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DURANT, OKLA. - Alan Reese took about an hour to drive from his home in Dallas' northern suburbs to the blackjack tables of the new Choctaw Casino and Resort here, 10 miles north of the Red River. "It's not even two counties away, straight up (U.S.) Highway 75," said Reese, 58, who also has visited the nearby Winstar Casino, run by the Chickasaw Nation, just past the state line on Interstate 35. "Makes you wonder how long Texas will take to see what's going on up here." ADVERTISEMENT North Texans such as Reese are fueling a gambling boom in southern...

Good liberal that I am, I have always tried to be on the side of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America. Lately, though, I've been hit with a bout of cognitive dissonance over the standoff in Caledonia. News reports about members of the Six Nations taking over part of the town, destroying property and making life miserable for the citizenry challenged my impression of the Iroquois as a group of underappreciated victims of the perfidy of the white man. Last weekend, I decided to check out the situation in Caledonia for myself. Initially, I saw little sign of conflict. The...

Pierre, SD (LifeNews.com) -- A South Dakota Indian tribe is throwing a monkey wrench into the state's plans to ban virtually all abortions in the state. Should the ban become law, one tribe says it will open up an abortion business on their tribal lands, which wouldn't be subjected to the abortion ban. Cecilia Fire Thunder, president of the Oglala Sioux tribe of South Dakota, says Sioux nation sovereignty means the new ban doesn't apply. As a result, she said she will lead an effort to build a Planned Parenthood abortion center at the Pine Ridge Reservation. “To me, it...

PINE RIDGE, South Dakota -- The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted yesterday to outlaw abortion on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and suspend tribal president Cecelia Fire Thunder until impeachment proceedings could be brought against her. Fire Thunder made headlines when she vowed to open an abortion mill at Pine Ridge in defiance of the new state law passed earlier this year banning abortion. However, the tribal council decided otherwise and took action to bring tribal law into agreement with South Dakota state law. “This is a loud and clear message to the abortion crowd that the people of South...

An American Indian Speaks Out Against Illegal AliensDr. David A. Yeagley, an American Indian and direct descendant of the Comanche warrior Bad Eagle says it best: America today is making the same mistake we Indians made nearly four centuries ago. America is letting in too many foreigners. And we Indians could end up losing this country all over again. It may come as surprise to many white people who have been brainwashed by the media to see Indians as the ultimate liberals, but there are few groups in America today who take a dimmer view of mass immigration than the...

BE WILD, NOT EVIL: THE LINK WRAY STORY A tribute by Jimmy McDonough © 2006 Link Wray seemed so strong, so invincible, like he'd be lurking around forever, just wailing away in some East Jesus s**thole, terrorizing another doomed amp while he stuck the neck of Screamin' Red in the dazed faces of a new batch of converts. I guess I took him for granted. The music business sure did. Link is the music for the midnight ride. No question about it, he sounds best when you have somewhere to go. Tearing down the highway in some s**tbox of a...

For Immediate Release Thursday, July 13, 2005 CONTACT: Jim Manley or Fabiola Rodríguez-Ciampoli, 202-224-2939 DEMOCRATS, TRIBAL LEADERS UNVEIL NATIVE AMERICAN POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS The Document Will Guide Democrats’ Work on Behalf of Indian Country WASHINGTON, DC- Today tribal leaders from across the nation joined Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Senator Byron Dorgan, Ranking Member of the Indian Affairs Committee, Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee Chair Hillary Clinton, and Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) to unveil the 2005 Indian Country Policy Recommendations for the 109th Congress. The policy recommendations focus on five major priorities: 1) Trust Reform, Land and Natural Resources, 2)Health Care,...

WASHINGTON – The Interior Department was ordered Tuesday – by a judge who called it a "pathetic outpost" – to admit it can't provide accurate information about lost royalties owed to American Indians. In a scathing condemnation of the government's treatment of American Indians, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth directed the department to enclose notices in its correspondence saying information provided on trust assets may not be credible. The notices also are meant to alert people that they may be members of the class-action lawsuit brought by lead plaintiff Eloise Cobell in 1996 on behalf of more than 300,000 American...

NMAI NATIONAL POWWOW August 12–14, 2005 Hours Friday, Aug. 12: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m Sunday, Aug. 14: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Location MCI Center 601 F Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20024 Admission Adult: $12 Senior (65 years and older): $10 Child (4 to 11 years): $10 NMAI Members: $10 Groups (25 or more): $10/person Three-day pass: $30 During this special three-day event, spectators will experience Native cultures firsthand and have the opportunity to visit nearly 100 Native artisans and exhibitors showcasing fine art, jewelry, sculpture, and pottery. A true highlight...

DENVER - A 12-year-old audio tape of an angry answering machine message left by Ward Churchill has surfaced. Much of the audio is unintelligible, but a person identifies himself as Ward Churchill on the tape. The message was left on Vernon Bellecourt's answering machine in 1993. Bellecourt is a leader of the American Indian Movement. Churchill severed ties with the organization. Bellecourt said he felt threatened by the message, but he never filed a police report. You can listen to a portion of it by clicking at right. The transcript is as follows: "You siphoned a half million ripped off...

National Myth of the American Indian By Diana Muir The National Museum of the American Indian is an architectural triumph. Walking close to the walls conveys the vertiginous sense of hiking the rock canyons of the American West. The galleries inside are punctuated by windowed spaces offering spectacular views of the National Gallery and the United States Capitol, and prism windows near the top of the dome paint rainbows on the walls of the atrium. Step a hundred yards away from NMAI, however, and the building turns into a yellow sandstone affront to the white granite unity of the...

WASHINGTON - A federal judge has given Interior Secretary Gale Norton an ultimatum: Either appear in his court or face the prospect that he'll rule against her on an accusation that she retaliated against American Indians suing her agency for lost royalties. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth gave Norton the choice in an order he issued late Monday. The judge has frequently battled with the Interior Department since a class-action suit was filed in 1996 on behalf of more than 300,000 Indians seeking an accounting of trust funds set up in their behalf more than a century ago. The government...

Comanche blogger David Yeagley is going on the warpath. His quarry: Robert Redford. His goal: To punish what he calls leftwing hypocrisy. High schools, colleges and professional sports teams face harassment and lawsuits every day for using Indian names and images. Yet no one objects to Hollywood leftist Robert Redford naming his Sundance Institute after a Lakota Sioux ritual. Why the "free pass," asks Yeagley? "I protest... the outlandish hypocrisy of the Leftist Indians, who would crush some innocent school for using `Warrior' on its school jersey, yet not breathe a word of protest against Robert Redford's use of `Sundance'...

MEDIA ADVISORY For Immediate Release Contact: Jonodev Chaudhuri 480-2169483 jchaudhuri@swlaw.com http://www.native-poll-ooza.com/ Historic Gathering of Native Americans to Take Place on Election Day in Phoenix Native-POLL-ooza! Showcases Urban Indian and Tribal Unity PHOENIX – Amidst Arizona’s reemergence as a toss-up swing state as featured in Time magazine, the State’s grassroots Native American community has organized a historic first-of-a-kind gathering on election day to showcase their unity and the strength of their voice. At least 10,000 Native Americans and supporters will attend Native-POLL-ooza! at the Phoenix Indian School Park (Central Avenue and Indian School Road) from noon to 9 PM on November...

Cinco De Mayo celebrations that require Mexican passports for participants? How about a jazz festival that requires multi-generational parentage proving that one’s ancestors indeed came from Africa? Are these what we can expect from future events on the campus of CalState University San Bernardino? Sure, by now, you’re scoffing at such concepts. But the powwow that takes place next weekend on the campus requires vendors to provide tribal ID cards, no matter what they are selling. Is that Indian Coca Cola that they’re selling? Dancers and drums are also required to provide tribal identification to participate in the $138,000 prize...

WASHINGTON - A poll of American Indians found that an overwhelming majority of them are not bothered by the name of the Washington Redskins (news). Only 9 percent of those polled said the name of the NFL team is "offensive," while 90 percent said it's acceptable, according to the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, released Friday. Annenberg polled 768 Indians in every state except Hawaii and Alaska from Oct. 7, 2003, to Sept. 20, 2004. The survey found little disparity between men and women or young and old. However, 13 percent of Indians with college degrees said the...

Washington has continued its blind policy of selling American Indian rights out to non-Indians during the 21st century. Most recently, the nation’s government has stepped on tribal rights to make room for the corrupt “Indian” casino business. I said as much at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Wednesday, May 12, I was invited to speak to leaders of Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, United Property Owners, Upstate Citizens for Equality, and One Nation. These organizations represent over a quarter of a million Americans citizens who have personally lost money, property, business, and basic civil rights as the result of...

TALEQUAH, Okla. -- Cherokee Nation officials are scrambling to clarify their marriage laws after a lesbian couple obtained an application for marriage. Principal Chief Chad Smith says officials are looking into defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This comes after a lesbian couple from Tulsa obtained an application for marriage from the tribal clerk's office. The application is not valid until the person who performs the ceremony signs it and the couple return it to the tribal court. Cherokee officials are trying to figure out if the same-sex marriage is sanctioned because the women received...

Feds To Pay For Seizing Apache Indian's Eagle Feathers Interior Department To Pay Man $48,818 POSTED: 2:35 pm MDT April 12, 2004 UPDATED: 2:54 pm MDT April 12, 2004 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- U.S. Interior Department has been ordered to pay $48,818 to a Silver City man for his legal costs in a battle over eagle feathers. U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo ordered the agency to pay Joseluis Saenz, a Chiricahua Apache whose eagle feathers were seized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1996. He uses the feathers in religious ceremonies. The department contended eagle feathers are protected...

ATLANTA (Reuters) - High schoolers at American Indian schools have higher rates of smoking and drug use than other U.S. students, underscoring a need for more health education and counseling programs in their communities, federal health officials said on Thursday. A U.S. study conducted in 2001 found that 88 percent of high-school pupils at schools funded by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs have smoked, compared with 64 percent of high schoolers nationwide. The study, published by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was based on surveys of 5,654 high-school students at schools that are primarily located on...