Several Lakota Indians, tired of having the government not live up to its treaty promises, have decided to withdraw from treaty partnerships with the U.S. altogether, forming a new country that includes parts of the states of Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

“We have 33 treaties with the United States that they have not lived by,” Phyllis Young, an Indian rights activist said. “They continue to take our land, our water, our children.”

The new Indian country will issue its own passports and driving licenses, and living there will be tax-free, as long as citizens renounce their U.S. citizenship. The State Department has not yet reacted to the Lakota declaration of independence.

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Samuel Snow was sent to a military prison for over a year for allegedly taking part in a bloody riot at Fort Lawton, Wash. during World War II. But he always maintained his innocence. The government finally agreed in October, and he was told the U.S. military made a mistake.

“Then the Pentagon settled up with the wronged soldier,” according to news reports. “But Snow, now 83, was shocked by the small size of the check he received for back pay withheld while he served nearly a year in a military brig. The $725 check he got in the mail included no interest or adjustment for inflation.”

“That hurt my feelings. I was disappointed,” Snow said. “I feel I was cheated out of a career [with the Army].”

He added that “the money is not enough for the decades of humiliation and anguish he suffered for being wrongly convicted, locked up and later dishonorably discharged. Snow said he has no plans to cash the check.”

“I’d like them to pay my back-time with inflation and interest,” he said. “And I would like my retirement benefits.”

Rep. Corrine Brown says Snow’s case is an injustice. She plans to ask Congress to launch an investigation into why Snow’s back pay was not adjusted for interest and inflation.

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Nancy Nord, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has announced that she won’t heed Democratic lawmakers’ calls for her resignation. She also opposes Democratic efforts to double her agency’s funding and give it more authority.

“At this point I have no intention of resigning,” she told the AP. “I’m doing my job, and part of my job is to talk with Congress about the tools and resources we need.” Yesterday Nancy Pelosi said Nord should resign.

It’s also being reported that Nord rejected criticism that she is controlled by the White House and too cozy with manufacturers.

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In a post-debate interview Bill Richardson told MSNBC’s Chris Matthews that he doesn’t believe the U.S. government has done enough to shed light on UFO phenomena. The New Mexico governor added that while he has never personally seen a UFO, he thinks the government has classified far too many documents involving sightings, which has helped to foster conspiracy theories about their existence. The city of Roswell, he noted, is the site of an alleged UFO crash, and is a large tourism draw in his home state.

Related: Another Way to Piss Off Al Gore: Own a Flying Saucer

And: Kooky Kucinich Questions Bush’s Brain

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Fifty-five years of imprisonment and my entire life’s savings – this is what they want to take from me, in my real life ‘David and Goliath’ struggle with the United States Department of Justice.

For the past year, I have discovered myself immersed in the world of the Justice Department; a world, replete with on-the-record faulty memories, omissions of fact and out-and-out lies; one where political motive and groupthink usurp integrity and the rule of law and where as hard as one might try, justice is nowhere to be found. This is the setting I have been placed to do battle with a bureaucratic behemoth.

As I fight for my very life ostensibly on a daily basis, I have experienced a legal and financial pounding — a premeditative orchestration created to best the most resolute among us, by the Department of Justice or the Department of Injustice, as it more widely regarded these days. Read more…

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