The Week That Was: The Big Stories in Indian Country
Some weeks feel a little different than others, and this was one of those weeks. As the Republican and Democratic conventions near (August 27-30 and September 3-6, respectively), we had a week that was chock-a-block with, well, insanity, in our political realm. Here's how it was viewed from Indian country:
-Missouri Senate hopeful (and longtime House Republican) Todd Akin put his foot, and possibly his entire leg, in his mouth last Sunday during an interview in which he answered a question about his opposition to abortion in the case of a rape victim becoming pregnant, answered thusly: "From what I understand from doctors, that's really are. If it's legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." Our own Gyassi Ross had this to say in response to Akin's comments.
-Clearly not the discussion Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan want to he having (despite's Ryan's myriad connections to Akin and his beliefs, including an anti-abortion bill the two co-sponsored last year, using similar language) Rob Capriccioso wrote about Mitt Romney's campaign confirming the he met with a group of tribal leaders on August 17. The fundraiser followed one held by President Barack Obama back in July, during which 1.5$ million were raised from tribal leaders.
-Capriccioso's coverage of the Cobell appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court this week focused on Kimberly Craven's 52-page petition for writ of certiorari, which was filed on Monday.
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-Eisa Ulen Richardson wrote about a study of ancient excrement that has offered "Fresh new ways of thinking about the prevalence of diabetes among Native people of the American Southwest." The study has found that the overwhelming prevalence of diabetes among Pueblo descendants may stem from their radical departure from the healthy diets of their progenitors.
-Gale Courey Toensing wrote about Wounded Knee this week, as she and around 35 other volunteers from Re-member, an independent, nonprofit organization that works with the Oglala Lakota Nation on Pine Ridge, spent a week doing work that included building bunkbeds and outhouses for the Lakota families whose homes still lack indoor plumbing and electricity.
-Konnie LeMay wrote about the mystery behind the dumping of more than 1,450 55-gallon barrels dumped into Lake Superior between 1959 and 1962 by the U.S. Army, and the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa's efforts to raise 70 of those barrels to review their contents and conditions.
-The Hunt County Sheriff's office in Texas has concluded that the rare white buffalo calf named Lightning Medicine CLoud died of a bacterial infection, thus closing their investigation of the case of a possible murder. This finding directly contradicts the account given by Arby Little Cloud of the Lakota Ranch, who told the press, including us, that the animal had been murdered and skinned.
