Private prison hustlers target Indian country

PRIVATE PRISONS: PROFITEERING FROM MISERY
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogpsot.com

In the same way that coal mining, power plants, uranium mining and oil and gas drilling companies targeted Indian country for their cancer alleys, private prison profiteers and private security firms are now targeting Indian country, bordertowns and economically-desperate regions of the U.S. to profit from misery.
The private security firm American Police Force, operated by an ex-con in Hardin, Mon., is under probe. The links to CorPlan and the proposed Tohono O'odham migrant prison are now exposed.
Private prison profiteers proposed a migrant prison on San Xavier land of the Tohono O'odham Nation, near Tucson. Although the residents of nearby Sahuarita and O'odham halted those plans, the alternative plan calls for the migrant prison to be built east of Three Points, Ariz.
Tohono O'odham opposing the prison say the migrant prison violates their Himdaag, their sacred way of being.
Read Frank Smith's article for Censored News on the private prison fiascos in Montana, Oklahoma and Arizona:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/10/corrupt-prison-hustlers-linked-to.html
More articles at Google News on the probe of American Police Force:
http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=American+Police+Force
Also see: NM targeted by private prison scam
http://newmexicoindependent.com/39009/private-prison-developer-behind-montana-fiasco-involved-in-construction-of-nm-private-prisons
Private prison developer behind Montana fiasco involved in construction of NM private prisons
"The company that built a Montana private prison, which eventually led to a national embarrassment with the involvement of American Police Force, is also the company that constructed a number of prisons around New Mexico..."

Vice President Cheney profiteered from private prisons, migrant xenophobia
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

While vice president, Dick Cheney profiteered from private prisons by way of his investments. During the same time, the Bush/Cheney administration fanned the flames of racism toward migrants.
Private prisons flourished, especially in Texas and border states, and were filled with migrants and people of color.
Grossly mismanaged, the private prisons are now pits of sexual abuse, violence and murder.
In Nov. 2008, Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were indicted in Texas.
Although they have not been prosecuted, their link to profiteering at private prisons was exposed. Cheney invested in Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison operator GEO (formerly Wackenhut Corrections.)
AP reported in Nov. 2008, "Vice President Dick Cheney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales have been indicted. The indictment in Willacy County has not yet been signed by the presiding judge.
Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of those privately run prisons."

Uranium in Indian country: Paul Zimmerman releases 'The Cult of Nuclearists'

Zimmerman releases chapter of new book to Censored News to aid in the struggles of Indigenous Peoples

From author Paul Zimmerman to Brenda Norrell:

"I recently read your article on CounterPunch.com about proposed uranium mining in the Grand Canyon. It got me thinking as to whether or not I could make some small contribution to the struggle, being played out yet again, between native peoples and what I call the Cult of Nuclearists. I decided to release a chapter that I'm very proud of from my newly published book. When you read the attached document, and if you find it of worth, I would be honored if you would share it with whatever groups and individuals you are aware of who may find it interesting and informative."

A Primer in the Art of Deception
The Cult of Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science
by Paul Zimmerman
Copies of this book can be ordered at http://www.du-deceptions.com/ or by contacting the author at either info@du-deceptions.com or P.O. Box 145, Lyndonville, NY 14098
Excerpts, read full chapter at link below:
"... Peoples of the Navajo Nation, Laguna Pueblo and Acoma Pueblo suffered the greatest impact from this invasion by the large energy companies. Their familiar pastoral economy was rapidly transformed into a mining-industrial economy,and they became a mining-dependent population (Kuletz). Recruited as a cheap source of labor for the mines, Native Americans were exploited economically, receiving two-thirds the salary of employees brought in from off the reservation (Churchill). During the uranium boom of the 1970s, the median salary for the Laguna Pueblo was 50 dollars per week(Kuletz). Maximum economic gain for the mining companies was the driving force for the abuses showered on Native American communities in the Four Corners region ..."

"The desecration of sacred lands by uranium mining interests is never ending. A particularly appalling example became public knowledge in 2008 when newspapers reported that VANE Minerals, a UK mining company, was petitioning the US government for mining rights in the Grand Canyon."
Read Zimmerman's chapter online:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/paul-zimmerman-cult-of-nuclearists.html

Read more:

Uranium mining in the Grand Canyon, CounterPunch

Photo: Havasupai Gathering to Halt Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon/Photo by Brenda Norrell