Burma Stories by Buffalohair

Burma Stories by Buffalohair :: Care2 Groups (Human / Civil Rights)Burma Stories by Buffalohair. Films and Stories of the Burmese/Myanmar. This is an exclusive inside look into the lives of the Burma people who fled to the ...
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Free Burma!

FREE BURMA

  BURMA GLOBAL ACTION NETWORK (BGAN)
 

Buffalohair BURMAS CONSTITUTIONAL CONTRADICTION

BURMA’S CONSTITUTIONAL CONTRADICTION

With the United Nations and the world abuzz about Burma’s Constitution you’d think positive change was afoot for this enslaved nation. But alas it is quite the contrary as the military junta imposes imprisonment and threatens student groups, opposition leaders and anyone who opposes the new Constitution. The ink is not even dry on this so called piece of double speak and the iron fist of totalitarian rule has already begun.

According to The Irrawaddy and secret sources, about 20 known political prisoners including members of 88 Generation Students Group may receive up to 20 more years added to their sentences under “Order 5/96”, a convenient order that effectively nullifies any and all constitutional efforts this new so called constitution could have possibly offered. In effect it gives the junta the right to arrest, detain, harass and torture anyone who opposes their rule. Makes justice as simply as one two three since there is no need for a trial. You just get arrested by the thought police then given your sentence. If you’re already in prison they simply pencil in more time. It is forbidden to debate or discuss the draft constitution. And it’s business as usual for the criminal military junta of Burma. This makes the Constitutional Referendum nothing more than sham and a smoke screen. I call it Corporate Sugar Coating and a thinly veiled attempt to protect outside interests who are heavily invested in Burma. Someone should tell that Gambari fellow about it. Maybe he’ll figure it out this time.

In essence anyone who exercises any form of free speech by print or by mouth and opposes the National Convention are in violation and subject to extensions of existing sentences or arrested without a trial. That should not be a surprise since some people just disappear. With at least 1,850 political prisoners in Burma’s prisons there are 97 who are “not accounted for”. More than likely, their dismembered bodies are scattered along the jungle floor, their heads on stakes as a warning to those who oppose military rule.

Since the murders perpetrated by the Burmese military junta in September of 2007, officials have been plotting a course for political reform referred to as a “road map”. In all actuality it is a maze filled with more dead ends and few solutions. Sadly, there is no route out of the maze fore all routes end in futility. The core essence is still totalitarian rule where all opposition is quashed, imprisoned and executed.

It is ironic the Khmer Rouge are being tried for the very atrocities that are being perpetrated on the Karen and other people of Burma at this moment. It’s a small wonder since 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated in the shadow of the world’s ambivalence. Eventually it all caught up to those who fostered racial hatred while administering their ghoulish form of eugenics. But what a price to pay for ignoring human suffering in spite of all the warnings there were. The plight of the American Indian was equally ghoulish and horrific and the world looked on. The Native struggle was relegated with colorful Wild West magazines and the struggle continues.

I’ve met refugees and those living in political asylum. The stories of death, mutilation and torture are beyond the most ghoulish moments in the latest Rambo movie. I can plainly see why these stories were omitted or left on the editor’s floor. The barbaric and grizzly truth about the cruelty and morbidity of the actions perpetrated by the military would repulse even the heartiest of stomachs. The scene itself would be deeply disturbing and most likely change the rating. Dismembering screaming and struggling children while family members watched was the story that got my attention. Raping a woman to death is another one that got my craw. Tribal women are systematically raped, tortured then killed by military troops all the time with absolutely no recourse. I still have issues over the kidnapped Burmese babies used to fatten up leeches for the restaurants though. When I’m talking with these survivors and I see the pain and horror in their eyes I also see a spark of hope. They truly love their native land and though it may seem like a far off dream. They wish someday to return to their homeland, customs and tradition and try to regain their innocence.

Your Devil’s Advocate
Buffalohair
_________________
Creativity is the byproduct of a fertile mind

"Tanka" at all you do.

Nakota Designs
Date:	Feb 26, 2008 3:51 PM
Subject:	"Tanka" at all you do.
Body:	A shared outlook on what it means to be "Tanka" at all you do. from Nakota Designs Inc... part of the creative design team behind the Tanka Bar brand. "Tanka" can be interpreted as meaning, large, or grand or great.... with this interpretation one can see it as something they can all strive to be in our individual lives... Tanka "at its grandest".. all you do in life... at its grandest. How cool is that? That interpretation makes you responsible for all of your actions... for living your life at its grandest... cause and affect... for the good of all. With this awareness on life, a bigger picture is painted for us... on what being "Tanka" can mean for each of us on an individual bases. Life at its grandest! How powerful is that? Being "tanka" being grand or great at all we do in life... is the very essence of life itself. it is an awareness of life... a way of life that works. Together we can build this awareness... through sharing of knowledge and education, realizing "who we are"... WE ARE, Thriving Nations meant to be all we can be... meant to be "tanka" at all we do... it is what our elders would want us to do... this is what our Mother Earth expects of us... it what we must do, for our children and for the betterment of their futures... after all we are all native to this planet... we are all as ONE with all that is. Being "Tanka" to me... means being a whole person... a person who is balanced physically, emotionally, mentally, intellectually... and spiritually. Being aware... aware of life and all of lifes gifts. And being "Tanka" is being this example for others... and empowering others to be this as well. As Creative Director for Nakota Designs, I can say we were honored to share in the vision of this native business venture, Native American Natural Foods and the Tanka Bar... a powerful brand, a powerful identity that is reaching out to so many people... one that is true to its roots, true to its beliefs and is committed to helping the People, the Buffalo and Mother Earth... to help us all live in a native way of wellness that feeds mind, body and spirit. Personally I think it is quite inspiring to think of life as "Tanka". And personally I think it is inspiring for us to raise our children in such a way... inspire them to be and do all they can with what life has to offer them. Support Tanka Bar... support NANF at all they do... they are truly inspirational... they are truly "tanka". Tanka Bar myspace URL: http://www.myspace.com/tankabar - www.tankabar.com thanks for all you do. walt posted by: walt pourier (www.nakotadesigns.com) 303-255-1730 walt@nakotadesigns.com Myspace URL: http://myspace.com/nakotadesigns1

Pirates of the Navajo Nation

Pirates of the Navajo Nation


February 26th, 2008 by Carole Levine

To most people, music and video piracy isn’t really that bad; sorta like getting paid under the table for painting your neighbor’s house or grabbing a few butter mints from the bulk food bins. No big deal. Nobody is hurt and you even get to hear music and watch movies at a price you can afford.

No big deal, of course, unless you happen to be the artist whose property is being stolen. Then, it’s a big deal indeed, especially for artists who aren’t millionaire celebs, which by the way, describes the vast majority. Most musicians, performers and filmmakers aren’t rich at all—their dedication is rolled up with plenty o’ sweat and sacrifice and a woefully low income.

That’s why the indignation of Native artists has reached a fevered pitch on what's been happening on the Navajo Nation in full public view. Although it is outlawed federally, bootlegging is not illegal on the reservation allowing swindlers to counterfeit DVDs and CDs from major performers as well as struggling indie filmmakers and Native musicians.

The Navajo victims of this scam have had enough. In April, legislation will go before the Tribal Council to enact anti-piracy laws for the first time on the Navajo Nation. Sponsored by Council Delegate Edmund Yazzie, the new law will enforce what the Feds have ruled illegal for a long time—the stealing of another’s intellectual and artistic property for personal gain. It is way overdue and we strongly support Yazzie’s proposal.

Filmmakers Andee and Shonie De La Rosa of Sheephead Films have made a 21-minute video,

Pirates of the Navajo Nation, which includes interviews with comedian/actor James Junes; members of the bands Blackfire and Ethnic de Generation, as well as the owners of a local video store and others impacted by bootlegging. I urge you to watch, because what you’ll see and hear is definitely a big deal—for the artists, the store owners and the taxpayers of the Navajo Nation.

Stay tuned, we will be covering this issue in the weeks to come…

Buffalohair THE INVESTORS OF DEATH AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

THE INVESTORS OF DEATH AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN BURMA

So yea want to do something for the suffering of Burma. Like I said, the most powerful tool we have is the all mighty dollar. This is only a small list but as you soon will see, it has many strange bedfellows. List provided by Burma: On line News and Analysis. It is absolutely disgusting to read their responses to their investing in the criminal government of Burma. And they should be tried for financing this military junta whence junta officials are finally arrested. The atrocities from Cambodia perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge finally came to justice. And the new Killing fields of Burma will also have this conclusion. The companies listed below will also stand trial for their financial support of death. And we the people of the Earth must remember who they are.

Daewoo International of South Korea

Along with gas exploration they also have numerous other enterprises. Take a long hard look at the shelves of any store. You will find TV's, Radio's, DVD Players, Cars and trucks. One strange bedfellow just happens to be General Motors. Fact is, Daewoo of South Korea is well entrenched with the Burmese Military Junta and have gleaned quite a handsome profit from this nation. And of course, they are invested in Burma's gas fields.

“[These] are all long-time investments. They can’t be easily changed because of domestic issues. Politics is politics. Economics is economics.”

Chevron Texaco of the United States

Including Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem), GS Caltex and Mrs. Beasley cookie company. They are invested heavily in Burma's gas fields. With record breaking profits every quarter you'd think they would not be so greedy. Every drop of their oil and gas is nothing better than drops of human blood.

“Our community development programs also help improve the lives of the people they touch and thereby communicate our values, including respect for human rights.”

Total of France

Like Chevron, they are heavily invested in Burmese gas. Their excuse is that they are convinced they will help the people of Burma. In all actuality, they are invested in death and wholesale murder of ethnic people. When will the lives of human beings take priority over capital gains? Surely the people of France will be appalled whence they know this reality.

“We are convinced that through our presence we are helping to improve the daily lives of tens of thousands of people who benefit from our social and economic initiatives.”

Nippon Oil of Japan

Just like the rest of the greedy oil profit hungry companies. They are heavily invested in Burma's gas and inadvertently financing the killing machine of the criminal military government of Burma. Again, the people of Japan would be appalled by this statement from this company. It is not the people of these countries, it's the greedy people of these corporations who've placed profits over human rights.

“We see the political situation and energy business as separate matters.”

PTT Public Company Ltd. of Thailand

They are invested in many ways with this military junta. Of course gas is a primary cause for their greed and total disregard for human suffering.

“We have invested in Burma over the past decade. Despite the political conflict, the benefits from the projects will go to people of both countries.”

The Olympic Games in Beijing and all the corporations who participate in them.

This should be a no brainer since the very essence of these games is smeared with human blood from the onset, the blood of innocent Chinese people. 1.5 million human beings were displaced to accommodate this Olympic Blood Letting, some by force. Course even at this writing people are being arrested in China

"Good neighborly and friendly policy" toward Myanmar "serves the interest of the people in Myanmar and also in China,"

Let us not forget the textile companies from Japan who are planning to move to Burma to enjoy the slave labor. Let us learn the name brands they represent and the companies who buy their wares. Let the world know who sells their cloths and textiles. Know the names of the corporate leaders for they are no different than Kaing Guek Eav and his involvement in the Killing Fields of Cambodia. People of these nations and the world unite and seek out other investors in Burma for this list is only the tip of the ice berg.

Have a nice day.

Your Devil's Advocate

Buffalohair

Red Ink on my . . .

	BunkHaus
Date:	Feb 25, 2008 11:01 AM
Subject:	Red Ink on my . . .
Body:	I'll be there . . . will you? Add: Red Ink Magazine Date: Feb 25, 2008 10:56 AM Friends!: We're busy planning the PREMIERE PARTY for Vol 14.1- check it!

MTSU PowWow

Shake your feathers! Join our celebration!

Saturday/Sunday - March 1/2, 2008 Tennessee Livestock Center    1720 Greenland Drive Middle Tennessee State University     Murfreesboro, Tennessee

http://www.mtsu.edu/~powwow/

Native KANU TV 99 Plus Others:)

Moving it to the top as best connection from here;-)
Ahhhh mystery solved?
Connecting from FireFox also! lol

To  KANU TV (or is that Video?)
http://www.kanutv.com

On-line TV and Movie watching List:

AIM Live Web TV Channel 2 on QuickTime

http://www.aimovement.org/

www.isuma.tv

Webcam from Igloolik, Nunavut (Northern Canada)
http://www.isuma.tv/?site/channelHome/channelid/2

http://www.maoritelevision.com/

• Tamariki
• Rangatahi
• Lifestyle &
  
  Entertainment
• Te Reo
• Sports
• Documentaries
• Features
• News &
  
  Current Affairs

The short documentary film "Pirates of the Navajo Nation"

New Short Film to View Online

The short documentary film "Pirates of the Navajo Nation" is now complete and available for your viewing on our website. Viewing requirements are: QuickTime 7 Minimum Broadband Connection File Size: 49 MB (yeah, it's huge, but worth it) Run Time: 22 minutes File Location: http://www.sheepheadfilms.com/pirates_final.mov The Navajo Nation anti-piracy legislation (spnsored by Council Delegate Edmund Yazzie) will go before the Navajo Nation Council this April for the Spring Session. We encourage everyone that supports this legislation to come out to the Navajo Nation Council Chambers in Window Rock, AZ to show your support to enact anti-piracy laws into Navajo Nation Law. An official press release will be available as soon as the April dates for the Navajo Nation Council Spring Session are available. Feel free to pass this information to anyone interested. Thank you, Shonie and Andee De La Rosa Sheephead Films _________________ www.sheepheadfilms.com

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

The Longest Walk

alter*Native Voices
Date:	Feb 24, 2008 8:00 AM
Subject:	The Longest Walk
Body:	The Longest Walk began on February 11, 2008 in San Francisco and will be traveling through Colorado beginning on March 14, 2008 on their journey to Washington D.C.. They will be taking rest days in Pueblo and at The Sand Creek Memorial, if you would like to help out with activities, food, water, or even socks please contact us at producer@alternativevoices.org or www.longestwalk.org.

Radioactive Remains | The forgotten story of the Northwest's only uranium mines

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2004191779_pacificpuranium24.html

Radioactive Remains | The forgotten story of the Northwest's only uranium mines

By Warren Cornwall

Sherman Alexie was a teenager when he first felt threatened by the uranium mines near his home on the Spokane Indian Reservation.

His grandmother had died from esophageal cancer in 1980. A few years later, his mother and some other tribal members took out a road map and began marking red dots on every home where someone had cancer.

The roads where the ore trucks rumbled by were pocked with red.

"I remember at that point knowing at some point in my life I'm certainly going to get sick," recalls Alexie, the acclaimed author who now lives in Seattle and recently won the National Book Award. "I have very little doubt that I'm going to get cancer."

Such is the legacy of the Northwest's only uranium mines. At least for those who even know they exist.

Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation, toxic birthplace of the bomb that set off the atomic age, routinely makes headlines. The Midnite Mine, just 100 miles to the north, is all but forgotten, a combination of denial, neglect and willful amnesia.

One of the world's largest mining companies is trying to wash its hands of responsibility for a costly cleanup. The federal government is supposed to help sick uranium miners, but people on the reservation don't even know the program exists.

Even on the reservation, where everybody once worked at the mines or knows someone who did, its presence is almost invisible: no monuments honoring miners, no displays of old photos showing dirty, tired workers next to mountains of ore.

But for the people who live here, it is a nagging presence, at once feared and longed for.

In a place where more than three-quarters of the people on the reservation are out of work, according to the latest federal statistics, the mines were a ticket out of poverty.

But now a new case of cancer can take people back to the uranium-tainted dust that settled on miners at work and came home in their clothes. People know which houses once sat next to the plant that milled the uranium ore, as if they were haunted.

The mine itself haunts people with a question: Are we being poisoned by what was done to our land?

The story of what happened, and continues to happen, on the reservation is a cautionary tale at a time of renewed interest in nuclear energy and the toxic uranium needed to fuel it.

Concerns about global warming, mixed with the demand for more electricity, have some in the United States taking a second look at nuclear power. The price of uranium has soared, sending prospectors back into the hills. A pound of uranium sold for $7.10 in 2000. Today it's priced at around $90 a pound.

"People are just crazy about uranium right now," says Chuck Gulick, an Eastern Washington state mine inspector who heard people talking about resumed exploration at a recent Spokane meeting of the Northwest Mining Association. "It feels like the late '70s all over again. It's kind of freaky."
AS ALEXIE once wrote, no one winds up on the Spokane Indian Reservation by accident.

Miles from the nearest town, perched on a rolling plateau of rock outcroppings and ponderosa pine forests in the state's northeast corner, only two country roads and a little-used state highway join the 157,376-acre reservation to the outside world.

Before whites arrived with their plows and railroads and rifles, the bands of the Spokane Tribe lived throughout the Spokane River Valley, including what is now the city of Spokane. After smallpox epidemics and several skirmishes with the U.S. Army, in the 1880s part of the tribe agreed to live on a reservation near the confluence of the Spokane and Columbia rivers.
The tribe wound up with some of the least valuable land. Too rocky for farming, it also turned out to have little of the gold and silver early prospectors wanted.

Then, in 1954, brothers Jim and John LeBret, both tribal members, discovered something fascinating on the side of Spokane Mountain, near the center of the reservation: rocks that glowed under a special light. It was uranium.

The government was scouring the country for the radioactive metal, raw material of the nation's growing nuclear arsenal. Much of it lay beneath the red sandstone of the Southwest, also on Indian reservations. But the Spokane Tribe sat on a hot spot.Over the next 27 years, workers dug 38 million tons of rock and radioactive rubble from the ground at the Midnite Mine. Later, workers also dug at the nearby Sherwood Mine, open for just five years.

From the Midnite Mine, they trucked the ore through the center of the reservation to a mill that crushed and bathed it in chemicals to make yellowcake. That form of uranium could be converted into highly radioactive rods destined at first for nuclear-weapons factories like Hanford, and later nuclear-power reactors.

The uranium mines became an economic and social mainstay of the reservation.

"It was a good thing. It brought lots of good jobs," says Pearl McCoy, who worked at the Sherwood Mine along with many of her 13 children. Her husband, Alfred McCoy, a revered tribal leader, worked at the mill.

While McCoy says she would like to see the mine return, she simultaneously wonders if it contributed to her husband's death from emphysema.

THE WORD "URANIUM" might evoke images of mushroom clouds and toxic waste. But on the reservation it was part of everyday life.

Deb Abrahamson, a founder of a small group of tribal activists pushing to clean up the mine, remembers her father, a millworker, bringing home hard rubber balls used to help crush the radioactive ore. They became playthings for her and her siblings.

As a child, Harold Campbell played in the dust beneath huge ore trucks as they were parked near his house. He lived next door to the mill, in a small settlement called Uranium City.

Chico Corral's body still bears the scars of his time at the mine. He fell down a hole there, he says, and broke his neck and four ribs. He wore his dusty work clothes home, where his wife washed them. There was a washing machine at the mine, he says, but it was always broken.

The risks? "Nobody knew. We just worked."

WHEN THE URANIUM market crashed in the 1980s, the mines crashed, too.
But while the mines closed and the jobs vanished, the pollution didn't.

The two mines and the mill were filled with tons of radioactive debris. At the bottom of one of two giant pits at the Midnite Mine, a small lake contains a brew of toxic metals and radiation so poisonous the eerily blue water is virtually sterile.

Roads along the 18-mile route from the Midnite Mine to the mill were littered with spots that set Geiger counters whirring. So did driveways at homes, built from crushed ore hauled from the mine.

Uranium and other toxic metals leached into groundwater, and into the sand and water of several small streams feeding Blue Creek, which runs through the reservation, and eventually into the Spokane River.

Fish in Blue Creek had high levels of heavy metals. The roots of plants growing around the mine had radioactive uranium levels as much as 11 times higher than plants from elsewhere in the area.

The tribe should basically warn people away from fishing, hunting and berry-picking around Blue Creek because of prolonged contamination, says the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

One scientific model used by the EPA concluded that someone living on food gathered in the Blue Creek drainage and using the water for sweat lodges had a 1-in-5 chance of getting cancer from the added radiation.

Some of the mess is already cleaned up. The short-lived Sherwood Mine and its adjoining mill are now a series of sculpted earthen terraces.

The original mill next to what was Uranium City is in the final stages of being dismantled. Dawn Mining Co. paid to scoop up radioactive soil along the roadsides.

But, at the center of the reservation, the Midnite Mine remains a festering wound.

TO GET THERE, drive up a dirt road, past weathered, metal-sided buildings littered with debris left from the mining days. Higher on the mountain, massive piles of ore remain.

A steep side road leads up to a rocky outcrop. Harold Campbell walks to the edge of a cliff. At his feet, a vast hole opens up. This is Pit 3. A thick hose snakes from the pit, pumping the eerie blue water up to a building where it's treated to take out heavy metals, radium and uranium.

Campbell drove an ore truck into that pit in the late 1970s, as they dynamited away part of the mountain.

"When they'd blast, we'd drive in, and there was still dust in the air," he remembers.

They would drive to where people equipped with radiation measurers mounted on poles directed them.

"The probers, they were the worst ones. They're probing in here when the stuff is hot. They didn't care about us. They just cared about getting the uranium to build bombs and stuff."

Did the uranium mines make anybody here sick?

Start with this basic fact: It's virtually impossible to say for sure.
No one has done the difficult medical detective work it would take to try answering the question.

But there's ample evidence uranium mining causes lung cancer and other fatal lung diseases. Studies in the Southwest found that Navajo uranium miners in underground mines were three times more likely to get lung cancer and more than twice as likely to get other serious lung diseases. Uranium-mill workers have higher incidences of lung disease, blood cancers and kidney disease.

On the Spokane Reservation, the U.S. Public Health Service recently declared the mine doesn't pose a risk to newcomers if they keep away from it.
But many in the tribe don't believe it. They're angered by the suggestion that it's safe as long as the center of their reservation is treated as a toxic no-man's land. And the report said nothing about what it might have done to people who lived or worked there for years.

Tribal councilman Richard Garry's mother-in-law died of breast cancer. His wife has lupus — a disease of the immune system.

"She got it at a young age. I was bringing the clothes home. It had dust on it," says Garry, who worked at one of the uranium mills. Councilman Matt Wynne's uncle, Hank Wynne, died of emphysema. He was a heavy-equipment operator at the mine starting in the 1970s.

In addition to watching her husband die of emphysema, Pearl McCoy has buried her oldest son, Donald Dennison, who died of liver cancer years after he worked as a mine foreman.

"A long time ago, people died of old age. You didn't hear about cancer," says McCoy. "It was after these mines came in."

In some cases, such as lupus, there's no known link to radiation. There is for emphysema. But the picture is complicated by other things. For example, McCoy's husband also smoked for decades, the single biggest cause of emphysema.

Bob Nelson, who now manages the mothballed mine and mill for Dawn Mining, says he doesn't think the mine has made anyone sick. He's worked there since 1968. For much of the 1970s he was the radiation-safety officer.
Some people "believe there's a lot of gloom and doom there, and there isn't. There is a problem that we're pretty well controlling," he says.

Whether or not the illnesses trace back to the mine, the very question has become like an illness, spreading whispers of doubt when a diagnosis returns, changing the way people interact with the land.

The McCoys stopped fishing in Blue Creek after they saw it running milky white one day. Harold Campbell won't hunt deer and elk on the mountain above the mine. Deb Abrahamson's family stopped gathering chokecherries along Blue Creek. The tribe's library has Geiger counters people can check out.

After visiting people around the reservation last year to talk aboutthe mine, Abrahamson sits in the tribe's tiny casino at the edge of the Spokane River, eating lunch. As she speaks, tears surface. Her voice cracks, words spilling out over the electronic chirps and bells of the slot machines.

"It's like our life revolves around loss a lot of the time . . . We're surrounded, so surrounded by loss and death."

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is supposed to be doing something to help ease the losses for some miners and their families.

Congress created a program to pay each sick uranium miner, mill worker and ore-truck driver $100,000. It also took the unusual step of apologizing to miners and their families.

To qualify, applicants have to prove they or a dead relative worked at a uranium mine or mill for more than a year before 1972, when all of the uranium was mined for the government. And they must have one of the diseases linked to uranium mining.

But there's no sign any of that money has come to the Spokane reservation.
The Justice Department, which administers the program, says its records don't show payments to a member of the Spokane Tribe, or to anyone who worked at the Midnite Mine.

Pearl McCoy, who would likely be eligible since her husband worked in the mill, hadn't heard of the program. Neither had Garry, the tribal councilmember.
Abrahamson has been trying to boost awareness. She has asked the Justice Department to send someone to talk about it, but she says officials refused.
Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller says the department was never invited to visit the reservation. It did send some forms to the tribe, but did not hear back. Someone from the program would be happy to visit if they're asked, he says.

THERE IS A PLAN to repair the land around the Midnite Mine. But it will leave a lot of scars.

Mining debris would be pushed into the open pits and covered. A factory would clean water leaking out of the mine for the foreseeable future. Blue Creek, it's hoped, will eventually flush its pollution downstream and dilute it in the Spokane River.

The plan is expected to cost $152 million. No one knows when it will be finished. That's because no one knows who's going to pay for it.
Under the federal Superfund law, anyone with a hand in the pollution can be forced to pay for cleaning it. But Dawn Mining Co. has few assets.
That leaves two others: federal taxpayers, and Denver-based Newmont Mining Corp., Dawn Mining's parent company and, today, one of the largest mining corporations in the world.

U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush recently ruled the federal government is partly responsible because it controlled the reservation land where the mining happened.

Newmont, meanwhile, says it shouldn't have to pay because it didn't manage the mine's day-to-day operations. Newmont had a controlling 51 percent share of the Dawn Mining Co. It named a majority of the board of directors. Many of the mine's top managers were longtime Newmont employees who remained on Newmont's payroll while working at the Midnite Mine. An early agreement called for Newmont to manage "all operations" of Dawn.
The EPA, which is suing Newmont to force it to help pay for the cleanup, says that's ample reason for the company to get part of the bill.
The tribe agrees.

"Those responsible for the contamination should be required to clean it up, and Newmont is as responsible as Dawn," says attorney Shannon Work, who represents the Spokane Tribe.

But Newmont says it didn't have control of how the Midnite Mine was run — a crucial point for proving whether it bears responsibility for the pollution. The Newmont workers who ran the mine took orders from Dawn, the company argues in court documents. The management agreement just involved logistical support, the company insists.

"To try to say there may have been some Newmont employees involved and therefore we're liable for it, I don't think that flies so well," says Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara.

Could the new interest in uranium trigger a revival even at this troubled site?
Dawn Mining's Nelson says he's gotten calls from several people interested in getting at the remaining uranium at the Midnite Mine site. The company estimates that as much as 7 million pounds are left.

He tells people: "Well, we aren't going to. But I say, 'If you're interested, have at it.' "

More than half a century after the tribe's encounter with uranium began, leaders show little interest in digging up more of it while they cope with the mess. But neither has the tribe banned uranium mining, as the Navajos did in 2005.

Tribal councilman Wynne says he has been approached about restarting the mine.

"I don't see it going forward. If I were to have to vote today or tomorrow on it, I would vote 'No.' I'm pretty much an outdoors guy. I'm really close with my traditional ties, to how I feel about Mother Earth, and I just can't see doing it again."

Warren Cornwall is a Seattle Times staff reporter. He can be reached at 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com. Alan Berner is a Times staff photographer.

Monument Valley Film Festival – Call for Submissions

Monument Valley Film Festival – Call for Submissions February 22nd, 2008 by Indie-pendent VUE

2nd Annual Monument Valley Film Festival  Call for Submissions
The 2nd Annual Monument Valley Film Festival is making a call for entries to all Native American film makers for this year’s 2008 festival. This year’s festival will be held July 4-6, 2008 here on the Navajo Nation in Kayenta, Arizona. Like the previous year, the […]

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Free Burma: Burmese in Karen State say the latest Rambo movie tells it like it is.

Burmese in Karen State say the latest Rambo movie tells it like it is.


WONG:
In "Rambo 4", released a week ago, an aging John Rambo leaves
his quiet retirement as a boat repair man in Bangkok to help Christian
missionaries kidnapped by a battalion of Burmese soldiers in Karen State. Critics may have scoffed at the latest chapter in the Rambo saga, but the film is a big hit with everyday Burmese and Karen freedom fighters.

STORY:
For some, it was elation at seeing somebody -- albeit a fictional
Hollywood character -- taking it to the foot-soldiers of a military regime
that has ruled with an iron fist for the last 46 years.

[Young Burmese Man]:
"This is reality. Because I come from Burma and I know the scene
is right and my family also are in Burma too, so this is a real story."

In Karen State troops have become huge fans of Rambo, saying Stallone's
success in the movie has spurred on their will to beat the military junta.

[Captain Gilbert, Karen National Union Troops]:
"It is a good movie for Karen people and the Karen fighters also like it. They said they could get some experience from the film and it also raise their confidence and their bravery which could encourage them to fight against the Myanmar junta."

After the crushing of last September's monk-led protests, anti-junta
activists see the movie as a rallying cry to a cause that receives little
Western backing beyond words of support for detained opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

[Edward, Overseas Burmese Patriots]:
"Please don't forget us. Please help us. Please support our cause for change and democracy in Burma."

But for others, it was a painful but telling reminder of real life-and-death
encounters.

[Cinthy, Student from Karen State]:
"When I was five years, six years old, I still remember, my parents and I ran away. We all go and sleep inside the jungle and bushes. We all are always living with the fear."

aoljembedAdd, aoljembedAdd_1

Your Power Sample! In Where to Buy Your USA- Gas

WHERE TO BUY YOUR USA-GAS

WHERE TO BUY YOUR USA-GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON--
Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it.

It might even be good for us!

The Saudis are boycotting American goods.

We should return the favor.

An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.
Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis.


Nothing is more frustrating
than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.

I thought it might be interesting f o r y ou to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil .

BOY COT These COMPANIES And Watch Gas Prices Fall/ONT>

These companies import Middle Eastern oil :
Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels

Citgo.......from South America , from a Dictator who hates Americans

If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now over $90 a barrel and heading to $100.00/)

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:


Sunoco................0 barrels
Conoco................0 barrels
Sinclair.................0 barrels
BP / Phillips.........0 barrels
Hess.....................0 barrels
ARC0....................0 barrels

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importig.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers. It's really simple to do.

Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of people!!

I'm sending this note to about thirty people .
If each of you s end it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300)... and

those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) . and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people,

we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers !!!!!!!

If those three million get excited and pass this on to ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!

I f it goes one level further, you guessed it .... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!


Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all that take?

If each of us sends this e-mail out to ten more people within one day, all 300 MILLION people could conceivably be contacted within the next eight days !

Buffalohair says you have a voice, you are not forgotten! Free Burma!

Kansas "Dust In The Wind"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koBWtYVRf-0

I close my eyes,
only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams,
pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind,
all they are is dust in the wind

Same old song,
just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do,
crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind,
All we are is dust in the wind

(instrumental break)

Don't hang on,
nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away,
and all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind,
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind,
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind

Buffalohair Free Burma: Ibrahim Gambari, the contemporary Nevil Chamberland

Ibrahim Gambari, the contemporary Nevil Chamberland

Inadvertently the United Nations has qualified the criminal junta that has enslaved the nation of Burma. Liken to Nevil Chamberland and his association with Adolf Hitler Gambari and the military junta have become bedfellows. This new so called “Constitution” is nothing more than criminality on paper and will one day be part an parcel evidence whence the criminals of “Crimes Against Humanity” come to trial.

Apparently Gambari was swayed by the lavish accommodations provided by the band of thugs who have enslaved Burma. The track record of some of the leadership at the UN has dubious honors to say the very least. What are you thinking Gambari? Does the wholesale murder of monks and innocent protesters stir any interest what so ever? How can you justify any dialog from a rouge regime who has arrested all opposition and their leadership?

Like Nevil Chamberland who simply ignored the cries of human beings being exterminated to purport peace from Hitlers Germany, he said nothing or simply ignored the cries from the Burmese people. How many monks must die? How many innocent people must be arrested and tortured? What exactly needs to be done or said before this inert organization makes a stand for Human Rights? How far beyond stupid has the United Nations become? For all the billions this organization has received over the years, their response is simply a letter of condemnation. Hmm, that's about fifty cents for the piece of paper, the envelope and a stamp. Should I include the price of ink from the pen?

Obviously all the nations of the world have followed suit to some degree since criminals still kill and torture those who oppose the iron fisted rule of the Burmese government. “Lets write Mayanmar a nasty letter”, oh boy that will show them. And now, Japanese industrialist, of all people, have taken the bait and decided China is way to expensive. They plan to move their textile industry to Burma to take advantage of the slave labor. Maybe the sleeping giant (China) will finally realize the military junta of Burma would stab them in the back as well. I know the honorable Japanese people who would be appalled by this reality since they've already suffered corruption from industry leaders in the past. So lets tell them.

It is time for the human spirit to unite in a global effort to quell totalitarianism on a grand scale. Chevron and Total Oil are only the tip of the ice berg as far as “free world” enterprises who glean a profit from human suffering. And I'll wager there are thousands of other “free world” industries who are invested in the Burmese criminal government. Who is invested in Burma? Well lets find out and I know you will be surprised. With an army of journalists reading this article it is time to dig for facts boys and girls. It is time to expose the greedy who have capitalized on the bones of the innocent and fueled their cars with human blood. The pen is mightier than the sword as they say. Time for the sleeping dragon to awaken.

Humanity has declared war on you Snr-Gen Than Shwe and one day there will be another Nuremberg Trial. Along with thugs, Tay Za, Chevron Execs, Total Execs, Execs from Japan, Switzerland and the USA who dishonor their nations, others will be added to the list of human rights violators. Like they say in America, you can run but you can't hide and now it's time for every human being from all nations to expose these culprits. Let their industries be known world wide, let their corporations be known, let their cronies be known and let them hang in the gallows of shame.

The human beings of the world are armed with the most powerful weapon of all. It is the dollar, yen and other forms of currency. We can make a difference if we unite and stop buying from these supporters of hatred and greed. It is time for humanity to stand up and be heard. We will simply stop buying from them and cripple them in the pocket book. Like rats abandoning a sinking ship they will begin to crumble and point fingers at one another as the world looks on. Those with no honor will betray their own.

We can bring tyranny to it's knees within a year if we all band together and assault them financially. It's all about the money for the corporations of the world who secretly side with the criminal Burmese government. No money, no corporation, how simple is that eh? Remember the saying, “Fight Fire with Fire”? It is time to go on the offensive and hit them where it counts, in the wallet, the stock markets, the gas pumps and the stores where we shop. Money is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction and now it's time for the mouse to roar.

WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, if we try.


Your Devil's Advocate
Buffalohair
_________________
Creativity is the byproduct of a fertile mind

Youth Of The Peaks- New Page

  http://www.myspace.com/yotp928 

NVision + MTV = 4Real !!!

BunkHaus
Date:	Feb 23, 2008 12:33 PM
Subject:	NVision + MTV = 4Real !!! [ please repost! ]
Body:	Nawa All . . . We're so pleased to bring the following news from the NVision camp! Please check it out, and repost it! Big things only in 2008! b-HAUS N V I S I O N an affiliate of the seventh generation fund w w w . N V i s i o n I t . o r g NVision to be Featured on International TV Series NVision is excited to announce the premiere of the 4REAL TV series on CTV and MTV in Canada and the National Geographic Channel globally. 4REAL is a series of half-hour episodes hosted by Sol Guy that takes celebrity guests on adventures around the world to connect with young leaders who, under extreme circumstances, are affecting real change on some of the most pressing issues of our time. NVision was selected to be featured with actor Casey Affleck ("Ocean's Thirteen" & "Gone Baby Gone") in one of the eight episodes produced. In 4REAL Pawnee, host Sol Guy takes Casey Affleck to the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma to meet NVision. NVision is a collective of Native artists and community leaders who use hip hop, popular culture, film and visual and performing arts to empower Native youth. Sol and Casey check out the launch of the NVision tour that will travel to Native reservations and cities with urban Native populations. The tour, which includes workshops and concerts, promotes the message of the importance of leadership, empowerment and cultural pride. Sol and Casey also witness the challenges of reservation life that are often invisible to mainstream society. They are inspired not only by NVision’s passionate effort to combat despair, but by the overall pride and resilience of the Pawnee community. 4REAL airs nationally on MTV and CTV starting April 2008. Also in April, 4REAL will air globally on National Geographic Channels International (not including Canada, U.S., and U.K.) in 166 countries and 35 languages. Beyond the exposure that 4REAL provides, these young leaders are partners in the show, with 50 per cent of the show's profits going directly to their initiatives. Other Celebrity guests for Season One are Cameron Diaz, Mos Def, Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Casey Affleck, K'NAAN, M.I.A. and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The shows take you on unique adventures with these celebrities, but ultimately it's the young leaders who emerge as the stars. 4REAL inspires viewers with stories of their courage, creativity and dedication to tackling issues such as poverty, environment, health, children's and indigenous rights, drugs and violence in their communities and beyond. To learn more about 4REAL, NVision's episode and join 4REAL's network of people worldwide committed to youth, social justice and change, visit 4Real.com. To learn more about NVision and the NVision Tour, visit on the world wide web or on myspace. Canadian Television - Coming in mid-March to CTV All 8 episodes of Season One will air on MTV in Canada starting Monday, April 14 at 8 PM. 4REAL will air globally in April 2008 on National Geographic International Channels (not including Canada, U.S., and U.K.) in 166 countries and 35 languages. 4REAL Pawnee Nat Geo Adventure Asia April 23, 2008 Wednesday 10:30 PM 4REAL Pawnee Nat Geo Adventure Italy April 9, 2008 Wednesday 10:30 PM 4REAL Pawnee NGC Brazil/Portugal April 23, 2008 Wednesday 10:00 PM 4REAL Pawnee NGC Latin America April 23, 2008 Wednesday 10:00 PM 4REAL Pawnee NGC Spain April 16,2008 Wednesday 11:00 PM

N8V, Bunky Echo-Hawk, Vaughn Eaglebear, & Ben-Alex - 3/28/08 For Longest Walk

	N8V
Date:	Feb 21, 2008 8:44 AM
Subject:	N8V, Bunky Echo-Hawk, Vaughn Eaglebear, & Ben-Alex - 3/28/08

You to Be The Change! by Nakota Designs

Australia Apologizes to Aborigines

From:	TANKA BAR
Date:	Feb 22, 2008 10:44 AM
:	Australia Apologizes to Aborigines
	Hello from Tanka Bar! Here is an interesting news story that caught my eye last week and I have been thinking about this. Australia's government has apologized for the mistreatment of its native people at the highest level of office possible. I find this very interesting because many of Australia's policies and tactics dealing with its "Native Problem" have been directly copied and pasted from the history of the United States. They have gone through attempted extermination to assimilation using the same style of boarding schools that once plagued our own country and that we still see the effects of even today. You could easily say that words are not worth the paper they are printed on, but many great ideas and dreams begin with words. With the Prime Minister truly confronting this tragic history head on, perhaps they can now begin to heal. In a weird switch of roles, maybe our government can learn from the positive steps of Australia. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/02/12/australia.aborgines/ (CNN) -- The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the country's Aboriginal people. New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "Stolen Generations" of children who were taken from their families. "To the mothers and fathers, to the brothers and sisters we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation on a proud people and a proud culture we say sorry." For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them. As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse. "There is nothing I can say today that will take away the pain... Words are not that powerful," Rudd said in the Australian Parliament. He said that the apology was the start of a new approach towards Aborigines which included helping them find their lost families, closing pay gaps and a 17-year difference in life expectancy between Aborigines and white Australians" Some food for thought. There is a presidential candidate who has said similar words regarding Native people in this country. For an honest and bold approach to this subject, you can always look toward the comedians to pull no punches and go for the jugular. I love those guys over at The Onion. http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo/australia_apologizes_to_aborigines As always, we would love to hear what you all think about this. Wopila.

Car Spinning on our MO Highway I-44

If this doesn't scare you.. well it should: One more good reason not to take driving for granted.
Watch how the driver tries to steer away from the skid, then when that fails hits the brakes. Didn't read the drivers manual.

http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=5842106&version=8&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Buffalohair Free Burma: SURVIVING THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

SURVIVING THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

From the jungles of Burma to the concrete jungle of modern America has become a challenge for the new arrivals to say the very least. I spoke with a Karen refugee woman, through my interpretor, and I was saddened by what she told me. Though she survived the ethnic cleansing of the military junta in Burma and managed to survive 10 years of hardships in a refugee camp on the Thai border, she was hard pressed to survive in modern America.

Given three months from the time she arrived in America she was supposed to learn English, find a job and then pursue the America Dream. For immigrants from Europe this would not be much of a problem. Granted there is always the language barrier that must be conquered as well. But imagine, if you will, the refugee who lived in the jungles of Burma then dropped into modern American society. It's a culture shock to say the least. Three months truly was not enough time to assimilate with our complex culture for her and the multitude of refugees who've come to America with hopes and dreams.

She told me of how she used to dream of this place of freedom called America. She and other Burmese who lived their entire lives in the jungles never ventured to any urban areas even in their own country. They were jungle people who lived their lives hunting and gathering as well as farm their land. Never did they want nor have the desire to go to any city. Free from the complexities of modern life they lived with nature for the most part. Their lives where likened to living in a Garden of Eden where the jungle provided all their needs. They were children of the jungle who lived in paradise until a military junta decided to gather them up and place them in bondage and forced labor camps or simply raped and murdered.

What a sad and horrific introduction to the 21st Century to be hunted down and in many cases murdered in cold blood by rockets, bullets and bombs. Their crime, being a simple and peaceful people who had no need for modern ways or ideologies. Quickly they learned the harsh realities of this modern era of greed as soldiers came to their villages, burned down their homes, raped their women and killed anyone who opposed this new iron fisted rule. Their only salvation was to find sanctuary in one of the many refugee camps along the Thai border.

Naïve to the ways of modern society they fell pray to unscrupulous and fast talking people. Stripped of their innocence their only hope was to find a host country who would offer them salvation from the horrors of living as a refugee in this ambivalent world. Their dream, to live in America the land of the free. Eagerly they drank up all that was American. They heard stories about this land of “Milk and Honey”. Oh how they dreamed of living in such a free place, America. Hmmmmmmmmm...

It's been eight months since she and her family left Thailand and only 5 months since the US government stopped giving them assistance. With 10 people living in this household sharing a two bedroom apartment, life has not been quite the American Dream from legends told in the refugee camps. Totally ill prepared to deal with modern American society has made them targets again to say the very least. In this household there is only one person who managed to find work, her husband. He found work but it has fallen short of the hopes and dreams they once conjured. They were given three months to assimilate and enter American society, gads. Now he works out of town for minimum wage and lives with other refugees in an effort to support his family.

Others tell me of how relations have been maimed and injured by lawn mowers, hedge cutters and other common garden tools. Many who have been injured are fearful of reprisal and never report these events. Some work for far less than minimum wage and are not aware of laws that protect workers in the work place. Thankful they are not being hunted down and killed they press forward though almost impossible odds. “We thought this land was free but you have to pay money just to sit” one tribesman told me.

Sadly rape still follows the women of the jungle like so many other ethnic minority women. One woman told me of how she was held captive and raped repeatedly for days until she was made to go to the bank and withdraw all her funds by the perpetrator. Undaunted she went into the bank and immediately notified authorities. The culprit was quickly dispatched and eventually placed in prison, you go girl. But this is not always the case and rape is still a very real reality for minority woman. This has been the case for Native women as well. Statistically speaking 7 out of 10 assaults on Native women were perpetrated by non Native men. This horrific statistic is shared by Canada as well.

Social issues ranging from alcohol abuse to spousal abuse have been largely ignored. Despair and sorrow also haunt these people since this new world is so foreign to them. Funny, I find this to be the case with my people living on the reservation. Many live in poverty on the rez rather than endure racism and hatred from non Natives. My brother was a roofer but quit when his employer refused to give him more than half his promised wage. I can imagine how much worse it is for a refugee who does not know the language or the labor laws.

Unscrupulous business owners have taken full advantage of the ignorance of these innocent people and have literally placed some of them in indentured servitude. They work 20 hour days for less than minimum wage and are kept is squalor. Ironically some of these ruthless businessmen are educated Burmese. Again another mirror reflection from the Native American world fore it's been my observation the cruelest people I've encountered was our very own. We expect others to be cruel to us but when it's one of our own people it is the ultimate betrayal.

From the Maori, Aborigines, Native American's, Mayan, Cambodians, Nigerians and other ethnic minorities, assimilation has been quite a disaster from the onset. Tribal people in general have had to struggle with a society that was not groomed for life but groomed for material gain. It has become a crime of sorts not to have this material lusting and desire to have “stuff” like this modern age seems to require. Why is it such a crime to be truly free? How come everything has a price tag in modern society? What has this world become when you can't simply sit by a stream and enjoy the day? Civilization? Show me where it is and I'll find the contradiction fore there is nothing civil about this modern culture, nothing.

When I was a child assimilation was a very real issue for my mom and I. We just did not understand this strange new world. The fact my ma and I were from an ethnic group other than the status quo placed us in such a negative light I still suffer the emotional consequences (PTSD) from the hatred we endured. I remember men coming up to my mother and propositioning her in my presence. I can still remember this line, “Do you want a new pa pa little boy?”, and we were US citizens. The feel of warm spittle on my face from non Native people who used to spit on us still haunts me to this day. I will never forget how we were treated. I can just imagine how these little chubby cheek Burmese kids feel when their mothers are accosted and asked for sexual favors simply because they are minorities.

Guess it is only apparent that I've taken a personal vested interest in the plight of these human beings. I've allied myself with Kachin, Karen, Burmese officials and ex political prisoners who are true champions of their people. I am honored to call them my friends. They are a wealth of knowledge and are my key to the secret world of the refugee communities they serve both nationally and internationally. We all agree there is a serious lacking in educating and preparing people from the jungle to face the challenges of this modern and complex society. Many refugees never had an electric appliance in their lives let alone electricity. And for some refugees this has become a living nightmare from which they will never awaken from. Sadly they ponder if death from the military junta would have been a more humane way to die.

Your Devil's Advocate
Buffalohair
_________________
Creativity is the byproduct of a fertile mind