Homelessness increases in rural West

A July 13 post by the always-alert jhwygirl at 4&20 blackbirds alerted hummingbirdminds to an alarming trend, one that may have a huge impact on those who dwell (or try to) in these wide open spaces.

In the July 12 Washington Post, Alexi Mostrous writes about the increase in U.S. homelessness, especially in rural and suburban areas.

Louis Gill doesn't like to turn anyone away. The director of the Bakersfield Homeless Center in California has taken to laying out cots and mattresses between the shelter's 174 registered beds to cope with the rush of homeless families brought to his doors by the financial crisis.

"Last year, we saw a 34 percent increase in homeless families and a 24 percent increase in homeless children," he said. "Why do we go beyond capacity? Because in a just society, a child should not have to sleep outside or in a car."

Gill is a frontline witness to the change in the makeup of the country's homeless. The stereotype of a homeless person as a single man no longer applies. A resident of the Bakersfield center is far more likely to be a young mother with a "good, solid job and a mortgage that she just couldn't pay."

"They're like folks you know and that you've worked with," Gill said. "Maybe the work's not there right now. Maybe they got behind on their payments. But the idea of a typical homeless person has changed. We're seeing individuals come in that have never had to access the safety net before."

A study by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) measured changes in the number of homeless between 2007 and 2008, before the height of the economic crisis, and Director Shaun Donovan acknowledged that the data do not reflect "the great many more families who were living on the edge, doubling up with friends and family members, and struggling to stay out of the shelters and off the streets."

Some case studies collected by the department's Homelessness Pulse Project suggest that rural and suburban areas were particularly ill-equipped to cope with the new wave of homeless. And many of the states that experienced the largest increases in homelessness are predominately rural.

In Mississippi, the number of homeless increased 42 percent last year; in Wyoming, 40 percent; in Montana and Missouri, 23 percent; and in Iowa, 22 percent.

It's good to know that Wyoming is right up there (or right down there) with Mississippi when it comes to homelessness. But these statistics are now a year old. What's happened around the rural West in the past year, when the walls really came crashing down?

The Welcome Mat Day Center in Cheyenne is the only one of its kind in the Capital City. Comea House at 1504 Stinson Ave. provides overnight shelter. Welcome Mat provides a variety of on-site services at its 907 Logan Avenue facility. The Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless publishes a newsletter, Wyoming Winds. Its web site has a list of homeless resources in Wyoming. Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/wchsvcs.htm

What's my homeless risk? I have a good job and a house we call home. My wife works and likes what she does. Our teen is working this summer and so is our home-from-college son. If those jobs disappeared tomorrow, how long would it take for us to be homeless? My job includes the health ionsurance that covers us all. No job and no health insurance spells doom, especially when Chris has a pre-existing condition known as diabetes.

We're a resourceful family, but one that spends most of its income on mortgage, cars, groceries and ongoing bills. We were frugal during those boom times when our fellow Americans were spending freely on vacations and boats and eating out at Olive Garden. Retirement is compiling daily, but savings are not.

How close are we to homelessness? What about you?

Wyoming Cold War residue could harm "our precious bodily fluids"

In "Dr. Strangelove," when Col. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) starts talking about commies poisoning "our precious bodily fluids," Group Captain Mandrake (Peter Sellers) realizes his commander is nuts. So nuts, in fact, that Ripper has launched World War III.

Col. Ripper says this: "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face? On no account will a Commie ever drink water, and not without good reason."

Baby Boomers probably remember that the John Birch Society made hay with the conspiracy theory that commies somehow arranged to fluoridate our water to neuter God-fearing Americans in time of war, cold or hot.

But the Birchers should have been more concerned with the trichloroethylene (TCE) used to clean our own nukes, here in Wyoming and elsewhere. TCE has been poisoning our precious bodily fluids for 50 years, rendering us useless against attacks by commies, Saddam Hussein's WMDs, swine flu, feminists, wayward Yellowstone wolves, atheists and any other menace (real or imagined) wingnuts can devise.

A plume of TCE, maybe one of the largest in the country, is moving toward Cheyenne. One of these days, it may lurk right under our house near Yellowstone Blvd.

Actually, we already have contamination in our neighborhood from Cold War chemicals used on Wyoming Air National Guard's aircraft. TCE and carbon tetrachloride have been seeping from the sprawling Guard base south of us since the 1960s. To the Guard's credit, it has been on this issue since I moved to the neighborhood back in 2005. I receive frequent mailings on the clean-up status. There's a monitoring station in Mylar Park, just a 10-minute walk from our house. A trench 100 feet long and 35 feet deep is being dug in the park to try to contain the seeping solvents. Groundwater that flows into the trench will be treated and discharged into nearby Dry Creek. The goal, according to an Air Guard release from 2008, "is to prevent further underground contamination and keep the chemicals from getting into the creek."

But the TCE plume at F.E. Warren AFB is more problematical. Between 1960-64, USAF personnel used thousands of gallons of the chemical to clean Atlas rocket engines once the fuel had been removed. The used solvent went into unlined pits and eventually trickled down into the aquifer. For many years, the Air Force and the Army Corps of Engineers refused to acknowledge a problem. Then tests were conducted by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. The Corps still did nothing. And in 2007 Sen. John Barrasso got involved. Amazing the difference a U.S. Senator can make when he sets his mind to it. Studies were conducted on this substance that may cause cancer. The obstinate Corps chief was replaced by one more accountable to the citizenry. A a major report detailing clean-up solutions will be issued in September. You can hear the details at a public meeting July 28, 6 p.m., in the Cottonwood Room at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne.

The reason I bring this up? Jared Miller wrote an excellent series of articles for today's Casper Star-Tribune about this threat from the bad old days of the Cold War. Read the series at http://www.casperstartribune.com/articles/2009/07/12/news/wyoming/813bd62b38077e9b872575f00020f944.txt

Dennis Kucinich spanks wingnut doctor

We have our own Wingnut doctor from Wyoming: Dr. John Barrasso, U.S. Senator

"Richard II" on the soggy fields of Cheyenne

Attended the Wyoming Shakespeare Theatre Company's production of "Richard II" this evening at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. The theatre company hauls its sets and equipment from one end of Wyoming to the other in one horse trailer. No easy feat.

Right about intermission time, the skies clouded up and rain fell. Half the crowd departed, but I was hooked on the story and wouldn't leave. Mac -- a family friend -- and I watched the rest of the show under a tree, not a great idea while lightning shot out of the clouds. But at least we weren't holding golf clubs.

"Richard II" all about kingship. What does it take to be a king -- and when is it justified to unseat a king? Richard II makes some wrong moves, pisses off some of the courtly lords who join the banished Bullingbrook in an uprising. Richard is never more charming than when he's deposed. Alas, he's murdered (must have a few bodies on stage in the tragedies) and then we are left with a feeling that all this didn't have to happen. Actually, it did. Without Bullingbrook usurping the throne, we wouldn't have the magnificent "Henry IV," parts one and two, and the much-quoted speech given by Henry V on the fields of Agincourt on St. Crispin's Day. And most significantly, there would be no scenes between Prince Hal and Falstaff.

Kings tend to get murdered in Shakespearean tragedies. Much mayhem ensues, which makes them so much fun. Summer and Shakespare go together like peas and carrots.

Weekend round-up: big issues -- and strange

Rising star of the Young Republicans, Audra Shay, may be a distant relative -- but I certainly hope not. Go to http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-10/the-gops-young-hatemonger/

NYT: "Obama Student Loan Plans Wins Support in House." Let's move this thing along. The U.S. student loan system (if you can call it that) is a travesty and needs a major overhaul.

This Sunlight Foundation post goes back to June 22 but was resurrected by Montana’s excellent Left in the West. "...five of Baucus’ former staffers currently work for a total of twenty-seven different organizations that are either in the health care or insurance sector or have a noted interest in the outcome." This may help explain Sen. Baucus’s opposition to "public option."

Papal news from a slip-sliding-away Catholic: National Catholic Reporter does a great job covering Pres. Obama's Rome visit with the Pope. On Sojourners God's Politics blog, Jim Wallis summarizes the Pope's new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth).

In other religious news: "Trickle-down Fundamentalism" or "Godly powerful rich white men should rule the world." See Rachel Maddow's interviews with Jeff Sharlet at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Attention gardeners: eat those squash and zucchini blossoms! Go to http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/homegarden/2009448964_yardsmart11.html

Weekend garden blogging -- help me save the soul of my wayward Kentucky Wonder

First, the weather. Warm and dry. No rain for three days. That's amazing, because it had rained almost every day since May until Wednesday. It's a rarity around here to let Mother Nature take care of watering the garden. Had to return to the hose on Thursday and Friday. The weatherpeople forecast a stray storm or two for yesterday evening. Storms passed us by to put on a great lightning show, huge anvil cloud hovering somewhere over Hawk Springs on its way to Nebraska. Chris and I sat on the back porch and watched the lightning vein the clouds for an hour.

We may get storms today. I'll hold off on watering and see what develops. Watch the skies!

Some of the spinach plants started to bolt so I clipped them off at the base and we enjoyed a mighty good stir fry with garden spinach cooked in olive oil with chunks of garlic. One of my daughter's favorite treats. Rather have that than ice cream, which makes me wonder about her DNA. A dedicated vegetarian. I keep telling her that ice cream is core food group along with beer and Cheezits. But she's not buying it. What's wrong with this younger generation?

Harvested the outside leaves on my green and red leaf lettuce plants. Cut off the broccoli crowns in the hopes that more crowns will grow. Fruits have formed on my Gardener's delight cherry tomato bushes but the Early Girls ain't so early. I have another tomato plants with fern-like leaves and I can't remember the variety. But it's growing like crazy and blooming but no fruit yet. The bush beans are finally bushing out -- think I planted the seeds too deep. Two zucchini plants are attempting to take over the world. My lone surviving crookneck squash plant is finally starting to leaf out. I bought three seedlings in May. Two of them shriveled and died and only one remains. No such things ever happen to zucchini, even in Wyoming.

My Kentucky Wonder pole beans on the side yard are sending out runners. One has attached to the trellis in the way that God intended. The other keeps leaping off the trellis to commune with the Achillea filipendulina and the shasta daisies. Each evening I return his probe to the trellis, only to find it groping its neighbors the next morning. He's obviously confused about his place in the grand scheme of creation. Perhaps I can have Rev from the Free Will Church of Eternal Damnation come down and talk to this wayward plant. Set it straight, if you get my meaning.

Other than that, the garden grows. We continue to watch the skies for hail-laden clouds.

This week's Victory Garden dedication: To Martin Hett, my grandfather, whose birthday is on July 14 -- Bastille Day. He became a fine self-taught Colorado gardener who grew up hungry in County Roscommon in pre-Republic Ireland. Left home at 12 in search of food -- never went back.

For a brief time, Greenpeace replaces Reagan on Mt. Rushmore with Pres. Obama

Greenpeace found a way to cover up the unpleasant visage of St. Reagan recently added to Mount Rushmore National Monument in South Dakota.

Here's what the monument looked like on Tuesday:

Greenpeace enagaged in some July 8 hijinks, covering up St. Reagan with Pres. Obama, along the way making a point about Obama's lukewarm attituide toward global warming:

Vast improvement, don't you think? And protest is patriotic, as American as apple pie -- and Mt. Rushmore.

Help wanted: Wyoming Democrats need two replacement state senators (w/7/9 update)

Two Democrats have resigned their seats in the Wyoming State Legislature.

Sen. Bill Vasey of Rawlins has retired and moved to Arizona. Much as Wyoming retirees like to think of Arizona as the state’s 24th county, that designation is not yet official, thus Sen. Vasey must bid farewell to his District 11 Senate seat.

Sen. Ken Decaria of Evanston has moved to Cheyenne for a job as government relations director for the Wyoming Education Association. His change of job and venue caused him to resign his District 15 Senate position.

What does a perennial minority political party do when it loses two of its seven Senate seats (out of a total of 30)? Finds new blood – quickly.

Here’s the process as outlined in a July 6 press release:

Carbon County Democratic Party Chair Vern Whitfield announced today that the Democratic precinct committeemen and committeewomen of Senate District 11 will meet Monday, July 13, at 6 p.m. at the Jeffrey Center in Rawlins to interview those interested in filling the Senate seat. Senate District 11 includes all of Carbon County as well as the Rock River precinct in Albany County.

The process for filling a legislative vacancy is governed by the Wyoming State Statutes and the bylaws of the Wyoming Democratic Party.

The rules require the precinct committee members of the Senate district to meet and select three finalists for the position within 15 days of the party being notified of Sen. Vasey’s resignation. The party plans to select the finalists at the meeting on Monday, July 13.

State party bylaws state that any registered Democrat who lives in Senate District 11 who wants to be considered for the position must either appear in person at the meeting or send a written statement of intent. At the meeting, each candidate will be given the opportunity to present their qualifications and may be questioned by those present. Written statements of intent can be sent to Carbon County Democratic Party Chair Vern Whitfield at 1212 Weaver St., Rawlins, WY, 82301, and must be received by Monday, July 13.

At the meeting, after all the candidates speak and answer questions, the precinct committee members will vote by signed ballot to choose the three finalists. Those finalists' names will be submitted to the county commissioners in both Carbon and Albany counties. Then, the commissioners will have five days to meet and vote to appoint one of the finalists to fill the legislative vacancy. The county commissioners' votes will be weighted by the population of the portion of the Senate District that is in each county, using numbers from the 2000 U.S. Census.

FMI: Vern Whitfield, Carbon County Democratic Party Chair, 307-320-7479 (cell), 307-324-4205 (home). Bill Luckett, Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director, 307-631-7638 (cell).

Dems will go through the same process in Senate District 15, which includes most of Uinta County, including the town of Evanston.

Uinta County Democratic Party Chair Sharon McPhie has announced that the Democratic precinct committeemen and committeewomen of Senate District 15 will meet Thursday, July 16, at 6 p.m., at the Uinta County Library in Evanston to interview those interested in filling the Senate seat. The meeting will be in the Almy Room. Contact: Sharon McPhie, 307-789-3691.

Needless to say, the Rawlins interviews on July 13 and the ones in Evanston July 16 will not require crowd control. The Union Pacific/I-80 corridor, from Pine Bluffs to Evanston in southern Wyoming, used to be owned by the Democrats. Cheyenne, Laramie, Rawlins and Rock Springs were loaded with union members in the railroads and mining. When I interviewed Kathy Karpan last August prior to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the Rock Springs native recalled how she grew up surrounded by union Democrats and didn’t even know there was such a thing as a "Republican." Alas, there are all too many Repubs in Rock Springs now. Most of the new energy industry jobs are non-union, and the railroad employs a fraction of what it used to. The blue traditions live on, but is fading.

That goes for Rawlins and Evanston. Evanston lies in the extreme southwestern corner that once was Utah territory but was lopped off and given to Wyoming territory to teach Brigham Young a lesson about succession and polygamy. But Brigham Young got his revenge. Uinta County remains solidly LDS and conservative Republican, a segment of the Mormon Corridor that encompasses all of Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

So, the Dems will really miss Sen. Decaria. The Democrats have never controlled the Wyoming legislature, although during Kennedy’s presidency they were very close with the highest percentage of Democrats at 47% (thanks to wikianswers.com).

HM will provide updates next week.

UPDATE on 7/9/09 from Bill Luckett: Please be advised that the date of the meeting to select finalists to replace Sen. Ken Decaria has been changed to TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2009. The meeting will still take place at 6 p.m., at the Uinta County Library in Evanston. For further information, please contact Sharon McPhie, Uinta County Democratic Party Chair, 307-789-3691 (home).

One of 10 Lee Stranahan videos on health care reform

HM supports Alaska's gutsy prog-bloggers

Ah, to be an Alaskan prog-blogger this Fourth of July weekend 2009.

Gov. Sarah Palin resigns in a huff and under a cloud. Palin's lawyer Thomas Van Flein turns his hairy eyeball on blogger and radio host Shannyn Moore. Linda, my fellow DNCC state blogger last summer, is digging up the dirt and raising funds and raising hell at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis. The Mudflats! tells it like it is in the blogosphere and on the air waves.

These are gutsy bloggers in The Land of the Midnight Sun. Stand by to raise money for their defense fund.

What in the world is Sarah Palin hiding?

Bonanza of articles about Wyoming

A healthy harvest of intriguing recent articles about Wyoming:

KL Energy Corp. has a plant in Upton, Wyo., that makes cellulosic ethanol fuel from wood scrap from Black Hills forests. Go to http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/07/04/ap6618033.html

Fourth of July Cowboy Tea Party attendees gather in Cheyenne to steep their teabags of outrage in the brine of wingnuttery. Go to http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009/07/05/local_news_updates/19local_07-05-09.txt

Unearthing Triceratops' horns at a dinosaur dig near Newcastle. Go to http://www.casperstartribune.com/articles/2009/07/05/news/wyoming/560f2e7562d9b58f872575e900210ac8.txt

Tammy Christel writes in the Jackson Hole Fine Arts Examiner about the struggles faced by Lyndsay McCandless Contemporary, a tremendous gallery in Jackson. It's confronting extinction by emphasizing its community base, going green and holding rent parties. Go to http://www.examiner.com/x-11670-Jackson-Hole-Fine-Arts-Examiner~y2009m7d1-Lyndsay-McCanless-Contemporarys-Fourth-of-July-weekend

Writing in New West, Michael Pearlman wonders why bus service has been so long in coming to Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. Go to http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/bus_service_in_grand_teton_and_yellowstone_is_long_overdue/C41/L41/

Amanda Fry concludes her three-part Platte County Record-Times' series, "Wind Energy in Platte County," with a look at the landowners' views of the issue. Go to http://www.pcrecordtimes.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=1238&page=72. Thanks to Wheaterville for the tip on this one.

Ridin' and ropin' those docile dinos

This photo by John Scalzi is great in so many ways. It's from Kentucky's Creation Museum, and shows a boy riding a statue of a baby Triceratops, which is Wyoming's official state dinosaur. The kid is having fun, and probably doesn't care a wit that Triceratops were never used as rodeo stock. Since it's rodeo season in the West, you can ask just about any cowboy -- horses and bulls are preferable to dinos. It's a fine idea, though, and one which should be considered if we ever get our hands on that dino DNA that was used so disastrously in "Jurassic Park." I think it would be much more fun to ride bareback on a Velociraptor, with others playfully nipping at your boot heels. But that's just me.

The Creation Museum contends that humans and dinos lived side-by-side. It also contends that the T-Rex was a vegeterian. Not sure what those big pointy teeth were used for. Maybe plants were tougher 6,000 years ago.

In Wyoming, we know our dinosaurs and our evolutionary history. That what makes the closing of the University of Wyoming's Geological Museum so sad. In a time of Creation Museums, we desperately need as much real science as possible. So budget cuts are made and the thing that UW decides is expendable is a museum devoted to the reality-based world. The move has been controversial. I heard news yesterday that private funding has been raised to keep the museum in business. Let's hope so.

More dinosaur bones have been dug out of Wyoming that almost anywhere else in the world. Plant and animal life from millions of years ago make up our massive oil and coal reserves. We boast an official state dinosaur and an official state fossil, the Knightia. I think we're the only state that puts so much stock in the ancient world, one that goes back way farther than 6,000 years.

I have a story called "The History of Surfing in Wyoming" that posits a post-global warming Wyoming (Wyoming Islands) where the surf is bitchen on the beaches of the Big Horns and Wind Rivers (formerly mountain ranges) and aqua-rodeo cowboys get their kicks riding sea creatures resurrected from the floor of the ancient inland sea. Reality-based scenarios are fun when it comes to science. But they don't hold a candle to the worlds conjured by the imagination.

I leave you with the Wyoming Islands version of the Beach Boys' Surfin' U.S.A. (feel free to sing along):

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Wyoming-yay
You'd see 'em wearing cut-off Ryders
Stetsons and (boots) too
A buzz-cut surfers’ hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A.

You'd catch 'em surfin' at Happy Jack
Casper Island Beach
Flaming Gorge and Lander
and the Big Horn Islands
All over South Pass
And down Encampment way
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Rock River and Sundance
and Laramie Peak
Meeteetse and Midwest,
Big Surf Reef near Ten Sleep
All over the Wind Rivers
and Uinta Bay
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Weekend Garden Blogging: Fourth of July

Greetings from Cheyenne, the semi-arid capital of semi-arid Wyoming, which has more water than it knows what to do with.

Just kidding. We never have quite enough. In dry years, we're parched. In wet years, we're refreshing the landscape parched during dry years.

But this year, we get rain every day. Yesterday brought a gully-washer with raindrops big as eyeballs. I heard the rain pounding the porch's aluminum roof and I thought hail had arrived and panicked because I hadn't covered my still-tender plants.

I left my writing desk for the yard and marveled at the afternoon rain. Came down so fast and furious that it smacked down some of my spinach plants. So I picked the leaves for a dinner salad. Added some leaf lettuce. Later, wading through the drenched gardens between plant rows, had a feeling that my semi-arid garden was turning into a rice paddy. Get your Wyoming rice, freshly harvested from Mike's paddy! Weird.

The tomatoes are blooming and heads have formed on all the broccoli. Bush bean plants shooting up to 4-5 inches. Pole beans on the side yard haven't yet sent out shoots to climb the trellis. Picked one ripe strawberry yesterday and shared it with my wife, who gave me grief for teasing her with one tiny little fruit. More to come, my dear. Much more to come.

Bragging to my college son yesterday about my little feat of engineering that keeps the garden irrigated and the patio dry. A drainage field lurks under the garden and rainwater diverted to garden instead of clay soil yard. Used to flood the basement at least once per summer. But no more.

He said he was impressed. Then he went back to reading his book.

As the sun dipped to the horizon yesterday, a huge bank of clouds rose in the West. Rippled with lightning. Uh oh, I said, another deluge for the rice paddies. But the storm missed us and hit Casper and vicinity with a vengeance. You can see some flash flood photos on the Casper Star-Trib web site.

On this Fourth of July, I dedicate my Victory Garden to the visionaries who risked everything to found the U.S.A.

Pres. Obama: Happy Fourth of July -- and don't listen to the naysayers

And here are a few of the best lines:

These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.

We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

"WYOMING: It is for everybody!"

You can find some strange truths in bumper stickers.

I saw one the other day in Cheyenne. It was on a pick-up. It read: "WYOMING: It's not for everybody."

At first, I thought it was another in a series of "Unique Wyoming" bumper stickers: "Wyoming is what America was." "Wyoming: Like No Place on Earth."

The theme that unites them all could be summed up into the fact that Wyomingites like the state the way it is and its residents don't need any of your newfangled coastal ideas.

That's no revelation if you live here. We're a conservative state, more libertarian that right-wing fundamentalist -- although there's a streak of that here too. At best, the libertarian streak reveals a healthy distrust of big government. At worst, it's venomous, mindless gubment-hating more akin to Nativists and neo-Nazis than any sane political philosophy.

But as I mulled over the "WYOMING: It's not for everybody" bumper sticker, I began to wonder: What if Wyoming was for everybody? What if everybody in the U.S. moved to the Equality/Cowboy State? Latest state population figures show 532,668 in an area of 97,818 square miles. That makes for about 5.4 humans per square mile. So, if Wyomingites were placed equidistant from one another across the state, nobody could see his/her neighbor.

That's impossible, of course. You can't tell Wyomingites where and how to live. Besides, everyone wants to live in scenic locales such as Jackson, Sheridan and Cody, or the not-so-scenic-but-already-settled-places-with-jobs such as Cheyenne and Casper and Gillette.

But what is everybody in the U.S. moved to Wyoming? Sure, there would be a lot of gun play, but let's say that most of the immigrants survived the melee. Wyoming would have some 303 million new residents. Suddenly, there would be 3,108 people per square mile. That's a big boost, for sure. A lot less elbow room, especially if you landed in one of the square mile parcels with citizens from "fat states" such as Mississippi and Arkansas. But if you're sharing space with skinny-state Coloradans, you could stretch until the cows came home, although there would be no room for them if they did.

How crowded would it be? Well, if you increased Cheyenne's population of 56,915 by a factor of 575 times, the city would become a teeming metropolis of 32 million. Now that would put a strain on city services. But hey, we still have the Wal-Mart Regional Distribution Center west of town. Wal-Mart, with its super-efficient delivery system, could keep all 32 million of us supplied with Chinese-made snack foods and diapers for the foreseeable future.

But what if I'm giving short shrift to the bumper sticker's message? What if everybody meant "everybody," even the Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians? Now we're talking a population explosion. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the worlds population at 6.76 billion souls. If you provided a 4-square-foot space for everyone, Wyoming could easily accommodate everybody in the entire world, with a bit of room left over for rivers and lakes and mountaintops and bears and prairie dogs and Wal-Marts.

So the bumper sticker is incorrect: Wyoming is for everybody. Every person on the planet.

Steve Earle on World Cafe July 7

On Tuesday July 7, Steve Earle will be hosted by David Dye on National Public Radio’s World Café. Wyoming Public Radio features the World Cafe at odd times. Go here to find the schedule. Visit NPR’s World Cafe for more info.

Go to Steve's web site to listen to a "Pancho and Lefty" excerpt from his newest CD, "Townes."

Make that "cow-manure-on-a-stick"

Molly K. Hooper writing today in The Hill:

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a few choice words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) landmark climate-change bill after its passage Friday. When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t."

Using his privilege as leader to speak for an unlimited time on the House floor, Boehner spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted 219-212 to approve it. Eight Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill; 44 House Democrats voted against it.

Pelosi's office declined to comment on Boehner's jab. But one Democratic aide quipped, "What do you expect from a guy who thinks global warming is caused by cow manure?"

As did most Republicans, Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis also voted against the bill. In her description of the bill, she did not say "s--t" or "cow manure," although there is plenty of both items scattered across the state. Her response was much more gentile. She called it "the largest tax hike in history." And then:

"The national energy tax will lead to higher costs to create energy by American industries and will be passed directly onto the American consumers who use it, is proportionately impacting lower-income families and all working Americans. It will have a devastating impact on the price at the pump and utility bills, and will dramatically hinder the use of Wyoming coal. It will wreak havoc on family budgets, small businesses and family farms."

That's been the Republican party line, that the energy bill is a tax on us little people. Repubs are always so concerned with the little people -- and I don't think they're talking about leprechauns. That's you and me they're looking out for, folks. Not the lobbyists, of course. Not the bag men and women from Exxon and Peabody Coal and Cigna.

The Repubs feel our pain when we have to spend too much on energy or high-interest credit cards or student loans or health care or mental health care or groceries of a thousand and one other things. They feel our pain when our jobs are shipped overseas by one of their Republican pals. They feel our pain when we have to send our kids to fight wars that they or their kids or grandkids don't have to fight -- or won't. Their empathy knows no bounds.

Nor does their gall.

Sen. Barrasso: "Gubment should get out of the way of prosperity and liberty"

Republicans in the West (including Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso) continue to play "That Darn Gubment" game.

This comes from a 6/26/09 story by Courtney Lowery in New West:

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch says he, his fellow Senator Bob Bennett, Idaho’s Jim Risch and Wyoming’s John Barrasso have created the Western Senate Caucus because: “We have to fight very, very hard to make sure that the West is being treated fairly.”

In an announcement yesterday, the three Senators detailed a plan that Hatch likened to the Sagebrush Rebellion during the Carter years.

Barrasso says in the Salt Lake Tribune: “We believe in Western values, values of rugged individualism, of self-reliance and economic freedom,” said Barrasso. “We oppose the federal intrusion in the everyday lives of the people of our great country. The government should get out of the way of prosperity and liberty.”

The Senators times the formation of the caucus with its introduction of the Clean, Affordable, and Reliable Energy, or CARE, Act, legislation that Hatch described in a press release as, “A comprehensive energy bill… aimed at ensuring that all the energy tools are in place to fuel our economy and fix our nation’s dangerous overdependence on foreign oil.”

Hatch also said in the release, “One of the aims of the Senate Western Caucus is to thwart the anti-oil agenda of the Washington elite and their extreme environmentalist allies, while at the same time promoting alternative energy,” and he referenced Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision this week to repeal oil and gas leases in Utah. You can read some of the details of the CARE act on Hatch’s Web site.

These quotes are shot through with right-wing code words: "elite," "federal intrusion," "Western values," "environmentalist." And so on. These guys are so mired in the past that they might as well be dinosaurs stuck in the Permian ooze.

Sagebrush Rebellion? Give me a break. Anyone remember James Watt?

That darn gubment -- a continuing series

Always in search of references to Wyoming, wherever they may arise. But I missed this on Jon Stewart. Jon played a clip of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) putting down the DMV and post office and other governmental (and quasi-governmental) entities.

Here's the segment:

John Boehner (film clip): If you like going to the DMV and think they do a great job or you like going to the post office and think it's the most efficient thing you've run into to then you'll love the government run health care system.

Jon Stewart: If you like the military protecting the country or doctors helping veterans you'll love this new government plan. By the way, why are you bagging on the post office? For forty four cents, someone comes to your house, picks up some piece of crap you wrote and takes it to Wyoming on a plane....

Why do Repubs like the gubment agencies that blow up stuff but hate those that deliver services to the citizenry? Rep. Boehner has been in Congress for almost 20 years, and has been the benificiary of the gubment's excellent health care system which he says isn't good enough for the rest of us. Wonder how many times Rep. Boehner has ridden the D.C. Metro and visited the excellent gubment-funded museums and galleries along the National Mall? Don't members of Congress get free mailing privileges paid for by you and me, with mail delivered by the USPS?

Weekend garden -- and weather -- blogging

Those four extra inches of rain have helped.

"Extra" rain. That's a strange term. The high prairie uses all the rain it can get. If it comes too fast, dry creek bottoms swell with flash floods and ponds rise at Cheyenne street intersections. But, in semi-arid Wyoming, gardeners like me welcome the rain.

When my daughter Annie and I ducked into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, a bank of black clouds shoved in from the West. We'd already had one storm around noon -- a steady rain punctuated by thunder. That gave way to sun -- for awhile.

I was in the cereal aisle when the big rain began to hammer the Wal-Mart roof. I has visions of hail, so scurried to the store entrance. No hail, but a veil of rain, drops big as silver dollars. I'd spent half the month of June covering my plants in advance of hail. We've had many warnings but few actual tomato-shredding storms. The plants are far enough along that even a short burst of hail stones would be fatal to broccoli and bush beans and Early Girl.

Many of us gathered at the store entrance to watch others run through the rain. Wyomingites may own umbrellas, but they never know where they are. This was an umbrella day if I ever saw one, but I only saw two people slogging through the parking lot carrying one over their heads. I realized that mine was in the car trunk. At least I knew where it was.

The rain kept coming. I returned to shopping chores, but slowed my pace. What's the hurry? Annie prowled the store searching for make-up and CDs and various other goods. I lingered over the olive oil, noting the many fine selections at reasonable prices. On the main grocery aisle, next to the display for chips and dip, I ran into a colleague named Brenda. She had two canvas bags filled with goods. A much greener shopper than me, I'm afraid, as my stuff was going to occupy a ton of plastic bags. Brenda was taking another spin of Wal-Mart to avoid getting drenched on her way to the car. No umbrella for her either.

We chatted about as rain battered the high ceilings. Summer plans. Trouble with teens. Work hassles. Gardening tips. We then went our separate ways, circling the store with hordes of umbrella-less shoppers. I wondered what it would be like to live in Wal-Mart, as did the main character in "Matters of the Heart" (Natalie Portman in the movie). Or maybe trapped in the store by a zombie plague. Fortunately, Wal-Mart stocks plenty of guns and ammo, so survivors could puncture plenty of zombie melons with .45 rounds when the inevitable attacks came. And we'd have plenty of food.

Annie finally returned with a Janis Joplin CD from the oldies bin, a necklace, nail clippers and a few other items. She lured me from my zombie reverie and to the checkout stand and out the door into a fading storm. When we arrived home, I checked the garden and the troughs between rows were filled with rainwater. The leaf lettuce had been pounded flat but looked perky this morning. Otherwise, no damage and plenty of moisture.

Four "extra" inches of rain and counting.

"Health Care Stories for Cheyenne"

Donna from Cheyenne says this on the Health Care Stories for American web site:

I work for the Wyoming Primary Care Association where we represent 18% of the state who do not have any form of insurance. It should be noted that does not include the Native Americans or Homeless persons as they don't have phones they answer in their home to answer the survey of whether they have access to care. Something has to be done now!

April from Cheyenne tells this story:

I have an upcoming surgery which is very needed and am still waiting to hear back from my insurance provider as to whether or not they will cover it. Even if they cover 80% I will still be forced to get a loan to cover the rest. The prices are sky high! The hospital stay, the doctor, the doctor's assistant, the anesthesiologist and the lab work will be thousands of dollars even after the 80% insurance will cover...if they cover it at all.

Do I have similar stories? Yes I do, we all do. That's why serious health care reform is crucial.


Read more at http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/near?query=Cheyenne%2C+WY

See Dick write a book

The blogosphere and twitternet are abuzz with news about Dick Cheney's book deal.

In Wyoming, any news about the Cheneys is buzzworthy, due to the fact that Dick developed his creepy underhanded political strategies here in Wyoming before sharing them with the rest of the world.

Here are the sordid details from CNN Online:

Cheney has struck a deal with publishing house Simon & Schuster to write his memoirs covering a more than 40-year career in government, stretching all the way back to his roles in the Nixon and Ford administrations. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions, where former Cheney aide and current CNN contributor Mary Matalin serves as editor-in-chief.

The deal — which media reports have suggested is worth in excess of $2 million — is the latest to be struck by Robert Barnett, the Washington lawyer who most recently negotiated a book deal for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Barnett has also negotiated multimillion dollar deals for the Clintons and President Obama.

Daughter Liz Cheney called her father a "student of history" and said he has already begun collecting his thoughts in longhand and on his laptop computer.

"He wants to make sure that his story is told, and told in a way that his grandchildren will be able to understand and appreciate even 20 or 30 years from now," Liz Cheney told the New York Times.

His book, set to hit stores in the spring of 2011, will come on the heels of President Bush's memoir. That book is slated for release in fall of 2010.

Other Bush administration officials currently working on books including top aide Karl Rove, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

One hardly knows where to begin. Cheney a "student of history?" HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa, etc. I am glad that he wishes to tell the story in a way that his grandchildren will appreciate in the future. Perhaps my own grandchildren will appreciate it as well. I hope I'm around to translate it for them, to give the lies some perspective. If Cheney really wants to write a book understandable to future generations, perhaps his wife Lynne can put it in the form of a children's book as she does so well with U.S. History. Can you say propaganda, boys and girls?

As a writer, I am jealous about the advance. I once dreamed of million-dollar advances, but that was before all the U.S. publishers became "too big to fail" and decided to sink all their money into "celebrities" with "platforms." People like Condi and Dubya and Rummy and the Alaskan Moose Hunter and Fartblossom. The kind of books that people buy in hopes they can get a signed copy to leave to their grandchildren who then will sell it for a quarter at a garage sale in 2050. Or use it for a doorstop. Nobody reads these books.

I once stood in line for two hours at a Border's store in suburban Maryland to get a signed copy of Newt Gingrich's memoir. Had some real interesting conversations with my fellow line-standers, most of whom were Republicans and liked Gingrich. I got my signed copy and was hurried along to make way for the next sucker. I mailed the book to my father, who liked Gingrich. It was a birthday gift. When my father divided his library prior to his death, I received his books about U.S. presidents (including Ike, Nixon and Reagan) while one of my brothers got books by and about lesser-known politicos. I haven't asked him yet if he sold the Gingrich book at a garage sale.

I've seen several blogs post possible titles. I have a few suggestions of my own:
Dick Cheney, Student of History -- Not!
Vice President Dick Cheney -- Second Fiddle to Nobody.
Dick, We Hardly Knew Ye -- and Liked It that Way.
Notes from the Underground Bunker.
War and Peace War

Other titles?

In Memoriam: William Neal

William "Willie" Neal was the youngest of 18 Wyoming delegates to last summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver. A skier and biathlete, he was an enthusiastic participant in both the state convention in Jackson in May 2008 and at the big show in Denver.

But this sad news came over the wires yesterday:

FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine -- Police are investigating an accident that killed a Wyoming biathlete while he was roller-skiing on a northern Maine road.

Police told WCXU-FM that 20-year-old William Neal of Jackson was training with a friend in Fort Fairfield at 8:30 p.m. Sunday when he was struck by a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Eric Lunquist of Fort Fairfield.

Police Chief Joseph Bubar said the cause is under investigation, but that alcohol is not believed to have been involved.

Officials said Neal and his training companion were associated with the Nordic Heritage Ski Center, a training center in Presque Isle for biathletes. The biathlon is a winter sport that combines Nordic skiing and rifle marksmanship.

Willie interned for U.S. Sen. John Kerry this past spring. While there he worked on environmental issues. Neal was also the founder of “Cookies 4 Climate Change,” a non-profit organization whose mission is “to promote awareness and activism among youth about the dangers of climate change, and to be an organization that makes the transition into a more environmentally friendly lifestyle more financially feasible.”

We'll miss you, Willie. You were an inspiration to all of us. We send our condolences to your family and friends.

Heart Mountain in the 21st century

The building that housed the Heart Mountain Relocation Center boiler plant and laundry stands almost alone on the prairie near Cody, Wyoming. In the foreground lies a concrete slab for a long-gone wing of the camp hospital, that was staffed by both Anglo and Nisei doctors and nurses. Two dilapidated buildings of the camp hospital (one is pictured below) still stand, windows boarded and warning signs posted to keep out vandals.



That and one wooden administration building are all that's left standing on the third-largest city in Wyoming from 1942-45, when 10,767 Japanese-Americans occupied some 400 barracks in the Big Horn Basin. They were surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

During a visit last Saturday, I saw the new Interpretive Learning Center, built under the auspices of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation with donations from former camp residents, their descendants, and hundreds of others. The place is now a designated National Historic Landmark and by summer 2010, will be a stop for tourists interested in all aspects of U.S. history. The Big Horn Basin already has the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and its five museums in Cody, a new Washakie Museum in Worland (set to open in 2010), the Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis and more scenic vistas than you can see during a week's -- or possibly a month's -- vacation.

The last time I visited in summer, local birds (whip-poor-wills?) performed their "look I'm injured -- come get me" routine which they use to lure predators away from nests. I didn't fall for the ruse, as I wasn't interested in histrionic birds but was enjoying the prairie silence. I saw no similar birds this time. Was more intent on prowling the grounds and walking the history path that was dedicated in 2005. Walking the path, I finally understood the vastness of the site. It had a hospital, fire department, swimming hole, root cellars and hundreds of acres devoted to family farms. They may have used the term "Victory Garden" but it would have carried with it a load of irony.

Pres. Franklin Roosevelt may have led us through the Great Depression and World War II, but his Executive Order 9066 which led to the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans, was a black mark on U.S. history. You can be a great leader and make bonehead mistakes. You can also be a good person and make terrible decisions.

The first family physician I remember was Dr. T.K. Kobayashi in Denver. He was a staff physician at Mercy Hospital and worked with my mom, a registered nurse. His private practice was in downtown's Five Points neighborhood. He and his three Nisei partners had offices above a pharmacy owned by an African-American. Five Points was the city's black neighborhood. Those were pre-integration days when a practice called red-lining prevented people of color from living outside Five Points and a few other enclaves. Although Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr (Republican) had put his career on the line to welcome Japanese-Americans uprooted by E.O. 9066, the welcome mat did not extend to housing and schools and businesses. So my mom drove us down to the Nisei doctors in the middle of Five Points. My father, a World War II veteran, didn't go with us. He served his time in Europe, but for four years, most G.I.'s --wherever they were -- considered "Japs" their enemy.

Dr. Kobayashi and his partners had been internees. All had volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit known for its motto "go for broke." There was a movie of the same name.

The Honor Wall at Heart Mountain lists 800 internees who served in the U.S. military. Fifteen were killed in action. Some 85 No-No Boys were imprisoned for failing to report to the draft board for military duty. This led to the largest mass trial in Wyoming history.

Heart Mountain is a sad spot. Beautiful and -- in some ways -- sacred.

In my collection "The Weight of a Body," I have a story entitled "The Good Doctors." It's based on the imagined lives of those brave and frustrated doctors from my youth. Go buy a copy of the book at Ghost Road Press. It's my salute to them. Also read an earlier Heart Mountain post on this site at
http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/01/heart-mountain-center-takes-shape.html

UW Prof says King Coal retains his crown

A professor from a coal state's only four-year university has conducted a study funded by the state mining association on the economics of coal mining in the part of the state that depends the most on coal revenue.

Guess what the prof discovered? Coal mining is good.

According to an AP story:

Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal will be an essential part of the nation's energy future even as the country moves toward cleaner power sources, a University of Wyoming professor who studies energy economics says. "The point I'm trying to raise is to think of PRB coal as a strategic asset for the country rather than a liability as many believe because of the CO2 problem," professor Tim Considine said.

Considine's study determined that PRB coal keeps the cost of producing electricity low because it's cheaper than wind, solar and nuclear sources and less volatile than natural gas."If you look at the true cost of wind power and solar power, it's way up there," he said. "So there's a huge gap between the marginal cost of electricity from solar and wind and coal.

As society eventually comes to grips with the real costs of restraining carbon dioxide emissions, the value of PRB coal will be appreciated and embraced to maintain political support for costly experiments with carbon-free energy," Considine's report said.

He likened the events unfolding in energy to a horse race."There's a coal horse, and a nuke horse, and a wind horse and a solar horse and they're all racing, and I don't think coal is going to pull up lame or break a leg and not make the race," Considine said. "It'll be in the mix."

His conclusions make sense. Coal will be in the mix for a long time because there's a lot of it even though it seems as if "Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it (all) away." Not quite. The big shovels continue to dig it out and the trains are still rolling to the power plants across the U.S. -- and into China. Actually, a ship has to carry it part of the way. The railroads and shipping lines and the makers of huge open-pit coal mining equipment depend on coal. The politicians depend on the coal company money. Almost everyone benefits from this cozy arrangement. Except Mother Earth.

Did I mention coal royalties pay part of my salary as a state employee? Full disclosure. My carbon footprint is a lot bigger than I thought.

WyoDems looking for communications director

Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Bill Luckett sends this help wanted announcement:

The Wyoming Democratic Party is looking to hire a communications director. A job description is attached to this e-mail, and it is also available on our Web site at www.wyomingdemocrats.com.

The position will pay in the neighborhood of $38,000 to $40,000, depending on skills and experience, and the position can be based anywhere in the state.

We are setting an application deadline of Monday, June 29.

Please spread the word.

FMI: Bill Luckett, (307) 473-1457 (office); (307) 631-7638 (cell); luckett@wyomingdemocrats.com

Republican Health Care Horror Show

One of the Republican zombies in this film is Wyoming U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a physician who should know better. Thanks to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo for the vid.

Plains Indian Pow Wow in Cody

Dancers at the Plains Indian Pow Wow June 20 in Cody at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The afternoon rounds went off without a hitch but the evening dances were postponed due to a gully-washer of a storm.

Surf Wyoming: Greg Noll in Cody

What is Greg Noll's van doing in Cody?

Mr. Noll catching the nightly rodeo? Mr. Noll riding the bucking horses in the nightly rodeo?

Ride 'em, Greg.

My third surfboard was a Greg Noll Bug. Short, but not too short. Probably better suited to SoCal surf than the mushy Daytona waves of mid-summer.

On the road: Pinedale

Your roving WYO blogger at new Pinedale library.

The nifty trailer in the background is not the library.

It's out of the picture on your left (guy in photo's right).

Bike-ped coordinator for Wyoming

In keeping with the theme of the previous post, here's contact information on Wyoming's cycling & pedestrian program:

Web: http://www.dot.state.wy.us

Talbot J. Hauffe,
MPA Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator
5300 Bishop Boulevard
Cheyenne, WY 82001
307-777-4862; Fax 307-777-4759
E-mail: Talbot.hauffe@dot.state.wy.us

Republicans don't like people-powered transportation

Sometimes I just have to gasp in disbelief (GASP!) when I see some of the odd things Republicans say. It's one thing when nutcases Michelle Bachmann or Mitch McConnell speak weirdness, it's another when it comes from a common-sense Repub senator such as one of mine, Mike Enzi of Gillette, Wyo.

Sen. Enzi mostly voted with the Bushies the past eight years. But he has crossed the aisle to do some horse-trading with the likes of Ted Kennedy. Now he's ranting about the cycling and pedestrian programs being promoted by the Obama administration.

Maybe it's the fact that his hometown of Gillette is almost as unwalkable as Casper or Cheyenne or almost any other Wyoming city. That's not really fair. Casper has a wonderful greenway along the North Platte River, and a walkable downtown. Cheyenne also has spent millions on a greenway that is one of the capital city's most popular attractions. Its downtown is also walkable, although too many of the downtown buildings are vacant.

Gillette has a semblance of a downtown. But the energy boom town is spread out in the manner of most western boom towns, so you need a car to get almost anywhere. If I had to compare it to any other Wyoming town, I'd choose Rock Springs. The downtown has some nice older buildings but most are empty and owned by absentee snowbird landlords in Arizona. A renovated depot and a nice park flanks the railroad tracks that bisect downtown. The park has a memorial to miners who died over the years in Sweetwater County mines. Downtown has a microbrewery and a few shops, but most of the retail action is out by I-80. Ever tried to walk the no-man's-land that borders an interstate? Almost impossible. Noisy, too.

So, when Sen. Enzi disparages government-funded walking and cycling programs, he might be excused due to lack of experience and/or information. But you would also have to acknowledge that the senator lives in one of the greatest walking cities in the U.S., a place where you can walk the National Mall for weeks and weeks, taking time off to visit the most fantastic free museums in galleries in the U.S., and still not see it all. Last time I was in D.C., just weeks after the cherry blossoms went to ground, I walked from the U.S. Capitol down the National Mall to the White House and on to George Washington University and finally to my lodgings in Adams-Morgan. I could have taken the Metro (I did the next day) but there is pleasure and exertion in the walking. And great people-watching.

The DC.STREETSBLOG.ORG site had some great info today about this issue:

Despite a growing awareness among conservatives that walking and biking are causes worth backing, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to condemn bike-ped programs as wasteful "pork".

The GOP's latest potshots at sustainable transportation come during debate over a health care bill that focuses mainly on insurance and hospitals, but also includes a public health grant program aimed at encouraging exercise.

Sen. Mike Enzi (WY), senior Republican on the health committee, slammed the legislation for seeking to "pave sidewalks, build jungle gyms" and expand bike access to help improve public health: "We need to root out the waste, fraud and abuse that is driving up health care costs – not create a whole slew of new wasteful programs."

It's unclear whether Enzi knows that the federal government already has a program to encourage biking and walking, nor whether he's aware of their demonstrated public health benefits. But his talking point is already migrating to other Republicans, who have twisted the health care bill's proposed "community transformation" grants into a big-government bogeyman.

Sometimes gubment good, sometimes gubment bad

Denver Post reporter Mark Jaffe has been hanging out at the Western Governors' Association annual meeting in Park City, Utah. Yesterday he and the govs heard Republican pollster Frank Luntz talk about word choice. I'm not sure why Wyoming's Dave Freudenthal and Montana's Brian Schweitzer and Colorado's Bill Ritter had to listen to advice from the likes of Luntz. I guess someone had to be guest speaker. Maybe there's a Utah ordinance prohibiting Democrats at the podium.

Anyway, Jaffe covered Luntz's speech concerning he research he's conducted on Western voters. It seems that 44 percent of Westerners aren't happy with the direction America is headed. In other words, they don't like the gubment. Gubment bad. Until it's time to train and equip its armed forces to fight overseas. Then gubment good. Gubment bad because it makes us pay taxes. When those taxes are used to pave roads or prop up rural airline service or subsidize crops or build dams or fight wildfires -- gubment good then. Gubment bad when it doesn't allow us to shoot our automatic weapons any damn place we please. Gubment good when it allows us to wear firearms and look macho in national parks.

Damn that gubment.

Frank Luntz told the governors to watch what they say.

Luntz warned the governors to be careful about the language they use, saying that instead of talking about "infrastructure," which people equate with bureaucracy, they should talk about safer roads.

Touchstone words should be "safe," "clean" and "healthy," Luntz said.

These words can be used in almost any sentence, particularly those with a Western theme. Here are some examples:

"With Obama as president, I don't feel safe. I need to buy more guns and ammo."

"A clean rifle is a happy rifle."

"If you want to stay healthy, you better be out of town before sundown."

That last one is said to anyone from the gubment who overstays his or her welcome.

"Get out of Dodge, you lily-livered bureaucrat. And please stay healthy by driving on our safe and clean roads."

It's all in the words.

Ron Carlson, fiction guru from the West

Ron Carlson is one of the best short story writers in the U.S. and now is staking a claim on novels. I could say "one of the best short story writers in the West," but that's a bit limiting. His stories are of the West but you don't have to be from here to appreciate the fine writing. His collection, "News of the World," is on my study book shelf with collections by Tobias Wolff, Kent Nelson, Rick DeMarinis, Lee K. Abbott, Richard Ford, Annie Proulx, Rick Bass and Antonya Nelson. All Westerners, either born in the region or moved here from some other place. The West seems to have more than its share of great short fiction writers, maybe even more than that great incubator of stories, the South.

Ron's from Utah, and one of his great stories, "The Governor's Ball," is set in Salt Lake City. It has a grabber of a beginning:

I didn't know until I had the ten-ton wet carpet on top of the hideous load of junk and I was soaked with the dank rust water that the Governor's Ball was that night.

Makes you want to dive right in to the story. Not surprisingly, Ron examines it in detail in a recent book, "Ron Carlson Writes a Story."

Ron Carlson's most recent book is a novel, "The Signal." It' set in Wyoming Wind River Mountains. The author's been to Wyoming many times and knows the lay of the land. He's been a presenter at literary conferences in Casper and Jackson. He's conducted writing workshops in Laramie, Rock Springs and numerous other places. He mentored scores of writers while at Arizona State and now does the same thing at University of California at Irvine.

Jenny Shank, the fine book reviewer and columnist for New West, conducted a Q&A interview with Ron. It's a must read for fiction writers. Read it here:

http://www.newwest.net/city/article/an_interview_with_ron_carlson_about_the_signal/C101/L101/

We remember Anne Frank and Emmett Till

The reading of a play about racial intolerance was postponed last wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Museum due to a shooting by an intolerant racist.

The Play, "Anne and Emmett," is an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp, and Emmett Till, a black kid murdered by white racists in Mississippi.

Playwright is Janet Langhart Cohen, wife of former U.S. defense Scretary William Cohen. Here's what she had to say about the incident:

"Our whole play is about hate, to eradicate hate, and this is an example of hatred," said the playwright, who had been heading to the museum's theater for final rehearsals ahead of Wednesday night's premiere when the attack happened.

The shooter at the museum, long-time white supremacist and anti-gubment wingnut James von Brunn, killed African-American security guard Stephen Tyrone Jones.

Janet Langhorn Cohen said that she wanted to bring them [Anne and Emmett] together in an imaginary conversation to talk about eradicating things like this. I was hoping to give voice to this tonight," she told CNN. "It's really a sad day. I love this museum. This museum tells a story, a journey of all people."

The play was planned to coincide with Frank's 80th birthday which would have been on Friday.

"It's hard to believe that that beautiful 15-year-old girl that's frozen in our memory would be 80 years old herself had she lived," said Langhart Cohen.

"And I wanted to dedicate it to her. And to think that someone of her generation still harbors that hate."

Let's hope that "Anne and Emmett gets wide distribution when it finally debuts.

Meanwhile, read the best-seller "The Diary of Anne Frank" -- or maybe re-read it. Also read the fantastic novel "Wolf Whistle" by Lewis Nordan, which is based on the 1955 Till murder.

Read 'em and weep.

Victory Garden dedicated to the ones I love

My Victory Garden is chugging along.

So much rain. Tree and flowers and tomatoes are in shock due to the incredible amounts of moisture that's visited southeastern Wyoming in May and June. In past years, my garden has arisen to another sunny and dry day and demanded "Water us, sir, please. More water." And I usually comply, as water restrictions don't apply to veggie gardens and flower beds and shrubbery. Then, when I come home from work, the soil is as dry as it was in the a.m. and I'll have to water again. At times, I've forgotten to do so and I'll wake the next morning to find my container plants huddled close to the door, demanding a shower.

But this year, Mother Nature is wringing herself out all over the state. Rawlins, which is a couple hours west of us along I-80, has received 10.5 inches of moisture so far this year. That includes some heavy spring snows and lots of rain. Rawlins averages about 9 inches of annual moisture. Cheyenne's received 10.54 inches of moisture thus far and that's usually about 7 inches. We've had more than 3 inches of rain in June. That may not seem extraordinary to you gardeners from, say, central Florida where a June thunderstorm can dump three inches without even trying. But that much rain is a lot to us in semi-arid WYO.

The moisture has been great for lettuce and spinach. The broccoli looks O.K., but the tomatoes are a bit pale. They are crying out for sun and hope they get some this weekend. Maybe a shot of fertilizer will pick up their spirits. Summer squash is taking it's time. Only one of my three transplanted seedlings survived. I put some seeds in the ground last week and we'll see what happens. What can I say about zucchini? It grows.

Can't say the same for my bush beans. Green beans are a warm weather plant and we've had precious little of that. Thinking that all the rain caused the seeds to rot in the ground, I re-sowed the bean row and hope for some sun. The pole beans on the side yard are a couple inches high and straining for the trellis. I'm not worried about them.

So, a mixed bag this Saturday. I've already plucked a some of the red leaf lettuce and it's darn good. Not enough for a salad but a great snack. Odd thing is, two of the red leaf lettuce plants wilted and died. They were transplants but they all caught on and grew, and now they are falling prey to something. Anyone know? I shall have to consult my local master gardeners.

Are red leaf lettuce plants falling prey to wilt, rot or gardener's ineptitude?

On this June 13, I am not quite sure to what good cause I should dedicate my Victory Garden. Public-option health care plan? Passage of the Democrats' energy bill? Al Franken's victory (finally) over Norm Coleman in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race? World peace?

Or maybe I should declare victory over something, just as Stephen Colbert declared victory in Iraq this past week. Victory over right-wing extremists and hate-mongers? That would be premature, as events of the past two weeks show. Victory over the Repubs' nuke and coal and oil laden energy plan?

No, I think I shall dedicate this week's Victory Garden to a "full house." My son is home from college and the daughter of our best friends in Tennessee is in town for the summer working as a horse wrangler. Our daughter declared victory over tenth grade and is working at a plant nursery this summer. She's my co-gardener at home. I am well and so is my wife. We have the entire summer to look forward to.

What could be more victorious than that?

Translating hate crimes into fiction

It's tough to know how to respond to the recent murders in Wichita and D.C. Both inspired (if that's the proper word) by hatred, motivated by crackpot philosophies (philosophy?) and perpetrated with firearms. If only crackpots had guns, only guns would be cracked pots. I'll keep working on that bumper sticker motto.

For thoughtful lefty (and sometimes vitriolic) responses, click on some of my sidebar blogs -- Daily Kos, Crooks & Liars, Huff Post, Lefty Blogs, etc. Pick a blog, any blog. Jim Wallis at Sojourners offers a response leavened with Christianity.

Over the years, I've written several short stories about white supremacists. "Mud Woman Gets Busy" is set in the mid-1990s in a Salt Lake City hotel and features neo-Nazis, immigrants (legal and Illegal) and a clueless young man from the former East Germany. If you've ever heard the term "mud woman" (as in "mud people") then you you know the story involves white supremacists. The story is included in my collection, "The Weight of a Body." "REV" imagines a future Afghanistan war in which our fundies have taken over the government and are waging holy war on their fundies. There are more, of course. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood is a great example of a dystopian fundie future. Carl Hiaasen's comic novel "Lucky You" features some neo-Nazi baddies who get their just desserts. Any other books on similar subjects to recommend?

You can read the two stories at my web site. Go to http://ebiz.netopia.com/writingwyo/fiction/. Happy summer reading.

House Republicans: Don't even think about global warming!

Over the last couple days, several prog-bloggers have pointed out the global-warming-denying parts of the House Republicans' energy proposal, the so-called "American Energy Act." Kossack Meteor Blades on Daily Kos summed it up in his June 11 post, "Ten pounds of stupid in a five-pound bag." He posts the odd wording that is embedded deeply into the massive bill. Read it at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/11/741236/-Ten-Pounds-of-Stupid-in-a-Five-Pound-Bag.

Republicans' new energy plan: "Drill, buddy, drill" and "Mo Nukes!"

Heard Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis this afternoon on Wyoming Public Radio. She was outlining the very keen and neat-o aspects of the Repubs' new energy plan. It advocates for 100 new nuclear plants in the U.S. But none, according to Rep. Lummis, will be built in Wyoming. According to Lummis, a member of the American Energy Solutions Group or AESG (no acronym there), Wyoming is too far from the major markets and nuclear power plants use too much water, water that WYO doesn't have.

I find that interesting. Wyoming is home to many coal-burning power plants. True, the plants are close to a supposedly inexhaustible supply of carbon-based energy. But almost all of the electricity generated by the plants is sent out of state to places as far away as California. And don't coal-burning plants need water? The Dave Johnston power plant (see photo below) that I pass every time I drive I-25 to Casper is situated right on the North Platte River. That can't be an accident due to the fact that there are thousands of acres of non-riverfront wide-open spaces that could have been the site for that plant. It's possible that construction of the plant in other locales would have threatened jackelope habitat. But I have my doubts.

And there's wind power. Wyoming has lots of wind. We're building wind farms like there's no tomorrow, and there may not be. Problem is, we can build wind generators until the cows come home, but we don't have the transmission lines to send that electricity to Phoenix and Houston. It seems that we're too far from major markets yet again. Wyoming likes it that way. We like being far away from major markets. Instead, we become an energy sacrifice zone for the rest of the country.

I obviously need to do more research. I'll get back to you.

But back to the Repubs' nation-saving energy plan. Rep. Lummis's office outlined some details today in a press release:

“It is clear that for the sake of our environment and our economic security, we need a better plan than the Democrats’ national energy tax,” Rep. Lummis said. “The American Energy Act offers more affordable energy, more jobs here at home, and a cleaner environment. The plan seeks to increase our energy supply by diversifying our nation’s energy portfolio, while the Democrat plan seeks to slow down demand through government control.

[I deleted a bunch of boring stuff from the middle of the release]

The bill seeks to license 100 new nuclear reactors over the next twenty years by streamlining a burdensome regulatory process and ensuring the recycling and safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. It will also increase domestic energy supplies by lifting restrictions on the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Outer Continental Shelf, and oil shale in the Mountain West. Revenues generated through domestic production will support innovation in renewable and alternative energy sources, like wind and solar technologies.

So that's the plan. "Drill, buddy, drill" and "Mo Nukes!" Drill in the Arctic Wildlife refuge and off the coast of California and Florida and Mississippi. Little does Ms. Lummis know -- huge oil derricks are the last things those rich Republican retirees in Santa Barbara and Panama City and Gulfport want to see from their beachside verandas. Good luck with that.

Ethanol may complicate climate legislation

Now that I've returned my attention to ethanol fuel at the local level, I find lots of E85 news at the national level.

Jennifer Lance writes June 8 about ethanol and H.R. 2454, a.k.a. the American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009 (aka Waxman-Markley) on http://redgreenandblue.org/. The bill is designed “to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.” One of its goals is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.

Republicans will vote against it because that is what they do in 2009. But Democrats from farm states are expected to water down the legislation to protect ethanol. Not sure how Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis will vote on this, but I can guess. I looked at her Congressional web site for info but couldn't find any. I did read a piece recently that quoted her saying that the U.S. needs to look at all forms of energy to meet its short-term needs. She specifically referred to oil, gas, coal and wind, but she may also have said something about ethanol (I'll keep searching). We are not a corn state, but we do grow some and there are at least two ethanol plants in the state.

In her article, Jennifer Lance provides a pragraph that sums up the current state of ethanol:

Ethanol is big political business in farm country. Ethanol is an alternative biofuel that can be made from corn, sugar cane, or switchgrass. In fact, Henry Ford’s first mass-produced automobile was designed to run off of 100% ethanol, so the fuel has a long history in the car industry. When added to gasoline, ethanol reduces ozone formation by lowering volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbon emissions. This all sounds good, but there is controversy surrounding corn-based ethanol. Michael Grunwald of Time reports that one person could be fed for a year “on the corn needed to fill an ethanol-fueled SUV”. Some research demonstrates that the production of corn ethanol consumes more energy than it yields, and there is concern that corn-based ethanol is raising the price of food, although the USDA denies the increase is significant. Other concerns surrounding ethanol include antibiotic overusage in its production and its heavy water footprint.

E85 returns to my Cheyenne minivan

Driving down Lincolnway in Cheyenne last week, I spied an E85 sign. "Whoa, minivan," I said, whipping a U-turn and coming to rest at the ethanol pumps at Smoker Friendly Gas and Cigarette Shop. I was surprised to see an E85 pump after a long dry spell for my flex-fuel Dodge Caravan.

Some of the first blogging I did was about my search for an alternative to regular unleaded. Alternative fuels were all the rage back in 2005-2006. Corn seemed to be the answer to importing oil from desert sheikdoms and the newly liberated land of Mesopotamia. The Corner Stop station in Cheyenne opened a couple ethanol pumps and that's where I filled up. No war for oil, I would say to nobody in particular. And then I would pump my Nebraska-grown corn-based fuel, not realizing that it had its own drawbacks. But it made me feel good, which is an American right and privilege. It was cheaper than gasoline, too, by about 20 cents.

But then reality came crashing in. The prices went up, and then Corner Stop ceased carrying E85. I looked high and low for flex-fuel stations. There was (and is) one up in Buford along I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie. But it's a good 30 miles away any benefit I would get from gasing up there would be lost in the 60-mile round trip. During travels in Colorado to Fort Collins and Greeley I saw E85 pumps but, again, unless they were on my way, it made little sense to make those stops a destination.

The E85 prices at Smoker Friendly were a lot lower than gas -- $1.90 per gallon to $2.33. I topped off the tank and felt pretty good paying with most of a $20 bill. If I was a smoker, I would have enough change to buy a couple cigarettes, but nowhere near an entire pack. Did you know that you can fill a minivan with E85 for a lot less than it costs to buy a carton of cigs? Glad I quit smoking 25 years ago.

When I went inside to pay, I asked the proprietor how long she'd been stocking E85. About six months, she said. I told her that I'd been loooking all over for it and and guessed that hers was the only store in town that stocked it. That's kind of the idea, she said with a smile, adding that she sells quite a bit but didn't know how much exactly.

Meanwhile, I save about 40 cents per gallon and get to feel superior -- for a brief while -- over my gasoline-loving brethren and sistren.

Big insurance companies may get their way on health care reform

Great Friday post on Robert Reich's blog about the lengths that pharmaceutical and health insurance companies will go in their efforts to kill the single-payer or public health-care option. We knew these greedheads would go all-out to kill a sensible plan.

Read the entire column at http://robertreich.blogspot.com/. Here are some excerpts:

Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits.

Moonwalks resume on Saturday, June 6

Southeast Wyoming's popular Moonwalk Moonlight Hikes will resume on Saturday, June 6, with the "Navigation Moon" at Curt Gowdy State Park between Cheyenne and Laramie. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m., following the events of the state park’s Wyoming Kids Xtreme Summer Outdoor Slam. This Moonwalk marks the return of these programs after a one-year hiatus. The tentative season schedule includes Moonwalks on July 6, August 5 and September 4. For more information call 307-745-2300 or visit the web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/mbr/recreation/upcomingevents/index.shtml.

Wyoming scientists digging up the dough for "clean coal"

The Associated Press reports this:

Wyoming scientists are lining up a range of proposals to use stimulus funding for research projects that would help the state's energy industry.

Three groups planned to submit applications Tuesday for stimulus funding administered by the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Western Research Institute in Laramie is submitting proposals for seven projects that would cost a total of $18 million. The Wyoming State Geological Survey and the University of Wyoming are seeking about $20 million for the first phase of a carbon sequestration project in southwest Wyoming.

The Wyoming Pipeline Authority is seeking $500,000 to design a carbon dioxide pipeline system.

This is great. These funds will bring money and jobs to Wyoming. Face it -- this research needs to be done so Wyoming can figure out how to use its coal into the future. Clean coal research can unearth other methods and technologies even if it doesn't find way to scrub the CO2 out of the crumbling remains of dinosaur carcasses.