Thread: Societal Norms Discussion

I may be able to shed a little more light on the casino thing, at least as far as Michigan is concerned.

There was a 7 county area designated as tribal land in the 1836 Treaty and (to my understanding) any casino on that land is not subject to state taxation.

We also have a casino (are the major partner) in Detroit which is subject to the state since it's off the tribes land.

Here is something about the history from my tribes website.
http://www.saulttribe.com/index.php?...=29&Itemid=205

Here is the home page and there is a link to a PDF of our new Constitution which is pending approval.

You will notice that in the part about our history that it is pretty short,we started getting it back together in the 50's.



Funny story on a related note.

There is a county in our tribal area named Schoolcraft County.
Here is something on Schoolcraft.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Schoolcraft

Notice he lived in the Lake Superior region?
In Sault Ste Marie specifically.
He studied the locals (my ancestors) and his research was used by Longfellow (my ancestor) in a poem.

He was a THE major influence in Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Hiawatha

Longfellow was my cousin. We share the same last name.

My cousin on one side of my family immortalized the history of the other side in his epic poem.

If that don't make you wonder at what a small world it is then I'm not sure what will.

Originally Posted by AFDavis11

Maybe the more important social norm in America is a free press.

Let's not get holier than thou simply because the Belgians have less tolerance for gun violence. American media is hardly worldly.

X

Originally Posted by xman

Let's not get holier than thou simply because the Belgians have less tolerance for gun violence. American media is hardly worldly.

X

I agree. But.....






I'm sure as hell gonna get holier than thou over the way they treat their fries! I mean, mayo?! And while we're at it, fries?! Chipped potatoes should be big 'n' chunky, dripping with the oil it was deep fried in, and then doused liberally with enough salt to give a bull a heart attack followed by a proper soaking in vinegar. Buckets of it.

And a piece of battered cod goes nicely with it too.

[shakes head in wonderment]

Originally Posted by majurey

I'm sure as hell gonna get holier than thou over the way they treat their fries! I mean, mayo?! And while we're at it, fries?!

Now you're REALLY gonna p*** me off if you keep up this tirade against mayo on fries!

X

While I agree that Mayo on Fries tastes awesome, I want to dissect it.

Mayonnaise is an emulsion of vegetable oil in lemon juice (3 cups oil to 2 tablespoons lemon juice) stabilized by the molecule lecithin, found in egg yolks. (4 for this recipe)

So here is what we do:

Fry chopped potatoes in a ton of oil/grease

mix up a whole lot of oil into a small amount of lemon juice, with a cholesterol laded ingredient at the binder

Dump the mixed oil/cholesterol over the greased fried potatoes

Eat


SOUNDS AWESOME!!!! (This is why I don't do it, even though it does taste so good).

I've got to admit that I like chips with mayo (but only the whole-egg, artery clogging stuff - none of this fat-reduced, tangy rubbish we get in Aus) - *and* I learned about it in the UK (I'd never seen it in Australia).

In Australia we call crisps chips, and that got me into some confusing situations when I first moved to the UK. And to my UK friends - man, what's the deal with Twigglets? I know, I know, vegemite is horrendous too until you get used to it...

Food-wise, the thing I loved about Brussels was the seafood - not a chocolate fan, sorry, although Belgium chocolate is nicer than other chocolate I've had.

Anyway, I've found the biggest challenges come with cultures that are only subtly different. My wife and I thought living in the UK would be a breeze - after all, we speak the same language, have the same head of state, our histories are inextricably linked etc. But the differences threw us for a while, probably because we weren't expecting them. For example, as a general rule Aussies are rather direct - they just say what they mean straight out, usually. But brits can be a bit more roundabout and circumspect - a lot of times there's hidden meanings, or more than one meaning, in what they say. I remember leaving meetings thinking I had a clear understanding of what we'd just discussed, only to find I was the only one to have misunderstood the entire conversation! Of course, that could just have been the people I was dealing with.

James.

...or that I'm just stupid!

James.

In Quebec they pile cheese curds (dry cottage cheese) on the fries and smother them with beef gravy. Man, it's tasty.

Well, we're on food and it was the first thing in my head as well. I guess it's not so surprising since food is a large part of any culture. One thing I've noticed since coming west is that maple syrup, which is a delicacy to me, is much less popular here than it is out east. It's still available, but not quite as prevalent.

Salmon is the sea food order of the day in the west where it'd be lobster on the east coast. Albertans (and I assume Saskatchewanians and Manitobans) sure do like their beef a lot.

Reminds me that in Alberta, one can drive a car at age 15. When I was there 15 years ago it was also pretty common to drive drunk all across the prairies.

The newest territory, Nunavut, has a slightly different electoral system than we have everywhere else in Canada. It's still parliamentary, but they don't allow political parties up there, So once all the representatives have been declared by popular, first-past-the-post elections, those representatives have to sit down together and decide who'll hold what portfolio, including that of Premier. This is very close to the traditional way the native peoples, of which there are several who still speak their native tongues have always declared their representatives. It's a land of almost 2 million square km with two extra official languages, Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, and only 30,000 people, most of whom are completely isolated from the rest of Canada. That's the population of a single town spread over the area of western Europe. Easily as distinct a society as the Québecois could ever hope to be.

X

That reminds me - how do you guys vote?

In Australia we have a preferential voting system - rank your choices from 1 (most preferred) down to however many candidates there might be. It makes things interesting - we have a thing called the "donkey vote" where people who don't care or whatever just start at the top with "1" and work their way on down. Candidates with the surname "Aardvark" tend to do well....

It also means we get bombarded with "how to vote" cards as we enter the voting booths. Second, third, fourth etc. preferences can make a difference in who gets elected, so each party figures out to which other parties the preferences should go to give them the best chance of being elected.

We also *have* to vote - we get fined if we don't, unless we have a good excuse. Sometimes the weirdest excuses are published.

James.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

That reminds me - how do you guys vote?

In Australia we have a preferential voting system - rank your choices from 1 (most preferred) down to however many candidates there might be. It makes things interesting - we have a thing called the "donkey vote" where people who don't care or whatever just start at the top with "1" and work their way on down. Candidates with the surname "Aardvark" tend to do well....

It also means we get bombarded with "how to vote" cards as we enter the voting booths. Second, third, fourth etc. preferences can make a difference in who gets elected, so each party figures out to which other parties the preferences should go to give them the best chance of being elected.

We also *have* to vote - we get fined if we don't, unless we have a good excuse. Sometimes the weirdest excuses are published.

James.

I wish we had that. In the last election I ended up voting for my second choice as my first choice was the third party (never wins) candidate so I was really voting against my last choice rather than FOR the candidate I thought had the best chance of beating her.

I wouldn't like the "have to vote" thing though as in some local elections (like for school board) I really have no preference and really don't need a say as I have no kids so I skip those lines on the ballot.