Gulag: A History

"Man is a creature that can get used to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him."

--Fyodor Dostoevsky
The House of the Dead


I finally finished Anne Applebaum's Pultzer Prize winning book, "Gulag: A History."

It is the story of the Gulag slave labor/prison system set up after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and was made even more horrific under Stalin. She follows the Gulag system to its official end in 1991.

I Love the darker side of history because so many people refuse to look at it. Maybe they're scared of it, I don't know. Folk refuse to look at the real history of the U.S. dealing with the indigenous.

This amazing book taught me a lot of history I never knew.

After WWII, there were many prisoners Russia wanted back that were no longer in their territory. In Austria, for example, there were 20,000 Cossack prisoners. The Brits forced marched them to the trains at bayonette point (mostly women and children). The Cossacks knew what awaited them in Russia under Stalin, execution or the Gulag. When crossing a bridge, women were throwing their children into the water then jumping to their deaths behind them. One man in a park killed his wife, children, then committed suicide himself. The Brits didn't have to force the Cossacks back, but you know how they are.

Survival in the Gulag throughout its existence was quite amazing. Folk could make tools from the simplest things. They were also mostly starved, many to death. These forced labor camps did all sorts of things from lumber, creating canals and roads, etc. In the end, however, the maintenance of the system was more costly than it was worth.

There were all sorts of poltiical prisoners. Stalin practiced all sorts of clearances and ethnic cleansings.

Women were often raped, many were gang raped to death on the transport ships in the '30's, and stacked like cord wood at their doorway threshold until the guards decided it was time to stop. Many women whose names are long forgotten were tossed into the sea after being raped to death on these ships.

But the system always breaks, can never take the weight of such constant oppression. After Stalin's death in '53, it all started falling apart.

In '54, there was a revolt in the Kenrig camp that lasted for 40 days. The men broke a whole in the wall that separated the men from the women and one and all actually got along well. The men (especially the criminal sort) didn't rape the women, there was a beautiful cooperation. Couples were getting married if they weren't already. One woman was quoted as saying it was the most free she had ever felt (even after her time was served). Just before dawn on June 26, 1954, the Soviets attacked using 5 tanks and heavily armed personell. First they sent in the tanks immediately claiming the lives of six women by running them over. The soviet official dead is something 45, the witnesses claim well over 500 with over 1000 wounded. The 1 nurse and 1 doctor worked for 13 hours straight when the doctor collapsed. 6 hours into the operations, the nurse, whose hair had only started turning gray, had gone completely white.

In the end, the Gulag system fell. The resistance won, but it took generations...generations.

A must read in my opinion.

Collapse

On Thursday, Shusli and I went to see Mike Ruppert and the new movie out about him called "Collapse."

With Michael Moore's film, "Capitalism: A Love Story," he tried to get some Wall St. type to describe derivative banking. Mike Ruppert made it almost understandable. You have a physical product, it is work "a". It can increase in value 10 times. That would be 10a. You borrow money on the 10a amount, then bundle your 10a with other 10a's and make a great big package deal on which you borrow more, all the while it is only worth "a" or whatever amount of real "a's" you have. In other words, you can have a billion dollar bank, but it's only real capital could be 50 million.

Mike Ruppert does a great job of describing as simply as possible the banking system. The reality behind it.

Mike has been an LA cop and exposed the CIA dealing in drugs and became a whistle blower. He's been an investigative reporter and had a news letter called "From the Wilderness" to inform folk of such governmental BS. The guy doesn't just pull this stuff out of his ass like say, Hannity and Colmes would. He uses documentation and expresses the facts of these documents and offers his analysis.

The movie's main point, however, is peak oil. That means we have reached the halfway point of oil. We have used up over half of the oil in the earth. With demand increasing and resource decreasing, we don't have a lot of time. Mike points out 80% of everything manufactured requires oil to do so. Food requires transportation. That transportation required oil to be created (some 7gallons of oil in every tire). Plastics. Etc. Welcome to planet earth, have a nice day.

His suggestion is mostly community. We will need each other to stay alive. Things could happen abruptly, we may ease into it, it may be something inbetween, but it is coming. Some areas will do better than others. Who knows what is gonna happen, but it is good to have the information in order to help with the future generations who will be surviving on this planet.

Afterward, Mike had a Q & A. The one thing that sticks out in my head is he was asked about Obama's surge in Afghanistan (war is not humanitarian). Mike said it is for the opium. Wall St. pays the interest on its loans with money from the drug trade. Afghanistan grows some 95% of the worlds opium. The banking system that has a controlling interest in the U.S. government wants control of that money.

I suggest you all see this movie. It is done in the Spalding Gray "Swimming to Cambodia" style and you will learn a lot. You will become aware. You will have information closer to the truth than Rush Limbaugh would give you. Information you can use to move forward, keep aware, help the future generations and each other.

Salesman of the Year [edited 12-05-09 1:30 pm]

Shusli needed a new car, and unfortunately the car dealer we wanted to deal with didn't have anything she wanted in her price range. On Craigslist, she found a few cars from lots on 82nd. She wound up purchasing one from a place on 1705 SE 82nd. Oddly, it doesn't seem to have a name. The number we have to the place doesn't reverse on yellow pages.

Legally, cars have to pass DEQ when bought off of a lot, and this one doesn't. Shusli made arrangements to take the car in on Thursday for them to take it to a mechanic and was told it would be back on Friday. So, we took it in and I was told again by the young fella who we dealt with that the car would be back in our hands on Friday.

We didn't hear anything by Friday afternoon, so I called and found out that they didn't have an appointment for the mechanic until 5pm that afternoon.

After Shusli was available, she called the fella and told him what she was told. We were both getting rather angry. So, Donnie (or Donny) hangs up on my wife. She calls back, and he again treats her like shit over the phone. I was so pissed, I drove over to the lot and demanded Shusli get her money back. Donnie being the salesman of the year and probably the owner of the lot says he isn't giving the money back. After heated exchanges between us, he yanks off his jacket and calls me out. "C'MON! RIGHT HERE! RIGHT NOW! RIGHT NOW!"

Oddly, I wasn't scared by his behavior, as pissed off as I was, but logic came into my mind and in a timeless moment a voice said in my head, "you are on his property, with his witnesses (some four of his employees) and even if I get bested I would still be the one going to jail and we would still be left in dealing with Donnie in getting Shusli's car fixed, as well as me in jail and who knows how else he'd treat Shusli like shit.

"I don't want that. I want my wife's money back!"

We decided to take the car back when Donnie informed us that the car was still parked where we left it with the keys in it. That's right, folks. Donnie informed us that the car was left on the road with the keys in it overnight. Shusli's car. A car she paid her hard earned money for. What kind of car dealership is this? I think it is pretty obvious to tell.

Shusli, in her anger, went back to Donnie, shoved the keys in his face and demanded he get the car fixed. He stated he wouldn't deal with her (as I was putting myself between them) but he would deal with me. I didn't pay for the car. "I BOUGHT THE CAR WITH MY MONEY YOU'LL DEAL WITH ME AND YOU'LL FIX MY CAR!" is somewhat close to what Shusli said, and we came home.

Car dealerships are known to treat women like shit, and Donnie on his lot at 1705 SE 82nd Ave., Portland, Oregon, with seemingly no name for the lot, seems to treat women rather disrespectfully as well.

Shusli and I discussed this afterward, and it seems pretty clear to us that Donnie treated my wife like shit simply because she is a woman. Since car dealers are known to treat women like shit on a regular basis, I think it is safe to assume that such is true. It is more readily apparent with Donnie telling Shusli that he would deal with me and not her. Why? It wasn't my money that paid for the car. My name isn't on the bill of sale. Donnie would not have liked dealing with me (heck, he tried to get me to fight him on his property) because as I was screaming in his face during our argument he "TREATED MY WIFE LIKE SHIT I WANT HER MONEY BACK!" And that is exactly what I would have kept on stating until he again threatened me with a fight and again, one of his employees would have to stand between us.

Shusli and I both have had to deal with angry people in our jobs. There are ways to handle these situations. Should I have behaved like Donnie at my work toward a customer, when I got back to the warehouse, my boss would simply inform me that I could pick up my last check the next day. What I would have expected from Donnie is, "I'm sorry, Mam. My employee misinformed you and I sincerely apologize for that, but we won't have it into the mechanic until 5pm tonight. I apologize for the inconvenience, what can I do to help you out as your car will be getting fixed longer than you were informed it would be?" Nnnnnnope! Instead, I get threatened with a fight for defending my wife from a fella who is treating her like shit on the phone for his employee misinforming her of the real situation in getting the car fixed. So, he calls me out, on his property, with his witnesses (and who knows what they would have done to Shusli if Donnie bested me and Shusli was upset and swinging too). Not good people in my opinion.

I have one angry customer on one particular route. When they are upset with our product, I make sure they get taken care of. That's my job. Then they may go to a fellow restaurant owner and state, "yeah, we've had problems with these folks, but they always get us taken care of." They like me and my company because we always make sure they are taken care of to the best of our abilities.

Now, on the opposite end, Shusli and I bought our Toyota Camry from Pat Twyman's, around 38th and Powell. These folks are absolutely wonderful and are known for their customer service. They are excellent people, always friendly, and treat you well. They have a strong reputation in the used car market as upstanding folk who will treat you well. If you are looking for a used car in P-Town, go to Pat Twyman's.

Go go Donnie's at 1705 SE 82nd, and it is a good chance you won't be treated too well and maybe, if you don't appreciate his treating you or your loved one like shit, he may even call you out.

Two Dates I Forgot to Memorialize

The October 10, 2oo6 bombing of Forward Base Falcon in Iraq by the resistance alleging to have killed over 300 U.S. soldiers. The U.S. government says it never happened, despite evidence to the contrary, and has fairly successfully kept it under wraps.

Kristallnacht, November 9-10 1938, the Night of Broken Glass when the oppression of Jews in Germany became truly overt.

Another Date to Remember

A great big thanks to Brian Johnstone, my favorite Border Scots, for reminding me of the anniversary of the Massacre at Sand Creek. This is the first paragraph from Brian's e-mail to me (sorry for printing it without your permission):

I felt the need, on behalf of my Indian brothers and sisters, to put out this little note which records that this date is without doubt a "day in infamy" and one of the most shameful of many, many bold-faced acts of aggression and slaughter perpetrated on the native peoples of the large land mass now know as the USA and Canada, which has been swept under the national rug for too long.

I heard some twit on NPR the other day say -albeit in another context- "We need to let go of these wrongs and move on", which is typical of the state of amnesia in dealing with the "Indian problem" and the double standard by which it is applied. Have the Jews forgotten the Holocaust (a.k.a. The Final Solution -sounds a bit like how the US military viewed the Indians and in fact which attitude was admired by Hitler and his ilk in "removing cultural impediments" to the supreme race?

On November 29, 1868, Colonel John M. Chivington, a Methodist minister, along with his Colorado volunteers, attacked the KNOWN peaceful encampment of Cheyenne and Arapaho, lead by Black Kettle. Black Kettle waved the U.S. flag and one of his chiefs waved a white flag. They were shot down. Women had their fetuses removed (so much for anti-abortion), and when parading around a local town with their war trophies, some of these alleged brave men used women's genitalia for hat band decorations.

Justice, their will be no justice. The Cheyenne and Arapaho will simply be told to get over it and move on. So, get over the Holocaust Jewish folk. Get over it and move on.

Happy Anniversary

If the Economy is Improving...

...then why aren't folks crowding the parking lots during this Christmas shopping season?

On the Black Friday of 2007, I worked as a driver. At about 4:30 am, I drove past Woodburn, Oregon where there are shopping outlets located right off the West side of I-5. There were so many cars that folk had literally created a parking lot off of the shoulder of the freeway in order to shop for the Black Friday deals. This was one of the most insane things I've seen done in a mass hysteria basis. I found out that the outlets opened at midnight and the crazy American populace was out there and ready to get them some stuff.

Last year there were signs preventing folk from parking on the freeway as in the previous year, but there were long lines of cars waiting to find a spot in the already overcrowded parking lot. I have never understood this behavior, especially when it leads to riots. Folk will riot all over the place to get a limited edition something for their kid, but they won't riot over health care which has a potential of killing their kid.

Since the economy is allegedly improving, at least for the wealthy bankers who were given $700,000,000,000 in our tax dollars, and with Dubai World billions of dollars in debt with the current economic upturn for the wealthy whom the U.S. government gives our tax dollars to, I wondered what the parking lot would look like this year as I headed to Eugene and drove past about 4:30 in the morning. Plenty of parking. Plenty. Good chance you would have not had to walk far.

Furthermore, on a prime shopping day, Saturday, Shusli and I went to Fred Meyer to purchase a few items. There were maybe 2-3 dozen cars in the whole lot. Fred Meyer used to be crowded especially on prime shopping days such as Saturday evenings between alleged thanksgiving and Christmas presents day.

So the government (who would NEVER lie to you), is propagating that the economy is on its upward spiral even with Dubai World coming out as billions in debt and their giving away $700,000,000,000 of our tax dollars to wealthy bankers, and with joblessness continuing to skyrocket and the loads of produce I now deliver a quarter to a third lighter than last year and being reduced to 4 days a week with no overtime, but the parking lot index says otherwise. The parking lot index shows there is more than ample parking even on what should be the busiest shopping days prior to Christmas presents day.

Without jobs, there is little money. With little money, folk cling tighter to what they have and purchase less. With less purchasing power, less profits for the corporations, further job losses, less money, etc. However, it is good to know that the bankers have our tax dollars to insure their continued way of life.

"Thanks, King."

I listened to Joseph Bruchac's biography of "Jim Thorpe: Original All-American," while driving around for work the last couple of days. For those of you who don't know, Jim Thorpe was probably one of the greatest athletes who ever lived.

Although I knew of Jim's athletic abilities and that he won gold medals in the Olympics of 1912, I didn't know that much about him beyond that.

Joseph Bruchac read the book himself on CD and he told it in novelistic form from the point of view of Jim Thorpe.

Jim was a Sac and Fox boy out of Oklahoma, born late in the 1800's. He was from the same band as Black Hawk, whom the famous 1830's war was named after. His parents figured it would be a good idea for him to get an education in this world, and shipped him off to Haskell, where he ran away some 9 times.

He wound up at Carlisle Indian School because his father didn't want him running away to home again instead of getting an education.

We get a good glimpse into what Indian school was like. The attempts at culture destruction, etc. But after Jim's parents died, he didn't feel like he could go home anymore, so he made the best of his schooling. One day some fellas were doing the high jump. Jim watched as they couldn't make it past 5'9". Jim asked if he could have a crack at it. The guys laughed because they were not only trained athletes and didn't know anything about Jim, but Jim was also in his farming clothes, overalls and such. They let him try and he cleared it with space to spare. He and his buddy ran off to do whatever they were doing. The next day he was called into the office of Pop Warner who was coaching the track and field team and the football team at the time. Jim thought he was in trouble, but he was recruited instead. Jim did, indeed, get into a lot of trouble, as the rules were so strict it was difficult not to, but he loved and excelled at athletics.

I had always heard of Pop Warner Football, but not being into athletics growing up, or now even, I had never associated Pop Warner as the name of an actual human being. Carlisle Indian School also played football with many Ivy League Schools...AND WON MOST OF THE TIME! I neverknew this. Frank Mount Pleasant, the quarterback form many of those her 1900's years, I believe is said to have been the first person to throw a forward pass, even perfected it. More often than not, those Ivy League schools would have more players to choose from, often twice as many as Carlisle, but the Indians still consistently whipped their asses...I DIDN'T KNOW THIS!

I didn't know famous American poet, Mary Anne Moore, had her first teaching position at Carlisle and that her and Jim knew each other pretty well.

The Hopi's refused to send their children to boarding schools in those days, so many were arrested and put in prison and their children shipped off to boarding schools. Louis Tewanima and his fellow Hopis were rather scrawny but kept on watching the runners. One day Louis and the rest went up to Pop Warner and told him they wanted to suit up and run. He thought they were joking as scrawny as they were. He gave them a shot. They ran well for five minutes around the track...10 minutes...half an hour later they hadn't lost a bit of stride.

Tewanima won many races and was called at one time the fastest man for distances between 10 and 20 miles. In 1908 he was ninth in the marthon at the London Olympics and in 1912 won silver in the 10,000 meters and set an American record that wasn't beat for 52 years. I never knew that Indians contributed so much to sports especially in the early 1900's.

Here Louis Tewanima is pictured with, from L to R: Larry Sekaquaptewa, Grace Thorpe and her son, John Adler, with Louis on the right. It was taken in 1968. Louis left Carlisle after his 5 year sentence was up. You see, he did all that running as a prisoner of war living out a sentence at the Carlisle Indian School.

Jim Thorpe won the Pentathalon and Decathalon at the 1912 Olympics. The photo above shows King Gustav of Sweden placing the medal on Thorpe. After King Gustav gave Jim much praise and called him the greatest athlete in the world, Jim simply replied..."Thanks, King."

Jim Thorpe was married three times, had an unimpressive baseball career (some say he was held back), helped start up professional football, was the first president of what would become the NFL (I forget what it was originally called), lectured around the nation for many years, forced the U.S. government to let him join the military when WWII broke out (he was 57 and he became a merchant marine) and passed away from a massive heart attack in 1953.

His Olympic medals were taken from him to massive objections worldwide form major sports writers, athletes, and coaches, with even King Gustav putting in a few words, because he had played professional minor league baseball in the summer leagues, making $15 a month. Pop Warner who encouraged it, wrote up a confession that cleared him and any other official of Carlisle of knowing about it. Although I had admiration for Pop for what he did for the Indians during this horrific time in our history, he was also capitalizing off of what the Indians did for him and was now putting a knife in the back of Jim Thorpe, but Jim did as he was told, even though he had never lied in his whole life.

Besides being an excellent athlete, Jim was also known for other qualities that I admire: He was always kind to others and so generous he rarely had much money.

It was great getting to know Jim Thorpe and other Indians of the past like Gus Welch, Louis Tewamina, and Frank Mount Pleasant, whom I would have never heard of otherwise. Good job Joseph Burchac.

Roots

I still remember watching "Roots" as a kid, but never got around to reading the book. So, I did the next best thing when I saw it on the shelves of the Hollywood Library in CD form. I Love listening to books when I drive down the road for my work.

This was the 30th anniversary edition produced by the BBC. It is a novelistic approach by the late great Alex Haley to give the world a perspective, a history, of Black life in America rooted in Africa. From Kunta Kinte (born around 1750) all the way to Alex Haley, Alex traces his family history and recreates the characters of his family through his slave roots to the 1960's and '70's when he produced the book.

Kunta Kinte, the strong willed Mandinka turned into a slave, growing through his manhood years on the Waller plantatiion in Virginia and marrying Bell, his equally strong willed wife. Giving birth to Kizzy who is sold away when she is 16 to Tom Lee, a chicken fighting formerly poor white man. The birth of Chicken George who becomes a prize chicken trainer. His son Tom who becomes a blacksmith (which turns out the Kinte family practiced in Mali prior to moving on into Ghana). It is an amazing story that is told better through reading or listening than me reviewing.

The most amazing parts for me were near the end when Alex was researching the book. He wanted to find the record of the ship that brought his ancestor to America. He searched thorugh over a thosand documented voyages before he found the one he was looking for, 1767 heading to Annapolis, Maryland. Over a thousand ships around the year 1767 carrying slaves...over a thousand... It hit me like a brick when he said it, it hit Alex far harder.

My wife remembers a whole lot of her family history. Far back longer than I remember mine. Shusli's family obviously survived the holocaust beget upon the people of Northern California and Southern Oregon. She has a strong sense of who she is. I don't recall mine all that well, only being able to go back as far as my grandparents, Louis and Violet (Smith) Johnson. But everytime we drive through the Umpqua Valley, I know where I'm from. Everytime we go to the Rogue River, Shusli knows where she is from. We remember where our connection is.

Although many folks are connected here, I can only imagine what it must feel to have your family history stolen through slavery. To have that history connected to another part of the world that has been stolen.

And here we are now, together. Many of us have histories where some part of us has been stolen. Blacks stolen from Africa. Indians stolen then their culture beat out of them and also enslaved as servants to white folks as what happened in the boarding schools.

And here we are together. Here we are, together. Here we are, together. Welcome.

Alex Haley also has Indian ancestry. I believe his great grandmother was half Indian. Her mother had been captured by the Indians and she married one. The whites killed the people of their village and enslaved his great grandmother (who was born with the Indians) and her mother.

And here we are, together...WELCOME!

Soft Targets 2

Urban Scout is under attack again.

Knowing Peter, I find him to be a very pleasant clear minded young fellow.

Folk in the community, especially alleged anarchists, really enjoy attacking him because, at least in my opinion, he gets more attention than they do. I could be wrong, but these folk who no doubt think they are brave are NEVER brave enough to come out in the open and discuss their understanding of the world with others and communicate openly and honestly. Coming out from behind the shield of anonymity does not seem to be the method of these folk. However, what does seem to be true about these folks, as well as the peace community and veganism, is that most will demand to be your king if they had the chance.

Take for instance the current attempt at an anonymous terror campaign against Urban Scout. Someone sends him a 23 pound rock using The Gap to pay for it (most likely EMPLOYED there). Scout files a police report, and all the ALLEGED anarchists now go on the attack of urban on his blog and on Portland ("We Don't Censor") Indy Media. They don't use their real names. They don't sit down with Urban Scout and talk and try to find common ground. They take the route of an attempt to terrorize him to shut him up. Terror? Isn't that a tool governments and other organizations enjoy using? Aren't alleged anarchists supposed to be against government and organization? Well, it is apparent they certainly know how to organize when it comes to terrorizing a single person.

Take, for example, what I've been hearing lately. Because of John Zerzan and probably others, there is a current campaign to go after Derrick Jensen...'s MOTHER! That's right. Many brave most likely anarchist types are attacking soft targets like Derrick Jensen's mother because Derrick Jensen refuses to see the alleged anarchists, or as the self-proclaimed great John Zerzan would put it, "anarcho primitivists" as his own personal savior. In other words, Derrick is garnering more attention and therefore must be attacked...through is mother...in order for folk like John Zerzan to be our great and glorious king.

One thing I NEVER trust is someone who tells me they have the only way to save the world, and John Zerzan has done that stating that the only way to save the world is if you are an anarcho primitivist, which he is, and is the king because he coined the phrase. Any time anybody tells me anything is "the only" way, I immediately know they are liars. There are many ways as there are people to save the world. Those ways may change at any moment. And quite possibly, ain't none of it gonna save the world.

Unite! Help one another! WTF! Those things won't happen until we recognize someone like John Zerzan as our king, or a vegan, or an alleged peace activist, or put your favorite ruler type here.

Vegans as well give themselves the great dictatorial right to rule over the lives of meat eaters. I'm told that many alleged anarchists are vegans, thus making them ultra holy by simple political ideals (which they often do not practice) and dietary choice. Vegans will often talk of the glories of millions dying because they eat meat. More directly, they often talk of meat eaters being killed. Mind you, like most American citizens, they won't do their own killing themselves, they'd rather others do it for them.

Here is a funny story about anarchists. Ward Churchill was talking on Genocide Cover-Up Day how he was approached by an anarchist. Of course, they got to talking politics, and Ward expressed his appreciation that the anarchists would be going after the new smoking ban (him being a smoker and all). Afterall, the government is targeting a specific group, smokers, and regulating their behavior, which goes completely against alleged anarchists principles. "Oh no!" exclaimed the alleged anarchist, "I like that rule."

Will we ever unite and help each other? I doubt it. There are just too many people who want to be our kings and are willing to terrorize others (not using the U.S. definition, but using the dictionary definition of purposely striking great fear [or attempting to] into the hearts of one or many) in order to gain a foothold onto their path of being our king.

Example, Israel used a lot of terrorism in order to become the nation state they are today. Now they continue to terrorize others to maintain that position. The U.S. uses terrorism all over the world in order to insure that any and all nations remain subservient to their master, the corporate owned U.S. government. Since terrorism is governmental, and this current attack can be alleged to be micro terrorism, wouldn't that make such folk who are going after Scout and Derrick Jensen's mom like the U.S. government?

Have You Seen This Indian?

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS INDIAN?

On the "Genocide Cover-Up Day" program yesterday, Russell Means mentioned that the day after alleged thanksgiving is "Native American Recognition Day." Russell said something like, "Just like America, giving the Indians the leftovers." I said something like, "Is Native American Recognition Day the day they identify the bodies."

Research be done, I found out that in March of 2008, the U.S. passed or at least thought about passing a bill calling the day after alleged thanksgiving "American Indian Heritage Day." There are no specifics about it, the whys and wherefores, but there you go.

American Indian Heritage Day that allegedly recognizes Indians. ...for what? Allegedly the bill is supposed to make the day after alleged thanksgiving a paid holiday for state and federal employees. How is that recognizing American Indian Heritage?

To be honest, the only way I have known the masses of Americans honoring American Indians, Native Americans, whatever the f*** you want to call us, is with racist imagery like that above.

Other than a paid day off for federal and state employees, what the f*** does "American Indian Heritage Day" mean? Will reservation Indians suddenly find themselves out of forced poverty? Will the U.S. government get their boot off of the necks of our economies? Will our health care improve so that we don't have the largest per-capita death rate in diabetes? Will our children stop committing suicide?

Until yesterday, I didn't even know there was such a day. I don't even know for sure if the bill passed in 2008 or if it passed at all. So all I have to say about is this...

BIG F***ING DEAL!

The Afghan Question[s]

Looks like Obama is gonna get his wish for increasing the death rates of Afghani's in the months and years to come with an increase in troops and bribes of Afghani war lords and war lord types. With this increased effort a few questions come to my mind: Will the corporate owned U.S. government be able to break the backs of the Afghani's and the Afghan Nation? Why does the U.S. wish to break the backs of the Afghans and the Afghan Nation? Could it be the Central Asian oil pipeline to get the oil to the markets so oil wealthy billionaires can have more money at the expense of thousands upon thosands of Afghans being murdered and a few American soldiers? With the U.S. economy in a potential free fall because of masses of debt both of its citizens and its government and the increased billions of debt this increase in slaughter will cause, how will it effect the economy here with job loss on the rise? When it is found that the Afghan backbone doesn't snap under the U.S. military might, and we still have a prolonged war, what will be happening to the people of Afghanistan? Hearing stories of U.S. troops being terribly demoralized in the Iraq and Afghan wars, how will this effect them and how will it effect them? When I wake up in the morning after a mass slaughter of Afghanis, will I find a raise in my paycheck and an increase in my hours back to a little over 40? Will I feel more free? Will the movie prices at Regal cinemas be cut in half? Will there be a lightness in my step? Will the jobless have jobs? Will the homeless have homes? Will those suffering from cancer whose insurance carriers refuse to allow them to have life saving operations suddenly find themselves under the knife and saved without any money coming out of their pockets? Will marijuana be legal? Will all the folk in prisons for marijuana offenses be released and find jobs? Will no Americans ever go hungry again? Will tobacco prices drop? Will breast cancer rates fall? Will Indian reservations receive funding for decent housing and development? Will the U.S. get their oppressive hands of of Indian economies? Will Indian suicide rates fall? Will Indian health increase? Will the Olympic committe and the government of Canada stay off of Indian land?

These are only a handful of questions I've been asking myself since hearing about the glorious increase of Afghani deaths about to be obtained by the Obama government.

The First Annual Thanksgiving in America

The First Annual Thanksgiving Documented

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION - JUNE 20, 1676

---

"The Holy God having by a long and Continual Series
of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the present Warr
with the Heathen Natives of this land, written and brought
to pass bitter things against his own Covenant people in this
wilderness, yet so that we evidently discern that in the midst
of his judgements he hath remembered mercy, having remembered
his Footstool in the day of his sore displeasure against us for
our sins, with many singular Intimations of his Fatherly Compassion,
and regard; reserving many of our Towns from Desolation Threatened,
and attempted by the Enemy, and giving us especially of late with
many of our Confederates many signal Advantages against them,
without such Disadvantage to ourselves as formerly we have been
sensible of, if it be the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed,
It certainly bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies
are in any measure disappointed or destroyed; and fearing the
Lord should take notice under so many Intimations of his
returning mercy, we should be found an Insensible people, as
not standing before Him with Thanksgiving, as well as lading
him with our Complaints in the time of pressing Afflictions:

The Council has thought meet to appoint and set apart the
29th day of this instant June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving
and praise to God for such his Goodness and Favour, many
Particulars of which mercy might be Instanced, but we doubt not
those who are sensible of God's Afflictions, have been as diligent
to espy him returning to us; and that the Lord may behold us as
a People offering Praise and thereby glorifying Him; the Council
doth commend it to the Respective Ministers, Elders and people
of this Jurisdiction; Solemnly and seriously to keep the same
Beseeching that being perswaded by the mercies of God we may all,
even this whole people offer up our bodies and soulds as a
living and acceptable Service unto God by Jesus Christ."

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

The First Thanksgiving Proclamation (June 20, 1676)

On June 20, 1676, the governing council of Charlestown,
Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express
thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community
securely established. By unamimous vote they instructed
Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of
thanksgiving, our first. That proclamation is reproduced here
in the same language and spelling as the original.

Articles 2 and 3 from the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Article 2

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

• (a) Killing members of the group;
• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 3

The following acts shall be punishable:

• (a) Genocide;
• (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
• (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
• (d) Attempt to commit genocide;
• (e) Complicity in genocide.

Thus..."Genocide Cover-Up Day."

Genocide Cover-Up Day

On November 26, from 8am to noon PST, tune in for another Genocide Cover-Up Day on KBOO, 90.7fm in Portland.

In studio will be Jim Craven, Louis Sowa, Dean Lookinghawk, and myself.

On the phone we will have David Boyajian to discuss the Armenian genocide and Russell Means to discuss the Native American Genocide.

It will be a phone in, of course.

The Yes Men Get Strangled in Bhopal

The Yes Men, Andy and Mike, in 2004, made a statement to 300,000,000 people on BBC that Dow Chemical, owners of Union Carbide, were going to liquidate Union Carbide and use the 12 billion in assets to help the people of India where Warren Anderson, CEO of Union Carbide, got away with one of the biggest mass murders in history.

When it was found out that this was a hoax, the BBC chastised the boys for hurting all those Indians in Bhopal by getting their hopes up only to dash them on the rocks. Oddly, however, the media prostitutes did not say anything about mass murderer Warren Anderson, his killer corporation Union Carbide, nor the killer corporation that owns it now Dow Chemical, and the GREAT SUFFERING they have caused the people since the mass murder on December 3, 1984 (3,000 initial deaths with 15,000 more added on in the passing years). But hey, what do you expect from a bunch of corporate loving whores anyway.

So, Andy and Mike went to Bhopal India to meet the survivors. As they sat innocently before a large crowd of Bhopal Survivors chants of "STRANGLE THEM! STRANGLE THEM!" were screamed by the crowd. The boys apparently didn't understand as they did not speak the language, and they were promptly strangled by the people.

Actually, Shusli and I went to see "The Yes Men Fix the World" yesterday which is playing at Cinema 21.

These two hoaxsters manage to get themselves invited to some heavy hitting places where they put themselves off as corporate execs then say things that corporations should be saying. Their hoaxes are ways of bringing attention to things that folk don't really pay attention to using humor. Folk no longer care about the survivors of Bhopal, Katrina, nor global warming. These fellas have pulled off some elaborate hoaxes that brought the focus back on to folk still suffering by the actions of the like of mass murderer Warren Anderson.

It is a must see film. Shusli and I had a wonderful time, but since we were foolish to eat at Laughing Planet just down the street prior to seeing the film, we barely had enough room for the popcorn and soda.

Hoaxters don't harm people, CORPORATIONS HARM PEOPLE!

Ack*uh*DUMMY* uh

Jim Craven, a friend of mine, has authorized me to write about a case he is currently going through at Clark College where he is the Economics Head.

Jim has recently been sentenced to some two terms off without pay or health care. But wait, there is more. Today is the hearing, even though he had already been convicted and the sentence passed down. I know what you're thinking out there dummies: How can he be sentenced and convicted BEFORE HE HAS EVEN HAD A HEARING? Simple. That's Acadummya.

Jim has been teaching for thirty years now. He has a Ph. D. in economics and has been at Clark College for 17 years. Jim Craven is a fully tenured professor.

A few things about Jim. He was on the Lewis and Clark committee back in 2002 prior to the big celebration of the commemoration of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Jim, who is also the Blackfoot Solicitor General, in his five minute speech to the council Jim stated that what followed Lewis and Clark was genocide. The council promptly had him kicked off. Honesty has no place in the celebration of the point men for genocide.

Jim has also taught economics at Xinhua University in China to Ph.D. students. He has been offered a rather high position to teach at Xinhua (sp?). It is a position offered to only 4 persons in the world annually. You can't be just some chump off of the streets to teach there (a fore shadowing of statements to come).

Jim is also listed in "Who's Who." At one point he had tried to get himself de-listed because he couldn't stand being mentioned in a book with genocidal maniac Henry Kissenger, and others. They wouldn't de-list him, so he uses it as a tool to get into doors where folks would rather not have him.

The reason Jim is getting shit at Clark College is because he exposes corruption. As a fully tenured professor, he is an employee of the state and is required by law to expose any crimes being committed by the organization for which he is working. He has exposed professors getting hired without the proper vetting, pedophilia, and other crimes. The members of academia don't like to have their criminal behavior exposed because they are trying to protect their "phoney baloney jobs." They make damned good money at the expense of students for doing LAZY work. Example:

A fella was hired in the economics department to teach economics. The academia of Clark College bypassed the process of the teacher being vetted by the head of the department, James Craven. Vetting is the process of making sure that the teacher is qualified in the subject for which he has been hired to teach. In this case, the man in question has a degree in Human Resources and has been hired to teach advanced economics to students without having been properly accredited. That means that a second rate teacher is teaching students a subject he is not qualified to teach. This is NOT unusual in academia. Jim has never met this man nor does he even know what he looks like, but the fella is documented and has admitted to having had two conversations with Jim and has stated that he "doesn't want anything to do with that Indian!"

The academia of the college has also admitted to a documented statement that "Morale at the college will improve when we get rid of Jim Craven." What that proves is conspiracy. The college has not enjoyed Jim's honesty and concern for students instead of them just raking in money and prestige for themselves at the expense of the students. What the hell is Jim thinking? Oh, yeah, he is thinking of the students and the quality of their education.

Jim is also the Blackfoot Solicitor General to the traditional government and has written the Blackfoot Constitution and the indictment of the United States and Canada for the crimes of genocide against the Blackfoot nation. He also speaks some 8 languages which and is currently adding Mandarin Chinese, I believe he said Mandarin. A Chinese dialect anyway.

Speaking of students, and Afghanistan war vet who was wounded twice was going to college at Clark as well. He has a lawsuit pending against the organization. Clark has expelled him because of his lawsuit.

This type of behavior is not unusual in American academia. This is NOT the only college that behaves in such a manner.

I asked Jim yesterday where one can get the best education. He said China. The reason being is that there are limited spaces for the masses of the population that want to get a higher education. Thus, they don't f*** around with BS as their students have to be on it, instead of getting drunk and partying regularly, going to sporting events, behaving criminally, etc. The education has to be top notch there and the students have to be on it.

Maybe it's time to learn a new language.

A Monkey Story

At the end of Ishmael Beah's book, "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier," he relates an interesting story that he and all the other kids were told by a story teller:

A hunter was hunting monkeys in the forest when he spotted one sitting in a low branch with his back to him eating some food. The hunter walked slowly and quietly, not snapping any twigs or rustling any leaves. He was amazed that the monkey was sitting in a low branch, but that didn't concern him much as it was an easy target and would be good food. He managed to get fairly close to the monkey, which still had its back to the hunter and was still eating. The hunter raised his gun, got a bead on the monkey, and was just about to pull the trigger when the monkey spoke.

"If you shoot me," the monkey told the hunter, "your father will die. If you don't shoot me, your mother will die."