What would you do if you were totally dependent upon a single monthly check of $250 to cover all your living expenses from rent, heat, electricity to food and then your check suddenly ceased arriving in your mail box without any explanation? What if you live on a reservation where there is 80-85% unemployment and your tribe is $60 million in debt? Add to the context the highest rates per population of child suicide in the world. Now imagine what goes through your mind when your single source of income becomes “invisible” and you already know you don’t have the gas to drive off the reservation to search for employment, you have no funds to find housing off the reservation, and you are the sole adult caretaker for your grandchildren. What is now going through your mind at this point?
The following information is directly from Anne Fields who has been in direct contact with people on Pine Ridge Reservation who are currently in precisely the situation presented above.
Anne Fields:
There is a new situation on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota (and presumably on other reservations) that is very dire and perhaps life threatening.
I am a white grandmother who has spent a total of 18 months on the reservation, including four months teaching in the Early Head Start program. I have friends who are directly affected by the problem and who are growing more desperate each day. So far my efforts to find information or help for them have been unsuccessful.
Each month the Bureau of Indian Affairs has been providing General Assistance grants (see below) to many residents who are desperately needy. On Pine Ridge approximately 940 people receive monthly checks of up to $250. These checks are often their only source of income and their lifeline.
In December 2012 no checks came. I spent several hours on the phone with officials at the local, regional, and national levels trying to find out what had happened. Eventually I ended up at the BIA Division of Human Services in Washington where I spoke with Bevette Hern at 202-513-7608. She told me that there had been new software which had a glitch that was holding things up. She said it was now fixed and that the Treasury would get a file transfer shortly and that the Agencies should have the money by the end of that week. This did indeed happen.
But then in March 2013 again no checks ever came and there were no notifications to the recipients. The Post Offices were besieged by people looking for their money. No checks have arrived for April 2013 and folks are seriously cold and hungry. They do not know if the money will ever come again. They have had no information from the BIA.
In an effort to try to get some information regarding these crucial funds, I tried to call Bevette to see if this is a permanent situation, only to find that she is no longer working there (even though her answering machine still uses her name). I spoke with someone who would only give her name as “Roberta” and who said that she knew nothing about the details, only that the money available for “Welfare” has been cut back. She told me that I needed to talk to the BIA Great Plains Social Services in Aberdeen, SD. I called them at 605-226-7351 and spoke with “Patti.” She told me that Central Office has not received any funds so they have nothing to give out. She recommended that I talk to the folks in Washington–the same people who directed me to call her office.
I have written to South Dakota Congresswoman Noem and Senators Johnson and Thune for clarification, but as of now I have heard nothing back from any of them.
BIA Human Services handles 6 components of Financial Assistance, which consist of:
1. General Assistance
a) An applicant must meet the criteria contained in 25 CFR 20.300 (Who qualifies for Direct Assistance)
b) Apply concurrently for financial assistance from other state, tribal, county, local, or other federal agency programs for which he/she is eligible;
c) Not receive any comparable public assistance, and
d) Develop and sign an employment strategy in the ISP with the assistance of the social service
worker to meet the goal of employment through specific action steps including job readiness and job search activities.
So, what should Anne Fields and these 940 people on Pine Ridge Reservation DO to get some information from the BIA and/or the Federal Government? Any suggestions? Even if you have no notions about how to deal with this continuing situation, please take a moment to send this information via your favorite internet social network sharing options.
On September 2 join us for a free family-friendly concert featuring live music, DJ’s, special guest speakers, local Indigenous artists, interactive art displays, a kids zone, and much more. This is a chance to show your support for the Coast Salish Nations as they take a stand against Kinder Morgan and Enbridge’s proposed tar sands pipelines and the associated oil tankers in traditional Salish waters! SPEAKERS: …
Chief Ian Campbell Rueben George Melina Laboucan-Massimo Naomi Klein Rex Weyler SALISH SEAS MAINSTAGE: The Boom Booms Wayne Lavallee Phyllis Sinclair Spakwus Slulum Helen Duguay BEATS NOT TANKERS STAGE: Maga Bo Skookum Sound Emotionz No Tank Gyal! Ostwelve Eternal Love Ndidi Cascade Kia Kadiri Discreet da Chosen One Eternal Love MukLuk Take 5 and much more…! For those who are into volunteering, definitely drop Jolan Bailey a line at: jolan@forestethicsadvocacy.org
Waterfront Park, North Vancouver, British Columbia
Save the Salish Sea Concert event is on Facebook for directions and map.
Just caught this upcoming concert event via news feed on fb so I’m sharing (hint, wink, nudge) it here. Facebook does serve some information gathering purposes indeed. Enjoy if you’re able to attend.
Sorry for all the links folks, but I think it’s best that people looking for information regarding this Recall effort see/hear/read it at places where it can be found online so that they have those sources for the future.
I’ve been following Dine’ water issue and watching to see how this all plays out with much interest in how the Navajo people are working together. There’s only one thing I can contribute to this story. It’s been over 30 years since I spent some time at what was then Ganado Community College in Arizona. While there I learned that many Navajo and Hopi people had to haul water from wells, from natural potholes in the ground that caught rainwater, from 55 gallon drums, and anything else that would serve, set out to catch rainwater or that were filled from natural sources and hauled back home. At that time they’d been doing all this water hauling forever. Thirty years later they’re still doing it in many communities. In a video for SB 2109 Sen. John McCain used a photograph of Navajo people drawing water from a well and he made a comment that they have no infrastructure to deliver water to their homes. McCain did not go on to say that this should not be happening in 2012. He did not say, “These people need infrastructure to get water to their homes.” What he did say is that water can be used effectively by OTHERS and should be!
Here I sit where with the twist of a wrist I can turn on a flow of water into a kitchen sink and fill a glass with clean drinking water at will. Another twist and I can send water through a hose at a drip to the local heat exhausted birds foraging in the front yard. I can flush an indoor toilet all day long. Hot and cold showers are available on demand. The laundry machine is just a few steps away for washing clothes. The only water I haul is in a plastic two gallon pail to the little bird beach in the backyard under the trees beyond the reach of the hose. Can you imagine having to haul ALL your drinking, cooking, bathing, gardening water all the time? Think about it. I suggest Shelly, McCain and Kyl think about it too. Furthermore, I suggest they DO it themselves. Yes, I suggest those fellows all get dropped off at the Navajo community furthest from any water whatsoever and be left to their own devices to get their water supply in order to survive. All on their own with no one to help them carry a single drop.
On February 14 people everywhere express their love with actions, flowers, cards, gifts and more. Some people express their love for Earth by protesting its ongoing destruction by our continuing dependence on oil for meeting our energy needs. Some write these lovers off as foolish hippies and idealistic tree huggers but they are neither foolish nor idealists. These are the hardcore realists of our world. Today there is another effort underway to stop the Keystone XL pipeline development yet again in spite of the public outcry. If you’ve signed any petition for this effort previously I’m sure your email box is currently awash in urgent requests for your signature again because big oil and its supporters don’t give up. Their intention is to wear everyone down until big oil gets its way AGAIN. Apparently the American government has learned nothing from the BP oil spill and its continuing consequences in the Gulf of Mexico. There is an upside to all this lobbying for more pipelines and greater development of an oil project that is already the size of Great Britain–more people are learning about the Tar Sands. And more people are saying NO to it and to big oil. Change makes many uncomfortable but change we must–or kill the only planet that supports us with air to breathe, water to drink, and soil for food. Nature is not dependent upon us. We are dependent upon nature for our survival. As you drive along in your car fueled by oil you may feel far removed from the heartbeat of the world. Everything except your next chore of the day may be far from your mind. But consider how different your daily life would be if there was no clean air to breath, no clean water to drink, and no fresh food in your grocery store. Shall we all live on little purple pills popped into our mouths while we breathe through gas masks? Shall we? Isn’t it time to write your own “love letter” to Earth? Folks–big oil has to ”go.” It’s literally killing people and the Earth. It will kill you and your loved ones–make no mistake about it. And the people who own and operate big oil will also die by their own actions. Denial will not prevent their demise. So, take some time and figure how you can show some love.
For many the mention of Ireland conjures thoughts of W.B. Yeats, lush green grass and dark guiness beer freely flowing in crowded pubs. Who thinks of Ireland being the battleground for a war against the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell being waged by young people, fathers, mothers, grandparents. For over 11 years Irish people have taken action against the destruction of their land and communities by Shell. Yes there is much more in Ireland than pubs and poetry.
There are major health and safety issues with the high pressure raw gas pipeline planned so close to people’s homes – regarding an earlier pipeline route Shell admitted that homes would be put within a kill-zone from heat radiation in the event of a pipe failure. The refinery itself is in the catchment area of the local drinking water supply which would be forbidden in most other European countries.
Where there are profits to be made who gives a damn about tourism, fishing, swimming and the safety of the local residents? Clearly not Shell nor the corrupt politicians who made this deal which offers no benefits to the Irish people at large nor in the communities affected by the pipeline or refinery.
Resistance in Mayo 2008
2009
Solidarity from Australia to Ireland–yes, Australia.
Since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement the police have emerged in a certain negative light around the world. From Athens to New York City to Melbourne and beyond Police have faced off with protestors in ways that have nothing to do with the images commonly seen on American crime drama television shows. Some have a penchant for pepper spray, others for smashing people into the ground, and some for teargas. It’s been ugly in Oakland, Boston, New York, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, London, Liverpool and other cities around the world. If you haven’t seen the police in action then blame your mainstream television stations and newspapers. Much can be found on youtube and on the sites of the occupy camps. Oakland now has a weekly Saturday night protest against police brutality. Get the feeling something has gone a bit wrong somewhere along the line? When did the police become the private army of the mayor of New York City–or any city? Who do the police now protect and serve? Here are just a few examples of police actions which were originally seen live via livestreams online—yes, livestreams not via your television screens.
Oakland
Melbourne
Bloomberg “I have my own private army in the NYPD which is the seventh biggest army in the world.” Olbermann segment.
Hello everyone to whom I’ve been AWOL for so long. Just have been pre-occupied with streams of Occupy online and other things offline. Hope everyone is well and is surviving whatever winter is throwing your way weatherwise. It’s COLD here but nothing to complain about. Looking forward to visiting many blogcasas very soon. Something that came up in a recent occupy livestream chat was the lack of comprehension of word ‘play’ on the part of many Americans. Apparently our educational system offers NO appreciation of the finer points of the English language and hence our sense of humor is stunted by our lack of appreciation for clever turns of phrases. Some of you poets will probably beg to differ on this account. But–believe me it is a valid a concern time and time again in many occupy chats where random segments of the global population consort daily. Some humor simply does not come across well in text. Others fail to comprehend multiple meanings of words. And there are many forms of self-expression from individual communities that take time and patience to decipher. This goes beyond the texting genre. Though that also comes into play in the chat stream in various incarnations. Best thing to do when at a loss is to ask for definitions–some are obvious, some bewildering and others very enlightening and useful. It’s an ongoing exercise in communication on a global level. So–when I use the word “wicked” to herald the new year –I have a variety of meanings and associations with “wicked” that vary from slang to formal dictionary traditional meanings–very cool and wonderful to downright evil. While hoping 2012 is indeed a wonderful and exciting new year for everyone in all the possible positive ways this is tempered with the awareness of the president signing the National Defence Authorization Act on New Years Eve when many people were paying NO attention to this potentially evil little legislative ‘delight’. So–while every ‘new’ year brims with creative positive potential it also brims with all sorts of new negative hatchings as well. And so it goes…..
For the moment–Chocolate truffles for everyone! But don’t you dare fall asleep under the table this new year or there may be hell to pay……. Mic Check!
Doing an internet search of NDAA ought to bring you up to speed fairly quickly. You might want to have your favorite libations or comfort foods handy while discovering what’s happened.
Yes, folks this is for real. Port Shutdown is coming all along the entire West Coast of the USA. The mainstream media may decline to cover it. The city mayors may try to prevent it. No talking heads will announce it on your local news stations. But Occupy Oakland’s action in Solidarity with the Longshoremen has been agreed upon from Anchorage to LA and beyond. This major mic check direct action fully intends to fly.
If you’re wondering what the ongoing “occupy” movement is doing and have noticed that mainstream media news isn’t clearing up any confusion but adding to it instead, don’t despair. There is a cure–it’s the news coming direct and live from the streets of America, London, Greece, Ireland, Canada and around the world. This is not objective, nice or neatly packaged media footage that has been edited to fit a television time slot. It’s real-time with real people dealing with real issues. There are no professional talking heads in this new news media. But there is often plenty of talk to be had–good, bad and ugly all swirling together in a stew of information unlike anything on your television. The people who bring this news online are not suited or hairbrushed fashion plates. Personal imagery is not their priority. Catching the action and information as it comes down the pipe is their goal. No one is paid. These are volunteer journalists from the grassroots. It’s not all 24/7. It’s not pretty. It’s not spin. It’s just what’s happening folks. Often it’s downright messy. Sometimes the police get violent.
Here a few of those who stream news from the concrete streets. This is only a sampling of the folks out there using their phones, laptops and cameras who contribute to the new news evolving right now:
Tim Pool of “we are the other 99%” tirelessly follows the occupy action on the streets of New York City. Appreciative local NYC viewers bring him umbrellas, gloves, food and coffee while he is on a streaming mission with occupy wall street actions. Pool is cool-headed, gives good commentary, has a great eye for the scene and seems to have the endurance of a marathon runner.
On the west coast Spencer Mills aka OakFoSho has been covering the occupy action in Oakland. During his recent stream from LA he shared his decision to quit his job in order to try to cover as much of the west coast occupy movement action on the coast as possible. OakFoSho makes no apologies for his NON violent stance or bias. He seems to have a penchant for chatting up the police whenever possible. One might wish he’d keep a safer distance from the riot gears at times. He has brand spanking new site compliments of a friends web effort at
Oakland is also livestreamed at
http://www.livestream.com/occupyoakland by the one and only Jahrastafari and/or legind. And OakFoSho’s ustream is also featured. Most Occupy locations have their own media livestream crews: Seattle, Toronto, NYC, Portland, Nashville, London, Auckland, Los Angeles et al. And each one has its very own flavor. This is real diversity in media.
On the morning of Oakland’s first raid in Oscar Grant Plaza the ONLY news coverage of any kind came from Punkboy streaming via his phone. His efforts got him into the press conference held that day where even the mainstream press tried to ask hard questions like “How is Oakland going to pay for all this police action?” The reply was less than adequate. Those of us who watched that morning thank Officer Bolton for finding Punkboy on the street outside city hall and getting him into the not open to the general public press conference.
In Dublin, Ireland currently one man, Irelandseyes, does marathon livestreams from Dame Street. From the Occupy camp that kettles the Central Bank come scenes of the street, marches, music, and endless talk of the Irish. So far the gardra and local businesses have been very good to Occupy Dame Street. Even the security garda in the 24/7 McDonalds, Moses, has been willing to greet the livestream chatters while Irelandseyes ”recharges.” Other Irish occupy camps are in the process of setting up livestreams and ustreams: Cork, Waterford, Galway, Tipperary.
Athens Greece there is the ever energetic voice of multilingual George and his cohorts of StopCarteltv-Gr. When the streets Athens were full of protestors and tear gas, the StopCarteltv crew was in the midst of it all, including the tear gas. They also covered the protest occupation of Greece’s Electric Company when the government told the company to start collecting a new surcharge tax. Their coverage is ongoing and ever evolving on issues. Also, George will get to English at some point in his commentary at
http://www.livestream.com/stopcarteltvgr
What can I say? Olbermann is just so good at scoring direct hits that it’s downright spooky. Who is occupying whose mind here? Olbermann mine or me Olbermann’s? It doesn’t really matter because the bottom line is that we’re on target when it comes to The Billionaire Bloom of New York City and his handling of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Heck, even NPR said at one point that it wouldn’t cover OWS unless there was violence involved. Gee, that must have been Mayor Bloomberg’s cue card to show his secret support for the people pointing fingers at the folks who destroyed the economy. Nothing else makes sense, does it? Why else would The Bloom march out New York’s finest to deal with peaceful protestors every chance he gets? With every confrontational step he takes, The Bloom aids and abets the very folks certain big banks want to banish into the pits of debt slavery of all ilks. A huge round of applause is due The Bloom for preventing the occupiers from becoming complacent in Liberty Park and encouraging everyone into the streets. According to one NYPD estimate 32,000 people accepted the mayor’s latest invitation to stomp through the streets and across the Brooklyn Bridge. Kudus to The Bloom for revealing the very uncomfortable reality of the world in which we are living.
~ click the image above for more information and images~
Do you get the feeling something serious is going on here? Just for a moment let concpets of positive social evolution occupy your mind. Just one moment at a time is fine. Really, everyone moves at their own pace–even the one percent like The Bloom.
Violating copyright births bad karma---imagine a mad hacker you'll never see coming--nor catch going. Respect = my work is my work and your work is your work.
Everything posted here is my work, copyrighted, unless otherwise noted. Comments aside. Om
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om mani padme hum jewel in the lotus wahupa qi prana universal life energy
