Patterico's Pontifications

8/20/2006

In Which I Pretend I’m Atrios

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:48 am



Yeah, yeah, another stupid open thread . . .

16 Responses to “In Which I Pretend I’m Atrios”

  1. Nope, not Atrios. I mean you are intelligent, Atrios… not so much.

    Dawnsblood (30da23)

  2. Hey, thanks Patterico.

    Three men are waiting in Heaven’s anteroom to be admitted by St. Peter. To pass the time, they decide to describe how they died.

    The first says: “One day I did not feel well and left work in the middle of the day. When I walked into our apartment, I found my wife nude, in bed, in our bedroom and looking flushed and mauled over. I immediately suspected that she had been entertaining a lover and that he was still there. I looked everywhere — in the closets, under the bed … but I could not find him. Then I heard a noise from outside our bedroom window which was strange since we lived on the 15th floor. I went over and saw him hanging by his fingertips from our window sill. I was so angry that I picked up a big chest and threw it on him. It knocked him off the window sill, fifteeen floors to the ground, but the excitement and strain gave me a massive stroke and I died too.”

    The second guy says: “I was a window cleaner. One day I was washing the windows on a high-rise when my scaffold broke and I fell. But by the Grace of God I caught myself with my fingertips on a window sill on the fifteenth floor. I was hanging there whimpering ‘Help, help’ when this big chest fell on me and knocked me the rest of the way to the ground.”

    They look at the third guy and he says: “To tell you the truth guys, I don’t know how I died. The last thing I remember I was with a married woman. We heard a noise at the door and she said, ‘Oh my God, it’s my husband. Quick, hide in this chest’.”

    nk (57e995)

  3. The Pechanga Band of Mission Indians in Temecula, CA are destroying the heritage of 25% of their tribe.

    Here is an article that the LA TIMES hasn’t run:

    Pechanga denies disenrolled family’s appeal

    By: JENNIFER KABBANY – Staff Writer

    TEMECULA —- A family of about 100 adults with the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians disenrolled by the tribe have lost their appeal of that decision.

    The ruling on the family’s appeal, reached this month by Pechanga’s enrollment committee, marks the second time in as many years tribal leaders have ousted large families formerly considered descendants of the Pechanga Band, established in 1882.

    The ruling not only strips the extended family of their membership in the tribe, but it also takes away health insurance, college scholarships and other benefits provided by the tribe, including thousands of dollars in casino profits tribe members get each month.

    The tribe and its 1,000 members own and operate the Pechanga Resort & Casino, southeast of Temecula and one of the most successful Indian gaming ventures in California.

    The family most recently disenrolled was the Hunter family, a group of nearly 100 adults who trace their lineage to Paulina Hunter, who was listed on tribal rolls in the late 19th century.

    Another 130-plus adult members formerly with the tribe who can trace their lineage to Temecula pioneer and Luiseno Indian Pablo Apis were ousted from the band in 2004.

    The two disenrollments center around disputes over the legitimacy of the Hunter and Apis clans’ heritage with the Pechanga band, according to tribal documents regarding the procedures.

    In the case of the Hunter family, there is dispute over whether Paulina Hunter is of Temecula descent. The enrollment committee asserts that “Hunter was not an original Pechanga Temecula person.” An anthropologist hired by the committee states she very well could have been, however, according to documents used during the disenrollment procedures.

    The report concluded that a “preponderance of the evidence” from surviving historical records and census documents show that Hunter, who was born in the 1830s or ’40s, was a Pechanga member who lived in Temecula and was allotted reservation land. In a telephone interview Thursday afternoon, Johnson said he reiterated those findings in a letter that he sent to the Pechanga Tribal Council about two months ago.

    That letter did not draw a response from Macarro or other council members, Johnson said.

    “My feeling is it’s a faulty interpretation of the record to reject this family. Paulina Hunter was definitely a core member of the Temecula Band of Luiseño Indians,” Johnson said in the interview. “I don’t understand the decision other than it is not based on fact. It is based on conjecture and politics.”

    Hunter (470879)

  4. The Indian reservation system is an idiotic evil anachronism which should have been abolished a century ago. I believe that the Fourteenth Amendment is sufficient to abolish it through congressional action. There is no need to amend the Constitution. There is only one nation and only one tribe, the United States of America.

    nk (5a2f98)

  5. HA! Your stupid open thread is nowhere near as stupid as Atrios’s stupid open thread.

    Loser!

    Dan Collins (1fd2ef)

  6. The Indian Casino race issue is the most fascinating political story in California today. These guys bring in Nevada companies to manage the casinos, which employ 90% non-Indians. Then they have race tests to determine when tribe members get the $50,000/year free money, but the tribe councils can vote to exclude members who speak out or become disruptive in some way.

    Wesson (c20d28)

  7. Wesson,

    When the tests don’t work out the way the tribe wants, they can change the rules.
    For instance, the Pechanga Tribal Council OVERRULED the will of the people. The people voted to end disenrollments for ALL and the Council said it didn’t apply to those already in the process. That was NOT the intent and they knew it.
    Russell “Butch” Murphy is a white man with NO Indian blood, ruling on whether or not true Pechanga blood can stay in the tribe. Andrew Masiel, another council member’s MOTHER is on the enrollment committee as a puppet of the Council.

    There is an article in yesterday’s Press Enterprise. I wonder why television news doesn’t cover it….advertising maybe?

    The Pechanga per capita is over $250,000 per year. California is going to lose a lot of tax revenue, as those who live on the reservation pay no state income tax. Guess how many of the tribe have post office boxes.

    Hunter (470879)

  8. Governor Schwarzeneggar is going to present a compact to the legislature to give Pechanga more machines.

    Will the legislature favor a tribe that is destroying it people, for greed?

    Who will stand up in Congress and call the Pechanga Tribal Council, led by Mark Macarro?

    They ignored the finding of the leading archaeologist and took the word of a child molestor, Vincent Ibanez, who is currently in prison. They ignored depositions from 1915, taken in the Luiseno language, for a child molestor…

    Hunter (470879)

  9. I don’t see what relevance the fact that Ibanez is a child molester has on whether or the historical record of who is or is not a member of the tribe. It means he’s a bad guy who should rot in prison, I don’t see why it means that he’s misguided here.

    Polybius (dd4066)

  10. Polybius,

    Because there’s historical documents to prove that he’s wrong. And, because he and his family stand to increase their wealth each time they disenroll another family. Yet, they used him as one of the “elders” to rely on. He wasn’t alive when Paulina Hunter was. He simply said she wasn’t thought to be Pechanga….by who? His family?

    His family is a leader in getting families disenrolled. Ed Burbee, spokesperson for the Corrupt Pechanga Citizens, is his relative, as is Burbee’s sister, who is a secretary on the enrollment committee.

    Hunter (470879)

  11. A New Willy
    Russ Vaughn

    (Willy, British slang for the male sexual appendage; also a diminutive form of William, e.g. Slick Willy)

    Now don’t think me foolish, or just being silly,
    When I say that the Democrats need a new Willy.
    Their Willy’s gone soft amid fortune and fame,
    He’s no longer up, standing tall for the game.
    This Willy’s content with the new life he’s found,
    Able now to engage in full time fooling ‘round.
    Book deals and speech fees have made life so frilly
    He’s lost his hard edge, their once potent Willy.

    (Continued here.)

    Bill Faith (3cc7e8)

  12. Here’s more on how the Pechanga Tribal Council has gone outside their authority:

    Problems with the Tribal Council’s memo to the General Membership regarding the Petition to stop disenrollment:

    1)While the memo cites the Constitution as providing the Council with the “duty to uphold the Constitution, Bylaws and ordinances”, why did the memo fail to quote the Constitution and Bylaws, Article III which states:

    “The simple majority (of the general membership)…shall rule
    and decide in all matters of government and business of the Band.”

    It’s clear that Article III recognizes the General Membership’s ultimate authority to make decisions regarding all government matters- including enrollment and disenrollment issues. The General Membership’s authority and powers trump those of the Enrollment Committee and the Council in all matters.

    2)When was the Enrollment Committee granted ultimate authority to trump actions of the General Membership regarding enrollment and disenrollment?

    By custom and tradition, the Enrollment Committee has always taken its directives from the General Membership, and the General Membership has always enjoyed and exercised its authority as the ultimate decision maker on such matters .

    I can think of several major issues that illustrate this point:

    i) The General Membership approved 2 Enrollment Applications (the first in 1979 and the 2nd in 1996). Although the Enrollment Committees drafted each, changes were made by the General Membership and the ultimate approval of each was via votes of the General Membership. The Enrollment Committee did not then nor do they now have sole discretion or authority in enrollment and disenrollment issues.

    ii) The General Membership, not the Enrollment Committee, adopted the Murphys into the tribe. In fact, the Enrollment Committee recognized that it did not have the authority to “adopt” the Murphys as members. Therefore, the issue was presented to the General Membership which was and is the ultimate decider on enrollment and disenrollment issues.

    iii) The moratoriums on processing enrollment applications were approved by the General Membership. The processing of enrollment applications is the basic duty of the Enrollment Committee. Even though this is so, the Enrollment Committee could not institute a moratorium on its own. The moratoriums had to be discussed, voted on and passed by the ultimate decision-maker in enrollment and disenrollment issues- the General Membership.

    Staying with the moratorium issue for a bit, if you apply the reasoning expressed by the Tribal Council in the March 14, 2006 letter, the moratoriums would be in conflict with the Constitution’s membership requirements (just as they claim portions of the Petition dated June 19, 2005 are), were/are illegal, and should be subject to the same fate as those provisions of the Petition, i.e. the moratorium should be lifted.

    iv) The General Membership, not the Enrollment Committee, voted on and enacted the Disenrollment Procedures

    Contrary to the position stated in the Tribal Council’s memo, the examples provided above clearly illustrate that the Enrollment Committee does not enjoy ultimate decision making authority or sole discretion in issues concerning enrollment or disenrollment. The Enrollment Committee’s authority is clearly derived from the General Membership and the Enrollment Committee exists and serves at the pleasure of the General Membership.

    The General Membership can, through the authority cited in Article III, and in accordance with custom and tradition, take actions to interrupt, halt, or even disband the Enrollment Committee.

    Finally,

    3)If the Tribal Council’s action was such a righteous one and was indeed intended to protect the integrity of the Constitution, why did they wait 4 1/2 months to notify the General Membership?

    Hunter (470879)

  13. Open thread, huh? Ok, I hate boogers! If I find one in my nose, I remove it post-haste!

    Never have an open thread again 🙂

    Kevin (51c906)

  14. Kevin,

    You’re a killjoy. Since the Indians have hijacked the thread, here’s an Indian joke:

    Indian gallops into the village and runs up to the Chief: “Chief, I have bad news, worse news and good news”.
    Chief: “What’s the bad news?”
    Indian: “The white men are all over the place, they have taken all of our land.”
    Chief: “What’s the worse news?”
    Indian: “They have killed off all the buffalo.”
    Chief: “Good God, what’s the good news?”
    Indian: “White men taste just like buffalo.”

    nk (77d95e)

  15. Kevin, I find your comment terribly offensive and elitist. How would you feel if tables were turned, and suddenly the booger found you in its nose, and decided to get rid of you “post haste?” Hmmm?

    Xrlq (12f8ac)


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