You Will Be Missed, Howard Zinn

Howard Zinn passed away yesterday, January 27, 2010, of a heart attack in Santa Monica, California. He was 87.

Two authors have inspired greatly my constant desire to read and learn more history; Not that mainstream lets all talk about how great the slaving, woman hating, racist and genocidal alleged founding fathers are type of history; but real, honest, raw, and as truthful as can be history. One of those authors is Ward Churchill, the other is Howard Zinn.

After my first taste of the down and dirty reality of history in "A Little Matter of Genocide," by Ward Churchill, I got around to reading the only best selling history book ever, "A People's History of the United States," by Howard Zinn. As a person who has a better grasp of the dirty underhanded deals and genocides of history, Zinn's work continually surprised me. It showed me how tricky memory is and how important history is. The history in Zinn's book was never...NEVER...talked about in any of the 12 years of the alleged best growin' up education anyone in the world can get. I sometimes think that nothing will surprise me ever again, and am constantly turned around by other books I've been lead to that no fine upstanding American citizen would read because Americans for the most part cannot handle the truth about the dirty nastiness that has and is this alleged great nation.

Through his humor, Howard Zinn has lead folk astray, astray from the norms of the commonly accpeted history and into the forms of active participation into the history we are making ourselves using people history as a springboard.

As he wrote in his autobiography, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train" (1994), "From the start, my teaching was infused with my own history. I would try to be fair to other points of view, but I wanted more than 'objectivity'; I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble."
--from "Howard Zinn, Historian Who Challenged Status Quo, Dies at 87," by Mark Feeney and Brian Marquard of the Boston Globe Staff.

Howard Zinn had his critics. A few years ago, I patronized a local lefty book store looking for a Howard Zinn book. When I asked the fella whom worked there about the book, he said they were out, then started (without provocation) telling me how much he hated Howard Zinn because he didn't write about this history or that history, "and don't get me started on Noam Chomsky," he informed me. I have never been back to the store since.

What Howard Zinn did for me was to get me to explore all the history I could. All the sorts of history that said lefty hated Howard Zinn for not writing about...and don't get him started on Chomsky. And lord knows what greatness said lefty has lead others to. For me, said lefty lead me to never patronize said lefty bookstore.

I had seen Howard Zinn lecture a few times, read his books, listened to him on radio, talked with him a few times on the phone and interviewed him once for the "Mitakuye Oyasin" radio program. It has been an honor and a privilege. During "Mitakuye Oyasin" I wanted him to explain to listeners the importance of history, what it means, how to use it.

Zinn's work lead me to others, John Hersey, Ida Tarbell, George Weller, etc. James Craven lead me to works by James Bamford, Edwin Black, Charles Gigham. I have dug my way around to works about the little known death camp in Croatia, Jasenovac and Anne Applebaum's work, "Gulag: a History." I believe in Joe Uris' ("The Joe and Abe Show," Tuesday morning talk radio on KBOO) rule #2, "Knowing is better than not knowing." Howard Zinn was an important person in my life and has lead me to many folk such as these because Howard's inspiration has kept me constantly looking into history because history has patterns...patterns that are relevant to the present...patterns that are relevant to the future.

I usually end my eulogies to folk such as Howard with the statement "SEND REINFORCEMENTS." Because of Howard's death, I have rethought this statement and send it retroactively to all those who have passed on that were important to my life, Paul McCadams for one...

THANK YOU FOR CREATING REINFORCEMENTS!

Howard Zinn makes me think of Derrick Jensen who mentions the story of Ham from the Bible. Ham was Noah's Son. Ham saw his daddy, Noah, naked and drunk one day in his hut. His brothers came in and walked backwards without looking at their drunken passed out daddy and covered him without looking at his nakedness. Ham was thus punished for his crime of seeing his daddy for who he actually is as a naked HUMAN BEING, that Noah sentenced Ham and all his descendents (aka, Africans) to be slaves.

Howard Zinn is like Ham. He saw the U.S. in its naked drunken destructiveness. He saw the people who have constantly struggled to change things who WERE NOT THE ALLEGED FOUNDING FATHERS. Howard saw the founding fathers in their nakedness. This time, however, they were not able to turn Howard into a slave. I do see a vast amount of Ham's brothers types around. Those who just don't look at history, don't look at what is happening around them, don't look at the implications such things have on the future of the world. Howard, has gently lead them to the nakedness of Noah, pointed out that he is a drunken human being and that is part of reality, and many of the Ham's brother types have looked...and...realized...understand...

Comparisons

I like hearing from people who don't simply accept Paul Watson as the greatest man ever. For example, the following comment.

The Prayer of the Sea Shepherd Faithful
I love Sea Shepherd.
I love the way Paul Watson changes his conservation goals every year.
I love the way Paul Watson faked being shot in the chest.
I love the way Paul Watson has become a dancing eco-patsy to Discovery Networks.
I love the way Paul Watson lies about everything he bloviates on about.
I love the way Paul Watson and Sea Shepherd have destroyed the concept of conservation and replaced it with a hyper inflated media machine that spits out inane talking points based on their latest stunt work with whalers.
Yes I love Sea Shepherd, and will continue to donate my hard earned dollars for many more years of the same useless efforts producing shady statistics about the numbers of animals saved.
God bless them, each and every one.
Be a “Pirate” in a “War!”

From --Obey the Watson on Pudgy Indian 2 post.

Here let me make a comparison in hopes of clarifying why I feel the way I do about Paul Watson, which is I hate him.

Greg Mortenson has taken on helping folk in Pakistan and Afghanistan build schools and infrastructure to improve their living situation. He does not do this because he believes he is the savior of all remote Pakistani's and Afghani's, he does it because he saw they had a need and he is a selfless person. It isn't about Greg Mortenson. It is about the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan in remote areas where governments easily neglect them.

Paul Watson tells the story of getting between a whaler and a whale when he was with Green Peace. The whaling ship shot over his and his companions head and hit their targeted whale. The whale raised up and looked at Paul Watson and said something like, "Oh Great Paul Watson, Savior of all Buffalo of the sea known as whales, come, save us oh great savior." Paul Watson considers himself the savior of the whales. It isn't about saving whales, it's about Paul Watson being the Savior of the whales.

Paul Watson in his racist mission to stop Makah whaling some 10 years ago allied with racist anti-environmentalist representative Jack Metcalf (R-Wash.) and racist anti-environmentalist senator Slade Gorton (R-Wash.). He also manipulated Alberta Thompson then neglected her. He also lied and deliberately misinformed people about the whaling issue (along with the Sea Defense Alliance). If there wasn't so much publicity on this issue, I doubt he would have ever bothered.

Greg Mortenson, when offered millions by the U.S. government to build schools refused to take it because to do so would deligitimize him to the people he was helping and he would never be trusted again. The U.S. government has alterior motives and could care less about remote peoples. Look at Pine Ridge, Crow Creek, and other reservations within the U.S. borders.

Paul Watson claims to help the whales because, as he puts it, he is the whales personal savior. He goes out and fights whalers, but he doesn't seem to fight industrial trawlers who lay waste to the environment whales live in. Nor does he fight the military waste dumping. He doesn't fight overfishing of the oceans. But DAMN! It really looks cool on an activist resume when one rams a whaler with ones ship!

Greg Mortenson is selfless and helps because he helps. It is who he is.

Paul Watson is a savior and he looks like he helps but does he really?

Let's Talk Racism

When delivering to a school earlier this week, I noticed a box labeled "Red Skin Potatoes." I made a comment as a joke about it being racist.

The kitchen lady heard this and asked me about it. I told her I was just joking, but she went on to inform me that she did some work with a school in Philomath that has or had a mascot in portrayal of an American Indian. She said the school went to the local Alsea folk, of whom their blood runs through mine as well as others. The sports teams were call the Warriors. The Alsea, she said, had no problem with the mascot. I informed her of a few other issues that needed to be brought into the equation.

Mascots, such as the Cleveland Indians, tm, are racist, pure and simple. This is a symbol based on stereotypical ideals of what Indians are as imposed by non-Indians. Many Indians buy into this as well as they have not been well educated in civilized and colonialist ways of thinking toward such lesser folk as us.

I informed the woman that the term "redskin" first appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary around 1647 or so. It was defined as a term toward indigenous of North America because when one collected bounty, which happened to be the skins of said Indians, when dried it had a red tint. Thus, redskin.

However, in a greater sense, what such things as the above mascot do is to create a dehumanized racist image of Indians which makes it easier to do inhuman things to them. Example, what is currently happening to the Crow Creek of eastern Montana. Their land stolen by the IRS for a wind farm so the green company does not have to go through paying Indians for use of their land nor any of the bureacratic red tape involved in going through the illegal organization known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

I also mentioned that many non-indigenous folk believe that this is honoring. If it is honoring, why aren't white folk out their screaming to be honored in such a way. Why not the Cleveland Crackers? The Pensylvania Peckerwoods? Why don't they honor other races in the same manner. The Cincinnati Spicks? The New York Niggers? The Kansas City Kykes? The Wisconsin Wetbacks? Are not these races and so many more worthy of honoring in such a fashion? If not, why not?

There are also discussions appropriate here to mixed race. There are many mixed race types of which my wife and I and our families are a part. We identify with our indgenous race, our indigenous people, however. In the eugenics movement in the U.S. (see Edwin Black's book, "War Against the Weak") folk like us, mixed bloods, are the worst of the worst. We have, afterall, tainted our glorious white race blood with a lesser race. This is institutional and it is expressed within Indian country as well. Some Indians believe if you are not full blood (or other blood-quantum), you are not Indian. Oddly, in our origins, our blood had nothing to do with who we were as a people and we often intermarried. The origin of this thinking is within the master race pseudo science called eugenics, now renamed genetics. My wife knows where her soul belongs, the Rogue River and Klamath River areas. I know where my soul belongs, the coast and Umpqua Valley and Columbia Gorge areas. We belong to each other, and we belong to each others land bases.

Colonialists have an issue with this as their origins are from another place. They have tried to legitimize and come to terms with this by the pseudosciences of eugenics, genetics, raceology, etc. Kennewick Man was not a case of if he was white or not, it was a case of science wanting to allege that white folk were here first and the Indians wiped them out therefore justifying the genocide of indigenous past and present and illegal acquisition of land and properties and cultures and racial definitions and cultural definitions etc.

So here, I open up a can of worms. Most non-indigenous folk believe they have a right to be here. Yet they have done little or nothing to acknowledge those whom they have invaded, conquered, committed genocide against, etc. Nor do they acknowledge the environmental damages their alleged civilization has caused.

As I told the lady in the school kitchen, I would like us all to come to the table and have further discussions. From the joyous to those uncomfortable realities that we all face. What do you say? Care to sit at this pseudo table I've prepared and have a discussion?

The Man Who Should Have Received the Nobel (alleged) Peace Prize

I just finished listening to "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time," by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

In a failed attempt to climb K2, Greg Mortenson accidentally got lost on his descent and came across a village called Korphe, in Northern Pakistan. When he saw a small group of students gathered in a non-existent school to study without the tutoring of a teacher, he decided to help by building them a school.

A year later, in posession of all the proper materials, he was asked to build a bridge first. Thus, began a rather frustrating and amazing life journey known as that of Greg Mortenson.
First, he built a bridge...

Then a school...
With the help of the local community.

I have heard of this book for a few years, now, but have deliberately chosen to ignore it as I believed that it was yet another story of a great white savior coming to save the lesser darkies from themselves. Example: I recently met a man who told me that he was the fulfillment of a Lakota prophecy. He was not Lakota, he was white, but he was the savior of us lesser Indians as told to him by none other than Dennis Banks. I never told him I don't have much respect for Dennis. I admire his work, but he also has some 18 children he has nothing to do with. And thus, that was the type of book I was expecting to hear. That was the type of book this WASN'T.

Greg Mortenson has got to be one of the most respectful and Loving folk I have EVER heard about. This man overcame GREAT obstacles and gained the great respect of whole nations for the work he has done in creating schools for the folk of Baltustan (sp?). Did he do this to glorify himself? Did he want to win awards and great praise? Heck no! All he wanted to do and still does is to help people who most need it in a way in which he is capable of doing. He is a humble and wonderful human being.

The subtitle is somewhat disingenuous, "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism..." His work, indeed, by extension, does fight terrorism, however, his work is actually to assist people in creating healthy and strong societies in the face of some of the most extreme poverty in some of the remotest and most neglected parts of the world. Greg Mortenson creates peace. Greg creates peace and the societies he works with create peace with him. He is a part of those societies. He is their family, and they are his.

The book ends with him heading into Northern Afghanistan to help build schools there. His reputation so great that folk from Afghanistan hunted him down through the hills, found him, and requested he build schools for them, as well.

BARACK OBAMA WAS THE WRONG MAN FOR THE NOBEL (ALLEGED) PEACE PRIZE! It should have been Greg Mortenson. Greg would have accepted with a speech stating how education leads to peace and healthy communities. He would NOT have said the weapons of war help bring peace. He would have said education leads to peace and healthy thriving communities.

THANK YOU,
GREG MORTENSON!

"Three Cups of Tea..." a must read. I cannot imagine you not inspired into helping your fellow human beings in one way or another by reading or listening to this book.

Screw You "Screwed"

I attempted to listen to "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class--and What We Can Do About It," by Thom Hartmann, and I must say, I absolutely despised this book.

I listed to 2 of the 6cd unabridged set, ready by Anthony Heald, and I couldn't take anymore of that BS.

Mind you, I agreed with his economic statements about the previous four administrations (Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan) and the economic position these anus faces have put us in, but I couldn't stomach his blind lust for the alleged "Founding Fathers," nor his belief that the U.S. constitution was written to create a middle class.

Thom alleges that the ideals of the alleged "founding fathers" was sound and pretty much the masters way of ruling the universe. He predicates his discussion of the great and glorious holier than vegans "founding fathers" by eliminating two points initially from the discussion: their genocidal behavior against red nig...er...the indigenous of this nation, and no discussion as to the fact that they were slavers. He did not mention the poor, treatment of women and children as property, environmental damages, etc. Women, of course, not having male equipment, automatically makes them NOT a part of the "we the people" discussion for obvious lack of the proper genitalia. Thus, according to Thom Hartmann, when they say "we the people" instead of meaning, like James Madison asserted, we the propertied white male wealthy elite, they meant the "middle class."

Thom alleges that a middle class is a natural form of societies. He stated that some grazing animals aren't led by the alpha male or female, but by their middle class. It has been noted that grazing animals, when thirsting for water, a majority start facing the water hole they want to head to. This is considered the "middle class" of the animal world. According to my observations, the middle class constitutes last I heard (and I'm sure it has since shrank) approximately 30% of the populace. The wealthy elite less than 1%. The rest of us lessers, approximately 69%. 69% of the people are not considered in this equation. In the case of the animals, for their really to be a middle class, their would have to be the big fat overeating alpha 1%, the well-fed 30% of the herd, and the barely surviving 69%. This is something I have NOT observed nor heard of in nature, yet Thom asserts that animals pointing themselves to a waterhole means a middle class is a natural formation of societies.

The narrowing of the focus on only the GOOD attributes of the alleged "founding fathers" (notice that their are no founding grandparents, women, children, etc., thus some folk are excluded OBVIOUSLY from the process of "we the people"), then one should focus on only the GOOD attributes of all world leaders. Hitler united the German people, improved the economy, brought the world the VW, created excellent roads, improved the health of the German people. George Bush created vast wealth for his wealthy comrades and created a military industrial complex that has vastly improved the lives of those who take advantage of such things. No, we are not to look at the bad things about the "founding fathers." Not the genocide of Indians or their genocidal behaviors in general, not the treatment of women and children as property of men, not the fact that only propertied white males were the only people allowed to vote and participate initially in the U.S. government, not the slavery, etc. Their ideals were perfect and pure and holier than veganism. Uhhh...NO!

To assert that the U.S. constitution was written to create a middle class, as Thom does, flies in the face of historical fact. According to one history book I listened to recently that I can't find in my library search and forget the title of, it was stated that the reason the U.S. constitution was written was in order to form a navy. The U.S. at the time was like 13 nation states within one nation state. Without a constitution, the U.S. couldn't build a navy. Why did the U.S. want to build a navy? To protect U.S. interests off of the Barbary Coast, to protect U.S. citizens from becoming slaves at the hands of pirates off of the Barbary Coast, and to further U.S. trade agreements. Oddly, the "middle class" were not mentioned in this book.

Other liberal works that have nauseated me to revulsion include "The End of America," by Naomi Wolff and "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. Both extoll the holier than vegan virtues of the alleged "founding fathers" ad nauseum. I'd rather know what my fellow humans are doing now about the situations we now face rather than hear how great historical, penis weilding, white "master" race, slave owning, genocidal, misogynist, child and nature hating MEN, are.

Comment Sent About Paul Watson to Pudgy Indian 2 Blog

I am a former supporter of PW and his elite supposed caused,I call it that now due to his lies and racism,my daughter was hurt by his attitude towards the Japanese because she is Japanese and her silbing all 3 are Native American Indian,her and I lived the Native way of life for over 20 yrs,I did the Pow~Wow trail,worked along side Fern Mathais who ran the AIM chapter in Los Angeles and made the merchandise with her business partner Fred Beal and living with the Native people especially on a rez they do not take kindly to wasichus being wannabee indians,when i was told today PW had been given a head dress by the lakota I knew then I had to dispute his claim and I did,his claims of fighting along side Dennis Banks,Russell Means and other AIM members I knew too was a fabrication on his part,and it was,ye others who are Sea Shepherd and PW supporters have been royally duped but then eventually his lies will come out and I look forward to the day he falls from Grace! ;

From a person calling herself "Irish"

Satan and Pat Robertson

Satan rebukes his protégé Rev. Pat Robertson

in a letter to the editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Satan rebukes his beloved disciple Rev. Pat Robertson:

Dear Pat Robertson,

I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.

But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished. Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth -- glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle.

Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake. Haven't you seen "Crossroads"? Or "Damn Yankees"? If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox -- that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it -- I'm just saying: Not how I roll.

You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings -- just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please.

Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.

Best, Satan


+++

Hat tip to Karen Tumulty at Time for finding what she called the "best letter to the editor" of the week. It came to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune from a "ghost writer" named Lily Coyle