Here I go again...

While Americans indulge in an orgy of self-congratulation over the acknowledgement, via the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian, that American Indians deserve some notice for having played a role in the history of our country, it seems appropriate to devote another Scandal Scorecard update to American Indian issues.

In all fairness, this one isn't about a problem that arose under the Bush administration. The abuse of the lands held in trust for Indian people by the federal government knows no partisan bounds. It is, though, a scandal which has continued and deepened during the four years of the Bush administration, and it has been in the administration's power to end it on any day they chose to.

But they didn't so choose.

The New York Times editorialized on the subject this week, noting the extent of the problem...

Those who examine the trust - including members of Congress - come away stunned by how badly and how fraudulently it has been handled. Records have been lost and purposely destroyed. Even a conservative guess of the amount owed to Indians from the trust runs as high as the tens of billions of dollars.

...and the responsibility that Justice and Interior, departments which are under the direct and personal control of George W. Bush, have for extending the scandal...

The plaintiffs have won in court every step of the way. Interior officials have repeatedly been placed under sanctions for misconduct and malfeasance. So far Interior has worked as hard to discredit the judge in the case, Royce Lamberth, as it has to actually fix the problem. The department essentially argues that the judiciary has no business telling the executive branch how to do its business...

...and points out that the real solution is found by pursuing Bushco's real enemy - the simple truth.

The central question is simply: Who has profited from economic activity on the individual Indian trust lands? Certainly not the Indians who owned them. The only real reason to block a historical accounting of this trust - and real reform - is to block the real answer to that question.

It's a disgrace that's rooted in a lie - and it's a scandal.

Just one more of many.