Billions Missing From U.S. Indian Trust Fund

The Government or the rest of America should have to pay these people for what we rightfully owe them. The ones in charge of those funds should have gotten prison terms, as they would if they stole from anyone else. It does not make this country look very good to steal from it own citizens, as these tribes are.

Loretta Free

Ruth DiTucci

John Gaughan, WJXT TV (Florida)

Because of the great interest, we are preparing a 404 report updating this 1996 story.
-- Editor

Endorse Nader

Ralph Nader, America's #1 Public Citizen, is running for President on the Green Party ticket and finally we have a real choice to vote for someone who is hero, not a zero; someone who has proven over his long career that he is motivated by concern for the public good instead of money and power, like every other politician you can name; someone who has over the years developed real answers to America's problems, like single-payer health insurance, democratic control of corporate decision-making, and scaling back the bloated pentagon budget. Please cover his campaign as much as you can!

Chuck Sher (California)

How the Cocaine Scandal Helped George W. Bush

I've just read your report from September 1999 on the manipulation of opinion by planting rumors of Bush scandals. I'm writing to ask what you think of the allegation that Bush was AWOL from his National Guard unit for a year.

There seems to be quite a bit of evidence that after his 180 days of duty was fulfilled and he was not in danger of being sent overseas, he simply blew off the remainder of his commitment. He requested a transfer to the Alabama guard, but didn't report for duty there, and when he returned to Texas several months later, didn't report back to tell Texas he was in state. Special orders were finally sent out in May of 1973 for him to report in, after which he made up some time and got an early discharge. He appears to have been absent from duty for a year. During that time, he did show up in Houston doing community service after a drunk driving incident. This story was covered in depth in the Boston Globe in May.

Your assertion that stories are planted seems to be bolstered by the London Times refurbished story last weekend asserting that Bush was suspended from flying because he refused to take a drug test. The Times mentioned acquiring documents, but did not specifically describe the documents or quote from them. The story seems to be a perfect example of the kind of deflection you describe.

Do you have any other reports on Bush? My compliments on your excellent work. I have posted a link to your report on Salon.com's message board, where a group of savvy people are trying to parse the unwritten Bush stories.

Eileen Smith

Prison Riots Wait For No Presidential Candidate

Perhaps the root of the problem is the federal mandatory sentencing guidelines. (!) Prison populations have grown tremendously since that law, and prison building growth is hard-pressed to keep up with the demand created by the federal sentencing laws.

Okay, I'm a Texan, born in San Antonio, raised off and on in San Angelo, and now live in New Mexico. If anything, the crime problem is NM is equal to or superior to that in Texas. NM builds new prisons, yes, and hires them out to private firms, to the state's detriment.

But, until a couple of months ago, I was seeing a lady in central Texas, and during my drive in her direction from NM to south of Abilene, I passed prisons in Brownfield, Lamesa, Colorado City, etc. All were relatively new, spare, functional, surrounded by razor wire, even if the people inside were not intrinsically harmful to others -- minor dope users, etc.

The problem here is not prisons, not the judges, not the courts, but, rather, the law. Minimum sentencing standards have swelled the prison population. China has five times as many people as do we, but we have more people incarcerated than do they. Anything wrong with that picture? Yes. The prison system, which, for all its faults years ago, was still a state institution governed by fixed state regulations, has now become an industry. (!) Corporate prisons have their own agenda for staying in business.... The law, in that endeavor of theirs, is paramount. If we simply stop the legal foolishness, the prison population will subside, and guard will be less likely to be assaulted on the job, due to the tensions resulting from overcrowding, and the hopelessness felt by those subjected, unreasonably, to minimum mandatory sentencing requirements.

And with regard to Molly's final plea for the governor to fix the problem by special legislative session.... Pardon me? When did Junior ever fix anything, except his own financial situation? He's a pimp, nothing more, nothing less. Pimps aren't exactly problem-solvers....

Michael D. Porter

Debunking Elian

Thank you for your painstakingly thorough analysis of the Elian story. I have read many articles published on indy sites, yet hadn't heard about the messiah/religous myths.

Maddy Avena

"Max"

700,000 Not Enough

Not only was the Million Mom March advocating more gun control a flop (they could only muster 700,000 moms), it points the finger at the wrong guilty party. The typical illogical mindset of this group can be summarized by a sign appearing in the group which read "guns don't kill people, congress does." Those who refuse to take responsibility for the problem, thinking that Congress could wish it away by passing more laws, take the easy way out and look for a scapegoat. Instead these moms should look in the mirror and blame themselves for violence against children by children.

If moms stayed home with their children instead of chasing a career, a second car or bigger home, they might know what their children are doing in and out of school. And if the present administration, together with Congress, lowered taxes or better yet, abolished the income tax, then moms who are forced to work to make ends meet, might be able to stay at home and care for their own children. Instead they are forced to cart their babies to day care centers where they are tended to by strangers. Is it any wonder we have a generation of "lost youth" who think nothing of murder? Baby boomer parents no longer spend time with their children -- time that is necessary to teach values and principles to impressionable minds. Strangers have no such vested interest in your children. But Clinton and his gang of thieves would prefer that every home be a 2-income home where children are raised by strangers and indoctrinated in government schools.

Sarah Parker (California)

Blame Bob Dole For Healthcare Costs

I am 68 years old. I am a diabetic, have osto-arthritis, and a rupture in my right leg, I have been sent to two surgeons who refuse to operate because they say I am too great of a risk. I have used up my medicade allowance and now have to pay for my medications. My Augmentin costs over $100 for 30 pills. My Vioxx for 60 pills is $132.50. My Neurontin cost over $50.00. My Actos is over $100.00. My Soma is over $50 and my Lortab is about $30.00. What are people like us going to do? Social security rips us off and no one wants to look in to that. They tell you to get an attorney but where do you get the money for that? Bob Dole is supposed to be a Mason. Well, let me tell you he is no Mason. When he helped with that bill, he wanted to feather his own nest. I am an Eastern Star, and as far as I am concerned, he is a creep.

Iris Farnum