Thursday, May 29, 2008

Pechanga.net's Editor V.Rocha Eloquently Defending Pechanga's Actions

UPDATE 2: Pechanga Chairman Macarro, of Colton, CA, enters the discussion by throwing his cousin Victor under the bus in his response to Tamra Brennan, of NDNnews. He advises NOT to view Victor's website.

From: Mark Macarro
To: ; Marc Luker ; Pechanga Tribal Council (Council Members Only) ; norman@pechanga-nsn.gov
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2008 5:32 PM
Subject: Re: Regarding Pechanga response letter

Tamra,

Victor is a tribal member but his website is a private project and is privately owned by him. The tribe has no role in
pechanga.net nor does the tribe advise or consent on his editorial content. (Ya think the tribe wouldn't say anything to Victor if he published the stories of what goes on at Pechanga?)
Further, Victor doesn't represent the tribe in any capacity, officially or unofficially. (So that LINK to the Pechanga Casino is there by accident? Oh, and the name of that website again is??)

What he does is his own business--literally. My suggestion to you however, is ignore him and stop responding. Out of the millions of websites out there, you choose to spend your time on Victor? (Nice one, cousin Mark! EVERYONE, DON'T SPEND TIME on my Cousin Victor's website)

Don't let him control you like this.And stop sending the Pechanga Tribal Council emails please. You are now spamming and it is not appreciated.

Thank you.

OP: A letter of concern over the response of a highly regarded (in his own mind) Pechanga member, over what the tribe has done to their people is considered SPAM?

UPDATE:Victor keeps on showing his conversational skills. Not bad for an Eisenhower HS boy. His mom must be proud of him showing his Rialto skills. Here, he replies to Tamra Brennan, proprietor of http://www.ndnnewscom/ a site that you should ALL take the time to visit and learn more about what's happening in Indian Country.


From:
Victor Rocha
To:
Tamra@NDNnews.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 10:36 AM
Subject: RE: Regarding Pechanga response letter
What a bunch of retarded drivel. If you spent more time on your crappy website than worrying about Pechanga…. you’d still have shitty website.
Victor Rocha
www.pechanga.net

From:
Tamra@NDNnews.com [mailto:Tamra@NDNnews.com] Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 8:13 AMTo: victor@pechanga.netSubject: Regarding Pechanga response letter

Victor,

Your actions and email response to Marcie were deplorable, and a prime example of the disgrace Pechanga has become with eliminating your Tribal Members. You represent a media news source for the Tribe, your response was extremely unprofessional and a great representation of the Tribe! I wonder how the Tribal Council will feel about you speaking to a member of the general public with these vulgar statements, on their behalf. I hope that all of the major media in San Diego and Riverside Counties, read your disgusting remarks, it will show them exactly what Pechanga is all about and what they really represent, Disrespect and GREED. How much is enough Victor? Do you and the Tribal Council even realize that your actions are a prime example of assimilation? When money comes before your own people, before your own relations, that is assimilation.
Tribal gaming has attributed to and brought the dominant cultures disease, greed.

What this amounts to is, a modern day cultural genocide and is resulting in what Native people have been fighting since 1492, only now, it is Indians ~vs.~ Indians. You are falling into what the dominant society has been attempting to accomplish for hundreds of years; to conquer and divide. All Native people will be affected by this in the end. Our ancestors fought against genocide with thousands giving their lives to protect the way of life for the people. I think they would be disgusted and appalled with this disease that is tearing apart and dividing Indian Country. Tribal gaming should have strengthened Tribal Sovereignty, brought financial freedom to the people and given hope for the future generations. Instead in cases, such as Pechanga and many others that have eliminated tribal members, it has brought disunity and greed.

It is bad enough that Tribal Sovereignty is a issue that has to be fought to keep in place, why continually fight each other? Today, Native people continue to be suppressed, ignored and cultures disrespected. The continual division in Indian Country over tribal gaming, dis-enrollment issues and blood quantum issues could ultimately be the destruction of Native people. If everyone would unite as one people, one nation, we would become stronger and more powerful. This would be a step forward in ensuring as Indian people we don’t loose our ways, or let them succeed in the pursuit of Native People's extinction.


Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
www.NDNnews.com

Victor is the first cousin of Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro, whom another cousin of theirs has accused him of making threats to her. They are keeping their cousin out of the tribe in the illegal moratorium.
Marcie's letter details her feelings about what Pechanga's actions have done to the Native American community and how she feels that Pechanga could solve this travesty of justice.

From: Marcie
Sent: Sunday, May 25, 2008 8:25 PM
To=victor@pechanga.net
Subject: Re: Disenrollment

To Whom it may concern:
Chairman Macarro,Tribal Council,

I am part of the Native American Community and find what you have done to generations of legitimate tribal members in the name of greed just another form of Indian Genocide. Only this is being done by their own people. How can you live with yourselves?

We as Native Americans have fought for generations against the genocide from white settlers against all our Nations and for what? GREED!!!! Yet it would seem that some tribes such as yours have not learned a very hard lesson by past acts against our people. Greed for our land caused the massacre of many thousands of our people. Greed to own something caused the mass anihilation of the buffalo herds so that we would starve to death and the settlers could waste the meat and only take the hides to sell for money.

Our own people over hunted to trade hides to the settlers for their trinkets and weapons and wiped out their own food sources so that their people went hungry, my tribe included. For what ? Greed! Has all these trials of our ancestors taught you nothing?

Bring All your people back home where they belong and apologize for your greed and irresponsibility to your people. You are setting a precedent of scorn for your actions against your own people. I am ashamed of you and your tribe for it's actions as are so many others.

You Shame the traditional Native People of this continent! The Casino money should be going to improve substandard housing, medical care, substance abuse, the tribal elders needs, better education for your children etc. You are teaching by example that the invaders of this country are right and greed is what counts and people , your families, your children all will learn from your example that nothing counts except self and money.

This Earth will never be again in balance with tribes like you contributing to it's imbalance by throwing away relatives, your own people. We are supposed to be the stewards of this land. As well as our people. You are not stewards, you are no better than those who massacred our ancestors.

Marcie
Mvskoke
Fla.USA

Author and Editor Rocha's eloquent response, apparently speaking for Pechanga, as he responded without authorization. Will he be censured?

From: Victor Rocha
Date: 5/25/2008 11:44:25 PM
To: Marcie
Subject: RE: Disenrollment

Blah, blah, blah, blah!
STFU & GFY
Victor Rocha
http://www.pechanga.net/

Feel free to respond to Victor at his pechanga.net site and tell your friends! I've kept Marcie's email private, but Victor's is public. Thank you Marcie, for speaking out on this, I'll make sure Pechanga receives it, as well as Temecula area businesses.

42 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can we access Victor's comments.

I was directed to Yahoo when I clicked on Victor's name and I created an E mail acouunt but I don't know how to view what he said.

All I see is the letter from Marie.

OPechanga said...

His comment is after Marie's letter, now bolded for effect.

Anonymous said...

See folks, that is what we are dealing with.

I didn't even know that Victor Rocha, "esteemed" editor of Pechanga.net (or should I say steamed!) and cousin of the Macarros, was using foul language.

I was looking for a real response but I guess he can't defend his position with any kind of intelligent argument.

stand your ground said...

Victor Rocha's intelligence is very obvious by his reply to Marcie from Florida, who by the way hit the nail on the head. The Macarro's and Rocha's are made of the same caliber. Rude, Crude and Idiots. What a pity for the Pechanga Tribe to have guys like that in Power. They need to be kicked out of that Tribe and let someone of higher intelligence assume the reins. What the hell is wrong with this Tribe?

Creeper said...

Victor Rocha's comment let's everybody know just how stupid he is. He has been getting away with this bullshit and fooled people for many years. STUPID AS A ROCK. { my apologies to the rock]

Anonymous said...

I can only hope that the recession and the high price of gas keeps people from going to Pechanga..with less money coming in...the leaders will probably kick more peole out..and then maybe you will get some support from someone....but as long as the stupid lame commercials of Pechanga keep running...people think they are giving away money to all who are in need ..instead of the truth...which is they are only interested in lining the pockets of a select group of Indians that they deem fit...and I am not an Indian ..but an ex gambler (weekly) at Pechanga ..and they could take the money from all the mailers that I get (offering me junk) and support all the members that they kicked out.

Anonymous said...

Arleen, your son is such a great part of pechanga's new reputation.
Aren't you proud of your successful
son?
Way to go V.
Way to represent Pechanga.
Don't worry about the truth or what is right.
Just talk sh-t.
Hunters still have our pride.
Our Pechanga land & it is ours!
We are Pechanga no matter what you say.

Anonymous said...

Victor, keep on digging yourself a bigger hole.

At least you could parrot the company line about sovereignty and the right of the tribe to determine its own membership, even if the tribe didn't even follow their own rules in disenrolling hundreds of people.

His responses show just how frustrated these people are trying to defend what they know deep down was wrong.

All of Victor's extra money doesn't sound like it has bought him any peace.

Anonymous said...

Arleen probably feels so guilty about putting Victor in foster care, that she would not be ashamed of his actions under any circumstances

Anonymous said...

Be careful munoa the tribe is watching this site. Wouldn't want to get on someones bad side & loose that per diem.

Rob said...

A few corrections to your posting:

1) I work with Victor at PECHANGA.net. No one has ever pressured me to ignore a story critical of the Pechanga tribe.

If you think we skipped stories in the mainstream media that we should've posted, please list the URLs of these stories. I'll be glad to tell you whether we posted them or not.

Go ahead and list those URLs. Now, please.

2) PECHANGA.net has a tiny link to Pechanga.com, which serves as the site for both the Pechanga tribal government and the Pechanga casino. Nothing wrong with that. It certainly doesn't imply that the Pechanga tribe or casino has any say over PECHANGA.net's content. As someone who has been on the inside of PECHANGA.net for several years, I can assure you these entities have no control over our website.

3) Victor named the website PECHANGA.net to honor his tribe. Period. Again, it has nothing to do with who controls whom. Victor doesn't tell Mark Macarro what to do and Mark doesn't tell him what to do.

4) I'd say Victor's remarks alone prove that he doesn't take orders from anyone. It's likely any tribal official or PR professional would've counseled him to hold his tongue. That he didn't shows his independence--the same independence that allows him to post stories critical of Pechanga.

Rob

P.S. I'm still waiting for those URLs. Please let the world know about all the anti-Pechanga stories you think we've missed.

Rob said...

Note: Are you seriously recommending NDNnews.com as a Native news source? From what I can see, that website posts 1-2 new stories a day. In contrast, Indian Country Today (http://www.indiancountry.com) posts 5-10 stories a day, Indianz.com posts 20-25, and PECHANGA.net posts 75-100 (excluding the non-Native gaming stories).

Of course, NDNnews.com does have a big ad for this blog, which none of the other sites do. Readers can decide for themselves which news source is the most comprehensive and unbiased.

OPechanga said...

Let's try one:

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/09/04/opinion/commentarycal/9306182226.txt

OPechanga said...

http://video.nbc4.tv/player/?id=64156

stand your ground said...

QUESTION, CAN A LITERARY GENIUS BE TRAINED TO SWEEP FLOORS? YES HE CAN, IF HIS NAME IS VICTOR ROCHA.

stand your ground said...

Listen Rob, it does not matter on which websites Victor Rocha's name and his crude language to the two ladies are mentioned, he showed just how arrogant and rude he is. That seems to be the norm with the remaining Pechanga Tribal mmembers. He is member of this Tribe and i would like to see an official apology to the 2 ladies coming forth from this selfserving creep.

OPechanga said...

Let's see an ad for Original Pechanga, in support of tribal citizens of Pechanga, that have been denied basic human rights and civil rights or an ad from a law firm that helped tribes disenroll their members like Holland and Knight?

OPechanga said...

Oh, and Rob,

I just took Victor at his own word:

While Rocha's site is packed with links to articles, he says he is selective and doesn't post articles that aid the opposition.

"I don't put it all up - it's not what you put up, it's what you don't put up."


http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co04082000/CO_04082000_Victor.htm

Anonymous said...

Rob,
It may be true that Marc does not have control over Victor and his postings. I'm sure Victor will hear about it. This is an open thread and OP has givin you some links that never were publish on your web site. KNBC 4 did a great job interviewing Marc and he was shown as the liar and thief he is. If you really are a news source, post a link to this video and the NC Times link my cousin gave you.

Anonymous said...

Welcome Rob, I hope if you find anything critical to say about things that are posted here that you let us know.

We can take it.

I was hoping Victor would defend the tribe's position of disenrolling us with some arguments rather than his profanity laced tirade.

I am still waiting for people to come and challege our assertions because I believe truth is on our side.

I remember a few months back, at your blog, that you were also waiting for some pro disenrollment stories so that you could get a more balanced look at what is going on.

But like I said then, all you are likely to get, if anything, is a press release touting sovereingty and a few general words about how a fair legal process was followed even if it wasn't fair or even legal.

The more our story stays out there, even with negative stories about us, the better it is for us as in the end the light will shine on the truth.

Mark Macarro would like nothing better than for us and our issues to just go away but that isn't going to happen.

I would also like to see a story about how Mark Macarro reportedly lied to a congressional committee in 2002 about trust land that the tribe had said they weren't going to develop that now has on a portion of this land the new Pechanga golf course.

Reportedly, in its land to trust application in 2001, Macarro and Pechanga stated to the Dept. of Interior that there were sensitive cultural resources that needed to be protected and that no development would take place on the property.

Fast forward to the present, what resources, Golf?

I feel the Pechanga tribe destroyed a part of our Luiseno culture by forever changing the natural landscape of this property.

One thing the tribe doesn't dispute and that all sides agree on is that we are Luiseno people.

OPechanga said...

Two HOURS later and we are still waiting for a response from ROB. Here's another URL:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0414/p15s01-ussc.html

OPechanga said...

I GUESS I could type slower:

Another one Rob:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/riverside/20070909-0358-pechanga.html

Anonymous said...

Unbiased, now that is funny. Rob is an employee or partner of V. So I guess this is some lame attempt at damage control. Check the facts & do some research before passing judgment on the Hunter's, Who got screwed by Pechanga, your "cash cow". If only in name, "to Honor the tribe". Not much left to be proud of. Greed & corruption now rule the tribe.

OPechanga said...

Rob, sweetie, I gave you the URL's NOW as you asked for them FOUR OF THEM.

4 1/2 hours LATER, I'm still waiting for your response.

When Victor named his site to honor the tribe, do you not think that carried some responsibility? Do you NOT think that people don't think of the tribe when they see the site? That is not part of the tribe, even though the link is "small" as you said. Does a SMALL link work differently than a LARGE link? Or do the both send you equally as fast to the site?

Anonymous said...

Rob,

My website IS a NDN news source and has been for many years. I am not a main stream site, like ICT or Indianz, nor would I want to be. I would also like to point out, in case it was over looked, that ICT and Indianz are operated by casino tribes. And furthermore, ICT is owned by the Oneida Nation, INC. another Tribe that has disenrolled hundreds of their members.

So, they certainly have the man power and funding to have top of the line sites, posting hundreds of items each day and considered the news "source."
I would too if I made $20K+ a month or more, with all that casino money. I too could have a staff and spend all my time posting articles. However, I am GRASS ROOTS, I am not a casino ndn, I work full time, I have two grassroots organizations and run NDN News. I actually pro actively work on issues in NDN Country! I run NDN News by myself, its mine, I do not have a staff or answer to anyone.

The things that I do, including NDN News, I do to help and FOR the people. My focus is to help spread the word about on going issues in NDN Country, my listserv has thousands of people of it, I know they appreciate the info I get out there. Seems to me, you are on that list, if I remember correctly, or were at one time. I am not a journalist, I am a activist and I work FOR the people.

I don't just post articles and be done with it. I spend all my time directly working on issues, I am on the ground, hands on, making phone calls, attending hearings, initiating writing campaigns, fighting against racism, protection of sacred sites and burial grounds, assistance programs for rez's in need (helping elders and children), fighting fema for the toxic trailers they dumped in ndn country after all these disasters, the list is endless of the issues that I am, and have been, involved with.....including Tribal Disenrollent! I have worked on this issue for many, many years now, been at more than one protest gathering in So. Ca., for this issue and supported ALL of the victims of today's genocide, Tribal Disenrollment. And, will continue to do so!

Seems to me, that alot of people have forgotten where they came from, what all of our ancestors gave or should I say, had stolen from them. Maybe if people stopped absorbing themselves into today's society of materialistic greed, they would remember their roots. Being NDN is not having fancy cars, fancy houses, fancy clothes, club med memberships........being NDN is, culture, ceremonies, honoring your ancestors, traditions, being humble and helping the people. Remember the days, many years ago, before the big casino's, when all of these people were very much apart of the Tribe.

There is NO excuse for the rude, vulgar statements and behavior that have been made to us. I don't care if we agree on the issue or not, there is absolutely no excuse or reason to be this disrespectful and crude. Wouldn't it be more productive to respond with a intelligent, educational response, take a stand on your own side. But instead, you both personally attack and disrespect women........proof in the making on what you stand for.


So, YES there is a BIG difference between us, thank the Creator for that.


Tamra Brennan
Founder/Director
NDN News

OPechanga said...

FIVE AND A HALF HOURS ROB! I'm Gonna go to Dinner...

Rob said...

I don't even check my own blog every hour. It's more like once every day or two. So if you think I'm checking this blog every hour for your responses, you may be in for a long wait.

I'm figuratively a partner in PECHANGA.net, but literally an employee. From past experience, I'm pretty sure Victor doesn't check blogs like this one. I'd bet he didn't know about this posting till I sent him the link for it.

What I've posted here I've done entirely on my own. I haven't spoken to Victor, Mark Macarro, or anyone else about it. Unless they chanced to scroll through the comments, they wouldn't know about.

So much for your charge of "damage control." I'm not spinning anything, I'm telling you the facts. You can do with them whatever you want.

Until Victor hired me a couple years ago to help, he did PECHANGA.net by himself. That means roughly eight hours a day, 365 days a year, for 5-6 years. It doesn't matter how much he was earning from the casino because he did the work by hand, alone, without help. Just like you, Tamra.

So however dedicated you are, Victor is at least as dedicated, if not much more so. He could say, and has said, words just like yours: "The things that I do, including NDN News, I do to help and FOR the people. My focus is to help spread the word about on going issues in NDN Country, my listserv has thousands of people of it, I know they appreciate the info I get out there." Moreover, he gets tens of thousands of hits per day, not just thousands, and he's won awards for his news coverage.

From what I've seen, Victor posts just about everything--something like 99% of the stories--he comes across. What he doesn't post is usually ephemeral material like library meeting announcements, Native car crashes, small-time lottery winners, and casino news in Croatia. I think he "aids the opposition" more than he said he does.

Whatever Victor's unspoken practice is, I know what my practice is. I haven't skipped a significant story in my life. I undoubtedly missed a few stories, but I didn't skip them intentionally.

The smallness of the PECHANGA.com link shows how important Victor thinks it is. Namely, not very. He doesn't particularly care if you find it or not because PECHANGA.net isn't affiliated with the tribe or the casino.

If he wanted to assert a connection, he could post a big banner ad for the tribe and casino. If he wanted to deny a connection, he could eliminate the link altogether. The small link reflects what I said: that he honors his tribe and lets you find out more about it if you wish.

At conventions, our PECHANGA.net booth gets confused with the Pechanga Casino booth. We don't particularly like this and take pains to tell people we're an independent website. Victor has thought about changing the name, but I think he has too much invested in "PECHANGA.net" to do it.

As for disparaging and disrespecting women, I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't disparaged anyone here. Where in the world did you get this ridiculous charge from?

Regarding the disenrollment issue, I don't need to "check my facts" because I haven't offered an opinion on it. What I have offered is the scoop on PECHANGA.net's setup and policies. I suggest you check your facts before you spout off like an idiot about who controls the website.

Rob said...

I said I was waiting because I asked you six months ago to send me any stories you thought we missed. The silence of your response was deafening.

I'm glad you finally found some stories to proffer. Now we can discuss them.

For starters, ours is a text-based site that gives you the headline and first paragraph of each story. We don't post videos in general because they don't fit our format. That explains why we didn't post the KNBC video.

I looked for the three newspaper stories you finally listed. What I found is that our archive function doesn't work very well. I'm pretty sure it's unreliable--especially for older stories.

For whatever reason, I couldn't find the three stories. Maybe they're in the archive but unretrievable. Maybe Victor missed them, since that happens a few times each day. Or maybe he skipped them for some reason. I don't know.

I do know we posted this one-sided article:

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/tribal-flush-pechanga-people-disenrolled-en-masse/18010/

so I'm not sure why Victor wouldn't have posted the others. Whatever the reason, I'm confident it wasn't because Mark Macarro ordered it.

As for posting these stories now, sorry. We're a news site, so we don't post stories that are months or years old. Like the NY Times or Indianz.com, we try to keep our material fresh.

Next time, e-mail me any story you think we missed in the current week. Make sure it's less than a few days old or I'll have to deem it "old news." If you do that, I'll make every effort to post it.

OPechanga said...

Thanks Rob, for your reply. So, let's make sure I have this right,

When you asked me to give you the URL's NOW TWICE in your first comment, you didn't mean NOW? You were just being a smart-ass? I found the stories in 1 minute and checked your archives, NADA

And when I gave you FOUR stories, one the MOST SHARED STORY on the KNBC 4 Los Angeles Website, that was broadcast during February SWEEPS for TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS, it was so hot, Victor MISSED that one? You 'member, the one where Macarro was caught LYING in the first 15 seconds of the infomercial. You don't have to POST the VIDEO, ROB, SIMPLY the link, and there was text available, so it was suppressed.

The Tribal Flush was so big even Victor couldn't keep that one. David Kelly did a wonderful job.

So, Rob, I DO GET it and I do appreciate your loyalty to Rocha, but, don't bring that smack here. if you can't back it up. AND YOU CAN'T. How embarrassing for you.

OPechanga said...

For starters, ours is a text-based site that gives you the headline and first paragraph of each story. We don't post videos in general because they don't fit our format. That explains why we didn't post the KNBC video.

Oh, so you mean, you just find articles on the internet and then post a link to it? OMIGOD! What an amazing feat of journalism. And Victor is a self-proclaimed expert, it's easy to just link to a video site like this:

WITHOUT A TRIBE OR, you can even add a little text, like, uh, THIS:

In case you haven’t seen it yet, WITHOUT A TRIBE is a story about my family that was shown on KNBC in Los Angeles. It got very good ratings and is getting a lot of comments and star ratings on it’s site. Please take a look!

Click the links, ROB, they hopefully will work..

Rob said...

I think Victor shies away from calling himself a journalist. He makes no pretenses about what he does, which is aggregating the news. So let's not waste time knocking down straw-man arguments. ("Does Victor claim to be a journalist? No.")

If you don't like what Victor's doing, feel free to criticize his approach. But criticize Tamra and her NDNnews first, since she's doing the same thing. The same thing, that is, but only about 1/50th as much of it.

If you think Victor's job is easy, give it a try. He started with an off-the-shelf copy of FrontPage, which you can do too. Sit at your computer eight hours a day posting stories in your FrontPage template. Let us know how it goes.

In fact, why don't you make this your calling the way he's done? Give up your weekends and vacations and pump out the links 24/7/365. Perhaps you can steal our patrons and even put us out of business. No one has managed to work harder than we do yet, but you're welcome to be the first.

As for videos, writing our own descriptions would be a change of format. It would be creating news rather than reporting it. Yes, we could do it, but we've chosen not to.

Why not? Perhaps because the universe of news sources would expand from a couple hundred newspapers to a few million videos on YouTube and elsewhere. We're working hard enough as it is. We don't have time to link to hundreds or thousands of new videos every day.

So we've opted to exclude videos. Not just your video...all videos. Don't take it personally, and don't waste our time pretending we've singled you out. We haven't.

Rob said...

What's funny to me is calling a site that posts a maximum of three stories a day unbiased while calling a site that posts 75-100 stories a day biased. For some reason, Tamra chooses not to post about 98% of the stories she could post. If she tells us how she chooses which 1-2 stories to post, I'll tell you what her biases are.

For instance, for May 22-25, Tamra didn't post any stories on the environment, education, or the arts. None that I could see, anyway. I could fairly conclude that she's biased against these subjects.

During the same period, Victor posted dozens of stories on these subjects. He shared the news on these subjects last week while she didn't. If you were interested in these subjects, PECHANGA.net was a much better source than NDNnews.

Here's a clue, people: The site that carries the most stories is almost certainly the least biased. Breadth of coverage reduces bias by definition. It does so by including more subjects and viewpoints than sites with fewer stories.

By all means, keep reading NDNnews as well as ICT, Indianz.com, and PECHANGA.net. But don't tell us NDNnews is a more informative news source than these other sites. By any definition you could name, it isn't.

Alas, the only definition you seem to care about is posting Pechanga disenrollment stories. Well, guess what? I'm betting Victor has posted more of these stories over time than NDNnews, Indianz.com or ICT. By that standard as well as any other, I'd say he wins.

OPechanga said...

Thanks Rob, hey, I'm working on growing the blog, IF you will put me on your blogroll, and link to this story in a post, from your blog, I"m sure that will help.

IF you put this story on Pechanga.net and let your readers from that site know about this blog, I'm sure that will help too.

Thank you for your help in getting my blog rolling. My best week was a bit over 1,000 views a day, during the elections.

Oh, I guess I should give you some URLS for NO on 94? How many of those did you guys post? 44% of California votes didn't want expanded gaming, shall I compile a list?

Anonymous said...

Pechanga.net didn't post the story shown on KNBC with Colleen Williams but they DID post the "Message from the Pechanga Tribal Council" played just prior to the news story.....

Anonymous said...

In defence of Victor Rocha:

At no time did Victor Rocha claim to be intellegent, nor has he been ever been accused of being a classy guy. I dont see why people are expecting him to respond in an intellgent or classy manner when he has made no such claim of being one or the other.

The Pechanga band has made no such requirements of membership. It appears the only standing requirement is being recognized by the CPP. No longer is being decended from an origonal Luiseno Temecula Indian a requirement. Nor do you even have to have ANY indian blood to be a member (some recognized members have NO indian blood ie adopted members).

Being stupid, rude, or even a child molester is NOT a hindrance to membership.

Nor is being decended from a origional Luiseno Temecula Indian, intellegent, kind, and of good moral char a requirement.

So PLEASE GET OFF his back! You dont chastise a cockroach for being what he is by nature.

Creeper said...

PECHANGA.NET DOES'NT PRINT THE TRUTH ABOUT DISENROLLMENT'S AND MORATORIUM'S. THEY POST FEEL GOOD ARTICLES ABOUT THEMSELVES ,BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT THE REST OF THE TRIBE - THOSE WHO HAVE NOT YET BEEN CORRUPTED BY MARK MACARRO AND THE TRIBAL COMMITTEE - TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WHY THEY REALLY WANTED TO KICK OUT THE HUNTERS AND THE APISH. TO WRITE THE TRUTH IS WHAT A GOOD PAPER IS ABOUT. PECHANGA.NET IS PUBLISHED BY A TRIBAL MEMBER WHO, IF HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, WILL LOSE HIS PER CAP. CHECK AND MAYBE EVEN GET DISENROLLED. SOOO HE KEEPS QUIET LIKE A GOOD OBEDIENT DOG. ARF, ARF,LICKING THE HAND THAT FEEDS HIM.

Rob said...

Re "PECHANGA.NET IS PUBLISHED BY A TRIBAL MEMBER WHO, IF HE SPEAKS THE TRUTH, WILL LOSE HIS PER CAP. CHECK AND MAYBE EVEN GET DISENROLLED."

Then how do you explain the fact that PECHANGA.net has posted several articles on the Pechanga disenrollment? And that I told you I'd post such articles if you e-mailed them to me?

Obviously, you have no explanation for either of these points. Oops.

Incidentally, none of the URLs you sent me included any great "truth." Rather, they presented the two standard sides of the debate: the disenrollees claiming it was greed and the tribe denying it.

Such articles are almost routine these days. In general they offer no new information.

"Truth" would be persuasive evidence (documents, sworn testimony, etc.) that Pechanga disenrolled people because of "greed." So far there's been none of this kind of evidence.

P.S. In case you didn't notice, I posted the CS Monitor article in my blog last week. So much for your juvenile characterization of me as a "lackey."

Anonymous said...

P.S. you are a joke Rob. Just go back to your news site.(GREAT #'S) You ARE V's "Lackey"- get on with your life & continue to ignore the corruption at PECHANGA!! You refuse to address the issue(disenrollment) & the facts!! That is the fact!!!!!

P.S.S.-love the photo too,!!!

Rob said...

Re "When you asked me to give you the URL's NOW TWICE in your first comment, you didn't mean NOW? You were just being a smart-ass?"

No. I thought my requests were clear. The first time I asked you to send the URLs of stories we might've missed. So I could check to see if we had missed them, not to post them years after the fact.

The second time I said to send me current stories. To reiterate: Next time, e-mail me any story you think we missed in the current week. Make sure it's less than a few days old or I'll have to deem it "old news." If you do that, I'll make every effort to post it.

What part of these requests isn't clear? Do you really need me to explain them to you again?

Yeah, why don't you send me some "No on 94" stories you think we missed? Because I know we posted dozens if not hundreds of such stories. The chances are good that we posted any stories you can provide.

Rob said...

I told you that we normally don't post videos or links to videos. You don't know what you're talking about if you think we link to lots of videos but "suppressed" the KNBC video.

Check the PECHANGA.net site, big brains. Tell me how many links to videos you find in any given day. You'll be lucky if you find one or two a week.

For whatever reason (I'm just guessing the reasons), Victor has chosen not to post links to videos. This has been his policy since 1998, when he started the site. It has nothing to do with one negative video.

Rob said...

Re "don't bring that smack here. if you can't back it up. AND YOU CAN'T. How embarrassing for you": Actually, I can back it up and I have backed it up. I've met every one of your challenges and you haven't met most or all of mine.

For instance, I raised a slew of points that you ducked or ignored. Why is that, pray tell? Because you're afraid of the answers?

Here's the only embarrassing thing for you and your readers. Read it and weep:

I said I'd post any legitimate news item you sent me. You sent me the Inside SoCal item and I posted it.

Therefore, we're one for one in posting anti-Pechanga stories. And you and your readers are zero for one with your accusations that PECHANGA.net is biased, censors the news, takes orders from the tribe, etc.

Rob said...

Boy, your last Anonymous, who was too cowardly to give his name, sure looks foolish. Where are your asinine remarks about ignoring corruption at Pechanga now, Anonymous? What a shame that you were too stupid to understand PECHANGA.net's posting policies even after I explained them to you.

By the way, are you the same Anonymous who misspelled "descended" and "original" (twice)? I suggest you learn how to spell correctly before you question other people's intelligence.

Anyway, y'all let me know when you have a challenge you think I can't meet. You haven't done it yet.