Manataka American Indian Council Volume XII Issue 4 APRIL 2008
Manataka - Preserving The Past Today For Tomorrow
PAGE 2
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Contents: |
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| Legends of Old: | Dog Chief - Blackfoot Legend | |
| Feature Story: |
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Letters to the Editor: |
Manataka Get 'Em All | |
| Organic Consumers: | Organic and Natural Care Products | |
| Elder's Meditations: | Don Jose Matusuwa, Huichol | |
|
Indian Opinion: |
Trust Decision: Ignoring History,,, | |
| Health: | Treating Cancer -- With Herbs | |
| Plant Medicine: | Red Raspberries...Yummmy! | |
| Fluoride: | World Council of Elders Takes a Stand Against Fluoride | |
| Animal Rights and Wrongs: | A | Yellowstone's buffalo under siege |
| Endangered Sacred Sites: | America's oldest urban site | |
Dog-Chief
A Blackfoot
Legend
Once there was a very nice girl the daughter of a head man, and many young men sought her for a wife. One of the men in the camp owned a very large dog. It was a brindle. One time this girl borrowed this dog, hitched him to a travois, and went out for wood.
After this she borrowed him many times, and he became used to her. Whenever he came about she always fed him and petted him, and whenever she went for water he went with her.
One day as the girl was going along
she said aloud, "I wish you were a young man, then I would marry you." Now the
dog heard and understood. That night he turned
himself into a man and went to the lodge where the girl was sleeping. She
awoke and found some one kissing her. She put out her hand, felt the man,
and noted that his hair was fine and that he had finely shaped limbs. When
he went away she wondered who it could be.
She never had anything to do with
other men. She had two brothers, and for that reason she did not wish to say
anything about it. She thought the person might have been one of her suitors. So
she thought to herself, "If he comes, next time I will mark
him." So that evening she took some white earth, mixed it with water in a
cup, and stirred it with a stick-weed. That night the strange visitor came
again, and, as he caressed the girl, she rubbed some of the white earth on
his hair, on his robe, and on his back.
READ MORE...
The Red Road is a circle of people standing hand in hand, people in this world,
people between people in the Spirit world, star people, animal people, stone
people, river people, tree people… The Sacred Hoop.
You can learn from every one of them, because they have something you don't.
They are void of evil thoughts. They wish vengeance on no one, they seek
Justice.
To Walk the Red Road, you have given rights. You have the right to pray, you
have the right to dance, you have the right to think, you have the right to
protect, you have the right to know Mother Earth, you have the right to
dream, you have the right to vision, you have the right to teach, you have
the right to learn, you have a right to grieve, you have a right to
happiness, you have the right to fix the wrongs, you have the right to
truth, you have a right to the Spirit World.
~Submitted by Bruce Soaring Eagle Thompson and Helen Redwing Vinson
Manataka receives dozens of letters each week. Space does not allow us to publish all letters but we make a concerted effort to print letters that are representative of a majority. Let us know if there is a topic you feel needs to be addressed.
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Smoke Signal Sings
Thank you with all my heart for the Smoke Signal. Every time I read the smoke signal, it sings inside my heart and soul so strongly that it makes me weep. So, dear ones, thank you with all my heart for taking the trouble to put this together, so that we ALL may learn from you, the wise ones.
Blessings, Jennie Lull
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Smoke Signal Brings Balance
My spirit was weary and I out of balance. I was listless looking for a distraction. I found the poetry section of the site. The poems are incredibly beautiful and when I finished reading them I felt refreshed, renewed. I thank all those who had a part in having those poems there for me tonite.
Love and prayers always, Ruth King |
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Smoke Signal Goes With the Flow
I loved the piece on "Goin'
with the Flow" in March Smoke Signal about water
versus a rigid mental outlook .... I was born during
the Strong Sun Moon, but I am also a "water" sign
... have learned many food lessons from Water.
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Animal Shelter Needs Volunteers
Best Friends Of North Central AR needs volunteers located anywhere in the state of Arkansas. We know every Manataka member is an animal lover so we ask for your help. We are looking for a motor home or bus to make in to a mobile unit so we can set up at disaster centers and be able to take in pets that are not allowed in to the human disaster shelters. Please check out our web site. Thank you.
Lynne Wilborn Field Coordinator Best
Friends of North Central Arkansas
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Global Love Day
Love is such a beautiful expression. When we feel the passion of romance, the gentle touch of kindness, or the simple gaze of a willing smile, we are lifted into a higher awareness of life’s potential. In these precious moments, the impossible melts into infinity itself where all things are possible. We instantly remember what matters most is this love that unites us and assures us that all is well.
At the core of our being, we intuitively know we are love. Not just an external expression of love that we equate or define as a loving act, rather the grander love that is unconditional. This love knows no bounds or limits, causes our heart to beat, our body to feel and our mind to think. It animates us and inspires us. Such boundless love literally gives us the freedom to explore the very depths of our reality. Without it, we cease to exist. With it, we soar to amazing heights of experience.
Love is silent, yet beckons each moment. This is not a paradox, it is an invitation. Love does not intrude since it is ever present. It merely calls to us and asks that it be included in our awareness through every thought, feeling, word, deed and action. What could be easier?
In this physical world we have become so far removed from this intrinsic aspect of our nature that we have forgotten its existence and importance. Instead, we frequently replace true love with our sensory notions and expectations and limit our expression to a few physiological, mental and emotional acrobatics. These demonstrations are an artificial version of love and are symbolic tokens at best. Naturally, they contain the seeds of a grander love; however we usually do not nurture or cultivate unconditional love long enough to experience its potential in us or our relationships.
Who among us is courageous enough to remember the truth of love? Shall we be so brave as to be the first to embrace and accept ourselves as potent beings of love? Are we willing to share this limitless expression to each and every one around us - without expectation of anything in return? Can we be so bold as to forgive? So outrageous as to accept and embrace the same potential of love in others?
As we grow through life, let us contemplate and invoke this grander love.
Love, light and peace, Harold W. Becker President and Founder
The Love Foundation, Inc.
Think: Global Love Day Feel: Love Begins With Me Remember: May 1, 2008
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Cloning and Genetically-modified Food
I'm reading with great interest the
Smoke Signal article about the animal cloning issue ... this has
been bothering me for a long time. I had written you a few days ago
about the issue of slaughterhouses and animal welfare, though my
thoughts were a bit disorganized at the time for the wording. Yes,
it involves factory farming and all the abuses that go on.
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Brought to you by ORGANIC BYTES, from Organic Consumers Assoc. http://www.organicconsumers.org/ |
DO NOT BUY GASOLINE FROM THESE COMPANIES
WHO IMPORT FROM THE MIDDLE EAST:
Shell................................ 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco............ 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon /Mobil................... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway.... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco...............................62,231,000 barrels
$104 per barrel X
$66,012,700,000.00 supporting
the Middle East
Citgo gas helped poor American
Indians in 2008 with $21 million in
winter home heating assistance to 220 tribal communities in 13
states.
Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco...................0 barrels
Conoco...................0 barrels
Sinclair....................0 barrels
B P/Phillips.............0 barrels
Hess.........................0 barrels
ARC0........................0 barrels
B P/Phillips has begun to import oil from the Middle East.
If you go to Sunoco.com, you will get a list of the station locations near you.
"The teachings are for all, not just for
Indians...The white people never wanted
to learn before. They thought we were
savages. Now they have a different
understanding, and they do want to learn.
We are all children of God. The tradition
is open to anyone who wants to learn."
-Don Jose Matusuwa, Huichol
In the summer of 1994, a white buffalo calf
was born. This means that now is the time for
all races to come together. The Elders say that
at this time a voice from within will speak to
everyone. It will say now is the time to forgive,
now is the time to come together. Are we
willing to do this? Are we willing to quit judging other people? The Elders say, He will be
talking through people of all races and gender. We need to open our hearts and welcome
our brothers and sisters.
Great Spirit,
let my ears beopen as I walk
the path You
have chosen
for me.
Trust Decision: Ignoring History and
Common Sense
by Doug George-Kanentiio
The February 22 decision by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs to place 13,000 acres of land in central New York in trust
for the Oneida Nation is not a cause for celebration but alarm.
If there is one undeniable truth in Iroquois-US relations it is this: the
Americans will do what they can to eradicate the Haudenosaunee as a distinct
people. Whether this means eclipsing our humanity by portraying us as
sub-human savages, forcibly removing us from our ancestral lands or
destroying our culture by imposing alien values on our children the process
of obliteration continues.
We have opposed this tactic with whatever means possible even if it required
us to pick up arms. We have fought in the courts and taken to the streets,
created alternative schools, developed language retention programs,
organized our own media. All of this to preserve and protect our identity as
onkwehonwe. We have sent our representatives throughout the world carrying
messages of defiance and hope.
As along as we held together we have been able to delay what some would say
is the inevitable loss of our heritage but the miracle is that we still have
the most vital elements of our culture intact. We might be stronger still if
we had not had
to struggle with our own kin, those who saw immediate, personal gain as
preferable to the seven generations principle which is supposed to be the
moral and legal foundation of our lives.
The latest tactic used by the US to divorce us from the earth is to place
our ancestral territory into trust. This is a new concept for the
Iroquois since we now hold title to our lands as a collective. We never
ceded this vital position to the US or Canada. We refused to go along or go
away which in turn compelled the Americans to create colonial entities
designed to undermine the Confederacy
and effect the concessions the US needed to carry out its plans.
Our people were warned, clearly and repeatedly beginning with Skaniateriio
(Handsome Lake) that we would be destroyed if we became addicted to alcohol
and gambling; that we would sacrifice all we owned to sustain these two
highly addictive things. The late Atotaho Leon Shenandoah was equally
emphatic about this, pointing out that our own people would bring about the
end of the Haudenosaunee.
Specifically, what is trust? It means we give up our territory
to the US which then allows us to live on these reserved lands until it
rules otherwise. What the US gives us is the peculiar thing called Indian
rights, a condition of existence defined by the Americans according to the
Christian doctrines of discovery.
Federal trust comes at an enormous
cost. Trust was in place when the US stole tens of millions of acres
of Native land after it passed the Dawes Act of 1887. The legislation
designed to "help" Indians in fact cost us 90,000,000 acres of land, made
90,000 natives homeless, undermined Native governments and shattered
thousands of families.
Federal trust? Has anyone at the St. Regis Tribe, the Oneida Nation
or the Cayugas bothered to call Eloise Cobell, the courageous Blackfoot
woman who challenged the US on behalf of 500,000 Indians? Her suit
maintained the federal government has failed to account for as much as
$40,000,000,000 in Native funds involving resources from 11,000,000 acres of
trust land. See
www.trustland.com for the
complete story.
Federal trust? We did not even have trust and yet lost 10,000
acres of the Allegany territory for the Kinzua Dam, a quarter of Tuscarora's
land for the Niagara Falls reservoir and Akwesasn's waterfront during the
Seaway. Would not trust make us even more vulnerable to these kinds
of thefts?
Does not trust mean whatever commerce takes place on such land is
then subject to pay all federal taxes? And to pay those state taxes as ruled
applicable by the US courts? In the west Native businesses have no exemption
from state assessments on tobacco and fuel, a situation which will certainly
apply here on these new trust
lands.
The reason trust status was sought in
the first place was to protect the casinos. No arguments for trust
mentioned culture, the earth, our animal relatives or the plant life. Those
who are its advocates care nothing for the natural-they define existence by
monetary standards only. It calls into question our most sacred teachings
and why we are here as human beings.
We should all be concerned about ceding lands into trust because it
will be the only way lost territory will be returned to us. It is in
contrast to the Mohawk land reclamation's of the past generation. Trust
is what happens when Iroquois leaders do not know their history or lack a
background in our laws and customs.
This lack of spiritual and intellectual balance means that concessions over land and sovereignty are now far too easy to make.
In the Mohawk language, the word "onkwehonwe" means the First Nations and Native people.
Treating Cancer -- With Herbs
from Dr. Mercola http://www.mercola.com/
Many of the chemotherapies used
to fight cancer in modern medicine were developed from natural substances.
For instance:
Taxanes used to treat prostate and breast cancer came from yew trees.
Vinca alkaloids, which are used to treat malignant lymphomas, are made from periwinkle plants.
The anti-cancer drugs topotecan and irinotecan come from a component of the Chinese Happy Tree.
Scientists are increasingly
focusing on plants used in traditional medicine in their search for new
compounds. About three-quarters of the pharmaceutical compounds used today
came from plants used in traditional medicine.
Professor Dr. Thomas Efferth from Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum in
Heidelberg, for example, has begun analyzing 76 Chinese medicinal plants
that are believed to treat malignant tumors and other growths. Extracts from
18 of the plants were found to significantly suppress the growth of cancer
cells.
“With this success rate of about 24 percent, we are way above the results
that could be expected from searching through large chemical substance
libraries,” Efferth said.
Dr. Mercola's Comments:
Most pharmaceuticals that are derived from plants are typically from one “active” component of the plant that is then isolated and synthetically replicated. In contrast, most traditional medicine remedies use whole plants in their natural state, which is a far cry from the lab-produced cancer treatments used in modern medicine.
RED RASPBERRIES... Yummmmmy!
The truth about Ellagic Acid
by Jon Barron
Red
Raspberries Kill Cancer
The Buzz
If you pay any attention at all to the alternative-health information-grapevine,
you've heard the buzz on ellagic acid. If you believe the rumors flying around
the Internet, the cure for cancer is at hand!! This is the greatest
discovery since sliced bread!! Well, like most rumors, there's some truth to it
- and a whole lot of nonsense.
The Truth
Two years ago, I wrote in the Barron Report on antioxidants about the value of
including berries in your diet because of the benefits of the ellagic acid
derived from them. This recommendation was based on work being done at the
Hollings Cancer Institute by Dr. Daniel Nixon, who had been studying the
benefits of red raspberries for some 6 years at that time. Since then, two
things have changed dramatically.
First, the study results are now becoming, for lack of a better word,
remarkable. Second, it is now possible to get high quantities of ellagitannins
without having to consume a cup of berries every day.
Dr.
Nixon's published results show: Consuming one cup of red raspberries per day
(40 mg of ellagitannins) prevents the development of cancer cells. At low
concentrations, it slows the growth of cancer cells; at higher concentrations,
it tells cancer cells to kill themselves. For example, cells infected with the
human papilloma virus (which is linked to cervical cancer), when exposed to
ellagic acid experienced apoptosis, or normal cell death.
READ MORE....
World Council of Elders Against Fluoride
The World Council of Elders (WCOE) is a nonprofit organization comprised of spiritual elders from native and indigenous peoples in the U.S. and around the globe that is dedicated to preserving the culture, spiritual teachings, and health of indigenous elders. American Indians are disproportionately harmed by kidney disease and diabetes, and WCOE on hearing about warnings from the NRC (2006) panel that those with kidney disease may be particularly vulnerable to drinking fluoridated water sent the following letter to John Davis, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation.
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February 8, 2008 It has been brought to our attention that
the National Research Council has designated diabetics and kidney
patients as "susceptible subpopulations" that are particularly
vulnerable to harm from fluoride ingestion. The NRC study can be
found online at www.nap.edu under the title "Fluoride in Drinking
Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's Standards (2006)"
Woody Vaspra, President
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From
the Natural Resources Defense Council:
Yellowstone's wild, free-roaming buffalo herd is under siege.
The Bush Administration is turning America's greatest national
park into a killing ground for hundreds of
mighty bison -- better known as American buffalo.
We must speak out against
this cold-blooded cruelty NOW -- because every week, more of
these noble creatures are being herded into cattle trucks to be
slaughtered.
Wild bison have been brutalized. This winter alone, more
than 1,000 wlly killed by the National Park Service and the
Montana Department of Livestock -- or shipped to
slaughterhouses.
And come May, newborn calves are just as likely to be killed as
their mothers.
We cannot stand by and let this massacre continue:
Send a protest message now.
Right now, it's still winter in Yellowstone, and these
unsuspecting buffalo are following historic migratory routes in
search of food at lower elevations where there is less snow.
When the buffalo venture near or beyond the park's boundary,
they will continue to be rounded up and killed -- unless we
start a national outcry.
What makes this sacrifice so senseless is that it's all to
protect 12 to 16 domestic cows
and steers that graze near the park
from the
theoretical
risk of a disease -- brucellosis -- that has
never
been transmitted from bison to cattle in a natural setting.
Yes, you read those numbers right:
1,000 wild bison slaughtered to
protect a little more than a dozen cows outside the park
that
have most likely been vaccinated against the disease, or easily
could be.
Please speak out and stop the slaughter. Yellowstone's buffalo
are a national treasure: America's last, free-roaming herd.
The National Park Service
should be their guardian, not their executioner.
Our goal this week is to create a virtual "stampede" of 50,000
protest messages that will convince the National Park Service to
call a halt to the killing.
Together, we must
speak out to spare the lives of
Yellowstone's surviving buffalo
so that they can again roam wild and free.
Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
NRDC Action Fund
Plaza in Peru may be America's oldest urban site
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
The circular structure at the ruins of Sechin Bajo is about 5,500 yearsold
LIMA, PERU — An ancient stone plaza unearthed in
Peru dates back more than
five millenniums and is the oldest known urban
settlement in the Americas,
according to experts here.
Archaeologists say the site, uncovered amid a complex of ruins known as Sechin Bajo, is a major discovery that could help reshape their understanding of the continent's pre-Columbian history.
Carbon dating by a German and Peruvian excavation team indicates that the circular plaza is at least 5,500 years old, dating to about 3,500 BC, said Cesar Perez, an archaeologist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the dig.
That would make it older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. Sechin Bajo, 230 miles north of the capital, Lima, thus eclipses the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral, some 5,000 years old, as the New World's oldest known settlement.
"This has tremendous importance, both in Peru and internationally," Perez said by cellphone from the area. "We think it's the oldest urban site found in the Americas."
Word of the discovery was first published Sunday in
the Peruvian daily El
Comercio.
"The findings in Sechin Bajo, especially in the
buried circular plaza, have
demonstrated that there is construction from 5,500
years ago," Peter R.
Fuchs, a German archaeologist who worked at the
site, told the newspaper.
"Whoever built Sechin Bajo had a good knowledge of
architecture and
construction."
Much of the hidden plaza was uncovered this year, and a great deal of excavation remains to be done, Perez said. Relatively little is known about the people who lived there. The plaza, 33 to 39 feet across, may have been a site for gatherings, perhaps a kind of ceremonial center. It was built of rocks and adobe bricks. Successive cultures lived in the area and built over the site.
Earlier finds in the Sechin Bajo area, in the Casma Valley of Peru's Ancash region, had been dated at more than 3,000 years old. But the circular plaza pushes the area's settlement date back considerably. Peru is perhaps best known to outsiders as the cradle of the Inca empire, which stretched from modern-day Chile to Ecuador.
But the Incas were relative latecomers in Peru's long history of human settlement, rising to prominence in the 15th century before being conquered by the Spanish in the early 16th century. Before the Inca, Peru was home to various civilizations that left a rich legacy of ruins, pottery, tombs and artifacts. Teams of archaeologists are at work throughout the country, including the bustling capital.
Scientists say settlements were beginning to grow in Peru about the time of urbanization in such cradles of civilization as Mesopotamia, Egypt and India.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-peru26
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15 U.S.C. Section 1051(a), (b)
APRIL 2008 SMOKE SIGNAL - PAGE 1
A
newly released study commissioned by the
Organic Consumers Association (OCA) and
overseen by environmental health
consumer advocate David Steinman (author
of The Safe Shopper's Bible), revealed
the presence of the undisclosed
carcinogenic contaminant 1,4-Dioxane in
leading shampoos, body washes, lotions
and other personal care and household
cleaning products claiming to be
"natural" or "organic". The study
results, to be released this weekend at
the Natural Products Expo in California,
are already sending shockwaves through
the "organic" and "natural" body care
industry. Laboratory tests showed
that products certified under the USDA
National Organic Program DID NOT contain
this toxin, but most of the best selling
personal care products claiming to be
"organic" (but not USDA certified)
contained the cancer-causing ingredient.
All leading self-proclaimed "organic"
brands have at least a few individual
"certified organic" ingredients, but for
most of these top-selling brands, the
product, as a whole, is not USDA organic
certified, thereby allowing the presence
of synthetic toxins. Similar studies
have revealed the presence of this toxin
in conventional personal care products,
but this is the first study indicating
the presence in misleadingly labeled
"organic" and "natural" products.
Learn more:
CONSUMER
TIP OF THE WEEK:
A
new "organic" standard for personal care
products has been created exclusively by
conventional industry members like Estee
Lauder (owner of Aveda), Loreal and Hain
(Jason, Avalon), without any input or
comment period from organic consumers,
organic farmers or personal care
companies who have achieved USDA
National Organic Program certification
for the majority of their products. The
OASIS standard allows a product to be
labeled outright as “Organic” (rather
than “Made with Organic Specified
Ingredients”) even if it contains
hydrogenated and sulfated cleansing
ingredients like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
made from conventional agricultural
material grown with synthetic
fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides,
and preserved with synthetic
petrochemical preservatives like
Ethylhexylglycerin and Phenoxyethanol.
As always, the OCA recommends consumers
look for personal care products
certified under the USDA National
Organic Program.
Learn more:
From Crystal Harvey, MAIC Correspondent