Why Long Time No Speak (Or Write)

Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. It has been a long time since my last post..
First, there was fighting winter, and this last one was a real old-fashioned one. Snow & more snow - came within 1.5" of the record for a winter. Everyone is just now beginning to recover from the exhaustion, & some of us may never. It was like a marathon, but there were no rests possible.
One friend told me, he didn't think he could ever be more tired than he is since last winter. Ain't that the truth! He has fallen asleep while driving his tractor! That's tired.
And then when it finally thawed, it all went in a short time, so we had Floods. Not "floods", "Floods". I had up to 46" of water out back; & an average of about 2.5 ft. out front, flowing at about 40 mph. I didn't lose a lot; I was blessed. But I & the neighbors I share a driveway with lost a chunk of the west in-drive that was on average 26" deep X 55 ft X 120-some ft...
We were all going nuts trying to dig out of the mess, but I got by the best in many ways. Because the stubborn rock-head Indn grandma refused to wait until or if the Emergency Mgmt people would ever do their jobs by us, she & a friend hauled 700 sandbags & used them to fill in the driveway enough that no one would become a permanent resident if they pulled in.. This with a 28-year-old Rolling Restoration Project & on a leg that doesn't work right.. At least 28,000 lbs. of sand. Anyone uses the word "lazy" with "Indn" within my earshot is in for an earfull..
And then, for me, there was getting laid off March 7; being told a-gain by Unemployment Compensation that I 'don't qualify' for UEC; & having had to skin thru on the sales of custom-made mocassins & the very occasional temp job. I sure would like to thank all those stinking washichu who loused up the economy with their rampant greed & deregulation.. I'd like to thank them with my war club. Or a skillet, applied with vigor.. take your pick.
There's a line in a book I just read - a great book! - "No Birds Sing" by Jo Bannister, an Irish author.... the line is, "Cal Donovan has a mind as flexible as a ferret in a drainpipe". That's flexible, takoszja... I must have such a mind; I can't imagine what else is keeping me alive, other than prayer & some over-worked spirit out there slaving to keep me fed & my expenses covered.
I have some gorgeous bronze irisses in the front, & every year for the past 7 years, I've hoped they'd bloom & got nothing. But this year, after they were under water for a couple of days - water flowing at 40 mph, remember - & got a load of clay silt dumped on them, they bloomed! It was worth the wait! If I can find out how to post the pictures I took, I will, but otherwise, picture bronze and lemon yellow irisses, the blooms as big as softballs. Wow! I thought I had them watered enough, but obviously not.
Mostly, scratching like a cat on a shale slope for a living has kept me from posting. Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading! And if anyone out there wants gloves for your feet, you know how to contact me.. I'll be so0o glad to help you out.
Enjoy..

January 20 2009 - End of an "Error" in US History

Hanh mitakutyapi. Hello my relatives.
I don't know if I'll be able to get to a computer w Internet to post tomorrow or not, so this goes in the site today.
On January 20, 2009, we will see the end of an "era" - spell that "error", in U.S. history. We will no longer be living under a bush (Bush) in "America". For which I fervently Thank Tunkashila.
The first black person or known mixed blood person in U.S. history will be sworn into the office of the Presidency of this nation. 233 years after the 'nation' was formed, if I calculate right.. I can only say, "better late than never".
Like ITI everywhere, I am cautiously hopeful that Mr. Obama will continue to prove out - that the hope & optimism he has engendered throughout his campaign will be fulfilled. That under his leadership & driving ethics, much of the corruption & ethical laziness we have seen as "business as usual" while we were all forced to "live under a Bush" will be driven out of the offices of the 'leaders' of business & government - or at least, whipped into submission & corralled in a corner.
In our Traditional Ways, we women rattle our tongues to en-courage & to show support & to promote good hearts. So in this vein, I will rattle my tongue for this incoming Administration & these concepts, & urge all of you who read this to join in. Mitakuye oiasin - All, my relations.

Civil Rights Workers Day

Hanh mitakuyapil Hello my realtives. Today should properly be called "Civil Rights Workers Day", for all of the civil rights workers who died to get to the Civil Rights Act, not just one man.
You should know that after the Civil Rights Act was passed, representatives of our Indigenous Nations went to the leaders of the black people & said, "We helped you get this Act. Now it's time for you to help ensure that our Rights are covered, too." They refused us - on the same grounds that whites have since Europeans first came here. The black "leaders" said, "You have no money, so you have no power. Get your Rights insured to you, yourselves."
That's strike 2 as far as we're concerned.. Strike one in black - ITI relations was after the War Between the States. Before that war, we ITI helped blacks escape slavery via the underground railroad. We took blacks into our homes, married & had children with them, taught them our ways & our secret places, gave them pride, respect & dignity. How did they thank us?
After the war, the U.S. government bullied them, saying, "If you don't help us find & exterminate Indians, we'll take your citizenship & freedom away & make you slaves again." So the blacks turned us over. Those were mainly the Buffalo Soldiers - we named them that because they curly hair reminded us of the buffalo's hair, & they were in the bluecoat army.
Martin Luther King Jr. was by no means the only person who "made a difference" in the battle for civil rights for everyone who lives under the U.S. Constitution. And I believe he would not have been at all comfortable with having a federal holiday in his name, for the same reason I believe it's wrong to call this holiday after him.
So while there's tons of fuss & furor being made over "Martin Luther King Jr" day, we should all be focussing instead on the many others who died to get the Civil Rights Act passed, and enforced. That battle continues for us Indns. Hechetu ye.

I Felt a Paradigm Shift

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives. We have the first mixed-blood, dark-skinned President in the long history of the "united" states. I often wonder what the states are united about - other than bigotry & denial of same. But not this time. We, the People, have spoken and we have made ourselves heard.
Before someone hollers, "you were for Barack Obama all the time!", I'll point out that Barack Obama was not my first choice for Presidential nominee. Joe Biden was. Since Joe Biden is the Vice President, I'm a happy camper. He has input of concepts I like and support. Obama seeks input from others than himself - he is the 'new style' boss I've been for over 20 years.
So why didn't I like him from the start? I can't entirely say, except for one thing. In virtually every picture I've seen of him, he's looking somewhere other than at the camera, even if his face is facing the camera. This bothers me - in a non-Indn. It's a very Indn Thing to do, especially for us Traditionals. Logical? Not particularly. But that's how it is.
The other thing is that over the years I've come to expect to actively dislike whoever was asking for my vote & my support - & while I don't get all warm n fuzzy over Barack Obama, I don't dislike him, either. I just have a strong "wait-&-see" feeling. I've learned to listen to my gut reactions; they are never wrong. Never.
Just the same, actions speak louder than words, and looking at Barack Obama's record, his actions speak well of & for him.
It feels somehow odd not to feel as if we have to wait for a pickup-load of other shoes to drop, like we have with W & company. I want to get used to it. I'm willing to give it time.
Meantime, I'm working on a sign to put on the pickup. It reads, "January 20, 2008 - End of an Error". Unless there's a better one comes to me in the meantime..
No matter - for now, I'm rattling my tongue for this victory of, by, and for Us, the People. And thanking Tunkashila heartily for it. Mitakuye oiasin.

On Average Intelligence

Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives.
The scary thing about being of average intelligence is, it's so low. Neither you nor I is likely to be of average intelligence. We fly somewhat higher than that. Unfortunately, people of average intelligence are in the majority if you believe in bell curves. And we are coming up on a Presidential election in less than 2 weeks. That's where the 'really scary' part comes in.
This morning, I was eating in a local cafe' & there was a group of a dozen or so elderly people sitting not too far from me - discussing, of course, politics. The remarks I heard were enough to make my Indn hair stand. on. end.
Predictably, there were many remarks about Sarah the Bimbo & whether she could 'take over & run the country if McCain dropped dead'. As if the President runs the country. Last I heard, this is still a Constitutional democratic republic, ongoing efforts to gut the Constitution to the contrary. The reality is, a variety of governmental entities run the country, from village boards to county boards to city councils to Congress. But in no way does the President run this country, and (s)he never has.
When FDRoosevelt was felled by a stroke, his wife Eleanor did much of his decision-making, not the then Vice-President.. but Congress & the various municipal entities ran the country. And that has not changed.
But the best/worst of the incredibly stupid remarks I heard this morning from that group of retirees was, "Obama isn't ready to run the Presidency because he's black & you know they can't run things.. They all live in ghettos & wear funny clothes & talk funny." And the rest of this group nodded & said, "yep. yep."
I nearly threw up. Instead, I fixed one of them with my best beady-eyed stare until she blushed & looked away. Whereupon, she whispered to the rest of the group that "there's an Indian sitting over there, listening in & staring at us in an unfriendly way". (Yep.yep.) And like a school of fish, they changed the subject of their talk as if they were one entity, & got off on.... the weather. I just thought you might like to know about these things. Let's pray there's some sanity after this election, & we aren't subjected to another 4 years of Bush-n-Karl-Rove-ism. I don't think we can take it. Hm.. Maybe they're black after all. Sure as hell they can't run things worth spit, unless you count "into the ground".

Talk About NERVE!

I got an email the other day that claims that Wal-Mart has been holding "mandatory" meetings for their employees, both management & 'staff', in which Wal-Mart has told them they "are not to vote for Barack Obama & Joe Biden or any other employee-friendly or union-friendly candidates for political office".
I asked a couple of people I know who work at Wal-Mart, and they said it's true.
As a sometime employer, I am appalled that any company's senior management would try to pull a stunt like this. I'm not particularly surprised, but I am definitely appalled.
(a), it's no one's business who any of us vote for; bumper stickers notwithstanding. Under law, an individual's vote is automatically taken to be private. That means it is off-limits to anyone to try to influence another's vote.
(b), the intimation here is that if Wal-Mart senior management "finds out" that any of their employees voted "for the Obama-Biden ticket, or any other employee-friendly or union-friendly candidates for political office", those employees are ripe for retaliation or "discipline" of some kind. NOT ACCEPTABLE!
And, I suspect, illegal. But even if it's not clearly illegal, it's definitely unethical.
If you want to raise stink about this to Wal-Mart, you can go online & email under their "contact" list, OR you can call 1-800-WAL-MART & tell them by phone. I've done both, and I hope you will, too.
And remind them that they are nothing without you, the customer, and that you will be boycotting Wal-Mart - maybe permanently. I don't go to Wal-Mart any more unless I absolutely can't find what I need somewhere else, & that includes online. My purchase dollars at Wal-Mart have gone from about $3,000 annually to less than $500, & that is dropping fast.
I complain to local store managers when I can't find something & point out to them that I really don't want to go to Wal-Mart, but if they refuse to stock a thing, they force the loss in sales.. it isn't about simple preference.
That gets management attention & it gets results in that they stock whatever I'm after.
Please join me now - there are only 16 days left to voting day.

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.