Navajo Nation president calls for true consultation at BIA meeting

[NVMojo]

WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. went off-script to question the lack of true tribal consultation on funding, while challenging the federal government to live up to its responsibilities to tribes a fraction as much as it has to the agencies handling the Hurricane Katrina response and the Iraq War.

Pres. Shirley spoke during the second day of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) National Budget Meeting, following a day listening to federal officials meekly justify President George Bush’s proposed $65 million in cuts for tribal programs for fiscal year 2007. He said that what passed for tribal consultation instead appeared to be a meaningless notion.

“Tribes need to be consulted. We need input as to what the U.S. government is doing out there in Indian country,” Pres. Shirley insisted.

snip...

Pres. Shirley noted that the Navajo Nation, like other tribes, has numerous soldiers serving in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan defending the United States, as well as Native America, and that seven Navajos have lost their lives in the war. “The least that the government can do is fund these programs that serve Indian Country adequately,” he maintained.

more...

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_2494.shtml

[dbt]

1. Wishing President Shirley the best of luck, I wonder if

he thinks the White Man will be anything but treacherous this time around. More likely, bu$hler will show up for a photo-op carrying beads and blankets full of Smallpox.

dbt
Remember New Orleans

[Chulanowa]

2. Imagine that,

The government giving indians a single-finger salute and sweeping it under hte rug.

I'm shocked, I tell ya. Simply shocked.

[ConcernedCanuk]

3. Well, we can offer y'all some free blankets

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We did that for y'all a few centuries ago,

remember?

Sorry to bring up that sad memory, but how the heck does one try to deal with a people that has broken every treaty they ever made?

I'm not talking about the people (natives/indians/first nations) that rightfully belong on this continent, I'm talking about those white people that invaded and occupied this continent 3 centuries ago, destroying the wildlife, ecology, and the lifestyle of the people who BELONG here

and they ain't the white man . . .

[LostinVA]

4. And, refuse to honor the LEGAL treaties even after the court

tells them to? The Black Hills, anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. hmmmm - does "Above the Law" come to mind?

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