I cringed when I saw this was one of the suggested captions for the weekly New Yorker cartoon contest. Then it won.

Gawker’s Adrian Chen had a field day with it:

Look, we’re all post-racial liberal elites here who love us some New Yorker cartoons. But we can’t help but think this week’s winner of the cartoon caption contest is a bit offensive. …

Here are a few other hilarious captions we imagine must have almost made the cut:

* Uh oh, Gov. Paterson is trying to tax their cigarettes again!
* Quick, have the federal government wage a decades-long campaign of genocide and displacement against them!
* Dang redskins tryin’ to steal my Blackberry!

Gwen Florio

Tags: Adrian Chen, buffalo post, caption contest, cartoon contest, Cultural insensitivity, Gawker, Gwen Florio, Indian gaming, Native American news, New Yorker, Tribal casinos

Mark Trahant is a Kaiser Media Fellow examining the Indian Health Service and its relevance to the national health care reform debate. He is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Comment here.

This New Year I am experimenting, instead of resoluting. (I know, it’s not a real word. But it just sounded right.) I’m interested in how technology can play a role in behavior change, how to eat less, drink enough water, exercise more, and sleep better.

The tool I’m playing with is called a Fitbit. I’ll write more about that later, but it’s already interesting because it measures steps, your sleep pattern (although I am quite ready to argue about falling asleep in the chair while watching TV. The device (and my family) says “yes,” but I know better.

I see how this technology could be helpful to wellness programs. Sunday I walked 11,289 steps (not quite 3 miles), consumed more than 2,000 calories and slept 8 hours, waking up 7 times during the night.

We change what we measure – and that includes our own behavior. Just by watching my personal data, I am inclined to walk more and eat less.

But that’s only part of what could make Fitbit important to a wellness routine. Part two will come when others I know are on the system and add their stats through social networks. Think of a community of folks who are rooting for your success, for your better health, as you urge them forward.

This is more experiment, than a resolution. But this is the season for resolutions – and for many that means it’s time to quit smoking.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: buffalo post, California Rural Indian Health Board, Centers for Disease Control, Health care reform, Hopi Reservation, Indian Health Service, Mark Trahant, National Tribal Tobacco Prevention Network, Native American news, Smoking cessation, Tribal casinos, Tulalip Tribes

The pending default of Foxwoods Resort Casino, the nation’s largest, raises questions about whether creditors will be able to pursue claims, according to this story by the Financial Times of London.

Tribes’ status as sovereign nations could complicate matters in the case of Foxwoods, run by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, or those by any other tribes.

Casinos around the country are feeling the same financial pinch as other businesses. Barclays Capital reports that tribal casinos hae sold more than $5 billion worth of junk bonds.

Foxwoods warned this week that it probably won’t make a full interest payment on $500 million, and could be in default by Dec. 16. It’s still negotiating with creditors to structure more than $1 billion in debt.

“The Mashantucket situation could set a precedent for how financial disputes between Native American gaming issuers and lenders are resolved,” Moody’s Investors Service said in a report. “With casinos such as Foxwoods located on sovereign tribal land potentially out of reach of US bankruptcy law, it remains unclear whether creditors could enforce their rights and exercise adequate remedies against Indian tribes that default on debt payments.”

Steven Smith of the law firm Dechert says bankruptcy law has never been tested as applied to the mesh of sovereignty and federal gaming laws. “An argument can be made that the tribe is a governmental unit, which could bar it from seeking relief under Chapter 11 altogether,” he tells the Times.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket Pequot, Native American news, Sovereignty, Tribal casinos

The state of Montana finally went smoke-free at the beginning of this month, when even the final holdout bars and restaurants had to tell smokers to get their butts out.

But wait! The new rules apply to the state of Montana, not to the sovereign nations on the seven reservations within the state’s boundaries.

That’s been a boon to tribal casinos such as the one in Crow Agency, which now runs TV ads touting its smoking status since the Clean Indoor Air Act went into effect, the Billings (Mont.) Gazette reports here. The Charging Horse casino on the nearby Cheyenne Reservation also allows smokers.

“Gambling and smoking go hand in hand,” says Wales Bull Tail, manager of the Little Bighorn casino. “Gambling without smoking is like trying to eat meat without salt.”

The tribe reports that, since the smoking ban went into effect elsewhere in the state, business at its casino has picked up.

“You’d go crazy playing these machines if you couldn’t smoke,” says Mike Little Nest, a patron of the Little Bighorn casino. “If I’m gambling, I’m smoking. It’s easier on the nerves.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Apsaalooke, buffalo post, Crow Tribe, Native American news, Northern Cheyenne, Smoking ban, Sovereignty, Tribal casinos