UPDATE
Pursuant to Betty Ann Peltier Solano's letter about her brother,
let the Bureau of Prisons know that the public will hold them
accountable for the safety and wellbeing of Leonard Peltier.
Please include the following information in appeals for his safety:
Leonard Peltier #89637-132 USP-Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
PO Box 300
Waymart, PA 18472
--------------------------------
Warden Ronnie R. Holt, Warden
USP-Canaan
U.S. Penitentiary
3057 Easton Turnpike
Waymart, PA 18472
Phone: 570-488-8000
Fax: 570-488-8130
E-mail address: CAA/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
D. Scott Dodrill, Director
Northeast Regional Office
Federal Bureau of Prisons
2nd & Chesnut Streets., 7th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Harley G. Lappin, Director
Bureau of Prisons
U.S. Department of Justice
320 First Street, NW, Room 654
Washington, DC 20534
Phone: 202-307-3250
Fax: 202-514-6878
Ask President Obama to investigate this incident:
The Honorable Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461
E-mail: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
-----
Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org
URGENT! Leonard Peltier's Safety in Jeopardy!
Dear LP Supporters,
I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.
We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not
even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner. He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won't name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.
This attack on LP comes on the heels of the FBI's recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit LP as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator. It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage "it takes an Indian to catch an Indian". In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with LP. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM. When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He
also began to speak on Leonard's behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.
We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for his continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers. The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!
Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to
them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that LP is receiving adequate medical attention for his injuries.
I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don't know what else to do. Please Help!
Thank you Betty Peltier-Solano Executive Coordinator Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Also call and request Leonard be treated with dignity and
respect. Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000 Friends of Peltier
http://www.freepeltiernow.org/
07/21/09, Wednesday, on American Indian Airwaves
"Post Inaugurational Programming and Leonard Peltier Update"
Part 1: Honorable Debra Sanchez (Chumash Nation), Los Angeles County Supreme Court Judge, Ron Andrade (La Jolla Nation) Director at Indian Commission for Los Angeles County, and Chris Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk Nations), Executive Director of the Seventh Generation Fund For Indian Development ( http://www.7genfund.org/) join us for this segment of today's show to discuss their experiences of attending President Barak Obama's Inauguration, and what this presidency means for indigenous peoples and their respective First Nations.
Part 2: Micheal Kuzma, former Leonard Peltier's Defense Attorney, provides listeners with an update Leonard Peltier's case, his recent transfer to Canaan Federal Penitentiary, 3057 EASTON TURNPIKE, WAYMART, PA 18472, 570-488-8000 and how he was beaten when recently transferred.
American Indian Airwaves regularly broadcast every Wednesday from 3pm to 4pm (PCT) on KPFK FM 90.7 in Los Angles, FM 98.7 in Santa Barbara, and by Internet with Real Media Player, Winamp, & Itunes at http :// www.kpfk.org , and American Indian Airwaves now broadcast every Saturday from 3pm to 4pm (ECT) on WCRS 98.3/102.1 in Columbus, OH. Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/aiairwaves
SPECIAL NOTICE: weekly shows can now be heard on the KPFK web site ( http://www.kpfk.org ) under "audio archives" located on the left. Scroll down and click on American Indian Airwaves.
January 20, 2009
Sixty-nine graves of O'odham ancestors destroyed for border wall near Nogales
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Homeland Security destroyed 69 graves of Tohono O'odham ancestors in one location alone while constructing the US/Mexico border wall south of Tucson, in violation of all federal laws created to protect American Indian remains.
Homeland Security and US courts waived all federal laws to protect Native American graves and the environment and then allowed for border wall construction at San Pedro near Nogales. The graves were violated and the details were not made public.
Although the archaeologist exposing the desecration only revealed it as a rare find, for O'odham, these are the graves of their ancestors which were destroyed.
Archaeologist Maren Hopkins said the village is believed to have existed from around A.D. 700 to 1200.
"Archaeologists found: 23 pit houses, 14 possible pit houses, 97 thermal pits, a number of storage pits, five dog burials and 69 human burials. As is customary in this region, the human remains have been repatriated to the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation," according to the Nogales International newspaper.
In October 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pushed ahead with the fence, winning federal court approval to waive federal laws.
In another location in May of 2007, the contractor Boeing dug up O'odham ancestors on Tohono O'odham Nation land, southwest of Sells, Arizona. Although the Tohono O'odham Nation did not make the desecration public, O'odham Ofelia Rivas exposed the destruction of O'odham graves. The ancestors were reburied at this location.
The U.S. has not revealed the total number of Native American graves that were dug up and destroyed while building the US/Mexico border wall after the US waived all federal laws. The border divides the traditional homelands of many Indigenous Peoples, including the Kumeyaay in California, the Cocopah and Tohono O'odham in Arizona and the Tigua at Ysleta del Sur in El Paso, Texas. Near Brownsville, Texas, the Lipan Apache continue to fight the seizure of lands by Homeland Security for the border wall.
The region south of Tucson, where 69 graves were desecrated by Homeland Security, is the same region where the Israeli Apartheid corporation Elbit Systems was subcontracted by Boeing for border spy technology. Elbit also performed work on the Apartheid Wall of Israel and provided unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the US border in southern Arizona.
Those drones were based at Fort Huachuca, where protesters have protested the US Army Intelligence Center's role in torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army personnel responsible for torture in Abu Ghraib were trained at Fort Huachuca. Earlier, Fort Huachuca was the location of the publication of the School of Americas' torture training manuals, made public in 1996, responsible for the murder, rape and torture of masses in Central and South American in the 1980s and 1990s. An unknown number of Indigenous Peoples and farmers were tortured and executed as their lands were seized for corporations.
Read more of the Nogales International article:
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2009/01/20/news/doc4975f30441897554681215.txt
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Homeland Security destroyed 69 graves of Tohono O'odham ancestors in one location alone while constructing the US/Mexico border wall south of Tucson, in violation of all federal laws created to protect American Indian remains.
Homeland Security and US courts waived all federal laws to protect Native American graves and the environment and then allowed for border wall construction at San Pedro near Nogales. The graves were violated and the details were not made public.
Although the archaeologist exposing the desecration only revealed it as a rare find, for O'odham, these are the graves of their ancestors which were destroyed.
Archaeologist Maren Hopkins said the village is believed to have existed from around A.D. 700 to 1200.
"Archaeologists found: 23 pit houses, 14 possible pit houses, 97 thermal pits, a number of storage pits, five dog burials and 69 human burials. As is customary in this region, the human remains have been repatriated to the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation," according to the Nogales International newspaper.
In October 2007, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pushed ahead with the fence, winning federal court approval to waive federal laws.
In another location in May of 2007, the contractor Boeing dug up O'odham ancestors on Tohono O'odham Nation land, southwest of Sells, Arizona. Although the Tohono O'odham Nation did not make the desecration public, O'odham Ofelia Rivas exposed the destruction of O'odham graves. The ancestors were reburied at this location.
The U.S. has not revealed the total number of Native American graves that were dug up and destroyed while building the US/Mexico border wall after the US waived all federal laws. The border divides the traditional homelands of many Indigenous Peoples, including the Kumeyaay in California, the Cocopah and Tohono O'odham in Arizona and the Tigua at Ysleta del Sur in El Paso, Texas. Near Brownsville, Texas, the Lipan Apache continue to fight the seizure of lands by Homeland Security for the border wall.
The region south of Tucson, where 69 graves were desecrated by Homeland Security, is the same region where the Israeli Apartheid corporation Elbit Systems was subcontracted by Boeing for border spy technology. Elbit also performed work on the Apartheid Wall of Israel and provided unmanned aerial vehicles to patrol the US border in southern Arizona.
Those drones were based at Fort Huachuca, where protesters have protested the US Army Intelligence Center's role in torture in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army personnel responsible for torture in Abu Ghraib were trained at Fort Huachuca. Earlier, Fort Huachuca was the location of the publication of the School of Americas' torture training manuals, made public in 1996, responsible for the murder, rape and torture of masses in Central and South American in the 1980s and 1990s. An unknown number of Indigenous Peoples and farmers were tortured and executed as their lands were seized for corporations.
Read more of the Nogales International article:
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2009/01/20/news/doc4975f30441897554681215.txt
Bad Bear's Photos: Barrick Protest in Reno
Photos by Carl "Bad Bear" Sampson of the protest in front of federal court in Reno today to protect Western Shoshone's sacred Mount Tenabo. Thank you!Photos Western Shoshone protest federal court Reno
Photos copyright Lisa Wolf. Western Shoshone protest Barrick Gold's destruction of sacred Mount Tenabo, outside federal court in Reno today. Special thanks to Lisa Wolf for sending today's photos to Censored News. Please read articles below.Hearing begins in Reno on disputed gold mine
Tuesday, January 20 2:28 p.m.
Tuesday, January 20 2:28 p.m.
By SANDRA CHEREB Associated Press Writer
Western Shoshone tribal members packed a Reno courtroom Tuesday, trying to persuade a federal judge to halt at least part of a huge gold mine they claim would desecrate a sacred landmark.
Western Shoshone tribal members packed a Reno courtroom Tuesday, trying to persuade a federal judge to halt at least part of a huge gold mine they claim would desecrate a sacred landmark.
Lawyers for Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. and the federal government disagreed with their claims that mining on Mount Tenabo in northeast Nevada would prevent the Shoshone from practicing their religion.Roger Flynn, an attorney representing members of the Western Shoshone and the environmental group Great Basin Resource Watch, told U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks that Barrick's Cortez Hills Project near Crescent Valley some 250 miles east of Reno would cause irreparable harm to the mountain.
Western Shoshone and environmentalists are seeking a preliminary injunction to block construction of the planned 6,700-acre project until a trial can be held on the merits of the tribe's claims.Among other things, they argue the U.S. Bureau of Land Management used flawed environmental studies when it approved the project, which would include a 900-acre open pit, 2,000 feet deep.
Opponents also claim the approval violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act because the say the mine will prevent Western Shoshone from practicing their religion.
Shawn Collins, a member of the Te-Moak band of Western Shoshone and a third generation miner, said his ancestors were born on Mount Tenabo, which he described as the source of the family's "puha," or life force.A heavy equipment operator for Newmont Mining Corp., Collins said he does not oppose mining, but objects to the work planned on Tenabo.Collins testified he also was concerned about groundwater levels that environmental studies projected could drop more than 200 feet if the mine goes forward.The water, he said, "is like the veins in our body ... the earth blood.""If you do pump the water, you're taking the life from the mountain," he said.
Francis Wikstrom, a lawyer for Barrick, said in his opening statement that the mountain has been mined for more than century, and the mine would not prevent Western Shoshone from practicing their beliefs.Western Shoshone "consider all of the land, all of the air, all of the water sacred," he said, not just Mount Tenabo."They can conduct religious services anywhere," he said.Wikstrom said stopping the mine would cause economic harm to the company and workers.
Outside the federal courthouse, about three dozen Western Shoshone and others demonstrated. Some beat drums while others held signs reading, "Gold is not worth more than water," and "Gold is not above life and culture."
Censored Blog Radio: Western Shoshone and Paiute Protests
Censored News Radio: Western Shoshone and Paiute
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Western Shoshone and Paiute protest gold mining and cultural artifacts abuse
Today's special broadcast on Censored News Blog Radio focuses on protests in Nevada. On Saturday at Pyramid Lake, about 150 Paiutes and supporters gathered to protest where the Marina operator has held Paiutes and their cultural items "hostage."
Today in Reno at the federal courthouse, Western Shoshone protest to halt Barrick Gold mining on Mount Tenabo, as a hearing is scheduled to begin.
The show includes an interview with Carrie Dann by Larry Smith, about sacred Mount Tenabo, rebroadcast with permission from American Indian Airwaves. On the telephone with Censored News Radio, Wayne Burke, Paiute, describes the protest at Pyramid Lake to protect the cultural treasures, during the last 10 minutes of the 90 minute show.
Thanks to Pura Fe for today's "Stand Up" song. Pura Fe told Censored News, "The Female rapper is Leilani from Seattle. She's Kwaquiootle and Samoan and then the dude rapper is called "Native Prophecy" form a hip hop group named Antithesis from the Bay area. I met Antithesis during the Longest Walk Benefit concert. And the wild electric guitar solo is Danny Godinez, who is Azteca. He also helped me with the backup vocals and recorded me and my slide guitar and drum loop." http://www.purafe.com/ or www.myspace.com/purafe
Today's show includes music and audio by Janice Gardipe, Paiute/Western Shoshone, Longest Walk singers at Cahokia Mounds, Keith Secola at AIM West Reunion, Floyd Westerman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson's ''Music For Native Americans," Mary Youngblood, and a statement by Bill Means on Raymond Yellow Thunder. Thanks to Earthcycles for recordings of Janice Gardipe, Longest Walk singers and Bill Means.
Barrick, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, plans to construct and operate the mine, known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project, said the Western Shoshone Defense Project.
The Project area is located entirely within the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 900 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo (in order to keep the open pit and mine workings dry during mining) and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land.
Listen at Censored News:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Western Shoshone and Paiute protest gold mining and cultural artifacts abuse
Today's special broadcast on Censored News Blog Radio focuses on protests in Nevada. On Saturday at Pyramid Lake, about 150 Paiutes and supporters gathered to protest where the Marina operator has held Paiutes and their cultural items "hostage."
Today in Reno at the federal courthouse, Western Shoshone protest to halt Barrick Gold mining on Mount Tenabo, as a hearing is scheduled to begin.
The show includes an interview with Carrie Dann by Larry Smith, about sacred Mount Tenabo, rebroadcast with permission from American Indian Airwaves. On the telephone with Censored News Radio, Wayne Burke, Paiute, describes the protest at Pyramid Lake to protect the cultural treasures, during the last 10 minutes of the 90 minute show.
Thanks to Pura Fe for today's "Stand Up" song. Pura Fe told Censored News, "The Female rapper is Leilani from Seattle. She's Kwaquiootle and Samoan and then the dude rapper is called "Native Prophecy" form a hip hop group named Antithesis from the Bay area. I met Antithesis during the Longest Walk Benefit concert. And the wild electric guitar solo is Danny Godinez, who is Azteca. He also helped me with the backup vocals and recorded me and my slide guitar and drum loop." http://www.purafe.com/ or www.myspace.com/purafe
Today's show includes music and audio by Janice Gardipe, Paiute/Western Shoshone, Longest Walk singers at Cahokia Mounds, Keith Secola at AIM West Reunion, Floyd Westerman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Robbie Robertson's ''Music For Native Americans," Mary Youngblood, and a statement by Bill Means on Raymond Yellow Thunder. Thanks to Earthcycles for recordings of Janice Gardipe, Longest Walk singers and Bill Means.
Barrick, the world’s largest gold mining company, headquartered in Toronto, Canada, plans to construct and operate the mine, known as the Cortez Hills Expansion Project, said the Western Shoshone Defense Project.
The Project area is located entirely within the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, recognized in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley. The Mine would blast and excavate a new massive open pit on Mount Tenabo over 900 acres in size, with a depth of over 2,000 feet. It would include several new waste disposal and processing facilities (including a cyanide heap-leaching facility), consisting of approximately 1,577 million tons of waste rock, 53 million tons of tailings material, and 112 million tons of spent heap leach material. The Mine would include an extensive groundwater pumping system to dewater Mount Tenabo (in order to keep the open pit and mine workings dry during mining) and associated water pipelines that will transport the pumped water away from Mount Tenabo. In total, the mine would permanently destroy approximately 6,800 acres land on and around Mount Tenabo, over 90% of which is classified as federal “public” land.
Listen at Censored News:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
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