Wyoming writers and poets meet-up this weekend in Casper

Leaving tomorrow for the annual conference of Wyoming Writers, Inc., in Casper. Doesn't seem as if it's been a year since last year's gathering in Cody. It's a great opportunity to learn about new trends in writing and publishing. Also just a good time to visit with old friends and meet new ones.

One of the best events are open mic readings on Friday and Saturday nights. Attendees get to hear some great writing in five-minute segments. Lit bytes. It's fast-paced and fun. I am the keeper of the timer and take my job seriously. For the first time, my WAC colleague and I, Linda Coatney, will be filming the open mics. So come on our to the Ramada Riverside and join the fun. Rumor has it that the conference may be available by boat. Snow melt is getting serious along the North Platte that flows adjacent to the hotel. I ain't worried. I'm packing my water wings.

Here are all the links you need for information about the June 3-5 WWInc conference in Casper:

2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc. Conference

June 3-5 in Casper, Wyoming

Ramada Plaza Riverside.

Presenters:

Author Lucia St. Clair Robson

Poet Chris Fischbach

Peter McCarthy, V.P. of Marketing, Random House.

Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press

Agent Peter Steinberg, The Steinberg Agency

Go to the WWInc web site for conference brochure

My Victory Garden: Growing food along with political opinions

Pumpkin flower

My 2011 Victory Garden has finally been planted.

It took awhile. Sprinter (Spring/Winter) lingered, giving us lots of cold temps, snow, hail and rain. The moisture was welcomed. But the cool temperatures put a hold on seedling planting.

The tomato seedlings were the last to go into the ground. I grew them from seed and they are several inches high. Last year I bought my seedlings at the Master Gardeners Show at the Depot Plaza and had them planted by May 15. So I’m a bit behind schedule.

It’s tough for a big slicing tomato to reach maturity before the snow and cold hit the fan in mid-September. So it’s Cherries and a few Romas this year. The household’s vegetarian will be happy. Me too.

In February, I picked up seeds for pumpkins, watermelon and cantaloupe. I grew seedlings and placed some in some sunny spots. I don’t have much hope for them. But the seedlings look great. Little green ears sticking up out of the dark soil.

I can’t feed my family from this modest garden. The point is to grow some of my own. I trade for some and then buy the rest at farmer’s markets. I have been eating healthier since I returned to gardening. When I cook out, I use my herbs to make marinades. I throw together salads with the stuff that’s ripe. Steam some broccoli or green beans. Something about fresh foods satisfies me enough that I’m not wrapping up a meal with ice cream or pie. Most of the time.

I’m not out to prove that residents of Cheyenne, Wyoming, can be dedicated locavores. But we can be moving toward locavorism (word?). Important to make the effort.

Gardening is a great conversation starter. Mashable recently featured in infographic about differences in attitudes toward food between Liberals and Conservatives. More than 39 percent of Liberals said they were “foodies.” More than 52 percent of Conservatives couldn’t describe what a “foodie” is. Go to http://mashable.com/2011/05/26/political-eating/

I’m not as interested in being a foodie or even defining "foodie" as I am in eating good food. Liberals and Conservatives are probably more likely to meet over food in Wyoming than in, say, Colorado, land of food incubators and CSAs and vegans and craft brewers. My neighbors in Cheyenne are fundies and Mormons and gearheads and railroad workers and military and white-collar gubment folks like me. During summer get-togethers, we speak about sports and kids and food. Politics gets us nowhere. None of us are giving up our deeply-held beliefs. I really understand this election season. I’m the one with a forest of signs for Democratic candidates in my yard. Obama signs were as rare as orchids in November 2008. I expect that they will be even more rare next year.

So I grow my food and grow my beliefs, watering them and fertilizing them with equal amounts of hope. Come harvest time, I will be sharing more food than opinions. At least in the public square. This digital realm is another thing altogether.

Doors open for "LightsOn!" project June 3

Another big step forward for Cheyenne's arts scene and downtown redevelopment. Can't make the event because I'll be in Casper at the annual Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference. But you can be there. FMI: www.lightsondowntown.org

ACLU-Wyoming's handy guide to one of the strangest legislative sessions ever

ACLU-Wyoming has released a handy guide to some of the kookier bills and amendments proposed by Republicans during the most recent legislative session. ACLU-Wyoming opposed items like Prescriptions for Marijuana Invalid, Validity of Marriages (a.k.a. "The Equality State Hates Gays and Lesbians"), Patriotism in the Classroom (a.k.a. "The Great Loyalty Oath Crusade" -- right out of "Catch -22") and Unlawful Protesting at a Funeral. One wonders if Republican legislators, particularly those Tea Party frosh from the Hinterlands and Casper, were actually sampling some of the prescription ganja they wanted to ban. ACLU-Wyoming also worked hard to support items like Voting Rights, Public Meetings, Public Records and Discrimination. Read the report here.

After the drought comes the deluge

DAN CEPEDA Star-Tribune:  Vicky Marlow takes snapshots of the swollen North Platte River near the whitewater park in Casper on Friday afternoon. The river has risen past its highest point last year, according to experts, and is expected to keep rising.

I spent most of my day working in the yard. Normally on May 28, I would have applied a healthy dose of sunscreen. I am a freckle-faced Celt, prone to sunburn and skin cancer. However, the sun made only a brief appearance in Cheyenne today. No sunscreen required. The rest of the day was cloudy and, as I was grilling salmon for dinner, the rains came. We're not getting cataclysmic storms, just steady rains. The mountains continue to get snow and, when the thaw does come, we're going to have some bitchin' floods.

Gov. Mead has dispatched the Wyoming National Guard to flood-prone areas of the state, which includes all but my own Laramie County, land of little rain and small creeks. Our local waterway is Dry Creek, which gives you some idea of how little water we usually have. All I can say about Dry Creek is that it is a bit less dry than normal, but not exactly a raging torrent.

On the other hand, the North Platte in Saratoga and Casper and the Laramie River in Laramie are out of their banks. The Popo Agie and the Snake are flooding, as is the Belle Fourche. You've got to hand it to us -- we have some sweet names for our creeks/rivers.

Last spring, I was in Lander as the Popo Agie roared through town, undercutting foundations of riverside homes and roiling over its banks. On the reservation, water was over the roads and more was expected. Much more is expected this year.

We have it pretty good compared to our fellow Americans in Mississippi and Louisiana. Still, our neighbors that serve in the National Guard will not be barbecuing but will be on alert this weekend, prepared to sandbag and rescue as the need arises. Think of them on Memorial Day. Think of them as you pay your taxes. Think of them the next time you criticize government employees.

Joplin, MO, not so far away from Cheyenne, WY

Joplin, Missouri, is about the same size as Cheyenne, Wyoming.

If a tornado wiped out one-third of Cheyenne and killed 132 residents, we would come together to take care of one another -- no doubt about that. Disasters bring out the best in people. A few days ago, I watched on CBS as neighbors and first responders worked together in the rain to search for an 80-year-old woman. They removed the rubble of the two-story home all the way to the basement. No sign of the elderly woman.

We are usually not asked to go to such lengths to help our neighbors. We will, if needed.

Meanwhile, we can send donations to the Red Cross:

The Red Cross depends on financial donations to help in times of disaster. Those who want to help people affected by disasters like tornadoes, floods and wildfires, as well as countless crises at home and around the world, can make a donation to support American Red Cross Disaster Relief. This gift enables the Red Cross to prepare for and provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance in response to disasters. Visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS; people can also text the word “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, DC 20013.

Affordable Care Act

Illuminating presentation on Affordable Care Act Monday night at the Laramie County Democratic Party's monthly meeting. Jan Drury and Jason Mincer from Consumer Advocates/Project Healthcare spoke about the many ways the ACA has (and will) help Wyoming -- and how Wyoming Republicans are attempting to stymie it at every turn.

Of particular concern is a committee formed by former Gov. Dave Freudenthal that's studying health care exchanges in the state. The committee is made up of, well. we're not sure who's on the committee. We know that consumers don't have a voice. Insurance industry has plenty of voices. Loud voices.

It will be interesting (and infuriating) to see what unfolds...

Bob Greer comes to Cheyenne to talk about his books and African-American history in the West

My wife Chris is on the planning committee for the annual Cheyenne Juneteenth celebration and the fund-raising banquet put on by the Wyoming NAACP. Chris and I are both proud members of the NAACP and freckle-faced Celts of Scots (she) and Irish (me) heritage. My Mom was Black Irish, if that means anything.

Chris asked me about a speaker for the Juneteenth dinner. I suggested Robert Greer, Dr. Robert Greer, "Bob" to most of us. Bob found a fine literary magazine, the High Plains Literary Review, back in 1986 and accepted my first published story in 1990. I'm eternally grateful for his good taste. I've read two of his CJ Floyd novels and listened to the audiobook for another while driving across Wyoming several summers ago.

CJ Floyd is a bailbondsman working out of the colorful Bail Bonds Row across the the Denver Police Department. Several of CJ's adventures have taken him all the way to Wyoming. Usually he is ferreting out miscreants and consulting with his sources in the city's Five Points neighborhood, which was the black section of town during the racist days of red-lining. Denver attempted to keep all the "Coloreds" in Five Points, Larimer Street and Lower Downtown, now the Yuppie and artsy enclave of LoDo. Denver thought that an invisible red line would stop minorities from migrating to the swankier parts of town.

My mother used to take us to our family doctors down in Five Points. Our doctors' names were Kobayashi, Momei and Hosakawa. Colored folks. Nisei. Two of the three fought with the 442 Regimental Combat Team in World War II. My father, a World War II vet of the European Theatre, never went with us. He never objected to my Mom's choice of doctors. But he was a product of his times and he was damned if he was going to go to a "Jap" doctor.

Denver has an intriguing history and Bob does his best to inject it into his mysteries.

Bob will come to the Cheyenne Holiday Inn on Saturday, June 4, to speak at the annual banquet of the Wyoming NAACP. His theme will be the contributions that African-Americans made to the history of the West. He will sign copies of his books from 6-7 p.m.. Dinner will follow, with Dr. Greer's speech at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35 per person, $50 per couple. You can purchase tickets for the event by calling Abe Stevenson at 307-634-8304 or Bennie McLaughlin, 307-634-5527.

When he's not writing, Dr. Greer is a professor of pathology, medicine, surgery and dentistry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in. He also holds a master's degree in creative writing from Boston University and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Miami University of Ohio, his alma mater.

Greer has lived in Denver for thirty years. In 1986 he founded High Plains Literary Review and continues to serve as its editor-in-chief. He is the author or co-author of three medical textbooks and over 125 scientific articles. His short stories have appeared in dozens of national literary magazines and his short story collection, Isolation and Other Stories, published in 2000 by the Davies Group Publishers, is also wonderfully illustrated.

Greer has been involved in cancer research at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center for more than thirty years. In 1983 his research group was the first in the world to report a synergistic link between smokeless tobacco use and human papillomaviruses in certain cancers of the mouth. That research foundation is the basis for the plot of his novel,The Devil's Hatband,the author's first novel featuring Denver bail bondsman and detective CJ Floyd. Several of his novels are set in Wyoming.

Spoon, Greer’s 2009 novel of the contemporary American West, won the Colorado Book Award for literary fiction. It also was a finalist for the Western Writers of America Spur Award and received the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union 2010 Media of the Year Award. Wyoming’s Craig Johnson, author of Another Man's Moccasins and The Dark Horse, had this to say about the novel: "With Spoon, Robert Greer tells the story of a modern-day range war in wildfire prose both taut and lyrical."

Greer also reviews books for a Denver National Public Radio affiliate, KUVO, and raises cattle on a ranch in Platte County, Wyoming

Let's Move! program gets kids up and moving and creating and eating healthy food

Having fun at the Manhattan Children's Museum

This new program sounds fun and educational -- with emphasis on the fun. Kids who take part in activities that promote healthy local foods and artistic movement and creativity (and creating) will be better prepared for the challenges they will inherit from their elders. And less likely to believe that the local food movement is a Commie plot. They also may get the strange idea that public-funded entities (That Darn Gubment!) such as museums and libraries are essential to their community’s well-being. We can hope. And support innovative projects such as Let’s Move!

This blog post comes from Susan Hildreth, director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services:

The space shuttle wasn’t the only launch in Houston last week! At a meeting with thousands of museum professionals I had the great honor of joining First Lady Michelle Obama as we launched Let’s Move! Museums and Gardens. 

 Speaking via video message to attendees of the Association of Children’s Museums and American Association of Museums Annual Meetings, Mrs. Obama said, “Everyday, in museums, public gardens, zoos, and so many other places, you expose our children to new ideas and inspire them to stretch their imaginations. You teach them new skills and new ways of thinking.  And you instill a love of learning that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. 

Every day, you all make such a difference in the lives of our children. And that’s why I’m so excited to work with you on an issue that is so critical to their health and well-being.”  

The national initiative, coordinated by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, will provide opportunities for millions of museum and garden visitors to learn about healthy food choices and physical activity through interactive exhibits and programs. 

Museums and gardens are eager to do their part in making a difference. Many of them have core missions that focus on creating healthy environments for children and their families.

Let’s Move! Museums & Gardens will focus on interactive exhibits, afterschool, summer programming and food service that help young people to make healthy food choices and be physically active.

Come hear the facts about the Affordable Health Care Act May 23 in Cheyenne

Tired of the health care misinformation and disinformation being spewed out by Wyoming Republicans?

Come hear the facts.

The next meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Party is Monday, May 23, at 7 p.m at the IBEW Hall, 810 Fremont Street in Cheyenne.

Click here for directions.

Guest panel: Members of Consumer Advocates Project Healthcare presenting The Affordable Care Act and its ongoing implementation in Wyoming: What's in it for you?

For more information, please contact Linda Stowers at 307-634-0768.

American artists and artisans never stopped "making things"

If a job can be sent to China or the Dominican Republic or Malaysia, it will be.

Manufacturing jobs were sent overseas by the millions during the past two decades. But that era may be over, according to Paul Krugman. Read his NYT column at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1&hp

While we still have a deeply troubled economy, one piece of good news is that Americans are, once again, starting to actually make things. And we’re doing that thanks, in large part, to the fact that the Fed and the Obama administration ignored very bad advice from right-wingers — ideologues who still, in the face of all the evidence, claim to know something about creating prosperity.

Widgets can be made anywhere. So can certain gadgets.

I would like to know what parts of manufacturing are increasing. U.S. automakers are on a roll. Wind turbines are being made all over the U.S., including down the road in Colorado.

The Columbus Post-Dispatch wrote about hiring at the EdenPure plant which used to be the Hoover plant in North Canton, Ohio:

But the new hiring also reflects another emerging reality of U.S. manufacturing: Many of the jobs don't pay anything close to what they used to. Assembly-line workers who will be making the EdenPure products under the auspices of Suarez Corp. Industries will start at $7.50 an hour. That's a far cry from the $20 an hour that most workers made with Hoover, which shifted its century-old production lines to Mexico and El Paso, Texas, in 2007 after concluding that it was too expensive to make its products in the industrial Midwest. "The communities and workers in Ohio have been devastated over the past decade and are grateful for the opportunity to earn a living," said Robert Baugh, executive director of the AFL-CIO's Industrial Union Council. "But this is tempered by reality. One is that the jobs at Suarez, with wages and benefits well below the middle-class ones that were there before, are not a replacement for the ones that left."

Ohio workers will need three of these new manufacturing jobs to recoup what they lost with $20/hour union jobs. So let's hope a couple more plants like EdenPure come in to make other gadgets that can be made in China or Mexico again when the dollar strengthens. 

America is making things again. But at what cost? One of the Republican strategies is to kill the unions and bring everyone's wages down to the minimum wage level. That way people will be grateful for any job they can get at any salary (forget health care benefits). 

But "original work" can't be outsourced. An artisan in Wyoming who makes handmade bridles and saddles can't be replaced with a factory plopped down in China's Shaanxi Province. Not to say that Chinese can't make perfectly good saddles. They can be mass-produced and they will be made cheaply and will be cheap. The saddle has lost its originality and quality.

Mike, you may ask, aren't only rich people going to buy that expensive Made in the USA custom tooled-leather saddle? Possibly. The rich buy art. So do dudes and dudettes. We have some of those in Wyoming.

But regular folks buy saddles too. And make them. They make horsehair bridles. They make pots and compose music and write books. They are distinctive works of art that can't be mass-produced. You cannot outsource creativity.

So it's good to know that manufacturing jobs are returning to America -- and new ones are being created.

We artists and artisans were here all along. Buy local today!

Republicans make up their own stats about Medicaid in Wyoming

Great article on the Equality State Policy Center blog by Barb Rea about the May 9-10 Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee meeting in Evanston.

Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, felt the need to add his personal interpretation to almost every piece of information presented. He painted Medicaid as a perennial problem in the state, and assured the committee that the new federal health care law, which he dismissively terms “Obamacare,” will be repealed or at least defunded. He also continues to portray his pet project, Healthy Frontiers, as a viable program which could be used to replace both Medicaid and the benefits offered in the new legislation.

First, one has to wonder why so many wacko Republican legislators come from Casper. Second, one has to wonder why Sen. Scott feels he has to bully other members of the committee. Third, why does Sen. Scott have such an unhealthy interest in the very flawed Health Frontiers program? Right, it’s his pet project and he is single-minded in pursuing that over any other alternative to rising health care costs and the stone-cold fact that thousands of Wyomingites are uninsured.

But Scott wasn’t the only one with a suspicious agenda.

The state’s new Director of the Department of Family Services, Steve Corsi, who made a stunning assertion that 30% to 40% of people who enroll in Medicaid in Wyoming, come dressed like he was (black suit and new haircut) and driving an Escalade, “and there is nothing we can do about it.”

Senator Scott let the committee’s disgust percolate until Wyoming’s Medicaid Director, Teri Green, was able to question the validity of Mr. Corsi’s numbers. Mr. Corsi later apologized for using an inflammatory example and a “guesstimate.”

Later we learned from another presenter, that nationally less than 10% of Medicaid payments are claimed fraudulently, and in Wyoming the figure is less than 6%. Moreover, research tells us most of the fraud by far (80%) is committed by providers (primarily medical-device and pharmaceutical companies). Less than 10% of the fraud is committed by patients.

Mr. Corsi’s hysterical assertions seem to be cut from the same cloth as the “Welfare Queens” of the 1980s, those mythical creatures who drove up to welfare offices in their Cadillacs to rake in the big welfare bucks. What nonsense. A director of a state agency should know better.

At this point, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that our family has benefited from the Wyoming Medicaid Children’s Waiver. This program fills in the insurance holes when your son or daughter needs long-term care for mental health diagnoses or drug and alcohol treatment.

Our daughter benefited from the tax-supported program on several occasions. I will have to note that she is now 18 and a healthy contributing member of society and is currently working and her taxes go to help other young people in Wyoming who have experience health care emergencies. She doesn’t seem to mind.

And I also have to admit that I had a new haircut the last time I filled out the paperwork for the Medicaid Waiver. I have always admired Mr. Corsi’s tonsorial discipline and thus was inspired to follow his example. I wasn’t wearing a black suit as I didn’t want to be mistaken for a bureaucratic blockhead (note to self: no name-calling) such as Mr. Corsi. And I left my Escalade at home. Mr. Corsi may be able to afford to Escalade on his director’s salary, but most of us state employees have to make do with four-year-old Fords and Chevy compacts.

UPDATE: AT last night's Laramie County Democratic Party meeting, I learned that Mr. Corsi was referring specifically to the state's S-CHIP program in his good haircut/dark suit/Escalade remarks. Our family has never been involved in the S-CHIP program. A good thing, considering my lack of attention to hair, clothes and gas-guzzling personal mobility devices.

Read the entire Equality State Policy Center post at http://equalitystatewatch.blogspot.com/2011/05/medicaid-is-helpful-and-should-be.html

Acting U.S. Solicitor General acknowledges office's lack of candor led to WWII Japanese-American internment

Neal Katyal, acting solicitor general of the United States, wrote an official post Friday acknowledging that evidence was deliberately hidden about alleged anti-American activities by Japanese-Americans at the outbreak of World War II. 

Most Americans acknowledge the fact that the internment of Japanese-Americans was a terrible and unnecessary act. Official apologies have been issued, but it's somewhat gratifying to see that the entire exercise was a paranoid miscarriage of justice.

If you are curious about this episode and its place in Wyoming history, you can attend the grand opening of the new Interpretive Center in August at the Heart Mountain Internment Center Historic Site neat Cody. I've visited the site often over the past 20 years. Until recently, all that remained was the brick power plant (seen in the distance in photo) and several tumbledown barracks. The Interpretive Center was modeled after the barracks that housed some 100,000 American citizens from 1942-1946. And I use the term "housing" loosely. 

Grand opening dates are Aug. 19-21. Go to www.heartmountain.org. Here's some info from the web site:

Registration is now being accepted for the three days of activities, including the Pilgrimage Dinner and All-Camp Get-Together, Dedication Ceremony, tours, mountain hike, and a Gala Banquet which are all part of the Grand Opening of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center Aug. 19, 20, and 21, announced event chair Kathleen Saito Yuille.  Registration deadline is June 20.The opening of the ILC’s doors on Aug. 20 will symbolize the beginning of a new era of understanding and help remind the nation about the importance of tolerance and the need to balance our concern for national security with a commitment to respect the basic civil rights of all our fellow citizens. 

Kansas is perfect, so anti-abortion zealots come to Wyoming

Anti-abortion protesters from Kansas are demonstrating in Jackson. From Wyoming Public Radio:

The pro-life protest is being organized by a Kansas-based group called Operation Save America. They say their goal is to make Wyoming the nation's first abortion-free state, and they say the protest will continue into the weekend.

Read the rest at WPR: Abortion protestors and counter protestors clash in Jackson

Why aren't they busily making Kansas the first abortion-free state? Or maybe they could make Kansas the first hungry-child-free state. Or maybe they could make sure that the kids in their local schools always have lunches to eat. Or maybe they could lobby their Kansas reps and senators to save Medicaid from Republican budget cuts so there won't be sick and dying babies and mothers in Colby and Wichita and Topeka.

I'm a big fan of protests. But I do wonder why these Kansans are so interested in Wyoming. And I wonder why they always care so much about the fetus but care so little about the babies and children and toddlers once they are born? This has always puzzled me.

Casper Journal op-ed: Stimulus money a success

Kimberly Holloway, member of the Casper City Council, chastises Dr. Sen. John Barrasso about his recent disparaging remarks regarding Pres. Obama's stimulus spending in Wyoming. Barrasso is from Casper. Read Halloway's remarks here

"The Rapture" accompanied by music and art

I'm in rapture over the many fine arts events that will be taking place when The Rapture arrives on Saturday, May 21. What better time to get "Left Behind" when you have these cool things to choose from:

Cheyenne International Film Festival at the Historic Atlas Theatre

"Footloose" at the Mary Godfrey Theater (with cast of talented locals)

Professional development workshops for visual artists at Works of Wyoming at the Laramie Plains Civic Center. Workshops followed by Laramie Burlesque's "Judgement Day Cabaret."

Two huge plant sales! Seed and Weed Garden Club sells seeds and seedlings and offers advice at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens and the Laramie County Master Gardeners will have its annual plant sale at the Depot Plaza downtown.

On the day after, enjoy authentic Yiddish food, Klezmer music and Israeli folk dancing at the Yiddish Food Festival at the Mt. Sinai Synagogue in Cheyenne.

So much to live for...

Laramie County Dems meet May 23 to talk about the Affordable Care Act in Wyoming

The monthly meeting of the Laramie County Democrats will be held on Monday, May 23, 7 p.m., at the IBEW Union Hall, 810 Fremont Avenue, Cheyenne.

Guest Panel by Consumer Advocates Project Healthcare (CAPH). The topic will be: “The Affordable Care Act and its ongoing implementation in Wyoming: What's in it for you?”

Anyone who brings a guest will receive a free bumper sticker. I received a bumper sticker last time for volunteering to be a precinct committeeman.

Rumor has it that a “very special guest” will also make an appearance. And no, it’s not Donald Trump, despite rumors that he has switched parties and moved to Wyoming.

ProPublica video answers the musical question: "What the frack is going on?"

The good folks at ProPublica have produced a video rap that explains fracking for you. Here's the chorus:

What the frack is going on with all this fracking going on
I think we need some facts to come to light
I know we want our energy but nothing ever comes for free
I think my water’s on fire tonight

As seen on New West

Ground-breaking enviro-art includes "Blood Lamp"

Blood Lamp from miket on Vimeo.

As seen on Grist: "Mike Thompson's "Blood Lamp," which is powered by a single drop of human blood, represents the dynamic outer fringes of the eco-friendly avant-garde."

Who's the "Bull Goose Loony" among Wyoming Congressional Republicans?

Congressional Republicans ponder the "Repeal Amendment" while waiting for their meds 

O.K.. "looniness" isn't a word, at least according to Webster's. You can be loony or looney. I can be loonier that thou, or even the looniest one in the bunch. I can imagine myself as the non-politically-correct "Bull Goose Loony" in an imaginary mental ward ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") or be a member of the "Looney Tunes" stable of animated characters -- Daffy Duck comes to mind.

But looniness is a good descriptor for the legislation issuing forth from Congressional Republicans these days. Wyoming's Congressional delegation was once known as a moderate bunch. Sure, they were all Republicans, but senators such as Al Simpson and Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi usually avoided siding with the Far Right on their looniest causes.

There were causes for concern. During his first term, Mike Enzi sided with Sen. Dr. Bill Frist on Terry Schiavo's right to live a long and healthy life in a vegetative state. Sen. Dr. Frist contended that he could diagnose Mrs. Frist via video and, apparently, that was good enough for Sen. Enzi. It was a tempest in a teapot, like so many of these Far Right causes. Education system not working? Blame unionized teachers and their fat paychecks. Don't like abortion? Force women to view ultrasounds of their fetus -- or charge them with murder after the fact. Budget deficits? Cut taxes for the wealthy and kill Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

As I said, looniness.

Now Sen. Enzi and Sen. Dr. John Barrasso (we don't need no universal health care!) and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (a.k.a. seventh-richest member of Congress) are touting the so-called "Repeal Amendment" which would allow states to get rid of federal rules and regulations they don't like. This is a favorite bugaboo of the Far Right. That damn federal gubment is out to get them with needless regulations about wolves and black-footed ferrets and guns and oil drilling and health care and Gays. Wyoming Tea Partiers, many of whom haver never seen a live wolf, call wolves terrorists and want to be able to shoot them on sight if they wander into their ranchette to munch on Fluffy. But that darn gubment keeps getting in their way.

Meanwhile, as rivers flood and tornadoes drop from the sky or rain refuses to fall, these same people holler for federal disaster relief and scream even louder if they don't get it immediately.

Wyoming is one of those states that pays in fewer taxes than it gets in federal funding. It also has a fair amount of federal land. We have two national parks, Yellowstone being the first in the U.S., and some national monuments, including the first in the U.S. in Devils Tower. We have the huge Wind River Indian Reservation and nuke central at F.E. Warren AFB -- I hear reveille sound every morning from the base's loudspeakers. We have the huge national training base at Camp Guernsey. We have national grasslands and reclamation projects and many millions of federal dollars in our interstate highway system and airports. Wyoming relies on energy and tourism, both heavily subsidized by government infrastructure.

Wyoming will wither up and blow away to Nebraska without federal funding from U.S. taxpayers.

All three members of the Wyoming Congressional delegation will be in Platte County this week. Check out the Platte County Democrats' blog to see the schedule. I am not sure if they also will be in Laramie County. Looked for Sen. Enzi's travel schedule on his web site and couldn't find anything up-to-date.

The Casper Star-Tribune had an excellent editorial today about the loony "Repeal Amendment." Here's the opening:

The last time a coalition of states decided it had the power to nullify federal laws was in 1860, when 11 Southern states objected to the ban on slavery and seceded from the union. We all know how that turned out.  Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who has decided to ignore history and steer the current states’ rights bandwagon, is sponsoring the so-called Repeal Amendment, the ultimate anti-federal measure. It has almost no value beyond scoring some political points with the tea party crowd and the far right fringe of the Republican Party.

Read the rest here

Next up on the Republican/Tea Party agenda: secession

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

All three members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation have signed on as co-sponsors to a proposed constitutional amendment allowing states to veto federal laws and regulations they dislike.

Sponsored by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the proposal states that any federal law or regulation would be repealed if two-thirds of the states — or 34 states — vote against it, according to an op-ed by Bishop published by The Daily Caller, a conservative news web site.

If the two-thirds majority is reached, the law or regulation would then be sent back to Congress, which could vote to override the repeal and pass it in finality, according to Bishop’s op-ed.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., will be co-sponsors of the legislation, according to spokeswomen for the two lawmakers.

“I am fighting to return to the rightful owner — the states and the individuals — the power that the federal government has grabbed,” Lummis said in a media release Wednesday. “That is what our founders envisioned, what our Constitution requires and what the people of Wyoming demand.”

Though the idea has been championed by many within the conservative tea party movement, Bishop said the check would appeal equally to Republicans and Democrats.

“It is not a partisan issue,” he stated in the op-ed.

However, Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Bill Luckett called the bill “disturbing” and “nothing short of an attack upon the very heart of our Union.”

“It’s sad for Wyoming that both of our U.S. Senators are so caught up in anti-government tea party hysteria that they are endorsing a piece of legislation that would dismantle the Union our Founding Fathers created,” Luckett said in an email.

Public/private partnership brings music treasures to a PC near you

From Voice of America (VOA) comes news about a great public/private partnership:

Grammy-winning performer Harry Connick, Jr., was on hand recently to help the Library of Congress launch a website that offers 10,000 rare and historic sound recordings to the public in digital format for the first time - at no charge.

The massive collection includes popular music, opera and early jazz as well as poetry and famous political speeches. Al Jolson, Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso and George Gershwin are just some of the musical giants featured in the collection.

The site, called National Jukebox, is a collaborative project between the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment. It offers online access to a vast selection of music and spoken-word recordings produced in the U.S. between 1901 and 1925.

James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, characterizes the collection as a “vast treasure trove of recordings produced in the U.S. prior to the end of 1925.”

"It includes early jazz, famous speeches, poetry, humor, opera, dance music with authoritative production information for each recording," says Billington.

The Library of Congress holds the largest collection of historic sound recordings in the United States. They're stored and digitally preserved at a special facility in the state of Virginia. The Jukebox recordings come from that facility.

Richard Story, president of the Commercial Music Group of Sony Music Entertainment, says the remarkable collection traces the roots and development of American music and includes the work of “some of the most influential, most important artists ever."

Are those predator wolves or trophy wolves flying jets over Wyoming?

"Wolves Flying Jets" is a song by Greenhorse. Are these predator wolves or trophy wolves? And can they be hunted while flying jets over Wyoming or Montana or Idaho?

Ask Greenhorse when the group (with Wyoming origins) performs tonight at the WYO Theater in Sheridan.

The song --



Wolves Flying Jets by Greenhorse

"To End All Wars" -- not by a long shot

Almost a century after it started, World War I continues to fascinate. I read the favorable New York Times review by Christopher Hitchens and the author's introduction to "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918,” by Adam Hochschild (illustrated. 448 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $28).  Hitchens has many good things to say about, although he notes that "no single narrative can do justice to an inferno whose victims still remain uncounted." 

Indeed. When I was born in 1950, the end of The Great War was only 32 years in the past. In contrast, the end of World War II, which we now acknowledge as a continuation of the first, was a scant five years in the past. The U.S. was already engaged in another one in Korea, and my generation of boys was busy being hatched for Vietnam. My country has spent the 21st century at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, with scores of "little wars" raging all over the globe. 

"The war to end all wars" was Pres. Wilson's phrase. Many in Wilson's Democratic Party felt betrayed when Wilson, who campaigned in 1916 on the motto "He kept us out of war," plunged the U.S. into the inferno. He instituted a military draft and came down hard on anti-war groups. Still, he was part of the Progressive Movement and instituted many progressive programs during his first term. He was also an internationalist, an egghead with a Ph.D. One of the best and the brightest. When have we heard that term before? I remember. It referred to Kennedy's architects of Vietnam, as described in David Halberstam's book.

Pres. Obama, a Democrat, didn't get us started down the path to endless war. A Republican, George W. Bush, ordered the attack on Afghanistan, considered by many (me included) to me justified. He also launched the pointless war in Iraq, which I staunchly opposed. It seems that the U.S. has inherited endless war along with its claim as Lone World Super Power.

Super Powers can be brought low, too. In the first chapter, Hochschild describes the incredible pomp and circumstance of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee celebration in 1897. What a party it was. England ruled the waves and almost one-quarter of the earth's land. Troopers in full dress uniform from India, Burma, Canada, Australia, Trinidad, South Africa, and others marched in the parade. Scores of congratulatory notes were sent, many from the U.S. They all praised Britain's supremacy in the world. Here's an amazing and silly one:

...across the Atlantic, the New York Times virtually claimed membership in the empire: "We are a part, and a great part, of the Greater Britain which seems so plainly destined to dominate this planet." 

World War I spelled the beginning of the end of England's supremacy.

Now that I've been teased by the opening chapters, I'm off to get a copy of the book. Read the review and excerpt here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/books/review/book-review-to-end-all-wars-by-adam-hochschild.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema2

Casper Star-Trib: "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children"

We agree with the Casper Star-Tribune editorial, "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children."

Wyoming Department of Health has cited budget constraints as the reason it will no longer provide free vaccinations against influenza, meningitis, Hepatitis A and human papilomavirus to needy children. The change will take effect in July. 

Undoubtedly there are places where the state needs to trim its budget and cut unnecessary spending. The vaccination program isn’t one of them. 

When it comes to providing for the public health needs of children whose parents can’t afford the immunizations, we think most Wyomingites would agree that we could sock away a little less into our state’s rainy-day accounts to pay for it.

Fortunately, the state will still provide vaccinations required for children to attend public school. But that still leaves families with children who don’t qualify for a federal vaccination program unable to pay for immunizations against four diseases.

The CST urges Gov. Mead to use some of his discretionary funds to fill in the gap until the legislature can address this issue in 2012. It's a public health issue. It's also the right thing to do. Read the entire editorial at http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/article_97d5faa8-ea58-5b6b-8824-05a7974015ba.html

New study links fracking with water contamination

The Wyoming Outdoor Council reposted a long article by ProPublica about a new study on fracking by four researchers at Duke University. This has been a big issue in Wyoming after the E.P.A. discovered methane gas and fracking chemicals in water wells in Fremont County near Pavillion. The E.P.A. still is investigating. That controversy also was featured in the documentary "Gasland" that was screened in Cheyenne a month ago. Our neighborhood in southeast Wyoming is in the Niobrara oil play where fracking will be the rule rather than the exception.

Read the article here: Fracking Linked to Water Contamination

Republicans attempt to "piratize" special education

Excellent post by AnnieJo at Daily Kos on "Piratizing Special Education in Wisconsin." You don't have to be a Wisconsin parent of a special needs child to realize the problem behind legislation such as AB110. In fact, if you live in states with Republican legislative majorities, you soon will be seeing this type of bill.

So what does AB110 propose? Chip away further at the public schools by letting the funding flow to the private schools... who aren't required to abide by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act!  Yes, that's part of the con.  As outlined in an excellent piece by Disability Rights Wisconsin, called Special Needs Scholarships: Myths and Facts about AB110, "AB110 does not even require that private schools which accept special needs scholarships have a single special education teacher or therapist on staff!"   Further, "using a special needs voucher to attend private school means that parents and children give up ALL their state and federal rights to special education."

My Mom was a Democrat even when she voted Republican

I wonder who my mother would vote for in 2012 if she were still alive.

It's Mother's Day today. I've spent 25 of them without my own mother, who died too young at 59.

She worked as a nurse her entire life. She sometimes took time off to have a kid, but then was back to work. She had so many kids (nine), that I wonder if she felt like those mythical women of old, who just delivered their newborns onto the fields and kept on harvesting while breast-feeding the baby and riding herd on the rest of her brood. Jimmy -- put down that rattlesnake! Janie -- keep hoeing those potatoes! 


My mother was made of sturdy stuff. We talked about many things, including politics. But I don't know whom she voted for. I know that she voted. But she kept it to herself. My father did, too, but I knew his politics from our many arguments and/or debates.

It wasn't as clear with my Mom. As both a nurse and a human being, she had deep reservoirs of empathy. Her nine kids turned to her for solace and advice. So did our friends and neighbors. I sometimes wonder if the cancer that killed her so quickly wasn't from a build-up of ingested sorrow.

She had no tolerance for cruelty. Some teasing was inevitable in a large household. But Mom drew the line when teasing wandered over the line into cruelty. She didn't like it in her home or out in the world. She devoted her life to the alleviation of suffering. She suffered along the way, but rarely spoke about her own travails.

No political party has a corner on kindness or cruelty. They are public beasts, focused on accumulating power. They nurture and encourage some, steamroll others.

But the current crop of Republicans possess a rare brand of self-centered cruelty. They seem to have no qualms about enriching the rich and engendering their selfish needs. They also go out of their way to target the powerless, the elderly, women, and "The Other," which includes people of color and non-Christians.

We now know the details of Republican priorities laid out in the Paul Ryan budget passed by the U.S. House. Permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and even further tax cuts down the road. Cuts to Medicaid, which serve the least among us. Privatizing Medicare for the retired. The end of Social Security. If Mom were alive, she would have turned 85 yesterday. Happy birthday, Mom! She would be receiving Social Security and using Medicare for the inevitable ailments of old age.

In Republican-majority states, we see attacks on unionized public sector workers. This is done in the name of "fiscal responsibility" but really is a war against working people. People like me. People like my mother. Many of these same people are Republicans who've been manipulated into siding with Repubs on social issues. Meanwhile, their taxes pay subsidies to businesses so send their jobs overseas.    

Empathy is a dirty word to these people. We've heard that over and over again from the talking heads at Fox, and from Tea Party types.

Empathy was not a dirty word to my mother. She lived her life by it.

Who would she vote for in 2012?

It's easier to list who she would not vote for. They all have an "R" after their names.

Tour the iconic landscapes of the threatened Red Desert June 18 with the Wyoming Outdoor Council

The Wyoming Outdoor Council has published its brochure of 2011 events. Here's one of the highlights:

June 18: Red Desert Rendezvous

The Outdoor Council is providing support for this event as part of our efforts to raise awareness of Wyoming’s spectacular Red Desert. This weekend rendezvous will offer at least three phenomenal guided tours: (1) A plein air painters’ campout (Friday night) near the Honeycomb Buttes. (2) A journey into colorful Adobe Town. (3) An iconiclandscapes loop with stops at Boar’s Tusk, the Killpecker Sand Dunes, and the White Mountain Petroglyphs. RSVP by Friday, June 3.

Register now for "Walk in My Shoes" fund-raiser for WY Coalition for the Homeless

A good cause and some exercise:


Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, Walk In My Shoes?  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

On May Saturday, pondering the future of Cheyenne

Riding around Cheyenne on this beautiful May morning. Errands to run, people to deliver. The Decembrists' "The King is Dead" pumping out of the speakers and out the open windows. Doesn't get much better than this, a spring Saturday after a horrible winter.

I was asking myself big questions: What is that squeak coming from the left front wheel? (Note to self -- call "Click & Clack.") When should I plant my crops -- Mother's Day, May 15 or -- as the High Plains gardening gurus recommend -- Memorial Day weekend? Is "The Decembrists' "Why We Fight" about war or relationships or both, and why is the video so lame? What is Cheyenne's future, especially with the oil play boom on the horizon?

I spent most of my pondering on the last question. We've lived in Cheyenne for 20 years, with two years off in D.C. for good behavior. Lots of changes during that time. But never as many as I've seen in the past several years.

Population is rising. It's not due strictly to oil field jobs. There are new jobs in manufacturing and construction. Many service industry jobs in restaurants and retail. Those latter jobs don't pay well but we need loads of them to keep our young people gainfully employed while they decide which college town or big city they will flee to. Federal and state government employment seems to be holding steady. That will change if U.S. House Republicans get their way with their Draconian budget. We shall see...

As I drove around, I took a few shortcuts to see what's happening. I ventured out to High Plains Road on I-25 South. The interchange went in first and it's a step up from the usual concrete-and-steel overpasses. Decorative iron railings and brick and rock used in the design. It's flanked by two roundabouts with plenty of directional signs for the roundabout-phobics amongst us. There are many, judging the letters to the editor in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The anti-roundabout crowd is really up in arms over a roundabout planned for one of the stupidest intersections known to humankind -- Pershing/Converse/19th Street. They've redesigned that three-way tangle many times but still it's one of the most dangerous intersections in town (along with Converse and Dell Range). Can't leave it the way it is. Some of the landowners, notably Frank Cole of Cole Shopping Center don't want to see changes. Stay tuned for more loony letters to the ed.

High Plains Road is the site of the new State of Wyoming Visitors Welcome Center. This will replace the old welcome center and rest stop on the west side of I-25 at College Drive. Many have wondered why the old center was built on the wrong side of the highway and is so hard to get to. It's nice, and has great views of the prairie and the Laramie Range. I sometimes hang out there and write to get some peace and quiet and inspiration.

But, as new truck stops and motels arose, it was harder and harder to access. There are no lights or dreaded roundabouts there to speed the flow of traffic. On a typical summer day, it's a madhouse of semis and RVs and lost tourists trying to find the entrance to the rest stop. Maybe this is next on the Wyoming Department of Transportation construction agenda.

The new visitors center is cool-looking and energy efficient. It's also on the east side of the highway which should make it easier to access. Here's a description from the RMH Group:

The new $16.6 million, 27,000-square-foot Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center will offer restroom facilities to travelers and will house the offices of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, which has expanded and now requires more space. The RMH Group provided energy-efficient mechanical and electrical design for this new facility. The Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center's mechanical and electrical systems are designed to limit energy demand while emphasizing the responsible use of on-site resources. Daylight harvesting will reduce electrical demand, and on-site solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines will utilize renewable resources to generate building power. A ground-source heat-pump system, featuring horizontal "slinky" geo-exchange coils buried beneath the project site will efficiently heat and cool the building. Public portions of the center will be conditioned by an in-floor radiant system coupled with displacement cooling and ventilation, further supporting the building's low-energy use profile. Construction of the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center is anticipated to be completed in late summer 2012.

Construction crews are clearing the site now.  From High Plains Road, you can look down on it and appreciate the view I-25 motorists will have of the facility as they cross into the state from Colorado. Man, what a cool building -- and energy efficient to boot. Let's go there and discover ways to spend all of our vacation money in Wyoming.

Also from High Plains Road, you can look to the west and see construction cranes working on a series of buildings in the business park. Not sure what's destined there. If you look a bit to the north, you can see the growing ranks of white wind turbines that are fueling a bit of the energy I use for my laptop ramblings. Coal trains head south along the railroad tracks that pass just to the east. The coal comes from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Further to the east oil drilling sites rise up out of an ancient ocean bed.  

Exciting times. There are many risks, especially with the fossil fuels Wyoming provides to the world. Global warming and poisoning of air and water. This will require governmental monitoring which is exactly why Republicans want to kill the E.P.A. No regulations mean more profits for those people who seemingly have enough profits. But that's the Republican plans. Screw the rest of you.

It's up to every one of us to see that we don't get screwed royally.

P.S.: I tried to find an image of new welcome center but failed. Anyone know where I can go to get one? I did find images of the ground-breaking but not very interesting. Seen one ground-breaking, you've seen them all. 

Register now for Walk in My Shoes fund-raiser

Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, "Walk In My Shoes?"  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

Points to ponder for Wyoming's Congressional delegation during Children's Mental Health Week

During National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 1-7, here are some points to ponder on the subject. I challenge Republicans to reconsider their rash moves to decimate Medicaid, which is crucial to the states for children's mental health care. This is a specific challenge to Wyoming's Congressional delegation, all three of whom have marched in lockstep with those who have no problems with cutting funds for children and families and working people but are quick to defend tax cuts for millionaires and continuing bloated U.S. defense budgets that channel money to outdated weapon systems and away from veterans' health care. Let's name the names: Sen. Mike Enzi, Sen. John Barrasso, and Rep. Cynthia Lummis.

The following info comes from the National Federation for Children's Mental Health. Find detailed documentation of the following at the org's web site.

2011 Prevalence of Mental Health Challenges & Extent of Service Use

Most children with mental health challenges do not get the help they need.

• 1 in 3 adolescents (aged 13 to 18) with mental disorders receive services for their diagnosis
• Half of adolescents with severely impairing mental disorders never receive treatment
• Service rates are highest for adolescents with ADHD (59.8%) and behavior disorders (45.4%)
• Fewer than 1 in 5 adolescents with anxiety, eating, or substance use disorders receive treatment for those disorders
• Hispanic and Black adolescents are less likely than their White counterparts to receive services for mood and anxiety disorders

Mental health is a nationwide public health issue.

The mental health and well-being of Americans are critical issues affecting each individual’s quality of life and the health of our communities, business and economic stability. It touches everyone– regardless of race, gender, class or religion.

• Half of all lifetime cases of mental and substance use disorders begin by age 14 and three-fourths by age 24
• Adults who began drinking alcohol before age 21 are more likely to be later classified with alcohol dependence or abuse than those who had their first drink at or after age 21
• More than 34,000 Americans die every year as a result of suicide—that’s approximately one every 15 minutes
• One estimate puts the total economic costs of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among youth in the United States at approximately $247 billion
• Racial incidents can be traumatic and have been linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among people of color
• LGBT individuals experience violence and PTSD at higher rates than the general population
• More than 6 in 10 U.S. youth have been exposed to violence within the past year, including witnessing a violent act, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, and dating violence. Nearly 1 in 10 was injured
• In a 2008 study by RAND, 18.5% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans reported symptoms consistent with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression

Mission accomplished... for reals!

From Daily Kos

Mission actually accomplished. Obama bags Osama

In reference to my previous blog about the non-accomplishment of an earlier mission...

Daily Kos: Mission actually accomplished. Obama bags Osama

Will the "Circle of Protection" be unbroken?

On yet another Sunday morning when I don't go to church, I ponder a spiritual appeal called "Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor." Long title for a simple document that asks Pres. Obama and our Congressional leaders not to balance the U.S. budget on the backs of the poor.

I read this copy of the proclamation on Sojourners, a site where I go to find solace and inspiration and talking points for my blog. Sojourners is all about social justice. The statement below carries signatures of 50 religious denominations and organizations. On the list is Jim Wallis of Sojourners. I signed a copy and sent it off to Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis, the seventh-richest member of Congress, who already has voted for the Draconian cuts in Rep. Paul Ryan's bill. Also sent a copy to Dr. Sen. John Barrasso, who was one of the Republican talking heads on TV this morning nattering on about the need to immediately slash Medicare and Medicaid. I am always amazed by The Good Doctor's audacious denial of his Hippocratic Oath: "I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm." Some points to ponder, Doc. Sen. Mike Enzi received a copy so he can contemplate his upcoming votes to enrich corporate healthcare companies at the expense of elderly Americans. Pres. Obama also got a copy, just in case he's thinking of backsliding in his push-back against radical Republicans.

I urge you to sign "Circle of Protection" and send it off to your Congressional delegation. And don't forget the Prez.

Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor.

As people of faith, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad. 

1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.

2. Programs focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. They should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.

3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.

4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.

5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.

6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect "the least of these." "What would Jesus cut?" "How do we share sacrifice?"

7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.

8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus.