on a bed of California stars

I will be out of town for the next couple weeks, so blogging will be light to nonexistent. But I will return bearing photographs and tales of adventure.

who is an Indian, pt. 2

A letter-to-the-editor in the LA Times makes a curious leap of logic on why the Freedmen should be excluded from the Cherokee Nation. Here is the full text of the letter: Re “Who’s a Cherokee?” Opinion, July 10 Heather Williams writes that the Cherokee tribal constitution has been amended to require proof of a by-blood [...]

one step forward

The Associated Press reports: A man convicted of killing a police officer won a reprieve a day before his scheduled execution, after his lawyers argued that several witnesses had recanted or changed their testimony. The state Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday granted a stay of execution of up to 90 days to Troy [...]

tough on crime

I don’t know if it is an intrinsic moral wrong for a government to take life. I don’t know if justice requires that murderers be killed. Those debates are endless and largely fruitless. But I do know that the death penalty will never work, because of this: A Georgia man is scheduled to be executed [...]

from the Oklahoma Philippines

Via The Marmot’s Hole, this United States Map of the World gives a face to the astonishing extent of global inequality. With each state matched up with the country that has an equivalent GDP, it also puts a new perspective on familiar issues. For instance, immigration from Latin America, legal or otherwise, is not going [...]

in other news from Indian Country

I’ve been getting a decent amount of Google traffic on the Cherokee Freedmen posts, but there’s a bit of a lull in Freedmen news lately. And I don’t want to make it sound like there’s only bad news out of Native America — a couple recent articles in Indian Country Today paint a rosier picture. [...]

a mighty wind

Watching a thunderstorm out my bedroom window when a gust of wind knocks a very large branch off the tree in my front yard. Needless to say, it was awesome. And a side view with house for perspective.

piracy!

Matthew Yglesias links to a trailer on YouTube about what looks to be a fun new action movie from Japan. But when you try to watch the trailer, you find that “this video is no longer available due to a copyright claim.” Unless I’m horribly mistaken, a trailer is an advertisement for a film. But [...]

Hannah Allam on the good doctors

Nothing to see here at the moment. Read this instead.