Ridin' and ropin' those docile dinos

This photo by John Scalzi is great in so many ways. It's from Kentucky's Creation Museum, and shows a boy riding a statue of a baby Triceratops, which is Wyoming's official state dinosaur. The kid is having fun, and probably doesn't care a wit that Triceratops were never used as rodeo stock. Since it's rodeo season in the West, you can ask just about any cowboy -- horses and bulls are preferable to dinos. It's a fine idea, though, and one which should be considered if we ever get our hands on that dino DNA that was used so disastrously in "Jurassic Park." I think it would be much more fun to ride bareback on a Velociraptor, with others playfully nipping at your boot heels. But that's just me.

The Creation Museum contends that humans and dinos lived side-by-side. It also contends that the T-Rex was a vegeterian. Not sure what those big pointy teeth were used for. Maybe plants were tougher 6,000 years ago.

In Wyoming, we know our dinosaurs and our evolutionary history. That what makes the closing of the University of Wyoming's Geological Museum so sad. In a time of Creation Museums, we desperately need as much real science as possible. So budget cuts are made and the thing that UW decides is expendable is a museum devoted to the reality-based world. The move has been controversial. I heard news yesterday that private funding has been raised to keep the museum in business. Let's hope so.

More dinosaur bones have been dug out of Wyoming that almost anywhere else in the world. Plant and animal life from millions of years ago make up our massive oil and coal reserves. We boast an official state dinosaur and an official state fossil, the Knightia. I think we're the only state that puts so much stock in the ancient world, one that goes back way farther than 6,000 years.

I have a story called "The History of Surfing in Wyoming" that posits a post-global warming Wyoming (Wyoming Islands) where the surf is bitchen on the beaches of the Big Horns and Wind Rivers (formerly mountain ranges) and aqua-rodeo cowboys get their kicks riding sea creatures resurrected from the floor of the ancient inland sea. Reality-based scenarios are fun when it comes to science. But they don't hold a candle to the worlds conjured by the imagination.

I leave you with the Wyoming Islands version of the Beach Boys' Surfin' U.S.A. (feel free to sing along):

If everybody had an ocean
Across the U.S.A.
Then everybody'd be surfin'
Like Wyoming-yay
You'd see 'em wearing cut-off Ryders
Stetsons and (boots) too
A buzz-cut surfers’ hairdo
Surfin' U.S.A.

You'd catch 'em surfin' at Happy Jack
Casper Island Beach
Flaming Gorge and Lander
and the Big Horn Islands
All over South Pass
And down Encampment way
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Rock River and Sundance
and Laramie Peak
Meeteetse and Midwest,
Big Surf Reef near Ten Sleep
All over the Wind Rivers
and Uinta Bay
Everybody's gone surfin'
Surfin' U.S.A.

Weekend Garden Blogging: Fourth of July

Greetings from Cheyenne, the semi-arid capital of semi-arid Wyoming, which has more water than it knows what to do with.

Just kidding. We never have quite enough. In dry years, we're parched. In wet years, we're refreshing the landscape parched during dry years.

But this year, we get rain every day. Yesterday brought a gully-washer with raindrops big as eyeballs. I heard the rain pounding the porch's aluminum roof and I thought hail had arrived and panicked because I hadn't covered my still-tender plants.

I left my writing desk for the yard and marveled at the afternoon rain. Came down so fast and furious that it smacked down some of my spinach plants. So I picked the leaves for a dinner salad. Added some leaf lettuce. Later, wading through the drenched gardens between plant rows, had a feeling that my semi-arid garden was turning into a rice paddy. Get your Wyoming rice, freshly harvested from Mike's paddy! Weird.

The tomatoes are blooming and heads have formed on all the broccoli. Bush bean plants shooting up to 4-5 inches. Pole beans on the side yard haven't yet sent out shoots to climb the trellis. Picked one ripe strawberry yesterday and shared it with my wife, who gave me grief for teasing her with one tiny little fruit. More to come, my dear. Much more to come.

Bragging to my college son yesterday about my little feat of engineering that keeps the garden irrigated and the patio dry. A drainage field lurks under the garden and rainwater diverted to garden instead of clay soil yard. Used to flood the basement at least once per summer. But no more.

He said he was impressed. Then he went back to reading his book.

As the sun dipped to the horizon yesterday, a huge bank of clouds rose in the West. Rippled with lightning. Uh oh, I said, another deluge for the rice paddies. But the storm missed us and hit Casper and vicinity with a vengeance. You can see some flash flood photos on the Casper Star-Trib web site.

On this Fourth of July, I dedicate my Victory Garden to the visionaries who risked everything to found the U.S.A.

Pres. Obama: Happy Fourth of July -- and don't listen to the naysayers

And here are a few of the best lines:

These naysayers have short memories. They forget that we, as a people, did not get here by standing pat in a time of change. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.

We are not a people who fear the future. We are a people who make it. And on this July 4th, we need to summon that spirit once more. We need to summon the same spirit that inhabited Independence Hall two hundred and thirty-three years ago today.

"WYOMING: It is for everybody!"

You can find some strange truths in bumper stickers.

I saw one the other day in Cheyenne. It was on a pick-up. It read: "WYOMING: It's not for everybody."

At first, I thought it was another in a series of "Unique Wyoming" bumper stickers: "Wyoming is what America was." "Wyoming: Like No Place on Earth."

The theme that unites them all could be summed up into the fact that Wyomingites like the state the way it is and its residents don't need any of your newfangled coastal ideas.

That's no revelation if you live here. We're a conservative state, more libertarian that right-wing fundamentalist -- although there's a streak of that here too. At best, the libertarian streak reveals a healthy distrust of big government. At worst, it's venomous, mindless gubment-hating more akin to Nativists and neo-Nazis than any sane political philosophy.

But as I mulled over the "WYOMING: It's not for everybody" bumper sticker, I began to wonder: What if Wyoming was for everybody? What if everybody in the U.S. moved to the Equality/Cowboy State? Latest state population figures show 532,668 in an area of 97,818 square miles. That makes for about 5.4 humans per square mile. So, if Wyomingites were placed equidistant from one another across the state, nobody could see his/her neighbor.

That's impossible, of course. You can't tell Wyomingites where and how to live. Besides, everyone wants to live in scenic locales such as Jackson, Sheridan and Cody, or the not-so-scenic-but-already-settled-places-with-jobs such as Cheyenne and Casper and Gillette.

But what is everybody in the U.S. moved to Wyoming? Sure, there would be a lot of gun play, but let's say that most of the immigrants survived the melee. Wyoming would have some 303 million new residents. Suddenly, there would be 3,108 people per square mile. That's a big boost, for sure. A lot less elbow room, especially if you landed in one of the square mile parcels with citizens from "fat states" such as Mississippi and Arkansas. But if you're sharing space with skinny-state Coloradans, you could stretch until the cows came home, although there would be no room for them if they did.

How crowded would it be? Well, if you increased Cheyenne's population of 56,915 by a factor of 575 times, the city would become a teeming metropolis of 32 million. Now that would put a strain on city services. But hey, we still have the Wal-Mart Regional Distribution Center west of town. Wal-Mart, with its super-efficient delivery system, could keep all 32 million of us supplied with Chinese-made snack foods and diapers for the foreseeable future.

But what if I'm giving short shrift to the bumper sticker's message? What if everybody meant "everybody," even the Chinese, North Koreans and Iranians? Now we're talking a population explosion. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the worlds population at 6.76 billion souls. If you provided a 4-square-foot space for everyone, Wyoming could easily accommodate everybody in the entire world, with a bit of room left over for rivers and lakes and mountaintops and bears and prairie dogs and Wal-Marts.

So the bumper sticker is incorrect: Wyoming is for everybody. Every person on the planet.

Steve Earle on World Cafe July 7

On Tuesday July 7, Steve Earle will be hosted by David Dye on National Public Radio’s World Café. Wyoming Public Radio features the World Cafe at odd times. Go here to find the schedule. Visit NPR’s World Cafe for more info.

Go to Steve's web site to listen to a "Pancho and Lefty" excerpt from his newest CD, "Townes."

Make that "cow-manure-on-a-stick"

Molly K. Hooper writing today in The Hill:

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a few choice words about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) landmark climate-change bill after its passage Friday. When asked why he read portions of the cap-and-trade bill on the floor Friday night, Boehner told The Hill, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t."

Using his privilege as leader to speak for an unlimited time on the House floor, Boehner spent an hour reading from the 1200-plus page bill that was amended 20 hours before the lower chamber voted 219-212 to approve it. Eight Republicans voted with Democrats to pass the bill; 44 House Democrats voted against it.

Pelosi's office declined to comment on Boehner's jab. But one Democratic aide quipped, "What do you expect from a guy who thinks global warming is caused by cow manure?"

As did most Republicans, Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis also voted against the bill. In her description of the bill, she did not say "s--t" or "cow manure," although there is plenty of both items scattered across the state. Her response was much more gentile. She called it "the largest tax hike in history." And then:

"The national energy tax will lead to higher costs to create energy by American industries and will be passed directly onto the American consumers who use it, is proportionately impacting lower-income families and all working Americans. It will have a devastating impact on the price at the pump and utility bills, and will dramatically hinder the use of Wyoming coal. It will wreak havoc on family budgets, small businesses and family farms."

That's been the Republican party line, that the energy bill is a tax on us little people. Repubs are always so concerned with the little people -- and I don't think they're talking about leprechauns. That's you and me they're looking out for, folks. Not the lobbyists, of course. Not the bag men and women from Exxon and Peabody Coal and Cigna.

The Repubs feel our pain when we have to spend too much on energy or high-interest credit cards or student loans or health care or mental health care or groceries of a thousand and one other things. They feel our pain when our jobs are shipped overseas by one of their Republican pals. They feel our pain when we have to send our kids to fight wars that they or their kids or grandkids don't have to fight -- or won't. Their empathy knows no bounds.

Nor does their gall.

Sen. Barrasso: "Gubment should get out of the way of prosperity and liberty"

Republicans in the West (including Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso) continue to play "That Darn Gubment" game.

This comes from a 6/26/09 story by Courtney Lowery in New West:

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch says he, his fellow Senator Bob Bennett, Idaho’s Jim Risch and Wyoming’s John Barrasso have created the Western Senate Caucus because: “We have to fight very, very hard to make sure that the West is being treated fairly.”

In an announcement yesterday, the three Senators detailed a plan that Hatch likened to the Sagebrush Rebellion during the Carter years.

Barrasso says in the Salt Lake Tribune: “We believe in Western values, values of rugged individualism, of self-reliance and economic freedom,” said Barrasso. “We oppose the federal intrusion in the everyday lives of the people of our great country. The government should get out of the way of prosperity and liberty.”

The Senators times the formation of the caucus with its introduction of the Clean, Affordable, and Reliable Energy, or CARE, Act, legislation that Hatch described in a press release as, “A comprehensive energy bill… aimed at ensuring that all the energy tools are in place to fuel our economy and fix our nation’s dangerous overdependence on foreign oil.”

Hatch also said in the release, “One of the aims of the Senate Western Caucus is to thwart the anti-oil agenda of the Washington elite and their extreme environmentalist allies, while at the same time promoting alternative energy,” and he referenced Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s decision this week to repeal oil and gas leases in Utah. You can read some of the details of the CARE act on Hatch’s Web site.

These quotes are shot through with right-wing code words: "elite," "federal intrusion," "Western values," "environmentalist." And so on. These guys are so mired in the past that they might as well be dinosaurs stuck in the Permian ooze.

Sagebrush Rebellion? Give me a break. Anyone remember James Watt?

That darn gubment -- a continuing series

Always in search of references to Wyoming, wherever they may arise. But I missed this on Jon Stewart. Jon played a clip of Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) putting down the DMV and post office and other governmental (and quasi-governmental) entities.

Here's the segment:

John Boehner (film clip): If you like going to the DMV and think they do a great job or you like going to the post office and think it's the most efficient thing you've run into to then you'll love the government run health care system.

Jon Stewart: If you like the military protecting the country or doctors helping veterans you'll love this new government plan. By the way, why are you bagging on the post office? For forty four cents, someone comes to your house, picks up some piece of crap you wrote and takes it to Wyoming on a plane....

Why do Repubs like the gubment agencies that blow up stuff but hate those that deliver services to the citizenry? Rep. Boehner has been in Congress for almost 20 years, and has been the benificiary of the gubment's excellent health care system which he says isn't good enough for the rest of us. Wonder how many times Rep. Boehner has ridden the D.C. Metro and visited the excellent gubment-funded museums and galleries along the National Mall? Don't members of Congress get free mailing privileges paid for by you and me, with mail delivered by the USPS?

Weekend garden -- and weather -- blogging

Those four extra inches of rain have helped.

"Extra" rain. That's a strange term. The high prairie uses all the rain it can get. If it comes too fast, dry creek bottoms swell with flash floods and ponds rise at Cheyenne street intersections. But, in semi-arid Wyoming, gardeners like me welcome the rain.

When my daughter Annie and I ducked into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things, a bank of black clouds shoved in from the West. We'd already had one storm around noon -- a steady rain punctuated by thunder. That gave way to sun -- for awhile.

I was in the cereal aisle when the big rain began to hammer the Wal-Mart roof. I has visions of hail, so scurried to the store entrance. No hail, but a veil of rain, drops big as silver dollars. I'd spent half the month of June covering my plants in advance of hail. We've had many warnings but few actual tomato-shredding storms. The plants are far enough along that even a short burst of hail stones would be fatal to broccoli and bush beans and Early Girl.

Many of us gathered at the store entrance to watch others run through the rain. Wyomingites may own umbrellas, but they never know where they are. This was an umbrella day if I ever saw one, but I only saw two people slogging through the parking lot carrying one over their heads. I realized that mine was in the car trunk. At least I knew where it was.

The rain kept coming. I returned to shopping chores, but slowed my pace. What's the hurry? Annie prowled the store searching for make-up and CDs and various other goods. I lingered over the olive oil, noting the many fine selections at reasonable prices. On the main grocery aisle, next to the display for chips and dip, I ran into a colleague named Brenda. She had two canvas bags filled with goods. A much greener shopper than me, I'm afraid, as my stuff was going to occupy a ton of plastic bags. Brenda was taking another spin of Wal-Mart to avoid getting drenched on her way to the car. No umbrella for her either.

We chatted about as rain battered the high ceilings. Summer plans. Trouble with teens. Work hassles. Gardening tips. We then went our separate ways, circling the store with hordes of umbrella-less shoppers. I wondered what it would be like to live in Wal-Mart, as did the main character in "Matters of the Heart" (Natalie Portman in the movie). Or maybe trapped in the store by a zombie plague. Fortunately, Wal-Mart stocks plenty of guns and ammo, so survivors could puncture plenty of zombie melons with .45 rounds when the inevitable attacks came. And we'd have plenty of food.

Annie finally returned with a Janis Joplin CD from the oldies bin, a necklace, nail clippers and a few other items. She lured me from my zombie reverie and to the checkout stand and out the door into a fading storm. When we arrived home, I checked the garden and the troughs between rows were filled with rainwater. The leaf lettuce had been pounded flat but looked perky this morning. Otherwise, no damage and plenty of moisture.

Four "extra" inches of rain and counting.

"Health Care Stories for Cheyenne"

Donna from Cheyenne says this on the Health Care Stories for American web site:

I work for the Wyoming Primary Care Association where we represent 18% of the state who do not have any form of insurance. It should be noted that does not include the Native Americans or Homeless persons as they don't have phones they answer in their home to answer the survey of whether they have access to care. Something has to be done now!

April from Cheyenne tells this story:

I have an upcoming surgery which is very needed and am still waiting to hear back from my insurance provider as to whether or not they will cover it. Even if they cover 80% I will still be forced to get a loan to cover the rest. The prices are sky high! The hospital stay, the doctor, the doctor's assistant, the anesthesiologist and the lab work will be thousands of dollars even after the 80% insurance will cover...if they cover it at all.

Do I have similar stories? Yes I do, we all do. That's why serious health care reform is crucial.


Read more at http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/near?query=Cheyenne%2C+WY

See Dick write a book

The blogosphere and twitternet are abuzz with news about Dick Cheney's book deal.

In Wyoming, any news about the Cheneys is buzzworthy, due to the fact that Dick developed his creepy underhanded political strategies here in Wyoming before sharing them with the rest of the world.

Here are the sordid details from CNN Online:

Cheney has struck a deal with publishing house Simon & Schuster to write his memoirs covering a more than 40-year career in government, stretching all the way back to his roles in the Nixon and Ford administrations. The book will be published by Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions, where former Cheney aide and current CNN contributor Mary Matalin serves as editor-in-chief.

The deal — which media reports have suggested is worth in excess of $2 million — is the latest to be struck by Robert Barnett, the Washington lawyer who most recently negotiated a book deal for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Barnett has also negotiated multimillion dollar deals for the Clintons and President Obama.

Daughter Liz Cheney called her father a "student of history" and said he has already begun collecting his thoughts in longhand and on his laptop computer.

"He wants to make sure that his story is told, and told in a way that his grandchildren will be able to understand and appreciate even 20 or 30 years from now," Liz Cheney told the New York Times.

His book, set to hit stores in the spring of 2011, will come on the heels of President Bush's memoir. That book is slated for release in fall of 2010.

Other Bush administration officials currently working on books including top aide Karl Rove, former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

One hardly knows where to begin. Cheney a "student of history?" HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa, etc. I am glad that he wishes to tell the story in a way that his grandchildren will appreciate in the future. Perhaps my own grandchildren will appreciate it as well. I hope I'm around to translate it for them, to give the lies some perspective. If Cheney really wants to write a book understandable to future generations, perhaps his wife Lynne can put it in the form of a children's book as she does so well with U.S. History. Can you say propaganda, boys and girls?

As a writer, I am jealous about the advance. I once dreamed of million-dollar advances, but that was before all the U.S. publishers became "too big to fail" and decided to sink all their money into "celebrities" with "platforms." People like Condi and Dubya and Rummy and the Alaskan Moose Hunter and Fartblossom. The kind of books that people buy in hopes they can get a signed copy to leave to their grandchildren who then will sell it for a quarter at a garage sale in 2050. Or use it for a doorstop. Nobody reads these books.

I once stood in line for two hours at a Border's store in suburban Maryland to get a signed copy of Newt Gingrich's memoir. Had some real interesting conversations with my fellow line-standers, most of whom were Republicans and liked Gingrich. I got my signed copy and was hurried along to make way for the next sucker. I mailed the book to my father, who liked Gingrich. It was a birthday gift. When my father divided his library prior to his death, I received his books about U.S. presidents (including Ike, Nixon and Reagan) while one of my brothers got books by and about lesser-known politicos. I haven't asked him yet if he sold the Gingrich book at a garage sale.

I've seen several blogs post possible titles. I have a few suggestions of my own:
Dick Cheney, Student of History -- Not!
Vice President Dick Cheney -- Second Fiddle to Nobody.
Dick, We Hardly Knew Ye -- and Liked It that Way.
Notes from the Underground Bunker.
War and Peace War

Other titles?

In Memoriam: William Neal

William "Willie" Neal was the youngest of 18 Wyoming delegates to last summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver. A skier and biathlete, he was an enthusiastic participant in both the state convention in Jackson in May 2008 and at the big show in Denver.

But this sad news came over the wires yesterday:

FORT FAIRFIELD, Maine -- Police are investigating an accident that killed a Wyoming biathlete while he was roller-skiing on a northern Maine road.

Police told WCXU-FM that 20-year-old William Neal of Jackson was training with a friend in Fort Fairfield at 8:30 p.m. Sunday when he was struck by a vehicle driven by 18-year-old Eric Lunquist of Fort Fairfield.

Police Chief Joseph Bubar said the cause is under investigation, but that alcohol is not believed to have been involved.

Officials said Neal and his training companion were associated with the Nordic Heritage Ski Center, a training center in Presque Isle for biathletes. The biathlon is a winter sport that combines Nordic skiing and rifle marksmanship.

Willie interned for U.S. Sen. John Kerry this past spring. While there he worked on environmental issues. Neal was also the founder of “Cookies 4 Climate Change,” a non-profit organization whose mission is “to promote awareness and activism among youth about the dangers of climate change, and to be an organization that makes the transition into a more environmentally friendly lifestyle more financially feasible.”

We'll miss you, Willie. You were an inspiration to all of us. We send our condolences to your family and friends.

Heart Mountain in the 21st century

The building that housed the Heart Mountain Relocation Center boiler plant and laundry stands almost alone on the prairie near Cody, Wyoming. In the foreground lies a concrete slab for a long-gone wing of the camp hospital, that was staffed by both Anglo and Nisei doctors and nurses. Two dilapidated buildings of the camp hospital (one is pictured below) still stand, windows boarded and warning signs posted to keep out vandals.



That and one wooden administration building are all that's left standing on the third-largest city in Wyoming from 1942-45, when 10,767 Japanese-Americans occupied some 400 barracks in the Big Horn Basin. They were surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.

During a visit last Saturday, I saw the new Interpretive Learning Center, built under the auspices of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation with donations from former camp residents, their descendants, and hundreds of others. The place is now a designated National Historic Landmark and by summer 2010, will be a stop for tourists interested in all aspects of U.S. history. The Big Horn Basin already has the Buffalo Bill Historical Center and its five museums in Cody, a new Washakie Museum in Worland (set to open in 2010), the Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis and more scenic vistas than you can see during a week's -- or possibly a month's -- vacation.

The last time I visited in summer, local birds (whip-poor-wills?) performed their "look I'm injured -- come get me" routine which they use to lure predators away from nests. I didn't fall for the ruse, as I wasn't interested in histrionic birds but was enjoying the prairie silence. I saw no similar birds this time. Was more intent on prowling the grounds and walking the history path that was dedicated in 2005. Walking the path, I finally understood the vastness of the site. It had a hospital, fire department, swimming hole, root cellars and hundreds of acres devoted to family farms. They may have used the term "Victory Garden" but it would have carried with it a load of irony.

Pres. Franklin Roosevelt may have led us through the Great Depression and World War II, but his Executive Order 9066 which led to the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans, was a black mark on U.S. history. You can be a great leader and make bonehead mistakes. You can also be a good person and make terrible decisions.

The first family physician I remember was Dr. T.K. Kobayashi in Denver. He was a staff physician at Mercy Hospital and worked with my mom, a registered nurse. His private practice was in downtown's Five Points neighborhood. He and his three Nisei partners had offices above a pharmacy owned by an African-American. Five Points was the city's black neighborhood. Those were pre-integration days when a practice called red-lining prevented people of color from living outside Five Points and a few other enclaves. Although Colorado Gov. Ralph Carr (Republican) had put his career on the line to welcome Japanese-Americans uprooted by E.O. 9066, the welcome mat did not extend to housing and schools and businesses. So my mom drove us down to the Nisei doctors in the middle of Five Points. My father, a World War II veteran, didn't go with us. He served his time in Europe, but for four years, most G.I.'s --wherever they were -- considered "Japs" their enemy.

Dr. Kobayashi and his partners had been internees. All had volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army's 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit known for its motto "go for broke." There was a movie of the same name.

The Honor Wall at Heart Mountain lists 800 internees who served in the U.S. military. Fifteen were killed in action. Some 85 No-No Boys were imprisoned for failing to report to the draft board for military duty. This led to the largest mass trial in Wyoming history.

Heart Mountain is a sad spot. Beautiful and -- in some ways -- sacred.

In my collection "The Weight of a Body," I have a story entitled "The Good Doctors." It's based on the imagined lives of those brave and frustrated doctors from my youth. Go buy a copy of the book at Ghost Road Press. It's my salute to them. Also read an earlier Heart Mountain post on this site at
http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/01/heart-mountain-center-takes-shape.html

UW Prof says King Coal retains his crown

A professor from a coal state's only four-year university has conducted a study funded by the state mining association on the economics of coal mining in the part of the state that depends the most on coal revenue.

Guess what the prof discovered? Coal mining is good.

According to an AP story:

Wyoming's Powder River Basin coal will be an essential part of the nation's energy future even as the country moves toward cleaner power sources, a University of Wyoming professor who studies energy economics says. "The point I'm trying to raise is to think of PRB coal as a strategic asset for the country rather than a liability as many believe because of the CO2 problem," professor Tim Considine said.

Considine's study determined that PRB coal keeps the cost of producing electricity low because it's cheaper than wind, solar and nuclear sources and less volatile than natural gas."If you look at the true cost of wind power and solar power, it's way up there," he said. "So there's a huge gap between the marginal cost of electricity from solar and wind and coal.

As society eventually comes to grips with the real costs of restraining carbon dioxide emissions, the value of PRB coal will be appreciated and embraced to maintain political support for costly experiments with carbon-free energy," Considine's report said.

He likened the events unfolding in energy to a horse race."There's a coal horse, and a nuke horse, and a wind horse and a solar horse and they're all racing, and I don't think coal is going to pull up lame or break a leg and not make the race," Considine said. "It'll be in the mix."

His conclusions make sense. Coal will be in the mix for a long time because there's a lot of it even though it seems as if "Mr. Peabody's coal train has hauled it (all) away." Not quite. The big shovels continue to dig it out and the trains are still rolling to the power plants across the U.S. -- and into China. Actually, a ship has to carry it part of the way. The railroads and shipping lines and the makers of huge open-pit coal mining equipment depend on coal. The politicians depend on the coal company money. Almost everyone benefits from this cozy arrangement. Except Mother Earth.

Did I mention coal royalties pay part of my salary as a state employee? Full disclosure. My carbon footprint is a lot bigger than I thought.

WyoDems looking for communications director

Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Bill Luckett sends this help wanted announcement:

The Wyoming Democratic Party is looking to hire a communications director. A job description is attached to this e-mail, and it is also available on our Web site at www.wyomingdemocrats.com.

The position will pay in the neighborhood of $38,000 to $40,000, depending on skills and experience, and the position can be based anywhere in the state.

We are setting an application deadline of Monday, June 29.

Please spread the word.

FMI: Bill Luckett, (307) 473-1457 (office); (307) 631-7638 (cell); luckett@wyomingdemocrats.com

Republican Health Care Horror Show

One of the Republican zombies in this film is Wyoming U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, a physician who should know better. Thanks to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo for the vid.

Plains Indian Pow Wow in Cody

Dancers at the Plains Indian Pow Wow June 20 in Cody at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. The afternoon rounds went off without a hitch but the evening dances were postponed due to a gully-washer of a storm.

Surf Wyoming: Greg Noll in Cody

What is Greg Noll's van doing in Cody?

Mr. Noll catching the nightly rodeo? Mr. Noll riding the bucking horses in the nightly rodeo?

Ride 'em, Greg.

My third surfboard was a Greg Noll Bug. Short, but not too short. Probably better suited to SoCal surf than the mushy Daytona waves of mid-summer.

On the road: Pinedale

Your roving WYO blogger at new Pinedale library.

The nifty trailer in the background is not the library.

It's out of the picture on your left (guy in photo's right).

Bike-ped coordinator for Wyoming

In keeping with the theme of the previous post, here's contact information on Wyoming's cycling & pedestrian program:

Web: http://www.dot.state.wy.us

Talbot J. Hauffe,
MPA Bicycle & Pedestrian Coordinator
5300 Bishop Boulevard
Cheyenne, WY 82001
307-777-4862; Fax 307-777-4759
E-mail: Talbot.hauffe@dot.state.wy.us

Republicans don't like people-powered transportation

Sometimes I just have to gasp in disbelief (GASP!) when I see some of the odd things Republicans say. It's one thing when nutcases Michelle Bachmann or Mitch McConnell speak weirdness, it's another when it comes from a common-sense Repub senator such as one of mine, Mike Enzi of Gillette, Wyo.

Sen. Enzi mostly voted with the Bushies the past eight years. But he has crossed the aisle to do some horse-trading with the likes of Ted Kennedy. Now he's ranting about the cycling and pedestrian programs being promoted by the Obama administration.

Maybe it's the fact that his hometown of Gillette is almost as unwalkable as Casper or Cheyenne or almost any other Wyoming city. That's not really fair. Casper has a wonderful greenway along the North Platte River, and a walkable downtown. Cheyenne also has spent millions on a greenway that is one of the capital city's most popular attractions. Its downtown is also walkable, although too many of the downtown buildings are vacant.

Gillette has a semblance of a downtown. But the energy boom town is spread out in the manner of most western boom towns, so you need a car to get almost anywhere. If I had to compare it to any other Wyoming town, I'd choose Rock Springs. The downtown has some nice older buildings but most are empty and owned by absentee snowbird landlords in Arizona. A renovated depot and a nice park flanks the railroad tracks that bisect downtown. The park has a memorial to miners who died over the years in Sweetwater County mines. Downtown has a microbrewery and a few shops, but most of the retail action is out by I-80. Ever tried to walk the no-man's-land that borders an interstate? Almost impossible. Noisy, too.

So, when Sen. Enzi disparages government-funded walking and cycling programs, he might be excused due to lack of experience and/or information. But you would also have to acknowledge that the senator lives in one of the greatest walking cities in the U.S., a place where you can walk the National Mall for weeks and weeks, taking time off to visit the most fantastic free museums in galleries in the U.S., and still not see it all. Last time I was in D.C., just weeks after the cherry blossoms went to ground, I walked from the U.S. Capitol down the National Mall to the White House and on to George Washington University and finally to my lodgings in Adams-Morgan. I could have taken the Metro (I did the next day) but there is pleasure and exertion in the walking. And great people-watching.

The DC.STREETSBLOG.ORG site had some great info today about this issue:

Despite a growing awareness among conservatives that walking and biking are causes worth backing, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to condemn bike-ped programs as wasteful "pork".

The GOP's latest potshots at sustainable transportation come during debate over a health care bill that focuses mainly on insurance and hospitals, but also includes a public health grant program aimed at encouraging exercise.

Sen. Mike Enzi (WY), senior Republican on the health committee, slammed the legislation for seeking to "pave sidewalks, build jungle gyms" and expand bike access to help improve public health: "We need to root out the waste, fraud and abuse that is driving up health care costs – not create a whole slew of new wasteful programs."

It's unclear whether Enzi knows that the federal government already has a program to encourage biking and walking, nor whether he's aware of their demonstrated public health benefits. But his talking point is already migrating to other Republicans, who have twisted the health care bill's proposed "community transformation" grants into a big-government bogeyman.

Sometimes gubment good, sometimes gubment bad

Denver Post reporter Mark Jaffe has been hanging out at the Western Governors' Association annual meeting in Park City, Utah. Yesterday he and the govs heard Republican pollster Frank Luntz talk about word choice. I'm not sure why Wyoming's Dave Freudenthal and Montana's Brian Schweitzer and Colorado's Bill Ritter had to listen to advice from the likes of Luntz. I guess someone had to be guest speaker. Maybe there's a Utah ordinance prohibiting Democrats at the podium.

Anyway, Jaffe covered Luntz's speech concerning he research he's conducted on Western voters. It seems that 44 percent of Westerners aren't happy with the direction America is headed. In other words, they don't like the gubment. Gubment bad. Until it's time to train and equip its armed forces to fight overseas. Then gubment good. Gubment bad because it makes us pay taxes. When those taxes are used to pave roads or prop up rural airline service or subsidize crops or build dams or fight wildfires -- gubment good then. Gubment bad when it doesn't allow us to shoot our automatic weapons any damn place we please. Gubment good when it allows us to wear firearms and look macho in national parks.

Damn that gubment.

Frank Luntz told the governors to watch what they say.

Luntz warned the governors to be careful about the language they use, saying that instead of talking about "infrastructure," which people equate with bureaucracy, they should talk about safer roads.

Touchstone words should be "safe," "clean" and "healthy," Luntz said.

These words can be used in almost any sentence, particularly those with a Western theme. Here are some examples:

"With Obama as president, I don't feel safe. I need to buy more guns and ammo."

"A clean rifle is a happy rifle."

"If you want to stay healthy, you better be out of town before sundown."

That last one is said to anyone from the gubment who overstays his or her welcome.

"Get out of Dodge, you lily-livered bureaucrat. And please stay healthy by driving on our safe and clean roads."

It's all in the words.

Ron Carlson, fiction guru from the West

Ron Carlson is one of the best short story writers in the U.S. and now is staking a claim on novels. I could say "one of the best short story writers in the West," but that's a bit limiting. His stories are of the West but you don't have to be from here to appreciate the fine writing. His collection, "News of the World," is on my study book shelf with collections by Tobias Wolff, Kent Nelson, Rick DeMarinis, Lee K. Abbott, Richard Ford, Annie Proulx, Rick Bass and Antonya Nelson. All Westerners, either born in the region or moved here from some other place. The West seems to have more than its share of great short fiction writers, maybe even more than that great incubator of stories, the South.

Ron's from Utah, and one of his great stories, "The Governor's Ball," is set in Salt Lake City. It has a grabber of a beginning:

I didn't know until I had the ten-ton wet carpet on top of the hideous load of junk and I was soaked with the dank rust water that the Governor's Ball was that night.

Makes you want to dive right in to the story. Not surprisingly, Ron examines it in detail in a recent book, "Ron Carlson Writes a Story."

Ron Carlson's most recent book is a novel, "The Signal." It' set in Wyoming Wind River Mountains. The author's been to Wyoming many times and knows the lay of the land. He's been a presenter at literary conferences in Casper and Jackson. He's conducted writing workshops in Laramie, Rock Springs and numerous other places. He mentored scores of writers while at Arizona State and now does the same thing at University of California at Irvine.

Jenny Shank, the fine book reviewer and columnist for New West, conducted a Q&A interview with Ron. It's a must read for fiction writers. Read it here:

http://www.newwest.net/city/article/an_interview_with_ron_carlson_about_the_signal/C101/L101/

We remember Anne Frank and Emmett Till

The reading of a play about racial intolerance was postponed last wednesday at the U.S. Holocaust Museum due to a shooting by an intolerant racist.

The Play, "Anne and Emmett," is an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank, who died in a Nazi concentration camp, and Emmett Till, a black kid murdered by white racists in Mississippi.

Playwright is Janet Langhart Cohen, wife of former U.S. defense Scretary William Cohen. Here's what she had to say about the incident:

"Our whole play is about hate, to eradicate hate, and this is an example of hatred," said the playwright, who had been heading to the museum's theater for final rehearsals ahead of Wednesday night's premiere when the attack happened.

The shooter at the museum, long-time white supremacist and anti-gubment wingnut James von Brunn, killed African-American security guard Stephen Tyrone Jones.

Janet Langhorn Cohen said that she wanted to bring them [Anne and Emmett] together in an imaginary conversation to talk about eradicating things like this. I was hoping to give voice to this tonight," she told CNN. "It's really a sad day. I love this museum. This museum tells a story, a journey of all people."

The play was planned to coincide with Frank's 80th birthday which would have been on Friday.

"It's hard to believe that that beautiful 15-year-old girl that's frozen in our memory would be 80 years old herself had she lived," said Langhart Cohen.

"And I wanted to dedicate it to her. And to think that someone of her generation still harbors that hate."

Let's hope that "Anne and Emmett gets wide distribution when it finally debuts.

Meanwhile, read the best-seller "The Diary of Anne Frank" -- or maybe re-read it. Also read the fantastic novel "Wolf Whistle" by Lewis Nordan, which is based on the 1955 Till murder.

Read 'em and weep.

Victory Garden dedicated to the ones I love

My Victory Garden is chugging along.

So much rain. Tree and flowers and tomatoes are in shock due to the incredible amounts of moisture that's visited southeastern Wyoming in May and June. In past years, my garden has arisen to another sunny and dry day and demanded "Water us, sir, please. More water." And I usually comply, as water restrictions don't apply to veggie gardens and flower beds and shrubbery. Then, when I come home from work, the soil is as dry as it was in the a.m. and I'll have to water again. At times, I've forgotten to do so and I'll wake the next morning to find my container plants huddled close to the door, demanding a shower.

But this year, Mother Nature is wringing herself out all over the state. Rawlins, which is a couple hours west of us along I-80, has received 10.5 inches of moisture so far this year. That includes some heavy spring snows and lots of rain. Rawlins averages about 9 inches of annual moisture. Cheyenne's received 10.54 inches of moisture thus far and that's usually about 7 inches. We've had more than 3 inches of rain in June. That may not seem extraordinary to you gardeners from, say, central Florida where a June thunderstorm can dump three inches without even trying. But that much rain is a lot to us in semi-arid WYO.

The moisture has been great for lettuce and spinach. The broccoli looks O.K., but the tomatoes are a bit pale. They are crying out for sun and hope they get some this weekend. Maybe a shot of fertilizer will pick up their spirits. Summer squash is taking it's time. Only one of my three transplanted seedlings survived. I put some seeds in the ground last week and we'll see what happens. What can I say about zucchini? It grows.

Can't say the same for my bush beans. Green beans are a warm weather plant and we've had precious little of that. Thinking that all the rain caused the seeds to rot in the ground, I re-sowed the bean row and hope for some sun. The pole beans on the side yard are a couple inches high and straining for the trellis. I'm not worried about them.

So, a mixed bag this Saturday. I've already plucked a some of the red leaf lettuce and it's darn good. Not enough for a salad but a great snack. Odd thing is, two of the red leaf lettuce plants wilted and died. They were transplants but they all caught on and grew, and now they are falling prey to something. Anyone know? I shall have to consult my local master gardeners.

Are red leaf lettuce plants falling prey to wilt, rot or gardener's ineptitude?

On this June 13, I am not quite sure to what good cause I should dedicate my Victory Garden. Public-option health care plan? Passage of the Democrats' energy bill? Al Franken's victory (finally) over Norm Coleman in the Minnesota U.S. Senate race? World peace?

Or maybe I should declare victory over something, just as Stephen Colbert declared victory in Iraq this past week. Victory over right-wing extremists and hate-mongers? That would be premature, as events of the past two weeks show. Victory over the Repubs' nuke and coal and oil laden energy plan?

No, I think I shall dedicate this week's Victory Garden to a "full house." My son is home from college and the daughter of our best friends in Tennessee is in town for the summer working as a horse wrangler. Our daughter declared victory over tenth grade and is working at a plant nursery this summer. She's my co-gardener at home. I am well and so is my wife. We have the entire summer to look forward to.

What could be more victorious than that?

Translating hate crimes into fiction

It's tough to know how to respond to the recent murders in Wichita and D.C. Both inspired (if that's the proper word) by hatred, motivated by crackpot philosophies (philosophy?) and perpetrated with firearms. If only crackpots had guns, only guns would be cracked pots. I'll keep working on that bumper sticker motto.

For thoughtful lefty (and sometimes vitriolic) responses, click on some of my sidebar blogs -- Daily Kos, Crooks & Liars, Huff Post, Lefty Blogs, etc. Pick a blog, any blog. Jim Wallis at Sojourners offers a response leavened with Christianity.

Over the years, I've written several short stories about white supremacists. "Mud Woman Gets Busy" is set in the mid-1990s in a Salt Lake City hotel and features neo-Nazis, immigrants (legal and Illegal) and a clueless young man from the former East Germany. If you've ever heard the term "mud woman" (as in "mud people") then you you know the story involves white supremacists. The story is included in my collection, "The Weight of a Body." "REV" imagines a future Afghanistan war in which our fundies have taken over the government and are waging holy war on their fundies. There are more, of course. "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood is a great example of a dystopian fundie future. Carl Hiaasen's comic novel "Lucky You" features some neo-Nazi baddies who get their just desserts. Any other books on similar subjects to recommend?

You can read the two stories at my web site. Go to http://ebiz.netopia.com/writingwyo/fiction/. Happy summer reading.

House Republicans: Don't even think about global warming!

Over the last couple days, several prog-bloggers have pointed out the global-warming-denying parts of the House Republicans' energy proposal, the so-called "American Energy Act." Kossack Meteor Blades on Daily Kos summed it up in his June 11 post, "Ten pounds of stupid in a five-pound bag." He posts the odd wording that is embedded deeply into the massive bill. Read it at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/6/11/741236/-Ten-Pounds-of-Stupid-in-a-Five-Pound-Bag.

Republicans' new energy plan: "Drill, buddy, drill" and "Mo Nukes!"

Heard Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis this afternoon on Wyoming Public Radio. She was outlining the very keen and neat-o aspects of the Repubs' new energy plan. It advocates for 100 new nuclear plants in the U.S. But none, according to Rep. Lummis, will be built in Wyoming. According to Lummis, a member of the American Energy Solutions Group or AESG (no acronym there), Wyoming is too far from the major markets and nuclear power plants use too much water, water that WYO doesn't have.

I find that interesting. Wyoming is home to many coal-burning power plants. True, the plants are close to a supposedly inexhaustible supply of carbon-based energy. But almost all of the electricity generated by the plants is sent out of state to places as far away as California. And don't coal-burning plants need water? The Dave Johnston power plant (see photo below) that I pass every time I drive I-25 to Casper is situated right on the North Platte River. That can't be an accident due to the fact that there are thousands of acres of non-riverfront wide-open spaces that could have been the site for that plant. It's possible that construction of the plant in other locales would have threatened jackelope habitat. But I have my doubts.

And there's wind power. Wyoming has lots of wind. We're building wind farms like there's no tomorrow, and there may not be. Problem is, we can build wind generators until the cows come home, but we don't have the transmission lines to send that electricity to Phoenix and Houston. It seems that we're too far from major markets yet again. Wyoming likes it that way. We like being far away from major markets. Instead, we become an energy sacrifice zone for the rest of the country.

I obviously need to do more research. I'll get back to you.

But back to the Repubs' nation-saving energy plan. Rep. Lummis's office outlined some details today in a press release:

“It is clear that for the sake of our environment and our economic security, we need a better plan than the Democrats’ national energy tax,” Rep. Lummis said. “The American Energy Act offers more affordable energy, more jobs here at home, and a cleaner environment. The plan seeks to increase our energy supply by diversifying our nation’s energy portfolio, while the Democrat plan seeks to slow down demand through government control.

[I deleted a bunch of boring stuff from the middle of the release]

The bill seeks to license 100 new nuclear reactors over the next twenty years by streamlining a burdensome regulatory process and ensuring the recycling and safe storage of spent nuclear fuel. It will also increase domestic energy supplies by lifting restrictions on the Arctic Coastal Plain, the Outer Continental Shelf, and oil shale in the Mountain West. Revenues generated through domestic production will support innovation in renewable and alternative energy sources, like wind and solar technologies.

So that's the plan. "Drill, buddy, drill" and "Mo Nukes!" Drill in the Arctic Wildlife refuge and off the coast of California and Florida and Mississippi. Little does Ms. Lummis know -- huge oil derricks are the last things those rich Republican retirees in Santa Barbara and Panama City and Gulfport want to see from their beachside verandas. Good luck with that.

Ethanol may complicate climate legislation

Now that I've returned my attention to ethanol fuel at the local level, I find lots of E85 news at the national level.

Jennifer Lance writes June 8 about ethanol and H.R. 2454, a.k.a. the American Clean Energy And Security Act of 2009 (aka Waxman-Markley) on http://redgreenandblue.org/. The bill is designed “to create clean energy jobs, achieve energy independence, reduce global warming pollution and transition to a clean energy economy.” One of its goals is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent by 2020 and 83 percent by 2050.

Republicans will vote against it because that is what they do in 2009. But Democrats from farm states are expected to water down the legislation to protect ethanol. Not sure how Wyoming's Cynthia Lummis will vote on this, but I can guess. I looked at her Congressional web site for info but couldn't find any. I did read a piece recently that quoted her saying that the U.S. needs to look at all forms of energy to meet its short-term needs. She specifically referred to oil, gas, coal and wind, but she may also have said something about ethanol (I'll keep searching). We are not a corn state, but we do grow some and there are at least two ethanol plants in the state.

In her article, Jennifer Lance provides a pragraph that sums up the current state of ethanol:

Ethanol is big political business in farm country. Ethanol is an alternative biofuel that can be made from corn, sugar cane, or switchgrass. In fact, Henry Ford’s first mass-produced automobile was designed to run off of 100% ethanol, so the fuel has a long history in the car industry. When added to gasoline, ethanol reduces ozone formation by lowering volatile organic compounds and hydrocarbon emissions. This all sounds good, but there is controversy surrounding corn-based ethanol. Michael Grunwald of Time reports that one person could be fed for a year “on the corn needed to fill an ethanol-fueled SUV”. Some research demonstrates that the production of corn ethanol consumes more energy than it yields, and there is concern that corn-based ethanol is raising the price of food, although the USDA denies the increase is significant. Other concerns surrounding ethanol include antibiotic overusage in its production and its heavy water footprint.

E85 returns to my Cheyenne minivan

Driving down Lincolnway in Cheyenne last week, I spied an E85 sign. "Whoa, minivan," I said, whipping a U-turn and coming to rest at the ethanol pumps at Smoker Friendly Gas and Cigarette Shop. I was surprised to see an E85 pump after a long dry spell for my flex-fuel Dodge Caravan.

Some of the first blogging I did was about my search for an alternative to regular unleaded. Alternative fuels were all the rage back in 2005-2006. Corn seemed to be the answer to importing oil from desert sheikdoms and the newly liberated land of Mesopotamia. The Corner Stop station in Cheyenne opened a couple ethanol pumps and that's where I filled up. No war for oil, I would say to nobody in particular. And then I would pump my Nebraska-grown corn-based fuel, not realizing that it had its own drawbacks. But it made me feel good, which is an American right and privilege. It was cheaper than gasoline, too, by about 20 cents.

But then reality came crashing in. The prices went up, and then Corner Stop ceased carrying E85. I looked high and low for flex-fuel stations. There was (and is) one up in Buford along I-80 between Cheyenne and Laramie. But it's a good 30 miles away any benefit I would get from gasing up there would be lost in the 60-mile round trip. During travels in Colorado to Fort Collins and Greeley I saw E85 pumps but, again, unless they were on my way, it made little sense to make those stops a destination.

The E85 prices at Smoker Friendly were a lot lower than gas -- $1.90 per gallon to $2.33. I topped off the tank and felt pretty good paying with most of a $20 bill. If I was a smoker, I would have enough change to buy a couple cigarettes, but nowhere near an entire pack. Did you know that you can fill a minivan with E85 for a lot less than it costs to buy a carton of cigs? Glad I quit smoking 25 years ago.

When I went inside to pay, I asked the proprietor how long she'd been stocking E85. About six months, she said. I told her that I'd been loooking all over for it and and guessed that hers was the only store in town that stocked it. That's kind of the idea, she said with a smile, adding that she sells quite a bit but didn't know how much exactly.

Meanwhile, I save about 40 cents per gallon and get to feel superior -- for a brief while -- over my gasoline-loving brethren and sistren.

Big insurance companies may get their way on health care reform

Great Friday post on Robert Reich's blog about the lengths that pharmaceutical and health insurance companies will go in their efforts to kill the single-payer or public health-care option. We knew these greedheads would go all-out to kill a sensible plan.

Read the entire column at http://robertreich.blogspot.com/. Here are some excerpts:

Big Pharma and Big Insurance are gaining ground in their campaign to kill the public option in the emerging health care bill.

You know why, of course. They don't want a public option that would compete with private insurers and use its bargaining power to negotiate better rates with drug companies. They argue that would be unfair. Unfair? Unfair to give more people better health care at lower cost? To Pharma and Insurance, "unfair" is anything that undermines their profits.

Moonwalks resume on Saturday, June 6

Southeast Wyoming's popular Moonwalk Moonlight Hikes will resume on Saturday, June 6, with the "Navigation Moon" at Curt Gowdy State Park between Cheyenne and Laramie. The program will begin at 7:30 p.m., following the events of the state park’s Wyoming Kids Xtreme Summer Outdoor Slam. This Moonwalk marks the return of these programs after a one-year hiatus. The tentative season schedule includes Moonwalks on July 6, August 5 and September 4. For more information call 307-745-2300 or visit the web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/mbr/recreation/upcomingevents/index.shtml.

Wyoming scientists digging up the dough for "clean coal"

The Associated Press reports this:

Wyoming scientists are lining up a range of proposals to use stimulus funding for research projects that would help the state's energy industry.

Three groups planned to submit applications Tuesday for stimulus funding administered by the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Western Research Institute in Laramie is submitting proposals for seven projects that would cost a total of $18 million. The Wyoming State Geological Survey and the University of Wyoming are seeking about $20 million for the first phase of a carbon sequestration project in southwest Wyoming.

The Wyoming Pipeline Authority is seeking $500,000 to design a carbon dioxide pipeline system.

This is great. These funds will bring money and jobs to Wyoming. Face it -- this research needs to be done so Wyoming can figure out how to use its coal into the future. Clean coal research can unearth other methods and technologies even if it doesn't find way to scrub the CO2 out of the crumbling remains of dinosaur carcasses.

Remembering some of the very hot elements of The Cold War in Wyoming

At home in the family fallout shelter

If you happen to be traversing Wyoming on I-80 this summer, stop in at the Uinta County Museum in Evanston for the traveling exhibit, "The Life Atomic: Growing Up in the Shadow of the A-Bomb.” It opens tomorrow, June 1. Get more info at the Uinta County Museum.

The museum web site notes that

"The Life Atomic" illustrates the impact of the atomic bomb on everyday life through photographs and objects, in ways both serious and light-hearted. From civil defense warnings to B-movie posters and "atomic" toys, "The Life Atomic" shows the many ways the bomb influenced life in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Exhibit panels focus on the development of the bomb, early atomic testing in the American Southwest, civil defense preparations, fallout shelters (see photo), the influence of the bomb on movies and television, “atomic” toys and games, and the impact of the bomb on home décor.

“The Life Atomic” was developed and is traveled by the Rogers Historical Museum, Rogers, Arkansas. This project was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Speaking of Cold War relics, you can drop into a real bomb shelter in the basement at the Historic Governor's Mansion in Cheyenne. I toured the place and it really took me back. When I was a lad in the '50s and '60s, we all felt fully protected from the a-bomb with "duck and cover." We practiced often, just in case. Who needed a bomb shelter when you had that?

You can also tour the I.C.B.M. Missile Museum at Warren AFB west of Cheyenne at Fort D.A. Russell Days during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days celebration the last full week in July. Lots of live MX missiles sit in silos on the prairie. Can't visit those unless you're a missileer.

How does your garden grow in WYO?

Slowly....

Victory garden: Sunday morning update

I can look out the window of my home office and monitor my garden's progress. A few minutes ago, I was outside on this fine Sunday morning monitoring it in person, noting that the spinach and leaf lettuce seeds have sprouted in abundance and many will be pruned. I bought summer squash seedlings and only one survived the transplant. Wonder what happened there. Three zucchini plants have sprouted and already are making plans to take over my back yard and possibly the neighborhood. Strawberry and broccoli seedlings seem to be doing fine. Tomatoes are to be in steady-state, not yet flourishing yet not dying. I fear they don't have enough sun, and I may have to excise some of the dead and dying branches from my oak tree. The oak was here first and used to be the site of a homemade swing until the rope broke and I took over the playground for my garden. But as with all mature things, the tree is losing some of its vitality and needs a trim and a booster shot.

Meanwhile, I water my lawn as it's my designated watering day (Sun., Tues., Thurs.). I have a good lawn, a green lawn, and that would be great if I was a goat. We do use the lawn to play catch (both of our kids home for the summer) and for the annual Fourth of July bocce ball tournament.

My father would have liked my lawn, although too many dandelions in it for his taste. His lawns were fine specimens, even in Florida, where bugs the size of lawnmowers lurk. He was an ornamental gardener, something you can do year-round in Florida. He and his wife even volunteered at their local Catholic Church, whipping its garden into shape with hard work and prayer. Drive by St. Brendan's on a spring Saturday and you'd see a swarm of retirees, trowels and clippers in hand, addressing the landscape with the same vigor they brought to 7 a.m. mass every weekday morning. They were probably more energetic with the gardening, as attending mass is mostly a passive exercise. I think that's still true.

In my master plan, I shrink my backyard lawn by increments. First it will be the north and south margins where the grass will give way to rocks and hardy plants. I already have rock gardens and my veggie garden on the west side which butts up to the porch. My daughter and I will plant a berry garden on the east side between the shed and the compost pile. The lawn then will become a bocce pitch and a manageable greensward which will need little attention and water.

That's the gardening news from Cheyenne, Wyoming, this final day of May.

Now what's this I hear about a possible frost advisory on Tuesday? Say it ain't so, weatherpeople.

Why is this man smiling?

He's happy for all the reasons you might expect -- and some you could only imagine.

Major happiness reigns in the wingnutosphere now that Dick has a Facebook page. The comments are a hoot.

Go to Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Richard-Bruce-Dick-Cheney/33820388138?v=feed&story_fbid=82345136733.

Watch what you say. He and his minions at the mountain redoubt outside Jackson are tracking every word.

Health insurers pay execs handsomely by denying our medical claims

America's top-ten for-profit medical insurers pay their executives handsomely. That's one reason they so fiercely oppose a single-payer health care system for the U.S.

Nyceve on Daily Kos did a roundup of executive pay along with some choice comments like this:

"...keep in mind the for-profit health industry exists for only one purpose, to generate profits for shareholders. In order to do so, this industry collects premiums and then it delays and denies medical care--think you're insured, think again. The situation is so bad that doctors are in revolt. They are sick and tired of fighting the insurers for every treatment, every medication and every test."

Nyceve found the top ten insurers' compensation numbers at the Fierce Healthcare site. I located the CEO of my health plan, CIGNA, and was not too shocked to see that he has profited enormously by delaying and denying the claims of me and my fellow state workers in Wyoming. Here are the sordid details:

H. Edward Hanway, CIGNA
Total Compensation: $12,236,740
Details: Hanway took a significant pay cut from 2007 to 2008, due mainly to a drop off of more than $11 million in his non-equity incentive plan compensation. Still, his base salary of $1,142,885 surpasses that of Aetna's Williams, and is supplemented by just over $3.6 million in option awards, and just over $820,000 in non-qualified deferred compensation earnings. Also, nearly $21,800 in "other compensation" included the use of a company car with a driver, in-office meals, and emergency assistance services relating to medical exams.

Get all the details at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/26/735411/-Health-insurance-industry-CEO-salary-survey,-stay-calm-for-this

Question: Why aren't the Democrats in Congress pushing harder for a single-payer plan?

Plant your victory garden with seeds of hope

Last summer, I labeled my three tomato plants and one wayward pumpkin plant a "victory garden."

The term actually meant something during World War II. For many, growing your own was a necessity. Food was rationed for the war effort and gardening meant that you and your family and neighbors would have fruits and vegetables. "Victory," of course, had a symbolic meaning, as in victory over Germany and Japan. Growing beans and corn and squash was not only necessary but patriotic too.

Calling my minimal patch a "victory garden" last year spurred me on to work as hard as I could for victory in the November elections. I would tell myself to water the tomatoes and then hit the neighborhoods for presidential candidate Barack Obama or U.S. House candidate Gary Trauner or U.S. Senate hopeful Nick Carter or local Dems running for the state legislature: Lori Millin, Jim Byrd and others. My victory garden symbolized potential victory over McCain-Palin and Cynthia Lummis and tired old Repub non-ideas. The larger the plants grew, the closer we got to the election and the more effort I invested in the cause.

The harvest -- such as it was -- was in by early November, and it was a mixed bag. Wyoming went for McCain-Palin and the Repub slate for U.S. House and Senate. Lori Millin won in a squeaker (early projections said she lost) as did Jim Byrd. Katherine VanDell was defeated.

Still, we had a major victory in Pres. Obama.

So where's the "victory" in Victory Garden this year? In Wyoming, you are dedicated and lucky if you get anything to grow at all. It's not the bugs. But it is the altitude (6,200 feet), the short growing season, the wind, the hail, late or early frost, the anemic soil, etc.

This year, I'm going all out with a real garden. Dug up a patch of soil east of the backyard covered porch. Dumped into it multiple wheelbarrows of humus from the compost pile. Mixed it all up real good. Built furrows. Surrounded it with a fence to keep out the dog. Bought some garden soil and mixed it in. Last weekend bought some of my plants at the annual plant sale put on by the excellent Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Selections were made quickly due to the fact I didn't wear my parka on a foggy 42-degree spring morning. Signs all over urged us not to plant before Memorial Day. The next day, more than a week before Memorial Day, I planted. I was expecting the skies to open up and dump ten feet of snow on me. Or for an Oz-like twister to drop out of black clouds and carry me and my seedlings off to Nebraska.

But my daughter Annie and I got the plants in the ground and seeded the rest. We put in three mounds of squash and zucchini seeds. Planted some marigolds in several strategic places. Some pole beans on the side yard. We dug up some of the pumpkin plants that seem to grow just fine on their own. We settled back and contemplated the fruits of our labors. Well, I dreamed about the fruits and veggies of my labors.

I'm not a johnny-come-lately to gardening. I've had gardens in Central Florida, Denver and Fort Collins, Colo., and at our old house in Cheyenne. I like growing things, especially if I can eat them later. I'm a cook too, and preparing dinner is more rewarding if I can use my own produce. That's also a victory.

Gardens have become a huge fad as millions jump on the "locavore" bandwagon. Growing and eating locally is very big. Farmers' markets bloom everywhere, even in Cheyenne which now has at least two. Old-time gardeners in the neighborhood find their skills in demand, especially by their Yuppie neighbors striving to be part of the new trend. Some of them dig up their front yards and plant their gardens there. "Look at me," they say, "I am locavore with a capital L." They can also Twitter -- or blog -- their accomplishments without leaving the garden.

What the hell. Let everyone grow gardens. In the front yard, in the back yard, on the roof, in containers on their porch, in community gardens. It's good for you and good for the planet. It teaches patience and persistence. You become an amateur horticulturist and meteorologist, all at the same time.

My garden this year is a victory over complacency. A tribute to Mother Nature -- and to Michelle Obama's White House garden.

Now let us pray. No hail! No hail!

New Cheyenne studio and gallery plans sneak preview on May 25

This invitation comes from my Wyoming Arts Council colleague, Camellia El-Antably, and local artist and arts teacher Mark Vinich:

You are all invited to the Sneak Preview opening of Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio.

We will have a Sneak Preview show of work by the studio artists: Laura Skoglund, Jon Gilbert Beach Dawson, Abi Peytoe Gbayee, Mark Vinich, Mary Keane and Camellia El-Antably.

The opening will be on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) from 5-8 p.m. at 1506 Thomes, Suite B and is open to all. Please come down and see us!Clay Paper Scissors still has a studio opening. If you are interested in seeing it, please contact Camellia at claypaperscissors@gmail.com. Located in the historic Asher building on the corner of 15th and Thomes, Clay Paper Scissors offers studio space for artists, a gallery which will have changing exhibits and classes for all ages.

Artists interested in participating in the Gallery, but not studio space, may join as an associate. We will also have individual memberships for those interested in classes, openings, etc. At present, Clay Paper Scissors is open by appointment only.

FMI: claypaperscissors@gmail.com

Summer reading: "Paris Trout"

Took me 21 years to discover Pete Dexter's novel "Paris Trout." It won the National Book Award in 1988. The book is set in a small Georgia town in the 1950s and concerns a particularly heinous race-based murder, something on the order of the Emmett Till killing which Lewis Nordan translated so well into his novel "Wolf Whistle." I do like the work of those southern writers.

Dexter isn't exactly a southerner. He did spend a few years in Florida, but that was in the Yankee part of the state in Palm Beach County. He set his 1995 novel "Paperboy" in redneck north-central Florida along the St. John's River. This isn't far from where I lived in the late 1960s, the same era as the setting of "Paperboy." I'm now reading "Paperboy."

Dexter could live on an island in the Pacific Northwest for all I care. He does now. But he brought to life the fictional residents of Cotton Point in red-clay Georgia. That's all that really matters.

"Paris Trout" is a great novel. The title character operates a store and pawn shop in Cotton Point. He's a miser and a bully and a racist. He does have a soft spot for his old mother, though. Paris Trout's racism is so matter-of-fact that it might be hard for young people to understand, especially if they've never lived in the South. He and his thug friend, Buster Devonne, go to Damp Bottoms to collect a debt from Henry Ray Boxer, a young black man. When the family objects to Paris Trout's presence, Paris and Buster go on a shooting spree that leaves Henry Ray's mother wounded and a 14-year-old black girl dead.

Paris sees nothing wrong with his actions. That's the heart of the story. He lives by his own rules and that might be fine if the rules possessed any semblance of humanity.

I may have to read through all of Pete Dexter before my fever abates.

If credit cards were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns -- or something like that

The "Room for Debate" section in today's New York Times batted around the new law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges. A broad array of opinions were displayed on the question "Guns in Parks -- Safe, Scary or a Sideshow?"

Personally, I think it's a scary, unsafe sideshow. But nobody asked me. The NYT did ask Wyoming writer, hunter and dog lover Ted Kerasote. He's against loaded firearms in parks -- and he's a gun guy. He wrote this in "Pack pepper spray, not a pistol:"

... Living within Grand Teton National Park, I see this all the time: a deer gunned down by the side of the road, its antlers chopped off; a moose waylaid just inside the park boundary; a coyote shot as it watches a car go by. These killings are perennial, often remove spectacular, genetically fit individuals, and create one more enforcement burden for park rangers.

Allowing visitors to carry loaded firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges, as legislation just passed by Congress does, will only make such poaching worse while making a ranger’s job more risky. And I don’t say this as some bleeding-heart liberal with an anti-gun agenda. There’s a rack of rifles and shotguns in my shed and, during Wyoming’s hunting season, I shoot an elk, an antelope and a variety of game birds — food for me and mine during the ensuing year. I’d be the last person in the world to outlaw guns.

... pepper spray is a far better deterrent than a .44 magnum, especially in the hands of the inexperienced. I’ve now used it to turn a charging moose, dissuade a cantankerous bison and send a bear scurrying. The animals had a coughing fit, and I a scare, a far better outcome than guns often produce.

That wasn't the only Wyoming reference in the article. That's appropriate, since we have tons of guns and lots of national park land. The NYT article opens with a photo of a grazing bison with a picnicking family in the background. The bison does not appear to be armed, but you never can tell. The picnickers may be packing heat, but seem most interested in gnawing sandwiches.

As a counterpoint to Ted's article, David B. Kopel, research director of the Independence Institute in Golden, Colo., begins his article this way:

“What works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne,” the presidential candidate Barack Obama often said when discussing gun policy. President Obama has put his principle into practice, signing a bill which, besides changing the laws about credit cards, repeals an inappropriate federal regulation.

I'm not sure what gun laws are in Chicago. Much more restrictive, I expect, than they were in Dillinger's day. Cheyenne law stipulates that everyone, from a day-old infant to a 100-year-old granny, must carry a loaded firearm at all times. This was the Wild West, after all, and some of that tradition remains in our free-form gun laws and our petrified legislature. When Dick Cheney was a greenhorn state legislator, he inadvertently shot himself in the foot while proposing legislation to tar-and-feather all Wyoming Democrats -- if any could be found. On Inauguration Day 2009, did you see Cheney being carted out of D.C. in a wheelchair? Don't blame his short-circuiting electronic heart. It was his old foot wound acting up. That and his rheumatiz.

David B. Kopel also had this to say:

The old regulation had prohibited defensive gun possession or carrying in national parks. Thanks to the new law, the federal rules about guns in national parks and wildlife refuges will be the same as the laws of the host states. So in Manhattan, where handgun carry permits are reserved for diamond merchants, the political-social-celebrity elite and a few other favored groups, there will not be a mass of people carrying guns at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, on 20th Street. (This result might have appalled Teddy Roosevelt, a N.R.A. member who as president carried his own revolver for protection.)

Teddy Roosevelt, of course, hunted in Wyoming after he shot all the game in the Dakotas. It's a well-known fact that he shot the last jackelope in Converse County. There's a statue to that jackelope in downtown Douglas, but not a single statue of the old Rough Rider. Teddy would be appalled.

As a counterpoint to that p.o.v., Kristen Brengel, director of legislative and government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, offers this:

In about nine months, guns will be allowed to be carried loaded throughout national parks if the state they are in permits guns in that state. After the amendment takes effect, visitors to national parks such as Yellowstone in Wyoming will begin to see guns visibly displayed in vehicles or being carried. Visitors to monuments and battlefields including Gettysburg National Military Park and Mount Rushmore will also now also be able to carry guns if the site is within a state that permits them.

Hikers in the back country will have a different experience. I will probably be discouraged from many hikes if other visitors are walking around openly carrying guns. Frankly, it is threatening to see a person hiking with a gun when it isn’t hunting season.

Because Wyoming already mandates gun-toting, I'm on trails all the time with a well-armed and well-regulated citizenry and I don't mind. I have a gun, my wife has a gun, my kids have guns, my dog has a gun, my tomato plants have guns -- we're all happy gun owners. Nothing untoward is going to happen to us while we enjoy nature's bounty. We will face down any threat, be it animal, mineral or human.

Meanwhile, I ask again: what does all this have to do with lowering credit card interest rates?

Read the entire NYT story at http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/guns-in-parks-safe-scary-or-a-sideshow/

LarCoDems meet at IBEW Hall May 26

This comes from Laramie County Democratic Party communications director Dave Lerner:

Dear Laramie County Democrat,

The next meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Party will be this Tuesday, May 26, at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Hall. Remember, we are NOT meeting at the Plains Hotel! The IBEW Hall is at 810 Fremont Avenue, which is on the north side of Nationway in Cheyenne.

Laramie County Democratic Party Agenda

1. Call to Order - Mike Bell
2. Presentation by Mike Bell
3. Election for VP
4. Minutes from April meeting
5. Treasurer's report
6. Coalition Activities - Mary Lou Marcum
7. Fundraising activities - Terry Barbre and Betty Jo Beardsley
8. Web site development - Dave Lerner
9. General Discussion of Issues (ie, Budget cuts, Health Care, Recycling)

We hope to see you there!