Justice Department firing squad targets Indian country

[The Straight Story]

Justice Department firing squad targets Indian country

If anyone thought American Indians as a group were ignored by the U.S. government, there is now proof otherwise. Native people, and their votes, are among the main targets of one of the most brazen Republican cover-ups since Watergate. It is becoming clearer by the day that the political scandal involving the Justice Department and its firing of seven U.S. Attorneys has nothing to do with job performance and everything to do with stealing the next election for Republican gain.

American Indians, during the 2004 presidential election season, observed the 80-year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, an attempt to fully assimilate tribal people into mainstream American society. Despite U.S. citizenship, American Indians continued to face racial discrimination and large-scale disenfranchisement that effectively prevented them from participating in elections. The Voting Rights Act, enacted in 1965 and reauthorized in 2006, provides protections against disenfranchisement and has helped increase Indian voter participation on a national level.

The Indian voting bloc has steadily become a force in local, state and federal elections, helping the ''Native vote'' become synonymous with the increasingly crucial swing vote. In 2000, Indian voters helped Democrat Maria Cantwell defeat Republican Sen. Slade Gorton in Washington, and helped Al Gore carry New Mexico. In 2002, South Dakota Democrat Sen. Tim Johnson won a re-election by 524 votes, credited to a major turnout of Indian voters at Pine Ridge. The same year, Arizona Democrat Janet Napolitano won her gubernatorial race by a narrow margin and credited Indian reservation precincts for her win.

Unfortunately, the upward trend of the ''Native vote'' has made it a prime target. This is evidenced by the reaction to the 2002 senate race in South Dakota. Charges of fraud circulated: ''The Indians, they got the phony Indian votes out there,'' declared political commentator Robert Novak on CNN's ''Crossfire.'' The conservative Wall Street Journal said the race was decided in a ''highly suspicious, if not crooked fashion.'' All in bad taste, like most references to American Indians by the conservative media spin cycle.

Seizing an opportunity, the Bush White House instructed U.S. Attorneys to investigate and prosecute ''voter fraud'' cases. Not vote fraud, which would be more appropriate given the widespread, dead-on-target criticism of the 2000 and 2004 presidential election debacles. Voter fraud refers to the belief by Republican politicians that minorities register to vote under fake names and addresses to throw elections in favor of Democratic candidates. Essentially, voter fraud means voting while black, Indian, poor, imprisoned or gay. Voting - and having their votes count - has become increasingly difficult for these groups.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415170

[MadMaddie]

1. This is Rove......Rove is the mastermind of much of the DOJ

crimes...

You remove Rove and the house of cards comes tumbling down....but you can't do that if you have a corrupt DOJ leader....