It's been a while since I have let the Daily Kos community know what's going on with the Pretty Bird Woman House shelter project, partly due to a family health crisis, so I thought I'd give you all a little update (and maybe a break from worrying about the primary).

As many people know, last fall we ran a hugely successful netroots fundraiser for the Pretty Bird Woman House women's shelter, which is on the South Dakota side of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Because of the incredible generosity of this community, as well as the other blogs, including the LiveJournal community, we raised $87,000, which allowed the Pretty Bird Woman House board of directors to buy a new house in McLaughlin, SD, this past winter. For the complete history of all of that, you can go over to the shelter's blog.

Even though I have a very strong personal opinion based on my position as an anti-war voter, I want to present both Obama's and Clinton's policy proposals on Native American issues.  

I believe that Amnesty International did a lot through its report, United States of America: Maze of Injustice: The failure to protect indigenous women from violence, and follow-up work with State and National legislators to give these issues more national attention.

So, whomever you support right now, all of this is great news. Below I have blockquoted each set of proposals from the Clinton and Obama campaigns. They are long, but I wanted to give you the complete statements. I am just providing information here, not cheers or jeers for one or the other!

Update [2008-2-1 17:13:20 by betson08]: I've been informed by an Obama supporter that I've left out some info, and am searching right now for more on his website. When I find it, I'll put the update below the fold.
[Update #2]Turns out I left out an extremely significant chunk of Obama's platform on Native American issues. Thanks so much to ivorybill and jennybravo for new links.

First of all, I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the Kossacks and other members of the netroots community for your commitment to the survival of the Pretty Bird Woman House.  Helping this shelter has been one of the most gratifying things I've ever done, and some of that has to do with the outpouring of caring and compassion that I witnessed while I was doing this project.

This morning I received an email informing me that the McLaughlin City Council had unanimously approved the shelter's petition to operate in the house it wants to purchase. This was a wonderful accomplishment given some initial misgivings that some of the City Council Members had expressed.

A complete update on that and the fundraiser is below the fold.

I want to update everyone who has been involved in the Pretty Bird Woman House fundraiser on the situation with the house purchase.

After you read this you might also ask: Why isn't anything easy in Indian Country?

While we were running this fundraiser, the City Council of McLaughlin, which exists as a separate entity within the boundaries of the Standing Rock Reservation, passed an ordinance requiring that any nonprofit wishing to establish a boardinghouse or shelter in a residential area get the approval of the City Council first.

This means that  even though Pretty Bird Woman House could have closed on the house on January 4th, they had to wait for a Council meeting on January 7th.

Everyone was certain that after hearing about the shelter, the City Council would just say "of course you can."

Not so.

UPDATE: 9:15PM. NOWEASELS WILL MATCH THE NEXT $500 IN DONATIONS... Today lightnessofbeing started a little diary marathon here to go the distance on the final purchase of a house for the shelter.

Here's why....

The other day, Georgia Little Shield, the shelter director, used the money we had raised so far to place a bid on the house you see in the photos below. This was great news, but since there was only enough money for a really low bid, things are still a bit tenuous on the house purchase. And then they will need extra for closing costs and a security system.

But we're coming very close to having this shelter be a successful netroots project!

So here's my challenge: $10K by the end of the weekend to seal the deal!

With $10K more, if Georgia has to bid up a little, she will still have money for closing costs. If the seller, a church, does accept the bid, we can get a security system for the house, which will allow the shelter to begin operations much more quickly.

Where else can you see your donations doing something so huge so fast?

Although other people have diaried the issue of Scott McClellan revealing that George Bush was the one who lied to him about the outing of Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson and Valerie herself are having their say today about what that act constituted: treason. Their point is that the Mainstream Media are yet again complicit with the Bush Administration.

We knew this, but read on for their point of view, which was posted yesterday in the Huffington Post.

(Kossack contingent with Georgia: Rob, Betsy, Georgia, Peg)

On Thursday night, Amnesty International held a wonderful event at the Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan. It's purpose was to present their report "Maze of Injustice," which brought the problem of sexual violence against Native American women to our attention, and to raise funds for the Pretty Bird Woman House. It was a wonderful evening. The museum is gorgeous, and should be a stop in any tourist's New York itinerary.

I often find discussions about Cuba frustratingly polemic. On one side are the demonizers, who see everything the Cuban government does as evil, even if it's providing free healthcare, education, or inculcating equality as a value in Cuban society that is not going to be erased by any infusion of capital.

On the other side are the romanticizers, who  have such tight blinders on that they cannot see anything wrong with anything the Cuban government does. They refuse to admit that the central management system in Cuba suffers from severe bureaucratism, and they rationalize away the human rights abuses that certainly do take place on the island with a Bush-like excuse of, "we'll they're under constant threat, so they have to take tough security measures." What, so it's OK to torture somebody if you're a Cuban government official but not if you're a Bush Administration one?

Really, the only way we're going to get a better perspective on any of this is to get rid of the idiotic embargo and restore full diplomatic relations between the two countries. That's when the dirty laundry will also come out. Like Cuba's relationship with the Stasi.

In late April, after Amnesty International released a report on the problem of sexual violence against Native American women that included a story about the how the Pretty Bird Woman House was in danger of closing its doors, this community rallied to its support. I did too, and then joined a team of volunteers to support the long-term viability of the shelter. On that front, I have some good news, some bad news, and a request for help.

The good news is that this fall Georgia Littleshield, the shelter's director, procured a 3-year Federal grant for the program to pay salaries and travel expenses. This means that during the summer, the shelter would not have been able to assist women in danger or advocate for a woman in court had the netroots not provided interim support.

The bad news is that the building they were in was broken into so many times by people who smashed through exterior walls to gain entrance that it became unsafe safe for anyone to stay there. So, the Pretty Bird Woman House lost its house. To add insult to injury, somebody torched the building the day after they moved out.

When the military junta in Burma began its outrageously brutal crackdown on the monks, students and other pro-democracy activists last month, I had a feeling that this time it had gone too far. For one, Buddhist monks are way too important in Burmese society for the population to acquiesce to the junta striking out at the very soul of the society.

In this light, there is an interesting news report today in Truthout based on an interview with a pro-democracy activist, whose identity is being kept a secret for his own safety, that shows some interesting things about the extent of the internal organization of the movement and how its nonviolent nature will be the final downfall of the junta.

Blog Action Day coincides with Wolf Awareness Week. So I thought I'd startle you into noticing an issue that has been really bothering me since I first heard about it a month ago, and diaried it here.

There have been important recent developments, so I thought I'd take advantage of the environmental theme of Blog Action Day to pass them on.

Who in the world would go up in a small plane and slaughter these majestic creatures, and how can we stop this?

There are several stories coming up right now about Turkey making incursions into Northern Iraq.

The BBC is reporting that here that Turkey is threatening raids on the Northern Iraq.

The AP is reporting here that it bombed a group of Turkish insurgents.

CNN is reporting here that Turkey is bombing suspected Kurdish rebels.

Whichever source is the most accurate, this is bad news. They have attacked the Kurds before, but in 1997.

This is not a good sign for stability in the region.

The other day, my contribution to the Oct 4th bloggers protest over the military junta's crackdown in Burma was this diary on people power in Burma in the face of military brutality.

Given the monks' position in Burmese society, it seemed to me that this time the junta had undermined whatever remaining source of legitimacy it had. A Truthout  article puts it more eloquently than this:

Next, with monks in the vanguard, the movement has revealed the regime's utter lack of political legitimacy and moral authority. By cracking down on the most respected and revered part of its society, the regime has cracked down on the very soul of Burma.

It can still commit incredible atrocities, as other Kossaks have noted, but I think the junta's days are numbered. The rest of the article gave me further hope that this may be actually true. The junta wants us to believe it has eliminated the dissenters, through force or intimidation, but this is not true.

A friend of mine sent me a disturbing article this morning about the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. They have actually banned Bishop Tutu from speaking there, and transferred the woman who invited him. Apparently, two years ago they were perfectly happy to have Anne Coulter speak on campus.

If our academic institutions have devolved to this extent, we are in big, big trouble.

For the record, Bishop Tutu will be speaking at Metropolitan University instead.

What was the reason the University of St. Thomas gave? The Bishop disagrees with Israel's policy on the Palestinians.

Read more on this below.

Today is the day when we are all supposed to blog in solidarity with the people of Burma.

From the beginning of the monk's protest and the junta's horrible crackdown, we have seen wonderful diaries, here and over at Docudharma, by numerous people. Today, budydharma's Burma diary finally made it to the Rec. list here. Other people who have diaried today include skrp23, KoNKO, and Nightprowlkitty, among others. Nightprowlkitty's was inspiring to me.

I can't possibly add any new insights to those wonderful diaries, except to pass along the chant "FREE BURMA" and a story from the Times UK that I got today through Truthout on how  groups of people are continuing to defend the monks.

Since all the countries that have the most leverage over Burma have financial interests in providing only mild responses to the horrific crackdown, the hope for democracy probably lies within Burma, in the demands of the people themselves.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE OF BURMA.

Slaughtering you say? Yes, automatic weapons are being used from small aircraft to gun down wolves in Alaska. What kind of people would slaughter these majestic creatures for sport - in a place where there isn't even the excuse of protecting livestock? This sadistic practice doesn't belong anywhere in a society that considers itself "civilized."

Oh yeah, I forgot...we also elected the Chimp...

Below you will find a sickening video made by the Defenders of Wildlife. I found it to be one of the most disturbing things I've seen outside of the clubbing of baby seals in Canada.

Keep that in mind if you decide to watch it.

Well, I have outrage fatigue practically every day, so today I had it again when a friend pointed out a story I had missed the other day: police brutality in the arrest of a minister and peace activist who was trying to get into the Petreus hearing.  

The original video was diaried here and here.

From the sounds of things, it looks like one racist cop was at fault here. The Reverend's comment, that he was "...beaten in the halls of Congress like it was 1967" will stay with me for a long time, and is perhaps befitting of our times under this administration.

I am starting to think that the reason Republicans have been so easily bought off by polluters is because they hate the environment.

If you think this is a radical accusation, think about the rule that's going to be published in the Federal Register tomorrow which enshrines the practice of slicing off the tops of entire mountains.

You can't possibly have any appreciation for the role that the environment plays in sustaining life on earth and let this kind of thing go on. Obviously Bush does not, because he and his cronies have just given this little parting gift to the most rapacious actors in the coal mining industry today.