Awake

"This is the United States government we are talking about..."

"Any suggestion that the most powerful country in the world cannot make good on its fiduciary duty to Individual Indian Trust beneficiaries should be viewed as the sham that it is—a thinly veiled attempt to punish trust beneficiaries and turn public opinion against proper accounting and distribution of trust funds monies." Full release here: Why Individual Indian Trust Checks Should Not Be Disrupted

I really like that quote. Those lawyers for the plaintiffs at Cobell v. Norton don't pull any punches. =) I wonder if they're having Chris Carter or any of the writers from the X-Files write press releases for them. (See this post.) Oh wait, this isn't fiction. This is actually happening. The United States government (and in this case we're talking about the Department of the Interior, headed by Secretary Gale Norton) has been actively engaged in being the most distrustful, deceptive, and irresponsible fiduciary manager in the history of the United States.

For those of you who unfamiliar with this case, here's a brief excerpt from the Cobell v. Norton Web site:

Cobell v. Norton is a class-action lawsuit filed on June 10, 1996, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. to force the federal government to account for billions of dollars belonging to approximately 500,000 American Indians and their heirs, and held in trust since the late 19th century.

Through document discovery and courtroom testimony, the case has revealed mismanagement, ineptness, dishonesty and delay by federal officials, leading U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to declare their conduct "fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form."

Read more about the case at indiantrust.com