Oprah Winfrey's net worth is now a billion dollars. She was just put on Forbes Magazine's list of billionaires.
What does this say? Fame and fortune is possible to anyone. But, that's like saying success is a lottery ticket. As Solomon said, "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong...but time and chance happeneth to them all." Eccesiastes 9:11.
I attended a black church in Oberlin, Ohio, when I attended Oberlin Conservatory. I spent a good deal of my time with these folk. For four years, I attended services, social functions, and stayed in the homes of black friends (really poor friends).
I've known over the years many black women who are just as fat, just as black, just as smart, and just as funny as Oprah Winfrey. So why aren't they billionaires? It has to be a simple matter of circumstances. Therefore, I can't attribute any special authority or significance to anything about Oprah Winfrey. In fact, in my experience, her success is rather vain and meaningless overall. There's even an element of mockery in it. In other words, she hasn't worked any harder than anyone else.
Take Kenny Rogers. I complained to my older brother once, "Kenny Rogers is one of the biggest no-talent blobs in the history of entertainment!" My brother said, "Well, that's how most people feel about themselves. Nothingness. They see themselves in him. That's why he's successful." Maybe that explains the Oprah phenomenon. Nothingness glorified, to the encouragement and validation of all people locked in nothingness. Some of these entertainers are just heroes of the numbed masses. It is the triumph of insignificance, the victory of the mundane. Maybe there's mercy in all this...
Well, Kenny Rogers does happen to be a talented photographer. In Your Friends and Mine (Brown, 1987), he created some stunning effects. His portrait of Dolly Parton brought out a beauty in her face rarely seen. But he isn't known as a photographer, and that's where he might be said to have distinguishable talent.
Now, these blob successes often become great philanthropists. Rogers is certainly one of these. And their personal stories are often very touching, and encouraging. Dolly Parton's story is one of the truly great ones among modern entertainers, and Dolly does have song-writing talent.
(I will point out, however, that in the earlier days, she never "exposed" any of her other "talents." Oddly enough that actually came after her musical success.)
So, let's not allow our socio/psychological expectations in life to be distorted by time and chance. The celebration of success should never be allowed to function as an insult to humble, unrecognized daily labor. Success is not a reward. Success, at least the Oprah Winfrey type, is not related to anything valuable in itself. It just happens. It's the entertainment industry.
And in her case, the movers and the shakers created all this success for her probably to make everyone feel better about blacks. Everyone feels so guilty about America black slavery that they'll never be able to give enough success to Oprah. The black female Oprah has become the vortext of white repentence. But why should she care? If her success gives some poor black ghetto girl a sense of authority and significance. then so be it. I think it's a really weak validation, however. But, we can't say that's Oprah's fault. Who would refuse the success that has come to her?
One thing about Oprah, she's never really gone the "sex" route for success, at least in her public image. Who know's about how people get where they get. But at least she's kept her public image amazingly clean on that score.
I'm in the paper already. My name is mentioned in connection with a legal suit against the Oklahoma City Council. Now's there's a grand beginning! A coalition of Oklahoma taxpayer groups is filing the suit, and I consider it a patriotic act to be involved. A written demand was presented to the Council, and I am one of the signers. I want the City to respond with an honest explanation of how our tax dollars are being used.
The man behind it all is Moshe Tal, a Oklahoma City businessman who happens to be an expert in legal matters, and he is simply holding the City Council to it's own words, which are apparently dubious. I am not an expert, by any means, in politics or matters of legal taxation and tax use, but, I know most of Oklahoma City is upset with the way our Oklahoma City government has handled our BrickTown development from the start. For example, our tax dollers purchased the parking property and facilities, yet, when we go down to BrickTown, we have to pay $5 to $6 to park!
BrickTown is a business area developed in recent years. It appears that City officials are the business partners and chief beneficiaries. It is a case of tax dollars being used to fund business, in this case the Bass Pro shop, and a select few City officials and partners benefiting directly.
I also know that, when I went to the public (Ward 6) to get my signatures to file for Councilman, there was total dissatisfaction expressed against Ann Simank and specifically in regards to the BrickTown development. Simank has so far refused to appear with me in public, for discussion.
Our taxes here in Oklahoma are higher than just about anywhere else in the country, in proportion to our per capita income. I think it boils down to this: there are just a little over 3 million people in the whole state, yet, our government acts like it wants to swing with the big boys, like the "real" cities in the country. We want to try to act like we're on the cutting edge with the big cities, but, the reality is, there just ain't enough folks here to do it! So, the government taxes us to death.
Moshe Tal is our leading patriot in the city, probably in the whole state. It is a glorious honor to be associated with him. He just wants to see honesty in office. The elected official is elected to represent the needs and wants of the people. Elected office is not to be used as a personal business opportunity, or a chance to seek career advancement. It is a responsibility to the people, that is all. It is a sacred trust.
I was asked to run. I consider it a patriotic duty. I only hope I can fulfill such a simple, but magnificent trust.
Apparently, one of the ingredients of greatness in women is to hate America. Among one hundred women identified by the media as "great" are Jane Fonda and Hillary Clinton. Fonda is infamous for her treasonist behavior during the Vietnam years. Hillary is socialist, with no hesitation to change America into a communist governed country.
But these two are oldies. There's a new anti-American making a name: Toni Smith, of Manhattanville College, New York. Toni is a senior basketball player, who, when the team lines up for the national anthem, Toni turns her back on the flag. Now this is a real gesture of faith. Toni should be among the first "great" women of the 21st century. She's already getting wonderful, heartfelt support from all the communist-minded people in America.
So, as long as our media honors such treason in the name of news, I suppose we shall see more of the same. It's all about destroying the public sense of loving America. It's all about destroying love of country. It's all about having no country. It's globalism. One world, one world order.
The patriots in America must think this through carefully: what is it about America that you love, and are willing to be sued for, and are willing to die for? You must have this clear in your head. Yes, patriotism is a deep emotional state, but it is based on deep intellectual principles, principles that are worth sacrificing for.
And beware of the word "equality." You have a right to love America. The enemy does not have the "equal" right to destroy you in your own home.
Remember my beloved Jewish friend, Joanna? Well, she's gotten to me, again. This time, it's about the Arab situation.
"By making statements you made, you are inciting people to act ugly toward the Arabs. And statements such as yours will be read by hundreds of people who will tell other hundreds of people who will tell thousands of other people who will tell tens of thousands of other people......that.... it is a good idea to deport Arabs, segregate them and watch them, monitor them, treat them with condemnation, etc."
"You don't speak Arabic so you don't watch Arab shows on TV and you don't see what huge debates are out there in the Arab world- AGAINST what Bin Laden is preaching. How many, very educated Islamic scholars are against him. This is not shown in USA."
Well, tonight on FoxNews (or CNN?), I saw, for the first time, some American Iraqi's denouncing Saddam Hussein. They were from Detroit. A private citizen and a cleric from America's largest mosque were interviewed. Yet, I heard them say nothing about terrorism, Bin Laden, nor about Islamic jihads, but only about the improprieties of Saddam Hussein as a leader. Perhaps their views differ widely from say, Abdullah el-Faisal, who preaches to Muslims to kill Hindus, Jews, and Americans.
Joanna's got me on the media thing. She's absolutely right. Whatever protest there is, on the part of Muslims against jihads, this is kept very, very quiet in America. (Maybe the Arabs should start a new organization, Muslims Against Jihads, and pay high advertising fees, like all good American businesses, and make sure everyone knows how they feel.)
I have no ill will toward Arabs. Never have had. My personality resembles theirs far more than any other race. They are tribesmen. Maybe that's why I don't see deportation or temporary global travel ban as expressive of ill will toward them. Tribal people are used to being treated as groups. What I propose is merely an inconvenience. It's not like sending them to concentration camps, or to the gallows. It is sending them back to their own countries for a while. Is that such a terrible thing?! What's wrong with their countries that this would represent such pain? I see no comparison to the Holocaust, or anything remotely similar.
However, of others see this, then it is something seeable, and I must address it.
If it smacks of extremism, I suppose it's because I'm still ticked off at 9-11. As yet, there has been no sense of justice created by anything America has done.
Not in my mind, anyway. 9-11 was unforgettable and unforgivable. Why should we try to forget it? Why should we not take the most extreme measures necessary to make sure it never happens again? Why should be do nothing but restrict American freedoms and strip-search 80-year-old grandma's at our airports in response?
This doesn't do it for me. If I am wrong, if I have hurt the feelings of innocent Arabs, I repent in dust and ashes. Forgive me if I love America so much that I would inconvenience you. But don't take it personally, because it isn't. It's only about protecting America. It may not be the best solution, in the end. But it expresses my love for America right now.
Arabs need to start spending money to make the effort to let their feelings be known. If you are not willing to do this, you leave yourself suspect.
Oklahoma City is having a rough time of it, politically. Long established embezzlers are being exposed far and wide.
District 1 Commissioner Jim Roth just fired 17 of 58 Oklahoma County employees. The Daily Oklahoman (Februrary 22) reports that last Friday, Roth called his district "a tense and perhaps hostile environment where favoritism and cronyism seemed to be the order of the day."
Citizen Moshe Tal and Taxpayers for Honest Government is suing City Hall for racketeering, and illegal, misappropriation of tax funds for personal business interests on the part of city officials. They fluffed him off in the beginning, through a disinterested County judge. They accused Tal of a frivolous suit, and he was ordered to pay $184,000 in legal fees. But the Oklahoma Gazette (February 20) reports that the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tal, reversing the decision. Tal is suing Bricktown 2000, Inc. for $200 million in damages.
It seems that in Oklahoma, public office is considered a personal business opportunity, not a sacred trust in which the official represents the needs and wants of the people who elected him.
I'm no politician. I was asked to campaign for city councilman. But, already, I can see that there is a profound rift between the people and the government. I think this is the natural trend of things, socio-psychologically. It will take constant vigilance to keep the office true to its purpose. Even then, it may not be possible to avoid the impression of foul play.
One thing is certain: trust is a rare item. The idea of trust, however, is used as a political commodity, and "trust" used to sell the proprieties every politician running for office. "You can trust Joe Smith," etc.
When I taught psychology, I called attention to "sell" words in our language, words that carry the greatest weight or power in a thought. To me, truth, love, and patriotism are the most important words. I started each semester with the same speech.
Unfortunately, these same words are also the most misunderstood, abused, and perhaps therefore even the most dangerous words we have.
Perhaps the situation in Oklahoma City will experience the impact of the real meaning of these words, in the near future. I realize 40% of our Oklahoma college freshmen (first time) have to take remedial courses, according to a recent states regents report. I realize that to understand honesty and truth requires certain thinking skills. After all, animals are not moral creatures, but only man. Morality involves thinking. I realize that we have lot of thinking to do here in Oklahoma, and a long way to go. So does all of America.
We have to start somewhere, some time, and with some one. We each have a crack at it. Let's do our best. Show's on. In fact, the show is well underway.
A couple of brief announcements here: there are two Comanche Indians running for public office. One is running for Comanche Tribal Chairman, the other is running for Oklahoma City Councilman, Ward 6.
1) Michael Burgess for Comanche Tribal Chairman
Michael is a descendent of Chief Mow-way (Push-aside) and of Pah-quea-oh-hawpt! (Yellowfish). His maternal grandparents are Allen Motha (Kutso'nee) Burgess and Ada Ida Kate Yellowfish, of Apache, OK. His grandfathers mothers' name is Womavoyah, she is buried in the Deyo Mission Cemetary, near Faxon and Cache, OK.
Michael graduated high school from Lawrence, KS. He attended and graduated from Haskell Indian Junior College, Graphic Arts (Printing). He also graduated, 1986, from Oklahoma State University, B.S.-Business Management and Organizational Administration.
Michael is, in my opinion, the most qualified man ever to run for Comanche office. He is an astute businessman, and in today's world, this is what Indian tribes need most of all: businessmen. I've heard Michael campaign before, and talked to him at length. There is no question in my mind about his fitness for the job. I support his bid for Comanche Tribal Chairman, and encourage other Comanches to look into what he offers us.
(All this, despite the fact that, according to my mother, our family is actually related to Johnny Wauqua, the current chairman!)
2) Dr. David A. Yeagley for Oklahoma City Councilman, Ward 6
I am the first non-civilized Indian to run for Oklahoma City office, as far as I know. (That simply means my tribe, the Comanches, were not one of the famous Five Civilized Tribes evicted from the East and forced into Oklahoma.)
I was asked to run, by several influencial individuals in the city, who have observed me in the last few years. They know about my dismissal from OSU-OKC, my lobbying campaign at the Capital, to get patriotism taught in public schools. They felt they wanted me on City Council.
I am not a politician, and I have no personal business in which to invest city money, as do current City Council members. I certainly have no experience in politics, otherwise I'd be a tenured professor by now. I have only knowledge of history. I have experience in sacrificing for what I believe in. I have advocated American Patriotism since 1998, publically, and formally. For this, I sacrificed my position as a college teacher. I am an educated journalist, that's all.
There are many Indians living in the Oklahoma City area these days. I hope to connect with them, as well as with the large and neglected Mexican community within my ward. Oklahoma's largest homeless population is concentrated within my ward, as well.
My candidacy was announced yesterday in the Daily Oklahoman, February 22. The primary is set for March 18, and the general election is April 1.
Don Feder, former (semi-retired?) columnist for the Boston Herald now has his own website, Cold Steel. Feder is a true American patriot, and famous speaker as well writer.
I've mentioned him before, but he has a recent article that we must consider. It's called, "Why We Keep Getting Islam Wrong." It is actually the script of a speech he recently gave at the Christian Coalition Symposium on Islam, February 15, 2003.
I quote: "Samuel Huntington, author of The Clash of Civilizations, tells us that out of 22 active conflicts in the world today, 20 involve Moslems and someone else – Moslems and Christians, Moslems and Jews, Moslems and Catholics, Moslems and Orthodox, Moslems and Hindus."
Feder then offers his reasons for why the United States government keeps trying to identify Islam as a "religion of peace", the very words President Bushed used right after 9-11.
Feder's suggestions are heart-sickening. "Cold Steel," indeed. Very painful. In fact, I recommend you not read his transcript just yet. You must take some sort of pain killer first.
Next dose of Feder: "How does one tolerate the intolerant? How does one accommodate a creed that elevates homicide to a religious obligation, which – in the name of its faith – is killing Christians, Jews and Hindus the world over – a religion which, given the opportunity, would remake America in the image of Saudi Arabia or Iran?"
We Americans pride ourselves on religious tolerance. Now we're in a situtation that begs the principle. I've said many times, you can't give your enemy the right to kill you. You can't make laws that give the enemy freedom to slaughter you. Yet, this is what America is basically involved in: protecting the rights of our enemies, right here, on our own soil.
I've written about this before. I wrote a piece for VDARE.com, not yet published. I wrote it a couple of months ago. Now I see several other authors toying with the idea. But I spelled it out: we must deport all Arab Muslims from our boarders. But now I say more: I now call for a world wide travel ban on all Arab Muslims.
This is not ill-will. This is not even inconvenience. This is for the protection of the free world. The Islamic militants are a world attacking machine. They must be contained. They must be forced back into their own countries, and kept there.
Inconvenience? What about 9-11? Who was inconvenienced there? Washington, make your choice. Get tough, or be slaughtered. But don't expect the American people to tolerate such government policy forever. You weaklings in Washington are going to cause a new revolution in America. You will be responsible for it. I'm sure you will try to turn America's armed forces against our own people, like you did in Waco, TX. We the people expect this.
But don't you expect to win. The American people are stronger. You underestimate us.
In America, we don't dance in the streets when tragedy befalls another country, or its people. We don't boast about our God, and shout "Allah akbar!" That's what they do in Bagdad, like when our space shuttle Columbia crashed.
Wednesday, there was a terrible plane crash in Iran, killing over 300 people, all but 18 of whom were Iran Revolutionary Guard, elite soldiers of the Iranian Army.
Let me be the first to extend acute sympathy to Iran, and to the families of the people lost. We in America know all too well the effects of such a crash.
In America, with our Puritan, Judeo-Christian social foundations, our first reaction to human tragedy is immediate sympathy. This is the normal reaction. We are not doped up on fanatical hatred, and we do not boast about our superior God. That is naive, childish, and outright heathenish.
Indeed: "Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the Lord see it; and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him." Proverbs 24: 17,18. And,"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: for thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall reward thee." Proverbs 25: 21,22.
I'd like to think America has more trust in the Lord than the Muslim countries. Maybe this is why the rain still falls on our land, and the sun still shines on our crops. We feed the world. We feed North Korea. We fed Russia for decades. We developed Iran, Iraq, and the Arabias. We've done a lot for the world, despite their ingratitude and haughty contempt for us.
Iran has been under incredible sanctions from the US for 25 years now. Their economy is sick. The reports say the airline industry is plagued with old Russian-built planes. When I was in Iran (1999), I noticed. When I flew between Tehran and Masshad, I noticed the wear. The whole system is worn, the buildings, the ports, the whole network.
The people are struggling just to survive. Many work two and three jobs, and still live in what the US would call poverty conditions. Yet, when I was there, I never heard one word of criticism or complaint against the US from the people. Storekeeper or student, I heard "Dr. Yeagley, when you go home, tell everyone there that we love America!"
Of course, I heard critical rhetoric from party-line professionals, but, that was to be expected. The people knew the truth, though. In spite of it all, they new their leaders had blown it, badly. They knew it was all a big mistake.
Yet, Iranians tend to be very gentile, actually, and eschew violence. They'd rather have tea. They are incredibly tolerant of their abusive leaders, and this prolongs their agony, really. Their leaders pocket millions and millions, privately, and are content to leave the people in poverty.
Well, I sympathize with their loss. Many families were affected by this plane crash. Many proud parents lost there sons. Many wives and children lost their fathers. All for nothing. Just an accident. I'm terribly sorry for them.
Now, I doubt we'll hear any complaints that the poor economy and the lousy air fleet is due to the American sanctions. Iran doesn't complain about that. This is truly amazing. And I doubt we'll hear complaints about the selfish leaders who are content to let things rot. This is even more amazing.
I know many Iranians over there are anxious for change, and the war with Iraq might actually help to bring about the changes they want. We can all hope and pray, and in the meantime, America will continue to feed its enemies.
What's going on in Modesto, California? Laci Peterson, the missing pregnant wife of Scott Peterson, was due to deliver their baby February 10. Laci has been missing almost two months. Scott is still not considered a suspect.
Remember the adulterous affair between Modesto Congressman Gery Condit and the deceased intern Chandra Levy? Condit was never a suspect.
And Alejandro Avila, the Orange Country child murderer? And the great David Westerfield, another child murderer, and now deceased Richard Ricci, suspect in the case of Elizabeth Smart? Ah, these triumphs of manhood make us all proud. Notice that the victims were all little girls. Doesn't it warm your heart, such human affection?
Sociologists and psychologists are of course completely useless in explaining or preventing any of this sort of thing. At best, they are side-line commentators, like the rest of us, clean-up artists, like police really.
Well, something has failed somewhere. I don't think it's just the media in this case, either, though one of our biggest social failures in this modern age is the psychological distortions of media. No, I think the failure is deeper.
What is the source of morality, behavioral education, to which we are accustomed to look? Who or what is responsible for training children aright, so that when they grow up, they know how to behave?
Parents. A lot of people who have produced children are not only not really parents, but their parents obviously didn't teach them how to be parents. So who takes over when parents fail? Hillary Clinton's village? Where are the positive statistics that demonstrate the success of Hillary's anti-family ideology?
Here's a thought. Perhaps we can place a good deal of the moral abandon of this age at the foot of the church. Yes, the American Christian church. Having studied to be a minister at Yale Divinity, I can say this with some reason.
Religion is personal. But pastors don't make house calls anymore. Religious emotion is part of a public show, a weekly entertainment process. It just doesn't reach the people who really need it. Social workers try, but they generally have no religious renovations or renewal doctrine. The state wouldn't let them, anyway. A real shepherd tends the flock, with utter devotion. A real shepherd is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
The lost don't come to church. The shepherd must go out and find them!
Well, these are just thoughts.
I'm terribly disturbed by the behavior of these evil men, and their crimes against women. This is almost unbearable.
And then, there is the matter of women destroying their unborn children. The whole issue of abortion, which I have never addressed. Well, it is men doctors that generally do it. Is this another crime of men against women?
That old Bible, in the end, Revelation 22:15 blames men, whoremongers (pimps-dealers), not women. Whenever we see porno and prostitution, we should think of the failure of men, not women.
I wonder what feminists would think of this perspective? Are they willing to bear "equal" guilt?
Clara Harris was, of course, sentence to 20 years in prison for murdering her husband. She ran over him, apparently several times. The jury, which included nine women, felt that Harris knew exactly what she was doing, despite her obvious rage in this 'crime of passion.'
So, why don't we all feel a vehement hatred for her, like we feel for Osama Bin Ladin? Is it the numbers? Bin Ladin is has essentially murdered more people than Harris? Is it the quality of the victim? Bin Ladin like to kill innocent people, whereas Harris killed but the one person who had betrayed her?
Personally, I'm not sure what to think. The Harris case hits me pretty hard. She had done everything she possibly could to keep her man. She had undergone extreme personal inconvenience and bodily stress, to make herself as desirable as possible for him. And don't forget, he had married her. She wasn't trying to catch someone. She was trying to keep what she caught.
I have an old black and white movie called Witness for the Prosecution (1957) with Tyrone Power, Marlene Deitrich, and Charles Laughton. Turns out, Tyrone deserved to be knifed, and Marlene knifed him, right in front of the attorney, Laughton. And Laughton sides with her, to her defense! It was the same, age old theme: if you mess with a woman's love, you're asking for serious trouble.
I'm not saying killing a person, as in murder, is justified, but, I am saying that when a woman does kills her unfaithful husband, there's something deeply grand about it. Says something in favor of human love, really. Says something about respecting it, about cherishing it, and about keeping it sacred.
Do I sound like a guilty man? Like an unfaithful man? I don't know. I just know I don't feel a sense of damnation for Carla Harris.
Hear the triumphant boasting of North Korea, the country whose government has starved its own people to death: "Victory in a nuclear conflict will be ours!"
The world is feeding North Korea, yet the world allows the idiotic, psychotic despotic leadership of the country to dictate policy to the world. This is embarrassing to humanity. This is demeaning, degrading, and detrimental to the whole spirit of good will. North Korea, and regimes like it, is a poison, which needs to be remedied. The world should be rebuked for allowing such nonsense to flaunt itself.
That the United States should continually act with civilized gesture toward a country which conintually defies every principle of civilization, is wearing on the good will of the American people.
The principle of equality can ill be applied to a situation in which the enemy of equality is given equal voice. This is naive, childish, and very, very dangerous. This prolongs agony for everyone, and increases the dangers to the free world. We have worn out diplomacy. The deluded despots of the world only abuse it, and know that they can get by with it, because the free world advocates "tolerance" and "equality." They use our principles against us, and so far, they are successful.
But bad children just have to be spanked now and then, before they influence other children. It's called discipline. It's called caring. It's called taking the responsibility of a parent. Yes, it's uncomfortable, but, it is necessary for a happy, secure future.
Iraq seems to have forced itself into making terribly ironic statements. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz says that destroying Iraq'a missles is unacceptable, as if Iraq has enemies chomping at the bit to invade. The United States is clearly not an enemy of Iraq. The United States, and the world, is trying to make sure Iraq (Hussein) deson't attack anyone else. It is Iraq, remember, who attacked Iran, Israel, and Kuwait, and fired missles on Jordon and Saudi Arabia. (Remember, too, how the United States warned Israel not to defend herself, not to strike back! Now that was beyond irony!)
Iraq is the aggressor, but wants the right to defend herself, accusing others of her own misdeeds. It's like, I accused you first, before you accused me, therefore, I'm right.
But there's something else, even more wrong with this picture: it's is the irony the United States has played into. With ever-so-careful diplomacy, the Bush administration, as well as the U.N., have insisted (for eleven years) that Hussein cool the jets on the Iraqi war machine. Hussein never complied, of course, so, it came to the point that Bush said, "We're coming in, to make sure you disarm."
Well, that may sound reasonable. But, then the line became,"We expect you to show us all your weapons. If you don't, we're going to smack you."
Why on earth would anyone expect Iraq, especially under Hussein, to comply with such a request? Why this extended gesture of trust on the part of the free world? "We expect you to show us all your weapons," but we know you won't, and we know you have them.
Iraq is not playing by our rules, or by anyone's rules. Why would anyone expect Iraq to? If Hussein successfully hides them, then he wins. How childish. How ironic, that the world's prolonged gesture of trust should end in the triumph of the lie?
Liars often make the most noise, voice the most vehement charges of abuse and injustice. And they usually hit first, so that when you respond, they're ready to accuse you.
Sometimes parents just have to overrule disobedient children. Everyone is better off in the end, especially the child.
There are some writers now advocating that Muslims had an important part in the founding of the American Nation. N.Brent Kennedy and Robyn Vaughan Kennedy, in The Melungeons: An Untold Story of Ethnic cleansing in America (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 1994), try to say that the Melungeons, a racial mix of Portuguese, Spanish, Jewish, Moores, and Turks, were a significant force in the making of America.
So did the coyotes, the butterflies, and the field mice. Yet, this Muslim suggestion is connected to notions much more practical than the simple fantasy that somehow America is a Muslim nation at root.
It's the American Indian connection I'm worried about. Already, some American Indians have shown no aversion to Islam. It is a globalist, universalist sort of association. But it is precisely the American Indian association which might be critical and inimical to Indian people.
Indian tribes are into the "indigenous" approach to the world, actively seeking business enterprises with different groups around the globe. Ben Nighhorse Campbell has pushed for legislation (S.1508, August 5, 1999) that insures Indian success through legal protection. He said there is need for a legal infrastructure as "a necessary condition for business development whether it be in Russia, Indonesia, inner city America, or on Indian lands."
Note that mention of Indonesia. There's a real concerted effort these days between Malaysians and American Indians. There is the theory of historical similarities, and the theory of actual genetic, racial connection. Then, of course, there is the practical, financial connection. Malaysian tycoon Lim Goh Tong loaned Connecticut's Mashantucket-Pequots $58 million in 1991, and $175 million in 1993, all for their famous Foxwoods Casino. (Both Senators Leiberman and McCain help coordinate the dea. The Seneca Tribe just borrowed $80 million from Lim Kok Thay, Malaysian billionaire of the same family that bankrolled the Foxwoods casino. This will be for the new Niagra Falls Casino. This all has been identified as an international gangster syndicate, of course.
Well, Cabazon Mission Indian John Phillip Nichols had it all figured out years ago. The pioneer of Indian casinos. The felon was a ganster figure himself, involved in more than one murder, and managed to open one America's first Indian casinos, The Desert Oasis, in 1980. He was an international 'business' consultant, and traveled even into Saudi Arabia.
Now what really gets to me is the fact that, according to Lisa Meyers, NBC sources say new waves of Malaysians, Indonesians, and Saudis are arriving in America, and the mosques are all excited at the prospects of a new terrorist attack.
I can only ask, How do these people get in the country? Why are they allowed in, and who really is our enemy?
That American Indians should be willing to do big business with the enemies of America, those willing to murder as many Americans as they can, right here on our American soil, is more than I can take. American Indians are being duped into some globalistic, anti-Americanism, a Communisitc, United Nations take on the world, which promises prosperity, tempting Indians with great financial gain. Indians will awake too late to discover the true intent of these forces. They are not only anti-American, they are anti-Indian. Wait and see.
I predict Indians will lose the reservations because of this association with anti-American forces. This is not wise, especially not at this time in the world. I, for one, want to keep our reservations. This land was saved by the blood of our fathers. How dare any Indian gamble it away!
America is at war, is it not? Al-qaeda et al. (Muslim murderers) have declared war on America, have they not?
Why can't the American government act like we're at war? I'm not convinced that we're actually taking this war seriously at all. Something is definitely missing. Halting Arab immigration isn't going to cut it.
All the security measures are dramatic impositions on American freedom or European freedom, not significant deterents to Arab Muslim murderers.
There is one simple step which should have been taken a long time ago: deport all Arab Muslims. Send them back their own wonderful countries. This is not really radical, not uncouth, nor even ill-willed. This has little to do with the quality of life of most Arabs in America. This is simply the most effective step that America, and indeed Europe, can take to achieve homeland security. Of course, I'm talking about Arab immigrants of since 1980.
No, it's not based on race or religion. It's based on the fact that the murdrers are Arab Muslims. What's wrong with those glorious Arab countries that their people are so anxious to leave them, anyway? What's wrong with all these wonderful third world dictatorships that their people get out at the first opportunity? America, or any other successful country, has no obligation whatsoever to accommodate any of these people. This is a political illusion, applying our principles of government to whatever and whomever can make it across our borders. And we have apparently anti-American agencies in our own governement that even these people get here and assist them after they're here.
We know the terrorists are here, and elsewhere. Evidence is overwhelming. So why are they tolerated? In the name of freedom? Whose? Theirs or ours? This is like saying the enemy has a right to come here and kill me. This is certainly what the American government is implying.
I am deeply disturbed at this juncture. My government is willing to encumber me with torturous inconvenience and imposition, in order to give my enemy a chance to kill me. My government would rather destroy the American way of life, than to deport Arab Muslims.
The American Indian Movement has a curious history. It was created and supported by Communists, but, all the Indians were trying to do was turn back the U.S. government tide against Indians. Beginning in the 1950's, the government was phasing out Indian reservations, and tribal identities altogether. Something had to be done.
President Nixon change some of these laws in 1973, and tried to restore Indian rights as nations. It would be hard to trace any influence of AIM on Nixon's policy, but, it must have been in there somewhere.
However, at this point, there are so many anti-American influences within America, so many hate-America groups, AIM cannot be distinguished as a simple effort to preserve Indian identity and culture. AIM's past connections with just about every major subversive group in the world make it hard to see AIM as anything but another hate-America group.
AIM does seem to work for Indians, to protect rights and abuse. AIM is standing up for Oneida Indians being evicted from their homes by Ray Halbritter, self-appointed Onedida Nation, Inc. CEO. AIM has called for a boycott of Indian Country Today, the nation's largest Indian newspaper, owned by Halbritter.
But maybe AIM will get paid off in the process. Protesters always get paid off, to stop protesting. It's a win/win situation for protesters. You do good, or at least appear to to good, and you lay off only when you're paid off. This is the pattern. Countless suits have been dropped when the AIMsters were paid off.
This is not to decry any good they may have accomplished. But, at this point in American history, AIM is inevitably associated with subversive, anti-American movements. This image is very bad for American Indians.
For this cause, I must protest the image AIM has created. I don't see that hating America is the best path for Indians to take. I think it will bring about our complete dissolution.
I believe Indians must become American Patriots. 190,000 living Indian veterans surely could not protest such an idea in itself. Depending on whose stats you look at for the total American Indian population, nearly one out of eight Indians is a veteran. I respectfully request that Indian veterans give their voice to say something positive about America. I know all my veteran Indian relatives have.
Help change the AIM image from one of protest to one of patriotism.
One of my past college professors, a speech specialist, Richard Norman, Sr., taught us, "Words don't mean. People mean." He was trying to steer us away from any naive, academic notion that public speaking could depend on an eternally defined vocabulary. When we spoke to the public, we had to be aware of what our words meant to the public, not what we thought our words meant, from dictionaries.
Case in point: the Valentine Card fiasco, involving the New York City publisher, Scholastic, Inc.. They issued a card with the the word "Jihad," and the phrase, "It's Time to be Mine." There was an illustration of a clock, with red lines eminating from it, for emphasis, like a bomb might go off if Jihad didn't get his Valentine wish. Target stores were marketing the cards.
Nick Poillucci, a parent, reported it. The FBI is investigating the sources. The publisher expressed a weak defense, like, no association with terrorism was intended. Scholastic also expressed regret for any stress the card may have caused. Target pulled the cards from the shelves.
What would any real American think when seeing such a card? Did Scholastic think it could control the meaning of the words Jihad and the images of clocks (i.e., time bombs)? What did they intend them to mean? What did they intend them to be associated with? What other meanings could they have had? If even in a Valentine desire card, what would have given them any meaning except terrorism, Jihadism, and bombs?
This is incredible, at this time, for such a fiasco. The company Scholastic should be sued by the public, and eliminated from American business. This incident cannot be written off as bad taste. It is beyond bad taste. This was an attempt to belittle the current international crisis with cartoon humor, at the very least. At worst, it suggests acceptance of the murderous Jihad.
Yes, terrorism has been lightened up in the past by cartoons. The Clevelend Indian logo is an example. Indians terrorized whites in war situations. Indians were once considered a national enemy of the United States. (We Indians were simply fighting for what was ours, what was being forcefully taken from us.)
The point is, the Muslim wars are currently going on! Terrorism, a word really too classy for the murderers involved, is currently causing tragedy everywhere. To belittle it is so completely inappropriate that is belies a political treachery in Scholastic, Inc. The war isn't over, and is far from won.
Thanks to the patriot Poillucci, for his initiative. Dio vi benedica, signore Poillucci! I've always known Italian Americans to have a deep sense of civic responsibility. Here's just another fine example. I saw much of the same in Nyack, New York. Italians here in America have long proven themselves patriots. Well, they've seen all the worst in Italy, so much political confusion and degradation. Italians here in America know what real Americanism is all about, and are generally quick to defend it.
Even being in the United States Marine Corps doesn't make a person an American patriot, or exempt him from being a terrorist against America.
This is apparently the case in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. It is hard to fathom, but even military service these days doesn't make a patriot.
Many American people, as well as a few European governments, are certainly protesting the war with Iraq, and the whole idea of war itself.
But I don't think anyone but fanatical, suicidal murderers really want war. War is the worst possible thing that can happen--except for living under prolonged tyranny and brutality. That is worse, to me.
Not sometimes, but always, freedom costs. People that are not willing to go to war to defend freedom are not worthy of having freedom.
Of oourse, we can always argue about the cause, purpose, or goal of any given conflict or war. Is it necessary? Is it really for freedom? These questions are all inevitable, healthy. They must be asked, always.
Yet, today, I can't help but think that America's enemies, within and without, are asking these questions insincerely. If America has misused the middle eastern Moslem countries, their leaders have benefited from it. If there are radicals there that want to blame their problems on America and the Jews, their own leaders are whom they should be attacking. They are the dealers who deal with America.
But, to attack America gives everyone great status. To injure America is the quickest road to glory. To be a patriot is not news. To love the country is naive, and doesn't sell. To hate America, now there's a real piece of news.
There's something worthy of attention. You can go far with that.
This is ignoble.
All I can say to Indians is this: however horrible our experience with America in the past, it's better than what it would have been with any other government.
We're still here, even with some land. Any other regime would have annihilated us. Therefore, America is our best bet. Patriotism is our best move.
Making a life career ouf ot decrying America's treatment of us in the past, and even in the present, is not really in our best interest. Look to the future. We have to make the effort to help preserve America if we want to preserve ourselves, and our freedom to be what we are.
Suzan Harjo, columnist for America's largest Indian newspaper (which happens to be under boycott by AIM at the moment), is one of the most talented female Indian journalists writing today. She has all the craft, the talent, and the wit of an Indian Anne Coulter. Look at her recent piece on me.
Now, if we can just get her to incorporate truth, facts, logic, and good will, I think we've got a real winner among us. I'm responding to this article, only because someone posted it under the BadEagle.com "Politics" forum. There is no way to respond to anything on Indian Country Today's website, at least no way where anyone else can see it. They apparently don't want to deal with Indian peoples' responses to anything they write. It is as if they aren't prepared to back up their writers. They'll let someone like Harjo spin a yarn, but assume no association or responsibiity, apparently.
So who supports the information posted on Indian Country Today? Ray Halbritter, CEO of the Oneida Nation, Inc., is fast getting a reputation for being one of the most oppressive Indian leaders in the country, and he owns Indian Country Today now, along with Oneida Textiles, which is part of the reason for AIM's boycott.
But aside from Harjo's employer, aside from any suggestion that she is to be associated with Halbritter, let's just consider this obvious fact: we Indians do obviously tend to slaughter each other, on first instinct, at sight. Journalism is an easy opportunity for this, but journalism is not an Indian tradition. It's new thing among us. And it affords new opportunities for misinformation beyond the traditional "grape vine." There is opportunity for free handed lying and viciousness.
Yet, to vehemently disagree with someone, as I have with various Indians in media, doesn't mean that one must resort to distortion, accusation, and meanness. I've made mistakes myself. I've found out later from certain individuals whom I wished would have been more forthright to begin with. For example, I once said Elsie Meeks was married to a white man. Turns out he's an enrolled Sioux tribal member. He just "looks" completely white. No way in the world would I have ever known he was enrolled, unless Elsie Meeks herself told me. I've said things about Russell Means, not distortions, but things which I am willing to look passed, because I believe he is trying to change himself. I support him for this.
The point is simple: we Indians need to face the bigger picture, and unite our efforts. We Indians are on the verge of losing everything we have. Either the criminals will buy out our land, or the government will take it from us. The Reservations are greatly imperiled. We need to fight for them. We need to show that we can manage them with honesty, integrity, and wisdom. We have not, I repeat, not done this. Therefore, we face extinction in the not too distant future. Other minorities are envious of us, and actually work against us. Many white people are tired of us, of our demands, of our special status. Foreigners are taking advantage of us now, and using us for their selfish, anti-American plots.
My Indian brothers and sisters, stand up for yourselves and our people. Be American! Love America. That is where our future lies. Don't focus on historical injustice, or even current complaints. Be patriots! Don't oppose me. Follow me. We all can help save America from the Communist, socialist, anti-American, anti-democratic forces within. If we don't arise and fight this battle to save America, we ourselves will be the biggest losers.
Don't say I didn't tell you. Indians are used.
This time it's Hezbollah, the terrorist organization of Lebanese Shi'ite Muslims which has been greatly supported by the Islamicists of the Iranian government, as well as of Syria.
Elias Mohamad Akhdar, of Dearborn, Mich., hooked up with Brady Jo Bowman, one of two Senaca Indian women of the Cattaraugus reservation in New York state now arraigned before the District Court of Buffalo. (It is reported that they have two children.) Carole Thompson Gordon, Bowman's grandmother, apparently helped them organize a cigarette smuggling business to raise thousands of dollars for Hezbollah.
Charges include credit card fraud, counterfeit cigarette stamps, money laudering, arson, false insurance claims, and witness tampering (threatening). This was a criminal operation, not to help Indians, but to help Hezbollah make more terrorist attacks on United States interests! Remember the 1983 suicide bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines and sailors in Beirut? The 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847? The innumerable murderous affronts against Israeli citizens, like the 1994 bombing of a Jewish Community Center (killing 95 innocent people)?
You all thought I was kidding! You all thought I was way out on a wing when I say Indians are being use by subversive, anti-American forces. You thought my American Indian Patriot idea was a boot-licking antic for white people. Well, think again.
I don't know what these two Seneca women (and nine other people) were thinking. I'm sure not all of the story is in the news. Maybe they were destitute. Maybe the enemy Arab promised them a great life, a wonderful family. I don't know what those Indian women were thinking. But, to carry on the business they were in volved in, they had to be smart enough to know the money was not for the Indian people. They may have benefited themselves, but they failed to consider the Seneca people, and they failed to consider America.
This story is not unsual, or exceptional, really. There is much crime on many Indian reservations. Indians often sell out to the closest promise of improvement, no matter who makes it, no matter what purpose. Indians are vulnerable. We think of America's brutal treatment of us in the past, and often we have no quams about hooking up with America's enemies.
My message is this: the enemies of America are far worse enemies of the American Indian. I call on Indians too resist this intrusion of America's enemies. I call on Indians to be American Patriots, to love America, to protect what little we have left here. The enemies of America will not leave one of us standing. They will use us, then destroy us completely.
Being Indian doesn't mean being anti-American. I say being Indian means being an American Patriot. We must expand the idea of being Indian. There is a place for remembering tragedy, for honoring our warriors. But there is no place for being anti-American anymore. This will destroy us. Either the enemies will buy up our land, or the government will finally take it from us.
Please, my Indian brothers and sisters, consider these things.
I've used the word "Communist" in my writings, and many people seem completely stunned by it, if not deeply offended. It seems to carry more weight than the "n" word. I find this most curious, but I'm glad the "C" word maintains the stench it deserves.
A Communist is someone who believes in the principles of Communism. So what is Communisim? We associate it with the political philosophy of Karl Marx (1818-1883). It involves the idea that wealth must be evenly distributed among the people. There are to be no imbalanced accumulations, and no destitution. Everyone is to share ownership, equally. This is called, essentially, redistribution of wealth. Marx felt that this goal could be achieved through democracy and the usurped, deluded and perverted idea of equality.
Nikolai Lenin (1870-1924) of course was not so patient, and believed in forcing this materialistic equality. As he said, "The scientific concept of dictatorship means nothing else but this: Power without limit, resting directly upon force, restrained by no laws, absolutely unrestricted by rules." The Black Book of Communism (Harvard, 1999) is a great resource for studying how such force evolves in a society. It is based on fraud, deception, and cruelty. It ends precisely in what it professes to eliminate: elite wealth, and mass destitution. It ends in far worse conditions than anything it ever professes to improve.
But our modern American communists decry such things. They decry the use of the word "Communist." They are socialists, liberals, or Leftists. These are merely their own politically correct terms, which they have made to mean things like compassion, caring, goodness, etc.
But Communism is appeals only to envy. Communism is the politics of envy. If you have a Cadillac, and I don't, then you denied me, you wronged me. The reaon I don't is because you have kept it from me. You have in fact taken it from me. Any politician who condemns the Cadillac owner, and promises to give his Cadillac to me, becomes the new Robin Hood, the new hero of the masses.
Communism is accusatory in nature. Communism despises individual achievement, for that destroys the satanic deception of "equality." This even effects gender issues. There are feminists who despise men, because they don't want men to be stronger. They hate strength in a man. They hate warriors. They hate Indian warrior logos.
So, when I say Indians have been seduced by Communists, I mean that Indians are being used by Communists. Indians are hardly aware of this. A few professional protesters may be well aware, but the majority of Indian people are not on this sophisticated level of political philosophy. Indians simply know we have lost much. We want some kind of reprimand, some kind of return.
When an Indian says to America, "You wronged me, you took away what was mine," the Communist hears this, and hears a perfect expression of the Communist philosophy. For the Communist this is a perfect opportunity to claim "Justice! Equality!" and all the pristine American principles of government. The Indian plight makes the perfect pitch for Communism. Indians make Communism seem the truest Americanism.
But it is a deception. I despise it, and I will work against it forever. Yes America rolled over us Indians like a bulldozer. But I say we need to be rational about it. White people aren't going away. The buffalo aren't coming back. We Indians have new enemies to face. We must face them, or perish.
I will not allow Communists to use me as an anti-American front. Communists are criminals in disguise. If Indians get any sense of justice out of being anti-American, be advised, it will be a short lived sense of justice. It will last just about as long as Indians last, which won't be long.
However horrible the past, the Americans left some of us Indians standing. Lets take advantage of that, and work for self-reliance, respectability, and productivity. I would never have expected to be left standing under the terrorist reign of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Hirohito, Amin, or Hussein. I don't expect to stand under any Communist/Socialist dictatorship here in America.
Already they want to remove all Indian names and logos from the face of American society. Can't Indians see where this is going?
Don't let Communists use you in this way, no matter how white their skin is, or whatever color they are, or even what gender they happen to be.
I haven't seen it in print yet, but I fully expect Islamic extremists to call the Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy a sign from Allah, to warn the United States and the world not to attack Iraq.
The two main elements of the event, on which such a notion is based, are clarion: 1) the shuttle burned up over Texas, the home state of American President Bush. 2) there was an Israeli aboard, Ilan Ramon. Islamicists cannot resist such an opportunity to condemn the U.S. war against their dear brother Saddam. Clearly, they will say, it is a sign. "God is against you!" I'm sure radical, terrorist Muslims are dancing in the streets all over the world.
There are other elements in the tragedy which make it piquant. The Columbia was our first and oldest shuttle. Our space crews themselves are becoming more interntional, "multicultural," or, globalistic perhaps. I don't know that a Muslim has been in space just yet.
This all points to the impropriety, the Islamicists will say, of America's foreign policy.
Well, I wouldn't take my cues from the enemy. The enemy has envoked the name of God before. By 701 B.C., the Assyrian Empire had come to dominate the then known world of the Middle East, and the emperor at the time, Sennacherib sent an emissary to Jewish king Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The message began with the claim of universal dominance, and the appeal to rationality. The Jews must surrender. "The Lord said unto me," claimed Sennacherib, "Go up against this land and destroy it."
Sennacherib had the distinct impression that Providence had given the world into the hands of the Assyrians, and that the Jews were really stupid to resist.
When the Jews tried to politely ask the emissary (Rabshakeh) to not terrify the city with threats, the emissary got impatient. The city was supposed to hear!
"so they can eat their own s---t and drink their own p--s!" [Isaiah 36: 12]
So, the sign that God was with the Assyrians was the fact that they had overcome the rest of the world. Now it was merely Israel's turn to submit.
The sign Israel's God gave to Assyria was indeed big surprise: the Assyrian army that beseiged Jerusalem was eliminated by next morning. 185,000 men (the largest army amassed in the ancient world to that time) were all dead. "The angel of the Lord went forth" that night, and slew all save Sennacherib, who returned Niveveh, only to be assassinated by his sons, who then fled to Armenia. [Isaiah 37:36-38]
So much for the enemy's "God." We have to stick with our own, no matter what the "signs" may indicate. Principles of truth, and universal good will ought to outweigh any murderous designs. I can only pray the the United States is true to the right principles. I know such principles aren't coming from Islamic terrorists.
I am preparing to leave for Nyack, New York. There will probably be no new blog or article until February 6. I thank my compatriots for their patience and support.
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