Author: NewMexiKen

Balance

Earlier today, Lee, one of two official brothers of NewMexiKen, and known on these pages primarily as SnoLepard, posted a comment that I thought was ill-considered. It wasn’t that anything was particularly wrong with what was written, it just seemed to me that what he wrote did not fit with the positive nature of the original entry, which was announcing the “hope to bring every child in the world a computer.”

I deleted the comment and sent my brother an email explaining what I had done and why. My action — deleting the comment — troubled me when I thought about it during the day, though.

Fortunately, Lee has replied:

Every day, more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes—one child every five seconds. Every day about 3000 children in Africa die from malaria. A new UNICEF report shows that more than half the world’s children are suffering extreme deprivations from poverty, war and HIV/AIDS.

There are about 1.8 billion people below the age of 15 in the world today. About 83% live in poverty. That’s about a billion and a half poor children world-wide. At $100 per computer that comes to $150 billion. …

Even the city of Portland is still arguing about how to make its downtown wireless. In Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, only one person in 200 has access to the Internet. Believe me, the Internet is not as ubiquitous worldwide as it is in developed countries. Only cities and large towns have it and even Internet cafes are beyond the price range of the vast majority of people.

Again I say, it is a tender notion but far from being practical. I appreciate the need for education, but I’d say people who are without food, potable water, medical care and proper shelter have more pressing needs and that the money will be better spent taking care of those problems first.

Waiting for Their Moment in the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman

Ever since the voting results started coming in a few days ago, showing what the Liberian women had done, I’ve been unable to get one image from Bukavu [Congo] out of my mind. It is of an old woman, in her 30’s. It was almost twilight when I saw her, walking up the hill out of the city as I drove in. She carried so many logs that her chest almost seemed to touch the ground, so stooped was her back. Still, she trudged on, up the hill toward her home. Her husband was walking just in front of her. He carried nothing. Nothing in his hand, nothing on his shoulder, nothing on his back. He kept looking back at her, telling her to hurry up.

Helene Cooper in a fine op-ed essay in The New York Times.

What the Liberian women have done is elect a woman president, the first woman elected to lead an African country.

Drunken Drivers May Get Special DUI Plates

A Florida state senator wants to require convicted drunken drivers to have license plates that start with “DUI.”

The proposed law would also require bright pink license plates on vehicles driven by people with restricted driving privileges due to convictions for driving under the influence.

Yahoo! News

In New Mexico DWI offenders must install an interlock device on their vehicle for a period of at least one year. The device requires the driver to blow into the device before starting the car. If alcohol is detected, the car won’t start.

As a matter of effective prevention, NewMexiKen believes the interlock device is better than a special license plate. It is after all the driver who might be intoxicated, not the car.

It’s the birthday

… of jazz singer Dianna Krall. She’s 41 today. Great music to blog by.

… of actor Burgess Meredith, like Oklahoma and Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, born on this date in 1907. Meredith was twice nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar — at the age of 68 and 69 — The Day of the Locust and Rocky.

The Santa Fe Trail …

opened on this date in 1821.

William Becknell, under forced escort by Mexican troops, arrives at Santa Fe. New Mexicans, who are still celebrating their newly won independence from Spain, quickly purchase all of his goods, which he initially intended to trade with the Indians. This marked the birth of the Santa Fe Trail, originating from Independence, Mo.

New Mexico Magazine

The 1940 film Santa Fe Trail, with Ronald Reagan playing George Armstrong Custer — and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland — has little basis in historical fact other than that there was a Santa Fe Trail.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (New Mexico)

… was designated a national monument on this date in 1907.

Gila Cliff Dwellings

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument offers a glimpse of the homes and lives of the people of the Mogollon culture who lived in the Gila Wilderness from the 1280s through the early 1300s. The surroundings probably look today very much like they did when the cliff dwellings were inhabited. It is surrounded by the Gila National Forest and lies in the middle of the Gila Wilderness, the nation’s first designated wilderness area. Wildernes designation means that the wilderness character of the area will not be altered by the intrusion of roads or other evidence of human presence.

Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument

Oklahoma!

… was admitted to the Union as the 46th state on this date in 1907.

The official song and anthem of the State of Oklahoma is “Oklahoma,” composed and written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

Brand new state, Brand new state, gonna treat you great!
Gonna give you barley, carrots and pertaters,
Pasture fer the cattle, Spinach and Termayters!
Flowers on the prairie where the June bugs zoom,
Plen’y of air and plen’y of room,
Plen’y of room to swing a rope!
Plen’y of heart and plen’y of hope!

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin’ down the plain,
And the wavin’ wheat can sure smell sweet
When the wind comes right behind the rain.
Oklahoma, ev’ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk makin’ lazy circles in the sky.

We know we belong to the land
And the land we belong to is grand!
And when we say – Yeeow! Ayipioeeay!
We’re only sayin’ You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma – O.K.

Oklahoma comes from two Choctaw words: “okla” meaning people and “humma” meaning red, so the state’s name means “red people.”

Highest point: Black Mesa (4,973 feet)
Lowest point: Little River (287 feet)
Oklahoma has 77 counties
The state ranks 20th in size (69,898 square miles)
The Oklahoma state animal is the American buffalo (Bison bison)

I hate to see that evening sun go down

W.C. Handy was born on this date in 1873. Handy was the first to write sheet music for the blues and for that reason is known as the Father of the Blues. Though associated with Memphis and Beale Street, Handy’s most famous song is St. Louis Blues (1914).

Click to hear Bessie Smith sing St. Louis Blues accompanied by Louis Armstrong — possibly the most influential recording in American music history (1925). [RealPlayer file]

NPR told the Handy and St. Louis Blues stories as part of the NPR 100. Click to hear the NPR report, which includes Handy’s own reminiscences and the complete Smith-Armstrong recording. [RealPlayer file]

W.C. Handy died in 1958.

Carbucks

But as much as I like this joint, I prefer the mobility of Carbucks, the fact that almost any place can be a Carbucks. You just make yourself a strong cuppa joe, head to the car, start driving, keep your eyes open, find a good location to drink coffee, park, and there you have it: Carbucks!!!!

Joel Achenbach, who has more on the pleasures of Carbucks

I’d like to teach the world to compute in perfect harmony

Saying they hope to bring every child in the world a computer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers are set to unveil a laptop that will cost around $100, run on batteries that can be recharged by turning a crank, and connect to the Internet wirelessly by piggybacking on the connection of a nearby user.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Now, here’s a surprise

A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney’s energy task force in 2001 — something long suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry officials testifying before Congress.

The Washington Post

Denied last week; no wonder they didn’t want to appear under oath.

Those oil company executives better be careful, what with their pants on fire and hanging around all that gasoline and oil.

Festival of the Cranes

Friends of the Bosque del Apache keep the census of waterfowl at one of America’s great wildlife refuges. Click to see the lovely photos, which rotate every few seconds.

And this photo is a must! Read the caption and listen to the recording. Isn’t nature awesome?

In the 1930s, the Rocky Mountain population of greater sandhill cranes was severely declining. Habitat loss in wintering and breeding areas, land use changes and other factors had taken their toll on the population. In 1941, fewer than 20 sandhills wintered on Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge (NWR).

Since 1939, refuge staff, volunteers, cooperators, and other agencies have worked to restore wintering habitat along the Rio Grande for the cranes. Intensive management on the refuge, including moist soil management (growing natural wetland foods), cooperative agriculture, and crop manipulation have helped the population recover dramatically. Bosque del Apache NWR hosts about three-quarters of the Rocky Mountain sandhill crane population each winter, totaling up to 15,000 birds.

In addition to the sandhill cranes, the refuge is also a wintering stopover or home for snow geese, Ross’ geese, pintails, shovelers, mallards, and a host of other waterfowl. The spectacular wildlife viewing opportunities contribute to the fact that Bosque del Apache NWR is consistently recognized as one of the top birding areas in the country. Enjoy our trails, observation decks, and tour loop during your Festival visit.

Thanks to Pika at Duke City Fix for the reminder.

Court: Indian money accounting impossible

A federal appeals court decided Tuesday that it was unreasonable to require a historical accounting of money the government has been managing for Indian tribes, saying the bookkeeping chore would “take 200 years.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia sided with the government and the tribes in their effort to block a lower court order for a detailed tally of money owed the tribes going back to 1887.

The accounting had been ordered by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing a class-action lawsuit in which thousands of Indians claim they were cheated out of more than $100 billion in oil, gas, grazing, timber and other royalties overseen by the Interior Department.

In their appeals, the government and the Indians argued that the massive historical accounting Lamberth ordered would cost up to $13 billion – far more than was reasonable.

On Tuesday, a three judge appeals panel agreed, overturning the accounting and calling Lamberth’s decision “ill-founded,” an abuse of discretion and was not favored by either side in the lawsuit.

AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer


The Opinion [pdf file].

Note: The case concerns individual Indian money, not tribal money as stated in the AP story.

My First Literary Crush

“Slate asked journalists, cable-news personalities, novelists, Hollywood types, and other great thinkers a question: What’s the most influential book you read in college? What made you slam down your café au lait and set out to conquer the world?”

The answers.

For NewMexiKen’s part, I didn’t drink café au lait or even coffee in college, but I think I might have set down my Orange Julius for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. At least I can remember reading Kesey’s book in college and not many others are coming to mind, though I did read some Tolstoy — in Russian. (Толстой to you).

Vine Deloria Jr.

Some words about Vine Deloria Jr., who died Sunday at age 72:

Mr. Deloria, who was trained as both a seminarian and a lawyer, steadfastly worked to demythologize how white Americans thought of American Indians. The myths, he often said – whether as romantic symbols of life in harmony with nature or as political bludgeons in fostering guilt – were both shallow. The truth, he said, was a mix, and only in understanding that mix, he argued, could either side ever fully heal.

And while [Custer Died for Your Sins], with its incendiary title, was categorized at the time as an angry young man’s anthem, Mr. Deloria’s real weapon, critics and admirers said, was his scathing, sardonic humor, which he was able to use on both sides of the Indian-white divide. He once called the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were defeated by a combined force of Sioux and Northern Cheyenne in 1876 in the Montana territory, “a sensitivity-training session.”

“We have brought the white man a long way in 500 years,” he wrote….

The New York Times

“Vine was a great leader and writer, probably the most influential American Indian of the past century — one of the most influential Americans, period,” said Charles Wilkinson, of the University of Colorado School of Law at Boulder and an Indian law expert.

Deloria wrote more than 20 books, but it was his first in 1969, “Custer Died for Your Sins,” that brought him to the nation’s attention.

In 2002, Wilkinson called it “perhaps the single most influential book ever written on Indian affairs” and described it as “at once fiery and humorous, uplifting and sharply critical.”

Los Angeles Times

Burn tobacco today for the wonderful spirit of Vine Deloria Jr., who passed into the world of the ancestors Nov. 13.

Indian Country Today

I remember my grandpa

… with a hose and his thumb.

Jill, official oldest daughter of NewMexiKen, writes:

Our new automatic sprinklers are currently being installed.

They have detectors in them. They read the amount of moisture in the ground and only go off each day if the moisture content is below a certain amount (i.e., not if it is raining or has been raining).

How freaking cool is that?

Pretty freaking cool. Meanwhile, at NewMexiKen’s the doggone plastic pipes keep cracking.

Deadwood Blog

Deadwood fans — and that series alone is worth the cost of HBO — will appreciate the Deadwood Blog, which bills itself as “A Weblog for Deadwood’s Background Players.”

Collectively, we can design a bridge, build a motorcycle,
practice California law, edit film, play a host of instruments, and even
discuss the post-Pericles Athenian experience as it applies to the
contemporary lack of Hegelian dialectic synthesis for true
universal progress, if need be, among other things.

NewMexiKen learned of the Deadwood Blog when I received an email from them this morning. Someone had seen my mention of Caesar and Hickok (that the most interesting characters die) and suggested: “Don’t lose hope about great characters–maybe they’ll have a fictitious variety show where Julius Caesar and “Wild” Bill buddy-up as hosts.”

Be sure to check out this great photo from Entertainment Weekly.

Bear down

After three decades of successful conservation efforts involving federal and state agencies and many other partners, the greater Yellowstone population of grizzly bears has recovered and no longer needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Gale Norton announced today.

As a result, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove the Yellowstone population from the list of threatened and endangered species. Four other grizzly populations in the lower 48 states have not yet recovered and will continue to be protected as threatened species under the Act.

“When it was listed in 1975, this majestic animal that greeted Lewis and Clark on their historic expedition stood at risk of disappearing from the American West,” Norton said. “Thanks to the work of many partners, more than 600 grizzlies now inhabit the Yellowstone ecosystem and the population is no longer threatened.” “With a comprehensive conservation strategy ready to be put into place upon delisting, we are confident that the future of the grizzly bear in Yellowstone is bright,” she said. “Our grandchildren’s grandchildren will see grizzly bears roaming Yellowstone.”

U.S. Department of the Interior