“When I was a little girl growing up in Oklahoma, I heard family stories about Cherokee ancestors, just like a lot of families. I loved the stories; my cousin even wrote a cookbook of what he and I thought were authentic Cherokee recipes. Later, when I came to Harvard, an article in the Crimson described me as a ‘Native American professor.’ I never bothered to consider how insensitive and hurtful it was to citizens of the Cherokee Nation and other Native Americans for people like me, with no documented Indian ancestors, to make such claims. Even though I never sought any professional advantage based on my family history, I should’ve known better. Harvard should’ve known better. Listing me as a Native American was an insult to the many authentic Indian lawyers, law professors and law school deans. I apologize for my insensitivity to all Native Americans and to the Cherokee in particular, who are plagued by fake tribes and fake claimants who steal and dilute their heritage and culture. But I am also offended by my political opponents who made hay of this issue by using racist terms like ‘squaw’ and ‘Pocahantas’. Such language is hateful and I call upon Senator Brown to join me in condemning it. What’s more, I call on Senator Brown and all Republicans to drop their obstruction of the Violence Against Women Act and in particular their efforts to prevent tribal courts from regaining jurisdiction over non-Indians who abuse Indian women. Native American women are two-and-a-half times more likely than any other group to be the victims of domestic violence, mostly at the hands of non-Indians. Because tribal courts were stripped of jurisdiction over violent crimes and crimes committed by non-Indians on Indian land, these horrible attacks on women and children often go unpunished. The Justice Department has utterly failed Indian Country with its pitiful record of prosecution. In fact, the Justice Department can’t even be bothered to keep statistics on crimes reported, investigated or prosecuted. I may not be Indian myself, but as your senator I will work tirelessly to protect Indian women and children from abuse. We owe the first Americans no less.”
You Ever Notice…
…how pretty much all of these scumbag “Master Race” types look like their family tree hasn’t forked in about five generations? Kind of like how none of the top Nazis back in the day looked a damn thing like the “Aryan ideal”?
Mitt’s Base
The whiny bitchy uber-rich. It is beyond belief to me how the Republic Party, in an election year with a vulnerable incumbent and climbing out of the worse economic downtown since the Great Depression, could nominate Mr. Moneybags from the Monopoly Game. Have they just decided to write this one off, like they did 1996 and 2008?
The Only Thing Worse…
…than Harvard University’s lame attempt to use Elizabeth Warren’s (at best) tenuous Cherokee ancestry to bolster its claim to a diverse faculty or the Warren Campaign’s subsequent frantic attempts to locate a suitable ancestor, would have to be Megyn Kelly’s idiotic attempt at humor. Leave it to FOX “News” to find a way to work racist jokes into any story…
UPDATE: The Great and Powerful Kos urges Warren to put the issue behind her and excuses the ham-fisted response because she isn’t a “professional politician.” Great. Another amateur in Washington. Exactly what we need…
ROMNEY/WEST 2012
Please, please, please oh PLEASE, Mittens, pick Cong. Allen West (R-Somewhere Where There Are Unicorns) as your running mate!
Crystal Ball Time
I’m going to predict that the Supremes will overturn all of the Affordable Care Act in a sweeping opinion that also rolls back many other Federal programs (like Medicaid/Care) on some half-assed states rights theory that states with no constitutional rights to any Federal money nevertheless have a right to it with no strings attached.
I also predict that Liberals are deluding themselves that this catastrophe is somehow good for Obama. This vast majority will be unaffected as they already have insurance and thus won’t care. Later, when tens of thousands lose coverage due to “preexisting conditions” are kicked off their coverage, some MIGHT care but by then it willbe too late.
Anyways, that’s my prediction.
Meet the New Boss?
President Obama will be in Cushing, Occupied Indian Territory today to announce he is fast-tracking approval of the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline. The proposed route will pass through several Indian burial sites. Indians will be there to pr0test. Local authorities have announced that the protesters WILL BE CONFINED TO A CAGE IN A PARK. If it turns out the White House had ANYTHING to do with this, it will be yet another uncomfortable reminder of Obama’s tendency to adopt some of the worst excesses of the Dubya Years.
Dear Conservatives…
If this is what you REALLY believe about minorities, then you needn’t wonder why they aren’t voting GOP:
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I can’t imagine why minorities would vote Democratic as opposed to voting for the Republic Party…
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59 minutes ago
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I can: they have been brainwashed into thinking that the left supports them more than the right does–by way of the liberal media. However, there are, now, a growing number of educated African-Americans who are beginning to see that the conservative cause is their best hope for a more secure future–yet they are called “uncle toms” etc by groups like Farrakhan’s followers. Why is it not acceptable for a black person to be conservative or to make up his/her own mind as to which political ideal to follow?
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57 minutes agoPatrick G. Barkman
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Really? Please, tell me more about racial minorities, and especially African-Americans. Or Indians. Let me know what the Indians think about the Republic Party.
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38 minutes ago
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- What…no dems were involved in taking the Indian’s lands? Again, they, too, are victims of brainwashing by the left. This is going nowhere, Partick. The Republican Party is not perfect–& neither are its candidates. But at least Bush didn’t have to rely on stirring up class warfare or appealing to the lowest demoninator of our voting population in order to get re-elected. I’m sorry you linked your star to the wrong side–but you’ll continue to defend the defenseless from now till the “chickens come home to roost.” I could get really ugly here & say that the Democratic Party is the party of the unchurched, the sexually promiscuous, the deadbeat & the “blame-America-first” crowd…but that would start you on another line of accusations that I am a bigot, or uncaring…etc, etc. Just remember that if Obama keeps hurting the working class while promising a Europen style culture for all Americans–we’ll end up like Greece & Ireland. You simply can’t keep promising more people a ride in the wagon if you continue to eliminate those who are strong enough to pull it.
Today In History…
| The Unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the town of Washington on the 2nd day of March 1836. |
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.
When the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the everready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants.
When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.
Rating the Presidents
In honor of Presidents Day, my votes for the top 5 best and worst presidents (revised after some discussions):
The Best
1) George Washington: the presidency was designed with him in mind and he gets the nod solely for the fact that every single thing he did in office established precedents that continue to this day. The United States would be a different place today if anyone but him had been the first chief executive.
2) Abraham Lincoln: one of the few presidents of whom it can be said that he saved the nation. Without Lincoln, the United States of America would not exist.
3) Franklin Roosevelt: the same reason. In fact, FDR saved the country twice; once from the Depression and again from fascism.
4) Theodore Roosevelt: transformed the United States into a world power, reinvigorated the institution of the presidency after decades of torpor following the death of Lincoln, and established the National Park System.
5) Harry Truman: ended World War 2 on the best terms available, avoided World War 3 over China and integrated the Armed Forces, thus laying the groundwork for the Civil Rights Movement.
The Worst
1) Richard M. Nixon: corrupt, venal, paranoid and vicious. The severe damage he did to American politics and the presidency, and the brutal dividing lines he carved into American culture remain with us today. This, plus the senseless cynical loss of life in Southeast Asia more than drown out positive accomplishments like the opening to China.
2) James Buchanan: feckless and incompetent. Dithered while the Civil War erupted around him and took actions at the very beginning of the war that come close to treason.
3) Warren Harding: one of, if not the most corrupt administrations in American history, plus began the isolationism that nearly lost the world to fascism ten years after he died.
4) Andrew Jackson: set the pattern of brutal military action against Indian tribes that would determine American policy for the next 50 years
5) Ulysses S. Grant: not really fair, since he wasn’t personally corrupt but his weakness led to an incredibly corrupt administration that linked the Republican Party with the robber barons for decades.
The Local Crank
