Man the bastions

My letter to the editor (below) was published today. I used to have feelings of great compassion for Native Americans, before they began to imply that I didn't. When I voted against Indian casinos it was in opposition to gambling only. I felt the Indians had been snookered by Big Gambling, and I didn't feel it was in their best interest.

When I learned that the Indians had actually entered into an incestuous pact to defraud the people of California, and that many tribal members, without doing any work at all, draw large annual sums of money purely because they are Indians, I grew angry.

Therefore, when Mr. Pina excoriated "my people," the new minority in the state, I felt obliged to defend myself. Nevertheless, when the war party arrives at my door, I hope I can convince them to smoke the pipe of peace, although with all the restrictions the government imposes, there may not be a location in which to do so. Perhaps, if we filled the calumet with peyote. . . .