Guess which American president has done the most for Indians in the 20th

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

century? Go on, guess.

Did you guess William Jefferson Clinton? You guessed correctly!

Guess who has a comprehensive policy to improve the lives of Indians living on reservations?

John F. Kerry. http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/native_americans/index.html

http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=3569

Guess who doesn't? (What a hard question, eh?)

Yep, George W. Bush.

I challenge anyone here to actually find a single thing on his re-election website about Native Americans (Indians). I tried. Nothing doin'. What's funny, though, is that there's a whole tab on his website called "Compassion" and when you do a search it comes back as "Compassion Search: Could find 0 items." ROFL!

I know most of you might be wondering what kind of a minor issue THIS is, but it really isn't.

"On average, American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.6 times as likely to have diagnosed diabetes as non-Hispanic whites of a similar age.5 The available data probably underestimate the true prevalence of diabetes in this population. For example, 40 to 70 percent of American Indian adults age 45 to 74 were found to have diabetes in a recent screening study in three geographic areas.6 Data from the Navajo Health and Nutrition Survey, published in 1997, showed that 22.9 percent of Navajo adults age 20 and older had diabetes. Fourteen percent had a history of diabetes, but another 7 percent were found to have undiagnosed diabetes during the survey.7

Type 2 diabetes is becoming increasingly common in youth. Researchers studying 5,274 Pima Indian children from 1967 to 1996 found that the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in girls ages 10 to 14 increased from 0.72 percent in the period 1967 to 1976 to 2.88 percent in the period 1987 to 1996.3 Reports include an increasing incidence in First Nation populations in Canada.8"

from http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/americanindian/index.htm

And there's this visual: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nagpra/DOCUMENTS/RESERV.PDF

http://www.rgj.com/news2/stories/news/975292156.php

Just thought this was an interesting issue. And one that, in my opinion, is long overdue for some attention. Don't the ancestors of the original inhabitants of this land deserve whatever they need to be healthy, autonomous, and successful? Did you know the US government spends about $6000 per person (on average) for health care for US citizens, but just $1600 per person (on average) for American Indians?