Dear Florida Legislators: Don't monkey around with our state parks

The Sunday Outlook section in the March 2 News-Journal included an editorial by the USA Today Network-Florida Opinion Group. Header: "Support legislation to restrict future development in Florida's parks." An excerpt: "Floridians don't want to see their state parks spoiled by excessive clearing, paving, and building." There was an outcry last year when someone in state government leaked a plan "to put hotels, golf courses, pickleball courts and other development in nine targeted state parks." That plan disappeared but now there's a bill threatening state parks in the Florida Legislature. So USA Today staff requested letters, op-eds, and photos "to remind lawmakers that they should vote to protect some of our most prized assets."

They asked. I responded with this op-ed:

Save Florida State Parks

The road known now as The Loop was uncrowded when our family first visited Tomoka State Park in September 1964. Two adults, eight kids, and a dog crowded into a Ford Falcon station wagon and made the drive along a tree-shrouded road to the park. We grew up in Colorado where you drive to a park through wide-open vistas until you get to your mountain destination where the trees were. This was a different kind of experience, almost magical. It was jungle full of snakes, alligators and armadillos.

We were kids on that first visit 61 years ago, We romped around the park. Mom warned us about snakes and we didn’t hear anything she said because we were busy playing. We went down to the Tomoka River and looked for rocks to skip along the shore but found none. But we saw turtles and imagined giant gators around the bend in the river. We knew there were creatures called sea cows under the tannin-infused river water.

What a place. “The Legend of Chief Tomokie” statue was still in fine form in ’64. Built by noted sculptor Fred Dana Marsh in 1957, the legend was based on one invented by the daughter of the founder of The Halifax Journal. I thought it was amazing, impressed that Florida had Indians too, most of them long-dead from the civilizing effects of white explorers and settlers. Over time, my brothers and I camped with our father in Tomoka and we ventured out there with our Boy Scout troop that met in Ormond’s First Methodist Church. We eventually saw many snakes and gators. Florida wildlife was amazing. The following summer, when my brother Dan and I went to our first Scout summer camp at La-No-Che near Paisley, we were told to watch out for water moccasins dropping into our canoes from the Spanish Moss-draped cypress trees. To a teen, what could be cooler than that?

Over the years, I’ve camped in Juniper Springs, O’Leno, and Sebastian Inlet state parks. I’ve floated the iconic Ichetucknee, canoed the Withlacoochee (Crooked River), and cruised the Wakulla. We spent our honeymoon on a scuba trip to John Pennekamp Coral Reef. It all fed my love of nature. When I graduated from UF and returned West for a job, my wife and I spent all of our spare time in Colorado and Wyoming state and national parks. We shared these experiences with our children; they are stored in memories and photo albums.

My wife and I returned to Ormond Beach in August. One of our first trips was to Tomoka State Park. Retired and disabled from a bad fall, I get around on an electric scooter. Much of Tomoka was accessible to me. I rode my scooter down the road to the dilapidated Tomokie statue but then got stuck in the sand. Two young mountain bikers pushed me out. They were there to ride the trails. We retreated to The Outpost near the boat launch area and drank lemonade. We listened to the birds and watched boats navigate the river. We enjoyed the day and vowed to return. We will continue doing so as long as it remains a state park and doesn’t morph into some raucous Disney-style resort.

Our daughter moved to Ormond Beach in January. A Wyoming native, she’s already explored Tomoka, viewed the manatees at Blue Spring State Park, and taken a scenic cruise on the St. Johns.

I send an appeal to the Florida Legislature. Do not despoil our great state parks with golf courses, pickleball courts, and tourist lodges. We have enough of those elsewhere. Leave us the Great Outdoors, our sacred spaces.

After the Trump deluge: One year later

Donald Trump was elected president a year ago.

With our fellow Dems on Nov. 8, 2016, Chris and I watched the results come in, first with elation and then with a deep darkness. So this is what it's come to? Our depression that night was only an inkling of what was to come.

Think about all that's happened in the past year. The crack-of-dawn tweets. The hirings and firings. The Russian links. The rise of hate and prejudice. Fascist undertones and overtones.

Trump represents everything venal and hateful about America. Trump represents all of those Americans who hurled venom at Barack Obama when he was in office. All our unhinged uncles and neighbors. Late night AM talk show hosts. Some of the more outrageous right-wing legislators currently sitting in the Wyoming Legislature. Cliven Bundy. Ted Nugent.

What do we do next?

Outrage and criticism will not derail Trump. It feels good. I get a kick out of watching Steven Colbert and SNL. It's good to know there will be a video and audio record of The Resistance. The New York Times and Washington Post do their research, keep punching away. Yet we are no more near getting rid of Trump than we were at The Women's March on Inauguration Day in January. If we get rid of Trump, what is waiting in the wings. Mike Pence? A horror-show right-wing evangelical straight out of The Handmaid's Tale.

The State of the Union is more than distressing. We can't give up. But it's going to be a long slog.

All kinds of helpful people have weighed in during this distressing anniversary. Notable therapists advise us how to cope "in the Age of Trump." Trustworthy columnists tell us not the lose faith in the system.

I already see a therapist that is no fan of Trump. I continue to stay involved in "the system." I will vote for the LCCC initiatives on Tuesday that will make our community college and community a better place. I will volunteer for Dem candidates and my community, which is basically the same thing. I continue to support good causes with money and effort. If I did not, the Trump terrorists would win. I want no part of that capitulation.

Your vote Tuesday will make a difference. The county clerk expects a low turnout, as this is an off-year election on one issue. Trumpenstein is not on the ballot. Or is he? Any vote is a blow for freedom and democracy.

Thousands of Denverites plan to go to Cheesman Park on Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. to "scream helplessly at the sky on the anniversary of the election." This kind of gathering may seem pointless but it gets people together in a common cause and allows us to vent, both good things. Who knows, you might meet somebody, as the park has been a meeting place for decades. And a bonus -- as a former cemetery, Cheesman has experience with helplessly screaming. Some graves are still occupied, as a contractor hired in 1893 by the city neglected to transfer all of the bodies before it began to be transformed into a park in 1894. For event info, go to
https://www.facebook.com/events/1969220523402820/

Vote on Tuesday. On Wednesday in Denver (or wherever), scream your bloody head off.

Calling all suffragists -- and supporters of suffragists

Democratic Women's Suffrage Celebration November 13, 2016 2-4 p.m. ~ Laramie County Library Cottonwood Room Cheyenne, WY

The Laramie County Democratic Women invite you to a Suffrage Celebration on Sunday, November 13, 2016, from 2-4 p.m. at Laramie County Library’s Cottonwood Room. The Thanksgiving Pie Social will honor women who have carried the banner of the Democratic Party by running for office locally and nationally.  This event is open to everyone. Our featured guest will be former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan. FMI: Contact Barbara, 307-634-0309 or Jackie, 307-638-6529.

What do the Wyoming Election Statutes have to say about behavior at the polls?

I just finished eating all of the leftover Halloween candy so had the energy to read the Wyoming Election Code, all 343 pages. Actually I skipped over most of it to get to the meaty parts about behavior on election day, a follow-up on my 10/31 post about possible voter intimidation. I bring some experience to this, a life-long voter who has served as both a poll watcher and election judge in Laramie County. I am reprinting applicable parts of the code here, for your convenience. I was struck by how much time and effort went into crafting 343 pages of election guidelines. As a professional writer and editor, I have composed more business-oriented documents than I care to think about.  I know how much work it takes.

A few years back, I rewrote the bylaws of the Laramie County Democratic Party. I researched the state by-laws and those of other county parties. Republican Party by-laws also have to be rewritten every so often. It's a volunteer or a committee who does the work because they believe in the goals of their party. Volunteers do most of the hard work in politics, especially in a sparsely-populated-and-few-electoral-votes state such as Wyoming, where national political parties tend to be stingy with their money. 

I look at these statutes and think about my Irish grandfather, how he was so proud to vote the first time as an American citizen. I think about all the immigrants voting as citizens in 2016 for the first time. They're from Syria, El Salvador, Egypt, Ukraine, Mongolia, elsewhere. I think about all of the times I voted and worked at the polls, doing my duty as a citizen. And I think about all of the people who don't bother to vote, which is almost beyond comprehension.

Here are the applicable sections of the statute. For your reading enjoyment, you may download these and any other Wyoming statute at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/LSOWEB/StatutesDownload.aspx. For elections, scroll down to Title 22. 

CHAPTER 13
POLLING PLACE REGULATIONS DURING VOTING HOURS
22‑13‑103.  Preservation of order; privacy of voting booths and machines.
(a)  Judges of election have the duty and authority to preserve order at the polls by any necessary and suitable means.
(b)  To protect the privacy of the voter, voting booths and voting machines shall be kept clear of all persons except voters marking ballots, election officials discharging their duties and challengers acting under legal authority.

CHAPTER 15
CHALLENGING
22‑15‑101.  Right to vote may be challenged.
Registration is evidence of a person's right to vote at any election, but this right may be challenged at the polls in the manner prescribed by law.
22‑15‑102.  Repealed By Laws 1998, ch. 100, § 5.
22‑15‑103.  Repealed By Laws 1998, ch. 100, § 5.
22‑15‑104.  Grounds for challenge.
(a)  A person offering to vote may be challenged for the following reasons:
(i)  Not a qualified elector;
(ii)  Not entitled to vote in the precinct;
(iii)  Name does not appear on poll list and the person cannot meet the requirements to register at the polls;
(iv)  Not the person he represents himself to be;
(v)  Has already voted.
22‑15‑105.  Challenged person may vote; generally.
(a)  If a person offering to vote is challenged, and the challenge is not resolved in accordance with W.S. 22‑15‑106, an election judge shall offer the voter a ballot clearly marked "provisional" and which cannot be automatically tabulated.
(b)  A person challenged on any ground may vote by provisional ballot, if he subscribes this oath in writing before a judge of election:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am the person I represent myself to be and that I am a qualified elector entitled to vote in this precinct at this election and that this is the only ballot I have or will vote in this election.".
.............................
Signature of voter
.............................
Signature of judge
.............................
Precinct and District No.
(c)  The oath required by this section shall be printed on the provisional ballot envelope.
(d)  A challenged voter may present information and documentation of his eligibility to register at the election or to vote to the county clerk until the close of business on the day following the election. Any information presented shall be considered by the canvassing board in determining the voter's eligibility to register at the election or to vote and whether to open and count his provisional ballot. The provisional ballot shall be counted only after the voter has, by presenting documentation required under this code to the county clerk, established he had previously registered and is a qualified elector or he was eligible to register at the election and is a qualified elector.
22‑15‑106.  Where name not on poll list.
A person challenged on the ground that his name does not appear on the poll list may vote if a judge of election obtains verification from the county clerk that the person is entitled to vote in that election within that county.
22‑15‑107.  Repealed by Laws 2002, Ch. 18 § 3.
22‑15‑108.  Duty of judges to challenge.
It is the duty of the judges to challenge electors whenever existence of legal grounds for doing so is known or apparent to the judges.
22‑15‑109.  Poll watchers; certification; qualification; authority; removal.
(a)  The county chairman of each political party may certify poll watchers prior to the day of the election to serve in each polling place.  Not more than one (1) poll watcher from each political party may serve simultaneously unless the chief judge determines that one (1) additional poll watcher from each political party may be accommodated in the polling place without disrupting the polling process.
(b)  A poll watcher shall belong to the political party he represents and shall be a registered elector residing in the county.  A poll watcher shall serve only at the polling place designated on the certificate.  A poll watcher is authorized to observe voter turn out and registration and may make written memoranda but shall not challenge voters, conduct electioneering activities or disrupt the polling process.
(c)  The chief judge may remove a poll watcher from the polling place for disturbing the polling place, or for any other violation of the Election Code.

Wyoming ACLU shares some tips for election day

Many people in Wyoming have already voted. I'm not one of them, as I'm an election day voter kind of guy. Not sure why really. Voting has always been a pleasurable experience, even when the results don't turn out as you hoped. It is a civic duty, crucial to our democracy. Too bad that half of all Americans don't bother to vote. Wonder how they sleep at night?

I've heard all of the arguments. It doesn't matter who you vote for. It's all rigged. Democrats and Republicans are all the same. I can't get off work. That last one is a real problem, especially for those who work hourly jobs or more than one job or don't have their own transportation or speak English as their second language. Republicans have been working overtime to make voting harder.

Here are some voting tips from the Wyoming ACLU:

Are you ready for Election Day? With less than a week until Election Day, it’s important to remember that every vote counts! 

In order to participate in the democratic process all voters need to understand the rules in our state, register on time, and show up at the correct polling place.  

Follow these steps to make sure can vote in this year’s election:

• Election Day is Tuesday, November 4

• Wyoming polls are open from 7 am to 7 pm 

• Make sure you are registered to vote. If you are not already registered, Wyoming allows qualified voters to register at the polls on Election Day. However, you must bring an acceptable form of ID to the polls for same day registration. (example: passport or Wyoming driver’s license)

•  Locate your polling place.

• Get to the polls early to avoid the rush

• Contact your Wyoming County Clerk’s office with any further questions

• Learn more about the ACLU’s efforts to protect voting rights.

We encourage all Wyoming voters to make their voice heard and vote in the upcoming election.

Voting is one of our most basic rights, and it is the fundamental right which all of our civil liberties rest. 

Sunday morning round-up

Half-awake on a January morning, I hear a lawnmower and think of summer. Then I'm fully awake and realize that my neighbor is clearing the ten inches of overnight snow with his snowblower.  The warmth of summer stays with me until I throw off the covers and begin the process of going to work on a winter morning. Certain sounds can recreate a July day. The whine of a lawnmower. The rumble as my neighbor Mike starts up his Harley. The hum of traffic from I-25 when a west wind blows. The shrieks of children playing. The drone of a small plane as it takes off from our neighbor, the airport. Dogs bark, doves coo. Late at night, I can hear that lonesome train whistle blow. The windows are wide open (no air conditioning) and the world comes in.

Javier Gamboa, Wyoming Democratic Party communications manager, wrote a thoughtful Fourth of July essay about his undocumented status and why immigration reform is crucial. It's one thing to stand on a Murrieta, California, road and yell epithets at Salvadoran children. It's yet another to actually know and work with someone who travelled the same hard road. Javier was 11 when he came to Wyoming from Mexico. He learned the language, graduated from high school and UW and now criss-crosses the state on behalf of Dem candidates. Read Javier's essay here. And then e-mail Rep. Cynthia Lummis and demand that she and her fellow Know Nothings get their butts in gear on immigration.   

So glad that I had a chance to see 1776 the movie on TCM Friday afternoon. I sat down with a turkey sandwich and switched on the tube, wondering if there wasn't some quirky, melodramatic 1940s film to pass the time between bites. Instead I got 1776, which I'd never seen, not on the stage nor on the screen. The film was released in 1972, when I was 21. Those hot and argumentative days of 1776 in Philly seemed a long way from those hot and argumentative days of summer 1972. Forty-some years later, the heat and the arguments only seem to be getting worse. But that's American history. Heat and light, substance and folly -- it's all there, if you only know where to look. Don't bother with school textbooks. All the life has been squeezed out of the stories you read about in fourth grade. Right-wing zeolots want to turn our founding fathers into cardboard saints. We lefties treat them as dysfunctional parents. In 1776, we see Franklin and Adams and Jefferson as humans. That was refreshing in its day and still is. Here's a Popwatch columnist writing about ten reasons to watch 1776 in 2014.

A final Fourth of July weekend note.... my garden, decimated by hail two weeks ago, is showing signs of recovery. My Homeslice tomato plant was sliced up by marbles of ice. One lone stem with one lone leaf  remained, but now another is growing out below. My Early Girl tomato is blooming and has at least one tiny green tomato showing. The season has been delayed but with a little TLC and a lot less hail, I will have veggies yet.

Code of the West: "Remember that some things are not for sale"

I was wondering when someone was going to make the link between Wyoming's official "Code of the West" and the rise of corporate personhood. Great column by Dave Throgmorton writing in the Rawlins Daily Times. Go to Rawlins Times opinion columns

Occupy the Courts Jan. 20 in Denver

From Coffee Party USA: 

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

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

The closest event to Cheyenne and Laramie is in Denver:

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

Occupy Cheyenne finishes declaration and plans for Dec. 10 "We are the 99%" rally

Occupy Cheyenne finished drafting its declaration today. Much work went into it -- and lots of coffee and homemade goodies. Read it at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1liMX2YbBypA86KKV5utf6DZe9k00Xg3egmIFMz1vDNc/edit. Puts a lie to the MSM's constant whining about the Occupy Movement's fuzzy focus and lack of purpose.

Join your friends and neighbors, union members and teachers, state employees and students, for the "We are the 99%" rally on Saturday, Dec. 10, noon-3 p.m. We'll start in front of the State Capitol Building on 24th Street. We'll talk a bit, hear details about the declaration, and then walk down to the Depot Plaza for a bit of sign-waving and hot chocolate.

If you're looking for some artistic assistance with your sign, drop by the Cheyenne Unitarian Universalist Church, 3005 Thomas Ave., before the march, 10 a.m.-11:45 a.m. I'm a good word guy but inept when it comes to drawing. But some local artists will be on hand to help us transform our stories and gripes and insights into pleasing placards.

For more info about the Dec. 10 events or about Occupy Cheyenne, contact Leah Zegan, 307-631-3742, or Forrest King, 307-631-6795. Also visit Occupy Cheyenne on Facebook. Reply to the invitation at http://www.facebook.com/events/263765093672372/

Morris House Bistro sells great gumbo for good causes on Nov. 26

The Morris House Bistro in Cheyenne is conducting the “Gumbo for Gifts” fund-raiser for two good causes on Saturday, Nov. 26, beginning at 4 p.m. You will note that this is also the date of the annual downtown Christmas parade. For $10, you can get a bowl of homemade gumbo (before, during or after the parade). Vino’s is donating beverages (alcoholic and non) for the event. Proceeds will go to buy gifts for children in need and food for the hungry through Needs, Inc., and the Friday Food Bag Foundation.

FMI: 307-369-1378 or morrishousebistro@gmail.com.

In case you’ve never eaten at the Morris House Bistro, you’re in for a treat. This homegrown Cheyenne restaurant features real Carolina low-country cuisine and it made right on the spot. Never had the gumbo but it’s bound to be superb.

Cheyenne's people are not exactly retiring types

Typical Cheyenne volunteers

In my previous post, I was a bit unfair to both AARP The Magazine and Cheyenne The City. Cheyenne is a great town with many amenities. Yes, it has low taxes, which makes many retirees happy. But it also has the 115-year history of Cheyenne Frontier Days, not only a Western tradition but one that depends almost entirely on volunteers.

Not every century-old event can say this.

I am a volunteer at the Old-Fashioned Melodrama, now in its 55th season. It's the summer offering of the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players, now in its 85th year. Easterners used to counting events and buildings and neighborhoods in centuries might scoff at the idea of anything in two figures being a tradition.

But just think about how tough it is to get an organization up and running -- and then to keep it running. I've been a member of organizations that have disappeared after a decade. I've participated in events that start with a bang but end with a whimper a few years later.

So, a 55-year-old volunteer-run event is a thing of beauty.

Yesterday evening, my wife Chris and I were part of a melodrama volunteer corps at the Historic Atlas Theatre. I was house manager and Chris ran the box office. Jim the retiree and Lexie the high school girl ran the concessions. An Air Force retiree and an attorney and a computer guy staffed the bar. Carol ran the 50/50 raffle table. She took a tumble recently and is using a walker. There is nothing on heaven or earth that will interfere with Carol's volunteer time at the melodrama. That includes cancer, which she's been battling bravely for years.

The sheriff is a high school teacher who also coaches the speech-and-debate team. His deputy is a Cheyenne native, brilliant actor and waiter at a local bistro. Jim the emcee works for the state and Jenny the card girl work full time and also is in the melodrama cast. Cast members are teachers and students and entrepreneurs and government employees. All volunteers.

That's what it takes the make this big event work. We represent only a few of the many hundreds who run the parades and night shows and rodeos and pancake breakfasts. We get a lot of fun and satisfaction from our activities. Hey -- CFD is one cool party. But civic pride is also at work. Speaking of work, our police and sanitation workers and firefighters and EMTs all work over time during this ten-day period. And some, in their very spare spare time, volunteer for other things. Officer Colby White is on stage every other summer as a melodrama emcee. There are many others.

Takes more than no income tax and low taxes and conservative politics to make a city appealing to young people and retirees alike.

It takes people who care.

What happened to our agent of change, our Obama?

2008 seems so long ago...

The first post on this blog to carry the label "Obama" was on Feb. 6, 2008, "March 8 Dem Caucus Could Carry Clout." Read it at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/02/march-8-democratic-caucus-could-carry.html.

I was late to the Obama cause. In 2004, I was a Kucinich delegate to the Wyoming State Convention. We lost. In 2008, I still was rooting for antiwar champ Kucinich, but switched over to John Edwards and, as Mike-come-lately, joined the Obama ranks as he started picking up steam in the early primaries.

My wife Chris was none too pleased with this. She was a Hilary Clinton fan from the beginning and she never wavered. We had some words over this. She made her calls for Hilary in one room and I made my calls from Barack Obama in another. She went out to the local community college to hear Hilary speak and I traveled over the mountain to see Obama raise the roof at the UW basketball arena. I was an Obama delegate at the Wyoming State Convention in Jackson and she was a Clinton alternate. Obama carried the day. I blogged from the convention and you can read about it here and here. I was an embedded blogger at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. You can read about it here and here.

I can be naive in my beliefs. All of us can. I have been disappointed in times with Pres. Obama but he is the clear-cut rational choice when compared with the kooks on the other side.

But if he abandons Democratic Party principles now, that's it for me. I will not be in his corner in the 2012 elections if he caves to the Republicans on The Big Three: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is the so-called Social Safety Net that we all count on, Dems and Repubs and Indies and Greens and Tea Party and even the unaffiliated and noncommittal. This will spell the end of an America that makes sense.

Life will go on. I will continue my snarky posts and my ongoing feud with Tea Party Slim. But it won't be the same. The fire will have gone out. I will putter in the garden and write the occasional letter to the editor wondering what happened to our champ, our agent of change, our Obama.

"Freedom Riders" asks: Would you put your life on the line?

An amazing documentary. My wife and I saw it on WY Public TV several weeks ago. Donate to Truthout and get a fee copy. 

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

On the day after Easter, Laramie County Dems go to a revival meeting

It was standing room only at the Plains Hotel's Little Cottonwood Room as Democrats gathered the day after Easter to listen to a local preacher.

Not a revival – but it did have some of the trappings. The crowd (me included) seemed in desperate need of reviving. We had been wandering in Wyoming’s Red-State Desert for so long. Verily, we had been lifted up by HOPE in the 2008 elections but dashed against the rocks by the 2010 debacle. And then came the descent into Dante’s Inferno – the 2011 Wyoming Legislature, wherein there was much wailing and lamentation and gusts of hate from the Republican majority.

Meanwhile, the Tower of Babel, in the form of the 24-hour news cycle, continues to babble on, scrambling our brains, making it almost impossible to concentrate on the problems at hand, which are legion.

The preacher, Rev. Rodger McDaniel of Cheyenne, offered us little succor.

Instead, he urged us to work harder for our beliefs and to care more about our neighbors.

“It’s not about the Party,” he said, “it’s about the people.”

Preachers say stuff like that all the time. Love thy neighbor. Give alms to the poor. Practice what you preach. Etc

.

Most of these exhortations go out the window when our spiritual leaders step down from the pulpit. Witness the many Fundamentalist Christian leaders who preach the Gospel on Sunday and, on Monday, lobby their senators to kill Medicare for poor people, or cheer on the invasion of a foreign country, or engage in an illicit love tryst.

Said Rev. McDaniel: “Buddhas teach by example, not by quoting scripture.”

That’s a quote from a book by Lander native Matteo Pistono, author of “In the Shadow of the Buddha.” He will be speaking at Rodger’s church, Highlands Presbyterian, in May and will also be a featured speaker at the Cheyenne International Film Festival.

Rev. McDaniel sees no division between the spiritual and the political. He says that our involvement in politics should grow naturally out of our spirituality as we ponder “something bigger than what we are.”

His spiritual and political involvement didn’t begin yesterday. His father left mining and became a union Teamster and both of his parents were diehard Democrats.

“Conversations in our home were about Franklin D. Roosevelt,” he said. “My parents thought that FDR  cared how they lived, that Democrats cared about the little guy – a term my father liked to use."

“To my friends today, that’s not so clear.”

Growing up, he admired the Kennedys. As a seventh-grader in Cheyenne, he surreptitiously nailed JFK posters to walls and telephone poles. He admired Bobby Kennedy and said that “when he died, a lot of hope died.”

McDaniel’s first political job was as chair of the Wyoming Young Democrats in 1969-1970, calling for the impeachment of Richard Nixon over the Cambodian invasion and the Kent State shootings.  He served in the Wyoming State Legislature and chaired several Wyoming campaigns for Democratic presidential nominees.  He left his law practice to move to Nicaragua for a year where he directed Habitat for Humanity operations. He served in state government and retired in November as head of the Mental Health Division of the Wyoming Department of Health.

“Now I’m free to be a good ol’ Lefty,” he quipped.

He’s bemused by his Republican friends and colleagues who seem to be shocked by his Liberal views. "Some of my conservative friends think it is so great to have the Religious Right involved in politics,” he said. "They’re not so happy to have the Christian Left involved.”

He’s disturbed why so many good people in Wyoming seem to act and vote against their own best interests.

“Why do middle-class Americans side with the Republicans on killing Medicare?”

This is especially sad when you consider that Wyoming’s lone representative, Cynthia Lummis, is a fervent backer of the Republican’s radical budget that passed the House.

“Two-thirds of the U.S. House members are millionaires, and Cynthia Lummis is the seventh-wealthiest member of Congress,” he said. “”I don’t criticize success, but the Bible says that “to whom much is given, much is expected.”

Her net worth should skyrocket under the so-called “Ryan Budget” that includes further tax cuts for the richest Americans.

The Good Reverend quoted Reagan’s economic adviser, David Frum, on the four things that the House budget would do:

1.       Large cuts immediately in Medicare for the poor

2.       Elimination of Medicaid

3.       Large cuts in domestic spending

4.       More tax cuts for the wealthy

So, by cutting services to the least of us, the most among us stand to get more and more and more and more…

“It’s a great time to be rich,” announced Rev. McDaniel.

What was that parable about a camel and the eye of a needle?

Republicans are easy targets these days. But Democrats share the blame.

“It’s been two weeks since the House budget vote, and I’ve yet to hear the state Democratic Party say anything about it,” noted McDaniel.

He believes that the message should be loud and clear: “Lummis’s vote was wrong” and “if Enzi and Barrasso vote the same way in the Senate, they will pay a price.”

He also stressed that it is important to stand up and be counted. He gave the example of the late Democratic Sen. Tino Roncalio from Rock Springs. In 1958, Tino became the Democratic State Chairman and he traveled all over hammering the Republicans.

“Sen. Al Simpson says that Tino was never happier than when he was taking a hatchet to my dad’s head,” said McDaniel. Al Simpson’s dad was Governor Milward Simpson.

We need that hatchet now. We should be taking it (metaphorically) to the head of every Republican legislator in the state.

“Who can be surprised by those votes in the Legislature,” asked the Rev. McDaniel. Those votes were against gays, immigrants and the Affordable Care Act. One thing they didn’t vote on is accepting millions in federal aid for the long-term unemployed.

The 14 Democrats in the Legislature did what they could against the Know Nothing tide. And there were some on the Republican side with moderate views. But overall, it was one of the worst sessions in memory.

But many of those legislators ran unopposed or faced weak, underfunded candidates. There were no Democrats running in two of the five state elected offices. Democrats failed to show up at the polls.

“If the Party is dead, it wasn’t a homicide but a suicide,” said McDaniel.

But there is hope – maybe even “Hope.”

“I believe in the power to raise life from the grave,” he said. “We celebrated that yesterday."

Drinking Liberally mixes with art appreciation for a hot Thursday night in Cheyenne

I'm going to miss this and am not happy about it. The first "Drinking Liberally" event in Cheyenne will be on Thursday, March 10, 6 p.m., at Shadows Pub & Brewery in the Historic Depot Building downtown. Good beers, good company, good conversation.

Here's a thought for all you Liberal drinkers -- on your way to the pub, drop by one of the fine art galleries sponsoring Art Design and Dine Thursday from 5-8 p.m. Participating businesses include Deselms Fine Art (where Wyoming Democrats' legislative reception was held two weeks ago), Rock Paper Scissors Gallery, a coop made up of local liberal artist entrepreneurs, Nagle-Warren Mansion with its basement gallery and long tradition of arts support, and Artful Hand Gallery & Studio in a house in the Avenues, run by Georgia Rowswell and family. Georgia is the force behind Art Design and Dine. She got it started and keeps it energized. For a full line-up of AD&D galleries, go to http://www.artdesignanddine.org (or click on poster at right).

Think of tomorrow evening as a chance to buy (or at least appreciate) fine art and Liberal politics. Not all art is created or sold by Liberals. But creation (small "c") is a progressive act. When you create something, you have some hope that you will be around the next day to finish it and the next day and so on. You hope that other people will be around to appreciate it. You're making a mark that may carry far into the future. Someone in the regressive frame of mind wants to spring backward -- or maybe even slouch there. Not a creative act.

Here's something progressive -- count me in for the next event! I'll be there.

Wyoming Progressives are gathering on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyoming-Progressives/145187445545047

Is this the most rigid and close-minded Legislature in Wyoming's 121-year history?

I'm not the only one who's noticed that the Wyoming Legislature has gone crazy this year.

Lander journalist and one-time Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Sniffin decried legislative craziness in a column in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. He notes that

In my 41 years of covering Wyoming lawmakers, I have never seen a group this conservative.... There are fewer women and fewer Democrats in the Legislature than almost any time since territorial days.

That's a 121-year span! Nice to see that we've progressed so far in The Equality State that there is less legislative representation now than there was in 1890. Let's see, 1890 predates the entire 20th century. Wyoming women had voting rights but women in the rest of the nation would have to wait until 1920. Full voting rights for African-Americans were 64 years away. Automobiles were a rarity, and the first flight at Kitty Hawk was 13 years away. Ronald Reagan, savior of the universe, wasn't even born yet. And the source codes for Facebook were locked up in the DNA of Mark Zuckerberg's great-great-great-grandparents.

The world keeps moving ahead. Wyoming gets less equal and more rigid. Various factors have diminished the number of Democrats. One of those is decline in union membership. Another is Wyoming Democratic Party disorganization. Wyoming has a graying population, coupled with the fact that smart young people flee their rural roots for life in the West's cities, all of which, with the possible exception of Colorado Springs, are more progressive places. More Westerners now live in cities than in rural areas.

Wyoming has a part-time legislature. Many of its members come from counties of low population and run unopposed on the Republican ticket. There is a mind meld that goes on with these legislators. Everyone I know in County X thinks this way, so everyone must think this way. And we can't forget the undue influence of Fox "News" and talk radio.

So we get bills that discriminate against gays and lesbians, anti-brown-people-from-south-of-the-border bills, We Hate Obama and His Socialist Policies laws, anti-women's-choice acts, union-busting proposals and mandatory Pledge of Allegiance legislation (see my previous post).

Not all of these are generated in the windblown hinterlands. Most, notably the anti-teacher laws, are crafted in D.C. by right-wing think tanks and brought to Flyover Country by folksy predators wearing spit-shined cowboy boots. Often our legislators are brought to D.C. to be fed this pablum and they can bring it back to Wyoming their own selves.

Bill Sniffin lays out some of the reasons that our Republican-dominated Legislature is a sitting duck for bad advice. Corporate and right-wing interests select good ol' boy lobbyists that often become the legislator's best pal. Legislators are overworked and "it is almost impossible for them to obtain impartial information with coverage of both sides of certain issues." Since big money hires big lobbyists, they are the ones who get heard.

Top advisers to the lawmakers on important issues (like severance tax, for example) are the same lobbyists whose job it is to prevent such laws from passing.

Only when there is a hue and cry from the people are these lobbyist-crafted bills defeated. Sometimes it is the minority who speaks out, as we saw with women legislators (D & R) speaking against anti-choice legislation. That sometimes is not enough. As Mr. Sniffin pointed out in this column, there are fewer women than ever in the legislature.

Maybe this session is an aberration. Wyoming, for the most part, has been known for the moderate strain among its conservatives. If that disappears from the scene along with Democrats and women and Hispanics and Native Americans and African-Americans, youngsters, gays/lesbians and other dissenting voices, Wyoming is in for its own Dark Ages.

When the coal and oil and gas and trona run out, what's left will be the creativity of its citizens. If open-minded creative voices are not heard, we are in big trouble.

2011 Wyoming Legislature up in arms about nearly everything

At least three bills targeting the U.S. Affordable Health Care Act are on the Wyoming Legislature's docket. The Legislature gets down to business Tuesday in Cheyenne. No word yet on whether members plan to mimic their colleagues inside the Beltway by spending the first day reading the U.S. Constitution (edited Republican version) or the Wyoming Constitution. This won't be necessary if the Legislature adopts a proposal by Sen. Kit Jennings of Casper (kit@kitsenate.com) that would require all holders of civil offices to take a three-hour course on the Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions. While refresher courses on high school civics might be an eye-opener for Democrats and Republicans alike, not to mention the Tea Party faithful, this bill seems like a gigantic waste of time.

Speaking of gigantic time-wasters, here are the three bills (so far) that attempt to undo national health care reform (via Joan Barron and Jeremy Pelzer at the Casper Star-Tribune):

House Bill 39: Health care litigation fund

Sponsor: Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Interim Committee.

Summary: Creates a $2 million account for the state of Wyoming to sue the federal government over the federal health care reform law passed last year.

Background: On Monday, Wyoming will join 20 other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of parts of the federal health care law expanding Medicaid and requiring that most Americans purchase health insurance.

Debate: Supporters say the health care law violates Wyomingites' constitutional rights and that the costs of a lawsuit will be cheaper than what the law would force the state to pay in health care funding. Opponents say the health care law needs to be given a chance to work and that the state has more important things to spend its money on than joining an existing lawsuit.

SJ 002: Health Care Freedom

Sponsor: Sen. Leslie Nutting, R-Cheyenne (lnutting@wyoming.com).

This bill would place on the general election ballot an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to specify no federal or state law shall compel participation in any health care system by any person, employer or health care provider.

Summary: This bill is directed at the federal Affordable Health Care Act.

SJ 0003: Health Care Freedom-2

Sponsor: Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper (charlesscott@wyoming.com).

This bill would place on the general election ballot an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution to recognize individual rights to make health care decisions and to prohibit specified state actions limiting decisions. It also authorizes the attorney general to participate in litigation to protect the right to make health care decisions.

Summary: This bill authorizes the attorney general to sue the federal government and have the Affordable Health Care Act declared unconstitutional.

As a counterpoint to this nonsense, I offer up evidence of the benefits (thus far) that have accrued to Wyomingites through the Affordable Health Care Act. This comes from a new year's message on Jan. 2 from Chuck Herz, state chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

Obama’s signature accomplishment was the health care reform that had long eluded us. It was clouded by controversy and disinformation about what the reform does. But the proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

When fully operational in 2014 "Obamacare" will ensure that millions (thousands of Wyomingites) who’ve had no insurance or insurance that covers too little no longer need play Russian roulette with family health and finances. It will secure us from having to pay for those who choose to play Russian roulette, forcing others to pick up the tab when they can’t pay. Those with "pre-existing conditions" will get coverage. Preventive care will reduce risk of serious illness and costlier care. Your insurer can no longer cut you off just when you need expensive care on grounds of some technical error. Trials of promising ways to limit costs will begin. And according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, all this will reduce, not add to, the federal deficit.

Those who attack "Obamacare" owe an adequate alternative solution to all these problems and a national health care system that has cost us far more of our GDP, and delivered poorer health results (life expectancy, child mortality, etc.), than the systems of other nations.

Here are stats for you from the Obama for Wyoming site: 9,112 Wyomingites with pre-existing conditions will no longer be denied coverage by greedy insurance corporations; 72,000 uninsured Wyomingites will now be insured; and tax credits can be claimed by 44,600 individuals, 400 families and 10,900 businesses.

That ain't hay, now is it?

Repubs know that the longer thoughtful people in Wyoming and elsewhere have to contemplate the benefits of "Obamacare," the less likely they will want to have those benefits taken away. Especially when those benefits are threatened by men and women enjoying universal health care coverage provided by U.S. taxpayers. House Republicans were scheduled to begin debate on repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act this Wednesday in D.C. That has been put on hold due to the tragic events yesterday in Tucson, when one of their own House members was gunned down at a town meeting.

The Wyoming Repubs may get to the topic before their D.C.-based brethren and sistren.

To what end? Most of the newbies in the Wyoming State Legislature owe their elections to Tea Party activists and other voters who were Simply Wildly Indignant about Nearly Everything, real or imagined (mostly imagined). So legislators are carrying out the will -- real or imagined -- of the voters.

Still awaiting word on legislation to investigate Pres. Obama's American heritage ("He ain't no citizen -- I have proof he was born in Kenya!") and his religion ("He's a Muslim -- the Internet said so"). Other zaniness is sure to follow.

Jim Hightower has a few gift suggestions

Jim Hightower offers ideas on SPECIAL GIFTS FOR IMPORTANT PEOPLE

The Christmas spirit is alive and well with my favorite liberal populist writer.

I especially like this one:

And for those teabag Republicans who got elected to Congress by demonizing Obama's universal health care plan as Big Government Socialism – how about a supersized box of political integrity? Since you oppose providing health coverage to everyone, surely you intend to include yourself by refusing to accept the socialized health care that you Congress critters get from us taxpayers. Take a dose of integrity, and you'll feel much better in the morning.

Citizens -- gird your loins for upcoming Wyoming Legislature

Know your state legislature.

A good phrase to keep in mind as we face a new batch of legislators and a Republican-dominated government in 2011.

Moderation has been the touchstone of the Wyoming Legislature during my 20 years in the state. Legislators occasionally pass a wacko law, but have spurned attempts during the past several sessions to outlaw gay marriage.

But the new Legislature will be under the sway of Tea Party politics this year. The Equality State Policy Center in Laramie says in its latest newsletter that the 2011 session is likely to bring...

another attack on setting aside Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (provided for under the Environmental Quality Act)

another attempt to change the Wyoming Constitution to outlaw gay marriage and civil unions

a proposal for a Draconian immigration law like Arizona's

at attempt to repeal basic safety requirements for childcare facilities

And I'm sure other weird proposals will rear their ugly heads. Remember last year?

In an effort to increase citizen involvement in the process, the ESPC is sponsoring its annual Citizen Lobbyist Training on Wednesday, January 12, the second day of the general session, starting at 8 a.m. at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne.

Here are some details:

Participants in the trainings learn how a bill becomes law. Experienced lobbyists who work for ESPC member organizations outline the attributes of an effective lobbyist and teach attendees how to testify before a legislative committee. Other presentations outline how citizens can get the attention of legislators and affect their policy deliberations from home. Sitting and former legislators offer their perspectives on lobbying and discuss approaches that worked – and didn’t work – with them.

The training attracts citizens from all walks of life, including students, representatives of nonprofit groups and people who simply want to learn more about lawmaking in Wyoming.

The Equality State Policy Center offers scholarship funds to help bring individuals and organizational representatives to our Citizen Lobbyist Training.

Scholarship applications will be considered from individuals and all nonprofit organizations, with priority given to groups working with women, people of color, youth, low-income, rural, disabled, Native Americans, immigrants and refugees, and gay, lesbian and transgendered people.

Registration is open until the training is filled.

FMI: E-mail it to Dan Neal at dneal@equalitystate.org.