This page will be dedicated to identifying and exposing the jackasses we are forced to endure in government and other sectors.
Feel free to send in suggestions for whom ever you think might qualify. If we think you’ve identified one…..we’ll put them here in this special place.
So far we have several submissions/suggestions and at the end of the year we will be taking a vote on who the biggest jackass in government is. You can submit your entry on this page in the box below. Please state the name, the office and the reason including any quotes that you believe qualifies your candidate as the “Biggest Jackass of the Year!”
Marti
Marti Oakley
Dan Martin
Barbara Peterson
Gary Rea
Paul Griepentrog
Our new list for Jackass Awards is beginning to shape up. Here’s where it stands as of nov. 09-09
Congress (et al) …………………………………………..283
Nancy Pelosi; for assuming we thought congress had any integrity to preserve…………………………………………………..161
Joe Wilson: Yelling “you Lie” at the president…………..1
Mayor Weaver …………………………………………………2
Al gore…………………………………………………………78
Monsanto……………………………………………………..502
Obama…………………………………………………………..13
Yes you may Oz! I have to get the list updated. So many nominees have come in it will have to come down to the top three or four nominations to select from for top Jackass of the Year.
may I nominate Al Gore!
not only is HE an A grade jackass, he has made donkeys out of a whole lot of misguided followers.
Why not put Obama in for the running?
THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT ABORTION IN THE HEALTH CARE BILL.
I’ve read that part, it is in there, Mr. Obama.
THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT RATIONED HEALTHCARE FOR THE SICK AND ELDERLY IN THE HEALTH CARE BILL.
There again, I have read that part, and it is in there, Mr. Obama.
Who in the HOUSE and/or the SENATE, even Mr. Obama himself, has read the entire HealthCare Bill? Just reading parts of it, I found there is a lot in there that our courageous leader swears is not in there.
J
Looks like two BIG votes for Mayor Weaver of Jasper , Georgia!
Mayor Weaver ……………2 votes
It does not bring me pleasure to submit Chief Michelle Hicks of Cherokee, North Carolina but his blatant turn of the head to the suffering of the bears in the Cherokee Bear Pits warrant a wake-up call from the general public as there is no room for the extreme hypocracy of the Cherokee who ride the white horse of environmental stewardship while using such sayings as My Brother the Bear, Mother Earth, etc, while imprisoning these innocent creatures inside of four concrete walls where they beg for junk food from tourist.
Chief Hicks as much as belittled a brave and compassionate Bob Barker who we have all come to know from the Price is Right TV show. Bob Barker is a quarter Lakota Sioux Indian but his practice of stewardship surpasses all the full bloods put together on the Cherokee Reservation that sits back and allows for the continuence of these ugly hell holes of greed. Chief Hicks had the opportunity to bring his people above the decades of RedNeck activities that have slurred the character of a beautiful people but it seems that he has decided to ignore the pleas of Bob Barker and tens of thousands of others who oppose the bear pits of Cherokee North Carolina. Feel free to ad me to the JackAss file as I realize I am not perfect and probably fit the bill if someone does not sit well with the facts but I am far removed from having any innocent victims on my list of creepy deeds. I was truly hoping the chief would have stepped up to the plate and done the right thing but he was raised like so many others up in those mountains who think animals deserve no rights or compassion. It is this attitude that lends to the Chief being at least a runner up in the JackAss Awards.
Sorry Chief but even Indians need to be held accountable for their inability to make a decision that directs our children in a manner that reflects compassion instead of brutality. Sometimes JackAss is not strong enough for the enourmous amount of suffering you endorse. Respectfully, Chipa & Ruby Wolfe http://www.rthunder.com
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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 1:53:32 AM
LETTER: CHEROKEE, N.C. BEAR PITS WRONG
Written by Chipa & Ruby Wolfe
As a long time advocate for animal welfare and the rights of indigenous people I took special interest in the recent articles about Bob Barker and the Cherokee bear pits. As a non-member of the EBC (Eastern Band of Cherokee) I have no voice in EBC tribal affairs and therefore respectfully respond as a perspective for the bears in conjunction with the conceptual values of Native American philosophies. Cherokee, NC has evolved to a place of social, economic, and traditional uniqueness and as in all world ventures the EBC has achieved much through trial and error. I urge the EBC to reassess their position on positive bear exposure versus the negative exploitation of bears. I realize Cherokee is a mixed bag of contemporary and traditional influence and that some of the old ways are of unspeakable value and have been respectfully safeguarded by the true practitioners and keepers of Cherokee traditions. However, some of the same shackles and chains that drove the Cherokee and other Native people into submission now cage the innocence of what your people call “Yona tso s da da nv tli” (my brother the bear). I say your people because as a person of French and Indian decent I know my place unlike so many others that have taken self-appointed liberties in fabricating their own tribes, goofy names, outrageous ceremonies and esteemed titles at the cost of the prostituting the rich and beautiful Cherokee culture.
The EBC does not need me nor anyone else speaking for them when it comes to governing themselves but bears and other animals require insiders and outsiders to speak up for them when such blatant abuse occurs. Bears belong in the wild but when unique cases require them to be fostered by humans we should strive to insure the home is conducive to their physical and psychological needs. For anyone to justify the bears bleak existence in the Cherokee bear pits while at the same time claiming the bears are like their children is exactly the reason why we have child welfare laws. I respectfully challenge the Chief and bear pit operator, Mr. Santiago, to spend a 48-hour stint in the bear pit to experience a small taste of the life these bears have been condemned too. I realize these practices have taken place throughout Cherokee for more than half a century but that does not make it right as there were many other unsavory and immoral practices that were once rampant across reservations that are no longer tolerated as the norm due to exposure and a new consciousness.
Bob Barker became conscious in the early years of the “Price is Right” as beautiful young women adorned in fur coats became less beautiful as we educated ourselves about the unnecessary suffering of innocent animals for vanity and greed. Mr. Barker became a man of conscience in the early years at the cost of ridicule and peer indifference and his ability to reach the masses through television allowed for a much needed message concerning spay and neuter to be heard and I personally find him to be a brave and compassionate man. Mr. Barker came from the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, as does my wife, and I do believe he was hoping to engage the EBC in a manner that would allow the chief and council to rethink the horrific standards the bear pits offer the bears and the viewing public. Instead, it appears his visit was taken as an assault on the economy of Cherokee, NC, its culture and has been discounted as trivial outside instigation. Chief Hicks has proven himself to be a man of vision for his tribe and I like the fact that he is steadfast in defending his peoples’ businesses under the laws that sovereignty affords the ECB. However, with all of that said, I truly hope that Chief Hicks along with EBC tribal members and business leaders will regroup and reconsider how the bears’ living conditions could be revamped to reflect true stewardship versus quick buck carnival tactics.
The owners of the bear facilities always lend to how they love the bears and how they are like pets. The infamous Tim Treadwell (Grizzly man), who became popular on the Discovery Channel only after getting himself and his girlfriend killed by a grizzly, also professed to love the bears and as a wildlife rescuer that has two decades of bear welfare under my belt, I do believe Tim Treadwell loved the bears in his own weird way. The trouble lies in the fact that he failed to respect the bears and the same thing he vowed to love so much had to be killed because of his reckless and neglectful behavior. The bears in the pits are not pet bears and are often more dangerous than the ones in the wild, which would by nature flee human kind if not habituated to human imprint. Bears are intellectual animals that are capable of remembering the prodding, shocking, high pressure water and other manmade discomforts that bears often endure behind the scenes and they are justifiably subject to retaliate. Because a bear is dependent and may eat from your hand does not necessarily make it forever submissive. For someone to say the bears are being cared for adequately because they meet USDA guidelines is like saying Indian boarding schools were adequate because they met US Government standards while innocent Indian children were being whitewashed, molested, and deprived of being who they are. Many elders from reservation to reservation have lots of horror stories as to how their hair was cut and their bodies saturated with dust to kill lice, punished verbally and physically for speaking their only language and practicing their traditions. There is a huge parallel between the treatment of these bears and the treatment imposed upon the American Indian by their oppressors so Cherokee, North Carolina does not speak for all Indian people regarding their indifference towards animals anymore than I do. What many of us love about Native America is the ancestral philosophies and where I am not lost in the romanticized Hollywood version of Native people, I am tied to the knowledge that there were and still are true practitioners of sound stewardship.
The bear pits are a primitive means of making a dollar and while Native people have proudly claimed to be close to the Earth Mother and all of her inhabitants it is unfortunate that Cherokee, North Carolina undermines these values so an ill-fated industry of atrocious animal neglect and disrespect conducts business as usual. As I watch young men like Richie Bottenbaugh and other young men representing the Cherokee people in authentic attire throughout the streets of Cherokee it makes me proud, as it should all of Cherokee, but as I think back on the great Chief Henry and others that worked the reservation donned in another tribe’s regalia I do not look upon them as cultural hucksters who were intentionally perpetuating the stereotype but rather as proud tribal ambassadors at a time in life when we were all less aware of the alternatives.
Today’s Cherokee have many alternatives but only if one can flex their heart and mind muscles instead of their desire to control be it political, financial, or cultural. The recent controversy regarding the bear pits may have brought about additional attention to Cherokee, North Carolina but it is a short sighted and arrogant mistake to assume the public condones the concrete asylums the bears suffer day after day, after day. I have yet to meet bear facility proprietor Mr. Coggins but he seems to be a fair man in that he acknowledged Mr. Barker in a respectful manner and even in his understanding that PETA has a place in the world of animal welfare. It appears to me that Mr. Coggins at least has an open mind instead of the one-dimensional attitude of “this is the way it’s always been, so that’s that.”
Does “that’s that” mean we have become like our oppressors? Have the Cherokee fallen victim to the idea that the Tree Hugger is actually the bad guy and that hikers, scouts, true practitioners of Christ, traditional Native people that adhere to traditional responsibilities and other eco conscience Earthlings are the idiots? I happen to know plenty of intellectual free thinking Cherokee in your tribe that know the difference between necessity and greed and I may be wrong but I would guess that they would join forces with a rational and healthy campaign to end this age old practice of turning a blind eye to something that should have been remedied years ago. Paul Watson from Animal Planets “WHALE WARS” is not the bad guys, the Japanese whale slayers are. PETA is not the environmental terrorist, the ones who do nothing are. PETA has done an enormous amount of good with their expose’ on animal cruelty and where some of their tactics may even backfire at times due to their shock and awe campaigns, they have educated many unaware souls and have aborted millions of atrocities against innocent beings that even the most calloused slug hunter should applaud. How far away from the Michael Vick story are the bear pits? We have discovered one thing in the world of selling tickets and that is, people will pay to see anything.
My wife and I have had numerous bears over the years that have been rescued from roadside horror stories and other redneck activities where the mothers of infant cubs were shot to death. We like bears in the wild not in captivity and we know it’s important that we have state and federal laws that protect our animals and resources but sometimes the laws are to be questioned and/or challenged. In North Carolina the law allows for cubs as little as fifty pounds to be killed and tracked with hunting dogs. Fifty pounds is not even a good size poodle and terrorizing the bears with dogs assures an unfair advantage as well. So, just because a government agency implements bare minimal welfare for an animal does not make it right by the laws of nature nor does it subscribe to the moral code of the universe. I realize Native people are simply human beings and not predestined to being perfect stewards as even the early bison hunters sometimes over killed when running animals over the buffalo jumps but when the horse came along in the 1500-1600’s the hunters were able to practice a select harvest. I know the redneck mentality that endorses cub killing or the killing of bears in general as a sport is not the general consensus of North Carolina or the EBC and I know there are other EBC members like William Ledford that find the Cherokee bear pits shameful and far removed from true Cherokee principals and teachings. Cherokee, North Carolina has been transformed greatly by the 1988 gaming allowances and for these animals to live in such deplorable conditions while beautiful streamline multi-complex hotels and casinos are being built is a public relations oversight of mega proportion.
My wife and I plea to Chief Hicks, Mr. Santiago, the Coggins, and any other bear compound facilitators to at least consider the prospects of reconditioning the bear attractions to where they are environmentally friendly for the bear residents and visually receptive to the viewing guest or, relinquish the animals to P.A.W.S., Performing Animals Welfare Society; P.A.W.S. is a 5,000 acre animal sanctuary in California. If retiring the Cherokee bears to a sanctuary is out of the question and they are to continue their life sentence in Cherokee, it would serve all parties well to see these hell hole bear pits turned into edutainment parks that enhance one’s knowledge as to what our role should be to the bears and other animals as well as to our children. Native America nor America as a whole can pretend they have a relationship with the Creator when they don’t have one with his creations and Indian people across the continent need not be stigmatized by such cruel business practices of Cherokee, North Carolina.
I have attached a rendition of a bear compound that we are looking to build for the sake of releasing orphaned, and/or injured bears back to the wild with little or no human imprint, this compound has been designed by master designer and theme design engineer Matt McCoy of Atlanta; Matt designs for Disney, Six Flags, and cultural museums throughout the country and the world. Where I am not a drinking man, it is my hopes that Chief Hicks and the bear pit operators will find it in their hearts to sit down with designer, Matt McCoy, the bears and I over a presidential beer to discuss an alternative. Thank you EBC members, friends, family, and other tribal members for your support of our brother the bear.
Ruby and Chipa Wolfe run MY BROTHERS KEEPER Animal Rescue
My Brothers Keeper Animal Rescue
34 Rolling Thunder Drive
Jasper, GA 30143
Letters submitted to the Native American Times are the opinions and views of the writer and should not be considered to be the opinion of, or an endorsement by, the Native American Times publisher or staff. Our position is not to tell our readers what they should think, but to give them something to think about. Letters may be submitted to editor at nativetimes dot com and may be edited for style and length. Please include your name and city of residence for verification.
Mayor Johnny Weaver of Jasper, Georgia has denied motorcyclist, Native Americans, and US Veterans from using the only city venue to host a Veterans National Pow Wow.
This same venue has been used for thirty years by an annual Marble Festival, a Tractor show, a huge 4th of July fair with fireworks, roller coasters, ferris wheels and pumped in Disco Music. Many other events have and do also take place in the same park as they rightfully should, however we too deserve fair use of the park to celebrate culture as well as commemorate our soldiers while raising funds to support several wildlife and horse rescue nonprofit causes. The Mayor has denied us alone over the past seven years and has proven to be a bully and ego maniac with 18 years of being the Mayor of this small town that is afraid of his bullying tactics. As we all know, most bullies are cowards or men with a little willy syndrome and this sure seems to be the case with this JackAss. If he is not awarded with the JackAsss of the year award, he certainly deserves the narsosistic award at the very least. The only one sadder is those that are compelled to support him and/or write letters in his behalf.
I am open to giving him a formal appology for calling him a JackAss as soon as he mans up and admits his dismay for me opposed to hiding behind his silly little lies and his city council that equally submit to his muscle flexing tactics and Georgia tort laws he tries to hide behind. Its time for this guy to find a new job as we seek a new Mayor for our great little town. Below is a small part of where we are should you elect to read it but there are some other runners up here in Georgia when it comes to politicians.
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Dear Editor:
I am a long time resident of Jasper, Georgia with 28 years of building friends and relations to my blessing. I would like to extend an apology to the residents and business owners of Jasper and Pickens County for failing to bring our community a family oriented cultural event with lots of favorable entertainment and educational value to Jasper’s only special events facility know as Newton Park. I have tried diplomacy, tact, and respectful address to the city council so please forgive me should I stray from my desired character.
Last Tuesday evening I subjected a room full of beautiful, honest and intelligent people to the “Leave it to Weaver Show” with an all-star cast known as The Nod Squad. From the moment we began to initiate our request to use Newton Park, the Mayor began his underhanded dealings in conjunction with his attorney’s shrewd move to eliminate Councilman Greg Burgess’ ability to vote. This blatant, prearranged scenario was a typical Johnny Weaver maneuver in which the Mayor asked if Councilman Burgess would like to sit beside me as I submitted a request to use Newton Park, this November 14, 15, 2009, for a celebration honoring our Veterans.
Councilman Burgess was not representing Rolling Thunder Enterprises and the non-profit Horse Rescue; however, the Mayor called him a representative and denied him the right to vote on this matter when he was merely in support of our event utilizing Newton Park as we were hoping the others would be. From the moment the Mayor addressed us, he began his condescending smiles and time wasting rhetoric, as he and his Nod Squad knew the deck was stacked against us even though they had no reasonable concern or merit to prevent us from using the park. Every time we would validate our event with our non-profit status, and references, which proved we are no different than the Fourth of July fair that is produced to support The Lions’ Club, the council would move onto other ridiculous measures to oust us from using the park to salute our Veterans and Native War Hero’s.
Councilmen John Fouts and Tony Fountain were reasonable in their assessment of our using the park; Jim Looney had no argument that held any water, yet he displayed opposition from the start. Councilwoman Marcia should toss in her sleep after praising our events and then reverting to how many walkers and family picnics take place in Newton Park in November, and how they would be put out by our use of the park.
This week there was a tractor show as there should have been and in a couple of weeks the Marble Fest will be held there and all of that is good but we too deserve fair use of the park. The Mayor and his silly little lawyer wasted our time in setting Councilman Greg Burgess up to forfeit his ability to vote which allowed the Mayor to as much as laugh in my face when the vote was tied and he said he gets to be the deciding vote…and we were out.
The Mayor is a shrewd dude as he had actually called a friend of mine just two hours before the city council meeting and told Mr. Larry Butler that he did not have a problem with us using the park as long as we were supporting a non-profit organization, which we were. When I heard this, I let my guard down and actually went into the meeting thinking everything may be okay and maybe the Mayor and I could finally get on the same page and bring something beautiful to Jasper. However, the Mayor had outright lied to Mr. Butler who would have never set me up in such a way, as he has proven to be a fine friend over the years. The Mayor offended every Native person, child, teen, and veteran by not allowing us fair access to this beautiful park. We also said that free tickets would be given to the surrounding neighborhoods so they could join us in honoring our veterans and the sacrifices they have made.
The Mayor actually tried to steer us back to the cow pasture we used six years ago after being denied the use of the park for our BBQ & Blues Festival, but I told him we have more respect for our veterans than that and we would not let them march through cow patties. The Mayor then suggested we use the big field behind Ingles right after telling us he didn’t want traffic coming down Hwy 53E off 515. Newton Park is where we requested to be and we did so in a respectful manner as we are not an impediment to the park or the city. But, if traffic coming into town causes him so much grief, perhaps he should resign his high paying job as City Manager and give his position as Mayor to Tony Fountain, John Fouts, Greg Burgess or to someone who will treat it like a seat to serve the people instead of a throne of self interest.
Mayor Weaver, you said you have never called me a dog over our years of disagreement, but you’ve dogged me and you flat out lied to Larry Butler when all he was trying to do was serve as a liaison in good faith to both parties. You have promised to keep me out of Newton Park because you’re a man of petty resentment that ended up with egg on his face after running us out of Jasper six years ago, you challenged me to show up at the city council meeting with a lot of ammunition and you swore to fight me tooth and nail because insecurity hides behind your pompous ego. There are a lot of good people that you have by the short hairs but we all know what happens when good people stand up and do nothing.
The commissioner allowed the Chamber of Commerce to handle the use of Newton Park as it belongs to both the city and county yet the conflict of that lies in the Chamber vying for the Mayor to take them under the city umbrella for city benefits and therefore lent to the Chamber’s bias which has actually driven thousands of viable tax dollars away from Jasper which is the opposite of their mission statement, which says they are to promote commerce (which we do); to support profit and non-profit businesses and organizations (which we do and are); to promote education (which we do); to promote heritage, (which we are). There are honest hardworking Chamber members and board members that joined to assure the mission statement was fulfilled and they know good and well that Newton Park is not overtaxed with events whatsoever.
We have taken this event to a city with a progressive Mayor and Chamber that appreciates the revenue we generate for their city. They also value the contributions of our Veterans, our cultures, and our educators enough to make a concession for what is good for the community and those that serve our country. I do believe it is time for a serious change in Jasper and Pickens County. Everyone knows we do not need the City Manager that just so happens to be the Mayor and the city financial administrator that just so happens to be his… in the same hen house the fox is watching and I guess that we are in need of a multi-person commission as well since Parks & Recreation is too big a job for one man. The Mayor has a habit of denying other’s ideas only to plagiarize their thoughts as though they were his own. I am not afraid of a one-man redneck mafia or a Jesse Ventura wannabe but I am afraid of a town that allows itself to become stifled by a Hazard County Boss Hogg hierarchy. Mayor Weaver, while you are making all of your prearranged motions, I hereby make a motion to rename Jasper, Weaver-town, at least until the next election. When you and your cronies were dismissing us, my Tuscarora friend Ken Rhyne asked you if the other events you have allowed to occupy the park had done so through a contractual application in which you smugly replied, NO, they are there through tradition. Is this the same tradition that once killed Indians, is it the same one that removed them from their land? Is this the same tradition that burned crosses and hung men for the color of their skin?
I grew up combating bullies and I leaned a very valuable lesson from them, and that was, that they are cowards that want the whole sandbox for themselves. We will be in Jasper with a Veterans’ Day Salute this November except this time we are not asking for your permission as our Veterans’ and Indian people deserve better as does the City of Jasper. So, at the risk of sounding arrogant, while using your own words, bring lots of ammunition because we are going to fight you tooth and nail in a national spotlight. Jasper, I do apologize, as I know some of you may not agree with my stance but know this, I do intend on taking one.
Respectfully,
Chipa Wolfe and Alliance
P.S. Anyone wanting to join the Alliance for a new, Jasper:
Alliance for a new, Jasper
P.O. Box 418
Jasper, GA 30143
It has been suggested that we add the ceo’s of these frankenfood corporations to our list of potential candidates for Jackass of the Year. This one will be tough……there are so many to choose from. Marti
Newt Gingrich for being the most repulsive and hypocritic man in DC.
Josh Taylor,
Sioux Falls SD
Our new list is for Jackass Awards is beginning to shape up. Here’s where it stands now:
Congress (et al) …………………………………………..283
Nancy Pelosi; for assuming we thought congress had any integrity to preserve…………………………………………………..161
Joe Wilson: Yelling “you Lie” at the president…………..1
Mayor Weaver …………………………………………………2
Al gore…………………………………………………………78
Monsanto……………………………………………………..502
Obama…………………………………………………………..13
We’ll put him up as a contender! Thanks! marti
GOP a**hole of the week? It would have to be Rep. Joe Wilson of SC. Yet we simple folk of Idaho have a multiple choice. The outside world does not hear of Sen. Jim Risch’s tirades; he would insult Democrats better than just calling them liars; they are (among many things) all Socialists as well.
Please feel free to make any suggestions! Working on a logo for this. And an award to be handed out. M
LMAO!! Is there anyone in government, at least at the federal level, that SHOULD NOT be here?? (Ok… maybe one or two….)
S