Friday, January 29, 2010

OPERATION PAYPAL...

Operation PayPal

Dear supporters:

We are engaging in a program to persuade PayPal (AGAIN) to enforce their Acceptable Use Policy and remove the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC) from their system.

1) Please email and write PayPal, and Scott Thompson, PayPal President at:

compliance@paypal.com

sthompson@paypal.com

Mr. Scott Thompson, President, PayPal
2211 N. First Street, San Jose, CA 95131

2) Please see the letter below to Mr. Thompson.

3) Please don’t cut and paste like Peltier supporters do; summarize your concerns and provide them with factual information and a request for PayPal to enforce their own Acceptable Use Policy (see the AUP on paypal.com; search for acceptable use policy).

4) If you know or discover other avenues to contact PayPal with our concern, please do so.

5) Please spread-the-word and share this request with others and any relevant organizations for assistance.

6) Additional background information concerning Peltier’s finances and questionable fundraising activities, conviction(s) and guilt, can be found at:
http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#fraud
http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#concise

7) Please bcc me with any correspondence.

As always, thank you for your continued support honoring the memory and sacrifice of Agents Jack Coler and Ron Williams and to prevent Leonard Peltier from continuing to capitalize on their brutal murders.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed



Mr. Scott Thompson
President, PayPal
2211 N. First Street
San Jose, CA 95131

Re: Compliance Violation
Leonard Peltier Defense
Offense Committee (LPDOC)

Dear Mr. Thompson:

I have attempted on numerous occasions to bring a serious violation of PayPal’s Acceptable Use Policy to the attention of PayPal’s compliance department concerning “the financial exploitation of a crime” and illegally “collecting donations as a charity or non-profit organization.”

Leonard Peltier is serving consecutive life sentences for the 1975 murders of two FBI agents. He also received an additional seven-year consecutive sentence for an armed escape from Lompoc penitentiary in 1979. Peltier’s case has received more appeals and legal reviews than perhaps most inmates, twice reaching the U.S. Supreme Court and each time his conviction has been upheld. The legal history of his case can be seen here: http://www.noparolepeltier.com/court.html
In June, 2004 PayPal recognized Peltier’s violation of the Acceptable Use Policy and removed the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee (LPDC) from the PayPal system because Peltier was “notorious for committing murderous acts.” As a result, Peltier called upon his supporters to boycott PayPal, Amazon and eBay.

The LPDC has since reorganized as the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC) and is a PayPal subscriber, and although their name and location have changed, their purpose has not.

The LPDOC is a North Dakota non-profit corporation, however, they have repeatedly solicited unlawful donations; according to their website “As with any nonprofit, your donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed,” which is contrary to state laws concerning charitable organizations. They have recently removed that language quite possibly because of IRS actions. The LPDOC also claims that their 501(c)3 exemption is “pending,” (for almost two years now), however they have already solicited allegedly tax-deductible donations and their application will most certainly not be approved because a “donation” cannot go the benefit of one individual. The fact that the LPDOC is acting as a Political Action Committee (PAC) on behalf of Peltier should also be an issue.

Peltier and the LPDOC attempt to hide their purpose behind the guise of providing educational information concerning the case of Leonard Peltier, however, they clearly state on their website whoisleonardpeltier.info that “All proceeds benefit Leonard’s defense fund.”

It would not be possible that the LPDOC has been able to comply with PayPal’s requirements to “authenticate the status of (their) account” or to prove their “tax-exempt status or registration under the applicable country specific regulatory body or laws, and to conduct due diligence,” as PayPal requires.

The fact that the LPDOC is a North Dakota, non-profit corporation is irrelevant because they have not secured charitable, tax-deducible status and are not 501(c)3 approved, and never can be; they are violating the law and using PayPal as their mechanism for collecting these funds for the benefit of a convicted murderer.

I hope you have the time to address this serious matter and abuse of PayPal’s policy.

Sincerely,

Ed Woods

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Obama's invisible apology


Posted with permission of the author. The NPPA agrees with Rob Capriccioso’s assessment except for any consideration by the President regarding clemency for Leonard Peltier. Peltier does not deserve that consideration and will never receive it.

Obama's invisible apology

A sorry saga

Obama signs Native American apology resolution; fails to draw attention to it

By Rob Capriccioso

The version signed by Obama became watered down, not making a direct apology from the government, but rather apologizing “on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native peoples by citizens of the United States.”

Even with the more general language, the apology is historic, but the White House has made no announcements to date about it. Nor has Obama expressed an apology to any tribes or Indian citizens, despite saying on the presidential campaign trail that he thought an apology was warranted.

The resolution Obama signed specifically “urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land.”

So, by signing the document as part of the defense spending bill, did Obama fulfill the resolution? Or, does he have an obligation to say the apology out loud and to let tribes know he signed the resolution?

[White House spokesman Shin Inouye] confirmed that a press release was issued by the White House regarding the president’s signature of the defense appropriations bill, but not one on the apology resolution--nor did the defense release mention that the apology was part of that legislation.

When other countries have apologized for travesties against their own indigenous populations, their leaders have been more up front than the Obama White House to date.

Comment: This tallies with what we've seen of Obama the candidate and president. He's probably offered more symbolic gestures to Indians than any presidential politician. But as president, he's doing the bare minimum to mollify Indians while not alienating anyone else.

Examples: Talking about settling the West and dissolving tribes in his Inaugural Address. Appointing a Republican Mormon to oversee Indian gaming. Holding a tribal summit that accomplished nothing but a promise of more consultations. Settling the Cobell case for pennies on the dollar. Not signing the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights or addressing Leonard Peltier's case (yet). And burying the US apology to Indians and not mentioning it.

We're still waiting for the first case of Obama's saying or doing something that will clearly please Indians but displease non-Indians. We may have a long wait.

Friday, January 15, 2010

"The Smoking Gun"

“The Smoking Gun”

Please see the latest NPPA Editorial Essay #51, “The Smoking Gun” dispelling Peltier’s claims that the Incident at Oglala was a pre-planed government event. There is no basis in fact for this assertion and it is clearly another piece of the contrived folklore surrounding the myth of Leonard Peltier.

http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#smoking

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods

NPPA

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Jack Coler: January 12, 1947 - June 26,1975

Jack Coler January 12, 1947 – June 26, 1975

Jack would have celebrated his 63rd birthday on January 12th, but his sons were robbed of their father, their mother of her husband, and many others of their friend and fellow agent. Jack’s two sons were but one and a half and three when their father was brutally murdered on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

On July 28, 2009, at Peltier’s parole hearing, I had the opportunity to spend most of the day with Jack’s sons at Lewisburg Penitentiary. Because of their young age when their father died they probably have little or no memory of him; but I didn’t ask. I met the younger son by happenstance on April 3, 2000; that encounter led to the creation of the NPPA http://www.noparolepeltier.com/pine.html.

The elder son bears a striking resemblance to his father. And although I never met Jack Coler, that day at Lewisburg I felt I had come as close as I could have. http://www.noparolepeltier.com/debate.html#paroledenied.

The criminal acts of Leonard Peltier and others ended what otherwise would have been a productive Bureau career, a rewarding and loving family life, and by now with the blessing of grandchildren.

Our thoughts and prayers go out Jack’s family and friends.

Jack’s sacrifice in the line of duty will never be forgotten.

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”

Ed Woods