Hated Nation: Federal courtroom becomes healing balm

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON – The dialogue in a federal courtroom here evolved into a healing balm, revealing a nation, the United States, that the world has grown weary of, and a growing number of aging Americans willing to serve time in prison to expose the cancer within.

Torture was again on trial in federal court in Tucson Monday, Feb. 4. But in dialogue that surprised those that packed the courtroom, the healing remedy of grace and understanding were combined with wisdom and the spiritual foundation for a better world.

Two of the protesters of US torture arrived in court suffering from cold and sleep deprivation. Betsy Lamb and Franciscan Fr. Jerry Zawada, in prison awaiting trial, had spent the night in cold, bare holding cells. Those holding cells are where all inmates from the privately-run prisons in Florence wait all night before a court appearance.
Dressed in thin prison clothes in a cell without a bed, there is only a cold, stone floor to lie on.

Mary Burton Riseley, in a wheelchair and sick with the flu, appeared with fellow defendants Lamb and Fr. Zawada.

Read article:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/02/hated-nation-federal-courtroom-becomes.html

Col. Ann Wright: Bush and Cheney are axis of evil

Singing all the way to prison, aging Americans go to prison to protest US torture

By Brenda Norrell
Human rights editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

TUCSON – President Bush and his top advisors have violated international laws prohibiting torture and must be held accountable, Retired Army Col. Ann Wright told a gathering in Tucson.
It is the same style of torture that Carlos Mauricio suffered through in El Salvador in 1983. Mauricio’s torturers were trained by the US military who used the manuals of the U.S. School of the Americas.
Col. Wright and Mauricio spoke at the Festival of Hope on Feb. 3, as three more aging Americans, prepared for a hearing and possible prison sentences, following peaceful protests of the Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca.
Exposing the secrets of torture, in solidarity with the poor and oppressed, prisoners of conscience arrived from throughout the United States to prepare for a court hearing in federal court here on Monday, Feb. 4.
Fr. Jerry Zawada and Betsy Lamb, both in prison in Florence awaiting trial, and Mary Burton Riseley, are charged with conspiracy, trespass and failure to obey an officer at Fort Huachuca in November.
Already in prison are two priests, Fr. Steve Kelly and Fr. Louis Vitale, for kneeling in prayer in protest of US torture at Fort Huachuca in Nov. 2006.
Mauricio began with these words, “My story belongs to many El Salvadorans.”
Read article ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/02/col-ann-wright-says-bush-and-cheney-are.html

Native groups file suit over Chukchi Sea lease sale

Inupiat elders resolution prompts region-wide lawsuit

By Indigenous Environmental Network

POINT HOPE, Alaska -- Today the Native Village of Point Hope, the City of Point Hope, the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope (ICAS), and the Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) Alaska Native Network, a project of the Indigenous Environmental Network filed a lawsuit to fight the Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193. Minerals Management Service (MMS) plans to hold the lease sale on February 6, 2008.
The Point Hope Elders Advisory Council, the traditional Inupiat leaders of the Native Village of Point Hope, passed a resolution supporting a legal challenge to prevent offshore oil and gas activities in the Chukchi Sea.“We support a legal challenge to MMS for holding Lease Sale 193 and we encourage others to follow us. As the traditional leaders of Point Hope, we ask all Inupiaq people to join us in our opposition to leasing the Chukchi Sea to oil and gas exploration and development. Help us protect our garden and the way of life we all share,” said David U. Stone, Sr., President of the Point Hope Elders Advisory Council.
The City of Point Hope has joined the lawsuit.“The people of TIKIGAQ [traditional name for the people of Point Hope] have hunted and depended on the animals that migrate through the Chukchi Sea for thousands of years. This is our garden, our identity, our livelihood,” said Steve Oomittuk, Point Hope City Mayor. "Without it we would not be who we are today. Even at this present day and time the animals from these waters shelter, clothe, and feed us. We would be greatly impacted if anything happened to our ocean and the animals that migrate through the Chukchi Sea. We oppose any activity that will endanger our way of life and the animals that we greatly depend on,” said Oomittuk.
The approximately 30 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Chukchi Sea 193 lease area include core habitat for polar bear and Pacific walrus, and encompasses the migration route of the bowhead whale, which the Inupiaq people of the North Slope have subsisted on for thousands of years ... Read article ...
http://indigenist.blogspot.com/
Photo 1: Inupait Heritage Center Photo 2: Department of Fisheries and Oceans

Longest Walk website up and running after being hacked

By Brenda Norrell

The Mohawk Nation News website was sabotaged this week and the Longest Walk website was hacked.
Rudy Preston writes at the Longest Walk site, "Sorry we were down all day. A hacker got into our server and added a piece of malicious javascript. It was deleting important files from our server. It is probably because of our public forum. We were trying to respect your private information by not collecting any. Unfortunately that allowed just anyone to post things in our forum and comment section. They were able to completely destroy a few things. Luckily I had a backup of the website.
"We are back up and running but we will have to start having people register to the site to post forum items and comments. It will also mean we will be moderating the forum. No longer will anything be instantly posted. A moderator will have to check them to be sure there is no malicious javascript in them. Sorry for the red tape, but I unfortunately have no other way to go at this point."
Preston is preparing a login form now to prevent future problems. Meanwhile, the Mohawk Naton News website is also back up and running after ownership of the website was seized away from Mohawk publisher Kahentinetha Horn. Likely the governments of Canada and Quebec are not too happy about MNN. On Tuesday, MNN exposed Canada's $40 million militia covert Op to destroy the Kanehsatake Mohawks. It took three years to obtain the government documents.
Meanwhile, the Longest Walk is preparing events and concerts for Feb. 8 -- 11. The Alcatraz ceremony is February 11, which follows with the kickoff of the two routes across America, the northern and southern routes.

Chuck Billy, Pomo and lead singer of legendary thrash metal band Testament, will perform at the Longest Walk Kickoff Concert on Saturday, February 9. The concert begins at 5:00PM at the Eastside Cultural Center in Oakland. Chuck Billy will perform alongside his brother Andy and 2006 Native American GRAMMY & NAMA recipient Star Nayea.

The Longest Walk Kickoff Concert also features performances by 7th Generation Rise, Blackhorse Blues Band, Jeremy Goodfeather, and others TBA. Tickets range in price from $25-$40.The concert is a benefit for the Longest Walk 2, which kicks off on Monday, February 11. The Longest Walk 2 is being organized and led by American Indian Movement co-founder Dennis J. Banks. Participants will embark on a 5-month journey across America, walking over 4,400 miles to Washington, D.C. arriving on July 11, 2008. It is an extraordinary grassroots effort on a national level to bring attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth.

Longest Walk 2
http://www.longestwalk.com/

Mohawk Nation News:

http://www.mohawknationnews.com/