All Notebook Entries

Federal agents are busting legal medical marijuana growers in California.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20100709/ARTICLES/100709470?Title=Marijuana-advocacy-group-decries-Covelo-pot-raid

Here's a link to a video of an interrogation, supposedly of a policman from Lerdo, Durango at the hands of alleged Zetas. The man cooborates recent stories (or better yet, is the source of recent stories) indicating that prisoners were released and armed to carry out killings, one incident of which took the lives of 17 people in Torreon, Coauhuila.

The man has obviously been tortured and is executed at the end of the video. Not for the faint at heart.

Those that say torture doesn't work, usually haven't been tortured.

Law enforcement agencies actually paid crook to sponsor “seminars” used to hook his marks

 

Investment broker Kenneth Wayne McLeod was found dead, Vince Foster-style, inside his SUV in a park in southeast Jacksonville, Fla., on June 22.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Department said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to media reports. A rumor now popular among some federal law enforcement agents casts a bit of bitter irony over McLeod’s fate, indicating that he killed himself with a pistol given to him by the DEA to commemorate his years of service to the agency.

Whether that rumor has any basis in reality is not clear, but it speaks volumes about how some law enforcers feel about what McLeod did to a number of DEA agents, as well as dozens of other former and retired federal agents.

McLeod’s death came only some five days after he confessed to Securities and Exchange Commission investigators that he had been operating a 22-year-long Ponzi scheme that had victimized hundreds of government employees, primarily federal law enforcement agents.

This morning a story swept through Internet land like wild fire. We were told Zetas had taken over two ranches near Laredo, Texas. Law enforecement officials near Laredo were inundated with calls. Only problem: the stories were total and absolute bull shit, fabricated by racists hell bent on fomenting fear amongst white Americans.

Debunked here:

Sabbath eve, July 23, 2010

Yesterday I took a quick trip to Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila, Mexico to see my friend Oscar Cabello. I’ve invested a meager amount into his effort at restoring a farming and ranching community with tremendous potential but in a horribly run down and sad state. The task is beyond either of our means now that we no longer smuggle dope for money, but it’s a task we both feel compelled to tackle.

By Brenda Norrell

Photos: Church Rock Uranium Spill Commemoration by Garrett Brennan Stewart, Navajo

The Los Angeles Times, while allowing one of its bloggers to ramble and speculate, has insulted the ancient language of the O'odham people, accused them of criminal behavior without any knowledge of the subject and exposed racism and ignorance at the Los Angeles Times.

"Mystery Language on a Border Sign," does not refer to a mystery language, but to the language of the O'odham people who have lived here in the Sonoran Desert since time immemorial. The O'odham live on both sides of what today is known as the US/Mexico border, with O'odham villages on both sides.

Congress made aware of agencies’ alleged deceptions

Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice have filed a motion in federal court indicating that Congress has been notified officially of corruption allegations involving the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department.

The motion further substantiates a prior report by Narco News published July 4 that revealed at least one Congressional committee has launched an investigation into alleged CIA and State Department deceptions that surfaced in a lawsuit accusing officials from those agencies of spying on a DEA agent.

From the Narco News report:

“The CIA and State Department’s OIGs [Office of Inspector Generals] gave notice to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and they also notified the appropriate [Congressional] committees about the corruption allegations raised in [former DEA agent] Horn’s litigation,” says the Congressional source, who asked not to be named. The source adds that an investigation is now underway by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and possibly additional committees, that is focused not only on the corruption charges that surfaced in Horn’s lawsuit, but also some “bigger issues.”

The plaintiff in the case, now-retired DEA agent Richard Horn, earlier this year struck a deal with government attorneys to settle a 16-year-long legal battle in which Horn accused CIA and State Department officials of spying on him and sabotaging his anti-narcotics mission in Burma — now known as Myanmar. The lawsuit was hidden from public view for more than a decade because the CIA invoked the “state secrets privilege,” claiming the litigation implicated national security.

I feel like rambling. You don't gotta read this. No one that matters ever reads this, so I can pretty much say what I want unopposed. I'm not getting paid to chat with you, so I don't gotta be all professional-like, either. Yeah, I'm calling it a chat, because that's what I'm doing. I'm not preaching or trying to convince you of a damn, because your mind is already made up on almost everything. I'd be really amazed if you read this far, frankly. I used to care once, like anybody else.

Updated Saturday, July 17

By Brenda Norrell

Britain continues to refuse to honor the Haudenosaunee passports of the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team. Although the team forfeited by default Thursday's game at the world championships in England, the team hoped to make it to Saturday's game.

JBG La Garrucha reports:

- increase in army patrols and helicopter overflights
- government-backed paramilitary activity in the communities
- attempts to take back land recuperated by the Zapatistas in 1994
- government attempts to buy loyalty with building materials
- government intention to divide communities
- government intention to provoke Zapatista supporters to retaliate and thus provide a justification for military intervention
- evictions of communities in Montes Azules to make way for luxury tourism and biopiracy - plans for a hydroelectric dam on the Jatate River

"Hiding behind environmental pretexts, they clear the way for the entry into the jungle of the big investors, the exploitation of the area for luxury tourism, and the appropriation of biological resources for patenting".

UPDATE: Britain refused to honor the Haudenosaunee passports of the Iroquois Lacrosse team. In the end, after running up enormous hotel bills staying in New York and waiting, the team was denied visas by Britain to the Lacrosse world championships and then returned home as heroes.

Mohawk artist Tracy Thomas said, "To the Nationals, who are coming home, this is not a defeat. You have gained respect, honor and instilled pride to our children, to be who we are. We all have a piece of the Creator's heart in all of us, you have shown the world, what Lacrosse means to us, its more than a trophy, its our spiritual connection to the Creator's Game and you will play again another time."

The Mohawk Nation News said in an editorial that the refusal to honor the passport was part of the continual genocide and theft of land and resources of Indigenous peoples. Britain's demand for the Iroqouis team members to obtain US or Canadian passports was not an option.

"We are not immigrants. Being forced to carry the passports of illegal foreign corporations is blackmail," said Mohawk Nation News. Read column: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/07/lacrosse-passport-standoff-is-about.html

Read more about the team at:
http://iroquoisnationals.org/

Earlier, the US State Department issued a last minute, one-time waiver for the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team to travel on their Haudenosaunee passports, but the UK rejected it. The team was unable to board their rescheduled flight that would have placed them in England just in time for the game.

US Rep. Dan Maffei, D-NY, brought the issue to Congress twice Wednesday. Rep. Maffei demanded that Britian issue the visas, stating that it will be an international embarrassment if the team is not allowed to compete.

On Saturday, July 17, the team said in a statement that the passports reamin under review by the UK.

“They are guilty of the crimes of murder, torture, kidnapping, rape, illegal felling of trees, and trafficking in migrants. We demand the government relocates the criminal delinquent paramilitaries”

Mitzitón is a small Tzotzil community, located in woodland near to San Cristóbal de Las Casas. The majority of the inhabitants are adherents to the Other Campaign, and grow and care for the local trees. There have been problems in this community for the past thirteen years, since members of an evangelical group, Alas de Aguila, Eagle Wings, part of a larger paramilitary organisation, Ejército de Dios, the Army of God, or God’s Army, came to live in Mitzitón. They have, since 1997, the year of the Acteal massacre, refused to take part in any of the collective work of the community or to contribute to its costs. To the great concern of the majority, members of the organisation have been indiscriminately cutting down the trees which are loved and nurtured by the rest of the inhabitants.

The community say that the aggressive actions of the Eagle Wings have been getting worse and more frequent. As well as squandering the scarce timber and water resources, they operate with complete impunity within the community, issuing threats, kidnapping, beating, raping, using high velocity firearms, and wearing military uniforms. They are basically living off the profits they make from trafficking illegally in timber and in migrant people from Central America.

Navajos and other New Mexicans remember secrecy and legacy of death from atomic bomb detonation and nuclear spill on July 16

By Brenda Norrell

Photo: Atomic bomb detonation at Trinity, NM, 1945

CHURCH ROCK and TULAROSA, N.M. - As the Obama Administration plans more nuclear power plants, and corporations target Navajo communities with new uranium mining, Navajos and other New Mexicans will gather to remember the nuclear industry's legacy of death at Church Rock and Tularosa, N.M., on July 16.

It was on this day, July 16, 1945, when the first atomic bomb was detonated 35 miles southeast of Socorro, N.M., at the Trinity Site. In Tularosa on Friday, a candlelight vigil will remember those who died of cancer. Survivors will offer testimony on Saturday.

Law enforcers also argue anti-immigrant law is threat to public safety and national security

A legal center affiliated with New York University has filed a proposed friend-of-the-court brief in federal court supporting the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking suspension of Arizona’s recently adopted illegal immigration law, which is slated to become effective July 29.

Sabbath eve, July 9, 2010. I’m writing a bit earlier than normal. We were set to work cattle today but it rained yesterday and the forecast called for more rain today, so we postponed the cattle until next week. Now the sun is out, but there are clouds in the background. Predicting the weather in Texas is always a crap shoot. As a farmer, predict I must.

BOO! Cindy Sheehan and the peace activists are coming

By Brenda Norrell

WASHINGTON D.C. - Cindy Sheehan, preparing to protest the US drones that kill civilians, has already shaken up the security patrol at General Atomics in DC. Before she left home, the General Atomics "landlord" called her, concerned about the protest on Thursday, July 8. After she arrived in DC, she was watched by General Atomics security.

Also, Sheehan's wallet was stolen and someone attempted to run up a $911.00 bill for merchandise at Target.

My greencard had expired but I didn't know because the topic had never come up... I had a current driver license, just renewed in Dec. 09, after the greencard expiration date, then I was also stopped and searched by border patrol a week prior to going to the hospital, and they held my greencard for like 15 minutes while they searched my vehicle for 'drugs' so-called... and they didn't notice the expiration date...

Probe prompted by charges raised in former DEA agent’s lawsuit

 

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs has launched an investigation into alleged corruption within the State Department and its Office of Inspector General that was exposed in a lawsuit filed by former DEA agent Richard Horn, Narco News has confirmed.

In addition, according to a well-placed Congressional source, the House and Senate Intelligence committees as well as the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs all have been put on notice about the alleged corruption, which, in Horn’s case, also involves CIA attorneys as well as CIA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG). The source says those committees may well be pursuing separate lines of investigation related to the issues raised in the Horn case.

By Brenda Norrell

TUCSON- Arizona's new push for racist laws by the governor and legislators exposes a truth that many want concealed. Not only have white racists taken over control of Arizona lawmaking, but they are now battling to disguise their intentions, and the fact that racism toward people of color thrives in Arizona.

For Indigenous Peoples living in their homelands on the US/Mexico border, the racial profiling is already constant. People of color are already constantly stopped, detained and questioned for no reason by the US Border Patrol and police along the border.

Both the US Border Patrol and police officers along the border act with impunity. They stop, detain and question people without reason. (This even happens to me, a news reporter, when I travel with Tohono O'odham. I am stopped, detained and questioned for no reason.)

By Brenda Norrell

Guatemalan Sebastian Quinac organizes search parties to find the bodies of his fellow Maya Kaqchikel who die while walking in search of a better life in the Sonoran Desert. These search parties can put even the searchers lives at risk as they walk all day in temperatures reaching 115 to 120 degrees in southern Arizona along the US/Mexico border.

By Brenda Norrell.

Photos by Mohawk photographer Ben Powless in Toronto

Mohawk photographer Ben Powless, 23, was among 900 arrested in mass by police in Toronto during the G20 demonstrations. Police attacked journalists, punching one reporter in the mouth and beating another, during peaceful demonstrations.

By Brenda Norrell

In Tucson, peace vigils expose the most censored issues in the world, including the United States use of drones for random assassinations, drones which are killing civilians in mass. The United States use of depleted uranium and radioactive weapons ranks among the top most censored issues in the world.

By Brenda Norrell

Photos: Brita Brookes/US Social Forum Detroit

Ben Powless, Mohawk, Indigenous Day of Action Toronto

By Brenda Norrell

Photo by Brita Brookes/US Social Forum Detroit

By Brenda Norrell

By Brenda Norrell

People who live along the border have a new online patrol. We are all now scouts on the lookout for the news reporters, television crews and filmmakers who come to the US/Mexico border to promote themselves and tell the same old worn out story about drug running along the border.

The underlying theme of their stories is always the same: White people are good and brown people are bad.

I don't understand how Obama gets all teary eyed over aquatic lifestyles being terminated due to the Gulf of Mexico Oil-Leak Crisis. On his speech from the Oval Office last night, he didn't seem too concerned about terminating the entire Oil Industry, calling it an 'addiction', and saying that 'we need to move towards a green economy' and furthermore 'inaction will not be tolerated'. So what's that 'change' going to entail?

I like this guy's tag line:

I run my own damn think tank.

At this link, learn how the dope gets out of Afghanistan. Your tax dollars, hard at work.

Pay no attention to the blood.

Task Force is Embedded with Mexican Troops, CIA Operative Claims

 

A special operations task force under the command of the Pentagon is currently in place south of the border providing advice and training to the Mexican Army in gathering intelligence, infiltrating and, as needed, taking direct action against narco-trafficking organizations, claims a former CIA asset who has a long history in the covert operations theater.

The news from the Bolivia Climate Summit is too hot for most newspapers, including those in and around Indian country in the US and Canada

By Brenda Norrell

Photo by Michelle Cook, Navajo

The bottom line of real climate change is that it is being censored and distorted in the news.

I've been busy trying to give away articles on the Native American delegations to the Bolivia Climate Conference. As far as I can tell, none of the newspapers in and around Indian country published the articles. This is unusual. Normally newspapers are anxious to publish articles on local people involved in newsworthy events, especially when they have been working diligently with Bolivian President Evo Morales.