The court decision to restore Endangered Species Act protections for Greater Yellowstone wolves is only weeks old. But that’s not stopping Wildlife Services agents -- the government’s wildlife killing experts -- from planning to kill hundreds of wolves in the region, including helpless pups in their dens.
The federal Wildlife Services agency has gone too far -- and we need your help to stop them.
Please take action now to speak out against the Wildlife Services plan to expand their wolf-killing role in Idaho.
The federal Wildlife Services agency (a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture) is the primary wolf-killer in the United States. Now they want to expand their wolf-killing operations. They plan to work with Idaho officials to kill up to 80 percent of the wolves in north-central Idaho by land and from the air.
Their plan also includes killing entire packs -- including gassing helpless wolf pups in their dens -- and surgically sterilizing alpha wolf pairs.
All this despite the fact that wolves in the region are once again protected by federal law.
Speak out now to stop the out-of-control wolf killing plan -- before the government-sponsored killing starts.
USDA’s Wildlife Services is the same agency that helped kill off wolves by the 1940s. And their new plan shows their intent to escalate their current war on these magnificent animals that you and I have fought so hard to protect.
Instead of helping ranchers co-exist with wolves and other native wildlife with proven non-lethal techniques, Wildlife Services is expanding their role as the nation’s top wolf-killers -- and dragging wolf management back to the brutal and archaic practices of the past.
Wildlife Services’ outrageous wolf-killing plan seeks to punish wolves for doing what they do naturally: preying on elk and fulfilling their ecological role as part of a natural system.
This unacceptable wolf-killing plan cannot be allowed to go forward -- especially since wolves in Greater Yellowstone and the Northern Rockies regained protections under the Endangered Species Act.
Oppose Wildlife Services’ plan to kill more endangered wolves in Idaho.
Idaho officials are claiming that wolves are the major cause of elk declines in parts of the state. But in 23 of the 29 elk management zones, populations of these animals are at or above population targets -- many of the areas experiencing declines in elk numbers contain no wolves. And the Clearwater National Forest was experiencing steep declines in elk numbers by 1988 -- long before wolves returned to the area.
Politics is clearly driving state officials to call on USDA’s Wildlife Services to kill more wolves to artificially boost game populations beyond what current habitat can support.
Take action now to help stop the federal Wildlife Services plan for killing more protected wolves in the Greater Yellowstone and Northern Rockies region.
http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=xNbhuIQKhj0FzSsflxCZew..
Please take action today -- the deadline for public comments on this outrageous wolf-killing plan is Tuesday, August 31st.
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Home Sweet Homeless
No "Home Sweet Home"
Five years after Katrina
Matt Pascarella and I encountered Patricia Thomas while she was breaking into a home at the Lafitte Housing Project in New Orleans. It was her own home. Nevertheless, if caught, she'd end up in the slammer. So would we. Matt was my producer for the film, Big Easy to Big Empty, and he encouraged my worst habits. I'd worked for the New Orleans Housing Authority years back and knew they wanted the poor black folk out of these pretty townhouses near the French Quarter. Katrina was an excuse for ethnic cleansing, American style. Matt and I skipped cuffs on this shoot, but were charged later by Homeland Security (see below). While I recorded the story of hidden evils on film, Matt gathered a story which no camera can capture. Here it is. - Greg Palast
by Matt Pascarella
August 26th, 2010
Four years ago, on the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I sat with Patricia Thomas. Greg Palast and I had just helped her break into her home in the Lafitte Projects. She had been locked out for a year. She showed us her former home, her belongings scattered everywhere, and wrestled out endless stories of post-Katrina life: how she struggled to find shelter over the last year, how they came and put bars on her doors and windows and locked her out, how it was "man made."
I picked up a photo of her at Mardi Gras, taken a few years earlier, and compared it to what she looked like now. In the picture her hair was longer, her face younger, her smile deeper. Now her arms were wasted and thin, her eyes sunken into her face, and her bottom front teeth were gone. On most days, she told me, she wore her dead mother's dentures, but today she had forgotten to put them in. Her own teeth broke off when escaping the rising waters. She had fallen face first onto the concrete slab that was her front porch. The very spot where we were sitting was where it had happened. Over my left shoulder, running the length of the building, was a scar, a stain from the water line.
August in Louisiana is unbearably hot for a Northern boy. Beads of sweat poured from my face, down my neck. Patricia went inside, found an old roll of paper towels in a kitchen cabinet and brought me one. The quilted paper had a kitschy design - a giant heart with words that said, "Home Sweet Home."
I looked at her and wondered how this could happen in mycountry.
A few weeks before, I was in Mexico City with Palast covering the Presidential Election. A presidency had been stolen. People were on the streets screaming "Vota por Vota, Casilla por Casilla!" Count the votes! "Vote by Vote, box by box!" I had seen the aftermath of a massacre in a small village outside Mexico City. I had seen people from all over the country rise up in anger taking to the streets. I had seen the Zapatistas march and Subcomandante Marcos himself flanked by young women acting as a protective barrier. I had seen the house where Trotsky was stabbed in the back of the head with an ice pick.
When I finally left Mexico City, I remember being deeply confused. The kind of confusion that tears at the soul and has the ability to completely dismantle any preconceived notions of how to view the world. I was inspired to see so many people fighting for democracy, and yet a deep depression sunk in as the plane took off. I knew their efforts would not matter. I had seen the American 'consultants', the DC hacks, in the offices of the ruling party and I knew it was over.
Now, here I was - back home in the United States - outside a decimated house near the levees, trying to understand why a New Orleans native, Brod Bagert, was calling a friend who worked with the fire department. Brod was asking his old friend what the number "5" below the giant orange spray-painted X on the front of the house meant. But Brod already knew what it meant.
Here I was watching Brod, one year later, trying to convince himself that what had happened to his neighbors didn't actually happen. After many long days of hearing countless horrifying stories and walking through miles of destruction, I now stood next to a grown man who was desperately trying to lie to himself simply because the alternative was too painful. I couldn't hold back the tears. It was the first, and only, time in my professional life that I had to walk away from an interview. I hid out behind a smashed up, rotted out BMW and cried.
After a few minutes I returned to Brod. He hung up the phone, looked at Palast and me, and slowly choked, "Five people died here."
He finally gave in to what had happened here: the sprayed "9-16" above that X meant that those five bodies had been left to decompose for nearly 19 days before being discovered by rescue crews.
Brod rubbed his eyes and we went inside the house. His fathomless sadness hardened into anger. We walked through a sand dune littered with toys into what was once the living room. I tried not to imagine the mom and dad and kids as water crushed them against the ceiling; as they clawed for one more breath.
Brod took us down the street to his home, that is, the sticks that were left of his home. He was breathing hard, he was shaking. "Old ladies watched the water come up to their nose, over their eyes and they drowned in houses just like this, in this neighborhood, because of reckless negligence that is unanswered for."
I think back now, to those words, spoken four years ago and wonder if it will ever be answered.
We then met Stephen Smith. He worked at the Marriott hotel, but had no car and no way to get out when the Mayor said to get out. Stephen pulled a dozen neighbors to a bridge over the rising water for four days as helicopters whirled overhead. Four days in the humid sun. No food. An old man gave his grandchildren his only bottle of water; then the old man died of dehydration. Stephen now works in a grocery store in Houston where FEMA ultimately dumped him. His kids live in Baton Rouge.
The next day Palast and I drove up to Baton Rouge to confront the company that was contracted to come up with an evacuation plan for the City of New Orleans. They had refused all of our interview requests, so we showed up at their offices to request a copy of the plan in person. We were quickly thrown out, they threatened to call security. They knew what we knew: There was no plan.
We drove out to the town of Baker. There, we surreptitiously passed through a security checkpoint before funneling into a massive FEMA trailer park. Here we met Pamela Lewis who told us her story of escaping the flood. Despite having MS, she pushed a boat with her 86-year-old mother, other relatives and neighbors through the streets of New Orleans. When she got to a bridge, armed men yelled at her, called her a nigger, and commanded her to turn around. They didn't want a boat full of black people coming into their neighborhood. She then managed to make it to the Superdome where she was sprayed down by hoses, tossed on a bus, and then told to pay a fare and get off. She had no idea where she was.
We finished filming. Pamela stood in front of the car next to her trailer, and I locked eyes with her. I put the car in reverse and backed out, leaving her there, alone, not knowing what she was going to do with her life.
We drove back to New Orleans, passing an Exxon Oil Refinery - the only thing near Pamela's trailer park. Several weeks later, at the request of Exxon, Homeland Security would file a criminal complaint against me and Palast under the anti-terrorism PATRIOT Act for filming "critical infrastructure." The only thing critical about that refinery was the pollution it was spewing near what had become a refugee camp.
Five years have gone by and it is rare if a week passes that I don't think of New Orleans. Nearly two thousand people lost their lives. An entire city was decimated. People were killed by the very police officers who were supposed to be protecting them. Hundreds of thousands lost their homes and livelihoods. To this day there are some still living in FEMA trailers. Patricia died a few years back in a horrible car accident; Lafitte, her home, has since been demolished.
My job was to go, to report, and then go home. My job was to leave Patricia, Pamela, Brod and countless others whom I had encountered, behind - to place them in a compartment in my mind, and to move on to the next story. Yet I never quite managed to do that with New Orleans. Maybe it was easier for me to cope in places like Mexico, but New Orleans wasAmerica. It happened in my country. All of the people I met in New Orleans - their images, their words - have, over the years, crystallized into a vivid sense of disenchantment with the romantic narrative of America I was taught as a child.
I sit here now, thumb through my old notebook that is labeled in black marker "NOLA" and find the paper towel Patricia gave me. It still reads, next to that big, faded heart, "Home Sweet Home."
*********
Matt Pascarella produced the Greg Palast investigation, Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans.
Pascarella is currently a journalist with the Palast Investigative Fund which is offering the film as download FREE of charge during this week of commemoration. Or, for a donation, receive the DVD signed by Palast.
The Palast Fund requests your tax-deductible donations. We are returning to New Orleans to finish the investigation we started.
Subscribe to Palast's Newsletter and podcasts.
Follow Palast on Facebook and Twitter.
www.GregPalast.com
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I was shocked by Alan Simpson's recent thoughtless comments calling Social Security a "milk cow"1 and insulting millions of Americans.
Coming from anyone these comments would be over the line. But what makes them more offensive is Senator Simpson's position: co-chair of President Obama's Fiscal Commission, which is currently considering changes to Social Security as a solution to reduce the deficit.
How can a commission led by Sen. Simpson fairly make recommendations on the future of important programs like Social Security?
Click here to send a letter to the White House TODAY, urging that the President's Fiscal Commission stop considering benefit cuts to Social Security to address the deficit.
You and I know that the millions of Americans who receive Social Security aren't "milking the system." Social Security is paid for by the lifetime of contributions from hard-working Americans, and hasn't contributed even one penny to the federal deficit.
Social Security cuts should not be considered to reduce the deficit – in fact, how can we accept any changes recommended by a commission led by Alan Simpson? But President Obama set up this commission, and it's up to him to protect Social Security from budget-driven cuts.
Tell President Obama to stand up for Social Security and urge his Commission to reject budget-driven cuts to Social Security.
http://action.aarp.org/site/R?i=_KiZn8BRhJd636ps9_7AVA..
Thank you for speaking out on this critical issue.
Sincerely,
Barry Jackson
Senior Manager, Grassroots
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Buffalo Field Campaign Update from the Field
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
August 26, 2010
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field every day in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
------------------------------
------------------------------
* Update from the Field--Dates Added to West Coast Roadshow
* Join BFC for Woodcut Week September 6-12
* Bison Advocates Tour Livestock Grazing Allotment Critical for Wild Bison
* TAKE ACTION! Tell Yellowstone not to Vaccinate Wild Buffalo
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Useful Links
------------------------------
* Update from the Field--Dates Added to West Coast Roadshow
BFC'S WEST COAST ROAD SHOW, SEPTEMBER 17 - OCTOBER 9, 2010
Buffalo Field Campaign's co-founder Mike Mease, and dedicated volunteer Noah, will soon embark on our 2010 West Coast Road Show, coming to numerous towns and cities in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. Mike and Noah will share stories and video footage from our front lines work with America's last wild buffalo and talk about ways you can join our efforts to help protect them, even from within your own community. Mike has nearly two decades of experience in the company of wild buffalo, having lived in one of the coldest climates in the lower 48 states to work in their defense, and he is an amazing storyteller, sure to inspire you to join the growing herd of wild buffalo warriors. For the duration of the tour, BFC is excited to announce that we will be joined by Lakota musician and activist, the talented Good Shield of 7th Generation Rise as well as the incredible Phoenix AfterBuffalo!
HELP SPREAD THE WORD! If you want to help us with any of these events, please check the Road Show Schedule and contact the point person at that specific venue to see how you can plug in. You can also help spread the word in your community by putting up these downloadable posters around your town, neighborhood and e-mailing all your friends, posting to Facebook or by any other means you can think of to help spread the word to save the herds.
Live in Portland and have community connections? We are looking for a venue to host an event there on the night of Monday, September 20. Please contact Mike and let him know.
If you have never been to one of these powerful presentations, you are in for a real treat. If you've joined us before, we hope you will do so again! If you have any questions about specific events, please check the schedule and contact the point person for that venue. For other information contact Mike Mease at mease@wildrockies.org.
See you soon!
With the Buffalo,
Mike Mease
Cofounder, Buffalo Field Campaign
------------------------------
* Join BFC for Woodcut Week September 6-12!
BFC will be hosting our annual Woodcut Week from September 6-12, 2010 and we need your help to gather, haul, cut, and stack the firewood that will keep our volunteers warm all winter. Please make plans to join us for a week of good hard work, tasty meals, friendship, and nights around the BFC campfire.
For more information on these volunteer opportunities, please contact Mike Mease at mease@wildrockies.org.
------------------------------
* Bison Advocates Tour Livestock Grazing Allotment Critical for Wild Bison
On August 4 Buffalo Field Campaign organized a field trip with local Montanans to view cattle grazing on the Gardiner Ranger District of the Gallatin National Forest. Gardiner District Ranger Mary Maj and Steven Schacht, vegetation staff, joined us to discuss the Forest's plans and to get local concerns for wild buffalo habitat on the Forest's radar.
Two permittees, James and Larry Stands and Lewis and Jill Wilks, operate the Three Peaks Ranch and run a total of 260 cow calf pairs and 10 horses on the Slip & Slide grazing allotment from June 16 through October 15. Slip & Slide covers 6,750 Gallatin National Forest acres and is the last public lands grazing allotment east of the Yellowstone River in the Gardiner basin, prime buffalo habitat and a major wildlife corridor.
The third permittee, Franklin and Susan Rigler, who operate the Dome Mountain Ranch, waived their portion of the Slip & Slide allotment to the Forest who allocated the cow calf pairs to Three Peaks Ranch. Rigler leases his private land for the Slip & Slide bison quarantine pen near Dome Mountain run by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The Slip & Slide permit is due to expire at the end of 2010. The Interagency Bison Management Plan agencies classify the Slip & Slide as Zone 3 due to the presence of cattle and bison quarantine pens at Corwin Springs and Slip & Slide. Wild bison are prohibited from occupying any habitat in Zone 3, at any time of year, despite the fact bison migrate to these habitats on the Gallatin National Forest. Several buffalo have been shot for venturing into Zone 3 in the Gardiner basin.
Gardiner basin is a critical wildlife corridor providing habitat for mule deer, one of the largest elk herds in North America, bighorn sheep, a small genetically isolated population of pronghorn antelope, and migratory bison. Grizzly bears and wolves are not far behind one of the largest migrations of wild ungulates in the lower 48 states.
One of the things we learned on the field trip is the Gardiner Ranger District's intent to annually renew the permit without performing an environmental analysis (last done in 1991) due to cutbacks in Congressional funding. The Forest's legal analysis may not come for years.
TAKE ACTION! Please contact Gallatin National Forest Supervisor Mary C. Erickson
------------------------------
* Tell Yellowstone not to Vaccinate Wild Bison!
Family group of buffalo out on the flats of Horse Butte, Gallatin National Forest. BFC file photo by Dru. Click here for larger image.
It doesn't make any sense at all to attempt to vaccinate bats, skunks, raccoons or other wildlife against rabies, but it does make sense to vaccinate your dog or cat. So where is the logic in vaccinating wild bison against brucellosis, and not mandating vaccinations for domestic cattle, the manageable species? If it doesn't make sense, the government usually wants to do it, and Yellowstone National Park is no exception.
TAKE ACTION! There's still plenty of time to submit your comments to Yellowstone National Park about their misguided plan to vaccinate wild bison. Comments are being accepted through September 24, 2010. It is very important that the Park hear from you about this unfortunate plan to shoot wild buffalo with a brucellosis vaccine intended for cattle, and unsafe for buffalo. The vaccine is ineffective, costly, harmful, intrusive and culturally unacceptable. Please tell the Park you do not approve of vaccinating wild buffalo, and instead, request Yellowstone to develop an alternative to buy-out cattle in the buffalo's immediate habitat areas of Yellowstone, Madison and Gallatin River valleys.
Take action today! And please spread the word to save these herds! Thank you for taking this action to help America's last continuously wild buffalo. You can also review the official comments of BFC and our partners Western Watersheds Project.
------------------------------
* Last Words
"We looked upon animals like the wolf, buffalo, elk, and grizzly bear as elders because they were already here in the creation when our people came along. Ours is the task to respect the elders and to respect what the elders teach us."
--Jack Gladstone, Blackfeet Tribal Council
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 BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2009-2010 Total: 7
2009-2010 Slaughter: 0
2009-2010 Hunt: 4
2009-2010 Quarantine: 0
2009-2010 Shot by Agents: 3*
2009-2010 Highway Mortality: 0
*Two bulls that were drugged by APHIS on 5/4/10 were shot by DOL
later that evening. One was shot by DOL on 7/13/10 for trying to free his imprisoned relatives at the Corwin Springs quarantine facility.
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,709*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
-----------------------------
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!
Tell-a-Friend
Take Action!
###################################################################
A technical problem resulted in the Take Action section of today's Update being cut. We are resending the affected section in its entirety. Sorry for the inconvenience.
------------------------------
* Bison Advocates Tour Livestock Grazing Allotment Critical for Wild Bison
On August 4 Buffalo Field Campaign organized a field trip with local Montanans to view cattle grazing on the Gardiner Ranger District of the Gallatin National Forest. Gardiner District Ranger Mary Maj and Steven Schacht, vegetation staff, joined us to discuss the Forest's plans and to get local concerns for wild buffalo habitat on the Forest's radar.
Two permittees, James and Larry Stands and Lewis and Jill Wilks, operate the Three Peaks Ranch and run a total of 260 cow calf pairs and 10 horses on the Slip & Slide grazing allotment from June 16 through October 15. Slip & Slide covers 6,750 Gallatin National Forest acres and is the last public lands grazing allotment east of the Yellowstone River in the Gardiner basin, prime buffalo habitat and a major wildlife corridor.
The third permittee, Franklin and Susan Rigler, who operate the Dome Mountain Ranch, waived their portion of the Slip & Slide allotment to the Forest who allocated the cow calf pairs to Three Peaks Ranch. Rigler leases his private land for the Slip & Slide bison quarantine pen near Dome Mountain run by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks and the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
The Slip & Slide permit is due to expire at the end of 2010. The Interagency Bison Management Plan agencies classify the Slip & Slide as Zone 3 due to the presence of cattle and bison quarantine pens at Corwin Springs and Slip & Slide. Wild bison are prohibited from occupying any habitat in Zone 3, at any time of year, despite the fact bison migrate to these habitats on the Gallatin National Forest. Several buffalo have been shot for venturing into Zone 3 in the Gardiner basin.
Gardiner basin is a critical wildlife corridor providing habitat for mule deer, one of the largest elk herds in North America, bighorn sheep, a small genetically isolated population of pronghorn antelope, and migratory bison. Grizzly bears and wolves are not far behind one of the largest migrations of wild ungulates in the lower 48 states.
One of the things we learned on the field trip is the Gardiner Ranger District's intent to annually renew the permit without performing an environmental analysis (last done in 1991) due to cutbacks in Congressional funding. The Forest's legal analysis may not come for years.
TAKE ACTION! Please email Gallatin National Forest SupervisorMary C. Erickson or call her at 406-587-6703 and ask her to perform a suitability analysis to close the Slip & Slide grazing allotment. The Forest should manage the habitat for native populations of wildlife including migratory bison, mule deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope. Gardiner basin provides critical habitat for grizzly bears and Yellowstone cutthroat trout. Wolves have been sighted on the Forest, along with rare species of trumpeter swan, peregrine falcon, pygmy owl, golden eagle, northern goshawk and osprey.
------------------------------
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!
Tell-a-Friend
Take Action!
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A recent study suggests that nearly 80% of the oil released by the Deepwater Horizon offshore disaster remains. [1] That means that millions of barrels are still poisoning our sea turtles, fouling our coasts and threatening the survival of endangered marine life like sperm whales and bluefin tuna.
Solving just 20% of the problem isn’t enough. Demand that your senators pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663), legislation to preserve vital habitat for sea turtles and other wildlife and improve oversight and accountability to prevent the next offshore oil disaster.
Just use the information below to contact your senators now:
Johnny Isakson - (770) 661-0999
Saxby Chambliss - (770) 763-9090
If you do not see your senators information above, please call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to be connected with your senators' Washington, DC offices.
… and deliver this simple message:
My name is David & Sharon Kitchen, and I’m calling from Townsend to urge [your senators] to pass the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Accountability Act (S. 3663) as soon as they return to Washington, DC in September.
While we don’t yet know the full extent of the environmental and economic impacts of this spill, we have already seen the devastation it has caused to wildlife, fisheries and coastal economies.
If passed, the Senate bill would improve offshore drilling management and crisis response and finally guarantee funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund – an important tool for preserving and restoring habitat for Gulf wildlife and other animals. It would also invest in Home Star, an energy efficiency program that lowers consumers’ energy costs and creates jobs.
Please let me know that you called. In the weeks ahead, we will be following up with your senators to ensure that they know how much you care about a more comprehensive response to the Gulf oil disaster.
While the oil has stopped gushing into the Gulf, we are far from “mission accomplished.”
The House of Representatives has passed a bill to address much needed drilling reforms, and now it’s time for the Senate to do the same.
The BP oil disaster has affected every Gulf state – and beyond. Fisheries have been devastated, tourism to the area has plummeted, wildlife refuges and marshes have been fouled with oil, toxic tar has washed onto beaches, and thousands of dolphins, sea turtles, herons, pelicans, and countless other bird and wildlife species were coated in oil, facing slow and agonizing deaths.
With hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity dependent on clean coasts and healthy coastal waters, this spill has already resulted in damage for coastal areas dependent on tourism or fishing.
For example, in Alabama, rental reservations were canceled, and they saw a more than 50 percent reduction in tourists to the Gulf Coast area of Baldwin County. The loss of tourism trickles into the rest of the community. Without tourists, gas stations, restaurants, and shops also suffer. There have already been layoffs and businesses closed, and many local businesses (specifically fishing-related ones) are about to shut their doors.
Oil companies cannot promise that something like this disaster won’t happen in the Gulf or other coastal areas, and there is simply too much danger to subject major fisheries and wildlife areas to continued offshore drilling without real reform.
Please call your senators today and take a stand for responsible action to address the Gulf oil disaster… and help prevent the next offshore environmental catastrophe!
http://action.defenders.org/site/R?i=pd3FA_NDS5oHjXhRo_VfoQ..
For the Wild Ones,
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Cancer's Favorite Food - Found in Everything You Eat?
Pancreatic tumor cells use fructose to divide and proliferate, according to a study that challenges the notion that all sugars are the same.
Tumor cells fed both glucose and fructose used the two sugars in two different ways. This could explain why other studies have previously linked fructose intake with pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest cancer types.
According to MSNBC:
"Americans take in large amounts of fructose, mainly in high fructose corn syrup, a mix of fructose and glucose that is used in soft drinks, bread and a range of other foods. Politicians, regulators, health experts and the industry have debated whether high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients have been helping make Americans fatter and less healthy."
Sources:
MSNBC August 2, 2010
Cancer Research August 1, 2010; 70: 6368
Reuters August 2, 2010
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Marcie Lane
Committee Member
Protect Sacred Sites " Indigenous People,One Nation"
www.protectsacredsites.org
863-425-5478
Arizona Snow Bowl
Hello Marcie,
I just spoke with the Tribes about this proposal yesterday. I encouraged them to further pursue that line of action.
Thank you for your email.
Coral
###########################################
Arizona Snow Bowl
Dear Council Member Evans,
I read an article about new propsals regarding buying the Snow Bowl from the owners and numerous non profit groups coming together with the tribes to turn this into a safe green park to preserve our cultural needs and give people a good healthy means to enjoy the peaks without the polution of recycled water and expansion that would harm our Sacred Mountains. I approve and support this proposal 100% and hope it comes into fruition for all our sakes. Thank you for making an effort to work with these groups to make this happen.
Sincerely,
Marcie Lane
Committee Member
Protect Sacred Sites as "Indigenous People,One Nation"
www.ProtectSacredSites.org
863-425-5478
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Stop Open Pit Mining In Huichol Sacred Sites Wixárika Research Center
http://events.contracostatimes.com/berkeley-ca/events/show/139043405-stop-open-pit-mining-in-huichol-sacred-sites-wixarika-research-center
Sunday, Oct 10 7:00p
at La Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, CA
Join the Wixárika Research Center for an evening of discussion and film to stop the mining of the sacred Wixárika site of Wirikuta in the state of San Luis de Potosi Mexico. All funds raised will go directly to the legal defense fund.
Event Website
http://www.lapena.org/event/1566
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Federal official announces $65M to support affordable housing in Ind
Posted by: "NDN News"
Thu Aug 26, 2010 12:41 pm (PDT)
_____
From: First Peoples Human Rights Coalition
[mailto:info@firstpeoplesrights.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 2:52 AM
To: info@firstpeoplesrights.org
Subject: HUD secretary tours reservation
From the article below: "I'm seeing real measurable progress," the secretary
[Shaun Donovan, U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary] said. "And I'm
seeing optimism from tribal leaders throughout the country."
Last year the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing visited the Pine Ridge
Reservation, commenting that the housing she saw there was among the worst
housing she had seen. Although the words "Right to Housing" are not being
used in the article below, it appears that efforts are being made by the
current administration to address housing needs of Indigenous peoples of the
Plains territories.
________________________
HUD secretary tours reservation
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20100825/NEWS/8250323/1001
Federal official announces $65M to support affordable housing in Indian
Country
syoung@argusleader.com . August 25, 2010
Kills In Water (from left) talk with Shaun Donovan, U.S. Housing and Urban
Development Secretary, and Rodney Bordeaux, Rosebud Sioux Tribe President,
during a housing tour of the Rosebud Reservation in the Soldier Creek
community in South Dakota, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010. The Kills In Water family
lives in a house with no running water or electricity.
David and Regina Kills In Water (from left) talk with Shaun Donovan, U.S.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary, and Rodney Bordeaux, Rosebud Sioux
Tribe President, during a housing tour of the Rosebud Reservation in the
Soldier Creek community in South Dakota, Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010. The Kills
In Water family lives in a house with no running water or electricity.
(Devin Wagner / Argus Leader)
ROSEBUD - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan saw the
worst and best of housing Tuesday on the Rosebud Reservation but also
insisted that he is seeing progress.
Donovan toured the reservation with Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., in preparation
for a joint Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee field
hearing today in Rapid City.
One of their stops was in the Soldier Creek community west of Rosebud, where
David and Regina Kills In Water are raising three young children in a
dilapidated trailer with no water, electricity or sewer.
"It's not right," Donovan said of the Kills In Waters, who must walk to a
house next door for water or to use a bathroom. "It really is a conflict of
emotions for me. But at the same time, I'm also inspired by some of the work
being done here."
The secretary particularly was impressed with the Ojinjintka Housing
Development Corp., a subsidiary of the tribe's housing authority. The
house-building corporation is using federal stimulus money to help build 12
homes and employ 18 tribal workers at salaries averaging $17 an hour, with
full benefits.
Amos Prue, chief executive officer of the housing authority, said the houses
will help meet the needs of low-income families on the reservation, where
there is a need to build at least 360 housing units for people waiting to
get homes.
But along with creating jobs for tribal members, Prue said the housing
development corporation also wants to compete on the open market off the
reservation and potentially provide houses for other reservations.
"If we can generate interest from the outside, we can provide more jobs for
our people. That's our main focus," Prue said.
To help Rosebud achieve that, Donovan and Johnson announced that $65 million
was being made available to support community development and affordable
housing production in Indian Country across the United States.
Of that, $8.7 million is available for Northern Plains tribes.
Asked whether he thought such funding was enough to make a substantial dent
in housing needs on reservations such as Rosebud, Donovan said he is seeing
progress. And he said President Obama is proposing to spend an additional
$18.5 billion in Indian Country in the next budget, a 5 percent increase
over this year.
"I'm seeing real measurable progress," the secretary said. "And I'm seeing
optimism from tribal leaders throughout the country."
Both Johnson and Donovan will testify at today's field hearing, which begins
at 11 a.m. CDT at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.
Reach reporter Steve Young at 331-2306.
Copyright C2010
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2.
Fw: [AIMFLCH] Lawsuit over Geronimo's remains dismissed
Posted by: "Audrey Beavers"
Fri Aug 27, 2010 5:05 am (PDT)
-
Subject: [AIMFLCH] Lawsuit over Geronimo's remains dismissed
To:
Date: Thursday, August 26, 2010, 10:58 PM
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Lawsuit over Geronimo's remains dismissed
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by the descendants of Geronimo, who were suing the federal government and the Skull and Bones society at Yale. The plaintiffs claimed that Skull and Bones stole some of Geronimo's remains in 1918. The judge says the law only applies to cultural items that were taken after 1990. (And it's never been established that S&B has the remains.)
Posted by James Hart on Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 01:07 PM | Permalink
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"Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs failed to establish that the government had waived its right not to be sued without its consent.
He also dismissed the lawsuit against Yale and the society, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that only applies to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990."
Well we can all be comforted that any wrongs that may have been done to this Native American's remains and thus his family were handled and weighed carefully on the merits of the evidence and not summarily dismissed on any legal technicalities - especially in light of all the wrongs done to the Native peoples of this continent in the wake of European colonialism.
On behalf of all Native Americans, we apologize for not asking the government for its consent to waive its right not to be sued after all the government has done to Native Americans. We should obviously be ashamed for not asking this required permission.
Read more: http://blogs.kansascity.com/crime_scene/2010/08/lawsuit-over-geronimos-remains-dismissed.html#ixzz0xlt2ygU5
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David Love: While Chinese workers jump out of windows, Americans are dying as well. In the U.S., workers die on exploding oil rigs and in deathtrap coal mines because their regulation-hating employers want to maximize profits.
Read More
http://www.laprogressive.com/economic-equality/capitalism-killing/
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'A Hand to Hold Onto' seeks nationwide input - Confidential survey looks at childhood victimization in Indian country
By Brenda Austin - Aug. 26, 2010
PORTLAND, Ore. - A survey project believed to be the first of its kind is asking participants about their experience with childhood violence in Indian country. Dire statistics of violence and high rates of incarceration has led to two online surveys: One for young adults to share their perspectives of violence in their childhood, and a survey for caregivers and adults who are making decisions and affecting the lives of Native youth. It is hoped the data from these anonymous surveys will help improve the understanding of childhood victimization and its impact on juvenile delinquency to help reduce those experiences in tribal communities.
The survey project, "A Hand to Hold Onto" was launched in June during the National Congress of American Indian's Mid-Year Conference in Rapid City, S.D. The two online surveys are now available for participants.
Kristy Alberty, executive communications manager for the National Indian Child Welfare Association, said the project has had input from youth and young adults every step of the way during the past two years. "We field tested the questions on youth involved with the National Congress of American's Youth Commission and they have helped steer the project. Even the name of the project was chosen by young adults."
The project is a partnership between NICWA, the Institute for Social and Policy Research at Purdue University Calumet andPrevent Child Abuse America. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention is funding the survey.
Alberty said the information collected from the surveys will help find solutions, inform tribal leaders, communities and policy makers, and create programs and services to help meet the needs of today's youth.
The findings from the survey will be made public in October and will be presented in November at the national convention of the National Congress of American Indians. Survey results will also be presented in April 2011 during NICWA's annual conference in Anchorage, Alaska and at other national conferences.
The survey for young adults ages 18 - 25 asks participants about victimization and its consequences, and also asks about protective factors they experienced before the age of 18. The survey Web site - www.ahandtohold
onto.org - has background information and a phone number to call for counseling, in case the survey brings up memories that are stressful or difficult.
The second survey for adults ages 26 and up asks about the perceived scope of victimization and juvenile delinquency in their communities and what kind of services are offered and how effective they believe those services are. Dozens of tribal leaders have taken this survey, as well as more than 100 child welfare staff workers, and the project is encouraging parents/caregivers and elders to participate before the survey ends.
To participate in the surveys you must be over the age of 18, be of American Indian or Alaska Native descent, or an indigenous Canadian living in the U.S. The survey is anonymous and confidential and cannot be traced back to an e-mail address or name. A $10 Amazon.com gift card is provided to each survey participant, limited to one per person and quantities are limited.
Patricia Carter, Nez Perce, NCAI youth ambassador and NICWA board member, is a contributor to the project and presented a briefing paper to the NCAI youth leadership at the national convention last October. "We are rarely asked about ourselves and how we view life as tribal youth, so it was really great being offered the chance to do that through the survey. It was also nice to have a say in how the project was organized and developed and I am looking forward to seeing what the outcome of the survey will be."
Alberty said working with youth on the project was a great experience. "The time the youth have put into this project has been very valuable and critical to the program's success. The opportunity to listen to young Native adults across the country using an anonymous online survey is unprecedented."
According to the Department of Justice, the rate of victimization of American Indian/Alaska Native persons is double that of all races; 74 percent of youth in custody of theFederal Bureau of Prisons are AI/AN and in several states AI/AN youth make up 29 to 42 percent of all youth in secure confinement. The suicide rate for American Indian youth is almost twice the rate for white juveniles and is the highest of any race.
Cultural pride and identification, in addition to adherence to Native spiritual beliefs, is associated with higher self-esteem, lower rates of drug and alcohol use, increased success at school, reduced rates of suicide and improved relationships with peers.
The older adult survey can be found atwww.nativeadvocatesurvey.org, use the password "4ourfamilies." The password for the young adult survey is "4ourfuture." For more information, contact Kristy Alberty at (503) 222-4044 or e-mail kristy@nicwa.org.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/A-Hand-to-Hold-Onto-seeks-nationwide-input-101166529.html
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Pentagon Pulls $1B from WMD-Defense Efforts to Fund Vaccine Initiative
By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Defense Department has shifted more than $1 billion out of its nuclear, biological and chemical defense programs to underwrite a new White House priority on vaccine development and production to combat disease pandemics, according to government and industry officials (see GSN, Aug. 20)... Full Story http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20100827_5297.php
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When it comes to gray wolves, the federal Wildlife Services agency typically has one thing on its mind: killing them.
Now it’s teaming up with the State of Idaho in a plan for gray wolf management that would slaughter hundreds of wolves. In some cases, entire packs will be killed -- and newborn pups could be gassed in their dens.
Please send a message to Wildlife Servicesexpressing your outrage and strong opposition to its proposed wolf-killing plan.
You may recall that earlier this month, a federal judge ruled in our favor and restored endangered species protection for wolves in Idaho and Montana, saying that they should not have been removed from the endangered species list in the first place.
Now, Wildlife Services is proposing to slash the wolf population in Idaho by about 40 percent!
What’s worse, they are justifying this deadly plan by saying it’s necessary for the protection of livestock, elk and deer. But the reality is that wolf conflicts with livestock make up a miniscule percentage of livestock losses, and 23 of Idaho’s 29 elk population zones are above or within management objectives.
Tell Wildlife Services to go back to the drawing board and prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement for their plan to manage wolves in Idaho, especially now that wolves are back on the endangered species list.
Please take action today -- the deadline for comments is August 31.
http://www.nrdconline.org/site/R?i=MjPQENu-HQNRPc5aBW_QeA..
Let’s make sure this massacre of wolves is not allowed to proceed.
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"Success is measured by happiness not wealth"
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