Indians and Pilgrims

It’s November yet again, for us the excitement of Thanksgiving starts the very first day of the month. The planning on who’s house everyone will gather to, who’s going to bring what or cook what. For many places, there’s also the Football game featuring their home team to watch as well. The cooking of the feast is rightfully and traditionally timed right around this event. The tradition in many American households to gather up their “fixins,” and gather around the TV to watch the game, has become almost the standard of “what to do” on Thanksgiving Day.
At this point you may be asking yourself, “What does this have to do with politics?” Actually a great deal, also this article will deal with a great amount of what were taught and are told when we’re growing up. To really elaborate on it all, I’ll give you the following in the viewpoint of an average American person, the Native American, and of course the historical facts.
First, to many Native Americans, this isn’t a Holiday to celebrate, in fact, a big majority do not. Personally my family and I do, although like many people, it’s really a glorified reason to get together and eat some tasty food. I don’t discount the values of a family getting together to share a day. Especially in this day and age, where you don’t find many opportunities to really sit down and have a meal with your family.
The mindset of most Native Americans is that the Holiday is really just a normal day, with normal values one should extend everyday. However that isn’t the focus of this article, to really understand it all, keep reading..
The tale popular in school and folklore is that the Indians sat down with the Pilgrims for a friendly Harvest Feast. Having a large community feast after the fall harvest was a common thing in Europe. Flash forward to 1970, the 350th anniversary of the pilgrims landing in Massachusetts. Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed Thanksgiving a holiday, and it was a fairy tail of a feast that was allowed to exist until that day. When Frank B. James, President of the Federated Eastern Indian League was asked to speak for a Plymouth banquet.  Exposing the Pilgrims for having committed, among other crimes, the robbery of graves of the Wampanoag's. He wrote:
“We welcomed you, the white man, with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end; that before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a free people.”
Officials told him he couldn’t deliver such a speech, and offered to write him another. He declined, and on Thanksgiving day hundreds of Native Americans from around the country came to protest.
So what really happened in Plymouth in 1621?

The Failure of the "MTV" Generation

In 2008 Barack Obama was elected president without anyone knowing what his true agenda or platform was. Sure he gave us those "glittering generalities" but what was he really saying or not saying. Barack's election was much like the passing of the Healthcare Bill which was summed up best by Nancy Pelosi said, "We need to pass it in order to find out what it says." In Obama's case it was, "We need to elect him to find out what he'll do." There is something fundamentally wrong with this thought process and yet in both cases the vote passed.

According to the Pew Research Center, a think-tank/pollster group based in D.C., "66% of voters under the age of 30 gave their vote to Barack Obama." This trend isn't anything new, six out of the last eight elections showed the younger vote going to the Democratic candidate and in the odd two elections the vote was tied. I want to make it clear that informed personal opinion is not under attack here, however it is my opinion that the naivete of young people (as well as many people over 30) really exposed itself in this latest election.

Everyone wants to believe the best about people, and especially that those in leadership positions are looking out for the public's best interests. It is the case many times then that someone can rise to power by merely promising a better life, secure job or "free" healthcare. In a world filled with biased media outlets (not just the news but movies, television, music) pushing their own agenda it can be easy to be swept up in the hype and the emotion but it is important for us as voters to take a step back and think, "Do I really understand what this guy is saying, what does it all mean and how will if affect me and my family not just presently but in the future."

Any man seeking a leadership role, as Barack Obama was in 2008, should be analyzed carefully in order to determine his true nature and goals before you make a final decision. This doesn't mean listening to what the personality on Fox News or CNN or MTV has to say about a candidate and it also doesn't mean listening to a few quotes or sound bites from the guy. Really make an effort to study his up-bringing, voting record, and personal history.

I believe that we in the "MTV" generation have and continue to let our naivete get the best of us and it is a tragic failure. I am posting this well before the November elections so that you all have time to do some research on the candidates running for office. Listen to some of their speeches, read their writings (if they have any), take a look at their voting record, and most importantly discover who they are as a person. Don't continue to let your emotional knee-jerk reactions fail you, use the logical brain that God gave you and truly think for yourself.

-Jim at the D.W.

WOW

Ok everyone-so sorry that we have been slacking lately. We went on a trip over the holiday weekend and it threw us for a loop. Bare with me as we struggle to get back into the groove of writing everyday-tomorrow I'll have a good post for you all and if I don't then rip me up on FB please so I get it into my head!

-Jim at the D.W.

Happy Late Labor Day

Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day Weekend (Union/Socialist Holiday ... workers of the world united ... not). Sorry we have been slacking we here at the Daily Wood were out at a very fun wedding hope everyone kept up to date with their new stories a little history for everyone.
Labor Day was first celebrated in 1892 in New York by the CLU. And was officially recognized in 1894 courteous of Grover Cleveland after the Pullman Strike was put down by the United States Army.

Keep up to date with everything in the news hopefully a bigger topic tonight or tomorrow.

-Jake at the D.W.

Economic Disrespect: The Auto Industry Failure

Hello readers my name is James and I'm guest blogging for The Daily Wood today.

Perhaps in the future I'll be able to share more of my views with you all.

I'm a college graduate in the study of Ornamental Horticulture, a resident of Metro Detroit, and

a Cherokee Native American. As my field of study, and state are affected by current sociopolitical

issues, I feel this is a perfect oppertunity to share my thoughts and my personal recollection of what

I've experienced and learned.

For as long as anyone can remember, Detroit and for the most part Michigan as a whole has been

known for one huge industry, Automobiles. The city gained monikers such as "The Motor City."

Hot Rod cars dubbed as "Detroit Muscle." The story of Detroit really is the story of the "Big 3."

Where the auto industry goes, Detroit goes, this is an undeniable truth. As a one trick pony

everything depends for the most part on the success of these three companies. When they had

the huge blowout, the city sunk hard. You really don't get a feel for it until you see former

business professionals collecting job applications from fast food places. The modern city was

built for two million people, however at this time there's less than 800,000.

The bailout is and will always be seen by Michiganders as a double edge sword. It was entirely

essential to keep Gm/Chrysler/Ford afloat, however nobody denies that the companies deserve to

fall under. The raging fire of approving people for vehicles they could not afford was just a common practice.

The city and it's auto companies were for so long under the illusion that the industry was its golden goose egg.

However when stocks started diving, people were buying less, saving more. It only adds to the irony that when it came time to collect the money for the loands they handed out, they were met with pockets that were already slim, but were now empty. This spelled the downfall of the former Auto Industry, it was soon a realization to themselves that things were bad, very bad. People were laid off en mass. Then later on during the bailout, an enormous amount of more hourly workers were sent home. A huge chunk considering just citizens working at auto factories, but often left out are other companies that entirely depend on those workers. Not third party parts manufacturers, we're talking resturants, grocers, movie theaters, you name it. So many people worked in auto factories that when the layoffs came, so did layoffs at the aforementioned places, and in many cases companies had to shut down. Their customers now had no income.

Unemployment was already strapped before all of this happened, so it came as no surprise that when the city

office buildings were flooded to apply unemployment, there was little to nothing to give. This has triggered an ongoing exodus from the state. A large amount of people have left the state entirely for places that are doing much better, in hopes of finding work again. the interesting thing is that long ago when the auto companies needed a very large amount of workers, many of their future workers came from the south. Here we are today, people leaving Michigan to live down south where prospects are better.

The Documentary "Requiem For Detroit" (The Documentary), shows how this was decades in the making and the result of the lack of respect the companies had for the economy. The big question here is an obvious one that's been asked before. "What do we have to do, to ensure something like this doesn't happen again?" In my opinon, it's accountability. Now, the "Big Three" have obviously changed a lot around, and are behaving much more responsibly and with the watchful eye of the government,

behaving with much more accountability. But, this isn't the only industry that could have something like this happen. What sort of measures should be taken? Many folks felt that the government shouldn't of touched the auto crysis, some people feel that they shouldn't have a failsafe for companies that fall for bad habits. Others feel that its a necessity, to ensure that community's or whole states even, are able to continue on without striking families into severe proverty. Is there a right decision? Should the government have tighter measures put in place to keep companies in line? Should they bail them out if they do deviate from the guidelines set?

This is truly an issue that strikes the heart of many people, this in my mind will no doubt grow to be a bigger issue in society's mind.

I'm interested in hearing opinions from others about this topic, feel free to leave a comment.