The Rest of the Hopi Story - Hope

Earlier, I referred to other Hopi who respected their culture still. This is one of those people and antoher side of the stroy of how we have helped to turn people on each other and their culture.

clipped from bsnorrell.blogspot.com Secakuku: Hopi are stewards of the land, despite the coup Sipaulovi Council Representative, Village of Sipaulovi, Second Mesa, AZ, Hopiland The Hopi/Tewa people have always considered themselves to be the best environmentalists in the world. We made a sacred covenant with Maasaw, our Supreme Being, to be good stewards of the Fourth World we live in today. We, as people, all have the responsibility of being Caretakers of Mother Earth. You care for it and take from it only what you need, and it will provide for you. I never thought I would see the day when being “Hopi” meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of dollars/money. This is the new world image of Hopi, thanks to Scott Canty, Nada Talayumptewa, Phillip Quotshytewa, Mary Felter, Ivan Sidney, Sr., and the rest of the illegally constituted Hopi Tribal Council…in essence, a coup. It is a sad day for Hopi/Tewa people, and I am disappointed.

Hopi Moved to Side with Coal Power Over Its Culture

Sad. When marginalized indigenous peoples are forced to extend their marginalization out of need for money to survive in a world not of their making. There are Hopi who warned of this when Hopi and other indigenous peoples were forced by the US to adopt US self-government forms and discard their traditional ways of governing themselves. In the end culture is all a people have to support their sanity and survival - that applies to us as well. Money does not equal culture!

clipped from news.newamericamedia.org Hopi Tribal Council Bans Environmental Groups The council wants the Sierra Club and other environmental groups and on-reservation organizations affiliated with these groups to know they are not welcome on the Hopi Reservation, declaring them persona non grata - no longer favored or welcome. By a resolution approved 12-0, the council said environmentalists have deprived the tribe "of markets for its coal resources" and coal revenues needed to sustain governmental services, provide jobs for tribal members and safeguard Hopi culture and tradition. The council feels that the economic viability of the Navajo Generating Station - the tribe's only remaining coal customer - is also being threatened, and that environmentalists' actions could lead to "total economic collapse of the tribe."

Human trafficking in Lebanon for home workers

No, not human trafficking of Lebanese but of women from the Philippines, Madagascar, and other countries. To be nannies, housekeepers, and not what they were promised. Where are the police in Lebanon, the Philippines, Madagascar - counting their bribes it seems.

clipped from www.irinnews.org LEBANON: Plight of the trafficked domestic worker Photo: Hugh Macleod/IRIN Philippine women make up a large number of the estimated 200,000 domestic workers in Lebanon BEIRUT, 30 September 2009 (IRIN) - Abbey was a nurse at a French hospital in Madagascar when a recruitment agency suggested to her boss that she travel to Lebanon for three years to work and learn Arabic so she could better care for the Arab sailors whose ships docked at the Indian Ocean island. On arrival there, however, she was put in a house with another Madagascan domestic worker where she was forced to cook, clean and care for three children and a newborn. Politicians are also involved in this issue and it goes underground, which is why it’s difficult to get laws to protect these women In June, Lebanon was added to the US State Department’s human trafficking tier 2 watch list for its failure to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute those responsible.

Katrina Woes Fatigue Syndrome

Why is it so difficult to stay on course? Why can no one in power keep their promises? Why does everyone keep blaming someone else? Why, I ask myself, does this seem to be related to the Congo, Darfur, Burma, Gaza, Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador?

clipped from inthesetimes.com Four years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, the disaster continues. Though many of their neighbors have given up and left town, the group gathered at McDonogh wants to remain in New Orleans because their families have lived here, as one person says, “since before the United States.” One audience member testified that she needs immediate help. She came back to New Orleans to take care of her disabled parents, and now works as a truck driver. She detailed sexual harassment at work and domestic abuse in one of the places she lived after Katrina. “I want to die. Everybody is depressed,” she told the committee. “What do you do? Where do you go? Do you kill yourself?” A few people called back, “No. Don’t do it.” The rest sat silent.

Stop C-17 Earmark Theft by US Senate

Maybe we can make change but the US Senate is slow to change when it comes to pocket change for campaign coffers and paybacks by the millions to contributor companies for goods no one in Department of Defense wants. Add to this that troops sometimes have to get relatives and friends to buy body armor for them that the DOD can't "afford" to supply them with and it makes you wonder how some of these out of touch US Senators sleep well at night.

clipped from pogoblog.typepad.com C-17 Earmarks: Seeing Red POGO and Taxpayers for Common Sense just sent a letter to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee urging them to support the Department of Defense's priorities and to stop earmarking funds for the C-17 Airlifter program. From the letter: When it comes to the C-17 program, Congress has earmarked with reckless abandon. Perhaps the grossest example of Congress’s irresponsible wasting of taxpayer funds was in 2007, when conference committees more than tripled the number of additional C-17s requested by House and Senate authorizers and appropriators. We have attached a chart to illustrate how Congress has been the wind beneath the wings of this Airlifter program from that point forward.

The Beatles - Revolution (STEREO)

October 15, 1969 Millions gather around the nation to say - no more to the war in Vietnam. It took 6 more years to end it and many thousands of lives.

October 17, 2009 Take action to re-start the Revolution and say no more war in Afghanistan - http://www.iraqmoratorium.org

Want 7 More Years of War in Afghanistan?

Maybe it's the wrong question. How about this one? Will Pakistan be comfortable with a strongly independent and united Afghanistan without a guarantee that it would not threaten their northern border? Is there such a promise on the table? Nope. What about the other neighbors of Afghanistan? Don't they have the same concerns? Yes. What's on the table for them? Nada.

If you agree that the Afghanistan problem needs new thinking, then maybe you ought to say so before we have something noone wants or will support.

October 17, 2009 Afghanistan action day.

clipped from iraqmoratorium.com 40th Anniversary of the Vienam Moratorium OCTOBER 17, 2009 - A National Day of Action Growing numbers of anti-war organizations and activists are joining a call to organize anti-war events in local communities on Saturday, October 17, 2009 to demand an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Vietnam Moratorium. people are still dying and suffering in a devastated Iraq, more US troops are being sent to war in Afghanistan, and billions of dollars are spent on both wars while social services are slashed at home during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Modern Epic Tales: Unintended Consequence

Kill 300,000 pigs in Egypt used to help eat garbage and kept in "herds" generally fewer than ten pigs to "control" swine flu and what do you get? The good possibility of some other disease breaking out because of piling up garbage and an ensuing growth in rodent and fly populations.

Swine flu developed within industrially grown herds of thousands of pigs in unsanitary conditions, which is a formula for creating the chance of a disease breakout.

The unintended consequence of the use of pigs kept in small numbers by families who collected and recycled garbage for income? A safer Cairo?

Why'd they really do it? They have had 30+ deaths from avian flu arising from "farming" too many chickens in unsanitary conditions for the world poultry market. Had to look good at something but not threaten the income of poultry traders. Add to this that the garbage pickers are minority Coptic Christians and the government probably thought no one would care.

But now the garbage is piling up

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Swine-Flu Slaughter Leaves Cairo Without Pigs to Devour Trash Five months after anxiety about swine flu prompted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s government to order the slaughter of all the country’s 300,000 hogs, the organic waste they once devoured is piling up on Cairo’s streets, contributing to a garbage crisis.

What is the first step to ending modern slavery?

What's the first step? Saying no more and acting on it in some way where you are.

clipped from www.givmusic.com Slavery In Her Backyard: A GivStory by Derri Smith Desperation borne of such knowledge launched a quest to educate myself.  I was shocked to discover that slavery thrives right here in my own Music City (Nashville) and in surrounding small towns, suburbs and rural areas. Awareness widened , and my eyes with it, as I discovered that my purchases drive the demand for slave labor around the world. I begged God to show me no more, because the pain was intolerable, unless He would give me something to DO about it. He did. Less than a year ago, my answer to the burning question “What can I do?”, was to become the Tennessee State Director for Not for Sale Campaign. I now equip, mobilize and/or partner with dedicated activists from all walks of life to deploy innovative, effective solutions to end slavery locally, nationally and internationally.

NATO Chief Offers Obama Afghan Wiggle Room

May well be an option or middle ground to a never ending round of more and more troops toward no firm end.

clipped from www.reuters.com NATO chief to U.S.: Not running from Afghan fight WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new head of NATO sought to ease American doubts about allies' commitment to the stalled Afghan war on Monday but cautioned that European states would prefer to send more trainers than combat troops. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, in his first major U.S. address as secretary-general, said fading public opinion meant it was all the more urgent to show there was "light at the end of the tunnel" by training Afghan forces for a gradual handover. "We should expand our training mission. I consider it easier for European countries to contribute to our training mission with personnel as well as with finances, than with combat troops," he said, answering questions from an audience at the Atlantic Council, a public policy group in Washington.

Build a Fence, Look Good, Oops!

Good thing no one suggested that we build a fence to keep Osama bin Ladin on one place so we could find him.

The Australians built 3 fences to keep rabbits out of Western Australia. It took 6 years to build and was a bit over 2,000 in length.

In 7 years, we have not been able to build 27 miles of fence using private contractors.

Grin - maybe Congress should have gone for the Public Option, copied the CCC of the Depression Years, and hired a bunch of out of work construction workers put them under the supervision of US Forestry trail builders and just do it!

clipped from www.nytimes.com Border Fantasies Members of Congress who voted for the Southwest border fence as the fix for illegal immigration professed shock — shock at the news that the project is running years behind, and billions of dollars ahead, of the Bush administration’s early, rosy projections. Auditors reported last week that the high-tech, 28-mile “virtual” section of the fence was running a mere seven years behind this month’s planned opening. Investigators from the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office report that the larger, actual fence — covering a 600 mile-plus stretch between San Diego and Brownsville, Tex. — cost $2.4 billion to build and will cost an extra $6.5 billion in upkeep across two decades. Members of the House border security subcommittee voiced grave concern but didn’t peer much beyond fencing technology to the more complex reality: the need for Congress to reform the nation’s immigration laws. No fence can keep a determined immigrant out or absolve Congress of that responsibility.

With So Much Hate/Fear Spewing, Obama Must Be Doing the Right Things

When the fear mongers start frothing and spittle collects on the chin, those they fear and hate the most must be doing something right - grin.

I have more faith in Americans than those who make a living trying to scare us. I believe in standing up for what you believe, what you are for but try not to get too excited by the Dobbs and Becks of the world.

Sometimes though, you just gotta let loose and say: "What are these people thinking in making such wild and untruthful claims!"

clipped from www.splcenter.org Immigrants Out to Destroy U.S., Washington Times Columnist Warns Posted in Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Latino by Heidi Beirich on September 24, 2009 This past weekend, The Washington Times featured a column filled with apocalyptic visions of a white America overrun by a “massive invasion” of immigrants. This is certainly not the first racially insensitive column printed by The Times, but it is the first since the organization went through a thorough housecleaning in 2008 that involved the removal of high-level staffers who published white nationalists. Kuhner also slurs Obama, calling him an “international socialist” intent on “sounding the death knell of traditional America.” Perhaps in the future, Kuhner could set aside his tirades in favor of the facts.

Support Afghan Women and Peace with Gift to Yourself

A great and rare opportunity to support peace and women in Afghanistan by purchasing gorgeous Afghan carpet direct from those who made them.

clipped from forpeace.net Afghan carpets to support Afghan women Beautiful Afghan carpets, jewelry and other craft items were available for sale at the recent showing of the film, "Afghan Women, A History of Struggle", at the Fellowship of Reconciliation on Sept. 11th.  Those who missed it can now help support the schools for women and girls for which these craft sales raise money.   If you would like to purchase carpets or other items (all proceeds going to the school building projects) go to http://www.valleycaravan.com/.  Fahima made it clear that prices are negotiable and you can contact her directly at fahimawaw@yahoo.com.

Brazil: Slash, burn and kill capitalism

I know President Lula has hands full but the slash, burn and kill "cowboy" capitalists need some sort of lesson from the President to change their ways of have their holdings nationalized. Endangering people and the planet is no longer an option folks!

clipped from intercontinentalcry.org Second Guarani village burned in Mato Grosso do Sul On the morning of Sept. 18, the Guarani community of Apyka’y was violently attacked by a group of ten armed men. The attackers are believed to be security guards, hired by the ranchers that occupy the Guarani’s land. According to Survival International, “the Guarani-Kaiowá of Apyka’y have tried several times to return to their tekoha or ancestral land, which they were forced to leave a decade ago when it was occupied by ranchers. After the Indians’ latest attempt to reoccupy their land, the rancher got an eviction order from the courts, and the community was evicted in April 2009.”

Big Band Afghanistan Swing

You will have to listen to the lyrics to get the connection but the Dipsy Doodle describes the advise the President is getting from his Generals and the Pundits trying to sell more is less and surge to get out.

clipped from www.youtube.com TOMMY DORSEY 'DIPSY DOODLE'

The Afghansitan Ant Lion

Ever seen how an ant lion traps his prey? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWkfAyfBDHE

Now, instead of sand, you get selected pieces of "soft " information and pass it around via leaks to reporters and op-ed types who will be glad to serve as trap assistants. The ant lion may be a someone working in the background who can always deny that he had anything to do with the trap.

The problem is that now, there are hundreds of folks who can tell everyone about the trap and the set up.

If we are really going to change how things have been done in the past to screw things up, I think that when a General has a report to send the President that he ought to deliver it in person and on camera and then they sit down and talk about it in public. If there are leaks about the report, then fire the General who can't do the job on his/her own.

Lincoln has to fire a lot of folks until he got two winners, Obama should do the same.

clipped from www.tomdispatch.com How to Trap a President in a Losing War Petraeus, McChrystal, and the Surgettes By Tom Engelhardt Hence, even if McChrystal's name is on it, the report slipped to Bob Woodward which just sandbagged the president has a distinctly Petraeusian shape to it. In a piece linked to Woodward's bombshell in the Washington Post, Rajiv Chandrasekaran and Karen DeYoung wrote of unnamed officials in Washington who claimed "the military has been trying to push Obama into a corner." The language in the coverage elsewhere has been similar.

Brit General: Force alone is not the answer!

If Brit General feels his government not supporting peace side of supporting troops risking all. Do we need more troops in Afghanistan if not backed up with actions for peace Afghans desire?

clipped from www.independent.co.uk Afghan critic quits top Army role A senior commander who led British troops in Afghanistan has resigned after bitter clashes with the Government over the war. Major-General Andrew Mackay, recently appointed General Officer commanding Scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England, had spoken of his dismay at the "inadequate support" given to troops and the "lack of clear policy" in the conflict. The commander was disillusioned with what he considered to be a failure to carry out adequate reconstruction and development in Helmand. He had said privately that British soldiers risking their lives in the conflict had been let down by the Government in carrying out the vital tasks necessary to win over the local population.

Hey Buddy! Got Some Spare Change? A Billion?

OK, so it's a dream that I see the head of DOD standing at Pennsylvania Avenue - Gates - asking people walking by for spare change to fund the wars, buying and building weapons, feathering his nest for retirement. And I say: "Sorry, I only have fare for a bus ride to Kabul and back - maybe later. Say, didn't you used to be famous? Why don't you get a job? I say.

He get angry and starts yelling, "I only asked ya for a billion! Everyone has a billion!" It was embarrassing - there was some white spit on his chin.

clipped from www.change.org Ask Congress to Stop Spending $2.7 Billion Per Day on War Sponsored by: American Friends Service Committee Every day the United States spends $2.7 billion on war. That's $2.7 billion tax dollars that we can't spend on health care, education, economic development, energy independence, or caring for our seniors. Today you can tell your our leaders in Washington that you think the time has come to reduce our spending on war and instead fund the things we really need - like functioning schools, healthy communities, good jobs, and an end to the recession. All it would take is a slight shift in our priorities, and a slight change in our spending, to have a big impact.

Top 100 Thieves of our tax and private dollars

Good source to find out who really are the biggest thieves from us/US.

No ACORNs here, just mighty Oaks:

Selling nuclear technology to Libya a few years back - Halliburton pled guilty to additional criminal charges and accepted “a criminal penalty of $1,200,000 for three violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in connection with the export of the pulse neutron generators to Libya.”

A Denver federal court ordered Boeing and Dow Chemical Company to pay 12,000 homeowners $926 million for contaminating their property with radioactive waste from the Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation ordered Humana Insurance Co. to pay a $500,000 fine to resolve complaints that Humana enrolled Illinois citizens into more expensive and/or duplicative health plans.

GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay approximately $3.4 billion to settle charges by the IRS that the company under-reporte

clipped from www.contractormisconduct.org Federal Contractor Misconduct Database - POGO The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations.  In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data.  We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

So Where Am I to Live?

No room in Gaza, Iraq does not want us, can't start a settlement in West Bank, now we can't rebuild the refugee camp in Lebanon that was destroyed? So, under the sun that shines on everyone regardeless of faith, race, or politics - where shall we live?

clipped from justimage.wordpress.com Nahr al-Bared protest in Tripoli Residents from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon gathered on 16 September to protest the Lebanese government’s halting of planned reconstruction of the camp that was destroyed in 2007 in a battle between the Lebanese army and militants from Fatah al-Islam. Hundreds of refugees from the camp and their supporters gathered in Tripoli, the closest major city to Nahr al-Bared. After being denied a permit to protest at the police station near the city’s center, organizers change the location an area far away from symbolic government buildings and people.

Primo Online Tool for Non-profit On-line Advocacy!

Change.org is a primo site for individuals and if you are part of a not-for-profit organization, you can register and use for boffo petition promotion, fund raising, recruiting members. I have used and it is outstanding tool!

clipped from nonprofits.change.org Change.org Nonprofit Admin Accounts Explained :: The Premium Service is now free for all nonprofits! First, it is important to understand that through our partnership with GuideStar.org every nonprofit that is inside of GuideStar.org is also inside of Change.org. So when you are signing up for a Nonprofit Admin Account on Change.org, you are not signing up to create a new profile. Rather, you are signing up to access a profile your nonprofit already has on Change.org. The exception is nonprofit organizations that are located outside the United States. When you sign up for a Nonprofit Admin account you are creating a new profile on Change.org, but because your organization is not in GuideStar.org, you will not be able to use our fundraising tools.

Ban Upjohn and Pfizer drugs from receiving Federal money!

ACORN, no might oak. Let's ban Pfizer and Upjohn drugs from Medicare, Medicaid payments for drugs, from VA hospitals, and from DOD field hospitals. They paid $2.3 billion for illegal pimping of one of their drugs to doctors!

clipped from www.szdhealthlawscan.com DOJ Announces Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in Its History In a combination of civil and criminal settlements, Pfizer, Inc. and its subsidiary Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, Inc. (collectively “Pfizer”) agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). The settlement with Pfizer arises out of civil and criminal allegations relating to Pfizer’s allegedly illegal promotion of certain drugs, most notably Bextra.