I have blogged a lot here in the past about our local indigenous people, the Haudenosaunee. But I’ve also been interested in considering “indigenousness” as it relates to other peoples living in the same space – Central New York, or upstate New York as a whole – and how people see or don’t see that [...]

Thoughts on sovereignty for all.

I spent quite a bit of time in Arizona as a kid, mostly around Flagstaff and Sedona. My grandparents moved out there in the early ’70s, followed by many other relatives on their side of the family, so it was always an extended summer vacation stop. Although Arizona has seen huge growth since then, I’m [...]

The front page of the Syracuse Herald-American, from Sunday, July 4, 1976. Click for full page. (Discovered last week during cleanout of cellar)

The nasty Feds won’t let New York put Niagara Falls on its next state quarter: The selection process requires that images chosen for the quarters must be national sites “under the supervision, management or conservancy of the National Parks Service, the U. S. Forest Service, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, or any similar [...]

I watched and read the news yesterday about the rampage shooting, and along with the horror of watching the death toll go up, there was the sorrow that this was such a terrible way for the world to hear about Binghamton. It should not have happened this way. I also watched the afternoon press conference, [...]

Surveillance towers planned for Detroit, Buffalo The U.S. Border Patrol is erecting 16 more video surveillance towers in Michigan and New York to help secure parts of the U.S.-Canadian border, awarding the contract to a company criticized for faulty technology with its so-called “virtual fence” along the U.S.-Mexico boundary. The government awarded the $20 million [...]

You can hide the fire, but what you gonna do with the smoke? You can close Guantanamo Bay, but what are you going to do with the prisoners? Someone’s afraid that Attica is the new Gitmo: Chautauqua County Legislator James Caflisch, R-French Creek, sponsored a motion in recent days that would signal the legislature’s opposition [...]

Last June, I made note of a statement by Rem Koolhaas… Famous Architect Rem Koolhaas is disappointed with American cities: “Don’t tell anyone… but the 20th-century city is over. It has nothing new to teach us anymore. Our job is simply to maintain it.” Today: Unfinished 40-story Beijing hotel designed by Koolhaas goes up in [...]

Obama Signals New Tone in Relations With Islamic World In a transcript published on Al Arabiya’s English language Web site, Mr. Obama said it is his job “to communicate to the Muslim world that the Americans are not your enemy.” He added that “we sometimes make mistakes,” but said that America was not born as [...]