Boomer Scouts took an oath and we intend to keep it

Here is what I have pledged and held close to my heart all my life:

The Scout Oath: "On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."

The Scout Law: "A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent."

Retro, right? My Millennial daughter tells me that retro is in (am I using that term right?) and that housewifery is in and the phrase "women can have it all" is so old and so Boomerish. The cool kids are now Republicans and the squares are Democrats. My wife and I are quite Boomerish. 

My daughter may be right. The bloviating from Trump's America makes me feel quite squarish. 

Still, I keep hearing that oath run through my head. And this one, too, the one I uttered when I was sworn in as a U.S. Navy midshipman:

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."

I was a lousy midshipman and never became an actual shipman. Still, I took an oath and obey it. I am attuned these days to those who took the oath and now ignore it. You know, enemies, foreign and domestic. But mostly domestic. 

Anti-Trump protests? Better term: We gather together to save our democracy w/u

Update 4/10/25: "Hands Off" was the official term for the April 5 protests. Sorry I forgot to mention it. Perfect label for a response to Trump & Company's hostile takeover of the USA.

I didn't attend any of our local "anti-Trump protests" as the header read in this morning's Daytona Beach News-Journal. I couldn't bring myself to gather the support materials I would need for an extended stretch in the Florida out-of-doors. I need to slather sunscreen over every exposed inch of my body to avoid the return of skin cancer. Yes, it takes years for a burn to turn into cancer and I may not be around for that future dermatologist visit but I always try to think of my long game. I'll need a hat and a jug of water. A clever sign, which I hadn't yet made although many ideas are floating around the Net. 

I also must transport my e-scooter on the rack attached to my SUV. I have to make sure it's charged so I don't get stranded on the way back to the vehicle parked at a handicapped space if I can find one. Once on site, I have to make sure there is an accessible restroom nearby and that I can get to it. My wife usually helps with transportation but she was out with old friends on Saturday.

So I didn't make it. But millions did. I loved the photos that appeared on social media. I was able to view old Wyoming friends at sites in Cheyenne, Laramie, Rock Springs, Casper, and other places. Joe Barbuto and his brave compatriots in Rock Springs endured lots of nastiness. The city was once a Democratic stronghold, back when union miners were Dems. It takes an inner fire to get out on the streets in very red Wyoming. There were opposition rallies although not well-attended since Trump needs no more help destroying our fine country. Some name calling, screams and shouts. But most responses from passing motorists were horn honks in agreement. 

I saw a video Sunday of an armed MAGA man getting out of his truck and threatening protesters with an automatic weapon. Not in Wyoming, though. Not wise in the Still-Wild-West to go around threatening citizenry when so many are armed. And these protesters were mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore as a movie character once shouted from the rooftops. Despite what you may hear in the MAGA blogosphere, the rallies were peaceful, police wisely keeping their distance lest they be branded as Gestapo wannabes. 

So Mike didn't go. Boo hoo. Millions did and that's what matters. As a long-time Facebook scribe kept reminding us, none of this matters if we don't get out and vote. It would be tempting to ask rally attendees if they voted in the recent special Florida election that sent a GOPer that not even GOP stalwarts like to a seat in Congress. Volusia County's turnout for Democrat Josh Weil was impressive. Still, the majority of registered Dems stayed home. Chris and I voted by mail. The GOP seems worried that there will be a record turnout in midterm elections. They are busily crafting legislation to keep us from voting. 

I have participated in many protests and rallies. I was an onlooker as a confused young man at Vietnam protests in D.C. and South Carolina. Later, I participated in a big way. I was so proud to help plan the Wyoming Women's March in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Inauguration weekend 2017. Some labeled it Wyoming Women and Allies March. I was part of the security detail and served the hungry at the post-rally potluck with my heart-friendly low-sodium chili. The Laramie County Democrats fed 1,200. We plugged in so many crock-pots that we shorted out the electrical system at the Historic Cheyenne Train Depot. Lukewarm chili still can keep a person warm on a chilly January day. 

Seems like ancient history now. We thought those days were behind us.

Thanks to all those who participated this past weekend. I will be there next time.

For my blogs on the 2017 rallies in Wyoming:

https://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2017/01/wyoming-womens-march-and-potluck-draws.html

https://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2018/01/i-wonder-if-ive-learned-anything-after.html

Farewell P.J. O'Rourke: The best humor illuminates hard truths

Satirist P.J. O'Rourke passed away this week. His humor writing, especially during the National Lampoon era, influenced my writing. National Lampoon gave us Baby Boomers something to read that was as cantankerous as we were. O'Rourke was at the center of the mag for most of the seventies. Then he set off to be a freelancer and author, referring to himself as a "Republican Lounge Lizard." I was entranced by his 1988 essay collection, "Holidays in Hell." I laughed out loud at his misadventures in war-torn Beirut and in Managua during the Contra War. His takedown of the Sandalista Liberals giving aid to the Sandinistas was hilarious and heartbreaking. 

The year of the book's publication, I spent Super Bowl Week in Nicaragua delivering supplies to Habitat for Humanity projects. My Liberal self was accompanied by a group of Habitat volunteers from Denver and my Republican brother Dan from Florida. The most fun Dan had that week was setting off with a couple other gringos in a gypsy cab to find a place to watch Super Bowl. He saw about five minutes of the Super Bowl (Denver was wiped out by Washington) but got wildly drunk. I stayed back at the motel and watched (sober) most of the game on a tiny TV. 

The oddest moment happened when my brother get hauled out of a so-called informational meeting with Sandinista cultural ministers. I thought we had lost our one GOPer to the gulag but he returned 15 minutes later and said he'd been asked a bunch of questions such as whom had he voted for in the most recent U.S. presidential election. Reagan was the answer, probably the wrong answer, but Dan survived the trip.

He might not be so lucky now. The current government, headed by former revolutionary Daniel Ortega, specifically targets those people who openly criticize Daniel Ortega. In September, the U.S. State Department placed Nicaragua on its highest Level 4 alert with this warning: 

Do not travel to Nicaragua due to COVID-19. Reconsider travel to Nicaragua due to limited healthcare availability and arbitrary enforcement of laws. Exercise increased caution in Nicaragua due to crime.

On the other hand, the waves are bitchin'. 

O'Rourke pointed out the ridiculousness of the human condition. You could hear him at his best on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." I sometimes bristled at his comments on Bill Maher but I think the iconoclastic host was delighted with the humorist because he kept bringing P.J. back. He had the Irish in him, the likes of Jonathan Swift and Flann O'Brien. He also had the English in him, some George Orwell from his "Homage to Catalonia" days. Orwell had his own holidays in hell during the Ethiopian War and Spanish Civil War. Later, he was at his satiric best in "Animal Farm." 

My writing has been influenced by O'Rourke, Woody Allen (his books), and Alan Coren. Monty Python, too. But the biggest influences were New Yorker humorists S.J. Perelman, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, and Ring Lardner. These city slickers knew how to turn a phrase. This suburban kid, whose only NYC experience was "just passing through," loved this work. I see it also in Grace Paley's stories. Humor transcends the telling of jokes to enter into some hard truths. And then we laugh.

Satire is not for the timid. You are often misunderstood and not understood at all by the Blunt Skulls. 

Nevertheless, he (O'Rourke) persisted.

An email from President Joe Biden

Received a nice letter from President Joe Biden. It really was an e-mail in letter format with the White House logo as a header and Joe Biden's signature below. It was a fine letter, earnest and believable as is Pres. Biden. A stark contrast to the previous resident of the White House. He was neither. Then again, I never wrote to him. I thought it would be a pointless exercise and the response, if I got one, would also be a pointless exercise. I wish that T's four years in office had been a pointless exercise but it was a daily exercise in greed and cruelty, one not so easy to erase.

I can't find my email to Pres. Biden. I probably thanked him for signing the infrastructure bill. I would like to thank him for signing the Build Back Better Bill but I may never get that chance, thanks to one retro scaredy-cat DINO in West Virginia. I may have thanked the prez for his stalwart response to Covid-19. I really would like to thank him for zeroing out all student debt but that may not happen either. I do thank him for the payment moratorium until May 1. It is a lot more constructive that requesting another forbearance from NelNet or Unipac or one of the many student loan service companies that have ripped us off for decades. A forbearance allowed them to keep adding interest to a burgeoning principal which made the debt even larger but made millions for Nelnet, etc.

Here's the text of the president's email:

Dear Mr. Shay,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.  Hearing from passionate individuals like you inspires me every day, and I welcome the opportunity to respond to your letter.

Our country faces many challenges, and the road we will travel together will be one of the most difficult in our history.  Despite these tough times, I have never been more optimistic for the future of America.  I believe we are better positioned than any country in the world to lead in the 21st century not just by the example of our power but by the power of our example.

While we may not always agree on how to solve every issue, I pledge to be a President for all Americans.  I am confident that we can work together to find common ground to make America a more just, prosperous, and secure Nation. 

As we move forward to address the complex issues of our time, I encourage you to remain an active participant in helping write the next great chapter of the American story.  We need your courage and dedication at this critical time, and we must meet this moment together as the United States of America.  If we do that, I believe that our best days still lie ahead.

Good stuff. I plan to keep in touch, "to remain an active participant in helping to write the next great chapter of the American story." You should do that too. 

Joan Didion and "Slouching Towards Bethlehem"

I was a bit shocked to find out that the Saturday Evening Post was still alive and celebrating its 200th anniversary. I know the Post from my youth, when it arrived in the mail with a new Norman Rockwell cover. My grandparents has copies of the Post and Life and Reader's Digest all over their houses. Required reading, and encouraging in an all-American sort of way. In 2021, for $15 a year, you can get six issues of the print magazine, a digital subscription and access to the online archive. I'd love to dig into the online archives -- that alone is worth the price. I will recognize many of the covers from the 1950s and 1960s. Display ads tout cigarettes, appliances, and shiny big cars made in Detroit.

I won't always recognize the articles. That was clear to me when Joan Didion's piece "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" appeared on Facebook with the news of Joan Didion's passing. It was a variety of journalism known as the long feature. She was among the coterie of American writers known for "new journalism" which blended reporting with fiction techniques. Some of you may know it as creative nonfiction or, in the case of Hunter S. Thompson, gonzo journalism. 

"Slouching Towards Bethlehem" was published during Didion's prime in June 1967 and republished by the Post in 2017. Didion dropped into the Haight-Ashbury scene on the cusp of the Summer of Love. The famous Human Be-in had been held in January at Golden Gate Park with lots of acid, hip speakers, and bands such as Jefferson Airplane and the Dead. Word about this Hippie Utopia spread and by summer, school was out and thousands of young people crowded into the city. Media, too, even Saturday Evening Post.

Didion, of course, was no TV talking head who dropped in to marvel and possibly be shocked at the ribald behavior. She was an incisive reporter who dug into the culture and found it wanting. She sets her tone with a quote from W.B. Yeats's poem "The Second Coming." Yeats' poem is much-admired for its stark symbols. It is also much abused. It employs Biblical Revelations-style symbols to warn humankind of what becomes of society's upheavals. He specifically addressed the Irish "Rising" of 1916 and its after-effects, which included a revolution and a civil war that involved much bloodshed. 

Didion's "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" records what she sees. Reading it now, I thank my Lucy in the Ski with Diamonds that I didn't bug out and go to the Haight. Sure, there was drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll, but also addiction, STDs, and poverty. Lots of teen runaways looking for adventure and a place to call home. I was 16, the age of some of the girls in Didion's piece. If I had read "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" in the summer of '67, it would have seemed as if it was happening in another world, which it was. My summer was spent in Daytona Beach. I surfed as much as I could. I worked evenings at the Village Inn Pancake House and KFC outlet. But I also had to help Mom with my eight brothers and sisters. My father was working at GE in Cincinnati. We thought we were going to follow him and move there as soon as we sold our house. My Father Lopez High School classmates even gave me and two of my peers a going-away party. They moved. I did not. We couldn't sell our house in a down market so Dad decided to accept a job at NASA in Daytona and forget about Cincinnati. Such good news. 

But what about the hippies and The Summer of Love? I thought the music was cool but was much more interested in the Motown sound. It was beach music, music to dance to at sock hops. I was keen on dating tourist girls from Kentucky and Georgia down in Daytona on family vacations, just itching to break away from Ma and Pa and meet some of the local hunks, or so we thought. The Catholic Church had ruled that underage sex was taboo and Catholic School girls were the first to take the edict seriously. But we boys didn't know anything either. That mutual ignorance was not a good thing. 

In Didion's essay, a five-year-old girl is high on acid. An older guy is turning a teen girl into addict and sex slave. Everyone is high. I've been on both sides of LSD, the experiencing and the observing. Have you ever been the only non-high person in a room full of acid heads? The experiencing can be fun. The observing, not so much. You might get the idea that this is cool and join them. Didion observed the scene and with a keen and sober eye described it to the world. She wasn't judgmental. She was known to have a good sense of chaos and what she saw was the "rough beast" that lurked within the frivolity. 

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; 

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, 

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere 

The ceremony of innocence is drowned; 

The best lack all conviction, while the worst 

Are full of passionate intensity.

Conservative institutions, such as the Catholic Church, along with cultural critics of the Right, blame the '60s for this blood-dimmed tide. There's a kernel of truth in that. 

I watched "Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold" last night on Netflix. A fine 2017 documentary by her nephew, director Griffin Dunne. I went to bed pondering what it takes to be a writer. Didion knew early on that's what she wanted to do. After college, she moved to NYC, worked for Vogue Magazine, met her future husband, also a writer, and spent her life illuminating the universal through the personal. She left a template that many writers have followed, some better than others.  

How to stop "the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II"

Just 16 days to the most important election of my time. 

My voting timeline stretches back to 1972 -- 48 years. In 1972 in Boston, I cast my presidential vote for George McGovern. He didn't win. Nixon did, and you know what happened next.  

I've voted for other candidates who came up short in the Electoral College. I've also voted for people who ended up in the White House. Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama. Pretty good record. Carter deserved a second term but Reagan swarmed the airwaves with his smarmy lies and he prevailed. I also voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016, my first vote for a woman as president. She polled more votes -- almost 3 million. But GOP gerrymandering and voter suppression, coupled with Hilary's flawed campaign strategy, doomed us to four years of Donald Trump via the Electoral College. 

The New York Times editorial board today outlined all the reasons we need to get rid of Trump. Read it for yourself, if you can get past the paywall. I subscribe because I need a newspaper of record to prove that we lived through the past four years. I could pay for other newspapers that would be almost as good: Washington Post, Miami Herald, L.A. Times. I like The Denver Post for its Colorado and regional coverage. The sports section used to be excellent. Cheyenne boasts of having the Capital City paper in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. I read it occasionally. I used to subscribe. My son delivered it through the freezing early morning hours of Cheyenne's long winters. Its legislative coverage is good and it does interview candidates leading up to elections. It covers Cheyenne Frontier Days like a Pendleton blanket. But day-to-day, it doesn't have the heft of a NYT and other big-city dailies. 

The NYT covers Trump with as much objectivity as it can. Its liberal bias is a given, although it's not always liberal in outlook. If you read today's Trump piece, you get a complete rundown of Trump's failures (a long list) and excellent reasons to vote him out. It's not as entertaining as reading QAnon posts, listening to Rush Limbaugh, or watching Fox News. Entertaining yet sickening at the same time. 

The Times board op-ed header was "End Our National Crisis." Here's the lede:

Donald Trump's re-election campaign poses the greatest threat to American democracy since World War II.

The piece goes on to list his transgressions, which are legion, and supplies good talking points to counter your crazy uncle's crackpot theories should you be able to gather with family for Thanksgiving. By Turkey Day, the election will be over but maybe not decided. Trump will not guarantee a peaceful transition. Gerrymandering and voter suppression continue. Trump asked his bully boys to come to the polls and intimidate voters which translates in Trumpspeak to "voters of color." One could almost feel as if this was an election in a Third World dictatorship in which U.N. election referees need to be called in. Jimmy Carter's election crews can't cover every polling place but they could try. Our county clerk has called for more election judges because most judges are closer in age to Jimmy Carter than to Kamala Harris. Many have been frightened away by Covid and threats from Nazis.

I've been an election judge, back when I I was a youthful chap in my 50s and early 60s. It would be much better to have a slate of young folks at the polls to report suppression tactics. I was a poll watcher back in the day, too, looking over the shoulders of judges to make sure they followed the rules. The Wyoming Democratic Party has put out a call for poll watcher trainings held virtually Mondays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. Get more info at the WDP web site or on its Facebook page.

Get out and vote and encourage others to vote. Pray or cross your fingers or chant for a return to sanity with Democrats in charge of the White House, Senate and House. We are going to need all the help we can get with the courts clogged with Trump flunkies and the Supreme Court in the hands of right-wing extremists.

Wake up and smell the coffee you probable Trump voters!

I’ve read several articles about the typical Trump supporter’s frame of mind. As is the case with us Trumpbusters (We ain’t 'fraid of no Donald!), I don’t fathom the Trump-lovers mind. I mean, every poll shows a 33-35 percent approval rate for 45. New polls show Biden leading Trump 50%-45% in Pennsylvania. Really? Who makes up these 45 percent? Cretins? Gun nuts? Evangelical and Catholic anti-abortion voters? Groundhogs who spend too much time in their burrows playing ultra-violent video games? Ghost of Confederate soldiers killed at Gettysburg. 

And what about that 5% in the undecided column? What are they waiting for, Christmas? (too late!)

My Pennsylvania experiences have been mostly just traveling through. My wife Chris was born in a Harrisburg orphanage, so I thank the state for that. On Labor Day weekend 1993, my eight-year-old son Kevin, our dog and I drove a rental truck hauling our worldly goods to a house in Rockville, Maryland. In a week. I was starting a job at the National Endowment for the Arts, located in the deepest darkest region of The Swamp that Trump swore he was draining. I worked for two years on the seventh floor of the Old Post Office. It's now the seventh floor of the Trump Grand Hotel and Swamp Thing Aerie. 

We hit a Penn Turnpike rest stop for a bio break. As Kevin walked the dog, I went over to a booth sponsored by the local Kiwanis and got a free cup of coffee and a doughnut. A middle-aged man behind the counter asked where I was from. I said Wyoming and he asked if that was Wyoming, PA, and I said, no, that’s WY USA, that big square state north of CO. I told him I was traveling to a temporary assignment with the Feds in D.C. 

He shot me a stern look and asked, “You ain’t one of those Clinton fellas, are you?” 

I said yes, I guess I am. 

He nodded and gave me a look that said I wish I could take back my coffee and eat that doughnut myself. He then moved off to serve another caffeine-deprived motorist. 

One of them Clinton fellas? I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I guess I was. At least one Pennsylvania resident dedicated to highway safety was not fond of this Clinton fella or anyone who worked for him. 

Kevin ran over with the dog. The man served him a doughnut and some juice and didn’t ask if he also was a Clinton fella. I could have told him that Kevin was a dedicated Bush fella, a supporter of George H.W. Bush who said that President Bush had been a big influence on him and asked us to take him to Cheyenne GOP HQ to watch the returns with fellow travelers. Chris and I left him in the hands of strangers and went across town to the Democrats’ reception that soon turned into a celebration. 

When we picked up Kevin, he drank juice and munched a sandwich while he and a smattering of disappointed GOPers watched the TV screen. Kevin later said that the people at the watch party had treated him with kindness. That was back when “kind” could be found in the Repub lexicon. 

I have no beef with Pennsylvanians. But I will if they give Trump the presidency for another four years. Wake up and smell the free roadside coffee, you voters of the Quaker State!

Dark times demand dark humor

We live in absurd times. A Reality TV show star is president. He is a narcissist who is never wrong about anything but is wrong about everything. He enlists creepy people, straight out of a Dickens' novel, to do his dirty deeds.

You gotta laugh. How did we get into such a mess? If I was a serious columnist for a major metropolitan newspaper, I could dissect Trump's faults with a litany of facts and figures. Real journalists do that.

I'm a blogger so am not constrained by facts. I do know truth from lies and I try to adhere to them when it matters. I'd rather turn a nice phrase or get a laugh. I'm a fiction writer, too, which gives me a certain leeway to embellish, maybe even lie.

What makes us laugh at serious topics? It's in our genes, a human response to inhumane acts. How else can we deal with a monster like Trump, a ghoul like Stephen Miller? How can we tolerate war and pestilence?

It takes some talent to get us to laugh at human foibles. It takes skill and wit. Wit in the old-fashioned sense. A person with wit has "the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse," according to Merriam-Webster. Here's another: "a talent for banter or persiflage," persiflage meaning "light or slightly contemptuous banter or mockery."

A good stand-up comedian has wit. A bad one just tells jokes. A witty politician can turn a phrase, helps us laugh at ourselves. A bad politician heaps scorn on helpless people, afflicts the afflicted.

There's a darkness to good humor. And it takes skill to tease the humor our of war and pestilence, sex and death. The Seven Deadly Sins, a.k.a. capital vices, are as serious as the name. A good comic writer can find a lot of fun in "lust" and its sister, "envy." I've heard many a comedian describe their lustful ways -- failed relationships, oddball sexual practices, the inevitable heartbreak that comes with opening up yourself to others.

A novelist gets thousands of words to show you heartbreak. It can come in many ways. The pursuit of love. How love of country or religion can turn out badly.

We could blame war on "wrath," another deadly sin. For those who experience war, heartbreak may best describe its aftermath.

In the film version of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, a platoon of heroic U.S. soldiers back from Iraq are celebrated at an NFL playoff game. The pageantry of a big NFL bash is juxtaposed with Billy Lynn's memories of Iraq and the guilt he feels at not saving a buddy. One of the scenes involves Billy Lynn and the team owner, played straight by comedic actor Steve Martin. The fatuous owner chides Billy for his uncertainty and notes that his platoon now is bigger than Billy Lynn -- it belongs to America. So America gets to celebrate by playing a football game and shooting off fireworks. EDM beats power the costumed dancers who writhe around the stage while the soldiers stand and get appreciative applause from the crowd. The pageantry and pathos of America on stage.

Dark humor and satire are cousins. Often, dark humor is poking fun at a cataclysmic event. World War II was not a laugh riot but some amazing books came out of the struggle. Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse-Five. Same goes for World War I. The Good Soldier Svjek is a great example, a book that set the stage for later war books and movies all the way up to the present. In the hands of a good writer, one with wit, the most serious war novel can yield some laughs. All Quiet on the Western Front is a good example.

Vietnam was my generation's heartbreak. Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato with its magical-realist elements. Meditations in Green by Stephen Wright is another darkly comic take on Vietnam and its aftermath. The movie Full Metal Jacket came out of a novel by Gustav Hasford but took a darkly comic path in Kubrick's hands. No surprise from the director of Dr. Strangelove. Michael Herr, Hasford and Kubrick collaborated on the screenplay. Herr wrote the memoir Dispatches which was part of the inspiration for Apocalypse Now, which has its own absurdist moments. Herr was a correspondent in Vietnam for Esquire Magazine. Although Herr has admitted that he invented some of the characters and did not actually witness some of the events and dialogue, he contends it is all true. In France, Dispatches was published as a novel. In Vietnam, it was all true and it was all fiction.

Fiction writers yearn to go beyond the history into a place of story, a place where the reader is compelled to move on and possibly laugh or shake their heads or both.

Pandemic Days: Wyoming Legislature convenes and experts try to get a handle on virus death count

Our legislature gathers for a short special session tomorrow to decide how to divvy up the federal pandemic stimulus funds. I’d vote to give it all to hospitals and health care workers especially those in smaller communities. These small hospitals have been hit hard by lack of elective surgical procedures which pay most of the bills. They could also be helped by Medicaid expansion. Unfortunately, the majority-GOP lege has decided to once again study the issue until the Obamacare-related program rides off into the sunset just like Obama.

Governor Gordon has stipulated that the opening of the state shall proceed in a step-by-step plan that most seem to be ignoring. Social distancing and mask-wearing have been crucial in stemming the COVID-19 tide. The state has registered 600-some cases and only seven deaths. We see numbers similar to those in neighboring Montana and South Dakota, other places where social distancing is the norm. Populous Colorado, on the other hand, has more than 20,000 cases and 1,009 deaths. Neighboring Weld County on our southern border shows 2,190 cases, the fourth-highest tally in the state – the top three are in the Denver metro area.

Whenever my wife and I go out, we wear masks and carry hand sanitizer. We had a dryer delivered yesterday because our old one conked out. The delivery guys showed up with no masks so we happily lent them some. They put them on once we explained our high-risk status. Chris and I are both Democrats and are much more open to COVID-19 due to our Godless status and opposition to Donald Trump. Governors of hard-hit urban states have been labeled “blue-state whiners” when they complain about lots of death and no testing or PPE for health care workers. Apparently health care workers in red states just quietly get sick and die. Especially vulnerable are staff members in nursing homes and long-term health facilities. One-third of U.S. fatalities come out of those places. Since retirees congregate in warm places such as Florida, Arizona, and Texas, many of the casualties are from those states. My stepmother was one of them (see previous post).

Other visitors to our house have included Instacart delivery people. They don’t come in but leave the groceries on the porch. We had the crew from Skyline Solar here ten days ago to install the wiring and panels for going solar. They wore masks to the job at our request and were very nice. One young worker was tasked with adding support beams in our attic. It couldn’t have been easy working in our hot attic while wearing a mask and work gloves. When he reappeared, he was drenched in sweat. The electricians were in and out and wore masks. 

Our house was built in the middle of the previous century so needed some upgrading to join the 21^st century. They installed a new breaker box on the patio wall and tackled the interior breaker box with a mixture of awe and frustration. We have one of those punchbox types so popular in the 1950s and woefully inadequate in 2020. The electrician said he could replace it with a new breaker box but it was a bit expensive for our current budget. So we had to make do.

Annie is a Millennial so she orders food via Door Dash and all of the rest. A few days ago she ordered a chocolate pie. I like pie but the only kind I’ve had delivered is a pizza pie, a name that’s fallen out of favor. Chris and I now are used to the doorbell ringing and opening the door to find a sandwich or wings or burger in a bag on the porch. We wipe them down when we bring them in. All of us have to trust in the cleanliness of the purveyor when it comes to the making and bagging of the food. It would be so much easier if stainless steel bots did all of the work but we’re not there yet. Before the pandemic, most fast-food outlets took pride in assembling your order while you watched. Subway is a prime example. So is Chipotle. Not sure how that will change when bistros return to some sort of normalcy.

One thing about COVID-19 deaths. This morning’s New York Times carried a Nicholas Kristof op-ed about the virus’s true death count. It’s not a number that Trump will like but it’s more in keeping with what experts such as Dr. Fauci say. Taking into account “excess deaths” during the first seven weeks of the pandemic ending April 25, the U.S. has already passed the 100,000 casualties mark. In the early weeks of the plague, people were dying of COVID-19 but because they had other maladies and they were elderly, their deaths were logged in as heart failure, respiratory failure, acute dementia, etc.

I know at least one example of this in my own family. My stepmother bore a litany of health issues before the virus snuck into her nursing home and killed her. But the cause of death wasn’t listed as such until she was swabbed for COVID-19 at the medical examiner’s office because she came from a nursing home experiencing an outbreak. The test came back positive. So, her death was not recorded properly by the State of Florida. That state’s excess death count is estimated by the NYT as 1,800. In Wyoming, its 100 which puts our tally at 107 instead of 7.

We don’t really know what we’re dealing with. Coronavirus causes strange sicknesses in children. It applies the coup de grace to old people in nursing homes and the younger workers who take care of them. So many outbreaks have occurred in these facilities from Florida to Colorado. A tragedy and a travesty. In the nurturing industries, the people we pay least work with our young children and our old people. It’s almost like we didn’t care about our future and our past. Our present isn’t doing so well either.

This 1960s Boy Scout wonders if Trump knows anything about the Scout Oath

Did U.S. Army General and Supreme Allied Commander of Operation Overlord (and later president) Dwight D. Eisenhower ever go ever go to a Boy Scouts of America Jamboree and invite the crowd to jeer his predecessor, Army artillery officer and WWI combat veteran (and later president, the guy who okayed the big nuke drop on Japan) Harry S. Truman?

Hard to imagine, isn't it? But Trump has submerged us so far into his own sewer that on Monday, he invited the crowd to jeer his predecessor, Barack Obama, and cheer The Donald, himself, our celeb president. Obama, by the way, was in Boy Scouting as an international Cub Scout. Trump, of course, was not. Both men have served as honorary Scout leaders, one excelled at the task and the other, our current president, brought shame upon the Scouts forever.

Ike and Harry both addressed the Scouts at jamborees. When he addressed the Scouts, Truman (according to The Washington Post),

extolled fellowship: “When you work and live together, and exchange ideas around the campfire, you get to know what the other fellow is like,” he said. 

And this:

President Dwight D. Eisenhower invoked the “bonds of common purpose and common ideals.” 

They were both officers and, presumably, gentlemen. They wouldn't stoop to criticizing fellow officers in public. In private and after a few drinks, well, that's another matter. The presidency has rules and protocol. Trump is intent on transgressing them all.

Trump has said he knows more about the military than his generals because he went to military school. That's like saying I know everything there is to know about women because I married one.

My knowledge of the military is mainly through a stint in ROTC, reading, and the stories told by veteran friends.

But I was in the Boy Scouts. I was a Cub Scout in Denver and Moses Lake, Wash. My mother was a den leader. I was a Boy Scout in four states -- Washington, Colorado, Kansas, and Florida. I attained the heady rank of Star Scout, just two ranks short of the vaunted Eagle. I then discovered girls. Merit badges didn't seem so important anymore.

The Scout Oath did. So did the law, motto, and.code.

The Scout Oath (from memory):

On my honor I will do my duty to God and to country, to keep myself physically fit, mentally awake and morally straight.

Here is the actual oath:

On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

I forgot a few of the details. I did remember honor and duty, God and Country, and that all-important fourth line.

The oath was reinforced daily at home and at Catholic School. I've never forgotten those lessons.

I am an imperfect human being. But this Scout would never behave as Trump did on Monday.

Trump is a disgrace to the uniform he never wore. .

1950s filled with creeds, oaths and pledges for us Boomers

Remember Hopalong Cassidy on 1950s black-and-white TV?

Remember Hopalong Cassidy's Creed?

Hopalong was in the news this week, A press release from the University of Wyoming noted that the archives at the American Heritage Center contain hundreds of items from the mythic cowboy's career in TV, radio and movies: LP records, photos, scripts, personal memorabilia, copies of the creed and all of the rest.


Wholesomeness was crucial. Hopalong was the “epitome of gallantry and fair play” and his creed reflected that. Honesty, cleanliness, respect for parents, love of country, etc. All great things. We recited the creed along with our TV cowboy hero -- and meant it. If you've lost your copy of the creed, get a copy at Hoppy's web site.

The 1950s were filled with creeds, oaths and pledges for us Boomer kids.

I was a Catholic, too. That meant memorizing the Ten Commandments and various prayers, including the Hail Mary, the Prayer to Saint Francis and the Apostles' Creed. The liturgy still was in Latin, but the nuns and priests and parents had mercy on us and let us memorize prayers in the vernacular. The Apostles' Creed:

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost....

We always said "Holy Ghost" back then instead of "Holy Spirit." I still like saying it. Holy Ghost!

I was a Cub Scout, too. At meetings held at our den mother's house, we recited the oath before launching into various crappy crafts activities. We always wanted to go outside, play tag, shoot BB guns at squirrels, throw snowballs at cars and engage in other healthy outdoor activities. We did like the snacks. They were all-American 1950s snacks. Hostess Twinkees, Snoballs, homemade chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid, fat-rich milk, and all the rest. No carrot sticks,  apple slices or chia-infused organic juices for us. This was the beginning of the plaque build-up in my coronary arteries. Thanks a lot, Mrs. Lemon. 

At school, we recited The Pledge of Allegiance every morning, hand over our hearts.

We were good kids. We meant what we said.

To borrow a few lines from Catch-22 (remember Major Major?): When adults told us to look before we leapt, we looked and then leapt. When they said don't take candy from strangers, we didn't take any candy from strangers -- unless it was chocolate. When they said don't take any wooden nickels, I didn't take any wooden nickels.

It was only later, in the 1960s, when we learned that those creeds and oaths and pledges could not protect us from some things. Heartache, for one. No known creed protects against a broken heart. There may be a "I Will Never Love Anyone" creed but I never heard it. I've heard plenty of friends say they were never going to fall in love again. I've said it. Next thing you know, that friend is up to his eyeballs in love and there's not a thing to be done for it. Love stinks, hell yeah, but it's also a drug. Go figure.

We pledged out troth to institutions: The Church, Boy Scouts, U.S.A. They all betrayed us. The worst betrayal came at the hands of our government. It tried to send all of us to Southeast Asia to get killed for a lie. We know that now, and most of us suspected it then. Problem is, it seemed as if we would betray all of our institutions if we didn't do our duty and go to war. All those creeds and oaths and pledges! I didn't go, but that was only through the luck of the draw and strange circumstances. Some of my peers felt it was their duty to fight communism in Vietnam, to help stop the dominoes from falling. They had pledged loyalty to their government and now their government told them it was time to fulfill that pledge. We all took another oath, even us ROTC types, that said we would defend the constitution of the United States, so help us God.

God help us.

It's a long time gone, as the song says. But some of us still remember what it was like to feel betrayed. It caused some of my pals to take a hard right and blame the gubment for all of their ills. I don't blame them, really. I'm a liberal, though, one of those people who tend to put their faith in institutions. But that faith comes with a skeptical eye. Being a Boomer during Vietnam should have left us all with a bit of skepticism. The war was a lie and the draft lottery was rigged. Our elders would tell us anything to sway us to their righteous cause. Can't really blame then, either, as they had made their own pledges,  fought in the war, and been rewarded with peace and prosperity. Why were their children such ingrates?

Generations bang up against each other, sometimes in violent ways. At this moment, we are undoubtedly betraying our children and grandchildren. Some conservatives still bemoan the loose morals of their Boomer peers, blaming all of our present ills on those darn sixties. We lefties tend to regret the scourges of pollution and global warming. Sorry, kids, but you'll be underwater by 2200, maybe sooner. Not in Wyoming, but here in Cheyenne we'll have all of those coastal immigrants to worry about. Wonder if we'll be putting up a fence to keep out fleeing Californians and Carolinians?

If only we could come up with a pledge to save us from ourselves.

Slate asks: What if UW President Tom Buchanan had given a speech defending "Carbon Sink?"

From an Oct. 31 article by Michelle Nijhuis on Slate Online about the "Carbon Sink" brouhaha at the University of Wyoming (the controversy that wouldn't die):

The University of Wyoming, like most public universities, has a mission statement that calls for academic freedom and free expression. University donors are supposed to further that mission, not try to restrict it, and university leaders are supposed to defend it.

What if President Buchanan had given a speech...? He could have acknowledged the reaction to Carbon Sink (taking care to first learn its name), and acknowledged the economic and political power of the coal industry in Wyoming. He could have acknowledged the science -- some conducted at his own university -- that demonstrates the connections between coal power and climate change, and climate change and forest decline. And he could have said that while coal is useful and important, it’s equally important to not only acknowledge its costs but also work to reduce them. He could have pointed to existing university programs aimed at doing just that, and called on the legislature -- and the industry -- to fund more.

It wouldn’t have ended the controversy. But it might have opened the conversation.

Nijhuis also explored another controversy over public art, this one at the University of Indiana at Bloomington. A student group demanded the removal of a Thomas Hart Benton mural that shows KKK members in robes. The KKK almost took over the state of Indiana. Benton was just trying to show his state's history, major warts and all. This controversy ended when the UI President made a speech, refusing to remove the mural, calling on UI students and faculty to use it as a teaching moment. Which they did.

Imagine that?

Montana bloggers get jump on Yellowstone River spill

It took a few days for the Exxon-Mobil oil pipeline spill to show up in mainstream media.

But Montana bloggers were on the story from the get-go. Start by dialing in jhwygirl's July 2 post at 4&20blackbirds and keep reading. On July 2, we all were sitting along the shores of at least one pristine Wyoming stream while jhwygirl was sharing posts and photos of a huge spill into the Yellowstone that eventually went to the Missouri and now, according to this morning's NPR interview with Mont. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, is all the way to North Dakota.

Here's one July 2 photo from the owner of the Blue Creek Farms ranch:

The State of Montana as slow to respond and Exxon-Mobil even tardier. But the outrage was clear on the blogs (Twitter, too but I haven't checked it out).

Rob Kailey's been posting from Left in the West. Yesterday's post is particularly poignant. While he points out a report about the spill from crooks & liars, he also notes that comments to the post are particularly mean-spirited when it comes to Red-State Westerners. Go see Rob's comments to the commenters, as he says it much better than I can.

Reminder to me and my readers: "Be Kind." That was Kurt Vonnegut's favorite advice. My mother's, too. Probably your mom's too. It's so easy to say things online that you wish you could take back. I've done it. Next time disaster strikes, remember that those are people under that tornado or in the path of the wildfire or along a polluted river in Montana. People, not statistics, not "those people" who may have voted against you.

Setting Sen. Enzi straight on the facts

On Friday, the Cowboy State Free Press ran a piece about the response of the Wyoming Democratic Party to some of Sen. Enzi's scarifying non-facts on health care reform and student loan legislation.

Here are some excerpts:

In a statement on Mar. 31, Sen. Enzi suggested a list of bold numbers in relation to health reform, but there are a few numbers Sen. Enzi forgot to mention, according to Wyoming Democratic Party Communications Director Brianna Jones, some of which are:

128.8% – Increase in health insurance premiums for working families in Wyoming from 2000-2007.

27.9% – Increase in Wyoming worker’s wages between 2000-2007, a difference of almost 100% from the previous figure

71,000 – The number of uninsured in Wyoming as of 2008

$40 billion – Under reform, amount of tax credits available to small businesses to help them offer coverage beginning in 2010

$40 billion – The investment which will be invested in Pell grants to help low income students attend college under the reconciliation legislation.

$2 billion – Investment in community colleges in the next four years, which today serve more than 6 million students.

Sen. Enzi’s rhetoric does not fit with reality and we see that time and time again, She said. For example:

RHETORIC: Wyoming residents will pay higher taxes.

REALITY: It is agreed by economists that by taxing the highest cost plans this provision will lead insurance companies to be more efficient and provide quality care to consumers at lower prices. [White House blog, 12/16/09; PWC, 2009; CBO 2009]

RHETORIC: Wyoming residents who have insurance will see their premiums rise.

REALITY: For a vast majority premiums would go down 14-20 percent as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Subsidies will lower costs for as much as 59 percent for 18 million people buying their own insurance, said the CBO. [Wall Street Journal Washington Wire, 2/25/10; New York Times, 12/4/09; Bloomberg, 12/1/09]

RHETORIC: Medicare enrollees will see decreased access to care because of cuts.

REALITY: Health reform strengthens Medicare by cutting wasteful spending. The doughnut hole is closed and affordable coverage will be more attainable, says AARP. [AARP letter to Sen. Harry Reid, 12/15/09; FactCheck.org, 11/3/09; CMS Report, 12/10/09]

RHETORIC: Health insurance premiums for Wyoming’s small businesses will rise.

REALITY: $40 billion worth of tax credits will be available to small businesses to help them offer coverage starting in 2010. According to a study by The Third Way Economic Program, “Over the next 15 years, American businesses would collectively spend $637 billion less on their share of health insurance premiums, and their workers would save a collective $177 billion. [Time Magazine, 2/22/10, Bending the Curve: 12 Ways Health Reform Will Tackle Runaway Costs, 1/12/10]

RHETORIC: Medicare Advantage enrollees will see their benefits reduced by half.

REALITY: Reforms to Medicare Advantage will end wasteful subsidies to health insurance companies without affecting benefits and would reduce or eliminate the difference in part by introducing a competitive bidding system to pay the plans [AP, 9/22/09; Boston Globe, 9/24/09]

RHETORIC: Wyoming will be burdened by Medicaid expansions.

REALITY: Health insurance reform will pay for 100% of Medicaid expansion for states through 2017, then 95% for 2018-2019, and then 90% for 2020 and beyond. [White House, 2/22/10]

RHETORIC: Wyoming college students will pay more on student loans to fund health care.

REALITY: Student lending reform will make higher education more achievable and will increase Pell grants, cap repayments, and invest in community colleges. Before students payed 6.8 percent on their unsubsidized federal loans and will continue to pay the same rate. [Politifact, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10]

Iraq vet from Pine Bluffs appears in VoteVets ad blasting Sen. Barrasso

Benjamin Cossel from Pine Bluffs served in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004-2005. Now he's in a VoteVets ad blasting the short-sighted policies of Wyo. Sen. John Barrasso, global warming naysayer and friend of multinational corporations who do business with Middle East shiekdoms.

Barrasso's spokeswoman said this about the ads in a story by Bill McCarthy on wyomingnews.com:

"The liberal, out-of-state special interest group paying for this ad does not represent Wyoming," Barrasso said Wednesday through his spokeswoman.

Dagnabit. Not those outside agitators again. There are some outsiders Wyomingites like -- oil and gas and coal companies, for instance, and the Republican National Committee. And some they don't like -- the Anti-Defamation League and the Gay and Lesbian Fund of Colorado (see previous posts on the Wheatland controversy) and MoveOn and VoteVets, to name a few.

But Jon Stoltz, co-founder and chairman of Votevets.org, responded this way to Barrasso:

"That's just childish."

Stoltz said the issue is whether the U.S. should continue sacrificing lives of the military and spending a fortune to maintain an unsustainable dependence on foreign oil that causes climate change.Liberal and conservative labels are irrelevant, Stoltz said.

Climate change hampers agricultural production and diminishes water supplies, and that can lead to unstable governments and the dislocation of large populations, according to organizations such as Secure American Future.

Stoltz said that is a national security issue.

Watch the ad. And spread the word.

Cheyenne health care forum: H1N1 vaccine

Dr. Brent Sherard, the state's chief medical officer, spoke last night about another big issue that I forgot to mention.

Before the forum's major interruption, Mike Bell asked Dr. Sherard about certain rumors circulating on the web and on at least one major media outlet (guess which one?) that the H1N1 (swine flu) virus is tainted and people should avoid it.

He dismissed the rumors. It's perfectly safe, he said, and noted that the vaccine was the result of lots of work and plenty of oversight. "I've worked in government for eight-and-one-half years," he said. "You spend a lot of time soliciting opinions and getting input for something that's good for the majority. And then you formulate a plan."

Although he only implied it -- this is also why it's taking so long to distribute the vaccine. All this cogitation takes time. Laramie County Health Department has received some H1N1 vaccine and expects a lot more. Meanwhile, it's running short of the seasonal flu vaccine because citizens like me have come in for their shots. One flu shot is better than no flu shot -- that may be the way people are viewing this. I've been getting a seasonal flu shot for 15 years and only got the flu once. That was two years ago, I think, when government planners distributed a flu vaccine that didn't cover all the strains circulating that year. The flu kept me out of work for a week. But it might have been worse had I not had the shot.

That was the fall of 2007. Come to think of it, that was right about the time that I began to take Barack Obama seriously as a presidential candidate. I wasn't on board yet, but something about Obama got my attention for the first time. I liked the cut of his jib, the content of his speeches.

Could the strange flu vaccine of ought-seven have been doctored to be Obama-friendly? But why would Bush Administration health officials hatch such a plan? Perhaps they didn't take Obama seriously and they thought if more of us got on his bandwagon, fewer of us would join Hillary Clinton's campaign express. Hillary was No. 1. She was the real threat, after all, not some newly-elected African-American Senator from Illinois with the very off-putting name (for patriots anyway) of Barack Hussein Obama.

Genius, I tell you. Sheer genius!

P.S.: For the truth about H1N1 and the vaccine, visit http://webgate.co.laramie.wy.us/_departments/_health/swine_flu.asp. The CDC reports on its web site that 11,400 units of H1N1 vaccine have been issued to various locales in Wyoming (as of 10/16/09).

Blessed are the meek with pre-existing conditions -- insurers love you!

http://twitpic.com/m33zz (thanks to almightygod on Twitter)

Mad As Hell Doctors stop in Cheyenne

Laramie's Nancy Sindelar featured this in her excellent e-letter:

On Sunday Sept 13, Mad As Hell Doctors will be speaking to promote universal health care. These three docs on their way to Washington, D.C., will present the documentary "Health, Money, and Fear" (2009) that covers the insanity of the current system. The event begins at 12:30 p.m., and will be held at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 3005 Thomes Ave., Cheyenne. Free.

FMI: www.madashelldoctors.com, www.ourailinghealthcare.com, www.uucheyenne.org, 307-638-4554.

Health care horror stories across the U.S.

Pauline Bartolone sent this:

I just came across your blog, hummingbirdminds, and I saw that you have been posting about health care reform. I am a video producer at Consumers Union,the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, and I thought you might beinterested in some videos I've produced about residents in Wyoming and their access to health care.

Last summer, I drove around in an RV for 4 months gathering stories about everyday consumers' experience with the health care system. Wyoming was my favorite state in the lower-48! Seriously - it was just so beautiful!

Anyway here are a couple of the videos I did in Wyoming: Lori Donner in Cheyenne, who is uninsured with a thyroid condition. Go to http://bit.ly/12INcv. And Ken, an electrician in Thermopolis, who is uninsured and retirement age. Go to http://bit.ly/bsbur.

You can see the rest of the videos at: http://www.prescriptionforchange.org/video.html

Thanks, Pauline. Some hair-raising stories in Pauline's videos. Check them out. And keep working for a fair and just and affordable health care system.

I don't care if your mother says it's true. Check it out!