Dalles Made The Right Decision

Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation recently reelected Lorraine Cobiness as Chief.  Since she got elected some years back the reserve has had a HUGE revenue surplus even though spending has increased and I’m willing to bet everything I own that surplus will go even further, as will the spending.

Dalles had a few people running against Lorraine – and it’s quite clear by the amount of votes who the people want to lead them.  It was a crushing defeat for the other candidates.  One of them lives far away and the other lives in town and has done so for many years.

Too bad… so sad!

What makes it all the more satisfying is that Lorraine actually works for her pay and gets things done.

To the vindictive wench – keep on with your foolishness because I will be laughing very soon.

Dalles First Nation Election Issues

One of the good things about having had a relationship with someone who became Chief is that I have gained a insight into how First Nation politics work.  The other good thing is I don’t get along with my former partner. I can quite happily state it exactly like it is without putting across a biased point of view… hell she doesn’t  even know I wrote this, although I’m sure she soon will.   Not many people will believe that – they can suck eggs for all I care.

I have a vested interest in what happens out there and so I’m going to state issues exactly as I see them.  For instance… the first prequisite I believe a Chief needs to have is solid and secure ties to the community.  Someone who lives there… someone who’s children live and play there… someone who is in an integral part of their own family.

Strong Ties to the Community

A perfectly valid argument could be made that people who live off-reserve through no fault of their own, and who are still active in the community should be given a fair chance at being elected.

People who voluntarily have spent the best part of their lives (as well as their children’s lives) off reserve, making NO attempt to become involved with the community and willingly become estranged from their own family for twenty years simply shouldn’t be elected (in my opinion) -  no Johnny-Come-Lately for Chief.

Band Elections allow any Band Member to apply for Council and anybody (including non-First Nation people) to run for Chief; but it simply does not make sense to vote for someone who doesn’t have strong ties to the community.  An independent non-First Nation elections officer should be appointed to determine whether a person’s ties to the community are strong enough before being eligible to run for Chief.

Personal Qualities of a Chief

If a person can spend twenty years acting like strangers towards their own blood – what’s to say they won’t start to have that detached uncaring attitude towards the people they’re supposed to be leading?

One thing you can’t question about Lorraine’s character is her family values.  It’s not like she’s masquerading as a family orientated Chief – who has had five children and abandoned her two oldest.  A Chief should care about everyone including ALL their own children.

Current Administration Achievements

I mean… the proof is in the pudding, right? Some of the achievements of the current Chief and Council are:

• Housing – two 5bedroom houses & two 3bedroom houses have been built this last year.
• Dalles Road – the 1st phase of the road reconstruction has been finished, with them starting the 2nd phase which will bring the road up to provincial standards.
• Building good-will and partnerships with other local First Nations.  For instance; the Miitigoog Corporation – a partnership with Naotkamegwanning and Wabaseemoong has set up potential for a LOT of added revenue for all three reserves.
• Building and overseeing of a $4.5million water plant which has brought jobs into the community.
• The Ontario Power Generation settlement (which is public knowledge for all haters out there).
• and most importantly of all… the 500lb gorilla of rez politics:
  

  NO MORE CO-MANAGEMENT!

  According to public records Dalles has been in co-management since 1993, and every single Chief & Council since then has put the community further and further in debt.  Co-management is debilitating for a community and the effects of it will take a few years to recover from, I should imagine.

For real… like what achievements have the other candidates done for the community?  You don’t need to be living on the reserve OR to be a member of Chief and Council, or an employee of the Band to do something for your people.  What have the other candidates done?

Some of the people on the reserve at times were downright spiteful, vindictive, jealous and purely hateful – but Lorraine would still help in any way she could.  Anyone who says she doesn’t care about the people and the community are simply f**king idiots – doing her job non-stop was a factor in some almost life-threatening health problems a while back.

The reversal of co-management, and the OPG settlement rumoured to have been an eight figured sum are two facts which will have very long lasting positive effects on the community my children are growing up in.

Ochiichagwe’Babigo’Ining Ojibway Nation have a  good leader and a stable council – if progress is to keep happening, it’d be a real stupid move to change things now.

Why the Army Reserve has it’s advantages

Everyone who isn’t a self-centred twit knows by now who Major Nidal Hasan is. If you don’t know (which means you’re a self-centred twit) he’s a Major in the United States Army who went on a killing spree in Fort Hood, Texas and killed thirteen soldiers. Whilst I suspect that he’s definitely going to be charged under military law and given the death sentence, I simply do not believe this attack was connected in any way to Islamic extremism.

I think that he was a man pushed over the edge by being forced into something he objected to. The death penalty is the only just punishment for that murdering bastard, but it’s clear a lot of people won’t even understand or care why he did what he did.

According to this story on CNN, Major Nidal Hasan wanted the military to allow Muslims to refrain from participation in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq on the grounds of conscientious objection. This is by far the best suggestion I’ve ever heard and I simply cannot believe that someone with the rank of Major wasn’t listened to.

All of this could have been prevented if Major Hasan had been in the Army Reserve… because as I understand it Major Hasan then could have simply refused to go and nothing would have happened. As is demonstrated by the book ‘Fifteen Days’ by Christie Blatchford, at least in the Canadian Forces, it’s usually Reservists who are eager and willing to be deployed and so the Reservists who wanted to do a tour wouldn’t be deprived of the opportunity.

A possible political assassination

When Barack Obama first won the Presidency, I was somewhat convinced that some looney right wing redneck racist was going to make a serious attempt to kill the President.  I’m sure he’s had plenty of death threats – but I am entirely convinced that the United States Secret Service know what they’re doing and have his safety well in hand.

There is another highly visible politician with far more of a chance of being physically murdered / assassinated.  Olympia Snowe is a moderate Republican Senator in the representing Maine, U.S.A.  Currently President Obama is trying to pass a healthcare reform bill that will give healthcare coverage to almost all Americans.  It’s expected to pass but as the media is reporting Senator Olympia Snowe is a pivotal figure who can influence the entire healthcare reform bill President Obama wants passed. Read more...

The Americans need to make up their mind

Intelligent and mature people watch the news.  Self centered plebs don’t.  All the intelligent people in the world know about the situation in Honduras where the left-wing President Manuel Zelaya was forcibly removed from power by the Honduran Army with the backing of  the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress.

Basically… Zelaya wanted to see if the Honduran people would support a constitutional change allowing Presidents to stand for re-election.  The right wingers in Army, Congress and Supreme Court basically said “HELL NO”.

Most of the world condemned his removal from office, including the United States of America – that makes no sense to me.  Zelaya is an ally of Hugo Chavez who is hated by the U.S… so why in the blazes would the U.S condemn the removal of a democratically elected ally of their enemy?  The United States of America has never cared much about morals when it comes to securing its own interests (even though mostly their interests are in line with my own)… so why bother putting up a charade condemning the situation?

With Zelaya out of power… support for Hugo Chavez is a little harder to come by in South America.  I thought America would love that.