In 1626, the Manhattoes, a tribe of the Wappinger confederacy, in turn a subset of the Lenape Nation, that occupied New Jersey, Manhattan Island and the banks of Hudson River and shore of Long Island Sound, sold Manhattan to a group of immigrants. The proceeds from the sale came to 60 gilders in beads and trinkets. With inflation, that would amount to about $31,000 today.
After a number of land transfers, that land became part of The United States which has a whole new set of tribes. One member of the Democratic tribe has ceremoniously transfered that land back to members of Indian tribes who managed to survive the dynamics of history.
The Teabag tribe of the United States has raised issues on this matter. Conspiracies have been revealed that this ceremonial transfer represents a land grab precipitated by someone who has a secret relationship as a secret member of the Indian Nations. Revelations in Congress and the press cite this as only the beginning of the ceding of national territory to native tribes.
The natives are saying “A deal is a deal! You bought it, you keep it!”
Their concern is that, if they give in, they may have to take back Florida.
This is our Open Thread. Please feel free to add your thoughts on this, or any other topic that comes to mind.
And a Happy New Year to all!
TheZoo 
After all that and the Bureau of Indian Affairs refuses to “recognize” the Lenape as a tribe, with all of the ” priveleges ” that accords . . . And this surprises me, why?
Didn’t Bush give Manhatten back to the Indians back on Sept. 10, 2001, only to be an Indian Giver and take it back on the 12th? I thought that was the basis of his claim that no terrorist attack took place on American soil on his watch!
Heard this brief funny on KPOJ’s morning show; Chris Rock honoring Oprah at the Kennedy Center Honors (his part starts at 2:30).
I’m having the weirdest glitch at TP. When I refreshed the Home page looking for a possible new thread, it dropped this morning’s first post. A couple of refreshes later, I got it back, along with a second post. Now they’re gone again, although I can use history to get to them, individually, as long as I’ve already opened them once.
Teapartiers are an invasive specie.
Good one, BnF. 🙂
TP seems OK for me, at least at the moment. I’ll be glad after the holiday when they are back to the usual frequency of posts.
Happy (early) New Year!
Raven,
We need to ‘weed-out’ the invasive species –
How goes the adventure? Did you take the boat tour?
I agree ebb, it’s time for the Invasive Species Act.
Whooping crane photos “below the fold”…
walt……thanks for the smiles, great post
fatherbob has a wormy avatar. 😀
I noticed some assclown has gone around town putting “PAYING TAXES” stickers on the stop signs on busy streets.
Srsly, these idiots have no concept of exactly how many things we pay for with taxes — including the fucking stop signs.
Brunch with Bernie TODAY (right now) on Thom Hartmann — don’t miss it! Usually it’s on Fridays.
Pristine is reporting that the crazed Leftist commies like Joe Biden are behind an attack on her good name.
How will she be “moving forward”? She’s not saying, but she’s putting together a PAC.
Pristine will “move forward” in the footsteps of the Quitter. Or she’ll try.
Imagine how delusional that book will be!
Zooey, do you listen to Thom on local radio, webstream radio, or at his site on his Free Speech TV simulcast?
House, I’m listening to Thom on KPOJ’s website right now. If I’m in the car, I usually hear the delayed broadcast on KPTQ at noon.
O’Donnell doesn’t really have a useful shtick, other than looking like an idiot on talk shows. Besides, if she ever started pulling attention from The Quitter, Sarah would shut her down.
That’s true, gummitch. Although the Christians in Name Only will always love her for being a “virgin” and good christian.
Hal Turner gets 33-months prison for threatening judges
The teabaggers are living proof that the ignoramusization (to coin a word) is proceeding directly on the schedule and course that St. Ronnie the Raygun mandated. Without further interruption, that should predict the death of the nation within a decade. Emily Dickinson once wondered, “Can the dumb define the divine?” Definitely not, but don’t try to tell them that.
There are times that I’m really glad to be as old as dirt. An old friend once proposed that the earth was originally populated by virtue of its being an inter-galactic penal colony for the criminally insane. I see scant evidence to the contrary anymore. If, indeed, I ever did.
frugal, an inter-galactic penal colony makes as much sense (or more) as anything else.
On her TV show about Alaska, Palin takes a swipe at Mrs. Obama’s anti-obesity campaign.
And here I thought this show wasn’t supposed to be political.
Of course we were lead to believe that the Beck/Palin rally wasn’t going to be political either.
God made gravity
To keep us from fucking up
Rest of universe
On a lighter note, here’s another photo by my old naturalist friend:
http://frugalchariot.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/bird-of-the-day/
Nice picture frugal.
The fish looks so surprised!
Haha! The fish looks absolutely shocked! Too funny.
Excellent haiku, as always, cheeseflap. 🙂
frugal, great shot!
Glad to see that punk Turner get some time; hope he remembers to bring the shampoo with him to the shower.
Chicago is pretty sensitive about threats against judges. It wasn’t that many years ago a (Federal? Superior ct.?) judge had her entire family slaughtered in a professional hit. As far as I know, the house still has not been sold.
FISH: “Whoa! Wait! Let’s talk about this!”
EGRET: *gulp* “Sorry, I can’t talk with my mouth full.”
In the voice of Mister Bill: “Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”
Thanks for all the beautiful pictures! I swear I’m not sure I could exist without the beauty of the natural word.
I came across this study of America’s enemployed this morning:
Click to access Work_Trends_23_December_2010.pdf
It’s interesting, but very depressing.
Thanks for the link, Outstanding. But I can’t do anymore ‘depressing’ this year. 😐
C&L is largely rehashed news these days, IMO, but there’s a particularly arresting piece today in regard to blizzard response in NYC and Philadelphia (with some striking photos of the class war). If nothing else, check out the two photos at the bottom of the article.
http://gocl.me/goeJTB
Wow. Bloomberg’s street is cleared to the pavement. I wonder how many passes of a snowplow that takes…?
Bloomberg is toast.
Well, it is a good thing I’m well stocked; there’s even an (almost) full bottle of rum.
But the roads throughout the HOA where I live are pretty much totally iced over. People have called for tow trucks, but the trucks couldn’t even get through.
Yummy homemade Lentil Stew has been thawing out, so dinner will be hot and “stick to the ribs”.
(Glad, too, that the wires are mostly underground these days. Means I keep my internet!)
Because I am SO FUCKING SICK of reading about Republican horse crap — and for all who also want at least a momentary escape, here’s another photo by Denny Green of Tempe Az. It’s really quite stunning, I’d say.
http://frugalchariot.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/bird-of-the-day-2/
For Gary
That’s a great capture of a ‘dancing’ egret!
Heh, 2ebb! There’s something comforting in being understood!
This is really a winter season for the record books. 30+ inches of snow by Christmas, and now… today… it’s 40-degrees. And raining. The gutters are all clogged with ice, as are the storm drains. Result. Street flooding. But, the joy of this is tonight will get down to 20. And it will remain below freezing for the next few days. So we too shall become encased in ice.
I’m in for the duration. 🙂
Ahhh, the joys of winter. 😉
kindred spirits, Gary, kindred spirits ;>
Turtle Mt. across the river from town got a dusting of snow today. Not unheard of, but certainly unusual. It’s cold wet and a good day to stay inside.
So I’m going out.
Be back in awhile.
A nice thing about going away is one gets to come home!
Enjoy the day, Raven!
zxbe, maybe Gary can pass you that bottle of rum!
(I’m not gloating, honestly – after two days of torrential and then just heavy rain: today dawned crystal clear and the sun continues to shine)
Raven, (I’m laughing – big time) the other day I was watching the Water Tower pair of Peregrines – umbrella in one hand binocs in the other (it was a moderate downpour).
I was joined by another falcon follower – so then there were two of us!
“fatherbob has a wormy avatar”
more evidence of “global worming”
😆
FB’s avatar looks like a crane to me. But, then, my eyes are going!
I saw numerous peregrines on the coast ebb, the best encounter was one chasing a pair of juvenile white ibis across the bay. The ibis’ had the wits to land close to the kayak, making the peregrine nervous and giving up to go seek less intelligent prey.
Sadly I was busy with my fishing tackle and couldn’t get the camera going in time.
It’s good to be home Zooey. Eating and sleeping. Then more of the same. Brought home some fish, black drum is awesome table fare.
Red Drum isn’t so bad either. Years ago, I knew a place in Phoenix where I could get virtually any fish damn near as fresh as if I caught it myself and brought it home. I’d coat Red Drum ‘steaks’ with a Cajun seasoning, then blacken it in a cast iron skillet and butter, always outside, on a small propane stove. Blackened Redfish: delicious! Can you do that with Black Drum too?
I would imagine so, it’s a sturdy fish with a texture like crab. I grilled (part of) mine one night and brought the rest home.
Early in the trip I caught a 6 lb. red drum, but let it go.
At the time I thought it was a black drum, because it wasn’t red, very silvery. Fishing in the surf at night is very spooky. There are very large fish swimming around very close to the beach. I had something on for awhile that went wherever it wanted before throwing the hook.
Here’ what they look like, a black drum and a speckled sea trout:
“a black drum and a speckled sea trout”
Oh look! Its Christine and Sarah!
Christine’s mid section is grilling as we speak.
Sarah is still in freezer.
Red was set free, and Oscar got away.
You’ll like this one Gary…
Stumpy, the one legged oystercatcher.
Looking closely at the bird on the right, it’s left leg is gone.
The bird on the left is his long suffering mate Ophelia.
Ohhh, those birds are cute, even with the missing leg.
This ties in with today’s topic.
Steve King whining about the piddly 4.6 billion dollars awarded to black farmers and native Americans.
What a scum bag he is.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20026850-503544.html
Now if only he had an eye-patch, maybe a little humunclus to stand on his shoulder and make snarky comments …
If I make a comment then don’t get back later, I’m having some kind of connection issue with my internet service. Something causes my modem to ‘time out’, or something. I stood in line at Comcast to get a replacement modem, but it may have been an external problem. They’re coming Wednesday to check the signal from the pole.
Gaaack. I get to finish out the year working my butt off to try and keep a customer too dense to plan ahead happy. And too cheap to pay for the right equipment. SSDD. And then to come home and read that the next two years are going to be a protracted dog & pony show run by idiots…where’s my Corona?
And, zxbe, it is raining and foggy here as well. I am not looking forward to what the roads are going to be like in the morning. If it is icy, my customer is SOL. I’ll do a lot to keep one happy but not risk my life on icy rods. Nope.
Shit. I just realized that today is Thursday …
I thought yesterday was Thursday.
Till this morning..
Speaking of not planning ahead hoodathunk, I just read this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/30/eveningnews/main7199116.shtml?tag=stack
Raven, I’m wondering if as the Boomers retire and don’t have to work if they will return to their roots of youth (the last time they didn’t work) and bring back the Age of Protest. Maybe The Age of Aquarius could find new life in the Age of the Hover-round. 😉
Though I don’t know if the world is ready for a new rock musical called ‘Bald’.
We may yet all become long-haired cabbage farmers living without electricity.
For those who like those kinds of things, I posted another song parody on my blog. This one is about how the people at Fox News Channel live in their own universe and complain about the one we live in. I call it “Against the Universe.” I hope you like it.
Good point hooda.
Bald cabbage farmers.
Wayne, how about it? A reprise of Hair in tribute to SSI, Medicare and just plain getting older.
Boomers and Medicare: “To save the system, fiscal watchdogs insist Americans will ultimately have to work longer and get used to less government help.”
Bullshit. To save the system all we have to do is reduce the cost of medical care to something in line with what is paid in Europe. This would also suffice to eliminate the deficit.
Save the system by having to work longer and have less government help.
This makes me wonder who someone like my mom would have fared in the repiggie dystopia. Let’s say the retirement age would be at 70, and there’s no Medicare.
My mom was ill to various degrees for the last 15 years of her life, beginning at about age 54, and she couldn’t have worked at all. She died at age 69, so she never would have made it to retirement age. One thing I know for sure — Alan Grayson was right. She would have died much much sooner, and more quickly.
Are we going to allow this to happen?
Here are a few things I’ve been reading over the last couple days:
Top Ten Ways the Right Will Wreck the Recovery
2011: A Brave New Dystopia
John Hall Warns Citizens United Could Lead to Fascism
The Poorhouse: Aunt Winnie, Glenn Beck, and the Politics of the New Deal
Maybe I’m just borrowing trouble, but this is scaring me shitless.
Agreed, Gary. And the first step is to quit giving so damn much money to people who aren’t even IN the health care system.
With 10k Boomers hitting retirement age every day, 3.65 million in 2011 alone, It will be interesting to see how long the ‘gut SSI & Medicare’ lasts as a Republican stance.
Zooey, I figure historians in the future will refer to the period beginning in 1980 until the shit really hits the fan in the next few years, as either the Dark Ages of America or The End of the Grand Experiment.
Uhhh, thanks Hooda. That helps. 😯
Everyone must needs consider for themselves where their lines are to be drawn about such things as the gutting of Social Security and Medicare. But serious civil disobedience will never emerge from a forum such as this for the simple reason that everything anyone types here can be pulled up with a basic google search.
It is probably childish paranoia on my part, but I still can’t help feeling that the more committed any persons really are to changing the world, the less willing they ought to be to openly discuss such matters in so a publicly accessible a medium as this.
“Everyone must needs consider”
I haven’t heard that phrase ever used by an American in conversation. Such a classic turn of phrase. But you may be right, Gary. Myself, I have been a rabble rouser since the age of 12 or so and if the gubmint hasn’t figured it out by now, I’m not going to be concerned.
I don’t use my real name, but if law enforcement wanted to, I don’t suppose it would be too hard to track me down.
Frankly, I really don’t give a shit.
And now, something completely different…
I don’t give a shit either. Bring ’em on. One reaches that point, you know. Eventually, sooner or later, when the operative words change from “oh shit” to “fuck ’em.” I’ve crossed that bar. Fuck ’em.
Grrrr.
Srsly, frugal.
Fuck ’em.
I don’t suppose it would be too hard to track me down.
Something tells me they’ll start looking in Cullman, Alabama. 😉
And thank you, my friend. 🙂
Zooey,
If you piss me off, I could supply your name, address, web address and cell (the final two as of a few years back). My only concern is that you have my name, address and web address as well as a son in FL. That puts me at a slight disadvantage in a pissing contest!
On a more serious note, I know of an ‘Aunt Millie’ of sorts in my life experience. She was abused by a sot of a husband and used by uncaring offspring. He died on pension at 55 with no surviving spouse option. Her children led her from one scam to another until she lost her (their?) home. She had to work at Sears, K-Mart and Wal-Mart from about 53 (she married young) to 67 and then went on SS and at that point had more income than at any time in her life.