Tribe in New York attempts to stifle free speech

The Mohawks look to be taking a page out of CAIR's (Council of American Islamic Relations - and unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Trial) book. CAIR is famous for screaming 'hate crime! slander! libel! racisism!" etc, when ever anyone has the temerity to suggest that something a Muslim is doing, could actually endanger US citizens. Well it wasn't Catholics, or Amish, or Lutherans flying planes into skyscrapers on September 11th. I guess here the Mohawk's want us to believe that people who build casinos have the natures of innocent three year olds, and create worlds full of fluffy bunnies and pretty rainbows. Anything else is libel and slander!! Spend a little time in almost any Indian casino and the nature of the beast is obvious - and it isn't fluffy bunnies.

Hey Mowhawks - you are free (for now) to run your dictatorial regimes on your reservations and harm your citizens the way you see fit (again, for now). Here in the United States there is a little thing called freedom of the press. If you want to persist in your rude, uncivilized attack on democratic systems, perhaps treating you like any other barbarian regime is in order? (Think Iraq, Afghanistan, Nazi Germany...) Also when casino Indian tribes allow YOUR workers, your citizens, your patrons the same right you are attempting to exercise right now - taking you to court like you are doing to The Post, (knock off the no jurisdiction nonesense), then perhaps you should be entitled to do so. Until then, in net vernacular because your legal stunt deserves no better... STFU.

Tribe Sues Paper Over Casino Editorials
By JARED IRMAS
Special to the Sun
February 20, 2008

An American Indian tribe that is seeking to build a casino in upstate New York is suing the New York Post for $60 million because of two editorials the newspaper published that accused the tribe of being a "criminal enterprise" with "an extended history of often-violent criminality."

In a February 21, 2007, editorial, "The Gov's Gambling Goof," the Post chronicled the efforts of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Council to build a casino on the site of the former Monticello Raceway in the Catskills. The Post editorial accused the council of being involved in a $687 million contraband smuggling ring, importing illegal immigrants from China, and engaging in shoot-outs with the New York State Police.

The council is suing the Post for two counts of libel.

Also included in the lawsuit is a January 8 editorial, "A Bad Bet on the Mohawks," that criticizes Governor Spitzer for supporting the council's bid to build the Catskills casino and repeats the previous editorial's allegations of criminality.

The Post's series of accusations against the council "tends to injure them in their profession, and tends to expose them to public contempt, ridicule, aversion, and disgrace," the lawsuit, which was filed yesterday in New York State Court in Manhattan, says.

A spokeswoman for the Post, Suzanne Halpin, declined to comment.

Hey California!! Change! We needed it! We got it! .. uh.. whoops?

Thats right.. step right on up Californians.. the more YOU LOSE, the more money the State will have to spend! What a deal! Let's all go get big L's tatooed in the middle of our foreheads after forking over our money to the sacred slot machine to show 'we care'. From the Morgan Hill Times:

Filling a slot

The current presidential campaigns, which have now gone on longer than FDR's presidency and spent a sum of money nearly equal to the gross national product of Mitt Romney, have mutually decided that there is a single word which defines, delineates, describes, and distills what America wants, needs, and hopes for in the next administration. That word is change. No, make that Change; wait, I've got it: CHANGE. No, I mean CHANGE!!!. No, hold on -- imagine an enormous billboard, say, the size of western Nebraska, floating overhead and imagine the word CHANGE completely filling it, in flashing neon with Roman candles going off and cannons firing, and the special effects guys from "Lord of the Rings" making it do all kinds of really interesting things, and ... .

Anyway, we need change; we get it. And in California, thanks to the small piece of this miserable circus which actually wended its annoying over-commercialized way to a conclusion on Stupor Tuesday, we, alone among our sister states, have officially declared that we really need change, need it bad, need it now.

We need change, preferably quarters, to funnel into the shiny, flashy, electronic noise-making new slot machines, all 17,000 of them, which we approved by a large margin after discovering that slot machines have recently become a threatened species due to excessive expansion of non-gambling activities in this state, requiring that drastic steps be taken to preserve and protect our precious casino environment before it's too late. If through our own negligent selfishness we fail to grow our native slot machine population so that our descendants can enjoy the awesome beauty of thundering herds of one-armed bandits roaming free across the Southern California plains grazing on our money we will have deprived posterity of a sacred right.

Naw! I was just joshing with you; we didn't do it for the environment, we did it for the money! Yes, we decided to partner up with the tribes to "share the revenues" and help bail out the State after discovering that pesky $14 billion shortfall. Perfect: just as the public is hit with the body-blow of a huge budget crisis the tribes come along and generously offer to help -- a win-win outcome if ever there was one, so of course everybody says look, free money and just when we need it. And now we all have a vested interest in the success of those bigger and better casinos, because the more they make the more they share and the more we get the better off we are.

There is a small fly in the ointment, really nothing worth bothering about: revenue sharing comes from profits and profits come from gamblers who lose. That's how it works -- players lose, house wins, house gives some to us. The more of the first the more of the second and the more of the third. So the logic of the situation takes us far beyond legalizing gambling and far beyond tolerating gambling; it is now officially in our interest to ENCOURAGE gambling, or more specifically, to encourage losing. We have to want our fellow Californians (who are the majority of the gamblers in Indian casinos) to get in there and lose, lose big, lose often. If we don't have a large continuous stream of players pouring coins, bills, and credit cards into those machines without equal reward there won't be much profit, and we will be getting chump-change out of the deal. All those millions that the tribes could afford to spend on advertising, all the sympathy generated for their earnest desire to become self-reliant so they could share the wealth with us, will produce only a drop in the deficit bucket.

So come on, people! Step up to the plate and show us what you're made of; put your money where your vote was. We don't want to pay several dollars more in taxes, do we? Of course not; root canals without anaesthetic are infinitely better than paying any amount at all in increased taxes no matter what they're used for. So it's up to us to make the alternative work; we have to go to the Indian casino of our choice and lose hundreds, thousands if possible. We need to be making bad bets, reckless wagers; don't quit just because you're behind.

This will be good, really. It's not a bad thing, it's totally different. See, the problem with traditional gambling is that traditional gamblers are pitiful creatures, blowing the rent money on their favorite roulette number, staking the kids' college fund on long odds, and getting deeper and deeper in the hole because they always think the next bet is going to turn it all around; they're going to become winners raking in the chips and overtipping the croupier like in the movies. But we're just the opposite: we WANT to lose -- winning is not an option. If we go into a casino and don't come out broke we've failed California: we've failed our kids' schools, we've failed our highways and bridges, we've failed our cops and firefighters. Every dollar we don't put in a slot machine means revenue the casinos can't share with the State. Can't have that; defeats the whole purpose of the election.

So, in keeping with the version of reality California has always been most fond of, the only way to win is to lose. If we all do our part someday the Governor will call a press conference, smile that inimitable Schwarzenegger smile, and proudly announce that our budget woes are over because we have met the challenge: we are all losers.

Poor Oklahoma indians may have to pay millions to fund education

Sounds like they're on to something. Most would agree that casino indian tribes are not paying fairly into our tax system. The article was interesting enough, but then I got to the comments. Take a peek for yourself. Apparently one person felt that our government is not giving to the tribes and only takes, takes, takes. Last time I checked, the government IS still giving indians millions in aid. So our government is taking our tax money and turning around to give it back to the indian people...poor indians? - don't think so.


Proposed gaming restrictions could hurt tribes
By Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A proposed new federal restriction on the types of slot machines tribes can offer at casinos could cost Oklahoma tribes millions of dollars each year, but would boost funding for the state's education system.

The National Indian Gaming Commission wants to create a greater distinction between Class II games based on bingo and Class III, or Las Vegas-style, slot machines.

The distinction is important because states can only collect a portion of tribes' profits from Class III games.

Indian gaming experts have said the vast majority of existing Class II machines would become illegal in 2013 if the new regulations, as proposed, take effect.

Tribes have almost universally denounced the plan as an unfair imposition on their sovereignty.

Two Oklahoma congressmen seem to agree, according to their recent letters to the commission.

"I remain deeply concerned that there has not been sufficient consideration of the economic impacts of these proposed regulations," Rep. Dan Boren, D-Okla., wrote in a Dec. 20 letter.

Boren joined Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., in a second letter asking that the comment period on the proposed changes be extended
until June.

However, a letter signed by 10 other congressmen urges "prompt adoption" of the proposed rules.

Both Boren and Cole are on the House Natural Resources Committee, which oversees Indian gaming.

The 30,044 Class II machines in Oklahoma at the end of 2006 represented 59 percent of all such machines in the country, economist Alan Meister reported in a study prepared for the Indian gaming commission.

In 2004, Oklahoma voters approved compacts allowing tribes to offer modified Class III slot machines. In return, tribes must pay the state 4 percent to 6 percent of the revenue.

That money goes to fund teacher pay raises and other education programs. Tribes paid the state $54.5 million from Class III machine revenue in 2007, according to the Office of State Finance.

Most state tribal casinos have incorporated Class III games, and a few have moved solely to compacted machines. However, Class II machines still comprise a large majority of the games available in Oklahoma, Meister reported.

Meister said the proposed Class II restrictions would force tribes to use only compacted machines by 2013.

If that happens, Oklahoma tribes would have to pay the state an estimated $122.3 million a year in revenue-sharing costs, Meister reported.

Oklahoma's current tribal gaming compacts expire in 2020.

Indian casino cheats patron with their sovereign immunity

Once again we have a tribe playing their sovereign immunity card, kind of like a "get out of jail free" card in Monopoly. Only Monopoly is a level playing field where everyone has to play by the same rules. Casino tribes don't play by the same rules governing the rest of us. They get to ignore planning departments, OSHA regulations, fair labor practices, taxes, environmental laws AND still get free health benefits paid by you and me while individually making monthly incomes of ten, twenty, forty thousand dollars a month or more depending on the tribe.

Judge dismisses jackpot lawsuit against Sandia casino
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 02/04/2008 05:09:19 PM MST

ALBUQUERQUE—A state district judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Bernalillo County man who accused Sandia Resort & Casino of not paying him a jackpot of nearly $1.6 million.

Gary Hoffman claimed he was playing a slot machine in August 2006 when hit the jackpot. The casino refused to pay, saying the machine wasn't working properly and that Hoffman had actually won about $400.

Hoffman alleged the casino violated the Unfair Trade Practices Act and he sued for the jackpot winnings plus punitive damages.

Paul Bardacke, an attorney representing Sandia Pueblo, argued that the tribe couldn't be sued in state district court because of sovereign immunity, and Judge Linda Vanzi agreed during a hearing Monday.

Hoffman's attorney, Sam Bregman, said he will appeal the ruling.

Bregman argued that tribal sovereignty wasn't meant to protect tribes from luring people to their casinos and then cheating them out of their winnings.

"This decision has national implications," he said. "There are billions of dollars at stake when it comes to Indian gaming and the idea that they never have to be held accountable is very troubling."

previously on TribalWatch:
Ripped off on the Reservation

What is wrong with sovereign immunity

In America - if a child were to be sexually assaulted in a day care center, the day care would be shut down (for more than a week or two) and the employees held to account along with the owners. The victim and family would have their day in court. But in a dictatorial regime where they build Indian casinos sovereign immunity protects all the guilty parties. It may get to court but all the tribe does is send in their attorney - he tells the judge 'no jurisdiction' and its over. The attorney for the victim's family in the story below from the AP says ""The family's main concern right now is to make sure this doesn't happen to another kid." Good luck with that.


Child Accused of Sex Assault of Boy, 3
By PATRICK CONDON – Jan 31, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An American Indian tribe has closed the child-care centers at its two casinos while authorities investigate a reported sexual assault by a child against a 3-year-old boy.

Tribal authorities said the suspect is a boy between 8 and 10 years old but wouldn't identify him further or discuss whether he was in custody. The police report will remain confidential at least until the investigation is finished, tribal police Sgt. Justin Churchill said.

The 3-year-old was attacked Jan. 23 inside a crawling tube in a play area at Grand Casino Mille Lacs, in the central Minnesota town of Onamia, run by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

A worker noticed bruises on the boy and had his parent paged in the casino, tribal attorney Tadd Johnson said. The next day, the parent noticed more bruising and took the boy to a doctor, who concluded a sexual assault may have happened.

Johnson said that the suspect was identified from surveillance video, but that the tube obscured footage of the actual assault.

Criminal charges against the older boy won't be possible under state law if he is younger than 10, said Mille Lacs County prosecutor Jan Kolb, whose office would handle any resulting criminal case. She said she hadn't yet reviewed the case for possible charges.

She and Johnson said that if the older boy isn't charged, a social services agency could intervene to investigate his family situation.

The Kids Quest child-care center at that casino and the tribe's other casino in nearby Hinckley will remain closed at least until the investigation ends, Johnson said.

"We're doing everything we can to get a quick and accurate resolution to the case," he said.

Both of the casinos' child-care centers are operated by New Horizon Academy, a Twin Cities company that leases space from casinos in 11 states and runs freestanding day-care centers.

In a written statement, New Horizon said employees failed to follow its "comprehensive" procedures to keep children safe.

"We deeply regret the actions of these employees," spokeswoman Beth LaBreche said in the statement. Company officials declined Thursday to answer questions about the assault or the status of the employees being accused of not following procedures.

Richard Ruohonen, an attorney for the victim's family, said the younger boy had bruises and scratches on his face, arm and back. The attorney said it was unbelievable such an assault wasn't stopped.

"The family's main concern right now is to make sure this doesn't happen to another kid," he said.

Before you head to the polls...

... you might want to read this if you still have any confusion regarding 94, 95, 96 and 97. One of our regular readers sent this out to family members forwarded a copy to me. I thought it would be a good post for today, election day.


Dear friends and family,

Why we should vote note on 94 - 97.

At stake there is a supposed 9 Billion dollars of revenue for the State of California, and for the tribes almost 20,000 slot machines. California will far surpass Nevada as a gambling State with the addition of these slots.

It is 9 billion over 20 years, around 200 million per year. It is less then .5 percent of the estimated revenue from these tribes - a FRACTION of a percent of what they would have to pay if they were any other business. Businesses and individuals pay taxes in our country to support all the infrastructure we have and need. (emergency services, roads etc. Imagine what would happen if we suddenly had no money for these things. Imagine what happens just when one business increases traffic and visits to its facility by over a million people a year, with ZERO money going to the government to cover costs related to all those new visitors, not to mention regular employees and contractors.)

Will it it actually be 9 billion? Most economists who have been crunching the numbers agree that it could be as little as half that amount. The sad fact is Indian casinos are unregulated. There is no one checking to see if they had the revenue they claim. They can and do say anything they want under the protection of their 'sovereign immunity'. They can actually decide not to pay and the state has no recourse. Once the slots are in they are in. Right now there have been lawsuits filed because they have not paid on the old compacts. Matter of fact the tribes have paid LESS THAN 10 PERCENT on the old compacts, so why should we think they will pay more on a new agreement? These lawsuits will likely be thrown out because you cannot sue a sovereign nation. So the answer is NO the state will probably not collect what is being promised and there is no recourse to do so.

Where does the 9 billion really come from? California gamblers will have to LOSE 60 BILLION dollars in the slot machines first. This is 60 billion that will not pay mortgages, utility bills, tuition or get donated to charities. It is 60 billion that will not pay for other entertainment venues where taxes to the state are generated. It is 60 billion dollars down the toilet, there are no residual taxes that will help the State. Add to that for every dollar of revenue a casino makes - there is $3 - $5 dollars in social costs (addiction and crime etc). You don't have to be a math genius to see where this is going. If you don't believe that crime and casinos go hand in hand, take a little trip to your nearest Indian casino and talk to some of the business owners and residents in the area. By the way, thats 60 billion lost in slots only. This does not include millions spent on rooms, meals and merchandise. Rooms, meals and merchandise they will charge YOU state tax on but THEY will NOT remit to the state. Illegal you say? For any other business yes but Indian casinos are immune.

Another nifty little deal that was written into these compacts was to do away with what is called the 'special distribution fund'. This fund is currently what the Indian casinos pay into and from there the money is supposed to be earmarked for certain things like helping non-casino Indian tribes, education etc. Lets forget for a moment that there are lawsuits pending because money has not been paid into the special fund properly at this time. What the governor has now arranged is for the money to go into the general fund. Where it can be used for anything, anything at all. Things like special interest projects for taking care of high-paying donors to political campaigns. So you can kiss that money good bye.

Then there are the politics behind these referendums - and this is where it gets very murky and the implications are very disturbing. This summer our Governor in a bid to secure these deals NO MATTER WHAT THE CALIFORNIA VOTERS DECIDE, sent them off for approval to the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. See, by getting federal government approval it is thought that it will trump any vote by Californians. Tribes are under federal jurisdiction NOT the State. It gets more twisted. The Department of Interior LOST this paperwork for over 80 days. They are given 45 days to review and approve, otherwise by default, the agreements are AUTOMATICALLY APPROVED. So these compacts were approved by default without review by the feds. If you think I am nuts, just google it, it was all over the web and news 2 weeks ago. (or go to the website at the bottom of the page - it has links to original news stories)

There is much, much more. The Pechanga tribe has been taken over by outsiders and the real Pechangas have been ousted. The San Bernardino tribe is being run by the Mexican Mafia. Workers at these casinos are not protected like workers in any other business in the US, nor are visitors to Indian Casinos. The laws of the United States are not valid on tribal lands. But what you are seeing on TV is an ad blitz funded by $120,000 million dollars of gambling money telling you things that are simply not true. There is no money earmarked for education or to help poorer needier tribes, there is no guarantee the funds will be paid at all, there are no economic studies that support any of the claims the tribes are making. They are NOT creating NEW revenue - it is simply money that is going from one venue to another, and this new venue is a black hole that generates no tax money for the state. The iffy 9 billion is a mere drop in the bucket of what that money would do if it were spent elsewhere.

The tribes will say anything at all to get these slots. Not a word of it has to be true. Who is going to sue them if it isn't true? What court will allow a suit against a sovereign nation? No one and none. There are many tribes who are not included in these compacts who are against them, but they cannot afford to fight the kind of money that is being dumped into the campaign. Indeed there are tribal members within these four that are against the compacts but they cannot speak up for fear of being disenrolled.

Indian casinos for better or worse might be here to stay, but Californians could do a lot better than this measly deal by our Governor and members of the Legislature. Vote NO on 94, 95, 96 and 97.

Vote NO on 94, 95, 96 and 97

Another excellent summary on 94 -97, the rich get richer - there rest of us pay the bill for it. An irony this article does miss though, these very rich so-called 'Indians' STILL get free health care services provided by the American taxpayer. I am not talking about the dis-enrolled Indians - they get squat. I am talking bout these newly made millionaires, they get free health care in their tribal clinics paid by YOU and ME.

Indian casino measures help rich tribes, but nobody else
NO ON PROPS. 94-97: WORKERS AND NEIGHBORS DESERVE A BETTER DEAL
By Enrique L. Fernandez

The Indian gambling initiatives on Tuesday's ballot are all about an old, familiar story. The rich get richer. While the rest of us? We lose.

Four Southern California tribes are behind these deals that would give them 17,000 new slot machines. That's enough slot machines to fill 12 Las Vegas casinos. That's enough slot machines to make those four tribes spend $92 million and counting to get us to vote yes on their deals.

Propositions 94 through 97 are great deals - for those four tribes, Pechanga, Morongo, Sycuan and Agua Caliente. But for California taxpayers, for workers at those casinos, for the communities around those casinos and the environment - in short, for everybody but those four tribes, we need a new, fairer deal.

The 17,000 slot machines would effect one of the largest expansions of gambling in U.S. history. When we originally said yes to Indian gaming, less than 10 years ago, I think most of us thought we were helping all Native Americans in California, and help was needed. I don't think most of us expected it would turn into this - that we are now asked to vote to make four wealthy, powerful tribes even more wealthy and more powerful.

Now, back to that $92 million those four tribes have been spending: Mostly, they've been using that money to buy ads to tell us how the state of California will get money from this - so we should vote yes. But that turns out to be just another sales pitch. The state's impartial Legislative Analyst's Office says that any money the state would get from these deals would be less than one half of 1 percent of the state's annual general fund. That's next to nothing - and certainly no cure for the state's budget troubles.

But even that money we may never see. These four tribes wrote into their deals language that eliminates any outside independent accounting of the tribes' books, language that means they will decide how much money they give the state. The state can look at the tribes' math and check the addition. It can't go back and check the books that math is based on.

And here's an irony. These wealthy tribes, which already make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, squeeze still more money out of their own lowest-paid employees. A study of the Agua Caliente casino found that its minimum-wage workers (and there are plenty - in the kitchen and the bars) make less money now than they did in 2002, when you adjust the numbers for inflation.

And at that same casino, many of the families of those workers have to get their health care through taxpayer-funded public health programs, because the casino's health insurance isn't affordable.

Here's another irony. Most tribes in California have no gaming at all, or else they only have small operations. Even though the Big 4 tribes would make billions of dollars in profits if they get these new slot machines, they didn't offer to share a dime of those new profits with even the poorest tribes (and poor tribes are very poor). In fact, under these deals, the existing revenue-sharing with those tribes will end up being cut. And small tribes near the Big 4, with small gaming operations, are liable to be swept away by these massive new casino operations. Also, if you happen to live near one of those casinos - whether you're a person, a plant or an animal - you're affected by the weakening of environmental protections in these deals.

The only good news is that we get a chance to turn down these deals. A ", no" vote tells Sacramento and the tribes they need to go back and negotiate better deals. Instead of a windfall for just four wealthy, powerful tribes, we can get a fairer deal for all tribes, more money for the state, more protection for the areas around these casinos and more protection for the men and women who work in them. We can and should do better. But to do that, we have to first vote "no" on Propositions 94 through 97, the unfair gambling deals.

Pechanga Update

Yesterday dis-enrolled members of the Pechanga tribe held a protest against the referendums in front of the Pechanga casino. TribalWatch staffers were in attendance and have photo art which we will be posting later today. Below is a brief story from O. Pechanga's blog about a confrontation during the protest from one of the millionaire tribal members. What a classy guy eh? The implication of the sheriff being bought to defend the casino is not new at all . One of the first things the tribe does when it opens a casino is dump money on the local sheriffs dept. to ensure their loyalty. It happens in Santa Barbara County at the Chumash casino, in San Bernardino and San Diego, and just about anywhere you have an Indian Casino.


Pechanga Member Threatens Demonstrators at No on 94-97 Protest.

As discussed below we had a successful gathering in front of Pechanga Casino in Temecula. An interesting start to our demonstration.

Raymond Basquez Jr. son of Raymond Basquez Sr., one of those involved in eliminating 25% of the tribe, who can be seen in Pechanga's commercials, long hair, saying he just "wanted to give back" threatened us yesterday. He drove his shiny Escalade west on Pechanga Parkway, yelling at us, "Get a JOB!" and flipping us off. He sped west and made a quick left to make a u-turn. Aggressive driving in his huge vehicle, we knew he was coming back. A little disconcerting, because we knew he had been on parole. Ray Jr. stopped his Escalade about 7 car lenghts from the limit line, with a green light and GETS OUT of his vehicle. He circles to the back and my brother and I head back to meet him. When he sees my brother coming, he opens his back door (not a good sign in CA) but we advance anyway. He pulls out....... a Yes on 94-97 STICKER to put on his car! ROFL! He's taunting us: "you're out on the street, man!" Guess he was in women's prison. Raymond Jr. YOU ARE A PUSSY. Pechanga, great job as having Raymond Basquez Jr. as your defender.

Luckily for Pechanga, they had the Riverside County Sheriffs on Indian Land to protect them. OH yeah, thank RCS. We had a bottle thrown at us and you know what? We picked it up so you couldn't complain that we left trash in the area.