Re: Northern New York radio observations

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Tue, 24 Nov 1998 21:02:36 EST, MikeHemeon@aol.com said:

> According to the Code of Federal Regulations, Native American tribes are
> "sovereign nations".

According to the United Nations and its specialized agencies, Native
American tribes are sub-national groupings created by the United
States which are neither internationally recognized nor eligible for
membership in UN bodies.  (The UN bureaucrats would describe this as a
matter of ``domestic affairs'' in which they would refuse to take
sides.)

In other words, regardless of what the US government pretends tribal
nations are, the international community (rightly) doesn't believe it
for a moment.  Thus, under the provisions of the world-wide frequency
allocation and multilateral band-management treaties, the United
States has the responsibility for regulating spectrum use on Indian
reservations.  (This legal situation also exists under the
constitution; the founders intended for the Federal government to have
authority over native people while excluding them from any state.)

Hence, when you are in the Four Corners and tune your radio to 660,
you'll often hear ``Broadcasting from the Capital City of the Navajo
Nation, this is 660, KTNN Window Rock, the Four Corners' number one
radio station.''

- -GAWollman

- --
Garrett A. Wollman   | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | O Siem / The fires of freedom 
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA|                     - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick

------------------------------