- You Are My Sunshine
They say that sunlight is Mother Nature’s best disinfectant. Besides this
quality, it is essential to everything that surrounds us. Without sunlight
the plants and trees cannot flourish, and without the plants and trees,
well, we wouldn’t survive. There is a correlation between our natural
habitat and our ‘economic habitat‘. Both of these systems are so fragile,
that if even one element is missing, then the system as a whole will
collapse and fail. This infallible theory applies whether we’re talking birds
& bees, or employment & housing. Democracy isn’t a complex
ecosystem. Its very simple really. It is based on two non-negotiable
principles, a transparent government & the will of the people. Think of
government transparency as the sunlight of our economic ecosystem, if
you will.
Now before we shine this little light of ours on some things I want to
discuss with you, I would like to reiterate my oath to you.. I can assure
you everything you read here, can and is backed up with proof and
supporting facts. And you can be rest assured, I will never jolly you along
and I will always tell it to you like it is. There will be a lot of content we are
going to cover, or uncover rather, and we have been fairly busy
obtaining and preparing a great deal of information so that we can
present it to you in the best format possible. So buckle up and get ready
for a ride on the information highway.
Now with that being said, I know there has been a great deal of questions
for several months regarding our TANF program, specifically a large
carry over from the previous year. While our Nation is reeling on its heels
from the realities of our economy, many of our people are left against the
ropes and are in dire need of some form of assistance. By now its no
revelation this year our TANF program had a huge carry over of
$280,000 plus in available funds. These funds are there to help the
economically challenged get back on their feet. Every year our tribe
receives approximately $290,000 in grant monies for this program. If you
do the math you will see we only spent $10,000 dollars of this yearly
grant. Why wasn’t this money utilized and spent on families in crisis? How
many years has this been going on?
After thirteen long months of asking these questions we finally got our
answer. It was revealed, very nonchalantly, this atrocity was in all
actuality an act of our administration. They worked by resolution to ‘cap’
the available TANF funding for families in need. This same resolution
was also backed by our esteemed Secretary, who is now mysteriously
questioning the grievance protocol for the TANF process.. Regardless of
her mysterious change of heart, I say too little, too late. There were
people who needed help, there was more than enough money to help
them. So damnit why weren‘t they helped? This absurd resolution is just
one more example of our out of touch leaders tearing our Nation apart
piece by piece through failed policies and blatant disregard for the
people that voted them in office.
For many years now we have been politically divided as a people. The
war of last names and toxic power struggles have blurred the scope of
reason. The time has come my friends to step up and search for the
leaders within ourselves. Remember Braves, the revolution begins within
each and every one of you. You are not sheep, but the Sheppard. We
mustn’t give into the skewered perception of an almighty government
hierarchy with supreme rule. The power lies within. You are indeed the
Sheppard. You are indeed the true leaders of our democracy, and only
you have the power to lead us to greener pastures.
We have been building our bridge to those greener pastures going on
two years now, we have been assembling our information arsenals and
educating ourselves with knowledge. Now we must apply what we know &
what is true, and put our knowledge to action. Only by working together
and utilizing our individuality with the same common purpose can we
reclaim the power to the people and restore democracy back to our
Nation.
You have just read the numbers regarding our Indirect Cost in the
segment above. There have been many questions about our IDC and
very few answers. This is not unintentional. The government would like to
keep this topic in the dark because the surrounding questions open a
whole can of worms they just aren’t prepared to handle. Remember,
there is a do-over election on the horizon and ‘the big one’ is just around
the corner come November. Their secrecy remains evident through the
financial reporting of our council meetings, or shall I say lack of (the last
completed enterprise financial reports were done in July). The same
financial report we posted in last month’s commentary which showed our
entire casino revenue transferred into the General Account.
You may have noticed a petition going around the Community regarding
capital dividends distribution to our Tribal Members. We are told there is
no money available to even fathom an idea like this. Our government
tells us we just don’t plain make enough. Well I can tell you what we as a
tribe lost as a result of having no IDC rate. In the past five years this loss
has accumulated into quite a big chunk of money, we’re talking millions
of dollars here, $6.7million... And that’s just one area of focus. In the next
few weeks we’ll be taking a hard look into other instances of mismanaged
money, and believe me, there isn’t a ballad blue enough to set the mood
to what‘s coming.
There is a Gaming Commission meeting this Thursday, 6 pm at the
casino. Inside sources claim this will be the Super Bowl of enterprise
meetings. Sounds like some important things are going to be discussed. I
will be there, and I hope to see you there as well. We need to start
attending these meetings. We need to ask questions and demand
answers. Things aren’t as well as we’re being told. We're at a pivotal time
and its sink or swim. We need to search from within, find our voice, and
make our stand. The Revolution is now and the truth will pave the way.
Until next time, be good and stay Brave...
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