I can tell you opting out is on the mouths of more than a few Indians. The phone lines and emails are flying between Indians in D.C., South Dakota, Idaho, Montana and Washington. The main problem with opting out is that most lawyers are representing the Tribes. Anyone else is hesitant to take a case on a "contingency basis."
What is obvious to all the INDIVIDUAL Tribal Landowners is that the Cobell Settlement Lawyers did not adequately represent almost the entire great plains region or the Pacific Northwest where landowners lease their land, and where many got Direct Pay from their farmers for YEARS. Not a lot of our money went through IIM accounts. The Cobell Settlement seems to ignore the fact the 25 CFR part 162 has always allowed Native Landowners to receive direct pay from their farmer-operators. It short-changes generations of landowners under the payment schedule worked into the Cobell Settlement where payment is made based on an amount of money that passed through each individual IIM account.
The Elouise Cobell Settlement team did not represent any Direct Pay Native Landowner. Their pay should be commensurate with their level of incompetence and fall well short of 200 million dollars.
Somebody should whisper this in Congressman Doc Hastings ear at the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Indian Affairs meeting on Tuesday.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute in a dilema
"Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught."
~J.C. Watts
Ok.....shhhhhhhh.... Nobody watch the Bureau of Indian Education. Let's see what they do about SIPI losing their accreditation if nobody's looking.
And on March 24th then we'll look-after the Higher Learning Commission has left. There will be no Find-A-Word puzzle that will fix any of the shortcomings, however.
~J.C. Watts
Ok.....shhhhhhhh.... Nobody watch the Bureau of Indian Education. Let's see what they do about SIPI losing their accreditation if nobody's looking.
And on March 24th then we'll look-after the Higher Learning Commission has left. There will be no Find-A-Word puzzle that will fix any of the shortcomings, however.
The best Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs we're going to get
You protect Individual Indian Rights with the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs you have--not the Secretary you might want or wish to have at a later time.
"We’re all about executing the trust responsibility and protecting all Native people that have an interest in water,” [Larry] Echo Hawk said. “I’m here to tell you we will be vigilant in protecting the rights of allottees.”
"We’re all about executing the trust responsibility and protecting all Native people that have an interest in water,” [Larry] Echo Hawk said. “I’m here to tell you we will be vigilant in protecting the rights of allottees.”
The bottom line, he said, “speaking as the assistant secretary, this is the best deal that you’re going to get." (from the Billings Gazette)
"...the best you're gonna get?"
That's "being vigilant?"
"The best you're going to get?" Why does that sound so paternalistic again? Yes there is a lot of great stuff going on in the Crow Water Settlement. The Tribe is not arguing, the BIA is not arguing, but if they were, "somebody" would be listening. The fact that BIA leaves tribes out of consultation on many policy changes is a fact that is not easily forgotten. Tribes are heard when they complain, rightly so.
But what happens when individual Indian land owners complain-when they weren't given a chance to voice their concerns-after a decision has been made that affects them? "...this is the best deal that you're going to get."
Any idea now why the Elouise Cobell Settlement, made on "behalf" of all land owners is such a contentious issue? Probably not.
And that leaves us still wishing for somebody to protect our Individual Indian Land Rights by listening to the Individual Land Owners who have the greatest gauge of what kind of effect any legislation or policies will have on us.
I guess getting a real championship office of Tribal and Individual Indian Rights really does come down to "...a matter of production and capability of doing it."
Coming soon: An Assistant Secretary who will advocate for the acceptance that the Cobell Settlement is fair and just to individual Land Owners. (make sure you read between the lines though if you're an Individual Indian Land Owner)
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Dear Elouise Cobell Litigation Members
"Someone Tell Her" week of February 31, 2011
February 31, 2011
Dear Indian Country:
don't read between the lines because you might not like what becomes obvious:
This is the another letter in a series of openly bitter letters that I'm sending to Indian Country. The purpose of this letter is to confuse you about the settlement and to answer your most relevant questions that maybe 20 indians have as proof that Indian country "overwhelmingly" has no idea of what we've been up to.
As I reported in the another letter where I gave no side opposed to me any time to refute my claims, the parties agreed to extend the settlement for just the 40th time and yet another extension is required if we are to give Santa a chance to pass legislation. I will only consult our attorneys and allies on the Hill about that extension on behalf of oblivious land owners over the next few days.
In your last letter, you mentioned that Senator Barrasso (R - WY), Vice-Chairman, Senator Committee on Indian Affairs introduced an amendment that he says would "improve" the settlement agreement even though it would terminate the settlement, what is the status of his amendment? Thanks to the overwhelming support of maybe 20 Indians who favor my side, Senator Barrasso was unable to bring his amendment to the floor for a vote. Your letters and calls to members of Congress had a significant impact on the outcome. Unfortunately, Senator Barrasso still doesn't understand, or doesn't care, that Indian Country has 20 Indians who overwhelmingly support this settlement. According to statements reported in the press, he is more determined than ever to rob you of your victory in this case and it is likely that he again will attempt to introduce an amendment to terminate the settlement at some time in the future. We remain on guard against his efforts to further harm more than 20 individual Indians. Instead we will focus our efforts on robbing you by shifting millions of dollars away from the thousands of other Indians who oppose me and putting it in the pockets of my lawyers.
You also mentioned that the National Congress of American Indians was considering a resolution supporting the Barrasso amendment, what is the status of that resolution? The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association resolutions opposing my settlement will summarily be ignored and therefore do not exist as proof that more than 20 Indians overwhelmingly oppose my settlement. (In fact they only represent 73 tribes in 9 states) I attended an imaginary NCAI event in Rapid City, South Dakota beginning June 31, 2010. A small, rabid group of tribal representatives sought to support Senator Barrasso's amendment and, thereby, kill your settlement, but their effort was defeated soundly (even overwhelmingly) and NCAI passed a resolution urging Congress to reject the Barrasso amendment and pass authorizing legislation as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that the tribally-elected leaders I called Rabid could not be euthanized. It is important to remember that this class is made up solely of oblivious individual Indian trust beneficiaries; tribes have their own litigation (and, at times, the agenda of a few tribally-elected leaders is inconsistent with individual Indians' interests), but they don't represent your interests in this litigation. I do, so don't listen to them; listen to me; your non-elected leader.
Will any Interior contractors with experience on Indian issues be selected to assist with the distribution of settlement proceeds or to hold the funds pending distribution? Overwhelmingly not! This is a conflict of interest which does not serve my interests or my attorney's interests so it won't be tolerated. To allow the same contractors, who have been peddling their services that fail to deliver promised benefits to Indian Country, to have any role in the distribution of settlement funds would be insane. For the first time in history, your funds will be held securely, managed prudently, and distributed competently by able and experienced professionals, mostly to my lawyers but you will get enough to buy groceries and gas for a month-rest assured! I know of no Interior contractors that meet the highest fiduciary standards that you are owed; this is not dissimilar to your lack of knowledge of any lawyer who is really representing your interests.
While I'm at it, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't like ATNI, GPTCA, or Interior people. I'm only here to support "Individual Indians."
Where can I review the overwhelming amount of time the attorneys have spent on the litigation? Pursuant to an agreement between the parties, statements regarding counsels' billing rates and related records supporting daily time, expense and cost records will be filed with the Court and available to the public as long as you are standing just inside the courtroom doors or downstairs in the courtroom basement where the records are available for any Indian in this country to come and see, in person. (For the record, for reasons unexplainable to oblivious Indian Land Owners we will not publish the records anywhere where everybody can see them, like in a newspaper, or on my website, or on the Church Bulletin Board.) This documentation will be filed no later than 30 days following preliminary approval of the settlement agreement by the Court. After the court signs. Not before the Court signs. Preliminary approval by the Court cannot occur unless and until Congress authorizes the settlement. We are not holding anybody hostage by withholding the billing information until after Congress signs the settlement. We are only holding papers people! Papers! As soon as the settlement is signed, we will surprise everybody with the billing information. We will not contest any settlement between 50 and 99 million dollars. We will agree that we are entitled to between 50 and 99 million dollars. That is irrefutable information that we will not contest. We will not contest that we are owed between 50 and 99 million. We agree that we are owed between 50 and 99 million dollars: plus 124 million dollars. Since no one will suggest 223 million dollars it will therefore be ok for us to suggest it. It will all make overwhelming sense if you don't think about it.
Prior letters which are truly objective cannot be found . We also have a "frequently asked questions" section which includes what I have deemed the most common questions we've received as well as questions and answers from prior harmless letters. With so many members of the class being so angry, I can't answer every question that you send. These letters will answer as many questions as possible, or two that I randomly choose as being harmless to my cause that are relevant to the entire oblivious class membership.
The most common question I receive every week relates to whether a particular person is included in this settlement. Unfortunately, I do not have that information, then again, maybe it's best I don't have that information. The settlement agreement provides general guidelines. But I also understand that many of you are still oblivious to the entire settlement agreement and still have questions. Thank you for your questions.
I hope someday to have an answer, after we've been paid for our time and service to all 20 of the Indians who overwhelmingly support me. Pay no attention to my tax records which are public and show that most weeks I only recorded to the IRS that I worked 2 hours a week for the organization which got grants to have me represent all the oblivious Indians in the pursuit of justice in this case. I will do my best to amend the records from 14 previous years that shows that we already paid for the financial services and the legal services of a few well known attorneys associated with this case.
Thanks for being an enrolled member which gave me numbers from which to claim I represent.
If no one answers any of the relevant questions of angry land owners please keep sending letters. We overwhelmingly welcome any letter, unfortunately we won't answer all of them or any that appear to be representing dissent from my opinion or my attorneys, ooops I mean our attorneys.
If you have a question, send an e-mail to someone. Otherwise you can send me a letter. To expedite the processing of your letters a contractor has set up a post office box in Ohio, smack dab in the middle of Indian Country! But I assure you I will see your letters. I just won't answer any that are too difficult to explain or that point out our shortcomings in representing the real overwhelming majority of you.
Thank you and keep your questions coming!
Best wishes for those expensive attorneys of mine
-your overwhelmingly best supporter
More articles are at the bottom of this page. Click here.
February 31, 2011
Dear Indian Country:
don't read between the lines because you might not like what becomes obvious:
This is the another letter in a series of openly bitter letters that I'm sending to Indian Country. The purpose of this letter is to confuse you about the settlement and to answer your most relevant questions that maybe 20 indians have as proof that Indian country "overwhelmingly" has no idea of what we've been up to.
As I reported in the another letter where I gave no side opposed to me any time to refute my claims, the parties agreed to extend the settlement for just the 40th time and yet another extension is required if we are to give Santa a chance to pass legislation. I will only consult our attorneys and allies on the Hill about that extension on behalf of oblivious land owners over the next few days.
In your last letter, you mentioned that Senator Barrasso (R - WY), Vice-Chairman, Senator Committee on Indian Affairs introduced an amendment that he says would "improve" the settlement agreement even though it would terminate the settlement, what is the status of his amendment? Thanks to the overwhelming support of maybe 20 Indians who favor my side, Senator Barrasso was unable to bring his amendment to the floor for a vote. Your letters and calls to members of Congress had a significant impact on the outcome. Unfortunately, Senator Barrasso still doesn't understand, or doesn't care, that Indian Country has 20 Indians who overwhelmingly support this settlement. According to statements reported in the press, he is more determined than ever to rob you of your victory in this case and it is likely that he again will attempt to introduce an amendment to terminate the settlement at some time in the future. We remain on guard against his efforts to further harm more than 20 individual Indians. Instead we will focus our efforts on robbing you by shifting millions of dollars away from the thousands of other Indians who oppose me and putting it in the pockets of my lawyers.
You also mentioned that the National Congress of American Indians was considering a resolution supporting the Barrasso amendment, what is the status of that resolution? The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association resolutions opposing my settlement will summarily be ignored and therefore do not exist as proof that more than 20 Indians overwhelmingly oppose my settlement. (In fact they only represent 73 tribes in 9 states) I attended an imaginary NCAI event in Rapid City, South Dakota beginning June 31, 2010. A small, rabid group of tribal representatives sought to support Senator Barrasso's amendment and, thereby, kill your settlement, but their effort was defeated soundly (even overwhelmingly) and NCAI passed a resolution urging Congress to reject the Barrasso amendment and pass authorizing legislation as soon as possible. It is unfortunate that the tribally-elected leaders I called Rabid could not be euthanized. It is important to remember that this class is made up solely of oblivious individual Indian trust beneficiaries; tribes have their own litigation (and, at times, the agenda of a few tribally-elected leaders is inconsistent with individual Indians' interests), but they don't represent your interests in this litigation. I do, so don't listen to them; listen to me; your non-elected leader.
Will any Interior contractors with experience on Indian issues be selected to assist with the distribution of settlement proceeds or to hold the funds pending distribution? Overwhelmingly not! This is a conflict of interest which does not serve my interests or my attorney's interests so it won't be tolerated. To allow the same contractors, who have been peddling their services that fail to deliver promised benefits to Indian Country, to have any role in the distribution of settlement funds would be insane. For the first time in history, your funds will be held securely, managed prudently, and distributed competently by able and experienced professionals, mostly to my lawyers but you will get enough to buy groceries and gas for a month-rest assured! I know of no Interior contractors that meet the highest fiduciary standards that you are owed; this is not dissimilar to your lack of knowledge of any lawyer who is really representing your interests.
While I'm at it, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I don't like ATNI, GPTCA, or Interior people. I'm only here to support "Individual Indians."
Where can I review the overwhelming amount of time the attorneys have spent on the litigation? Pursuant to an agreement between the parties, statements regarding counsels' billing rates and related records supporting daily time, expense and cost records will be filed with the Court and available to the public as long as you are standing just inside the courtroom doors or downstairs in the courtroom basement where the records are available for any Indian in this country to come and see, in person. (For the record, for reasons unexplainable to oblivious Indian Land Owners we will not publish the records anywhere where everybody can see them, like in a newspaper, or on my website, or on the Church Bulletin Board.) This documentation will be filed no later than 30 days following preliminary approval of the settlement agreement by the Court. After the court signs. Not before the Court signs. Preliminary approval by the Court cannot occur unless and until Congress authorizes the settlement. We are not holding anybody hostage by withholding the billing information until after Congress signs the settlement. We are only holding papers people! Papers! As soon as the settlement is signed, we will surprise everybody with the billing information. We will not contest any settlement between 50 and 99 million dollars. We will agree that we are entitled to between 50 and 99 million dollars. That is irrefutable information that we will not contest. We will not contest that we are owed between 50 and 99 million. We agree that we are owed between 50 and 99 million dollars: plus 124 million dollars. Since no one will suggest 223 million dollars it will therefore be ok for us to suggest it. It will all make overwhelming sense if you don't think about it.
Prior letters which are truly objective cannot be found . We also have a "frequently asked questions" section which includes what I have deemed the most common questions we've received as well as questions and answers from prior harmless letters. With so many members of the class being so angry, I can't answer every question that you send. These letters will answer as many questions as possible, or two that I randomly choose as being harmless to my cause that are relevant to the entire oblivious class membership.
The most common question I receive every week relates to whether a particular person is included in this settlement. Unfortunately, I do not have that information, then again, maybe it's best I don't have that information. The settlement agreement provides general guidelines. But I also understand that many of you are still oblivious to the entire settlement agreement and still have questions. Thank you for your questions.
I hope someday to have an answer, after we've been paid for our time and service to all 20 of the Indians who overwhelmingly support me. Pay no attention to my tax records which are public and show that most weeks I only recorded to the IRS that I worked 2 hours a week for the organization which got grants to have me represent all the oblivious Indians in the pursuit of justice in this case. I will do my best to amend the records from 14 previous years that shows that we already paid for the financial services and the legal services of a few well known attorneys associated with this case.
Thanks for being an enrolled member which gave me numbers from which to claim I represent.
If no one answers any of the relevant questions of angry land owners please keep sending letters. We overwhelmingly welcome any letter, unfortunately we won't answer all of them or any that appear to be representing dissent from my opinion or my attorneys, ooops I mean our attorneys.
If you have a question, send an e-mail to someone. Otherwise you can send me a letter. To expedite the processing of your letters a contractor has set up a post office box in Ohio, smack dab in the middle of Indian Country! But I assure you I will see your letters. I just won't answer any that are too difficult to explain or that point out our shortcomings in representing the real overwhelming majority of you.
Thank you and keep your questions coming!
Best wishes for those expensive attorneys of mine
-your overwhelmingly best supporter
More articles are at the bottom of this page. Click here.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Eloise Cobell's Boy Scouts
Check out the new Indian Country Today format in the latest bit of "news" coming out from the Elouise Cobell "Corporation". Are there loose threads beginning to unravel and expose the men hiding behind the curtain? Is the intent of Team Cobell only now becoming obvious to everybody?
See what the newest article from Indian Country has to say about our "Superhero-advocates" here.
Such a great group of chums enit? They worked together to make their dreams come true and now their dreams are about to materialize right before....we get paid.
Should we thank them now? Is it proper to thank them before they take more money off the table before we get paid? I'm not sure what to do, Elouise. Do we offer them dessert, second helpings, tell them to leave the check blank, post-date it? You seem to have a handle on knowing what's "best for us" so what are we supposed to do now?
Related Posts:
Elouise Cobell Settlement could have been so much more
President Obama's final step before the fall known as the Cobell Settlement
Cobell Settlement is a fair and just settlement...in la la land
Cobell Settlement gets worse and worse
Another reason why the Cobell Settlement shouldn't pass
Elouise Cobell's cookie begins to crumble
Elouise Cobell answers...sort of
Elouise Cobell's fees need some documentation
Elouise Cobell "suffers" from criticism
See what the newest article from Indian Country has to say about our "Superhero-advocates" here.
Such a great group of chums enit? They worked together to make their dreams come true and now their dreams are about to materialize right before....we get paid.
Should we thank them now? Is it proper to thank them before they take more money off the table before we get paid? I'm not sure what to do, Elouise. Do we offer them dessert, second helpings, tell them to leave the check blank, post-date it? You seem to have a handle on knowing what's "best for us" so what are we supposed to do now?
Related Posts:
Elouise Cobell Settlement could have been so much more
President Obama's final step before the fall known as the Cobell Settlement
Cobell Settlement is a fair and just settlement...in la la land
Cobell Settlement gets worse and worse
Another reason why the Cobell Settlement shouldn't pass
Elouise Cobell's cookie begins to crumble
Elouise Cobell answers...sort of
Elouise Cobell's fees need some documentation
Elouise Cobell "suffers" from criticism
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Elouise Cobell Settlement could have been so much more
The "Cobell settlement" which is on the mouths of landowners as the "Cobell Sellout" will forever go down in history as one of the pivotal points at which justice was once again used to tease Indians. Like a piece of meat held too high for a starving dog to snatch.
The Cobell Sellout was analyzed and at first was embraced by all as a good effort to "make" the Federal Government show how much we were owed.
If you "Lose the Initiative" on the battlefield, you are prone to seek out any new goal far short of what your objective originally was. Suddenly just living seems so much more appeasing than actually following through with your mission.
So it is with the Cobell Sellout. We were all behind her when she had the vision before her to compel an accounting. Maybe 10 years into it, maybe 13 years into it, she lost the initiative. And now we are all being forced into a pen of acceptance for a pittance of what is really owed and everybody in the Federal Government knows it. We are forced into an acceptance of a pitiful settlement while the memory of a "Compelling Accounting" for what we are owed, is now forever forgotten. The original objective sits on the memory map of so many who are now poised to lose that one chance to show that our generations before us were wronged, our ancestors suffered and the proof was forthcoming.
The Cobell Sellout could have contained so much more. As she shared in Indian Country Today, Angelique Eagle Woman had an idea for where this could have been steered. It would appear that when President Obama signs the Settlement legislation, Eagle Woman's and our hopes for "major positive sustainable changes" will forever go down in history with scant explanation or time due for positive dialogue.
Eagle Woman's "Remediation, Accounting, an Apology, and a More Just Monetary Compensation Plan" will go down, ignored with the pleas from the landowners who are in abundance, who do not support this poor excuse for a settlement, despite the questionable terms Cobell team used when they said the "majority of Indian Country" supports this settlement.
In every battlefield, the lieutenant who loses initiative will have a few bold sergeants who will make corrections in the heat of battle because somebody must. Maybe the Commander In Chief will take note of a select few shining examples of some brilliant leaders in the field of Indians and take pause to listen, right before he signs the Cobell Sellout.
The Cobell Sellout was analyzed and at first was embraced by all as a good effort to "make" the Federal Government show how much we were owed.
If you "Lose the Initiative" on the battlefield, you are prone to seek out any new goal far short of what your objective originally was. Suddenly just living seems so much more appeasing than actually following through with your mission.
So it is with the Cobell Sellout. We were all behind her when she had the vision before her to compel an accounting. Maybe 10 years into it, maybe 13 years into it, she lost the initiative. And now we are all being forced into a pen of acceptance for a pittance of what is really owed and everybody in the Federal Government knows it. We are forced into an acceptance of a pitiful settlement while the memory of a "Compelling Accounting" for what we are owed, is now forever forgotten. The original objective sits on the memory map of so many who are now poised to lose that one chance to show that our generations before us were wronged, our ancestors suffered and the proof was forthcoming.
The Cobell Sellout could have contained so much more. As she shared in Indian Country Today, Angelique Eagle Woman had an idea for where this could have been steered. It would appear that when President Obama signs the Settlement legislation, Eagle Woman's and our hopes for "major positive sustainable changes" will forever go down in history with scant explanation or time due for positive dialogue.
Eagle Woman's "Remediation, Accounting, an Apology, and a More Just Monetary Compensation Plan" will go down, ignored with the pleas from the landowners who are in abundance, who do not support this poor excuse for a settlement, despite the questionable terms Cobell team used when they said the "majority of Indian Country" supports this settlement.
In every battlefield, the lieutenant who loses initiative will have a few bold sergeants who will make corrections in the heat of battle because somebody must. Maybe the Commander In Chief will take note of a select few shining examples of some brilliant leaders in the field of Indians and take pause to listen, right before he signs the Cobell Sellout.
President Obama's final step before the fall known as the Cobell Settlement
It would seem as if the "forgotten" Native Population will once again be told what is best for them by what would seem to be a non-appointed voice for us all. Reminds one of the treaty-signers and what they gave away for the rest of their respective tribes. Elouise Cobell is set to pull the wool over one of the brightest minds in the Nation, Barack Obama Black Eagle.
When President Obama signs the Cobell Sellout, the Federal Government will breathe a giant sigh of relief. "Whew, we got through that one cheaper than we should have" will be a thought in many legislators minds.
"We could have ended up giving them what we gave the Black Farmers. We could have given the tribes 1.4 billion outright - good thing the process will prevent them from ever using all the money in 10 years. We'll get some of this back, in the meanwhile it'll earn interest. We could have granted generous funding to clear the back log of land sales currently on the books. We could have granted generous funding to create a bunch of Indian Surveyors so the tribes could have been more self sufficient to fix their Cadastral surveys. We got off easy on this one because we'll continue to be a pass through to all the contracted surveyors. Good vote getter there!
Did you catch that freakish clause where we're gonna give 'em 60 million for college? Wasn't that great? Considering we already covered that with each treaty that was a steal!
We could have actually been forced to come up with an accounting which we could not have done. Well, we couldn't have done it without spending more of our money to fix the accounting errors. On a good note, because of this case, we got all the land title documents under lock and key in our super secret cave in Lenexa, Kansas. "
Despite some of the greatest minds in the field of law and policy speaking out on behalf of the landowners, President Obama will instead "forget" that justice requires dialogue and with a history of people, good-willed or not, speaking on our behalf, we return once again to a scene where one will speak for many. One legal team will get off on their take while we get 1/50th of what another legal team got for their black farmers. One land owner who would have only gotten a tiny payment every year will instead take home 15 million dollars despite the lack of proof that millions were spent according to her own tax records. (check the link here) (she showed on her own records that she didn't even work some months and she put it out there for everybody to see)
123 years of injustice: uncounted millions lost
362 tribes who still don't have a sound land management advocate: cheap when you get a Secretary who has never lived on his own reservation and has no concept of what real life issues take place daily on the rez, but can cry on demand when speaking in front of a camera.
Stealing their 1 last shot to infuse justice into the situation: PRICELESS!
I guess there will be a ceremony where a drum will be beat to the heartbeat of very few. There will be a photo op in a plush room with a cast of very well-known players. And then the checks will start rolling in with nary an explanation-just like our checks come now. No receipt, no statement, no explanation for why we're getting it. Certainly no justice from the Federal Government who issued it.
Thanks be to President Obama for making it all happen with the swipe of a pen. Indians never did like paperwork and we still don't.
When President Obama signs the Cobell Sellout, the Federal Government will breathe a giant sigh of relief. "Whew, we got through that one cheaper than we should have" will be a thought in many legislators minds.
"We could have ended up giving them what we gave the Black Farmers. We could have given the tribes 1.4 billion outright - good thing the process will prevent them from ever using all the money in 10 years. We'll get some of this back, in the meanwhile it'll earn interest. We could have granted generous funding to clear the back log of land sales currently on the books. We could have granted generous funding to create a bunch of Indian Surveyors so the tribes could have been more self sufficient to fix their Cadastral surveys. We got off easy on this one because we'll continue to be a pass through to all the contracted surveyors. Good vote getter there!
Did you catch that freakish clause where we're gonna give 'em 60 million for college? Wasn't that great? Considering we already covered that with each treaty that was a steal!
We could have actually been forced to come up with an accounting which we could not have done. Well, we couldn't have done it without spending more of our money to fix the accounting errors. On a good note, because of this case, we got all the land title documents under lock and key in our super secret cave in Lenexa, Kansas. "
Despite some of the greatest minds in the field of law and policy speaking out on behalf of the landowners, President Obama will instead "forget" that justice requires dialogue and with a history of people, good-willed or not, speaking on our behalf, we return once again to a scene where one will speak for many. One legal team will get off on their take while we get 1/50th of what another legal team got for their black farmers. One land owner who would have only gotten a tiny payment every year will instead take home 15 million dollars despite the lack of proof that millions were spent according to her own tax records. (check the link here) (she showed on her own records that she didn't even work some months and she put it out there for everybody to see)
123 years of injustice: uncounted millions lost
362 tribes who still don't have a sound land management advocate: cheap when you get a Secretary who has never lived on his own reservation and has no concept of what real life issues take place daily on the rez, but can cry on demand when speaking in front of a camera.
Stealing their 1 last shot to infuse justice into the situation: PRICELESS!
I guess there will be a ceremony where a drum will be beat to the heartbeat of very few. There will be a photo op in a plush room with a cast of very well-known players. And then the checks will start rolling in with nary an explanation-just like our checks come now. No receipt, no statement, no explanation for why we're getting it. Certainly no justice from the Federal Government who issued it.
Thanks be to President Obama for making it all happen with the swipe of a pen. Indians never did like paperwork and we still don't.
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