Medical Alert  on Behalf of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense
Committee:

"I received a disturbing call from Leonard today.  As we know,
Leonard has had a scare with prostate cancer.  He is now having
blood in his urine and he desperately needs to have an oncologist
examine him. A general practitioner operating in the prison system
is not sufficient; he needs to be seen by a specialist.

Your support with letters and phone calls to the proper officials is
greatly needed at this time.  The urgency is due to his previous
scare of cancer. Only a specialist can determine the state of
his health.  According to his medical he is supposed to receive
an exam every three months, but according to Leonard he has only
been seen once a year.  How can this be? As everyone knows one
examination can give you warning, anyone who has had a prognosis
or scare with prostate cancer, you need to see an oncologist and
be examined regularly.

He has never received proper medical attentions for his medical
problems, unless this problem is addressed by his supporters he
will not get this matter taken care of.  As we found when he did not
have his diabetic supplies last year, until the outcry was so great.
Then they could not deny him.

Please ask the warden at Lewisburg Prison to give Leonard Peltier
the proper medical attention he has the right to.

Warden Bledsoe ~ Warden for Lewisburg Prison The prison number is:
(570) 523-1251
Fax:  570-522-7745
E-mail address: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Lets get him the treatment he deserves.


Kari Ann
Assistant Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info


Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org"

Kari Ann Cowan, Peltier's niece, reported tonight (Friday) from the
prison at Lewisburg, that Leonard may have suffered a heart attack.

"He had hard time breathing.  He was in his cell and had an ache
in his chest. He was kinda scared he was having a heart attack. He
raised his hands, breathed slowly and finally felt better."

We need to call the prison and ask them to get Leonard to the
hospital in Rochester (MN) as soon as possible for a check up.

Be polite and courteous and express your concern for his health
and welfare.
We gotta step up.

Make reference to Leonard Peltier #89637-132.

Call Warden Scott Dodrill at (570) 523-1251.

Fax numbers: (570) 522-7745 and (570) 522-7519

E-mail address: LEW/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,


Wanbli
Co-Support Group Coordinator and LP-DOC Spokesperson
Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org

Leonard Peltier's first full parole hearing was held in 1993, at
which time his case was continued for a 15-year reconsideration. On
Wednesday, it was announced (in Portland, OR) that Mr. Peltier has
recently applied for and been granted a parole hearing. The hearing
is scheduled for July 27, 2009. All supporters are encouraged to
step up their efforts in support of parole for Leonard Peltier.

Letters in Support of Parole

It is really important that everyone write letters in support of
Leonard's petition for parole. These letters can be quite simple
and should cover the basic points important for parole decisions. A
sample letter follows. Feel free to use it, but know that it's even
better if you write one in your own words. Be courteous and concise.

Get as many people to sign similar letters, as well. Carry a sheaf of
spare letters with you. Get one signature per letter, that is, rather
than using a petition format. Mail them to the Parole Commission,
but also send copies to the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
(contact information below).

Guidelines for General Supporters

First, we ask that you sign the online at
http://www.msplinks.com/http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/parole2008/.

Next, draft correspondence to the U.S. Parole Commission. A sample
letter follows.

Sample Letter

United States Parole Commission
5550 Friendship Boulevard
Suite 420
Chevy Chase, MD 20815-7286
(Insert Date)

Re: LEONARD PELTIER #89637-132

Dear Commissioners,

Convicted in connection with the deaths on June 26, 1975, of
Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, Mr. Leonard Peltier remains imprisoned at the United
States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The court record in this case clearly shows that government
prosecutors have long held that they do not know who killed Mr. Coler
and Mr. Williams nor what role Leonard Peltier "may have" played
in the tragic shoot-out.

Further, in a decision filed by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals
on December 18, 2002, Mr. Peltier's sentences "were imposed in
violation of [Peltier's] due process rights because they were based
on information that was false due to government misconduct," and,
according to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, in 2003: ".Much
of the government's behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its
prosecution of Leonard Peltier is to be condemned. The government
withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not
disputed."

Despite these admissions, Leonard Peltier has served over 33 years
in prison.

After careful consideration of the facts in Leonard Peltier's case,
I have concluded that Leonard Peltier does not represent a risk to
the public. First, Leonard Peltier has no prior convictions and has
advocated for non-violence throughout his prison term. Furthermore,
Leonard Peltier has been a model prisoner. He has received excellent
evaluations from his work supervisors on a regular basis. He
continues to mentor young Native prisoners, encouraging them to
lead clean and sober lives. He has used his time productively,
disciplining himself to be a talented painter and an expressive
writer. Although Leonard Peltier maintains that he did not kill
the agents, he has openly expressed remorse and sadness over
their deaths.

Most admirably, Mr. Peltier contributes regular support to those
in need. He donates his paintings to charities including battered
women's shelters, half way houses, alcohol and drug treatment
programs, and Native American scholarship funds. He also coordinates
an annual holiday gift drive for the children of the Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation.

Leonard Peltier is widely recognized for his good deeds and in
turn has won several awards including the North Star Frederick
Douglas Award; Federation of Labour (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of
the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International
Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime
Achievement. Mr. Peltier also has been nominated for the Nobel
Peace Prize six times.

Leonard Peltier is now over 60 years of age-a great-grandfather-and
suffers from partial blindness, diabetes, a heart condition, and
high blood pressure.

I recognize the grave nature of the events of June 26, 1975,
and I extend my deepest sympathy to the families of those who
died that day. However, I find aspects of this case to also be of
concern and I believe Leonard Peltier deserves to be reunited with
his family and allowed to live the remaining years of his life in
peace. I also believe that, rather than presenting a threat to the
public, Mr. Peltier's release would help to heal a wound that has
long impeded better relations between the federal government and
American Indians.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely yours,

Signature


(Your Name)
(Your Street Address)
(Your City, State, and Zip Code)

For Family and Friends

As with any professional correspondence, your support letter should
be on letterhead (if you have Microsoft Word or another similar
program you can easily create professional-looking letterhead from
a template). The letterhead should include all of your contact
information including your name, address, phone number(s) and e-mail
address if applicable.

Describe your relationship with Leonard -- how do you know him, for
how long, etc. Write about his character, and his accomplishments
both before and during imprisonment. Discuss improvements made
since being incarcerated such as education and his philanthropic
work. Discuss Leonard's positive attitude and, despite his innocence,
the fact that he has openly expressed remorse and sadness over the
deaths that occurred on June 26, 1975.

Finish your support letter by telling the Parole Board how you
will support Leonard once he is granted parole. Your support might
be financial, such as a place to live, use of a vehicle, or help
finding job offers. Your support can also be emotional such as
providing advice and encouragement.

IMPORTANT NOTE TO ALL SUPPORTERS: When you write a letter in support
of Leonard's parole, mail the letter directly to the U.S. Parole
Commission, but also please send a copy of your correspondence to
the Peltier Legal Team, c/o LP-DOC, P.O. Box 7488, Fargo, ND 58106.
Time to set him free... Because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

Friends of Peltier
http://www.FreePeltierNow.org

My name is Gabriel, and the only thing I know is to feel pain...

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Subject: Leonard's statement before transfer
To:
Date: Tuesday, January 13, 2009, 1:31 PM

Link Center Foundation

EMERGENCY WINTER HEATING AND 
 UTILITY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM 

October, 2008 through March, 2009
For the Elders, Disabled and the Sick Living on the
Lakota Sioux Reservations in South Dakota

Our goal is to raise $20,000.
We are not grant-funded at this time. We depend on YOU, the individual donor, to help these families in crisis.

• Average income on the Oglala Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation is about $3,500.00 per YEAR. Jobs are extremely scarce; unemployment hovers around 85% on this 11,000-square-mile reservation which houses about 40,000 people. The other Lakota Reservations face similar economic conditions.
  
• Death by hypothermia is always a concern on the reservations. Each winter (October – March), temperatures drop well below 0*F. Many families must choose between food and heat. In some cases, they have neither.
  
• Federal LHEAP and Tribal Assistance Programs offer each low-income family approximately $300 per year. With the current rate of propane at $2.20 per gallon, this provides only 136 gallons – about enough fuel for 2 to 4 weeks (depending on the harsh weather).
  
• Propane prices have already risen about 33% since last winter, and are expected to rise much higher as this winter goes on. Those families surviving with electric heat also face major increases in cost.
  
• Propane companies require minimum amounts of propane to be purchased before delivery (currently $125 to $355 depending on the company). These minimum requirements are expected to skyrocket as the high cost of truck fuel increases. This makes families struggle even harder to accumulate enough funds at one time to ensure a delivery.

The Link Center Foundation has already received numerous emergency assistance applications that cannot be filled due to lack of funds. With propane, wood, and electricity prices continually rising, many more requests for help are expected to arrive.

95% of ALL donations to our heating/utility fund are USED for the heating/utility fund. The remaining 5% covers bank, credit card, and processing fees.

YOU Can Make A Difference!

Posted: 10 Dec 2008 10:40 AM CST
Forget US government bail-outs, presidential appointments, scandalous Illinois politicians, the stock market, or US consumer indexes… just for a moment… and contemplate this thought: The United States has grossly failed in Native American Policies.

A fate which in America means worse than being a black slave of old, being a Native of America. It is an identity that, even today, draws the ire of most Americans. Indians, especially those living on the US concentration camps, called reservations, are labeled as drunks, people who need to be “Americanized”, or who have otherwise been cast aside to be warehoused on the reservations. It is the great tragedy of US history - and of US current!

In late November, I reported on a declaration of emergency coming out of the Lakotah areas of SD, after the state’s US government declared emergency for the entire state, but did not send aid to the most impoverished and most harshly affected areas of the state - the Lakotah Reservations, namely Pine Ridge. Similarly, others’ reports of this internal call for aid resulted in relief to the area, and the accounting for many of the missing or stranded elderly Sioux. The lack of state response is another echo of failed policies with regards to the Native Peoples.

I had to ask myself the question - What is the root cause of the failed policies in the US with regards to the Native American people? So to start, I would like to propose a question to my readers - generically, how do you view native Americans? I say generically, because when I say Indian or Native American, is your first thought a reservation Indian, an Indian in picturesque head-dress, rich with culture, or in poverty as a part of the anti-culture?

I view native people, and their culture, very favorably. Just as I believe that Europeans and other old-worlders are unique because they embrace their own regional cultures and traditions, Americans have a unique identity in the ability to embrace not just their European (or other) culture, but to also embrace the culture of the natives on whose land they now call their home. For instance, over the last 20 years, Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has seen a resurgence in embracing the cultures of the pacific coastal natives. It is celebrated in a culture that has become uniquely “northwest”, and has opened a celebration of the once persecuted tribes, teaching history and culture to children - both on and off reservation. It has become a unique regional identity. Such an openness in the Northwest has allowed tribes to openly teach their traditions, culture, and language - doing so, for the first time since settlement, with pride and basic human dignity.

The same can largely be said for the Navajo - whose culture is openly embraced by locals and those throughout the region - most notably for their art and beautiful traditional jewelry.

Unfortunately, the embrace of the Native Cultures stops there… In fact, in regards to the Sioux, there is still a policy of racial persecution, extermination of culture and language, and the disregard for basic human dignity… the very definition of Crimes Against Humanity. In public international law, a crime against humanity is an act of persecution or any large-scale atrocity against a body of people, and is the highest level of criminal offense.
The Rome Statute Explanatory Memorandum states that crimes against humanity “are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings.

They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.
The Sioux were the main target/adversary of the US’ “Indian War” in the plains - a policy of invasion, occupation, murder, and forced imprisonment aimed at exterminating the Indian Culture, and the Sioux resistance to foreign persons destroying their food source, stealing their rightfully owned precious metals and other natural resources, and directly violating treaties signed with the US (Laramie 1851, 1868). The Sioux fought the US because they had broken their treaties… The US fought for the idea of Manifest Destiny. Such acts are considered Crimes Against Humanity by the ICC:

For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:
(a) Murder;
(b) Extermination;
(c) Enslavement;
(d) Deportation or forcible transfer of population;
(e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;
(f) Torture;
(g) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;
(h) Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearance of persons;
(j) The crime of apartheid;
(k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

Of course the common answer is that the Indians are free to live on or leave the reservations - and their poverty is of their own free will - therefore the Persecution is self imposed.

This is the very mindset that reinforces continued crimes against human dignity! And it is the thought of many or most Americans - as is reflected in our policies.

The very existence of the Bureau of Indian Affairs is a teeter on the brink of Apartheid - considering the fact that Indian Nations are free and sovereign, but are regulated by the US government. It is an agency which disallows the ability for Native Tribes to encourage ownership and private property economic growth on the reservations - as lands are held “in trust” for the tribe… forced socialism, forced poverty for those on the reservation.

In UNITED STATES v. SIOUX NATION OF INDIANS, 448 U.S. 371 (1980), The SCOTUS determined that the US government had wrongly taken Sioux land through acts of Congress after the 1868 Laramie Treaty, and in violation of such treaty, demanding just compensation for the land taken under Amendment 5 of the US Constitution. The Sioux refused, and continue to refuse payment for the lands - demanding, instead, for the return of lands protected by the treaty with the United States - outlining a free and independent nation for the Sioux.

Under a Free and Independent nation, Sioux would be free to operate independently from US regulations and taxation (though they are currently free from taxation - businesses within Sioux Lands would be freed from US Corporate Taxes) creating tax havens similar to Switzerland, Private Property and land ownership would be regulated by the tribe and not held in “limbo trust” by the US government - this would allow entrepreneurship to take root, not limiting their ability to casinos and liquor. The opportunities are endless, and the Republic of Lakotah movement is working to advocate for the free market investment in such a free and independent nation, as promised by the treaties (and acknowledged by the courts).

Where some argue that reservations should be eradicated, land placed on the free market, and Indian assimilation finally be complete (Kevin Tracy), I argue that the US live up to the treaties, respecting the sovereignty of the Native peoples (especially the Sioux which have held to not accepting a dime of payment for their land, furthering the case that they hold in that their land was illegally taken) - in doing so, the United States would be ending a centuries old violation of crimes against humanity, and finally making good with the original inhabitants of this great land.