Save The Sacred Sites Alliance: February 2010

Digest Of Issues And News

INDIGENOUS POLITICS: FROM NATIVE NEW ENGLAND AND BEYOND
Radio Program on WESU, Middletown, CT

Tuesdays 4-5 PM EST

Listen Online While the Show Airs:www.wesufm.org

On Tuesday, February 9, 2010, join your host, J. Kehaulani Kauanui, for an episode
of "Indigenous Politics" that will examine a controversial plan to mine coal on lands
adjacent to the Northern Cheyenne reservation. Southeast of Ashland, MT in Powder
River County, the Otter Creek Coal Tracts contain more than 1.2 billion acres of
unmined coal, half of which is part of Montana school trust land. In December 2009,
the State Land Board voted (4-1) to call for bids on the coal. This week the answers to
call for Otter Creek bids will be in, and both proponents and opponents will learn
more about the market for this huge coal reserve. All three guests on the show are
opposed this plan: Steve Brady (Northern Cheyenne Tribe), Chairman of the Northern
Cheyenne Cultural Commission; and Alexis Bonogofsky, Senior Coordinator of the Tribal
Lands Conservation Program of the National Wildlife Federation; and Philip Whiteman
(Northern Cheyenne Tribe), co-founder of Yellow Bird, a Native non-profit organization.
~~~
This show is syndicated on select Pacifica-affiliate stations: WPKN in Bridgeport, CT
and Montauk, NY; WNJR, in Washington, PA, WETX-LP, "The independent Voice of
Appalachia," which broadcasts throughout the Tri-Cities region of East Tennessee,
southwest Virginia, and northwest North Carolina; WBCR-lp in Great Barrington, MA
and WORT in Madison, WI.
~~~
All past programs of "Indigenous Politics" are archived online:
www.indigenouspolitics.com
~~~
The show's producer and host, Dr. J. Kehaulani Kauanui is an associate professor of
American Studies and Anthropology at Wesleyan University. She is the author of
Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity
(Duke University Press, 2008).http://jkauanui.faculty.wesleyan.edu

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First Nations & Aboriginal Rights Bulletin
Posted by Anthony Jay Henhawk Jr.

Kevin Annett, human rights activist beaten in Vancouver on Wednesday, released a new article today exposing the role of Canada's police and churches in sex crimes and child trafficking, including the abuse of Native women and children.

Kevin Annett, a community minister, was assaulted by two men in Vancouver's downtown eastside on Wednesday, Jan. Jan. 6, 2010, just two days after he published an article on church and government complicity in child trafficking on Canada's west coast.

Annett suffered cuts, bruises, and at least one broken rib as a result of the unprovoked beating by two men, one of whom is linked to a downtown church agency.

Today, after being beaten, Annett released a new article on the role of Vancouver police in sex crimeshttp://www.censored-news.blogspot.com/

Annett begins the article with this quote: "Ten of the last dozen women to be taken to the killing site at Piggy's Palace were accompanied by Mounties or regular cops. You think it was just Willie Picton who was killing them?"

The article continues, "She told me the man's name, a senior RCMP officer, and then said, 'Who doesn't matter. They're all doing it. It's called the ‘hooker game'. The Vancouver cops will pick up girls off the street, drug them with scopolamine and film them as they f--k them, in a cop club downtown on Georgia street . Then sometimes they kill the girls and film that too, and sell it for $25,000 as a snuff film."

Annett has exposed the rape, torture and murder of Native children in Canada's residential schools, through church documents and interviews. In one case, a Native girl was raped and the infant she gave birth to was thrown into the furnace. The abuse of Native children in Canada's residential schools mirrored the abuse in aboriginal boarding schools in Australia and BIA boarding schools in the United States.

Annett is now exposing the role of the church and Canadian government in sex crimes, including the disappearance of Native children in child trafficking and murder of Native women.

Annett also released a statement today about the attack.

"I have waited to comment on the attack because of my need to rest and recover, but concerns from many people have prompted me to go public with what happened to me.

"Last Wednesday, January 6, at around 9 am, I was assisting a woman facing eviction collect her belongings at a rooming house at 566 Powell street in Vancouver's downtown eastside. Two men suddenly burst into the room, and one of them, a tall, strongly built Caucasian man named Dave who apparently is the manager of the building and a former employee of the Union Gospel Mission, began punching and kicking me. I received severe bruises on my neck and back, and a bruised and possibly broken rib because of this attack.

"At no time did he or his accomplice, another strongly built Caucasian man who witnessed the beating, say why they were attacking me. The woman who I was assisting is a former sex trade worker who is now homeless, and who in the past has provided me with information concerning the disappearance of women in the downtown eastside.

"This assault occurred just two days after an article I wrote entitled 'Child Trafficking in Beautiful British Columbia' in The Agora newspaper was widely disseminated in the downtown eastside of Vancouver. The article describes the documented complicity of churches, the police and the government in the trafficking of children in protected pedophile networks in B.C. I therefore believe there is a connection between the publicizing of this story and the attack made on me. This incident represents yet another case of repression aimed at community activists by the 2010 Olympic security forces and police, and other unknown parties," Annett said.

Meanwhile, the oppression in Canada toward those who speak out against the 2010 Olympics was exposed when border guards recently detained and interrogated Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! Although Goodman had not planned to speak out about the Olympics, the harassment at the border backfired and exposed the ongoing oppression of those in the movement: "No Olympics on Stolen Land."

Annett, who for fifteen years has led the campaign to bring to justice the churches and government responsible for genocide in Canada's Indian Residential Schools, made international news in October 2009 when he held the first memorial service for missing native children outside the Vatican in Rome.
Rev. Annett, school survivors and native elders have also led high profile protests and occupations of churches in Vancouver and Toronto since 2005, and on many occasions Annett has been threatened by church officials and police, according to a statement from Hidden From History.

Annett said he will be returning to Rome and Europe in April with residential school survivors to confront Pope Benedict over the fate and buried location of thousands of children who died in Catholic Indian schools in Canada.

William Annett, Kevin Annett's father, wrote to the Prime Minister of Canada to demand justice.

"You are fully aware who Reverend Kevin Annett is. In case you've forgotten, I remind you that more than any other individual, it was his work and sacrifice over 17 years that made inevitable your 'apology' to the victims and survivors of the Indian Residential Schools, which you delivered in the House of Commons in June, 2008.

Annett's father described the attack and said, "I cannot accuse, because we cannot identify the source of this brutality. But I do know -- and you have the means of discovering -- who those responsible are. Certainly, the perpetrators exist somewhere within the following organizations, these sanctimonious Canadian institutions (still shielded by your government) who have ostracized, vilified and persecuted Kevin Annett, trashing his life since 1992, and aided in default by the gutless Canadian media who have known the truth since 1907: The Canadian Government/ the Department of Indian Affairs; The United Church of Canada; The Anglican Church of Canada; The Roman Catholic Church; The RCMP; The Vancouver Police Department; Certain Tribal Councils and Chiefs (establishment Indians.)"

"This will not happen again," William Annett said in his letter to the Prime Minister.

Annett's website is Hidden From History:http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org

UPDATE***

From the Files of the Community Task Force on the Disappeared - Downtown Eastside of Vancouver

Memorandum on Eyewitness Evidence of the Organized Abduction, Torture, Exploitation and Murder of Women and Children on Canada's West Coast
Synopsis

1. An organized system of abduction, exploitation, torture and murder of large numbers of women and children appears to exist on Canada 's west coast, and is operated and protected in part by sectors of the RCMP, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), the judiciary, and members of the British Columbia government and federal government of Canada , including the Canadian military.

2. This system is highly funded and linked to criminal organizations including the Hell's Angels, the Hong Kong Triad, and unnamed individual "free lance" mobsters from Vancouver and the USA . It is funded in part by a massive drug trade, with which it is intimately connected.

3. This system is decades-old and has been supplied for many years with women and children from aboriginal reserves and residential schools, with the paid collusion of lawyers, clergy and officials of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and United Church of Canada, along with state-funded aboriginal leaders and officials of the Department of Indian Affairs.

4. This system is international in scope, Vancouver being one spoke in a wheel of pedophilia, sex slavery, human organ black markets, "snuff" films and violent child pornography that has outlets throughout the Pacific Rim world, particularly in China and Thailand.

READ MORE:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/01/kevin-annett-eye-witnesses-of-murder.html

Also read and listen: Kevin Annett and Russell Means on Red Town Radio: 'Indian Boarding Schools: Auschwitz in Canada and US'

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/02/indian-boarding-schools-auschwitz-in.html

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Trenton Military Commander Charged for Murders of Two Women:
Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Commentary
February 10, 2010

When we first heard about 27-year-old Jessica Lloyd gone missing in Belleville, we suspected she was dead. We further speculated that it was a soldier at Trenton who killed her. Someone replied that we were just saying that cause we're so against the military. We objected that our speculation is not based on blanket hostility toward military people but on analysis and observation of the military mentality.

Belleville is a small city in southern Ontario with a high rate of unemployment. Young women go to Belleville to sell their bodies just as women desperate for livelihood have done for centuries during hard times. It's the only way they see to survive. The market for prostitutes in Belleville is huge with the Trenton Air Base just 20 minutes away.

Soldiers living away from home and family have "needs". They also have some income to pay for such luxuries and indulgences. It doesn't stop there.

Soldiers are trained to develop a dehumanizing attitude and to have contempt for women who are viewed as weak and inferior. The military is a fertile breeding ground for a chauvinistic outlook that glorifies self and despises others. War is anti woman and anti life. It is dehumanizing to the soldiers themselves.

On February 9, 2010, the commander at Trenton, 46-year-old Russell Williams was arrested and charged for two murders, the missing Jessica Lloyd whose body was found at Tweed, north of Trenton and another 36 year old woman who herself was a soldier at Trenton. He was charged in two more cases of sexual assault involving home invasion. In the news coverage, Williams was not shown shamed and in shackles but chatting with Defence Minister Peter MacKay who himself looks like a perv. That's just our opinion but as eagle-eyed grandmothers we read people like open books. You can bet that Williams will get kid glove treatment by his peers.

How did this man think he could get away with such horrific antisocial behaviour? The simple fact is: rape, sexual assault and abuse of women by military men goes on all the time. It is only when women are reported missing and dead bodies start turning up that police and media become involved.

This case is just the tip of the iceberg. How many of Williams' subordinates admire him and emulate him? What kind of sexist and racist jokes do they constantly utter, endorsing this dehumanizing brutality toward women? What goes on at various parties and bars where alcohol brings out the beast?

Police themselves also feel they can act with impunity in committing crimes against women. Statistics indicate that both demographics of military and police commit more domestic violence than the average. While some foolish women find the uniform "romantic", those in uniform hide behind its authority. Who can a woman turn to for help under such circumstances?

Now, with more and more Canadian military people going to war theatres, this cynical and cruel mentality is becoming ever more widespread. It's the proverbial chickens coming home to roost. These men are sick and unfit for normal society and family life. They consider themselves to be better than everyone else. The matter is hidden from public view yet it is a growing stinking cancer in society that cannot remain hidden.

There are solutions. It is extremely urgent that we speak out to stop the growing militarization of society. Too many people are not even paying attention. The expansion of the Trenton air base now underway, will double the military population there. What will it take for people to see what is happening? What magnitude of scale must be reached before people wake up?

Southern Ontario is on its way to becoming a militarized zone where only the military have jobs. Kingston, east of Trenton is an historical military city with another base and the same scenario of prostitution, strippers and careless young women being victimized.

We are NOT saying that Jessica Lloyd was a hooker. We don't know anything about her except that she is dead and someone is mourning her now.

The other long overdue solution is the legalization of the sex trade workers into safe houses. Known as the "oldest profession", prostitution is not going away, even in times of permissive sexual mores where favours are given away. Why not dignify the job and make it safer for the women and even the young men who choose this line of work?

Kingston is also the site of several prisons where Indigenous people are released to the streets with nowhere to go. Indigenous women under the double stigma of gender and race, are especially vulnerable and at risk. We have to take care of our own. We have to teach our daughters the truth about the dangers of careless sexual conduct. We must also teach our sons to respect women. We need better opportunities for education and livelihood for our children. The military life is not the answer.

KITTOH
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Canadian Military Commander is a Serial Killer:
February 10, 2010
Update & Analysis

Yesterday, just minutes after we sent out our report on the serial killer military madman, Russ Williams, commander of Trenton Air Base, we received a reply from local media, Belleville Intelligencer editor, Chris Malette. Here's our exchange of comments in which he dismisses us as crazy. Maybe you'd like to write to the Intelligencer with your views?!

from
"enough, for christ's sake. you people are right around the freakin
bend, you know that?"

We wrote back to him:
"Hey Chris,
could you be a little more specific and maybe offer some points of argument instead of being quite so dismissive. which bend are you hiding behind?"

Then he wrote back this email to which we did not yet bother to reply:
"Come on. How specific do I need to be? I've agreed with some of your
positions in the past — as much as a reach as it has been at times —
but this takes far too many liberties with the bounds of sense and
sensibilities — not to mention sensitivities.
(why, my rational brain is screaming right now, am I engaging in any
dialogue on this....????)"

Here at the Eagle Watch, we also received dozens of responses, endorsing our views and thanking us for writing this up! Thank you all for your encouragement and insights.

The Belleville Intelligencer published numerous articles about this shocking and horrific topic under their "Local News" section. Since the serial killer turned out to be a top military commander, the subject went quickly to national news and now probably international. It's something that won't easily disappear, especially if we continue to shed light on this filth.

Many things are still not known about Williams or the circumstances of his victims' deaths. The only info we have is from the Intelligencer articles. We don't want to see the police investigations messed up in any way. We understand their need to keep a lid on some things for awhile. However, with the way we are piecing this together, they already risked lives by being secretive.

The two home invasions for which Williams is now charged, took place in Tweed back in September, 2009. These incidents were reported by the victims, young women. There could be others who have not come forward because of their own concerns about police. The little information we have reveals that the perpetrator sexually assaulted the two women, tied them up and then photographed them! This photographing of one's victims is a serious escalation indicating a really cold-blooded sick SOB. In one case, the woman lived on the same street, Cosy Cove Lane as Williams.

Also living on the same street is Williams next door neighbour, Larry Jones who became the prime suspect for the home invasions. Jones is a 65 year old man living with his wife, Bonnie in Tweed for the past 13 years. His ordeal at the hands of police is itself a crime which has damaged his reputation and put him and his wife through hell.

Jones came home one day last fall to find police ransacking his house. He didn't know what it was about. Evidently, the police didn't find anything to suggest or confirm his involvement but they didn't stop there. They seized a number of his belongings including computers, compact discs, DVDs, a camera, his hunting knife and work-boots and other items from his house. Jones said he's still waiting for the return of some possessions.

According to an Intelligencer article, "Jones said he was taken to the Central Hastings OPP detachment in Madoc, interrogated for three-and-a-half hours, fingerprinted and later given a polygraph test, which he said he passed."

We have to ask, were the police at that time wondering about Williams himself or did they dismiss the idea as unthinkable that one of their own could be guilty??

Now that Williams has been arrested, Det.-Insp. Chris Nicholas of the Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Jones isn't a suspect.

Then on November 25, 2009, the body of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, age 37 was found in her Brighton home. She was a military flight attendant from CFB Trenton who no doubt worked with Williams who was himself a pilot for VIP and government official flights. Trenton Air Base is a busy airport where thousands of top level individuals arrive and depart every year.

You would think at this point, based on geography that Williams would have become a suspect. The murder of one of his coworkers and a home invasion on the street where he lived, should have made him a top suspect. But oh no, this would be just too much for the military loving cops to consider.

It cost Jessica Lloyd her life. She went missing in late January. Her body was found near Tweed last weekend. We don't know how that happened but it was very shortly afterwards that Williams was arrested on Sunday. We also don't know much about Ms Lloyd other than she was 27 years old, a pretty young woman who wore quite a bit of makeup. Presumably she was single. We have no information as to her employment or other activities. She has a brother, Andy who had been acting as spokesperson in her search.

The OPP remain tight lipped about the case. Nicholas said in a press conference, "the arrest came as a result of information received during a canvass of motorists on Highway 37 late last week". (BI)

He also "said it was "due to the similarities" of the crimes committed against Comeau, Lloyd's disappearance and the assaults on women in Tweed that led police to believe the crimes were committed by the same individual. Those similarities include the "geography" of the crimes, though Nicholas said he could not divulge any further information for fear of compromising the ongoing investigation." (BI)

Read that last part as, "we're scrambling to cover up our own mess."

Now the people in Trenton, Belleville, Brighton and Tweed are all in shock which is only normal. Even though we don't find this matter surprising, we are also shocked. However, to be surprised that the murderer was a military man shows an ignorance and complacency about the role of the Canadian military in the world. One young woman interviewed on CTV last night said, "It really sucks that it was a military guy".

Williams commanding officer, General Yvan Blondin, Commander of 1 Air Division was at a press conference at the base Monday evening. Blondin was quick to defend the military, saying "This affects people on both sides. We are a big part of the community.''

The Belleville Intelligencer noted, "Blondin wasted little time in saying the murder charges against one of their own was not a reflection of the Air Force or the military."

"Whoever did the crimes ... it was the act of an individual,'' said Blondin, who didn't know Williams personally.

Acting commander at Trenton, Lt. Col. Dave Murphy said, "We, everyone were both surprised and shocked to find out about the arrest. Base personnel are trying to absorb what has happened. Right now we are trying to focus on the job at hand -- the Olympics, Haiti and Afghanistan."

Aye, and now there's the rub. These are the same demented lying lunatics involved in the occupation and repression in Haiti and Afghanistan. Thousands of Haitians have recently died for lack of care after the earthquake because the US military made their military presence in Haiti a priority over medical and humanitarian aid. The Canadian military is part of NATO and often works closely with the US military. Canadian military guarded the Haitian airport when democratically elected Bertrand Aristide was forced to leave the island in 2004.

In Afghanistan, where thousands of Afghanis have been killed by US and their allies, depleted uranium remains to kill for generations. Canadians are in there protecting the valuable mineral wealth that is being auctioned off to the highest bidder. They like to have us believe that they are there helping Afghani women and children. They do photo ops where they hand out candy to malnourished Afghani children whose parents see the foreigners as invaders not saviours.

Now with the winter Olympics to begin in two days in snowless Vancouver, there will be thousands of Canadian military on hand, part of a force of 15,000 military and police which includes US who likely are in command. Protests are anticipated as Indigenous resist the occupation and destruction of their ancestral territory.

As the games begin, Williams will be in court again next week for a hearing. He was one of many people across the land who carried the Olympic torch for a bit. We don't know about you but we are sick of the hype about these sleazy Olympics which regularly displace homeless people in every city they go. The torch carrying has been a farce of blind and inane patriotism designed to show Canadian unity. How many people actually fall for this crap is hard to estimate.

Williams' case has the makings of an "NCIS" or "Criminal Minds" episode. Police say they are now looking into some unsolved crimes in areas where Williams has been stationed. This includes Nova Scotia and Manitoba. We'll continue to monitor events in our own area.

KITTOH

We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.

You can pick up links for many articles at the Belleville Intelligencer Local News section:
http://www.intelligencer.ca/SearchCat.aspx?cid=113&cname=Local+News

HERE'S THE CONTACT INFO:

INTELLIGENCER

Phone number: 613-962-9171

Fax number: 613-962-9652

E-MAIL

Newsroom (reporters) e-mail: newsroom@intelligencer.ca

Sports: sports@intelligencer.ca

Managing editor: bglisky@intelligencer.ca

City editor: cmalette@intelligencer.ca

News editor: jmccauley@intelligencer.ca

Editorial Page editor: letters@intelligencer.ca

Multimedia editor: dvachon@intelligencer.ca

The Intelligencer is home to an award-winning group of journalists and photojournalists.

In recent years, our reporters and photographers have been recognized for journalistic excellence by The National Newspaper Awards, Western Ontario Newspaper Awards, The Canadian Press, and a number of other organizations.

All extensions listed below can be reached by dialing 613-962-9171. Follow the operator's prompts.

Under the direction of Managing Editor Bill Glisky (ext. 624), City Editor Chris Malette (ext. 211) and News Editor Jennifer Cowan (Ext. 229) our reporters are:

W. Brice McVicar (Ext. 221) covering city hall, provincial and federal affairs, environment and religion issues.

Jason Miller (Ext. 225) is police and fire reporter.

Luke Hendry (Ext. 222) is responsible for entertainment and military coverage.

Dave Vachon (Ext. 226) covers general assignments.

Our sports staff is comprised of Sports Editor Ady Vos and reporter Paul Svoboda (Ext. 227).
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Civilians pitch in to preserve artifacts

09 February 2010

http://www.inyoregister.com/content/view/121440/27/

The ARPA Protection group is complied of law enforcement personnel and tribal members from up and down the Owens Valley that will be collaborating to prevent destruction and desecration of Native cultural sites, but to investigate and prosecute violators if necessary.

There's going be a new posse in town. This group of archaeological detectives will be searching for looters of Native American sites and keeping a close eye out for anyone who desecrates cultural and religious areas.

The new Tribal CSI group will be the Archaeological Resource Protection Act group, or ARPA, comprised of tribal members from Big Pine, Lone Pine and Bishop, as well as local law enforcement and archaeologists from local Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Inyo County Sheriff's Department.

In October the Bishop Paiute Tribe hosted an Archaeological Law enforcement class that was well attended by 32 participants, including locals and members of the Klamath Tribes of Oregon and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma as well as those from the U.S. Army and National Park Service.

Theresa Stone, Bishop Paiute Tribe historic preservation officer said Thursday that the locals that have completed the class are forming a group so that all of these agencies can work together to cover all grounds of an investigation of a disturbed historic site.

Stone explained the training as being part classroom, and part field work that included trained officers detaining and questioning a mock suspect.

After completion of the class participants were given certificates and are now considered to be expert witnesses for court cases involving cultural heritage sites or artifact damage or removal.

The classroom portion of the class included ways on how to successfully prosecute looters, collectors and traffickers. Stone explained this is where the newly formed group will come in. Law enforcement agencies collaborating with the archaeologists and detective teams to try and obtain as much information about a site and its damages and bring that data into court.
There were also presentations of two important cases, one in Lassen National Forest and one in the Manti-LaSal National Forest in Utah.

The Manti-LaSal case was one of the biggest recently reported raids of artifact traffickers. A two year investigation ended in June 2009, resulting in the detention of two dozen suspects in the theft and sale of more than 250 Native American artifacts from the Four Corners area, including ancient baby blankets, stone pipes, seed jars, digging sticks, pots, even a pre-Columbian menstrual pad. This investigation was an off-shoot of a nine year investigation into crimes related to methamphetamine addicts who sell the artifacts to support their habits, according to the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation. The Bureau of Indian Affairs called the artifacts "priceless."

The investigative process is handled just like the crime scene that it is. Stone explained that the class taught basic forensic techniques such as searching the scene for tracks or other distinguishing marks that a looter may have left behind. This includes participants learning how to make plaster molds of footprints or vehicle or horse tracks.

Investigations do not always stem from reports and accounts of a looted or desecrated site, but can also come from a keen eye.

Stone explained that one scenario she herself has come across and one discussed at the class, was what to do when catching or suspecting someone in the act of digging up these historic artifacts for their personal gain.

She said she has come across trucks before with shovels and screens, obvious looters, and in the past she said she was hesitant about what to do. Now she knows to simply try and collect as much information from the scene and persons as possible and proceed to the proper authorities.

During the outdoor crime scene practical exercise, lead trainer for the class Martin McAllister of Archaeological Resource Investigations and Company, a division of the U.S. Cultural Resource Management Division, played the role of suspected looter.
McAllister was detained and questioned by officers, while other participants documented the damage done and collected artifacts and other evidence.

Stone said McAllister was playing the role to a tee, he was wearing a "I love to dig!" T-shirt, nervous and jittery and had a collection of signs placed by land managers telling the public not to collect artifacts from the area.

"Collecting the signs is pretty common," said Stone.
The signs are there for a reason; one to protect the artifacts and resource, the other is to protect unsuspecting collectors. The maximum penalty for collecting or disturbing a rock art or burial site is up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine as well as forfeiture of vehicles and tools used in the collecting.

Stone said the fact that there are eight new detectives up and down the Owens Valley will deter looters and desecrators of sacred sites.

Many more eyes are watching you (looters) now and the watchers know what to do if you are caught," McAllister wrote in a letter to Stone.

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'Double cross' puts aboriginal program in jeopardy Foundation Awards $1.4 Million to Preserve Montana's Indigenous Cultures
The following article has been posted to Philanthropy News Digest:
Kellogg Foundation Awards $1.4 Million to Preserve Montana's
Indigenous Cultures
The grant will support the efforts of Salish Kootenai College educator
Julie Cajune to preserve and share American-Indian history and culture
in classrooms throughout Montana.... More»
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2010 MetLife Foundation Community-Police Partnership Awards
Monetary awards of $15,000 and $25,000 are presented to recognize,
sustain and share the work of partnerships between community groups
and police that promote neighborhood safety and revitalization.
Information and a link to the full RFP is available at:
http://www.lisc.org/metlife Deadline: February 26, 2010
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Religious Practices on Trial in Arizona: The Problem With "Experts"
By Johnny P. Flynn - Feb. 09, 2010

New Age guru James Arthur Ray was arrested in Arizona last week, charged with manslaughter in the deadly miscarriage of a sweat lodge ritual. The news lit up with "expert" analysis, but none of it was from Indian religious leaders or practitioners. What does "expert" mean in this context?.....
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/mediaculture/2270/religious_practices_on_trial_in_arizona:_the_problem_with_%E2%80%9Cexperts%E2%80%9D
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Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Love the Ocean: Clean the Beach Sunday, February 21, 2010 San Francisco, CA
http://www.facebook.com/oceanhealth#!/event.php?eid=322388211340&index=1

Love the Ocean: Clean the Beach

Host:
OceanHealth.Org
Type:
Causes - Rally
Network:
Global
Date:
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Time:
10:00am - 12:00pm
Location:
Stairwell 17 - North Ocean Beach
Street:
1000 Great Highway
City/Town:
San Francisco, CA
View Map
Description

It's the week after Valentine's Day, but show your love for the ocean by coming to our beach cleanup with San Francisco Surfrider!

We'll be meeting at Stairwell 17 at the north part of Ocean Beach. Bring your own reusable gloves, bags, sifters, or any other tools to help us clean the beach. Winter storms have strewn the beach with marine debris so come join us to clean the beach for the love of the ocean.

Rain cancels - Call 415-342-7497 to confirm.

Please Help Save Our Mother Earth.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch

World biggest garbage dump - plastic in the Ocean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqzAHGXvs
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Statement from Sen. Albert Hale regarding Native American practices bill
Statement from Sen. Albert Hale regarding Native American practices bill

NEWSRELEASE
Arizona State Senate
1700 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007

Senator Albert Hale, D-2

February 10, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Statement from Sen. Albert Hale regarding Native American practices bill

STATE CAPITOL, Phoenix – A bill to regulate the use of traditional Native American practices off of Indian Nation lands will not be heard Thursday, Feb. 11 by the Senate Committee on Government Institutions at the request of Sen. Hale, the sponsor of the bill.

"I asked to have the bill held at the request of the Diné Medicine Men Association. After a lengthy discussion with the Association it appears that they still have significant questions about the bill. I explained to the Association that the bill intends to direct the Arizona Department of Health Services, in conjunction with the Arizona Commission on Indian Affairs, to develop rules to regulate the off-reservation practice of Native American traditional ceremonies by non-Indians or others, and did not apply to ceremonial practices on Indian reservations.

“The state does not have jurisdiction to regulate or apply its laws on Indian reservations. I further assured them that an amendment was to be considered to make clarifications. The amendment would clarify that the bill did not apply to ceremonies performed by enrolled members of an Indian tribe for another enrolled member on or off Indian Nation lands.

“The Diné Medicine Men Association were opposed to the bill in its present form and wanted further discussion of the bill. I understand and appreciate the fear that these regulations may open the door to state regulations of Native American ceremonies. Pursuant to the Association's request, I request the bill to be held and it was subsequently removed."

###
Media Contact:
Jeanette Tejeda de Gomez, Director of Communication
Senate Democratic Caucus
602-926-4477, jtejeda@azleg.gov
www.azsenatedemocrats.com

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Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
February 11, 2010

Buffalo Field Campaign relies on donations from people like you to fund our work to protect the bison. Please contribute today to keep us strongin the field and on the policy front.

------------------------------
------------------------------
* Update from the Field
* BFC's Mike Mease to Present Multimedia Shows in Eugene, OR
* BFC Board Member and Volunteers Join Haitian Relief Crew
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Important Links

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------------------------------
* Update from the Field

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks has decided to turn over all 88 quarantined Yellowstone buffalo to the private game farm of billionaire Ted Turner. According to the details of the deal hatched in private between the media mogul and MT Governor Brian Schweitzer, Turner will get to keep 75% of the buffalo's offspring for his commercial gains. Montana has just set a dangerous precedent of domesticating and privatizing public wildlife, removing them from the public domain, and abandoning them to for-profit commercial interests.

Read BFC's press release.
Read FWP's decison notice.

Please take a moment to contact the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and let them know you do not support these plans to privatize 88 members of the Yellowstone bison population by sending them to media tycoon Ted Turner's Flying D Ranch and giving the billionaire 75 percent of their offspring.

David Risley, Fish and Wildlife Division Administrator
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
1420 E. 6th Ave., P.O. Box 200701
Helena, MT 59620-0701
(406) 444-9817 phone
drisley@mt.gov

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* BFC's Mike Mease to Give Multi-media Presentations in Eugene, OR

BFC Campaign Coordinator Mike Mease will be traveling to Eugene, OR for the 2010 Public Interest Environmental Law Conference later this month. He will be joined by musicians Good Shield & 7th Generation Rise and Phoenix & After Buffalo for two very special presentations. If you live in the area, please come out and support these shows:

"A Night for the Buffalo"
Presentation by Mike Mease
with Andrew Rodman as MC
Thursday February 25th, 9:00 p.m.
Sam Bond's Garage
407 Blair Boulevard
Eugene, OR
Music by:
Good Shield &
7th Generation Rise;
Phoenix &
After Buffalo

Mike will also be leading a panel at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference:
"Bring Back the Buffalo"
Saturday, February 27
3:45 - 5:00 pm.
Long House
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR

Contact Mike at: mease@wildrockies.org for more information.

------------------------------
* BFC Board Member and Volunteers Join Haitian Relief Crew

BFC board member Roman Sanchez and volunteers Trenton and Aaron left Tuesday on a two-week trip to Haiti with a select team of street medics. As of this writing they are somewhere on the long road between Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and Saint-Marc, Haiti, where they plan on spending the next couple weeks volunteering at a field hospital. Please keep these three brave and caring men in your thoughts as they and thier crew engage in this important work.

------------------------------
* Last Words

Even the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) are not immune from the livestock industry's influence. For instance, a joint federal/state plan for management of the Yellowstone National Park (YNP) bison herd-the only naturally occurring, (ostensibly) free-ranging bison herd in the United States-seems designed primarily to assuage cattle producers outside the park. This is so despite congressional mandates to "conserve . . . wildlife" in the parks and "provide against . . . their capture or destruction." Bison that cross YNP's northern border are treated like livestock, not wild animals."

--Deborah Donahue, from: WESTERN GRAZING: THE CAPTURE OF GRASS, GROUND, AND GOVERNMENT

Do you have submissions for Last Words? Send them to bfc-media@wildrockies.org. Thank you all for the poems, songs and stories you have been sending; you'll see them here!

------------------------------
* Kill Tally

AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2009-2010 Total: 1

2009-2010 Slaughter: 0
2009-2010 Hunt: 1
2009-2010 Quarantine: 0
2009-2010 Shot by Agents: 0
2009-2010 Highway Mortality: 0

2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,703*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortalities
------------------------------

Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org

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 WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY

Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!

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--

ROAM FREE!

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Playing native war hero role of a lifetime, needed to fight stereotypes: Beach

WINNIPEG — With gangs becoming an epidemic and aboriginal kids struggling just to finish high school, actor Adam Beach thinks there has never been a greater need for a strong native role model.

Manitoba-born Beach, who also starred in Clint Eastwood's wartime epic "Flags of Our Fathers," is hoping his new movie about aboriginal war hero Tommy Prince will provide just that.

"When I see an elder, I think of people like Tommy Prince. Tommy Prince is a hero," Beach said before breaking down into tears. "Growing up, I always wanted to find a hero. My heroes were my parents and they passed away so I didn't have something to look up to."

Rather than dwell on the end of Prince's life, when the wartime spy battled alcoholism and destitution, Beach said the movie will focus on Prince's heroics behind enemy lines during the Second World War.

"You're going to see a human being," said Beach after announcing his starring role at a Winnipeg news conference Thursday. "You're going to see a war hero like you've never seen before. Everybody stresses the after-effects of every veteran that's been to war. What we want to do is celebrate his heroics and show him as that youthful man."

Prince was one of 11 children born on the Brokenhead Ojibwa reserve in Manitoba. He enlisted in the military in 1940 at the age of 24 and eventually joined an elite battalion known to German soldiers as the "Devil's Brigade."

In 1944, Prince was spying on the Germans from an abandoned farmhouse near enemy lines when his communication wires were severed by shelling. He donned civilian clothing and went out in plain view of German soldiers, pretending to tie his shoelace while he repaired the line.

His intelligence led to the destruction of four German positions and earned him the Military Medal. He continued spying behind enemy lines, later earning the Silver Star, an American army decoration for gallantry in action.

Prince went on to serve two tours of duty in the Korean War before being honourably discharged. Later in his life, he battled alcoholism and poverty, selling off his medals to support himself. He died in 1977 and is buried in a military cemetery in Winnipeg.

Although Beach has appeared in "Windtalkers" with Nicolas Cage and has a part in the upcoming big-budget superhero movie "The Green Lantern," Beach called this the most important role of his career.

Gangs are becoming an increasing problem and Beach said he hopes the movie will offer a better image for teens searching for an identity. The challenge now is doing justice to the war hero on screen.

"Having to play someone who was a hero back in that era which we need now, there is a lot riding on me playing this," Beach said.

There is a lot riding on the movie for others as well. Native leaders say they hope the movie will shed some light on the aboriginal military history, as well as the discrimination many faced during that era.

Tommy Prince Jr., Prince's son, said he just wants to see "the truth about the man"

"There was more to the man than just being an alcoholic. He was a strong individual, a loving, caring man," he said. "As we speak, he is looking down on me . . . He'd be honoured with Mr. Beach playing his role. He'd say 'Carry on dude."'

Grand Chief Ron Evans, head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said he hopes the movie will give aboriginals a sense of pride but also show the obstacles facing those who signed up for military service.

"I hope it starts to create awareness of the importance of correcting the injustices that were done to our people who gave their lives as well for this country," he said.

"It's also important that we recognize some of the racist policies toward our soldiers . . . Despite that history, people like Tommy Prince went back again and again to give the ultimate sacrifice."

Although the movie doesn't appear to have a huge budget, the producers are betting it will be a hit.

"With Adam on board, we believe we have the ingredients to make a great movie and a commercially successfully movie," said Bay Film Studios executive producer Peter Johnson.

"Let's look at the recent triumph of the movie Inglourious Basterds. Clearly there is an appetite for apocolyptic, good-versus-evil movies about WWII. We think we have a better story to tell. And ours is true."

The movie is expected to begin filming later this year with a release date early next year.
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Diplomacy by Deception
Canada is in the spotlight all over the world with the “Olympics” sideshow, while Steven Harper has been making globalist speeches all around the world about Canada’s banking system as a model for the new world bank (order). When he represents 30% of the voters in a minority government and then suspends parliament for two months, we can see where his loyalties lie, he works for the bankers. All of the “sovereign” nations of the world can no longer be fooled by the deception that Canada is sovereign and able to make international treaties.

The system in Canada is truly great for the real government, the bloodline. It is presented as a democracy with two houses, senate and commons. The people get to vote for the commons seats but the bankers get to decide who goes into the senate. Every few years there is another election and new people are moved around in the commons, but the senate is always busy to introduce new globalist bills into the commons. Inch by inch they take away every right you have until you are living in a police state where you can be pulled over and fined or imprisoned for any amount, at the whim of the state. The bloodline are now disguised as the bankers where they control the purse-strings, worldwide. In their oath they state “so grand will the illusion of freedom be, they will not even know they are our slaves”, factor in Canada as the first corporate state and you can see the epicenter of fascism, Canada.

Sovereignty resides with us, the real people. This land called Canada is and always has been, under the jurisdiction of kayanerakowa. The British have built their empire by deception and the first major deceit was through our gift to share Ontario with the British in 1701, through gushwenta under kayanerakowa. We had to send five emissaries to England in 1710, as settlers were not adhering to the original agreement to share our land through “two row and silver covenant”. Our men were put as a sideshow in England called “The four Kings” and their real mission never published. This June will mark the 300th anniversary of that historic voyage and we would like to mark it with a return trip on June 25, 2010 to meet with Queen Elizabeth to polish the crust off the covenant chain. This is the only treaty that makes the “crown” appear legal and needs to be addressed forthwith, as Canada is based on it.

The bankers are busy creating more “order out of chaos” through their control of the secret societies operating worldwide. They want to continue the illusion of hierarchy forever, but it is a lie designed to conceal the supreme truth, we are all one. Anything based on a lie, is a lie.
Let us put our minds together as one and embrace the oneness.

Unity, Strength, Peace,
thahoketoteh of kanekota
www.thahoketoteh.ws
www.youtube.com/thahoketoteh
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Fwd: The Mascot Issue fight continues on Feb 15th
Posted by: "Rosepetl5@aol.com" Rosepetl5@aol.com rosepetl5
Sun Feb 14, 2010 8:59 am (PST)

[Attachment(s) from Rosepetl5@aol.com included below]

NEED PEOPLE IN CLINTON.................Linda Megwetch Please pass this along

Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:29:33 -0500
Subject: The fight continues on Feb 15th

American Indians Are People Not Mascots!

This Monday February 15th is another school board meeting in Clinton MI. For those of you that don’t know what has been going on in Clinton, for well over a year we have been fighting the schools mascot the “Redskins”. As of today, the school board, especially the superintendent, has refused to even place us on the school board agenda to discuss the issue. We need more voices to help us push for change. We ask that you join us this Monday February 15th .for a 6:30 P.M. vigil/protest and the 7:27 P.M. meeting to speak against the mascot during public comment.

-Elspeth and Kylista Geiger

Clinton High School Library
341 E. Michigan Ave.
Clinton, MI 49236

Together we can help remove this racist symbol from the school!

Additional board meetings for this year are;

March 15, 2010
April 19, 2010
May 17, 2010
June 21, 2010
July 19, 2010

If heading from the Detroit area follow this route

Take exit 4B on the left to merge onto I-94 W
About 31 mins

go 33.5 mi
total 36.8 mi

Take exit 181A toward US-12/Salline

go 0.3 mi
total 37.1 mi

Merge onto W Michigan Ave/US-12 W
Destination will be on the right
About 31 mins

Hotmail: Free, trusted and rich email service. Get it now.=

Attachment(s) from Rosepetl5@aol.com

1 of 1 File(s)

map_to_clinton.doc
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'Double cross' puts aboriginal program in jeopardy
OTTAWA — An aboriginal lending program praised for bolstering native business is in jeopardy because of a “double cross” by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, says one program leader.

Even as Canada showcases its native heritage at the Olympics, Alan Park, CEO of Tribal-Wi-Chi-Way-Win Capital, says his and other aboriginal financial institutions have been lopped out of a federal loan-guarantee program they helped design.

Instead, Park says, large commercial banks or credit unions across Canada will be able to offer aboriginals loans backed by federal funding in case of default. Smaller aboriginal funding institutions, or AFIs as they’re known, won’t get the subsidy.

TWCC, based in Winnipeg, has asked the federal court to intervene in what Park calls an “uneven playing field.

“If they get a loan-loss subsidy, then we should get a loan-loss subsidy,” he told QMI Agency. Mainstream banks included in the subsidy program range from Desjardins Group in Quebec to Assiniboine Credit Union in Alberta.

Nina Chiarelli, a spokesperson for federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, said the loan-loss program, introduced last year, is meant to “complement” the work of the AFIs, not undercut it. In the past, Strahl has praised the AFIs.

AFIs, including the one Park manages, were set up by the federal government about 20 years ago with $200 million seed money to underwrite small or medium-sized aboriginal businesses. To date, almost 60 AFIs have leveraged that into loans to thousands of entrepreneurs worth about $1.4 billion.

Twenty years ago, Park argues, mainstream lenders weren’t interested in financing native businesses.

He worries that because the new program covers losses, larger banks will charge lower interest rates than TWCC or other AFIs can, driving them out of business.

What’s particularly annoying, he says, is that the loan-loss program offered to larger banks is based on a proposal the AFIs helped Indian Affairs develop. Under the original proposal, the AFIs would have been included.

Chiarelli declined comment on the court action, but said in an e-mail that the government was “committed to continuing to work with the Aboriginal Financial Institutions network to find tools that will assist them to offset developmental lending risk.”
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National Indian Child Welfare AssociationBulletin
Posted by Eddie Sherman

Eddie Sherman just posted a video to your cause,National Indian Child Welfare Association:

Dear NICWA Cause Members:

Mr. Terry Cross, Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, was one of 6 panelists presenting on the Alaska Child Welfare Initiative for Alaska Native Tribal leaders and State Legislators.

Recording was from the Native Issue Forum on February 10, 2010, at the Andrew Hope Building in Juneau, Alaska.

Ahéhee' (Thank you),

Eddie Sherman (Diné | Umóⁿ'hoⁿ)
Development Manager
National Indian Child Welfare Association
Dedicated to the well-being of American Indian children and families.
T 503.222.4044, ext. 123
F 503.222.4007
E eddie@nicwa.org

Thanks,
Eddie Sherman

Disproportionality/Foster Care and Alaska Child Welfare Initiative on Vimeo
Why this video matters to the cause:
Terry Cross, Executive Director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association, was one of 6 panelist presenting on the Alaska Child Welfare Initiative for Alaska Native Tribal leaders and State Legislators.

Watch Video
http://media.causes.com/735901?m=ac8743ec
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Haste Makes Waste: Hindsight Brings Clearer Vision
February 16, 2010

In our two previous reports on accused serial killer, Russ Williams, commander of Canadian Forces at Trenton Air Base, we were a bit over the top in some aspects. We were too hasty in putting out our thoughts on the topic. As a result, some of our wording was sloppy. We opened ourselves to criticism and misinterpretation. At the same time, we cannot control people's reading comprehension skills or lack of. We stand by the bulk of what we wrote.

As parents and grandparents, we at the Eagle Watch are very emotionally affected by reports of young women going missing in a community near our own. We have relatives both Native and nonNative in every town and city across the region. Now there is news that yet another 27-year-old Belleville woman has been missing for a month.

We wrote that there were prostitutes in Belleville. We never said or meant to say there were not prostitutes in Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal. There are probably more prostitutes in Toronto than there are people in Belleville! We were trying to warn people, especially young women about the dangers of this ubiquitous and taboo topic. We wanted to bring it out for discussion.

Likewise, when we said that Indigenous women were especially vulnerable and at risk, we did not imply or intend to suggest that Indigenous women were more likely to be hookers. Far from it! We are Haudenosaunee. Why would we do such a horrible thing? We never mentioned Mohawk women of Tyendinaga in the two reports. Nothing was implied or intended to target, implicate or endanger our relatives, Mohawk women. It is very upsetting and distracting for anyone to suggest such motives.

We are perfectly aware that P4W has been closed for some time. However, female prisoners are held at one of the other six or seven prisons in the Kingston area. Both Native and nonNative prisoners, mostly men, are released to the streets with no money and nowhere to go. We stand by the facts and analysis presented in our reports.

Another point is that some sexual deviants who seek out prostitutes often choose Native or Asian or African women as "exotic" and more deserving of dehumanizing perverted behaviour. On the other hand, some sexual sadists prefer well to do women of European ancestry just so they can humiliate them and bring them down. We'll get back to this topic in more depth in a subsequent report.

Although we strongly FEEL that Williams is guilty, we wouldn't hang him without a fair trial. Isn't that why the court system is there, such as it is, to try accused individuals according to protocols and values that protect the innocent? The police are not putting out much information, such as how the women died or just what kind of evidence they have on Williams.

We stand corrected and will from now on refer to the ALLEGED crimes of Williams, a top commander in the Canadian military.

When we made links to the military, saying that the military was a breeding grounds for sexual deviants, we did not say just the military. We said especially the military because of its power and the nature of military training. We wouldn't want to neglect the many police, politicians and corporate heads who are also sexual deviants, sadists and pedophiles. Just as mosquitoes and flies are everywhere, there will be more mosquitoes down by the swamp and more flies out on the dung heap.

Sexual predators come from all backgrounds and demographics. They sometimes gravitate toward the military where they can become legal murderers, hanging around with like-minded creeps. The scum does tend to rise to the top. We'll get back to this in more depth in a subsequent report too.

Meanwhile, it is very disturbing and destructive that someone is trying to commit character assassination against us, Mrs. Stanley, Kittoh and the Eagle Watch, based on personal hostility expressed in public forums. There are horrifying forces at work against us all, especially Indigenous, peasants and working class all around the world. We need to sort our personal differences privately and stand united against the common enemy.

KITTOH

We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
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herokeeLink Newsletter
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For The HTML Format of the Newsletter:
(Having Problems With The Links? Try this version instead.) http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=newsletter&Date=2/16/2010

AOL - 2/16/2010 Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------
Osiyo,

The 2010 U.S. Census is quickly approaching and it is an opportunity for Cherokee citizens to record their tribal citizenship. For more information about the importance of the Census, please visit http://www.cherokee.org/docs/publicnotices/CensusFacts2010.pdf

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

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***Cherokee Nation News***
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Tulsa Hypnotist to Entertain at Sequoyah Schools: 2/12/2010 4:34:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
You are starting to feel sleepy! These are words you may hear during a comedy hypnosis show at Sequoyah Schools on Wednesday, Feb. 17, as part of the annual Sequoyah Schools Open House event for prospective students.

http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3135

More than 200 children, adults to keep warm: 2/12/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
A Cherokee Casino bus filled to capacity spent part of Thursday cruising the streets of Tahlequah. But the bus wasn’t full of people.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3136

Cherokee Nation Contributes $10K to Tulsa Area Red Cross: 2/11/2010 1:44:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation recently contributed $10,000 to the Tulsa Area Chapter American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization committed to relieving human suffering and equipping people with the skills to stay safe.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3134

Cherokee Nation Plays Active Role in National Drug Control Strategy: 2/11/2010 12:02:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Several Cherokee Nation representatives joined forces with other tribal, state and local officials from around the country this week in a meeting with federal officials to discuss President Obama’s 2010 Drug Control Strategy, the federal government’s annual blueprint for addressing the country’s drug use issues. The meeting was part of the national Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America’s annual conference.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3133

Nearly 100 Years Later: The Cherokee Advocate Newspaper Printing Press Returns To The Cherokee Nation: 2/11/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Advocate newspaper printing press today returned to its original home after nearly 100 years and will now be the centerpiece of the Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum, which has undergone extensive historic restoration and is scheduled to open to the public in early April. The Cherokee National Supreme Court Museum is located at 122 E. Keetoowah St., Tahlequah, OK 74464.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3132

Former Deputy Principal Chief Hastings Shade Passes: 2/10/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
It is with a heavy heart we announce former Cherokee Nation Deputy Chief Hastings Shade has died. Deputy Chief Shade passed during the overnight hours on Tuesday. He served the Cherokee Nation from 1999 to 2003. In his honor our flags are at half-mast.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3131

World Record Attempts to be Held at Sequoyah Schools: 2/9/2010 10:34:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
World record holder Brian Jackson will attempt to break four new world records on Friday, Feb. 12 on the campus of Sequoyah Schools. Jackson, a Cherokee Nation citizen, holds two current world records and is excited to bring these additional world record attempts to Tahlequah.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3130

Cherokee Nation Announces Science and Engineering Fair Winners: 2/9/2010 10:25:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
A large group of students from throughout the Cherokee Nation vied for top honors during the Fourth Annual Cherokee Nation Science and Engineering Fair held recently in Tahlequah. The fair provided a place for students to present their research projects in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines to be judged and critiqued.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3129

Cherokee Nation Health Center Receives Lab Award: 2/9/2010 8:48:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation Amo Health Center in Salina has been named a recipient of the Laboratory Excellence Award from COLA, a national healthcare accreditation organization for laboratories.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3128

The Cherokee National Youth Choir to Perform in Grove: 2/9/2010 8:41:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the award-winning Cherokee National Youth Choir. They will begin celebrating with their first performance of 2010 at the First Baptist Church in Grove located at 501 S. Main St. on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3127

Cherokee Nation Offers Employment Law Workshop: 2/9/2010 8:36:00 AM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation is helping area small business owners become more knowledgeable about employment laws. The workshop “Worker’s Compensation and the Top Ten Employee Legal Issues” will be presented from 9 a.m. to noon at Northeastern State University’s Muskogee campus on Thursday, Feb. 18.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3126

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

Community Calendar - http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=calendar
RSS Feed - http://rss.cherokee.org
Podcasts - http://podcasts.cherokee.org
E-Cards - http://ecards.cherokee.org
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**** Cultural Tidbits ****
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The American Civil War did not affect just the white and black people; Indian people played a major role in the events of the war between the states. Cherokee people particularly were impacted by the devastation of the war.
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Rebuttal: New UP mine is a bad deal
By Gabriel Caplett - Feb. 17, 2010
Re: The Detroit News' Jan. 19 editorial, "Mining jobs:" The News avoids a huge problem with this mine.

It would be built on public property and land to which Native Americans hold treaty rights with the U.S. government -- the highest law of the land. Rio Tinto would blast a portal into Eagle Rock, a traditional site of worship for area Anishinabe.

In August, a judge recommended that Eagle Rock be protected for this reason, yet the DEQ chose to ignore this one, meager, recommendation to respect religious rights and decided the sacred site was not "a place of worship."

Further, the editorial assumes the mine would be a boon to the economy. Mining districts are typically the most economically depressed regions in the United States.

New demand for copper and nickel comes from China (mine owner Rio Tinto's largest shareholder), as noted by the company's CEO repeatedly. The U.S. has a massive trade deficit with China.

Rio Tinto, politicians and The Detroit News can crow all they want that the company's mine would be a boon to our economy.

Unfortunately for the Michigan worker, that argument holds less weight than the paper company news releases are printed on.

Article: http://detnews.com/article/20100217/OPINION01/2170312/Rebuttal--New-U-P--mine-is-a-bad-deal
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An on site search at for the previous article by The Detroit News is no longer held in their archives.

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Dept. rules against native rights, says Eagle Rock isn't sacred : Intercontinental Cry
Posted by Ahni on January 21, 2010
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, has shamelessly and underhandedly given its final approvalfor Kennecott's proposed Eagle Mine project, a nickel and copper sulfide mine on theYellow Dog Plains.

In issuing the approval, the MDEQ overstepped the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community's treaty rights, and dismissed a2009 ruling by Administrative Law Judge Richard Patterson, who found that Eagle Rock is a place of spiritual importance to Keweenaw Bay Community and should be protected.

Judge Patterson, in his ruling, stated that both Kennecott and the MDEQ "did not properly address the impact on the sacred rock outcrop known as Eagle Rock" and suggested that they move the mine's entry point somewhere "away from the rock".

The MDEQ unilaterally decided that the judge's ruling was unnecessary ".because it pertained to Eagle Rock as a place of worship. They believe that a place of worship must be a building and therefore negates comments that were not in favor of the mining company," explains the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, who works along side the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and others opposed to the mine.

However, the MDEQ did much more than dismiss the ruling and deny the sacredness of Eagle Rock. First, it handed the matter down to a Senior Policy Advisor, who made the decision on his own and just two days before the MDEQ was formally dissolved.

Cynthia Pryor, Campaign Director for the Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, comments:

"What just happened here? The DEQ, as party to a State of Michigan Administrative Contested Case process, just unilaterally bypassed both the legal process and Administrative Law Judge Patterson in making a sweeping declaration and finding of law. This sweeping "judgment" was made not by Judge Patterson, not by past DEQ Director Stephen Chester, not by the interim DEQ Director Jim Sygo, but by a Senior Policy Advisor within the DEQ. This was done as a final DEQ action on the matter - on the day before the DEQ was to be dissolved and the new DNRE Director was to take office.

"How blatant can this be? This is the dramatic action of a DEQ that hopes as a last ditch effort to resolve the Kennecott issue and allow this mine on the Yellow Dog Plains - before their authority is superseded by a new agency. Delegation of DEQ Director 'final decision' on the matter, was given to Senior Policy Advisor Frank J. Ruswick, Jr. two weeks ago. There was no known correspondence from Judge Patterson to the DEQ, Kennecott or the petitioners during this time frame. But out of the blue, a day before DEQ dissolution, this DEQ policy advisor made a judgment, ruling and order granting Kennecott both a Part 632 mining permit and a ground water discharge permit AND vacating a remand order made by then Director Stephen Chester concerning Eagle Rock as a "place of worship". A policy advisor of the DEQ became a Judge and a DEQ Director and has so ruled - and we must accept that?

This is an egregious act that now will absolutely require appeal to a higher court and should require an appeal to the new DNRE Director Rebecca Humphries and the Governor of this state. We should not sit by and accept such action as the accepted mode of "lawfulness" in this state.

For more information, please visit:http://savethewildup.org,http://lakesuperiorminingnews.net,http://yellowdogwatershed.org

What You Can Do

To lodge a complaint against the MDEQ's shameful move, contact Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm:

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909

PHONE: (517) 373-3400
PHONE: (517) 335-7858 - Constituent Services
FAX:(517) 335-6863
EMAIL: http://www.michigan.gov/

Article: http://intercontinentalcry.org/dept-rules-against-native-rights-says-eagle-rock-isnt-sacred/
-----

Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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First Native American to run for the office of Lt. Governor!

CA Indian Green Party Lt. Gov. Candidate
by calajan (Subscribe)

Channel: News
Location: California

Jimi Castillo is the first Native American to run for the office of Lt. Governor in California on behalf of the Green Party. His tribal ancestry is Tongva, the original people of the Greater Los Angeles area, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino County (commonly referred to as the Gabrieleno) and Acjachemen, the original people of the south Orange County area and northern San Diego County (commonly referred to as the Juaneno).

Chief among his priorities are:
• the improvement of the criminal justice system
• assurance that California residents are provided a clean, safe supply of drinking water and that our existing surface and groundwater is protected from pollution
• preservation of our oceans with their enormous diversity of life and function
• promotion of a greater awareness of the rights of all indigenous peoples worldwide and the support of full self-government on all Indian reservations
• finding ways to make formal education more accessible and affordable
• insuring that our children’s rights are protected at least as well as or better than the rights of the animals.

Jimi needs the support of all California voters as well as Native People across the country. Go tohttp://www.facebook.com/l/37d0f;www.cagreens.org for more information.
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Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School @ UC Santa Barbara

Film Screening:

Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School
Wednesday, February 17th

6 p.m.

MCC Theater

FryBread Sale: 5 p.m. – 6 p.m. in MCC Lounge

“Our Spirits Don ' t Speak English: Indian Boarding School " is a Native American perspective on Indian Boarding Schools. This documentary produced by Rich-Heape Films, Inc. uncovers the dark history of U.S. Government policy which took Indian children from their homes, forced them into boarding schools and enacted a policy of educating them in the ways of Western Society. This film gives a voice to the countless Indian children forced through a system designed to strip them of their Native American culture, heritage and traditions. Come join us in viewing and discussing this intriguing film.

Sponsored by: MCC

Co-Sponsored by:

EOP-American Indian Cultural Resource Center ,

American Indian Graduate Student Alliance , American Indian Science & Engineering Society,

and American Indian Student Association.
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Vancouver School Board bans Chiefs, Braves, other native-named teams
Aboriginal-themed school mascots have been declared offside by the Vancouver School Board.

In a vote on Monday, the board approved a motion that would stop the use of any mascot with any negative or derogatory connotations, said trustee Jane Bouey. The motion will be addressed at the B.C. trustee association meeting in April.

"It is not around the names of teams, it is more around the use of mascots that do dances and have people pretend to be Indians -- that kind of approach," Bouey said. "The use of negative images in sport can warp or alter aboriginal children's view of themselves and the world."

Bouey said school pep rallies which feature "mock Indian" dances, tomahawk chops and drum beating tend to trivialize native culture.

Bouey said the motion is in keeping with the aboriginal enhancement agreements in the process of being signed. She said she would like to see a B.C.-wide school ban.

The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks and NFL's Washington Redskins have kept aboriginal-themed logos.
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Evicting 26 non-natives splits reserve
KAHNAWAKE, QUE.–In the shadow of Montreal, a native community is being torn apart by a plan to evict non-natives from the Mohawk reserve.

On one side is a crusading weekly newspaper vowing not to be silenced. On the other is a band council that says it has every right to protect Mohawk culture and chart a course for the community's future.

Eviction notices went to 26 non-native partners of Mohawk residents but, once word leaked off the reserve, the move was branded as racism and made headlines.

"We know we are not racists and to be labelled as such is hurtful," said Joe Delaronde, a spokesperson for the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. Delaronde said it is a matter of survival for a reserve squeezed onto 5 hectares by French-speaking Quebec.

"Every single person in this community knows (from a band rule adopted in 1981) that ... we have the right to determine who lives here. I don't know why people think it has anything to do with racism ... our law says (non-natives) don't have the right to live here."

A 10-day deadline on the eviction notices passed more than a week ago but only three non-natives have left. Another three are in the process. Two met with chiefs to discuss their situation and the other 18 have not tipped their hand yet.

Steven Bonspiel, who co-owns the Eastern Door newspaper with his wife Tracey Deer, says no amount of threats, intimidation and bullying will stop the weekly from claiming the policy is ill-conceived and being imposed unilaterally by a 12-member council influenced by a minority of residents.

"It's tearing the community apart," said Bonspiel. He and his wife have owned the paper for about 18 months.

Men and women who, in some cases, have lived here for 10 or more years are being shown the door. Bonspiel says, if they don't go, council is threatening to shame them by publicizing their names.

"They thought it was going to be easy, because they were just kicking out 'white guys' ... Originally, the Mohawk council said that they were targeting natives that don't have any ties here and that's how they got people's support ... but they lied to the community," he said.

Bonspiel said the 26 are mostly childless couples but more eviction notices are expected, potentially scooping up families, too.

"The council is saying these non-natives, who have ties here, who are with people from the community, who are doing positive things within the community, shouldn't be here just because they are non-natives, which is funny because Kahnawake is basically built on mixed marriages over the years," he said.

Bonspiel said it is up to the newspaper to speak up for the targeted few and it's not as if hundreds of people are pouring into Kahnawake with absolutely no ties here.

"I feel quite passionate about this subject and how wrong it is," said Tracey Deer. "The issue here is not some non-native people living on our reserve. These are non-native people in relationships with Mohawks, building families with Mohawks."

Just as Pierre Trudeau once said "The state has no place in the nation's bedrooms," Bonspiel said council has no business telling people who they can fall in love with.

Alvin "Tuffy" Delisle, a former council chief, agrees. The Vietnam veteran, 66, now awaiting vascular surgery in Montreal, decried the policy. He also expressed his shame for taking part in a similar eviction process back in the 1980s. Delisle's girlfriend Pauline Labelle lives with him. She's one of the 26 served with eviction notices. "I regret today what I did back then ... I think it is racist and I think it is inhumane," he told the Star.

In an open letter, the Quebec Native Women association said it is troubled by an eviction decision "which ruptures the family unit and the community as a whole."

The letter, signed by association president Ellen Gabriel, says "the presence of non-native people has not eroded Indigenous customs or traditions."
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CherokeeLink Newsletter
**************************
For The HTML Format of the Newsletter:
(Having Problems With The Links? Try this version instead.) http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=newsletter&Date=2/22/2010

AOL - 2/22/2010 Newsletter
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Osiyo,

Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism Announces New Tours, Dates And Pricing For 2010 Season

For A Limited Time, Guests Can Receive $10 Off Each Individual Tour Admission

A penny saved is a penny earned while learning about the best of the Cherokee Nation for tour-goers that book now through February 28. During the 2010 season special, guests will receive more than 25 percent off the cost of an individual admission to one of the four original tours offered throughout the year. For more information visithttp://www.cherokeetourismok.com/Pages/TourSpecials.aspx. Also, check out Cherokee Nation Cultural Tourism on Facebook.

2010 U.S. Census Right Around the Corner

Remember the U.S. Census is coming to Cherokee households at the beginning of March. It is important to complete the Census and make your voice count! For more in visit http://www.cherokee.org/docs/publicnotices/CensusFacts2010.pdf or the Census Bureau at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/

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

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***Cherokee Nation News***
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Cherokee Nation Hosting Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Workshop: 2/19/2010 5:01:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
If you are interested in improving and finally taking control of your finances, the Cherokee Nation is providing the opportunity to learn how.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3142

Community Garden Grants Awarded by Cherokee Nation: 2/19/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
Cherokee Nation awarded grants for 12 community gardens as part of an effort to use traditional foods and sustainable ecological approaches for health promotion and disease prevention in Cherokee communities.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3140

Cherokee Nation Groups Graduate from National Academy: 2/19/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
In a first for Indian Country, 10 Cherokee Nation community groups completed the rigorous requirements to become certified through the National Coalition Academy of the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3141

Cherokee Nation Named One Of The ‘Top Ten True Western Towns Of 2010’ By True West Magazine: 2/18/2010 4:50:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Dispelling the notion of western towns as nothing more than Hollywood movie-lore, Cherokee Nation and its capital city of Tahlequah is a thriving cultural community that has earned the seventh spot on the list of ‘Top Ten True Western Towns of 2010’ as recognized by True West magazine.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3138

Cherokee Nation Named One Of The ‘Top Ten True Western Towns Of 2010’ By True West Magazine: 2/18/2010 4:49:00 PM
(C) Cherokee Nation
Dispelling the notion of western towns as nothing more than Hollywood movie-lore, Cherokee Nation and its capital city of Tahlequah is a thriving cultural community that has earned the seventh spot on the list of ‘Top Ten True Western Towns of 2010’ as recognized by True West magazine.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3137

Cherokee Nation Named One Of The ‘Top Ten True Western Towns Of 2010’ By True West Magazine: 2/18/2010
(C) Cherokee Nation
Dispelling the notion of western towns as nothing more than Hollywood movie-lore, Cherokee Nation and its capital city of Tahlequah is a thriving cultural community that has earned the seventh spot on the list of ‘Top Ten True Western Towns of 2010’ as recognized by True West magazine.
http://www.cherokee.org/news.aspx?id=3139

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

Community Calendar - http://www.cherokee.org/home.aspx?section=calendar
RSS Feed - http://rss.cherokee.org
Podcasts - http://podcasts.cherokee.org
E-Cards - http://ecards.cherokee.org
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**** Cultural Tidbits ****
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The Spiro Mounds, located near Poteau, were a major trade center in North America for Native Americans. Cherokee frequently traveled to this area for trade, as well as the Rocky Mountains. In the 1600's, the Cherokee obtained copper from the Great Lakes area.
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Asst Prof First Nations Studies - UW Green Bay
Posted by: "Rosepetl5@aol.com" Rosepetl5@aol.com rosepetl5
Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:21 am (PST)

>
> POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
>
>
> Position:
> Assistant Professor of First Nation Studies
>
> Posting Date:
> February, 2010
>
> Position Number:
> F124
>
> Essential Job Functions:
> Will teach 21 credits fulfilling the General Education and Ethnic Studies
> requirements for students, upper-level courses in First Nations Studies
> and courses in Humanities within the person’s area of expertise. Will perform
> scholarly activities consistent with rank and contribute to the ongoing
> programmatic development of the department, as well as facilitate close ties
> with local tribal nations, and participate in the development of the
> Professional Program in Education Center for First Nations Studies.
>
> Qualifications:
> Required: Doctorate from an accredited institution in field related to
> First Nations Studies with a strong background in First Nations culture
> including fields such as history, education, or oral tradition. Will consider
> ABD candidates with the expectation that the degree is completed by the end
> of the first-year contract period. The successful candidate must have
> strong potential for excellence in teaching and scholarship, commitment to
> undergraduate education and indigenous teaching methods, and communication and
> interpersonal skills sufficient to work with a diverse array of students and
> colleagues including faculty in First Nations Studies, Humanistic Studies,
> and Education.
>
> Preferred: Experience working with tribal Elders and working with local
> tribal communities.
>
> Starting Date:
> August 23, 2010
>
> Conditions of Appointment:
> Position is an academic year tenure-track appointment. Applicants must be
> considered for tenure and promotion in six years although tenure decisions
> may be at any time. Promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor is
> simultaneous with tenure. Excellence in teaching, sustained scholarly activity
> and institutional service required for retention and promotion. Official
> transcripts of the highest degree achieved will be required of finalist(s).
> A criminal conviction investigation will be conducted on the finalist(s).
>
> Salary:
> Competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. The
> UW System provides an excellent benefits package including participation in
> a state retirement plan. (Total Compensation Estimator).
>
> To Apply:
> Submit a letter of application that specifically addresses qualifications
> for the essential job functions listed above, statement of teaching
> philosophy, curriculum vitae, unofficial transcripts of all graduate work and
> three current letters of recommendation.
>
> Submit application materials to:
>
> Chair, Search Committee First Nations Studies, TH 331
> Univ of Wisconsin-Green Bay
> 2420 Nicolet Drive
> Green Bay, WI 54311-7001
>
> Phone: (920) 465-2185
> Fax: (920) 465-2890
>
> Electronic submission of application materials will NOT be considered.
>
> Application Deadline:
> To ensure consideration, please submit application materials by April 9,
> 2010. Files must be complete to be considered.
>
>
> For more information regarding the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and
> the surrounding area, see our Campus and Community section. For Campus
> Safety information, see our Office of Public Safety website and our Annual
> Security Report (for a paper copy, please contact the Office of Human Resources
> at (920) 465-2390).
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Advocates for AB35/SB25: Action Alert
Posted by: "Rosepetl5@aol.com" Rosepetl5@aol.com rosepetl5
Mon Feb 22, 2010 8:38 am (PST)

In a message dated 2/22/10 11:35:00 AM, Barb@Munson.net writes:

>
> Sheku Advocates for AB35/SB25
>
> Assembly Bill 35 is going to the Assembly for a floor vote after the
> State of the Tribes Address tomorrow, February 23rd. If you are in Madison for
> the address and can stop by your representatives office before the address
> to encourage their vote for AB35 it would be helpful. Another opportunity
> to meet with legislators is at the Reception in the Assembly Parlor
> immediately following the State of the Tribes Address.
>
> Remember the Senate is next, so encourage your Senator and Senate
> Leadership to move Senate Bill 25 and to vote for it as well. A thank you is in
> order to all legislators who have championed the cause as well, especially
> co-authors: Representative Jim Soletski and Senator Spencer Coggs.
>
> Osk^n^su – Barb Munson
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Hatchery opponents protest at sacred site
By ViAnn Prestwich - Feb. 23, 2010

.....Last Wednesday, about a dozen tribal members were at the springs to protest the ongoing construction of a $6 million fish hatchery designed to use Big Springs as a water supply. Opponents of the plan feel the water supply is sacred and should not be tampered with, and that the tribal leadership is not receptive to their concerns. Those supporting the hatchery want the capability of supplying fish to reservation waters without depending on U.S. Fish and Game.
"Our ability to go to sacred locations should not be political and controversial," Jasanna Cuch said after returning home from the mountain. Last October she had made a similar trip in protest......http://ubstandard.com/detail/5334.html

-----

Sent by Sister Jasanna Cuch

Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Has Sithe Global, LLC withdrawn its spport of the proposed desert rock energy project?
Posted by Elouise Brown - Feb. 22, 2010

Dear President Shirley:

Ya'ateeh Mr. President, I have quite a few contacts, and this morning I got a rumor, originating from a source inside the Dine Power Authority that I consider to be reliable, that Sithe Global Power, LLC has withdrawn its support and sponsorship of the proposed Desert Rock Power Plant.

You owe a duty to the Navajo People to run the rumor down for yourself and to tell the Navajo People whether it is true.

You also owe a duty to the Navajo People to explain why the Dine Power Authority is still in existence, despite taking a lot of the People's money, not producing on the power plant, and not affirming that it has control of a transmission energy corridor across the Navajo Nation to transmit any power that might come, wind or other transmission methods. Dooda Desert Rock is closely following federal energy policy for Indian Country and, like it or not, we are a player to assure that our Mother Earth will be respected.

I will appreciate a response by return mail, email or a press release. I will take your silence as an admission of truth.

Sincerely,

Elouise Brown, Dooda (NO) Desert Rock, President
View Bulletin on Facebook
-----

Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Song honors soldier who raised Iwo Jima flag
By Kim Briggeman - Feb. 23, 2010
....."This is a coming out of the bear's den for this grizzly," Montana's Native "PoetSinger" from Kalispell and the Blackfeet Indian Nation said last week.

Gladstone is making an epic cut he calls "Remembering Private Charlo" into an 11-minute, 45-second centerpiece for his first new CD in seven years, one he's calling "Native Anthropology.".....

http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_62a2de5a-2034-11df-902e-001cc4c002e0.html
-----

Bitterroot-Salish Marine part of iconic Iwo Jima moment
Feb. 23, 2010
.....The iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal won the Pulitzer Prize and became the model for the U.S. Marine Memorial outside our nation's capitol in Arlington.

Yet another Native also helped raise a flag 65 years ago today, Private Louis Charlo, who grew up on the Flathead Reservation.

Blackfeet songwriter Jack Gladstone hopes to bring Charlo's heroic life into the limelight by recording a song with several Grammy-nominated Native musicians......

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20100223/NEWS01/2230308/1002
-----

Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Uranium Mining Begins Near Grand Canyon: Thousands of Claims Threate
Posted by: "NDN News" tamra@NDNnews.com tamra_ndnnews
Tue Feb 23, 2010 6:40 pm (PST)

Forwarding this along from Klee…………

Regards,

Tamra

Uranium Mining Begins Near Grand Canyon
Thousands of Claims Threaten Public Health & Sacred Lands
By Klee Benally - Indigenous Action Media (www.indigenousaction.org)

Grand Canyon, AZ -- In defiance of legal challenges and a U.S. Government
moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the
north rim of the Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine
has been operating since December 2009.

Denison plans on extracting 335 tons of uranium per day out of the "Arizona
1 Mine", which is set to operate four days per week. The hazardous ore will
be hauled by truck more than 300 miles through towns and communities to the
company's White Mesa mill located near Blanding, Utah.
After being pressured by environmental groups, U.S. Secretary of Interior
Ken Salazar initially called for a two-year moratorium on new mining claims
in a buffer zone of 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park, but
the moratorium doesn't include existing claims such as Denison's. The
moratorium also doesn't address mining claims outside of the buffer zone.
The Grand Canyon is ancestral homeland to the Havasupai and Hualapai
Nations. Although both Indigenous Nations have banned uranium mining on
their reservations the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may
permit thousands of mining claims on surrounding lands.

Due to recent increases in the price of uranium and the push for nuclear
power nearly 8,000 new mining claims now threaten Northern Arizona. Uranium
mined from the Southwestern U.S. is predominately purchased by countries
such as France (Areva) & Korea for nuclear energy.

In July of 2009 members of the Havasupai Nation and their allies gathered
for four days on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at their sacred site Red
Butte to address the renewed threat. Red Butte has long been endangered by
the on-going threat of uranium mining.

Under an anachronistic 1872 mining law, created when pick axes and shovels
were used, mining companies freely file claims on public lands. The law
permits mining regardless of cultural impacts.

OBAMA APPROVES NEW NUCLEAR REACTORS AND INCREASED NEED FOR URANIUM

Currently there are 104 nuclear reactors in the United States which supply
20% of the U.S.'s electricity. In January the Obama administration approved
a $54 billion dollar taxpayer loan in a guarantee program for new nuclear
reactor construction, three times what Bush previously promised in 2005.
Since 2007, seventeen companies have now sought government approval for 26
more reactors with plans to complete four by 2018 and up to eight by 2020.
New reactors are estimated to cost more than $12 billion each.
Although nuclear energy is hailed by some as a solution to the current U.S.
energy crisis and global warming, those more closely impacted by uranium
mining and transportation recognize the severity of the threat.

THE COLORADO RIVER, WATER & URANIUM'S DEADLY LEGACY

Uranium is a known cause of cancers, organ damage, miscarriages & birth
defects.
Drilling for the radioactive material has been found to contaminate
underground aquifers that drain into the Colorado River, and sacred springs
that have sustained Indigenous Peoples in the region. In addition, surface
water can flow into drill holes and mine shafts which can also poison
underground water sources.

Emerging in the Rocky Mountains in North Central Colorado and winding 1,450
miles to the Gulf of California, the Colorado River is held sacred by more
than 34 Indigenous Nations. The Colorado also provides drinking water for up
to 27 million people in seven states throughout the Southwest.
The river that carves the Grand Canyon has been extensively used by the
agricultural industry and cities that are dependent for drinking water, so
much so that it now ceases to flow to the Gulf of California, forcing
members of the Cocopah Nation (The People of the River) in Northern Mexico
to abandon their homelands and relocate elsewhere.
Today there are more than 2,000 abandoned uranium mines in the Southwest.
U.S. government agencies have done little or nothing to clean up
contaminated sites and abandoned mines. At Rare Metals near Tuba City on the
Diné (Navajo) Nation a layer of soil and rock is the only covering over 2.3
million tons of hazardous waste. A rock dam surrounds the radioactive waste
to control runoff water that flows into nearby Moenkopi Wash. Throughout the
Diné Nation, Diné families have been subject to decades of radioactive
contamination ranging from unsafe mining conditions to living in houses
built from uranium tailings. Well water is documented by the US
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as undrinkable in at least 22
communities such as Black Falls on the Dine’ Nation. According to the EPA,
"Approximately 30 percent of the Navajo population does not have access to a
public drinking water system and may be using unregulated water sources with
uranium contamination." Flocks of sheep and other livestock still graze
among radioactive tailing piles and ingest radioactive water.

According to the Navajo Nation up to 2.5 million gallons of uranium
contaminated water is leaching out of the Shiprock Uranium Mill near
Shiprock, New Mexico into the San Juan River every year. At the Church Rock
Mine in New Mexico, which is now attempting to re-open, up to 875,000 cubic
yards of radioactive waste continue to contaminate the land.
In July 1979 a dirt dam breached on the Navajo Nation at a uranium
processing plant releasing more than 1,100 tons of radioactive waste and
nearly 100 million gallons of contaminated fluid into the Rio Puerco (which
ultimately flows into the Colorado River) near Church Rock, NM. This was the
single largest nuclear accident in US history. Thousands of Diné families
that live in the region, including those forced to relocate from the Joint
Use Area due to coal mining, continue to suffer health impacts resulting
from the spill.

In 2005 the Diné Nation government banned uranium mining and processing
within its borders due to uranium's harmful legacy of severe health impacts
and poisoning of the environment. And yet, high cancer rates, birth defects
and other health impacts still bear out the uranium industry's dangerous
legacy.

NUCLEAR WASTE & INDIGENOUS SACRED LANDS

Today the US has nearly 60,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear
waste stored in concrete dams at nuclear power plants throughout the
country. The waste increases at a rate of 2,000 tons per year. Depleted
Uranium (DU) is a byproduct of uranium enrichment and reprocessing which has
controversial military uses including armor piercing projectiles. DU has
been found to cause long-term health effects ranging from harming organs to
causing miscarriages and birth defects.
In 1987 Congress initiated a controversial project to transport and store
almost all of the U.S.'s toxic waste at Yucca Mountain located about 65
miles southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. Yucca Mountain has been held holy to
the Paiute and Western Shoshone Nations since time immemorial.

In February 2009 Obama met a campaign promise to cut funding for the
multibillion dollar Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository project. The
controversial project was initially proposed in 1987 with radioactive waste
to be shipped from all over the U.S. via rails and highways. Currently a new
proposal for an experimental method of extracting additional fuel from
nuclear waste called "reprocessing" renews the threat to desecrate the
sacred mountain on Western Shoshone lands.

Western Shoshone lands, which have never been ceeded to the U.S. government,
have long been under attack by the military and nuclear industry. Between
1951 and 1992 more than 1,000 nuclear bombs have been detonated above and
below the surface at an area called the Nevada Test Site on Western Shoshone
lands which make it one of the most bombed nations on earth. Communities in
areas around the test site faced exposure to radioactive fallout which has
caused cancers, leukemia & other illnesses. Western Shoshone spiritual
practitioner Corbin Harney, who has since passed on, helped initiate a
grassroots effort to shutdown the test site and abolish nuclear weapons.

Indigenous Peoples in the Marshall Islands have also faced serious impacts
due to U.S. nuclear testing. In her book, Conquest: Sexual Violence &
American Indian Genocide, Andrea Smith reports that some Indigenous Peoples
in the islands have all together stopped reproducing due to the severity of
cancer and birth defects they have faced.

CONTINUING RESISTANCE

In March 1988 more than 8,000 people converged for massive 10 day direct
action to "reclaim" the test site, nearly 3,000 people were arrested. Groups
such as the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE) and Shundahai Network continue
their work to shut down the test site and resist the corporate and military
nuclear industry.

Throughout the 1980's a fierce movement of grassroots resistance and direct
action against uranium mining near the Grand Canyon had taken shape,
galvanized by the Havasupai, Hopi, Diné (Navajo), Hualapai tribes and a
Flagstaff group, Canyon Under Siege. Prayerful and strategic meetings were
held once a year throughout the 80s. In 1989 a group known as the 'Arizona
5' were charged for eco-actions including cutting power-lines to the Canyon
Uranium Mine. Attributable in some part to the resistance and but mainly to
a sharp drop in the price of uranium, companies like Dennison were forced to
shut their mines down.

Mt. Taylor, located on Forest Service managed lands in New Mexico between
Albuquerque and Gallup, has also faced the threat of uranium mining. The
mountain sits upon one of the richest reservers of uranium ore in the
country, it is held holy by the Diné, Acoma, Laguna, Zuni & Hopi Nations. In
June 2009 Indigenous Nations and environmental groups unified to protect the
holy Mountain and through their efforts Mt. Taylor was given temporary
protection as a Traditional Cultural Property.

For 7 years Indigenous People from throughout the world have gathered to
organize against the nuclear industry at the Southwest Indigenous Uranium
Forum on the Acoma Nation.

At the 2006 Indigenous World Uranium Summit on the Diné Nation, community
organizations such as Eastern Navajo Diné Against Uranium Mining (ENDAUM)
joined participants from Australia, India, Africa, Pacific Islands, and
throughout North America in issuing a declaration demanding "a worldwide ban
on uranium mining, processing, enrichment, fuel use, and weapons testing and
deployment, and nuclear waste dumping on native lands."

Klee Benally (Diné) is a collective member of Indigenous Action Media, on
the Board of Directors of the Shundahai Network, and is a musician with the
group Blackfire.

Author Mary Sojourner assisted editing this article.

For further information and action:

Southwest Research and Information Center
http://www.sric.org/

Shundahai Network
http://www.shundahai.org/

Nevada Desert Experience
http://www.nevadadesertexperience.org/

The Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

Grand Canyon Trust
http://grandcanyontrust.org/

Uranium Watch
http://www.uraniumwatch.org/

World Information Service on Energy: Uranium Project
http://www.wise-uranium.org/

Western Mining Action Network
http://wman-info.org/

Network Sortir du Nucléaire
http://www.sortirdunucleaire.org/

###

Sources:

Addressing Uranium Contamination in the Navajo Nation - Map of contaminated
wells
http://epa.gov/region09/superfund/navajo-nation/contaminated-water.html

Tuba City Mill Site
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/umtra/tubacity_title1.html#_ftn51

EPA summit addresses uranium cleanup
http://www.gallupindependent.com/2008/08august/081408epa.html

Conservation groups challenge uranium mining threat to Colorado River
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/sep/30/conservation-groups-challenge-ur
anium-mining-threa/

A peril that dwelt among the Navajos - L.A. TImes - November 19, 2006
http://articles.latimes.com/2006/nov/19/nation/na-navajo19

Uranium Mining & Milling
http://www.wise-uranium.org/indexu.html#UMMCI

Colorado River Facts
http://www.azhumanities.org/movingwaters/faq.html

Nuclear power inches back into energy spotlight
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/environment/2009-03-29-nucle
ar-power-energy-return_N.htm

AREVA: France’s nuke power poster child has a money melt-down
http://acdn.france.free.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=506

&lang=en

Environmental Working Group - January 2008 - Report: Grand Canyon Threatened
by Approval of Uranium Mining Activities
http://www.ewg.org/reports/grandcanyon

Shiprock Mill Site
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/umtra/shiprock_title1.html

Grand Canyon Trust
www.grandcanyontrust.org

The Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

Las Vegas Review: Yucca Mountain seen as possible reprocessing site
http://www.lvrj.com/news/yucca-mountain-seen-as-possible-reprocessing-site-8
3787692.html

Southwest Research and Information Center
http://www.sric.org/

Nuclear Free Future
http://www.nuclear-free.com/

--
Klee Benally
indigenousaction@gmail.com

www.indigenousaction.org - Independent Indigenous Media
www.oybm.org - Indigenous Youth Empowerment!
www.savethepeaks.org - Protect Sacred Places
www.taalahooghan.org - Flagstaff Infoshop
www.blackfire.net

www.myspace.com/eelk
www.twitter.com/eelk
Skype: indigenousaction

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