The UN is to conduct an investigation into the plight of US Native Americans, the first such mission in its history.

The human rights inquiry led by James Anaya, the UN special rapporteur on indigenous peoples, is scheduled to begin on Monday.

Many of the country’s estimated 2.7 million Native Americans live in federally recognised tribal areas which are plagued with unemployment, alcoholism, high suicide rates, incest and other social problems.

The UN mission is potentially contentious, with some conservatives almost certain to object to international interference in US domestic matters. Since his appointment as rapporteur in 2008, Anaya has focused on indigenous people in Central and South America.

A UN statement said: “This will be the first mission to the US by an independent expert designated by the UN human rights council to report on the rights of the indigenous peoples.”

Anaya, a University of Arizona professor on human rights, said: “I will examine the situation of the American Indian/Native American, Alaska Native and Hawaiian peoples against the background of the United States’ endorsement of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples.”

The US signed up in 2010 to the declaration, which establishes minimum basic rights for indigenous people round the word first adopted in 2007.

Anaya said: “My visit aims at assessing how the standards of the declaration are reflected in US law and policy, and identifying needed reforms and good practices.”

Some of the biggest problems facing US Native Americans, apart from social issues, are the near continuous disputes over sovereignty and land rights. Although they were given power over large swaths of territory, most of it in the west, their rights are repeatedly challenged by state governments.

Most Americans have little contact with those living in the 500-plus tribal areas, except as tourists on trips to casinos allowed on land outside federal jurisdiction or to view spectacular landscapes.

Anaya’s work has taken him round the world, but he is originally from New Mexico and is well versed in Native American issues.

He will visit Washington DC, Arizona, Alaska, Oregon, Oklahoma and South Dakota, and will conclude his trip with a press conference on 4 May 4. He will present his findings to the next session of the UN human rights council.

Anaya’s past record shows a deep sympathy with Native Americans’ plight. In one development dispute, he told the council that the desecration of sacred sites was an urgent human rights issue.

The Tucson Sentinel reported in 2011 that he had testified to Congress on the need for the US to pass legislation that abides by the declaration.

Also in 2011, he wrote to the Canadian government requesting information about the poor living conditions of aboriginal groups in the country.

I’m no expert in internet intellectual property law, but this doesn’t strike me as good news…

from Tech Dirt:

Up until this afternoon, the final vote on CISPA was supposed to be tomorrow. Then, abruptly, it was moved up today—andthe House voted in favor of its passage with a vote of 248-168. But that’s not even the worst part.

The vote followed the debate on amendments, several of which were passed. Among them was anabsolutely terrible change to the definition of what the government can do with shared information, put forth by Rep. Quayle. Astonishingly, it was described aslimitingthe government’s power, even though it in fact expands it by adding more items to the list of acceptable purposes for which shared information can be used. Even more astonishingly, it passed with a near-unanimous vote. The CISPA that was just approved by the House is much worse than the CISPA being discussed as recently as this morning.

Previously, CISPA allowed the government to use information for “cybersecurity” or “national security” purposes.Those purposes have not been limited or removed.Instead, three more valid uses have been added: investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children. Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.

Basically this means CISPA can no longer be called a cybersecurity bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a “cybersecurity crime”. Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could dowhatever it wantswith the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened—again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government’s power.

Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite. This is very, very bad.

read the rest

Note to Republicans in the House, rushing the passage of bills wasn’t cool when the bill was Obamacare, and it’s not cool now either. 

In recent months, polls have been conducted showing President Obama’s approval numbers among young Americans isn’t even close to what it was in 2009.  This is likely one of the main reasons…

from the AP:

The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work.

A weak labor market already has left half ofyoung collegegraduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t fully use their skills and knowledge.

Young adults withbachelor’s degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wagejobs— waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that’s confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans.

An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor’s degrees.

Opportunities forcollege graduatesvary widely.

While there’s strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor’s degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages.

Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor’s degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade.

read the rest

On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Sportsmen’s Heritage Act, which as drafted, would allow the National Park System to be opened to hunting and recreational shooting. The bill included language that purports to exclude national parks and national monuments from hunting and recreational shooting, but it does NOT provide a guarantee. In addition, it ignores the many designations of “national park unit” that also do not allow hunting, such as national historical park, national military park, national memorial, etc. Now that the bill has moved over to the Senate, its advocates are working aggressively to get it to the Senate floor. It is essential that the bill include a genuine exclusion for national parks that does not change current law.

Two years have passed since BP’s Deepwater Horizon platform explosion killed 11 and released 5 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. And, what have our lawmakers done to minimize the likelihood of another catastrophe? Nothing.

The Big Spill, Two Years Later - NYTimes.com

Congress’s response to the spill has been truly pathetic. It has not passed a single bill to prevent another catastrophe, according to a report issued Tuesday by former members of a presidential commission that investigated the spill. Congress has failed even to codify the Interior Department’s sound regulatory reforms, which could be undone by a future administration.

I wish I were surprised, but I’m not.

Related articles

• Judge extends deadline for BP oil spill settlement (newsok.com)
• Oil Spill Commission Action Group Gives Congress Low Grades For Regulatory Reform On Drilling (huffingtonpost.com)
• Nagging and Lagging Problems with Off Shore Drilling Safety (recoverydiva.com)

Our study finds that the Sunday shows consulted political and media figures on climate change, but left scientists out of the discussion. Of those hosted or interviewed on climate change, 50% were political figures — including elected officials, strategists and advisers — 45% were media figures, and none were scientists. By comparison, 32% of those interviewed or quoted on the nightly news programs were political figures, and 20% were scientists.

Almost Every Mention Of Climate Change Was About Politics. Our results show that on the Sunday shows, 97% of stories mentioning climate change in the past three years were about politics in Washington, DC or on the campaign trail. One story — on Fox News Sunday — was driven by extreme weather, and none were driven by scientific findings.

Disgraceful.