Hey Jude

Hey Jude

If you want to see some of my photography and favorite poems and inspirational quotes, I have a blog called Hey Jude.

I've also begun a list of links to Social Justice/Not For Profit Groups in the Syracuse area at the 'Hey Jude' site.

Onondaga Nation Files Historic Land Rights Action

Onondaga Nation Files Historic Land Rights Action
On March 11, 2005

Joe Heath, attorney for the Onondaga Nation, speaks to a group at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse Thursday evening. Seated are Jeanne Shenandoah (l) and Tadodaho Sid Hill (r).
photo by Jude Nagurney Camwell

"Our Nation looks at the ecological disaster of Onondaga Lake, the most polluted in North America, and we weep. A century of degradation caused by callous corporations and indifferent government officials has transformed the lake, the center of Onondaga way of life and culture, into a toxic pool hostile to fish, wildlife and humans alike...Corporations should not dump their waste and then take away their jobs once the land has been sufficiently defiled. Central New York was once filled with amazing amounts of natural beauty, and the Onondaga want to reclaim that beauty for everyone. It is our calling, and it is our right."

- Sidney Hill, a Tadodaho (spiritual leader) of the Onondaga Nation.
from a column in the Syracuse Post Standard March 13, 2005

There was a Neighbor-to-Neighbor/Nation to Nation meeting held tonight at the Westcott Community Center in Syracuse. Sponsored by the Syracuse Peace Council, the topic was: "Water Connects Us All". Guest speakers were Tadodaho Sid Hill and Jeanne Shenandoah of the Onondaga Nation. Special guest was Joe Heath, the Attorney who, on March 11th, filed a land rights action which is based on New York’s violation of the U.S. Constitution and the 1790 Federal Trade and Intercourse Act. The Act made it make it illegal to acquire Native American land without federal government approval. New York State supposedly acquired the Onondaga lands through a series of agreements in 1788-90, 1793, 1795, 1817, and 1822 without federal approval. The taking of the Onondaga Nation lands also violated the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix and the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua between the United States and the Six Nations or Haudenosaunee, as well as Haudenosaunee laws.

This land rights action is different from any that have been previously filed in New York State. The centerpiece of the suit is pollution and degradation of the land. The lawsuit seeks no actual monetary damages up front, and unlike other claims, there's no call for a casino or bingo hall. [link to this statement: News 10, Syracuse]

The Onondaga's relationship to the land and the water is embodied in Gayanashagowa, the Great Law of Peace. This relationship goes far beyond federal and state legal concepts of ownership, possession, or other legal rights. The people are one with the land and consider themselves stewards of it.

Tadodaho Sid Hill has said: "It is the duty of the Nation’s leaders to work for a healing of this land, to protect it, and to pass it on to future generations. The Onondaga Nation brings this action on behalf of its people in the hope that it may hasten the process of reconciliation and bring lasting justice, peace, and respect among all who inhabit this area."


I'll report on the meeting very soon here at Iddybud. Stay "tuned" (or should I say stay "linked"?)


*See Sean Kirst's column from the Syracuse Post Standard: "For tadodaho, sorrow accompanies land claim".

Steven Aftergood - Protecting Truth

"..massively important decisions about everything from war to architecture to medicine to farming--rely on a fine network of many little truths, the slight alteration of which can send people off on the most unfortunate paths."

- From Saheli's Musings and Observations

Steven Aftergood - Protecting Truth

Do you know that, since President George W. Bush entered office, the pace of classification activity has increased by 75 percent?

Saheli has a story that caught my eye. She comments that the thankless bureaucrat is "the best friend of the journalist, the historian, or the curious child who should wander into a library basement and realize that her Republic lies at her disposal." Saheli believes that, with our increasingly better tools for information organization and retrieval, we should be taking better care of it, not worse. I'm glad that Saheli has raised my awareness about the work of Steven Aftergood, whose speaking engagement she'd attended at Columbia. Aftergood impressed her with the idea that our national information is ours to access and to incorporate into our civic lives in order to benefit our Republic and its democracy. Saheli has asked us to understand and to consider supporting his cause.

Sign Petition to Defend Blog Democracy

Sign Petition to Defend Blog Democracy

Blogs are a perfect example of grass roots democracy at its best.We should not allow a law to stop the vibrant exchanges that occur throughout the blogoshpere.

A vast amount of people are participating in blogging and it makes no sense that they have to worry about violationg FEC law for speaking to someone about their opinions on politics as if they were standing on any American street corner talking to a neighbor.

It's true that the internet makes America a much smaller place than it once was. People to people, it's much easier for us to connect. That doesn't mean we should have to fear what we say might be subject to government scrutiny.

Why? Last time I checked, we were still a free country. We promote freedom throughout the world --why show the world that we disrespect the freedom of Americans right here at home?

Please sign this petition today at the One America site.