Blogspot: Friends of Peltier

This Week from Indian Country Today

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:39:00 +0000

Eagle controversy yields education as well as some indignation
BOULDER, Colo. – Native people were on the North American continent for thousands of years before European invasion, so mainstream media and others should seek out knowledgeable Natives when questions arise about indigenous practices, an Oglala Lakota traditional leader said. Read more »

Headlines

Comanche trendsetter creates splendorous Native wedding designs
Teehee’s top priority
Confederated Colville Tribes and NRCS celebrate salmon return
Honoring Seminole Ancestors
Feds see ‘proliferation’ of Indian gang activities
Empowering women strengthens Indian country
Eagle controversy yields education as well as some indignation
Classes aim to preserve urban Indians’ heritage
Lummi Indian Nation honored in town’s centennial
National sacred sites day raises justice issues
Stimulus site features tribes
Navajo Nation Code Annotated now available on Web
Committee passes energy and water funding
Members only
Arrests made in operation targeting network selling stolen Native American artifacts
Rosebud leader defends federal support for airport
Hearing held on bill to enhance Udall Foundation
Government announces salmon restoration actions
Navajo president vetoes $10 million spending bill
Oglala Sioux Tribe pushes forward on wind power
Circle of the year’s seasons begins in the Intermountain West
Tribal media campaign brings attention to climate issues in Wisconsin
Cayugas offer to settle NY cigarette tax dispute
Agua Caliente Casino • Resort • Spa recognized by Expedia
Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians announces new chief investment officer

Northeast
Southeast
Great Lakes
Midwest
Plains
Southwest
Northwest
Alaska/Hawaii

Opinion

Cook: At the center, Native women
An enduring source of strength for Native women is the small world web of social and cultural relationships that we maintain in our communities. Our births, dreams and ceremonies are the primary life experiences and processes through which we women develop, and then channel, our voices and energies. Women’s reproductive power – our sexual and reproductive health – is vitally important to the future of Indian country. Read more »

For news you won't get from Indian Country Today, see Censored News.

News from Indianz.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:50:00 +0000

Senate hearing looks at Alaska Native contracts (7/17)

Protest greets guilty pleas in hate crime attack (7/17)

Jobs: AMERIND CEO, Chickasaw Nation director (7/17)

Blackfeet Nation reaches law enforcement deal (7/17)

Puyallup Tribe seizes items placed on auction (7/17)

Salt River Tribe to build Major League stadium (7/17)

Cayuga Nation wants seized cigarettes back (7/17)

Navajo Nation marks date of big uranium spill (7/17)

First Nations raising money to fight swine flu (7/17)

Eastern Shawnee Tribe warns of river dangers (7/17)

BIA confirms identity of woman found in river (7/17)

Petition seeks another vote on 'Fighting Sioux' (7/17)

Pokagon Band elects new leaders for top spots (7/17)

Quileute Nation to host Native 'Twilight' actor (7/17)

Editorial: Bad move on Oneida Nation liquor bid (7/17)

Opinion: Sen. Tester not delivering to Montana (7/17)

Sotomayor set for Supreme Court confirmation (7/17)

9th Circuit backs NIGC on Nooksack Tribe casino (7/17)

Connecticut completes study of legalized gaming (7/17)

Poll supports Mohegan casino in Massachusetts (7/17)

More calls to problem gambling hotline in Florida (7/17)

Column: Hopland casino retains small-town feel (7/17)

More headlines...

17 Jul 2009: Today's Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Howard Dean on His Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform
The House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation early this morning to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system and expand insurance coverage. By a 23-to-18 vote, the committee backed key elements of President Obama’s blueprint for healthcare, including the creation of a new government health plan and requirements for employers to offer health insurance to workers or contribute to its cost. To help fund the changes to the healthcare system, the House committee also agreed to impose a surtax on families with incomes of more than $350,000 a year. Meanwhile, the conservative American Medical Association has just come out in support of the House bill, saying “the status quo is unacceptable.” Today we spend the hour with Howard Dean, physician, six-term Vermont governor, Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, and former chairman of the Democratic National Committee. Dean’s solution embraces President Obama’s healthcare plan but argues that the reform bill is “not worth passing unless the American people have the choice of signing up for a public option—a real public option.” [includes rush transcript–partial]

5 Afghans Killed in US Air Strike
11 Afghans Die in Roadside Bombing
9 Killed in Indonesia Bombings
Thousands Block Roads in Honduras
Bolivia Marks 200th Anniversary of Independence
US, Colombia Near Military Base Deal
GOP Won’t Fillibuster Sotomayor Confirmation Vote
Senate Dems Drop Card-Check Provision from Union Bill
Obama Addresses 100th Anniversary of NAACP
JPMorgan Chase Posts $2.7B Quarterly Profit
Conservative Group Switches Stance After $2M Lobby Offer Rebuffed

Friends Digest Vol. 3, No. 5

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:04:00 +0000

* Countdown to Parole *

You're not tired, are you? Of course not. From now until the parole hearing on 28 July, we know you'll do your best for Mr. Peltier.

What to do:

Use all the resources at your disposal to contact Members of Congress and continue urging them to support freedom for Leonard Peltier. See:

http://www.FreePeltierNow.org/call.htm
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org/write.htm

Do you use Twitter? Try using this service to quickly and easily reach your Members of Congress: http://tcxs.net/.

Communicating with your Members of Congress is one of the most important ways you can participate in the freedom campaign for Leonard Peltier. One highly effective way that you can expand your lobbying efforts is by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Letters to the editor take no more time to write than e-mails to Congress and, by writing for a public forum, you can potentially influence both your legislators and many of the voters who elect them.

Click here for newspapers in your state: http://www.newslink.org/statnews.html.

Also read these tips: http://www.FreePeltierNow.org/editor.htm.

Letters to editors also can be made easy through free online services such as PublishaLetter.com at http://www.publishaletter.com/index.jsp. In a few clicks your letter will be on its way to the editor of your choice.

Do you have a local call-in radio show? Well, what are you waiting for? Dial that phone. This is another important way that you can educate the public, change attitudes, and motivate folks to
take action.

* White House Comment Line *

Call the White House, too, to express your support for Leonard Peltier and to urge President Obama to free Peltier now. Call (202) 456-1111 or (202) 456-1112. Do this frequently -- every day, if possible.

You also can send an e-mail to the White House. Go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

If you prefer, mail or fax a letter:

President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
Fax - (202) 456-2461

* Events *

Change We Knead Now - Bake Bread for World Peace. Join the summer-long action outside of the White House which includes a petition for Leonard Peltier's freedom. See
http://FreePeltierNow.blogspot.com/2009/06/change-we-knead-now.html.

33 Years is Too Much! Parole for Peltier! in NYC, 17 July 2009. See
http://FreePeltierNow.blogspot.com/2009/07/event-reminder-nyc-33-years-is-too-much.html.

Lewisburg Vigil, Lewisburg, PA. 28 July 2009. See
http://FreePeltierNow.blogspot.com/2009/06/lewisburg-vigil.html. Every Peltier supporter is strongly encouraged to participate.

San Francisco Vigil, SF, CA, 28 July 2009. See
http://FreePeltierNow.blogspot.com/2009/07/28-jul-sf-sunrise-prayer-vigil-and.html.

Branson Vigil, Branson, Missouri, at Table Rock Lake. Sunrise on 28 July 2009. Call 417-302-5226 for directions.

Do you have an event scheduled? Drop us a note at info@FreePeltierNow.org. We'll do what we can to help promote your event.

CRY FREEDOM!

-----

Time to set him free... Because it's the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
www.FreePeltierNow.org

Six Ways to Prevent Wrongful Convictions

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 18:12:00 +0000

Eyewitness testimony is powerful evidence in a courtroom. It’s compelling before a jury, it plays a central role in countless convictions and it’s often wrong. Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions overturned with DNA testing, contributing to three-quarters of the 240 DNA exoneration cases to date. An Innocence Project report released today explores how misidentifications cause wrongful convictions and outlines six steps states, cities and towns can take to reduce the chances of injustice.

Read the executive summary and download the full report here.

The new Innocence Project report, entitled “Reevaluating Lineups: Why Witnesses Make Mistakes and How to Reduce the Chance of a Misidentification,” outlines these six reforms proven to reduce misidentifications:

1. Proper lineup composition: The non-suspects in the lineup should resemble the eyewitness’s description of the perpetrator, and the suspect should not stand out.

2. Blind administration: The officer administering the lineup should not know which participant is the suspect.

3. Witness instructions: The witness should be told that the perpetrator may not be in the lineup and that the investigation will continue regardless. This helps the witness understand the role of the identification and may decrease the pressure to make an identification.

4. Confidence statements: Juries assume confident eyewitnesses are more reliable, but sometimes confidence in an identification increases as an investigation progresses. Lineup administrators should ask for a witness’s level of confidence, in his or her own words, immediately after the lineup.

5. Recording lineups: An accurate video or audio record of the lineup procedure can help a jury or judge gauge the possibility of misidentification.

6. Sequential lineups: When witnesses view lineup members one by one instead of all at once, they are less likely to misidentify an innocent person. Research is ongoing on this reform and the Innocence Project recommends it as an optional addition to the reforms above.

State and local jurisdictions across the country have adopted the reforms above — nine states have implemented statewide reforms and 17 considered new laws in the last two years. The Innocence Project will focus its policy reform efforts in the year ahead on implementing eyewitness identification reforms in several more states, and we will need your help to support those reforms when the time comes. Click here to learn about the policy in your state.

Awareness about eyewitness identification issues is growing across the country, and we thank you for helping us spread the word about misidentifications and wrongful convictions.

Best,

The Innocence Project
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
100 Fifth Ave., 3rd Floor
New York, NY 10011
www.innocenceproject.org

Attorneys for the Cuban Five on case's perpectives

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:50:00 +0000

Attorneys for the Cuban Five on case's perpectives

Radio Havana Cuba
2009-07-14

Attorneys for the Cuban Five were in Havana the last weekend and answered some questions on the case's perpectives to Radio Havana Cuba. "The efforts on behalf of the Five have not concluded, indeed they haven't slowed down. There are three efforts underway now: First, the legal team is preparing for the resentencing of three of them. The second does very much involve Gerardo: the post conviction legal filings. Third, there is also a political effort, since this case has always been a principal concern of the Cuban government and the international community."

Question: Could you give us your perspective on where we stand in the case of the Cuban Five?

Thomas Goldstein (expert on Supreme Court litigation):

The direct appeals in the case of the Cuban Five have concluded with the severe disappointment of the U.S. Supreme Court not agreeing to review the case. We obviously believe that the Supreme Court should have considered the serious flaws in the case and should have reversed the convictions of the Five. But the efforts on behalf of the Five have not concluded, indeed they haven't slowed down.

There are three efforts underway now. First, the legal team in the United States previously won a victory regarding the sentences imposed on three of the five [Antonio, Ramón and Fernando]. And now the lawyers are preparing for the resentencing, which is likely to occur before the end of the year, and then we will learn the length of the terms of imprisonment. We are optimistic that the judge will take into account the horrible effect that the long terms of imprisonment have had on the Five and their families, the recognition from the international community of all the flaws in the case, and will impose a sentence that is substantially shorter. But this is a question that the judge will have to compare.

Question: So Gerardo (Hernández) is not involved in the re-sentencing?

GOLDSTEIN: For the resentencing, the first of these three efforts does not involve Gerardo. The second does very much involve Gerardo. In the U.S. Criminal Justice System, there is the direct appeal, which has just concluded. Then there is the post conviction judicial process. In cases in federal court, this is sometimes called 22-55. That's the number of the statute. And the legal team is now working very hard on the post conviction legal filings. Those must be commenced by June of next year. It can be sooner, but that is the time that it must be filed. And the legal team intends to press the argument that the convictions are entirely invalid. And one of the principal arguments will be the absurdity of the conviction of Gerardo for conspiracy to commit murder. We believe that we will be able to show the court that there is new evidence that the court never considered that he had nothing to do with any plan to kill anyone in the U.S. jurisdiction or anywhere else, and the legal team and the families remain very focussed on correcting that injustice.

Third, there is also a political effort. I'm not a diplomat and this is a question that arises between the governments, but we are aware that among the issues that will be discussed between the governments will be the case of the Five. This has always been a principal concern of the Cuban government and the international community. It's been raised by other nations, other governments, with the United States, and it is possible that there will be a political solution -- for a case that has obvious political overtones. So we're hopeful there, as well, that as the relationships between the two governments can improve and that the case of the Five can be a part of that; that there can be a new beginning of sorts. The lawyers can help, but this is again a question of diplomacy rather than what happens in a court.

QUESTION: Does the work of the attorneys include a possible appeal to the President (Barack Obama)?

GOLDSTEIN: The work of the attorneys absolutely does include making appeals to the U.S. government to take action in the case. But we also recognize that this is part of the broader diplomatic discussions between the countries. So it will involve both the lawyers and the families but also the governments.

LEONARD WEINGLASS (attorney for Antonio):

René Gonzalez will not go back for re-sentencing, and neither will Gerardo. The three who will go back for re-sentencing will face a new set of sentencing rules that are different than the rules of 2001. Under these new rules, the life sentences we believe will go away and there will be new sentences that are less than life. We will be asking for sharp reductions in their terms. Of course Fernando's sentence will be reduced, probably down to approximately 15 years.

For Antonio and Ramón, there will not be a life sentence any longer, but we don't know what range of years they will receive. However, we're relatively sure that with this reduction in sentence, they will go to a different type of prison. A prison that is not as severe as the prisons that they have been in. So to answer your question, I cannot predict now what their sentences will be be, expect I can assure you that the sentences for the three will come down. And there will not be life sentences. But there will be a set term of years, which I cannot predict. In short, we anticipate an improvement in the sentencing of the three.

QUESTION: In the re-sentencing, they forgot Gerardo. Why is that, since he had two life sentences?

WEINGLASS: Gerardo should have been included. We don't agree with the court's failure to send Gerardo back. But if we succeed in eliminating the conspiracy to commit murder charge, which we are working on now, then Gerardo will be sent back for re-sentencing, the same as Ramón and Antonio. So we first have to eliminate the conspiracy to commit murder charge which we hope we can do.

PHIL HOROWITZ (attorney for René):

The actions that are going to be taken to eliminate that count (conspiracy to commit murder), speaking in general terms as René's attorney, efforts are going to be made to show that there is other evidence out there that was not produced at the trial. This will show that Gerardo had no involvement in the allegations of Count Three. And the efforts are continuing to absolve Gerardo of all responsibility as to Count Three.

As for René not being taken into consideration for resentencing, there is very little that can be done in his case. I'm not saying that there is nothing that can be done, but there's little; not as much as the other four. René's case is very different in that René was sentenced in 2001 to a term of imprisonment of 15 years. As we sit here, almost 11 years after René's arrest, his sentence is due to expire in a little more than two years; approximately 27 months. And at time, René looks forward to returning home, to his wife and his children. And he has not been able to see his wife since 2001. And he looks forward to the opportunity to come home.

The remaining 27 months that he has is on his prison sentence and his prison sentence only. His release date is October 11, 2011. Barring any changes, he'll be in prison until that time. So he won't be reporting to a parole officer or another officer. He'll just remain in the same situation that he is now, barring any changes over the next two years. Upon release, René will have three years of supervised release, which is the equivalent of probation. We expect to ask the court, for obvious compassionate reasons, as a Cuban citizen, to be able to return home to his family.

QUESTION: For "compassion, " he has not been able to see his wife..."

HOROWITZ: He has not been able to see his wife since approximately August of 2001. And the U.S. government has consistently denied his wife Olga's desire to go see him.

I know continuing efforts are being made for visas, with the change in administration in Washington, the hope for the issuance of visas has increased. And we hope to see some positive results in the near future.

BILL NORRIS (attorney for Ramón):

The court has set October 13th as the date for the resentencing. That's a preliminary date and there is much that we must do to prepare for that. The first step, obviously, is to have the three who are to be resentenced return to Miami so that we meet with them for purposes of preparing to go to court. The second thing is to obtain from the court the directives from the government to give us the additional information that we need to prepare to represent them adequately. And the third thing is to discuss with the government the possibilities of narrowing the issues and agreeing to a result that is fair for the three. And by fairness, of course, we mean their earliest return to Cuba.

News from Indianz.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Melvin Martin: Rapid City, you've done it again! (7/16)

Editorial: Race issues surface again in Rapid City (7/16)

Guilty pleas for anti-Indian attacks in Rapid City (7/16)

Senate hearing on Native corporation contracts (7/16)

Jobs stay local under Alaska Native ownership (7/16)

Jobs: AMERIND CEO, Chickasaw Nation director (7/16)

James Abourezk: Restore Whiteclay buffer zone (7/16)

Winnebago woman appointed to top USDA post (7/16)

Martha Berryhill, Muscogee enrollee, turns 109 (7/16)

Editorial: Progress on Blackfeet law enforcement (7/16)

BIA near decision on Little Shell Chippewa Tribe (7/16)

Chinook Nation optimistic on federal recognition (7/16)

Crow rancher seeks money for BIA bison roundup (7/16)

Puyallup Tribe objects to auction of historic items (7/16)

Second county rejects Cayuga tobacco tax offer (7/16)

New York courts stay busy with Indian law cases (7/16)

Tulalip Tribes on the lookout for new police chief (7/16)

Mississippi Choctaws set another vote for council (7/16)

Opinion: Forgotten uranium spill on Navajo Nation (7/16)

Letter: Keep fighting to keep 'Fighting Sioux' nick (7/16)

Letter: Tribal opposition to wind energy project (7/16)

Canada names residential school group advisers (7/16)

Connecticut tribes not happy with slot revenues (7/16)

Coeur d'Alene Tribe sets $75M casino expansion (7/16)

Nottawaseppi Huron Band meets over compact (7/16)

Coquille Tribe buys liquor for casino from state (7/16)

More headlines...

16 Jul 2009: Today's Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:40:00 +0000

"They Dump the Sick to Satisfy Investors": Insurance Exec Turned Whistleblower Wendell Potter Speaks Out Against Healthcare Industry
As the debate over healthcare reform intensifies on Capitol Hill, we spend the hour with a former top insurance executive who’s now exposing the industry’s dirty secrets. Wendell Potter once served as the head of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest health insurance companies. We speak to Potter about his own transformation from industry mouthpiece to whistleblower, the healthcare industry’s extensive PR and lobbying machine, the campaign to discredit Michael Moore’s film Sicko, and the insurance industry’s most pressing task: the fight against a public option, let alone a single-payer system. [includes rush transcript]

Sotomayor: No Vetting of Personal Views Before Nomination
Ousted Honduran President Calls for “Popular Insurrection”
11 Killed in Iraq Bombing
July Toll Equals Deadliest Month of Afghan Occupation for Foreign Troops
Bagram Prisoners Stage Mass Protest
Admin Drops Reliance on Torture-Induced Statements
White House Opposes Ban on Contractors in Interrogations
Viva Palestina Aid Convoy Arrives in Gaza
Report: 1,400 Dying in Sri Lanka Camps Each Month
Leading Chechen Human Rights Activist Abducted, Slain
Senate Panel Approves First Healthcare Measure
US Offers Limited Asylum Path for Abused Women

News from Indianz.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:05:00 +0000

Jobs: AMERIND CEO, Chickasaw Nation director (7/15)

Audio: House hearing on federal recognition bills (7/15)

Tex Hall: Hunting Indians at Capitol Hill hearing (7/15)

Gyassi Ross: Feeling insecure about being Skin (7/15)

Report cites unfair advantage for Native firms (7/15)

Washington tribes clash on federal recognition (7/15)

Bill requires Interior to pay for new trust lands (7/15)

Store removes item of 'Indian' with wine bottle (7/15)

BIA to pay lost wages for firing Indian veteran (7/15)

Spiritual leaders to discuss Black Hills lawsuit (7/15)

County to appeal Cayuga Nation tobacco case (7/15)

Michigan court rules against Chippewa woman (7/15)

Blackfeet Nation reaches law enforcement deal (7/15)

Oglala Sioux Tribe officer on leave after shooting (7/15)

Caddo Nation chair wins election by four votes (7/15)

Massachusetts tribes oppose wind turbine site (7/15)

Budget provision benefits Oneida liquor license (7/15)

Tribal casinos in trouble amid economic woes (7/15)

Eastern Cherokees expanding hotel at casino (7/15)

Connecticut tribes report dip in slot revenues (7/15)

Coeur d'Alene Tribe shares gaming revenues (7/15)

Town expects $7M a year from Mashpee casino (7/15)

Travels: Grand Ronde casino a first-class resort (7/15)

More headlines...

Event Reminder, NYC: 33 Years is Too Much

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:01:00 +0000

33 Years is Too Much! Parole for Peltier!

July 17, 2009 • 7–9:30 p.m.

Judson Memorial Church Assembly Hall
Entrance at 239 Thompson St. (Wheelchair Accessible)

Music:
WMD Poetry, Tiokasin Ghosthorse, Dave Lippman

Speakers:
Mike Kuzma
Tiokasin Ghosthorse
Interview: Bruce Ellison, Parole Attorney

Video excerpts:
No Boundaries by Peter Matthiesen
Leonard Crowdog on Leonard Peltier

Sliding scale $5 to $10. Nobody turned away due to empty pockets!

Sponsored by New York Leonard Peltier Support Group and friends:
NY Anarchist Black Cross Federation (NYCABCF), NYC Anarchist People of Color (APOC), First Voices Indigenous Radio, International Action Center (IAC), NYC Jericho, ProLibertad, Resistance in Brooklyn

For more info:
nyclpsg@gmail.com • nycjericho@gmail.com • 718-365-4407

Trains: A,B,C,D,E,F,V to W. 4th St.—2 blocks E. to Thompson;
N,R to 8th St., S. to W 4th, W. to Thompson

Drop Charges Against Francisco Torres

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:48:00 +0000

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

FAX OR CALL JERRY BROWN - ALL DAY, MONDAY JULY 27TH
DEMAND ALL CHARGES BE DROPPED AGAINST FRANCISCO TORRES!
FREE THE SF8!

Dear friends,

We are asking that you phone and fax CA Attorney General Jerry Brown on Monday, July 27th demanding that he drop the charges against Francisco Torres, the last of the SF8 still facing prosecution. Brown knows there is no case against Francisco, but he needs to get the message from people all over the country.

**In order for this fax campaign to be a success, we need you to help spread the word and take a few minutes to make the call and send the fax. Please send as many individual faxes as possible. We want to flood his office! And please also send us an email when you have done so at FreetheSF8@riseup.net.

**You can print out and use the attached letter to fax and/or use the phone
script below, all to Jerry Brown's office.

TO CALL:

916-322-3360 #7 for comments

I am calling to demand that Attorney General Jerry Brown drop all charges against Francisco Torres of the San Francisco 8. The state of California recognized that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the case and dropped charges against four of the men. There is clearly no basis to prosecute Francisco Torres, the only remaining person facing charges in connection with this 38-year old case which is based on torture-coerced evidence. It is an incredible waste of money in this time of severe budget crisis to proceed with this case, and is a huge injustice to Mr. Torres and his family. Drop all charges immediately!

TO FAX:
916-323-5341

Dear Attorney General Jerry Brown:

Thousands of people around the U.S. and the world have joined the call to drop all charges against the San Francisco 8. On July 6th the state of California recognized that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the case and dropped charges against four of the men. There is clearly no basis to prosecute Francisco Torres, the only remaining person facing charges in connection with this 38-year old case which is based on torture-coerced evidence. It would be an unconscionable waste of tax payer money and an egregious injustice to Mr. Torres and his family to proceed with this case. I urge you in the strongest possible terms to drop the charges against Francisco Torres immediately!

Sincerely,
Name
Address

For updates on the SF8, including information regarding Cisco's August 10th hearing and Herman and Jalil's fight for parole in New York state, please go to
www.freethesf8.org or call 415-226-1120.

Thank you,

The Committee for the Defense of the San Francisco 8

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians join call for Peltier’s parole

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:46:00 +0000

PRESS RELEASE
7/14/09
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
Contact:
Eric Seitz, 808-533-7434 or
Kari Ann Cowan, 701-235-2206 or 701-278-2968

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians join call for Peltier’s parole

Characterizing U.S. political prisoner Leonard Peltier’s continued incarceration as “a sad commentary on the US government and the humanitarian values Americans profess,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined thousands of people around the world in writing to the U.S. Parole Commission on Peltier’s behalf.

Tutu’s July 8 letter expresses “deep hope that your commission will grant parole and release to Leonard Peltier.”

Peltier’s home reservation, Turtle Mountain, cited Peltier’s health and political status in calling on the commissioners to release the 64-year-old American Indian Movement activist.

In a July 7 letter signed by reservation council member Cindy L. Malaterre, Turtle Mountain states that “it is time for you to end the chapter to this tragic event and release our tribal member, who is now an elder, who needs to come home to live out his remaining days on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, where his friends, family and tribe live.”

Peltier, who has served more than 33 years in federal prison, is scheduled for a full parole hearing on July 28, his first since 1993.

Under federal parole commission regulations, prisoners are subject to mandatory release after serving 30 years, unless they have committed serious offenses in prison or pose a significant threat to violate the law.

Peltier has an exemplary prison disciplinary record and is a six-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee due to his humanitarian efforts and commitment to justice for the world’s indigenous peoples.

Why is Leonard Peltier still in prison?

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:41:00 +0000

http://socialistworker.org/2009/07/15/why-is-peltier-in-prison
Comment: Michele Bollinger

Why is Leonard Peltier still in prison?
Michele Bollinger documents a cruel story of the American injustice system.

July 15, 2009

LEONARD PELTIER is an innocent man who has spent over 33 terrible years in prison for a crime he didn't commit.

In 1977, he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the deaths of two FBI agents, Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, who were killed in a gunfight on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota on June 26, 1975.

Peltier's case is one of the awful travesties of the U.S. justice system--standing alongside those of Sacco and Vanzetti, Julius and Ethel Rosenburg, and Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Like these individuals, Peltier is rightly considered by his supporters to be a political prisoner--because his prosecution and conviction was driven solely by his participation in the American Indian Movement (AIM) in the 1970s. Since his conviction in 1977, he has been a victim--repeatedly--of the racism of the U.S. criminal justice system.

But Leonard Peltier is not simply a victim. He is also a fighter.

Leonard and his friends, family, allies and supporters have been courageous and relentless in speaking out for justice in Leonard's case, even when faced with government repression for doing so. And Peltier has stood up for justice not only in his own case, but on behalf of indigenous people and all victims of war, poverty and racism.

In his memoir Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance, he wrote:

The destruction of our people must stop! We are not statistics. We are people from whom you took this land by force and blood and lies...You practice crimes against humanity at the same time that you piously speak to the rest of the world of human rights! America, when will you live up to your own principles?

Views such as these, along with the work he has done setting up scholarships for Native American children, among other efforts, explains why Peltier was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize and the 2004 presidential candidate of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Our society would benefit enormously from having someone like Leonard living as a free man. Instead, at age 64, he languishes in prison while in poor health. Earlier this year, he was brutally beaten; he has been repeatedly denied proper medical care.

On July 28, Peltier will appear at his first full parole hearing in 15 years. Now is the time to rebuild momentum around his case and demand his release and exoneration--and put his name back at the center of the fight against the criminal justice system.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PELTIER WAS indicted along with two others in the 1975 shootout at the Jumping Bull property. His co-defendants, Bob Robideau and Dino Butler, represented by famed radical attorney William Kunstler, were acquitted on the basis of self-defense.

Humiliated by the not-guilty verdict for Robideau and Butler, the government went after Peltier with a vengeance. It lied, cheated and slammed the book on any sense of justice to ensure a conviction.

The Feds used three perjured affidavits to get Peltier extradited from Canada, to which he had escaped. During the trial itself, Peltier faced an all-white jury in North Dakota, where racism against Native Americans and hostility to AIM was palpable. The jury was unnecessarily sequestered and deliberately made to feel vulnerable by the judge. This same judge wouldn't allow Leonard's attorney's to argue self-defense.

Assistant U.S. attorney Lynn Crooks didn't produce any witnesses who could identify Peltier as the person who killed the agents. The government presented false evidence--the claim that only Peltier had the type of gun that killed the agents--and also concealed evidence showing that the gun they claimed Peltier used didn't match the bullet casings found near the agent's bodies.

Documents uncovered later through Freedom of Information Act requests revealed, among other things, that the judge met with the FBI before the trial began, and that the legal defense committee that emerged out of the Wounded Knee occupation had been infiltrated.

None of these facts are really contested by the federal government. In fact, at an appellate hearing in the 1980s, the government attorney conceded: "We had a murder, we had numerous shooters, we do not know who specifically fired what killing shots...we do not know, quote unquote, who shot the agents."

But the government was hell-bent on convicting Peltier in order to crush AIM, which was founded in 1968 and reached its high point in cities and on reservations in the mid-1970s.

AIM clearly took inspiration from the civil rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s as well as struggles for national liberation around the world. Its profile and credibility was heightened by several bold actions, including in 1972, when it mobilized 1,400 people for a three-day occupation of the border town of Gordon, Neb., in response to the murder of Raymond Yellow Thunder by white racists.

Peltier became a leading activist in AIM, participating in the occupation of Fort Lawton in Seattle and the "Trail of Broken Treaties" caravan to Washington, D.C., which resulted in AIM's stunning occupation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) building.

According to Like a Hurricane author Paul Chaat Smith:

[T]his sudden rebellion in Washington, D.C., had catastrophic possibilities that bordered on the surreal. Five days before the presidential election, Indian revolutionaries held a government building six blocks from the White House, vowing to die rather than surrender. The casualties, if it came to that, would likely include the Trail's scores of children and old people.

In 1973, in response to the rampant fraud, intimidation and violence of Oglala Sioux tribal government President Dick Wilson, traditional people and civil rights activists on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota invited AIM to come help them fight Wilson.

This resulted in the famous 71-day occupation of Wounded Knee, where AIM demanded Wilson's ouster and Congressional hearings on treaty rights. The occupation drew broad support and was headline news, creating an outpouring of support for the Lakota people.

But it was viciously attacked by the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and Dick Wilson's heavily armed "GOONs" (Guardians of the Oglala Nation). Within hours, 200 agents surrounded and blockaded the town. The army sent in armored personnel carriers, fighter jets flew overhead, and 500,000 rounds of ammunition were fired into Wounded Knee, killing Frank Clearwater and Buddy Lamont.

Coming out of Wounded Knee, AIM and its supporters were targets in a two-sided war--on one side, by the FBI in the form of its overall COINTELPRO program against radicals, and on the other, a reign of terror by BIA police, other federal law enforcement and GOONs. Between 1973 and 1976, the per capita murder rate on Pine Ridge was the highest in the country--170 per 100,000 people, or around 20 times the U.S. average.

This was the context of the famous "Incident at Oglala."

On June 26, 1975, two unmarked cars chased a red truck onto the Jumping Bull property on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Across the field from the road was the compound where the Jumping Bull family lived, and where AIM members and families had set up camp. When the agents, who hadn't identified themselves, then began firing on the ranch, Peltier and others, who were defending the compound against violence, fired back, not knowing who the men were or what they wanted.

Within minutes, more than 150 FBI SWAT team members, BIA police and GOONs had surrounded the ranch. FBI agents Coler and Williams, as well as one Lakota man, Joe Killsright Stuntz, were killed. No one has ever been convicted of Joe Stuntz's death, and in fact, only one major newspaper even mentioned it at the time.

The largest FBI manhunt in history followed, culminating in the arrest of Robideau, Butler and Peltier.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SINCE THE time of his conviction, countless numbers of people have come to believe in Leonard Peltier's innocence and to demand his freedom.

In the late 1990s, the documentary Incident at Oglala and Peter Matthiessen's book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse became popular, and led to a heightened awareness about Peltier's case. Everyone from the Indigo Girls to Rage Against the Machine has recorded songs about him.

Many supporters hoped that former President Bill Clinton, who stopped at the Pine Ridge reservation during his 1999 poverty tour, would grant Leonard executive clemency. But Clinton succumbed to pressure from police and FBI agents, and refused to free Leonard--saving his generosity for wealthy benefactors like Mark Rich.

After Clinton came eight long years of the Bush administration's many abuses of the U.S. Constitution--including more cases of political persecution, like that of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Unfortunately, this has meant that Peltier's case has been somewhat pushed to the margins of political consciousness.

But no longer. Justice is long overdue. We must include the fight for Leonard's freedom in a bigger struggle to free all political prisoners and push back against the injustices of the criminal justice system.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

What you can do
Leonard Peltier will face his first full parole hearing in 15 years on July 28, and his supporters are calling for a campaign of pressure. Mail letters of support to: U.S. Parole Commission, 5550 Friendship Blvd. #420, Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286.

Visit the Free Leonard Peltier Web site [1] for more information on the case, sample letters to send to the parole commission and updates on other activities.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Material on this Web site is licensed by SocialistWorker.org, under a Creative Commons (by-nc-nd 3.0) [2] license, except for articles that are republished with permission. Readers are welcome to share and use material belonging to this site for non-commercial purposes, as long as they are attributed to the author and SocialistWorker.org.

[1] http://www.freepeltiernow.org
[2] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0

2009 Oglala Commemoration Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Oglala Commemoration
Press Release
2009 Recap

Facing many challenges this past year, with much prayer and hard work,the Committee again was successful in putting on another great event.

June 26th began with greeting old friends, and making new ones, as we began to gather at the Little Family Cemetery. We began with the prayer ceremony, remembering all those who have crossed over, the health and freedom of Leonard Peltier, and the safe journey for all those in attendance. Fred Cedar Face once again led us in prayer, and an honor song was done by Elk Nation. We welcomed Betty, Leonard's sister, and Kari Ann, Leonard's niece, from the LP-DOC and Jim Robideau, Bob's
cousin.

The Memorial Walk followed to the Jumping Bull Property. It was a warm day with the storms moving across the south of our walk. Many walked while others rode in cars. The security team under Owen Black Elk's direction did a great job in directing traffic and keeping the walkers out of harm's way. We had many passer by's join in as well as some parked along the road giving encouragement. We also had some observers across the highway on the plateau noting our progress. At the property, Ivis Long Visitor hosted the gathering, Joe Stuntz was remembered. The LP-DOC read Leonard's statement. And a memorial for Bob Robideau, who crossed over early in the year, was conducted. Jim Robideau spoke on behalf of Bob. Pilar, Bob's widow called in all the way from Spain to share her thoughts and feelings. Though it was very difficult to hear, it was the feeling behind her call that made it so special. We shared memorial cakes and the Committee sponsored a give-away in Bob's memory, at the conclusion a beautiful blanket was presented to Jim in honor of Bob. At the end of the event, the school supply back packs were given out to the kids.

Moving on down to the Billy Mills Hall in Pine Ridge, we once again welcomed Oasis Sound back, as they were set up and raring to go. A delicious meal was prepared, pozole, beef stew,fry bread and wojopi. After the meal the youth concert began. Our returning artists, Lady Hope opened the night, along with her crew from Rapid City: Dayloc, Dion-Tycoon, Angel, featuring Miguel Jon. Also back was Mista Futuristic who honored us with a song which he wrote for a recently passed friend. and rocking out the evening was SpydarZback. In between, the LP-Doc and Tom Poor Bear shared words.

Please remember, Leonard goes up for Parole in just a few weeks, July 28th. Visit the LP-DOC's website http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/ to see what you can do to help make Leonard's freedom a reality. As always, this event is held each year in remembrance of all those that were victims during what is known at the "Reign of Terror" as well as those who have crossed on while living and fighting in the struggle, Remember Wally Black Elk and Ron Hard Heart, murders that remain uninvestigated and unsolved.

A thanks goes out to all who helped, worked, performed, cooked, spoke, served, protected, prayed, and those who gave special words of encouragement.

We would also like to welcome Owen Black Elk to the committee, as community Liaison, working locally with the venues and musicians etc.

Our Special thanks to:

Jumping Bull Family, Cedar Face Family, Black Elk Family, Robideau Family,Leonard Peltier, LP-DOC, Good Voice Elk Family, Little Family, Tom Poor Bear, Marla Under Baggage, Jeanette Richards, Owen Black Elk, KILI Radio, Cakes & Etc, Oasis Sound, Pilar Robideau, Parchcorn Family. Karen Doris Wright, Censored News, Dara Miller, Sara Finke @ KHDX-St. Louis, NAICCO-Columbus, OH, Wal-mart, Candy, Paula, Juliet, and Hannah Wahwassuck, Debbie Smith. Elysia Landeros-Thomas and David Pearson, Mario ? Bunky Echo Hawk, Cedar Elk Woman, Susan Duhn, Kari and Johanna Best of the West, St. Charles Community College. Ruth Kenndy, To everyone who donated to the auction and to everyone who bidded. We couldn't do this without you.

And last but not least our wonderful Security Crew:

Filmore He Crow, Rayford Featherman, Kenny Kane, Terry Two Lance, Elgin Young Bear, Ylene Two Lance, Paula Wahwassuck, Owen Black Elk, Kenny Black Elk.

Goals Meet:

School Supplies were divided up to 3 communities
Scholarship awarded to Cryintha Clifford
1000 Book donated to Loneman School by Ruth Kennedy

The School supplies are in great need, so thanks to Dara and everyone who collected the supplies this year.

Since supplies are cheaper at the beginning of the school year, I will begin collecting them again.
Stay turned for details.

The OCC
www.oglalacommemoration.com

What's Happening Now in Media Reform

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:29:00 +0000

Josh Silver on What's Happening Now in Media Reform

Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver gives an update on hot topics in media reform for July 2009.

15 Jul 2009: Today's Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 17:26:00 +0000

Supreme Court Nominee Sotomayor Answers GOP Critics on Prior Remarks
The confirmation hearings for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor continue on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, Democratic senators praised Sotomayor’s seventeen years on the federal bench, while Republicans repeatedly grilled her about statements she has made during a series of speeches over the years. We play excerpts of the hearings. [includes rush transcript]

Review of Sotomayor's Record Belies GOP Charges of Biased Judicial Practice
An exhaustive review of all 1,994 constitutional cases decided by the Second Circuit during the decade of Judge Sotomayor’s service found that Sotomayor is solidly in the mainstream of her colleagues. The Brennan Center for Justice report found Sotomayor voted with the majority of the court in 98.2 percent of constitutional cases. We speak with the report’s author, attorney Monica Youn, and Democracy Now!‘s Juan Gonzalez, who’s in DC covering the hearings. [includes rush transcript]

As Goldman Sachs Posts Record Profits, Matt Taibbi Probes Role of Investment Giant in US Financial Meltdown
Goldman Sachs, the nation’s most powerful financial company, has reported the richest quarterly profit in its 140-year history: $3.44 billion between April and June. Goldman’s record profits come just one month after it repaid $10 billion of TARP money to the US Treasury, freeing itself from restrictions on year-end bonuses. We speak to Matt Taibbi, whose new Rolling Stone article argues that “Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression.”

US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties Hired to Defend Honduran Coup Regime
Supporters of the coup in Honduras have begun hiring advisers and lobbyists with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in an attempt to strengthen support in Washington for the coup. A Honduran business group has hired lobbyist Lanny Davis, who served as White House counsel for President Bill Clinton. The coup government has also hired Bennet Ratcliff, a public relations specialist with ties to former President Bill Clinton.

Sotomayor Answers GOP Sens on Alleged Bias
House Dems’ Health Plan Includes Surtax on Wealthy
Obama Proposes $12B for Community Colleges
Israel to Test Missiles in US Waters
Gitmo Prisoners Staged Two-Week Sit-in
Burmese Junta Promises Amnesty for Unspecified Prisoners
Charges Dropped Against US Troops in Couso Killing
Ex-Liberian President Takes Stand at War Crimes Trial
Goldman Sachs Posts Record $3.44 Quarterly Profit
Ousted GM CEO Rick Wagoner Gets Lucrative Severance
Madoff Begins Jail Sentence at N.C. Prison

News from Indianz.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:46:00 +0000

Jobs: AMERIND CEO, Chickasaw Nation director (7/14)

Grand Traverse chairman to meet with Obama (7/14)

Alaska Native corporations prepare for hearing (7/14)

Witness list for hearing on four recognition bills (7/14)

Mark Trahant: Getting into Indian health reform (7/14)

Kevin Abourezk: Franken on Indian Affairs panel (7/14)

Daniel Lewis: Protect tribal financial sovereignty (7/14)

Opinion: Using religion to dominate Native people (7/14)

Native woman in Saskatchewan dies of swine flu (7/14)

Wilton Rancheria set to reorganize government (7/14)

Delaware Tribe about to regain federal status (7/14)

Navajo man upset by disturbance of bald eagle (7/14)

NARF backs Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court (7/14)

BIA seeks more time to acquire land for tribes (7/14)

Cayuga Nation offers settlement in tobacco case (7/14)

Montana and Wyoming tribes combat alcoholism (7/14)

Man shot by Oglala Sioux Tribe police officer (7/14)

Kennewick Man studies haven't been released (7/14)

New charges in connection with artifact theft (7/14)

Editorial: Repatriation respects Michigan tribes (7/14)

City won't discuss Tohono O'odham casino plans (7/14)

BIA to hold public hearings on Guidiville casino (7/14)

California tribes attract patrons amid recession (7/14)

Seminole Tribe still working on gaming compact (7/14)

Grand Ronde Tribes finalize casino service deal (7/14)

More headlines...

14 Jul 2009: Today's Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:43:00 +0000

Confirmation Hearings Open for Judge Sonia Sotomayor, First Latina Nominated to Supreme Court
The historic confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor have begun. On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee debated Sotomayor’s qualifications for a permanent seat on the nation’s highest court. Democrats praised her extensive judicial experience and the story of her personal progression. Republicans, however, continued to paint Sotomayor as biased because of her personal background and activism. [includes rush transcript]

Former Sotomayor Law Clerk Jenny Rivera and Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez on Sotomayor's Confirmation Hearings
As Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s historic confirmation hearings continue into their second day, we speak to CUNY Law School Professor Jenny Rivera, founding director of the Center on Latino and Latina Rights and Equality and a former law clerk under Sotomayor. We’re also joined by Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, who is in Washington for the hearings. [includes rush transcript]

Two Decades After His Rejection from Federal Bench for Racial Bias, Sen. Jeff Sessions Leads GOP Opposition to Sotomayor
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is leading the charge against Sotomayor becoming the nation’s first Latina Supreme Court justice. Twenty-three years ago, the Senate rejected Sessions’ confirmation to the federal bench, in part because he called the NAACP and the ACLU “un-American” and “Communist-inspired.”

Story of Wrongfully Convicted Prisoner Denied Appeal by Sotomayor Excluded from Confirmation Hearings
We speak to Jeffrey Deskovic, a wrongfully convicted prisoner who spent sixteen years in prison until DNA evidence proved his innocence. In 1997, nine years before his eventual release, he appealed his conviction to Judge Sonia Sotomayor and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The court dismissed his appeal without even considering his innocence claim, in part because of a technicality—paperwork from his lawyer had arrived at the courthouse four days late.

Confirmation Hearings Begin for Sotomayor
Obama Nominates Rural Doctor to Become Surgeon General
House Dems to Unveil Healthcare Reform Bill
6 Contractors, 2 Marines Killed in Afghanistan
Report: 2 Soldiers Died in “Friendly Fire” Attack
Honduran Coup Regime Hires US Lobbyists with Clinton Ties
Britain Halts 5 Arms Exports to Israel over Gaza Attack
Federal Deficit Tops $1T for First Time
Report: Goldman Execs Sold $700M in Stock After Lehman Collapse
Activists Protest Jailing of Oaxaca Activist in Will Killing

Veronza Bowers, Jr. - Another Victim of America's Criminal Justice System

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Veronza Bowers, Jr. - Another Victim of America's Criminal Justice System
http://baltimorechronicle.com/2009/071309Lendman.shtml
by Stephen Lendman
Monday, 13 July 2009

Throughout Veronza Bowers' incarceration, the Parole Commission consistently violated its own rules and regulations in denying Bowers due process - even after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (in 1993) determined that it acted improperly.

On September 15, 1973, Veronza Bowers, Jr. was arrested in Mill Valley, California and charged with robbery and possession of stolen property. After state charges were dropped for lack of probable cause to obtain a search warrant, the FBI arrested Bowers and charged him with the first-degree murder of National Park Service ranger Kenneth Patrick on August 5, 1973 at Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco.

At trial, testimonies from two government informants, Alan Veale and Jonathan Shoher, proved crucial. Both were also charged with the killing. Yet there were no independent eye-witnesses, and no evidence incriminated Bowers besides the word of these two men who had every incentive to cooperate with the Department of Justice.

Veale and Shoher were convicted bank robbers. In return for their testimony, their murder charges were dropped, and one of them served no prison time, was paid $10,000, and placed in the government's witness protection program.

Allegations were that the three men were at Point Reyes National Seashore to poach deer, ranger Patrick confronted them, and Bowers shot him three times. At trial, he testified for himself and steadfastly denied the charge. His wife's alibi testimony was dismissed as well as assertions by two relatives of the informants who insisted they were lying.

In April 1974, Bowers was convicted in San Francisco District Court and sentenced to life in prison. He's currently held at the United States Penitentiary (USP), Atlanta, Georgia.

In August 1979, after a failed prison escape from the Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution, Bowers became a model prisoner by focusing on his spiritual self. He became an author, musician, and student of Asian healing arts. He developed a strong interest in Buddhist meditation and hands-on healing techniques. He's an honorary Lompoc Tribe of Five Feathers member, a Native American spiritual and cultural group, and a mentor and founder of the All-Faith Meditation Group, a non-denominational spiritual organization devoted to healing meditation using the traditional Japanese shakuhachi flute.

At the expense of having his parole appeals denied, Bowers consistently maintains his innocence. Friends and supporters stand with him and offer testimony in his behalf.

Neoma Kenwood is a California Appellate Project attorney who represented Bowers pro bono for many years. On August 14, 1991, he wrote to the Parole Commission, mainly as a friend, and said this was his first ever letter like this. He did it because "Mr. Bowers is in a special category....(he's) very different; I have found him to possess much more integrity and decency than many of my fellow professionals."

Prison Administrator J. Harrison praised Bowers in a 1991 letter for his "contributions to the operations and programs of the (US Penitentiary Terre Haute, IN) Recreation Department," calling them "numerous and significant." He added that he "can be depended upon to willingly and cheerfully perform any extra task which the staff of this department might ask of him, (and) strongly endorsed" his parole.

Numerous other support letters were similar, including one by Maynard Garfield. He's treasurer of the Veronza Bowers, Jr. legal defense fund. He describes him as mature, intelligent, thoughtful and compassionate, and considers it "a privilege and a pleasure to call him my friend." Yet he's been denied parole at his hearings. Garfield said:

"I have pleaded with him. Just tell them: 'I was young and did wrong. But I have found my way. I am a born-again Christian. I have found salvation.' "

Bowers responds:

"Don't you understand. I have been here for 35 years. If the only way I can get out is to lie and say I am guilty, then my whole life if a sham. I will rot here in prison before I will do that."

According to Garfield, rot he may without considerable help, and that's why this article is written - to urge readers to go www.veronza.org for information about him and learn how to help. Numerous times before, he was approved for parole and given release dates, only to have them rescinded at the last moment.

On October 5, 2005, he was due for Mandatory Parole but again was denied. On July 18, 2005 Bryan Gaynor, Alan Chaset and Monty Levenson representing him explained as follows:

"The National Parole Commission has again blocked Veronza Bowers, Jr.'s right to be released on mandatory parole after serving more than 31 years in prison....(its) third in a series of high-handed and improper actions to deny (him) his right....in complete disregard of the Commission's legal obligation to follow applicable federal statutes as well as its own rules and regulations. We believe this latest and most egregious decision, made at the request of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is politically motivated, disregards Veronza's exceptionally good conduct in prison, and is an unlawful denial of his right to due process."

The lawyers also provided background information and explained that Bowers was legally entitled to "mandatory parole" since April 7, 2004 because:

--no evidence showed he might commit a crime if released;
--he hadn't violated prison rules; or
--committed serious infractions during his years of incarceration; in fact, he's a model prisoner.

Nonetheless, his parole was denied. Then on October 26, 2004, Federal Judge William Terrell Hodges of the Middle District of Florida ruled on a habeas writ and ordered the Commission to hold a hearing within 30 days and release Bowers on "mandatory parole" if he complied with the above three qualifications.

A December 21, 2004 hearing was held at which nationally-recognized criminologist and Clinical Director of the National Center of Institutions and Alternatives Hans H. Selvog testified. He administered a battery of psychological tests and determined that Bowers is normal, socially well-adjusted with no criminal disposition, and an excellent candidate for parole.

Examiner Rob Haworth also testified that Bowers was eligible for "mandatory parole." He said he believed he was one of the most worthy candidates he'd encountered and recommended that he be released on February 18, 2005. Commissioner Cranston Mitchell ordered it based on Haworth's assessment.

Yet on that date, at the last moment, the Commission notified the Coleman Correction Facility warden that the parole was rescinded, and the five-member Commission would reconsider his case. Besides political pressure from Washington, the ruling was based on unsupported allegations of ranger Patrick's widow and members of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). The woman supported her dead husband with no knowledge of the facts. FOP members cited spurious allegations of prison rule violations, including arranging for two contract killings.

Earlier on August 26, 2005, Association of National Park Rangers president Lee Werst wrote Thomas Hutchinson, chief of staff, US Parole Commission as follows:

"....we believe a decision by the Commission to parole Mr. Bowers would send the wrong message to the federal law enforcement community we all depend on to protect our public lands and citizens. Indeed, it would send the wrong message to Mr. Patrick's family and friends, to every employee of the National Park Service, and to all federal agency personnel - that the memory of Ranger Patrick's ultimate sacrifice somehow holds lesser importance than the early release of a convicted murderer."

On March 21, 2005, a rehearing was held and affirmed the previous December's recommendations: namely, that no credible evidence supported denying Bowers release. Between March 21 and May 16, the Commission exercised its "original jurisdiction" and voted two in favor, two opposed, and one abstention on parole. Anything less than a majority meant Bowers should be freed. June 21, 2005 was his scheduled release date, but on June 14, at the request of AG Alberto Gonzales, the Commission rescinded it without notifying his lawyers so they and Bowers could respond.

Attorneys Gaynor, Chaset and Levenson considered this action "to be without a proper basis in law. There is no statutory authority whatsoever (for it). It is our position that the original jurisdiction decision by the Commission constituted final agency action and any further action taken in this matter violates due process."

What's most objectionable is how the politicization of Bowers' case made an impartial administrative process impossible. Gonzales' intervention was "illegal, unprecedented and pander(ed) to the political agenda of his administration's constituents." It defiled the case's merits and kept him incarcerated to this day, over four years later.

On June 6, 2009, Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer Rhonda Cook said "US Magistrate Susan Cole....wrote in a final report and recommendation order that US Attorney (General) Alberto Gonzales improperly meddled in (his) case (and that Bowers should) be paroled immediately."

Cole said Gonzales "had no statutory or regulatory authority" to get involved and by doing so affected the Commission's impartiality. In a recommendation to US District Judge Charles Moye, assigned to handle Bowers' 2008 lawsuit, she added that the decision to keep Bowers imprisoned "cannot stand." A Commission spokesperson declined to comment. Current Bowers attorney Charles D. Weisselberg was confident that an honest review of the case would yield a favorable decision for his client.

On August 13, 2005, former political prisoner Ashanti Alston read Bowers' prepared statement at a Washington, DC Justice Rally. He said:

"....I am Veronza Bowers, Jr. I am a former member of the original Black Panther Party (more on that below) and have been held in federal prison for almost 32 years. I am just one of the many long-held Political Prisoners whom government officials officially claim do not exist....I was convicted (mainly on the testimonies) of two paid 'informants (sound familiar?) in (a) shooting death (I had no part in)."

"....your sons and daughters, brothers and sisters and friends are filling up these prisons with sentences longer than they've been on this earth....they are filling the graveyards before they've had a chance to live. Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture...Please, can we have a full minute of silence to remember and honor all those who have gone before us in our struggle. For a better future for us all. After the silence, I salute and thank you."

The Original Black Panther Party

As Bowers said above, he was "a former member of the original Black Panther Party." This writer's October 2008 article on the San Francisco Eight former members contained the section below - slightly edited here to explain what party members stood for, an agenda far different from mainstream propaganda about them.

In October 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. It was progressive, activist, militantly for ethnic justice, racial emancipation, and real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines - radical ideas then and now. The party's ten-point program expressed them:

--freedom and "power to determine the destiny of our black community;"
--full employment for black people and everyone;
--"an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our black community;"
--decent housing;
--education to expose "the true nature of this decadent American society (and teach) us our true history and our role in the present-day society;"
--for "all black men to be exempt from military service" at a time they were drafted for foreign wars;
--"an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people;"
--"freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails" as political prisoners;
--for black people in court "to be tried....by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities;" and
--"land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace."

It added words from the Declaration of Independence at the end:

--"that all men are created equal";
--"to secure (their) rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;"
--"that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and institute a new government;"
--"to throw off (despotism), and to provide new guards for (peoples') future security."

They believed in the rule of law, published a newspaper with 250,000 readers that articulated fundamental wants and needs, and practiced what they preached with:

--nutritious breakfasts for poor children;
--groceries for needy families;
--free clinics for medical care;
--a free ambulance service;
--help for the homeless;
--free legal aids and bussing to prisons;
--after-school and summer classes teaching black history; and
voter registration drives for blacks that helped elect Oakland's first black mayor, Lionel Wilson, in the city where the Panthers were founded.

They were young, idealistic, and willing to put their lives on the line for their beliefs and activism. Their goal was to make the world a better place - for black people and everyone. They were revolutionaries, hostile to repression. In Huey Newton's words they were: "never a group of angry young militants full of fury toward the 'white establishment.' The Party operated on love for black people, not hatred of white people." Their 2000 members demanded change and struggled for it from over 30 branches nationwide.

They wanted redress of longstanding grievances - slavery, Jim Crow laws and practices, segregation, neglect and abuse, and claimed their right of self-defense against them. It was a revolutionary agenda that included ideas Jefferson preached, but for practicing them the US government targeted them for destruction and largely succeeded. The 1960s civil rights gains as well so that today blacks are repressed, impoverished, and segregated. They're stripped of their voting rights, and consigned to second class status by a society disdaining them, other people of color, and all non-Christians or Jews.

The October 2008 article focused on the San Francisco Eight (SF 8) - innocent men targeted by the FBI's infamous COINTELPRO - a gangster operation that never ended. Because of their Black Panther activism, they were framed for crimes they didn't commit from 1968 - 1973.

Updated Status of the SF 8

On July 6, California state prosecutors dropped charges against four members for lack of sufficient evidence - Ray Boudreaux, Richard Brown, Hank Jones and Harold Taylor. Jalil Muntaqim pled no contest to conspiracy to commit voluntary manslaughter, received credit for time served and three years probation. He'll now return to New York to seek parole. Attorney Soffiyah Elijah said: "This is finally the disposition of a case that should never have been brought in the first place."

Francisco Torres still faces an August 10 court hearing. He steadfastly maintains his innocence, according to his attorney Charles Bourdon who'll file a motion to dismiss charges to have his client released.

Herman Bell pled guilty to the reduced charge of involuntary manslaughter and received a sentence of five years probation with no additional incarceration.

Albert Nuh Washington died in prison.

Veronza Bowers, Jr. was targeted for the same reason as the SF 8 - for being black and committed to social justice for all people equally. Today, others as dedicated risk the same fate at a time we're all watched and as vulnerable as Veronza.

A Brief Legal History of Bowers' Case

Throughout his incarceration, the Parole Commission consistently violated its own rules and regulations in denying Bowers due process - even after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (in 1993) determined that it acted improperly. It granted him relief, and instructed the District Court to have the Commission recompute his parole eligibility.

Nonetheless, the Commission ignored the order and ruled (without explanation) that Bowers must stay in prison until his mandatory April 26, 2004 release date. A final appeal to the National Parole Commission failed to reverse the decision.

Bowers became eligible for parole on December 6, 1983 after serving 10 years in prison. In November, he had his first hearing before the US Parole Commission, was denied, and was ordered to serve another 10 years before reconsideration. All subsequent legal appeals failed until the 1993 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling. It was also ignored, and Bowers remains incarcerated despite considerable efforts on his behalf and the below listed factors about him:

--his exemplary conduct and achievements as a model prisoner, including attaining a community college associates of arts degree and receiving a commendation for saving guards from assault or possible death by intervening in a hostile prison confrontation;
--his activities as an author, musician and therapeutic healer - through music, accupressure, and therapy message;
--his spirituality, strong emotional state, and belief in nonviolence;
--his receiving the highest possible "salient factor" score of 10 - the Parole Commission rating to determine his eligibility and prognosis if paroled; and
the active support of prison staff, family, friends, and community for his release.

Bowers' lawyers and supporters continue their struggle to free him, the National Jericho Movement among them that seeks "Recognition and Amnesty" for political prisoners in America. It calls holding them "an act of terror" and says this as an advocate for Bowers:

"TOGETHER, we can help force the US Parole Commission and the federal prison system honor its obligation to let Veronza Bowers go free" - after unjustly being imprisoned for 35 years, yet courageously enduring it with dignity and steadfast adherence to his principles.

Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.

Mr. Lendman's stories are republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author.

News from Indianz.Com

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:08:00 +0000

House hearing on four federal recognition bills (7/13)

Jobs: AMERIND CEO, Chickasaw Nation director (7/13)

This Land: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe's clinic (7/13)

Turtle Talk: Sen. Franken and federal Indian law (7/13)

US Attorney in Montana seeks more crime data (7/13)

Editorial: BIA must tackle Indian Country crime (7/13)

Opinion: Let Standing Rock vote on 'Sioux' nick (7/13)

Marc Simmons: Report looked at Apache culture (7/13)

Three injured in shooting at Squamish powwow (7/13)

Small earthquake reported on Navajo Nation (7/13)

Cayuga Nation wins tobacco taxation decision (7/13)

Florida tribes start collecting state tobacco tax (7/13)

South Dakota worried about Indian health costs (7/13)

Armed guards to staff temporary border station (7/13)

Onondaga Nation church holds service after fire (7/13)

Oklahoma tribes seek child support agreement (7/13)

Exhibit chronicles 100 years of Kiowa history (7/13)

Sonia Sotomayor set for confirmation hearing (7/13)

Tohono O'odham Nation casino plans debated (7/13)

GreenBiz: Green energy in the gaming industry (7/13)

Opinion: Safety at Nottawaseppi Huron casino (7/13)

Opinion: Odds on Salinan casino not very good (7/13)

Opinion: Poarch Creek blimp casts dark shadow (7/13)

More headlines...

13 Jul 2009: Today's Democracy Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:06:00 +0000

Obama Calls for Probe into 2001 Massacre of at Least 2,000 Suspected Taliban POWs by US-Backed Afghan Warlord
President Obama’s comments follow initial statements from other officials in his administration Friday who said the Department of Defense and the FBI had no jurisdiction over the mass killing by a US-backed warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum. A Pentagon spokesman told the Associated Press, “There is no indication that US military forces were there, or involved, or had any knowledge of this, so there was not a full investigation conducted because there was no evidence that there was anything from a DoD perspective to investigate.” The infamous Dasht-e-Leili massacre is back in the news in the wake of new evidence published in a New York Times report last Friday that shows the Bush administration blocked at least three federal investigations into the alleged war crimes. The article by journalist James Risen notes that “American officials had been reluctant to pursue an investigation because the warlord, General Abdul Rashid Dostum, was on the payroll of the CIA and his militia worked closely with United States Special Forces in 2001.” Dostum served as a defense official in the Karzai government. Last year he was suspended for threatening a rival at gunpoint and lived in Turkey in exile. But ahead of the August 20th elections, Karzai has invited him back to the country and reinstated him as military chief of staff. Democracy Now! first covered the massacre six years ago when we aired the award-winning documentary from Jamie Doran Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death. [includes rush transcript–partial]

Holder Considers Criminal Probe of Bush Administration
Report: CIA Had Secret Assassination Plan
Gov’t Report: Bush Surveillance Program Was “Unprecedented”
Obama Visits Ghana on First Official Trip to Sub-Saharan Africa
Obama Defends AFRICOM Military Command in Africa
Obama Family Visits Former Slave Dungeon in Ghana
Analysts: Goldman Sachs Made $2 Billion Since March
University of California System Faces $813 Million Deficit
Two Massachusetts Zoos Face Possible Closing
Sonia Sotomayor Hearings to Begin on Capitol Hill
Senior Iran Cleric Condemns Rulers over Treatment of Protesters
Bomb Nearly Hits US Ambassador in Iraq
Four Marines & Eight British Troops Killed in Afghanistan
US Lawmakers Introduce Resolution Condemning China
Honduran Police Detain Six Journalists

28 Jul, SF: Sunrise Prayer Vigil and Rally

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:30:00 +0000

The American Indian Movement (AIM) and AIM-WEST of San Francisco invites you the general public for an early morning SUN RISE PRAYER VIGIL and RALLY on Tuesday, July 28, 2009 calling for the Freedom of Leonard Peltier.

On Tuesday, July 28th the US Parole Commission in Lewisburg, Penn. will review the case of Leonard Peltier, held in prison for over three decades. This is the best opportunity Leonard will get during his entire period of incarceration to a fair review of his case before the US Parole Commission. The whole world is watching and waiting!

Please join with us in solidarity with Leonard, his family and relations, friends and supporters from around the world on this day and let us pray for an open mind, and to let the healing of America begin.

The general public is invited to join with us in San Francisco at the Federal Building 450 Golden Gate Avenue for an early morning SUN -RISE PRAYER VIGIL beginning at 6 am until 3 pm. All Drummers and Singers, Dancers, Community Youth and Elders, solidarity organizations and NGO’s are urged to join with us to celebrate this special occasion. Religious groups and social movements are also encouraged to attend this spiritual gathering and stand together hand in hand, burning sacred sage, being of one mind in Peace calling upon the US Parole Commission to finally release Leonard Peltier from three decades of incarceration for a crime he did not commit!

There will be special invited speakers, and the media and press are welcome to cover the event.

The public is encouraged to immediately call today the office of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, in SF at 415-556-4862 to remind her to write a letter to the US Parole Commission by July 14th just as she did in August 1993 to Attorney General Janet Reno (see attached) asking for a review of the circumstances behind this case in view of discrepancies in handling it’s process. Congresswoman Pelosi is also invited to address the VIGIL on July 28 in SF if she happens to be in the CITY. The SF County Board of Supervisor’s are also encouraged to come and support these efforts for Leonard’s release from prison.

This is a peaceful and non-violent gathering on behalf of Leonard and his family and to always be respectful and honorable in seeking his freedom. For more information call at 415-577-1492.

Thank You All My Relations!

Antonio Gonzales
AIM-WEST Director

eltonyg@earthlink.net
www.aimwest.info
www.aimovement.org

Program Note

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:59:00 +0000

Listen to Indigenous Sounds out of Sarasota, FL, hosted by Sal Camarillo tomorrow (July 11) at 2:00 PM CST when guest David Hill will discuss the upcoming parole hearing for Leonard Peltier. Tune in at http://wslr.org/http://www.indigenous-sounds.com/.

Eyes On Members of Congress

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 06:19:00 +0000

10 July 2009

Friends,

Your help is urgently needed. Please, everyone, take a few minutes to contact your Members of Congress and urge them to write a letter to the U.S. Parole Commission by TUESDAY, JULY 14, on behalf of Leonard Peltier. Use fax or e-mail. You may also consult your senators' and representative's Web sites for telephone numbers. Get started now.

http://www.FreePeltierNow.org/congressmaster.htm

Please also contact the following Members of Congress who have supported Peltier in the past to urge them to immediately write a letter to the U.S. Parole Commission.

--> Rep. John Conyers, Jr., Chairman, House Judiciary Committee. Call 202-225-3951.

--> Sen. Daniel Inouye via the Committee on Indian Affairs at (202) 224-2251; comments@indian.senate.gov. A SHOUT OUT to Minnesota: Remember that your new senator, Al Franken, is the newest member of the Committee on Indian Affairs. Drop him a line, too.

--> The members of the Congressional Black Caucus at 202-226-9776; congressionalblackcaucus@mail.house.gov. Remind them of the congressional briefing with the CBC on the Peltier case on May 17, 2000. A number of the members supported Leonard a decade ago and must do so again. They can help to educate their newer members, as well. But time is of the essence. Members of special note include Rep. John Conyers, Jr., (MI), Rep. John Lewis (GA), Rep. Maxine Waters (CA), and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC).

The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee also has asked that all supporters contact Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to urge her also to renew her commitment to Leonard's freedom. Contact the Speaker of the House at 202-225-0100. Or use e-mail: http://speaker.house.gov/contact/ or AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov. San Francisco constituents may also reach Ms. Pelosi at (415) 556-4862 or at her DC office (202-225-4965).

-----

Time to set him free... Because it's the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
www.FreePeltierNow.org

This Week from Indian Country Today

noreply@blogger.com (Friends of Leonard Peltier) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:34:00 +0000

Alaska Natives prepare for Palin’s exit
WASHINGTON – Gov. Sarah Palin’s surprise announcement that she would resign from her position, effective July 26, has some Alaska Natives reflecting on her past and hoping for better policies under her successor. Read more »

Headlines

It was 20 years ago today. …
Alaska Natives prepare for Palin’s exit
Tiger Woods is ‘icing on the cake’
Work continues on Cherokee Nation park in Oklahoma
National American Indian Veterans organization seeks charter, financial support
Cherokee sisters and EarthKeepers plant 12,000 trees
Micmacs acquire 600 acres of trust land on former air force base
Move It! kits meant to motivate educators and parents
County Commission split over Fond du Lac land acquisition
Together we can make a difference in a child’s life
Tibetan monks, Maidu Native Americans celebrate similar cultural experiences
Minnesota tribes fight Enbridge oil pipeline
Exit strategy
Umatillas and USFS reach grazing agreement
Poarch Creek donates $500,000 to Alabama Department of Archives and History
Court upholds dismissal of SD tribe’s land lawsuit
Neb. court: Tribe can intervene in kids’ cases
Thune, Dorgan seek to boost Standing Rock patrols
Shingle Springs funds county law enforcement services
NAIHC names Arizona tribal member executive director
Court supports opposition to HUD cutbacks in Oklahoma tribal housing
Educator recognized for spreading Native culture
Nkwusm works to preserve Salish language
Schwarzenegger amps up canal campaign, war on fish
Hopi Head Start parents plant for the future

Northeast
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Great Lakes
Midwest
Plains
Southwest
Northwest
Alaska/Hawaii

Opinion

Newcomb: Mapping Indian nations
It is beyond dispute that American Indian nations were originally free and independent of the thoughts and ideas of Europeans. For thousands of years, Christian Europeans obviously had at that time no influence over the lives and existence of American Indian peoples. Read more »

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