And the State Police did get involved. We'll wait and see if they can indeed cite on Federal property. It's kind of funny, you know. It's Federal property when it comes down to absolute (it's a myth) ownership, it's Federal property when they want mineral rights under it, but it's our property when we need appraisals or surveys or somebody wants to tax it.
So, is this Federal property? Can State Police cite them? What about the Tribal Court Order? Exhaustion of venues hasn't taken place, will Timmy Live through his operation? Tune in tomorrow to find out the exciting conclusion to a day in the life of some crazy Native Americans.
Kelo land news is staying on this story so check out their site.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Protest over a battle for of all things, land...
There is a protest going on right now as we speak in Marty, South Dakota home of the Ihanktowan (aka Yankton Sioux). There have been multiple arrests, including minors, as protesters seek to block front loader bulldozers from breaking ground on a new pig farm that will be occupied by thousands of pigs and their waste near a Head Start Program filled with Native children. A man was struck by the metal scoop of the front loader (which is used to excavate tons of dirt) and was medically evacuated by ambulance.
SD State Troopers have violated their jurisdiction by arresting protesters on a BIA controlled road which is considered Federal land and therefore off limits to State Agencies and Law Enforcement. It was said that the arrests of the minors and others were conducted illegally by the State Police on the Federal Road and they were escorted to State Land nearby to receive their citations and were released.
South Dakota Highway Patrol has informed the Officers that they are in fact in violation of their jurisdiction as this is being written and they are being told to stand down and not to detain anymore protesters. Dakota, Lakota and Nakota and other Native Activists including a AIM chapter are mobilizing to this spot to support and join their Indigenous Families to protect their Native children and community from this gross violation of Tribal Sovereignty and Basic Human Rights.
For More Information contact Kip Collins through his e-mail: keyawitko2676@yahoo.com
Now if that doesn't scare you what will? Arrest a minor? Yes it happens, when they do some horrible things, but protesting? I guess in some people's eyes that's a "horrible thing."
The Yankton Sioux Tribal court has already banned this pig farm from the boundaries of their reservation. I guess when you think about it, it's natural that the pig farm would go there. Nobody else wants it so go ahead Arlan Ross try putting it on that land-locked piece of fee property over there. Just step lightly mind you, if you step on Trust property getting there.....well, you're in for a heap of trouble.....Oopps, I meant, we'll arrest them there kids to keep you outta trouble.
...............sigh.................
SD State Troopers have violated their jurisdiction by arresting protesters on a BIA controlled road which is considered Federal land and therefore off limits to State Agencies and Law Enforcement. It was said that the arrests of the minors and others were conducted illegally by the State Police on the Federal Road and they were escorted to State Land nearby to receive their citations and were released.
South Dakota Highway Patrol has informed the Officers that they are in fact in violation of their jurisdiction as this is being written and they are being told to stand down and not to detain anymore protesters. Dakota, Lakota and Nakota and other Native Activists including a AIM chapter are mobilizing to this spot to support and join their Indigenous Families to protect their Native children and community from this gross violation of Tribal Sovereignty and Basic Human Rights.
For More Information contact Kip Collins through his e-mail: keyawitko2676@yahoo.com
Now if that doesn't scare you what will? Arrest a minor? Yes it happens, when they do some horrible things, but protesting? I guess in some people's eyes that's a "horrible thing."
The Yankton Sioux Tribal court has already banned this pig farm from the boundaries of their reservation. I guess when you think about it, it's natural that the pig farm would go there. Nobody else wants it so go ahead Arlan Ross try putting it on that land-locked piece of fee property over there. Just step lightly mind you, if you step on Trust property getting there.....well, you're in for a heap of trouble.....Oopps, I meant, we'll arrest them there kids to keep you outta trouble.
...............sigh.................
Friday, March 21, 2008
A Grand Contracted Mess
Remember back when I discussed the contracting of CFEDS surveyors and even Appraisers? Remember when I said that accountability walked out the door, when Office of Special Trustee and Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Land Management all CONTRACTED their work out?
Here is what happens when anyone, I mean anyone, contracts work out to civilians who are under no authority to be reprimanded. Boo Hoo! Their contract service goes away and then you wonder what happened to their stolen documents, the stolen information, the breach of security of sensitive documents, sensitive information. It happened at the State Department as seen on Yahoo, news page by the Associated Press Writers, titled 3 CANDIDATES PASSPORT FILES BREACHED.
Now for any Natives out there, ask yourself if you want a CONTRACTOR to the Federal Government who also has an elected position in their county, their state, their city, to come on the reservation and survey your land. If this contractor who works for another government does come on the reservation and surveys your land, he is now privy to information such as the title of the land, and the description, and the owner. If you are the owner who has been waiting for years to have your land changed from Fee (tax) to Trust land, congratulations, the tax man just came onto your land!
If you are a County Treasurer wondering how much you should charge that crazy Indian living in the corner of your county that is on the reservation for land that he didn't know was out of Trust, congratulations! With a quick phone call to the appraising firm that works for the BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, or the OFFICE OF SPECIAL TRUSTEE, you are also on the list of people who will gain access to this information.
If you are with Office of Special Trustee, DO NOT TELL ME IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, DON'T TELL ME IT WON'T HAPPEN, DON'T SAY ONE WORD!
Look at the State Department. You think you're more intimidating than Condoleeza Rice? You think you can control someone who isn't an employee of yours?
If you do, then you're stupid. What am I saying "if?"
For those of you on reservations, listen up. They, meaning Office of Special Trustee, Bureau of Land Management, and the Glorious Bureau of Indian Affairs have all been contaminated with a dose of guillability.
We currently have CONTRACTORS performing
ALL OUR APPRAISALS
ALL OUR SURVEYS
on our reservations. Well maybe not all the appraisals, maybe not all the surveys, but they could................
Makes you wonder if they'll be walking your property next week don't it?
P.S. Ever wonder how power companies get easements? They have to provide appraisals, and surveys. Ever wonder who did that for them? Look at their employee records. In the words of Borat, Wowwie Wow Wow Wow! They have appraisers and surveyors on staff! How come they didn't contract out for that? And more importantly, why didn't a Federal Surveyor and a Federal Appraiser do it for us? Check your power lines, check your negotiations for payments on the land that these power companies use. There better be a Federal survey, and a Federally reviewed appraisal.
P.P.S. IT CAN GET REALLY DEEP AROUND HERE SO PUT YER WADERS ON!!!!!!!
Here is what happens when anyone, I mean anyone, contracts work out to civilians who are under no authority to be reprimanded. Boo Hoo! Their contract service goes away and then you wonder what happened to their stolen documents, the stolen information, the breach of security of sensitive documents, sensitive information. It happened at the State Department as seen on Yahoo, news page by the Associated Press Writers, titled 3 CANDIDATES PASSPORT FILES BREACHED.
Now for any Natives out there, ask yourself if you want a CONTRACTOR to the Federal Government who also has an elected position in their county, their state, their city, to come on the reservation and survey your land. If this contractor who works for another government does come on the reservation and surveys your land, he is now privy to information such as the title of the land, and the description, and the owner. If you are the owner who has been waiting for years to have your land changed from Fee (tax) to Trust land, congratulations, the tax man just came onto your land!
If you are a County Treasurer wondering how much you should charge that crazy Indian living in the corner of your county that is on the reservation for land that he didn't know was out of Trust, congratulations! With a quick phone call to the appraising firm that works for the BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, or the OFFICE OF SPECIAL TRUSTEE, you are also on the list of people who will gain access to this information.
If you are with Office of Special Trustee, DO NOT TELL ME IT DIDN'T HAPPEN, DON'T TELL ME IT WON'T HAPPEN, DON'T SAY ONE WORD!
Look at the State Department. You think you're more intimidating than Condoleeza Rice? You think you can control someone who isn't an employee of yours?
If you do, then you're stupid. What am I saying "if?"
For those of you on reservations, listen up. They, meaning Office of Special Trustee, Bureau of Land Management, and the Glorious Bureau of Indian Affairs have all been contaminated with a dose of guillability.
We currently have CONTRACTORS performing
ALL OUR APPRAISALS
ALL OUR SURVEYS
on our reservations. Well maybe not all the appraisals, maybe not all the surveys, but they could................
Makes you wonder if they'll be walking your property next week don't it?
P.S. Ever wonder how power companies get easements? They have to provide appraisals, and surveys. Ever wonder who did that for them? Look at their employee records. In the words of Borat, Wowwie Wow Wow Wow! They have appraisers and surveyors on staff! How come they didn't contract out for that? And more importantly, why didn't a Federal Surveyor and a Federal Appraiser do it for us? Check your power lines, check your negotiations for payments on the land that these power companies use. There better be a Federal survey, and a Federally reviewed appraisal.
P.P.S. IT CAN GET REALLY DEEP AROUND HERE SO PUT YER WADERS ON!!!!!!!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The poorest of the poor.
I listened to a human rights activist, whose heart is in the right place speak about some work he was doing in Africa. He said when he got there he was continually surprised to see the local population was always happy, always smiling, even though they had very little in material means.
My question then is, why would you change that? If they really are happy having school under a tree, why would you give them a modern building with doors that separate classes, separate cultural mentors from younger children, separate the student from the environment?
And then I reflect on how the reservation effects affected many of our tribal nations. The Navajo lost much of their culture when they were put in houses with separate rooms separated by doors. What was once a family classroom 24 hours a day in a one room hogan, was replaced by a "modern" house which instilled that "this room is mine, and this house is my family's, and this is our food in our refrigerator.
The Nisqually Indian Tribe were already in houses. So while reservations were made to centralize most other Indians, the U.S. Government created the Nisqually Indian Reservation and then gave them houses because they were too close, so while the effect was to herd up plains Indians, it was also to spread out other coastal tribes.
And now here we sit today and place values on the crops we cultivate on our reservations. Only, "we" is an appraiser contracted by the Office of Special Trustee to come in here with no exposure to a closed tribal market and place a S.W.A.G. (scientific wild ass guess) on the value of our land, our crops, our leases, our timber, our resources lost as a result of rights of way, and easements.
Now my only caution to any of you is that when you take an appraisal from the Office of Special Trustee, take the appraisal and neatly file it away in a quiet, secluded, dark corner, locked away for eternity.
An appraisal is the MINIMUM AMOUNT YOU SHOULD BE GETTING, NOT THE STANDARD! Think about it. Ever bought land? When you did, did you ask if the land had been appraised? Of course you did, because that is the maximum amount you wanted to pay. If you're a savvy buyer, then you pick the property apart to refute or even LOWER the amount you will offer to below the appraised value.
Ever looked at land to sell and wondered how to increase the appraised value if you were selling? Of course you did! You knew the appraised value held some value because it will be used against you. You will want your appraised value to be as high as possible because you know that a buyer will hedge against that value.
If you're sneaky, you don't get an appraisal, and sell to a unwitting buyer who either has a lot of money to throw away or has the credit line to swallow your enthusiastic selling attempt.
So, when your reservation gets a reservation wide appraisal, glance at the amount that land is going for, but don't stare at it. We don't want to get used to that amount. We want to actually NEGOTIATE like we mean it. If all else fails let BIA tell everyone that the lease meets the appraisal quote, like Gerald Ben said they do in this article on The Authentic Voice.
Gerald said, "The only thing the bureau has to do is make sure the rate meets the minimum approved rate."
hmmmm....would that minimum rate be the APPRAISED QUOTE? Hmmm?
That doesn't sound like much of a negotiation does it? Well let's hope that Gerald Ben isn't the one "negotiating" for your best lease on your land. As a matter of fact, lets hope that more tribal members are empowered with knowledge so that like Ernestine Werelus, we all negotiate the most advantageous leases from an obviously lucrative resource that all tribes share in common, the land.
And yet, he challenges us to question appraisals: at an ITMA Listening Conference at Wild Horse Resort in 2004, he responded to...
...a question from the audience about appraisals showing Indian land as less valuable than off-reservation land, Gerald Ben stated that if a landowner has questions about an appraisal, “ask them to come back and explain to you so you know for yourself that what you sold your property for was really what it was worth.” He said that the BIA is trying to get local appraisers how know the reservation to work on contract so that appraisals can be done more quickly.
But then he would never question the fact that BIA sends out requests for Authority for BIA to negotiate your leases for you; insted the BIA will merely sign off on leases that went to bid, with no respect to the the minimum approved rate because it is "in your best interest," according to 25 CFR.
And they smile at us at every conference, at every public engagement. They smile at fellow Indians whose leases rob them of the chance to be prosperous.
I would think that much like our fellow human beings in Africa, we'd be better smilers too if we had far less to deal with. Let me live on the land, let me be poor, just don't let someone else profit at my expense--it makes me feel abused. I guess my thanks for that feeling go to my friends, my fellow human beings, my fellow tribal members at the BIA who fail to speak up for me and for all tribal people. Don't feel guilty, just act for me, act for my aunties, my cousins, your relatives.
Restore the smiles we all had wayyy back when.
My question then is, why would you change that? If they really are happy having school under a tree, why would you give them a modern building with doors that separate classes, separate cultural mentors from younger children, separate the student from the environment?
And then I reflect on how the reservation effects affected many of our tribal nations. The Navajo lost much of their culture when they were put in houses with separate rooms separated by doors. What was once a family classroom 24 hours a day in a one room hogan, was replaced by a "modern" house which instilled that "this room is mine, and this house is my family's, and this is our food in our refrigerator.
The Nisqually Indian Tribe were already in houses. So while reservations were made to centralize most other Indians, the U.S. Government created the Nisqually Indian Reservation and then gave them houses because they were too close, so while the effect was to herd up plains Indians, it was also to spread out other coastal tribes.
And now here we sit today and place values on the crops we cultivate on our reservations. Only, "we" is an appraiser contracted by the Office of Special Trustee to come in here with no exposure to a closed tribal market and place a S.W.A.G. (scientific wild ass guess) on the value of our land, our crops, our leases, our timber, our resources lost as a result of rights of way, and easements.
Now my only caution to any of you is that when you take an appraisal from the Office of Special Trustee, take the appraisal and neatly file it away in a quiet, secluded, dark corner, locked away for eternity.
An appraisal is the MINIMUM AMOUNT YOU SHOULD BE GETTING, NOT THE STANDARD! Think about it. Ever bought land? When you did, did you ask if the land had been appraised? Of course you did, because that is the maximum amount you wanted to pay. If you're a savvy buyer, then you pick the property apart to refute or even LOWER the amount you will offer to below the appraised value.
Ever looked at land to sell and wondered how to increase the appraised value if you were selling? Of course you did! You knew the appraised value held some value because it will be used against you. You will want your appraised value to be as high as possible because you know that a buyer will hedge against that value.
If you're sneaky, you don't get an appraisal, and sell to a unwitting buyer who either has a lot of money to throw away or has the credit line to swallow your enthusiastic selling attempt.
So, when your reservation gets a reservation wide appraisal, glance at the amount that land is going for, but don't stare at it. We don't want to get used to that amount. We want to actually NEGOTIATE like we mean it. If all else fails let BIA tell everyone that the lease meets the appraisal quote, like Gerald Ben said they do in this article on The Authentic Voice.
Gerald said, "The only thing the bureau has to do is make sure the rate meets the minimum approved rate."
hmmmm....would that minimum rate be the APPRAISED QUOTE? Hmmm?
That doesn't sound like much of a negotiation does it? Well let's hope that Gerald Ben isn't the one "negotiating" for your best lease on your land. As a matter of fact, lets hope that more tribal members are empowered with knowledge so that like Ernestine Werelus, we all negotiate the most advantageous leases from an obviously lucrative resource that all tribes share in common, the land.
And yet, he challenges us to question appraisals: at an ITMA Listening Conference at Wild Horse Resort in 2004, he responded to...
...a question from the audience about appraisals showing Indian land as less valuable than off-reservation land, Gerald Ben stated that if a landowner has questions about an appraisal, “ask them to come back and explain to you so you know for yourself that what you sold your property for was really what it was worth.” He said that the BIA is trying to get local appraisers how know the reservation to work on contract so that appraisals can be done more quickly.
But then he would never question the fact that BIA sends out requests for Authority for BIA to negotiate your leases for you; insted the BIA will merely sign off on leases that went to bid, with no respect to the the minimum approved rate because it is "in your best interest," according to 25 CFR.
And they smile at us at every conference, at every public engagement. They smile at fellow Indians whose leases rob them of the chance to be prosperous.
I would think that much like our fellow human beings in Africa, we'd be better smilers too if we had far less to deal with. Let me live on the land, let me be poor, just don't let someone else profit at my expense--it makes me feel abused. I guess my thanks for that feeling go to my friends, my fellow human beings, my fellow tribal members at the BIA who fail to speak up for me and for all tribal people. Don't feel guilty, just act for me, act for my aunties, my cousins, your relatives.
Restore the smiles we all had wayyy back when.
An "amootment" of sorts!
Ok,
I have been following this issue on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation with some excitement. It matters because I side with those who believe that this is a matter for corporate money or dirty per caps. Dirty per caps are those that corporate people offer up to the poorest people to give the smallest amount possible to take the greatest amount from those who need it the most.
I have followed the coal bed methane issue for a while now and I am convinced that it is just as dangerous as the faulty software that predicted that the National Nuclear Waste dump would be a safe facility. The problem in that scenario was that the software only projected 50 years out. That did not endear me to the EPA when I applied for a job there out of college, but you know I really didn't care. And I still don't. If I have an opinion, then you can be assured that it has been forged from my exposure on a daily basis to those who, daily, have unmet needs the most.
So why would I form an opinion on the matter? Well, I can remember very vividly a man speaking to me about the policy for land acquisition. The position was that the government through BLM and BIA, and various other agencies, departments, cabinets, and legislation is in a position to continually keep the reservations in a poor state of affairs. The reasoning behind that was to continually keep offering the lowest deals to the people with the highest needs to gain the most beneficial returns because they are indeed the poorest people in the United States.
Beneficial was to the corporations who made the deals while the government winked an eye toward nefarious deals.
It has some history going way back. You know that the Black Hills were part of the reservation dontcha? Well very few of you will know that the generals in the army at the time were communicating with the president asking if they should wink a knowing eye toward the miners, the mining scouts, the railroad surveyors--all the people who were trespassing in the Black Hills. And we all know the results. Now the Black Hills is purported to have been bought by the Government from the Indian Nations. No money has been accepted, from some of the poorest people on this soil called the United States.
I would hope that the Northern Cheyenne people and all tribes rally behind the "supposedly ousted," legally elected Tribal President, Eugene Little Coyote. There is an interesting article on his site The New Front Line that calls all tribes to unity. There is also an article where one of our dubious leaders in the BIA, Carl Artman, seems to refute his whole argument which fueled the incident even more. He uses "mootment" as a term that seems to be serious although the result is anything but serious.
And we all here on this blog know that "results is what matters!"
I would hope that the Northern Cheyenne reach the most beneficial use of their land, no matter the cost. I won't say what the most beneficial use will be, because that really is best left to them. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs had best not make the MOOTSTAKE of interfering with the sovereignty of the Northern Cheyenne. Lets hope it works out for the best for those people and all of Indian Country.
I would encourage everybody to read up on this issue and decide for yourselves whether joining the amicus brief would be a vote for tribal sovereignty everywhere.
I have been following this issue on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation with some excitement. It matters because I side with those who believe that this is a matter for corporate money or dirty per caps. Dirty per caps are those that corporate people offer up to the poorest people to give the smallest amount possible to take the greatest amount from those who need it the most.
I have followed the coal bed methane issue for a while now and I am convinced that it is just as dangerous as the faulty software that predicted that the National Nuclear Waste dump would be a safe facility. The problem in that scenario was that the software only projected 50 years out. That did not endear me to the EPA when I applied for a job there out of college, but you know I really didn't care. And I still don't. If I have an opinion, then you can be assured that it has been forged from my exposure on a daily basis to those who, daily, have unmet needs the most.
So why would I form an opinion on the matter? Well, I can remember very vividly a man speaking to me about the policy for land acquisition. The position was that the government through BLM and BIA, and various other agencies, departments, cabinets, and legislation is in a position to continually keep the reservations in a poor state of affairs. The reasoning behind that was to continually keep offering the lowest deals to the people with the highest needs to gain the most beneficial returns because they are indeed the poorest people in the United States.
Beneficial was to the corporations who made the deals while the government winked an eye toward nefarious deals.
It has some history going way back. You know that the Black Hills were part of the reservation dontcha? Well very few of you will know that the generals in the army at the time were communicating with the president asking if they should wink a knowing eye toward the miners, the mining scouts, the railroad surveyors--all the people who were trespassing in the Black Hills. And we all know the results. Now the Black Hills is purported to have been bought by the Government from the Indian Nations. No money has been accepted, from some of the poorest people on this soil called the United States.
I would hope that the Northern Cheyenne people and all tribes rally behind the "supposedly ousted," legally elected Tribal President, Eugene Little Coyote. There is an interesting article on his site The New Front Line that calls all tribes to unity. There is also an article where one of our dubious leaders in the BIA, Carl Artman, seems to refute his whole argument which fueled the incident even more. He uses "mootment" as a term that seems to be serious although the result is anything but serious.
And we all here on this blog know that "results is what matters!"
I would hope that the Northern Cheyenne reach the most beneficial use of their land, no matter the cost. I won't say what the most beneficial use will be, because that really is best left to them. And the Bureau of Indian Affairs had best not make the MOOTSTAKE of interfering with the sovereignty of the Northern Cheyenne. Lets hope it works out for the best for those people and all of Indian Country.
I would encourage everybody to read up on this issue and decide for yourselves whether joining the amicus brief would be a vote for tribal sovereignty everywhere.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Run the numbers
Ok,
lets run some numbers.
In the 26th Status Report to the Court which is supposed to show Trust Reforms being taken to help settle the Cobell Lawsuit, Donald A. Buhler, Chief Cadastral Surveyor, Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ) signed off on his portion of that same report that says that $16.4 millions dollars were proposed for appropriation to complete surveys in 2007/8/9. The value of the Indian Trust projects would total about $127.4 million dollars. For $16.4 million dollars we're going to fix $127.4 million dollars worth of property pieces. They fix them by performing surveys which is their contribution to managing the land.
But, what if we divided $16.4 million dollars by 200. $16,400,000/200=$82,000 dollars.
$16.4 million dollars
200________________
$82,000 dollars.
16.4 MILLION DOLLARS
200 SOMETHINGS
$82,000 dollars
What does it mean? Lets divide $82,000 dollars by 1/3. $82,000/3=$27,333 dollars
the other 2/3 looks like $54,666 dollars.
So we have $54,666 dollars per 200 somethings to play with.
What are those somethings? Why is 1/3 being set aside for those 200 somethings?
Give up?
If we divide $16.4 million dollars by 200 FEDERALLY-EMPLOYED-SURVEYORS we have a total of $82,000 dollars per surveyor to play with. Of that $82,000 dollars per surveyor we take 1/3 for benefits away leaving us with $54,666 dollars per surveyor for salary. If you look at a recent job advertisement on USA JOBS for a surveying technician in Cherokee North Carolina, I think the pay grade was GS 4/5 which is right around $30,000 dollars.
hmmmmm.....
Spend the Indians' money and make sure that they have to come back next year and spend more money
OR
Spend the money enabling them to do it themselves.
You could be the reason for 200 new federal surveyors in the Bureau of Indian Affairs or you could be anther one who spent the entire "tribal" priority allocation piece by piece, sending it out the window and down the street to a bunch of private firms who will show up next year to do the same thing next year. What do you do? That your final answer?
Spend the Tribal Priority Allocation Funds the way they were supposed to be spent and start up a new division in the BIA (we'd even let you design a cool unit patch for your Survey Crew) or continue to be the lackey who has a hand in destroying the Tribal Priority Allocation Funds' checking account. Maybe the Office of Special Trustee or the Bureau of Indian Affairs Trust Services needs to have the truth explained to them. Maybe even they don't know how these funds are going out the window, keeping Indians dependent on the Federal Government. Not much trusteeship going on here right now, maybe they're not even busy so it might be easy to get into an office way up there at the top of Office of Special Trustee. Somebody "s'plain this to them," and wait for the virtue and beauty to roll out the door! Yeah, well, maybe not in this generation eh?
Maybe it's because Honorable Bill Anoatubbe, Governor of Chickasaw Nation of OK; Bobby Brooks at Bank of Oklahoma; Mr David English, Law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia; Honorable Jim Gray, Chief of the Osage Nation, OK; Mr Edward Holland CEO Chota Capital Company; Mr Fred Matt, Confederated Tribes of Salish-Kootenai Tribes of Flathead Reservation, MT; Honorable Richard Milanovich, Chmn Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, CA; Mr. Loren "Bat" Pourier, owner Muddy Creek Oil and Gas Inc.; and Ms. Helen Sanders Chmn Allottees Association and Affiliated Tribes of the Quinault Reservation; who are all members of the Special Trustees Advisory Board don't know that this is going on right under their noses. Who knows?
At any rate, if I was in charge of spending my grandma's money at the store to get something to clean the counter off with, I damn sure wouldn't buy cheap napkins-I'd get maybe one or two dish towels so I could have something a year or two from now to do the job.
I would think the decision would be an easy one...but then methinks I think too much.
lets run some numbers.
In the 26th Status Report to the Court which is supposed to show Trust Reforms being taken to help settle the Cobell Lawsuit, Donald A. Buhler, Chief Cadastral Surveyor, Bureau of Land Management ( BLM ) signed off on his portion of that same report that says that $16.4 millions dollars were proposed for appropriation to complete surveys in 2007/8/9. The value of the Indian Trust projects would total about $127.4 million dollars. For $16.4 million dollars we're going to fix $127.4 million dollars worth of property pieces. They fix them by performing surveys which is their contribution to managing the land.
But, what if we divided $16.4 million dollars by 200. $16,400,000/200=$82,000 dollars.
$16.4 million dollars
200________________
$82,000 dollars.
16.4 MILLION DOLLARS
200 SOMETHINGS
$82,000 dollars
What does it mean? Lets divide $82,000 dollars by 1/3. $82,000/3=$27,333 dollars
the other 2/3 looks like $54,666 dollars.
So we have $54,666 dollars per 200 somethings to play with.
What are those somethings? Why is 1/3 being set aside for those 200 somethings?
Give up?
If we divide $16.4 million dollars by 200 FEDERALLY-EMPLOYED-SURVEYORS we have a total of $82,000 dollars per surveyor to play with. Of that $82,000 dollars per surveyor we take 1/3 for benefits away leaving us with $54,666 dollars per surveyor for salary. If you look at a recent job advertisement on USA JOBS for a surveying technician in Cherokee North Carolina, I think the pay grade was GS 4/5 which is right around $30,000 dollars.
hmmmmm.....
Spend the Indians' money and make sure that they have to come back next year and spend more money
OR
Spend the money enabling them to do it themselves.
You could be the reason for 200 new federal surveyors in the Bureau of Indian Affairs or you could be anther one who spent the entire "tribal" priority allocation piece by piece, sending it out the window and down the street to a bunch of private firms who will show up next year to do the same thing next year. What do you do? That your final answer?
Spend the Tribal Priority Allocation Funds the way they were supposed to be spent and start up a new division in the BIA (we'd even let you design a cool unit patch for your Survey Crew) or continue to be the lackey who has a hand in destroying the Tribal Priority Allocation Funds' checking account. Maybe the Office of Special Trustee or the Bureau of Indian Affairs Trust Services needs to have the truth explained to them. Maybe even they don't know how these funds are going out the window, keeping Indians dependent on the Federal Government. Not much trusteeship going on here right now, maybe they're not even busy so it might be easy to get into an office way up there at the top of Office of Special Trustee. Somebody "s'plain this to them," and wait for the virtue and beauty to roll out the door! Yeah, well, maybe not in this generation eh?
Maybe it's because Honorable Bill Anoatubbe, Governor of Chickasaw Nation of OK; Bobby Brooks at Bank of Oklahoma; Mr David English, Law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia; Honorable Jim Gray, Chief of the Osage Nation, OK; Mr Edward Holland CEO Chota Capital Company; Mr Fred Matt, Confederated Tribes of Salish-Kootenai Tribes of Flathead Reservation, MT; Honorable Richard Milanovich, Chmn Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, CA; Mr. Loren "Bat" Pourier, owner Muddy Creek Oil and Gas Inc.; and Ms. Helen Sanders Chmn Allottees Association and Affiliated Tribes of the Quinault Reservation; who are all members of the Special Trustees Advisory Board don't know that this is going on right under their noses. Who knows?
At any rate, if I was in charge of spending my grandma's money at the store to get something to clean the counter off with, I damn sure wouldn't buy cheap napkins-I'd get maybe one or two dish towels so I could have something a year or two from now to do the job.
I would think the decision would be an easy one...but then methinks I think too much.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Yet more MOTIVATIONS!
Take a look around and you will see that the Certified Federal Surveyors Program (CFEDS)is supposed to be self funded. Self Funded? No budget from the great white father? Cut off? For real? Why would they do that? Why would the great white father create a program in the federal government that isn't funded? What gives? Come on now, you can't create a school traffic warning sign without some sort of maintenance fee in this country. Why would you create a program and "hope" it grows up on its own?
1. Instead of enriching the program, instead of empowering tribes to become self sufficient, instead of teaching them how to fish, you drain their checkbook paying for each and every fish. Instead of putting funding into training tribal surveyors so that tribes can become self sufficient in at least one more area, you take TPA funds away from tribes across the board, and you pay those TPA funds into overpriced surveys on a piece-meal basis. Tribal Priority Allocations were meant in their infancy in the 1970s to pursue Indian self-determination by offering ways to set [TRIBAL] priorities and allocate funds for those activities they [TRIBES] wanted to fund, in consultation with BIA. BIA was supposed to give TRIBAL PRIORITY ALLOCATION FUNDS to tribes by funding TRIBALLY OPERATED ACTIVITIES or through SERVICES PROVIDED BY BIA as well as some of Bureau of Indian Affairs' management and administrative costs, according to A 1998 GAO report. The consultation went out the window. I know two years ago that when a regional BLM surveyor-type was made aware of the elected officials who would now be conducting boundary surveys, he said "I wasn't aware of that." And now apparently, neither is anybody else aware of the problem (the results) built into the Certified Federal Surveyor Program. Does the Certified Federal Surveyor program meet the test of being a TRIBALLY OPERATED ACTIVITY or a SERVICE PROVIDED BY THE BIA? Afraid not. Somebody at the Office of Special Trustee has made a horrible case for this program which will take a serious link out of the Indian Self Determination which Tribal Priority Allocations was supposed to create.
2. Instead of doing it outright, in front of GOD AND EVERYBODY, you make it sophisticated, covert, and you make believers of even the smartest people that it is in the best interest of the Indian population, when in reality it isn't. I really feel sorry for my friends at the Certified Federal Surveyor Program. I hope and I do pray that their eyes are opened to the sophisticated effects that are at work here. Remember it isn't the rules we care about in Indian Country. It's the RESULTS that we're concerned about. Do my friends, the Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinators really know what we're talking about here? Do they really know how they're being used to facilitate this egregious infraction against Indian Self -Determination? Why else would they willingly participate unless they didn't know? Why else would otherwise very intelligent, professionals so willingly participate? Why else would they cash the checks from the Tribal Priority Allocation funds like a Federal Spendthrift instead of advocating for these funds to be turned around and sent back to the Tribal Priority Allocation Fund coffers where some really advantageous work can be done?
3. Could it be because, the Certified Federal Surveyor program is now supposed to be SELF FUNDED? Could it be because the reputation as a manager, is on the line for a Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinator and staff? Could it be because they really put one over on him and his staff when they gave him about $400,000 dollars to start it up, and then "sell" the program to every state licensed surveyor who is at this moment clamoring to get in the class to "pad their resume?" Could it be because the Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinators on the ground level really aren't as experienced as they thought they were? Like maybe they didn't realize that the funds that went into starting this program now provides "the customers to raid the cash register?" Believe it- now the funds have been shifted through the Office of Special Trustee into paying for outrageous surveys. We pay now in some cases $15,000 dollars per survey and get what? Instead of providing funding at say $45,000 -$60,000 per surveyor per year to have them in-house in the tribes, or at BLM. Then if they screw things up, we have some accountability. As it stands now, we take away their contract and point and say "bad surveyor!" In a normal situation that would be sufficient. But in a Fiduciary Trust Model under the ownership of the Office of Special Trustee, it reaks of irresponsibility, and under-handedness, and a general lack of ethical fortitude.
We look for motivators to constantly evaluate how well we work for the "common good." Or do we? It isn't an easy thing to admit we've been hoodwinked. It isn't easy unless we think we have backing, unless we think we have support...when in reality we really do already have that support, that backing, when we withdraw from something less than honest (in a fiduciary trust model). All that support, all that backing will come from all those people we are supposed to remember we are supporting. When we really do come out in their corner, we find that they're there like they've always been: waiting for us to fight for them.
I'd shake the hand of somebody like that. I think the TRUE MOTIVATION is there for a whole "helluva lotta dem dere Indians" to shake the hand of someone who champions our cause, because then the results, the negative results, the disastrous results, would have one less protagonist.
Socrates would be proud.
1. Instead of enriching the program, instead of empowering tribes to become self sufficient, instead of teaching them how to fish, you drain their checkbook paying for each and every fish. Instead of putting funding into training tribal surveyors so that tribes can become self sufficient in at least one more area, you take TPA funds away from tribes across the board, and you pay those TPA funds into overpriced surveys on a piece-meal basis. Tribal Priority Allocations were meant in their infancy in the 1970s to pursue Indian self-determination by offering ways to set [TRIBAL] priorities and allocate funds for those activities they [TRIBES] wanted to fund, in consultation with BIA. BIA was supposed to give TRIBAL PRIORITY ALLOCATION FUNDS to tribes by funding TRIBALLY OPERATED ACTIVITIES or through SERVICES PROVIDED BY BIA as well as some of Bureau of Indian Affairs' management and administrative costs, according to A 1998 GAO report. The consultation went out the window. I know two years ago that when a regional BLM surveyor-type was made aware of the elected officials who would now be conducting boundary surveys, he said "I wasn't aware of that." And now apparently, neither is anybody else aware of the problem (the results) built into the Certified Federal Surveyor Program. Does the Certified Federal Surveyor program meet the test of being a TRIBALLY OPERATED ACTIVITY or a SERVICE PROVIDED BY THE BIA? Afraid not. Somebody at the Office of Special Trustee has made a horrible case for this program which will take a serious link out of the Indian Self Determination which Tribal Priority Allocations was supposed to create.
2. Instead of doing it outright, in front of GOD AND EVERYBODY, you make it sophisticated, covert, and you make believers of even the smartest people that it is in the best interest of the Indian population, when in reality it isn't. I really feel sorry for my friends at the Certified Federal Surveyor Program. I hope and I do pray that their eyes are opened to the sophisticated effects that are at work here. Remember it isn't the rules we care about in Indian Country. It's the RESULTS that we're concerned about. Do my friends, the Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinators really know what we're talking about here? Do they really know how they're being used to facilitate this egregious infraction against Indian Self -Determination? Why else would they willingly participate unless they didn't know? Why else would otherwise very intelligent, professionals so willingly participate? Why else would they cash the checks from the Tribal Priority Allocation funds like a Federal Spendthrift instead of advocating for these funds to be turned around and sent back to the Tribal Priority Allocation Fund coffers where some really advantageous work can be done?
3. Could it be because, the Certified Federal Surveyor program is now supposed to be SELF FUNDED? Could it be because the reputation as a manager, is on the line for a Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinator and staff? Could it be because they really put one over on him and his staff when they gave him about $400,000 dollars to start it up, and then "sell" the program to every state licensed surveyor who is at this moment clamoring to get in the class to "pad their resume?" Could it be because the Certified Federal Surveyor Program Coordinators on the ground level really aren't as experienced as they thought they were? Like maybe they didn't realize that the funds that went into starting this program now provides "the customers to raid the cash register?" Believe it- now the funds have been shifted through the Office of Special Trustee into paying for outrageous surveys. We pay now in some cases $15,000 dollars per survey and get what? Instead of providing funding at say $45,000 -$60,000 per surveyor per year to have them in-house in the tribes, or at BLM. Then if they screw things up, we have some accountability. As it stands now, we take away their contract and point and say "bad surveyor!" In a normal situation that would be sufficient. But in a Fiduciary Trust Model under the ownership of the Office of Special Trustee, it reaks of irresponsibility, and under-handedness, and a general lack of ethical fortitude.
We look for motivators to constantly evaluate how well we work for the "common good." Or do we? It isn't an easy thing to admit we've been hoodwinked. It isn't easy unless we think we have backing, unless we think we have support...when in reality we really do already have that support, that backing, when we withdraw from something less than honest (in a fiduciary trust model). All that support, all that backing will come from all those people we are supposed to remember we are supporting. When we really do come out in their corner, we find that they're there like they've always been: waiting for us to fight for them.
I'd shake the hand of somebody like that. I think the TRUE MOTIVATION is there for a whole "helluva lotta dem dere Indians" to shake the hand of someone who champions our cause, because then the results, the negative results, the disastrous results, would have one less protagonist.
Socrates would be proud.
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