Apparently Blogger Never Deletes Anything.

Wow, it's been three years since I posted. It's fun reading the archives, I sometimes forget how hilarious I am.

This Day in History

Hernan de Soto dies in an Indian village on the Mississippi.

PZ Myers is still a douchebag.

Validate me, white man!

Click on the link, I totally dare you. Seriously.

I hope you noted the subtitle, "where Native America meets pop culture." Apparently where Native America meets pop culture is smack in the middle of a white guy.

It's hilarious on so many levels. The archive links are broken, but what got me going on this tool was a post about how he is the most qualified person in North America to speak on behalf of natives--a post in which he railed against natives who have a problem with some of what he says. The basis for his superiority on All Things Native is apparently the fact that he knows lots of natives, talks to lots of natives, reads lots of things written by natives, and distills all of this down to sorts of normative native opinions which form the basis for his viewpoints.

In other words, he's created bitchin' stereotypes. And his stereotypes are somehow more valid than the personal experiences and resulting views of actual native people.

Where it gets falling-down-on-the-floor-laughing funny is where the guy has a section of his site titled "Stereotype of the Month." I am completely not making this up.

Rob Schmidt, in your honor I am creating the Tool of the Month, and name you first recipient. Congratulations!

Tool.

Those who do not remember my posts are doomed to have me repeat them.

Here in my home town a city councilor is taking a lot of heat from Jewish groups for labeling what's happening in Gaza "genocide." It made me remember this post, and chuckle.

Racism as trial strategy.

Here is an article about a Ute man who was convicted of assaulting a BIA employee on the Ute Mountain reservation. After the trial, a juror came forward and told attorneys that other members of the jury had made racist remarks concerning Indians.

The jury foreman allegedly remarked that "when Indians get alcohol, they all get drunk." Another member of the jury allegedly asked "what would happen if we found him not guilty? What kind of message would we be sending back to the reservation?" Thanks for the paternalism.

After hearing testimony concerning these remarks the District Court granted a new trial, and the government appealed. Relying on Rule 606 of the Federal Rules of Evidence, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that the juror's testimony concerning jury deliberations is inadmissible in any proceeding, and that the defendant could not therefore establish bias on the part of the jury.

That's all well and good, and there are certainly good reasons to keep the substance of jury deliberations private. Where I have an issue is with the United States Attorney's office opposing the new trial. Some of the most inspiring language issued by the Supreme Court has to do with the purpose of a prosecutor, which is not to obtain convictions, but to seek justice. What the United States Attorney for the District of Utah has done is to subvert justice, for the sake of keeping a conviction.

At least Sheridan came right out and said it.

I hate being right all the time.

No mention of tribes on Obama transition website.

Check it.

Wow, never saw that coming.

Some time ago BitchPhd posted about Obama being the first presidential candidate to visit an Indian reservation since Columbus ran on the Franciscan ticket. In comments, I was prompted by my inherent distrust of gringos to comment that I thought it might have merely been a response to the Clinton machine's moves in Indian country.

Now this:

Obama hasn't fulfilled pledge for tribal town hall

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) skipped Prez on the Rez and it looks like he might skip another tribal leaders forum being organized by Democratic activist Kalyn Free, Indian Country Today reports.

. . .

Free, a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, is a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention. She supported Obama in part because he agreed to attend the forum.

I'm shocked. Shocked, I say.

Another commenter at BitchPhd apparently read my blog at the time and said that my criticism of Obama seemed to center around him not being black enough, which is the second dumbest thing I've ever read in my life. My criticism of Obama is that, for all the talk about him being black, multi-racial, the son of an immigrant, whatever, none of that is reflected in his policies. Nothing distinguishes Obama's policies on affirmative action, immigration, and minorities in general, from that of other candidates.

And now this. Obama talked a big game on Indian policy when he was fighting for the Democratic nomination, but now that he has it Indians can apparently go fuck ourselves. Obama is seemingly possessed of the same Democratic arrogance I've commented on before, that Indians are going to vote for a democrat by default just because any republican would be way worse. I'm sorry, but for reasons I've gone into before regarding Indian policy, that simply isn't true.

When I previously said that Obama would be the first black president in the same manner that Powell was the first black Secretary of State or Alberto Gonzalez was the first hispanic Attorney General, what I meant was that those two did absolutely nothing to advance the causes of minorities in general, or their ethnic groups in particular, while they held office. I could care less whether they were "black enough" or "hispanic enough," whatever those dumbass quantities represent, what chaps me is that their backgrounds apparently impacted their policies in no discernible manner, they instead simply exuded what made conservatives love them as "minority" Republicans--they toed the party line and protected the status quo. And status quo is what fucks over minorities.

A number of months ago I was on the receiving end of a mass email from an associate of mine, who was gushing over Obama and declaring:

"I want a president who has experience being biracial, and who has spent his entire lifetime trying to figure out just where he fits into our country's landscape. I want a president who has experience living a portion of his life in a 3rd world country, who has seen real poverty and struggle. I want a president who speaks another language (yes, he speaks basic Indonesian). I want a president who is the son of an immigrant to this country--someone who understands that immigrants often must prove themselves in order to be accepted in this country."

That's all great, but what I want is a President whose policies reflect those experiences.

I read an article in Newsweek a couple of months ago where they devoted several pages to trying to tease out Obama's position on affirmative action. Punch line? Nobody knows. Yeah, I'm excited.