An Anti-Traditional Incident

Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. I trust this finds you all well & happy, or getting there.
I just figured out now how to do this, or you'd have heard from me before. Not that that's a big deal, but it is 'so'.
Recently, I was cleaning in one of the local public schools, (n in Bismarck) as a temp or contract worker. Such work is way below my skills level, but it's suitably humble & it fills in blanks in the "bills paid" column of my life from time to time.
I nearly always wear a hat with 4 Channunpa on it, partly because it is my spirituality & I'm proud of it; partly because I Sun Dance, & am proud of that' & partly to remind people that not all of us have knuckled under to the whiteman's ways, but still follow our authentic Traditional Ways. That we Indns have no "acculturated" or "assimilated" & we are still here & so are our cultures. The Channunpa are central to our cultures up here on the Northern Plains, after all.
Someone in official-dumb asked me to remove my hat & not wear it, on the grounds that "it makes some people uncomfortable". Well, hooo-eeee, ain't that a sad thing; that reminders of the Holy Pipe make "some people uncomfortable". I asked who & was told I didn't need to know. ( ! )
My expectation is, it's some of the considerable over-supply we have around here of "born-agains" who call themselves part of the majority culture's supposed religious way. You know - the one where they're forever trying to stuff those 10 "commandments" they don't keep, down our throats.. Well, hey, takoszja, I'm a born-again, too! A born-again Pagan, through the Sun Dance, & way proud of it. It takes a lot of hard work & courage & determination to Sun Dance successfully. We earn our rightful pride about it.. the humble kind. But that does not mean we should hide it! Not hardly. All those who wander lost & in misery need to be reminded that some are keeping these Ways, & so be encouraged to do so, too.
Therefore, I refused, on the grounds of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOA, and the Constitution & Bill of Rights - specifically the First Amendment, the sections about religious freedom & freedom of expression. This person complained to my supervisors at the temp agency, who actually asked if the hat & the Pipe & making this essentially silent statement are all that important!
Yes, they are. How many millions of us died for the Sun Dance & other Sacred Ceremonies, doing them in secret & getting hauled to prisons & mental institutions for it? It happened to me, in 1994. That's not particularly long a go. So - Yes, they most certainly are.
I complained to the School Board, the local Human Relations Commission, & the mayor about this. So far, everyone is ducking & trying not to address the "issue". Denying hard & hearty that there was - or is - any discrimination or bigotry involved.. One has even said, "You misunderstood.." HAH!
Considering that the Bismarck Public School system "prefers I not work in the schools" (& the temp agency is knuckling under to them on this), I most certainly have hit the nail squarely on the thumb.
I'm a grandmother, takoszja - I most surely do "understand". I did then, I do now, & I will into the future. I've walked the earth awhile, but I'm nowhere near senile. And they know it; which apparently scares them pea-green or they wouldn't make such an issue of it.
The truth being the most powerful weapon there is to deal with reigns of terror & general bigotry, and the Internet being such a terrific tool for spreading the truth about such things, I write it down here for you so you will know about it. Perhaps some of you will want to do something about it. After all, if you don't speak up, you can't be heard!
Mitakuye oiasin. All, my relatives.

Objections to Palin

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello, my relatives.
On just about any grounds you can think of, I Object, in spades, to Sarah Palin.
First, she works overtime to come across as perky & cute. I detest perky & cute. It's fake.
Second, she has no detectable respect for anything or anyone unless they can raise her status on her 'agenda ladder'. She is anti: (a) the First Amendment to the Constitution, especially on the grounds of Freedom of Speech, Expression, & Religion. (b) stopping - or even addressing - global warming. (c) saving polar bears - or any other species that isn't human - from extinction. Apparently this bimbo doesn't realize that we all have to eat, what happens to one is likely to happen to all sooner or later, and humans are for the most part, bor-ing. And she definitely hasn't figured out that if only 2-Leggeds are preserved, sooner or later, we'll either all have to become vegetarians or resort to cannibalism. On the Rez, a vegetarian is The Definition of a lousy hunter!
(d) wolves. Sarah the Bimbo supports aerial slaughter of wolves and promotes a $150/right foreleg bounty on wolves. Obviously she has never heard of the concepts of "fair chase", "fair play", or "respect", let alone the concept of "showing respect". I have hunted since childhood and the idea of aerially slaughtering anything turns my stomach. Literally. (e) sex education other than abstinence. Lessee here.. she has a 17-year-old pregnant daughter. Doesn't sound to me as if abstinence as sex education is a workable concept. Doesn't look like it either.. or it won't in a few weeks.. (f) a woman's Right - not privilege - to choose whether or not to remain pregnant should she become so. We females are the only ones who can take all the risks associated with pregnancy. There is no such thing as even one instant of vacation from them for 9 long months. And, Gross Sexual Imposition is defined in law as, "the imposition of a desire by one group or person on the sex organs of another". In short, Sarah the Bimbo promotes rape, and 'thinks' it should be sanctioned by law. Giving, of course, no thought whatsoever to the 'sticky details' of what to do with all the rapists alreadcy in jail, or what to do to / about rapists who commit this crime in the future. (g) Sarah the Bimbo refers to everyday people as "Joe and Josephine Six-Pack". This is alcoholism, folks! This is promoting the perspective that alcoholism characterizes the majority of people! This is promoting the perspective that alcoholism is somehow a joke. NOT STINKING HARDLY! Alcoholism has devastated millions of people & virtually every culture on earth - particularly those of us First Nations / ITI.
Even "if" she had any qualifications for a potential President - and considering John McCain's age, that's an important consideration, her perspectives and attitudes toward simple courtesy and showing of respect prove beyond any shadow of doubt that she is totally unfit to be elected to office at all and most of all, to the Vice-Presidency of the U.S.A. , now, or ever.

Abstinence and You

Hanh mitakuyapi.
Republican VP nominee Palin is a big backer of the concept that the only viable sex-ed teaching is "abstinence only", and that it is the only "moral" way to teach our young about the facts of life. As we've seen in the case of her daughter (and thousands of other people), it doesn't work unless people abstain from fun in the sack, which just is not likely.
Until Sara Palin's daughter became pregnant, I have no doubt that Sara carried on to anyone who would listen about how her daughter would "never" do such a disgusting, immoral thing as play in the sack with a male before she was duly married. HAH!
Why Sara Palin would believe that her children are any more 'moral' than any others is beyond me, but to me, it says "Sara Palin, like everyone else of her ilk, lies about many things." 'Morality' in particular.
I thoroughly dislike this woman who is so irresponsible as to have 5 children in today's grossly over-populated world; who pontificates about her 'morality' and her "Christianity" and how she is a maverick. Methinks the lady doth proclaim too much - & at too high a level - about herself.
As for her daughter - How many 17-year-olds do you know of who are likely to abstain from this particular experimenting, given the number of periodicals dedicated to teenagers and how to "get/catch/trap a guy"? For that matter, how many people of any age? Not a large number, I expect.
What makes me laugh is how the "Christian wrong" crowd suddenly are "fully behind Sara & the daughter" in this matter - where just full breaths ago, they were ranting about 'morality' and 'immorality' and 'sex outside of marriage'. Notice how they refer to it as 'sex'?
They say, "I had sex" the same way you would say, "I had a sandwich". On rye, a hoagie, a bagel? Hm.
Long time ago I was a passenger in a car crash. The lead attorney for the insurance company was a woman of about 60. She had rubies & diamonds on all of her fingers & thumbs & kept twiddling them at me, the subliminal message being, "I have power over you".
This annoyed me, since we both knew she didn't, and I truly enjoy leading pompous arrogant people down the garden path - & watching them fall into a tiger pit. Really cracks me up.
This attorney finally asked me what kinds of things could I no longer do due to my injuries from the crash, compared to before it. I said, "I can no longer hike like I did, hunt like I did, ride horse like I did, and bed-sports aren't nearly as comfortable now."
She squinted her eyes, peered at me, then said in a dry, dusty voice, "Bed-sports. I don't think I know what that is."
I looked her slowly up & down & then said slowly, "I can believe that.."
The 6 male attorneys & the judge all caught it immediately & had a terrific time trying to squelch snorts & gurgles & laughter. She caught it about a minute later, & was she ever mad! I just smirked at her.
She snarled softly, "You think you're so0o smart; don't you!"
I replied, "Smart enough to know you're trying to play a mind game about who has more power, with your twiddling your fingers full of rubies and diamonds. And to show you plainly that your game isn't working on me."
The male attornies gasped. The judge arched his eyebrows & got a very thoughtful look on his face. She just sat there with smoke coming off her head. Someone later told me that this attorney was just not used to anyone talking back to her. She was a bully & most people suckered for her bullying. Luckily, I'm not most people, and neither are you.
Whether we're talking about Sara Palin or the female attorney, the orientation is the same. Both are unrealistic in their approach to romance, education about basic human "urges", and the expression of love that takes place in various places, but probably most often in beds. The "abstinence only" teaching does much to underscore the fact that accidents make people. But it doesn't work; & anyone who insists it does is lying to herself and to the rest of the world.
She won't get my vote.