tweet prediction ...

 

Here is a note about polls:

They're full of holes

Native voters will deliver election surprise:

From Arizona to Montana across western skies

I'm having a blast writing daily news poems on tweeter.

I've changed the link --  this better reflects what I am trying to do.

http://twitter.com/NewsRimes4lines

Today's

Fed lowers interest rates yet again,/one percent seems like zen;/I wish that would cut consumer debt/so we could buy more before we forget.

A couple of my favorites:

He didn't remember to pay for that/Contractor simply forgot their chat/Sen. Stevens asks voters for a stay/DC is worse than prison anyway.

Why does deflation/so rip apart a nation?/we can't spend when we can't borrow/besides if we wait, it's cheaper tommorow.

Pogo would love this campaign twist/a novel idea in our midst/The economy is bad, run by a louse/So solution is for gummit to buy our house.

The bears are fine/is Sarah Palin's line/Alaska's oil is 'ours' alone;/so stuff those arctic wildlife zones

check it out and follow ...

 

Mark

It’s still in draft form ,.. but check


www.marktrahant.com

Last year, working with the Seattle Indian Health Board, we produced a TV program about the history of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

Well, this morning I discovered it's on I-Tunes. And it's free.

Find it on the ITunesU, then go to research channel, U of Washington.

"Living History: A conversation about American Indian Health."

Way cool.

I am giving lectures this week in Durango at Fort Lewis College (always one of my favorite campuses to visit) and Seattle U.

The multimedia presentation is a history of American Indians and the White House -- from George Bush's Sovereign definition to Indians running for the presidency.

Here are the details (in case you're near Durango or Seattle).

Durango

What: "The White House Through Indian Eyes" by Mark Trahant
When: Tuesday, January 22 at 6 p.m.
Where: The Center of Southwest Studies Lyceum at Fort Lewis College


Seattle
"The White House Through
Indian Eyes: Native American
Tribal Sovereignty"
6pm, Seattle U., Pigott Auditorium.

We have fun with this blog we call the Virtual Editorial Board.

I write a draft before work in the morning -- and late in the day we post little snippets called "Afternoon Snarks."

Today's contribution is the kind of thing we do.

New Hampshire's 1 percent club.

We all know about the primary winners, but what about those candidates with only 1 percent of the vote.

Dennis Kucinich wins with 3,912 votes. He was a bigger vote getter than Republicans Former Sen. Fred Thompson -- 2,884 votes and Rep. Duncan Hunter at 1,220 votes.

If you think 1 percent is bad ... at least it beats the zero percent club (Mike Gravel owns that category for "active" candidates).

-- Mark Trahant

My Sunday column is up here.

It's another gloomy view of housing (sorry). But that's what I see on the horizon. To tell the truth: I'd be glad to be wrong.

It's been making me think about what Indian Country when through during the Great Depression. My grandparents told me about the challenges of getting a job, but that most people were able to feed themselves. There wasn't a lot of money ... but there wasn't a lot of debt either.

My grandparents lived in an old railroad box car. My grandmother said it wasn't great, but it was better than living with my grandfather's parents. He finally got a job with the Census working for $1 a day.

I also have a late reaction to the Democrats debate in Las Vegas. I remember how nervous some of the candidates were about being on a casino property for Prez On The Rez ... I guess they should have said nervous about being in a tribal casino.

It's kind of cool. This year escaped most of the Thanksgiving/Black Friday hoopla. I'm in BC where Thursday and Friday were ordinary work days (unless you were a fan all excited about the Grey Cup.) My son and I tried to go biking down a mountain, but there are so few tourists here in the cold that the bike shop closed up until spring. Rats!
It's interesting because this is the first trip to Canada -- in my memory anyway -- where the US dollar was the weak currency. A few of the shops in Granville Island were keen to tell Americans that currency accepted at parity. Most places though discounted the greenback by five or ten percent. It doesn't seem that long ago when my Canadian friends would talk about how crazy it was to visit the US because their dollar wasn't worth much (it was something like 65 or 70 cents to a dollar back then). It's not that bad on the reverse side, but it is different. It will also make the border crossing a little longer because so many Canadians are heading toward Seattle to take advantage of the weekend discounts.

Back to Turkey Land later today.

My column:

Editorial Page Editor: Dissent starts with a YouTube clip
Mark Trahant: This is a Satanic Verses moment. After the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini from Iran ordered author Salmon Rushdie's execution we Westerners rushed out to buy a copy of the book. Reading was dissent. We should do the same with Imran Khan's work.