Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2009 18:13:31 -0600 (CST)
From: NRDC - Frances Beinecke biogemsdefenders@savebiogems.org
Subject: Speak Out for America's Redrock Wilderness
Organization: NRDC
![[]](http://nrdc.convio.net/img/nrdc/spacer.gif)
Dear --,
The Bush Administration left office nearly a year ago, but its "no more wilderness" policy remains in effect.
We need your help to overturn this disastrous approach, which continues to jeopardize Utah's Redrock Wilderness and other natural treasures.
Please take action right now and tell Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to lift the Bush-era ban on protecting wilderness-quality lands from harmful oil and gas drilling.
NRDC activists like you helped stop the Bush Administration from putting drill rigs on the doorstep of two Utah national parks and a national monument.
But even now, the Bureau of Land Management lacks the power to place these and other pristine expanses of Redrock country off limits to destructive oil and gas development and off-road vehicle use because of the "no more wilderness" policy.
Recently, 89 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to Secretary Salazar asking him to overturn this shortsighted restriction.
Please take action right now and join them in speaking out to safeguard Utah's wilderness-quality lands from oil and gas drilling until these areas are permanently protected by Congress. Thank you for helping to protect America's Redrock Wilderness.
Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.]
From: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 15:44:11 -0800 (PST)
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
November 10, 2009
Looking towards 2010
Urgent Plea for the New Year
Well, no more beating around the bush. No one likes asking for money, but the LPDOC needs a surge of financial support going into the new year. Among the projects we have on the table is a full-page ad we have prepared for an influential national news magazine signed by prominent activists, writers, and editors. It calls on President Obama to grant Leonard immediate and unconditional release and proposes a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the Reign of Terror on Pine Ridge in the 1970s. But it will remain on the table unless we can raise $3000 in the next week or so.
There are now several ways to contribute through paypal on the website, from one-time donations to monthly or quarterly pledges. Please consider pledging a monthly contribution for the upcoming year to give us the financial stability to move forward and, hopefully, complete our task. We also have raffle tickets and gift certificates available for Christmas presents that send a message of justice and reconciliation.
Whatever your faith or beliefs, this is a season of homecoming, of giving, and of reflection upon the past year and planning for the new one. For Leonard Peltier, 2009 was a year of raised hopes and shattered dreams. On Jan. 13, Leonard was brutally assaulted in an incident that the Bureau of Prisons refused to acknowledge or release information on in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by an AP reporter. Despite obtaining thousands of letters from around the world in support of his parole, the U.S. Parole Commission on Aug. 20 denied Leonard his well-deserved release on the basis of false and unsubstantiated claims by the FBI and the Justice Department.
It is time to take a stand.
Help us give Leonard hope for a homecoming in the new year by contributing what you can to his committee. The President has made Afghanistan his war, and Leonard Peltier is now Barack Obama's political prisoner. Also, please call the White House (202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414) and demand a Christmas pardon for one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world. If President Warren Harding could free political prisoners for the holiday season in his first year in office after World War I, we can expect no less of a president who promised us changes for peace and human rights but now seems to be delivering more of the same. If you contributed to the campaign of Barack Obama or any member of congress, tell them you will instead send the money to the LPDOC unless and until they get on board to help end the persecution of an indigenous freedom fighter whose only crime was to defend human rights and self-determination in Indian Country.
In the Spirit of Leonard Peltier,
Betty Ann Peltier-Solano
Executive Director
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
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Continue Calling White House
CALL THE WHITE HOUSE ~ 202-456-1111 ~ ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA TO FREE LEONARD PELTIER.
The LPDOC is offering another raffle.
We are raffling a beautiful cedar wood flute hand crafted by gifted artist Leslie C. Thunder Hawk. Leslie is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe from the Rosebud Reservation.
Leslie comes from a long line of noted artists. He began making flutes and drums in 1987. The flute is made from airomatic cedar wood or red heart redwood. His own style is very original and his work has been displayed at museums because of the craftsmanship he put into it.
The Indians Arts & Crafts Act of 1990 states, a person must be an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe to label their arts and crafts as Indian made. His work has been in a number of galleries and has been displayed at the U.S. Dept of Interior Sioux Museum in Rapid City, South Dakota, and The Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum in Lawrence, Kansas.
Thank you Leslie for giving the gift of tradition.
We ask everyone to please buy a ticket to support our ongoing efforts for Leonard's freedom.
Raffle tickets are $5.00 for one and $20.00 for five tickets. Please pay through PayPal or through postal service. Include your name, address and phone number.
Also, There are many paintings available, which vary in price and size. All of his paintings are original native expressions of portraits of his visions. Leonards oil paintings are collected by various people, including well known names, such as Chelsea Clinton, Oliver Stone, Val Kilmer, Jane Fonda and so many more admirers. His work will be enjoyed for centuries to come and we encourage everyone to purchase an original painting or a lithograph of Leonards work.
"The Tragedy of Leonard Peltier vs. the US" by Peter Mattiessen
Peter Matthiessen's op-ed in response to the parole decision, "The Tragedy of Leonard Peltier vs. the US," appears in the current issue of the New York Review of Books (Volume 56, Number 18 - November 19, 2009). We encourage all supporters to read the article. A link is provided at our home page at www.whoisleonardpeltier.info. Please also write a letter to the editor of the Review to express thanks for publishing the op-ed, but also to comment on its content. The editor's address is Robert B. Silvers, Editor, The New York Review of Books, 435 Hudson Street, Suite 300, New York, NY 10014. Mail your letter or fax it to 212-333-5374. You may also send your comments by e-mail: editor@nybooks.comwww.whoisleonardpeltier.info
www.workers.org/2009/us/peltier_1210/Never forget the real history of America
Published Dec 2, 2009
Leonard Peltier
Statement from Leonard Peltier read by Bert Waters at the 40th National Day of Mourning, Nov. 26, in Plymouth, Mass.
Greetings and Hoka Hey! I would request everyone who can to stand up for a few moments. Stand up for our ancestors. Stand up for our children. Stand up for our country.
To the United American Indians of New England, your supporters, and people of conscience everywhere: What a great day this is! It's always good to see our people come together as one mind, especially at this time. As we have seen for generations, this week and month American schools will be teaching students the myth of the pilgrims and Indians celebrating the first Thanksgiving. Children will be cutting out paper headbands and "woo-wooing" as they think Indians do - never thinking about the real Indians who suffered an immigrant onslaught, or the Indians still here. This process continues the Americans' bad habit of ignoring or falsifying their own history. I know it is easier to teach a fairy tale than to teach that the first Thanksgiving was a celebration of the massacre of defenseless Indian people, but facts are facts and this country needs to get them straight!
American families will be gathering and eating too much turkey and watching football, oblivious to an ongoing struggle for American Indian sovereignty and self-determination. While it's always a good idea for people to come together and celebrate, we Indians offer a caution: Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it, or have it righteously inflicted upon them! So overeaters beware! You never know when your wars, your bigotry, your poisons - your whole legacy�will come back to haunt you! While you gorge yourself, we will celebrate today as a day of mourning and fasting for our ancestors and our land. We know the observation comes before the feast.
As an activist and political prisoner here in the "land of the free", I respect and support the mission of UAINE. You, as well as the American Indian Movement and Indian people of various organizations, have pursued honorable goals even when you got beaten and oppressed for doing so. We as Indian people must never let this country or the world forget that we were here. In your area specifically, Wampanoags, Narragansetts and others flourished in harmony with the land and sea. We thrived. We welcomed outsiders and they survived only through our generosity. For our troubles we suffered unjust wars, had our lands stolen, received disease-infested blankets, and continue to experience treaty violations. You are at ground zero of our genocide. You are patient zero.
I know you will never forget or allow others to forget the real history of America. Let them sit on Plymouth Rock until they see the errors of their ways! Stay united! Stay committed to the struggle! Never give up the fight! We were here! We are still here! We will always be here! Shout it with me - HOKA HEY! Mitakuye Oyasin!
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,
Leonard Peltier
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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.]
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