of the people with those of India, but from the Italian expression in Dio, meaning "in God". In addition, Means noted that since treaties and other legal documents in relation to the United States government use "Indian", continuing use of the term could help today's American Indian people forestall any attempts by others to use legal loopholes in the struggle over land and treaty rights. In 2007, Means and 80 other protesters were arrested in Denver during a parade for Columbus Day which they stated was a "celebration of genocide". Following the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007, a group of American Indian activists presented a letter to the U.S. State Department, indicating they were withdrawing from all treaties with the U.S. Government on December 20. Means announced the withdrawal by a small group of Lakota people. That same month, they began contacting foreign governments to solicit support for energy projects on the territory. Means and a delegation of activists declared the Republic of Lakotah a sovereign nation, with property rights over thousands of square miles in South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana. Means said that his group does not "represent collaborators, the Vichy Indians and those tribal governments set up by the United States of America". On January 8, 2008 tribal leaders in the northern Great Plains, Rodney Bordeaux of the 25,000-member Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and Joseph Brings Plenty of the 8,500-member Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said that Means and the group of his fellow activists would not speak for their members or for any elected Lakota tribal government. While acknowledging that Means has accurately portrayed the federal government's broken promises to and treaties with America's indigenous peoples, they opposed his plan to renounce treaties with the United States and proclaim independence. They said the issue instead was to enforce existing treaties. In October 2009, Means was critical of Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and has also been critical when Al Gore and Henry Kissinger received theirs as well. He had also criticized the U.S. interventionist foreign policy, the War in Afghanistan, and had referred to Obama's presidency as "Bush's third term." In January 2012, Means announced his endorsement of Republican Ron Paul in his bid for president. Other activities Acting From 1992 to 2012, Means appeared as an actor in numerous films and television movies, first as the chief