Guantanamo hunger strikers defiant, despite force feedings
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Twice a day at the U.S. military prison here, Abdul Rahman Shalabi and Zaid Salim Zuhair Ahmed are strapped down in padded restraint chairs and flexible yellow tubes are inserted through their noses and throats. Milky nutritional supplements, mixed with water and olive oil to add calories and ease constipation, pour into their stomachs.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070720/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_hunger_strikes
July 20, 2007
Algonquin Defenders: Uranium, cancer and poisoned water
Canada: Sharbot Lake Rejects Offer
In Sharbot Lake within the past couple of months a small number of the Algonquins from the Ardoch First Nation repatriated their unceded traditional lands, still currently used by Natives and Non-Natives for hunting and fishing.
In the same area in Northern Ontario , a corporation called FRONTENAC VENTURES has been "testing" the area for "possible" uranium mining for a few years. The area they repatriated is currently under negotiations with CANADA . However these negotiations are "on hold" by CANADA . Yet FRONTENAC still has a license to carry on with their "testing".
Yesterday Frontenac Ventures made a financial offer to the Algonquins of Ardoch First Nation. This financial offer was flat out rejected by the Algonquins. No amount of money can ever compensate them for the likelihood of death, cancer, mutated births, still births, sterilization and other health risks that will arise as a direct result of uranium mining.
The health risks are too great for our future generations. The environmental damage will be substantial and unstoppable. Why take the risk with any of our children? The responsibility of our people is to maintain life for our future generations. That's all aspects of life. The plant life, animal life and human life. We are born with a responsibility to protect life, no matter what the cost is to us.
The Algonquins need our support as they are undertaking a HUGE responsibility. They are fighting to protect practically the whole watershed of Northeastern Ontario.
Everyone connected to that watershed will benefit, when the Algonquins are successful.
When asked about the financial offer one Algonquin stated, "...we can not be bought. (the land repatriation is) Not about money..."
Janie Jamieson
[To help contact:
Chief Paula Sherman 613-279-1970 paulasherman@trentu.ca
Bob Lovelace at 613-374-5598, Cell 613-532-2166;
Harold Perry 613-479-5534;
Lynn Daniluk 613-268-2746 Cell 614-267-0539;
Ormond Lee of the settler committee 613-267-7584
Post by MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com.
July 20, 2007.
In Sharbot Lake within the past couple of months a small number of the Algonquins from the Ardoch First Nation repatriated their unceded traditional lands, still currently used by Natives and Non-Natives for hunting and fishing.
In the same area in Northern Ontario , a corporation called FRONTENAC VENTURES has been "testing" the area for "possible" uranium mining for a few years. The area they repatriated is currently under negotiations with CANADA . However these negotiations are "on hold" by CANADA . Yet FRONTENAC still has a license to carry on with their "testing".
Yesterday Frontenac Ventures made a financial offer to the Algonquins of Ardoch First Nation. This financial offer was flat out rejected by the Algonquins. No amount of money can ever compensate them for the likelihood of death, cancer, mutated births, still births, sterilization and other health risks that will arise as a direct result of uranium mining.
The health risks are too great for our future generations. The environmental damage will be substantial and unstoppable. Why take the risk with any of our children? The responsibility of our people is to maintain life for our future generations. That's all aspects of life. The plant life, animal life and human life. We are born with a responsibility to protect life, no matter what the cost is to us.
The Algonquins need our support as they are undertaking a HUGE responsibility. They are fighting to protect practically the whole watershed of Northeastern Ontario.
Everyone connected to that watershed will benefit, when the Algonquins are successful.
When asked about the financial offer one Algonquin stated, "...we can not be bought. (the land repatriation is) Not about money..."
Janie Jamieson
[To help contact:
Chief Paula Sherman 613-279-1970 paulasherman@trentu.ca
Bob Lovelace at 613-374-5598, Cell 613-532-2166;
Harold Perry 613-479-5534;
Lynn Daniluk 613-268-2746 Cell 614-267-0539;
Ormond Lee of the settler committee 613-267-7584
Post by MNN Mohawk Nation News, www.mohawknationnews.com.
July 20, 2007.
Toxic trailers and smallpox blankets
News links at 
Indianz.com today : FEMA trailers contaminated
US government knew FEMA trailers were toxic:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/003999.asp
Toxic Trailers and Smallpox Blankets
Lakota Spiritual Leader, David Swallow, Speaks Out on Dangerous Conditions
by David Swallow, Lakota Spiritual Leader and a Headman of the Lakota Nation, Edited by Stephanie M. Schwartz and "Deja Vue, Indeed: The Evolving Story of FEMA’s Toxic Trailers," by Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer - Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
Toxic Trailers and Smallpox Blankets
by David Swallow, Lakota Spiritual Leader and a Headman of the Lakota Nation
Edited by Stephanie M. Schwartz
© July 16, 2007 Porcupine, South Dakota
My name is David Swallow. I live near the community of Porcupine on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I want to speak today. I want to speak out against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and extermination in these modern days.
Today, due to the terrible economic situation on the Pine Ridge Reservation, everyone knows that many poor people need housing. Horrible poverty is everywhere here. Reports say unemployment on Pine Ridge is around 85% or worse.
Many of my people are sick. I am told that the life expectancy here on Pine Ridge is between 48-52 years old. By this, I am one who has already lived past when they thought I would die.
There are some people who live good lives. BIA workers and Federal and State Government workers don’t live on the Reservation. They have jobs and live in nice housing in towns in Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Others live good lives, too. Tribal Council members have jobs so they can afford decent housing. They live good.
But all these people are working together to bring toxic, contaminated FEMA trailers left over from Hurricane Katrina to the poorest people of Pine Ridge. They will be creating an ethnic cleansing like in the 1800s when the Government sent blankets to the reservations which had smallpox infection in them.
This new trailer housing creates disease. That is why the Government gives them away to Indians. The Government wants the oil, uranium, and rich minerals that might be on our land but the Indians are in the way of this.
That is the same reason the BIA and the Tribal Council started up the Land Consolidation Act of 2000, to buy up all the Reservation land. With no jobs, little food, and much homelessness, they put us in a position where we have to sell our land.
Now they’re trying to bring in trailer houses infested with toxic chemicals. These chemicals get into the air and make people very sick, especially the children, elders, mothers, and people already with health problems. The contamination causes cancer, heart diseases, lung diseases, rashes, mental problems, breathing problems, many horrible things.
If these trailers are such good housing, why doesn’t the mainstream people want to buy them? Why did their own inspectors warn them about the danger from the high levels of the chemicals? Why are the people already living in them suing the trailer makers and FEMA because of getting sick from the toxic poisons? Why will no one listen when many major mainstream news reports have talked about these FEMA trailers being toxic?
Every time we deal with the Government, they give us a deal like this. This is no good way.
I want to say, we are not “Indians.” We are Lakota. And we Traditional Lakota carry the Red Nation C’anunpa [Sacred Pipe] in Truth. Who walked this land first? The Red Man did. And he should be dealt with in a good way.
We need jobs, not charity. We don’t need contaminated hand-outs. We need lots and lots of jobs. We need good economic-development projects and programs on the Reservation. If we had jobs, we could build our own homes. With jobs, we would be able to solve many of our problems.
If anyone really cares about conditions on the Reservation, they should look to these things. They should not try to kill us with poisoned homes.
So this is what I have to say today. Ho h’ecetu yelo, I have spoken.
David Swallow, Wowitan Yuha Mani
Porcupine, South Dakota – The Pine Ridge Reservation
Deja vue, Indeed: The Evolving Story of FEMA’s Toxic Trailers
by Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer - Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
© July 16, 2007 Firestone, Colorado Stephanie M. Schwartz
In June of 2007, Senator Tim Johnson, FEMA, Congress, and the BIA arranged for 2,000 FEMA trailers to be made available to the Native American reservations in dire need of housing. These trailers are part of the 8,000+ excess, unused FEMA trailers constructed for the victims of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Exactly which American Indian reservations and how many units each reservation will get remains yet to be decided.
The tribes will be required to pay transportation costs as well as the costs to prepare the lots, set the trailers up, and to winterize them. However, clearly this appeared to be a significant help towards the critical need of about
90,000 American Indian families in critical in need of adequate housing (as detailed in a 2003 study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).
According to public statements, Senator Johnson specifically envisioned many of these trailers going to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, a place whose poverty-stricken conditions are likened to third world countries. The Senator and the BIA have been working closely with John Steele, Paul Iron Cloud, and the Tribal Council from Pine Ridge to make it all happen.
It seemed a surprisingly ideal solution, one which many people applauded at first as a huge humanitarian and logical move by the Federal Government. Ideal, that is, until one starts to investigate the history of these mobile homes and learns of an astonishing toxicity issue with the vast majority of the units.
Said to be fully-furnished, three bedroom units, these trailers were built during a construction frenzy created by FEMA's unprepared but immediate need to house Hurricane Katrina survivors. A report from the Sun Herald News in Mississippi in May of 2006 details the picture of this manufacturing frenzy.... untrained workers, a dearth of suitable materials, using materials possibly made outside the U.S. which contained higher levels of chemicals than normally allowed, and low quality control on hastily-created assembly lines.
Chemicals… therein lies the problem. The Government's public announcements about these trailers fail to mention the history of toxic contamination from formaldehyde which has been proven to exist in the FEMA trailers and mobile homes constructed for the victims of Katrina.
Formaldehyde is a chemical which emits gasses which the EPA considers to be highly toxic and carcinogenic (known to cause lung, nose, and throat cancer) but which is not regulated for trailer manufacturing in this country. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to formaldehyde toxins can create irritated eyes, breathing problems, headaches, asthma attacks, coughing, congestive heart disease, nausea, depression, memory-impairment, skin rashes, respiratory problems and even can lead to cancer. To compound the problem, high temperatures or high humidity increase the toxin levels.
Worse, for people who already are compromised with respiratory health issues, and for infants, children, nursing mothers, and elders, exposure can prove disastrous and even more deadly.
Formaldehyde is used in cheap building materials like particle board, plywood, curtains, molded plastics, counter tops, glue, carpet, insulation, and wallpaper. While normal trailers and mobile homes also contain these toxins, the FEMA trailers and mobile homes, hurriedly built as bare-bones cheap models, seem to contain significantly higher concentrations.
In 2006, the Sierra Club tested FEMA trailers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and found 83-94% of them to contain formaldehyde levels far above EPA and OSHA recommended workplace limits of 0.10 parts per million. Other testing has shown comparable results. Varying reports state that the gas levels emitted by the formaldehyde in the contaminated trailers ranged from 3 to 1,000 times the acceptable EPA limits.
Originally, FEMA's response to hundreds of complaints from Katrina victims was that the toxic vapors go away with adequate ventilation after about six months. However, continued testing has proven that not to be the case.
Additionally, according to a report given by journalist Dan Rather on HD-TV, information has come to light that FEMA was informed of the high toxicity by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) just two months after Katrina hit, in October 2005, but chose to ignore the information. Testing to ensure employee safety, OSHA found new units in four county FEMA staging areas to have toxicity levels 20 times above government standards just in the air outside the trailers.
Dan Rather further related his interview with a former FEMA employee who clearly indicated that not only was FEMA aware of the toxic problems but chose to ignore them. Moreover, the employee stated that FEMA advised their employees to remain silent about the test results.
In March of 2007, the Washington Post News reported FEMA's woes in trying to sell their excess trailers and mobile homes. Selling the units at 40 cents on the dollar seemed like simple poor financial management on the part of FEMA in this report.
However, in light of the contamination issues, it may have turned out to be the best financial move FEMA could have made.
In May, 2007, both ABC News and CBS News reported that Louisiana Dem. Senator Mary Landrieu and Louisiana Rep. Congressman Bobby Jindal have each independently called for hearings to address the FEMA trailer toxicity issues and FEMA's poor response as well as to what it knew, how much it knew, and when.
In June, 2007, the Louisiana Advocate News reported that a class-action lawsuit had been filed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Federal Court which claims that "hundreds of thousands" of people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama may have been exposed to dangerously high concentrations of carcinogenic formaldehyde fumes with no recourse or viable solution provided by FEMA.
According to a report in the Washington Post on July 13, 2007, Desiree Collins of Louisiana filed the original lawsuit regarding the contamination of the FEMA trailers. She allowed her lawsuit to become a class-action lawsuit for all Katrina survivors who are victims of the toxic exposure. On July 2, 2007, the 47 year old wife and mother died of lung cancer which was diagnosed only a week before she died. Her husband and children will continue the court case.
Obviously, it seems tragic enough that well over 75-85,000 families, victims of Hurricane Katrina, still have to remain trapped into living in their FEMA units two years after the fact, a home most likely contaminated and dangerous. That, in itself, defies anyone's definition of humanitarian aid.
Yet since June of 2007, with South Dakota Dem. Senator Tim Johnson leading Congress into approval, tribal councils are working hand in hand with the Federal BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to bring 2,000 of these very same trailers to the reservations of South Dakota as well as to other reservations. Again, all under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Deja vue, indeed. We have been here before. The seeming-correlation of the distribution of toxic trailers to the reservations in 2007 and the government dispersing smallpox-infested blankets to the reservations in the 1800s is not so far-fetched at all. It just leaves one wondering…..
For More Information:
Website: Toxic Trailers
Informational Website Resource Dedicated to Katrina Victims Forced to Live in Contaminated Trailers
http://www.toxictrailers.com/
U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services: ATSDR, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry:
Medical Management guidelines for Formaldehyde (HCHO)
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg111.html
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg111.pdf
Dan Rather Reports: 2007 Episode 216: Toxic Trailers
http://www.hd.net/transcript.html?air_master_id=A4558
ABC News: Congressman Wants FEMA Trailers Hearings
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3189161
CBS News: Congress Acts on FEMA Trailer Probe
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/18/cbsnews_investigates/main2827155.shtml
KRISTV: Corpus Christi, Texas: FEMA Trailer Plaintiff Dies of Lung Cancer
http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=6787670
KXMB News: Bismarck/Mandan, North Dakota: FEMA Trailers Headed to Reservations
http://www.kxmb.com/News/Politics/137555.asp
Native American Times: Tulsa, Oklahoma: FEMA’s Potentially Toxic Trailers Headed for Indian Reservations
http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8834
Rapid City Journal: Rapid City, South Dakota: Unused FEMA Trailers Headed to Reservations Nationwide
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/06/23/news/top/doc467c2d5501f5e704745072.txt
Sierra Club: Mardi Gras Celebrations Overshadowed by Toxic Trailers
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2007-02-15.asp
Sierra Club: Delta Louisiana Chapter:
Testing by Sierra Club Shows Abnormal Levels of Formaldehyde in FEMA Trailers
http://louisiana.sierraclub.org/pdf/Formaldehydeteleconferencerelease5-16-06.pdf
Sierra Club: Mississippi Chapter: Fact Sheet: Toxic Trailers?
http://mississippi.sierraclub.org/
http://www.sierraclub.org/gulfcoast/downloads/formaldehyde_test.pdf
The Advocate and WBRZ News: Baton Rouge, Louisiana: New Orleans Woman Suing Mobile Home Vendor
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/8008812.html?showAll=y&c=
The Anniston Star: Anniston, Alabama: The Alabama Legacy of Hurricane Katrina
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2007/as-columns-0708-0-7g07s4012.htm
The Sun Herald: Gulfport, Mississippi: Toxic Trailers
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16754150.htm
Washington Post: Washington D.C.: FEMA Taking Hit on Sale of Surplus Trailers
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/1228940021.html?dids=1228940021:1228940021&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Mar+8%2C+2007&author=Spencer+S+Hsu+-+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&desc=FEMA+Taking+Hit+on+Sale+of+Surplus+Trailers
Washington Post: Washington D.C.: FEMA Trailer Plaintiff Dies of Cancer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301417.html?sub=new
Stephanie M. Schwartz can be reached at SilvrDrach@Gmail.com
To view this and other Schwartz articles, visit http://www.silvrdrach.homestead.com/
This article may be reprinted, reproduced, and/or re-distributed unedited with proper attribution and sourcing for non-profit, educational, news, or archival purposes.
Indianz.com today : FEMA trailers contaminatedUS government knew FEMA trailers were toxic:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/003999.asp
Toxic Trailers and Smallpox Blankets
Lakota Spiritual Leader, David Swallow, Speaks Out on Dangerous Conditions
by David Swallow, Lakota Spiritual Leader and a Headman of the Lakota Nation, Edited by Stephanie M. Schwartz and "Deja Vue, Indeed: The Evolving Story of FEMA’s Toxic Trailers," by Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer - Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
Toxic Trailers and Smallpox Blankets
by David Swallow, Lakota Spiritual Leader and a Headman of the Lakota Nation
Edited by Stephanie M. Schwartz
© July 16, 2007 Porcupine, South Dakota
My name is David Swallow. I live near the community of Porcupine on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. I want to speak today. I want to speak out against ethnic cleansing, genocide, and extermination in these modern days.
Today, due to the terrible economic situation on the Pine Ridge Reservation, everyone knows that many poor people need housing. Horrible poverty is everywhere here. Reports say unemployment on Pine Ridge is around 85% or worse.
Many of my people are sick. I am told that the life expectancy here on Pine Ridge is between 48-52 years old. By this, I am one who has already lived past when they thought I would die.
There are some people who live good lives. BIA workers and Federal and State Government workers don’t live on the Reservation. They have jobs and live in nice housing in towns in Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, and Wyoming.
Others live good lives, too. Tribal Council members have jobs so they can afford decent housing. They live good.
But all these people are working together to bring toxic, contaminated FEMA trailers left over from Hurricane Katrina to the poorest people of Pine Ridge. They will be creating an ethnic cleansing like in the 1800s when the Government sent blankets to the reservations which had smallpox infection in them.
This new trailer housing creates disease. That is why the Government gives them away to Indians. The Government wants the oil, uranium, and rich minerals that might be on our land but the Indians are in the way of this.
That is the same reason the BIA and the Tribal Council started up the Land Consolidation Act of 2000, to buy up all the Reservation land. With no jobs, little food, and much homelessness, they put us in a position where we have to sell our land.
Now they’re trying to bring in trailer houses infested with toxic chemicals. These chemicals get into the air and make people very sick, especially the children, elders, mothers, and people already with health problems. The contamination causes cancer, heart diseases, lung diseases, rashes, mental problems, breathing problems, many horrible things.
If these trailers are such good housing, why doesn’t the mainstream people want to buy them? Why did their own inspectors warn them about the danger from the high levels of the chemicals? Why are the people already living in them suing the trailer makers and FEMA because of getting sick from the toxic poisons? Why will no one listen when many major mainstream news reports have talked about these FEMA trailers being toxic?
Every time we deal with the Government, they give us a deal like this. This is no good way.
I want to say, we are not “Indians.” We are Lakota. And we Traditional Lakota carry the Red Nation C’anunpa [Sacred Pipe] in Truth. Who walked this land first? The Red Man did. And he should be dealt with in a good way.
We need jobs, not charity. We don’t need contaminated hand-outs. We need lots and lots of jobs. We need good economic-development projects and programs on the Reservation. If we had jobs, we could build our own homes. With jobs, we would be able to solve many of our problems.
If anyone really cares about conditions on the Reservation, they should look to these things. They should not try to kill us with poisoned homes.
So this is what I have to say today. Ho h’ecetu yelo, I have spoken.
David Swallow, Wowitan Yuha Mani
Porcupine, South Dakota – The Pine Ridge Reservation
Deja vue, Indeed: The Evolving Story of FEMA’s Toxic Trailers
by Stephanie M. Schwartz, Freelance Writer - Member, Native American Journalists Association (NAJA)
© July 16, 2007 Firestone, Colorado Stephanie M. Schwartz
In June of 2007, Senator Tim Johnson, FEMA, Congress, and the BIA arranged for 2,000 FEMA trailers to be made available to the Native American reservations in dire need of housing. These trailers are part of the 8,000+ excess, unused FEMA trailers constructed for the victims of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. Exactly which American Indian reservations and how many units each reservation will get remains yet to be decided.
The tribes will be required to pay transportation costs as well as the costs to prepare the lots, set the trailers up, and to winterize them. However, clearly this appeared to be a significant help towards the critical need of about
90,000 American Indian families in critical in need of adequate housing (as detailed in a 2003 study by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).
According to public statements, Senator Johnson specifically envisioned many of these trailers going to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, a place whose poverty-stricken conditions are likened to third world countries. The Senator and the BIA have been working closely with John Steele, Paul Iron Cloud, and the Tribal Council from Pine Ridge to make it all happen.
It seemed a surprisingly ideal solution, one which many people applauded at first as a huge humanitarian and logical move by the Federal Government. Ideal, that is, until one starts to investigate the history of these mobile homes and learns of an astonishing toxicity issue with the vast majority of the units.
Said to be fully-furnished, three bedroom units, these trailers were built during a construction frenzy created by FEMA's unprepared but immediate need to house Hurricane Katrina survivors. A report from the Sun Herald News in Mississippi in May of 2006 details the picture of this manufacturing frenzy.... untrained workers, a dearth of suitable materials, using materials possibly made outside the U.S. which contained higher levels of chemicals than normally allowed, and low quality control on hastily-created assembly lines.
Chemicals… therein lies the problem. The Government's public announcements about these trailers fail to mention the history of toxic contamination from formaldehyde which has been proven to exist in the FEMA trailers and mobile homes constructed for the victims of Katrina.
Formaldehyde is a chemical which emits gasses which the EPA considers to be highly toxic and carcinogenic (known to cause lung, nose, and throat cancer) but which is not regulated for trailer manufacturing in this country. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, exposure to formaldehyde toxins can create irritated eyes, breathing problems, headaches, asthma attacks, coughing, congestive heart disease, nausea, depression, memory-impairment, skin rashes, respiratory problems and even can lead to cancer. To compound the problem, high temperatures or high humidity increase the toxin levels.
Worse, for people who already are compromised with respiratory health issues, and for infants, children, nursing mothers, and elders, exposure can prove disastrous and even more deadly.
Formaldehyde is used in cheap building materials like particle board, plywood, curtains, molded plastics, counter tops, glue, carpet, insulation, and wallpaper. While normal trailers and mobile homes also contain these toxins, the FEMA trailers and mobile homes, hurriedly built as bare-bones cheap models, seem to contain significantly higher concentrations.
In 2006, the Sierra Club tested FEMA trailers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and found 83-94% of them to contain formaldehyde levels far above EPA and OSHA recommended workplace limits of 0.10 parts per million. Other testing has shown comparable results. Varying reports state that the gas levels emitted by the formaldehyde in the contaminated trailers ranged from 3 to 1,000 times the acceptable EPA limits.
Originally, FEMA's response to hundreds of complaints from Katrina victims was that the toxic vapors go away with adequate ventilation after about six months. However, continued testing has proven that not to be the case.
Additionally, according to a report given by journalist Dan Rather on HD-TV, information has come to light that FEMA was informed of the high toxicity by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) just two months after Katrina hit, in October 2005, but chose to ignore the information. Testing to ensure employee safety, OSHA found new units in four county FEMA staging areas to have toxicity levels 20 times above government standards just in the air outside the trailers.
Dan Rather further related his interview with a former FEMA employee who clearly indicated that not only was FEMA aware of the toxic problems but chose to ignore them. Moreover, the employee stated that FEMA advised their employees to remain silent about the test results.
In March of 2007, the Washington Post News reported FEMA's woes in trying to sell their excess trailers and mobile homes. Selling the units at 40 cents on the dollar seemed like simple poor financial management on the part of FEMA in this report.
However, in light of the contamination issues, it may have turned out to be the best financial move FEMA could have made.
In May, 2007, both ABC News and CBS News reported that Louisiana Dem. Senator Mary Landrieu and Louisiana Rep. Congressman Bobby Jindal have each independently called for hearings to address the FEMA trailer toxicity issues and FEMA's poor response as well as to what it knew, how much it knew, and when.
In June, 2007, the Louisiana Advocate News reported that a class-action lawsuit had been filed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Federal Court which claims that "hundreds of thousands" of people in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama may have been exposed to dangerously high concentrations of carcinogenic formaldehyde fumes with no recourse or viable solution provided by FEMA.
According to a report in the Washington Post on July 13, 2007, Desiree Collins of Louisiana filed the original lawsuit regarding the contamination of the FEMA trailers. She allowed her lawsuit to become a class-action lawsuit for all Katrina survivors who are victims of the toxic exposure. On July 2, 2007, the 47 year old wife and mother died of lung cancer which was diagnosed only a week before she died. Her husband and children will continue the court case.
Obviously, it seems tragic enough that well over 75-85,000 families, victims of Hurricane Katrina, still have to remain trapped into living in their FEMA units two years after the fact, a home most likely contaminated and dangerous. That, in itself, defies anyone's definition of humanitarian aid.
Yet since June of 2007, with South Dakota Dem. Senator Tim Johnson leading Congress into approval, tribal councils are working hand in hand with the Federal BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) to bring 2,000 of these very same trailers to the reservations of South Dakota as well as to other reservations. Again, all under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Deja vue, indeed. We have been here before. The seeming-correlation of the distribution of toxic trailers to the reservations in 2007 and the government dispersing smallpox-infested blankets to the reservations in the 1800s is not so far-fetched at all. It just leaves one wondering…..
For More Information:
Website: Toxic Trailers
Informational Website Resource Dedicated to Katrina Victims Forced to Live in Contaminated Trailers
http://www.toxictrailers.com/
U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services: ATSDR, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry:
Medical Management guidelines for Formaldehyde (HCHO)
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg111.html
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/MHMI/mmg111.pdf
Dan Rather Reports: 2007 Episode 216: Toxic Trailers
http://www.hd.net/transcript.html?air_master_id=A4558
ABC News: Congressman Wants FEMA Trailers Hearings
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3189161
CBS News: Congress Acts on FEMA Trailer Probe
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/18/cbsnews_investigates/main2827155.shtml
KRISTV: Corpus Christi, Texas: FEMA Trailer Plaintiff Dies of Lung Cancer
http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=6787670
KXMB News: Bismarck/Mandan, North Dakota: FEMA Trailers Headed to Reservations
http://www.kxmb.com/News/Politics/137555.asp
Native American Times: Tulsa, Oklahoma: FEMA’s Potentially Toxic Trailers Headed for Indian Reservations
http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8834
Rapid City Journal: Rapid City, South Dakota: Unused FEMA Trailers Headed to Reservations Nationwide
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/06/23/news/top/doc467c2d5501f5e704745072.txt
Sierra Club: Mardi Gras Celebrations Overshadowed by Toxic Trailers
http://www.sierraclub.org/pressroom/releases/pr2007-02-15.asp
Sierra Club: Delta Louisiana Chapter:
Testing by Sierra Club Shows Abnormal Levels of Formaldehyde in FEMA Trailers
http://louisiana.sierraclub.org/pdf/Formaldehydeteleconferencerelease5-16-06.pdf
Sierra Club: Mississippi Chapter: Fact Sheet: Toxic Trailers?
http://mississippi.sierraclub.org/
http://www.sierraclub.org/gulfcoast/downloads/formaldehyde_test.pdf
The Advocate and WBRZ News: Baton Rouge, Louisiana: New Orleans Woman Suing Mobile Home Vendor
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/8008812.html?showAll=y&c=
The Anniston Star: Anniston, Alabama: The Alabama Legacy of Hurricane Katrina
http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2007/as-columns-0708-0-7g07s4012.htm
The Sun Herald: Gulfport, Mississippi: Toxic Trailers
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/16754150.htm
Washington Post: Washington D.C.: FEMA Taking Hit on Sale of Surplus Trailers
http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/1228940021.html?dids=1228940021:1228940021&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Mar+8%2C+2007&author=Spencer+S+Hsu+-+Washington+Post+Staff+Writer&desc=FEMA+Taking+Hit+on+Sale+of+Surplus+Trailers
Washington Post: Washington D.C.: FEMA Trailer Plaintiff Dies of Cancer
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/13/AR2007071301417.html?sub=new
Stephanie M. Schwartz can be reached at SilvrDrach@Gmail.com
To view this and other Schwartz articles, visit http://www.silvrdrach.homestead.com/
This article may be reprinted, reproduced, and/or re-distributed unedited with proper attribution and sourcing for non-profit, educational, news, or archival purposes.
American Indian Movement Colorado
AIM Gatherings in Colorado
1. Tomorrow, the ceremony at Four Winds (5th and Bannock) that had been held on Sunday mornings, is moving to Saturdays. The ceremony tomorrow begins at 2:30 pm, and there will be a wopila (thanksgiving) meal to follow.
2. In conjunction with the wopila meal, we will have a going-away dinner for Michelle Running Wolf and her sons, Timberwolf and Gerald. Shelley and family are moving back to Cheyenne River, where Shelley will begin a new job on Monday! Please come and give your best wishes to Shelley, Timber and Gerald. They have been an essential part of our Colorado AIM family, and we will miss them. Shelley promises, however,that she is bringing a busload of folks back for Columbus Day!
3. On Tuesday, July 24th, the University of Colorado Regents will bevoting on whether to fire Ward. This is it. This is the final decisionin whether or not to fire our fellow AIM member and brother, Ward. Avigil is scheduled for Tuesday morning, and the Regents will havetheir meeting later in the day. This message comes from Natsuregarding the plans for Tuesday.
All who can, should try to make it toBoulder for part of the day Tuesday:July 24: Regents To Vote on Firing ChurchillMain Rally at 3:30pm – CU BoulderUMC South Plaza (Broadway at Euclid St.)D-Day in the struggle to defend free speech and Prof. Ward Churchillis Tuesday July 24.On that day, the CU Regents will vote after an all-day meeting, most of which will be closed to the public. But the Regents must come outto face us when they make their vote and explain it. So, be therewith us at 3:30pm for our main rally. We will observe their vote andmake our voices heard.If you can join us for more of the day, we will hold a small rally inthe morning (7:30am, UMC South Plaza) to show our presence and we willmaintain a vigil while the fight goes on behind closed doors.Here are 5 reasons why you should join us on July 24th:1) Our enemies are watching—this attack on Prof. Churchill is a keyrightwing "test case" for a much broader national assault. The easier they think it is to fire Ward Churchill on boguscharges of research misconduct, the more attacks we'll see onprofessors, staff, and students, on ethnic studies and women's studiesprograms, and on critical thinking.2) Our friends and allies across the country and around the worldare counting on us to represent them. In just the past month, 100'sof people have written to urge the Regents NOT to fire Prof.Churchill.3) This is your last chance to weigh in—this is the final step infiring Prof. Churchill.4) The University is counting on you not to come—why else scheduleit during the summer?5) It's never too late to do what's right, as Michael Meeropol,economist and son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg realized two weeksago: " I have hesitated to voice my support for Professor WardChurchill as his case was being adjudicated… These charges were (Ithought) substantive and went to the heart of our profession'sintegrity – relating to intellectual honesty. I have been moved,however, to finally raise my voice in protest after reading thedetailed analysis by Professor Tom Mayer…. To be frank and blunt, thecharges against Professor Churchill are bogus and represent a fig-leafof cover for a politically motivated firing…."The Regents may change their plans/location at the last minute, so,spread the word, stay tuned, and check out last minute developmentsat: http://www.wardchurchill.net/, where you can also find background andanalysis.Finally, we are students, faculty and staff at CU-Boulder who havebeen carrying on the struggle here since the beginning. Pleaserespect our game plan of holding a strong, peaceful rally and vigil.And finally,4. There is a celebration of the life of Helen Henry, one of thestrongest non-Indian supporters of AIM and of indigenous peoples thatI have ever known. Although she is frail, and about 85 years-old, sheis still keeping on, and her family has invited all of us to celebratewith them. I hope that a number of AIM people can attend, and that wecan sing for her, and show her our appreciation for her life, and forher alliance with us. Here are the details: Please join Helen's family, church and residential community incelebrating the life of our dear friend, longtime peace, indigenousrights, and social justice activist Helen Henry. Although her healthis declining, it would bring Helen great joy if her beloved friendscould join her for this party.When: Saturday, July 28, 3-6pmWhere: First Unitarian Church, Denver (14th and Lafayette), Community RoomWhy: Because we love her!What to Bring: Yourself and as many friends and family as would liketo come see herSome light refreshments will be provided by Helen's son Seth. Pleasedon't feel obliged to bring food or drink, but if you feel called todo so, that's just peachy too.There is no formal program, so please feel free to bring any stories,words, songs, or remembrances of Helen you would like to share withthe collective. Please join us to celebrate an extraordinary peacefulwarrior, as we renew and recommit ourselves to the struggle and her fine legacy.
from Colorado AIM
1. Tomorrow, the ceremony at Four Winds (5th and Bannock) that had been held on Sunday mornings, is moving to Saturdays. The ceremony tomorrow begins at 2:30 pm, and there will be a wopila (thanksgiving) meal to follow.
2. In conjunction with the wopila meal, we will have a going-away dinner for Michelle Running Wolf and her sons, Timberwolf and Gerald. Shelley and family are moving back to Cheyenne River, where Shelley will begin a new job on Monday! Please come and give your best wishes to Shelley, Timber and Gerald. They have been an essential part of our Colorado AIM family, and we will miss them. Shelley promises, however,that she is bringing a busload of folks back for Columbus Day!
3. On Tuesday, July 24th, the University of Colorado Regents will bevoting on whether to fire Ward. This is it. This is the final decisionin whether or not to fire our fellow AIM member and brother, Ward. Avigil is scheduled for Tuesday morning, and the Regents will havetheir meeting later in the day. This message comes from Natsuregarding the plans for Tuesday.
All who can, should try to make it toBoulder for part of the day Tuesday:July 24: Regents To Vote on Firing ChurchillMain Rally at 3:30pm – CU BoulderUMC South Plaza (Broadway at Euclid St.)D-Day in the struggle to defend free speech and Prof. Ward Churchillis Tuesday July 24.On that day, the CU Regents will vote after an all-day meeting, most of which will be closed to the public. But the Regents must come outto face us when they make their vote and explain it. So, be therewith us at 3:30pm for our main rally. We will observe their vote andmake our voices heard.If you can join us for more of the day, we will hold a small rally inthe morning (7:30am, UMC South Plaza) to show our presence and we willmaintain a vigil while the fight goes on behind closed doors.Here are 5 reasons why you should join us on July 24th:1) Our enemies are watching—this attack on Prof. Churchill is a keyrightwing "test case" for a much broader national assault. The easier they think it is to fire Ward Churchill on boguscharges of research misconduct, the more attacks we'll see onprofessors, staff, and students, on ethnic studies and women's studiesprograms, and on critical thinking.2) Our friends and allies across the country and around the worldare counting on us to represent them. In just the past month, 100'sof people have written to urge the Regents NOT to fire Prof.Churchill.3) This is your last chance to weigh in—this is the final step infiring Prof. Churchill.4) The University is counting on you not to come—why else scheduleit during the summer?5) It's never too late to do what's right, as Michael Meeropol,economist and son of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg realized two weeksago: " I have hesitated to voice my support for Professor WardChurchill as his case was being adjudicated… These charges were (Ithought) substantive and went to the heart of our profession'sintegrity – relating to intellectual honesty. I have been moved,however, to finally raise my voice in protest after reading thedetailed analysis by Professor Tom Mayer…. To be frank and blunt, thecharges against Professor Churchill are bogus and represent a fig-leafof cover for a politically motivated firing…."The Regents may change their plans/location at the last minute, so,spread the word, stay tuned, and check out last minute developmentsat: http://www.wardchurchill.net/, where you can also find background andanalysis.Finally, we are students, faculty and staff at CU-Boulder who havebeen carrying on the struggle here since the beginning. Pleaserespect our game plan of holding a strong, peaceful rally and vigil.And finally,4. There is a celebration of the life of Helen Henry, one of thestrongest non-Indian supporters of AIM and of indigenous peoples thatI have ever known. Although she is frail, and about 85 years-old, sheis still keeping on, and her family has invited all of us to celebratewith them. I hope that a number of AIM people can attend, and that wecan sing for her, and show her our appreciation for her life, and forher alliance with us. Here are the details: Please join Helen's family, church and residential community incelebrating the life of our dear friend, longtime peace, indigenousrights, and social justice activist Helen Henry. Although her healthis declining, it would bring Helen great joy if her beloved friendscould join her for this party.When: Saturday, July 28, 3-6pmWhere: First Unitarian Church, Denver (14th and Lafayette), Community RoomWhy: Because we love her!What to Bring: Yourself and as many friends and family as would liketo come see herSome light refreshments will be provided by Helen's son Seth. Pleasedon't feel obliged to bring food or drink, but if you feel called todo so, that's just peachy too.There is no formal program, so please feel free to bring any stories,words, songs, or remembrances of Helen you would like to share withthe collective. Please join us to celebrate an extraordinary peacefulwarrior, as we renew and recommit ourselves to the struggle and her fine legacy.
from Colorado AIM
July 18, 2007
Counterpunch: Spy Towers on the US Border
Photo: Spy tower at Arivaca/Brenda NorrellJuly 18, 2007
A CounterPunch Special Investigation
A Boeing / Israeli Joint Venture
Spy Towers on the US Border
By BRENDA NORRELL
http://www.counterpunch.org/
ARIVACA, Arizona-- Boeing has enlisted the aid of Elbit Systems, Israel's major defense contractor, to construct high-tech surveillance along the border of the U.S. and Mexico. So far, the high-tech fiasco is not working and Arizona residents are organizing a lawsuit to halt government spying on U.S. citizens.
Arivaca resident Margaret Keoppen is among those opposing the 98-foot spy tower in her community, part of Project 28 of the Secure Border Initiative.
With a spy viewing range of 10 miles, the spy tower is pointed at the good folks of Arivaca.
"This system is entirely experimental with unknown results and I don't wish to be used as a guinea pig with resulting harm to me, my family, my animals, area wildlife," Keoppen told Project 28.
In Tucson, the search for the biggest joke in town--the environmental assessment of the spy towers -- began at the public library.
"That's odd," said a research librarian, "there are no copies of it here." Diligent, the librarian plowed through the web and made a phone call.
A copy of the environmental assessment for the new high-tech border surveillance was finally located at the Arivaca library. In Arivaca, the draft copy of the assessment arrived on a Saturday in April, with no public notice.
A typed cover letter from
U.S.Customs and Border Protection said residents had four days to respond, April 14 -- 18. The library was closed two of those days. Without phone calls from the librarians, no one would have known it was there. Few people had a chance to even read it.Driving down from Tucson, the earth is scorched from the 114 to 118 degree temperatures. Contrary to the frenzied hype of television news, a drive along the border, through Three Points, then down the road to Sasabe and finally to Arivaca, reveals three Wackenhut buses--all empty -- waiting to be loaded with migrants. There wasn't a migrant in sight. (Wackenhut, with its history of human rights violations, is now on contract to transport migrants rather than Border Patrol. Wackenhut is now Geo Group, but the buses are labeled Wackenhut.)
A stop at a bird walk near Arivaca proves more desolation. Two men with hunting dogs arrive in separate vehicles. One man takes off quickly for another site, both men wearing plain clothes. In this no-man's land, strangers are assumed to be undercover border agents or Minutemen.
In Arivaca, residents are fighting mad about the spy tower, which was built without consulting them, less than a mile from town.
"You can not see the border from that spy tower, because of the mountains. The only thing you can see is Arivaca," says one woman living in this community of 2,500.Arivaca is 12 miles north of the border and the desert mountains are a fortress that the spy tower camera can not penetrate. In fact, the spy tower isn't penetrating anything, because like all the nine spy towers on Project 28 of the Secure Border Initiative so far, it isn't working. But more about that later.
The spy tower has the good folks of Arivaca in clear sight. It is a community of artists and ranchers, popular with birdwatchers and nature lovers. The people here savor their privacy. They have selected Arivaca because it is off the beaten track and ensures a quiet life, far from the prying eyes of anyone.
Now, without any consultation, there is a spy tower on the edge of town, with its camera pointed at them. Worse, the Boeing equipment list for Project 28 calls for radar, infrared, lasers, microwave, iris biometri
cs and facial biometrics."Iris biometrics?" Arivacans ask.
In the environmental assessment, there is no research concerning the health effects of the lasers, microwave, iris biometrics and other technology, on humans.
The environmental assessment concludes Project 28 will have "no significant impact."
However, the assessment lists the endangered, threatened and sensitive life forms, including the Pima pineapple cactus, masked bobwhite habitat, desert tortoise, burrowing owl and lesser long-nosed bat. There's also Santa Cruz stripe agave, Huachuca golden aster and Lumholtz nightshade. In Pima County, there's 20 species, including the Chiricahua leopard frog, cactus ferruginous pygmy-owl and southwestern willow flycatcher.
The conclusion for all: The towers will have "no significant impact."
Arivaca is the territory of migrating bats, including a large population on the move from the nearby ghost town of Ruby. In the assessment, there's nothing more than a little mumbo-jumbo about the bats.
Local residents wonder if the spy towers will effect the bats' ability to hunt.
In the white wash of the environmental assessment, it says, "Tower radar is not expected to impact echolocation of lesser long-nosed bat because recent studies determined that some species of bats avoided the frequencies of radar to which they were exposed," the assessment says.
So, they're guessing the bats won't be impacted.
Here in the Sonoran desert, bats, hummingbirds, bees and butterflies are the major pollinators. Without pollinators, there will be no saguaro, yucca or desert plants.
In the assessment, there's only brief mention of the endangered jaguar, Panthera onca. It is the largest cat in the Southwest. There's also the endangered Sonoran pronghorn and the threatened bald eagle.
The environmental assessment is clearly a joke, no one could have manufactured this document with serious intent. After listing the threatened and endangered species here, including bats and jaguars, the environment assessment concludes that wildlife will not be harmed by the spy towers.
Wildlife, it says, is "expected to stay away."
This is Saturday Night Live funny. It is easy to image the cartoon, as CorpWatch has also imagined and posted on its website, with horns sounding out alerts in the desert. One horn could be honking: "Wildlife -- that includes you birds--you're expected to stay away!"
On the serious side, the assessment admits that warning lights on towers can disorient migrating birds and cause them to fly in circles, resulting in fatal collisions. Red lights attract more birds than white ones. So, the Boeing solution is: "loud hailer horns."
The assessment talks much more about grasses and birds than it does of spying on U.S. citizens, which it does not address.
Unwarranted spying on U.S. citizens can have dangerous, even deadly consequences. With the spy towers, Border Patrol agents will be able to sit in their cars and watch local residents on their laptop computers, if and when the spy towers begin functioning.
Arivacans have asked Homeland Security about privacy. However, no one in Homeland Security can assure them that normal citizens will not be spied on.
Border residents ask: What about the occasional Border Patrol agent who is a pedophile, stalker, rapist or murderer. Border Patrol agents are now charged with the crimes of rape and murder.
What would prevent a Border Patrol agent from keeping tabs on the young man or woman they are attracted to with their spy apparatus?
With thousands of border agents, and new recruits arriving constantly, there are no guarantees.
There are two spy towers already built on the Tohono O´odham Nation, as a result of cooperation between the Tohono O´odham tribal government and Homeland Security.
Because of the cooperation between Homeland Security and the previous tribal chairwoman, Vivian Juan-Saunders, there are two migrant detention centers on tribal land, which O´odham human rights activists like Ofelia Rivas say violates the Him'dag, the O´odham way of life.
Tohono O'odham tribal land is a place where a large number of migrants die of dehydration and heat every year. Although Mike Wilson, O'odham, puts out water for migrants in a few areas, his efforts are not supported by the tribe. Derechos Humanos Coalition in Tucson said more migrants are dieing this year along the border than last year, because of failed immigration policies forcing migrants into more dangerous and desolate crossing areas.
Tohono O´odham, who were not consulted about the spy towers on tribal land, now ask if Border Patrol agents will be watching them in their outdoor shower stalls. Here temperatures range from 114 to 118 in the hottest part of the summer. Further, O'odham interviewed did not have any idea that an environmental assessment had been released or how to find a copy.
As if that wasn't enough cause for alarm, along with the privacy lawsuit now being organized, there are even more troubling facts about the spy towers.
Boeing has entered into a contract with Elbit Systems, Israel's primary defense contractor, to help construct this virtual high-tech border wall. Elbit is involved with building the Apartheid Wall in occupied Palestine.
Elbit provides surveillance and spy products around the world, from infrared spy technology on the Canadian border to surveillance to European countries. Elbit now has subsidiary companies in the United States.
Elbit is currently the subject of a lawsuit involving satellite images. Elbit is a major shareholder in ImageSat International. Minority stockholders at ImageSat have filed suit against the company because of loss of revenues, which they say is based on politics. Among the allegations: ImageSat refused to turn over spy satellite images to Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.
Boeing, the recipient of the $20 million contract for securing the 28-mile stretch of border here, itself is the subject of a new lawsuit. The American Civil Liberties Union alleges Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan provided dozens of CIA torture flights to secret prisons.
Back to the spy towers at the Arizona border, those aren't working. After failing to meet a start-up date in June, Boeing was chastised by Congress and Boeing stocks declined. There's no official explanation of the failure of the spy towers to function and no new startup date was announced.
Boeing has admitted that it is using regular Wi-Fi, the same band used at your favorite coffee shop, for communications. Project 28 local broadband wireless uses an unlicensed band at 5.85 GHz. That came as a joke in Arizona. In these rugged desert mountains, even cell phone service is spotty.
In the environmental assessment, Boeing does say it has decided against using the unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) as planned. It does not explain that a multi-million dollar drone crashed near Nogales, Ariz., in 2006. The Border Patrol stopped using the drones at that point.
Earlier, when the unmanned aerial vehicles were hovering above, no one told Arizona residents on the ground, including the Tohono O'odham, of the danger of the lasers onboard. If the drones flew too low, or crashed as one drone ultimately did, the lasers could blind or cause other injuries to people on the ground.
Once again, in the drones' environmental assessment, those lasers were considered to have "no significant impact." The drones were simply expected not to fly too low.
In the spy towers' environmental assessment, there are comments, including this one from Luke James Brannen of Arivaca.
"You have alienated Arivacans enough with your harassment. You need to protect the border, do it at the border.
"Schutzstaffel tactics do not work in a liberal democracy. You can secure our homeland by leaving it alone," Brannen said referring to Hitler's secret police.
Mary Scott had more to say.
"The citizens of Arivaca have been on the front line of the border war for many years. We are sickened by the environmental degradation of our fragile desert, the loss of human life and the constant intrusions of enforcement cars, vans, trucks, buses and helicopters on our lives."
Scott points out that the tower is in a sacred area, the Desert Light Labyrinth, a place of walking meditation and prayer, memorial services and healing ceremonies.
The loud hailer horns, with 100 to 130 decibels, would make prayer and meditation impossible.
Alan Wallen, owner of a small wireless Internet provider service, saw trouble coming from the time the environment assessment draft was first quietly left at the local library.
Wallen immediately notified Project 28, there would be problems with Wi-Fi interference for locals, since Project 28 was using the public band. Those problems are still unresolved.
In a statement just released, Brannen says, "The tower of power is illegal."
Brannen said it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment which guarantees the right of U.S. citizens "to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."
"Some think just because residents of Arivaca live near the border, this particular location makes the Tower of Power legal. This is not true, in carrying out any and all of its powers, the government must follow The Constitution," Brannen said.
"It may not search citizen's effects or discriminate against them without a warrant. There might be a probable cause to search a person upon entering the country, but not when a resident citizen is living lawfully within the country. If the government does not respect the supreme law of the land, then the government and its 'elected' officials become illegitimate.
"The U.S. Constitution implores the US government to be faithful to the honored Constitution, and in turn respect its citizen's liberties, rights and the rights of the citizens of the world with due process within the U.S.'s Law."
In other areas of the Arizona border where spy towers are planned, including the Douglas/Naco area, residents are also organizing to halt spying on community members.
All along the border, residents point out this fact: Once they've got the photos or the video on you, what's to stop them from using it against you in any way they please -- including for political reasons.
There's another point they are quick to point out: Even if they worked, the spy towers would not stop border crossers. Migrants headed north would find a way to cross.
Brenda Norrell is Human rights editor for U.N. OBSERVER & International Report. She also runs the Censored website. She can be reached at: brendanorrell@gmail.com
Photo 2: Wackenhut bus waits to be loaded with migrants at Three Points, near the Tohono O'odham Nation border in Arizona/Photo Brenda Norrell
Photo 3: Arivaca Creek/Brenda Norrell
Photo 4: Tree at Arivaca Creek/Brenda Norrell
LINKS TO Boeing, Elbit Systems, etc...
UPDATED: More on the Elbit contract from the publication "Israel 21C" ..."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.
Elbit was selected because of its ability to bring together global resources with decades of technological experience and capabilities securing borders in extreme cold, mountainous regions, as well as hot, desert terrains.
Kollsman's global parent, Elbit Systems Ltd. has extensive experience with operational border control and management systems combined with command, control and situational awareness for the Israeli government. Elbit's Long Range Reconnaissance and Observation System (LORROS) and advanced turnkey unmanned aerial vehicle systems (UAV) are some of the products and technology that will be utilized."
More ...
http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Articles%5El1450&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enVersion=0&enZone=Technology
Elbit: Border contract:
http://www.elbitsystems.com/data/ESLT_Kollsman_Boeing_SBI_Project.pdf
CorpWatch: Boeing's high tech fence falters:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14552
IRIS BIOMETRICS, LASERS, etc. on Boeing website:
See the list of technology for the Secure Border Initiative, on Boeing's website.Scroll down for specifics -- microwaves, lasers, iris and facial biometrics collections and unmanned aerial vehicles -- whose health risks and other dangers are still being researched: http://www.sbinetbizopps.com/pdsfeedback.aspx
Israel Elbit:
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/11/experts_at_buil.html
High-tech border network could fall prey to cyberattacks
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0707/0706bb1.htm
More on the Wi-Fi security flaws at Boeing's secure border project:
http://blogs.govexec.com/techinsider/archives/2007/07/101_refresher_info_security_co.phpJeppesen:
The CIA's No-Questions-Asked Travel Agent: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0725,hentoff,76995,6.html
Boeing/Israeli spy towers aren't working at Arizona border: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/06/boeingisraeli-spy-towers-arent-working.html
Elbit's contract for the Arizona border:”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
Frankenstein Returns: Wackenhut takes over transporting migrants from Border Patrol: (Wackenhut is now Geo Group, but the transit buses which carry detained migrants in Arizona say "Wackenhut")
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/gbase/Tools/PrintFriendly?url=%2Fgbase%2FCurrents%2FContent%3Foid%3Doid%253A95659
Halliburton's KBR $385 million to build migrant prisons:http://robwire.com/?q=node/894
Action alert: Gila River new threat from hazardous waste
This action alert is from the Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment and Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice:
ACTION ALERT! Please spread the word and take action immediately!!
The Great News: On June 20, 2007 the Gila River Indian Community Tribal Council voted unanimously 14-0 to reject signing the draft US EPA permit that would have allowed Romic to keep operating their hazardous waste facility on tribal lands. The vote by the tribal council means that by law the US EPA must deny the permit, although EPA is dragging its feet.
The Bad News and Why You Must Take Immediate Action: A giant hazardous waste company called “Clean Harbors” wants to buy the Romic facility and wants the tribal council to give permission to operate a hazardous waste “recycling” operation there.
The Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment, the grassroots tribal member organization, is asking all of us to support their effort to stop Clean Harbors from taking over the facility, and to close the hazardous waste plant once and for all.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TRIBAL MEMBERS CLOSE THE ROMIC FACILITY! CALL “CLEAN HARBORS” TODAY!!!
TELL THEM WHERE YOU ARE CALLING FROM AND TELL THEM THAT CLEAN HARBORS WILL FACE STRONG ONGOING PROTESTS AND OPPOSITION IF THEY BUY THE ROMIC PLANT.
CLEAN HARBORS TOLL FREE NUMBER IS 800-282-0058
ASK TO SPEAK TO PHIL RETALLICK and then call back and ask to speak to the CEO of the company.
Call today! Tell Clean Harbors “GET YOUR TOXIC HANDS OFF OF GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY”
ACTION ALERT! Please spread the word and take action immediately!!
The Great News: On June 20, 2007 the Gila River Indian Community Tribal Council voted unanimously 14-0 to reject signing the draft US EPA permit that would have allowed Romic to keep operating their hazardous waste facility on tribal lands. The vote by the tribal council means that by law the US EPA must deny the permit, although EPA is dragging its feet.
The Bad News and Why You Must Take Immediate Action: A giant hazardous waste company called “Clean Harbors” wants to buy the Romic facility and wants the tribal council to give permission to operate a hazardous waste “recycling” operation there.
The Gila River Alliance for a Clean Environment, the grassroots tribal member organization, is asking all of us to support their effort to stop Clean Harbors from taking over the facility, and to close the hazardous waste plant once and for all.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TRIBAL MEMBERS CLOSE THE ROMIC FACILITY! CALL “CLEAN HARBORS” TODAY!!!
TELL THEM WHERE YOU ARE CALLING FROM AND TELL THEM THAT CLEAN HARBORS WILL FACE STRONG ONGOING PROTESTS AND OPPOSITION IF THEY BUY THE ROMIC PLANT.
CLEAN HARBORS TOLL FREE NUMBER IS 800-282-0058
ASK TO SPEAK TO PHIL RETALLICK and then call back and ask to speak to the CEO of the company.
Call today! Tell Clean Harbors “GET YOUR TOXIC HANDS OFF OF GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY”
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