In what is possibly the best court opinion ever, Judge Royce Lamberth ordered Interior to let Native Americans know that they're a bunch of lying scumbags who can't be trusted. Seems Interior has been letting fat cat miners and loggers use Indian lands and mismanaging funds generated from it. It's not just the Bush administration - Clinton interior secretary Bruce Babbitt was held in contempt for a while in the case (as well as Bush's Gale Norton). And the trust funds go back to 1879 - I'll bet Interior's delinquency goes back just as far.
My dad had to deal with the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs, the bureau in Interior that deals with this stuff) on a daily basis while he worked for the Navajo, and told me in no uncertain terms that they were slimeballs. Also, I've read a few other Post articles on the mistreatment of Indians and Indian lands by the government. So I can't say I'm surprised. At least now, Native Americans will know exactly what the BIA thinks of them.
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When I read that first sentence, I thought Interior was supposed to inform Native Americans that they, the Native Americans, were a bunch of lying scumbags, and I was like, "Wow, what did the Native Americans do to piss off Interior so much?"
Given our historical treatment of Native Americans, should we really expect things to be any different now? Sigh...
Apologies for the confusing use of pronouns there. I restructured that sentence a hundred times and every time it came out sucky.
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