Free Republic

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Thanksgiving is nothing to celebrate for Native Americans, who are gathering in the town where the Pilgrims settled for a solemn National Day of Mourning observance. Thursday's noon gathering in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts, will recall the disease, racism and oppression that the European settlers brought. It's the 49th year that the United American Indians of New England have organized the event on Thanksgiving Day.

We have been robbed. We sit idle as we are plundered. We answer not the call to action. We have but ourselves to blame. The criminals and villains were known to us, we knew they were coming. Yet we did nothing to stop them. We did not meet them in the field, our swords lay rusting. We did far worse to ourselves, for it was we who opened the very gates and allow them to lay waste. Whether it was by our own hands or the hands of the allies of our enemies amongst us, matters not the ending is...

... the first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty. ... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens. ... nearly all of Iraq's 400 courts are functioning. ... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent. ... on Monday, October 6 power generation hit 4,518 megawatts - exceeding the prewar average. ... all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as are nearly all primary and secondary schools. ... by October 1, Coalition forces had rehab-ed over 1,500 schools - 500 more than scheduled. ... teachers earn from 12 to...