Our economy is not sovereign in the sense it is not a federal treaty right....

I am torn between going forward out of frustration and saying not to out of the same frustration. It is early in the actions being taken in Washington and Connecticut so what is going to happen is not yet clear. What is going to happen here is clear if we do nothing. The leadership is unable to act on our behalf because they cannot. It seems simple. They just don't have the abilities to lead us out of this in any way shape or form and that opinion comes from insiders who are obviously depressed and overwhelmed by the lack of leadership being demonstrated on any issue, let alone anything new. I know we all have friends in places in the know so this should not be new to your ears.

But, what seems to be new, is the complete lack of accountability in any way shape or form on any matters. What has been offered as of late is the idea that our Upper Peninsula Casinos actually made money during the recent downturn, but what also happened is tribal members paid for it with their jobs and services and so on. This is where our tribal leaders are competent. Take away all resources from the tribal membership in order to balance the budget as best they can. This practice comes right out of the old federal paternalistic attitude of old when all we had was treaty rights and the feds would cut us if their budgets were not balanced.

So, what new things have happened here in the past three decades? Absolutely nothing except we have been used to front a Casino operation that benefits a few who have benefitted greatly, most of whom are no longer involved in our community so we do not actually see or hear from them. The behaviors of our current leadership speak volumes about this mystery. Say nothing and do nothing is the current policy. Why? Well, what can they do now? What can they say now?

We need external legal help in order to get something done. Not to fight with our leaders but to get the same citizens right to know about their investments, the same as the rights upheld for the rest of the country. Our Greektown and other related debacles is our AIG. There is no economic dividing line called economic sovereignty in this tribal citizen business matter. Our economy is not sovereign in the sense it is not a federal treaty right. We belong to the rest of the country more in this crisis than we do to internal tribal debacle that has beem created by a few tribal leaders and their associates in and out of this tribe using secrecy as their modus operandi during their reign of economic ruin. We need legal protection in order to get them out of our bank holdings and lay blame where blame is due.

Tom Biron