Longest Walk II, Alcatraz to DC in 2008

LONGEST WALK II, 30 Year Commemorative
http://www.longestwalk.com/

Frequently Asked Questions:
What is the Longest Walk?

The Longest Walk II – 30 Year Commemorative will depart from Alcatraz Island February 11, 2008 arriving in Washington, D.C. on July 11, 2008. The Longest Walk Commemorative will travel 5 months through 11 states including California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Why are you walking?
We take up this task to walk in a manner befitting our nations. We shall walk for the Seventh Generation, for peace, for justice, for healing of Mother Earth, for the healing of our people suffering from diabetes, heart conditions, alcoholism, drug addiction, and other diseases. We walk with the message: All Life is Sacred, Save Mother Earth.
Who can walk?
The Longest Walk is open to adults of all nations and cultures. We request (not require) that you fill out a Walker Registration and Waiver Form (available soon on longestwalk.org) to help us track how many participants will be joining us. Please email the completed form to longestwalk@comcast.net.
Code of Conduct:
-- Respect for fellow walkers’ body, mind, soul and personal belongings
-- Be alcohol and drug free – a NO tolerance policy is in effect
-- No sexual harassment – a NO tolerance policy is in effect
-- No weapons of any kind (knives, guns, mace, pepper spray, etc.)
Do I have an entrance fee to pay to join?
No. There is no fee to join The Longest Walk. However, at this time, Longest Walkers will be responsible for their own daily food and travel expenses. How this will work is: We will ask for a small daily contribution to help pay for food expenses and support vehicles (gas, maintenance, etc.).
We are actively seeking financial assistance from nonprofit foundations, but we are a grassroots organization and STRONGLY encourage all who plan to join us for the duration of the Longest Walk to have a personal stash of funds.
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net LONGEST WALK II 30 Year Commemorative www.longestwalk.com
Who do I contact if I want to participate?
There will be a Longest Walk hotline soon; keep checking www.longestwalk.org. The Longest Walk Registration Form will be online by July 11, 2007. Please fill it out and email it to longestwalk@comcast.net. If you have questions regarding the Longest Walk, please email longestwalk@comcast.net.
How do I get to Alcatraz Island to join The Longest Walk?
You are responsible for your own transportation to Alcatraz Island.
How will I get home from Washington, D.C.?
You are responsible for your own transportation from Washington, D.C.
We strongly recommend making travel arrangements to and from both locations if you plan on walking the duration of The Longest Walk. Unless you plan on bringing your own vehicle.
What if I want to bring my own vehicle?
We ask that you bring at least another driver with you, so there will always be someone available to drive the vehicle. The Longest Walk will help to cover gas expenses as much as possible if the vehicle is being used in a support capacity i.e. transporting Longest Walk goods (food, supplies, etc.).
What if I get hurt while on The Longest Walk?
Each individual is responsible for their own medical expenses. We will have a small crew of medical and nursing volunteers to treat minor injuries (cuts, sprains, etc.). You are STRONGLY encouraged to have health insurance and carry an insurance ID card with you in case of emergency. The Longest Walk will not be responsible for any medical expenses that arise from your participation.
How can I get involved?
There are several ways to help a grassroots organization! For starters, you can help starting from just spreading the word about The Longest Walk in your local community.
1. If you’re a Myspace (er) then add Longest Walk to your Top Friends. www.myspace.com/longestwalk
2. Email the Longest Walk flier and FAQs to your entire address book.
3. Print the flier and post in your community to get others involved!
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net LONGEST WALK II 30 Year Commemorative www.longestwalk.com
4. The Longest Walk needs support vehicles - and gas cards!
1. Medical vehicle
2. Food vehicle
3. Luggage vehicle
How do I become a committee member if my state is along the route?
Each state along the route will have a state coordinator and a planning committee. If you live in a LWII state, then please contact the coordinator in your state to see how you can contribute in your state. Email: longestwalk@comcast.net to find out who is your state coordinator.
Longest Walk BENEFIT CONCERT:
November 3, 2007, 7:00 pm –
The Fillmore in San Francisco with Dennis Banks & Floyd Red Crow Westerman
Featuring Kris Kristofferson, Taj Mahal, Kitaro, Peter Coyote, Wes Studie performing with his band, Adam Beach, Pete Sears, San Francisco Taiko Dojo & Special Guests. For more information, visit: www.redhotpromotions.com
www.myspace.com/longestwalk longestwalk@comcast.net

Michael Moore, making 'em squirm with Sicko

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- Michael Moore's "Sicko" riveted moviegoers here, who applauded Moore's exposure of the broken health care system in the U.S. and the advantages of free health care in Canada, England, France and Cuba.
There were cheers for Moore for revealing how insurance denials for health care result in death. But in Sicko, the most provocative indictment of the U.S. health care system comes as Moore demonstrates, step by step, how alleged terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are receiving better health care than the EMTs and those recovering human remains at the Towers in New York, after Sept. 11, 2001.
An entire second film could be made about the sinister lobbying of Congress and funding of presidential candidates by the pharmaceutical companies. The profiteering pushes up your cost for medicine and places you in danger because of favoritism.
In Tucson, nurses and health care providers came out by the dozens at El Con Theater, wearing orange tee-shirts. They urged people to see the film and change the health care system in America.
The film is funny, too.
As for Michael Moore, congratulations. One person can change the world. One thing has already changed for many moviegoers: the myths and misconceptions about our neighbors to the north and south, and fellow human beings in France.
As for those who didn't know already, the movie makes it clear: the uninsured and the sick in America have been had.
On a personal note, my mind raced back to the news story I wrote just before I was fired in 2006. After being told to write about bird flu, my research led me to the fact that Donald Rumsfeld was profiteering, making millions, off the the sale of the medicine Tamiflu as U.S. states were being told to stockpile Tamiflu.
The article printed, with my name on it, in Indian Country Today is not the one I wrote. It was censored and rewritten by the editors. The references to Rumsfeld's profiteering were deleted, as was some of the information about drug manufacturers attempting to profiteer from the sale of ribavirin on the Navajo Nation, after Navajo deaths from hantavirus in the mid-1990s.
When I complained about this, I was fired. The uncensored article is at:
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/
One can only wonder, what's next for Michael Moore.


Counter Spin

'by Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

As everyone who watched "Wag the Dog," knows, there's a quick spin to counter anything that exposes the truth in America.
After Sicko's premiere nationwide in theaters last night, here's the Counter Spin, carried by scores of newspapers. The AP writers who were quick to come to the defense of the sick U.S. health care system:

Sicko' Film Gives Accused Little Say
By KEVIN FREKING and LINDA A. JOHNSON

The Associated Press

Saturday, June 30, 2007; 1:03 PM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/30/AR2007063000293.htm

Google wants to protect you from Michael Moore:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=5549

UPDATE: Google apologizes
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_6310943

MTV's Counter Spin:
http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1563758/story.jhtml

Here's all the breaking news reviews, good and bad:
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1117466940&scoring=n

Here' more from nurses about Sicko:
OAKLAND, Calif., June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Registered nurses, doctors, and healthcare and community activists -- part of a broad, national coalition -- will be out in force in America's theaters this weekend as Michael Moore's "SiCKO," a riveting indictment of the healthcare industry, opens across the nation. More than 20,000 RNs have already volunteered to participate, part of an effort to also get one million nurses to see the film.
From coast to coast, the caregivers and community leaders will be inviting moviegoers to see the film and then fix our healthcare system by urging our legislators and political candidates to support reforms that guarantee universal healthcare for all -- while getting the insurance companies who systematically deny needed medical care out of the way.
Among the scores of cities where filmgoers can expect to see the volunteers are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Albany (NY), Atlanta, Austin, Bethesda (MD), Boise, Boston, Cherry Hill (NJ), Cleveland, Clifton (NJ), Dallas, Denver, Fresno, Houston, Huntington (NY), Indianapolis, Long Beach, Louisville, Madison (WI), Memphis, Montpelier (VT), Nashville, New Brunswick (NJ), New Orleans, Oakland, Orange (CA), Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland (ME), Sacramento, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, South Orange (NJ), Stockton (CA), and Tucson, Raleigh, and Cary (NC), (partial list).
Many of those on hand will be RNs in red "Scrubs for SiCKO" who will be enlisting the audiences to move "from SiCKO to sanity" and help pass HR 676 in Congress, which would establish a publicly-administered single-payer healthcare system in the form of improved Medicare for all. Several states have similar bills, such as SB 840 in California.
Among the many participating organizations are the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, Health Professionals and Allied Employees (AFT), United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island), Communications Workers of America, the New England Nurses Association, and others. California Nurses Association
CONTACT: Shum Preston, +1-510-273-2276, or Charles Idelson,+1-510-273-2246, both of CNA and NNOC

Canada: Protests and blockades

Canada: National Day of Action, see breaking news on protests at Google:

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=Mohawks&ie=UTF-8&scoring=n

JUNE 29 DAY OF PROTEST

Mohawk Nation News

9:00 am. Discussions with Shawn Brant to open up Number 2 to Marysville. Little Mouselini Fantino said he has a present for Shawn Brant that he wants to give him within the hour. The OPP closed the TransCanada Highway 401. The CN CP rail were closed by the rail companies. They put up the blockades. Are they turning Indian? At any rate, now we know how to close down the colonial operation. We just have to say we’re g0ing to do it and they do it themselves. Shawn Brant said, “We have been pre-empted by CN”.

Maybe the situation isn’t so funny after all.

A Kanehsatake Mohawk saw an armed Canadian Naval Frigate docked in Montreal port as of Wednesday, June 28th. What a coincidence!
Or what? Good thing they didn’t see him. They might have shot him like Champlain shot the first Mohawks he saw.

Highway 30 that surrounds Montreal on the south shore was blocked this morning by Mohawks of Kahnawake at 6:30 am. for about half an hour. Now one lane is open. It goes from St. Constant to Chateauguay . The government sanctioned squatters are squirming because they have vivid and distressing memories about their inconvenience caused by the blockade of the Mercier Bridge during the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990. They all smiled at us and were so grateful and relieved when they got waved through.

At 12:00 noon today there will be a march from Kahnawake, over the Mercier Bridge to the Seaway span, flags will be hoisted and then the marchers will return to the south end of the bridge.

MCK band council of Kahnwake is holding a press conference at the Services Complex. They have to make sure they’re in on the action. it’s funny how the people have the initiative and the colonial politicians take the credit, as ever.

Report from Ottawa : Some toilets have been blocked and plumbers are working overtime at Parliament Hill. Is this a sign that someone’s constipation has ended and they finally had a bowel movement? We will all flush at 3:00 pm. in their honor to encourage Canadian politicians to get rid of their shit.

As far as we can see, they don’t appear anywhere in sight. There is a run on Diapers, Port-a-potties, Rolaids and Pepto-Bismol on Parliament Hill. What could they possibly be worried about?

The BBC in London called to get the lowdown on what’s happening in the colonies.

MNN has received calls from journalists at various times in the past. We provided leads for their stories on the Mohawks and Indigenous issues. Sometimes they publish. Sometimes they don’t. We have been advised of an occasion when a Canadian journalist was fired under circumstances that make it appear that his investigation into this kind of information was at issue. Do you still believe in freedom of the press among the colonial cultures on Turtle Island .

At the International bridge in Akwesasne [which is located in colonial Ontario , Quebec and New York State ] there were many Mohawks with tires which the OPP came by and took away. We just hope they aren’t going to come back and take the tires off our cars.

A letter from a supporter to Ottawa : “It is an absolute crime the way your government treats the Aboriginal people. This is to let you know that your white Nazi approach to solving problems is despicable! The world is being made aware of your neglect of the aboriginal people”.

MNN Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/
http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=kahentinetha2@yahoo.com
Katenies20@yahoo.com

Arizona border: In the shadow of the spy tower

By Brenda Norrell

My friends and I drove out to one of the new spy towers that isn't working along the U.S./Mexico border.
All along the border, people are outraged that their right to privacy has been violated, as new spy towers are up, with cameras ready to capture their every move.
Border residents are scrambling to look for a draft environmental impact statement, if one exists, and information on how the microwaves will damage their health. They want to know how the radar will harm bats and other creatures that pollinate the delicate ecosystem of the desert.
The Secure Border Initiative, Project 28, is turning into one of the U.S. government's grandest fiasco's. And there's lots of competition there.
Suddenly, without Arizona land owners having an opportunity to comment, these spy cameras are ready to view everyone in the privacy of their backyards and backseats.
The U.S. contractor, Boeing, was able to keep one fact a secret along the border. The firm that is working with Boeing on this spy fence, Israeli-owned Elbit Systems, is the same one building the Apartheid Fence in occupied Palestine.
In a separate case, the ACLU has filed a lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen for torture flights to secret prisons.
At the same time on the Arizona border, the ancestors of Tohono O'odham were dug up and removed from tribal land for the border vehicle barrier on tribal land. Ofelia Rivas, O'odham Voice Against the Wall, says it was a violation of federal law and O'odham want their ancestors returned and reburied.
Needless, to say, everyone is looking for attorneys to file lawsuits.
Back at the spy tower, my friends and I had a little picnic of chocolates and grapes, in the shadow of the defunct spy tower, just as the final light of day disappeared in the desert mountains.
I should mention, that these friends are probably the only two people in the world that would do such a thing, calmly. We sat, as dark fell, having a picnic beneath a non-functioning border spy tower -- a tower that violates everything Americans have celebrated: human rights, respect, rights to privacy and the rights in the Constitution.
In the shadow of the spy tower, with its red light blinking in the desert night, the only thing we observed was a very nervous young guard sitting in his white truck at the spy tower.
Across the vast rolling hills, thunder clouds threatened.
We'll keep you posted.
--Brenda Norrell
Here's one document on the Secure Border Initiative that few people can find. We're still searching for that draft environmental impact statement, if one exists:
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS80699
Here's another US document:
http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS80669

Waiting for the rains

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- This is the worst time of year, the heat is insufferable. After 15 minutes of walking in this 107 degrees baking-oven, I run into an ice-cold cafe for an ice-cold green tea.
What makes it worse this year, is most people can't afford to run their air conditioners at home, or own a car with air conditioning.
This is the hardest time of year here, when there is no relief from the sun, the time before the monsoon rains.
Then, I remember all those people headed north from Mexico, Guatemala and the south. Their families are hungry or a wife or child is sick and there is no medicine. They walk in this torturous heat and risk dieing in the baking desert.
Many do not make it. Their bodies are found out there, beneath mesquite trees or on the dry-baked earth. Many have died of heat exposure or dehydration. Some have been shot, others have been raped and shot.
The heat, and those images, are difficult to convey in words.
Photographer Michael Hyatt has captured images to tell this story. Hyatt's photos are of the mementos that migrants leave behind. He has just released a book of photos, Migrant Artifacts: Magic and Loss in the Sonoran Desert (Great Circle Books, $30).
At the book's opening show in Tucson Saturday night, one photo told the sad story of one life. A pair of leather sands, worn sandals like the kind that Indigenous wear in Chiapas, Oaxaca and most other places in the south, were left in the sand. They were left there, as if the person walking had simply stepped out of them during a slow and purposeful stride, stepped out of them and gone onto the next world.
More than 4,000 people have died crossing this desert along the border, each mourned by a mother, father, brother, sister, daughter or son.
Still, there are those volunteers out there each day trying to save lives. The volunteers from No More Deaths and the Samaritans look for those dieing in the desert. Humane Borders volunteers leave water in gallon jugs and small tanks for those dieing of thirst. Tohono O'odham Mike Wilson is one of those. The water, and the volunteers, are not enough to cover the vastness of the desert.
Derechos Humanos Coalition is struggling to protect migrant rights, including those shot and raped by border agents. The Indigenous Alliance Without Borders is fighting for the right for safe passage for Indigenous at the border.
The O'odham Voice Against the Wall is struggling to protect the ceremonial routes from the intrusion of the border wall and the return of their ancestors, following the recently vandalized graves by U.S. border construction.
Everyone is struggling, everyone is waiting for it to rain.
--Brenda Norrell

Photos by Michael Hyatt from his new book: "Migrant Artifacts: Magic and Loss in the Sonoran Desert"
"Our Lady of Guadalupe on the Migrant Trail," 2003.
"Anne Frank in Migrant Camp," 2004.

Authentic journalism, beyond money and even glory

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

There are a handful of heroes writing authentic journalism with courage and boldness, including Al Giordano at Narco News. Narco News exposes the fraudulent "war on drugs," while covering the Americas, including extensive coverage of the Zapatistas.

Giordano recently turned down an award from Project Censored, pointing out that the book publishing company would be making big bucks off the story. Giordano's work is a labor of love and passion. Like most authentic journalists, he works for little pay.

Other journalists, like myself, came kicking and screaming to the use of blogs to write authentic journalism. It was only after getting fired twice by a leading national Indian newspaper, where I served as a staff writer, that I realized that the only way to do it, is to do it myself. (I have no sponsors and receive no pay for this blog.)

When I saw an article I wrote today on the website of Indian Country Today -- the newspaper that fired me twice and forced me into bankruptcy -- it was troubling.

The link is to the story of a murdered Lakota woman, Lillian "Sunshine" Wright, a homeless woman on the streets of Tucson who brought out the best in people, in her life and death.

It is interesting that while I was writing that article, after Sunshine's memorial last week, I kept thinking of how the managing editor of Indian Country Today in 2005 had repeatedly demanded that I stop writing about grassroots people.

Would Indian Country Today have printed an article about Sunshine while she was alive and living on the streets? It is doubtful. I was told to write about politicians.

There's still a lot of "Sunshines" out there.

It also seems a good time, with Indian Country Today traffic headed this way, to point out some of the stories that remain censored at the newspaper. Just to name a few censored issues, there's the ongoing federal probe of some reporters' sweetheart, Congressman Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.; any issue referring to Leonard Peltier and finally, the Zapatistas' Other Campaign at the Mexican border.

In closing, here's Giordano's comments to Project Censored.

"The same indignant passions provoked in me when an unelected group of bean counters stole the votes from the Mexican people – that led me to investigate and publish that series of reports – are recurrent today when I read the heavy-handed manner in which your project seeks to sell or give my work to a commercial publisher of dubious ethics and motives without my permission."

By the way, Project Censored contacted me as well. They wanted to talk. I'm still waiting for that phone call. But like Giordano, I'm not holding my breath in hopes that anything good will come out of it.

--Brenda Norrell
Read more:
Narco News
http://www.narconews.com/
"Remembering Sunshine, murdered Lakota woman, special spirit"
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/06/remembering-sunshine-murdered-lakota.html

Boeing/Israeli spy towers aren't working at Arizona border

Israel's 'Apartheid Wall' model for Arizona/Mexico spy wall

By Brenda Norrell
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

ARIVACA, Ariz. – The Israeli's "Apartheid Wall" is the model for the new spy towers at the U.S. Mexico border, which are not working. The U.S. border hysteria is resulting in billion-dollar contracts for Bush-friendly corporations violating human rights at the border.
The new spy towers built by Boeing and the Israeli’s Elbit System are now being called “Arizona’s Apartheid Spy Fence.” The startup of the spy network was delayed in June, because of radar problems.
Boeing is already the subject of an ACLU lawsuit for the torture flights to secret prisons of its subsidiary Jeppesen Dataplan. Now, Boeing is under scrutiny for joining the Israel company Elbit to build a border spy network here. Elbit is building the Apartheid Wall in occupied Palestine.
Southern Arizona residents are wondering if the new virtual spy fence’s radar problems are related to the bat population here. Tens of thousands of bats fly out of the caves of Ruby, Arizona, near the new spy towers.
The new spy towers, composed of 98-foot surveillance towers, use infrared and radar to track human movement. The question that residents have posed is whether this radar would interfere with the bats' navigation abilities and their ability to pollinate.
The bats' pollination is essential to the saguaro, yucca and other desert plants in the fragile ecosystem of the Sonoran Desert.
Bats rely on a keen echolocation (or sonar) system to navigate and capture insects in the dark. Bats emit high-frequency sounds that are inaudible to human ears. By listening to echoes, bats can discern objects in their path, even in the night.
The big question -- with this $2 billion spy fiasco -- is whether the environmental impact statement took into consideration that this is a major bat habitat.
Further, the good folks that live around Arivaca don't want their every move spied on by the US/Israeli team. They are organizing in opposition to the spy towers, Project 28, under the Secure Border Initiative.
Meanwhile, few newspapers have reported that O’odham graves were dug up and the remains removed on May 17, in violation of federal law, for construction of the border barrier wall, on the Arizona border. Homeland Security has built two detention centers for migrants on Tohono O’odham tribal land, where many migrants die each year for lack of water.
Human rights activists point out that the border/migrant hysteria is turning into a billion dollar cash cow for Bush-friendly corporations. The migrant/border hysteria has been pumped up by U.S. television news and fueled by hate groups.
The bottom line is that the border hype is really about Bush and friends’ corporate welfare system. Halliburton didn't just get rich in Iraq. Halliburton was funded to build migrant prisons. The Frankenstein Wackenhut is also back, contracted to transport detained migrants.
Billion-dollar contracts for spy equipment and border walls are the latest deceptions to enrich Bush-friendly corporations, aided by an impotent U.S. Congress.

Related:

Apartheid Wall in Palestine becomes international model:

“The “Apartheid Wall”—as Palestinians call it—is scheduled to snake across 400 miles of the territory, encircling or cordoning off whole Palestinian communities to isolate them from expanding Israeli settlements that have moved into the region. The walls, which will come to incarcerate whole populations of Palestinians in their native lands, has become an international model.”
http://www.bordervoz.org/featuredarticle13.html/

Video of Arivaca residents reacting to spy fence:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/05/25/VI2007052501089.html?referrer=emaillink

Arivaca residents don’t like Big Brother watching:
http://www.tucsoncitizen.info/ss/breakingnews/53598.php/

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch:”Boeing's big border fence project is off to a bit of a bumpy start. The 28-mile first stage of the Secure Border Initiative, or SBInet, missed its scheduled start-up date last week, and officials at Boeing and the Department of Homeland Security can't say for sure when it will be operational. http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/0/6FCCE73AFD562DE086257302000C57D7?OpenDocument

”The DHS awarded the SBI contract for the border security project to prime contractor Boeing over Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. In addition to Boeing and Elbit, the other members of the $2 billion program are telecommunication heavy-weights Lucent, L3 Communications, Perot Systems and Unisys Global Public Sector”
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1450&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=TechnologyFrom

WW4 Report:
”How ironic. We noted in August that ex-Israeli security chief Uza Dayan was warning the US against emulating Israeli strategies in securing the Mexican border. Now it appears that Elbit Systems, an Israeli firm which is building the ‘Apartheid Wall’ in occupied Palestine, has been awarded a contract, along with Boeing, to build the wall on the Mexican border.”Elbit press release: http://www.elbitsystems.com/data/ESLT_Kollsman_Boeing_SBI_Project.pdf

O’odham remains unlawfully excavated at border:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/06/oodham-ancestors-remains-unlawfully.html/

Jeppesen sued over 70 torture flights:
http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_6023854/

APARTHEID BORDER: Israeli/Boeing-built Arizona spy fence doesn't work

UPDATE: BAT SCOOP

Call out the National Guard! Ruby bats on the prowl, might need a new billion-dollar 'bat contract' for bat mercenaries

This article is updated at:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/06/boeingisraeli-spy-towers-arent-working.html

Remembering Sunshine, murdered Lakota woman special spirit

PHOTOS: (Top) On Wednesday, June 20 at sunset, Lillian "Sunshine" Wright, Rosebud Sioux, was remembered by (L) Connie Laven of the Rosebud Sioux Nation and Sunshine's sister, Sylvia Konop, who flew here from Alaska. (Second photo) Preyin' Eagle drummers from Phoenix and Elliott Gover & Sons, Pumpkin Vine of the Pawnee Tribe, honored her with the drum and songs. (Third) Attorney Robert Lundquist tearfully remembers Sunshine. (Below) Attorney Robert Lundquist holds the sweetgrass she gave him as he calls out to her in Lakota. Photos by Brenda Norrell. (Below: Photo of Sunshine Wright by Primavera Foundation)

Remembering Sunshine, murdered Lakota woman special spirit

By Brenda Norrell

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

TUCSON -- At the end of a scorching day, with a gentle breeze at sunset, the people of Tucson came from every walk of life to a downtown park to honor a special soul that touched the lives of so many in her life and death.
Lillian Ruth Wright, known as Sunshine, was Lakota Sioux from Rosebud, South Dakota. Wright, 69, was found on the morning of June 12, lying in a pool of blood beneath the stars where she chose to sleep in downtown Tucson.
Rosebud Sioux tribal member Connie Laven and Sunshine's sister Sylvia Konop remembered Sunshine and thanked those who came to El Presidio Park to honor her.
Laven asked the crowd to imagine an Indian boarding school, with people carrying wajapi and fry bread, with beautiful star quilts and speaking words of respect. She asked those gathered to imagine Sunshine's friends shaking hands with the family and crying as they vowed never to forget her.
"We bury our dead very well," Laven said.
Attorney Robert Lundquist, who allowed Sunshine to sleep outside his law office and use the electricity and water hose, also welcomed her as a housesitter in his home during summers. Tearfully, Lundquist remembered this Lakota soul who gave him so much.
Bearing a basket of organic vegetables from his garden as an offering for those who came and were in need of food, Lundquist spoke of the gifts that Sunshine gave him.
"She was a gift to humanity, as we all can be," Lundquist told the crowd of several hundred friends, attorneys, community members and people who make their homes on the streets of Tucson.
Lundquist said his journey to meet Sunshine began in college. After he read, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," he said he no longer thought like a white man. Then, he read, "Black Elk Speaks."
Lundquist said all Native American people call themselves "human beings," in their own languages, because that is what people truly are. "I was destined to meet Sunshine because I finally saw that."
"When Sunshine came to our house, she blessed us with her spirit." With Sunshine, the family watched "Dances with Wolves." She pointed out her Lakota relatives and the parts of the film that were right and those that were "baloney."
Lundquist said for Native Americans, there is no word for religion, because their lives are their religions. "Sunshine taught that to all of us." She was kind, witty and intelligent.
Sunshine taught Lundquist to speak Lakota words; he called out those words in her honor. She gave him a new name, "Warrior.
"By God, I'm going to live up to it."
As the wind grew stronger and stirred the drums and feathers at the memorial, Lundquist said, "We can't see you, but we can feel you.
"Her spirit is here."
In his hand, Lundquist held sweetgrass, a gift she always gave him. He remembered how she would housesit for the family in summers, loving the animals and tending the garden. She would stay on for a couple of weeks when they returned. But ultimately, she missed sleeping beneath the stars. She missed her friends, and always offered cash or an extra sleeping bag to those in need on the streets.
Sister Rebecca Theresa said Sunshine had dreams like everyone else, but life had come along and interrupted those. Sunshine had been a nurse in Vietnam.
"Nobody went through Nam and came out the same.
"She had to live with it."
Theresa memorialized Sunshine with the lyrics, "Look what they've done to my song, ma.”
Laura Ward, a city of Tucson employee befriended her, here in El Presidio Park where Sunshine spent her days. Ward bought Sunshine a CD of warrior drum songs, because those were Sunshine's favorites. When she realized Sunshine had no way to listen to them, she bought a little stereo for her. Ward temporarily delayed giving it to her, for fear that owning it would make her a target.
"She never got to hear this song, but maybe she can hear it now," Ward said with tears, as the Grandmother's Prayer sounded out and floated from the park.
Ward said stories of Sunshine will be collected and placed in a book, a collection of handwritten stories, to be shared here, in El Presidio Park, during Friday markets.
At the memorial, Preyin' Eagle, Native American drummers from Phoenix, joined Elliott Gover & Sons, Pumpkin Vine of the Pawnee Tribe and Tony Redhouse to offer drum, flute and musical tributes to Sunshine.
Sunshine will be buried in Tucson. Tucson police have not released the details of her murder or the names of any suspects. Sunshine's Chihuahua, Wichica (Little Girl), was put up for adoption by the Pima Animal Care Center and more than 50 people volunteered to adopt the dog.
Most of those attending the memorial were surprised by the large crowd. Still, they were happy to live in a community where people take time to care.
Others paused and wondered how many times they had passed Sunshine on the street and failed to say hello, or to even see her.
During the memorial, Pastor Rolly Loomis of the United Methodist Church, spoke of her humor and how she loved and cared for everyone.
"She would often give money to those in need."
Loomis said the things that matter to most of us, the material things, didn't matter to her. "She lived it for us."
Sunshine's friends said she could see inside one's soul.
Loomis said Sunshine saw the authentic self within each person. Although she stayed at times inside, she always returned outdoors.
"She always returned to her home under the stars," Loomis said.
"Sunshine died on holy ground."

Story and photos may be republished at no charge, please contact Brenda Norrell for reprint permission: brendanorrell@gmail.com

A letter to Tucson, from Sunshine's nephew
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/frontpage/54927.php
"Sunshine" was my aunt; her sister is my Mom. My mother is the only sibling left.
I write to you in great appreciation for the outpouring of support the city of Tucson has given to my aunt.
Although she was homeless, that was her spirit - living outdoors, where she could touch life itself.
I want to thank Robert Lundquist for the great kindness he gave her over the years, and I want to thank all her friends for being part of her life.
I would like the people to know she was always a strong-spirited person with a heart as big as any.
Tucson has been her home for most of her life, and the people are very kind, with no prejudice.
With the Lord's help, we will learn to deal with this loss, as many other families have.
My greatest appreciation to the people who knew her, loved her and cared for her. She will always live in our minds and hearts.

LEROY J. KONOP, Rapid City, S.D.

READER COMMENT:

She is now a star of her own ... surely. I will never again look at the twinkling sky above without thinking of Sunshine.I also will never understand why such horrible things can happen to such beautiful people. Does evil just hate beauty so much? I lost a brilliant star myself to unexplained violence many years ago, and still grieve vividly.I am old now and take some solace that maybe soon I will finally understand the ways of life, and death, and hopefully justice.Peace to all.

Victoria Wolf

July 20, 2007

Gila River: Victory to shut down hazardous waste facility

In an enormous victory for the Gila River Indian Community and the tribal member group Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Youth United for Community Action and other allies, the Gila River Tribal Council this morning voted unanimously 14-0 to reject the proposed US EPA permit for the Romic hazardous waste plant that had operated for decades without proper permits and with a reckless track record on tribal lands. Tribal members, with the support of Greenaction and YUCA, educated the tribal council and community and today the tribal council took a historic stand to protect tribal members, tribal lands and their neighbors. We will now demand US EPA immediately respect this decision, and the law, and deny Romic’s permit. Tribal members and Greenaction will then work to shut down any remaining parts of Romic’s operations at Gila River . Here is the first wire service story on the vote!
--Bradley Angel, Greenaction

Gila River votes to shut down waste facility
Betty Beard
The Arizona Republic

An industrial waste recycling plant on the Gila River Reservation near Chandler may have to close, forcing an estimated 800 customers to start shipping their wastes out of state.The Gila River Indian Community on Wednesday refused to approve the company's permanent permit, apparently because of concern over several recent incidents and fines from the Environmental Protection Agency.Romic Environmental Technologies Corp., a waste management company, says it is the only recycler of certain types of hazardous liquid wastes in the state. It has been operating in the Lone Butte Industrial Park on the reservation, southeast of Interstate 10 and the Santan Freeway, with an interim federal permit since 1988.

Because the Gila River community is its landlord, it needed its approval for continued operations. Rejection by the community's governing council means the company could remain open for months during appeals but that the plant likely will shut down at its current location Namki Yi, Romic's president, said the company could rebuild in the state but that such a move could take years. It would need permits from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the permitting process varies by state."In Palo Alto it is taking us 13 years to renew a permit from the Department of Toxic Substances Control in California ," Yi said.Gila River officials had been getting nervous about Romic because of two incidents in the past year that resulted in a putrid smell last November and a brief flash fire, as well as the EPA fines in April. Employees are trained to keep records and to follow procedures so accidents don't happen and materials end up where they are supposed to. But errors happen, Yi acknowledged. In April a sample test showed that a substance could be recycled. But in actual production the result was a putrid smell that workers at nearby plants described as like "wet fish." Operations shut down and the EPA determined no toxic substances were released. Last November someone mistakenly poured hydrogen peroxide into a tank where acid had been stored, and a flash fire resulted. It was put out immediately and the sprinklers never went off. Romic was fined more than $32,000 for failing to report the incident and other violations.Yi said "personnel changes" resulted from those incidents.In 2005 the company was fined by EPA for multiple violations found during inspections in 2002 and 2003.The company handles liquid and some solid wastes from industries and retailers, mostly in Arizona . The material can be reclaimed, recycled and even blended into alternative fuels that can substitute for natural gas."When you go to some of those oil-change places, you could potentially be getting recycled antifreeze," said Namki Yi, Romic's president.

Mohawks: Canada prepares to arrest Natives on June 29, 2007

PHIL FONTAINE & RCMP SIGN TO SET UP “JOINT AFN/RCMP RESPONSE TEAM”-------

JUNE 29TH CREATED TO ARREST AND DECLARE MARTIAL LAW

By Kahentinetha Horn
Mohawk Nation News
Jun 20, 2007

Phil Fontaine is the hired Fascist who is doing what any “quisling” does. He works in cooperation with the occupying forces and leads them to kill or capture the resisters. Is there a coup in the works? The three largest police forces in Canada are working together. All three have been investigated recently for corruption and criminality – where heads rolled. They’re all looking for something to take public attention off their misdeeds. The new heads appear to be mostly handpicked by the oligarchy. Now they’re setting a trap to arrest the only people who dare to resist their goose stepping march toward totalitarianism, the Indigenous people. June 29th is being planned and financed by the Canadian government at the behest of their “masters”. This is a “set up” to create a situation to justify the declaring of martial law across the country. Yesterday the colonizer’s hired “saboteur”, Phil Fontaine, got together with Interim RCMP Commissioner, Bev Busson , Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian “Little Mouselini” Fantino, the head of the Quebec Police and who knows who else [maybe some U.S. intelligence agents?] They signed an “anti-violence agreement”. [Remember Orwell’s 1984 where all ministries were named the exact opposite of what they were doing?]. The newspapers report this as a “Joint AFN/RCMP Response Team”. Fantino reported we are lumped in with “no fly lists” and “terrorists”. Oh-oh!! Here we go again. Remember Joint Task Force 2? What’s this, JTF3?Phil, we don’t know what kind of a trap you’re helping Canada to set for us. Someone said that maybe you’re trying to help them “smoke out” our leaders. They don’t understand our system. We don’t have any leaders. We know we are all equal. Nevertheless, the alarm bells are screaming for all of us who know a bit about international law and the history of Indigenous relations with Canada . At best this “Tree house gang” is ignorant. More likely they are puppets of the “cabal” that is establishing the police state.These kids in the tree house are signing accords among themselves and planning how and when they’re going to sic the JTF3 on us? They’re dangerous. They may be acting like a bunch of 9-years olds, but the guns are real and we’re in the cross hairs.Let’s not forget, these are cops, not politicians who have to answer to the public. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.These snot-nosed Machiavelli’s say they’re worried that things will [they hope] turn “ugly”. Look at what we already have – the holocaust, the rape, pillage and poisoning of our land by multinational mining and oil companies, the pollution, the murders, the starlight tours, the missing 500 women, the scandalous residential schools genocide strategy, the destruction of the caribou, fish stocks and other traditional sources of food, desperate poverty, millions spent on communications strategies to demonize us, the tainted water, the suicides, the despair and the third world living conditions. How bad do things have to get to call things ugly?Canada has it upside down and backwards. They haven’t established THEIR claims to our lands. We don’t have a thing to prove. The land is ours. Their the ones with unsettled claims to our lands. Phil. This is about our “jurisdiction”.Bev better brush up on international law and democracy 101. 1. We are not part of Canada : International law has determined that no people can be absorbed into a foreign state unless the majority have given their informed consent through a free and fair vote. We never voted to become part of Canada or the British Empire . We were never conquered. We never gave up gave our sovereignty or jurisdiction. It’s still here and it’s still the law.We took no part in that BNA Act 1867 that was passed by Britain ’s parliament to set up the Dominion of Canada . That’s a law for Canadians, not for us. Section 91(24) gives Canada the right only to negotiate WITH us on behalf of the British Empire . That’s all! Canada has no right to make laws for us. It doesn’t now and it never has, except in someone’s fantasy. [Check your archives].2. The AFN does not represent us. The Indian Act was illegally passed by Canada ’s Parliament and does not govern us, just as Mexican and U.S. legislation does not apply to Canadians. We’re not part of Canada . The AFN is a colonial office invented by Canada . It’s not legal. 3. Our relations with Canada are nation-to-nation. The AFN, RCMP, OPP and the SQ have no authority to conduct diplomatic relations on behalf of Canada . Their attempts constitute international aggression.We hear that Canada is passing an “endangered species” act that protects every form of nature that was here before colonization, except us.Let’s get back to June 29th. It’s a day of peaceful mourning for the unrecognized holocaust, the pillage of us and our land. The rail lines, roads, bridges, cities, dams are all trespassing on our territories. They were put there without our permission. The Supreme Court of Canada is just beginning to recognize that our consent is required to do anything on our jurisdiction. That means Onowarekeh/Turtle Island .Before you freak out, take a step back and think. Despite the tragedies you have inflicted on us, we have never attacked your right to live. By contrast you have always attacked our right to live. Your colonial government has always defended the theft of our land and resources by both foreign corporations and private individuals.As Garry Kasparov, the former Russian Chess World Champion, told the Empire Club of Toronto , “Every system will contain a problem that cannot be solved within the system itself”. One of the problems that cannot be solved within the existing Canadian system is the ugly colonial legacy of how Canada continues to illegally occupy our land and exploit our resources. Canada cannot solve its problem with us internally because it’s not an internal problem. Our resources are not even benefiting Canadians. They’re being sent out to foreign countries.More than anything else, June 29th is a day of mourning. Bev Busson, we’d like you to join us by carrying a placard that says, “Respect international law”. Mr. Fantino could carry one that says, “Respect the rights of Indigenous people”, and Phil could carry one that says, “Down with Traitors”. The Quebec Police could carry one saying, “Respect Mohawk Jurisdiction”.No guns. No arrest. No pepper sprays. If you can’t be peaceful, stay away. Get out of our jurisdiction, which is all of Canada . Leave us alone.Phil, stop pretending you represent us. We are not your flock. You are their colonial flunkie. Everything will be peaceful if you stay with your colonial masters. Get some psychological help with your delusions of grandeur. Julian, stop sucking up to the oligarchy and stop threatening us.If Canada is setting up the JTF3 to engage in civil disobedience against us, then they should be prepared to accept the consequences. Meanwhile, we are asking the world community to recognize Canada for what it is, one of the most ruthless undemocratic states in the world.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

International coverage of O'odham graves dug up at border construction

O'odham: Ancestors' remains unlawfully excavated at border
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report
http://www.unobserver.com/index.php?pagina=layout4.php&id=3646&blz=1

Mohawks: Red-X is a Wanted Man

RUMOR: ARREST WARRANT OUT FOR THE GREAT “UNTOUCHABLE” SAGE “RED-X” FOR ALLEGED INCITING OF “SAGEOSITY AND INFAMOCITY”

By Kahentinetha Horn
Mohawk Nation News
June 19, 2007.

It’s really one of those open “John Doe” warrants for the “some-crime-has-to-fit-every-native” mentality that has always pervaded the colonial enterprise. Today Phil Fontaine of the AFN, the RCMP, OPP and SQ are setting a vicious “trap” for us Indigenous people who are challenging Canada Inc.’s lack of jurisdiction over us and our land. It’s set to spring on June 29th. The trap might spring back on them. You can be sure they won’t take their sights off us or stop scoping us with their high tech weapons.

The charge against the Red-X is “sageocity” and “infamocity”. It must be some sort of treason or something. He has certainly given out the most sageous messages ever yet seen in the universe, straight from the Third Dimension.

The “infamocity” is obvious. It comes from his pretentious demarginalization. He is accused of inciting the overturn of the existing worldwide social disorder. Would he have to be tried in an inter-galactic court of Ur’anus! Can we find a neutral turd party to squat in judgment?

He is being charged because what he says is contrary to the principles upon which Canada, the U.S. and other colonial states are founded, such as self-centered self-service, cronyism, taking advantage of people, stealing Indigenous possessions, conning people into buying them worldwide at bargain basement prices and then pocketing the profits. Red-X advocated the overthrow of this kind of system that is dedicated to monotheism, oppression and suppression of people. He’s charged with inciting people to think clearly, think ahead and protect the environment. This is a grave crime in the eyes of the colonial corporations that are trying to run the galaxy and colonize the universe.

Red-X strikes unspeakable terror ineffably into the hearts of the mindless colonizers’ souls! Red-X asks, “What are they afraid of?” That’s the question.

Who wants to know? Despite having to defend themselves from all those corruption charges at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa , someone has found time to put out a “Most Wanted” poster of the Red-X. There is a photo, but all you see is the hood. Through the eye slits, one can see a black and cavernous void, leading directly to the Third Dimension.

This we can’t tell for sure, but some scientists have recently discovered that some of the oldest vibrations in the universe are coming from a black hole in Pisces. They also state there were once meat-eating chickens bigger than the Taranosaurus Rex roaming around in Siberia . As Einstein pointed out, “The solution can be found when you take the mass of the photons and divide it by the square root of infinity”.

The black beaded hood that identifies the Red-X, covers a scar. Was he one of those kids who were beheaded and buried in the basement of a residential school? If so, it seems someone from the Third Dimension came along and sewed his head back on? The Red-X would not want people to get scared by the scar on his throat, especially little children who have no need to know about the time he spent in wherever he was.

This solves the mystery of the special hood which can never be found in Wal-Mart or the Dollar Store. “This is the power of the hood”, said the Red-X. “You gotta know your neighbors. You gotta speak to ‘em. You gotta ask ‘em what they think. And then you gotta stand beside ‘em.”

Another mystery is where does he live? The Red-X will only say, “I am he who has been prophesized to come. I am the one they’re looking for”.

Don’t think that the Red-X is a sequel to the “X-Files”. He’s been around a lot longer than that. A leading Canadian historian dusted off some primary documents in the archives. According to his testimony, many of the original treaties made by the colonizers to let them live here were signed with “Xs”. But we would not put much stock in that. According to the Red-X, “They all forgeries”.

But someone had to know about him to forge his signature. We are specially skeptical about the ten “Xs” that all look exactly alike that are on many of the first treaties.

The Red-X is concerned about why Phil Fontaine [of government-front “Assembly of First Nations”] accepted Indian Affairs Minister Jonestown Prentice’s offer to settle their claims to our land. Red-X says, “Think about it. Jonestown might have spiked Phil’s martini with a date rape drug instead of an olive”.

After chugging it down, Phil excused himself for a moment, zig-zagged by mistake into the ladies room to adjust his hair. There were mirrors everywhere. He saw all these guys that looked just like him. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all? Does Jonestown have a good deal for me?” he asked himself and nodded his head up and down. All the other guys in the mirrors nodded together in unison. Then he went back out to report to Jonestown, “Looks like we got consensus, boss”, he said.

As a consequence of Red-Xs pearls of wisdom, Ottawa decided to gather the swines into an “Interdepartmental Red-X Committee” run out of the war room in the Indian Affairs ”Tower of Terror”. According to their mission statement, they are commissioned to “figure out just what is the Red-X saying”. It’s headed by a top encryption expert from Arlington Virginia who said, “This is the biggest challenge of my entire life”.

“Stay tuned”, says Red-X. “The best is yet to come”.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

Link: Fontaines' lynching party with RCMP, OPP & SQ
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?en=en&layout=mnn&category=24&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0

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Mohawks: Indigenous Sage Red-X

Mohawk Nation News
June 18, 2007.

When Red-X mounted his silver eagle to return to the West where the sun never sleeps, he stopped in the mountains for a moment and gave a sageous message to a Mohawk known as “Bro’Hawk”. After he dismounted, he gave this message from the “Third Dimension”.The Red-X stroked his chin under his black beaded hood once again. He pulled his glasses down just enough to see his eye lashes, but not his pupils. He said simply, “Do what your mind tells you has to be done”, referring to the day of protest on June 29th or July 1st ,or July 4th, or whatever.Red-X continued his sageosity and said, “In this world there are only two things we can do as a people. We can either rebel as warriors in righteous war against colonialism on our homelands, or we can repent as a conditioned colonized assimilated good Indian”.Bro’Hawk asked the Red-X what he himself would do on such a day. Red-X answered, “I will implicitly confer with the timetable of the prophecies and will consult the ‘kasastensera kowa sa oiera’, [the Great Natural Power] of the third Dimension and talk with those who have walked before and joined the war council of our ancestors”. He stopped for a moment, looked upward, and continued, “Maybe at some point the skies will part and send us a message on the same day to those whom do not know”.The Bro’Hawk was paralyzed with awe and mystified beyond control.The Red-X says to those who want to know who he is. “I am the one they are looking for. I am the one that is qualified to know who those are who are looking to find me in this age”.Once again the Red-X says, “Stay tuned as the real fireworks are about to commence”.
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
More on Infamous Indigenous Sage "Red X"http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?en=en&layout=mnn&category=13&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0
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Coyote Smoke: Sithe/Desert Rock twisting hearings

Sarah J. White, Diné CARE (505) 860-9877
Lori Goodman, Diné CARE (970) 759-1908
Anna Frazier, Diné CARE (928) 380-7697

Sithe/DPA changes Desert Rock DEIS hearings, misleads the Public

Sithe/DPA, in collusion with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), are intentionally misinforming the public on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) hearings after they widely publicized the June 18th-22nd DEIS hearings for a full month. Their announcements appeared in all local newspapers, Sithe Global’s website, and local radio stations. A little after midnight on June 15th, new dates about DEIS hearings were placed only on Sithe Global’s website without the knowledge of the general public. There is still no effort made on their behalf to correct the announcement of the June 18th-22nd Public Hearings. It is obvious Sithe/DPA is maneuvering to limit public participation.

It is unconscionable to give the public a one day notice of date changes and this looks suspiciously as if done by design to mislead us. There were ample opportunities to do the right thing and inform the public - if that was an objective for Sithe/DPA. A retraction could have easily been printed in the weekly Navajo Times, which is the primary News source for many Navajos, but there was no effort made to publicize these changes in the local papers. Navajo citizens and communities must be informed of Desert Rock hearings since this energy monster will threaten the health and livelihoods of all who live downwind and who will breathe in its toxic chemicals.

This deliberate deceptive move continues the pattern of misinformation and the disenfranchisement of the Navajo people in the decision-making processes that affect their welfare. The BIA should know that a majority of the people on the reservation have no access to communication infrastructure. The discs, which contain the DEIS documents and are being distributed by the BIA, are inaccessible without computers. The Public should receive hardcopies of the voluminous draft to review properly and be given the chance to speak publicly about the inevitable environmental degradation from the proposed Desert Rock.

Burnham resident Lucy A. Willie wondered where she would have to go to view the DEIS CD she received. Ms. Willie had sent a postcard and specifically asked for a hardcopy because she doesn’t have a computer stated, “I don’t even have a computer, let alone know how to operate one.”

Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment (Diné CARE) will hold a Press Conference at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Arizona to express discontent at BIA’s continued deception by misleading the public.

Four Corners community people and Navajo public are strongly encouraged to contact their local media, council officials and Joe Shirley to demand fair and equal participation.

###



Lori GoodmanDine' CARE10 A Town Plaza, PMB 138Durango, CO 81301PH: (970) 259-0199FAX: (970) 259-2300Cell: (970) 759-1908kiyaani@frontier.nethttp://www.desert-rock-blog.com

Native poets, dancing wordsmiths

Sherwin Bitsui, Laura Tohe and Joy Harjo were among the featured poets at the Native Voices Symposium at the University of Arizona. The leading Native poets in the Americas read from new and published works, laughed together and challenged the publishing industry. Watch for the series on the voices and issues in upcoming issues of Navajo Times, including poets Rex Lee Jim, Simon Ortiz and Ofelia Zepeda. (Photo Brenda Norrell)

O'odham: Ancestors' remains unlawfully excavated at border

Tohono O'odham said the graves of their ancestors were dug up and their remains removed by non-O'odham at border vehicle barrier construction site

Margaret Garcia cried and asked, “Why do these non-O’odham continue to mistreat us? We are humans, we do not go to their [Anglo] graves and dig them up and put them in boxes.”

Statement from the Elders of Ali Jegk Community of the Tohono O’odham Nation

ALI JEGK, Ariz. -- We Demand the Return of Human Remains Unearthed During a Recent Desecration of a Sacred Burial Ground On May 17th and May 21st of 2007 the remains of at least three humans were unearthed during the construction of a border zone “Vehicle Barrier” wall.

These remains were found buried near the International Border, inside of Tohono O’odham Nation lands in Arizona. The unearthed people are the direct ancestors of five families living in the Ali Jegk community of the Tohono O’odham Nation.

The remains are currently in the possession of the tribal government’s cultural authority – an institution that has a non-O’odham director. Initially, when the remains were unearthed during construction of the “Vehicle Barrier,” the tribal government authorities stopped the construction to investigate the findings.

Unfortunately, they failed to protect the remains from desecration as is required of them under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 (NAGPRA). According to O’odham witnesses that were employed by the Department of Homeland Security as monitors, three non-O’odham workers removed the remains from the burial site. The remains were then bagged, boxed and removed from the location.

According to the National Guard commander, the three non-O’odham workers that removed the remains were archaeologists hired by the Tohono O’odham Nation. In direct violation of NAGPRA, the three hired archaeologists and their cultural director failed to report the finding to the tribal government until two days had passed.

In another direct violation of NAGPRA laws, the remains were removed from Tohono O’odham lands and taken outside of the Nation’s jurisdiction to be stored in Ajo, Arizona. However, the remains were subsequently returned back to tribal custody. The remains are now in the possession of the Tohono O’odham Nation tribal government.

Despite the pleas of area residents that the ancestral remains be given back for reburial, the tribal government is refusing to return them, citing a federal law that prohibits them from doing so. However, the area residents (who are direct decedents of the unearthed ancestors) state that the federal law does not apply to this situation as the law only necessitates that the remains be held in custody if there are no living ancestors to whom they can be released.

In this case, since there are living ancestors, the law does not apply and the remains should be immediately released back to the area residents for reburial. The Tohono O’odham Nation tribal government has neglected its constitutional directive that mandates them to protect the Him’dag – the O’odham way of life. They have allowed the disturbance of a sacred burial site and have allowed non-O’odham people to handle these sacred remains. They now hold sacred, ancient relatives in bags and boxes.

The elder descendants of the ancestors whose remains were unearthed held a meeting on May 23. They cried for their relatives and are demanding that the remains be immediately returned. The Elders were very grief stricken at the great disrespect shown toward their relatives’ remains.

Margaret Garcia cried and asked, “Why do these non-O’odham continue to mistreat us? We are humans, we do not go to their [Anglo] graves and dig them up and put them in boxes.” Julia Merino also cried and told the people at the meeting that she knew how it felt to go away somewhere and long for home. She said that is how the unearthed relatives feel right now. She asked those in attendance to do whatever they could to get the remains returned as soon as possible. Frances Aguila stated that the unearthed ancestors were her direct relatives and named a Great-great grandfather that was buried in the location. She also stated that there were other remains much older then that – a point that all the relatives restated.

Ofelia Rivas stated that her deceased aunt, Mary Merino, was the last person born at the abandoned village where she passed away two years ago at the age of 90. Ofelia also named three of her Great-great grandfathers that were buried in the area and stated that many more relatives dating back more than seven generations are buried in the area.

This petition is demanding that this great atrocity must stop! This petition is demanding that the Tohono O’odham Nation tribal government immediately release the remains that were unearthed and immediately return them to the local community for a proper, traditional reburial! Please sign and forward this petition to all your friends, relatives and networks.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned

View Current Signatures

The Return the Remains; Stop the Desecration of O'odham Burial Grounds
Petition to Tohono O'odham Nation Tribal Government was created by O'odham Voice Against the Wall and the Surviving Roots Project and written by Ofelia Rivas (petition@tiamatpublications.com)

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BUSH: Keeping it all in the family

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BOEING, vehicle barriers and torture flights

by Brenda Norrell

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

TUCSON -- Those who do not live along the border, or keep up with federal contracts, might have missed the point in the ongoing migrant hysteria.

The Bush-friendly corporations are not just profiteering in Iraq. Border hysteria has meant fat contracts for Halliburton, with $360 million to build migrant prisons, and Boeing, now taking a bite out of dollars at the border as it becomes the dark eyes of Big Brother watching.

Boeing and its subsidiaries are making a killing, profiteering from the migrant xenophobia drummed up by television news. At the same time, Boeing subsidiary Zeppesen is being sued for its secret flights to torture prisons.

Along the border, Boeing is engaged in violating human rights, as it builds border vehicle barriers and the ultimate spy technology to watch every move that citizens make in the borderzone.

Here's some facts:

Project 28: Boeing's spy machines at the border

http://www.washingtontechnology.com/online/1_1/30846-1.html

Arivaca group gathers to protest Project 28

http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=6640185&nav=HMO6HMaW

Boeing's Jeppesen sued for torture flights

Associated Press

Published May 31, 2007
NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday that it is suing Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., a subsidiary of Chicago-based Boeing Co., claiming it secretly provided services for flights that moved three of the CIA's terrorism suspects overseas, where they were tortured.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-thu_boeing_0531may31,0,3330933.story?coll=chi-business-hed

Dakota Region: America's Secret Chernobyl

by Brenda Norrell

The pick of the most censored issues today comes by way of First Voices Indigenous Radio in New York. It is titled, "America's Secret Chernobyl." The Defenders of the Black Hills tell of uranium mining and nuclear pollution in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.

Uranium mining in South Dakota was one of the great concerns of the late Anna Mae Aquash before her death. Anna Mae's body was discovered in the Badlands, S.D., on Feb. 24, 1976.

Even in the past two years, the subject of uranium mining was censored in Indian country. The issue of uranium mining in South Dakota was deleted from an article I wrote after an interview with Cree singer and icon Buffy Sainte Marie.

The original article -- censored for 7 years -- included Buffy's comments on how she was blacklisted by President Johnson for her anti-war song, "Universal Soldier." Buffy's records and her livelihood temporarily vanished. Although much of the article written in 1999 was finally published in 2006, all references to uranium mining in South Dakota were still censored.

The interview with Buffy was at Dine' College music festival on the Navajo Nation. Buffy sang "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," and dedicated it to Leonard Peltier (another of the most censored issues in Indian country.)

Buffy tells of the "robber barons" driven by greed for oil, gold and precious metals. While manipulating the media and politicians, they added uranium to their agenda in the Twentieth Century.

In the song, Buffy sings of a senator in Indian country, a "darling of the energy companies," and covert spies, liars, federal marshals and FBI.

Buffy sings her safety rule: "Don't stand between the reservation and the corporate bank. They send in federal tanks…"

Buffy said, "The song is also a tribute to assassinated activist Anna Mae Aquash, whose murderers remain at large. The lyrics describe the act of the FBI in cutting off her decomposed hands under the guise of identification." Here's a portion of the song:

"My girlfriend Annie Mae talked about uranium
Her head was filled with bullets and her body dumped
The FBI cut off her hands and told us she'd died of Exposure…"

Bury my heart at Wounded Knee
Deep in the Earth
Cover me with pretty lies
bury my heart at Wounded Knee."

Here's the rest of the story.

June 10, 2007
AMERICA'S SECRET CHERNOBYL
First Voices Indigenous Radio
http://firstvoices.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/06/index.html

Uranium Mining and Nuclear Pollution in the Upper Midwest:
Download uranium-map-small.jpg

1. World War II ended with the nuclear bomb and introduced the use of nuclear energy for the production of electricity which caused the price of uranium to rise. Uranium mining in South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota began in the middle of the 1960s. As the economy of the Midwestern states depends primarily on agriculture, when uranium was discovered in the region, many get-rich-quick schemes were adopted. Not only were large mining companies pushing off the tops of bluffs and buttes, but small individual ranchers were also digging in their pastures for the radioactive metal. Mining occurred on both public and private land, although the Great Sioux Nation still maintains a claim to the area through the Fort Laramie Treaties of 1851 and 1868, the March 3rd Act of 1871, Article VI of the US Constitution, and the 1980 Supreme Court decision on the Black Hills.
2. In northwestern South Dakota, the Cave Hills area is managed by the US Forest Service. The area currently contains 89 abandoned open-pit uranium mines. Studies by the USFS show that one mine alone has 1,400 milliRhems per hour (mR/hr) of exposed radiation, a level of radiation that is 120,000 times higher than normal background of 100 milliRhems per year (mR/yr)! In the southwestern Black Hills, the US Forest Service reported on 29 abandoned open-pit uranium mines, one of which is about 1 square mile in size.
3. It is estimated that more than 1,000 open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in the four state region from a map developed by the US Forest Service. The water runoff from the creeks and rivers near these abandoned uranium mines eventually empty into the Missod to the South and East in the coal strip mining process. 4. The following agencies are aware of these abandoned uranium mines and prospects: US Forest Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, US Bureau of Land Management, SD Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the US Indian Health Service. Only after public concern about these mines was raised a few years ago did the USFS and the EPA pay for a study in 2006 of the off site effects.
5. More than 4,000 exploratory holes, some large enough for a man to fall into, are found in the southwestern Black Hills with an additional 3,000 holes just 10 miles west of the town of Belle Fourche, SD. These holes go to depths of 600 feet. This exploratory process itself allows radioactive pollutants to contaminate underground water sources. More exploratory holes for uranium are in the planning stages for Wyoming and South Dakota.
6. The US Air Force also used small nuclear power plants in some of their remote radar stations. No data is available on the current status or disposal of these small nuclear power sources or of their wastes. The US Air Force is responsible for monitoring these sites although there is no stopping the radioactive pollution that could contaminate aquifers.
7. In Wyoming, hundreds of abandoned open-pit uranium mines and prospects can be found in or near the coal in the Powder River Basin, and the coal is laced with uranium ore. The coal is shipped to power plants in the Eastern part of the United States. Radioactive dust and particles are released into the air at the coal fired power plants and often set off the warning systems at nuclear power plants. The same radioactive dust and particles are released into the air that travels across South Dakota and Missouri River which empties into the Mississippi River.
8. In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a secret Executive Order declaring this four State region in the Upper Midwest to be a 'National Sacrifice Area’ for the mining and production of uranium and nuclear energy. Conclusion
This Fact Sheet regarding past and planned uranium and coal mining in the Upper Midwest region should give cause for alarm to all thinking people in the United States. This is the area that has been called “the Bread Basket of the World.” For more than forty years, the people of South Dakota and beyond have been subjected to radioactive polluted dust and water runoff from the hundreds of abandoned open pit uranium mines, processing sites, underground nuclear power stations, and waste dumps.
There needs to be a concerted effort to determine the extent of the radioactive pollution in the environment, and the health damage that has been and is currently being inflicted upon the people of the United States.
It is imperative that a federal bill be passed in Congress appropriating enough funds for the cleanup of ALL the abandoned uranium mines in this four State region. This harmful situation must not be placed on the end of the Superfund list of hazardous sites to be addressed in twenty years. Those responsible for this disaster must be held responsible for the consequences, but the cleanup and health concerns of the nation need to be addressed first. The health of the nation is at stake!
The cleanup of all of these mines and underground sites must begin NOW!
We hope you will consider our request for concerted actions to be taken at the national level regarding these grave concerns. This problem of radiation pollution spreading throughout the United States has been allowed to continue quietly for much too long.
********* What you can do ***********
1. Contact your Congressional Representative and Senators by phone (202) 224-3121, through the mail, and email. Ask that they consider sponsoring a bill for the cleanup of all the abandoned uranium mines and prospects, and underground nuclear sites in the Upper Midwest Region of South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming.
2. Ask your Congressional Representatives and Senators to support the Expansion of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) to include also those harmed by abandoned uranium mines and prospects in the Upper Midwest Region.
3. Encourage the use of alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar, and geothermal. Nuclear energy is not the answer and only creates very long term problems to the entire environment.
Thank you!
Produced by Defenders of the Black Hills, PO Box 2003, Rapid City, SD 57709,a non-profit corporation.
For more information check out http://www.defendblackhills.org/


Buffy Sainte Marie Uncensored:
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/id99.html

South Dakota: Cold War uranium mining contaminated land and water:
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2007/05/21/news/south_dakota/7d7902dc0680244b862572e2000b75dd.txt

MOHAWKS: Ready for rail blockade on June 29

INFAMOUS INDIGENOUS SAGE “RED-X” TELLS THE FEDS:

“QUIT BLOWING SMOKE UP OUR BUTT" REGARDING JUNE 29TH DAY OF ACTION & LAND CLAIM SETTLEMENT PROPOSAL

Mohawk Nation News
June 12, 2007

Ottawa is asking Phil Fontaine, the Walkie-Talkie Wizard of the AFN [Assembly of First Nations] to order us to stop expressing ourselves on June 29th and go back into our hole. The Red-X asked, “Is [Prime Minister] Steve Harper responsible for wiping every Canadian’s butt? Is George Bush at fault for every American’s stupidity?” Phil’s not our leader. He’s theirs. We don’t pay him. They do. This double talk is so annoying.The Red-X arrived on his silver eagle from the west where the sun never sleeps, to look over our vast great expanse of Indigenous territory, now scarred and polluted by centuries of cruel occupation. MNN was so lucky to catch him for this short interview. Here are a few of his words of wisdom.Red-X said, “What’s this ota [crap] about appointing “neutral” mediators on land claims? If they’re appointed by the feds, they ain’t neutral”. The feds don’t want to negotiate fairly, that’s the bottom line. When it comes right down to it, the Red-X said, “If it looks like ota, and it stinks like ota, then it sure as hell is ota!” Neutral needs three things: one. BOTH sides gotta do the pickin’! Two. It’s gotta be someone who was never a colonizer! And three. It’s gotta be someone who ain’t tapped into Canada’s stolen loot”! The Red-X knows all the international law that Canada is trying to forget.After thinking about the situation, The Red-X stood there stroking his chin covered by a black beaded hood. He looked at us through his dark sunglasses and offered some sage words. First, he said, “Know who’s who! We have a lot of posers around. Smell them out! Specially if they claim to be Indian and don’t have mothers”.“We all know who’s Indian and who ain’t! Watch for those with morals and stay away from those who ain’t got none!” Red-X warned. “If there’s a rat tail sticking out the back, it’s a rat!” He also said, “Watch for someone wearing dirty overalls and shiny black shoes trying to sell you toxic waste disguised as biodegradable cleaners, synthetic snake oil and the like. Grab him and lock him in the bathroom until the warriors get there. They’re here to muffle us and take the strength out of our movement. They are trying to break the code of our highly developed non-verbal communication strategies”.“We should all be doing what we’re supposed to do”, Red-X pointed out, “in the best interests of our people and apply the “Ten commandments of the Red-X”. [link below] Watch for strangers showing up on our territories sayin’, “We gonna save ya, you red niggas! They here to divide and conquer”. They got colonial certification to do this. They’re called bureaucrats, lawyers, social workers, developers and negotiators.Why is it when one Indian steps out of line, the colonists say they’re going to blame every single one of us. We don’t mind being blamed for stressing non-violence and being truthful. It’s the colonists who lie, steal and promote violence. Just threatening and setting conditions to resolve the colonists’ claims to our land is an act of violence.Who do you think invented guns and brought them here, heh? The Chinese had fireworks. That wasn’t good enough for the Europeans. They wanted to make sure someone died or got hurt. We don’t want to harm anyone when we block a road or railroad. The business men might get mad, but the public doesn’t mind. Many even join us.The real violence is police coming in, waving batons, hitting and arresting us for expressing our freedom of speech.They want us to do something that doesn’t attract attention, like going to Indian Affairs and talking our heads off to one of their flunkies. As soon as we leave, the bureaucrats file our complaints in the garbage can. That’s what they’ve always done. That’s why we don’t want to continue doing something that doesn’t work.Look at Mohawk Shawn Brant of Tyendinaga! After a 30-hour rail blockade, the whole world knows about our plight. It affected the white mans dollars. The public supported us even though they were inconvenienced.Remember, it’s not for the money. We want Canada to butt out. It’s high time they recognized our right to control our land. We’re doing it for our children and the future generations.We asked Red-X about Ottawa’s offer to put aside $250 million a year for their claim to our land. He blew his stack! ‘What’s a load of crap!”, he said. “That’s less than what those scumbags skimmed off the taxpayers in the ‘sponsorship scandal’”. It barely covers needed repairs for bridges in Kahnawake and Akwesasne. They can print more cash any ol’ time they want!” Red-X said, “Anyone who agrees to a cash settlement is getting hoodwinked. They gotta get off our land. Then they gotta clean up their mess. We want their toxins removed. We want our land to be strong, green and healthy”.We want to show our ancestors that we will continue to honor them for what they went through so we could survive. We will stand strong to regain our freedom. We will assert our jurisdiction on all our land. Not just the reserves that foreigners “set aside” so they rape and pillage the rest of our territory. It’s our country, our territory. Not “Crown” land! They never brought any land with them when they crossed the ocean. They only brought the dirt on their bodies.We’re always willing to discuss issues according to the Great Law. They came here with death, destruction, greed and an “Apocolypta” of their own invention. Our peaceful method is disrupting everything all over the world.Red-X directed some words of wisdom to Phil Fontaine, “Remember, Phil, when they’re done with you, they’ll throw you away like a used condom that nobody will dare to pick up”. That’s what the Red-X knows about those who work against our people.Before he left for the West, MNN asked, “Oh, wonderful Red-X, what do all us Indigenous people really want?” Red-X stroked his chin beneath his black beaded hood, “Hell”! he said, “We all want the white man to take his dirty fingers out of our butts”. He continued, “We don’t want our butts wiped by any phony arbitrator. If they reffuse to negotiate fairly and they want an arbitrator, the only way it could be fair and neutral is to let us do the pickin’”.Finally, Red-X said, “There are much more serious things we have to look at now in the terrible times ahead. U.S. Presdient George Bush, all of his neocons and the current massive build up of nuclear war ships in the Persian Gulf are the beginning of the prophecy of Dekanawida. He said that the red serpent and the white serpent would battle at sea. The oceans would boil, the trees would burn from the top down and the fish would float on their bellies”.Stay tuned for more from the Red-X.Link: Ten Infinite Commandments of the Incomparable "Red X"http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/singlenews.php?lang=en&layout=mnn&category=13&newsnr=50&backurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews4.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26category%3D13%26sortorder%3D0%26start%3D0&srcscript=/news/news4.phpNew MNN Books Available Now!Mohawk Warriors Three - The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega, 20/20$20.00 usdWhere Eagles Dare to Soar - Indians, Politics & Aids$20.00 usdThe Agonizing Death of "Colonialism" and "Federal Indian Law"Kaianere'ko:wa/Great Law Territory$20.00 usdWho's Sorry Now? The good, the bad and the unapologetic Mohawks of Kanehsatake$20.00 usdThe Books below, email us:Rebuilding the Iroquois ConfederacyKaroniaktajeh$10 usdWarriors Hand BookKaroniaktajeh$10 usdMail checks and money orders to...MNNP.O. 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