iCasualties.org back in business

iCasualties.org, or the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count site, is beginning to look like its former self. Michael White's site has been an invaluable source of data on U.S. and coalition deaths in Iraq as well as stats on the wounded. It posts daily news stories about the war, often from non-U.S. sources such as Reuters and The Guardian and some Middle East newspapers and wire services. It also features hometown stories about young soldiers and marines killed or grievously wounded in the war. There's also a link to similar info on Afghanistan, a.k.a. "The Forgotten War."

A few weeks back, the web site's server was attacked and each time users clicked it on, it led to other sites. Annoying to some, it was tragic for those of us who want to keep track of the cost of the travesty in Iraq. We can't trust the MSM to do so, since they've apparently forgotten that the war exists. They're too busy tracking gossipy tidbits about Obama and Clinton (but not McCain).

In a recent poll, most Americans couldn't come close in guessing the number of U.S. dead in Iraq. Is it too much to pay attention to the slaughter that Bush & Cheney have wrought? Even if you don't have a son or a neighbor kid in the fight, pretend that you do. My 23-year-old son Kevin could be in the military right now. Instead, he's working and going to a community college in Tucson. Some of his high school buds have been to Iraq and are going back.

I can imagine him in Iraq. I can imagine how I would feel while he was there and I could even dwell for a millisecond on how it would be if anything happened to him. Take a second to think about it.

Then go to http://www.icasualties.org/ and learn something.

From antiwar.com: "The time not to become a father is eighteen years before a war." -- E. B. White

Wyoming Dems gather in Jackson in May

The Wyoming Democratic Party state covention will be held in Jackson over Memorial Day weekend. Last spring, when I first found out about the site, I knew that Dems would be feverishly jockeying for those delegate spots, as (almost) everyone likes Jackson in the summer. A year ago, I had no idea that the competition for delegate slots would really heat up as Obama and Clinton battled for each warm body, including those lukewarm ones in Wyoming. In 2004, when I sauntered into the Laramie County Democrats' convention at the local VFW hall, I instantly was dubbed a delegate. That year, in fact, the LarCoDems fell short of its allotted 55 delegates to the state gathering. We had to drag people in off the streets.

This year is far different. The LarCoDems have 55 delegates -- me included -- hyped up for Jackson. There's also an equal number of alternates, my wife Chris being one of them. She's not happy being a Clinton alternate, as she'd like to be lobbying and voting for Hillary on the convention floor. But who knows -- there are sure to be drop-outs.

Travel costs may keep some Laramie County delegates at home. Jackson is in the state's oppositive corner, or kitty-corner, as my mom used to say. It's a 900-mile round trip, not counting side jaunts to Yellowstone. Lodging costs shoot up once you get to Memorial Day, the official launch of summer tourist season. The Wyoming Democrats got a great deal at the Snow King Resort (a Republican-owned establishment) for $79 per night. That's about half the summer rate. The bad news is that those rooms are now gone, or so one disgruntled delegate told me. Other $79 rates are available at the Inn at Jackson Hole in Teton Village, which is about eight miles from Jackson. Painted Buffalo Inn in Jackson is $110 per night. You can also book a studio room at the Snow King's condos for $138-$350 a night. There are four bedrooms per unit and it's reasonable if you can find some fellow Dems to share the costs. Our staff did that once for a work trip and it turned out cheaper than the Snow King's regular rates.

Not everyone likes Jackson in the summer. Most Wyomingites go during the shoulder seasons to avoid crowds. Problem is, those shoulder seasons are getting more narrow each year, as people try to avoid crowds and high prices.

Jackson holds it Old West Days festival during Memorial Day weekend. There's a parade on Saturday and a fair in the square, where you can buy food and wares from various vendors. I sold copies of our Wyoming literary anthology "Deep West" at the fair on the 2004 Memorial Day weekend. I periodically had to cover myself and my display as snow squalls blew through the valley. This year, I'll be inside a big hall jockeying to get Obama delegates elected for the national convention in Denver. Registration begins at 8 a.m. and activities start at 9. You can pay $50 for lunch, with proceeds going to the Wyoming Democrats. There's a dinner banquet at 7 that night. Tickets are $100 and, yes, proceeds go to you-know-who. It's important to raise funds in this election season. So much at stake. There's the presidential race, and all three of our Congressional seats are up for grabs. Then there are the state and local races. However, our budget won't bear a pricey lunch and a pricey dinner. One of those (probably dinner) Chris and I will be downtown at the Thai joint. Ain't it just like those elitist Democrats to eat foreign food!

Early registration (by May 15) is $25 for delegates and $15 for alternates. For info, call 1-800-729-3367.

Trauner raising money, making waves

The Trauner for Congress Campaign released its first quarter 2008 fund-raising numbers on Tuesday and they look pretty good.

Trauner reported raising $256,426 with cash on hand of $550,502. Of the money raised this quarter, 98 percent of the contributions came from individuals with more than 350 Wyoming donors.

"I am very grateful and proud of our fundraising efforts. People across our state are showing they believe the time is now for a new direction," Trauner said. The money raised this quarter brings total donations for this campaign cycle to $623,614 with over 500 Wyoming donors to date. The campaign set a goal of 500 Wyoming donors by March 31st and exceeded it.

As you may recall, Trauner, a businessman and Democrat from Wilson, came within 1/2 of 1 percent of beating six-term incumbent Barbara Cubin in 2006. Cubin's had enough and now is retiring. Trauner says he will continue where he left off, knocking on as many doors across the state as he can. He's a tireless campaigner and a great candidate. His Republican competitors have been a little slow keeping up in the fund-raising department.

Records from the Federal Election Commission reported in the Casper Star-Tribune showed that former State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne had a first-quarter fund-raising total of $168,000, $67,000 of it her own money.

Mark Gordon, a rancher and businessman from Buffalo, contributed $297,000 of his own money to a first-quarter total that topped $410,000. Gordon apparently has spent most of his money on TV commercials that dwell on illegal immigration, a non-issue to Democrats but the favorite paranoid delusion of the Rapture Right.

These Republicans like to put their money where their mouths are. I guess that’s a good thing, if you have extra in the bank, but it’s not always wise – look what happened to poor Mitt Romney.

Republican Bill Winney of Sublette County raised $5,650 this quarter, and state Rep. Dan Zwonitzer of Cheyenne, generated $9,275.

No word from the Repubs how many of their donations come from individual donors in Wyoming.

UW Habitat sponsors "Shanty Town!"

What a great idea in a time of a sinking economy and a record rate of house foreclosures. Flashback to the 1930s! And all for a good cause, one I worked at during the 1990s here in Cheyenne.

The Boss endorses Sen. Obama

Over at Daily Kos this morning, bloggers are talking about Sen. Obama's latest endorsement. It comes from Bruce Springsteen in a letter to his fan on his web site. Here's an excerpt:

After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.

Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.

To read it all, go to http://brucespringsteen.net.

Republicans grumpy on Tax Day

Today is tax day. I mailed mine this afternoon along with a check. A small check, but still a check. I'm not exactly overjoyed to do my taxes. I'd rather get a refund than write a check, but the golden mean in taxes is to get as close to a zero balance on line 76 as possible. I'm getting very close.

April 15 is also the day that Republicans traditionally complain about high taxes and big government. Maybe it was cute during the Reagan years, when the Repubs were outnumbered in Congress and their only friend was in the White House. But not now. For six years, they've owned The Big White House, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House. Not to mention the Supreme Court and the Fourth Estate, at least the MSM variety.

So whose fault is big gubment in 2008? Bill Clinton, probably, or maybe FDR and all of his free-spending New Deal projects. The Democrats in Congress pre-1994, when Newt & Co. drafted the Contract with America and began to reduce spending in so-called entitlement programs while it increased welfare for the rich.

Now we have one trillion dollars spent in Iraq with much more to come, especially if McCain is elected. His big idea for an economic stimulus plan? Give all Americans a gas-tax holiday this summer. This would remove the 18-cent federal tax on gasoline for an as-yet-to-be undetermined amount of time. How will the tax revenue be made up? We will probably borrow more from anti-democratic Saudi sheiks, dig ourselves a deeper hole than we already inhabit. And McCain wants to make Bush's tax cuts for the rich permanent. How will he pay for his 100-Year-War in Iraq? Borrow, borrow, borrow. Deficit spending. Hey -- I thought only Democrats did that. But wait. Bill Clinton left office with a budget surplus and George W. Bush couldn't wait to run up the bill.

I heard Wyoming's U.S. Sen. John Barrasso on the radio this evening. He bemoaned high taxes and big gubment. He said that the tax code was too complicated and that Americans spend up to 30 hours doing the paperwork. They could be doing other things with their time. Watching "Survivor," for instance, or reading this blog. I may have spent 20 hours on tax preparation. I learned a little about the complicated tax code. Every once in awhile I'd think about how my taxes are used. War in Iraq. Bloated defense budget. Big ships for the U.S. Navy to use against the dreaded al-Qaeda navy. Subsidized no-bid contracts for Cheney's pals at Halliburton.

I'm just being a nattering nabob of negativity. Taxes also pay for roads, education, national parks, Medicaid, worthwhile military uses (such as the National Guard), historic preservation, and many other worthwhile causes. In high school civics classes, I learned that citizens don't necessarily get to pick-and-choose those programs it wants to fund. We elect people that we think will do the best job -- and trust them to do it. If they don't, we can vote against them next time. That's a bit simplistic. Adults know that we don't always get our way. So you just work harder. As we used to say on my old ship, the N.S.E.A. Protector: "Never give up! Never surrender!"

Happy Tax Day!

Snowpack may signal break in the drought

It was a long winter. A long, snowy winter.

But that’s good news for Wyoming. The AP reports that mountain snowpack in the state is above average for this time of year. The drainages that most impact the southeastern quadrant of Wyoming are the Upper North Platte drainage and the Little Snake River drainage in Carbon and Sweetwater counties. Snow-water equivalents are 115% and 130% of average, respectively. That means that reservoirs in our neck of the high prairie may be full this year, something we haven’t seen during the past five or six years of drought.

Up in Yellowstone country, record amounts of snow have fallen thus far. The summit of Jackson Hole ski mountain measures more than 600 inches. So much snow fell in Yellowstone that two of the bulldozers used by road-clearing crews have broken down. More than 100 inches of snow were measured at Yellowstone’s southern entrance in March.

All this moisture will make Grand Teton and Yellowstone even more spectacular this summer. Normally you’d think that would bring out even more tourists, but who knows, with gas prices the way they are. The big snow may also bring big spring floods, depending on how warm it gets in April and May.

In Laramie County, the long drought caused the city to begin summer watering restrictions, something many Rocky Mountain cities started long ago. Cheyenne also recycles water to use on its ballfields and parks, which has saved a lot of water as reservoirs dipped to dangerously low levels. Cheyenne also purchased a large swatch of property west of town along with its water rights.

My lawn is way too big. It came with the house, which is how that usually works. I’m gradually replacing it with rocks. This will keep down on the water usage and the mowing, which also requires energy (mine and that provided by refined Saudi oil). I’ll keep a small greensward for summer bocce ball and games of catch with the youngster and her pals. I sometimes lie out on the cool grass at night and watch the meteor showers.

Bill Luckett named new WyoDems director

Congratulations to Bill Luckett, the new executive director of the Wyoming Democratic Party. The news was announced today by State Chairman John Millin. Bill has worked as the party's communications director since August 2005. You may know him as the guy who put thogether those very useful and entertaining daily news digests for the state party's blog. I was wondering why there's been no new news for the past few weeks. Now I know.

Here's a Millin quote from the press release:

"Bill has done an outstanding job as our communications director for nearly three years, and I expect that he will continue his good work as our executive director. Bill has worked on the front lines of Wyoming politics for nearly a decade. His experience, in addition to the relationships he has built with Democratic Party stakeholders across the state, will be valuable assets for the party as we head further into the 2008 election season and beyond."

The 35-year-old Luckett covered politics for six years with the Casper Star-Tribune. In 2005, the Sheridan native and UW grad joined the Wyoming Democratic Party as its communications director.

Here's a quote from Luckett:

"It has been many years since we've seen the kind of excitement and enthusiasm in Democratic Party politics in Wyoming that people are showing this year. We will work to capitalize on this momentum and put up a slate of candidates who will appeal to the best instincts of the people of this great state."

Art Spiegelman in Laramie April 30-May 1

During a trip to Orlando a few years ago, I was waiting for my sister to get off work so I wandered over to Rollins College. It's one of those bucolic and pricey southern liberal arts colleges, one with its own waterskiing lake. It also has a great art museum. When I visited, it was displaying artwork by Art Spiegelman, author of the illustrated novel Maus. I hadn't yet read the Pulitzer prize-winning book but was fascinated by Spiegelman's drawings and the story behind the book, which features Jewish mice and Nazi cats.

I'll have a chance to talk to Spiegelman when he comes to the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie April 30-May 1. The comic artist will give a lecture, "Comix 101," at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 30 at the Cavalryman Supper Club, 4425 S. 3rd Street (Hwy. 287). Afterward, he will answer questions from the audience. The event is free and open to the public. On Thursday, May 1, from noon-1:30 p.m., Spiegelman will discuss his work at the Cavalryman. This is free, but seating is limited. For tickets, call 721-2580 ext. 5456 or email albypr@will.state.wy.us.

In advance of Spiegelman's visit, on Wednesday, April 23, 5 p.m., the Albany County Public Library in Laramie will host a book discussion of Maus, led by Dr. Clifford Marx of the UW English Dept. To sign up, contact Kathy Marquis at kmarquis@will.state.wy.us. UW Libraries will provide free copies of Maus for the discussion.

In 2005, Time Magazine named Art Spiegelman one of their "Top 100 Most Influential People." He is credited with inventing the modern graphic novel. In 1980 he and his wife Françoise Mouly founded the acclaimed avant-garde comics magazine RAW. In 1992, Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus. Maus II continued the remarkable story of his parents' survival of the Nazi regime and their lives later in America.

From 1993-2003 Spiegelman was a staff artist and writer for The New Yorker, where he produced some of the magazine's best covers, including the stark black-on-black memorial of the World Trade Center. That image appears again on his book In the Shadow of No Towers (2004), about the 9/11 attacks and their aftermath. It was selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2004, and has appeared on many bestseller lists.

Spiegelman's visit to Laramie is sponsored by the Wyoming Arts Council, where I work, the UW MFA Program in Creative Writing, the Wyoming Humanities Council, UW Libraries, UW Office of the President, UW Art Department, Albany County Public Library Foundation and the Laramie Jewish Community Center "in memory of UW Political Science Professor Dr. Fred Homer."

In the fall, the Albany County Public Library will hold a series of discussions of graphic novels with Jewish themes, including work by Spiegelman, Will Eisner and Harvey Pekar. To sign up, contact Kathy Marquis at kmarquis@will.state.wy.us.

Future Wyoming still a place to hide out

In 100 years, humans will be on Mars and the U.S. is divided into West Coast "Rim" states (as in "Pacific Rim"), the Union in the northeast, where the U.N. seems to hold sway, and Jesusland, which is basically what coasters now refer to as "flyover country." You state may be a part of Jesusland. Wyoming is, and so are the Rocky Mountain states, the Midwest and -- of course -- Dixie.

This is the future world in Richard K. Morgan's "Thirteen," which in the book cover is rendered as TH1RTE3N. Pretty clever. A "thirteen" is a variant human, one who has been bred with enhanced fighting skills, an overload of testosterone and a shortage of conscience. Because the male population of what used to be the USA has been feminized, there's a need for thirteens to fight wars and kill the infidel. Problem is, when the infidels are gone, the thirteens come home to kill their countrymen/women. Kind of like a swarm of Timothy McVeighs, but with more muscle. So the authorities round up the thirteens and send them to Mars. Carl Marsalis is an exiled thirteen who comes back to Earth and finds work as a detective who tracks down other recalcitrant thirteens and kills various bad guys. Good work if you can get it.

But then he stumbles upon a super-secret plot to breed a new strain of thirteens. But the plotters realize that they need to find a remote place to corral these newbies. It's got to be some place in Jesusland, where the laws are lax and prisons are the growth industry. Guess which state is chosen for the internment camp? Yes, Wyoming. But then the plotters have to cover their tracks so they send in a unit to Wyoming to kill the new breed. Nobody notices because it's Wyoming, deep in Jesusland.

Marsalis stumbles upon this and then has to go after the plotters. His love interest (yes, thirteens can fall in love) is killed by a Haag gun in the process, a weapon with rounds that cause the immune system to fail once they enter the body. Then Marsalis is really pissed. Lots of people die, and most of them deserve it.

The book was a bit long for my tastes. Could have been a 100 pages shorter. But it was a fascinating read. It's interesting how Wyoming has become shorthand for "a wild and desolate place." Not only can two cowboys find a love nest on Brokeback Mountain, far from prying eyes, but a government cabal can stash a bunch of variant humans there and then kill them without anyone noticing. So, not much has changed from the time, 100 years in our past, when Butch Cassidy and his gang robbed trains and then disappeared into Hole-in-the-Wall. I thought Wyoming's energy boom was going to double our population and make it harder for variants to hide out? Burst my bubble.

Philip K. Dick's novel, "The Man in the High Castle," used Wyoming as the lair of the title character. In the novel, the Axis Powers have won World War II (or have they?) and the Japanese run the West Coast (Rim?) and the Germans rule the East Coast. Flyover Country in the Rocky Mountains is once again the site of malcontents and people with strange powers.

Any other books you know that feature Wyoming in this role? Idaho? Montana? I'd put Colorado into the mix, but the remoteness of some of its parts is rendered obsolete by the existence of the sprawling Denver metro area.

What say, readers?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

One of the great things about my job is that I get to drive long distances to go to a meeting and then drive home again. That doesn't sound like a positive thing, does it? But long drives in (sometimes) adverse weather conditions allows me to do some of my favorite things: listen to audiobooks and various far-flung radio stations; watch the weather; marvel at the landscape; and drive.

On Monday's trip from Cheyenne to Casper and back again, I drove through blowing snow, driving rain, and barrages of hail. In the morning, low clouds hugged the ground when I left Cheyenne. I finally emerged into the sun somewhere around Douglas. On the way south in the afternoon, I drove into towering storm clouds that must have been visible from 100 miles away. I swear I saw a funnel cloud dip from the dark trailing edge of the storm. But I could get nothing about tornadoes on the radio. The ink-dark wedge-shaped cloud must have been my imagination.

Wyoming Public Radio now has its signals all around the state. When I moved to Wyoming in 1991, you were lucky to get a signal once you left town. Now transponders across the state beam WPR into your car even when you're somewhere between Jeffrey City and Rawlins.

So, on Monday's trip, I tuned into Morning Music on WPR and then over to Progressive Radio out of Denver or Boulder or Aurora or one of those places in Colorado's Front Range Metroplex. Jay Marvin is on early in the morning, followed by Ed Schultz. Mr. Schultz recently got more than his allotted 15 minutes of fame when he called Sen. John McCain a warmonger at a North Dakota political rally. Repubs got all crazy when they heard it. How could John "We'll Be in Iraq for 100 Years" McCain be considered a warmonger? How could the man who once opposed torture now be in favor of it? How could the point man of the "Straight Talk Express" now be talking out of his ass when it comes to Iraq? How could the guy who supports Bush's war effort 110 percent be called a warmonger?

On Schultz's Monday morning show, caller after caller supported the talk show host. Don't apologize to anyone, they said. Stand by your guns! Schultz urged those who thought he was wrong to call McCain a warmonger to call him up and say so. A great silence was heard across the land. Not a single wingnut called to lambaste Schultz. Maybe they did later, once I tuned into my audiobook, "FUBAR." Brought to us by the folks at Majority report, "FUBAR" goes into detail about the Rapture Right's plans for our future. As it turns out, the only people with a future are those who have been born again. Liberals -- especially liberal bloggers -- will spend eternity in a lake of fire. Before the Rapture, we will be treated to life as imagined by Pat Robertson and his ilk. A land where birth control and free speech and libraries will be forbidden. In other words, hell on earth. The lake of fire might be the preferred alternative.

After awhile, I just had to tune in some R.E.M. or Wilco or Bruce and just mellow out. Watch the snow come swirling out of the dark clouds. And drive.

Wherever you go, there's Floyd Esquibel

I can't go anywhere in Laramie County without running into Rep. Floyd Esquibel. He's a regular at all the usual Democratic Party meetings and receptions and picnics. In his 12 years as the representative from House District 44, he's served on almost every key committee. So, his face is in the news every other day during the annual session talking about health care and school funding and Real I.D. He's on Governor Freudenthal's Mental Health Advisory Board and the board of the Wyoming Health Council. Not surprisingly, he's a staunch health-care advocate, noting with alarm that 20 percent of the state's population is without health insurance.

I see Floyd often at the public library. He's a dedicated reader -- and also serves on the Laramie County Library board. He's downtown during the summer's Frontier Days parades. I run into him at the city's Super Day celebration and Juneteenth and Cinco de Mayo. He's a big arts supporter, and he and his wife attend the symphony and local theatre productions.

Floyd has just announced that he's running for the state Senate seat in District 8. I'd vote for him in the August primary if I was in his district. But I'm not. Still, if there's an issue that I need info on, he's the one to see. An approachable legislator, which is not a rarity in this state, but also an active participant in the community. So, I'm not imagining the fact that Floyd is everywhere I go -- he really is.

Matchbox Twenty spurns Frontier Days

The big news in Cheyenne this morning is about Matchbox Twenty cancelling its July 18 Cheyenne Frontier Days concert. The reason, apparently, is that the rodeo at the center of CFD (a.k.a. "Daddy of ‘em All") abuses its animals. I say "apparently" because the only source willing to talk on the record is the animal rights group SHARK – Showing Animals Respect and Kindness. SHARK is the group that filmed a PRC staffer shocking animals in the chutes at last year’s CFD. That caused quite a stir around Cheyenne. CFD is such a sacrosanct institution that even a hint of criticism is seen as heresy. It’s usual response is that it brings millions of dollars in tourist revenue to the city for ten days each July. It does. That doesn’t mean it is beyond criticism and that it shouldn’t be accountable for its actions. It that was the case, well, CFD would be no better than the Bush Administration.

The Matchbox Twenty will be big news in Cheyenne today but will fade away tomorrow. My wife and I were planning on buying tickets. We go to at least one CFD concert each summer. We’re usually involved in the "Old-Fashioned Melodrama" at the Historic Atlas Theatre where I sometimes serve as emcee and Chris volunteers as a waitress. My teen daughter has worked backstage. The melodrama raises lots of money for its sponsor, the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players. Without the tourists that CFD brings in, the theatre group (almost 80 years old) would have to look for another source of funds. It’s only official link with the CFD organization is that the melodrama is featured in the official program and gets a float in the parade. Does the melodrama bear any responsibility for what happens at the rodeo? No. Do I, as a Cheyenne resident, bear any responsibility? Not really, but I do have a voice and a blog and can approach the topic in an open forum. Yes, I’m a flaming liberal with some quirky Western traits. So, I'm not automatically an animal rights activist. I show all my domesticated animals kindness and respect. I don't go to the rodeo. Yet, I grill steaks on my gas grill each summer and cook a mean beef chili for fall football games.

So how far does our responsibility go as citizens? Here’s what SHARK President Steve Hindl said in a press release: "As long as CFD is going to include egregious animal abuse, it will have to find entertainers who simply don’t give a damn about compassion."

That’s a pretty tall order. On its home page, CFD makes statements condemning animal abuse. I bet that most of its committee members do give a damn about compassion. But they definitely don't like the bad publicity. Maybe it's time for them to take a closer look at their policies.

Obama supporters needed for Pa. calls

Do you have a spare hour during the next two weekends to call your Democratic brethren and sistren in Pennsylvania to urge them to vote for Barack Obama in that state's ultra-important primary?

Local Obama coordinator Sara Burlingame invites you to a phonebank on two Saturdays, April 19 and 26, noon-7 p.m., at the Allen Methodist Chapel, 917 W. 21st St., Cheyenne. It's located on 21st just west of Snyder Ave.

To register, go to http://my.barackobama.com/ and click on Find an Event on right sidebar. Enter your zip code, and up comes info about the phone bank. Click on that, register, and you’re in.

See you there....

Time to get involved in the voting process

Absentee voting began March 27 in Laramie County for the 1 percent Specific Purpose Optional Tax. The turnout should be pretty good as it’s all about the money. We’ll be voting for items large ($55 million Cheyenne recreation center) and small ($60,000 to replace the sprinkler system at the Pine Bluffs cemetery).

This is only the first vote of three this year. Here’s the full schedule from the Laramie County Clerk’s office:

May 6: Specific Purpose Tax Election
May 15-30: Filing period for City, County, and State Offices
July 10: Start Absentee Voting for Primary Election August 6-25 Filing Period for School Board, Community College Trustee, and Special Districts.
August 19: Primary Election
August 22: County Canvassing Board Meets
September 25: Start Absentee Voting for General Election November 4 General Election
November 7: County Canvassing Board meets

If you interested in working at the polls on May 6, August 19 and/or November 4, the county clerk needs election judges. I was a judge for the 2006 elections and it wasn’t exactly a blast but I did have fun and learned a lot. We have four precincts voting at the community house in Lions Park. Judges (a balance of Democrats and Republicans) are trained to give tips on using the electronic touch-screen machines and paper ballots. We keep their eyes out for anything peculiar. We sign of on our precinct’s results and accompany the sealed documents to the county clerk’s office. Judges get trained and paid.

It seems to me that this year's state legislature passed a bill allowing election judges to work four-hour shifts instead of a full -hour day. I'll have to look that up. My jobs allows a day off to work at the polls. On each election day, we get time off to vote. This is not true for everyone. It might be easier for young people and other working people to get four hours off to work at the polls instead of an entire day. You might be tempted to let the retired folks do the work. They already do! They welcome judges and poll watchers and others under 65, even Baby Boomers like me. The last I heard, citizens in the age range 18-65 are allowed to vote and be involved in the election process.

If you're interested, call County Clerk Debbye Lathrop at 307-633-4268.

Obama addresses clean coal at Mont. event

This morning's AP story about the Barack Obama rally Saturday in Missoula opened this way:

Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday he supports environmentally-sound ways to use coal and promised to appoint a high-level adviser on Indian issues if elected president.

Obama acknowledged his support of clean-energy technology might worry voters in a region that produces lots of coal.

"I know Montana's a coal state. My home state, Illinois, is a coal state, but we've got to make sure that we are investing in technologies that capture carbon because we can't sustain the planet the way that we're doing it right now," Obama said, speaking to 8,000 people at a college arena. "Look at this incredible landscape around you. We've got to pass that on."

Sen. Obama said basically the same thing during his speech in Laramie March 7. Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal was in the audience, and it probably pleased him that Obama was speaking about issues important to the West. He has since endorsed Obama for president. We're still trying to figure out cost-effective technology to remove greenhouse gases from coal-burning plants. Let's face it -- we have plenty of coal to burn and just need a crash program to clean or sequester or otherwise render emissions harmless (or a lot less so).

Sen. Obama also talked about other issues important to us dwellers of the Rocky Mountain states. Personal freedoms, for one, and Native American issues, for another. He also talked about his plans to end the Iraq War once he takes office. He can't do that soon enough.

The question remains: can Obama win in MT-UT-ID-WY? He has a much better chance than Hillary, but I fear that the Republicans may take Independents with them into the McBush -- I mean McCain -- camp come November.

Cheyenne mayor to run for third term

Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker announced Friday that he's going to run for re-election. If successful, this will be his third term as mayor of Wyoming's capital city. He unseated incumbent Leo Pando in 2000 and breezed to a win in 2004.

Will I vote for him? Probably. It's had to argue with his long list of accomplishments. Tops on my list is the new public library (shown in photo), which was okayed five years ago in a special election for the sixth-penny sales tax. The first time the library was on the ballot, it was rejected by county voters (but not by me). The mayor and library director Lucie Osborn went back to the drawing board and came up with a better plan. Many of us were out in force before the election leafleting neighborhoods and talking to voters. My wife, 10-year-old daughter and I spent several Saturdays this way. I walked one neighborhood with the leader of a local home-schoolers coalition. She's a fundamentalist Christian, homeschooling her kids for religious reasons, but can't get that job done without the library. We talked education instead of religion.

The library opened last September during Cheyenne's book festival. It's a beautiful place and it's always busy. A real community center, and recently selected as one of "The USA's Top Ten Libraries" by USA Today.

If that was Spiker's only accomplishment, that would almost be enough for me. But he has a long list, one he outlined yesterday in his "State of the City" address to the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce. According to the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, his theme was "Cheyenne: Community of Choice." Not sure what that means, but it's backed up by an impressive list of items he's checked off on his to-do list.

The city purchased the Belvoir Ranch and its water rights and the Taco John's Events Center (first order of business -- change the name). It built a training center for the city's fire and rescue teams, and now all fire engines carry a paramedic on board. Downtown was renovated with the Cheyenne Depot Plaza and an attractive parking garage. The city coaxed Wal-Mart to build a huge distribution center west of town. Lots of jobs gained in that deal. In 2009, the National Center for Atmospheric Research will start building a supercomputer facility in the North Range Business Park. That will bring some high-level research staff to the city, and quite a bit of national visibility. It probably won't transform Cheyenne into Silicon Valley, but it does signal a shift from service/retail industry jobs to higher-paying R&D jobs.

Houses, schools, and restaurants are being built. Little America, located at the confluence of I-25 and I-80, ain't so little any more. A few weeks ago, I toured its new convention facility and it's spacious and nice and expensive. Spiker and city planners want to transform the corridor between Little America and downtown into "an attractive entrance to Cheyenne." Right now, that entryway is a concrete slab straddled by the railroad on the south side and truck stops and car dealerships on the north. The city wants to dress it up. A new median with trees and Xeriscaping would be a huge improvement. Not much you can do with the railroad, as it's big business in Wyoming. When I drive by, I admire the creative graffiti applied to the train cars by young artists from coast to coast.

There are some bones I have to pick with Mayor Spiker. Why so intent on building the new recreation center? This 17,000-foot, $55 million facility is on the May sixth-penny ballot. I wish the city had worked more closely with the YMCA and privately-owned workout facilities to determined the needs. In his speech yesterday, the mayor bragged about "partnerships." Hizzoner and staff did not seek partnerships in this arena. There are public-private partnerships all over the country between parks & rec departments and YMCAs. I'm a pro-growth guy, but I may vote no on this amenity. As in the first library plan, it needs further refining. (I admit to a bias on this subject because my wife Chris works at the Cheyenne Family YMCA.)

I always am noticing the rough state of the roads in Cheyenne. To be fair, we are just entering the official orange-cone season. I won't mind the detours and delays if the road's getting fixed. I travel around the state a lot during orange-cone season, and delays are inevitable. I'm used to it.

And this past winter, the streets were not cleared promptly. In the Rocky Mountain West, where snowstorms are inevitably followed by sun, we joke that most snow removal is done by the solar method. Many cities depend on it. That's true for Denver and Fort Collins, both cities in Colorado where I've lived through multiple winters. But over-reliance on the solar method of snow removal can be hazardous to your political future. Just ask former Denver Mayor Bill McNichols, a hard-charging progressive mayor who was undone by a blizzard.

All that said, I'm pretty sure I'll vote again for Mayor Spiker. Filing period for candidates is May 15-30. Let's see who his competition turns out to be. Then I'll make up my mind.

The Fix is on to hummingbirdminds

On March 21, Chris Cizzilla of the Washington Post's political blog The Fix, asked readers to nominate their favorite political blogs from each state. The first round of suggestions included such top-notch blogs from the West as Square State from Colorado, 4&20 blackbirds from Montana, and Heath Haussamen from New Mexico. Nothing from Wyoming. Not even a tumbling tumbleweed.

Ten days later, Cizzilla was getting desperate. No nominees yet from Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas and Wyoming. But on April 1 -- Eureka! -- hummingbirdminds was added to The Fix list.

We're humble. I should say that I'm humble, since this is a one-man show. I'm a writer and a political junkie. I logged on to Blogger in 2001 but didn't make my first post until 2005. I've been at it ever since. I like blogging because it allows me to be writer, editor and publisher of my own work. I've never made a nickel from my blog, but I've ranted a lot -- and made my passions and biases known to the electronic universe. I've never been shy about that. But it does take a bit of recklessness to be a prog-blogger from one of the most conservative states. Maybe I should say one of the most libertarian states in the U.S. Conservatism in the Bush era has been equated more with fundamentalist right-wing dogma that it has with pragmatism. Wyoming has its reactionaries, to be sure, but the majority of people I know in this state are of the live-and-let-live variety. And that's the way I like it.

Here's a toast to those blogs that have shown me the way. Montana's Left in the West and 4&20 Blackbirds. Daily Kos and Crooks & Liars on the national scene. A tip of the hat to Wyoming's new political-oriented blog, wyofile, where my old pals Sam Western of Sheridan and Geoff O'Gara of Lander are plying their opinions.

By the way -- I've applied to be the state blogger for Wyoming at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August. If selected, I'll be embedded with the Wyoming delegation. I'm sure that the WYO delegates from my county will give me grief in my possible new role as esteemed embed. But lest they forget -- I'll be watching their behavior on the streets of Denver. You know how wild those conventioneers can be.

Carter officially announces candidacy today

Gillette's Nick Carter was in town last week to talk to the Laramie County Democrats about his impending candidacy for U.S. Senate. See my March 26 post.

His candidacy is impending no more. Here's why:

Nick Carter will hold a press conference to announce his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, April 3, 11 a.m., at Wyoming Democratic Party headquarters, 254 N. Center St., Suite 205, in Casper.

Media outside Casper can call in to the press conference. FMI: Linda Stoval, 307-262-0085 or Bill Luckett, 307-473-1457.

Carter is running against Sen. John Barrasso of Casper who was appointed by the Governor to fill out the remaining term of Sen. Craig Thomas, who died in office.

Gov. Freudenthal endorses Sen. Obama

It's not exactly breaking news, but Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president. Freudenthal is a Democrat, one of a long line of Dem govs in this Republican-dominated state, our only statewide elected official with a "D" by his name. The blue-and-white bumper stickers for his 2006 reelection campaign read "Gov Dave." Chalk that up to his long last name which would gobble up valuable truck bumper space. It's also folksier, an even more valuable commodity in Wyoming.

Gov Dave said that he talked with both Sen. Obama and Sen. Clinton during their March swings through the state. He was impressed with Obama's grasp of energy and environmental issues. He has witheld his endorsement as a superdelegate for what he said was a lack of attention to Western issues by the candidates.

There's a bigger issue at stake, as the Governor said at yesterday's news conference:

"The overriding consideration is my belief that Senator Obama constitutes the one candidate in the race who possesses the skills the take this country away from the sort of vicious partisanship and anger that characterizes everything that goes on in Washington, D.C., and has led to essentially a paralysis in this country."

He's the third of five Wyoming superdelegates to declare for Obama.