Saturday, November 26, 2016

PELTIER: COMPELLING REASONS...

Dear Supporters:  

There are at least twelve compelling reasons why Leonard Peltier would be the last person the President should consider for commutation of his sentence:

Officer Collin Rose, November 23, 2016, Detroit, Michigan

Detective Benjamin Marconi, November 20, 2016, San Antonio, Texas

U.S. Marshal Patrick Carothers, November 18, 2016, Ludowici, Georgia

Deputy Dennis Wallace, November 13, 2016, Modesto, California

Officer Scott Bashioum, November 10, 2016, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Deputy Daryl Smallwood, November 8, 2016, Byron, Georgia [i]

Officer Darrin Reed, November 8, 2016, Show Low, Arizona

Officer Cody Brotherson, November 6, 2016, West Valley, Utah [ii]

Sergeant Patrick Sondron, November 6, 2016, Byron, Georgia

Sergeant Paul Tuozzolo, November 4, 2016, Bronx, New York [iii]

Sergeant Anthony Beminio, November 2, 2016, Des Moines, Iowa

Officer Justin Martin, November 2, 2016, Des Moines, Iowa

This was just November, and the month’s not over yet.

These officers died in the line of duty as a result of adversarial gunfire. Several though, weren’t just killed, but like Jack Coler and Ron Williams at the hand of Leonard Peltier, were brutally assassinated.

Our thoughts and prayers are with these brave men, their families, friends and fellow officers as they reached their End of Watch.[iv]

Planned for December 4th – 10th in Washington, D.C., a number of mindless Peltier sycophants will gather in ragtag groups to march and demonstrate; chanting, beating drums and carrying signs calling for Peltier’s freedom.

Contrast this, and other Peltier demonstrations, with December 15, 2000 when hundreds of professionally attired FBI Agents and fellow law enforcement gathered at the Law Enforcement Memorial on that crisp, clear morning. Beginning with a prayer for the fallen, we made our way in a dignified procession to the White House.[v] There were no chants or outbursts and the long line was preceded by a single white banner proclaiming their respect for the sacrifice in the line of duty and large photographs of Special Agents Jack R. Coler and Ronald A. Williams.

Agents wouldn’t conduct a counter-demonstration to Peltierites in D.C., but if they did we could suggest several appropriate signs to display in front of the White House and for the media:

“Mr. X was a Lie”
(Peltier’s only alibi)

“Politicians are sleazebags”
(Leonard Peltier, March 2000)

“It was the right thing to do”
(Leonard Peltier, February 2010)

“I’d do it all over again”
(Leonard Peltier, February 2010)

“I don’t regret any of this for a minute”
(Leonard Peltier, August 2014)

“The direct and circumstantial evidence of Peltier’s guilt is STRONG”
(8th Circuit Court of Appeals)

There could be others as well if Peltier detractors chose to get in the gutter with the Peltierites. But these would be redundant and only reinforce that Peltier remains a remorseless, cold-blooded murderer who has perpetuated years of lies and fabrications amounting to nothing more than myth and folklore. Those falsehoods collapse under their own weight with even the slightest scrutiny.[vi] Peltier has diminished an otherwise proud native heritage and within mainstream Native America will be relegated to a pitiable footnote, and for those unwilling or unable to see the truth, little more than a garage sale T-shirt.  

“In the Spirit of Coler and Williams”
Ed Woods




[i] Deputy Smallwood died two days after he and Sergeant Sondron were shot.
[ii] Vehicular homicide: Officer Brotherson was deliberately run down by a fleeing felon.
[iii] NYPD, Sergeant Tuozzolo’s mass was held in a church I attended in the town where I grew up.
[v] The president of the FBI Agents Association (a non-governmental fraternal organization) was allowed into the White House where he delivered thousands of petitions asking the President not to commute Peltier’s consecutive life sentences and the additional seven consecutive years for his armed escape from Lompoc Penitentiary.

Monday, November 14, 2016

PELTIER: 11/8/16, THE LIST & Pearl Harbor

Dear Supporters:

Election day was a revelation to many people, mostly divided into two broad categories, those who are excited and those who are disappointed.[i]

Leonard Peltier must be included in the latter.

As January 20th approaches and The List gets longer and doesn’t include his name there was probably the lingering hope that if Hilary Clinton was elected he may have had one more opportunity for clemency consideration. There was a time, when then President Clinton was leaving office that Peltier was on the short-list for release. It didn’t obviously happen but that’s a story for another day. The Clinton’s were publicly criticized for not releasing Peltier as they allegedly had promised. In any case, and as a reminder to remaining Peltierites, Peltier’s ingratitude was obvious and predictable, and even if President Obama may give any consideration to commuting his sentence we can simply repeat Peltier’s public pronouncement, “These politicians are such sleazebags that you just don’t know.” [ii]

The List

President Obama remains committed to commuting sentences of those who received long prison sentences for relatively minor drug offenses.  The reduction of sentences has been consistent and has not included murderers. It doesn’t include unrepentant cop killers.[iii]

Pearl Harbor

Since April 30, 2000 there have been only a few passing references of a personal nature; they are included in the Editorial Essays, Pilgrimage to Pine Ridge and Mission to Lewisburg.[iv] This was done because the purpose of the NPPA was, and remains, to honor the memory and sacrifice of two brave young FBI agents who were brutally murdered in the line of duty, as well as fostering public knowledge dispelling the myth and folklore surrounding their remorseless killer.  Peltier must also serve the remainder of his consecutive life sentences (plus seven years for the armed escape from USP Lompoc).

Recently celebrating our 50th anniversary, my wife and I went to Hawaii for two weeks, having a wonderful second honeymoon and visiting four islands, and of course, Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S. Arizona memorial. It was a moving experience, especially for a patriotic American and veteran to contemplate the historical significance, bravery and sacrifice on that fateful day.

The memorial included a video of the events leading up to and the attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor. However, there was one comment during the short film that gave pause and seemed inappropriate.[v]

The film ended with, “They will never be forgotten.”

Certainly, those brave servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten.

Nor will Jack Coler and Ron Williams.

“In the Spirit…”
Ed Woods



[i] For those who demonstrated their disagreement with the election results, that is their right. For those lawless and destructive demonstrators, they deserve to be prosecuted. For those who burned the American flag they do that under the very freedom democracy provides and protects even if  an unquestionably lowly act for any citizen. They need to ask themselves a basic question and consider an alternative: Why is it that no one is trying to escape from the United States?  And, they are perfectly free to consider living in some other country. Looking back, if you recall, for those who said they would leave America if George Bush was elected, guess, what? They are still here.
[v] Although the narrator did mention Japan’s invasion and war with China and imperialist expansion into Southeast Asia, the U.S. oil embargo of Japan, and the decision to locate the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii, the commentary was that these developments gave Japan no option but to go to war. Within the context of the events leading up to the U.S. entry into WWII, I felt the “no option” statement was inappropriate. America was in a defensive posture, felt threatened while many countries tried to slow Japanese imperialist aggression. Japan did have an option but chose war instead.