Dec 8, 2009 -- 5:33PM, appy20 wrote:

Whether we can pay it or not, we have to pay it.  I believe a nation has a soul too and ours was terribly blemished by that chapter in our history.  We owe Native Americans a debt.  A debt that cannot be repaid but at least we should make an honest effort.  This is good news.

I agree, appy...this debt MUST be repaid....It's an egregious stain on our history... pasting a small portion of the text from provided link below. The Interior Department has been mismanaging this for YEARS.... and we wonder why Americans are a little skeptical of our cabinet posts? Too late to fire those responsible, they're all dead... As are the individual families who were supposed to have benefited from this "largesse" as well.

The case dates back to 1887, when the government carved up Indian reservation lands into smaller parcels and allotted them to individual Indians.

It has been the Interior Department's responsibility to manage various activities on the land, including mineral mining, oil and gas drilling, and timber harvesting, and then pay the Indians royalties for those activities.  But Cobell and the other plaintiffs charged that the Interior Department had mishandled the revenues for more than a century.

President Barack Obama issued a statement hailing the agreement as an important step toward reconciliation between Indian trust beneficiaries and the federal government.  The agreement still must be approved by a federal court and by Congress, which must vote to allocate the money needed to fund the settlement.

I am 1/16th Native American(Souix) how much will I get ? 

I am also 1/32 Afro-American, so when just reparations are made for the injustices to us black folk  by the white man I expect to get my cut. 

Have A Thinking Day And May Reason Guide You

The long overdue and woefully small settlement shouldn't go to individuals but to projects, selected by NAs, that would help their communities, schools, clinics, etc.

Dec 8, 2009 -- 5:48PM, Agnosticspirit wrote:

...

President Barack Obama issued a statement hailing the agreement as an important step toward reconciliation between Indian trust beneficiaries and the federal government.  The agreement still must be approved by a federal court and by Congress, which must vote to allocate the money needed to fund the settlement.

*chuckle* Well gholl dang! With Obama runnin' da printin' presses ta make mer munnies by da minoot, weel ave dis det payed of befer da football game on Sunday!....*slaps the knee in mock glee*

/sarcasm off

I do agree that there is a debt owed...but if this settlement includes times before the turn of the 20th Century...I don't know if I agree with that part of it. 

/sarcasm back on

Oh well...we have a mountain of debt from the stimulus packages (even though it looks like the money that was for these packages are not going to be used as Congress originally decided on) and the costs of a Healthcare Reform package in the works.  Considering that our debt is in the Trillions, what is a few more billion?...*chuckle*