Sioux Treaty Council: Impeach Steele for uranium connection

By Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council, Oglala Delegation

PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- On November 21, 2007, the Oglala Delegation of the Black Hills Sioux Nation Treaty Council filed an Impeachment Complaint on Oglala Sioux Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele with the Oglala Sioux Tribe‘s (OST) Secretary, Elizabeth Waters.
The impeachable offenses Steele is being charged with include acts of Dishonesty, Gross Incompetence, and Unethical Conduct. These charges stem from Steele’s actions and inactions in connection with the Native American Energy Group (N.A.E.G.), a New York-based gas/oil/mining company.
BLACK HILLS SIOUX NATION TREATY COUNCIL
OGLALA DELEGATION
Pine Ridge Agency, SD
Chief Oliver Red Cloud
Floyd Hand, Jr.
Vincent Black Feather
The Treaty Council recently won a court case to have N.A.E.G. excluded from the Pine Ridge Reservation for working with Steele for several months to develop a plan to explore for and mine uranium on the reservation. Pine Ridge Reservation has been declared a nuclear-free zone by the B.H.S.N. Treaty Council and the OST Council.
“Steele must be held accountable for his actions. Our evidence will show that Steele was aware of N.A.E.G.’s ultimate goal to mine uranium here and that he allowed them to come here to formulate a plan, with no regards to the irreparable harm that it would bring to our sacred water, land, air and people," stated Floyd Hand, Treaty Delegate.
According to the Tribe’s Constitution, the Impeachment Complaint must be presented to the Tribal Council at the next scheduled Council meeting and supersedes all other issues on the written agenda. Ms. Waters confirmed that the next meeting is set for November 29, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. in the Tribal Council Chambers.

Arizona's 'Cokeheads' the National Guard

Photo: Arizona National Guard with construction crew on Tohono O'odham land building border wall at San Miguel, Arizona/Photo Indigenous Peoples Delegation.

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

TUCSON, Ariz. -- There were so many Arizona National Guardsmen eager to run cocaine from the border of Arizona and Mexico to Tucson, that the FBI had to shut down its sting, Operation Lively Green.
While those soldiers were being sentenced in recent months, the Arizona National Guard announced its soldiers would be commanding an armed drone in Iraq by remote control from Tucson.
From Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, a unit controls the MQ-1B Predator, used for armed reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting in Iraq.
While Arizona media reported both stories on the Arizona National Guard -- cocaine running and operating an armed, remote control drone in Iraq -- reporters didn't seem to notice the irony.
Arizona National Guardsmen ran cocaine in uniform in official vehicles to avoid being noticed from the border. The cocaine runners included a recruiting officer working in Tucson public schools.
The Guardsmen were not the only officials running cocaine. During sentencing, nearly 100 others emerged, ranging from a Nogales police officer and a prison guard to US Air Force squadsmen in Tucson patrolling the border by air.
Which brings us to the present, and the fact that Arizona National Guardsmen are helping build the border wall on the Tohono O'odham Nation. While an Indigenous Peoples' delegation was at the border on Tohono O'odham land, near San Miguel, on Nov. 8, 2007, the National Guardsmen were part of the crew building the wall.
This border wall construction has already been responsible for the contractor digging up the graves of the O'odham ancestors. Further, the border wall will be a barrier to the annual traditional ceremony, when O'odham normally walk across their traditional ancestral territory.
Although the politicians call it a "vehicle barrier," it is still a barrier that disects the ancestral territory of the O'odham.
Now, Border Patrol agents, the alien invaders of the O'odham, are telling them they will have to have US passports to walk across their traditional homelands beginning in January. Many O'odham were born at home and do not have passports, or the means to purchase passports.
But you're not likely to read about this in the media, it remains one of the most censored issues.

GREECE: San Francisco Peaks focus for world sacred sites

Holy San Francisco Peaks a Focal Point for International Sacred Site Guidelines
http://www.unobserver.com/

OURANOUPOLIS, Greece --During a 4-day conference in Ouranoupolis, Greece, an international assembly convened to present case studies of Sacred Sites from around the world. Studies of sacred sites under threat included Romania, Korea, Morocco, Russia, Australia, Greece and Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks. The conference was organized by the Delos Initiative on Sacred Protected Natural Sites in Technologically Developed Countries.

“It is impressive that on an international level, the Holy San Francisco Peaks issue will be helping other organizations and individuals learn how to protect their own Natural Sacred Sites”, said Jeneda Benally, a volunteer with the Save the Peaks Coalition who presented the Holy San Francisco Peaks at the conference by contributing a power point presentation and co-authoring a case study with acclaimed Professor Larry Hamilton.

The objective of the meeting was to understand key points concerning the integration of spiritual concerns in the management of natural sites. The case studies will be used for policy makers in newly developing countries.

The San Francisco Peaks are holy to 13 tribes and culturally significant to 22 tribes. The San Francisco Peaks have been the focus of a controversy due to a Forest Service and ski resort plan to expand its development and use reclaimed waste water for snowmaking on the Holy site. Tribes and environmental groups have been victorious in the Ninth Circuit Court to stop the expansion but the Forest Service and ski resort have recently been granted a legal review of the decision. An appeal will be heard on December 11, 2007 in Pasadena, CA.Orthodox Christian Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, praised Benally and the other participants of an IUCN workshop on the protection of sacred lands.

“It is with great interest that we learned of the workshop you are organizing in the framework of IUCN - The World Conservation Union”, he said.

“Its purpose is very close to our interests. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has been teaching a responsible role of human beings towards Creation as its stewards and protectors.”The Delos Initiative was launched in 2004, in the context of the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) of the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) and its Task Force on Cultural and Spiritual Values of Protected Areas. This is the second meeting and its theme was “Providing Guidance for Sacred Protected Natural Sites in Developed Countries."

The workshop took place near Mount Athos, a World Heritage Site and one of the most renowned cultural and natural places on Earth, where spiritual and natural values have worked together for many centuries to model a unique landscape with high biodiversity and cultural value.

For more information: THE DELOS INITIATIVE http://www.med-ina.org/delos and

Save the Peaks Coalition http://www.savethepeaks.org/

Courtesy photo: Jeneda Benally, Navajo, with her daughter, in center.

CENSORED: Depleted uranium disaster

Current Concerns, Doug Westerman Nov 19, 2007

John Hanchette, a journalism professor at St. Bonaventure University, and one of the founding editors of USA Today related the following to DU researcher Leuren Moret. He stated that he had prepared news-breaking stories about the effects of DU on Gulf War soldiers and Iraqi citizens, but that each time he was ready to publish, he received a phone call from the Pentagon asking him not to print the story. He has since been replaced as editor of USA Today.

Depleted Uranium Dust - Public Health Disaster For The People Of Iraq and AfghanistanCurrent Concerns, Doug Westerman Nov 19, 2007
Weblink is: http://www.currentconcerns.ch/config_03/print.php?source=../archive/2006/03/source/20060312.html&issue=No%203/4,%202006&on=Article%20published%20on%2010-07-2006

"Make injustice visible" - Mahatma Gandhi"You only live once. Outlive your life."
'The truth will make you free. But first, it will make you uncomfortable" - Mark Twain
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Thanks to Anna Rondon, Navajo, for sending this.

Prayers for Indian inmates

Main family requests prayers
It was on November 25, 2007, one year ago on Sunday, since Bat-wa-haht, James Main, Jr. was arrested and incarcerated in the Hill County Detention Center in Havre, Montana. The Main family, which has been a herald for Indigenous Peoples' rights, requests special prayers for Jim Jr. and all Indian prisoners.
On January 7, 2008, Jim Jr.'s trial will begin so please continue praying. Thank you! Rose Main
Photo: Jim Jr. Main's mother, Vernie White Cow Main, White Clay (Gros-Ventre), holds a photo of her son, now incarcerated for a murder he said he did not commit. An extensive cover-up of the evidence is now unravelling
White Clay People, Life Interrupted, Three part series
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/11/white-clay-people-life-interrupted.html

Mohawk Nation News: Ecclesiastical tyranny, colonialism and terrorism

What is “ecclesiastical tyranny”? It is raw colonialism and terrorism, plain and simple!
Mohawk Nation News
On Friday, November 23, 2007, ahearing was held in Montreal . A Mohawk had beenfired the year before by the Sulpician Order becausehe was a Mohawk. Little did they know, he was a veryquiet, reliable and hard working guy. It took theSulpicians more than a year to cook up a case againsthim. While they were busy plotting, he quietly soldrosaries and crucifixes to the multi-national clientelethat come into the shop at Notre Dame Basilica in OldMontreal . This is where they sent him to get him outof the way. Too bad for them, the bad old days are gone. Quebec employees have some laws to protect them. Once the church cobbled together some charges, theyhad to deal with a union.
Read more ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/11/mohawk-nation-news-ecclesiastical.html

Sacred Shellmound Walkers

Sacred Shellmound Walkers journeyed 120 miles this year in 6 days from Glen Cove to Emeryville, California:
http://orangechaz.smugmug.com/gallery/3880261/1#224904424
By Morning Star Gali
Hi Everybody!
Thank you for walking with us and honoring the ancestors of the Ohlone and Me-wuk Peoples, as well as the other ancestors who remain under Mother Earth or, sadly, under UC Berkeley and other institutions or otherwise removed from their sacred resting places. Here are a few pictures I took - (click on the URL above) There are several of our granddaughter (I couldn't help myself), and I know I didn't get everyone - Apologies to Kevin, Tomas, and Manny, among others, - Lee, I didn't see a photo of you either - but your help was greatly appreciated. I spent most of my time drumming, driving, or walking with our granddaughter - so I didn't take as many pictures as I now wish I had. A huge thank you to everyone who walked with us, fed us, housed us, met us along the way, vigiled with us, asked questions, gave answers, smiled at us, honked at us, or prayed for us to have a good journey. Your prayers were felt. Hopefully others, with more pictures, will share them also. I hope you find a picture or two that you enjoy.
Thank you one and all for your support. --The Sacred Shellmound Peace Walkers:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/11/24/18463197.php?printable=true