COBELL SETTLEMENT IS A FAIR AND JUST SETTLEMENT...IN LA LA LAND.

The Cobell Settlement is a fair settlement a just settlement, in LA LA Land. (la la land: A state of mind characterized by unrealistic expectations or a lack of seriousness.)

Recently Barack Obama, Black Eagle, made the statement that the Cobell settlement was fair and just. Some have said that he was mistaken. It couldn't be; he wouldn't say that to the Indian faces throughout all the land. "Someone" should tell him the truth. "Someone" should have told him that he might have been confusing a fair and just settlement to the African American Farmers with the pile o'crap being served to the people who collectively adopted him. There are as many reasons Indians adopt someone into their Nations as there are Indian Nations. One of those reasons is so that when Indians have a problem, the Indians and adoptees alike share in those problems now. "Someone" should have let him know that since he's been adopted, the Indians' problems are now "our" problems together, he and us.

In a recent Indian Country Today article Richard Monette offered an explanation for why Black Eagle would utter such an insult to Indian people in public: “He’s either being duped, or he doesn’t know, and someone is intentionally not letting him know.” "Someone" sure gets a lot of blame to chew on enit?

In the same article Kimberly Craven posits that maybe Black Eagle is "totally unaware" that thousands of Indians are opposed to the settlement, "or if he is, he obviously doesn't care." Let's hope that Barack Obama, our Black Eagle, is just unaware because otherwise the possibilties get more and more depressing.

There are obvious differences between Land-less Indians and large land-based-Indians, between D.C. Indians and reservation Indians, between assimilated Indians and traditional Indians. If you are from an Indian Nation with 16 whole acres to call your reservation, you will have different perspectives from large-land-based-Indians. If your Indian Nation's boundaries are encompassed within 16 acres or in some cases, even less, you won't have the same needs. Land-less Indians won't have 19 file cabinets full of land titles. Land-less Indians aren't wondering why surveys and maps designating treaty agreements were lost. Land-less Indians aren't wondering when cadastral survey corner markers will be replaced. Back in the day like around the early 1900s surveyors used posts to mark legal corners. By posts we don't mean they buried a fencepost. They buried a 16 inch piece of fir pine with a marker on top which was either plowed under, removed, lost in flooding, or rotted away. Now to establish cadastral surveys those corners have to be re-established. They aren't necessarily done by measurement; they are "legally interpreted" by people who may be STATE-elected officials who may or may not be collecting land information for their government's use. Land-less Indians aren't wondering why every single proof of land transactions were either destroyed, lost, or hidden away in a cave in Lenexa, KS. Not hidden? Try identifying which box the document is in, which book it's in, and the title of the document which has changed drastically over the years. Then try to identify how many tribes are in the same book or ledger and which tribe the entire ledger is filed under. Landless Indians don't have a plethora of cultural sites they work ceaselessly to protect. Land-less Indians won't have a fisheries department with 25 employees. They won't have a forestry department. Land-less Indians won't have hundreds of land leases to negotiate each year. Land-less Indians won't have to wonder why nobody seeks justice for the thousands of trespasses that occur daily on our reservations. They won't have the responsibility for supporting an entire government's infrastructure. And that is primary reason number one why the mis-informed and the land-less indians will gladly accept a pittance of $1000 dollars. Something out of nothing for them and a continued "status quo" of the lack of treatment our Native land issues.

But if you're an Oklahoma Indian with a law degree, by god, you must know what you're doing. If you're that big toe to President Obama on Indian Issues, surely you must have thought that throwing a mere pittance of $1000 dollars to every IIM account holder will not fix anything. Surely an Indian Advisor by now would have advised to provide true justice by providing for free Cadastral Surveys by objective surveyors with no conflict of interest, free appraisals by the same token, free N.E.P.A. evaluations, and funding to support a true lease compliance staff to recover millions in reparations every year from every single trespass onto our lands. Only then would you begin to discuss individual payments.

Black Eagle really is an advocate; it's just that he's advocating for a group of African American Farmers to receive a just and fair settlement of $48,500 dollars per farmer, while the Indian people he's been adopted by will receive $1000 per account holder and a bonus of $500 dollars depending on how much money you can prove the government had their hands on; all while Elouise Cobell and her lawyer buddies will walk away with 116 million dollars.

For those of you keeping track that means Native Americans will each receive 3% of what each of the African American Farmers will receive, except for Elouise and Company. Indians will receive 3% of what African American farmers will receive for not getting loans on land that used to be Indian land. Indians will receive 3% of what African American Farmers will receive for decades and generations of mismanagement of trust responsibilities and lost revenues.

It's hard to find anybody in the White Puzzle Palace, Non-Indian and Indian alike, who will understand the real fallacy with using the words just and fair when discussing the Cobell settlement. One would have thought that a large land-based-Indian tribal member would have understood but after the comments by Jodi Gillette at ATNI, one wonders if the leadership has stars in their eyes from a position in life or if they're the ones confused about what a rip off the Cobell settlement will be. Elouise cobell has a national spotlight and uses it with vigor to proudly proclaim the thousands of Indians in support of her settlement. The thousands of Indians who in reality don't support her cannot access the press with any effect to show their disapproval. When the Nez Perce Members who signed their letter of support of the settlement tried to have their names removed from the list, they were told there was no way to remove their names by one of the Cobell staff members. If the thousands of Indians who truly understand what trust responsibilities have been mismanaged cannot gain the support of President Obama, then perhaps Black Eagle will find he doesn't have the support of those same thousands of Indians. The realization may come as a surprise and too late for Black Eagle to recover from. Maybe that's what it will take for those in leadership to realize how many are opposed to the settlement.

Who's really in La La land? Those who argue for the settlement or those Indians who are waiting for a truly fair and just settlement to appear?

Cobell Settlement gets worse and worse

The Opinion Piece in Indian Country Today, Eagle Woman: The Cobell Settlement is a great wrong to Indian people, further and more eloquently explains a lot of what is wrong with the Cobell Settlement. Angelique has simplified the facts, making it easy for everyone from legislators to Indian land owners to agree that the settlement as it stands is not even a slight shadow of what is owed. Nor is the current settlement one that should be allowed. It is a common sentiment among land owners that Eloise Cobell should not accept anything less than what all of us receive. There is now yet another refined explanation for why the settlement should not proceed further which all Indians should communicate to their senators in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and their nearby states.

Kimberly Craven and multiple others are speaking as Angelique Eagle Woman is: on behalf of Indian land owners. These ladies' articulate articles have become reasonable assumptions that what is on the table now is not acceptable, nor should oblivious Indian land owners be counted as support for this settlement. That the Cobell team went looking for support from tribal members is obvious; what is not so obvious is the fact that nothing was presented at her team's meetings with land owners that objectively presented all the facts. As one tribal member said after a recent meeting with the Cobell team, all he heard was pro settlement; he never heard the cons. Based on the skewed presentation, land owners whose tribes are not even part of the class action lawsuit, were fooled into signing petitions of support.

Now Angelique Eagle Woman has presented what is yet another article explaining why Indian land owners would once again be short-shrifted if the Cobell Settlement proceeds. Thanks to Angelique Eagle Woman, Kimberly Craven and the multiple other advocates is appropriate-as they have made obvious how disastrous this settlement could be. One would hope that President Obama's lead Indian policy advisor, Kim Teehee, is there to pick up the load from here.

It would be even more fortuitous if Congress listened to these two ladies and the rest of our advocates, whose explanations truly show that the Elouise Cobell Settlement is wrong.

Follow up to Kim Teehee Gets a Chance to Work.

The original idea or blog entry was here.
So much for that idea!

Another reason why the Cobell Settlement shouldn't pass

One provision of the Cobell payout will pay some but not all. And it's not favorable or judicial the way it will pay out. Let's say my sister and I are .30 (30/100) undivided interest owners on our land. My aunt is .10 (10/100 ) and my convicted-in-prison cousin is a .30 (30/100) undivided interest owner.

My aunt and I each get direct pay from our farmer. My sister who lives in Arizona and my cousin who is a convict in Florida State Prison each get paid on their crop leases through their IIM (individual Indian Money) accounts through the Office of Special Trustee. They always have. My aunt and I have always gotten direct pay since we live on our rez.

So under the Cobell Settlement, any money that passed through the IIM account during 2000-2009 will count toward the settlement. My convict-cousin and my California sister will each get paid based on our land lease for all the money that passed through their IIM account. My aunt and I will not get paid at all because we got direct pay from the farmer to us. My aunt and I make up .40% of the ownership. My sister and my cousin make up 60% of the ownership. The farmer sent the lease (which was unethical) to my sister and cousin to sign. Since they control over 50% of the ownership, they controlled the lease. They didn't know better so they signed the unethical lease.

Now, as part of the Cobell settlement, they will also get paid because they had their payments made through their IIM accounts.

My aunt and I will not get a penny from a portion of the Cobell settlement because we were paid directly from our farmer. We also didn't have a voice into whether the unethical lease got approved or not.

Elouise Cobell argued for justice and accountability. The current settlement will further erode many peoples' trust in the Federal Government and Elouise Cobell if she continues to argue for what is now an unethical settlement.

Shame is on who?

Kim Teehee gets a chance to work

(An article in Indian Country Today recently revealed a Seneca Nation Push to have President Obama veto the PACT act which would have States enforcing Federal Laws against Tribes)

hey this is right up her alley! This is a chance for the top Indian Job in the United States to showcase how it can be used. The battle for Sovereignty can hold no greater promise than for an Indian to advise the President about a disastrous bill that would erode sovereignty...right?

Technically, once you start a discussion on Sovereignty, you probably couldn't stop, ever. That is how vast Sovereignty is, there really is no limit to the definition of Sovereignty. Sovereignty is infinite in practice and promise. Let's hope Kim Teehee can impart that knowledge to President Obama.

A gentle hush should be heard across Indian Country while Kim Teehee explains the effects to President Obama.

Holding your breath probably isn't advised; however, if legislative history has any chance of repeating itself. Let's hope that now that we have an Indian in the Executive Offices of the President, things change.

At the very least, let's hope that the diatribe of some errant law school professors hasn't taken root in one of our own. When sovereign believers, speak to some of those walking legal-eagles (walk because they can't fly) their wish is to always convey, "your thoughts are not my indian reality:"

PLENARY POWER DOES NOT EXIST
(Unless you're as guillable as Ellwood Dowd in the film HARVEY, when he shows proof that , "THERE'S NO POWER LIKE THE POWER OF YOUR IMAGINATION")

SOVEREIGNTY IS NEVER TAKEN AWAY, SOVEREIGNTY CAN ONLY BE GIVEN AWAY

HASKELL INDIAN NATIONS UNIVERSITY GETS AN AUDIENCE

Or at least part of HINU will get an audience. "Select administrators, faculty, and students" will have an opportunity to visit with Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk. Senator Pat Roberts call for somebody to investigate the alleged mismanagement of funds at Haskell will no doubt be topped by a literal smorgasboard of food in the Dining Facility.

We always knew when somebody "important" was visiting Haskell because the food suddenly looked foreign and plentiful. Just once I'd like to see an "important" somebody show up early or unannounced to see what the students are forced to accept from the dining facility. You know that is a tradition that dates to Haskell's early years in the late 1800s. Somebody important comes, and the kids suddenly have steaks on their plates. An unfortunate history that has crawled forward into the present day (meaning as late as 2004 anyway).

There has been no confirmation of any Open Forum for all the students and faculty to address their concerns. And in a boarding-school-generation of administrators and faculty, that means that many students will be forced to accept a grade demotion for a willful absence from classes, or suffer through knowing the Assistant Secretary is there on campus while they are forced to remain in session.

Not a complaint, just the reality of a boarding-school-trained staff environment to which the student population is subjected. I wonder if Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk will inspect the daily room inspection logs. (oh but such clean rooms!)

The point is this: there is an environment that students are subjected to that means that if they disagree, they are classified as rabble-rousers by the boarding-school-trained staff. So a "select group of representatives" does not guarantee that the general opinion of the entire staff, faculty and student population will be presented. At the very least, one can hope that Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk will hold the meeting during the evening hours when anyone who wants to or that needs to attend will be able.

The most important thing to ask yourself if you are the Assistant Secretary is how did things get to the point where an Assistant Secretary has to be called in? And where is the President of Haskell? Who is left to answer for what has happened? Where is the Bureau of Indian Education leadership in the midst of all of this? Has it come to this?

Let's hope Pat Roberts' call for a visit from Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk goes well, is transparent, and is open to all suggestions in the spirit of our Native traditions and the community spirit where each voice is equally heard.

Elouise Cobell's cookie begins to crumble

Word is that several tribes not listed in these articles are contemplating pulling out of camp as well.

South Dakota Tribes re-evaluating their class action settlement

We do not trust you

It would seem that nothing is perfect, but there is a line between acceptable and unreasonable. In the mind of a reasonable man, it would seem like an unbalanced measure to know that your land was trespassed on for the last two generations by cattle, and now know that you would only receive 500 dollars for that. Is there no accountability to be raised? On the local level we can tell you who's been trespassing, the problem has been the ability to compel the Bureau of Indian Affairs to enforce the trespass provisions in 25 CFR part 162.

"But it's all good now, the Cobell Dream Team has gotten our family $500 dollars for the 70 cattle per year that were trespassing on our land."

And now when rights of way are negotiated with tribes, individual land owners are left to fend for themselves. Ironically after Cobell, the tribes will be the ones to point fingers at tribal members who are on fractionated lands telling the Federal Government to buy them out. And on a bit of a side note I heard a land owner at a Powwow this weekend talking about how you can't extinguish an individual tribal landowner out of his land, but the Federal government can extinguish "reservations, or tribally-owned land." So maybe there is some reason for why they want the land consolidation to go through in some peoples' minds.

Far too many questions exist for the oblivious land owner to truly know what they are getting for their 15 million dollar's worth from Elouise Cobell.

To suggest that time is more our friend than would seem some of our own relatives is grossly understated given what little we know right now.