Summit for Equality April 30 in Casper

This announcement comes from Pamela RW Kandt of the Wyoming GLBT News:

You are invited to participate in the first-ever SUMMIT FOR EQUALITY in Wyoming!

On the heels of this past legislative session, it is clear we have a lot of work to do toward achieving Equality for Wyoming's GLBT community. It's also clear from our success in defeating some very ugly legislation that those of us who are committed to Equality -- when we work together -- can overcome formidable odds. That's why a group of us from around the state want to gather to meet each other and brainstorm our political and community strategies in advance of the next elections and legislative sessions.

Because you were a part of our winning team, we hope you will join us for a half-day meeting in Casper to our plan next steps.

EQUALITY SUMMIT
10am-3pm / Saturday, April 30
North Casper Clubhouse
$10 registration fee
(covers rent, lunch & snacks)

Already committed to participating in this historic event are members of the loose-knit coalition who lobbied in Cheyenne during the session and provided us with insight and legislative intelligence to help us defeat bills that attacked the GLBT community. We have a lot of issues and ideas to discuss and your input is important.

Please RSVP right away to the email address below. Once you are registered, we'll send you a draft agenda for your perusal and comments, along with directions to the meeting site. If you need a recommendation for lodging, let us know. Call or email if you have any questions.

We're looking forward to seeing you on the 30th!

PAMELA RW KANDT
Wyoming GLBT News
307.377.7763
WyomingGLBTnews@gmail.com

Keeping you informed about Wyoming's gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender communities, including allies & allied organizations such as PFLAG. Check out Wyoming GLBT News on Facebook!

Tea Party Slim in "Urban vs. Rural Smackdown"

I was digging in my garden when Tea Party Slim walked in the backyard gate. “What you doin’,” he asked?

As I leaned on the shovel handle, I felt a twinge in my back. It was the first warm day of spring. “Digging,” I said.

Slim sat down in the porch shade. He sipped Diet Coke from a can. “Want to borrow my rototiller? Makes the job so much easier.”

I surveyed the mounds of turned earth. It was black and filled with decomposing leaves. I saw earthworms wriggling, an indication of rich soil. This is my third year of gardening in Cheyenne – this time around, anyway. 

“I like digging.” I pushed the shovel into the dirt.

Slim sipped his Diet Coke. “You Liberals think that growing-your-own is something you invented.”

Slim was testing me again. “Why do you say that?”

“You didn’t invent gardening. You didn’t invent farmer’s markets. My relatives in rural Wyoming were growing and canning tomatoes and cucumbers long before you were born. Victory gardens – you ever heard of those?”

I contemplated banging Slim on the head with the shovel. But it wouldn’t even put a dent in that thick noggin of his. “My relatives were farmers, too,” I said. “My Grandpa Shay grew up in Iowa and was growing the juiciest tomatoes this side of Iowa City into his nineties. All in his backyard garden in Loveland.”

“Were your parents farmers? Mine were – and went broke in the process.”

“Sorry to hear that,” I said – and meant it. “I know that farming isn’t easy. And no, my father was an accountant and my mother was a nurse.”

“It’s a hard life,” Slim said. “Seems to me that you Liberal gardeners and locavores and vegans are trivializing the lives of rural Americans. City slickers vs. simple country folk.”

This gave me pause. Gardening is in. Farmers’ markets are big. Even some grocery stores stock local and organic produce and grass-fed beef from Wyoming. A half-dozen farms within 100 miles provide community-supported agriculture deliveries to Cheyenne. “People are making a living from farming,” I said. “Not in a big way. Small farms. That’s good, isn’t it?”

Slim chugged the rest of his Diet Coke and tossed the can in the trash. Oops,” said, looking at me. “You probably want to recycle that, right?”

“I will recycle that can, yes. Something wrong with recycling?”

“Does recycling and green energy provide jobs? You Liberals want to shut down all the coal mining and power-generating jobs in Wyoming. Are you going to replace them with legions of people sorting cans and bottles and newspapers? I don’t think so.”

"More than a million U.S. jobs are in recycling," I said. "Recycling reduces greenhouse emissions by 30 percent, the same as taking 25 million cars off the road." 

"And the Greenies shall inherit the earth." 

“Look, Slim, I’m just trying to grow a few tomatoes in my backyard. I have no plans for world domination.”

“Maybe you don’t, but some of your fellow travelers do.”

“They are welcome to it. I’ll be busy gardening for the next three or four months.”

Slim was quiet for awhile.  A gentle breeze carried with it the rich scents of spring. “I can go get that rototiller for you.”

I surveyed the yardage I still had to dig up. I could feel a spasm starting in my lower back. O.K.,” I said. "Bring it on over.”

Slim stood. “Modern technology is good for you,” he said with a smile.

“Things like solar panels and wind generators? Electric cars? Energy-saving light bulbs?”

“Coal-fired power plants? Internal combustion engines? Incandescent light bulbs?”

We stared at each other for what seemed like seconds.

Slim finally headed for the gate. “You’re gonna love this baby. 305cc engine, electric starter, four forward and two reverse gears, 16-inch ag tires….”

“As long as it tills the soil and saves my back,” I said.

“I’ll throw it in my Hummer and be right back,” he said as exited the gate.

Slim lives two doors down. He can push the tiller from his house to mine faster that he can drive it. But what the hell – one small step at a time.

Author and place-based foods guru Gary Paul Nabhan coming to Fort Collins May 23

From Be Local Northern Colorado:

We are bringing a special dinner guest -- Gary Paul Nabhan -- an inspiring author/ advocate best known for his Place-Based Foods work, for a Be Local Community Potluck on May 23.

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, seed saver, conservation biologist and sustainable agriculture activist who has been called “the father of the local food movement” by Mother Earth News. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border.

He is author or editor of twenty-four books, some of which have been translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Croation, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. For his writing and collaborative conservation work, he has been honored with a MacArthur “genius” award, a Southwest Book Award, the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, the Vavilov Medal, and lifetime achievement awards from the Quivira Coalition and Society for Ethnobiology.

He works most of the year as a research scientist at the Southwest Center of the University of Arizona, and the rest as co-founder-facilitator of several food and farming alliances, including Renewing America’s Food Traditions and Flavors Without Borders.

More about Gary and all his “Place-Based Foods” work and books.

• LIVE MUSIC & DANCING! LOCAL FOOD & CONVERSATION!
  Location:  Fort Collins Senior Center

  Date: May 23

• Yes, a great chance for eaters, cooks, gardeners, farmers, and localization advocates to share a meal and dreams for our community.

• Yes, bring an appetizing dish to share, full of local flavor and specialities.  We’ll send full details once you’ve registered.

• Yes, advanced ticketing is REQUIRED so we can plan seating/serving. (Fee covers speaker and room rental; any extra proceeds will benefit Eat Local)

• Yes, pre-register by paying at www.belocalnc.org. Or send a check to Be Local NC, 215 W Magnolia, #204 FC8051. DEADLINE MAY 16

Support a local writer -- and a good cause

Please join us on Saturday, April 2^nd, 6-8 p.m., at Barnes & Noble Cheyenne, 1851 Dell Range Blvd., for a book launch party and benefit for Cheyenne Therapeutic Equestrian Center to celebrate the release of Cowboy Fever by Joanne Kennedy.

And…

You’re invited to the after-party/reception at 8-11 p.m. at Uncle Charlie’s, 6001 Yellowstone Road. Refreshments, cash bar, and music by Brian Leneschmidt  

Guest blogger: "Three cups of tea" and girls' education are keys to Greg Mortenson's mission

Guest blogger this week is Linda Coatney, Cheyenne poet/essayist and fine ukelele player and singer. She reports on Greg Mortenson's March 29 presentation in Cheyenne. 

Greg Mortenson has humanitarian marrow in his bones.

As an adolescent, Mortenson lived in Africa with his Lutheran missionary parents and his then three-year-old sister as his father set up the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania, which was opened in 1971. His father announced that, in ten years, the facility would be staffed by the citizens of Tanzania. A month later he was fired for having the audacity to think that Tanzanians could run their own hospital.

So Mortenson, who spoke in Cheyenne Tuesday night, is familiar with failure. The title of the first chapter in his book Three Cups of Tea is "Failure." It is the beginning of his prophetic journey in building girls schools, first in Pakistan, and then in Afghanistan. At 23, Greg's sister Christa died from a massive epileptic seizure on the morning she was to go on her dream trip to Deyersville, Iowa, where the movie Field of Dreams had been filmed. She was inspired by the film and watched again and again.

Mortenson decided that he would climb Kilimanjaro in Christa's honor. He brought her necklace with him and he planned to leave it as an offering at the top of the mountain to "whatever deity inhabited the upper atmosphere" (From Three Cups of Tea, pg. 9). He had summited "The Savage Peak" at eleven years of age, and had much climbing experience at other locations. Nothing to it to doing it again, he thought.

He ended up spending 78 days on the mountain, but never made it to the top. When he finally got down, a sick and exhausted Mortenson ended up in the village of Korphe, where the first school was built.

At the Cheyenne presentation, we watched a short film about the first school built in Afghanistan. On Mortenson's first visit to Afghanistan, he discovered classrooms of boys in the metal storage containers used by the Russians during their invasion and occupation of the country. He also saw that the girls had no place to hold class except outside on a hillside. It was here that he met Gomajin, a young boy who herded his goats while watching the progress of the school. He was anxious for its completion so that he could attend. But he stepped on a land mine and died from his wounds. In Gomajin's memory, his father learned how to remove land mines. There is a monument to Gomajin near the school. From the first board for framing, the villagers wanted a strong school, one that could withstand bombs.

The term “three cups of tea” means that with the first cup, you are a stranger, second cup a friend, and by the time you are drinking a third cup, you are family. But this is not a linear progression, 1-2-3, boom, you're in. In every village, there is an unspoken progression of bringing one into the social circle. It may take many cups of tea, not formally ceremonial, but an important indicator of acceptance and trust. Greg has taken many cups of tea in his 18 years in the field, and has been able to bring schools to villages where one would not think they would survive, let alone thrive.

Why girls schools? Educating girls has many positive rewards for the community. Women bring life and nurture it after it is here. Statistics show that when girls are educated, the birth rate drops, the infant mortality rate drops, the quality of life improves, and women go back and serve the community from a more informed place. It is a powerful thing when a woman can read the news. Isolation breeds fear. It becomes a vicious circle of fear and ignorance breeding ignorance and fear. Education is the only way to civility.

Mortenson, who lives with his family in Montana when not traveling, mentioned more statistics. Since 2007, more than 3,000 girls schools have been destroyed or shut down by extremist groups. There is a proverb that says, "The ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr." In 2000, there were only 800,000 students, mostly boys age 5-15. In 2011, the count was up to 8.3 million children, with 2.8 million of those girls.

In talking with the elders of these villages, Greg has been told that they don’t need firepower, they need brain power; that they want to be part of the decision-making process; that they want education; that if they don’t like someone, they will take care of them. Afghanistan is also sitting on a mining boom, and the rest of the world is waiting to exploit 

The subtitle on Three Cups of Teas is “One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time.” This was not the first choice of the publisher, who wanted to say something about one man's mission to fight terrorism. But Mortenson is adamant that he is doing this to promote peace. The book didn't sell with the publisher's subtitle, but Greg was able to get the publisher to agree that the subtitle would be changed if the book didn't at first do well. After the subtitle was changed, the book became a best-seller.

Mortenson also talked about the poverty in this country and how we must be willing to touch, hear, and be poverty to realize any formative changes to the situation. His Pennies for Peace program does this, and suggests the grass roots effort in towns across America of collecting pennies and getting the money to our most impoverished schools. This was his first fund-raising program, but it only began when he was asked to speak at a school about how to get the school built in Korphe. Up to then, he had typed hundreds of letters asking for donations, and only received one check back, from TV commentator Tom Brokaw. A young boy brought his pennies to Greg, and that is how Pennies for Peace began.

Our military mission in Afghanistan now includes soldiers who work at laying some groundwork for the beginning of a school in villages. Greg believes the most successful mission begins with empowering the members of the village. They must dedicate the land for the school, provide the labor to build, and get the materials to where they need to be. With this kind of investment, the village is not so willing to let the school be closed. When the elders of a village in Afghanistan played on the playground of a school, they told Greg they wanted a school in their village, a place where extremists had a strong hold, but only if it had a playground also. They told him that as children, they never had a chance to play, all they were taught was to fight.

Around the world, children are bought and sold into slavery, and at the youngest of ages, are taught to kill. Soccer balls are made by children in Pakistan. China and India have huge child labor forces. Children are mistreated, poorly fed, work fourteen-hour days, and fear abduction and/or molestation at night. Many just disappear. They are certainly not allowed to go to school, but many want to.

Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a speech in which he tried to emphasize what it will take to make headway against the extremist faction in this part of the world. The only hope to supplant the extremist movement is through education, and understanding a culture in which we are too quick to judge as not in the least understandable. He says that hearts and minds cannot be captured by force. Maybe he remembers when Rep. Charlie Wilson was jeered out of Congress when he asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for $1.5 million to be put into education in war-torn Afghanistan, after the Russians had been ousted by Wilson’s bringing stinger missiles to the Afghan people.

Mortenson can just guess what the world might look like today if education had been the goal back then.

 As one village elder told Greg, the more bombs you drop, the harder the earth becomes. 

So Mortenson continues his work against the ill winds of prejudice and ignorance.

After his Cheyenne speech, he received a standing ovation from the 5,000-some attendees.

--Linda Coatney, Cheyenne

All quiet on the UW front in advance of Coulter speech

Today's Casper Star-Tribune featured an article about Ann Coulter's speech this evening at UW. A couple things stand out:

The argument about free speech on the UW campus is alive and well. That's a good thing. Keep bringing in the speakers and keep debating.

The UW Foundation didn’t respond to repeated queries about whether any alumni threatened to stop donations to the university because of Coulter.

Good coverage of the Ann Coulter's Home Rainbow fund-raiser for Wyoming LGBT orgs.

Read the article at http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_af219e5f-0256-5e4b-b475-8dc5ac629eaa.html

Tea Party descends on U.S. Capitol to kill gubment "monster"

Tea Partiers are swarming Congressional offices today, shouting "Let's kill the monster -- but keep those Social Security checks and Medicare payments coming!"

Meanwhile, majority of Americans tiring of all this pitchfork-rattling and torch-waving. Go to http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2011/03/30/as-tea-party-cranks-up-heat-on-congress-poll-shows-public-support-waning/

Laramie County Democrats meet to ponder the 2011 legislative session -- and plan for the future

Full house tonight for the monthly meeting of the Laramie County Democrats. We meet on the last Monday of each month at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union hall in sight of Frontier Refinery. We had to wait awhile for another meeting to adjourn, this one of the refinery's union members. But we didn't mind -- lots of catching up to do with fellow Dems. And time to meet some new people.

One note on unions -- Wyoming is a so-called "Right to Work" state. Another one of those Republicanisms. "Right to Work" means that the corporations tell you if you have the right to work in this state. And what wages they deign to give you. We know from events in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan that the Republican Party's primary agenda is to kill unions so that they can tell everyone where, when and how they have the right to work. They want all of us to make the same wages as a factory worker in Indonesia. When we all get paid 15 cents an hour, the conglomerates will move all the jobs back to the U.S.A. And they shall be proclaimed heroes.

Why were people gathered tonight? We are angry. We are shocked that the highs of 2008 have been replaced by the ultra-lows of 2011. The national scene has gone loco. Governors elected with less that 50 percent of the vote are outlawing unions, stripping tenure from your children's teachers, privatizing crucial government services, banning foods stamps to union families during strikes, bringing murder charges against women who get abortions, etc. And that's just some of the crazy laws that have been proposed -- and adopted -- around the U.S.

Wyoming had its share of right-wing crazies in the legislature. We were able to avoid electing a right-wing crazy as Governor -- Ron Micheli of Uinta County -- and did end up with a moderate, Matt Mead. Gov. Mead seemed upset at some of his party's legislative antics, but he also has spouted some of the same anti-Obamacare rhetoric that you see at Tea Party rallies.

What can Dems do when they are only 14 out of 90 legislators?

"We decided to go on defense," said Rep. Jim Byrd at tonight's meeting. "We could tell that the crazies were at the gates."

The crazies are almost too numerous to mention. So were their crazy bills. Even before the session ended, the Casper Star-Tribune summed it up as a total waste of time. A number of the time-wasting Republicans are from Natrona County. Kroeker, Brechtel, Gay. Something nasty in that water up there.

No so-called social issue bills were passed by this legislature. It wasn't for lack of trying. But it wasn't just the Dems who blunted the onslaught. Rep. Ken Esquibel said the House Republicans got split among its factions. Rep. Byrd: "There is a moderate Republican component. We need to support them."

These Repubs have been labeled RINOs (Republican in Name Only) by right-wingers disappointed that the social issue bills didn't pass. At least one letter to the ed in the CST has called for a concerted effort to defeat the RINOs and replace them with more right-thinking members. You will recall that Republican Cale Case publicly opposed the anti-gay marriage bill and Sue Wallis opposed the abortion notification bill. There were others.

But the main thing is to elect more Democrats. That's the goal for 2012. We'll start with Laramie County. You say it can't be done? Well, 3,800 new Democrats registered to vote in 2008. Many of them actually voted. In 2010, they either stayed home or voted Republican. The votes are out there...

Jon Stewart: New state Govs have gone psycho

The Daily Show - Gov Hurts
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Speaking of historic placemaking -- or lack of it

Maine artist Judy Taylor created the labor history mural that Gov. Paul LePage wants to remove the the state labor department building:

In the summer of 2007, I responded to a Call to Artists sponsored by the Maine Arts Commission. The call was to create an artwork depicting the " History of Labor in the State of Maine". After a reviewing process, I was selected to do the commission. Along the way, I met some wonderful, and dedicated people. I also got an excellent education in Maine History. Below, is the 11-panel mural that was painted on 4 x 8 sheets of specially prepared MDO board. The panels were applied to adjoining walls in the Dept. of Labor reception area. In total, the mural measures 36 feet in length, and is nearly 8 feet tall.

As a public service to artists everywhere, here are the mural panels. Find the descriptions at Judy's web site.

UPDATE: ThinkProgress reports that the Governor decided to remove the mural after receiving one anonymous. Later he admitted that it was an anonymous letter and not a fax. One anonymous fax/letter undoes years of hard work and erases a landmark? And why is the governor lying about it?

Now is the time to be creative about historic placemaking in downtown Cheyenne

The project has kind of a high-and-mighty name: Downtown Cheyenne Historic Placemaking Project. And the goals are not simple:

1. Involve a wide range of people and organizations to bring different perspectives to the table
2. Reach agreement on the major issues and opportunities affecting downtown’s near-term future and means by which to address them
3. Launch new partnerships and initiatives to accelerate downtown revitalization

The first goal is not a tough one. A wide range of people with different perspectives will attend the first meeting March 31 at the Plains (see details below). There are as many visions of downtown as there are weeds on the prairie. Some of those ideas will be as hard to nail down as a tumblin' tumbleweed. Still, it’s important to hear ideas, even if they are: we don’t need no stinkin’ downtown placemaking – and what the hell is placemaking anyway?

Reaching agreement will take time. But what do we have if not time? Downtown Cheyenne has been around for almost 150 years, since those first tents sprang up along the railroad lines in the 1860s. It’s boomed during good times and almost gone bust in bad times. But not even the rampant development along Dell Range killed it. Hurt it, and emptied some of the buildings. But downtown lives on in 2011, with some renewed signs of life:

• LightsOn! Project at the Hynds Building
• Renovation of the old Greer Furniture Building
• Construction at the old Dinneen car dealership
• Two weekly farmers’ markets, with the Tuesday Market on Yellowstone moving to the Historic Depot Plaza in June (and the winter farmers’ market in the Depot)
• The Third Thursday Art Design & Dine art walk
• Harvey Deselms moving his gallery to the Historic Whipple House
• Renovation of the State Capitol grounds, which will include an expanded plaza for gatherings and protests and just hanging out. The Capitol Building, of course, is downtown’s matching bookend, the renovated Depot being the other. The plaza will be flanked by the statues of Chief Washakie and Esther Hobart Morris, the same statues that represent The Equality State in the U.S. Capitol Statuary Hall in D.C.

There are others. Yet, problems remain:

• The Great Big Hole on 16th Street/Lincolnway
• Lots of empty buildings and storefronts
• No grocery store
• No comprehensive downtown plan
• Did I mention that Great Big Hole on 16th Street?

But this placemaking effort may lead to some breakthroughs. If not now, when? Cheyenne’s economy is robust (note to boss: I could use a raise to keep up with the Joneses) and it’s bound to get better with the recent surge in oil exploration.

I urge all of you to get out to this meeting on Thursday, March 31, 5:30-7 p.m. at the Historic Plains Hotel. Doors open at 5:30 and the presentations and brainstorming begins at 6. An hour is not a lot of brainstorming time, but it’s a start.

FMI: 307-637-6251.

Give me your well-fed, your disgustingly rich, all those corporate CEOs with walk-in humidors...

Thanks to Interested Party for posting this new T-shirt design. Are there special Lenten discounts?

UPDATE: The headline should read: "Blessed are the well-fed, the disgustingly rich, corporate CEOs with walk-in humidors..." I mixed up the Emma Lazarus quotation on the Statue of Liberty with Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. Maybe I should go to church more often -- or visit NYC more often.

Help send this blogger to summer camp

Dear Friends:


I started my progressive blog, hummingbirdminds, in 2005. Those were the early days of political blogging. Hunkered down in a sod hut, I wrote my posts by candlelight, my PC powered by a coal-fired boiler.

We're in a new era. My PC is still powered by Wyoming coal (and will be forever, thanks to Energy Czar Ken Salazar!) but now I'm blogging in the bright light of day. I've discovered there are others like me in the far reaches of the country, places such as Zephyrhills, Florida, and Minot, N.D. There's a chance for us to gather together in mid-June in Minneapolis. We'll trade tips and learn how to better network with our peers around the country and throughout the West.

But I need your help. Netroots Nation will waive the tuition if I'm selected for a scholarship. I'll still have to ride my horse Blue to Minnesota, but we will graze together in lush garden plots across Nebraska and Iowa and Minnesota. A low-cost trip! Once in Minneapolis, Blue and I can share cheap lodgings at one of the city's many hipster hostels.         

So what are you waiting for? Help send this Wyoming blogger to Netroots Nation summer camp! Vote at http://tinyurl.com/4mspd4s.

Your truly,

Michael Shay

Cheyenne, WY

Shepard Symposium features staged reading of "Beyond Brokeback" by Cody native Gregory Hinton

Cody native Gregory Hinton will return to Wyoming in April for a staged reading of his script Beyond Brokeback.

Assistant Professor John J. O'Hagan of  the University of Wyoming Department of Theater and Dance will direct a one-hour staged reading of Beyond Brokeback for the 15th Annual Shepard Symposium on Social Justice on Friday, April 8, 11 a.m.-12:15 p.m. in the Union Ballroom of the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

Beyond Brokeback was adapted for the stage by Gregory Hinton from the book Beyond Brokeback: Impact of a Film written by Members of the Ultimate Brokeback Forum, a web community which formed in the aftermath of the release of the award-winning film, Brokeback Mountain. The story was written by Wyoming author Annie Proulx. It was first published in The New Yorker and was in her book Close Range: Wyoming Stories.

The Forum, comprised of people from all walks of life -- country, city, gay, straight, men, women, young, old -- received over 500,000 posts in the first year. Excerpts of essays, poetry and music inspired by the film will be presented, including the song "Meet Me on the Mountain," written by noted composer Shawn Kirchner.

Beyond Brokeback was originally performed at the Autry National Center Museum of the American West in Los Angeles on December 11, 2010, in commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of Ang Lee's seminal western film, Brokeback Mountain.

The staged reading at UW is free but registration is required.

See http://www.shepardsymposium.org/ for more details.

Presenters for the Shepard Symposium include Cherrie Moraga, John Corvino, Mary Cowhey, and A Slice of Rice, Frijoles, and Greens.

Tea Party Slim is rested and ready for June rally

Tea Party Slim is back from his travels and looking forward to the big June 15 Cheyenne T.E.A. Party Movement rally in front of the State Capitol Building.

“It’s been a good year for freedom,” said Slim. “That’s Freedom with a capital F.”

“At least you can spell,” I quipped.

Slim glared at me. “That’s all the media could talk about – misspellings on signs at Tea Party rallies. Fat lot of good it did in the 2010 elections. Tea Party candidates won across the board.”

“Good point,” I said. “The Tea Party is ridicule-proof.”

“Damn straight. You elitists can make fun of us all you want. But we show up to vote and you don’t. So we won.”

“Another good point, Slim. That’s the second time I’ve said that in as many minutes.”

He smiled. “Better get used to it.”

Slim’s skin was bronzed from his time in Arizona. I couldn’t help noticing the stitches on his forehead. “What happened there?”

He touched the wound. “ Just a little skin cancer. Doctor thought it looked suspicious so she dug it out. Thank God for the V.A.”

“You can thank me and all the taxpayers for the V.A. We’re glad to oblige.”

“We served our country and we deserve medical care.”

“I’m just noting that it was taxpayer-supported medical care. I may be an elitist, but I pay my taxes.”

“Too many taxes,” he growled.

“That may be, but without taxes there wouldn’t be a military and there would be no military benefits like the V.A.”

“My turn to agree,” he said. “I’ve paid my share of taxes over the years.”

“We all have. All of us except for the rich and big corporations.”

“Don’t start with the class war stuff. Big corporations pay plenty of taxes. Besides, a lot of those companies are defense contractors. We wouldn’t have the best-equipped military in the world if it wasn’t for them.”

“General Electric earned $14.2 billion in 2010 but paid no U.S. taxes. A New York Times report said that the corporation had a negative U.S. tax rate last year, getting a $3.2 billion tax benefit. During the last five years, GE made $26 billion in what it lists as American profits, but got the IRS to write it a $4.1 billion check. So we’re paying G.E.’s share of taxes.”

“I don’t trust the New York Times. Where did it get its information? Probably from some disgruntled overpaid former employee.”

“Public records,” I said.

“The IRS? I don’t trust them.”

“Do you know how G.E. got out of paying taxes? It lends to foreign companies, which means American taxpayers indirectly subsidize those foreign loans. Meanwhile, G.E. is slashing its U.S. workforce and sending jobs overseas.”

“All companies have to make a profit. To compete, they send the jobs to countries where labor costs are lower. Everybody knows that.”

“Maybe so. But why do you and I have to subsidize these businesses? Shouldn’t they be left to the free market that you Tea Partiers love so much? And we’re paying taxes when they aren’t. And they’re closing factories and putting tax-paying Americans out of work.” I paused to catch my breath.

Slim glared at me. “That’s the problem with you pointy-headed intellectuals. You hate the businesses that made America great. But you love the IRS. And the New York Times.”

I was tempted to unleash a barrage of ridicule at Slim. But what good would it do? The Tea Party is ridicule-proof and logic-proof. “Hope your forehead heals up soon,” I said.

He touched his wound again. “I have an appointment at the Cheyenne V.A. tomorrow. Doc will take out the stitches -- and give me my annual physical.”

“I wish you good health,” I said. “Want to be in tip-top shape for that June Tea Party anti-tax rally.”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” he concluded.

Photo from Cheyenne Tea Party rally, March 2009

Laramie County Democrats meet March 28 to elect officers w/update

The next meeting of the Laramie County Democratic Party will be next Monday, March 28, at 7 p.m. at the IBEW Union Hall in Cheyenne. Items on the agenda include election of new officers and an update from local Democratic legislators who weathered the bizarre 2011 session of the Wyoming Legislature.

To vote in officer elections, you must be a precinct committeeman or woman. How does that happen? You have to sign up. How do you do that? Not sure, but will find out and let you know.

Meanwhile, get info at Laramie County Democrats.

UPDATE: In a comment to this post, Ken McCauley point outs the ease of voting in Monday's officer elections at the meeting of the Laramie County Democrats. Check it out.

Celebrate campus free speech and human rights with a pledge to Ann Coulter's Homo Rainbow on Facebook

Ann Coulter's Homo Rainbow page on Facebook is growing by laps and bounds.

I originally posted about this on March 11, just after the project was started by Laramie rabble-rousers Meg Lanker and Will Welch. The idea is to make a pledge for each minute that Fox "News" commentator and Liberal-hater Ann Coulter speaks at UW on March 31. The funds go to three Wyoming LGBT organizations: GetEqual WY, Equality for All and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

Such a great way to turn this event on its head. You will recall that the UW College Republicans made their own pledge back in the spring of 2010. Miffed that education reformer and one-time '60s radical Bill Ayers was allowed to speak on campus, the Repubs started working on an Ann Coulter engagement. It took awhile. Ann's busy as heck and couldn't come until a year later. And she only costs $20,000. Plus we hear that she wants only red M&Ms and pure, undiluted and unaltered American-made water in her hospitality suite. Any other beverage would compromise her precious bodily fluids.

Ann Coulter speaking at UW is not an issue. She has every right to speak. The college president has not sought to rescind the invitation, as he did with the one to Bill Ayers. Gov. (then gubernatorial candidate) Mead has not objected, as he did for the Ayers' speech. Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Jim McBride hasn't said a thing, although he was plenty miffed about Ayers. He wasn't the only one. Former Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Sen. Al Simpson also objected to the Ayers visit. Certain rich alumni threatened to withdraw funding from crucial projects, such as the new football stadium skyboxes with their unlimited supply of fresh Republican water (a.k.a. Freedom Water!). These alumni also said they would hold their breath until they turned blue. Or -- preferably -- red.

I could go on and on. Pledge now at http://www.facebook.com/AnnCoultersRainbow

Get the facts on Affordable Care Act

As Republicans continue to attack the Affordable Healthcare Care Act, it celebrates its first anniversary. We celebrate too. 


Question: Was this originally called the Affordable Healthcare Act? That's what I keep calling it and now I find it listed as the Affordable Care Act. I like the change in wording but wonder when it happened.

Those interested in facts about the act, and what's it's done so far, can find info here:

HEALTH REFORM (www.healthcare.gov): Official government site provides information on finding insurance options, prevention, comparing care quality and understanding the new law along with FAQ’s.

PROGRESS (http://progress.democrats.org): PROGRESS is designed to show the real effects of the steps President Obama and Democrats have taken to rebuild our economy. Behind these numbers are stories about people whose lives and communities have been positively affected by the change Democrats have made. 

WY OFA (http://wy.barackobama.com): Wyoming Organizing for America is the grassroots organization that supports President Obama's agenda for change. Visit BarackObama.com for blog posts, local events, and more!

KAISER FAMILY FOUNDATION (www.kff.org): A non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy.  They serve as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public.

LET’S MOVE (www.letsmove.gov): A nationwide initiative to promote making healthy choices, improving food quality in schools, increasing access to healthy, affordable food, and increasing physical activity.

CST: Council delays mixed-use change on conspiracy allegations

Remember that these wingnuts don't care how crazy they look or sound. They are loud and keep showing up for meetings. Rule No. 1 for Progressives: Show up for important meetings! No more slacktivism!

Council delays mixed-use change on conspiracy allegations

Know Nothings take over the G.O.P.

I'm not surprised by the fact that the anti-science wing of the G.O.P. has taken over Congress. That's what they campaigned on. But there are some people in this group that, at least from the outside, appear normal and logical and even attended college.

Rep. John Shimkus of Illinois says we need not worry about the planet being destroyed because, citing chapter 8, verse 22 of the Book of Genesis, God promised Noah it wouldn’t happen again after the great flood.

According to his official web site, Rep. Shimkus received a Bachelor of Science in general engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1980. He serves on the House Commerce and Energy Committee.


How did this engineer and military officer turn into a proud member of the G.O.P. Know Nothing Caucus? He had to pass muster with the Tea Party Know Nothings to get into office and must remain a loyal member to get reelected in 2012.

“I personally believe that the solar flares are more responsible for climatic cycles than anything that human beings do. …” — Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin

Rep. Sensenbrenner (from his web site):

Jim was born in Chicago and later moved to Wisconsin with his family. He graduated from the Milwaukee Country Day School and did his undergraduate studies at Stanford University, where he majored in political science. He then earned his law degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968.... Jim’s current committee assignments include serving as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology and he also serves on the Committee on the Judiciary.  Congressman Sensenbrenner is Chairman of the Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Subcommittee.  He also serves on the Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee (Judiciary), as well as the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee (Science and Technology) and the Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee (Science and Technology).

What does our own lone House Rep, Cynthia Lummis, think about science? She received her Bachelor of Science in animal science and biology from the University of Wyoming. She is a foe of the Obama Administration's efforts to regulate greenhouse gases, especially those emitted by the coal industry, Wyoming's number one industry. She believes that climate change has been exaggerated. These stances are not surprising. Coal and oil and natural gas pay the bills in Wyoming. We saw coal's clout yesterday when Ken Salazar flew into Cheyenne to hobnob with Republican Gov. Mead and to announce that millions of acres of Wyoming will now be open to King Coal. Good for Arch Coal, good for Wyoming, bad for the planet.


Wyoming Senators Enzi and Barrasso continuer to pander to the lowest common denominator, even though they won't be up for reelection until 2014. Sen. Enzi wants to save the Edison light bulb and Dr. Sen. Barrasso is anti-healthcare. The world has gone nuts. Or maybe it's just the U.S. Congress.  

Suicide prevention topic of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Summit March 30-31 in Laramie

The University of Wyoming Counseling Center hosts its fourth annual Higher Education Mental Health and Substance Abuse Summit March 30-31 at the UW Conference in the Hilton Garden Inn in Laramie. The topic is suicide prevention.

This is an especially important topic for the state's young people. For young people everywhere. Suicide ranks third as a cause of death among young (15-24) Americans behind accidents and homicides.

"Mental health, suicide, and substance abuse are topics that affect college students and those working with college students regularly," says Lena Newlin, UW Alcohol Wellness Alternatives, Research and Education (AWARE) Program coordinator. "It is important for professionals working with college students to have the understanding and skills on how to best address these issues. This summit will provide an opportunity for training and collaboration to people throughout Wyoming who work with college students."

Several professionals in their respective fields are the scheduled speakers during the summit. Harry Rockland-Miller, Ph.D, will present the clinicians training, which will provide an advanced clinical training program known as "Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk."

The training is offered through the American Association of Suicidology and is based on established core competencies that mental health professionals need to effectively assess and manage suicide risk. Rockland-Miller is director of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health, and an associate director of University Health Services at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Rockland-Miller is a trainer and consultant in areas including college mental health, clinical triage, suicide prevention and mental health care delivery. Other clinical interests include crisis intervention, brief therapy and hospital-based treatment.

Kathy Cordell, of Cheyenne, a life coach specializing in medical care, will present the two-day training designed for non-clinicians. Cordell will share her knowledge and techniques of Motivational Interviewing (MI). MI is a student/client-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence.

Cordell has an established background working in community healthcare. She has had extensive training in motivational interviewing techniques and facilitates MI training sessions at medical institutions throughout Wyoming to broaden the scope of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment for substance use.

A pre-conference Gatekeeper's train-the-trainer workshop will be held a day before the actual event Tuesday March, 29. UW's Gatekeeper's training program teaches participants how to recognize the signs and symptoms of someone who might be suicidal and how to refer them to seek professional help.

A lunch presentation Wednesday will feature Keith Hotle from the Wyoming Department of Health.

For more information about the event, presenters, schedule, accommodations or to register, visit the summit website at http://www.uwyo.edu/ucc/summit/index.html

For more information, contact Newlin, in the UW Counseling Center at (307) 766-2187 or e-maillnewlin@uwyo.edu

Photo: Harry Rockland-Miller, director of the Center for Counseling and Psychological Health at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will provide an advanced clinical training program known as "Recognizing and Responding to Suicide Risk." (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)

Thomas Friedman: Obama won't lead, and the Republicans "have just gone nuts"

Not necessarily a fan of NYT's Thomas L. Friedman, but this column is a good one. It's full of quotable lines.

So far, the G.O.P. is calling for cuts in the things we need to invest more in — like education and infrastructure — while leaving largely untouched things we need to reduce, like entitlements and defense spending. A country that invests more in its elderly than its youth, more in nursing homes than schools, will neither invent the future nor own it.

As someone much closer in age to elderly than youth, closer to nursing homes than schools, I agree. In 2008, we were all about the future. In 2011, it's all about the past. And it's not all about the regressiveness of the new Republican majority.

But then the president won’t lead. When pressed on energy, he will say that he just doesn’t have the Republican votes for a serious clean energy policy. But the president has never gotten in the G.O.P.’s face on this issue. He has not put his own energy plan on the table and then gone out to the country and tried to sell it.

I'm an Obama supporter and this is exactly what I find frustrating about him.

Obama won't lead. Meanwhile, as Friedman says, the Republicans "have just gone nuts" and are busily hacking away at the progressive legislation passed during Obama's first two years. And they want their damn Edison light bulbs back! They have gone nuts.