*Land into Trust

Land into trust is still a confusing and government run issue that has sparked the biggest class action lawsuit in the history of the United States. In the case of Cobell v Norton seeking damages of $136 Billion dollars, now on it's way to possibly The United States Supreme Court after refusing to accept the $435 million dollars awarded by the court. If the $435 million dollar settlement was accepted it would work out to a pennies on the dollar settlement.

Mrs. Cobell proved that land was not properly distributed by The Bureau of Indian Affairs and was given away and sold, land that allocated to Native Americans. The Bureau of Indian Affairs mis-managed the land that Native Americans were suppose to get and they were suppose to put the land into trust, but instead used huge amounts of allocated land for government surplus and sold it for profit.

Today there is still 55,700,000 acres of land held in trust by the United States government. One of the confusing cases is when in 1991 the Narragansettes purchased land for economic development because they wanted to build a elderly housing complex. State officials feared that the Narragansettes would build a casino using the Indian Reorganization Act and that the tribe was not recognized by the U.S. government until after the 1934 act.

After a long court battle the United States Supreme Court came with a verdict on the states side, This ruling limits the federal governments authority and give the states powers that were not part of powers of the Indian Reorganization Act.

True sovereignty is when a nation can truly make its own decisions free from the federal governments rules, so when you hear that Native Americans are sovereign, you will know that is only half true. When it comes to tribes kicking out members for what ever reason then the government says, "we can't intervene because of sovereignty" but let a Tribe try to buy land and it is a long legal proceeding.

Right now Native American Tribes in Ohio are just trying to have the government recognize their existence. A Native American tribe cannot be recognized without the federal government declaring the tribe is recognized. Imagine someone having to declare your group of people even exist. I am lucky, in that I come from a tribe that the federal government recognizes. Many Native Americans are not so fortunate.

Sovereignty is strange for Native Americans and non Native Americans, because Native Americans that are sovereign have to abide by federal law and not state law, so my tribe in Michigan might not outlaw fireworks while the state does. It is also complex because what if a tribe ever wanted to legalize same sex marriage, prostitution or assisted suicide? These are all up to the tribe in which case my tribe gets a vote from it's members on such issues. The only issue currently is recognizing same sex marriage. My tribe is to conservative to ever address a issue of legalized prostitution or assisted suicide. I only illustrate these issues for the sake of speaking about sovereignty. My tribe is mainly Christian and live as Christians but all religions are accepted openly.

I am fortunate to be a member of a close knit and completely open tribe that communicates with it's tribal members and really looks out for the welfare of all. Some tribes are not so lucky.

*The Coyote and the Monster

A long time ago, people did not yet inhabit the Earth. A monster walked upon the land, eating all the animals-except the Coyote. The Coyote was very angry that all his friends were gone. One day he climbed to the tallest mountain and tied himself to the top with rope. The Coyote called upon the monster, challenging him to eat him. The monster sucked in the air, hoping to pull the Coyote off the mountain with his powerful breath, but the ropes were too strong. The monster tried many other ways to blow the Coyote off the mountain, but it was no use.

Realizing that the Coyote was sly and cleaver, the monster thought of a new plan. It would be friend the Coyote and invite him to stay in his home, on his land. Before the visit began, the Coyote said that he wanted to visit his friends and asked if he could enter the monster's stomach to see them. The monster allowed this, and the Coyote ended up cutting out the monsters heart to set his friends free.

Then the Coyote decided to make a new animal. He flung pieces of the monster in all four directions; wherever the pieces landed, a new tribe of Indians emerged.

This is a short summary of ta Nez Perce tale of Coyote as Creater-father, as told by Terri Andrews. The tales of the Trickster were wide spread in Native American culture and became very famous stories that were passed down from generation to generation.

The Trickster was a survivor and he or she would use his wits and instincts to adapt to different situations to always walk away uninjured, I often wondered if "Willie Coyote" was a modern day trickster told to children of all races in a series of cartoons that almost any parent would not object to their children watching. I use to watch this "Willie Coyote" and often I hoped that the Coyote was going to finally catch the road runner, that never happened in my childhood, well I grew up, and a couple of days ago, after so many years this Coyote still has not caught the road runner, so I guess I should be happy that the trickster still lives.

*New Casino Technology

The new technology out today is amazing, many casinos know who you are when you pull into the parking lot, for example, cameras scan license plates of cars as they approach to match a computer data base of undesirables, so if you are greeted at the door by security and are told, thanks for coming but please take your business elsewhere, well you will know that when you where involved in an incident and were asked to go to the office, someone was watching what car you were driving and getting your license plate then entering you into the computer so that ALL casinos would be aware of you, nowadays casinos share information with each other.

Casinos also have enough cameras in the sky to cover 80% of the entire casino, it is a computer that watches and red flags suspicious activity from reading body language and patterns more often than a skilled security personnel.

Casinos also use invisible bar coded cards to stop card swapping, the cameras and computers look for these bars codes the minute you sit down to play.

Most casinos also have RFID chips that have high-frequency radio transceivers hidden deep inside the chips that track the movement of the chips, location of the chips and computers red flag strange behavior. The chips also uses a complex numbering system than is engraved on the chip to stop counterfeiting along with a special polishing and finishing system done to the chips making them more difficult to counterfeit than currency.

Slot machines use high tech cryptography, the same kind of encryption that the government uses to protect secret systems, it uses a complex algorithm known as random number generation, making it nearly impossible to control.

The cashiers window is the last line of defense and automated scanners determine if your ID is valid before a cashier advances cash, a computer manages this also and will contact security if something turns up in the computer data base that is often linked up to many sources.

In today's casino world you have a much greater chance of getting caught doing something illegal in a casino than not in a casino.

*Death by cold

The Crow Creek Indian Reservation is located in South Dakota, it covers 421.658 square miles with a population of about 2,500 people.

I was deeply saddened to find out that a electric company had negotiated a deal to create a power plant on the property of the Crow Nation and had promised that everyone on the Crow Nation would have access to the energy, well that proved to be true, but at three times the rate of everyone else. The power company would turn off members of the Crow Nation power when they owed one hundred dollars. Even families that had children that required medical equipment in order to survive.

This heartless power company would turn off power during the winter, leaving the members of the Crow Nation without power or heat. Federal laws protect regular citizens from having their power or heat turned off during the winter months, but these laws do not protect Native Americans living on reservations.

The members of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe are a mixture of Dakota and Nakota speaking "Sioux", who settled on the reservation after exile from Minnesota following the Dakota War of 1862 in Minnesota.

With a 80% unemployment rate and a average yearly income of a little more than $5,000 this once strong tribe is on the brink of elimination.

President Obama recently allocated $3 billion to Indian tribes on a promise made during his campaign trail. President Obama said, "Few have been more marginalized and ignored by Washington for as long as Native Americans."

If you have not watched the videos on my blog site, please do, I promise you that it will be one of the most shocking videos and inspiring that you will ever see. It will let you get a glimpse of real problems in Indian country.

People always tell me how bad social programs and money are, I can't help but think of the Crow Creek Indian Reservation when they say such things. Many of the American Indians living on this reservation have frozen to death, starved to death or died from being poor. The bad thing is they are actually trapped on this reservation due to poverty.

On December 3rd the Internal Revenue Service seized 7,100 acres of land because of failure to pay taxes. Every year this tribe loses land to the government for not being able to pay taxes.