cherokeetimesonline

Posted February 26, 2008 - Murphy, NC

	Opinion: William Ledford Hello again friends and the rest of you who throw darts at my picture and yell insults and profanities, I’ve been a little busy but I’m back with some more of what I like to call, “Billogic” or the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind. I know, I’ve said that before but I like the sound of it. I’m going to call this little piece, “Reflections”. We’ll see if the Times has the courage to run it in its entirety and you have the intestinal fortitude to read it. I wrote this a little while back so if it seems old, it’s just you. So let’s begin. I’m going to reflect upon the events of this past year and early 2009 both as a nation and as a nation. Think about it a little while. A lot of reflection will be spent on political and current events. I love politics, who would think that something so serious would entertain us so much. First, congratulations to the varsity football team for their deep foray into the NC state playoffs. The kids did a great job and need a pat on the back. In fact, congratulations to all the kids that survive 4 years of high school, both the ones that participate in extra-curricular activities and those that choose not to. You go kids. I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas or at least wanted what they got. I did, kinda, sorta. My Packers and Raiders didn’t make the playoffs but the Cowboys, Patriots and Broncos didn’t either. Yes I have two teams; I grew up watching the stodgy NFL and the free-wheeling AFL before their merger in the 70’s and I liked a team in each league. My hat is off to the Dallas Cowboys for bringing some much needed sensitivity to the NFL. Tony Romo cried a couple of years ago, Terrell Owens cried last year and Jerry Jones had to cry this year. It reminds me of that country and western tune, “Mama, Your Cowboys Have Turned into Crybabies.” This year political history was made as Barack Obama fulfilled Martin Luther King’s “dream”. It took a nightmare that developed over 8 years to arrive at the dream. Now it’ll take years to drag us out of that darkness back into the light. I wonder if there will be an Indian, a Native American, an American Indian, whatever you prefer, elected to the office of President of the United States. Maybe, but not in my lifetime, and not while we continue to have to fight for respect as a people (see my articles and rants on sports mascots). The elections were over in November, well, they were over except in Minnesota, the Republican Party worried more about abortion, morality, and Western-style democracy in Iraq and less about the American people and the economy, lost the confidence of the people and as a result lost the elections…big time. It was a Democrat clean sweep here in New Mexico. Now it’s time to dry the tears, wipe the spittle off the chin, get over it and let’s move on. It’s going to take teamwork from everyone to resolve the mess we’re in. Ya know, I’m actually going to miss George Bush & cronies. The late night shows, especially David Letterman’s show will have find new material, no more Bushisms, no more shooting friends in the face, George and company gave them and us plenty of good stuff over the years but hey, we still have Joe Biden, he will insert both feet into his mouth before he’s done. I’m curious, I always thought that the US Secret Service were supposed to protect the President from any and all projectiles. Apparently they’ll jump in and take a 9mm, .45 caliber, a .30-06 but not a size 12. Is it in their contract that they can only take a bullet and not a Converse? Somebody in the NFL, maybe the Lions, should sign that Iraqi shoe chucker to a contract. If there’s anything left of him by now. And we thought things were gonna be different with Saddam gone. Speaking of Minnesota, that place has a real sense of humor. First Jesse “The Body” Ventura, well-known ex-wrestler, no wait, that’s “rassler”, was elected to be the state Governor, now Al Franken, ex-SNL comedian, might be elected to represent Minnesota in Congress, that election is still a runoff and will be in litigation, I doubt that the Supreme Court will be called in to decide this one. Wonder if Rick Bird, I mean Youngblood, will run for chief after his career is over. Now, for our own sitcoms, a thought occurred to me during the council and One Feather debates over the alcohol referendum. The wishes of the people, through their elected representatives in council were ignored by the Principal Chief. If we as a people can’t be trusted to make the right decisions regarding a referendum, how do we know that we made the right decisions during the elections? Can we be trusted to make the right decisions during our elections in the future? Do we need the Principal Chief and Tribal Council to make those decisions for us? Maybe our voting decisions were faulty, I say let’s kick ‘em all out and start over. A friend told me a while back that he heard that a banana a day was good for the colon, he also told me that he didn’t find out until later that you have to eat the banana for them to work. One thing was proven to me in the last elections. America was ready for a Black man to become President of the United States, apparently it didn’t matter whether it was another White man or even a Green man; we just weren’t ready for a woman to be President. Pity. We Cherokee have known for centuries the value of a woman’s wisdom. The other day I was reading the posts in a forum regarding George Bush’s possible pardoning of Leonard Peltier, American Indian political prisoner. My take on this? Ain’t gonna happen. Maybe Obama will do it? Let’s see, political suicide or do the right thing…hmmmm…it’s a toughie. If he’s shows courage it won’t happen during his first term, that’s a certainty, if there’s a second term, maybe. Don’t stop hoping. Anybody out there that enjoyed the fact as much as I that the Washington NFL team spent the playoffs watching them on TV like the rest of us? They haven’t made the playoffs since the lawsuits against their stereotypical racist name began. Maybe they’ll finally admit that the whole concept of their team mascot name IS racist and do away with it finally, it is the 21st century after all. I mean, if it’s not a racist name how come there aren’t any teams called the Blackskins, the Yellowskins or the Brownskins? Yeah, that’s what I thought. I have another friend that’s a dyslexic paranoid. He always thinks that he’s following someone. The Las Vegas, Nevada Police Department finally obtained the drink that the Los Angeles Police Department was hoping to get. It took a long time to arrive but it’s now there. The drink? Why O.J. in a can of course. Maybe they’ll give him a big mirror so he can continue looking for his ex-wife’s real killer. A lot of talk continues to revolve around the “surge” contributing to the “success” in Iraq. Two things, it’s only a success when we leave. The other? Of course the troop escalation worked, the initial estimates predicted that we would need more troops to occupy Iraq than we sent in but Donnie Rumsfeld knew more about warfare than the generals. He must’ve read a book about it. Well, that’s all that I have for now. No, that’s wrong, I have more but the Times has to run more than one article and the rest of my stuff could take up an entire paper. I will finish by saying this, I’m very glad that the Miss Cherokee crowns finally got smaller this year. They were getting taller and taller every year. I was beginning to worry about the compressed neck vertebrae of the future winners. I was also thinking that maybe someone should start designing and making a beaded neck brace. One last thing then and I’m gone. Why are we still dealing with Bryson City? They, the business owners down there, don’t like us, never have, and we don’t need them. They need us; well they need our per capita and wage money. I say that we show them just who the boss here is and boycott them. Just for a little while. Maybe they’ll clean the riff-raff out.