_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 037 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2007 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island September 10, 2007 Hopi Nasanmuyaw/full harvest moon Abenaki Skamonkas/corn maker moon Western Cherokee Dulisdi/nut or black butterfly moon Zuni Li'dekwakkwya ts'ana/moon when everything ripens +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from: www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing Lists: Chiapas95-En, Mohawk Nation News, Remember The Cherokee/Tsalagi; UUCP Mail IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org <================<<<< >>>>================> +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + | As historian Patricia Nelson | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + "Before our white brother came to civilize us we had no jails. Therefore we had no criminals. You can't have criminals without a jail. We had no locks or key, and so we had no thieves. If a man was so poor that he had no horse, tipi or blanket, someone gave him these things. We were too uncivilized to set much value on personal belongings. We wanted to have things only in order to give them away. We had no money, and therefore a man's worth couldn't be measured by it. We had no written law, no attorneys or politicians, therefore we couldn't cheat. We really were in a bad way before the white man came, and I don't know how we managed to get along without the basic things which, we are told, are absolutely necessary to make a civilized society." __ Lame Deer, Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters Somewhere in the flow of human life the traditional ways of our peoples are being lost. This is not new news, but it is news that needs to be taken to heart and remembered. The lead article in this issue is from Brenda Norrell's "Censored" Blog, which is among my personal "must read" sites. She pulled it from NARCO News. The short article highlights just how censored indigenous, and especially traditional, peoples are. What is sad, is that the censorship is not imposed jut by the dominant press, industry and political processes - the people who most obviously benefit by the suppression of traditional indigenous culture. Much of it comes from tribal governments within the Native Nations, who have a vested (bought) interest in exploiting their own people and resources. One of my elders refers to these puppet governments as "around the fort" Indians, because they step and fetch for the dominant machinery. Others refer to them as "Uncle Tomahawks." I cannot prove it, but I believe the rise of gang violence, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse directly correlates to the decline of traditional values. I further believe all the hand wringing and proclamations from tribal governments will not stop the festering or begin the healing until those same tribal governments quit sucking up to the dominant politicians and industries, and truly consult with the traditional elders and begin practicing and encouraging the practice of their nations' traditions and time-honored ways. ' ' Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30007, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- Editorial Section: - BRIVATI: US is the original . Loss of Tradition genocidal State - Most Censored 2007 award - HARJO: Summer's over for the GOP to Indigenous Peoples - JODI RAVE: - Salmon Recovery: A Priority now Blackfeet Women shine at Powwow - Clinton defense puzzling - OPP "Snubbed" - House Vote strips CNO Housing Funds by Sharbot Lake Algonquins - New rule may alter - Far Right tries to Small-Business contracting take over Sharbot Lake again - Tobacco Rowed - Gwich'in honour Cultural Heroes - Group aims to find Indian Blood - "Split 'Em Up" Strategy - New Dialogue on Native Americans at Sharbot Lake and Cancer - OPP "Loose Cannons" - Nations continue at Sharbot Lake to 'fight for the line' - Urgent Action vs - Native American forced evictions in Montes Azules Education Summit set - Isabella County looks - OPINION: to join Tribe Boundary Suit No more end runs on UND Nickname - Feds raid Offices - GIAGO: What is the truth of unrecognized Indian Tribe about the murder of Anna Mae? - Native Justice - COUNTERPOINT: -- Collaborative Circle aids in Friends of Peltier to Tim Giago ICWA compliance - YELLOW BIRD: Myth of a `Free Ride' - Rustywire: Whitehorse's Daughter - MARTIN: Freedmen row - Del "Abe" Jones Poem: 9/11 is about Sovereignty - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Most Censored 2007 award to Indigenous Peoples" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 07:21:32 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SILENCING OF TRADITIONAL VOICES" http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2007/9/5/123236/9281 Most Censored 2007 award to Indigenous Peoples By Brenda Norrell, September 5, 2007 The "Project Censored 2007" awards are out and most of what was censored in Indian country was ignored. American Indian readers of the Censored blog say these topics were the most censored during the past year: - Silencing of traditional and grassroots' voices by those in power - Nuclear, uranium and coal genocide of Indigenous - Border deaths and abuse of Indigenous; racism in border news reporting - American Indian delegations in Venezuela - Zapatistas' meetings at US/Mexico border - Leonard Peltier The silencing of traditional and grassroots' voices by those in power includes tribal leaders and councils who have silenced the voices of spiritual leaders and other people in their communities. Those in power continue censoring these voices in the tribally-owned news media; by court actions; local political oppression and access to tribal services. Explaining the role of "puppet tribal governments in the United States," Hopi traditional elder Dan Evehema said it best, when he was 104 years old, before his death. Speaking through a translator, Evehema said the elected Hopi government was a "puppet government of the United States." Evehema said the elected tribal government was never recognized or endorsed by the traditional Hopi elders, who maintained constant support for Navajos at Big Mountain and elsewhere on Black Mesa in Arizona, and the Navajos' right to remain on the coal-rich land that the United States government attempts to forcibly relocate Navajos from. Narcosphere - A Project of the NARCO News Bulletin. --------- "RE: Salmon Recovery: A Priority now" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 07:14:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SALMON RECOVERY" http://www.indianz.com/News http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/329906_culverted.html Salmon Recovery: A priority now September 3, 2007 It's well-known that replacing culverts is important for salmon recovery. It should not have taken a successful lawsuit by 20 tribes to get the state to act on this concern. We're delighted that negotiations are under way to make it so. This comes at a time when substantial infrastructure spending must occur for state roads and bridges. But with careful planning, we can do both. The Legislature needs to find the money because this is a significant part of the state's infrastructure deficit. Fish need cold, clear water that flows naturally. In some cases, that means controlling the stream's flow, in other cases creation of resting ponds. Other streams must have sediment or other obstacles removed. The point is that the comprehensive approach to salmon recovery is overdue. Culverts block about 750 miles of streams in Western Washington. In this state, where we celebrate nature, salmon ought to be included in our transportation calculations. Copyright c. 1996-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. --------- "RE: Clinton defense puzzling" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 07:14:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WHAT WAS ICT'S ENDORSEMENT REALLY ABOUT?" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8979 Clinton defense puzzling By Louis Gray, contributing writer September 3, 2007 The recent quasi-endorsement of Senator Hillary Clinton by Indian Country Today is baffling to say the least. They have come out and defended Clinton's bid for the Whitehouse based not on her sterling record on Indian issues, but implied she had role in the Democratic National Committee depositing several million in the Native American Bank for safe keeping. That would be a nice thing if it was true. But, should support for Indian Country be as cheap as depositing a few million in a bank that few Indians have money in? How is that showing support for Indian country let alone a record on Indian affairs? The deposit itself was not the work of Clinton or anyone else running for President. It was the work of the Democratic National Committee as managed by Gov. Howard Dean, the Chairman of the committee. Clinton, Sen. Barack Obama, and Sen. John Edwards are still smarting from the fallout over their snubbing of Indian people at Prez on the Rez held in Morongo Casino in California last week. But, letting someone make up a lie about your commitment to Indian Country is less than noble. It is a bit early to be endorsing anyone, unless you are under pressure to support a certain candidate to make the Indian problem go away. You know, for all the work to not show up and truly campaign in front of Indians, this would have been easier than all these missteps and smokescreens thrown up to confuse Native American voters. Just talk to Indian people. Create a position which makes sense. Demonstrate your knowledge on Indian problems and articulate them to Native American voters. Isn't that what you do for Asian Americans, Arab Americans, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, veterans, elders, disabled Americans and business groups? Don't the Indian people deserve as much? Clinton's staff has signed up some eager Native leaders who didn't need to hear her record to agree to do her bidding in Nevada. That is the very reason Presidential candidates need to speak to Indian people, to explain why Indian people should vote for them. Indian people are short changed and marginalized if you don't have to talk to us. We have no voice when no one listens to us. The days of merely putting down some names of political leaders from a certain ethnic group to show an interest in those groups is over. Clinton, Edwards and Obama can still right this ship by going to Indian Country and stating their case. A wise African American preacher once told me, "if you don't want to do the right thing any excuse will do." And " what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" But, for a vote you don't really even want? Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: House Vote strips CNO Housing Funds" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:37:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CONGRESS NAMES ITSEL JUDGE AND PROSECUTER OF CHEROKEE NATION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx? articleID=070907_1_A11_hTheH51254 Vote strips housing funds The House votes to deny the benefits until the Cherokee Nation recognizes freedmen descendants as citizens. By JIM MYERS World Washington Bureau September 7, 2007 WASHINGTON - In an action that one key lawmaker called agonizing, the U.S. House voted Thursday to deny housing benefits to the Cherokee Nation until the tribe recognizes freedmen descendants as tribal citizens. Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., won approval of an amendment, however, to delay such action long enough to allow an ongoing legal case to conclude. Lawmakers approved both Boren's amendment and the original language by Rep. Mel Watt, D-N.C., by voice votes. The combined provisions were attached to a bill to reauthorize a housing program for tribes. "In this country, we have judicial processes in place that should be honored before Congress steps in to act," Boren said, explaining that a tribal court has reinstated -- for now -- the freedmen descendants' citizenship. "My amendment is a reasonable approach," he said. Boren called Watt's language "rash" and reminded fellow lawmakers that they can revisit the issue later. "Congressional action may not be necessary, so let's stop trying to find a legislative solution for a problem that does not currently exist," Boren said. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., a member of the Chickasaw Nation, expressed support for Boren's approach but stopped short of condemning the stance taken by Watt. Cole even commended Watt for the serious approach he took on the controversy. Watt, who is black and said his great-great-grandmother was a Cherokee Indian, clearly was not happy to be pushing his own amendment. "I am offering this amendment not proudly, unfortunately, but because of circumstances that have arisen," he said. Watt said the Cherokee Nation is violating an 1866 treaty with the United States with its vote in March to rescind the citizenship of the descendants of the slaves who once were owned by the Cherokees. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who leads the committee that handled the tribal housing bill, defended Watt's approach but conceded that the vote was tough. "This is a very agonizing issue for many of us," Frank said. "None of us want to be put to these kinds of tests." He referred to what he called a "national embarrassment" when recalling the number of times the U.S. government has violated a treaty with one of the tribes. Still, Frank said, the Cherokee Nation holds the key to resolving this controversy, adding that the tribe does not have to wait for a court decision to change course. "It is entirely up to them as to whether or not the benefits continue to flow," he said. Others also expressed support for the message Watt was sending. "The fact that the Cherokee freedmen issue has been raised on floor of the House of Representatives demonstrates the gravity of the issue," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., perhaps the most vocal critic of the tribe's action. Watson, who has introduced a bill to strip the tribe of all of its federal funding, predicted stronger action if the tribe doesn't back down. A spokesman for the Cherokee Nation gave no indication that the tribe is ready to do that. Mike Miller said the language as amended by Boren will give the Cherokee Nation a chance to have the discussion in court, where legal, not political, arguments will be heard. "The Cherokee Nation stands accused of violating a treaty," he said, adding that no court has made such a ruling. Miller echoed comments by others that every tribe should be concerned by Thursday's vote. He called it a bad precedent that would allow Congress to take punitive action "on a whim" when it disagrees with an action taken by a tribe. Jim Myers (202) 484-1424 jim.myers@tulsaworld.com Copyright c. 2007 , World Publishing Co. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: New rule may alter Small-Business contracting" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FEDERAL CONTRACTING" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=3006122 New rule may alter small-business contracting By ELISE CASTELLI September 4, 2007 Companies owned by American Indians are now more attractive contractors for the government. And that's got small businesses scared. That's because a new federal rule allows agencies to count American Indian-owned companies toward small business subcontracting targets no matter how big those companies may be. Agencies each have specific targets to meet each year for how many dollars they steer to various categories of small businesses in the form of prime contracts and subcontracts. But federal agencies have struggled at meeting those targets. In 2006, for example, agencies directed 35 percent of their subcontracting dollars to small businesses, well shy of the 40 percent mandated by law. Small-business advocates fear that under the rule, agencies will award more contracts to large American Indian-owned companies because they can get the benefits and convenience of working with a large contractor yet still get credit toward their small-business contracting goals. The rule benefits companies owned by American Indians and Alaskan Natives. It does not, however, apply to companies owned by Hawaiian natives. "It's unfortunately just another of the perks of the Alaska Native program that creates an unfair advantage," said Guy Timberlake, chief executive officer of the American Small Business Coalition. Even the government acknowledges the rule may harm legitimate small businesses. The Aug. 17 Federal Register notice that published the rule warned it may have "significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities." Last year, five of the government's top 10 small business contractors were so-called Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs), according to Eagle Eye Publishers. Information from the companies' Web sites indicate all exceeded Small Business Administration size standards based on numbers of employees and revenues. The Government Accountability Office also has cited examples of how ANCs' privileges affect small businesses. Because ANCs are granted the same sole-source award privileges as disadvantaged businesses but are not held to size constraints or caps on the value of contracts that can be awarded to them, contracting officers have found ANCs an expedient way to contract, according to a 2006 GAO report. GAO also found agencies would take advantage of the ability to make sole-source awards to ANCs by directing the ANC to subcontract with particular large businesses the government wanted to work with but couldn't make a sole-source award to. The result: Agencies can bypass competition requirements for large businesses while earning small-business credits. While the rules may appear to some as an unfair advantage, the rules recognize a reality in how the corporations are organized, said Karen Atkinson, executive director of the Native American Contractors Association. Where a typical small firm is privately owned and represents the interest of the owner, a tribal corporation is owned by the community, she said. The revenues generated benefit hundreds and sometimes thousands of "shareholders," who are members of the tribe forming the company, she said. "In rural areas where gaming is not a tool for economic development for tribes, this is the most successful federal tool available and it doesn't require appropriations," Atkinson said. In many cases, the corporations provide employment and skills development for communities of people who suffer from the highest levels of unemployment in the nation, she said. The government also has unique treaty obligations to native communities. In many cases the government was given tribal lands in exchange for opportunities to enhance self-governance and self-reliance, Atkinson said. E-mail: ecastelli@federaltimes.com Copyright c. 2007 Federal Times. --------- "RE: Tobacco Rowed" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SENECA-CAYUGA TOBACCO FACTORY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/ article.aspx?articleID=070905_1_A1_spanc87386 Tobacco Rowed by: S.E. RUCKMAN World Staff Writer September 5, 2007 Despite legal arguments and decades-old equipment, the Seneca-Cayugas keep rolling GROVE - The cigarettes come off the line at the tobacco factory at the rate of more than 13,000 cartons a day. The output at the former bingo parlor turned manufacturing plant is small compared to big cigarette makers, said Seneca-Cayuga Chief Paul Spicer. But the Senecas have a niche market as the only tribally owned cigarette manufacturer in the state. The path from bulk tobacco to finished cigarettes begins with 200-pound boxes of cut tobacco called "rag" that is grown in and transported from Virginia. The tobacco has few chemicals in it because it's Spicer's preference. "Our cigarettes are fresh," he said, holding an unsealed carton in one hand. From the bulk boxes, the tobacco is sifted in a hopper and transported through a tube to be introduced into machines armed with miles of rolling paper, filters and vegetable gum used as a sealer. Spicer said the factory, which opened in 1999, uses manufacturing equipment from the 1950s. But the machines are in prime running order, considering their age, he said. Mechanic Doug Keatts said the machines operate four 10-hour days with 25-26 people per shift. "I been here since day one and we have made lots of cigarettes since then," Keatts said. Box upon box is filled with pre-folded cartons for both the Skydancer and Texas Republic brands. Then comes the business of selling them. The factory has no on-site cigarette shop, and orders mostly come from outof- state buyers of the Texas Republic brand, which is especially popular with Texans. Many area tribal smokeshop owners have eschewed selling their brands until the Senecas' lawsuit is settled (see sidebar). Several tribes still endorse the Cayuga Tobacco Corp., including the Osage Nation, Sac & Fox and Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Meanwhile, the Senecas employ about 70 people at the plant, about half of whom are tribal members. Spicer said 100 percent of the profits go back into the tribe's coffers. "This is a tribal enterprise; it belongs to the Senecas," he said. While the Senecas are the sole Indian cigarette manufacturer in the state, they are not the only Indian-owned tobacco company. The Omaha Tribe in Nebraska also manufacturers and sells its cigarettes as the Omaha Nation Tobacco Co. With plans to expand the facility in limbo, the Seneca-Cayugas are looking for other economic ventures, Spicer said. The tribe recently purchased a former Boy Scout Camp nearby, is seeking trust approval for out-of-state land parcels and is planning a new $20 million casino in Grove. "The tobacco issue is one of sovereignty," Spicer said. "Anytime tribes try to assume their sovereignty, they draw opposition from the state because of crossing jurisdictional boundaries." --- Lawsuit update The Seneca-Cayuga's distinction of being the only tribally owned cigarette manufacturer in Oklahoma has not been without obstacles. More than a year ago, the tribe filed suit against the state in federal court seeking to access funds in an escrow account connected to a major tobacco suit settlement. The account was established because of the settlement of a suit several states filed against major tobacco manufacturers during the 1990s to recover costs incurred while treating smoking-related diseases. The tribe also sued to prevent the state from taxing its product. The case was dismissed, but the tribe has asked the court to waive the dismissal. "Our lawsuit with the state has kind of reached a stalemate," Seneca- Cayuga Chief Paul Spicer said. Emily Lang, spokeswoman for Attorney General Drew Edmondson, said the office filed a response to the Seneca's dismissal waiver request several months ago. No decision on the motions has yet been made. --- S.E. Ruckman 581-8462 se.ruckman@tulsaworld.com Copyright c. 2007, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved --------- "RE: Group aims to find Indian Blood" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:37:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GENEALOGY" http://heraldnet.com/article/20070907/NEWS01/109070058/-1/news01 If Indian blood is in your family tree, group aims to find it By Krista J. Kapralos, Herald Writer September 7, 2007 LYNNWOOD - Betty Gaeng has met dozens of Indian princesses. Or so they thought. Most often, she said, those desperately clutching brittle photographs of a distant ancestor have more hope than American Indian lineage. There's very little information for people who have too little Indian blood to enroll in a tribe, but just enough blood for a family tale to balloon into a legend of native royalty, said Gaeng, a research volunteer at the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society in Lynnwood. "We get so many of those," Gaeng said. All family trees have mystery in their branches, but few more so than those of people with a small amount of Indian blood in their veins. That's what Gaeng and other volunteers at the genealogical society discovered last year, when they tried to purchase books on Coast Salish history and genealogies with a $2,000 grant from the Tulalip Tribes. "We found nothing," said Carol Thul, the society's librarian. That discovery was unthinkable to Gaeng, Thul and other society members, who have been known to travel around the country to rummage through dusty boxes stuffed with yellowed notes on who was born and when, who died and where. "Every person, regardless of ethnicity, should have access to this information," society member Teresa Verhey said. Using decades of genealogical expertise, the group is working to develop a searchable database to be used by people who believe they may have Indian blood. Gaeng, Thul and others are collecting information about tribal members and their descendents that is of public record but difficult for the average person to track down and interpret. "These are public records, but it's hard for an ordinary person to figure out what they mean," said Gaeng, secretary for the society. "There's a certain method for extracting that information." Faulty information has led countless people to believe they have Indian blood or are even descended from Indian chiefs, said Kathleen Hinckley, executive director of the Association of Professional Genealogists in Colorado. "It's a common ancestral story in families that they descend from an Indian princess," she said. "Some stories may be true, but it's the task of the genealogist to filter out fact from fiction, especially when oral history is involved." Tracing Indian genealogies are more difficult than others because much of the pertinent information is closely guarded by tribal governments, Hinckley said. Proof of Indian blood, especially if it leads to membership in an Indian tribe, can mean a potential windfall through casino revenues, college scholarships and other benefits. "The tribe knows when someone died and was born, and all the connections, " Hinckley said. "They have it all pulled together, and it exists nowhere else. It's a gold mine." Still, many Indians lost track of their ancestry because a grandparent or great-grandparent left their Indian community. "There was so much discrimination that many people hid the fact that they were Indian," Hinckley said. "It doesn't even show up on records." Robin Carneen said her grandmother left the Swinomish Indian Reservation near La Conner some time last century and never shared anything about her home tribe. Carneen, now 47, was born a year after her grandmother died. Through an online chat room for American Indians, Carneen said, she stumbled upon a Tulalip tribal member who had heard of her grandmother's name. By 2004, Carneen said, she was working through the Swinomish tribe's enrollment process. Even though Carneen's children don't have enough Swinomish blood to enroll in the tribe, the discovery can get them a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood. The certificate is often accepted as proof for minority scholarships and other benefits. "We got really lucky," Carneen said. A database like the one the Sno-Isle Genealogical Society is creating could have saved years of research, Carneen said. Indians who live off-reservation often have no resources to help them trace their family history, Thul said. The society hopes to create its database using information gathered from a host of sources: records from the Roman Catholic Church, land allotment records, school registries - anywhere that might offer a bit of information. In bits and pieces, the information can easily be misinterpreted, Gaeng said, but together, and analyzed by an experienced genealogist, it can unlock secrets long hidden. "We know this affects state history and the history of the northwest," Verhey said. "But on a national level, this will provide the tools to help more people find their roots." Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com. Copyright c. 2007 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA. --------- "RE: New Dialogue on Native Americans and Cancer" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:37:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CANCER" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8995 Opening a New Dialogue on Native Americans and Cancer Dr. Judith Kaur September 6, 2007 The promise Creator gives us Comes with every new day, The gift of breath, the gift of life, Opportunities in a vast array. How do we count our blessings, Through the choices life can bring? Is it through joyful lessons? Or the fear to which we cling? Are we learning to show gratitude, For the victories over human pain? By honoring the feeling choices, We grasp the will we've regained. Can we change our focus, With no need to defend? Acknowledging joy and sorrow, Without judging foe or friend Tomorrow promises the fullness Of every human way to know; How we master each challenge Determines our balance - reflecting how we grow. - Jamie Sams (Seneca, Cherokee) Jamie Sams' "A Promise of Tomorrow" reminds us that life is about choices and challenges and, ultimately, about creating opportunities from the choices we make and the challenges we face. These beautiful words could serve as a mantra for the struggle that Native Americans face every day in trying to achieve and maintain health status equal to other Americans. When it comes to cancer, the difficult health status of American Indians and Alaska Natives is even more pronounced. American Indians and Alaska Natives tend to have much lower cancer survival rates than other populations. In fact, the cancer challenge in the American Indian and Alaska Native community revolves around members of this population group having the lowest five-year cancer survival rates of all population groups in the United States. Yet, Native American communities are beginning to join forces to address many of the barriers that exist - cultural and otherwise, such as fatalism and a "silence" on the word cancer. We are moving beyond the barriers that exist to embrace opportunities to change cancer outcomes in Indian Country. One example of this is the National Cancer Institute's Community Network Program, which funds community-based cancer control projects in selected communities of special populations, including American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Late this summer, we will have an opportunity to raise the level of dialogue about Native Americans and cancer, and it begins in Minneapolis, September 5-8, with the 7th National Changing Patterns of Cancer in Native Communities: Power of Partnership Conference which is sponsored by the Spirit of Eagles, a National Cancer Institute funded Community Networks Program based at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. This conference is an excellent opportunity for those interested in the health of American Indian and Alaska Native populations to hear from experts in the field. It promises to be a groundbreaking conference and will present an opportunity for all of us - no matter what we do or where we live - to look at various approaches to partnership in a broad range of areas: cancer epidemiology, cancer control and cancer survival. The conference will touch every part of Indian Country, bringing together Native American community health advocates and tribal representatives from across the U nited States. The conference is a chance for us to take action. It will provide us with a unique opportunity to shape the dialogue, discuss and develop strategies that are culturally appropriate for our people and set priorities that we think are important to us as we move forward. Among the topics that will be brought to the table are prevention, early detection and screening, access to clinical trials, tobacco, diet and physical activity, understanding cancer statistics and registries, and how to deal with end-of-life issues. Borrowing again from Jamie Sams' words and theme, the Spirit of Eagles conference is an opportunity to show how we in the Native community are working to "master each challenge" to "determine our balance." The Spirit of Eagles conference will be about what Native people are doing for Native people to address cancer and strengthen each succeeding generation. It is about controlling our destiny rather than having destiny control us. For further information about how you can participate, visit http://www.mayoclinic.org/nativeprograms or call 1-877-372-1617. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Nations continue to 'fight for the line'" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:37:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BORDER" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415690 Nations continue to 'fight for the line' by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today September 6, 2007 The short distance between the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the Canada Border Services Agency can seem like no man's land to many Native North Americans who attempt to pass freely across the border. Forced by U. S. law to show identification issued by a country from which one does not accept citizenship is one thing. It is outright humiliating to be told that one's tribal or First Nations-issued identification means "nothing" to a border agent. A recent incident at an Ontario border crossing sparked controversy in Canada, but with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requiring passports for all travelers entering the states imminent, the story should have raised more eyebrows here in the midsection of Turtle Island. Brandon Nolan, a professional Ojibway hockey player (and son of Ted Nolan, a well-known National Hockey League playmaker and coach), said he was harassed and denied entry into his native Canada in August by a pair of customs officials. According to media reports, Nolan presented a New York state driver's license and a First Nation status card. The license, said one officer, did not provide proof of U.S. residence, and the status card meant "nothing" to him. Nolan was sent back to the United States and it was suggested he try another port of entry, specifically the crossing at "Cornwall." The guard referred to the only customs house in Canada located on Native territory, on Cornwall Island, Ontario (known locally by its Mohawk name, Kawennoke). Nolan was offended by the comment, aware that the port at Akwesasne is often associated with drug smuggling and other illegal activities. "I was treated like a criminal," the young man said. This sentiment is common among residents of the Akwesasne territory. Mohawks comprise three-quarters of the border crossers there, according to a study conducted by Transport Canada, and often experienced similar incidents. Despite a traffic lane designated specifically for Akwesasne Mohawks, complaints of harassment by customs officers continue. Efforts by nation and tribal governments to improve relations between the community and the CBP have increased in importance since the proposal of the WHTI. Unrestricted passage and trade on the North American continent for Indian people was the founding principle of the Indian Defense League of America in 1926. An annual border crossing in the form of a peaceful walk across the Whirlpool Bridge at Niagara Falls, N.Y., symbolizes a continuous assertion of Indian sovereignty. It serves as a reminder of the inherent and treaty-based rights guaranteed to Indians by the Jay Treaty of 1794 and the Treaty of Ghent of 1814. These treaties had been in place for more than a century when both the Immigration Act and Citizenship Act of 1924 were imposed by the United States, threatening to limit the border-crossing abilities of Native North Americans. Today a number of factors contribute to a growing resistance by United States and Canadian border agents to recognize these rights, and to an increase in allegations of hostile treatment by customs officials at border crossings. Department of Homeland Security initiatives, including the forthcoming WHTI requirements, have disrupted the lives of countless Indian people and communities. Not only have rules and regulations been implemented without initial consultation with tribes, but little consideration has been taken for effects on border-blind tribal economies, healthcare delivery, educational opportunities and cultural well-being. Despite these concerns, calls for Homeland Security funding to be distributed directly to tribal nations have been largely ignored. Funds for local anti-terrorism strategies and emergency preparedness continue to be funneled through state and county governments. In border communities, and for Indian people just trying to pass through, the effect is doubly frustrating - little to no funding for tribal preparedness efforts, but plenty of post-Sept. 11, 2001 racial profiling and harassment. At the end of his life, noted Cayuga leader Deskaheh encouraged us to "fight for the line," to remember our rights as Indian peoples and ensure that future generations enjoy them as well. Continuing to antagonize local Native populations, potentially the most valuable allies, is simply bad policy for United States and Canada border protection agencies. Here cooperation is key. Just resolution of border issues will not occur until Indian nations are consulted and treated with the same respect afforded other sovereign nations. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Native American Education Summit set" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 07:21:32 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="EDUCATION SUMMIT" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/09/06/ news/local/doc46dcd410c45b7464390731.txt Native American education summit set By Journal staff September 6, 2007 PIERRE - A lineup of national and local experts will discuss strategies to help Native American students succeed at "Our Voice. Your Voice. One Voice.'" a regional education summit planned Wednesday through Friday, Sept. 19-21, at the Ramkota hotel in Rapid City. Discussions will focus on strategies related to student achievement, language and culture, and teacher recruitment and retention in Indian Country. "Native American students account for nearly 11 percent of enrollment at the state's public schools," said Keith Moore, director of Indian education for the South Dakota Department of Education. "This conference brings together people involved in educating our Native students to share their successes and to talk about strategies for addressing specific challenges." Breakout sessions will address a variety of topics including teaching math in a cultural context, tribal perspectives on American history, online tutoring solutions, culturally responsive methodology for elementary teachers, positive systemic change, addressing racism issues, and more. Keynote speakers include Dr. Ben Chavis, Dr. Paul Gorski and Dr. Martin Reinhardt. Chavis is the director of American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland, Calif. Under his leadership, the school has been transformed from one of Oakland's worst performing schools to one of its highest performing. Dr. Paul Gorski, an assistant professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., will present "Beyond Color Blindness: Being an Anti- -Racist Educator." Dr. Martin Reinhardt, research associate for the Interwest Equity Assistance Center at Colorado State University, will present "Conceptualizing American Indian Education." Educators, parents, legislators and others who work with Native American students are invited to attend. Registration for the summit is $100. The event is hosted by the South Dakota Department of Education and Technology and Innovations in Education. For a complete agenda or to register, go to www.doe.sd.gov and click on "2007 Regional Indian Education Summit." Copyright c. 2007 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: OPINION: No more end runs on UND Nickname" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 07:14:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OP-ED: UND SHOULD NEGOTIATE PROPERLY" http://www.indianz.com/News http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=48973 OUR OPINION: No more end runs on UND nickname September 2, 2007 Ralph Engelstad Arena's decision to reach out to the Sioux people is the right impulse, but the execution is completely wrong. The arena ran into trouble last week when its envoy persuaded a veterans group at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to support the Fighting Sioux nickname. In return, the arena would put up a memorial honoring Sioux veterans. OK, said the veterans group. Not so fast, said other tribal members. The veterans group rescinded its support. This development emphasizes what has been clear for some time. Only the elected representatives of Indian people can speak for the entire tribe. This means that any negotiation must be with the Tribal Council. Most tribal councils have opposed the use of the Fighting Sioux nickname and logo, including Standing Rock. REA's overture to the veterans group was an attempt at an end run around the council. Such maneuvers are doomed. Not only did REA attempt to negotiate with the wrong party, the arena itself is the wrong party to negotiate. Indian tribal councils are sovereign governments, and they should be approached by decision-makers. Anything less is insulting. UND officials have talked with Indian leaders from time to time, but even the president of the university isn't in a position to negotiate because the president doesn't have the authority to make a final decision about the nickname and logo. The Board of Higher Education has claimed that authority, and so it is the board that should do the negotiating. Anything else is less than a full government-to-government negotiation. Even the board might find itself rebuffed, since it is an agency of the state government. It might be that only the governor or his representative, or potentially a group of powerful legislators, could command the respect of Indian tribal councils. The blunders associated with REA's overture to the Sioux veterans don't end even there, however. The idea of erecting a memorial wall honoring them rings hollow, since it so obviously is an inducement to win support from Indian veterans. This is not the right motivation to honor veterans. It's impossible to know how the controversy about the Sioux nickname will play out. It's certainly true, however, that the name would wear more comfortably if the Sioux themselves supported it. Such support will be seen as legitimate, both in the Indian community and elsewhere, only if elected Sioux governments offer it. Any effort to win that support must come from those empowered to make a decision about the name, in other words, through government-to-government negotiations. End runs and shortcuts cannot succeed. Trying them hardens attitudes among nickname opponents, and trying them should embarrass nickname supporters. There might be a settlement that would satisfy Sioux tribal councils and allow UND to continue to use the nickname. Trying to find such common ground is a good idea. In fact, it is long overdue. To succeed, however, the right people have to do the talking. - Mike Jacobs for the Herald Copyright c. 2007 Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND 58102 All rights reserved. --------- "RE: What is the truth about the murder of Anna Mae?" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 07:14:58 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: ANNA MAE'S MURDER" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=8986 What is the truth about the murder of Anna Mae? By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) September 4, 2007 Anna Mae Pictou Aquash, a Mi'kmaq Indian from Canada, was brutally murdered in 1975. Her murder can only be described as a conspiracy and a cover-up by the American Indian Movement. One man, Arlo Looking Cloud, an Oglala Lakota, and a member of AIM, is serving life in prison for her murder while his accomplice, the man he accused of pulling the trigger, John "Boy" Graham, a native of the Yukon in Canada, is awaiting extradition to the United States to stand trial. Looking Cloud and Graham, in the parlance of the Mafia, were foot soldiers. They did not make the decisions of life and death but they were merely the tools that carried out the orders of their superiors. After 32 years have passed, who gave the order to kill Ms. Aquash? Who are these conspirators? What did they know and when did they know it? Anna Mae was murdered on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Her body was discovered on February 24, 1976. The higher ups in AIM immediately placed the blame on the Federal Bureau of Investigation and then set their propaganda machine in motion to shift the focus of the investigation away from themselves. AIM spokesman, John Trudell, said, "My overall view of this thing, I think that agents in the government were behind it. I mean this very seriously, that the government is the main force behind the killing of Annie Mae and the direct link representing the government would be the agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation." The mainstream media made heroes of the occupiers of Wounded Knee. They became legends in their own minds. Even today there is still talk among the Lakota people of Pine Ridge that some terrible things took place within the AIM camp at Wounded Knee. There is a strong suspicion among some Pine Ridge residents that there are other bodies buried in secret graves at Wounded Knee including the body of an African American man named Perry Ray Robinson who apparently entered the camp at Wounded Knee in 1973 and has not be seen or heard from since. The FBI does not come away with totally clean hands in its dealings with Native Americans. Too often its agents entered Indian reservations with little or no knowledge of the Native culture, traditions or customs and oftentimes increased tensions between differing factions unnecessarily, if not deliberately. A power struggle between the Bellecourt brothers, Vernon and Clyde, and AIM leaders Russell Means and Dennis Banks, was boiling over within AIM. Some of the leadership suspected Aquash of being an FBI informant. She was held captive by members of AIM in the Denver home of Troy Lynn Yellowwood for a short time and then in February of 1975 she was tied up, placed in the trunk of a car owned by Theda Clark and transported to the reservation where, it is alleged, several members of AIM, including their attorney Bruce Ellison and a former correspondent for the Rapid City Journal, Candy Hamilton, observed her as a captive at the home of Bill Means shortly before she was taken to a lonely rode near the village of Wanblee and executed. Looking Cloud, Graham and Theda Clark were with her when she died. Clark is now in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's disease. At an AIM conference held in Farmington, N.M. in 1975, Leonard Peltier was assigned the task of confronting Aquash and accusing her of being an FBI informant, according to an interview by Peter Matthiessen. Peltier was later convicted of the murder of FBI Special Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams near Oglala. He has maintained his innocence, but in her testimony at the Looking Cloud trial Ka-Mook Banks, the wife of Dennis Banks, and an AIM insider, said she was present when Peltier acknowledged killing the FBI agents by pointing his finger like a gun. She testified that Peltier said, "The `MF' was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway." The agents were murdered execution style with coup de grace bullets to the head, as they lay wounded near their vehicle. Peltier is now serving two life sentences for the murders. For every violent death on the Pine Ridge Reservation in the 1970s, AIM has pointed the finger of blame at the FBI, and at the duly elected tribal government of Dick Wilson. Over the years Wilson was mercilessly castigated and vilified by AIM and the mainstream media, and the government of the Oglala Sioux Tribe was labeled as "goons." Too many movies and too many books have glorified AIM and told only one side of the story. It would be a terrible miscarriage of justice if only the foot soldiers are prosecuted and not those that gave the order to murder Anna Mae or those that knew about it and failed to prevent it or to report it. --- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was born, raised and educated on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991 and founder of The Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. He founded and was the first president of the Native American Journalists Association. He can be reached at najournalist@msn.com. Copyright c. 2007 Native American Journalists Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: COUNTERPOINT: Friends of Peltier to Tim Giago" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RESPONSE TO GIAGO'S 'WHO KILLED ANNA MAE' PIECE" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/09/ counterpoint-friends-of-leonard-peltier.html COUNTERPOINT: Friends of Leonard Peltier to Tim Giago A response to What is the Truth About the Murder of Anna Mae? By Tim Giago, The Huffington Post, August 30, 2007: September 4, 2007 "If, Giago is a lover of `fact' and `objective' journalism, as he claims, perhaps he will take the time to actually read and study the thousands of documents produced by [the] FBI... If that isn't enough, Tim Giago can watch reruns of interviews with judges, ex-GOONs describing their FBI support, [and] victims of GOONs' terror... All of these... are available for anyone truly interested in facts." - Leonard Peltier (Letter to the Editor, May 1991 Edition of News From Indian Country) As several of his fellow columnists/editors have noted over the years, Tim Giago and AIM are old adversaries. Giago has often been critical of AIM leaders and during the campaign for clemency during Bill Clinton's presidency, Giago (founder and former editor of Indian Country Today) published an ad against an award of clemency to Leonard Peltier - one financed by the FBI Agents Association and the Society of Former Agents of the FBI and that contained a bare minimum of 33 factual errors. As has happened since his 1976 arrest, the U.S. government isn't above manipulating the media to destroy public confidence in Leonard Peltier. A 1993 FBI memorandum shows that the government developed a media plan by which former and active agents of the FBI made scurrilous claims in print and on radio and television programs throughout the United States with the intent of preventing Peltier's release through an award of Executive Clemency. This is by no means a new weapon in the FBI's arsenal. Further evidence of such media activity can be found in the "Final Report of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities," (United States Senate, 94th Congress, 2nd Session, 1976), most notably against the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Media manipulation also was a key element of the FBI's public relations activities surrounding the prosecutions of other members of the American Indian Movement during the 1970s. For example, prior to the 1976 trial of Peltier's codefendants, Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the FBI warned local police that carloads of AIM "terrorists" were descending on the town. On May 11, 1976, U.S. marshals visited every office in the Federal Building (where the trial was to be held), telling folks to prepare for shooting incidents and the seizure of hostages and advising them that marshals on the roof would be on the lookout for marauding Indians. Elsewhere, rumors about alleged renegade activity ran rampant. A report allegedly emanating from Connecticut police intelligence, for example, stated that a "terrorist" group affiliated with AIM had hatched a plan "to kill a cop a day." The report failed to mention that the organization referenced was defunct. On June 22, the FBI released a teletype that was distributed to law enforcement agencies throughout the country. It claimed that 2,000 AIM "Dog Soldiers" trained in "the Northwest Territory" would fan out across South Dakota and would kidnap, bomb, burn, and kill... all, it was alleged, to disrupt the Bicentennial Celebration. When the 2,000 "Dog Soldiers" didn't show up in South Dakota and the rest of the FBI's scare campaign was shown to be a lie, the Cedar Rapids community began to look at AIM members, who had peaceably assembled there for the trial, with a fresh eye and view the government's machinations with skepticism. Butler and Robideau were acquitted on grounds of self-defense. Such media activity on the part of the FBI necessitates gaining newspaper editors' and journalists' confidence and support in disseminating media reports favorable to the FBI and damaging to their targets while, at the same time, thwarting efforts of such targets to publicly defend themselves. Giago has been a willing participant in the FBI's disinformation campaign against AIM and Leonard Peltier for many years now. Today, Giago parrots the language of former Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis Division of the FBI Joseph H. Trimbach who claims authorship of a forthcoming book, "American Indian Mafia, An FBI Agent's True Story About Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM)". It's interesting that Trimbach would compare AIM with the Mafia with which the FBI has a checkered past. Take the Deegan case, for example. In 1968, four men were convicted of the slayng of Edward "Teddy" Deegan. Thirty-nine years later, on July 26, 2007, U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner found that the FBI withheld evidence that the men had been framed, as Peter Limone and Joseph Salvati grew old during their three decades in prison, and Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo died behind bars. Secret FBI files that were never turned over during the men's 1968 trial show that the FBI knew that the key witness in the case, notorious hitman Joseph "The Animal" Barboza, falsely implicated the four men, while protecting one of Deegan's true killers, Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi, who was an FBI informant. "It took 30 years to uncover this injustice," Gertner said. "This case is about intentional conduct ... the framing of innocent men." (See http://freepeltiernow.blogspot.com/2007/07/breaking-news-101m-civil- verdict-for.html.) Isn't it also interesting that the book (and Web site) that Trimbach claimed would be published and released on June 26th of this year have failed to materialize? Trimbach nevertheless has taken the opportunity of the alleged publication of this book to conduct interviews, write blog postings, and otherwise promote his views. Trimbach, continuing as an FBI propagandist, has been very busy spreading a fictional tale, although one consistent with the FBI's long position on Wounded Knee and Leonard Peltier. Aided by men such as these, the FBI seeks to condemn all AIM members for the actions of the few, vilify men and women who had the courage to stand for freedom, and rewrite history about what most of them hoped to (and arguably did) accomplish, i.e., the demand of Indigenous Peoples for their human and constitutional rights, and defense of their cultural heritage. Regardless of mistakes made during that time or the personalities involved, there is no doubt that the men and women of AIM raised the consciousness of Indigenous Peoples, sparked cultural pride, and engendered the Native activism seen today (from which Tim Giago and others of his ilk have benefited). One must ask oneself... if the government's cause is righteous, why then are such machinations even necessary? Without question, the 1975 murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash was brutal. Without question, her killers must be brought to justice. But there also must be scrupulous respect for due process and fair trial proceedings. This is essential to ensure full public accounting of what happened and to address ongoing concerns about political interference in the course of justice. In recent months, the politicization of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has been "exposed" and hotly debated. That debate has focused on the firings of U.S. Attorneys for political reasons, almost exclusively. The DOJ's politically motivated prosecutions over the years have been and continue to be ignored by the media and the public at large, however - as has the simultaneous, unbridled official misconduct that is known to have occurred and has been acknowledged by Congress and the courts in the case of Leonard Peltier, as well as cases of other AIM members prosecuted by the DOJ. The Peltier Legal Team has discovered proof in the form of the FBI's own documents that the government knew who was responsible for Anna Mae's murder all along. Why has the FBI waited so long - decades - to prosecute? Theories abound On one thing, Mr. Giago, we agree - Those that knew about Anna Mae's murder and failed to prevent it or report it should be prosecuted - but we have to ask: Does this include the agents and their supervisors in the Bureau who obstructed justice in this case? Giago knows, or should know, that there was no evidence entered or witness testimony given at the Looking Cloud trial that indicated Leonard Peltier was involved in the murder of Anna Mae Aquash. This is merely a conclusion that the U.S. government hoped the media, and the American public, would reach. Peltier adamantly denies Giago's and others' claims. And why wouldn't he? He never believed Aquash was an informant. More than that, he had nothing to fear from any of the FBI's numerous informants. Why? For one very good reason: Peltier is an innocent man. We now know that the FBI, despite its claim to the contrary, could and did conduct a firing pin test on the Wichita AR-15, the weapon attributed to Peltier and which was alleged to have caused Agents Williams' and Coler's fatal injuries. That test proved conclusively that the shell casing offered into evidence at Peltier's 1977 trial was not fired by the Wichita AR-15. This means only one thing... Peltier did not shoot the agents. (View the FBI's own documents which clearly show that the shell casing did not match the Wichita AR-15.) And what's the lesson to be learned? To understand the Aquash prosecutions, one must also familiarize oneself with the specifics of the Peltier case. Giago relies heavily on the uncorroborated testimony of Kamook Nichols Banks at the Looking Cloud trial. He fails, however, to address the legitimate complaints about that uncorroborated testimony. At issue is Kamook's romantic relationship with Robert Ecoffey, an investigator in the Peltier and Aquash cases - and one of a number of investigators who have staked their reputations on the same. Such relationships are deemed inappropriate and are generally forbidden for the duration of a criminal investigation expressly because they can and often do raise reasonable doubt about the truthfulness of a witness' testimony. Why was this relationship not revealed at the Looking Cloud trial? Presumably, this was done intentionally to avert questions as to the influence Ecoffey may have exerted over Kamook's uncorroborated testimony on behalf of the prosecution. This would have been an appropriate path of inquiry, however, and a legitimate issue to place before the jury. Note: Kamook Nichols Banks married Robert Ecoffey soon after the end of the trial. What is of most concern to many people, however, is the fact that Kamook Nichols Banks is a paid informant. The fact is that Kamook Nichols Banks is known to have been paid $42,000 (U.S. dollars) by the FBI for "moving expenses". Given the history of the FBI vis-a-vis information on informants, the public simply has no way of knowing for certain that Kamook Nichols Banks did not receive much more by way of remuneration. The question that always arises when a witness is in the "employ" of investigators is whether or not an informant has provided accurate information or merely provided tall tales in sufficient quantity, frequency, and detail to satisfy investigators' theory of a crime so as to secure the promised rewards. But there's far more at issue in this particular case. Read the findings of the Church Committee referenced previously or consider the affidavit by former FBI Special Agent John C. Ryan which was filed as Appendix C to the Plaintiffs' "Motion for Justice" filed in the successful Bari/Cherney civil rights suit against the FBI and the Oakland (California) Police (http://www.judibari.org/Ryan050701.html): "...it would come as no surprise that FBI agents in... any case, would distort, exaggerate, misrepresent, falsify or otherwise manipulate information about an informant, or about information supposedly received from an informant, or meetings, or the contents of reports and files, etc., regardless of the untruthfulness or unlawfulness of their actions. Anyone - supervisors, bureau headquarters, a court or magistrate in a given case, prosecutors, city police officers - might have been a target (victim) of such fraud and deception regarding informants and informant information in the circumstances and atmosphere I am describing." The FBI has a long history of mishandling informants. For many years, the FBI has not followed its own guidelines as regards the use of confidential informants, including regulations regarding cash payments for information. As late as 2005, despite attempts to remedy this situation, the government found that the FBI continues to mishandle informants (see "FBI violating informant guidelines: Inspector General finds 87 failure rate," Boston Globe, 13 Sep 2005). The continuing concerns over FBI practices are so great that the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, has touched on the matter just recently - during a hearing specifically on the use of confidential informants and a subsequent FBI oversight hearing. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, vital to prevent a justice system from railroading relatively powerless defendants, guarantees any accused the right to a speedy and public trial, assisted by counsel. It guarantees that they shall know the nature of the charges against them and be allowed to subpoena witnesses in their defense. It also says the accused "shall enjoy the right... to be confronted with the witnesses against him." The Sixth Amendment also affords the right to cross-examine witnesses. The burden is on the prosecution to bring witnesses forward at trial, to allow judge and jury to see how they respond to cross-examination. This is not merely some "technicality". Human nature has not changed and the Founders knew full well that false statements - or statements extracted by an aggressive and "leading" investigator or interviewer - often crumble in the formality of testimony under oath before a jury. During the Arlo Looking Cloud trial, the federal prosecutor simply circumnavigated this amendment. One must remember that prior to the Looking Cloud trial, federal prosecutors had admitted that they "did not and could not" prove Peltier's guilt in connection with the 1975 shooting deaths of two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Previously, the prosecutors were forced to admit that they didn't know who shot the agents or what role Peltier "may have played" in their deaths. Prosecutors even changed their prosecutorial theory along the way, stating that Peltier wasn't sentenced to two life sentences for homicide, but for aiding and abetting. (Not much different than the recent controversy raised by the planned execution of Texas inmate Kenneth Foster for a murder he didn't commit, is it?) To support a weak prosecutorial theory and the alleged motive for the murder of Anna Mae, testimony in the form of hearsay evidence was presented against Peltier (who wasn't on trial). There was no risk in the prosecutor doing this. After all, Leonard Peltier wasn't able to face his accuser and cross-examine. Icing on the cake from the government's point of view, the suspect testimony of a paid informant with close personal ties to a key investigator is now part of the official court record and the government can (and will) point to the testimony given - aided, apparently, by Giago and others - as "proof" of Peltier's guilt. Lo and behold the government's case against Leonard Peltier is rehabilitated! Coincidentally? The hearsay evidence presented by Kamook Nichols Banks exactly matched the government's original prosecutorial theory presented during its opening remarks and summation during Peltier's trial. A tidy package, then. To what purpose? To win a conviction against Looking Cloud, of course. But also to destroy public support for Peltier, they think, and to prevent his release from prison by a grant of clemency or parole. Is the government's campaign against Peltier working? The answer to that question came during the Prez on the Rez forum on August 23, the first event of its kind in Indian Country, when presidential candidate Mike Gravel pledged to free Peltier if elected, bringing the room to its feet in a standing ovation. Those showing their appreciation included members of the Oglala Nation (for whom Giago claims to speak), as well as representatives of many other Indian tribes from throughout the country. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Myth of a `Free Ride'" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: CLOUDING TRUTH WITH SMOKE" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm? id=49230§ion=columnists&columnist=Dorreen%20Yellow%20Bird Putting to rest the myth of a `free ride' Dorreen Yellow Bird September 5, 2007 As the angry voices over UND's nickname and logo grew to a fevered pitch, one assertion stood out as being so blatantly incorrect that it needs to be corrected and never repeated. It is this: The claim that American Indian students somehow get a "free ride" at UND. This claim was made again and again in some 120 comments that hit the Herald's Web site Thursday in connection with a nickname story ("Group rescinds support," Page 1A). But it's one of those untruths that is so flagrant, it makes all other arguments from nickname supporters seem false. When I spoke about the issue Thursday with Robert Boyd, UND's vice president for student and outreach services, he said - with some frustration in his voice - that he didn't know where these kinds of rumors or assertions start. American Indian students get the same financial aid consideration as do any other student, he said. So, let me tell you from the lips of Boyd and Robin Holden, director of the student financial aid office: All undergraduate students who are eligible (according to a needs assessment by the financial aid office) get a financial-aid package from the university. This package typically includes a mix of grants, waivers, loans and a "work study" amount that, when added to the contribution expected from the student and the student's family, totals the expected cost of a year's study at UND. That budget, which includes tuition, fees, living expenses and so on, typically falls in the $15,000 to $16,000 range. This meets the student's basic needs. I repeat, all students who have financial need get this financial aid package, regardless of their ethnic background. The grant and loan amounts vary among students depending in part on their level of need. Virtually all college students in the United States are eligible for public and private scholarships. These scholarships range from $50 (common) to $100,000 (very rare). The scholarships are offered to people who fall into hundreds of different categories, the financial aid office told me. Some of categories include women, men, athletes, older students, Lutherans, Catholics, veterans, children of veterans, children of veterans who were awarded the Purple Heart and so on. And of these hundreds of scholarships, some are set up for American Indian students. Two of the most common - and least understood -are tribal education funds and UND's cultural diversity tuition waivers. Tribal education offices on reservations provide some scholarships that go into some - not all - American Indian students' financial aid packages. These grants are similar to the "hometown scholarships" that various farsighted towns across America offer to their high-school graduates. The second scholarship is a program UND calls its "Undergraduate Cultural Diversity Tuition Waivers;" and on the Herald's Web site, there was much talk about so-called "free tuition" offered through these waivers. Well, my friends, these "diversity waivers" are indeed available at UND. They are, however, offered not only to some American Indians, but also to "all other under-represented groups," according to the university's Web site. That category includes "economically disadvantaged students," regardless of race. And there are a limited number of waivers available. Those who benefit from the program see their undergraduate tuition waived, but not their living expenses or fees. Through separate programs, partial tuition waivers are given to some graduate or medical students. The bottom line of the complicated subject of financial aid is this: Yes, American Indian students do qualify for some designated scholarship dollars. But so do other students, virtually all of whom fall into one or more of the many qualifying categories available. Furthermore, scholarships and waivers for American Indians seldom grant anything close to a "free ride." Instead, American Indian students typically graduate owing thousands of dollars in student loans. In fact, I don't know any American Indian student who doesn't have loans to pay back - and some of the loans are astounding. Consider this: An American Indian friend of mine is a former financial aid counselor, so she knows where to look for funding. She is a graduate student - and so far, she owes $90,000 in student loans. Tell her that American Indians get a "free ride." --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2007 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: MARTIN: Freedmen row is about Sovereignty" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2007 07:21:32 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MARTIN: RACISM CHARGE DOES NOT STICK" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770905093 Opinion Freedmen row is not about racism but sovereignty by Joe Martin, Local columnist September 6, 2007 It's safe to say that my fellow Cherokees in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma have a mess on their hands. A referendum to remove membership from descendants of the Freedmen, freed slaves once owned by members of the Cherokee Nation, passed. The result was frequent accusations of racism, along with some misrepresentation in the mainstream media and a proposal from one member of Congress to dissolve the federal relationship. The vote was one of ensuring an Indian ancestor on the base roll. Being black or any other race doesn't matter as long as that ancestor is there, but where it gets messy is that these descendants were given citizenship through a treaty. While forced, it's still a legal document. The Cherokee Nation also successfully fought to revoke recognition of the Delaware, making them subject to the Cherokee Nation, which throws out any Cherokee ancestry argument. The Cherokee Nation has every right to determine its own citizenship criteria, a cornerstone of sovereignty. U.S. Indian policy stands to return to what it was in the 1950s when the U.S. was trying to wipe out self-governance. That's the effect that will be achieved through legislation proposed by Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., to cut all federal funding and sever the federal relationship with the Cherokee Nation unless the Freedmen's citizenship is restored. "The Cherokee Nation's leadership claims that it has the sovereign right to determine who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. But the sovereign right to discriminate is no right at all," she said. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C., is one of the cosponsors, and Watson praised a move by another N.C. Representative, Mel Watt, to cut funding for the Cherokee Nation through a vote in the House Committee on Financial Services. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, while staying out of the Cherokee Nation controversy, could just as well find itself in the same shoes over its politically incorrect position opposing Lumbee recognition. Watson's bill is an attack on tribal sovereignty that seeks to return to the termination era, and that's why the move and controversy is such a major concern in all of Indian Country. If this bill comes before Rep. Heath Shuler, he should put sovereignty ahead of ill-informed emotions and vote against it. --- Joe Martin has been editor of the Cherokee One Feather since 1996. He won third place for Individual Best Editorial Writing at the 2004 Native Media Awards from the Native American Journalists Association at the 2004 UNITY Journalists of Color convention in Washington. He lives on tribal trust lands in the Cherokee County community. Copyright c. 2007 Asheville Citizen-Times. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: BRIVATI: US is the original genocidal State" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BRIVATI: US INDIGENOUS GENOCIDE" http://www.indianz.com/News http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ brian_brivati/2007/09/an_unmarked_genocide.html An unmarked genocide? A moving exhibition of Native American art reminded me of the extent to which the US is the original genocidal state. Brian Brivati September 5, 2007 If you are in New York in the next few months there is a small visiting exhibition at the National Museum of the American Indian called Listening to Our Ancestors, which is worth a visit. It is an amazing building, the exhibition is free and the layout and structure is professional and engaging. The content was extraordinary and something of a revelation to me. The aesthetic of Native American art has never particularly appealed to me. Many of the masks in the show, and I apologise for the analogy because these are sacred objects, reminded me of Mr Punch - the exaggerated facial features and so on. Others were strikingly original and the images of women flying on the back of birds and a carved canoe were beautiful. There were, however, two aspects of the show that stood out. The first was the notion of songs in the culture of Native Americans. The tribes represented here were from the north Pacific coast, ancient peoples closely associated with the sea. Images of whales reminded us of the movie Whale Rider. The songs were sacred in the sense that they were given - the songs came. I had never really understood this idea before. The exhibit, however, made it clear that these songs would come to the people who wrote them and the act of their creation was seen as a divine act. The notion of song being given seems to me to be as good an explanation of creativity as any. The coming of the song, like the coming of a poem or a piece of music, cannot be explained so it is turned into a divine act, the coming of a god into the life of the tribe. These songs are then guarded and protected. The second thing that came out of the exhibition for me only occurred when I read the catalogue back here in London. The objects were all in remarkably good condition. I did not question this as I walked around but afterwards I realised it was because most of them were made in the last hundred years. They were recreations of objects made much earlier that had been collected by the Canadian authorities and shown for a fee in parish halls. To an extent this was not an exhibition of Native American civilisation so much as an exhibition of the reconstruction of that civilisation after its destruction. Not in the sense of an invented tradition but in the sense of rebuilding from the fragments of what remained after a continental genocide. The author of the catalogue recalls being sent off to a church school, aged six, to have his beliefs educated out of him. All of this is well known of course for western tribes, but perhaps less so for these north Pacific ones. An entire culture destroyed and then, slowly and carefully, recreated. At first this process was carried on against the policies of successive governments and then, finally, with their support. Even the fishing rights were restored and protected. Despite this the fact that very little of the exhibit was more that 150 years old was deeply depressing. Truly this was a genocide of epic proportions - the attempt to destroy in whole or in part a nation or in this case many nations, in their cultural life as well in the physical sense of killing. We do not teach the genocide of the Native Americans on our comparative module at Kingston. Nor do we teach the history of slavery or slavery as an instance of genocide. There is another module on slavery in the portfolio. In part the decision to exclude these two US cases was pragmatic - we could not teach everything and we wanted to concentrate on the 20th century. In part this was a necessary restriction because if we opened up the 19th century it could easily have become a module about imperialism and its victims. A worthy module to teach, but different from what we wanted to achieve with the course which was to explore the extent to which "never again" has not been a reality. There were deeper reasons at work as well I think, at least in myself. As I have written here before, I am very fond of the US - its people, its values, its democracy and its freedoms. A colleague has critiqued our choice of cases - Stalin, Hitler, former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Saddam Hussein and Sudan - as be ing cases in which the west are the good guys, or at least not the perpetrators. This is partially true, though in Rwanda our failure to intervene was a prime cause of the genocide. But the decision not to focus on US perpetrated genocides was also a reaction against the monolithic focus on the crimes of the US in contemporary academic life and the attempt to try to offer a little balance to the overall curriculum students study. (It is odd that both sides in these debates feel that the other dominates so much.) There were then good curriculum reasons for excluding this case in the sense of not being able to cover everything and also of introducing students to the notion that states other than the US have committed crimes against humanity. The exhibition has though given cause to pause and consider if the decision was sound or not. We discuss precedent a great deal on the course. Much is written about the way in which the Holocaust shattered human taboos about what a state could do. Listening to Our Ancestors reminded me of the extent to which the almost complete and wilful destruction of the Native American civilisation was also a pretty clear module for Stalin and Hitler to follow. This argument for the 20th century is extended and made at length in Michael Mann's book, the Dark Side of Democracy. I still think Mann is broadly wrong in his thesis but I will be spending a lot more time on the 19th century in the first week of teaching this year because of this wonderful exhibition. Guardian Unlimited Copyright c. Guardian News and Media Limited 2007. --------- "RE: HARJO: Summer's over for the GOP" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Sep 2007 07:37:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARJO: GOP FOLLIES ON PARADE" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415693 Harjo: Summer's over for the GOP by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Indian Country Today September 6, 2007 When future historians analyze the 2008 election results, they likely will point to the week of Aug. 27 as the time when the course was set inexorably for the Republicans' return to minority party status. The week started with the Attorney General resigning under a cloud and ended with the senior Senator from Idaho appearing to resign over something he pled guilty to doing in a Minneapolis men's room. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales resigned on Aug. 27, effective Sept. 17. He is being investigated for lying to Congress in connection with the firings of U.S. Attorneys. On Sept. 1, Sen. Larry Craig announced his "intention" to resign, effective Sept. 30, saying he was "railroaded" into his earlier admission of guilt. Faced with an accusation of signaling by toe-taps and hand-waves that he was soliciting an undercover police officer for sex, Craig copped a plea to disorderly conduct. When the matter came to light, he held a press conference, denying vehemently that he is gay. Craig, a leading opponent of gay marriages, became a national joke for his hypocrisy and for the "ick" factor of quickies in airport bathrooms. The Craig scandal prompted MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" to dub the Republicans the Grand Old Potty. My favorite political cartoon on the subject, by Tom Toles, ran nationally on Aug. 29. It shows two stalls, one with men's shoes and the other with an elephant's feet - one set of pachyderm toes touch a shoe as the voice behind the elephant's door says: "I'm merely signaling that it would be wrong for us to get married." Republican politicos - with flashbacks to the sex scandal of Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and its effect on the 2006 congressional elections - hastily reassembled Gonzales' gangplank in the vicinity of Craig's Senate desk. One fellow Republican who came to Craig's defense was Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, the target of an investigation regarding financial dealings. The FBI raided Stevens' own home in July. Neither Stevens nor Craig should be confused with Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana, who is the subject of another scandal involving prostitutes, or with other senators with sex or money scandals brewing. Adding to the perfect storm of the week of Aug. 27 was the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which slammed the Mississippi and Louisiana coasts on Aug. 29, 2005. The failure of the levees and governmental systems that inundated New Orleans and the stories of ongoing devastation and displacement permeated national broadcasts and newspapers all week, reinforcing the reality that something is broken and still needs to be fixed. On Aug. 31, Karl Rove left his position as Dep. Chief of Staff to George W. Bush, reminding anyone who follows the news that he narrowly escaped the fate of former vice presidential aide Lewis Scooter Libby in the case of the public disclosure of a CIA agent's identify. Rove's departure from White House duties will presumably free up his time to activate the Republican base against such national emergency issues as gay marriage in the 2008 elections. Many vote-wranglers of the Christian right, such as Team Abramoff, are presently in jail, indicted or subdued, and someone has to take up the slack. Jack Abramoff continues to serve up former cohorts while he's serving time in prison. During the GOP week that was, Team Abramoff continued to make news as documents surfaced that detailed ways in which folks on the Hill illegally passed around money and favors, some of it in the name of Native peoples. The Democrats, for the most part, maintained a disciplined silence, although the Labor Day barbeques in key primary states were filled with more hee-haws than usual. It's hard to see how the Republicans can keep the White House or prevent the Democrats from gaining even greater margins of control in the Senate and House in the next elections. While there is little that the GOP can do to change that outcome, history has shown that Democrats are perfectly capable of losing all the political marbles without any help from anyone else, so a total Democratic victory is not a foregone conclusion. What does all this mean for Native peoples? The same thing it means for everyone else, plus this: It's time for tribal leaders to stop taking the legal and political advice of the Abramoffs currently in Indian country. Team Abramoff only got $80-plus million of Indian monies. Others in the same league are getting much more today for similarly poor advice and service. A good start would be to stop paying anyone who is trying to scare you with the specter of non-Indian labor union manipulators attempting to take over tribal casinos. Don't look now, but non-Indian manipulators are already running a lot of tribal casinos. Sadly, some of them also are trying to run tribal politics. Even though some Indian people are mega-rich, most Indian people are poor. If they're lucky enough to have a job, they could use a union to stand up for them. And here's a news flash: many Indian people already are union members - ironworkers, dockworkers, mineworkers, maids, waiters, truckers, bus drivers, federal employees, teachers, actors. This would be a good time to take a hard look at those who are invested in picking fights and keeping them going with long-time allies of Native peoples, and to ask why. --- Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: JODI RAVE: Blackfeet Women shine at Powwow" --------- Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 11:01:46 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: BLACKFEET WOMEN'S DRUM" http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/09/09/jodirave/rave39.txt Native News Column: Blackfeet women shine at powwow By JODI RAVE of the Missoulian September 9, 2007 WELLPINIT, Wash. - Every once in a while, women singers - those who sing backup or sit at a drum - will be honored during a powwow singing contest. Last weekend, women singers pulled out all the stops during Empero Corral's contest "special." The 15-year-old powwow princess sponsored the event to mark the end of her reign as Miss Spokane Tribe during her community's 93rd annual Spokane Tribal Powwow. As the contest came to an end, Gabby Corral Sr. teased the last group to sing in the three-day contest. "Alrighty," Corral said. "We're moving on to Chubs and the Crew. OK, Chubs. I want you to sing like you're on your last stick, and you bet all your money on that game you're playing. Give them that serious Browning Indian look. Yeah. You know that one. Sing that song like it's all riding on it." Singers were vying for a $1,000 first-place prize and jackets. As her father announced, Empero oversaw a team of judges. This wasn't the first special for Empero, who has been part of powwow royalty for two-thirds of her life. "I decided to go out with something different," she said. Her father said Empero knows "there are a lot of women out there who want to sing. So, she wanted to bring that to her home powwow and welcome the women to come here and sing. They had that choice to either sing at the big drum or backup sing." Carla McLean of Browning - one of two backup singers for Chubs and the Crew - said she heard Empero sing in a hand drum contest in Usk, Wash., this summer. "She was the only woman who got in it. She has a beautiful voice." Empero knows challenges exist for women singers, especially those who want to sing at a drum instead of behind it. Her dad offers this advice: "When you go to a powwow, ask the people. When you go to a powwow, ask the committee. Don't be rude and just set your drum up." Still, many women have been sitting at the drum and singing most of their lives. "Some say women don't belong at the drum," said Justine Slim John, a Blackfeet and Chippewa Cree from Browning. "They only stand in back." Slim John grew up being accepted at the drum. "I like it. I know how to sing. It's an enjoyment of participating and being part of the powwow." She started singing at age 9. She also sang with her father's group, the Two Medicine Lake Singers from the Blackfeet Reservation. Her father, Floyd Rider, composed all the songs for his drum. "He made some good songs, people like them, and they are still going," Slim John said. "Every powwow I go to, I hear one or two come out." Slim John entered Empero's singing special with four other women, including her daughter Ramona Crofft, who said she started backup singing at age 21 after being encouraged by her mother-in-law, Louise Scabby Robe. Crofft now thanks her "for actually making me get up there and sing. Otherwise, I'd probably be sitting back in my chair, humming to myself." Slim John's niece, Regina McDonald of Olympia, Wash., said backup singing comes naturally with a little practice. "As a singer, you can follow almost any song, especially if it's just vocals or original style." Like Slim John, Gladys Jefferson of Crow Agency had also been singing for more than 40 years. She said she learned from her mother, Dorothy Holds The Enemy-Jefferson. Jefferson has since won backup singing contests, including the Denver March Powwow, one of the country's largest dance celebrations. Slim John asked Jefferson to help provide backup to The Agency drum group. At least eight drum groups signed up for Empero's special. Only three groups would claim a prize. Now it was time to sing. Most belted out songs at full throttle. When Chubs and the Crew finished, Courtney Gopher was one of the first people to rush up to the group, which had spectators whooping and clapping. "That's my dad, Chubs," she said after the final contest song. "I was coaching them. I thought they did really, really good." The judges did, too. Chubs and the Crew of the Blackfeet Reservation were awarded first place. The Agency singers pulled in a second. And Andre Picard's Stickgamers, of Fort Hall, Idaho, claimed third. Even though Chubs and the Crew had been working with new material, they clearly mastered their final and toughest song. "It was kind of complicated," said Carla McLean. "We had to practice it a few times. On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 9.5. It had a lot of highs and we had to drop super low." While Gopher and Cayto Rider sang the men's verses, McLean and her sister, Montina, harmonized songs that marked McLean's first public debut. "Nobody had actually heard me sing before." She said she overcame nervousness by telling herself: "I've done this before. "It was finally something for women," said McLean. "Just because we don't pound a stick, it doesn't mean we can't sing. I really enjoyed myself. It's actually a secret passion of mine. I don't really get a chance to do it." Reach Missoulian columnist Jodi Rave at 800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. 2007 Missoulian, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: OPP "Snubbed" by Sharbot Lake Algonquins" --------- Date: Tuesday, September 04, 2007 03:34 pm From: orakwa Subj: MNN OPP "Snubbed" by Sharbot Lake Algonquins OPP "SNUBBED" BY SHARBOT LAKE ALGONQUINS MNN. Sept. 3, 2007. 200 or more Indigenous and their supporters shouted down a sheriff who was delivering a colonial court order. This is very strange. The colonial courts pretend to protect property rights. There is no evidence that the Algonquin people ever gave up their rights to this land. Why would the court make an order to support intruders? It seems to be taking orders from a private company that wants the Algonquins to remove a blockade and stop protecting their land. They've been blocking a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake since June 2007. Superior Court Justice Gordon Thomson issued the order on Monday, August 27th. The Algonquins are not Canadians. Foreigners have no jurisdiction over them according to international law. The Ontario Provincial Police OPP, Frontenac Ventures and all the other non-Algonquins are trespassing. The settlers could be given a temporary right to reside by the Algonquins. Such permission is not unprecedented. These were granted in early colonial times based on Algonquin law and consensual agreements. The settlers who have homes on Algonquin land are supporting their landlords. The Algonquins could grant them `permission' to continue using their ancestral land so long as they respect Algonquin laws and protect the integrity of the environment for future generations. The two sheriffs, escorted by OPP, were met on the road outside the mine by 24 Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan warriors. They were not allowed on the property, which is located off Highway 509 about 12 kilometres north of Sharbot Lake. The sheriffs shouted from the road over the crowd who drummed, chanted and yelled. The OPP had come to break the peace and the Algonquins refused to cooperate with them. Shabot Obaadjiwan war chief, Earl Badour, signalled for the native flag to be turned upside down to symbolize that "the colonial government has put them all in distress." The sheriffs left with their armful of papers and could not get close enough to post one on the fence. The native and non-native defenders want a peaceful resolution through talks and consensual agreement. This will be impossible so long as belligerent tactics like court injunctions are used. The Algonquins are not leaving their land. Residents and Algonquins oppose uranium mining because of concerns over devastating environmental affects. The water table of Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec from the lakes into the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers will be contaminated and make the area unlivable for humans, animals and vegetation. Algonquins environmental laws do not allow such exploitation by anyone. Ontario has no right to issue "death warrants" to the Algonquin people and the settler population at large by granting permits and licenses to organizations involved in illegal activities or any other harmful ventures. The trespasser, Frontenac Ventures, is suing the Algonquins for $77 million and is seeking a court injunction to have the defenders kicked off their land. The temporary injunction will have a full hearing on September 20th in Kingston Ontario. The Ontario government has no authority over the Algonquin. The Algonquins never accepted to become British subjects or Canadian citizens and there has been no conquest. They will accordingly be boycotting this kangaroo court. The judges, the government and the exploiters all sit on the same side of the table as the judge, jury and executioner. If Canada and Ontario are not willing to respect Algonquin rights, they should bring the matter before a neutral independent international court. OPP spokesman, Paige Whiting, said they have no plans to move in on the Algonquin defenders for the time being [because they know they have no right to do so]. They usually prepare for such an attack by considering a ratio of at least 4 cops or more to 1 victim. The estimate in this case of 200 people would mean they have to muster 800 or 1,000 policemen and soldiers to conduct their oppressive operation. This would be an international invasion of the Algonquin nation. Whiting said, "We'll warn them a few minutes before the big onslaught to give them a chance to get out of the way of our war machines", or words to that effect. OPP have set up a large command post at the Sharbot Lake detachment. More OPP have been brought in from neighboring counties [for the forthcoming `big' action!]. It's obvious they're getting ready for some kind of aggressive action against the Algonquin and their supporters. Algonquin war chief Badour said his group has always been "non- confrontational" and is always ready to talk outside the colonial court with the police, the corporations, their government puppets and the press at anytime. The defenders have caught the attention of the Christian Peacemakers Team International, an organization that claims to work to conserve peace through "pacifism". Those who want to work with them have to learn the pacifist philosophy. They will teach us how to turn the other cheek. If that's the case, then they're visiting the wrong side of the issue. We have peaceful ways. They should use their philosophy to pacify the police and other colonial agencies who are constantly threatening to break the peace and the laws and to commit atrocities against us. The "Christian Peacekeepers" is another pacification group. They work with such police as the OPP that threaten to come onto independent Indigenous lands to attack us and help the exploiters to our resources. These people should tell the OPP that we abhor their threats of invasions, court injunctions, demonization of us on the media and the impending contamination of our people and our land. About 80 vehicles lined the roads for the protest yesterday. Many non- natives wore bright yellow T-shirts with the slogan "no uranium mine, there is a better solution." Ever since the officers left, the crowd has been happy and relaxed. Everyone was happy to defy such a destructive court order. We like these kinds of pow wows! Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies, to help please contact: paulasherman@trentu.ca; chiefdoreen@aol.com; john@plentycanada.com; rcota@sympatico.ca Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News --------- "RE: Far Right tries to take over Sharbot Lake again" --------- Date: Thursday, September 06, 2007 01:12 am From: orakwa Subj: MNN Far Right tries to take over Sharbot Lake Agenda OLD COLONIAL TRICK DRAGGED OUT AGAIN - FAR RIGHT TRIES TO TAKE OVER SHARBOT LAKE AGENDA MNN. Sept. 5, 2007. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Christian coalition has marched into Sharbot Lake to protect their investment. He thinks that the smoke that billows out his eyes and ears will get the Conservatives elected in Ontario on October 10th. Will he say something like what former Conservative Ontario Premier Mike Harris said about Ipperwash, 'Get those fucking Indians out of the park' to end the resistance of the Algonquins at Sharbot Lake' Or will he be more polite? You can be sure the 'Christian Peacemakers Team' are not there for religious purposes or to convert the savages. As in the past and as in the present, it's all about money. As usual, they are hiding behind the bible and their flock of cops wearing their 'St. Michael' medallions around their skinny little necks. Such misguided people need all the protection they can muster. Harper is away in Australia trying to get all those uranium tailings back to Canada so MREL can continue to make those 'dirty bombs' for U.S. puppeteer, George Bush. Bill Bauer of MREL got chased out of Algonquin land and has found another location to do his dirty work. This tactic is a repeat of the old colonial strategy of sending in the bible thumpers to pacify the natives and then take over the agenda, i.e. let's get the mine going and start making money! We hear them singing in the bushes, 'Oh! Happy day! We're gonna get rid of them injuns once and for all!' Wouldn't it be nice to know how many shares the Christian coalitions have invested in uranium mining! The Christian peacemakers - made up of Mennonite, Quaker and Church of Bretheren have been infiltrated by the Catholics/ Vatican. The cops are not there for peaceful reasons. They and the Peacemakers came with military issue satellite phones with an unlimited calling card. What else has been issued for this operation? The Peacemakers are headed by Jim Loney, the famous international hostage who was 'saved' from a near death experience in Iraq where he was on a pacification mission. Because of his notoriety, no doubt, the corporate media will be flocking to Sharbot Lake to interview him. Doesn't this look a bit like a setup to take over the agenda there? Why isn't Loney there anonymously if he is so sincere about helping the Algonquins? It looks like the Peacemakers are being escorted by MELT, the Major Events Liaison Team, a new 'hit squad' of the Ontario Provincial Police. Does this mean we are being taken seriously as we are now considered a 'major event' in their lives? Brian Heslip, of MELT, bragged he learned a lot at Ipperwash, Six Nations and Grenada. He has gone to 'Aboriginal sensitivity' school even though he does not appear to have developed any sensitivity to Algonquin sovereignty over their land. Heslip was wearing regulation white T-shirt, crisply pressed blue jeans and sneakers, trying to look like a regular guy. He pointed out that the warriors wearing camo and bandanas intimidated him. He said that his OPP 'higher ups' [and he looked upward into the sky in reverence when he said this] wanted him to take down all license numbers of cars coming into the area. He told the Algonquins that he did not want to do that. However, he will monitor the arrival of any 'radicals', or 'violent types' who might want to come to Sharbot Lake to defend the land. Does this mean he will be monitoring the OPP, the army and any of his armed colleagues who would be the only violent characters coming into the area? The defenders come only in peace. Heslip wanted to set up hidden surveillance cameras and mikes up in the trees across the road to watch and listen to the birds coming in and out of the gate. The Algonquins and the birds said 'no way!' The Christian Peacemakers were eased out of Ipperwash. They went there to 'plant a garden' for the Indians. Nobody remembers them being at Six Nations who frown upon anyone wearing black robes, especially judges. September 6, 1995 is the night of the invasion of the Indigenous unsurrendered land at Ipperwash when Dudley George was murdered by OPP sniper, Kenneth Deane. A communique' has been sent to the PM that reminds him of this historic invasion and warns, 'if there is any blood shed or assault of any of our people for standing up for our birthrights and land rights at Sharbot Lake, there will be recourse here at Six Nations. We have a right to protect our existence'. Back on April 19th 2006 at 4:00 pm. the OPP had met with the Chiefs and Clan Mothers at Six Nations. The OPP promised they would not come in during the dark, that they would give sufficient notice for all women and children to leave safely and they would not harm anyone. Without warning, twelve hours later they raided the encampment. One Six Nations woman who was there at the time recalled that just prior to that the OPP were trying to get close to the Indigenous people. Her 17 year old son had just died and two OPP showed up at the front line with a blanket and an eagle feather. As she put it, she told them where to shove it. Two days later the same OPP were part of the big raid of the site in the early hours of the morning. They beat up the women, elders, children and men. These same two OPP were some of the most brutal during the raid. They helped kidnap some of our people and put them into their colonial jail system. So much for OPP promises. Remember that our colonial opponents have two faces and two tongues. They tell you one thing out of one side of their face and another from the other side. If they really want to keep the peace the way they say they do, then they should just butt out and stay away. They don't need to help corporate interests like Frontenac Ventures violate the law. Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News --------- "RE: Gwich'in honour Cultural Heroes" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 07:09:31 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GWICH'IN CULTURAL HONOREES" http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/sep3_07hn.html Gwich'in honour cultural heroes Christine Grimard Northern News Services September 3, 2007 TSIIGEHTCHIC - As modernity instills itself in the Gwich'in lifestyle, six beneficiaries were recognized by the tribal council last month for their contributions in helping their people along this path of change. One of those recipients was Peter Ross, who served two terms as chief of Tsiigehtchic from 1989 to 1994 and from 2000 up until June of this year. "In my lifetime, I've seen a lot of changes," said Ross. "From traditional lifestyles, our economy was trapping. Then the industry came and people started working for wages." As chief, Ross helped negotiate the land claim settlement in 1992. Once he stepped down in 1994, he was involved with the renewable resource council, the band council, and the charter community council. In 2000, Ross was asked to run again as chief. "I do the best I can for them, to make changes," said Ross. "I want to see a better community for the people." As he steps down, Ross passes along the torch to another generation, like recipient Bobbie Rose Koe of Fort McPherson. At just 18-years-old, Koe was recognized for her contribution to Gwich'in Youth. Adding to the political changes Ross has dealt with, Koe has turned her attention to the effects that climate change is bringing to the region. Koe took part in an ice expedition to explore the effects of climate change with a group of other students this summer. "I didn't even know about climate change when I started," said Koe. "It's effecting the whole world, even around here." Koe also just got back from accompanying researcher Nathan Miller, catching and studying Arctic char at the Vittrekwa River. For the rest of her summer, she's been working at the Nitainlaii National Park, giving information to tourists on the land and the community. Although she is part of a younger generation, Koe still carries an appreciation for living out on the land. "You breathe good air, you catch good food. It's good medicine," said Koe. The two were recognized along with Mary Snowshoe, of Fort McPherson, for her contribution to Gwich'in language, Margaret Nazon, of Inuvik, for Gwich'in Art, Culture and Heritage, Greta Sittichinli, of Inuvik, for achievements in education, and Caroline Kay, an elder of For McPherson, for a lifetime of Gwich'in achievement. The six recipients were chosen by a committee, chaired by Mary Ann Ross, the vice-president of the Gwich'in Tribal Council. The committee was formed with representatives from each community, who decided who would receive the awards. "It's for the people, by the people," said Ross. "We wanted them to decide who they wanted to choose from the community." Ross said the awards were fashioned after the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. "They become mentors, people to look up to. The stories of their lives are interesting." This is the third year the Gwich'in Tribal Council, in conjunction with the Gwich'in Development Corporation, presented the awards. Copyright c. Northern News Service 2007. --------- "RE: "Split 'Em Up" Strategy at Sharbot Lake" --------- Date: Saturday, September 08, 2007 04:31 am From: orakwa Subj: MNN "Split 'Em Up" Strategy at Sharbot Lake THE "SPLIT EM UP" STRATEGY AT SHARBOT LAKE ? Why we're wary of outside "help". We've been burnt before. MNN. Sept. 7, 2007. The Akwesasne tragedy of 1990 when two Mohawk men were killed was a sad learning experience. It showed us how the colonial authorities can destroy people's good intentions. To mess us up, the outsiders sent in a group and told them to take any side. Then another group was sent in to work with the other side. They did this to get us fighting. In the end two men were killed. Does it surprise you that they were ours? Frontenac Ventures' idea of what is good for Sharbot and Ardoc Lake Algonquins conflicts with the desires of both the Indigenous people and the settlers in the area. All want to live a healthy lifestyle without uranium contamination. Just because a group calls itself "Christian" does not mean that their motives are altruistic. Some so-called religious groups consciously manipulate people's emotions with rhetoric and even music. It is possible that the federal government "war room" that used to be in the Indian Affairs "Tower of Terror" in Ottawa is coordinating this whole subversive operation against the people of Sharbot Lake. They might even be getting some help from experts in the U.S. The scenario goes something like this. There are "good" cops and "bad" cops. The "Christians" are the "pacifiers". The Algonquins are the target. The media is the "spin doctor" that formulates the public's attitude towards the target and the issue. It is one thing to come as allies. It's another to come and take over the agenda. That is what a lot of these kinds of groups have done in the past. This is how the trouble started at Akwesasne. An organization named after Martin Luther King was set up by New York State. They went to Akwesasne to foment whatever had to be fomented. After a great deal of fear, stress and strain, they managed to play on the emotions of the people. They even got the Mohawks singing and holding hands on the front lines and by the roads. We were in the midst of life and death situations. The media helped to spin the propaganda about a conflict between pro and anti-gamblers. It was really about a difference of opinion between groups of people loyal to different historic factions in the community. The Mohawks went through hell. Our movements were curtailed with police and activist roadblocks. People got attacked. Warriors were called down. Lots got hurt. The outsiders worked with the instigators to keep the conflicts and fights going. When one of the pacified Indians got hurt, they praised him for turning the other cheek. The coordinators kept saying they were working toward "curbing the violence". Some thought it looked more like they were creating the violence. They constantly asked for an infusion of outside police. They emphasized that factions were fighting each other and there was no agreement. All the while they were separating out and in some cases creating the factions in the community. They became aware of who was against whom. The media wanted good footage of some fights. When they couldn't get any, they stage them. Then these were shown over and over again on the media to demonstrate how violent Indians were and that martial law was needed to control them. After this message went out, the two men were killed. Then the New York State Police invaded Akwesasne. In Sharbot Lake there are a myriad of potential factions, like those who are against or for the Christians, those who get along well with the settlers and those who don't, and those who want the police to come in and those who do not. The majority who live there want to settle this legally under Algonquin law. These coordinators have to create the conditions for violence. It becomes difficult when the Algonquin strategy has always been non-violent. They have to work harder to get them to be suspicious and feel betrayed by each other. The four main "split em up" methods are: 1. Infiltration - mainly to discredit, disrupt and undermine trust and scare off supporters. The protesters must be smeared from within as it is more effective. 2. Psychological warfare from the outside ? this is when false negative media stories are leaked. Watch out for bogus leaflets that are distributed in the name of the targeted groups. Disparaging letters can be forged and anonymously sent out. Strangers can make threatening phone calls to people at the site. Misinformation can be spread about meetings and events. Parents, employers, landlords, officials and others are strong armed not to support the defenders. 3. Harassment through the legal system ? this is to make them appear to be criminals, like Frontenac suing the Algonquins for $77 million, CN suing Shawn Brant for $108 million and dragging us in and out of colonial courts on trumped up charges. 4. Extralegal force and violence ? are used by the colonial authorities to threaten, instigate and conduct break-ins, vandalism, assaults and beatings to frighten dissidents and disrupt movements. The police will disrupt or put surveillance on teach-ins, meetings of supporters, alternative newspapers and media. Political assassinations are not uncommon. The Algonquins will be perceived as domestic threats to the established political and social order. This is possible as they don't have ties to the political and economic elites of the area. At Six Nations, the OPP gave covert aid to the Ku Klux Klan, Brown Shirts, skinheads and other rabble rousers parading as racist vigilantes. They were given funds, information and protection to attack the targeted Indigenous people. The targeting at Sharbot Lake is to disrupt the alliance of the Algonquins and settlers in a common cause. The ruling class has to create fear in the public to lose confidence in the government and in themselves so they can continue to rule by force. These tactics foment violence and create chaos. They subvert democracy and prevent intelligent discussion of public policy and the need for social change. The media exposes, disrupts, misdirects, discredits or otherwise neutralizes specific people and groups. They want to neutralize the Algonquins to force them to make a settlement favorable to Frontenac Venture who want to start uranium mining soon. This is all closely coordinated with police and courts. Other collaborators are businesses, universities, churches and patriotic organizations. Jim Loney of the Christian movement announced that he is going door to door to do "outreach" [what does that mean?] This is what the "Martin Luther King" people did in Akwesasne! Splits are inflamed to shatter alliances, tear groups apart and drive dedicated activist out of the picture. Charismatic orators and dynamic organizers are covertly attacked and neutralized. If possible, the targeted parties will be induced to blame themselves for everything that goes wrong. The stress to force them "to do the right thing" will make the Algonquins look like they have given up their fight to protect the environment. The infiltrators like the Christian groups, cops and others that are being sent in will set up community relations programs using local people with generous funding and technology from the government. Public opinion is honed by university professors, journalists, labor and social program leaders, publishing houses, cultural organizations and philanthropic fronts. At this moment Greenpeace is on their ship, the "Arctic Sunrise", in Kingston harbor with all their regular activist performers. They are spouting against uranium mining and supporting the illegal building of windmills on Wolf Island, which is unsurrendered Mohawk land! We are a convenient target for any colonial government agency that needs to create an enemy to provide a reason for its existence. We are still listed in the "insurgency" training manuals of the Department of National Defense. In the Intelligence Report of April 2007 of "G4S Global Risks Ltd.", we are listed as a global risk. This demonizing strategy was developed by the British during their colonial experience in Kenya and Northern Ireland known as "low intensity warfare and early intervention". Don't be pacified. Just keep your cool! Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News --------- "RE: OPP "Loose Cannons" at Sharbot Lake" --------- Date: Sunday, September 09, 2007 06:54 pm From: orakwa Subj: MNN OPP "Loose Cannons" at Sharbot Lake OPP "LOOSE CANNONS" AT SHARBOT LAKE BIZARRE AND STRANGE HAPPENINGS! MNN. Sept. 8, 2007. On Saturday September 8th MNN went to Sharbot Lake to support the Algonquins in friendship. We Mohawks are concerned about the outcome of the protest against uranium mining because the Ottawa and St. Lawrence River watershed on Kanion'ke:haka land is going to be affected. We won't let our water table get poisoned. Algonquin war chief Harold Perry initially sent a wampum to the Tyendinaga Mohawks for our people to join them. The wampum is an official invitation for us to take part in the operation, not just to be bystanders. The Algonquins have asked supporters to visit the site of the protest. They are trying to stop Frontenac Ventures from opening up a uranium mine on their unsurrendered territory. Every sane and healthy person, whether indigenous or a member of the colonial society, can support this. The reception at the site was stiff. We were invited to go behind the wired fence in front of the old vacant Robertsville Mine on Highway 509 west of Perth Ontario. We talked with war chief Earl Brodeur. His wisdom appears to be beyond idealism. Earl told us they were getting worldwide attention following the articles. This is an issue that the governments who have been bought off by commercial ventures would rather ignore. Then the old war chief, Harold Perry, came out of the tent meeting that was taking place beside the road outside the gate. He told us we were not welcome and to leave immediately. He accused MNN of inaccuracies in the stories about their issue. They say they've been "damaged by them" and wanted control over MNN stories. We were then escorted to the outside of the front gate and stood next to the road. Then the Ontario Provincial Police officer, Randy Cota, who is also a chief of the Ardoc Lake Algonquins, joined us. He voiced solid opposition to three issues that MNN had raised: the OPP's presence within the protest; his association with MREL Mining Resources Engineering Limited who had been developing and testing bombs about 6 miles behind the protest site; and the presence of the religious right. This reminded us of when Jim Loney of the Peacemakers Team was held hostage by the Iraqis. Jim Potts, advisor to the OPP, phoned around and asked us to make statements to the Iraqis to let him go. Not long after Potts was plotting a raid against us at Six Nations which we headed off and Potts backed down. The religious right has in fact impacted negatively where lives were lost because people bought into their rhetoric based on positions that everyone can agree with, such as the need for peaceful solutions. When MNN pointed out that the research on MREL was correct according to their own website, they stopped short. Also, that close associations do exist between the OPP and the defenders, particularly himself. We agreed that MNN will peruse their reports provided "from the site". In other words, they appear to have adopted the customs of the dominant states which want to prevent investigative journalism and for the media to publish only the stories by their "imbedded" reporters. So much for freedom of the press which was once considered a p