The message to the Florida Legislature is clear: Don't mess with our state parks!

I feel nostalgic today. Not sure why although it may be that I have many years to be nostalgic about. To begin, I was reading the Sunday paper after freeing it from its two protective envelopes but first I had to shake off the water from my neighbor's pre-dawn sprinklers (the lawn looks great!). The meaty part of the Daytona News Journal, Sunday edition, is its Outlook section or op-ed. It includes some meaty opinion columns such as Bill Cotterell's exploration of next year's governor's race ("We're in for a fun race" wrote the headline writer with just a smidge of sarcasm) and Ingrid Jacques' "Trump's tariffs might bring back jobs at a price" and that price may be -- in my opinion -- America's democracy. That anyone might believe that the witless White House resident actually has a policy of any kind, well, I guess that's how we got to this dystopian hell in the first place.

My attention was focused in Florida state parks, trails and historic sites. Rick Christie's column featured letters from state park fans. Six weeks ago, Florida opinion journalists of the USA Today network asked residents to send in written and visual memories of state parks in an effort to save our 800,000 wonderful acres of pristine land from greedheads fronted by the State Legislature. Many writers have warned us about the paving instinct of developers. We can go back to Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' writing about Cross Creek and Paynes Prairie among other places. She was friends of some of Florida's early women environmentalists. From Florida Memory at the Florida State Archives: 

In Florida, Marjorie Harris Carr, May Mann Jennings, Jeanne Bellamy, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Mary Grizzle are just a few of the women who worked to protect Florida's environment.

When I was growing up in Daytona, John D. MacDonald raged in "Condominium" about unbridled development. From afar, I read Miami Herald columns by Carl Hiaasen. I don't know most of Florida's recent environmental history as I was working to save and improve Wyoming state parks through  the arts. But those who never left and those who moved here for the Florida that is rapidly disappearing, you were on the front lines to save this heritage. 

I am a retiree returning to Volusia County. My prime growing-up years (13-27) were spent here in Florida's prime growing-up years (1964-1978). My eight brothers and sisters had their globe-trotting years. My brothers Pat and Dan were in the USAF and my sister Molly spent several years tending to new mothers at a base in Italy. My sister Mary tried out New Hampshire and my sister Eileen joined me in Colorado for awhile. Sister Maureen has lived in Mexico City and Lyon, France. Brothers Tom and Tim tried California. They all returned to Florida. I did not. Their roots were deep. Their memories are of sand dunes and unspoiled beaches, heading to Juniper Springs and Ichnetucknee, fishing for snook. camping in the woods. Mine too. 

So I wrote a letter supporting Florida parks and the legislators trying to protect them with House Bill 209 and SB 80. Mine is not featured in today's Outlook. But you can read it here. I reminisced about my days at Tomoka State Park and the Loop Trail. And the beaches where I surfed and hung out with my friends. Florida is a state park and a historic site for its rich heritage. Some of the latter is being scrubbed from school history books as I write because it involves genocide and slavery which apparently never happened although the park has a nice statue of Chief Tomokie of the Timucuan People based on a legend. There is a Timucuan Heritage Trail at Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest. For some reason, it is "temporarily closed." I give you one guess as to the reason. 

I love this country!

I learned a lot from reading today's letters. Dana Hunsley of Panacea, a former park ranger and park safety officer at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park, reminded readers that the the Florinda Dep0artment of Environmental Protection (DEP) is better know as the "Department of Environmental Prostitution" for its tendency to favor greed over environmental preservation. Military veteran Tom Wonsiewicz of North Naples celebrated Thanksgiving with his family at Delmore Wiggins Pass State Park. He writes this: "The joyful noise, in many languages, of people enjoying life and each other in beautiful, natural settings is unforgettable." Frank Cover of Cape Coral credits a 2014 visit by boat to Cayo Costa State Park got him hooked on wildlife photography.

The message is loud and clear: Don't f*ck with our state parks. Make sure your legislators hear your pleas. Earth Day is April 22. That's a good day to fire off a letter or e-mail. 

Did I really need that ambulance on the September night in question?

Most Americans, it seems, have been following the hunt for the murderer of United Healthcare exec Brian Thompson. But it’s not the manhunt that has received most of the attention. Instead, it’s the deeply flawed American healthcare system which, to most people, represents the American Healthcare Denial System beholden to Wall Street. Valid medical claims are turned down because they hurt Healthcare United’s bottom line. I shall throw my insurer in there, too, as my family has been denied payment by CIGNA for medical claims. Much of that is related to mental healthcare for my children. I could write a book on our experiences with various insurers as we worked to save our children. I will not write a book -- what’s the point? Inequalities of our system have been going on for decades and will continue.

My experiences with my healthcare claims and those of my wife have been great. Heart attacks, it seems, ring a bell with insurers. Near-death experiences with septicemia also resonate in the corridors of both CIGNA and Medicare. Those were claims made by me, the Widowmaker in 2014 and the septicemia in 2024. Seems as if I have a major malfunction every ten years.

The latest issue took me by surprise. I got a bill from Volusia County Emergency Medical Services for an ambulance transport to Advent Health Hospital in Daytona. They write that Medicare has turned me down for the $894.80 ride and said it was a “ ‘non-covered service’ because it does not meet Medicare’s medical necessity requirements.”

This seems quite odd to me as Medicare has partially covered at least one ambulance ride. In January in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I caught Covid and one cold January night I couldn’t breathe from the congestion and an ambulance took me to the local hospital where they got me breathing again and sent me home five hours later. That met Medicare’s medical necessity requirements.

At the ER on the night of Sept. 9, the Code Blue team was called out as my heart stopped twice  after I had two seizures. Chris said it was quite a sight to see as medical personnel rushed into the room and saved me. My vitals were wacko (medical term) and staff guessed I had a massive infection of some kind and they placed me in a coma for four days.

Pause here to let readers know that my dear wife took a photo of the comatose me and I will share it if you ask nicely and agree to publish my next novel. 

When I came to in ICU, I didn’t know where I was and what had happened. To read the full experience, go to my previous posts here and here. Turns out I had septicemia from an unknown source and it blasted my bodily functions such as walking and talking, eating and defecating. I was moved from ICU to a medical floor and then the twelfth floor which Advent devotes to physical therapy for stroke victims, the partially paralyzed, and mystery cases like me. I made enough progress by Oct. 4 that Advent released me back into the Florida Wilds and that’s where I’ve been ever since.

I am a lucky man. I am blessed more than I should be blessed. There is one thing I will not be and that is almost $900 poorer because I didn’t meet Medicare’s requirements for sick people. Twenty-five days in the hospital? A quick survey of my hospital history: I spent five days after my heart attack, three days after knee-replacement surgery, and two days following a spinal fusion. I am so glad I wasn’t sick enough in September and decided to take an Advent Health cruise.

Volusia County Emergency Medical Services sent me a list of items I must file for an appeal. They include all of my medical records from the hospital (“you may be required to pay a fee") and “a letter from any physicians you may have followed up with in regards to your ambulance transport.” I can see how daunting this might be for someone, possibly a retired someone recovering at home from a near-death experience.

There is some irony here. It wasn’t the bad guys at CIGNA that turned me down. That mega-insurer is my secondary and they haven’t had a crack at me yet. I pay too much of my pension for that coverage. I also paid for Medicare which is a government program. I should be railing against the stinkin’ gubment, right. Old Joe Biden let me down.

But during my recovery, I’ve noticed that Medicare is concerned about higher costs and wants all of us to use its new reporting system. This addresses higher costs and the millions, maybe billions, of fraud claims by people who should be strung up on the highest yardarm (archaic Navy term). One of the highest costs for patients and Medicare is the abuse/overuse of ambulance services.

Trump’s Project 2025 may be behind Medicare’s new cost-saving initiative. But wait – Trump is busy enlisting nincompoops to head government agencies and getting his ass kissed at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral and hasn’t yet assumed the mantles of power.

The only thing left to blame is the USA’s antiquated and rapacious healthcare system. The death of a healthcare executive is a tragedy. And it is tragic that some find humor in it.

Delighting in the suffering of others is a MAGA trait, is it not? What in the hell are we doing?

A big thank you to President Biden and a big raspberry to Sen. Romney and other GOP skinflints

I received the following email from President Biden or someone on his staff and signed by Joe. It was in response to a thank you email I wrote to him following my student loan being forgiven through a program initiated by his administration. Here's Biden's letter:

September 6, 2023

Dear Mr. Shay,

Thank you for your support for our shared values, particularly on the issue of student loan debt relief. 

We are facing an inflection point in history, and the decisions we make today are going to decide the course of this Nation for decades to come.  We still have a lot of work to do, but I know there is nothing we can’t do if we do it together.  

I have never been more optimistic about America’s future than I am today.  Keep the faith!

Sincerely,

Joe Biden

I blogged about the loan forgiveness here. I admire the fact that President Biden is optimistic about America's future. I shall try to follow in his example although Republicans make that a challenge.

This came from a recent post from the office of U.S. Senator and multimillionaire Mitt Romney of Utah:

The Administration’s new student loan rule would worsen inflation and add to our $32 trillion national debt. Proud to join my colleagues on this resolution to overturn this irresponsible and unfair student loan scheme.

Reminder to Romney: Much of that national debt can be traced back to the tax cut for millionaires and billionaires pushed through Congress by the GOP under Rich Guy President Donald Trump. But Mitt would rather make life difficult for the 4,000-some Utahans (according to the Deseret News) who could qualify for loan forgiveness under Biden's new plan. We aren't as numerous in Wyoming. yet there are plenty of student-loan debtors working low-paying full-time jobs or two even lower-paying part-time jobs. Give them a break. Give us all a break.

The sordid tale of the proposed Wyoming private prison for immigrants

It's not a prison, says the people building a prison for immigrants in southwest Wyoming's Uinta County.

And so says Gov. Mead's office. As related in a Dec. 20 Wyofile story by Andrew Graham:

Gov. Matt Mead’s spokesman said a federal immigration jail proposed for Uinta County does not count as a private prison under Wyoming statute and doesn’t require the Governor’s approval to be constructed. 

The jail is proposed by a private-prison company, Management Training Corporation, to hold increasing numbers of people arrested by U.S.  Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. As of October, county officials said they remained uncertain whether the proposal would require the approval of Wyoming’s five state elected officials, as state law requires for private prison contracts with local governments. A spokesperson for Mead told WyoFile at the time that the governor was unaware of the proposal.

Opposition to this non-jail jail is building. #WyoSayNo is holding an info session on the issue on Saturday, Jan. 13, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Get more info at https://www.facebook.com/events/146261459427770/. If you live far afield from Cheyenne, you can sign up for a 6 p.m. livestream at https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/wyosayno-campaign-launch-satellite-event-signup

This is just another sign of the cruelty practiced by Trumpists. Jailing hard-working people, Separating families. ICE raids at the workplace. Make tons of money for private prison stakeholders in the process.

Trumpists have no shame.

Occupy the Courts Jan. 20 in Denver

From Coffee Party USA: 

On Friday Jan. 20, the Coffee Party is joining Move to Amend and democracy advocates across the U.S. to hold more than 80 rallies in front of federal court buildings, including the US Supreme Court. These rallies will launch grassroots campaigns for ballot initiatives and resolutions rejecting the "Citizens United" decree for unlimited, anonymous spending to influence our elections. 

Momentum has been building in recent months, with resolutions passed by city councils in Los Angeles and New York City, and the Montana Supreme Court asserting that states have the right to prevent the corporate purchase of their governments.  Let's make this happen in states, towns, and cities across the country.

The closest event to Cheyenne and Laramie is in Denver:

Location: Gather on West Steps of the State Capitol, 200 East Colfax Avenue 10:30 AM.  Rally on the west steps of the State Capitol 11:30, followed by a march down the 16th Street Mall, to the U.S. Court of Appeals building at 18th & Stout, and where we will deliver a huge, signed copy of “The MOVE TO AMEND Amendment” and tack it, with duct tape to the Courthouse door.  There will be a debriefing/after-party at 2:00 PM at the Mercury Cafe 2199 California Street  Denver, CO 80205 Contact: Daphne Goodwin, daphne.mdmta@gmail.com

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, member-in-good-standing of the 1%, votes to raise taxes on middle-class Wyomingites

This press release comes from Jane Ifland, communications director of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

Today, on the heels of yesterday’s blatantly partisan vote by Republicans in the House to raise taxes on 160 million Americans in the middle of the holiday season, Chuck Herz, Chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party, released the following statement: 

“Cynthia Lummis ought to be ashamed of herself. Her refusal to cooperate with anyone —including the Senate leadership of her own party— puts her in the ranks of the rankest extremists of her party. That’s bad for Wyoming people in and of itself. 

But worse is the fact that her uncooperative attitude will hit Wyoming middle class families where it hurts the most this holiday season: right in the wallet.” (The failure of Rep. Lummis and her fellow extremist House members to cooperate with the rest of our leadership will cost the average Wyoming wage earner more than $1,600 in actual cash next year.) 

“If you want to look from worse to worse yet,” Herz continued, “you can see that this incomprehensible disregard for the well-being of the middle class of Wyoming and America carries right up through the GOP leadership – if you can call it that – to the ineffectual John Boehner and the clueless Mitt Romney. 

Romney, in particular, has repeatedly dismissed the payroll tax cut as a ‘little Band-Aid’ – reluctantly supporting an extension only after he realized the public overwhelmingly supported it. These tax cuts make a real difference to middle class families. Failing to extend them is bad for our people, bad for our state, bad for our country.”

Republican Rep. David Miller of Riverton will become an executive of a coal company

Why bother to hire lobbyists or pour energy money into electing state representatives when you can just buy one? Go to http://wyomingpublicmedia.org/post/state-representative-miller-will-become-executive-coal-company

This year, Homeless Persons' Memorial Day affects more of us than ever

'Tis the season when the MSM begins paying attention to "the homeless issue." It has something to do with the holidays, a time when all of us are supposed to be at our warm hearths breaking bread with family and friends. Millions of Americans no longer have warm hearths, no hearths of any kind. Meanwhile, a small percentage (shall we say the 1%) have huge hearths courtesy of taxpayer-funded bailouts and secret loans (see breaking news from Bloomberg News). While the big-hearth boys have the law of their sides, the same cannot be said for the no-hearth folks. French writer Anatole France once made this comment about the law and the homeless:

"The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich and the poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread" (from Le Lys Rouge).

Alas, the homeless have always (and will always) be with us.

Last night's CBS “60 Minutes” had a story on Central Florida families living in their vehicles. On most Orlando nights, you can get away with sleeping in your car and not having to use all of your gas on powering the heater. That’s not true in Wyoming.

Most homeless don’t have the benefit of a car. They sleep under bridges and in parks. Sunday's Denver Post had an article about an increasing number of people sleeping out each night on the downtown 16th Street Mall. They bed down under the metal bison sculptures or stretch out under benches. Outreach workers last summer regularly counted more than 100 people per night bunking down at the mall. While a city effort to end homelessness in Denver called Operation Road Home has had some success, the problem continues to grow while federal and state funding continues to shrink.

Some cities accuse Occupy movements of being nothing but homeless encampments, and have used that as an excuse to evict occupiers (the law's "majestic equality" mentioned by France). The Nov. 1 New York Magazine talked about the uneasy alliance between Occupy protests and the homeless, some of whom are more interested in food and shelter than in political statements.

Foreclosures and evictions by big banks have forced thousands of people out of their homes. Drug addiction, alcoholism and mental illness also are a part in the problem. That said, there’s no excuse for people freezing to death out on our streets. Awareness is crucial. More needs to be done. To that end, the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless sponsors Homeless Memorial Day every year. Here are the details:

Homeless Memorial Day will take place this year on December 21 at noon in front of the State Capitol Building. Recognition of those who died homeless on the streets of Cheyenne will take place with the tolling of a bell by Rev. Rick Veit, St. Marks Episcopal Church. Other speakers will include Virginia Sellner, Director, Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, Richard McCullough, Crossroads Clinic/Community Action Homeless Outreach Program, Rabbi Harley Karz-Wagman, Mt. Sinai Synagogue. Music will include Christmas Carols and Hanukkah songs. The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless has sponsored this event in Cheyenne since it beginning in 1990. This is the 22nd Homeless Memorial Day event for Cheyenne and the rest of the country. In the 1980s a small group of cities remembered those who died on the streets but the events were not organized. In 1990 the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council organized the event and began holding memorials on December 21st each year -- the longest day of the year and frequently the coldest day of the year in many communities. A small number of cities participated in the 1990 event and it has grown each year since then. In 2010 there were 141 cities participating and approximately 1,900 homeless individuals remembered.

Occupy Cheyenne sez: Nov. 5 is bank transfer day

Stymie the 1% on Nov. 5. Transfer
your account to a credit union. Go to
www.CUlookup.com

Lest we forget about Big O's victories (and ours)

Ligorano/Reese "temporary monument" illustrates plight of the melting middle class

On June 18, 2011 artists Ligorano/Reese presented a temporary monument in the garden of Jim Kempner Fine Art in NYC called "Morning In America." The installation was witnessed by hundreds and lasted a total of 8 hours throughout the hot day.

...A THOUSAND CUTS is a timelapse video of the event. The soundtrack was inspired by an excerpt from Senator Bernie Sanders 8 hour filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor against the extension of the Bush tax cuts and the effects on the middle class. It is orchestrated to music by composer/violinist Michael Galasso.

Special Thanks
Dru Arstark, Anthony Caputo, Dan Walworth, Okamoto Studio, Postworks NY

The entire text of Senator Sanders speech is available as a book, published by Nation Books, The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class,

For more information about Michael Galasso's music and soundtrackshttp://michaelgalasso.com.

For more information on the artists, see http://ligoranoreese.net

This video is licensed under Creative Commons,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Thanks to Brooklyn artist Nancy Bowen for tipping me off to this project.

Dick Cheney's legacy -- sickly Wyomingites and water supplies that catch fire

“Gasland” was not exactly a gas – but it did make me think.

The documentary was screened this evening at the Kiwanis Community House in Cheyenne before 60-some people. It explores natural gas drilling throughout the U.S., mainly that taking place in shale oil plays like the one beneath us in southeast Wyoming.

The film’s director, Josh Fox, traveled from his rural homestead in Pennsylvania to our wide-open Rocky Mountain spaces, interviewing those who’ve been impacted by the byproducts of drilling. Weld County, Colo., was his first stop. He watched homeowners flick their Bics under kitchen faucets. Fires erupted. The air and groundwater are being polluted by fracking chemicals. People are getting sick. The Wyoming DEQ issues air pollution alerts for rural Sublette County due to the energy boom. Air quality is as bad as L.A.’s on some days.

Wyoming rancher and former oil patch welder John Fenton attended the Cheyenne screening. He’s a cowboy working his in-laws’ spread near Pavilion. He’s surrounded by gas wells and storage tanks. Clouds composed of gas and chemical byproducts sometimes envelop his house. His three-year-old son began having seizures as soon as the family moved in. His wife has recurring headaches. His mother-in-law has lost several of her five senses. She’s consulted docs throughout the West and they have no answers. The Feltons can’t drink their water. For 18 months, John made the 80-mile round trip to town to fetch his water. He now has water delivered.

These are good people whose lives have been upended by the rush to pump as much gas from shale as possible – and damn anybody who gets in the way. Sure, it’s great to develop homegrown energy. You’ll find bipartisan agreement on that. But at what cost?

John has joined a delegation traveling to D.C. several times. They have met with the Wyoming Congressional delegation. “I’d like to say that they listened and are working hard for us,” John said. “But they’re not. Their loyalties lie elsewhere.”

Remember these names: Sen. Mike Enzi, Sen. John Barrasso, Rep. Cynthia Lummis. They boast that they stand up for the citizens of Wyoming. But they don’t. Rep. Lummis, one of the richest members of Congress who can’t be bothered with the concerns of “the little people.” Sen. John Barrasso, a physician who can’t be bothered with the health problems of farmers and ranchers. Sen. Mike Enzi, entrepreneur whose loyalties lie elsewhere – with big corporations instead of with Wyomingites trying to make a living from the land.

It is shameful to contemplate the power of oil and gas companies. It’s also shameful to note, as Mr. Fox does in his film, that the catalyst for these problems was none other than Wyoming’s not-so-favorite-son, Dick Cheney. His secret energy commission drafted what became the 2005 energy bill which exempted oil and gas companies from the Clean Air Act, the Safe Water Drinking Act, EPA regulations and almost any other environmental regulations. This is known as The Halliburton Loophole.

Thanks, Dick. I hope the people of Teton County remember Mr. Cheney as they try to protect the Hoback River Basin from rampant and largely unregulated gas drilling. Dick has a home in Jackson, you see. His ritzy neighbors might not be pleased when they can’t breathe and their gold-plated water faucets start catching on fire.

Most of the post-film discussion focused on citizen action. As I mentioned earlier, the Niobrara Oil Play Boom is happening right now in southeast Wyoming. Not too much to ask to require better oversight of the drilling process, from beginning to end, by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. Not too much to ask our legislators to be looking out for our needs rather than those of energy companies and lobbyists. Not too much to ask for our county commissioners and city council members to be looking out for the health and welfare of Laramie County citizens.

They may need extra persuasion. Attend commission and council meetings. And there are several organizations working hard for citizen rights. They are the Powder River Basin Resource Council and the Wyoming Outdoor Council. They were the co-sponsors of the free film screening. These conservation organizations got involved in the Pavilion situation. But not much happened until the Environmental Protection Agency got involved, according to the PRBRC’s Jill Morrison.

Both the PRBRC and the Wyoming Outdoor Council seek full disclosure on chemicals and processes used in the drilling process, from beginning to end. Not too much to ask, is it?

Jon Stewart: New state Govs have gone psycho

The Daily Show - Gov Hurts
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Know Nothings take over the G.O.P.

I'm not surprised by the fact that the anti-science wing of the G.O.P. has taken over Congress. That's what they campaigned on. But there are some people in this group that, at least from the outside, appear normal and logical and even attended college.

Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois says we need not worry about the planet being destroyed because, citing chapter 8, verse 22 of the Book of Genesis, God promised Noah it wouldn’t happen again after the great flood.

According to his official web site, Rep. Shimkus received a Bachelor of Science in general engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1980. He serves on the House Commerce and Energy Committee.


How did this engineer and military officer turn into a proud member of the G.O.P. Know Nothing Caucus? He had to pass muster with the Tea Party Know Nothings to get into office and must remain a loyal member to get reelected in 2012.

“I personally believe that the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything that human beings do. …” — Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin

Rep. Sensenbrenner (from his web site):

Jim was born in Chicago and later moved to Wisconsin with his family. He graduated from the Milwaukee Country Day School and did his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, where he majored in political science. He then earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968.... Jim’s current committee assignments include serving as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology and he also serves on the Committee on the Judiciary.  Congressman Sensenbrenner is Chairman of the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee.  He also serves on the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee (Judiciary), as well as the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee (Science and Technology) and the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee (Science and Technology).

What does our own lone House Rep, Cynthia Lummis, think about science? She received her Bachelor of Science in animal science and biology from the University of Wyoming. She is a foe of the Obama Administration's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, especially those emitted by the coal industry, Wyoming's number one industry. She believes that climate change has been exaggerated. These stances are not surprising. Coal and oil and natural gas pay the bills in Wyoming. We saw coal's clout yesterday when Ken Salazar flew into Cheyenne to hobnob with Republican Gov. Mead and to announce that millions of acres of Wyoming will now be open to King Coal. Good for Arch Coal, good for Wyoming, bad for the planet.


Wyoming Senators Enzi and Barrasso continuer to pander to the lowest common denominator, even though they won't be up for reelection until 2014. Sen. Enzi wants to save the Edison light bulb and Dr. Sen. Barrasso is anti-healthcare. The world has gone nuts. Or maybe it's just the U.S. Congress.  

Coming soon -- Wyoming coal-powered iPods

Did you know this:

Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway estimates that 500 pounds of coal are blown from each rail car for every 500 miles traveled?

Just one of the interesting facts in a Grist post and in a Sierra Magazine story about plans to ship Wyoming coal to China. The key element for the plan is to upgrade the Columbia River port in Longview, Wash. Environmentalists and the state government are resisting. May not be too much longer before money talks and the impasse is broken.

I'm reminded of that John Prine song, "Paradise:"

And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County
Down by the Green River where Paradise lay
Well I'm sorry my son but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away

With a few changes of place names (apologies to Mr. Prine), here are the lyrics:

And daddy won't you take me back to Campbell County
Down by the Powder River where Paradise lay
Well I'm sorry my son but you're too late in asking
Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away 

To make iPods in China.

Campbell County isn't exactly paradise. And the Powder River was appropriately named. Many who live and work and ranch and write and sculpt there like it well enough. I have friends and colleagues in Gillette who think I live in the ugly part of the state.

Mixed feelings here about coal. The more Wyoming coal sold, the more royalties the state collects. The state coffer expands and my job is secure. It may be too much to hope for a raise, as the Wyoming Legislature is notoriously tight-fisted and, with its new Tea Party members, not in the mood for a spending spree.

All this to make iPods for the children of America? My children included?

There's the rub. China makes stuff we want and -- possibly -- need. We ship them coal thousands of miles and they ship us back iPods. I look around my study and see PCs and a digital camera and my DSL modem and surge protector and phone and photo frames and who knows what else. The only thing in this room I can vouch for as totally "Made in the U.S.A." is me, aging rapidly, and my mutt Coco stretched out on the floor for her mid-morning nap. Coco has a microchip (probably made in China) embedded in her hide. If needed, we can find her electronically if she ever disappears.

The articles are worth reading. Access them through your Wyoming coal-powered PCs.

Made in the USA? Good idea 'til greed got in the way

This is a 1983 song by Bob Dylan but it's even more relevant today. It reflects what's happening in Wisconsin and what Republicans are trying to do to all working people in the USA -- bring our wages down to the levels conglomerates pay labor in Indonesia and Latin America:

Union Sundown (excerpt)
Bob Dylan

Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore,
My flashlight's from Taiwan,
My tablecloth's from Malaysia,
My belt buckle's from the Amazon.
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet,
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy makin' thirty cents a day

Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the USA
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way.

From Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams, edited by M.L. Liebler and published by Coffee House Press.

Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems

Why oh why is a batshit crazy group of Utah right-wingers spending time and money in Wisconsin?

Because they are batshit crazy Utah right-wingers and they've run out of targets in Utah and its satellite states of Wyoming and Idaho and Arizona and are now spreading venom to Wisconsin.

The conservative American Recall Coalition, a group from Salt Lake City, Utah, is leading the charge to reel in eight Democratic Senators in Wisconsin who are among 14 lawmakers who left the state in protest of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB).

The out-of-state group last week filed with the GAB website to recall the Senators, but initial filings did not have anyone from the local senatorial district as part of the recall requests.

"They didn't have any local people involved, so we contacted them and said they need to have one local person in each district," said GAB spokesman Reid Magney. "They withdrew those initial filings and made new ones and we are waiting for the signed paperwork."

Wisconsin senators targeted in the campaign are Lena Taylor, Spencer Coggs, Jim Holperin, Mark Miller, Robert Wirch, Julie Lassa, Fred Risser and Dave Hansen.

According to a Reuters report, the American Recall Coalition is also campaigning to recall Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Arizona, who drew conservative fire last month after linking the Tucson shootings that killed 6 and seriously hurt 13 people, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, to "political vitriol, prejudice and bigotry."

Read the rest at Workers' Uprising: Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems| AlterNet

Working Words: Betsy Sholl and "Pink Slip"

Betsy Sholl's poem "Pink Slip" is in the new anthology, Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking out the Jams from Coffee House Press. Anthology editor M.L. Liebler will be traveling to Cheyenne this Saturday to conduct a number of events for Wyoming Poetry Out Loud.

Betsy Sholl was named Maine Poet Laureate in 2006. She's published seven collections of poetry and was a founding member of the innovative small press, Alice James Books. She's published widely and won numerous awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Maine Arts Commission. 

In "Pink Slip," Betsy explores the life of a woman fired after 20 years of hard work. In this excerpt, she gets her pink slip:

All you did was check your watch, all
you did was back me to the door,
where outside they were hauling my car,
a pirate company, so not even the cops could say
where it is. Is this America?
I've seen countries on TV where the natives 

give funny looks to the fat men they serve drinks to
on patios. "Bastard" would be
my translation. Or whatever the deaf woman is
banging onto the locked windows of cars jammed at
the on-ramp trying to leave the city....

Read the entire poem in Working Words. And many other poems and short stories and essays about working people.

Calling on Congressional Republicans to renounce their taxpayer-funded health coverage

Republicans in Congress (including Wyoming's lone U.S. Rep, Cynthia Lummis) have passed a bill to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act.

It will die in the U.S. Senate. But Repubs in both chambers will be bringing this up over and over and over again in an effort to unseat Pres. Obama in 2012. They are like pit bulls, those Republicans.  

Families USA, sponsor of the Health Action 2011 conference in D.C. Jan. 27-29, has developed a report entitled "H.R. 2: Guilty of a Double Standard." Here are the juicy parts:

...those who vote for repeal intend to keep these very health benefits and rights—which they enjoy courtesy of America’s taxpayers—for themselves:

Members of Congress enjoy government-subsidized health coverage for themselves and their family members. Congressional promoters of repeal would take away tax credits that will help make coverage affordable for hardworking American families.

Members of Congress are sheltered from the threat of discrimination due to pre-existing conditions. Congressional promoters of repeal would deprive ordinary Americans of this very same protection.

Members of Congress, when faced with an insurance claim that is denied, have a guaranteed right to appeal that denial. Congressional promoters of repeal would deny many Americans a similar right.

These are just three examples. There are more, and we’ve outlined them below.

What Congressional Promoters of Repeal Will Take Away from American Families—But Keep for Themselves:

1.   Affordable health coverage

2.   Guaranteed coverage, regardless of pre-existing conditions

3.   A right to appeal claims that are denied by insurers

4.   Protection against discriminatory premiums due to pre-existing conditions

5.   A complete package of health insurance benefits

6.   Guaranteed coverage that can’t be taken away

7.   A prescription drug benefit with no coverage gap

8.   Protection against catastrophic health care costs

9.   A choice of easy-to-compare health insurance plans

10.  Protection against unreasonable premium increases

11.  Fair and equal premiums for women

12.  Coverage for early retirees

13.  Access to free or low-cost preventive services

14.  Access to affordable care at clinics

Rolling back health care reform is "a bad deal for Wyoming's People"

Letter from Chuck Herz, chairman of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

Republicans in Washington and Cheyenne have made it their crusade to roll back the healthcare-coverage reform finally achieved last year after problems with our system became overwhelming for many of our people. We Democrats think that's a bad idea for the people of the U.S. and Wyoming.

Let's review what the problems have been:

1. Americans as a nation spend way more on health care than folks in other advanced countries, but we get significantly less in healthcare results as measured by hard facts like life expectancy and child mortality. Child mortality in the U.S., for example, is twice what it is in Western Europe.

2. Millions of Americans and tens of thousands of Wyomingites have no health coverage at all. Millions more have coverage with such high deductibles, co-pays, and exclusions that it pays very little of their actual medical expenses.

3. Many with inadequate coverage have been driven into bankruptcy by medical bills. This is unheard of in most other advanced countries.

4. Businesses have been finding it more and more prohibitively expensive to provide healthcare coverage to their employees, so fewer employees are getting adequate employer-sponsored coverage.

5. The cost of healthcare coverage has been rising much faster than people’s incomes and faster than government revenues.

The Affordable Care Act deals with all those problems. It also addresses weaknesses in healthcare coverage that have plagued Americans and Wyomingites. For example, it:

• Prohibits health insurers from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

• Prohibits insurers from cutting off coverage for someone who becomes sick or injured.

• Enables young people to stay on their parents' policies while they are going to school or getting started in life, up to age 26.

• Requires that insurers cover basic preventive care, such as well-baby visits and annual physicals, thus eliminating much bigger costs that are incurred when medical problems are unattended until they become a crisis.

Those who oppose healthcare reform, or think they do, need to be asked or ask themselves which of these reforms they oppose, and why. Those who say they too want to fix the problems with our system (but did not do so in the twenty of twenty-eight years before Obama when they were in control) owe it to us to say just how else they would fix those problems. In the case of our Republican friends, that has to be more than a pale imitation. It needs, for just one example, to be an alternative that gets coverage for more than a tenth of those currently without health insurance.

We know what the Republicans are against. We need to know what, if anything, they are for.

That so many have had no health coverage, or inadequate coverage, has meant that those people are playing Russian roulette with both their health and family finances. In addition, many who could afford health insurance, if they were willing to forego less essential expenses, have chosen to play Russian roulette in that way. They know hospitals and doctors must take care of them when they get sick or injured. Then the hospitals and doctors have to make up for resulting charity care and bad debts by charging the rest of us more.

Rolling back the reform thus far achieved would be a very bad deal for Wyoming's people and America's people. We Democrats don't claim that reform so far has fixed all the problems with our system and created no new ones. Significant fixes may soon prove necessary, and some may be needed sooner rather than later. We should all be looking to improve our healthcare system and the law further, with open minds and bipartisan cooperation.

What we should not do is go back to what was working so poorly for so many ordinary people. We should not run around like Chicken Little proclaiming that the sky is falling, that our liberty is in danger, that "death panels" will be doing in Granny, that the reform will drive the Federal deficit sky high (when in fact it will reduce the deficit, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said multiple times), that America is becoming a socialist country, or other such silliness. None of those things have happened so far. There's no reasonable chance that they'll ever happen. Instead, we've taken the critical first steps to building a stronger, healthier nation.