Thursday, August 30, 2007

Newmont protest in Denver, hotel revokes Carrie Dann ceremony

Human Rights and Environmental Groups to Protest Award to Newmont CEO

Marriott Hotel Revokes Contract for Alternative Award Ceremony to Western Shoshone Carrie Dann

When Denver’s elite arrive at the Downtown Marriott Hotel for Denver University’s annual fund-raising Korbel Dinner on Aug 30, they will be met by protesters from around the state.
While DU’s Graduate School of International Studies presents its “International Bridge-Building Award” to Newmont CEO Wayne Murdy, protesters will serve Murdy with a Citation for building Newmont’s bridge on a foundation of human rights and environmental abuses. GSIS Dean Tom Farer has refused to revoke the award to Murdy, over objections from a majority of GSIS tenured faculty and protests from communities that are directly affected by Newmont gold mines around the world.
The protesters, representing a host of Colorado-based non-profit organizations, will present what they call the “REAL International Bridge Builder’s Award” to Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann. But the honoring ceremony will have to be held on public sidewalks now because the Marriott revoked the groups’ contract to hold the honoring ceremony in the Hotel’s Molly Brown room. More information on the Western Shoshone can be found at http://www.wsdp.org/.
In an email to the groups, Marriott’s Director of Event Planning Joe Humerickhouse wrote that the “Hotel see (sic) the Thursday event "Presentation by Carrie Dann" as a conflict of interest to a current piece of business” -- clearly a reference to DU’s Korbel Dinner.
It is unknown who pressured the Marriott to revoke its contract for the meeting room, but Glenn Morris of Colorado’s American Indian Movement, said, “This is reminiscent of Newmont changing the location for its annual shareholder's meeting three times a couple of years ago, for fear of negative scrutiny. Newmont doesn't want its record exposed, DU is embarrassed, and their response is to muscle the Marriott into trying to silence our voice by denying us a venue. Of course, they will not succeed, and we will be there, and we will have our say.”
READ MORE:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/denver-newmont-protest-marriott-revokes.html
August 29, 2007 press statement by:
Paula Palmer, Global Response, 303 444-0306 ext.103 paula@globalresponse.org
Glenn Morris, Colorado American Indian Movement, 303 519-2423, gtm303@gmail.comBetty Ball, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, 303 444 6981, betty@rmpjc.org
Juan Stewart, CU Indigenous Support Network, 303 506 9648, juan.stewart@colorado.edu
Kara Martinez, Denver Justice and Peace Committee, 303 623 1463, kara@denjustpeace.org
Glenn Spagnuola, Stop Newmont Coalition, 720-771-4669, http://us.f520.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=rockymtn.spags@att.net

Denver Post: Awarding Newmont's CEO inappropriate
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_6751784

Photo: Carrie and Mary Dann. Photo Western Shoshone Defense Project.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Mohawks: Canada sets fire to kindling at Sharbot Lake

Mohawk Nation News
Aug. 29, 2007
The June 29th attempt to provoke indigenous violence failed. This hasn’t stopped the existing regime of stale dated colonial buffoons from trying to set a match to kindling. The only trouble is we ain’t kindling. We’r erock solid. They have the guns and pepper spray which they use to maintain their power. We’re the ones standing on therock of nation-to-nation relations and mutual respect. Thisknot on their brain gives them a distorted reflection of themselves and their delusions. Read more:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/mohawks-canada-sets-fire-to-kindling-at.html

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Border justice, protest at federal building in Tucson








National Day of Action, Tucson federal building, Tuesday, August 28 2007/Photos by Brenda Norrell
By Brenda Norrell
TUCSON -- The "National Day of Action to Stop Anti-Immigrant Repression and Migrant Deaths at the U.S. - Mexico Border," called for justice, during a protest at the federal building today, Tuesday, Aug. 28.
Isabel Garcia, cochair of Coalicion Derechos Humanos, said that the United States would one day be held responsible for its crimes against humanity.
Those gathered remembered migrants who have died in custody while being denied their medications and U.S. citizens physically abused during false arrests.
Speakers made an urgent call for socially just legalization, justice for Elvira & Saul Arrellano, and a halt to deaths at the US/Mexico border. Further, they called for an end to all raids and a moratorium on all immigration detentions and deportations.
Human rights activists urged the U.S. to restore and expand the due process rights of all immigrants and protect and expand the labor, human and civil rights of all immigrants and refugees
The action was cosponsored by Derechos Humanos, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, May 1st Coalition, Borderlands Theater, Fundación México, Tucson Samaritans, Salt of the Earth Labor College, Humane Borders, No More Deaths, Tucson Jobs with Justice, AFSC, Wingspan, Tierra y Libertad and Citizens for Border Solutions.

Arizona Recovered Body Count Reaches 199 as the Department of Homeland Security Announces Plans to Increase and Expand Deadly Border Strategy
By Coalicion de Derechos Humanos
Arizona — The number of bodies recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border has reached 199 by the end of July 2007 according to data compiled by the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based human rights group that works to raise awareness about the deadly effects of border militarization. Fifty-two bodies were recovered in the month of July alone, ensuring that last year’s total of 205 will surely be passed within the month of August. Read more:

Arivaca, keeping it real

Here's a photo of the town of Arivaca, Arizona, in response to an incorrect comment received about the U.S. spy tower here. The reader said the spy tower did not matter, because there wasn't even a store in Arivaca. Not only are there stores, but there are many people living in Arivaca who are willing to voice opposition to the U.S. spying on private citizens. Photo Brenda Norrell (August 2007)


It's good to read the local Connection newspaper in Arivaca and see people living here are keeping alive the art of writing.

Here's the link to an update from C Hues in Arivaca on the spy towers from the Connection newspaper:
(Photo Arivaca spy tower/Brenda Norrell)
More links at Arivaca.net
Spy towers in southern Arizona, including Tohono O'odham Nation, still aren't working, Boeing selects new manager

Boeing names Korte SBInet program manager
August 23, 2ooy
By Alice Lipowicz
Washington Technology
Boeing Co. has named a new program manager for the Secure Border Initiative Network border surveillance system, which is one of the largest contracts awarded by the Homeland Security Department.
On Aug. 13, Daniel Korte took over as Boeing’s program manager for SBInet, replacing Jerry McElwee, who will assist in the transition and will remain at Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems unit, said Eric Mazzacone, a Boeing spokesman. DHS awarded the estimated $8 billion contract to Boeing in September 2006 for a surveillance system along the southwest U.S. border. The Chicago-based company is currently implementing its first task order, known as Project 28, along a 28-mile section of the border in Arizona. While Project 28 initially was set to go live in mid-June, to date it is not fully operational. In Project 28, Boeing has installed nine towers with cameras, radar, various other sensors and communications networks near the border. The goal of SBInet is to integrate those systems so they can be used to effectively provide border patrol agents with information to assist them in identifying and apprehending illegal aliens who cross the border.
In recent weeks, DHS officials have acknowledged problems with integrating the systems and making them operational. The program also has been controversial among border communities, some of whom are complaining of privacy loss, environmental impacts and other concerns as a result of the SBInet system.
Read full story:

Algonquin resisting uranium mining, brace for police raid

Urgent plea for help as judge orders Algonquins invaded on Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Allies, Supporters, and Environmentalists needed!

Mohawk Nation News
August 28, 2007

Judge Gordon Thompson has ordered the Algonquins who are blocking access to a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake to leave immediately. The people have been told to expect the police on Wednesday, August 29th. All supporters are asked to come to the site to help maintain the peace. This is only the beginning of things to come under the conservative regime with the help of the liberals at Queen’s Park Toronto . The Bush administration in Washington DC needs uranium for their military industrial schemes. Read more:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/algonquin-resisting-uranium-mining.html
Mohawk Nation News:
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Uncensored: Raytheon missiles and Navajo corn

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Here's the latest on the Raytheon missiles factory located on the Navajo Nation's commercial farm, where they grow potatoes, corn and other crops.
It was the subject of one of my last articles, censored by Indian Country Today, before I was terminated in September of 2006.
At the time, the Navajo farm, Navajo Agricultural Products Industries on tribal land near Farmington, N.M., was cutting a deal with Cuba to market its food crops.
The following article is just more cheerleading, without examining whether Raytheon is harming the land or environment in any way. It does show all the perks for Raytheon.
Another issue is that NAPI uses genetically-modified seeds, according to NAPI.
Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi, who was cheerleading this Raytheon expansion, has since been under federal probe and announced he will not seek reelection.
article:
http://www.daily-times.com/news/ci_6736107

Monday, August 27, 2007

Canada: Police provocateurs exposed by their boots' soles


Canadian police were actually the so-called rock throwing protesters at Montebello at the trilateral North American Summit, during Bush's visit to Canada. The soles of the boots of the arrested people are the same as the police boots' soles. The yellow dots gave them away.
More from Google breaking news:

Algonquin Pow-wow: Resisting uranium mining in Canada

Photo: http://www.aafna.ca/rice_celebration_2004.html
Photo Kevin Wight/Algonquin Rice Celebration 2004

Mohawk Nation News has taken a strong sovereignist position in support of the Sharbot Lake issue. We think that Canada must adhere to their request for a nation-to-nation relationship according to Algonquin, Canadian and international law.

The Algonquins are having a pow wow at Ardoch Lake on September 1st. See the poster below for information. We ecnourage all our brothers, sisters, friends and allies, native and non-native, to come and stand by and support the Algonquins in our fight against Frontenac Ventures. They want to open a uranium mine on our unsurrendered land. MREL who were making weapons and testing them on Algonquin land have now left for parts unknown, probably to turn up somewhere under another name. Read more:
http://http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/algonquin-pow-wow-sept-1-2007.html
Map and General Information on http://www.aafna.ca/ Contacts: Chief Paula Sherman paulasherman@trentu.ca; Chief DoreenDavis chiefdoreen@aol.com; JohnDavis john@plentycanada.com; RandyCota rcota@sympatico.ca

Readers respond: Migrant prisons in Texas, Wackenhut and abuse


Raymondville, Texas, migrant tent city prison:

Your list of infamous immigrant prisons being run for profit probably isn't complete without the "Tent City" in Raymondville, Texas. It's a series of temporary structures that was assembled in 90 days.
You can see the whole range of prisons for profit in Texas at http://texasprisonbidness.org/about-private-prisons/texas-private-prisons-map
Some are contract prisons for ICE, others are holding state prisoners from other states, some are holding youth. There's a lot of populations that can be confined for profit. Keep writing about it!
Kathleen

(Vigils at Hutto and Raymondville. Photos by Jay J. Johnson-Castro, Sr.)

Websites exposing Wackenhut abuses:
Enjoyed your post on Wackenhut and border patrols interesting. Have you seen http://www.eyeonwackenhut.org/ and http://www.focusong4s.org/? Those two sites have info on Wackenhut's many problems and rights abuses in the U.S. and abroad(Texas Prison Bid'ness)
Bush donors get kickbacks with contracts and favoritism
Bush Pioneers 2004
The list: GEO (who won multiple contracts to imprison migrants in Texas and Louisiana in 2007) and others who donated $100,000 to the Bush 2004 campaign.
The list includes lobbyist Jack Abramoff, officials from Wal-Mart, Verizon and the Christian Coalition, along with U.S. senators and a member of the Federal Reserve:
Original article:
"Privatizing misery, deporting and imprisoning migrants for profit"

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Censored: U.S. torture, spy towers and crashing drones

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SASABE, Ariz. -- There's an explosion of news in southern Arizona, from the torture trial in Tucson to the spy towers along the border and the Sasabe border wall. The futile, seven-mile Sasabe border wall construction is slated to begin Monday without public comment.
It is sad that so few news reporters are reporting this news, relying instead on the Bush-agenda, parroting the same worn-out refrains about the border and the slow spin of corporate-manufactured news.
Thanks to everyone who has shared information. In the breaking news, there is an article on the corporation who really operates those Wackenhut migrant deportation buses at the border. It is the Danish company G4/S, listed on stock exchanges in London and Denmark.
The news that a Danish-owned corporation is deporting migrants for profit at the border, follows the news that Boeing joined with the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems to build the spy towers. So much for all that talk about U.S. patriotism and securing the borders in the name of U.S. nationalism.
It is dismal to see the profiteering of those building migrant prisons, especially to see GEO Group, Inc., receiving so many contracts to imprison migrants, after contributing $100,000 to Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.
It is also horrible to know that the Hutto prison in Texas continues to imprison migrant and refugee infants and children.
We're researching now to see if Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are once again being used along the border. The Border Patrol had stopped using UAVs after one crashed near Nogales, Ariz. last year. We've just heard of new sightings. The dangers for those on the ground, include crashes and the lasers on board. The UAVs are being used in Afghanistan and robot UAVs are being designed to fire weapons.
As for the UAVs, the so-called environmental assessment for the spy towers says there was a change of plans: The UAVs would not be used in the Secure Border Initiative in Arizona. However, after the assessment was released, the Bush administration and Congress pressed for more crashing drones.
The Boeing and Israeli-Elbit spy towers continue to malfunction in the rugged desert mountains and canyons along the Arizona border. (Wi-Fi, what were they thinking?)
A special thanks to those who searched in the intense heat along the border this summer for the dying and dead, recovering bodies for family members.
Scroll down for more news from Zapatistas, Navajos, Lakotas and Mohawks. Delegations of Mohawks and members of the International Indian Treaty Council and AIM have been in Venezuela in the struggle against colonial oppression.
Thanks to all of you who turned this long hot summer, of unbearable heat in June, into a collaborative labor of love for the Censored Blog.
The monsoon rains are here, and while the mainstream media is still spinning the hype for the web of deception, at least the Sonoran desert is lush with green.
Thanks to all of you who continue to fight the good fight. You know who you are.

Uupdate from C Hues in Arivaca on the spy towers from the Connection newspaper:
http://www.arivaca-newspaper.com/category/tower-update/



Photo 1: Sasabe Store/Brenda Norrell Photo 2/UAV crashed near Tubac, Az/Fox News Photo 3: UAV/Photo U.S./ Photo 4: Spy tower northwest of Sasabe, Ariz., Aug. 2007/Brenda Norrell

Friday, August 24, 2007

Privatizing misery, deporting and imprisoning migrants for profit

The hidden agenda of the border hype:

Security guards and prisons in the dollars-for-migrants industry


By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SASABE, Ariz. -- Another industry has been privatized in the United States by the Bush administration. This time it is the transportation of migrants for deportation.
The Wackenhut Corporation, whose buses wait along the border to be filled with migrants for deportation, is actually a subsidiary of the Danish security corporation G4S (Group4/Securicor.)
G4S, with headquarters in Crawley, West Sussex, England, is listed on the stock exchanges in London and Denmark.
Some border residents are concerned that a foreign-owned corporation, and not a U.S.-owned corporation, is handling security and deportations of migrants at the border. Many are concerned that a corporation is profiteering from migrant deportations. Wackenhut/G4S took over these duties from the U.S. Border Patrol.
The executive director of the watchdog group Private Corrections Institute, Ken Kopczynski, wrote to the Censored Blog about the owners of Wackenhut.
"Great piece on the Minutemen and immigration, but Wackenhut is not connected to GEO Group. Group 4 bought out Wackenhut Corporation a number of years ago and sold off the corrections unit to George Zoley and friends. Part of the agreement was that they could no longer use the name Wackenhut, which currently is a subsidiary of Group 4/Securicor. Hope this helps and keep at ‘em," wrote Ken Kopczynski, executive director of Private Corrections Institute.
Imprisoning migrants for profit
George Zoley is CEO of GEO Group, Inc., which operates privatized prisons across the nation, including the notorious prisons in Florence, Arizona.
Building prisons for immigrants has been profitable for the GEO Group. In the year 2007 alone, GEO Group won contracts for a prison in Eagle Pass, Texas; an immigration detention facility in Jena, La. and a detention facility for U.S. Marshals service in Laredo, Tex.
After the Jena, La., immigration detention facility reaches full occupancy with 1,160 inmates in 2008, GEO expects $23.5 million annually in revenues.
GEO, whose major shareholder is Zoley, donated $100,000 to George Bush's reelection campaign in 2004. (GEO was previously called "Wackenhut Corrections," but no longer uses the Wackenhut name.)
Texas has some of the most notorious migrant prisons
GEO Group, with headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., received a 10-year contract in January, for the detention of 2,407 "criminal aliens" at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas.
GEO took over the county's contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. GEO said it believes that the facility in Reeves County, with the county seat in Pecos, is the largest privately-operated prison in the world.
In Taylor, Texas, near Austin, another for-profit company, Corrections Corporation of America, imprisons migrant and refugee infants and children at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. Recently, a prison guard exposed maggots in the food there. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, was denied a request to tour Hutto in May, 2007. (Scroll to the end for more links on Texas prisons.)
Halliburton and migrant prisons
Halliburton's Kellogg Brown and Root received a contract for $385 million to build immigration detention centers "in the even to an emergency influx of immigrants." After obtaining the contract from Homeland Security in Jan., 2006, Halliburton separated from KBR. Then, Halliburton moved its headquarters to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in 2007.
Guarding and transporting migrants for profit
Meanwhile, the Danish-owned, G4S/Wackenhut Corporation describes its contract with Border Patrol.
On Aug. 30, 2006, Border Patrol and the Wackenhut Corporation signed a one-year agreement, with four one-year performance periods, to provide “Guard and Transportation” services to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
Wackenhut said the scope of the contract covers the entire southwest United States/Mexican border to include Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
"The value of the agreement is approximately $50 million dollars per year, with a total contract value of $250 million dollars over the five-year period," Wackenhut states.
"Transport service will initially involve over 100 secure, motor coach buses to include state of the art confinement systems, on-board digital/video surveillance, GPS tracking and over 270 armed security personnel from Wackenhut’s Custom Protection Division."
With project headquarters in Tucson, Wackenhut said there would be three additional support centers in the southwest border operations.
During a recent protest of labor struggles in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Wackenhut is a subsidiary of the global security contractor G4S, which is under fire from international human rights groups and trade unions for alleged racist practices against black employees in South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique."
Wackenhut also imprisons Australian aboriginals and refugees in Australia.
The Wackenhut Corporation provides nuclear security and energy consulting services, according to its website.
Controversial security contract for Danish-owned Wackenhut
After taking over migrant deportation services from the Border Patrol, G4S/Wackenhut, announced on May 14, 2007, another controversial security contract, one at the Y-12 nuclear weapons facility.
Wackenhut, from its U.S. headquarters in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., announced that the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration selected Wackenhut for award of the Oak Ridge Complex Protective Services Contracts.
These contracts provide for the security support services for the 33,725 acre Oak Ridge Reservation including the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the East Tennessee Technology Park, the Federal Office Building Complex and the Y-12 National Security Complex, Wackenhut said.
In August, peace activists were arrested at the atomic energy site, Y-12, a high-level security complex with a long history of secrecy, in Oak Ridge, Tenn:
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/aug/05/annual-y-12-protest-draws-200/

More information:
Background: "CorpWatch: Wackenhut's Free Market in Human Misery" (1999)
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=868 Bush donors get kickbacks with contracts and favoritism

Bush Pioneers 2004
The list of those donating $100,000 to the Bush campaign in 2004, includes GEO Group (which won multiple contracts to imprison migrants in Texas and Louisiana in 2007.)
The list includes lobbyist Jack Abramoff, officials from Wal-Mart, Verizon and the Christian Coalition, along with Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, other senators and a member of the Federal Reserve: http://www.nndb.com/group/715/000117364/

G4S/Wackenthut:
http://www.g4s.com/


Readers respond:

Raymondville, Texas, migrant tent city prison:

Your list of infamous immigrant prisons being run for profit probably isn't complete without the "Tent City" in Raymondville, Texas. It's a series of temporary structures that was assembled in 90 days.You can see the whole range of prisons for profit in Texas at http://texasprisonbidness.org/about-private-prisons/texas-private-prisons-map
Some are contract prisons for ICE, others are holding state prisoners from other states, some are holding youth. There's a lot of populations that can be confined for profit. Keep writing about it!
Kathleen

Wackenhut sites exposing abuses:
Enjoyed your post on Wackenhut and border patrols interesting. Have you seen http://www.eyeonwackenhut.org/ and http://www.focusong4s.org/?
Those two sites have info on Wackenhut's many problems and rights abuses in the U.S. and abroad(Texas Prison Bid'ness)e:
http://www.privateci.org/


Please send comments on this article to: brendanorrell@gmail.com

Return to Censored Blog homepage:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Life and death on the border, 'No significant impact'

The biggest hoax of all, the $31.5 million, seven-mile, border fence at Sasabe and its pitiful environmental assessment


By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

ARIVACA and SASABE, Arizona – Of all the whitewashed and pitiful U.S.-produced environmental assessments, the slim pile of papers for the Sasabe border fence is the worst.

In Sasabe, where border fence construction is slated to begin on Monday, residents did not even know the pitiful document existed.

The so-called environmental assessment was sent by FedEx to the Caviglia-Arivaca Library, after its release on July 27.

There was no request for public comment, simply a bundle of papers placed in the library. At the end of the document, where public comments usually appear, there are three letters from the U.S. Army praising the project.

The reason for the document’s existence is explained. The Sasabe fence is being built “to comply with the Congressional Fence Act of 2006” which requires that 700 miles of fence be built.

In other words, it does not matter that this seven-mile border fence, along the 2,000-mile border, is futile and impractical. Congress said to do it, so it will be built for $31.5 million, like a bridge to nowhere.

The failure to request public comments has not gone unnoticed. Arizona residents living along the border had one common sentiment about the U.S. plans to build the border fence: “They could care less what we think about it.”

It was only by accident that I stumbled across the assessment on Thursday, while looking back over another pitiful environmental assessment, the one for the border spy towers.

The environmental assessment for the “Pedestrian Fence” near Sasabe, Arizona is one more installment in what could become a trillion dollar disaster, the proposed US/Mexico border fence.

It only takes one look at the rugged mountains west of Sasabe to know that there will be no metal border wall built across those mountains. Yes, migrants and jaguars will make it over those mountain paths, but there is not going to be any wall construction.

The Sasabe border fence would only extend 4.5 miles to the east and 2.5 miles to the west of Sasabe Port of Entry. That is it, seven miles of border wall to nowhere, a border wall that will be easily avoided by migrants.

Since it is not possible to build a border wall over those mountains, the lead contractor Boeing has placed nine spy towers along the border. The only problem is, those are not working because of software problems.



Yes, the top camera was orbiting, and the red lights were flashing on the spy tower a few miles north of Sasabe, at the junction of Arivaca Road, on Thursday, but the towers are experiencing technical failure. There was another spy tower perched northwest of Sasabe, on the road to the Osa Guest Ranch.

Wi-Fi was used for the towers in these rugged mountains, canyons and desert. That is the same Wi-Fi that your local coffee shop uses. Anyone who uses Wi-Fi where there's interference, either interference from physical barriers or hackers, will enjoy this joke.

To make matters worse, the spy tower located in Arivaca is pointed at the homes of Arivaca community members. With its spy range of nine miles, there is no view of the border from that spy tower because of the mountains. Arivaca residents oppose the spy tower based on the invasion of privacy and are planning a lawsuit.

On the daylong drive from Tucson to Arivaca, Sasabe and Three Points, Arizona, on Thursday, there were about 30 Border Patrol units wandering around. The Border Patrol agents were watching the rain clouds form, talking on their cell phones and munching snacks at convenience stores.

A couple of Wackenhut buses, waiting to be loaded with migrants, sat empty along the highway. Their drivers were slouched over the steering wheels, no doubt experiencing one of the most boring days of their lives.

There was not a migrant in sight.

Things picked up a little over at the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, not that there were any people around, just more Border Patrol agents talking on their cell phones and wandering around.



There were however, some fine hummingbirds at the feeders, and lots of good information on the Pronghorns along the border. It turns out that the Sonoran Pronghorn migrate between Mexico and the United States, crossing the border in the desert between Ajo and Yuma. Pronghorns, the fastest mammal in North America, do not jump over fences like deer, they try to go through or under fences, which can be devastating to the Pronghorns.

Jaguar, too, at times migrate from Mexico to the United States through these mountains.

Which brings us back to the pitiful environmental assessment for the Sasabe border fence, that costly and futile expression of Congress in response to border hysteria elsewhere and media hype.

Perhaps this assessment was sent by FedEx to the Caviglia-Arivaca Library, because those who produced it were too embarrassed to deliver it themselves.

The pitiful environmental assessment lists the threatened and endangered species.

The conclusion: “No Significant Impact.”

Like its predecessors, the environmental assessments for the unmanned aerial vehicles and spy towers, the assessment is a joke.

The document itself, surely will have “No Significant Impact,” except to fuel the mistrust and anger of Arizona residents along the border.

In fact, unless you are an investigative reporter, or psychic, you probably cannot even find a copy of it.

However, just for the record, here is the list of the endangered and threatened species listed in the Sasabe border fence environmental assessment.

The Bald eagle and Chiricahua leopard frog are on the list of threatened species.

On the endangered list are the California Brown pelican; Desert pupfish; Gila chub; Gila topminnow; Huachuca water umbel; Jaguar; Kearney blue star; Lesser long-nosed bat; Masked Bobwhite; Mexican spotted owl; Nichol Turk’s head cactus; Ocelot (spotted cat); Pima pineapple cactus; Sonoran pronghorn and Southwestern willow flycatcher.

Listed as “candidate” species are the Acuna cactus; Sonoyta mud turtle; Yellow-billed cuckoo; Gooddings onion and San Xavier talussnail (land snail.)

The jaguar is “cinnamon-buff” with black spots and the largest cat native in the Southwest.

The endangered Lesser long-nosed bat is a subject that biologists have been reluctant to discuss. The border fence assessment describes them as “easily disturbed.” Bats are pollinators of the desert plants, including agave and cacti. They day roost in caves and abandoned tunnels, making their homes in Arizona between April and September. These bats fly south of the border for the rest of the year, according to the fence assessment.

The question remains whether the bats’ hunting ability will be affected by the spy towers’ high-tech equipment.

The fence assessment states there is critical habitat here for the Desert pupfish; Gila Chub; Huachuca water umbel; Mexican spotted owl and Southwestern willow flycatcher.

Mitch Ellis, Buenos Aires National Wildlife manager, said the lack of public notice and comment period does not satisfy the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. Ellis said he will not give permission to proceed with the fence on BANW land until the requirements are met.

Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., said the Tohono O'odham Nation was not allowed to comment on the impact to cultural sites.

Already this summer, the United States' construction of the border vehicle barrier has resulted in Hohokam, O'odham ancestors, being dug up on tribal land and removed from their burial sites.

As for the pitiful environmental assessment for the Sasabe border fence, it was prepared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Fort Worth and the Gulf South Research Corporation.

Biologists, ecologists and archaeologists participating, don’t worry. We’re not including your names.


Photos: Sasabe Port of Entry, Mexico/US border. Rugged mountains along border shown to the west, land is lush from monsoon rains. Photo 2: U.S. spy tower northwest of Sasabe, on the road to Osa Guest Ranch. Photo 3: Monsoon rain clouds form in the distance to the west, over Tohono O'odham tribal land. Photos Brenda Norrell Pronghorn photo/US Fish and Wildlife

Thursday, August 23, 2007

'No significant impact'

Life and death on the border, 'No significant impact'
by Brenda Norrell
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/08/life-and-death-on-border-no-significant.html

CounterPunch: Bush's house of snakes

In today's CounterPunch online:
Bush's house of snakes
Indians, Border Biometrics and Migrating Corporations
by Brenda Norrell
http://www.counterpunch.org/norrell08232007.html

Reader comment:
I'm emailing to say I appreciated your article "Bush's House of Snakes" in today's Counterpunch . Your list of corporations in the Competitiveness Council is very valuable. I was unaware of the Indigenous People's efforts, because it is not reported in the mainstream media. I appreciate reading about this movement.
I support your awareness of the distinction between corporations and citizens made by the government. Many people do not realize that America is no longer a democracy. It is a corporatocracy. The USA has been the target of a successful, covert, hostile take-over by the corporatocracy and the nation now exists of, by, and for the entities that comprise the corporatocracy.
The corporatocracy consists of Big Military, Big Energy, Big Finance, Big Media, Big Politics (both republican and democratic parties), Big Religion, Big Government (all the bureaucracies at local, county, state, and federal levels), Big Ag, Big Pharm, and Big Government (all three branches of government). Citizens elected Al Gore in 2000, but the corporatocracy voided the election and installed its own CEO (Bush) and COO (Cheney).\Business enterprise has become the state religion of America.
Everything is commodified, most egregiously the trading in pollution credits. All decisions at all levels of society are rendered in economic terms. How will global warming affect the economy? Democrats and Republicans and liberals all worship the state religion. This is why none of the candidates can be trusted. They make speeches praising values of democracy and then vote the state religion, as evidenced by a Democrat-controlled Congress giving Bush almost $500 billion for defense. The war in Iraq is a religious war between Islam and Business Enterprise, not between Islam and Christianity.
I favor a return to the language of the Declaration of Independence. The purpose of the nation is "Life, LIberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." The goals of the Declaration are antithetical to the goals of the corporatocracy and of Business Enterprise. Commerce should serve Life, it should serve Liberty, and it should promote the Pursuit of Happiness. In fact it is the other way around, and Americans have given their lives and their liberties and surrendered all possibility of true happiness to commerce.
These are the messages our nation needs to hear. If we frame our argument in these terms, we address the true problems, not the false issues the corporatocracy uses to distract us.
John Omaha, PhD
john@johnomahaenterprises.com

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

In the beginning, there were the Denver spy files

Spygate, in the beginning there were the Denver spy files

Looking back, the ACLU announced Tuesday that the Pentagon is shutting down its spy database on peace activists

Update: After this article was published last night, an important comment came in: "Is the Pentagon shutting down its spy database on peace activists, because the spying will now be privatized like security was in Iraq? Will spying on private citizens be contracted out to corporations with short shelf lives, so the U.S. will not be held responsible?" Let us hear your thoughts ...

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

In the beginning, there were the Denver spy files.

The year was 2002. The revelation was that Denver Police within the Intelligence Bureau, were spying on American Indians, attorneys, at least one senator and peace activists. Not only were they spying on them then, but they had been for decades.
As the secret files were made public, the truth became clear: Police were spying on American Indians and peace activists all over the United States.
It was called the “new McCarthyism” by the editors who would print those stories, before the ACLU filed lawsuits in Denver and across the nation.
Navajo Times was among the first to print the articles that I wrote in October of 2002.
Glenn Morris, professor, AIM member and Columbus Day protest organizer said, “It seems that Indians, and Colorado AIM in particular, have been targeted in the ‘spy files.’”
Morris was targeted, along with Russell Means, Vine Deloria, Jr., Wilma Mankiller, Winona LaDuke, John Echohawk, John Mohawk, George "Tink" Tinker, Wallace Coffey, Ward Churchill, Dennis Banks, the Leonard Peltier Support Group, Big Mountain Support Group, Colorado AIM, and Indian staff and attorneys at the Native American Rights Fund.
“This is the Indian equivalent of having a police spy database in the Black community that consisted of files on WEB DuBois, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Thurgood Marshall, Jesse Jackson, NAACP, the Black Panthers, Cornell West, John Hope Franklin and Angela Davis, all at the same time,” Morris said.
Spy files were kept on great leaders, including Wilma Mankiller, John Echohawk, and former South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk.
In Nov., 2002, I interviewed Abourezk for the Lakota Journal in South Dakota.
“I didn’t like it and I think there should be a law against it. It should be stopped,” said Abourezk, an attorney in Sioux Falls.
Abourezk, who served on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said he doesn’t have a clue why he was spied on, even though he now has a copy of the file. The documents simply indicate his name and that Denver police were watching him.
Abourezk said years ago he encouraged the formation of the Anti-Defamation League of American Indians in Denver and supported formation of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, a civil rights group.
“I haven’t been in Denver in 15 years,” Abourezk said.
The existence of the Denver spy files came about because of discovery in another court case. Then, after six new file cabinets of Denver police spy files were discovered, Morris pointed out that the City of Denver never voluntarily disclosed the existence of the files.
The spy files were revealed by the All Nations Alliance, which was the umbrella alliance for Transform Columbus Day, and the American Civil Liberties Union in March of 2002, Morris said.
Home addresses, the names of friends, car license plates, handwritten notes and mailing lists of human rights groups were in the spy files.
A “Free Leonard Peltier” bumper sticker landed great-grandmother Helen Henry, 82, in the Denver spy files.
“We are not sure with whom else the files have been shared, but in Russell Means’ and my file there are references to some sharing with the FBI,” Morris said.
Law enforcement knew of a plot to assassinate Ward Churchill, but never told him.
Morris said the ACLU, representing several plaintiffs including members of All Nations Alliance, filed a class action suit under a federal law which allows public officials who have violated one's civil rights to be sued in federal court.
Osage author and professor Tink Tinker was also targeted in the Denver Police spy operation. Tinker, an activist who spoke at Columbus Day protests along with Morris and Means in recent years, found 17 pages on his activities recorded in the Denver Spy Files.
Not only was Tinker targeted, but the religious graduate school where he is professor of American Indian Cultures and Religious Traditions was also targeted.
It is the Iliff School of Theology in Denver.
Tinker said, “Now the school where I teach -- a largely White, Christian (Methodist) graduate school of theology training ministers -- is also suspect of criminal activity!”
Tinker said the spy operation was underway long before incidents leading to the Patriot Act.
“Since this pre-dates the September 11, 2001, events and thus pre-dates passage of the Patriot Act, it demonstrates a considerable history of the disallowing of dissent in the United States -- a clear violation of constitutional intent in our so-called constitutional democracy,” Tinker said.
Tinker said spy files on Native Americans and human rights activists are now emerging across America.
“These ‘spy’ files -- which are not just a Denver phenomenon but are now coming to the surface in other cities from Portland, Ore., to New York -- also point to a particularly nagging problem with respect to the impunity enjoyed by police in this ‘free’ country that the president bragged about shortly after 9-11-01.”
Tinker said he expects the situation to worsen.
“It seems that freedom extends especially to the police in their increasing control of civil society in the United States,” Tinker said.
“What has been happening since 9-11-01 is even more scary. I predict that we will see an ever-increasing demonstration of police power, police impunity, disallowable of dissenting voices, and control of civil behaviors.”
Those words were spoken in 2002. Since that time, the Denver court case has resulted in new policies at the Denver Police Department.

However, city and federal spy files began to emerge like maggots in a dead carcass.
The ACLU began to reveal spy files on peace activists all over the country. The New York City Police scoured the country to spy on peace activists. The extent to which police eavesdropped on telephone conversations and followed people may never be known.
The “new McCarthyism,” is what the Quaker’s American Friends Service Committee, plaintiff in the Denver suit, called the spy files.
"First there were Salem witch trials. Next came the red scare of the 40s and 50s. Then it was targeting of Martin Luther King Jr. and members of the civil rights movement,” said Mary Ellen McNish, general secretary of the American Friends Service Committee.
“Today it's hundreds of groups and individuals who exercise their First Amendment right to speak out and express their views and opinions that are unfairly targeted and labeled.
“When will we learn from the mistakes of the past?"
The federal lawsuit, American Friends Service Committee v. City and County of Denver, was initially filed in Denver District Court March 28, 2002.
The Chiapas Coalition and other Latin American human rights groups were among those police labeled “criminal extremist.”
Denver police kept secret files on speakers at Amnesty International meetings and protesters at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington, D.C.
There are comments written in the spy files, like those of plaintiff Sister Antonia. Police wrote, the Sister said, "global financial policies are responsible for the uprisings in Chiapas, Mexico.”
The spy files list those "seen" at a demonstration protesting the celebration of Columbus Day in 2000.
License numbers and descriptions of vehicles used by peaceful protests are listed. There are home addresses and personal descriptions of peaceful protesters. The addresses of residences visited by individuals frequently are included.

Not so long ago, we were all shocked that the police kept secret spy files on peace activists in the United States.

ACLU: Denver spy files documents:
http://www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/chronology.htm

ACLU: Pentagon shuts down spy database on peace activists, August, 21, 2007
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/31394prs20070821.html
A copy of the ACLU's report on the TALON database, No Real Threat: The Pentagon's Secret Database on Peaceful Protest, is available online at: www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/27988pub20070117.html
More information on the ACLU's FOIA requests regarding the TALON database is available online at:
www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/24010res20060201.html

Photos: Colorado AIM/Columbus Day Protest in Denver 2006/Glenn Morris and Western Shoshone Carrie Dann at Columbus Day Protest

National Day to stop border deaths and repression

National Day of Action to Stop Anti-Immigrant Repression and Migrant Deaths at the U.S. - Mexico Border

Tuesday, August 28, 2007 4:30 - 7:00 pm

Federal Building300 W. Congress Street, Tucson, Arizona

Urgent call for: Socially just legalization; Justice for Elvira & Saul Arrellano; Stop the deaths at the border: An end to all raids;
A moratorium on all immigration detentions and deportations; Restore and expand the due process rights of all immigrants; Protect and expand the labor, human and civil rights of all immigrants and refugees

Cosponsored by:Derechos Humanos, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, May 1st Coalition, Borderland Theater, Fundación México, Tucson Samaritans, Salt of the Earth Labor College, Humane Borders

For more information, contact Derechos Humanos at: 520.770.1373


Photos from the protest Gov. Janet Napolitano in Tucson/Photos Brenda Norrell 2007

Navajo Nation Fair, Justice for the People, Justice for the Planet


Justice for the People, Justice for the Planet
2007 Climate Justice

Black Mesa Water Coalition Black Mesa Water Coalition and Indigenous Environmental Network presents: "Justice for the People, Justice for the Planet 2007" (J4P)2 September 6-8, 2007
Window Rock, AZEco-tent will be located east of Church's Chicken!Black Mesa Water Coalition (BMWC) and Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) will host and sponsor the "Justice for the People, Justice for the Planet" (J4P) Eco-tent and concert.
J4P will create a space in honor of our Mother Earth and the historical roots of sustainability of Indigenous Peoples. J4P will highlight Climate Justice and the solutions needed to reduce global warming.
Healing ourselves is healing our Mother Earth. Our interconnectedness to our mother earth is the foundation of our identity as Indigenous Peoples and is the very strength that we rely on to heal our families and communities. The Navajo Nation Fair 2007 theme is, "Navajo leaders, yesterday, today and tomorrow."
Because our future is so reliant on our decisions and actions today, knowledge about our environment, current policy's, and earth systems is ever so important for a just and sustainable future for our communities This event is free and open to all!
Please join us to make this event fun and a great learning experience!Peace, Wahleah -- Wahleah JohnsField Organizer Black Mesa Water Coalition 1823 North Center Street, Suite #204 Flagstaff, AZ 86004



(double click on poster to enlarge)

Arizona residents chase away Minutemen with shotguns

Arizona residents armed with shotguns are chasing away the armed Minutemen

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

NOGALES, Ariz. -- The Minutemen are out in force in the region of Green Valley and Arivaca and some Arizona businessmen are arming themselves with shotguns to chase away the heavily-armed Minutemen, the self-proclaimed militia at the border.

The Minutemen are unwelcome vigilantes, say humanitarian groups and residents who are unpersuaded by the television hype and U.S. propaganda inspiring racism and border hysteria.

The Minutemen have been gathering at local businesses where they are unwanted.

"They park at Continental and the frontage road in Green Valley on a regular basis and yesterday they met in numbers in the parking lots of the Amado Mini Market, The Longhorn restaurant and the Cow Palace," said one volunteer searching for people dying along the border on Tuesday, Aug. 21.

Already, some area businessmen have chased the Minutemen off their property with shotguns. The Cow Palace Restaurant, however, appears to have let them stay in the area around the business.

On the road to Arivaca from Nogales, the buses labeled "Wackenhut" are usually parked outside the Cow Palace and Longhorn, waiting to be filled with migrants. Wackenhut, now owned by the Danish corporation G4S, is part of the new hired security at the border taking over duties of the Border Patrol.

The Minutemen's presence at this time is an overt attempt to dis-empower and discourage Arizona residents from mobilizing and opposing permanent checkpoints along I-19, human rights volunteers said.

"Our communities south of Tucson need to pass an ordinance against the Minutemen vigilantes like Austin, Texas did recently," one volunteer said.

"Do not be intimidated by these vigilantes."

Related articles:

Video shows Minutemen tearing down migrant camp

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13892340/detail.html
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Minutemen shooting at people in San Diego area
http://www.ocregister.com/column/one-minuteman-courtney-1815640-attorney-mailly
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Newly-elected Tohono O'odham Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., vows no border wall
Arizona Daily Star
Note: One error in this article in the Arizona Daily Star:
There is already one U.S. spy tower, with others planned, on the Tohono O'odham Nation near San Miguel on tribal land. It is near Homeland Security's migrant detention center, the holding "cage" where Indigenous women and children are temporarily imprisoned before being deported.
Further, a spy monitoring station for the southern Arizona spy towers will be on tribal land. Although officials say the nine spy towers in southern Arizona are not functioning, scanner communications report images are being received at the Tucson command center.
http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/197095

Austin unanimously passes resolution opposing Minutemen vigilantes:
http://texascivilrightsreview.org/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=390

Photos by Brenda Norrell: Wackenhut bus waiting to be loaded with migrants at Three Points, Ariz., near Tohono O'odham border; Crosses remembering migrants who have died in the desert by Pan Left Productions

Response to Censored Blog, from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps in Tucson

"The links you have on your web page are not about our group. Our Group, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, is a peaceful national neighborhood watch group. The group in the links on your web page is a group out of California called "Minuteman Project". They are a totally different group with no ties to our group. Our group actually has a nationally certified Search & Rescue team that looks for illegal aliens and provides them with water, food, and medical attention if needed. Our group doesn't detain or try to stop any illegals. We actually have a policy that prevents our members from having any contact, other than humanitarian, with any illegals. We let the Border patrol do the questioning, tracking, and detaining, that is their job, not ours.

I hope this sheds some light on what we really do, not more media hype."
Lance Altherr
Tucson Chapter Leader, Minutemen Civil Defense Corps
TucsonMM@msn.com



Return to Censored homepage:
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Arctic Region is un-surrendered Turtle Island

Indigenous in defense of Arctic, as the U.S., Canada, Russia and other countries race to claim the thawing Northwest Passage


Mohawk Nation News
August 21, 2007

Originally, in January of 2006, this objection was sent out via electronic and registered mail to all states claiming sovereignty over our un-surrendered lands known as the Arctic Region/Turtle Island. This objection has been revised to include Russia and sent registered mail to the parties.
PUBLIC NOTICE OF OBJECTION TO ATTEMPTED USURPATION OF INDIGENOUS JURISDICTION KNOWN AS THE “ARCTIC REGION” OF TURTLE ISLAND BY THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, DENMARK, RUSSIA AND ANY OTHER NATION, CORPORATION, FOREIGN FEDERAL, STATE OR PROVINCIAL “GOVERNANCE” AGENCIES AND ALL “OUTSIDERS” AND NON-INDIGENOUS INTERESTS
Read more ...
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/arctic-is-un-surrendered-turtle-island.html


Bush in Canada, US races to claim thawing Northwest Passage's oil and gas
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070820-1640-bush-canada-mexico.html

Twin snakes at the northern border

In true snake fashion, Bush and Gonzales are slithering on both sides of the northern border

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

It should come as no surprise that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, George Bush’s twin viper, is meeting with American Indian tribes in Michigan and elsewhere at the northern border.

It was in Michigan that the National Congress of American Indians opposed Bush’s plans for biometrics and other new regulations for border cards.

Calling those a violation of treaty rights, NCAI opposed biometrics in border cards, during NCAI’s mid-year session in June, 2006 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Passing two resolutions, NCAI said biometrics and other security features would “likely infringe on tribal government as well as individual member rights.”

NCAI said the proposed border cards were “detrimental and in direct violation of existing treaty rights including hunting, fishing and spiritual observances, harming tribal economies and disrupting the daily life of border tribal community."

One type of biometrics, iris biometrics, is especially dangerous. If the lasers are not properly calibrated, blindness can result.

Gonzales’ visit to Indian tribes at the northern border comes at the same time that Bush is being protested at the North American Summit in Canada.

Using fear-mongering about the so-called war on terror, and throwing in fear of bird flu, Bush’s border agenda is to create new border regulations making border passage more difficult for people, while securing quick passage for chosen corporations.

It was the Mohawk warriors that alerted Indigenous Peoples to the grave dangers that the new trilateral union of the U.S., Canada and Mexico, would pose to Indigenous Peoples and their territories. As with NAFTA, the trilateral union is designed to favor corporations and the exploitation of Indigenous natural resources.

Gonzales is trying to win favor with American Indian tribes by saying the words he thinks they want to hear and sprinkling around a few million here and there, mere chicken feed compared with the needs.

But, as always with Bush and the house of snakes, there is a hidden corporate agenda and an element of Nazi-like control of the borders.

Here’s the chosen corporations of the tri-national working group, the North American Competitiveness Council:
United States:
 Campbell Soup Company Chevron Corporation Ford Motor Company FedEx Corporation General Electric Company General Motors Corp. Kansas City Southern Lockheed Martin Corporation Merck & Co., Inc. Mittal Steel USA New York Life Insurance Company The Procter & Gamble Company (joined in 2007) UPS Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Whirlpool Corporation

Read more, "Smelling the trilateral rat"
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Bush agenda at Canadian summit: U.S. wants oil and gas in the Arctic, free passage for select corporations

By Deb Riechmann
ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:40 p.m. August 20, 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070820-1640-bush-canada-mexico.html

Ensuring corporate border crossing, if borders are closed to people:

"Bush, Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper want to find a way to protect citizens in an emergency – perhaps an outbreak of avian flu or a natural disaster – without the tie-ups that slowed commerce after the Sept. 11 attacks."

Thawing Northwest Passage has oil and gas the U.S. wants ...

"Calderón and Harper both want tight relations with Bush, yet don't want to be seen as proteges of the unpopular president or leave the impression that the U.S. is encroaching on their sovereignty.
To that end, Harper used the meeting to assert his nation's claim to the Northwest Passage through the Arctic.
The race to secure subsurface rights to the Arctic seabed heated up when Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national flag under the North Pole. The United States and Norway also have competing claims in the vast Arctic region, where a U.S. study suggests as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden.
Canada believes much of the North American side of the Arctic is Canada's, but the United States says the thawing Northwest Passage is part of international waters.
A senior Canadian government official said Harper raised the recent remarks of Paul Cellucci, Bush's previous U.S. ambassador to Canada. Cellucci argued that the U.S. should acknowledge the Northwest Passage as Canadian so that the Canadian navy could to patrol the area, monitor shipping and guard against potential terrorism and weapons smuggling."
Photo: CP

Monday, August 20, 2007

Smelling the trilateral rat

By Brenda Norrell

When you smell a rat, just follow the money.

The new trilateral partnership, Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, is now being protested by First Nations and others in Canada.
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Under the guise of the war on terrorism, with the old stand-in of the fear of bird flu, the three amigos, leaders of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, want to tighten the border for people, while paving the way for certain corporations.
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"The goal of this secret plan is to dissolve the three sovereign nations of United States, Canada and Mexico into a North American Union by 2010. All our resources: land, water, agricultural, also health and environment issues, will be not be controlled the peoples of these three sovereign countries but by the new un-elected government of the North American Union," said one First Nations warrior.
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Mohawks released a statement of travel restrictions from First Nations protecting their territories from the conquest of the puppet leaders of corporations.
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"In Unity with People upon Earth against Globalization, North American Free Trade Agreement and meeting between puppet leaders of the corporations United States, Canada and Mexico at Chateau Montebello on twentieth day said August;
"In response to corporations State Of New York , United States Bureau Of Indian Affairs and Catskill Development LLC, attempts to interfere with Ancient governmental structure of Kanienkehaka and unauthorized negotiations, to deprive of Ancestral Land;
"In remembrance of our past struggles and in unity with continued struggle of all original People upon the Earth at Chiapas, Oaxaca, Wayúu People, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan, Kanenhstaton and others against the Vatican's terrorists."
"Rotiskenrakéhte shall exercise and maintain explicit reservation of Right, have Authority to use all force necessary, with necessary means to maintain the Peace and stop the destruction of life on Earth, by this Navigation And Travel Restriction to vessels of any nation or corporation engaging in commerce, commercial intercourse with corporate United States or Canada."
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Passport requirements, border security and territorial disputes in the Arctic were among issues raised by Canada during the meeting with Bush.

Meanwhile, in the selection process of representatives of the tri-lateral partnership, Canada, Mexico and the United States all employed different methods. Canada and Mexico both selected individuals as members of their respective sections of the NACC, while the United States selected companies (15, with only 10 participating in trilateral meetings).

Here’s the chosen ones of the tri-national working group, the North American Competitiveness Council:

United States
 Campbell Soup Company
 Chevron Corporation
 Ford Motor Company
 FedEx Corporation
 General Electric Company
 General Motors Corp.
 Kansas City Southern
 Lockheed Martin Corporation
 Merck & Co., Inc.
 Mittal Steel USA
 New York Life Insurance Company
 The Procter & Gamble Company (joined in 2007)
 UPS
 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
 Whirlpool Corporation

Canada
 Dominic D’Alessandro, President and CEO, Manulife Financial
 Paul Desmarais, Jr., Chairman and Co-CEO, Power Corporation of
Canada
 David A. Ganong, President, Ganong Bros. Limited
 Richard L. George, President and CEO, Suncor Energy Inc.
 E. Hunter Harrison, President and CEO, Canadian National
Railway Company
 Linda Hasenfratz, CEO, Linamar Corporation
 Michael Sabia, President and CEO, Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE)
 Annette Verschuren, President, The Home Depot Canada
 Richard E. Waugh, President and CEO, The Bank of Nova Scotia

Mexico
 Armando Paredes Arroyo, President, Consejo Coordinador
Empresarial
 Gastón Azcárraga Andrade, President, Consejo Mexicano de
Hombres de Negocios (CMHN) and CEO of Mexicana de Aviación
and Grupo Posadas
 Ismael Plascencia, President, Confederación de Cámaras
Industriales (CONCAMIN)
 Valentín Díez, President, Consejo Mexicano de Comercio Exterior
(COMCE) and former Vice President of Grupo Modelo
 Jaime Yesaki Cavazos, President, Consejo Nacional Agropecuario
(CNA) and CEO of several poultry companies
 Claudio X. González, President, Centro de Estudios Económicos
del Sector Privado (CEESP) and Chairman of the Board and CEO,
Kimberly-Clark de México
 Guillermo Vogel, Vice President, Tubos de Acero de México
(TAMSA)
 César de Anda Molina, President and CEO, Avicar de Occidente
 Tomás González Sada, President and CEO, Grupo CYDSA
 Roberto Newell Garcia, CEO, Instituto Mexicano para la
Competitividad


Breaking news: Police fire tear gas on protesters:
Photo CP
Twin Snakes at the Northern Border
Bush and Gonzales slither on both sides of the border

Uranium mining, Oglala Lakota and Mni Wakan (Sacred Water)


Uranium mining, Oglala Lakota and Mni Wakan (Sacred Water)
by Bring Back the Way

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Yaqui and O'odham unite to plan Zapatistas' summits

UPDATE: Topics of discussion for Indigenous representatives, delegates and commissions attending summits


Photo: Vicam Pueblo Gov. Loreto Ramírez Mapoumea and Pueblo Mayor Florentino Buitimea Yoquihua meet with O'odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia in Rancho el Penasco, Mexico, to plan upcoming Zapatistas regional and international summits. Photo Brenda Norrell
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Vicam Pueblo Yaqui hope Yaqui in the United States, and Indigenous throughout the Americas, will work with them in a spirit of unity in the struggle for Indigenous rights
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By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
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RANCHO EL PENASCO, Sonora, Mexico -- Yaqui Zapatistas from Vicam Pueblo met with O'odham in Sonora and reached out to the world's Indigenous Peoples, extending a warm invitation to come and support the Zapatistas' regional and international summits to be held in October.

Gathered with O'odham at Rancho el Penasco, a dozen Yaqui Zapatistas from Vicam Pueblo, including Gov. Loreto Ramirez Mapoumea and Vicam Pueblo Mayor Florentino Buitimea Yoquihua, urged Indigenous from Alaska, Canada and the United States to join with Indigenous Peoples in northern Mexico for the North American Continental Regional Conference here, Oct. 8 -- 9, 2007.

"What happens here will determine how effective the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit is in Pueblo Yaqui," Gov. Ramirez said, speaking in Spanish through an interpreter.

"We are in solidarity with one another, and we want to be in solidarity with all of the Indigenous Peoples," Gov. Ramirez said during the reunion and planning meeting held Friday, Aug. 17.

The North American Continental Summit, Oct. 8 – 9, is one of four regional conferences. There are also Indigenous summits being held in Oaxaca, Oct. 4—5, Atlapulco, Oct. 6 –7 and Michaocan, Oct. 6 – 7, 2007.

The regional Indigenous gatherings precede the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit/Encuentro de Pueblos Indígenas de América, Oct. 11 -- 14 in Vicam Pueblo near Obregon in the southern part of the state of Sonora.

O'odham in Mexico Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia, among the O'odham who will host the North American Continental regional conference here, said it was wonderful to come together with Yaqui is such a spirit of unity and harmony.

"Respect," Lt. Gov. Garcia said was the feeling that permeated the meeting at Rancho el Penasco, an eco-tourism and biodiversity ranch located south of Magdalena de Kino, a 90-minute drive south of the Nogales, Arizona border.
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Topics of discussion:
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Garcia said the topics of discussion were established by the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit Commission (Comision Organizadora del Encuentro de Pueblos Indigenas de Americas.) The organizing commission includes the traditional authorities of Vicam Pueblo, National Indigenous Congress of Mexico and the Sixth Commission of the EZLN, as stated by Subcomandante Marcos in his August 15, 2007 statement.

The primary topic will be the war of capitalist conquest and its effect on Indigenous Peoples. The second topic is the resistance of Indigenous Peoples to this war of conquest in defense of Mother Earth and Indigenous territories and cultures. The third topic will be a discussion of why Indigenous Peoples are struggling.

The organizing commission said Indian tribes’ delegates, representatives or commissions are invited to bring the problems of their regions and discuss these topics at the regional and international summits.

Other attendees will be observers, without a voice or role in the decision-making process at the Indigenous summits, Garcia said, referring to Subcomandante Marcos’ statement.

Rancho el Penasco, near the US and Mexico border, has become a favorite meeting place for the Zapatistas from the south to meet with Indigenous Peoples from northern Mexico and the United States.

Subcomandante Marcos came to Rancho el Penasco in Oct. 2006 to meet with Indigenous Peoples in the north, then returned several times in the spring of 2007. Marcos said he found rest and harmony here at the ranch.

During the planning meeting Aug. 17, Yaqui from Vicam Pueblo offered to help in any way they could to ensure the success of the North American regional summit. O'odham appreciated their efforts.

"I think the most important thing is working together in unity. They talked about respect, which is sometimes only a word," Lt. Gov. Garcia said, emphasizing the respect shown by the Yaqui delegation.

Vicam Pueblo Yaqui said they are eagerly waiting to hear from Indigenous Peoples from throughout the Americas. They said they want input from the world's Indigenous Peoples and hope to hear news that Indigenous delegations will be arriving from throughout the world.

Yaqui extended a warm welcome to the world's Indigenous Peoples to attend the Intercontinental Indigenous Summit/Encuentro de Pueblos Indígenas de América.
Vicam Pueblo Yaqui extended a special invitation to Yaqui in the United States to work together with them a spirit of unity, in the struggle for Indigenous rights.

Garcia said Indigenous are welcome to arrive at Rancho el Penasco on the evening of Oct. 7th for the two-day summit. Camping is available. For those driving, there are motels nearby in Magdalena de Kino, located two miles north of Rancho el Penasco.
After the summit here, there will be a caravan of cars to the international gathering in Vicam Pueblo.

Brenda Norrell
brendanorrell@gmail.com
Contacts:
O'odham Lt. Gov. Jose Garcia
oodhamj@yahoo.com
Coordinator Martin Pina in Sonora, Mexico
mpina@guaymas.uson.mx
Vicam Pueblo, Mexico, contact:
Jahcabay@yahoo.com.mx
More information on summits:
Narco News
http://www.narconews.com/

TEMARIO:
1.- La guerra de conquista capitalista en los pueblos indígenas de América.
2.- La resistencia de los pueblos indígenas de América y la defensa de la madre Tierra, nuestros territorios y nuestras culturas.
3.- Por qué luchamos los pueblos indígenas de América
SEDE:
11,12,13 Y 14 DE OCTUBRE 2007
PUEBLO YAQUI DE VÍCAM, SONORA, MÉXICO

SUBSEDES:
4 Y 5 DE OCTUBRE 2007
Región Sur-Sureste: VALLES CENTRALES DE OAXACA
Responsable: CONSEJO INDÍGENA POPULAR DE OAXACA “RICARDO FLORES MAGÓN”.

6 Y 7 DE OCTUBRE 2007
Región Centro y Sudamérica: ATLAPULCO, Territorio ÑAHÑU, Estado de México
Responsable: CONGRESO NACIONAL INDÍGENA en Atlapulco.

6 Y 7 DE OCTUBRE 2007
Región Centro Pacífico-Centro Atlántico de México: NURIO, Territorio PURÉPECHA, Michoacán, México
Responsable: Purépecha-Ireta, Congreso Nacional Indígena

8 Y 9 DE OCTUBRE 2007
Región Norte del Continente Americano: Alaska, Canadá, Unión Americana y Norte de México: Rancho “EL PEÑASCO”, MAGDALENA, SONORA, MÉXICO
Responsable: Nación TOHONO O’ODHAM

INFORMES:
Comisión Sexta del EZLN, Correo electrónico: informes@encuentroindigena.org
Guardia Tradicional de la Tribu Yaqui, Vícam, Guaymas, Sonora, México, Tel. (045 ó 001)64 49 98 94 08
Organización de Comunidades Indígenas y Campesinas de Tuxpan, Jalisco: (01 ó 001) 371 41 764 15 comunidad_tuxpan@hotmail.com
Comisión Sexta: Enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx
Radio Bemba: vicam@radiobemba.org

COMISIÓN ORGANIZADORA: Autoridades Tradicionales de Pueblo Vícam, Tribu Yaqui; Congreso Nacional Indígena y Comisión Sexta del EZLN.
(Espanol) Enlace Zapatista
Pre-registration information for the intercontinental summit:
http://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/

Friday, August 17, 2007

Mohawks in Venezuela: Indigenous from Peru need help

MNN. Thursday, August 16, 2007
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/ see "South America"

Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies, Your Help is needed;

Peru Earthquake

A large delegation of Indigenous people of Peru , are at the "1st International Congress of the Anti-Imperialist Indigenous Peoples of the Americas" in Venezuela who cannot go home. They can’t get in touch with their families. There are massive black outs, fires and so far over 400 people are dead. It was 7.9 on the Richter scale and the epicenter was in the ocean off Lima . The earth moved in waves into the interior. 90% of the people of Peru are Indigenous of many different nations. Millions of our people are affected. The media has not been able to go in directly to get information and presently rely on third hand information.

The victims are primarily Indigenous people who live around the epicenter. The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs in Venezuela , have provided the Peruvian delegates with cell phones but they still can’t get through because everything is down.

It was the "First International Congress of the Anti-Imperialist Indigenous Peoples of the Americas ". The delegation from the U.S. and Canada are asking everyone for assistance for the indigenous nations of Peru by providing any kind of aid, financial and otherwise. Send it to the Peruvian embassies in your countries and make sure you designate it for the victims.

The American Indian Council, the Mohawk indigenous women, the representative of the Mohawk Nation Office and the representatives of the International Indian Treaty Council who came to Venezuela to attend the congress are still in Caracas and asking for aid to help our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Anything you can do is greatly appreciated.

Embassy of the Republic of Peru in Ottawa, Canada - Embajada del Perú en Ottawa, Canadá.Peru - 130 Albert Street Suite 1901, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1P 5G4 Telephone (613) 238-1777, Fax (613) 232-3062, e-mail: emperuca@magi.com Peru - Consular and Cultural Section - Telephone (613) 233-2721, Fax (613) 232-3062 email: conperu@magmacom.com

Diplomatic representation in the US - chancery: 1700 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone : [1] (202) 833-9860 through 9869 FAX: [1] (202) 659-8124 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Paterson (New Jersey), San Francisco, San Juan (Puerto Rico)

Contact your Red Cross for arrangements to give relief for the earthquake victims of Peru.



Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News
from Caracas Venezuela


Posted by MNN. August 15, 2007. "Six Nations"


"ONE RULE OF LAW FOR ALL CANADIAN CITIZENS...",

has been the cry of many CANADIANS, however they are referring to the illegal imposition of their 'law' on sovereign nations, us the Six Nations Confederacy. The cry has also included equal treatment and application of the 'law' for Ongwehonweh (the real people) and Canadians.

Well, let's have it.

In CANADA all who are in 'contempt of court' or are 'violating a court order' or 'fail to acknowledge or respect the rule of law' are subject to arrest and detention and will go through the process of criminalization CANADA has laid out.

On April 20, 2006 @ Kanonhstaton (Douglas Creek Estates) CANADA, ONTARIO and the OPP set the standard for executing a 'contempt of court' injunction.

They declared it an acceptable standard of arrest for a 'contempt of court' charge to taser young children, drag women around by the hair, handcuff and assault 70 year old men, pepperspray unarmed women, men and children, beat grandmothers at a ratio of 5 to 1.

They declared it an acceptable standard of arrest to point high calibre weapons at close range at sleeping 10 month old and 2 year old babies and new mothers.

They declared it an acceptable standard of arrest to use snipers carrying all types of heavy artillery to chase down unarmed women and children in the dark.

They declared it legal and an acceptable standard to assault, threaten and terrorize unarmed, sleeping Natives of all ages.

Well, now let's talk about equal treatment under the 'law'.

Who drug Marie Trainer around by the hair for inciting violence on Native women? NOBODY.

Who is being held accountable for all levels of CANADA for not upholding section 35 of their constitution and breaking their own laws? NOBODY.

Who is being held accountable for UPPER CANADA stealing Six Nations' money from the GRAND RIVER NAVIGATION COMPANY to build the LAW SOCIETY OF UPPER CANADA? NOBODY.

One rule of law, yeah right.

The fight against discrimination against Ongwehonweh in the legal system is just beginning.

The very foundation of CANADA'S legal system is based on theft, fraud and deceit.

Theft of our land, theft of our lease money, forged documents, etc.

LET'S TALK ABOUT THE LAW...

ON TUESDAY AUGUST 21, 2007
FROM 10:00AM TO 12:00PM
@ The Law Society of Upper Canada
@ 130 Queen Street West in Toronto

A peaceful gathering to speak about the accepted and legislated discrimination against Natives,
the true history of the Law Society of UPPER CANADA and the CANADIAN "Rule of Law".

We need your support.
skennen, niawen.
(peace, thank you)

Janie Jamieson
Six Nations