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Just
six weeks after the September 11 attacks, a
panicked Congress passed the USA Patriot Act,
which has directly infringed on many of the
rights and freedoms granted by the Bill of
Rights. This new interactive feature summarizes
the impact of the PATRIOT Act on some of our
most cherished rights.
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liberties have been passed in 325 communities in 41
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nearly 52 million people. Click
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NEW UPDATE: Shack Rat Crew
At Last Laid to Rest on Home Soil
Services Held at Arlington
National Cemetery on 03 & 04 August 2011
for Recovered Pilot and
Crew of WWII B-24 Bomber
42-40918, the "Shack Rat"—
With Photo Gallery SENAA International - 06 AUG 2011
During the week of 01-05 August 2011, families of the pilot
and crew of the B-24 Liberator Bomber
42-40918, "Shack Rat", convened at Arlington, Virginia, to
finally lay to rest their lost loved ones on American soil. All 12 of the airmen
have now been brought home and laid to rest on their home soil
and were given full military honors by the nation that they
served and gave their lives to defend....
NEW UPDATE: SSgt. Berthold Allen Chastain's Remains Found,
Identified, and Returned SENAA International - 06 FEB 2011
On
26 October 2010, one day before the 67th anniversary
of his disappearance, Berthold Allen Chastain's
daughter, Tulie Mae Chastain-Swilling, received a
phone call from the U.S. Army informing her that the
remains of her father, along with those of the other
eleven crewmen of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator
heavy bomber,
42-40918, the
"Shack Rat", had been recovered and positively
identified....
Navajo
Nation Council Votes to Waive Water Rights "Forever"
Dine' Water Rights! - 07 NOV 2010
WINDOW ROCK, NAVAJO NATION—On
Thursday November 4th, 2010 the outgoing Navajo Nation Council
Voted 51-24 to waive Diné Water Rights to the lower Colorado
River 'Forever'.
Seventy people marched to the
council chambers and joined others in prayer to demonstrate
concerns with the proposed Northeastern Arizona Water
Settlement. Concerned Citizens for Diné Water Rights affirmed
their commitment to stop the settlement.
You can contact Navajo Nation
President Joe Shirley & urge him to VETO the NN Council water
settlement vote: Phone: (928) 871-7000 Email:
www.opvp.info/contact.
Statement by Ron Milford of
Concerned Citizens for Diné Water Rights...
Shelly Beats Lovejoy in Navajo Nation Presidential Election Lovejoy
Seeks Recount Indian Country Today - 03 NOV 2010
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.–Despite facing charges of conspiracy, fraud and
theft in a Navajo Nation “slush fund” probe investigation,
presidential candidate Ben Shelly prevailed in the Nov. 2
election with more than a 5 percent lead over New Mexico State
Sen. Lynda Lovejoy.
Shelly garnered 33,692 votes to Lovejoy’s 30,357. Early reports
indicate that Lovejoy will seek a recount, but attempts to
contact her at press time were unsuccessful.
President-elect Shelly of Thoreau, N.M., currently serves as the
Navajo Nation vice president....
Navajo Closer Than Ever to Electing Woman
Leader NPR - 17 OCT 2010
WINDOW
ROCK, AZ--Lynda Lovejoy walks past throngs of
parade-goers in her traditional, crushed velvet dress
and moccasins, her campaign button on the sleeve.
Speaking through a microphone, she says she'll bring
fresh perspective to the Navajo government if elected
president.
Her
supporters shout, "You go girl!"
Others
at the parade in Window Rock clearly don't want to see
her at the helm of the country's largest American Indian
reservation. "I hope you lose," one man shouts, then
covers his mouth and
ducks into the
crowd. Another woman declares support for Lovejoy's
opponent: "We want Ben Shelly. Women belong in the
kitchen."...
Judy Pasternak's Navajo Uranium Study, Yellow Dirt,
Reviewed The Washington Post - 17 OCT 2010
YELLOW DIRT
An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed
by Judy Pasternak
Free Press. 317 pp. $26
I first heard about radiation poisoning on the Navajo Reservation
in the late 1960s. I was a teenager living on the reservation.
My father was one of the white millers employed by the Vanadium
Corporation of America (VCA) to run the uranium mill in
Shiprock, N.M. News of health disasters came to me as rumors at
school: "They say a herd of sheep drank from the river and died.
They say miners at Red Mountain are getting sick." Over the next
several decades rumor gave way to evidence of serious health
problems among uranium miners, their families, the livestock and
the land. In her disturbing and illuminating "Yellow Dirt," Judy
Pasternak evokes the magnitude of a nuclear disaster that
continues to reverberate.
Pasternak locates ground zero in Cane Valley, 30 miles northeast of
Arizona's gorgeous red rock country, Monument Valley.
Prospectors had been eying the mineral-rich reservation since
the early 1920s, but it wasn't until 1938 that Congress passed a
law giving the Navajo tribal council authority to issue
leases....
PRESS
RELEASE
RECA and Compensating Navajo Nation Uranium Miners 24-7PressRelease.com - 08 OCT 2010
While Congress
considers amendments to the Radiation Exposure Compensation
Act (RECA) proposed by U.S. Representative Tom Udall
earlier this year, which would specifically allow compensation
to workers exposed after 1971, make qualification for benefits
easier to obtain, incorporate additional exposure testing and
apply to those exposed to fallout from nuclear testing in more
geographical areas, additional RECA coverage efforts are
in the works.
One movement seeks to expand RECA to cover members of the
Navajo Nation who were workers or children of workers in the
uranium industry. Navajo workers and their descendants have
experienced unique and devastating effects since uranium mining
began on or near reservation lands....
Lawsuit Opens Door on Black Mesa Durango Telegraph - 08 OCT 2010
A lawsuit is trying to shed daylight on suspicious practices at the
nearby Black Mesa Coal Complex. Native American and conservation
groups have sued the U.S. Department of the Interior for
withholding records related to coal mining in northeast Arizona.
To date, the department’s Office of Surface Mining has refused to
publicly release records on mining operations conducted at the
site by Peabody, the largest coal mine operator in the world.
Among other records, the plaintiffs are seeking a copy of a
current, valid operating permit for mining....
Coal Plant Would Get New Controls NY Times - 06 OCT 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency signaled on Wednesday that it
would require a New Mexico power plant, one of the largest
coal-fired ones in the nation, to install $717 million in
pollution controls to curb emissions that spread haze over the
Four Corners region of the Southwest, home to national parks
like Mesa Verde.
The proposal to install the equipment on the oldest three units of
the massive 2,250-megawatt plant is likely to have a long-term
effect on both the territory and the economy of the Navajo
Nation, which covers an area three times the size of Vermont
across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah....
Lawsuit Seeks Release of Public Records for Peabody
Coal Operations on Tribal Lands in Arizona
Biological Diversity - 05 OCT 2010
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz—Native
American and conservation groups sued the U.S. Department of the
Interior’s Office of Surface Mining (OSM) in federal court in
Colorado on Thursday for withholding records relating to Peabody
Energy’s coal-mining operations on tribal lands in northeast
Arizona. To date, the agency has refused to publicly release
records relating to Peabody’s coal-mining operations—including a
copy of a current, valid operating permit for Peabody’s mining.
The lawsuit was brought under the Freedom of Information Act.
“For decades, OSM has quietly issued permits to Peabody in a way
that has thwarted meaningful public involvement and community
understanding of Peabody’s mine operations,” said Nikke Alex,
executive director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition. “OSM’s
permitting actions have a direct and irreparable impact on our
community. These records must be released to the public.”...
Drinking Water Option Opens Pandora's Box of Issues Arizona Daily Sun - 05 SEP 2010
It's been said
that having choices can make life more interesting but also more
difficult.
Thanks to the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's handling of the Snowbowl
snowmaking permit, the Flagstaff City Council has experienced
that truism in spades.
Thursday's 5-2
vote by the council not to sell drinking water to Snowbowl came
only after reopening one of the more divisive decisions by a
previous council in 2002. The fact that the vote returns the
issue to the contractually obligated status quo of selling
reclaimed wastewater for snowmaking did not make it any easier.
The USDA option
to use subsidized drinking water also opened to public scrutiny
secret negotiations the city had been conducting with the Hopi
Tribe over a future water pipeline easement from Red Gap Ranch
east of Flagstaff. And the option forced various tribal
officials to clarify their position as opposing snowmaking using
any water source–potable or not–that enhanced the
viability of recreational skiing on the Peaks....
No Drinking Water for Snowbowl Arizona Daily Sun - 03 SEP 2010
Arizona Snowbowl is unlikely to be making artificial snow on the
San Francisco Peaks in the winter of 2011-12 after all.
In fact, it is now unclear when or whether the ski area might start
construction, much less produce the snow. That decision is now
again in the hands of a federal judge after the Flagstaff City
Council on Thursday decided 5-2 against allowing the ski area to
use drinking water instead of reclaimed wastewater....
BREAKING NEWS
No Drinking Water for Snowbowl Navajo-Hopi Observer - 02 SEP 2010
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - In a vote of 5-2, the Flagstaff City Council
voted against selling drinking water to Arizona Snowbowl ski
resort for snowmaking.
The Flagstaff Water Commission had recently recommended that the
council consider a request to sell drinking water to Snowbowl
for artificial snowmaking rather than using reclaimed
wastewater....
Wooshdéé',
biil! Juanita's
descendants welcome home her weavings Navajo Times - 02 SEP 2010
WINDOW
ROCK–Two extremely rare relics of Chief
Manuelito's wife Juanita were unpacked and
welcomed by three generations of her
descendants last week at the Navajo Nation
Museum, where they will be on loan from the
Autry National Center for six months.
The dress and
saddle blanket woven by Juanita, who died in
1910, were carefully lifted out of their
cardboard boxes, unfolded and put on display
as part of the Chief Manuelito exhibit,
which opened Aug. 27; but not until several
pairs of eager hands in latex gloves fondled
them for a while.
Seeing and
touching the weavings was an emotional
experience for Juanita's
great-great-granddaughter,
great-great-great-granddaughters and
great-great-great-great grandson....
A NEW VISION FOR FLAGSTAFF
Create the most Eco-friendly Ski Resort in the World
PSA - Tribal Wisdom Foundation - 24 AUG 2010
NOTE: The Tribal
Wisdom Foundation (TWF) is not an Indigenous American
organization. Neither the organization nor any of its members
represent the views of Native Americans (Indigenous Americans)
as a whole or any individual Indigenous American tribal nation.
As far as SENAA International is aware, TWF has not conferred
with or sought approval of its plan from any Indigenous American
tribal or intertribal organization. TWF's views, actions, and
proposed actions are entirely their own. Their views and actions
do not reflect or represent SENAA International's views. Until
some key questions are answered, SENAA International cannot
support TWF's proposal. TWF's Public Service Announcement is
published here as a public service, for the sole purpose of
keeping readers informed of actions being taken by various
groups regarding the Snowbowl controversy. -- SENAA International
The Tribal Wisdom Foundation (TWF) has presented a
non-snowmaking alternative for the ski resort located on the San
Francisco Peaks to the Mayor and City Council of Flagstaff. This
no snowmaking alternative involves creating a collaborative
effort between the City of Flagstaff, Indigenous Nations,
conservation organizations and the USDA to protect water
sources, cultural resources and the natural environment.
The plan involves TWF
facilitating the purchase of the permit and assets of Arizona
Snowbowl and establishing a not-for-profit organization to
manage the resort in a manner that is both environmentally and
culturally sensitive, creating the most eco-friendly ski resort
in the world....
Navajo-Hopi Observer - 18 AUG 2010
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - During the Flagstaff City Council's special
meeting on Monday, Aug. 30, the Navajo Nation will once again
adamantly oppose any and all expansion to the Arizona Snowbowl
ski resort. A proposal currently sits before the City Council
that, if passed, would allow Flagstaff to sell potable water to
the ski resort for snowmaking purposes.
On July 21, the 21st Navajo Nation Council overwhelmingly voted
in favor of Resolution CJY-34-10 that urged the Flagstaff City
Council and Flagstaff Water Commission to "disapprove a proposed
contract to sell potable water to Arizona Snowbowl for
snowmaking on Dook'o'oslííd (San Francisco Peaks)."...
United Nations Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon: "Indigenous Peoples Still Experience Racism, Poor
Health and Disproportionate Poverty" Message on
the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples, 09 August 2010 VIENNA,
09 August (UN Information
Service)—The world's indigenous peoples have preserved a vast
amount of humanity's cultural history. Indigenous peoples speak
a majority of the world's languages, and have inherited and
passed on a wealth of knowledge, artistic forms and religious
and cultural traditions. On this International Day of the
World's Indigenous Peoples, we reaffirm our commitment to their
wellbeing....
But we must do even more.
Indigenous peoples still experience racism, poor health and
disproportionate poverty. In many societies, their languages,
religions and cultural traditions are stigmatized and shunned.
The first-ever UN report on the State of the World's Indigenous
Peoples in January 2010 set out some alarming statistics....
Snowbowl
Case Shifts to Use of Potable Water Fake-snow Fight Takes New Direction Capitol Media Services - 26 JUL 2010
PHOENIX - A
federal judge is hoping to get the owners of one of the state's
best-known ski resorts to promise they won't start construction
on an artificial-snow system for at least another two weeks.
At a hearing
last week, U.S. District Judge Mary Murguia noted that Flagstaff
officials are expected to decide by then whether they intend to
sell drinkable water to the Arizona Snowbowl....
Judge
Blocks Parts of Arizona Immigration Law Associated Press - 28 JUL 2010
PHOENIX (AP) --
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial
parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect,
delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown.
The overall law
will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that
angered opponents–including sections that required officers to
check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws....
Hopi Council Approves Carbon Capture Storage Project Navajo-Hopi Observer - 27 JUL 2010
KYKOTSMOVI, Ariz. - In
a surprise move, the Hopi Tribal Council approved a
controversial project with an 8 to 4 vote, giving four western
energy companies (WEC Consortium) and the Hopi Tribe the
go-ahead to evaluate geologic characteristics of the Black Mesa
Basin for potential commercial storage of carbon dioxide (CO2)
in a new method known as carbon capture sequestration (CCS).
Nada Talayumptewa, chair of the Hopi Tribe's Energy Team and
council representative from Kykotsmovi, placed the action item
and resolution on the council's agenda....
Hopi
Council Visited by New 'Hopi Silent Majority' Group Navajo-Hopi Observer - 13 JUL 2010
KYKOTSMOVI,
Ariz.—Last Tuesday morning, Hopi tribal
member Jack Harding of Kykotsmovi marched
with his newly formed community group called
"Hopi Senom-The Silent Majority" to deliver
a letter to the Hopi Tribal Council.
The letter
expressed a number of community concerns and
dissatisfaction with decisions being made.
The letter demanded that Chairman LeRoy
Shingoitewa come before the Hopi villages
within 30 days to give appropriate
information and explanation for all the
recent Hopi Council political activity....
Hopi
Council Again Rejects Snowmaking Arizona Daily Sun - 10 JUL 2010
The Hopi
Tribe's legislative body voted unanimously Thursday to
use any remaining legal avenues to stop snowmaking at
Arizona Snowbowl, the tribe's leader said Friday.
"Ultimately and straightforwardly, we're just opposed to
any snowmaking at all," said Chairman LeRoy
Shingoitewa.
"The
Hopi people's lives are based on our values and what
we've been told to protect in our lives," he said. "And
as Hopis, we just cannot go against the teachings we've
been taught to guarantee the survival of our Hopi
people."...
Work
Stalled on Snowbowl Snowmaking First Tracks Online - 10 JUL 2010
Flagstaff, Arizona—Work
on Arizona Snowbowl's long debated snowmaking project
has been placed on hold, both by the U.S. Forest Service
and the ski area's owners....
Snowmaking Opponents File for Time Arizona Daily Sun - 07 JUL 2010
An attorney
representing snowmaking opponents has asked a judge to
temporarily prohibit construction at Arizona Snowbowl.
Attorney Howard Shanker filed a request for a temporary restraining
order on Tuesday with Judge Mary Murguia, in the U.S. District
Court for Arizona.
The action comes after Friday's decision by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to allow snowmaking and related construction on the
Peaks, an approval that becomes effective next week....
Hopi, Navajo Group Meets to Discuss Peabody, Navajo Generating
Station Newly formed Navajo-Hopi Observer - 06 JUL 2010 KYKOTSMOVI,
Ariz—Over the past couple of months, a new Hopi and Navajo
grassroots group has been meeting in the hopes of developing a
more formal posture on tribal lease reopeners regarding coal
revenues and alternative methods of water usage at Peabody Coal
and the Navajo Generating Station (NGS).
The
"Inter-tribal COALition" held a meeting June 26 at the Hopi
Veterans Memorial Center conference room in Kykotsmovi in front
of a capacity crowd of Hopi, Navajo and other individuals who
are interested in working together to develop formal proposals
to present to the Navajo and Hopi tribal councils that will
upgrade current lease conditions–environmentally and
economically–with Navajo Generating Station and Peabody
Western Coal company....
New Rules Issued on Coal Air Pollution New York Times - 06 JUL 2010
WASHINGTON — Acting under federal court order, the Obama
administration proposed new air-quality rules on Tuesday for
coal-burning power plants that officials said would bring major
reductions in soot and smog from Texas to the Eastern Seaboard.
The Environmental Protection Agency is issuing the rules to replace
a plan from the administration of President George W. Bush that
a federal judge threw out in 2008, citing numerous flaws in the
calculation of air-quality effects....
Sale of
Snowbowl in Play during Permit Delay Arizona Daily Sun - 03 JUL 2010
Negotiations during the past
year regarding the fate of Arizona Snowbowl has been tumultuous
and far-ranging.
Current U.S. Supreme Court
nominee Elena Kagan asked the nation's highest court not to hear
the case opposing snowmaking in May 2009, when she was working
as solicitor general.
The Supreme Court did decline to
hear the case last June, but a final decision remained in limbo,
held up at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Snowbowl was
first approved for an upgrade by the Coconino National Forest in
2005....
Snowbowl Can Start Snowmaking Construction July 12 Arizona Daily Sun - 02 JUL 2010
Arizona Snowbowl is
cleared to make snow for skiing on the San Francisco Peaks, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture decided today.
Construction could begin as soon as July 12, barring more legal
action.
The decision on the ski area reached President Obama’s cabinet
level, with a letter today signed by Agriculture Secretary Tom
Vilsack....
BP GULF
OIL DISASTER
NOTE: 1
barrel of oil = 158.987295 liters, or 42 U.S. gallons.
The current flow rate at the BP Gulf oil leak is estimated to be
between 60,000 and 100,000 barrels per day, depending on whether
you believe BP's estimate or those of independent scientists who
have studied the leak. That's between 2.52 and 4.2 million
gallons of crude gushing into the Gulf of Mexico per day.
Currently BP is capturing approximately 20,000 barrels of oil
per day, leaving 40,000 - 80,000 barrels, or 1.68 - 3.36 million
gallons per day gushing into the Gulf.
Biologists Find 'Dead Zones' around BP Oil Spill in Gulf
Methane at 100,000 times normal levels have been creating
oxygen-depleted areas devoid of life near BP's Deepwater Horizon
spill, according to two independent scientist Guardian - 30 JUN 2010 Scientists are
confronting growing evidence that BP's ruptured well in the Gulf
of Mexico is creating oxygen-depleted "dead zones" where fish
and other marine life cannot survive.
In two separate research voyages, independent scientists have
detected what were described as "astonishingly high" levels of
methane, or natural gas, bubbling from the well site, setting
off a chain of reactions that suck the oxygen out of the water.
In some cases, methane concentrations are 100,000 times normal
levels....
US Interior Issues $5.2 M Civil Penalty to BP America for
False Reporting on Tribal Lands Department of the Interior - 30 JUN 2010
DENVER June 30, 2010—The Department of the Interior's
Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM)
announced today that BP America Inc. has been assessed a civil
penalty of $5.2 million for submitting "false, inaccurate, or
misleading" reports for energy production that occurred on
Southern Ute Indian Tribal lands in southwestern Colorado. The
civil penalty announced today is not related to the BP oil spill
in the Gulf of Mexico.
"It is simply unacceptable for companies to repeatedly
misreport production, particularly when it interferes with the
auditing process," said BOEM Director Michael R. Bromwich. "We
are committed to collecting every dollar due from energy
production that occurs on Federal and American Indian lands, and
accurate reporting is crucial to that effort."...
The Oil
Spill's Worst-Case Scenario? Efforts to stop the flow may have set the
stage for an even bigger catastrophe Newsweek - 27 JUN 2010
The grim video
feed of oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico
got even worse on Wednesday after BP had to
remove the containment cap because a robotic
submarine collided with a vent. Even before
this setback to contain the massive flow of
oil into the gulf, online speculation has
fueled fears that the leaks could be much
greater than what's been shown. According to
these theories, such leaks at the bottom
that is, below the sea floor could present a
new worst-case scenario for the disaster,
which has now stretched past its second
month....
Ninth Circuit Revives
Indian Preference Lawsuit against Peabody indianz.com - 24 JUN 2010
The 9th
Circuit Court of Appeals revived a messy Indian preference
lawsuit against Peabody Energy, the world's largest coal
company, and said the Navajo Nation can be joined in the case.
Peabody
entered into agreements with the Navajo Nation to operate coal
mines on the reservation. The leases, which were approved by the
Interior Department, include a provision that states Navajos
will be given preference in employment.
"Former
Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall, who served as Secretary
during the period the leases were drafted and approved, stated
in a declaration submitted to the district court that DOI
drafted the leases and required the inclusion of the Navajo
employment preferences," the court observed. "This statement is
undisputed."
The
dispute began when Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a
federal agency, sued Peabody for allegedly failing to hire
Native Americans who are not Navajo....
Navajo Nation Must Move away from Coal Mining Arizona Republic - 22 JUN 2010
The April 5 disaster
at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia that killed 29
coal miners has brought a renewed attention to the issue of mine
safety.
The Obama administration has announced a review of existing
regulations and Rep. George Miller publicly released a list of
the 48 mines with a pattern of serious safety violations. Only
one from Arizona made the list.
Arizona being the top copper-producing state in the country, you
might think it was one of the numerous copper mines. Or maybe
one of the gold or silver mines that dot the state.
In fact, it was the Kayenta Coal Mine, located way up on the Navajo
Reservation, just a few miles from where I grew up....
Court Clears Way for Uranium Mining Courthouse News - 18 JUN 2010
(CN) -The 10th Circuit
cleared the way for a Texas company to seek the last permit it
needs to begin extracting nearly 14 million pounds of uranium
from the ground near the Navajo community of Churchrock by
ruling that the mine operation is not on Indian land.
The Denver-based appellate panel, sitting en banc, determined that
New Mexico, not the Environmental Protection Agency, has the
authority to issue an underground injection control permit to
Hydro Resources Inc.
The permit will allow the Houston-based company to extract uranium
by injecting chemicals into the ground....
Summer Solstice at Puvungna - Monday, June 21st
Long Beach, CA
Please join us for the Summer Solstice, Monday, June 21st, 2010.
It is also the National Day of Prayer for Protection of Sacred
Sites.
We will gather at Puvungna, on the campus of CSU Long Beach,
from 4 pm until after sunset....
Coal Plant a Divisive Issue between Navajo Leaders Ventura County Star - 15 JUN 2010
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP)
-- Navajo Vice President Ben Shelly said Tuesday that he opposes
a planned coal-fired power plant on the reservation, even though
his boss is standing by the project.
Shelly has been campaigning for the tribe's top job on a promise to
quash the Desert Rock Energy Project, which has been stalled for
years. He said he would lobby the Tribal Council to rescind its
approval if he's elected president....
Gulf Oil Spill a "Slow Death" for Houma Tribe Falmouth-Air.Blogspot.com - 15 JUN 2010
Spread out across
several parishes in coastal southeastern Louisiana, the
17,000-member United Houma Nation, a state-recognized tribe, has
prepared for and survived some of the most devastating
hurricanes. But the oil leak that has pumped millions of gallons
of toxic crude into the Gulf of Mexico is nothing like a
hurricane. It’s far worse.
Houma citizens have been living, hunting, fishing, shrimping,
crabbing, trapping and harvesting oysters in the Louisiana’s
coastal marshes and wetlands for hundreds of years. Yet as
Principal Chief Brenda Dardar Robichaux last week said in her
testimony before members of the House Subcommittee on Insular
Affairs Wildlife and Oceans, which is investigating the impacts
of the BP spill, “This lifestyle is now in jeopardy.”...
Pressure
Builds in Hopi Dismissals and Disputes Indian Country Today - 15 JUN 2010
KYKOTSMOVI,
Ariz.—Dismissals and a general shakeup appear to be the latest
phase in a long-simmering controversy over tribal leadership and
village representation on the Hopi Tribal Council.
Although the
most recent round of infighting began some time ago, a tribal
council meeting May 13 brought matters to a head when the
tribe’s long-time attorney, Scott Canty, was dismissed, and
Tutuveni, the Hopi tribal newspaper, was reinstated after being
shut down last December.
Suspended
pending a hearing was Mary Felter, tribal secretary, who had
been acting CEO of an interim government created after the
resignation of the former tribal chairman and vice chairman,
sources said. The status of that government and its actions were
also called into question at the recent meeting....
Chief Prepares to Sell DWP Assets
General Manager Austin Beutner hopes to sell L.A.'s share of a
coal-fired generating station in Arizona and is weighing a sale
and lease-back deal on the utility's landmark downtown building. Los Angeles Times - 15 JUN 2010
The top executive at the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is laying the
groundwork for a sale of some of the agency's biggest
assets—including the utility's iconic downtown Los Angeles
headquarters—as it seeks to cover rising costs without raising
electricity rates.
DWP Interim General Manager Austin Beutner said Monday that he
would not pursue any additional power rate increases for the
remainder of the calendar year. But that decision would come
with a series of tradeoffs, he said....
Sacred Sheep
Revive Navajo Tradition, for Now Vermont Public Radio - 13 JUN 2010
For as long as
anyone can remember, Churro sheep have been central to Navajo
life and spirituality, yet the animal was nearly exterminated in
modern times by outside forces who deemed it an inferior breed.
Now, on a Navajo reservation of northern Arizona and New Mexico,
the Churro is being shepherded back to health....
National Day of Prayer to Protect Native Sacred Places
Native American Rights Fund - 10 JUN 2010
The National Day of Prayer to Protect Native American Sacred Places
is being observed at the Native American Rights Fund on Monday,
June 21, 2010.
The public is welcome to a sunrise ceremony that will be held on
NARF's front lawn beginning at 6:00 a.m. The program is expected
to last for one hour with a prayer ceremony. Community members
have been invited to speak, as well as other NARF staff.
Speakers will be followed by a moment of silence to show concern
for the sacred places that are being damaged and destroyed
today....
Court Gives DOE Green Light to Continue Yucca
Shutdown Las Vegas Review-Journal - 04 MAY 2010
WASHINGTON—The Department of Energy has been given the green
light to move full speed ahead with its shutdown plans for the
Yucca Mountain nuclear waste program.
A federal appeals court late Monday dismissed a request to
freeze termination activities until later this year, after judges
have weighed lawsuits challenging the shutdown.
The order clears the way for the DOE to resume dismantling the
Nevada waste repository program that the Obama administration
wants to shelve. Remaining federal employees were given pre-layoff
notices earlier this year, and the DOE was scheduled to issue a
termination letter to the project's management contractor....
Revision to Arizona Law Sets Conditions for Questions by the
Police New York Times - 30 APR 2010
Phoenix (AP)—Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed a follow-on bill
approved by Arizona legislators that makes revisions to the
state’s sweeping law against illegal immigration. She said the
changes should quell concerns that the measure will lead to racial
profiling.
The law requires local and state law enforcement officers to
question people about their immigration status if there is reason
to suspect they are in the country illegally, and it makes it a
state crime to be in the United States illegally.
Governor Brewer said the changes should lay to rest concerns of
opponents....
Leonard Benally
Opposes Peabody Renewal Indian Country Toady - 30 APR 2010
Peabody Western Coal Co. is operating illegally in the pursuit of
profit at the expense of people’s lives, livestock, wildlife and
the environment. Peabody is illegally giving money to the Navajo
Nation Council prior to getting an approval on the Black Mesa and
Kayenta mine lease re-opener. Peabody is using blood money of our
land and life.
Too many of our people have died, without a health assessment done
of respiratory problems, black lung, silicosis, cancer, kidney
failure, despair and suicide in the name and pursuit of coal and
high royalties....
Christian "Doctrine" Fueled
Dehumanization: UNPFII Report Indian Country Today - 29 APR 2010
NEW YORK – A groundbreaking report examining the roots of
Christian domination over indigenous peoples and their lands was
released this week at the United Nations Permanent Forum on
Indigenous Issues.
North American Representative to the Permanent Forum Tonya
Gonnella Frichner, an attorney and founder of the American Indian
Law Alliance, presented a preliminary study on the “Doctrine of
Discovery” and its historical impacts on indigenous peoples, with
a focus on how it became part of United States laws.
“The first thing indigenous peoples share is the experience of
having been invaded by those who treated us without compassion
because they considered us to be less than human,” said Frichner,
a citizen of the Onondaga Nation serving her first term on the
16-member UNPFII....
Cobell and Keepseagle in Limbo Indian Country Today - 28 APR 2010
WASHINGTON – The possibility of two substantial financial
settlements involving Indian interests continues to hang in the
balance, with several well-publicized deadlines having passed
without federal action.
The separate and unique cases are known as Cobell v. Salazar and
Keepseagle v. Vilsack. The former centers on claims by thousands
of Indians that the federal government mismanaged billions of
dollars in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen
by the Department of the Interior for Indian trustees since 1887.
The latter involves thousands of tribal plaintiffs who contend
that Department of Agriculture officials denied or delayed a
number of farm and ranch loans and emergency assistance
applications by Indians....
Russell: Don’t Visit Arizona Without Your Papers Indian Country Today - 27 APR 2010
I was slow to learn about Indians and complexion, having been born
with the name Teehee in a small Oklahoma town. Nobody would
question my ethnicity and if I wished to deny it there was no
chance. Indians were the largest “minority” in town and I was a
Cherokee on Creek territory, a double minority. However, just
about all of the discrimination based on color was inflicted upon
African-Americans.
When I got involved in the repatriation movement in Texas, I
learned that my light complexion was a mixed blessing. I spent a
lot of time playing tag team with a dark-skinned Pawnee lawyer and
it was plain to us both that some people would rather listen to me
than to him. On the other hand, one legislator made me prove I was
“a federal Indian” because in his mind I did not look the part.
And I overheard, at a meeting of archeologists where I was being
discussed as a troublemaker in advance of my speech (but not quite
enough in advance because I was just outside the door) this
backhanded compliment: “if he would work half as hard at being
white as he does at being Indian, he could!”...
Treatment of Wabanaki Questioned Episcopal Committee files human rights record critique with
UN Indian Country Today - 26 APR 2010
PORTLAND, Maine – The Episcopal Diocese of Maine Committee on
Indian Relations has filed a hard-hitting critique with the United
Nations Human Rights Council on Maine’s human rights record
against the Wabanaki nations and the federal government’s failure
to rein in state violations of domestic and international laws and
standards meant to protect indigenous peoples.
The U.S. government’s human rights record is currently under
assessment in a process called the Universal Periodic Review,
which was created by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006 as a
mechanism by which the human rights records of all 192 U.N. member
states are reviewed every four years....
Arizona Governor Signs Immigration Law:
Foes Promise Fight Arizona Central - 24 APR 2010
Moments after Gov. Jan Brewer signed Arizona's controversial new
immigration law Friday, opponents promised legal challenges
and economic sanctions against a state still reeling from
the housing meltdown.
Before and after Senate Bill 1070 became law at 1:30 p.m., civil
unrest punctuated by loud protests and several minor clashes
took place at the state Capitol, where more than 1,500
people gathered to chant, pray and either praise or
castigate the Republican governor....
Supreme Court to Hear Trust Case
by Rob Capriccioso Indian Country Today - 23 APR 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a trust law case
involving tribal interests. The case centers on government trust
abuse allegations from the Tohono O’odham Nation of Arizona.
The tribe had filed its own historical accounting lawsuit, similar
to the well-known Cobell litigation, in the U.S. District Court in
Washington, D.C. It filed another suit in the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims seeking monetary damages.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the tribe can
pursue both cases because they seek different outcomes.
The Obama administration has disagreed, appealing to the Supreme
Court.
United States Re-examines Opposition to UN Declaration Indian Country Today - 23 APR 2010
NEW YORK – Political tides are turning as
international support for the United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples continues to grow, putting
greater pressure on Canada and the United States to fully
endorse it.
One day after New Zealand reversed its position and supported the
Declaration, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced that the
United States is undertaking a review of its opposition....
SoCal Edison Bails Out of Coal Plant New America Media - 07 APR 2010
Even as Pres. Obama is touting coal as part of a clean energy
future, one of the largest utilities in California is trying to
distance itself from the fossil fuel.
Southern California Edison (SCE), a subsidiary of Edison
International, intends to divest its 48 percent share of Four
Corners Power Plant by the end of 2016. Located west of
Farmington, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation reservation, the
power plant represents SCE’s last remaining stake in a coal-fired
power plant.
In a March 1 financial disclosure to federal regulators, the
company indicated that California law prohibits it from making
long-term investments in generators that emit high levels of
greenhouse gases, which include most coal power plants....
Jeff Biggers: Clean-Coal Myth Buster New America Media - 13 MAR 2010 Editor’s Note: The Obama administration has
embraced the concept of “clean coal” as one prong of a U.S. energy
policy. But environmental activists say coal and the process for
mining it can never be clean. Jeff Biggers, journalist and author
of “Reckoning at Eagle Creek, The United States of Appalachia,”
spoke to NAM environmental editor Ngoc Nguyen about his family’s
history in coal country and why he thinks clean coal is a myth....
The memorial
service for former Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma
Mankiller will be held at the Cherokee Nation Cultural
Grounds at 11 a.m., Saturday April 10.
Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief of the
Cherokee Nation, passed away this morning. Mankiller
served 12 years in elective office at the Cherokee
Nation, the first two as Deputy Principal Chief
followed by 10 years as Principal Chief. She retired
from public office in 1995. Among her many honors,
Mankiller was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom by President Clinton.
"Our personal and national hearts are heavy with sorrow and sadness
with the passing this morning of Wilma Mankiller,"
said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee
Nation. "We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize
she has left us but we should reflect on what legacy
she leaves us. We are better people and a stronger
tribal nation because her example of Cherokee
leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace,
determination and decisiveness. When we become
disheartened, we will be inspired by remembering how
Wilma proceeded undaunted through so many trials and
tribulations. Years ago, she and her husband Charlie
Soap showed the
world what Cherokee people can do when given the chance,
when they organized the self-help water line in the Bell
community. She said Cherokees in that community learned
that it was their choice, their lives, their community and
their future. Her gift to us is the lesson that our lives
and future are for us to decide. We can carry on that
Cherokee legacy by teaching our children that lesson.
Please keep Wilma’s family, especially her husband Charlie
and her daughters, Gina and Felicia, in your prayers."
Mankiller requested that any gifts in her honor be made as
donations to One Fire Development Corporation, a non-profit
dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic
development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of
the diverse tribal communities around the world. Tax deductible
donations can be made at
www.wilmamankiller.com as well as
www.onefiredevelopment.org.
The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220
Southmore, Houston, TX 77004.
Her memorial service will be Saturday at 11a.m. at the Cherokee
Nation Cultural Grounds in Tahlequah.... Read more and view the Cherokee Nation's slide show tribute at the
Cherokee Nation's Web site:
http://www.cherokee.org/NewsRoom/FullStory/3185/Page/Default.aspx
Highly
successful people share the ability to remain
optimistic in the face of lifes greatest challenges,
Wilma Mankiller told Northeastern State University
graduates during the institutions centennial
commencement ceremonies May 16, 2009.
Council Still Mulling Peabody Royalty Agreement Navajo Times - 01 APR 2010
WINDOW ROCK—The Navajo Nation Council will meet today, April
1, at 10 a.m. to discuss amendments to the leasing agreement
between the tribe and Peabody Western Coal Co. for the Black Mesa
mine complex.
The amendments provide for a reopener to negotiate increases in
the coal royalty rates and the royalty tax caps for each
successive 10-year period.
The coal royalty rates are 12.5 percent - the minimum
established by Congress in 1977 under the Mineral Leasing Act -
and 6.25 percent during the term of the leasing agreement,
according to the resolution.
The royalty tax caps are 20.4 percent and 14.25 percent during
the term of the agreement....
E.P.A. to Limit Water Pollution From Mining New York Times - 01 APR 2010
The Environmental Protection Agency issued tough new water quality
guidelines on Thursday that could curtail some of the most
contentious coal mining techniques used across Appalachia.
In announcing the guidelines, Lisa P. Jackson, the agency’s
administrator, cited evolving science on the effects of
mountaintop removal mining, an aggressive form of coal extraction
that uses explosives and vast machinery to tear off hilltops to
expose coal seams, dumping the resulting rubble into streams and
valleys below. The goal of the new rules, Ms. Jackson said, is to
prevent “significant and irreversible damage” to Appalachian
watersheds.
"Let me be clear,” Ms. Jackson said during a phone call with
reporters. “This is not about ending coal mining. This is about
ending coal mining pollution.”...
Navajo Activists Win Victory, Open Coal Talks to Public New America Media - 23 MAR 2010
When Navajo activist Anna Frazier heard the news last December, she
immediately understood that the seemingly small act was a big
deal.
For the first time, the Navajo tribal government would open to the
public its negotiations with Peabody Energy over its royalty rates
for coal extracted at Black Mesa’s Kayenta mine. Instead of
rubber-stamping another 10-year lease with Peabody, there would be
open discussion of the lease agreement that brings millions of
dollars to the Navajo Nation and earns many more millions for
Peabody, the largest coal mining company in the world.
Pressure from community members like Frazier induced the Navajo
government to negotiate the lease in public. And that reflects a
growing environmental activism among tribal members, who are
asking more questions about Peabody and their nation’s reliance on
coal. They also have stepped up their organizing. The proposed
public hearings on the coal lease is the latest in a series of
victories won by Navajo citizens over the last few years. It
demonstrates a steady chipping away at the authority of their
tribal government and greater participation by citizens as
political decision-makers, especially on the contentious issue of
transitioning away from a coal-based economy....
American Indian Religious
Freedom Act and Amendments
SENAA International - 23 MAR 2010
This is a compilation of full text versions of the American Indian
Religious Freedom Act of 1978 and its 1994 amendments.
Whenever I'm back in Flagstaff, remind me to
not drink the water!
Cyndy Cole's article in the Arizona Daily
Sun, "Tribes: New Snowmaking Plan No Better", is really an
eye-opener to a heretofore hidden danger of visiting Flagstaff,
Arizona. It's clear, now, that the water served at local
restaurants and coming from the shower heads of the motel rooms
are to be avoided by anyone who values his or her health--and it
certainly isn't suitable for making artificial snow.
Maybe the way things are done in the Southwest are different from
the Southeast. In the Southeast, waste water is purified as much
as possible, then released it into the nearest waterway. Nature
finishes the job of purification. Chlorine kills fish, so it isn't
used in "reclaimed" water that is going into local rivers. "Reclaimed" waste water is
certainly not dumped into our potable water supply.
The very notion that it is possible for "part"
of an aquifer to be mixed with treated waste water, snowmelt, and
rainfall, without affecting the rest of the aquifer, as the
article suggests, is a
ridiculous concept. Anyone who has had grade school science knows...
Some of the tribes that oppose Arizona
Snowbowl's plans to make snow with reclaimed wastewater say the
new proposal to use a slightly different Flagstaff water source is
no better.
Members speaking on behalf of the Hopi,
Havasupai and Navajo tribes say U.S. Department of Agriculture
efforts to pump groundwater downstream of the Rio de Flag
wastewater treatment plant doesn't negate their concerns about
making snow.
How much that is the case varies by tribe.
The city of Flagstaff considers the well water,
pumped from a depth of 1,500 feet, to be drinkable with only
minimal treatment. The water in that part of the aquifer is a
combination of discharged treated wastewater, rainfall and
snowmelt....
Ancient Culture Hidden away
with Park Closure Native American Times - 08 MAR 2010 PHOENIX (AP)—Take the interstate to Flagstaff, head east toward Albuquerque and drive until the snow disappears. A few miles east of Winslow, a road that once led to the
ruins of an ancient Hopi civilization now dead-ends at
a locked gate.
“Due to budget reductions,” a sign
reads, “park closed.”
But the people closing down Homolovi Ruins State Park are expecting visitors and, by cell phone, say the gate is not yet locked and to
come on in. Two miles down a bumpy road to the
visitors
center, a man wearing thin gloves is packing
pottery and petroglyphs into white-cardboard boxes....
Secret Snowbowl Talks Break Open Arizona Daily Sun - 09 MAR 2010
A federal agency is pressing the city of Flagstaff to offer potable
water for snowmaking at Arizona Snowbowl that does not come
directly from reclaimed wastewater.
In addition, Snowbowl could get government aid to cover the $11
million in higher costs for the water over 20 winters.
Arizona's two U.S. senators are blasting the plan as a waste of
taxpayer money and a violation of court decisions in favor of
making snow at Snowbowl with treated effluent....
Closing Coal Plant a Numbers Game Arizona Daily Sun - 08 MAR 2010
Members of several conservation groups opposed to coal mining have
contributed to a report saying the owners of Navajo Generating
Station in Page would be best off financially if they closed the
coal plant.
Figuring in financial costs for releasing greenhouse gases under
some sort of federal limits (which don't exist today), and
uncertain costs for coal supplies into the future, the authors
conclude that Salt River Project could make perhaps $158 million
by shutting Navajo and investing it in renewable energy
instead....
The Myths of
Native American Identity High Country News - 01 MAR 2010
If Paul Chaat Smith ever needs another job—he's currently a curator at the National Museum of the American
Indian at the Smithsonian—he would make an excellent stand-up
comic. Unexpectedly, his latest book, Everything You Know About
Indians Is Wrong, is a funny and painful collection of essays
about a deeply serious subject: the ways in which Indian
stereotypes infiltrate culture, damaging Indians and Non-Indians
alike.
"We are reputed to be stoic," Smith writes, in
regard to the myth of the strong, silent Indian, "but in reality
it's hard to get us to shut up."...
Power (and financial) Struggle High Country News - 01 MAR 2010
Despite running head-to-head with President Obama's State of the
Union speech and a talk on campus by Native American writer
Leslie Marmon Silko, our Jan. 27 panel discussion on energy,
activism and the role of the media on the Navajo and Hopi
Nations drew more than 100 Tucsonians. "Power Struggle,"
co-hosted by the University of Arizona School of Journalism,
focused on coal mining on Black Mesa and the prospects for
green alternatives,
including wind and
solar power, but it ranged broadly across issues of tribal
sovereignty and identity.
Navajo Times reporter and HCN board member Marley Shebala told the
audience that outside journalists covering Indian country
often fail to "think Indian" when covering issues on the
reservations. As a result, she said, they often accept
tribal government press releases at face value, even though
those governments were set up by the federal government to
rubberstamp corporate exploitation of tribal resources....
(Alternative
Link)
Wilma Pearl
Mankiller
Former
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller
Diagnosed with
Stage IV Pancreatic Cancer Cherokee Nation - 02 MAR 2010
Charlie Soap
regrets to announce his wife Wilma Mankiller has been
diagnosed with Stage IV Metastatic Pancreatic Cancer.
Mankiller is an author, lecturer and former Principal
Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Mankiller served 12
years in elected office at the Cherokee Nation, the
first two as Deputy Principal Chief followed by 10
years as Principal Chief. She retired from public
office in 1995. Among her many honors, Mankiller has
been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by
President Clinton. Soap requests that the public
respect the family’s privacy during this time.
In a brief statement, Mankiller said:
"I decided to issue this statement because I want my family and
friends to know that I am mentally and spiritually
prepared for this journey; a journey that
all human beings will take at one time or another."...
Science Fiction Horror Story No Greater Joy - March-April 2010
Which word in the title is erroneous:
Science—Fiction—Horror—Story?
It’s the word fiction. The food you eat is no
longer the food God made for the human body. Evolutionary
scientists have irreversibly changed the DNA of plant, animal, and
human cells. They are uncreating God’s creation, rendering staple
foods unfit for human or animal consumption....
Uranium
Mining Begins Near Grand Canyon:
Thousands of Claims Threaten
Public Health & Sacred Lands Peace, Earth & Justice News - 24 FEB 2010
Grand Canyon, AZ — In defiance of legal
challenges and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the north rim of the
Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been
operating since December 2009.
Denison plans on extracting 335 tons of uranium
ore per day out of the “Arizona 1 Mine”, which is set to operate
four days per week. The hazardous ore will be hauled by truck more
than 300 miles through towns and communities to the company’s
White Mesa mill located near Blanding, Utah.
After being pressured by environmental groups, U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar initially called for a
two-year moratorium on new mining claims in a buffer zone of 1
million acres around Grand Canyon National Park, but the
moratorium doesn’t include existing claims such as Denison’s. The
moratorium also doesn’t address mining claims outside of the
buffer zone.
The Grand Canyon is ancestral homeland to the Havasupai and Hualapai Nations. Although both Indigenous Nations have banned uranium mining on their reservations the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management may permit thousands of
mining claims on surrounding lands....
EPA Seeks Input on Black Mesa Mine Wastewater Permit EPA - 18 FEB 2010
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold public hearings
on Feb. 23 and 24 to allow additional public participation and
comment on the proposed wastewater permit renewal for the Peabody
Western Coal Company Black Mesa / Kayenta Complex.
Both hearings will be held from 6-9 p.m. On Feb. 23 the hearings
will be held in Kayenta, Ariz., at the Kayenta Chapter House on
Highway 163 and on Feb. 24 in Kykotsmovi at the Veterans Memorial
Center....
ASK ELOUISE cobellsettlement.com - 16 FEB2010
Dear Indian Country As many of you know, on December 7, 2009, we signed a
settlement agreement with the government which marked the first
step toward resolving the long running Cobell class action
lawsuit. Since that time, I’ve been asked hundreds of questions
about the case and the settlement agreement. I can’t answer every
question in one letter, but I am committed to writing an open Ask
Elouise letter every week answering many of your important
questions....
Third Weather-related Death Reported on Navajo Nation Farmington Daily Times - 02 FEB 2010
CRYSTAL — An 88-year-old woman was found dead near the Crystal
Chapter on the Navajo Nation last Wednesday, police reported.
The woman, whose name was not released, was found in the middle of
the road about seven miles north of Crystal.
"Out of respect for the family, we're not releasing the name," said
Selena Manychildren, spokeswoman for the Navajo Nation Emergency
Operation Center.
The Chinle Police District of the Navajo Nation Division of Public
Safety reports that the woman insisted on visiting her sister at 4
a.m., and when her vehicle got stuck in the mud, she continued on
foot. A road-grader operator discovered the woman's body about 25
yards from her vehicle....
KYKOTSMOVI
VILLAGE — Spectacular mesas dominate the skyline in
this northeastern Arizona wonderland, but these days
people are looking beyond the rock formations for
something much more important: helicopters.
Military choppers have been hauling
crucial food, water, coal and wood to rural residents
isolated by one of the nastiest winter storms in the
state's history. An estimated $1.4 million had been
spent on the relief operation as of late last week.
More than 22,000 meals have been
distributed to stranded storm victims, along with
nearly 27,000 gallons of water, 2,500 blankets from
the Red Cross and 125 cots. The rescue effort covers
some 20,000 square miles across the Navajo and Hopi
reservations, much of it covered by 5-foot to 8-foot
snowdrifts that make road travel impossible....
Arizonans Dig
out from Massive Snowstorm CNN - 28 JAN 2010
A bulldozer operator driving along a
quiet, snow-covered road inside the Navajo Nation territory in
northeast Arizona in recent days saw an unexpected pathway on a
hill.
He soon discovered a mother and her two
children making their way toward him, after struggling for nearly
a mile through deep snow that had trapped them inside their home
for at least two days.
The driver gave them food and water and called
for help. The trio was picked up by a rescue helicopter, said Eric
Neitzel with the Arizona Division of Emergency Management....
More Snow for Flag as Rez
Digs Out Arizona Daily Sun - 27 JAN 2010
Flagstaff could see another 3 to 7 inches of
snow from storm starting today and ending Thursday.
There is a chance for greater snowfall—perhaps 8 inches—southeast of Flagstaff.
The National Weather Service in Bellemont is
warning this could "exacerbate problems with heavy snow loading"
for flat or slightly sloping roofs that have not been cleared from
last week's snow....
BREAKING
- Operation "Winter Storm"; Navajo Nation Receiving
Much Needed Aid after Crippling Winter Storm WMICentral - 24 JAN 2010
The AZ All-Risk Incident Management Team is prepping to coordinate
one of the largest humanitarian missions in Arizona.
The team will be delivering medicine, food, fuel and hay to the
remote people on Navajo & Hopi lands that are isolated by
unprecedented amounts of snow. The team will be mobilizing out of
Holbrook and Winslow beginning today.
There are approximately 150,000 people affected by the winter
weather conditions across Arizona....
This is
artist Jana Mashonee's first music video, filmed amid
the beautiful landscape of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal
Park
on the Arizona-Utah border.
Through a superb
combination of dazzling visual effects and a blend of contemporary and traditional music that speaks to the soul, she portrays a young Native woman on her journey of discovery of her people's tradition, of their spirituality, of self, and of the power that
they hold. More importantly, she discovers that only by embracing her
Native
heritage–and herself–is she truly liberated.
—Al Swilling,
Founder, SENAA International
Jana's music video, "The Enlightened Time," won Best Music Video award at Queens International, Buffalo
Niagara, and Accolades Film Festivals in 2007 and 2008.
—www.janamashonee.com>Info>Hot Sheet
CONGRATULATIONS,
BLACKFIRE, ON YOUR NAMA AWARD! SENAA International sends a big
"Congratulations" to Blackfire for their win at
the Native American Music Awards' 10th annual celebration
on Saturday night, 04 October.
Congratulations on your NAMA award. You
certainly earned it.
Thank you for all you have done and continue
to do to raise public awareness of the racist forced
relocations, and the human rights and Civil Rights
violations against Indigenous Americans in this
"enlightened" 21st century.
For
details about Blackfire and the other NAMA award winners,
visit Brenda Norrell's Censored
News. Also visit Blackfire's Web site at http://www.blackfire.net/
Problems
Plague 'Extreme Makeover' House The Navajo Times - Cindy Yurth - 03 JAN
2009
Originally Published 25 SEP 2008
PIÑON, AZ—There is reality TV, and
then there is reality. The difference is, reality
keeps going after the cameras stop rolling.
The "Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition" episode featuring the Georgia Yazzie
family of Piñon ended happily.
The family oohed and aahed as they were led through their
new hogan-style home, and rejoiced at the thought of never
having to pay another electric bill, thanks to the home's
solar collectors and wind generator.
But even as the show aired last October
[2007], five months after the home was completed, reality
was seeping through the cracks....
Help
the Yazzie Family Realize the Dream They Were Promised
SENAA International - 20 JAN 2009
PIÑON, AZ—On the second
day of January, a SENAA International member posted to our
discussion group an article from The Navajo Times dated 25
September 2008, titled "Problems Plague 'Extreme Makeover'
House," by Cindy Yurth. Extreme Fakeover:
Home Perdition?
The article is about
Dineh Georgia Yazzie and her family, who live at Piñon, Arizona.
The family was the recipient of a new house built by
the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" TV program that
airs on ABC network, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company.
The house was built in May 2007, and the program aired on 28
October 2007.
The article tells of a
host of problems with the new house that began to show up even
before the program aired, and the non-response of the show's
producers and the network, even though the house was under a
one-year warranty....
HELP THE NATIVE
AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS (NAMA)
HELP THE CHILDREN OF HAITI
DOWNLOAD MARCO CAPELLI'S SONG "FRYBREAD"
AND
DOWNLOAD AL SWILLING'S SONG, "LOVE
IN COMMON"
Read the
Following Article for Details and More Ways to Help: SENAA
Members Are Doing Their Bit to Help NAMA Help Haiti's
Children and Orphans, and Indigenous Americans in Need SENAA International - 06 FEB 2010
When tragedy strikes an area and devastates it to the extent that
Haiti was devastated by the recent earthquake, leaving an
estimated 200,000 dead, 2 million homeless, and thousands of
orphaned, injured, and displaced children in its wake, the
questions come to the mind of every parent who hears about it,
"What if it were my children left in those conditions? Would
someone be there for them? Would someone help them? If I survived
but was unable to care for my children, would someone somewhere be
willing to help them get the care that I could not provide? Would
there be anyone to protect them and heal their wounds? Would
someone keep them safe from those who would do them harm?"
In answer to those questions, our hearts open and ache; and we
reach out to help the children. We do it for the children, but we
also do it in honor of the parents who have died or who are unable
to care for their children. We do it because it's what we hope
others would do for our children and for us if we were the victims
of such a tragedy....
Why Google Buzz Confirmed Our Two Worst Fears about Google
by Jason Hiner, TechRepublic - 22 FEB 2010
Google is not accustomed to being mistrusted by users and flogged by the tech press, but that’s exactly what’s happened to the search engine giant in recent weeks since the release of its new Google Buzz social media product.
Companies like Microsoft, and to a lesser extent Apple, are used to releasing new products and seeing them publicly attacked and belittled. Those two companies are typically patient enough to take feedback, integrate it into the product cycle, and then wait for users to get on board.
Google, on the other hand, has been something of a golden child in the tech world in the past decade. Its search engine has become the default home page of the Internet, and the company’s focus on engineering over profits has endeared it to users around the world.
However, as I suggested in my article How Google became the George Washington of the Internet, Google’s joy ride with users could be coming to end. In fact, it may have officially happened with the introduction of Google Buzz. We could look back at this product launch as the turning point of Google losing its innocence....
TUTORIAL LSO MANAGEMENT: What
They Are and What to Do About Them SENAA International - 16 FEB 2010
Introduction
The computing public is becoming increasingly aware of the
existence of Local Shared Objects (LSOs), also called "Flash
cookies" or "Persistent Identification Elements" (PIEs), the dangers they pose, and the unethical ways
that they are placed on our machines. LSOs are the busybodies of the Internet, sticking their noses in your personal business at every
opportunity without your knowledge or consent; and like most
busybodies, they're being found out.
With growing public awareness of LSOs comes a
growing demand for effective, real time control of them. Most LSO
management solutions offer management or deletion of LSOs after
potentially malicious ones have had time to do their damage.
Stand-alone LSO management utilities do not offer real time
protection, either. This tutorial provides real-time management of
LSOs....
Challenge
Our Leaders Regarding "Clean Coal Technology"
SENAA
International - 25 JAN 2009
We need to send a message to our leaders, to the media, and to corporate America that, as it now stands, there is no such thing as "clean coal technology," and that before the use of coal can even be considered as a clean source of energy, much more research, development, and work must be done.
Simply "talking the talk" doesn't change the facts of the matter. Before anyone can herald the existence of "clean coal technology," it must first be developed; and a small-scale, working model must be built to demonstrate its efficiency and cleanliness.
Measurements of the amount of energy yielded per ton of coal
by "clean" methods, and realistic rather than speculative comparisons to
the energy yield of present-day "dirty" methods of burning coal must be made. The comparisons must be demonstrated and recorded. The amount and nature of pollutants and potentially harmful, cumulative emissions must be measured and recorded over a realistic test period. Effects of such emissions on the environment, on human health, and on the health of wildlife must be assessed and addressed before any entity can go forward with any coal technology that claims to be "clean."...
