Indian Country, USA Has Profitable Solutions for Corporate America

Posted by Nishwilgun, October 22nd, 2006 in response to a story by Native actor , Mark Reed, ‘The Invisible American - The American Indian’, posted November 25th, 2004.

Is economic growth really in the picture of Corporate America? Does Corporate America only see outsourcing the way to profitability? Is Corporate America looking at home for some possible solutions?

Some readings show that America now ranks as number 6 in the area of productivity. Are the dreams of Corporate America the dreams of Americans? Again, with the outsourcing of Corporate America the readings show that a higher percentage is predicted to go to India.

One possible solution is through further diversification of companies by simply working with America’s Indigenous, the Native Americans who are right here at home. These Indigenous people already have written policies to have a business friendly environment, some have tribal colleges within their reservation settings, on national basis have professional associations which encourage education, and tribes across Indian Country, USA have a listing of federal tax incentives to make it very attractive for Corporate America to locate on tribal lands.

One tribe, the Mississippi Choctaw, this Tribe is in business to create profits for itself and for its partners. As do most tribes they make use of the Federal Tax Code that offers businesses that locate on American Indian reservations certain tax advantages. This tribe has taken advantage of Corporate America’s outsourcing by building a factory in Mexico.

Another success within Indian Country, USA is the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community as a tribe has designated 15,000 acres of land for commercial and industrial development. This tribe has two colleges located on tribal lands and professional development is key ingredient for any success story and it has Salt River Devco continues the tradition by building a new network to support communities, communication, connections, partnerships, and enterprises.

By 2016 America will need 70% more electricity and looking into the future many tribes are seeing how to capitalize on alternative energy. The tribes have already geared up to meet the energy needs of America and are at work doing feasibility studies on uses of alternative energy to become America’s next supplier of Energy.

So, the Indigenous of America are on the road of becoming prosperous not only in the gaming industry but diversifying their economies. The above two tribes serves as models for the rest of Indian Country, USA taking advantage of the urban sprawl and allowing industries, companies and corporations to establish themselves on tribal lands. Would it not be worth the while to investigate the possibilities to see how Corporate America can work upon tribal lands?

To regain strengthening America’s economy and take back productivity of being number one instead of number 6 world wide? Corporate America would benefit by entering into business with the Indigenous of American, the Native Americans and in the process once more gain and achieve our true potential.

Corporate America will discover the huge list of tax incentives, an educated workforce, infrastructure can be negotiated, state of the art building can be put into place meeting the demands of the new age of technologies, professional development can be implemented due to colleges on tribal lands, several tribes located near major cities and towns, and surprisingly right next door to urban America.

Policies already in place to be business-friendly, tax incentives already in IRS Codes, some tribes already have taken advantage of outsourcing, new partnerships waiting to assist America regain its production leadership of the globe and Corporate America needs to do outsourcing at home and on tribal lands to bring back jobs to America by working in partnership or joint ventures or even transferring of knowledge and know-how to the Tribes so both Corporate America and Tribes can prosper together. Can it happen? Yes, it can.

Posted by Nishwilgun to Native Unity at 10/22/2006 09:44:14 PM

A PRE COLLEGE WORKSHOP FOR NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS
College-bound Native American high school students are invited to participate in a five-day college preparation course this summer during seminars to be held at Harvard and Stanford universities.

Students who participate in College Horizons will work with college counselors and admission officers to help them with:
. Selecting suitable colleges
. Completing winning applications and write memorable essays
. Learning what turns an applicant into an admitted student
. Becoming a test-prep "whiz kid"
. Finding the way through the financial aid and scholarship jungle

Students will also learn about various colleges and universities, and establish personal relationships with admission representatives and college counselors that will continue after the program is over. Ninety students will be allowed to participate at each site.

Please view at the College Horizons Web site to see which schools will be at the East Coast or West Coast seminar. Native American (enrolled members only), Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian sophomores and juniors with a minimum GPA of 3.0 (in academic courses) are eligible.

The College Horizons crash course is scheduled for the following dates:
. JUNE 16-20, 2007 - Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
. JUNE 23-27, 2007 - Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

First round, priority receipt deadline is February 1; second round receipt deadline is March 1. Applications will be accepted on a space-available basis until May 1. After March 1, please contact College Horizons to see which site may still have spaces.

Cost is $150, which includes tuition, room, meals, all materials and transportation to campus from the Boston or San Francisco or San Jose airports. Students are responsible for their own airfare, but funding is available for travel and tuition assistance. Each year College Horizons awards travel assistance to more than 50 percent of its students. Students may indicate a site preference.

To download an application, go to www.collegehorizons.org. For questions contact, Dr. Whitney Laughlin, College Horizons executive director, or Christine Suina, coordinator, at CollegeHorizons@aol.com or (505) 401-3854. Or write to College Horizons, P.O. Box 1262, Pena Blanca, NM 87041.

Collaborating partners of College Horizons include AIGC (American Indian Graduate Center), Winds of Change magazine, Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton Review Foundation, the College Board and 41 of the nation's finest colleges and universities.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Tribes Should Guarantee Freedom Of Press

Dorreen Yellow Bird Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Published Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald.

Monday evening, a candidate for tribal chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes in New Town, N.D., said he supported a free press for the reservation. I will take him at his word.

But history tells me two things: First, a free press on reservations is hard to come by. And second, it is “oh, so necessary” as one of those essential checks to keep balance in government.

The history of tribal newspapers can be traced back to 1828 and the Cherokee Phoenix in New Echota, Ga. It struggled with conflicts as do newspapers today.

Today, there are more than 300 tribal newspapers. That number fluctuates as some newspapers cease to exist and new ones take their place. There are many more so-called newsletters or bulletins that provide information about the tribe but rarely report hard news. There are a growing number of magazines, about 33 radio stations and one tribal college television station on the Confederated Salish & Kootenai reservation at Pablo, Mont.

Some tribal newspapers struggle for a breath of air as their tribal government closes its hands around reporters' necks. Is a free press possible on reservations? Perhaps.

Dan Agent, associate editor of the modern Cherokee Phoenix, which is published by the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, says that landmark legislation in the Constitution of the Cherokee Nation protects the press. The Phoenix's advisory boards are part of these protections as are the readers who appreciate what the Phoenix does. The Phoenix has about 28,000 to 30,000 readers.

But the turkey feather in this eagle feather war bonnet is that the Phoenix hasn't been tested.

The Navajo Times has been tested. In 1986, the Navajo Times was one of the largest and possibly the only daily tribal newspaper. The paper endorsed the candidate who lost the election. Some weeks afterward, tribal police came in and employees were told to gather their personal belongings and get out, said Tom Arviso, the paper's current publisher. Two months later, the paper resurfaced as a weekly.

In 1988, Arviso - then the sports writer - was recommended as editor. The new Navajo Times has been publishing for 18 years, but Arviso says it doesn't do political endorsements, just profiles of the Navajo candidates. “We're not here to direct what people think. Let the people decide for themselves,” he said.

Did their tribal constitution carry any weight in the 1987 decision to temporarily close the paper? I asked. The Navajo nation does not have a constitution, Arviso answered. It has the Navajo Tribal Code, and there is First Amendment-style protection written in it. But the best protection for newspapers is good journalism that is fair, balanced and accurate, he said.

One of the ways to ensure a free press is to own and print your own newspaper. That is what Tim Giago, retired published of Indian Country Today and the Lakota Times, told me.

For my own part, I managed a newspaper on the Fort Berthold Indian reservation in New Town almost 16 years ago, and I, too, got crosswise with the tribal chairman. He didn't want council minutes in the newspaper or on the radio. Needless to say, I was history after publishing a paper for nearly nine years.

I listened with wonder when Giago said he earned enough through advertising to keep his paper, which at the time was in Pine Ridge, S.D., publishing. He also solicited from tribal programs and the tribal college.

He eventually moved the business to Rapid City, S.D.

During the time I was at the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Times, I found it almost impossible to make enough from ads to keep the paper afloat without support from the tribe. Another local newspaper got most of the ads, and when the tribal chairman pulled the tribal programs' financial support, it was goodbye Charlie for our paper.

These stories about tribal newspapers are the norm, even in those situations where the tribal constitution guarantees freedom of the press. The federal Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 says, “No Indian tribe in exercising powers of self-government shall make or enforce any law prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of press . . .” But somehow, there doesn't seem to be a way to enforce the act.

In my opinion, organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, National Tribal Chairman's Association, National Indian Education Association and other groups should bring leaders or tribal councils together in a conference to find ways to move tribes from a Third World mentality to one of fair and good government. I am referring to freedom of information on reservations.

Fortunately, there are tribes that are doing well and that protect the rights of their people. They could be important in teaching other tribes how to develop a good system.

CLIMATE CRISIS COALITION ORGANIZING NATIONWIDE
From Indigenous Environmental Network - ienearth.org
"Stop Global Warming" Actions on December 3

Climate Crisis, USA Join the World! (http://www.climatecrisis.us/) today announced that it is organizing actions across the United States on and around December 3 to demand that the U.S. government support action that is commensurate with the urgency of the deepening climate crisis

."Scores of Stop Global Warming local actions will be happening during the Nov. 28-Dec. 9 time period when the huge, United Nations Climate Conference in Montreal takes place," said Ted Glick, spokesperson for the group.

"We will be acting in concert with hundreds of thousands of people in at least 28 countries around the world who are making December 3rd an International Day of Action to Stop Global Warming."

The Climate Crisis group is demanding that the U.S. government join the world by ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.

Climate Crisis also demands that the federal government withdraw its annual $25 billion in subsidies for coal and oil and create equivalent subsidies for clean, safe, non-nuclear energy alternatives; that it dramatically strengthen energy conservation and fuel efficiency standards; that it plan for a just transition for workers, Indigenous communitiesand others affected by a change to clean energy; and that it actively defend the world's forests and support community-run tree planting campaigns.

States where local actions will be taking place include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Washington.

In D.C. on December 3, scores of hybrid vehicles organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network will circle the White House. In New Orleans the Alliance for Affordable Energy will be holding a Stop Global Warming event in the French Quarter. In Los Angeles on December 2, the Labor/Community Strategy Center will be doing an action calling for an expansion of the city's bus fleet to provide badly-needed publictransportation which will also cut down on car-producing greenhouse gases.

And in New York, also on December 2, a coalition of groups will rally in Foley Square across from the Federal Building calling for the federal government to stop its obstructionist efforts and instead act to address this urgent crisis.

In many localities, following the lead of organizers of a massive march on December 3 in Montreal, participants in the actions will try to hold their breath for 60 seconds. USA Join the World! Coordinator Glick explained that, "Doing so reminds us all how important clean air is to all living things. It reminds us of the urgency of our work. It is a metaphor for what people on some Pacific islands may soon have to do as the oceans rise and their islands disappear and breathing becomes impossible."

Storm Waters
Rising Tide North America
stormf5@riseup.net.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Message From Chief Arvol Looking Horse

Mitakuye (my relative),

I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Nation, ask you to understand an Indigenous perspective on what has happened in America, what we call "Turtle Island." My words seek to unite the global community through a message from our sacred ceremonies to unite spiritually, each in our own ways of beliefs in the Creator.

We have been warned from Ancient Prophecies of these times we live in today,but have also been given a very important message about a solution to turn these terrible times around

To understand the depth of this message you must recognize the importance of Sacred Sites and realize the interconnectedness of what is happening today, in reflection of the continued massacres that are occurring on other lands and our own Americas.

I have been learning about these important issues since the age of 12, upon receiving the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and its teachings. Our people have striven to protect Sacred Sites from the beginning of time. These places have been violated for centuries and have brought us to the predicament that we are in at the global level.

Look around you. Our Mother Earth is very ill from these violations, and we are on the brink of destroying the possibility of a healthy and nurturing survival for generations to come, our children's children.

Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota, "Heart of Everything That Is," from continued violations. Our ancestors never saw a satellite view of this site, but now that those pictures are available, we see that it is in the shape of a hear and, when fast-forwarded, it looks like a heart pumping.

The Dine have been protecting Big Mountain, calling it the liver, and we are suffering and going to suffer more from the extraction of the coal from there and the poison processes used in doing so.

The Aborigines have warned of the contaminating effects of global warming on the Coral Reefs, which they see as Mother Earth's blood purifier.

The Indigenous people of the rainforest relay that the rainforest are the lungs of the planet and need protection.

The Gwich'in Nation has had to face oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, also known to the Gwich'in as "Where life begins!"

The coastal plain is the birthplace of many life forms of the Animal Nations. The death of these Animal Nations will destroy Indigenous Nations in this territory.

As these destructive developments continue all over the world, we will witness many more extinct Animal, Plant, and Human Nations, because of mankind's misuse of power and their lack of understanding of the "balance of life."

The Indigenous people warn that these destructive developments will cause havoc globally. There are many, many more Indigenous awarenesses and knowledge about Mother Earth's Sacred Sites, her Chakras, connections to our spirit that will surely affect our future generations.

There needs to be a fast move toward other forms of energy that are safe for all Nations upon Mother Earth. We need to understand the types of minds that are continuing to destroy the spirit of our whole global community. Unless we do this, the powers of destruction will overwhelm us. Our Ancestors foretold that water would someday be for sale. Back then, this was hard to believe, since the water was so plentiful, so pure, and so full of energy, nutrition, and spirit.

Today we have to buy pure water, and even then the nutritional minerals have been taken out; it's just empty liquid. Someday water will be like gold, too expensive to afford.

Not everyone will have the right to drink safe water. We fail to appreciate and honor our Sacred Sites, ripping out the minerals and gifts that lay underneath them as if Mother Earth were simply a resource, instead of the Source of Life itself.

Attacking Nations and having to utilize more resources to carry out destruction in the name of peace is not the answer! We need to understand how all these decisions affect the Global Nation; we will not be immune to its repercussions. Allowing continual contamination of our food and land is affecting the way we think.

A "disease of the mind" has set in world leaders and many members of our global community, with their belief that a solution of retaliation and destruction of peoples will bring Peace.

In our Prophecies it is told that we are now at the crossroads: Either unite spiritually as a Global Nation, or be faced with chaos, disasters, diseases, and tears from our relatives' eyes.

We are the only species that is destroying the Source of Life, meaning Mother Earth, in the name of power, mineral resources, and ownership of land, using chemicals and methods of warfare that are doing irreversible damage, as Mother Earth is becoming tired and cannot sustain any more impacts of war.

I ask you to join me on this endeavor. Our vision is for the Peoples of all continents, regardless of their beliefs in the Creator, to come together as one at their Sacred Sites to pray and meditate and commune with one another, thus promoting an energy shift to heal our Mother Earth and achieve universal consciousness toward attaining Peace.

As each day passes, I ask all Nations to begin a global effort, and remember to give thanks for the Sacred Food that has been gifted to us by our Mother Earth, so the nutritional energy of medicine can be guided to heal our minds and spirits.

This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will bring the endof life as we know it. Starvation, war, and toxic waste have been the hallmark of the Great Myth of Progress and Development that ruled the last millennium.

To us, as caretakers of the heart of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction. You, yourself are the one who must decide.

You alone - and only you - can make this crucial choice, to walk in honor or to dishonor your relatives. On your decision depends the fate of the entire World.

Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind.
Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger?

Know that you yourself are essential to this World. Believe that! Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. You, yourself are desperately needed to save the soul of this World. Did you think you were put here for something less? In a Sacred Hoop of Life, there is no beginning and no ending!

ELECTION DAY IS ON THE HORIZON
Bobbie O’Neill – Editor – Native Unity Digest

There are 18 more days until November 7th, probably the most important election in the history of our Nation. It has been the goal of Native Unity to bring together the Indigenous Peoples of this country and what better way to show our unity than by going to the polls on election day and casting our ballots.

To follow the words of Chief Arvol Looking Horse, “This new millennium will usher in an age of harmony or it will being the end of life as we know it . . .

“To us, the caretakers of Mother Earth, falls the responsibility of turning back the powers of destruction, you, yourself are the one who must decide.”

That is why it so important for you to go to the polls on November 7th. In what better way can you make your voice be heard? You must not only cast your ballots for Congressional candidates, but also for state, county and city offices plus the various initiatives that create our laws.

Chief Looking Horse wrote, “Our ancestors have been trying to protect our Sacred Site called the Sacred Black Hills in South Dakota ’Heart of Everything That Is’ from continued violations.”

You think your vote doesn’t count??? Please keep in mind that at Bear Butte in Sturgis, South Dakota, it was the local elected officials who gave Jay Allen the permit to build his “Broken Spoke Saloon” in the shadow of the Sacred Mountain.

Still think your vote doesn’t count???

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Native Journalists Hold Future In Their Hands

Dorreen Yellow Bird - Grand Forks Herald
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Published Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald.

A recent conference in South Dakota was an eye-opener for me regarding new issues in Indian country. And it helped me realize that as a member of the media, I can affect positive changes on reservations.

The conference, called the 2006 Native American Media Symposium, was held at South Dakota State University in Brookings. I had to drive several hundred miles to get there, but the weather last weekend was perfect, and I love driving through those rolling hills - that's the Dakotas for me.

Once I got there, it wasn't before I realized that this wasn't just another conference. The panelists and speakers came from around the country and were excellent. I was a panelist for both the student and the adult media group, I'm proud to say.

About 200 to 300 American Indian students came from Indian schools in South Dakota such as Red Cloud, Flandreau, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek and Sisseton. These were high school students who had expressed an interest in journalism careers, including photography and graphics as well as, of course, writing and reporting. Their enthusiasm and energy reminded me that I was once a classroom teacher.

Dr. Cristina Azocar, the director of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University, asked us: What are the biggest issues facing Indian people today?

There were more non-Indians on Azocar's panel than Indian people, so the hot issue was how to get stories on reservations and, at times, even how to know if is a story. It was hard for non-Indians because they didn't understand Indian culture, were afraid of getting something wrong when they covered Indian people or tribal leaders wouldn't respond to them.

I knew that our reporters probably would agree that it can be hard to get a response from some North Dakota and Minnesota tribal councils, even when the story is positive. There seems to be an unwritten rule among tribal council members that you don't speak to the media.

Is that a historical issue? I wondered. Way back in the 1940s and '50s, tribal leaders answered questions as best they could. I remember how some of those interviews read in the paper: The misinformation was laughable at times and gave such an awful spin to Indian life that we cringed at the reaction we'd get the next time we went to town.

That has changed. Back then, newspapers would identify “Indians” while not identifying other people, especially when reporting a bad-news story. Today, race can be mentioned only if it's important to the story.

But the dilution of the Indian culture is the main issue for me. Much of what's happening in Indian country today hinges on how much we have lost, as a people and culture.
Young people today are influenced by the media - TV, the Internet, magazines, newspapers and so on. On most reservations, you'll find young people looking as if they just walked out of a hip-hop neighborhood in New York City, complete with baggy pants, chains, bandanas and jive talk.

Or they might be wearing the colors of a gang that they've learned about from television or the Internet. I'm also pleased that I see a growing number of young people sporting braids like their grandfathers. Some are attempting to learn their language and look for ways to understand Indian culture, which means knowing who they are. That is most important.

I met a young woman at the conference who seemed troubled. She lived in a big city most of her life, she said. When she returned to her home reservation, what she saw wasn't pleasant - poverty, alcoholism and such. That is the face that we sometimes see on reservations and often in the media.

But we don't see the gentle, peaceful elders and spiritual leaders or the woman who cares for a large family with a smile and good humor. We often don't see the gifts the Creator gave to Indian people in the form of ceremonies, knowledge of the land and creatures as well as powerful, spiritual beliefs.

I am talking with her.

When we had eaten the last Krispy Creme donut, I said my “good-byes” to Doris Giago, a friend and professor who is instrumental in the success of the SDSU project; Billy Mills, the South Dakota Olympic gold medallist; Tim Giago, nationally syndicated columnist; Michele Pasena, one of the keynote speakers from the American Indian Graduate Center and other great journalist. Then, I breathed a sign of satisfaction. This was a conference well worth the time.

NATIONWIDE ELECTION PROTECTION HOTLINE UP AND RUNNING
Submitted by Alyssa Macy

The nationwide Election Protection Hotline was activated on October 16 to help resolve issues for Election Day on November 7.The number is staffed with live volunteers from 9 AM-6 PM Eastern time.

Election Protection guides voters through the voting process, helping to ensure that all eligible voters have the opportunity to cast a meaningful ballot and have their vote counted.

You can contact them with issues before, on, or after the election. Issues are recorded in an Election Incident Reporting System (EIRS) to allow responding to issues in real time as well as provide data for investigations after the election.

Election Protection, the nation's largest non-partisan voter protection coalition, is led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law's National Campaign for Fair Elections, the NAACP, the National Bar Association, and People For the American Way Foundation.

Visit http://www.866ourvote.org/

THE ODOR FROM CAPITOL HILL
New York Times Editorial
Published: October 18, 2006

As predicaments go for champions of family values, few can top the embarrassment suffered by Representative Curt Weldon when federal agents raided the home of his daughter, a Washington lobbyist, in search of evidence that the powerful lawmaker helped her with lucrative clients. The grand jury is still out on the investigation, and Mr. Weldon, a Pennsylvania Republican, says he is innocent. But with each fresh scandal, the tattooing of the G.O.P.-run 109th Congress continues in pre-election polls.

Voters had no sooner adjusted to the shock of seeing Representative Mark Foley, Republican of Florida, disgraced from office by his come-ons to Congressional pages than Bob Ney took his turn on the pre-election scandal smorgasbord. Representative Ney, Republican of Ohio, pleaded guilty to being a principal in the quid-pro-quo insiders’ market run by Jack Abramoff, the corrupt Republican lobbyist who is cooperating with investigators about his ties to Congress and the White House. Another Republican, former Representative Randy Cunningham of California, is already doing time. He sold his office in steering $70 million in contracts to companies that offered bribes ranging from a Rolls-Royce to a carpet emblazoned “Global War on Terror.”

It should be remembered that Speaker Dennis Hastert, now under fire in the Foley scandal, helped dampen any chance of in-House ethical controls in his failed attempt to save the career of former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, an Abramoff ally who is accused of political money laundering and is awaiting trial. The sight of the ossified ethics committee forced back to life by the Foley scandal is more pathetic than heartening. It’s small wonder that lawmakers feel empowered to make ethical stretches — like Representative John Doolittle’s boosting his own family’s value by having his wife designated a consultant and paying her a 15 percent commission off the top of his campaign kitty.

The hustings ring with Democrats’ vows to restore ethical spine. But the minority has its own problem in Representative William Jefferson of Louisiana, who is accused of taking bribe money and hiding it in his home freezer. And Democrats are not helped when their Senate leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, amends his ethics filings to better report a real estate windfall, and misuses campaign money to pay helpers at his Washington condo.

The G.O.P. leaders have themselves to blame for their multiple millstones. If they had passed actual ethics reform, instead of deep-sixing it in bromides, there could have been a believable independent corruption office to take some of the heat off their current plight as compromised self-investigators. (One of the defeated reforms would have denied pensions to lawmakers convicted of official abuses. Instead, Messrs. Cunningham and Ney are likely to keep collecting behind bars.)

Congressmen caught in wrongdoing at this time of year like to complain that they’re the victims of election-eve politics. If the looming elections inspire whistleblowers, we say bravo. The prospect of voting day fills the vacuum created by the absence of an actual set of enforceable ethics rules in Congress.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Respect Indigenous Peoples - Leave Indigenous Cemeteries Alone

Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

No other people in America, save the American Indian, have to concern themselves with worry that their grandparents, great grandparents and those who have gone before will have their final resting place desecrated and their ancestor removed in the interest of science, in the interest of development, in the interest of curiosity, in the interest of making a buck by selling them on E-Bay.

No, 514 years after Columbus invaded the lands of the Arawak, Lubicyon, and Taino peoples committing genocide, Native peoples cemeteries are disrespected and desecrated by ghouls with and without degree’s, grave robbers for profit, pot hunters for profit, developers on purpose and by accident, the State of Florida, professional and amateur grave robbers a/k/a anthropologists, and virtually anyone with a shovel who feels like it. While both federal and state laws prohibit the desecration of an Indigenous cemetery by those who don’t have a degree in desecrating Indigenous cemeteries, the State of Florida has failed to prosecute anyone for such a crime in the twenty (20) years the Florida Unmarked Human Burial Act has been in force.

In 1998 concerned citizens caught John Raabe removing human remains from the Reedy Indigenous cemetery on videotape and the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney refused to prosecute claiming the Florida Unmarked Human Burial law violated Mr. Raabe’s constitutional rights. The United States Government prosecuted one man for plundering remains from the Cape Canaveral National Seashore and driving around with two peoples remains in the bed of his truck. The US fined the man $50 for the crime when the penalty by law called for up to a $100,000 fine.

In Saint Augustine, FL a site is being developed on Magnolia Street that contains at least three (3) Indigenous peoples final resting place. After finding the Indigenous cemetery instead of halting work and respecting the site, development plans continue and anthropologists have increased excavation efforts at the site.

The American Indian Movement of Florida (Florida AIM), in consultation with Independent Traditional Seminole Nation spiritual leader Bobby Billie, has called for an immediate halt to the excavation, for any development to occur in a manner that does not disturb or require the excavation of Indigenous peoples remains, and that any Indigenous peoples remains removed from the site be returned immediately.

Florida AIM is aware of, and supports the efforts of local residents and some municipal officials to seek a preservation program to acquire the lands and to maintain the land as a preserve. However Florida AIM cannot, and will not tolerate further desecration and disrespect to this Indigenous cemetery.

All human beings should be afforded basic respect and common decency. These people did not bury their relatives so that century’s later people, who weren’t even from here, could dig them up as a plaything to satisfy their curiosity, make a buck, or for development.

Florida AIM asks people with a conscience, people who understand respect to call the City of Saint Augustine and call for them to insure the excavations at the site are halted, that the human remains are respected, reburied if they have been unearthed, left alone if they have not; and finally that the burial sites are left alone in any future development plans for the affected parcels of land.

Email: aimfl@aol.com
http://www.hometown,aol.com/AIMFL
National http://www.aimovement.org/

OKLAHOMA NATIVE VOTE UNITED
Rallies In Indian Country
Submitted by Alyssa Macy

October 21, 2006
Reed Center
5800 Will Rogers Rd
Midwest City, OK 73110

(Proposed) AGENDA Subject to change
11:00 Welcome Barbra Warner
Director, Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission
11:15 Color Guard
Blessing Wallace Coffey
Chairman, Comanche Nation
11:35 Native Vote United Kay Rhoades
Principal Chief, Sac & Fox Nation
11:45 Get Out the Vote (GOTV)
12:00 Introduction of Special Speaker Dan Jones
Chairman, Ponca Nation
12:10 Special Speaker Delbert Cole
American Legion Little Standing Buffalo Post 38
12:30 Break

12:45 Introduction of Dignitaries George Tiger
Speaker, Muscogee (Creek) National Council
1:00 2006 Oklahoma Candidates
(We will list candidates attending on the final agenda)
Howard Barnett, Candidate for Treasurer
Sue Barton, Candidate for District 3 Representative
Gary Jones, Candidate for State Auditor
Cody Graves, Candidate for Corporation Commissioner
Open for Questions/Answers
Tribal leaders Comments
Adjournment

SPONSORS:
Comanche Nation; Sac & Fox Nation; Muscogee (Creek) NationCheyenne & Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; Ponca Nation

If you would like to help sponsor this event, please contact the Rachel Lynn, Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribes, at (580) 497-7726.

Native mailing list mailto:-Native@lists.ccp.org
http://lists.ccp.org/mailman/listinfo/native

FROM OUR FRIENDS AT PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY
Submitted by Alyssa Macy

One of the best ways you can help protect the integrity of the upcoming elections is to work at the polls on Election Day.

Our allies at Working Assets have created the Pollworkers for Democracy project to recruit and train a new generation of activists to work at the polls and make sure elections run
smoothly and voters' rights are protected. If you do not already have a commitment on November 7, please sign up!
http://www.pollworkersfordemocracy.org

Nationwide, counties are experiencing a shortage of people who are willing and able to work as election judges and assist voters on Election Day. It's a crisis that could affect people's ability to cast their votes. Due to changes like new electronic voting technology and ID requirements, the possibility of problems at the polls has increased and so has the need for capable, engaged poll workers to help avoid and solve those problems.

Help democracy work by stepping up to the plate and working at a local polling place on Election Day. Sign up with Pollworkers for Democracy and get paid to be an official poll worker of your
county.
http://www.pollworkersfordemocracy.org

And to make sure you get to cast your own vote, check out opportunities for early and absentee voting in your state. For more information on early voting in your state, contact your local election official.

Find your local election officer at
http://www.vote-smart.org/voter_county_election_offices.php

-- Your Allies at People For the American Way Foundation

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Matheson Says Thyroid Study Highlights Nuke Testing Risks

Submitted by Eleanore Fanire

Salt Lake City, UT- Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) said today (Thurs, Oct. 12th) the tireless work by a team of University of Utah scientists helps confirm the long-term health risks caused by exposure to radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing.

"Dr. Joseph Lyon and his associates have spent 40 years researching danger to those who were 'downwind' of nuclear testing in Nevada. The more we look, the more damage we uncover from this era, even as the federal government was telling us it was safe," said Matheson.

Matheson noted that it was Dr. Lyon's early studies that helped convince his late father-former Gov. Scott Matheson-to demand the release of classified data on the nuclear tests. Gov. Matheson died from a radiation exposure-related illness at age 61.

"The data proves that even underground nuclear tests are not safe. I have long opposed any effort to resume nuclear weapons testing in Nevada. My legislation-Safety for Americans from Nuclear Weapons Testing-establishes significant roadblocks in the way of any new testing. It explicitly requires Congress to authorize any weapons tests. And it creates the National Center for the Study of Radiation and Human Health-a regional consortium of universities that will study the health effects of radiation exposure and radiation-linked illnesses," said Matheson.

Recently, Matheson demanded the release of environmental data, prior to the planned detonation of a non-nuclear, 700-ton explosion by the Department of Defense at the Nevada Test Site. That test-known as "Divine Strake"-has been postponed indefinitely.

Matheson said an abstract of Dr. Lyon's study can be viewed at the following link: http://www.epidem.com/pt/re/epidemiology

Juaneno Bracamontes Addresses Mission Indian Gathering

Robert Bracamontes, a Native activist, writer and former correspondent for the LA Times, spoke at the Second Unity Gathering of Juaneno Band of Mission Indians held on October 8th in San Juan Capistrano, California.

In his address, Bracamontes urged the group to work toward the common goals of Unity and Federal Recognition. He spoke of the Past, the Present, the Future, Family Ties, Peace, Love, Justice, Politics, Survival, Native Pride, Education, Self-Definition and above all – the importance of JUANENO UNITY.

“We are living, breathing proof that unity is the will of the people and no government can stand in our way.”

To read his speech in its entirety go to www.onlinewithbob.com

FEDS FAILED TO TELL TRIBES BEFORE ENDING 'PROTEST AGREEMENT'
Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project
By Launce Rake
lrake@lasvegassun.com

Las Vegas Sun – October 03,2006 An agreement that swept away federal protests to the Southern Nevada Water Authority's plans to take billions of gallons annually from a rural White Pine County valley is raising objections from American Indians.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs was among the Interior Department agencies that signed the stipulation withdrawing their protests to the plan to drill wells and pump water from Spring Valley. The Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, one of more than two dozen American Indian governments scattered throughout Nevada, said the bureau failed to advise the tribal government of the agreement before entering into the stipulation with the Las Vegas water agency Sept. 10.

"By supporting SNWA, the federal government is, as usual, completely ignoring the trust responsibility that it has to protect Indian tribes and tribal resources," said Ed Naranjo, vice chairman of the Goshute Reservation. "The federal government has also intentionally violated its legal responsibilities to consult with Indian tribes when taking any action that may affect Indian tribes."

The Goshute Reservation is about 70 miles north of Spring Valley, on the Utah-Nevada state line. The tribe has fewer than 500 members, according to Naranjo. He said his concern is that natural resources, particularly water, are the tribe's most valuable resources.

The agreement between the Interior Department agencies, which included the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, came a day before the start of a two-week hearing before the Nevada state engineer's office.

The Water Authority, arguing that the water is needed to supply continued growth and to blunt feared effects from Western drought, has asked to take 91,000 acre-feet a year - about 30 billion gallons - from Spring Valley. The authority now supplies Las Vegas and its suburbs primarily with 300,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water it takes every year from Lake Mead.

Catherine Wilson, acting regional Bureau of Indian Affairs director, predicted that the Water Authority pumping will have few effects on the Indian lands and that in any case, the federal government should go along with what looked to be inevitable.

"The state engineer will likely rule in favor of SNWA and grant all or part of its requested amount of water unless there is overwhelming evidence that impacts will occur to existing water users, the proposed use will be detrimental to the public interests or there is no unappropriated water available," Wilson said in a Sept. 8 letter to the Goshutes. "With limited available data it is difficult to make a convincing case opposing the applications based on the above considerations."
The authority argued in the state engineer's hearing that Spring Valley can support the ground water plan without significant environmental damage, but has agreed to a still-unspecified program of monitoring and, if needed, mitigation.

Opponents to the ground water plan, among them environmentalists and White Pine County ranchers, argued that there is not sufficient water to support the authority's request without causing environmental damage.

The state engineer has to weigh the technical arguments and make a decision on how much water to take. His ruling is likely to take several months.

When the federal agencies announced the agreement with the authority, Bureau of Indian Affairs Director Pat Ragsdale said the water resources of the Goshutes and Ely Shoshone, another White Pine County tribe, would be protected.

"The terms of the agreement and associated monitoring network will ensure that any potential impacts from ground water pumping will be detected and addressed well before the impacts reach either reservation," Ragsdale said.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs letter to Goshute Tribal Chairman Rupert Steele acknowledges the lack of consultation.

"BIA apologizes for not being able to consult with the tribe on the stipulated agreement and 3M (monitoring, mitigation and management) Plan before it was approved," the letter said. "The timing of the hearing and the negotiations on the stipulated agreement limited BIA's ability to do so."

Naranjo, who testified against the Water Authority plan during the state engineer's hearings, noted that the Interior Department and the Las Vegas agency conducted negotiations over a period of months - the Interior Department said six months in a Sept. 11 news release - and could have consulted with American Indians during that time. He said the federal agency was legally required to consult with the tribe.

"They had ample time to consult with us," Naranjo said. "None of the tribes, as far as we know, was consulted."

Representatives of the Ely Shoshone, about 30 miles northwest of Spring Valley, and the Duckwater Shoshone in northwest Nye County, about 75 miles west, did not return Sun phone calls seeking comment.

Wendell Peacock, Bureau of Indian Affairs regional spokesman, said his agency will have ample opportunity to consult and comment with the Water Authority's independent but parallel process to win federal approval for the larger network of pumps and pipelines.

The environmental impact study on the project could take another two years, he said.
"The Southern Nevada Water Authority cannot convey any water until it receives a right-of-way from the BLM (Bureau of Land Management)," Peacock said. "This process is just beginning. Nothing is cut and dried."

Peacock said neither the Goshutes nor any other American Indian group asked to be included as signatories on the agreement, and that all are miles away from Spring Valley.
"For that reason alone, that could be the reason the BIA wasn't knocking on their door over these projects," he said. "The impact to the tribes doesn't look like it will be more than minimal."

Naranjo said the Goshute Reservation's business council will meet Friday to discuss the federal-Southern Nevada Water Authority agreement and how to respond. He said the issue should have been avoided: "In the past, water litigation with Indian tribes has cost the federal government, state governments, local governments and tribal governments billions upon billions of dollars, which could have been avoided with a simple phone call."

Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127
or at lrake@lasvegassun.com.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Bush Policy Irks Western Judges

Rulings Criticize Agencies for Not Protecting the Environment
Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Staff Writer

SEATTLE, Oct. 5 -- Using language that suggests they are fed up with the Bush administration, federal judges across the West have issued a flurry of rulings in recent weeks, chastising the government for repeated and sometimes willful failure to enforce laws protecting fish, forests, wildlife and clean air.

In decisions in Oregon, California, Montana and Wyoming, judges have criticized the judgment, expertise and, in some cases, integrity of the federal agencies that manage natural resources on public lands.

The rulings come at a time when an emerging bipartisan coalition of western politicians, hunters, anglers and homeowners has joined conservation groups in objecting to the rapid pace and environmental consequences of President Bush's policies for energy extraction on federal land.
Specialists in environmental law cite a noticeable increase in the number of recent court rulings in which federal judges in the West have ruled against the administration, using blunt language that shows impatience and annoyance.

"You are seeing frustration in the federal judiciary," said Dan Rohlf, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School, in Portland, Ore. The law school has the nation's oldest environmental law program. "When judges express that frustration on paper, which is not all that often, they are often reflecting what they see as a systematic effort to get around the law."

The most scathing and exasperated of the recent court orders came late last month out of Portland, where U.S. District Judge James A. Redden has presided for six years over a stalled federal effort to prevent endangered salmon from going extinct in the Columbia and Snake rivers.

Federal agencies "have repeatedly and collectively failed to demonstrate a willingness to do what is necessary" under the Endangered Species Act to save fish at risk of extinction, wrote Redden, who was appointed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter.

Responding to Redden's language and to other recent critical comments by federal judges in the West, Justice Department spokeswoman Cynthia J. Magnuson said: "It is regrettable whenever a court chooses to examine and speculate about the motives of a federal agency rather than applying the applicable laws to the facts of the case."

The agencies that Redden said are refusing to enforce the law include the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which leads the salmon-recovery program, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bonneville Power Administration, which markets power from federal dams on the rivers.

Federal court rulings in much of the West are appealed to the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Like lower courts in the West, it has often been caustically critical of the Bush administration

Velma M. Smith
National Environmental Trust
1200 Eighteenth St, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20036
vsmith@net.org


AICCN SETS LUNCHEON AT SAM'S TOWN CASINO

Keynote speakers at the American Indian Chamber Of Commerce of Nevada luncheon are Anna Siefert, Operations Manager/WBC Project Director for the 9Nevada Microenterprise Initiative; Debbie Richow, Business Development Specialist, U.S. Small Business Administration and Janis Stevenson,Business Development Advisor, Nevada Small Business Center, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

AICCN, which assists Native Americans and Alaskan Natives with education, employment and self-employment opportunities, has scheduled the event for October 25th at Sam’s Town Casino from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The luncheon price is $30 for members, $35 for non-members and $40 for walk-ins. No shows will be billed. The deadline for reservations is Friday, October 20th.

To make reservations and for more information call 702-693-6698 or e-mail- aiccn@earthlink.net

9TH CIRCUIT COURT BLOCKS AZ VOTER ID LAW
Submitted by Daniel Levitas, ACLU

As previously reported, in a victory for voting rights advocates, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued an injunction yesterday blocking Arizona's law mandating voters show ID at polling places and proof of citizenship when registering to vote.

Click here for Associated Press coverage and here for a response from the Arizona secretary of state who is seeking an immediate reversal of the injunction. For the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law news release, click here.

Background:

In November 2004, 56% of Arizona voters approved Proposition 200, a statewide referendum requiring individuals to provide proof of citizenship before they register to vote or when they apply for public benefits, and requiring identification at the polls on Election Day. A lawsuit was filed in December 2004 challenging the “public benefits” aspect of the measure. Three separate federal lawsuits have recently been filed challenging the voting-relating provisions of Prop 200 that require proof of citizenship during registration and identification at the polls.

According to plaintiffs, Proposition 200’s proof of citizenship requirement blocked nearly 21,000 Arizonans from registering to vote. Those three lawsuits have been consolidated and although the federal district court refused to grant injunctive relief, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals did so on October 5, granting without comment an injunction that bars enforcement of the law's voter identification and registration provisions so that eligible voters can register before the October 9 registration deadline, and enjoins Proposition 200’s polling place identification requirements so that citizens can vote in this year’s critical mid-term election.

NATIVE VOTERS - STAND UP, BE HEARD!
Alyssa Macy, Four Directions
On NOVEMBER 7, Native American voters will participate in important local, state, and federal elections. In states with sizable Native American populations including Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, Washington, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Native voters are being courted by partisan and non-partisan efforts.

The Indigenous Democratic Network (INDN’s List), a partisan effort, has also endorsed several Native Americans running for office in Washington, Oklahoma, Montana, North Dakota, and Colorado. Despite fewer dollars being spent on non-partisan efforts this year, the increase in Native candidates and partisan dollars will surely have an impact on overall Native voter turnout.

In 2004, the Native Vote effort brought unprecedented attention to Native voters and issues. Voter registration, education, and get-out-the-vote efforts were held in tribal communities across the country funded primarily by Tribes and Foundations. It was also a year where elected officials and candidates took notice of the Native Vote and there were increases in candidate and partisan events in tribal communities. Some candidates went as far to develop platforms on tribal issues.

When it was all said and done, the post-election analysis of the Native Vote 2004 effort in 8 states saw increases of 50 to 150 percent in voter turnout where efforts existed.

In 2006, the Native Vote is as important, if not more, for our communities. While voting gives Native people the ability to hold elected officials accountable, it is also an important tool in protecting tribal sovereignty and ensuring that the federal government upholds treaty obligations.

With the entire U.S. House of Representatives up for election and key Senate and Governor races in states with large Native populations, the Native Vote is once again poised to be heard loud and clear. Through educating, voting, and running our own candidates, we are taking our rightful seat at the political table and being a part of the discourse that is shaping our communities.

The midterm elections are around the corner and there are many things that individuals and organizations can do to mobilize voters. Following is a list of things that are quick, easy, and FREE that will help to mobilize voters in your community. These include:

*Make sure you are registered to vote! If you haven’t registered or if you have moved since the last election, make sure you fill out a new registration form. You can get more information about registration requirements from your Secretary of State office.

*Educate on how to vote and the voting process. This includes announcing dates of elections and deadlines, setting up mock voting machines, and displaying (or printing) sample ballots. You can get this information from your local Election Office.

*Talking to people about the importance of voting. This includes: family & friends, elders, tribal leaders, student groups, tribal radio stations and newspapers, community services, anyone with a bumper stickers on their car, a political button or t-shirt.

*Put an article in your agency or school newsletter and your tribal newsletter that goes out close to Election Day, encouraging everyone to vote.

*Send emails to your family, friends, co-workers, consumers or clients, and volunteers encouraging them to vote.

*Display a poster in your main lobby and other common areas near Election Day with information about polling places and simple message to VOTE NOVEMBER 7.

*Publicize information on referenda or other ballot initiatives to ensure that community members are aware of them and their potential impact. It is also helpful to paraphrase complicated initiatives in plain language so that voters are less intimidated.

*Text message savvy? TxtVoter.org allows you to get information registering to vote as well as registering your friends to vote. All for FREE on their website.

*Include a VOTE NOVEMBER 7 reminder in the payroll envelopes that go out closest to Election Day.

*Do an “office knock” or “community knock” on the day before Election Day—make the rounds in your place of employment or neighborhood and remind people to VOTE NOVEMBER 7.

*New or infrequent voters need multiple reminders to vote in order for the reminders to be effective. Do another “office knock” or “community knock” on Election Day—make the rounds one more time and remind family, friends, and co-workers to VOTE TODAY.

*Car pool to the polls with family, friends, co-workers, consumers or clients, and volunteers who live in your precinct—on your way to work, on a morning break, on your lunch hour, or after work. Make it fun and social!

*Include a VOTE NOVEMBER 7.reminder in any group meetings or programs that your agency holds in the month leading up to Election Day.

*Put a VOTE NOVEMBER 7 message in your email signature so that every email you send reminds people to vote.

*Take time off on Election Day—or even part of it! Many groups throughout Indian Country are running nonpartisan get-out-the-vote programs on Election Day and they need volunteers to knock on doors, give rides to the polls, and make phone calls to eligible voters.

*Host an Election Night family or community gathering to people together to watch the elections returns come in. Make sure that gathering spot has televisions and couches and if possible, computers with internet connectivity (for up-to-the-minute results). This is a great way to encourage informal interaction between family and/or community members.

Let’s build on the successes of 2004 -- stand up and BE HEARD on November 7.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Columbus Day 'Sound Off'

October 10th - Day after Columbus Day.

IT'S COLUMBUS DAY-WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING FOR?
By Kalyn Free – INDNs List Founder

“We shall take you and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them, … and we shall take away your goods, and shall do you all the mischief and damage that we can, … and we protest that the deaths and losses which shall accrue from this are your fault …”
- Christopher Columbus

Each October children in classrooms around the nation will dutifully recite their Columbus Day “facts”: the ships (“the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria…”), the year (“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...”), and even the fruit that the explorer thought best resembled the Earth (that would be the orange ). Our national leaders take time out of their busy schedules – raising money and covering up scandals – to commemorate the man who “found” America.

Of course by now many of us know that Columbus was not the first European to sail to North America – a Viking did that nearly 500 years earlier – and that the arrival of the Spanish empire wasn’t exactly a blessing to the hemisphere. What many of us don’t know, and what many more of us willfully ignore, is what Columbus really was the first to do on our side of the pond.

Christopher Columbus, you see, was a slave trader, a gold digger, a missionary, and even a war profiteer in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella. The arrival of Columbus’s small fleet on what is now San Salvador (that’s Spanish for “Holy Savior”) was greeted by the “decorous and praiseworthy” Taino Indians (Columbus’s words) and was followed almost immediately by mass enslavement, amputation for sport, and a genocide that claimed over four million people in four years. That’s quite a saving.

His arrival also marked the beginning of 500 years of imperialism, enslavement, disease, genocide, and a legacy of impoverishment and discrimination that our nation is only beginning to come to terms with. Today American Indians lack adequate healthcare and housing, receive pitiful education, face daunting barriers to economic opportunity, and see their lands (that would be the whole of the continent) overrun with pollution and big business.

Columbus Day has been celebrated as a federal holiday since 1971, making it the first of only two federal holidays to honor a person by name. The other celebrates the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It isn’t Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors, though, that resemble the selflessness of the Rev. King and the best traditions of the American ideal. From the hospitality of the Taino Indians toward Columbus’s crew, on which he remarked at length in his diaries, to the generosity of the Wampanoag in sharing their traditional feast with the Pilgrims, the history and tradition of Indian cultures have characterized the values of a plural and welcoming community. Even today American Indians proudly serve a country that has given them so little and taken so much.

A disproportionate number of young men and women fight and die for our country and for the constitution (based on the Iroquois Confederacy) that did so little to protect their own freedoms. Lori Piestewa, a Hopi soldier, became the first Indian woman to die in combat for the US military, when her convoy – famous for her friend Jessica Lynch – was ambushed outside Nasiriyah, Iraq. Her memory, like the sacrifices of so many of our Indians, is too often forgotten or obscured by the mass media and the gener al public.

So today we honor their sacrifices. We honor the dedication of American Indians to the best aspirations of people everywhere, the commitment to democracy, to the constitution, and to the right to vote. And we honor the generosity and selflessness of our best Americans, especially those tribes that greeted our nation’s first immigrants with curiosity and open arms.

While many people, including the entire federal workforce, take Monday off for Columbus Day, INDN’s List will be hard at work protecting the rights of Indians everywhere. We believe in this democracy everyone ought to have a right to vote, a right to run for office and a voice to be heard. Please continue supporting our work and our candidates, and lodge your protest of Columbus Day by contributing to INDN's List on “his” day.

Paid for by INDN's List - 406 S Boulder, Mezzanine Ste 200, Tulsa, OK 74103Contributions to INDN's List are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

SURVIVING COLUMBUS!
Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

As Native Americans in this day and age, we are survivors, we have survived the genocide, the federal Policy to “kill the Indian, and save the man”, and all the other atrocities that are not covered in US history books. I wish a beautiful victory song to all Native Americans today, we have survived and, for most of the tribes and bands, our cultures are intact, alive and well.

We have overcome the onslaught, we must however never forget, and strive to better our Native communities and homelands by educating ourselves and our people so that they can represent our people to preserve our land, our resources, our cultures, and our religions.
Steven Chischilly

COLUMBUS DAY - NO REASON TO CELEBRATE
Article Last Updated: 10/06/2006

By Mary Annette Pember
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue on a mission of plunder for Spain. When he arrived here, he commenced the virtual annihilation of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

A culture and nation founded on the murderous, exploitive philosophy of this act has two choices: apologize and make reparations, or cunningly twist the facts and make it an opportunity for celebration.

The United States has chosen the latter. In many ways, the whole Columbus Day debate is a big yawn for native peoples, just another in the ongoing pinches in the rear that define being Native American in America.

Mostly, we simply say, "Ouch," and go on with the business of surviving the policies borne out of a ruling government's mindset that sees Christopher Columbus as a national hero.
At the time of European "discovery" in the 15th century, there were more than 10 million native peoples in North America. But by the beginning of the 20th century, our numbers had dwindled to less the 230,000.

So, we're pretty ambivalent about the whole celebration idea surrounding our near-demise. The Columbus attitude has justified U.S. Indian policy all the way from stolen lands and broken treaties to recent attacks on tribal sovereignty and the failure to make good on Indian trust funds.

Currently, mainstream America has a "just get over it" attitude to native peoples, dismissing our grievances as political correctness gone awry. But in the recent words of an elder, "If the shoe were on the other foot, Americans would carry laminated copies of their ancestors' treaties until they got their just dues."

Asking the U.S. government to abandon Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples' Day is akin to asking for a sea change in the national psychology. It demands a soul-searching objectivity that is simply too threatening to the mainstream culture and economy.

The European "discovery" of America is a misnomer. This victor's history is still very much at the heart of the American psyche. By ignoring the fact that that the place was already inhabited by millions of indigenous peoples, the celebration of Columbus Day exalts a criminal act.

This philosophy has allowed the current Christopher Columbus reincarnation, George W. Bush, sufficient national support in his efforts to bring democratic light to the darker regions of Iraq.
As a native woman, experienced in the repercussions of American policy-making, I'm waiting for the president's supporters to propose establishing a George W. Bush Day in Iraq, celebrating the civilizing of that country.

I bet few Americans would see the irony.

Mary Annette Pember, Red Cliff Ojibwe, is past president of the Native American Journalists Association. She currently lives and works as an independent journalist in Cincinnati.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Anti-Mining Activists Join Navajo Nation In Uranium Fight

Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

Thursday, September 28, 2006
Albuquerque Journal--The Associated Press

GALLUP- Activists are fighting the possibility of increased uranium mining on the Navajo reservation.

The McKinley Community Health Alliance, which held a forum Monday on the history of uranium mining in the area, cited the 1979 collapse of an earthen dam at a United Nuclear Corporation settling pond in Church Rock that released 94 million gallons of radioactive wastewater and 1,100 tons of uranium tailings.

Alliance representative Jana Gunnell said people in the area need to say no to uranium companies now, "so that we're not in a position to say, 'Oh no, not again".

Uranium brings in more than $50 per pound now, and companies are pursuing new mine locations, including the Colorado Plateau and the eastern part of the Navajo Nation.

Eastern Navajo Dine Against Uranium Mining has raised concerns about possible ground water pollution at proposed sites near Church Rock and Crownpoint, where Hydro Resources Inc. wants to inject chemicals into the ground to release uranium and pump the solution to the surface in a process called in situ leaching.

The anti-mining group, which has been fighting the plans for more than a decade, is concerned about how in situ mining might affect an aquifer that supplies drinking water to 15,000 people.

Mansel Nelson, program coordinator for Northern Arizona University's Environmental Education Outreach Program, said the process does not produce the piles of uranium tailings debris of conventional mining and keeps miners safer because they don't have to go underground.

However, Nelson said that there's a danger dissolved uranium might seep out of the mine area. And he said companies' records in cleaning up in situ sites is not encouraging.

Chris Shuey, director of uranium impact assessment for the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center, said there are few lasting gains from the past uranium mining booms.

Decades after mining in the 1950s and 1960s, hundreds of abandoned mines have not been restored and thousands of reservation residents are still waiting on compensation claims, he said.
<http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/496701nm09-28-06.htm>

Jamie Kneen
Communications & Outreach Coordinator ofc.
(613) 569-3439
MiningWatch Canada cell: (613) 761-2273
250 City Centre Ave., Suite 508
fax: (613) 569-5138
Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6K7
e-mail:jamie@miningwatch.ca
Canadahttp://www.miningwatch.ca

INL SEEKS COMMENTS ON PROPOSED EXPLOSIVES TEST SITE
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire

By Dan Boyd –Idaho State Journal Writer
ARCO — The Idaho National Laboratory plans to increase its weapons-testing capabilities by adding a new National Security Test Range. The new facility would add space for explosives detection, detonation and other testing in addition to an existing firing range currently used for security training.

Department of Energy spokesman Tim Jackson said the explosives tested at the new range would be non-nuclear and would pose no radioactive hazard. The facility — about 640,000 square feet in size — would be located on a remote part of the northern portion of the INL site, about seven miles from the nearest building.

“The larger explosions would be heard along Highway 33 and they might see a dust cloud, but people driving down the highway won’t be able to feel the testing,” Jackson said. He added that various national security customers will use the facility, which will be surrounded by an earthen berm.

“Results from these tests will benefit the national, local and state governments, as well as the private sector,” Jackson said. “This is about gathering data to better protect buildings and infrastructure from explosive devices.”

The INL has a long history of national security testing and currently employs nearly 100 cyber security and infrastructure protection experts who develop tools and conduct high level testing. Although Jackson assured the testing will be non-nuclear, other similar test sites have sparked controversy.

The so-called “Divine Strake” test using 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil to test current capabilities to destroy underground targets was scheduled for June 2 in Nevada, but was eventually delayed after a massive public outcry. Area residents particularly feared radioactive elements left over from atomic bomb tests at the same site in the 1950s and 1960s could have been sent skyward in a trajectory toward Idaho.

A 30-day public comment period to formally offer input on the new INL test range proposal began Tuesday and continues through Oct. 27. The draft environmental assessment can be examined by going to www.id.doe.gov and clicking on “laboratory programs.”

ACTIVISTS TO SPEAK AT COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES
Western Shoshone grandmother Carrie Dann and Julie Fishel, WesternShoshone Defense Project will speak at the Colorado School of Mines on the action between the spiritual area, Mt. Tenabo, and Mining Conflicts that should have been avoided.

The event is set for Thursday, Oct. 12, 2006, from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO - Center for Technology and Learning Media, 17th & Cheyenne St.

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
775-468-0230
www.wspd.org
wspd@igc.org

CARRIE DANN TO SPEAK AT 'THINK OUTSIDE THE BOMB' CONFERENCE
Submitted by the Western Shoshone Defense Project

From October 20-22, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation will team up with various partner NGOs to host the second “Think Outside the Bomb” conference at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The conference will bring together high school students, college students, recent college alumni, and young non-profit professionals from throughout the western United States for a series of participatory discussion panels, workshops, and skills trainings on building a nuclear-free world. You are advised to apply now at – http://www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org/

Travel vouchers are available to out-of-town attendees. Lodging will be provided free of charge for most participants. Free food will be provided for all, throughout the course of the weekend.

The threat of a nuclear holocaust is one of the most urgent challenges facing our generation. In recent years, the crises in Iran, Iraq, and North Korea have underscored the ongoing centrality of nuclear weapons in the global political order. Yet, the greatest power to lead the world toward nuclear disarmament rests right here, at home, where the United States maintains a stockpile of over 10,000 nuclear weapons and currently spends more money to develop new weapons of mass destruction than any other nation.

Stopping the construction of new nuclear power plants, ending the exploitation of the nuclear fuel cycle, achieving the demilitarization of our schools and communities, and opposing the US wars in the Middle East are all intimately connected with the cause of nuclear. Nuclear weapons are not created in a vacuum. Nor will they be abolished in one.

The “Think Outside the Bomb” conference will provide a backdrop for a rich exchange of ideas between participants regarding nuclear issues. Attendees will leave the conference buzzing with new insights, knowledge, and inspiration, as well as an array of organizing resources and practical hands-on skills to empower them to do the day-to-day work of creating a more peaceful and secure planet.

For more information on the “Think Outside the Bomb” Conference at UCSB, please visit www.thinkoutsidethebomb.org.

“Think Outside the Bomb” Conference at Pace University, New York City - November 4-5.

LENAPE NATION RALLIES FOR JUSTICE
Submitted by Anthony Jay Van Dunk
Tribal Chief – avd@panix.com

The Ramapough Lenape Indian Nation is organizing a protest set for Friday, October 13th at 12 noon at 10 Main Street, Hackensack, New Jersey in the demand for Justice for the death of Emil Mann and the unfair prosecution of Otis and Katlin Mann.

A press conference and peaceful demonstration will be held on the Courthouse steps with drummers, singers, speakers, friends and allies of the Native people.

Sign making for the demonstration will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday evening, October 11th at the Ramapough Lenape Indian Center, 189 Stag Hill Rd, Mahwah, New Jersey. Sign materials, bottled water and donations are needed.

Participants to the protest are asked to bring paper/cardboard signs or cloth banners.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Lobbyist Abramoff Made 485 White House Contacts For Tribes

Indianz.Com, In Print
Monday, October 2, 2006
Jack Abramoff and his colleagues lobbied the White House more than 400 times on behalf of tribal clients, with the overwhelming majority of the contacts billed to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, according to a Congressional report released on Friday.

The bipartisan report from the House Committee on Government Reform examined four years of billing records from the Greenberg Traurig firm. Lawmakers discovered numerous contacts with White House staff on issues affecting Abramoff's tribal clients.

Abramoff's colleagues, for example, pushed the White House to nominate Tim Martin, the former executive director of the United South and Eastern Tribes, to head the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Mississippi Choctaws and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, another client, are members of USET.

The report shows Team Abramoff pressed the White House on gaming, land claims, taxation, land-into-trust, appropriations, legislation and other issues from January 2001 through February 2004, right before the scandal broke.

But the records paint an incomplete picture of the lobbying effort. Many of the bills for meals and drinks at restaurants came with little explanation for the service rendered.

For a "Lunch at Rio Grande Cafe with White House Legislative Affairs staff/OMB staff," lobbyist Shawn Vasell billed the Choctaws $64.64 on May 12, 2001.

For a "Dinner at Angelo & Maxie's with White House staffers," lobbyist Kevin Ring billed the Choctaws a total of $384.76 on June 12, 2002.
Details that could reveal more about the nature of the contacts were blocked out in the records.

For example, an entry for a $685.36 dinner billed to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan contains a redaction that would indicate which White House staffers ate with lobbyist Todd Boulanger on March 11, 2003.

Overall, the Congressional report lists 485 contacts with the White House. The overwhelming majority, more than 300, were billed to the Choctaws, who were Abramoff's first tribal client and his most lucrative.

According to the report, the Greenberg Traurig firm billed the Choctaws and the other tribes more than $25,000 in meals, drinks and tickets to entertainment events for White House staff and officials, some of whom may have been prohibited from accepting such gifts.

"That Native American tribes were bilked and that ethics rules may have been violated is dramatic enough," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Virginia), the chairman of the committee.

The report attempts to present an unbiased view of Abramoff's alleged prowess. Abramoff frequently boasted of his successes in Washington and the committee confirmed several of them, including a $16.5 million jail for the Choctaws that came after 73 instances of lobbying in a six-month period.

Other successes included legislation to settle Sandia Pueblo's land claim in New Mexico, the defeat of a casino compact in Louisiana that threatened Abramoff's clients and a $3 million appropriation for a Saginaw Chippewa school that the tribe has since returned to the BIA.

The committee counted Abramoff's numerous failures as well, namely the Tim Martin nomination and other executive branch nominations.

The report noted that the Louisiana gaming compact eventually went against Abramoff's clients, although the issue is still pending at BIA.

Several members of Team Abramoff have pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to defraud tribes and bribe members of Congress. One Congressman, Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), pleaded guilty to helping Abramoff's tribal clients in exchange for gifts.

Indianz.Com. In Print
http://www.Indianz.com/News/2006/016200.asp

READER BEWARE - A Clever And Devious Scam !

“Hello Folks, My name is J. S. Moore and I am an artist. I live in the United Kingdom, with my two kids, four cats, one dog and the love of m life. It is definitely a full house. I have been doing artwork sinceI was a small child. That gives me about 23 years of experience. I majored in art in high school and took a few college art courses. Most of my work is done in either pencil or airbrush mixed with colorpencils.

“I have recently added designing and creating artworks on the computer. I have been selling my arts for the last 3 years and have had my work featured on trading cards, prints and in magazines. I have sold in galleries and to private collectors from all around the world. I am always facing serious difficulties when it comes to selling my art works to Americans, they are always offering to pay with US POSTAL MONEY ORDER, which is difficult for me to cash here in the United Kingdom.”

I am looking for a representative in the States who will be working for me as a partime worker and i am willing to pay 10% for every transaction, which wouldn't affect your present state of work,someone who would help me receive payments from my customers in the States. I mean someone that is responsible and reliable, because the cost of coming to the States to get payments is very expensive, i am working on setting up a branch in the U.S pretty soon.

But for now I need a representative who will be handling the payment aspect.”These payments are in Money Order and they would come to you in your name, so all you need do is cash the Money Order, deduct your percentage and wire the rest to me. It wouldn't cost you any amount, you are to receive payments which will be sent to you by Fedex o USPS from my business partners, which would come in form of a Money Order then you are to cash it and send the cash to me via WesternUnion Money Transfer. All Western Union charges will be deducted from the money.”

If you are interested, endeavor to send your reply immediately to m e-mail address:---------------

Regards, J. S. Moore”

The goal of this scam is for you to cash a fraudulent money order or cashiers check at your local bank. Take your 10% cut and send the remaining funds by Western Union, etc to your contact person. Your bank will eventually discover the check/ money order was a fake in the first place and you will be made responsible for paying back the entire amount of the check.

Most unfortunately, it may take some time for your bank to discover the FIRST check was a fake and chances are by the time they do, you may have cashed several of them for your so called “new boss”, taken your 10% cuts and sent the remaining money on to the contact person. SOOO !!!– you made $ 10,000 for cashing ten $10,000 fake cashier’s checks or money orders BUT in the long run, you end up owing your bank $100,000.

What elements to watch for in these business dealings - Red Flags:

The Payment Processing Business scam is always either for Work at Home or Part Time Work.

The job offer arrived through unsolicited email, snail mail, chat room, Instant Message, Private Message, Private Chat Room, phony company web site, posted on job web sites, posted on Help Wanted bulletin boards, posted in Classifieds (on or offline), response to posted resumes.

The hiring company is selling product internationally and needs a representative to accept checks in the customer's country.

The hiring company cannot process the checks it receives in its own country and needs someone outside the country to process the checks on its behalf. There is always a reason they cannot accept funds and want you to do so for them. There is no country in the world in which checks from another country cannot be cashed.

NOTE: This scam is becoming so effective that new variations are being developed daily. Please keep in mind that it is NOT the names or the reason for needing a representative that are important. It is the INTENT. If the intent is to get you to accept funds from a person with whom you are NOT dealing directly, and send those funds off to someone else, then it is a scam. The acceptance and wiring of the funds is called MONEY LAUNDERING.

The job does not require a knowledge of proper bookkeeping and accounting requirements.

There is no requirement that you be bonded and insured.

There is no background check performed to ensure that you are a trustworthy individual.

There is no requirement that you be properly licensed and registered to accept their funds, account for them, and file the proper tax forms to report the income.

There is no requirement that you open a bank account in the company's name in a local bank to receive the funds, as is proper and usual.

Checks are made out to you instead of the company. Checks are made out to you without an exchange of product or service that you directly provided.

Money are orders made out to you without an exchange of product or service that you directly provided.

Funds that are wired into your account from a party to whom you did not directly provide your banking coordinates. A request by the company that you open an account in your name at a specific bank, such as Bank of America or Citibank.

Any request that you transfer money you have accepted on their behalf by any means that is difficult to trace, i.e. by Western Union, PayPal, MoneyGram, Money Order, bank-to-bank to a bank in a country other than that of the hiring company, or by any other method.

Never, ever, EVER cash a check for a stranger. Never, ever, EVER accept any funds on behalf of someone else. Period.

Never, ever, EVER accept funds from one party and send them off to another. That is money laundering.

By accepting funds on behalf of another party you are taking full, legal, and responsible possession of those funds. Are you sure this is the kind of business you want to engage in with a complete stranger thousands of miles away?

Questions? Write to
annie.mcguire@fraudaid.com

INDNS LIST ANNOUNCES SEVEN MORE ENDORSEMENTS

Today we are happy to announce our endorsement of seven candidates in four states around the country. From Arizona, INDN’s List endorses Rep. Albert Tom and Sen. Albert Hale, both Navajo; from Alaska, Sen. Lyman Hoffman (Yupik) and Rep. Woodie Salmon (Chalkyitsik Village); Sen. Theresa Two Bulls (Oglala Sioux) and Rep. Thomas Van Norman (Cheyenne River Sioux) from South Dakota; and Phyllis Ray (Choctaw and Cherokee), candidate for reelection as Grady County Assessor in Oklahoma.

“We started INDN’s List to give Indians a voice in the halls of power,” offered Kalyn Free, President, “so it makes sense to get behind those officials already serving the public and representing Indians around the country.”

In their short time in their respective state houses, these candidates have been hard at work for their constituents, for tribes, and for the greater good of their states:

*Rep Tom who before joining the legislature served on the Navajo Nation Council, worked to create and fund the American Indian Studies Program at the University of Arizona and to sustain the Navajo Health Foundation/Sage Memorial Hospital.

*Sen. Hale, formerly the President of the Navajo Nation, has worked to expand voting rights, direct lottery revenue to scholarships, raise the minimum wage, and establish a state Division of Indian Education.

*Sen. Hoffman, a 24-year lawmaker, has been a forward-thinking fighter for Alaska families, supporting minimum wage increases, rural housing assistance, and an alternative energy and research initiative.

*Rep. Salmon, who previously served as Chief of his tribe, has introduced legislation guarding children from harassment at school, to protect victims of discrimination, and to ensure the safety of rural Alaskans by funding rural law enforcement.

*Sen. Two Bulls, the first Indian woman ever to serve in the South Dakota legislature, has defended the Voting Rights Act with the ACLU, fought to provide eldercare on Indian reservations, and worked to expand public health and medical insurance programs for Indians.

*Rep. Van Norman, the first Indian to serve his two-reservation district, sponsored legislation creating the Indian Child Welfare Commission and time and again has fought the Republican majority to expand health insurance programs.

*Three-time Assessor Phyllis Ray has built the office to meet the highest standards for the state, implemented new technology to boost efficiency, and has helped school districts achieve lower tax rates through better assessment.

Please visit our website today to read more about all of our outstanding candidates and to support our work in electing – and reelecting – American Indians all around the country.
Paid for by INDN's List - 406 S Boulder, Mezzanine Ste 200, Tulsa, OK 74103Contributions to INDN's List are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.

MINNESOTA ELECTION PROTECTION TRAINING
Submitted by Alyssa Macy

The program will be held Thursday, October 19th from 1 pm to 3pm at the Grand Casino Mille Lacs Event Center, Winter Room, Onamia. MN.

Training Summary: Strategies for winning elections include many aspects. Unfortunately, for many candidates, “voter suppression”—trying to discourage voting by groups of people deemed to be supportive of another candidate—is increasingly common. Some campaigns actually spend time and resources figuring out the best strategies for suppressing the vote.

People deserve the right to express their convictions in many ways, but voting is perhaps the most basic right. Election Protection efforts are run to ensure that people are not disenfranchised. In Minnesota there are strong laws to protect someone’s right to vote. But that does not mean attempts are not made to suppress the vote.

This training will include an update of current legislative changes in the state, as well as strategies being put together statewide to ensure that all people—regardless of party affiliation or intention—can fulfill their desire to select their elected representatives.

Who Should Attend: Get Out the Native vote organizers, volunteers, tribal attorneys, and others interested in Election Day activities.

Please RSVP to Sally Fineday at 651-895-7720 or email mhtml:mid://00000003/Compose?To=sallyfineday@hotmail.com by October 13, 2006 to be included in this opportunity for free election protection training..

Sponsored by Native Vote Alliance of Minnesota and TakeAction Minnesota

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.