“I hear the train a coming”

“THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN IS A JAILED INDIAN”.
PRIVATIZATION OF INDIANS AND PRISONS

MNN. Oct. 19, 2006. Howard Saper, the Ombudsman for Inmates, just came out with a report on the state of Indigenous prisoners. He said the incarceration rate for Indigenous people was nine times higher than for the Canadian population, even though we are 1.5 per cent of the population. The numbers are even worse for Indigenous women. One in three inmates in federally-run women’s prisons was Indigenous. Half are in maximum security institutions. One reason is because there was “routine over classification” of native prisoners. At least we’re higher class in something, eh!

So their family, community, friends and elders are robbed of their presence. They are sent more often into segregation and don’t get rehabilitative treatment so they can be released. Parole is not even a consideration.

Any lawyer will tell you that when someone looks native, they are more likely to be found guilty. Does that mean we have to powder our faces white when we go out in public?

Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day rejected the report and said, “There is no evidence of systemic discrimination against native offenders in the prison system”. Is he telling us that he went to visit a jail one time and they didn’t complain to him? To him they all seem to be happy, like they never had it so good. A major problem with our people is that we don’t lie. We’re basically hospitable, honest and don’t B.S. our way out of the system. We have a hard time conning anybody. We even tell the truth on ourselves. We are apt to accept responsibility if we did a wrong. We are taken advantage of over what they think is our “character flaw”. Most of our people who go to jail are involved in bar fights and actions related to alcohol.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is introducing the “three strikes you’re out” and “you’re-going-to-jail-for-the-rest-of-your-life” legislation aimed at increasing the prison population. He says he wants to protect the “Canadian” way of life. Isn’t the Canadian way of life to be fair? Or is this a take on the old genocidal proclamations allowing British subjects in Nova Scotia to kill all Indian men, women, children and even babies? Let’s not forget that the first prisons were built in Prince Albert right after they hung Louis Riel for defending democracy. As far as we’re concerned it’s the same, old same old.

“If you do a serious crime, you’re going to do serious time”, Harper declared. He’s aiming at “violent offenders” like the Indigenous people. They want to go after spontaneous instinctive behavior which is done without premeditation. They are usually ashamed and do their time without complaint.

How about all those corrupt politicians? What about white collar criminals who steal millions and get away with it? Generally speaking it is considered worse if someone plans a crime. Slimy politicians, liars and deceivers who rob people of millions of dollars are not the targets of Harper’s law, even though they do more harm to society. What about contractors who skim on public works like overpasses that kill innocent people? A violent offense usually takes place between two individuals. In such cases the cops can easily set them up for two more charges and have them put away forever. What a weapon in the hands of the cops!

Imagine “super jails” run for profit by private companies eager to cash in on Harper’s plans to get tougher on crime.

Stockwell Day has made private security companies jump for joy. They are gloating over the “jackpot” they are going to hit by putting our people in jail. They just have to ask, “What’s your band number?” to get the payment from Indian Affairs. Harper is trying to convince Canadians that private prisons are cheaper so he can call on his private sector friends to build and operate them. This is part of the U.S. pro-privatization ideology adopted by the Conservative government. He will try wherever he can to turn over a growing range of public services to private operators, most of whom are his friends and backers.

It will be a for-profit business paid for by the tax payers. It looks like Indian Affairs can easily transfer $50,000 to $60,000 a head to these private prisons. Jailing Indians is big business. It’s a “cash cow” for the provinces which can get huge transfer payments from the federal government for every Indigenous inmate. They don’t get nothin’ for non-native inmates. That’s why it’s real attractive to keep us in jail.

At the same time the Conservative government has announced that Indian communities are going to be privatized. They want our communities to be run by corporations and trust companies for which the bottom line is profit. Band councils are now, for the most part, corporations which are being taken over by auditing firms such as PriceWaterhouse.

We’ve been giving the federal and provincial governments and corporations a hard time over theft of our lands and resources. They want to control us. They’ve figured out a way. They are going to privatize us and let the multinational corporations move in for a feast. We won’t know what’s going on with our money or anything. Corporations, of course, will want to cut costs so they can make a bigger profit. So our standard of living will go down, as if this is possible. If we don’t pay our mortgage or our taxes, the corporation will be able to seize our land and possessions.

Strange as it may seem, Canadians have never thought of registering mortgages against Newfoundland or British Columbia. So why do they think they can do this with with our land? The bluff and hypocrisy supporting this scheme is transparent. It’s meant to dispossess us.

It’s called the “Indian business”. In Kanehsatake PriceWaterhouse took over from James Gabriel who deliberately mismanaged the funds and affairs of the community. Every program and service was cut back. There was a lot “streamlining” or skimming off the top so there would be more for the corporation. $34 million is basically unaccounted for so far. Hey, Canada, did you ever wonder why your taxes are so high!

Trust companies will make money on privatizing our communities. The government will put up $50,000 a head and blow up the population figures to feed the corporate gluttons. They will do this in the jail system too. They want big jails full of Indians. We will be marketed on the stock exchange for the public to invest in our jails and our corporate controlled communities. The politicians will offer patronage plums to their friends to be trustees over Indigenous communities and jails. Why do they need to victimize us? Why don’t they just write checks to their friends? Do they think Canadians and Americans are so dumb they don’t know what’s going on?

The more they can cause mismanagement of band councils and criminalizing of Indians, the more justification there is for taking over Indigenous communities and putting us in jail. According to their business plan, warehousing Indians is a growth industry!

The United States corporations want to bring this system in. Is that the reason for that big agreement between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico called “deep integration?” They’re streamlining everything economically under a central control of 130 CEO’s who will make all the decisions for Harper, Bush and Fox.

In all of this, they are violating international law. Our incarcerated Indigenous inmates are not even citizens of Canada or the United States. They are from their own nations. They come under their own laws. This is like Guantanamo Bay!

Let’s think of how much the trustees of the Six Nations of Grand River Corporation would get under such privatization – $1.1 billion per year. Just think of the salaries for the CEO’s! Of course, there might not be anything left for the people. But, hey, since when did we count?

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Justice is prevailing:

VICTORY IN US COURT OF APPEAL – NYS TROOPERS ILLEGALLY ?AMBUSHED? IROQUOIS IN ONONDAGA IN 1997MNN. Oct. 17, 2006. Nine years ago we went to Onondaga to celebrate a victory against New York State who wanted to illegally tax us in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Around noon, on May 18, 1997, when we started to burn tobacco on Andrew Jones property right along Interstate 81, the ?Indian Detail? Division of the New York State Troopers came along the highway. They were dressed in full riot gear and bearing riot batons. A videotape made at the time reveals some troopers joking about their ?sticks? and how every trooper has ?gotta have a stick?. One trooper said that the Indians needed ?to get their asses kicked?. They had removed their name tags even though the State Police Manual requires them to be worn at all times.

The Troopers used the ?skirmish line? formation by facing the protesters who were 70 feet off the highway and then surrounded us. They were lead by Ollie Gibson who was wearing a ribbon shirt and pointing out people to them. Does this mean that the Troopers don?t know one Indian from another or who was a man or who was a woman or a child? We all had dark skin and dark hair.

They walked towards us smacking their batons on their palms. They charged into the people and began arresting protesters, beating us with batons, dragging us by our hair and kicking us. They threw one man, who was praying, to the ground and chocked him. They manhandled an eleven-year old girl and an elderly medicine woman and even tossed a baby in a double leg cast from his stroller. Not a nice bunch of people!

There was no order and no warning to us. The Troopers tried to stop people from taking pictures and video taping what was going on by putting their hands over the lenses and threatening to arrest the cameramen. They even beat up some of them. A videotape is available of the news clippings which appeared over and over again on local television in Syracuse.

26 people were arrested and charged. All charges were dismissed. One woman was accused of not moving out of the way when told to do so. She had fainted. They had to use smelling salts to revive her and then arrest her. The Troopers brought charges against one man for ?running back and forth in a provocative manner?. He was acquitted. This man had arrived late, looked around at the melee, in shock and got the h–l kicked out of him.

The father of the property owner, Ron Jones, was murdered in his home soon after. His hands were cut off and his house in Onondaga was torched. This is still an unsolved murder. We continue to put our messages about New York States complicity with certain Indian individuals, the murders and other crimes on the billboard right next to Route 81 for all the world to see. This is one of the ways we can tell the public about our issues.

We brought charges against them in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York for violating our freedom of speech, religion and assembly, using excessive force, conspiring to violate our rights, our right to equal protection, while being indifferent to our medical needs. We did not want this to happen again to our people. The Troopers claimed that they had ?qualified immunity? that ?shields police officers acting in their official capacity from suits for damage?? They said they made an ?honest mistake?. Is this like being ?killed by friendly fire?? Are they saying, ?I just forgot! Sorry for beating you up and killing you. I didn?t mean to let you make me get so mad at you?.

They lost at the first level. The Troopers took this decision to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On October 4th 2006 they lost again. Does this mean that the Troopers are going to be the fall guys for New York State and whoever requested and ordered this attack? [See case posted onhttp://www.mohawknationnews.com].

The troopers want to get out of all this by declaring they had ?qualified immunity? that they think will let them off the hook. This last decision makes it hard for NY State. So now we can look forward to a 6 to 8 month trial in Syracuse.

There are the issues. We were demonstrating on private property and the Troopers dispersed our meeting. The Troopers had just come from the Seneca protest on the New York State Thruway. There is evidence that the Troopers were partially motivated by what had happened elsewhere.

When the Troopers came in, it was tantamount to going into a church, chasing people out and desecrating their institution during a ?religious? gathering. We asked for an injunction to stop the cops from attacking us again. There is a film showing the viciousness of the attack.

It was also found that the Troopers had pre-planned this attack. The protesters had gone to the Jones property 10 days before. The people had started a ceremonial fire and then invited other members of the Six Nations to join them on May 18th 1997 for a ceremonial gathering. About 100 people came. We handed out pamphlets on 81 as the cars slowed down to see what was going on. Then we backed off.

This is an important case because we need to curb the power of the police to make up scenarios so they can carry out their ?Indian Detail? agenda. They said they believed that there would be guns there. In other words, they took the law into their own hands. Obviously the court did not believe them. On May 17th, the day before, calls went out. State Troopers were told to meet at the K Mart parking lot in Nedrow. This was coordinated with the local Sheriff with paddy wagons and the whole works. The plan of attack was set out. On the 18th more Troopers arrived at that parking lot.

At that time they were approached by Onondaga resident, Stone Horse, who told them that it was a peaceful gathering. He noticed they had all taken off their name badges and asked them why. The Troopers said that the pins might hurt and distract them, even though they were sporting guns in their holsters. [Do we think maybe they didn?t want their name badges damaged? Were they taking themselves out of their own persona and putting themselves into an adolescent street gang that could run rough shod over Indians with impunity? It?s not their badges that beat us up. It?s them! They still are what they are ? New York State Troopers!]

Stone Horse told them that a few people would be handing out flyers and that there would be cameramen there. The people were not on the road for a short time. Stone Horse said, ?We are off the road. What do you want us to do??

The police were asked if they gave orders to us to disperse. They said, ?No!? They started to arrest whoever they could lay their hands on. Why? They did not know why?? Did you see a gun there? ?No!? they replied. Was politics running the police? Was it premeditated? They were going to arrest and kick ass, according to them. The Troopers said that we refused to leave the road. We were not on the road as they started to attack us.

We have a very important story to tell. There are two issues we want to deal with. What is the New York State Police ?Indian Detail? Division? We know that the outside police cannot go on our land and onto private property.

One of the plaintiffs spoke about the case. He said that we are not taxable by a foreign government. We were celebrating its acknowledgement. Our people stood up against an illegal attempt to bring taxation against our people. We won in the court. Governor George Pataki said that he was going to be the first Governor of New York State to ?put the Indians in their place?. The Chiefs worked with New York State to sign an illegal taxing agreement which had just been rescinded. It was a difficult day for us. We are a sovereign people to this day. New York State cannot impose their will upon us. We had a rally in April 1997 in Albany to make this point. Those who came were a cross section of every segment of the Onkwehonwe communities. Today Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is trying the same fraud.

We told Bob Bateson of the NY State government, ?You can enter all the agreements you want with any of the so-called chiefs and leaders. If the grass roots people do not agree, then you have no agreement and you cannot enforce it. That?s the law!?

On May 18, 1997 New York State Troopers acted illegally. The leaders were so intent on proving how mighty and powerful they were. This attack shows how warped their minds are. Within three days Governor Pataki called a press conference at the Museum of the American Indian. When his helicopter landed, he came directly to the Dialogue Team of the Iroquois who were there. He put out his hand and said, ?I am so happy to see you here. You are going to like what I am going to say?. He went up to the podium and said, ?From this day forward we are going to respect the sovereignty of the Indian nations?.

Yes, he backed down on imposing taxes on us. Instead he is collecting taxes by setting up ?revenue sharing? schemes with the ?tribal? chiefs and councils set up under federal Indian law. This violates the U.S. Constitution and the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in violation of international laws that respects self-determination. He is ignoring the peoples? sovereignty by getting the tribal councils to force us to pay taxes to him without consulting us and without our consent.

Now his Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is starting the same war with us again, trying to fraudulently bring in the taxation process against us. Our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were all in this war. We have said that never again are traitorous chiefs going to do what they have done to us.

We can?t go to our ancestors as they are not here. Should we leave the burden to our children? New York State violated its own laws. Federal Indian law is illegal. We are reminding the colonists that this is our land, our jurisdiction and we have a right to identify ourselves. The colonists must respect the Two Row Wampum and the Great Law. We were born free and are still free. We never agreed to be American or Canadian ?Indians? and never will.

We had the wisdom of our ancestors who put that law together. It was the greatest gift that came from our minds. It doesn?t matter what our physical condition is, this is our power. Let us use the wisdom of our ancestors and our minds and we will succeed.

This was part of the resistance by the Iroquois people against the oppression on Turtle Island. For this reason, the Six Nations people are always facing hatred from the corporate controllers of colonial governments and institutions in Canada and the United States. As the guardians of northeastern Turtle Island they want to eliminate us. This is why these states and their corporate interests are exerting so much brute force on us. Our defense in this case with New York State and others is to live according to our constitution, the Great Law of Peace.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

“Love portion #9”

THE SORCERERS AND THEIR APPRENTICES PUT A SPELL ON CANADA: 

A TALE OF PLANNED GENOCIDE BASED ON THE U.S. MODEL

MNN. Oct. 13, 2006. The Indian Affairs Minister, Jim Prentice, has announced a new policy of forced “privatization” of Indian lands. This is a repeat performance of what happened in the United States where there was a mass execution of Indians. “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” is an old policy that is being introduced in a new form by Canada all gussied up in star studded robes topped off with a dunce cap and a political broom.

The sorcerers are trying to mesmerize the Canadian people into a stupor. They want to see them march lockstep toward their own destruction. Those being used are going to get nothing out of it. Only the sorcerers will benefit. The apprentices like Gary McHale, Marie Trainer and all those professional rioters who have been attacking the Indigenous people at Six Nations will one day walk into the middle of a big public inquiry into all their shenanigans. Videos and cameras will show who has been physically involved and sent in to run around like madmen attacking Indigenous elders, women and children. The sorcerers in the background will fly off on their brooms unnoticed to count their money down in Texas.

How do the sorcerers do this? They seem to look normal. They make promises to their apprentices who are suffering from the “oil disease” of the mind we call “owista” which leads them to believe that mega millions await them after their performances. They need a scapegoat so they are targeting the Indigenous people. Just like Hitler picked the Jews as the scapegoat for the Germans.

The sorcerers are directing people at us as being the cause of all their problems. To the sorcerers we aren’t even human beings.

No one ever forgets those people and children lying dead in the snow after the Massacre of our people at “Wounded Knee”. They want a repeat of this picture and others of unwanted Indians starving and homeless with no place to go. They want us to die or migrate from our lands to the inner cities where we can die as alcoholics and derelicts on the streets or killed in their jails. The privatized prison system are becoming the biggest “reservations” on Turtle Island.

This is what happened to our people in the United States.

The Sorcerers and their Apprentices who run the “Tower of Power” in Ottawa got the old U.S. recipe for concocting “Indian Termination”. They are going to use the old colonial broom and sweep us into their toxic brew to disappear from the face of the earth so they can make a final claim to our land and resources. Where does this idea come from? In 1887 the U.S. passed the General Allotment Act to break up indigenous governments, abolish Indian communities and force Indians to assimilate into white society. They divided up the communally owned lands into private plots to break up Indian nations and bring “whites” in to “civilize” those who did not die out.

It was catastrophic. The Indians were never consulted. Most lands left were not suitable for farming. To stave off starvation many were forced to sell their lands for very little or they were forced to foreclose on them for not paying taxes.

Of the 140 million acres under Indigenous control, only 50 million acres remain. Of course we still have aboriginal title to Turtle Island as long as there is one Indigenous person left that adheres to the traditional ways.

In 1934 the allotment system was abolished. Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act “to rehabilitate Indian economic life”. It recreated new land bases and reorganized the Indigenous communities.

During the 1950’s Congress brought in “termination” which was the forced dissolution of our land bases. This brought Indigenous people to the brink of collapse. At the same time they passed to the states jurisdiction over criminal and civil matters without the consultation or consent of the Indigenous people. The states which were the traditional enemies of the Indians had always wanted control over Indian lands and resources but did not want responsibility to provide services to Indians because they had no agreements or treaties with them, so they argued.

In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson denounced termination and declared: “We must affirm the rights of the first Americans to remain Indians” “We must affirm their rights to freedom of choice and self-determination”. They started to reverse termination when it was too little too late.

In their cauldron the Sorcerers and their apprentices are cooking up their potion. They think that Canada has the power to wipe out Indian nations with or without theirs or the Canadian peoples’ consent. Canadians are being suckered into committing genocide by a U.S. based sorcerer. The sub-sorcerer is in Canada. In Canada the sorcerer’s apprentices are known as “band councils” which they’ve incorporated under their laws. These apprentices have no choice but to do what their bosses tell them because of their greed. They’ve been socialized as not being successful as human beings unless they live a certain colonial lifestyle. Their only access to this as Indians is to be sell outs. The people standing up to all of this are the traditional indigenous people who have many non-native supporters.

Canada must not adopt this illegal U.S. made policy to do away with Indigenous people in Canada. Call your Member of Parliament and tell them you don’t agree with the Conservative government’s policy of genocide. They are puppets of the corporate controllers of the Republican Party in the U.S. who are running the Conservative agenda in Canada.

It is frightening not just to the indigenous people but to all Canadians when they cannot see what is in store for them. Don’t think they’re going to stop with us. They plan to take over everyone. The U.S. has always wanted to reverse their defeats in 1776 and 1812 when the Iroquois helped the British stop the American invasion. They’ve always wanted to take over Canada, the first place they ever tried. The protection from encroachment of the Six Nations as British allies is set out in the Haldimand Proclamation 1784. It was not a grant of land. It was a contract to stop encroachment. Canada, you’ve breached this contract. You better make it right immediately! The world sees that you do not honor your international promises.

Please come down on Sunday October 15th to Six Nations for the “Peaceful Potluck” to celebrate the reclamation of our land.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Prentice Power?

“YOUR ACHY BREAKY MIND”!
IS SIX NATIONS/CALEDONIA A DIVERSION
FOR THE INDIAN AFFAIRS MINISTER?

MNN. Oct. 12, 2006. Minister of Indian Affairs, Jim Prentice, you remind me of “Barney Fife” on that old television program “Mayberry”. He was a blowhard, smug and incompetent. You pretend to be analytical and over enthusiastic about Indigenous people. But you don’t know anything about us nor do you want to. When you look at us, all you see are oil wells sticking out of our heads. Is that why the oil industry in Calgary has you by the short hairs? Are we right? Do the dots join up the way we see them, Barney?

The Conservative Party realizes that they might lose the next election. So they need you to push some big changes through as fast as you can say, “We gotta get dem Injuns out of the way so we can get their oil”. You represent “Calgary North”. What does that tell us? You’re the Minister of Indian Affairs and you’ve got a big job to do. As your riding website boasts: “He also starts the assignment with top qualifications.” As one oil industry leader put it, “There has never been a minister who has been better qualified going into a portfolio than Prentice” [National Post, Feb. 27, 2006.] Of course, what they really mean is they’ve never had their man right in the “Tower of Power” in Hull, Quebec, like this before.

Barney, you have a lot of debts to those who put you in power. Calgary is the oil capital of Canada. There are Indian communities all around Calgary, like Tsuu tina, Blood, Piegan, Blackfeet, Stoney and others. The oil industry wants oil. They want to start explorations. Indigenous people and our land regime are in the way. They don’t like it when we keep telling the industry, “It’s our land and we won’t let you ruin it”. That’s the problem. We want to clean up the environment. They can’t stand our complaints about their emissions and pollution, which are going to double in the next ten years, along with the Prime Minister’s “double talk”. By the way, Alberta is already the most polluting province in Canada.

At Six Nations/Caledonia, Captain Gary [McHale’s navy] was begging for money just a few days ago. He practically called off his 20,000 “White Man’s March” onto the reclaimed Indigenous land of Kanenhstaton. He said he might even have to go back to work to maintain his lifestyle in Richmond Hill, the ritzy suburb of Toronto, which is also on Six Nations land. Suddenly he’s back in the “riot-and-violence-against-Indigenous-people” business in a big way. His parade on October 15th is on again. Is he a gun-for-hire and “back in the saddle again?” Only with corporate money can one get so much corporate media coverage as he’s getting. Also it’s expensive to bring in those busloads of paid stooges to start the kind of vicious attacks that we’ve been experiencing in the recent past. We are unarmed and we are on our land.

Now we see that the Six Nations/Caledonia firestorm has been built up to be a diversion. This is the two-step set up. Gary McHale is going to keep the attention focused in the East. The federal and Ontario governments and police want him to create a big racist fascist attack on the Six Nations people. It would seem the bigger the better, as far as you and your oil baron backers are concerned. Right on cue, Mayor Marie Trainer of Caledonia is going to cry, “No! No! No! No! No!” If anything happens, “I want to declare a state of emergency!” In other words, “Bring in the army”. Then martial law will be declared. And this will show what will happen to other Indigenous people who resist the takeover of our resources by the oil companies and corporations.

Must be getting pretty busy in the war room, eh Barney!

In the meantime, Barney, you’re getting what your want – a big diversion so that you can put through some draconian measures like privatizing Indian lands which you have already announced. You are putting us on the fast track for genocide. And the world is watching. This is “termination” with the stroke of a pen. In 20 years over 100 Indian nations were wiped out in the US. None ever got their land back. This is absolutely illegal. We’re not letting this happen. Everybody, get off the fence.

We see that you need to make it look like you have a justification for passing certain laws to remove our rights over our land. Stirring up violence against us is one way. Canada signed in 1948 the UN Convention on the Crime and Punishment of Genocide. You can personally be tried and convicted of genocide under international law, Barney. If you work for the oil industry, then they own you lock stock and barrel! If you remove Indigenous people and Indian title to help your corporate bosses steal our resources, you will put yourself on the fast track to jail for committing the crime of genocide.

We think we know where you get your orders from. Do they come from Texas, the oil capital of the world, to Calgary, the oil capital of Canada, to Indian Affairs in Ottawa? Do they make the decision to terminate all Indigenous people and our land rights in Canada so that the oil companies can rape us and the colonial country of Canada? We always knew there was oil involved in what’s happening to our rights. We smelled it. We didn’t get oil fever. We got wise. Yep. You just may be owned by the oil companies!

Barney, here’s what we think of your plan to lock up our communities:

There once was a minister they called “Dim”

Who carried out the oil industry’s whim

His mind was all dusty

His weapons were all rusty

That’s why he did what he was told

He sold his soul for black gold

We need solidarity support this weekend, October 15th, at Six Nations/Caledonia. So come stand with us or contact thebasketcase@on.aibn.com Do whatever you can to help.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

“Texas Tea”

“BEVERLY HILLBILLIES” BUSH AND HARPER SUFFER FROM “BLACK GOLD FEVER”.

MNN. Oct. 11, 2006. It’s obvious that George Bush and Stephen Harper have something in common. Their behavior reminds us of a movie, “Giant” and an old television series called the “Beverly Hillbillies”. Both were around in the mid 1950’s and early 60’s.

In the movie “Giant” James Dean plays Jett Rink, a naïve ordinary guy who discovered oil in Texas. He went absolutely crazy. He wanted to get even with anyone who ever crossed him, became an alcoholic and tried to dominate everybody. He caught the “black oil” disease of the mind.

Bush and Harper are almost like brothers fighting over the gas, oil and minerals that belong to the Indigenous people on Turtle Island. Like the Beverly Hillbillies who left the Ozarks and moved to Beverly Hills after discovering oil on their property, Bush left Texas and moved to Washington and Harper left Alberta and moved to Ottawa. They may have moved but underneath they’re still hillbillies.

In the series, the Beverly Hillbillies called oil “black gold”. George Bush is like the family head, “Jed Clampett”, the nouveau riche millionaire who tries to run everything. But everything goes wrong for him. Stephen Harper is like “Jethro Bodine”, Jed’s dumb nephew. David Rochefeller of the Chase Manhattan Bank is “Mr. Drysdale”, the greedy banker who will do anything to keep the money in his bank even if he has to hurt people. Condoleeza Rice is “Granny” who is old, senile and paranoid. She thinks she knows how to deal with every situation. Belinda Stronach would like to be “Ellie May” but she doesn’t have the innocence. Jack Abramoff plays the banker’s secretary, who keeps trying to seduce Jed Clampett to get the goods on him. Underneath those fancy suits and dresses, they still wear their old tattered ragged clothes. Now Granny makes “yellow cakes” instead of soap. Jethro still can’t woo the women but acts like an idiot and doesn’t even realize it.

The Yukon and California gold rushes were like fevers that people caught when they smelt oil. “Oil fever” takes over the mind. They are ready to sacrifice the whole world for oil. The people who are behind it are the banks that made their money on our oil. Now they have the biggest banks on Turtle Island. Maybe they’re the ones running the whole show. The trouble with life these days is we don’t know who the real emperors are. At least in the days of monarchy the king got crowned and the people knew who to go after. Now they can push their agenda of world domination in secret.

Are these guys lost in some kind of children’s fantasyland? In this case it’s more like the evil bad guys in kid’s comic books. They don’t care that pollution has risen by 27% instead of going down. It is estimated that with the oil boom in Alberta pollution will go up by 39%. That’s pure evil!

The Beverly Hillbillies were a hit because here were a bunch of ignoramuses trying to run something far bigger than themselves and far beyond their abilities. They couldn’t handle what was coming at them. Everybody was trying to cheat them, fool them, lie to them and take everything off them.

Bush and Harper are pretending to protect the interests of the people while they are being seduced by the oil companies and bankers. In fact they are idiots. George Bush was an alcoholic who barely got through university. He was helped by his father to get where he’s at. When he’s not in Washington, he lives on a farm in Texas to show how down-to-earth he is. Too bad he doesn’t stay there, though he probably couldn’t run a ranch if it wasn’t for daddy’s money. Yet he’s trying to run the world. He prances around in jeans, a cowboy hat and boots. He’s really an ignorant insensitive hick who doesn’t know what’s going on.

Bush has been taken over by his “handlers”. They are powerful people who are taking advantage of his stupidity. They’ve put him in a high position and he doesn’t have a clue what is really going on and doesn’t care. Remember when he, his wife and mother went down to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit? They didn’t even know how to talk to the victims with any sensitivity. His mother said, after viewing them in the Astrodome, “They’ve never had it so good”. We noticed she didn’t offer to move in with them or to trade her living quarters for theirs. They were ignorant of the feelings of these people because the Bushes are ignorant people without compassion for the world.

Harper is no better. He’s basically an ignorant Albertan and Ottawa is too big for him. He is so afraid of the press. He has organized his press conferences so there are no more scrums. He handpicks the questioners. He wants the questions ahead of time. In other words, he’s not quite sure of what he thinks himself. He needs time to ask someone how he should answer. Imagine! He even thinks he’s a genius when he manipulates the press and decides what they should know. Yes, Jethro doesn’t want hard questions because he can’t handle it. He wants only stupid questions that he can answer. He’s especially terrified of questions about world events.

Today Harper announced that he going to out-do the Kyoto Accord to bring down the gas emissions that is causing environmental devastation. It ain’t true. It’s propaganda. Everyone knows it!

We Indigenous people are in the way because they want our land, minerals, waterways, oil and gas. So the Conservative government has put out a policy to eliminate us. It’s the 1969 “white paper” all over again to get rid of us.

The Conservative Party in Alberta showed its hand. It’s the people who have colonized Alberta and have taken over our resources that want to take over Canada. The longtime premier, Ralph Klein, is too close to the Indigenous people because his wife is Indian. Sarcastic remarks were made about her. These power mongers think that a guy with an Indigenous wife shouldn’t be premier of a province that is going to control Canada. At the party convention when they kicked him out they never gave the reason why they did it.

There are a lot of independent minded people in Texas and Alberta. It’s not that Bush and Harper are from Texas and Alberta. It’s that neither know how to live in either of these places and they’re trying to run the world.

Once these Beverly Hillbillies are no longer useful, they will be discarded too. Right now they are useful for the hidden agenda of the billionaires. They need a cowboy from Texas and an ignoramus from Alberta.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Letter to Enbridge

Women Title Holders of the Rotinonhsonnion:October 11, 2006

EMAIL/REGISTERED MAIL

Phil Mannell, General Manager, Enbridge Gas,
Central Region, 498 Markland St., Unit #1,
Markham, ON L6C 1Z6

NOTICE TO CEASE AND DESIST IMMEDIATELY BUILDING ILLEGAL GAS PIPELINE ON HALDIMAND TRACT

She:kon

Further to your letter of September 29th 2006, our concerns were very well explained to you in the DEMAND OF THE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS OF ROTINONHSONNION:WE/SIX NATIONS TO ENBRIDGE GAS DISTRBUTION INC. OF BARRIE ONTARIO TO CEASE AND DESIST THE BUILDING OF A NATURAL GAS PIPELINE UNDER THE PINE RIVER IN HORNING’S MILLS ON THE HALDIMAND TRACT. We sent this and the “Mohawk Manifesto” to you on September 13, 2006.

We own this land. You did not consult the Women Title Holders who are the legal trustees of this land. You have no right to exploit our land. You did not get our permission and never will to put a gas pipeline under the Pine River.

You are trespassing. According to the Haldimand Proclamation of 1784 this land is for the “Mohawks and their posterity forever”. This position has not changed.

Your Open House Public Meeting or “Hot Dog Party” at the Horning’s Mills Community Center on May 30, 2006 does not qualify as consultation with the Indigenous landowners. None of those people attending have title to our land. They are all squatters except for one Mohawk who was there to see what you were up to.

At that Hot Dog Party, Thahoketoteh, a Kanion’ke:haka who lives in Horning’s Mills, asked your employee about the pollution. He smugly told us we’ll “just have to eat that”. A few weeks later Thahoketoteh told Grant Kilpatrick about the pollution problem in the river. He said that Enbridge had all the approvals, including from the Ministry of the Environment. Send us immediately a copy of your environmental approval.

Your plans, permits, orders and consents are all illegal. Your further destruction of the Pine River is a crime against our future children. Your plan to earn revenue supplying gas to people who are squatting on our land constitutes fraud and theft.

The Pine River is already in bad shape and needs cleaning. We plan to do that. Why don’t you re-read our Objection and the Mohawk Manifesto so you can stop trespassing and ruining our land.

You’ve given us a deadline of October 7th 2006 to answer you. This is our deadline to you! Get off our land immediately!! Take your mess with you! And don’t come back!

Onen,

Katenies /s/ ____________________
Kahentinetha /s/ _____________________

Cc: Hon. Stephen Harper, Government of Canada
Confederacy Chiefs, Six Nations
Women Title Holders, Six Nations Confederacy

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Looney Toons

DID CALEDONIA HIRE THE “THREE LITTLE PIGS?”
“PORKY PIG”, “MISS PIGGY” AND “DIRTY PIG”
HAVE ANNOUNCED ON THEIR WEBSITE THEY ARE SUING THE WOMEN TITLE HOLDERS
FOR $1 BILLION!

MNN. Oct. 23, 2006. First they were begging for $1 million and now it?s $1 billion. Doesn’t it sound like Dr. Evil, the enemy of “Austin Powers”, who asked for too little ransom? Everybody laughed at him. Where did these figures come from?

When the big guy at the top of the hierarchy goes round the bend, the sickness and confusion starts to drip downwards. It starts to contaminate all the people at the bottom of the barrel, especially those with weak minds. The big guys are trying to save themselves, but they don’t have the sense of reality that is needed to face the truth. They are sending their lower level characters to come and take us out for exposing the fraud, deception, theft, pollution and immorality.

When U.S. President Richard Nixon started getting paranoid about his political opponents, he sent in plumbers to break into Watergate to get all the goods on them. This started all his troubles. Eventually he had to quit before he was impeached.

Porky Pig has run out of money for organizing that failed riot in Caledonia on October 15th. His 20,000 “White Hog’s March” was supposed to go onto the Indigenous land and stomp the Indians into submission with their muddy hooves. Porky Pig thinks that forced assimilation is the answer to all the problems with Indigenous people. He and Miss Piggy waddled down Argyle Street with 200 of their herd up to Tim Horton’s near Kanenhstaton, the reclamation site. He had a coffee, a donut hole, “oinked” and left. There were more Ontario Provincial Police there than rioters. They didn’t riot. They just stood there and grunted at us. Thousands of us and our supporters partied on with our “Pot Luck for Peace” and had a great time.

All Porky Pig wants is to fill his “honey pail” and have 5 minutes of fame. The march on Caledonia scam worked against him. It was a flop. It bombed. Obviously he’s grunting up the wrong tree. He found out he had no public support. Canadians do not want to follow Porky Pig or Miss Piggy. Canadians are starting to wake up to the hoax and the illegalities of a society built on genocide.

So now Porky Pig has to try something else to fill his trough and pay his mortgage on his mansion in Richmond Hill, which is also on Six Nations land. We’ll soon see if the bank thinks his house is made of straw. His website states that he’s raising money to pay for his lawsuit on behalf of Caledonia against the Women Title Holders and the Mohawk Warrior Society. In other words he has a grudge against every Mohawk man, woman and child on Turtle Island.

Did Marie Trainer have a town meeting to hire Porky Pig to act on their behalf? Why are they doing it from New York State? Are they shopping around for the best venue to do their action from? Why not Ontario? Is this another publicity stunt to get more money from more suckers? What’s next? Are they going to bring down aliens and try to take over Turtle Island? Do they think the Women Title Holders won’t have any jurisdiction because it’s an air attack?

All we can figure is that the higher ups are encouraging bush league criminals like Porky Pig, Miss Piggy and, their co-swine, Dirty Pig, also known as Scotch-on-the-Rocks, to stir up as much trouble as they can for us. These three little pigs are being encouraged to take frivolous court actions against the enemies of the hierarchy to shut us up. Dirty Pig, their sidekick in New York State, runs Miss Piggy’s racist website “NY Crimewatch”. Dirty Pig is a known instigator and enforcer for some unscrupulous people.

When will the police do their job and charge Porky Pig, Miss Piggy and Dirty Pig with hate and racist crimes?

Porky Pig has announced that we Women Title Holders and our men are going be sued by Porky Pig on behalf of the citizens of Caledonia. What does he want? Let’s give him 1 billion pounds of “slop”! We wonder if the citizens who were at our Pot Luck know about this. Not to worry. We’re thinking of hiring Bugs Bunny to defend us. He seems like a sharper character than Porky Pig. All he wants is a few carrots. He can say, “What’s up, Pork” as much as he wants.

By the way, Miss Piggy is now passing herself off as a Mohawk named “Sky Woman”. On top of all that, by taking that name, she’s claiming to be the ancestor of everyone in the world! How’s that for megalomania? Is she friends with “Luke Skywalker” of Star Wars? Did she get all her information from Yoda, the swamp monster? Beware. This porker is posting all kinds of crazy hateful messages about us on the internet. But we think we know what she really wants. When we get control of our land, she wants to build a house here. Just like in the old fable, “three little pigs”, their straw house will not stand up to the huff and puff of the big bad wolf, turtle and bear.

T-T-T-That’s all folks!

Kahentinetha Horn

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Poison Pine River

By Thahoketoteh .My history here at Hornings Mills goes back 3 years when I rented a place on the banks of the Pine River (Hornings Mills Tributary) My first summer
here I started to clean the physical pollution out of the river going through my yard. To date I have removed at least 20 tons of physical pollution out of the river.Two and half years ago I contacted the MOE in
Guelph to report an environmental emergency as there was a constant leaching of phosphate in the river. I had to contact them again a few days
later as no one showed up to address my concerns. The guy at MOE said he sent someone out and his guy said “a bit of foam in the river, no problem”
I told him no-one showed up here, the place that lodged the complaint. He started to get defensive and uptight and actually raised his voice and
said “dont tell me I dont care about Mother Earth” and I pointed out that he actually doesnt.

Then I contacted the Niagara Escarpment Commission and reported it to them and they bowed out saying it is not in their jurisdiction. Then I contacted the Nottawasaga Conservation Authority and they actually did come out and have a look but wouldnt even test the water to identify the contaminant. Nevertheless I have continued cleaning the river and have walked up the South Pine and the North Pine to condirm the P.O.P.
(persistent organic pollutant) comes from the Hornings Mills tributary.

The Mills that were here left a huge mess for us to clean up, the evidence is all here. There is at least a metre of concrete looking stuff (from the stone Mill that was here) clogging the river. A piece of it broke off and on the bottom is all of their other garbage (pipes, steel,…) I probably will find a kitchen sink. The POP is what concerns me the most as it is probably from the paper Mill and it is known that the increased incidence of Diabetes 11 is directly related to these POP’s from old Mill towns.

Since none of the “government people” who are supposed to protect the environment are doing their job I give everyone of you reading this the
authority to do your duty for mother earth and start protecting your future generations. It is the duty we all share for our unborn children. As Kahentinetha said in one of her articles “it is time to clean the deadwood out of the Canadian government and then we can clean the environment”

The deadwood in this scenario is the guy at MOE in Guelph who is covering up a huge environmental mess, probably for the perpetrators of the mess.
The solution is simple, get the shit out of the river as mother earth continually pumps clean water through the earth up here only a 1/2 mile from where they hid there mess in a man made lake. She will clean herself as she was designed to do.

Now Enbridge Gas is rushing on over to wreck it some more by putting a pipeline under the contaminated river (that we will clean). Even though our Women Titleholders sent them an objection that by the way, they never responded to.

There is a lot of rotting wood in the artificial society called Canada that needs to be cleaned out. Wake up Canadians. Do it now

Always promoting Peace,

Thahoketoteh

 

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

STOP U.S. Aggression Against Venezuela

Sign the petition online:
English: http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgn.shtml
Spanish: http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgnsp.shtml

Donate to help with organizing expenses.
International Action Center
Founded by Ramsey Clark
5C – Solidarity Center – 55 West 17th Street – New York, N.Y. 10011
212-633-6646 – iacenter@action-mail.org
http://www.IACenter.org

The United States government and its corporate media’s belligerent campaign against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and its leaders must cease at once. Several incidents that occurred during the
session of the United Nations in New York City clearly expose the campaign’s escalation.

On Saturday, September 23, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, who was part of the delegation from Venezuela attending the UN meetings, was detained for 90 minutes in the JFK International Airport as he was ready to board a plane to return to his homeland. Charging that a code in his airplane ticket identified him as “almost a terrorist,” U.S. authorities held him. Mr. Maduro told CNN that he was confined to a small room and told to remove his clothes; he added that when he showed his diplomatic passport, the harassment increased. Then he was threatened, pushed and yelled at by immigration and police officials. He was also stripped of his travel documents.

Venezuelan General Consul in Chicago Martin Sanchez was also searched at LaGuardia airport. “After passing the X-ray control, they told me to open my bags. I showed them my diplomatic card, but they insisted on searching my hand baggage, because they thought it might contain a banned object. I wasn’t able to board my flight and had to wait three more hours for another plane.”

President Hugo Chavez’ personal physician and his chief of security had to remain aboard the plane that brought the delegation to the UN event since their visas were denied, therefore their legal entrance to the country was forbidden.

These incidents are clear violations of international law, the Vienna Convention and the obligation of the U.S. government, as the U.S. is the site where the headquarters of the UN is located.

The UN is supposed to be a neutral place where nations can debate in a safe environment, without external interference. The U.S. government has the obligation to protect and safeguard that environment and all the heads of state, representatives, diplomats and accompanying staff. The U.S. has failed to do this in this case.

This unreasonable hostility from the George W. Bush administration towards the Venezuelan leaders only validates the name “devil” by which President Chavez referred to U.S. President Bush during the Venezuelan president’s address in the UN.

The U.S. media and even some personalities have shown their hypocrisy by attacking President Chavez for using that word. But actions speak louder than words. Those personalities and the media circus gave little thought or consideration to the countless victims, among them many children and civilians, of Bush’s military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon in the name of “democracy”: the destruction of infrastructure, the loss of thousands of lives, the contamination of the world environment, the destabilization of the world through the “antiterrorist” military campaign and threats to countries like Iran, Syria, Sudan, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela. They forget the crimes perpetrated against the victims of Katrina, many of who are still without housing or resources to rebuild their lives. Is it not reasonable that many would view the head of this administration as the personification of evil?

It is time to face the danger that the United States represents here and abroad in order to stop the destruction that otherwise will occur.

Signed,
Ramsey Clark

Teresa Gutierrez & Sara Flounders,
Co-Directors IAC

Chris Silvera, Chair
National Teamsters Black Caucus
Sec/Treas. Teamsters Local 808

James Petras
Writer, Professor

Peter Coyote
Actor

Dr. James D. Cockcroft
Writer, Professor

Padre Luis Barrios, PhD
Iglesia San Romero de Las Américas

Judy Wicks Founder/President White Dog Enterprises, Inc.

Charles Barron
NYC Councilmember

Felipe C. Teixeira
Most Reverend OFSJC Bishop
Northeastern Diocese
St Francis of Assisi, CCA

Frantz Mendes, President
USW Local 8751
Boston School Bus Drivers

Leslie Feinberg,
Writer, co-chair LGBT Caucus, National Writers Union/UAW

David Sole,
President UAW Local 2334, Detroit

Berta Joubert-Ceci, MD
Physician

Dorotea Manuela and Tony Vandermeer
Co-Chairs, Boston Rosa Parks Human Rights Day Committee

Larry Holmes
Troops Out Now Coalition

Pepe Abola, ROSA 7053, Youth Group of Boston Rosa Parks Committee

LeiLani Dowell
Fight Imperialism Stand Together – FIST

Sue Harris
People’s Video Network

Ardeshir Ommani
Stop War On Iran
Iranian American Friendship Committee

John Parker
LeftBooks

Jesse Lakahi Hiawa
Asia Pacific Action

Women’s Fightback Network

Steve Gillis, Vice-President
USW Local 8751
Boston School Bus Drivers

Susan E. Davis, Delegate
National Writers Union
UAW Local 1981

Sign the petition online:
http://www.iacenter.org/venezuelacmpgn.shtml

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Mexican standoff

The following appeal is from one of our readers in the South. They are in the same struggle as us. Please lend them your support.Greetings Friends:I am contacting interested friends to ask your help in bringing an increased national and international eye to the critical situation in Oaxaca, where the
potential for an imminent violent blow-up is very high.

The good news from Oaxaca is that the people are standing firm against the formal announcement this morning from President Fox and Abascal, the Secretary of the Interior, that troops will be sent into Oaxaca, pending “approval” from Fox, which
locals feels is a given. There is rumor that one plane has arrived.

The people are barricading the city today and are planning their defense. The general strike planned for Thursday and Friday, is still scheduled- this will be a complete shut down of the city, all business, universities, and offices closed.

This is a pronouncement from Oaxaca, Mexico where the teacher’s strike has become a united people’s movement for basic human rights:

Pronouncement

The National Indigenous Congress CNI) “recognizes, salutes and is part of the movement of sisters and brothers of the 16 Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca. The un-postponable renouncement of Ulises Ruiz would put an end to impositions; it would result in respect and recognition of the autonomy and free determination of our Oaxacan Indigneous Communities and to the cancellation of the mega-privatization projects in the south of Mexico”.

In the Declaration of Cheran, the CNI demands the immediate liberation of Indigenous political prisoners of San Salvador Atenco and Oaxaca,
who “continue experiencing a repugnant show of “governability”, in our country. They cannot continue being political prisoners at the imposition
of neoliberal projects on our lands and territories”.

This information if translated from The Jornada out of Mexico City; Ulises Ruiz is no longer recognized by the people as the governor of the state of Oaxaca, and cannot freely walk the streets, much less govern. AMF

Some ideas: spread the word throughout the global Indigenous support networks, call radio and TV stations, newspapers and magazines, request an update on Oaxaca, and tell them what is happening; contact churches, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch; post flyers about the situation, contact Democracy Now, the only national news program with any regular information on Oaxaca, for their schedule of reports
on Oaxaca and post it as well as send it to interested people by internet; use the internet to spread the word; contact congress people, please include us in your prayers.

4000 teachers continue the walk they started last thursday from Oaxaca to Mexico City to bring yet more attention to the crisis, though Oaxaca currently dominates Mexican news. Its more than curious that we hear nothing in this in the U.S. Nor
anything about the fact that Mexico currently has two president-elects as a result of the recent fraudulent election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obredor, who has the support of the people, and Felipe Calderon, elected through Choice Point, the same company that managed Florida during the last presidential election in the U.S.

There is plenty of current information available to those who read spanish through the La Jornada, Oaxacos Citricos; and less in English from John Ross, Narco News, even some headlines through Google.

Gracias, thank you.

Un abrazote,

Ann Miller Frances
blancanegro@earthlink.net

poster: Thahoketoteh