Broken Trust- American Style

What do current Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit, and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin have in common? They have all been found in contempt by Federal Judge Royce Lambert for failure to correct long-standing accounting errors made by the US government regarding American Indian fiduciary trust accounts. This is not welfare, but money that is owed Native people for the leasing of grazing, mining, and drilling rights on their lands. As my elders would have said: "Don't these people have any self-respect?" Let's hope the new year brings more than token steps toward repairing this breach of trust by our political leaders.