In the News: Casinos and Blood Money

Navajo Family Fights New Casino and Obama: Too Little, Too Late
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

In today's news, Calvin Johnson, Navajo, writes about the Scott Family's fight against the Navajo Nation's plan for a new casino, east of Flagstaff.
Traditional Navajos have a saying: "Gambling will steal the future from the children."
While some Indian Nations in the US have used their revenues generously for charities and the betterment of their own people, in Arizona that has not always been the case.
The Scott family's statement of opposition comes as the National Congress of American Indians announced its support for the Tohono O'odham Nation's plan to build a casino in Glendale, in the Phoenix region.
However, NCAI should talk to the Tohono O'odham people, who are living in desperate poverty despite the Tohono O'odham's longtime lucrative Desert Diamond Casino near Tucson.
Tohono O'odham are desperate for housing and jobs, even food, and question where the millions of dollars in revenues are going from the casino.
Anyone who drives by the packed casino, then drives through the Tohono O'odham Nation, can see that something is extremely wrong.
Reporters covering Indian issues know that one of the most censored issues is the extensive poverty in southern Arizona Indian communities, where there are lucrative casinos.
In other news, President Obama announced he will give $125,000 of his Nobel Peace Prize award to the American Indian College Fund.
First of all, no amount of money can ever bring back a mother's son or daughter killed in these wars, wars based on the lies of politicians. The Nobel Peace Prize for a warmonger is essentially blood money, blood money which continues the deceit of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Further, the American Indian College Fund receives a mediocre rating on the charity rating charts. In simple language this means that the people who operate the American Indian College Fund spend far too much money on themselves, and too little on American Indian scholarships.
(The chief executive officer received compensation of $213,000 in 2008 and nearly $2 million was spent on fundraising.)
President Obama's announcement comes as the Obama administration declared a winter storm emergency in South Dakota for the storm in December, months after the disaster. Lakotas, repeatedly blasted by winter storms, pleaded for aid in January and February and were ignored. Cheyenne River Sioux in central South Dakota were without electricity for weeks and water for more than six days. Indian Nations and individuals rallied to their aid with online campaigns to deliver aid and buy propane. A telephone campaign, that was organized online, urging CNN to cover the disaster in the Dakotas resulted in less than a minute of news.
Read more on Censored News Homepage:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
References:
Navajo Family Stands Strong Against Casino:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/03/navajo-family-stands-strong-against.html
Charity rating for American Indian College Fund:
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3263

Obama Administration Approves Oil Drilling in Arctic

Arctic oil drilling plan approved
10 Dec 2009, 7:08 PM
Photo: Inuit/Red Oil

By Red OIL

COPENHAGEN -- Alaska Natives from the Chukchi Sea, in Copenhagen for the Climate Talks, are reeling today after an announcement that the Obama administration has approved Royal Dutch Shell Plc's (RDSa.L) plan to drill for oil off Alaska's northwest coast as early as next summer. In a move revealing of the US agenda at Copenhagen, the Department of the Interior has endorsed drilling for fossil fuels in the climate-effected ecosystems of the Arctic, where global warming already impacts Alaska Natives and entire villages are in danger of losing their lands and way of life.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar addressed the COP 15 conference on Thursday at 12:45 local time at the US Center Meeting Room in the Bella Center.
"Shell says 'the Chukchi Sea could be home to some of the most prolific, undiscovered hydrocarbon basins in North America,' but we're here to remind Salazar and Shell that it is our home and our lives that will be devastated by the drilling," said Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of REDOIL, who is attending the Copenhagen Climate Talks. "More fossil fuel drilling will only bring more pollution to the Chukchi Sea, and ultimately, more devastating climate change to the world. Salazar should know: We must leave those fossil fuels in the ground and invest in real renewable solutions that uphold Indigenous Peoples rights."
The effects of global warming in Alaska include thawing permafrost, melting sea ice, declining fish populations, migratory and habitat disruptions of key subsistence resources -- all direct, disruptive impacts that Alaska Natives are already experiencing. Alaska Native communities are struggling with forced relocation as coastlines no longer protected by sea ice erode, and are now, in essence, "climate refugees."
"As Alaska Natives, our ancestral ways of life and homelands are imperiled by devastating proposals for fossil fuel drilling and development," said Colleen Swan of Kivalina, a community located adjacent to the Chuckchi Sea who is in Copenhagen this week on her first international journey. "These fossil fuels are carbon that will compound climate change, and the ecological devastation we see is also compounded by the impacts of climate change, and so it is a lose-lose. That's why we are here in Copenhagen to tell the world our story, and demand real action by the Obama Administration."

REDOIL is a network and movement of Alaska Natives who are challenging the fossil fuel and mining industry and demanding our rights to a safe and healthy environment conducive to subsistence. The REDOIL network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes. We aim to address the human and ecological health impacts brought on by the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel and mining industry. REDOIL strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska, as well as a just transition from fossil fuel and mineral development to sustainable economies, and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on Alaska Native lands. Visit: http://www.ienearth.org/redoil


Related articles:
Arctic drilling approved without consideration for environment:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2009/12/arctic-drilling-approved-without.html
Shell wins oil drilling contract in Iraq:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8407274.stm
RETURN TO CENSORED NEWS HOMEPAGE:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

News blackout: Fasting for Peltier at the White House

By Brenda Norrell
Narco News
http://www.narconews.com/

Ben Carnes, Choctaw, and Rob Fife completed a weeklong fast at the White House, to bring attention to President Obama of the longstanding injustice of the imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. But if you check Google News this morning, you will see that there's only one news article, the one posted by Narco News.
Since the columns here go directly to Google breaking news, mainstream reporters can not claim that they were uninformed. It is obvious that freedom for Leonard Peltier remains one of the most censored issues in the media, even as Amnesty International calls for Peltier's immediate release.
News reporters weren't the only ones ignoring this fast. So far, there's been no word from President Obama, who could see the men fasting from his window.
Today, Wanbli, at the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee, released a statement, "Ignoring us out of existence." It is appropriate for these times, when censorship has increased to such an extent that the US media is a mockery of the ethics of journalism.
Read: Wanbli, 'Ignoring us out of existence'
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/09/wanbli-ignoring-us-out-of-existence.html

Top downloads at Censored Radio

Top Downloads at Censored News Radio
Photo: Ben Carnes fasting for Leonard Peltier. Photo copyright Kitty Carnes, published with permission.

Subcomandante Marcos at Digna Rabia (Spanish)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/01/04/Digna-Rabia-palabras-Subcomandnate-Marcos
Ben Carnes: Fasting at the White House for Leonard Peltier, Carnes with Wanbli, music by Keith Secola:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Ian Zabarte, Western Shoshone: Obama bluffs on Yucca Dump:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/05/01/Obamas-bluff-on-Yucca-MTN
Dennis Banks, AIM cofounder, speaking at the Havasupai Gathering to Halt Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Tohono O'odham Prisoner Abuse: Angie Ramon describes how Native American inmates were locked in a suffocating transport van in life threatening temperatures by Tohono O'odham detention officers. Angie Ramon discusses Ninth Circuit. Her son, 18 year old Bennett Patricio, Jr., was ran over and killed by the US Border Patrol on Tohono O'odham land. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/07/02/Uncensored-Voices
Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone, and Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo, Indigenous land rights and uranium mining:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/03/11/Carrie-Dann-and-Manny-Pino
Shannon Rivers, Akimel O'otham, on Indigenous Rights. Long Walkers talk in tornado hit Greensburg, Kansas. This is the Best of the Longest Walk, recorded by Earthcycles.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/01/13/Shannon-Rivers-Indigenous-Rights
Olympics 2012: The Native Youth Movement Warrior Society plans a convergence, protest and boycott of the 2010 Olympics, sending this message: 'Native land is not for sale!' Blackfire's NAMMY Record of the Year: 'Silence is a Weapon.' Also, Charlie Hill and Keith Secola at AIM West Reunion.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/01/21/Native-American-Youth-Movement-No-2010-Olympics
AIM WEST Carpinteria and El Salvador: Mark Anquoe, Kiowa, of AIM, speaks on the election in El Salvador and racist mascots in Carpinteria, Calif., whose board reconsiders removing a racist mascot today, Tuesday, March 17:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/03/17/AIM-West-Carpinteria-and-El-Salvador
Border Radio: Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader and director of Indigenous Alliance without Borders, discusses border crossing on the US/Mexico border:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/03/18/Border-Radio-Jose-Matus
Before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Western Shoshone attorney argues for protection on Mount Tenabo. Part 2: Western Shoshones Mary McCloud and Chet Stevens speak at the Spring Gathering 2009.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/06/19/Western-Shoshone-Ninth-Circuit

Top Downloads for 2008:
Listen to Lipan Apache, Jumano Apache, San Carlos Apache, Yaqui in Arizona and others send a clear message to Obama and the transition team: Stop the US/Mexico border wall. Speakers Eloisa Garcia Támez, (Lipan Apache), Professor, University of Texas-Brownsville/TSC, Brownsville, Texas; Daniel Castro Romero, Jr., Chair, Lipan Apache Band of Texas, Inc., Texas; José Matus, (Yaqui), Director, Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras/Indigenous Alliance Without Borders, Tucson; Michael Paul Hill, (Chiricahua Apache/Nnee'), San Carlos Apache Tribe, Ariz.; Christoper Schere, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, Los Angeles, Calif; Denise Gilman, Clinical Professor, Law, University of Texas—Austin, UT Law Working Group Texas-Mexico Border Wall, Texas; Jeff Wilson, Assistant Professor, Environmental Science, University of Texas—Brownsville, UT Law Working Group Texas-Mexico Border Wall, Texas; Diana Valenzuela, Jumano Apache, Redford, Texas; Margo Tamez, Co-Founder, Lipan Apache Women Defense; Moderator: Arnoldo García, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, Oakland.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/23/Lipan-Apache-to-Obama-Stop-the-Border-Wall-Construction

Navajos and Hopis protested a permit on Black Mesa for Peabody Coal, which has desecrated sacred land and led to the relocation of more than 14,000 Navajos. Recording by Mano Cockrum, Hopi-Navajo, of the Hopi and Navajo panel in Denver, Dec. 7, 2008, for Censored News.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/10/Navajo-and-Hopi-protest-Peabody-Coal-in-Denver

The Best of Longest Walk Talk Radio: Ben Carnes, Kahentinetha Horn and Bahe Katenay
Ben Carnes, Choctaw, discusses his life and Standing Deer's life and death in relation to Leonard Peltier. Kahentinetha Horn, publisher of Mohawk Nation News, describes the crimes at the southern border of arresting Indigenous Peoples. Bahe Katenay of Big Mountain describes Navajo relocation and resistance on Black Mesa. Recorded in the Colorado Rockies on the Longest Walk by Earthcycles. This is the Best of the Longest Walk Talk Radio.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/27/Ben-Carnes-and-Kahentinetha-Best-of-Longest-Walk-Talk-Radio

Honoring the land, honoring the youths

A tribute to Floyd Westerman, with Floyd's words on protecting the land and living in the spirit. Miwok youths on the Longest Walk -- Junior, Daniel and Vinny -- sing Miwok songs and talk with Earthcycles radio. Finally, a welcome and prayer for the land and people from the Six Nations to the Longest Walk, on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/30/Honoring-the-land-honoring-the-youths

Oneida Comedian Charlie Hill
Comedian Charlie Hill, Oneida, from Wisconsin at the AIM-West 40-Year Reunion in San Francisco, recorded by Earthcycles
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/07/Oneida-Comedian-Charlie-Hill

Ute, Maori and Dakota
From the heart of America, comes the Best of the Longest Walk Radio, Northern Route, Part 1. Adriano Buckskin, 19, Southern Ute walker in Illinois delivers a message to youths. In Cimarron, Kansas, Maori Sharon Heta and her husband Michael Lane, Menominee, with their three daughters speak on the sovereign and inherent rights of Maori in New Zealand. Yankton Dakota in South Dakota offers songs and describe the fight to halt the construction of a commerical hogfarm in the middle of their community. These are the voices of Indigenous human rights and resistance. Produced by Earthcycles, producer Govinda Dalton and cohost Brenda Norrell on the Longest Walk Northern Route 2008.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/12/Ute-Maori-and-Dakota-Best-of-the-Longest-Walk-Part-1

Walking the talk, in the land of Miwok, Washo and Shoshone
Christmas Special: Listen to walkers on the Longest Walk northern route in the west, beginning with the Miwok at Shingle Springs, Calif. Walkers speaking include Marie Littlemoon, Willie Lonewolf, Antonio Ruiz and Weldon Austin, with Rockstar Ray. Chet Stevens, Western Shoshone and David Smith, Yomba Shoshone, describe the nuclear testing, radiation and gold mining on Shoshone treaty lands in Nevada. Western Shoshone Corbin Harney is remembered. Washo gathered near Cave Rock, speak on prayer and honoring Mother Earth. Calvin Magpie, Cheyenne Arapaho, offers a song. From South Dakota, at the site of the hogfarm protest, Yankton Dakota offer a drum song.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2008/12/26/Walking-the-talk-in-the-land-of-Miwok-Washo-and-Shoshone

Radio stations anywhere in the world may rebroadcast programs, in whole or part. Please credit Censored News and Earthcycles radio. Audios may not be sold or used for commercial purposes.

Censored Radio: Carnes fasting at White House

UPDATE from Ben Carnes: Dehydration

Censored Radio: Ben Carnes live from the White House
By Brenda Norrell
Photo by Kitty Carnes

Ben Carnes is fasting in Lafayette Park across from the White House in solidarity with freedom for Leonard Peltier. Peltier is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians who has been held as a political prisoner of the Government of the United States of America for over 33 years.
Carnes, Choctaw from Oklahoma, speaks on Censored Blog Radio, while fasting for justice for Leonard Peltier outside the White House. Wanbli also joins the show live by phone with more details on Peltier's case and the appeal to Obama for freedom for Peltier. Carnes and Wanbli speak of FBI misconduct, assassination attempts on Peltier, the beating of Peltier in a Pennsylvania prison in 2008 and more than 500 years of genocide for Indian people. Calling for clemency, Wanbli said Obama promised Peltier's release during his campaign. On today's show, the music is by Keith Secola, with poet Cleo Apache, recorded live at the Havasupai Gathering to Halt Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon by Earthcycles.
Wanbli said, "Carnes is standing there in fast and in prayer for 7 days in the hopes of gaining attention of the President of the United States of America to the plight of Leonard. During his fast he will not take food or water and he will remain in a prayerful attitude for the next 7 days. Those who make stands to fight injustice such as Ben is doing should have all of our respect and prayers. There are many who make smoke and kick up dust but few who actually have the will to make a stand such as this."
Wanbli said Obama could see Carnes if he would look out the window. Carnes began his fast Saturday and will continue to fast through Sept. 12. Amnesty International has already called for the immediate release of Peltier.
CW Gayle, Choctaw, thanked Carnes. "Halito! Ben. Many years ago my friend Rocque Duenas was standing vigil for Leonard in the very place you are. Rocque was a tribal fisherman in Washington, this was 1978. You carry the torch," Gayle said in a message.
UPDATE:
I wanted to announce that on Wednesday afternoon, I ceased the liquid portion of my fast due to dehydration. I had taken that as far as I could without endangering my health. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, when I relieved my self, I experienced a burning sensation and around Noon Wednesday, I began to feel as if my kidneys were tightening up. I made an attempt to contact a physician, but after a period of time with receiving a response.
At 2:40 PM (Eastern), I consumed some liquids to hydrate myself. It was a promise I made to Chief Tayac when he visited me at Lafayette Park. He told me that day that I needed to hydrate myself. He said, “You are a Chief! Don’t you dare hit the ground! There are a lot of people depending upon you to be here for them, and if you die what good would that serve them?”
I assured him that when my body told me that I was beginning to have problems, I would take care of myself.
Still, I will continue to fast without food until 8:45 AM Saturday. I can assure you that Leonard would appreciate and respect this decision. He has suffered so much pain and loss of allies and relatives, that it would only grieve him had I continued and possibly caused irreparable harm to my health.
My personal prayer will continue on, and I will continue to conduct myself in a honorable and respectful manner befitting my position. I knew that when I decided to publicly announce to that I am a Sun Dance Chief and would be taking this course of action. I would open myself up to criticisms, but that in itself is a sacrifice I willingly accepted. And there has been none, just messages of respect and support. It was never my intention to promote myself, but to show my love and support for my Sun Dance brother.
I had contacted Arvol Looking Horse about the possibility of coming to DC. He could not since he already had an earlier commitment, but he supported what I was doing and that he would support me through his prayers from over there. I am very thankful to have those prayers from the Keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe in this way.
I know that there are many more people who have joined in this fast as an act of solidarity for me and for Leonard. This simple course of action has aroused so much supportive action from around the world. It has done so much more than if we had tried to have everyone come to DC.
Many of you are organizing in your communities and creating so much awareness everywhere and that is so important.
The results of this prayer and sacrifice may not be immediately, I feel something is taking place on a larger spiritual level and we will need to keep that in mind in all that we do for Leonard. We know that we will prevail, and it would have been difficult without your support.Send your cards and letters to Leonard.
Let him know how your event went and let him know that we are all here for him and that we will continue to do all we can to bring him home.In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,Ben Carnes
Listen at Censored News Blog Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell/2009/09/07/Carnes-fasting-White-House
More information:
http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/
Contact:
Ben Carnes:
bencarnes@eaglecouncil.com
Wanbli:
wanbli@gvtc.com
E-mail:
contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Brenda Norrell, Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Censored Blog Talk Radio
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Brenda-Norrell
Earthcycles
http://www.earthcycles.net/
RADIO STATIONS MAY REBROADCAST
This radio show is available to radio stations around the world at no charge. The mp3 download may be used in whole or part. Please credit Censored News Blog Radio for interviews and Earthcycles for Keith Secola's recording.

Missing Martin Luther King, Jr.

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photo: Martin Luther King, Jr./Selma to Montgomery march.

Each day now, I miss Martin Luther King, Jr., more and more. Each time I hear of the increasing number of dead in Afghanistan, the torture continuing and the secret renditions continuing, I miss Martin Luther King.
When John McCain quickly conceded and faded into the background, I knew something was up. There was an agreement, or at least an understanding, that Obama would only give the minimum, only tread water, to keep the public placated. He would do as little as possible about making real change in America.
It began with the talk of the Obamas' search for a hairless dog when they moved into the White House. Then there was the frolicking in Paris. But it is the deception over the war that is the most telling.
To placate Americans, Obama moved the war to Afghanistan, but he did not end the war. The youths of America, considered the expendables, are still being sent there to die to keep the war machine going. Their blood provides the dollars for war profiteers, the mercenaries and the US economy.
When it comes to holding Bush and Cheney responsible for torture and violating the Geneva Conventions, even a smooth smile won't be enough for Obama. If he fails to ensure that Bush and Cheney are held responsible for war crimes, Obama will have failed as a president.
I think now of Martin Luther King, his passion, commitment, focus and direction. What would he say about Obama's white cabinet, about the choice of Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State.

On the border of Arizona and Mexico, the tactics of the Bush administration continue. Now, humanitarians placing water for migrants dying in the desert are being charged in court. Thirteen were arraigned on Sept. 2, 2009. This year has been one of the deadliest ever on the border of the United States and Mexico. So far more than 183 bodies of migrants have been recovered in southern Arizona this fiscal year. An increasing number of migrants are Indigenous women and children. They are Mayans and others desperate to survive as their ancestral lands are seized in Mexico and Central America.
This week, Obama went on a bike tour in the homeland of the Aquinnah Wampanoag and refused to meet with the Indian Nation. It is the type of refusal on ancestral homelands that Native Americans do not forget. It is the type of error people make when they become overly confident.
Meanwhile, it seems most Americans were terrified by the Bush administration and the fact that a mentally deficient person was president of the United States. Now it seems that Obama may bore us to death.
But there is nothing boring about torture. There is nothing trite about youths giving their lives in Iraq or Afghanistan because of the lies of politicians. And when it comes to courtesy and honor, memories are long.
Most people are so relieved to have Bush and Cheney out of office, that they are afraid to criticize Obama. And that is exactly what all the power brokers are betting on -- that no one will notice that they have been duped.

References:
Obama declined Aquinnah Wampanoag meeting
Monday, August 31, 2009
http://www.indianz.com/
Filed Under: Politics President Barack Obama went on vacation in the homeland of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts but turned down a meeting with tribal leaders.
Obama and his family spent a week on Martha's Vineyard. The tribe's reservation is on the western part of the island.
During his vacation, Obama went on a bike tour in Aquinnah, the tribe's headquarters. Bettina Washington, the tribe's historic preservation officer, said he probably saw signs on the reservation that oppose Cape Wind, a controversial wind turbine project.
"He had to ride by it twice," Washington told The Cape Cod Times.
Washington said the tribe wanted to share its culture and history with the Obama family, especially his two young daughters.
Get the Story:Wind messages blown to Obama (The Cape Cod Times 8/30)
August deadliest month of US in Afghanistan
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9AC3PMO0
Guantanamo torture continues under Obama/by Jeremy Scahill
http://www.alternet.org/rights/140022/little_known_military_thug_squad_still_brutalizing_prisoners_at_gitmo_under_obama/?page=entire
US to probe CIA torture/Obama continues secret renditions
The US attorney-general has appointed a special prosecutor to investigate allegations of abuse by the CIA during interrogations.
Eric Holder's appointment of John Durham, a federal prosecutor, comes as a CIA report released on Monday revealed that US interrogators threatened to kill a suspect's children and sexually assault another suspect's mother.
The announcement of the investigation coincided with a White House admission that Barack Obama's government would continue the previous administration's practice of sending terrorism suspects to other countries for detention and interrogation. Read more ... http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/08/20098250592862929.html
Cash for blood for mercenaries: CACI
The protest against torture training at Fort Huachuca Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca includes the protest of CACI there, in Sierra Vista. Read more about CACI at Border Lines:
"One of the companies that has benefited from this privatization of intelligence is CACI International, a major defense contractor, which is also a major homeland security and intelligence contractor. CACI recently was in the business press because of its latest revolving door success. It has brought former U.S. Navy Secretary and former DOD deputy defense secretary in the Bush administration into the folds of its board of directors. (See: Pentagon Official Returns) from "Bigger and Badder than Blackwater"
Blackwater, the CIA and the assassinations
The news reveals the CIA hired Blackwater for assassinations. No real news there, but the question remains: Did the US hire Blackwater to assassinate blacks, or look the other way, during the assassinations on the streets of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina?
On the Danish documentary, 'Welcome to New Orleans,' white men on video tape said in 2005 that shooting blacks after Katrina was like hunting:
"MAN 1: You had to do what you had to do. You know? If you had to shoot somebody, you had to shoot somebody. That simple.
MAN 2: We had looters.
MAN 3: It was great!
MAN 4: It was great!
MAN 3: It was like pheasant season in South Dakota!"
Article: CIA hired Blackwater:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/08/cia-hired-blackwater-for-assassinations.html

Tar Sands: Obama failing promises on global warming:

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/08/tar-sands-obama-failing-promises-on.html

Dept of Energy attempting to fast track nuclear loans
The Obama administration is fast tracking nuclear loans. Ultimately, Indian country is always targeted for nuclear waste dumps and uranium mining:http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2009/09/dept-of-energy-attempting-to-fast-track.html

Humanitarians arraigned in court for putting out life-saving water for migrants

http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2009/09/huamanitarians-putting-out-life-saving.html

Get out the Right Guard..

O.K., it'll disappear soon. It's over on the right...just over there. No, not the picture, dummy! That's a wonderful reworking done of the infamous (racist?) Obama-as-The-Joker poster done by Cj over at The Illustrated Conservative.

No, it's Ralph Alter's PJM post entitled "Six Months of B.O.", it is a must-read, and it is uproariously funny!

These mopes don’t even bother to pretend to read the confiscatory legislation cooked up by their staffers and the lobbyists attached to them at the wrist and ankle. Listening to Henry Waxman (D-Lusus Naturae) placating the Algorian lemmings on cap and trade or lip-synching Obama’s health care rationing anthem while admitting the absurdity of trying to read these legislative boondoggles reminds me of Woody Allen’s character in Annie Hall:

I took a speed-reading course and read War and Peace in 20 minutes. It involves Russia.

Unfortunately, the rest of Obama’s agenda seems to be about Russia as well. Barackski has already empowered more czars than the Romanovs and has just broomed the auto czar who helped broker the government-assisted bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler. I guess (hat tip to comic Bob Zany) Obama just loves that new czar smell.

It goes on and on, but the scary thing is that, just this past week, I was talking to my beautiful bride, Mrs Войска ПВО, about this very subject. Back in 1993, we were both diagnosed with a progressively terminal case of Clinton Derangement Syndrome and have been consumed by it ever since..

..since, well, the Boy King appeared on the scene. And then we actually did start longing for those "old days" when our biggest worry was bimbo eruptions and semen-stained dresses.

What I want to know is, how did Mr Alter break into my house and do a Vilcan Mind-meld on me when I was sleeping?

(Usual disclaimer, you don't like it, buzz off back to HuffPo, old son.)

Russell Means: Breaking the silence on Obama

Russell Means: Breaking the silence on Obama
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

American Indian activist Russell Means said President-elect Obama was selected by the colonial powers as president to improve the US image globally in the aftermath of George Bush. Further, Means said Obama’s appointments show that he is a Zionist controlled by Israel. Speaking on Red Town Radio today, Means said what is happening now to Palestinians is what happened to American Indians.
“Every policy the Palestinians are now enduring was practiced on the American Indian,” Means said on the Blog Talk Radio show, hosted by Brenda Golden, Muskoke Creek. “What the American Indian Movement says is that the American Indians are the Palestinians of the United States, and the Palestinians are the American Indians of the Middle East,” Means said. Further, he points out that the Zionists who control Israel now control the United States. “The power of the US in world politics diminishes every day.”
“Now they have found a house servant by the name of Obama.” Means said Obama was selected as a “man in charge to take the heat,” because of the “bad cop” image that Bush put forth in the world. “Now, all of a sudden, it is, ‘We’re so great. We elected a black man to be president.’”
Means added that Obama is a black man who was raised by his white grandmother and has appointed Zionists to key positions and that the US is headed for a new era of menial jobs. On Indian lands, Means reminds us, the only people who get ahead are those who sell out to the colonial system. Now, there is massive and sophisticated propaganda by the Zionists and the U.S. Both countries, he said, are liars. In the US, American Indians have been shut out of history, philosophy and the arts, in a “total blackout.” The United States does not want to be reminded of the smallpox blankets, theft, colonialism and mistreatment of the American Indian, he said.
Means said most Americans do not realize that the financial collapse of this country is only beginning: “Americans cannot continue the lifestyles of consumers when there is no production. Low income jobs and menial jobs are the only ones left.” “Health care in the US reveals how the policies used in experimentations on American Indians became US policies. The US health care system is now stringent and calloused, with constant refusals of treatment. This has always been the case with the Indian Health Service. Now it is the policy of the HMOs. Family ranchers and family farmers are now in the way of progress, the same way the American Indian was once viewed. Now, family farmers and family ranchers are being gutted, because they function on massive credit. They are trying to pay back debts, which is not possible with manipulated agriculture prices. The family farmer and family rancher are now going to be extinct.”
Means points out that the federal government has also taken over and polluted the educational system; “Americans don’t even know their own history. Along with this federal control, came the passage of English-only laws in many states. However, for Indigenous Peoples it is positive to know many languages. If you speak two languages, you are speaking with two brains. That is the way it is to us. That’s how we look at life. In the mid-Twentieth Century, US schools listened to the communities and local governing boards.”
“However, now the US educational policy has taken away local control and mandated federal guidelines. So now education has become a matter of money. Meanwhile, the real history is silenced. While the United States attempts to portray itself as a peace loving nation, the fact is the United States is at war every year. The United States breaks a host of international laws every year, which has been the pattern since 1946. American Indians were aware of what the US was doing, because the US had already broken all treaties with American Indians; treaties guaranteed by the US Constitution,” he said.
About the American revolution to throw off the British, Means pointed out how “his-story” has been manipulated; “There is a great deal of propaganda about why the US broke away from England. But the fact is that George Washington, the largest landowner, along with the slave owners, broke with England so that the original treaties of England with American Indians in the west would not have to be honored. The US broke with England, to invade the west and take the land. ”
The US was created to break international laws,” Means said, adding that it is obvious today that this is the pattern of the U.S. Means said the United States was initiated as an outlaw and renegade nation and that “today, its imperial policies mean that Israel is a surrogate of the US, receiving aid from the U.S. With the combined US and international aid, Israeli receives $12 billion a year for its “military and the settlers in the West Bank.”
Means said 80 percent of the people in the West Bank are paid to stay there. “It is America who pays them to stay there. But even in Israel, where there is a free press and not everyone agrees with Israel waging war on Palestine. He said 20 to 30 percent of the people in Israel are against the war on Palestine. Like the United States, Israel has been at war every year of its existence.”
Means often refers to Israel as the 51st state, of warmongers and imperialists. “America and Israel are based on lies, resulting in the massive deaths in Iraq. Now, the US and Israel are focused on Iran because its oil reserves.” Means said Indian lands have become “open air concentration camps.” “If you chose to stay on the reservation, you are guaranteed to be poor, unless you are part of the colonial apparatus set up by the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” he said.
“On Indian lands, everyone fights to be part of the tribal governments because that is where the money is. Everyone fights to be part of the colonial system. The only way you can be part of the colonial system is to obey. Those returning home to Indian lands cannot ‘rock the boat,’ demand their treaty rights or their rights guaranteed by the US Constitution.”
Means said the American Indian Movement made people aware that the US Constitution was based upon that of the Iroquois Six Nations. “However, the US Constitution only includes one-third of the Great Law of Peace. If all of the Great Law of Peace had been adopted, this country would be much different and much wealthier.” However, it was turned into a country of consumers. He said what you get with a country of consumers is greed. “What is going on in Palestine is going on in America. The United States is taking away the homes of the people.” Now in the United States, there is “communism from the left” and “right-wing socialism.” He said the problem with socialism is that it is bereft of consensus and spirituality.
Means, now 70, said he has experienced the US when it reached its zenith in the world in the 1950s, “At that time, America was a productive country. In the years that followed, the ruling elite sold out the unions, as the labor movement was razor thin close to taking over politics in America. The most watershed event was Brown vs. Board of Education, the US Supreme Court ruling which desegregated schools. The white male started losing his power. Then, in the social revolution that followed, white males lost control of their women and their women’s vote, and lost control of the work place, Means said.
While civil rights was the chosen remedy of most social movements, American Indians remained dedicated to ‘sovereign rights,’ individual sovereign rights. We are the only ones that held on to the sovereign concept, he said. The other social movements were saying, “Please Mr. White Male let me be equal to you.”
Means said things will be different now, “Our grandmother the Mother Earth is tired of the human race. She is going to eliminate it and I champion her, Mother earth.” Means said matriarchy is what Indigenous people are all about. “We know that women are the givers of life and men are the takers of life. We have to follow the woman in order to gain balance.” He said in a matriarchal society, there is a balanced society, as each celebrates their strengths together. “True individual freedom has to be done by consensus, otherwise it is mob rule.” In the US, now there are fake elections. “The people are convinced they are actually electing a president. However, it is the Electoral College that actually selects the US president.”
The charade is now coming to a close, as the ‘Patriot Act’ means that Posse Comitatus is dead and buried. Means said everyone has the responsibility to be free. “You are free to be responsible. That is the essence of freedom.” He said everyone should know their rights. Otherwise, they are guaranteed slavery.
“Einstein said, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome,’” “That’s America, that’s the Indian reservation. That’s pathetic and an injustice to human beings.” He said “human brains are doped up with all this ignorance and greed.”

Red Town Radio show host Brenda Golden, enrolled Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, grew up in Clearview, Oklahoma. Golden attended Sequoyah Indian School in Tahlequah before joining the Air Force. Later, she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Oklahoma. She has worked in Indian Country as an educator, tribal liaison, grant writer, board member and volunteer since the early 1990's.
Golden said she is hosting Red Town Radio, on Blog Talk Radio, to offer a platform for Indigenous issues.
Listen to more of the show, including David Hill, who called in, and pointed out that while the US cut school funds and school lunches, the US increased aid to Israel.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RedTownRadio
Russell Means' column 'Welcome to the Rez'
More on Obama's appointees at Lakotah Republic
http://www.republicoflakotah.com/
U.S. seeks to ship hundreds of tons of arms to Israel
By Reuters
http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE50875320090109
The United States is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. "Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. Israel is one of America's closest allies and both nations regularly sell arms to each other. In September, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of 1,000 bunker-buster missiles to Israel. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. (Click link above for article)

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/washington/11iran.html?hp
New York Times
By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: January 10, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.
(Clink link above for article)

Indigenous to Obama: Halt Oil Sands demands and development

The Indigenous Environmental Network and Rainforest Action Network produced this statement in response to a lobby effort in Washington DC by Treaty One Chiefs of Manitoba regarding the Enbridge Alberta Clipper and the TransCanada Keystone Project. In this communication you will find our press statement that focuses on providing an Alberta First Nations perspective on the issue, as well as the advisory that was sent out by Treaty One Chiefs of Manitoba on December 31, 2008. Please distribute this to your lists far and wide.
Clayton Thomas-Muller

ENERGY JUSTICE IN TURTLE ISLAND – NORTH AMERICA

Indigenous Message to Obama to Issue a Presidential Order to Halt All Processes for Approval of the Expansion of Oil Sands Pipeline Infrastructure Entering the United States and to Support Alberta First Nation Chiefs Demand to Canada for a Moratorium on all Expansion of Canadian Tar Sands Development.
Clayton Thomas-Muller, IEN Tar Sands Campaigner cell 218 760 6632
Eriel Deranger, Rainforest Action Network Tar Sands Campaigner, Member of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) cell 587 785 1558
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network cell 218 760 0442

By IEN and Rainforest Action Network

OTTAWA, Canada – First Nation Chiefs from northern Alberta Canada are not able to attend the January 8 event in Washington, D.C. The Chiefs, elders and youth representatives of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta Canada are experiencing firsthand the assault of unsustainable energy development that has destroyed their environment and subsistence lifestyle that has sustained them since time immemorial. This energy development is called the tar/oil sands development, that has been called the “Worlds’ Most Destructive Project on Earth." A large portion of Canadian oil coming to the United States is extracted from the oil sands at a tremendous cost to the environment, water, and climate change and infringing on the aboriginal rights of First Nations people downstream of the tar sands development zone. The First Nations living in the energy sacrifice zone of the tar sands wanted to stand in solidarity with other Chiefs from Canada’s First Nations traveling to the U.S. capitol to seek the support of President Elect Obama in their fight for human rights.
It is with prayer and with strong hearts that all First Nations and American Indian and Alaska Natives are asking President Elect Obama to take action that recognizes the sovereign Indigenous nations in Canada and the USA whose inherent rights are being violated. The Canadian government continues to fail to recognize its responsibility and duty to consult with the Indigenous frontline communities that lay directly within the path of destruction involved with the extraction, processing and transportation of fossil fuels in Canada, including its exportation of dirty high carbon oil to the U.S. In February of 2008 all 43 First Nation Alberta Chiefs signed a resolution requesting a moratorium on all new tar sands permits. However, the province and the federal government continue to grant approvals for new expansions in the area.
The Canadian government is further compounding land and water rights issues with the approval and construction of expansion projects infringing into traditional territories in Northern Saskatchewan as well as Alberta. The projects for the delivering of this crude oil include major pipeline construction in traditional Indigenous territories in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and much of the mid-western USA states. The bulk of these projects have been pushed forward without any adequate consultation with the Indigenous communities and without recognition of the principles of free, prior and informed consent.
There are high profile litigations by Alberta based First Nations underway on this issue, most notably Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. ACFN is seeking a number of declarations from the Court, including asking the Court to rule that the Alberta Government has:
1. A duty to consult and accommodate ACFN prior to granting the challenged tenures;
2. Breached their duty to consult by failing to consult prior to granting the Challenged tenures; and
3. A duty to consult on the scope and extent of the ACFN’s Treaty Rights and other Aboriginal interests and concerns, prior to granting the challenged tenures.
Beaver Lake Cree Nation of Treaty 6 (BCFN) launched a massive civil lawsuit against the federal and Alberta governments, claiming unbridled oil and gas development in its traditional territory renders its treaty rights meaningless. BCFN claims the developments have forced band members out of traditional areas, degraded the environment and reduced wildlife populations, making it impossible for them to meaningfully exercise their Treaty 6 rights to hunt, trap and fish.
When considering energy production and resource extraction, the incoming administration must take into account the disproportionate impacts of climate change and energy development on the first inhabitants of this Turtle Island – North America. When considering energy and climate change policy, it is important that the White House and federal agencies consider the history of energy and mineral exploitation and Indigenous Nations, and the potential to create a dramatic change with innovative policies. Too often tribes are presented with a false choice: either develop polluting energy resources or remain in dire poverty. Economic development need not come at the cost of maintaining cultural identity and thriving ecosystems. The Indigenous Environmental Network, the First Nations of northern Alberta and all Indigenous Nations want to work with President Elect Barack Obama and his administration for catalyzing green reservation economies – not the continuation of an unsustainable fossil fuel economy.
A just nation-to-nation relationship means breaking the cycle of asking First Nations of Canada or American Indians and Alaska Natives to choose between economic development and preservation of its cultures and lands. Renewable energy and efficiency improvements provide opportunity to do both simultaneously. A green, carbon-reduced energy policy has major national and international human rights, environmental and financial consequences, and we believe that this administration can provide groundbreaking leadership on this policy. The reality is that the most efficient, green economy will need the vast wind and solar resources that lie on Indigenous lands in the U.S. and Canada. This provides the foundation of not only a green low carbon economy but also catalyzes development of tremendous human and economic potential in the poorest community in the United States and Canada – Turtle Island. -

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TREATY ONE FIRST NATIONS
Canadian Indigenous Community to Deliver Message of Oil and Human Rights to President-Elect Obama
Delegation follows in centuries-long tradition of delegations of American Indians traveling to Washington, DC to meet the “Great White Father.” Read article at: http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2008/12/canadian-chiefs-to-deliver-message-to.html

Open letter from Cauca in Colombia to Obama

An Open Letter from the Association of Indigenous Councils of Northern Cauca, ACIN, to U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama

Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, Colombia
Dear Mr. President-Elect,

First, please accept our sincerest congratulations. We congratulate you for having won because of the noblest aspirations of your people. We believe your election expresses the deep desire for change felt by the majority of the American people: change in the economy and society, change in international relations, and from there, we hope, a change in the relation between the United States of America and the indigenous peoples of the world.
During your historic campaign, you publicly noted some of what Colombians currently face: you acknowledged the murders of trade unionists by the regime and stated your reservations about a Free Trade Agreement with Colombia, which our people have decided against through a democratic referendum, about which we have written before. We thank you for this, and now want you to know about the specific situation facing Colombia's indigenous peoples.
In the past six years we have lost 1,200 people to assassinations by armed groups, both legal and illegal: right-wing paramilitaries, guerrillas, police, and members of the Armed Forces. These murders have created insecurity, and this insecurity has been used to strip us of our rights with what we call the 'Laws of Disposession', legislation and other institutional norms that legalize the loss of our lands, our fundamental freedoms, and our rights. These 'Laws of Disposession' dispose of Colombia's mines, hydrocarbons, water resources, intellectual property, and national parks â€" all of these are brought under the ultimate rule of the Free Trade Agreement with the US. The FTA will mean that if Colombia tries to change the laws to allow its people to share in its resources, or take any independent action, then we will be obliged to compensate investors. We will have to submit our laws to international arbitration outside our own legal jurisdiction.
But in our view, the ultimate law is respect for life. In our view, the FTA puts commercial logic above the respect for life itself, not to mention international humanitarian law, and agreements such as the ILO's Covenant 169, and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Worldwide. These covenants, as well as the respect for life, have to date been ignored by the government of our country, as well as by your government.
Unfortunately both of our governments, yours with Plan Colombia, and ours with the so-called 'Democratic Security' policy, have done great harm to indigenous peoples and to Mother Earth, while multinational corporations have profited from the petroleum and gas contracts, mining concessions, privatizations, and low wages.
We hope that you will contribute to change all this. We hope that you will listen to our words. We have lost many lives defending these words. Words that we have walked and words we have backed up with our civil resistance. These are the words that we have shared throughout Colombia since October 10th, through the Minga of Resistance, a national mobilization we convened as indigenous peoples, in association with other peoples and processes.
We believe that the spirit of change in your people cannot be contained. We believe it is a powerful force and we hope it will join with the force of our words and with the need for change that has been crying out throughout Latin America. We invite you to come to listen to these words here in Colombia, and we are ready to articulate them there, if you invite us. Here or there, it is the same planet and our mission is the same: to protect it, to save us all.
Finally, we call on you to join with us in fulfilling our responsibilities to Mother Earth and to history. The first one, our collective Mother, has given all of us life. The second one, History, has reflected our growing pains and our errors. History has not matured into systems that reconcile it with the rhythms, pulses and mandates of Nature. We believe the very reason human beings and our societies exist is to create the harmony between History and Mother Earth.
As children of Mother Earth, we speak to you as to a brother or sister. As indigenous, we speak to you as peoples, obliged from creation to seek harmony between History and Mother Earth. To reconcile ourselves with nature is not an option, but an imperative. By transforming life into merchandise, by making sacred the accumulation of wealth, by enshrining greed, we believe our societies have entered a crisis, including the economic crisis currently faced by your country. The destruction of our peoples in Colombia is a consequence of that Historic error that has placed greed before life.
Brother President-elect Barack Obama, we do not write to ask or demand anything for ourselves, because we know that the death of our peoples and the destruction of our cultures for greed, signifies the beginning of the end for Mother Earth itself.
Before we disappear with our collective Mother, we have decided to speak and to walk our words. In the name of life, of change, let us listen to one another and make the effort to find a way to create harmony between our peoples and life. Let us create the conditions for new History. One where the sacred ends of promotion and protection of Life and Beauty can never again be transformed into means for private accumulation of power at the service of greed.
We await you.
With great respect,
Association of Indigenous Couincils of Northern Cauca ACIN -Cxab Wala Kiwe-Territory of the Great People- Cauca, Mother Earth, November 10th, 2008 Santander de Quilichao