It would be nice if this legislature wanted to honor the tribes that the would focus on thier accomplishments rather then stirring up guilt and resentments. If those quotes are the actual purpose of this day it is just about gauranteed it will serve to create divisions. I have to wonder why with all that our elected reps should be concerning themselves about..why this and why this emphasis and 'WHY??' They keep getting elected back to office.

...that didn't in some point in history suffer "genocide, slavery, and political and cultural repression."! How many of those people have special days where their victors commemorate their repression?

Where would we be w/o you to protect our Thanksgiving traditions? I guess we should have just killed ALL the Indians. That way you wouldn't have to think about the ugly underbelly of our country. But then you'd have to get creative when you want to bash the Legislature like the little Republican tool that you are.

Here's you Medved -- "That gol-darn gay-lovin', abortion-havin', woman-in-chargin', n-word-lovin', injun-apologizin', democrat-partyin' legislature will now ruin my Thanksgiving.

You are just another Repubican Jerk, Michael. Using the genocide of Native Americans to bash the legislature. Way to go.

Know what Michael? I misspoke. You are more than just a jerk. You're a stenchy waft of Republicon flatus.

By a swishy limp wristed hysterical drama queen queersypoo that is still pleasuring itself over my photo. On a serious note, I may not always agree with Mr Medved, but I recognize that the man is quite intelligent ( WAY above average )and extraordinarily well versed on numerous subjects. A man like that can always expect this kind of thing from the bottomless sewer that is liberalism.

Sorry Sonny but Medved is a paid mouth piece for AIPAC nothing more.Intelligent? You'd believe a drooling mouth breather was the smartest guy in the room if he threw you a piece of red meat on occasion.

Where'd all these dam injuns come from? ( If I'm not mistaken, those were Custer's last words. Historians are devided. Some think it was "Don't take any prisoners, boys". ) In any case, injuns did a pretty good job of killing and torturing and enslaving each other before any Europeans came along. They did have some enlightened practices though. They could give or sell a daughter to whomever they pleased. A man could loan a visitor his wife. They sure sure didn't bow to any PC crap about womens' lib. If you want to honor in particular the injuns from this region, I suggest running around naked for a day with your body greased up with dogfish oil. That's one of the first things the founders of Seattle noticed about the locals. If you couldn't see them, you could sure as hel smell them. They also noticed how they liked to stick knives in each other. Another way to honor the injuns could be to kick your dog. They are notorious for abusing animals. Or, you could just get falling down drunk by noon. There are lots of ways to honor native Americans.

Where in this blog posting does Medved ever say that there should not be a day to celebrate "Native American Heritage Day"?

Answer: HE DOES NOT.

What he's saying is that, instead of focusing such a day on, as the draft legislation says, how "the Native American population was disrupted and nearly destroyed through European colonization" and the tribes suffered the impact of "genocide, slavery, and political and cultural repression.", why not instead focus on Native American achievements?

Who wants to celebrate a day that says, "This sucks"?

he claims that Native Americans in the Seattle area "all ran around naked, covered with dogfish oil".

Bull has done two things here. He has isolated a very unusual behavior and represented it as the norm, and he has applied by inference that old slogan intoned by people of prejudice since time began, "they all do it!"

Our local natives were on the southern extremity of Coast Salish territory. The ancestral, extended families ("tribes"), shared primary cultural values with native groups up Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and on up the inside passage to Alaska.

For an authoritative reference on Pacific NW clothing styles, (and the observation that only during the summer months, some of the oldest men would go naked)check this item:

http://www.mygoodhelper.com/salish/salishen_files/Native%20Canadian%20Indians%20-%20History%20of%20Fashion%20EN.pdf

Not only did the local natives wear clothing, but they used a wide variety of materials and (especially for ceremonial occasions) produced some complex garments.

Which is why I have given up trying to explain myself to you. It's a totally useless exercise, and you can't even get right what I actually said. I didn't say they all ran around like that all the time, but it WAS noted by Author Denny, Doc Hastings, old man Yesler, and the rest when they arrived here. Now, if you want to honor some Mongol Americans, go get drunk and kick your dog.

1. Last December 10, you posted that it was too bad we took out Saddam Hussein when we did, because "he was killing more Muslims than anyone else, and we disrupted that sacred work."

2. In the same post, you expressed the thought, "Hussein also hanged a lot of Jews, which was unfortunate, but at least there are plenty more where they came from."

3. Then this week; "we should not discourage abortions. If millions of liberal skanks had not murdered their babies in the 60's and 70's, algore would have been elected president."

4. And then the ridiculous lie (there is no other word to describe it) that I "defended a Muslim man for beating he** out of his daughter), also this week.

Naw, Bill, you have managed to explain and reveal yourself very well. While you would love to define everybody else with all the negative, hateful crap you constantly say about them, you have essentially managed to define yourself.

That boatload of Puritans, (along with assorted investors, servants, speculators, mercenary soliders and runaway apprentices) that landed in MA. back in 1609 lost a huge percentage of their group to disease and starvation the first winter. The primary reason any of them survived was they stole supplies from some caches in native villages (maize, primarily), while other natives took pity on them and would bring them a haunch of venison, etc, from time to time.

If we are going to celebrate "the pilgrims" as part of the Thanksgiving Day tradition, it would be wise to remember that red and white alike have sacrificed, a lot, to create modern America. As have blacks, Asians, Latinos, etc. No doubt about it, though, for as much history as we have had so far it has been easier to be white in North America than any other race. That's changing, and none too soon. Some very crappy things happened to the natives after the Europeans began arriving in North America.

I wonder if the natives in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries had the same attitude that many folks who are anti-immigrant have today? "Hey, if they are going to come live in our country, they sure as heck better learn to speak our language and adopt our customs and traditions!" :-)

So, despite the truckload of "racial guilt" that we could conceivably acknowledge, the more productive course is to press ahead as a united group of diverse people (called the United States of America) and ensure that the injustices of the past are not perpetuated into the future.

Let the day after Thanksgiving commemorate the multitude of ways that native Americans have contributed to our complex modern culture, rather than be "guilty white guy day". :-)

I invite you to look up, at the 3rd post from the top, to the comment by babyd in his "SFB" disguise. Since you like to pretend you don't like intemperate language when I use it, I'd dearly LOVE to get your opinion of his language. Let's see a little consistency here. You call yourself a "centrist", ( whatever that is ) but you never, ever, have harsh words for the most vile hate spew from the extreme left. Why is that? There are so many examples. Just one. You pretended to be enraged that I referred to certain females as "skanks", and declared that I live in hel and am pals with satan, but I have never noticed you comment on a certain demographic that routinely refers to females as "btches and hos" and "raps" about what they like to do to them, including rape and murder. Why is that, prey tell? Incidentally, I've mentioned it before, but I'm sure you managed to ignore it, that I do not go on someone else's blog and spew hate at the host. For example, I don't much care for Dave Ross, but I have never gone on the man's blog and insulted him, and I never will. What do you think about people who do that? I say it's low class. What do you say?

You have called me out repeatedly.

In fact, I almost never read SFB posts. But I will agree, he was particularly ingracious. If he wasn't targeting Mr. Medved, you could simply substitute a few words and it would sound exactly like you and HAHA and Kersey attacking liberals. Pretty insane, isn't it?

Defining low class. Now thats funny I don't care who you are.Billy I'm elevating you to Howler Monkey In Charge of course your only in charge of polishing haha's fire pole

That sfb is merely seattled in another one of his disguises, and you are quite chummy with him. That one who has fantasized about me and my family being killed in a crash, who has made obsene references to my daughter, who says he drives fast past Sequim because it "stinks of old people." That's your new best friend. Own it. You are also chummy with the lunatic that thinks it's a "messiah". Now I ask you. 1.) You claim to be a Christian. What is your view of the mentality of someone who publically identifies himself as "messiah"? And 2.) since this same lunatic has expressed the view that Stalin wasn't so bad even if he did exterminate tens of millions of his own people because he "gave them health care". Since he seems to be your pal now, how can you pretend to be offended by my comments when he thinks the murderer of tens of millions of people is OK? Difference is, HE WAS SERIOUS! Since you lack the capacity to comprehend certain use of irony, even when it's explained to you, I won't bother to try to educate you on that again. And yes, you absolutely did defend, on Dori's blog ( before it changed to the current format ) a muslim who savagely beat his daughter. Your own words were it couldn't be much different from the whacks you got as a kid, and you didn't see anything wrong with it. You see, Chuck, I am cursed with a pretty good memory. You DID say these things. I don't know if you don't remember your own words, or just plain flat out lying.

was that it isn't unusual for parents around the world to use corporal punishment on their kids. I believe you are referring to the topic where Dori posted the picture of a Newsweek cover, featuring a young Muslim woman whose nose had literally been cut off as a punishment by her father. No way did I defend that.

While you and some of your buds were howling, "See, they all do that!", I pointed out that the victim of the reprehensible act was on the cover of Newsweek because it was unusual- making it "news".

Defending the right of a Muslim to use reasonable, restrained corporal punishment on a child (as do some parents in nearly all cultures every corner of the world)doesn't constitute endorsing the permanent disfigurement of a child or "defending the Muslim" who did it. But, that's far too subtle for you to grasp. Did you ever spank your kids, or were you ever spanked as a kid? Maybe not, but I think most people would answer "yes". I'll bet you're not a Muslim, nor are any of your kids.