As part of this Memorial Day weekend Balladeer’s Blog offers an examination of neglected areas of United States military history.
Oneida Nation’s First Allies Unit
4. THE ONEIDA NATION’S FIRST ALLIES UNIT
Conflict: Revolutionary War
Comment: The Oneida Nation of Native Americans were America’s first allies. During the Revolutionary War most Native American tribes sided with the British but the Oneida Nation’s Chief Shenendoah (sic), led his people to ally themselves with the emerging United States instead. The Oneida alliance with the U.S. therefore PREDATED France’s recognition of an independent America.
The Oneida warriors fought alongside American forces throughout upstate New York, most notably at the Battles of Oriskany and Saratoga. They also provided desperately needed food and medical supplies for the Continental Army during the terrible winter at Valley Forge. Two treaties were signed and honored to this very day regarding Oneida sovereignty, retention of their land and a yearly ceremonial delivery of bolts of cloth to the Oneida leaders. That ceremony continues once a year. Continue reading
The 7 seeds – the COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS BOBCATS – won two games yesterday. In Game One of Day Two they took on the 6th seeded TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TROLLS. A 2-0 2nd Inning lead for the Bobcats became a 2-1 game by the 4th. Both teams’ bats caught fire the final 3 Innings but College of the Ozarks won it 10-6 behind Pitcher Bryce Burtless. 
The top seeded SOUTHWESTERN CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY EAGLES took the diamond against the 9 seeds – the ECCLESIA COLLEGE ROYALS – in the 4th game of the day. A 1-1 tie in the opening Inning became a 2-1 Eagles lead in the 2nd. The 5th Inning saw the Royals go up 3-2 before SCU knotted the score at 3-3 in the 7th. From there the Eagles won the game 5-4 for Pitcher Hayden Woolsey. 
THE GIRL IN THE KREMLIN (1957) – The tagline for this Golden Turkey should have been “STALIN’S BACK AND GABOR’S GOT HIM!” The world of Bad Movies is pretty thoroughly littered with hilariously lame films proceeding from the premise that Adolf Hitler survived his supposed death and plotted a Fourth Reich. 
And feel free to choose your preferred caption to the photo at right. Either: a) ONE … MILLION … RUBLES or b) Zsa Zsa Gabor IS Mrs Kojak, this fall on the CW! 
The lookalike is killed and presented for burial while Stalin – who passed the time during the surgery indulging his famous fetish for watching a woman suffer a forced head-shaving – undergoes plastic surgery of his own to disguise his features. The murderous scumbag then flees Russia with – we are told – HALF THE MONEY IN THE SOVIET TREASURY plus a few aides including Nurse Grisenko, one of the twins portrayed by Zsa Zsa Gabor herself. 
The 3 seeds – the WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS – won a pair of games yesterday. In Game One the Royals faced the 6th seeded TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TROLLS. A 3-3 tie in the 5th Inning became a 7-4 Royals lead in the 7th and ultimately a 9-6 victory for Warner University Pitcher Andres Fernandez. 
The 2nd seeded BLUEFIELD COLLEGE RAMBLING RAMS likewise went 2-0 in Pool Play on Wednesday. In Game Four the Rambling Rams battled the 7 seeds – the COLLEGE OF THE OZARKS BOBCATS. The 9th Inning ended with the teams deadlocked at 5-5. Neither team scored in the 10th but in the 11th Bluefield College edged the Bobcats 6-5. Kody Gardere threw for the win. 
FRANK C HIGH 
GEORGE W MATHEWS 
Institution – IOWA WESTERN COLLEGE 
Institution – CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE 
Institution – NEW MEXICO COLLEGE 
Institution – WALTERS STATE 
When will people learn that – no matter what the time period – human nature will forever resist the notion that Bran is good for them? Anyway, here’s Oingo Boingo’s song Goodbye, Goodbye for this installment of Give Them A Shoutout Before They’re Dead. And since I’ve never watched a single episode of GOT the above lame joke is also the closest I’ll come to reviewing it. (Although I did laugh at the new online meme that Chaos isn’t a ladder after all … It’s a ramp.) 
PART TWENTY: I need to interrupt my look at the 1910-1917 and 1919-1922 Fool Killer items for this time around. In a surprising development Balladeer’s Blog was contacted by THE actual Fool Killer. Using Jimmy Neutron-level science I determined that this correspondent was indeed the actual supernatural figure who had been at large in America since the 1830s. 
Coming to you as I wander in search of fools to kill, as usual a murder of crows following in my wake to feast upon the ample corpses I leave behind me in my travels.
EAST DISTRICT: CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – The MONROE (Rochester) COLLEGE TRIBUNES took the diamond against the ULSTER COUNTY COLLEGE SENATORS. Neither team scored in the first 3 Innings of this Pitcher’s Duel. 
YELLOWHAIR AND THE FORTRESS OF GOLD (1984) – Reviewers need to lighten up about this movie. Especially over at IMDb. If those reviewers actually think this film deserves a low rating of 4.2 they’re being silly. I eat, sleep and breathe bad movies and I settled in to finally watch this supposed bomb fully expecting something hilariously awful. Nope. It’s no masterpiece but it’s a fairly good movie with a butt-kicking female lead. 
In my opinion the admittedly dopey opening seems to prejudice too many reviewers, who harden into hatred before the movie properly gets underway. The success of the first Indiana Jones movie a few years earlier prompted many studios to try touting all their new action releases as being “like Raiders of the Lost Ark.” 
NOTE: Yes, that makes for a cringingly lame opening sequence but let’s face it, it’s only slightly more awkward than if Cimber had relied on setting the scene with an opening scroll like Star Wars and its sequels had revived years earlier and which other movies had been copying ever since. Anyway, you can tell some reviewers don’t bother watching beyond that opening sequence since their reviews bash the whole movie as if it’s like that. Actually, the voiceover disappears and the story proceeds like in any other film after that ill-advised opening dose of nostalgia. 
