Progressive Wyoming lawmakers can now look to ALICE for model legislation

ShockandAwed reports on Daily Kos that there's a new group working to provide a progressive counterweight to the ultra-conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC. The American Legislative and Issue Campaign Exchange, or ALICE, has a web site that provides model laws that move us FORWARD instead of backward. The recent election showed that most Americans are much more interested in moving ahead than moving back into a  past where women were in the kitchen, people of color were out in the fields, working people were forced to shop at the company store and children were yoked to the assembly line (or hauling coal out of underground mines). Read the rest of ShockandAwed's article here. Meanwhile, keep on eye out for ALEC-sponsored legislation in our upcoming Wyoming Legislature. You will know it by its retro conservative POV. For some of my previous posts on ALEC in Wyoming, go here and here. Read the DKos article here.

Will "contact high" be the only thing Wyoming gets out of Colorado's Amendment 64?

Many are wondering if the passage of Amendment 64 in Colorado will have any effect on Wyoming. All of us in the southeast part of the state may get a "contact high" from second-hand smoke blowing in from Fort Collins. The wind has to be blowing just right, of course. And not too hard, lest Scottsbluff and Kimball over in Nebraska have all the fun. But what else?

Meg Lanker-Simons explored the topic on last night's "Cognitive Dissonance" radio show broadcast from Laramie (and now available online). And Westword in Denver opined this week on the tourism impacts of legal marijuana. The lead editorial wondered if it was a coincidence that Visit Denver just launched a massive "Denver Mile High Christmas" advertising campaign. Westword proposed a few other tongue-in-cheek cannabis-based tourism schemes, one of which involved Wyoming:

Denver boosters are missing a bet if they don't light up a few other pot-related tourist attractions. For example...

Put a duty-free exchange station just off I-25 at the border of Colorado and Wyoming, where Coloradans can trade pot for fireworks and vice-versa. It's a smoking deal!

Read more here. Westword asks its readers to send their ideas to 
editorial@westword.com.

Wyoming should find its own unique ways to draw what may become a steady stream of young, pot-friendly tourists. First step might be our own Amendment 64. Face it, enforcing antiquated marijuana laws is a waste of time and resources. Wyoming was one of the first states to criminalize marijuana back before 1917. It could be among the first to decriminalize it. After all, if Colorado Libertarians and Greens and right-winger Tom Tancredo all can agree on Amendment 64, couldn't our Libertarian-leaning Republican Legislature do the same? This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle carried a front-page story about looming budget cuts and calls by our governor to diversify our economy that's over-dependent on fossil fuels. So let's diversify. Legalize pot and tax it. Let the money flow! And the tourists. We can become Amsterdam (without the prostitutes) on Crow Creek, with pot bars and brewpubs inhabiting all of those empty downtown spaces. Fleets of funky food trucks cruising Lincolnway!

There are downsides. Abuses will occur. People will drive stoned and get in wrecks. They will get high and fall asleep at the table. Convenience stores will report shortages of Cheetos and Goldfish. People will show up late for work. Reefer madness!

Consider what we now get with alcohol-fueled tourism during Cheyenne Frontier Days. People drive drunk and get into wrecks. They get plastered, puke and pass out in the gutter. Convenience stores report shortages of beef jerky and Skoal. People miss a whole week of work. And don't forget the fights. Lots and lots of alcohol-related fights. Stoners aren't known for fisticuffs.

Think about it, Wyoming.

Men's Journal writer Mark Binelli explores Wyoming and finds it "droughty"

Men's Journal writer Mark Binelli dropped into The Big Square States of Colorado and Wyoming this past summer. He wanted to see what the heck was going on with all this drought and record-breaking heat and cataclysmic fires and dying cattle. He's another in a long procession of coasters who have ventured West to bring reports of the frontier back to the settled multitudes. Nothing wrong with that. Mark Twain did it. He wasn't from any coast, unless you consider him a denizen of the Mississippi River coast, and he did end up living in Connecticut. But writers dropping into Wyoming to explore the curious ways of its populace has a long tradition.

So what did Binelli find? We're in the shit, climate-change-wise. Wyoming cattlemen are worried about the drought and the heat but they also pooh-pooh talk of global warming and hate the federal gubment. Nothing new about that. But Binelli does actually interview real people, as a any good reporter would. He attends a cattle auction in ultra-conservative Torrington (Freedom!) and sits down to breakfast with rancher Bob Cress of La Grange. At the auction, he overhears a couple of cowboys making small talk. One asked another how he's doing. "Droughty," says the other. Droughty -- I like that. It's funny, too, a little poke in the eye to Old Man Drought. That might tell you more about rural Wyoming than a slew of magazine stories. Read the entire Men's Journal article at http://www.mensjournal.com/magazine/will-the-west-survive-20121123?

"Tinsel Through Time" is like a Cheyenne holiday time machine

My wife Chris and I joined other state employees this evening for a sneak peek of the "Tinsel Through Time" show at the Historic Governor's Mansion in Cheyenne. Christina and her Wyoming State Parks and Historic Sites employees did a great job decorating this 107-year-old building for Christmas. Each room is dedicated to an era of the house's existence, with time-appropriate Christmas decorations. One of the upstairs bedrooms was done up in decor of the pre-war era (known as Edwardian in the U.K.). Did you know that the Christmas fad for that time called for all-white decorations on the tree? White candles, white ornaments, white star on top? The war put an end to that, what with rivers of blood being shed and all.

Post-war decor was much more colorful. Prior to WWII, Americans got most of their Christmas tree baubles from Germany and Japan. When war erupted, Americans were a little ticked so they discarded their not-made-in-the-USA ornaments for those made by Corning in New York. These glass balls were painted on the outside and hung with bobby pins due to most metals going to the war effort. Many homes had electric candles burning in the windows for sons and fathers serving overseas. This room had twin beds, and we could almost imagine that it was home to a couple of teen girls whose older brother was in the Army. Chris thought it might be the parents' room, as there was a snap-brim hat hanging on the bedpost. Maybe it's her boyfriend's hat, I ventured. This is a room for adults, she said. We then realized that we were caught up in the moment, actually believing that this was the room of living, breathing people and hot a museum display.

That's what history, well-presented, can do for you.

My favorite spot in the house is the basement fallout shelter. According to interpretation displays, First Lady Win Hickey made sure that the mansion was fortified for a commie attack with supplies for at least two weeks. It was stocked with survival kits, toilet paper, board games, coffee, battery-powered radio and a mirror. Asked about the last item, Mrs. Hickey replied that you couldn't expect a woman to go without a mirror for two weeks. It's funny to think about the governor's family taking shelter in the basement of a house that was but a few miles away from a nest of ICBM missile silos. If the shit had hit the fan, a mirror would have been the last of her worries. She may have had no worries at all, once the big one dropped.

Let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

Thanks, Randy Newman.

My father built those missile silos. I never heard him talk about building a fallout shelter. It's possible that he knew the truth about what was in store for us if WWIII broke out.

Strange thoughts for Christmas. Blame it on "Tinsel Through Time." Here are some details about it:

Reminiscence about the traditions of Christmas past with “Tinsel Through Time: Christmas at the Mansion,” a special exhibit at the Historic Governors’ Mansion, December 1-22, Wednesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

A free opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Friday, Nov. 30, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event will feature the St. Mary’s Catholic School Children's Choir, refreshments, entertainment and a free commemorative ornament to our first 75 guests in celebration of State Parks 75th Anniversary.

This year, the exhibit features numerous trees with historic trimmings and our newest collection of more than 400 antique Christmas Ornaments courtesy of Frank and Louise Cole.

The 1905 Mansion, the first official residence of Wyoming’s First Families, has hosted everyone from U.S. presidents to neighborhood children for 71 years. The public is invited to view this enchanting free Christmas exhibit.

The Historic Governors’ Mansion is located at 300 E. 21st Street in Cheyenne. Please call 307-777-7878 for more information. Go here.

Teachers are the real job creators

Democrats will have no problem with this one...

Curiosity celebrates launch birthday, keeps on rollin' around Mars

Throw in a few clumps of sage and a tumblin' tumbleweed and this might look like Wyoming's Red Desert. But this is Rocknest on Mars. According to NASA, "this is a mosaic of images taken by the Mast Camera on the NASA Mars rover Curiosity while the rover was working at a site called Rocknest in October and November 2012." Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems. On Monday, the aptly-named Curiosity celebrated the first birthday of its launch from Cape Canaveral. Happy launch birthday, Curiosity! And thanks to LeftofYou at Kossacks on Mars.

And we thought that Republicans had binders full of women

What about Wyoming's lone rep Cynthia Lummis? Couldn't John Boehner find a place at the top of the House Finance Committee for a Republican woman who served as Wyoming's state treasurer for eight years? This delicious blurb (and photo array) comes from Daily Kos: It didn't take Jennifer Bendery at Huffington Post long to figure out what 100% of the new GOP House committee chairmen have in common, as she reports in House Committee Chairs Will All Be White Men In Next Congress.

Montana leads the nation in suicides; Wyoming not far behind

The darker the state, the higher the suicide rate

The Billings Gazette began a series on Sunday exploring Montana's "suicide epidemic." Montana leads the nation in the per capita suicide rate. Last year, 452 people committed suicide in the state. While Montana has been listed in the top five suicide states the past 35 years, Wyoming is not far behind in this dismal statistic. Take a look at the map and you can see that the northern Rockies are in the "dark zone." Doesn't the outline of Montana's western border look like a sad man's face? Read the series at http://www.billingsgazette.com

Discovery of World War II internment camp letters brings back post-war Denver memories

"V" is for victory. Alissa Williams holds up a T.K. Pharmacy newspaper ad that was found in a stash of World War II internment camp letters and documents in Denver. AP Photo/Ed Andrieski.

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=59112#.ULRHAnaGFF5[/url]
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.

A young couple renovating an abandoned pharmacy in Denver's Five Points neighborhood found a hidden stash of letters and documents from World War II Japanese-American internment camps.

I missed the AP story about the find when it appeared on Thanksgiving. But saw it today at MSNBC Online. I noticed that the name of the building was T.K. Pharmacy and it was owned by Colorado native Thomas "T.K." Kobayashi. T.K. Kobayashi was my childhood doctor. My mother was a nurse who knew the doctor from her work at Denver's Mercy Hospital. I was born at Mercy, as were five of my brothers and sisters. My mother liked Dr. Kobayashi so much that she hauled us from southeast Denver to his Five Points office upstairs from the pharmacy for check-ups and immunizations and the usual assortment of maladies. If I remember correctly, Dr. Kobayashi was in the U.S. Army during the war, possibly with the famous Nisei 442 Regimental Combat Team. At least one of his partners was also a veteran, a Dr. Momei, who walked with a limp and could be gruff.

Five Points was predominately black at this time, home to the Rossonian Hotel that housed the most famous jazz club between St. Louis and L.A. Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington and Nat King Cole all performed there from the 1930s to 1960s. They also stayed at the Rossonian, since they weren't welcomed at other Denver establishments.

The T.K. Pharmacy also wasn't far away from the small Japanese-American community located in the area where Sakura Square is now situated. During the war, Colorado's Japanese-Americans were not relocated to the camps, even though there was one, Camp Amache, in the southern part of the state.

According to the AP story, Tak Terasaki, T.K.'s brother-in-law, ran the pharmacy during the war. He was reputed to be involved with group that advocated for internees' civil rights. His wife was secretary to Gov. Ralph Carr, the gutsy Republican who openly invited Japanese-Americans to Colorado during the war. That cost him his political career, but he remains a Colorado hero.

Red-lining kept people of color out of white Denver neighborhoods until the late 1960s. That was the case for both housing and businesses, which is why the T.K. Pharmacy was located in Five Points. It was a thriving business -- the waiting room was always filled. In 1960, our family moved from Denver to Moses Lake, Washington, where my father built ICBM silos. Dr. Kobayashi and his colleagues eventually bought an office building across from Mercy Hospital in City Park South. They were only happy to take the rent money of white folks, many of them physicians.

So it goes.

Dr. Kobayashi made house calls. Not unusual in the 1950s. One night in the dead of winter, I awoke in agony with a pain in my groin. My mother was a nurse but this was beyond her skills. She called Dr. Kobayashi and he came to the house. My father was not pleased, as he was a World War II veteran and, well, "Japs" had been the enemy during the recent worldwide conflagration. To his credit, he didn't interfere when the doctor came to call. I had an strangulated inguinal hernia. Not sure what the Doc did, but whatever it was, the pain stopped. A few weeks later, I went under the knife and he visited me as he made his rounds at Mercy Hospital. My mother was on duty, too, along with one of the nursing nuns. I got ice cream, I remember that. Not sure of the Doc prescribed that or if my mother gets the credit.

That wasn't the last time I was attended by Dr. Kobayashi. I had two more operations and was in the hospital twice with pneumonia before I turned 10. I was a sickly kid, but haven't spent a night in a hospital since.

What's going to happen to the letters, documents, newspapers and catalogs unearthed at the T.K. Pharmacy? Alissa Williams and her husband offered them to the Japanese American National Museum in L.A. Seems like they should stay in Colorado where they've resided the past 80 years or so. A testament to the good doctors. That's the name of one of the stories in my first collection. "The Good Doctors." It was based on the three Nisei doctors with the busy walk-up office in Five Points.

Read the AP story by Colleen Slevin here.

Alissa Williams holds up a an advertising flyer from T.K. Pharmacy at her home in Denver. The flyer from the early 1940s was found with other documents and letters during renovations at a former Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans. Some letters arriving from Japanese-American internment camps during World War II were very specific, asking for a certain brand of bath powder, cold cream or cough drops. Others were just desperate for anything from the outside world. AP Photo/Ed Andrieski. By: Colleen Slevin, Associated Press DENVER (AP).- Some letters arriving from Japanese-American internment camps during World War II were very specific, asking for a certain brand of bath powder, cold cream or cough drops — but only the red ones. Others were just desperate for anything from the outside world. "Please don't send back my check. Send me anything," one letter said from a California camp on April 19, 1943. The letters, discovered recently during renovations at a former Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans, provide a glimpse into life in some of the 10 camps where 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S. citizens, from the West Coast were forced to live during the war. They were written in English and in Japanese, expressing the kinds of mundane needs and wants of everyday life, such as medicine as well as condoms, cosmetics and candy. About 250 letters and postcards, along with war-time advertisements and catalogs, came tumbling out of the wall at a historic brick building on the outskirts of downtown. The reason they were in the wall and how they got there are a mystery, particularly because other documents were out in the open. The letters haven't been reviewed by experts, though the couple that found them has contacted the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles to gauge interest in the missives. It wasn't unusual for internees to order items from mail order catalogs or from the many companies that placed ads in camp newspapers, selling everything from T-shirts to soy sauce, said Alisa Lynch, chief of interpretation at the Manzanar National Historic Site, which was the location of a camp south of Independence, Calif. They earned up to $19 a month doing jobs at camps and some were able to bring money with them before they were interned, Lynch said. The building where the documents were discovered had been vacant for seven years when Alissa and Mitch Williams bought it in 2010. The T.K. Pharmacy was originally owned by Thomas Kobayashi, a native Coloradan of Japanese descent, but during the war it was run by his brother-in-law, Yutaka "Tak" Terasaki, who died in 2004, according to his younger brother, Sam Terasaki of Denver. Sam Terasaki was in the service then and doesn't remember his brother talking about taking orders from internment camps. He said his brother may have gotten involved because of his longtime participation in the Japanese American Citizens' League, a national group dedicated to protecting Japanese-Americans' civil rights. He said his brother's wife worked as a secretary to Gov. Ralph Carr, who took the politically unpopular stand of welcoming Japanese-Americans to the state. Some writers noted seeing ads for the pharmacy. One letter from a man who said he arrived at the Poston, Ariz., camp "half dead" addressed his letter directly to "Tak" and asked for chocolate. "I had to wait twenty hours in the middle of the desert at (illegible) Junction, no place to go, just wait," he wrote. The other camps the letters came from included Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Gila River in Arizona, and others in McGehee, Ark., Topaz, Utah and Granada in southern Colorado. Japanese-Americans who lived in Colorado and elsewhere in the interior West weren't interned. The relatively small but stable Japanese-American community that began taking hold in Colorado in the 1880s provided a support network for those forcibly moved from California to the state camp, state historian Bill Convery said. Internees at that camp were able to leave with permission and could visit Denver as well as a fish market near the camp opened by two men of Japanese ancestry. It was relocated to Denver after the war. Convery said the pharmacy could have been one of the few Japanese-American owned pharmacies in the West, since business owners on the coast were interned. It could offer products favored by internees — who had one week to pack up two suitcases and sell any assets — and they might have felt more comfortable dealing with a Japanese-American-owned company, given tensions during the war. Internees couldn't bring much to camp and they didn't know where they were headed or how long they'd be gone. "So as much as anything could soften the blow of that unimaginable situation, those businesses did what they could," Convery said. Alissa Williams has been poring over the letters and wondering about the stories behind the polite orders, including one for diabetes medicine. Her grandmother, aunt and uncle suffer from the disease and she wondered what they would do without medicine. The mother of a 2-year-old, she also thought about how she would cope in such a camp. "I can put myself in their place, they're having kids, they're sick and they can't get what they need," she said. "... But no one is complaining."

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=59112#.ULQw3HaGFF4[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Alissa Williams holds up a an advertising flyer from T.K. Pharmacy at her home in Denver. The flyer from the early 1940s was found with other documents and letters during renovations at a former Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans. Some letters arriving from Japanese-American internment camps during World War II were very specific, asking for a certain brand of bath powder, cold cream or cough drops. Others were just desperate for anything from the outside world. AP Photo/Ed Andrieski. By: Colleen Slevin, Associated Press DENVER (AP).- Some letters arriving from Japanese-American internment camps during World War II were very specific, asking for a certain brand of bath powder, cold cream or cough drops — but only the red ones. Others were just desperate for anything from the outside world. "Please don't send back my check. Send me anything," one letter said from a California camp on April 19, 1943. The letters, discovered recently during renovations at a former Denver pharmacy owned by Japanese-Americans, provide a glimpse into life in some of the 10 camps where 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, including U.S. citizens, from the West Coast were forced to live during the war. They were written in English and in Japanese, expressing the kinds of mundane needs and wants of everyday life, such as medicine as well as condoms, cosmetics and candy. About 250 letters and postcards, along with war-time advertisements and catalogs, came tumbling out of the wall at a historic brick building on the outskirts of downtown. The reason they were in the wall and how they got there are a mystery, particularly because other documents were out in the open. The letters haven't been reviewed by experts, though the couple that found them has contacted the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles to gauge interest in the missives. It wasn't unusual for internees to order items from mail order catalogs or from the many companies that placed ads in camp newspapers, selling everything from T-shirts to soy sauce, said Alisa Lynch, chief of interpretation at the Manzanar National Historic Site, which was the location of a camp south of Independence, Calif. They earned up to $19 a month doing jobs at camps and some were able to bring money with them before they were interned, Lynch said. The building where the documents were discovered had been vacant for seven years when Alissa and Mitch Williams bought it in 2010. The T.K. Pharmacy was originally owned by Thomas Kobayashi, a native Coloradan of Japanese descent, but during the war it was run by his brother-in-law, Yutaka "Tak" Terasaki, who died in 2004, according to his younger brother, Sam Terasaki of Denver. Sam Terasaki was in the service then and doesn't remember his brother talking about taking orders from internment camps. He said his brother may have gotten involved because of his longtime participation in the Japanese American Citizens' League, a national group dedicated to protecting Japanese-Americans' civil rights. He said his brother's wife worked as a secretary to Gov. Ralph Carr, who took the politically unpopular stand of welcoming Japanese-Americans to the state. Some writers noted seeing ads for the pharmacy. One letter from a man who said he arrived at the Poston, Ariz., camp "half dead" addressed his letter directly to "Tak" and asked for chocolate. "I had to wait twenty hours in the middle of the desert at (illegible) Junction, no place to go, just wait," he wrote. The other camps the letters came from included Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Gila River in Arizona, and others in McGehee, Ark., Topaz, Utah and Granada in southern Colorado. Japanese-Americans who lived in Colorado and elsewhere in the interior West weren't interned. The relatively small but stable Japanese-American community that began taking hold in Colorado in the 1880s provided a support network for those forcibly moved from California to the state camp, state historian Bill Convery said. Internees at that camp were able to leave with permission and could visit Denver as well as a fish market near the camp opened by two men of Japanese ancestry. It was relocated to Denver after the war. Convery said the pharmacy could have been one of the few Japanese-American owned pharmacies in the West, since business owners on the coast were interned. It could offer products favored by internees — who had one week to pack up two suitcases and sell any assets — and they might have felt more comfortable dealing with a Japanese-American-owned company, given tensions during the war. Internees couldn't bring much to camp and they didn't know where they were headed or how long they'd be gone. "So as much as anything could soften the blow of that unimaginable situation, those businesses did what they could," Convery said. Alissa Williams has been poring over the letters and wondering about the stories behind the polite orders, including one for diabetes medicine. Her grandmother, aunt and uncle suffer from the disease and she wondered what they would do without medicine. The mother of a 2-year-old, she also thought about how she would cope in such a camp. "I can put myself in their place, they're having kids, they're sick and they can't get what they need," she said. "... But no one is complaining."

More Information: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=59112#.ULQw3HaGFF4[/url]
Copyright © artdaily.org

Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers" opens Nov. 30

The Cheyenne Little Theatre Players opens a new show this Friday at bthe Mary Godfrey Theatre. It's Neil Simon's "Lost in Yonkers." It's directed by John Lyttle.

Here's a cast list:

Grandma - Lois Hansen
Bella - Paige Bowman
Louie - Rory Mack
Eddie - Ryan Braman
Gert - Erin Kendall
Jay - Mac Rogers
Arty - Brendan Threewitt

Here's a description of the play from the CLTP web site:

Neil Simon’s LOST IN YONKERS is a coming of age tale that focuses on brothers Arty (13) and Jay (16), left in the care of their Grandma Kurnitz and Aunt Bella in Yonkers, New York. Their desperate father, Eddie, works as a traveling salesman to pay off debts incurred following the death of his wife. Grandma is a severe, frightfully intimidating immigrant who terrified her children as they were growing up, damaging each of them to varying degrees. Bella is a sweet but mentally slow and highly excitable woman who longs to marry an usher at the local movie house so she can escape the oppressive household and create a life and family of her own. Her brother Louie is a small-time, tough-talking hoodlum who is on the run, while her sister Gert suffers from a breathing problem which cause is more psychological than physical. 

Show dates: November 30-December 16; Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30 PM; Sundays at 2 PM
Tickets: Adults: $21; Students & Seniors: $16; Children: $11
All Matinees: $2 Off
Special Discount Thursday December 6 at 7:30 PM when all tickets are $10.
Order tickets online here.

Black Friday strike by Wal-Mart workers keeps its distance from Wyoming

This is about the closest that the Wal-Mart strike got to Wyoming. Photo from Wal-Mart protest in Lakewood, Colo. See more at http://changewalmart.tumblr.com/. Click photo for larger image. Kind of ironic when you consider that the richest Wal-Mart heir, Christy Walton, lives in Jackson, Wyoming.

Proceeds from Christmas Craft Show at Cheyenne Elks Lodge 660 benefit local causes

This Saturday, Nov. 24, is filled with holiday goings-on, including the annual Cheyenne Christmas parade and lots of arts and crafts fairs.

Before you head downtown for the parade, drop by the Christmas Craft Show at the Cheyenne Elks Lodge 660 on 100 E. 17th Street. Eat some homemade Indian tacos and chili with all of the fixings for $6. Proceeds will benefit the Cheyenne Elk Run which also benefits UPLIFT of Wyoming. UPLIFT serves families who have children with special needs, notably those diagnosed with behavioral and mental health disorders. I'm proud to be a member of the UPLIFT board.

The Christmas Craft Show goes from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. If you're a crafter and need info on table availability, contact Annette at 307-635-5691.

93rd Wyoming Legislature: Group of mostly old, white Republican guys decide the fate of the state

On Wyofile, Lander writer Geoff O'Gara ponders the upcoming legislative session:

How do we get you interested in the 93^rd Wyoming Legislature, in which 90 mostly old, mostly male, mostly white, mostly Republican, mostly you’ve-never-heard-of-them elected representatives convene in the Capitol in Cheyenne for eight weeks of parliamentary playtime beginning in January? They gather to pass laws or defeat bills that will do everything from putting the State Treasury behind private industry pipelines, to dictating what question your teenager has to answer to prove she’s learning something in the eighth grade, to buying Wyoming an aircraft carrier.

Aircraft carrier in high-and-dry Wyoming? Yes, dear readers, the purchase of one was contemplated during last year's session. It arose from legislation that called for Wyoming to be prepared for an impending Armageddon (e.g., the reelection of Barack Obama). Bloggers of all political stripes had fun with that one. See my posts from last year here and here. 

Read O'Gara's Wyofile piece at http://wyofile.com/2012/11/fiscalplateau/

LCCC music ensembles in concert Dec. 1

The Laramie County Community College music ensembles will perform a "Holiday Gala" on Saturday, Dec. 1, 7:30-8:30 p.m., at the Cheyenne Civic Center, 510 West 20th St., Cheyenne.

Says a press release: The LCCC music ensembles will perform favorite tunes to help put you in the holiday mood. Admission is free, and donations will be accepted for the COMEA House.

COMEA House is the local homeless shelter, always in need of donations during the holidays or any time of year.

This proud papa will be there to see and hear my daughter's first solo.

Tea Party Slim's new bumper sticker: "Wyoming: Love it Unquestionably or Leave It"

I let a few weeks pass before bringing up the election.

"I don't want to talk about it," said Tea Party Slim.

"I understand." I finished off my pumpkin scone. "Bad memories."

He sipped his coffee. "Water under the bridge."

We sat at a small table at the downtown Starbuck's. Two weeks after the historic election. Four more years of Barack Hussein Obama probably looked like an eternity to Slim.

"Is your family well?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yours?"

"Just dandy. What you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"Wife cooking up a storm, as always. Having over a few friends. Son coming up from Denver with his family."

"That's nice."

"Yes it is. You?"

"Kids will be home. We're taking everything over a sick friend's house. She's been in the hospital but can't cook."

Slim sipped his coffee. "That's nice."

"Yes it is."

"Good thing she had insurance, and thank goodness for Medicare. There were complications."

I could tell Slim wanted to say something, maybe a comment about Medicare running out of money and maybe it should be privatized. Instead, he just said, "I hope she gets well soon."

"She's doing better." I sipped my coffee. "Wonder what the State of Wyoming plans to do about the Affordable Care Act?"

"Obamacare," snorted Slim.

At last! "State doesn't do something, get a health exchange going or something similar, feds will step in and run it."

"Federal government can't run anything."

"Not even the military?" I knew this was a sore spot, him being a veteran and all.

"Don't go picking on the military now," Slim said. "It's one thing we do right."

"I'm just saying..."

"You're not a veteran," he said. "I was protecting the U.S.A. while you were a party boy in college, buying kegs with your student loan."

"I never thought of that, Slim. I was probably too busy working two jobs."

Slim harrumphed. "Just don't pick on the military."

"Let's make a deal, Slim. I won't pick on the military and you lay off Medicare and Social Security and state employee pensions."

"Why should I pay for state employee pensions? And why should you get pensions while private sector employees don't?"

"Let's put the shoe on the other foot, Slim. Why should I pay for military pensions and the V.A.?"

"Because we've put in our time and that's part of the deal -- serve your country and you get benefits."

"I could say the exact same thing about my 20-something years as a state employee. I've put in my time, including many years without a raise, and I've contributed to the defined benefits plan. When I retire, I expect benefits."

"You can't compare serving your country with serving the state."

"Why not?"

"It's different, that's all. People put their lives on the line. You're a paper pusher."

"True. But how often was your life in danger? And how much paper did you push around?"

"It was Vietnam..."

"You were off the coast on a big ship, were you not?"

"True..."

"Were you ever actually in Vietnam?"

"Well...."

"Never?"

"We had to arm the planes that went on bombing runs. Dangerous work."

"I'm sure it was." I finished my coffee. "I don't question that. I am thankful you get a pension and can go to the V.A. when needed. So why do you want me to face retirement without a pension and medical coverage?"

"I didn't say that."

"That's what your Tea Party Republican legislators want to do."

"They just want fairness, that's all."

"Look, employers in the private sector want to pay less than minimum wage and no benefits. They get ticked off when they train people and they go to work for the state. Meanwhile, the state can't hire much-needed staff because Wyoming wages are ridiculously low and our legislature is the embarrassment of the nation."

"If you don't like it, you can always retire and move to blue-state Colorado."

"Love it or leave it?"

"I used to have that on a bumper sticker."

"I don't doubt it. Maybe you need a new one, Slim. How about "'Wyoming: Love It Unquestionably Or Leave it?"

"Not bad."

"I know another slogan that might be better."

"What?"

"Wyoming: You Can't Eat the Scenery."

MYOB: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wants to outlaw same-day voter registration in all of the "W" states

Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wants to end same-day voter registration in every state. Wyoming, of course, has same-day voter registration and it has been extremely popular and effective in electing a Republican majority to the legislature, an all-Republican Congressional delegation and an occasional Democratic governor. All of us who have worked the polls know that anyone who shows up to register is shown to a separate registration table staffed by paid volunteers who have attended at least one training session held by the county clerk's office. This time-tested system is apparently not good enough for Scott Walker:

"States across the country that have same-day registration have real problems because the vast majority of their states have poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees," Walker said in the speech. "It's difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It'd be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It'd be easier for our clerks to handle that. All that needs to be done."

Forget Mr. Walker's ageism. Forget his stereotyping of poll workers as "retirees" whose feeble minds are apparently unable to keep track of voters. Those voting days can be long and tedious, punctuated by an occasional long line and a tough question about eligibility or voting protocol. In Wyoming, poll workers can work half-day shifts, an option brought to you by legislation sponsored and ramrodded by one-time Democratic Rep. Lori Millin. In 2010, I worked one of those split-shifts while most of my fellow volunteers did not. They were tougher than I am. Maybe they wanted to stay on-site and hobnob with old friends, or maybe they wanted to eat more of Edith's yummy tamales (we eat well at the polls), or maybe they just like what they're doing and are damned good at it. Whatever the reason, a more hard-working bunch you will never see.

Perhaps Gov. Walker actually believes that Wisconsin poll workers are inferior to those in Wyoming. Perhaps we need a poll-worker Olympics to find out who is the best of them all.

Or perhaps Gov. Walker is just full of it. Didn't the Repubs learn anything from the recent election? Americans don't like it when you trample on their voting rights.

News from Limbaughland: Interview with Wyoming's own "Black Conservative Dittohead"

Newly elected Wyoming House Rep. Lynn Hutchings speaks to Rush! Read it and weep: http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/11/14/a_black_conservative_dittohead_elected_to_the_wyoming_house_of_representatives

Here's a great line from Hutchings:

I just wanted to let you know that as of November 6, 2012, I am the first black conservative Republican elected into our House of Representatives, and I have to say, a lot of it is due to being a student of your advanced conservative studies.

Advanced Conservative Studies? Dittohead 101? Hope they don't teach that at UW.

Bucking Jenny questions Rep. Lummis and her vote on Senate version of Violence Against Women Act

Bucking Jenny is one of the members of the WY Progressives' blogroll, a loose confederation of Wyoming prog-bloggers (see right sidebar). Author of the blog is Sarah Zacharias and she has penned a fine open letter to Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis. Sarah wonders why Rep. Lummis is not supportive of the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act. The Liberals Unite site has reprinted the letter and it's getting a lot of online attention. Go read it at Liberals Unite or at Bucking Jenny. While at Bucking Jenny, please make a supportive comment and contribute a couple bucks to the cause. Here's a sample of the letter:

Miss Lummis, I understand that your party pressures you to make absurd votes like this. I understand that our system doesn’t always make it easy to do the right thing. The fact is that you have to stop and ask yourself what motivation you have to vote against the Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act. Are you afraid of stepping away from the party line?

Fine letter, Sarah. It will be interesting to see the reply, if there is one. 

Laramie County Democrats gather tonight to talk turkey

The Laramie County Democrats and Grassroots Coalition hold a joint meeting tonight (Nov. 19) at 7 p.m. in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union hall, 810 Fremont, Cheyenne. When we say "joint" meeting, this has nothing to do with well, you know, this isn't Colorado!

Topics of discussion on tonight's agenda include: Nov. 6 election results; the upcoming legislative session; future plans for local Democrats; and the election of a new treasurer, as LCD treasurer Gary Roadifer of Pine Bluffs is stepping down to make time for some new responsibilities.

We had a great victory party at Suite 1901 on Nov. 6. It wasn't all fun and games. We had some disappointing losses in county commission and legislative races. We did elect Lee Filer to the legislature in HD12 -- the local paper profiled this newcomer in Sunday's edition. Way to go Lee!

The big celebration on election day was for the reelection of President Barack Obama. Romney's margin of victory in Wyoming was the second-biggest in the nation, ranking behind Utah's. That probably brought little comfort to Wyoming Republicans who had pinned their hopes of the Romney/Ryan ticket. In the end, an excellent Obama ground game and a surge of young, multicultural voters clinched the presidency for Democrats. While the Republican-dominated Wyoming Legislature discusses ways to close our southern border to swarms of Colorado potheads, LGBT activists and people of color, we will be busily studying their strategies, looking for ways to turn Wyoming purplish red in future elections.

See you tonight. Bring a progressive friend.

Meanwhile, read this intriguing article by Jack Healy in yesterday's New York Times: In Wyoming, Conservatives Feeling Left Behind.

Visions of handmade local sugarplums dancing in my head

Next Saturday is Small Business Saturday. It's an opportunity for all of us to avoid the Big Box Stores in favor of the Small Box Stores, preferably locally-owned and locally-managed places. Buy your CDs, vinyl and funky clothing at Cheyenne's Ernie November's. Give your favorite beer drinker (hint, hint) a selection of beers from Freedom's Edge Brewery just down 16th Street from Ernie's. If you can wait until the following Saturday -- Dec. 1 -- local culinary artists (chocolate-covered bacon!) ply their wares at the Winter Farmers Market at the Historic Depot. Or browse local art galleries and studios during the next Art Design and Dine on Dec. 13. You'll find a broad selection of handmade/homemade items for the arts lover on your list. Buy books by Wyoming authors at City News or directly from the writers. For ideas, see Wyoming Writers, Inc., or consult the list of writers on the Wyoming Arts Council blog sidebar.

Speaking of the arts.... Tickets to concerts and plays make for splendid holiday presents. If I was Martha Stewart, I would buy tickets to a Cheyenne Little Theatre Players show, put it in an envelope, place that in a box, put that box inside a bigger box, wrap the big box in festive wrapping and then place it under the boughs of a Christmas tree harvested in the Snowy Range and decorated with dazzling homemade ornaments, many of which are edible. Since I'm not Martha Stewart, I shall still buy the theatre tickets at the last minute and stash them in my loved one's Christmas stocking while I sip home-brewed grog late on Christmas Eve as the Led Zeppelin Christmas album plays in the background.

Check out more shopping ideas on the Small Business Saturday Facebook page. You can get free downloadable signage at www.shopsmall.com.