Gardening begins at White House, Wyoming still a month (or so) away

In the High Lonesome, we're more than a month away from planting our gardens. Seeds have been sprouted, plans have been made, but the planting comes somewhere between mid-May and Memorial Day. Even then, we can get snow -- which isn't so bad -- and frost -- which is bad. This is why many of us plant container gardens. And the rest of us keep a ready supply of old sheets and other frost-defying coverlets. Watch the sky!

Meanwhile, in the White House low country, Michelle Obama and kids from Bancroft Elementary School were turning the soil and putting in the crops including heirloom varieties from jefferson's Monticello). A press release from FLOTUS (First Lady of the United States) had lots to say on the subject. Gardening is good for kids, it can help with the obesity epidemic, drives the wingnuts crazy. I made that last part up. It's true, but the White House won't say it in print. But the wingnuts start foaming at the mouth when any mention is made of ecology, gardening, Michelle Obama, locavore, global warming, peace & justice, etc. Almost anything can make them foam at the mouth.

I read an article the other day about people in more temperate climes replacing their water-sucking front lawns with vegetable gardens. I have contemplated this. But our growing season is so short that the blooms don't stay around and come October we're left with dried-up stems that looks like weeds. Better to have a brown lawn than a weedy rock garden. We're challenged to intersperse the plants with evergreens with rocks with ground covers and mulch and possibly some yard art. Looks better. But it's a chore.

I'm revamping my entire yard this summer. Stay tuned for the painful details.

Lefties hang their heads in triumph

Fox News celebrated the fall of Baghdad six years ago today with some trumpeting by Dick Morris:

"Over the next couple of weeks when we find the chemical weapons this guy was amassing, the fact that this war was attacked by the left and so the right was so vindicated, I think, really means that the left is going to have to hang its head for three or four more years."

My head is hanging so low, so low. Thanks to Greg Mitchell for this quote. He's editor at Editor & Publisher and author of the book "So Wrong for So Long" about the media and the Iraq War.

On May 1, we will mark Pres. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. What, exactly, was the mission? What, exactly, have we accomplished?

Hear that old lonesome whistle blow

Mead Gruver wrote a groovy April 9 AP story about the possibility of passenger rail service returning to Amtrak's Pioneer Route. The route passed through Cheyenne and across southern Wyoming along the old route of the Union Pacific. It didn't actually stop in town at the old depot. Instead, you had to get into an old horse-drawn buggy with a gang of dusty coal-miners and get hauled out to a breezy way station where you were lucky to get on the train before freezing to death.

The route was abandoned by Amtrak in 1996 due to a whopping budget shortage. Unlike olden times, travelers prefer (and still do) the interstate to an aging passenger train that travels slower than the average car and much slower than the average interstate truck. It's a well-known fact that the Rawlins High School track team used to work out by racing the Pioneer through town, usually winning the contest with enough time left over to chug a couple beers and wave at the train as it chugged by.

I rode the old Pioneer in 1980. I was living in Denver at the time and decided to visit my brother in Santa Barbara. Instead of doing the sensible thing -- flying from Denver to L.A. in two hours -- I decided to take the 24-hour train ride. I boarded the train at Union Station, an historic building that still looked a lot like it did when my father left it for Army basic training in 1942. Probably looked about the same as it did when my Irish immigrant grandfather worked there in the 1920s.

The ride was scenic, I'll give you that. The windows were big and you could view the great outdoors with ease. As we left Denver, a passenger from California said he thought that the city's train yards were ugly. You know, he was right but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of agreeing with him. If he could only see those rail yards now. Not a train in view. Unsightly tracks ripped up and replaced by condos and coffee shops and a Six Flags and a big retro-style baseball stadium. The only warehouses have been turned into artist studios and galleries. If Amtrak decided to run the Pioneer through Denver, I'm not sure where the passengers could get on. Do any railroad tracks remain at Union Station?

My 1980 trip was mostly uneventful. I viewed the Wyoming scenery on a pretty September day. Changed trains in the middle of the night in Utah. Disembarked in steaming Las Vegas for an hour. And rode through the endless expanses of metro L.A. on the way to its Union Station. I didn't see that California guy on the train. If I had, I would have shared my opinions about the ugliness of the L.A. train yards.

Seems silly that I haven't been on a passenger train since. I've ridden plenty of subways and light rail lines, including the one in Denver. But I would like to see the return of train travel, preferably the high-speed variety. We need options to leave our cars behind. I can only imagine how pleasant it would be to get on a train in Cheyenne in January and zoom across the mountains and high prairie to Rock Springs, leaving the white-knuckle winter driving to others.

Spring break trip to DAM

I like this photo for the angles and edges and shadows -- and I'm not talking about those tiny people looking at us. The human subjects (left to right) are Chris, my wife; Annie, my daughter; and Brandon, Annie's friend. We were gathered outside the Denver Art Museum before spending the day inside. The DAM roof is under construction (note workers dangling from ropes on the slanted roof in the background). The entranceway is covered with multicolored plastic sheeting with instuctions pointing out the way to out-of-towners. On the far right side of the pic is a massive sculpture that can be dark and foreboding if you face it with foreboding on a dark winter day. It seemed slightly playful the day we were there. Also, out out of the picture on the right was a trio of stoners who were laughing hysterically. Maybe they were laughing at the sculpture, but I prefer to think they were laughing with it. Later, one detached himself from the group and wandered over to bum a cigarette. I began to deliver my standard "smoking is bad for you" routine, when the kid held up his hand and said: "I don't need no lectures, man. I just need a cigarette." I told him that Chris and I quit smoking 25 years ago when Chris was pregnant with our son. He sighed in disgust and wandered away. I'll have to remember how boring my lectures are next time I'm confronted by a big city cigarette moocher or panhandler.

Fiction becomes film becomes reality

Brad Cain of the Associated Press reports that part of the Oregon State Hospital in Salem will be spared the wrecking ball and serve as a museum to commemorate the 1975 film "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," based on the book by Oregonian Ken Kesey.

I don't remember (maybe you do) whether was book was set in the Oregon State Hospital. It's at least implied.

Demolition crews are going to spare one section of the hospital, the marble hydrotherapy device that Chief Bromden throws through the window, Bromden's broom (which earned him the nickname "Chief Broom") and a bathtub used by Danny DeVito in the film. It will eventually become the Museum of Mental Health. Meanwhile, the new Oregon State Hospital will be built next door.

Writes Cain:

The movie based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel was fictional, but it has become closely associated over the years with real-life problems at Oregon's crumbling, overcrowded psychiatric facility.... Hospital superintendent Roy Orr said mental health advocates are divided on whether "Cuckoo's Nest" helped promote the cause of the mentally ill or was an overly sensationalized depiction of brutality in state mental institutions. But he supports devoting part of the museum to the movie."I guess I just view it as a part of our past; and now it's time to move on," he said.

Care in mental hospitals has come a long way since the lobotomies and forced incarcerations of the 1960s. But mental health care in general has a long way to go.

But I'm all in favor of any museum that raises the issue. It can also become a site on "The Literary Tour of the West," which should include other key sites in the region's (and Wyoming's) fictional history: a Rock Springs motel commemorating Richard Ford's story of the same name; Brokeback Mountain, located somewhere (possibly everywhere) in Wyoming; The Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow, which does exist; the site of the castle wherein lives Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle;" and C.J. Box's town of Saddlestring. Others?

"Designing the New West"

"Designing the New West: Architecture & Landscape in the Mountain West" will be held April 16-17 at the Gallatin Gateway Inn in Bozeman, Mont.

After just spending four days at a Laramie conference about "Public Art & Community," I'm not anxious to go to another confab so soon. But I heard great things about the previous New West-sponsored conference, so I encourage all you builders and architects and town planners and -- yes -- artists to attend. We're faced with some big challenges in the West. While the word "planning" tends to irritate denizens of the West, we're sunk without it. And we need creative approaches. City and county planners talking to neighboring ranchers. Artists talking to government officials. And Repubs talking to Dems (and vice versa).

Here's info on the conference from the New West web site:

"Designing the New West" features leading architects, developers, land planners and landscape designers from around the Rockies, with the aim of tracking design and development trends, showcasing best practices, and understanding how thoughtful and place-inspired design can help us shape our region in the most positive possible ways.

Thursday, April 16, will feature three pre-conference design charrettes and workshops, with specialists' presentations, discussions and site visits on a green home, a commercial development, and land planning & subdivision design. The day will conclude with a conference opening reception and social.

Friday, April 17, is a full-day program at the Gallatin Gateway Inn with a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and networking opportunities. Highlights include:

• Analysis of the state of the business in the region in light of the broad-based economic slowdown -- and the opportunities presented by the federal economic stimulus program.
• Discussion of creative approaches to sustainability, conservation-based design, and urban infill, including a look at new materials, new methods for project planning and management, and new financing models.
• Presentations on innovative land design, architecture and community development projects from some of the nation’s leading practitioners.
• Lively networking with some of the top design and development professionals from around the region.

"Designing the New West" will also offer continuing education credits for certified planners, real estate agents and engineers.

Register here

Dr. Temple Grandin headlines autism awareness event in Cheyenne

Veterinarian and author Temple Grandin from Fort Collins will be the keynote speaker for the second annual Autism Awareness Evening beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday, April 3, at Barnes & Noble, 1851 Dell Range Blvd., Cheyenne. Grandin, who is autistic, is best known for bringing more humane practices to the slaughterhouse (if anyone has a better term for it, let me know). Her latest book is "Animals Make us Human," with Catherine Johnson.

Joining Dr. Grandin are local authors Heather Jensen ("Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Autism") and John Roedel ("Autism: Heartfelt Thoughts from Fathers"), who also is a member in good standing of the Ozymandian Theatre improv troupe in Cheyenne. Also speaking will be Helen Sumner, Autism Residential Habilitation Trainer.

This event is also a fund-raiser for the Stride Learning Center in Cheyenne.

FMI: 307-632-1164.

Why doesn't Rep. Lummis support young artists as community volunteers?

Both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives backs a corps of volunteer artists and musicians to serve in schools in low-income communities, health care clinics, senior centers and other places that might need a helping hand -- along with a surge of creativity.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, H.R.1388/S.277 passed the Senate on March 26 by a vote of 79 to 19. Similar legislation was approved, 321-105, in the House of Representatives on March 18. Both bills would triple the number of AmeriCorps service volunteers, from 75,000 to 250,000.

One side note: When the legislation came up for a vote in the House on March 18, Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis voted against it. With her vote, she joined other House denizens of the Grossly Obsolete Party (GOP): Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.), Eric Cantor (Va.), Roy Blount (Mo.) and John Boehner (Ohio). What do these people have against young artists teaching painting classes at a Cheyenne senior center? Ask Cynthia.

The artists service corps provision in the House was proposed by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) during drafting of the legislation by the House Committee on Education and Labor. In the Senate, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) offered the artists service amendment, which was included by voice vote in the legislation taken to the floor by the bill's manager. The new provision in the House and Senate bills encourages the use of "skilled musicians and artists to promote greater community unity through the use of music and arts education and engagement through work in low-income communities, and education, health care, and therapeutic settings, and other work in the public domain with citizens of all ages."

Remember Pres. Obama's campaign pledge to create an "Artists Corps" of young artists trained to work in low-income schools and communities? I do. According to people in the know, passage of the national service legislation to support nonprofit organizations in working with community volunteers has been a high priority for the new president.

The measure passed March 26 by the Senate includes an amendment offered by Sens. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) to establish a capacity-building program for nonprofit groups in the Corporation for National and Community Service that will expand organizational development assistance to small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations.

Another side note: Wyoming's Senate delegation split on this issue. Sen. John Barrasso voted against it. What does he have against young musicians teaching finger-picking techniques to special needs kids in Casper, his home town? On the positive side, Sen. Mike Enzi of Gillette, a member of the Senate Arts Caucus and a longtime supporter of the arts in Wyoming, voted for the bill sponsored by his buddy-across-the-aisle, Ted Kennedy. I like it when these two guys work together. Let's hope they can come up with a reasonable health care plan.

Both the House and the Senate bills would set up a fund to help nonprofit organizations recruit more volunteers and establish a "Summer of Service" program for middle and high school students. The two bills differ in provisions aimed at limiting the legislative advocacy and political organizing activities of service volunteers. This sounds like an issue right-wingers might get very paranoid about, as it's a well-known fact that volunteer artists and community organizers are untrustworthy liberals. We all remember Governor Palin's campaign rants against community organizers. Perhaps Sen. Barrasso and Rep. Lummis need a primer on volunteerism.

Let's see if this sticking point can be hammered out in committee. Stay tuned...

Laramie events this week feature the arts, film, social justice and Elton John

Great series of events this week in Laramie.

First up is the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice, sponsored by the Matthew Shepard Foundation. It gets under way on Wednesday, April 1, 7 p.m., with the Wyoming debut of the film "Straightlaced: How Gender's Got Us All Tied Up," which includes a talk by director Debra Chasnoff. Following the film at 9 p.m. is a hip-hop event with Rosa Clemente.

Keynote speaker at the Shepard Symposium is Elizabeth Birch on Thursday, April 2, 7:30 p.m. in the UW Education Dept. Auditorium. She's one of the most recognized leaders in the gay and lesbian civil rights movement, and served as executive director of the Human Rights Campaign for nearly a decade.

Elton John wraps up the Shepard Symposium on Friday night with a concert benefiting the Shepard Foundation.

The Public Art & Community symposium (UW just lousy with symposia all of a sudden) gets started with a 5-7 p.m. reception at the UW Conference Center in Laramie. You have to register for the symposium (and pay the fee) to get into the reception and avail yourself of the foodstuffs and drinkstuffs. But a free "Art Slam" follows at 7:30. This features artists and symposium presenters Jesus Moroles (winner of a 2008 National Medal of Arts), John Henry and Ursual von Rydingsvard. Another free event follows from 10 p.m.-midnight. "20:20" features 20 artists who each will "flash" 20 images of their work for 20 seconds each while they provide the illuminating narration. This should be a fun, fast-faced event.

For a full schedule, go to the Wyoming Arts Council web site at http://wyoarts.state.wy.us/.

The arts symposium features scores of professional artists and sculptors talking about their work in 15- to 30-minute sessions. I'm looking forward to Lawrence Argent's talk about copyright issues at 8:45 a.m. on Friday. Not only good info for artists but for writers, too.

The registration deadline for the arts symposium is Tuesday, March 31. For info, call the WAC at 307-777-7742.

In case this isn't enough stimulation for the creative side of you, you can take in one of these other events:

"Awaken/Shift," the Department of Theatre and Dance's final dance concert of the season, College of Arts and Sciences auditorium, April 1, 2 and 4, 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $14 for the public, $11 for senior citizens and $7 for students. To get tickets, stop by the Fine Arts Box Office, call 766 6666, or go online at www.uwyo.edu/finearts.

On Friday, April 3, noon: Mary L. Keller, adjunct professor in the Religious Studies and African American Studies programs, presents "Heart Mountain as Home: Foretop's Father in the 21st Century." Room 316 College of Agriculture Building. For more information, contact Ramesh Sivanpillai at sivan@uwyo.edu.

On Saturday, April 4, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., the Kappa Sigma Fraternity will host its first chili cookoff in Fraternity Mall. Tickets cost $5. To enter or for more information, contact David Steinberg at dsteinbe@uwyo.edu or (720) 238-2462.

I wish there was something to do in this wind-scoured, tumbleweed-ridden state.

Cheyenne's C.J. Box writes intro for new mapguide of Yellowstone region

Any publication that features an introduction by a mystery writer demands my attention. That's why I perked up when I saw the new "Yellowstone and Beyond" mapguide from National Geographic. Cheyenne author C.J. Box, nominated this year for an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America, wrote the intro to the guide. It mixes a bit of first-person narrative with history and local color. I was waiting for C.J.'s protagonist, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett, to make an appearance. Alas, he did not (you have to buy the books).

Read the intro --and download (or order) a copy of the mapguide -- at http://www.yellowstonegeotourism.org/. The site also features an interactive map of the region.
National Geographic's Center for Sustainable Destinations has published an entire series of these publications devoted to Geotourism: "The kind of travel that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the well-being of its residents."

Others have attempted to treat this area as a region that happens to span three states. But this one seems to get the job done. Travel/tourism bureaus from Wyoming, Montana and Idaho all pitched in to fund the project. Good use of taxpayer funds, I'd say, as all three states mightily depend on tourism income. Yes, we're all energy-producing states, especially Wyoming and Montana. But tourism and the extractive industries overlap geographically and politically. Just take a look at the recent vote in D.C. to protect the Wyoming range, which is part of the Yellowstone region. Both of our senators voted for protection; Rep. Cynthia Lummis did not. Rep. Lummis is rapidly becoming a member in good standing of the Republican "N-O means No" Chorus.

Sen. John Barrasso made protection of the Wyoming Range a campaign promise. So I'm glad that he came through on this issue.

So, take a look at C.J.'s National Geographic's map. Get a copy for your summer travels.

One hour without lights -- but with poetry

At 8:28, we lit the candles, switched off the TV and turned out the lights. By 8:30, we were in the dark, but for the soothing glow of four candles.

We were members of the southeast Wyoming contingent of Earth Hour. All over the globe, people (even entire cities) were turning off lights at the behest of the World Wildlife Fund. It was an effort to bring attention to global warming and the threat it poses to wildlife.

Cheyenne wasn't one of the participating cities. But we decided to do our part, thinking it might be fun and illuminating. Annie's friend Brandon came for dinner and the switching off of the lights. Chris, Annie and I We were celebrating Brandon's first-place finish in the 10th-grade poetry category for Young Authors. He and Annie are fellow writers, which puts them in a minority at their high school. But it's a feisty minority, one that speaks its mind and is only dimly aware that there are many service industry jobs in their future as they work toward that big literary prize.

Brandon brought his poems, which he read by candlelight. They were very good, filled with teen angst and some sharp words and phrases. When he finished, we talked about the work and his delivery style. He said he read too fast and I agreed, but told him that some poems might need to be read faster than others. Often young writers read their work in a burst of syllables, and they're hard to understand. Also, a monotone can be a problem. But Brandon, it seems, had practiced.

We spoke of other things. Brandon's car wreck the week before, which he'd survived without a scratch. Annie's prose writing. A little bit about global warming. I became curious about our neighborhood's darkness level. I looked outside. It seemed darker than usual, but that could just be my imagination. I felt like one of those air raid wardens from World War II. That house is totally dark, but there's some light leaking from the one next door. Don't those idiots know that there's a war on?

Actually, there is a war on. Literal wars, such as Iraq and Afghanistan. But a war on the planet, too. We may have to assume a war footing to battle this one.

Poetry could be one of our secret weapons.

Dickens tackled epic themes -- you can, too

Too-good-to-be-true investments

Rapacious landlords

Clueless government agencies

Phrases ripped out of today's headlines?

Well, yes, but also themes in Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit," which hits the screen on PBS Masterpiece Theatre this Sunday.

The New York Times gives it an extremely favorable review. So I may watch it, even though I haven't committed myself to a MT series since "Pride and Prejudice" in the mid-90s. That series, according to the NYT, had the same director as "Little Dorrit." So I may watch now, or save to savor later. Read the Times' review at http://tv.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/arts/television/28dorr.html?hpw

As an English major, I read a lot of Dickens, including "Little Dorrit." In it, Mr. Dorrit spends 20 years in Marshalsea debtor's prison. Dickens knew a bit about debtor's prison, since his family spent some time in one. Mr. Dorrit used to be rich and now is a debtor due to some debts which may or may not be his. Nobody can seem to find an answer at the government Department of Circumlocution. It's modern-day equivalents can be seen in the Bush-era "oversight" and "regulatory" agencies that were charged with keeping track of A.I.G., Citigroup, food safety, disaster relief, etc.

Anyway, Mr. Dorrit is kind of clueless and his daughter, Amy, is an innocent ripe for the plucking. Her sister, Fanny, is a bit of a schemer. There are good guys that turn out to be bad; bad guys that turn out to be good. Dickens was a great storyteller if a bit long-winded. But you would be too if you had to constantly churn out chapters for the London periodicals. Dickens was always writing on the run, which gives his books a certain breathless quality when compared with his Victorian-era counterparts. You may find that hard to believe when you pick up "Little Dorrit," all 1,024 pages and 1.5 pounds of it (Penguin Classics edition). But his humor, cliffhanger endings and odd coincidences keep the reader moving along.

This makes me think that more classics from the English major's catalogue needs dusting off. Dickens has never gone out of print, so he's been with us all along. Tolstoy was another one who tackled the big subjects -- in a spectacular way with "War and Peace," but also in his essays and short novels. Epic -- that was Tolstoy and that was his work. He might just be the thing for a country that's been in minimalist mode for the past couple decades. Or maybe that was only university English departments. The world is always in epic mode -- we writers just have to summon the imagination to deal with it.

B-ball adds zip to a cold, snowy spring

This time of year, all talk is about basketball. Sweet Sixteen, college women's hoops, NIT -- and that's all on the college side. NBA is in the midst of its season. And high school hoops tournaments are being held (or have been held) during March all across the land.

Chris and I just watched the Kansas-Michigan State men's game. Michigan State won in the final two minutes. I was rooting for Kansas. All that tradition -- Naismith peach baskets, Phog Allen, Larry Brown, Roy Williams, three NCAA men's titles, including last year. Michigan State also has a bit of tradition going for it in the form of Magic Johnson and at least one men's b-ball title. MSU is in, KU is out of the running for a repeat.

Michigan State was down by 13 points at one time tonight. But the team battled back. That's the great thing about b-ball. In a good game, neither team is ever hopelessly behind. There were a few blow-outs the past couple days (poor Arizona) but tonight's game was a battle the entire way.

There are some of you out there (Bob P!) who are happy that the Missouri Tigers made it to the Elite Eight but Kansas did not. All I have to say to you is "wait 'til next year."

And let's hope that the Florida Gators find their Sweet Sixteen stamina next year.

Turn out your lights for "Earth Hour"

World Wildlife Fund is sponsoring Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. local time. I'm joining a lot of other people around the world in turning out my lights to make a statement about climate change.

According to the WWF:

By turning off your lights for one hour, Earth Hour, you will send a message that Americans care about this issue and stand with the rest of the world in finding solutions to the escalating climate crisis. As a participant, there are several ways to ensure Earth Hour 2009 is a success. Earth Hour encourages individuals, educational institutions, organizations, businesses, and cities to sign up and participate. Spread the word by inviting them to join.

Join "Earth Hour" here

Camping not just for "nerdy families, nature geeks and Boy Scouts" any more

CNN says this:

With the economy in a slump, camping seems to be grabbing a new foothold in the travel industry. Once considered by many to be an activity for nerdy families, nature geeks and Boy Scouts, sleeping outside in a tent has become chic -- likely because it is so much cheaper than paying for a hotel room.

The activity also strikes a new chord with Americans who want to get back to basics after an era of excess and overspending.

Outdoor camping's popularity jumped 7.4 percent between 2007 and 2008, according to a report from the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Overnight backpacking is up 18.5 percent, the report said.

Here's a response from an ex-Boy Scout nature geek who has a nerdy family that loves camping: "Huh?"

Camping is not an alternative to a hotel room. There are camping trips and then there are hotel trips. When we spend the weekend in the mountains, we camp. When we stay overnight in Denver or travel to Tucson for spring break, we stay in hotels. Campsites are notoriously scarce in Denver's LoDo. You could bring your tent and camp down by the river. But the neighbors may not suit you.

I should take umbrage at these camping johnny-come-latelys. However, umbrage is also in short supply during these tough economic times. So I welcome all these new campers, many of them bound for the wilds of Wyoming this summer. If Bernie Madoff and his diamond-encrusted Hummer pulled up next to our campsite in the Snowy Range, I wouldn't tell him to take a hike. I'd invite him on a hike. What better way to know a person than to guide him on a jaunt over a rocky trail that rises 3,000 feet in two miles? If he's made of stern (but not Bear-Stearns) stuff, he'll make it to the summit. When we arrive, we'll admire the view together. When he turns his back, I'll vamoose, leaving him there in solitude to ponder his many crimes. I'd go back a couple days later with some bread and water.

We kid Bernie.

While camping, you can leave behind all of those economic concerns. Some rookies may worry that they won't have enough money to buy the latest camping gear. Don't let that trouble you. My old pal Dave touts "celebrity camping." You and your friends pile into a jalopy and head for the hills. Reaching a vacant campsite, you back up the car, unload comfy chairs and the beer cooler, and proceed to get "as loaded as a celebrity." Come nightfall, you can throw your sleeping bag (if you remember it) by the fire (if you have the wherewithal to make one) and sleep the sleep of the contented. Or you can just pass out in your camp chair.

Most of us prefer a less minimalist aproach. Besides, we're too old for such foolishness. We car camp, sure, but we also bring the proper equipment. Here's a partial list: tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, camp stove, matches, food, beverages, cooking utensils, eating utensils, clothes, ponchos, books, journals, bug spray, dog. Optional items include iPods, although they are usually allowed, otherwise there will be a constant mosquito-like whining in my ear from a 16-year-old.

Definitely not allowed on any camping trip: RV, TV, ATV, guns, fishing poles, other fancy stuff. I have nothing against fishing, but killing any fish or fowl will again bring torrents of teen vegan whining into my ears. I liked to fish when I was a kid but do that no more. Now camping is for cooking, hiking, watching wildlife, sleeping under the stars and conversation.

Spending time with my nerdy family -- that's what it's really all about.

Is help on the way for student loan debt?

If Business Week, Daily Kos and U.S. News & World Report think it's an idea whose time has come, who am I to argue?

This strange mix of media outlets have recently run stories about the idea of forgiving student loans -- or at least finding ways to lessen the burdens of those saddled with whopping student debt.

Business Week noted on March 24 that "help is on the way" for those with federal student loans.

The Income-Based Repayment plan, part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, will provide some relief to federal student loan borrowers when it goes into effect on July 1. The program will cap most borrowers' monthly payments at less than 10% of their gross income for 25 years, after which any remaining debt will be forgiven. Another program, the Public Service Loan Forgiveness, allows borrowers to make income-based repayments and have their debt discharged after 10 years. "These programs actually provide some major help now and in the immediate future," says Irons of the Project on Student Debt.

But the situation is not quite as rosy for private loan borrowers. Many of these debtors have been unable to meet their monthly payments, putting their loans in forbearance for several years or, in the worst-case scenario, defaulting on their loans. Making matters worse for private borrowers is a clause in the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act that included private student loans as one of 10 debts that can't be forgiven in bankruptcy cases.

Read the entire article at
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/mar2009/bs20090323_558993.htm

I'm one of the 144,000 members of the Facebook group Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy. We all have horror stories to tell. Some members of the group have raised the point that the $500 we pay each month in student loans might be a better economic stimulus if we could spend it, rather than give it to a student loan conglomerate who uses it to line the pockets of their overpaid executives. It's well known that some of the same giant banks that bundled home and car loans also bundled student loans. The conglomerates made out like bandits, while we were left holding the bag of loans larded with compiling interest and collection charges.

It's consumer spending that stimulates the economy. After all, how many solid gold umbrella stands does one bank executive need? I understand that the purchase of gold umbrella stands contribute to the economy, especially if they are made in the U.S.A. and bought in the U.S.A. But it's a little-known fact that jobs in the the gold umbrella stand industry have all been shipped to Sri Lanka by those same executives who bought those umbrella stands during boom times for precious-metal accoutrements such as gold-flaked gourmet ice cream, gold-encrusted cell phones and 24-carat gold bullion doorstops. Not to mention those golden showers execs administered to us all.

But I digress, in the hummingbirdminds style.

What if that same $500 that went into an exec's gold umbrella stand budget line was instead spent locally on groceries, clothes, car repair and even umbrellas? What if there were thousands -- even millions -- of us doing that? Wouldn't that be better for the GDP and our local economies than the purchase of a few you-know-whats by you-know-who?

Think about it.

Meanwhile, check out a few other articles about student loan forgiveness on the CSLDTSTE group on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=46657437878. Thanks to group founder Robert Applebaum, NYC.

Jon Stewart explains it all for us

Just saw a repeat of Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" smackdown with Jim Cramer of CNBC's "Fast Money." Wow! I didn't see it the first time because the buildup was so overdone that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype. But Stewart's main point was a simple one. Why was CNBC fiddling why Wall Street burned? Certainly they could have better reported the shenanigans behind the scenes, the fact that A.I.G. and Bear Stearns and Citigroup execs were taking our 401(k) money and enriching their own selves, all the time telling us to put more money into our investments and just forget about it. Trust us.

We're at fault too. We let them get away with it. Then. But what about now? Will we hold them accountable? Will Pres. Obama and his money people let them get away with it by propping up their old shell game?

Next time your workplace H.R. people conduct an investment seminar, ask them this question: Why did you tell us to put our money into 401(k)s and deffered comp plans and then forget about it? Is there something you're hiding? Or worse -- something you don't have a clue about because you too never ask WHY?

Start educating yourself by watching the repeat of Stewarty vs. Cramer "Daily Show" episode at http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=220533

Sirota slams greedheads, agrees with Repub Grassley

One of my favorite columnists/bloggers David Sirota writes this:

Remember, the Wall Street Journal shows that taxpayers are now being held hostage, as taxpayer-subsidized banks tell the government "if you want our help to get credit flowing again to consumers and businesses, stop the rush to penalize our
bonuses." And instead of simply nationalizing the banks that taxpayers already effectively own, Geithner, Summers and Obama are bowing down and complying,
offering up a plan that includes no serious executive pay restrictions and simply shovels more taxpayer cash to the same bankers who destroyed our economy.

Read David Sirota :: I Agree With Chuck Grassley

Greedheads planned all along to do us in

Matt Taibbi nails it in Rolling Stone:

...people are pissed off about this financial crisis, and about this bailout, but they're not pissed off enough. The reality is that the worldwide economic meltdown and the bailout that followed were together a kind of revolution, a coup d'état. They cemented and formalized a political trend that has been snowballing for decades: the gradual takeover of the government by a small class of connected insiders, who used money to control elections, buy influence and systematically weaken financial regulations.

For entire article, go to Rolling Stone.

Religious affiliation: None

Leonard Pitts, Jr., writes for the Miami Herald, a daily paper known for a tell-it-like-it-is columnists. I first noticed him during the election, when his syndicated columns appeared in our local paper. He targets fools and hypocrites of all stripes, with his most scathing columns targeting conservative foolishness.

His column in today’s Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, "Religion is Losing Us," addresses the recent American Religious Identity Survey which "found a sharp erosion in the number of people claiming religious affiliation." He reels off some of the survey’s finding. He then sums up why many Americans have distanced themselves from religious wackos:

People of faith usually respond to that ugliness -- by which I mean a seemingly endless cycle of scandal, controversy, hypocrisy, violence and TV preachers saying idiot things -- in one of two ways. Either they defend it (making them part of the problem), or they regard it as a series of isolated, albeit unfortunate, episodes. But irreligious people do neither.

And people of faith should ask themselves: What is the cumulative effect upon outside observers of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker living like lords on the largess of the poor, multiplied by Jimmy Swaggart's pornography addiction, plus Eric Rudolph bombing Olympians and gays in the name of God, plus Muslims hijacking airplanes in the name of God, multiplied by the church that kicked out some members because they voted Democrat, divided by people caterwauling on courthouse steps as a rock bearing the Ten Commandments was removed, multiplied by the square root of Catholic priests preying on little boys while the church looked on and did nothing, multiplied by Muslims rioting over cartoons, plus the ongoing demonization of gay men and lesbians, divided by all those ''traditional values'' coalitions and ''family values'' councils that try to bully public schools into becoming worship houses, with morning prayers and science lessons from the book of Genesis? Then subtract selflessness, service, sacrifice, holiness and hope.

The church I attend sporadically (First United Methodist Church) isn’t like this. But the list of transgressions outlined by Pitt are just some of reasons I no longer go to the local Catholic Church.

Churches don’t need me. I used to think I needed a church to bring meaning to my life. But that’s not true. Only I can do that. I still describe myself as a Christian. But when I'm filling out paperwork and I come to the "religion" section, I write in "none."

Arts included in stimulus funds for Wyoming

As I've said many times, my day job is as an arts worker in the Wyoming Arts Council. The WAC is receiving $290,000 of stimulus funds that was included in the $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts funds in Pres. Obama's stimulus bill. All three members of Wyoming's Congressional delegation voted against economic stimulus. One, Rep. Cynthia Lummis from Cheyenne, called the NEA appropriation "crazy." Other Wyomingites have questioned the funding.

WAC Board Chair wrote an article last week called "Arts Mean Business." He makes a great case, and I don't say this just because he's our board chair.

Read the entire article at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2009/03/arts-mean-business-and-economic.html

Live HD opera comes to the big screen

I've never seen a live opera. Never really interested me. Besides, to actually see one, I have to travel to the spiffy new opera house in Denver, pay a fortune for tickets, get dressed up, and probably pay for a fancy dinner. If it was a priority, I'd do it.

Today, I traveled to Cinemark in Fort Collins to see a simulcast of the Metropolitan Opera's "La Sonnambula." My friend Bob lives in Fort Collins and is a long-time opera fan. He spends part of each summer at the Santa Fe Opera. He has season tickets to Colorado Opera. He goes to the Met's simulcasts. He's an opera "Deadhead," travelling across the West, following Verdi and Bellini and even Wagner. I admire that sort of dedication.

I met Bob and his neighbor Art at the Cinemark. Art used to sing opera as a hobby when he was an engineering professor at Ohio State (a.k.a. The Ohio State). Art saw opera at La Scala in Milan in 1973. La Scala is to opera what City Lights Books in North Beach is to beat poets. Or Ryman Auditorium is to C/W musicians. You get the picture. Bob, of course, has seen dozens of operas and studies up on it in his semi-retirement. I'm a novice. Still educating myself in the fine arts -- a lifelong pursuit.

I paid $20 and joined 200-some people to see the opera on-screen. As we have always suspected, technology is a wonderful things for the arts. Sure, we've seen dire warnings about our teens' brains turning to jelly from playing too many rounds of "Halo" or "Resident Evil." But tech geeks also invented the HD camera and iPods and LCD projectors to enhance the artistic experience.

As I watched a 300-year-old opera live in high-def, I thought to myself: "Technology could help opera make a comeback." Yes, most of the people in the crowd were older than my 58 years. And yes, the graying of the performing arts audience is a major concern of arts groups all over the world. Whenever I go to a local symphony performance, the sound of old people snoring competes with strains of Beethoven and Mozart.

But things may be looking up. Did you know that opera has its own version of "American Idol?" It's true. At today's simulcast, we saw a preview of "The Audition," a documentary based on a 2007 nationwide search for the next big opera voice. The singers were almost all in their 20s, with one man coming in at the ripe old age of 30. They all have wonderful voices. The search has conducted regional auditions and the winners all go to the U.S. competition. That winner gets to sing at the Met.

I haven't spoken much about the opera itself. Bellini set his original in a small 17th-century town in the Swiss Alps. The new version takes place in a NYC rehearsal space, with the players dressed in contemporary clothes rehearsing for a performance of "La Sonnambula" set in a Swiss village. Kooky.

But what impressed me most is how the Metropolitan Opera, one of the oldest and stodgiest institutions in one of the oldest and stodgiest areas in the performing arts, is modernizing through technology and by borrowing ideas from reality shows such as "American Idol." Purists will be shocked. Bob tells me that the Mary Zimmerman, director of this new version of "La Sonnambula," was booed when introduced at opening night The Met. However, the place was filled to capacity for today's performance. And much applause was flung at the leading tenor and soprano. Even Bob, an old-line opera lover, loved the changes. And if we learned anything in our most recent past, change is good.

Ex-Veep Cheney still talking nonsense

On the March 18 "Daily Show," Jon Stewart skewered this John King "interview" of Wyoming's Dick Cheney. What's not to skewer? Go to http://crooksandliars.com/taxonomy/term/205

LCDGC plans book as 2010 fund-raiser

The Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coalition (LCDGC) is compiling a book of recipes, pictures, anecdotes and poetry about -- and from -- Democrats in Laramie County.

The LCDGC has set March 1, 2010, as the deadline to have the book completed and ready for distribution. It will serve as a fund-raiser to help candidates during the 2010 election, which also includes the gubernatorial race.

All Dems in the county are encouraged to be a part of this project.

Mary Lou Marcum is in charge. Submit work to her at "Cookbook," c/o M.L. Marcum, 2598 Tranquility Road, Cheyenne, WY 82009.

FMI: Mary Lou at 307-635-3464 or windywyo@bresnan.net.

Six years on, anti-war poems still stand as witness

In the early part of 2003, I was mightily pissed that we were set to invade Iraq. So, angry, in fact, that I wrote a poem and sent it into Poets Against the War, which eventually became Poets Against War. It wasn’t the greatest poem in the world, but it was heartfelt and relied a lot on the talents of P.B. Shelley. It didn’t make it into the "Poets Against the War" anthology, but it was one of 13,000 poems presented to Congress on March 5, 2003, by PAW rabble-rousers Sam Hamill, Terry Tempest Williams, and several others. So, I mark the anniversary of 2,190 days of pointless war with a poem.

Ozymandias Exploded

With apologies to P.B. Shelley

"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert.
Near them, on the sand, half sunk,
a shattered visage lies,
tells lies and more lies
about the desert war,
last stand in the desert,
last stand for oil in the desert.

Near them, on the sand, half sunk,
a shattered visage lies
whose frown and
wrinkled lips and
sneer of cold command
stand in the desert
keep standing in the desert,
stand for nothing in the desert.

I met a traveller
(might have been a poet)
from an antique land
or maybe from the future.
She came upon a statue in the desert
and on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is George Bush, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains.

Nothing stands in the desert
nothing beside remains
but to take a stand about the war
in the desert;
nothing beside remains
round the decay of that colossal wreck
boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.

See the poem on-site at http://www.poetsagainstwar.net/displaypoem.asp?AuthorID=5733#453063245

"Flogging Molly" is the best

Rich still make out fine under Obama plan

This chart is for the wingnuts and whiny-babies (sometimes the same thing) who are complaining about Pres. Obama's rollback of Bush's tax breaks for the wealthy. Courtesy of MoveOn:

You say "pork," I say "infusion of capital"

Wyoming’s two senators and one representative brought home the bacon this week.

The $410 billion Omnibus Spending Bill passed by Congress and signed by Pres. Obama includes $14.5 million in spending for Wyoming, all projects requested by the delegation. That includes millions for highway construction and improvements, $1.9 million for a pathways system in Grand Teton National Park, $3.42 million for a biology research lab at UW, almost $1 million for various health and drug prevention programs, $300,000 for renovation of a water treatment plant in Lincoln County and $285,000 for literacy and math programs on the Wind River Reservation. All reasonable requests that serve the public good. It’s almost as if Senators Enzi and Barrasso and Representative Lummis were community activists, even though they’re Republicans.

Included in the bill are a number of programs to boost Wyoming’s creative economy. They include $190,000 (requested by former Rep. Barbara Cubin) for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody for digitizing and editing historic papers of William F. Cody. TV pundits have had a lot of fun criticizing this particular earmark (dare we call them earmarks?), going so far as to make fun of Buffalo Bill. One pundit, who shall remain nameless, referred to Bill as a horse thief and a philatelist, which are fighting words in Cody’s hometown of Cody. Why stamp-collecting is regarded with such low esteem in Park County is a long story and will have to wait for another time. Suffice to say, the barflies at the Irma Hotel Bar tonight are damn mad and are just about ready to shoot somebody, preferably a pointy-headed Democrat.

Here’s another cultural earmark: $114,000 to the Ark Memorial Foundation in Laramie for construction of Creative Arts Center. This was another project promoted by Cubin. The Creative Arts Program at Ark serves mentally challenged teens and young adults. The organization is a trailblazer in theatre and visual arts programs that feature the talents of people thought by some to have no talents. That’s why Ark won a Governor’s Arts Award three years ago.

The bill also included $95,000 to the Carbon County Museum Foundation for construction of multi-use museum, $171,000 to Citizens for Civic Auditorium for planning and construction of Casper Civic Auditorium and $380,000 to the City of Evanston for improvements to the Historic Evanston Roundhouse and Railyard. All these projects were a long time coming and will be a boost to their communities. Anyone who’s been to Evanston’s historic downtown knows what I’m talking about. Renovations to the Roundhouse and railyards and the museum have turned the town into a destination instead of just another pit stop along I-80.

All these projects are a boon to Wyoming, which is trying to reshape itself from the country’s "energy sacrifice zone" into a place with scores of vibrant arts and cultural amenities. These earmarks all mark progress.

You’d think the members of our Congressional delegation would be proud of their ability to help Wyoming plan for the future. But no, they’d rather play pitiful partisan games. All three voted to kill the $410 billion omnibus federal spending bill, calling it "fiscally irresponsible" and "pork-laden." Pork-barrel spending, too.

Pork-barrel my ass.

Bill Luckett, director for the Wyoming Democratic Party, told the Casper Star-Tribune:

The delegation's pointed criticism of earmarks while securing funding for their own pet projects is "blatant hypocrisy."

"It's an insult to the intelligence of Wyoming's people that they scream about earmarks out of one side of their mouth while they stick earmarks in the spending bill with the other side," Luckett said.

"It was Jesus Christ who said, 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,' " he added.

Wyomingites happy, yet vaguely troubled

Wyoming received mixed messages today from national organizations. We all know how distressing mixed messages can be. Makes you want to go out and write a really sad poem.

First, the good news. Wyoming is the third-happiest state, trailing only our brethren and sistren in neighboring Utah, and the sun-drenched residents of Hawaii. This comes from a survey of Americans' well-being, conducted by Gallup in partnership with Healthways and America's Health Insurance Plans.

The bottom three were Mississippi, Kentucky and, at dead last, West Virginia.

The beach-goers and mountaineers of the West obviously are happier than the mountaineers of West Virginia. In fact, the saddest states are in the South. Coincidence? Without all that sorrow, how would they breed such excellent and sorrow-drenched writers as William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor (drenched in sorrow yet darkly humorous)?

According to an AP story:

Jim Harter, a researcher at Gallup, said he was reluctant to explain regional differences without more study, but he suspected that some of the variations are explained by income. For example, when people were asked to examine their status in life now and five years from now, wealthier people tended to score higher.

The survey attempts to measure people's well-being. It examines their eating and exercise habits, work environment and access to basic necessities, just to name some of the criteria.

The massive survey involved more than 350,000 interviews. Examples of the questions include: Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday? Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your job or the work you do? Did you eat healthy all day yesterday? Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live? See the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index at http://www.well-beingindex.com

So, Wyomingites are happy. We see amazing joyfulness every day. Although we may be only imagining it.

On Wyoming Public Radio this afternoon, there was a piece about Wyoming’s low mental health grades. The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave Wyoming a grade of "D" in 2006 and an "F" this year. The state lost points for its shortage of psychiatrists or affordable housing for people with mental health issues.

Both of these problems are real. Moreover, there’s not a single practicing child psychiatrist in the entire state. In case you’re too giddy to take in such a woeful statistic, I’ll spell it out in numbers – Wyoming has exactly 0.0 child psychiatrists for its 520,000 people, maybe 200,000 of them under 18. There are psychiatrists trained to treat adults, and there are psychologists and therapists and counselors. Physicians in small- to medium-sized towns in the state see young people with mental health issues and prescribe medication. But they are not trained in child psychiatry.

So we have a problem. Roger McDaniel sees it as a byproduct of Wyoming’s rural nature. He’s probably right. McDaniel oversees mental health for the state Department of Health. He told the WPR reporter: "To the extent that you try to grade Wyoming against more urban states, we're always going to fare poorly."He added that Wyoming has doubled its funding for mental health, and expanded its regional care.

But here in the Great Wide Open, many mentally ill people go untreated. That’s a sad state of affairs.

But I’m too damn happy to notice.

Lummis judges meat on "Colbert Report"

By now, you've seen (or heard about) Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis's appearance on "The Colbert Report." Here's a link to the clip:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/221062/march-09-2009/better-know-a-district---wyoming-s-at-large---cynthia-lummis

Plans proceed for Cheyenne supercomputer

We are all very excited about the new supercomputer that's planned for a site outside Cheyenne.

Last week, The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) announced the selection of an architectural design team for "a supercomputing center dedicated to advancing scientists' understanding of climate, weather, and other Earth and atmospheric processes."

NCAR sent along this digital version of the proposed design:



Here's sneak peek at some of the equipment that will be used at this super-high-tech facility:





"We are pleased to be moving forward on this world-class, collaborative endeavor," says NCAR Director Eric Barron. "We are advancing an era of scientific progress and discovery through a partnership that will deliver top-notch resources to the world's research community."

We live in exciting times.

Legislature vanishes in the night

Odd not to have the Legislature in town on Friday. They wrapped up the session late on Thursday and melted into the night -- the same way they had arrived way back in January. Tumbleweeds tumbling through the streets, no doubt rolling through the abandoned law-making chambers that used to resound with carefree laughter and the rustling of newly-minted bills. Parking was easy to find. No lobbyists hanging around on street corners, cadging quarters from passers-by. Eerie. But nice.

Poet wraps up 2009 Wyoming Legislature

The Wyoming Legislature ended its 2009 session with a reading -- and a bit of accordion playing -- from our poet laureate, David Romtvedt of Buffalo.

David's one of those multi-talented guys who writes great poetry, plays an assortment of musical instruments (solo and with his band, Fireants), teaches a broad array of college courses and is bilingual. He's attempting to become multilingual, taking courses in the Basque language. It's not an easy language, having roots back to Europe's earliest (and now defunct) tongues. David just returned from the Basque County and had a new song for the legislature.

It was a fandango, which he played on a new Basque accordion and sang in the native language. Members of the Wyoming House and senate were attentive as David performed, and then read a new poem, "The Age of Risk." He also thanked the legislature for their ongoing support of the arts, arts education and the Wyoming Arts Council.

This is the fifth year David's been a guest at the legislature. Usually he performs earlier in the session in order to charge up its members for any arts-related bills on the docket. He may be a good luck charm, as the Wyoming Arts Council's budget has gone up during that same time. And it has nothing to do with multimillion-dollar budget surpluses due to taxes on extractive energy projects. Just a coincidence...

This evening, David was set to talk poetry and accordion at Hobbs Elementary School's "Night of Arts," along with Aussie storyteller Paul Taylor from Laramie and several other artists. That's the school my kids attended. While there, they received a good background in the arts. My son played the trumpet and my daughter, the violin. Lots of writing in the classroom, as well as Young Authors and "Letters About Literature" contests.

After David's legislative appearance, I asked him about the Basque song. He said it was a song by a Basque songwriting team. The subject was the first woman Palestinian suicide bomber who died during the Arab-Israeli clashes. He translated the words, and noted that there is no judgement in the song, no taking sides on whether the bomber was good or bad. Just the story of her dying. It seemed an odd song to be playing to our very conservative legislature. David said he would have told them what it was about, but nobody asked.

Legislature: Not a cent for children's health needs, but lots of dough for pet projects

Joan Barron reports in today's Casper Star-Tribune that Gov. Freudenthal is "puzzled at the overall thrust of the legislative session that wraps up tonight."

He said he was disappointed that the Wyoming House last week rejected a bill to set up a health care reform pilot program financed with tobacco fund money, and another proposal for $90,000 to expand the children's health insurance program.

"I think there's some ideological stuff going on, particularly in the House. They want to meddle in your personal life. Somehow the government can do that, but it can't help kids get insurance," Freudenthal said. "That doesn't fit for me, particularly when we are heading into these economic times."

He said health care costs are not coming down, which is he why he liked the health care reform pilot program. The pilot may not have worked but it could have provided the state with information about what might work, he said. "I don't know if it's just ideologically without rudder and it's just kind of the winds and the mood of the House or whether there's a purpose," he added.

The Legislature, dominated by Republicans, spent an inordinate amount of time on some of the Far Right's favorite topics -- gay rights (very much against), guns (FOR!), abortion (against) and "fetal rights" (FOR!). They socked away more money that we don't have, as budget surplusses have shriveled with falling energy prices. But it's more important for Republicans to sock away money than to spend it on children's health needs.

Sk(r)ewed priorities.

Rocky's rocky road leads it to the Net

As noted on these e-pages last week, Denver's Rocky Mountain News published its final edition last Friday.

Some of its out-of-work reporters and columnists now write on I Want My Rocky. Mary Voelz Chandler still covers the arts beat and wrote a piece about Colorado's Arts Advocacy Day taking place on Friday, March 6. On that day, the Colorado Council on the Arts will meet to talk about its drastic state budget cuts (25 percent) -- and decide how to spend $314,000 it will receive from the 2009 Economic Stimulus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It has to send an application for that money to the National Endowment for the Arts by Friday, May 13.

In Cheyenne, all of us at the Wyoming Arts Council heard today that our cut of the stimulus package is about $290,000. We only have ten days to assemble an application.

To read more of Chandler's IWMR column, go to http://www.iwantmyrocky.com/2009/03/03/arts-advocacy-day-a-chance-to-consider-saving-jobs/

And you thought Wyomingites stood up to bullies like Limbaugh...

Video clip from Heather via Crooks & Liars:

Registration opens for Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless "Walk in My Shoes"

Here's a great way to help out a good cause -- and get a bit of exercise.

WALK IN MY SHOES, presented by Beacon Hills Baptist Church, Saturday, June 13, 2009.

Walk begins at the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless building, 907 Logan Avenue, Cheyenne. Check-in time 8 a.m. Walk begins at 9 a.m.

Pre-registration fee is $12. Registration on day of walk is $15.

Ghost walkers are welcome, which are people who have a conflict on that day, and can’t walk, but want to help. Ghost Walkers are eligible for door prize drawings. Fill out the registration form below and mail it with your check to the address below.

WALK IN MY SHOES 2009 REGISTRATION FORM
(Copy and paste this form onto a MS Word document, print it and fill it out.)

Make check(s) out to:
Beacon Hill Baptist Church (mark "WALK")
MAIL TO:
Walk In My Shoes
c/o Beacon Hill Baptist Church
110 Central Avenue

Name: _____________________________

Address:____________________________

Telephone:__________________________

Walker: _________ Ghost Walker_________

Waiver: I hereby waive all claims against Beacon Hill Baptist Church, the City of Cheyenne, the Cheyenne Parks and Recreation Department, SHY-WY Amateur Radio Club, the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, their board members, volunteers, event sponsors and other personnel involved in the event for any injury I might suffer in this event. I attest that I am physically fit and prepared for this event. I grant full permission for organizers to use photographs of me and quotations of and from me in legitimate accounts and promotion of this event.

Signature:___________________________
(participant or parent/guardian)

Wear a dark suit and march down to the coal-fired protest

Another weekend of big confabs and protests in Washington, D.C....

Some 10,000 college students are in D.C. this weekend for Power Shift '09, an event meant to energize young people (and at some future point, their elders) into making the big switch from coal- and gas-powered energy to alternative energy. I took a look at the Power Shift '09 web site map to see if any Wyoming students were registered. The map showed two registrants from Laramie, presumably from UW. After attending the creativity conference at UW this past week and hearing about scores of innovative student projects (Evolve Revolve, Pokes Vote, etc), I'm a bit surprised more didn't travel to this D.C. event. But it's expensive to travel and with spring will come more and numerous opportunities to network and protest in our nation's capital.

There is a protest on Monday on Capitol Hill against the coal-fired plant that powers Congress. It was organized by environmental writer Bill McKibben and well-known Luddite essayist Wendell Berry. This event is sponsored by Capitol Climate Action. McKibben had asked protestors to dress less like, well, hippie-dippy protestors and more like Congressional reps. I like the idea. Imagine the impressive sight of thousands of men and women in dark suits (not yet time for spring wardrobe changes) marching in cadence, swinging their laptop cases.

Some of the air was let out of the protest when Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid ordered the Capitol Power Plant to finish its switch from coal to natural gas. But the protest will go on, according to McKibben writing on the Grist web site:

We'll still be protesting on Monday in D.C., but it looks like the protest may be half victory party too! Late Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter off to the Capitol Architect -- the guy in charge of buildings and grounds, as well as the century-old, mainly-coal-fired power plant that Congress owns and which is located just a few blocks from the fancy dome and the National Mall. The two leaders told him to stop shoveling coal into the power plant's boiler and finish the switch to natural gas. Now, it just so happens that this is the same coal plant targeted for the first mass civil disobedience in the history of the American climate movement.... It didn't take much of a push to convince Congress that the time for change had come. It's an almost giddy feeling -- sort of like what most of America felt on election night when the voters actually chose to elect the smart guy. It feels like the system is working (sort of) the way it's supposed to.

Not to be outdone, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank, has announced a counter-protest to the Capitol Climate Action, the biggest civil disobedience on climate issues in U.S. history. It's called the "Celebrate Coal! and Keep Energy Affordable" rally.

As a veteran of protests and counter-protests, I'm not fearful of collisions between warring energy factions. It is possible that the day could erupt into a melee when one group of dark-suited protestors collide with another. Laptops could get switched, Blueberries Blackberries lost, Blu-Ray headphones knocked from skulls. But who knows? Maybe some common ground will be found, some blend of goals and ideas.

I think not.

Here's McKibben:

This is one small power plant. We need to start shutting down the whole vast coal archipelago that provides half the nation's electricity. That's going to be a tough, grinding job that requires a huge movement. And it's somehow going to have to stretch around the world, to China and India and everywhere else where coal is commonplace. (That's why we've got 350.org up and running; we're not going to solve this one city at a time).

Here's part of a press release from the Competitive Enterprise Institute:

CEI has applied to the U. S. Capitol Police for a permit to hold the rally in front of the Capitol Power Plant on the south side of E Street, S. E., between South Capitol Street and New Jersey Avenue, S. E. The District of Columbia Metropolitan Police have also been notified that the rally will be held on the north side of E Street if the Capitol Police deny the permit. The anti-coal protest group, Capitol Climate Protection, has apparently not applied for a permit to protest around the Capitol Power Plant.

“The goal of Celebrate Coal! is to publicize the colossal benefits of coal-fired power and the need for access to affordable energy. If the anti-coal zealots are allowed to prevail politically, electric rates will skyrocket for most Americans and many jobs will be lost in energy-intensive industries as a result of higher power prices,” said Myron Ebell, Director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI and one of the event’s organizers.

Taxes on Wyoming's coal, gas and oil pay my salary. That makes me a bit conflicted. I won't be at the D.C. protest or counter-protest, but I think it's terrific they're happening. But the real battleground on this issue will be in Wyoming. We dig millions of tons of coal out of the ground each year and send it to power plants across the U.S. and overseas. We burn some of that coal in colossal plants and send most of the power out of state. How in the world are we going to deal with that -- and find alternatives?

Saturday Night at the Movies -- "Milk"

Saw "Milk" tonight. Saturday Night at the Movies with the family. Sean Penn was terrific, as was Josh Brolin. A history/civics lesson as well as a damn fine movie. I'd forgotten about the defeat of California's Prop. 6 in 1978. Makes you wonder how Prop. 8 snuck in over the transom in 2008. Some of the same anti-human forces at work today.

Elton John performs benefit concert in Laramie on April 3

Elton John has announced that he will perform April 3 in Laramie at UW's Arena Auditorium. It's a benefit concert for the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an organization founded by Judy Shepard after the murder of her gay son, Matthew.

Tickets for the Laramie show, $35-$85, will go on sale at 8 a.m. Monday, March 2, at wyomingathletics.com.

Here's a statement about the event from Judy Shepard:

"Ten years ago, Sir Elton did a concert in Laramie to benefit the Foundation. It was wonderful beyond description. He is a gracious and generous human being. We are sincerely grateful for his continuing support."

The Friday evening concert will be held amidst the proceedings of the Public Art Symposium set for April 2-4 at the UW Conference Center. So all you Wyoming artists out there can come to the symposium on Thursday, Friday and Saturday -- and spend a little time with Sir Elton on Friday night.

Photo: Elton John's 1971 album, "Tumbleweed Connection," with lyrics by Bernie Taupin. "Where to Now, St. Peter?", "Ballad of a Well-Known Gun," and "Burn Down the Mission." Western themes explored by Brits, with amazing results. My favorite Elton John album.

Coen brothers present: "Clean Coal"

Rocky Mountain News R.I.P.

The Rocky Mountain News in Denver will publish its final issue tomorrow. Read all about it at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/feb/26/rocky-mountain-news-closes-friday-final-edition/.

The newspaper was founded in 1859 by William Byers, one of the many hucksters to stake claims at the fledgling outpost located at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte in Colorado Territory. Byers hauled his printing press in a wagon all the way to pre-Denver. The paper survived floods and fire and the ravages of time. It just couldn't deal with the Internet.

In the early 1980s, I covered high school sports for the Rocky. Just for a year. From 1978-1981, I wrote about high school sports for the competing Denver Post. I moved on to managing editor of a weekly newspaper, Up the Creek, which began its life covering the lively singles scene in Denver's Glendale enclave. It moved from drooling (in print) over wet T-shirt contests to covering arts and entertainment and culture in a rapidly growing city. We made fun of the Rocky and Post for their mistakes. We dueled with Westword over stories and ads (Westword won). I then moved on to other things, as people do. I love newspapers, and hate to see a good one go into the dustbin of history.

But here I am, writing on the Internet and reading newspapers such as the Rocky and the Post and the NY Times and the London Guardian and all the others for the price of a few cents of electricity.

Weird times, eh?

Obama's speech shows us the way

Alternative energy... health care... education...

The Big Three.

So glad that Pres. Obama revisited the three priorities that he hammered home during his race for the presidency.

Get busy on alternative energy to get rid of our dependence on the oil sheiks. Build windmills and upgrade the energy grid and build solar cells and design better hybrid cars. And clean coal? Nobody knows what that is but we can pour money and energy into ways that will make Wyoming's huge coal reserves cleaner and more useful in the alt-energy future.

Health care is crucial. Single-payer health care, the kind that Republicans (including our Wyoming delegation) hates. But the only kind that can solve our tangled health care system.

Tax breaks for college students. More college loans. A renewed commitment to post-secondary education. Everyone commit to at least a year of college? Why not? If I had my way, I'd always be taking a course.

Shovel-ready projects? We have plenty of those that require actual shovels -- highway construction, rebuilding cities, renovating homes. Then there are some that use metaphoric shovels. Projects in the arts and education and science.

I hear white noise in the background. Wait -- it's Bobby Jindal from Louisiana, another Republican naysayer. White noise, the droning of a political party with no ideas.

Stimulate the economy by cancelling student loan debt

I've been on Facebook for a few weeks. I have 29 friends, most of them far-away family members. My sister Mo in Tallahassee prompted my interest in FB, which had just been another PC time-waster until she started a family group. It's been fun to see what my four brothers and four sisters are up to. It's also educational viewing the posts by my nieces and nephews in college (and high school) in Florida -- and my son in college in Tucson. Exams, parties, rock concerts -- my niece Erin just went to a "wrock" concert, and I'm trying to figure out what it is. They post many more photos and videos that their elders. It's a multimedia melange to them. We're still figuring it out...

I've read a couple of anti-Facebook columns lately. I haven't been on long enough to be angry at this social networking site. One writer said that he didn't need FB to talk to his friends -- and didn't want to make any new friends who spend all their spare time on Facebook.

Facebook has a "groups" section. You can start your own group -- Red-headed Nazis for Christ, Recycling Geeks of America, etc. -- and you can invite all of your new friends to join. Some of these groups have gathered a huge number of joiners. One is Cancel Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy. It boasts more than 83,000 members who want to wipe clean the student loan slate and spend their money on more important things, such as a faster laptop to accommodate all their new FB friends. I joined this one, as I'd like to persuade the lender of my grad-school loan to knock off some of the thousands in interest and fines it has piled onto my loan.

Some have commented that the group's members are just a bunch of whiners, people who took out loans voluntarily and now want to default on those loans, ruining the system for others. As if there was a "system" to student loans. If the act of finding, applying and receiving a student loan is systematic, I haven't seen it. My son gets tuition assistance from Pima Community College, but hasn't yet taken out a loan. I encourage him to avoid it if possible.

Pres. Obama has taken a step in the right direction, with tax credits for college expenses and other programs. But, as in the mortgage loan mess, many of us are carrying around student loans bloated by expanding interest and fees that drag us down. As is the case with "responsible homeowners" and their mortgages, we're just looking for a little relief -- not a bailout. Or default.

Wyoming to get $538M in stimulus funds

Today's Casper Star-Tribune has a list of funds coming to Wyoming through the Democrats' stimulus plan. It comes from the National Conference of State Legislators, via Sen. Mike Enzi's office. Enzi, of course, voted against the stimulus, as did our other senator and lone representative. It must be painful for them to release information about legislation that will bring much-appreciated help to their state -- and one which they had nothing to do with.

Here's the list thus far:

Fiscal Stabilization Fund $15 million
Medicaid $110 million
Highways and bridges $157.6 million
Transit capital grants $9.3 million
Drinking water state revolving fund $19.7 million
Clean water state revolving fund $19.5
Weatherization assistance $19.8 million
State energy program $20.4 million
Emergency food and shelter $200,000
Immunization $1.6 million
Foster care/adoption assistance $300,000
Elderly nutrition $500,000
Child care $2.6 million
Head Start $1.1 million
Community service block grant $5 million
Grants to local education authorities $25 million
School improvement $6.8 million
Special education Part B $25.8 million
Special education Part C $1.8 million
Vocational rehabilitation $1.6 million
Educational technology $3.1 million
School lunch equipment $100,000
Public housing capital fund $1.4 million
HUD affordable housing grant $3.6 million
Homeless prevention $1.7 million
Internet crimes against children $1.6 million
Violence Against Women Act $800,000
Unemployment insurance/state administration grants $900,000
Employment service $2.1 million
Law enforcement grants $5.6 million
Community service for older Americans $600,000
Job training for adults $1.2 million
Job training for youths $2.9 million
Dislocated workers $900,000

Less than $100,000 each for:
Community assistance/food assistance
Education for homeless
Crime victims assistance

Total: $538.6 million, give or take a few bucks.

I don't see anything in here for the arts, although $50 million in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts was included in the stimulus plan. Perhaps the NEA needs to figure out how they'll handle the funding before numbers can be released.

MoveOn meets with LarCoDems Feb. 24

Nicole Novotny sends word that the next meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Party will feature guest speaker Kate Wright, regional coordinator for www.MoveOn.org

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 24, 7 p.m. at the Historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne.

After Kate's presentation, the Laramie County Democratic Party will discuss future fund-raising and the election of new officers for 2009 and 2010.

Nebraska and Wyoming share a trait: lack of children's mental health care services

The daily newspaper was invented for this.

On Feb. 1, the Omaha World-Herald published a long article, "Safe Haven kids finally got right help." The article, by staff writers Matthew Hansen and Karyn Spencer, was based on interviews and research into 10,000 pages of documents released to the paper by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. It takes time and patience it took to read that many pages of bureaucratese. It takes skill to translate that into an article that is heart-breaking. Read it at http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10552927, and then read Judith Warner's column in the New York Times that alerted me to the OWH piece. Go to http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/is-there-no-place-on-earth/?emc=eta1

I've written several posts about the weird happenings surrounding Nebraska's "Safe Haven" law. Parents, at their wit's end with kids (mostly teens) who had mental health and behavior problems, abandoned them to Nebraska's authorities. One mother drove her child to Nebraska all the way from Georgia.

Nebraska is Wyoming's neighbor to the east. Both states reflect the fact that there is a severe shortage of mental health care practitioners and facilities in the nation's rural areas. Here's a paragraph from Warner's column:

In 1990, the Council on Graduate Medical Education estimated that by 2000, the United States would need 30,000 child psychiatrists; there are now 7,000. Many rural areas have no child psychiatrists or psychologists at all. Often, pediatricians end up providing mental health care, but they aren’t trained for it and often aren’t reimbursed for it by health insurance. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is currently working with the American Academy of Pediatrics to try to formalize ways to collaborate on caring for children with mental health needs, but models for such joint care are scarce. And doctors have no financial incentives to talk to one another on the phone.

Many rural areas have no child psychiatrists or psychologists at all. Wyoming, with its 97,000 square miles of mostly "rural," doesn't have a single child psychiatrist. Psychologists? Yes, in the state's cities of Cheyenne and Casper, maybe a few others. There are licensed therapists who can provide counseling and possibly point harried parents in the right direction. There are non-profits such as UPLIFT and its outreach specialists who can do the same thing. (Note: I'm an UPLIFT board member). But when you are a parent faced with a mentally ill child, you need lots of guidance and professional help. Your child will likely need medication -- you need an M.D. for that.

Why do I care about this? My daughter just spent 2008 in a residential treatment facility. My wife and I are involved in our communities and know our way around mental health care and twelve-step programs. We have health insurance, but knew it wouldn't come close to covering the costs.

When it comes to long-term care for your own child, we often felt the way this mother described it to the OWH reporters:

Theresa Thomason, an Omaha native who lives in Oklahoma, said she had been struggling to get her adopted foster child into a residential program for his psychiatric problems.

She called an elected official and said she was taking her son to Nebraska unless someone helped her. A barrage of phone calls, e-mails and faxes followed. Her son was admitted within days.

"Why on God's green earth does it take all that to get help?" she asked.

Good question, Theresa.

More about some of the possible answers in future posts.

How much stimulus dough will come to WYO?

Ben Neary of the Associated Press reports that Sen. John Barrasso estimates Wyoming may receive up to $540 million from Pres. Obama's economic stimulus bill.

But Barrasso, a vocal opponent of the $787 billion stimulus bill, warned Wyoming lawmakers on Friday that they will have to consider carefully whether to accept federal dollars that may come with strings attached.

The Republican said only one copy of the lengthy bill was distributed in the Senate before last week's vote to approve it. He said that made it impossible for senators to read it before voting on it.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal has said this week that his administration is working to make sense of the bill and to determine whether accepting federal money would commit the state to future expenditures.

It's one hell of a deal when federal money comes with strings attached. Such as, when the feds give Wyoming money for highways, the gubment expects the money to be used for highways. The gall! The same goes for federal funds for education, toxic waste clean-up, even the arts.

Some Repub governors have made noises about not accepting the stimulus money. Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindel, currently GOP Golden Boy, made some threats along those lines last week. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin took time out from Mardi Gras festivities to say he'd take any of those federal funds that the Gov turned down. Still a lot of rebuilding to do in New Orleans.

That's the thing. Repub Govs may jabber all they want about not accepting stimulus money. But when it comes right down to it, they take it because their constituents -- Dem and Repub -- need it. Govs of southern states have been the most vociferous. They usually have sent Repubs to the U.S. House and Senate. But in the end, they'll take the money. State budgets are in touch shape. And Republican margins of victory weren't all that impressive in the recent elections.

In Wyoming, our budget surplus, brought to us by the energy extraction industries, have shrunk. All agencies in state government have been told to plan on 5 percent budget cuts this year and 10 percent for budgets in the next biennium. These are permanent cuts, not storm warnings that may be lifted in a few months. Wyoming is not exempt from the economic distress that's afflicting its neighboring states. A lumber mill shut down in Laramie this week, throwing 67 employees out of work. There's a lot of that going on.

Instead of worrying about some imaginary strings attached to the stimulus package, I'd suggest we take the money and keep people employed -- and put others back to work.