"The news: Russell Means, 65, has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the swearing-in Saturday of Cecelia Fire Thunder, who soundly beat him for the Oglala Sioux presidency. Means contends that Fire Thunder, a 58-year-old grandmother, doesn't live within the legal boundaries of the Pine Ridge, S.D., Indian Reservation.

The take: Is this the same sue-happy Russell Means who sometimes lives in New Mexico and tried to run for New Mexico governor in 2002? �Nuff said.

The news: The Washington Post reports that Rep. Robert Ney, an Ohio Republican, received at least $33,000 in political contributions from the Tigua Tribe of El Paso in 2002, after the tribe was told by Jack Abramoff that Ney could help keep the Tigua casino open. Ney, according to the newspaper, was lead House sponsor of an election reform bill, and the plan was to slip a casino reopening measure into it.

The take: Of course, the attempt at the rider was rejected, and the tribe lost millions of dollars in the fiasco. Why would Ney even want to help this tribe, which is nowhere near his state, much less his district? The committees he's on have nothing to do with gaming. Do you smell a rat?"

Get the Story:
Eddie Chuculate: Found in translation: State's money-hungry - so let's just grab the cash while we can (The Albuquerque Tribune 12/8)

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