Searching for God in nature, photography, whiskey, books and art…. whatever rant I am compelled to voice

Archive for August, 2009

UPPER ROGUE GORGE BY UNION CREEK

Off of one of the rolls of film I had developed…I kind of like these mystery rolls of film I found another one rolling around in my car when I cleaned it this week…can’t wait to see those!

The gorge is not far before the turnoff to go to Crater Lake…and these were taken early spring any further elevation was covered with snow..hence the large amount of water rushing through.

ScannedImage-121

ScannedImage-122

ScannedImage-123

ScannedImage-124

ScannedImage-125

ScannedImage-126

ScannedImage-127

ScannedImage-128


SERMON

ScannedImage-181


MESMORIZING

I am not sure why this sight held so much fascination for me….it is horrifying and beautiful at the same time. I recently watched Clint Eastwood’s movie Grand Torino…there was an underlying theme of taking care of your belongings..not sure what the thinking is letting this pile sit here year after year…

ScannedImage-172


HYPOCRACY

This is a photo of the wildlife observation trail by Klamath Lake…I have never been on it because it looks like it follows those great big powerlines….but I’m not complaining about the power used for my computer. Hmmm.

ScannedImage-169

here are a few more photos from Klamath Lake

ScannedImage-170

ScannedImage-171


FISH LAKE

nothing to say

ScannedImage-161

ScannedImage-162

ScannedImage-163

ScannedImage-164

ScannedImage-165

ScannedImage-166

ScannedImage-167


SOMEWHERE IN THE REDWOODS

I had some film that was hiding from me and I finally found it…I’m not sure exactly where this is but has to be somewhere near Elk Prairie past Klamath since it had the golden bears on it.

I love the little squirrel and don’t even remember taking the photo!!

ScannedImage-132

ScannedImage-133

ScannedImage-134

ScannedImage-135

ScannedImage-136

ScannedImage-137

ScannedImage-138

ScannedImage-139

ScannedImage-140

ScannedImage-141

ScannedImage-142

ScannedImage-143


I MAY HAVE TO ACCEPT DEFEAT ON THIS ONE!!!

This is the best of the bunch I took with the Canon

ScannedImage-160

time to move on!!!!


YON’TAKIT VII FILM

This picture speaks for itself

ScannedImage-151

ScannedImage-152

ScannedImage-153

As you can see I am quite enamored with the thistles!!!

ScannedImage-154

ScannedImage-155

ScannedImage-156

I liked the moon above the tree too! And lots of sky

ScannedImage-157


KLAMATH LAKE FOR ORDINARY SPARROW

I just got these from Costco yesterday and I was going to wait until next week to scan them but when I saw all the sparkles in the water I got  excited and had to put them up this morning. Klamath Lake is in Klamath Falls which is in Oregon vs. Klamath, CA where the golden bears reside!

ScannedImage-144

ScannedImage-145

ScannedImage-146

ScannedImage-147

ScannedImage-148

ScannedImage-149

ScannedImage-150


THE GOLDEN BEARS OF KLAMATH

ScannedImage-130

From KLAMATH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

The Golden Bears on the Klamath River Bridge weren’t always golden. Sometime in the late 50′s or early 60′s mysteriously the cement bears on the old bridge would turn golden over night. Despite efforts of the State Highway Department with buckets of turpentine swabbing off that golden color, overnight the bears would be returned to their golden hue.

It all started one evening in old Klamath The town was starting to look awful tired. A group of local businessmen (Herb Fehley , John Menary , Ray Thompson , Pat Murphy, Ward Berg, Johnny Rycraft and Bud Harper to name a few) were having a cocktail at one of the local pubs discussing things, when someone announced it was time for Klamath’s main street to have a face lift. So with brooms, mops, trash containers and general cleaning apparatus the group set out that night to rejuvenate the downtown area. The streets were swept, the litter removed, the windows washed and all the dust and cob webs were swept away.

One voice in the group muttered there needs to be one final touch. One voice said” I’ve got some gold paint in the shed at home”, another said” I’ve got some brushes”. “Let’s paint those Bears Gold” And so they did.

Periodically the Highway Department would restore the bears to their natural state.

“The Golden Bear Club” again would meet at a local pub armed with cleaning supplies, they’d spruce up the downtown area and of course left their trademark “The Golden Bears” on the Klamath Bridge. It didn’t take too long before the Highway Department realized Klamath liked those Bears golden. To this day, Cal- Trans maintains the spirit of the “Golden Bear Club.” The new Memorial Bridge completed in 1965 greets visitors from around the world with its landmark California Golden Bears.

Thus, the Golden Bear Booster Club was formed They had no officers, no bylaws, no scheduled meetings. In other words, the only rules they had were there are no rules.

ScannedImage-131

This is the sweetest sign…most towns would advertise the salmon in their rivers by showing a thrashing salmon with a hook in its mouth….the people of Klamath LOVE their salmon!!!

ScannedImage-129


NORTH TO YONTOCKET VI

These are the last of the Yontocket photos. Ordinary Sparrow left a comment on my blog awhile ago saying all of the artists from the west are trying to express layers and textures…not an exact quote. She is right sometimes I take photos just for the layers and textures. There is very little that escapes me and I think it is all beautiful..However I’m not quite a good enough photographer to capture what has moved me so much.

PICT1824

I’m starting to feel about grasses the same way I feel about trees!

PICT1825

PICT1826

PICT1828

This is like the dunes reply to the ocean the grasses mimic the ocean waves.

PICT1827

PICT1829

I never thought I could be so fascinated by grass! I finally had to stop and rest my poor feet.

PICT1830

The grass fascinated me close up too

PICT1831

I can assure you the dirt did not come out of those socks!!!

PICT1833

PICT1834

PICT1835

Good Lord its time to take a shower!!! Thank God I have one of those shower mats that has the little fingers sticking up that massage the feet and all of my nerves…they really work on sore and tired feet.

PICT1836


NORTH TO YONTOCKET V

More images of Yontocket and Tolowa dunes…

PICT1812

This place is such a treasure you can wander into the fields to a point where you see nothing manmade to see and there is only wind and ocean to hear. Not that I am against mankind and some of the things we make…the car and the road to get there. But I am also a huge advocate of keeping as much land as possible free from alteration.

PICT1813

I do try to be careful about where I leave a trail as there are some places that are fragile and even foot traffic can be damaging. If your movements disturb too much then stick to the trail that is what they are for. Keeps you from getting lost too!

PICT1815

PICT1814

PICT1816

More soft sand to walk in…my sister told me that is why I was so wiped out. Yesterday when I was looking up stuff another hiker had warned about walking in the sand if you aren’t used to it…and for crying out loud don’t wear crocs!

PICT1818

PICT1819

PICT1820

PICT1821

You can always hear the ocean and though I was quite tired I decided to head over that dune to visit the waves.

PICT1822

Sound was deceiving and when I got to the top of the dune there were more dunes!! But the ocean sounded so close!! Defeated I turned back so I could make it to the car without crawling!!!

PICT1823

Funny how the sky changed colors depending on where you were.


NORTH TO YONTOCKET IV

I still have a  film that needs to be developed…I hope it turns out this is a picture of the cemetery from the North

PICT1796

Across from the cemetery is the Yontocket village site

PICT1803

I looked up all three of these names but found only a headline (website under construction) reference. I am assuming that these people are Indian since this is where the village used to be. Next time I go I will bring them heart shaped rocks.

PICT1801

PICT1799

PICT1800

PICT1802

PICT1804

PICT1805

PICT1807

PICT1809

This dragonfly stayed so still while I took his picture and many on film (these are all digital) The moment I was done off he flew.

PICT1810


NORTH TO YONTOCKET III

Yontocket is anglicized for Yon’ takit. I was a bit surprised when I arrived to find the sign at the cemetery to have the anglicized version. The wind was strong and the gate was rattling but I thought it was probably disrespectful for me to enter.

PICT1778

From my new THE HIKER’S hip pocket GUIDE to the HUMBOLDT COAST book by Bob Lorentzen:

The Tolowa and their neighbors considered the Tolowa village of Yontaket, which was located at the north end of this hike, to be the center of the world, the place where the First People created this world. Every year Yurok from the south and Chetco and Tututnu from the north would journey to Yontakit for a ten-day world renewal ceremony, believed essential for the continuance of the cycle of life. During one of these ceremonies in 1853, a tragic slaughter occured at Yontakit. White vigilantes came at the height of the ceremony, setting the village on fire and massacring hundreds of residents and visitors.

PICT1779

The fenced cemetery on the right marks the site of the 1853 massacre of hundreds of Tolowa by vigilante settlers, another tragic cataclysm in the conquering of California.

PICT1780

there were old fake flowers on every side of the fence but on the western side there were rocks or bits of broken china placed at almost every post.

PICT1783

views of and surrounding the cemetary.

PICT1785

PICT1786

PICT1787

PICT1788

A bench east of the cemetary surveys the magical land where river and ancient dunes meet.

PICT1789

PICT1790

PICT1791

PICT1793

PICT1795


YESTERDAY

My friend Tiffany recently put up a post on her facebook page wondering what people are afraid of??? This sent chills down my spine!!!!

PICT1838

While I like scary rollercoasters the sight of any carnival scares me these days! I was quite surprised that even this poor ride traveling down the road invoked fear in me. Hmmmm!

I didn’t bring enough water yesterday and it was hot….so I had to break down and buy some. As I was sitting in my car finishing up a conversation on my phone. I could smell smoke. I looked around and saw smoke coming from around a car. Two people got in and drove off. There was a patch of mulch that was smoldering. Then a truck pulled up went in the store got in and drove off without even bothering to look at the smoldering mulch…this happend a few times while I was on the phone. You know those types with the big trucks with an American flag and a support the troops sticker side by side. I finally got out and went to investigate. Someone had told me recently that firemen did a test and they could never get a fire started by throwing a cigarette butt on the ground. They are wrong.

PICT1840

I ground the cigarette out with my heel and then kicked a bunch of mulch over it and put it out….or so I thought! After I got my water and was once again sitting in my car drinking it I could smell the smoke again. I looked over and the mulch was once again burning. I started to get  out of my car because I keep a couple of gallons of water in my car for emergencies but this young Hispanic man and his friend had pulled up and were investigating all of the smoke. I was so happy and thought it ironic with all of the racism and prejudice that has been rearing its ugly head that it would be Hispanics who rose to the occasion!

PICT1841

Even he had a hard time getting the cigarette out! Finally his friend came over with a jug of water and poured it on the mulch. Maybe it wouldn’t have turned into a blazing fire but I thanked both of the young men for their concern and for taking the time and effort to put out the fire! They made my day!!!


NORTH TO YONTOCKET II

I love how light makes its way into the forest the contrast of dark and light

PICT1763

I think this may be tansy?? Still the yellow is pretty!!

PICT1764

I love the grasslands..the wind blows through them and even though is a small airport nearby the ocean and the wind at times make time stop. For a moment you are transported to a time before roads and telephone poles.

PICT1765

I loved this hike because in six miles I ran across were 3 people on horseback who had camped  at one of the campsites..they also had two dogs. After that I never say another person…which to me is amazing because it isn’t far from civilization. It always amazes me that the dunes and grasslands are unoccupied for the most part..beaches is what people want. The west coast has some beautiful coastline but for the most part I find beaches themselves to be boring after awhile…someone said that is why when you go to the Carribean or the Bahamas they serve so much liquor….

PICT1766

PICT1767

PICT1770

PICT1771

I spent an good hour just hanging out with these guys!! They were so cool all of a sudden they showed up and against the grass the colors were phenomenal. I took lots of photos on film and I hope they turn out they were the most beautiful things and it was hard to leave them…

PICT1772

The wind was blowing so hard that most of the digital photos didn’t turn out..I tried holding some of them…but the wind was rise..I’m surprised this many turned out ok…well good enough for the blog!

PICT1773

PICT1774

PICT1776

PICT1777


CHRYSTAL CHAN (artist I find interesting)

Seems that Chrystal is on a spiritual journey…


GOATS

MY BROTHER ME AND MY GRANDFATHER

MY BROTHER ME AND MY GRANDFATHER

Growing up on a goat farm was both enriching and traumatic. My Mom had the idea to have a goat farm for some reason she  got into goats. But like most of her hobbies she is interested for awhile and then gives up. The goats were great fun growing up. We had baby goats in the spring and it was a lot of fun feeding them. We grew up drinking goat milk. This repulses most people but when you feed your goats good food the milk tastes good. The milk from a “brush goat” would not taste as good as that of a goat who has been fed Alfalfa, grain and good green grass. It was much better than any cows milk you could buy in a store

MY SISTER AND BROTHER ARE IN FRONT AND I AM IN BACK

MY SISTER AND BROTHER ARE IN FRONT AND I AM IN BACK


Of course cleaning the manure from the barn and the twice a day milking aren’t the most fun things to do in the world but I believe that it is good for kids to grow up with chores and responsibilities. My sister ended up doing the majority of chores she was more “into” the goats and wanted to be a vet when she grew up.

ME AND MY SISTER AND BROTHER

ME AND MY SISTER AND BROTHER

We mostly had Nubians with the long ears that hang down but we also had a LaMancha which has tiny stubby ears and an Angora goat that I named Napoleon after Napoleon Solo in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. One winter it was snowing and then it rained and he froze to the ground. He was o.k. my dad just had to get his long hair unstuck from the ground. Unfortunately I cannot find a picture of Napoleon.

My parents bought this mean buck named Benji and when we first got him I had to go to the car so my mom could take me to school they told me to go straight to the car and to stay away from the goat which was running loose. Of course I didn’t listen and wanted to see the goat until he started chasing me. I was running in circles around the car…my Mom could see me from the window she yelled at me to get in the house. I ran as fast as I could into the house and my dad couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. My mom and I told him that Benji  was chasing me and he thought we were crazy. Who would be afraid of a goat  Then he opened the door and the goat was standing on his hind legs with his front paws leaning above the door (it was smaller than a standard door because my dad built it and he was only about 5’7”) After seeing that my dad quickly slammed shut the door. Benji could be mean.

MY MOM WITH BENJI

MY MOM WITH BENJI

We used to show the goats in 4H which was great fun because we won ribbons got to go to the fair it was one of the few occasions that we went anywhere. 4H is a wonderful program and I one year I entered cookies and another time I was in a little fashion show wearing an outfit that I had made (my picture was in the local news paper). Another time I entered a painting but I think my mom helped me too much but she swears she didn’t. I still think I’m right. 4-H was fun.

4-H FASHION SHOW (Betsy was my nickname growing up! It has morphed over the years)

4-H FASHION SHOW (Betsy was my nickname growing up! It has morphed over the years)

Hmmm I don’t know why it is uploading like that…its not like that on my computer…


My mother bought a bull dog named Melody, she had a litter of cute puppies not long after. One day we came home from school and knew something was wrong we found our wonderful goat Appy lying in her stall with Melody and the puppies all eating her while she was still alive. I remember Melody was working on the throat and the puppies were eating a tear in her back leg. Appy had been protecting her adopted goats that she was taking care of that another goat who wasn’t a very good mother was unable to.  My mom and Dad were not home and we were scared and panicking. My sister tried to call our neighbor but she wasn’t home and her oldest son hitchhiked to our house to see if he could help. When my parents came home my mother got out her double barreled shotgun and was running around chasing the bull dogs but she didn’t end up shooting them. My brother sarcastically said to my dad “I hope your happy”and my dad knocked him off the porch. I was very scared. As usual. My sister and brother have different versions of this story it was quite a traumatic episode. Melody was taken to an animal shelter with the stipulation that she would not be put to sleep…she wasn’t. She was a nice dog bulldogs and farm animals just don’t mix.

MELODY AND HER GOAT EATIN' PUPS

MELODY AND HER GOAT EATIN' PUPS

After a time my mother became disenchanted with the goats and began neglecting them most of the work was left to my sister. When my sister left for college it fell on my shoulders to take care of them. My mother would have very little to do with them anymore she was interested in Real Estate. She acknowledged this just about a year ago saying how proud she was that I took right over when Juanita left and she didn’t even have to tell me to. I knew deep down that my mother couldn’t handle it so I just did it. This is something that I doubt I will ever get over because I was way too young to be taking proper care of a herd of goats. It is the main source of my fear of taking care of anything of being responsible for anything. I have talked to shrinks about it but I still get claustrophobic at the thought of being too responsible for anything. I resented this and wished I could be like my class mates and play sports and have fun. I still feel guilty about failing the goats, the care was not what it should have been. I didn’t know how to trim hooves like my sister did. They didn’t have salt or mineral blocks.  All I did was milk, water and feed them, some of them were being born a little bit retarded. My mother recently said the reason they were being born retarded was because of some genetic test…I guess you inbreed the goats and if there is a genetic fault it will show up?? She says that is the reason she lost interest in the goats she was devastated that the genes of her prized buck Bazaac were not as good as she thought. I remember her quitting the goat farm long before but when it comes to these things I have too many feeling clouding what actually happened. At any rate it was a disaster whatever version is correct. My sister and brother probably know more. I had begun my long descent into depression and fear around that time. I still blame myself emotionally and it makes me cry thinking about it….eventually my mom sold off all of the goats.

BASAAC (could be spelling that wrong)

BASAAC (could be spelling that wrong)

I recently asked my brother why my Dad built the house on stilts and he said that since Dad was in such a hurry to get the house built. (The house they bought was destroyed by vandals and we had to live in a tent…and then a shed that my Dad built for the summer. It would have taken too much time to lay a foundation. On top of that the state police made a visit to let my Dad know that his brother had died…because of the housing situation he felt he couldn’t go to the funeral…all of these problems should have been a warning that this venture into farming was going to be a disaster!! My Dad was very close and loved his brother very much!

THE LAST PICTURE OF ME WITH THE GOATS(that I have)

THE LAST PICTURE OF ME WITH THE GOATS(that I have)



NORTH TO YONTOCKET

Another night in Crescent City..

This is a carving outside of my hotel…

PICT1743

I knew the Redwoods were full of tourists and was looking for someplace new to hike with little traffic…Tolowa Dunes is usually the place I head for but I was feeling like something new So I went to National Parks Redwood headquarters…and found a hiking book on the Humboldt Coast.And the first hike which they say is easy…kicked my ass! I don’t know if it is because I, the idiot hiker who forgot my hiking boots and only had a pair of fake CROCS with me or if it was because I’m not used to walking six miles in mostly sand…what ever the reason I was wiped out almost as much as the hike in the Sierras.

PICT1745

I love looking up at the tree canopy

PICT1748

PICT1750

PICT1751

PICT1752

PICT1753

PICT1754

PICT1755

PICT1756

Part of the trail is a road that goes to the environmental campsites and the Yon’takit village site and cemetary(only authorized vehicles allowed). Most of the tracks are sand if you don’t walk in the tracks…stickers get in the holes in my shoes… although some places have a harder surface.

PICT1757

there is something magical about this place I feel the same way about Tolowa Dunes…the wind was blowing fiercely and I am a bit burned. It was actually difficult taking some of the closeup photos because the wind was blowing the leaves…I would have to  wait for the wind to subside a bit.

PICT1759

PICT1761


THE DOORS END!!

Rush posting…I am trying to go to Montana at the end of the month….things are getting neglected!!!

PICT1539

PICT1540

PICT1541

PICT1542

PICT1543

PICT1544

PICT1545

PICT1547

PICT1548


ALMOST DONE WITH THE DOORS!!!

After the FBI cheerleader I need to put up something positive in a hurry…work is calling me. Luckily I have multitudes of photos!!!

PICT1527

PICT1528

PICT1532

PICT1533

PICT1534

PICT1535

PICT1536

PICT1537

PICT1538


YOUR FBI $$$’s HARD AT WORK???

WOW! Is this an example of our Federal dollars at work? Not sure who SNAPPLE is but since he came to my house uninvited supporting  Special Agent Joseph Trimbach. As a courtesy I put up a video that he thinks is relevant to the John Graham/Richard Marshall debacle trial. I think the trial is tearing apart Indian country but mostly the mainstream media does not report on it…another example of how the United States continues their ongoing history of racist beliefs and actions against the indigenous people population of this beautiful land.

Although I posted the video late last night with his name in caps he cannot seem to find it even though I also linked the post to his own blog LEGEND OF PINE RIDGE. Snapple is upset not  only because he thinks I did not put up Two Elks video but because he mistakenly  wrote on a previous post “the FBI is against Indians” He corrected himself but apparently he has no sense of humor. SNAPPLE claims I was making fun at his expense and that he is “older”…not sure what that means…at any rate he is an “older” person who quickly resorts to insults and tantrums when he thinks he has not gotten his way. On top of that I specifically told him that I would post it sometime…I was going to wait until the weekend but stayed up last night..

Mr. Snapple you need to read RULES FOR COMMENTING ON MY BLOG.

Here is one of several comments he left on my blog…I am responding in parenthesis

You are obviously a stupid little idiot who is not able to argue honestly if you choose to make something of an older person’s typing error. And lazy and dishonest not to post TWo Elk’s recent video.

I have given you the youtube link a few times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbkm1lMI0DU

Monica and Anna Mae both were both reportedly in a relationship to Dennis Banks, although he was married to Ka-Mook.(Noo….Monica Charles says she was not in a relationship with Dennis Banks and what is your source to such a claim? Do you just throw that stuff out there hoping a sex scandal will spice things up? You sound like the NATIONAL ENQUIRER!)

Monica’s brother (where do you get your information??? Do you think everybody with the last name of Charles is Monicas brother???) Norman was allegedly with Peltier when the FBI agents were shot.

Monica is pretty much at ground zero and spends a lot of time discrediting Indians such as Richard Two Elk and Ka-Mook, who have told the authorities what they witnessed so that there would be evidence to take to court.(Didn’t Ka-Mook get paid 49,000 for her testimony? She basically testified heresay and seven months later married one of the governments lead investigators in the  Anna Mae Aquash case. From what I understand Richard Two Elk’s testimony is so bad and he has put out so many conflicting stories that he is not taken too seriously on the stand….or by PBS.)

Here is something Two Elk said about what Dennis Banks ordered boys to do during the occupation:

“I was there, at Wounded Knee. At the age of 19, I backpacked weapons and supplies into the village with my AIM brothers. I remember it was near Easter, because that’s when our leader, Dennis Banks, ordered us to ‘take care’ of a young white guy, suspected of being an informant. We knew what that meant. We strung him up on a cross in a mock crucifixion, and beat him. After we took him down, they led him away and I don’t think he was ever heard from again.”(Richard Two Elk has apparently written several different versions of this incident…If this is true why have the FBI not prosecuted him for murder???)

http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/ReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=26541

Agnes Gildersleeve testified that Indian people were held in a church and threatened with guns. AIM took over a disabled man’s trailer and other people’s homes.

Agnes recounts:

“[AIM] took complete control of the telephone service and local residents were not permitted to answer any of the phones. When my phone would ring, an armed guard would immediately answer the phone and direct the call over to [disabled Wilber Reigert's stolen] trailer house where Banks, Means, and Bellecourt were located…” (Trimbach p. 88) (The Gildersleeves were well known for taking advantage of Native Americans at their trading post…selling objects offensive to Native Americans. Here is Steve Hendricks talking about the Gildersleeves:

Tim Giago writes that I unfairly impugned the honor of the late Clive and Agnes Gildersleeve. The Gildersleeves owned the trading post at Wounded Knee, which was looted by militants who had seized the village to protest oppression on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and beyond. Sloppily lumping my book The Unquiet Grave with Peter Matthiessen’s In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Giago writes, “In [the two books], you will read about a ‘white man’ and a woman often referred to as a ‘white woman,’ although Agnes Gildersleeve was an Ojibwa woman, who ‘ripped off’ the local Lakota people. This apparently justifies the attacks upon them and the destruction of their business.”

I did not write that Ms. Gildersleeve was white, did not use the words “ripped off” (though they are not far from the truth), and did not excuse the attack on them or their business. I did explain why many Indians hated the business:

“Its owners, the Gildersleeve and Czywczynski families, had strewn billboards for seventy-five miles that announced, SEE THE WOUNDED KNEE MASSACRE SITE, VISIT THE MASS GRAVE. POSTCARDS, CURIOS, DON’T MISS IT! The postcards showed slaughtered Indians, including Chief Big Foot, frozen in the 1890 snow. The traders enlivened their commerce with beadwork, quilts, and other curios bought low from Oglalas and sold high. A Catholic priest once watched Mrs. Czywczynski barter a beader to a stingy $3.50 for an exquisite work, then turn around and sell it for $12.00. The traders doubled as creditors, lending their Indian patrons $10 at humble interest of $2.25 a week. As village postmasters, they also offered a rudimentary auto-payment–opening the mail of customers who had run tabs, cashing their checks without asking, paying their bills at the post, and calling other shopkeepers across the reservation to see if debts were owed them too. There had been calls to boycott the post, but none had worked. The post was the only store for a dozen miles, and the many carless Oglalas of Wounded Knee had no choice but to buy groceries and other wares at its inflated prices. Years later Clive Gildersleeve was called to testify about his business practices, and he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself ninety-nine times.”

Giago goes on to paint me as an apologist for the American Indian Movement, which led the Indian rights struggle of the 1970s. This is rank distortion. Mine was the first book to describe AIM’s secret killing inside Wounded Knee of an activist named Ray Robinson, and the book’s centerpiece was AIM’s infamous execution of Anna Mae Aquash two years later. As Giago well knows, I condemned AIM sharply for these and lesser brutalities, and more than one AIM leader has threatened me for my pains. What riles Giago is that I also praised AIM (the overwhelming majority of whose members were peaceful) for fighting oppression, and I denuded the oppressors, from small-timers like the Gildersleeves to big-timers like the FBI, the latter of which persistently goaded AIM to just the sort of violence it committed. In Indian Country, the haves like Giago have long fought to keep the have-nots in their place. It is one reason the have-nots are still so multitudinous.



RICHARD TWO ELK FOR SNAPPLE

I have posted on this before. I thought maybe it was something new…Richard Two Elk the man who wrote the forward to AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA also makes videos. This is being put up again for SNAPPLE who runs the THE LEGEND OF PINE RIDGE blog. After watching it again I still have the same opinion….after the video…

I have several problems with this video…Richard Two Elks supposedly owns and produces videos yet he doesn’t know not to wear a hat on camera…indoors either as far as I am concerned. I was raised that it is disrespectful. Another thing that bothers me is that Richard Two Elks never speaks confidently into the camera…he hides his face and is always looking down at a prepared statement he also mumbles and slurs. It was a bizarre video the first time I watched it and still is. Richard Two Elks was at Wounded Knee II he knows who everyone is and the history….I still get names confused…but I can tell you what I know and believe….looking you in the eye confident that I am true to my feelings and in my beliefs based on what I know…But as I said this might be a difference between whites and Indians?? I am not trying to be mean but the video lacks passion and conviction for the subject never mind that I do not agree with all that is in the video….

Because I have read many other things by Richard Two Elk….I have a hard time believing that these are his words…this is how Richard Two Elks usually writes in some weird voice. This is a comment to me for posting the SNAPPLE post on alt.native

so…why da hill ya postin it hear?…

not nuff room onyer Clog, i meanz…blog…?

please refrain from redundant posting of content which may be read
elsewhere, in it’s entirety, IF anyone should want…

DUH!

and this

da mistake ya repeatedly recycle IS…ya seem to bleev we all wanna
play yer stoopid pre-adolescent games witya…
AxeUWally…we find sum sick entertainment in watchin you flop
roundabout…

pass dat Popcorn puleez…

and this from another post

if’n ya kickout 9 or 10 o yer C&Pz dat outta move yer last act o
IDIOCY off da Front Page anywhoz…

den ya kin maka neu face til Sizzle catch up witya N Cookya agin…

Dang…me Know ya Gotta B havin Bic Phun messin witus, eh?

Like I said it may be a difference between whites and Indians…but Monica Charles doesn’t speak like that…its weird like he has to create another  personality for???

I could be wrong but I was raised in a very conservative home and while I am quite liberal in my political views…I mostly carry quite conservative values and this man really bothers me…

One of the other things that bothers me about Richard Two Elks is that he admits to hanging a man on a cross and beating him…I know he was young but he was never charged by the FBI and speaks of the incident in the forward he  wrote(?) to Special Agent Joseph Trimabach’s book AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA. I am a huge believer that all laws should be for all people….while I may not be happy with the prison system in the United States…I believe that run correctly it should be a place where people are held accountable for their actions…I think it is a necessary step to healing all parties involved.I think that people either rise to the occasion or remain unable to confront the horror of what they have done and thus are never able to be totally free. I do not believe that informers involved in crimes should get lesser sentences than those they have informed on…I do think that it should be a consideration after remorseful behavior and parole is being considered. Richard Two Elk reminds me of someone who is not proud of who he has become.

There are a lot of accusations flung about on alt.native and I try not to pay attention to the ones that are just insults being flung around…there are a lot….one of the accusations being hurled around for awhile was that the “real victims” of  Wounded Knees were those whose homes were destroyed and that the occupiers of Wounded Knee should sew blankets. Some write like the people are living in cardboard boxes not with no blankets or food….Wounded Knee seems to be  a very emotional and sacred site, there was a movement of Indians who were being repressed by the government State and Federal….they thought quite mistakenly that a group of individuals with a few rifles were a match for for the United States government…and like Japan-they were wrong.

The appropriate response after Wounded Knee would have been for the governor at the time to declare an emergency ask for Federal money in order for the owners to rebuild….if this was not done? Shame should be on our government.

The video is very one sided and while Richard Two Elk claims PBS neglected to tell the  death of  a black supporter at Wounded Knee.. he fails to mention that he hung someone on a cross and beat them to death…this person has disappeared and apparently he changes his story…AIM took him….the FBI took him…??? This is a man who the FBI has chosen as their spokes person on AIM and Wounded Knee. Further more this video fails to mention the abuse and murder of Indian children on Pine Ridge…a little girls eye was shot out. Houses and cars were routinely shot up….even some of the lawyers for the occupiers were beaten.  A young woman named Jancita Eagle Deer was raped by the future Governor…He was disbarred by the tribal courts…but the FBI was so racist against Indians that they did not consider the tribal judge to be legitamate….because he was Indian?? There are so many twists and turns to this story I encourage all of you who are interested to read THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks. He seems to be unbiased and often criticizes or praises both the FBI and AIM.

The fact of the matter is PBS could do a five part series on Wounded Knee II and never be able to cover all of the finger pointing and accusations. The murder of Anna Mae Aquash alone has more whodunnit theories than CARTERS HAS LIVER PILLS!

My solution to all of this is to either let it drop or to put every single person under sodium penethol or hook them up to lie detector tests…every FBI agent, BIA workers…all of the major characters on Pine Ridge…in AIM…FBI informants…even with all of that peoples faulty memories probably still wouldn’t be enough to find out what really happened.


SNAPPLE LEAVES A COMMENT

This is a comment SNAPPLE just left on my blog for those of you who would like to hear from an FBI supporter’s take on the whole Anna Mae Aquash story. My response is below his.

On August 12, 2009 at 5:24 am Snapple Said:

Elizabeth,

Richard Two Elk has made a video that describes some things that happened when the AIM attacked the people at Wounded Knee.

I think you should hear his side instead of just listening to a woman who may be closely associated with the people who conspired in some crimes.

I have a number of posts about Two Elk, but you might want to see his new video.

The introduction of the Trimbach’s book is written by Mr. Two Elk. He writes about child abuse and alcoholism in the introduction. This book is based on Indian sources because it is Indians who witnessed the crimes or who were the victims.

I linked it on this post.

http://legendofpineridge.blogspot.com/2009/08/richard-two-elk-stolen-legacy-of.html

I think you are believing the lies that the criminals who killed Indians, FBI agents, and some young women and men at Wounded Knee told.

You write about abuse of women and children, but young women and girls were sexually assaulted and murdered during the take-over.

The lawyer for the AIM, Mark Lane, got money from the KGB. He was also the lawyer for the 900 people at Jonestown who were murdered. Mark Lane says he managed to escape that day. Only a few people weren’t poisoned or shot. Then Mark Lane–the AIMster lawyer who got money from the KGB–wrote a book that claimed the CIA killed those people.

Mark Lane got money from the Soviet KGB to make trouble and to discredit American security agencies like the FBI and CIA. We know this because a KGB archivist defected to the British with many years of notes he took on the documents in the KGB foreign intelligence archives.

Snapple,

You must not have read my posts or comments to James Simon very well. I do not just listen to Monica Charles…she merely suggested a book to read….I have been reading THE UNQUIET GRAVE by Steve Hendricks. I got hung up on the Jancita Eagle Deer story and wrote several posts about her. What do you think about Jancita Eagle Deer? Do you see her as just another lying drunk Indian woman who “got” what she asked for?

I in no way, shape or form support ANYONE who has raped or abused women or children…David Seals has spoken out against AIM leaders who treated women poorly…as has Monica Charles. (look up my posts on  Bernard Red Cherries. I have a victims statement from his step daughter on my blog. A fellow blogger was threatened by Autonomous AIM Where is the FBI??) The point is Snapple, you and James Simon  unconditionaly support those who who have either ignored or partaken in the abuse of women. As Monica Charles once wrote I see the law enforcement as public servants sworn to uphold the laws of the United States(she just plain mistrusts them). The FBI should have been protecting the rights of Native Americans and not just  those of the colonizers.

I am not mired in opinion of one side over the other. I do not blindly support the AIM or the FBI. The only people I blindly support are the victims…and not the ones crying over the loss of their material possesions at Wounded KneeII

My sympathies and prayers go to the children like MaryAnn Little Bear and Jancita Eagle Deer…and the countless others who did not seem to warrant the FBI’s attention in the terms of a thorough investigation. That bothers me more than the Anna Mae Aquash murder…Anna Mae Aquash was a woman who made it to adulthood and made her decision to be involved in activities that may or may not get her killed…she felt that what she was doing was right and good. I do not agree with nor do I condemn her actions…She was caught up in something that became beyond her control. However I do not hold AIM to higher standards than I hold the FBI.The only law enforcement agent that looks to be a hero in all of this is U.S.Marshal Colburn…he’s good looking too!

My concept of my history has been pulled out from under me with this Indian stuff…totally blows me away at 43? My attitudes toward law enforcement and the government has changed considerably not because they made mistakes or did stupid things or even because they plotted to exterminate Indians but because they continue to support the wrong minded thinking in 2009. 2009 ! ! ! (kind of like the racism we are seeing with the election of Obama) They refuse to recognize, take responsibility and hold accountable those who did not enforce the laws that they were sworn to uphold. AIM was a group of protestors that got out of hand…the FBI is a government agency who only investigated crimes on Pine Ridge and other reservations when it suited their racist, paranoid beliefs.

As for Richard ‘Two Elks….have you ever read alt.native??? This is what the FBI supports??? Seriously???? All any jury would have to read is a copy of him making fun of a woman who was sexually abused by her father that pretty much negates what he claims to be consern and support for Native women. I own a copy of AMERICAN INDIAN MAFIA  and I will get around to reading it. But being endorsed by Richard Two Elks and Bill Janklow….you guys are starting off on the wrong foot with me.

I am trying to finish THE UNQUIET GRAVE and it is difficult…they are in Oregon traveling with dynamite….It’s hard to read but this is not something that I can even discuss with you because you are 100 percent in support of genocide. I can’t even get James Simon to acknowledge that the government  was stearilizing Indian women in the sixties. His avoidance of the topic makes me believe that he thinks that these were the right actions…that Indian women are less than human. What about you SNAPPLE….do you unconditionally support all actions by the United States???

A few more things why do you hide behind the name SNAPPLE?

Why are the FBI supporters so concerned about Monica Charles sex life? That really bothers me..why is that thrown around? Do you hold women to differnet standards? Is there any proof of her having sex with Dennis Banks? She says she didn’t….and if she did why bring it up like she is a whore? How many women or men have you been with??? Why aren’t the sex lives of the FBI agents under attack or investigated or commented about?

Get that video of Richard Two Elks on youtube and I will put it on my blog and make it a whole post!

Oh and I haven’t heard of any young women being murdered at Wounded Knee….but with all I have been stuffing in my head…did I gloss over it?

I look forward to hearing your response.


Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.