Wheatland students react to school board's decision to remove "No Place for Hate" banners

Wheaterville doing a great job as center of activity for the "Don't Ban the Banner" campaign.

As faithful readers may recall, the Platte County School Board in Wheatland voted 4-3 to take down the "No Place for Hate" banners at Wheatland H.S. and West Elementary. The banner campaign is sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. That wasn't the problem. A few town busybodies noticed that a co-sponsor of the banners is the Gay & Lesbian Fund of Colorado. They complained to the school board and the board voted to take those banners down.

Some former students wrote this:

LETTER TO Superintendent Nelson and Board of Trustees
Melody Wilhelm Brooks (class of 1986)

Dear Superintendent Nelson and Board of Trustees:

We were shocked and dismayed to read about the school board’s decision against the “No Place for Hate” banners. As graduates of Wheatland High School, we have always been proud of the excellent education we received. However, after this short-sighted decision by the school board, we have serious doubts about the elected leadership of PCSD #1.

Let us say that Wheatland is full of decent, fair-minded people. They need to stand up to intolerance, because nothing positive will come about until they do. This is not about liberal vs. conservative or Republican vs. Democrat. This is a fair vs. unfair and right vs. wrong issue.

The four members of the school board who voted against the banners are not promoting the district’s vision of “Empowerment through learning so students can be successful now and in the future.” Nor are they “Preparing children for the 21st Century”, as noted on the district’s website. In fact, they are actively working against and discouraging both.

The letter is signed by 50 former WHS students.

Read the entire letter (and many comments, most supportive) at Wheaterville.

Dear Dr. John: Thanks but no thanks

Sen./Dr./media star John Barrasso, Republican from Casper, is telling Pres. Obama that it's not too late to sit down and talk -- really talk -- about health care reform.

When you stop laughing, we can proceed.

Andrew Schenkel, Cowboy State Free Press Washington Correspondent, reported this on Tuesday:

“We need health care reform and to get costs down. I am willing to work with President Obama to improve health care and bring down costs,” Barrasso said.

If healthcare is to rise from the dead it will need some sort of Republican cooperation. Barrasso says its will be an incremental process. “Our goal is to get quality and affordable coverage by using a step by step process with each step accomplishing a number of things,” he said.

Barrasso said he is no fan of President Obama’s methods during healthcare debate thus far. “Americans have been locked out of the discussion and decisions,” said Barasso on what he has heard from constituents in recent meetings in Thermopolis and Sheridan.

As for Obama, Barasso says he hasn’t been willing to work across the aisle.

“His approach so far has been ‘my way or the highway.’ Senator Coburn and I have offered to go to the White House and go over the bill page-by-page and offer our perspective as doctors,” Barasso said. “He has refused to take us up on the offer.”

Barrasso and Coburn, a wacko right-wing Oklahoma Republican and member of the C Street Family, are the only doctors in the U.S. Senate.

That's scary enough. After all the Republican obstruction on health care, it's also laughable.

Now here's a quote that I can sink my teeth into:

“I like preventative care, there’s a little in the current bill but not enough. I like addressing mental health issues but there’s only a little in the bill. And none of it takes affect until 2018,” he said. “To me that’s too little too late. That bill is for totally government-centered healthcare not patient-centered.”

What we have now is insurance company-centered healthcare. Patient-centered? In a pig's eye.

More scary talk about global warming, water, Wyoming and the West

Batches of thoughtful people in the West are tackling the issue of climate change (see previous post). In Wyoming, the UW Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) just issued a 28-page report, "Assessing the Future of Wyoming's Water Resources: Adding Climate Change to the Equation."

First of all, the title says "Climate Change." That's pretty good for our very conservative state. Climatechangeclimatechangeclimatechange.

The report itself mentions "global warming," even saying that man has played a role in it. The report stops short of labeling the situation as man-made global warming or, as befitting the Equality State, human-caused global warming.

It's an easy read, chock full of facts, charts, graphs, pretty color photos and scary text. Here's an example of the latter:

"This report covers what we know and what we wish we knew about Wyoming and the West's changing climate and the various impacts on water resources," says Wyoming State Climatologist Steve Gray, the lead author and director of the Water Resources Data System at UW. "What we do know is that Wyoming's water resources are highly sensitive to climate change. This is because Wyoming is a relatively dry state, a headwaters state, and because we are so reliant on mountain snow, the main source of surface water for the entire year."

Gray explains that downstream states are somewhat buffered from the types of drought seen in the historical record: Dryness in one area can often be offset by wet conditions in another. In many cases, through compacts and decrees, water is stored upstream for these states.

Will there come a time when we throw these moldy old 19th-century water pacts out the window and just decide to keep our snowmelt? In the West, that would be tantamount to a declaration of war. I can see the headline now:

Wyomingites dam North Platte; Cornhuskers steamed

CHEYENNE -- Activists from Protect Our Wyoming Water (POWW) finished damming the North Platte on Tuesday where the river crosses into Nebraska southeast of Torrington.

"We threw all the Democrats we could find into the narrows," said POWW leader Bob Huntley. "Some water was still getting through, so we had to round up some Independents and even a few Libertarians. We got 'er done."

Speaking at a press conference in Lincoln, Nebraska Governor Jim Johnson fired a warning shot over Wyoming's bow. He actually fired a warning shot from his deer
rifle. It fell a few hundred miles short of the border.

He went on: "This will not stand. Tear down this dam, Mr. Huntley. Tear it down. And don't forget to administer CPR to the Libertarians."

Then all hell breaks loose. Imagine the chaos. The big question is: would Cheyenne use its nukes?

Perhaps it will never come to this.

But it looks grim.

The UW report concludes that "there is mounting evidence that the Earth is experiencing a warming trend," and, as a result, "any increase in temperature will increase the impact of drought just as population growth and other factors have greatly increased the West's vulnerability to water shortages."

Graphs and figures in the report illustrate datasets on past climates, including tree-ring studies in which scientists look at the widths of annual growth rings in trees to reconstruct a detailed history of ancient droughts. Based on these and other data, scientists can then create scenarios that enable them to examine how future climate change might influence water resources.

"If the dry periods of the 1700s were to return, there would be substantial consequences, and this makes climate change of any type a key factor to consider
as we plan for the future of Wyoming's water resources," Gray says.

"When it comes to our western water resources, there is no slack in the system," says Gray. "Managing for the combined effects of drought and warmer temperatures will be a key challenge in the future."

We're screwed. More severe drought, less snow, shrinking mountain glaciers, hordes of hungry pine beetles, and the traditional Republican-controlled legislature and the all-Republican Congressional delegation.

We're really screwed.

How the West Was Warmed --in lurid detail

Haven't read this book yet, but was drawn to the cover, which shows the devastation caused by the pine bark beetle. Scene on the cover looks like Colorado's Lake Granby. Also, one of the contributors is the very fine writer Laura Pritchett from Fort Collins.

See more at http://www.howthewestwaswarmed.com

Wheatland -- put those banners back up!

"Don't Ban NO PLACE FOR HATE banner" petition now up at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/NoBanningTheBanner

Get more info about the drive to get the banners back up at Wheatland High School and Wheatland's West Elementary at Wheaterville.

See previous posts about the controversy below...

BoDeans release new CD April 6

This is great news for us BoDeans fans

Dems celebrate diversity at NTR banquet

Democrats will gather in Cheyenne on Saturday, Feb. 27, for the 2010 Nellie Tayloe Ross Banquet. Hear from Democratic Party leaders, the annual NTR Award winner, and special guest speakers to be named soon. Come rally with other Democrats as we celebrate diversity in politics during the Legislature's budget session.

Click here to register or to see more details. Festivities begin at 5:45 p.m. at the historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. Buy a table so you can sit with your friends, or come as you are and enjoy the evening with Democrats from every corner of Wyoming.

You can buy your tickets online at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ or you can call WyoDems HQ at 1-800-SAY-DEMS to make reservations.

Letter from ADL yanks" No Place for Hate" campaign from Wheatland schools

Update to hummingbirdminds 1/22 post...

Found the text of this letter on the Boulderpride blog (thanks Boulder bloggers):

In a letter today to Platte County School Board members, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Mountain States Regional Director Bruce H. DeBoskey said:

We write to express our outrage and dismay that your School Board voted to ban the display of No Place for Hate® banners at West Elementary School and Wheatland High School because they include the logo of the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado, a major sponsor of this free program. As a result of your decision, we are compelled to withdraw the No Place for Hate® program from the schools in
your District.

The No Place for Hate program is designed to teach young people the values of respect and inclusion for everyone in the school community, and we cannot continue to offer the program in your District if you will not permit the display of a banner (hard-earned by many dedicated students, teachers, and community members) that includes the words “gay and lesbian.” To continue our program in light of your decision would be the height of hypocrisy, turning a blind eye to intolerance and repudiating the principles of inclusivity and respect that our program teaches.

The No Place for Hate® program has been embraced by dozens of schools in Colorado and Wyoming as a successful way to make schools safer and more inclusive, by providing anti- bullying training and promoting respect for all students. At schools where this program has been implemented, attendance is up and disciplinary actions are down. Students have reported that they feel safer and more welcome at school because the students, teachers and community have worked together to make their schools respectful, and inclusive. The safer schools are, the more students will attend, and the more opportunities they will have to learn. It is a shame that your decision will impede the important progress that has already been made on these important issues.

As you heard at the School Board meeting on January 18, this program has been in effect for over a year at one of your schools and for several months at the other school. The Wheatland students who have participated have enthusiastically supported it, believe they have benefited from it, and want it to continue. It saddens us greatly that your decision will send a message to these students that adults in Platte County openly endorse bigotry against the gay and lesbian members of your community.

If you should change your position at any time and permit the banner to be displayed as designed, we would be happy to return our program to your schools.

Unless and until your position changes, however, we must reluctantly and immediately end the No Place for Hate® program at West Elementary and Wheatland High School.

UPDATE: Get more on the story at the excellent Wheaterville blog

ANOTHER UPDATE: Read the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle story and the very educational and entertaining comments (114 thus far) at http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2010/01/22/news/19local_01-22-10.txt

No place for "No Place for Hate" campaign in Wheatland

Everything was going along swimmingly in Wheatland. Both West Elementary and Wheatland H.S. had signed up for the "No Place for Hate" campaign, sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. Posters like the one above were hung on the chimneys with care. Jews and Gentiles were engaging in peaceful coexistence. Lions were lying down with lambs, and dogs and cats were living together. Even the off-white citizens were getting along with the egg-shell white and slightly freckled denizens of Wheaterville.

Then something terrible happened. A concerned citizen noticed that one of the program's sponsors is (close your eyes) The Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado.

Uh oh. The program's goal "to organize schools to work together and develop projects that enhance the appreciation of diversity and foster harmony amongst diverse groups" was in jeopardy. The campaign also proposes "to empower schools to promote respect for individual and group differences while challenging prejudice and bigotry."

Here's what happened next, according to an AP article in the Billings Gazette:

Platte County School District 1 trustees voted 4-3 this week to reject a request to keep the Anti-Defamation League’s “No Place for Hate” banners at Wheatland High and West Elementary. District administrators removed the signs after parents and school board members raised concern because the banners list the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado as a sponsor. Some students requested that the banners be replaced, but the board refused.

Wheatland, a southeast Wyoming town of about 3,300 residents, is "an ultraconservative community,” said school board member Lee Dunham.

“If this is the way one chooses, then they can lead this particular lifestyle, but I don’t believe it needs to be publicly displayed in a school,” Dunham said.

School board member Joe Fabian said he believes the Anti-Defamation League is pushing an “agenda that is pro-gay marriage” and that the community of Wheatland is not supportive of that.

“They wouldn’t want the organization, the Anti-Defamation League, dictating to their children that an alternate lifestyle is a normal lifestyle,” he said.

First of all, good job to the students who requested that the banners stay on the walls. They actually read the banners and absorbed the message. The school board gets an F for tolerance and diversity, but receives an "I" for irony.

Now for the rest of the story:

The district intended to allow the anti-discrimination campaign to continue, Superintendent Stuart Nelson said. But the Anti-Defamation League won’t allow the Wheatland schools to participate without the presence of the banners, said Bruce DeBoskey, mountain states regional director for the group.

The Anti-Defamation League “will no longer allow the program if it’s not being honored and used in its fullest intent,” he said.

DeBoskey said there are many Wheatland residents who support the anti-discrimination campaign, and he urged them to speak up.

“The (league) is extremely concerned that this whole program — which is designed to teach young people to respect the differences among us — has been derailed by people who appear to have biases,” he said.

Linda Burt of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also criticized the board’s decision, saying it’s “extraordinarily unfortunate and extraordinarily shortsighted.”

“Does that mean this is a place for hate?” she asked. “Does that mean this is a place for discrimination?”

Good questions, Linda.

West Elementary and Wheatland H.S. were two of the 25 schools participating in the 2009-2010 "No Place for Hate" campaign. The only other participating Wyoming school is Whiting H.S. in Laramie. No word yet whether the posters are still up over there.

Jam Haiti benefit Saturday in Denver

From the Flobots web site -- a rockin' Haiti benefit that goes all night.

Legislature to address "cottage foods"

The Casper Star-Tribune featured an article by Joan Barron this week about a little-known issue that will undoubtedly bubble to the surface during the legislative session.

It's all about something called "cottage foods." Those are foods prepared in a cottage (or even a house) and sold at the local farmer's market or community bazaar. These could be potentially hazardous dishes, such as Uncle Joe's chili or Aunt Sue's lasagna. Selling stuff such as veggies and fruits and jams and bread and honey is already O.K.

That's where this gets a little sticky.

This will be the third legislative session the council has addressed problems raised in bills sponsored by Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse.

The first year the bill to exempt so-called cottage foods -- those prepared in home kitchens -- from regulation failed to get through the Legislature.

Last year a modified version did pass. As of July 1 it allows sales of home-produced foods such as jams, cookies and bread at farmers markets and roadside stands without inspection or licensing.

Wallis plans to introduce a bill for the budget session that opens Feb. 8 to expand the cottage food exemption.

Although they have not seen the bill, the council members said they expect it to be the same as the original bills introduced by Wallis before they were modified.

"It would make it wide open," said the council's chairman, Robert Harrington, director of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department.

God forbid we make anything "wide open" here in the libertarian great wide open. What happens when the local foods movement runs up against government food inspectors? We must have safe food. That's a given. But cottage businesses are local businesses making local delicacies. The money stays in the community, unlike the dough you spend in the Wal-Mart grocery section. How will these small businesses, the politician's favorite kind of business, thrive?

I'm glad the legislature will be considering Wallis's bill. Maybe it can help to define ways that local food purveyors can bring real food back to our tables.

I've got those globalized food blues

I've written often on the subject of local food and local art and local politics.

I have a "local" fixation.

But why not? What has globalization wrought? Banks too big to fail that do. Corporations that have been granted the same rights as citizens. Bought-off members of Congress. Far-flung wars fought at the behest of oil companies and foreign oil suppliers. Tasteless food in corporate grocery chains. Publishing conglomerates that publish only sure-fire blockbusters by celebs posing as authors (Sarah Palin, etc.).

All that and more.

I'm just jumping on a bandwagon that has its roots in the farms and villages of our grandfathers. A movement that looks to alternative energy and backyard gardens and the neighborhood quilter and the farmers' market. Nothing big -- and that's the point. Big is bad. Big is too big.

So I keep observing local ideas taking root. In Cheyenne, we have two outdoor farmers' markets and a winter market just getting started. We have at least two organic/sustainable growers in northern Colorado -- Wolf Moon Farms and Grant Farms -- promoting their "Community Shares" program in southeast Wyoming. The Northern Colorado Food Incubator provides a focus for all the growers in the CO/WY nexus. Backyard gardens are sprouting all over, including in my backyard. I'm not the farmer my grandfather was, but I don't face feast or famine as he did in Iowa. I can grow some of my own fruits and veggies, and get the rest through farmers' markets and on trips to Albertson's or Safeway. Were I able to grow my own coffee, I would. I can at least buy the fair trade variety at the store.

This would all seem like so much aging Baby Boomer/naive Gen-X nonsense if it weren't for the many people engaged in local sustainability. I never talk politics with the guy from Brush, Colorado, who sells sweet corn out of his truck bed on September Saturdays. But we do talk sweet corn, and we agree on that. Small-scale tomato growers speak a common language. We speak tomato. Not tow-mah-tow. It's ta-may-tow, or maybe ta-may-ter or, simply, may-ter. I listen to other tomato growers because they most know more than I ever will.

We do have a common enemy in this country's corporate food system. It's making us sick. Not literally, unless you count the occasional tainted spinach or bad beef outbreaks. But it's short-changing our precious bodily fluids through processed foods. That food is also shipped long distances to our stores, burning fossil fuels and polluting the air and contributing to global warming.

Today, in Cheyenne, I saw cantaloupe on sale. August and September are cantaloupe months. That's when Rocky Ford varieties from southern Colorado come our way. I'll eat other High Plains cantaloupe. But in January, Albertson's features cantaloupe from Chile. It's summer in Chile. Chileans are whooping it up at the beach and eating cantaloupe. But how much did it costs to bring the fruit to Cheyenne, where the only beach we're frequenting in January is in our memories?

I received word today that a group of artists are getting together to talk about putting studios in the abandoned Hynds Building downtown. The building on the city's main drag has been sitting vacant for years. Various businesses, including one hotel conglomerate, have talked about buying and renovating the place. But then the economy tanked. If we can get artists in there in the meantime, all the better. Artists creating and providing some after-hours life to downtown. If you're interested in this downtown project, contact Rebecca Barrett at rebecca.barrett3@mac.com.

None of this is going to happen overnight. We only at the beginning of the (dare I say it?) surge.

But, to get this globalization monkey off our backs, we have to start somewhere.

After today's SCOTUS ruling -- SAVE DEMOCRACY!

Go to Save Democracy and sign this petition:

Dear Friend,

This morning, five Supreme Court Justices stabbed at the heart of democracy, our electoral system.

They overturned over 100 years of statute and precedent, and declared that corporations can spend all the money that they want to buy elections. In fact, these five men in robes declared, they have a constitutional right to do so.

Now, we have to fight.

That’s why I just signed Rep. Alan Grayson's petition to support his "Save Our Democracy" legislative package, because we cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations. We need a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

I hope you'll join me.

For they are brown and without belief -- or WWJD?

We salute Jesus' General -- he is always on the job:

For they are brown and without belief

'Jesus Guns': Two More Countries Rethink Using Weapons with Secret Bible References - ABC News

This is one of the oddest things I've read all week. Trijicon, a Michigan defense contractor, makes gun sights for the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army that include Biblical references. I'm all for providing good gun sights to our military. I have nothing against Biblical references, as long as they're kept out of the hands (and mouths) of hypocrites such as Pat Robertson and Republican senators. But in a gun sight? Don't you think that our Muslim allies might have a little problem with that?

"It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.

"It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said.

Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

Read the entire article at 'Jesus Guns': Two More Countries Rethink Using Weapons with Secret Bible References - ABC News

The hits just keep on coming

My Feedjit feed (see sidebar) keeps logging in hits for a two-year old post based on William Faulkner's quote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In it, I talk about the racism I experienced in 1960s Florida and what I saw during Obama's 2008 campaign in Wyoming. Racism is alive and well, I said in the summary.

I was wondering why it was showing up with such regularity. Then I recalled Martin Scorcese's acceptance speech tonight at the Golden Globes. He wrapped it up with the Faulkner quote. Since my post has been online for so long, it's at the top of the Google hit list. Near the top, anyway.

The post is especially relevant on the eve of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday.

To read the original: http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/for-faulkner-and-obama-past-isnt-past.html

Boulder museum stages "open wall" for artists

Saw this event promoted on Facebook. A twist on the open reading concept for writers and poets, although readings are sometimes followed by a book signing if any of us have books to sign. For this event, artists are invited to hang their work on the BMoCA's blank wall and then attendees bid on the art. The 50/50 split is also a great idea -- money for the museum AND the artists. I didn't see anything on the web site restricting entries to Colorado artists.

Here's more info from Elephant Journal:

Citizen Artists: If you would like to sell your piece, a silent auction will take place from 8-10 p.m. to raise money to support the museum… and to support you (a 50/50 split)!

Or, looking to purchase original, fine art? Our silent auction is a great way to support the museum and local artists, and uplift your walls.

Additionally, the museum’s upstairs gallery will feature elephantjournal.com’s selection of community artists. This specially curated space will also offer a grouping of eco-art pieces, complete with “do-it-yourself” tips for “greening” your studio.

The evening will include local music by Harper Phillips and her ukulele, as well as a cash bar. Admission is a $5 suggested donation.

Localarts. Localfunding. Localfun.

And, if we continue with the guidelines for local as locales within a 100-mile radius of Cheyenne, this probably counts. Boulder is 102 miles from Cheyenne. In some ways, "The Peoples Republic of Boulder" is a world away from home of the country's largest outdoor rodeo. In other ways, it's not. Artists and writers are always looking for new and interesting ways to market their work.

By the way, if you're looking for work by Wyoming artists, go to my WAC workplace blog at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/. On the right sidebar are links to the state's arts orgs, folk artists, visual artists, performers and writers.

BTW: Cheyenne artist Georgia Rowswell tipped me off to this Boulder event. See her art at http://www.artfulhand.org/.

Wyofile receives Knight Foundation grant

Wyofile is a great source for Wyoming news. It announced this today:

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced Jan. 13 that it has awarded the Lander Community Foundation a $122,000 grant for the Wyoming news and public policy website http://www.wyofile.com/ to expand coverage of critical state issues.

The award from the Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge program adds to the $135,000 pledged to WyoFile.com by other sources. Major contributors include the George B. Storer Foundation Inc. of Saratoga, Wy.; Christopher Findlater, a Florida-based philanthropist with ongoing business interests in Wyoming, and the estate of the late Casper oilman, state legislator and U.S. Ambassador Tom Stroock.

“To increase the availability of information on complex state issues, this grant will support WyoFile.com , which examines Wyoming public policy and politics,” the Knight Foundation announced in a press release. “WyoFile.com will increase its staff and reporting budget to further engage Wyoming’s residents, lawmakers, educators and business people through an independent, alternative source.”

The Knight Community Information Challenge is a five-year, $24-million initiative to help community and place-based foundations find creative ways to use new media and technology to keep residents informed and engaged.

In an effort to supplement and support traditional news coverage in the state, WyoFile.com stories are offered at no charge as a public service to all Wyoming media.

“One of our goals in the coming year is to make it easier for state newspapers to use our stories, by offering shorter versions of our in-depth investigative reports and features,” said WyoFile editor Rone Tempest of Lander. “We will also encourage newspapers and other media to seek out help in covering important policy issues in their communities. The Knight grant will be a big help in this regard.”

In July of this year, WyoFile.Com applied to the federal government for non-profit 501 (c) (3) status with the Internal Revenue Service.

WyoFile’s board of directors are Anne MacKinnon (Chairman), Casper, a Western water policy writer, educator and former executive editor of the Casper Star-Tribune; Randall T. Cox, Gillette, an oil and gas attorney and bird wildlife author; Christopher Findlater, Miami, Fla., internet entrepreneur, co-founder and former CEO of NetQuote, an online insurance company; Kathyrn Hogarty, Laramie, attorney and Director of External Relations and Special Assistant to the Dean, Univeristy of Wyoming School of Law; and Jonathan Weber, Missoula, Mont., Publisher and Editor in Chief, NewWest.net.

A "Kangaroo System" documented in "Juvenile Justice in Wyoming"

This trailer is from a documentary by Laramie's Chris Hume.

AAUW: Rep. Cynthia Lummis is a zero

The Wyoming Democratic Party sends this:

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) one of the nation’s top advocacy groups for education and equity on behalf of women and girls, has given failing marks to all three members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. In an annual report analyzing the Congressional voting record for 2009, AAUW rated Rep. Cynthia Lummis with a 0% and both Senator Mike Enzi and Senator John Barrasso earned a rating of 13%, respectively.

The delegation’s poor performance on issues important to women is extremely distressing, according to Wyoming Democratic Party State Chair Leslie Petersen.

“This report drives home the point that on issues ranging from health reform to equal compensation, Rep. Lummis, Sen. Enzi and Sen. Barrasso are out of touch with the needs of Wyoming people,” Petersen said. “The rights of women, minorities and families are being shoved aside in favor of special interests, big business, and destructive partisanship. It especially saddens me that our lone female representative would continue to vote against her own gender.”

The AAUW’s scores were calculated based on support of issues that would address social inequalities, end discrimination, and support women and their families, among other considerations. This legislation, which received no support from any member of the Wyoming congressional delegation, included:

• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 – Reopens the courtroom doors to further progress towards pay equity. Takes action on a 2007 court decision which required employees to file pay discrimination claims within 180 days of their employer’s last discriminatory decision and requires claims to be filed within 180 days of their last discriminatory paycheck.


• Paycheck Fairness Act – Strengthens the Equal Pay Act by empowering women to negotiate for equal pay, deters wage discrimination by strengthening penalties, and prohibits retaliation against workers who inquire about wage practices or disclose their wages. The bill also creates incentives for employers to follow the law and strengthens federal outreach and enforcement efforts.


• Healthy Families Act – Would provide accrued paid sick and safe days for employees and would require employers with at least 15 employees to guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave annually. These days could be used for treatment, recovery, and activities necessary to deal with an incidence of domestic violence.


• Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - Provides local law enforcement with resources to address hate-based violence and added perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to the categories protected under federal hate crimes law.

Contribute to Clinton Foundation for Haiti earthquake relief

Citizens and non-profits and gubment bring earthquake relief to Haiti

The always vigilant jhwygirl at 4&20blackbirds provides some great info on Haiti Relief. First, there's this Google link to donate to CARE and Unicef: http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/. Scroll down and click on Google Earth to view the Haiti devestation, just in case you listen to Rush Limbaugh and are an earthquake denier or a poverty denier or an Obama hater.

She also brings up the text messaging route. Text message “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts. Another org is Yonn Ede Lot, which works mainly with Haiti's rural poor. You can text message “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts. FMI: http://www.yonnedelot.org/.

According to today's New York Times, the Red Cross has collected more than $5 million so far via the texting method.

In other news, the U.S. government has entered the fray by pledging $100 million for relief, sending planeloads of supplies and dispatching an aircraft carrier loaded with helicopters and food and medical equipment. The Air Force's Special Tactics Squadron and its air traffic controllers have brought a semblance of order to the Port Au Prince airport. At the behest of the sitting U.S. president, two ex-presidents (still on the government payroll) are spearheading the public push for Haiti relief.


That darn gubment. Can't do anything right.

Wyoming GOP fires new executive director

The Wyoming GOP is all about change.

The Associated Press is reporting this:

The Wyoming Republican Party has fired its executive director after he served only about two months on the job.

Party Chairman Diana Vaughan says Randy O'Hara was fired on Friday.

Vaughan said Monday she could not comment on the reasons for firing O'Hara, saying it was a personnel issue.

But the Casper Star-Tribune reports that Vaughan said in an e-mail to Republican State Central Committee members that O'Hara's performance did not meet the party's standards.

O'Hara came to Wyoming from Utah where he most recently served as the political director of the Salt Lake County Republican Party in Salt Lake City.

Now who are they going to get? Dick Cheney has some times on his hands....

Study shows that highway stimulus funding does not reduce unemployment

Federal highway stimulus funding has been very, very good to Wyoming --

Nice map, courtesy of the WYDOT web site. Fetching color scheme.

Face it -- everyone likes good roads and bridges that don't fall down. So the Obama administration's highway stimulus funding efforts have been wildly popular among politicians, construction workers and -- once the construction is completed -- motorists.

But a new study shows that it hasn't made a dent in unemployment. The Seattle Times wrote about it today:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010762109_apusstimulusunemployment.html
Researchers from five universities compared unemployment stats in 700 U.S. counties that received these funds with 700 counties that did not.

No difference in the numbers.

What about Wyoming?

Between November 2008 and November 2009, Wyoming's unemployment rate rose from 3.1 to 7.2 percent, an increased of 4.1 percent. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of that increase probably was in the oil and gas fields. But who knows? I'll keep looking for more stats.

The latest highway stimulus bill has already passed the House and will come up in the Senate later in January. I'm all for stimulus, but researchers say we need bigger and more expensive projects to move the employment numbers. High speed rail, for instance.

More later...

Hummingbirds are but a handy metaphor

Photo by twolf1 and plucked from Firedoglake

"Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air" premieres tonight on PBS. Any blog with the term "hummingbird" in it should be interested in this. But hummingbirds are but a metaphor to me. I like them well enough. Nothing like watching these birds flit around a summer mountain meadow. Now, if you replace the bird with a flitting brain, you have the "hummingbirdminds" metaphor, first coined by Internet pioneer and hyper-dude Ted Nelson.

Find out more about the making of the documentary and local air times at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnc1kHMDDo

UPDATE 9:53 P.M. MST: Watched the documentary and it was very cool. One question: why did PBS air a parental warning at the start of the show? Because it showed unorthodox hummingbird mating habits? Because the it included verifiable evolutionary traits linking flowers and birds? Anyone know?

Act locally and "Move Your Money"

Add "bank locally" to the long list of what all of us should do locally -- eat locally, shop locally, create (and appreciate) art locally, etc.

Wyoming residents interested in investing locally should consider putting at least some of their assets in credit unions or local banks.

This is spurred by a new cause advocated by Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post. Called Move Your Money, the Facebook fan page is racking up big numbers. The web site has some great info, and included a photo of George Bailey ("the good ol' Savings & Loan") facing off against megalomaniac banker Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life."

I'm a long-time credit union member. I patronize my local credit union: First Education FCU

Here's a list of Wyoming credit unions: http://www.cuawyoming.com/

And a list of Wyoming banks: http://us1.irabankratings.com/MoveYourMoney/IRACommunityZip.asp?affiliate=moveyourmoney&zip=82001&submit=Search

Sen. Barrasso and I agree on transparency

I suddenly find myself agreeing with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso.

He wrote a letter to Sen. Harry Reid calling on more transparency in the upcoming debates over the merging of the House and Senate healthcare bills.

Let's forget for a second that the Senator's letter is politically motivated and has more to do with opposition to Pres. Obama that healthcare reform. Sen./Dr. Barrasso has opposed reform from the beginning -- and has said so endlessly on Fixed News. And we had so much transparency when Repubs ruled the Senate roost.

Yet, it's a good letter and worth reading. On Thursday night, Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" skewered Pres. Obama for this very same thing. Stewart showed clips of Obama's campaign promises contrasted with the reality of closing off the hearings to C-SPAN.

Come on, Sen. Reid. Let's see these hearings.

Here's part of Sen. Barrasso's Jan. 7 letter:

To ensure that the American people have the ability to witness the on-going negotiations between the House and Senate, we ask that any negotiations regarding a final health care reform bill be conducted in the light of day. The Chairman of C-SPAN, the network responsible for broadcasting the deliberations of Congress, has offered resources to cover all negotiation sessions live. We urge you to take him up on this offer.

Read all of it at http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=0e9dac58-01df-7453-3ed3-5646c3eb1e98

"Cognitive Dissonance" tonight in Laramie

Laramie rabble-rouser (let's face it -- progressive-minded rabble need rousing) Meg Lanker sends this info about tonight's on-the-air affair on KOCA-FM:

Come check out the Cognitive Dissonance back to class edition!

My sparkling self will be on the air from 10 p.m. to midnight playing the best indie rock and hip-hop offerings. We'll also have local band Blue Routes at around 11:30, fresh off their appearance at Coal Creek Coffee in downtown Laramie from 8-11 p.m. Blue Routes is comprised of Micah Wyatt, Jascha Herdt, and Phillip Cleveland.

Angry Malcontent will be back and d-baggery will be called out. Fundits will frolic. It shall be a marvelous end to break.

We'll also be talking about new shows premiering on KOCA - I guarantee it'll be a good time.

Got a request or d-bag nomination? Deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday. Post it on the wall. Come pre-game it from 10-midnight at KOCA!

Location: 93.5 KOCA studios, 365 W. Grand, West Laramie. Call or text 307-752-7460.

Is this Micah Wyatt of the Blue Routes the same Micah Wyatt who once shaped young minds at the Young Writers' Camp near Story?

More info at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155510164943&index=1

WPR: Gov. Freudenthal is not doing much fund-raising (2010-01-07)

WPR: Freudenthal's not doing much fund-raising

He's only raised a few bucks for a 2010 campaign. But won't he have enough time to do so even if he declares after the legislative session?

Stay tuned...

P.S.: Governor Freudenthal's Chief of Staff, Chris Boswell, will be the speaker at the Laramie County Democrats first meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. at the IBEW Hall in Cheyenne. Maybe Chris will drop a few hints as to "will he or won't he?"

Sea-bred vs. grass-fed oysters -- a Wyoming locavore's dilemma

I posted on Dec. 5 about my trip to the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market. I said that I did all my Christmas shopping there, although I was joshing just a bit. I bought my wife Chris a homegrown and homemade gift from Sage Hill Fiber Arts in Chugwater and it has come in very handy since she unwrapped it on Christmas Day.

I shopped online for most of my other gifts. I did not shop at Wal-Mart, probably for the first time. I do not hate Wal-Mart for its success, as it brings more variety and lower prices to Cheyenne. However, I am trying to live my life as if Wal-Mart didn't exist. Not sure what to call this pursuit. It's not just about food but all goods. I want to buy locally and eat locally and politic locally and write locally and sell my books locally. That "local" may end of being a 100-mile radius from Cheyenne. It may be a wider circle. But my circle now is big as the entire planet.

During December, I bought a bag of frozen shrimp from Thailand. Defrosted Thai shrimp is also what they sell at the Albertson's Deli. Thai shrimp is nowhere near as tasty as Florida shrimp scooped out of the Gulf Stream and sold at Ponce Inlet or St. Augustine. But Thai shrimp is a quite a bit better than Wyoming shrimp which, when available, is in the form of fossilized rock from the ancient inland seas. Very crunchy.

We do have oysters in Wyoming, but I prefer my oysters sea-bred rather than grass-fed, if you get my drift.

My goal is to bore you endlessly with this topic in 2010. Be forewarned. Economics will enter into it. I know very little about Big Picture economics, so I'll call on experts for that. Small Picture economics focuses on my wallet. How can the average citizen afford to eat and shop locally? That is a huge question. Writers on the Range columnist Charles Finn from Bend, Oregon, tackled the topic in a December essay that appeared Dec. 27 on the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle op-ed pages. He was writing mainly about buying organic foods, but his conclusions hit home:

But once again it comes down to the bottom line. Sure, I value the homemade over the factory produced, the local over the imported. But I also value paying my mortgage and electricity bill.

And why does it always come down to this? Doing what it ethically right and better in terms of health compete against doing what I can afford. It makes me want to scream.

Argh!! I know what he means.

This is one reason among others than I support farmers' markets. So, when I received this e-mail from Cindy Ridenour, chair of the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market, I decided to pass it along. It's about the physical market but includes a survey about a proposed on-line version.

Dear ________:

Thank you for making the Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market a great success with the community. The board is meeting next week to consider plans for next year.

Meanwhile, Wyoming consumers and producers may soon be able to participate in an on-line farmers market. The Wyoming Business Council is conducting a survey of consumers to determine your interest in an on-line market.

Please take a moment to take the attached survey (attached as a Word document). You may either highlight the answers and email it back to Kim Porter at kim.porter@wybusiness.org or call 307-777-6319 or mail it back to Kim at Wyoming Business Council, Attn: Kim Porter, 214 W. 15th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002.

Please reply to kim.porter@wybusiness.org with your survey response. (I will forward your reply to her, if it comes to me).

Have a great winter, and we'll be in touch!
Cindy Ridenour
Chair, Cheyenne Winter Farmers' Market

By the way, this is also a huge social and political issue, one that challenges know-it-all city dwellers like me to find out more about agriculture and to listen to what farmers and ranchers are saying and doing -- and learn from it.

Cheyenne library opens '10 with funny stuff

From Troy Rumpf on the LCLS blog at http://lcls.wordpress.com/:

We’re kicking the season off with something that really works well for all ages: Humor. While planning this, I was amazed at the bounty of humor-based materials that can be found at the library; I never thought about looking to mystery or sci-fi genres for anything funny or comedic, but oh how wrong I was. Actually, my personal preference for humor writing includes two of my favorite authors, David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs (and FYI – if you ever get a chance to see them in person, DO SO!), and my colleagues as well as some great Southern friends swear that Celia Rivenbark has made them laugh out loud more than any other writer. Apparently, this caused a bit of embarrassment for one of my friends with a not-so-silent snort she let out as while reading one of these books on a cross-country flight. But that’s another story…

This is my kind of theme. So many humor writers and books I admire. I do confess to a bias toward dark humor which, to my thinking, is true humor. Ha-ha funny is great. I like some stand-up comedians and TV sit-coms and jokes, especially so-called stupid jokes. Horse walks into a bar. "Why the long face," asks the bartender.

Ha!

But I have a long list of books that make me laugh out loud and feel and think.

Here they are in no particular order:

"The Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle. Because it's funny and outrageous and I get to laugh at pompous California Yuppies. For quick shots of dark humor, I turn to Boyle's short stories, such as "Sorry, Fugu" and "Descent of Man." Opening line: "I was living with a woman who suddenly began to stink."

We have to admit that Irish humor can be the most twisted and most fun. Boyle is a great example. As is Irish writer Flann O'Brien. Best book is "The Poor Mouth," in which the Irish tendency to wallow in poverty is satirized.

Irish treat satire reverently. Jonathan Swift and "A Modest Proposal" (Eat my baby -- please!). James Joyce and "Ulysses." One-time U.S. writer J.P. Donleavy ("The Ginger Man").

The Brits are no slackers in the humor department. The late Alan Coren is one of my faves. Read his essays "All You Need to Know About Europe" and try not to laugh at his biting comments of various Europeans. As for the Netherlands: "Apart from cheese and tulips, the main product of the country is advocaat, a drink made from lawyers."

Monty Python!

Enough about the Brits.

More humor writers whom I admire:

Mark Twain -- All the novels but especially like his takedown of the German language and "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses"

Kurt Vonnegut's books -- all of them.

Joesph Heller's "Catch-22."

Grace Paley -- Her stories are masterpieces. "An Interest in Life" has one of the best openings in fiction: "My husband gave me a broom one Christmas. This wasn't right. No one can tell me it was meant kindly."

Flannery O'Connor --The humor in her stories comes from events bumping up against tragedy. When I first read "A Good Man is Hard to Find," the first few pages had me in stitches. Later on, I wondered if I was going to need stitches when The Misfit jumped out at me.

Woody Allen's short pieces in "Without Feathers" and "Getting Even" are terrific. Sure, I like most of his movies too, but how can you beat these lines from "If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists:"

Mrs. Sol Schwimmer is suing me because I made her bridge as I felt it and not to fit her ridiculous mouth! That's right! I can't work to order like a common tradesman! I decided her bridge should be enormous and billowing, with wild, explosive teeth flaring up in every direction like fire! Now she is upset because it won't fit in her mouth! She is so bourgeois and stupid, I want to smash her! I tried forcing the false plate in but it sticks out like a star burst chandelier.

Ditto Steve Martin's short pieces in "Pure Drivel."

National Lampoon writers who went on to stellar careers: P.J. O'Rourke, Anne Beatts, Michael O'Donohue, etc.

All those passed-away New Yorker writers: S.J. Perelman, Robert Benchley, James Thurber, Ring Lardner, Dorothy Parker, etc.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez --For the writing and the humor.

Mystery writers Carl Hiaasen, Elmore Leonard, Janet Evanovich and Jerome Charyn. Note the Laramie County Library: Order some Charyn books already.

Cheyenne mystery writer C.J. Box writes this great opening line in "Savage Run:"

On the third day of their honeymoon, infamous environmental activists Stevie Woods and his new bride, Annabel Bellotti, were spiking trees in the forest when a cow exploded and blew them up. Until then, their marriage had been happy.

Gets better from there.

Some readers find Pete Dexter ("Paris Trout" and "Spooner") too violent. His humor lies within the violence and his incredible writing. In the tradition of Flannery O'Connor.

Geotourism center to address "social and natural" character of Yellowstone region

This sounds like a promising trend for the region.

Ben Cannon wrote this for Planet Jackson Hole:

The Greater Yellowstone Geotourism Center in Driggs, Idaho, believed to be the first of its kind, will be one part visitor center, one part interpretive facility, said Teton Valley Chamber of Commerce president Reid Rogers, who is heading up the initiative.

So called “geotourism” differs from ecotourism, or travel to pristine natural environs, in that the former incorporates historic and cultural aspects of a destination. Ecotourism also promotes sustaining, or even enhancing, a place’s character – social and natural.

The term was coined by a National Geographic editor, and the organization will lend its insignia, and some prime display items, to the new center in Driggs.“We’re tying to build an institution that represents the entire Yellowstone area,” Rogers said.

The concept evolved about five years ago, when National Geographic identified the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem as one of the world’s important geographical areas, a place where communities grew amongst great natural character. Last March, National Geographic, working with a task force with representatives from Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, began publishing a map guide area. An online version of the map, available at http://www.yellowstonegeotourism.org/, allows for more comprehensive listings.

Rogers said the geotourism initiative happened to dovetail with plans to build a visitor’s center in Driggs. “I went to National Geographic and asked them if anyone has turned their theory of geotourism in a physical institution, a physical location to experience what it is you’re talking about,” Rogers said. “They said it was almost a perfect extension of what a community could do.”

There are probably some in the Yellowstone region cringing at this idea. National Geographic, of course, is a "Coaster" organization, with sprawling headquarters in Maryland. "Outside the Beltway," but close enough to the heart of federal gubment to be dangerous. It's also an international org, which may raise questions of outside influence by Euro-do-gooders in places like France and Luxembourg. You think the French are bad, wait until you meet up with cheese-eating enviro Luxies.

Wonder how this center will interpret to social and natural characteristics of the area. A tall order. The heart of the area's natural character is in the national park. But social? So many different kids of human habitations in the region. Jackson itself is such a study in contrasts. You got your punk snowboarders, aging Baby Boomer Liberals, Cheneyite Repubs, cyber-communing bankers, Cowboy wannabes, non-Indian Indian spiritualists, federal wildlife biologists, wolf-haters, slacker trust-fund babies, Hispanic resort workers, transient artists, not to mention the million tourists from around the world who troupe through town each year. Jackson fiction writer Tim Sandlin has spent his career writing about these conflicting social elements. But how to do them justice in an interpretive center?

And what about the other communities in the Yellowstone region: Cody, Dubois, Hoback Junction, Red Lodge, Alta, Driggs, Victor, West Yellowstone, etc.? Old-timers conflict with newcomers and -- fast as lightning -- newcomers become old-timers and grouse about the good old days.

Great example of nuke animation

As I was saying just the other day, there are not enough YouTube videos on thermonuclear annihilation:

Meg Lanker "wants to rock your face"

Laramie's Meg Lanker at Wyoming News Underground says that she "wants to rock your face! Tune into Cognitive Dissonance on 93.5 KOCA tonight from 8-midnight for the best indie rock, hip-hop, and my own sparkling wit. That's right, an extra TWO WHOLE HOURS! I'll have the Angry Malcontent, 1/2 the Fundits, & d-bag o' the week. I'm taking requests and d-bag suggestions til 6 p.m. Come... get over your New Year's hangover and welcome 2010 at 365 W. Grand."

That's the good news. Too bad we can't get the station over here in Cheyenne.

Tune in to Meg's show tonight if you're in the Laramie Valley.

My grandfather left his lung in Chicago

As I was being interviewed Tuesday night by Michael Sweeney and Tyler Rippeteau, a couple of big-city bloggers who host "Progressive Blogosphere on the Air" on WPHK in Chicago, I began to wonder about the audience make-up. Mostly Chicagoans, probably, with a few members of the American Blogosphere -- Wyomingites too -- fishing in the online stream.

I have very few links to Chicago. I spent one long winter weekend in the city interviewing for jobs. My old college roommate, Bob Page of Independence, Mo. (Hi Bob) grew up on the South Side and introduced me to the writings of Mike Royko. For this, I'm eternally grateful.

I do have at least one family connection to the place.

My maternal grandfather, Martin Hett, lost one of his lungs in Chicago.

This is the story as I remember it. When he was 12, Martin walked away from his large family and their hovel in County Roscommon. He made his way to England and worked in a coal mine. He lived with a Brit family who treated him better than his own family. He earned enough money to sail to the U.S. during World War I. He joined up with his older brother in Chicago. They worked in the railyards.

During the winter of 1919, Martin got very sick. Blame the weak lungs of Irish immigrants. Coal dust, too. He coughed and spit and then developed a fever. His brother urged him to go to the county hospital emergency room. After waiting for many hours (some things never change), the doctor gave him the once-over and decided he had empyema which is "the presence of pus in a bodily cavity" (Webster's), usually caused by an infection. The bodily cavity in my grandfather happened to be an important one. Since this was way before antibiotics, and Martin was a poor man, options were limited.

1. Do nothing and hope it goes away
2. Do nothing and die
3. Get rid of the infected lung

Grandpa chose the latter one. The doc couldn't give him the usual anaesthetics --ether or chloroform -- because they tended to cause lung problems, namely pneumonia. So he gave Martin some rotgut whiskey, slit him open, chiseled out two of his ribs, removed the infected lung and sewed him up.

It hurts to think about it.

The doctor advised him to find a healthier climate. He recommended Arizona or Colorado. Dry places with (in Arizona's case) warm climates. At the time, Denver was home to many sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients. So Martin recovered and made plans for life with one lung. That summer, he said farewell to his brother and got on the train to Denver. He arrived at Union Station in the middle of a sunny day. He pondered going on to Phoenix and the baking hot desert. He decided to stay where he was.

Martin Hett was 90 when he died in Denver. All his mortal remains were interred at Mt. Olivet Cemetery. But for the one lung. Its remains are somewhere in Chicago.

Folks for Freudenthal enlist polling company to study possible 2010 campaign

The AP's Ben Neary wrote this piece that appeared in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune [http://www.trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_19a3956b-925c-5a23-be93-91c99f4bffb3.html]:

Gov. Dave Freudenthal is polling public opinion of him and other possible candidates in next year's governor's race, even as he says he hasn't decided whether he will run again.

The Folks for Freudenthal committee paid $20,000 this month to Global Strategy Group, a New York political consulting and polling company, according to a report filed Monday with the Wyoming secretary of state's office.

The Repubs will have a field day with this. Let's hope it does lead to a third Freudenthal term. The state can't take another Republican governor, especially if taxes from energy extraction keep shrinking.

Hummingbirdminds interview tonight on "Progressive Blogosphere on the Air"

The Stonecipher Report's Michael Sweeney and Tyler Rippeteau will be interviewing me tonight on "Progressive Blogosphere on the Air" at 12:30 a.m. Chicago time, 11:30 p.m. MST (and 1:30 a.m. for you poor East Coasters). Listen at http://www.whpk.org/

Here's a little blurb on the interview from The Stonecipher Report blog:http://tinyurl.com/yj5axqd

More on shortage of primary care docs

Quote from "Wyoming on the Block" by Ben Cannon in the Dec. 22 Planet Jackson Hole:

Dr. Brent Blue, a Teton District Board of Health member, said the board has taken no position on the proposed legislation, but said the current version could benefit Wyoming by drawing more primary care doctors -- pediatricians, family practitioners -- in a state with “too many specialists.”

For more on shortage of primary care professionals in Wyoming, go to my previous post at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/12/med-licenses-up-full-time-doctors-down.html.

Barrasso votes against Defense bill but brags about bringing robotics funding to Camp Guernsey

It seems odd that Wyoming U.S. Senator John Barrasso would brag about bringing Defense Department dollars to Wyoming after voting on Dec. 19 against HR. 3326, or the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.

Am I missing something. Maybe it's kosher to claim credit for something in a Senate bill even if you don't vote for it.

But here's today's story from the Billings Gazette:

Camp Guernsey will get $3.76 million for robotics experimentation work as part of a defense bill signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Obama signed the $626 billion defense bill on Saturday. Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming requested the funding for the Wyoming Army National Guard Joint Training and Experimentation Center.

The work at Camp Guernsey is related to unmanned vehicles. The project will focus on four areas to support war fighter experimentation, according to Barrasso’s funding request.

The late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming started the funding initiative for the joint robotics program in 2005.

The initiative has been a joint project of the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming National Guard and the Department of Defense.

Sen. Mike Enzi also voted against the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. Hey Senator -- is there any part of this awful, terrible and annoying bill that you want to take credit for?

Just asking...

The best and worst of everything in 2009

Not going to join the cavalcades of "best of" and "top ten" or "worst of" lists for 2009.

I'm going to steal from others.

Best politically-themed list from a prog-blogger is "The 50 Assclowns of 2009" at http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2009/12/assclowns-of-week-year-79-top-50.html. Guess who's number one? Hint: He started his long political journey in Wyoming.

In a rare bone thrown to conservatives, here is the list of the worst liberals of 2009 according to the stonecipher report blog (penned by two liberal radio personalities in Chicago): http://stonecipher.typepad.com/the_stonecipher_report/2009/12/stoneciphers-top-ten-worst-democrats-the-grudge-list.html?asset_id=6a00e552629a7888330128765ad625970c.

Roger Ebert rates the top ten films in mainstream and indie categories at http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/the_best_films_of_2009.html

This is a great one: Jenny Shank at New West has a list of funniest passages from 2009 books. Go to http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/funny_lines_from_2009_books/C39/L39/

Top ten 2009 Wyoming stories can be found at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2009/12/24/news/today/news04.txt. Not making the list is last summer's cross-border incursion by Colorado liberals and the outing of former state rep Dick Cheney. Surprised?

Best quotes of 2009? Thought you'd never ask. Yale University Librarian Fred Shapiro compiled a cool year-end list that includes a teabagger, Sarah Palin and an actual real hero. Go to http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/742831--best-quotes-of-2009.

Finally, Brit psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker makes his predictions for 2010. Among other things, quantum physicists will find a way to make energy from water and a celebrity will be cloned. Read the rest at http://www.psychics.co.uk/prediction/predictionsfor2010.html

Anatomy lesson needed

Not in the arm?

WYO med licenses up, full-time docs down

Here's the good news:

Wyoming granted a record number of medical licences in 2009...

And now, of course, the bad news

...but fewer newly licensed doctors are setting up full-time practices in the state, newly released figures show.

How can this be? Reporter Joshua Wolfson at the Casper Star-Trib explains it all for you

Of the 301 doctors who received licenses so far this year, only 18 percent reported working full-time in Wyoming, according to statistics from the state Board of Medicine. Industry experts say the figures reflect growth in telemedicine and the number of outside physicians who come to the state to fill gaps in coverage.

The fact that fewer new doctors are starting full-time practices in Wyoming concerns Dr. James Anderson, a Casper surgeon who serves as the board's president. A shortage of primary-care doctors creates the potential for error as patients are treated by different physicians each time they seek medical help.

"It increases the risk, having multiple people taking care of you, without some sort of electronic medical records to know what's going on," Anderson said.

The Wyoming Office of Rural Health release a report this year that showed 13 of the state's 23 counties had a shortage of primary-care doctors. It's shocking to hear that the majority of our counties don't have enough family doctors. Are these 13 counties the most rural?

The WORH June 2009 survey [http://www.health.wyo.gov/rfhd/rural/index.html] carries a few surprises. First of all, primary care physicians aren't just family practice and general practice docs. The WORH definition includes doctors practicing internal medicine, pediatrics and OB/GYN. It also includes non-physicians such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives. So, even if a rural county has no docs, it might at least have a nurse-midwife around the deliver a bay or two.

Washakie County in the Big Horn Basin hasn't a single primary care practitioner for its 8,000-some residents. No OB/GYN docs for healthy baby checkups. No pediatricians for when Johnny pokes his eye with a stick. No nurse practitioner to find out whether you have the flu or just a bad cold. Washakie County includes Worland, home to the new Washakie Museum (grand opening summer 2010), a sugar beet processing plant (major client: Pepsi) and a great cafe, the Brass Plum on Big Horn Avenue (great sandwiches and homemade potato chips)

I guess that Worland patients have to travel north to Lovell in Big Horn County which has two primary care people. They could go south to Hot Springs County, which actually shows a surplus of docs. Must be those healing hot springs' waters that draw the docs. Rounding out the counties in the Basin is Park, home to Cody and its small medical center adjacent to the much larger Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and Powell and its community college. But Park County is also showing a shortage primary care medicos. Most Wyomingites know that residents of the Big Horn Basin make frequent trips to Billings with its two hospitals and many docs. Bozeman, too. Over the Big Horn Mountains is the V.A. in Sheridan. Casper and its hospital isn't far either. Ditto Riverton in Fremont County.

But preventive medicine is very difficult when you have no family docs in the vicinity.

Rural areas all over the West have similar problems. Well-educated docs and their families aren't particularly attuned to remote small towns and their lack of amenities. Some of those are frivolous (what, no double-shot caramel mochiattos?) to important -- education, arts, hospitals and recreation. Yes, some pediatricians and nurse practitioners may love slow-paced and family-friendly Worland. But others may not like the fact they must drive 100 miles for shopping and surgery and symphony performances. Why not live in Billings if you go there every weekend?

I am not a small-town person. In my adult life, Cheyenne (pop. 55,000) is the smallest place in which I wish to dwell. Laramie County is the most populous in the state and it boasts the most primary care practitioners at 56 and that's not counting the specialists who fixed my knee and psychiatrists who regularly inspect my head for cobwebs and spiders. If I can't get the right specialist here, I can always cruise down I-25 to Fort Collins or Loveland or Greeley or Denver. On Tuesday, our family will take a little trip to Fort Collins to see my wife's endocrinologist for diabetes care. It will take us 45 minutes door-to-door unless we get snow and then it may take an hour or we may not get there at all so we'll have to reschedule. Chris wishes that there was an endocrinologist she liked in Cheyenne -- but there is not. So she doc-shopped and found one.

We have a choice because we have insurance and proximity. Worland citizens don't have proximity. What happens when they're also uninsured?

In the CST article, Dr. Anderson outlines some obvious problems

As challenges to addressing the shortage, the report noted rural doctors typically work longer hours and have lower incomes than their urban counterparts. They generally also receive lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements rates.

Wyoming's laws concerning medical liability also serve as a disincentive to doctors, Anderson said.

"That's going to drop us down on the list, being one of the states with minimal tort reform, basically none," he said.

The number of doctors being licensed in Wyoming rose 26 percent this year over 2008. That's attributable to a streamlined licensing processes put in place by the state Legislature earlier this year, Anderson explained.

There are signs the increase in doctors seeking Wyoming licenses may continue into 2010. More than 100 physicians have pending applications with the medical board.

The increase is having a positive effect, said Kevin Bohnenblust, the board's executive director. Traditionally, Wyoming's small population has made it difficult to support medical specialists. The new figures show more specialist are practicing in the state, albeit on a temporary basis. The state still needs to recruit more doctors, Bohnenblust said.

"Things are moving a lot in the right direction because we are getting more physicians who want to be licensed to provide care to Wyoming people," he said.
"That's a great thing. The trick is, we can't let up."

So, specialists are practicing here but living elsewhere. That's great when you're a local doc seeking a consultation with a neurosurgeon in L.A. or heart specialist in Houston. Dr. Anderson even mentioned a doc in Australia who recently received a Wyoming license so he could read X-rays remotely. And who knows how many of those newly-licensed docs are doing the same thing in India or Indonesia?

I'm obviously not a physician. I'm just a poor schlub in Cheyenne who needs the occasional check-up or operation. I'm going to have an easier time accessing healthcare than another 59-year-old who lives in Worland. There's something wrong with that. It's possible that technology and even the new healthcare reform bill may improve the situation. It's also possible that the current economic crisis that's hit the cities of the coasts may cause some docs to reconsider life in bucolic Wyoming. The "local" trend -- local eating, local working, local artmaking --may also boost the number of small-town healthcare providers.

Meanwhile, residents of Sweetwater, Carbon, Washakie, Big Horn, Park, Uinta, Albany, Converse, Lincoln, Weston, Crook, Niobrara and Platte counties will keep on logging those miles on visits to the family doc, many of them located across the Wyoming border in Billings, Rapid City, Fort Collins, Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls. That's not only tragic for efficient healthcare. It also costs Wyoming's economy. On Tuesday, we're going to Chris's specialist in Fort Collins and eating lunch out and Chris is having her Saturn serviced and my daughter Annie is spending her Christmas cash in Old Town. I may visit my favorite place in Old Town, Ben & Jerry's, for an infusion of Chunky Monkey.

Economic development for Colorado but not for Wyoming.

CST reporter Joshua Wolfson has a blog at tribtown.trib.com/JoshuaWolfson/blog

Help wanted: WyoFile seeks business manager

Saw this on New West web site:

Our friends at Wyofile, the very fine independent news site about Wyoming whose stories you often see here at NewWest.Net, are looking for a business manager. The site is now a non-profit, and recently received a grant from the Knight Foundation, and they’re looking to beef up their efforts. It sounds like a good gig for the right person in Wyoming. Here’s the job description:

The Wyoming non-profit, non-partisan, news and policy website http://www.wyofile.com/, seeks dynamic full-time resident marketing & development director to build membership, promote stories, direct fundraising, manage policy conferences and develop publishing opportunities. Applicants should have business and marketing experience, website administration skills and an appreciation of Wyoming and regional Mountain West policy issues. Must live in or be willing to relocate to Wyoming. Position, which begins Jan. 1, 2010, includes competitive salary and benefits. Please e-mail resume and references to Rone Tempest, Editor, rone@wyofile.com.

Dem Chair Leslie Peterson on today's historic vote on healthcare reform

Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen released the following statement today:

“Today’s vote marks an historic moment in the decades-long struggle to pass comprehensive health reform. This is the most significant development in domestic policy since Social Security was created – it is the largest expansion of coverage since Medicare and the greatest deficit reduction package passed in the last decade.

“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will end decades of unfair insurance industry practices that have hurt Wyomingites, provide quality, affordable options for the uninsured and will reduce costs for families, businesses and the country as a whole. It will expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans while reducing the deficit by more than $130 billion in the next 10 years.

“This bill is a clear victory for Wyomingites. It will deliver on the promises President Obama has made since the health care debate began – reducing costs, providing quality, affordable choices for the uninsured and providing stability and security for those who already have coverage.

"While the legislation received unanimous support from Democrats, it passed without a single Republican vote. Sadly, Senators Enzi and Barrasso and the Republican Party have shown once again that they will stop at nothing, and even vote against the best interests of their constituents, to see the President fail. Senators Enzi and Barrasso need to explain to voters why they chose to side with the health insurance executives over Wyoming families.

“So today we thank President Obama and Senate Democrats for their strong leadership on this issue and continue to offer our support as they move closer than ever to making comprehensive health insurance reform a reality for Wyomingites.”

How to make healthcare reform bill better

The always insightful mcjoan offers ways to make the healthcare reform bill better today on Daily Kos. Go to http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/24/818469/-Making-the-Bill-Better

We offer advice to WYO GOP Sen./Doc Barrasso: "Physician, heal thyself!"

From the Bible, Luke 4:23 (King James Version):

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

Physician John Barrasso, one of Wyoming's two U.S. Senators, released his critique of the Senate's health care reform bill this morning.

He calls it the "Reid healthcare bill." One of the GOP talking points is to blame Democratic Sen. Harry Reid because he pushed and cajoled and ramrodded this bill. The GOP has its sights on Reid's seat in Nevada. They hope that by equating this bill with the senator from the tiny Nevada desert mining town of Searchlight, voters in the Silver State will see the error of their ways and vote him out. They want another senator as clean and pure of heart as Republican John Ensign, who cheated on his wife, tried to cover it up through sexual harrassment and may be guilty of violating campaign finance laws. Ensign was selected for Top Ten Scandals of 2009 by Citizens for Responsibilty and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Ensign also made the "50 Assclowns of the Year" list at http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2009/12/assclowns-of-week-year-79-top-50.html

But hummingbirdminds digresses (what else is new?). HM has always been flummoxed by Dr. Barrasso's negativity toward true healthcare reform. Here is a physician that most Wyomingites know through his television "Health Care Minute," in which he imparts his 25 years of medical wisdom in one-minute sound bites. We also know him as a key sponsor of health fairs around the state and emcee of the Casper site of the annual Labor Day weekend Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. He has a reputation as a pol with one eye on media exposure and one on public service. Can't fault any American for that. Usually you get one or the other. Those interested in All Public Exposure All the Time are usually vacuous celebrities whose only goal seems to be getting in front of the nearest camera. On the other hand, public servants don't necessarily crave the limelight but sometimes have it thrust upon them.

Sen. Barrasso might want to look inside himself to see which kind of human dwells within. He criticizes Reid and Dems for playing politics but says nothing about the underhanded tactics used by the Republicans during this process. At least Sen. Enzi, Wyoming's other senator and Gang of Six member, said early on that the Repubs' super-secret plan was to derail Obama. Who cares about healthcare reform? We want to sink Barack Obama.

So, before Sen. Barrasso gets all high and mighty on us -- "physician, heal thyself!" Look into your own heart and see if you are truly serving the Wyoming electorate or you are only towing the party line. You seem to love the TV camera, Sen. Barrasso. Is this vanity or service to your state? We wonder. So do Wyoming's 81,000 uninsured.

Here's Barrasso's statement from his web page:

“The Senate today passed a healthcare bill that represents politics at its worst. Promises of transparency, fiscal discipline and thoughtful policy debates were replaced with closed door meetings, billion dollar pay offs and partisan tactics.

“Instead of helping more Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care, this 2700 page bill cuts Medicare, increases taxes, raises insurance premiums and burdens our grandchildren with even more debt.

“There is no reason to rush legislation that will impact one sixth of our economy and affect the health of each American.

“After practicing medicine for over 25 years, I know that this bill will not deliver better care to folks in Wyoming and across America. As this legislation moves to the House, I will continue to speak out against it and do everything possible to ensure that Congress finally passes reform that will increase the quality, availability and affordability of healthcare in our country.”

Contact Sen. Barrasso at http://barrasso.senate.gov/public/

Keep this under your hats: Wyoming, the Cowboy Equality State, welcomes you

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Wyoming was the fastest-growing state in the country from July 2008 to July 2009 according to U.S. Census estimates.

And more people may be on their way.

Wyoming's estimated population in July 2009 was 544,270, according to the U.S. Census -- a jump of 2.12 percent from the 532,981 estimated to be living in the state at the same time last year. That's the highest growth rate Wyoming has seen since 1982, during the last year of a state energy boom.

This past year's population increase also came at the tail end of another energy boom, said Wenlin Liu, senior economist with the state's Economic Analysis Division.

Most of the state's population growth since July 2008, Liu said, probably came in the second half of 2008, when high energy prices made Wyoming's economy one of the few bright spots in an otherwise slumping national economy.

Wyoming was particularly attractive to job-seekers from hard-hit states such as Michigan, California, Nevada and Florida, he said.

But even though energy prices have fallen drastically in 2009, Wyoming probably won't see a population exodus like it did when the 1980s energy boom crashed, Liu said. That's because unlike 25 years ago, the entire nation is also suffering through tough economic times.

"Even if you want to move out (of Wyoming), there's almost no ideal place to go," Liu said.

This news has alarmed the Wyoming Republican Party. Some of these newcomers are bound to be Democrats or Independents. This could upset the delicate balance which has made Wyoming a one-party Republican stronghold since time immemorial or at least since 1890.

"We are thinking about putting up a fence," said GOP State Chairman Ryde M. Cowboy. "Although many of the new workers are good Republicans, we are convinced that some Democrats and Independents are sneaking across the border. Once they establish residency and register to vote, they might notice that the Wyoming Legislature has all the diversity of the Politburo under Stalin. Their votes may upset Wyoming's delicate balance."

No word yet on whether there is an anti-liberal fence bill slated for the next Wyoming Legislature, which convenes Feb. 8, 2010.

As if this wasn't enough -- there is more alarming news.

The Denver Post reports that the population influx into Colorado has slowed down but still continues.

Colorado's estimated population surpassed 5 million people for the first time as the state grew at the fourth-highest rate in the country amid the worst recession in decades.

U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today showed that the state's population hit 5,024,748 in July of this year, adding almost 90,000 people from last year.

As a result of the growth, Colorado has now grown by 16.8 percent since the 2000 Census, adding more than 700,000 people.

How will Colorado cope with 700,000 more people? This number is more than Wyoming's entire population, even if you throw in some antelope and deer. My guess is that most of those people are not heading to the wide-open spaces of the Eastern Plains, but destined for the Front Range corridor that stretches from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. Fort Collins, of course, is dangerously close to Wyoming. Some emigrants moving to Fort Collins may discover that I-25 continues north into Wyoming. They may get on the interstate and take a trip into the Cowboy Equality State and discover an untrammeled wonderland.

They will find no personal income tax in Wyoming. How can this be, they may ask. They also may find housing prices below those in Colorado, California, Michigan and most other high-population states. They also may find that all Wyomingites are automatically cowboys due to the fact we're The Cowboy State. All those people who dreamed of being cowboys in their youth will have their wishes come true. Here's a little-known fact: each new permanent resident of Wyoming is awarded a horse, a cowboy hat and a new pair of boots without any horseshit on the heels.

Not many people know this, not even those in Colorado. But it's true. We welcome thee. Especially Democrats. We really need those.

But don't tell anybody. Our Republican Overlords are thinking of putting up a fence.