ICWA results in Child Abuse and Murder: 3-yr-old Girl Dead

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Sep 222013
 

September, 22, 2013

– Have you heard yet that due to horrific child abuse and even murder on the Spirit Lake Reservation, the BIA has had to go in and take over tribal children’s services?  Did you know that despite the presence of the BIA, FBI and US attorney at Spirit Lake for almost a year now – very little has changed, and another little girl – just 3 years old – was murdered in June, 2013?  She and her twin sister were thrown down an embankment, then kicked in the head while their care-giver stood aside, smoked a cigarette and watched.

Did you know the 16-year-old grandson of Roland J. Morris, former CERA board member, was shot and left bleeding in a field at Spirit Lake in July?

– Have you read the report from an ACF regional director that despite the BIA takeover at Spirit Lake, nothing has changed?  Children are still being placed with known sexual offenders?

– Have you heard how the new version of the “Violence against Women Act” forces women of all heritages into the jurisdiction of corrupt tribal courts?

Did you know that despite the violence toward and sexual predation on children at Spirit Lake, Federal officials have refused to give Tom Sullivan, Regional Director of the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) permission to meet with Spirit Lake residents on August 27 in Bismarck, and a state official has stonewalled as well.

Federal and state bureaucrats continue to act as it this is a non-issue. Despite numerous pleas for help, the BIA, FBI and U.S. Attorney feign assistance while the abuse continues.  Despite the numerous – yet ignored – documented reports Mr. Sullivan has sent to DC detailing the atrocities and calling for change, permission to act is refused.

WHY are our state & federal gov’ts NOT addressing the severe abuse occurring on many reservations? Why does DC continue to set up roadblocks? We can NOT stand by and allow this to continue.

Mr. James Murray, Acting Director of HHS/ACF/ORO (Note the alphabet following his name – denoting both importance and governmental concern for families) stated in an email to Mr. Sullivan,

“…ACF’s response to the concerns at the Spirit Lake Nation will have to be generated through a collaborative effort by leaders from multiple ACF offices. Representatives from those offices will have to be included along with you in meetings like the one proposed below, to maximize ACF’s response. Your leadership will be critical in the work of the larger ACF group to address the issues. That being said, I have to deny the travel request at this time. We can revisit the topic once ACF has a chance to mobilize the larger leadership group to begin moving things forward. Let me know if you’d like to discuss it further and I can set up a conference call for tomorrow or early next week.”

(James Murray || Acting Director || HHS/ACF/ORO || Desk: (202) 401-4881 || BlackBerry: (202) 253-0217 || Fax: (202) 401-3449 || Email: james.murray@acf.hhs.gov)

It bloviates that a meeting is possible – but whether or not anyone makes any real effort to gather “leaders from multiple ACF offices – when it has been so clear that the DC office has ignored every single report that Mr. Sullivan has sent – is another question. Mr. Sullivan holds a non-refundable – taxpayer purchased – plane ticket to Bismarck this next week.

Mr. Scott J. Davis, Commissioner of North Dakota Indian Affairs [mailto:sjdavis@nd.gov] also sent an email to Mr. Sullivan refusing to meet unless “all of the stakeholders” are at the table and “[i]t is important to me to have everyone (federal agencies) who has a role in the solutions to these problems at such a meeting. Please let me know when you can confirm you have everyone lined up to attend.”

Others responsible for the inaction include George Sheldon: Acting Director of ACF ~ 202-401-5383, and MaryAnn McMullin, Director of Public Affairs for the SCF 202-401-9216

We NEED to let our Senators know that this is not OK in America. It MUST stop!  Children need to be protected.  Please press your Senator for hearings on the issue of child welfare and protection in Indian Country. Our children are not chattel for tribal or federal government.

1) ASK YOUR SENATOR to ask Senator Cantwell to put ICWA on to her agenda for this session. If ICWA is NOT put on her agenda for the session – it will not be discussed for changes this year nor probably next. Parental rights, equal protection, due process are all important factors in why ICWA is wrong – but subjecting children to abuse for the sake of tribal sovereignty is that most egregious factor.  ‘The best interest of the child’ is paramount and should not be subject to politics.

2) ASK YOUR SENATOR to contact Senator Cantwell’s office and press for hearings on Spirit Lake and other reservations where abuse of children is rampant! Spirit Lake is not isolated.

3) Please ask your Senator to repeal the provision in the VAWA that robs victims of their right to choose county courts over tribal courts – thus victimizing them a second time.

VAWA Protects the Rights of Tribal Govt, NOT the Rights of Women!

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Mar 012013
 

March 1, 2013

On February 12, 2013, a horrid violence against women was committed when the ‘Violence against Women Act’ was passed by the U.S. Senate by a 78-22 vote with all amendments intact. Women across the nation were thrown under a bus.

On February 28, 2013, the U.S. House repeated the violence with 87 Republicans joining 199 Democrats to pass the bill 286-138. God only knows if this callous assault on women can be stopped. The measure now heads to Obama’s desk.

Obama said in a statement. “Renewing this bill is an important step towards making sure no one in America is forced to live in fear, and I look forward to signing it into law as soon as it hits my desk.”

Does no one actually read these things? We are discussing women and young girls who have been vulnerable and already victimized – being forced into further victimization. Where is the language in the VAWA that tribal government can only have jurisdiction under informed consent and absent objection of the victim?

If there is none, is this Act protecting the rights of women, or the rights of tribal government?

I asked this question to both Ms. Tracee Sutton and Ms. Gail Hand from Senator Heitkamp’s office. Both were silent in response.

I understand that most of our Congressmen on the Hill have never been in the situation of being a victim within Indian Country. I understand that they might not be aware the ramifications these amendments will have on tribal and non-tribal women. Reading the recent report by Mr. Thomas F. Sullivan, Administration of Children and Families in Denver of the severe corruption and abuse on the Spirit Lake Reservation might shed some light on the problem. If even a portion of what he is saying is true, our Congress has no right for mandating tribal jurisdiction over U.S. citizens.

Never assume that simply because a woman is of tribal heritage, she wants her case to be heard in tribal court. A person does not know the meaning of “Good ol’ Boy’s Club” until one has dealt with some of the tribal courts. On top of this, our government has given all tribal courts full faith and credit, meaning once the case is ruled on in tribal court, the victim can’t go to the county or state for justice.

And while many enrolled women will be upset when told their options have been limited, please realize that multi-racial marriages and relationships are very, very common in Indian Country and non-member women are no small number in domestic violence cases within reservation boundaries.

Further, it is interesting that in the language in section 4(A) below, describing under what conditions in which there would be an exception to tribal jurisdiction, the defendant is addressed more than the victim. It doesn’t matter what heritage the woman is – that isn’t the deciding factor for tribal jurisdiction. The language below addresses the perp’s relationship to Indian Country as the deciding factor.

In fact, under this section, ‘victim’ is defined and limited to only women who have obtained a protective order. In other words, women who DON’T have a protective order would NOT be considered victims under the exception section, and thus, no matter what, are subject to tribal jurisdiction.

FURTHER – the words, “in the Indian country of the participating tribe” are used over and over. Do you know what this means? I will tell you what it doesn’t mean. It DOESN’T mean inside reservation boundaries. But I can’t tell you what it DOES mean as far as how many miles outside the boundaries it extends – because, apparently, that is up the tribal government and BIA.

Yes, friends. A woman, off the reservation, who is assaulted by a person whom she might not even be aware is a tribal member (we talked about multi-heritage relationships, right?) might find herself fighting for justice in a tribal court.

… But trying to read the legalese in section 4, I have to ask, if both the victim and perp are non-Indians, but the victim doesn’t have a protective order…? (Who writes this stuff?)

It appears that the language has been written to protect the defendants, specifically enrolled men, from state and federal jurisdiction. They might come down hard on a non-member, but given the track history of many tribal courts – do not doubt that this bill will end up protecting certain men and further victimizing many women.

This type of language throws women of all heritages under the bus. Not only could enrolled women be forced into a court predominantly run by her ex’s relatives, but non-tribal women, viewed as outsiders no matter how long they have lived in ‘Indian Country’, could be forced to share their horrific story and plea for justice in a room full of potentially hostile relatives and friends of the defendant.

How many women will simply suffer in silence rather than attempt to be heard in tribal court? How do laws like this seriously protect an already victimized woman? What can be done to ensure that victims know they have the option to refuse tribal jurisdiction and seek justice elsewhere?

Further – could you please tell me in what manner women who would be affected by these amendments were consulted? During the discussion of these amendments, what non-tribal entity or organization represented and advocated for needs of women who live within Indian Country?

PLEASE URGE PRESIDENT OBAMA NOT TO SIGN THIS HORRIBLE VERSION OF THE VAWA!

`SEC. 204. TRIBAL JURISDICTION OVER CRIMES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

`(4) EXCEPTIONS-

`(A) VICTIM AND DEFENDANT ARE BOTH NON-INDIANS-

`(i) IN GENERAL- A participating tribe may not exercise special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over an alleged offense if neither the defendant nor the alleged victim is an Indian.

`(ii) DEFINITION OF VICTIM- In this subparagraph and with respect to a criminal proceeding in which a participating tribe exercises special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction based on a violation of a protection order, the term `victim’ means a person specifically protected by a protection order that the defendant allegedly violated.

`(B) DEFENDANT LACKS TIES TO THE INDIAN TRIBE- A participating tribe may exercise special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction over a defendant only if the defendant–

`(i) resides in the Indian country of the participating tribe;

`(ii) is employed in the Indian country of the participating tribe; or

`(iii) is a spouse, intimate partner, or dating partner of–

`(I) a member of the participating tribe; or

`(II) an Indian who resides in the Indian country of the participating tribe.

Horrible Child Abuse STILL Happening on Spirit Lake Reservation!

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Feb 232013
 

February 23rd, 2013

A HORRIFIC report just leaked to us: Thomas Sullivan, Regional Administrator of the Denver Office submitted this to the DC office of Administration of Children and Families just this morning –

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

This is my Twelfth Mandated Report concerning Suspected Child Abuse on the Spirit Lake Reservation. It is being filed consistent with the Revised Guidelines approved by the Attorney General.

It has been more than 8 months since I filed my first report. In that time neither my sources nor I have seen any evidence the more than 100 children cited in these reports have been moved into safe placements. Most of those children remain in the full time care and custody of known sex offenders, addicts and abusive families.

Nor have we seen any indication of any effort by law enforcement to investigate, indict or prosecute the adults who have been credibly accused of being physically and sexually abusive to more than two dozen children.

In these 8 months I have filed detailed reports concerning all of the following:

  1. The almost 40 children returned to on-reservation placements in abusive homes, many headed by known sex offenders, at the direction of the Tribal Chair. These children remain in the full time care and custody of sexual predators available to be raped on a daily basis. Since I filed my first report noting this situation, nothing has been done by any of you to remove these children to safe placements.
  1. The 45 children who were placed, at the direction of Tribal Social Services (TSS), BIA social workers, BIA supervised TSS social workers and the BIA funded Tribal Court, in homes where parents were addicted to drugs and/or where they had been credibly accused of abuse or neglect. Since I filed my first report noting these placements, nothing has been done to remove these children to safe placements. I trust the Tribal Court, with the recent resignation of a judge who failed a drug test, will begin to be responsive to the children whose placements they oversee.
  1. The 25 cases of children most of whom were removed from physically and sexually abusive homes based on confirmed reports of abuse as well as some who still remain in those homes. Neither the BIA nor the FBI have taken any action to investigate or charge the adults in these homes for their criminally abusive acts. Many, of the adults in these homes are related to, or are close associates of, the Tribal Chair or other Council members.

Since I filed my first report detailing these failures to investigate, charge, indict, prosecute those adults, my sources and I have observed nothing to suggest this has changed. Those adults remain protected by the law enforcement which by its inaction is encouraging the predators to keep on hunting for and raping children at Spirit Lake.

When was the last time the US Attorney indicted a child rapist at Spirit Lake? How many child rape cases from Spirit Lake has he declined to prosecute during the last 18 months? How many Spirit Lake child rape cases have been prosecuted during those same 18 months?

  1. Several years ago several former Tribal employees (including Tribal judges, TSS staff and Tribal elders) filed a formal complaint about TSS and the Spirit Lake BIA when they met with BIA’s Regional Director in Aberdeen, SD. The Regional Director was provided with substantial documentation of the bases for their complaint against the BIA’s Spirit Lake Superintendent.

A week after returning from Aberdeen they saw this documentation in its original unopened package on the desk of the Spirit Lake BIA Superintendent. It remained there, unopened, unread and uninvestigated for several months before it was shredded.

Similar delegations met with the leadership of the state Department of Human Services, its Child Welfare Agency, as well as with the FBI. In each case comparable packages of documentation were delivered. Since nothing ever came of these efforts to correct the situation at Spirit Lake, it can only be assumed that this documentation sat on desks somewhere, unopened, unread and uninvestigated until it too was shredded.

Since I filed my first report detailing these efforts on the part of several concerned citizens to correct the situation at Spirit Lake, to stop the abuse of children several years before I filed my first report, nothing has been done to investigate the clear malfeasance of so many high level state and federal officials. This failure to act, to correct this situation allowed the rape and abuse of children at Spirit Lake to persist for years beyond when it should have been stopped.

  1. I believe the highest obligation and priority for every public official involved in this situation is to insure the safety of those children who were abruptly removed from safe, off-reservation placements and returned to on-reservation placements in many cases to the full time care and custody of known sex offenders where they were available to be raped daily as well as those children placed in unsafe homes in the care of addicts and abusers as a result of decisions made by BIA, TSS and the Tribal Court.

I have been instructed by the leadership of my agency that my beliefs do not reflect the policy position of either my agency or my department.

From what my sources and I have been able to observe the highest priority of the state, the FBI, BIA as well as other federal agencies has been to silence us, to label us as liars, as incompetents not qualified to identify the abuse of a child, to minimize the seriousness of this situation with their fabricated, self-serving claims. Among these claims are, “It’s a new problem”; “This problem arose because the Tribe lost the person responsible for filing their forms”; “If those whistleblowers would shut up everything would be fine”; “Everything is fine”; “They are making great progress”; “You are expecting too much progress too quickly”; “They are working hard.”;“It’s all fixed.”; “We’re doing a great job for kids” “You are not a subject matter expert”.

If that attitude was held by those who served on the Grand Jury that indicted Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts of child sexual abuse, there would have been no indictments. It would have been decided that neither McQueary, the janitors nor any of those victims were credible because Jerry would have told them that all of those witnesses were lying and they would have believed him.

If just a bit of the energy devoted to trashing us was used to assist the children of Spirit Lake, all of the 100 plus children might be in safe placements now. But it appears that agencies and those involved have taken a different path for reasons known only to them and their agencies leaving these children in the care and custody of addicts and predators. These actions track the same path followed by the leadership of both Penn State and the Catholic Church when these organizations sought to protect their institution’s reputation by covering up the rape of children.

  1. The BIA Senior Criminal Investigator (CI) at Spirit Lake is a thug who should be in prison if the domestic violence allegations made by his wife and other eyewitnesses are to be believed. Because none of you, not even those in the highest levels of BIA law enforcement in Washington, DC, have investigated his wife’s complaint, sought to speak either with her or those eyewitnesses, he walks free, a fine example of the integrity and professionalism of BIA. How will BIA comply with OPM’s recent directive on Domestic Violence when it is shielding a Domestic Violence thug from investigation and prosecution?
  1. There are an unknown number of undocumented children (it is estimated by knowledgeable sources that there are more than 40 children who are trapped in this situation) who are being cared for by Foster Parents who are not being paid for their care. For most, if not all, payment is not an issue. However, without birth certificates, court orders and other documentation these children cannot be enrolled in Head Start, pre-school, school or qualified for Medicaid. Neither the state, county social services, BIA nor TSS have been willing to assist these foster parents in obtaining the necessary documentation. Since the Tribe placed all of these children with these Foster Parents, it is especially disturbing that now they deny any responsibility for them. Why is the BIA collaborating with the Tribe in this abuse of power?
  1. On September 29, 2012 a 13 year old little girl was raped in her home by a 37 year old man. Law enforcement was called. The name and a description of the rapist was provided. No rape kit was collected. More than three weeks elapsed before the alleged rapist was interviewed. The little girl’s mother was told over the phone by FBI Agent Cima that the FBI had turned the case over to the BIA.

The BIA Senior Criminal Investigator (CI) called the mother to tell her that he had spoken with the alleged rapist who told him, “That girl wanted to have sex with me. What was I supposed to do?” The BIA CI then said, “Since the sex was consensual, there was no crime here and there will be no prosecution. This little girl contracted gonorrhea as a result of this rape.

It seems strange to me that the BIA CI ruled out the possibility of statutory rape in this case when the girl was so young and her rapist was almost 25 years older. It is even stranger that all of you accept without question the self-serving tale of a 37 year old rapist, “She wanted to have sex with me. What was I supposed to do?” Surely all of you have more brains than to accept that line.

  1. On September 27, 2012 I filed a formal complaint against FBI Special Agent Bryan Cima due to his interference with my responsibilities as a Mandated Reporter of child abuse This filing was done consistent with instructions we received from the Grand Forks, ND FBI office. Since I have not been contacted by anyone asking for additional information concerning my formal complaint, I can only assume, given their complete disregard for this complaint, that the USDOJ and FBI view it as even less important than the eleven mandated reports I have filed.
  1. The BIA, for several years, has been conducting annual reviews of the Spirit Lake TSS with each succeeding review producing lengthier and lengthier lists of deficiencies requiring correction. The last one completed almost a year ago, produced a list of 75 deficiencies, most so serious they required immediate correction according to the BIA reviewers. To my knowledge none have been corrected.
  2. Five months ago on September 20, 2012, Hankie Ortiz, Deputy Bureau Director of BIA’s Office of Indian Services was quoted in the NY Times article about Spirit Lake saying, “the news media and whistleblowers had exaggerated the problem. This social services program has made steady progress.” Since I specifically asked Ms. Ortiz in my Sixth Mandated Report on October 30, 2012 to provide detail about how those of us who have been speaking out about the epidemic of child sexual abuse at Spirit Lake have “exaggerated the problem”, she has provided nothing to substantiate her lying, self-serving claims.

Apparently she has now taken a vow of silence. That vow makes good sense because six weeks after she was quoted in the NY Times, the Tribal Chair directly contradicted her fabricated defense of BIA. The Tribal Chair in a General Assembly meeting said in response to questions from an enrolled member that there were no lies in my reports and that he could not document any improvement in the condition of the children I had cited in my reports. Now, five months after her claim of “steady progress” neither my sources nor I have seen anything that would pass for “progress”.

  1. A little girl, who on the first day of pre-school gave an aide an accurate and detailed description of what was involved in giving a blow job, was removed from her home due to physical abuse. When evaluated at the Children’s Advocacy Center in Grand Forks, ND, the specialist there determined that she had also been sexually abused and required immediate intensive therapy.

Since the Tribe would be required to pay for the therapy the Foster Parents had to get approval from TSS. They were turned down initially and at least once a month for the last six months because as the TSS case worker said, “If I approve this request for therapy, I will be fired in the morning as soon as the Tribal Council learns of it.” (The Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles, CA followed a similar policy not so long ago so that pedophile priests were not allowed by the Church to go to therapists who were required by law to report the sexual abuse of children by their clients to law enforcement).

This little girl is the granddaughter of a convicted sexual offender who also serves on the Tribal Council. Since the BIA has taken over all responsibility for TSS activities at Spirit Lake, why is BIA preventing this little girl from getting the therapy she desperately needs? How many other Spirit Lake children is the BIA preventing from receiving the therapeutic services they need in order to recover from the abuse they have suffered?

  1. I understand two young children (two and three years of age) who had been removed from their homes in late December, 2010 and were evaluated at the nationally recognized Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Center at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine in Grand Forks, ND during the late winter of 2011 and were diagnosed with severe developmental delay – they did not and could not speak, they did not understand simple words, they acted as though they had never seen a toy and had no idea what to do with them. Their only form of interaction was to hit each other and fight.

The Founder and Executive Director of the Center evaluated these children. His expert recommendation, provided in a written report, was that these children should never be returned to the home they came out of, that it would be a crime if they were ever placed back in that home.

The TSS Director ignored this expert evaluation and recommendation and placed these children back in that home shortly after he received that written report. They are still there suffering ever more developmental delay with every passing day.

TSS and BIA staff have been reviewing and correcting any problems with paperwork for most of the last several months. Why has this expert recommendation been overlooked? This is just one more example of the continuing, grotesque failure of the BIA to protect the children of Spirit Lake.

  1. A few weeks ago I was informed about a case that is well known to you, Ms Settles, because you intervened to assist a concerned adult. This adult was concerned for the welfare of a foster child who had confided to her about his abusive home life, the refusal of the foster parent to spend money received for this child on this child as well as other examples of abuse and neglect. This child’s mother took her own life. This child attempted suicide a year ago. He has for some time been demonstrating profound depression. When a BIA social worker was assigned to his case, she closed it without even speaking with this child. When this adult spoke with Marge Eagleman, BIA Supervisor of Social Services, she was told, “well the investigator has done her job and the case is closed.” When this adult spoke with Rod Cavanagh, BIA Superintendent at Spirit Lake he said, “the investigator has a Master of Social Work degree and I trust she did her job.”

When this adult spoke with you, Ms. Settles, you ordered the case reopened. Unfortunately, it has been more than two weeks since you took that action and no one has yet spoken with that little boy. I trust all of us understand how those mindless decisions and failures to follow up can turn a difficult situation into a tragic one.

  1. The adult mentioned in # 14 is a Mandated Reporter of suspected child abuse since they are on the staff at the Four Winds School. This adult has received a letter of reprimand from the Superintendent of the school system because of their efforts on behalf of this little boy. Their son was fired from his position at the same school because of his efforts on behalf of this boy. Since you have known about these efforts to silence, intimidate and retaliate against two Mandated Reporters for more than two weeks, Ms. Settles, what have you done to correct this situation? If you have done nothing, would you please explain the rationale for your inaction?

Mr. Purdon, what will you be doing to protect the rights of these two Mandated Reporters?

The Sandusky scandal horrified the nation resulting in a widespread outcry against those who had facilitated his continuing rape of young boys by keeping silent about what they knew. He assaulted and raped one boy at a time. At Spirit Lake there are many sexual predators who have been given free rein to rape at will. Hundreds of children have been exposed to conditions that place them at risk of being raped daily at Spirit Lake.

Sandusky’s abuse became public when he was indicted. The failure of law enforcement at all levels to investigate, charge and indict is a key factor in the continuation of the epidemic of child sexual abuse at Spirit Lake. When was the last time the US Attorney for North Dakota indicted a sexual predator for his rape of a child at Spirit Lake? When was the last time the Tribal Prosecutor filed a charge of child rape against a predator in Tribal Court?

It is my understanding that some believe my Tenth Mandated Report, filed on January 2, 2013, lead to the indictment of the father described in that report on charges of Gross Sexual Imposition (a Class 2 Felony) In Ramsey County, ND. If that is true, the county attorney in Devils Lake, with that indictment, has done far more to protect the children of Spirit Lake than any of those who have received these reports and have done nothing but fabricate excuses for their inaction.

The predators have been defended by the actions of the Spirit Lake Tribal Chair and council. The state, TSS, FBI, BIA and other federal agencies’ leadership by their failure to investigate complaints, made several years ago, about such abuse have facilitated this abuse. By their delay in effectively responding to these Mandated Reports, these organizations and their leaders have extended the reign of terror inflicted on the children of Spirit Lake.

A child at Spirit Lake will be raped today because little or nothing has been done to correct the heinous conditions I have identified in these Reports. Tomorrow another child will be raped at Spirit Lake due to this inaction. And the day after that another child will be raped at Spirit Lake because of this inaction. And so on, and so on and so on, until that fateful day when the decision is made to protect the children of Spirit Lake from rape and abuse.

Thomas F. Sullivan

Regional Administrator, ACF, Denver

ICWA put her into the home of a rapist and ignored her pleas for help

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Feb 052013
 

February 5, 2013

Where to begin? We met with staff members from seven DC Senate offices on Monday, February 4th. We had come to talk about the Indian Child Welfare Act and how it infringes on the rights of children and our rights as parents.

But sitting next to this young woman, who comes from the same reservation as my husband… I realized there is so, so much more we all need to talk about. Michelle Bachmann

Sierra Campbell told how she was abused and used sexually as a child. A tribal member from the Leech Lake Reservation, she said she was first given to a man at the age of ten. Her younger sister was also given to man.

Having come from a dysfunctional home life, they were passed from foster home to foster home until they landed at the home of Gene and Carol Campbell.  Carol Campbell remembers holding and rocking Sierra for hours when she would wake up with night terrors. After a period of time, the Campbell’s filed to adopt the girls.  But the Leech Lake government would not allow it and decided to move the girls back to the reservation and into the home of an uncle. According to the Indian Child Welfare Act, the tribal government had the right to decide who the girls could live with.

Sierra told the Senate staff how she begged to be allowed to return to the only family she had ever felt safe with. She told how she tried to run away over a dozen times to get back to the foster home where she knew she was loved. She told how her uncle had made her destroy pictures of the family she loved, and how when she was sixteen, they cut her down from a rope when she had tried to hang herself. It was only then that they finally allowed her to return to the Campbell’s.

What this young woman told the Senate Staff matches is similar to stories we have been told by families across American for years. This travesty has gone on for too long. And there is much, much more. The prostitution of young girls has become common place. You want to talk about sex-trafficking? It is happening on reservations as well.

The feeling in Congress and across much of America is that the tribal leaders can’t be messed with. Don’t you dare step on their toes – don’t you dare question tribal sovereignty.

Well, I am questioning it.

Pundits Missed the Forest: Why Obama Won

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Nov 252012
 

November, 25, 2012

There are many conservatives across the nation today who are seriously distraught over the election, panicked because the results made no sense and worried sick over what is to come. In the hope of giving some kind of comfort, I want to assure my conservative brethren that the pundits, scrambling to explain the Obama re-election in terms of conventional wisdom, have missed an important factor.  It wasn’t the only factor, but it was a huge one.

You could call this new factor “Unlikely Voters.” I count several of my extended relatives, whom I love but face reality about, among this group:  first-time voters who never bothered nor cared to vote, but did so on Nov. 6 solely out of hope for the loosening of drug laws and moral absolutes and the perception that the change promised will mean easier access to unearned money, food and housing.

Go ahead and call me names for saying it. I really don’t care. Those were their reasons. They weren’t voting about abortion, Libya, Hurricane Sandy—not even the economy. If you were to ask these relatives about Fast and Furious, most of them would think you were referring to a movie.

As a member of a very diverse family I have been privy to disturbing posts on Facebook, like these two the day before the election:

Person 1: do u kno wat romney really wants to do with native americans and our treaties?

Person 2: Those who need rides to vote can call ACLU at 444-2285 :)Good service ACLU!! Thanks for your help!

Later, someone else exalts the fact that all the “hoodie tokers” and “hoes” were watching this election, and that is something ‘no other president had ever done.’

The election now over, they continue with day-to-day conversation.

Person 3:  Cool cool I just got my food stamps… ima walk up 2 the store

Person 4: ur one lucky dude – cuz im one of them peps that dnt get any foodies… gota buy dem from peps, my countys fkd up lol.

[Translation: “You are one lucky dude, because I am one of those people who don’t get food stamps… I have to buy them from people (food money on the card is “sold” for cash to use for drugs/alcohol.)  My county is f….. lol.”]

As this small illustration shows, far more important than gender, age or other conventional distinction was the split between those who see beyond tomorrow and prefer discipline, and those who live for today and prefer pleasure. These ‘unlikely voters’ truly only cared that Obama looks cool, their friends all like him, and they think he will relax repressive laws. It’s probably no coincidence that Colorado, which legalized marijuana, and Maine and Maryland, which legalized gay marriage, also went for Obama.

Some of these are the voters whom the Democratic party went out of the way to get to the polls. They’re not on Dick Morris’ radar because he was using logic, but they weren’t making decisions based on logic. Because their friends believed the street rumor that Romney was going to toss out Indian treaties, they believed it. Because they were told that there was a war on women and minorities, they believed it.  What they were told on the street about Obama was all that mattered and nothing was going to change that.

Remember, conservatives swept the polls in 2010. Those conservative voters did not disappear nor change their minds on the issues. We did well in 2010 because Obama wasn’t running. There was therefore no interest on the part of some ‘unlikely voters’ to get out there and vote. We should be able to count on 2014 to be like 2010.

I don’t know if the Dems will find someone as “cool” to get the attention of the gang crowd in 2016. I doubt it. It could be that once Obama is done, we will be back to normal. Hillary isn’t cool enough to excite some of my relatives to get out and vote—and neither is Biden. But whether or not these relatives and others ever vote again, we do need to deal somehow with an immoral bent in our country, a very unhealthy element that is growing.

We were surprised and broken-hearted Nov. 6 because we thought that Romney was doing so well, making so much sense, and there was so much that was against Obama. Romney did do well, and there was much against Obama. But it was all beside the point. It never mattered to some voters what Romney did or didn’t do. They weren’t even listening.

The REAL War on Women comes from the Cherokee Nation

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Oct 212012
 

October 21, 2012

NOT ONLY is the ‘INDIAN CHILD WELFARE ACT’ a weapon against the rights and best interests of many children – but it is an affront on the parental rights of ALL woman ~

The REAL War on Women comes in the form of the Cherokee Nation’s affirmation that single mothers of ALL heritages MUST fear tribal interference if they give a child up for adoption without knowing for certain that the birth father doesn’t have EVEN ONE DROP of Cherokee blood.

In the Thursday, October 18, 2012, segment of Dr. Phil show, Cherokee Nation Attorney Christi Nemmo refused to admit 2-year old Veronica had only a drop of Cherokee blood, but she also doesn’t deny it. She doesn’t answer the question because she knows people would be horrified. She tries to make the argument that it’s not about how a child looks or how much blood the child has, but that they have a right to be part of the Cherokee tribe.

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

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

Nemmo is also ignoring the rights of the Latino birth mother in question – and ANY mother who chooses adoption for their child.

The horrifying issue that is being ignored here is that while it’s bad enough that enrolled mothers don’t feel a freedom of choice in deciding what is best for their children, we also have a NON-Indian Mother, who was carrying a child with ONLY A TINY percentage of tribal heritage – and that mother and child’s wishes were tromped on by tribal gov’t.

What a nightmare for any pregnant single mother contemplating adoption – that some minute amount of heritage could give a government the legal right to interfere.

Lisa Morris is the Author of the new book, “Dying in Indian Country.” Purchase your copy at http://dyinginindiancountry.com/

Illegal to advertise for a Christian roommate?

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Oct 232010
 

October 23rd, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haynes, on the other hand, compassionately asks,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Make me puke.

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

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Sep 232010
 

September, 23, 2010

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Listening to Sermons such as this one:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What people need to do is to read the Bible, or at least read my Uncle Martin’s book Strength to Love,” said Dr. King. “Human dignity, bringing love and respect for each other as human beings, not considering ourselves as separate races is the answer to this puzzle.”

Obama, trying to beat McCain to punch, sends 1,200 troops to…to sit at desks

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May 262010
 

So…after again behaving with arrogance during a private meeting with Senate Republicans yesterday, and giving them the impression that he wasn’t interested in sending troops to help secure our southern border, President Obama waltzed out of the room and immediately announced that he’s sending up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the border as well and $500 million for “enhanced border protection and law enforcement.”

He hadn’t said a word to the Republicans, even though they had been discussing this very thing with him. In fact, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) said that he and Sen, McCain (R-AZ) had told Obama that McCain was introducing an amendment that very day that would send 6,000 National Guard troops to the border and would be paid for with unspent stimulus money.

”Sen. McCain spoke to it…and then I stood up. One of the things I said was we were going to the floor in a few minutes to request additional money for sending troops to the border. But that was the end of the conversation.”

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who described the meeting as “testy,” said the president

“wasn’t embracing” the call to secure the bordersbefore pressing forward with a comprehensive immigration policy overhaul.

Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) put it a little more bluntly:

“The more he talked, the more he got upset. He needs to take a valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans and just calm down, and don’t take anything so seriously. If you disagree with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re attacking their motives — and he takes it that way and tends then to lecture and then gets upset.”

What?  What is wrong with Obama?  Maybe the Republicans weren’t questioning his motives, but I sure am. Why doesn’t he seem able to sit at a table with his opponents and behave with any kind of openness and sincerity?

The last time he has a real meeting with Republicans, he did the same thing.  He goes in, puts on an anemic show of bipartisanship, all the while arrogantly keeping Republicans at arms length – and making sure he doesn’t do anything that will give them any credit.  So insecure in his authority, he is loathe to give any appearance that he’s not totally in control. So he leaves the meeting intending to do only that which will prove to Americans that he’s the one on top.

Last time, after the health care ’summit’, he continued on with his own plans despite every good idea and point made by his opposition.  This time, it was “get to the people and announce a border guard surge before McCain gets to the Senate floor.”

His announcement came just as several Republican border security amendments, including McCain’s, were being introduced on the Senate floor. Amazing…

McCain, whose re-election depends on appearing firmly conservative, said from the floor that he appreciates Obama’s decision …but there needs to be more.

“I think it is a recognition of the violence on the border which has been really beyond description in some respects,” McCain said. “But it’s simply not enough.”

But will his “surge” do any good?

A White House official, who claimed Obama’s announcement was “part of his comprehensive plan to secure the southwest border,” has confirmed that the National Guard will “provide intelligence, surveillance,” “training capacity” and support for “reconnaissance” and “counter narcotics enforcement” until more Border Patrol officers can be hired. The additional funds are to improve security technology and increase the number of agents, investigators and prosecutors for the area.

Essentially, according to Sen. Jon Kyl, (R-AZ),

…”the 1,200 border patrol troops are, in effect, desk jobs…They aren’t boots on the ground at the border, they were not intended to be deployed to the border.  Rather they’ll be investigating, administrative support, maybe training. Now that’s all fine…but the real value of the National Guard is to be seen.”

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer gave a response that we hope Obama can learn from; she spoke with courtesy  regarding the deployment, even though he is an opponent and has mocked her, and even though it’s obvious the deployment is simply a political gesture. She applauded his plan as a ”very significant and important shift in the president’s immigration and border security policy.”

“I am pleased that President Obama has now, apparently, agreed that our nation must secure the border to address rampant border violence and illegal immigration without other pre-conditions, such as passage of ‘comprehensive immigration reform…I am anxious to hear of the details that have not yet been disclosed of where, how, and for how long additional forces will be deployed.  With the accountability of this election year, I am pleased and grateful that at long last there has been a partial response from the Obama administration to my demands that Washington do its job.”

But the CATO Institute had no trouble summing it up;

President Obama is deploying 1,200 National Guard troops to the border and requesting $500 million more for border security. With due respect to Arizona Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, who want even more troops and money, this approach is neither here nor there. (And it echoes Obama’s split-the-baby decision on Afghanistan, not willing to go for a whole-hog escalation but also not willing to rethink the overall policy.) Half-measures won’t do it here, Mr. President (and Congress). If you lack the heart (or have too much of a brain) for a full wall-and-militarization of our southern border — and perhaps mass rounding up and deportation of 12 million people — it’s time for a fundamental reorganization of the immigration system.

U.S. immigration (non-)policy is nonsensical and unworkable. We’re beyond the point of perestroika; it’s time for regime change.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, (D-AZ), who, with others, had requested more border security after a rancher, Robert Krentz, was murdered in March by an illegal immigrant, kept her party face on and praised Obama for the deployment. She said that Arizona residents,

“… know that more boots on the ground means a safer and more secure border. Washington heard our message.”

Apparently no one told her that those boots won’t actually be on the ground.

 

Quotes from FOXNews.com – May 25, 2010

Obama Blames Congress for Borders, but sat on it like Bush/Clinton

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May 192010
 

Obama, in yet another speech last Friday, failed to apologize for not having been any better than his predecessors in taking action to protect the border, and blamed Congress – who he had forced into a year long pre-occupation with health care – for failing to enact ‘comprehensive reform.’  He then made another ‘promise’ that if Congress continues to waste its time (pandering to his agenda) ”We will continue to see misguided efforts opening up around the country.”

In Fact, it was Obama himself that said on April 28, 2010, that he didn’t want to force an immigration bill through Congress at this time. “We’ve gone though a very tough year and I’ve been working Congress very hard, so I know there may not be an appetite immediately to dive into another controversial issue,” the president told reporters, although that sentiment hadn’t stopped him from pushing additional stimulus packages and sneaky legislation concerning student loans …and even Puerto Rican statehood.

He ended his blame of Congress by insulting the people of Arizona yet again, saying that the absence of a federal resolution opens the door to irresponsibility by “others,” ie “the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness that we cherish as Americans.”

TODAY – in continued oblivion toward the thoughts, feelings and needs of his countrymen, President Obama stood with Mexican President Felipe Calderon to chastise Arizona for its new immigration law, insinuating that the Arizona police Force is racist, mean-spirited, …and not very bright.

Obama said the immigration law – which is simply an enforcement of Federal law and makes it a State crime to be in the U.S. illegally –  is a “misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system.”  He failed again to mention why his White House has made no effort to address and fix the system.

However, he DID say,

“We’re examining any implications especially for civil rights because in the United States of America, no law abiding person — be they an American citizen, illegal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico — should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.”

So I guess you could say he’s doing something, although there is nothing in the law that says it has anything to do with what a person looks like.

You see, believe it or not, (bearing in mind there are always going to be loose cannons in any group) the Arizona police force is professional.  Most have lived in Arizona for a long time, lived with Latino neighbors all their lives, and some – hold on to your chairs – are even Latino themselves.  Further, they, like everyone else, know that an act of terrorism can come at the hand of anyone – any size, shape, gender or color.  They have been trained to watch everyone.  White people rob convenience stores, too.  They aren’t looking for illegals.  They are looking for crime, and when they find it, they are supposed to check the person’s ID.  This is something they do at every traffic stop with every person already.  Plain and simple.  They also all know that there are harsh ramifications if they mess with people without cause.  They all know the whole world is watching.  Does our President think they are idiots?

…Well, we already know he didn’t think too highly of the Cambridge police force.

Calderon, claiming that the Arizona law forces “our people to face discrimination,” doesn’t seem to think very highly of the Arizona police force, either.  He asked that the two countries work together to design an immigration policy that is more to his liking.  I’m sure Obama will accommodate him.

Calderon waxed poetic, saying;

“We can do so if we create a safer border — a border that will unite us instead of dividing us….We can do so with a community that will promote a dignified life in an orderly way for both our countries, who are some of them still living here in the shadows…If we are divided we cannot overcome these problems. We can only do this if we actually face our mutual problems.”

Calderon also waxed Self-Righteous, saying,

“My government cannot and will not remain indifferent when these kinds of policies go against human rights.”

Who is he kidding?  Did Obama think to ask the President of Mexico if he planned on doing the same thing with HIS southern border?  I wonder how the people of Panama and Guatemala feel about all this?

Right – this from Mexico. Up until 2008, illegal immigration was a criminal offense in Mexico. Anyone arrested in violation of Immigration law could be fined, imprisoned for up to two years and deported.  Which country has the record for going against Human Rights, Mr. President?  Officials in Mexico have been known to take bribes to keep suspects out of jail.

The law against illegal immigration in Mexico today is a civil violation, but just like Arizona, Police are “required to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues.”

The law requires the same – but the behavior of Law Enforcement is not the same. Mexico has been cited repeatedly by human rights groups for abusing or ignoring the abuse of migrants from Central America. Just a few weeks ago, Amnesty International issued a report stating illegal immigrants in Mexico are abused, raped and kidnapped.  Mexican police don’t do much to stop it.  Is this why President Calderón thinks Arizona police are crooked?  That may be his excuse, but what is our President Obama’s?  And why are Americans supposed to stomach hypocrisy from President Calderón?

Well, why has Obama expected us to swallow any of the hypocrisy that he’s dished out?

“Illegal immigration is down, not up,” Obama asserted, “And we will continue to do whatever is necessary to secure our shared border…Today I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border.”

When did he do that?  Yesterday?

By the way,  the U.S. has given Mexico about $1.3 billion to fight the drug war.  This includes special equipment meant to help capture drug runners as well as protect Mexican police and judges. According to Washington Post Reporter, William Booth, the equipment included “Black Hawk helicopters, night-vision goggles and armored cars and trains.” Obama wants to give Mexico 310 million more in 2011.

Mexican President’s Hypocrisy

SEIU Says Boycott Arizona? It’s Time to Boycott SEIU

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May 182010
 

Among organizations that have threatened to Boycott Arizona are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW)

SEIU States on their website:

“Arizona has polarized our nation and given license to a racist, anti-immigrant underbelly that has no place in this country and this law must stop in Arizona.

“Now that we’ve made a public stand to protest this unjust law, we ask that you make a personal pledge to boycott intolerance with us by joining us.

“Sign the boycott pledge. It Stops in Arizona.”

I grew up in Minnesota, in a politically active DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor) Family.  As a child, I was at gatherings where I met Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale.  My neighbor was a nurse for Humphrey in his final year. My mom was friends with Rudy Perpich and attended his inauguration. My family visited Don Fraser’s place on the St Croix.

I’ve also been a member of the union when working in Health care.   So I grew up thinking that Unions were a good thing.

And as an adult, I’ve lived the life of my husband and children; members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. I’ve watched my family experience genuine racism and on occasion, was affected by it as well, although we’ve never allowed it to stop us from enjoying our lives.

But I no longer respect Unions, and in truth, the biggest source of racism that we as a family have encountered has, hands down, been from the liberal left; people that purport, either sincerely or as a means to other ends, to be the minorities “benefactor.”

Lord, save us from Democrat do-gooders.  They do so much more harm than good.

So, now that we are on the subject of degrading and dehumanizing leftist policy, let’s talk about the Unions.

Here – look at this statement off of SEIU’s website

“We are the Service Employees International Union, an organization of 2.2 million members united by the belief in the dignity and worth of workers and the services they provide and dedicated to improving the lives of workers and their families and creating a more just and humane society.”

Oh, that sounds all nice and pretty.  UFCW says something similar:

“UFCW members are from many backgrounds and walks of life, but come together as the UFCW for the shared goal of achieving the American Dream. The UFCW is about workers helping workers improve working and living standards. When we unite for better wages, benefits, and working conditions, we help protect and improve the livelihoods of all workers.  The UFCW is one union with one voice. We are committed to changing the places where we work and the communities where we live so that all workers have the opportunity to reach the American Dream.”

Okay – Unions began as bargaining agents for employees for the sole purpose of obtaining humane working conditions, right?  WHEN did they become – when did they obtain the AUTHORITY to be – standard bearers for not just the service I provide on the job, but for my life, the lives of my family, and …for society as a whole?

Further, does SEIU have periodic referendums enabling all 2.2 million members to communicate their beliefs, so that they can be assured that they are, indeed, united in those beliefs?  What about the approximately 1/2 million people that are forced to be members and pay dues to the Union?  Are they united in the same beliefs as the Union as well?

Nevertheless, I concede that there are many who are content with their representation.  I was reading one happy union worker’s comments online –

“Unions are good in the following way.

“Their was one time when they called me into work, then when I got their, they told me they didn’t need me anymore. I called the Union and got paid for 4 hours, and I didn’t even work. I got paid 4 hours and didn’t even have to do anything. Their was also a time when they made me go home 1 hour early and I didn’t want to, I called union and got paid for it. Their were a few times when they were late for giving me break, called the Union and they made sure that they give me my breaks on time. Their was also time when they had me do physically labor, which was outside my job description, called union and they never made me do that again. My question is, why are unions so bad, they are always on the workers side and always look out for are best intrest.”

So…this guy is happy to be paid for not doing anything, and happy that his employer couldn’t ask him to do physical labor, and happy that no matter what’s going on in the shop, he’ll get his break on time.  This really sounds like a great worker; someone I’d definitely want to have on my payroll.  He’s sure living the American Dream.

I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t be using sarcasm.  In truth, the letter sounds like it was written by someone that’s never matured past the age of a spoiled teenager angry that mom interrupted his video game to get him to take out the trash.

And while Mr. Happy is singing Union praises …we’re watching the late great city of Detroit wither and die because the unions have run it into the ground.  What is it about simple economics that so many can’t understand?  How long are Unions going to continue to give millions of workers the impression that they have the right to demand ever increasing wages and benefits as well as a right to not work and still get paid?  Until the entire economy collapses?

This is a clear example of leftist policy doing more harm than good.  But there is more.

There are stories of SEIU making pacts with corporations, at the expense of workers, in order to expand the strength and membership of SEIU.

Quoting from an article in the San Francscio Weekly;

“The secret deal worked out between SEIU bosses and nursing home owners denies union members the right to speak out, strike, or protect patients.”

 ”It has involved trading away workers’ free-speech rights, selling out their ability to improve working conditions, and relinquishing their capability to improve pay and benefits, in order to expand the SEIU’s and Stern’s own power.”

Seems that the purpose of SEIU is no longer for the good of the worker.  It’s purpose is to perpetuate itself.  SEIU exists in order to exist.  Kind of like the BIA.

When did this entity, created to help the oppressed worker, become the Oppressor of the worker?

And more. From everything I have seen of SEIU over the last couple years, from

  • Thugs beating a guy at a town-hall meeting, to
  • Andy Stern snuggling up to Obama and money, to
  • the video of Andy chirping ”Workers of the World, Unite,” and “[W]e prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work we use the persuasion of power,” to
  • SEIU and other Unions trying to force themselves upon unwilling home-care givers in Illinois

…and from all the stories we’ve grown up with about Jimmie Hoffa and other criminals running this massive con on the Blue collar worker; I have come to the conclusion that if I ever need help with a working situation, I certainly don’t need criminals to work it out for me.  I can do it myself.

And if I can’t, I’d rather scrape by, working a small hobby farm to feed my kids – as we once did fifteen years ago – than to give money to these charlatans.  There is no way I will ever pay dues to another Union, even though I am returning to the nursing profession this year – and I will strongly advise my children to never join a union either.  (After all – contrary to the belief of so many on the left – being a tribal member doesn’t mean one is ineptly dependent on others forever.)

All the lies, manipulations and threats … keeping the workers under their thumb.

What’s with these Liberals, these elites, who go through their life thinking they really do have the right to control the rest of us?  While it’s true that they might temporarily have the opportunity and power, they most certainly do not have the right.

And now, the SEIU and UFCW have the audacity to threaten to boycott Arizona because of a new law set in place to protect citizens of Arizona from increasing violence.

Oh – that’s right.  Farmers and ranchers aren’t unionized.  As a result, rather than enjoy the dignity and worth that SEIU workers are said to enjoy, or feeling the pleasure and peace of the promised ”more just and humane society,” they are to be treated as unimportant and unvalued collateral in SEIU’s continued climb for power and perpetuity.

I guess drug cartels don’t phase SEIU much. The differences between SEIU and an organized gang are slight.

What I am wondering is – when and how can we start Boycotting Unions?

Where in our Constitution does it say that we are mandated to give money to thugs in return for their strong-arming of employers?

If you are as curious as I as to how to get these monkeys off our backs, visit the website of National Right to Work.

I looked at the site for the first time this week, after having heard about it from a friend. I wanted to make sure that the state I am living in won’t mandate me to join a Union when I go back to work.  About half the states currently have Right to Work (RTW) laws that allow a person to decline Union membership.  Workers in the remaining states need help fighting for that right. We can start to Boycott SEIU and UFCW right now – if people will help get that legislation passed in all 50 states.

To support citizens of Arizona in their effort to protect themselves and encourage other states to also step up to the plate;

Visit ‘Boycott the Boycotters’

 

To complain to the two Unions that are committed to Boycotting Arizona:

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) (800-424-8592)

International Office -1800 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) (202-223-3111)

International Office – 1775 K Street, NW Washington, D.C.  20006-1598

‘We’ll Leave the Lights on For Ya!’ – “Earth Hour?” Forget it!

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Mar 272010
 

Supposedly, “millions of people” around the world are shutting off their lights at 8:30 pm tonight as part of an “Earth Hour” to draw attention to so-called “Global Warming.”

Apparently, there are lots of people in the world that, due to their liberal and/or state run media, still haven’t gotten the message that much of the “green house gas” garbage was made up.

So, doing my sacrificial part for the good of our world, I will enlighten them.

Increase in Arctic Ice Confounds Doomsayers

CRU Cleared of Wrong doing? Not so fast…

No Global Warming in 15 Years

Archaic Network Provided Data behind Global Warming ‘Theory’

Climate Researchers Manipulated and Hid Data

Lawrence Solomon, Vindicated: Dutch Global Warming ‘Denier’  “Was Right After All”

Alaskan Congressman Announces Global Warming is a “scam”

Top Climate Official Resigns

Oklahoma Senator Calls for Criminal Investigation

Dutch Point out New Mistakes in UN Climate Report

Climate Chief knew of False Glacier Claims before Copenhagen

Even: Climate History erased in 5000 Wikipedia Articles

 More Articles: http://www.christsinternet.com/Issues.html

So, with all that in mind, some on Twitter have decided to relax about Earth Hour:

 RT @JOZETTE1972: #EarthHour Mar 27 8:30p: OK! – Let’s Rock! Turn ON Basement lights, Closet lights, bathroom lights -even FLASH lghts-YAY!! #tcot

RT @TCOT_Talk @JOZETTE1972 just saw a commrcl 4 EarthHour Mar 27…going 2leave my lights on that whole hour!…// ME TOO! ALL lights #tcot

RT @boxxers06 / just saw a commrcl 4 EarthHour Mar 27…going 2leave lights on whole hour!…// ME TOO! ALL lights / 24 hr light party!!!!

RT @littlebytesnews:@boxxers06 /just saw commrcl 4 EarthHr Mar27…going 2leave lightson whole hour!// ME 2!ALL lights/24 hr lght party!|LOL

RT @boxxers06 @Dataaide @littlebytesnews: I installed a search light on my roof, like Gotham City…

RT @TheNoblePatriot #EarthHour -what a joke! More LIBERAL symbolism over substance! I plan to turn on EVERY LIGHT for hour in protest! #tcot

@ByeByeDems @Dataaide @Jozette1972 I’ll be joining you!  // YEAH! All Lights ON tonight for #EarthHour! #tcot

@_AEBJ_ Not walking around N dark!  @ByeByeDems @Jozette1972 I’ll be joining U! // YEAH! All Lights ON 4 #EarthHour! #tcot (via @Dataaide)

RT @fleckman Humans – Tonight, Turn ON your lights & celebrate Human Achievement Hour http://bit.ly/d9NGiH #Human #tcot #earthhour //YES!

RT @DefendGlenn Reminder: Turn All Lights ON for ‘Human Achievement Hour’…tonight at 8:30 p.m. local time #tcot #teaparty #gop #sgp #ocra

Join us!  Let’s show Al Gore and all the other Global Warming nuts that they can take their theory and …well, shove it!

Sen. GOP Forces Healthcare Bill Back to House! PRAY for Miracle!!!

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Mar 252010
 

The Senate GOP Has forced the Healthcare Bill back to the House for a Second Vote.  The Senate parliamentarian agreed this was necessary because of unfunded mandates for the Student Loan legislation that Democrats piggy-backed onto the Health care legislation.

Did you think they would stop with the federalization of healthcare?  Of course not!  They federalized Education funding at the same time!

With all the frightening things this Health Insurance legislation is bringing on us – such as punishing doctors for making referrals to Cancer specialists, Pulmonary specialists, Ear, Nose & Throat Doctors, Orthopedists, or ANY specialist, for that matter – and mandating that Parents be responsible for their children’s health premiums all the way till they are 26; well into adulthood – and the fact abortion funding loopholes still exist – and Robbing our Elders of their Insurance by robbing Medicare – AND FORGETTING their promise that Children are immediately benefited by coverage that ignores pre-existing conditions –

And lots more stomach turning nonsense – none of which actually improves health care in America –

PLEASE PRAY about this forced vote!!

We all know that NO Democrat will change his/her vote outside of a miracle.   Through Deception, whether it be a bought vote, or Obama/Pelosi pressure, or an extremely liberal district, they are all determined to push this horrendous bill through.  And Pundits say that once it is in place, it will be extremely difficult to repeal.

Therefore, it will only be through a miracle that this bill is defeated.

Please – we don’t know what God’s plans are; we are humans with only limited insight -Proverbs 3:5 ”Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding”

So, although what I think we want is for at least four Democrats to suddenly vote “No” on the bill and for the bill to fail, I am praying for God’s Will, as He has the whole picture in view – Colossians 2:3 “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

I pray, therefore, for God’s Will to be Done. I pray for my Nation, I pray for it’s leaders, and I pray for it’s people.

Lord God, Jesus Christ, My Lord and Master, Please shape our country the way you want it shaped, according to Your Will, and Your Will alone.  Lord Jesus, please protect Your children, take Care of Your Children.  Please Set in place the Leaders that You want to have leading, who will bring about the things that You want brought about.  If it is Your Will that America fail, make that way easy, open the doors for that to happen, and please give me the Grace and courage to accept it.

But if NOT, Lord Jesus, I ask in Your Holy Name, that You Close all the Doors that are attempting to destroy our Country, lock those doors, and prevent the destruction from happening.  And Lord Jesus, please make it very clear that this is Your Move and Will, no matter what.  Thank You Jesus, for your Wisdom, Grace and Protection. Thank You for answering our Prayers.  Amen.

ObamaCare: Don’t make me Sick

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Mar 222010
 

Thieves!  I don’t have much money, but what little I have – Keep your hands off!

My Representative, Earl Pomeroy, voted FOR the passage of the Senate’s massive health insurance overhaul Sunday night. Among many of the onerous provisions that our country can’t afford:

– Children will be able to remain under their parents health coverage until they are 26.

– Insurance companies who participate in the government-run exchange will be allowed to provide for abortions. Many prolife orgs, including the National Right to Life, say that federal funds will be used for some of those abortions.

– In all, there will be a half a trillion in new taxes.

– The House “fixes” on the Senate bill raise taxes $50 Billion dollars more, as well as cut Medicare spending $66 billion more for a total of $523 billion.

– The $523 billion of money taken from Medicare will be used to pay for this new government program, including subsidies to help families with incomes up to $75,000 a year buy health insurance. $75,000 is NOT low income.  I, for one, do not want my health needs to come before those of my elders – in particular, the vets who fought for our country and their wives.

– Estimates are that this legislation will expand the deficit by more than $660 billion dollars.  So, not only are we neglecting the needs our elders, but we’ll be leaving our grandchildren with an impossible debt.

– The above are facts. There are rumors of much more to be frightened of.

Thanks Earl Pomeroy. I for one, will be voting for your opponent.  You, too, Obama. You are no hero of mine.

The campaigns against all those that voted for this horrendous legislation must begin today, whether or not they even have an opponent yet.

I write this as a low income widow that has lived many years without Insurance.  Having lived seven years in Canada and witnessed their abysmal care, I would rather have no insurance than to have our country and health care system ruined by Canadian style Obamacare.

These last few weeks, even listening to Obama go on and on with his rhetoric makes me sick to my stomach.  Is it just me, or does he talk now with a sing song in his voice, as if he’s a Television Evangelist?  Someone please tell him to stop.  Please.  It’s truly nauseating.

Obama, Tireless Campaigner, Hires Plouffe to Snow Us Some More

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Jan 252010
 

Excuse me? Obama is in trouble for lying to the country, taking over banks and car companies, trying to push legislation down the people’s throats, mocking regular people for speaking up, staffing the White House with socialists and communists, and causing the Democratic Party to take a nose dive – and he responds, not by changing his direction, apologizing, or bringing in new, non-communist people to take crucial lead positions in the administration; he brings in his old campaign manager, David Plouffe.  A political consultant? Are you kidding me?

Remember when it was noted that he was a master campaigner, but wouldn’t know how to run the country? So what is he doing now but continuing to campaign rather than run the country.  That’s all he knows how to do – campaign – and that was noted long ago, as he’d gone from one campaign to another, climbing up the political ladder without ever accomplishing anything; barely spending a year in the US Senate before beginning his campaign for the presidency.

Now, again, it appears that the plan is to do some more campaigning rather than lead the country.  It appears that he’s going to fix all his troubles by getting his campaign manager to come up with a plan to try to snow us – to tell us what they think we want to hear, rather than getting a crew around him that can devise an agenda that will work with our country and our people.

Why?  Why would they respond to the Massachusetts election by hiring David Plouffe?  Because they don’t plan on changing their current agenda.  They plan to change how we perceive their agenda.  Thus begins a new campaign.  Brace yourselves for some fresh propaganda.

White House Tells Artists to Tell Country “What to do”

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Sep 222009
 

“You are the thought leaders,” the artists were told. “You are the ones that, if you create a piece of art or promote a piece of art or create a campaign for a company, and tell our country and our young people sort of what to do and what to be in to; and what’s cool and what’s not cool. And so I’m hoping that through this group and the goal of all this and the goal of this phone call, is through this group that we can create a stronger community amongst ourselves to get involved in things that we’re passionate about as we did during the campaign but continue to get involved in those things, to support some of the president’s initiatives, but also to do things that we are passionate about and to push the president and push his administration.” This from Michael Skolnik, political director for a hip-hop mogul.

“We’re going to need your help, and we’re going to come at you with some specific ‘asks’ here,” added Buffy Wicks, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. “But we know that you guys are ready for it and eager to participate, so one we want to thank you, and two, I hope you guys are ready.”  The White House Office of Public Engagement, together with the NEA and “United We Serve,” an initiative created by President Obama, held this telephone conference in August with hand-picked artists from across the country.

They are the “thought leaders,” according to the White House, being directed to change our minds.  They are the thought leaders, whose jobs are to tell us what to do and think. 

How offensive is that?  Who does this administration think they are: first telling hundreds of thousands of the American public – the elderly, veterans, young families, from all walks of life – that they are a “mob,” “astro-turf,” and “racists,” for speaking their minds, and now telling rappers and painters that the public is also so stupid that they will let artists tell them what they are supposed to think?  And at our own (tax-payer) expense?

This administration appears to have no understanding of the American public.  They seem to assume that Americans are lemmings, and any lemming that doesn’t follow must have something wrong with him.

This administration is way off in “left” field.  Art inspires, but only when it touches what is already in the heart.  In other words, the art that becomes popular only becomes so because it is reflecting what people are feeling.  It is public passion that inspires art, not the other way around.

So in the current political climate, on a grass roots level, did you notice how quickly the picture of the President as a joker took off? Or the t-shirts with the words, “RIP Constitution”? Or the “I am the Mob” logos on twitter?   Wow. Artists creating popular political art without the help or instruction of the government.  Have you seen anything from the liberal side catch on like that recently on a grass roots level?   Sure, during the campaign there were things that were meant to inspire the public, but there they were created as campaign tools and died as soon as the campaign was over.  Heard any classrooms singing Obama songs lately?

AND for goodness sake – get off the bandwagon that any news station or host is leading the public.  It is the public that is leading Fox News! Fox News is merely the megaphone for the thoughts and feelings of millions of Americans. It is currently the only station listening to the public and giving them the news they are looking for.  I’ve EVEN heard people say that Bill O”reilly is becoming too soft!  And yes – we know that Beck is a little silly – but he’s offering us documented information that no one else is willing to discuss.  We don’t all draw his same conclusions, but we appreciate the information. When will it occur to the left that people choose to watch programs that reflect what’s already on their hearts – not the other way around?  They are leaving MSM in droves because they know much NBC and ABC are only reporting what they are told to report.

The left is imbedded in the concept that they are able to bend minds.  Thus the efforts to control what is taught in schools, push the “Fairness Doctrine,” and coax artists to support their agenda.  What they forget is that throughout history, other countries attempting to control the thoughts and lives of their citizens have eventually failed at the effort.  People push back. People inherently want freedom and independence. Ever heard of Solzhenitsyn?  Or the underground churches in China?  There were rebels even in Nazi Germany.   It was for rebels like that that leaders created, at best, the re-education camps, at horrific worst, Gulags and even death camps.  No! I’m not suggesting that’s where we are headed.  All I am saying is that when the effort to bend people’s minds’ fails, a government must either push harder, or come to the realization that it just doesn’t work.  So realize it right now.  It doesn’t matter to me what you pay a rapper to sing, a painter to paint, a troll to twitter, or even how well articulated an Obama speech is.  My experience and knowledge tell me it is wrong.Lisa Blogs at http://whitetrashvote.blogspot.com/

Is Acorns CEO Bertha Lewis Covering Corruption?

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Sep 212009
 

September 21st, 2009

What, pray tell, had Lewis changed about this disingenuous – some say even criminal – organization?

When Acorn CEO and Chief Organizer Bertha Lewis told Fox News Sunday that she has made many changes, and “Since I took over, I have overhauled the entire system,” what changes was she speaking of?

She said that there at now firewalls protecting the organizations finances, but Congressman Darrell Issa responded, “Your own counsel, Kingsley, said is not true. You don’t have firewalls.”

When Host Christ Wallace asked Congressman Issa to explain why he thinks Acorn is a criminal organization, the Congressman said,

“Well, one thing they did was they covered up an embezzlement, both internally and externally, and then glossed over the dollars…almost a million dollars. Basically, the founder stayed on the board until this became public eight years later. Now he’s with affiliates doing the same work and able to say well, he’s not with the company. The bottom line is there’s no transparency in Acorn. Any charity that you would look at…You normally find out who’s paid what, where the money goes, what the collection costs are and so on.

“Here we have literally hundreds of organizations tied under the ACORN umbrella, and you can’t even find out what their incorporation is, whether they pay taxes, who makes what or, more importantly, whether corporations within the affiliates work in different areas — political fundraising, getting candidates elected, voter registration, other community activities, whether or not those moneys are fungibly moved illegally.”

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms issued an 88-page report in July charging that “Acorn has committed investment fraud, deprived the public of its right to honest services, and engaged in a racketeering enterprise affecting interstate commerce.”

But Ms. Lewis doesn’t seem to understand how all this matters.  On September 12, she stated, “We are their Willie Horton for 2009.  We are the boogeyman for the right wing and its echo chamber,”

During Fox News interview, Ms. Lewis also called the proposal to defund Acorn an “Anti-Acorn Amendment,” as if it was an unwarranted and prejudicial attack rather than the logical result of Acorn’s own mismanagement.

Chris Wallace asked Lewis, “Can you still say this is just about race and politics?”

She avoided the question by responding with the excuse, “Any organization is not entirely perfect.”

Mr. Wallace, it is clear that Ms. Lewis does still think this is about race, as evidenced by her continual references to her organization as “mostly people of color” and her constituents as, “500,000 poor black and brown, Asian and white people in this country.”  People that don’t feel race is a priority don’t continuously and unnecessarily refer to the color of people’s skin. I know, I’m also the administrator of an organization serving a minority issue. I refer to heritage only when necessary and I refuse to count or keep data on the heritage of our members or donors.

After telling Ms. Lewis that he doesn’t know of any other organization structured like Acorn (a political wing of the Democratic Party, closely related to unions, taking federal dollars as well as charity, yet no disclosure or transparency) Congressman Issa asked, “If you’re going to change this, will you come before Chairman Towns, a man who, by the way, voted not to cut off your funding, and get — and give the kind of disclosure to where the Government Oversight and Reform Committee can know that you are doing work with firewalls… so the American people know that their dollars don’t end up doing political activities prohibited by law?”

Ms. Lewis not only refused to answer, she refused to even look at him. Instead she immediately jumped into a prepared statement, saying, “Here’s the question that we really should be asking…”

Wallace attempted to stop her, saying, “…no, no. Answer his question, if you will,” but she continued avoiding it, seeking instead the collective white guilt that had so been so effective in the past, “There are poor people in this country every day that we’re saving their homes,” she started…

Wallace tried to redirect her back to the question seven more times, but she continued to talk over him, …“my job is to serve our 500,000 members. My job…”

Congressman Issa finally got her attention when he said, “There is no God-given right for any organization to receive a grant from the American people. The fact is there are organizations standing in line that wish they won instead of you, and they’re giving us the transparency so we can have the confidence the money is spent only for the purpose of the grant.”

But even in this response she wouldn’t look at Issa or even address it to him.  Addressing Wallace instead, she said, “Congressman Issa is right. You have competitive grants and you need to compete with a lot of other folks. You need to deliver those services. He’s absolutely right…Since I took over; I have overhauled the entire system…”

Not seeing the overhaul, Congressman Issa again asked her to come with transparency before the committee.  Once more, Lewis refused to respond.

The Congressman later ended by saying, “… my opinion continues to be you shouldn’t get another penny of federal dollars until you demonstrate that those dollars are firewalled for only that use, and that has not been the history of the organization.”

Lewis, again, not understanding the severity of the issues and not addressing the Congressman directly, retorted, “And I’m glad Congressman Issa said that is his opinion.”

What is it that Ms. Lewis doesn’t understand? The founder of Acorn, despite his embezzlement, continued to work with Acorn affiliates.  That’s on Ms. Lewis’ watch. Earlier this month, eleven Acorn staff were arrested in Florida for filing fraudulent voter registrations.  That was on Ms. Lewis’ watch.  And now the pimping, tax evasion, child smuggling videos – again, Lewis’ watch.  Further, she not only refused to face the Congressman when he was speaking to her, but refused to answer his questions, talked over the host, and instead of understanding the severity of the problems, snapped about things being just peoples “opinions.”

For many of us in the public, Ms. Lewis seemed not only evasive, but rude.  This, while at the same time accusing her employees of being too stupid to understand that they are not reaching professional standards.  Ms. Lewis, what is YOUR understanding of professional standards?

If Congressman Issa is right about Acorn being a criminal organization, one has to wonder just which standards Lewis’s employees have ‘stupidly” bungled on.  Were they unprofessional in the advice they gave, or in not being careful as to whom they gave it to?

Just what, pray tell, had Lewis changed about Acorn in the last year, and what can we realistically hope will be changed this year?

What Gates’ “Teaching Moment” Taught Some of Us…

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Jul 272009
 

Professor Henry Louis Gates said he hoped his arrest by Crowley leads to greater sensitivity on racial profiling. He described it as a teaching moment, saying that he planned to use his arrest and jail experience as the basis of a documentary on racial profiling.

So what did we learn from the Gates arrest in Boston?  For me, it confirmed my belief that many (not all) accusations of racism and racial profiling are excuses for beligerance when someone is in a situation they don’t like.  For many others, the Boston incident taught them that some accusations of racism might be simple grandstanding and can be ignored.

My education along this line began twenty some years ago, when I first met the man that was to become my husband.  I remember one incident in particular.  I was paying for a meal at a chain restaurant.  The cashier, before taking my check, asked me for some ID.  I pulled out my driver’s license and showed it to her, and we went on our way.

Walking out the door, my to-be husband whispered to me that she wouldn’t have done that if he hadn’t been standing behind me.  He truly believed that the only reason she asked for my ID was because I was with a minority.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  I knew that getting carded at a restaurant was nothing new for me.  Sometimes they did it, sometimes they didn’t, but it had nothing to do with whether he was there or not.  I scoffed at his assumption that it was all about him.

And we had other such “teaching moments” when he needed to learn that it wasn’t all about his skin.  He needed to learn that some clerks are just tired or have bad days, just like he does, and if they scowl, it doesn’t mean that they are even thinking about him let alone hating him.  I’m a person who falls into deep thought about various issues and I don’t always notice who is around me.  If I am lost in my own thoughts, thinking about something difficult or emotional, it frequently shows on my face.  It has nothing to do with who is in the room.  There are many people in this world just like me.  Not every scowl is racially motivated.

When I first met him and he attended a party at my Dad’s house, he gravitated after a short time to the garage and ate his meal out there.  This wasn’t because anyone in the house had any animosity against him.  It was a reaction born of his own insecurity.

Fortunately, my husband did learn from these teaching moments, and the older he got the more he began to relax around people of “non-color” and even enjoy himself.  In his later years, he not only enjoyed people of all heritages, but he felt comfortable standing up and speaking to various politicians about the fallacy of race-based laws (such as ICWA).  He even went to DC several times to speak to various Congressmen on issues.

This isn’t to say that we never experienced real racism.  On a few isolated occasions, we ran up against the real thing.  But now he could tell the difference.

Interestingly, it was because he relaxed and became comfortable with his own thoughts and voice that he himself began to be accused of being a racist by a state Human Rights Network.  You see, he was a minority speaking against political correctness.  That makes the Left very uncomfortable.  They would rather that all minorities stay in neat little, controllable packages.

When he passed away five years ago, his birth family was surprised by the number of people of “non-color” that not only showed up at his funeral, but stood up and spoke of their admiration for him.

Perhaps Professor Gates has spent too much time in his ivory tower and needs to get out more.

VIEWPOINT : Law could tear children from a ‘tribe’ they love

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Mar 292007
 

By Lisa Morris,
Published Thursday, March 29, 2007, Grand Forks Herald

RONAN, Mont. – At 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 9, Patrick and Virgina Swartz of Van Buren County, Ark., were getting their two girls ready for bed. The 10-year-old twins already were in pajamas when police suddenly arrived. Brandishing a court order, they took the frightened girls and drove them 60 miles to the home of an elderly relative. The girls couldn’t even tell their friends good-bye.

By all accounts, the Swartz’s, owners of an Arkansas trucking company, took good care of the girls. In October 2002, the birth mother, Virginia’s fourth cousin, had arranged for them to adopt the twins. However, another relative with four of the twins’ siblings began custody action. With the support of the Tohono O’odham Indian Nation, she won.

Neither the birth mother, the Swartzes NOR the relative are Indian. So why was this tribe from Arizona involved?

Because the twins’ natural father is Indian. And although he has “undisputedly abandoned the children,” his status as an enrolled member of the tribe makes him “relevant to this case,” the Arkansas Court of Appeals declared.

This gave the tribe jurisdiction under the Indian Child Welfare Act. The tribe wanted the twins placed with the siblings, “irrespective of the fact that other full and half-siblings are scattered among several other states,” according to the court.

Again, why take children from the only safe, nuclear family they’d ever had?

The appeals court found that the “best interest” of the twins wasn’t the only issue. Citing the Indian Child Welfare Act, the court found that “maintaining the integrity of the Nation, its culture, its children, and its progression through time not to become extinct” also had to be considered.

Neither the tribe nor the court adequately explained how moving the girls from the nontribal home they loved to a nontribal home they didn’t know would preserve the tribe.

The Indian Child Welfare Act’s original goal was to combat abusive practices that took Indian children from tribal communities and put them in unfamiliar environments with strangers. The trauma that Indian children suffered from, among other things, being forced to enroll in far-off boarding schools is undeniable.

But today, the reverse is happening. Children who never have been near a reservation are being removed from environments they love and forced to live with strangers chosen by tribes.

Stories affecting black, hispanic, Norwegian-American and other families reflect this reality. Letters from birth parents, grandparents, pre-adoptive families and tribal members themselves can be read at www.caicw.org/

Many children falling under the Indian Child Welfare Act are primarily nontribal. Tribal governments decide their own membership, and most have decided ¼ blood quantum is all that’s necessary. Some have decided less.

Furthermore, parents can’t avoid the act by not enrolling their children. The act defines an Indian child as any “enrollable” child. So today, children with ¼ or less heritage and no connection to Indian Country fall under the act.

Any emotionally healthy child, no matter their heritage, is devastated when taken from home and forced to live with strangers. Even children of 100 percent tribal heritage are devastated if they’re taken from non-tribal homes they love and put into reservation homes they know nothing about. And remember, children with less than 100 percent blood quantum have other relatives and heritages as well.

Why should Herald readers be concerned? Because Minnesota state officials are working to disallow courts even from considering a child’s lack of involvement with a tribe.

A February agreement signed by Minnesota and tribal governments mandates that the Indian Child Welfare Act apply to all children eligible for tribal membership. This agreement does away with the “Existing Family Doctrine,” an exception used to determine if ICWA applies.

Furthermore, House File 1169 and Senate File 1221 amend Minnesota law to read that the act is “applicable without exception.” A court may not use questions about a child’s lack of contact with a tribe or whether “a child is part of an existing Indian family” to determine the act’s applicability, the change declares.

Tribal authorities argue they are most qualified to decide the best interest of enrollable children. Are they? I am birth mother to five members of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe. As well-intended as some in government are, they haven’t the ability to know what’s best for families who have left to live a different life.

Please ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty and state legislators to ensure that the “Existing Family Doctrine” remains available to Minnesota families who choose not to live within the reservation system.

Morris is administrator of the Christian Alliance for Indian Child Welfare.

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