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Well, if he wanted to do a "noble savage book" then he was successful. I believe the author had to have an interpreter, as Black Elk spoke no English.

Whether or not Black Elk was pagan or Catholic is irrelevant to me.

Black Elk was a warrior.

Would you care to explain why #9 is less important than the others? No one thinks we shouldn't share, but there's a right way and a wrong way to share.

You posted that the Lakota Black Elk was an incredible man. Indeed he was. However, the biographer knowingly misled the reader into thinking that Black Elk continued to be a pagan. He was a warrior for a short time in his youth and then became a pagan shaman of major note. Then, forty years after Little Big Horn, he became a Catholic and a lay missionary to his people. Among the Sioux, this was analogous to a conversion of someone like Billy Graham. Whether or not the specific facts of Black Elk's life were important to him and to his family, scholarly integrity requires an accurate depiction and the 1930s book failed very badly in that respect.

I disagree with FAIR in just about every respect. There is nothing FAIR can do. They are simply stirring up trouble to no purpose. I suspect FAIR's bona fides. I believe that it has connections to Zero Population Growth. I was vey pleased when FAIR ceased influencing National Review. I am answering your question and not inviting further debate. History will resolve the immigration argument. I may be right. I may be wrong. I am going to let those who are passionately in love with Tancredo and his agenda expend their energy resenting the Mexicans while ignoring the much more dangerous Canadian border problem. In my experience here, few people who suffer angst over Mexico are amenable to genuine discussion. I probably am not either.

There is no constitutional way to achieve the goals of FAIR. I can sympathize with arguments as to what the immigration is doing to the employment prospects of Americans but that is also caused by Free Trade. I am an economic nationalist but not likely to become all hot and bothered over an influx of Mexicans. We have plenty in Northwest Illinois and they are very good additions to the community here. I have no respect whatsoever for the private Keystone Kops groups who are trying to "patrol" the border under one nutty theory of their authority after another.

The INS and its successor should not have allowed hundreds of thousands of legitimate applications for green cards to pile up in warehouses unread. The government too should obey the law. In fact, it should set an example.

Keeping Sangerism out of the conservative movement is far more important than closing borders. I am not going to change my mind on that.