articles-October 27

Indian Affairs tries to end school sit-in

PIAPOT FIRST NATION, SASK.   - Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is seeking a court injunction to force an end to a school standoff on the Piapot First Nation near Regina.

The school at Piapot has been shut down for three weeks by protesters who disagree with some of the courses taught at the school.

But not everyone agrees with the protest..

"I believe there are some [problems] regarding the school curriculum, but I still believe that it's wrong," says Brenda Kaiswatum, a grandparent and band councillor. "They are the ones that are denying our children and grandchildren a right to an education by occupying the school." full article

Russian natives join Makahs' celebration

By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
NEAH BAY, Clallam County — First came the salmon and potatoes. Then the songs and dance, a rare mix of traditional Makah and Russian native music and movements that unfolded in a crowded high-school gymnasium.

The Makahs offered homage to the spirits of the four seasons. The Russian guests donned long, fur-lined robes to celebrate the reindeer that helped feed native people in the northeast Russian province of Chukotka. And they both honored the gray whale, which the Russians hunt, and the Makahs — now blocked by federal court rulings — hope to hunt again.

"I never saw so much energy in the dancing. It was awesome," said Ben Johnson Sr., chairman of the Makah Tribal Council. "It gave me goose bumps. full article

Military hazards are greater for Native Americans, according to sociological research

WASHINGTON, DC-A new study by sociologists at Washington State University (WSU) suggests Native Americans and their lands are disproportionately exposed to hazards posed by the U.S. military's explosive and toxic munitions.

The research, conducted by Gregory Hooks, chair of the WSU Department of Sociology, and Chad L. Smith, Texas State University-San Marcos professor and a former WSU graduate student, provides evidence that Native American lands tend to be located in the same county as sites deemed to be extremely dangerous due to the presence of a variety of unexploded military ordnance.

The researchers study, "The Treadmill of Destruction: National Sacrifice Areas and Native Americans," appears in the most recent issue of the American Sociological Review, the flagship journal of the American Sociological Association. full article

Coushattas turn over tapes to Senate committee
10/27/2004, 8:15 a.m. CT

The Associated Press  

ELTON, La. (AP) — U.S. Senate investigators looking into lobbying for Indian reservation casinos have asked the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana for audio tapes of tribal council meetings spanning five years.

 Council member David Sickey said Tuesday some of the tapes requested include appearances by the tribe's lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, and public relations consultant Michael Scanlon, a former aide to House Majority leader Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

"They discussed their grassroots lobbying effort against Texas gaming and wanted money without showing us a plan or anything," Sickey said. full article

Mounds, concerns rise at project site

The possibility of Indian burial grounds could prove contentious as an apartment development off Rice Lake Road moves ahead
BY CHUCK FREDERICK
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

In about 1978, Marlene Diver took her first hike through the woods now being targeted for college apartments.

She was helping her three sons collect leaves for a 4-H Club project when she spotted something she didn't expect: mounds rising from the forest floor. She and her boys counted six of them, each about 6 feet long, a couple of feet wide and a couple of feet tall. A feeling suddenly overcame her, she said, an intuition, a knowing.

"I knew they were grave sites. I just knew they were. I don't know how. I just knew," said Diver, a Duluth Heights woman who works with American Indian teenage girls in foster care. full article

Daschle, Thune in virtual tie
Jon Walker
Argus Leader

published: 10/27/2004=
An election judged "too close to call" five weeks ago is now even tighter as a survey shows Republican John Thune cutting into Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle's narrow lead.

Daschle holds a 49 to 47 percent edge over Thune as the two men scramble for last-minute supporters leading up to next Tuesday's election, according to a poll conducted for the Argus Leader and KELO-TV of Sioux Falls.

Daschle's 2-point lead is less than the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, meaning South Dakota's Senate race is virtually tied and reinforcing the need for both campaigns to get supporters out on Election Day. full article

Web Server Takedown Called Speech Threat

Wed Oct 27, 8:16 AM ET
By ELLEN SIMON, AP Technology Writer

Devin Theriot-Orr, a member a feisty group of reporter-activists called Indymedia, was surprised when two FBI (news - web sites) agents showed up at his Seattle law office, saying the visit was a "courtesy call" on behalf of Swiss authorities.

Theriot-Orr was even more surprised a week later when more than 20 Indymedia Web sites were knocked offline as the computer servers that hosted them were seized in Britain.

The Independent Media Center, more commonly known as Indymedia, says the seizure is tantamount to censorship, and civil libertarians agree. The Internet is a publishing medium just like a printing press, they argue, and governments have no right to remove Web sites. full article

Am I a Flip-Flop If I Help the Democrats?
by Ira Chernus
 
Am I a flip-flop? Or do I have a subtle consistency? John Kerry might not lie awake at night worrying about that question. He's probably too tired. But I may be lying awake tonight worrying.

Throughout this campaign I've been writing columns about the lack of difference between Kerry and Bush, especially on issues of foreign policy and national security. Today I started knocking on doors and handing out fliers for the Democrats. "Do I contradict myself?", Walt Whitman wrote. "Very well. I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes."

But I'm not sure that I contradict myself. I think there is a consistency here.

I wrote those columns about Kerry's reactionary stance on war and terror because so many progressives I know seemed totally obsessed with defeating Bush. When they cast Bush as the devil, they talked as if Kerry were some kind of saving angel. I feared that, in their enthusiasm, they might lose sight of the larger issues, like saving the people of Iraq from U.S. - inflicted violence (just for starters). I wanted to remind my friends on the Left that politics does not end on Election Day.

Judging from the emails I've received from CommonDreams readers, I may have misjudged the Left. Most of the folks who write to me say they'll vote third party, or not at all, rather than vote for Democrats. I understand and respect that view. But I cannot agree with it. full article