Alaska files lawsuit against polar bear habitat 09 Mar 2011 Alaska has joined an oil industry trade group in suing the federal government over polar bear habitat protections. On Wednesday, the state filed a lawsuit in federal court in Alaska. The state lawsuit comes a week after a similar filing by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. Arctic Slope Regional Corp. also is expected to file a case challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's designation of more than 187,000 square miles of Arctic coast as critical habitat for the polar bears, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
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From the Eagle Watch #111
March 10, 2011
Canadian Complicity in War, Repression and Terror:
Notes from Information Compiled by COAT Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade
When the goods and services of society are inequitably distributed as in the extremes today, it will be necessary to have a huge well equipped military presence to enforce such inequalities. A handful of warmongering elitists profit from the bloodshed and suffering. Many of these military suppliers are based in "Canada", selling their tools of repression to any and all buyers.
The Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade COAT has been very diligent and persistent in publishing the facts about Canadian military industry participation in conflict and wars all over the world. It's an unsavoury picture but needs to be looked at. The material in this report is taken entirely from the COAT. Please support their work. (Contact info in Endnotes)
While spending for social services, clean water, education and health is being cut, taxpayers money is being poured into the military industrial complex AngloAmerican imperialist, same ole same ole colonial entities pillage and plunder around the Earth. When will humanity become conscious and rise up to stop it??
Canada's Military Exports to the Middle East & North Africa
In an effort to expose Canadian complicity in arming oppressive and undemocratic imperialist puppet regimes in the Middle East and North Africa, the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) has gathered piles of information. COAT has packaged the material into four online sets of data tables.
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/
with "Export Experience" to the Middle East and/or North Africa
(and those "Actively Pursuing" such exports)
This table was produced by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT). These companies are all listed under the category "Ammunition & Munitions" in Industry Canada's Canadian Company Capabilities database. This is the source regarding whether the companies listed here have "export experience," or are "actively pursuing" exports, to particular countries.
http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/
This page also has links to the human rights violations committed by these regimes.
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/
Algeria
Bahrain
Egypt
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Morocco
Oman
Saudi Arabia
Tunisia
Turkey
UAE
Yemen
EGYPT - Just One Example
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/
Here are some of the details about munitions sold by Canada to Egypt which is one of the top recipients of military aid from the US.
In 1990, the year of the Mohawk/Oka Standoff when Canadian soldiers besieged the Mohawk community of Kahnestakate, the Mulroney PC government sent 2,657 small arms to Egypt. Then in 2006, Harper's PC government sent 160,000 weapons. Meanwhile, the Liberal government under Chretien, sent ammo parts and components in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2004 totalling 806,465 pieces of munitions.
In 1995, the same year that Ontario Provinicial Police OPP sniper Ken Deane shot and killed Nishnaabe Dudley George, the Liberals sent 6,200 bombs, rockets, missiles and grenades to Egypt. In 1999, the Liberals sent 21,400 missile parts to Egypt.
The Conservatives sent 126,577 tanks, armoured vehicles and parts thereof necessary to the functioning of said vehicles to Egypt in 1992. Then the Liberals sent 23,520 vehicle parts in 1999 and over 24,000 in 2001.
Throughout the entire 17 year period, the Canadian government, ie., warmongering oligarchs sent 21,631,884 aircraft, helicopters, unmanned airborne vehicles and components to Egypt. They sent 697,793 electronic components and equipment. When we say, sent we mean they exported these items and got paid for them. It's all blood money.
The total munitions exported to Egypt was over 25 million pieces of stuff used to maim and kill women, children and men in the Middle East. No wonder Hosni, puppet stooge for the Anglo American imperialists, was in no hurry to leave. He still thought he had it all under control. What's really going on now in Egypt as attention has turned to renegade regime, Libya?
Industry Canada - Industriously Killing All Around the World
More and more jobs are based in the military industry as other industries are faltering or shutting down.
You can go to the link below to pick up the link for the 940KB pdf file at Industry Canada, "A Guide to Canada's Export Controls". You may be in for a big surprise.
Kittoh <kittoh@storm.ca>
NOTES, SOURCES & CONTACT INFO
http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/
Ammunition & Munitions
Presented below is a list of Canadian companies with aerospace capabilities, generated from the Aerospace and Defence company capabilities database. If your company participates in the Canadian aerospace industry, but is not present in this listing, please self-register by clicking on the Add button below.
There are links to these companies web sites at this page:
Alphacasting Inc.
Armament Technology Incorporated
Arms East Inc.
Avko Screw Machine Products Ltd.
Blue Force Global - Special Services Group Ltd.
Bristol Aerospace Limited
Castings
Centennial Solar
Cesaroni Technology Inc.
Clermark Inc
Colt Canada
Composites Atlantic Limited
Dewey McMillin & Associates Ltd.
DSS Aviation
ELCAN Optical Technologies
Equipement Militaire Mil-Quip Inc.
FRE Composites 2005 Inc.
GD-OTS Canada Valleyfield
General Dynamics Canada
General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems-Canada
Globus Precision Inc.
Hands Fireworks
HFI Pyrotechnics Inc
HydroGeoLogic, Inc.
Imago Machine Vision Inc.
IMT
Invar Manufacturing Corp.
L-3 Communications Electronic Systems
Minicut International Inc.
MREL Group of Companies Limited - REMEMBER MREL BLASTING OUT NEAR SHARBOT LAKE??
Nutech
NuvoSci
Precision Spindle & Accessories Inc.
Proparms Ltd.
R. Nicholls Distributors, Inc.
Rheinmetall Canada Inc.
Saab Technologies Canada, Inc.
Tecmotiv Corporation
THERMETCO Inc.
Usinage Pro-24 inc.
All of the information in Canadian Company Capabilities has been provided by the companies themselves, or by other sources external to Industry Canada. Industry Canada assumes no responsibility for the accuracy, currency or reliability of the content.
A message from Richard Sanders of COAT!
Support COAT's research: Please spread the word to friends, colleagues, media, government, etc. Take this opportunity to subscribe or renew your subscription to our magazine ($25 gets Canadians the next 4 issues, or $45 for the next 8 issues)
Please subscribe or renew now, and we'll send some extra copies of our latest issue!
Just mail an old-fashioned cheque to COAT:
COAT
541 McLeod St.,
Ottawa ON K1R 5R2
http://coat.ncf.ca
The current issue (#65) of COAT's magazine Press for Conversion! also deals with Canada and the Middle East. It is called:
"Operation SILENT PARTNER: Canada's Quiet Complicity in the Iraq War"
http://coat.ncf.ca/P4C/65/65.
* About 2,000 Canadian sailors--aboard eight, multi-billion dollar Canadian warships--participated in the Iraq War
* Canadian pilots flew warplanes in Iraq-war missions, including U.S. C-17s, a British MR2 and Canadian C-130s and CP-140s
* Top Canadian military officers received U.S., British and Canadian medals for their leadership roles in the Iraq War
These are just a few of the many facts detailed in COAT's current, 54-page issue of Press for Conversion!
http://coat.ncf.ca/mideast/10.
2-10: Aircraft, helicopters, unmanned airborne vehicles
Aircraft, helicopters, unmanned airborne vehicles (UAVs) and related military components such as aero-engines and equipment to launch and control UAVs. Includes aircraft for combat as well as for military reconnaissance, assault, training, logistics support, transport and airdropping troops or military equipment.
The above summary -- by the Coalition to Oppose the Arms Trade (COAT) for its web report "Canadian Military Exports to the Middle East and North Africa" -- was derived from a detailed description of this category of munitions published by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada (DFAIT) in a document called A Guide to Canada’s Export Controls (June 2006). This DFAIT document describes seven different groups of products on the "Export Control List" whose export is "controlled" by the Government of Canada. One of these seven groups, known as "Group 2" or the "Munitions List," is comprised of 22 categories of military products. These are the categories of products whose export is documented in a series of DFAIT documents published since 1990, called Export of Military Goods from Canada.
"Munitions List"
Category 2-10
“Aircraft”, “lighter-than-air vehicles”, unmanned airborne vehicles, aero-engines and “aircraft” equipment, related equipment and components, specially designed or modified for military use, as follows:
N.B.:
For guidance and navigation equipment, see 2-11., Note 7.
a. Combat “aircraft” and specially designed components therefor;
b. Other “aircraft” and “lighter-than-air vehicles” specially designed or modified for military use, including military reconnaissance, assault, military training, transporting and airdropping troops or military equipment, logistics support, and specially designed components therefor;
c. Unmanned airborne vehicles and related equipment, specially designed or modified for military use, as follows, and specially designed components therefor:
1. Unmanned airborne vehicles including remotely piloted air vehicles (RPVs), autonomous programmable vehicles and “lighter-than-air vehicles”;
2. Associated launchers and ground support equipment;
3. Related equipment for command and control.
d. Aero-engines specially designed or modified for military use, and specially designed components therefor;
e. Airborne equipment, including airborne refuelling equipment, specially designed for use with the “aircraft” controlled by 2-10.a. or 2-10.b. or the aero-engines controlled by 2-10.d., and specially designed components therefor;
f. Pressure refuellers, pressure refuelling equipment, equipment specially designed to facilitate operations in confined areas and ground equipment, developed specially for “aircraft” controlled by 2-10.a. or 2-10.b., or for aero-engines controlled by 2-10.d.;
g. Military crash helmets and protective masks and specially designed components therefor, pressurised breathing equipment and partial pressure suits for use in “aircraft”, anti-g suits, liquid oxygen converters used for “aircraft” or missiles, and catapults and cartridge actuated devices for emergency escape of personnel from “aircraft”;
h. Parachutes and related equipment, used for combat personnel, cargo dropping or “aircraft” deceleration, as follows, and specially designed components therefor:
1. Parachutes for:
a. Pin point dropping of rangers;
b. Dropping of paratroopers;
2. Cargo parachutes;
3. Paragliders, drag parachutes, drogue parachutes for stabilisation and attitude control of dropping bodies, (e.g., recovery capsules, ejection seats, bombs);
4. Drogue parachutes for use with ejection seat systems for deployment and inflation sequence regulation of emergency parachutes;
5. Recovery parachutes for guided missiles, drones or space vehicles;
6. Approach parachutes and landing deceleration parachutes;
7. Other military parachutes;
8. Equipment specially designed for high altitude parachutists (e.g. suits, special helmets, breathing systems, navigation equipment);
i. Automatic piloting systems for parachuted loads; equipment specially designed or modified for military use for controlled opening jumps at any height, including oxygen equipment.
Note 1:
2-10.b. does not control “aircraft” or variants of those “aircraft” specially designed for military use which:
a. Are not configured for military use and are not fitted with equipment or attachments specially designed or modified for military use; and
b. Have been certified for civil use by the civil aviation authority in a participating state.
Note 2:
2-10.d. does not control:
a. Aero-engines designed or modified for military use which have been certified by civil aviation authorities in a participating state for use in “civil aircraft”, or specially designed components therefor;
b. Reciprocating engines or specially designed components therefor, except those specially designed for unmanned airborne vehicles.
Note 3:
The control in 2-10.b. and 2-10.d. on specially designed components and related equipment for non-military “aircraft” or aero-engines modified for military use applies only to those military components and to military related equipment required for the modification to military use.
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International Action Center- iacenter.org
About the IAC | Donate | IAC Books & Resources | Contact Us |Sign the Petition!
at http://www.iacenter.org/
click HERE to sign. click HERE to view petition text.
Statement from Native American prisoner Jason Campbell, an inmate on hunger strike at Ohio State Peniteniary:
The following is a statement from Jason Campbell, an inmate in Ohio State Penitentiary, where Lucasville uprising prisoners Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Bomani Shakur and Jason Robb recently won significant improvements in the terms of their confinement through a 12-day hunger strike and an international campaign of support. Campbell chose Feb. 27 to start his hunger strike because it is the 38th anniversary of the liberation of Wounded Knee by the American Indian Movement. On March 2, when his hunger strike became official after refusing his 9th meal, he was moved to isolation without access to tv, radio or walkman, and his religious necklace was illegally confiscated.
Please sign the ONLINE PETITION athttp://www.
Thank you for your interest in my current plight. I am grateful that there is at least one voice still willing to speak up on behalf of those in my position.
Since my incarceration in 2003, I have diligently fought for the religious rights of incarcerated Native Americans in Ohio prisons. I feel – seeing that I have the ability, that it is my responsibility to insure that we have the same protections under the law that other faith based groups generally enjoy. Personally, I have requested everything I could think of, trying to get as much approved as I could – as I know it would set the tone for what others will be allowed in the future. Basically, I am being prevented from practicing my Native beliefs in every way. I have requested and been denied all of the following: Tobacco, tobacco ties(twists), moccasins, feathers, beads (sewn into objects like a head band or medicine bag)), fur, animal hair (such as horse and buffalo), head band (of a color other than white – where beads are concerned), sacred objects (for Medicine Bag and Medicine Bundle), Native American flute, hand drum, rattle, access to sweat lodge (for purification), and to have a ‘Sun Dance’ ceremony.
I also have requested and have been approved for: A ‘prayer pipe’, Medicine Bag, and a Medicine Bundle, but I must point out that these are useless without: tobacco for the prayer pipe, and sacred objects for the Medicine Bag and Medicine Bundle. Without tobacco, I am unable to pray. Without sacred objects for the Medicine Bag and Medicine Bundle, they are just empty vessels – void of their purpose.
One last thing. My hunger strike is not considered “official” until after I refuse my ninth meal – which will be Wednesday, March 2nd, at breakfast. When I get to the ninth meal and refuse to come off of the hunger strike, I will be moved to the segregation block (the Hole). I’m told it is to prevent other prisoners from giving me food. In fact, I believe that it is to punish me into coming off of the hunger strike by putting me in a cell with no electricity. If you can find a way to address this as well, it would be much appreciated.
I hope – fervently, that this information can help you in assisting me - and through me, all other Native Americans in Ohio prisons. Present and future. Thank you again for your help. – “Mitakuye Oyasin” (to all my relations)
Sincerely,
Jason Campbell
#476-229
SAMPLE PETITION TEXT:
To: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Moore, Ohio State Penitentiary Warden Bobby, Ohio Gov. Kasich, Attorney General Holder, President Obama
cc: Ohio Legislature, Ohio Congressional Delegation, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban, members of the media
Honor the right of Native American Prisoner Jason Campbell (Vo'kome Nahkohe) to practice his religion! All of his religious freedom hunger strike demands are just and legitimate. They must be granted immediately! His religious necklace, which was confiscated from him illegally, must be immediately returned. Remove him from isolation and restore all privileges. No reprisals for his just hunger strike action!
On February 27, Jason Campbell #476-229 (native name Vo'kome Nahkohe) began a hunger strike to demand that his ability to practice his native religion be respected by the Ohio prison system. On March 2, having refused 9 meals, his action became an official hunger strike. He was sent to isolation where he is deprived of tv, radio and walkman, and his religious necklace, which has been approved as a religious accommodation, was illegally confiscated. Campbell is demanding religious objects necessary to the practice of his religion, such as tobacco, beads and animal hair as well as the right to practice his religious ceremonies including a Sun Dance ceremony. Over the course of the past several years he has exhausted all legal remedies to obtain what he needs for his religious practices. He therefore felt he had no recourse but to initiate a hunger strike for himself and other Native American inmates in Ohio's prisons.
Jason Campbell and all Native American prisoners must be accorded the same rights to practice their religion as other prisoners!
Sincerely
(your signature appended here)
International Action Center
c/o Solidarity Center
55 W 17th St Suite 5C
New York, NY 10011
212-633-6646
iacenter@iacenter.org
www.iacenter.org
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Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America's last wild buffalo.
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
March 10, 2011
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* Strong Prayers Needed for BFC's barb abramo
* Update from the Field
* New Video! When Elk Fly
* New Game Changing Rules Governing Brucellosis
* TAKE ACTION! What You Can Do to Help
* By the Numbers
* Last Words
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* Strong Prayers Needed for BFC's barb abramo
BFC's office coordinator, and dear long-time family member, barb abramo, is gravely ill. She is still in the Intensive Care Unit, and the concern is rising.
Our hearts are breaking with this news, but we know how feisty, strong, and determined barb is, and she has definitely got the heart of a wild buffalo. Anyone who has ever contacted BFC has more than likely spoken with barb, and if you have had the honor of meeting her, you know the powerful woman she is. She can pull through, but she needs help. Please, no matter how Spirit calls you, your prayers, songs, thoughts, blessings, healing energies of all kinds are badly needed. The buffalo and her buffalo family need her with us.
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* Update from the Field
For the first time in BFC history, with your persistent voice and the legal help ofWestern Watersheds Project, our efforts have stopped the slaughter! No decisions were reached during Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk's meeting with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer this week, but the Park Service has just announced that they intend to hold the buffalo in the trap until they release them in the spring.
This news is cause for sweet celebration, however, challenging times persist for our friends the buffalo. The bitter aspect is that the buffalo should never have been trapped in the first place. Nearly every day, these incarcerated buffalo have also been witnessing their relatives on the outside suffer repeated hazing.
GoodShield documents buffalo being hazed off of Church Universal & Triumphant land, the same land where nearly 16 years earlier, his relative, Rosalie Little Thunder, was arrested because she "trespassed" to pray for buffalo that the Montana Department of Livestock shot while a sacred ceremony for the buffalo was taking place. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
On Sunday, Yellowstone National Park and Montana Department of Livestock agents captured 45 more wild buffalo. Then again on Wednesday, an another 62 wild buffalo who were visiting their imprisoned relatives were pushed into the trap. The Stephens Creek buffalo trap is now holding 630 wild buffalo captive. Yellowstone says that, although they had previously said there were no plans to capture more, these buffalo were "not responding" to repeated hazing so they captured them. Buffalo follow their ancient instincts, not the desires of humans. They have no winter range in the Park, and knowing no man-made boundaries, they - like other wildlife - simply must seek food and nourishment where they can find it. The habitat they need is available, but the government and livestock interests refuse to let them access it. There is some conversation brewing between Yellowstone and Montana about opening up potential habitat north of Yellowstone, but no details have been disclosed.
"No Tresspassing - Royal Teton Ranch." Wild buffalo, those who have roamed these lands before any humans ever set foot here, are themselves pursued by the government and arrested for "trespassing" on their native habitat that the Church Universal & Triumphant claims as their Royal Teton Ranch. BFC file photo by Stephany. Click photo for larger image.
Yellowstone's capture facility is well over capacity for holding this amount of buffalo, and now the Park is saying they will begin transporting some of them to the empty quarantine pastures at the Corwin Springs quarantine facility. Holding the buffalo in confinement - escpecially around calving season - exacerbates the potential for the livestock disease brucellosis to circulate deeper through wild buffalo, as admitted to by Yellowstone's own bison biologist, Rick Wallen, when asked by BFC. The buffalo that will be transported to the Corwin Springs facility will be near buffalo that have been raised in captivity since being stolen from the wild over five years ago, as part of a government experiment to "create a disease-free herd." More proof that all of the actions against wild buffalo have nothing to do with brucellosis.
The Park also reports that another buffalo, an older cow, died in the trap. BFC has been requesting a media tour so that we can see the condition of the buffalo in the trap. So far, the Park has not made any plans to grant this request.
Three buffalo have already died, and one buffalo suffered a miscarriage, as a result of being imprisoned inside Yellowstone's Stephens Creek bison trap. More than likely, additional buffalo will suffer fatalities in this confinement. BFC file photo by Ken Cole. Click photo for larger image.
Our legal efforts to set the buffalo free continue, and Western Watersheds Project will be appealing our emergency injunction to the 9th Circuit Court, with briefs scheduled to begin filing in May.
Bull buffalo along Yellowstone's northern migration routes have taken a heavy hit from hunters, and another was recently killed by a motorist. BFC file photo. Click photo for larger image.
Also over the weekend, just outside of Gardiner, Montana, six more bulls were killed by Nez Perce hunters. Four of these bulls had, a few days earlier, been hazed off of their migratory path into the hunt zone by agents. Another bull buffalo was killed by an out-of-town traveller on Highway 89, north of Gardiner. Passers by reported that they saw the Emergency First Responders taking photo opportunities with the dead buffalo, and the next morning, when patrols again saw his body, someone had illegally removed and taken his head. Highway 89 is a bloody road, allowing 70mph for more than fifty miles that wind directly through one of North America's largest wildlife migration corridors; used day and night by buffalo, elk, big horn sheep, mule deer, white tail, and many other migratory wildlife, this stretch of asphalt is a prime candidate for safe passage infrastructure or lowered speed limits. While BFC has been running night patrols, it is clear that Montana needs to take safe passage seriously for the area's abundant wildlife.
BFC creates and offers for free these "Bison Safe Zone" signs that buffalo-friendly landowners can display on their property as a sign of solidarity with the buffalo. Contact BFC if you're a local landowner who would like to show your support for wild buffalo. They come in bright yellow and orange for clear visibility. Click BFC image to view larger.
In wanting to leave you with some uplifting news, after years of our collective pressure, the Interagency Bison Management Plan agencies have finally admitted that bull buffalo (and we maintain all buffalo) are no threat to Montana's brucellosis-free status, so they are showing some tolerance for them outside the Park in the Gardiner Basin, when they're not hazing them into the hunt zone. It's an extremely limited tolerance, but the result has been that a small handful of bulls have been able to walk a little bit of the land for a few weeks without too much harassment. And a silver lining here is that local residents have been enjoying their presence. In the Gardiner area, where so many buffalo have been harassed and killed, more residents are contacting Buffalo Field Campaign with words of support, wanting to volunteer, and land-owners want to show that support by posting our "Bison Safe Zone" signs on their land. It is this kind of change that will grow into something really big and powerful for the buffalo.
WILD IS THE WAY ~ ROAM FREE!
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* New Video! When Elk Fly
Watch and share When Elk Fly. Clicking the FWP photo will also take you to the video.
This is a brief look at the price our wildlife pay for the sake of cattle and the disease they brought. Video created by Buffalo Field Campaign, with footage contributed by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and Yellowstone National Park. Many thanks to Mike and Tony for their work in creating this film.
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* New Game Changing Rules Governing Brucellosis
Will the Montana Department of Livestock change its views towards wild buffalo? Veterinary Services, a branch of USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has adopted - and Montana has accepted - new rules governing brucellosis online.
"Immediate action is warranted to remove requirements that present an obstacle to effectively managing the brucellosis program. Changes to the requirements for maintaining Class Free status, in particular, are necessary so that APHIS and States can use available resources on program activities that will have the greatest impact on disease management and disease risk mitigation."
This is a game changing event for Montana cattle, and wild buffalo and elk migrating in the state. The new rules governing brucellosis:
* Removes the threat of whole herd cattle slaughter.
* Removes the threat of state sanctions against Montana cattle.
* Requires testing cattle in Designated Surveillance Areas as approved by Montana's State Veterinarian.
Montana taxpayers are picking up half the costs of vaccinating cattle in the Designated Surveillance Area.
"Half of the reimbursement is provided through the state's general fund, while half is provided by the cattle industry." MDOL Media Release: "MDOL's DSA Worth Millions to Cattle Producers, State," March 4, 2011
Also check out the reimbursement forms for producers and Vets. Lots of taxpayer money to go around when cattle are at steak(!).
Reimbursement Forms
* For Veterinarians
- Reimbursement for 2011
- Reimbursement for 2010
* For Producers
* State W-9
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* WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Contact Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk and welcome him to Yellowstone, tell him to set the trapped buffalo free, pull out of the Interagency Bison Management Plan, stop harassing and killing wildlife and work towards habitat-based solutions for America's last wild buffalo! Take Action Now!
2. NEW! Please contact Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary Erickson and ask her exactly what the Forest Service is doing to fulfill their legal mandate to provide year-round habitats maintaining wild buffalo populations. Hundreds of thousands of acres of National Forest habitats exist for wild buffalo contiguous to Yellowstone National Park's north and west boundaries. These critical public lands are a small part of the buffalo's ancient migrations to wintering range and spring calving grounds in the Paradise, Gallatin and Madison river valleys. Please ask Supervisor Mary Erickson and the U.S. Forest Service to manage habitats to support these gentle, nomadic giants. Supervisor Mary Erickson needs to stand up to the state of Montana and no longer allow the state to dictate where and when buffalo are allowed to roam our National Forests. Ask her as Supervisor of the Gallatin National Forest to reallocate habitat permitted for grazing cattle to support the keystone ecological roles migratory populations of wild buffalo fulfill on land that is their birth right. Email: mcerickson@fs.fed.us Phone: 406-587-6758
3. Contact your Members of Congress and urge them to intervene with the Park on your behalf and to support federal funding to protect America's last wild buffalo and their habitat. Ask them to support the re-direction of funds wasted on the Interagency Bison Management Plan towards habitat-based solutions that honor the wild integrity of our national heritage. Write your Representative Write your Senators
4. Contact Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer and THANK HIM for the 90-day stay of execution, tell him he did the right thing. Please also remind him that wild buffalo must be allowed to access habitat in Montana. Brucellosis is not the issue, but habitat for wild buffalo is the solution. Remind him that until Montana embraces and respects wild, free-roaming bison, the state will continue to be globally shamed by these actions against America's last wild buffalo! Remind him that tourism sustains Montana. governor@mt.gov 406-444-
5. Sign BFC's Petition to National Park Service Director Jon Jarvis urging him to abandon the failed Interagency Bison Management Plan. Sign the petition.
6. Write Letters to the Editor to newspapers in your region to help raise awareness and bring an end to the unjust treatment of America's last wild buffalo. Write on for the buffalo!
7. Vote for wild buffalo and all wildlife with your money by Boycotting beef.
8. Volunteer with BFC by joining us on the front lines! volunteer@
9. Watch & Share This Video to inspire yourself and others to Protect the Wild Bison
THANK YOU! Please spread the word to save these herds by telling everyone you know what is happening to the country's last wild buffalo and what they can do to . Knowledge is power!
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* By the Numbers
AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S. The last wild population is currently estimated at fewer than 3,700 individual buffalo.
2010-2011 Total: 213
2010-2011 Government Capture: 630
2010-2011 Government Slaughter:
2010-2011 Died In Government Trap: 3
2010-2011 Miscarriage in Government Trap: 1
2010-2011 State & Treaty Hunts: 205
2010-2011 Quarantine: 0
2010-2011 Shot by Agents: 2
2010-2011 Highway Mortality: 3
2009-2010 Total: 7
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
* Total Since 2000: 3,924*
*includes lethal government action, trap-related fatalities, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
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* Last Words
"The key to this issue is to manage the cattle."
~ Glenn Hockett, Volunteer President, Gallatin Wildlife Association
Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to bfc-media@wildrockies.org. Thank you for all the poems, songs, quotes, and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here!
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES
Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!
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Take Action!
ROAM FREE! 
March 11, 2011
This article at the Union of BC Indian Chiefs web site makes very clear how and why Canada does NOT own the land and never will.
Kittoh
<kittoh@storm.ca>
We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, both Indigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and an assortment of English language media.
http://www.ubcic.bc.ca/
Certainty
Canada's Struggle to Extinguish Aboriginal Title
Our connection to the Land is Sacred, it defines who we are as Peoples, it is our Aboriginal Title. Our laws and teachings bid us to honour and protect our connection to the Land. In the roots which bind our Peoples to the Land there is a life and a future for our Peoples.
Canada cannot understand our Sacred connection to the Land, our Aboriginal Title. It is "uncertain," because it prevents Indigenous Peoples from viewing the Land as a commodity to be bought, sold or traded. From Canada’s perspective, our Aboriginal Title has to be changed, altered, and defined in a treaty so that it fits with Canadian laws and ideas about Land.
Canada’s strive for certainty reflects a desire that Indigenous Peoples assimilate into Canada, that we sever our connection to the Land. Canada asks that we dig up the roots connecting us to the Land and replant them through treaties. This lack of understanding and fear about our connection to the Land is what Canada strives to address through certainty.
For Indigenous Peoples, our Aboriginal Title and connection to the Land is certain, it is in the bones of our grandmothers buried in the earth, and in the blood which beats in our hearts:
Our Sacred connection to the Land is certain.
Our relationship with the Land, our Title, rests over every square inch of our traditional territories: Every rock, mountain top, stream, valley and tidal swell. This is certain.
Indigenous Peoples have the jurisdiction and responsibility to protect, access and use the Land and resources upon the Land for the benefit of our Peoples. This is certain.
Our own traditional laws and teachings grant us this certainty: As long as we maintain our Sacred connection to the Land we will continue to exist as Peoples.
Canada and B.C. have said that the purpose of treaties or modern land claims agreements is to achieve "certainty". This booklet discusses the certainty provisions that have been suggested. In particular, a confidential document, "Certainty Summary", which was drafted by the province.
The Certainty Summary gives a fairly clear indication of the certainty language Canada and the province will insist upon having in any treaties or land claims agreements they negotiate.
The purpose of "certainty" on the part of the federal and provincial governments is to "exhaustively and completely set forth" all aboriginal and treaty rights. Rather than simply accepting the existence of Aboriginal Title as ownership and jurisdiction over Land and resources, certainty limits and defines Aboriginal Title and Rights.
Aboriginal Title to lands and resources existed at the time that the Crown asserted sovereignty. This Title was never extinguished. This is why Crown title is uncertain and remains subject to Aboriginal Title.
There is an air of illegality about any transactions which the Crown makes or authorizes with respect to Lands and Resources. These transactions do not acknowledge that Indigenous Peoples own the Lands, and therefore violate the legal principle that "You cannot give that which you do not own."
The Crown's willingness to negotiate land claims requires a promise on the part of Indigenous Peoples that they will not fully practice their rights. Canada's negotiating stance is: "We will recognize your rights, but only if you first tell us how you will exercise them, and only if you promise that your rights will not interfere with our interests." This is certainty.
Canada's sovereignty or ownership of Land and resources is not challenged, Canada does not have to "prove" its title. Indigenous Peoples do not get an equal promise that Canada will tell us how they will practice their rights, or that their rights will not interfere with our interests. Quite the opposite.
A modern land claim agreement is a contract between Indigenous People, Canada and the Province. Each party gives something in exchange for something. In order to gain "certainty" Canada and the Province are willing to grant a limited recognition of aboriginal title to a reduced portion of an Indigenous group's traditional territory, in exchange for the release of all aboriginal title and rights not specifically set out in the Agreement.
Convert, Modify and Transform
The intent of the parties in achieving certainty is evident in the language proposed. Instead of the traditional "extinguishment" language (which used such phrases as "cede, release and surrender") the language of treaties will be finessed so that it is not so blunt. Aboriginal title and rights will not be extinguished outright; Instead, they will be defined and limited out of existence. Achieving certainty will require that Aboriginal Title and Rights be "converted/modified/
Compare these definitions of the words used, all from Websters dictionary:
Extinguish, definitions include
1. "to bring to an end: to make an end of";
2. "to reduce to silence or ineffectiveness";
3. "to cause to be void: NULLIFY"; and
4. "to get rid of usually by payment"
Convert, definitions include
1. "to bring over from one belief, view, or party to another";
2. "to change from one form or function to another";
3. "to alter for more effective utilization"; and
4. "to appropriate without right"
Modify, definitions include
1. "to make less extreme: MODERATE";
2. "to limit or restrict the meaning of...and";
3. "to make basic or fundamental changes in often to give new orientation to or to serve a new end"
Transform, definitions include
1. "to change in composition and structure"; and
2. "to change in character or condition: CONVERT"
Certainty provisions will change all rights which aboriginal peoples have into contractual rights which have been reduced to writing, limited and defined. The impact of the proposed certainty provisions is to capture and tame aboriginal title and rights, and then place them in a cage constructed of words and legal provisions.
Certainty involves the re-definition and re-creation of aboriginal rights. This is done through clauses which
Ø convert and reduce all existing aboriginal or title rights of Indigenous Peoples' into those contained within the Agreement;
Ø ensure that the Agreement will be the "full and final settlement" of all aboriginal title or rights;
Ø release all rights not listed in the Agreement to Canada; and
Ø exhaustively set forth all the Section 35 rights of the Indigenous group, including the manner of their exercise, and all the limitations to those rights on which the Parties have agreed.
There will be no aboriginal title or rights which survive their exclusion from the written Agreement. All aboriginal rights and title will be transformed to those of contractual or treaty-rights. Any stray rights which are not listed (for example, because of oversight, or because they were not thought of at the time of the Treaty) will not survive their exclusion from the Agreement. This means that if Canadian courts recognize new rights in the future (for example, a right to water or a commercial interest in wildlife) Indigenous groups who treaty will not be able to benefit from these rights.
Land claims agreements will be the Noah's Arc of Aboriginal Rights: Any title or rights not on the arc and nailed down with words in the Agreement, at the time of the treaty will not survive. Aboriginal title and rights flow from the land and the historic relationship that Indigenous Peoples have had with our Lands. The legal language proposed for certainty will flood the land with Crown title and forever dam the flow of rights from the Land to the people. Crown title will replace aboriginal title. No title or rights will ever flow from the Land again. Instead, all rights will flow from the written Agreement.
Modern land claims agreements will create a double standard in which the interests of the federal and provincial Crowns and third parties are recognized. These rights will simply continue to exist, they will change and adapt over time, they will continue to live. There is no provision which releases all undefined rights or interests of Canada, B.C. or third parties to the Indigenous group. The rights of the Indigenous Peoples', on the other hand, will be frozen and will not grow and adapt. If these rights are not written into the Agreement, they will no longer exist, they will be dead.
This is an example of how double standards will be cemented in modern land claims agreements. Crown title is perfected and recognized over all Lands, while Indigenous Title is extinguished from all areas not in the agreement.
These agreements are not fair or equal: there is no sharing. The Crown gets complete recognition of its sovereignty, its underlying title to our lands and the supremacy of its laws over our governments and People. Indigenous groups get limited recognition of title to reduced pieces of land, the right to co-manage resources (along with government and third parties interests) and self-government which is subject to Canadian and provincial laws.
Land claims agreements will explicitly contain recognition of all "third party" interests and that these are not impacted by aboriginal rights.
Interpretation: A different species of Section 35 rights
Although modern land claims will be acknowledged as treaty rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 which "recognizes and affirms" existing aboriginal and treaty rights, they will be a different species of Section 35 right. The benefit of having rights recognized under Section 35 is that Canadian Courts have read Section 35 to protect Aboriginal peoples and their rights.
At present, under Section 35, courts interpret treaties so that
Ø ambiguous expressions in treaties are resolved in favour of the Indians;
Ø treaty provisions are given a fair, liberal and large interpretation;
Ø the honour of the Crown is assumed when interpreting treaties (Courts assume that the Crown intended to act honourably toward aboriginal peoples and with the best interests of the aboriginal peoples in mind, while entering treaties); and
Ø any suggestion of "sharp dealing" (unfair bargaining) is not sanctioned.
These principles of interpretation will be removed from modern treaties and therefore the protective features of Section 35 will not operate. Any common law rules with respect to aboriginal or treaty rights will be replaced by the provisions of the Agreement and it is anticipated that the federal government will need to pass legislation in order to override the common law rules.
Provisions in the new treaties which will remove common law protection may include:
Ø There will be no presumption that doubtful or ambiguous expressions or terms are to be interpreted in favour of any particular Party or Parties.
Ø The Indigenous group will agree that the Crown has no consultation obligations respecting the Section 35 rights of the Indigenous group other than those obligations set out in the Treaty.
Ø The Section 35 rights set out in the Treaty will be interpreted solely on the basis of the rights set out in the treaty, without any distinction based on whether the right is a [converted/modified/
Any common law rules which arise from aboriginal rights cases which impose a duty on the Crown to treat aboriginal rights in a certain way, will not apply if they are not set out in the Agreement. In Delgamuukw the Supreme Court suggested that the consent of the aboriginal peoples with title would be required before certain actions or measures could be taken if these actions would have the impact of interfering with aboriginal title and the traditional uses to which the Indigenous Peoples have put their lands.
The consent of an aboriginal group to actions regarding lands over which they have aboriginal title will not apply to the new treaties unless this is specifically set out in the agreement. And, in any case, the consent, or even involvement, of the aboriginal group will only apply to those specific tracts of lands identified in the Agreement. Under Delgamuukw, consultation, compensation and, possibly consent, are required for all lands which comprise the traditional territory and title lands of the Indigenous Peoples.
Although the rights recognized under the Agreement will be called Section 35 treaty rights, they will not be afforded the same protection as Section 35 rights held by other Indigenous Peoples. These are all eliminated through the wording of the Agreement and instead the legal rules surrounding contract interpretation will apply.
Reliance
The Agreements will set forth a broad number of "reliance" provisions in which the Indigenous group will agree to "indemnify" Canada and the province should any damage come to Canada or the province as a result of stray rights having survived the Agreement. This means that the Indigenous group agree to cover the financial costs to government in the event that they are sued as a result of the Agreement.
Federal and provincial legislation will be passed in order to pass this guarantee along to third parties. Federal legislation may also indemnify the province.
Who can treaty away aboriginal title?
Aboriginal title is a collective interest, which is held in trust by all members of an Indigenous Nation. As a collective interest held by each and every member of an Indigenous Nation, aboriginal title cannot be bargained or treatied away by anything less than the full consent of all the Indigenous Peoples who collectively hold this title. A majority vote (no matter how high the percentage) cannot give one group the ability to extinguish the title and rights of all of the Indigenous Peoples who hold title.
Canada and the province recognize the illegality of negotiating an agreement which purports to extinguish aboriginal title without the full consent of all of the Indigenous Peoples' concerned. The collective nature of aboriginal title means that no Band or group of Bands/communities can treaty for Lands which belong to an entire Nation, or that no group of people within one Nation or Band/community has the right to treaty for the extinguishment of the aboriginal title and rights of those members of their Nation/community who do not give their full consent.
The legal uncertainty of the current process is heightened by the fact that Indigenous citizens are not fully or meaningfully involved or informed in the negotiations of modern land claims agreements. The collective nature of aboriginal title (which means that title is shared by all members of a Nation) creates an area of uncertainty about all treaties entered into without the full consent, knowledge and participation of each and every citizen of the Indigenous Nation. The same legal principle applies: "You cannot give that which you do not own." No vote or ratification process is valid to authorize any group to enter into a treaty without the full consent of their people.
The province has proposed to deal with this area of uncertainty by exacting a legal promise from the Indigenous group that they have the right to enter into the Agreement on behalf of all of their people.
If individual Indigenous people do not agree with the terms of the Agreement and bring law suits in the future (claiming, for example, that parts of their traditional territories were not included in the settlement land, or that the Indigenous government had no right to extinguish their title over their traditional territory) the Indigenous group will agree that they will cover any costs to Canada and B.C. The result of this clause is that Indigenous peoples will be suing other Indigenous peoples and any dollar settlement will come from the Indigenous peoples themselves,not the government.
Compensation for Past Wrongs
Modern land claims agreements will represent the "full and final settlement" between the parties, including of past wrongs. The Indigenous group will agree not to pursue any legal claims against Canada or B.C. with respect to any past wrongs. The proposed wording is that
The Indigenous group will release Canada and British Columbia from any claims that it may have had prior to the Treaty regarding any interference or infringement of the Indigenous group’s Section 35 rights, and any claims under Canada’s "specific claims" policy.
The Supreme Court of Canada, in Delgamuukw, stated that aboriginal title has an economic component and that government will be liable to provide compensation in the event of an abrogation or breach of aboriginal title. This clause would preclude the Indigenous group from bringing any legal actions relating to compensation for the value of the lands and resources taken from their territories. Canada and the province will not have to pay compensation for their past extraction of resources (which is in the billions of dollars for most areas), or the spoilage of habitat, lands and resources which they have been responsible for. All past claims for compensation, and any future claims for compensation, are all reduced into the terms of the Agreement.
Breach
Modern land claims agreements will contain language in which all parties agree not to challenge the "validity or enforceability" of the Agreement. This means that if the Indigenous group in the future do not think that the Agreement was a fair deal, they have agreed not to go to Court to challenge it.
Certainty language will also require that the parties agree that if one or more parties breaches the agreement and do not keep the promises they made under the Agreement, the other Parties must keep their promises.
A breach of the Treaty by any Party will not relieve any other Party from its obligations under the Treaty.
Indigenous Peoples who have entered into treaties with Canada share the common complaint that Canada has steadfastly refused to honour the terms of the treaty or the promises it has made. Canada maintains that Indigenous Peoples have ceded their aboriginal title through treaties (and therefore that Crown title is absolute over those lands) while not honouring the promises which it made. This clause suggests that the Indigenous group may be forced to honour their agreements (ceding aboriginal title and rights to all areas not included under the Agreement) if Canada and B.C. do not honour the obligations they made. For example, if B.C. decides that it cannot afford to make the payments required under the treaty, or if it minimizes the co-management agreement provisions of the agreement, the Indigenous group will not get their lands and rights back.
Summary
The net impact of the "certainty" provisions sought by Canada and B.C. will be to create a double standard with regard to title and interests in the land. Canada, the province, and third parties have their rights and interests recognized and protected. These rights are not defined or in any way limited by the Agreement. The Indigenous group, on the other hand, have all of their rights reduced to the written word of the Agreement.
These certainty provisions are far more restrictive than any of the "extinguishment language" which has been used in other modern land claims agreements to date.
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Historic signing pledges more First Nations in work force
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwire - March 11, 2011) - The Government of Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan and five Tribal Councils in Saskatchewan, representing more than half of Saskatchewan's 70 First Nations, have signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to work together to increase labour force participation for First Nation people in Saskatchewan.
The MOU was signed by the Honourable John Duncan, Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians; the Honourable Rob Norris, Saskatchewan Minister of Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration; Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Felix Thomas; Meadow Lake Tribal Council Chief Eric Sylvestre; Agency Chiefs Tribal Council Chief Steven Jim; Yorkton Tribal Council Chief Gilbert Panipekeesick; and File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council Chairman Edmund Bellegarde.
"This Active Measures MOU is an example of the kind of progress made possible when there is collaboration between the federal, provincial and First Nations governments and a willingness to succeed by all parties," said Minister Duncan. "Through this partnership, we will work together to implement strategies that will increase skills training and employment opportunities for First Nations in Saskatchewan."
Active Measures refers to partnerships, programs, policies and investments that: increase the labour force participation rate and employment; decrease the income assistance dependency on reserve; and create incentives for individuals to pursue skills training.
"The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to improving the education and employment outcomes for First Nations people," Minister Norris said. "We are pleased to partner with the Federal Government and Saskatchewan Tribal Councils to ensure First Nations people are full participants in our economic prosperity."
The MOU is intended to enhance collaboration and partnership among the parties in order to improve labour force outcomes for First Nation people in Saskatchewan – particularly youth. The Agreement will focus on improving job readiness to successfully transition First Nations income assistance recipients to employment through the development and implementation of Active Measures strategies.
"The Active Measures MOU is a reflection of the critical role First Nations are playing in order to improve training and employment outcomes for their membership," said Rob Clarke, MP for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River. "I want to congratulate the First Nations that have already started successful initiatives focused on employment counselling, improving access to life skills and literacy training and improving program delivery models."
"The MOU signatories recognize that our collaboration will be needed to address challenges at the local level that deter young people from entering the workforce," said Tribal Chief Steven Jim of the Agency Chiefs Tribal Council. "We will use this two-year agreement to bring attention to basic challenges that must be overcome to enable our youth to reach their potential."
"This agreement establishes a formal avenue to explore and shape policies that affect the lives and futures of First Nations communities," said Tribal Chairman Edmund Bellegarde of the File Hills Qu'Appelle Tribal Council. "The MOU opens the door for meaningful discussions to occur at the local level to identify and address specific policy barriers that are preventing a level playing field for First Nations people to engage in the provincial economy."
"Improving the quality of life for the families of our member communities is essential, and improving their participation in the workforce is key to making this happen," said Tribal Chief Felix Thomas of the Saskatoon Tribal Council. "The MOU will connect leaders and partners to focus on the unique conditions of First Nations communities and develop training programs, opportunities and supports they need to break the cycle of dependency."
"Signatories to this agreement recognize that the systems that are in place are not working for First Nations communities and changes need to be made," said Tribal Chief Gilbert Panipekeesick of the Yorkton Tribal Council. "We are hopeful the MOU will stimulate both discussion and action to address deficiencies in these systems to both enable and compel our communities to take a more active role in the workforce."
"First Nations communities encourage young people to access training and enter the workforce and we have developed many business partnerships to help our young employees make a successful transition to the workforce," said Tribal Chief Eric Sylvestre, Meadow Lake Tribal Council. "We are hopeful this MOU will help develop programs and structures that motivate to enhance industry partnerships across the province."
The MOU identifies a number of priority areas such as: youth career planning and skills development; strategies to address barriers to training and employment; short-term training, including literacy, adult basic education, and essential skills; and partnership development with industry and private and public sectors in the development of training and employment opportunities.
A multi-partner Active Measures Steering Committee will be formed to provide leadership and oversee implementation of the MOU.
In Saskatchewan, INAC has invested more than $5 million in strategic pilot projects since 2007-2008, including approximately $3 million in 2010-2011.
FYI…………
From: protect-sacred-places@
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2011 10:45 AM
To: Indigenous Action
Subject: ALERT: ADEQ Approves Permits for New Uranium Mines Near Grand Canyon
Please spread the word!
There will also be a benefit concert to Stop Uranium Mining at the Grand Canyon on March 26th in Flagstaff at the Orpheum Theater.
From: www.StopUraniumMining.
ALERT: ADEQ Approves Permits for New Uranium Mines Near Grand Canyon
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has approved water and air quality permit applications for Denison Mines Corp. to operate uranium mines near the Grand Canyon.
These mines include the currently operating Arizona 1 Mine and the proposed Pinenut and EZ mines north of the Grand Canyon and the proposed Canyon Mine on the south rim near Red Butte, a site held holy by the Havasupai Nation.
Read the Arizona Daily Sun article here: Three uranium mines advance - Friday, March 11, 2011 (http://azdailysun.com/news/
Read the Sierra Club's news release here: Arizona Regulators Risk Damage to Water, Air Near Grand Canyon With Uranium Mine Permits(http://arizona.
Although environmental groups have successfully lobbied the US Secretary of Interior to suspend new uranium claims in a buffer zone near the Grand Canyon, the suspension does not include pre-existing claims such as Denison’s.
Currently there is a 30 day comment period for public input on the US Dept of Interior's proposal to withdraw 1 million acres of land in the Grand Canyon watershed that would affect, "uranium and other hardrock mineral development in that area".
You can read the Draft Environmental Impact Statement here. (http://www.blm.gov/az/st/en/
Comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement are due by April 4th, 2011 and can be made in writing and either mailed to Bureau of Land Management, Arizona Strip District, 345 East Riverside Drive , St. George, UT 84790 or sent as an email toNAZproposedwithdrawal@azblm.
You can also comment online through the Sierra Club's site. (https://secure2.convio.net/
Please support Alternative B.
"Alternative B is to withdraw about 1 million acres from hardrock mineral exploration and mining for 20 years subject to valid existing rights. The land is in three parcels: two are north of the Grand Canyon National Park on BLM Arizona Strip and Kaibab National Forest lands; and one is south of the Grand Canyon also in the Kaibab National Forest. The authority for the withdrawal comes from Section 204 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. If implemented, this withdrawal would not prevent any other development under laws regulating mineral leasing, geothermal leasing, mineral materials or public lands."
--
Klee Benally
indigenousaction@gmail.com | w
Skype: indigenousaction
NEW: www.design.
NEW: www.dinewaterrights.org - Water is Life! Protect our Future!
www.indigenousaction.org - Independent Indigenous Media
www.oybm.org - Indigenous Youth Empowerment!
www.savethepeaks.org - Protect Sacred Places
www.truesnow.org - Water is Life! No Snowmaking
www.taalahooghan.org - Flagstaff Infoshop
www.blackfire.net
Last weekend, tens of thousands of us rallied in New York City and around the nation. We demonstrated our solidarity with workers in Wisconsin and around the nation who are under attack by Tea Party Republicans like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Step by step, we're creating a powerful grassroots response to the Tea Party: a Job Party.
On Tuesday, we're joining with Moveon again to rally across the nation. Will you join us after work?Sign up to join your local rally here.
Scott Walker isn't backing down. When Wisconsin Democrats bravely refused to surrender, Republicans crammed their union-busting bill through, breaking laws in the process.
And in Michigan, Republicans passed an "Emergency Manager" law to let Gov. Rick Snyder appoint virtual dictators to rule struggling towns by breaking unions and selling local utilities.
These two actions are being called the "Ash Wednesday Massacre" - not of people, but democracy. And so we absolutely must respond on Tuesday after work:
Sign up to join your local rally here.
Our Job Party movement is just beginning. On WednesdayMarch 16, we'll join Progressive Democrats of America in lunch-hour "Brown Bag Vigils" at local Congressional offices to demand Jobs not Cuts, Healthcare not Warfare, and Corporations Out of Politics.
On Monday April 4, we'll join the AFL-CIO in "We Are One" rallies to mark the date in 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while helping Memphis sanitation workers form a union.
And on Monday April 18, we'll mark "Tax Day" with Moveon by demanding an end to tax dodging by corporations and billionaires.
I've been a progressive organizer my whole life, and I've never seen so much unity, passion, and determination. Workers, students, parents, the unemployed, veterans, feminists, Democrats, and a true rainbow coalition are coming together to protect our basic economic rights.
And we're not just on defense - we're organizing recall elections and building support for a 21st Century WPA.
So let's hit the streets, make new friends, broaden our coalition, and increase our demands for change - because our economic and political survival is at stake.
Thanks for all you do!
Bob, Charles, Corinne, Diane, Harry, Jonathan, and Justin and the rest of the team
P.S. if you'd like to help us build the Job Party, please visit our new web site:
http://JobParty.us
or "like" us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/
or follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/jobparty
p.p.s. Please share your thoughts in our new blog:
http://www.democrats.com/on-
Opponents of forbidding undocumented students from attending ANY Ga. institution of higher learning even if paying out-of-state tuition will rally on the Washington St. steps MONDAY, March 14 at 2pm. Call your representative and say NO to HB59. Sponsored by GLAHR and the Georgia Dreamers.
On Tuesday, there will be another rally in solidarity with Wisconsin and the struggle to stop union-busting. March 15 at 5:30pm. Wear red. Initiated byhttp://www.facebook.com/l/
March 13, 2011
Japan Nukes Dangerously Out of Control
We have received quite a number of emails regarding the extremely dangerous situation in Japan. Japan has about 50 nuclear reactors on its little islands which sit atop a number of earthquake fault lines. Needless to say, the reactors which use plutonium fuel have been affected. At least 4 of them are in danger of meltdown and explosion. The Japanese authorities have ordered the evacuation of 210,000 people. This figure is not nearly enough as the danger of radiation spreading farther, much farther is very real.
Remember, Chernobyl spread radiation throughout Europe and around the Northern hemisphere. Nearly 1 million people got cancer.
We need to protect ourselves by taking care of our health as best we can. Children are the most vulnerable. We don't know what waft of radiation will be coming our way. This is no fear mongering but the terrifying facts.
Kittoh
<kittoh@storm.ca>
We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, both Indigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and an assortment of English language media.
More below on the emergency of loss of coolant at the Plutonium-fueled (MOX) reactor, Unit 3 at Fukushima Daiichi.
Appropriately, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary has put out a warning this time that there may be an explosion there.
Believe you and me-- when a high level official comes out and admits an explosion is possible? Things are reallllybad.
The death and disease toll around the world will be unfathomably high in short time. After all, what could be worse than a Plutonium explosion?
Although so many of us are feeling helpless, not being able to *do* anything as we watch the nuclear train wreck forging ahead in slow motion-- I believe it is critically important we take extra good care of ourselves, now more than ever.
Mixed plutonium-uranium reactor in Japan loses coolant system as government evacuates 210,000 from area or quake-stricken nuke plant
Several of the some 210,000 ordered to evacuated by the government fleeing in boats down a tsunami flooded street.
AMSTERDAM – Japan’s earthquake-rocked nuclear industry faced fresh problems on Sunday evening Japanese times as it became apparent that reactor unit 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi plant – which runs on a plutonium-based fuel – has lost its emergency cooling system, the country’s nuclear power safety agency said. Charles Digges, 13/03-2011
Evacuation orders by the Japanese government were also boosted later on Sunday from 140,000 to more than 210,000. Japanese officials said they had also ordered up the largest mobilization of their Self-Defense Forces since World War II to assist in the relief effort, the New York Times reported.
“What we are witnessing is a worst case design scenario,” said Bellona nuclear physicist Nils Bøhmer
“Japanese authorities had counted on fail safes and back-up power units to kick in to continue the cooling procedure in the reactors, but the fail safes were destroyed by the earthquake and 10 meter tsunami.,” he said, adding “So now they are improvising, which is not where you want to be in an incident as serious as this,” said Bøhmer.
On Saturday, Japanese officials flooded with sea water and boron Fukushima Daiichi reactor unit no. 1, located 240 kilometers north of Tokyo, in a desparate last gasp attempt to cool the overheating reactor whose cooling system had failed Friday.
On Sunday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that the cooling system had failed at the No. 3 unit and that core melting was presumed to be underway at both downed reactors. The cooling systems for three more reactors were down at nearby Fukushima Daini, but Edano said the situation was less dire there for the moment
A total of six reactors between the two plants are reported to be battling reactor coolant loss, said the ITAR-TASS Russian news agency on Sunday.
One hundred and ninty people have been reported as being in hospital with radiation poisoning, Slivyak said.
The failure of the cooling system at Fukuchima Daiichi No. 3 – which resulted from the worst earthquake, at 8.9, in Japan’s history and ensuing tsunamis – has Tokyo Electrical Power Co (TEPCO) workers scrambling to secure new sources of water to cool the mixed uranium and plutonium oxide, or MOX, fuel burning plant, Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told a news conference.
Results of the effort to flood the Fukushima Daiichi ‘s reactor No. 1 are still unclear, but Bøhmer said that “If they manage to avoid a meltdown, that reactor is gone. They will have to decommission it – the same is likely to happen with reactor unit 3.”
He added that pouring seawater into "Reactor No 1 was a very desperate measure and has not put it outside the possibility of a meltdown. “
With high pressure inside the reactors at Daiichi hampering efforts to pump in cooling water, plant operators had to release radioactive vapor into the atmosphere. Radiation levels outside the plant, which had retreated overnight, shot up to 1,204 microsieverts per hour, or over twice Japan’s legal limit, Edano told reporters.
“A shutdown of coolant to a reactor loaded with MOX fuel make the reactor much more difficult to control than a reactor loaded with usual uranium fuel,” wrote Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair of Russia’s Ecodefence, in his regular updates on ***anti-atom.ru, noting that a disaster at the No. 3 unit would lead to plutonium fallout.
“Compared to radioactive fallout from a reactor working on uranium fuel, a much higher rate of illness can be expected as a result of irradiation,” wrote Slivyak.
Bellona’s Bøhmer described the anatomy of what such an eventuality might look like.
“The worst case scenario would be to lose all ability to cool the core which would expose the fuel assembly to the air,” he said. The temperature would rise dramatically.
Should temperatures reach 1000 degrees Celsius, Bøhmer said, any cooling water begins to disappear and hydrogen beings to be produced.
At 2200 degrees Celsius, the uranium in the MOX fuel assembly would begin to melt.
At the point, said Bøhmer, “bits of metal would start to burn through the reactor core, which would allow exposure to the air, and then you would get both a uranium and plutonium explosion, a vapour explosion releasing both uranium and plutonium.”
One French observers group said it had received information that three meters of MOX fuel rods at Fukushima Daiichi’s unit three were exposed from boiled off coolant, but these reports could not be independently confirmed.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government struggled to cope with a rising tide of panic. Reports said that NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, flashed instructions to evacuees: close doors and windows; place a wet towel over the nose and mouth; cover up as much as possible.
At a news conference, Edano called for calm. “If measures can be taken, we will be able to ensure the safety of the reactor,” he told reporters.
Elevated levels of radiation were reported in the Miyagi prefecture on Sunday, where the Onagawa nuclear power plant is located. Onagawa suffered a fire on Friday following the quake.
Fukushima’s reactors are rated to withstand earthquakes of a 7.9 point magnitude. The jolts on Friday reached 8.9, with as many as 100 aftershocks in following days, some reaching 6.8 points.
“Fukushima’s Daiichi’s reactor units No. 1 and 3 came at a pricetag of $24 billion and will most likely never be used again,” wrote Slivyak in his regular update.
http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2011/mox_ reactor_coolant_loss
March 13, 2011
These two articles describes the huge humanitarian crisis unfolding in Japan. Entire towns have been wiped out.
It is apparent that Japanese authorities are trying to play down the dangers of radiation at the plants where the situation is still out of control.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/
..Quake-tsunami death toll surpasses 10K as Japan struggles to avoid meltdown, feed survivors
By Jay Alabaster,Todd Pitman, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press 52 minutes ago
....SENDAI, Japan - People across a devastated swath of Japan suffered for a third day Sunday without water, electricity and proper food, as the country grappled with the enormity of a massive earthquake and tsunami that left more than 10,000 people dead in one area alone.
Japan's prime minister called the crisis the most severe challenge the nation has faced since World War II, as the grim situation worsened. Friday's disasters damaged a series of nuclear reactors, potentially sending one through a partial meltdown and adding radiation contamination to the fears of an unsettled public.
Temperatures began sinking toward freezing, compounding the misery of survivors along hundreds of miles (kilometres) of the northeastern coast battered by the tsunami that smashed inland with breathtaking fury. Rescuers pulled bodies from mud-covered jumbles of wrecked houses, shattered tree trunks, twisted cars and tangled power lines while survivors examined the ruined remains.
In Rikusentakata, a port city of over 20,000 virtually wiped out by the tsunami, Etsuko Koyama escaped the water rushing through the third flood of her home but lost her grip on her daughter's hand and has not found her.
"I haven't given up hope yet," Koyama told public broadcaster NHK, wiping tears from her eyes. "I saved myself, but I couldn't save my daughter."
To the south, in Miyagi prefecture, or state, the police chief told a gathering of disaster relief officials that his estimate for deaths was more than 10,000, police spokesman Go Sugawara told The Associated Press. Miyagi has a population of 2.3 million and is one of the three prefectures hardest hit in Friday's disaster. Fewer than 400 people have officially been confirmed as dead in Miyagi.
According to officials, more than 1,400 people were killed — including 200 people whose bodies were found Sunday along the coast — and more than 1,000 were missing in the disasters. Another 1,700 were injured.
Japanese officials raised their estimate Sunday of the quake's magnitude to 9.0, a notch above the U.S. Geological Survey's reading of 8.9. Either way, it was the strongest quake ever recorded in Japan, which lies on a seismically active arc. A volcano on the southern island of Kyushu — hundreds of miles (kilometres) from the quake' epicenter — also resumed spewing ash and rock Sunday after a couple of quiet weeks, Japan's weather agency said.
For Japan, one of the world's leading economies with ultramodern infrastructure, the disasters plunged ordinary life into nearly unimaginable deprivation.
Hundreds of thousands of hungry survivors huddled in darkened emergency centres that were cut off from rescuers, aid and electricity. At least 1.4 million households had gone without water since the quake struck and some 1.9 million households were without electricity.
While the government doubled the number of soldiers deployed in the aid effort to 100,000 and sent 120,000 blankets, 120,000 bottles of water and 29,000 gallons (110,000 litres) of gasoline plus food to the affected areas, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said electricity would take days to restore. In the meantime, he said, electricity would be rationed with rolling blackouts to several cities, including Tokyo.
"This is Japan's most severe crisis since the war ended 65 years ago," Kan told reporters, adding that Japan's future would be decided by its response.
In a rare piece of good news, the Defence Ministry said a military vessel on Sunday rescued a 60-year-old man floating off the coast of Fukushima on the roof of his house after he and his wife were swept away in the tsunami. He was in good condition. His wife did not survive.
A young man described what ran through his mind before he escaped in a separate rescue. "I thought to myself, ah, this is how I will die," Tatsuro Ishikawa, his face bruised and cut, told NHK as he sat in striped hospital pyjamas.
Dozens of countries have offered assistance. Two U.S. aircraft carrier groups were off Japan's coast and ready to provide assistance. Helicopters were flying from one of the carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, delivering food and water in Miyagi.
Two other U.S. rescue teams of 72 personnel each and rescue dogs arrived Sunday, as did a five-dog team from Singapore.
Still, large areas of the countryside remained surrounded by water and unreachable. Fuel stations were closed, though at some, cars waited in lines hundreds of vehicles long.
The United States and a several countries in Europe urged their citizens to avoid travel to Japan. France took the added step of suggesting people leave Tokyo in case radiation reached the city.
Community after community traced the vast extent of the devastation.
In the town of Minamisanrikucho, 10,000 people — nearly two-thirds of the population — have not been heard from since the tsunami wiped it out, a government spokesman said. NHK showed only a couple of concrete structures still standing, and the bottom three floors of those buildings gutted. One of the few standing was a hospital, and a worker told NHK that hospital staff rescued about a third of the patients in the facility.
In the town of Iwaki, there was no electricity, stores were closed and residents left as food and fuel supplies dwindled. Local police took in about 90 people and gave them blankets and rice balls, but there was no sign of government or military aid trucks.
At a large refinery on the outskirts of the hard-hit port city of Sendai, 100-foot (30-meter) -high bright orange flames rose in the air, spitting out dark plumes of smoke. The facility has been burning since Friday. The fire's roar could be heard from afar. Smoke burned the eyes and throat, and a gaseous stench hung in the air.
In Sendai, as night fell and temperatures dropped to freezing, people who had slept in underpasses or offices the past two nights gathered for warmth in community centres, schools and City Hall.
In the small town of Tagajo, also near Sendai, dazed residents during the day roamed streets cluttered with smashed cars, broken homes and twisted metal.
Residents said the water surged in and quickly rose higher than the first floor of buildings. At Sengen General Hospital, the staff worked feverishly to haul bedridden patients up the stairs one at a time. With the halls now dark, those who can leave have gone to the local community centre.
"There is still no water or power, and we've got some very sick people in here," said hospital official Ikuro Matsumoto.
In Sendai, firefighters with wooden picks dug through a devastated neighbourhood. One of them yelled: "A corpse." Inside a house, he had found the body of a grey-haired woman under a blanket.
A few minutes later, the firefighters spotted another — that of a man in black fleece jacket and pants, crumpled in a partial fetal position at the bottom of a wooden stairwell. From outside, while the top of the house seemed almost untouched, the first floor where the body was had been inundated. A minivan lay embedded in one outer wall, which had been ripped away, pulverized beside a mangled bicycle.
The man's neighbour, 24-year-old Ayumi Osuga, dug through the remains of her own house, her white mittens covered by dark mud.
Osuga said she had been practicing origami, the Japanese art of folding paper into figures, with her three children when the quake stuck. She recalled her husband's shouted warning from outside: "'GET OUT OF THERE NOW!'"
She gathered her children — aged 2 to 6 — and fled in her car to higher ground with her husband. They spent the night in a hilltop home belonging to her husband's family about 12 miles (20 kilometres) away.
"My family, my children. We are lucky to be alive," she said.
"I have come to realize what is important in life," Osuga said, nervously flicking ashes from a cigarette onto the rubble at her feet as a giant column of black smoke billowed in the distance.
___
Todd Pitman reported from Sendai. Associated Press writers Eric Talmadge and Kelly Olsen in Koriyama and Malcolm J. Foster, Mari Yamaguchi, Tomoko A. Hosaka and Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.
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.Japan fights to avert nuclear meltdown after quake
By Taiga Uranaka and Ki Joon Kwon | Reuters Sun, 13 Mar, 2011 1:06 PM EDT
.........Related Content.
...People walk along a flooded street in Ishimaki City, Miyagi Prefecture in northern …
..Workers carry bodies from a damaged home for the elderly after an earthquake and …
Expert sees "good news" in Japan nuclear fight
2 hours 47 minutes ago
Snapshot: Developments after major Japan earthquake
1 hour 55 minutes ago
....FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan struggled on Monday to avert a nuclear disaster and care for millions of people without power or water, three days after an earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 10,000 people or more in the nation's darkest hour since World War Two.
The world's third-largest economy opens for business later on Monday, a badly wounded nation that has seen whole villages and towns wiped off the map by a wall of water, leaving in its wake an international humanitarian effort of epic proportion.
A grim-faced Prime Minister Naoto Kan described the crisis at Japan's worst since 1945, as officials confirmed that three nuclear reactors were at risk of overheating, raising fears of an uncontrolled radiation leak.
"The earthquake, tsunami and the nuclear incident have been the biggest crisis Japan has encountered in the 65 years since the end of World War II," Kan told a news conference.
"We're under scrutiny on whether we, the Japanese people, can overcome this crisis."
As he spoke, officials worked desperately to stop fuel rods in the damaged reactors from overheating. If they fail, the containers that house the core could melt, or even explode, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.
The most urgent crisis centers on the Fukushima Daiichi complex, where all three reactors are threatening to overheat, and where authorities say they have been forced to release radioactive steam into the air to relieve reactor pressure.
The complex, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was rocked by an explosion on Saturday, which blew the roof off a reactor building. The government did not rule out further blasts there but said this would not necessarily damage the reactor vessels.
Authorities have poured sea water in all three of the complex's reactor to cool them down.
FEARS OVER OTHER REACTORS
The complex, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co, is the biggest nuclear concern but not the only one: on Monday, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Japanese authorities had notified it of an emergency at another plant further north, at Onagawa.
But Japan's nuclear safety agency denied problems at the Onagawa plant, run by Tohoku Electric Power Co, noting that radioactive releases from the Fukushima Daiichi complex had been detected at Onagawa, but that these were within safe levels at a tiny fraction of the radiation received in an x-ray.
Shortly later, a cooling-system problem was reported at another nuclear plant closer to Tokyo, in Ibaraki prefecture.
Fukushima's No. 1 reactor, where the roof was ripped off, is 40 years old and was originally set to go out of commission in February but had its operating license extended by 10 years.
Prime Minister Kan said the crisis was not another Chernobyl, referring to the nuclear disaster of 1986 in Soviet Ukraine.
"Radiation has been released in the air, but there are no reports that a large amount was released," Jiji news agency quoted him as saying. "This is fundamentally different from the Chernobyl accident."
Nevertheless, France recommended its citizens leave the Tokyo region, citing the risk of further earthquakes and uncertainty about the nuclear plants.
Broadcaster NHK, quoting a police official, said more than 10,000 people may have been killed as the wall of water triggered by Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake surged across the coastline, reducing whole towns to rubble.
Almost 2 million households were without power in the freezing north, the government said. There were about 1.4 million without running water. Kyodo news agency said about 300,000 people were evacuated nationwide.
Authorities have set up a 20-km (12-mile) exclusion zone around the Fukushima Daiichi plant and a 10 km (6 miles) zone around another nuclear facility close by.
The nuclear accident, the worst since Chernobyl, sparked criticism that authorities were ill-prepared for such a massive quake and the threat that could pose to the country's nuclear power industry.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said there might have been a partial meltdown of the fuel rods at the No. 1 reactor at Fukushima. Engineers were pumping in seawater, trying to prevent the same happening at the No. 3 reactor, he said in apparent acknowledgement they had moved too slowly on Saturday.
"Unlike the No.1 reactor, we ventilated and injected water at an early stage," Edano told a news briefing.
The No. 3 reactor uses a mixed-oxide fuel which contains plutonium, but plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it did not present unusual problems.
TEPCO said radiation levels around the Fukushima Daiichi plant had risen above the safety limit but that it did not mean an "immediate threat" to human health.
The wind over the plant would continue blowing from the south, which could affect residents north of the facility, an official at Japan's Meteorological Agency said.
SEARCH FOR THE MISSING
Kan said food, water and other necessities such as blankets were being delivered by vehicles but because of damage to roads, authorities were considering air and sea transport. He also said the government was preparing to double the number of troops mobilized to 100,000.
Thousands spent another freezing night huddled in blankets over heaters in emergency shelters along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the quake sent a 10-meter (33-foot) wave surging through towns and cities in the Miyagi region, including its main coastal city of Sendai.
A Japanese official said 22 people have been confirmed to have suffered radiation contamination and up to 190 may have been exposed. Workers in protective clothing used handheld scanners to check people arriving at evacuation centers.
GOVERNMENT CRITICISED
The government, in power less than two years and which had already been struggling to push policy through a deeply divided parliament, came under criticism for its handling of the disaster.
"Crisis management is incoherent," blared a headline in the Asahi newspaper, saying information and instructions to expand the evacuation area around the troubled plant were too slow.
There has been a proposal of an extra budget to help pay for the huge cost of recovery.
The Bank of Japan is expected to pledge on Monday to supply as much money as needed to prevent the disaster from destabilizing markets and its banking system. It is also expected to signal its readiness to ease monetary policy further if the damage from the worst quake since records began in Japan 140 years ago threatens a fragile economic recovery.
The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century. It surpassed the Great Kanto quake of September 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.
The 1995 Kobe quake killed 6,000 and caused $100 billion in damage, the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.
(Additional reporting by Risa Maeda and Leika Kihara in Tokyo and Chris Meyers and Kim Kyung-hoon in Sendai; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by John Chalmers
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Join Ms. Roberta Weighill, from the Chumash Nation, as she interview John Abraham Powell, President of Get Oil Out ( http://www.facebook.com/l/
Interview in 3 parts
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for more info on Get Oil Out
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part 1
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Part 2
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Part 3
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
By: UKSecrets
Tags:
SCIENCE/HEALTH/CLIMATE/NATURE
Fouroverturned train carriages lie at impossibly skewed angles. A cruise ship sits on its side. Another teeters perilously on the edge of a quay.
All had been flung from their courses by the devastating force of the tsunami, but pictured from above – in such unlikely settings – they appear almost as toys scattered by a child who has grown bored with playing.
Elsewhere, terrified survivors wait to be rescued atop a building in Kesennuma, in north-east Japan, after fashioning a giant SOS sign from bedsheets.
And residents in Rikuzentakata can be seen on the roof of a block of flats that appears to have been put through a shredder.
N.S. chief demands report on fatal shooting of band member be released
WAGMATCOOK, N.S. - Members of a Nova Scotia First Nation and the family of John Simon, a Mi'kmaq man who was fatally shot by an RCMP officer in 2008, repeated demands Sunday for the release of an RCMP Public Complaints Commission interim report into the death.
The commission forwarded its findings on the shooting to RCMP Commissioner Bill Elliott and the federal minister of public safety in early December, but Simon's relatives and Wagmatcook band members are still waiting for word on what it says.
"This report from the complaints commission was supposed to be independent, yet the RCMP gets it before anyone else," said Patsy MacKay, Simon's widow. "I mean, why do they get to see it where they're the ones being investigated? I don't understand."
More than two years after the death of her husband, MacKay said she finds it frustrating that no one has accepted any responsibility or owned up to what happened.
"It's all damage control from this point. They have to have more time to weave some more nonsense," she said, repeating a demand for a full public inquiry.
Simon was shot and killed in his home in Wagmatcook on Dec. 2, 2008, by an RCMP officer. Simon, who was a diabetic, had been drinking and was without insulin for days when he barricaded himself alone inside his home in the Cape Breton community.
An investigation by Halifax Regional Police concluded that RCMP Const. Jeremy Frenette entered Simon's house against direct orders from his supervisor and that Simon had a rifle and was potentially suicidal.
The investigation found that Frenette shot Simon in self-defence and indicated no criminal charges would be laid.
That report was given to the Mounties for input before it was released to the Simon family on Dec. 8, 2009, six days too late to pursue any disciplinary action against Frenette. The RCMP has said a disciplinary review must occur within 12 months of the incident and it didn't begin that process in this case.
After it became public that no action would be taken, the complaints commission started its own investigation in March 2010.
The Wagmatcook band council and MacKay submitted a 22-page brief questioning the independence of the Halifax police report, arguing that it was based on poor reasoning and biased assumptions and conclusions.
"Bottom line is that the RCMP made a fatal mistake by allowing Const. Frenette to go into John Simon's house and shoot him," said Brian Arbuthnot, the band's manager.
"We have some concerns with the integrity and the objectivity of that (Halifax police) report," he said. "The longer we wait for the public complaints commission report, we're worried about breaches of trust and responsibility to the family."
Arbuthnot said they have contacted the commission several times in the past couple of months but without results.
"The response has come back that they're not prepared to release the report until the RCMP has commented on it and have added their advice," said Arbuthnot. "There's concern about the lack of transparency here."
Arbuthnot said Simon's death will continue to resonate in native circles and hinder the RCMP's ability to police any First Nations community until the issue is resolved.
"This is not going to go away, even if the RCMP would like it to," he said.
There was no immediate response Sunday from either the RCMP or the complaints commission.
Kevin Brousseau, the commission's director of operations, had said earlier that it was standard practice for the agency to send reports to the RCMP commissioner for comment before wider release.
He said the RCMP commissioner's office won't alter the report, but can comment on the recommendations it contains.
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TOKYO ELECTRIC TO BUILD US NUCLEAR PLANTS
The no-BS info on Japan's disastrous nuclear operators
by Greg Palast
New York - March 14, 2011
I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.
Texas plants planned by Tokyo Electric. Image:NINA
But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn't suffered enough.
Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven't heard on CNN:
The failure of emergency systems at Japan's nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.
Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called "SQ" or "Seismic Qualification." That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.
The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from 'failed' to 'passed.'
The company that put in the false safety report? Stone & Webster, now the nuclear unit of Shaw Construction which will work with Tokyo Electric to build the Texas plant, Lord help us.
There's more.
Last night I heard CNN reporters repeat the official line that the tsunami disabled the pumps needed to cool the reactors, implying that water unexpectedly got into the diesel generators that run the pumps.
These safety back-up systems are the 'EDGs' in nuke-speak: Emergency Diesel Generators. That they didn't work in an emergency is like a fire department telling us they couldn't save a building because "it was on fire."
What dim bulbs designed this system? One of the reactors dancing with death at Fukushima Station 1 was built by Toshiba. Toshiba was also an architect of the emergency diesel system.
Now be afraid. Obama's $4 billion bail-out-in-the-making is called the South Texas Project. It's been sold as a red-white-and-blue way to make power domestically with a reactor from Westinghouse, a great American brand. However, the reactor will be made substantially in Japan by the company that bought the US brand name, Westinghouse — Toshiba.
I once had a Toshiba computer. I only had to send it in once for warranty work. However, it's kind of hard to mail back a reactor with the warranty slip inside the box if the fuel rods are melted and sinking halfway to the earth's core.
TEPCO and Toshiba don't know what my son learned in 8th grade science class: tsunamis follow Pacific Rim earthquakes. So these companies are real stupid, eh? Maybe. More likely is that the diesels and related systems wouldn't have worked on a fine, dry afternoon.
Back in the day, when we checked the emergency back-up diesels in America, a mind-blowing number flunked. At the New York nuke, for example, the builders swore under oath that their three diesel engines were ready for an emergency. They'd been tested. The tests were faked, the diesels run for just a short time at low speed. When the diesels were put through a real test under emergency-like conditions, the crankshaft on the first one snapped in about an hour, then the second and third. We nicknamed the diesels, "Snap, Crackle and Pop."
(Note: Moments after I wrote that sentence, word came that two of three diesels failed at the Tokai Station as well.)
In the US, we supposedly fixed our diesels after much complaining by the industry. But in Japan, no one tells Tokyo Electric to do anything the Emperor of Electricity doesn't want to do.
I get lots of confidential notes from nuclear industry insiders. One engineer, a big name in the field, is especially concerned that Obama waved the come-hither check to Toshiba and Tokyo Electric to lure them to America. The US has a long history of whistleblowers willing to put themselves on the line to save the public. In our racketeering case in New York, the government only found out about the seismic test fraud because two courageous engineers, Gordon Dick and John Daly, gave our team the documentary evidence.
In Japan, it's simply not done. The culture does not allow the salary-men, who work all their their lives for one company, to drop the dime.
Not that US law is a wondrous shield: both engineers in the New York case were fired and blacklisted by the industry. Nevertheless, the government (local, state, federal) brought civil racketeering charges against the builders. The jury didn't buy the corporation's excuses and, in the end, the plant was, thankfully, dismantled.
Am I on some kind of xenophobic anti-Nippon crusade? No. In fact, I'm far more frightened by the American operators in the South Texas nuclear project, especially Shaw. Stone & Webster, now the Shaw nuclear division, was also the firm that conspired to fake the EDG tests in New York. (The company's other exploits have been exposed by their former consultant, John Perkins, in his book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man.)
If the planet wants to shiver, consider this: Toshiba and Shaw have recently signed a deal to become world-wide partners in the construction of nuclear stations.
The other characters involved at the South Texas Plant that Obama is backing should also give you the willies. But as I'm in the middle of investigating the American partners, I'll save that for another day.
So, if we turned to America's own nuclear contractors, would we be safe? Well, two of the melting Japanese reactors, including the one whose building blew sky high, were built by General Electric of the Good Old US of A.
After Texas, you're next. The Obama Administration is planning a total of $56 billion in loans for nuclear reactors all over America.
And now, the homicides:
CNN is only interested in body counts, how many workers burnt by radiation, swept away or lost in the explosion. These plants are now releasing radioactive steam into the atmosphere. Be skeptical about the statements that the "levels are not dangerous." These are the same people who said these meltdowns could never happen. Over years, not days, there may be a thousand people, two thousand, ten thousand who will suffer from cancers induced by this radiation.
In my New York investigation, I had the unhappy job of totaling up post-meltdown "morbidity" rates for the county government. It would be irresponsible for me to estimate the number of cancer deaths that will occur from these releases without further information; but it is just plain criminal for the Tokyo Electric shoguns to say that these releases are not dangerous. Indeed, the fact that residents near the Japanese nuclear plants were not issued iodine pills to keep at the ready shows TEPCO doesn't care who lives and who dies whether in Japan or the USA. The carcinogenic isotopes that are released at Fukushima are already floating to Seattle with effects we simply cannot measure.
Heaven help us. Because Obama won't.
***
For Truthout/Buzzflash
Greg Palast is the co-author of Democracy and Regulation, the United Nations ILO guide for public service regulators, with Jerrold Oppenheim and Theo MacGregor. Palast has advised regulators in 26 states and in 12 nations on the regulation of the utility industry.
Palast, whose reports can be seen on BBC Television Newsnight, is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow for investigative reporting.
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Urgent breaking: Radiation Is Leaking At Ibaraki --Radiation leaking due to core problem at Fukushima Unit 2 Nuclear Reactor 15 Mar 2011 [This story will be updated.]
Breaking: Explosion at Fukushima Unit 2 Nuclear Reactor: Government --'Most ominous news' --75 Kilometers have been evacuated. Evacuation zones to be expanded. (Fox News) Japanese government confirms the explosion. Sirens heard in Tokyo, an early warning sign of tremors, not related to the nuclear issue. [This story will be updated.]
Japan Reports: Explosion At Third Reactor --Govt trying to prevent meltdowns in three nuclear reactors14 Mar 2011 A fresh explosion was heard on Tuesday at a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear power plant, the country's nuclear safety agency said. Authorities at the Fukushima Daiichi complex, damaged in Friday's 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami, are trying to prevent meltdowns in three of the plant's nuclear reactors. Two previous explosions ripped through unit 1 and 3 reactor buildings, but these had not damaged the nuclear vessels, authorities have said. There was no immediate word on any damage from this third blast, which is now believed to have occurred in the remaining reactor, unit 2.
Plutonium threat at Japan reactor, expert warns --The Fukushima facility began using MOX fuel last September, becoming the third plant in Japan to do so. 14 Mar 2011 The fuel used in the Japanese nuclear reactor where an explosion occurred today is more volatile and toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors there, a Japanese nuclear expert warned. At a press conference in Tokyo, Masashi Goto, who worked for Toshiba as a reactor researcher and designer, said the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel used in unit 3 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contains plutonium, which is much more toxic than the fuel used in the other reactors. MOX fuel is a mixture of uranium and plutonium reprocessed from spent uranium, and is sometimes involved in the disposal of weapons-grade plutonium.
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TSA to retest airport body scanners for radiation 12 Mar 2011 The Transportation Security Administration announced Friday that it would retest every full-body X-ray scanner that emits ionizing radiation -- 247 machines at 38 airports -- after maintenance records on some of the devices showed radiation levels 10 times higher than expected... The TSA released inspection reports from 40 backscatter machines, and reports for 19 of those machines had errors, including six that were deemed "considerable."
Bank of America Unit Tried to Hide Foreclosure Information, Hackers Say 14 Mar 2011 A hacker organization known as Anonymous released a series of e-mails on Monday provided by a former Bank of America employee who claims they show how a division of the bank sought to hide information on foreclosures. The bank unit, Balboa Insurance, was acquired by Bank of America when it bought the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial in 2008. Balboa deals in so-called force-placed insurance coverage on mortgages.
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The Rally against the Re-Segregation of our Universities is on WEDNESDAY, March 16 from 2-4pm at the Capitol.
Tuesday, March 15 at 8:30pm, there will be a Funeral for HOPE at the Capitol.
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field
and in the policy arena to protect America's last wild buffalo.
BFC Family, Friends, and Supporters,
We send this message with heavy hearts to let you know that barb abramo, our good friend, leader, and Office Coordinator passed away Sunday morning in Bozeman. Eight of us from Buffalo Field Campaign were with her when she died, and she passed very peacefully.
barb played a central role in our work for the buffalo and in our lives and neither will be the same without her. barb was a fierce and passionate advocate for the buffalo, and a committed activist throughout her life. For the past several years barb was the voice of Buffalo Field Campaign, hand-writing every donation thank-you, packing and sending merchandise orders, and keeping BFC and our office running smoothly, efficiently, and always with a personal touch. If you called and spoke with us or sent a contribution in support of our work, chances are good that you communicated directly with this incredible woman.
We are working on a more fitting tribute to barb and will be creating a web page in her honor. If you have any thoughts, stories, photographs, or reflections you would like to share we would be honored to have them.
For the Buffalo,
Dan Brister
Executive Director
Buffalo Field Campaign
barb abramo
6/4/1943 - 3/13/2011
ROAM FREE!
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Join Ms. Roberta Weighill of the Chumash Nation as she sits down with Mr. Thunderwolf, Deleware Nation, and founder of BICONA (Black Indian Confederacy Of North America). BICONA mission is to wake up the Black community to the problems that plague Indian country.
Thunderwolf discusses his childhood during the height of the civil rights movement and the discovery of his Indian blood. He also discusses the similarities of Black and Indian oppression throughout history, the need for the Black community to be more supportive for their Native family, and the obligation to lend a hand.
For more information on BICONA
BICONA stands for
Black Indian Confederacy Of North America
Website/Contact info:
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Union of Concerned Scientists
Over the last several days, we've received many calls and emails from UCS members and supporters asking about the current crisis involving several of Japan's nuclear power reactors. Like most of you, we are deeply saddened by the terrible tragedy of last week's earthquake and tsunami, and our hearts go out to the many victims.
For more than 40 years, UCS has served as a nuclear safety watchdog and a reliable, independent source of information on nuclear power technology and its risks. UCS technical experts are working hard to provide timely, updated analysis of what is happening at the stricken facilities and what the implications may be.
You can find regular updates on our blog "All Things Nuclear" and learn about why events have unfolded in the way they have, where the situation may be headed, and what it may mean for the people around the facilities and the environment.
We are also being called on frequently by a wide range of media outlets to provide independent, unbiased information and analysis about the rapidly changing situation on the ground.
For more information, see our Nuclear Accident ABCs factsheet, which provides background information on nuclear accidents and explains some of the terms frequently being used in media reports about the crisis.
As events unfold in Japan, we will be regularly updating the UCS website with our most current assessment of conditions at the affected facilities.
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Nuclear Crisis in Japan - NIRS
http://www.nirs.org/fukushima/
Nuclear Crisis in Japan
UPDATE, 6:15 pm (note: all Update times are Eastern U.S. time), Tuesday, March 15, 2011. We have just learned that TEPCO has announced that at 5:45 am Tokyo time (4:45 pm eastern us time) flames have appeared again at the northwest side of Fukushima Daiichi (Unit 4). According to TEPCO, it is impossible to go near the fire since the radiation is so high.
UPDATE 8:15 am, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. The situation at Fukushima is going from bad to worse. There was briefly a fire in the irradiated fuel pool at Unit 4. The fire is said to be extinguished for now.
Most disturbingly, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) has evacuated all but 50 people from the reactor site. This skeleton crew (of heroic workers) is not likely to be enough to handle simultaneous crises at four reactors and four fuel pools. This may well be a sign that Tepco has given up hope that it can successfully contain this crisis and prevent full meltdowns.
Radiation levels at the site increased overnight (US time) but have dropped a little more recently. Reading in one location was about 4 Rems/Hour. At the site gate readings have dropped from slightly above 1 Rem/hour at 9:30 am (Tokyo time) to about 50 millirems/hour at 3:30 pm (Tokyo time).
Detectable (although still quite low) radiation levels have been recorded in Tokyo, nearly 200 miles to the south.
A 30 kilometer (18.6 miles) exclusion zone has been set up around the site. No one is being allowed inside this zone. However, only residents within 20 kilometers of the site so far have been evacuated; residents from 20-30 kilometers are being told to take shelter indoors.
There is no indication whatsoever that grid power will be available anytime soon. Without power to run safety systems and the clear inability to provide adequate backup power, there is unfortunately little likelihood this crisis can be contained.
"When crazy people call you crazy,
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