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March 30, 2010 --Printer Version (6)
Trigger Happy

Some blog postings are harder to write than others. This one is particularly disturbing. Again, it goes to both the incompetence of the Tribal Police and their complete lack of any training. Well, aside from: "Have you ever had a gun before? This is where the bullets go in."

People who do not take care of their dogs and just let them breed and run in packs on the rez, have created a huge danger for the people out there. Especially for little children.

People who are responsible about their dogs: Get them their shots, feed them properly, keep them contained in a pen or in the house or if they are outside, on a leash, are also at risk from these packs of dogs.

Apparently, they are also at risk from LaVerne Littlewind, BIA COP and trigger happy.

A young girl was walking the family pet, a Bull Dog --not a Pit Bull, not a Rottweiler, but a bow legged, snorfling, sweet Bull Dog, on a leash near her home. This was a family pet. It was always kept in the house. They had it for 5 years.

Well, until last week. The girl was walking her dog and LaVerne walked up and shot it. Didn't kill it right away because he is not that good of an aim--- so he ran after it as the terrified family pet ran off, in shock and agony --- and the girl ran after it. LaVerne then emptied his revolver into it, right in front of the child.

It is so traumatizing, so senseless and so stupid, I have no idea where to begin.

LaVerne ran back to the Badger Hole and reported what he had done. Someone from the Badger Hole phoned up the family and muttered: "You aren't allowed to have dogs on the rez." And then hung up.

Aside from the sheer brutality and stupidity of this, is also the danger of discharging a firearm in the proximity of civilians. In this case, a child. For the luvva all that is sane--get some training! Have some RULES!

Overkill

Apparently there is a new rule on the rez that people are not allowed to have Pit Bulls or Rottweilers. As if it is the breed itself and only those two breeds that are the issue? How simple-minded is that? It is the animals that are abused and neglected, regardless of breed or size, that are the problem. Same as it is with the children: The abused and neglected-- not the cared for, not the loved, and not the ones from healthy homes!

It's a simplistic solution to say "Not allowed" and not cover any of the specifics in how things will be dealt with out there. Without competence and training from the top down, we can expect more bullying, gestapo tactics from the Badgers.

Of course, if anyone hits or is said to have hit or resisted one of these buffoons while being arrested, with or without proof that any of them was ever actually struck, that person can get 5 years in Federal Prison. *Goose Stepping hobnailed boots in the background.

From the Rez:

I wrote to you about that home where all the dogs were shot because someone said that they attacked a woman.

According to the Clinic here, they told said she was run over and dragged, either by a car or a snowmobile. And then I hear that the PD is investigating the whole thing. In the meantime they shot all the dogs at a home near where this happened. This happened in the Tokio-Woodlake District.

Then about a week later they are on the news saying it was a dog attack and the Woman is in Minneapolis being treated? So the people don't know what really happened, the Woman involved was Fairy Demarce and no one has quoted her or she was never interviewed.

Well 2 reasons she was never interviewed: 1) They already shot all the dogs and they didn't want to explain it, and 2) this way they didn't actually have to investigate who (if anyone) had run her over or dragged her. Case closed.

A third reason would be that if they investigated and found that the woman had never been hurt by her dogs, wow, would that look bad on them? And, what if the person who had run her over (IF that had been the case) was, you know, a Turdclan member or someone well-connected?  Or worse! What if the person was drunk or high and it could lead to an investigation of *Horn Section Blare* 'DRUGS ON THE REZ!!!

Well, I suppose the family could always take the matter to Tribal Court. Oh wait, yeah, forget it.

So, dogs get shot on the spot, but not one rape has ever been investigated? I guess you have to start somewhere. Especially if you have untrained, under-educated trigger happy abusive types both running the Badger Shop and in the rank and file.

I don't think anyone feels safer out there with episodes like this being so common place. Clearly, a lot of work has to be done to make the rez a place where people can feel they stand a chance of being treated fairly.

We have seen how dangerous dogs that are untrained, unsupervised can be to everyone out there... now, apply that to those untrained, unsupervised cops --with guns.

Tribal Administrator Bingo

Marty Alex, the one who is appointed to clean up the messes of the now gone Personnel Administrator--(Weenie Boy, the man who could neither read nor comprehend), and whose name and credentials were never posted on the Tribe's website is a mixed bag of guesses.

Here are the emails:

"Marty" whose real name is Michael graduated in Dec 09 from United Tribes with a 2yr degree in small business management.

Well, that is helpful! Wait... No..(another email)

I know for a fact he never got that certificate he was trying to get at United Tribes College, he was going there for the last 3 years. He has many personal problems with his live-in girlfriend who has a tendency too take off with different guys now and than.

He's a pretty good fall guy I would think, for the Turdclan. But i would rather have him in there, instead of weenie boy! That's a big step up for the tribal personnel, putting Marty in there. Marty and his live-in girlfriend, (who is related too the turd clan) are compulsive gamblers, but hey who isn't into gambling around here?

And so it goes. Back and forth. No one saying he is a bad guy, most feel he is a fall guy, but nobody knows for sure--because the Tribal Website contains no information.

Well, they are posting Weenie Boy's job. They want at least a degree in the field. Whoa! Going from a man who is functionally illiterate, and who drooled on himself, to someone with an education?  Major step. They are asking for a B. A. degree. I'm thinking we need to go straight to Ph.D. on this one. It's a big mess out there.

Call The Warriors Home

Go to the records of who received college educations or applied for positions that had degrees, but were turned down because they were not related to the Turdclan. Go to those old files and start looking for the Warriors that have been run off.  The ones that overcame the obstacles of life on the rez and obtained true degrees and came back to make it better--- only to be name-called, and not allowed to fill the positions that were held by the incompetent-but-related.

These are the true Warriors. They had the love of their People, their Tribe, in their hearts as they struggled to get what was needed to bring back and make things better. You broke their hearts. Now, say you are sorry and call them home. They are the best you can get.

Plans

We'll deal with the levels of corruption and incompetence of the Tribal Courts in the next blog. At least that is the plan.  I already have so much on Molly MacDonald and Pete Belgarde, but anything else you want to add, now would be the time.

We'll also look in on Poopsie and his new pacemaker and see if QBall has killed him yet.

Turdmother has been diagnosed with cancer. But some say she got it just to compete for attention with her sister, who is terminal. Turdmother is hobbling around with a cane now. It does make her look more distinguished. She likes accessories. She is one.

Despite the reports of major incompetence and ongoing violence and betrayals of trust on the rez, there are major developments happening under the surface that are forming major changes. I can't go into details, but I can tell you, forces are at work to overtake the darkness and to bring Justice.

Meanwhile, support the good people that are doing their best out there under these circumstances. Encourage the more qualified to return and get involved. Demand that your police receive proper training, and that your Judges are qualified.

Demand that your clinics are places of healing, not of exploitation.

Tell your tribe's webmasters to get off their lard asses and post information that clears up who is doing what, what their qualifications are, and what the Tribe plans to do in the near future and long-term.

Stay motivated. Keep talking to each other. Discuss and resolve issues both minor and major, and learn the skills of Conflict Resolution. These are personal skills that make life better for everyone.

No one is expected to be perfect. But, for the life of me, I cannot fathom how deep the destruction runs nor how permanent it will be, if we don't all learn to learn from our mistakes.

One thing the Tribe needs to remember: We are all in this together. We must find ways to help one another, and to support those who are helping us move forward.

One thing our Nation needs to remember: We are all in this together. This is not 'them and us'. This is all US.

Those inside the rez know the price of divisive politics and toxic rhetoric: Isolation, abuse and neglect.

Those outside the rez should take heed as the same divisive, toxic tactics are being spewed by those who need to keep us suspicious of one another, in order to continue to raid our resources and keep us down.

Recommended Reading:

I am reading a book now, and I recommend it as the Narrative of our Times: "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein.  It is hard to read, because it is true. It gives an understanding of how governments conquer other nations by economic warfare. It shows how governments conquer their own citizens, with the same tactics of brutality and divisiveness, so that entire nations can be exploited for the benefit of a few wealthy, powerful families.

The Shock Doctrine explains to us all how we are, in fact, "All Indians Now" if you know what to look at. I describe the rez and a corrupt system that benefits a few and harms us all. She describes exactly how that system is put in place and works against us all--on a global level.

Previously, I have read 2 books by Graham Hancock: "Fingerprints of the Gods" and "Supernatural".

Graham is an Archeologist who looks at primitive cultures as more enlightened and aware than our own. It goes into their superior understanding of physics and logic, and spirituality. It shows how intellectual possessiveness and ego both keeps valuable theories and information from us all, as well as keeps a flawed narrative of our world's history in place.

People have asked what kinds of books I read. Those are 3 of them.

Keep On Keeping On

A lot of work needs to be done. A lot of good work is starting to be done. Don't be discouraged. Don't doubt that you can make changes --both in your personal life and in the community you live in. Once you realize how much you have already done, nothing can stop you from doing more.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 28, 2010 --Printer Version (3)
Wobbly Start

Nothing happens overnight. Many things happen under the cover of darkness and behind closed doors. Fortunately, for the Tribe, things are happening more and more in the light of day. It just looks a little wobbly at the start.

For instance: A new job position was created: Tribal Administrator. They said they wanted someone with a BA Degree, but preferred someone with a Masters Degree. They got Marty Alex. Marty has a 2 year degree, but I don't know what in. Some say he has a degree from United Tribes in "Criminal Justice", but no one knows for sure.

I still say, you need to call your warriors home. The warriors with education and degrees that were run off over the years, and called names like "Apple Indians" just because they worked to make something out of their lives. People who could have, as many do, work outside the Tribe and make even better money, because they are qualified. It's a crying shame to run off the very people who could have, long ago made it better.

Not only is Weenie Boy gone from the key position, but I understand that Kenneth Greywater was in charge of Tribal Planning. Again, never went to school, so how did he get that position? *snorfle* Not sure if Kennyboy is gone yet, but he is on the "House Cleaning List".  So is Fred Longie.

Marty has his hands full, and none of this will be easy.

Let's look at Marty, shall we?

Some feel he might be the Fall Guy that can be thrown to the wolves when the families of the recently fired get upset and start rattling cages. He was once married to Mary MacDonald back when no one could figure out what he was doing with her. Or what was going on with her. He has never held any job for any longevity. "Longevity" is a relative term, so it can mean any number of things and I would not put too much stock in that.

I have a friend that has worked many, many jobs. Never could stick with one job for very long, but has not missed a day of work since he was 15. Even served in the Military during Viet Nam. His inability to hold a job for 'longevity' has been attributed to his PTSD from both Residential School abuse and from the horrors of that war.

I don't know what the whole story is on Marty, or if any of those circumstances would also apply to him. Just saying that a number of reasons can be had.

*By the way, all this could be cleared up if the Tribe's website would bother to post any current information about what is going on in the Administration of the Tribe.  But that is clearly asking too much from those so used to being paid for doing almost nothing, for so long. You are, stuck with me. I am stuck with you.

Marty was once the Director of Property and supply and made all the people bring back the heavy equipment they were keeping at their homes and using for themselves. They went crying to the Council back then and he was laid off because of that. Now he is up against the same people again and it is kind of like round two.

Yup, he did the right thing and he got booted for it. Now, Round 2? I think he has his priorities in the right place. I'd like to know what his Education & Credentials are, just so we could all have a better idea of his strengths and limitations.

For now, he has a major job to accomplish and I am not sure how much help or support he is getting. I am also not sure if he is going to be the fall guy that is, if the heat gets to be too much, sacrificed to appease the powerful families out there.

Let's hope he gets the support he needs. Let's hope the Tribal Council supports him and that they continue to seek even more qualified help both above him and below him so that the things that get accomplished don't come undone by politics.

What am I looking for now? Make Piggy Cavenaugh show her credentials, degree and qualifications. She has none. And if she does, she has no skills at using them and is corrupt--FIRE HER. In fact, investigate her for multiple Breaches of Confidentiality, Extortion and Embezzlement. Go for the Hat Trick on this one.

Remove her from the one place where you need the best there are: Healing. The suicides have not stopped. The addicted have no confidence they can trust their own tribe to help them heal.

After her, there is the Casino: Dump the entire Turdclan. They have made it a stinking hole. Now, take Beaz and her son off the School Board: They are not qualified.

Set up a board to hear and resolve disputes for the employed and for the districts on a personal level. Two Separate Boards. Give people some place they can go with complaints and whistle blowing on activities. 

This will accomplish many things: Chief among them: Trust. It will give people a place to peacefully resolve disputes among themselves, and it will give Whistle blowers a place to report without fear of retaliation. Whistle blowers can save the tribe millions. Peaceful resolutions to disputes can lower the incidents and levels of violence, and make the Rez a safer place.

You cannot rely on Tribal Courts for any of these things, because that court has been corrupted from the beginning. This has to be a Board that is built up by people of character, both from the Rez and from the outside, as families tend to protect their friends and families. The Disputes Board would have non-binding authority. They would work towards conflict resolution to show people how to resolve their differences.

The other Board: The Whistle Board, would be comprised of people with DEGREES in Law and Justice. They would be comprised of people from Law Enforcement--from outside the rez.  This is where people would go to report criminal activity, corruption. This board would then take information and depending on the level of criminality or abuse, take it to the Tribal Police to investigate, or to the FBI, or to other Police Agencies.

Building this Board will take time. But it has to come into being for people to bridge from the rez to Law Enforcement, and build trust. The FBI has, and the Federal Courts have, destroyed that trust over many generations. Design this Board and get funding.

The people of each Tribe should have oversight committees made up of volunteers, that get reports every 3 months from the Board, and report back at the General Assembly, on issues that are current, in a general way so that people know there are issues dealing with Drugs, Abuse, School Issues, etc.

We need to stop throwing away Indians. We need to start healing the wounded, the addicted, the abused, and make the community stronger. Bring back the element of Trust and the healing will grow.

The hard work of cleaning up the mess has started. There are some wobbly parts to it. There will be mistakes made. But they can be fixed, learned from. Keep your eyes open. Do not rest.

Marty Alex may or may not be up to the job. But right now, he's all you've got. From what I have seen, he's doing his best. And he's going up against people who have a lot of power and influence.

Let's see how he does this time.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 25, 2010 -- Printer Version (3)
Spring Cleaning

Looks like the (mostly) New Tribal Council is cleaning up some of the mess out there. Weenie Boy was terminated from Personnel Dept and last Friday was his last day there. He was seen, at his desk, doodling on paper, which is about all he ever did, when he bothered to show up.

We can only hope that Anna McKay has been tossed out with him, as he could have done none of the damage without her loyal assistance. She can read--he is functionally illiterate. "Spell 'Phone' Weenie Boy.... Yeah, I thought not."

I am told that 'they' are finding hundreds of thousands of dollars not accounted for. Yeah, that would be the last few months... track back to the (too many) years that he and his family were allowed to run the place and I am sure you will find millions of dollars have not been 'accounted for.'. 

Who are 'They'? I dunno. I am hoping it is real accountants and not just family friends with basic math skills. Although, anyone with basic math skills and fundamental literacy could easily see there is a criminal level of behavior there.

I hear that QBall was fired last month, but that he refuses to give up the files he has stored in various places, which, by the way, is against the law. But laws, until recently, really were no impediment to the Turdclan.

Nature Takes Course

Pursuing Black Road Medicine is always asking for a bad outcome. Pursuing Black Road prayers, especially after your only talented Black Road Medicine Man, Joe Tiona was struck down (suddenly), is really asking for a lot of bad things to break loose on you, all at once.

So Poopsie is finding out. His gluttonous ways, his murdering ways, and all the other Black Road crimes he has committed, are now coming due:

Recap: He had Open Heart Surgery...and then, the pacemaker they installed, quit and he had to be opened up again, and a new one put in.

He is terrified of QBall coming to kill him, like he killed their brother Scott. He is afraid to die, because for cowards such as he, it is NEVER a GOOD DAY to DIE.  Eddie Fish and Sam Jackson have shown up to disturb his recovery. They make a 'clicking sound' that jars Poopsie from his rest. He opens his eyes and there they are, less than an inch from his face.

Poopsie tries to scream, but can only muster a moan. It dopplers, like a train approaching and then moving away. He struggles to catch his breath, and the machines can't keep up.

Turdmother has sought out even more Black Road Medicine to "Protect and Help" him. Her turn will come.

She knows that if he goes, there is no one to protect her from the Truth-- all of it. All of the murders, all of the rapes, all of the incest, all of the stealing.

FBI in Grand Forks is unsettled. The conduit that funneled dollars into the backrooms and the political protection that came with that, is being cut off. Investigators from out of town, many from Washington, DC, are coming in... looking around... and seeing that which no one thought would ever be exposed.

The real problem with keeping dark secrets is this: People know them. People talk. Killing people to silence them only leads to more dark secrets, more people knowing, and eventually, it all comes into the light.

Yes, the power base of the Turdclan is crumbling, visibly.

Those that prospered from the corruption are in fear, and without protection.

Those who had protected them are themselves, being exposed to investigations and scrutiny.

Meanwhile

The children are still being damaged. There are too many ways, too easily available for them to destroy their lives before their lives have begun. Piggy Cavenaugh and her family, are still in charge of the Clinics. They are directly connected to the men who have suicided recently. They still have no qualifications, nor do they have compassion. They still have the keys to all the secrets that have been told by the vulnerable as they tried to seek help and found only Piggy and her family, who wasted no time exploiting them, damaging them, abandoning them, and dancing on their graves.

Piggy needs to go. Her family needs to go. Take away the keys to the files, the cars, the safes, the money and the doors. Take away the keys from those who do this harm, and save what is left, struggling to survive, struggling to recover, struggling to heal.

As we have seen, Denial is strong out there. But the awakening is happening. We must, all of us, support all that is being done right, and those who are doing it.

We must continue to oust the corrupt. Walkingtoad and NLO need to go. Look around. Find among your own, the most educated, with the most integrity, and support them in the election upcoming. Go door-to-door and talk to people.

The Tribal Council you have now is far from perfect. No one expects perfection. What we need are people who are willing and able to do the work of governing the people. Helping the people. Investigating and taking action against those who are doing the harm and hurting the people.

I have minor issues with just about every Tribal Council member out there. I have criminal concerns only about Toad and NLO. You need to support the rest. And they need to make sure that they are not using their position, not even a little bit, to evade the law. It is tempting, to consider that a small violation is okay. It is not. It becomes the leverage that grows until it can be used against you.

So, I say to those Tribal Council Members who have even the slightest questionable practices going on in their personal lives: Clean It UP, or it will drag you down.

The Clean up has just begun out there. Even more work lies ahead. Look at the children and ask yourself: "Are they worth it?"

Make your choice based on your own answers.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 21, 2010 Printer Version (4)
Clear the Name

I have received a second letter from a family member of Margie Herald, objecting, strenuously (but respectfully) to the blog posting where she was labeled as "Homeless" and "A drug addict". 

Let us leave it up as an example of how things can go sideways, despite the best of intentions either on my part or the part of my contributors.

I don't think the contributor intended to smear Margie. But, communication being what it is, it certainly did end up doing exactly that.

To give the benefit of the doubt to the contributor, I think they were talking about Margie and then added in, without taking a breath, relevant issues about people not getting treatment and being forced to seek help or relief, far from home.

Margie's daughter is correct: Typically I do ask before I post, but in this case, I did not. I did not know who to ask. I posted the letter as its own stand alone item. I always invite people to write in and seek correction, offer corrections to anything posted in this blog.

My concern for the people of Spirit Lake is that for too long they have been ignored, abused and abandoned by both Federal and Tribal government. When problems arise, for any reason, help is not only not available, it is also, if delivered at all, done so most frequently by those with no skills or qualifications save one: They are kin or friends of those in power. A few exceptions to this, but not enough.

People are dying too young from sicknesses, and from suicides; from drinking and from being in the wrong place at the wrong time when someone decides it's time for them to die. 

Elders are dying and their knowledge goes with them. Too many good and decent people, loving and compassionate people, are, for too many curable reasons, never even reach the age of "Elder" before they are gone from us.

Add to that the suicides of the very young... and the damage left behind, and what do you see?

I still maintain that the writer meant no slur upon Margie Herald.  But clearly, her good name and her reputation were marred.

Let her daughter speak for her now:

I am writing to ask you to take everything off you said about my mother on your blog. My mother is Marjorie ( Margie Herald). She was very dear to me and was not homeless nor a drug addict as you posted on your website.

I have no clue where you got that information from nor do I care. But only ask that you mention that all the information given to you about her was false. I am her eldest daughter and would be glad to give any information on my mothers death.

She did die in pain but not addicted to pain pills. If you or who ever gave you that info can prove to me that she was all those things that were posted, I will gladly approve any accusation by your readers or yourself that is posted on your site.

I would appreciate that you do only post FACTS, which would gain my respect back for your site. Also thanks for your correction on the false statement that she died homeless. I find it very despicable of the person who sent you that. Also not to mention very careless and rude to spread such childish rumors.

Usually you announce or ask your readers if they had any info on that person before you post "FACTS" in your blog.  I am very surprised you went ahead and just put it out there like that.

I shall endeavor to do better in the future. If anyone has anything to say about Margie that differs from what her daughter says, feel free to speak to her. She seems unafraid to face anyone. She seems unafraid of the Truth.

We need, frankly, more of that not just out there, but everywhere.

And, as you can see, I do make corrections.

Now, I HOPE THIS ONE is TRUE!

I am hearing from more and more people that Weenie Boy was fired from Human Resources. Yet, I still see his name (and Anna McKay's) listed on the website as Personnel Manager(s), or something with a shared brain.

Then again, not like your tribe's website has ever been timely nor up-to-date on anything.

But the word I am getting is that Weenie Boy is out, and that 'they are finding all kinds of mess with the numbers and the money...' Well, DUH! He's a thief, a murderer, and he hires his family into all the key positions! What, pray tell, would you expect to find?

The fact that he is functionally illiterate and Anna McKay has to do all of this for him means she is, essentially, 'the brains behind Pa' on this one. She needs to go too.

If it is true and he is fired, the Tribal Council should be commended on taking a very big step to undoing the wrong, the corruption and the harm out there. They also need to get a Forensic Audit done to find out exactly where all the money went.

It will be expensive, but they can take the keys to the count room away from Poopsie, who is now recovering from his heart surgery. (I hear that the first pacemaker they put in, up and quit on him so they had to reel him back into the operating room and remove the stitches, put in a new one, and sew his ass up again.)

They will find there are millions more dollars that are available from that. Millions that used to go directly into the Turdclan accounts. That will pay for the Forensic Audits of the Personnel Dept and a few other places.

It's messy and it's messed up, but it has to be done.

Take a look at the photo of Weenie Boy and his daughter. It's prom night. She's a very pretty girl. They have a beautiful home... a home built on murder, embezzlement, thieving, corruption and ???

Please tell me that it is true, that is he OUT.

Meanwhile, Poopsie lives in fear of QBall coming over and giving him a big ol' bear hug... until his heart stops again. Or him running a microwave in his room, or putting magnets near his chest, or whatever else QBall can do to make sure Poopsie never recovers again. 

It's what Poopsie and the rest of them get for maintaining their silence on the murder of Willie, and the beating death of their brother, Scott.  Now, QBall is the biggest threat to his entire family.

Oh and a question for Poopsie: How's that whole Black Road Medicine thing working out for ya? Gonna have your fake Medicine Man try that "spitting medicine" again? Do you really think you can stop The People from healing? Do you really think you can stop The People from knowing the Truth? 

(*Lean in to hear) What's that? Say it louder, I can't hear you. Owl & Coyote are singing. Oyate are laughing. 

You were warned, long time ago, these days would come. Open the door. They are here. Your denial serves only to bring you down more and more.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 16, 2010
NOT a Good Day To Die  Printer Version (3)

So, keep me posted on how Poops In His Pants does on his recovery from heart surgery. I hear that Tony McDonald (Accomplice/Accessory to the Murder of Eddie Peltier)(Also, the *ahem* Pastor of the church) hosted a Community Dance last Tuesday to do two things:

1. Announce that Poopsie was in recovery from Heart Surgery and that everyone should pray for him because he is such a highly respected member of the community... as all murderers are... and ...

2. Announce it was his, Tony's Birthday.

So, a big dance, at Tribal expense, mostly for Tony's Birthday. Apparently, a lot of eyes rolled and there was some snickering, and then everyone just carried on.

By Saturday, Poops Pants only son, was seen driving Daddy's truck all over the rez. Like he owned it. Well, someone has to keep the battery from going dead.

Now, all the spawn of Poops and the little woman "Catches Flies in Her Mouth" are openly drug addicted.

The minute one gets a prescription, they all show up and divvy up the pills, figure out how they can get a refill "I dropped my pills down the sink!" So, this will be a real gold mine for all of them.

You can see in this picture here, Poops Pants has one of his expensive hair cuts by a 'stylist'.  I hope he tips really well. Anyone that has to touch all that grease and stink should be rewarded.

Anywho, back to the surgery:

Apparently Poops was scared. He had people around him that no one else could see. He was a little jumpy at first, but that quickly gave way to downright spooked, as his eyes fixed on a face of Eddie Fish. Apparently, Eddie was staring at him, but Eddie had no eyes. Just black holes.

Eddie was not alone. Fulton showed up, Gilbert Fasset, Sam Jackson and apparently Joe Tiona's ghost showed up, holding a stick and beckoning for Poops to 'come'.  I don't think he came. I doubt that he could even get it up.

I hear the surgery was a success. But now comes the scary part: Recovery.

QBall has already murdered one brother, Scott, who only had one kidney. One kidney that was donated by Poops, years ago. Scott suffered multiple blows to the one kidney and to his chest, delivered by QBall, who wanted to not pay his brother any rent.

I understand that QBall still refuses to move out of the house and is fighting Scott's son, the Will that left him the house, and suing the Judge that ruled that the Will stands.

Next on QBall's list was Alex...

But seeing Poops Pants in such a fragile condition... well, anything can happen. Sustained pressure to the heart... or cutting off the Oxygen tank... anything.

QBall wants to run the family. Getting Alex out of the way was going to be his next move... but it looks like he just might Pass Go on this one. It will look like natural causes.

Anyone that witnesses him do it won't ever speak about it. They never said anything when he ran his nephew off the road and killed him, or when he murdered his brother. 

The only son can drive the truck around until QBall takes it away from him. Well, what the heck... there will be all those leftover prescriptions to divide up. Good times.

Your mother wants you dead. She wants you dead so she can play the grief card. She wants to just be able to wail out loud in public, have all eyes turn on her, and people offer comfort. She wants to end all this by blaming you.

When you die, she plans to claim that she has been keeping a terrible secret for too long. A secret that you were the killer and she was always afraid of you... She thinks that will wash the family clean in the eyes of the Tribe. She thinks people will feel sorry for her.  She thinks people will look at her with pity and not with contempt. She thinks people will believe her.

She wants to raise her family up. She thinks the Tribe will believe that you did all the killings and the rest were forced to go along with it. She's already rehearsing her sorrowful face. Already rehearsing her wailing, and her speechifying.

She just needs to know where the money is... and how to get to it. "Just in case."

Be careful Poopsie. You know your family. They know you. Only now, they are not afraid of you. At all. And, with all those murders on you, all those lies, all those rapes, all those really baaaad things you did, Today is NOT a Good Day For You to Die.

The Black Road is coming due. You will pay for every step on it.

Only one thing can change what happens after you die. Only one thing can stop all those bad things from gnawing at your spirit, causing pain to you and your family... only one thing: Confess.  Publicly confess to every crime.

But you can't do that. You can't do that fast enough. Soon, you won't be able to. You will be alive, but unable.  You will be aware, but unable. You will live every waking moment in terror, and be unable. Sleep will not offer you rest, only more and deeper fear.

It's catching up to you. No one can protect you. All your Black Road Medicine is gone. Joe Tiona dropped dead. Now, You have Richard Street, but you know he is a fake.  Still, you ask him to do these special 'prayers'.  Still you try to attack. Your enemies stand in the Light of Truth. Nothing you do can touch them.

The Truth protects them. The Truth terrifies you. But only the Truth can save you. Only the Truth can set you free. The more you fight it, the more you attack it, the more you go down, the more you take the rest down with you.

Black Road was so easy. Black Road was so strong. Now, your attacks deplete you. Where does it go? It does not go where you want it to. What can you do? Better do it fast. QBall is not a patient man, and..

It's not a good day for you to die.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

PS: You know I'm right. You remember how you were told a long time ago, how this would go down. You remember. It was whispered in your ear.

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March 10, 2010  --Printer Version (4)
Correction: Marjorie Herald (additional correction here)

From a relative:

she was not homeless and did not die in Fargo, she died in Dunsieth where she lived with her daughter. She did live for a time in Fargo but that does not mean she was homeless. I really wish you would post only facts. Posting people opinions, sometimes called gossip, can be hurtful to others. So can facts but, I think you understand what I mean.

And duly noted. Yes, I would also like that the information I receive was perfect in every way. But it is not. It is, unfortunately, the only source of information for most of the people out there. People sometimes intentionally mislead, or they unintentionally mislead. This is why I have it at the top of the blog, that if there is an error, let me know, and I will fix it.

Frankly, those who most often complain about the accuracy are also the ones who do nothing to get any relevant information on anything to anyone. If you want this blog to be more accurate, jump in.  Give me something to work with.  Or, just complain amongst yourselves and act like victims. It's less risky to just whine and be a victim.

This writer, however, did not just whine. This writer stepped up and corrected the error. That is how this works.

Suicides & The System

Common Sense, it appears, is not so commonplace. Suicides are symptoms of failure. Not just of the person who cannot cope, but of the entire community that watches the exact same things going on with the exact same result, time and time ago... but fail to make the connections.

From the Rez:

I really liked your blog on suicide, here are some thoughts on it for you to put out there for the people to read and think about.

There are other reasons for suicide that people avoid talking about at their conferences. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, (incest) emotional abuse, abandonment. The stress of keeping these secrets for the family sometimes becomes too much for a young mind.

There are signs of these in the child or young person: one, for young girls, is to become obese so the perpetrator will not want them.

Another is for the young woman to become promiscuous and/or overcompensation in their dress and looks. In other words they are "pristine", taking great care in the way they look as a counter-reaction to the violation they feel inside.

In the boy's the reaction is rage, violence in incest cases, especially when the perpetrator is a female relative or the Mother. Any noticeable change in the child's pattern of behavior that is obvious, but unreasonable or over-reactive.

Going from a straight A student to failing;  Easy-going and well behaved with others, to fighting and violence against others weaker than themselves.

And the last one that is harder to see is for the child to become withdrawn, staying away from loved ones and isolating themselves.

All these I have seen in Native children right before a suicide attempt or a suicide. The poverty in our community is also a large contributor to this, poverty is always ignored like it doesn't exist. Like it doesn't matter, but it does to young minds that want to have things even normal everyday things that the family sometimes cannot provide: Clean clothes, food, love and caring. Add that to emotional starvation that many children live with because of drug abuse by the parents or alcoholism and you have a volatile situation ripe for suicide or violence.

Abandonment is another problem that is ignored and is there for all to see, that can see. Any given moment you can see the young people walking on the road, many with no home to go to.

They walk along the road until they can't go anymore. They are looking for a place where people care for them, but when they cannot find it they give up. There is only one place left for them-- to them suicide is the only answer.

They are the ones who no one picks up after school or the basketball game, they have the wrong clothing on for the freezing temperatures.

Can anyone see the lost look in their eyes? The hunger in their face? Where are the shelters for them?

If you take all these factors and add uneducated and untrained Social workers, Mental Health workers, Police Officers, Judges-- you won't have to ask yourself "why?"

Why is suicide an epidemic among our young people? The lack of an education and training makes these issues invisible to those with these same issues in their past. You cannot see these signs when you are hiding them in your own life.

You cannot help others when you can't even help yourself by pretending to be a social worker, a religious leader a tribal leader.  This pretending is not helping our people, hopefully we will wake up someday. In the meantime it doesn't cost us anything but the lives of our young people, our young who came here to make tomorrow a better place for our people.

Poopsie In Surgery?

I am told, probably by someone that thinks it makes my day, that Poopsie had open-heart surgery in Grand Forks yesterday.  If he did, I wish him well. I want him to heal and be well. I want him to live 100 years.  I want him to live long enough, aware enough, to see everyone call him out for his crimes.

I want him to wonder, everyday that he is alive, how many people remember that he had a jar of pickled male genitals as a souvenir. That he kept it on a shelf, and bragged about how he removed them. It was right around the time that Gilbert Fassett was murdered---and his genitals removed. A crime, it seems, he had managed, as he did in Eddie's case, to be the lead investigator and find a fall guy, who is, like Richard LaFuente, doing time for the murders committed by him and his family.

I guess that since there is an appeal on that case, he has put the jar of Johnson out of view. It would be just awful if someone had a picture of him, with that jar... or if people remembered him having that jar and they got in touch with the attorney for Werner Kunkel.

People who are tired of being bullied, afraid.

People who are tired of keeping secrets and protecting murderers.

People tired of knowing that the innocent are in prison while the killers are walking free, and walking all over the community, stealing, raping, selling drugs, and laughing.

So, Poopsie, were you in surgery? Was Eddie Fish standing over you, smiling? Was Gilbert Fassett leaning in to say ‘hi’? What about the other guys you murdered? Your wife’s brother, for instance… he show up? Just curious. You know. I want this to be only factual.

So, drop me a line and tell me how you are doing. Tell me how it went. Tell me why you are so afraid of an itty bitty woman. Why you are afraid of the people who look at you and know what you are. Tell me why you jump when you think you hear footsteps. There is never anyone there when you turn around… Or…is there?

Poopsie, if you are indeed recovering from heart surgery, or any kind of surgery, you know I mean it when I say, "I wish you get well soon." And, now, you all know why.

Dying is the easy way out. I want him to live a very, very long time.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 09, 2010  --Printer Version (2)
Another Dead One For Piggy

Another suicide last week. John Littlewind. Crowhill. I'm told he was 20 years old. Got in a fight with his girlfriend, went home, hung himself. Another permanent solution to a temporary problem. Lack of coping skills, or conflict resolution skills being taught to our young.

They are taught instead, that violence is the answer. Always violence. And, if not violence against the person that is the target of aggravation, then violence to self. Violence. Death. Not learning. Not coping, not accepting... just death.

No one contemplating suicide has anywhere to go. No one struggling with emotional issues has anywhere to go. They have Piggy Cavenaugh and her family, taking over that resource. They are, none of them qualified. But, for some reason, the Tribal Council has not found it important enough to remove her and put in someone qualified.

Someone qualified would run a program of rehabilitation, counseling and prevention. There would be a safe place for Crisis Counseling. But no. No. No.

What If...

What if there was some magical thing, or song, or potion out there. And, with this magical thing, we could bring back those who have gone down the road of addiction and despair, and have them whole again?

What if we could bring back those who have despaired too acutely and and suicided, and bring them back whole again?

What would we say to them? How would we treat them if we got this second chance? Would we change anything we are now doing? Would we treat them differently in any way? Would we be so grateful that they were back with us, that we would do everything in our power to heal them, keep them safe, and teach them the basic skills they need to overcome mistakes, disappointments and disagreements?

Or, would we carry on, as we are now, changing nothing?

There is no magic. You already know that.

But, each of us can look around at one another, and realize how valuable and important that person is in our lives, and do everything in our power to make sure that they do not fall into despair. Make sure that they have a place to recover and to heal. Make sure they have the resources they need to save themselves, rescue themselves, find help if and when they need it.

We can do everything we can now, starting from the ground up--the schools. The earliest child care programs and all the way up to the colleges. We can demand, over and over again that only the qualified hold positions.

We can demand, repeatedly, that the places of healing: Clinics and Counseling, have at the helm, someone who is qualified. We can protect the vulnerable who seek help by protecting their confidentiality, instead of allowing Piggy and the rest to exploit them.

We don't have magic. We don't need magic. We have, with us still, the ones we love, care about and need in our lives. Those who have lost the opportunity, have lost to drugs, OD, Suicide, or worse, loved ones, would agree (I Hope) that if we don't act now, become proactive NOW, the consequences are profound and irreparable. That all we thought our life is, can be turned upside down--in a heartbeat.

There is no magic, except that in us, that wakes up, stands up, and decides that there has to be a better way-- and starts looking for it.

No life should end in despair. Not a 57-year old woman's and not a 20-yr old man's. No one should lose their mother, father, sister, brother, or child to despair.

It's time we found a way to reconnect, repair, and rebuild.

It's time we recognize violence for what it is: The bringer of darkness and despair for the entire community.

It's not over. Not by a long shot.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

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March 6, 2010 --Printer Version (5)
Sickness

From the Rez:
When people abuse pain killers the Spirit Lake Health Center and the Mercy Hospital in Devils Lake keep track of who shows up and pretends that they are in severe pain.  These two orgs. generate a list of these people and they are denied any pain killlers after that.  This causes the people who are severely addicted to move to other communities and start the same cycle again.  

This person was one of them, Sisseton first then Fargo, but eventually they run out of places to seek medication and all the clinics in Indian country become aware of them.  This whole dynamic has caused the people who need pain medication legitimately, for a short period all manner of problems.  This also caused the IHS Doctors to be wary of prescribing any kind of narcotic for pain for anyone, regardless of the reasons like: broken bones, dental patients etc.  So when this goes on or anything else it shows that it affects the whole community, just like the ban on certain animals.
 
 The people who do not take care of their animals and let them run loose in the community cause a whole situation for people who do take care of their animals.

You cannot condemn one breed of animal because of the owners neglect but that is how it was handled here.  In the first place the police do not cite the owners of dogs who are not chained up. These dogs are running all over the reservation and going into other people's yards.  

This creates a danger to the children who walk to school or anyone that uses the bike path.  They need to start taking these people to court and make them accountable.  Only then will this business of allowing animals to run free and unattended, hungry and digging and scattering garbage all over the community, stop.  

There is no law enforcement here, on both sides of the street here there are two vans parked in the road.  No one stops and tells them this is an accident hazard and that they will need to make arrangements to park these vehicles off the street.

I do not know if these people are connected that makes them immune to the police dept but I watch it everyday.

There are people who are running the Elderly program who say that the age of an elder is 62 and that it should not be 55.  There are too many of the people that I have known who died long before they reached the age of 55, and too many who died at the age of 55.  
The person pushing this is a woman who drank her whole life away and did nothing for her children and now she is sober after her life is over and she is still handing out advice to everyone.  

The kind of person who runs around demanding respect but never did anything to deserve it.  
I will write again when I hear anything about the latest death in our community and the new laws that they tell people about after the fact.  They need a referendum vote for the people to change any law we have, but they try and make laws based on their own desire or belief, like they are the only ones who count.

The woman the writer was talking about that died was: (Read here for the Corrections to Margie Herald's passing. The information about her below is misleading)

There was a death of one of the Spirit Lake residents a woman by the name of Margie Hearld, so it will be in the paper, she died in Fargo. It seems like a lot of the Spirit Lake residents go to Fargo only to die there, It must be a Mecca for the homeless over there for Spirit Lake, Sisseton and the other reservations nearby.

Addiction is a Sickness

We know addiction is a sickness. You get it from your community. Yet, those who have it are not treated as if they are sick, they are treated as if they are criminals.

Stray dogs do what they can to survive. They offend us with their behaviors. But we should not blame them. They are victims of our neglect. But we are offended, so we blame them for being neglected and committing crimes. They scare us.

Crimes do come from this sickness. Addicts will steal, prostitute themselves, even sell their children to feed their addictions. Those are the crimes that come from this sickness. Addicts are the Human Stray dogs in our midst. They scare us. They scare themselves.

If we invested even a fraction of our Tax Dollars into rehab, clinics, and making sure that every addict had a place to go to heal, we would not be facing this crisis, watching it escalate all these decades.

Attack the Sick People!

“The War On Drugs” is a horrible policy. It does nothing to help those who fall into addiction. It makes them criminals. It fills our prisons instead of building our hospitals. It makes a mistake and ignorance a lifetime of futility.

It makes those who have become addicted through deliberately misleading information from Pharma Companies, people who were prescribed addicting drugs and told they were not addicting, and then dumping those people onto the streets when the addictions took hold of them, criminals.

Even before they commit a crime, they are considered criminals. They become secrets from their own families, friends, jobs. They lose any sense of control over their own lives and they are thrown into punishment rather than treated for their sickness.

Our deliberate indifference leaves them stranded and even less able to help themselves. This while government spends, without blinking, billions on wars, and gives endless grants to Pharmaceutical Companies so that they can then overcharge us for medications, mislead us as to what the side effects, detrimental as they may be, are for us.

We spend billions arming our DEA to go and kick in doors, arrest drug dealers, who are then released on laughable bonds, within hours. The DEA then has secrets that no one in the public is to learn about until it is too late and the damage is done.

Instead of attacking the sick, why not attack the sickness?

A Choice Between Force and Healing

We launch crop eradication programs in this country and in others. The cost is billions.
Yet, the addictions continue to lure in more addicts. The increase in addicts alone, must tell us that we are fighting this the wrong way, and spending our resources, time, money, tax dollars and the lives of our agents, in a very unproductive way.

The drug problem is not diminishing, it has been steadily growing. That alone should label this whole ‘war on drugs’ a failure. It has become instead, a war on our own people. A war on our addicted brothers and sisters. A war on their babies. A war on our economy. A war against our own future well-being.

Instead of spending countless billions ruining the environments of other nations and getting people on both sides killed, why don’t we spend just a fraction of that money on building and staffing places of healing? Why not clinics? Why not rehabs?

Why not spend the time, the money and the effort into healing those who are addicted? Is it because we are loathe to spend money on healing? We prefer, as a civilized society, to arm agents, imprison sick people? Do we, as a nation, prefer to go into other nations and poison their lands to eradicate the supply?

Why not deal with the root of the problem? The addiction. If we cure the addicts, if we heal the addicts, if we give them someplace to go when they realize they have made a mistake, instead of criminalizing them and imprisoning them—instead of throwing them away, instead of condemning them to a life time (however short that may be) of addiction and crime, would that not essentially, end the profit and the market for these drugs?

As it is now, the market continues to grow. It grows to accommodate the growing numbers of addicts and the broadening landscape of their addictions. Heroin, Cocaine, marijuana, pills, bath salts, glue, fumes of every sort… Does it even seem reasonable, even if we became a total police state such as was Communist Russia in the 40’s-80’s, that we could even begin to stem the tide of addictions through force rather than through healing?

We cannot. Russia had it’s highest addictions during its time of greatest force. Force does not stop addiction. Treatment does.

Discarding Human Beings

But we, as a nation, are loathe to treat the sick. It goes against everything we as a society are taught to do. We are taught that those who fall are weak. That they did it to themselves. That they do not deserve our help. Somehow, this makes us feel better about ourselves.

I look around the rez, and I see that we are throwing away people. We are discarding Human Beings as if they are trash.

They may have become addicts, and they may have committed crimes, but they never stopped being Human Beings. They never stopped being our Brothers and Sisters. We just stopped recognizing them. We throw them away. Not realizing, we throw ourselves away.

I look around at our nation. I see we are unwilling to spend any money on helping one another to heal. We are, however, not in the least adverse to bombing other nations, destroying their environments, throwing away our soldiers when they return addicted and spiritually torn to pieces by what they have seen and done in wars. Wars we created to feed the Profiteers we admire, who have the power of our money, to fight us.

We have it backwards. We are doing it wrong. It shows on the rez. But nobody looks on the rez. Nobody looks at Indian Country.

If we did look, we would clearly see what is in fact, in store for us.

For those whose arguments against helping their fellow Human Beings is an anathema, and they justify it by saying: “Why should I be forced to pay for someone else’s mistakes?” As if being selfish is a high achievement in Civilization, Society, or as a Christian. They wear their lack of compassion, their disconnect from others, like a badge of honor.

The answer is simple. Sooner or later, one way or another, we all pay for each other. Our money goes into wars, and our money goes into “Wars on Drugs” and we pay. When our house is robbed, our loved ones murdered by a desperate addict, we pay. When someone goes to prison instead of rehab, we pay even more.

We are already paying. Why not get our money’s worth? Why not pay to make things better instead of making things worse?

OR, are we, as was prophesized so long ago, ‘become confused and destroying instead of building’. Is Killing really more appealing than healing? Is Killing really more worth paying for than is healing?

We can still pursue high value drug dealers. I am not saying not to. I’m saying that they will be less wealthy, less able to arm against us, if we remove their customers through healing. Presently, drug cartels can better arm themselves, than can the military in their countries. We are paying for that. Our neighborhoods are declining into ghettos. We are paying for that.

Healing will keep the money here, at home. Healing will enable us to be more creative, more productive and better able to help one another. Healing will give us strength to defend ourselves against all enemies—foreign and domestic.

Force only makes us less able. Less able to recover. Less able to help one another. Less productive. Less creative. More fearful.

But fear has been the tool of cynical, toxic politics for millennia. Fear is how we are controlled.

I suppose the first question is this: Are we willing to stop scaring ourselves long enough to regain our strength through healing and compassion?

You know where to find me.

~Cat

Top Of Page

Note: Typically, I write about events on the Rez. Those events are no different than what plays out everywhere else in our nation. Just that we are running out of Indians in a system of slo-mo holocaust.

I see policies, politics and government on the rez as damaging and unsustainable. However, much the same can be said about our Nation as a whole.

When you read about Indians, especially in this blog, I want you to think about who you are, where you are and how you have seen this same thing played out in other aspects of our lives. Indians have been demonized by Churches and government since Contact. The wreckage upon their communities and their culture, has been vast. Yet, to this day, they survive. Those who survive carry the strongest voices of Common Ground, most universal messages of Brotherhood and healing. Those who don't survive, are the losses that leave us less in touch, less connected.

What has been done to Indigenous people the world over, is now being done to us all. What we allow(ed) to happen to Indians, is now being done to the rest of us. The message I give you is not only what is wrong, which most people do not want to see, but what we need to do to fix it, not just in Indian Country where the government and churches experiment with genocide and oppression; but in all corners of this world.

We can start with ourselves. We must start with ourselves. We all must find a way to reconnect to one another, all the while those who have power seek to keep us divided and mistrusting. They want us to continue to hurt one another, neglect one another. That is how they gain and keep power. That is how we lose.

March 5, 2010  --Printer Version (5)
Stacked Like Cordwood

"Bring Out Yer DAY-ED!" That cry was common in Europe when the Plague was killing people faster than they could be properly buried.  People were dying at an alarming rate, and no funerals were held. Rather, a Bell Ringer, the town Crier, and a wagon went through town calling for people whose households had a newly dead member, to bring them out to the road where they could then be piled onto the wagons and taken to the burial pits.

In some places, bodies were stacked, like cordwood, their numbers too many to count.

Back then, everyone, including Governments, knew they had a problem. They knew they could not ignore it. They did not know what to do, but that did not stop them from trying everything, making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and eventually, recovering.

The cause, of course, was rats. Too many rats. They got into everything. Too many rats because some moron with power decided to foster a fear of cats in the general public. Cats, of course, had no lobby and no influence and could not defend themselves against cat-haters. Cats were the political target of the day, and they were wiped out.

Then came the plague.

Cats were targeted by religious zealots who claimed that because cats were not in the Bible, they were evil! It was easy then, and still is now, to target an entity, create a fictional liability around them, demonize them, attack them. All for Political Power.

It took a long time, and a lot of dead bodies, before people realized that their hatred and fear of cats was their own undoing.

What they failed to see then, as now, is the mechanism that underlies our own undoing: Toxic Politics.

Some would argue that we need politics to have government. I would agree. But there are too many who believe that "anything goes", including lies, demonizing entire segments of our citizens--the more vulnerable the easier, and as long as you win, it matters not how much damage you inflict, now or in the future.

We have that today. We don't have Town Criers ringing bells for us to bring out our dead, nor do we have slow horse-drawn wagons carting off the corpses. What we have instead are mindless wars, hunger and poverty, a nation where the futility quotient is increasing as the economy falters not only under the past bad acts, but under a system that vilifies those who are working to stabilize it, and help those in need in the meantime.

We have Toxic Politics, replete with lies and manipulations, steering us to fear people of color, Immigrants, people of religions different from ours, people of no religion, people who are sick, and people who are in need.  We are told to fear and resent those who are educated. Instead of admiring them, we sneer and call them "elitist", not even knowing what the meaning of that word is.

As people are suffering more and more, instead of reaching out to help one another, we are, generally by MSM (MainStreamMedia), being told to hate, denounce those whose efforts to bring us all better living through better health. We are told that those who have been denied healthcare or who have lost their jobs, homes, savings because of medical bills are "Bums trying to steal from us and make us pay their way in this world." Or words to that effect.

We are being told that by people who are sponsored by and paid millions of dollars to tell us that. People who say they care about us. People who convince us through fear, and suspicion of one another, that we are not safe if everyone gets healthcare.

The same people who stand silent as mindless, illegal wars rage on at a cost of more than $80 Billion per month. People who say nothing about the outrageous profits of Oil Companies who raid our resources and destroy our environment, extracting without compensation to those of us whose lands and waters are being ruined--- and that is all of us, and then sell back to us a product at billions of dollars in profit, and who not only pay no taxes, but also get billions of dollars in "Credits" and other government bonuses, while raising the cost of our daily living beyond our means to keep up.

The same mindless yammering about healthcare 'robbing us' while they say nothing about the war profiteers who rip off taxpayers by hundreds of millions of dollars per month. 

Healthcare, especially if it was Medicare for all, would not only strengthen Medicare, whose resources and surpluses have been raided by successive administrations to compensate for huge tax breaks given to the wealthiest 400 families in the nation... 400 families, mind you, that control 85% of the nations wealth, paid for by the poor and by raiding that which was intended for the common good.

Women are told that they cannot seek abortions for rape, incest rape, or life threatening conditions. They are told that they are using abortion for "birth control" by politicians who get the backing of Churches who seek to keep women in the most powerless positions. Women are dying, needlessly, for lack of health care--because some religious zealots can use that to keep them down.

How dare anyone assume to know what any woman is going through if she is desperate enough to seek an abortion. How dare anyone! Yet, it is commonly accepted that we can demonize women, especially pregnant women; most especially poor women who are pregnant. Women are dying. Children are left motherless based on the insane belief that a fetus is more important, has more value, than that of a living, breathing person.

Even a 9 yr old child is condemned by the church for being raped by her father and becoming pregnant with twins that would kill her. Do you really think the church values lives? They condemned the child and her mother who sought an abortion for her in order to save her life. The father was given penance and forgiven. Doesn't this at least make you think about what is really underlying all this anti-abortion rhetoric?

This same Right to Life group does nothing to improve the safety, well-being of mothers and children. They still condemn women who are beaten by their spouse, and ignore the dire conditions of children in these abusive situations. They spend billions to oppress and prevent women from even seeking safe abortions, yet not a dime to saving women or children from abuses, neglect or disease. So what life do they value? Certainly not the living!

Pregnant women who seek abortions, for whatever reason, are demonized. No one in media, no one in churches, no one defends them. No one helps them. Their clinics are bombed. Their physicians are murdered as they are defenseless in their church on a Sunday... Their cowardly killers hailed as heroes.

As more abuses and poverty increase, we refuse to see what bad policies are in place that create this ever increasing downward spiral. We continue to demonize others and split apart instead of uniting to save ourselves.

We are supposed to be distracted from the damage done and ongoing. We are easily distracted. We know something is wrong, but don't really know where to direct our anger. Racism is easy. Mistrust anyone that is not like us. Especially a black president. A calm, thoughtful man. A highly educated man who has devoted most of his life to helping the poor, uplifting the poorest segments of society.

Yet, he is portrayed and described in venues such as FOX news, as "Angry Black Man", and "Out of Control" and all the stereo types of gangs and ghettos. Look at your so-called "Tea Party" morons. Look at their signs. Especially those with uneducated misspellings. Look at the Swastikas, Look at how they portray him... now, look around. How many in that crowd are brown? How many are Black? See any Asians? See any Indians? Me neither.

We are being distracted by those who seek to gain and hold power by use of Toxic Politics.

Drug abuse, addictions, do not happen by accident. They are the only logical outcome of a system that is toxic and destructive. We drive away, run off those whose work would help us to heal and to be well. We rage at fictional divides as if we are 'doing something'. Indeed, we are.

We are stacking up like cordwood, and no one seems to think there is anything wrong. We lack the critical thinking to assess how bad policies, created biases and prejudices, have fractionalized us so that we cannot come together, as a whole, to see what the problems are, where or how they started and what we need to do in order to change course and save ourselves.

We feel sorry for ourselves and we blame others for our plight. Instead of seeing how we have more in common with one another and what we can do better together, to fix it, we divide. Those who want to fix things, and to talk reason are seen as the enemy. Those who want to unite and heal are seen as the enemy. Those who are different in color, religion, lifestyle, are seen as the enemy.

We have surrounded ourselves with enemies. We cannot see that we have doomed ourselves, our children and our grandchildren, by our prejudices and our belief in things that make no sense.  We condemn instead of understand. We scream slogans instead of listening. We fear instead of realize.

We outnumber those who rob us. We outnumber those who raid our resources and pollute our environment. We outnumber those who mislead us. Yet, we allow ourselves to be used by them, all of them, all of the time.

Hate is not a Christian Value. Hate is not any religion's value. Hate is the toxin that is being fed to us by fear mongering, power hungry toxic politicians and their henchmen. If we fail to save ourselves it is because we chose to listen to hate and ignorance, racism and intolerance, fear and self-pity.

But if we wake up, realize that we can learn and do more; realize that we can work together, we can turn off the hate, then and only then can we regain our strength, our national health, our sense of Brotherhood and our Will to thrive.

Soldiers are dying because of our ignorance. Mothers are dying because of our ignorance. Children are dying because of our willful ignorance.

Addicts, the walking dead amongst us, are not criminals for being addicts. They commit crimes to support their sickness. Yet, we spend more on wars, give billions to Oil Companies, watch Insurance Companies with double-digit quarterly profits, raise our rates by 35-150% (depending on where you live) while cutting off more and more people from benefits entirely.

Yet the Noise Machines on TV and Talk Radio spew endless streams of hatred in the name of "Patriotism" and they demonize the sick, the weak, the disabled-- all those who can barely get by and have nothing left over to fight back. They demonize the very people they should be standing up for, and yet remain silent on the obscene profits made by War Profiteers, Insurance Companies and Banks.

Wake up. Do you think these loudmouths care about you? They don't. Yet many of you will carry their hatred, their fictional statements, as if you yourself are one of them.

You are not one of them. You are one of us. And we need you to wake up now. We are surrounded by our failures. Bodies are stacking up like Cordwood. We need help. We can only get that help from one another.

The Plague never would have ended if the people had not realized the lies about the cats are what did it to them. Cats had no voice. But their value was only realized after their absence. When the most vulnerable amongst us are demonized, it is out of ignorance. Ignorance is a Nation Killer.

You know where to find me.

~Cat

 

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March 2, 2010--Printer Version (4)
Free Home? Or Home Free?

Who is Cindy Mala and why is she being paid over $100K per year, and getting a free home? Not just ANY free home, mind you, but one that was built as a Heritage Center, for the Tribe, paid for by the tribe... and is now on its way to being put, at Tribal expense, onto her property?

At $100K (or more) per year, is she unable to buy her own home? Must the Tribe now lose yet another piece of itself in order for her to have a free one? I don't get it. Do you?

From what I am told, this valuable home is being given to her without any debate and without notifying the Tribe. Aren't these topics that should be raised at the General Assembly Meetings?

Is it true that she is getting all of this and is not even an enrolled member?

From The Rez:

Here are some things to put in your blog and see if anyone e-mails you with answers or concerns about the following events that I was made aware of.

 One of the things is that our Board of Regents at the college are made up of people who basically are uneducated, Evelyn Cavanaugh? sounds familiar, Jeanette Hearld, Alberta Redfox,  and I don't know who is on there from Crowhill but Paul Yankton is the President.  

There is a large Log Cabin that served as the heritage center and is now in the way of the new development plan instituted by Cynthia Linquist Mala,  She apparently is going to move this Log Cabin to private property and make it her own home?  So on top of the enormous salary the college is paying her (100,000 +) she is going to get a free home on top of it.  

She told the Board of Regents that she is in charge of the college and not them?  They have no power to supervisor her and the decision she makes concerning who is hired and why they are fired?

I know also that the Council was going to put Vern Lambert as the Board of Regent member from Crowhill but Dr. Mala went to the Council and called him a crook and a thief and that he has no business on the Board?  

I wonder if she calls taking that Log Cabin that belongs to the College stealing?  Her reputation rivals that of NLO when it comes to no self respect, and no one trusts her, but she seems to get away with quite a bit.  

Like it is a private college run by her and her family who all seem to be working there.  Just something I was thinking about and wondering why no one did anything to control her, she seems to be big on control issues except when it comes to the Board of Regents controlling her.

 Additional Questions:
These are some of the other things I have heard about visiting with different community members who are afraid to ask questions in the General assembly.  They are comments I have heard from some of the elderly who are aware of what is going on in the community and with their families.

 The past sitting tribal councils have nothing to point to as their contribution to our people.  They have nothing to say when they are asked how have you advanced the tribe while you were on the council?  

If they point to the Casino, the question should be what good has that Casino done for us?  Work? Our people are in all the low level jobs there, and the people from Devils Lake hold all the Executive positions.

These things the tribe as a whole should be asking themselves. Our leaders from the past Councils built Four Winds, Sioux Manufacturing, Cankdeska Cikana Community College and since that time there hasn't been any progress, unless you call the two ball rooms built at the Casino as progress.  

The Casino is the focus of the Tribal Council because that is where the money comes from to pay them, it is the money that they give out in loans to their relatives who squander in fake business plans.

 Or is the possibility of our Headstart Program shutting down progress?  How can people who have no credentials teach our little children? For a while now, the Headstart program has been the private pantry of a few workers who take advantage of the resources meant for the little children.

When the past Director took action and terminated the workers who were doing this, she was fired and the workers reinstated with back pay?  How can things like that happen without any of the parents and community knowing about all this, and what was the Council thinking when they did that?  

Our young people who are qualified in their fields move away and work for other communities where there is stability.  They move away because of Tribal Council decisions just like the one made with the Headstart Program.  
    
What kind of credentials does Peter Belgarde have? It seems like the people who go to the Tribal Council and rant and rave are the ones who have jobs?  In the past we have had a Chief Tribal Judge that attempted suicide while sitting on the bench?  Who hired that person and what if any were his credentials?  

Now we have another former BIA police officer as a Chief Judge? No place else in the world would make a police officer a judge!  Just because he was a former police officer.  They don't know anything about the rights and laws that we have to protect.  They are always violating the rights of our people while they were police officers and now they are in charge of the court system?  

The whole thing is a bad joke to the people watching from the outside and the inside.  It is no wonder why our young people feel like this is a hopeless place to live and take their own lives as a way out of this place.  No one is safe here at Spirit Lake when decisions like that are made, who can they go to, and where can they turn?

In response to that last question: Unfortunately, until there is a Tribal Council willing to address these issues and to make corrections, not just play Big Shot, the only place you can take these questions and complaints is --here.

Until the Good People of Spirit Lake feel like they can safely raise important questions and question the processes and procedures that affect their lives, health and well-being out there, without the threat of facing reprisals and abuses, this Blog is all there is.

Now, There is more on Cindy Mala, but that will have to wait until next time. She, or anyone willing to defend her, is free to respond in this blog. But you must sign your name. If you are going to stand up for someone who is ripping off the people, you must sign your name.

If you are unwilling to sign your name, then I must assume that you know you are on the wrong side of this, and possibly many other, issue(s) out there.

Imperative

Your Elders are fading away, and heritage, history, culture is being taken with them. Your young are falling into addictions, futility, and suicide.  What future are you looking at? It is both urgent and imperative that you all find a way to come together to make your community healthier and safer.

The schools, from Headstart on up, are damaged by greed, corruption and nepotism.

Your children are never taught anything about integrity, conflict resolution, compassion, empathy. No wonder their self-esteem is so low! No wonder your young do not thrive.

The visible damage is the least of it. What lies just below the surface is much greater and widespread; much darker and more heartbreaking.

The young must be taught that they are valued as people. That they are important to their culture and that their heritage means something. They must be encouraged to go out into the world and be whatever they can be that will fulfill their destiny, not just as Indians, but as Human Beings with something to offer this world. They must learn that whatever they accomplish in this Walking World, is integral to every other person they have contact with or a connection to.

They must learn this from you and me. They must see that even before they can understand why, we are fighting for them, protecting them, guiding them and celebrating them.  They must know that we care enough about them that we are doing all we can to clean up the messes made by government, corruption and genocide.  They must see, so that they will someday know, we valued them enough to do this hard, overwhelming, oft times impossible and heartbreaking work, because they are imperative to our future.

They are imperative to our future, not just as Indians, but as Human Beings capable of great and wonderful things. 

They are our future, and we are smothering them in blankets of corruption, then wailing at the loss.

The past is fading away and the future is too weak to thrive. Only we, together, can change this.

You know where to find me.

~Cat