Author: ghostdancers way

I can only hope that it makes the paper.

Thank you Patrick Lang for the information on Chuck Haqel.  I have left this man’s name here in the interest of fairness to all the elites that he alleges are responsible for all the ills of the world.  His letter is below the fold, for those who want to read it.

I am writing this in response to the letter to the editor by one David Cline.

The Senator Mr. Cline saw on TV was one Chuck Hagel (R NE) and a Vietnam (in country) Veteran.  Who once was Sergeant Hagel of the First Battalion, Forty Seventh Infantry Regiment, Ninth Infantry Division. He was a “grunt,” i.e., a Rifleman and a leader of Riflemen in a war in which Riflemen spent an average of 240 days in actual combat out of a year’s tour of duty.  So I give great credence to what Senator Hagel has to offer to the discussion concerning the war in Iraq that similarly was started upon a myth.  Creating that myth for Iraq, is one of America’s greatest elites, Neo-Conservative chickhawks, (those who place others in harms way who have never served in the Armed Forces or saw combat) who lied to the American people concerning the connection between 9-11 and Iraq’s government.  These are the elites that are the most dangerous to our republic.
The Mainstream media (MSM) that Mr. Cline so deftly scolded, is failing in many areas of its reporting, not just what is or is not transpiring in Iraq, but what also is occurring in our own country.  There has been little media attention to the Downing Street Memo and even less attention to the many and varied reasons that this Administration has put forth as the justification for this war.  

Our MSM spent thousands of hours and hundreds of column inches when the previous President told a lie, where are all the hours and column inches for the lie that so far has caused 1800+ deaths and 20,000 + casualties.  I ask you Mr. Cline, who really controls that MSM; I can assure you that today most MSM are not controlled by the Elites that you claim are misrepresenting the facts in Iraq.

I disagree wholeheartedly with Mr. Cline’s assertion that the media and Congress prevented the Military from winning the war in Vietnam.  We won the battles but lost the hearts and minds of the people of Vietnam because we failed to address their economic and political issues in a way that would indeed foster a democratic society.  

The wholesale bombing, stripping away entire areas of foliage, rounding up and moving people into safe zones, does not preclude people to support an occupying force.  Our soldiers and marines in the field for the most part diligently held themselves to a high moral standard, yet there were in fact many of the same issues that currently plague the Iraqi theater of operations.  

I am also very grateful that our military is run by Civilians, who are supposed to listen to our military leaders, unfortunately those same civilian leaders failed to listen to a least two General officers who made it clear that more troops would be needed to complete the mission in Iraq.  This failure on the part of our leaders is the cause for so many of the deaths that our military is currently experiencing.

Yes Mr. Cline, I agree Hundreds of thousands in Vietnam were in fact rounded up and many were killed; yet I believe you are using the Cambodian Killing fields to inflate your numbers of dead after the fall of Vietnam to the NVA and the Viet Cong.  When you ask what do you suppose will happen when we pull out of Iraq, I am sure they will fall into a bloody civil war that will not be something that will benefit the peoples of Iraq.  

Unfortunately your accusation that the elites were responsible for the mass killing in Vietnam is as flawed as your suggestion that those same elites would be responsible for any mass killing in Iraq.  The Neo-Con elite that lied to the American people is fully responsible for the death and destruction that is currently inflaming the Nation of Iraq.  Those are the people who have not only Iraqi blood, but also American soldiers and marines blood on their hands.

As a protestor of this war, your blanket statement that I would want terrorists here in my country is inflaming at the least and despicable in its allegation that I am anything less than a patriotic American Citizen.  Your continued connection of Iraq to the 9-11 tragedy clearly shows you have not done your homework or investigated this completely false premise.  There has never been a connection between Bin Laden and Hussein, they were in fact mortal enemies, Bin Laden a Theocratic despot and Hussein a Bathist was a Muslim in name only.  

This war must be stopped quickly and our troops removed from harms way as fast as possible.  This continued use of our Armed Forces to “install a democratically elected government in Iraq” is a farce.  The Constitution that the Iraqi’s are considering will give us an Iraq that is in fact an Iran lite, no constitutional guaranteed rights to women or the minorities that currently reside in Iraq.

Your statement that your friends who lost their lives in the service of their country was noble, mortifies me for this reason.  No death in any war is noble, no matter what the reason for that war; death in war is by its very nature an abhorrent injustice to those that died.  I too lost friends in that horrific war in Vietnam, my step brother, a marine, served three tours and was wounded three times.  My stepbrother believed that fighting for ones country is the honorable thing to do, yet today he is opposed to the way in which this war was brought about and how it is being initiated.  I enlisted in 1972 and did not serve in country, yet I saw the horrors of those who were wounded in battle in that war.

I currently have two relatives serving in the Marines in Iraq, two young men who have begun to question how some chickhawk Neo-Con’s who have never served in the Armed Forces could in good conscience, send men and women to their deaths in a war that is fully premised upon lies and deceit of the American public.  I agree with you Mr. Cline, wars are won by our soldiers, marines and sailors, and unfortunately our military personnel have been placed in harms way by an Elite who cares little for them while they are serving and even less for them when they return battered, wounded or dead.  

Have you ever wondered why the current Administration has deemed in necessary to cut more than 1.4 Billion dollars from the Veteran Administration while we are in the midst of this war?  I can only hope that my cousins children who are serving in Iraq, will come home soon, and that this illegal and immoral war will be over soon, so that America will have a chance to redeem itself as truly the champion of human rights and once again become the stellar nation that it once so proudly had become.

Our military does not make us free Mr. Cline; active participation in our democratic republic is what makes us free.  Making sure that we hold our elected officials accountable for telling the American people the truth is what makes us free.  A free and open press that is not so lazy as to investigate thoroughly the allegations of misconduct by the elected officials, who represent us, creates our freedom.  

Standing up and objecting when wrongs are perceived and protesting to the high heavens to insure that those actions that violate our collective conscious are clearly aired and brought to the attention of our Nation.  Our military is but one aspect of this march of Freedom in our Country.  I may disagree wholeheartedly with what you have said Mr. Cline, but the beauty of America is that you have the right, the same as I, to voice your opinions.  

LTE Ottawa Herald

I saw some senator on television talking about how Iraq is getting to be another Vietnam. Let’s get this straight. We never lost the Vietnam war and we are not losing in Iraq. The elites in this country want you to think so.

The media are not reporting the good things going on there. They sit in their rooms in the hotels and try to report the war from their rooms. They need to get out and see what is really going on.

…Our Congress and the media stopped us from winning the Vietnam war. I still cannot see why some of those congressmen think they know more than our military leaders. … We have not lost any war. We just pulled out.

Does anyone remember what happened when we pulled out of Vietnam? Millions were rounded up and killed. What do you suppose would happen if we pull out of Iraq? Millions would be rounded up and killed. The elites and the media in this country have blood on their hands, not our military.

Hey protesters, would you rather be fighting the terrorists over there or here? I would say over there. Remember 9-11-2001 when the USA was attacked and that started the war on terrorism? We cannot stop this time until the work is finished.

A war cannot be won until someone loses. I had seven friends who died in Vietnam. They believed fighting for their country was the noble thing to do, even if it meant losing their lives. Politicians do not win wars, our fighting men do. Our soldiers make us free, not the politicians.

Damn scary stuff happened in Utah sunday night.

“Camouflaged troops” descended in helicopters on a Utah canyon Sunday night to bust up a permitted and insured rave party.

 Seems it might have been done, because GWB was coming to town the next morning.

Police raid rave party in Spanish Fork Canyon
Party’s over: 90 officers from several agencies cite 60 at the event, which had more than 400 people in attendance

By Michael N. Westley
The Salt Lake Tribune

Gestapo tactics

Here is one DJ’s account of what happened

DJ’s account
Here is video of what transpired sunday night at this legal and insured rave outside of Salt Lake City.

video of assault

What the hell is happening to our country folks.  It looks like Iraq in the way these kids were treated.

Here are some blogged accounts of what happened at the rave after the Gestapo arrived.

blogged accounts from the rave

More blogged accounts of the Gestapo tactics used to break up this legal rave.

blogged accounts from the rave

I read Jeffersonian Democrat’s story of seeking and finding recovery and it brought back so much of what I had to endure in my early recovery.  The most important thing that I found I needed to address was that I continued to fight against my disease.

Surrendering to it and accepting that it had in fact defeated me completely, into a state of incomprehensible moral bankruptcy, physically debilitating me to a point that I no longer resembled a human being and acknowledging that I no longer had the will to fight against it, was indeed my first step.

I have been blessed in my recovery, many loving and giving individuals helped me overcome all the obstacles that I placed in my path to defeat myself and return to active addiction.  I was honored to have found a sponsor in 12-step recovery that has worked with me for over 13 years, until I moved away from California.  

12-step recovery is available to anyone who feels the need to address a problem with alcohol or drugs.  It is free and there are no rules, just suggestions.  The five suggestions that I have taken to heart are these:

Go to 12 step meetings
Get a sponsor
Work the steps
Find a higher power that you can work with
Do not use between meetings.

With these simple suggestions, I will have found my way to 18 years in recovery come August 31, 2005.

It is indeed a long way from finding myself laying in my own urine, feces and vomit, in a cardboard box in downtown San Diego, California on August 31, 1985.  Paralyzed and unable to comprehend what had just happened to me the night before.

I hope that this will give you an idea of the power of the Disease of Addiction.

This is a personal rendition of I am your disease  From Courage to Change
The disease of addiction hates 12 step meetings; it hates all who have found the miracle of 12-step recovery.  Our disease continues to despise all who have found a program of recovery that comes in contact with it.  Addictive disease continues to seek only continued suffering and death for all addicts.

Let me introduce you to the disease of addiction, it is cunning, baffling, powerful and it has caused millions to suffer and killed many millions more as it spreads across our world.

It is indeed a trickster, catching us by surprise, pretending to be a friend and confidant.

This disease in the beginning offers comfort and solace, being available when we are lonely, when life was desperate and we wanted to die, did we not call out for its soothing comfort when life was truly hard or interestingly bright and good.

It was there first as comfort then it made us hurt and wail, then it begins to make us numb so that we can neither cry nor hurt any longer.  This disease strives to achieve in the addict the ability to feel nothing.

The true brilliance of the disease is it will give us instant gratification and all it asks of us is to endure extended torment.  The complete and utter annihilation of our very soul is its destiny in our lives.

It was always there for us, when life was both good and bad, we invited it into our lives to alter how we felt.  We seemed to say that we did not deserve the good things in life and our disease wholeheartedly agreed with us.

The disease of addiction’ with our help was able to completely destroy all the positive things in our lives.

Unfortunately many people do not take this disease seriously, like they take strokes, diabetes, and heart attacks seriously.  We become fools in believing that our addiction will not facilitate these diseases in our lives.

Addiction is indeed a cursed and hated disease, yet it did not enter our lives without an invitation, we chose to feed our disease; we choose addiction over the joys of living and learning to live within ourselves peacefully.

We hate our disease, yet it hates us more when we find 12-step recovery, our program, meetings, and our ability to bring a higher power into our lives weakens our disease.  It slowly begins to fail in its ability to destroy our lives.  No longer is it allowed to create havoc and destruction within our lives and those who are a part of that life.

It waits patiently, unseen, unheard, but ever growing in its desire to open the door of addiction and take back control of our lives.

When we barely subsist, our disease lives strongly, when we become living beings, our disease only subsists.  It is always there, waiting for its opportunity to explode upon our very soul, wishing only for our continued misery and eventually our death.  This is our disease.

Yet as long as we embody the core values of 12-step recovery, our disease will merely subsist, never again to challenge us for domination of our lives.  Freedom calls, Freedom rings because we have surrendered our will and lives to something greater than ourselves.  12 STEP RECOVERY

A personal modification of From Courage to Change

I hope what you gain here is an understanding of how Native American core cultural values demonstrate their associated behaviors and attitudes. These are not fully inclusive as there is no way to incorporate all of the differences in tribal affiliations into these core values.  They do not reflect the wide variations spread throughout Native American communities being the result of various levels of cultural assimilation among individuals in those communities.  Neither can it reflect the differences throughout the Native American cultures that have stretched across the North American continent.  However many of these values have a commonality with so many of these communities, that they are easily picked upon when encountered in the Native American communities.

I believe that these qualities have provided the balance in my life that has enabled me to overcome the many issues and problems that I have had to face in my life and my recovery.  They bring within me the ability to live my life in a manner that is respectful, hopeful, enlightened, open and allows me to grow as a spiritual being.  Like any spiritual being on this planet, I make my share of mistakes, yet through my belief system, I have been able to correct many of these errors in judgment and not have to repeat them over and over again.  I am far from perfect, yet have found stability in my life that previously was lacking.  I have found a unique peace in my soul that for most of my life raged in unrequited agony over what had been done to me during my childhood and what I had done to others because of that childhood.  The cultural values that I found in living my life within the Native American traditions have opened my heart and mind to the profound joys of living.  

I can only hope that as we progress in our desire to overcome the NeoCon agenda, which wants to circumvent our Constitution and our way of life, that we encompass the Values and Behaviors that have sustained a people who have long suffered many of the threatened actions of these NeoCon Fascists.  I pray that Great Spirit lead us into the revolution that ensues with an open heart and love of our fellow human beings, even when they are diametrically opposed to what we believe.  By living our lives within the Values and Behaviors that demonstrate that we indeed are living our lives in a way that truly supports our Anti War stance, we not only are talking the talk, we truly are walking the walk.

Cindy Sheehan is indeed walking her walk.  I believe that she truly knows in her heart that her spiritual well being is indeed being renewed and revived as she seeks to have our President explain to her the Noble Cause that took her son’s life.  Spiritual growth is never easy, it brings with it not only joy but hardship.  If it was easy, I personally don’t believe that it would carry the value that I place upon it.  I look at the Mega Churches, the drive through churches and I see how easily they spread their truth, simply show up, give us plenty of your money and we shall give you spiritual well being by osmosis.  I look at real Christians, those that live their faith and I know that they truly understand how difficult it is to grow and develop as a spiritual being.  All of us together encompass something that is truly amazing, truly stretches our ability to comprehend the magnitude of our existence.  Whether one is a spiritualist, evolutionist, agnostic or atheist, there is still the overwhelming sense that life, the life we have on this mere blue speck of dust and water in the greater universe, is truly a wondrous miracle to behold.  Here are the Values and Behaviors that I have found to enhance, grow and develop myself as a better human being.  They are offered as a road map of sorts, to travel on the road that offers each of you the happiness, joy, love and sustainability to create within your world all that you wish to achieve during your time here in this plane of existence.

More below the fold

Crossposted at Village Blue, My Left Wing and Our Word

Accepting Disparity  

Native Americans have as a tradition, show respect to the unique differences among peoples. A common expression of this value includes staying out of other people’s affairs and interjecting their opinions only when asked. There is an expectation that this courtesy will be returned, as a matter of respect.  Keeping ones opinion to oneself in the community shows respect for the lives of all who live in the community and interference should only be offered when asked for or when there are threats to the well being of the community or a community member.  It would be considered disrespectful to ask another member of the community, what are your religious beliefs.  This value has allowed me the opportunity to know and accept the varied cultures that have touched my life in so many ways.

Stillness  

The overt act of quietness or silence as a value, serves many functions in Indian life. This value has significantly contributed to the survival of Native American cultures.  For many tribal members, when they get angry or are uncomfortable, they simply remain silent.  Most non Indians view this as indifference, which in fact it is not.  It is a highly developed interpersonal etiquette that provides for the defusing of explosive issues that could injure the community.  This ability to circumvent anger, frustration and resentment allows for the creation of solutions to problems that crop up within the community.  I have used stillness as a tool to silence the inner voices and feel the magnificence of the world around me.

Endurance, Tolerance and Patience

  Native American’s have a deep abiding respect for the virtue of patience and tolerance. This respect is based on the belief that all things in life will be revealed in their time.  Patience, like silence, was another survival behavior that protected tribes during the genocidal years.  Patience and tolerance were needed, in social situations; to show respect for individuals and elders, to help the group reach agreement, and allow time for “reflection.”  This value is often seen as procrastination by non Indian cultures and many Indians have been unfairly stereotyped as lazy Indians, because they failed to live in the hurry up and wait world of the white man.  Endurance, tolerance and patience are the truly remarkable values that have sustain my culture for the last 100 years, under the governance of the BIA.  Patience has been one of the cornerstones of my recovery, showing me how to live in a society that is always hurrying to go nowhere fast.  Endurance has become an increasingly valuable tool as I have had to endure the harsh reality of living in a country that is systematically being converted into a fascist state.  And tolerance has enabled me not to lose my mind over this subverting of my country by the fascists.

Purpose driven work ethic  

Work has always been directed as a function and is completed when it needs to be finished, in traditional Indian life. The non-materialistic societies created by many Indians are one product of this value.  The accumulation of things through working was an alien concept until the forced assimilation of so many tribal members.  Busy work, doing something to keep your hands busy is also a foreign concept in Native American tribal cultures.  The need for so many outside of tribal cultures to keep busy is just not an itch that tribes have found necessary to scratch.  The accumulation of stuff, just to possess stuff is also very foreign to Native peoples.  Great Spirit has always provided what was needed to live not just to survive.  I have found that my needs are constantly being met and that my wants for the most part exceed my needs exponentially.  That is why I have curtailed my accumulation of things to try and make me happy.

Communal Mutualism

   This value, attitude, and behavior, saturates the entire traditional Indian social fabric.  Because mutualism supports a sense of belonging and harmony within the group, members cooperate to gain tribal protection and agreement.  Because American culture supports the inclination to emphasize competition and work for individual gain over cooperation to benefit the whole community, many Native Americans have difficulty assimilating into American culture.  The emphasis on how much do you own and much do you make are examples of this disparity in cultures. The sad fact that so many of us strive to keep up with the Jones’s creates an environment that is hostile to communal mutualism.  The value of communal mutualism clearly demonstrates the commitment to all the individuals that live within the community.  That the members least able to care for themselves are adopted by other members of the community to insure that they are well cared for, has historically been the norm in Native American tribal affiliations.  I seek to enhance my community, to help it become more open and accepting of all the peoples that live within it and incorporate them into the very fabric of the community. I strive to achieve this in all the different communities that I am a member of, this acceptance of those who are a part of those communities insures that I am living my spiritual path and not just talking my way through life.

Nonverbal point of reference

The art of listening is a well practiced art in the traditional native American communities, many Indians prefer to listen rather than speak.  Speaking simply to hear one’s own voice is rarely practiced in these communities.  When one speaks there must be a purpose for your words, small talk is not widely received, except among close family or friends.  Words have an elemental power within the culture of Native Americans and when used there must be a reason for that use and it must be exercised carefully.  Within the confines of a social interaction the importance of the words are based upon their expressive connotations rather than their oral power to communication.  This expressive nature is clearly defined by the highly descriptive stories of how the Native Americans came to be and how Great Spirit place them upon their ancestral lands.  I remember working with an older Native American, who was a Medicine Man.  I was always puzzled by his short grunts whenever I initiated a conversation with him.  One day he asked me if there was ever going to be point to what I was saying to him.  He helped me to understand that words have power and we must use them to enhance our existence upon this planet.

Observing and hearing

Native American’s have always placed, hearing, observing, and memorizing as highly valued skills, given that virtually all facets of Native American culture were conveyed orally or through modeling. The lore teller, the oral histories, the experiential and observational learning were all well organized within Native American cultures.  The use of these skills, were necessary to carry on the traditions and values of the culture, which were based upon the members honing these skills to a fine art. Without the culture highly prizing observation and hearing, not just listening, many of the cultures finest oral traditions would never have survived the long dark years between 1875 and 1980.  I have been very fortunate in having many fine teachers over the years, whom have helped me to hone my abilities to observe and hear.  I am grateful for the many gifts my spiritual path has presented into my life.  The skill sets I have in hearing what others are saying and observing my surroundings have greatly increased my abilities to live my life to its fullest.

Spatial representation

The Native American world allows things to come about when it is time for them to proceed. Time is relatively elastic and usually not ordered into parts as it is in current civilizations.  Since arranging time and determining it into specific divisions are qualities of the predominate culture in the United States, dissonance can arise between the traditional living Indian and the prevailing culture.  How that dissonance is remedied has taken many forms and for some it has prevented them from holding jobs in the real world.  Time truly is relative and when the clock runs one’s life, there is a tendency to wither as a living soul.  I realize that many of us must pursue jobs that create demands upon how our time is used, yet there are many places were we could allow our souls to be free of these constraints.  Take the time to adventure outside of your comfort zone, explore the realities of what the world truly has to offer. Fortunately for me, I have had very few problems adhering to the time relative problems of the culture of the US.  I know many that continue to struggle with the concepts of ordered time.

The Present as a point of reference

Traditionally, the Native American culture’s point of reference has always been to the present and the pressing tasks at hand. This point of reference further enhances the Human Beings presence on the planet as  being not something that will be coming in some future time.  The needs of the present take precedence over the desires of the vague future rewards that are off in the distance.  Notably there have been alterations in this belief over the last 100 years, due to the forced assimilation of tribal members, yet it is still apparent within the personalities of most Native Americans.  All things that show up in Native American’s lives are dealt with based on their immediate relevance to the current time and place.  This lesson was a hard one learned and I am grateful to the teachers I have had in my life to help me view life in the here and now.  Living one day at a time has definitely given me a greater life to live.

Holistic approaches to living

Native American cultures have an ancient and almost built in path to understanding the whole. This is readily perceptible in a variety of aspects in Indian cultures, ranging from curative to community associations.  When dealing with Native cultures it is imperative to keep in mind this holistic outlook on living life, that the whole is not simply a sum of all of its parts.  

I cured with the power that came through me. Of course, it was not I who cured, it was the power from the Outer World, the visions and the ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds.” “If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through. Then everything I could do would be foolish.

 Black Elk Oglala Sioux

I have brought this approach into how I live my life today.  My life has become like the circle of life, that all I am is not just the sum of my parts.  I am a Human Being, therefore I am valued not just for being, I am valued because I am.

Confidence in Spirituality

Spiritual contemplation and attainment are integral parts of the shared traditions within the Native American life.  Spirituality is deemed an accepted element of all that there is in the world.  Integrating spirituality within ones life is a measure of how well we have assimilated the values and principles of our culture.  The spirit world opens our hearts and minds to the vast realm of life and its desire to continue in all its forms.  That we must connect with all the life forms that are a part of our lives, insures that we are indeed living a spiritual life.

You have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round….. The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.  Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

Black Elk Oglala Sioux

I am of the coyote clan.  I feel the presence of my clan as I strive to achieve and assimilate the values and guiding principles of my spiritual path.  The sweat lodge, the vision quest, smudging and prayer all bring me closer to the place within my heart that will truly set me free.

Vigilance  

The inclination toward vigilance in unknown personal experiences and circumstances has established the stereotypical representation of the stoic Indian. This quality is closely related to the calm and silent conduct of many Native Americans.  Such carefulness results from a basic apprehension concerning how others whom they are unfamiliar, will acknowledge their views and actions.  This carefulness is also displayed when in new circumstances with which they have no familiarity. That the stoic Indian has little concern for others is a decidedly false and unjust indictment; against a value that simply says when in doubt say little until you are sure of what you need to say.  I personally have found this value of great importance in keeping my head out of my anal orifice on so many occasions.  I find that if I don’t have something positive to say, it would be much more responsible of me to say nothing and let it pass me by.   This approach has given me great confidence when I actually do have words that might have some importance in the ongoing topic of discussion.

I offer these values and behaviors as a way for our communities to address the injustice, moral turpitude and outright illegal activities of the people in power in our country right now.  Can we win the battle to retake our country from the NeoCon criminals who are working so diligently to usurp our Constitution and hold hostage our sacred rights.  I can only tell you that I will fight as long as I am able to sustain breath and voice my concerns in a free republic.  I can also tell you that these values and behaviors have sustained a people for more than 100 years as they have struggled to achieve personhood, the right to vote, the right to own property, the right to live their lives unhindered by the government of the United States of America.  

I say to all progressives, if the Democratic Party does not begin to address the needs of the progressive left, if it continues its march toward becoming the GOP light, then I say, move on, take your voice, you money and your vote to another party.  One that has an understanding of progressive ideals, one that will stand up to the NeoCon corporatists that want nothing more than to control all the wealth and all the power in the US.  I have recently sent a letter to the DNC, explaining to them that I will not be a member of their party much longer if they continue to discount the three core issues that I find most important as an American.  Personal privacy is of the utmost importance that no law shall impugn upon any human beings right to choose any medical procedure without interference from the Government.  That the Patriot Act shall be rescinded fully and a new law written that guarantees to protect all of my rights, that were so carefully written into our Constitution by the founding fathers.  Lastly that all elections in every county in the US will insure that a paper trail shall be available for recounts in the event there is a need for that recount.  

If the DNC continues to move right, I will be working diligently to move more members to the left and if that means joining another party that supports most of my concerns about the US and its policies, then it will truly be a shame that I must walk away from a party that I have been a member of since 1972, when I was allowed to vote for the very first time.  I hope that each of you will open yourself to this fact of life and that when the time comes, let our Party know that if they choose to ignore our warnings then they shall indeed feel the wrath of our righteous anger at having been minimized by them.  I believe if enough members of the grassroots, start letting the DNC know that they are in danger of losing a significant amount of their base, they might just tell the DLC to take their corporate hackism and take a hike.

This is just too damn good to pass up:

From the August 9 broadcast of The Ed Schultz Show:

SCHULTZ: Well, I know you inspired a lot of people in this country and gave a lot of people hope. Because eventually, this is going to start to turn. You weren’t given half a chance, in many respects. And you were vilified. In fact, the No. 1 conservative talker in this country, Rush Limbaugh, said you went to Iraq to pad your resumé. How do you take that kind of conversation?

HACKETT: That’s typical for that fat-ass drug addict to come up with something like that. There’s a guy — I didn’t hear this, but actually when I was on drill this weekend, I’ve got to tell you, he lost a lot of Republican supporters with his comments. Because they were coming up to me, telling me, “I can’t believe he said that! And besides that, he called you a soldier. He doesn’t know the difference between a soldier and a Marine!”

So generally, the consensus is, you know, Rush doesn’t know squat about patriotism. He’s typical of the new Republican. He’s got a lot of lip, and he doesn’t walk the walk. The fact of the matter is, I went to Iraq to serve my country. I left my nice house, my nice wife, by my choice because I thought it was the right thing to do. And man, if I was good enough to be able to see into the future that Rob Portman was going to step down from Congress, I mean, I should actually be running for something a lot more than Congress. I went to Iraq because I wanted to serve my country and be with my Marines.

I think it probably says more about Rush Limbaugh than it does anybody else that he comes up with those thought processes. And I think it’s indicative of today’s Republican Party, which is patriotic-lite translated to anybody who serves their country who truly who truly serves their country and demonstrates it by their actions as opposed to their flapping gums.

They want to attack us. But the fact of the matter is, they can attack me, but I punch back just as hard as I get. Ask Rush how come he wasn’t taking phone calls for the two days when he was on the attack with me. Ask him why his phone lines were clogged up. And that’s because he was getting thousands of calls from veterans from this war and other wars who were clogging up his phone lines, giving him an earful.

audio link

A Theocrats Dream

As Dobson, Perkins, Falwell, Robertson, Kennedy, and other Theocratic minded Christian leaders, continue their crusade to return America to its Christian roots.  Have you as a Citizen, really looked at what they want you to sacrifice if you are not a Christian or one of their Christians?  I would enjoin you to look at what these Theocratic religious extremist have in mind for our country and its non Christian or not exactly like them Christians.  

I can tell you from the research that I have been doing, their first order of business is to promulgate the myth that there is persecution of Christians in the United States of such proportion that it hinders all good Christians from proselytizing to the fullest extent of their credo of spreading the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world.  Well, I guess persecution means that they must covertly arrange meetings to worship, wait now in my town there are at least 100 churches and that is in a town of less than 13K.  There are three churches right within eyesight of the county courthouse and Sheriff’s office.  I guess persecution only happens when I can’t see it.  

By continuing to perpetuate the myth that Christians are persecuted in the US to the magnitude they are in fact persecuted in many other countries, these extremists can rile up the mainstream Christians that one day will also be sacrificed to the altar of the Theocratic crusaders.  You see if Theocrats can get mainstream Christians to support them, they will in fact gain a much wider base and therefore can achieve more of their agenda.  This is where you will see that agenda spread out before you.

The Theocratic right believes that only Christians should hold public office, because they have the moral authority vested in them by their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to insure the purity of their rule.  Therefore the rest of us are left to the mercy of these Theocratic extremists, who would have us believe that they will indeed look out for our best interests.  

As a Native American, I can tell you that not many of the Christian Indian Agents that were appointed by the BIA to care for the Indian, actually provided that assistance.  So much of the money, grain, blankets, food and clothing that was supposed to enter the reservation for the betterment of the Indian’s lives, instead found its way into the coffers of the church and the Agents bank account.  Now I really want to give credit where credit is due, there were in fact Christian agents who fulfilled their fiduciary duties as Agents and worked diligently to help Indians survive. But unfortunately the majority of Indian Agents routinely cheated and stole the majority of the items that were destined for the Indians.

Crossposted at  Village Blue and OurWord
Now I am sure that those religious men I noted above truly believe they are called by God to protect the rest of us from ourselves.  Somehow, I just don’t feel the need to be protected from myself and particularly I don’t want to be protected by a Theocratic republic, who’s doctrine is to eliminate all dissent, crush all opposition to its dogma and prohibit the free expression of opposing viewpoints.  

If you go to any of these so called Christian’s websites, you will see that they all have one thing in common, the call to control all aspects of the lives of American’s.  You will see that they do not believe that any of us have any right to any kind of privacy when it comes to our medical decisions, who we decide to have a sexual relationship with, or if we have the right to use contraception if we do choose to have a sexual relationship. First and foremost these

Theocrats want to control our ability to decide whether or not we shall have children and how many.  I personally don’t like abortion, yet I defend the right of a woman to control her reproductive abilities, it is she not I that must carry the physical disturbance that pregnancy imposes upon her body.  Our Theocratic saviours want to insure that in no fashion can any woman at any time prevent a pregnancy and if a pregnancy occurs, there will be no safe medically proven way to terminate that pregnancy, even if the life of the mother is endangered by the pregnancy.  Wow they surely do want to protect us don’t they?

Now I don’t mean to compare these Theocrats to the failed Third Reich too much, but it seems that many of these Theocrats have devised a way to treat homosexuality.  You know that disease that makes two people of the same sex, fall in love and want to have a life similar to the rest of us in the USA.  Now it seems to me that coercive therapy has had little impact on changing people’s behavior, except when it is so severe as to debilitate the person to the point of such extreme pain, they would say or do anything to stop the coercion.

And now one of our Theocratic saviours has written a guidebook for parents to determine if their children are on the path of homosexual destruction and how they can help prevent that from happening…My oh my will wonders never cease to occur and miracles never stop happening.  I am sure given my limited understanding of these Theocratic messiah’s that any one who display’s anything resembling homosexual behavior, in their Theocratic world will soon be isolated into re-education camps, to become heterosexuals like the rest of us.  Now didn’t something like this occur in just about every communist country and fascist country on the planet in the early and mid 20th century?  Oh yes we had three wars to try and prevent it, you know where more than 100 million human beings died during those wars and its aftermath.

Now our dear Theocrats blissfully recall the 1950’s or better yet the good old days of the Salem witch hunts, where mom stayed home and watched the kids, dad went out and earned enough money to support them and life was grand.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, our Theocrats really want us to return to that time where women were barefoot, pregnant and stuck in the home, subservient to their men.  

Oh my, what are they going to do with all those women who are not married, I can just see it, Theocrats marriage service, all unmarried women over the age of 18 must register to be assigned a husband, as it is unfathomable that any women over the age of 18 should be unmarried.  And of course there will be plenty of room in the colleges now that women are forbidden from enrolling in any college that teaches anything other than the culinary arts and the latest fashion and beauty tips.  After all we don’t want our women to be smarter than us now do we.  I wonder what Ann Coulter will do when they take away her right to express her lame right wing vomitus garbage.  

Of course there will be financial incentives from the Church of Jesus Christ of the United States of America for having more than 2 children, you know, you receive a 10K bonus for any children after two and a 25K bonus for any children after #5, along with the added development of you receiving the Rick Santorum Medal of Procreation if you exceed 9 children.  I can see it now folks, the fact that our planet currently does not have the resources to sustain our current populations, the Theocrats want to increase our populations because they are good little Christian soldiers and Rapture is coming.

 The fact that more than 4 million children are starving and more than 100K die each day from starvation means little to our dear Theocratic leaders.

Now you say, yet you can write this critique of the Theocrats.  Today I can write this critique, you see they haven’t found a way yet today to stop criticism of their beliefs.  Though they are working harder than ever to insure that others beliefs are criticized at every juncture.  After all Islam is a filthy religion full of platitudes and hatred, Buddhism is a psuedo-cult, native American spiritualism really is Satan worship and Wicca falls right in there with Native spiritualism as Devil worship.  

Just ask Pat Robertson, why he is the Theocrats guru on what constitutes a true religion, after all he has pocketed Billions of dollars in his glorification of the heavenly father.  He has in fact, according to him, moved Natures fury because God speaks and acts through him.  Well Pat, I have a question for you oh great Theocratic guru, why did you allow four Hurricanes to strike Florida, when they were instrumental in insuring that your Theocratic Candidate won the last two major elections.  Just a small question for you there Patty boy.  

Now there will be no Darwinism taught in the religious school systems that Theocratic members will have instituted to replace our current school systems.  Only Intelligent Design, that the Creator one day looked down upon the earth and said, hell I am lonely, I think I will make a man, ok, so now he is lonely I think I will make a women.  Damn now I have real problems on my hand.  Damn man can’t keep his hands off woman, so we will blame woman for corrupting man’s purity.  Hey sounds like a good book to write, TADA, the Bible, the only book needed in the Theocratic school system.  

I know many of you will not take much of what is written here seriously, but I assure you, if you read what these Theocrats have written, what is on their websites, what they sermonize on regularly, this is  not to far off the mark.  I love my country, I love my right to religious freedom and freedom from religion.  

If you read our Constitution, there are implicit references to our right to privacy; there is explicit reference to our right to be free of Theocratic tyranny.  I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that the USA is a Christian Nation and how many times I have said to that person; show me in the Constitution where it says Christian.  It says this in the preamble:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

And of course they go on about the Declaration of Independence and I suggest that they read it in its entirety because nowhere within that document does it say Christ, Christian, Christian nation or anything at all about Jesus Christ.

It says this in its opening:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. –That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. –Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.  

I realize anyone who has been educated after the years 1980, have had little civics and government classes offered in their local schools.  I believe that Ronnie Raygun and the earlier neo neocons perpetuated the reduction of these classes to dumb down our peoples to their rights and privileges due to them under our republican form of government.  That Theocrats have seized the day and are in fact garnering their crusade to usurp the legal and rightful means of self Government causes me great distress.  

I call upon all citizens, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Taoist, Native American, Agnostic, Atheist, Wiccan, whatever form or non form of spiritual belief you have or don’t have, join in and stop this assault upon our rights as American Citizens.  

The Theocrats view any dissent about their policies as an attack upon them as people of Faith.  The only faith I have seen from the likes of these Theocrats is that if they find a way to usurp our rights under our constitution they will have at their disposal the full faith and value of the US Government to institute their Theocratic rule to the detriment of all citizens that do not believe as they do.  That means anyone who Dobson, Perkins, Falwell, Robertson, Kennedy, and other Theocratic minded Christian leaders, decide is unworthy to bear the title Christian.

I for one have little doubt that anyone who crosses them, if they gain power will soon find themselves in a situation that little resembles the freedoms that we currently enjoy.  My guess is there will be a strong resemblance to many of the camps that Stalin and Hitler created to eliminate their problem populations, just a thought that I could not resist putting to paper.  

My culture has been on the receiving end of the culture of life within the so-called Christian movements.  That culture of life nearly destroyed an entire race of human beings and it caused great damage to its culture.  If you don’t want to feel the pain that our current culture of life wants to instill upon those of us who are not Christian, I advise you get off your butts and start encouraging everyone you know who has not voted to vote for progressive candidates.  

Put a little money where you mouth is, I can’t give much, around $50 a month spread out over three or four candidates.  Now you do the math.  1,000,000 people donating $600.00 a year to progressive candidates.  Wow that is $600 million dollars.  If you can’t do $600 a year, do what you can and invite others to donate.  We have become the Silent Majority folks and we are just as moral and just as worthy of representation in our Government as the Theocrats.  Do your part, Hell I gave up my cigars so I could donate that $50 bucks a month.  I don’t figure that is too much of a sacrifice when others have been forced to sacrifice their children for this illegal and immoral Theocratic war that has been foisted upon us by the extremists that have overtake our government.  Do your part, do what you can locally, statewide and nationally.  Stop the Theocrats in their tracks.

The cost of betrayal

“Abusing the trust of American Indians” ranked No. 2 in the government’s Top 10 Worst Examples of Mismanagement, compiled by the Senate Committee on Government Affairs.

(No.1 was the “Big Dig,” a highway project in Boston.) The betrayal of trust includes:

·    Untold billions in income from the use of Indian-owned land held in trust by the US but “lost” by the Interior and Treasury Departments.

·    $31 million in federal litigation costs, which Congress has started to question.

·    $625,000 in fines paid by the US government for contempt-of-court citation in 1999.

Elouise Cobell’s class-action suit

indiantrust

The United States of America’s Bureau Of Indian Affairs (BIA) for more than 170 years has told the Native American people Trust us, we have your best interest at heart.  As Elouise Cobell stated in an interview with Peter Maas / Parade Magazine 9sep01.

ON THE WALL next to Elouise Cobell’s desk is a blown-up reproduction of a famous Peanuts cartoon strip. After Lucy assures Charlie Brown, “Trust me,” she once again snatches away the football he’s about to kick, and he ends up flat on his back.
“I decided to stop being Charlie Brown,” Cobell told me. For her, “Lucy” is the U.S. government. Now 55, barely 5 feet 4, a wife and mother, Cobell is a member of the Blackfeet Indian tribe sequestered in the northwest corner of Montana. As a result of a lawsuit she filed on behalf of her fellow Native Americans, they finally are about to collect a staggering sum of money-as much as $40 billion-from Washington.

Crossposted at My Left Wing, Village Blue and OurWord

I am including a link to an open letter to the American people that Elouise Cobell wrote on behalf of more than 500,000 Native Americans who have been cheated, swindled, lied to and otherwise manipulated to steal not only their money, but their land.

Open letter to the American people

The money that she is trying to garner from the BIA is not welfare payments, these are monies that the BIA in it’s Trust/Fiduciary duties, developed contracts for grazing, timber, oil, mineral and gas contracts with many of the corporations that are exploiting the rest of America today.  These contracts were placed in trust by the BIA, who in its entire 170 year history has managed to mismanage the accounting of Indian money completely for as long as it has been in existence.  Here is a link to verify this fact:

no accounting

The facts of this betrayal are not in dispute, this federal department has long worked to assimilate the tribes into the American mainstream, working to turn them into model citizens, yes sir, we will take all of your land, resources and your culture and give you the right to live on 40 to 320 acres that we will control for you.  We will make sure that no one other than the Federal Government will rip you off for anything of value that is found on your land.  Yes Siree, trust us, you know we have broken every treaty that has ever been signed by a President of the United States.  We know what is good for you and we will make sure that you live in abject poverty, you children will die like flies from diseases that have been eradicated in most third world country’s and you will not have the freedom to use your land, except for what we tell you that it can be used for, you know life allowing Uranium mining to pollute your drinking water.  See Navajo Uranium (Google).

Why must Native Americans be held under the thumb of a Federal Government who’s sole desire is to rid itself of its Indian problem.  Do I believe that for the entire 170 years of its existence, the BIA was systematically trying to starve and destroy the very culture it was “supposed” to protect.  Based on observation, research and having spoken to many tribal elders over the course of my life, in a word, YES.  This Department of our Government has worked diligently to reduce the power, influence and ability to live their lives, of the very people it was mandated by law to protect.  Many times over the course of its existence, the BIA has created sweetheart deals for farmers, ranchers, oil companies, mineral companies and timber companies.  How would you like to be a big rancher with say 100,000 head of cattle, only enough range to really support half that amount, yet cut a deal with the BIA to pay some poor dumb Indian, $0.03 an acre per year, for grazing rights for 99 years.  Or if that poor old dumb Indian is lucky enough, he/she gets a good deal, say $150 an acre per year, yet they only see $25 dollars a year from the Trust account.

Is it any wonder that so many Indians live in abject poverty.  Has anyone wondered why the live birth rate on reservations is less than many of poorest countries in the world.  That hunger is a daily obstacle to be addressed by more than 1/3 of all reservation Indians.  As U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth stated in one of his opinions concerning Cobell,

“the entire record in this case tells the dreary story of Interior’s degenerate tenure as Trustee-Delegate for the Indian trust, a story shot through with bureaucratic blunders, flubs, goofs and foul-ups, and peppered with scandals, deception, dirty tricks and outright villainy, the end of which is nowhere in sight.”

There is in fact some good news coming out of this case and there are Senators who are supporting the Indians in getting the US Government to settle this and begin to do its lawful duty.  I can only hope that in the near future, this Interior Department organization will in fact be declared obsolete and dissolved and Indians can begin to live their lives in the ways that other Americans have lived theirs, without having the government dictate how they can live.  

Senator John McCain has this to say about the Cobell case.

For more than a century, McCain said, it appears the government “never really even made any serious attempt at keeping track of the revenues” it owed the Indians.

Yet the settlement that the Natives Americans have offered, which in fact could be as little as $0.27 on the dollar owed, according to McCain is just too much. He says that it would be just too difficult to get Congress to pony up $27 Billion  for this Settlement.  Oh but hey, we can give OIL, GAS, Nuclear and Halliburton more than $100 Billion dollars in subsidies and no bid contracts and these are all companies that have and are now making record profits.  Hmmmmmmmmmmm sounds like a case of too little political capital for the Indians.  I ask that each of you write a letter to your Senator supporting this settlement agreement and urging them to act fairly in dealing with the criminal behavior of the BIA over the last 170 years.

Personally I believe that every contract should be reviewed and renewed, regardless of length offered in the contract.  Hey we all know that a contract is a contract unless it is a UNION contract then it can be broken.  So how about breaking some of these contracts that have for years stolen the very assets of our Native American brothers and sisters.  I doubt very seriously if that will happen, but one can hope and pray that those who have been cheated, lied to, manipulated, criminally assaulted and relegated to second class citizenship, will have a chance to walk out of the poverty and despair that has permeated its society for more than 150 years.  

I have lived on several reservations over the years and I can tell you that I have seen third world countries that had a higher standard of living.  Years of oil, gas, mineral exploration has fouled water wells, polluted the land so nothing will grow on it, strip mining in sacred area’s, Indians forcibly removed from their land for ranchers grazing rights.  You name it and it has probably occurred at some point in the Indian’s existence.  

For those who want to know more concerning the abuses by the BIA and what one Indian is doing in the courts, here is a link to more information.

John Echohawk

I want to thank scribe for the courageous way she has faced her ordeal, perpetuated upon her by so called Men of God.  As I walk forward in my recovery, soon to complete my 18th year of being drug and alcohol free, I remember the long hard struggle to deal with my own sexual abuse at the hands of so called Christian Men.  I recognize that the vast majority of abuse is perpetuated upon young women, yet many young men are also victimized by the psychotic religious fanatics who’s views are that children are mere property, chattel to be used as seen fit.  This is one child’s nightmare that fortunately for me ends with a blessing and love of self and others.  I know many who have had this heinous crime heaped upon them, that found nothing but despair and death.

I am 51 years old, a native American/Welshman who found out on my 8th Birthday that I was nothing to my father but an instrument of sexual pleasure.  He shared his toy with several of his friends, one whom lead the Baptist church that my family attended.  I was informed that because I was less human than they that I would always be used as a means of enjoyment.  They instructed me, that was God’s plan for me and I just accepted it as truth.  I started using alcohol regularly after these encounters, because something inside me broke, I did not understand why I was less than these Men who told me that God only had this plan for my life.

I was abused and sexually tortured by these individuals until I was almost 13 years old, that was when my mother packed us up and moved us to Michigan.  My mother, I believe subliminally knew that my father was a sick man, she just could not come to accept that he was this sick.  I had continued to use alcohol and discovered drugs after moving to Michigan.  That these men who professed to love god, who were shining emblems of the community, had taken away not only my own self worth, but that of several other young men in that community, has always haunted me.

::::::::::::::::::::::: Crossposted at My Left Wing and Village Blue ::::::::::::::::::::::::::
I started using drugs to hide from the pain that permeated from within, that consumed me with hatred for god and anything or anybody that professed that they understood God’s message.  I stopped using long enough to join the Navy, after receiving my draft notice, only to be busted for possession within my first year of service.  I was discharged and preceded to go upon a drug-induced frenzy for the next 6 months.  I was fortunate to have encountered someone who needed a cook on a sailboat and I lied and said I was a cook in the Navy.  I bought two cookbooks and learned how to prepare meals.  Somewhere in my drug and alcohol addled brain, I knew not to use drugs while in a foreign country.  Yet upon return to the US, I marched to the drum of the great and powerful wizard of Heroin.

I never understood nor could I comprehend why I hated Jesus freaks, why I was walking the path of suicide on the installment plan.  I remember someone came up to me when I had been drinking heavily at an airport and asked me if I had found Jesus, I punched him in the face and walked away.  That encounter cost me two days in jail and 130-dollar fine for battery.  I hated everyone and everything, I moved from Heroin to clean, back to Heroin, back to clean.  I would go to college during the clean times, focusing all my attention upon gaining something that would help me change the way I lived my life.  When the intensity of learning lost its luster, I would walk away and start using again.  

Anytime someone would approach me about God, I would be consumed with a fury that even frightened me.  I would become violent and strike out at whomever brought up the words.  I spent all my time between heroin-induced fogs and alcohol induced violent encounters.  Bouncing back and forth between feeling nothing and trying to sustain the high of creating carnage upon another human being.  I hated and I wanted to be hated because I hated you and everything that you stood for in this life.  

I lived like this until I was in my early thirties, I don’t remember when I actually became homeless, maybe a year of so before I found sobriety.  I found myself living in a cardboard box in a doorway in downtown San Diego.  I would panhandle, pick up scrap metal, wash windows, anything to make a buck for that next fix and bottle.  I found a sure fire way to get money from the suits that worked downtown.  I was a smelly longhaired ragged looking drunk, who staggered up to the suits and said, “give me five bucks or I am going to hug you”.  Amazingly it worked like a charm, until I picked an Assistant District Attorney (ADA) to hug.  He had me arrested for extortion.  I relate this story because 5 days later I was on my way to becoming clean.  I was brought before a judge, whom I had seen countless times and he reprimanded the ADA for harassing a drunk.  He dropped the charges down to aggressive panhandling and time served and had me escorted out of the courtroom.  I heard that judge yelling at the ADA that if he ever wasted the time of the court again by harassing drunks he would make sure that the ADA would always be prosecuting menial driving misdemeanors.  

The Bailiff who escorted me out of the court, asked me if I had a place to go, I responded, probably not, my box and all my possessions are gone now, as I was in jail for 4 days.  I was shaking and he said where will you go and I said back to my doorway, I don’t have any other place to go.  He handed me five dollars and said, well at least get something to eat.  He knew I was going to buy a bottle and then start panhandling for money to buy heroin.  As I was walking away, he said this to me “Great Spirit knows what is in your heart, open your heart and know the truth of who you are”.  At first I started to get livid, then something just snapped and I walked away not knowing what to feel.  

I spent the next five days imploding my mind, soul and heart with heroin and alcohol.  I weighed 145 lbs, smelled like a sewer and on the night of August 30, 1987, I had a stroke.  I did not know what was going on, a cop was kicking me in the head, yelling at me to get up, you fucking smelly assed bum, get your ass out of here.  If I have to pick you up, I am going to kick your fucking ass. God damn it; get up you fucking worthless piece of shit.  I could not get up; I was paralyzed on the left side of my body.  Finally the other cop, said wait, there is something really wrong here and they called an ambulance.  I started my journey to recovery on August 31, 1987 and have not looked back since that day.

I was fortunate that the stroke was drug induced and I am not physically challenged by it, yet it woke something up inside me and I will be forever grateful for what it has opened up in my life.  I was introduced to a 12-step program that has allowed me the freedom to change my life from the inside out.  I was introduced to Great Spirit at one of these meetings, on a reservation in San Diego County.  By gaining an understanding of Great Spirit, I have been able to mitigate the destruction of my childhood, as it will never go away.  I do not hate those who robbed me of my humanity when I was a child, I do not despise them any longer.  I don’t know if I will ever be able to forgive them, but they do not hold the power in my life that they once did, not so long ago.

I have spent many thousands of hours and countless amounts of money in therapy and counseling to keep this harmful disease from being anything more than a painful memory.  That I still have bouts of depression sometimes makes it difficult to progress with my life.  It is these times that I pray, I ask Great Spirit to open my heart and soul to the wonders that are this earth, keep me safe as I walk the path of recovery from the harm that was placed upon me by those whom have no spiritual well being.  I have worked long and hard to become a Human being, someone who lives life with a set of values that honors life, honors those who share this life with me and shows the glory of my own spiritual awakening.  I will fight with all that I am to insure that people like my father and his friends, are never allowed to do anything like this to another child.  

I have little regard for people like Dobson, Falwell, Perkins, Robertson and their ilk.  That what they profess to know as God’s will, is little more than what they themselves want to perpetuate upon our culture, to control women and children to create a climate that has in the past wrought horrible consequences upon these same women and children.  That these so called Godly men would create chattel of the rest of us, to me is a most despicable and heinous crime and I as a recovering victim of this type of mentality will fight it with all that I am as a Human Being.

This started out as a comment on scribe’s diary; I felt that I had to share from a man’s perspective what this kind of abuse creates with him.  The courage that scribe has shown, helps me to also be courageous in my pursuit of recovery, and because I see there are others who are willing to move forward.  Challenge the mindset that was placed upon us when we were children and crash through the guilt, shame and disgust we have felt.  I am one of the few who have made it this far in my recovery.  The unfortunate reality is that I was in treatment with over 100 individuals, over a 9-month period.  I am the only one who has successfully maintained my recovery without a relapse.  There are a few who relapsed early and found their way back, a few who have 5 or 6 years now.  The majority are either in jail or dead.  I hated God; I hated everyone who even thought about God, during my using.  I found Great Spirit and that hate has dissipated and been replaced by hope, honor, trust, joy and love.  I am truly blessed and walk in grace each day that I am given here upon our earth.  The joy of living has surpassed the despair I lived within for so many years.  That I can trust another Human Being is without parallel in my life.  That I honor Great Spirit by the way I live my life, brings me happiness that is unsurpassed.  I am grateful for this life I have, for the opportunity to stand up and help those who like myself 40+ years ago, could not help themselves.  I hope that like scribe, this diary will touch you in some small way, open your heart and mind to the great suffering that has been perpetuated upon so many by those who would trick us into believing they are doing God’s will.  If you can find the time, volunteer at a local children’s shelter, detox, treatment program or any other type of program that helps people find solutions to their problems.  I continue to find ways to volunteer at various treatment programs that are helping those with addiction problems.  I give back what I can, yet understand that I will never be able to give back as much as I have received in my recovery.

After I read Infidelpig’s dairy of his return from Vietnam and the injustice that he saw in that small Wisconsin town, toward the Native American peoples, I did indeed need to pray to Great Spirit.  It brought up some very painful memories that I had witnessed growing up in Michigan.  That races of people were unable to enter a store, restaurant or public restroom because of their skin color or culture, was a reprehensible act of ignorance and racism.  That Jim Crow laws were alive and well in the Upper Midwest and West, only geared to the Native populations, not unlike the African Americans that lived in the South.  I don’t look Indian so this prejudice was not perpetuated upon me, yet I was abused for being an Indian from my own family.  

My father and most of his family never accepted me, my mother or my brothers and sister.  We were outcasts, something not mentioned, only one of my fathers sisters ever recognized that we even existed.  As I grew up, I strived to hide my other self; I worked hard to destroy that which was inside me.  I watched others of my race try to do the same things.  When you are repeatedly told that you are not worth spit, because you are an Indian, that you have no value because you are of a race of people who were defeated.  You have no power, no land, and no right to anything because we stripped you of your humanity.  It can and does send a powerful message.  I hear so many things coming from the right, as they strive to vilify and demonize those of us who are left of Ronald Reagan.  I do mean that in all sincerity.   The right is indeed feeding the wolf of hate, discontent and anger.

I hope that Infidelpig’s “The Two Wolves Within”, will help all of us in our cause.  To bring forth the best that we have to offer in this struggle to regain our country from the Worshippers of power and money.  We must continue to feed the wolf of patience, principle, ethics and tolerance in order to achieve our goal of eliminating the corruption and moral degradation that has permeated our country’s government.  I offer to you these guiding principles as a means to an end, a way to achieve a balance and harmony within the life you lead today.  I have strived to make these the guiding path of my spiritual well being.  They have brought me from the depths of hell as a homeless heroin addict, to a life that truly has meaning.  I have a life that gives me all that I could ever hope for and more.

“Spiritual matters are difficult to explain because you
must live with them in order to fully understand them.”

Thomas Yellowtail, CROW

“”””””””””””””””””””””””More below the fold””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

I have read many comments about the moral decay and dissonance that is the message being promoted by the religious right and the current administration.  My favorite is this, I often wonder why their heads don’t explode with the dissonance that is occurring by their actions and their stated pious words.  Personally I don’t believe there is any dissonance for these people, their words are a smoke screen, a cover, so they can do the wickedness that dwells within their hearts.  I hope that those individual’s who have in the past supported these wicked/evil people, will soon wake up to the tremendous harm that they have helped perpetuate upon the people of the US and the world.  I hope that the moderates in the Republican Party, those people for whom the constitution and the liberties that are granted to us as a people will take back their party and work with liberal/progressives to repair the damage caused by this horrendous administration.

Striving to live within a framework of spiritual principles is never easy, yet it’s rewards are immeasurable.  As a human being, I recognize my infallibility, my desire to achieve everything the fastest and easiest way possible and when I do that, I usually end up making a mess of my life.  I have found that when I walk the walk of my spiritual principles, I rarely find myself in any type of quandary or moral dilemma.  Life is never easy, nor does it have to be difficult, we as human beings have the ability to make choices that will determine whether or not we will have dissonance inside our heads.  I choose today to eliminate as much conflict from my life as possible.  My choices on how to live my life are brought forth by my openness to the spirit world that surrounds me in my daily life.  

I have chosen not to feed the wolf of anger and hatred.  I choose to feed the wolf of honesty, integrity, ethics, love and freedom.  We all have to make choices daily, many of them will have profound impacts on our lives in small ways and others can impact us for decades.  I know there are many who will read this and state, well I don’t believe in God, Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Great Spirit or any other so called Higher Power.  I offer you this, living by spiritual principles does not equate to acknowledging there is a Higher Power, it only says that you understand and accept that personal responsibility for ones actions, thoughts and processes, gains you a higher level of spiritual development.  I have met many spiritually developed individuals who are acknowledged agnostics/atheists.  They live their lives with an understanding of how they impact others and how others will impact them.  They offer kindness, honor, acceptance, joy, love and hope where there was none before.  Being Spiritual is not equated to how often you attend church, pray, how much money you have, where you live or what you possess.  These measurements hold little meaning in the grander scheme of life.  Spiritual living for me follows this basic understanding of my life and my role in the world in which I live.

To know something we must become one with it. We cannot know what a flower smells like until we actually smell it. Close your eyes and experience the fragrance.

The Elders say there are two worlds, the Seen World and the Unseen World. To experience the Seen World we need to physically pick the flower and smell it. To experience the Unseen World we need to know about principles, laws and values; and no matter what our mind or our physical senses tell us, we must decide and act on these principles.

If someone does wrong to us, we must pray for that person or persons to have peace, happiness and joy in their life. We must not get even or retaliate in any way. Only by doing this can we understand spiritual matters.

Great Spirit, give me your power whenever my weakness shows so I can live by spiritual decisions

I know that I have not always followed my beliefs, values and principles when I speak of the current administration.  I have used demeaning language, showed contempt, showered upon them verbally abusive language and have displayed disgust and hatred for them.  After reading InfidelPig’s essay, I have affirmed my willingness to change my attitude toward those whom, I believe are seeking to destroy my country.  I have lived for more than 50 years, more than half of that time I lived in spiritual dissonance.  I have found for myself a path that brings harmony to my spirit and provides me with the tools to be the best human being I am capable of being today.  I don’t know how well I will be do in this change of attitude, but my heart is willing and my spirit brothers have shown me that demeaning those that I have conflict with is not going to help me facilitate change in this world.

I sought help for my spirit; I created a medicine wheel, smudged and prayed.  I opened my heart and mind to all the spirits that surround me and listened, quietly meditating and hearing those that came before me.  I am of the coyote clan, the little trickster, but also the helper of the Human beings.  I know that my ancestors lived in a spiritual world that was very much like what we are experiencing today.  I feel that I have been shown a way to help, a way to facilitate change, a way to bring others into a path that very well may cause an upheaval with in our country.  

I hope that you will pass this code on to your friends.  Lets show those that would defile us, defame us, try to force us into their pattern of attacks, that we are above them.  We are the best, greatest hope that America will one day soon, really become the greatest country in the history of the world.   Not because we have the largest and best military in the world.  We shall be known as the greatest, because we honored our commitments to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all the peoples and spirits of this world.

I realize that I have posted this ethics code before, yet I also recognize that something of value, never really becomes boring or repetitive.  I offer these to you, as a gift, a treasure that will help you create a life that is beyond measure in its joys and happiness.  I pray that each of you finds your spirit guide that you will know your life still has unlimited possibilities for growth, understanding, joy, happiness, love, honor and integrity.  I have been given the most precious gift I could ever imagine, the privilege of raising two children, whom I pray that I will instill within them all of the wonders of life and glory of living it within a spiritual framework.  If they look upon me one day and say to, that the most important thing I taught them was to rely upon their spirit to guide them, I have done the best I could as their parent.

NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN TRADITIONAL CODE OF ETHICS
…From “Inter-Tribal Times” Oct 1994

1.  Each morning upon rising, and each evening before sleeping, give thanks for the life within you and for all life, for the good things the Creator has given you and for the opportunity to grow a little more each day. Consider your thoughts and actions of the past day and seek for the courage and strength to be a better person. Seek for the things that will benefit others (everyone).
2.  Respect. Respect means “To feel or show honor or esteem for someone or something; to consider the well being of, or to treat someone or something with deference or courtesy”.  Showing respect is a basic law of life.

a.  Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.

b.  Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers, and Community Leaders.

c.  No person should be made to feel “put down” by you; avoid hurting other hearts, as you would avoid a deadly poison.

d.  Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.

e.  Respect the privacy of every person, never intrude on a person’s quiet moment or personal space.

f.  Never walk between people that are conversing.

g.  Never interrupt people who are conversing.

h.  Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, strangers or others to whom special respect is due.

i.  Do not speak unless invited to do so at gatherings where Elders are  present (except to ask what is expected of you, should you be in doubt).

j.  Never speak about others in a negative way, whether they are present or not.

k.  Treat the earth and all of her aspects as your mother. Show deep respect for the mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world.  Do nothing to pollute our Mother, rise up with wisdom to defend her.

l.   Show deep respect for the beliefs and religion of others.

m.  Listen with courtesy to what others say, even if you feel that what they are saying is worthless. Listen with your heart.

n.  Respect the wisdom of the people in council. Once you give an idea to a council meeting it no longer belongs to you. It belongs to the people.  Respect demands that you listen intently to the ideas of others in council and that you do not insist that your idea prevail. Indeed you should freely support the ideas of others if they are true and good, even if those ideas are quite different from the ones you have contributed.  The clash of ideas brings forth the Spark of Truth.

3.  Once a council has decided something in unity, respect demands that no one speak secretly against what has been decided. If the council has made an error, that error will become apparent to everyone in its own time.
4.  Be truthful at all times, and under all conditions.
5.  Always treat your guests with honor and consideration. Give of your best food, your best blankets, the best part of your house, and your best service to your guests.
6.  The hurt of one is the hurt of all; the honor of one is the honor of all.
7.  Receive strangers and outsiders with a loving heart and as members of the human family.
8.  All the races and tribes in the world are like the different colored flowers of one meadow. All are beautiful. As children of the Creator they must all be respected.
9.  To serve others, to be of some use to family, community, nation, and the world is one of the main purposes for which human beings have been created.  Do not fill yourself with your own affairs and forget your most important talks. True happiness comes only to those who dedicate their lives to the service of others.
10. Observe moderation and balance in all things.
11. Know those things that lead to your well being, and those things that lead to your destruction.
12. Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms, in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.

My hope for this essay is that you will come away with an understanding of how the American Government and the Religious institutions that were in fact a significant part of the Government in the late 19th century and early 20th century were able to systematically work toward the elimination of the Native Peoples culture, language and heritage.  These schools were little more than indoctrination camps for the religious teaching of the evangelical Christian and Catholic religions.  They provided increased funding and national spotlighting in their crusade to assimilate the Native Peoples into the American mainstream.  That more money flowed into the church coffers than flowed into the schools that it was designed to support is an atrocity.  One school, Haskell in Lawrence, KS was so under funded that in its first several years of existence, more than 20 Indian children died in the bitter plains winters because of inadequate heating.

I have been honored in meeting with some of those children that were taken from their homes in the early 20th century.  They had realigned themselves with their tribes and had become elders of their communities.  I listened with heartfelt gratitude that I was not born in the era when being an Indian meant you had no civil rights, you were a ward of the federal government and were consistently lied to, cheated and told that you were less human than the white person that was sent there to teach you how to become an American.

Many of you will be shocked, many will be remorseful and many more of you will want to know what can I do today to help mitigate this great injustice that was perpetuated upon an entire culture.  The answer is simple, support Native American rights, write letters to the editor concerning Native American issues, tell you Congress people that you support the full accounting of the Native American trust account.  Visit a reservation, talk to an Indian, and find out what needs they are lacking and ask them what you can do today to help them fulfill their needs.

“”””””””””””””””””””””More below the fold””””””””””””””””””””””

Crossposted at European Tribune and My Left Wing

Perhaps the most fundamental conclusion that emerges from boarding school histories is the profound complexity of their historical legacy for Indian people’s lives.  The diversity among boarding school students in terms of age, personality, family situation, and cultural background created a range of experiences, attitudes, and responses. Boarding schools embodied both victimization and agency for Native people, and they served as sites of both cultural loss and cultural persistence. These institutions, intended to assimilate Native people into mainstream society and eradicate Native cultures, became integral components of American Indian identities and eventually fueled the drive for political and cultural self-determination in the late twentieth century.

One must first understand that the boarding schools in my estimation, based upon the research that I have done, is this:  these schools were designed with one purpose, the cultural, psychological and intellectual waging of war upon Native students.  This war had one end, to achieve the enculturation of Native children into the American mainstream.  In effect turn them into Americans.  How this change started was first to take these children from their families and place them into the boarding schools.  Upon arrival this is what happened.

The children were met by school administrators and teachers and told this is your new name.  Then they were taken to have their hair cut, their clothing removed and in many cases, subjected to delousing and physical examinations that were dehumanizing to say the least.  Most native cultures adhered to a highly developed sense of hygiene.  Their entire diet and concept of time and spatial relationships were then dissolved and they were told this is how you will live.  Their language was suppressed, if spoken aloud they were punished severely for speaking it.  They were subjected to a militaristic regime that place English, Christianity and the ritualistic use of American cultural practices to further them into a place of Patriotism and Citizenship.  For many they were indoctrinated into the narrow gender roles provided by the Fundamentalist of the time.  Manual labor and Domestic skills were the primary educational opportunities provided by the schools.  The sad fact for these children was this assault upon their culture caused bewilderment, estrangement, melancholy and hostility toward not only the school, but also their families, for having allowed this to happen to them.

That this institutional attack upon an entire race of people was allowed to happen in the US, to me is reprehensible.  Taking into consideration the mores and values of the American culture in that time, I can understand how and why it was allowed to happen.  I find today that many on the religious right, those Christians that feel that their way is the only way and therefore they are going to institutionalize their beliefs into our society by taking over our entire governmental structures, suggest to me that this injustice can occur again.  These injustices will not only happen to the Native peoples, but any group of people that is deemed unworthy or not sufficiently pious enough in their subjugation to the Christian God.  Listening to the stories of these elders and what happened to them and how they strived to keep and maintain their cultural identities were amazing and made me hope that I too could summon the courage and integrity to hold onto my own identity.  Here are just a few of the ways these people who were under attack strived to protect themselves and their cultures.

Unfortunately many students acquiesced to the demands placed upon them, but for many they resisted the assaults upon their very character as a human being.  Some used covert methods such as insulting names for members of the staff or administration.  Others used letter writing to try and manipulate the authority of the school. Others continued to practice their traditions in secret through the use of stories, dances and gamesmanship.  There were others who were more covert in their practices of resistance to this authority.  They would start fights with other students, staff or faculty.  Others would become more destructive, setting fires or destroying books, desks or even their clothing.  On the other side, there were the parents who helped facilitate resistance, by not sending their children to the schools, or sending orphaned or less desirable children in place of their own children.  There were constant complaints filed to Indian agents, school administrators about the quality of their children’s education and its lack of emphasis on tribal relationships and the cultural values of the tribes when they were allowed home visits.

Here is a link to a conversation between an Indian Commissioner and Chief Joseph concerning Indian Schools.  There is also some wonderful information concerning Sitting Bull and the Dawes Commission

  Chief Joseph

Here is a link that provides some positive influences of the Indian Schools, though I still find it less than positive that children were forcibly removed from their parents custody.

Carlisle School

This essay brings to light not only despair but also hope.  It is my fervent hope that the Christian right is not allowed to fulfill its call of Manifest Destiny or Dominion of the Earth dogma.  For if they are able to capture the United States of America again, it will not only be the Native Peoples who are told they are going to be Assimilated, it will be all who do not hold dear to the Extreme rights Christian philosophy.  I hope and pray that those who hold that the Constitution is a living breathing document, that its truths, that all men are created equal will continue to be upheld.  I have read some truly interesting diaries over the last weeks and I for one have great fear for my country and many of the peoples who live in my country.  The writing I have given you today, I hope gives you an idea of what can happen to human beings, when others believe their virtues are greater and have more significance than your own.  That they can and will strip you of your own culture, your religion or non religion, your principles and values, to further their own cause in the name of their God is transparently available, when you see what happened to the Native Peoples of the America’s.