Study confirms tribal land stolen

Greed runs deep. And a federal study now proves it's every bit as deep as was long feared.

For years, a Native American tribe known as the Tigua people has claimed that the state of Texas stole 36 square miles of their land in El Paso. Now a new 172-page federal report confirms it.

The Tiguas lost their territory in 1871 when the Texas legislature took it to build the city of Ysleta, which is now part of El Paso. In more recent times, the Tiguas opened a casino - but efforts by crooked GOP superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, wannabe judicial assassin John Cornyn, and other corrupt big shots led to the casino's closure.

The circus that is Gov. Rick Perry's office responded to the Tiguas' plight with predictable arrogance. Allison Castle, a spokesperson for the unpopular Republican governor, sniffed that "Texas faces serious challenges on a number of issues and real problems that need to be addressed. This isn't one of them." Um, yes it is, Allison. Many of the Tiguas are citizens of Texas, so they have a right to expect Texas officials to listen to them.

When Texas lawmakers took the land, it violated a federal law that passed earlier. However, the Tiguas are prevented from suing Texas, because the Lone Star State has sovereign immunity. So they have to rely on the federal government to sue the state for them.

Unfortunately, you can't exactly expect the Bush regime to do the right thing. Bush invades sovereign nations and takes its resources, largely out of sheer greed, so who can trust it to help the Tiguas, whose land was also invaded and taken?

(Source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5471475.html)