I was going to post on Israel today. Recent developments are much in the news (Jeffrey Goldberg is even pausing to consider – “This is big stuff,” he says), and more than is generally the case, there is a sense of urgency, though nothing in particular is about to happen. But this is the point. […]
Culture Matters
The late comedian Sam Kinison had a classic, foul-mouthed routine about common sense advice to the regular victims of famine in certain remote areas of the world – something to the effect of YOU KNOW WHY YOU’RE STARVING? YOU LIVE IN A DESERT! THERE’S NO FOOD THERE! NOTHING GROWS THERE! NOTHING IS GOING TO GROW […]
Indians Caught in the Middle
It is generally observed by those who believe that Native Americans receive far too much sympathy for the effect on their cultures of the European arrival in the Western Hemisphere – as if it served as the argumentative coup de grâce – that Indian Tribes throughout the Western Hemisphere warred with each long before and […]
The Nature of Things
Cobell v. Salazar, the thirteen-year Individual Indian Money Trust Fund litigation, was settled on Friday for $3.4 billion. I have taken some time to sort through reports and my own reaction. The New York Times provided background: The Interior Department now manages about 56 million acres of Indian trust land scattered across the country, with […]
The Tribal Nations Conference
Reports Indian Country Today, on November 5: “More than 400 members of federally recognized tribes gathered today at the Department of the Interior at a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by President Barack Obama, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Cabinet Members.” This was the largest gathering ever of Native leaders. In Salazar’s and Obama’s […]