Former US Vice Presidential Candidate for the Green Party w/Ralph Nader in 2000, Winona LaDuke who is a Anishinaabe Ojibwa from the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota recently appeared on the Colbert Nation. On the show, Ms. LaDuke declared her support for Obama.
It's a great segment with a good mixture of informative discussion & Indian humor. In case you missed it, here's the link:
http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=170997
They show a video clip of Bush trying to explain Indian Sovereignty which typifies how clueless he is!!
Following on the heels of the Crow Nation honoring Barack and giving him a traditional ceremonial Indian name, Winona lets Colbert know he has an Indian nickname "Ke-bawt-is" "Mr. Smarty Pants". How funny! .
I voted for Nadar & LaDuke in 2000; I am a registered Democrat for the 1st time in my life because of Barack! it is great to see Winona come out & publicly support Barack.
Welcome to ALL the original Clinton supporters who have decided to unite together to support Barack & Democrats winning the White House and have now signed onto MBO.
If you have friends & family who are thinking about voting for McCain, here's a powerful video about why they shouldnt.
http://www.myspace.com/imvotingrepublican
This is what I wrote as a message to HRC as to what she should do next:
Senator Clinton,Please concede the Democratic nomination to Sen. Obama. Do the honorable, decent, and respectful thing and congratulate Obama for winning and withdraw/suspend your campaign activities. Do not be manipulative & coercive in your personal ambitions to extract a VP bid.
I am a registered Democratic women & I want our Party to win in November. This is more important to the future well being & improvement to tens of millions people who need help. Unify this party by graciously exiting immediately. Sincerely,Christy L.,
Please do not use my name on your website as a supporter. Thank you.
Yesterday's caucus was an exciting experience. Congratulations to Tony Alexander & Hellen Sims on winning. Good luck to both of you in Denver! I know you will represent us well as true Obama pledged delegates loyal to the ideals and goals that Barack stands for & has for our entire country.
In case you missed it, check this out! Here's the SJ Mercury News link with highlights of the caucuses:
http://www.mercurynews.com/elections
(I edited this link as requested; so now if you click on this link and then on the left hand side of the page are the videos; look for the one entitled, "Delegate Hopefuls".)
As a candidate, I want to again thank everyone who was a volunteer at the caucus & made it run so smoothly. I appreciate you giving your time & effort. Thank you!
Sincerely,
Christy
Being honest is very important to me. That's the way I was raised & that's how I am raising my children. The fact that we were called & the nomenclature of being an "Honest Injun" was attributed to us as Natives (in stark contrast to other cultures) is because our words matter, telling the truth and having integrity is important. Still today, honesty is valued in our culture and our way of life.
This is not about exagerating how big a fish was; this is NOT merely a "mis-statement" (i.e. weasal word/legalese for lying). Hillary out and out lied about landing in Kosovo under enemy attack. She lied on the campaign trail about her Kosovo experience 3 times with cameras rolling. Her made-up story was embellished with incredible (as in not to be believed) details. What kind of delusions of grandeur are in her head that she would give speeches about fantasies.
If she lies about something like this, where Sinbad & other folks & actual video footage of her hugging a Kosovo child with Chelsea by her side directly contradict and can prove she lying, then what else would she lie about as President? Reminds me of Al Gore lying about inventing the internet!
Go Barack!!
In addition to my calling random folks in different states through BuildTheHope system, I think it's important to do whatever we can to get out the Native vote. There are so few of us left with any Indian blood & we don't have the same numbers as say other races & religions. That we have survived & that we are still living today is a triumph! Something to be proud of.
As Native people, though we have our tribal governments and elected Council members who we can reach out to to spread the word that Barack has more specific plans than Hillary to help Native Americans. So the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are voting today. They are 10,000 enrolled members strong!! I found that they are the only federally recognized Tribe in MS. (I don't know how to find State recognized tribes, if there is a directory or some way to identify them, I would appreciate if some one would let me know.)
A couple years ago, I discovered/realized a nifty email trick I use in my professional job. Most organizations have a userid standard for emails
(i.e. firstname.lastname@companyname.com or firstinitialmiddleinitiallastname@organizationname.org etc.)
I go to press releases to figure out the standard by looking at the media contract person's email & I'm off to the races!! I also put a trace on my email to see if it was successfully delivered. If it is unsuccessfully, then I guess again & resend.
So here's my email shout out to Choctaws to GOTNativeV for Barack Today!!
From: Christy Lofink Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 9:23 PMTo: 'info@choctaw.org'; 'wilma.simpson@choctaw.org'; 'beasley.denson@choctaw.org'; 'maurice.calistro@choctaw.org'; 'eddie.sam@choctaw.org'; 'melba.smith@choctaw.org'; 'harrison.ben@choctaw.org'; 'phyliss.anderson@choctaw.org'; 'ronnie.henry@choctaw.org'; 'hayward.bell@choctaw.org'; 'troy.chickaway@choctaw.org'; 'kevin.edwards@choctaw.org'; 'dorothy.wilson@choctaw.org'; 'linda.farve@choctaw.org'; 'edward.wesley@choctaw.org'; 'diamond.hundley@choctaw.org'; 'richard.isaac@choctaw.org'; 'tony.martin@choctaw.org'; 'charlie.nickey@choctaw.org'; 'berdie.steve@choctaw.org'; 'jesse.thomas@choctaw.org'Subject: MS Primary: Barack's Indian Policy Statement
Hi there,I am glad to meet all of you. I am Menominee Indian from Keshena, Wisconsin & I am supporting/volunteering for Barack Obama for President because I believe he’s the best candidate for Indian Country & for the entire country.
I got all of your names off of your website (you’ve got a very nice website!!) The reason I am writing you is to make sure you are aware of his commitment to Indian people. Barack supports Tribal Sovereignty, Self Determination and Indian Gaming and he supports improving Indian Health Care. Senator Obama fully understands that the BIA is NOT working. He is committed to having an American Indian/Alaskan Native on his Senior White House staff and will hold a yearly Tribal "G8" Summit.
Here’s a link to Barack’s response to a local Tribal Leader in NM last month who asked what Barack would do as President in regard to healthcare, economic development and education for Indians since we, Indian people, are the worst in every measure when compared to all other US peoples:
http://tribes.barackobama.com/page/content/firstamshome
Also, I am attaching a copy of his published American Indian policy statement "Barack Obama's Principles for Stronger Tribal Communities"; so I thought you might want to read it and maybe distribute it to other tribal members as you all go to the polls on Tuesday. There are so many Indian problems to fix; actually, Barack has more specific plans than Hillary when it comes to helping Indians out.
Thank you for your time & for reading my note. Thank you for considering Barack Obama for President. And I wish good luck to all of you.
Sincerely,Christy
Gov. Rendell supports HRC. Now he & Gov. Corzine want to interfer with DNC rules (which Hillary agreed to abide by last year) and they have volunteered to raise private $$ to hold elections again in Michigan & Florida.
As I wrote in my previous blog, in my opinion this is wrong and is manipulating democracy. HRC is behind in delegates, so now through her surrogates (Rendell & Corzine) they want to subvert the DNC rules. If the Michigan primary is held again, then Hillary will also gain ANOTHER Super-Delegate by way of MI Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Right now Granholm can't be a super-delegate because the MI delegation will not be seated per the DNC rules.
If you want to let Gov. Rendell know your opinion, here's the link:
Governor Corzine of New Jersey is supporting HRC. It was reported in the news today that Corzine & Ed Rendell have volunteered to raise private donations to hold another election in Michigan & Florida.
I think this is wrong. Here's the link to Gov. Corzine's website if you would like to express your opinion:
http://www.newjersey.gov/governor/govmail.html
Here's cut & paste of what I wrote to him; it's not verbose or eloquent, but it expresses my feelings on his subversion of DNC primary rules.
Dear Gov. Corzine,
Please stop trying to BUY (through private donations) elections & to rig results for Hillary. Special interests, 527s/PACs & corporate lobbyists have corrupted this govt. for far too long.
Michigan & Florida violated DNC rules. Period. It is not right or fair to change the rules in the middle of the game.
It is time to stop manipulating democracy.
I looked up Wind River Indian reservation in WY since they are caucusing tomorrow. Cut & Pasted all the Northern Arapaho emails/tribal depts. & sent them the following note. The Shoshones are next on my radar...aaay! I share this with all of you, that perhaps it may give you some ideas of how we can better reach Natives online.
From: Christy Lofink Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 9:12 AMTo: 'arapahotribe@hotmail.com'; 'northernarapaho@msn.com'; 'fridayhrmanager@live.com'; 'jltrosper@wyoming.com'; 'adam@northernarapaho.com'; 'araphealth@wyoming.com'; 'ahall@onewest.net'; 'cburson@wyoming.com'; 'wicdirector@wyoming.com'; 'narapahosdp@rmisp.com'; 'wrcf@wyoming.com'; 'naedc@tcinc.net'; 'natc@wyoming.com'; 'arapahoe@tctwest.net'; 'naha2@trib.com'; 'info@skypeopleed.org'Subject: WY Caucus: Barack's Indian Policy Statement
Posoh! Hi there,I am glad to meet all of you. I am an enrolled Menominee Indian from Wisconsin & I am supporting Barack Obama for President because I believe he’s the best candidate for Indian Country & for the entire country.
I got all of your emails off of your tribal website; the reason I am writing you is to make sure you are aware of his commitment to Indian people. Barack supports Tribal Sovereignty, Self Determination and Indian Gaming and he supports improving Indian Health Care. Senator Obama fully understands that the BIA is NOT working. He is committed to having an American Indian/Alaskan Native on his Senior White House staff and will hold a yearly Tribal "G8" Summit.
Here’s a link to Barack’s response to a local Tribal Leader in NM last month who asked what Barack would do as President in regard to healthcare, economic development and education for Indians as it is so sad that we, Indian people, are the worst in every measure when compared to all other US peoples:
Also, I am attaching a copy of his published American Indian policy statement "Barack Obama's Principles for Stronger Tribal Communities"; so I thought you might want to read it and distribute it to fellow tribal members as you all go to caucus tomorrow. If you need to find out your caucus location & time, you can visit:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/wyhome
Thank you for considering Barack Obama for President. And I wish good luck to all of you.
I am kinda shy and I don't like talking to folks I don't know. Maybe fear is too strong a word; I try to avoid uncomfortable situations. But there really is a fierce urgency of now to take action. As Oprah said when she courageously campaigned for Barack earlier this year, she made the analogy that she was moving out of her pew at church where she was comfortable sitting to come out and make a stand for what she believed in: Barack being the best person to be our President.
So, I've gotten past my semi-phobic feelings, signed up & called folks in TX this past weekend. But we can still make a difference today. Please make calls today if you can; I am. If you're like me, no worries. I've actually found calling folks isn't that bad & reaching fellow Obama supporters is encouraging. Occasionally I get someone who is rude or hangs up on me, but I don't take it personally, so it's okay.
If you didn't get the email this morning, here's the info:
We just added up the numbers, and thanks to supporters like you, we're well past our goal of 1.5 million phone calls to voters in today's crucial primary states.
This is by far the most calls we've ever made in such a short time -- but we can't stop yet.
This could be the most important day of our whole campaign, and supporters all across the country are doing their part to help Barack succeed.
Our team has put together a list of the most important calls you can make right now:
http://my.barackobama.com/march4calls
Use our online phonebanking tool and you'll get a list of names and numbers of likely supporters who we need to get out and vote today.
You'll also get a short script with details about the primary in their state, including polling hours and where to find their polling location.
It's simple and fun, and it can have an enormous impact on today's elections.
Find the most important calls you can make today and get started:
Right now, thousands of volunteer organizers are on the ground in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
They're knocking on doors, giving people rides to the polls, and doing everything they can to Get Out The Vote for Barack.
But you can help right from your own home.
Each call you make could be another vote for Barack in the areas where we need your help the most.
Start by making five calls. I know you'll want to make five more:
We're facing some tough challenges in today's contests. But together, we've faced tough challenges before.
And each time we've been told our sights were set too high, you've risen to the call.
I need you to do it again today.
Thank you,
Jon
Jon CarsonNational Voter Contact DirectorObama for America
Barack's American Indian/Native American policy statement is now posted on the NCAI's (National Congress of American Indians) website under "Native Pride. Native Power. Native Vote" Candidate Forum. Thanks to NCAI for posting this document & getting the word out, so more Indians can be informed about Barack's specific plans for helping Indian people during his Presidency.
http://nativevote.org/candidateforum.html
Barack needs all of us to volunteer to make calls to voters into TX, OH for the upcoming primaries. If you have a pc & a headset, please consider getting a Skype Pro account (or maybe there are other VoIP providers out there that offer similar deals?)
For just $3 (three dollars) a month, you can sign up for unlimited number of calls/minutes to call long distance for Barack. Then use BuildTheHope phone banking at home from your pc to encourage other folks to vote for Barack.
I use Voice over IP & it is easy to use & cheap. I live in CA and called voters long distance to WI and now I'm phoning TX voters; then next I'm on to PA (if Hillary doesn't withdraw). For 3 bucks, it's a good deal.
We need to also give of our time & effort to make this movement successful and to get Barack elected!
Hey, in case you missed it, here's Barack's video response to a question from a Tribal leader in New Mexico yesterday on what Senator Obama plans to do as President to strengthen tribal sovereignty and to address the health, economic, and educational disparities that exist between Indians & Natives and all other peoples in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcI0njqh1iw
Regards,
Should we pursue getting our Tribal Legislatures/Governments to officially endorse Barack? Would it be helpful?
I have read about all of the recent endorsements that Barack is getting in the news from newspapers, from unions, from general US elected politcal officials, & from orgs. like MoveOn.org and so I wonder if Tribal endorsements & other Indian/Native Organizations endorsements would be helpful.
A couple of thoughts come to mind:
I am interested in learning your thoughts & ideas on the best ways to mobilize.
Chrsity
