Sunday, January 24, 2010

“Stop the distortion of gambling rules - San Francisco Chronicle” plus 4 more

“Stop the distortion of gambling rules - San Francisco Chronicle” plus 4 more

Stop the distortion of gambling rules - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 08:29 PM PST

The Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians, a Mendocino County Pomo tribe like ours, is attempting to obtain land in trust for gaming at Point Molate, Contra Costa County, in the heart of the urban San Francisco Bay Area. While the tribe's non-Indian developers clearly see dollar signs at Point Molate, that site is 120 miles away from the tribe's ancestral homelands, their former rancheria, and their existing tribal trust lands in Mendocino County. We Pomo people know very well that Contra Costa County is not within our aboriginal territory. It has always been the home of Miwok, Ohlone and other native peoples, while the lands of our Pomo people have always been in the areas now called Sonoma, Mendocino, and Lake County.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act prohibits gaming on land taken into trust by the United States for a tribe after 1988 unless the tribe meets one of the exceptions to that rule, which has so far been rare. In this case, the Tribe is trying to use the "restored-lands exception." Federal regulations say that in order for a tribe to qualify for that exception, it must have a "significant historical connection" to the land it wants as a casino site. Guidiville has no historical or cultural connection whatsoever to Point Molate, and it must not be allowed to proceed with its casino plans there.

If one tribe with no historical connection to its proposed casino site is permitted to use the restored-lands exception, others are sure to follow - to Sacramento, San Francisco, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego and any other location that looks profitable. That would be contrary to the law, the best interests of the great majority of gaming tribes whose casinos are on their rural reservations, as ours must be, and the essential basis of tribal sovereignty: connection to our ancestral homelands. It would also violate the trust the voters of California placed in us when they amended the California Constitution to permit tribal casinos.

We believe that those who would allow the strong, clear, historical, governmental and cultural connection between tribal land and our sovereignty to be broken are playing into the hands of the enemies of tribal sovereignty and tribal government gaming. The arguments of those enemies would be strengthened by a Department of the Interior decision to simply create sovereign authority over any land that a non-Indian developer convinces a tribe looks good for business. We cannot allow that to happen.

The Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians opposes the Guidiville Point Molate project because granting this restored-lands exception would seriously undermine the sovereignty that all tribes have struggled to keep and to enhance. We look forward to working with all others who believe this must be stopped - now.

Nelson Pinola is the chairman of the Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians.

This article appeared on page A - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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China's karaoke crackdown - Variety

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 08:00 PM PST

Hundreds of bars install government box that spies on music

China's karaoke bars are being monitored as part of the government's crackdown on vulgarity and dissent.

Nearly 180 bars in the city of Chongqing and hundreds more around the country have installed the government's National Karaoke Content Management System or "The Black Box" as it is more popularly known, which monitors the playlist remotely and automatically calls the police if a warbler selects a vulgar tune or banned song.

The banned songs contain obscenities or rallying calls for independence in places such as Tibet.

At least 10 songs containing what authorities consider vulgar words, including "Nightmare," "Even the Pig Smiles" and "Conquer the World," have been deleted so far.

The system is also aimed at stopping piracy, as it logs unlicensed imports of music.

As part of the campaign against smut, the culture ministry also is monitoring 81,000 Internet cafes to weed out "lewd, pornographic and violent content." It blocked access to banned websites more than 87 million times in 2009.

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Concentrating on macroeconomic policy won't solve history's problems - Financial Times

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 08:29 PM PST

From Dr Hugh Goodacre.

Sir, John Plender’s magnificent exposé of the hypocrisy of the central bankers in the recent period describes their narrow focus on inflation at the expense of asset bubbles as “one-club golfing” (“Blame the central bankers more than the private bankers”, Insight, January 20). Unfortunately, his policy alternative of raising interest rates merely takes us back to an even earlier era; this policy, he states, “takes guts”, since it involves “tolerating some rise in unemployment now to avoid unemployment later”.

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Residents rally around new fighter jet for Hill Air Force Base - Deseret News

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 08:29 PM PST

OGDEN — The U.S. Air Force has completed a series of public comment meetings intended to help shape its coming study of the environmental impacts of bringing a new fighter jet to Hill Air Force Base.

Residents attending the Ogden meeting seemed to be most concerned about the impacts to Hill Air Force Base if a squadron of F-35s isn't based there.

"A little noise is the sound of freedom," said Jodi Holmgren, an Ogden resident. "The community needs to get involved."

The Air Force is evaluating Hill Air Force Base for the placement of operational F-35 squadrons against other bases and national guard stations in Idaho, South Carolina, Florida and Vermont.

The F-35 is designed to replace the F-16, an aircraft that turned 30 in 2009, and other fighter jets.

Securing an F-35 squadron would only benefit Hill, said Peter Jenks, district director for U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Jenks said securing Hill Air Force Base's future is Bishop's top priority and added that there are plenty of reasons the plane should be based at Hill.

The Utah Test and Training Range provides the largest block of supersonic airspace in the nation, and the base has the capability to service the aircraft, Jenks said.

Bishop is optimistic that Hill will land at least one squadron pending a successful environmental review.

At Air Combat Command Headquarters in Langley, Va., a large model of the F-35 is on display, Jenks said. And it is painted to look like it belongs to the 34th Fighter Squadron, which is based at Hill.

Jenks joked that's a good sign.

Comments received at last week's scoping meetings will help the Air Force know where to focus its study and what potential issues could arise, said Sheryl Parker, the study's project manager.

The study is designed to investigate the impacts to noise, air quality, safety, natural resources, cultural and traditional resources, socioeconomics and the community and infrastructure.

The scoping period ends March 1, so comments related to the study must be submitted by then.

Other meetings were held in Layton, Callao in Juab County and West Wendover, Nev.

Comments may also be submitted in writing and mailed to: HQ ACC/A7PS, 129 Andrews St., Suite 337, Langley AFB, VA 23665-2769, Attn: Sheryl Parker.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be completed by this summer. Once it is distributed, further public comment will be accepted before the final EIS is published in early 2011. A record of decision is expected within about 30 days of the final EIS.

For more information, visit www.airforcef-35opseis.com

e-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com twitter: desnewsdavis

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'Pop' Icon Bubble Wrap Celebrates 50th Birthday - ABC News

Posted: 24 Jan 2010 05:59 PM PST

People have walked to the altar dressed in it, protected their garden plants with it, even put it on display at highbrow art museums.

Mostly, they like the sound it makes when they destroy it, piece by piece, which largely explains the appeal of Bubble Wrap, the stress reducer disguised as package cushioning that maintains an inexplicable hold on pop culture.

The product once envisioned as a new type of wallpaper turns 50 this month, and enthusiasts' obsession with it has spawned more than 250 Facebook pages devoted to Bubble Wrap.

Ken Aurichio, communications director for Sealed Air, the Elmwood Park-based company that manufactures Bubble Wrap, thought he'd witnessed every form of Bubble Wrap mania until he received a wedding invitation last year from a woman in Ohio who said she would wear the product on her trip down the aisle.

"I'd never, never met her before," Aurichio said. "She must have gotten my name off the Web site." (No, he didn't attend.)

Like many innovations, Bubble Wrap initially was conceived for an entirely different purpose. According to Aurichio, a New York City designer approached inventors Marc Chavannes and Al Fielding in the late 1950s with a proposal for creating textured wallpaper.

That idea stalled, but the product the two men had created in a small lab in New Jersey found its niche when, according to company lore, Fielding was flying into Newark Airport and noticed the fluffy clouds that seemed to cushion the plane's descent.

Fifty years later, Sealed Air has global revenues of more than $4 billion and legions of fans who have come up with myriad uses for Bubble Wrap (It's a wig! It's a mobile home! It's a sleeping bag! It's a flotation device!).

"It seems like every day there's something new," said Rohn Shellenberger, the company's business manager for air cellular products.

Sealed Air's 100,000-square-foot warehouse, just off Interstate 80 about 15 miles west of Manhattan, is an obsessive-compulsive's dream, with row upon row of stacked rolls of Bubble Wrap as big as seven feet in diameter.

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