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Sitting Bull's people break away from US
The Australian ^ | December 20, 2007

Posted on 12/19/2007 9:58:16 PM PST by Dundee

THE Lakota Indians, who gave the world legendary warriors Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, have withdrawn from treaties with the US.

"We are no longer citizens of the United States of America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our country are free to join us," Indian rights activist Russell Means said.

A delegation of Lakota leaders has delivered a message to the State Department, and said they were unilaterally withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the US...

The group also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South African and Venezuelan embassies, and would continue on their diplomatic mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months.

Lakota country includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

The new country would issue its own passports and driving licences, and living there would be tax-free provided residents renounce their US citizenship...

The treaties signed with the US were merely "worthless words on worthless paper"...

"This is according to the laws of the United States, specifically article six of the constitution," which states that treaties are the supreme law of the land...

"It is also within the laws on treaties passed at the Vienna Convention and put into effect by the US and the rest of the international community in 1980. We are legally within our rights to be free and independent,"...

The Lakota relaunched their journey to freedom in 1974, when they drafted a declaration of continuing independence...

Thirty-three years have elapsed since then because "it takes critical mass to combat colonialism and we wanted to make sure that all our ducks were in a row,"...

One duck moved into place in September, when the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples...

(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; US: North Dakota; US: South Dakota
KEYWORDS: americanindians; lakota
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Please tell me that this is a joke.

If it's not, somebody needs to remind them of what happened to the last lot who decided to leave the Union.

1 posted on 12/19/2007 9:58:17 PM PST by Dundee
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To: Dundee

This is nutty.


2 posted on 12/19/2007 10:02:00 PM PST by RichardW
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To: Dundee

Goody. So the treaties are void, and all the special rights granted are revoked. No more reservations, no more tax free status, no more federal pork. Get a job Tonto, and be sure to file that 1040 come April.


3 posted on 12/19/2007 10:02:09 PM PST by Kozak (Anti Shahada: There is no god named Allah, and Muhammed is a false prophet)
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To: Dundee

That’s the logical end result of multicultural BS. That’s exactly what would happen if we don’t teach immigrants how to speak English.


4 posted on 12/19/2007 10:02:14 PM PST by winner3000
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To: Dundee
The US ``annexation'' of native American land has resulted in once proud tribes such as the Lakota becoming mere ``facsimiles of white people,'' said Means. Oppression at the hands of the US government has taken its toll on the Lakota, whose men have one of the shortest life expectancies - less than 44 years - in the world. Lakota teen suicides are 150 per cent above the norm for the US; infant mortality is five times higher than the US average; and unemployment is rife, according to the Lakota freedom movement's website.

Right, you want to go back to the way it was before the US was here? Get ready for shorter life spans, higher infant mortality, and, uh....

5 posted on 12/19/2007 10:03:12 PM PST by SlowBoat407 (Just how will wrecking the U.S. economy save the planet?)
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To: devolve

Indians on the warpath devolve, snicker.


6 posted on 12/19/2007 10:03:40 PM PST by potlatch ("Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!")
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To: Dundee
Ask Mr. Means and his warriors if they will renounce their US government welfare benefits.

Better yet, ask them if they will renounce alcohol.

7 posted on 12/19/2007 10:03:47 PM PST by iowamark
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To: Dundee

Let’s see if this country can handle its “tribal regions” any better than Pakistan can. (hint: will they be hosting bin Ladin any time soon?)


8 posted on 12/19/2007 10:04:50 PM PST by SlowBoat407 (Just how will wrecking the U.S. economy save the planet?)
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To: Dundee
the United Nations adopted a non-binding declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples

Please! Everyone's ancestors were "indigenous peoples" somewhere. And how far back do you have to go to be "indigenous"? Didn't "Native" Americans originally come to the Americas from Asia?

What's next? A UN declaration on the rights of indignant peoples?

9 posted on 12/19/2007 10:05:46 PM PST by LibFreeOrDie (L'Chaim!)
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To: Kozak

Got that right.

It’s time to take back those $$$$ casinos.


10 posted on 12/19/2007 10:06:43 PM PST by max americana
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To: Dundee

Apparently, they are testing the PC side of us. Will be interesting what happens. In Canaduh, they just gave in, and provided broader rights. I’m going to assume that the same will happen here, as this country grows spineless by the day.


11 posted on 12/19/2007 10:07:41 PM PST by Professional
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To: Dundee
The Lakota....

Were they cannibals too?

12 posted on 12/19/2007 10:08:45 PM PST by onedoug
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To: Dundee
Okay...

Disconnect them from the power grid. Disconnect them from outside telephone, cable, water, oil and gas. No emergency services and no healthcare services. No anything.

Close all the roads entering “their country”. Let them go back to the “old ways” and provide for themselves.

And last but not least, no beer.

13 posted on 12/19/2007 10:08:50 PM PST by DB
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To: Dundee
Lakota Freedom: "We are the freedom loving Lakota from the
Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South
Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and
physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have
been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to
withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become
a free and independent country.
We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now
reassumed our freedom and independence with the
backing of Natural, International, and United States law."
14 posted on 12/19/2007 10:08:56 PM PST by A. Morgan (Each terrorist we kill lowers the carbon foot print of the war.)
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To: Dundee

Indian Reservations are independent nations. So sorry, but it is entirely possible.

Unfortunately for the Lakota, this will probably kill most political support from non-Indians and definitely bodes ill for reservation members who recieve money from the U.S. Govt. A withdrawal should absolutely equate to NO MONEY! I sometimes think Russel Means is delusional.

That is why we should have nothing to do with the U.N.’s declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. That document’s sole purpose is to attack the sovereignty of the United States, and to destroy us from within.


15 posted on 12/19/2007 10:09:15 PM PST by SatinDoll
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To: A. Morgan

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/weblogs/dru/1590


16 posted on 12/19/2007 10:09:44 PM PST by A. Morgan (Each terrorist we kill lowers the carbon foot print of the war.)
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To: Dundee

bmp for later


17 posted on 12/19/2007 10:11:07 PM PST by padre35 (Conservative in Exile/ Isaiah 3.3)
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To: Kozak

Why that means their congress critters are kicked out... who’s got the majority now?


18 posted on 12/19/2007 10:11:57 PM PST by A. Morgan (Each terrorist we kill lowers the carbon foot print of the war.)
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To: Dundee
Ugh.

Somebody have too much fire water. Want to go see big spirit.

19 posted on 12/19/2007 10:12:21 PM PST by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: Professional


Time to call in the Cavalry.

Air Cav this time.

Take THAT Sitting Bull!
20 posted on 12/19/2007 10:12:29 PM PST by Kozak (Anti Shahada: There is no god named Allah, and Muhammed is a false prophet)
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To: Dundee

The Sioux have a real grievance. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which gives them the Black Hills, was unilaterally abrogated by the US when gold was found there. The Sioux went on the warpath, and Custer paid with his life. In United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371 (1980) the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sioux, but refused to order return of the lands, instead proposing monetary damages, which the Sioux have refused to accept.


21 posted on 12/19/2007 10:13:16 PM PST by devere
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To: Dundee

This is all about wampum.


22 posted on 12/19/2007 10:14:04 PM PST by SIDENET (Hubba Hubba...)
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To: Dundee

Actually, I live in a village where the majority of people are Native Americans, or Indians.

I really don’t have a problem with moves by the Lakota to reassert soveriegnty. None at all. After all, France gets along just fine while the principality of Monaco exists inside their nation. Ditto San Marino in Italy and Andorra in Spain and France. So the Lakota want to break away from the USA. Good luck to you guys.

By the way, being soverign means something. It means that your nation depends on your own efforts, strengths, and hard work. Food stamps, HUD housing, Indian Health Service -all should be stop immediately. After all, there is sufficient land, intelligence, human capital, and cultural tradition for every Lakota to do as well as their non-Native neighbors. I’m not even being ironic or sarcastic. The American welfare state has destroyed Native culture in a manner that an invading army could not - by removing pride, hard work, esteem, and vigor from Native culture. Native people deserve the same dignity as the rest of the us, to fail or succeed on their own. In fact, since I work and live with Native people, I know that they are up to the job. Cut them loose. Let them choose their own destiny, and I’ll bet a fair number will freely elect to rejoin the American republic.

Good luck to you guys.


23 posted on 12/19/2007 10:14:15 PM PST by redpoll
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To: Kozak

Wouldn’t this make their casinos automatically illegal?


24 posted on 12/19/2007 10:14:47 PM PST by bigdcaldavis ("Screw Kahlifornia. Gimme Kolinahr." - Me)
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To: Dundee
Before everyone gets their dander up, I didn't find any evidence that these people have any authority even among the Lakota to make this decision. Russell Means is just described as "an activist" --- if he actually had a job within Lakota tribal government you'd think this would be mentioned. The only other person who's quoted is Phyllis Young, whose job history as far as I can tell from the article ended in 1977.

This reads like another publicity stunt from Means to me, and probably has about as much validity as the "Republic of Texas" breakaway group that was in the news a few years ago. Those guys had what, eight people?

25 posted on 12/19/2007 10:16:35 PM PST by SpringheelJack
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To: Dundee

Are they going to provide their own infrastructure, police, military, medical care, education, shopping centers,........?

Will they provide all their own necessities or depend on them being shipped on roads leading up to their land?

A lot of what they have now is not their own doing. Will they give it all back and start from scratch?


26 posted on 12/19/2007 10:17:24 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Kozak

Pelosi wanted to waive a bit white flag... Half our country would rather surrender than fight for our own survival. Pretty sad huh?


27 posted on 12/19/2007 10:17:59 PM PST by Professional
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To: Dundee; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
"Have fun storming the castle!"


28 posted on 12/19/2007 10:18:52 PM PST by Slings and Arrows ("Bush is destroying the solar system:The ice caps on Mars are shrinking too." --Right_Wing_Madman)
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To: Kozak

Exactly


29 posted on 12/19/2007 10:19:43 PM PST by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
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To: Dundee

Piss poor example to cite. The Confederacy was legal under the Constitution. If the tribe wants out, let em’ out.


30 posted on 12/19/2007 10:19:45 PM PST by eyedigress
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To: SlowBoat407

They had access to all the health care, etc. that any other American has. If their life expectancy was so short, they have no one to blame but themselves. There’s personal responsibility involved in caring for yourself.

Now that they’re separated, that’s all going to change overnight? I don’t think so.


31 posted on 12/19/2007 10:20:02 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Dundee
Means has been all over the map during his career:

Means has also been closely associated with the controversial activist Ward Churchill. Churchill gave the nominating speech for Means in 1987 when Means sought the presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party in a heated race against Representative Ron Paul. He was defeated by Paul, who later returned to the Republican Party.

Since the late 1970s, Means has often supported libertarian political causes, putting him at odds with several of the other leaders of AIM. In 1984, Means campaigned for the Republican nomination for vice president on a ticket with Larry Flynt; they lost to the incumbents, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. In 1986 Means traveled to Nicaragua to express his support for Miskito Indians who were allied with the US-funded contra guerillas against the Nicaraguan government. In 1987, Means sought the nomination of the Libertarian Party for president and attracted considerable support within the party, but eventually lost the nomination to former Congressman Ron Paul.

He also played Chief Chingachgook in the 1992 production of Last of the Mohicans

32 posted on 12/19/2007 10:21:13 PM PST by atomic conspiracy (Rousing the blog-rabble since 9-11-01)
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To: potlatch

.

Lotsa luck to them

Treaties work both ways

They lose all the goodies and freevies and access off their lands

Let them buy Cuba PUs and cars with wampum

I’m sure they will back their own money and others will accept it

Who will go to casinos giving out wampum?

Who will refine any oil they pump on their lands?

Hugo Chavez?


33 posted on 12/19/2007 10:21:36 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: devolve

[issue its own passports and driving licences,]

Yes, it’s pretty silly. Lol, they won’t be able to drive off of the reservation “country” without a regular license or plate.

Pure silliness. Just thought you’d get a kick out of it.


34 posted on 12/19/2007 10:25:20 PM PST by potlatch ("Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!")
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To: Dundee

OK, cut off the welfare.


35 posted on 12/19/2007 10:28:22 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
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To: SlowBoat407

On the other hand the Blackfeet, this side of Glacier, never were on a reservation, got along with the whites and learned from them and became successful ranchers and the like, adopting to European concepts such as owning property, holding magistrate and local judge positions and the like and to this day feel, correctly, that they never really were defeated. It’s harder to be more American than that Russell Means takes advantage of the streak of the Left that is in denial about American culture and hates it for the success that it is.


36 posted on 12/19/2007 10:31:30 PM PST by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them, or they like us?)
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To: redpoll
Free the reservations! Free Puerto Rico! We all will be better off with the results.

Why the hell do we still have a Spanish-speaking Caribbean colony anyway, other than for bases (which can be easily relocated) and to show Cuba how a welfare state should work?

Now, before I hijack this thread any further, I will say that, if the Lakota want to push their sovereignty in court, let them do so. If, in the unlikely event they succeed, let the cut in all government aid begin, and let the feds and the Dakotas start charging the newly sovereign nations for water, roads, etc.

37 posted on 12/19/2007 10:31:43 PM PST by Clemenza (Rudy Giuliani, like Pesto and Seattle, belongs in the scrap heap of '90s Culture)
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To: atomic conspiracy; TigersEye

I was wondering when Ward Churchill’s name would show up...


38 posted on 12/19/2007 10:31:52 PM PST by pandoraou812 ( Its NOT for the good of the children! Its BS along with bending over for Muslim's demands)
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To: Clemenza

Works for me!


39 posted on 12/19/2007 10:34:26 PM PST by donnab (saving liberal brains...one moron at a time.)
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To: SpringheelJack
It doesn't say how many other people besides Means are involved...it says a group so I'd guess at least two others.

If Congressional Democrats were to support this (after all, many of them supported secession in 1860-61), it won't stop with the existing Sioux reservation lands--they would want all the lands that used to belong to the Sioux (some of them stolen from the Crow).

40 posted on 12/19/2007 10:36:07 PM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Dundee

Time to drop them from the voting rolls.


41 posted on 12/19/2007 10:37:44 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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To: potlatch

.

My great grandmother was an Indian and I think this lefties are crazy


42 posted on 12/19/2007 10:39:34 PM PST by devolve (---- - Hey Boone! - My bonus check is late again! -)
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To: devolve

I knew that about your great Grandmother. Just didn’t remember what tribe.


43 posted on 12/19/2007 10:42:07 PM PST by potlatch ("Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we might as well dance!")
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To: Dundee

Sounds like all involved went to American universities.


44 posted on 12/19/2007 10:49:42 PM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: SpringheelJack
"as much validity as the "Republic of Texas" breakaway group that was in the news a few years ago. Those guys had what, eight people?"

...and an embassy.

You're right. Means doesn't represent the Souix. He runs Treaty productions in Hollywood, CA.

45 posted on 12/19/2007 10:50:17 PM PST by spunkets ("Freedom is about authority", Rudy Giuliani, gun grabber)
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To: Dundee
This uprising could be in conjunction with the “indigenous” rise to power in Venezuela, Bolivia, South Africa, etc. Means says he is in contact with those embassies. It’s far-fetched but maybe the Indians are getting funds, weapons and diplomatic support from Chavez. This play won’t last long if the U.S. government decides to squash it but it could lead to other disorder.
46 posted on 12/19/2007 10:53:20 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee ("A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.")
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To: Clemenza
Re: Puerto Rico.

We still have Puerto Rico principally because the Regress established enormous tax incentives for companies, especially pharmaceutical companies, to build plants and operate business from that island. Section 504, if I'm not mistaken (and, if I am -- which is highly possible -- the exact section of the IRS code doesn't matter much in any case.) Fast equipment writedowns, preferred tax rates, the lot.

Merck and the boys would throw an absolute shjt-fit were we to allow/encourage Puerto Rican independence.

47 posted on 12/19/2007 10:55:35 PM PST by SAJ
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To: redpoll

After all, there is sufficient land, intelligence, human capital, and cultural tradition for every Lakota to do as well as their non-Native neighbors.

I don’t know, there’s hardly any buffalo left.


48 posted on 12/19/2007 10:57:55 PM PST by garylmoore (Faith is the assurance of things unseen.)
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To: Dundee

We’ve been down this whole “secession from the US” thing before. It didn’t work out too well for the rebels.


49 posted on 12/19/2007 11:02:53 PM PST by DesScorp
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To: Dundee
Can somebody tell this dude that they never were citizens of the U.S.A.? These people are citizens of their individual nations, and the U.S.A. has been paying "reparations" to their citizens for tens of decades.

Perhaps "reparations" is the wrong word, but payments from the U.S.A. to the indigenous peoples are undeniable. I would like to know what difference there is between the internment of the American Japanese, and the indegenious aborigiginals?

Does it boil down to a matter of choice?

50 posted on 12/19/2007 11:08:17 PM PST by raygun ("It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence")
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