WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The National Museum of the American Indian opens today, a spectacular symbol of the cultural and political renaissance of the nation's "first people." With its sinewy limestone facade and prime spot on the National Mall, the 254,000-square-foot museum is a visually stunning showcase of 10,000 years of American Indian art, history and culture. More than 500 years after Indians' first, often disastrous contacts with Europeans -- and just a half-century after Congress passed a law trying to "terminate" tribes -- the museum offers American Indians "a prominent place of honor on the nation's front lawn," said W....