Thanksgetting
The local Wampanoag indian tribe got federal recognition yesterday. It’s apparently been a 30+ year battle to get recognized but it’s finally happened.
What amazes me is that this tribe, out of probably all North American indian tribes, has the most significant place in U.S. history. I mean, these are the very indians that shared bread on the first Thanksgiving with the pilgrims! Yet it’s taken them nearly 400 years to be recognized? I would have thought they’d have been the first to get recognition.
Now the big question is casino gambling. True, this designation will provide them with land, but our legislature has historically been anti-gambling (casinos have been brought up numerous times and it has failed numerous times) so I’m still not sure if these means we’ll be getting a casino any time soon.
I don’t know where I stand on this issue, either. I’ve enjoyed some fun times at Foxwoods in the past. And I find nothing wrong with gambling morally. I also think the financial benefits to the state would be phenomenal. I guess my concern is that folks with little to no money to begin with will lose it at a casino instead of using it toward more loftier goals like home ownership, higher education. Of course, I don’t believe it’s up to the government to say who should and shouldn’t be able to gamble…but from experience (as a non-addictive personality) I can say that if I go to Foxwoods planning to spend only $100….once that $100 is gone and I realize that I’m still going to be there for a few more hours, I’ll withdraw more money. It’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s…
…addictive.
It’s a shame there isn’t an equally viable business concept that tribes can use their land for to make money. There’s gotta’ be something. Resorts? Amusement parks?
Anyway – this will be my last blog posting in a while. In 24 hours I’ll be on a plane to Mexico. I’m not bringing a laptop so I’m not sure how much internet access I’ll have. But Randy and I will be taking loads of photos and of course I’ll share some hwere when I return. Unless I look like crap. Have I mentioned I’ve gained 15 pounds since September. FIFTEEN!
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Fatass.
Don’t get pulled out of line as a terrorist.
I’m so Jealous.. Please have many margaritas for me. Have fun, be safe, and drink bottled water.
Enjoy! And your pictures are always great viewing when you get back.
Speaking of addictive; in Tampa, their cigarettes are DIRT cheap! Too bad I quit smoking.
Bottled water all the way, baby. Have fun, be safe. And shut up about your fifteen pounds. I probably gained fifteen pounds since I began reading today’s post.
Hmm…well, on the Wampanoags, since I’m from roughly the same neck o’the woods as you are, Karl (i.e.: Wampanoag country) – I think I recall that the long recognition delay has come from there not having BEEN a solid historic core of surviving Wampanoags, readily identified: European diseases, 17th/18th century wars, etc., really wiped out their overt numbers, and the survivors were assimilated, intermarried, scattered and the tribe basically long disbanded to a degree not found with many of the western/southwestern tribes, who were herded en masse onto reservations, etc. – so this is more a movement of people REdiscovering their roots starting in the late-60s era of Native American pride/political movements, and I expect a great many of them will look as European as thee and me, so there was a harder case to prove/it was a less glaringly obvious situation than it might be for a western tribe who had preserved some cultural cohesion and clear identity (into the present/at the time of recognition). I may be WILDLY off base here – not meaning to be un-PC or insensitive – if anyone knows the story better/properly, I’d love to hear it – this was just my impression growing up. There were also a lot of cynical comments heard when the Mashantucket Pequot (d?) tribe (as in Foxwoods) were recognized and so forth – a GREAT many new members of the tribe came out of the woodwork all of a sudden when the gambling (and the associated jobs and benefits) came on line….but, hey, that’s what WOULD happen, anyway…but there’s certainly a gravy-train aspect to all of these recognitions, which is bound to be controversial. Then againn, it’s not unlike the several friends I have who can parlay their proven Irish ancestry (for example) into an EU passport – lucky sods!! Interesting to see how this plays out in Mashpee, etc…
Happy travels to both you guys! (envy, envy!)
A free pizza to Veselka Slut for making me spit out my coffee. (Nothing personal, Pooble, but that was fucking hilarious!)
Have fun in the sun!