledge levels are also available.

Map of Health Care Insurance Rate Changes Due to Obamacare

Forbes has a great article discussing the geography and overall changes in health care insurance premiums due to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.  Overall the Forbes article describes how all the new regulations will make health care insurance less affordable.

Only Colorado and New Hampshire benefit overall with women in Ohio also saving money.  Nebraska is the worse state to suffer in terms of the growth of fees.

Fall Foliage Map 2013

Stormfax has a great webpage and map of fall foliage color changes.  They also link to various states' tourism offices that handle foliage tourists.

Mid-Atlantic Region:
 PENNSYLVANIA  Fall Foliage/Events Hotline  1-800-FALL-INPA
 NEW JERSEY  Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-VISIT-NJ
 DELAWARE | (alt) Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-441-8846
 MARYLAND | (alt) Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-LEAVES-1
 VIRGINIA | (alt) Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-434-LEAF
 WEST VIRGINIA Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-CALL-WVA
 NORTH CAROLINA Fall Foliage/Events  1-800-VISIT-NC
New England Region:
 CONNECTICUT Fall Vacation Hotline  1-800-CT-BOUND
 MAINE Publicity Hotline  1-800-533-9595 or 1-888-MAINE-45
 MASSACHUSETTS | (alt) Fall Foliage Hotline  1-800-227-MASS (6277)
 NEW HAMPSHIRE | (alt) Fall Color Hotline  1-800-262-6660 or 1-800-258-3608
 NEW YORK | (alt) Fall Foliage Hotline  1-800-225-5697 or 1-800-CALL-NYS
 RHODE ISLAND | (alt) Fall Vacation Hotline  1-800-556-2484
 VERMONT | (alt) Fall Foliage Hotline  1-800-VERMONT or 1-800-828-3239
Midwest, West & South:

 ARKANSAS | (alt)  Fall Foliage  1-800-NATURAL
 CALIFORNIA | (alt)  Fall Foliage  1-800-354-4595
 COLORADO | (alt) Travel/Events Hotline  1-800-COLORADO
 GEORGIA Travel/Events Hotline  1-800-864-7275
 ILLINOIS | (alt) Travel/Events Hotline  1-800-2CONNECT
 INDIANA | (alt) Travel/Events Hotline  1-888-ENJOY-IN
 KENTUCKY Color Connection  1-800-225-8747
 MICHIGAN Foliage Hotline  1-800-644-3255
 MINNESOTA Foliage Hotline  1-800-657-3700
 MISSOURI Fall Report  1-800-NATURAL
 MONTANA | (alt) Travel/Events Hotline  1-800-847-4868
 OHIO Foliage & Travel Hotline  1-800-282-5393
 OREGON | (alt) Foliage Hotline  1-800-547-5445
 TENNESSEE Fall Color Hotline  1-800-697-4200
 TEXAS | (alt) State Park Hotline  1-800-792-1112
 WASHINGTON State Foliage Information  1-800-354-4595
 WISCONSIN Foliage Hotline  1-800-432-TRIP
 WYOMING | (alt) Travel Hotline  1-800-225-5996

Alternative Reconstruction: Southern States Renamed After Unionists, Victors, and Victories

Z Geographer and myself got in a fun discussion with a neo-Confederate about alternative historys of Reconstruction.  One thing that we brought up was that the Union (North) could have forced a geography of conquest upon the former Confederate (South) states.  This inspired me to make a map of renamed Southern states.  I looked for major Union victors in each state and barring that either a famous Union location in the state or something equally as relevant.

The meaning of each state's renaming is as follows

Virginia is renamed Grant.  Ulysses Grant commanded the various Union armies which defeated Confederate General Robert E Lee's forces defending Richmond.

North Carolina is renamed Burnside.  Ambrose Burnside captured the North Carolina coast in the early part of the war.  Although he disgraced himself as commander of the Army of the Potomac, Burnside was a political survivor and repaired his reputation with major political leaders.

South Carolina is renamed Lincoln.  "South Carolina must be punished" drove much of the Union's thinking during the war.  What better way to punish South Carolina than rename it after the leader of the Union?

Georgia is renamed Sherman.  William Sherman commanded the Union army in its march of destruction from Atlanta to Savannah.

Florida is renamed Pickens.  Fort Pickens was one of the only forts on the southern mainland to never fall into rebel hands.

Alabama is renamed Farragut.  Admiral David Farragut was a key player in seizing the Mississippi River.  He is also well known for yelling "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!" during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Mississippi is renamed Knight.  Newton Knight led the anti-Confederacy Jones County rebellion in Mississippi.

Tennessee is renamed Johnson.  Andrew Johnson was the only senator from a Confederate state to stay loyal to the Union.

Arkansas is renamed Steele.  General Frederick Steele captured much of Arkansas including its capital of Little Rock.

Louisiana is renamed Butler.  Benjamin Butler was the military commander of occupied New Orleans and much hated by the upper class of Confederate citizens.

Texas is renamed Houston.  Governor Sam Houston was forced out of office by Confederates because he refused to denounce his pro-Union beliefs.

Heavy Water Consumption in Lower Ogallala Aquifer Heaviest in Dust Bowl Area

I love the Interior Plains of the United States.  I feel at home in the wide open land where the tall grass blows in the wind.  The way of life, the unique mix of cultures overlooked by those whose multiculturalism ends at the urban Ethiopian restaurant, and most of all the people make the area exceptionally rich.  Because of this love I have vehemently defended the region from those who view it as "backwards" or little more than flyover country.

However, the people in the southern Interior Plains nearly destroyed it by employing foreign (i.e. non-local) farming practices which resulted in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. The Dust Bowl ended because 1) many farmers who were doing harmful agricultural practices left the region which allowed 2) the grassland to grow back and 3) the use of the Ogallala Aquifer to support agriculture.

The third point has allowed agriculture, both family and industrial, to expand in the southern Interior Plains.  However, the overuse of the aquifer risks another agricultural failure which when combined with a drought poses the risk of another Dust Bowl.  Take a look at the map of where the Dust Bowl was and where the worst depletion of the aquifer is.  This is a cause for worry in the long term.

Map from Dust Bowl Odyssey.

This Stratfor map (click to enlarge) shows the greatest depletion in the worst place possible.

North Colorado Will Never Be a State

Certain advocates in northeastern Colorado (NoCo) are pushing to have ten counties break off and establish a new state called North Colorado.  The root cause of the split is the cultural difference between the conservative rural society and the urban liberal/Californian transplant societies located in Denver and along the Rocky Mountains.

Geography and political common sense are against the North Colorado-advocates.  Eighty percent of Colorado's oil and gas revenues is from NoCo.  While some say this is a great reason to break off it is also a great reason for Denver not to let the region go.  NoCo also uses about 80 percent of the state's water due to agriculture practices.  As a state NoCo would have to obtain water access by negotiating with other states including Colorado.  This is something not likely to go well for an independent NoCo.

Even if Denver were to allow NoCo's separation, NoCo would need congressional approval as well.  There is no way congress would give its blessing because then separatist groups in California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, and elsewhere would start pushing hard for their right to break-off.

Only two states have even been spun-off existing states.  Maine gained separation from Massachusetts.  It took Maine's abandonment by Massachusetts during the War of 1812 to give pro-statehood people enough credence to even start a movement and then it took the threat of civil war and the Missouri Compromise to give Maine its freedom.  The other successor, West Virginia, needed the Civil War to break off from Virginia.

It will take civil war or the threat of civil war for North Colorado to become a state.  Until then NoCo will always be a part of Colorado so there is no need to pay any attention to this statehood debate.

Map of NFL Team Loyalities

The above map comes from the unofficial Twitter account @NFL_Stats.  It reportedly shows fan loyalties to National Football League teams throughout the contiguous 48-states.  It is neat comparing this map to the map of Major League Baseball team loyalties.

• The Minnesota, western Missouri, and Colorado teams battle for the most wide open space, the Interior West, in both football and baseball.
• The South has more teams so the Georgia, eastern Missouri, Florida divide in southern baseball fan loyalties is not repeated in American football.
• And the Oakland Raiders is the only team in professional baseball or American football to still have a hold on their historical home (Los Angeles, which the Raiders left in 1994).

Native American Nations Map is Beautiful But Invents a Fake Geography of American Indians

A beautiful map of lies.  Click to enlarge.  From Aaron Carpella's website.

Cartographer Aaron Carpella, who is of mixed White and Cherokee heritage  created the "Map of Our Tribal Nations: Our Own Names and Original Locations" which allegedly shows the locations American Indian nations with the native name being the primary label and the common English name for each nation showing in smaller, secondary text.



The map is beautiful but it shows a fictional American Indian geography which ignores history.  Aaron claims on the website and map:

THIS MAP PRESENTS EVERY DOCUMENTED, KNOWN NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBE THAT WAS HERE IN PRE-CONTACT TIME, BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF EUROPEANS. ALL OF THE TRIBAL NATIONS DOCUMENTED HERE ARE IN THEIR ORIGINAL LOCATIONS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN INVASION AFFECTED THEIR MOVEMENT AND DISPLACEMENT. 

With this claim Aaron is either showing ignorance or a malicious propaganda in order to show some sort of fiction pan-Native Americanism meant to paper over the population movements  displacements, ethnic cleansings,  and other all too common human crimes committed by American Indian nations on each other (Europeans, Asians, and Africans have been no different).

The big clue that something is wrong is that the map shows the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota (Sioux) nations spread throughout South Dakota and Minnesota.  Before the mid-1700s the main tribe on the South Dakotan plains was the Sahnish (Arikara).  The nomadic Sioux nations used horses and savage warfare against the more settled Sahnish to the point the Sahnish were forced to flee into present-day North Dakota where the nation only survived by merging with the Numakaki (Mandan).  Meanwhile, my own personal travels in northern Wisconsin revealed countless monuments, memorials, museums, and texts that intrepreted the Dakota's displacement from the Lake Superior region by the Anishinabeg (Ojibwe/Chippewa) who were expanding west from the Great Lakes region.

Being a long time researcher of Great Plains and Woodlands Indians I also know these nations were built upon other previous cultures, and in certain cases civilization, which replaced each other before and right after the introduction of pox and horses (which arrived faster than the Europeans themselves).

The map also ignores Alaska.  Perhaps the invasion of Siberian Thule who destroyed the indigenous populations there would shatter the narrative of the map.  Hawaii is also missing though the debate of whether or not Native Hawaiians should be considered "Native Americans" is a hot debate topic on multiple levels.

America has a rich human history of at least 15,000 years.  I fully support studying and sharing knowledge about pre-European history of America.  However, we should embrace the real history with all its positives and negatives.  We should drop false pan-nativism and admit that population shifts did occur and that horrible war crimes occurred before the strongest of all tribes, English-speakers, dominated in the Northern continent.

Geography of the Sequester's Impact on the Defense Industry

As of late February Americans are wondering just what does the cut in the rate of growth to the federal defense and domestic budgets exactly mean.  Some also wonder if the cuts will impact certain congressmen and push them to put party politics aside to ensure the local districts' government-reliant industries get funding  (pork to some).

Businessweek did a study which revealed that of the top twenty districts which receive federal defense industry funds, 16 are represented by Democrats and only 4 by Republicans.  What this means, however, is hard to say as just what the sequester's impact will be is highly debatable.  Either the cuts will put pressure on local Democrats to compromise, force Republicans to back down due to a national backlash, nothing will be happen, or something in between.

Click to enlarge

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Geography

"I have a dream, that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." -Martin Luther King Jr., 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Today's post is dedicate to King and other civil rights leaders who tackled racial discrimination.

Before the American Civil War the South was notorious for its use of Blacks as slave labor.  However, Northern states had Blacks Laws which, depending on the state, barred Blacks from voting, serving on juries, or even being witnesses to trials involving a White person.  The Civil War and the 13th Amendment ended slavery and there was hope for change under Radical Republican leadership.  However, an alliance of Liberal Republicans and Democrats ended Reconstruction of the South after the election of 1876.  White rule was restored in the South and various "Jim Crow Laws" were passed designed to further disfranchise Blacks.  Some of these laws spread outside the South into former "Free" (non-slave) states as Black emigration out of the South grew in the early 1900s.  Other anti-Black codes were actually the old, never repealed Black Laws.

Inter-racial marriage bans were a big part of the Jim Crow/Black Laws.  The ban was designed to keep the White race "pure" and prevent Blacks from becoming upperly mobile by marrying Whites and having light brown children and grandchildren that could pass as White.  

From Map Scroll.  Inter-racial marriage was only allowed in 19 of the 50 states in territories in 1900.

Another important aspect of Jim Crow/Black Laws was restrictions on education.  Many states set up "separate but equal" schools for Blacks and Whites.  The schooling was hardly equal, however.  Besides setting Blacks behind on education, this helped Whites and Blacks view each other as distant "others" with little knowledge of each other's society or each other as individuals     

Map of school segregation.  From William Sugiharto.

PBS has a great collection of maps about Jim Crow on their website.  There are maps about the Jim Crow Laws, restriction on education, population and migration, and lynchings.  Note on the lynchings map that most of them are in the South and against Blacks.  However, outside the South the target of lynchings tend to be overwhelmingly White.  Besides frontier justice against criminals, these lynchings were primarily targeted against European and Mexican immigrants who did not fit the White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant model of America.

On this day we remember a leader for Civil Rights for Black Americans.  But let us recognize all leaders for civil rights for races and creeds.  May we not forget other discrimination campaigns like those against American Indians via the Indian codes, Americans of Japanese descent interment and exclusion zones established during World War II, and religious groups who talk and dress different and/or value life over wars or government policy.

May we live in a world where people's rights are recognized from creation until death.

"We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans: 'My country 'tis of thee,/Sweet land of liberty,/Of thee I sing./Land where my fathers died,/ Land of the Pilgrims' pride,/From every mountainside,/Let freedom ring!' That's exactly what we mean—from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia—let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for the persecuted of Europe, for the rejected of Asia, disfranchised of South Africa and for the disinherited of all the earth—may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside, 'LET FREEDOM RING.'" -Archibald Carey Jr. "Let Freedom Ring" speech to the 1952 Republican National Convention

If a man boasts of loving God, while he hates his own brother, he is a liar. He has seen his brother, and has no love for him; what love can he have for the God he has never seen? No, this is the divine command that has been given us; the man who loves God must be one who loves his brother as well. -1 John 4:20-21, Knox Translation

STD Map of the United States Reveal Interesting Medical Geography

BestMedicalDegrees.com created a map of four common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in the United States.  There are some interesting medical geography trends which reveal much of the darker, underworld sexual landscape of America.

The "South" has the highest concentration per 100,00 of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis while its AIDS rate is just shy the Northeast.  The "South" though includes Maryland and the District of Columbia.  While this different cultural appendage compared to the South does add to the South's numbers, it is undeniable that sexual diseases have found elements of poorer Southern culture, in a sense long in rebellion against mainstream southern Christian cultural norms, rich territory to infect.

The Midwest has the second highest rates of Chlamydia and gonorrhea.  However, its syphilis and especially AIDS rate are the lowest in the country.  The split between the two groups of diseases is who gets them.  Chlamydia is the widest spread STD in the United States.  Gonorrhea is the second most common STD but only at a forth of chlamydia's level.  The other two diseases, syphilis and AIDS, are much less widespread though deadlier.  These two diseases are primarily homosexual diseases with 72% of syphilis cases being from male-male sex while the Center for Disease Control says 63% of new AIDS cases are homosexual males.  Either the Midwest's homosexual population has healthier sexual culture or the Midwest simply has less homosexuals compared to the rest of the United States.  Which explanation is true I do not know.

The full chart with more information is available by clicking or downloading the image below.

The United States of Angry People who Protest by Petitioning to Secede

Social media allows radicals to talk amongst themselves and inflate their message and numbers artificially.  If one judged importance by mere number of websites or comments on a web forum then one could easily believe that Old Catholics, Continuing Anglicans, and Ron Paul are very serious forces in the world.  However, they have little impact because people forget that fringes tend to be organized but overall numbers pale in comparison to silent majorities.

Such is the case with the petitions by upset conservatives claiming a desire to leave the United States because of the reelection of President Barack Obama.  In reality these petitioners represent a very small number of actual citizens (Texas' petition has been signed by the equivalent of 0.3% of Texas' overall population).  Overall this is mostly people venting their anger at Obama's win and not a true desire to leave the union.  These petitions' existence are a non-story, much like the supposed desire of some in Vermont to reestablish the Republic of Vermont during the presidency of George W Bush.

A late night browsing of petitions revealed 41 states have petitions pertaining to leaving the union.  The petition for Alaska merely asks for the right to vote on whether or not to leave the union, and Alaska is the only state with a quasi-serious independence party which actually won a statewide election.  The states without a petition are the swing state of Iowa and the majority Democrat Party states of Hawaii, Washington, Iowa, Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine.

It is not so much Red State v. Blue State but you can find angry people who will copy a press-driven protest almost anywhere.  Map created from 270towin.com

In semi-serious statehood news Puerto Ricans voted in a non-binding referendum for statehood compared to the traditional winner of status quo commonwealth and the never popular independence option.  However, caveat this with the long stated desire of Puerto Ricans for statehood which is always matched by the their knowing they could never afford to be a state.  The little reported news out of Puerto Rico was that at the same time of the referendum pro-statehood Governor Luis Fortuño lost reelection to pro-commonwealth/anti-statehood Alejandro García Padilla.  Granted the election was very close and local issues did play a role, but none the less Puerto Rico voted for the status quo in reality while giving them a playful statehood pat-on-the-back.

American Presidential Election 2012 Map-a-Thon: The Electoral College Map, The Only Map That Matters

In celebration of democratic-republicanism, Geographic Travels will be blogging interesting maps based on the upcoming election between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.

At the end only the electoral college matters.  The results are in and Barack Obama dominated the swing states giving him enough electoral votes to be reelected for another four year term.

Florida is still too close to call but will probably go for Obama in the end.  From Wikipedia.

While county results are still being finalized it is clear that there were some states that the canidadates had little to no appeal in.

States with All Counties Voting Obama
Hawaii (Obama's native state)
Rhode Island (New England Liberal)
Massachusetts (New England Liberal)
Vermont (New England Liberal)

States with All Counties Voting Romney
Utah (Mormon)
Oklahoma (Surprising considering large presence of American Indians, perhaps the tribes' social conservatism trumpeted the traditional Democrat appeal)
West Virginia (Coal Country)
Alaska (Probable due to large libertarian population in the state)

American Presidential Election 2012 Map-a-Thon: Animated Map of Obama and Romney's Campaigning

In celebration of democratic-republicanism, Geographic Travels will be blogging interesting maps based on the upcoming election between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.

Jerzy Wieczorek has created the Animated map of 2012 US presidential election campaigning.  The map starts in June and shows the daily travels of both Obama and Romney. The travels begin as nationwide "meet the base" tours but as November comes closer and closer the travels are limited to the few swing states which will decide the election.  (Hat tip: Macleans)

American Presidential Election 2012 Map-a-Thon: Campaign Money Spent in the United States of Purple

In celebration of democratic-republicanism, Geographic Travels will be blogging interesting maps based on the upcoming election between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.

National Public Radio (NPR) has created a fascinating video showing the electoral geography and electoral advertising money being spent. 

In short, the country is the United States of Purple (purple being a mixture of Republican red and Democrat blue).  These states, which demographically and cultural are a mixture of America, will decide the presidential election as the base Blue and Red states are not enough for either party to win out right.  The Purple states (Nevada, Colorado, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida) comprise 156 electoral votes (29% of all electoral votes/58% of the needed 270 to win).  However, by watching the video one can only assume 90%-plus of all campaign cash is being spent in these states.

American Presidential Election 2012 Map-a-Thon: Amazon.com's Map of Red vs Blue Book Sales

In celebration of democratic-republicanism, Geographic Travels will be blogging interesting maps based on the upcoming election between President Barack Obama and former Governor Mitt Romney.

Amazon.com has a map showing what red (conservative) and blue (liberal) books are selling by state.  Each state is colored red or blue depending on what political ideology is selling more books.  Conservative books are by far outselling liberal books bucking the stereotype that conservatives are "hicks who don't read".

The sales map is shocking when one considers just how many conservative book buying states would never vote for Romney instead of Obama (states like Rhode Island and Delaware have many more Democrats than Republicans yet conservatives have been buying more books in these states).  The final outcome is a "popular vote" of conservative books outselling liberal ones with a 60-40 percent split.  If the electoral college is factored in, the final count would be a dominating 492-46 in favor of conservative books.  The most conservative book buying state is Alabama at 76 percent while the most liberal book buying state is not a state but the District of Columbia at 71 percent.

Of note:  In the last thirty days, Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope is outselling Mitt Romney's No Apology in a close 51-49 percent race.  However, Congressman Paul Ryan's Young Guns is outdoing Vice President Joe Biden's Promises to Keep 65 to 35 percent.

Catholic and Orthodox Saints Born in the Present-Day United States

Pope Benedict XVI canonized Kateri Tekakwitha making her the first female American Indian saint and the first American Indian saint not from present-day Mexico.  Her canonization and other previous conversations dealing with "American saints" who were actually foreigners who worked in the present-day United States made me wonder just how many American-born saints there are.  The answer surprised me and other geographic and demographic facts were even more startling.


View Catholic and Orthodox Saints Born in the Present-Day United States in a larger map

Total Number of American-Born Saints

6 (3 Catholic, 3 Orthodox)

The Catholic saints are Saints Katharine Drexel, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Kateri Tekakwitha.  The Orthodox saints are Saints Jacob Netsvetov, Peter the Aleut, and Varnava Nastić.

American-Born Saints by Sex

3 women (3 Catholic, 0 Orthodox)
3 men (0 Catholic, 3 Orthodox)

There are no American-born male Catholic saints and no American-born female Orthodox saints.  Both the Western and Eastern Churches have roles for the feminine via the Virgin Mary but Catholicism has been more open in expressing, in part, a feminine nature with Mary, many more female saints, and nuns in public.  Orthodoxy meanwhile has been criticized by some for loving Mary while regarding other women as sinful Eves and closing off their nuns from the public. Also, Orthodoxy's nationalist bent along with centuries of persecution from Muslims and then Communist states has given Orthodox a more masculine, fighting nature about it at times at the cost of a softer, more feminine side.

American-Born Saint Martyrs

2 (0 Catholic, 2 Orthodox)

None of the Catholic American-born saints died violent deaths.  Meanwhile, two of the three Orthodox saints were killed.  Saint Peter the Aleut was an Alaskan Native who traveled with Russian seal hunters to California and was captured by the Spanish.  According to later written down accounts, Catholic priests and Catholic Indians tortured Peter to death because he would not change from Orthodoxy to Catholicism.  Saint Varnava Nastić meanwhile moved back to his parents' native Yugoslavia and was mostly likely killed by the Communist regime.

Geography of American-Born Saints

Catholic saints packed together in the Northeast; Orthodox saints on the fringes

The three Catholic saints were born in Auriesville, New York, New York City, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  The distance between Auriesville and Philadelphia is 200 miles.  The packed-in nature of the saints shows a closed-in, historical Catholic realm.  Meanwhile, two of the Orthodox saints are Alaskans.  The third was born in the Midwest city of Gary, Indiana but had immigrant parents and lived in the Slavic part of town.  While he was not on the American fringe geographically he certainly was on the cultural fringe.

Ethnic Demographics of American-born Saints

Mixed
3 of European heritage (2 Catholic, 1 Orthodox), 2 of American Native heritage (1 Catholic, 1 Orthodox), 1 of Mixed European and American Native heritage (1 Orthodox)

Saint Katharine Drexel was of Austrian heritage but born in an established American family.  Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was of English and French heritage.  Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was a Mohawk.  Saint Jacob Nestvetov was mixed Russian and Aluet. Saint Peter was Aluet.  Finally, Saint Varnava Nastić was ethnically Serbian.

Dates of Canonization

1975 - Elizabeth Ann Seton
1980 - Peter the Aleut (Orthodox Church in America)
1994 - Jacob Netsvetov (Orthodox Church in America)
2000 - Katharine Drexel
2005 - Varnava Nastić (Serbian Orthodox Church)
2012 - Kateri Tekakwitha

An American-born saint has been canonized on average every 7.4 years since 1975.  Up until 2000 there were more Orthodox-born American saints than Catholic but the Universal Call to Holiness' recognition of sainthood in many people rather than just a notable few has helped fuel the Catholic rise to tie the Orthodox.  Many faithful pray for the declaration of sainthood for  dozens of beatified and venerable American-born Catholics.  The Universal Call to Holiness' push will likely cause Catholics to take the lead in American-born saints within a decade.

Map of Where American Ambassadors Have Been Killed

I made a map of the six (five confirmed and one possible) ambassadors who have been killed while on duty.  There are certain geographical and other themes with the murders.


View Map of Where American Ambassadors Have Been Killed in a larger map

While the first murdered ambassador, John Gordon Mein, was killed in the Western Hemisphere, the other five were all killed in the Eastern Hemisphere.

• Four of the five in were in the Greater Middle East Pivot Zone.  The one exception, Cyprus, is arguably part of this pivot zone.  The murder of the ambassador occurred two months prior the Turkish invasion of Cyprus which itself was a result of ethnic Turkish versus ethnic Greek violence on the island.
• The five confirmed killers' ideologies can be broken down as: 3 leftist, 2 ultra-nationalist, 1 Islamist.
• The death of the American ambassador to Pakistan is a bit of a mystery.  Arnold L. Raphel died in a plane crash that killed Pakistan's President Zia ul Haq, the Pakistani Joint Cheifs of Staff, as well as other senior Pakistani officials.  Many of these officials were involved with Pakistan's nuclear program.  The two leading suspects, if this was indeed an assassination, are the Soviet Union (which sought revenge for Pakistan and America's support of Afghan rebels) or a certain country who has gone to extremes before to prevent its enemies from developing a nuclear program.

Mitt Romney: Hispanic

Because of religious geography former Massachusetts Governor and Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is Hispanic.  Romney's Hispanic heritage is rooted in religious migration and revolution.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints (Salt Lake City Mormons) began establishing colonies in Mexico during the 1870s.  These colonies were to serve as a fall back point in case the United States government tried to aggressively crush polygamy.  Mormon President Brigham Young, who brought his band of Mormons to what is now Utah to escape outside forces against the faith, realized the American West was closing and Mormon de facto independence was about to end.  The Romney family, a leading family in Mormonism, were among the Mormon Mexico pioneers.  Eventually the Salt Lake City Mormon church abandoned and suppressed polygamy but the colonies continued to grow.

Mitt Romney's father, George Romney, was born in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico in 1907.  George's father, Gaskell Romney, was a Mormon colonizer who settled in 1885.  George's maternal grandfather, Helaman Pratt, was one of the first Mormon missionaries in Mexico and became a Mormon colonizer in 1876.  Mexico at the time did not allow dual citizenship and thus forced the Romneys to choose between Mexican and American citizenship.  They chose American citizenship.


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The American Public Land Survey System, grid system, is seen as an import by Mormon colonizers

In 1912 raiding and the threat of Mexican Revolution spillover forced most of the Romneys and many, but not all, Mormon colonial families to flee to the United States.  George was able to integrate into the United States and eventual become Governor of Michigan.  His son Mitt was born in 1947 in Michigan.

So how is Mitt Romney Hispanic?  The 2010 United States Census states

"The terms "Hispanic" or "Latino" refer to persons who trace their origin or descent to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Spanish speaking Central and South America countries, and other Spanish cultures. Origin can be considered as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of the person or the person's parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race."

Nothing in the definition says Hispanics have to speak Spanish.  This allows many Mesoamerican Indians in the remote parts of Central America to be classified as Hispanic as well as Paraguayan Mennonites.  The fact that race does not matter allows Middle and South American Indians, Mestizos, pure blood Spanish-Americans, European South Americans, and Black Dominicans all to claim to be Hispanic.  All this allows the Romney-Pratt family to be of Hispanic heritage.