Multi Issue STSSA Reposts

Multi Issue STSSA Reposts
from the Eagle Watch #68
July 18, 2010

One More Victory for Indigenous:
Shinnecock Nation reclaims slice of the Hamptons after court victory

Below is another forward FYI. It looks to us like a hard won victory, something that we don't often see. Some people may not like it but such is Life.
Kittoh

A Little Background Information from David Wolfe :

During the American Civil War, Fort Upton was erected near Shinnicock. The fort was used to train freed African slaves as the "Buffalo Soldiers" who were later paid to kill Indians out west. Since "Shinnicock" was originally a land grant from the British Crown, it was always NOT a part of the U.S. When a buffalo soldier went AWOL, as often happened, he went to Shinnicock and stayed. As a result, to this day, many Shinnicock are as well of African heritage.

There were originally 13 tribes of Indigenous in what was termed "Sewanake" [place of shells] in the Algonquian speech of the 13 tribes. The principal Indigenous center of all was the Montauket.

I was informed long ago by elders of the "Shinnicock" (of the families Silva-Gumbs & Crippen) the following story:
As was the tradition of all the tribes of Sewanake, the people of the villages would seasonally remove to select regions of Long Island to harvest the fruits of the forest, to fish and go whaling, etc. In the late 1700's, upon the Montaukets returning to their principal seat (now the Hamptons), they found it overtaken and occupied by English. They were repulsed to the fringes and made to accept a seat nearby. That seat was named after a village of the Montauket - Shinnicock.

There were two roads in and out, only two with iron gates and a fence around the reserve. One road was called East Gate Road, the other West Gate Road. The names are the same to this day.

Throughout the colonial history of New York/Long Island, Indians were hunted by the Dutch, then English for bounties, ie scalps. They were pursued on horseback and run down like foxes in a fox hunt. Many many smaller tribes were slaughtered and survivors forced to nearest other Indian towns.

As recently as WWII, returning veterans of various Indigenous communities such as Cherokee, Mohawk, Mohegan, Pequot and via the Bunn & Siklos/ Houser line, Apache, may as well be found among the Shinnicock. The Shinnicock people are exemplary of the true spirit of the original people of Turtle Island. Their spirit of survival and endurance remembers and speaks well of our common ancestors.

We welcome your feedback! Forward, post and consider printing for your cyberphobic friends and relatives.
The Eagle Watch Newsletter is sent to interested individuals, both Indigenous and nonNative, politicians especially the Canadian ones and an assortment of English language media.

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Shinnecock Nation reclaims slice of the Hamptons after court victory []
http://groovetek.net/2010/07/11/native-american-tribe-reclaims-slice-of-the-hamptons-after-court-victory-world-news-the-observer/

Members of the Shinnecock nation outside court in Central Islip, New York, after filing papers claiming tribal ownership of land in the Hamptons. Photograph: Ed Betz

Native American tribe reclaims slice of the Hamptons after court victory | World news | The Observer.

From a distance the teardrop-shaped peninsula looks just like any other bit of the famed Hamptons shoreline. Thick woods crowd down to the water’s edge, and through the trees houses and roads can be glimpsed.

But this land is not part of the Hamptons, neither is it really part of the United States any more. This patch – in the middle of the playground to Manhattan’s social elite – is proudly and fiercely Native American country.

Almost four centuries since their first contact with the white man and after a 32-year court battle that has just ended in victory, the tiny Shinnecock tribe has now been formally recognised by America’s federal government.


The decision means that the Shinnecock, numbering some 1,300 members, many of whom live in deep poverty compared with their wealthy neighbours, can apply for federal funding to build schools, health centres and set up their own police force. It means their tiny 750-acre reservation is now a semi-sovereign nation within the US, just like much bigger and more famous reservations in the west.

In order to qualify the Shinnecock literally had to prove that they existed, submitting thousands of pages of tribal records. It was a process that has left a bitter legacy. “Why do we need federal recognition to show we are who we are?” said Shinnecock leader Lance Gumbs as he sat in his office in the community centre. “It’s a humiliating, degrading and insensitive process. Why do Indian people have to go through that? No other peoples are treated like that.”

Many believe that the lengthy and painful process that the Shinnecock have been forced to go through is explained by the tribe’s position bang in the middle of the Hamptons, the string of Long Island towns where rich New Yorkers come to party away the summers. The difference between Shinnecock land and the rest of the Hamptons is jarring. The reservation, signalled by a line of stalls selling cheap cigarettes, sits side by side with the town of Southampton, heart of the Hamptons scene.

On the reservation, some roads are dusty and unpaved. The houses can be ramshackle. Unemployment can be a problem for many Shinnecock members. Outside it on the streets of Southampton, stretch limos and black Lexus prowl down streets lined with shops selling Ralph Lauren and Diane von Furstenberg. A real estate agent on Southampton’s main street happily advertises a local house going for $12.2m.

Historically – and indeed pretty much since Europeans first arrived in the area in the 1600s – the Shinnecock have been on the retreat. They lost land steadily as more and more Europeans began to farm their traditional territory, eventually leading to an agreement in 1703 that saw them confined to a broad swath of land around Southampton under a 1,000-year lease. However, in 1859 the pressure of development saw that deal scrapped by the settlers and the Shinnecock reduced to their current tiny holding. For years tribal members then eked out a living working on white farms or helping local fishermen and whalers.

Now that is all set to change as a key part of federal recognition allows the Shinnecock to do the one thing that has changed Native American fortunes more than anything else in the last 100 years: build a casino. Gumbs now sees real power finally in Shinnecock hands. “We are going after everything we are entitled to,” he said. “I am not a big fan of Southampton. They were happy as long as we were the good little Indians in the corner. Well, that’s changed now.”

It is unlikely that the Shinnecock will build their casino in the Hamptons itself, which is already notoriously crowded and traffic-clogged. Instead the simple threat of it is likely to eventually see them negotiate the right to build a casino elsewhere in Long Island, an area that is seen as ripe for the development of a gambling mecca.


Either way, it seems Shinnecock fortunes are set to be dramatically reversed. For many tribal members it is a chance to rescue what remains of the tribe’s culture. Sitting in the tribal museum and cultural centre, Winonah Warren, 71, remembers being taken as a young girl to see a Shinnecock medicine man. She sees the deer that she spots in her garden as a spiritual sign.

She practises a Native American religion in which she takes peyote. It is about as far from the Hamptons scene as it is possible to get. “I love being on the reservation. Even when I am not here, I feel that my heart is,” she said, touching her chest.

Some even feel that federal recognition – and the prospect of a casino – might be the beginning of a wider Shinnecock resurgence. In the white land grab of 1859 an area of land called the Shinnecock Hills was taken. Many Shinnecock held it to be sacred ground. It is now full of rich houses and the famous Shinnecock Hills golf club, with total real estate worth more than a billion dollars. The Shinnecock have sued to get it back.

For many of the Hamptons residents the prospect no doubt seems ridiculous: a relic of ancient history and long-forgotten wrongs. But not so for some of the Shinnecock. Elizabeth Haile, a 79-year-old tribal member, remembers her grandmother telling her how the Shinnecock Hills had been stolen.
Does she think the tribe will ever get them back? “Yeah,” she said with no hesitation, and then added with a smile: “It is a prediction. Some people never thought we would get federally recognised.”

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Earth's Upper Atmosphere Collapses - Nobody Knows Why

Thursday 15 July 2010

by: SPACE | The Christian Science Monitor

The thermosphere recently collapsed in an unexpectedly large contraction, the sheer size of which has scientists scratching their heads.

An upper layer of Earth's atmosphere recently collapsed in an unexpectedly large contraction, the sheer size of which has scientists scratching their heads, NASA announced Thursday.

The layer of gas – called the thermosphere – is now rebounding again. This type of collapse is not rare, but its magnitude shocked scientists.

"This is the biggest contraction of the thermosphere in at least 43 years," said John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab, lead author of a paper announcing the finding in the June 19 issue of the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "It's a Space Age record."

The collapse occurred during a period of relative solar inactivity – called a solar minimum from 2008 to 2009. These minimums are known to cool and contract the thermosphere, however, the recent collapse was two to three times greater than low solar activity could explain.

"Something is going on that we do not understand," Emmert said.

The thermosphere lies high above the Earth's surface, close to where our planet meets the edge of space. It ranges in altitude from 55 miles (90 km) to 370 miles (600 km) above the ground. At this height, satellites and meteors fly and auroras shine. [Graphic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom]

The thermosphere interacts strongly with the sun, so is very affected by periods of high or low solar activity. This layer intercepts extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) from the sun before it can reach the ground.

When solar activity is high, solar EUV warms the thermosphere, causing it to puff up like a marshmallow held over a camp fire. When solar activity is low, the opposite occurs.

Recently, solar activity has been at an extreme low. In 2008 and 2009, sunspots were scarce, solar flares almost non-existent, and solar EUV radiation was at a low ebb.

Still, the thermospheric collapse of 2008-2009 was not only bigger than any previous collapse, it was also bigger than the sun's activity alone could explain.

To calculate the collapse, Emmert analyzed the decay rates of more than 5,000 satellites orbiting above Earth between 1967 and 2010. This provided a space-time sampling of thermospheric density, temperature, and pressure covering almost the entire Space Age.

Emmert suggests carbon dioxide (CO2) in the thermosphere might play a role in explaining the atmospheric collapse.

This gas acts as a coolant, shedding heat via infrared radiation. It is widely-known that CO2 levels have been increasing in Earth's atmosphere. Extra CO2 in the thermosphere could have magnified the cooling action of solar minimum.

"But the numbers don't quite add up," Emmert said. "Even when we take CO2 into account using our best understanding of how it operates as a coolant, we cannot fully explain the thermosphere's collapse."

The researchers hope further monitoring of the upper atmosphere will help them get to the bottom of the situation.
Firefly reposting truthout
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Bulletin from the cause: First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Posted By: Anthony Jay Henhawk Jr.
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Native Americans Disagree Over Travel Rules
The controversy over the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team's effort to fly overseas with their tribe-issued passports has brought up issues about what it means for Native American's to have national sovereignty. Though the State Department offered to expedite U.S. issued passports for the team, the team manager said traveling with anything but their Haudenosaunee confederacy passports would be an insult to their culture. Now, the issue is dividing Native American nations across America.

Sanford Nabahe of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone told WCBS, "Any documents or IDs we put forth recognizing our members should also be recognized by the federal government and other governments. The (federal) government has given us that autonomy." And since tribe land is independent from the U.S., they don't feel the need to carry U.S. passports. One team member said, "You know that as a young person that you are sovereign, that you are not part of the United States. We were the first people here."

But others believe that in a post-9/11 world, the often hand-written passports can't be trusted. Luanna Bear of the Muscogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma said, "A lot of tribes don't want to lose their identity, so that's what they're trying to keep. But I believe you have to follow all laws." Though the State Department eventually said the team could travel with their Haudenosaunee passports, the British Consulate would not issue the team visas.

The federal government has been working with various tribes to develop national ID cards, though they wouldn't be accepted for international travel. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has been among the legislators urging the federal government to develop a form of identification that would be accepted internationally. Until then, it seems any Native American in the country without a U.S. issued passport will not be able to travel overseas.
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Aim Santa BarbaraJuly 19, 2010 at 1:06pm
Subject: Get up, Stand up FOR YOUR RIGHTS! Rally Marine Life Protection Act Intiative
Get up, Stand up FOR YOUR RIGHTS! There will be a rally to protect tribal rights from the Marine Life Protection Act Intitiative.

When: Wednesday, July 21st
Time: The rally will be at NOON
Where: MLPPA Blue Ribbon Task Force Meeting in Fort Bragg

Participants will be wearing blue shirts to represent solidarity. Rides will be available from the Humboldt-Del Norte County Area.

For more information and to reserve your seat, contact Frnakie Joe Myers (707) 951-5052 or email frankiemyers@ http://www.facebook.com/l/39d51M0OTstiKjv3XHh0CmGKNtw;hotmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/l/39d51tR9b-_T1aNMg6u_l0xT3Hw;www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qcox-tHsJNw