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Schimmel Family to Kick Off National UNITY Conference in July

WOODLAND HILLS, CALIFORNIA – Attendees of the UNITY conference next month will see and hear firsthand one of the most inspiring role models in Indian country as Jude Schimmel addresses them.

Jude Schimmel averaged 5.7 points per game and lead the team in assists with 106.

Jude Schimmel is a star on the basketball court and in the university classroom.

Louisville Cardinals super sixth woman, sophomore guard Jude Schimmel, who won the Elite 89 award for the 2013 NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, will kick off the National UNITY Conference along with her parents Rick and Ceci Schimmel to be held in the greater Los Angeles area from July 12-16, 2013.

The Elite 89 is presented to the student athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average participating in the NCAA championship finals.

Schimmel, who is majoring in sociology, currently carries a 3.737 grade point average, which is the highest GPA among all players in the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four.

For the season, Jude averages 5.7 points per game and leads the team in assists with 106.

The Louisville women’s team lost to UConn in the national championship game last April. Jude’s sister Shoni is unable to attend as she will be playing in the World University Games in Russia.

Jude Schimmel in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship game

As many as 1200 Native American Youth Leaders from throughout the U.S. are expected to attend the UNITY conference in Woodland Hills just outside of LA.

Other confirmed keynote speakers include: The 1491s comedy group, Alex Shulte LPGA golfer, Charles Pierson CEO, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Leroy Not Afraid Crow Nation Legislative Branch, Justice of the Peace, and Deborah Parker, Vice Chairwoman of the Tulalip Tribes.

The lineup of this year’s Speakers is gearing up to make this National UNITY conference one of the best ever.

National Museum of American Indian Annual Living Earth Festival July 19-21

Source: Native News Network

WASHINGTON – Join the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in celebrating its fourth annual Living Earth Festival Friday, July 19, through Sunday, July 21. This year’s festival features live music and dance performances, a Native cooking competition, a film screening, hands on crafts and storytelling for families, an outdoor farmers’ market with local produce and game, a discussion of tribal environmental activism, as well as beading demonstrations and workshops on cheese making and sculpture.

Living Earth Festival Friday, July 19, thru Sunday, July 21

Highlights include:

Indian Summer Showcase Concert

On Saturday at 5:00 pm, this concert in the Potomac Atrium will feature the talents of Quetzal Guerrero, a Latin soul singer, violinist, guitarist, and percussionist, She King, an indie rock outfit from Toronto fronted by Six Nations vocalist Shawnee Talbot, and a performance by GRAMMY award winning artist Ozomatli, a “culture mashing” group whose music embraces influences from hip-hop, salsa, dancehall, cumbia, samba, and funk.

Dinner and a Movie

On Friday evening, the museum’s Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe will offer an a la carte menu from 5 pm to 6:30 pm before the 7 pm screening of Watershed: Exploring a New Water Ethic for the New West in the Rasmuson Theater. Narrated by Robert Redford, the film highlights the lives and thoughts of six individuals living and working in the Colorado River basin and examines the issue of balancing the interests and rights of cities, agriculture, the environment, and Native communities when it comes to water rights. The screening is free, but registration through the NMAI website, is required. Registration does not ensure a seat; seating is on a first come, first served basis. Limited walk up seats will be available on the night of the show.

Farmers’ Market

On Sunday from 10 pm to pm, a farmers market will be open on the museum’s outdoor Welcome Plaza. Local produce and game will be available from Common Good, Coonridge Organic Cheese Farm, Chuck’s Butcher Shop, and more.

Environmental Discussion

On Saturday at 2 pm, Tribal ecoAmbassadors will host a discussion in the Rasmuson Theater on the roles of Native professors and students in addressing environmental issues with a focus on work toward local solutions to preserve public health, reduce carbon footprints, and increase sustainability.

Sculpture Workshop

On Friday at 1 pm and 2 pm and Saturday and Sunday at 11 am, 1 pm and 2 pm in the imagiNATIONS Activity Center, Muscogee Creek artist Lisan Tiger Blaire is hosting a sculpture workshop. Free tickets are available at the Activity Center. The workshops are first come, first served.

WHAT:
Living Earth Festival

WHEN:
Friday, July 19 – 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Saturday & Sunday, July 20 & 21st – 10:00 am – 5:30 pm

WHERE:
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian
4th Street and Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20560

Quinoa Fever: Superfood’s Soaring Popularity is Killing South American Growers

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The burgeoning global demand for quinoa may be negatively impacting the people who grow it, reports columnist Joanna Blythman for The Guardian.

Until recently, the ancient seed was primarily eaten by the rural poor of Bolivia and Peru. Now the superfood indigenous to the Andes mountain range of South America is showing up in restaurants and grocery stories across the U.S. and in recipes all over the web. It is commonly recommended as a compliment to fish or lamb, or to bolster the heartiness of a fresh salad or pan-seared greens.

Indian Country Today Media Network’s food columnist Dale Carson, Abenaki, has likewise written about the healthy pasta substitute—rich in iron, protein, fiber, potassium, zinc and essential amino acids.

“[T]he Inca called quinoa chisa mama, ‘mother of all grain…,’” she writes, offering recipe suggestions for quinoa and beans, as well as a quinoa salad with avocado.

But this sudden championing of quinoa has its drawbacks. The price is soaring, and the Peruvians and Bolivians who have subsisted on it for centuries can no longer afford it.

The New York Times reported in 2011 that increased demand for quinoa had driven up the price three-fold in the past five years. Meanwhile, Bolivia’s consumption fell by 34 percent over the same period.

Costs have shot so high that now in Bolivia and Peru, “imported junk food is cheaper,” writes Blythman. “In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken.” And even more devastating, climbing quinoa prices have been blamed for a rise in malnutrition among children in quinoa-growing regions.

There’s no denying the seed is nutritious and widely touted. The United Nations even declared 2013 the Year of Quinoa, and Bolivia’s President Evo Morales attended the U.N. ceremony on February 20.

But given its ability to cripple food security among South America’s poor, enthusiasm for the seed “looks increasingly misplaced,” Blythman writes.

On the flipside, capitalism buffs like Doug Saunders of the Globe and Mail have contended the economic boost from quinoa exports is reviving the impoverished communities of Bolivia and Peru.

And Edouard Rollet, co-founder and president of Alter Eco—a company that has spearheaded the fair trade and organic quinoa markets—proposes another perspective. The issue at hand, he says, is not whether or not to develop the quinoa market—it is how it is done:

“Giving the poorest of the poor in Latin America—farmers that grow quinoa—access to income or ‘protecting’ this region from globalization, is a false choice,” he said in a recent conference call, reported Mother Nature Network’s Sami Grover. “It’s up to everyone involved, especially companies, to determine if they will operate in a way that fairly benefits those at quinoa’s origin—or if they will operate business as usual.”

Montreal’s First Peoples’ Festival of Fun is Almost Here

Gale Courey Toensing

In a few short weeks, a 100-foot tall tipi will once again rise up at Place des Festivals, the main square smack in the middle of downtown Montreal, in preparation for the 23rd First Peoples’ Festival.

This year’s festival will take place July 30 through August 5 at Place des Festivals and various sites around the city, as well as across the St. Lawrence River on Mohawk territory at Kahnawake. The giant tipi anchors a state-of-the-art sound system and stage where concerts take place, films are screened, and dancers and other performers entertain and educate thousands of people who come to the festival.

André Dudemaine (Innu), the co-founder, president and artistic director of the First Peoples’ Festival, described this year’s program for the Présence autochtone—the French name for First Peoples’ Festival—in a media release.

“This is a cultural event that, as its name indicates, is a presence, and a constant one,” Dudemaine said. “Our festival’s 23rd edition flows from a far more ancient presence and constancy, the millennial cultures of the original peoples of this part of the planet. Despite many efforts to erase these peoples’ indelible mark or relegate them to invisibility, a festival in Montreal can still bear the name Présence autochtone, in dignity and pride.”

The hatchet, Dudemaine noted, has become a metaphor that hits hard and loud—artistically—in the films, poetry, paintings, sculpture and other visual arts, literature, music, legends, stories and history expressed and displayed during the weeklong indigenous celebration.

The First Peoples’ Festival began as a celebration of indigenous filmmaking, and that tradition continues to play a major role in the festival, with numerous screenings throughout the week. Indeed, the festival maintains perhaps the largest archives of indigenous films searchable at http://www.nativelynx.qc.ca/en/filmo.html.

This year’s festival will open with the world premiere of filmmaker Pierre Bastien’s Paroles amérikoises, the opening film, which will be shown on July 30 in the Grand Bibiliothèque auditorium. The film is about Innu poet Rita Mestokosho and the poets she has summoned to Ekuanitshit (“where things run aground”), an Innu community of just over 500 people who were transferred by the federal government to the remote reserve at the confluence of the Mingan River and the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence.

Mitchif (a world premiere) by André Gladu, celebrates the memory of the Métis heroes Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont. Xingu is a Brazilian feature based on the lives of the Boas brothers, veritable South American Schindlers who saved many lives by creating the first officially recognized Indian territory in Brazil. Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth, a sumptuous German production on contemporary Maya cosmovision facing off against the destruction of natural spaces and the hope of the new era that has just begun. Two other not-to-be-missed feature films are Polvo, a story of revenge and rough justice in post-civil-war Guatemala, and the Argentine film Belleza, a diabolical intrigue involving three women—the mother, the daughter and the young Indigenous housemaid.

Poet-singer-songwriter-film director Richard Desjardins will perform l’Existoire ultime (Ulimate Existence) in his last concert before taking an extended leave from performing. Inuit musician Beatrice Deer will open the concert on August 3 at Club Soda, a legendary Montreal music venue that hosts international performers. Two major free concerts are also on tap.

“Fiddle No More is a war cry to say out loud that the bullshit is over and that Amerindians are here to stay and that their presence will be felt with even more strength and determination,” Dudemaine said. The concert will feature rockers CerAmony and Digging Roosts on August 1. The next night Électrochoc zaps the crowd with vibrant music. On August 3, all traffic stops on St. Catherine Street, the main thoroughfare of downtown Montreal, as the Nuestramericana friendship parade takes place, with Indigenous Peoples from all over the western hemisphere marching and dancing to drums. (Related: Video: UNDRIP Parade at the Montreal First People’s Festival)

Other festival happenings include a discovery tour showcasing Aboriginal Montreal; a photo exhibition of the Long Walk of Innu women to Montreal for Earth Day 2012; Inuit sculptors at work on the plaza; a cinema space in a Longhouse where the people can discover works by young First Nations filmmakers; an indigenous food stand, and a fun introduction to archaeology for kids. Finally, the festival will close with the Canadian premiere of Winter in the Blood, an adaptation of the Blackfeet writer James Welch’s novel.

For more, see the full calendar of First Peoples’ Festival activities.

Big Pine Tribe launches farmers market, demo garden

This is the beginnings of Big Pine Paiute Tribe’s new community garden permaculture demonstration garden swale that is planted with fruit trees, berries and shrubs and will “create an edible food forest in a couple of years,” states a news release. The garden is part of a newly-funded Sustainable Food System Development Project which also includes a tool-lending shed, seed bank and farmers market. Photo courtesy Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley

July 8, 2013

Marilyn Blake Philip / The Inyo Register Staff

marilyninyoreg@gmail.com

The Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley’s newly-awarded sustainable food system grant is already sprouting a demonstration garden, farmers market and seed bank as well as fortifying a tool-lending shed and community garden greenhouse.

According to a Big Pine Tribe press release, the tribe recently received a $37,500 grant from the First Nations Development Institute of Longmont, Colo. to support the tribe’s new Sustainable Food System Development Project “with the purpose of increasing availability of locally-grown food as well as knowledge of sustainable gardening practices and native plants.”
For one thing, the grant will enable the tribe to create a permaculture demonstration garden – permaculture refers to an agricultural ecosystem that is intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. The demo garden will be tended in the greenhouse that tribal members set up in February, Tribal Administrator Gloriana Bailey said.
(Read more in the Tuesday, July 9, 2013 edition of The Inyo Register.)

Governor, tribal president talk for just 2 minutes

By KEVIN ABOUREZK / Lincoln Journal Star

July 8^th 2013

Not many problems can be solved in two minutes.

And that includes the situation in Whiteclay.

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Bryan Brewer of South Dakota and Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman had planned for weeks to get together Monday morning to try to address alcohol sales in Whiteclay and alcoholism on the nearby Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

But the meeting ended after fewer than three minutes, and the governor’s office and Brewer later traded barbs over whose fault that was.

“I feel very bad that I came down here to talk with him for a couple minutes,” Brewer said. “He didn’t want to talk to me.”

The tribal leader said he walked out because Heineman was aggressive and said Brewer violated the governor’s request to meet without media involvement. He said the governor had asked him

Bryan Brewer, president of South Dakota's Oglala Sioux Tribe, speaks Monday after meeting with Gov. Dave Heineman to discuss his concerns about alcohol sales in the Nebraska town of Whiteclay that borders South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.NATI HARNIK/The Associated Press — Bryan Brewer, president of South Dakota’s Oglala Sioux Tribe, speaks Monday after meeting with Gov. Dave Heineman to discuss his concerns about alcohol sales in the Nebraska town of Whiteclay that borders South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
NATI HARNIK/The Associated Press

to not speak to the media before their meeting.

However, both Brewer and Heineman spoke to reporters in the days and hours leading up to their meeting. Heineman spokeswoman Jen Rae Wang said Brewer was the one who originally had requested a closed meeting with no media present.

“The governor was happy to accommodate that,” she said.

Brewer said the governor was especially angry about a news release that appeared Sunday saying the governor had received $96,000 in contributions from the liquor industry and charged that illegal alcohol activity and bootlegging in Whiteclay have not been stopped because of financial contributions to him and other Nebraska politicians from Anheuser-Busch, distributors and alcohol trade associations.

A spokesman for Alcohol Justice — a California-based, self-described watchdog of the liquor industry — cited the National Institute on Money in State Politics as its source. The institute describes itself as a nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks to reveal the influence of campaign money on politicians.

“He verbally attacked me,” Brewer said. “I didn’t write that article. I don’t know why he’s mad at me.”

Wang said the governor has not been influenced by any campaign contributions from liquor industry representatives.

“That’s absolutely false, and it’s completely inappropriate,” she said.

She said the governor had set aside an hour to spend with Brewer and had invited Lt. Gov. Lavon Heidemann, Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Col. David Sankey, Chief of Staff Larry Bare and the governor’s policy adviser to attend.

Wang said Brewer made it clear he didn’t plan to stay long and have a serious conversation about the problem of alcoholism on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

At a news conference Monday morning before the meeting, Heineman said the state of Nebraska has no legal way to shut down beer stores in Whiteclay as long as those stores follow the law. And, he said, it is Brewer’s responsibility to address the underlying problem that has led to rampant alcohol sales there.

“As the leader of his tribe, he’s got to put a focus on treatment and education relative to alcohol abuse,” Heineman said.

Brewer refused to take responsibility for his people’s actions, Wang said.

“The governor remained at the table and was hopeful to have an open and honest conversation about some of the difficulties surrounding this issue,” Wang said. “I would just call it an unfortunate situation.”

The Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted last month to hold a reservation-wide referendum this fall on whether to legalize alcohol on the Pine Ridge. Asked whether he supports that, Heineman declined to offer an opinion.

“I think that’s up to them to decide,” he said.

Brewer said he doesn’t want to see his tribe legalize alcohol but that he would do his best to regulate alcohol sales if tribal members vote yes.

He said he met earlier Monday with Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, who offered to assist the Oglala Sioux Tribe address alcohol sales in Whiteclay.

Brewer said he had hoped to talk to Heineman about re-creating an alcohol-free buffer zone south of the reservation that existed for more than 20 years until 1904. He said he also hoped to discuss making Whiteclay a national historic place to honor a massive sun dance that occurred there decades ago. Such a designation could force the beer stores to close, he said.

“I will continue working with the state of Nebraska,” he said. “I’ll refuse to deal with (Heineman) in the future.”

Brewer said he would like to be able to offer more treatment services to tribal members, but the tribe lacks the funding to do so. It has one treatment center with only seven beds, he said.

“I have to come up with the money somehow,” he said. “Our people are dying up there.”

During a news conference outside the State Office Building by activists after the meeting between Heineman and Brewer, Winnebago activist Frank LaMere said the governor clearly failed to show Brewer the respect he deserved as the leader of a sovereign nation.

“President, I apologize for our Nebraska governor,” he said. “I apologize for the way you were treated today.

“That to me is shameful.”

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 402-473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.

Fixing The Great American Health Care Mistake

Mark Trahant, Indian Country Today Media Network

The Obama administration’s decision last week to delay a mandate for large employers to provide health insurance or pay a fine is both meaningless and significant.

It’s meaningless because it impacts such a small number of employers. Nearly all employers with more than 50 employees already provide health insurance. And those that do not, are unlikely to change course because of the penalty (even at $2,000 per full-time employee that costs far less than insurance).

But it’s significant because it highlights The Great American Health Care Mistake. This country should have never forged health care to work. It was an accident, a way to avoid wage controls during World War II. No other country in the world has such a crazy system. And it makes no sense to let our employers make decisions about our health care. All the basic stuff: What kind of coverage we buy, what should be covered, or even our provider networks and, therefore our doctors.

Mark Trahant

This mistake let Americans “pretend” that health insurance did not have a cost. It was a quiet part of our compensation, but because it’s not measured by the employee (although that will change soon), it wasn’t something we were willing to spend money on ourselves.

But employer-sponsored insurance is declining. It’s a trend that began before federal health care reform. The percentage of Americans who receive health insurance through employers dropped from 69.7 percent in 2000 to just 59.5 percent in 2011, according to a report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

And even when company insurance is offered, more employees are saying, “no thanks.” In 2000, 81.8 percent of employees who were offered coverage enrolled. A decade later, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study reported, only 76.3 percent did.

The reason for the decline in both employer and employee participation is simple: Insurance costs are out-of-sight. The study said the premium for employee-only coverage doubled from 2000 to 2011, increasing from $2,490 to $5,081. Family premiums went up by 125 percent, from $6,415 to copy4,447, during the same time period.

Across the country, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study did not find a single state where employee-sponsored insurance actually increased, and 22 states saw decreases of 10 percent or more.

And Indian country? Only about four-in-ten workers and their families have employer-sponsored health care. Remember that many tribes and tribal enterprises are large employers that offer competitive benefit packages.

So what does all of this mean? Sure, the U.S. made a huge mistake linking health care insurance and work. Ideally we would have fixed that with health care reform, but that was politically impossible. So we came up with a sort of dual track, encouraging employer sponsored plans (including the large employer penalty that will now begin in 2015) and giving consumers a choice through state exchanges.

It is those exchanges that should be the focus now. In just a few weeks, people can sign up for insurance through an exchange if it’s not offered by an employer or if a policy costs too much. Starting next year there will be good health insurance coverage available with many subsidies for low and moderate income families. (Considering the demographics of Indian country, buying health insurance through an exchange will likely be either free or a really good deal. More on that later.)

Critics say that the Obama administration’s delay of the employer mandate shows that ObamaCare is unraveling. I think the opposite is true. It’s far more significant that both state and the federal exchanges seem to be moving forward and that individuals can sign up beginning in October with insurance options starting in 2014.

It’s true that the Affordable Care Act doesn’t fix The Great American Health Care Mistake. But it least it opens an alternative route.

Mark Trahant is a writer, speaker and Twitter poet. He lives in Fort Hall, Idaho, and is a member of The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Join the discussion about austerity. Comment on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/IndianCountryAusterity.

U.S. House committee invites Crow Tribe chair to discuss production expansion

Jul 8, 2013 4:46 PM by Q2 News Staff

BILLINGS- The U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee will meet Tuesday to discuss the expansion of coal production on public lands in the United States.

Montana Congressman Steve Daines, who serves as a committee member, revealed that Crow Indian Tribe Chairman Darrin Old Coyote will be testifying during the hearing regarding a recent agreement with Cloud Peak Energy and the hopes the tribe has for that partnership.

Committee members in favor of coal production expansion, such as Daines, plan on using testimonials to tout the benefits of coal production in the western part of the country.

An expansion could mean a change for Montana and Wyoming, as the Powder River Basin accounts for 40% o U.S. coal production.

Opponents say an increase in production might be detrimental to tax payers, as they say coal is currently undervalued.

The hearing kicks off at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C..

If you would like to watch the hearing, you can find a live stream at that time by clicking here.

Father, other Oklahoma relatives file to adopt Baby Veronica as James Island couple seek adoption OK

Andrew Knapp The Post and Courier

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 6:42 a.m.

Baby Veronica’s biological father, stepmother and paternal grandparents have filed court papers in Oklahoma to adopt the 3-year-old girl, a move that dissenting U.S. Supreme Court justices warned could happen and will likely complicate the custody dispute.

Attorneys for Matt and Melanie Capobianco of James Island and for Veronica’s biological mother said Monday that the action defies the high court justices, who asked South Carolina judges to determine where Veronica should live.

The toddler’s mother found the Capobiancos through an adoption agency and, when the girl was born in September 2009, gave custody to them.

Lori Alvino McGill, the Washington attorney for Veronica’s biological mother, said her client, Christinna Maldonado, has not agreed to allow the adoption by anyone other than the Capobiancos and will fight the termination of her parental rights if the couple’s adoption doesn’t go through.

“We believe these frivolous filings in other jurisdictions are designed to further delay the proceedings,” McGill said, “in the hope that it will make it harder for South Carolina to finalize the (Capobiancos’) adoption.”

A Charleston attorney for Veronica’s father said Dusten Brown simply wants to continue raising his daughter.

“We are just trying to follow the direction and guidance of the majority opinion,” Shannon Jones said, “and let the court decide what is in the child’s best interest at this point.”

Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, challenged Veronica’s adoption through the Indian Child Welfare Act, arguing that their shared American Indian heritage gave him preference as a parent.

The Supreme Court ruled late last month that ICWA didn’t apply to the dispute the way a South Carolina judge thought it did. Brown’s parental rights could have been terminated because he never had custody of the girl and never supported her, the justices said.

Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote the majority opinion, tossed the case back to the S.C. Supreme Court and ordered that it be expedited so that Veronica’s custody status could be determined.

But in documents filed with the South Carolina’s top court Wednesday, Brown’s attorneys used portions of the ruling that went against them in Washington to their own advantage.

Veronica has lived with Brown in Oklahoma since he was awarded custody in late 2011, and removing her from the “continued custody” of a loving home wouldn’t be in her best interests, Brown’s filing stated.

His attorneys asked that the case be sent back to Family Court in Charleston so that judges could consider “fresh” evidence. Because 18 months have passed since the custody switch, they argued, much of the information ferreted out during the Family Court trial is stale and wouldn’t serve as a legitimate basis for a custody ruling.

They said she should stay with the “fit and loving father” she’s with now. The girl also has matured emotionally and physically and has developed social skills with her new family, they said.

Veronica “has been extremely well cared for and loved by her father and has thrived,” the document stated.

But if Brown’s parental rights are terminated, his attorneys have a backup plan.

In disagreeing with Alito’s opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling could mean that Brown’s relatives could be considered as adoptive parents and that ICWA would give them preference.

Brown and his wife, Robin Brown, both filed adoption petitions in the District Court of Nowata County, where they lived. Veronica’s stepmother would be a logical choice to raise the girl because they already live in the same home, Brown’s attorneys argued.

But Brown’s parents, Tommy and Alice Brown, also asked the District Court of the Cherokee Nation for a chance to adopt Veronica under ICWA. They have been a certified placement family for the Cherokee Nation since 2011, the court filings stated.

Such petitions could require that the case be transferred from South Carolina to Oklahoma courts.

But those arguments are “absurd” and “offensive to the authority of the United States Supreme Court,” attorneys for the Capobiancos said in a response to Brown’s filing. They noted that some of Brown’s argument was based on the dissenting opinion, not the majority’s.

The Capobiancos had asked the state’s high court Friday to take up the case on an emergency basis, arguing that the ruling in Washington “unequivocally cleared the way” for the couple’s adoption of Veronica to be finalized.

The couple is “willing and able” to move to Oklahoma to ease Veronica’s transition, the document added.

But the competing adoption attempts might further delay a final ruling.

The Capobiancos’ attorneys said the added petitions violate the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which outlaws “forum shopping” in seeking a more favorable venue when a different court already is addressing the case.

They added that the U.S. Supreme Court could not have possibly overturned the lower court’s decision and asked that South Carolina judges take up the case promptly without intending a tangible outcome.

“(Brown) audaciously treats the (U.S. Supreme Court) reversal as an academic exercise with no real world consequences,” their filing stated. “(He) acts as if a decision … is just a technicality — an inconvenient bump in the road that has no practical effect.”

Reach Andrew Knapp at 937-5414 or twitter.com/offlede.

Asylum Awaits Snowden in Bolivia as Thousands March at US Embassy

Sara Shahriari, Indian Country Today Media Network

Thousands of protesters marched in La Paz, Bolivia today, calling on their government to close the United States embassy following an incident that saw President Evo Morales’ plane grounded in Vienna overnight last week amid rumors National Security Agency whistle blower Edward Snowden was on board.

The incident drew outrage from Bolivia and its allies in the region, and prompted Morales to join Venezuela in offering Snowden asylum.

Today’s march by trade unions began as protesters set fire to the French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and U.S. flags but later proceeded peacefully with very little police presence.

“We’re a small country,” said Braulio Rocha Tapia, a union leader from the nearby city of El Alto, as his fellow workers filed past the embassy. “But we must ensure that our country is respected.”

The U.S. is widely blamed in Bolivia for convincing France, Italy, Spain and Portugal to block the presidential plane’s access to their airspace, a claim Spain and France deny, according to the BBC. Today Bolivian state news reported that President Morales has summoned representatives of those countries to answer questions about the incident.

Last week President Morales said he will consider closing the U.S. embassy, and that if Snowden requests it Bolivia is prepared to offer asylum. (Related story: Bolivia Considers Shuttering US Embassy Following Snowden Plane Hijacking)

“I want to say that now we are going to offer asylum, if he asks, to this North America who is pursued by his countrymen,” Morales said on Saturday. “We are not afraid – they have already accused me of bringing this ex-agent of the CIA.”

Marchers outside the United States Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia call for President Evo Morales to close the embassy, July 8, 2013. (Sara Shahriari)