Arctic Studies Center

The Arctic Studies Center invites you to explore the history of northern peoples, cultures, and environments and the issues that matter to northern residents today. Join us as we excavate arctic sites; support indigenous efforts to preserve cultural heritage; and work with communities and scholars to share the treasures preserved in museum collections and archives.



Ainu Vikings Looking Both Ways Arctic Wildlife Crossroads of Continents Yup'ik Masks Alutiiq Dance/
Fisher Collection Arctic Social Sciences Repatriation Yamal
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Quake Changes Earth's Rotation, Moves Islands

Quake Changes Earth's Rotation, Moves Islands
This week's deadly Asian Quake and Tsunami may have been so powerful, that it changed the rate of Earth's rotation. In a Reuters article, a NASA geophysicist theorizes that the quake compacted the Earth enough to speed up the planet's rotation by 3 microseconds. A second article says the quake moved undersea tectonic plates by up to 98 feet, shifting islands near Sumatra out to sea an unknown distance. Also, a USGS team wants images from commercial satellite operators to help pinpoint coastline damage.

Floating on tree branches

  Huang Wen Feng, AP Tsunami survivor Rizal Shahputra, of Indonesia, stands on the tree branches after being spotted by a cargo ship crew Monday in the Indian Ocean.

YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HOUN’ DOG

Osiyo, Skawedah,.. Hello  -

I got this in from a close friend/native activist & free press
associate in Canada weeks back, but
it got lost in the shuffle and bustle of activities past few weeks.
My apologies for that. This is very important.

peace and many blessings.
RJ:)

Dec. 10, 2004
Guerilla News Network

You may reprint or send out this article provided you give credit as:
“Originally printed by Akwesasne Phoenix Sundays, Nov. 14, 2004, Issue
4 "info@akwesasnephoenix.com”

YOU AIN’T NOTHING BUT A HOUN’ DOG

How government bloodhounds plan on tracking Indians.

MNN. Dec. 4, 2004. It’s a sinister joke. It’s evil. Where does this
come from?

The Mohawks of Kahnawake and Crees of Quebec will be guinea pigs for a
worldwide ‘Smart Card” system!

These new super ID cards have been on the wish-list of the Powers That
Be for years. They want everyone to have one. They want to keep track
of everything that everyone does.

But their dream keeps getting shot down. Human rights activists say
“Smart cards” are an invasion of privacy. Mainstream America won’t have
it. So the control freaks have decided to do an end-run around all the
idealistic do-gooders.

That’s why the project has surfaced in Indian Country.

Smart cards are being passed off as a make work project in Kahnawake.
An American company located in Virginia, close to Washington D.C. has
persuaded Canada’s Department of Indian Affairs to fund the project.
The new card will replace the present Indian Status Card. It will be
used to tighten security measures by making it possible to
electronically track those who have the right kind of blood according
to their ways of reckoning.

The work is being done in conjunction with the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security. The plan is to make smart cards for all of the
Aboriginal nations.

Anteon, the private American company heading this project, is a world
leader in card technology. The team also includes Laser Card Systems. A
November 22, 2004 letter from lawyer, Mark L. Cushing of Sonnenschein,
Nath and Rosenthal, of Washington DC, to Mike Bush of Mohawk Council of
Kahnawake, provided some of the details of the scheme.

Anteon is preparing specifications for a new facility in Kahnawake.
When they are sent, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake will be asked to
find a place for the set up. The project has never been publicly
discussed, but some of the machinery is apparently already on location.

As Mike Bush of Mohawk Council of Kahnawake says, this card “will
prevent fraud and satisfy the border crossing requirements, while
bearing a unique logo for each community and including ‘additional’
information”.

Former Kahnawake chief, Joe Norton, has been hired as a consultant. His
services are appreciated because he brought the Assembly of First
Nations on board. Joe Norton, Amanda Grainger and Mark Cushing met in
late October 2004 in Ottawa with the AFN. The AFN then met with the
Minister of Indian Affairs and got his support.

So this is how things work in Canada. A private American company with
ties to the U,S. government gets an idea. They sell it to the Mohawk
Council of Kahnawake. Joe Norton sells it to the AFN, which sells it to
Indian Affairs. It’s probably not even necessary to slip another
revision of the Indian Act past Canada’s sleepy M.P.’s. And there you
have it. Smart cards get their foot in the door and Indians get ruled
by American Big Business.

But it doesn’t stop with us. Anteon is anxious to expand its business
throughout Canada. And it thinks it can do this with the help of the
Mohawk Council of Kahnawake. Mark Cushing has strongly requested that
Mike Bush and Mike Delisle of MCK meet at its headquarters in northern
Virginia outside of Washington DC so they can “make this work”.

Let’s stop for a moment folks to think about what these folks are up to.

This is not your ordinary mom and pop tobacco shack business plan. What
better way to keep track of us than stapling smart cards to our ears?
They are the electronic bloodhounds of the 21st century.

And what have bloodhounds been used for? They catch people to put them
in jail.

Remember the plan to route the new larger, deeper Seaway channel AROUND
Kahnawake? That will turn Kahnawake into an island. Like Alcatraz.

So why are they doing this to us? Sure, people need jobs. But aren’t
there lots of other more important things that need to be done? Mohawk
immersion. Health services. Things like that? Is there any real
justification for all this spying?

If this is a democracy, why do they need all these control mechanisms?
Who is doing this to us, anyways? And why is theMCK cooperating? What
kickback are they receiving for putting up their own people as test
mice? Why are they putting up these mazes so they can watch us run
through them?

We are the most vocal Indigenous people in Canada. If they can get this
scheme past us, the rest of North America will be gravy. Before long
they will have smart cards on everyone in the world.

Look at the procedure that is being used. Has this come before a public
meeting? Has anyone told us why we need this identity card? Has anyone
told us what it can do?

And has anyone considered the consequences of letting a private
American company have this much control?

We all know how hard it is to get the North American public to
understand our point of view. Our whole history has been one of abuse
and misunderstanding. Is this smart card going to make anything any
easier?

No.

Once it’s in place it will be even easier for them to inhibit freedom
of speech, freedom of association and freedom of movement. No one will
be allowed off of the new Alcatraz without a smart card.

Whether it knows what it is doing or not, the MCK is inviting external
control over the people.

So far there is already an internal agreement with Indian Affairs. Did
this get passed before the Canadian Parliament? Has it been passed by
any resolution of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake ? Where’s the
principle of democratic representation here?

Have they forgotten completely about the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee?

The colonization of North America began in Virginia. It was started by
a private company chartered to a foreign monarch. Nothing has changed
in 500 years. We’re still having to defend ourselves from a private
foreign company situated down in Virginia.

What next? Implanting micro-chips in babies at birth? Why do they need
to track us anyways? And who is doing the tracking? Where does it all
stop?

Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News
"orakwa@paulcomm.ca"

Please complete survey:  "http://kahntinetahorn.tripod.com/"

Song and Lyrics By RJ Hughes RENEWAL; Jan1,2005

RENEWAL
By RJ Hughes
************************************
A man died yesterday, my heart died with him.
A woman died yesterday, my heart died with her.
A child died yesterday, my heart died with them.
A million dreams died yesterday, my heart died with them.

A man child was born today, my heart was reborn with him.
A woman child was born today, my heart was reborn with her.
A million children were born today, my heart was reborn with them.
A dream awoke today, my dreams were renewed with them.

Today, as every moment and time, is a rebirth opportunity.
Today is another chance to hope and dream that to be.

Today I love you more than yesterday and hold you ever more dear.
Today my heart holds more than it was able to bear ever before.

Today I awaken to boundless possibilities and promise.
Today I know you and I are but manifestations of one.

Tomorrow shall be made by us today.
Today we are as perfect as we dream.

Today an entirely new universe is reborn.
Today I celebrate the birth even as I mourn.

Today my life heart sings happily sated.
Today I am blessed for you are you and here.

A man died yesterday, that man was me.
A man child was born today, that child was me.

A woman died yesterday, was she you?
A woman child was born today, was she you?

A million futures died yesterday, were they ours?
A million futures were born today, are they ours?

Boundless hope and promise are born anew and free.
Boundless hope and promise are reborn today as we.

May today be the day of our rebirth and renewal.

***************************************

rj:)

RJH
Owner -
Nvision Arts Media & Publishing Group

January 1, 2005 AllRightsReserved©
used his work with permission.

Sumatra before the tidal waves struck, left, and after

Physical Effects

Reuters

Satellite images of northern Sumatra before the tidal waves struck, left, and after, right, show the extent of the devastation.




 Interactive: Effects and Threats
Story: Did Wildlife Know to Flee?

 

      Saurabh Das, AP A woman tries to enter her home in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu (1 of 7)     Video Reports Watch:
Thai Resort Is 'Just Gone'
Aid Heads to Disaster Area

Broadband Only:
Search for Americans
'Miracle Island' Was Spared
One Family's Search
Unity Grows From Tragedy
Photos Tell Stories of Suffering

Survivor Stories:
A Mother's Agonizing Choice
Foreign Tourists' Survival Stories
Survivors Fight Nightmares

 

Worldwide donations to aid those battered by the huge waves that slammed Asian and African nations approached $1 billion, and a steady stream of foreign military aircraft touched down in the epicenter of the disaster, the Aceh province on the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

But supplies were bottlenecking and officials acknowledged distribution networks were not in place to deliver desperately needed supplies to the worst-hit areas.

"We can bring in the aid, food, but we need manpower to distribute them,'' said Andi Mallarengen, spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

President Bush, his administration stung by criticism that its aid pledges were small and slow to materialize, raised the U.S. promise of help from $35 million to $350 million.

 2004 The Associated Press.

Very reputable and international

  Donate directly to South Asian tsunami relief efforts on the ground:


    CARE:  1-800-521-CARE ext. 999
    Doctors Without Borders: 1-888-392-0392
    Oxfam:  1-800-77-OXFAM
    Red Cross:1-800-HELP-NOW
    UNICEF  (United Nations Childrens Fund): 1-800-4-UNICEF

 

thank you RJ!!

RJH
Owner -
Nvision Arts Media & Publishing Group