Great news (or is it?) for the Little Shell Tribe of Montana. It would appear that nothing can prod a Senator pandering for votes into action faster than a close Senate race. On August 2 Senator “No Earmarks Ever” Tester brought SB 546 to the floor to be read and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. SB546, sponsored by Tester, extends Federal recognition to the Little Shell Chippewa Indians of Montana. The bill allows that the Tribe and each member would now be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the United States to other recognized tribes even though they don’t have an actual reservation. The bill directs the Secretary of Interior to acquire trust title to 200 acres of land to be used as a tribal Homeland base. The bill also allows for future additional land that the Secretary of Interior may acquire for the benefit of the tribe pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act.
Way to lock up those Little Shell votes Jon but is this really what is in the best interests of the Little Shell people? It would seem to me that we are taking a group of people that have been independent and self sufficient for over a century and are now attempting to place them in a system that has obviously been a failure for other Indian peoples of Montana. Don’t we learn anything from past mistakes? I don’t know what the solution is but this isn’t it.
Read the text of SB 546 here
Most republicans do not go so tea party as to cut off their own nose to spite their face. Most are simply content with putting their foot deeply in their mouth.
ReplyDeleteThe two reservations near Havre bring in millions of federal dollars to the local economy. A lot like the 300 million dollars that Malmstrom AFB brings into Great Falls annually. Another recognized reservation would bring in even more federal dollars.
What gives? Is the loyalty to GOP trumping local success in business so yet another excuse can be used against Obama?
How about writing a post demanding that ALL farm subsidies be immediately stopped. That might be a really good start of keeping government out of private business.
Mitt Romney, if he is the GOP nominee on election day, which I am doubting more and more everyday, will lose in such a spectacular fashion that it will cost many republican seats in congress.
Tester is safe for another term.
Romney may in fact lose enough seats for the GOP that the supermajority overthrow of the US senate they are claiming will be a moot point.
A better question is how great are businessmen like Romney who will spend millions of other peoples dollars to lose?
You are right DeConstructor but personally I would rather keep my money instead of sending it to the feds to send back to Montana to support more natives and the folks at Malstrom. Wouldn't that amount to the same dollars being spent in Havre? Only diff is that I would be spending them instead of someone else
ReplyDelete'Wouldn't that amount to the same dollars being spent in Havre? Only diff is that I would be spending them instead of someone else'
ReplyDeleteNo it is very different. Montana has a small population with a lot of area, which makes for a lot more federal dollars coming into the state than being taxed. For example we have a lot of miles of federal highways.
We want that federal money coming in.
You surely aren’t suggesting that reservations are making efficient use of the free money they receive every year are you Deconstructor? If it wasn’t for waste and fraud their people would be in good shape.
ReplyDeleteI happen to know some Little Shell people who are hardworking folks that hold good jobs and are dependable individuals. If they get their own reservation do you suppose their offspring will continue in the path of their fathers or just take the easy route depending on the government for their livelihood?
I find it hard to understand why they would want this for their children.
How about we compare your claims of fraud in the reservations to the Department of Defense, Jimbo?
ReplyDeleteThe $800 dollar hammers are not only old news, but also quite amatuer.
How about the F-22 Raptor released in 2005? The most expensive plane in history, and not only never used in combat with several major wars going on, but also the pilots are refusing to fly the thing at all over safety concerns. Normally highly coveted pilots jobs are going vacant.
There are also many reports the military did not even want this plane, yet the corrupt, fraudulant, and broken system kept this thing going forward.
It appears that Lockheed Martin does have more say in Washington on military affairs than the US military. This might explain why we pay as much in defense spending as the next 26 countries combined, 25 of which are supposedly our allies.
abcnews.go.com/.../f-22-fighter-loses-79-billion-advantage-in-dogfig...
79 Billion dollars so far, which is roughly what one year of single payer health care (Medicare for all!) would cost the US.
Additionally this is not over and who knows how much money is shoveled down this giant sucking sound?
I think you are on to something DeConstructor, I agree we should cut farm subsidies, military waste even if it affects our own Malstrom and funding to reservations that is simply wasted. In addition programs like Vibrant Futures and the like should at the very least have a degree of accountability.
ReplyDeleteIronically, much of the money spent through the so called stimulus program is not even accounted for so who knows if it actually did any good.
We have to start cutting waste and ridiculous spending even if some of it is slated to be spent or burned up in our community.
The F-35 fighter is the newest one in production with an estimated cost to the US of 323 Billion for the program. The F 35 program is estimated to have a 1 trillion dollar pricetag over its lifetime.
ReplyDeleteLockheed Martin has blamed all the cost over runs (which are now over triple original estimates) on their workers striking over their pensions, and the complaints former union workers have raised over the work standards of the replacement nonunion workers that were brought in to replace them. They must have been going to get a heck of a pension.
Out of all enemies, foreign and domestic, I think Lockheed Martin is far more dangerous than Al Quada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II