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In The Hoop
TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2002

Welcome to In The Hoop, Indianz.Com's occasional column about assorted Indian issues.

naho:ten sa:ton?
Thanks to the programming wizardry of New York resident Monica Lamb, you can learn Mohawk from Onkwehonwehneha, an artificial intelligence (AI) robot available to anyone with AOL instant messenger capabilities.

Monica warns us that her bot only knows basic Mohawk words starting with the letters A and B, along with animals and anatomy. But Onkwehonwehneha has an IQ of 250, she says, which is pretty smart for a computer program.

Onkwehonwehneha can't yet understand sentences but we thought we'd log in and test it out anyway. Here's a short transcript of our conversation:

IndianzCom: Has my land-into-trust application been approved?
Onkwehonwehneha: i havent thought about that
IndianzCom: Where is my trust fund check? I've been waiting for months.
Onkwehonwehneha: I do not know where my trust fund check is
IndianzCom: What do you think about the Bush administration's decision to deny recognition to the Chinook Nation of Washington? Onkwehonwehneha: I dont know what Bush administration s decision to deny recognition to the Chinook Nation of Washington is. I sure wouldnt want his job
IndianzCom: Is [former deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs] Michael Anderson crazy?
Onkwehonwehneha: what did you say? naho:ten sa:ton?
IndianzCom: Why won't Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton meet with tribal leaders about sacred sites?
Onkwehonwehneha: How should I know

Sounds about right to us.

Le Diva Live
After receiving a warm send-off late last month for her years in federal service, former Deputy Commissioner for Indian Affairs Sharon Blackwell jetted off to France for some new adventures and family time. She is not hot-footing it with Office of Indian Gaming Management Director George Skibine, despite the rumors, his French ancestry and his recent holiday.

The real question, though, is who will next hold this very powerful position? Terry Virden, who moonlights as Director of the Office of Trust Responsibilities after a brief and rocky stint in trust reform, has taken the "acting" title for now but you can bet vacancies at the Indian Health Service, the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Office of Native American Programs within the Housing and Urban Development and every federal court will be filled before Assistant Secretary Neal McCaleb names a replacement.

Swoosh
Tribal leaders and Interior Department officials are in Portland, Oregon, this week for yet another trust reform task force meeting. This one is crucial, because the Senate Indian Affairs Committee has scheduled a hearing next week to make sure they agree on a fix to the broken system.

So what has some attendees excited? Not a discussion on the government's trust responsibilities but a DOI-sponsored trip to NIKETOWN where you can bet many will take advantage of discounts and a federal government ID.

In Your Hoop
Should Gale Norton be killing species or saving them? Email In the Hoop and let us know.