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WOTANGING IKCHE- NATIVE AMERICAN NEWS
VOLUME 16, ISSUE 001
Distributed by Gary Night Owl

EDITORIAL
CONTENTS LIST
ELDER QUOTE OF THE WEEK
EDITORIAL
By: Gary Smith
 

O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!

Grandmothers and Grandfathers lives not worth 84 cents a day!

Indian Health Care, or more accurately the lack of funding for Indian
Health Care, should have never been a news item had the United States
simply honored its treaty obligations. To this day I know many Indians
who regard IHS clinics as a last resort and IHS hospitals as a place
to go die. That's disgraceful.

The lead articles in this issue all address the ongoing legislative
debate to fund Indian Health Care and Bush's pending veto if the labor
provisions are not altered in the final bill.

As my wife noted when we discussed this it is apparently OK with the Bushies to improve Native health care, but ONLY if the contracting
corporations, the US chooses to enter sweetheart deals with, are permitted to rip off the Indians it uses as labor on these projects - just as it is spending millions (perhaps billions now) to stymie court proceedings that would force it to stop ripping off Indian individuals and nations for their national resources in the Cobell suit.

Bush very clearly said it has been (and he intends it to continue to be) administration policy to allow its contracting corporations to underpay workers on government projects.

As Max Baucus (D-Mont) points out Native Americans suffer from tuberculosis at a rate seven and a half times higher than the non-Indian population. The Native American suicide rate is 60 percent higher than the general population.

Medicare spends about $6,800 per person a year. Medicaid spends about $4,300 per person. The Bureau of Prisons spends about $3,200. But the Indian Health Service spends only $2,100.

That`s less than a third of Medicare, less than half of Medicaid, and a
third less than what the Federal Government spends for medical care for
prisoners.

The Indian Heath Care Improvement Act of 2007 is but a drop in the huge
Washington money stream. It is long since overdue. Someone you know,
one of your relatives may die as the provisions are debated and a lame
duck president threatens to veto it because the labor provisions don't
permit the underpayment of Indian workers.

Do not remain silent on this. Contact your congressional representative today and demand just and fair health services for our sick and dying.

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Next issue this editorial space will discuss the IHS, itself. If you have any comments you wish included please drop me an email at one of the addresses in my signature. No names will be used unless you ask me to.

Dohiyi Ani Oginalii

Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org
 
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CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN VOLUME 16, ISSUE 001
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News

Editorial Section: . Indian Health Care
- Floor Statement Of Senator Max Baucus
- Coburn Plans Battle On Indian Health Care Bill
- Bush Administration Objects To Indian Health Bill
- Johnson, Thune Unite On Native Health Initiative
- Federally Recognized Tribes Invited To Meet In DC
- Navajo Nation To Sue Epa Over Power Plant Permit
- Indian Tribes Could Gain Corporate Status
- Black-Footed Ferret Reintroduced On Tribal Land
- Tribe Has First Elk Hunt In More Than A Decade
- Alaska Natives Break Long Silence On Abuse
- Alaska Natives Protest Indian Country Fight
- Federal Study Backs Up Land Claim By Tigua Tribe
- St. Mary Diversion A Sore Spot For Blackfeet
- Stakes High In Blackfeet Water Pact
- Klamath Tribes' Land Quest Threatens Dam Deal
- Walking, To Make Sure The World Is Right
- Former Tribal Editor Still In Dark
- Tanka Bar Maker Scrambles To Meet Soaring Demand
- Navajo Council Members Meet With Ariz. Officials
- Online Sales For Tribes
- Giago: Wounded Knee Book A Must Read
- Abourezk: A Good Time To Remember Standing Bear
- Yellow Bird: Race, Gender Cards Enliven '08 Deck
- One-On-One Interview With Russell Means
- Lebreton Flats And Algonquin Land Claim
- Maa-Nulth Deal 'Last Straw,' Ditidaht File Suit
- News Alert: Fnti Petition Online
- Beware Of Unscrupulous Algonquins & Arms Dealers
- Algonquin Chief Negotiating Haudenosaunee Territory
- Funding Crunch Puts Off Needed School Repairs
- Deal With Us As First Nations
- Tribunal To Speed Up First Nation Land Claims
- J. Ross: Zapa Women Encounter Themselves
- EZLN Celebrates 14th Anniversary
- Complaints Prompt Forensic Review
- Native Justice -- Law Enforcement At Odds Over Tribal Officers' Arrest Authority
- Lee Goins Poem: On The Brink Of Sanity
- Upcoming Events
 
FOR ARTICLES GO TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
 
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 "The soil you see is not ordinary soil - it is the dust of the blood and flesh and bones of our ancestors. We fought and bled and died to keep [others] from taking it. You have to dig down through the surface before you can find nature's Earth, as the upper part is Crow. The land as it is, is my blood and my dead; it is consecrated, and I do not want to give up any portion of it." -- Curly, Crow scout for Custer

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As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in "The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West...
"Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'"

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Once a language is lost, it is gone forever. Of the 300 original Native languages in North America, only 175 exist today. * 125 of these are no longer learned by children. * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders; when they die, their language will disappear. * Without action, only 20 languages will survive the next 50 years. Source: Indigenous Language Institute

 

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CONTACT: Please send all submissions, subscription requests, questions or comments for this newsletter to Gary Night Owl at gars@nanews.org .

Website: Wotanging Ikche-Native American News
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