This one's for Ward Churchill. The cultural annihi... I mean
'Assimilation' continues:
First, for the sake of 'balanced reporting', some reasonably good news:
WikiNews:
Cherokee Nation tribunal approves new Constitution
June 10, 2006
http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Cherokee_Nation_tribunal_approves_new_Constitution
[Link to a side-by-side comparison of the 1976 constitution and the new
doc on page]
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Saturday, June 10, 2006
Federal court suppresses reports alleging US Interior destroyed Indian
trust documents
Holly Manges Jones at 10:53 AM ET
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/06/federal-court-suppresses-reports.php
[JURIST] A federal appeals court ruled [opinion, PDF] Friday to suppress
three documents which contained information that the US Department of
the Interior [official website] allegedly destroyed documents related to
a class-action lawsuit brought by Native Americans [DOI Indian Trust
Fund website], who claim they are owed tens of billions of dollars. The
plaintiffs filed the lawsuit ten years ago, accusing the government of
mismanaging an Indian trust [advocacy website; JURIST news archive] in
their names for a period of 120 years. The suppressed documents were
written by Alan Balaran, who was appointed in 1999 as a "special master"
to oversee the exchange of information between the parties.
Balaran personally visited Indian reservations and federal depositories
during his tenure and claimed that Interior Department officials
neglected to report problems and also destroyed documents, sometimes
purposefully. But the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit [official
website] allowed the reports to be suppressed due to Balaran's hiring of
a former Interior Department contractor who had previously accused the
department of fraud. The expert was able to edit Balaran's reports,
which the court determined was a "biased way of conducting and reporting
upon an investigation." Balaran resigned [press release] as special
master in April 2004, claiming that the Bush administration had been
pursuing his recusal to silence criticisms of the Department of
Interior’s handling of individual Indian trust accounts, and alleging
that the administration knowingly allowed energy companies to pay
Indians far less than non-Indians for oil, gas and other leases.
AP has more.
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/06/federal-court-suppresses-reports.php
