Native Alaskans starve while Palin plays politics

Representative Ramras: Organized a cash and food drive from local non-profits, Churches and business. When he was denied help from the Palin administration in transportating the donated supplies to the needy villages, he himself organized transportation to get the 4,500 lbs of donations trucked from Fairbanks to Anchorage and then flown from Anchorage to Bethel. In response to the unintended conflict in state law, Ramras introduced legislation to allow future governors the flexibility to use state assets to transport supplies for compassionate aid.

Governor Palin: After denying the use of a state aircraft to deliver donated supplies from Fairbanks to the villages, Palin relented and allowed DPS to fly supplies from Bethel to Kotlik. At a press conference three weeks ago when asked about Emmonak, Palin offered to fly to the village to see what she could do personally (not from an official stand point but personally). Palin never made the trip and a few days later sent five state officials to the villages to investigate. Two weeks after the officials have returned, the administration has yet to offer any plans.

One of the biggest frustrations about this situation is that while there is a completely legitimate argument that government can't do everything for everybody, this was an instance where caring private citizens and companies responded with overwhelming compassion but were met with bureaucratic malaise.

Of course educating ones self on the history of U.S. Government crimes against humanity will not help the people there who are freezing as we write these notes to each other. If it isn't physically possible to help them directly now then the next course of action might be to email your U.S. Governmental representatives and bring their immediate attention to this injustice and demand that they redress this immediately. Just a thought for those of you that give a damn. For the rest of you...GET BENT! And at least go get the books I recommended and educate your fool selves!

The Native people of North America, in this case specifically the U.S. have been living under the oppression of the U.S Government for 200+ years and for three hundred years prior to that were fighting to keep their lands and lifeways in the face of a technologically advanced and numerically greater invading horde. They refer to it as the 500 years war and to them it hasn't ended even to this day.

This sad story is just one more example of the U.S. Government's systematic "assimilation" of the Native peoples of the Americas. It amounts to another way of achieving the annihilation of a large number of distinct and unique cultures through intentionally spreading disease among them, starving them by forbidding them to secure their food in their traditional ways on their ancient hunting grounds, destroying their habitat, moving them onto reservations of sterile tracts of wasteland far from where many of them originally lived, forbidding them to speak their native languages, denying them the right to practice their religion and a myriad of other documented, sinister, U.S. Government "policies" not the least of which is the wholesale slaughter of their population with the machinery of war, all of which amounts to the complete destruction of their cultures which is no less than genocide.

Two books for those of you who read them which are seminal in learning the truth about this dark history of the U.S.A. are:

"Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee"
by Dee Brown

"Exiled In The Land of The Free: Democracy, Indian Nations and the U.S. Constitution"
by Oren Lyons et. al.

Buy them. Read them.

Palin's a self serving wench. Having wildlife shot from airplanes at tax payer expense, selling rights to hunt other wild life to out-of-state trophy hunters while indigenous people starve, destroying habitat for the very fish people are depending on for survival...

She is not a servant of the people, she is a servant of the rich.

There are not enough people in Alaska who are not there to merely exploit the resources to vote the republicans out of office.

Send money to the defenders of wildlife, send money to the defenders of indigenous people, send money to Palin's political opponents and to any news agency that provides the truth about the destructive apocolyptal religious freak that is Palin.

Ya know folks.....This is extremely stupid....Why can't the gov rent one of those herc planes and send these poor "Americans" a little food to help them thru the winter..
While I'm sure there are not any uhaul trucks laying around up there---probably no roads to a large city like Anchorage or Fairbanks..None //////////////
So, that means they'd have to fly...They are probably broke, no money...So, they'll have to sit around in there lil village and simply starve..

I'm sure that would make the headlines and "perhaps" even shake up that Palin gal....Once she gets the news !!!
Ok, someone give the address and I'll ship a few cases of food to them..Can't help the whole country but might be able to help one family...

Alaska has always been in the shit hole.

Here's a good summary of what Palin has(n't) done.

http://www.andrewhalcro.com/palin_quils_mangent_de_la_pilot_bread

I don't know how much of this Palin may be responsible for, but...
North American Natives have been treated as second class citizens since the first European landed on these shores hundreds of years ago.

It is no surprise that the people of the state that has a governor that says, "drill, baby, drill" pays an exorbitant amount for gas and and other necessities.

There are people going hungry and without heat in the lower 48 because they have no means to pay, also.

Unlike the privilage to vote, the ability to feed your family, stay warm in winter and health care are a right that should be afforded to all.

last week it was...oh my, Sara Palin is killing all the wolves from planes...this week the natives are starving...the natives live off the land...should more wolves be killed so all the poor moose and Caribou are left for the natives to eat? You people that criticize this lady are nothing but well...you know...

Palin 2012.

Palin wants dominate all the fish and wildlife in Alaska. She wants to increase sport an commercial fishing. She is continuing lawsuits to overturn the rights of natives to subsidence hunt. While Palin and her family hunt and fish, it is only a small portion of the total food they eat. For many natives that is ALL they have to eat. They are even gathering nuts and berries during season. Its foolish to even entertain the thought that native hunting would be considered a threat to game supplies as compared to commercial harvesting. Their is also an issue with possible native opposition to the trans canada pipe line. No one is trying to fix everything from their living room. We are just trying to bring a little attention to American right here in the USA that could use a little help.

Hey I was speaking out of ignorance, they're not even native... I'll shut up now..... next

I may be speaking out of ignorance here (to lazy to wlipidea it right now) but at one time weren't these people nomatic?

Wait a minute... a hunter/fisher preventing others from the same; something else is going on here... maybe the federal laws are stopping people from doing so w/o liscenses or feds.are limiting amts. because the studies they have say the fish and game are threatened... it's not cut and dry... listen to Obama he'll tell you. Looks real easy to fix sitting in your own living room but trying to fix things through all the red tape/laws and paper work is NOT easy!!!!

Clown (what an appropriate name) I don't think any one is threatened by Palin as much as want to puke at the sound of her empty headed right wing by golly cliches as she pimps herself for the Christian right. Meanwhile, the people in her state are starving and freezing to death. Unfortunately for them, Inuits and Indians aren't a key electoral constituent so she delegated some flunky to go check on them in a week or so to see if they have the bad taste to still be dieing.

Failin' Palin showed her true colors while entertaining the nation a few months ago with such political ignorance that she couldn't even remember the last newspaper, magazine or book she had read. She left me with the impression of why should she care about anyone if it doesn't advance her political career?

I've seen first hand how Native Alaskans are treated as second-class citizens, particularly in Anchorage. So I can see why they would be reluctant to move away from their ancestral lands & probably end up with even less control over their destiny.

Well, from what I understand, these people are being starved out by Palin because they are being "charged" for being in the way of new pipelines. That is why they have to pay $1500 monthly to keep from freezing to death. It's all about political extortion. This is the kind of "maverick" Palin is.

Any people that have this of a hard time deserve to be helped "now"....
They simply cannot jump into a uhaul and leave the town they've been all their life...

I believe in spending measure for a state but this is beginning to be a very extremely large problem...So don't tell me they have to leave when they get hungry...

These people need help...Give my the address and I'll send a case of food....

This is the United States of America,,,not Africa !!!

It's important to understand the differences between Inuit and non-Inuit cultures. The way of life for Natives in remote Alaskan villages is far different than any other place I have lived in my 52 years. The subsistence-based way of life has been decimated by uncontrollable circumstances through no fault of their own. In a community with extremely few income-producing jobs, the State has a responsibility to step up and take care of it's own. A response above said Villagers should rent a U-Haul and drive to a better place. Hmmm, no roads in or out of nearly all remote villages. Maybe trade non-existent fish and seal oil for airline tickets? The Inuit ARE Alaska... shame on Palin for not quickly responding to the dire needs of those who helped elect her.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's office said the state is trying to find a way to free up government help.

"Local government specialists in the state Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development continue to crunch numbers and seek creative approaches to finding a statutorily acceptable way to justify a disaster declaration, which would open the door to federal aid, as well," deputy press secretary Sharon Leighow said.

Leighow said Palin is sending her new rural advisor, John Moller, to the area next week, accompanied by representatives of the Alaska Food Bank.

So Palin is supposed to break the law to get this done. It seems to me that she is doing everything she can to try and find a legal way to get these people help. Now if your messiah Obama wanted to he could declare this an emergency, but I don't here him speaking up. Hell he has not even been to Kentucky yet to see the extent of the damage there. It is sad that in this day and age people in this country still fight starvation, but to try and lay this all on Palin is weak and agenda driven. I am not a huge Palin fan, but come on how is it here fault that Alaska is in the midst of its coldest winter in at least 5 years if not longer.

I don't think it's fair to tell someone to pack his 5 kids up and move. I am sure there are no resourses to do so. The solution is not relocation, it's reform. Also, depending on where the guy drives, he may not make a living there either. Maybe in Canada right now but all of our United States are having their own budget problems. Might be a waste of money to go somewhere else just to starve when your home is Alaska.

I suppose that you think that people should be allowed to live in very dangerous areas with no fear of consequence. I don't care if they are native, they KNOW the area and problems better than you.

LMAO

Vote Palin 2012!

global warming will do wonders for alaska

While I agree that simply telling someone to MOVE is a little too much, these people do live in the middle of NO WHERE. It's difficult to get supplies, food, fuel, etc to these people in the first place; it becomes exponentially more difficult with a dumbass governor like Palin and the economic situation that we're in.

Moving seems a little smarter anyways, 1500 dollars a month to heat a house is ridiculous. Rent a UHaul and move; you'd more than make up the money it costs you to move 3000 miles in a matter of months. Common sense is second to none.

Palin's type of conservatism is a sickness. A sickness that spreads from the top, down.

Key phrase, "We have remained quiet, cried and suffered in silence". How could anyone help them if no one knows? It's not Palins fault! Shucks, those people standing on roof tops in New Oleans waiting for govrnment to come save them would have died. Local people are fisrt responders. But in the snowed in conditions up in the upper state who would know?

The middle class is going down the tubes...
Thanks to what political idealology?
What is Palin?
The GOP- socialism only for the rich!

to powerhungry's first comment under this story - please keep your insensitive and ignorant comments to yourself. Current is better than that and its shame to have you dumbing down the site.

This just shows how out of touch Palin[alaska's bimbo] is with a majority of Alaska's people and futher how out of touch the republicans are with the condition of most of the American people! They only savy rich people!

Hmmm, I had a Yupik girlfriend from Alaska and she was going to go back. She's from a small town called Bethel, so I imagine it'll be tough for her to go back there...

The ones who make those idiotic and insensitive comments like "Then MOVE!" will be whining for the U.S. government to bail them out when this economic tide rolls over them. It's only a matter of time.

I live in Juneau, Alaska and I understand how rural Alaskan's feel. That is there home, that is where they've grown up and raised their children. It has a certain sentimental value to them. Most rural Alaskans wouldn’t have anywhere to go if they left their villages and most haven't even ever left the state! The governor has implemented a "State spending freeze" so of course these people will continue to starve.

Don't respond to things you don't understand. Your opinion is only as valid as the knowledge you have to back it up with. Clearly you (powerhungry) have a home with heat and a kitchen full of food and a road to drive on. These people...DON'T! Lets just tell all the African's who don't have anything "MOVE IF YOU DON'T HAVE FOOD"

What an eloquent comment. If you cant afford to buy food of course you could use your spare change to move 3000 miles away.

Then MOVE!