Navajo comedian Vincent “Muttonman” Craig dies
Family members posted a note on Vincent Craig’s Facebook page thanking friends and family for their support as the legendary Dine comedian and singer-songwriter battled cancer, according to the Navajo Times, here. He was only 59. The note was posted late last night and the Times promises updates.

Supreme Court nominee Kagan falls short on Native issues
That’s the assessment by the legal experts quoted in this story by Indian Country Today’s Rob Capriccioso. He writes that “her positions on tribal and Indian legal issues are unknown, and she has lacked engagement on some major Native topics.” And, he reports, that when Kagan was dean of Harvard Law School, she failed to hire a permanent scholar to fill the Harvard Law School’s Oneida chair, largely funded by the Oneida Indian Nation of New York.

Tohono O’odham police arrest 10 in huge bust of alleged coke smuggling ring

It was, according to this Tucson Arizona Star report, the largest drug enforcement operation in the history of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Nine tribal members and one other person were arrested yesterday in an early-morning sweep in Sells, Ariz.

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle tells the Star that the arrests marked the culmination of a five-month, multi-agency investigation led by the Tohono O’odham Police Department.

And, it marked the first time tribal police officers have executed federal warrants on the Tohono O’odham Nation. It was part of an effort that saw tribal officers trained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs so they could makes arrest on federal charges, which carry more severe penalties than tribal ones.

Pine Ridge principal on tap for Obama administration post
Robert Cook, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who is principal of Pine Ridge High School, is expected to be appointed to the National Advisory Council on Indian Education, according to this Rapid City Journal story. Cook recently completed a term as president of the National Indian Education Association.

Native pop art in new Heard Museum show
Not just niche art is how the Heard Museum is describing its new exhibit by Native American and other pop artists. ” ‘Pop! Popular Culture in American Indian Art,’ ” reminds us, if we need reminding, that Indians also are participants in the culture at large, and that Native American art is not merely a niche art: It is part of the global art conversation,” writes Richard Nilson of the (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, here.

The show features work by iconic pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, but also works by Native artists such as Fritz Scholder and T.C. Cannon.

In fact, Ryan Singer has a riff on Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup can, with is painting, “Sheep Is Good Food,” of a mutton stew can.

As painter Jaune Quick-to-See Smith says in the exhibit, “I appropriate Pop Art because it is symbolic of the American mainstream culture.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Andy Warhol, buffalo post, Bureau of Indian Affairs, cocaine, Dine, Drug smuggling, Elena Kagan, Fritz Scholder, Gwen Florio, Harvard Law School, Heard Museum, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, National Indian Education Association, Native American Art, Native American comedy, Native American news, Navajo, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Oneida Chair, Oneida Indian Nation, Pine Ridge High School, pop art, Roy Lichtenstein, Ryan Singer, T.C. Cannon, Tohono O'odham, U.S. Attorney's Office, U.S. Supreme Court, Vincent Craig, Vincent Muttonman Craig

When we put up this post yesterday about MTV stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt’s nonsense of choosing Native American-style names as part of some sort of “spiritual” reawakening, we thought that would be the end of it – just another cringe-inducing moment of cultural insensitivity.

But this particular Speidi story won’t go away.

After the couple, who star in “The Hills” reality soap, were criticized by a representative of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the National Indian Education Association. Pratt fired back.

He tells TMZ here that the couple “would like to invite any Native American tribal leaders to meet with us to help us further understand their culture” … but we’re guessing they’ll only do it if cameras are rolling.”

At which point, we’re removing our own metaphorical cameras from the pair, we hope for good.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cultural insensitivity, Gwen Florio, Heidi Montag, MTV, National Indian Education Association, Native American news, Rosebud Sioux, Spencer Pratt, The Hills

Yes, we’re in a stubbornly lingering recession, and yes, “cut” is the watchword of the day

Nonetheless, “a general sense of satisfaction” is in the air, Indian Country Today’s Washington, D.C., reporter Rob Capriccioso writes here, as leaders review President Barack Obama’s proposed 2011 budget.

Not only are many programs serving Indian Country maintained, but variety of others – underfunded for decades – would be strengthened under that proposal. That would seem to bear out President Obama’s promises to Indian Country during his meeting with Native leaders last fall, one of the biggest Native American news events of the year. (See video above.)

“Last year, for FY 2010, Congress enacted historic increases to important programs that are essential to tribes, especially during this time of economic recession,” says Jefferson Keel, National Congress of American Indians president and lieutenant governor of the Chickasaw Nation.

“NCAI applauds the administration’s proposals for FY 2011 to continue to make investments in Indian health, tribal public safety, environmental protection programs, and self-determination contract support costs and administrative cost grants.”

That said, Capriccioso notes that there are still areas of concern. Patricia Whitefoot, National Indian Education Association president, proposed the creation of an assistant secretary of Indian education at the Department of Education as a way of dealing with underfunding in that area.

And Marty Shuravloff, National American Indian Housing Council chairman, pointed out that funds for the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act are actually dropping.

“To put this in proper context, funding appropriated by Congress in FY 1998 – 12 years ago – was $20 million more than the president’s budget request for FY 2011,” Shuravloff says.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Gwen Florio, National American Indian Housing Council, National Congresss of American Indians, National Indian Education Association, Native American news, Obama 2011 budget, President Barack Obama, Recession