GET DRUNK AND SAVE YOUR COMMUNITY/ MONEY CHANGES EVERYTHING

Money changes everything Cindi Lauper once sang, and indeed it can make a difference, but seldom has on the rez except for a select few-apparently for James “Toby” Big Boy chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Law and Order Commission it would be more accurate to say money trumps everything.

Big Boy following the dismissal of a lawsuit against owners of liquor stores in Whiteclay evidently has decided that discretion is the better part of valor-if you can’t beat them then join them in, and in is full retreat.

I suspect that somewhere Russell Means is lurking in the background gleefully rubbing his hands together at what he sees as an opportunity to garner an additional thirty pieces of silver and offering “think tank” opinions.

It wasn’t all that long ago Means was on the campaign trail to acquire a liquor license of his own to open a store in  Whiteclay -this despite  witnessing the daily effects of alcohol within his own community, and having repeatedly said indigenous people were physically incapable of dealing with alcohol-an issue with metabolizing.

How did Means arrive at this reversal of position? Well being one to always chase the dollar and cloak his efforts as being either acts of liberation, humanitarian endeavors, or the seeking of justice he announced a convoluted and perverted line of reasoning.

He, the “chief facilitator”, of his brainchild faux Republic of Lakota would in a stroke of pure genius open a liquor store and use the proceeds to open a treatment center-uh huh, and failing to mention that he would fuel the crimes, abuse, and poverty created by those who chose not to enter treatment- not to mention the ton of money he would personally realize either way.

The selling point in this latest presentation to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear is that a “whopping” twenty five percent of the revenue would go the tribe.

That would be twenty five percent, a projected figure before administrative costs, salaries, the inevitable skimming, and redirection of revenue to other “projects”.

This reminds me of casinos who while taking your money advertise that if you have a gambling problem to call 1-800- whatever , or tobacco companies that offer quit smoking advice.

Yet another example of the wasichu attitudes that are growing in prevalence amidst talk of tradition.

Funding already exists that is designated for alcohol related issues though it probably isn’t sufficient-how about making publicizing how it is presently spent, what programs are available, and more importantly statistics that detail their effectiveness before attempting to throw the doors open and bury a community under a tsunami of alcohol?

Better yet how about striving to create a zero tolerance within communities and proactively addressing them in lieu of proposing to contribute to them?

How about “liberators” and “patriots” getting up off their collectively insulated asses, forget any financial opportunities they might envision, and actually doing something beneficial for a change rather than grab a bullhorn and call the media for a photo op?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=eebu7sM2QbM

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/move-to-allow-alcohol-sales-on-the-pine-ridge-indian-reservation.html

ODE TO THE PUSHERMAN

 

To those past drug dealers both convicted and self confessed who have operated under the AIM banner-your legacy lives on in every addicted person among the nations with “tombstones in their eyes”.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-9iNVoeghI

APEX PREDATOR

ALCOHOL,DRUGS,AND POISON
A good cup of strong coffee is kind of my thing-one of the simple uncomplicated pleasures easy to avail myself of and produces no negative impact on any around me.

Never been involved in a wreck because I drank too much coffee, or beat and abused a woman or child, committed a crime, or did without a single thing because I drink coffee.

Not interested in alcohol or any form of drugs-I would rather eat my shoe than indulge them.

Tried alcohol a little when I was younger and crazier but learned that lesson early on-a lesson that should have been unnecessary with the examples my father provided.

Got drunk once with the crew I worked with-made fools of ourselves as drunks are inclined to do and paid the price the next day at work.

Mid summer and hot, all of us suffering hangovers as saws screamed and hammers banged away-one of the “benefits” of being stupid-part of the lingering “fun” of party time-a reminder of that “good time” we had the
night before.

I remember looking around at the others and seeing how they were also struggling and thinking to myself that we had actually paid hard earned  money to be in the condition we found ourselves-that only served to compound the misery and the perception of my, if not our, ignorance.

Made a decision then never to touch  alcohol again. Funny thing is in my limited participation I never even liked the taste.

There may be other areas I need to work on but related to this aspect believe I am a better person than if I had continued-that in itself is reason, reward enough.

I talked to one of those fellow revelers not long ago and he said he had just recently quit drinking. I applauded his decision and asked what led to it- he responded it was partly mercenary in nature, that he had calculated the cost
of multiple twelve packs per week and extrapolated that figure over the months and years.

Said he was not only shocked, but shamed by the amount in thinking how much better a purpose it would have served being directed towards his family. What a better father and husband he could have been.

Curious thing though about the mindset regarding alcohol-at times someone will ask me if I want a beer or a drink-when I decline there is a subtle change in expression, a different look in the eyes-sometimes the question will be asked if I have a “problem” with alcohol?

My response is always Yes I do-I don’t like it, what it does, or even the taste of it.

That seems to suffice-some probably assume that means I am a recovering alcoholic rather than just accepting what I’ve said at face value-that’s fine with me-I’m not the one who will be suffering hangover episodes or
spending money to have the “fun” that leads to them.

I find it curious as well that beverages containing alcohol, at least in this country, come with warnings of associated risks-to me this pretty much says you’re about to introduce a poison into your body and yet people
do anyway.

Makes me wonder too if any poison would be consumed depending on how it is packaged and marketed-kind of seems to be the way of it when you look around.

Ammonia, an ingredient in over the counter meat products at the market- dyes and “preservatives” in canned goods, fruit harvested green and then gassed to force it to ripen-vegetables layered with pesticides-”medication” with a list of contraindications as long as your arm-eggs laid by chickens liberally dosed with hormones and speed-eggs that often have that dark yolk people go on about as sign of quality when the truth is more mundane, that the color is the result of additives such as ground up marigold added to the chicken feed to produce the coveted dark yolk color and sense of well being-bread made from flour that has been bleached and stripped of nutrients then to be “enriched” and marketed as wholesome and nutritious.

The end result is that we are all suffering a chemically induced hangover we may not even be aware of-a hangover that impacts everything we do and the very core of our being.

In addition I see that Dow Chemical in it’s infinite desire to serve mankind wants to resurrect a major component of Agent Orange in what is being referred to as Agent Orange Corn. Insanity fueled corporate gluttony and greed-accompanied by the governments approval.

I read somewhere once that modern humanity is exposed to something like fifty thousand chemical combinations a day-that ought to scare the hell out of everyone-and ought to make people think about willfully ingesting any in the pursuit of a good time.

Paying to poison ourselves-the only species capable of that kind of logic- and in doing so devouring ourselves and too often our children and those we care the most about.

Gives new meaning to the term apex predator doesn’t it?

foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/07/08/monsantos-agent…

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_Orange

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/10-0http://news.yahoo.com/synthetic-marijuana-rise-looks-pot-far-worse-224953961.html

As adults the responsibility to tend to our and our children’s physical and emotional well being begins with us-time we all started accepting that simple truth.