A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

So after a long and wonderful day feasting with friends and family, I cleaned the kitchen, packed up the leftovers for later and snuggled up on the couch with my son to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The cool thing was, there was a bonus cartoon after called This is America, Charlie Brown - a Charlie Brown cartoon I had never seen? Awesome....

It's not surprising that I had never seen it because it was aired originally as an eight part mini-series in 1988 and I was much too busy doing teenager things to care about a Charlie Brown cartoon. Funny how now, 20 years later I was more than happy to watch it and just relax. Here is the other funny thing....as we were watching the Charles Shultz version of the pilgrims landing and subsequent salvation due to the kindness of the local Indian Tribe....I felt myself being vindicated. Here I and my fellow blogger have been berated on the local cesspool topix as a racist, a liar and an Indian hater. Wow.....all because Gladys Kravitz blogged about the true history of the pilgrims landing and how it was not the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that welcomed them.....and I commented on her blog about some of the not so nice past actions we have read about over the past year regarding Mashpee Tribal leaders and members. How horrible of Gladys to debunk the Mashpee Tribe's claim to fame as being the tribe that met the pilgrims and how absolutely scandalous of me to remind everyone of the only times we hear anything about the Tribe....heck, it's not like they have come to any public forums and talked to the the community about their casino-resort plans....but I digress.

So I am watching this new to me Charlie Brown cartoon and guess what??? According to Mr. Shultz in 1988, it was not the Mashpee Tribe who met the pilgrims. Huh.....go figure....but hey, it is just a cartoon, right?

Could Charles Shultz have gotten it wrong too?






Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope your day was full of good times, close family and good friends. I am truely thankful for all of you who continue to fight for our quality of life, get the real stories out there, and never ever give in to our adversaries.

Here is a little update for my dear flying monkey friends who seem to think I take history lessons from cartoons. Well, at least I don't take history lessons from the Mashpee Wampanoag website....by the way, it would seem that Charlie Brown is smarter than a flying monkey....go figure.

It was an ordinary day when a cry suddenly went out among the settlement of “Indian!” Everyone became on guard. The figure of a lone Indian came walking towards them. What could this Indian want? They were all shocked when the Indian began speaking to them in English! How had this Indian from this wild land come to know English? He introduced himself as Samoset and told them his story: Samoset was a chief of the Algonquins of Maine. He had been exploring these parts for the Council of New England, having begged a ride with a Captain Thomas Derman, an English sea captain. Samoset had learned English over the years from the various sea captains who had ported in Maine, and he had a love for travel.

It was Samoset who told the Pilgrims of the Patuxet tribe who had lived on the very place the Pilgrims had settled but had been wiped out by a mysterious illness four years before. It was they who had cleared the land. No other tribe would live on this ground because of how the Patuxets had been wiped out. Their nearest neighbors were the Wampanoags, fifty miles west. The Pilgrims then wondered who it was that had attacked them upon their landing on the shore. Samoset told them it was the Nausets. They hated the white man because of the trickery of an English sea captain named Thomas Hunt. Hunt had deceived several Patuxets into coming aboard his ship. He then took them to Spain to be sold into slavery.

Samoset left the Pilgrims but returned a week later with yet another English-speaking Indian. This Indian’s name was Tisquantum, or Squanto, as he is better known. Squanto had quite a story to tell the Pilgrims: He had been taken captive, along with four other Indians, by Captain George Weymouth. They were taken to England and taught English so they could be questioned as to the best places to settle in the New World. Squanto spent nine long years in England until he met a Captain John Smith of Jamestown,VA. Captain Smith returned Squanto to his village on his 1614 voyage. The former mentioned Thomas Hunt was sailing with Smith on a separate vessel. Smith had ordered Hunt to stay behind while Smith attended to some business elsewhere. But, alas, Thomas Hunt had something else up his sleeve! No sooner had Squanto returned home than he was captured again! Squanto, along with 19 other Patuxets were of those who were lured aboard Hunt’s ship under the pretense of trading beaver pelts only to be captured again! So once again Squanto was taken to Spain and sold into slavery. How discouraging it must have been for Squanto. But God’s providence was at work. Some local friars bought (rescued) a few of the Indians, including Squanto. They introduced them to the Christian faith. Squanto later left the monastery, found a way to England, and attached himself to a wealthy merchant there. He lived there until he departed with a Captain Dermer in 1619. It was on this trip that he first met Samoset, who was traveling with Dermer. They were both dropped off at Plymouth just six months before the Pilgrims would be arriving. But it was then that Squanto learned of the tragic end of his tribe. Squanto, having no one, attached himself to the neighboring Wampanoag tribe. However, once he found the Pilgrims, he had found a new home and family. He stayed with the Pilgrims and as Bradford wrote, “was a special instrument sent of God for their good, beyond their expectation.” (1) It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims many things about living in the wilderness, such as planting corn with fish for fertilizer, hunting, and many other life-saving skills. http://www.americandestiny.com/settlement.htm

Oh, and if this website causes the flying monkeys to start throwing poo again, I can certainly provide many other links to this time in history that also reference Samoset and Tisquantum as helping the pilgrims, such as this one and this one. Then again, according to monkey philosophy, every historian who writes about the first meeting with the pilgrims must be wrong and a lying, racist, indian hater because it had to be the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe that met the pilgrims....they said so.

- be the change you want to see in the world -

The Real McCoy

On Monday, there was an article in the Enterprise reporting that a draft environmental report was released regarding the land in Middleboro, land the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is attempting to place into trust for the specific purpose of building a casino – I mean bingo hall. This report has been recently released a short 8 months after the scoping hearing held in Middleboro in March. The article states:

The questions that will have to be answered by the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe concerning its proposed casino have been outlined in a newly released draft environmental report.

The 1,306-page report, prepared according to the National Environmental Policy Act for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, contains written and verbal comments submitted in response to the proposed land-taking by the Mashpee.

The interesting thing here is that suddenly, a scoping report that outlines and categorizes the comments submitted from the March hearing has, according to some casino advocates, morphed into the Tribe’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement. According to some, this is the actual Draft EIS, which it is not. This report is just that….a scoping report and not the draft EIS we are all patiently waiting for. If this was the actual draft EIS, it would have been posted in the Federal Register (which it is not), and the public would be given a 45 day comment period and another public hearing to address the content of the draft EIS itself.

I can’t say I really blame the pro casino side for thinking this, especially after reading the article in the Enterprise and reading the summary of the article on Indianz.com. Jeesh, just by reading what the Indianz website posted, I can see why some may actually believe this is the Real McCoy. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, both the Enterprise and Indianz.com got it wrong. The funny thing is, we have had this report in our hands for over a month now and have had the opportunity to read it…..and get a good laugh, at that. Seems the Enterprise is not on top of its game regarding Middleboro casino news ‘cause if they were, they would have been a bit less misleading on what the report really is AND they would have reported on it weeks ago. Again, I can’t blame the newspaper itself or the author of the article….they just repeat what they are told and it would seem to this Chick that they are getting their information from people who want to continue the myth of inevitability…….sigh……..

The other interesting thing is that for some reason, casino advocates see this report as a blow to the anti-casino movement when in actuality, it has helped us tremendously. Heck, we already know and expect a draft EIS to be written…..duuuuh…..that is why we have spent the past 8 months going through and categorizing the marked comments from letters submitted to the BIA. The nice thing is this report has done the same thing so now we actually know what comments are being addressed and which ones are being dismissed.

The majority of the concerns will be addressed in a final report, but some of the issues have already been dismissed.

Yes, some very important concerns have been dismissed - like the concerns regarding the socioeconomic issues of violent crime or the fact that the mitigation money the Town will be receiving isn’t nearly enough to cover the costs of the negative impacts. Well at least from reading the scoping report, we know how the Tribe is going to try and address some issues while skirting around others. The Scoping Document was reviewed by members of the CFO environmental subcommittee when it was first received over a month ago. Let me break it down for you…..

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is pursuing a Dual Initial Reservation which we already know and have already addressed. As we know, the Tribe’s complete lack of historical ties to the land in Middleboro makes it ineligible as an initial reservation. However, seeking a dual initial reservation status is serious business because this has never been done before. It really is a precedent setting case and anything can happen. Yet again, the Tribe has no significant historical ties to the land so I cannot see how the Secretary of the Department of the Interior would ever place this land into trust.

The Tribe has stated that the Massachusetts Environmental Protection Act (MEPA) will not be followed because is illegal for them to do so. This means that no State Environmental laws will be considered in the EIS. The Tribe will only follow the National Environmental Policy Act which does not address environmental issues specific to our region. This is bad news for our area. If you consider only one MEPA law that won’t be followed – Massachusetts Water Management Act - you will understand why this will impact us – and how far reaching the impacts will be…..not to mention the host of other Massachusetts Environmental Laws that are designed to protect our air, water, open space, threatened species, and so on and how that will impact our lives and our livelihoods…..and the Tribe calls themselves the stewards of the land….

The Tribe has stated that it will not look at alternate sites for the casino because they are unable to prove historical significance to anywhere else, which is funny because they certainly can’t prove it in Middleboro either. In addition, they will not consider non-gaming revenue and will only settle for casino gambling. The interesting thing is, they don’t actually mention slot machines in the report, only video lottery terminals – probably because they know slot machines are illegal in this State and they can’t have them. Oh, and our Governor can’t be forced to negotiate with them and the tribe won’t negotiate anyway because there is no compact required for Class II gaming, otherwise known as bingo hall. Sigh….so much for all the promises about further mitigation being negotiated by our Governor.

The Tribe is claiming that the BIA has authority to take the land into trust because the Aquinnah Tribe has trust land. Ummmmm….okay…..the problem here is that the Aquinnah have a land claim settlement with the State of Massachusetts so that argument just doesn’t wash. Gosh, they must think we are dumb as stumps…..they continue down this path by mentioning the First Circuit Court of Appeals being a basis for taking the land into trust, but that’s misleading because that Court ruled that a 1983 land claim settlement, where the tribe agreed to abide by state and local zoning laws, trumped the federal sovereign doctrine of immunity. The land for the Aquinnah was not taken out of the state tax rolls, and the tribe must obey all of the local and state zoning laws with respect to use of that land. So the case doesn’t actually support the DOI’s ability to take land into trust, and it’s not exactly the “land into trust” scenario the BIA would have you believe.

The Mashpee tribe is also stating that Mashpee is not suitable for a casino because there is a strong anti-gaming sentiment.

Really?….how nice of them to consider the anti casino sentiment in Mashpee. Perhaps they could be so kind as to consider the anti casino sentiment that was clearly expressed by the citizens from Middleboro with the Article 3 vote. You know the one….the vote that said the residents did NOT want a casino in their town….

Also, here is some food for thought….we did have an opportunity to speak with the EPA officer in Boston who is overseeing the Tribe’s EIS. We were told that the Draft EIS (DEIS) should come out in the next couple of weeks, which we already know and anticipate. This would actually be a good thing for us because issuing it so quickly will only mean a poorly written draft EIS which should be easily defeated.

It would seem that apparently the Tribe is not looking at the broad effects of the project - meaning they are not addressing issues with roadways such as Rte 44. The reason for this is if they did look at altering these roadways they would be subject to MEPA , which they have clearly stated they will not follow. This translates to meaning the promised $200+ million in road improvements including the rotary elimination is not going to happen. This also means, at least to me, that they could care less about the broad effects a mega casino resort will have on our communities and we will need to address that when the real draft EIS is released and we are given our 45 day comment period including another public hearing.

So no…this scoping report that was written by a local environmental consulting company and reported on by the Enterprise is not the Real McCoy, but considering that the same environmental consulting company is also producing the draft EIS, we can look at this scoping report as an outline of the draft EIS. We can look at this report and easily identify issues we will have with the draft EIS and inform our towns and our residents of the issues. So far, it has been a huge help! The report will actually give all of us equal opportunity to prepare comments for the draft EIS and focus on the things that concern us the most – to be heard and to demand that the Tribe be held accountable for all our concerns and not allow them to be labeled “not applicable”.

Rest assured, when the Real McCoy is actually released….we will let you know. In the meantime, this scoping report has been a huge help in our efforts and we can actually start drafting comments based on the information contained in the scoping report. If you can, take the time to borrow the report from the Middleboro library – read it. If you are unable to do that then I urge you to check the CFO website for updates and information so when the time comes, we can all be prepared for another Call to Arms!

- be the change you want to see in the world -