Dr. Sherard: "Medicaid and Wyoming"

Dr. Brent Sherard writes a guest editorial, "Medicaid and Wyoming: Why It Matters," in today's Cowboy State Free Press. Sherard is head of the Wyoming Department of Health and the State Health Officer. To read the entire article, go to http://thewyonews.net/2009/12/22/medicaid-and-wyoming-why-it-matters/.

Here's a sample:

Wyoming EqualityCare, our state’s Medicaid program, pays for the healthcare many of our state’s low-income and medically vulnerable citizens desperately need. Medicaid is roughly a 50-50 financial partnership between states and the federal government. The federal contribution is calculated every federal fiscal year using the relationship of Wyoming’s average per capita income to the national average per capita income.

Approximately 81,000 Wyoming residents qualified for the program in the last fiscal year, which represents 15 percent of our population. Wyoming EqualityCare accounts for about 12 percent of the entire budget of Wyoming’s state government, annually spending about $500 million.

Any big change to the program or adjustment to its budget affects us all in one way or another. The money does not just disappear down a bureaucratic black hole; it is spent with local doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers in every Wyoming community.

Included in the Senate health reform bill is a $1 billion Medicaid increase to states that provide visiting nurses and other in-home or community services to prevent low-income people from needing to be admitted to hospitals. Wonder if Wyoming will receive some of those funds?

We'll have to see how it all shakes out.

Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Recluse), locavore

According to an article in today's Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming's burgeoning local foods economy may be in for some trouble from the "food inspection bureaucracy:"

"I just feel like the bureaucracy, the food inspection bureaucracy, has gone completely overboard, and is infringing on our constitutional rights to produce things and sell things and consume things and buy things that they have absolutely no justification for doing," said state Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse.

Rep. Wallis, a legislator, rancher, cowboy poet and grandma from one of the most rural parts of Wyoming, wants to make sure that local growers and bakers and ranchers can market their products. She championed a bill last year that changed the way that food is sold across the state. Before the legislation, residents without food licenses could only sell homemade foods at religious or charitable events. Only foods deemed "not potentially hazardous" -- such as cookies, jams and baked bread -- were allowed. Earlier this year, the Legislature voted to loosen the restriction to allow sales of such foods at farmers' markets, roadside stands and private homes.

"I could bake two batches of cookies in the oven, take half of them to the church bazaar, and take the other half to the farmers' market, where I would be breaking the law," Wallis said.

She doesn't believe that fewer restrictions will affect the safety of consumers. Besides, she said, people can decide for themselves whether to buy homemade products.

"Any time you buy something from a farmers' market or a roadside stand, or a church bazaar, you know, as a consumer, that was made in somebody's kitchen," she said. "If you are concerned that it takes a government inspector's eyes before you feel safe, then don't buy it."

Yes, we all want our food to be safe. We don't want to be poisoned or doused with chemicals or felled by allergens. But in this age where people can get sick from eating corporate-grown spinach and corporate beef, it seems a bit ridiculous to bring the hammer down on bread coming out of our local baker's kitchen.

There is a principle of regulation and oversight that we really shouldn't lose," said Robert Harrington, director of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department. "We built a much better food system over the last 80 years, and we shouldn't allow minor concessions to a minor, minor segment of the food production industry to start weakening that system."

Harrington is clueless. This "minor, minor segment of the food production industry" is the one that's growing. People are growing their own and selling their own -- and they should be able to do it with the least amount of hassle from the authorities.

Man, I'm beginning to sound like a Libertarian.

But this is an important issue. Heavy-handed regulation could sink what's being called the "local foods movement." I've been writing about this for awhile now, prompted by my own return to backyard gardening and shopping at local farmer's markets. A few weeks ago I wrote about the winter market held at Cheyenne's Historic Depot. All food sold at the market was raised or made within 150 miles of Cheyenne. The handicrafts, too. Local, local, local. (Go to my Dec. 5 article at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/12/locavore-and-localart-and-even-localit.html.)

The food inspection bureaucracy should be working with local foodies and not against us.

Let's make sure we support Rep. Wallis when she comes to the next legislative session in February, just after her annual trek to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko Jan. 23-30.

Wallis plans to introduce a bill she offered last session that would allow cottage businesses to also sell "potentially hazardous" foods without a license, as long as the transaction doesn't involve a third party. Those foods include dairy products, canned foods and sauces.

The lawmaker doesn't think relaxing the rules would make the public less safe.

"If I know where my food is coming from, I trust it a lot more than I do the junk that comes out of the store," she said. "Because I know how it was produced, I know who the people are."

Contact Rep. Wallis at P.O. Box 71, Recluse, Wyoming 82725; 307-685-8248; 307-680-8515; sue.wallis@vcn.com.

Enzi & Barrasso of WYO continue to say "NO" to health care reform

The WyoGOP naysayers are still voting to please their corporate insurance overlords.

So what else is new.

WyoDems' Chief Bill Luckett sent along this press release today:

Delivering on the GOP’s pledge to try to kill health reform to break the President, last night Senators Enzi and Barrasso voted against health insurance reform. In the first of several votes in the Senate, both Senators voted against advancing legislation that would rein in unfair insurance company practices, expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans and reduce costs for families, businesses and the country as a whole.

With this latest vote, Senators Enzi and Barrasso, along with their Republican colleagues in Congress, have proven once again that they are willing to do anything to protect health insurance companies at the expense of health care for their constituents. Republicans in Congress are more interested in protecting special interests than in fixing our broken health insurance system and ensuring Wyomingites have access to quality, affordable care.

“Last night, in a historic vote on health insurance reform, Senators Enzi and Barrasso those to fall in line with the GOP and ignore the real need for reform in the state of Wyoming," said Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen. “Reform will bring greater access to Wyoming residents and greater support to Wyoming healthcare providers.”

The Senate proposal contains measures that would directly benefit Wyoming residents by allowing for greater competition in a very limited insurance market, focusing on increased access to rural areas, and protecting consumers from unfair insurance company practices. “We are very excited about a number of proposals in this legislation such as the ‘frontier states’ provision that would increase Medicare payments to rural areas, and the establishment of a National Health Service Corps to help attract young and talented health care professionals to underserved areas,” said Petersen. “It is a shame Enzi and Barrasso don’t realize there is more at stake than a reelection campaign; they are voting against the best interests of Wyoming’s people.”

Health reform bill boosts Medicare payments in frontier states

An article by Robert Pear in Sunday's New York Times explored items "buried" in the new health care bill. One of those hidden items may bring significant money to Wyoming and adjacent states:

Another item in the package would increase Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors in any state where at least 50 percent of the counties are “frontier counties,” defined as those having a population density less than six people per square mile.

And which are the lucky states? The bill gives no clue. But the Congressional Budget Office has determined that Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming meet the criteria.

In the 2000 census, Alaska boasted 1.1 person per square mile while Wyoming was the second-most frontier of frontier states, with 5.1 people per square mile. During the Bush-era energy boom, more people moved into the state than out, making Wyoming the 49th state in population density, with 5.4 per square mile. Alaska now has 1.2.

Since more than 50 percent of our counties have less than 6 ppsm, we qualify. While Utah has a whopping 32.2 ppsm (2007 census estimates), most of its southern and eastern counties are very rural, bringing down the big numbers for Salt Lake City. Same goes for the rest of those big Northern Rockies and High Plains states. The big numbers in Missoula and Billings and Bozeman are leavened by counties in Eastern Montana, where antelope and tumbleweeds are more prevalent that people.

In Wyoming, my county of Laramie has 30 people per square mile, which dwarfs the 1 ppsm in Niobrara County and 2 ppsm in Hot Springs and Weston counties. Because humans are packed like sardines in Laramie County, we rub up against other humans in new and interesting ways, causing us to either bolster our humaneness or flee to less-populated counties. Because of this, Laramie County is registering more Democrats (and winning more legislative seats) while northern and western counties continue their one-party status.

Speaking of Republicans... our good senators and lone rep should be happy with this frontier state designation in the health care bill they all oppose.

Barrasso/Enzi/Lummis all have taken the Repub party line (NO!) on health care legislation. They have advocated for higher Medicare payments. Lummis, in fact, spoke to a gathering of health care professionals at the hospital in Casper during last summer's "yell and scream at town meetings" craze. Most of the docs were upset about low Medicare reimbursement rates. Lummis also was upset. Now she will be happy and congenial, right? And what about Dr. Barrasso? Will he too be happy and congenial and vote for the final bill? Not bloody likely.

Hummingbirdminds also wonders about Sen. Enzi. He was one of the vaunted Gang of Six who steered the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill. He was joined by Committee Chair Max Baucus of Montana and Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota. While the Dems are voting for the bill, Enzi is not. Does that mean he does not want doctors and hospitals in his frontier state to receive larger medicare reimbursements? You can ask him via e-mail at http://enzi.senate.gov/public/

Frontier State Gang of Six members are getting what they wanted. So is Sen. Nelson of Nebraska. From the NYT article:

Nebraska, with help from Mr. Nelson, won a particularly generous arrangement under which the federal government would indefinitely pay the full cost of covering certain low-income people added to the Medicaid rolls under the bill.

Republicans derided this provision as the “Cornhusker kickback.” And they said it was typical of the favors Democrats had given to Mr. Nelson and a handful of other senators.

“You’ve got to compliment Ben Nelson for playing ‘The Price is Right,’ ” said Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina. “He negotiated a Medicaid agreement for Nebraska that puts the federal government on the hook forever. Not for six years, not for 10 years. This isn’t the Louisiana Purchase; this is the Nebraska windfall.”

I love how Repubs object to these sorts of specific earmarks buried in legislation. Defense bills are larded with funding for military bases and specific projects backed by Repubs. They even vote for the occasional Bridge to Nowhere.

Meanwhile, we can only marvel at the "Cornhusker Kickback." Sen. Nelson is a player. As a Democrat, he was in the game. While Sen. Enzi may have worked some frontier state items into the bill, our Repub senators are mainly left on the sidelines to stew and fume.

Perhaps some of that Nebraska Windfall will blow over the borders into Wyoming. But I forget that the prevailing winds blow from the West. From all those rural Republican Wyoming counties in the West.

Nothing new about religion in movies

Our local paper, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, featured an article by Robert W. Butler of McLatchy about the prevalance of religion (even "spirituality") in current Hollywood movies.

He went on to list these films: The Road, Avatar, The Blind Side, and The Invention of Lying. Because the photo accompanying the article comes from The Lovely Bones, one assumes that its imminent Christmas release is what prompted the article.

Baby Boomer Flashback...

I grew up with religious movies: Ben Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Robe, Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah. Biblical epics. All of them were based (sometimes loosely) on stories from the Bible. My parents considered it their duty to take us to these films. I am certain that they all had the imprimatur of the Catholic Legion of Decency. There were other films that did not, films that exhibited entirely too much female pulchritude (Marilyn!), explored teen angst (James Dean!), displayed the singer with the swiveling hips (Elvis!) and featured entirely too much violence. Then there were those rotten comic books and racy novels. Entirely too much indecency existed in the fifties. Nothing that a dose of an overlong Biblical epic couldn't cure.

If they seemed cheesy back then, their cheesiness has multiplied with time. The only one of the epics that isn't terrible is Ben Hur. Is saw it recently and the story is pretty good. The chariot race is still thrilling. Even though we remember Charlton Heston more for his NRA lunacy rather than his acting, he's not bad in this one.

There was another batch of movies in the late sixties that tackled religion. Lilies of the Field even took its title from the Bible. Sidney Poitier was the African-American handyman for a convent of traditionalist Catholic nuns. He was old-time religion and they were Papists. Everyone learned something about tolerance and human rights. The nuns at my high school took us to see this one.

...End of Flashback

Religion in movies is nothing new. Spirituality is another matter. Hollywood no longer is restricted to the Bible for its religious-themed movies. Organized religion's endemic intolerance (we have the answer and you don't) takes a shellacking in most recent movies. Doubt is a great example. It's also a good example of life's complications. Kevin Smith's Dogma took on religion in a big way. The image that remains with me is the smiling "Buddy Christ" promoted by Cardinal George Carlin.

Butler's McLatchy article named only one recent film -- The Blind Side -- that actually portrays devout Christians acting on their faith. The others are all metaphor and allegory usually helped along with a dose of sci-fi and/or fantasy. As are so many films that take on good vs. evil. I haven't seen the film version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. But I've seen No Country for Old Men twice. Tommy Lee Jones' world-weary sheriff is perplexed by the scope of death and destruction that's been unleashed on his county. He can find no redeeming characters anywhere. He asks that eternal question: "Where is God?" And he has no answer.

Avatar is more Celtic mythology and Gaian philosophy than religion. The planet Pandora is a living thing. Earthers attempt to rape and pillage Pandora and she responds. It's an old scenario. Natives are outgunned and outnumbered. The call goes out to Mother Earth and she sounds the trumpet. The animals charge the automatic weapons and battle cruisers and emerge triumphant.

It rarely works that way in the real world. Maybe that's why we like the myth. The underdog wins due to its earth-centered spirituality. And some bitchin' flying dragons.

Samantha Bee blows the lid off of Obama's sinister Christmas Tree Ornament Plot

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama's Socialist Christmas Ornament Program
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
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Capturing our Christmas tree in the Snowies

The ceremonial capture of the Christmas tree in Wyoming's Snowy Range. Notice ravenous wolf in foreground attempting to take a bite out of daughter. Wife threw blue disk at wolf and scared it away.

War Made New: Don't Fire Until You See Those Shiny Transmitter Receptors

"If you're depressed, learn something."

That may or may not be the exact quote I came across years ago. It could be "when you're depressed, learn something." I remember quotes like I remember jokes -- badly.

I took the quote to mean that when you're depressed, learn something to take your mind off of it. If you're clinically depressed, picking up a book or plugging yourself into the PC is a daunting task. If you're in this state, you need more than book learnin'.

If you're garden-variety depressed, learning something gives you something to do. It focuses the mind, and by the time you exit the book, you will have forgotten -- temporarily -- about your depression. You may even feel better. One thing's certain -- you will have learned something. "Mopey" may be a constant state, but why not try being a mope with a head full of history or art or poetry.

I was thinking about this because I've been depressed due to Christmas and the sub-zero temperatures and various other things. So I checked out books from the library about depressing topics: bird flu, military history and Iraq. This might send another dysthymic over the edge. But to me, reading about sordid and complicated topics has a calming effect. I also sometimes medicate myself with films featuring sordid and complicated topics. But it doesn't have quite the same salutary effect.

The book on the avian flu, "The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic," gave me all sorts of info about viruses and epidemiologists, not to mention admiration for the craft of reporter and author Alan Sipress. His descriptions of the inner workings of the flu virus made me marvel at its existence. When I finished the book, I was (temporarily, at least) a wiser man. I bored several of my coworkers with descriptions on the spread of bird virus and the operations of the CDC germ detectives. After a few days of this, workplace absenteeism soared. I figured they had either caught the swine flu, thought that they'd been infected with avian flu, or were patiently waiting at home for me to finish the book and move on to other things.

I moved on to "Understanding Iraq" by William R. Polk. I'm now in the section where Polk documents "Revolutionary Iraq." This chapter covers the years between the fall of the monarchy in 1958 and continues through a series of dictators leading up to the late Saddam and up until 1991 and the First Iraq War. The U.S. has entered the picture at this point and there are ominous rumblings of what's to come. Iraq, of course, is a complicated country with a tumultuous history. I'm a bit late reading about Iraq, but better late than never. Too bad that U.S. neocons never understood the target of their nefarious plans.

I took a break from Iraq to dive into "War Made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History, 1500 to Today." Author is Max Boot. He takes us from a prologue about "the Blitzkreig of 1494," when a disciplined French army brought shock and awe to Italy, to "Humvees and IEDs: Iraq, March 20, 2003-May 1, 2005." The book was published in 2006. It's almost 2010 and we're still in Iraq. although the Humvee-IED battles have switched the Afghanistan. This will no doubt require a sequel.

Max Boot writes in an easy-going manner about some tough stuff. Right now, I'm at the end of the "Gunpowder Revolution" section with the Battle of Assaye, the Brits vs. the Marathas in 1803 India. I haven't read ahead, but the Brits might still have been sore about getting their asses beat by ragtag bands of American colonists. This brings to mind Stephen Colbert's Afghanistan history lesson on the Colbert report last night. He showed a complicated chart of U.S. plans in Afghanistan. Then he showed a chart of the simplified British plan when they fought Afghanistan: 1. Kill the bloody savages; 2. Win; 3. Drink tea. He then added this: 4. Oppress the Irish.

Simple plan. How difficult to put into practice (except the Irish part -- for awhile, anyway).

Here's the military's COIN strategy flowchart as seen on TV:



Mr. Boot's book has captured my attention. The rise of nation-states, bureaucracies, professional armies, improved weaponry. Those all could be deadly dull. But not here. Temporarily, I am more fascinated than depressed. Do to the technology of antidepressants, and the stimulation of learning something, my brain's neurotransmitters are overcoming the entrenched and outmoded tactics of the Dendrites. Here it is shown in the graphic below:

The Neurons, with daily reinforcements from the arsenals of Zoloft, may win this battle and -- ultimately -- the war.

NOTES: Shamelessly lifted the illustration from wikipedia. You may view the full "Colbert Report" episode noted above by going to http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=258256

Student loan bill could save billions

Headline for an editorial in the Dec. 7 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Give it the old college try: student loan bills could save billions of dollars"

It makes the case for the passage of the new student loan bill in Congress. A good counterpoint to the naysaying Wall Street Journal editorial opposing the legislation.

Here's an excerpt:

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 253-171 in September, and the measure now is awaiting action in the Senate. It likely will be waiting until there is action on the all-consuming health-care reform bill, but opponents are busily lobbying against it.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09341/1019123-192.stm#ixzz0ZFpIvBK1

"When Liberals Invade Wyoming" -- a fantasy

I've been falling behind in my prowling for Wyoming-related posts on prog-blogs. I missed this one by MinistryOfTruth Nov. 19 on Daily Kos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/19/806200/-Invade-Wyoming-and-create-a-liberal-paradise.-Stupid-need-not-apply

Let me sum up. MOT writes tongue-in-cheek that a bunch of liberals "invade" Wyoming so it can be turned blue. In theory, a fine idea. In practice, it's doomed to failure. One only need look at the post's comments to undertand why. Most people don't have a clue about Wyoming.

By invade I mean a peaceful move to resettle liberal Americans to a small town in Wyoming where we can all live in liberal harmony our way. We will take over the local town Government, and then swell our numbers from other people who shall all make an exodus from the other 49 states as we carry out our new endeavor. Therefore, for the sake of unemployed Americans and every other struggling person, I say pick up, travel west, and take Wyoming back from the Dick Cheney types that own it.

By take back, I mean the peaceful and awesome transformation of a stodgy old state full of rocks and rockheads (at lest 50%, but not all Wyomingians are Fox Viewers) into a kick ass liberal paradise with open skies, clean air and 2 Senator seats just waiting for us. Why should we go jobless in New York, Michigan, Ohio, California and elsewhere while Wyoming hogs up all the opportunity and hopes and dreams that any large, low populated state might have if an inordinate number of millionaires live there.

So who will come with me, and found a new city within a city in Wyoming? Who will join the commune of liberals who will turn Wyoming Blue?

Don't everybody raise your hand at once. Sure, it's bone-chilling cold right now, but that only lasts until Memorial Day. And don't be afraid of Dick Cheney. He's hardly ever here, spending most of his time in Maryland when he's not on Fox News calling Obama a weinie. When he is in Wyoming, he's holed up in his mountain redoubt outside Jackson. He rarely goes into town, afraid some vegan boarder with a 'tude will hit him with a snowball.

Where would liberals work? My liberal friends and I who pioneered this state back in the 1990s already have all the good jobs. We are arts workers, artists, artisans, baristas, writers, bread makers, professional locavores and teachers and -- of course -- community organizers. There currently are enough of us for Wyoming. We are short of communities, you see, and any new influx of community organizers would have to organize prairie dog colonies, antelope herds and -- if they're not all shot soon -- wolf packs. From experience, I'd have to say that it might be easier to organize wolf packs than the state's human colonies.

And did I mention that every single housebroken life form in Wyoming -- men, women, children, infants, hamsters, cats, dogs -- packs heat. There are more guns in Wyoming than tumbleweeds.

I'll let MOT have the final words:

I believe that this program is a way forward into the future, so that liberals, progressives and Dirty Fucking Hippies can slowly ruin all the red states for the red staters the way they fucked up our states with their corrupt, incompetant idiots like the Bush, Cheney and Palin families. So who is coming with me, and what shall we name this Hippy Liberal Paradise, and what kind of laws will we have? I want to know.

And I want to see the look on that Dick Cheney's face when we take over, peacefully and Democratically.

Locavore and localart and even localit

I did my Christmas shopping in Chugwater.

Actually, Chugwater came to Cheyenne in the form of Sage Hill Fiber Arts and Baker Farms On-Farm Bakery. They were just two of the vendors at the Winter Farmers Market at the Historic Depot in downtown Cheyenne.

My first purchase was a loaf of homemade rye bread from Baker Farms. The farm grows winter red wheat up on the bluffs east of Chugwater, about 40 miles north of Cheyenne on I-25. Some of their crop is organic, which goes into their breads and pastries. I tried a sample of their Granola pie, which is a flat granola bar the siez of a monster cookie. Very tasty. Then I tasted their onion bread. Finally settled on a big round loaf of the rye.

The couple that owns Baker Farms (sorry -- didn't get their first names) said that the wheat crop got hammered with hail over the summer. But they did harvest some, and made some bread which I took home and had a few slices until my daughter and her friends came home and ate their way through the groceries like a locust swarm. They were gone almost as quickly as they had arrived.

The bread was good while it lasted. And I have a standing invitation to go up to Chugwater and take a ride on one of the two Baker Farms' combines which, the couple said, "are really old." Who can pass up a ride on an historic combine? They could tell I was a city boy. They don't have a web site yet, but you can e-mail them for more info at dwbaker@vcn.com.

I bought a Christmas present for a loved one who shall remain nameless at the Sage Hill Fiber Arts booth. Carol Eckhardt, shepherd and spinner and fiction writer (two of her books were for sale next to the fiber arts), and her daughter run the company. Carol weaves beautiful scarves and hats and shawls from the wool of her own sheep. Most of her items are natural colors instead of dyes, the whites and tans and browns and blacks courtesy of sheep like Ebony. Carol wove Ebony's wool into a multiple-patterned bed jacket. I knew that my wife Chris would love this particular item as she sat up and read in bed or watched "The Office" on a frigid night in which she reminded me that she required such an item to get her through the winter.

However, the item was a bit pricey for my budget. Although I could see it on a future shopping list.

Therein lies the difficulty with "buying locally." We are used to paying bargain basement prices at retailers. Often we are buying goods made far from home. China or the Dominican Republic, for instance. These goods are cheaply made and they travel long distances before they're stocked on the Wal-Mart shelves. Prices dictate longevity. Your scarf made by cut-rate labor in China may survive one winter. But probably not.

I don't have enough time or energy or knowledge to talk here about the politics of shopping. But when you buy locally, you support your neighbors. When you buy at Wal-Mart, you support Wal-Mart.

But it is difficult for most of us to afford $100 scarves and $75 baskets. Our money goes elsewhere: mortgage payments, utility bills, car payments, food for the little ones and, yes, shopping for necessities at big-box stores. Our society is now structured around low prices. Since all our other costs are going up, we have less to spend for sturdy, handmade items.

I spent several hours prowling the indoor market. Linda Behrens of Cheyenne makes beautiful baskets from willows. As we spoke, she was weaving Christmas ornaments. Her baskets are remarkable. She has to work with the willow when it's green so it's malleable. This is especially important because she leaves the bark on. E-mail Linda at anubisbehrens@yahoo.com.

I have to keep in mind that the artists and artisans in this building today spend many hours on each artifact. There were many craft fairs going on around Cheyenne on this December Saturday. The YMCA hosted one, as did Alta Vista and Miller Schools, among many others. It shows the importance of handmade arts and foods.

Meadow Maid Foods in Yoder, owned by Mike and Cindy Ridenhour, offers grass-fed beef, homemade jerky, vegetables and flowers, and vegetable CSA shares. Other farms in the vicinity that offer CSA shares are Wolf Moon Farms in Ft. Collins, Colo., and Grant Farms in Wellington, Colo. Sara Burlingame, one-time owner of Sara's Breads, now is the Cheyenne contact for Wolf Moon Farms CSA drop-offs. You can get more info about signing up for the 2010 growing season by e-mailing Karen at wolfmoonfarms@gmail.com.

WindHarvest Farms in located in Morrill, Nebraska, about 11 miles east of Torrington and about 90 miles from Cheyenne. Diane and Jeff Edwards run the farm. Jeff is also works in the agricultural extension office for Goshen County, Wyo. Not only does he advise Wyoming farmers and harvest his own organic veggies. He's also received a grant to run workshops on building high tunnels for year-round growing in high wide and lonesome Wyoming.

Jeff says that these workshops will take place over the next couple years. He'll build a high tunnel on someone's property, providing hands-on experience for those who sign up. That means getting your hands dirty putting up the 16-feet-by-32-feet structures. Some are already up and providing shelter to tomatoes and berries around southeastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Jee says that interest in high tunnels is booming.

I could have spent my entire Christmas budget at the market. I gathered info and will save up for later. I did drop by the Rock, Paper Scissors Gallery down the street from the Depot. The gallery offers working space for local artists and exhibits work of artists from the region. Potter Paulette Rasmussen was minding the store. I persued the works on exhibit, and pledged to come back. I bought Chris a hippo etching by Abby Paytoe Gbayee at the gallery when it opened during the summer. More to come...

Wyoming locavores strive to be creative

This comes from the Northern Colorado Food Incubator:

Cheyenne will host two winter farmers' markets this fall, patterned after the Fort Collins Winter Market model. One was held Nov. 7; the next one will be held indoors on Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Cheyenne Depot Museum in downtown Cheyenne. Please note, due to careful planning, the Cheyenne and Fort Collins market dates do not conflict so that vendors may attend all markets. FMI: click here

The flyer for the event advertised "local foods grown, raised or created within 150 miles of Cheyenne, Wyoming." Often, you hear locavores talking about food grown, raised or created within 50 miles of home. But in high, dry and cold Cheyenne, you have to boost the radius 100 miles in all directions. Mainy south, toward the Front Range breadbaskets of Wellington, Fort Collins, Denver and almost all the way to Colorado Springs. It also includes the northeastern Colorado wheat and corn fields of Sterling and Fort Morgan into cornhusker territory in western Nebraska. Food crops are grown in some of eastern Wyoming's lower elevations around Torrington and Lusk and Wheatland.

You get the picture -- Cheyenne locavores have to forage far and wide for our food. I've written before about some of Laramie County's food producers (see http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/08/stiory-to-go-with-every-zucchini-and.html). We do better in the meat department than we do in fruits and veggies. At our summer and fall farmers markets, fruit comes in from northwestern Colorado and Utah. That's way beyond the locavore radius, but it's hard to dwell on semantics when you have the juice of a Wasatch Front peach dribbling down your chin.

Vegetarian locavores have one hell of a time in Cheyenne. It's a different story for meat-eaters, especially if you're a locavore and a hunter. Several hunters I know stick close to home, hunting elk and deer and antelope in the Medicine Bows and Snowy Range and down into Colorado's Roosevelt National Forest. When they "harvest" an animal, its edible parts go into to freezer for locavoring throughout the winter. I know that many people who actually use the term "locavore" don't approve of hunting. In fact, I've heard that it's on the list of the NRA's forbidden words list, along with "vegetarian," "liberal" and "Obama." But some hunters may be a lot more "The L Word" that I am. That's "L" as in locavore. What did you think I meant?

I like the fact that the Cheyenne and Fort Collins farmers market dates do not conflict. That's an encouraging sign and shows that the Northern Colorado Food Incubator includes southeast Wyoming in its planning. I also like the fact that the CWFM lists a bundle of sponsors, including the Wyoming Farmers Market Association (I didn't know there was such a thing) and several individual sponsors "who believe in the local food movement."

Get down to the Depot tomorrow for some bison and salsa and local honey and pumpkins and eggs from free range hens and baked goods from organic Wyoming wheat.

Sen. Enzi cited in Jeff Sharlet book as member of D.C. cult The Family

Jeff Sharlet is the author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power" (Hardcover, 464 pages, Harper, $25.95). Wyomingites may recognize a familiar name in the following excerpt:

The Family, or the Fellowship, is in its own words an "invisible" association, though it has always been organized around public men. Senator Sam Brownback (R., Kansas), chair of a weekly, off -the-record meeting of religious right groups called the Values Action Team (VAT), is an active member, as is Representative Joe Pitts (R., Pennsylvania), an avuncular would-be theocrat who chairs the House version of the VAT. Others referred to as members include senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee (the powerful conservative caucus co-founded back in 1974 by another Family associate, the late senator Carl Curtis of Nebraska); Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa); James Inhofe (R., Oklahoma); Tom Coburn (R., Oklahoma); John Thune (R., South Dakota); Mike Enzi (R., Wyoming); and John Ensign, the conservative casino heir elected to the Senate from Nevada, a brightly tanned, hapless figure who uses his Family connections to graft holiness to his gambling-fortune name. Some Democrats are involved: representatives Bart Stupak and Mike Doyle, leading anti-abortion Democrats, are longtime residents of the Family's C Street House, a former convent registered as a church and used to
provide Family-subsidized housing for politicians supported by the Family. A centrist occasionally stumbles into the fold, but the Family is mostly conservative. Family stalwarts in the House include Representatives Frank Wolf (R., Virginia), Zach Wamp (R., Tennessee), and Mike McIntyre, a hard right North Carolina Democrat who believes that the Ten Commandments are "the fundamental legal code for the laws of the United States" and thus ought to be on display in schools and court houses.

Dampen your energy bills with stimulus funds

Any initiative that combines jobs with renewable energy has my vote.

This info from the Wyoming Energy Office came to us via cowboystatefreepress:

The Wyoming State Energy Office (SEO) is using over $2.2 million in federal funding to launch a program that will help homeowners defray the cost of installing renewable energy systems.

The funding is part of the $3.1 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) appropriation to the U.S. Department of Energy to fund state programs that prioritize energy savings, increase the use of renewable energy, and create or retain jobs.

Wyoming homeowners may apply to the SEO for grants of up to $10,000 or 50 percent of project costs, whichever is less, for installing photovoltaic (solar), small wind, and ground source heat energy systems at their homes. Grant awards are based on project size, will be allocated on a first-come basis, and are not retroactive for systems already installed or under contract to be installed.

“This round of federal funding will expand the state’s already successful photovoltaic program, giving residents more than one way to implement a renewable energy system at their home,” said Shannon Stanfill, SEO program manager. “Additionally, residents who install one of these systems may apply for a 30 percent tax credit from the federal government, bringing further savings at tax time.”

Download applications at http://www.wyomingbusiness.org/economic_stimulus.aspx#energy. They may be electronically submitted, or mailed to: Wyoming State Energy Office, 214 W. 15th St., Cheyenne, WY, 82002.

Only one grant application per renewable energy category is allowed.

FMI: Call the State Energy Office toll-free at 1.888.232.5390

I fought the law... and the story won

This sounds like a fun way to spend a December Saturday night...

Tell an impromptu story (not memorized or read) based on an established theme (i.e., “My Brush with the Law,” “The Worst Date I Have Ever Had,” “My Parents Still Don’t Know the Whole Story About…,” etc.). A Master of Ceremonies will introduce the panel of judges, explain the rules and perform the first story to get things started. Each participant must register to perform before the storytelling begins and the order will be randomly selected. Each story must stay within a 5-7 minute time limit.

The Story Slam starts at 7:30 p.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. It will be held at the Atlas Theatre, Atlas Theatre, 211 W 16th St., Cheyenne. Two winning stories will be selected — first place and runner-up. The popular audience vote will be added to the judges’ overall scores. Each winning story will receive a prize. This is an adult event not appropriate for children.

The admission fee is $5. FMI: 307-635-0199

The theme for the Story Slam on Saturday, December 5, will be: “My brush with the law…”

WyoDems check facts on Barrasso statements

Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso reeled off a few whoppers on FOX news. So what else is new...

WyoDems' communication director Brianna Jones ran a fact check on Dr. Barrasso's statements at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ht/display/ViewBloggerThread/i/1283969

My God, Jim, I'm a doctor -- not a U.S. Senator!

No clear-cut answers left behind after suicides in WY & WI & CA

My wife Chris and I attended a funeral yesterday for Charles, one of my son's best friends from high school. I will use just his first name, out of respect to his family which I barely know. Charles hanged himself at home. He was 24.

Charles and my son Kevin were both hyperkids -- impulsive kids diagnosed at a young age with ADHD. Often in trouble at school -- when they went. They spent many days skateboarding and riding bikes and playing video games. They also drank and used drugs.

We ferried Kevin to a treatment center in Florida when he was 17. He was there for a year and came home clean and sober and has remained so. He lives in Tucson.

Charles took the rocky road. He was in jail for a time but worked his way out with the help of a transition program. Met a girl. Married. They had a baby girl a few months ago.

Things seemed to be looking up for Charles.

The day before Thanksgiving, Charles hanged himself at home. Yesterday was the very sad funeral. Always is when a young person leaves us in this way.

Last March, James Weigl, an Army veteran of Iraq, hanged himself in his garage in Cedarburg, Wisc. He was 25, not much older than Charles. He's one of 129 soldiers and marines who committed suicide during the first half of 2009.

Meg Kissinger wrote an incredible story for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about Sgt. Weigl's life and death. His parents are outraged at the Army that their son didn't get the mental health care he needed. Some say that Weigl shouldn't have been in the service, that he had two medical conditions that should have made him ineligible. One of those was a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

I'll leave it up to you to read this sad story. Getting to the bottom of events like this is what real newspaper reporters do well. We'll miss them when they're gone. Read the article at http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/70721137.html

Is this weren't enough, NPR this morning featured a pair of stories about teen suicides in California. During the past six months, four Palo Alto teens have killed themslves by jumping in front of trains.

From Palo Alto Online:

Between 20 percent and 23 percent of deaths ruled suicides in Santa Clara County in the past two years were individuals under 30 years old, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Examiner's Office. In both 2007 and 2008, the county had 31 suicides of people under 30. The coroner did not provide city-by-city breakdowns.

Philippe Rey, a psychotherapist and executive director of Adolescent Counseling Service, said Palo Alto's teen suicide rate is in line with national statistics.

That's discouraging. Fifteen suicides a year by young people in a mid-sized city is "in line with national statistics."

Those 129 soldiers and marines who committed suicide in the first six months of 2009 must be "in line with national statistics."

And here are some stats about teen suicides in Wyoming (a bit dated, but still relevant):

Mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) spanning the five-year period from 2001-2005 show that suicide rates for Wyoming teens ages 15-19 are more than twice as high as national rates for this same population (WY rate of 17.48 per 100,000 deaths versus U.S. rate of 7.70 per 100,000 deaths). An alarming one in six Wyoming high-school students reported making suicidal plans within the previous year according to the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, representing a 13 percent increase over 2005 data.

It appears that Wyoming's teen suicide numbers ARE NOT "in line with national statistics."

They're much worse.

Dems meet Nov. 30 in Cheyenne

The Laramie County Democrats and the Democratic Grassroots Coalition meet together on the LarCoDems' regular meeting night on Monday, Nov. 30, 6-8 p.m., at the IBEW Hall, 810 Fremont Ave., in Cheyenne.

Menu includes hot dogs and chili, as well as hamburgers donated by Mae Kirkbride. Donations accepted.

Democratic State Senator Kathryn Sessions will be the speaker.

FMI: http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

If Dallas can re-vision, why can't Cheyenne?

I have nothing against Dallas. It's a good city, a sprawling megalopolis that creeps as far as Fort Worth to the west and sends tentacles into surrounding counties in all directions.

But who would have thought that Dallas would be the model for "Green" city planning?

The city recently held a competition to submit eco-friendly designs for a block near the city center. The winning design recreates a hillside in the city -- with some amazing results.

Here's some samples from last week's article in Re:Vision Dallas that I thought were interesting:

Forwarding Dallas is modeled after one of the most diverse systems in nature, the hillside. The site is a series of valleys and hilltops, the valleys containing trees and more luxurious plants which transition into more resistant plants as the altitude increases. Atop the hills, solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind energy is harvested.

Other design components include open ‘green’ spaces, housing options from studio apartments to three bedroom flats, a rooftop water catchment system designed to recycle water collected from rooftops and store underground for later use, a 100% prefabricated construction system and public green houses, including a sensorial greenhouse, swimming pool green house and meeting point green house.

A spiritual space, gymnasium, café and exhibition space are also planned to accommodate various lifestyles. There is a temporary accommodation center as well as a daycare center designed for both children and the elderly.

“What I would love to see is an entire section of downtown notable for innovative, sustainable design–an attraction in the southern part of downtown balancing the Arts District in the northern part of downtown," said John Greenan, Executive Director for Central Dallas CDC. "There are already some interesting, green projects in The Cedars immediately to the south of downtown.

A sustainable district that extends from downtown all the way into The Cedars neighborhood is a very reasonable possibility.”

For more information on Urban Re:Vision, visit http://www.urbanrevision.com/

I like the fact that Dallas is thinking big. What's more Texas than that? Wish that my much-smaller city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, would take a few leaps forward. Lots of empty buildings downtown. There is a big hole that's been sitting vacant on our main drag ever since a building burned down. Perhaps we could hold a similar competition to come up with an ecological design for Cheyenne's Big Hole.

And the Dallas CDC guy's quote includes talk about the city's Arts District. I prefer the term "Artists' District," as in Phoenix's Roosevelt Row, a place where artists live and also exhibit their work, sometimes in the same building. Arts districts that just feature galleries and museums can be as dead as any downtown block when the businesses close. Make a place for artists, and you have a lively neighborhood.

It can be one that replicates a Texas Hill Country hillside. Or it can be one in which artists rehab abandoned buildings to make live-work spaces. Just takes some imagination and creativity.

We thankfully provide Sen. Alexander food for thought on Thanksgiving

From Think Progress, which always provides such great links (http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/21/alexander-medicaid-ghetto/):

While Alexander may think he is too good for Medicaid coverage, a 2005 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 74 percent of Americans consider Medicaid very important and most would oppose cuts to the program. Families USA has pointed out that, despite its flaws, Medicaid is cost-effective and provides a solid foundation on which to expand coverage:

Medicaid is cost-effective compared to private health insurance. After controlling for health status (since Medicaid enrollees tend to have greater health care needs), it costs more than 20 percent less to cover low-income people in Medicaid than it does to cover them in private health insurance.

Sen. Alexander: Come on down to the Medicaid Ghetto and learn something

As always, 4&20 blackbirds blogging from the wilds of Missoula, Mont., provides a forum for westerners to debate (and rant about) current events. Health care reform was on the agenda yesterday. A great post by JC prompted a flurry of responses. It focused on Tenn. Sen. Lamar Alexander and his remarks equating Medicaid coverage with living in a ghetto. As I can't do justice to the post and the attendant responses, go to http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/a-medical-ghetto-called-medicaid/.

I had to respond. Couldn't help myself. Here's my comment:

I know it's superfluous to address the details of JC's post, but let me take a stab at it.

First, Lamar Alexander's quote: "a medical ghetto called Medicaid that none of us or any of our families would ever want to be a part of for our health care.”

Our family actually requested entry into the Medicaid "ghetto" when our teen daughter was in a mental health residential treatment center in 2008. She was self-mutilating and had threatened to kill herself, and was eventually diagnosed as bipolar. She was in treatment for 330 days. My insurance covered 45 of those days, with a 20 percent co-pay.

What to do? The Wyoming Dept. of Health funds a Medicaid Waiver Program that picks up the bill for children and teens that need long-term treatment but are either uninsured or under-insured, the fate of most Americans who work full-time. This is especially true when it comes to mental health care.

It took me awhile to find out about the program and to fill out the correct paperwork. Once enrolled, taxpayer dollars (yours, mine and maybe even a few from Lamar Alexander) picked up the tab for my daughter's care. We traveled 400 miles round trip to see her each weekend and participate in therapy sessions.

When she was released in January 2009, she received after-care in the form of medication and therapy. Trained specialists documented her progress, and on Sept. 30 she was cleared to come off the waiver.

I'm still calculating the costs covered by Medicaid. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $150,000. We never could have afforded it.

We met a lot of our Medicaid ghetto dwellers along the way. Middle class folks. Most grief-stricken that their kids were in trouble. But thankful that there was an alternative to letting their kids travel alone and untreated down the dead-end road of teen suicide and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and drug/alcohol abuse.

My daughter's doing fine (thanks for asking) and is back in school and staying on her meds. My insurance company, for all its shortcomings, is paying the bills and we pick up the co-pays. We learned a few things from our time in the ghetto. Sen. Alexander should take some time out from pontificating and explore the lives of real people.

Sunlight of a Cheyenne autumn morning

Driving my daughter Annie along I-25 this morning to visit a friend. She commented that she liked this part of the morning, about 9 a.m. The way the light looks and feels, the way it lights up the prairie. I had to admit that it was a beautiful November morning. Great light for an artist. Wispy horsetail clouds lit up on the eastern horizon. Even the gray Wyoming steppes looked brighter.

As I drove home alone, I paid more attention to the light. On top of the College Drive overpass, I saw a UP train traveling east, its dozens of white freight cars lit up by the sun. I wondered if it was a coal train. How funny that a coal train chugs east under the bright blades of Cheyenne's wind farm just west of the hulking white Wal-Mart distribution center. Between the rail line and the wind farm, I-80 stretches out, trucks pulling uphill toward the Laramie Range Summit and some all the way to San Francisco. Eastbound truckers are damn happy to be out of the mountains and Wyoming's crappy late-autumn weather and wild winds.

Not sure why autumn's morning light made me think of energy and transportation. But the College Drive overpass on top of I-25 gave me a great view of Cheyenne's reasons for being. Highway crossroads. Railroads. Wind farm to the west and Frontier Refinery to the east. If I look hard enough, I can see a few pumping oil wells out in the county. Up north is F.E. Warren A.F.B. and its many nukes. Guess you could call this an energy issue, although Warren's nukes are wrapped up in strategic metal and pointed at targets in the former Soviet Union. Odd to think that the former Commie powerhouse may now be a bigger threat as an energy-producing giant than it was as a Cold War "We Will Bury You" opponent.

Are nukes one of the solutions to the energy crisis? Right now, uranium is being mined again in northeast and central Wyoming. An in-state nuke plant could be in our future.

Deep thoughts on the day before Thanksgiving. Autumn's morning light shines on the present, provides clues to a possible future which often doesn't look so bright.

In the trenches with Dick "5 Deferments" Cheney

Casper's Dick "Five Vietnam War Draft Deferments" Cheney knows war from the grunt's P.O.V. Just listen as he speaks on right-wing radio:

I worry that there’s a lack of understanding there of what this means from the perspective of the troops. You know, if you’re out there on the line day in and day out and putting your life at risk on a volunteer basis for the nation, and you see the Commander in Chief unable, to or appearing to be unable, to make a decision about the way forward here — you know that raises serious doubts. Nobody wants to think of volunteering to be participate in that kind of operation.

[...]

It may in part be inexperience on Obama’s part. It may be that there’s confusion on the staff. But I’m not encouraged by it.

Think Progress shares some insights (and a clip) at http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/24/cheney-military/

Full disclosure: I also had five draft deferments, 1968-1973, one while I was in ROTC. I never served in the active-duty military, yet I also never served as U.S.V.P. and invaded sovereign countries for bogus reasons, causing untold death and suffering.

Local physician sees need and steps in

From the Associated Press 11/24:

A doctor in Cheyenne says he'll open an interim free clinic to help patients that will be otherwise without care when the Cheyenne Community Clinic closes at the end of the year.

Dr. Jason Bloomberg with Access Health Care says he'll have Tuesday evening free clinics at his practice starting next year to keep patients from having a gap in treatment.

Bloomberg says he'll offer the clinics for up to six months, or until there is another provider who can offer free medical care in the region.

Murray Lou Rex is the director of the Cheyenne Community Clinic. She says it's a tremendous undertaking, and she hopes other providers will volunteer to help Bloomberg in his efforts.

Dr. Bloomberg was a Hillary Clinton delegate to the May 2008 Wyoming Democratic Convention in Jackson and was selected as a delegate to the August 2008 national convention in Denver. While his preferred candidate was not chosen, he worked hard to get out the vote for Obama.

A community-minded citizen. To read a an 8/1708 pre-c0nvention profile, go to http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/08/meet-dnc-delegates-jason-bloomberg.html.

Find out more about Access Health Care at http://www.accesshealthcheyenne.com/. It's located at 3100 Henderson Dr., Cheyenne. Call 307-426-4673.

UW's Science Posse gets big NSF grant

Phil Noble at the Cowboy State Free Press reported two science-related stories on 11/23. The first was about the new supercomputer being built west of Cheyenne. Great news for Wyoming's science footprint and also economic development -- the kind that actually has a huge impact on the economy and education. Sure, credit card call centers are keen, and Wal-Mart distribution centers even keener, but this NCAR-supported supercomputer will be a research hub and employ a highly educated work force. Not a huge work force, but one with clout. UW Trustee Dr. Taylor Haynes of Cheyenne says that this project “will be the first true diversification of Wyoming’s economy.”

The more intriguing story was about the University of Wyoming Science Posse. Here's the story:

A nearly $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation will help the Science Posse, a group of University of Wyoming graduate students whose primary goal is to raise awareness and understanding of science, expand its offerings to schoolchildren across the state.

The five-year grant — awarded to Don Roth, the Science Posse’s principal investigator and a UW professor of molecular biology and pharmacy — will allow the Science Posse to add education on the complexities between water and energy to its already expansive list of offerings.

The NSF grant will continue through 2013 at $575,463 per year, contingent upon the availability of funds and the project’s scientific progress.

The Science Posse has worked with about 70 teachers and 2,500 students in 12 Wyoming counties and 34 schools since its creation in 2006. The group’s goals are to increase public appreciation and awareness of science, improve students’ understanding of science, inspire students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and develop and enhance partnerships between UW and the Wyoming energy industry.

Go to the Science Posse web site at http://www.scienceposse.org/.

This is not about a billion-dollar computer. It's about some faculty and graduate students getting together to spread the word about science. Maybe you could call them techie community organizers. I will.

Wyoming's future: from Equality State to Land of the Dumb & Sick

Digby recounts a Chris Matthews interview with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour talking about how Mississippi has all the answers to our health care woes. An excerpt:

Barbour: ...candidly, a lot of Republicans, including me, believe it would be much better to let the states do some things like we've done in Mississippi where we've had serious tort reform and our medical liability reform has brought down insurance premiums by 60 percent in four years, we have reformed Medicaid so that we are saving the taxpayers money. We think let the states go for a while, see what works see what doesn't and then come together with a rational bill at the federal level is a better approach.

Mississippi rates 51 (out of 50 states plus DC) in health care ranking.

In the same ranking by The Commonwealth Fund, Wyoming ranks right in the middle at number 25 [http://www.commonwealthfund.org/Charts-and-Maps/State-Scorecard-2009/DataByState/State.aspx?state=WY].

Not great but not terrible. Our adjoining Rocky Mountain and High Plains states do a little better, with Montana at 18th, Utah at 19th, Colorado at 24th, Nebraska at 13 and South Dakota at 12. Wyoming's only neighbor that ranks lower is Idaho at 29.

I wonder how many Nebraskans and Montanans would trade their health care for that enjoyed by the lucky people of Mississippi? If Republicans ruled the world of health care reform, we could say "We’re all Mississippians now!" If we were still alive to do so.

This could be especially bad in Republican-controlled states such as Wyoming and Idaho if health care were left up to the states.

The South always ranks at the bottom in those categories that count, such as health care and education. They tend to send Republicans to D.C. to illuminate the rest of us on education and health care reform, not to mention the inerrancy of the Bible. If Wyoming’s delegation keeps voting with their Deep South counterparts, we too could be the land of the dumb and the sick. And we’d be praying like hell for something different.

Fact Check: Wyoming Sen. Barrasso's statement on health care reform

The Wyoming Democratic Party did a little research and came up with a fact check on some health care reform comments by Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, M.D. (hope he's a better doctor than researcher):

Brianna Jones, WyoDems communications director: Please see below for a fact check of the claims made by Senator Barrasso on the floor of the Senate just now on how the Patients Protection and Affordable Care Act would affect Medicare:

Sen. Barrasso: “When you look at the details of this bill, this is going to cut almost $500 billion. $500 Billion from our seniors who depend on Medicare for their health care.” [Barrasso Floor Speech, 11/20/09]

REALITY: MEDICARE SAVINGS DO NOT CUT BENEFITS

AARP: Statement That Reform Would Cut Medicare Benefits Is “Misleading And Alarmist,” And “The Proposed Medicare Savings Do Not Limit Benefits, They Do Not Impose Rationing.” The Wall Street Journal reported that, “[t]he Republican Party issued a new salvo in the health debate Monday with a ‘seniors' health care bill of rights’ that opposed any moves to trim Medicare spending or limit end-of-life care to seniors. Intended as a political shot at President Barack Obama, the Republican National Committee manifesto marks a remarkable turnaround for a party that had once fought to trim the health program for the elderly and disabled, which last year cost taxpayers over $330 billion…The country's largest lobbying group for seniors, AARP, said it welcomed the RNC's commitment to protect Medicare. But the group, which supports efforts to overhaul the health-care system, also dismissed the RNC statement as misleading and alarmist. ‘Change by itself is anxiety producing, but as we have analyzed the various bills [before Congress], the proposed Medicare savings do not limit benefits, they do not impose rationing and they do not put the government between patients and their doctors,’ said John Rother, AARP's executive vice president.” [Wall Street Journal, 8/25/09]

Hospitals Group Refuted CMS Actuary Report: “Hospitals Always Will Stand By Senior Citizens. This Summer, Hospitals Agreed To Contribute Substantial Medicare Savings Are Part Of Our Shared Sacrifice To Reform Health Care.” Politico Live Pulse reported: “The following statement was released today by Chip Kahn, President of the Federation of American Hospitals: Hospitals’ commitment to our mission of serving the health care needs of seniors in communities across America is steadfast. A memorandum recently issued by the CMS Actuary analyzing the effects of “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3962) concludes that some providers may end their participation in the Medicare program. Hospitals always will stand by senior citizens. This summer, hospitals agreed to contribute substantial Medicare savings as part of our shared sacrifice to reform health care and achieve near universal coverage for all Americans. We are pleased with the legislative progress as well as the movement towards market-based solutions. And we look forward to working with Congress and the Administration to enact legislation that will enable hospitals to continue to provide our patients, including seniors, with ready access to the highest quality health care possible.” [Politico Live Pulse, 11/16/09]

Medicare Advantage Health Economist: 86 Percent Of Extra MA Payments Went To Profits, Only 14 Percent Went To Extra Benefits – “Cuts To MA Should Be A No Brainer.” Health Economist Austin Frakt, a professor at Boston University, has studied Medicare Advantage plans extensively and wrote on his blog about his findings: “Payment to MA plans has gone way up since 2003. Did the payment increase largely benefit beneficiaries or not? This is a current political and policy debate, about which much has been written in the media (both traditional and blogospheric). It turns out the answer is known and quantifiable. My work (with Steve Pizer and Roger Feldman) shows that for each additional dollar spent by the federal government (taxpayers) on the program since 2003, just $0.14 of it can be attributed to additional value (consumer surplus) to beneficiaries (see also: findings brief). What do we make of the other $0.86? That goes to the insurance companies but doesn’t come out “the other end” in the form of value to beneficiaries. In part it is accounted for by the costs of the additional benefits and in part it is captured as additional insurer profit. So, do higher MA payments produce little value to beneficiaries, as Obama claims, or are the benefits they fund important to maintain, as Republicans would have us believe? The balance of the evidence is on Obama’s side. In fact, it is a landslide: for each dollar spent, 14% of the value reaches beneficiaries and 86% of it goes elsewhere (profit or cost). Cuts to MA should be a no brainer.” [Incidental Economist - Austin Frakt, 9/28/09]

REALITY: REFORM WOULD STRENGTHEN MEDICARE

CBO On Senate Bill: Medicare Savings Amount To $491 Billion. In its estimate of the Senate reform bill, CBO wrote: “Other components of the legislation would alter spending under Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs…In total, CBO estimates that enacting those provisions would reduce direct spending by $491 billion over the 2010-2019 period.” [Congressional Budget Office, 11/18/09]

Senate Bill Includes $500 Shrinkage Of Medicare Prescription Drug Donut Hole In 2010. Politico Live Pulse reported that, “[i]n what can be viewed as an election-year sweetener for senior citizens, the coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug program would shrink by $500 in 2010 only under the Senate bill. A Senate leadership aide described it as a ‘downpayment’ on closing the donut hole. ‘Our goal is to get it closer to the House bill,’ which would eliminate the coverage gap over the next decade, the aide said.” [Politico Live Pulse, 11/18/09]

AARP CEO: House Bill “Includes Critical Priorities For Seniors…Provides And Strengthens Medicare For Today’s Seniors And Future Generations.” The Hill reported on AARP’s endorsement of House Democratic health reform. AARP CEO A. Barry Rand said, “[t]his bill includes critical priorities for seniors – critical – ensures quality, affordable health coverage options for all Americans, provides and strengthens Medicare for today’s seniors and future generations and puts us on a path to improving our long-term health system.” [The Hill, 11/5/09]

New York Times: Reform Will Enhance Drug Coverage, Reduce Premiums, and Help Keep Medicare Solvent. “Far from harming elderly Americans, the various reform bills now pending should actually make Medicare better for most beneficiaries — by enhancing their drug coverage, reducing the premiums they pay for drugs and medical care, eliminating co-payments for preventive services and helping keep Medicare solvent, among other benefits.” [New York Times, Editorial, 9/27/09]

Progressives bring opposing P.O.V. to Casper teabagger rally

Casper progessives joined with a contingent from Laramie to present an opposing point of view at a teabagger rally Saturday across the street from Wyoming Medical Center. According to Laramie's Meg Lanker, the Casper tea party rally was co-sponsored by the Wyoming 9/12 Project, Wyoming Watchdogs and Wyoming Patriot Alliance worked with Docs 4 Patient Care. The rally was held Saturday just before the U.S. Senate held an historic vote to debate the health care reform bill. That debate will start after Thanksgiving. But we can give thanks now that the bill won't be stopped by a Repub filibuster. By the way, Wyoming's two senators voted with fellow Repubs to try to thwart health care reform for America. One of those senators is a physician, or so he says. Thanks to Meg Lanker for the photo

11/23 UPDATE: Read the Casper Star-Trib's account of the event at http://trib.com/news/local/article_5d19ef65-7f8e-5705-acd5-ab088fa7e7d7.html.

Letter from D.C. -- and my response

Letter from Wyo. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, with her comments in red and mine in blue:

Dear Michael:

Thank you for contacting me regarding healthcare reform. It is good to hear from you.

Congressional Democrat leaders are working to create a new government-forced healthcare system that would put government bureaucrats between you and your doctor. The House Democrats' proposal - the Affordable Health Care for America Act of 2009 (H.R. 3962) - requires all individuals to purchase health insurance and all employers to provide health insurance to their employees or face steep tax penalties. The bill creates at least 111 new offices, programs and other bureaucracies - including a "Health Choices Commissioner" - that together will dictate to all Americans what health insurance they will be forced to purchase and how much the government should pay medical providers. The bill contains no prohibitions on federal bureaucrats denying access to life-saving treatments for patients.

No prohibitions exist at this time to prohibit health insurance company bureaucrats from denying access to necessary life-saving treatments to patients. Often, those insurance flunkies have no medical background and are making some pretty big decisions on long-term hospital stays, operations, and mental health treatment. You could call this rationing, and is exists now.

I don't know how many times I've chided Republicans for using "Democrat" instead of "Democratic" when referring to the party. We don't say "Republic Party," although some 10th amendment teabaggers might prefer the term. One of these days, the Republics will learn.

I agree with President Obama that people should be able to keep their health coverage if they like it, but this is not the case under H.R. 3962. While estimates range from several million to up to 114 million, experts agree that millions of Americans will end up being enrolled in the new government-run health plan created by H.R. 3962, many not because of choice but because of coercive government policies. Members of Congress, however, will not be required to enroll in the government-run health plan. Members of Congress who support this bill should be subjecting themselves to the same big government policies they wish to impose on the American people.

Members of Congress such as Rep. Lummis now are enrolled in a government-run health care system. Don't hear many complaints. Rep. Lummis underwent an operation earlier this year in Casper. Wonder if she used her taxpayer-funded health insurance to cover the bills.

To partially finance this over $1 trillion expansion of big government, the House Democrat health reform bill imposes over $700 billion in new taxes on individuals and businesses of all sizes. This includes $135 billion in taxes on individuals and businesses who cannot afford to purchase government-approved health insurance. Individuals would be subject to this tax regardless of their income, violating President Obama's pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000 a year.

I agree with Rep. Lummis that this tax issue is disturbing. I do think that some of that $700 billion in new taxes will come from rescinding Pres. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy. I will check this.

Our nation's seniors would also have to foot some of the bill. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that H.R. 3962 will raise seniors' Medicare prescription drug premiums by 20 percent, even as Social Security benefits are estimated to stay flat for the next few years because of the bad economy. H.R. 3962 also slashes $150 billion from the Medicare Advantage program in which nearly 3,000 seniors in Wyoming are enrolled and from which they can obtain extra benefits and lower copayments.

Translation: seniors vote -- don't cross them.

I joined both Democrat and Republican Members in calling for the final language of H.R. 3692 to be posted online 72 hours before the House is expected to vote. Within this 72 hour period, I offered amendments to H.R. 3962 to allow states to protect their citizens from government-forced insurance, unfunded mandates, taxes and possible imprisonment for not buying bureaucrat-approved coverage, and government policies that come between patients and their doctors. My amendments and dozens of others were not allowed consideration on the House floor by the House Rules Committee, which also made several last minute changes to the bill the night before it was considered on the House floor. I voted against H.R. 3962, which passed by a vote of 220-215. A similar bill is now pending in the Senate.

I am urging our senators to vote for the Senate health care bill. They will not, but I shall continue urging them on until I am blue in the face. All over my body, and in my heart, too.

As an alternative, I support the Empowering Patients First Act (H.R. 3400). Under H.R. 3400, low-income, uninsured individuals would receive a tax credit to help them purchase private insurance. All Americans would receive a tax deduction for healthcare insurance costs, not just those that receive coverage through their employee. H.R. 3400 would devote more federal funds for state-based high-risk pools for those with pre-existing conditions that are unable to obtain private insurance. The plan would also allow small businesses to join together across state lines and create their own affordable health insurance plans. To safeguard access to medical care for Wyoming's seniors, H.R. 3400 prevents a scheduled 20 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians. Perhaps most importantly, H.R. 3400 respects and upholds the notion that individuals, not the government, should be in charge of their healthcare dollars.

This sounds like more Republican dithering. This is supposed to be reform, not tinkering.

H.R. 3400's cost to the taxpayer is fully offset. It accomplishes this in part by imposing a one-percent cut in non-Defense spending and repealing unspent economic stimulus funds. H.R. 3400 would also step up efforts to eliminate waste and fraud in our entitlement programs and reduce defensive medicine through targeted medical liability reforms.

Let's impose a 1 percent cut in non-Defense spending and a 2-percent cut in Defense spending. This can be accomplished by finally getting the hell out of Iraq. It's time to stop bringing democracy and security and higher education and better healthcare to Iraqis and start bringing it to Americans.

As the healthcare reform debate continues, I will continue focusing on patient-centered and not government-centered solutions to improve access to affordable healthcare in rural and frontier America. In Wyoming, it's not just cost that gets in the way of your healthcare, it's a lack of providers, whether for primary, specialty or mental health care. I have joined the House Rural Health Care Coalition to address the unique healthcare challenges we face in Wyoming that are not fully understood by our urban counterparts, such as reimbursing doctors and hospitals more fairly for Medicare patient procedures.

I am impressed that Rep. Lummis addresses accessibility to health care in Wyoming. I'm even more impressed that she mentions mental health care in our 97,000-square-mile state with not one pediatric psychiatrist. Thank you for joining the House health Care Coalition.

As for government-centered vs. patient-centered care... How can she call the current system "patient-centered?" Yes, Wyomingites with insurance can make the claim that they can visit the doctor or dentist or surgeon of their choice. I do that. Often those professionals are located down I-25 in Fort Collins, Loveland and Denver. Still, most are in the Great West/CIGNA network and I usually pay only the 20-percent deductible. I am employed and am lucky to have insurance for myself and my diabetic wife and my daughter with epilepsy and mental health issues. I also have the advantage of living in the state's largest city, Cheyenne, and right on the border of a more populous and more health-conscious state

But Wyomingites in small towns don't have much choice. The town may only have a few doctors and maybe a dentist. That's their choice. They can drive 50 or 100 or 300 miles to the nearest cancer or pulmonary specialist. Veterans have a choice of V.A. Hospitals in Cheyenne and Sheridan, and across the border in Rapid City. The V.A. sponsors shuttles to get these vets to a doctor. Sometimes they don't have a choice of doctors, but... Hold on. Vets have the best health care system that taxpayer funding can buy. Popular with Vets, too. Just ask one. Doggone that terrible government-centered health care!

Speaking of government-funded solutions... Thousands of the state's citizens get Medicaid funding. These are people with no insurance, or insurance that's inadequate for required medical or mental health treatments. Approximately 75,000 of our people are covered under Medicaid, including 50,582 children (2008 Children's Defense Fund figures).

Thank you again for sharing your thoughts with me on an issue of importance to all of Wyoming's citizens. Please keep in touch, and I look forward to seeing you in Wyoming.

Sincerely,

Cynthia M. Lummis
Member of Congress

You're welcome, Rep. Lummis. Be seeing you next time you're in Wyoming.

CIGNA -- can you hear me now?

This comes from Badtux the Snarky Penguin (via Skippy the Bush Kangaroo), a blog that's new to me. Then again, lots of things are new to me. Oh brave new world that has such blogs in't! And I'm always partial to prog-blogs with animal names.

CIGNA denies hearing implant to child who will never be able to hear if she doesn't get it within the next few months [link to think progress].

Isn’t it wonderful that in the right wing's wonderful free market world this child doesn’t have to worry about the evil government getting between her doctors and her health care? And the magical Free Market Fairy smiles because that's $20,000 higher bonus that CIGNA's CEO can get next year. Why do you want to make the Free Market Fairy frown by, well, saying that this girl should be receiving the health care that her parents paid insurance money for? Heresy!

So why are we bothering with protecting these bastards, again?

Good question, Badtux. Cigna is my health insurer, mysteriously taking over from Great West Life about a year ago. The State of Wyoming pays the majority -- but not all -- of my health insurance premium which goes to a company that denies health coverage to six-year-olds whose families pay health insurance premiums. All those premiums get bundled together to pay a bonus to the CIGNA CEO who gets rich denying health care to little girls.

It's again time to share the new CIGNA logo



New revised logo by Ryan O'Connell and featured on Sick for Profit.

Dear Rep. Lummis: You'll be known by the company you keep

Rep. Cynthia Lummis toes the Republican National Committee line on most issues. She's consistently voted against health care reform, health insurance coverage for children, climate legislation and equal rights for gays. She loves the Department of Defense yet despises the gubment's role in almost all other things. So odd how Repubs hate gubment but have never met a defense appropriations bill they didn't like. "For the troops," they will say. What they really mean is, "For the lobbyists."

Rep. Lummis is fearful that Khalid Sheik Mohammed is scheduled for a jury trial in New York City. Most Republicans won't give New Yorkers (except the rich mayor) the time of day. Now they're all worked up, afraid that a raggedy band of Islamic extremists are so powerful that their very presence will instill terror in cops and firefighters and cab drivers and the other 9 million or so battle-hardened city dwellers.

Here's Lummis's statement today:

“The decision by the Obama Administration to allow the murderers of more than 3,000 Americans access to the federal court system will have serious negative implications for national security and the justice system. The terrorist attack orchestrated by KSM and his gang of brutal killers was an act of war against the United States and should be prosecuted by a military commission, not a common criminal court.

“It is unconscionable to think that these terrorists will enjoy the same legal rights and benefits guaranteed to U.S. citizens under the Constitution. That is why I joined Rep. Louie Gohmert in introducing legislation to amend the Military Commissions Act of 2009 to make it mandatory to try terrorists, like KSM, through military commissions.”

Obviously Rep. Lummis is not picky about the company she keeps in D.C. Rep. Louie Gohmert is a right-wing Texas fundamentalist. Lee Fang at Think Progress wrote about Rep. Gohmert's bizarre speech during the October House debate over the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill. He said that the bill

would lead to a legalization of necrophilia, pedophilia, and bestiality. Later in the speech, after reading lengthy passages from the Bible against homosexuality, Gohmert said that taking away “moral teaching in America” would create a situation similar to that of Germany in the “1920’s and 1930’s” when a “little guy with a mustache” took over:

GOHMERT: If you’re oriented toward animals, bestiality, then, you know, that’s not something that can be used, held against you or any bias be held against you for that. Which means you’d have to strike any laws against bestiality, if you’re oriented toward corpses, toward children, you know, there are all kinds of perversions, [...] pedophiles or necrophiliacs or what most would say is perverse sexual orientations but the trouble is, we made amendments to eliminate pedophiles from being included in the definition. [...] But people have always been willing to give up their liberties, their freedoms in order to gain economic stability. It happened in 1920 and 1930’s. Germany gave up their liberties to gain economic stability and they got a little guy with a mustache, who was the ultimate hate monger. And this is scary stuff we’re doing here when we take away what has traditionally been an important aspect of moral teaching in America.

Several times in the speech, Gohmert credited the conservative Christian “C Street” leader Chuck Colson for inspiration. Oddly, Gohmert also meandered into a self-defensive monologue about how he is not racist because he once voted for Alan Keyes, the birther leader who has said that President Obama is “a radical Communist” who “is going to destroy this country, and we are either going to stop him or the United States of America is going to cease to exist.”

That's odd. Don't those "C Street" Republicans revere old-line dictators such as the little guy with a mustache? Isn't it cute how a former judge, U.S. Army veteran and East Texas tough guy such as Gohmert can't even utter the name "Hitler?" Maybe it hits too close to home.

Rep. Lummis better watch out who she teams up with. Wyomingites, as a rule, don't care for extremists, whether they be from the right or the left. Hatred and fear don't seem to be family values in Cheyenne, at least not in my middle-class neighborhood. Maybe it's a different story for Lummis, who grew up in Cheyenne. Maybe she knows something I don't.

But I doubt it.

Sen. Mike Enzi tours Wyoming to probe brains of voters

Brianna Jones at the WyoDems sends this:

This is a heads up that Senator Enzi’s staff will be holding sessions in the following communities over the next few weeks and starting tomorrow. Please share this information!

Buffalo – Thursday, Dec. 10 – Town Hall – 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Cowley – Tuesday, Nov. 24 – Town Hall – 10:30-11:30 a.m.
Kaycee – Thursday, Dec. 10 – Town Hall – 9-10 a.m.
Torrington – Thursday, Nov. 19 – Platte Valley Bank – 11 a.m.-12 p.m.
Wheatland – Thursday, Nov. 19 – Platte Valley Bank – 2:30-3:30 p.m.

This is a great opportunity to encourage community members to speak to Enzi’s staff, ask him about some of his recent votes and impart the urgent need for robust health reform.

These are all solidly Republican outposts. I expect lots of softball questions for Enzi. But it's a small victory if even a few Dems show up and ask a real question without getting beat up. I expect a few Dems showing up in Wheatland due to the fact that the Platte County Dems are feisty. Check out their blog at http://plattedems.blogspot.com/.

A few questions for Enzi:

Why did you vote against the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act?
Why are you a health care reform obstructionist?
How can you continue to use my first name? Have you no shame?

What would you like to ask Sen. Enzi? I'm happy to pass any and all questions on to the senator via e-mail.