All Featured Blog Postings5/14/2013
Victor Rocha: INDIAN COUNTRY ONLINE: Preparing For The iGaming Paradigm
(California) -- Several people have asked why I created Indian Country Online: The 2013 Congress and the simple answer is this: As online gaming gains traction in...
4/15/2013
Dave Palermo: Will the Internet be the ‘new Cabazon?’
(USA) --
Neil Cornelius, GM for the Osage casinos in Oklahoma, was walking to a gambling seminar in Las Vegas recently when a trade industry reporter asked him...
4/1/2013
Dave Palermo: Myriad problems with Carcieri decision
(Washington D.C.) -- The 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting the Department of Interior’s ability to place land in trust for American Indians not “under...
Mark Trahant: How to stop the sequester: Win the next election
(Washington D.C.) -- A couple of weeks ago I was on Capitol Hill. In between meetings, I sat in the sun and watched tourists come and go. I also saw the First Amendment...
3/25/2013
Dave Palermo: Tribal recognition change is in the winds
(Washington D.C.) -- Draft regulations aimed at reforming the federal administrative process for recognizing American Indian tribes will be available for review by...
3/24/2013
Victor Rocha: I'll Be At NIGA This Week
(Arizona) -- I'll be at the National Indian Gaming Association tradshow & expo this week in Phoenix, AZ. Please stop by our booth (#1515) and say hello. We would...
3/18/2013
Dave Palermo: Fixing a broken system of tribal recognition
(Washington D.C.) -- Nor Rel Muk WintuIndians indigenous to the Klamath Mountains in Northern California have a lot in common with the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape people,...
3/11/2013
Dave Palermo: Gambling and Tribal Recognition Policy
(Washington D.C.) -- Considering that gambling has pretty much hijacked every aspect of federal American Indian policy, it comes as no surprise it would have a major...
3/4/2013
Dave Palermo: Tribes have cleaned up a “sin” industry
(Nevada) -- One of the last of more than 20 years of conversations I had with the late University of Nevada gambling scholar Bill Eadington had to do with the fact...
2/1/2013
Victor Rocha: Visiting the ICE Totally Gaming Conference
(London) -- I'll be in London this week at the ICE Totally Gaming Conference to hear about the latest i-gaming legislation Europe. I'm speaking on Tuesday at 02:...
1/17/2013
Mark Trahant: The politics of Republican vs. Republican
(Washington D.C.) -- Two years ago President Barack Obama met with House Republicans during their retreat in Baltimore.
He said it was important to “visit the...
1/15/2013
Mark Trahant: Cheap money: Why the debt-limit fight matters
(Washington D.C.) -- It’s easy to be gloomy about the prospects of the United States government. The country, after all, owes a boat load of money and the...
1/14/2013
Mark Trahant: Congress’ fight over status quo means another shutdown of government
(Washington D.C.) -- The Idaho congressional delegation represents the divide that is the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Mike Simpson, from...
1/4/2013
Dave Palermo: Tribes, IRS Making Progress on Tax Issues
(Washington D.C.) -- It was during a September hearing of the House Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs that Rep. Don Young, D-Alaska, grew a bit impatient...
11/19/2012
Victor Rocha: Happy Holidays!!
(California) -- I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday season. We'll still be here working because the news never sleeps. Thanks again for your loyal...
11/5/2012
Dave Palermo: Self-governance guides BIA appointee Kevin Washburn
(Washington D.C.) -- Kevin Washburn is the son of Shirley Stark, an Oklahoma Chickasaw woman and tribal elder, a single parent and retired public health professional who...
9/30/2012
Dave Palermo: A tribal perspective on problem gambling
(USA) -- Clinicians will tell you that problem and pathological gamblers are largely co-morbid, meaning they have compulsive behavioral problems beyond an inability to...
Victor Rocha: G2E: I'll Be In Las Vegas This Week
(California) -- It's that time of the year again, folks. I'll be in Las Vegas this week at the Global Gaming Expo. I'm posting on a light schedule until...
9/23/2012
Dave Palermo: Gambling is the elephant in the Carcieri debate
(Washington D.C.) -- The devastating impact recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have had on the ability of the federal government to place land in trust for American...
9/17/2012
Dave Palermo: Reid/Kyl might be ‘pretty good for tribes.’
(Washington D.C.) -- A summary of Internet poker legislation proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and John Kyl (R-Ariz.) leaked to the press last week...
9/10/2012
Dave Palermo: Legal sports wagering in California an interesting proposition
(California) -- Should Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court reverse federal law prohibiting sports wagering, there appears to be a difference in opinion as to who might...
9/3/2012
Dave Palermo: Much interest, little consensus on Internet at Shakopee meeting
(Minnesota) -- The fact more than 200 tribal leaders, lawyers, lobbyists and vendors gathered Aug. 22 at Mystic Lakes, Minn., to discuss Internet gambling speaks volumes...
8/29/2012
Dave Palermo: No leadership from tribal federal regulatory on Internet gambling
(Washington D.C.) -- A failure by the top federal regulator for American Indian casinos to take a leadership role on Internet wagering annoys tribal leaders who fear...
8/27/2012
Dave Palermo: AKAKA FIX: Mixing the Internet with a Carcieri fix can be tricky
(Washington D.C.) -- Widespread speculation among Capitol Hill insiders is that Sen. Daniel Akaka, (D-Hawaii), is hoping to use draft Internet legislation as leverage to...
8/21/2012
Dave Palermo: Myth of the rich Indian is just that: a myth
(Washington D.C.) -- News from federal regulators that American Indian casino revenues rose 3 percent in 2011 pointed out once again that despite the “myth of the...
8/19/2012
Dave Palermo: Patchak is the latest in a troublesome trend
(Washington D.C.) -- The June U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving Michigan landowner David Patchak and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Potawatomi, owners of the Gun...
6/28/2012
Mark Trahant: Supreme Court’s affirmation of ‘ObamaCare’ means a fundamentally different debate; Indian Health Care Improvement Act is permanent
(Washington D.C.) -- The entire debate over “ObamaCare” is now fundamentally different. It’s the law of the land that has been upheld by the Supreme...
6/19/2012
Mark Trahant: Voter registration at Indian Health clinic is a way to boost number of Native Americans at polls
(Washington D.C.) -- Voting should be easy, almost routine. If it’s election day ... we should vote. It’s that simple because it’s the very foundation...
4/2/2012
Victor Rocha: On The Road Again - San Diego
(California) -- I'm posting on a light schedule while I'm at the National Indian Gaming Association Tradeshow & Expo in San Diego. Please check back in the...
2/3/2012
Victor Rocha: Social Media & Pechanga.Net
(California) -- Follow me on Twitter & Facebook for the latest breaking news. I'm also posting status updates and other important information.
1/29/2012
Mark Trahant: State of the Union, Part 2: A call for votes and resources from America’s first nations
(Washington D.C.) -- The National Congress of American Indians every year releases its “State of Indian Nations,” an alternative prospect for the Congress...
1/25/2012
Mark Trahant: State of the Union, Part 1: It’s time to invest in young people
(Washington D.C.) -- Presidents are required to be optimistic.The American people expect it -- and reward those politicians who know their lines. President Barack Obama...
1/16/2012
Mark Trahant: Repeal of Affordable Care Act is not a likely election outcome
(Washington D.C.) -- A question for any Republican running for any federal office: If you are successful repealing “ObamaCare,” what happens to the Indian...
1/10/2012
Mark Trahant: Health care remains the 2012 election riddle
(Washington D.C.) -- This election ought to be about one issue, a referendum on health care reform.
Republicans say it’s about repealing Obamacare. Every candidate...
1/2/2012
Mark Trahant: Winning the day: Indian Country’s election year begins now
(Washington D.C.) -- Happy New Year. Or, I should say, happy election year. From now on the national election for president (as well as the house and the senate) shifts...
12/19/2011
Mark Trahant: Not a bad federal budget, only consider it as a transition plan
(Washington D.C.) -- I’ve been writing a lot lately about the Era of Contraction -- the shrinking of the federal government -- and what that policy means to Indian...
12/12/2011
Mark Trahant: Why the payroll tax fight matters
(Washington D.C.) -- Congress has a long to-do list to complete before the end of the year.
It must enact a budget, either a real one, or for most federal agencies, a...
12/6/2011
Mark Trahant: President Obama says Indian Country is at a turning point. But heading in what direction?
(Washington D.C.) -- Politicians are required to be optimistic. It’s the first tool in their bag. And a president of the United States is even more optimistic than...
11/28/2011
Mark Trahant: ‘Big Deal’ is the coming federal budget cuts
(Washington D.C.) --
Last December hundreds of American Indian and Alaska Native leaders traveled to Washington, D.C. for the second White House Tribal Nations...
11/21/2011
Mark Trahant: Congressional legacy: A failure to govern
(Washington D.C.) -- A simple statement from the two co-chairs of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. “After months of hard work and intense...
11/14/2011
Mark Trahant: Whooshing past the strict congressional deadline for difficult budget choices
(Washington D.C.) -- The United States Congress is debating two important principles.
There is the idea that a strict deadline forces action. (Or, more accurately, as...
11/7/2011
Mark Trahant: Why vote? Because even imperfect elections still matter
(Washington D.C.) -- We know democracy’s slogan: “Elections matter.” Or if that doesn’t work, draw on so many other oft-repeated phrases that...
11/1/2011
Mark Trahant: “Termination, Self-Determination and now Contraction: Navigating a new era.”
(Oregon) -- Thank you for inviting me to speak this morning. This is a particular honor for me. When I was a kid I used to spend time here in Portland with a man I...
10/24/2011
Mark Trahant: Remember health care reform? Law, funding remain on separate and unequal tracks
(Washington D.C.) -- Remember health care reform? The Republican presidential candidates all promise repeal just as soon as they win the White House. But we ought to ask...
10/17/2011
Mark Trahant: Budget cuts will repeat a tragic history
(Washington D.C.) -- Tribal leaders went to Capitol Hill last week to make the case to protect American Indian and Alaska Native programs from the deep federal spending...
10/10/2011
Mark Trahant: Looking at the federal budget as metaphor
(Washington D.C.) -- There are many ways to look at America’s shift into the Era of Contraction. Budget numbers tell part of the story. Words of elected leaders...
9/27/2011
Mark Trahant: A road less traveled, a journey through the Era of Contraction
(Idaho) -- I drove across the Northwest this past weekend. A 1,700-mile trip from Idaho to Seattle, returning via rural roads in Washington, and freeways in Idaho and...
9/20/2011
Mark Trahant: Era of Contraction (like termination) begins slowly; tribes have time to find new resources
(Washington D.C.) -- It’s nearly impossible to know when a new political era has begun for certain.
Congress enacted House Resolution 108 on August 1, 1953,...
9/12/2011
Mark Trahant: President must sell a complicated jobs program to a simple-minded Congress
(Washington D.C.) -- President Barack Obama must sell a complex idea to a Congress that prides itself on simplicity.
This Congress, namely the House Republicans, were...
9/5/2011
Victor Rocha: Pigs Get Fat. Hogs Get Slaughtered.
(Washington D.C.) -- If you thought the race toward Internet gaming was interesting before, you should see it now.
Sen. Harry Reid and the American...
8/29/2011
Mark Trahant: It sounds reasonable: Just cap the spending. Only reality is harmful to people & budgets
(Washington D.C.) -- It sounds reasonable: Why not just cap federal spending? Make every agency operate with the money that’s already there. This notion has common...
8/22/2011
Mark Trahant: Administration proposes to ‘double down’ on federal spending cuts
(Washington D.C.) -- So far, most of the government’s austerity movement has been theoretical. We know the federal budget is shrinking, but the evidence of that...
8/15/2011
Mark Trahant: A hell of a way to run a country ... full speed traveling in different directions
(Washington D.C.) -- It’s a hell of a way to run a country.
Last week a federal appeals court ruled at least one major provision of the the Affordable Care Act is...
8/8/2011
Mark Trahant: The Federal Budget Is The March of Folly
(Washington D.C.) -- The late historian Barbara Tuchman described the ineptness of government decision-making in her book, The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam. She...
8/1/2011
Mark Trahant: Yea! The President and Congress found compromise in a deadline deal ... now let the real debate begin
(Washington D.C.) -- There’s nothing like deadline to produce a deal: The president and congressional leaders reached an agreement over the weekend to increase the...
7/25/2011
Mark Trahant: Dental health therapist program is the essence of excellence and self-determination
(Alaska) -- Conan Murat has a tough schedule. About every other week he packs up a portable dental office, checks his groceries, sleeping bags and other supplies, then...
7/18/2011
Mark Trahant: Summer reading add perspective to current debates about American Indian policy
(Idaho) -- The debt ceiling negotiations are deep underground. While there’s plenty of action on the surface, posturing, mostly, there are also quiet talks about...
7/17/2011
Victor Rocha: Is Online Gaming Legislation Going Forward Without Tribes?
(California) -- Sen. Reid & Sen. Kyle wrote a letter to the Justice Department last week seeking an explanation for the Black Friday indicments. My sources tell me...
7/11/2011
Mark Trahant: Country’s problems are too complex for 140 character answers or political slogans
(Washington D.C.) -- Last week President Barack Obama held his first town hall on Twitter. A really great idea and I plunged in with this question:
“#AskObama...
6/27/2011
Mark Trahant: Throw away the old playbook: Tribes and counties are better off working together as neighbors
(Washington D.C.) -- Idaho’s Bannock County is considering an ordinance that would create an “overlay” zoning district on the Fort Hall Indian...
6/20/2011
Mark Trahant: States and tribes better off working together in this new Era of Constriction
(Washington D.C.) --
The new Era of Constriction -- shrinking all levels of government -- is both an opportunity for tribes and a threat.
First, the problem....
6/13/2011
Mark Trahant: How bad is the economy? We’re halfway to a lost decade
(Washington D.C.) -- How bad is this economy? Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers wrote in The Financial Times this week that the United States is now halfway to...
6/6/2011
Mark Trahant: Where are Indian Country’s jobs?
(Washington D.C.) -- Last week the Bureau of Labor Statistics started a frenzy when it released its latest job report, showing that only 54,000 jobs were added to the...
5/23/2011
Mark Trahant: Will Indian Country be excited by President Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012?
(Washington D.C.) -- Canada just finished its national elections and the governing Conservative Party expanded its majority in parliament. Last week Prime Minister...
5/16/2011
Mark Trahant: Republican divide about Medicare should reopen the health care reform debate
(Washington D.C.) -- Republican Party unity on the issue of a massive restructuring of Medicare and Medicaid (if there is such a thing) ended this weekend. Presidential...
5/9/2011
Mark Trahant: Tribes should develop foreign policies to counter U.S. policy of contraction
(Washington D.C.) -- Nobel winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is trying to change the national debate about the deficit, the role of government and the impact of those...
5/2/2011
Mark Trahant: Debt limit debate matters to Indian Country
(Washington D.C.) -- Sometimes it’s easy for Indian Country to ignore the huge challenges facing the United States. After all, there are so many immediate and...
4/25/2011
Mark Trahant: The family math doesn’t work when it costs $100 to fill-up a pickup truck
(USA) -- A few weeks ago Bloomberg News reported that Saudia Arabia is investing $100 billion in renewable energy sources. In other words the country with the largest...
4/20/2011
Mark Trahant: There are a lot of tall tales told about taxes
(Washington D.C.) -- Tall tales are fun. Most of us love the story about the day we scored perfect on a test, caught the biggest fish or won a bunch of cash at the...
4/12/2011
Mark Trahant: Bringing stories about sex abuse in Alaska Native communities into the light
(Alaska) -- It’s trite to write that winter days are short this far north. And it is remarkable watching the sun skate through the sky in such a hurry to disappear...
4/4/2011
Mark Trahant: Ryan proposes a fundamental change to Medicaid -- and it would be bad
(Washington D.C.) -- The national budget debate is multi-directional. Most of the story, so far, has centered on this year’s federal spending, basically how to...
4/3/2011
Rob Schmidt: Tribes vs. tribes
(California) -- Someone asked me what I thought of the Bay Mills casino:
"What do you think of the situation in Michigan with one tribe (with other tribes allied to...
3/28/2011
Mark Trahant: A year after health care reform the discourse of termination returns in the battle of ideas
(Washington D.C.) -- Just over a year ago President Barack Obama signed the health care reform bill into law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. That...
3/21/2011
Mark Trahant: We’re not broke ... and we must invest in young people or the old folks will lose
(Washington D.C.) -- Google the phrase, “we can’t afford,” and some 209 million results pop up that capture our Great Public Debate. Articles range...
3/18/2011
Victor Rocha: Online Gaming Legislation & Other Insightful Observations
(California) -- Thanks for your patience while I was at Res11. I love Las Vegas hotels but I don't think I'm going back to Roman Towers at Caesar’s...
3/16/2011
Victor Rocha: IMPORTANT MESSAGE: On The Road Again
(Las Vegas) -- I'm in Las Vegas this week for the 25th Annual Reservation Economic Summit (RES 2011) & American Indian Business Trade Fair. I'll be posting...
3/14/2011
Mark Trahant: Japan reminds us about the inevitability of chaos
(Idaho) -- Like most people I watched the events in Japan unfold on cable and through Facebook throughout the weekend. It’s great to see posts from friends and...
3/12/2011
Victor Rocha: How I Saved Myself & Made Everyone Else Miserable.
(California) -- Thanks to everyone who sent emails about the new website. I apologize if I haven’t responded but I do read everything that comes in.
Unfortunately...
3/7/2011
Mark Trahant: Contraction policy will cost Indian Country thousands of good paying jobs
(Washington D.C.) -- Finally the economy seems to be creating jobs again. Last week a federal jobs survey showed an increase in 222,000 private sector jobs, a full year...
3/2/2011
Victor Rocha: Finding Time To Write A Blog & Other Observations
(California) -- I apologize for not keeping up with my blog. The launch of the website has kept me very busy. My tiger blood is running thin and my Adonis DNA is...
2/28/2011
Mark Trahant: Test of values: Strategies for Native communities to weather Congress
(Washington D.C.) -- This week represents, perhaps, the most important week of lobbying for tribal nations since the end of the termination era. At a variety of meetings...
2/24/2011
Victor Rocha: Change is scary...
(California) -- But I hear what you're saying.
It'll take a week or two to shake out the bugs so please be patient. It will be worth it in the end. ...
2/23/2011
Rob Schmidt: Reid calls for outlawing prostitution
(California) -- Harry Reid says he wants to "have an adult conversation about an adult subject." Great. Rather than pandering to conservatives, how...
Rob Schmidt: North Dakotans love their stereotypical Sioux
(North Dakota) -- Item: "N.D. House votes to keep Fighting Sioux nickname, logo." Apparently North Dakota is a paradise with no problems more...
2/20/2011
Mark Trahant: What is ‘Plan B’ for tribes if there is a federal government shutdown?
(Washington D.C.) --
Is there a Plan B?
That is the question tribes, Indian organizations and government agencies should be asking -- and answering because it...
2/19/2011
Victor Rocha: Welcome to the new Pechanga.net
(California) -- Welcome to the redesigned Pechanga.net. I hope you like the new look. I'm very excited about the new website & the features. Try the...
2/14/2011
Mark Trahant: Budgets are full of spite, not promise
(Washington D.C.) -- The coming year’s proposed federal budget is a lost cause. Mostly. The budget that will finally emerge from Congress is going to be ugly. A...
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