Alaskans rally to tell EPA 'NO!' to Shell

Photo Alaska's Big Village Network

Alaskans Rally to tell EPA “NO!” to Shell

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Today: July 23, 2012


ANCHORAGE -- A group of concerned Alaskans are rallying outside of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Alaska Headquarters to demand that the agency uphold the Law and deny Shell’s request for a pollution waiver for its Arctic drilling project. This rally is held in conjunction with a rally of environmental organizations at EPA’s US headquarters in Washington, DC.

Shell is trying to obtain major changes to the Clean Air Act requirements for three different pollutants from two different sources, the Discoverer, and the ice-class oil spill response barge, the Nanuq. Shell is asking for EPA to completely do away with its limit on ammonia emissions, to triple limits on nitrogen oxide and to alter its limit for particulate matter.

"The Arctic Ocean is my garden," says Earl Kingik, Tribal Liaison for Alaska Wilderness League, "Please, no drilling in my garden."

The Arctic Ocean provides abundant food and rich cultural resources for the Inupiat. The toxic air pollution falls out into the Arctic Ocean, where it wreaks havoc on the ecosystem productivity and the welfare of Inupiat and all Alaska Native peoples that depend on migratory marine species. The particle pollution bioaccumulates in all organisms from the plankton to the marine birds, fish, whales, walrus, seals and ultimately this pollution adversely impacts the health of indigenous peoples and foremost, the Inupiat.

“EPA must ensure that meaningful and significant consultation occurs with Tribal Governments on significant changes to Shell’s permits,” says Delice Calcote, Executive Director for Alaska Inter-Tribal Council (AITC). AITC has a 2009 resolution opposing offshore exploration and drilling.

The Alaska Wilderness League and Pacific Environment were among 16 groups that sent a letter to EPA on Thursday, July 19th, calling on the agency to deny Shell's request and saying the company would be in violation of Clean Air Act regulations if EPA allowed the waiver.

“Shell has problems that are racking up, and they are backtracking on their promises to the coastal communities”, says Nikos Pastos, Environmental Sociologist for Center for Water Advocacy. “The US Government needs to take a critical look at Shell’s oil spill response capabilities in the harsh Arctic Ocean ice conditions.”

Shell’s drillship, Noble Discover, is being investigated by the US Coast Guard on how the ship narrowly averted disaster in Dutch Harbor last Saturday when it appeared to run aground. Questions remain about how this ship will handle Arctic sea ice as it barely avoided catastrophe in the non-ice waters of the Northern Pacific and Southern Bering Sea.

Shell also backtracked and downgraded its aging oil spill response barge, Arctic Challenger, to less stringent requirements in the event of a major storm as it continues to undergo construction in Bellingham, WA. The 38-year old barge that is set to ‘anchor’ between the Beaufort and Chukchi is clearly not up to design standards to handle extreme Arctic conditions.
 
Where: 222 W. 7th Ave (corner of C Street) Contact: Carl Wassilie, Alaska’s Big Village Network

When: 12pm- 1pm, Monday July 23, 2012 Carlwassilie.acyn@gmail.com









July 23, 2012

Lakota Alex White Plume challenges UN on treaties and genuine Native representatives

Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

GENEVA -- Lakota Alex White Plume challenged the United Nations to honor US treaties and bring genuine traditional Indigenous Peoples to the UN, those who speak their own language, and will speak out for their people against colonization.

Speaking at the UN Third Seminar on Treaties, White Plume explained the Lakota Oyate position. He represented Chief Red Cloud and nine traditional societies. White Plume said he doesn't want to wait another 20 years for the Treaty of Fort Laramie to be upheld.

"There is no solution in this room," White Plume said, questioning if the people present are Americans.

"Americans are known for being lying, stealing, thieving people."

White Plume said, "I'm just tired of hearing all of this talk."

White Plume said the Lakota people have gone through genocide, suffer historical trauma, and are tired of the talk.

"We went through genocide and historical grief and trauma. It is not the easiest way to live."

White Plume said if the people in the room do not speak their traditional language, then they have no business representing traditional people.

White Plume was given three feathers so that he could go out of his area and speak on the treaty.

"If I have to come back next year, I want to see some real traditional people in here."

White Plume said he will no longer speak English in these discussion. He will speak Lakota next time, and bring a translator.

"Do you really represent your people in a traditional way?"

Speaking out against the takers, and colonizers, he said, "'Wasichu' means the taking of the fat, or American people."

"We are not going to keep living in this colonized way."

Watch video for more, and see:
www.oweakuinternational.org

Photos: Klamath Modoc run with Peace and Dignity runners

Thanks to Manny Calapoo of Warm Springs, Oregon for sharing his photos with Censored News
"Warren Quinn and Rick McGarva, in the Klamath/Modoc region, local people came out to run with Peace and  Dignity Runners," writes Manny. In the bottom photo, Manny near Diamond Lake, Oregon.
Update Sunday, July 22, 2012, Manny said: "Today the Journey continues from Diamond Lake to Crater Lake, then into Chiloquin. Our host met us at Diamond Lake and cooked for everyone."
While one route of runners is in Oregon, another route of the Peace and Dignity Journeys ran through Red Lake and is headed to Hayward, Wisconsin, for the Honor the Earth Powwow. Thanks to Nmekebenais Ninisidotahmin for the update.

Mohawk Nation News: Aurora Today's Sand Creek Massacre 1864

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Aurora Today's Sand Creek Massacre

Mohawk Nation News
http://mohawknationnews.com/blog/?p=835

MNN. July 21, 2012. The Aurora theatre killer, James Holmes, grew up in San Diego California. His mother sent him to Denver to study for his Phd in neuroscience.
Americans are horrified about the chaotic, horrific, tumultuous and bloody mass murders in the movie theatre showing “Dark Night Rises”. Yet they live unconcerned over the top of our graves. This hemisphere is soaked in our people’s blood, all killed by psychotic mass murderers.
Aurora is 100 miles from the site of the Sand Creek massacre, November 29, 1864. Old Denver families were behind this mass murder of Cheyenne and Arapaho men, women and children.

In the spring of 1864 the Cheyenne and Arapaho were ready for peace. They met with US Officers, Evans and Chivington, at Camp Weld outside of Denver. No treaties were signed. The Indians were offered a sanctuary at Fort Lyon. Black Kettle and over 500 Cheyenne and Arapaho travelled south to set up camp on Sand Creek, near Eads, the town later built on top of the massacre site. Some dissenters headed north to join the Sioux.
General Samuel Curtis sent a telegram, “I want no peace till the Indians suffer more”. 700 Cavalry volunteers called “100 Dazers”, assembled in Denver. The camps of Chief Black Kettle, White Antelope, Left Hand and others, lay in the valley before them. Chivington, with mostly drunken troops, headed to Sand Creek with 4 Howitzers. Black Kettle raised both flags of peace. Chivington raised his arm for attack. Cannon and rifles pounded the camp. The Indians scattered. The frenzied soldiers hunted down and murdered the men, women and children. A few warriors managed to fight back. Silas Soule of Massachussets did not allow his soldiers to fire into the crowd.
Troops continued the murders all day. One bragged about killing 3 women and 5 children who were screaming for mercy. They murdered all the wounded, mutilated and scalped them. They cut open the pregnant women’s bellies and laid the fetus on the bodies. They plundered tipis and divided up the herd of horses. Black Kettle’s wife was shot 9 times and survived. The Cheyenne Dog Warriors who opposed the peace treaty provided sanctuary for the survivors.
The Colorado volunteers returned to Denver as heroes, with scalps of women and children. Colorado residents celebrated. Chivington appeared on a Denver stage telling war stories and displayed 100 Indigenous scalps, including pubic hair of women. Many of the elite of Denver society today are the children of these murderers.

Eye witnesses came forward and reported the murders. Silas Soule testified against Chivington, and was murdered by Charles Squires. It was found to be a carefully planned massacre. Asked why kids were killed, “Nits make lice”, said Chivington.

As word of the massacre spread, the Indigenous resistance to white expansion stiffened. This massacre led to the Little Big Horn battle on June 25-6, 1876 where General George Custer and his men were wiped out by the Lakota lead by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull.

In December 29, 1890, the US 7^th Cavalry commanded by Samuel M. Whitside lead the massacre of over 350 Lakota at Wounded Knee Creek.


We have had to live with these horrors since the arrival of the invaders, while they send their “cry babies” to doctors for counselling.
That mindset to slaughter people was brought here. 80 are shot and killed daily in the US, not counting stabbings and death by other means.
Orders always come from the top. On December 26, 1862 Lincoln sanctioned the hanging of 38 randomly picked Indian men and boys without trial, the largest mass hanging in US history. One week later, January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves. The Blacks then formed the regiment called the Buffalo Soldiers who proudly massacred the Indigenous for their masters. Today both races celebrate their plunder with medals and the theft of our land.

Was James Holmes trying to mimic the mindset of those Denver people? If he is insane, then Washington, Grant and Lincoln, and all the other presidents who gave orders to totally annihilate us, are all insane as well.
The Americans must be reminded of this continuing genocide. If they don’t know their history, it is bound to repeat itself. The lesson is: be careful what you ask for, you might just get it.
The movie-goers went to the theatre to see murder, death, chaos and plunder. Then they got it for real!

As Bob Marley sang about, “Buffalo soldier, dread-lock rasta.”
MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives. Address: Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0

PBS exposes Border Patrol torture, sexual abuse and cruelty

Watch Need to Know 7/20/12 on PBS. See more from Need To Know.

PBS exposes US Border Patrol agents' sexual abuse and torture of migrants, and pouring out life-saving water in the desert

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Friday, July 20, 2012

Need to Know, Crossing the Line, Part II, PBS exposes torture by US Border Patrol agents, sexual abuse of migrants, and pouring out life-saving water in the desert. (Watch program above.)
PBS exposes how a Border Patrol agent sexually abused a migrant entering at Las Cruces, N.M., for 15 minutes, calling her "baby." Then, when the woman went to view the lineup of agents to file charges in El Paso, she was taken into a room alone and searched by agents to intimidate her.
In the interviews, even US citizens are harassed by US Border Patrol agents.
A Border Patrol agent whistleblower in Tucson said migrants were crammed into cells, even when other cells were empty. Food and water was denied migrants in custody for up to two days, the whistleblower said.
Migrants in Nogales describe the verbal abuse from agents, and also screaming to be let out of hot, overcrowded cells. One young man describes how he was denied medical treatment after being lost for three days, dehydrated and vomiting blood.
The Red Cross is now in Nogales, Mexico, treating migrants who are sick because of the abuse and who have been beaten by US Border Patrol agents. It was this fact, that the Red Cross has responded, that caused PBS to expand their investigation.
In one video excerpt, US Border Patrol agent David Kermes is shown pouring out life-saving water left for migrants in the desert. On Kermes Facebook page, he posted a photo of migrants, with these words: "Run you little bastards."
A hidden camera placed by the humanitarian group No More Deaths shows a female Border Patrol agent kicking gallons of water over, which could save the lives of migrants, and down into a ravine.
PBS exposes how detained migrants were forced to stand in stress positions for three hours, which is a form of torture. Migrants were forced to kneel on bottle caps in one form of torture.
Border Patrol cameras were covered at the time to prevent exposure of the agents.
The PBS program exposes the same facts that Tohono O'odham human rights activists have been exposing for years. Formal complaints have been filed with Homeland Security following the physical abuse of O'odham on their own land, the Tohono O'odham Nation, by US Border Patrol agents.

About Crossing the Line

Need to Know continues its investigation into alleged abuses by U.S. Border Patrol agents and officers on American soil. Correspondent John Larson investigates stories of physical abuse, sexual assault, and even torture.
This week, Need to Know travels to the border town of Nogales, Mexico to speak with recently deported immigrants living in a migrant shelter. Although Customs and Border Protection provide public reports of complaints of poor treatment, the official numbers pale in comparison to what occurs on the ground. Migrants spoke extensively about massive over-crowding and mistreatment of detainees in U.S. Border Patrol detention facilities. We heard stories of physical abuse from detainees who claim they were deprived of food, water and medical care. We even heard allegations of torture.
To take a closer look at these allegations, our team traveled deep into the mountains of central Mexico to speak with a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by a Border Patrol officer. Correspondent John Larson speaks with a former Border Patrol agent turned whistleblower, who describes deplorable conditions in detention centers.
Border Patrol has strict guidelines on the treatment of migrants staying in detention centers. These guidelines include consequences for agents and officers who break the rules. Our report investigates whether Border Patrol policies— and even international law—are being broken in the rush to secure the U.S. border.
“Crossing the Border” has been produced with assistance from the Nation Institute and the Investigative News Network.