29 November 2006

29.November 1864...



Let us know peace.
For as long as the moon shall rise,
For as long as the rivers shall flow,
For as long as the sun shall shine,
For as long as the grass shall grow,
Let us know peace.

All My Relations,


--ryan




Native American Atrocities - The Sand Creek Massacre

Southern Cheyenne
November 29, 1864



Colorado Territory during the 1850's and 1860's was a place of phenomenal growth spurred by gold and silver rushes. Miners by the tens of thousands had elbowed their way into mineral fields, dislocating and angering the Cheyennes and Arapahos. The Pike's Peak Gold Rush in 1858 brought the the tension to a boiling point. Tribesmen attacked wagon trains, mining camps, and stagecoach lines during the Civil War, when the military garrisons out west were reduced by the war. One white family died within 20 miles of Denver. This outbreak of violence is sometimes referred to as the Cheyenne-Arapaho War or the Colorado War of 1864-65.

Governor John Evans of Colorado Territory sought to open up the Cheyenne and Arapaho hunting grounds to white development. The tribes, however, refused to sell their lands and settle on reservations. Evens decided to call out volunteer militiamen under Colonel John Chivington to quell the mounting violence.

Evans used isolated incidents of violence as a pretext to order troops into the field under the ambitious, Indian-hating territory military commander Colonel Chivington. Though John Chivington had once belonged to the clergy, his compassion for his fellow man didn't extend to the Indians.

In the spring of 1864, while the Civil War raged in the east, Chivington launched a campaign of violence against the Cheyenne and their allies, his troops attacking any and all Indians and razing their villages. The Cheyennes, joined by neighboring Arapahos, Sioux, Comanches, and Kiowas in both Colorado and Kansas, went on the defensive warpath.

Evans and Chivington reinforced their militia, raising the Third Colorado Calvary of short-term volunteers who referred to themselves as "Hundred Dazers". After a summer of scattered small raids and clashes, white and Indian representatives met at Camp Weld outside of Denver on September 28. No treaties were signed, but the Indians believed that by reporting and camping near army posts, they would be declaring peace and accepting sanctuary.

Black Kettle was a peace-seeking chief of a band of some 600 Southern Cheyennes and Arapahos that followed the buffalo along the Arkansas River of Colorado and Kansas. They reported to Fort Lyon and then camped on Sand Creek about 40 miles north.

Shortly afterward, Chivington led a force of about 700 men into Fort Lyon, and gave the garrison notice of his plans for an attack on the Indian encampment. Although he was informed that Black Kettle has already surrendered, Chivington pressed on with what he considered the perfect opportunity to further the cause for Indian extinction. On the morning of November 29, he led his troops, many of them drinking heavily, to Sand Creek and positioned them, along with their four howitzers, around the Indian village.

Black Kettle ever trusting raised both an American and a white flag of peace over his tepee. In response, Chivington raised his arm for the attack. Chivington wanted a victory, not prisoners, and so men, women and children were hunted down and shot.

With cannons and rifles pounding them, the Indians scattered in panic. Then the crazed soldiers charged and killed anything that moved. A few warriors managed to fight back to allow some of the tribe to escape across the stream, including Black Kettle.

The colonel was as thourough as he was heartless. An interpreter living in the village testified, "THEY WERE SCALPED, THEIR BRAINS KNOCKED OUT; THE MEN USED THEIR KNIVES, RIPPED OPEN WOMEN, CLUBBED LITTLE CHILDREN, KNOCKED THEM IN THE HEAD WITH THEIR RIFLE BUTTS, BEAT THEIR BRAINS OUT, MUTILATED THEIR BODIES IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD." By the end of the one-sided battle as many as 200 Indians, more than half women and children, had been killed and mutilated.

While the Sand Creek Massacre outraged easterners, it seemed to please many people in Colorado Territory. Chivington later appeared on a Denver stage where he regaled delighted audiences with his war stories and displayed 100 Indian scalps, including the pubic hairs of women.

Chivington was later denounced in a congressional investigation and forced to resign. When asked at the military inquiry why children had been killed, one of the soldiers quoted Chivington as saying, "NITS MAKE LICE." Yet the after-the-fact reprimand of the colonel meant nothing to the Indians.

As word of the massacre spread among them via refugees, Indians of the southern and northern plains stiffened in their resolve to resist white encroachment. An avenging wildfire swept the land and peace returned only after a quarter of a century.


Running To Remember...



These brave runners have done their Ancestors and their Oyate proud...

Hokahey!
--ryan

Runners Remember Victims At Sand Creek


By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News
November 25, 2006

The driving cold wind on the Colorado plains made the lungs of the Indian runners burn.

As they got closer to Denver, the altitude made some sick. Jogging on paved roads took a toll on their legs.

Yet the runners, some descendents of the Cheyenne and Arapaho massacred at Sand Creek more than 140 years ago, were determined to finish the nearly 100-mile route from the Sand Creek Massacre Historic Site, near the town of Eads, to Denver.

After two days of running, they joined about 70 supporters Friday at the Wheel circular sculpture of trees outside the Denver Art Museum, where they held a candlelight vigil for the nearly 200 women, children and elderly victims slaughtered on Nov. 29, 1864, by Colorado militia forces led by Col. John M. Chivington.

"I want to give more publicity, to let people know what happened at the massacre, let people know what went on, and to honor our descendents," said Rena West, a Cheyenne from Watonga, Okla., who joined in the eighth annual Healing Run, which began Thanksgiving Day.

West, 17, fared somewhat better than some of the runners. She's on the cross-country team at Watonga High School and showed no signs of the wear and tear from the run.

"I can do this every day," she said.

And she will. West will join the group of runners today at the Riverside Cemetery at the grave of Silas Soule, a captain of a cavalry that positioned itself outside the Sand Creek village, occupied by the Arapaho and Cheyenne.

Soule has been declared a hero by the Arapaho and Cheyenne because he refused to participate in the debacle and eventually helped expose the massacre.

From Soule's grave site the runners plan to head to the state Capitol.

Christopher Yellow Eagle, a coordinator for the Sand Creek Healing Run, said the group of young runners took a vow to stay away from alcohol, illegal drugs and foul language.

"We're going to try to sustain a healthy lifestyle," Yellow Eagle said.

William Tall Bull, another coordinator of the run, said runners will stop at 15th and Arapahoe streets. Tall Bull explained that research by American Indians has indicated that Soule was assassinated near the present-day intersection.



The Only Brave Thing To Do...



Cut and Run, the Only Brave Thing to Do - Michael Moore
Sunday, November 26th, 2006


Friends,

Tomorrow marks the day that we will have been in Iraq longer than we were in all of World War II.

That's right. We were able to defeat all of Nazi Germany, Mussolini, and the entire Japanese empire in LESS time than it's taken the world's only superpower to secure the road from the airport to downtown Baghdad.

And we haven't even done THAT. After 1,347 days, in the same time it took us to took us to sweep across North Africa, storm the beaches of Italy, conquer the South Pacific, and liberate all of Western Europe, we cannot, after over 3 and 1/2 years, even take over a single highway and protect ourselves from a homemade device of two tin cans placed in a pothole. No wonder the cab fare from the airport into Baghdad is now running around $35,000 for the 25-minute ride. And that doesn't even include a friggin' helmet.

Is this utter failure the fault of our troops? Hardly. That's because no amount of troops or choppers or democracy shot out of the barrel of a gun is ever going to "win" the war in Iraq. It is a lost war, lost because it never had a right to be won, lost because it was started by men who have never been to war, men who hide behind others sent to fight and die.

Let's listen to what the Iraqi people are saying, according to a recent poll conducted by the University of Maryland:

** 71% of all Iraqis now want the U.S. out of Iraq.

** 61% of all Iraqis SUPPORT insurgent attacks on U.S. troops.


Yes, the vast majority of Iraqi citizens believe that our soldiers should be killed and maimed! So what the hell are we still doing there? Talk about not getting the hint.

There are many ways to liberate a country. Usually the residents of that country rise up and liberate themselves. That's how we did it. You can also do it through nonviolent, mass civil disobedience. That's how India did it. You can get the world to boycott a regime until they are so ostracized they capitulate. That's how South Africa did it. Or you can just wait them out and, sooner or later, the king's legions simply leave (sometimes just because they're too cold). That's how Canada did it.

The one way that DOESN'T work is to invade a country and tell the people, "We are here to liberate you!" -- when they have done NOTHING to liberate themselves. Where were all the suicide bombers when Saddam was oppressing them? Where were the insurgents planting bombs along the roadside as the evildoer Saddam's convoy passed them by? I guess ol' Saddam was a cruel despot -- but not cruel enough for thousands to risk their necks. "Oh no, Mike, they couldn't do that! Saddam would have had them killed!" Really? You don't think King George had any of the colonial insurgents killed? You don't think Patrick Henry or Tom Paine were afraid? That didn't stop them. When tens of thousands aren't willing to shed their own blood to remove a dictator, that should be the first clue that they aren't going to be willing participants when you decide you're going to do the liberating for them.

A country can HELP another people overthrow a tyrant (that's what the French did for us in our revolution), but after you help them, you leave. Immediately. The French didn't stay and tell us how to set up our government. They didn't say, "we're not leaving because we want your natural resources." They left us to our own devices and it took us six years before we had an election. And then we had a bloody civil war. That's what happens, and history is full of these examples. The French didn't say, "Oh, we better stay in America, otherwise they're going to kill each other over that slavery issue!"

The only way a war of liberation has a chance of succeeding is if the oppressed people being liberated have their own citizens behind them -- and a group of Washingtons, Jeffersons, Franklins, Ghandis and Mandellas leading them. Where are these beacons of liberty in Iraq? This is a joke and it's been a joke since the beginning. Yes, the joke's been on us, but with 655,000 Iraqis now dead as a result of our invasion (source: Johns Hopkins University), I guess the cruel joke is on them. At least they've been liberated, permanently.

So I don't want to hear another word about sending more troops (wake up, America, John McCain is bonkers), or "redeploying" them, or waiting four months to begin the "phase-out." There is only one solution and it is this: Leave. Now. Start tonight. Get out of there as fast as we can. As much as people of good heart and conscience don't want to believe this, as much as it kills us to accept defeat, there is nothing we can do to undo the damage we have done. What's happened has happened. If you were to drive drunk down the road and you killed a child, there would be nothing you could do to bring that child back to life. If you invade and destroy a country, plunging it into a civil war, there isn't much you can do 'til the smoke settles and blood is mopped up. Then maybe you can atone for the atrocity you have committed and help the living come back to a better life.

The Soviet Union got out of Afghanistan in 36 weeks. They did so and suffered hardly any losses as they left. They realized the mistake they had made and removed their troops. A civil war ensued. The bad guys won. Later, we overthrew the bad guys and everybody lived happily ever after. See! It all works out in the end!

The responsibility to end this war now falls upon the Democrats. Congress controls the purse strings and the Constitution says only Congress can declare war. Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi now hold the power to put an end to this madness. Failure to do so will bring the wrath of the voters. We aren't kidding around, Democrats, and if you don't believe us, just go ahead and continue this war another month. We will fight you harder than we did the Republicans. The opening page of my website has a photo of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, each made up by a collage of photos of the American soldiers who have died in Bush's War. But it is now about to become the Bush/Democratic Party War unless swift action is taken.

This is what we demand:

1. Bring the troops home now. Not six months from now. NOW. Quit looking for a way to win. We can't win. We've lost. Sometimes you lose. This is one of those times. Be brave and admit it.

2. Apologize to our soldiers and make amends. Tell them we are sorry they were used to fight a war that had NOTHING to do with our national security. We must commit to taking care of them so that they suffer as little as possible. The mentally and physically maimed must get the best care and significant financial compensation. The families of the deceased deserve the biggest apology and they must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.

3. We must atone for the atrocity we have perpetuated on the people of Iraq. There are few evils worse than waging a war based on a lie, invading another country because you want what they have buried under the ground. Now many more will die. Their blood is on our hands, regardless for whom we voted. If you pay taxes, you have contributed to the three billion dollars a week now being spent to drive Iraq into the hellhole it's become. When the civil war is over, we will have to help rebuild Iraq. We can receive no redemption until we have atoned.

In closing, there is one final thing I know. We Americans are better than what has been done in our name. A majority of us were upset and angry after 9/11 and we lost our minds. We didn't think straight and we never looked at a map. Because we are kept stupid through our pathetic education system and our lazy media, we knew nothing of history. We didn't know that WE were the ones funding and arming Saddam for many years, including those when he massacred the Kurds. He was our guy. We didn't know what a Sunni or a Shiite was, never even heard the words. Eighty percent of our young adults (according to National Geographic) were not able to find Iraq on the map. Our leaders played off our stupidity, manipulated us with lies, and scared us to death.

But at our core we are a good people. We may be slow learners, but that "Mission Accomplished" banner struck us as odd, and soon we began to ask some questions. Then we began to get smart. By this past November 7th, we got mad and tried to right our wrongs. The majority now know the truth. The majority now feel a deep sadness and guilt and a hope that somehow we can make it all right again.

Unfortunately, we can't. So we will accept the consequences of our actions and do our best to be there should the Iraqi people ever dare to seek our help in the future. We ask for their forgiveness.

We demand the Democrats listen to us and get out of Iraq now.

Yours,

Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com





Yahoo! Mail - ryanwaldon2002@yahoo.com

Micro$oft Rolls the Dice...



...wonder if it'll come out 'craps'? We pretty much know by now that the Zune is well and truly doomed, what about the rest...

--ryan





Microsoft Needs a Vista Success
ANALYSIS
By Tim Weber
Business editor, BBC News Interactive


On 30 November, Microsoft begins the roll-out of its new operating system, Windows Vista, and the latest version of its suite of productivity software, Office 2007. So what is at stake?

MICROSOFT
Founded: 1975
HQ: Redmond, Washington
Staff: 71,000
Sales: $44.3bn
Operating profit: $16.5bn
Windows sales: $13.2bn
Office sales: ~$10bn
Financial year to 30 June 2006
Source: annual report 2006



You run a company where two of your product lines account for more than 56% of your sales. They make enough profit to sustain losses in other divisions.

Would you worry about relaunching them at the same time?

We are not talking about small a change here.

During the last financial year Microsoft's operating system and office software divisions made an operating profit of $18.5bn (£9.5bn, 14.1bn euro) on a turnover of just under $25bn.

But is Microsoft really taking a gamble?

No Vista Christmas
Let's not forget that Vista is late. Very late.

Instead of three years, it has taken Microsoft five years and 10,000 workers to get Windows Vista ready for the big time.

Because last-minute delays pushed the launch to the end of the year, Microsoft had to settle for an awkward staged release.


The new operating system will be sold to corporate customers first; consumers will not get their hands on Vista until 30 January 2007.

Logistically it would have been "just too difficult to make Vista broadly available to everyone," says Duncan Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK.

That means that Microsoft and its hardware partners - computer makers including Dell and Hewlett-Packard - will be missing out on this year's Christmas business.

"It's no secret that [computer manufacturers] would have liked the launch in time for the holidays," says David Smith, a Vista expert at consulting firm Gartner.

Why upgrade?
To make things worse, many customers will ask why they should upgrade at all.

Yes, Microsoft's current operating system, Windows XP, does not look as pretty as rival offerings like Apple's OS X.

But it is stable, fairly secure, and compatible with tens of thousands of supporting hardware and computer programs. Why go through the cost and pain of buying, installing and learning a new operating system?


Many companies are wary. They run specialised software on Windows and use hundreds of different pieces of hardware. They will have to test each and every one of them to see whether they work under Vista.

And then there are those who wonder whether operating systems do matter at all.

Run a good browser on any old operating system, they say, and the majority of people can meet most of their software needs online and on demand.

The Vista wave

That does not stop Microsoft from being bullish about the prospects for its new operating system. "Vista will be the fastest-selling Windows operating system," predicts Microsoft's Gordon Frazer.

He points to forecasts by technology consulting firms like IDC, who predict that within one year 100m computers will be running Vista.

David Smith at Gartner agrees: "In 18 months you will see the majority of [business] computers running on Vista."

The captive customer
In some ways, Vista's success is inevitable.

This is not a function of Vista's selling points - better security, entertainment and performance - but habit.

Only early adopters will upgrade to Vista straight away - for example avid gamers who want to play snazzy games that make use of Microsoft's new Vista-only DirextX 10 standard.



Most consumers will adopt Vista gradually, as they replace their old computers. From 30 January 2007 nearly every new Windows computer on every shelf will come either preloaded with Vista, or the promise of a free upgrade to the new operating system.

Traditionally this so-called OEM business (where the operating system is pre-installed on the computer) accounts for about 80% of Microsoft's Windows revenues.

After a couple of "tough months in December and January" computer makers will see "increased sales from consumers who waited to buy," predicts Gartner's David Smith.

And as Vista is much better than Microsoft's current offering, there is little reason to assume that customers will defect en masse to rivals like Apple or Linux. After all, they failed to do so when Windows XP was riddled with security holes.

It's not much different for large companies, who tend to be firmly wedded in the Microsoft universe.

Most corporate IT managers plan their computer replacement cycles around Windows upgrades.

It helps that Vista can adapt to the hardware capabilities of the computer it runs on.

Companies will take about 18 months to sort out compatibility problems, says Mr Smith. In 2008 at the latest we will see "massive numbers of upgrades".

The office software will follow a similar pattern, or be even more successful as it can run on both Windows Vista and XP.

"Office 2007 will find good acceptance," says Melissa Webster of IDC.

The last big Windows roll-out?
There are still pitfalls, though.

The European Commission is breathing down Microsoft's neck, pushing the software maker to give rivals better access to the inner workings of its operating system.

Many Vista testers reported compatibility issues; if they are not sorted in time for the consumer launch plenty of customers might stay away.

And if eager hackers find a way past Microsoft's new defences - "Vista is secure by design," says Microsoft's Gordon Frazer - then the new operating system could be in real trouble.

Microsoft, however, has an even bigger problem to solve: What will it do next?

Should the company really commit so many resources to yet another hugely complex software project?

Instead, says David Smith at Gartner, Microsoft may prefer to adopt a more modular approach and offer many smaller paid-for updates.

Then it would not just be Vista's user interface that increasingly looks like something coming from Apple.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6191812.stm

Published: 2006/11/29 00:31:34 GMT

© BBC MMVI




Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

26 November 2006

The Story of Ojibwe Dreamcatchers...



There are many stories about the Dreamcatcher, this one is from the Ojibwe Nation...

--ryan




Ojibwe Dreamcatcher


submitted by Cheyanne


Long ago in the ancient world of the Ojibwe Nation, the Clans were all located
in one general area of that place known as Turtle Island. This is the way that the old Ojibwe storytellers say how Asibikaashi (Spider Woman) helped Wanabozhoo bring giizis (sun) back to the people. To this day, Asibikaashi will build her special lodge before dawn. If you are awake at dawn, as you should be, look for her lodge and you will see this miracle of how she
captured the sunrise as the light sparkles on the dew which is gathered there.

Asibikaasi took care of her children, the people of the land, and she continues to do so to this day. When the Ojibwe Nation dispersed to the four corners of North America, to fill a prophecy, Asibikaashi had a difficult time making her journey to all those cradle boards, so the mothers, sisters, & Nokomis (grandmothers) took up the practice of weaving the magical webs for the new babies using willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. It is in the shape of a circle to represent how giizis travels each day across the sky. The dream catcher will filter out all the bad bawedjigewin (dreams) & allow only good thoughts to enter into our minds when we are just abinooji.

You will see a small hole in the center of each dream catcher where those good
bawadjige may come through. With the first rays of sunlight, the bad dreams would perish. When we see little asibikaashi, we should not fear her, but instead respect and protect her. In honor of their origin, the number of points where the web connected to the hoop numbered 8 for Spider Woman's eight legs or 7 for the Seven Prophecies.

It was traditional to put a feather in the center of the dream catcher; it means breath, or air. It is essential for life. A baby watching the air playing with the feather on her cradleboard was entertained while also being given a lesson on the importance of good air. This lesson comes forward in the way that the feather of the owl is kept for wisdom (a woman's feather) & the eagle feather is kept for courage (a man's feather). This is not to say that the use of each is restricted by gender, but that to use the feather each is aware of the gender properties she/he is invoking. (Indian people, in general, are very specific about gender roles and identity.) The use of gem stones, as we do in the ones we make for sale, is not something that was done by the old ones. Government laws have forbidden the sale of feathers from our sacred birds, so using four gem stones, to represent the four directions, and the
stones used by western nations were substituted by us. The woven dream catchers of adults do not use feathers.

Dream catchers made of willow and sinew are for children, and they are not meant to last. Eventually the willow dries out and the tension of the sinew collapses the dream catcher. That's supposed to happen. It belies the temporary-ness of youth. Adults should use dream catchers of woven fiber which is made up to reflect their adult "dreams." It is also customary in many parts of Canada and the Northeastern U.S. to have the dream catchers be a tear- drop/snow shoe shape.

LOVE
REDROADXNG
Soul




Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

How Grandmother Spider Stole Fire (Choctaw)



Another good one...

--ryan





Grandmother Spider Steals the Fire(Creation story of the
Choctaw People of Tennessee and Mississippi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Choctaw People say that when the People first came-up out of the ground, People were encased in cocoons, their eyes closed, their limbs folded tightly to their bodies. And this was true of all People, the Bird People, the Animal People, the Insect People, and the Human People. The Great Spirit took pity on them and sent down someone to unfold their limbs, dry them off, and open their eyes. But the opened eyes saw nothing, because the world was dark, no sun, no moon, not even any stars. All the People moved around by touch, and if they found something that didn't eat them first, they ate it raw, for they had no fire to cook it.

All the People met in a great Pow-wow, with the Animal and Bird People taking the lead, and the Human People hanging back. The Animal and Bird People decided that dark was not good, but cold and miserable. A solution must be found!!! Someone spoke from the dark, "I have heard that the people in the East have fire". This caused a stir of wonder, "What could fire be"!!! There was a general discussion, and it was decided that if, as-rumor-had-it, fire was warm and gave light, they should have it too. Another voice said, "But the people of the East are too greedy to share with us". So it was decided that the Bird and Animal People should steal what they needed, the fire!!!

But, who should have the honor!!! Grandmother Spider volunteered, "I can do it!!! Let me try"!!! But at the same time, Opossum began to speak. "I, Opossum, am a great Chief of the animals. I will go to the East and since I am a great hunter, I will take the fire and hide it in the bushy hair on my tail". It was well know that Opossum had the furriest tail of all the animals, so he was selected.

When Opossum came to the East... he soon found the beautiful-red-fire jealously guarded by the people of the East. But Opossum got closer and closer until he picked up a small piece of burning wood, and stuck it in the hair of his tail, which promptly began to smoke, then flame. The people of the East said, "Look, that Opossum has stolen our fire"!!! They took it and put it back where it came from and drove Opossum away. Poor Opossum!!! Every bit of hair had burned from his tail, and to this day, Opossums have no hair at all on their tails.

Once again, the Pow-wow had to find a volunteer Chief. Grandmother Spider again said, "Let me go!!! I can do it"!!! But this time a bird was elected, Buzzard. Buzzard was very proud. "I can succeed where Opossum has failed. I will fly to the East on my great wings, then hide the stolen fire in the beautiful long feathers on my head". The birds and animals still did not understand the nature of fire. So Buzzard flew to the East on his powerful wings, swooped past those defending the fire, picked up a small piece of burning ember, and hid it in his head feathers. Buzzard's head began to smoke and flame even faster!!! The people of the East said, "Look!!! Buzzard has stolen the fire"!!! And they took it and put it back where it came from. Poor Buzzard!!! His head was now bare of feathers, red and blistered looking. And to this day, buzzards have naked heads that are bright-red and blistered.

The Pow-wow now sent Crow to look the situation over, for Crow was very clever. Crow at-that-time was pure white, and had the sweetest singing voice of all the birds. But he took so long standing over the fire, trying to find the perfect piece to steal that his white feathers were smoked black. And he breathed so much smoke that when he tried to sing, out came a harsh, Caw!!! Caw!!!

The Council said, "Opossum has failed. Buzzard and Crow have failed. Who shall we send"!!!

Tiny Grandmother Spider shouted with all her might, "LET ME TRY IT PLEASE"!!! Though the council members thought Grandmother Spider had little chance of success, it was agreed that she should have her turn. Grandmother Spider looked-then like she looks-now, she had a small torso suspended by two sets of legs that turned the other way. She walked on all of her wonderful legs toward a stream where she had found clay. With those legs, she made a tiny clay container and a lid that fit perfectly with a tiny notch for air in the corner of the lid. Then she put the container on her back, spun-a-web all the way to the East, and walked tip-toe until she came to the fire. She was so small, the people from the East took no notice. She took a tiny piece of fire, put it in the container, and covered it with the lid. Then she walked back on tip-toe along the web until she came to the People. Since they couldn't see any fire, they said, "Grandmother Spider has failed"!!!

"Oh No", she said, "I have the fire"!!! She lifted the pot from her back, and the lid from the pot, and the fire flamed up into its friend, the air. All the Birds and Animal People began to decide who would get this wonderful warmth. Bear said, "I'll take it"!!! but then he burned his paws on it and decided fire was not for animals... for look what happened to Opossum!!!

The Birds wanted no part of it, as Buzzard and Crow were still nursing their wounds. The insects thought it was pretty, but they too, stayed far away from the fire.

Then a small voice said, "We will take it, if Grandmother Spider will help". The timid humans, whom none of the animals or birds thought much of, were volunteering!!!

So Grandmother Spider taught the Human People how to feed the fire with sticks and wood to keep it from dying, how to keep the fire safe in a circle-of-stone so it couldn't escape and hurt them or their homes. While she was at it, she taught the humans about pottery made of clay and fire, and about weaving and spinning, at which Grandmother Spider was an expert.

The Choctaw remembered!!!
They made a beautiful design to decorate their homes, a picture of Grandmother Spider, two sets of legs up, two down, with a fire-symbol on her back.

This is so their children never forget to honor

Grandmother Spider: Fire-bringer!!!

Walk in Peace


Contributed by: Three Feathers





Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

How Grandmother Spider Stole Fire (Choctaw)



Another good one...

--ryan





Grandmother Spider Steals the Fire(Creation story of the
Choctaw People of Tennessee and Mississippi)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Choctaw People say that when the People first came-up out of the ground, People were encased in cocoons, their eyes closed, their limbs folded tightly to their bodies. And this was true of all People, the Bird People, the Animal People, the Insect People, and the Human People. The Great Spirit took pity on them and sent down someone to unfold their limbs, dry them off, and open their eyes. But the opened eyes saw nothing, because the world was dark, no sun, no moon, not even any stars. All the People moved around by touch, and if they found something that didn't eat them first, they ate it raw, for they had no fire to cook it.

All the People met in a great Pow-wow, with the Animal and Bird People taking the lead, and the Human People hanging back. The Animal and Bird People decided that dark was not good, but cold and miserable. A solution must be found!!! Someone spoke from the dark, "I have heard that the people in the East have fire". This caused a stir of wonder, "What could fire be"!!! There was a general discussion, and it was decided that if, as-rumor-had-it, fire was warm and gave light, they should have it too. Another voice said, "But the people of the East are too greedy to share with us". So it was decided that the Bird and Animal People should steal what they needed, the fire!!!

But, who should have the honor!!! Grandmother Spider volunteered, "I can do it!!! Let me try"!!! But at the same time, Opossum began to speak. "I, Opossum, am a great Chief of the animals. I will go to the East and since I am a great hunter, I will take the fire and hide it in the bushy hair on my tail". It was well know that Opossum had the furriest tail of all the animals, so he was selected.

When Opossum came to the East... he soon found the beautiful-red-fire jealously guarded by the people of the East. But Opossum got closer and closer until he picked up a small piece of burning wood, and stuck it in the hair of his tail, which promptly began to smoke, then flame. The people of the East said, "Look, that Opossum has stolen our fire"!!! They took it and put it back where it came from and drove Opossum away. Poor Opossum!!! Every bit of hair had burned from his tail, and to this day, Opossums have no hair at all on their tails.

Once again, the Pow-wow had to find a volunteer Chief. Grandmother Spider again said, "Let me go!!! I can do it"!!! But this time a bird was elected, Buzzard. Buzzard was very proud. "I can succeed where Opossum has failed. I will fly to the East on my great wings, then hide the stolen fire in the beautiful long feathers on my head". The birds and animals still did not understand the nature of fire. So Buzzard flew to the East on his powerful wings, swooped past those defending the fire, picked up a small piece of burning ember, and hid it in his head feathers. Buzzard's head began to smoke and flame even faster!!! The people of the East said, "Look!!! Buzzard has stolen the fire"!!! And they took it and put it back where it came from. Poor Buzzard!!! His head was now bare of feathers, red and blistered looking. And to this day, buzzards have naked heads that are bright-red and blistered.

The Pow-wow now sent Crow to look the situation over, for Crow was very clever. Crow at-that-time was pure white, and had the sweetest singing voice of all the birds. But he took so long standing over the fire, trying to find the perfect piece to steal that his white feathers were smoked black. And he breathed so much smoke that when he tried to sing, out came a harsh, Caw!!! Caw!!!

The Council said, "Opossum has failed. Buzzard and Crow have failed. Who shall we send"!!!

Tiny Grandmother Spider shouted with all her might, "LET ME TRY IT PLEASE"!!! Though the council members thought Grandmother Spider had little chance of success, it was agreed that she should have her turn. Grandmother Spider looked-then like she looks-now, she had a small torso suspended by two sets of legs that turned the other way. She walked on all of her wonderful legs toward a stream where she had found clay. With those legs, she made a tiny clay container and a lid that fit perfectly with a tiny notch for air in the corner of the lid. Then she put the container on her back, spun-a-web all the way to the East, and walked tip-toe until she came to the fire. She was so small, the people from the East took no notice. She took a tiny piece of fire, put it in the container, and covered it with the lid. Then she walked back on tip-toe along the web until she came to the People. Since they couldn't see any fire, they said, "Grandmother Spider has failed"!!!

"Oh No", she said, "I have the fire"!!! She lifted the pot from her back, and the lid from the pot, and the fire flamed up into its friend, the air. All the Birds and Animal People began to decide who would get this wonderful warmth. Bear said, "I'll take it"!!! but then he burned his paws on it and decided fire was not for animals... for look what happened to Opossum!!!

The Birds wanted no part of it, as Buzzard and Crow were still nursing their wounds. The insects thought it was pretty, but they too, stayed far away from the fire.

Then a small voice said, "We will take it, if Grandmother Spider will help". The timid humans, whom none of the animals or birds thought much of, were volunteering!!!

So Grandmother Spider taught the Human People how to feed the fire with sticks and wood to keep it from dying, how to keep the fire safe in a circle-of-stone so it couldn't escape and hurt them or their homes. While she was at it, she taught the humans about pottery made of clay and fire, and about weaving and spinning, at which Grandmother Spider was an expert.

The Choctaw remembered!!!
They made a beautiful design to decorate their homes, a picture of Grandmother Spider, two sets of legs up, two down, with a fire-symbol on her back.

This is so their children never forget to honor

Grandmother Spider: Fire-bringer!!!

Walk in Peace


Contributed by: Three Feathers





Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

"Fog Woman" (Tlingit)



Winter is storytelling-time among the First Nations, and so it's time for a story! A big thanks to my online friend "Momma Catz" from Alaska for sending this story...

--ryan





The Fog Woman Story
As told by Tlingit Elder, Esther Shea

Long ago, Raven and his two slaves, Gitsanuk and Gitsagag, built a camp at the mouth of a creek. They went fishing for winter food. Raven only caught bullheads. No luck, so he went home. The fog came up on them as they paddled home and got lost.

All of a sudden, a woman appeared on the boat. No one knew how she got there. She asked for Raven's spruce hat, which she held on her left side. All the fog went into the basket.

Raven planned another fishing trip. He left his wife, Fog Woman. He took Gitsagag and left Gitsanuk with Fog Woman.

While Raven was away, Fog Woman and the slave got hungry and commanded Gitsanuk to fill a water basket with water from the stream, and put it down in front of her. She dipped her finger in the water and she commanded the slave to pour the water toward the sea. The slave did as he was told and found a large sockeye.

The slave cooked the fish and ate it. Fog Woman told Gitsanuk to clean the meat from between his teeth so Raven could not know about the salmon they ate.

When Raven came home, Gitsanuk ran down the beach. He was happy. Raven was very smart, he knew people's secrets and saw meat between the slaves teeth and asked, "What's between your teeth?' The slave said, "Oh, nothing. That's the flesh of bullheads." Raven was very angry and Gitsanuk finally told him about the sockeye.

Raven called for his wife and asked her how she got the salmon. She told him the secret. She told him to bring his spruce hat and fill it with water, and he hurried and got the water, and placed it in front of her.

She dipped four fingers in the water and told him to pour the water out. Four sockeyes came out of the basket.

After the meal, Raven asked Fog womanif she could produce more fish. These were the first salmon. She said, "Build a smokehouse." So he did. Fog Woman directed Raven to bring her a basket of water once more. This time she washed her head in the water. Then she told him to pour the water back in the spring. Right away the spring filled up with sockeyes. They cleaned the fish and put them in the smokehouse. They filled the storehouse and there was enough to fill the smokehouse again.

Raven was happy and began to talk carelessly to his wife, and forgetting that she brought the fish. They quarreled and raven struck her. She told him she would leave him and go back to her father's house. She left the house and walked slowly toward the sea, and a sound like the wind came from the smokehouse.

The sound became louder. Raven saw she was really leaving. He ran after her and tried to catch her. His hand slipped through her as through fog and water.

Fog Woman slowly walked toward the sea, and all the salmon followed her.

Raven commanded the slaves to save some of the fish, but they did not have the strength to do so.

Fog Woman disappeared from sight, taking all the salmon with her. Raven said to his slaves, "We still have some salmon in the storehouse for winter." He did not know they were also gone. he had no food, except a few bullheads.

Each spring Fog Woman produced salmon in the basket of fresh spring water. They return each year. At the head of every stream dwells Creek Woman, daughter of Fog Woman. it is said Creek Woman brings salmon to the streams now.





Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

23 November 2006

Wamsutta's Words...



This speech was given by Frank James "Wamsutta" of the Wampanoag Nation at the first National Day of Mourning protest in 1970. His words still ring true today 36 years later...

Hokahey! Fight The Man!
--ryan




Wamsutta's Speech

"I speak to you as a man -- a Wampanoag Man. I am a proud man, proud of my ancestry, my accomplishments won by a strict parental direction ("You must succeed - your face is a different color in this small Cape Cod community!"). I am a product of poverty and discrimination from these two social and economic diseases. I, and my brothers and sisters, have painfully overcome, and to some extent we have earned the respect of our community. We are Indians first - but we are termed "good citizens." Sometimes we are arrogant but only because society has pressured us to be so.

It is with mixed emotion that I stand here to share my thoughts. This is a time of celebration for you - celebrating an anniversary of a beginning for the white man in America. A time of looking back, of reflection. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People.

Even before the Pilgrims landed it was common practice for explorers to capture Indians, take them to Europe and sell them as slaves for 220 shillings apiece. The Pilgrims had hardly explored the shores of Cape Cod for four days before they had robbed the graves of my ancestors and stolen their corn and beans. Mourt's Relation describes a searching party of sixteen men. Mourt goes on to say that this party took as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to carry.

Massasoit, the great Sachem of the Wampanoag, knew these facts, yet he and his People welcomed and befriended the settlers of the Plymouth Plantation. Perhaps he did this because his Tribe had been depleted by an epidemic. Or his knowledge of the harsh oncoming winter was the reason for his peaceful acceptance of these acts. This action by Massasoit was perhaps our biggest mistake. We, the Wampanoag, welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.

What happened in those short 50 years? What has happened in the last 300 years? History gives us facts and there were atrocities; there were broken promises - and most of these centered around land ownership. Among ourselves we understood that there were boundaries, but never before had we had to deal with fences and stone walls. But the white man had a need to prove his worth by the amount of land that he owned. Only ten years later, when the Puritans came, they treated the Wampanoag with even less kindness in converting the souls of the so-called "savages." Although the Puritans were harsh to members of their own society, the Indian was pressed between stone slabs and hanged as quickly as any other "witch."

And so down through the years there is record after record of Indian lands taken and, in token, reservations set up for him upon which to live. The Indian, having been stripped of his power, could only stand by and watch while the white man took his land and used it for his personal gain. This the Indian could not understand; for to him, land was survival, to farm, to hunt, to be enjoyed. It was not to be abused. We see incident after incident, where the white man sought to tame the "savage" and convert him to the Christian ways of life. The early Pilgrim settlers led the Indian to believe that if he did not behave, they would dig up the ground and unleash the great epidemic again.

The white man used the Indian's nautical skills and abilities. They let him be only a seaman -- but never a captain. Time and time again, in the white man's society, we Indians have been termed "low man on the totem pole."

Has the Wampanoag really disappeared? There is still an aura of mystery. We know there was an epidemic that took many Indian lives - some Wampanoags moved west and joined the Cherokee and Cheyenne. They were forced to move. Some even went north to Canada! Many Wampanoag put aside their Indian heritage and accepted the white man's way for their own survival. There are some Wampanoag who do not wish it known they are Indian for social or economic reasons.

What happened to those Wampanoags who chose to remain and live among the early settlers? What kind of existence did they live as "civilized" people? True, living was not as complex as life today, but they dealt with the confusion and the change. Honesty, trust, concern, pride, and politics wove themselves in and out of their [the Wampanoags'] daily living. Hence, he was termed crafty, cunning, rapacious, and dirty.

History wants us to believe that the Indian was a savage, illiterate, uncivilized animal. A history that was written by an organized, disciplined people, to expose us as an unorganized and undisciplined entity. Two distinctly different cultures met. One thought they must control life; the other believed life was to be enjoyed, because nature decreed it. Let us remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white man. The Indian feels pain, gets hurt, and becomes defensive, has dreams, bears tragedy and failure, suffers from loneliness, needs to cry as well as laugh. He, too, is often misunderstood.

The white man in the presence of the Indian is still mystified by his uncanny ability to make him feel uncomfortable. This may be the image the white man has created of the Indian; his "savageness" has boomeranged and isn't a mystery; it is fear; fear of the Indian's temperament!

High on a hill, overlooking the famed Plymouth Rock, stands the statue of our great Sachem, Massasoit. Massasoit has stood there many years in silence. We the descendants of this great Sachem have been a silent people. The necessity of making a living in this materialistic society of the white man caused us to be silent. Today, I and many of my people are choosing to face the truth. We ARE Indians!

Although time has drained our culture, and our language is almost extinct, we the Wampanoags still walk the lands of Massachusetts. We may be fragmented, we may be confused. Many years have passed since we have been a people together. Our lands were invaded. We fought as hard to keep our land as you the whites did to take our land away from us. We were conquered, we became the American prisoners of war in many cases, and wards of the United States Government, until only recently.

Our spirit refuses to die. Yesterday we walked the woodland paths and sandy trails. Today we must walk the macadam highways and roads. We are uniting We're standing not in our wigwams but in your concrete tent. We stand tall and proud, and before too many moons pass we'll right the wrongs we have allowed to happen to us.

We forfeited our country. Our lands have fallen into the hands of the aggressor. We have allowed the white man to keep us on our knees. What has happened cannot be changed, but today we must work towards a more humane America, a more Indian America, where men and nature once again are important; where the Indian values of honor, truth, and brotherhood prevail.

You the white man are celebrating an anniversary. We the Wampanoags will help you celebrate in the concept of a beginning. It was the beginning of a new life for the Pilgrims. Now, 350 years later it is a beginning of a new determination for the original American: the American Indian.

There are some factors concerning the Wampanoags and other Indians across this vast nation. We now have 350 years of experience living amongst the white man. We can now speak his language. We can now think as a white man thinks. We can now compete with him for the top jobs. We're being heard; we are now being listened to. The important point is that along with these necessities of everyday living, we still have the spirit, we still have the unique culture, we still have the will and, most important of all, the determination to remain as Indians. We are determined, and our presence here this evening is living testimony that this is only the beginning of the American Indian, particularly the Wampanoag, to regain the position in this country that is rightfully ours."





Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

National Day of Mourning...



THE NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

On Thanksgiving Day, many Native Americans and their supporters gather at the top of Coles Hill, overlooking Plymouth Rock, for the "National Day of Mourning."

The first National Day of Mourning was held in 1970. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts invited Wampanoag leader Frank James to deliver a speech. When the text of Mr. James’ speech, a powerful statement of anger at the history of oppression of the Native people of America, became known before the event, the Commonwealth "disinvited" him. That silencing of a strong and honest Native voice led to the convening of the National Day of Mourning.

The historical event we know today as the "First Thanksgiving" was a harvest festival held in 1621 by the Pilgrims and their Native American neighbors and allies. It has acquired significance beyond the bare historical facts. Thanksgiving has become a much broader symbol of the entirety of the American experience. Many find this a cause for rejoicing. The dissenting view of Native Americans, who have suffered the theft of their lands and the destruction of their traditional way of life at the hands of the American nation, is equally valid.

To some, the "First Thanksgiving" presents a distorted picture of the history of relations between the European colonists and their descendants and the Native People. The total emphasis is placed on the respect that existed between the Wampanoags led by the sachem Massasoit and the first generation of Pilgrims in Plymouth, while the long history of subsequent violence and discrimination suffered by Native People across America is nowhere represented.

To others, the event shines forth as an example of the respect that was possible once, if only for the brief span of a single generation in a single place, between two different cultures and as a vision of what may again be possible someday among people of goodwill.

History is not a set of "truths" to be memorized, history is an ongoing process of interpretation and learning. The true richness and depth of history come from multiplicity and complexity, from debate and disagreement and dialogue. There is room for more than one history; there is room for many voices.


COMMENTS ON THE DAY OF MOURNING
BY RUSSELL M. PETERS


Russell Peters is Wampanoag, born and raised in Mashpee, less than twenty miles from Plymouth Rock. Mashpee was considered an Indian community and was, in fact, an Indian District within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, until it was illegally dissolved in 1870.

Mr. Peters has been involved in Native American issues at a state, local and national level. He is the President of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from 1976 to 1984, a member of the Harvard Peabody Museum Native American Repatriation Committee, a member of the White House Conference on Federal Recognition in 1995 and 1996, a board member of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, a board member of the Pilgrim Society, and the author of Wampanoags of Mashpee (Nimrod Press), Clambake (Lerner Publications), and Regalia (Sundance Press).

Mr. Peters’ notes that the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council is constantly working to improve the spiritual and material lives of their people. They are not opposed to demonstrations but are opposed to needless confrontations that serve no purpose for the Native American people they purport to serve.

"When Frank James, known to the Wampanoag people as Wampsutta, was invited to speak at the 1970 annual Thanksgiving feast at Plymouth, he was not prepared to have his speech revised by the Pilgrims. He left the dinner and the ceremonies and went to the hill near the statue of the Massasoit, who as the leader of the Wampanoags when the Pilgrims landed in their territory. There overlooking Plymouth Harbor, he looked at the replica of the Mayflower. It was there that he gave his speech that was to be given to the Pilgrims and their guests. There eight or ten Indians and their supporters listened in indignation as Frank talked of the takeover of the Wampanoag tradition, culture, religion, and land.

"This was a missed opportunity to begin a dialogue between the Wampanoags and the Pilgrims. Instead the `Day of Mourning’ began, and continues to this day. I commend Frank for taking the stand that he took, and we and our supporters recognize the token role the Wampanoags had played in this pageantry. It was not appropriate for the native people to feast in thanksgiving; instead we decided to fast and show by contrast our way of remembering our history.

"As the years went by, the numbers at the Massasoit statue increased and the presentations, skits and demonstrations did indeed show a contrast between feasting and fasting. Reporters arrived from local news media as well as the New York papers, the Atlanta Constitution, the Chicago Tribune, and the Los Angeles Times, and told the stories of the Wampanoag to the American people.

"Some of the Wampanoag people who live in the vicinity of Plymouth began to look at positive ways in which we could impact our lives, both past and present. It occurred to us that the Europeans had a history of the colonists, well documented, albeit quite Eurocentric. The history of the Wampanoag people in southeastern Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard was barely mentioned. Ironically, the Indian communities of Mashpee, Aquinnah (Gay Head) and Herring Pond still exist just a short distance away from the Plymouth Rock.

"The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head is a Federally Recognized Indian Tribe. Their Tribal roll lists 1000 Wampanoags. Under the leadership of their chief, the tribe conducts daily business, economic development, as well as community and social activities for its tribal members. The Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council, of which I am President, has a tribal roll of 1200 Wampanoags. It conducts business and other related activities on a daily basis. Our annual Pow Wow took place in Mashpee on July 3, 4 and 5, 1998. We own and maintain the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Museum with plans to expand the facilities. We are very active in revitalization of our language which was taken from us by the colonists. And we are doing research and writing of the Wampanoag history, particularly concerning the relationship with the English and other European colonists during the early seventeenth century up to the present.

"These are some of the positive ways in which we can balance the scale of history and establish pride in the Wampanoag identity and heritage. Ours is as much a part of the American story as that of the Pilgrim, in fact more so since it was our land.

"While the `Day of Mourning’ has served to focus attention on past injustice to the Native American cause, it has, in recent years, been orchestrated by a group calling themselves the United American Indians of New England. This group has tenuous ties to any of the local tribes, and is composed primarily of non-Indians. To date, they have refused several invitations to meet with the Wampanoag Indian tribal councils in Mashpee or in Gay Head. Once again, we, as Wampanoags, find our voices and concerns cast aside in the activities surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday in Plymouth, this time, ironically, by a group purporting to represent our interests.

"The time is long overdue for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoags to renew a meaningful dialogue about our past and look towards a more honest future. Our history is a vital and dynamic part of pre-American and American history. We must be the ones who research, write, and interpret that history."





Please visit JohnnaRyry's Broomwagon!

22 November 2006

An Epiphany...




An Immigrant Steeped In Meaning Of Thanksgiving



November 17, 2006

by Bessy Reyna




Thanksgiving kept coming to mind as I viewed the artwork now on display
at the Aldrich Museum for Contemporary Art in Ridgefield. The main
exhibition, the work of 10 artists both Indian and non-Indian, is called "No
Reservations: Native American History and Culture in Contemporary Art
."


I was struck by the intensity of the work on view at each gallery, and the political content depicting the effect of the European conquest of Native Americans then and now. Living in Connecticut with the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos gives one a skewed view of contemporary American Indian life. This exhibition brings many other realities into sharp focus.

Since 1975, when he was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly killing of two FBI agents, Native American activist Leonard Peltier has been a beacon in the struggles of Native American people. His guilt or innocence is being debated to this day. At the Aldrich, artist Rigo 23 has recreated Peltier's tiny prison cell. Inside there is some of Peltier's original art work and, in glass boxes and on the floor, there are copies of his appeals, letters and other documents. The steps leading to the Peltier exhibit are
marked with each year that he has been imprisoned.


From a shoot-out between larger-than-life fiberglass cowboy and Indians, to the revisionist Hudson River School paintings of Peter Edlund, this show transforms the ordinary, the familiar and the beautiful providing new historical and cultural insights.

The symbolism of Marie Watt's "Dwelling" and learning of the Ridgefield community's involvement in this project represented the spirit of Thanksgiving for me. More than 1,000 blankets staked from floor to ceiling form a colorful and striking monolith. About 160 of these were donated by residents of Fairfield County and tagged with the story of how they were acquired or used by each family, in some cases for generations. Another
900 gray blankets were purchased by other donors. Dozens of people in the area spent hours sewing bindings around their edges. When the show ends in February, these blankets will be donated to local homeless shelters and families in need.

Simple blankets, traditionally used by Native Americans for trading or shelter and shamefully used by British forces to infect Native Americans with smallpox in 1763, now represent the commitment of a community working together to create something of beauty, to make connections between one another and to help others in need.

As I read the stories and learned that the people of Ridgefield had gotten together to make this a community project, I thought I was experiencing a "modern-day" Thanksgiving.

Each year as this holiday approaches, I think about how connected it is to my experience as an immigrant in this country.

As an undergrad at Mount Holyoke College, I was invited to join my friends' families, the Drinkos in Cleveland and the Pryors in Philadelphia. As a grad student at UConn in Storrs, I joined many families in celebrating in Connecticut. When I became part of my partner Susan's family, we spent hours on the road, regardless of the ice or snow, driving to Massachusetts. There, the whole family would recount anecdotes of their lives. I watched the nieces and nephews grow from little kids to suddenly sitting with their own children on their laps.

As I was leaving the Aldrich museum, I walked into an exhibition of photos by Paul Fusco. His photographs were taken at funerals of servicemen and women who died in Iraq including Army specialist Tyanna Avery-Felder of Bridgeport.

For the families of the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, each day they don't get horrible news about their loved ones must be a day of Thanksgiving.

Some of us are so used to the freedom and comforts we have that we don't even realize how much, and to how many, we have to be thankful.

I will think about that again this year. I hope we all do.



Bessy Reyna Freelance Writer/Hartford Courant





"Ten Bears"



Ten Bears (1795 -1873) Comanche Chief




"My heart is filled with joy when I see you here, as the brooks fill with water when the snows melt in the spring, and I feel glad as the ponies do when the fresh grass starts in the beginning of the year.

I heard of your coming when I was many sleeps away, and I made but a few camps before I met you. I knew that you had come to do good to me and my people. I looked for the benefits which would last forever, and so my face shines with joy as I look upon you.

My people have never first drawn a bow or fired a gun against the whites. There has been trouble on the line between us, and my young men have danced the war dance, but it was not begun by us.

It was you who sent out the first soldier, and it was we who sent out the second.

Two years ago, I came upon this road following the buffalo, that my wives and children might have their cheeks plump and their bodies warm. But the soldiers fired on us, and since that time there has been a noise like that of a thunderstorm, and we have not known which way to go.

So it was upon the Canadian.

Nor have we been made to cry once alone. The blue dressed soldiers and the Utes came from out of the night when it was dark and still, and for campfires, they lit our lodges. Instead of hunting game, they killed my braves and the warriors of the tribe cut short their hair for the dead.

So it was in Texas.

They made sorrow come into our camps, and we went out like buffalo bulls when the cows are attacked. When we found them we killed them, and their scalps hang in our lodges.

The Comanches are not weak and blind like the pups of a dog when seven sleeps old. They are strong and farsighted like grown horses. We took their road and went on it. The white women cried, and our women laughed.

But there are things which you have said to me which I did not like. They were not sweet like sugar, but bitter like gourds. You said that you wanted to put us on a reservation, to build us houses, and to make us Medicine Lodges.

I do not want them.

I was born upon the prairie where the wind blew free, and there was nothing to break the light of the sun. I was born where there were no enclosures, and where everything drew free breath. I want to die there, and not within walls.

I know every stream and every wood between the Rio Grande and the Arkansas. I have hunted and lived over the country. I lived like my fathers before me, and like them I lived happily.

When I was at Washington, the Great White Father told me that all the Comanche land was ours, and that no one should hinder us in living upon it. So why do you ask us to leave the rivers, and the sun, and the wind, and live in houses?

Do not ask us to give up the buffalo for the sheep. The young men have heard talk of this, and it has made them sad and angry.

Do not speak of it no more.

I love to carry out the talk I get from the Great White Father.

When I get good and presents, I and my people feel glad, since it shows us that he holds us in his eye. If the Texans had kept out of my country, there might have been peace. But that which you say we must live on is too small.

The Texans have taken away the places where the grass grew the thickest and the timber was best. Had we kept that, we might have done this thing you ask.

But it is too late.

The white man has the country we loved and we only wish to wander on the prairie until we die.

Any good thing you say to me shall not be forgotten. I shall carry it as near to my heart as my children, and it shall be as often on my tongue as the name of the Great Spirit.

I want no blood upon my land to stain the grass. I want it all clean and pure, and I wish it so, that all who go through among my people may find peace when they come in, and leave it when they go out..."

Paruasemena
Yamparika Paraibo, Medicine Lodge Creek. October 19, 1867





Walking in Harmony: "Lakota Voices"



Here is a profound short film by "videosphere" Listen carefully to the True Words these two Lakota speak, there is much Wisdom within them...

--ryan










Graham Greene's Revenge...



I got this from a friend:

"In Canada, there's a company selling medicinal remedies under the so-named "Lakota" brand. In their long running ad campaign, the company featured non-Natives taking the wondrous medicine and voila~~afterward they appear onscreen in a full headdress!

Our own Rob Schmidt has followed the Lakota Brand company and gave it his "Stereotype of the Month" honor last year for its demeaning imagery. In a more humorous light, however, actor Graham Greene did a parody of the ad on a CBC program earlier this year which is much more entertaining than the lame campaign the company ran."









18 November 2006

Blair Wakes Up and Smells the Bu$h-Sh*t...



About time, enit?

--ryan


Blair Accepts 'Disaster' in Iraq

Blair's comments

Downing Street said Mr Blair's views have been misrepresented
Tony Blair has publicly agreed with the opinion that the violence in Iraq since the 2003 invasion has been a disaster.

The UK prime minister was responding to a question by Sir David Frost in an interview on the new al-Jazeera English-language Arabic TV channel.

The Liberal Democrats said Mr Blair had finally accepted the enormity of his decision to go to war in Iraq.

But Downing Street insisted his views had been misrepresented and that he had not made "some kind of admission".


'Not accident in planning'

A spokesman said the prime minister often agreed with interviewers when he responded to their questions.

Mr Blair was challenged by Sir David over the violence in Iraq, saying it had "so far been pretty much of a disaster".


He was simply acknowledging the question in a polite way before going on to explain his view
Downing Street spokesman



The prime minister replied: "It has, but you see what I say to people is why is it difficult in Iraq?

"It's not difficult because of some accident in planning.

"It's difficult because there's a deliberate strategy - al-Qaeda with Sunni insurgents on one hand, Iranian-backed elements with Shia militias on the other - to create a situation in which the will of the majority for peace is displaced by the will of the minority for war."

The interview comes as Chancellor Gordon Brown met UK troops on his first visit to Iraq, and promised an extra £100m ($188m) over three years to help rebuild the country's economy.

Commenting on the al-Jazeera broadcast, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell said: "At long last the enormity of the decision to take military action against Iraq is being accepted by the prime minister.

"It could hardly be otherwise, as the failure of strategy becomes so clear."


'Completely disingenuous'

Downing Street insisted it was not Mr Blair's view that the violence in Iraq had been a disaster.

A spokeswoman said: "He was simply acknowledging the question in a polite way before going on to explain his view.

"To portray it as some kind of admission is completely disingenuous."


We have said that we will stay as long as the Iraqi government needs us to do so
Tony Blair



But BBC political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Blair's agreement indicated he knew there was "simply no point any more arguing with interviewers".

"Tony Blair knows that's an argument that has already been lost," he added.

"He wishes instead to focus on the argument about who's to blame for the disaster - insurgents he insists - and what should be done now - staying there until 'the job is done', he will continue to argue."

In the interview, Mr Blair stressed the importance of progress in the Middle East peace process in winning the "war on terror".

He said it would cut support for Muslim extremism and added the issue was the "most important" thing for him before he leaves office.

Syria and Iran could play a "constructive" role in the Middle East, Mr Blair added, and it was absurd to suggest that talking to the countries amounted to "appeasement".

When asked about UK troops in Iraq, he said: "We have said that we will stay as long as the Iraqi government needs us to do so."



Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6160466.stm

Published: 2006/11/18 11:00:31 GMT

© BBC MMVI



17 November 2006

Ferenc Puskas (1927 - 2006)



Now he's running the pitch on young legs with a fresh clear mind...

--ryan





Obituary: Ferenc Puskas


Interview: Sir Tom Finney pays tribute to Puskas

Ferenc Puskas was the chief magician of the so-called Magical Magyars, the great Hungarian team of the 1950s that dominated world football.

Puskas was an odd-looking footballer. He was short, stocky, barrel-chested and overweight, could not head the ball and could use only his left foot.

But what a left foot.

When he came to Wembley in 1953, no one in Britain had seen ball skills like his before.

His stunning footballing ablility left England captain Billy Wright tackling air at Wembley and helped Hungary thrash England 6-3, their first defeat on home soil.

Sir Tom Finney, who watched the game from the stands, spoke for everyone when he said: "I came away wondering to myself what we had been doing all these years."

Puskas was known as the 'Galloping Major', a reference to the fact that he played for an army team, Honved.


FERENC PUSKAS FACTFILE
Born: 2 April 1927, Budapest, Hungary
Nicknames: The Booming Cannon & The Galloping Major
Clubs: Kispest Honved (354 apps, 357 goals) & Real Madrid (528 apps, 512 goals)
Honours: Hungarian league (5), Spanish league (5), Spanish Cup, European Cup (3), Intercontinental Cup, Olympics



In his first season he scored 50 goals as he won the first of five Hungarian championships and in total scored 357 goals in 354 games.

He made his international debut at the age of 18 and went on to score a phenomenal 83 times in 84 internationals.

Disappointment came when West Germany caused a major upset by defeating Hungary in the 1954 World Cup Final.

The Hungarian uprising against their Soviet masters in 1956 led to the disintegration of the great national side.

Puskas was with the rest of his Honved team-mates in Spain when the revolt took place.

He defected to the West and within a year had been signed by Real Madrid, then Europe's leading club.

Puskas proceeded to form a sensational partnership with Alfredo Di Stefano and they became the heart of an outstanding Real side.

The high point of their achievements was their display in the 1960 European Cup final in front of 135,000 at Hampden Park.

In a truly memorable match, Real Madrid defeated Eintracht 7-3. Di Stefano scored a hat-trick, Puskas went one better with four.

However, Puskas did not have it all his own way in the European Cup.

In 1962 he scored a hat-trick in the final against Benfica but Real still lost 5-3 to their Portuguese opponents.

There was more disappointment a year later when Puskas, now playing for Spain, failed to inspire his team to success in the World Cup Finals in Chile.

Spain finished bottom of their group and Puskas failed to score in any of his four appearances for his adopted country.

But for Real his scoring rate of 512 goals in 528 matches helped the club win five successive league titles as well as three European titles.

Puskas left Real in 1966 to concentrate on coaching. He had mediocre success until 1971 when he took the Greek side Panathinaikos to the European Cup Final, where they lost 2-0 to Ajax.

After the Hungarian uprising Puskas had not returned to the country, but he was finally allowed back in 1993 to become caretaker manager of the Hungarian side during the World Cup qualifiers.

Puskas, who was admitted to hospital in late 2000 with arteriosclerosis and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, leaves a wife Erzsebet.

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2/hi/football/1035447.stm

Published: 2006/11/17 07:59:01 GMT

© BBC MMVI





16 November 2006

Get Blacklisted!



I'm on the list, are you? If not, do it now!

I did it for my nephews and niece...
--ryan


NRA Black List - The list of NRA enemies - every NRA enemy





The Important Half...



This reminds me of when I was a kid (a truly impetuous little sh*t!) and would selectively hear, read or remember only the parts of any directive or instruction that were of benefit to me...

--ryan




The Second's Missing Half

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

--Second Amendment, U.S. Constitution


January/February 1994 Issue


Emblazoned across the front of the NRA headquarters in Washington, D.C., is half of this amendment--the second half. It's a testament to how well the NRA does its job that most Americans probably don't know about the first half, with its clunky and inconvenient dependent clause. But that's how the Founding Fathers wrote it. The NRA's reasons for focusing on its backside are fairly obvious, but what do the courts say about the Second Amendment?

According to Jon S. Vernick and Stephen P. Teret of Johns Hopkins University Injury Prevention Center, the Supreme Court has examined two broad issues involving the amendment's reach. The first is whether the amendment controls federal law only or whether it also can be extended to the state and local levels. The second is whether it protects individual rights to own firearms, or only collective, "militia" rights.

On the first question, the Court ruled definitively in United States v. Cruikshank that the amendment "means no more than (the right to keep and bear arms) shall not be infringed by Congress." This 1876 ruling established that states and localities are not prevented from enacting their own gun-control laws--and they remain free to do so to this day.

In 1886, in Presser v. Illinois, the Court reaffirmed the concept of a state's rights, as it were, to control guns, and this position has never been modified. Therefore, it re-mains the Court's last word on the subject. Lower courts have time and again held to this precedent.

Regarding the second broad question of individual versus state-militia rights, the Court held in its 1939 United States v. Miller decision that individuals have in effect no right to keep and bear arms under the amendment, but only a collective right having "some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia." Lower courts have consistently applied the Miller decision in upholding various gun-control laws over the years.

The Supreme Court most recently revisited this question in 1980, when it reconfirmed that "these legislative restrictions on the use of firearms do not trench upon any constitutionally protected liberties." One significant part of that case is that then Chief Justice Burger and current Chief Justice Rehnquist both supported that interpretation. Burger has denounced the NRA's edited version of the amendment as a "fraud."

The legal precedents are clear: Almost any state or local gun-control action is fine; the Second Amendment does not apply. On the federal level, only laws interfering with state militias are prohibited.

There's really no legal problem with gun control at all. As a legendary sports figure once pointed out, in a different context, "You could look it up." On the other hand, most Americans (56 percent) don't want to, since they now agree with the statement, "Although the Constitution provides the right to bear arms, American society has changed to the point that it is too dangerous for this right to continue as originally written." At this point, the NRA might want to consider putting the front end of that amendment back up at headquarters. It could be worse.




Red State Values...?



Quite funny, enit? I'm talking about how right-wing Chri$tian Evangelical NeoCon reactionary Republicans right can't seem to tell us often enough (or loudly enough) all about the superior bedrock values. But yet, statistics show that the "Sacred Institution of Marriage" seem to elude all of their efforts to master it. I think the the real reason they don't want "to share the fun" with the Gay and Lesbian Community, is the embarassing (and very real) possibility that they might be better at it!

--ryan


Bible Belt Leads U.S. In Divorces : "Aside from the quickie-divorce Mecca of Nevada, no region of the United States has a higher divorce rate than the Bible Belt. Nearly half of all marriages break up, but the divorce rates in these southern states are roughly 50 percent above the national average."



09 November 2006

Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead...



One thug down! Four more to go!

--ryan



Rumsfeld Exit Shakes Bush Administration

By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs correspondent, BBC News website

The resignation of the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld shows how much the Bush administration is in disarray about Iraq.

The president made it quite clear at a news conference after the election that he had decided beforehand that a "fresh perspective" was needed at the Pentagon.

This means that, win or lose the election, Mr Bush had decided that things were going badly enough to remove one of the architects of the war.

In fact, when Mr Bush told reporters last week that Mr Rumsfeld would be staying on, he had already spoken to Mr Rumsfeld about leaving.

On Wednesday, Mr Bush told reporters he had decided ahead of the elections that "win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee".

Whether Robert Gates, a former CIA director, is the kind of man to provide much of a fresh perspective remains to be seen. Until now he has always been an establishment figure. But he seems to be about to become one of the pegs on which new hopes will be hung.

Significant moment

The departure of Donald Rumsfeld is a major moment in the history of the Bush administration and the war in Iraq.

Donald Rumsfeld felt himself to be the right man, in the right place, at the right time

His resignation is a sign and an admission that the policy in Iraq has not worked, so far.

Apart from Vice-President Dick Cheney and President Bush himself, there was nobody who more clearly symbolised the administration's determination to wage the war on terror and to get rid of Saddam Hussein.

"We know they have weapons of mass destruction," he announced of the Iraqis at one stage. "We don't need any debate about it." His confidence and brusque dismissal of dissent was typical. For some, it amounted to arrogance.

Ambitions

Rumsfeld brought to the Pentagon years of ambition to stir up a department he had run as a much younger man under President Ford.

The recent book about the administration at war by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, State of Denial, tells of the blizzard of handwritten memos known as "snowflakes" with which he bombarded his officials.

He was determined to break what he saw as the old guard and to get control of policy himself, which he felt was too much in the hands of the generals and admirals.

He wanted a slimmer, more mobile military, one more capable of waging war on international terrorists and governments that supported them and less concentrated on the massive weapons systems that were being developed as if the Cold War had not ended.

Donald Rumsfeld felt himself to be the right man, in the right place, at the right time.

His direct, irascible, sometimes even folksy style appealed to many when things were going well. His famous dictum about there being "known unknowns" and "unknown unknowns", made pre-Iraq, was seen as quirky and "Rummy" at his most idiosyncratic.

In a resignation appearance with President Bush and his own successor in the Oval Office, Mr Rumsfeld referred, almost as if he had not been appreciated, to "this little understood, unfamiliar war, the first war of the 21st century... It is not well known, it was not well understood, it is complex for people to comprehend."

Downfall

However, the very confidence that allowed him to make his mark on the Pentagon also led to his downfall - it became overconfidence.

He ignored warnings that his reliance on hard-hitting, relatively small units would win the ground war in Iraq but would not win a guerrilla war.

Like most US policymakers, he simply did not believe that Iraqis would not welcome the invaders and take care of events for themselves from then on.

He was not a man of patience and did not in the end have the necessary patience for a long, drawn out counter insurgency war. Nor did he show the flexibility of tactics needed to demonstrate to his commander-in-chief that he was going to deliver the victory the president believes is so necessary.

He had to go, whatever the results of the elections.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6130514.stm

Published: 2006/11/08 21:05:17 GMT

© BBC MMVI




46 Years Ago Today...



This story first appeared on 9.November 1960

1960: Narrow victory for John F Kennedy

Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy has emerged as the new president of the United States beating Vice-President Richard Nixon by a slim margin.

Senator Kennedy, aged 43, is a Harvard graduate and war hero. He will be the youngest elected president in US history and the first Roman Catholic.

In his victory speech at Hyannis, Massachusetts, he urged all Americans to help him "move this country safely through the 1960s".

He added: "I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world."

Night of doubt

Then turning to his wife, Jacqueline, who is due to give birth to their second child in three weeks' time, he said they would now prepare for "a new administration and a new baby".

Also standing next to Senator Kennedy during his speech was his father Joseph, once US Ambassador to London. And close by was his brother and campaign manager Robert Kennedy.

After a whole night of doubt as to who was the victor of the great American prize of president, Mr Nixon hinted at defeat at 0315 local time at Republican headquarters in Los Angeles.

As supporters chanted: "We want Nixon!" he told the nation to back their new leader.

"I want Senator Kennedy to know - I want you all to know - that if this trend continues and he does become president, he will have my whole-hearted support," he said.

He did not officially concede victory until some six hours later in a congratulatory telegram to the president-elect.

It has been a heated and exciting election campaign in which television has played an important role for the first time in US election history. Last month millions of viewers watched the pair battle it out in a series of television debates.

With two states still to file a final verdict and Mississippi "unpledged" due to disapproval of both parties' commitments to civil rights, the results so far are:

* Kennedy - 33,029,203 popular votes and 337 electoral votes
* Nixon - 32,725,435 popular votes and 185 electoral votes


President Eisenhower is reported to be unhappy with the Democrat victory.

But he sent his congratulations to the president-elect and called a cabinet meeting to arrange the transition of government ahead of Senator Kennedy's inauguration in January.



Ed Bradley (1941 - 2006)



60 Minutes Reporter Ed Bradley Dies of Leukemia

Last Updated: Thursday, November 9, 2006 @ 1:41 PM ET
CBC Arts

Ed Bradley, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent and a pioneer for black journalists in the United States, died on Thursday of leukemia. He was 65.

Bradley, a journalist for 43 years, won 19 Emmy Awards for stories ranging from the reopening of a 50-year old racial murder case and a report on brain cancer patients to an exclusive one-on-one interview with condemned Okalahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

This year, he also received a lifetime achievement award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

Bradley remained active in his 25th year with 60 Minutes, but had been ill for some time and underwent heart surgery last year.

Born in Philadelphia on June 22, 1941, Bradley got his start as a reporter for WDAS Radio Philadelphia in 1963.

He joined CBS News in 1971 and moved to 60 Minutes, the network's award-winning news magazine show, in 1981.




The Curse of 'Macaca'...



The only thing worse than stepping in a steaming pile of macaca, is having to accept the painful knowledge that it was your own damn macaca you stepped in!

--ryan


AP: Webb the Winner

Wire Service Declares Democrat Winner
By David Royer
and Joel Banner Baird/staff
droyer@newsleader.com,
jbaird@newsleader.com

STAUNTON — The fun is over. Now comes the cleanup.

Jim Webb’s narrow, come-from-behind win over Sen. George Allen in the U.S. Senate race Tuesday has yet to be certified.


In a conference call today, Democrats sounded confident that Webb would prevail. But until it’s official, local political volunteers say they’re holding their breaths awaiting the results.

“I’m cautiously optimistic, but it’s pretty nerve-racking, because it’s not a position we’ve been in before,” said Salome Baugher, chairwoman of the Staunton Democratic Committee.

AP contacted election officials in all 134 localities where voting occurred, obtaining updated numbers Wednesday. About half the localities said they had completed their post-election canvassing and nearly all had counted outstanding absentees. Most were expected to be finished by Friday.

The new AP count showed Webb with 1,172,538 votes and Allen with 1,165,302, a difference of 7,236. Virginia has had two statewide vote recounts in modern history, but both resulted in vote changes of no more than a few hundred votes.

An adviser to Allen, speaking on condition of anonymity because his boss has not formally decided to end the campaign, said the senator wanted to wait until most canvassing was completed before announcing his decision, possibly as early as Thursday evening.

The adviser said that Allen was disinclined to request a recount if the final vote spread was similar to that of election night.

Webb lost in Staunton by 350 votes, and by much wider margins in Waynesboro and Augusta County.

Still, Baugher said Democrats have been building momentum in Staunton since the elections of Mark Warner and Tim Kaine to the governor’s seat.

“I credit the Republicans for getting that marriage amendment on the ballot. I think Webb would’ve won otherwise,” she said.

Anne Taetzsch, chairwoman of the Staunton Republican Committee, was excited over her party’s win in the city, but she worried about statewide results showing Allen down by some 8,000 votes.

“There’s always human error,” she said.

Both Taetzsch and Baugher said Tuesday’s results reflected changing demographics in a state that had remained a Republican stronghold for decades.

“This is the second one that’s been this close,” Taetzsch said, recalling Republican Bob McDonnell’s embattled race for attorney general last year. “It shows that Virginia is becoming more of a battleground state, and I hope it energizes Republicans to realize that we can no longer take it for granted that we are red.”

Former Gov. Mark Warner said during a telephone interview Wednesday that a vote recount would confirm Jim Webb’s Tuesday night victory over Sen. George Allen.
“I’m confident in Virginia’s system; We’ve had close races here before,” he said.
Warner said Webb would announce details about his transition team later.

Meanwhile, he added, hundreds of legal volunteers were in place around the Commonwealth to monitor local review of election results through Monday.
“Individual ballots won’t be scrutinized during this canvassing period,” he said. “It’s just a chance for local election boards to take a fresh look at the numbers they wrote down at the end of a long day.”

Warner introduced Washington attorney Marc Elias as the head of Webb’s legal team during the actual verification of votes — which could begin Nov. 27 if Allen requests a recount.

Elias told reporters that recount votes in Virginia typically confirm official results in a retabulation of data.

“In this state a recount is much more limited than what people remember from Florida,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.