Identity, Far and Away
by Steve Russell, 
NAV Contributing Editor
Next month, I will testify again in front of the Texas Legislature, and once again I will hear in my mind the unspoken question: What makes you Indian? You don't ride a horse; you drive a truck. You don't live in a tipi, but in a house that looks a lot like mine. You are in front of a legislative committee rather than dancing in the woods. You have three college degrees. What makes you any different from me?...
READ IT...

CRAZY HORSE PROTEST
SLTRIBUNE
The American Indian community is protesting the unauthorized use of the Crazy Horse name by several companies. An Oglala Sioux chief who helped defeat George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn, Crazy Horse is revered by many American Indians today as a great warrior, teacher and spiritual leader. READ IT...

Cape Cod: Developer to search for relics
BOSTON GLOBE
BOURNE - A developer has agreed to a request by state environmental officials to search for Wampanoag Indian artifacts at a $100 million Cape Cod development...READ IT...

Betting on sure thing: Tribe's backing of  parade sets new precedent
ARIZONA REPUBLIC
When financial troubles sacked MicroAge Inc., the Fiesta Bowl Parade's previous sponsor, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation anted up.
READ IT...

Guatemalan Peace Vows Unfulfilled
GUATEMALA CITY: Four years ago Friday, a sweeping peace deal brought one of the world's longest, bloodiest civil wars to a close with promises to solve the economic and social problems that led to the fighting. 
Signed here in front of 1,200 foreign dignitaries, the agreement ended 36 
years of fighting between hard-line state forces and leftist, mostly Indian 
guerrilla groups in Guatemala. The once-seemingly fragile peace has held since then, and there has been no recurrence of the brutality that left some 200,000 people, the majority Mayan peasants, dead during the war. 
However, 119 of 250 measures aimed at undoing centuries of repression and ease the country's staggering poverty have yet to be enacted. 
READ IT...

Tribes discuss cooperation with legislators
(WYOMING)The Wind River Indian Reservation wants to tap into a
federal program that sends money to counties in lieu of property taxes, a tribal member said.
About $100 million more is collected in taxes from the reservation than comes back in services, said Wes Martel, member of the Eastern Shoshone Business Council.  READ IT...

SF Gate: North Bay Indian Tribe Regains   Federal Status/Clinton signs bill recognizing Coastal Miwoks...READ IT...

Paiutes lose round in bid to  claim ground water 
(LAS  VEGAS) -- The state engineer  has for now denied a request by
Paiute Indians in Moapa for  ground water in order to build a  power plant on their reservation...READ IT...
RELATED ARTICLE:
Settlement pending in water rights case

Indian Site Survives Time, Bulldozers Knoll in Poway destined to be interpretive center 
(CALIFORNIA) -- Eamon  Kavanagh gazes at a rocky knoll that rises just south of busy Poway Road, pauses for a moment and declares it a
 miracle...READ IT...

 Tribes discuss cooperation  with legislators 
(WYOMING)  (AP) -- The Wind River Indian  Reservation wants to tap into a  federal program that sends  money to counties in lieu of  property taxes, a tribal member  said...READ IT...

 Tribal candidate says jail stay  might affect him in election
  (NEVADA) -- A candidate for tribal chairman of the Pyramid  Lake Paiute Tribe is scheduled to be released from Washoe County jail tonight — the eve of  the tribal election...READ IT...

Neal St. Anthony/On    Business: East Lake Street  area picking up business pace  This just in from the indefatigable Theresa Carr, executive director of the American Indian Business  Development Corp. (AIBDC), a
driving force in the commercial  renaissance underway on E. Franklin
Avenue, another rebounding strip  between Chicago and Bloomington
 avenues.The award-winning Ancient Trader's market, a $1.8 million,   50,000-square-foot redevelopment of the relocated D.C. Sales
 business, is nearly 100 percent full, including the expanding Maria's Cafe, Ken Bellanger's Northland Native AmericanProducts, Third World Artisans, Dancing Crow and several other interesting shops.
A GUIDE TO NONPROFITS IN MINNESOTA
American Indian Business  Development Corp.

President Clinton Offers Home Heating Assistance..READ IT...

Gale Norton Resume and profile...READ IT...
Interior pick sets off 'alert'
 

-=<+>=- HEALTH BRIEFS -=<+>=- . CINE-Centre for Indigenous Nutrition and Environment "CINE is a university centre that is unique in the world because of its focus on traditional food systems of Indigenous Peoples.  Our interdisciplinary approach to research and education gives exciting depth and breadth to our mission." Dr. H. V. Kuhnlein, Founding Director  "We wondered if our food was still safe to eat, and nobody would ever answer that.   So, we went further and we used CINE.   We used them to our advantage,  an  organization ...with native organizations on the governing board. We carefully monitor what kind of research is being done for our people." Norma Kassi, Chair (1996-98), CINE Governing Board, Council of Yukon First Nations..READ IT... WEB SITE: CINE * Heart And Stroke Deaths Down, But Minorities at Risk READ IT... * ULCERS: Drug-defying bug hits Natives hard..READ IT.. Prenatal Exposure to Diabetes Ups Risk to Kids...READ IT... . U.S. approves new diabetes drug By The Associated Press .READ THE ARTICLE... . Washington Post Series Body Hunters US Drug Experimentation on Third World Populations INDEX... . Research shows traditional diet prevents Onset of TypeII Diabetes READ THE ARTICLE... . HEALTH: ICT: Confronting diabetes with tradition Spirit and body need a lot of help...READ THE ARTICLE... -=<+>=- AIDS awareness theme unites communities  Sweetgrass Writer Communities across the country came together Dec. 1 to mark the fourth annual Aboriginal AIDS Awareness Day. The theme of this year's awareness day was "Uniting Our Communities."  CAAN [Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network Incorporated]

TODAY IN HISTORY December 29  . {EXCERPTED FROMOn This Date In North American Indian History By Phil Konstantin} 1849: The "UTAH" sign a treaty today (9 stat.984).  . 1890: While pursuing SIOUX Indians at White Clay Creek, South Dakota, elements of the 7th cavalry will engage in a skirmish. Captain Charles Varnum, company B, First Sergeant Theodore Ragnar, company K, farrier Richard Nolan, company I, will win the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery.  . . .1890 As the leader of the Miniconjou band massacred at             Wounded Knee Creek on December 29, 1890, Big Foot             haunts the history of the American West, an image of             brutal death "drawn," as N. Scott Momaday has             written, "in ancient light."             Big Foot and his people lived on the Cheyenne River   Reservation in present-day South Dakota and were             among the most enthusiastic believers in the Ghost             Dance ceremony when it arrived among the Lakota in             the spring of 1890. The hunger and misery that had             followed the final break-up of their great reservation in             1889 made the Lakota keenly receptive to the Ghost             Dance message of messianic renewal, and the             movement swept rapidly through their encampments,             causing local Indian Agents to react with alarm. Some             effectively suppressed the dancers, others called for            troops to restore order.             At the Standing Rock reservation, where Sitting Bull             was suspected of encouraging the Ghost Dance in order             to provoke an uprising, the crisis led to bloodshed when             Indian police sent to arrest the aging holy man killed             him in a confrontation with his followers. Fearful of             reprisals, many from Sitting Bull's band fled south,             where they found a haven with Big Foot.             Big Foot decided to lead his people away from the             possibility of further violence at neighboring Standing             Rock and headed farther south toward the reservation             at Pine Ridge, hoping to find safety there. Increasingly             ill with pneumonia, he had no intention of fighting and             was flying a white flag when soldiers patrolling for             roving bands caught up with him on December 28,             1890. That night Big Foot and his people camped near          Wounded Knee Creek, surrounded on all sides by             soldiers...excerpted from HERE "They turned their guns, Hotchkiss guns [breech-loading cannons that     fired an explosive shell], etc., upon the women who were in the lodges     standing there under a flag of truce, and of course as soon as they were fired upon they fled...There was a woman with an infant in her arms who was killed as she almost touched the flag of truce [which flew over  the Lakota camp], and the women and children of course were strewn  all along the circular village until they were dispatched. Right near the  flag of truce a mother was shot down with her infant;.. EXCERPTED FROM HERE... PETITION TO RESCIND THE MEDALS OF DISHONOR "North American Indian Regional Losses, 1850-1890" . 1890 ARGUS LEADER PHOTO GALLERY Related News:  Big Foot Ride: Riders remember, honor culture on trek's longest day Big Foot Ride: Journey returns history to family  Big Foot Ride: 'This might be the last ride' Big Foot Ride: Young Lakota riders draw strength from history Big Foot Ride : Warm coffee on trail replaces glitter of Christmas Big Foot Ride : Big Foot ride's spiritual side wanes, some contend Big Foot Ride : Trek gathers momentum as riders near Wounded Knee Big Foot Ride : In Memorium - "Turning tragedy into strength" Big Foot Ride : Big Foot Ride ends with contrasts at Wounded Knee Big Foot Ride : Experience of ride both frightening and rewarding, THIS WEEK'S COMPLETE LISTING HERE...

PELTIER COVERAGE a railroad job is a railroad job -  once the destination has been predetermined, the process becomes one  of simply laying down the tracks so that the train can get to the  predetermined place it was meant to go ..Interlochen..a Peltier supporter FOXNEWS INVESTIGATIVE REPORTS. CLEMENCY FOR A COP KILLER?  .READ IT HERE A Time for Human Rights on Native Ground By LOUISE ERDICH NYTIMES ARCHIVED HERE... RELATED OPINIONS: ...READ IT... -=<+>=- Lynn E. Crooks letter: Frivolous assertion  about Peltier years out of date Lynn E. Crooks letter:  ARCHIVED HERE... Waiting for an old acquaintance, DEC25 LIST OF 62 GRANTED CLEMENCY Peltier not among pardons   http://web.northscape.com/ AP  WASHINGTON -- President Clinton was making decisions on Friday about granting clemency to some of the scores of convicted Americans seeking presidential pardons or lighter punishment, but did not mention American Indian activist Leonard Peltier, convicted 25 years ago in North Dakota for killing two FBI agents. ... ...A spokesman said the president was expected to make more clemency announcements before Jan. 20.   READ THE ARTICLE...   Clinton To Act on Clemency Requests, Peltier backers wait, hope for presidential pardon PA Attorney General Fisher Urges President Clinton to Deny ClemencyTo Convicted LPDC Web site updates LPDC Web Site Update..Dec 22 http://www.freepeltier.org/ The following audio clips recorded from the "NYC Leonard Peltier Walk and Rally for Freedom" are available from the main page of the LPDC web site: Jennifer Harbury, Peltier Attorney and Human Rights Activist [6:32] http://www.freepeltier.org/jenniferharbury.mp3 Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General [5:55] http://www.freepeltier.org/ramseyclark.mp3   Dec 19 Current and Past Supporters of Clemency for Leonard Peltier Click here for complete listing in PDF format {translated for the PDF challenged here} Letter from Congressman Don Edwards, Former FBI Agent PDF Format Letter from NCAI PDF Format Letter signed by World Renowned Human Rights Leaders PDF format {translated for the PDF challenged here} Go to More Support Statements SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS -=<+>=-ARTICLES-=<+>=- Clemency for Peltier Likely to Fail..Dec 21  By ERIC LICHTBLAU,  Times Staff Writer   Pleas: Clinton is leaning toward rejecting a pardon for the killer of two FBI agents, officials say. Case underscores the rift between the president and Freeh. READ THE STORY... URGENT NOTICE: FROM THE LPDC Letter to the Editor/Peltier..Catherine Davids Dec 20 Ottawa Sun - Editorial - Clemency Dec 19 FBI marching same as Uniformed Soldiers protesting  Reconciliation with Viet Nam...Interlochen  Dec 18 The FBI [active and retired] in truth marched in opposition to the  War on American Indians coming to an end with the release of one the POW's, Leonard. Since when do the "soldiers" dictate to  the "leaders"? READ THE ARTICLE... Clemency: Letter.....urgent..Bonnie Winona Dec 18 Extradition based on false evidence, Peltier inquiry says  PREVIOUS ARTICLES

WATCH FOR NEWS FROM THE LEONARD PELTIER RALLIES!! WHITE HOUSE PRAYER VIGIL DEC 19...mike mc,Scott Tippets PRAGUE COVERAGE...DEC 17 Bushka PERSONAL OBSERVATION DEC 15 ... antoinette

-=<+>=-UN: GENEVA-=<+>=-

Lessons of Wounded Knee not taught in schools
 READ IT...

Counter by Rapid Axcess