Apparently, Justine Kondrat has stopped by to reply to a post I did last November 27: Note to Justine Kondrat.

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I've made no bones about my rabid opposition to the organized criminal enterprise taking place under the guise of the Cowlitz Tribe.

On November 27, I took on a comment she had made in the Columbian concerning opposition to those leading the charge to build the 5th largest casino on the face of the earth here in Clark County.

Here, unedited, is what I assume to be her response:

Justine said...

I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with a casino, but I am saying that amends need to be made. This has been done in the past when the U.S. interned Japanese-Americans in places like the Puyallup fair grounds for no good reason.

You're talking about an entire culture that was forced off of their land. What if I told you that I would pay you for about 10% of the worth of your house and if you didn't like it, too bad? That's what happened to my tribe. We offered pennies for our acres and refused and had our land taken away from us anyway so we were forced to integrate into the white settler community, therefore losing much of culture and heritage.

Unfortunately, money is needed to help bring back some of this culture and research. In the past few years, for example, we've hired a linguist to write down our language before that was lost forever.

Please don't make assumptions about a person you've never met. You wouldn't know that I'm a pediatric ICU nurse that hopes to go to graduate school to become a pediatric nurse practitioner to serve some of the rural southwestern Washington population.

My Dad grew up in a poor family and joined the military to gain an education, so yes, I don't live there and didn't when I was growing up until I went to high school and college. But my heart lies in Washington and I intend to raise my future children there.

I'm sorry that you're so angry. I might be frustrated in your circumstance, but I would understand that one can't ignore the obliteration of a society and not make amends for it, even if it wasn't directly my fault.

8:54 AM

Justine, I have no "assumptions" concerning you, one way or the other.

I have drawn some conclusions about you based on what you've written, however, and they are these:

First and foremost, you don't live here. In that, you and about 98% of the Cowlitz Tribe have that in common. You certainly have it in common with the tribal membership and the chief criminal behind the effort to blow a hole in our local economy, because NONE OF THEM LIVE HERE EITHER.

As a result, THEY won't have to put up with or pay for the gigantic number of problems, hassles and tax increases that those of us living here will be FORCED to address... and subsequently, pay for.

Come to think of it, YOU won't have to deal with those issues, either, because YOU don't live here... either.

Secondly, you make a claim to being a tribal member. This speaks to an inculcation as victim. Multi-millionaire developer David Barnett never missed the chance to come across the same way.

Of course, his threats and intimidation, which have drawn him at least TWO restraining orders from women during this debacle, have set the tone for this entire situation.

Thirdly, you bring up restitution to the Japanese-Americans "interned in places like the Puyallup fair grounds for no good reason."

While that may be up to some debate, the restitution was limited to a one-time payment... not an ongoing faucet of taxpayer dollars.

So, if you view that as a basis for removing land from state sovereignty, you have to consider the ENTIRETY of the "restitution" program... including the fact that ONLY those "interned" received restitution... ONCE.

To that end, ONLY those ACTUALLY "forced off their land" should receive consideration.

And somehow, for example, I don't believe that means you. Nor do I believe that *I* should have to pay for it.

The Mohegan Tribe pays the state of Connecticut $400 million a year from their casino proceeds. In Wisconsin, The Mohegans, $500 million backers of the Barnett/Cowlitz/Paskenta effort up here, promised to pay $2 BILLION to state and local governments over a 20 year period.

The Cowlitz? Their now illegal Memorandum of Understanding shows less than a million dollars per year in payments; and a laughable, paltry, $50,000 per year for problem gamblers.

No taxes like I have to pay from my business. No state minimum wage. No adherence to our anti-smoking laws. No labor and industries regulation or insurance, no unemployment... no Business and Occupation Tax and an illegal construction on land zoned agricultural.

I appreciate the fact that you attempt to justify the now Orwellian concept that all pigs are equal, but some pigs are more equal than others.

That is, I didn't serve 14 years in uniform defending this country to come back to a magic double-standard where ANYONE is assigned rights that I don't have, merely because of their race.

And I CERTAINLY did not defend a system where people can cheerfully manipulate the laws of this country to build what would otherwise be illegal structures violating our Growth Management Laws; fail to pay taxes, fail to have the same safety and other worker law requirements in place and fail to pay for ALL of the MANY impacts that their massive construction will cause... as it gets bigger... and bigger... and bigger.

Lying about tribal land like Barnett and the Cowlitz have and are (Just for one example, in their recognition packet, they claimed no land south of Longview as tribal land... but all of a sudden, they can NOW claim land 24 miles SOUTH of that as magically being tribal land when they failed to do so with their tribal recognition request?) does nothing to strengthen their cause.

That's a case of reservation shopping, pure and simple. And no amount of channeling from Chief Umtuch, which I swear to God that moron Barnett claimed he could do, will ever change that.

I have a government that lied to me as well... primarily over issues of medical care resulting from my service in the Army.

Now, I can, as you apparently do and as the Cowlitz/Barnett ABSOLUTELY do, revel in my victimhood. Or I can do what I have done, which is to move on with my life.

The choice is up to each of us. But I will not bear the guilt for something I had no hand in; that was not my fault AT ALL, directly or "indirectly," period.

The fact of the matter is this: I don't owe you, David Barnett, the Cowlitz Tribe or anyone else a thing because of the accident of their birth. In this state, I-200 ended preferences by government based on race or gender.

Putting this thing here, no where close to tribal lands, will do nothing to address any injustice to anyone that was involved in "the obliteration of their society." It will, however, provide millions of dollars to the casino developer, millions of dollars to the Mohegans... and millions of dollars to the Paskenta. Very little of the massive amounts of money brought in will filter down to the Tribe... a Tribe used as cover for the blatant violation of our laws, but a Tribe that will benefit very, very little from the project.

That Barnett claims he's a multi-millionaire developer pretty much proves that even tribal members like him, as little Cowlitz blood flowing in his veins as there is, can certainly rise above their Native American heritage; and in Barnett's case, extensive criminal background, to make something of themselves.

They do not need this casino or Clark County to achieve that. It is easy for you to assign some sort of responsibility to me "for the obliteration of a society," but then, as I pointed out, you will never suffer the consequences of that responsibility like you would force me to experience.

Thanks for stopping by to exchange views, and feel free to do so in the future.
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