Friday, December 24, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Issues & News From STSSA Friends & Family 12/20/2010
United States Endorses International Declaration On Indigenous RightsACLU Says Support For Declaration Is Essential To Upholding U.S. Obligations Under International LawNEW YORK - December 17 - In an important step toward upholding and promoting the United States' commitment to international human rights at home, President Obama announced Thursday that the U.S. will lend its support to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The decision is a reversal of the position taken by the Bush administration in 2007, when the U.S. voted against UNDRIP even as 145 nations supported it. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Human Rights at Home Campaign (HuRAH Campaign) have long called for unqualified endorsement of UNDRIP, which articulates the rights set forth for indigenous peoples in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The following can be attributed to Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program and steering committee member of the HuRAH Campaign: "We commend the Obama administration for endorsing this important declaration and rectifying the Bush administration's rejection of an essential human rights document. Unqualified endorsement of this declaration is essential to protecting the rights of all indigenous peoples, especially Indian and Alaska Native nations in the United States. The administration should work in close partnership with indigenous peoples and tribal governments to address the serious human rights challenges that continue to face indigenous communities in this country." The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: "Guaranteeing basic human rights for our indigenous population should be considered a priority and we are happy to see that the Obama administration agrees. We will continue to work with Congress and the administration to ensure that it remains so. We are hopeful this endorsement will lead to a renewed effort to bolster human rights protections both here in the U.S. and abroad." The following can be attributed to Professor Lisa Crooms, chair of the HuRAH Campaign: "The Obama administration's endorsement of the Declaration is a welcome first step towards matching U.S. rhetoric on human rights with concrete actions. Effective promotion and implementation of the declaration will require the administration to work in full partnership with indigenous peoples and civil society to build a human rights infrastructure here at home." The ACLU and the HuRAH Campaign also urged the Obama administration to issue an executive order to reconstitute the Inter-Agency Working Group on Human Rights, which is essential to promoting and implementing UNDRIP and other declarations and ratified treaties across the government. The U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is available online at: www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/ The HuRaH statement in support of the UNDRIP is available here: www.hurahcampaign.org/wp- ### The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/ Firefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog) Tawo Seed Carrier POB 1456 South Pasadena, CA 91031 @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ |
Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
December 16, 2010
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
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* BFC on TV! BFC's Mike Mease on Headline News Dec. 23, 7pm EST
* Update from the Field
* Wild Bison 2011 Calendars Invoke Joy, Inspiration, Hope
* Last Words
* By the Numbers
* Helpful Links
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* BFC on TV! BFC's Mike Mease Appears on CNN Headline News Dec. 23, 7pm EST
TUNE IN YOUR TV to HEADLINE NEWS on Thursday, December 23 at 7pm EST. Buffalo Field Campaign's co-founder Mike Mease will appear on "ISSUES With Jane Velez-Mitchell" to talk about America's last wild buffalo and BFC's work to protect them. "ISSUES with Jane Valez-Mitchell" is an hour-long program covering many important topics and BFC could appear at any time during the show, so please stay tuned for the duration! Tune in to HEADLINE NEWS on December 23 at 7pm ESTand click here to connect with the show. Have a Headline News party/gathering, or if you're planning to be at a public place with a TV, encourage the proprietor to tune in to Headline News at 7pm EST on Thursday, December 23.
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* Update from the Field
Rifle shots crack the crisp cold winter air. The sharp sounds echo the mournful deaths of twelve more wild buffalo. Twenty-two wild buffalo have now been killed in the hunt.
Every day volunteers venture out into the frozen fields and mountains from sunup to sundown, monitoring the buffalo's migration, keeping watchful eyes on those in danger. BFC is currently running full-time camps in both West Yellowstone and Gardiner, we have two ongoing lawsuits to protect the bison, and we are working with members of Congress to end the senseless harassment and slaughter of America's only continuously wild bison population. These efforts are very costly, and we can not succeed without your help. Please donate today and keep us strong in the field and on all levels of the policy front.
It is hard to bear witness to the hunt, more difficult to gather the necessary courage and rise above our pain as we convey the trouble the buffalo are in and attempt to build alliances with those who are hunting them. It is a bittersweet and heart-heavy journey, to at once celebrate the migration of this ancient animal we are so awestruck by and blessed to live with, yet fearful for them in their coming, knowing that a few short steps in a certain direction over imaginary lines will probably lead to their eminent harassment or demise.
In the Gardiner Basin, along Yellowstone's northern boundary, wild buffalo have again been forced off of their winter range by Yellowstone National Park and the Montana Department of Livestock. Wild buffalo are not "park" animals belonging to or in Yellowstone, they belong to themselves and to the land that they roam.
Foolishly, millions of our tax dollars are wasted every year in efforts to appease livestock interests and prevent wild buffalo from accessing available habitat and restoring themselves to their native homelands. Buffalo are an integral part of the landscape; their restoration is needed to heal the land. The habitat is there, the buffalo only need to be able to access it. Your voice can help clear the way: please contact your Members of Congress and also President Obama on behalf of America's last wild buffalo.
Roam Free!
~Stephany
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* Wild Bison 2011 Calendars Invoke Joy, Inspiration, Hope
Dear Friends,
One of the things the bison have taught me is the importance of tears....... over 25 years I had suppressed my tears till it reached the breaking point and burst forth near the end of one of our long, hard winters. I'll guess that many of you have experienced this huge relief, as the water literally burst from my eyes, smacking the ground at my feet.
I returned home today from a long work week and a long sleepless night on the train. As I sat down with a grilled cheese sandwich, I picked up and read front to back theWild Bison Calendar for the first time. When I hit the month of June, I read the words first, and as I looked up to the photo, broke into spontaneous and uncontrollable tears. Only this time, they were tears of JOY. I am so grateful to know this feeling now, too.
You truly do incredible work, I am blessed and honored to have you and many others who have helped along the way in my heart.
~Anonymous BFC family member
Order Wild Bison 2011 calendars for yourself, friends and family!
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* Last Words
"You know, we had a pact with the buffalo. Our legends talk about the buffalo helping us to come out of the Earth, which was under the ground, and it was a safe place for us. We were very afraid of the surface world. And the buffalo was already there. When the buffalo observed us coming and going, you know, going back at night, coming up for a short time, the buffalo said: 'I will give you food, I will give you clothing so you can be warm, I will give you my flesh to eat and to survive, and when I am in need, then you must help me, too.'"
~ Rosalie Little Thunder, Sicangu Lakota elder, BFC co-founder.
Taken from an interview appearing in Buffalo Nation, a documenting produced by Martha Hawley, appearing on Radio Netherlands Worldwide. Many thanks to Martha Hawley sharing this.
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!
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* By the Numbers
AMERICAN BUFFALO ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2010-2011 Total: 22
2010-2011 Government Slaughter: 0
2010-2011 State & Treaty Hunts: 22
2010-2011 Quarantine: 0
2010-2011 Shot by Agents: 0
2010-2011 Highway Mortality: 0
2009-2010 Total: 7
2008-2009 Total: 22
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,731*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortality
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!
Tell-a-Friend!
Take Action!
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Prince George RCMP are asking for assistance to find a missing woman who was last seen climbing into a pickup truck driven by an older man.
Cheri-Leah Bullshields, 29, was reported missing last night, but hasn't been seen since Thursday night. The Aboriginal woman was spotted getting into a light-coloured Chevy four-door pickup truck.
The man driving the vehicle is described as white, in his mid-50s with gray hair. He is believed to be 6-0 tall, 180 pounds, clean cut and in good shape.
Bullshields is approximately 5-9 tall, 135 pounds with long dark hair. She has scars on her wrists and a tattoo of a Chinese symbol on her lower back.
She is originally from Edmonton, Alta., but has resided in Prince George for the last year.
Eighteen women have either been murdered or disappeared in recent years along Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert in northern B.C., a route that has been dubbed the Highway of Tears.
In October, the remains of a missing Prince George woman, Cynthia Maas, were discovered in a local park. Police haven't revealed how she died but say she was murdered.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Prince George RCMP at (250)561-3300 or anonymously call Crime Stoppers at 1(800)222-TIPS (8477).
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Two states sue Bank of America for mortgage servicing
Harper offers to meet with native leaders
OTTAWA—Prime Minister Stephen Harper has offered to sit down with Canada’s native leaders to discuss problems plaguing aboriginal communities across the country.
Harper’s Dec. 8 letter was made public at the end of a three-day Assembly of First Nations conference in Gatineau, Que., which put the spotlight on several issues, including the need for education, health care, housing and potable water.
In the letter to Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly, Harper said he would be open to participating in a proposed Crown-First Nation gathering.
“Regarding First Nation education, we agree that this matter is an important priority for advancement,” the Prime Minister said.
The meeting would be first of its kind for Harper since coming to office in January 2006 and a milestone in the relationship between Canada’s natives and the Conservative government.
“I am pleased that the Prime Minister has responded to our call to work in respectful partnership to craft concrete plans for progress on our priorities,” Atleo told his fellow leaders as the special chiefs’ assembly wrapped up Thursday.
“The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is now a reality, and First Nations are taking action to transform our communities, governments and our relationship with Canada,” he said.
Atleo concluded that Canada’s aboriginal communities are “no longer looking in the rearview mirror at the Indian Act but focusing our gaze forward on our vision of a brighter future founded on the principles of our treaties, our rights and the UN Declaration.”
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Bradley Manning within Rights on Wikileaks Sherwood Ross: The American people have been led into wars based on lies, fictions, and secrets and should be grateful to Assange and Manning for revealing the truth of this misconduct.  Read More |
As DREAM Act Fails, Lindsey Graham Tells Undocumented Youth They Wasted Their Time Andrea Nill: Immediately before the vote failed, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) took the Senate floor to tell the young DREAMers who have come to his office that they were “wasting their time” because the border hasn’t been secured. Read More |
Busted by BP in Azerbaijan
by Greg Palast
Monday, December 20, 2010
BP's Azeri police arresting Palast for filming BP oil rig - Baku, Azerbaijan, December 2010
Oh, no, no, not good.
The enforcers here come in three colors: the military police still wearing their old Russian puke-green uniforms, the MSN (the dictator's secret police) in windbreakers without ID, and BP's own corporate police force in black tunics, sashes and full hats who look like toy soldiers from the Nutcracker ballet. They weren't dancing.
I showed all three flavors of police our press credentials in both English and Azeri, neither of which could be read by the officers. (The dictator had suddenly changed the Azeri alphabet, making most of the nation illiterate overnight.)
The dictator made everyone call him, "Baba," Grandpa.
I told the dumbest-looking one, "Look here: This paper says your so-called President is a weasel's rectum," which our 'fixer' translated as, "This letter from Foreign Ministry is authorization to make a documentary for the British Television."
We'd been surreptitiously filming BP's cancer-making machine, the giant pipeline terminal near Baku, the capital, that sends the Azeri's Caspian Sea oil eastward to light Europe's Christmas trees.
Now, it looked like I'd be spending Christmas in Baba's dungeon licking rats for breakfast. My clown-show antics bought the crew the precious minutes needed to switch the film in the camera to blanks. Our cameraman told a BP cop, with mime: "Hadn't begun filming yet, Old Bean."
We would now. I clicked on my hidden micro-cam.
"I know," I said. "Believe me, I know."
There is an awful lot of evidence that BP and Britain's MI6 had their hands in Baba's 1993 coup d'état which overthrew the nation's elected president. Within months of taking power, Baba signed "The Contract of the Century" giving BP monopoly control of Azerbaijan's Caspian reserves."
Baba headed the KGB when this Islamic land was an occupied "republic" of the Soviet Union, the good old days of relative peace, freedom and prosperity.
I was here in the desert to investigate a tip-off I'd had that BP had a near-disaster at its Caspian offshore rig that was extraordinarily similar to the Deepwater Horizon blow-out. But BP covered it up.
What I didn't know was that WikiLeaks was about to release a State Department memo which referred to a small piece of this BP game. Rather than go to Azerbaijan to check the facts, the Wiki newspapers called BP in London for comment.
That put BP on high alert and my sources in high danger.
How the crew and I (and the poor shepherd on a little horse swept up with us) were released is a complex story involving an impromptu banquet with the Secret Police and the poignant recanting of a statement about BP made to us by an environmental activist.
I understood his need to back down. The night before, we dined with a young video blogger who'd just gotten out of prison after the current president (now Baba's son, Baby Baba), saw the blogger hold a press conference in a donkey suit. The President had no doubt that he was the ass. He was. He is.
Welcome to the Islamic Republic of BP, otherwise known as Azerbaijan. And good-bye.
I'm out of there. Out with the evidence we need about BP and how it lead to the Gulf of Mexico blow-out and an extension of the occupation of Iraq.
It's a hell of a story, and my holiday gift to myself is that I'm here and ready to tell it.
My best wishes to you and your family
Strong Heart Warrior Society:
We are releasing this announcement after disturbing events transpired last night at Canupa Gluha Mani’s (Duane Martin Sr) home within the Sharp’s community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Duane’s house was raided by 9 tribal police officers who declared that someone had reported that Duane was having a “House Party.” Anyone who knows Duane Martin Sr. fully well knows that he is 22 years sober, and he was one of the main activists to attempt to have Whiteclay, Nebraska, shut down (where they sell thousands of cans of alcohol per day). The tribal police are very well aware of these facts because they arrested him three years ago for trying to block the flow of alcohol from Whiteclay. Tell people what you found when you went in his house, police - NOTHING!
The police claimed that someone tipped them off, which could only be from one of the several bootleggers and drug dealers on his street. The fact that these bootleggers are still allowed to sell alcohol and drugs there is the tribal police and government’s fault-- not Duane Martin Sr’s. The fact that tribal police would invade his home is absolutely unacceptable and preposterous. While Cora and I were with Duane for over two months this past summer, we personally watched people, drunk in the street, stagger in and out of houses and yell in the road. Where are the police when they are needed? Why do they attempt to intimidate Duane along with the bootleggers of this community? This is unacceptable and requires direct action on all of our parts.
Duane is calling for all Lakota people, Natives, and activist from everywhere to back him this coming Friday at Sharp’s Corner. Enough is enough, and if the tribal police will not do their job for the people and community, The Strong Heart Warrior Society will. Duane will hold a press conference at 10:00 AM, and then there will be a march through the community at 1:00 PM. Please help join in the fight to take back sovereign Lakota freedom and protection of their people! Duane Martin Sr. is a leader for the rights of the Lakota, and he needs participation this coming weekend. We will not sit ideally by while Lakota people die and the tribal government, police, and BIA do nothing but antagonize the people who fight for the protection of their people. Please post and spread the word.
Please contact:
Duane Martin Sr
The Strong Heart Warrior Society
(605) 517-1547 or (605) 454-5552
Other questions may be sent to me:
Rob Dunaway
The Strong Heart Preservation Movement
League of Indian Nations of North America
(256) 435-9096
(256) 283-7735
"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Study Confirms Fox News Makes You Stupid
Study Confirms Fox News Makes You Stupid
Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation. So the more you watch Fox News, the less you know. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid[Thanks to AlterNet for reprinting this article]  Yet another study has been released that proves that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation. So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false. This study corroborates a previous PIPA study that focused on the Iraq war with similar results. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing but a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day. In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:
The conclusion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming their viewers and they are doing it for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. They benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News. By the way, the rest of the media was not blameless. CNN and the broadcast network news operations fared only slightly better in many cases. Even MSNBC, which had the best record of accurately informing viewers, has a ways to go before they can brag about it. The conclusions in this study need to be disseminated as broadly as possible. Fox’s competitors need to report these results and produce ad campaigns featuring them. Newspapers and magazines need to publish the study across the country. This is big news and it is critical that the nation be advised that a major news enterprise is poisoning their minds. This is not an isolated review of Fox’s performance. It has been corroborated time and time again. The fact that Fox News is so blatantly dishonest, and the effects of that dishonesty have become ingrained in an electorate that has been been purposefully deceived, needs to be made known to every American. Our democracy cannot function if voters are making choices based on lies. We have the evidence that Fox is tilting the scales and we must now make certain that they do not get away with it. [Addendum:] The folks at OurFuture had previously addressed some of the issues above and provided documentation that effectively debunks the myths.
Similar ArticlesFirefly (Lilia Adecer Cajilog) Tawo Seed Carrier POB 1456 South Pasadena, CA 91031 |
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"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
Fox News VP Bill Sammon ordered reporters to bend the truth for conservatives gain
Fox News VP Bill Sammon ordered reporters to bend the truth for conservatives gain
Damning new evidence proves what we've known all along — that Fox News is willing to lie and distort the truth to the political advantage of the far-right.
Yesterday, a memo leaked from Fox News's managing editor, Bill Sammon, instructing Fox journalists never to report on global warming without IMMEDIATELY questioning the prevailing scientific consensus.1 It's exactly that kind of false controversy that has shifted public opinion and helped delay real action on global warming from the U.S.
Bill Sammon is exactly what's wrong with Fox. If the network wants to be treated as a real news outlet, they need to fire Sammon immediately. But it can't stop there — Fox should also submit to an external review of their climate coverage and agree to correct the record based on the findings.
The memo establishing Fox's climate reporting policy was written on December 8, 2009, shortly after Fox White House correspondent Wendell Goler reported that 2000-2009 would be the warmest decade on record, and that the scientific community remained united behind their belief in human-induced climate change.
Just 15 minutes later, Managing Editor Bill Sammon made clear that that kind of truth-based reporting had no place at Fox News, telling reporters to "...refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question..."2
While it's long been clear that Fox News is the anchor of the conservative message machine, this latest revelation takes Fox to new lows. Fox isn't just lining up on one side of a partisan debate, they are taking a stand against the planet. And Sammon's memo shows that climate change denial isn't just the bias of particular reporters, it's company policy.
And this is by no means an isolated incident. Weeks earlier, Sammon sent another memo to Fox News' reporters ordering them to refer to the public health insurance option as the "government option" — a phrase suggested by noted GOP strategist Frank Luntz because it would create opposition to the plan.3
According to watchdog group Media Matters, "Sammon instructed staff to refer on air to 'government-run health insurance,' the 'government option,' 'the public option, which is the government-run plan,' or — when 'necessary' — 'the so-called public option."'4
Its another outrageous demonstration of Fox News Channel's war on truth, led by a key lieutenant — Bill Sammon. More important, it's an opportunity to hold Fox accountable and expose them for what they are.
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"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
U.S. Will Sign Declaration Recognizing Indigenous Rights (Petition)
U.S. Will Sign Declaration Recognizing Indigenous Rights
In a step forward for relations between Native Americans and the federal government, President Obama today announced that the U.S. will sign the U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Rights. The President made the announcement at a conference of Tribal Nations held today in Washington.
The accompanying State Department statement affirmed: "US support for the declaration goes hand in hand with the US commitment to address the consequences of a history in which, as President Obama recognized, 'few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans -- our first Americans.'"
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Original Post:
The United States is the only country that has not signed the U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Rights; there are signs this could change. The Declaration rejects discrimination against indigenous people, estimated at numbering 370 million in some 70 countries. The Declaration "emphasizes the rights of indigenous peoples to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions and to pursue their development in keeping with their own needs and aspirations." Hardly controversial, it is also non-legally binding.
The Declaration was signed by 145 countries in 2007, with only four countries voting against: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S., mostly objecting around land claims and to ambiguities in the declaration. Since then, all but the U.S. have come round, with Canada signing just last month. The Obama administration announced in April that it is reviewing its position on the Declaration.
Indigenous people around the world suffer disproportionately high rates of illness, poverty, crime, and other human rights abuses, according to the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs. In the U.S., a Native American is "600 times more likely to contract tuberculosis and 62 per cent more likely to commit suicide than the general population."
This week marks the second White House Tribal Nations summit since Obama's took office, as representatives from the 565 federally-recognized tribes meet with the President and administration officials on December 16. While some Native American leaders are unhappy at the slow pace of change, others hail the President's actions on Native American rights and legal issues, including the recent settlement of a land trust class action suit with a $3.4 billion compensation fund. Last October the federal government settled a $760 million case with Indian farmers.
The Obama administration has made strides in Native American rights; signing the Declaration would be one more example of their good faith.
Take action
Sign the petition at this link to send a clear message supporting rights of indigenous people to President Obama:
http://www.thepetitionsite.
Posted By: TjMaxx Henhawk
To: Members in First Nations & Aboriginal Rights
Call to Action
Support the cause. Be counted: |
Thursday, December 16, 2010
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"When crazy people call you crazy, you know you're sane.
U.S. Endorses the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples!
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