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April 10, 2005

Get a Grip People...

He's been dead for 93hundred years and has nothing to do with your tribe, my tribe or anybody else's tribe.

WASHINGTON - Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting legislation they say could block their efforts. They say a two-word amendment to a bill on American Indians would allow federally recognized tribes to claim ancient remains even if they cannot prove a link to a current tribe.

John McCain should quit being the suck-up of the ages...

...but the bill has been revived in this Congress by the panel's new chairman, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

...and let the anthropologists/archeologists do their job.

Call me a ghoul, but I find it fascinating when a discovery fleshes out after study. Like the Jamestown burials for instance. Arrowheads lodged in bones, hatchet marks on skulls ~ gads! It's one thing to read about how tough it was, quite another to have the evidence at hand. Or the iceman they found in the Alps a gazillion years ago. Everyone had agreed he'd been caught in a storm and frozen to death until an autopsy revealed murder most foul. How cool is that??! But if a tribe of Primordial Austrian Goatherders had decided he was their sacred popsicle, that glimpse into history would have never happened.

I suppose someone will be shortly claiming these bones, too.

Posted by tree hugging sister at April 10, 2005 10:20 AM

Comments

GAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! The Kennewick Man! Boy, that one ticks me off. A bunch of Indians (sorry, "Native Americans") are throwing fits because of ancient bones. It's bad enough that burial sites from a mere 500 years ago are guarded like Fort Knox (admittedly, because those burial sites would be looted if the locations were know) to the point that digging up a skull is actually worse than a murder investigation. Trust me, law enforcement in that area flinches every time that a new grave site is found. But the anthropologists always evaluate the bones to confirm their age and history. The remains, if Indian (oops, "Native American"), are turned over to tribal authorities for re-internment.

Now throw in 10,000 year old bones that have no apparent relationship to the current tribes (gee! who woulda thunk that the tribes moved around over the course of a 100 centuries, hmmmmm?), and it's suddenly "Don't even think of studying those bones, fella!"

A detailed evaluation would settle the question once and for all. But can we have one? No! Because (IMHO) the answer might pop some very well established and lucrative ballons.

And for the record, no, if my bones were studied by scientists in a few hundred -- or thousand -- years, I would not object. Even if they were put on display as "Bones of A White Man -- 5 cents a person!!"

Yes, I have a little experience with this one. Thank God, only a little. I kept it that way deliberately, given the circle jerk I saw going on.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 10, 2005 12:01 PM

And Congress ought to stay out of this one as well! McCain has no relationship to the tribes around that area; it's all in Washington, Oregon, and Idah. Must be running for President again in 2008.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 10, 2005 12:02 PM

Leave my cousin Kenny Wick alone, honkies!

Posted by: Ken Summers at April 10, 2005 02:39 PM

Well, at least it's obvious that he has a backbone.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 11, 2005 12:53 AM

Well, now we know where Wendy's gets the fingers for their chili.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 11, 2005 08:54 AM

Actually, I know what they can do with the Kennewick Man. He'd be the perfect replacement for Ward Churchill.

Think about it. The Kennewick Man is clearly native American, will have more meaningful and constructive comments to make, will be a better teacher, and costs a lot less to keep around; just put him in a dust free glass cabinet.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 11, 2005 10:16 AM

He cleans up alot better, too.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at April 11, 2005 10:45 AM

And he's really lean, no flab at all! Put him in a good suit, and all the ladies will scream.

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 11, 2005 12:20 PM

Or a good t-shirt...

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 11, 2005 12:42 PM

"SOD OFF, SWAMPY!"

Posted by: The Real JeffS at April 12, 2005 12:59 AM

So, what were the amendment's two words?!?!?! Yer leavin' us hangin' here!!

Posted by: The Scrutinator at April 12, 2005 05:48 PM

Yeah, that is a bit of a teaser, isn't it Scruti?

(By the way, you're not related to the Central Scrutinizer, are you?)

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 12, 2005 06:36 PM

Found 'em!

Scientists say McCain's bill, with a two-word change, could nullify that ruling.

The change would add the words "or was" to a definition. It would then say that in the context of ancient remains, the term "Native American" refers to a member of a tribe or culture that is or was indigenous to the United States.

Posted by: Mr. Bingley at April 12, 2005 08:51 PM

WOW!!!! This is a great website.

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