Memorial Day 2010

During the past 14 months, Lori and I have made our peace with Jordan's decision to enlist in the Army. We know it's what he wants to do and how he wants to serve his country. And while his is a path that few of his peers have chosen, we are proud of his commitment and appreciate the maturity and self-confidence that it has engendered.

That same kind of personal transformation was on display for the past two days when my nephew Austin and his young family paid us a visit. Austin is 28 and the only child of my sister Cathy, who lives in a remote Alaskan fishing village of 2,500 residents. He just finished a five-year stint in the Navy and he and his wife, Starr, and their two darling daughters stayed with us overnight after driving up from Fremont, California.

They are headed to Palmer, Alaska, a suburb of Anchorage, where they will settle into the home they bought a year ago, anticipating they'd move back up following his honorable discharge. He was stationed at Port Hueneme, near Santa Barbara, so they've already covered more than 700 miles -- and still have 1,500 more to go, most of it on the scenic Alcan Highway.

I haven't had the opportunity to see Austin very much over the years, but he's always struck me as a guy whose actions speak louder than his words. He is unfailingly polite and respectful in conversation, attentive to his wife and daughters, in great physical shape and modest about his military experiences and travels. During the five years or so he was in the Navy, his duties took him to Japan, Singapore, Iraq, Spain and Ghana.

From all appearances, it seems the military has been good for him. He's used his G.I. benefits to buy the home, a truck and a motorcycle. He speaks with an easy self-confidence and is looking forward to settling into one of three jobs he's applied for up there. After being away from his family for 2 1/2 of the 5 years he's served, he's reconnecting with the girls and preparing with Starr for the addition of a third child: a baby boy, due in late summer.

It was a genuine pleasure to host this young couple and their daughters -- Justice, 7, and Jada, 4 -- even if it was for less than 24 hours. Lori and I took the girls to a neighborhood park to burn off some energy on the playground equipment while their parents rested. Piggyback rides were offered and eagerly accepted. Later, the girls played gently with our animals and "helped" me barbecue burgers and chicken for dinner. And this morning, after we all visited Lori at the gym as she was training a client, I took them on a roundtrip downtown, via the light-rail train, so they could get their taste of the big city.

The visit was way too short but we agreed that seeing Austin gave us a glimpse of how life might unfold for Jordan and Jamie. The two guys have similar personalities and values, and their wives both hail from small towns, bringing with them a commitment to support their sailor or soldier, whatever the case may be, while at the same time setting goals of their own. Starr is halfway to a degree in nursing and Jamie already has a degree and experience as a licensed veterinary technician. It's too way too early to talk about a family but after being around Justice and Jada, I wouldn't mind at all moving into that phase of life. And that's the first time I've ever said or written that.

Photo taken on our rooftop by Simone. Nathan was at a three-day music festival in Washington state.

Quick Takes for May

As the month comes to a close, a couple things worth noting...

-- I love this photo (above) of Nathan, Simone and Lori. I took it on Mother's Day three weeks ago in Simone and Kyndall's backyard. If they look happy, it's not just because it was a gorgeous sunny morning. It's also because we were about to dig in to a fabulous brunch.

Don't know exactly how our two oldest kids turned out to be such gourmet cooks, but I suspect part of it is due simply to growing up in Portland, where coffeehouses, microbrews and organic, local food form something of a holy trinity here.

That said, Simone and Kyndall combined on a dish that featured a single, smoked turkey drumstick with collard greens, slow-cooked to perfection in a crock pot. Nathan, meanwhile, made some outrageously tasty concoction out of red beans, link sausage and grits, topped with a fried egg. And I contributed what should have been a nice big salad with romaine lettuce, bacon bits, bread crumbs and blue cheese -- except that I put in three times as much blue cheese as the recipe called for, which made for an overpowering dressing. Oops.

-- Speaking of local food, this other photo shows my lovely bride buying some vinegar from a booth at the Irvington Farmers Market. It opened two Sundays ago on Northeast 16th Avenue, between Broadway and Weidler. It's only a single block, yet it's a microcosm of the farmers markets you find all over the region.

We went on opening weekend May 23 and again yesterday and came away with fresh beets and potatoes, vinegar and oil, pita bread, goat cheese and red anjou pears. Full bellies, too. Lori went for the halibut tacos fresh off the grill while I gravitated to the tamale booth staffed by the Hacienda Community Development Corporation. A microloan program has made it possible for women at Hacienda's apartment complex in the Cully neighborhood -- most of them first-generation immigrants from Mexico -- to earn money to supplement their household income.

It's a great program, empowering low-income women of color while introducing Portlanders to authentic ethnic food. You can find them at 11 farmers markets in the Portland area. Click here to check out the schedule.

Karol

Raíana

Israel kills humanitarians on flotilla bound for Palestine

Israel attacks humanitarian relief, Gaza Freedom Flotilla
The Hindu newspaper reports 20 humanitarians killed by Israeli soldiers
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/06/01/stories/2010060156320100.htm

The Free Gaza Movement:
Under darkness of night, Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep.
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Cynthia McKinney: "I am outraged at Israel's latest criminal act. I mourn with my fellow Free Gaza travelers, the lives that have been lost by Israel's needless, senseless act against unarmed humanitarian activists. But I'm even more outraged that once again, Israel's actions have been aided and abetted by a U.S. political class that has become corrupted beyond belief due to its reliance on Zionist finance and penetration by Zionist zealots for whom no U.S. weapons system is too much for the Israeli war machine, and the silence of the world's onlookers whose hearts have grown cold with indifference."
What you can do:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/05/israel-attacks-humanitarian-flotilla.html

Mohawk Nation News: 20 Years After Mohawk Oka Crisis

20 YEARS AFTER MOHAWK OKA CRISIS
Mohawk Nation News

http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

MNN. Sep. 15, 2009. July 11, 2010, will be twenty years since the Canadian military attacked the Mohawk Nation at Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and Akwesasne. We did not want the nearby town of Oka to extend its golf course over our ceremonial site and burial grounds. The Quebec police opened fire with automatic guns and tear gas on Mohawk men, women and children. For 78 days we faced the combined firepower of the Canadian Armed Forces, the Quebec Police and the RCMP.

We found ourselves fighting for our identity and defending ourselves against oppression by Canada and Quebec. The Mohawk defenders were brought to trial on criminal charges.

The following is a synopsis of the first day of the first year-long trial after the crisis. [MOHAWK WARRIORS THREE – The Trial of Lasagna, Noriega & 20-20]. This was followed by another year long trial of over 50 other Mohawks and our allies. We were all acquitted.
The trial started on Monday, October 21, 1991, in the St. Jerome Court, north of Montreal.

Our 3 Warriors/Rotiskenrakete faced 59 charges: assaults, mischief, mischief and theft, beating and mischief, and mischief against the Canadian Army. Generally, they were mischievous.

The 12 all-white English jury sat silent. The crown’s lies were totally confusing. The Quebec cops refused to speak English and had a squad of translators. Oui! Oui!

The screaming racist Crown prosecutor, Francois [Petticoat] Briere, opened the trial by saying, “I will prove that these three are criminals against everybody [in the world]!”

The first witness for Canada, Evergreen, was a short portly middle-aged Mohawk woman with a pug nose. She wore a brown leather full length coat. Her husband was Chief Jungle Jim of Kanehsatake. She was known as Woodpecker because, as a kid, she jumped other kids and beat them on the back, tah-tah-tah-tah!.

On July 31st she drove through the warrior checkpoint with a pizza and some videos to spend a quiet evening in the “war zone”. As she came through, a Warrior suddenly jumped on top of her car and disappeared!

On August 1, 1990, her husband, Jungle Jim, went to Ottawa with fellow councilor, Buddy Elm. They met with George Erasmus and Ovide Mercredi, of the Assembly of First Nations AFN [collaborators of Canada], and Tom Porter, a snitch from Akwesasne, to get instructions from their colonial masters.

As they were returning home, Evergreen heard on the scanner, “Chief Jungle is coming with Buddy”. A few minutes after they got home, four Rotiskenrakere in full fatigue showed up at her house.
One Rotiskenrakete yelled, “Buddy Elm, get your fat ass out here. We want you!”

The next one repeated, “Buddy Elm, get your fat ass out here. We want you!”

Evergreen declared, “No one is going out there.”

Two warriors broke the front door window. One got in and slapped Buddy Elm while another said, “Why can’t you be reasonable. Why don’t you resign?” Then they left.

Evergreen said that “honestly” she never once discussed this incident since then to this day. She admitted Crown Prosecutor Briere had given her some papers to study before testifying.

She became confused about the many conflicting declarations she had signed, “because the SQ officer did not speak English”.

On August 1, 1990, the Canadian Army had closed in on Kanehsatake. She left the next day. The police wrote out the statements which she signed. They put her, her husband and Buddy Elm in a motel all expenses paid.

When asked how her husband was selected to be Grand Chief, she admitted they were colonial government supporters.

Buddy Elm, a former councilor, was the next witness. He was wearing a brown leather jacket and sunglasses in the windowless court.

During the incident, Chief Jungle was in the bathroom, Evergreen was moving around and Buddy Elm did not see who was at the door.
Someone yelled, “Where’s Buddy? We want to talk to him!” Then the window was smashed and the door was kicked open. A warrior apparently kicked Buddy Elm on his ample left thigh and tapped him on the left side of his head.

The trial continued for almost a year with an army of army, police and snitch witnesses. The 3 Warriors did not put in a defense. All charges were dropped except for minor ones on Lasagna.

The trial shows how the Canadian political and legal systems are stacked against us. The Three did not recognize the jurisdiction of the white man ‘s court and remained silent. After the verdict one of the Three said, “I would do it again” [defend the People, Pines and burial grounds].

Kahentinetha MNN Mohawk Nation News, kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, to donate and to sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com See Category “Kanehsatake”.

Store: Indigenous author – Kahnawake books – Mohawk Warriors Three – Warriors Hand Book – rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy – Where Eagles Dare to Soar.

Category: Colonialism – Courts/Police – legal/lawyers - Constitution/jurisdiction - - Colonialism – EconomEnvironment – NWO/ Corporations/Military – Military Industrial complex - Warriors.

Tags: Mohawks - North American Indians – Turtle Island – Indigenous sovereignty – Aboriginal rights – Indigenous trade & commerce – AIM American Indian Movement – Keepers of Eastern Door – terrorism/insurgents – media demonization of Natives.

Post das 6, p'as miudas

E cá estamos na segunda temporada do Post das 6 p'as miudas, com o contributo habitual da Isa. As 6 da tarde, é hora das miúdas.
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Kate Hudson on Wheels

Beleza Azul

Roubada nas Horas Perdidas

Post das 6, p'as miudas

E cá estamos na segunda temporada do Post das 6 p'as miudas, com o contributo habitual da Isa. As 6 da tarde, é hora das miúdas.
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rip Dennis Hopper

O que interessa não é o destino mas sim a viagem.

"Always stay Hard Core"
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Ride that Bike!

Photo by Carter Smith

The next generation of journalists

Our 2010 summer interns have arrived at The Oregonian and already they're making a splash. This past Monday was the first day of work for the first wave. Three of the reporters landed front-page stories and one of the photographers turned in an artsy photo that made the cover of Metro.

Until a couple years ago, I was intimately involved with the recruiting, screening and selection of these talented young folks. Now, I'm in more of a support role, sharing what I know with the managing editor in charge and still helping to select the finalists.

We have a combined 15 interns at the moment, 10 for the summer and five in one-year positions. I have no doubt that parents, friends and peers have questioned the sanity of these kids for their decision to pursue journalism in the face of huge technological change, declining newspaper readership and a crunching recession. But I also have no doubt that these young people have the fire in the belly to persevere and the intelligence to adapt to what journalism now demands: a well-rounded set of skills that includes old-fashioned reporting, writing and interviewing (with a premium on accuracy, speed and fairness) and the ability to shoot video, capture audio and navigate every aspect of the internet.

I met one of the student photographers, Arkasha Stevenson, a senior at the University of North Carolina, as I was riding the elevator on Wednesday. She'd written to me months ago asking to whom she should direct her application materials. I made the referral and wished her luck and that was the last I heard of things until we came face to face this week. She's the one who, on her first day, made a great photo of workers setting up rides at Waterfront Village (above).

Later that afternoon, I was headed toward the elevators, ready to go home, when I heard a tiny voice ask if I was George. It was a bright-eyed, dark-haired young woman, maybe 5 feet tall, who turned out to be Carolina Hidalgo, a junior at Stony Brook University on Long Island, whom I'd interviewed by phone and enthusiastically recommended to the rest of the selection committee.

She was doing a feature story that day on a Vietnam veteran who was receiving a handful of war medals long overdue. Arkasha wound up shooting a video:
http://videos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2010/05/john_parish_a_vietnam_veteran.html

On Friday, I learned Carolina has been assigned to talk to Simone about a scholarship program that our daughter helped create for students at alternative high schools who've overcome significant barriers enroute to their high school diploma or G.E.D. Small town, Portland.

Today, Carolina was in the office -- on her day off -- interviewing a student for that story. Impressive. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with and I look forward to seeing another class of interns flourish. They are, after all, the next generation of journalists.

Post das 6, p'as miudas

E cá estamos na segunda temporada do Post das 6 p'as miudas, com o contributo habitual da Isa. As 6 da tarde, é hora das miúdas.
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Communities Condemn Obama Administration for Militarization of Border

Contact: Derechos Humanos: 520.770.1373
Communities Condemn Obama Administration's Decision to Further Militarize the U.S. - México Border
We must stand together on May 29, 2010 to show our resolve against injustice
By Derechos Humanos

Photo: Angie Ramon, Tohono O'odham whose son Bennett Patricio, Jr., was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol, stands before crosses at San Xavier to remember the migrants who died crossing the Sonoran Desert. Photo: Brenda Norrell.

TUCSON - The Coalición de Derechos Humanos along with groups across the country, condemn Tuesday's announcement that the Obama Administration will send 1,200 National Guard troops to Arizona and will request an additional $500 million to "secure" the Mexican border.

The decision by Obama to "up the ante" on the militarization scheme of over 16 years, not only follows his administration's record of continued attacks on immigrant families across the nation since he became President but his own DHS 800 ICE agent military-style assault on the communities in Arizona on April 15, 2010. Last year, President Obama also sent more than 700 new federal agents to the border, at that time responding to cries of non-existent "spill-over violence," feeding the continued growth of the militarization and of the anti-immigrant sentiment.

"Our communities have born the consequences of border security policies implemented since the mid-1990's-thousands of migrants who have been funneled to their deaths along the Arizona-Sonora border, dangerous spikes in xenophobia and the growth of hate groups, negative economic impacts and other tensions for border communities, the eventual election of anti-immigrant politicians and the enactment of anti-immigrant laws" stated Isabel Garcia, member of Coalicion de Derechos Humanos. "Now this new decision will be felt increasingly and devastatingly across the country."

In July of 1994, Doris Meissner, then Commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) released the "Border Patrol Strategic Plan: 1994 and Beyond," which clearly shows that their predicted effects of increased militarization would lead to the current political conditions in the state of Arizona.
"Those of us who knew that Arizona was 'chosen' to become the laboratory for the anti-immigrant policies back in 1994, now hope that we can finally reframe the immigration debate by demanding that President Obama and the Congress engage in a dialogue that includes an analysis of our foreign and economic policies, such as NAFTA and the Merida Initiative (and the resulting migration), a review of our immigration laws and policies that have encouraged unauthorized migration, and an acknowledgement of the vast contributions made by immigrants," stated Garcia. "We must tell the U. S. public the truth about immigration. But if we follow the same framework and continued increases in police and other enforcement/prosecution measures such as Operation Streamline, we will continue the negative consequences as well, including the unprecedented expenditures."

The decision to send military troops into civilian communities is also extremely dangerous. On May 20th, 1997, the nation was horrified by the murder of a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil by the military. Eighteen year-old Esequiel Hernandez, Jr., who was tending to the family's goats on his family's ranch in Redford, Texas was stalked for twenty-one minutes and then shot and killed. The U.S. Marines, part of Joint Task Force Six, an INS/Department of Defense unit working along the border, worried that they had killed an innocent civilian and watched Esequiel dying for approximately twenty minutes before calling in to report the incident. A House Judiciary Sub-Committee subsequently made damaging findings, including accusations of obstruction of investigation, and clearly illustrates the dangers of placing military troops in civilian communities.

Derechos Humanos and allies across the country call on each one of us to take responsibility to learn the truth about the immigration issues and to engage in dialogue in our own communities and families. While those in power focus on pitting us against each other, worker against worker, Big Oil and Wall Street get a free pass. We must not allow the attacks on our communities. We demand that the Obama Administration reverse his decision to send national guard troops to our border and to request half a billion dollars to "secure the border." Our country needs real security - jobs, health care, quality education, housing, healthy communities - not measures that bring pain, division, hate and destruction.
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
P.O. Box 1286 Tucson, AZ 85702
Tel: 520.770.1373
Fax: 520.770.7455
http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/

A Sacred Fire is Burning at Eagle Rock

Kennecott and Law Enforcement Break Up Eagle Rock Camp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKI0oZj_6II

Sign the Petition to Halt Sulfide Mining at Eagle Rock

http://www.savethewildup.org/petition

AP article on arrests:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10759335

A Sacred Fire is Burning at Eagle Rock
By Cynthia Pryor
Huffington Post
Around the world, indigenous communities are defending their homelands and sacred sites from mining companies with more urgency than ever. With the fictional Avatar receiving so much media attention, it's important to realize that very real battles between indigenous communities protecting sacred sites and corporations infringing on them are happening in the real world. And not just in exotic corners of the world, but right here in America, in the Great Lakes, where millions get their drinking water.

Rio Tinto has from the beginning played out the role of the big bad mining company in its plans to mine nickel and copper in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The project has been marred by a flawed approval process, with one expert hired by the state insisting the project could collapse on workers. Despite unresponsive regulators and politicians, a persistent grassroots movement has stalled the company plans by years already.

This seven-year battle between Rio Tinto and local citizens came to a head when I was arrested a couple weeks ago for "trespassing" on land the company wants to mine for nickel, copper and other precious metals. I was doing what I've been doing on a weekly basis for over a decade - walking with my dog to Migi Zii Wa Sin, or Eagle Rock, a sacred site to Anishinaabe tribes. Rio Tinto took my presence there as a threat and called local law enforcement to the scene. I was arrested and jailed for refusing to leave land the company still has no legal title to.
The important thing about my arrest is that it happened on public land. A couple years ago, Rio Tinto signed a land use lease with the State of Michigan to build surface facilities and a portal for their mine. They still lack federal approval to move forward, yet have bulldozed anyway in order to fence the land off for 40 years and blast a portal for the mine into Eagle Rock. The ore body itself lies underneath a river that feeds into Lake Superior, the largest and most pristine of the Great Lakes.

Under the Treaty of 1842 the Anishinaabe have retained all rights for fishing, hunting and gathering on public lands over a wide swath of land in Michigan and Wisconsin. By allowing Rio Tinto to mine a sacred site, the State of Michigan has disregarded these long-standing rights and dismissed Eagle Rock as a place of worship. Would Rio Tinto get away with blasting a mine into the floor of a Christian cathedral? I doubt it.

My arrest triggered three brave members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) to act in protecting their treaty rights and sacred site. They arrived at Eagle Rock the night of April 23 in a beat-up Geo Metro to "take a stand." The courage of these women, who were the first to occupy Eagle Rock, has inspired many more men and women - both native and non-native - to gather here to protect this place.

"I am here because I am a woman and we protect our sacred water," Charlotte Loonsfoot (picture to left by Chauncey Moran), a member of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, told me about her initial decision to occupy Eagle Rock. "It is the bloodline of Mother Earth and if we pollute her blood, we will die."

"We have done ceremonies before recorded time until the Treaty of 1842 and our people's removal from our culture and our language. Our stand at Eagle Rock is not only to protect our water, but the spirit in Eagle Rock."

This place, while held sacred by the Anishinaabe, is also a place that is dear to the people living in the small remote communities surrounding Eagle Rock. Locals cherish the notion that America still has remote places where no industrial lights block out the stars, no industrial noise blocks out the wind in the pines, and where people may quietly enjoy these quality public lands held in trust for them by the State of Michigan.

Our state government has sold us out on this public land heritage by placing the wealth and profit of Rio Tinto over the health and welfare of the people it represents. Not only do they fail to recognize the sacred value of Eagle Rock and the rights of the Anishinaabe, they have allowed this company to proceed without federal approval while arresting citizens under absurd charges for getting in the way of Rio Tinto's plans.

Rio Tinto is working now to fence off this public land and Eagle Rock and doesn't seem to mind moving forward without legal authority from the federal government. The Anishinaabe and their non-native supporters will not allow this to continue. We will peacefully stay here until the state recognizes our rights to public land, the sovereign rights of the Anishinaabe, and their right to their sacred land - right here at Eagle Rock.

Cynthia Pryor lives seven miles away from Rio Tinto's planned mine, near the Yellow Dog River, and has worked through the grassroots Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve since 1995.

Anyone interested in keeping up on this issue can find photos and more information at the blog for the Eagle Rock occupation, http://www.standfortheland.com/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cynthia-pryor/a-sacred-fire-is-burning_b_567652.html

Navajos Protest Uranium Mining Plans

Navajo Activists Protest Uranium Mining Plans
Democracy Now!
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/5/28/headlines#13
A group of indigenous activists have traveled to Denver this week to protest a uranium mining conference discussing new mining projects on Navajo land. Three Navajo activists were removed from the conference despite being formally invited to attend one of the sessions. On Thursday, one of the three, Nadine Padilla of the Multicultural Alliance for Safe Environments, protested her expulsion.
Nadine Padilla: "The problem is this is a meeting we should have been involved in from the start. The four proposed mines on Navajo land is something the community members need to be a part of. We need to be at the table and need to have our voices and our concerns heard by people who are making the decisions, such as the federal agencies like the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."
Statement from Navajos:
We call on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the National Mining Association, Uranium Resources Inc. and Hydro Resources Inc. to take immediate action to reverse the dangerous and deadly course you are taking. On behalf of all the communities and living creature still suffering from the legacy of uranium mining we demand that you immediately:
Respect and abide by the Navajo Nation’s ban on uranium mining
Revoke/Withdraw all four ISL permits for uranium mines slated for Crownpoint and Church Rock communities on the Navajo Nation.
Consider existing conditions and cumulative impacts in your licensing decisions. This is what matters to the human body.
Support the cleanup of the 259 abandoned uranium mines and tailing sites in New Mexico.
Insure that drinking water is protected. Contamination must not be allowed from traditional or in-situ mining practices. Water is sacred and vital to all life.
NEVER AGAIN
Enough Is Enough
No New Permits for Uranium Mines!
On May 18, 2010, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver rejected the needs of the people by allowing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Hydro Resources Inc to mine uranium that can impact the aquifer that supplies drinking water for 15,000 Navajos in Church Rock, New Mexico. Dissenting Judge Carlos F. Lucero explained the error in his colleague’s legal opinion this way:
“HRI plans to mine the site, which will result in total radiation levels nine to 15 times the permitted regulatory limit,” he said.
These mining permits are the First step in a process that threatens the local and global environment with contamination from mining.
The Navajo Nation Government unanimously passed a Uranium Mining Ban on tribal lands in April of 2005. Despite this ban, mining corporations like Hydro Resources Inc. (HRI) and Uranium Resources Inc. (URI) have relentlessly pursued permits for new mines, including mines on native sacred sites in New Mexico.
There is NO NEED for new uranium mining. The value of uranium has been artificially bolstered by false promises of “nuclear power renaissance”. The reality is that current nuclear reactors are in their final years of operation and have adequate fuel. No nuclear plants have been licensed, constructed or are even under construction in the US. The Obama Administration would like to change that and this is one step in the process of expanding the nuclear industry – both power and weapons. There are proposals for 22 new uranium mines, billions for weapons expansion and a number of nuclear power plants have been proposed. This is the wrong direction.
A History of Destruction and No Accountability
Uranium mining began in earnest on Navajo land during the Grants Uranium Boom from the 1950s - 1980s. The NM State Mining and Minerals Division lists 259 uranium production mines and 400 uranium exploration sites with a concentration in the Grants Belt.
When most of these ‘legacy’ mines were operating the Clean Water Act hadn’t been passed and the New Mexico Environment Department didn’t exist. Of the 259 uranium production mines, 137 have no record of any kind of cleanup work.
Navajo families continue to live with the radioactive pollution and increased health risks from past uranium mining and milling, including the United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) uranium mill tailings spill into the Puerco River, in the Church Rock area in 1979. This was the largest release of radioactive waste in U.S. history. URI/HRI which acquired this site from UNC in 1993 has still not committed to a full cleanup of the Old Church Rock Mine and the spill.
Today, HRI/URI claims that in-situ mining is safe. But communities like Kingsville TX, disagree. URI has been unable to restore the water quality contaminated by the in-situ mining there.
In-situ leaching releases large amounts of radon, and produces waste slurries and waste water during recovery of the uranium from the liquid. Dangerous radioactive heavy metals are mobilized in this process. It is technologically impossible to restore natural groundwater conditions after leaching operations have been completed.
Why is the US Government and Mining Corporation Disrespecting Our Communities and Putting Us at Risk?
By turning their backs on local opposition and ignoring the hard fought battle of tribal communities and environmental organizations in New Mexico and Texas, state and federal regulators, the courts and environmental agencies have failed to protect these lands from exploitation and environmental destruction.
This is an issue of environmental racism. Despite opposition to new uranium mining from 13 Navajo communities and dozens of other local and regional institutions since 1995, the US Government and Corporate interest continue to press forward.
How You Can Help?
Contact Steve Cohen at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and ask him to revoke permits for all four proposed mines at Crownpoint and Church Rock communities on the Navajo Nation. Demand all the abandon mines are clean up and health effects addressed! Stephen.Cohen@nrc.gov or (301) 415-7182
Become part of the Disarmament Summer Campaign – support the sustainable action encampment this summer July 30th-August 9th in Chimayo, NM. On the August 6th, the 65th Anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we will protest this nuclear insanity where it all began – Los Alamos. Be there!
www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org

Indigenous Environmental Network: Four Principles for Climate Justice

Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) releases its Four Principles for Climate Justice
By Indigenous Environmental Network
Photo: Cochabamba Climate Conference by Ben Powless, Mohawk

Indigenous Peoples must call for the most stringent and binding emission reduction targets. A growing body of western scientific evidence now suggests what Indigenous Peoples have expressed for a long time: Life as we know it is in danger. Western scientists tell us that climate change is accelerating, and that changes are happening faster than expected. New scientific information made available since the IPCC's Fourth Assessment Report shows that changes in ocean acidification, melting of permafrost, and ice melting are happening much faster than projected by the IPCC. Objectives must be made to reach stabilization of GHG concentrations at 300 ppm and to limit temperature rise to 1.0 degrees centigrade, based on pre-industrial levels, noting that emissions must peak in 2015.

The Petition below expresses, in the strongest possible terms, your demand that the results of the Cochabamba People’s Accord, as presented to UNFCCC - AWG-LCA Chair Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe (Zimbabwe)and Vice-Chair Mr. Dan Reifsnyder (United States) in an April 26th submission by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, be given the highest possible consideration during the Twelfth Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) in Bonn, June 1-June 11, 2010. As signers to the Petition, we have grave concern, that the ‘Note by the Chair’, officially known as ‘Text to facilitate negotiations among governmental Parties’ to the UN climate negotiations, released on May 17th, 2010, acknowledges the invitation for Nation-States to make submissions but then relegates the Bolivian submission to a miscellaneous document.

This is in direct contrast to the full integration of the Copenhagen Accord, a document which we as signers to the Petition would like to remind the Chair and Vice-Chairs, was not adopted by the delegates to COP-15, with the only agreement being to ‘take note of’ this non-binding, non-negotiated, document.

The Petition we are asking you to sign represents both people who were directly engaged in the development of these proposals in Cochabamba, where over 35,000 people from 140 countries gathered in April, 2010, as well as those who were there in spirit and support the outcomes; we also represent the voices of social movements, indigenous peoples, affected peoples and civil society organizations from around the world.

The deliberate exclusion of the full 87 articles of the Cochabamba People’s Agreement violates assurances that were given stating all representations by Nation-States would be treated equally, as well as direct statements by the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, made to social movement representatives in the presence of Evo Morales Ayma, President of Bolivia, on May, 7th, stating that there was no preference for one submission over others.

By signing the Petition, (see below) you would stand in solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters who are presently suffering from the consequences of climate change, with those as yet unborn who will suffer from our inaction, and with all living beings and Mother Earth; we therefore commit to remain vigilant in our pursuit of climate justice.

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network
Read more and sign petition:
http://www.ienearth.org/

National Day of Action against SB 1070

TODAY: National Day of Action against SB1070

National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Stands with Arizona for Justice & Human Rights!

TODAY: On May 29, the eyes of the world will be on Arizona when tens of thousands of members of Arizona’s communities, including Indigenous people, day laborers, unions, people of color, women, LGBTQ people, workers, youth, students and supporters from across the country, will converge on Phoenix for the National Day of Action against SB1070. SB1070 is the new Arizona anti-immigrant, racial profiling state law that allows police to question anyone about their immigration status, jail them and turn them over to ICE for deportation.

The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and its members will march with Arizona communities and in solidarity actions around the country on May 29 as we stand with the people of Arizona in the fight to restore rights and to rollback the hate.

On May 29 and beyond, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR) calls on people from all walks of life to demand an end to SB1070 and all federal immigration-police collaboration. This is an important national moment to commit to ending all forms of racial discrimination and intolerance. We are heartened to see how so many different groups and sectors have rallied to oppose SB1070.

This broad support will very much be needed to push back against the continued expansion of federal immigration-police collaboration programs that enable state laws like SB1070 and other immigration and border enforcement measures that further endanger lives, perpetuate abuse and hate, undermining the health of communities.

Leading up to May 29 in Arizona the National Day Laborer Organizing Network with the Puente Movement are preparing a national boycott of Arizona, targeting companies and products whose owners have contributed funds that have allowed anti-immigrant laws, practices and policies to flourish. NDLON and Puente are also planning to launch a defiance campaign against SB1070 scheduled to be implemented later in July.

The Coalición de Derechos Humanos (DH) working with border and non-border communities will begin their fifth annual “Migrant Trail March”– a 75-mile journey from Sásabe, Sonora to Tucson, Arizona to express solidarity with the migrant women, children, elders and men who have walked this trail and lost their lives. DH’s work against the U.S. militarization of immigration control and border communities is a deep call for linking communities across the country to demilitarize the border and uphold the right to life, liberty and wellbeing of all persons.

Beyond May 29, NNIRR will continue to urge that the Obama Administration:

· Take all necessary steps to stop the implementation of SB1070. Obama must speak out against the climate of hate and investigate and punish Arizona state, county and local officials who are violating the civil rights of entire communities;
· Roll-back and end the 287(g), Secure Communities programs and all forms of federal immigration-police collaboration programs.
· Suspend all detentions and deportations and investigate the abuses being committed against immigrants at the border and in interior.
· Demilitarize immigration control and border communities and stop the deployment of National Guard troops. Instead, issue sufficient visas and options for families to reunite and live, work, worship, study and play with their rights protected. The federal government must invest in creating sustainable communities and promote fair trade economic policies that will provide stability and development;
· Seek in earnest socially just immigration reforms that provide full legalization based on upholding the civil and labor rights of all persons.

¡Todas y todos somos Arizona We are all Arizona! ________________________________________________
Arnoldo Garcia
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Red Nacional Pro Derechos Inmigrantes y Refugiados
310 8th Street Suite 303
Oakland, CA 94607
Tel (510) 465-1984 ext. 305
Fax (510) 465-1885
http://www.nnirr.org/

Declaración de solidaridad con el pueblo de Arizona y l@s migrantes del mundo
29 de Mayo, 2010
La Via Campesina
La aprobación de la legislación SB-1070 en Arizona que criminaliza a las personas por el color de la piel, bajo el argumento del combate a la "inmigración ilegal" y por la "seguridad fronteriza", junto con el súbito anuncio de legislaciones similares en varios estados de los EEUU, y la creciente e incontenible violencia policiaca y para-policiaca en contra de las y los migrantes, revelan un peligroso avance de la ofensiva actual contra las migrantes y los migrantes y sus familias.
Este avance se da en momentos de una crisis profunda del sistema capitalista bajo el cual, los gobernantes han intentado pasar el costo de la crisis a las espaldas de las y los migrantes, al mismo tiempo que dividen a la clase trabajadora al convertirlos en los “chivos expiatorios” de la crisis.
Es así como Arizona y la frontera de los EEUU y México, se han convertido hoy en día en el epicentro de la agresión global en contra de las y los migrantes del mundo.
Además, igual que ocurre en Arizona, por todo el planeta siguen escalando las políticas y las acciones anti-migrantes, principalmente en los países del Norte que por cierto, son los culpables de la crisis de la migración generada por el sistema capitalista en esta fase neoliberal.
Por lo anterior, La Vía Campesina Internacional hace un llamado urgente a todas sus organizaciones y a todas y todos sus aliados a desplegar una solidaridad amplia y concreta con la lucha que hoy se da en Arizona para detener las políticas y las acciones en contra de las y los migrantes.
Hoy, el 29 de mayo del 2010, expresamos nuestra solidaridad con el pueblo de Arizona, que hoy se manifiesta en Phoenix, Arizona y las embajadas de EUN en Mexico, y otros países del mundo para exigir un alto a la SB-1070 y a todas las políticas y acciones anti-inmigrantes.
Así mismo, denunciamos a la discriminación, y la violencia anti-inmigrante, y demandamos los Derechos Plenos de las y los Migrantes del Mundo:
¡ALTO A LA SB-1070, ALTO A LA OFENSIVA CONTRA LAS Y LOS MIGRANTES!
¡Globalicemos la lucha, globalicemos la esperanza!
Alberto Gómez Flores
Dena Hoff
Coordinación Internacional, La Via Campesina

small bike

Photo by Stefano Moro

Context-free quotes

Esquire has this regular feature in its letters to the editor section that it calls "Context-Free Highlights from Letters We're Not Running."

Two examples:

"For the most part, life is a steady parade of unfortunate instances punctuated with bouts of fear, malcontent, and depression that can only be reliably recounted by someone who's been there and has the ability to gut-wrenchingly sing of it in a beautiful manner."

""I am a Tulsa street model. How do I become a regular model?"

It never fails to make me laugh. Somehow, I was reminded of these pearls as I was reading a chapter in the Richard Price crime novel, "Lush Life." Price is considered a master of "street" dialogue and I can see why. He's got a gift for combining authenticity, cadence and humor.

For instance, in this scene where two NYPD detectives, Matty and Yolanda, are interviewing Eric, a witness to a homicide:

Matty: "What was he reading?
Eric: I guess it was poetry because it had that pronouncement thing, you know, where you say each word like you're angry at it?"

And again...

Matty asks about the guy who was reading poetry.
Eric: "I mean that ******* was already half-wasted at the reading. And who the hell orders mojitos at a Chinese restaurant?"

And yet again...
Yolanda: "So then where'd you go after that?"
Eric: "... he took us to some poetry bar on the Bowery, beatnik bar, or something."
"What's it called?"
"Zeno's Conscience."
"They can get that all on the sign?"
"He said they had a midnight puppet porno show we couldn't miss."
"A what?" Yolanda smiled.

Free of context, these quotes may strike you as funny or not. For me, I considered them little gifts from the writer.

Post das 6, p'as miudas

E cá estamos na segunda temporada do Post das 6 p'as miudas, com o contributo habitual da Isa. As 6 da tarde, é hora das miúdas.
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Navajos told to sit in back of the room at mining conference

Navajo protesters told to sit in back of room at conference
http://www.indianz.com
Three members of the Navajo Nation and a non-Indian supporter were told to sit or stand in the back of a room at a uranium conference, The Denver Post reported.
The protesters wanted to attend a discussion on litigation at the National Mining Association and Nuclear Regulatory Commission conference. The NRC is a federal agency that has a tribal consultation policy.
When tribal member Nadine Padilla, 25, saw an empty chair in the front of the room, she sat down. She was told to leave.
Padilla and another tribal member, Mario Atencio, decided to exit the room. Atencio yelled out "It will never happen!" in reference to uranium mining on the reservation, the Post reported.
The three Navajo protesters were then ushered out of the room. "It wasn't right for them to treat us like second-class citizens and ask us to sit in the back of the room and to sit on the floor," Padilla told the Post.
The fourth person, Jen Nordstrom, a non-Indian, was allowed to stay behind after she started crying. She said the incident showed the Navajos were victims of racism.
Get the Story:Efforts to quell conflict with Navajo collapse at Denver mining conference (The Denver Post 5/28)

Indigenous Alliance without Borders: National Day of Action Against Racism

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST RACISM AND RACIST LAWS - THE EVENTUALITY OF THE PHOENIX POSOLE PACHANGA

SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2010
By Jose Matus, Yaqui, director of Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras
Alianza Indigena Sin Fronteras joins and stands strongly in support of all the people and organizers of the National Day of Action Against Racism and Racist public policies and laws. White America and especially Arizona's racist politicians are seeing a resurgence of Indigenous America in the form of immigrants who are descendants of North America's Indigenous populations. As Indigenous America, they are terrifying precisely because they have a moral claim to cross the border imposed on their lands.
Since the 1990's, the immigrant communities in Arizona have experienced in their everyday lives hatred, xenophobia, bigotry, abuse and rights violation while living in Tucson, Phoenix and throughout the state. The actions of the Arizona State Legislature extends the militarization of the border to the entirety of the state - that will legally codify law enforcement's petulant behavior and legitimize racial profiling, discrimination against non-Whites with a peculiar accent and style of dress.
The evolution of the United States anti-immigrant legislation and border enforcement policies in modern times have always and continue to affect indigenous communities on either side of the southern border. Rights of mobility and passage, federally-recognized sovereignty and self-determination rights, and access to traditional land sites and ceremonial grounds have been sorely compromised to the detriment of Elders, families, and youth.
Now, Arizona's passage of SB 1070 will do nothing to curtail the influx of undocumented migration, people and drug smuggling, border deaths and violence. It will create more problems for all people of color, abuse of power will be outrageously exercised and cruelly administered at the hands of those who have been convinced of their righteousness of ignorance and the unjustness of anti-immigrant enforcement policies.
Although some local Law Enforcement Officials have vowed not to comply with SB 1070, it is understood by many that this law could be perverted to excess by those who deem themselves the right to hold extraordinary power of authority. The nationally notorious racist Maricopa County Sheriff, Crazy Joe Arpaio, will clearly exercise this extraordinary power in the self-proclaimed right to get all those undocumented individuals he calls criminals that live within the confines of Maricopa County. He will continue his campaign of tyranny within the Mexican immigrant and Yaqui indigenous communities.
Is this the type of freedom our Troops of Color - our youth are fighting for as members of the U.S. Armed Forces - For Racist Politicians to implement racist laws in the name of National Security and community safety!
"Care of human life and happiness, not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." - Thomas Jefferson
It is time for all those people of color that don' t vote to get involved in Civic Participation - Vote and Get Out the Vote! Lose or continue to be fighting for your rights!!
It is time to organize, speak out, join forces with other people of color movements to bring attention and fight for Human Rights and Human Life!
WE AS INDIGENOUS PEOPLES MUST BE PART OF THE POSOLE PACHANGA. WE DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A NO-BROWN TOWN AND STATE!
ALIANZA INDIGENA SIN FRONTERAS STRONGLY SUPPORTS & WILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT - CONTACT: Jose R. Matus - 520-979-2125

Official UNFCCC Negotiating Text Ignores World People's Conference Solutions

US continues to lead efforts at UN to ignore solutions

Official UNFCCC Negotiating Text Ignores World People's Conference Solutions

By World Peoples Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth

Photo by Ben Powless: Manny Pino, Acoma Pueblo and Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, cochair the working group on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at Bolivia Climate Conference.

In April 2010 more than 35,000 people from 140 countries gathered in Cochabamba, Bolivia and developed the historic Cochabamba People's Agreement a consensus-based document reflecting substantive solutions to the climate crisis. We, the undersigned organizations, both participated in and/or supported this historic process.
Reflecting the voices of global civil society and the agreements reached in 17 working groups, the Plurinational State of Bolivia made an official proposal, comprised of the core components of the Cochabamba People's Agreement, to the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action (AWG-LCA) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Since then, the accord has gained support and recognition by various nations and regional bodies including ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance of Our Americas) and UNASUR (Union of South American Nations).
We are therefore deeply concerned that the new text proposed in the AWG-LCA as a basis for climate change negotiations does not reflect any of the main conclusions reached in Cochabamba. The Chair and the Vice Chair of the AWG-LCA (from Zimbabwe and the United States respectively) have instead incorporated all of the proposals of the Copenhagen Accord, which does not even have the consensus of the United Nations.
We urge the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC, to embrace the conclusions reached by social movements, indigenous peoples and international civil society in Cochabamba. It is both undemocratic and non-transparent to exclude particular proposals from the negotiations, and it is imperative that the United Nations listens to the global community on this issue critical to humanity.
We call on all countries in the United Nations, and in particular the President and Vice-President of the AWG-LCA, to include the core conclusions of the Cochabamba People's Accord in the negotiations in the run-up to Cancun. These life- and earth-saving proposals include:
1. A 50% reduction of domestic greenhouse gas emissions by developed countries for the period 2013-2017 under the Kyoto Protocol, domestically and without reliance on market mechanisms.
2. The objective of stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations at 300ppm.
3. The need to begin the process of considering the proposed Universal Declaration on the Rights of Mother Earth to reestablish harmony with nature.
4. The obligation of developed countries to honor their climate debt toward developing countries and our Mother Earth.
5. The provision of financial resources equal to 6% of GDP by developed countries to help confront the climate change crisis.
6. The creation of a mechanism for the integral management and conservation of forests that, unlike REDD-plus, respects the sovereignty of states, guarantees the rights and participation of indigenous peoples and forest dependent communities, and is not based on the carbon market regime.
7. The implementation of measures for recognizing the rights of Indigenous peoples must be secured in accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and applicable universal human rights instruments and agreements. This includes respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples; their rights to lands, territories and resources, and their full and effective participation, with their free, prior and informed consent.
8. The incentivizing of models of agricultural production that are environmentally sustainable and that guarantee food sovereignty and the rights of indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers.
9. The protection and recognition of the rights and needs of forced climate migrants.
10. The promotion of the establishment of an International Climate and Environmental Justice Tribunal.
11. The consideration of a World Referendum on Climate Change that allows the people to decide what will be done about this issue, which is of vital importance to the future of humanity and Mother Earth.
We demand that the conclusions established by the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which protect life and Mother Earth, be incorporated into the negotiating text during the negotiations in Bonn, Germany, from May 31st to June 11th, 2010.
There cannot be an equitable, transparent, and inclusive negotiation process, nor true solutions to the urgency of the climate crisis, if the AWG-LCA negotiating text ignores the voices of the peoples of the world that the negotiators should be representing.
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Este es el pronunciamiento del Movimiento Mundial de los Pueblos, que reclama un proceso de negociaciones sobre cambio climático en Naciones Unidas, incluyente, transparente y equitativo, que incorpore las propuestas de los pueblos que han sido presentadas como resultado de la Conferencia Mundial de los Pueblos sobre Cambio Climático y los Derechos de la Madre Tierra. Para adherirse a este llamado puede hacerlo mediante el sitio web: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/movement-for-mother-earth y apoyar con su firma para que las voces de nuestros pueblos sean escuchadas