Hopi, Navajo Tribes Say Environmentalists Not Welcome On Reservations

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr.

How is the rest of his tribe doing?

(Question comes to mind from what I've heard about casino income failing to trickle down to rank-and-file Native Americans.)

...looks like a typical politician to me.

Can you say "Rio Puerco?"

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and what to do with your resources, totally applaud them for deciding that they make the decisions and dont need to be told what to do..

You don't know shit about what a crooked piece of shit Shirley is. He fits right in with all the other hacks running AZ politics. From McCain and Kyl on the federal level on down to the local level. You can sit there in Virginia with your smug right-wing views about "outsiders" and whatnot, but your conservatism is once again revealed by your profound ignorance.

what to do,whether he is crooked or not thats for his people to decide not some outsider. So what if hes a hack or right wing or whatever hes the president of his people so he has a big say on what happens on their land. Or do you think that someone from outside the nation should be able to tell them what to do with their land and resources...

I lived in Flagstaff for awhile, and got to know many local Navajo and Hopi (did taxes for many of their families, and worked alongside many more - both as an accountant at the tribal hospital in Winslow and for a local tour company in Flagstaff). The uranium mining has poisoned much of the reservation land, hurting the livestock water supply and grazing opportunities. Shirley is about as crooked a leader as they ever had. It is true they have sovereignty, but that doesn't mean he gets free reign to allow his brothers and sisters to die slow and miserable deaths.

I remember when John Kerry came to Flagstaff for a rally in '04, and Shirley spoke - but he refused to endorse him. It was an embarrassing grandstanding ploy that undercut the event. He's all about Shirley. Not the tribe, not the traditions, just him.

They don't have casinos on their reservations, because they have pride, and they have long made their living off the land, from both ranching and mining. But that hasn't stopped crooks like Shirley from exploiting those means of subsistence for his personal gain. He's got it made.

What a fucking hack.

It will despoil their beautiful country, and the burning will blacken all our skies and harm the atmosphere further.

If this Navajo leader has been corrupted by outsiders in the coal industry, then he is not, in essence, fighting for the independence of his people but the very subjugation of the people to the whim of some greedy fool who cares nothing about the environment or the people of the Navajo.

seems to me that for these guys at least sovreignty means something and they can decide who can come on their lands, who are we to tell them what they can and cant do with their own resources, we may not like what they do but unless you want to break the treaties..

Namely, we can break the legs of the coal industry lobbyists who sit in D.C. We should not go trampling on somebody else's land, but we sure as shit can go after the people who encourage the destruction of both theirs and our environment.

i just know what its like when you get outsiders coming in and telling you they know better and not taking into account what you wish. whether we agree with the guy or not he is the leader of his people and its not up to outsiders to remove him.