Friday, January 29, 2010

Webcast Tomorrow: 2010 State of Indian Nations Address

Webcast Tomorrow: 2010 State of Indian Nations Address
Webcast Tomorrow: 2010 State of Indian Nations Address
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State of Indian Nations Logo
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President Jefferson Keel
President Jefferson Keel
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The National Congress of American Indians
cordially invites you to watch the

8th annual State of Indian Nations Address
Friday, January 29th, 2010

 

View the webcast live at 9:30 a.m. Eastern
and on-demand after the speech at
www.ncai.org

delivered by
NCAI President Jefferson Keel
Chickasaw

at the
National Press Club
Washington, DC

View the webcast invitation here.

http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102972590050&s=6771&e=001td-7538PLd0PYYZ63wtGFRVR8MtgSnebVHYxeo2WtXE43pFRETjd5CIPFBTQegLcpFiyjkXBSNxqsoKcBfVzHuCXy99EIg_MKUe5nKyFWV6ABC1QO2kIiSuJCgOqS9gPu_UScN49USV11VsoZM-FdKjxnnQZeNi6ZxFsrkIUuB5pzNaLkqsGbQr4Tyfr0m0ZJCrdzCSpDu0Cd6OAD-AS-gS4nqmtD9U5

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www.ncai.org

Date: Friday, January 29th, 2010

Time: 9:30 a.m.

Location: National Press Club, DC


Thursday, January 28, 2010

Bone marrow donors sought in battle to save man's life

Bone marrow donors sought in battle to save man's life
By Sara Hottman - January 28, 2010

PEMBROKE - Doug Oxendine has been suffering from leukemia for just more than two years, and now he needs a bone marrow donor to save his life. But as an American Indian, his chances of finding one are low - one in 100.

Beginning Friday, the Icla da Silva Foundation is hosting three public donor drives and one family drive in Pembroke not only to try and find a bone marrow match for Oxendine, 38, a Florida man whose father is from Pembroke, but also to expand the number of American Indians in the national registry for bone marrow donors.

The Icla da Silva Foundation is a national organization that recruits bone marrow donors for Be the Match, a national bone marrow registry, and offers support services to people with blood cancers, with a focus on recruiting and helping minorities.

The best bone marrow match is from a person who is the same race or ethnicity as the patient, but minorities are vastly underrepresented in bone marrow registries.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, people registered for bone marrow donations grew from zero in 1988 to more than 7 million two decades later; 70 percent of the registry is white and 28 percent is minority - black, American Indian, Asian, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic.

As of September 2008, about 1 percent of the registry, 70,000 people, was American Indian - the lowest minority representation besides Pacific Islander, with 0.1 percent. About 7 percent of the registry is Asian, 8 percent is black and 9 percent is Hispanic.

There are three potential matches for Oxendine in the national registry, but the matches are not perfect. A match is hard to find; cells must be nearly identical genetically to be successful, and a 100 percent match carries just a 70 percent success rate for the transplant, and the odds decrease from there.

Oxendine's father had 16 brothers and sisters, and so 102 first cousins are potential matches, Oxendine said. Saturday evening, after the bone marrow drive at Mt. Olive Pentecostal Holiness Church in Pembroke, where many of Oxendine's cousins attend, the Oxendine family will reunite at Willard's Chapel so family members can be entered into the registry.

Chronic myelogenous leukemia became part of Oxendine's vernacular in October 2007. He was part of a medically supervised weight-loss program that included weekly blood tests to ensure participants' organs were working properly. During one visit, the doctor noted Oxendine's high white blood cell count and recommended a visit to a hematologist.

"The doctor came into the room and said, 'I'm going to tell you something and you're going to sit with a blank stare on your face, and in about five minutes I'll wake you up,'" Oxendine said. The doctor told him he had a rare cancer of the blood cells that occurs when a chromosome mutates, eventually leading to the production of too many diseased white blood cells.

"Sure enough, my mind went blank with all the questions I had - why me, what does this mean ... ?" Oxendine said.

Blood cells originate in the bone marrow, a spongy material inside the bones that produces blood stem cells. In people with myelogenous leukemia, the bone marrow produces too many white blood cells that eventually crowd out healthy cells.

Crowded cells cause bone and joint pain as the bone expands, and excess blood cells stored in the spleen cause it to swell, sometimes to the point of bursting, according to the National Cancer Institute. Oxendine's leukemia was caught early, so he didn't suffer traditional symptoms or complications.

According to the National Cancer Institute, chronic myelogenous leukemia primarily affects adult males; about 4,800 are diagnosed annually.

Oxendine started taking a medication that blocks bad white blood cell production but leaves healthy cells alone. By July 2009, Oxendine had gone through all three stages of remission and was considered healthy with the medication.

But in November, a routine check-up showed that 77 percent of the blood cells in Oxendine's morrow were cancerous. His body had grown resistant to the medication and the leukemia had come back in an accelerated phase.

Now Oxendine is taking another receptor-blocking medication daily that his doctors hope will put him through three stages of remission - he's into the second stage now - so his body will be ready for a bone marrow transplant once it goes into full remission.

A bone marrow transplant is the only definitive cure for chronic myelogenous leukemia. During a transplant, healthy stem cells are infused into the bloodstream after chemotherapy drugs kill the patient's original cells. The new cells multiply so only healthy cells remain.

A bone marrow donation occurs under general anesthesia, according to the Mayo Clinic. A small amount of stem cells are taken from the donor, and the donor's body replaces them within two or three weeks; complications are rare.

Oxendine is looking at the end of March or beginning of April for a transplant. Until then, he will continue to spend $7,500 monthly on the medications that will hopefully take him into full remission before his body becomes resistant to it.

Meanwhile, Oxendine is spending time with his wife Nancy, his 10-year-old daughter Lauren, and his 8-year-old son Dalton.

"This brought my family closer together; we're sharing a lot more quality family time together," Oxendine said. "My secondary family is the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society."

Part of the support organization is Team in Training, with which Oxendine has gone on hikes, bike rides and triathlons with his Orlando, Fla., chapter, as well as volunteer and speaking at events for the society.

Oxendine has worked with the Icla da Silva Foundation, associated with the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society, on five donor drives in Orlando since summertime, and over the past three weeks has organized the Pembroke drives.

"I would encourage everyone to come out, because if you don't save my life, you could save someone else's life in the future," he said.

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People who want to register with Be the Match can do so 1 to 6 p.m. Friday at Walmart in Pembroke; 11 a.m. Saturday at Mt. Olive Pentacostal Holiness Church in Pembroke; 12:30 p.m. Sunday at Mt. Olive Pentacostal Holiness Church in Pembroke.

Article: http://robesonian.com/bookmark/5688317
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Icla da Silva Foundation: http://www.icla.org

Team in Training: http://www.teamintraining.org
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Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

CherokeeLink Newsletter

CherokeeLink Newsletter
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For The HTML Format of the Newsletter:
(Having Problems With The Links? Try this version instead.) http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=newsletter&Date=1/26/2010

AOL - 1/26/2010 Newsletter
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Osiyo,

Weather professionals are predicting a weather storm throughout Cherokee Nation on Thursday. If you haven’t had a chance to review the winter weather preparedness tips, please visit http://emergencymanagement.cherokee.org/



Wado! (Thank you)
Cherokee Nation
P.O.Box 948
Tahlequah, OK 74465
918 453-5000
communications@cherokee.org

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***Cherokee Nation News***
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Sequoyah Student Earns Chair in Honor Band : 1/25/2010 10:06:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Sequoyah Schools’ sophomore Christie Tiger recently auditioned and earned a chair in an honor band. Tiger is the first Sequoyah student to earn this honor. She will play the trumpet in the Eastern Oklahoma Band Directors Honor Band concert on Feb. 6.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3111

Cherokee Nation Doctor Bridges Culture and Language with Medicine: 1/22/2010 11:05:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Kirk, who is from Marble City, got his first degree in psychology with the thought of helping bridge the cultural differences to patients needing counseling. However, as he was called upon to help his grandmother with her doctor visits, his interests turned more to the physical side of the medical field.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3110

Cherokee Nation Heirloom Seed Project Returns: 1/22/2010 10:56:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Cherokee gardeners will take delight in knowing that spring gardening season is just around the corner. Cherokee Nation is once again offering those gardeners a chance to grow a bit of the tribe’s history and culture in their own backyard.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3109

Sequoyah Schools to Host Youth Cheer Clinic : 1/22/2010 10:52:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Sequoyah Schools’ cheerleaders will host a youth cheerleading clinic, Jan. 25, 26 and 28, from 4 p.m. until 5 p.m. for children ages four to 12 in the lower level of The Place Where They Play.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3108

Cherokee Nation Entertainment breaks ground at site of eighth casino location: 1/22/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation broke ground Thursday on its eighth Cherokee Casino, located in Ramona, Okla. The gaming center is designed to be implemented in two phases, ultimately creating more than 100 jobs in the area over the next two years.

http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3107

Cherokee Nation to Offer Small Business Tax Workshop: 1/21/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
Small business owners that would like to learn more about Oklahoma’s tax laws can do so in Muskogee at an upcoming free workshop sponsored by the Cherokee Nation in February.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3106

Cherokee Nation Begins New Children’s Choir Program: 1/20/2010 12:24:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is developing a new program that will allow Cherokee children in grades three through six to participate in nine local children’s choirs within their tribal district.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3105

Sequoyah Schools Recognized for Adequate Yearly Progress Benchmark: 1/19/2010 11:23:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Sequoyah Schools recently received notification that they have once again made “adequate yearly progress” (AYP) according to the benchmarks measured by the No Child Left Behind Act. This is the third year in a row that Sequoyah has achieved this honor.

http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3104

Cherokee Nation Offers Public Education About Cervical Cancer: 1/18/2010 10:50:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
In recognition of January being named Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, the Cherokee Nation is offering public education through a series of information booths for individuals to get answers to questions about the disease. The booths will be set up at the tribe’s health centers and at Cherokee Nation W.W. Hastings Hospital and Claremore Indian Hospital throughout the month.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3102

Cherokee Elder Care Gets New Bus for Center, Community: 1/18/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Elder Care is the recipient of a new 14 passenger bus complete with an automatic wheelchair lift, allowing for easier transport for the elderly and disabled. The purchase of the bus was a partnership effort between the center and the State of Oklahoma, and will be used by the center and by other community groups needing transportation service of the elderly.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3103

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**** Other Links of Interest ****
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Games - http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=culture&culture=games

Community Calendar - http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=calendar
RSS Feed - http://rss.cherokee.org
Podcasts - http://podcasts.cherokee.org
E-Cards - http://ecards.cherokee.org
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**** Cultural Tidbits ****
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1999: Joe Byrd is defeated in a runoff election by Chad Smith. Hastings Shade, a high school teacher and Cherokee linguist and historian, is elected Deputy Principal Chief.

New First Nations Films Available

New First Nations Films Available
FIRST NATIONS FILMS        www.firstnationsfilms.com

  Films For, By and About Native People  - For Classroom or Group  - 604-990-9337
 

FIRST NATIONS FILMS for the first time are available to the public on important real native issues from spirituality to land claims to traditional music to native politics.  Delight in these fascinating award-winning broadcast TV programs for your group, organization, library or classroom - these are some of the best films in North America!
 
SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES - 12 to 112.  Please visit our website and view "playable" scenes from these emotionally moving and exciting programs. www.firstnationsfilms.com

Enter the World of the Native Spirit! For information or to order:  richard@firstnationsfilms.com  or call  604-990-9337
 
OUR EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION
Please view "playable" clips of award-winning films on our catalogue page - order films on DVD.


FILMS ON DVD
The Medicine Wheel (native spirituality)
Whose Land is This? (history and land settlement)
Making Treaties (history and land settlement)
First Nations Role Models (inspiration for our youth)
Beat of the Drum (native music and history)
Native Women: Politics (history and settlement)
Reclaiming Our Children (child wellness)
The Residential Schools (the other side of the experience)
Living in Two Worlds (old and new)
Sleep dancer (a dramatic journey)
Vanishing Links (returning to her roots)
HIV - If There's a Will ...  (HIV and native people)
Indianer (European people honoring First Nations)

Echoes of the Sisters (breast cancer)
Kinja Iakaha 
(a day in the village) From Brazil)
The Storytellers (truth and honor)
The Pipe Makers (on making the traditional pipe)
 
 
NEW - See our new service for Websites!  http://www.firstnationsfilms.com/Webs/
 
_______________________________________________________________
COMING SOON!
So Far From Home (a moving story of native street youth as they search for their home)
Totem Poles (a glorious and search for the meaning of the totem poles)
The Circle of Life - Medicine Wheel 2 (searching for the meaning of the ancient stone circles)
Boundaries (Analyzing the Indian "business" in canada)

 

For more information or to order films please contact:
email:  richard@firstnationsfilms.com      604-990-9337    www.firstnationsfilms.com

McGuinty presses Ottawa on native rights?

McGuinty presses Ottawa on native rights?
First Nations & Aboriginal Rights Bulletin
Posted by Anthony Jay Henhawk Jr.

Support your cause!
Be counted:
I Read This
As part of Ontario's continued efforts to enhance cooperation, and to build strong relationships with aboriginal people based on mutual respect, Premier Dalton McGuinty has asked the Government of Canada to reconsider its position on the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Ontario supports a review of Canada's position on the declaration as a means to demonstrate its commitment to improving the lives of aboriginal people throughout Canada.

Reconsideration of the declaration would demonstrate Canada's willingness to foster an open dialogue to improve the lives of aboriginal peoples.

Quick facts

Ontario is involving aboriginal people in issues that affect their future.

The modernization of the Mining Act includes explicit recognition of Aboriginal and treaty rights.

This is the first time that this has been recognized in any provincial or territorial mining legislation.

Canada is the only non-signatory to the declaration that has not undertaken a review of its stance.

Australia reversed its position and endorsed the declaration earlier this year.

Ontario's request is that the federal government undertake a conscientious review of Canada's position on the declaration, within the context of Canada's constitutional and treaty framework and related jurisprudence.

Learn more

About the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted by the General Assembly 13 September 2007.

About the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs.

About Canada's position on the United Nations' Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

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Support your cause! Be counted:
I Read This

State of Emergency - Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

State of Emergency - Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
A State of Emergency has been declared on the Pine Ridge Lakota "Sioux"
Indian Reservation. People have died. Many more people are at risk of
freezing to death. Another cold front is coming in, yet where is the
national media coverage?

Does the 'Lacreek Electric Company' - a non-Indian utility often thought
to be prejudice, care that people are suffering, since they are pulling
meters every day? (which is illegal throughout the rest of the u.s.
during the winter months).

What will Obama and the federal government do about this? While they dig
out Haitians, indigenous people right here may freeze to death. What are we going to do about it?

Help put this message out for help. The children and families of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation need our help now. It is urgent that all 40,000 residents of the Oglala Nation have electricity and propane.

Call LaCreek toll free at 800-655-9324 or (605)685-6581 to see how you can
help pay into a customer’s account, example $5 into ten customers would
require a $50 donation by you. Tell LaCreek to make sure tanks are full
for ALL area residents between the months of November to March – and to
collect any delinquent payments between April and October.

Also, check out this non-profit to see if it is appropriate for you:
Arlene Catches The Enemy 605-867-5771 Ext 13.
Tax Deductable, Non-Profit (501-c-3). She can take credit cards over the
phone: Pine Ridge Emergency Fund, C/O Economic Development Administration
PO Box 669, Pine Ridge, SD 57770-0669

And call Lakota Plains Propane at 605-867-5199 and find out what homes have elderly or children and if they need money put down on their account to be
able to have a warm home tonight.

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List to assist Elders at Pine RidgeShare

Below are several Elders in the Kyle Community of Pine Ridge that are in immediate need of assistance. The contact information has been confirmed and permission has been granted to share their information with you.

There are several ways I will mention where assistance is needed and I'll share here before I begin the information for where you can assist in paying for Propane for those who need it or to contact a local grocery store to pay for food for families who need this. Other ways of assisting the individual families will be listed with their contact information below.

To pay for propane for any individuals listed below use the information here and be sure to make your payment to the account of the individual(s) you choose to help. The propane company requires a minimum order of $120 of fuel before they will make a delivery to the individual. You can also pay for a persons propane and they will credit the individuals account so that when they do run out of any fuel they may have at the moment they can simply call and the company will deliver more.

Lakota Plains Propane (will take credit card)
Highway 407
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
605-867-5199
Be sure to request a receipt and use the contact for the person you are helping to call and followup to be certain they received the help you paid for.

Kyle Grocery (will take credit card)
Owner: Liz May
605-455-2824
Again be sure to follow up with the person you make a donation for to be sure they received the appropriate credit for purchasing food.

Elders in need are as follows:

Adolph Bull Bear
605-454-2190
He remains in need of continued assistance for propane, his son who is disabled lives with him and he is in need of food assistance which you can contact Kyle grocery (above) to make a donation for food. He will also need help with his electric bill.

Arlene Talks (age 72)
605-407-8243
She has a daughter and a granddaughter (age 7) who lives with her and is in need of propane and food assistance and you can contact the propane and grocery above to assist. You could also contact her for mailing address to send items for her granddaughter such as clothes, etc.

Janice One Feather (age 61)
605-455-2889
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 44, Kyle SD 57752
For Propane Delivery give House # 307
She has two grandsons living with her. Asa Steele age 7 and Dillon Westover age 9. You can mail donations for the two boys to the mailing address above for her and if you mail by fedex, UPS, etc use the house #307 Kyle SD 57752. She is in desperate need of food assistance and propane and you can use the info for propane and grocery companies above to pay for those items.

Donna Garnette
605-455-2527
605-441-7541
She has two grandchildren (Boy and girl), you can contact her for an address to offer assistance in clothes, etc for the children. She is in need of Propane and food assistance and you can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that.

Lilly Mae Red Eagle (age 88)
605-455-2612
Mailing address: P.O. Box 2, Kyle SD 57752
For propane delivery give House #HC2
She is in need of Propane and food assistance. You can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that. For deliveries by fedex, ups, etc use the house #HC2 Kyle SD 57752

Perlene Yellow Wolf (age 65 approx)
605-455-1458
She is in need of propane and food assistance. She lives with her daughter Crystal and three children. You can use the info above for both companies to assist them with that. They have a lot of problems with pipes freezing so if anyone in the immediate area could help with this that would be greatly appreciated.

May you be richly blessed for sharing your blessings with these elders and ensuring some relief to their suffering. Please help now as the need is immediate but please remember to help again in the future if you are able to as their needs are continual. Thank you in advance for sharing your love and helping these elders.

Raven Skye WinterHawk

A woman is like a tea bag: you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

US Marines End Role in Iraq

US Marines End Role in Iraq
http://www.military.com/news/article/us-marines-end-role-in-iraq.html?ESRC=marine.nl

January 23, 2010
Associated Press
RAMADI, Iraq - The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped nearly seven years in Iraq on Saturday, handing over duties to the Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan.

In Baghdad, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Iraqi leaders amid growing tensions over plans to ban election candidates because of suspected links to Saddam Hussein's regime.

The White House worries the bans could raise questions over the fairness of the March 7 parliamentary elections, which are seen as an important step in the American pullout timetable.

The Marines formally handed over control of Sunni-dominated Anbar, Iraq's largest province, to the Army during a ceremony at a base in Ramadi - where some of the fiercest fighting of the war took place.

For the most recent military news, visit the News Channel on Military.com.

If all goes as planned, the last remaining Marines will be followed out by tens of thousands of soldiers in the coming months. President Barack Obama has ordered all but 50,000 troops out of the country by Aug. 31, 2010, with most to depart after the March 7 parliamentary election.

The remaining troops will leave by the end of 2011 under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact.

But concerns about the success of the election - and perhaps the loss of hard won security gains that the Marines helped cement - are on the rise because of a growing political dispute that could see more than 500 candidates blacklisted because of suspected ties to previous regime.

The changeover at Ramadi, west of Baghdad, leaves the U.S. Army's 1st Armored Division with responsibility over both Baghdad and Anbar, the vast desert province that stretches from western Baghdad to the borders of Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

The province was once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that erupted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. In the battles for control of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, the Marines saw some of the most brutal and deadliest fighting of the war.

Violence began dropping off in the province in late 2006 when Sunni fighters - known as Awakening Councils - turned against al-Qaida and sided with the Marines to fight the insurgency.

As many as 25,000 Marines were in Iraq at the peak, mostly in Anbar province. The few thousand who remain - except for U.S. Embassy guards and advisers in Baghdad - are expected to ship out in a matter of weeks.

The upcoming parliamentary election is also considered an important step toward speeding the U.S. troop pullout. But plans to ban hundreds of candidates have raised deep concerns in Washington that the voting could widen rifts between the majority Shiites who gained power after Saddam's fall and Sunnis who are struggling to regain influence.

Biden, who arrived late Friday, had a full agenda of meetings with Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has strongly supported the blacklist.

Some Sunni leaders have accused the Shiite-led government of using the ban as a political tool. But al-Maliki insists that Iraq must purge all ties to Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime. A vetting panel has put 512 names on the blacklist and more are expected.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SCOTUS

SCOTUS
It is "We the people." It is not "We the corporations."

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court last week called this principle into play. The stunning decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission will allow special interests - including the nation's largest corporations - to spend an unlimited amount of money to influence political campaigns, drowning out the voice of the American people and rolling back decades of progress to ensure elections are fair.

Many Republicans applauded the decision. It's time to call them out.

Click here to sign our petition. Join Democrats in demanding that Republicans support legislation to reduce runaway corporate spending on elections. Powerful corporations should not be allowed to drown out the voice of the American people!
http://www.democratsenators.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=J7kWrWm9GBnd1CaOHKnXHnY7dPdZ8rKU
Republicans like to complain about "activist judges" who make law instead of interpreting it. That is, until they feel a decision will benefit them. Then they're all about pushing the "little people" aside for the interests of their deep-pocketed beneficiaries.

Even Sen. John McCain, who used to be a strong voice for reform, is rolling over on behalf of the special interests. Campaign finance reform is dead, he said. He's among Republicans refusing to fight.

This decision takes power away from the average person and hands it to corporations. Democrats know this is bad for our democracy. It's time to call Republicans out.

Click here to sign our petition. Join Democrats in demanding that Republicans support legislation to reduce runaway corporate spending on elections. Powerful corporations should not be allowed to drown out the voice of the American people!
http://www.democratsenators.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=J7kWrWm9GBnd1CaOHKnXHnY7dPdZ8rKU
Republicans need to know this: Corporations are not people. They don't deserve the same rights afforded to citizens. And elections must be decided by the voters, not the special interests with the most to spend. Anything else is simply undemocratic.

Sincerely,

Sen. Bob Menendez

Monday, January 25, 2010

S.C. Lt. Gov. Bauer likens people on public assistance to 'stray animals'

S.C. Lt. Gov. Bauer likens people on public assistance to 'stray animals'
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1443262.html
BY LEROY CHAPMAN JR.
THE STATE


South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer poses with actor Tom Cruise at a NASCAR race last year.
South Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said Saturday he could have chosen his words more carefully when he compared people who take public assistance to stray animals Friday.

But Bauer, in an interview with The State Saturday, said a furor over his comments doesn't change this fact: South Carolina needs to have an honest conversation about the cycle of government dependency among its poorest residents.

Bauer, a two-term Republican who is running for governor, said there are parents who are dependent upon the government for food and shelter, but who are unwilling to engage in their children's education. This, he said, robs children of a chance to break out of poverty.

And as a candidate for governor, Bauer said, now is the time to start talking about something that others are unwilling to tackle. Bauer said he wants to lead that conversation.

"Why shouldn't you have to do something?" Bauer asked of people receiving food stamps, free school lunches and public housing. "In government, we are too often giving a handout instead of a hand up."

Friday, Bauer said giving food to needy people means encouraging dependence. It also gives the recipients a license to have children who will also be dependent on public aid, he said.

"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told a Greenville-area crowd. "You know why? Because they breed.

"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

Those comments caused Democratic candidates running for governor and some lawmakers to question Bauer's faith, compassion and timing.

The state is enduring the nation's worst-ever recession. Bauer's comments came on the same day South Carolina reported its jobless rate is now 12.6 percent. State agencies are reporting more South Carolinians are tapping public assistance, as job creation is scant and job loss has remained robust.

"It amazes me how some Republican politicians claim a monopoly on Christianity and then go out and say and do some of the most un-Christian things imaginable," said Charleston attorney Mullins McLeod, who participated in a candidates forum in Columbia along with Bauer Saturday. "... Bauer's comments are despicable and the total opposite of the Christian values Bauer espouses."

Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw, said if there is anyone not taking responsibility, it's Bauer and his fellow Republicans. Sheheen, who is running for governor, noted the GOP has been in control while economic conditions in South Carolina have deteriorated and left more than 600,000 citizens jobless.

"The increase of people in our state who need jobs, food and shelter is a direct result of the failed policies of those who've controlled our state government for the past eight years," said Sheheen. "I am disgusted by these comments. They show an unbelievable lack of compassion toward the unemployed workers in our state who are hurting during these hard times."

Sen. Larry Martin, R-Pickens, said it's ironic that Bauer's comments appeared in The Greenville News next to an article about the state's jobless rate setting a new record.

In that article, Martin said, there was a jobless worker who talked about the indignity of a willing and able worker having to ask for food stamps. "People are hurting," Martin said.

State Education Superintendent Jim Rex, a Democrat who is also running for governor, said Bauer should apologize.

"If the intent of Lieutenant Governor Bauer's remarks was to blame children, who are not responsible for their own predicaments, or to blame adults, who want to work but cannot find jobs, it is regrettable," Rex said. "It is reprehensible that a statewide elected official would compare his fellow citizens to stray animals. He should apologize."

Bauer said he doesn't need to apologize. His comments, Bauer said, are not about hardships associated with the economy, but a culture of dependence that is there during good economic times.

He also said he wasn't advocating the abolition of the federal school-lunch program or any other government aid. Bauer said he wants the state to rethink how those programs are administered.

"This is out of love and compassion," Bauer said. "If I have to take a hit, then fine. ... I will take short-term pain for long-term gain."

Read more at TheState.com

Dangerous Vaccine and Over The Counter Drug Recalls

Dangerous Vaccine and Over The Counter Drug Recalls

Recall: Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine - Lot Numbers UT023DA, UT028CB, UT028DA, and UT030CA


http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/Recalls/ucm195333.htm

Field Correction of Influenza A (H1N1) 2009 Monovalent Vaccine Live, Intranasal Expiration Dating
http://www.fda.gov/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/Recalls/ucm197777.htm

Dangerous Drug Recalls:
(Note: If you click on the PDF link at the bottom, it gives a detail list, including children's over the counter medicines.)

Safety
Recall -- Firm Press Release
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm197746.htm

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.



McNeil Consumer Healthcare Announces Voluntary Recall of Certain Over-The-Counter (OTC) Products in the Americas, UAE, and Fiji


Consumer Contact:
1-888-222-6036
Mon-Fri 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. EST, and Sat-Sun 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST

Media Contact:
Marc Boston
215-273-7649 (office)
215-429-7034 (mobile)
Bonnie Jacobs
215-273-8994 (office)
856-912-9965 (mobile)
Teresa Panas
908-904-3198 (office)
973-216-8118 (mobile)



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - January 15, 2010 - Fort Washington, PA – In consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Division of McNEIL-PPC, Inc., is voluntarily recalling certain lots of OTC products in the Americas, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Fiji (FULL RECALLED PRODUCT LIST BELOW). The company is initiating this recall following an investigation of consumer reports of an unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odor that, in a small number of cases, was associated with temporary and non-serious gastrointestinal events. These include nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, or diarrhea. This precautionary action is voluntary and has been taken in consultation with the FDA.

Based on this investigation, McNeil Consumer Healthcare has determined that the reported uncharacteristic smell is caused by the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA). This can result from the breakdown of a chemical that is sometimes applied to wood that is used to build wood pallets that transport and store product packaging materials. The health effects of this chemical have not been well studied but no serious events have been documented in the medical literature. A small number of the product lots being recalled were associated with the complaints of an unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odor, and some of these lots were found to contain trace amounts of TBA. In December 2009, McNeil Consumer Healthcare also recalled all lots of TYLENOL® Arthritis Pain 100 count with EZ-OPEN CAP related to this issue. McNeil Consumer Healthcare has now applied broader criteria to identify and remove all product lots that it believes may have the potential to be affected, even if they have not been the subject of consumer complaints.

In addition to the product recall, McNeil Consumer Healthcare is continuing their investigation into this issue and is taking further actions that include ceasing shipment of products produced using materials shipped on these wood pallets and requiring suppliers who ship materials to our plants to discontinue the use of these pallets. We will continue to closely monitor and evaluate the situation and consult with the FDA.

Consumers who purchased product from the lots included in this recall should stop using the product and contact McNeil Consumer Healthcare for instructions on a refund or replacement. For these instructions or information regarding how to return or dispose of the product, consumers should log on to the internet at www.mcneilproductrecall.com or call 1-888-222-6036 (Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern Time, and Saturday-Sunday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time). Consumers who have medical concerns or questions should contact their healthcare provider. Any adverse reactions may also be reported to the FDA’s MedWatch Program by fax at 1-800-FDA-0178, by mail at MedWatch, FDA, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787, or on the MedWatch website atwww.fda.gov/medwatch.

The affected product lot numbers for the recalled products can be found on the side of the bottle label.

McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division of McNeil-PPC, Inc. markets a broad range of well-known and trusted over-the-counter (OTC) products.

FULL RECALLED PRODUCT LIST (PDF - 179.38 KB)

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Safety/Recalls/UCM197813.pdf



RSS Feed for FDA Recalls Information [what's this?]

http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds/Recalls/rss.xml

“Citizens United” for More Corporate Power

“Citizens United” for More Corporate Power
by Joseph Palermo posted on Monday, 25 January 2010

http://www.laprogressive.com/law-and-the-justice-system/citizens-united-corporate-power/
Photobucket
With the Supreme Court ruling by the “Fabulous Five,” Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a single corporation will be able tap into its deep pockets and disfranchise a million citizens. A group calling itself “Citzens United” has just won a fight to give huge corporations more control over our politics. Even the 1886 “ruling,” Santa Clara Co. v. Southern Pacific, that established a corporation as “a person” was fraudulent. Now these fictive “persons” have been granted more political rights than real human beings. What’s to stop these conglomerates from using their vast stores of cash to implant their servants at every level of municipal, state, and federal government?

It’s unfortunate that influential commentators, such as the New York Times’ David Kirkpatrick, are blind to the grave implications of Citizens United v. FEC. Whether Kirkpatrick and others at the highest echelons of American punditry understand it or not the fact is that the next ten to twelve years promise to be a turning point in American democracy unless some drastic civic action is taken to blunt the effects of this egregious example of Far Right judicial activism. “Polls have shown that relatively few people understand or are even aware of the campaign finance rules,” Kirkpatrick writes, and “some politicians say reformers . . . are unrealistic about how money and politicians mix.” Kirkpatrick’s point: Just go to sleep people — nothing to see here. This over-reaching, game-changing Supreme Court ruling won’t adversely affect anything. No worries.

Corporations are immortal. They don’t need health care, or minimum wages, or pensions, or food stamps. They don’t raise children and have families. They have no morality or ethics other than maximizing their profits. They are sociopathic.

One example of corporate sociopathology from the dawn of our corporation-loving era involves the Reagan Administration’s deregulatory zeal and the pharmaceutical industry. Beginning as far back as the 1960s medical studies had shown a link between the use of aspirin, to relieve the symptoms of childhood diseases such as chicken pox, with the potential to develop Reye’s syndrome, a disease that can cause severe damage to the liver, brain, and other organs, as well as death. For years pediatricians had been warning parents not to give their children aspirin when they had chicken pox or other viral infections. In 1981, the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) decided to alert consumers to the danger, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) followed suit, citing a “consensus of the scientific experts” calling for new warning labels on children’s aspirin. The pharmaceutical industry responded by funding an astroturf group called the “Committee on the Care of Children” that launched an aggressive public lobbying campaign against the new rule. On November 18, 1982, Reagan’s HSS Secretary, Richard Schweiker, withdrew the labeling mandate saying the idea had been “premature.”

The battle over the warning labels continued until 1986 when the Reagan Administration finally capitulated to public pressure and imposed the new regulation. In 1980, there had been 555 reported cases of Reye’s syndrome, but the year after the labeling requirement went into effect there were only thirty-six. A study by the National Academy of Sciences and the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley found that of the hundreds of children who died of Reye’s syndrome between 1981 and 1986, 1,470 could have been saved if aspirin had been properly labeled. “These 1,470 deaths were especially tragic,” the report concluded, “because they were, typically, healthy children who never recovered from the viral infection of chicken pox.” Here is but one example of corporations willing to kill American children just to save a few pennies on each bottle of aspirin by not printing new warning labels.

And there are countless other examples of corporations egregiously violating societal norms and humane conduct that far exceed the level of damage that an individual citizen could ever cause, such as when Big Coal chews up rural communities with “mountain top removal” mining; or theMcWayne foundry brutalizes its workers; or Cargill uses meat processing subcontractors that spread E. coli across the country; or Nestlé’s rips off Sacramento’s municipal water supply in a time of drought; or Wal-Mart and other “big box” stores obliterate main street America; or Blackwater and Haliburton profiteer from war; or media conglomerates function as corporate propaganda ministries; or Aetna and other health insurance giants prey on the American people like vultures; or ExxonMobil and the energy monopolies flaunt environmental laws and gouge consumers; or the financial services companies bring down the American economy and trade derivatives based on life insurance policies betting that Americans are going to die sooner than later; and so on, and on, and on.



Today, we have levels of inequality worse than the Gilded Age and the “trusts” are bigger, more powerful, and possess a global reach that is greater than ever. The corporations have already given the country years of disastrous public policy. The health care fiasco shows their power to pull the strings in Congress. And George W. Bush’s Supreme Court drops enormous new political powers in the laps of these corporate behemoths? So much for Chief Justice John Roberts’ promises during his confirmation hearing to respect stare decisis. Just when you think our politics couldn’t get worse you get surprised again.

Joseph Palermo

Originally published by the Huffington Post. Reprinted with permission from the author

Today on Just Peace: "Guantanamo" with Attorney John Chandler

Today on Just Peace: "Guantanamo" with Attorney John Chandler
Just Peace
Mondays, 6pm - 7pm EST ----- WRFG 89.3 FM
http://www.wrfg.org/features/shows/shows-desc.asp?showid=36

Today on Just Peace we will talk attorney John Chandler about his 6 clients in Guantanano, their fate, the status of their cases and other questionable issues around the Guantanamo prison.

We also will ask Chandler why Guantanamo is now being referred to as “The Death Camp” and under scrutiny by some in the press around the deaths of inmates in 2006 – the official version is suicide, but new information has revealed quite the opposite. These young men (2 from Saudi Arabia and one from Yemen), according to whistle blowers were murdered in Guantanamo’s own “black hole” or “Camp No” with questions about CIA involvement. Here is the link for the upcoming article about this issues by Scott Horton in Harpers ‘The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle’

Finally, we will briefly talk with attorney Chandler about the recent Supreme Court decision reversing 100 years of jurisprudence and legislation in efforts to restrict corporate interference in federal elections.

John Chandler is an attorney with Atlanta’s King & Spalding – see his biographical information below.

On the fourth Monday of each month we on Just Peace will talk with attorneys on some of the critical legal issues facing our communities. You are welcome to call in to the studio in the latter part of the interview to ask questions. The phone number into the studio is 404 523 8989.
--
Heather Gray & Nadia Ali, Ph.D.
Co-producers, Just Peace
WRFG 89.3 FM
www.wrfg.org
John A. Chandler
John Chandler is a senior litigation partner in King & Spalding’s Atlanta office with more than 36 years of trial experience. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a member of the American Law Institute.

Mr. Chandler has served as President of the Atlanta Bar Association, the Atlanta Council of Younger Lawyers, the Atlanta Legal Aid Society, The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, Travelers Aid of Metropolitan Atlanta, Chair of the Fulton County Ethics Board and Chair of the City of Atlanta Board of Ethics. He was a member of the Board of Governors of the State Bar of Georgia for 20 years. He is also a member of the International Association of Defense Counsel, Past President of the Bleckley American Inn of Court, a Master of the Lumpkin American Inn of Court, a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences, a Trustee of the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Mr. Chandler is the recipient of the Atlanta Bar Association’s Charles E. Watkins, Jr., Distinguished and Sustained Service Award; the Atlanta Bar Association’s Leadership Award and the Anti-Defamation League’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Mr. Chandler is recognized in Chambers USA America’s Leading Business Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in America and International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. He is listed as a “Georgia Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine in the area of Litigation and has been named to Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite” in each of their publications. He has been chosen as a “Bet the Company Litigator” by the American Lawyer in 2007 and 2008.


Tune in and join the conversation! You can also listen on the web by going to our home page (http://www.wrfg.org/) and clicking on the "Listen Live" icon on the righthand side of the page. For more information about Just Peace, check outhttp://www.wrfg.org/features/shows/shows-desc.asp?showid=36.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

American Indian remains found at sports complex site

American Indian remains found at sports complex site
http://annistonstar.com/pages/full_story/push?content_instance=5625250&secure_comments=true&need_to_add=true&id=5625250#cb_post_comment_5625250








by Dan Whisenhunt and Patrick McCreless
Staff WritersJan 21, 2010 | 2777 views | 25 | 54 | |

Harry Holstein, Jacksonville State University professor of archaeology and anthropology, holds a topographic map of the new Oxford Recreation Complex while standing where the indian mounds were. Photo: Stephen Gross/The Anniston Star

Alabama's state archaeologist said Thursday that crews building Oxford's multi-million-dollar sports complex uncovered American Indian remains at the site.

Stacye Hathorn, the state archaeologist who works for the Alabama Historical Commission, said University of Alabama archaeologists contacted her around Jan. 8 with their findings.

"UA called, said they found a body, said it was Native American, said it was reburied and the site is being avoided," Hathorn said.

She said the call was the only one she had received about remains at the site. UA officials have been monitoring construction of the sports complex since it began last year. Hathorn would not provide a detailed description of what the archaeologists found or the specific location of the site because she did not want anyone to go looking for it.

Earlier this week, Jacksonville State University professor of archaeology and anthropology Harry Holstein said the site at the historic Davis Farm adjacent to the sports complex site in Oxford contained remnants of an American Indian village and the 3-foot-high base of a once 30-foot-high temple mound. He says the mound may have contained human remains. The Davis Farm property and the sports complex site are both part of an area archaeologists believe was once a large American Indian village site.

Holstein said the 3-foot mound has vanished, but the city claims it is still intact and hasn't been disturbed. A reporter visited the site this week and found no evidence of the mound.

When told of the archaeologist's discovery at the sports complex site Thursday, Holstein felt vindicated.

"I knew it," he said.

Holstein believes the Davis Farm property and adjacent site is associated with a mysterious stone mound across Leon Smith Parkway behind the Oxford Exchange.

Last year, a contractor hired by the city's Commercial Development Authority attempted to demolish that mound to use dirt underneath as fill dirt for a Sam's Club under construction. After protests from local residents and activists, the destruction stopped and a private landowner said the city started purchasing fill dirt from his property.

City officials claimed that stone mound was the result of natural forces.

Holstein and others, including UA archaeologists who produced a city-financed report on the mound, concluded it was likely man-made. Holstein believes that mound also may contain human remains.

City project manager Fred Denney still maintains the site behind the Oxford Exchange is unimportant, and said Thursday he had no knowledge of the discovery at the sports complex site.

He said the UA archaeologists were supposed to prepare a full report on their activities, which they would submit to the city at a later date. He said he did not know when the report would be completed.

"(The archaeologists) told us they've got people looking," Denney said.

Denney said the archaeologists are supposed to inform the Alabama Historical Commission if they find anything.

Denney said he and the city did not want to disturb any kind of remains at Davis Farm or any other site.

"We are not going to be a party to destroying a body that's been buried," Denney said. "The mayor backs that 100 percent."

When a reporter called Mayor Leon Smith for his reaction, he said he did not know anything about the discovery and accused The Star of trying to chase business away from Oxford. Then he hung up.

Denney said if he receives confirmation that human remains were discovered at Davis Farm, the city would alter its construction plans so as not to disturb them.

"Yes, we'd absolutely alter them," Denney said. "I would not be a part of altering a burial site."

Councilwoman June Land Reaves said she had not heard about the discovery and said she was upset when she learned Thursday about the disappearance of the mound on the Davis Farm site. She said the construction contract for the sports complex dictates crews would avoid "culturally sensitive" areas. She said she wanted a barrier around these sites to let visitors to the complex know about the history of the area.

"If they've actually found something we definitely need to be more careful," she said.

The news of the discovery took Councilman Phil Gardner by surprise.

"This is the first I've heard of finding remains," Gardner said. "I knew they'd found some arrow heads and pottery. They were supposed to have staked it off or fenced it off."

Councilman Steven Waits said he wanted to know what part of the site contained the remains and read the UA report before he would comment.

Attempts to reach other City Council members Thursday were unsuccessful.

Other Issues & News 01/24/2010

Other Issues & News 01/24/2010

Dropping aboriginal affairs minister is a step back says native leader
TORONTO - Premier Dalton McGuinty's decision to turn aboriginal issues into a part-time cabinet job is a "step backwards" for his government and its relationship with First Nations, aboriginal leaders said Tuesday.

Attorney General Chris Bentley took over the post Monday during a cabinet shuffle that saw Brad Duguid elevated to energy and infrastructure after a year and a half as aboriginal affairs minister.

It sends the wrong message to First Nations that are grappling with high suicide rates, economic hardship and long-standing treaty disputes, said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, who represents 49 communities in Ontario.

"We are disappointed that the premier doesn't see aboriginal issues worthy of having a stand-alone minister," he said Tuesday.

Ontario's aboriginal minister shouldn't go back to being a "part-timer," said Grand Chief Randall Phillips of the Association of Iroquois and Allied Indians.

Creating a stand-alone ministry has helped both sides to "manoeuvre through some old hard lines" and find new ways of doing business, he added.

"Time will tell whether or not our fears are justified, it just depends on how much time and effort Minister Bentley is prepared to put forward on this," Phillips said.

"But like I said, I can still see the challenge right now, because you can't have two high-profile topics and then give them the time that they both need."

Having a minister dedicated to aboriginal issues was as key recommendation of the inquiry into the death of native protester Dudley George, who was shot in 1995 by police in Ipperwash Provincial Park.

Murray Klippenstein, the lawyer for the late Sam George - Dudley's brother - has also panned McGuinty's move, saying it would have upset and "saddened" his former client, who was instrumental in pushing for a public inquiry.

Provincial relations with First Nations have been moving in the right direction and pulling back from the inquiry's advice now could derail those efforts, said Ontario Regional Chief Angus Toulouse.

"It's unfortunate that we're having to have the kind of discussion of, 'Is government still wanting to resolve many of the outstanding issues?"' he added.

"It's a question that comes out only because the feeling that the priority that we thought we had in dealing with the many issues may be perceived as not being there anymore, because we have a minister that has two sets of different priorities."

The dual role could also put Bentley in a "difficult" position with First Nations, particularly if he's overseeing Crown lawyers responsible for prosecuting aboriginal protesters in court.

"The question and the concern that First Nation leadership has is, how is he going to manage these situation where he is in this dual role where we're adversaries, so to speak?" he said.

There will be no conflict in juggling both portfolios, Bentley vowed.

"We won't let it," he said in an interview. "They are separate ministries. I have separate responsibilities and they will be treated very much as that."

Bentley said he's already "hit the ground running" with his new job and has scheduled meetings this week with aboriginal leaders.

"I've thrown myself into this with all the energy I can muster," he said. "I'm going to pick up where Brad has passed the torch on, and we're going to continue the momentum."

The premier, who created a separate Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs after the 2007 election, has defended the move, saying the two ministries wouldn't be merged.

"There is one minister who is taking responsibility for both separate ministries and I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Chris Bentley," McGuinty said Monday.

By dividing the minister's attention, McGuinty is putting pressing issues such as aboriginal health care, infrastructure and revenue-sharing on the backburner, said NDP critic Gilles Bisson.

"I think it sends a message to First Nations that the government is not going to be taking these issues as seriously as they should, and at a time when these communities are very impoverished and they're trying to get themselves a little bit ahead of the curve," he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Thoughts... we need to take action soon or we'll have nothing left for our future generations
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NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN LAW STUDENTS ASSOCIATION
MOOT COURT COMPETITION
and
NALSA INDIAN LAW/SOUTH DAKOTA LAW REVIEW SYMPOSIUM
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF LAW
Vermillion, South Dakota
February 18-20, 2010
Sponsorship Opportunity
On February 18-20, the University of South Dakota School of Law will host the nation’s pre-eminent Indian Law event. It will include the National Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) Moot Court Competition, the foremost annual Indian law academic competition. The competition will be conducted in conjunction with a scholarly symposium co-sponsored by the South Dakota Law Review and the USD NALSA chapter and with the biennial Dillon Lecture on Indian law. The symposium represents the first time the annual Law Review Symposium has been combined with the NALSA Indian Law Symposium. The latter has been held biennially for more than two decades, making it the longest-running Indian law symposium in the nation. The Dillon Lecture is one of the Law School’s three major scholarly lectures; it is held biennially in conjunction with the Indian Law Symposium and features a major national speaker on Indian law.

Student teams from across the country will compete in the National NALSA Moot Court Competition. Teams from 55 schools have already registered, including teams from the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of California-Berkeley, University of Colorado, Columbia University, Gonzaga University, University of Hawaii, University of Iowa, Kansas University, Lewis & Clark University, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of New Mexico, University of North Dakota, University of Oklahoma, Stanford University, University of Tulsa, UCLA, University of Wisconsin, and William Mitchell College of Law. Many schools are sending multiple teams; for example, Columbia has registered six teams. The current registration represents a 25% increase over the number of teams that participated in last year’s competition in Boulder, Colorado.

The appellate problem for the competition has been drafted by USD Professor Frank Pommersheim, an internationally recognized Indian law expert who sits on several tribal supreme courts. It will involve issues of free exercise of religion in Indian Country. Judges for the Moot Court Competition will include members of the tribal, federal, and state judiciary and lawyers with expertise in Indian law.

The Dillon Lecture will be presented by Professor Matthew Fletcher (Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), Director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center of the Michigan State University College of Law. Professor Fletcher is a co-author of the leading national casebook on federal Indian law and a judge and consultant to tribal supreme courts.
The NALSA Indian Law/South Dakota Law Review Symposium will recognize the 20th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Employment Division v. Smith. The Smith case involved the use of peyote by members of the Native American Church and has become one of the Supreme Court’s most important interpretations of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. In addition to Professor Fletcher, panelists will include Professor Marci Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University; Professor Mark Kende, James Madison Chair in Constitutional Law and Director, Constitutional Law Center, Drake University Law School; and Professor Christopher Lund, Mississippi College School of Law.
The overall coordinator of the National NALSA Moot Court Competition is Lonnie Wright (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), a second-year law student. Lonnie is the president of the USD NALSA chapter and a member of the National NALSA board of directors.
The Moot Court Competition website, signage, and participant materials will feature original artwork by Donald Montileaux, an award-winning Oglala Lakota artist. In 1995, one of his works of art orbited the earth 262 times in the payload of the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
The Friday night dinner for the Moot Court Competition competitors and judges will feature hoop dancing by famed performer Jackie Bird (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota) and members of her family. She has performed around the world and was once honored by a Montana Crow tribal member after a performance with the gift of a Crow name that is translated as "One Who Makes the People Smile."

Sponsorship donations will be used for the expenses of the National NALSA Moot Court Competition and NALSA Indian Law/South Dakota Law Review Symposium, including the original Donald Montileaux artwork and permission to use it for the Moot Court Competition materials; a graduate assistantship for Lonnie Wright as coordinator; additional staff support; honoraria for the Dillon Lecturer and Symposium panelists; travel expenses for Symposium speakers and Moot Court judges; meals for judges and competitors, including the Jackie Bird family program for the Friday night dinner and a Saturday night awards banquet; awards and prizes; and miscellaneous supplies and facilities cleaning costs. Any donations in excess of the expenses will be added to the NALSA scholarship endowment, which provides scholarship assistance to tribally enrolled students who attend the University of South Dakota School of Law.

Sponsorships will be reported in the following categories: Prime Sponsor, $25,000; Major Sponsor, $20,000-24,999; Sponsor, $15,000-19,999; Benefactor, $10,000-14,999; Supporter, $5,000-9,999; Friend, $1,000-4,999. Sponsors may combine their donations, at their discretion, in order to be reported in a particular sponsorship category. Different type sizes will be used to distinguish the sponsors at the different levels in the programs and signs. Announcements mentioning the sponsors will also indicate the levels of sponsorship.
Sponsors will be recognized in the programs for the Dillon Lecture, the NALSA Indian Law/South Dakota Law Review Symposium, and the National NALSA Moot Court Competition. Sponsors will also be recognized on the websites of the School of Law (www.usd.edu/law) and the National NALSA Moot Court Competition (www.usdnalsa.org/). During the events, there will also be prominent signage and announcements recognizing the sponsors.
Barry R. Vickrey
Dean & Professor
January 12, 2010

Copyright (C) 2009 State Bar of South Dakota - All rights reserved.

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Native leaders are disappointed in McGuinty
When Premier Dalton McGuinty gave aboriginal affairs a dedicated minister in 2007, he said the issues were so important they required full-time attention. Now he has put the ministry under the wing of Attorney General Chris Bentley, already fully occupied. Does that mean the pressing issues have been resolved?

Far from it. The battles over mining in Ontario's vast north are intensifying, there are ongoing problems with land claims, and poverty and despair overwhelm many First Nations communities.

And yet, Bentley, who among other things is struggling to reduce court backlogs and end a legal aid boycott by defence lawyers, is now expected to take responsibility for all this and "build new economic opportunities for aboriginal people in Ontario." Tall order indeed.

Predictably, native leaders are disappointed that McGuinty does not see their issues as "worthy" of a dedicated minister.

For his part, Bentley says he can handle the job and has "a lot of listening to do." The risk, though, is that native leaders may wonder why they should bother talking. Michael Bryant was aboriginal affairs minister for just 11 months before being shuffled out. Brad Duguid held the post a bit longer – 16 months – before being moved out this week. Given this revolving door, will Bentley even be around long enough to meet with all the players?

This is all the more disappointing because, to date, McGuinty has made substantial efforts to improve the government's relationship with First Nations. It would be a shame if this latest move undermined that positive momentum.

Shortly after giving aboriginal affairs its first full-time minister, McGuinty said he had thought of assuming the role himself to show its "seriousness" but decided not to "because it was too much work for me to do it justice." If the premier can't handle this portfolio with his other duties, why does he think the attorney general can?
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 21, 2010
Contact: Perry H. Chesnut
pchesnut@indigenous-rights.org
425-770-7345

Modocs Seeking to Form Government Separate from the Klamath Tribes Set Second Meeting:
Will Discuss Economic Development, Tribal Membership Requirements and Ancestral Land Base
_______________

An informational meeting for Modoc Indians interested in the movement to dissolve the Modoc Tribe’s political relationship with the Klamath Tribes will be held between the hours of 6:30pm and 9:00pm on the evening of Friday, January 29, 2010 at the Commissioners Hearing Room of the Klamath County Government Center located at 305 Main St. in Klamath Falls, Oregon. Entrance to the building will be by the door coming off the rear parking lot on Pine St.

A previous meeting held in the same location on October 9th of last year drew approximately 30 Modocs. Perry Chesnut, an adopted member of the Modoc Tribe, stated that it was time to end 136 years of subservience to the Klamath Indians, and said that the only practical way to preserve the Modoc Tribe’s unique ethnic and cultural identity, and protect and advance the Modoc People’s political and economic interests is to set up their own government, separate from that of the current Klamath tribal government. He presented a document titled Declaration of the Rights of the Free and Sovereign People of the Modoc Indian Tribe (Mowatocknie Maklaksûm), which enumerates in 46 articles the natural, political and human rights of the Modoc People. Since that meeting, a number of “Declaration Bearers” have been circulating the document within the Modoc Tribe and gathering signatures for its ratification.

The upcoming meeting on Friday, January 29th, is open to all who wish to learn more about the separation movement and the opportunities it presents to the Modoc People.

M. Sean Manion, a Modoc Indian who is a civil engineer and has spent the last seven years in Iraq managing various rebuilding projects, will present an economic development model that has proven to be very successful for Arab tribes in Iraq. Mr. Manion states that the economic development model is especially well-suited to tribal entities and believes that it can be implemented successfully by the Modoc Tribe to create large tribally owned enterprises as well as smaller business ventures owned by individual tribal members. Mr. Manion will also speak to the issue of eligibility for tribal membership, contrasting the blood quantum standard now used by the Klamath tribal government with the lineal descent standard to which more tribes are now turning.

Perry Chesnut will speak about the opportunity for developing a large casino resort complex and present an architectural rendering of such a casino resort prepared by David P. Soderstrom of Soderstrom Architects, a Portland Oregon architectural firm. He will also present a map of the Modoc Tribe’s ancestral lands ceded to the government in the Lakes Treaty of 1864 and discuss the many opportunities for economic development presented by the five national forests included in these lands and by the potential restoration of the vast wetlands that constituted Lower Klamath Lake, Tule Lake and Clear Lake prior to the extensive “reclamation” projects of the early 1900s.

An extensive period of time has been set aside for questions and answers following the presentations of Mr. Manion and Mr. Chesnut. Declaration Signature Sheets will also be available for those who wish to ratify the Declaration with their signatures. Those who wish to circulate the Declaration can obtain a signature sheet from Mr. Chesnut after the meeting.

The Commissioners Hearing Room has a seating capacity of 70, so those wishing to sit should come early.
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House approves update to Indian Arts and Crafts Act
Posted by: "Shirl4116@aol.com" Shirl4116@aol.com shirl4116
Thu Jan 21, 2010 5:47 am (PST)



House approves update to Indian Arts and Crafts Act
Thursday, January 21, 2010

The _House_ (http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.house.gov/) passed
_H.R. 725_
(http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.00725:) , the Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act of
2009, by a voice vote on Wednesday.
The _Indian Arts and Crafts Act_
(http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.doi.gov/iacb/act.html) of 1990 requires products that are marketed as
"Indian" to be produced by an Indian artisan or a tribe. Under the law, only
the _FBI_ (http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.fbi.gov/) can
investigate suspected violations of the law.
H.R.725 expands the law by authorizing "any" federal law enforcement
officer to investigate. That could include officers with the _Bureau of Indian
Affairs_ (http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.bia.gov/) .
The _Senate_ (http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.senate.gov/)
passed _S.151_
(http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:s.00151:) , its version of the bill, in July by unanimous
consent. The House version is slightly different, as Republicans pointed out
yesterday, and the two bills will have to be reconciled before being signed
into law by _President Barack Obama_
(http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://www.whitehouse.gov/) .
Related Stories:
_Audio: House Resources Committee opens markup_
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017812.asp) (12/16)
_House panel to consider Indian arts, Hawaiian bill _
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017786.asp) (12/15)
_Markup session includes Indian Arts and Crafts Act _
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017706.asp) (12/9)
_Audio: House hearing on Indian Arts and Crafts Act _
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017620.asp) (12/2)
_Witness List: House hearing on Indian Arts and Crafts _
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017592.asp) (12/1)
_House Resources hearing on Indian Arts and Crafts _
(http://64.38.12.138/News/2009/017553.asp) (11/30)

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Ohlone Nation Fights to Save Ancestral Homeland
New America Media, News report/, R.M. Arrieta, Posted: Jan 21, 2010

http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=781be13cccb6f5ac6b84abea9e8a632c

San Francisco and much of the Bay Area is the ancestral homeland of the Ohlone nation.

Their ancestors lie in the land here. Remnants of their villages can be found deep beneath the soil. The blood runs deep. They have lived in the Bay Area for more than 10,000 years according to carbon-dated artifacts.

Early on, the Ohlone were included in the roster of federally recognized Indians. But, as has happened to many tribes, on a whim and with the stroke of a pen, they were crossed off the list in 1927.

Almost 75 years later, in 2003, San Francisco recognized the Muwekma Ohlone as the First People of San Francisco. The Muwekma Ohlone remain embroiled in afederal lawsuit with the United States for federal recognition.

Their burial sites and ancient villages were documented by archeologist Nels Nelson in the early 20th century. Now, according to a draft Environmental Impact Report, a plan is underway to build on top of those sacred sites as part of the Candlestick Point/Hunter’s Point Shipyard Phase II Project being developed by Lennar Corporation.

Members of the seven bands of the Ohlone tribe say they were never contacted or consulted about the giant 700-acre development project in San Francisco –parts of which will be built over Ohlone villages and burial grounds.

The Ohlone nation is calling for an extension of the public comment period for the project’s draft Environmental Impact Report. The public comment period was to have ended Tuesday, Jan 12. But the extension has not been granted.

Ohlone members say they should have been contacted about the plan according to state law. Senate Bill 18, “Protection of Traditional Tribal Cultural Places” approved in 2005, requires cities and counties to contact and consult with California Native American tribes before adopting or amending a general plan or when designating land as “open space.” The general plan for this project was amended in 2006.

In a letter to city officials, Ohlone tribal members stated that “the SF Planning Department failed to contact our people or provide any notice with regard to the Draft Environmental Report or commencement of the public hearing period.”

“We don’t know why we have been overlooked,” the letter continued. “We are concerned that the Planning Department has made a decision to deliberately exclude us and disenfranchise our people … more sites are expected to be discovered during construction.”

But Michael Cohen, director of Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Economic and Workforce Development office, says that according to the City Attorney, there’s no legal requirement to consult with Native American tribes in this case.

“The City Attorney said that the law does not apply,” said Cohen. “However, we actually have done and will continue to do outreach and consultation anyway. We had already previously sent notice to the federal agencies that are responsible for coordinating that kind of comment and will be in the coming weeks and months doing that consultation even though its not legally required.”

If, as Cohen says, the federal agency was indeed contacted, “they don’t consider it their responsibility to do the outreach. They consider it the local agencies’ responsibility,” said Neil MacLean of the Ohlone Profiles Project, which documents the ongoing lives of Ohlone leaders.

MacLean said the federal agency simply provides the list of tribal members to be contacted and that the inquiring agency--in this case, the Planning Department--is responsible for notifying the tribal members.

According to Mat Snyder with the SF Planning Dept., SB18 does not pertain to Native Americans in this land issue. “We’ve been advised that because we’re a charter city we’re technically not subject to SB18,” said Snyder. A charter city is a city in which the governing system is defined by the city's own charter document rather than by state, provincial, regional or national laws.

“We’re going to reach out to them and offer them an opportunity for consultation,” Snyder added. “We just want to hear what their concerns are and how we can address them. I hope to have a letter out this week and offer them the opportunity.”

Madeleine Licavoli, Clerk of the Board of Supervisor’s Office, explained that a charter city is governed by its own charter document rather than state, provential, regional or national laws. "San Francisco is a charter city. Its charter was adopted by a majority of the voters as are all amendments to the charter."

Matt Dorsey, spokesperson with the City Attorney’s office, said that City Attorney Dennis Herrera could not publicly comment on the decision. “In this case,” he explained, “when we are giving legal advice to a policy client or policy maker or department head, we have to defer to the policy maker or department head. In the same way that you hire a lawyer to defend you, your lawyer shouldn’t be out there making pronouncements.”

“Because of the chaos with the federal recognition [of the Ohlone nation], the state came forward with their own law and that law is SB18. Now it appears the city is saying they don’t even really have to obey that,” said MacLean. “It may be that by pulling and twisting in that way, the city can avoid actual legal fault – but in terms of good faith negotiation, its very clear its just manipulating dates.”

The draft EIR addresses the second phase of the development project, which calls for more than 10,000 housing units, a hotel, an amphitheater, commercial businesses, a marina slip and more. A storm of controversy has surrounded the project, with questions over the toxicity of the land, and static over the more than 4,000-page draft EIR that was released just before Thanksgiving, drawing numerous calls to extend the public comment period.

On Jan. 12, members of the Ohlone Nation delivered letters to Mayor Gavin Newsom, San Francisco supervisors and City Attorney Dennis Herrera asking for the extension so that Ohlone input could be included.

These tribal members, who are listed with the Native American Heritage Commission, must be given 45 days to prepare comments after being notified, according to SB18.

Educator and Native American artist Kim Shuck said, “They are expected to contact a group of people who’ve been designated as the ‘most likely descendants,’ and none of them got contacted. Rosemary Cambra, Ann Marie Sayers, they didn’t know, they weren’t told and basically, the upshot is they were trying to sneak this past. There’s really no question about that.”

She added, “The reason this is personally offensive is because I’ve been hauled down to City Hall on more than one occasion and sat in the room with the mayor and had him say, ‘Well, we want to make sure that we’re doing right by the Native people in the city of San Francisco.’”

Ohlone Chairperson Ann Marie Sayers said in a statement that, “The sites affected by the development are extremely significant and believed to be burial or ceremonial sites. In addition to protecting these sites, we want to work with the local community to protect their health, the land, and the fragile bay marine environment.”

“There are at least four known sites they are going to be working on and there are at least 16 others including shell mound sites in the area,” said Corrina Gould of Indian People Organizing for Change. “Shell mounds are the cemeteries of my ancestors and they are considered sacred sites. We wouldn’t desecrate a cemetery. Just because there are no headstones doesn’t mean the shell mounds are less sacred.”

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Cherokee Phoenix Weekly Newsletter

http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/

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JOIN TOGETHER WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010 AT NOON TO TELL THE US EPA:

We Demand Environmental Justice and an End to Environmental Racism, from Kettleman City to Bayview Hunters Point and all of our Communities!

On January 27, we will join with residents of Kettleman City, Bayview Hunters Point and many other communities and environmental justice organizations to call on the new national and regional administrators of USEPA to uphold environmental justice. Now is the time for USEPA to start protecting people, not polluters, and start complying with their environmental justice mandates and commitments.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 27, 2010, 12 NOON -- US EPA OFFICE75 Hawthorne St., between Folsom/Howard and 2nd/3rd Streets, San Francisco (Montgomery Street BART/MUNI exit)

Co-sponsored by: Asian Pacific Environmental Network * Association of Irritated Residents * Californians for Pesticide Reform * Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment * Central California Environmental Justice Network * Chinese Progressive Association * Communities for a Better Environment * El Pueblo Para El Aire y Agua Limpio/People for Clean Air and Water * Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives * Global Community Monitor * Global Exchange * Grayson Neighborhood Council * Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice * Healthy San Leandro * Huntersview Mothers Committee * New Midway Village Relocation Group * PODER * POWER * Rainforest Action Network * Soldout National Samoan Christian Center * Stop Lennar Action Movement * West County Toxics Coalition CONTACT * United Native Americans * GREENACTION FOR MORE INFORMATION (415) 248-5010 x 101 greenaction@greenaction.org www.greenaction.org



United Native Americans, Inc




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outh Georgia Riverkeepers Host Mountaintop Removal Road Show January 25 - 28
After seeing Kayford Mountain in West Virginia get blown up for coal, Dave Cooper decided to devote himself to stopping mountaintop removal. Dave will be traveling through south Georgia in late January, presenting the Mountaintop Removal Road Show.

This issue is vitally important to Georgians as we fight new coal-fired power plants in our watershed proposed for Sandersville(Plant Washington)
in the Oconee watershed and Fitzgerald(Ben Hill)in the Ocmulgee watershed.
Not only is coal disastrous to human health, the industrial mining of it is destroying the Appalachians, among the oldest mountains in the world. More than 450 mountains and summits (over 800 square miles) have been destroyed so far by mountaintop removal.

More than 1,200 miles of streams across the region have been buried in valley fills or polluted between 1985 and 2001. Over 1000 miles of streams have been permitted to be buried -- this is a greater distance than the length of the entire Ohio River. Please take an evening to come hear about the greatest environmental travesty taking place on the American landscape.

The Mountaintop Removal Road Show includes a stunning 20-minute slide show about the impacts of mountaintop removal on coalfield residents, communities and the environment, and features traditional Appalachian mountain music and shocking aerial photos of decapitated Appalachian mountains.

We encourage you to attend the program nearest to you. The Satilla, Ogeechee, and Flint Riverkeepers are sponsoring the program at the locations below.

Monday the 25th , Waycross, Okefenokee Tech Auditorium, 7pm

Tuesday the 26th , Statesboro, Eagle Theater, Russell Union, Georgia Southern, 4:30pm

Thursday the 28th , Albany, The Bridge House at 112 North Front Street (Albany Welcome Center), 7pm


On Wednesday, Jan. 27, ARK members Raven Waters and Janisse Ray will host the program at their home near Reidsville, Georgia. The show starts at 7 p.m. and lasts about an hour. A potluck supper will immediately preceed the show, starting at 5:30. The Waters-Ray family request an RSVP for directions, (912) 557-1053.


The Mountaintop Removal Road show in South Georgia is sponsored by Satilla Riverkeeper, Flint Riverkeeper, Ogeechee-Canoochee Riverkeeper, and the Altamaha Riverkeeper.

Feel free to bring friends and to pass the word.




--
Bryce Baumgartner
Operations Manager
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Christie's drops human skull from auction
January 22, 2010
New York (CNN) -- A human skull and crossbones, valued at up to $20,000, won't appear at a Christie's auction Friday after another party claimed rights to the remains, the auction house announced.

Yale University's secret Order of Skull and Bones used the skull and crossbones as a ballot box, Christie's said in its advertisement of the item in an auction catalogue. The auction house estimates the 19th century ballot box is worth between $10,000 and $20,000.

The skull, crossbones and accompanying book of Skull and Bones members between 1832 and 1877 were "withdrawn from sale due to a title claim," Christie's said in a statement Friday. The global auctioneer did not say who claimed rights to the items.

Earlier this month, the World Archaeological Congress condemned the sale, calling the sale of human body parts an "affront to human dignity." The group also suggested the skull might be that of a Native American and thus be subject to federal laws protecting Native American remains.

This isn't the first time Skull and Bones has been entangled in a debate over human remains.

The great-grandson of famed Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo sued Skull and Bones last year, claiming the society had Geronimo's remains. Historians disagreed on whether the society had ever dug up Geronimo's grave.

The collegiate society has existed since 1832 and has prominent alumni such as former President George W. Bush and his grandfather, Sen. Prescott Bush.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/01/22/new.york.skull.auction/?hpt=T2
-----

Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Applications Available for Tribal Heritage Research Fellowship

Applications Due: February 1, 2010

Applications Available for Tribal Heritage Research Fellowship

Published January 11, 2010 12:15 am - Applications are available to award up to 20 fellowships in the Tribal Heritage Research Project, a 26-month program sponsored by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums.

"There is a growing interest on the part of American Indian Nations to research, write and present accurate portrayals of their history," according to Susan Feller, development officer at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, the coordinating agency for the national initiative.

Applications are available to award up to 20 fellowships in the Tribal Heritage Research Project, a 26-month program sponsored by the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums.

"There is a growing interest on the part of American Indian Nations to research, write and present accurate portrayals of their history," according to Susan Feller, development officer at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries, the coordinating agency for the national initiative.

Feller said the project's goals are to provide a greater understanding of indigenous cultures, contribute valuable materials to tribal archives and provide a tribal interpretation of historical events.

The project will introduce selected research fellows to methods and strategies for designing research projects, identifying sources, and accessing American Indian materials in local, regional and national collections. Participants will also produce a short video documentary using the information collected.

The fellowship opportunity is open to tribal organizations from throughout the nation. Other partnering organizations are the Library of Congress, the National Anthropological Archives, the National Archives and Records Administration and the National Museum of the American Indian.

Application guidelines, forms, and a sample application are available at the Oklahoma Department of Libraries Web site at www.odl.state. ok.us.

Applications are due 5 p.m. Central Standard Time Feb. 1.
For more information, call 405-522-3515 or e-mailtribal@otln.odl.state.ok.us
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Sweat Lodge Bill on Native America Calling - Tuesday 1-26
Coming up on Native America Calling……..

Tuesday, January 26, 2009 - The Sweat Lodge Bill:
A bill has been introduced in the Arizona state legislature by a Native lawmaker to regulate traditional Native spiritual practices, including sweat lodge ceremonies. Presumably, the bill is in response to an incident at a retreat near Sedona in which three people died while participating in a sweat lodge ceremony conducted by a non-Indian man. Can this bill keep similar incidents from happening? Who will enforce this law if it passes and should states be invited to regulate Native spiritual practices? Invited guest is Arizona State Senator Albert Hale (Navajo).

Listen and/or call in atwww.nativeamericacalling.com or To participate call 1-800-996-2848

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US military vets working on archaeological project

January 22, 2010
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/jan/22/bc-us-veterans-archaeology2nd-ld-writethru/?business&texas
ST. LOUIS (AP) — U.S. military veterans are sorting through a massive government archaeological collection that has been neglected for decades, with the hope of archiving the stone tools, arrows and American Indian beads that were found beneath major public works projects.

The collection dates to the 1930s, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started building dozens of locks, dams and reservoirs, and the ground beneath them was excavated for archaeological treasures.

Prehistoric and historic pottery, stone tools, arrowheads, Indian beads, necklaces, earrings and ear spools, and ceremonial artifacts, even human remains, were collected. The items then sat in boxes and paper bags in university museums as well as private basements, garages and tool sheds.

In recent weeks, U.S. veterans — many with traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder — have begun processing, cataloguing, digitizing and archiving the collection as part of a one-year $3.5 million project, funded with federal stimulus money.

It's part of the corps' effort to find American Indian cultural items and return them to tribes or their descendants — something all federal agencies must do under a 1990 law. Michael Trimble, chief of curation and archives for the corps' St. Louis district, said the goal is to get the collection catalogued, digitally photographed and put on the Web for public viewing.

He said the corps' 47,000-cubic-feet collection of boxed artifacts and associated records, audio tapes and photographs would fill 30 semitrailers.

Trimble, who helped excavate mass graves in Iraq from 2004 to 2007 and testified in the genocide case against Saddam Hussein, said it was a friend who helped him understand he could both help veterans and apply their discipline to the care of the artifacts. He and his staff then applied for the federal funding.

Veterans say the project is providing them with hope and new job skills.

"This is the best thing that has happened to me since I got out of the military," said Cody Gregory, a Burleson, Texas, native who works at the Veterans Curation Project's St. Louis center, which opened in December.

Gregory, 27, a former U.S. Air Force mental health tech in Afghanistan, works with a dozen other Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam-era veterans at the St. Louis site. The project's two other centers — one that opened in October in Augusta, Ga., and one set to open Monday in Washington, D.C. — employ the same number of veterans.

Brockington Cultural Resources Consulting in suburban Atlanta runs the three centers for the corps and trains the veterans.

Cathy van Arsdale, who manages all three sites, said the project trains and employs veterans in records and data management and archiving. Veterans hold the jobs for six months, then work with the Veterans Administration to find permanent jobs.

Matt Bahr, 28, of Ste. Genevieve, said the job working on the archaeological collection allows him to apply the quick thinking and cognitive skills he learned as an Air Force flight nurse in Iraq.

"We have millions of dollars invested in our training that would be wasted if we sat at home," he said of veterans. "I may not save lives again, but I can do this."

Wearing white gloves, Bahr on Friday carefully handled field maps, drawings, photographs and other delicate specimens that told the story of a 1970s dig in Indiana conducted by university students.

Their notes, written on creased loose-leaf paper, with now-peeling tape, were held in a box that was water-damaged and moldy.

Trimble said the veterans are close and talk to each other.

"They've all been through the same stuff," he said. "The work is therapy."