Midwest Voting Mom

Tribal Corruption killing Tribal Members: Help 'KICKSTART' True Family Story -

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 20:39:00 +0000

Drug abuse, Tribal gov't corruption, crime and child abuse rampant in Indian Country: Help 'Kickstart' this must-read true story under a new, active publisher.

Educate the general public and save lives - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff went to jail, but those who paid him and those who received his money did not. Tribal corruption and the paying off of Congressmen did not end with Abramoff.

Our children - the children of Americans of every heritage across the nation - are now affected by corrupt federal Indian policy as tribal leaders have gotten not just Congressmen, but now Eric Holder and the BIA, to either create law or "regulations" that require courts to give jurisdiction of children of even the smallest amount of tribal heritage to tribal governments - who get more money per head.

SD Senator Abourezk was the one who, following Wounded Knee, assisted AIM leaders and pushed for creation of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, pushed for the Indian Child Welfare

Act, and even had Russell Means working for him - on the Senator's payroll - WHILE Means was currently incarcerated for his crimes.

Eric Holder announced on December 3, 2014, and DOI Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn announced more recently that they "will work to strengthen Indian families by finalizing new Indian child welfare guidelines for state courts and embarking on an effort to develop regulations that carry the force of law.” Eric Holder had stated that he would find ways to make it "permanent" - so that subsequent Congress's wouldn't be able to change it easily.

Yes - it is true - and an increasing number of people are being affected as tribal leaders feign they are doing this for the "good" of the children.

It is NOT about the good of the children. It is about power and money - period. Please help this book get out into the public. You will receive a copy of the book with an $11 donation. -

You can receive a copy with an $11 donation toward the publication.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1715807687/dying-in-indian-country

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He died five hours after calling us -

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 16:57:00 +0000

He died in a car wreck on Sept. 22, 2014. Just five hours earlier, he was talking to us on the phone, telling us he had tape recorded his meetings with BIA social services and tribal court because he finally wanted his story to be public.

Lavern “Bundy” Littlewind was a BIA policeman and Spirit Lake tribal member. He wanted people who don’t live on the reservation to understand why child abuse is endemic on so many reservations. Many Tribal social services don’t protect kids. They protect tribal sovereignty.

: Jastin "Ian" Blue Coat

The latest: Toddler Jastin Blue Coat was murdered October 18, 2014, in Eagle Butte, SD. Because of his heritage, he wasn’t allowed protection.

After a series of child murders at Spirit Lake, our federal government – in the form of the BIA, FBI and U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon - was called in two years ago to oversee, improve care, and protect the kids. Federally funded programs such as Casey Family Services and ACF were also supposed to be improving care. But that money has been poured down the drain.

There is no serious intention to protect children if the only real solutions are perceived to threaten tribal sovereignty. Protect tribal sovereignty at all costs – even at the expense of children.

Power and money have corrupted nations from time immemorial.

In all our years of going to DC about this, Representative Kevin Cramer has been the only Congressman to take real action. This year, he pushed for an oversight hearing and called the BIA on the carpet. His office asked Bundy to testify at the June hearing as well, but Bundy was nervous, thinking tribal government might use his kids against him if he spoke up. That’s understandable – many have seen that happen.

The U.S. Government has set up a system that allows crime and corruption to occur without repercussion in Indian Country. We are very grateful to Rep. Cramer. It takes real courage to address something other Congressman have been afraid to touch. We need him to remain in office, pursuing protection for kids at Spirit Lake as well as across the country.

Obama doesn't love us. He loves them

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 18:38:00 +0000

Feeling like an abandoned child, watching one's father choose 'the other woman and her children.'

Dr. Ben Carson said today concerning the Obama admin's handling of the ebola crisis, “…either there is some politics here, or there isn’t much deep thinking.”

Another doctor surmised the other day that Obama’s view of America is so twisted – ie: that we have been elitists hurting the rest of the world for so long – that he genuinely believes we need to suffer some along with the rest of the world. ….That it would be elitist for our country not to suffer with the African countries.

That’s pretty hard to wrap one’s head around.

Maybe...maybe he thinks they should be allowed to come here to get help if they can make it.

…if he is emotionally attached to the people of Africa… that could make sense. As a parent, I can understand feeling uncompromising compassion for those I love - I would be mortified if one of my children were cut off from fleeing a dangerous situation.

But he is president of America, and he is supposed to be protecting US.

I haven’t perceived him as an emotionally attached person. But maybe that is because he isn’t emotionally attached to us. Maybe he realty is emotionally attached elsewhere.

Why was someone exposed to Ebola allowed to travel to Ohio?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 06:40:00 +0000

We’ve all seen the movies. We know how this ends.

I know you think I am panicking for no reason. But – I am trying to raise awareness because saying something too late is… too late.

Think it through. The case of this 2nd nurse is not to be taken lightly.

Why was someone who was being "monitored" for Ebola allowed to travel to and from Ohio - by plane or any other method? Shouldn't people who are being monitored for exposure be monitored in their homes?

Which raises another question - are the staff who are being "monitored" still working their shifts? Couldn't they come down with a fever while working? Or was she traveling because she is on leave? Have people no brains to know that life has changed and if they are being monitored, they should avoid other people?

She had a low grade fever prior to taking the plane home to Dallas. That means she had a low grade fever in Cleveland. Where was she sleeping? With a relative or friend - or a hotel? Where was she eating? Who did she sit next to in Cleveland as she went through her day prior to boarding the plane? They announced that they have contacted her fellow plane passengers - but they haven't said a word about who she came into contact with prior to boarding.

First they said it had to be a person with a fever for there to be concern. Now, apparently it is only a fever of concern if it is over 100 degrees?

This leaves open a myriad of possibilities – and THIS is how Ebola has been spreading. People apparently refuse to take into account the myriad possibilities.

When will we hear about the first Cleveland Ebola case - and how many people will they have been in contact with prior to our hearing it? Is there a restaurant dishwasher who might have had contact with her fork from breakfast?

It has been two days since her Ebola was diagnosed. How are they going about finding people whom she might have exposed? I am sorry – but it appears the cat is already out of the bag.

They quarantined the family he lived with, but apparently put no restrictions on the other 90 some people they were “monitoring.”

Could our government be any more inept than they have already shown themselves to be?

I do think it is already time for people to be staying home more. I want my family to be safe.

WHY was that woman allowed to travel??

The American Indian Movement, Lies, & their Liberal Supporters

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 12 Oct 2014 07:47:00 +0000

October 12, 2014

Introduction:

The American Indian Movement (AIM)and its federal supporters used deceptive, unethical and at times violent methods to achieve their end goal. While purporting to be a non-violent entity focused on the well-being and betterment of the people they said to represent, 'tribal sovereignty' was the primary and prized goal - at the expense of individuals, children and families.

The federal government acquiesced following Wounded Knee in attempt to placate and stem violence from this very small percentage of tribal members. ICWA was proposed soon after Wounded Knee and signed into law within five years.

AIM, purported to have been established to help poverty-stricken Native American families, has had a deep and unrecognized destructive and oppressive impact on families of all heritages across America.

In July of 1968, Native Americans from Minneapolis, Minnesota gathered to organize and form AIM as a way to “fight mistreatment by police and to improve prospects for jobs, education, and housing. (Durham, 1974)”

Initially, they did this. For the first few months, they were successful in cutting down on police harassment by monitoring police radio and arriving to an event before the police did. This resulted in a dramatic decrease in incarcerations for tribal members, and AIM members were widely accepted by the grateful community.

Honorable intentions to begin with – the leadership quickly decided this wasn’t enough. While they continued to maintain the initial stated objectives in public, behind closed doors, the motivation and goals had changed. Presenting the original stated goals made the best sound bite and comforted the ‘white’ public, anxious to alleviate societal guilt. However, AIM’s actions in the next few years went far beyond a legitimate push for justice, jobs and housing.

In the fall of 1972, AIM sponsored the “Trail of Broken Treaties.” About 900 people traveled from the west coast to Washington, DC, stopping at reservations along the way. After arriving in DC, they took over the BIA building and presented federal government with a 20-point proposal for sovereignty (Abourezk, 1972). Publicity from the “Trail of Broken Treaties” event rewarded the group with public sympathy and financing from the far left. Questions remain as to how they were so easily able to take over a federal building with little or no repercussion.

In 1973, AIM members violently took over the small town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota and conducted a siege that lasted from February 27 to May 8, 1973. While media played down criminal actions perpetrated on the very citizens AIM claimed to represent, people of Wounded Knee were intentionally robbed, beaten, and sometimes killed during the 71-day ordeal.

An amenable media smoothed things over for the “victimized” Native American organization. In one example, the media trumpeted that AIM had saved the town from an unscrupulous, predatory white grocer. In Robin Hood fashion, they relieved said grocer from his home and ill-gotten possessions and spread the plunder – including the store inventory - amongst themselves. The truth was this grocer had been known in the community for being extremely generous and AIM leaders imprisoned him and his wife – who was a tribal member - in their own basement. (Trimbach, 2007)

The stated goals of housing and jobs, while possibly initial goals of some members and branches of AIM, were not the end goals of its leadership. The stated goals of job and home were never reached and the leadership never seemed to give genuine effort to obtain them.

Instead, their factual push was for “tribal sovereignty” – the ability for certain tribal leaders to control other persons of Native American heritage as well as tribal-owned resources and assets. In a memorandum written to a colleague, AIM Executive Director Dennis Banks stated the ultimate AIM goal was to “free Indian people throughout the Americas from white man’s oppression and racism so as to create free Indian states that reflect self-determination of free peoples” (AIM, 1968).

AIM member Jimmie Durham went further, stating in a 1974 memorandum to AIM leaders,

“The Founding Fathers of the United States equated capitalism with civilization. They had to, given their mentality; to them civilization meant their society, which was a capitalist society. Therefore, from the earliest times the wars against Indians were not only to take over land but also to squash the threatening example of Indian communism. (Durham, 1974)”

Unfortunately, by the very nature of the group there was a power struggle from the start. Wide disagreement existed in the native community concerning AIM and its agenda. AIM’s young radicals from the cities, who had no power but wanted it (called “progressives” by the media), had to fight what the media called “traditionals” (leaders who already had power on the reservations and didn’t want to lose it). Further, while most of the nation was oblivious to the crime and murder committed by AIM at Wounded Knee, the people who lived through it were not.

Federal government leaders had begun to treat AIM leaders as legitimate authorities speaking for community members, but many Native American families saw AIM as thugs. By 1980, AIM declined as a leading organization. Many people saw no change in their day-to-day struggles and never benefited from AIM’s militant efforts. AIM leaders, much like the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons of the world, had gotten their gold and were not showing much interest in the ongoing problems of their communities.

Tribal sovereignty, which was not on the radar of most people in the 1970’s, was now widely assumed reality - despite the legal term for Indian Reservations factually being “Domestic Dependents.” Today, AIM leaders, while still honored by federal government and international organizations, are never heard to speak up for better jobs, education, and housing, let alone speak up when a child is raped or murdered on the reservation.

What AIM pushed for all along was power and control. A draft memo written by a Nixon White House aide in 1974, following the Wounded Knee occupation, points this out, stating,

“…some individuals propose 'the ultimate sovereignty: i.e., the external sovereignty of an independent nation, outside the jurisdiction of the United States, entirely. This option, while probably being ruled out as somewhat extreme by many persons, could have substantial support. It has, in fact, been suggested by some Indian groups, as evidenced by the recent action of members of the American Indian Movement to attempt establishment of diplomatic relations on behalf of tribal governments, with the United Nations foreign nations, and the United States, itself.” (Spaith, 1974)

AIM didn’t manage to achieve power and control over the reservations for themselves, but they started the heavy ball of tribal sovereignty rolling for elected leaders on the reservations and over the years, sovereignty has picked up speed, crushing tribal and non-tribal U.S. citizens alike in its path.

Due to the tribal sovereignty movement, several organizations were established to push back and protect the legal rights of individuals. Among them are Shawano County Concerned Property Taxpayers Association (SCCPTA), Upstate Citizens for Equality (UCE), Dakotans for Equal Rights (DER) and Aloha for All.

In this paper, we will examine how the AIM movement used media to spread militant propaganda to the point it was able to achieve dramatic support across the United States for tribal government control over powerless citizens. So successful was their effort that by 1978, a law was even passed to give tribal government’s authority and control over other people’s children. We will examine what their purposes might have actually been as well as how they went about it.

Analysis:

Some argue that ends justify the means. If one were talking about saving the life of a busload of children, that argument could potentially have merit. However, what was saved was tribal sovereignty at the expense of children. Granted, with rape and murder of children within the reservation system far outdistancing that of their neighbors off reservation, it is obvious some in authority genuinely believe this was a justified trade (Ombudsman, 2013).

The mistreatment of average tribal members who stood in AIM’s way is reminiscent of Marxists who had marched through Greece in the mid 1900’s. This is telling, as Marxism appears to have been an influence on at least some of the AIM members. AIM member Jimmy Durham wrote in his white paper concerning culture, revolution and the movement,

“…young white Marxists who have never been in real situations of struggle in a working-class movement, who in fact have seldom worked with anyone except fellow-students, and who come to us as though we were ignorant “lumpen proletariat” in need of being “taught”, not only Marxism, but the realities of our own struggle. . . (Durham, 1974)“

He goes on to say,

“…we have always defined our struggle not only as a struggle for land but also as a struggle to retain our cultural values. Those values are “communistic” values. Our societies were and are “communistic” societies. The U.S. government has always understood that very well. It has not branded us all these years as communists because we tried to form labor unions or because we hung out with the IWW or the Communist Party but because the U.S. government correctly identified our political system. It did not make that a public issue because that would have been dangerous, and because it has been far more efficient to say that we are savages and primitives.

“Marx used our societies as examples of what he meant by communism on two different occasions in his writings. He said that we are “Primitive Communists.” The word “primitive” means “first,” but people who have skimmed through Marx often decide, because of the connotations of the word “primitive” which come from political manipulation, that Marx meant that we were backward or “childlike” communists. Marx was, nonetheless, very Eurocentric, and he assumed that European history was the main body of humanity’s history.

“We do not need Marx’s words to teach us how to live our lives in our own society. We do not need to go through an industrial revolution so that we can come out as communists on the other side.

“We do need Marxism-Leninism as a method and system for knowing the human world as it is today and for knowing how most effectively to fight our oppressor. We do need to join forces with world Marxism-Leninism, because that is the liberation movement for the world. But we will not come into that world community as a “primitive” younger brother.

"Our struggle has always been not only to maintain our own lands and culture, but to fight the political system of capitalism itself. (Durham, 1974)”

There, in the words of founding AIM members, is the true purpose and goal of the AIM movement. Clearly, the American Indian Movement deceived its audience by concealing its true purpose and position, oversimplifying complex situations, and pretending certainty when valid and important questions remained unaddressed.

Adolf Hitler said in Mein Kampf,

“…in the ‘big lie’ there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying..”

Such is the case with the American Indian Movement and Tribal Sovereignty. Deception, propaganda and demagoguery appear to have been persuasion techniques skillfully used by AIM leadership.

Special Agent John Trimbach (SAC-Minneapolis), author of the book, “American Indian Mafia” tells the true story of what happened at Wounded Knee that spring in 1972 as they “tore a path of destruction through the Pine Ridge Reservation on their way to personal gain, fame, and fortune…” (Trimbach, 2007).

Among the deceptions, AIM leaders:

Robbed citizens of Wounded Knee, the very people they claimed to be helping
Extorted funds from federal government, varied organizations, and unsuspecting supporters – keeping much of the money for themselves.
Persuaded public officials into excusing their criminal behavior by through invention of claiming "indigenous immunity" – thereby encouraging violence against other tribal members.
Conspired to murder opponents, including their own members.

According to Special Agent Trimbach,

“The 1970s legacy of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is haunted by the forgotten suffering of innocent victims and a falsified history found in almost every library in America. Sadly, what should have been a needed voice for Native America became a criminal enterprise on the reservation, where property was destroyed and lives were lost. A record founded in falsehoods and distortions completed the betrayal and denied the reality of lost opportunities, shattered lives, and a Movement hijacked by its leadership. Today, the perpetrators are known as "brave warriors" and "selfless activists," while many of their crimes against Indians are minimized, or not mentioned at all. (Trimbach, 2007)”

This social movement went beyond persuasion into coercion. According to Senator James Abourezk,

"We got into the Indians' perimeter and there's all these Indian Vietnam vets who were there with AK-47's Kalashnikovs, I don't know where they got them all, but they had them. And we were driving slowly right, and they were following us, just like that. And the tension, I'm telling you was thick enough to slice,” (Abourezk Shares Means & McGovern Memories, 2012).

While violent tactics draw attention in the form of influence and are not persuasion (Larson, 2013), veiled by duplicity, AIM leaders were skillful in the presentation of their goals and activities. Despite the radical nature of their movement, they were able to present to the world an image of ethos and credible sincerity and persuade Congress to pass legislation favorable to tribal sovereignty.

Using the peripheral route of elaboration, AIM leaders aimed for the heart of non-tribal Americans, playing on what is popularly known as “white guilt.” Many dressed in traditional attire for photo-ops, or the very least wrapped themselves in a blanket, giving the impression to citizens on the east coast that many tribal members still dress in traditional manner on a daily basis.

Leaving out mention of the AK47’s as well as a video of Russell Means telling tribal leaders well beforehand that AIM intends to take over the village of Wounded Knee and wants their support (Wounded Knee - Occupation '73, 1972), Senator Abourezk in a forward to his Library collection on Wounded Knee characterized the event as an unplanned and reasonable protest, stating that about 200 AIM members “…enroute to Porcupine, South Dakota, stopped at the village of Wounded Knee” and just happened to take over “the trading post, museum, gas station and several churches.” AIM considered Wounded Knee to be of “historically significance and deemed the village an appropriate location from which to voice the concerns of AIM and the Oglala of the Pine Ridge Reservation (Abourezk, 1972).”

This recounting of events brings more questions than answers. Setting aside the fact they were not asked to take over the village by either the people of Wounded Knee or most of the Pine Ridge residents, what were 200 people traveling together to Porcupine South Dakota for?

Senator Abourezk waxed poetic about their altruistic purposes, saying AIM leaders supported:

“…reformation of tribal government as well as bringing attention to Native American grievances. Means, as an AIM spokesperson, requested congressional investigations into conditions on all reservations and the corruption of the BIA. Means specifically wanted a hearing to take place concerning treaties and treaty rights, along with an investigation of the BIA and the Department of the Interior at all agency and reservation levels. (Abourezk, 1972)”

AIM leaders spoke of past atrocities and the robbing of land. “Broken treaties” became a brand phrase – although it has remained unclear whether all treaties were broken, or just a few, or whether it was an entire treaty or particular points. This was rarely, if ever, specified. Another point that has gone unmentioned in relation to the breaking of treaties was that no treaty ever promised federal money into perpetuity. Most, if not all, state that federal monies were to last only 20 years.

Further, while it is true that some lands were stolen, it is also true that non-members homesteaded some lands long before the land around it was deemed reservation land by the federal government, and tribal members who were intelligent, capable, and pleased with the sale legally sold some land to non-members. It is an extreme and demeaning insult to portray every tribal member who ever sold land as uneducated and incapable. In 1929, our U.S. Vice President, Charles Curtis was a Kaw Nation Native American Indian. Clearly, he was not the only tribal member in the United States able to understand and negotiate a contract.

However, these facts would involve the recipients of AIM’s persuasion and rhetoric to use careful and thoughtful consideration of the issue merits - the “central route” of information processing – and that it not the route AIM leaders chose to use for their publicity campaign.

They chose well. The American people listened to what was said, reacted with emotion, and did what they thought they could to alleviate the suffering of tribal members. Yet, years later, despite the efforts of AIM, federal government funds, and legislation increasing tribal control over persons of heritage, nothing has gotten better. In fact, some say things have gotten much worse. According to FBI Special Agent John Trimbach, the Pine Ridge Reservation continues to suffer from “many social malignancies such as unemployment near 90%, life expectancy of approximately 56 years, rampant alcoholism, and widespread child sex abuse (Trimbach, 2007).”

Richard Two Elk, a former resident of Wounded Knee, agrees. He has stated,

“After the occupation ended, the objectives had not been achieved” and “When AIM took over Wounded Knee village in 1973, they hijacked the legacy of that community and Lakota people for their own gain. Since 1973 to present, AIM has exploited and cashed in on the notoriety of their take-over. However, nowhere along the line have they bothered to share with the residents of Wounded Knee village any of their so-gotten gains. ( The Stolen Legacy of Wounded Knee, 2009)”

Introducing fear is another tactic used in persuasion, and despite the smooth explanation given by Senator Abourezk, AIM introduced fear to both the non-tribal community as well as those they professed to represent.

Former Special Agent for the FBI, John Trimbach wrote,

“Aquash was dragged from the trunk of a car near the reservation town of Wanblee, South Dakota, and shot in the head in December 1975. The alleged triggerman, AIM member John Graham, will stand trial in state court although no date has been set. Graham's accomplice Arlo Looking Cloud was convicted in federal court of aiding and abetting the murder in 2004. Following a series of interrogations, AIM leaders falsely accused Aquash of being an FBI informant. One of her interrogators was convicted killer Leonard Peltier. At an AIM conference in June 1975, Peltier put a loaded gun in Aquash's mouth to administer "truth serum." The trail of evidence could lead to Peltier's former boss, AIM co-founder Dennis Banks.”

Two Elk also makes several comments addressing this,

“Russell Means does say, “Spies will be shot”

“…After AIM leadership was acquitted of all charges stemming from the take-over, they ran free-rein throughout the reservation. In the ensuing civil war between AIM and the goons, certainly there were more than 60 dead on both sides of that fence. Too many of these belonged to neither side, but were simply innocent victims caught in the cross-fire; such as the residents of Wounded Knee.”

“One death which occurred at Wounded Knee, which producers of [PBS program titled, ‘Wounded Knee,’] were made aware of but failed to mention, was the death of black civil rights activist, Ray Robinson. Failure to mention this at all is a clear indication to me that this is another public relations program for AIM.”

“The program further asserts that AIM’s demise came about due to the government trying to tie it up in the courts. The producers of this program would like us to believe in fairy-tale fashion, that as a result AIM fell into disarray and violent infighting and simply lost their way. The fact is, AIM leadership flushed it down the toilet two years after Wounded Knee by ordering the interrogation and murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash because they suspected her of being an FBI spy. As the news of her murder rippled through Indian Country, the risk of falling into AIM crosshairs seriously diminished its following.”

“…members of AIM have been charged, convicted, and have upcoming trials in the murder of AIM member Anna Mae Pictou Aquash. ( The Stolen Legacy of Wounded Knee, 2009).”

In fact, it was only in February 2014, that the FBI finally confirmed the death of Robinson. According to documents, a witness told agents "Robinson had been tortured and murdered within the AIM occupation perimeter, and then his remains were buried 'in the hills.” (AP, 2014)

Tribal member had good reason to be wary of AIM. Jimmy Durham had inferred in a white paper early on that force might be necessary to get the majority of tribal members to cooperate with what AIM knew to be best for the tribes. He said,

“There are about a dozen American Indians in the U.S. today who say they are Marxist-Leninists. There are quite a few more who are in Marxist study groups. But the very large majority are, to differing degrees, verbally, “anti-communist” whilst their actions are communistic. But we need to be able to use the tools of Marxism-Leninism if we are to see effectively and fight our enemy. I do not believe that we have time to “let nature take its course,” or to have that kind of liberal “faith in the people” which means escaping one’s own responsibility for leadership and action.

Disorganization, lack of perspective and clarity, and everyone “doing their own thing” are American phenomena which are destructive to our struggle. Lack of strategic unity plays right into the hands of the enemy. A Marxist-Leninist analysis of the detailed realities of our situation, I believe, is the only way to combat such phenomena. (Durham, 1974)”

Non-tribal members were first frightened by the take-over of the BIA building in Washington DC and more so by the take-over of the village of Wounded Knee. Believing that the rage of AIM members must have a valid source (much as many believe of Palestine today) ‘white’ Americans wanted to do whatever necessary to make things right. Two Elk notes,

“AIM’S takeover of Wounded Knee was a public relations battle for American hearts and minds they are still waging to this day. ( The Stolen Legacy of Wounded Knee, 2009)”

Narrative story telling might be viewed as cultural tradition. Some see it as a well-honed skill. It’s been said many tribal members have long enjoyed spinning stories for melanin-deprived visitors from the east, laughing privately at the subsequent responses. Some say that enjoyment continues. Many non-tribal members who’ve never lived on or near a reservation but have had a regular diet of Hollywood over the years are interested in descriptions, testimony and anecdotes of reservation life. This played very well into AIM’s method of persuasion and post hoc fallacy.

One persuasive symbol that came out of the fight for tribal sovereignty is children. Children were said to be the “lifeblood” of the tribe – necessary for the purposes of tribal sovereignty and the continuation of the tribe. Since then, the concept of children of heritage being the possession of tribal government has been widely circulated and accepted.

According to founding AIM papers,

“A major objective of the movement is to regain the young. Once the BIA is eliminated and individual tribal states are created schools will not be a major problem. However, until such times as this goal is realized AIM must plan, support and execute the following school activities. (AIM, 1968)”

By 1978, Senator James Abourezk had become Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs committee, a committee that Senator Abourezk had been largely responsible for establishing. This committee was given jurisdiction over all legislation concerning Indian Affairs, including any socio-economic, healthcare, political, or trust issue involving Indian Country or its members.

The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), sponsored by Senator Abourezk in 1976, was passed in 1978 with the specific intention of giving tribal governments authority in the custody decision of any child they deem to be a tribal member – whether or not the child’s parents or grandparents want tribal government to interfere in that custody decision. The intent, Congress said, was to “protect the best interests of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of Indian tribes and families. (Haga, 2013)”

More specifically, the ICWA intended “… to give Native American tribes a strong voice in child custody issues with an ultimate aim of ensuring tribes rights to maintain and preserve their language and culture. (5 Sioux Tribes Applied to Fund Their Own Foster Care Programs, 2014)”

Some would add – ‘and power and money.’ While calling for recognition of tribal sovereignty, AIM and tribal government leaders simultaneously demanded increased federal funding. Assertions that the children are theirs and federal government must totally abstain from interference are followed by claims that federal government does not adequately fund foster care on reservations. From oversight hearings to back room discussions to press releases, leaders have asserted that they are sovereign nations with the right to foster their own children, but it is incumbent on federal taxpayers to fund it.

“The solution to this hostile attitude toward the basic intent of ICWA is to give direct federal funding to the individual tribes to set up their own foster care, with adequate oversight, and get the state completely out of it,” said Daniel Sheehan, general counsel for the Lakota People’s Law Project. (Harriman, 2013)

Leaders insist on increased and perpetual federal funding – while simultaneously asserting sovereignty. Following the 2013 Supreme Court case, “Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl,” when the Court ruled and affirmed that a non-Indian, unwed mother has a right to decide the best interest of her child without interference from tribal governments, Senator Abourezk, the driving force behind the ICWA, responded,

“It’s an attack on tribal sovereignty through the children. I can’t believe they did this.” “The ICWA is in line with similar laws to bolster tribal sovereignty. That was our aim. We did everything we could to increase tribal sovereignty. That includes the Indian Child Welfare Act…” (Harriman, 2013)”

AIM Leader Clyde Bellecourt, using familiar emotional buzzwords, agreed and said the Supreme Court decision “is legalizing the kidnapping, theft of children and division of Indian families once again by states and churches. Churches have a lot to do with this. (Harriman, 2013)”

Peter Lengkeek, a former member of the Crow Creek Tribal Council, also agreed the 2013 ruling on ICWA threatens tribal sovereignty. “We have to fight on a daily basis for protection and strengthening of our sovereignty. When things like this happen, it weakens it even more.”

It is clear that control of the children was integral and first step for those seeking power over other members. One of AIM’s plans from the start was that they would implement and run a National Center providing basic teaching aids such as reading, cultural materials and lore to other people’s children – most of whom were and are multi-racial. AIM stated it would begin with pre-school and elementary education as “most behavior characteristics are learned within the first 5 years (AIM, 1968).”

Rhetoric aside, what has been overlooked is that according to the last two U.S censuses, 75% of tribal members do not live in Indian Country (U.S. Census 2010, 2011). Many (not all) have purposefully taken their children and moved away due to high crime on reservations and tribal government corruption. Further, most of the children and families affected by ICWA are of more than one heritage. As much as tribal leaders have wanted control of the children in order to preserve sovereignty, many parents of enrollable children did not want tribal government interfering with their families.

Nevertheless, this is not what the public was told. Instead, they were given the impression that most, if not all, persons of tribal heritage are in agreement with statements by AIM and tribal leaders. The general public has been told that meddling social services, abusive foster homes and unscrupulous adoptive parents were stealing all the children.

The words “stealing,” “stolen,” “kidnapping,” “theft,” “Trail of Tears” and “genocide” are all used quite often to play on perceived white guilt. The imagery of defenseless children stolen from their beloved family for the purpose of money and power was all that was needed to persuade a willing public that something needed to be done. The most common reaction seemed to be, “We took their land, now we are taking their children? Certainly, these were the tribe’s children and they belonged with the tribe.” For many, allowing tribal leaders control over the children seemed the right thing to do, bringing atonement and alleviating guilt.

Other members of the public and some Congressmen, faced with uncertainty over land titles and possible economic loss, unfortunately looked at the ICWA as a faux compromise, thinking they would have security and cognitive dissonance if tribal governments settled for jurisdiction over children rather than asking for land back.

Unbeknownst to this willing public, once ICWA was passed some tribes began taking defenseless children from their beloved family for the purposes of money and power (Tevlin, 2013). Further, land titles are not something some tribal governments are - or ever were - willing to compromise on.

While the words “stealing,” “theft,” “Trail of Tears” and “genocide” played on white guilt, they also stoked strongly held beliefs and anger in many tribal members - gaining more internal AIM support for a time. There is a human tendency to want to believe a powerful force is behind overwhelming problems, making those problems beyond one’s ability to manage. In this case, some tribal members were open to believing that a powerful white society was at root of all troubles on the reservations.

For other members, the organization fulfilled security, affiliation, and prestige needs. Another persuasive technique successfully used on fellow tribal members by AIM leaders was speaking to an inner longing for “Eternal Return” – a rejection of concrete historical time as it really happened and substituting a return to an interpretation of history as one wishes it might have been.

There was no social media in the 1970’s, but AIM leaders used the spoken word, written word and film effectively to spread their message. They printed their own newsletters and spread them to various reservations through what they called a “railroad” – runners traveling (by car) from one reservation to the next, delivering newsletters, flyers and other information. Using this method, they hoped to prevent their opponents from accessing their material as much as possible. For public broadcasts, they used local and national news agencies. Creating attention-getting events was critical to getting the media attention they needed.

On their later website, they omitted mention of violence or crime initiated by AIM members and used wording that would play at heartstrings of tribal members and non-members alike. Despite a published video of Russell Means talking to tribal leaders prior to Wounded Knee, telling them of the planned takeover and asking leaders for their support (Wounded Knee - Occupation '73, 1972), AIM wrote as if the event was unplanned and altruistic,

“In 1973, more than 2,000 American Indians came to Wounded Knee…following a courthouse disturbance. At this historic site where a massacre of Indians by U.S. cavalry soldiers in 1890 ended years of armed conflict, the demand for hearings on sovereignty rights was met with a siege by FBI forces, Federal marshals, and BIA police (AIM, 1968).

Using these persuasive techniques, AIM accomplished three of the five states of campaign development: Identification, legitimacy, and participation. They stopped short of penetration and distribution when their unpredictability and violence became too much for most tribal members – although Senator Abourezk, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other elite ‘left of center’ persons on the national and international level inexplicably continued to associate and interact with the AIM leaders.

Senator Abourezk was so fond of Russell Means; he hired him as a staff person in his DC office. Means was the only convict in history to work for a Senator while serving prison time (Russell Means: About, 2014).

In the Social Movement Model of persuasion, AIM went quickly from “Social Unrest” to “Maintenance” and then “Termination” mode as many supporters lost faith and patience.

Conclusion:

The American Indian Movement and its supporters used deceptive and unethical persuasion methods throughout most of its existence. While purporting to be a non-violent entity focused on the well-being and betterment of the people they represent, they were in fact focused on controlling the people - at times through violence.

Tribal sovereignty was the primary and prized goal - at the expense of individuals, children and families.

The American Indian Movement was initially established in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for good reason and helped poverty-stricken Native American families at its start. However, as they garnered and felt the pleasure of attention and support, they quickly switched to a national, militant focus resulting in deep and unrecognized destructive and oppressive impact on families of all heritages across America.

AIM’s actions over the next few years went far beyond a legitimate push for justice, jobs and housing. In 1973, AIM members violently took over the small town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota and conducted a siege that lasted over 2 months. People of Wounded Knee claim that during the event, many of them were robbed and beaten, and some were killed.

The stated goals of justice, housing and jobs, while possibly initial goals of some members and branches of AIM, were not the end goals of its leadership. Instead, there was a factual push was for “tribal sovereignty” – the ability for certain tribal leaders to control other persons of Native American heritage as well as tribally owned resources and assets.

Unfortunately, there was a power struggle within the first couple of years. Tribal leaders already in power on reservations were not willing to give it up to this young new group. Wide disagreement existed in the native community concerning AIM and its agenda, especially after reports of violence against members began to surface.

As tribal supporters fell away, AIM declined as a leading organization. Yet, while many Native American families saw AIM as thugs, federal government officials inexplicably began to treat AIM leaders as legitimate authorities speaking for community members.

Tribal sovereignty, which was not on the radar of most people in the 1970’s, was now widely assumed reality. AIM didn’t manage to achieve power and control over the reservations for themselves, but they started the process for obtaining it for elected leaders on the reservations. Within a short time, sovereignty picked up speed, crushing tribal and non-tribal U.S. citizens alike in its path. So successful was the tribal sovereignty movement that by 1978, a law was passed giving tribal government’s authority and control over other people’s children.

The American Indian Movement and its supporters used deceptive and unethical persuasion methods throughout most of its existence. This has been apparent to many in law enforcement, if not the public. Senator Abourezk himself was monitored and investigated by the Denver police in the 1990’s while they investigated AIM’s activities.

Evidence of criminal activity aside, inconsistencies in claims and reasoning have been abundant.

It is recommended that readers look deeper into the protests and writings of tribal members and families affected by the Indian Child Welfare Act to learn how tribal government sovereignty has hurt them as individuals and families.

References

5 Sioux Tribes Applied to Fund Their Own Foster Care Programs. (2014, June 26). Retrieved from Lakota People's Law Project: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/26/5-sioux-tribes-applied-fund-their-own-foster-care-programs-155501

A Pilot Study of Compliance in North Dakota, (December 2000) by NICWA and Casey Family Programs

Abourezk Shares Means & McGovern Memories. (2012, October 24). Retrieved October 5, 2014, from Keloland.com: http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/abourezk-shares-means--mcgovern-memories/?id=138966

Abourezk, J. G. (1972). THE OCCUPATION OF WOUNDED KNEE, 1973 - American Indian Movement. House of Representatives. Wounded Knee: U.S. Government. Retrieved October 6, 2014

ACF. (2007). Tribal Child Counts. Washington DC: Child Care Bureau, Office of Family Assistance. Log No: CCDF-ACF-PI-2007-02

Adoptive Couple vs. Baby Girl, 133 S. Ct. 2552 (U.S. Supreme Court June 25, 2013).

AIM. (1968). “Self Determination of Free Peoples”: Founding Documents of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Retrieved October 1, 2014, from History Matters: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6897

AIM. (1972, October). Trail of Broken Treaties: 20-Point Position Paper. Retrieved September 6, 2014, from Ogihidaag Blog: http://ogichidaag.wordpress.com/2011/02/08/american-indian-movement-trail-of-broken-treaties-20-point-position-paper-1972-never-forget/

AIM History Part 2 (2008, October 10). [Motion Picture]. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from http://youtu.be/tSVNYFXp5c8

AP (2014). FBI confirms black activist was killed during 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. Sioux Falls: Associate Press. Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fbi-confirms-activist-ray-robinson-was-killed-during-1973-occupation-of-wounded-knee/

AP (2014, April 28). 42 people killed in homicidal violence in 2013 on country's largest Indian reservation. Retrieved from Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/04/28/42-people-killed-in-homicidal-violence-in-2013-on-country-largest-indian/

Belford, D. (Director). (2012). Life with James [Motion Picture].

Benedict, J. (2000). Without Reservation. New York: Harper.

BIA ICWA Guideline Changes (April 30, 2014) by Elizabeth Morris

Boxer, A. (2009). Native Americans and the Federal Government. Retrieved Sept 6, 2014, from History Today: http://www.historytoday.com/andrew-boxer/native-americans-and-federal-government

CAICW. (2013, August 8). Family Stories. Retrieved from Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare: http://caicw.org/family-advocacy/letters-from-families-2/

Cross, T.L. (1995a). Heritage & helping: A model curriculum for Indian child welfare practice, Module II: Protective services for Indian children. Portland, OR: National Indian Child Welfare Association.

Cross, T.L. (1995b). Heritage & helping: A model curriculum for Indian child welfare practice, Module IV: Family-centered services for Indian children. Portland, OR: National Indian Child Welfare Association.

Danger, F. (2013, July 5). My Uterus Will Not Be Used To Fill Your Tribal Rolls: . Retrieved from xojane.com: http://www.xojane.com/issues/my-uterus-will-not-be-used-to-fill-your-tribal-rolls-i-fought-the-icwa-and-won?utm_medium=facebook

Domestic and Sexual Violence outside the Reservations in North Dakota get lots of attention from the ACF. (September 2013) Email Correspondence between ACF Officials

Durham, J. (1974). AMERICAN INDIAN CULTURE: TRADITIONALISM AND SPIRITUALISM IN A REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE. Retrieved October 1, 2014, from History Matters: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6904/

Editorial. (2013, July 5). Might Indian child welfare law one day be deemed unconstitutional? Retrieved from NewsOK.com: http://newsok.com/might-indian-child-welfare-law-one-day-be-deemed-unconstitutional/article/3858899/?page=2

Frosch, D. (2013, January 26). Focus on Preserving Heritage Can Limit Foster Care for Indians. Retrieved from NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/us/focus-on-heritage-hinders-foster-care-for-indians.html?_r=2&

Giese, P. (n.d.). For The Spirit of Annie Mae. (J. Dill, Ed.) Retrieved October 6, 2014, from http://www.dickshovel.com/dur.html

Haga, C. (2013, April 22). ND: At reservation, challenge can be to keep Indian children safe - and Indian. Retrieved from National Child Welfare Resource Center for Tribes: http://www.nrc4tribes.org/news.cfm?a=194

Harriman, P. (2013, June 26). Tribal sovereignty threatened by ruling on adopted Indian kids. Retrieved September 23, 2014, from Argus Leader:

http://archive.argusleader.com/article/20130626/NEWS/306260022/Video-Tribal-sovereignty-threatened-by-ruling-adopted-Indian-kids

HEARINGS BEFORE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, U.S. SENATE 99th CONGRESS 2ND SESSION. (1974, 4 8). Retrieved 9 6, 2014, from Lifting the Veil: http://liftingtheveil.org/byler.htm

HONORABLE BJ JONES **- CHIEF JUDGE PRAIRIE ISLAND INDIAN COMMUNITY TRIBAL COURT, S.-W. O.-T. (2007). Legislative History of the Indian Child Welfare Act. Retrieved from Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare: http://caicw.org/family-advocacy/legislative-history/#BJJonesHistory

In re SANTOS Y., B144822 (Cal. App. 4th, Second Dist. Div. Two July 20, 2001).

Jackson, J. C. (1999, February 12). Director of Government Affairs. (U. C. Rights, Interviewer) Retrieved from Jack C. Jackson, Jr., Director of Governmental Affairs, National Congress of American Indians, Statement on the importance of an accurate census to American Indians and Alaska Natives, before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Washington, D.C., http://www.ncai.org/ncai/resource/documents/governance/cvrightcensus.

KARNOWSKI, S. (2013). Feds Say Native Mob Gang Dented but Work Remains. Minneapolis: ABC News.

Larson, C. U. (2013). Persuasion: Reception & Responsibility. Boston: Wadsworth.

Lawrence, B. (2007). Publisher. Native American Press/Ojibwe News.

Mannes, M. (2006, October 11). FACTORS AND EVENTS LEADING TO THE PASSAGE OF THE INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT. Child Welfare, 74(1, Jan/Feb 95), 264-282. Retrieved September 6, 2014, from http://www.srwoodbridge.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/Factors.pdf

Morris, E. (2007). VIEWPOINT: Law could tear children from a ‘tribe' they love . Grand Forks: Grand Forks Herald.

Morris, Roland John. (1998). Testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs. Seattle: Concerning Tribal corruption and Jurisdiction.

Ombudsman, N. P. (2013). SD: Indian Foster Care 1: NPR Investigative Storytelling Gone Awry. . New York: National Public Radio.

Omdahl, L. (2013, July). Commentary by Former ND Lt. Governor. Grand Forks: Grand Forks Herald.

Oversight Hearing. (2014). CHILD PROTECTION AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM ON THE SPIRIT LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION. Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs: Committee on Natural Resources. Washington DC: House of Representatives.

Quilt. (2004). Child Counts. Warm Spring: NCCIC. http://www.nccic.org/Tribal/ef

PRESIDENT OBAMA, SENATOR HEITKAMP, AND STANDING ROCK:

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Jun 2014 07:20:00 +0000

This letter was printed in the Grand Forks Herald and Bismarck papers Thursday, June 12, 2014, and read on air during the Jay Thomas radio show Friday, June 13, 2014

____________________________________________________

To the Editor.

Concerning the upcoming event featuring President Obama and Senator Heitkamp at the Standing Rock Reservation on Friday, June 13^th:

North Dakotans are a gracious and forgiving people and will politely welcome the president to our wonderful state.

However, before he gives his speech concerning the wonderful "Nation to Nation" relationship he has with tribal leaders and announces what further moneys and authorities he will bestow upon them - he needs to learn facts from those whom his edicts directly affect.

One: According to the last two U.S. censuses, 75% of tribal members DO NOT live in Indian Country - and many have deliberately taken their children and left in order to protect their families from the rampant crime and corruption.
Two: The abuses at Spirit Lake here in North Dakota are well known, but it is also known that Spirit Lake is just a microcosm of what’s happening on reservations across the country.
Three: These abuses are rampant on many reservations because the U.S. Government has set up a system that allows extensive abuse to occur unchecked and without repercussion.
Four: Many, many times more children leave the reservation system in the company of their parents, who have mass exited – than do children who have been taken into foster care or found a home in adoption. But tribal leaders can’t admit parents are consciously taking their kids out of Indian Country in attempt to get them away from the reservation system and corrupt leaders. It makes a better sound bite to blame it on evil social services

President Obama, please listen to those who do not have a vested financial interest in increasing tribal government power, and learn about the physical, emotional, sexual and financial abuse of tribal members by other tribal members and even many tribal leaders.

STOP supporting corrupt tribal leaders and corrupt systems and pretending all is okay in Indian Country.

Every time power to tribal leaders is increased, tribal members - U.S. citizens - are robbed of civil freedoms under the constitution of the United States.

More power given to tribal leaders means less freedom, safety and constitutional rights for tribal members.

Why can't 'Save Veronica' people support a Father's right to raise his daughter?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 21:36:00 +0000

Adapted from the writing of a Mid-west mom -

Some wonder why Capobianco supporters don't side with a father whose child is being taken from him. Some of those who support the Capobiancos even call themselves Christians.

Many Capobianco supporters started feeling the way they do the first time they saw, either in person or on video, Veronica being taken by her Dad. What they thought they saw was a little girl being-

1) taken without the benefit of a transition, and

2) taken solely due to 1% heritage.

1.12% heritage.

Since then, they believe that the Cherokee Nation has put on a show, shaking signs that claim "genocide" and claiming that "white people" are stealing "Indian" babies.

1.12% heritage.

The Cherokee Nation, 'Indian Country Today', NICWA, NARF, and others are trying to explain that it is a "citizen" issue - but few people are accepting that it is about citizenship. - especially when they believe "citizenship" is being forced on children.

At 1.12% heritage.

Ardent supporters of the Cherokee Nation aren't seeing how disgusted many other Americans are by the claim that "white people" are stealing "Indian" babies. Many Americans can see that claim for what it is - but few have wanted to speak up about it. While it is okay for a tribal entity to speak in terms of race and percentages, it is "racist" for anyone else to. But here goes. This was no 'Indian Child' being stolen by "White" people.

It was a Caucasian/Hispanic child, stolen by a tribe.

That is the bottom line.

As the Cherokee Nation continues to encourage and assist Mr. Brown in defying state and federal law, it is an overtly obvious fact. And that is why the Cherokee Nation and tribal governments in general aren't getting the traction on their genocide spin (outside of 'Indian Country Today') that they somehow thought they would.

When tribal governments are NOT talking about an Indian child - but instead are talking about OUR children - which this child was - they should expect anger.

AND if 60 more tribal governments attempt to lower their membership criteria - as 60 are talking about doing - to CN levels and begin to target children of minute heritage - as the Cherokee Tribe has - they should not expect to get sympathy. They should expect a strong push back.

They should expect push back because now, due to the Veronica horror - a whole lot of Americans who would have otherwise remained oblivious to the issue, have woken up to what is happening and are outraged by the ICWA stories they are hearing. Many now want ICWA to be repealed.

Americans' are not buying the rhetoric that tribal governments should have jurisdiction over children of 1% heritage. It is hard enough to justify ICWA jurisdiction over a child who is 25% tribal heritage - as the child is still 75% another heritage.

Even children of a parent who is 100% - such as my own - have a right to be free from tribal government jurisdiction.

Even individuals of 100% heritage have a right to be free of tribal government interference in their lives and families - if that is what they choose.

So do we feel angry? Yup.

Is there a Christian purpose and righteousness in that anger? Absolutely.

- "And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them." (Mark 10:13-16 ESV)

Having raised nine tribal members, five of whom are my birth children, and seen much tragedy, child abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, and other horrors on more than a few reservations - and having an advisory board and membership of parents who have raised, adopted and witnessed the same - we know far too much about tribal governments seeking children for the federal dollars, then showing little or no interest in what happens to them once they have been "retrieved" for the tribe and placed with a member. We won't be bullied or intimidated.

We have known of far too many kids abused in ICWA homes, and some even murdered.

(Don't even try to argue that point with me; I had been an ICWA approved home myself for 17 years. I know how little the tribal social services paid attention.)

So, concerning this particular case, in summary - for those who are flabbergasted that we would not be supporting the father - understand this: from the get-go,

1) Mr. Brown has been seen as an extremely selfish man.

2) The Cherokee Nation has been seen as an extremely selfish organization - using this child as a political pawn.

What appalls us is that not only were Mr. Brown and the Cherokee Nation willing to hurt this child deeply the first time a transfer took place - by taking her without any concern for her need of a transition - but even worse, Mr. Brown and the Cherokee Nation are now willing to do it to her a 2nd time.

How in the world are we expected to sympathize with people who do that?

- http://caicw.org/2013/09/01/taking-veronica-from-a-loving-father/

Family from Indian Reservation Speaks Out against Tribal Government

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 17:55:00 +0000

There’s another side to the ICWA that until very recently has received little disclosure or news coverage. Just why would a family (2-parent, single-parent, multi-generational, or blended) decide that reservation life is not what they CHOOSE for their family? The reasons are many, but some of the reasons are shocking.

What cannot be denied is that a large number of Native Americans are dying from alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide and violence. Further, what is being hidden on some reservations is that scores of children are suffering emotional, physical and sexual abuse as a result of the accepted behavior on those reservations, and the ICWA is trapping more and more children into this unacceptable system.

While many tribal governments continue to fund congressional candidates who promise to increase tribal sovereignty, the voices of the children who are at the mercy of corrupt government continue to go unheard. The truth that must be revealed is that some tribal governments are not protecting the children in their “custody.” Some have said that there are children actually being traded and sold by the very people who are being paid to “foster” them. The Spirit Lake tribal government in North Dakota is not isolated in the mistreatment of children.

Though tribal governments claim there are accountability measures in place, in reality many children within the foster system never receive adequate care or any follow-up at all. Some tribal members report that extended family members, social workers, judges, lawyers, teachers, and other “mandated reporters” all seem to participate in this broken system where, as long as a child remains in foster care, the tribe and the custodian(s) receive a check. There is no incentive to permanently place an Indian child in an adoptive home, and no incentive to report abuse. The adults in charge simply turn a blind eye and pretend that the system works, and children are denied the most basic of human needs…real love and a safe place to call home.

Dying in Indian Country, by Elizabeth Sharon Morris, provides a real glimpse into some of these unacceptable conditions. Dying in Indian Country tells a compelling true story of one family who comes to realize that corrupt tribal government, dishonest Federal Indian Policy, welfare policy, and the controlling reservation system has more to do with the current despair than tragedies that occurred 150 years ago.

“Dying in Indian Country is a compassionate and honest portrayal… I highly recommend it to you.” Reed Elley, former Member of Parliament, Canada; Chief Critic for Indian Affairs in 2000, Baptist Pastor, Father of four Native and Métis children

“He was a magnificent warrior who put himself on the line for the good of all…I can think of no one at this time, in this dark period of Indian history, who is able to speak as he has.” Arlene,Tribal Member

“…truly gripping, with a good pace.” Dr. William B. Allen, -Emeritus Professor, Political Science, MSU and former Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1989)

Dying in Indian Country is available at: http://dyinginindiancountry.com

Has God used CAICW to impact you or a loved one in 2012?

Consider impacting someone else by giving a gift

The REAL War on Women -

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Oct 2012 08:13:00 +0000

NOT ONLY is the ‘INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT’ a weapon against the rights and best interests of many children – but it is an affront on the parental rights of ALL woman ~ The REAL War on Women comes in the form of the Cherokee Nation’s affirmation that single mothers of ALL heritages MUST fear tribal interference if they give a child up for adoption without knowing for certain that the birth father doesn’t have EVEN ONE DROP of Cherokee blood.

In the Thursday, October 18, 2012, segment of Dr. Phil show, Cherokee Nation Attorney Christi Nemmo refuses to admit Veronica had only a drop of Cherokee blood, but she also doesn't deny it. She doesn't answer the question because she knows people would be horrified. She tries to make the argument that it's not about how a child looks or how much blood the child has, but that they have a right to be part of the Cherokee tribe. Watch this 3 minute clip, then read more...

____________________________________________________________________

She was sidestepping the fact that this "right" is being forced on not only this child, but many children and families all across the U.S. She is avoiding the fact that not all enrollable individuals WANT their children to be forced into the Cherokee Nation, not all enrollable parents want their children to be raised on or near the reservation, and some enrolled families have purposefully taken their children and moved away.

For example: Enrolled mothers at a home for unwed mothers in Bismarck told State Representative Lee Kaldor that they had wanted to give their babies up for adoption, but were afraid that tribal government would interfere. So although they honestly didn't feel they were able to properly raise and nurture their babies, they felt that adoption wasn't an option. Instead, some of them contemplated abortion. ( Interestingly, tribal governments don't interfere in a mother's decision to abort.)

Nemmo is also ignoring the rights of the Latino birth mother in question - and ANY mother who chooses adoption for their child. The horrifying issue that is being ignored here is that while it's bad enough that enrolled mothers don't feel a freedom of choice in deciding what is best for their children, we also have a NON-Indian Mother, who was carrying a child with ONLY A TINY percentage of tribal heritage - and that mother and child's wishes were tromped on by tribal gov't. What a nightmare for any pregnant single mother contemplating adoption - that some minute amount of heritage could give a government the legal right to interfere.

Delivering Veronica's Petition with 20,000 signatures -

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Reporter Haley Hernandez followed @Save_Veronica to Columbia today, look who they spoke with about the Indian Child Welfare Act ... http://ping.fm/MWk43

Delivering the Petition with 20,000 signatures to South Carolina leaders -

By: Haley Hernandez | WCBD
Published: January 24, 2012

On New Year’s Eve, Jessica Munday watched helplessly as her close friends, Matt and Melanie Capobianco were forced to hand over their adopted little girl, Veronica, to her birth father.

Now Munday and Stephanie Brinkley (a Charleston adoption attorney) are on a mission to "save Veronica.”

“Rather than sit on the sidelines and just say ‘how sad’, I wanted to say ‘how sad, what can I do?’” Binkley said.

Tuesday they went from one government office to another, starting in Charleston and driving up to the State House in Columbia, delivering a petition from supporters of the organization.

Kathy Crawford, the district director at Congressman Tim Scott's office said it’s a shock that this could happen to a family, “a child could be taken away from the only mom and dad that they've ever known and you know, we hope that the courts will do the right thing.”

The organization delivered the petition to lawmakers with more than 20,000 signatures. In an unscheduled visit, Governor Haley spoke with Munday and Brinkley and empathized with the Capobiancos.

“If you have a child you know that's just like the precious part of your life and so my heart breaks for them, I will be happy to take this,” Gov. Haley said taking the petition. “The federal delegation and I communicate about a lot of things, because it is a federal issue doesn't mean I can't at least say "what are y’all doing about this?" so I'll be happy to ask the questions, be happy to see what's going on if anything.”

“I'm thankful that she was so receptive to us being there and so compassionate about what's happened,” Munday said after speaking with the governor.

“This is a matter that affects the people they represent, it represents a South Carolina couple and a South Carolina child and that child needs to be heard so it's great that they are receptive that we're trying to be a voice for Veronica when she can't represent herself,” Brinkley said about lawmakers listening to their concerns.

SaveVeronica.org is still taking signatures for their petition. Lawmakers said they will try to get a copy to the Senate committee that will hear the case.

------------------------------

Save Veronica! Help Bring her Home Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:11:00 +0000

(Psychologist who witnessed Veronica's transfer comments on the detrimental effects - Click Baby Veronica to hear an audio of the interview.)

We want you to be aware of an injustice that has occurred to a two-year-old South Carolina child named Veronica Rose and her adoptive parents. Two years ago Veronica’s Latina birth mother chose Matt and Melanie to love, nurture and raise her child. To this day, Veronica’s birth mother remains committed to her decision and Veronica has been a thriving, happy child residing in a stable, nurturing environment. On or around Jan. 4, 2010, the birth father signed papers agreeing to give up his daughter.

However, because Veronica has some Cherokee heritage from her birth father’s side of the family, the Cherokee Nation intervened in the adoption proceedings and argued that this happy, healthy two-year-old be transferred to her birth father. Because of a federal law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act, a family court judge ruled that she be immediately transferred to her biological father.

The ruling placed the rights of the birth father and tribe above the best interests of this small child. Child-bonding experts agree that removing her from her home and family would be devastating and have long-lasting consequences. Numerous child psychologists stated this would be detrimental to any child. Yet on Dec. 31, Veronica was handed over to her biological father as if a possession without rights.

We believe that children need protection and should not be removed from loving, nurturing environments. We understand the premise of this law is to protect children; however, in Veronica’s case it has been used inappropriately.

Former U.S. senator Jim Abourezk (SD) authored ICWA. According to the Charleston Post and Courier, after reviewing Veronica's story, Abourezk called the interpretation in this case "something totally different than what we intended at the time."

"That's a tragedy," he said. "They obviously were attached to the child and, I would assume, the child was attached to them."

According to the 2000 census, approximately 75% of people claiming to have American Indian or Alaska Native ancestry live outside the reservation. Further, interracial marriages are a fact of life. It is must be recognized that most children of heritage live off the reservation and have extended family that are non-tribal. Though supporters of the Indian Child Welfare Act say it has safeguards to prevent misuse, Veronica and numerous other multi-racial children across the U.S have been hurt by it. Children who have never been near a reservation nor involved in tribal customs are affected. The Cherokee Nation alone is currently tied up in about 1,100 active Indian Child Welfare cases involving some 1,500 children.

Tragically, under the Indian Child Welfare Act:

1) Some children have been removed from safe, loving homes and placed in danger
2) Equal opportunities for adoption, safety and stability are not always available to children of all heritages
3) The Constitutional right of parents to make life choices for their children, for children of Indian heritage to associate freely, and for children of Indian heritage to enjoy Equal Protection has in some cases been infringed upon.

We want more than anything for Veronica to be allowed to come home. As our elected representatives, we urge you to protect Veronica’s rights in all possible ways as well as make legislative changes that will prevent this from happening to any other child again. While we understand you are unable to interfere in court proceedings, we ask you to speak out on this issue and let your constituents know clearly where you stand. We also ask you to sponsor legislation and encourage fellow Congressmen to support the amending of the Indian Child Welfare Act to:

1. Guarantee protection for children of Native American heritage equal to that of any other child in the United States.
2. Guarantee that fit parents, no matter their heritage, have the right to choose healthy guardians or adoptive parents for their children without concern for heritage.
3. Recognize the "Existing Indian Family Doctrine” as a viable analysis for consideration and application in child custody proceedings. (See In re Santos Y, In Bridget R., and In re Alexandria Y.)
4. Guarantee that United States citizens, no matter their heritage, have a right to fair trials.
• When summoned to a tribal court, parents and legal guardians will be informed of their legal rights, including USC 25 Chapter 21 1911 (b)“…In any State court proceeding for the foster care placement of, or termination of parental rights to, an Indian child not domiciled or residing within the reservation of the Indian child's tribe, the court, in the absence of good cause to the contrary, shall transfer such proceeding to the jurisdiction of the tribe, absent objection by either parent…”
• Under the principles of comity: All Tribes and States shall accord full faith and credit to a child custody order issued by the Tribe or State of initial jurisdiction consistent within the UCCJA – which enforces a child custody determination by a court of another State – unless the order has been vacated, stayed, or modified by a court having jurisdiction to do so under Article 2 of the UCCJA.

5. Include well defined protections for Adoptive Parents.
6. Mandate that a "Qualified expert witness" be someone who has professional knowledge of the child and family and is able to advocate for the well being of the child, first and foremost.
7. Mandate that only parents and/or legal custodians have the right to enroll a child into an Indian Tribe. Because it is claimed that tribal membership is a political rather than racial designation, we are asking that parents, as U.S. citizens, be given the sole, constitutional right to choose political affiliation for their families and not have it forced upon them.
• Remove the words “or are eligible for membership in” 1901 (3)
• Remove the words "eligible for membership in" from 1903 (4) (b), the definition of an ‘Indian child’ and replace with the words "an enrolled member of”

Save Veronica Supporters Worldwide
www.saveveronica.org
www.facebook.com/saveveronicarose
www.twitter.com/save_veronica

On a cold winter night, nothing is better than a hot cup of tea

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 04:00:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Epoca International. All opinions are 100% mine.

Cozy with family on the living room couch, enjoying hot tea and good conversation.

The Tea Bag Buddy is a neat new item that creates a solution to some of the tea drinker's most common problems - See this Video to see what I mean

The Tea Bag Buddy provides a great way to secure the tea bag string while covering the mouth of a tea pot or mug, trapping steam to keep tea hotter when brewing for optimum flavor and temperature. The 100% silicone product will keep the tea drinker's fingers cool while squeezing excess water from their favorite variety of tea bag, and its deep wells provide a convenient way to hold the used tea bag between uses. Available in three fashion-forward colors, the Tea Bag Buddy is sure to become a tea drinker's new best friend!

Should Republicans deliver Rebuttal to Obama's Jobs Speech?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:48:00 +0000

Reprint

I was surprised and DELIGHTED that the GOP are not bothering to make a rebuttal. That's the most wonderful decision I have seen either side make in this last few years of constant political gamesmanship. Finally, somebody is saying, "why bother with another lame, rhetorical, boring speech?" Finally - someone has gotten off the soapbox and refused to bore us any further with meaningless nonsense! Hooray for the GOP!

Now if only Obama would follow that lead and get off his non-stop campaign mode. After all that has been said, he still doesn't understand that no one is interested in his empty speeches anymore. We all know that it's going to just be 'same-ol, same-ol', and that nothing is actually going to be done to increase jobs and improve the economy.

Obama CAN'T improve the economy because he still believes socialism is the way to go - despite all the failed socialist and communist states in the world.

We all know that - so why bother sitting through another speech.... I can't see anyone but the most ardent liberals tuning in. Which is probably another reason why the GOP decided not to bother. None of their constituency will be tuning in and everyone knows it.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/09/07/should-republicans-deliver-rebuttal-to-obamas-jobs-speech/#ixzz1XJhvxplb

Pawlenty is acting like a jerk

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:53:00 +0000

What's with the nasty sniping at Bachmann? How does that make any political sense? He's got to take Romney down to become a frontrunner, and to do that he's got to show leadership, character, and good ideas. Sniping at Bachmann is just a turn off. He appears petty and nasty. Yuck. By sniping at her, he also appears to be against the things she stands for - the conservative, get back to the constitution and balanced budget ideals. A definite turn off to people like me.

9-Year-old Christina Taylor Green; 9/11 Hope, Victim in Tucson

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 02:18:00 +0000

Reprint
IN all the rhetoric about who is to blame for the shooting, there has been little talk about 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green.

Her Grandfather, Dallas Green, who managed the Phillies to the World Series in 1980 and one of the few men to manage both the Yankees and the Mets, was confused when his wife, Syliva, came into the living room after talking to their son on the phone Saturday. She was in shock and tears, barely able to get out the words, "They shot our beautiful Christina."

Christina was killed in the shooting spree at U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' meet-and-greet in Tucson, AZ, Saturday. One of the bullets had been fired directly into Christina's heart.

"I can't believe our princess is gone," Green said to a friend. He then told the Daily News, "I've had a lot of tough things happen to me in my life but this is one I'm never going to get over. We're all hurting pretty bad. My son is devastated."

Christina, who was the daughter of his son, John, a Dodger scout, had gone with neighbors to meet Rep. Giffords so she could see how government works.

Her mother Roxanna, told Fox News that Christina was "very interested in government ...how she could help her community."

The Arizona Republic, interviewing her uncle, Greg Segalinia, outside her house, reported that a neighbor had invited Christina along because she thought she would enjoy it. “The next thing you know this happened," Segalini said. "How do you prepare for something like this. My little niece got killed-took one on the chest and she is dead.”

Segalinia told the Republic that his niece was involved several extracurricular activities ranging from ballet to baseball, the sport of her father and grandfather.

According to TV station KVOA, she was a passionate dancer who loved ballet, hip-hop, jazz and gymnastics. KVOA also noted that Christina was the only girl on her Canyon del Oro Little League baseball team, "The Pirates," and played second base. She also loved horseback riding, swimming, and animals. Family members described Christina as vibrant and excited about life.

Her parents called her "the best daughter in the world."

The 9-year old had just been elected to her student council at the Mesa Verde Elementary School. "She was a good speaker," John Green told the Arizona Star. "I could easily have seen her as a politician."

John Green later reflected on his daughter being born on September 11, 2001, and now dying in this massacre. Born - and died - on two very emotional, senseless and tragic days for America; yet, said Green, the nine years in between were magical for his little girl as well as for them.

Christina was one of the babies featured in a book called Faces of Hope, Babies Born on 9/11, by Christine Pisera Naman. When she was old enough, her parents had told her about the day she was born. Misunderstanding, Christina then told a few people that she was born on a "holiday."

Big Journalism.com had an additional, sad perspective on this national tragedy; "Christina’s birth brought hope to America, taught us that in the face of tragedy life goes on. Her death was used by the media to destroy hope and generate political divisiveness, a sad tribute to this young girl’s life."

It was tragic that "CBS found the time to exploit the shooting for it’s own progressive slant, but didn’t have the time to show this picture, or to tell Christina’s story in their report."

As for the personal, family perspective, Dallas Green said, "I can't believe this could happen to any 9-year old child, much less our own," and that it's "The worst thing to ever happen to us."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/09/2011-01-09_christina_taylor_greens_grandfather_exmets__yankees_manager_dallas_green_devasta.html#ixzz1AayHExLI

Illegal to Advertise for a Christian Roommate?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 01:21:00 +0000

Apparently, it is now illegal to advertise for a Christian roommate.

Our country has seriously gone off the deep end. Is this for real? Are government officials really doing this?

I have never, to this point, called the extreme leftist ‘progressives’ names or made accusations, no matter how many times they have ridiculed us. And I don’t think I am now…because I mean what I am about to say in all seriousness. I have begun to believe that extreme liberalism is a dangerous mental illness. It’s the only explanation I can think of for this insane behavior.

A civil rights complaint has been filed against a 31-year-old Michigan woman who posted an advertisement on a bulletin board in her church seeking a Christian roommate. Someone had seen the ad – in the church - with the words "Christian roommate wanted" (horrors) and contacted the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan, a private group.

The case had been turned over to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. According to the ‘Fair Housing’ Center, the ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths.”

Excuse me? Well of course it expressed a preference that excluded people! That’s what everyone does when they have the opportunity to choose a roommate: they look for someone that they can be compatible with and exclude the others! And what of it? This is the woman’s personal living space - why is it suddenly illegal to choose who you want to live with?? Isn’t this America, land of the free?

I don’t know what doctrine the woman in question lives by, but if she is expressing a Christian preference, I can take at least a semi-accurate guess. Is she seriously expected to share her personal, smoke-free, daily devotion-sharing, praise-song-playing, clean-video-only, pray-over-food, alcohol-free, immoral-sex-free, foul-language-free living space with an atheist, wiccan or even someone who simply likes to party? Are you kidding me?

And doesn’t the mention of Christianity in the home give any non-Christian fair warning that it might not be a living environment they themselves want to put up with? Not to mention that this “complainer” found it on a Christian bulletin board, in a Christian church, where one goes when seeking like-minded Christian people.

Who was this “anonymous” complaint filer, anyway? Probably not a visitor in there for the sole purpose of humble worship. Was it an invited guest who decided to stab his/her host in the back by filing a complaint? A liberal activist who deliberately went into the church looking for something to find fault with? (and could find nothing more than an innocuous note on a bulletin board?)

Or was it a member of Hayne’s staff? Who in their right mind would complain about such a silly thing?

Personally, I have lived with non-Christians before – and I’d ‘prefer’ not to do it again. If I ever have to get a roommate – I will openly express my preference for praying and worshiping with those I live with. That should scare away anyone uncomfortable with my preferences - hopefully including all mentally-ill liberal activists.

But FHCWM Executive Director Nancy Haynes told Todd Starnes of Fox News that "It's a violation to make, print or publish a discriminatory statement. There are no exemptions to that."

Haynes also said this woman could face several hundreds of dollars in fines and “fair housing training so it doesn’t happen again.”

Again – are you kidding me? What is this training – a quasi-reeducation camp? Or simply a lesson in not putting into print anything that a mentally ill liberal bureaucrat could find offensive?

Harold Core, director of public affairs with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, appears to agree with this crazy Executive Director. While noting there are exemptions in law for gender (but not sexual preference?) when there is a shared living space, he told the Grand Rapids Press that the Fair Housing Act forbids people from publishing ads stating a preference of religion, race or handicap with respect to sale or rental of a dwelling.

Wow. How long ago was that law written? It’s not really difficult to figure out that the authors of the legislation were referring to the sale or rent of an unoccupied dwelling – NOT the personal living space of an individual looking for a roommate. No one in their right mind would have thought that would be a problem.

But interestingly, we now find out that although (according to the mentally ill) conservatives have no right to legislate what happens between two people in the privacy of their own bedroom or in the privacy of their own womb, liberals can dictate who conservative Christians live with.

It’s not the first time that self-righteous bureaucrats have twisted the words of well-meaning legislators to fit their own agendas.

And it’s not the only venue in which liberals are currently trying to force compliant living arrangements on people of incompatible life styles. They are currently doing it to our soldiers, as well.

Fortunately, the Alliance Defense Fund is representing this woman free of charge. Describing the case as "outrageous," her attorney said, Having already sent a letter to the state asking the authorities to dismiss the case as groundless, he went on to say, There go those nasty Christians again, trying to drag that old Constitution thingee into it!

"Christians shouldn't live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians. It is completely absurd to try to penalize a single Christian woman for privately seeking a Christian roommate at church -- an obviously legal and constitutionally protected activity."

"The First Amendment guarantees us Freedom of Religion and we have the right to live with someone of the same faith. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is denying her rights by pursuing this complaint."

Haynes, on the other hand, compassionately asks,

"If you read it and you were not Christian, would you not feel welcome to rent there?"

Seriously? Is this Haynes woman any relation to Nancy Pelosi? She sure sounds just as light-headed.

Of course, Ms. Haynes, I would not feel welcome to rent there…and so what? The better question is this: If I were to read an ad that preferred a Muslim roommate, would I not feel welcome to rent there?

Umm…Duh! Of course I would understand I wasn’t welcome to apply. Again, so what?

Knowing it was a Muslim home is good information. My home needs to be a place where I can relax, and preferring to play my worship music at blasting volume, I wouldn’t be able to relax in a Muslim household.

So why should it bother me - or anyone, for that matter - if people describe the nature of their home and look for roommates with similar living habits? If I saw an ad for Muslim roommates only, I’d be grateful that they were up front and saved me the time and effort that would have been spent vetting the possibility. It’s “ok” to be different. It’s called diversity, and we’re all supposed to embrace it.

Yet, Haynes states, had the ad not included the word "Christian," it would not have been illegal.

Right. So it’s all about “expressing” our preferences? Isn’t that why Juan Williams was fired? Never mind that all he did was say what the majority of Americans feel – (at least momentarily) - when they see a Muslim on their flight. (And hey – believe it or not, the first tell-tale sign that someone might be a Muslim is their clothing)

How many people don’t think of 911 for even a fleeting second when a man with a turban or woman with a burqa boards the plane with them? And how many Muslims have a passing thought about 911 while preparing for a morning flight? Get real! All Juan did was speak out in words what most people themselves are thinking. Most sane people, at any rate.

Speaking of which – Dearborn is in Michigan, isn’t it? Is the Michigan Department of Civil Rights prepared to press charges on Muslims that prefer to live with Muslims? Can anyone seriously expect that an extended Muslim family would be happy about an adult daughter rooming with a Christian woman? Heaven knows - a Bible might get accidently forgotten on the coffee table, or a Christian radio station might be heard through the bedroom door.

This is further evidence that liberalism is a mental illness – for I am fairly certain that Michigan would never take a Muslim to court for a similar transgression, whether or not they wrote their preference on a note.

Haynes said officials plan on pursuing the matter because "We want to make sure it doesn't happen again."

But I firmly believe these particular bureaucrats have only one group they plan to monitor and persecute – I mean prosecute - on this issue.

The real intent here is intimidation, and, in essence, religious persecution - albeit persecution ‘lite.’ The point is they’ve found a token victim to harass, and in doing so, they are able to goad the entire Church while pursuing case law that will support their twisted interpretation of statute.

Make me puke.
.

TWITTERGATE - Democrats Hire Twitter-Thugs to Bully People

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:10:00 +0000

.
I, too, had seen a lot of this happening on Twitter over the last two months. At times I was attacked as well, but would just block em and continue on with whatever I was doing. What was unbelievable to me was how they hounded Greg Howard, though. Why does any adult waste his time, picking on and bullying someone? I was sure that the person behind it had to be some kind of nut case. Well, I still think that. To post the kinds of stuff these people are posting and get such a kick out of it - He, or They, have to be dealing with some kind of mental illness....

When you think back to the 2008 election, though, there was a lot of bullying from the Left happening on various Blogs and News comment sites. When the election was over, most of the bullying disappeared. What is wrong with these people? Why do they waste their time doing these kinds of things? Is being a Democrat, in itself, a sign of some kind of mental illness? I have come to believe, from the types of things many from the extreme Left write to each other - and from what many of the tweets in question allude to - that drug and alcohol abuse is common amongst them. While drug and alcohol abuse exists in every corner of the American spectrum, I do have to wonder if the percentages are higher among these folks, the Rabid Left.

Further, initially had wondered how many of those harrassing others in the report above had the time to spend doing all the damage they were doing. Now that the Report above says that most were contracted to do this by Democratic Candidates, and were also writers for Kos, it makes more sense. They were being paid to sit at the computer and do this for hours. Now it is important to confront those that have been paying them to sit there abusing other citizens.
I commend the guys that did the work getting to the bottom of this harrassment on Twitter. They've done us all a huge favor. Now I urge people to hold the politicians that had paid these people accountable.
Names I've blocked on twitter -

@GregWBankrupt, @GregWHorses, @GuerrillaWLogic, @GokuWHoward, @LilReaganHoward, @McRibFan, @pumpybeanis, @shoegays
@bashir_o, @boshj, @TheRealDanQuinn, @glopdemon, @ghostpostin, @johnsavoia, @bigopinion, @tHREE3333333333, @leducviolet,
@shrimpPlatter, @TheWorstBean, @captainbenis, @notveryraven, @lethargiclad, @nostromosil, @shutupno1cares, @StrandedWind,
@pheco, @pinochet, @angrypea @slabsofmeat @abigbagofkeys @beanis_original, @methadonnasumma @therealsomebody, @tracycoyle
@virgiltexas, @fart, @ruterger, @Cody_K hacker, @Otiscorner @Otiscourt, @Mobwatch (Mob boss), @WingnutWatch
GregWHovvard, Juggalobama, __cool_dude_420, u_mad, DarudeSandstorm, Palingates, CR46gates, Andrewbenz, graeydaeve,
Kiimora8m1jm, iori03, neet30, xxxcheerio1043, mindy445, Jo0rgelara, pappiah20, stielbaiby, dldzm94, KARENPOPROCK, tourer99, zahidkhan19, ErroFam, Okikisola, Fatewithfake, Irohasmikan, Ufafha, Kyutbunny, Ghettodream1, NidiaEzquivel, Jamansarker, vin_chenzz, yeboye, marker6580, Morganzrr, 43glad51, ACompton24, modernfamilyabc, MJQyd, katrmagi, zelangkangan, dannywlee, kadariaditya, DR_MAS2020, jatiherin, miguelgonzales, Polet_xcaret ?

BestWorstAdvice, GomerWHoward, MFsisi, Obamagician, EzKool, xistentialvogon, Sonichu1, SweatBird, beanclutch, skuntank,
FoolsSaidI, arrest_that_ass, chunderbucket, THE_REAL_ZENO, CelestialBeard, ChairmanOfSpace, AerobicRobot, ToasterRodeo, jesuskryste, duckthing, nukeeverything, carstranger, JerkClub_Info, palaceofhats, woodmuffin, scrublord, FamousCeleb, ibkt, marbone, @stumblebee @Maaever @methadonna @doctor_ass @extranapkins toylitpaper, rtoady, BonerBinLaden, hodgman, Petejc92, melodymedley935 Joshamcbosha, tjyvykmjyydmfv, babywolfpupy, Shincks, unsmith, QVT

protoglyph, _satanmaster_ , TeaPartyUSA1, KFUCKINGP, QueenRobina - that last one...says she is conservative, but...her site was off - didn't seem right...

Stephdeavers – watch out for this one – appears innocent, but created just other day with only one tweet, an irrelevant one.

drb_hcc – Second lead? Pamela Bilton Preparing to target College kids?, kcordova7, charleswahinya, ceblitz, Fredelyne, Carla_thelus, toxicmetal19, Shariff927, oumoubarry15, walter_h_town, drivenbyboost – will also target political from this acct?
kazim_rizvi, casano3, johnpaquinto ? ... @GlobalMouthful

The Rumbles of a Coming Race War?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:57:00 +0000

Is the Obama Administration fanning the flames of a Race War?

Let’s see, we had Black Panthers, La Raza, NAACP, and Mrs. Obama all talking “us against them.” Now we have President Obama, himself, telling black lawmakers, “

I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can't wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now."

As many know, in late 2008, the Department of Justice, under President Bush, filed a lawsuit alleging that the ‘New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense’ (NBPPSD) and two of its members had intimidated Philadelphia voters during the Nov. 4, 2008 general election.

According to the complaint, two members of the NBPPSD were stationed at the entrance to a Philadelphia polling station. They wore their uniforms and one carried a “police-style baton weapon.” Two witnesses testified that at least three voters, after seeing the two men in front of the door, turned away without voting and that a black poll watcher was harassed, called a race traitor, and told that if he stepped outside, there would be ‘hell to pay.’

Later the Black Panthers admitted that they had ‘deployed’ members to polling locations nationwide and these two men were part of that deployment.

But soon after Obama took over the presidency, the case was dropped. Apparently, career prosecutors at the DOJ wanted to proceed with the case, but Obama appointees did not. The Obama administration, it was said, won.

According to whistleblower J. Christian Adams, attorney of 18 years and until a few months ago, Department of Justice employee, dropping the case was about ‘race,’ not fidelity to the law.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former career Counsel to the Assistant AG for Civil Rights, thinks this action by the Justice Department is unprecedented and says the DOJ has failed its duty to enforce voting laws. He told The Bulletin that the dismissal by the DOJ, with no notice on the Justice Department press site, particularly against an organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a horrible miscarriage of justice.

Having heard of Mr. Adams sworn testimony, why didn't President Obama push for justice in the matter?

Later, one of the NBPPSD members who was at the Philly polling place was video taped at an event, yelling at the crowd that black people have to get with it and ”Kill Some Crackers and Their Babies!"

It is clearly obvious that the Tea Party is multiracial in both leadership and membership, while the Black Panthers are not. And yet, it is the ‘Tea Party’ that Obama’s followers, including the NAACP, are accusing of racism. In truth, who are the ones creating issues over race, i.e. racists?

Last month, the NAACP voted on a Resolution concerning the ‘Tea Party.’ Although the NAACP refuses to release the language of the Resolution until October, ABC reported that it says

"Tea Party members have used "racial epithets," have verbally abused black members of Congress and threatened them, and protesters have engaged in "explicitly racist behavior" and "displayed signs and posters intended to degrade people of color generally and President Barack Obama specifically."

To this date, no one has come forward with any video or audio of Tea Party participants engaging in any of the behavior described - other than displaying signs and posters concerning the misguided politics of President Barack Obama. But no one has supplied evidence of a poster intended to specifically degrade people “of color” on account of their “color.”

Despite the lack of any evidence, the President of the NAACP went on with his claims:

"For more than a year we've watched as Tea Party members have called congressmen the N-word, have called congressmen the F-word. We see them carry racist signs and whenever it happens, the membership tries to shirk responsibility," NAACP President Ben Jealous (an apt surname) said in an interview with ABC News. "If the Tea Party wants to be respected and wants to be part of the mainstream in this country, they have to take responsibility."

The NAACP unanimously passed this resolution, purportedly calling on Tea Party members to ‘repudiate’ what the NAACP calls "ultra-nationalist and racist factions within the organization."

Okay…back up. Now they have thrown the word “Ultra-nationalist” into the mix? What’s that supposed to mean? Is that what the left now calls Patriotism? So now Patriotism is a bad thing, inherently associated with racism? They have no evidence of racism, so they must be going after Patriotism because its the only thing there's lots of evidence of within the Tea Party!

Yet, there is plenty of footage of the Black Panthers using direct, deliberate racist language towards non-blacks. Has Mr. Jealous taken responsibility and repudiated that clear, undeniable racism - racism from who Mrs. Obama has for some reason called “African” Americans?

Somehow the NAACP’s complaints smell more political than anything else. This isn’t an organization devoted to supporting a people group, it’s an organization devoted to supporting a political party,

Fortunately, not every US citizen of African heritage thinks the NAACP is correct. ABC reports that the Rev. C.L. Bryant, former president of NAACP's Garland, Texas, chapter and now a leading Tea Party activist, said;

"The idea that the Tea Party is racist or is trying to instigate a racist climate is "simply a lie."

But the NAACP isn’t alone. Organizations such as the National Urban League, Acorn, and Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition all appear to see non- “African” American people in this country as a stumbling block to their political objective.

The Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Washington-based social-justice group Sojourners, former leader of the Michigan Students for a Democratic Society (associated with Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground) and a key member of Obama's faith council, wrote on May 27 that, "There is something wrong with a political movement like the Tea Party which is almost all white...” and claimed that an undercurrent of white resentment is part of the tea party ethos. Apparently not having heard or understood anything that has been said by Conservatives over the last year, he also asked whether the Tea party would even exist if the president of the United States weren't the first black man to occupy that office.

Willis’ group, Sojourners, BTW, had actively lobbied for communist regimes that seized power in Latin America in the late 1970s, and is currently advocating for the controversial Imam and Mosque in New York.
The left’s constant invective that everyone else in America is racist appears to be a shallow effort to provoke young, minority voters nationwide to rise up and save the Democratic Party over these next two election cycles.

And it appears that Michelle Obama is assisting in that effort. Are we being too hard on her?

First Lady Obama, who wrote in her 1985 undergraduate thesis at Princeton, “I will always be black first and a student second," and "Princeton made me more aware of my blackness than ever before," spoke to the NAACP prior to their vote on the Tea Party Resolution. ABC News, as expected, commended her speech in their report headlined, "Michelle Obama Rouses NAACP Before Vote Condemning 'Racist' Elements of Tea Party"

Her speech had to do with childhood obesity, but her community focus was very narrow. Many felt her speech was incendiary and race baiting. Her statement that “African American communities are still hit harder than just about anywhere by this economic downturn…” was very hard for someone of a different heritage to hear while struggling to keep the electric bill paid and food on the table. The entire speech was focused on the idea that the “African American” community struggles harder than any other. President Obama has made similar statements.

The Obama’s, like so many in their inner circle, appear to be blind to people of other heritages. Does she honestly believe that the ‘African American’ community has been hit harder by this economy than the Native American community? Does she have statistics to back that up? And is it really hit harder by childhood obesity than the ‘Caucasian’ community, or ‘Latino’ community?

Mrs. Obama went on to say, “African American” children “won’t be in any shape to continue the work begun by the founders of this great organization (NAACP).”

Again…back up. Is that the point of teaching the children good nutrition? So that they will be in good condition to work for the NAACP? I certainly hope that was simply poor speech writing, and not the true goal. Incidentally, what is the work that she is hoping these children will do? And why does Mrs. Obama, the NAACP, and their followers continue to call American citizens with darker skin tones “African” Americans? Why the continual, purposeful pointing out of centuries ‘past’ heritage?

And why the persistent attacks on “America?” Why does the left appear to be continually, purposefully, blaming and riling people? Were initial concerns about the Obama’s twenty-year relationship with Pastor Jeremiah Wright well-founded?

Listening to Sermons such as this one:

The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing "God Bless America." No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme. ~ Jeremiah Wright (2003 sermon)

Which brings us to one of his more recent ones: an anti-Semitic Palm Sunday Sermon ...

This is no fluke in thought or sermon. On Palm Sunday, 2010, Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Ill., whose church Barack and Michelle Obama attended for 20 years, gave the following sermon at a Church in Detroit:

Based on 2 Kings 6:8-17, Rev. Wright spoke on "What You Can't See." The passage related how the Prophet Elisha saw God’s invisible host of Angels standing ready to protect him against the King of Syria. Pastor Wright stressed, “Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them…”

Ellis Washington, former editor of the Michigan Law Review and law clerk at The Rutherford Institute was a witness to this sermon and later stated,

“Despite the thunderous shouts of Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! and hysterical laughter in response to Rev. Wright's sermon, I knew in my heart that this man standing before me in the pulpit was deceitful to core; a false prophet perverting the word of God like no other person I had ever witnessed.”
“For example, I heard Rev. Wright read the well-known biblical passage …but the political spin he put on it was quite outrageous…

• Syria-Israel War = America-Iraq War;
• King of Syria = President George W. Bush;
• Operation Capture Elisha = Operation Desert Storm;
• Prophet Elisha = Saddam Hussein (an innocent man with no WMDs);
• Syrian Army = U.S. military (i.e., an evil pagan army hell-bent on capturing the man of God);
• Syria's servants = President George Bush military and political advisers;
• Elisha's servants = black Americans whose eyes needed to be open about how evil and irredeemable the US of KKKA is.

Okay, Rev. Wright…so where do the other American minorities fit in? As far as the Tea Party is concerned, they fit in right next to the rest of us. But where do they fit in with the NAACP, and Wrights version of America?

Because, you know, their human and want to fit in somewhere…

A few months ago, Ron Gochez, a LA Unified School District Teacher, railed against conservative Caucasian capitalists at a small Los Angeles rally and called for a Communist Progressive revolution in America. This liberal Revolution would involve killing people in the United States.

On Cinco de Mayo, May 5, 2010, Robert Rodriguez released an "illegal" trailer on Ain't It Cool News. The trailer implied that the film would be about Machete leading a revolt against conservative anti-immigration politicians and citizens. Very unfunny - and an excellent reason to boycott the movie.

Do Obama and his administration truly believe that Fanning the Flames of Race War will help them win in 2010 and 2012? Are they honestly willing to push America to the edge in order to obtain their goals?

In August, 2010, a man went on a shooting rampage at his former workplace. After shooting 10 co-workers, killing eight, Omar Thornton told the 911 operator,

"This place is a racist place. They treat me bad over here. They treat all the black employees bad over here, too. So I took into my own hands and handled the problem," he said. "I wish I could have got more of the people."

Unfortunately, while most people continue to rise above the rhetoric and remember who we are as a country, angry, racial rhetoric is now rising from all sides and heritages. Two years ago, many were not angry and did not say such things as they are saying now. People are growing more frightened of each other; unsure what the other person might be thinking or where they stand. It’s always a relief when one finds out that despite the difference in heritage, the other person still thinks just like you do. Despite the wedge that the left is trying to force between everyone, most of us still want to be neighbors.

This was supposed to be a “post” racial presidency. Why is our leadership fanning these flames?

On September 18, 2010, President Barack Obama , in a speech to just the black lawmakers said, "

I need everybody here to go back to your neighborhoods, and your workplaces, to your churches, and barbershops, and beauty shops. Tell them we have more work to do. Tell them we can't wait to organize. Tell them that the time for action is now."

Why was this message given to only part of the liberal Congress members? Why weren't non-black lawmakers included?

The president, in effort to secure their support, repeated the First Lady’s claim, saying the recession had struck "with a particular vengeance on African-American communities" and implied that opposition to his policies is based on racism.

Members of "the other side," Obama said, "want to take us backward. We want to move America forward."

The caucus dinner with the lawmakers capped a concentrated week of outreach to minority groups. On Monday there was a White House reception for black college officials. On Wednesday there were speeches by the president to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and by first lady to a black caucus legislative conference. Obama told the Hispanic group he is committed to an immigration overhaul, even though it has stalled in Congress. He blamed GOP opposition and said Hispanic voters should keep that in mind. Obama was also interviewed on "The Tom Joyner Show" radio program last week, which has a large black audience.

I was raised in the DFL, amongst many people that seriously believed that liberal policies would help people. I wonder what some of those older people I grew up around; Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Don Frazer and Rudy Perpich would be thinking, or are thinking, about the Democratic Party now. They seemed so honest while I was growing up. I have a hard time believing they would support the current administration.

But I’ve also realized for years that it is the liberal mindset that keeps people separated and angry, salting wounds. Having had lots of experience living in very low income communities and on reservations, I began to see how the liberal policies were doing much more harm than good. More recently, I have begun to wonder if that is their real purpose. I still believe the people I grew up around were sincere, but the Democratic Party, at the top, as near as I can tell, is now the party of elite wanting power over the poor.

I see the Democrats today as more closely aligned with the Communists of 60 - 80 years ago, who professed to be for the poor while they terrorized and subjugated them.

You can hear it in their angry words – the venom, rudeness, and hate with which they treat their political opponents. In Blog comments and on twitter, they have been attacking the elderly, vets, and young mothers with disdain and the foulest language. Why? That kind of behavior certainly doesn’t endear them to anyone. It only pushes people farther away from the Democratic Party. People that attack brutely rather than debate maturely are scary people. I do not want them leading us; they are the type that hit when they aren't obeyed. However it appears this is the type of people we now have in the White House.

We can not let this small group of ultra-liberals push us into race war.

Not only is race is irrelevant in any context, (including in the U.S. census), race doesn’t even exist. According to Genome Project, there is no such thing as race. There is no gene for race. There are only genes for familial differences, such as facial cheekbones, shade of skin, and texture of hair. Those aren't race differences; they are family differences. Human genes have been traced back to just one family. (The genome project stopped short of saying that all humans descended from one couple. Too touchy of a statement, I would guess.)

Commenting on current racial tensions, Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The NAACP is slamming the Tea Party for racism, as all the while the NAACP supports Planned Parenthood, the most racist arm of genocide in America today. Add to this melee the most recent attack by the Pro-abortion Movement on the Pro-Life Prayer Movement that is sweeping the nation. As the games play out, one thing is apparent. The concept of separate races and consequently racism are a lie."

"What people need to do is to read the Bible, or at least read my Uncle Martin's book Strength to Love," said Dr. King. "Human dignity, bringing love and respect for each other as human beings, not considering ourselves as separate races is the answer to this puzzle."
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Jeremiah Wright's anti-sematic Palm Sunday Sermon

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 06:08:00 +0000

World Net Daily, April 2, 2010
- Ellis Washngton

"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing "God Bless America." No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme." ~ Jeremiah Wright (2003 sermon)

As I drove up to Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit last Sunday, I knew something big was going to happen this day. How did I know? Because I couldn't get a parking place within three blocks of the church. What was going on?

I got my answer as I looked at who was seated in the pulpit: none other than the Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright, pastor Emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Ill., whose church Barack and Michelle Obama attended for 20 years as members.

My pastor, the Rev. Dr. Charles G. Adams, and Jeremiah Wright have been very good friends for over 35 years. Both pastors came of age during the 1960s and the civil-rights era. Both pastors are big-city liberal Democrats, believers in redistributive wealth, unionism, social justice and liberation theology – applying Marxist politics and economic philosophy to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Initially, as I listened to Dr. Wright with my 13-year-old son, Stone, using his Bible, I was expecting a non-political, non-controversial sermon, but that was a fool's dream. Rev. Wright's messaged was titled, "What You Can't See!" based on the following passage from 2 Kings 6:8-17:

“Then the king of Syria warred against Israel, and took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp.
“And the man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place; for thither the Syrians are come down.
“And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice.
“Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was sore troubled for this thing; and he called his servants, and said unto them, Will ye not shew me which of us is for the king of Israel?
“And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king: but Elisha, the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber.
“And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan.
“Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about.
“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?
“And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
“And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

Despite the thunderous shouts of Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! and hysterical laughter in response to Rev. Wright's sermon, I knew in my heart that this man standing before me in the pulpit was deceitful to core; a false prophet perverting the word of God like no other person I had ever witnessed.

For example, I heard Rev. Wright read the well-known biblical passage above, but the political spin he put on it was quite outrageous. Here is a synopsis of how Wright arranged the biblical narrative to apply to contemporary American politics:

• Syria-Israel War = America-Iraq War;
• King of Syria = President George W. Bush;
• Operation Capture Elisha = Operation Desert Storm;
• Prophet Elisha = Saddam Hussein (an innocent man with no WMDs);
• Syrian Army = U.S. military (i.e., an evil pagan army hell-bent on capturing the man of God);
• Syria's servants = President George Bush military and political advisers;
• Elisha's servants = black Americans whose eyes needed to be open about how evil and irredeemable the US of KKKA is.

To atone for his radicalism, Rev. Wright ended his sermon with the ubiquitous three points: 1) You are not alone; 2) God is at work on your behalf; and 3) You have nothing to be afraid of.

But of course, dear reader, America has quite a lot to be afraid of due to the shameful complicity and political cover up the liberal media provided Obama and his mentors, like Frank Marshall Davis, Bill Ayers, Bernardine Dohrn and Jeremiah Wright. We did not so much vote for a candidate in November 2008, but America voted for a revolution, a revolutionary hell-bent on deconstructing all that is good, honorable and patriotic; a fascist seeking to destroy America from within so as to remake this wonderful country into his own Marxist image.

For those of you who still believe that one can sit in Rev. Wright's church of hate for 20 years and not be affected, compare the outrageous treatment Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received to the anti-Semitic rant of Rev. Wright who said:

The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for over 40 years now. Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community and wake up Americans concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism.

Ellis Washington is former editor of the Michigan Law Review and law clerk at The Rutherford Institute. He hosts a radio program Thursdays at 11 a.m. Eastern on 1620 AM in Atlanta. It can be heard online at the Radio Sandy Springs website. His weekly podcasts are available Mondays at The Conservative Beacon. Washington is a graduate of John Marshall Law School and a lecturer and freelance writer on constitutional law, legal history and critical race theory. He has written over a dozen law review articles and several books, including "The Inseparability of Law and Morality: The Constitution, Natural Law and the Rule of Law" (2002). Washington's latest book is "The Nuremberg Trials: Last Tragedy of the Holocaust."

Mrs. Obama, who are the Racists?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 21:00:00 +0000

First Lady Obama, speaking at NAACP in July, on the eve of their declaring the Tea Party racist, stated

“When African American communities are still hit harder than just about anywhere by this economic downturn and so many families are just barely scraping by…”

and “…just like so many other challenges that we face as a nation, the African American community is being hit even harder by this issue.”

Mrs. Obama, like so many in her small circle, appears to be completely blind to the rest of America. Does she honestly believe that the ‘African American’ community is hit harder by the economic downturn than, say...the 'Native American' community? Is it really hit harder by childhood obesity than the ‘Caucasian’ community, or the 'Latino' community? Does she have statistics to back that up?

If she is right, whose fault is it? How does she propose to fix the 'issue?' Will more stimulus funds solve it? If so, will the funds be targeted at only those served by the NAACP, or will children of other heritages, who Mrs. Obama doesn't appear to be as concerned about, also benefit?
Mrs. Obama went on to say that if the 'issue' of childhood obesity within the 'African American' community isn't resolved, 'African American' children “won’t be in any shape to continue the work begun by the founders of this great organization." (the NAACP)

And what is that work? Please tell the rest of us, because for years we've been lead to believe that the NAACP was a civil rights organization with an altruistic heart for equality of all people. It sure doesn't seem that this is the case, anymore. Maybe it never was.

Lastly, why does Mrs. Obama, the NAACP, and their followers continue to call American citizens of darker skin “African” Americans? Why is there a continual, purposeful pointing out of centuries old heritage?

I have never been referred to as a "German American." ...Or an "Irish American," or "Scottish American," for that matter. (My, my, which one would I choose?)

OH WAIT! Africa is a continent. Therefore, I would be called a "European" American. And by the way - are ONLY people of dark skin who are of African heritage allowed in the NAACP? What if they have European heritage as well?

Oh, wait, President Obama has more than one heritage. So...is he considered "African" American or..."European" American, ...or both?

Excuse me, but who here are the people most focused on "race" aka - the true racists?

.

Obama Continues to Ignore DOJ Dismissal of Black Panthers Lawsuit

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:46:00 +0000

The Department of Justice, under President Bush, filed a lawsuit in late 2008 naming three New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense ( NBPPSD) members and alleging that they intimidated Philadelphia voters during the Nov. 4, 2008 general election.

According to the complaint, members Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson were stationed by Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz at the entrance to a polling location wearing NBPPSD uniforms, and Shabazz was carrying a “police-style baton weapon,” scaring away potential Caucasian voters. Two witnesses testified that at least three voters turned away, and that a black poll watcher was visibly upset and demanded that police be called because the intimidators had called him a race traitor and told him that if he stepped outside, there would be hell to pay.

The Black Panthers admitted that the men were ‘deployed” to the location as part of a nationwide effort to have NBPPSD members at polling locations on Election Day.

The Bush administration investigated and found cause for charges.

“Intimidation outside of a polling place is contrary to the democratic process,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Grace Chung Becker at the time. “The Department takes allegations of voter intimidation seriously.”

But sources told The Bulletin that although career prosecutors wanted to proceed with the case, Obama appointees did not. The Obama administration won. The DOJ filed a notice of voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit for Mr. Jackson, who identified himself to police as a member of the Democratic Committee in the 14th Ward, and a default judgment against Samir Shabazz. But apparently the proposed order for the default judgment asks for none of the usual conditions the Justice Department would want, such as keeping Mr. Shabazz away from any polling locations for a set number of years into the future.

Later, Shabazz was video taped at an event, yelling at the crowd, telling black people that they have to "Kill Some Crackers and Their Babies!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3MbqupVxMY

According to whistleblower J. Christian Adams, attorney of 18 years and until recently, Department of Justice employee, this was about ‘race,’ not DOJ fidelity to the law.

"The dismissal of the voter intimidation lawsuit against armed New Black Panthers in Philadelphia is the most prominent example of this hostility toward race-neutral enforcement of civil rights laws."

Hans von Spakovsky, a former career Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, thinks the inaction by the Justice Department is unprecedented. He told The Bulletin that the dismissal by Justice, with no notice on the Justice Department press site, particularly against an organization listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a horrible miscarriage of justice. He said DOJ has failed in its duty to enforce voting laws.

"…dismissing an individual who was a local Democratic Party official who defaulted by not answering the complaint smacks of the worst sort of political partisanship," he said. "It is completely contrary to all of the promises that Eric Holder made when he was confirmed to be Attorney General."

Having heard Mr. Adams sworn testimony, why isn't the Attorney General, if he was not part of this miscarriage of Justice, conducting an investigation? Why doesn't Obama seem to care?

President Obama - what's the "teachable moment" that we're supposed to get out of this?

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Krista Branch hits 'Spot On' with "I Am America" - (video)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:25:00 +0000

Krista Branch is an amazing Christian artist with a new song that hits the hearts of frustrated Americans - spot on. Her lyrics speak the words millions of us have been trying to express in our frustration with the direction the current administration has been going.

According to her Website at http://www.kristabranch.com :

Krista Gay (Weston) Branch was born in Texas in 1981. She developed a love for music at a very young age and was encouraged to persue her passion for singing. Krista sang often in her church and at the age of 12 she made up her mind to use her gifts to serve God.

As a teenager her and her siblings formed a group called "Slyde". During this time they performed with various Christian artists such as Zilch (DC Talks Band) and Al Denson to name a few. Through their ministry hundreds of pre-teens and teenagers came to know Jesus as their Savior.

She has traveled and used her gifts all over the United States as well as Guatamala and Slavakia where she performed for 20,000 teens in concerts, rallies, and school assemblies.

Krista was married in 2000 and began her solo career. She is a devoted wife and mother and currently leads praise and worship for her church, youth and kids camps, and continues to do concerts as well.

"Pay no attention to the people in the street

Crying out for accountability.

Make a joke of what we believe;

Say we don't matter 'cuz you disagree.

Pretend you're kings, sit on your throne;

Look down your nose at the peasants below.

I've got some news: we're taking names -

We're waiting now for the judgement day.

I am America:

One voice, United we stand.

I am America:

One hope to heal our land.

There is still work that must be done.

I will not rest until we've won.

I am America.

You preach you tolerance but lecture me.

Is there no end to your own hypocrisy.

Your god is power; you have no shame;

Your only interest is political gain.

You hide your eyes and refuse to listen;

You play your games and abuse the system.

You stuff your pockets while Rome is burning -

I've got a feeling that the tide is turning.

I am America:

One voice, United we stand.

I am America:

One hope to heal our land.

I will not give up on this fight.

I will not fade into the night.

I am America.

You stuff your pockets while Rome is burning -

I've got a feeling that the tide is turning!

I am America:

One voice, United we stand.

I am America:

One hope to heal our land.

I am America:

One voice, United we stand.

I am America:

One hope to heal our land.

I will not give up on this fight!

I will not fade into the night!

I am America.

Please support Krista & the song on iTunes here: http://bit.ly/92srAP

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Happy Birthday America! Tea Party's Next Wave Rising -

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:18:00 +0000

- Associated Press, July 03, 2010

Tea Party's Next Wave Rising in Alaska to Colorado

In more than a dozen primaries in the months ahead -- among them Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, Washington state and Florida -- Tea Party candidates are determined to upend the status quo and capture GOP nominations.

Rifle through a stack of Tea Party candidate resumes, and Joe Miller's will stand out.

The man who wants to turn a fellow Republican, Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, out of office is a graduate of Yale Law School and West Point, a decorated combat veteran and former judge. Many Tea Partiers share his disdain for Washington, its political gridlock and mounting debt, but not his credentials.

The message he conveys, though, is straight from the Tea Party script: He fears the nation is veering toward socialism and insolvency. He says Murkowski is too liberal.

To Miller, Alaska's senior senator is complicit in the ballooning U.S. debt and spending and has a voting record that would make a Democrat proud. His agenda envisions a federal government with reduced limits. He would cut off federal dollars for the United Nations, gradually privatize Medicare and Social Security and disband federal departments that aren't spelled out in the Constitution, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Education Department.

"The problem," he says, "is incumbency."

In an election year marked by Tea Party activism, Miller is part of the next wave of Republican primary candidates counting on a public weary of Washington and the stale economy, and eager for fresh faces. In more than a dozen primaries in the months ahead -- among them Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Arizona, Washington state and Florida -- Tea Party candidates are determined to upend the status quo and capture GOP nominations.

Could Miller be the next Rand Paul or Sharron Angle -- Tea Party-backed candidates who stunned GOP powerbrokers in Kentucky and Nevada?

Murkowski, a moderate and the first woman elected to Congress from Alaska, "is pretty safe but you never know," says Judy Eledge, president of the Anchorage chapter of the Alaska Federation of Republican Women.

Eledge, who is not aligned with either candidate, says Murkowski's biggest challenge will be reassuring conservatives. On Friday, the senator announced her opposition to President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan.

As a state legislator, Murkowski voted to raise alcohol taxes and against a bill to restrict publicly funded abortions. As a member of the GOP Senate leadership, she has displayed a centrist streak. Independents who make up more than half Alaska's registered voters can vote in the Aug. 24 primary, which analysts say will benefit the incumbent.

Miller has gotten a boost from endorsements from Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Express and local Tea Party groups. But Murkowski has $2 million in the bank and has a familiar name in Alaska politics. Her father, Frank Murkowski, was a governor and senator. As governor, he appointed his daughter in 2002 to the Senate seat he had held.

Former Alaska lawmaker Andrew Halcro, a friend and supporter of Lisa Murkowski, says her moderate brand of politics fits well in a state where most voters don't belong to any party. But the prevailing sour mood in the U.S. poses a threat.

"Like a lot of states, you have an angry populace" in Alaska, Halcro says. "If I'm Lisa, I am worried because these guys have an appealing message -- down with government, down with incumbents."

Surprises are the norm this year.

Three-term Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah was ousted by Tea Partiers at the state GOP convention in May. Tea Party darling Angle engineered a come-from-behind victory in Nevada over an establishment-preferred candidate and will challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in November. Rand pulled off a surprise win in Kentucky's Senate race over a party favorite. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist was forced out of the GOP by Tea Party-backed Marco Rubio and is running as an independent. In South Carolina, Palin's support and Tea Party activists helped GOP state Rep. Nikki Haley emerge from a crowded field to capture the GOP nod for governor.

In Colorado, the GOP Senate nomination appeared destined for a former lieutenant governor, Jane Norton. But Republican prosecutor Ken Buck has emerged as a rising Tea Party star by blending grass-roots organizing, a message of ideological purity and a folksy appeal he shares with candidates such as Angle.

In Tennessee, a Tea Party Republican seeking a congressional seat in a crowded field has made headlines by opposing construction of a suburban Nashville mosque. Candidate Lou Ann Zelenik says the "Islamic training center" is part of a political movement "designed to fracture the moral and political foundation of Middle Tennessee."

"Until the American Muslim community finds it in their hearts to separate themselves from their evil, radical counterparts, to condemn those who want to destroy our civilization ... we are not obligated to open our society to any of them," Zelenik says. She hopes to replace Democratic Rep. Bart Gordon, who is retiring after 13 terms.

In Washington state, former professional football player Clint Didier is questioning the Republican credentials of party-recruited candidate Dino Rossi in the scramble to take on three-term Democratic Sen. Patty Murray.

The true test of the Tea Party candidates is whether they can attract moderate and independent voters to win in November.

Republican Ron Johnson, the owner of a Wisconsin-based company that makes plastic packaging materials, has called for reducing the size of the government, opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants and cap-and-trade legislation, and advocates repealing the health care overhaul law. He's also said man-made global warming hasn't been proved and he questioned how Social Security is different from a Ponzi scheme.

Johnson is willing to spend as much as $15 million of his money to unseat three-term Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold.

Alaska, which fared better than most states in the recession and where every fourth worker holds a government job, has not been a center of Tea Party unrest. Nonetheless, in advance of the primary, Murkowski appears to be moving defensively to the political right. Her first campaign ad depicts her a strong conservative who wants to shrink government and taxes. A snapshot on her website shows her with a shotgun on her shoulder. She's calling for repeal of the health care overhaul.

Miller has criticized Murkowski for the growth of Washington spending on her watch and her vote for 2008 bank bailouts, issues that bedeviled Bennett in Utah. His website features a point-by-point breakdown of Murkowski's votes on issues from abortion to energy policy, contrasted with his own.

As Washington considers capping carbon emissions, Murkowski's moves are being shadowed by Miller, who believes the science behind climate change is inconclusive.

"I have smoke that comes out of my chimney. You are going to tell me the federal government has a right to regulate that? Somehow it's affecting interstate trade? Or somehow that smoke is going to impact a resident of the state of Washington?" Miller asks. "I just don't buy off on that."

"Ultimately, much of what the federal government does today needs to be transferred over to the states," he says

Investigators: Obama uses Connecticut Social Security Number

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:41:00 +0000

WorldNetDaily Exclusive Posted: May 11, 2010 9:57 pm Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi

NEW YORK – Two private investigators working independently are asking why President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.

In addition, the records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, yet Obama's earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii.

WND has copies of affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Ohio licensed private investigator Susan Daniels and Colorado private investigator John N. Sampson.

The investigators believe Obama needs to explain why he is using a Social Security number reserved for Connecticut applicants that was issued at a date later than he is known to have held employment.

The Social Security.gov confirms the first three numbers in his ID are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049.

"Since 1973, Social Security numbers have been issued by our central office," the Social Security website explains. "The first three (3) digits of a person's social security number are determined by the ZIP code of the mailing address shown on the application for a social security number."

The question is being raised amid speculation about the president's history fueled by an extraordinary lack of public documentation. Along with his original birth certificate, Obama also has not released educational records, scholarly articles, passport documents, medical records, papers from his service in the Illinois state Senate, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and adoption papers.

Daniels and Sampson each used a different database showing Obama is using a Social Security number beginning with 042.

WND has further confirmed that the Social Security number in question links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service System. Inserting the Social Security number, his birth date and his last name produces a valid Selective Service number.

...To verify the number was issued by the Social Security Administration for applicants in Connecticut, Daniels used a Social Security number verification database. She found that the numbers immediately before and immediately after Obama's were issued to Connecticut applicants between the years 1977 and 1979.

"There is obviously a case of fraud going on here," Daniels maintained. "In 15 years of having a private investigator's license in Ohio, I've never seen the Social Security Administration make a mistake of issuing a Connecticut Social Security number to a person who lived in Hawaii. There is no family connection that would appear to explain the anomaly."

Does the Social Security Administration ever re-issue Social Security numbers?

"Never," Daniels said. "It's against the law for a person to have a re-issued or second Social Security number issued."

Daniels said she is "staking my reputation on a conclusion that Obama's use of this Social Security number is fraudulent."

There is no indication in the limited background documentation released by the Obama 2008 presidential campaign or by the White House to establish that Obama ever lived in Connecticut.

Nor is there any suggestion in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," that he ever had a Connecticut address.

Also, nothing can be found in the public record that indicates Obama visited Connecticut during his high-school years.

Sampson's affidavit specifies that as a result of his formal training as an immigration officer and his 27-year career in professional law enforcement, "it is my knowledge and belief that Social Security numbers can only be applied for in the state in which the applicant habitually resides and has their official residence."

Daniels told WND she believes Obama had a different Social Security number when he worked as a teenager in Hawaii prior to 1977.

"I doubt this is President Obama's originally issued Social Security number," she told WND. "Obama has a work history in Hawaii before he left the islands to attend college at Occidental College in California, so he must have originally been issued a Social Security number in Hawaii."

The published record available about Obama indicates his first job as a teenager in Hawaii was at a Baskin-Robbins in the Makiki neighborhood on Oahu. USA Today reported the ice-cream shop still was in operation one year after Obama's inauguration.

Politifact.com, a website typically supportive of Obama, claims he worked at the Baskin-Robbins in 1975 or 1976, prior to the issuance of the number in question.

"It is a crime to use more than one Social Security number, and Barack Obama had to have a previous Social Security number to have worked at Baskin-Robbins," she insisted. "Under current law, a person is not permitted to use more than one Social Security number in a lifetime."

Another anomaly in the law enforcement databases searched by Daniels and Sampson is that the date 1890 shows up in the field indicating the birth of the number holder, along with Obama's birth date of 08/04/1961. A third date listed is 04/08/1961, which appears to be a transposition of Obama's birth date in an international format, with the day before the month.

Daniels disclosed to WND the name of the database she searched and produced a computer screen copy of the page that listed 1890 as a date associated with the 042 Social Security number.

Daniels said she can't be sure if the 1890 figure has any significance. But she said it appears the number Obama is using was previously issued by the Social Security Administration.

After an extensive check of the proprietary databases she uses as a licensed private investigator, Daniels determined that the first occurrence of Obama's association with the number was in 1986 in Chicago.

Daniels assumes, but cannot prove, that Obama took on a previously issued Social Security number that had gone dormant due to the death of the original holder.

Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in Ohio since 1995. Sampson formed his private investigations firm, CSI Consulting and Investigations, in 2008. He previously worked as a deportations law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Daniels and Sampson affidavits were originally recorded by attorney Orly Taitz in an eligibility case against Obama last year.

To view the original article in entirety, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=152773
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Open letter from actor Jon Voight to President Obama:

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:07:00 +0000

The Washington Times - June 22, 2010

President Obama:

You will be the first American president that lied to the Jewish people, and the American people as well, when you said that you would defend Israel, the only Democratic state in the Middle East, against all their enemies. You have done just the opposite. You have propagandized Israel, until they look like they are everyone's enemy — and it has resonated throughout the world. You are putting Israel in harm's way, and you have promoted anti-Semitism throughout the world.

You have brought this to a people who have given the world the Ten Commandments and most laws we live by today. The Jewish people have given the world our greatest scientists and philosophers, and the cures for many diseases, and now you play a very dangerous game so you can look like a true martyr to what you see and say are the underdogs. But the underdogs you defend are murderers and criminals who want Israel eradicated.

You have brought to Arizona a civil war, once again defending the criminals and illegals, creating a meltdown for good, loyal, law-abiding citizens. Your destruction of this country may never be remedied, and we may never recover. I pray to God you stop, and I hope the people in this great country realize your agenda is not for the betterment of mankind, but for the betterment of your politics.

With heartfelt and deep concern for America and Israel,

Jon Voight

© Copyright 2010 The Washington Times, LLC.

Academy-Award winning Jon Voight is an American film and television actor and conservative activist
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