I am tired. It has been a depressing 7 years. When I dared hope that tides were

[peacebird]

turning - my hopes were dashed.... Outrage upon outrage. Cowardice and political manuevers and betrayals.

I am tired.

I had hopes in the last presidential election. Then I hoped for Fitzmas day. Then I exulted in the election results of 2006... only to despair with the impotence and pathetic "show" votes that followed.

I am tired and it occurs to me that I have called my reps, I have marched, I have signed petitions, I have worked for candidates. And I have allowed the * misadministration to upset me for years. I am tired.

I am not abandoning the fight forever but I am willing to admit that as long as the main body of the american people are unwilling to join in the fight .......

I'm outta here. Maybe tomorrow I will feel better about our chances....

[pitohui]

1. i know the feeling, peacebird, i know the feeling

get some rest, people willing to stand up and fight for what is right are in the minority and it was ever thus

:hug:

[smirkymonkey]

2. I agree - It's been the worst 7 years of my life.

The worst part of it has been the lack of hope. I went into a major depression after the last presidential election and I feel like I have never completely pulled out of it.

[ixion]

4. yep, me, too...

:-(

[CrispyQ]

57. Me too.

I worked as an election judge in 2004. When I left the precinct that night at about 9:30 pm, Kerry was doing well. They had just declared PA for him, OH was close. We all knew FL was a write off already, but I felt so positive. There had been an excitement & electricity in the air, a hope for change. I grabbed a bite to eat & by the time I got home the whole election had shifted. They had declared OH for bush. "They did it again," I screamed to my husband & I went to bed in tears.

It's a combo of outrage fatigue & letdown fatigue. How much more damage can they do & how long will they get away with it?

[smirkymonkey]

58. That describes how I felt exactly!

The incredible hope followed by the incredible letdown and then outrage. And the same cycle over and over and over again. It reminds me of the rats in the cage who keep getting shocked and eventually lose their desire to do anything at all.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Here's a quick, inexpensive, cure for political fatigue and powerlessness.

It works for me, and my wife, every time.

http://kiva.org/

[calimary]

33. What a cool site! Thanks!

GREAT FIND!!!

:toast:

[rainman99]

5. Yeah, I'm tired of fighting people who send me anti-Dem emails.

It's starting again. All those stupid Democrat bashing emails.
I have to start telling new people to stop sending them.
They get mad and don't talk to me anymore.
And I'm so mad about the stem cell research, I can't stand it.

[seemslikeadream]

6. just think how the Native Americans must feel

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. ...

:eyes:

[Jamastiene]

10. I don't understand your post. Care to elaborate?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. Think Harder. You'll Figure It Out.

:eyes:

[seemslikeadream]

15. you might try that yourself

[Jamastiene]

16. Seems like a rather nasty attempt to start a flamewar to me.

Is that your intention? You got something to say on Native American issues? Shit or get off the pot. The disrespect is unwarranted.

[flvegan]

22. I think some folks are on a rewards program on other sites

See how much shit you stir...big game of grabass ensues.

[Jamastiene]

25. I think so too.

I sure seems that way. If someone has something to say, they should come on out and say it instead of being so disrespectful, ya know?

[seemslikeadream]

36. just showing true colors

It's nice to know who someone really is :hi:

[BeHereNow]

32. Unwarranted yes, Predictable?

Yes.
BHN

[seemslikeadream]

35. Predictable, yes

:hi: :hug:

odd that someone would roll there eyes at genocide don't ya think?

[seemslikeadream]

38. I believe the response had little to do with Native Americans

and more to do with me

[Puglover]

41. I know I know.

I figured it out!

He's an insufferable jackass!

[seemslikeadream]

18. Native Americans 12 million - Four centuries later 237 thousand

Native Americans 12 million - Four centuries later 237 thousand



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gQcoOSKx7M

"By conservative estimates, the population of the United states prior to European contact was greater than 12 million. Four centuries later, the count was reduced by 95% to 237 thousand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2EyPWqXpVg

[conscious evolution]

21. Isn't that called genocide?

maybe not as efficient as the nazis but the end result sure seems to be the same.

[leftchick]

39. oh, I believe the Genocide killed many more millions than that

If one takes in all of North America...

Overview:

The population of North America prior to the first sustained European contact in 1492 CE is a matter of active debate. Various estimates of the pre-contact Native population of the continental U.S. and Canada range from 1.8 to over 12 million. 4 Over the next four centuries, their numbers were reduced to about 237,000 as Natives were almost wiped out. Author Carmen Bernand estimates that the Native population of what is now Mexico was reduced from 30 million to only 3 million over four decades. 13 Peter Montague estimates that Europeans once ruled over 100 million Natives throughout the Americas.

European extermination of Natives started with Christopher Columbus' arrival in San Salvador in 1492. Native population dropped dramatically over the next few decades. Some were directly murdered by Europeans. Others died indirectly as a result of contact with introduced diseases for which they had no resistance -- mainly smallpox, influenza, and measles.

Later European Christian invaders systematically murdered additional Aboriginal people, from the Canadian Arctic to South America. They used warfare, death marches, forced relocation to barren lands, destruction of their main food supply -- the Buffalo -- and poisoning. Some Europeans actually shot at Indians for target practice. 14

Oppression continued into the 20th century, through actions by governments and religious organizations which systematically destroyed Native culture and religious heritage. One present-day byproduct of this oppression is suicide. Today, Canadian Natives have the highest suicide rate of any identifiable population group in the world. Native North Americans are not far behind.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/genocide5.htm

[leftchick]

40. some excellent quotes...

Quotations:

"The destruction of the Indians of the Americas was, far and away, the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world." David E. Stannard. 4


"By then <1891> the native population had been reduced to 2.5% of its original numbers and 97.5% of the aboriginal land base had been expropriated....Hundreds upon hundreds of native tribes with unique languages, learning, customs, and cultures had simply been erased from the face of the earth, most often without even the pretense of justice or law." Peter Montague 1

[seemslikeadream]

42. But all the white men said Thats the cross of changes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R9ulGK5nU8&eurl=


Silent Warrior


Long ago, for many years
White men came in the name of god
They took their land, they took their lives
A new age has just begun

They lost their gods, they lost their smile
They cried for help for the last time.
Liberty was turning into chains
But all the white men said
Thats the cross of changes

In the name of God - the fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - is it right - in the name of god
These kind of changes?

They tried to fight for liberty
Without a chance in hell, they gave up.
White men won in the name of god
With the cross as alibi

Theres no God who ever tried
To change the world in this way.
For the ones who abuse his name
There'll be no chance to escape
On judgement day

In the name of God - the fight for gold
These were the changes.
Tell me - is it right - in the name of god
These kind of changes?

Tell me why, tell me why, tell why
The white men said:
Thats the cross of changes ?

Tell me why, tell me why, tell why,
In the name of god
These kind of changes

[truedelphi]

49. And those who inherited the soul of the Sioux and the Apache

The Navaho, the Illinois, the Hopi, the Miwok and the Mohawk

The artist is under siege -how to be creative when just paying rent saps your life blood.

A reservation of the mind - where learning the technique of your art comes after
the Tax Man and the landlord.

[seemslikeadream]

53. This one's is for you OPERATIONMINDCRIME

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2554841128683879299

[seemslikeadream]

14. $40 billion--from Washington - betrayal for more than a century

http://www.hocakworak.com/archive/2001/WL%202001%2010-24/HW-011024-3.htm

The Broken Promise

On the wall next to Elouise Cobell's desk is a blown-up reproduction of a famous Peanuts cartoon strip. After Lucy assures Charlie Brown, "Trust me," she once again snatches away the football he's about to kick, and he ends up flat on his back.
"I decided to stop being Charlie Brown," Cobell told me for her, "Lucy" is the U.S. Government. Now 55, barely 5 feet 4, a wife and a mother, Cobell is a member of the Blackfeet Indian tribe sequestered in the northwest corner of Montana. As a result of a lawsuit she filed on behalf of her fellow Native Americans, they finally are about to collect a staggering sum of money--as much as $40 billion--from Washington.

[Jamastiene]

17. Native Americans have been treated like dirt ever since

the first colonies were formed here in America. It's horrible.

[seemslikeadream]

37. A long time, a very long time

:hi: Jamastiene

[Jamastiene]

54. And it continues to this day.

Some tribes are still having to fight to even get federal recognition for Native American heritage. Not to mention how much land has been stolen when in reality, it is still supposed to belong to the tribes.

It's been a long long time.

:hi: seemslikeadream

[seemslikeadream]

11. Losing (or stealing) Native American trust

http://maroon.uchicago.edu/viewpoints/articles/2005/05/19/losing_or_stealing_n.php

For over a century, the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust has snatched American Indians’ rightful profits by pinching funds from destitute Native nations. An eight-year lawsuit, Cobell v. Norton, aims to make the government pay what they rightfully owe, but, surprise, surprise, the feds can’t even account for the missing funds, and are dragging their feet all the way to the bank. It’s time the government dealt honestly with American Indian nations—if only to try something new.

In the 1880s, the IIM trust was established to collect funds owed to Native peoples for the use of their lands, initiated by the Dawes Act. The act broke up tribal territory into individually owned 80-to-160-acre parcels at the behest of land-hungry settlers, and for the purposes of so-called “detribalization.” To “civilize” them via private property, individual American Indians were given “beneficial ownership” of the plots that, as a sovereign nation, were rightfully theirs; meanwhile, as the parcels’ “trustee,” the government was supposed to manage and distribute revenues collected from the lands back to the Indians who owned them.

Unsurprisingly, the system benefited only the feds. As profits from mining, forestry, and gas extraction continue to pour into IIM, American Indians have seen little of the cash. Under the Bush administration, for instance, the Bureau of Indian Affairs approved lowball deals for oil pipelines on Native property in New Mexico—American Indian recipients got $25 to $40 per rod (a unit for measuring pipeline) while private landowners received anywhere from $140 to $575 per rod. Mishandling of Indian trust funds, however, remains a bipartisan effort: Bill Clinton’s Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt, was the first defendant in the Cobell litigation, and was held in contempt of court for stonewalling on court-ordered records.

“It would be difficult to find a more historically mismanaged federal program than the IIM trust,” reads Cobell v. Babbitt, a recent court decision on the subject. The government isn’t even sure how many accounts exist, let alone the amount of cash due to each. What’s more, the situation appears worse than a case of simple bureaucratic incompetence. In May 1999, the U.S. Treasury confessed to destroying 162 boxes of relevant documents on the case, for which they were chastised by a court-appointed Special Master the following December. The Treasury Department clearly took this admonishment to heart when they destroyed a second crop of documents less than a year later.

Until Cobell v. Norton is resolved, Indians won’t see a penny of the money owed them and their nations—a figure estimated to be in the billions. And it looks like the end is nowhere in sight for the suit’s 500,000 plaintiffs. The government has yet to even account for the stolen funds, never mind compensating the plaintiffs. The trust funds are much needed in Native communities, where poverty rates hover around 25 percent.

In 1994, Oklahoma Congressman Mike Synar remarked, “If this was done in the Social Security system, my colleagues, we would have had a war.” The official policy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, then, is war on American Indian communities. In other words: business as usual.


http://infosecuritymag.techtarget.com/ss/0,295796,sid6_iss446_art918,00.html
Broken Trust
The government exposed thousands of Native Americans' financial data to hackers. Elouise Cobell forced the government off the Internet.
BY LAWRENCE WALSH

"Temporarily Unavailable" reads the notice on the Bureau of Indian Affairs Web site. Temporary, in this case, is nearly three years...and counting.

A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Department of the Interior to disconnect from the Internet in 2001 because of concerns raised in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a half-million Native Americans, who are suing the government for mismanaging the Individual Indian Money (IIM) trust fund.

"It's all about broken trust," says Elouise Pepion Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe and the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit (officially known as Cobell v. Norton), which claims the government can't account for as much as $150 billion the fund has collected over the last 117 years.

The disconnection has had an impact. Nearly 10,000 government employees have no Internet or e-mail access and must do business by telephone, snail-mail and fax machines. Interior officials say the ban is driving up operations costs because remote Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees can't access online applications; some have to drive long distances just to file paperwork.

Next month, the government will head back to court, seeking to have the order lifted. A reversal is the worst possible outcome for Cobell, who says data security is essential if there's ever to be a full accounting of the trust fund.


The Bureau of Indian Affairs has been "Temporarily Unavailable" since December 2001, when the court ordered it to disconnect until the government demonstrates adequate security.
"The government mandates that financial firms have all sorts of security in place. If they didn't have them, the government would be on them in a New York second," says Cobell, a banker and executive director of the Native American Community Development Corp.

[rodeodance]

7. know what you mean. so so many indifferent people.

[Jamastiene]

8. I couldn't have said it better myself.

It is very depressing. I'm not outta here, but I'm sure down about how they have betrayed us time and again. It is beyond simple frustration. It borders torture they way our hopes that were dashed. Here is hoping you feel much better tomorrow. :hug:

[vanlassie]

13. You are not in charge- none of us is.

No disrespect. But life will proceed as it will. We will each play our part. When you are attached to the outcome, you will be opening yourself to disappointment.

It is as it is.

Life is perfect, always.

Even when it is fucking perfect.

[Marrah_G]

19. Change is never quick or painless

But it will come, as it has always done

[moondust]

20. Another wasted decade.

First the 80s and now this. Government isn't everything but...life is too short.

[Gregorian]

23. If it helps you feel better, I just spent the entire day watching Three Stooges episodes.

I just gave up. Like you, I feel worthless. We've all but witnessed the live abortion on tv by Cheney, and all that is happening is the sound of crickets. Feingold, Kucinich, Conyers. We have a few. But nothing seems to go anywhere.

I'm a limp noodle. And I mean it. I've never felt so badly in my entire life. This is my ultimate low. In fact, I'd say that from what I have discovered, even if Bush were strung up tonight I'd forever feel lousy about the people I share this country with. So many brain dead morons. It's sick.

And in fact, watching the Three Stooges made me feel even worse, in that they actually have more common sense than many of the people we're dealing with.

You can't say we didn't try. We're all suffering from political trauma stress. PTSD.

Here's to a brighter tomorrow. PLEASE!

[GeorgeGist]

24. Sabbaticals ...

are generally worthwhile.

[UpInArms]

26. I hear sleep is good

I wish I could get me some.

:hug:

[BeHereNow]

34. Ah yes, sleep...I remember that; it was good.

Asin I hear ya-
I can't sleep either.
BHN

[Grandrose]

27. Be proud...great ones have been there!

"I am sick and tired of being sick and tired." Fannie Lou Hamer

She helped organize the 1964 "Freedom Summer" in Mississippi, a campaign sponsored by SNCC, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the NAACP.

In 1963, after being charged with disorderly conduct for refusing to go along with a restaurant's "whites only" policy, Hamer was beaten so badly in jail, and refused medical treatment, that she was permanently disabled.

In 1972 the Mississippi House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring her national and state activism, passing 116 to 0.

:)

[PassingFair]

28. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony DIED before women got the vote.

Howard Dean lost the democratic primary, and went on to
head the DNC, where he continues to fight for the very
soul of the democratic party; taking shots from creeps
like James "set Scooter free" Carville and miscalculating
scum like Rahm Emanuel on a weekly basis.


"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." - Theodore Parker

I draw my inspiration from people like Stanton, Anthony and Dean.

[mmonk]

29. I was just watching Monterrey 40.

Monterrey was the a jolt or significant shift of the growing counterculture. I thought about how influences in society began to shift towards ending the war, racial strife, and there was a growing hope for a more enlightened America with social justice. Everything doesn't last forever. Our generation brought it forth, I guess it has run it's course. Time to go backward and roll things back.

[Hissyspit]

30. Stupidest period in American history.

All other stupid periods are not as stupid by virtue of the fact that we should know better by now.

Discuss.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

31. Yet, we are discussing that which was not discussed in those (more?) stupid eras.

Or was it?

I still struggle with the "discuss amongst yourself" forum. MKJ

[Vinca]

43. I'm tired, too, peacebird.

Part of me wants to emigrate to Canada, buy a remote farm and never listen to or read the news again. I'd hibernate with my husband and cats and spend my time growing veggies, sewing quilts and writing novels. The next election will be the "decider" for me.

[Octafish]

44. Rest and remember the good in life..

After you've recharged your batteries, come back and give the regime hell.

They can't stand what you know -- the Truth.

And we ALL need you, peacebird.

[deutsey]

46. Nice advice, Octafish

:thumbsup:

[Marr]

45. I think we may be looking at another 4 years of GOP one-party rule, honestly.

And I think that may be what it takes to get Democratic politicians to realize it's not just their "wacko base" that demands real, aggressive action. It's the public in general.

The problem is, I don't know if elections will be winnable after four more years like this. The GOP already has so much election fraud baked into the system that it takes a massive voter turnout to counter it. In four years it's bound to be alot worse.

[marions ghost]

48. election fraud "baked into the system"

....exactly! A good way to put it--it's like an ingredient you add as needed, or "to taste"--in any given election.

But people, election workers, etc. are catching on.... and I don't think the Dems are unwise to it, just unwilling to admit how bad it is, because they know it would take a LOT more than 'patches' to fix it.

[marions ghost]

47. So NOW you understand the enemy we are up against...

ruthless, powerful, focused.

Peacebird, I'm sure that you HAVE done everything the average citizen can be expected to do. But our adversaries in this case are taking every advantage of our splintered, downtrodden, depressed constituency. And they will continue to do so. And we will continue to oppose them. We are locked in a struggle of nightmare proportions.

So take a well-deserved break and come back stronger. Use your new understanding of how hard this really will be. You are absolutely not alone in your weariness. In a representative democracy we should NOT have to fight our government all the time. But that is the situation we are in. More is required, it seems.

Even so, I believe the tide HAS turned...we just don't see it rising on the beach yet. This is going to take awhile. Patience. Take a break. But don't ever give up. ;)

[lonestarnot]

50. Well I'm still fucking mad as hell! No stopping NOW!

Stole 7 years away from me! FUCKERS! Nope now is not the time for tired. Eat some fucking wheaties.

[w8liftinglady]

51. I was inspired to start another thread because of you.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1152159
Pull back,but don't completely give up.The country needs caring,articulate people like you to speak for those who can't find their voice yet.

[derby378]

52. Your frustration is due to the freezing out of the Democratic grassroots

We keep telling the Democratic machine, "This is what we want." The machine then turns around and says, "We don't give a fuck - this is what you're gonna get." Finally, we get Howard Dean in as head of the DNC and tell him, "As we were saying, this is what we want." Dean gives us the 50-State Strategy and enough newly-elected Democrats that we have firm control of the House and barely control of the Senate. But the grassroots are still going to have to work very, very hard to chase the old corporatists out of power. Just look at the race between Christine Cegelis and Tammy Duckworth in Illinois last year. The anti-war activists and Cindy Sheehan supporters wanted Cegelis. The DC machine wanted Duckworth, and she won.

In short, it's simply going to take more time and effort if you want to see any real change.

[blues90]

55. The entire state of our country is very depressing

I can clearly see this is not america anymore , not the one i knew . Not that it was perfect by any stretch of the imagination but at least you knew somewhat of where you stood and had a chance to go forward with some opportunity .

Now after close to 7 years of lies and madness , loss of security and jobs , the power gains by huge corporations and the gap between the middle class and the wealthy and this never ending death it has become difficult to find any hope or even see a future .

I can't find one aspect that has not been destroyed in this country whether it is the environment , health care , The miss gulf coast , the economy , unions , everything I can think of has been affected and turned to ruin . I can't imagine what another 18 months of this admin will do to further damage what is left as we continue to fall apart .

I really wish I had something positive to say here .

[H2O Man]

56. It's okay for

people to take a rest when they recognize the need to.

I'm just getting warmed up, myself.

[kineneb]

59. Stop. Breathe.

Breathing in, I calm my body,
Breathing out, I smile.
Dwelling in the present moment,
I know this is a wonderful moment.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

take care :hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

60. Tell me about it *hugs*