Thursday, December 12, 2013

PELTIER UPDATE: BREAKING CAMP, MANDELA & PROOF OF LIES


Dear Supporters:

Breaking camp: Once again the LPDOC is facing internal strife and the latest leader to abandon ship, Dorothy Ninham, and Peltier himself provide some telling details.  In each statement it is important to focus on those key words and connect the dots to understand what’s really happening and why every two or three years there’s a turnover in the Peltier camp. For a brief review of how ugly it became at times, please see (Footnote #1).

Ninham states “From a business standpoint, it is good policy to replace managers every three years just to keep ideas fresh and so it is that David Hill will guide the new freedom campaign.”  This in effect removes the money-laundering scheme perpetuated by Wind Chases the Sun, Inc, in DePere, Wisconsin. We’ll have to see if David Hill, who has a trunk-full of his own AIM history and baggage tries to wrap it in some other way that the IRS will accept. Remembering, after all, Peltier is not a charity case. Never was, never will be.

So there it is; Peltier, Inc.

It’s a business packaged with folklore and falsehoods that the unsuspecting buy into (no pun intended) without shining some direct light on the facts. Has anyone ever seen where all those allegedly tax deductible donations have gone? No, they haven’t and never will. It remains Peltier’s dirty little secret and no amount of dares have forced him to come clean to his dwindling supporters (Fn #2).

Ninham and those before her have had enough of the Coleman inmates’ bullying  do-it-my-way-or-else fractured ego. Peltier was an AIM thug before he became an AIM assassin and nothing has changed. She gracefully sugarcoats it with, “This is Leonard’s wish and we respect his right to choose the people who will be surrounding him.”  Which is the polite way of saying she’s had enough of Peltier.

Peltier’s explanation revealed more with a predictable understatement  “…those of you who are familiar with the organization, there have been changes every two or three years…,” but as he segues back and forth with coAIMintelpro style
(Fn #3) diversions, trying to convince that “This isn’t all about me,” clarifies that it really is; “We don’t have enough money to always fund the most needed lawyers (…who serve pro bono by the way…) and legal workers or secretaries or web managers or whatever.” The word, “whatever,” should raise some eyebrows because that slip of the tongue, (which has happened before and is actual proof—unlike  many LPDOC cyberspace launched missives—really did come from Peltier himself), pulls back the curtain just a bit and hints that those “tax-deductible” dollars have some other hidden and probably illicit purpose.

But Peltier finally gets to the point of this latest dustup in Peltierland. “So I would like to sincerely encourage you to try and mend your differences…(followed by yet another diversion). Ninham implied nothing of the sort but now Peltier is admitting that there was trouble in paradise. Why else would he ask for some reconciliation amongst his loyal network leaders?

But then Peltier does come down to the a final admission, “…but the future of my involvement is very important to me and when you get to be 69 years old, one day could be a lifetime.” And, then more diversions to keep the eyes of those watching off the proverbial ball. It’s all about him, pure and simple. The pretense of care for his people is part of the scam, an element of the pretense that all he really needs is for you to write a check.

Nelson Mandela: Peltier rambled about the passing of Nelson Mandela, but in a few recent news clips of interviews a couple of key quotes are worth noting; Mandela said he “reflected on (his) mistakes,” and that he engaged in “authentic acts of humility.”  There is one difference with absolute certainty, Peltier is no Mandela and any effort to equate the two is folly.

Proof of lies: Anyone interested in the Peltier experience need not travel far to run headlong into a hedge grove of lies. One can start with the link on the NPPA’s home page that takes them to Peltier’s website, where, among other things are two flagrant examples of Peltier’s penchant to lie and the LPDOC’s inability to recognize that they are helping make the case for Peltier’s guilt even stronger.

Mr. X, anyone? This two decade long lie and one of Peltier’s early and many alibis has been proven to be false in 1995  by one who was at Jumping Bull that fateful day, Dino Butler. And, along with other additional proof, most recently by Peltier’s own attorney just this year. (Fn #4)

Yet here we have the film “Incident at Oglala” played, annoyingly without prompting, and the dated and slanted 1991 Steve Kroft, 60 Minutes interview. In both a masked and graveled voiced Mr. X claims credit for driving the red pickup and first engaging and then killing the agents. This isn’t new news to anyone, either for or against Peltier and common knowledge that Peltierites desperately try to bury.

In “Incident” Robideau goes into great detail about what he saw and Peltier himself follows with, “This story is true.”  Well, it wasn’t.

With Kroft, Peltier admits “Yes, I fired at them,” but in his autobiography, Prison Writings (1999) claims “I fired off a few shots above their heads, not trying to hit anything or anyone (p.125)” Ooops…must have forgotten what he told Kroft while he also failed to mention anything about Mr. X or the infamous red pickup in the book. Wonder why that happened?

The reason these two pieces are on the Peltier homepage is obvious, self-perpetuating propaganda because there is criticism of the FBI and Peltier’s conviction. They both, however, in an awkward sort of way, portray and augment the myth and folklore Peltier has succeeded in wrapping himself in as he tries to transform the murderer into a warrior and the Native into a perpetual victim. He plays both cards from the bottom of several marked decks.

Actually, they lay bare the blatant hypocrisy of Peltier’s fabrications (i.e., deliberate lies), but only those looking closely can see the trees and the forest.

There it is, in living color on Peltier’s home page, one of the key people in the entire legal process of his last nearly four decades behind bars, as Kroft asks Federal, Court of Appeals Judge, Heaney, the sixty-four dollar question.  (It is my personal opinion that this live interview was not scripted and based on the bias of the entire 60 Minutes program—taken wholly from the then Peltier playbook—that Kroft was taken aback by Judge Heaney’s response, like the lawyer questioning a witness who should never ask a question unless he already knows the answer.)

Kroft: “Do you believe he got a fair trial?”
Judge Heaney: “I believe he got a fair trial.”

Case closed.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Footnotes:

Friday, November 1, 2013

Discussions with S.D. Legislator Steve Hickey; Part 1


Dear Supporters:

(South Dakota, State Legislator, Steve Hickey {R-District 09, Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls} has proposed clemency for Leonard Peltier as a meaningful gesture in celebration of South Dakota’s 125 year state history. His underlining principle has merit, however, most of the reasoning is based on the many falsehoods and folklore promoted by Peltier over the years. There will be a series of factual responses in the NPPA Blog addressing these issues and outlining why Leonard Peltier is the last person deserving of any consideration by the good people of South Dakota. "In the Spirit of Coler and Williams"  Ed Woods)


Steve:

In response to one element of your comment “(and there is no evidence he pulled the trigger or even had the gun).”

It’s important to explore this in some detail.

Five people know exactly what happened; FBI Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams, AIM members, Dino Butler, Bob Robideau and Leonard Peltier.

Two, of course had been severely wounded by AIM members, and then murdered.

We can only hope (and pray) that Jack Coler was unconscious and unaware of his fate. Ron Williams, however, was alive. So we have a wounded FBI Agent who can identify at least three of his assailants. He’s able to look them in the face and into their eyes as he raised an arm in defense as a high powered bullet sent his fingers through the back of his skull. (Peltier, during his escape, was later quoted as saying “the M..f…begged for his life but I shot him anyway.”) The rifle then perhaps turned on Jack Coler with two more shots destroying his head. Dead men make poor witnesses.

We can speculate that perhaps the three each took one shot apiece at the wounded agents, possible, but not likely. As Peltier said, “we gotta get out of here,” as they ransacked their vehicles, stole their weapons and headed for the hills.

Dino Butler has remained remarkably silent, perhaps being the only one with some semblance of a conscience.

Bob Robideau, in an email to me, said, “They died like worms,” and to me personally in New York City, that he killed the agents and if he was in the same situation, those agents would be dead again. This was at a time when he was attempting to take as much of the blame off Peltier; he later abandoned Peltier for thoroughly disgusting reasons which will not be mentioned here nor on the website, however, is available on the Web. Reasons that cast even deeper shadows on Peltier’s character.

Peltier has a long history of an inability to offer the truth or at least stick with just one version of what happened at Jumping Bull:

He was in the AIM camp eating pancakes and drinking hot coffee when the shooting first started (Prison Writings), he fired over their heads not to hit anyone (PW), In a 60 Minutes interview he admitted, publically, shooting at the agents. Perhaps one of the most outrageous excuses, likened to his alibi of “self-defense,” was the claim that Coler and Williams were sent in to draw fire from the AIM camp so hundreds of law-enforcement in the area could come in and finish them off (PW). This was based on the alleged “sanctioned memo” (see link below). And, of course, the two-decade long lie of Mr. X. Remember Robideau in “Incident at Oglala’ going into detail, pointing off into the distance describing Mr. X, whom they all knew and was delivering dynamite to the camp that day, engage the agents, wound them, go down to the wounded agents and shoot them to death, then driving off into the distance in the infamous red pickup? And, in the very next scene in the film Peltier saying “This story is true.”

Dino Butler, publically said this was a lie, and recently Peltier’s own attorney admitted as much. So what are we to believe from Peltier? As has been offered scornfully in the past; he wasn’t in Seattle that day.

Peltier was indicted, charged, tried, convicted, and appealed on the issue of Aiding and Abetting in the murders of Agents' Coler and Williams. Peltier has tried to distance himself from this fact but it is a matter of record and undeniable.

The Government’s  argument (legal position) during the trial was that Peltier was the killer (a premise I agree with), and the jury accepted it. The decision addressing this issue is contained in PELTIER v. HENMEN, cite as 997 F. 2d 461 (8th Cir. 1993), page 485, section II, paragraph 2: "Peltier's arguments fail because their underlying premises are fatally flawed. (A) The Government tried the case on alternative theories; it asserted that Peltier personally killed the agents at point blank range, but that if he had not done so, then he was equally guilty of the murder as an aider and abettor."

I have read the entire trial transcript and all the court decisions (more than once) and understand the testimony and the legal charges and arguments on both sides. It takes some time, but  have you had the opportunity to review those important details? Aside from the other evidence, the testimony of the critical witnesses is telling and what the jury had to consider placing Peltier at the murder scene. (see link)

I hope we can engage in a civil discussion on the facts and Peltier’s undeserved consideration for clemency or recognition by the good people of South Dakota.

Regards,
Ed

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

PELTIER: A YELLOW MEXICAN?


Dear Supporters:

It’s common for criminals to use aliases and Leonard Peltier is no exception.

Why and how they pick, also-known-as, a.k.a., aliases is unknown, but they serve one obvious purpose, to disguise one’s true identity.

Peltier had at least four known aliases. His FBI Wanted Poster, issued December 3, 1975 clearly lists; Leonard Littleshell, Luis Martinez, John Yellow Robe and Leonard Williams (Footnote #1).

The source of Leonard Littleshell is a mystery known only to Peltier, however, it is at least Indian sounding, and after all he is a Native American. He does though distance himself from his real heritage by using the anglicized pronunciation of his surname as Pel-teer versus the French iteration, Pel-ti-a. 

A little history can perhaps explain the meaning of two others.

On November 14, 1975, as a result of an FBI All-Points-Bulletin, Peltier and others were pulled over by Oregon State Troopers. Peltier escaped from a motor home, (loaned to the American Indian Movement’s cause by actor Marlon Brando).

At Peltier’s trial Trooper Ken Griffiths described “a large Mexican appearing person got out of the vehicle.” (Trial transcript at {2224}). (This ‘person’ was later confirmed to be Leonard Peltier.) Griffiths asked Peltier his name, and was provided “a common Mexican name.” Griffiths ordered Peltier to the ground as, during some commotion, “two female Indian ladies and an young child” also exited the motor home (Tp. {2230}).

The motor home backed up briefly and then took off down the highway as Griffiths believed a shot had been fired at him from Peltier who was now running away and over a fence. Initially, between him and Peltier were the two women and child, but Griffiths was able to fire two shotgun rounds at the fleeing subject. The point is, as was further clarified during an anemic cross-examination by Peltier attorney, Bruce “I’ll take the Fifth” Ellison, that Peltier used the distraction of the motor home and the position of the women to make his escape. (Fn. #2)

This would support the notion of the “Louis Martinez“ alias (Peltier believing apparently he could pass for a Mexican-American), and the “John Yellow Robe” as he once again demonstrated his low regard for women. Once with Anna Mae Aquash by placing a “gun in her mouth” trying to force her to confess that she was an informant (it has been proven she was not, however, AIM thought otherwise and ordered her kidnap and murder nonetheless), and now with women and a child as cover, he flees again. (Fn. #3)  The “yellow” in this alias is appropriate and indistinguishable from the cowardly and murderous acts at Jumping Bull five months earlier.

The ironies in the Peltier saga are too many to list, but this one, as unexplained as it remains, is beyond just a quirk of fate. Of all the names Peltier could have chosen to disguise his true identity, sometime in his criminal career he chose the one of a future victim. If it wasn’t so pathetically serious it’s as if Peltier at some point sealed his own destiny.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Footnotes:
As a constant source of irritation for Peltier as he’s repeatedly denied the basis of the charge of aiding and abetting in the murders of Agents’ Coler and Williams, please see the notation at the bottom of the wanted flyer. This is why, as promised in a previous blog, that Peltier, when he receives mailed copies of NPPA updates and blogs, he also receives an autographed copy of I.O. 4681 for his records and as a reminder that no one is buying that nonsense.

#2) Ellison, a true believer but who has drifted from the Peltier camp was quick to point the finger at the FBI for alleged wrongdoing but when it came down to putting his own credibility on the line, he either fell back on the 5th Amendment or refused to testify.





Sunday, October 13, 2013

"SHOPLIFTING?" "INVISIBLE PELTIER WALKS FROM WOUNDED KNEE in '73"


Dear Supporters:

Just when you thought the Peltier mythology couldn’t possibly get any nuttier, we now have incredible new “facts” to add to the string of falsehoods following Peltier around his concrete condo.

This could be considered just another coAIMintelpro (Footnote #1) ploy but it’s too fundamentally weak to have any substance. There are other reasons as well.

Thanks to the reporting of (http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com) we have none other than Dennis Banks himself, AIM cofounder extraordinaire, rewriting, no, inventing, history. Putting it kindly, Banks has either lost his mind or actually thinks that when his lips are moving he’s telling the truth. All this during the October “Tribunal” in Green Bay under the watchful eye, (albeit closed), of Dorothy Ninham, who also, “testified.” Sounds so official and meaningful…more on that in a moment.

The Blog stated, “”When the two FBI agents came to the Jumping Bull camp, the FBI claimed they were there to serve a warrant for shoplifting. Banks asked "When does the FBI ever do that?" Banks pointed out that this was not the reason the agents were there.””

Thank Dennis for clarifying his own conundrum; no, the FBI didn’t say that, nor would it investigate shoplifting. The incident at the Schwarting ranch was real and had nothing to do, as one of the old (and now ignored) myths promoted, with the theft of an old pair of cowboy boots. (Fn #2)

A real grabber was:
“”Banks described how he and Leonard Peltier were made "invisible" by Leonard Crow Dog as they left the Wounded Knee compound in 1973. Banks said it seemed a little unbelievable when Crow Dog said he would make them invisible to leave. However, Banks said, "When we walked out of there carrying our supplies of food, they didn't see us."”

Did Banks actually imagine that Peltier was at WKII? Was this a hallucination or was the mystical Crow Dog able to literally make people invisible? Guess so, because, Crow Dog managed to teletransport Peltier 850 miles from Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to a prison cell in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Understand, Dennis, that Leonard missed the seminal AIM event (beyond the murder of Anna Mae Aquash) because he was in prison at the time. Leonard said (Prison Writings, p.106), “I wish I could have been there.” (Yes, he was acquitted of that charge: See, there’s a fact that Peltierites have no issue wrapping their heads around.)

So either Banks is lost in AIM space somewhere or the reporting was sorely inadequate. Either way, it’s one of the many things that made the “Tribunal” laughable.

It was grateful, according to the Blog, that “Banks thanked Dino Butler for exposing the fact that the "Mr. X" scenario was designed to discredit AIM. (Mr. X with identity hidden was video taped and the person claimed to have shot the two FBI agents.)”

“Claimed to have shot?” Discredit AIM? How does that even make any sense? If that was the case then there’s a broad conspiracy out there that must include some key players, most notably, Bob Robideau and Leonard Peltier himself (along with Peter Matthiessen, who knew Robideau was lying anyway; Fn. #3). Can anyone forget Robideau (we can’t because the darn movie is played on whoisleonardpeltier.org with annoying regularity), with his whinny effeminate voice, greasy hair and boney arm, pointing off into the distance at Jumping Bull for the camera describing Mr. X, someone they all knew, who first shot and wounded the agents and then executed them, driving off, as Robideau details, in the red pickup, never to be seen again. That is not until Matthiessen and Robert Redford bought into the scam as well. But it’s impossible to ignore the next scene as Leonard Peltier looks into the camera and confirms, “This story is true.” And quite a story it was, Peltier’s first real alibi, that someone else did it, a classic coAIMintelpro fabrication.

What Butler actually said to E.K. Caldwell in his 1995 interview, publically exposing this part of the Peltier myth for the first time was, “Well there is no Mr. X. there was no man coming to our camp that day bringing dynamite. Those are all lies created to keep Leonard in jail longer.” (The entire interview can be seen here; Fn. #4.)

For the factually challenged let’s look at that again and note that this statement was made first-hand by Butler expressing his public anger over the whole Mr. X. scenario and how he felt duped, compromised and betrayed by Matthiessen and others. Notice, he stated that this related to Peltier (“To create this lie to show that someone else pulled the trigger.”), and not, as Peltier/AIM revisionist history is being portrayed by the “Tribunal,” to discredit AIM. If that was the case then Robideau and Peltier would have been AIM’s greatest enemies at the time. No, Ninham and the “Tribunal” can’t reinvent the wheel. It was …Mr. X the lie, a phony alibi, from the beginning. The fact that it was forgotten, or marginalized by Peltierites and the LPDC for over two decades doesn’t change what it really was: just more fraudulent folklore.

Aside from the fact (hate those pesky things), that it was made ‘official’ in November 2012 when then, Peltier attorney, Kuzma (sorry, Michael) admitted publically that Mr.X “was concocted,” (A polite but unequivocal way of saying, yep, it was a lie alright), makes any discussion about Mr. X all the more ludicrous.

So isn’t it a wonder why after all this nonsense, the exposure of an immense lie perpetrated by none other than Peltier himself, that the LPDOC is still playing “Incident at Oglala” every time someone visits their homepage? What’s needed is “Incident at Oglala Two,” or “Incident at Oglala Revisited,” and edit out all the lies that make the entire story inconsistent. Heaven forbid, because Michael Apted, Robert Redford and Carolco Films would have a fit. Wonder if they feel embarrassed for being played for such fools?

Peltier has yet another attorney, Mr. John Privitera, Esq., 677 Broadway, 5th floor, Albany, NY, 12207-2503, (518) 447-3200; practice areas; Environmental Litigation (40%), Environmental (30%), Land Use/Zoning (30%), and a former NY State Environmental Protection attorney. Unless he’s pursuing mineral rights and environmental issues on Pine Ridge (a notable cause for sure), he is a little out of his element (no pun intended); his area of expertise is a little off the mark to jump into the Peltier cesspool. On the other hand, word has it that he’s been here before, and in either instance the LPDOC is due for a thorough disinfecting anyway.

Perhaps Mr. Privitera should ask advice from the long list of “former” Peltier attorneys. Some of whom were very capable and gave Peltier the full measure of their time, talent, legal expertise and mostly offering it pro bono to the cause. The only exception being former Peltier attorney, Eric Seitz, at the 2009 Lewisburg parole hearing, who uttered one of the most irrational public  statements thus far (Fn. #5). (To set the record straight regarding exactly what was said at the hearing, notwithstanding Peltier’s blather about what was allegedly presented, he is again defied to post the hearing transcript on the Web. That would end any further discussion and silence his detractors. Not likely either way though.) Peltier attorneys have collectively picked through every crevice of the legal history of Peltier’s conviction, and then some. All, it seems, finally reaching the same conclusion, Peltier had his day in court and in the final analysis is a narcissistic self-absorbed huckster with delusions of grandeur and a warped and misplaced sense of his own importance. He has systematically, and consistently, crushed the spirit of those who wanted desperately to believe in him and his fabricated cause. So much for gratitude and best intentions.

Another former Peltier attorney, Bruce Ellison also “testified,” telephonically, but stayed away from the crucial things. Too bad the “Tribunal” was so lopsided and Ellison wasn’t cross-examined about his own personal knowledge; let’s say of Anna Mae Aquash’s abduction. He would very likely have taken the “Fifth.” No wait, he’s already played that card from the bottom of the deck. It should be very troubling to everyone that an attorney is compelled to do that. What’s being hidden? Ellison has more baggage than Louis Vuitton.

The “Tribunal” called for “…the appointment of independent counsel to review and charge all those guilty of murder and assaults on Pine Ridge, where there have been more than 60 unsolved murders.”  Just how long will Peltierites beat that drum? That’s a rhetorical question; they’ll apparently do it as long as they beat the one that mindlessly links Peltier as a cause célèbre for global Indigenous rights. The “Tribunal” is mimicking just another smokescreen by wasting time calling for an independent investigation, they need only just read the statistics, or better yet, investigate for themselves and come up with some other explanations. “Unsolved” (hope Anna Mae isn’t still included in that number) is just one more propaganda diversion. (Fn. #6)

The Tribunal had all the substance of breath on a mirror; hot air and moisture that quickly dissipates.

Maybe the Tribunal, aka ‘LPDOC shell game,’ should focus on keeping it’s own house in legal order. The offer “To make a tax deductible donation, send a check or money order made payable to "Wind Chases the Sun," a 501(c)3 tax exempt entity (and our fiscal sponsor) and write "LPDOC" on the Memo line.  Send your donation to the below address,” has a putrid odor to it. Let’s see, raising money for a convicted felon for political actions and alleged defense funds, and filtering it through another “sponsor” sounds pretty much like the definition of money laundering. Which, of course, is a felony. Perhaps the IRS and a United States Attorney are acting on complaints already made to those offices, or perhaps Ms. Ninham and the LPDOC would care to explain to its contributors exactly how that mechanism works…while they’re at it, how about opening the books and divulging where all that money has been going?

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods
  
Footnotes:

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

PELTIER: SIXTY-NINE, HISTORY & UPDATES


Dear Supporters:

-September 12, 1944;   Grand Forks, ND    D.O.B.

-November 1969 – June 1971; Takeover of Alcatraz, Peltier misses.

-1972; Peltier joins AIM

-February-May 1973: Wounded Knee II; misses seminal AIM criminal incident; Peltier-fugitive

-June 26, 1975: Jumping Bull, Pine Ridge SD; Murder and aiding and abetting in the deaths of FBI Agents Coler and Williams. Peltier; “And Really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.” (See below)

-February 6, 1976; Arrested in Canada, begins incarceration.

-March-April 1977: Convicted; consecutive life sentences.

-July 20, 1979: Armed escape from Lompoc. Free for five days. Seven consecutive years added.

-October, 1984: “Ballistics’ hearing.” Peltier offers no contradictory evidence.

-July 28, 2009: Parole denied. Next hearing; July 2024.

-September 12, 2013: Peltier turns 69, nearly a Septuagenarian. Jack Coler and Ron Williams never had the opportunity to enjoy a full life and their golden years. Peltier continues to serve the rest of his sentences.

In a September 9th statement, Peltier makes some valid points about indigenous rights (claiming now to be the World’s humanitarian) but then spoils it through his narcissism by saying, “I am a prime example of what happens when you try to stand up and protect elders…” Peltier is always confused between whether he’s a brave warrior shooting severely wounded humans in the face, or a poor Native victim. June 26th at Jumping Bull had nothing to do with anything but the actions of lawless cowards who spin this event with coAIMintelpro tactics (http://noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#unmasked), or, as when he stuck a gun in Anna Mae Aquash’s mouth (http://rezinate.wordpress.com/2013/08/24/gun-in-her-mouth-peltiers-sister/)

Peltier’s understanding of his own peoples’ history is as skewed as ever, “We as Indigenous people have always supported each other. We have a history of Native trade between Nations in all four directions.” Leonard better recheck history because there was plenty of  Indian on Indian violence and domination long before and after the white Europeans started moving West.

Peltier couldn’t possibly say this with a straight face; “We need Indigenous attorneys who aren’t motivated  by money to represent the overwhelming number of Natives who are locked in prison cells.” After the taxpayers paid for a load of lawyers for his trial and appeals, he’s gone through more pro bono attorneys than he can probably count or recall. Each had eventually come to the conclusion that the convicted murder remains a remorseless fraud built on a foundation of self-serving folklore wrapped in a moth-eaten blanket of myth and counterfeit benevolence. Try getting Peltier to open his books or posting the minutes from the Lewisburg parole hearing for starters. http://noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#financial, http://noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#paroledenied

Peltier’s confession: Public statement February 6, 2010

There has been renewed discussion about NPPA claims that Peltier confessed to killing Agents Coler and Williams. http://noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#confession

Let’s explain this so even the lowest common denominator can understand. Peltier talks about his “commitment.” He references Joe Stuntz. Stuntz was at Jumping Bull, along with Peltier. He mentions Buddy Lamont anecdotally. Lamont was at WKII, Peltier was not. But he’s very clear about “I’d do it all over again…” The key here being “all.” He made no exclusions. He didn’t say, “some things,” or “certain things,” and made no qualifications or exceptions. By “all” he includes everything he was committed to and involved in, and that means…Jumping Bull. Its called context. Peltier wasn’t thinking and stepped into it big time with this statement. This was after his Lewisburg hearing and if he ever has another parole hearing you can bet some fake wampum that he’ll be hearing that statement again. 

As for all the allegedly tax-deductible donations (they’re not), and fundraising (the “Bring Leonard Home in 2012” NYC concert was a financial flop), for attorneys fees to somehow translate this into convincing the President to consider clemency; it’s not going to happen. The President will quickly recognize the unrepentant Peltier for what he really is, a huckster who hijacked an otherwise proud Native American history for his own entertainment, and a remorseless killer who will serve the remainder of his proper sentences.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

Saturday, August 24, 2013

As long as the rivers flow...


Reposted from Rezinate Blog, August 20, 2013:

As long as rivers flow and grasses grow Peltier will remain the unrepentant liar he is. His own words spoken over the decades verify such is the case.
Peltier to Richard LaCourse:
 “All I can say is this, people on my reservation know about what happened that day. They know who fought and they knew who was courageous and they know who was the hero. They know I fought very, very hard that day. Although I didn’t kill nobody, I fought very, very hard. I was not afraid. I stood there (unintelligible) the enemy as a warrior should when he’s victorious. I wasn’t afraid. I was not afraid any of those times. I can’t get up here and say, tell the world I was a courageous warrior. Especially in this system, I can’t tell the system I was shooting at their police officers that were trying to arrest me. They’ll hold that against me. I’ve got to be careful about that stuff.”

Here above he admits he was shooting at Williams and Coler,  and in typical fashion can’t resist the opportunity to flatter himself in saying he fought hard as a hero and courageous warrior-elsewhere he has said he was merely shooting in a direction where no one could be “hit,  hurt,  killed.” And he’s so ignorant he says he can’t say something and then does.

Note also his statement about “police officers that were trying to arrest me”-that is the key to everything that transpired as Peltier believed they were coming for him regarding a Wisconsin warrant.

Peltier to Darrin Wood:
 “For me it’s something very heroic that he’s done. He’s putting himself at risk, seriously at risk. I will say this: that this brother is a very strong brother. He is not a cold-blooded murderer. He is not a bad person, he’s very kind, generous and sincere.”

The choice of words are bizarre even by Peltier standards-he is saying that the non existent Mr. X  despite shooting two wounded men in the face at point blank range is a “kind” person.

To Mark Potter:

Mark Potter:  So with those cars down there, at the center of all that,  you, as a leader,  never,  never went down to see what was going on?

And after being told Robideau placed him there Peltier had the following to say. “Yeah, Well, shoot. I mean I, I. Yeah, I guess, you know. I knew they were dead, they got killed; I heard they got killed. I knew they got killed.

And from Mathiessen’s  In The Spirit of Crazy Horse”

“I felt like we were all dead,” he said to somebody. “I was feeling crazy because there were still women and children up there in June’s cabin. When Joe came down there to the cars, I said to him, I think they’re gonna kill everyone here. That’s what I told him, this is the day to be a warrior.”

This admission that he was present at the cars predates his initial attempted denial to Potter-guess he must have forgotten it.

Maybe a Peltierite would care to explain the obvious contradictions?

Like I said before-if Peltier were Pinochhio a separate cell would have to be provided to accommodate his nose.

Rezinate

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

coAIMintelpro...


Ed Woods Unmasked; coAIMintelpro;
Tactics for the Defeated:

Dear Supporters:

Peltier, the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC), Peltier supporters (Peltierites) and the scant remnants of the American Indian Movement (AIM) find it impossible to defend Peltier with the facts; they lose at every turn. Instead, they engage in tactics that they themselves accuse the FBI and others of committing, their perpetual rallying cry is “Cointelpro,” the FBI’s counter-intelligence program that ended in 1971. Peltierites engage in their own brand of spreading deliberately false information, either publically or covertly (by planting false rumors), in order to influence the uninformed and hopefully shift opinion, that by some bizarre stretch of logic Peltier is innocent and an alleged ‘political prisoner’ who deserves freedom. Or, they obscure the truth, because the facts and the truth are their biggest challenge. They are unable to debate the facts, so they attack the messengers. They attempt to discredit targeted individuals using totally unreliable and uncorroborated sources as gospel, like a doggedly literal child accepting opinion as fact, possibilities as certainties. When it comes down to specifics, they change the subject, ignore the question, obfuscate, and fall back on the only defense they can muster; “It was Cointelpro.”

Please see the continuation of Editorial Essay #61 at:

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Amnesty International & Leonard Peltier; NPPA Response 7/31/13


Dear Supporters:

What follows is a response to an Amnesty International blog post on 7/17/13:

It’s apparent that Zeke Johnson needs to do more research for A.I.; there is much more than just the Peltier folklore-rhetoric-talking points. As for the five reasons, let’s add the following:

1) Poor Bear:  The final word on Peltier’s extradition comes not from Peltier but the Canadian government and the Minister of Justice who stated “…that Mr. Peltier was lawfully extradited to the United States.”  Poor Bear did not testify against Peltier at trial, and for good reason as noted from the trial transcript by the 8th Circuit; ““Her testimony was at times very vague, and she often responded that she could not remember. Indeed, the defense counsel, anticipating that she would be called as a witness for the government, described her in his opening statement as a “witness whose {F.2nd 333} mental imbalance is so gross as to render her testimony unbelievable”” Yes, let’s repeat that, “the defense counsel,” Peltier’s attorney, threw her under the proverbial bus when they thought she would be a witness against Peltier. On direct-appeal the 8th Circuit stated regarding extradition; “Peltier’s claim is, on its face, lacking in substance.” This may be a good time, as well, to review the critical witnesses against Peltier, those who, besides the other evidence, the jury had to consider in their guilty verdict.


2) FOIPA: The document was a preliminary FBI Laboratory report that the District Court did not believe was discoverable, however, the 8th Circuit sent it back to the District Court for a three-day evidentiary/ballistics hearing, something which Peltier and others always fail to mention. At that hearing Peltier had a firearms expert in the courtroom, but did not call him to testify nor did they offer any contrary evidence. The court decision (authored by Judge Heaney, infra) made it fairly clear that, “When all is said and done, however, a few simple but very important facts remain. The casing introduced into evidence had in fact been extracted from the Wichita AR-15. This point was not disputed; although the defense had its own ballistics expert, it offered no contrary evidence.” And also during the direct appeal the 8th Circuit stated “The evidence of Peltier’s guilt was strong.”

3) Judge Heaney: Understand that he made his decision based on the facts and the law, which was confirmed in his cameo appearance in the film (not documentary), Incident at Oglala, notwithstanding, that he later expressed his own personal feelings about Native rights. Note, however, he never said or implied that his decision was wrong (or denied on a technicality as Peltier professes), nor that Peltier was innocent. Quite the contrary, “…the record persuades me that more than one person was involved in the shooting of the FBI agents. Again, this fact is not a legal justification for Peltier’s actions, but is a mitigating circumstance.”

4) U.S. Parole Commission: If the parole hearings allegedly provide such a powerful inference of Peltier’s innocence, then there is a very simple solution. Have him post on the LPDOC website the transcript of the 2009 hearing. That way, people can judge for themselves the truth and depth of Peltier’s guilt and claims of innocence. But that would never happen because it would divulge much too much and Peltier would never want all that to come out.

5) Coleman: Peltier may have infrequent visits from family members, is approaching age 69, in poor health, suffering from diabetes, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing the folklore.

Besides...how do we get beyond Peltier’s own self-incriminating statements, changing stories and the two decade old fabricated alibi that someone else, the phantom Mr. X. in the infamous red pickup truck was the one who killed the agents? Even his own attorney recently admitted that was a lie.

If A.I. has studied this case as it claims, then why are the specifics of the legal history being ignored in favor of the folklore? Making this an alleged political issue instead of the criminal act it was, weakens a meaningful discourse.

Yes, correctly pointed out, the legal remedies have been exhausted; and Peltier should be given as much humanity as he gave Jack Coler and Ron Williams.  Justice is being served with consecutive life sentences, and which Peltier ignores, the additional seven consecutive years for the armed escape from Lompoc.

In addition to the conviction, Peltier himself has proven his guilt beyond all doubt. How else can reasonably intelligent people get beyond statements like ““I seen Joe when he pulled it out of the trunk and I looked at him when he put it on, and he gave me a smile,” Leonard remembered. “I didn’t think nothing of it at the time; all I could think of was, we got to get out of here.” (ITSOCH, p.552) (As they were standing over two mutilated bodies of the men they had just shot and killed.) Or, in a public statement on February 6, 2010, “I never thought my commitment would mean sacrificing like this, but I was willing to do so nonetheless. And really, if necessary, I’d do it all over again, because it was the right thing to do.”

“Because it was the right thing to do” shows no remorse, no civility, no compassion, no rehabilitation, however, it is an admission of guilt.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

SA Ronald A. Williams; July 30, 1947 - June 26, 1975; Rest in Peace


Dear Supporters:
 
Ron would be turning sixty-six and it is not known how the rest of his life may have turned out; perhaps a long and rewarding career in the Bureau, or as he mentioned to close friends, an interest in law school and maybe a legal career as a prosecutor or Assistant U.S. Attorney. In either instance, based on all we know about his talents, intelligence, dedication and personality, it would have been successful. Perhaps now with grandchildren and looking forward to enjoying his later years, except for his chance encounter with Leonard Peltier and other American Indian Movement prairie dogs

There is no doubt that Jack and Ron were taken by surprise, ambushed, if not deliberately a set up, then an ambush nonetheless.

The kindest words Peltier’s biographer, Peter Matthiessen, could muster in six hundred-plus pages amounted to “in a few wild minutes, Coler had received that shocking wound, and Williams could not or would not desert him – the details, the degree of bravery, the precise order of events are lost.”

In predictable Peltier fashion Matthiessen states,  “Williams could not…,” implying a denigration of Ron’s character that maybe he would have if he had not been caught in a deadly crossfire, which only further validates what happened that June day. Ron’s bravery was unmistakable, severely wounded he made his way to Jack to use his shirt as a tourniquet in an effort to save his life.

Although, and we also know this from Matthiessen’s many interviews of those AIM greasy-grass gangsters involved that day, that Ron first waived his shirt “as a white flag in sign of surrender.” Why else would Matthiessen even write this unless those AIM perpetrators described it for him; perhaps even Peltier himself told the true story that way.

We know how it ended; two brave men, severely wounded, surrounded, and then murdered by a pack of AIM cowards.

But Matthiessen, flawed again, claims, “the details…the precise order of events are lost.” Lost? Not hardly. Those details are precisely known by Peltier and the others.

But the “degree of bravery “ is not up for debate, Jack and Ron fought back as best they could under a barrage of rifle fire from two directions. Ron’s valiant effort to aid and save his mortally wounded partner is unquestioned.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods

Monday, July 22, 2013

SELF DEFENSE...


Reposted from Rezinate Blog; July, 21, 2013
1.the act of defending one’s person when physically attacked, as by countering blows or overcoming an assailant: the art of self-defense.
2.a claim or plea that the use of force or injuring or killing another was necessary in defending one’s own person from physical attack: He shot the man who was trying to stab him and pleaded self-defense at the murder trial.
3.an act or instance of defending or protecting one’s own interests, property, ideas, etc., as by argument or strategy.
This seems pretty clear cut to me, and by definition excludes the events at Jumping Bull.
Nowhere in this accepted definition does it define an act of self defense as including the ability to purposely shoot mortally wounded men offering no threat or resistance at point blank range, who even if a case could be made that at some point they did constitute a threat.
Nowhere in this definition does it allow for the subsequent looting of whatever affects they may of had.
And nowhere does it allow the right to shoot a wounded person waving any kind flag in an act of surrender.
The truth is that after the initial shootout Williams and Coler were finished off to insure a lack of witnesses,to prevent them from identifying their assailants offering any testimony if they had survived-especially on Peltier’s part as he was convinced they had come to arrest for a Wisconsin warrant-the sole motivation for all that transpired and had absolutely nothing to do with self defense.
The fact that Robert Robideau and Dino Butler were able to employ such a defense ably assisted by a presiding judge whose wife and daughter were enamored of AIM, had had AIM members in their home, and engaged in fund raising doesn’t change the legal definition of self defense.
AIM, the Peltierites,and LPDOC shed crocodile tears about the great injustice of Peltier not being able to claim or argue self defense during his trial-yet they never address the reality that no grounds existed for him to do so-and the fact that Robideau and Butler were able to in a rigged court doesn’t set a president.  
To me it would be the same if a rapist murdered a woman who fought back and then attempted to claim he did so  to protect himself.
There isn’t a court in the land that would accept that, and it is a travesty that a court accepted Robideau’s and Butler’s defense.
I suspect that if this case were to be tried today all would have been found guilty and might well have received the death penalty. There was a time when I supported Peltier, but in retrospect I think the page began to turn as I paid more attention to his own words, the ongoing contradictions and obvious lies, the marketing campaign and the revenue being generated.
That led me to reading transcripts and various documents, and that’s when I closed the book on my personal support of him.
In addition I never saw any of the AIM leadership for anything more than what they were and are-thugs,murderers,and con men.
They and Peltier have been in the majority supported by a distant white fan base ignorant of the realities, that knows little or nothing about the rez or indigenous life….some sort of liberalism willing to assume rather than be informed-willing to gloss over or make allowances when it is justice that is called for, not a free pass.
A type of liberalism that has negatively impacted the nations for decades and will continue to do so as long as wannabes and misguided armchair activists are a part of the equation.
I by no stretch of the imagination can be called a conservative, nor likewise a liberal that goes to the extreme of wanting to edit words out of  books because they are “politically incorrect” -to engage in such an act is an attempt to rewrite history, to alter the  historical record, a window into another time and what was acceptable.
We cannot survive as the people we are and have been without our traditions-something AIM has been on a mission to usurp despite whatever for profit rhetoric they may intone.
They have sold everything unique to us as a people and continually strive to sell even more.
Take a look around-more specifically examine your favorite “leader”, take note of what they are offering for sale, then when you talk about the “spirituality” and great respect for our way of life, our beliefs they profess, let me know how you reconcile the differences between what they say and what they do.
What the nations need to do is to rise up in an act of self defense and drive these agents of cultural genocide from our midst.They are not only apples but the rotten apples that taint the bushel, and I personally wouldn’t give a plug nickel for the whole damn bunch of them.
Rezinate