Pudgy Indian

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/342625.shtml

This is an article and photographs of the work the Israeli's are doing in Lebannon right now.

With the illegal activities enacted in Gaza and Lebanon by Israel, I want to say that is one of the reasons I will never take up arms.

Armed militants from Gaza killed several Israeli soldiers and kidnapped one. Because of that, their infrastructure has been bombed by the Israeli military, some of their political leaders assassinated, dozens of civilians murdered, etc. The infrastructure bombing will indeed cause much hardship on the Palestinian peoples and possibly the deaths of many.

Same with Lebannon. When armed Hezbollah militants killed 8 Israeli soldiers and kidnapped 2 with the alleged same intent as the Palestinians of a potential prisoner exchange, Israel has and is bombing illegally the Lebanese people. Israel is bombing their infrastructure as well which will also cause great suffering and potentially many deaths. All of this is illegal, by the way.

My opinion of the conflicts in the Middle East come from talking with people who have a deep understanding of the situations there and educating myself moderately with books and news articles. I believe that the actions of Hezbollah and the militants in Gaza are due directly to the oppressive actions of Israel against their peoples. Israel's oppressive actions are what give motivation to these attacks which Israel then uses as an excuse for military action. Israel's military actions are illegal. Their oppressive actions are illegal. But they are allowed to get away with them like the U.S. government is allowed to get away with its oppressive actions against its indigenous populations. When people are stressed to the point of breaking, they will act out in what they believe to be defensive measures. The military mights of Gaza and Lebannon are minimal compared to the destructive authority of Israel. It is like a senior in high school stealing the lunch money of kindergardners, then beating them to death when one or two take actions to stop the oppressive behavior of the high school senior.

Would we accept this behavior in our society? No. But we do when it is the Isreali or U.S. government taking such actions against those they oppress who get so tired of it so they act out with behaviors that are destructive and used as an excuse by the U.S. and Israel to slaughter with impunity to terrorize the populace whom, some, will undoubtedly not take it well. Seeing that their families are being murdered they may take action which will AGAIN be used as an excuse for mass slaughter by Isreal or the U.S.

At the same time, I wonder what is going on behind the scenes. What might be the alterior motives of the armed militants in Gaza and Lebannon? They had to have known that Israel would behave in such a brutal and cruel manner. That is their MO. That is why I don't take up arms. I know how the U.S. would behave if I did. They would slaughter and oppress many innocents before actually attempting to get at me. It is a clear and consistent pattern of their behavior. I have to wonder what is going on.

Israel is amping up its attacks on two nations now. Palestine and Gaza. Please keep yourself updated on the latest by checking out my two favorite news sources, though not my exclusive news sources:

www.truthout.org

www.commondreams.org

The actions Israel is taking against these nations is illegal. There again, they have the military might and willingness to slaughter lots of people. They also enjoy oppressing them as well. Bullys of the Middle East.

Royce Lamberth, judge in the Cobell case, was removed by the Bush administration. Lamberth was the target for removal since George II stole the election in 2000.

The Cobell case, for those of you who don't know, is a case where the BIA and interior department is being sued to clean up the horrific mess they have made of Individual Indian Money's accounts, losing somewhere between $10-50 BILLION over the last 30 years.

George doesn't want this cleaned up! Many of his good buddies stole that money, and they need it to back their already excessive bank accounts.

Indians...They could starve and die in the continuing genocide against their peoples.

Basically, Bush is trying to get the case thrown out and the continuation of the BIA business as usual genocidal actions against Indians will continue in the best way possible.

Hey...did you know the term "final solution" was first coined in the U.S. by the government against the Indigenous populations of this nation? I knew that you did.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/014902.asp

Felicia, my daughter and daughter of many, is in Studio 2 on the computer. Usually her thing is checking out music videos, playing games, looking up goofy stuff... I walked in there after the show to let her know what was going on, and what is she reading...?

The weekend before Rhonda and I went on our journey, we had Felicia for the weekend. We rented a movie about Geronimo of the same name. Since then she has been really curious about him and the devestation his people have suffered at the hands of the genocidal U.S. government. I walked into studio 2 and she is reading a website about Geronimo. Felicia! The little girl I couldn't get to read any book after she learned to read. There she is, reading about the history of Geronimo! I have never seen her be curious about such things. I knew it would come some day, but I was thinking maybe in her mid to late teens.

What an awesome kid. We Love her so dearly!

Jim Page, awesome folk musician extrordinaire who can pull songs out of the ether around him and play them like he's been playing them for years, was a guest on the "Dharma Wheel," the show just before "Mitakuye Oyasin," on KBOO. The man is awesome. I talked him into playing "Heroes and Survivors." It is a song about the connection between the Choctaw and the Irish. After the Choctaw were relocated, they found out about the plight of the Irish via word of mouth, gathered up as much money as they could spare at the time, and sent it off to the independence movement in Ireland. I gave Jim a copy of my book, "Tremble in Fear..." and he gave me a copy of his new CD, the title of which I forget, but it has an awesome song on it about Rachel Corrie that makes me cry everytime I hear it.

Jim will be playing at the Mississippi Ballroom this evening.

"Mississippi" happens to be the name of the river that runs through Minneapolis, Minnesota, which I have been calling the Missouri. Sorry about that mistake, folks.

Jack Mckay of the Big Trough Lake First Nations in Ontario, Canada, told the attendees at the Protecting Mother Earth Conference that his reserve has a large deposit of platinum on it. They also have many species of plants and wildlife that would be threatened by mining, as well as the humans in the area. As punishment for successfully stopping the "genocidal" mining companies, the are being sued under (I believe) FTAA guidelines. Check this out, you won't believe this, or, maybe you will. They are being sued by the mining corporation for...wait for it...$11.5 BILLION. That's correct, $11.5 BILLION! All for not allowing genocide to occur on their reservation by a mining company. It is the alleged amount of money the corporation says they could make from the rape and destruction of the Big Trout Lake First Nations Reserve. If they can't rape'm, they'll rob 'em. Like the reserve has that kind of money, but the Canadian government I'm sure would enjoy watching the destruction of this Native Nation.

Hello one and all. First and foremost, I wish to thank my wonderful wife (we did a personal ceremony, a public ceremony will be done when we can figure out a date), Rhonda. Were it not for Rhonda's idea to take this journey to the Protecting Mother Earth Conference and driving across South Dakota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Minnesota, with stops at Wounded Knee, Bear Butte, Pine Ridge, and the conference, I would have never taken this journey. Rhonda and I learned a lot on this journey. We are a good team and continuing our growth as such. Rhonda and I made this journey together, and it was a beautiful growing experience as we learned that the Indian wars are indeed, far from over.

We journeyed across South Dakota on I-90 on July 3rd. The amount of billboards on this interstate were amazing to say the least. Most dealt with "Wall Drug," a place we chose not to stop at and managed to pass up anyway. There were also billboards with many anti-abortion themes that we found pretty damned offensive. Near the end of our journey, I suggested one like, "My mother chose life. Now I proudly serve in the U.S. military killing other peoples babies in Iraq." Rhonda added "with white phosphorous..."

Our first stop was in Chamberlain. It is the site of the St. Joseph's Indian School, which I chose not to visit. Rhonda later suggested it would be good to give visitors there a real education of what it was like in those schools. I now wish we had gone. We ate at a place called Casey's, a store and cafe. We weren't served right away, either racism or bad service, most likely racism. What I found interesting about the place was that they exploited Indians in their merchandising but had no tobacco. I assume it was because of their "values," but found the irony amusing and tragic.

We stopped at a rest area further down where there was a concrete art structure of tipi poles...which were set up incorrectly.

We got to 240 where we headed south to Interior across the Badlands State Park, and wouldn't you know it, the fuckers have a federally sanctioned roadblock where they collect $15 for entering this sacred site. The only people they don't charge are Lakota. Rhonda put up a wonderful fight to try to get out of paying. She pointed out the racism and lack of consideration of this holy site as a place to pray. At the end of her conversation with the ranger, she told him, "you know this is wrong." (What a beautiful warrior!) Rhonda paid, and we journeyed through. We both felt like we were spiritually raped. The ranger alleged that half of the fee goes to the tribe, but I think he really meant (if he was indeed telling the truth), the corrupt tribal council. The Badlands, as they are called, are an immensely spiritual site. It is wrong to cage them for profit.

We finally got to Wounded Knee rather late. We found a giant billboard saying that the meadow area the sign was posted at was the campsite and the hill, about 100 yards to the West was the site where the 7th mounted their massacre with their hotchkiss cannons. Oh my God! It was so much closer than I had imagined. We weren't exactly sure where the burial grounds were, so we drove up the little driveway to see where the cannon fire came from, and there it was...the cemetery, right where they 7th ruthlessly slaughtered Lakota women, children, elderly, and men from. The cemetery is where the slaughter was led from.

A car pulled up and a Lakota man asked for our help. He was looking for money to get his mom out of jail to celebrate the 4th with her family. She got arrested because she didn't have a license or insurance. We drove from their to Pine Ridge but their van broke down on the way. We found out that this young man of 6'4" was actually a 15-year-old boy and still growing. OH LAY!

We drove into town to get them gas and had a hard time finding the jail. There was lots of traffic, I mean LOTS on this July 3rd evening. It was so wonderful seeing nothing but Indians surrounding us. When we finally found the jail, the young man, Clarence, showed up with his auntie in the van. They managed to get it restarted. We couldn't get his mother out because the judge had not yet set bail, so we drove into Nebraska.

White Clay, Nebraska is literally across the Rez border, and exists with a main purpose in mind; to sell alcohol to alcoholic Indians. It is a horribly creepy town, especially driving through at night. We spent the night in Rushville, Nebraska at the Nebraskaland Motel.

The next morning, we drove to Chadron, Nebraska, where Rhonda had spent a year of her early childhood.

We drove back to Pine Ridge where we discovered a sign that had the names of most, if not all the Lakota currently serving in Iraq. It was creepy, and we disagree with supporting such a genocidal war, but we also understand the conditions on the rez, and the suffering these soldiers will go through killing other dark skinned people in another nation.

We were greeted by a young man who was obviously suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome. He was friendly and kind. He liked Rhonda a lot, hugging her many times, and me...just once. I can't blame him. Rhonda is FINE!

A couple of young Indians drove up to us on an ATV and asked if we wanted to buy a dream catcher because they needed gas money. Rhonda bought it, though she is not into dream catchers. Unemployment rates are high on the rez and for many, they supplement their income (if an income exists) by selling stuff to tourists. Rhonda took many pictures of these things.

We got back to Wounded Knee and prayed. During our personal ceremony, some white tourists drove up and took our pictures. I tried not to have negative thoughts about these people, but it was difficult. There are some 200-400+ Indians crammed into the mass grave. One is known to have been still alive at the time of the burial. We also visited the gravesite of Lost Bird. It is a sacred, horrifying, and sad place.

Rhonda had a pointed conversation with the white folks who took our pictures, who seemed rather subdued. Rhonda, my friends, is quite the warrior woman and I am PROUD to call her my wife.

After we ended our prayers there, some Lakota drove up. At first I thought it was going to be a "what the fuck are you doing in my neighborhood?" type of thing, but it wasn't. A young man stepped out of his car with earings made by his mother that he was selling. These people are so poor because of the U.S. government boot on the neck of their economies, that they don't have the privilege of saying something like the above to strangers who arrive on their rez. They need to eat. They need to survive.

We picked up three hitchikers in Wounded Knee to deliver to Sharps, about 10 miles up the road. Rhonda had a coversation with the older woman, Ramona, and the two young men, David and Seth. She found out that they are usually starving at the end of the month. They try to pad their economies as best as possible. There are often more that a dozen people in one household. You usually don't get housing unless you are related to someone in the housing department. The local stores sell them rotten meat at inflated prices. They try to go to Chadron, Nebraska (about 70 miles away) to buy cheap food at the Walmart there, but considering transportation problems, it is rare that they can make such a journey. The young men told Rhonda that they don't hunt the deer because they have a strange disease they misnamed. Rhonda found out later at Bear Butte that the deer in the area have "mad cow."

We drove to Bear Butte, just outside of Sturgis, South Dakota. There are many huge bars there that only operate during the biker rally. Jay Allen is building his on 79, probably about a mile or less from the mountain. Jay's bar, catch this, will be called "Sacred Grounds." He has a plan in the works that I think he may have scrapped but I'm not sure, of building a giant Indian at the entrance. There is also an encamptment just on the other side of the mountain where a big biker party goes on during the rally right at the foot of Bear Butte. Drunken belligerance is preferred over prayer in America. We had many wonderful conversations with Alex and Debra White Plume, Carter and Vic Camp, and many others.

Alex White Plume asked I send the message far and wide that those Indians whose reservations the Lewis and Clark re-enacters cross stop them from crossing. Don't celebrate this genocide. He knows that their attempts will most likely not work, but it is worth the effort.

We journeyed to the top of Bear Butte where we could hear the quietest car drive by on 79. On the way up, a group of tourists were coming down and one white fellow stated, "When you think you are half way up, you're not. When you think you are near the top, you're not." It wasn't a sacred site to him, it was just a tough hike. On getting back down, we met a grandaughter of Frank Fools crow as she placed tobacco of the bust of Frank at the visitors center. You can hear the quietest car from the top of Bear Butte.

The favored comments by the bikers and their supporters is "you know when the rally is, therefore your prayers should accomodate that time." Well, the bikers know that Bear Butte is a sacred site where Indians have and continue to pray for some hundreds, if not thousands of years. Why don't they accomodate that? I guess a rally that has been around for a few decades where drunken debauchery takes place is much more important than prayer. The Hells Angels, Carter told us, are going to help out in protecting the site during the rally.

As we were heading out on July 5th, Rhonda had received news of a family tragedy. We went back to Bear Butte before heading across South and North Dakota and prayed. On our way out, there was a couple at the gate who had parked their motorcycle. These white folks asked us how far the road goes up. We told them that this is a place of prayer. This is a sacred place. We had just finished a prayer. They should carry their prayers with them when they go up there. They were having none of that: "How far can I drive up this road?" the man asked.

We headed across North Dakota and spent the night in Fargo.

We got to the conference (after I took a wrong turn that added quite a few miles to our journey) around mid-afternoon the next day. Besides Pine Ridge and Bear Butte, the Protecting Mother Earth Conference brought to light the continued WAR on the Indigenous populations of this alleged great nation of ours.

We found out from Rose and Peter that the Northern Dine Rez in Northern Alberta, Saskathewan, and a few other provinces, is being destroyed by the oil corporations who are digging up the oil sand underneath their rez. They have to clear the lands surface of all vegetation and animal life, then dig huge pits with giant scoops to get at that oil-sand. They also suffer from contimants from three uranium mines on their land, as well as other corporate caused damage from other resource extraction and energy businesses. Most of their people support this because IT'S BETTER THAN STARVING! They refuse to look at the genocidal implications and the destruction of their land that the corporations ARE NOT GOING TO CLEAN UP! Once they've stolen all they can, the Northern Dine will face only death.

Lori, from the Gila River Rez talked about the chemical dumps on her land that have caused many health problems (including her daughter) and birth defects. A medical waste incinerator on their land is also causing many health problems.

A woman from the Goshute Rez is talking about how her council voted to become the "temporary storage site" for nuclear waste and the current go ahead by the Nuclear Regulatory Commision to do so. Of course, this will make the rez the PERMANENT STORAGE FACILITY, but people are starving and are looking for an income or something to pad council corruption.

A woman from the Tohono O'odham told of the waste dumped on her rez and the conditions of life imposed by the U.S. government on their rez because it crosses the Mexican border. She talked of how the border patrol helps out drug smugglers as well.

A woman explained how Manitoba Hydro had secret meetings with her tribal council for five years before they came forward with a dam project they claim will not harm the water. She pulled a good one on them during a meeting with execs from the corporation by throwing out their bottled water and pouring them water from a local contaminated lake which even the council head refused to drink.

Local people were complaining about the high murder rates in Cass Lake on the Leech Lake Reservation where the conferfence was held.

The Navaho are dealing with horrible mining practices with some limited success.

Rhonda hooked up with many people at the conference. She came through with her beautiful warriorness as well as dealing with the tragedy.

The weirdest thing, the building that the conference was held around had a wake for a local resident, which made the Dine (Navajo) for the most part, leave the site because of their beliefs surrounding the dead.

After the conference, we drove to Minneapolis where we spent the night. We walked down by the Missouri River and took in the sites. Then we flew home the next day and will be working together and on our own with each others support to GET EVERYTHING THE FUCK BACK! There's my report folks. Do what you can to help make things right!

We drove back to Minneapolis and spent the night there. We went for a walk along the Missouri and the ruins of old flour mills. Quite interesting. It is a really nice city, as far as cities go.

Before we left for the airport, we went to Burch Bark Bookstore, owned by author Louise Erdrich. We liked it a lot and bought a few books to help with our good fight.

Keep up the good work, one and all, to bring an end to the genocidal war against Indians and so many other peoples world wide for the destructive and sick corporations. I thank you. But mostly, I wish to thank my beautiful wife, Rhonda, for this wonderful journey and furthering the work we will be doing the rest of our lives in one form or another, unless we actually win, which I also hold as a possibility.

Love you all!

Eugene Johnson

Touched a nerve, have we? My stars, how horrible for you. Now, were you a little bit stronger in your soul about your little screed, then you could have just ignored my comment. But, instead, you decided to have a hissy because someone didn't hew to your point of view, and actually said so.

I notice that you are paying attention to my comments and continuing to post on my blog. So, using the same analogy about being "a little bit stronger...[I] could have...ignored [your] comment" I see that you are still posting your racist bullshit on my blog. As far as coming to my point of view, I don't care if you do or not. I'm open to discussion.

Well, Tonto, if you want people to come on here and leave comments about how Smart and Strong And Brave you are for Sticking It To The Man with his own Instruments of Oppression, then you have to allow for the occasional turd in the punchbowl who will, on occasion, call you on your own BS.

I have never stated that I am smart and strong and brave. I am just as scared as most people who live in this world that is on the verge of its own destruction. Smart. I don't consider myself smart as much as I try to educate myself about what is going on in the world, why, etc. I do so by reading a lot of materials, talking with witnesses, talking with others of knowledge. My instruments of oppression? Please. How stupid. All I am capable of as far as sticking it to the man is speaking out. "The Man," as you put it, I assume you mean the U.S. Government, how can I, with just my big fat mouth and my blog be sticking it to the man. C'mon JD [who isn't brave enough to give me his name], look at this from a reality standpoint. The U.S. government has just given itself the ability to not only enter my house without my consent, but yours as well.

And I am that turd.

Yeah, whatever.

Now, I could "come with something" but anything I "come with" would be instantly interpreted as some sort of "racist attack." Where I come from, racism is defined as having an argument with a lefty (hate speech is defined as winning that argument decidedly), so anything I put on here will be seen in that vein. But here goes:

Racism is defined as an argument with a lefty? What? That doesn't make any sense. Besides, you seem to scared to tell me where you come from, let alone your name. Hate speech defined as winning the argument? What? Dude, you are not making any sense. And yes, come up with something. So far you have nothing to back anything you've told me. How about some books I can read? How about some articles to support your points? How about explaining those rediculous definitions of racism and hate speech? Substance, son. I'm looking for some substance. And in case you are not aware, you are indeed...racist.

You say you "want it all back." I interpret that as "wanting it all back," e.g. everyone of non-"native American" gender should pack up and get out. That, or cash money paid to the descendants of the Tribes, I suppose. It is not clear to me whether you want all infrastructure development removed from the continent (with return to its "pristine" state), nor whether your cry for "wanting it all back" is constrained to just the Continental United States, or whether it includes all of North America, or maybe the entire chain of Americas. That said, you seem to make no provision for half-castes or quarter-castes. And other such thorny issues.

Let's look at reality here. I do want it all back. And I always find it interesting that when I say that, people like you immediately think of yourselves and start worrying about deportation. You don't ask why, nor do you care. You don't ask how would do things if I actually did get it all back (and ask yourself how real it is that I would). You immediately think of yourself. As that stupid little over privileged white boy at Reed College told Ward "Chutch" Churchill at a lecture there: "What about me?" It was as if the legal arguments, the genocidal comments by Madeline Albright as quoted by Churchill, the devastation he talked about not only forced upon Indians in this nation but inidgenous all over the world seemed to have gone unheard for fears of being deported like we Indians somehow have the force do make such actions. This also assumes that I think of the world through the same viewpoint as the people who have and continue to commit genocide against us Indians in this nation. Turd you may be, but again, you are not coming up with any substance.

It appears to me that you saw the Directors Cut of "Dances With Wolves" while on some of your magic mushrooms and are now convinced that how the Lakota were portrayed in that movie is how life was 24/7 in the Midwest prior to the White Man showing up.

Hated Dances with Wolves. And again, your argument is nothing more than hurtling racist insults. And no, life was not like that prior to the white man. But it is amazing that you somehow seem to believe you know what I think. And again, no substance. Like the "Chutch" thing; funny, yes! Substance, no!

Your wish for "wanting it all back" is quite in line with the wishes of the Palestinians who have decided that they want all the "occupied territories" back. Preferably in the condition that they exist in now after having been worked over into a livable landscape for 55 years by the Israelis (thanks for the efforts, gang!). The latest example of how that worked out (the Gaza greenhouses) is left for all to examine.

According to the Law, the Palestinians have every right to their occupied territories. And please, the Israeli's have not worked them into a liveable landscape. Dude, you are again just talking out of your ass, like the "turd" you claim to be. I believe it was in 1950, that the Palestinian Arabs offered an olive branch to the new state of Israel, who refused it. A nation that is under constant threat is a strong nation in their minds. And how about that 6 Days War in '67, and those 34 American sailors murdered by the Israeli army on the ship, the USS Liberty. The Liberty, being a spy ship, caught the Israeli's performing illegal activities during their attack. Seems they did things like murder 14 unarmed UN peacekeepers using their tanks. They even rammed a tank turret through one of their cars, decapitating two of the people inside, then raised and smashed, raised and smashed until all were dead. The Liberty also was catching them doing pit killings. Seems the Israeli's were forcing Palestinians to dig their own graves and shooting them in the back of the heads Nazi style. They also knew the Liberty was a spy ship, so the identified it, then torpedoed it. The Liberty got a SOS out, and an aircraft carrier launched four nuclear armed jets to nuke Israel. The planes were called back and after all the tension was over, Lyndon Johnson stated he could care less if all the sailors on the Liberty died as long as he protected our Israeli friends. Along with their illegal behavior in these arenas, there are many laws stating why the Israeli's don't have a right to the occupied territories. And the condition of the Palestinian state is the fault of the Israeli's, and helps create the tension the Love to keep their nation strong because a desperate people will use desperate measures and since the Palestinians are no where near as equally well armed as the Israeli's, it creates the condition for the terrorism we see today.

I will leave you with this thought: Tomorrow is the 4th of July. You can choose to use this national holiday to consider whether you can become a true and independent thinker and not remain chained by perceived slights, and trapped in your own hell by what others did to others 150 years ago...or you can sit and stew and pout and grunt and get mad every time some phony Amerikkan exploits Chinese slave labor by lighting off a piece of fireworks, and be miserable.

I don't celebrate the fourth of july, and thanks for not calling it Independence Day. And what is your definition of "independent thinker?" I am not chained to my "perceived slights." I believe in justice for crimes committed. Genocide, amigo, is a crime. The U.S. has committed it to Indians, and IS committing to people all over the world (read the UN Convention on...Genocide). And, again, son, your agruments have absolutely no substance. You are just hurtling insults to get reactions out of me, and therefore, I am reacting. Here, let me tell you about what James Madison said when asked about the "We the People" reference in the U.S. Constitution. James explained it something like the wealthy elite white males. Fuck the poor, women, blacks, indians, Irish (also known as the "Niggers of Europe), indentured servants, etc. So, in actuallity, the fourth of July is a celebration to honor the exploits of wealthy white elite males who weren't so interested in real independence as they were not having to pay taxes to the Brits. The same Brits you don't seem to mind occupying the Northern Six Counties of your homeland and exploiting, murdering, oppressing, etc., the very people you claim to come from.

Either way, I don't give a shit.

You must give a shit, son. Otherwise you wouldn't keep coming back.

Happy Independence Day, jerkweed.

I'm still struggling for my independence. Jerkweed? Explain yourself.

So, what about the struggles of your people in Northern Ireland? Are you like the Freestaters who could care less about their suffering because you live in alleged freedom elsewhere?

Also...substance. All you are doing is hurtling insults to try to cause me some sort of slight.

Yesterday, while crossing the bridge witht the kid, we were playing with our shadows on the river when a fish tapped the surface and slithered back down into the water on its back.

Magic is in the air!