Holder at Wounded Knee; EPA releases Silvertip update

Lakota Country Times has some good coverage of Attorney General Eric Holder's visit to Pine Ridge. Jim Kent is a contributor there as well.

I confess bewilderment at the rise of golf among young Native Americans. Country clubs use fungicides and herbicides that can leach into watersheds and kill mycelium of important species.

In other DoJ news from an article by Stephanie Woodard in HuffPo via Indianz.com

On July 20, the Yankton Sioux Tribe passed a resolution requesting that the U.S. Attorney General review a federal-court conviction of four tribal members on childhood-sexual-abuse charges. In a majority opinion for the men’s successful appeal – which the U.S. Attorneys’ Office then got the same court to reverse – Judge Myron H. Bright noted that the alleged victims, who were aged 4 to 7, were interviewed by intimidating teams of as many as four adults, including an FBI agent and a BIA agent who identified themselves as “like a policeman.” According to the judge, the questioners showed the youngsters anatomical drawings of a penis; “helped” them remember abuse; gave them group “therapy,” during which they encouraged the children to talk about sex; and made it clear the kids wouldn’t go home unless they agreed with their questioners about “the truth.”

Posted at Indian Country Today:



EPA has released an overview of cleanup efforts in the aftermath of ExxonMobil's negligence:

EPA continues to oversee the response to the ExxonMobil Silvertip Pipeline Spill on the Yellowstone River. EPA is working with a team of local, regional, and national experts in an Agricultural Impact Subcommittee to develop a fact sheet for agricultural questions that will be made available to the public as soon as it is completed. Sampling data results will be made available as quickly as validated results permit. A decision was made by Unified Command early on to ensure that all the response data associated with this incident be consistent with Montana DEQ methodology and standards. As such, we are using only certified labs in Montana and those businesses have been working diligently to process samples and data packages. When data becomes available it will immediately be posted to the maps section of the EPA website.

Could this rock be a remnant of the collision that split the moon from the Earth?