Sitting on the dock of the Potomac, life seems pretty good

I've been in D.C. less than 24 hours and I've seen more sunburned tourist skin than dark suits.

Congress is on vacation, you see. They are back on their home turf staging town meetings. Guys like Tea Party Slim are mad as hell at Congress for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. They are going to raise Cain at town meetings. Meanwhile, guys like me will be haranguing Congressional reps for being such babies before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.

These town hall meetings are sure to sparkle with wit and charm.

Watching CNN yesterday in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, I noticed that the Dow fell 512 points, give or take. That's a big chunk, 512 points. Add that to the losses suffered the day before, the DJIA erased a year's gains in the blink of an eye. The wink of John Boehner's eye.

But in Dupont Circle, the citizenry still spends money. As I sat in a window seat at Kramerbooks Afterwords Cafe and Grill, I watched an unending stream of humanity quaff beer and munch on soft shell crab sandwiches. It's Friday night! Everyone be of good cheer!

A group of Boy Scouts trooped by the Kramerbooks' window. The kids looked pretty healthy. They seemed to be having a good time. In the store, people bought books. Young people partied in the bars and in the streets. They didn't appear overly worried about the fate of our nation.

Sometimes, looks can be deceiving.

UPDATE: While I was writing this, I hadn't yet seen the news that Standard & Poor's had reduced the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history. Its main reason was the recent debt ceiling fight. Thanks Sen. Enzi and Sen. Dr. Barrasso. Next time I'm thinking of putting you two in charge of our country's credit rating, I'll think twice.

UPDATE: From the New York Times:

“The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said in a harshly worded commentary.

Next time we need a loan, better call Don Corleone.

Democratic Party Community Picnic & Friendraiser Aug. 21 in Cheyenne

Democratic Community Picnic & Friendraiser

Sunday, August 21, 2011 4-7 pm

Holliday Park

Fun for the Whole Family!

Good eats! Community organizing! Hijinks!

Matt Damon defends teachers

The Progressive: ALEC, Republicans Beat Up On Kids in Special Ed

To see what's coming Wyoming's way in the form of ALEC-sponsored "education" bills, read this story in The Progressive: ALEC, Republicans Beat Up On Kids in Special Ed

Wyoming Republican legislators will be traveling to the ALEC wingnut conference in August to get their marching orders for the next session. Beating up on special ed kids will be in the mix.

I am the father of two children who benefited from the very comprehensive special education programs offered in public schools in Colorado, Maryland and Wyoming. While not all teachers and administrators were easy to work with, they all had to comply with federal regulations as spelled out in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and other legislation.

It's a different story in private schools. Those schools do not have to comply with IDEA. And some of those schools according to The Progressive, are fly-by-night academies who prey on parents desperate for solutions to their children with learning disabilities and/or behavior problems.

The Fix list is in, and hummingbirdminds is on it

Chris Cilliza at the Washington Post's The Fix recently put out a call for the year's best political blogs in each of the 50 states.

Making the list for Wyoming are Jeremy Pelzer's Wyoming Capitol Journal at the Casper Star-Tribune and hummingbirdminds. Thanks to Larry Kurtz at South Dakota's Interested Party for pointing this out.

Regional prog-blogs making the list are Square State in Colorado, Madville Times in S.D., and Montana Cowgirl in Montana.

Great company for this humble ink-stained electron-drenched wretch.

If you want to see candidates for future best-of lists, go to my right sidebar under WY Progressives and click away.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis votes against further cuts to the NEA

Stunned Wyoming arts advocates passed this along to me so I'm sharing it with you:

House Votes against NEA Funding Cuts; Strong Comeback for Arts Advocacy  

July 29, 2011

From: Thomas L. Birch, Legislative Counsel, National Assembly of State Arts Agencies 

The vote in the House of Representatives on July 28 demonstrated a strong victory for arts advocates intent on gaining legislative support for federal arts funding. The amendment offered by Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), a freshman in Congress and a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), would have reduced 2012 appropriations for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to $125 million from the level of $135 million proposed in the bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee. Walberg sponsored a similar amendment last February to bring 2011 NEA funds down to $125 million. That amendment passed by a vote of 217-209. Yesterday's vote, recorded at 181-240, defeated the Walberg amendment. 

This time around, the voting patterns noticeably shifted. Even some of our champions in Congress were surprised at the size of the winning vote. In February, 22 Republicans joined all but three Democrats in voting against the arts funding cut. This week, all Democrats and 55 Republicans voted together to defeat the move to reduce the NEA funds. Conservative Republicans teamed up with moderates from their own party to carry the vote. Almost half the Republicans voting in support of the NEA's budget and against the Walberg amendment are, like Walberg, freshmen in Congress and RSC members. 

Clearly, forces combined to win that outcome. The advocacy of NASAA's members was strong and engaged. Personal contacts carried the day. Our colleagues in other arts organizations were equally involved through their grass-roots networks. Our bipartisan champions in Congress stood visibly against the proposed funding cut. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID), chair of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, had pledged earlier to oppose attempts on the House floor to cut the NEA budget. He was true to his word and his Democratic colleague on the subcommittee, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), was eloquent on the floor in defense of federal arts funding. The co-chairs of the Congressional Arts Caucus played major roles during the floor debate. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) organized floor speeches with her colleagues to speak against the Walberg amendment. Rep. Todd Platts (R-PA) whipped votes against the amendment from among his Republican colleagues. 

Here are the 55 Republicans who voted to hold the line on cuts to the NEA, opposing the Walberg amendment. Each of them deserves special thanks. Please let your representatives know how much you appreciate their position in support of the NEA budget and the important role the funding plays in your state. 

Republicans voting against the Walberg amendment:  

--clip--

Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming. 

The House of Representatives plans to continue meeting through the weekend to finish work on the Interior Appropriations Bill—and to produce a plan for raising the debt ceiling—but their work is done on the arts appropriations.  

Many thanks again to all of you for your effective advocacy in turning around an important vote on the way to realizing the best possible budget for the NEA in 2012. Please take a moment to express your thanks to your own representatives who stood up in support of funding for the arts.

Thank you, Rep. Lummis. Don't get to say that very often.

Wyoming August night haiku

Dog nights of summer

So still outside my window

Distant barking dogs

Rural states will be hurt the most with arts cutbacks

Kansas

Wyoming

From today's article, "Arts outposts stung by cuts in state aid," in the New York Times:

...much of America’s artistic activity does not happen in major recital halls and theaters; instead it occurs in places like Lucas [KS], population 407, where the cultural attractions include S. P. Dinsmoor’s Garden of Eden historic folk art site and where smaller arts organizations are highly dependent on state grants. 

This is also true in Wyoming. The big differences between Wyoming and Kansas?

Well, Wyoming has a population of 550,000 while Kansas tips the people scale at 2,853,000 -- about five times the Equality State count.

Kansas is flat while Wyoming is anything but. Wyoming is more white than Kansas -- 91 percent to 83 percent. Way above the 50-state average of 72 percent.

One other thing. Wyoming funds the arts a lot better than does Kansas.

Wyoming Arts Council budget: $2.1 million ($1.3 million from the state legislature)

Kansas Arts Commission budget: zero.

Why the difference. Well, the Know Nothings on the Radical Christian Right have a firmer hold on Kansas than on Wyoming. Yes, we have kooky Tea Party types in our legislature. This most recent legislative session told us that. But we can't hold a candle to Kansas.

As do most states, Kansas has a split personality. You have your city liberals and your rural conservatives. But worse -- the state's southern half is part of the Bible Belt. Not only are they conservative. They're bat-shit crazy as is the case with so many on the literalist Radical Christian Right. Remember the battles over evolution (science) vs. creationism in the curriculum.

No Bible Belt in Wyoming. O.K., we have the LDS influence in southwest Wyoming. The most radical Right of the 2010 GOP gubernatorial candidates was Ron Micheli from Uinta County. He's indicative of the very conservative leanings of the state's LDS population.

Here's an irony for you though. Our neighbor Utah, home of the international LDS conglomerate, has the nation's oldest state arts agency, established in 1899. Wonderful ballet and symphony and arts education programs in the Beehive State. But most of the politics is conservative, even reactionary. State firearm anyone?

Wyoming, as a rule, has a live-and-let-live attitude. Not always -- Judy Shepard, Matt's mom, could attest to that. When conflicts arise over art and the funding of art, the battle can get pretty brutal. The Grand Poobahs of the state's oil and gas industry were none too pleased recently with Chris Drury's public installation at UW. Entitled "What Goes Around Comes Around," it illustrates the link between the burning of coal and forest pine beetle infestations caused by global warming. The controversy over the work began with an incendiary piece in the Casper Star-Tribune, raged around the blogs for a day or two, and then died. Perhaps our state's leaders were away fishing in the Wind Rivers or wrapped up in Cheyenne Frontier Days. The fooferaw died out and now Drury's sculpture is drawing lots of visitors.

The biodegradable piece, part of the UW Art Museum's outdoor sculpture project, was partially funded by a grant from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.

During these crazy times, Wyoming will not be immune from Radical Right attacks on art and arts funding. All gubment programs and all creativity will come under attack from these Know Nothings.

This leaves me with one final question: WTF is wrong with Kansas? With a little editing, this could be a book title.

House concerts catching on in Cheyenne

Casper musicians Amy Gieske and Cory McDaniel perform at a Cheyenne house concert Sunday evening. Cheyenne organizers snagged the duo on their way back to Casper from a fund-raiser for Habitat for Humanity in Albany County. House concerts are nothing new but catching on in Wyoming as a grassroots way to hear live music in an intimate setting.  Photo by Linda Coatney.

Putting Wyoming in charge of health insurance will work as well as putting Wyoming in charge of energy policy

From the New York Times:

The Obama administration will soon take over the review of health insurance rates in 10 states where it says state officials do not adequately regulate premiums for insurance sold to individuals or small businesses.

Wyoming, of course, is one of these states. Here's a quote on the subject from Sen. Dr. Barrasso:

Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, complained that federal officials were stripping states of the freedom to run their health insurance markets. 

“In Wyoming, state leaders have chosen to let the free market work,” Mr. Barrasso said, “ The president and his administration have no idea what is best for the people of Wyoming. The people of Wyoming know what works for our state better than any Washington bureaucrat.”

Imagine putting our Know Nothing, gubment-hating, Republican-dominated state legislature in charge of our health insurance choices? Sheer suicide. And Dr Barrasso knows this. Seems like he is suggesting assisted suicide for all Wyoming residents. More than suggesting it -- he's advocating it. Maybe this is better (with a nod to Rep. Alan Grayson during the Congressional health care debates): Hurry up and die, Wyomingites. Hurry up and die. 

FMI: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/health/policy/26health.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha23

Congressional Republicans just want to watch the world burn

From Meg Lanker . I know that Sen. Dr. Barrasso is in here somewhere with all these OWGs from the GOP.

Little nukes on the prairie: how our Air Force missileers are being trained

A slide from a PowerPoint presentation for nuclear missile officers cites St. Augustine's Just War Theory to teach missile officers about the morals and ethics of launching nuclear weapons. Image: United States Air Force. Re-posted from truthout.

Very interesting set of blog posts today for those of us who are neighbors to the many nuke missile silos that dot the Wyoming prairie.

The U.S. Air Force has pulled a missileer training course that enlists former Nazi Party member (and one of the architects of the U.S. space program) Wernher von Braun as a moral authority and leans heavily on the Bible (and St. Augustine) to justify throwing nukes at our neighbors.

Truthout broke the story and now notes today that the USAF has pulled the Powerpoint program. I was first alerted to the story by problembear at 4&20 blackbirds. This is appropriate since Montana and North Dakota and Wyoming are home to the majority of U.S. land-based nukes.

First read problembear, and then move on to truthout's original piece and today's follow-up.

And then go read The Confessions of St. Augustine (I read it in the eighth grade to little effect) and see what he has to say about throw weights and MAD and nuclear winter.

UPDATE: Read problembear's post and then spend time reading the incendiary comments. Yowzir!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Satirist Tom Lehrer's take on Wernher von Braun' opportunistic politics at http://youtu.be/TjDEsGZLbio

Do Leftie bloggers really hate Christians or their un-Christian attitudes?

Seems that I will always have material for weekend blogging as long as the local Radical Christian Right is on the job.

Harlan Edmonds wrote an op-ed in today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Mr. Edmonds has hit those pages before -- and hit them hard -- with screeds against abortion, Liberals, immigrants, RINOs -- you name it.

I don't mind screeds as I sometimes engage in those same tactics. But shouldn't they make sense or present some solid evidence for the Average Joe (or Mike) to latch onto.

His target is "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" day held Thursday at Cheyenne Frontier Days. On that day, burly dudes in pink wrestle steers and ride bucking broncos. In Thursday's parade, Gov. Matt Mead wore pink, as did Secretary of State Max Maxfield. Members of the CFD committee wore pink. This was a statement advocating increased funding for breast cancer research for all those women in our lives faced with the disease. The CFD's charity of choice on this issue is the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundations. Christian Right activists contend that some of the money donated to Komen MAY end up being donated to Planned Parenthood which MIGHT use it to counsel poor women to have abortions.

In the name of Christian purity, Mr. Edmonds and Mr. Wall contend that not a penny of our money should go to a wonderful charity which saves lives and will some day help to find a cure for women afflicted with breast cancer. They may be our wives or daughters or co-workers or someone we don't even know.

How very un-Christian of you Christian gentlemen.

But that's not the point, is it? Mr.. Edmonds will believe what he believes and logic will not shake him. He spends most of his column with ad hominem attacks local Christian minister and fellow Leftie blogger Rodger McDaniel. Mr. Edmonds says that the Rev. McDaniel "managed to squeeze more anti-Christian bigotry into a single WTE piece recently than Mullah Omar could fit in a four-hour fatwa."

I always like it when Christian fundamentalists try to equate Lefties with Muslim fundamentalists. As we all know, Fundies of all stripes believe in the same basic philosophy -- literalism. This is one of the reasons that some of my fellow Leftie bloggers label the American Christian Right "the American Taliban."

And I just did the same thing. Oops!

Lefties have learned a few things during the past 40 yars or so. Literalism is a dead end, whether it applies to the Bible or to The Communist Manifesto, the Koran or Mao's Little Red Book, the Book of Mormon or The Port Huron Statement. Living your life by the tenets of one little book penned by humans (and possibly inspired by God) eventually backs you into a corner.

It's also un-democratic (small "d"). The humanist principles upon which America was founded call upon citizens to continue to continually think and grow. Fundies, by nature, reach a dead end in their personal growth. All they are left with is a striving toward the End Times and eternal salvation. The hell with society. The hell with my fellow man and human. The hell with cancer cures and global arming solutions and universal health care.

In the end, they are anti-life.

In its efforts to aid humankind, CFD advocates life over death. I have a feeling that there are a few Christians within the CFD leadership ranks. And you can't swing a cat at a rodeo without knocking down a Christian cowboy or cowgirl. I know because I tried that last year and burly security guards wearing pink threw me out of the rodeo grounds.

SECURITY GUARD: "We don't cotton to your kind around here."
ME: "Leftie bloggers?"
SECURITY GUARD: "No, guys who swing cats."

I left, chastened.

Another thing I've noticed about fundamentalists, whether they be Mullah Omar or Harlan Edmonds -- they have no sense of humor.

I strive for humor and sometimes succeed. Maybe that's why I was inspired to wear pink fairy wings during my turn as emcee Thursday evening at the Atlas Theatre's old-fashioned melodrama. The pink wings looked great with my cowboy duds. "Tough enough to wear pink fairy wings!"

Take that, you close-minded fundies.

UPLIFT hosts big yard/parking lot sale Aug. 6 in Cheyenne

On Saturday, Aug. 6, 8 a.m.-noon., UPLIFT of Wyoming is holding its Cheyenne Yard Sale in the parking lot of the Oregon Trail Bank on the corner of College Drive and Lincolnway. Lots of goods for sale. Prizes, and a car wash too. This is UPLIFT"s big fund-raiser for 2011. I've been a board member of this very active non-profit organization since 1998. UPLIFT's mission: "Encouraging success and stability for children and youth with or at risk of emotional, behavioral, learning, developmental, or physical disorders at home, school and in the community." A tall order, considering the huge needs in this very rural state of 97,000 square miles. UPLIFT has offices statewide and, in the past six months, its small staff has assisted 576 youth in 21 counties. Those are kids that would fall through the cracks if it wasn't for UPLIFT services funded by state and federal government agencies and donations from good people like you. A true public-private partnership. Come to this yard/parking lot sale or donate online at http://www.upliftwy.org.

America's own Taliban -- Al Jazeera English

We have some of these strange people in Wyoming. They advocate the destruction of Native American religious artifacts. Go to America's own Taliban - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Don't be a Know Nothing -- Read!

From Shelf Awareness:

For Banned Books Week, which will be held September 24-October 1 this year, readers, booksellers and librarians around the world can participate by posting videos of themselves reading from their favorite banned books on a special YouTube channel. Excerpts may be up to two minutes long, and people who talk about battles defending banned or challenged books make speak for up to three minutes. 

The American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression is encouraging booksellers to film their customers as part of this effort and will provide instruction on how to create the videos. Booksellers can send the videos to ABBFE, which will edit them, add store names and logos and post them. The videos will be tagged so that stores can put them on their websites, blogs, Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. 

ABFFE is also helping booksellers participate in more traditional ways: its Banned Books Week handbook offers tips on promotions, including making displays, as well as listing posters that can be downloaded and reproduced at copy shops. The American Library Association has promotional information, too.

Oregon tests "solar highways"

So Oregon, which has about half of the average annual sunlight as Wyoming, is turning one stretch of interstate into a "solar highway." You might wonder why Wyoming can't do something that Oregon can. For one thing, Wyoming produces most of its and the nation's energy the old-fashioned way, by burning coal. The coal and oil and gas lobbies would never stand for it. Second, Wyoming is running out of highway funds, so it is concentrating its road efforts more on patching the holes than on rebuilding infrastructure or trying new things. Third, Oregon's a blue state with progressive environmental policies and Wyoming isn't. Maybe Colorado, another sun-drenched Rocky Mountain state, will pick up on this idea.

From Grist:

Okay, we know YOU ride your bike everywhere. But the country’s 4 million miles of roads, and 50,000 miles of interstate highway, probably aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Isn’t there anything productive we can do with this giant car playground? Well, we can cover it with solar photovoltaic panels, so it’s at least providing some energy.

Oregon's already testing the idea, installing panel arrays along highway shoulders. Others want to embed the solar panels directly into the road surface, and have already received funding to test the idea. California wants to try it along parts of Route 101. 

 If you think about it, roads are a perfect place to put solar: They're already public land, they've already been cleared and graded, they're adjacent to infrastructure like towns and power lines, and they're super accessible for repair and upgrades. Also, they’re already sitting out in the sun all day. 

Poll: More trust Obama over Republicans in Congress on debt, deficit issues

Listen up, Wyoming Sen./Dr. John Barrasso and Sen. Mike Enzi -- the clock is ticking on your Radical Right agenda: Poll: More trust Obama over Republicans in Congress on debt, deficit issues - The Hill's On The Money

Vertical Harvest @ The Roof in Jackson

Very cool project to build a vertical greenhouse  on the south side of the downtown parking garage in Jackson. The big launch is Thursday, July 28, on the top floor of the garage. Lots of local food and music and beer from the good folks at the Thai Me Up Brewery. Try the Brother Ted Dubbel or the Dopplebock. FMI: http://verticalharvest.wordpress.com/.  

Defy the Hate Open Shoot, Frontier Days version, takes place July 27 at Atlas Theatre

Defy the Hate Open Shoot will be held on Wednesday, July 27, 1-5 p.m., at the Historic Atlas Theatre in downtown Cheyenne. Celebrate Cheyenne Day in a slightly different way by making a statement. First get shot, then go party. While at the Atlas, you can buy tickets for the Old-Fashioned Summer Melodrama.

Here’s info from Matthew Angelo:

It is that time of year for Cheyenne Frontier Days. So in honor of that, we need you to Cowboy Up and make a stand against bullying and hate, but with a western twist. That's right, break out the Wranglers, white t-shirt, and yes the cowboy hat (not a requirement). Let’s show the tourists who come to Cheyenne, that Wyoming won't sit back and let their kids be bullied or hated in any way. 

Roy Zimmerman offers a satirical antidote to Red State weirdness with a Sept. 1 Cheyenne concert

The Unitarian Universalist Church in Cheyenne hosts Roy Zimmerman on Thursday, September 1 at 7 p.m. Below is some information about Roy and there is much more on YouTube or his web site.

“Live From the Starving Ear” is 90 minutes of Roy Zimmerman’s wickedly inventive satirical songs.  The Tea Party, the economy, same-sex marriage, Socialism, Creationism, guns, taxes, abstinence and yes, Obama, all come under tuneful scrutiny. “There’s a whole new political landscape,” he says, “painted by Jackson Pollock.”

In twelve albums over twenty years, Roy has brought the sting of satire to the struggle for Peace and Social Justice.  His songs have been heard on HBO and Showtime.  He has recorded for Warner/Reprise Records.  He’s been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and he's a featured blogger for the Huffington Post.  Roy’s YouTube videos have garnered over six million views and tens of thousands of comments, many of them coherent.  And yes, he has a website: http://royzimmerman.com/

The Los Angeles Times says, “Zimmerman displays a lacerating wit and keen awareness of society’s foibles that bring to mind a latter-day Tom Lehrer.”

Tom Lehrer himself says, "I congratulate Roy Zimmerman on reintroducing literacy to comedy songs. And the rhymes actually rhyme, they don't just 'rhyne.'"

Joni Mitchell says, "Roy's lyrics move beyond poetry and achieve perfection."

Watch one of Roy's YouTube videos at http://youtu.be/qNi1sevKNd0

Daily Kos: A New Literary Movement from the Mountain West (And Why it Matters)

Posted yesterday by nonnyidaho at Daily Kos was this intriguing piece about a new artistic movement taking root in eastern Idaho and northeren Utah. Using the name "Parkwood Kind" after "Parkwood Acres" near Rigby, Idaho, these young people are abandoning their LDS upbringings to explore Buddhism and Liberal politics. Their explorations come in the form of poetry and music.

...by using the medium of art, and by appealing to the humanity (not the ideology) of those willing to listen to them. The Parkwood Kind is relevant today because their approach to this polarized political atmosphere could teach all of America a lesson. They are preaching a revolutionary concept: following our own consciences, despite the political or ideological repercussions.  And their consciences, as expressed in their works, are most often proponents of a progressive, environmentally friendly society where individualism, sustainability, and equality are supreme.

Haven't read or listened to the work yet so can't speak to that. But it's always good to spread the word about something positive coming out of the usual depressing dreck that issues from the Tea Party-influenced neighborhood of ID/UT/WY. My neighborhood.

Go to: Unlikely Generation: A New Literary Movement from the Mountain West (And Why it Matters)

Cheyenne's people are not exactly retiring types

Typical Cheyenne volunteers

In my previous post, I was a bit unfair to both AARP The Magazine and Cheyenne The City. Cheyenne is a great town with many amenities. Yes, it has low taxes, which makes many retirees happy. But it also has the 115-year history of Cheyenne Frontier Days, not only a Western tradition but one that depends almost entirely on volunteers.

Not every century-old event can say this.

I am a volunteer at the Old-Fashioned Melodrama, now in its 55th season. It's the summer offering of the Cheyenne Little Theatre Players, now in its 85th year. Easterners used to counting events and buildings and neighborhoods in centuries might scoff at the idea of anything in two figures being a tradition.

But just think about how tough it is to get an organization up and running -- and then to keep it running. I've been a member of organizations that have disappeared after a decade. I've participated in events that start with a bang but end with a whimper a few years later.

So, a 55-year-old volunteer-run event is a thing of beauty.

Yesterday evening, my wife Chris and I were part of a melodrama volunteer corps at the Historic Atlas Theatre. I was house manager and Chris ran the box office. Jim the retiree and Lexie the high school girl ran the concessions. An Air Force retiree and an attorney and a computer guy staffed the bar. Carol ran the 50/50 raffle table. She took a tumble recently and is using a walker. There is nothing on heaven or earth that will interfere with Carol's volunteer time at the melodrama. That includes cancer, which she's been battling bravely for years.

The sheriff is a high school teacher who also coaches the speech-and-debate team. His deputy is a Cheyenne native, brilliant actor and waiter at a local bistro. Jim the emcee works for the state and Jenny the card girl work full time and also is in the melodrama cast. Cast members are teachers and students and entrepreneurs and government employees. All volunteers.

That's what it takes the make this big event work. We represent only a few of the many hundreds who run the parades and night shows and rodeos and pancake breakfasts. We get a lot of fun and satisfaction from our activities. Hey -- CFD is one cool party. But civic pride is also at work. Speaking of work, our police and sanitation workers and firefighters and EMTs all work over time during this ten-day period. And some, in their very spare spare time, volunteer for other things. Officer Colby White is on stage every other summer as a melodrama emcee. There are many others.

Takes more than no income tax and low taxes and conservative politics to make a city appealing to young people and retirees alike.

It takes people who care.

Baby Boomers are juvenile to think that low taxes make for a great retirement

Cheyenne Frontier Days

AARP The Magazine has named Cheyenne one of the ten most livable cities in the U.S.

This could be seen as a compliment. Until you examine AARP's criteria.

"Cheyenne meets many of the criteria for what Baby Boomers are looking for in a place to live."

What are those criteria? Great coffee? Lots of arts and entertainment venues? Fantastic restaurants? Lifelong education venues? Community service opportunities?

No. They are:

Low cost of living.
No state income tax.
No tax on pensions.
Low sales tax.
One of the lowest property taxes in the nation.

What is this, St. Petersburg, Fla., in the 1960s? Really? Low taxes, early-bird buffets and 24-hour shuffleboard?

I am a Baby Boomer in good standing. Born in 1950. I am looking forward to retirement in a few years. But what kind of retirement?

For one thing, I'm going to get as far away from golf courses as possible. And Republican golfers. I have nothing against either. But the lowest circle of hell is reserved for people whose only conversational topic is golf. If I knew that my final years would be spent with golfers, I would request an immediate execution.

My guess is that we've moved beyond golf and shuffleboard and even retirement communities when we talk about retirement.

Here's what I'm going to do in retirement. Read every day. Write every day. Grow some of my own food. Work for the arts, either as a volunteer, a grant writer or an event coordinator. Spend time with my wife and my kids and maybe (some time in the future) my grandkids. Think about the future. Talk to young people about the future. Drink good beer.

And when I complain about the gubment, have some suggestions about how the gubment can do things better.

I think that it's juvenile to be a senior citizen depending on Social Security and Medicare and other retirement income but pining for a place with low taxes. Juvenile and stupid.

"Red Hawaii" for Wyoming state legislators

Wyoming legislators are off to Hawaii!

I'm not one to begrudge anyone a business trip to the Aloha State. I've been looking for a Hawaii junket for decades but just haven't been in the right place at the right time with the right budget.

This morning's Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle reported that one-third of the state's legislators will be attending the Council of State Governments-West Conference in Hawaii. One-third of 90 is 30. There are 14 Democrats so I estimate that as many as five Dems will accompany 25 Republicans. Let's hope my political party is not being cut out of the surf-sand-and-suds action.

I agree with Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, when he says this:

"They are a beneficial way to talk with other state legislators and find out what is happening in their states. You can't do anything in a vacuum."

Sen. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, said that out-of-state

"conferences allow state leaders to share ideas, such as successful legislation, and develop regional partnerships."

Attending national gatherings is crucial for people working in a rural state such as Wyoming. We need to compare notes with our peers. They, in turn, often need to hear from us about what works successfully in Wyoming. This exchange of ideas is healthy for everyone. You could also file it under the heading of "professional development." Each job carries with it room for improvement. Judging by the most recent legislative session, there is plenty of room for improvement.

Which brings me to my point. The Governor's office has requested cuts in state employee travel budgets. State employees have been told that in-state travel must be crucial for their jobs. As for out-of-state travel, well, that must be beyond crucial into absolutely g-d necessary. Even then, much paperwork must be submitted and special dispensations requested.

Meanwhile, our state legislators are hitting the beach at Waikiki.

Something doesn't add up.

Grants Farms Store celebrates 30 fruitful (and veggieful) years in Cheyenne

My daughter has worked at the Grant Farms Store in Cheyenne and I have purchased many of my seedlings and seeds there. Great place. Happy birthday:

Thirty years ago in early August, Andy Grant opened this store to sell the veggies from the farm. The store has evolved over the last 30 years and is now a beautifully eclectic home and garden store with bedding plants and some of the most beautiful flowers out there! 

Come out on August 6 from 10-7 p.m. to celebrate with us. Entrance is free. There will be music, dancing, food, beverages, and good times for all!

2120 East Lincolnway
Cheyenne Wyoming
(307) 635-2676
August 6th
10:00AM-7:00PM 

Call for Talent
Do you have a band, or know of someone you would love to see play at our 30th Anniversary Celebration? Email amy@grantfarms.com.

We look forward to seeing you there!

President Obama declares a "major disaster" in Wyoming due to flooding

File under "That Darn Federal Gubment:"

President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in Wyoming because of spring and summer flooding.

The action means the federal government will help the state pay for costs incurred from damaged roads, highways and other infrastructure.

Seven people have died in Wyoming this spring and summer in waters running high from heavy rain and melting record snowpack.

The state's response included deploying Wyoming National Guard members and low-risk prison inmates to several areas around the state to help fight flooding.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has estimated damage to public infrastructure at $4.2 million. The number is expected to go higher. Agriculture losses are being assessed separately.

Rivers and streams continue to run high throughout most of the state.

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9dd67751-8c60-5aaf-9028-c4454b042d93.html#ixzz1Su4f2KDg

Wyomingarts on the road this week to take the pulse of the state's art scene

My pal, Wyomingarts, is on the road this week taking the pulse of the state's arts scene. Go here to read His/Her/Its communique from Jackson at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2011/07/suzanne-morlocks-work-is-popd-from.html. Pinedale at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2011/07/must-be-something-in-that-sublette.html

Ligorano/Reese "temporary monument" illustrates plight of the melting middle class

On June 18, 2011 artists Ligorano/Reese presented a temporary monument in the garden of Jim Kempner Fine Art in NYC called "Morning In America." The installation was witnessed by hundreds and lasted a total of 8 hours throughout the hot day.

...A THOUSAND CUTS is a timelapse video of the event. The soundtrack was inspired by an excerpt from Senator Bernie Sanders 8 hour filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor against the extension of the Bush tax cuts and the effects on the middle class. It is orchestrated to music by composer/violinist Michael Galasso.

Special Thanks
Dru Arstark, Anthony Caputo, Dan Walworth, Okamoto Studio, Postworks NY

The entire text of Senator Sanders speech is available as a book, published by Nation Books, The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class,

For more information about Michael Galasso's music and soundtrackshttp://michaelgalasso.com.

For more information on the artists, see http://ligoranoreese.net

This video is licensed under Creative Commons,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Thanks to Brooklyn artist Nancy Bowen for tipping me off to this project.

Richard Wall urges CFD to return to its morally pure past

As promised, local Radical Right activist Richard Wall blessed us with the second of two columns today in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

Some promises really should be broken.

He hammers away at Cheynne Frontier Days for its links with the Susan. G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

He doesn't think that CFD cowboys and cowgirls are "tough enough to wear pink."

In the course of his 750-some words, Wall provides not a shred of evidence that Komen supports abortion services through Planned Parenthood or embryonic stem cell research.

"Some local residents have defended the CFD-Komen link by saying that no money from our rodeo has gone to Planned Parenthood or embryonic stem cell research. 

"But even if true, that fact is irrelevant. Cheyenne's local Komen group still is affiliated with the larger Komen organization."

That's the problem with moral purity as practiced by Wall and others of his ilk. If the facts don't fit, call them irrelevant or just make them up. This, of course, will satisfy his followers who get their world-view from Morally Pure Rupert Murdoch's Fox News and/or Tea Part rallies.

Rumor has it that Mr. Wall plans to run for the state legislature in 2012. If so, he will be answering the call by anti-abortion group WyWatch to purge the RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) from the Wyoming Legislature, those representatives of the people who did what the people asked and voted down bills that would force pregnant women to watch videos of their fetuses before going through with the procedure. Another morally pure bill would have enforced biases against married LGBT citizens. Even my freshman Republican state senator voted against the governmental intrusion authorized by these bills.

One more clue that Mr. Wall is more motivated by Radical Right political purity than factual accuracy: Obamacare. You only have to say it once to prejudice yourself, Mr. Wall. It's called the Affordable Care Act. Maybe you didn't research this part of your presentation. You can do that here.

On the same op-ed page today is long-time Wyoming newspaperman and columnist Bill Sniffin. Mr. Sniffin is a moderate Republican from Lander. He once ran for governor. In the long run, common-sense moderate Republicans such as Sniffin and Sue Wallis and Cale Case and Al Simpson will determine the future of Wyoming. Democrats won't be able to do it in my lifetime -- they are too few and too disorganized. That hasn't stopped us -- and the Dem 14 in the legislature -- from plugging away.

One thing that Democrats can do is speak out loudly and strongly when they see Wyoming principles being sacrificed. We can also ally ourselves with sensible legislators, no matter the political party. And we can write letters to the editors. Lots and lots of letters to the editor. People like me and you still read newspapers.

BTW: Great op-ed page today WTE. Wall, Sniffin, Rodger McDaniel, funny editorial cartoon and a great staff editorial calling on the City Council to grant one of its available liquor licenses to a downtown establishment, notably the Cheyenne Depot Museum. It says that retail liquor license,s the most valuable variety at the city's disposal, "be used as tools for economic development." Since a vibrant downtown is crucial to the city's future, one of these licenses needs to go downtown.

Let 'em buck -- but don't dress 'em in pink!

Local Radical Right scold Richard Wall writes an op-ed in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

What is Richard incensed about now, you might ask?

I already knew, since his anti-Susan G. Komen letter to the CFD has been circulating for a week. It was first illuminated among the local blogosphere by the always-alert Jeran Artery at Out in Wyoming.

Mr. Wall's op-ed skills are quite good. He takes his time working himself into a lather over the real message. Condom posters in Frontier Park restrooms! Public drunkenness! Scantily clad photos of Miss Frontier and her Lady in Waiting! Dogs and cats, living together!

Forget the last one. I just had a "Ghostbusters" flashback.

Wall's main target is the relationship between Cheyenne Frontier Days, "The Daddy of 'Em All," and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. CFD works with Komen to promote the fight against breast cancer. To that end, Thursday's CFD activities carry to motto "Tough Enough to Wear Pink."

There were lots of cowboys and cowgirls wearing pink for cancer research the last time I attended the CFD rodeo. They looked pretty tough to me riding buckin' broncs and racing steeds around barrels at breakneck speeds.

Wall objects to Komen's alleged ties with Planned Parenthood and stem cell research. He contends that "25 percent of the money raised by its local affiliate go to Komen's national offices, which permits or takes part in these abuses." He is not clear what those abuses are, but he does say that it involves those "who respect all human life... must steer a wide berth around the Komen organization."

"Respect human life?" Code words for the anti-abortion movement. When they say "all human life," they mean "fetuses."  Once that fetus is actually born, they wash their hands of its fate unless its 80 years later and that sick and aging person is on life support (like Terry Schiavo) and should never be taken off to end the suffering.

These same people support the death penalty and pointless wars that kills innocent civilians including pregnant mothers and their fetuses. They also want to do away with the government's social safety net that prevents starvation in mothers and children. Every sperm is sacred!

They don't like gays either, dressed in pink or not.

How I do go on.

Please read Mr. Wall's screed and let CFD know that they shouldn't cave in to to the Radical Right, especially when our 115-year-old tradition carries such a proud legacy of supporting local causes.

O.K., CFD isn't perfect, especially if you're a vegan or a PETA member or Sheryl Crow or you just don't like mainstream country music. But if we're going to apply a purity test to CFD or any of our organizations, none will come up smelling like a rose. We Lefties are goofy on this too. We have shows such as "Portlandia" and numerous blogs to remind us how strangely human we all are.

Wall is human so give him a break, eh? I would, but he's attempting to insert his narrow-minded agenda into a place where it doesn't belong. Let him talk and write op-eds. But let's not let him bully our CFD.

Some dirty deeds afoot this summer at the Old-Fashioned Melodrama in Cheyenne

"Dirty Deeds at the Depot" is the Cheyenne Old-Fashioned Melodrama for this year.

Cheyenne Little Theatre presents the 55th Annual Old-Fashioned Melodrama with "Dirty Deeds at the Depot." Return to the glory days of the Depot with our Heroine, Lacie Camisole, the dastardly Professor Thaddeus Mack and the kind Station Master, Justin Tyme. Enjoy a taste of the old west with CLTP!

Produced in cooperation with www.heroandvillian.com

Directed by Barb Jalonen

Atlas Theatre

July 14-17, 2011 @  7:00 p.m.

(Frontier Days) July 21-23, 25-30 2011 @ 7:00 p.m. & 9:00 p.m., July 24 & 31, 2011 @ 7:00 p.m.

August 4-7, 2011 @ 7:00 p.m.

I write about this event because I'm a volunteer, both in the front of the house and on stage. On Saturday, I will be the show's emcee while my wife Chris works the box office. Summers in Cheyenne are made for volunteering and many people do just that. Hundreds of them. Many of them serve as ushers and parade marshals and clean-up crew for Cheyenne Frontier Days. Others are emcees or olio entertainers or barkeeps for the melodrama. Pick your poison -- lots to do, and much fun to be had.

In reality, it takes hundreds and maybe thousands of people to make a city work. It takes everyone.

Question of the day: "Has the G.O.P. gone insane?"

From Paul Krugman's excellent column in yesterday's NYT:

A number of commentators seem shocked at how unreasonable Republicans are being. “Has the G.O.P. gone insane?” they ask.

Why, yes, it has. But this isn’t something that just happened, it’s the culmination of a process that has been going on for decades. Anyone surprised by the extremism and irresponsibility now on display either hasn’t been paying attention, or has been deliberately turning a blind eye.

Republicans want to get back to the imaginary past as fast as possible

WY Rep. Cynthia Lummis? Thanks to my pal Meg at Cognitive Dissonance for sharing this image

Not nice to fool Mother Nature -- or the Internet

On Monday, I was musing about my garden and telling you folks out home about my wonderful high plains strawberries. I ended the post with this: "Now if we can just keep the hail at bay..."

You know what happened on Tuesday. A torrent of golfball-sized hail destroyed gardens and roofs and cars. Nobody hurt, thank goodness.

Except for the strawberries. They were shredded. I have a few plants with leaves and blossoms remaining. I plucked a half-dozen ripe fruits from the wreckage. As I surveyed the carnage, I thought about how it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. Or tempt her with a hail challenge.

Maybe it was the Internet's fault. Perhaps we have underestimated its power.

From now on, this blog will only spell out things like h-a-i-l and t-o-r-n-a-d-o.

Art Design & Dine adds a creative jolt to downtown Cheyenne

The Art Design & Dine Art Tour happens tomorrow evening, Thursday, July 14, 5-8 p.m., in Cheyenne.

During this very fine local event, art venues open their doors to anyone interested in browsing and possibly buying art in a friendly atmosphere.

Participating galleries:

Participating food venues include Suite 1901, the Laramie County Public Library Cafe and Ruby Juice.

AD&D is two years old now and getting better all the time. Some great shows for July, including:

Clay Paper Scissors presents watercolors, prints, two kinds each of ceramics and tote bags! This show features Amy Misle, Amy Iribarren, Kandice Starbuck, K.K. Hamblin, Meggan Stordahl and Steve Schrepferman!

This month will feature live music and literature at two locations:

The Fiddlers on the Range (the Bob Mathews family fiddlers) will be at DeSelms Fine Art from 6-7:30 p.m and local writer Mike Shay (that's me) and will be at Clay Paper Scissors Gallery & Studio from 5-6 p.m. I will read excerpts from my work. I rehearsed with my ukelele accompanist Linda Coatney Tuesday night but, on Wednesday, she was called out of town on a family emergency. She will be replaced with a hologram.

It's a little unusual to stage a reading in a locale where everyone is coming and going. But I will come up with something appropriate.

Thanks to the Cheyenne Arts Council for providing the entertainment. More performances will enliven future AD&D events. AD&D provides another jolt of energy and creativity to downtown Cheyenne. The Lights On! Project is providing another needed jolt to downtown, so is the new construction. And a big welcome to the Morris House Bistro and its Carolina Low County Cuisine. Can't have enough innovative eateries in the downtown area.

Don't forget that the Cheyenne Old-Fashioned Summer Melodrama launches its 2011 season Thursday night. My wife Chris and I will be volunteering at the Atlas Theatre. Come on down, buy a ticket and prepare to be interactively entertained. We have beer too!

Real Dems Are Kicking It in WI: See Ya'll Aug 9th: There Is Nothing So Winning As Winning!

Real Democrats beat Fake Democrats in Wisconsin! Another step along the road to getting rid of the Know Nothings (talking about you, Scott Walker!) who have attempted to ruin The Badger State with their Radical Right (and corporate-funded) agenda. From my pals at Daily Kos: Real Dems Are Kicking It in WI: See Ya'll Aug 9th: There Is Nothing So Winning As Winning! For on-the-ground reports from WI progressive bloggers, go to http://www.bluecheddar.net/ or http://democurmudgeon.blogspot.com/. These bloggers are making a difference in the fate of their state.

NEA"s "Our Town" grants supports creativity in our towns

Artist's rendering of Casper's Sunshine II development that will include an arts space for resident and neighbors

Here's a whole lot of creative placemaking that will be supported by almost $7 million in "Our Town" grants from the National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.arts.gov/grants/recent/11grants/Our-Town.html

One of those is a $50,000 grant for Casper to develop a public art space alongside the 26-unit Sunshine Apartments II development now under construction. The site is across from the Nicolaysen Art Museum and just west of where the now-demolished KC Apartments were located. Some of you may remember the rundown KC Apartments as a slumlord-run blight on the neighborhood that mercifully was closed down by the city and then demolished.    

The new Sunshine II low-income development feature LEED-certified buildings and now an arts space. 

Project organizers envision the space as a gathering spot for apartment residents and the surrounding community. The museum also intends to create educational and outreach programs for the site. 

“It’s part and parcel with a whole mindset or plan for downtown Casper on how to integrate arts with our everyday lives,” said museum Curator Lisa Hatchadoorian. 

--clip--

Hatchadoorian isn’t aware of any other public art spaces in Wyoming tied to low-income housing. Organizers hope their project will encourage similar efforts in other parts of the state.

“It’s a community-building experience,” she said. “A lot of times, when you have a public art space where people can interact, it just brings everyone ... it makes the community more available to each other. It just makes a better place to live.”

Read more: http://trib.com/news/local/casper/article_b59063b2-7991-51f2-8698-204d1b7b01fc.html#ixzz1RxrMkUst

Another one of the NEA's "Our Town" grants goes to a neat "arts incubator" project just down the road from Cheyenne in Fort Collins, Colo.:

To support the creation of the Rocky Mountain Regional Arts Incubator (RMRAI) in the historic Carnegie building in downtown Fort Collins. The RMRAI will offer students and professionals a multitude of services to assist them in creating, redefining, and sustaining their creative careers in the new economy, including educational courses, internships, continuing education for practicing artists, and gallery and performance spaces.

The project is a collaboration among the non-profit Beet Street, the City of Fort Collins Cultural Services Department and the Colorado State University School of the Arts. The incubator will be located in the Carnegie Building in the city's Library Park.

The Beet Street web site doesn't say, but the org's name probably trades on Fort Collins' aggie reputation, namely its years as a center of sugar beet production. CSU got its start as Colorado A&M, home of a fantastic veterinary school and lots of farming and ranching courses. That's what the big "A" up on the mountain stands for. CSU grew into a place where the arts shared a campus with the aggie arts. What's interesting is that the university (my alma mater) now is investing heavily in green technology and sustainable agriculture, putting the A&M back into the name in new and interesting ways.

Every act of creativity negates an attempt to send humankind back to the Dark Ages

I am always astonished at the many ways people find to be creative.

Building bicycles that make smoothies, to name one small thing. I reported in early June about the "Upcycling 101" festival held in Casper. Local Gen-Y artist, performer and entrepreneur Betsy Bower transformed a cast-off kid's bike into a conveyance that also makes smoothies. She mounted a blender on a wooden platform on the rear bumper, ran a vertical axle to to the top of the rear tire, which drove the blender and made smoothies. Betsy also is taking old bikes and making them new with skills she learned at her father's welding business. Read the full post at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2011/06/recycling-and-creativity-on-display-at.html

Meanwhile, our two Republican U.S, senators push for a "Save the Edison Light Bulb" bill that would negate energy-saving standards. What's the expression -- don't try to force your past on my future? Our Republican leaders want to turn back the clock and send us back to the horse-and-buggy days. One of these senators is younger than this blogger. Shame on you, college-educated Dr. Sen. John Barrasso, party hack.

So many innovative ideas out there powered by innovative thinkers.

This comes from Grist:

Passengers using a newly retrofitted light-rail station in downtown Phoenix, Ariz., can press a button to be showered in cool air, powered by solar energy and cold water from an efficient district cooling system. The system, which was inspired by similar installations in Dubai, uses solar power to run fans that blow cool air. The cool air itself comes from a system of chilled water that has been running in Phoenix's business district since 2001. It's called district cooling: A central plant run by NRG Thermal cools the water, which is then piped to nearby buildings to be used in lieu of less-efficient conventional air-conditioning systems. Car-free transport, distributed solar power, and district energy: It’s a triple play worthy of the Scandinavians, only it's happening in what would otherwise seem to be one of America's least sustainable cities. What is it about extreme conditions that turns desert communities [such as Phoenix and El Paso]  into hotbeds of efficiency and innovation?

So many other examples. I'll share them as I come across them, with an emphasis on Wyoming and the West, especially the big red states with regressive leaders. You know who you are.

Here's another example, this by British land artist Chris Drury and his new installation at UW in Laramie: http://uwartmuseum.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-sculpture-installation-for.html

High Plains gardening is a waiting game

Ogallala strawberries (mine kind of look like these)

Something to say about picking fresh Ogallala and Quinalt strawberries in the garden, combining them with a handful of fresh mint, and passing this around to your guests.

Hand-picked dessert.

Washed down with an Old Belgium Ranger IPA. A Belgian White like White Rascal, the one made by Avery of Boulder, might be better -- maybe even a red wine. But I don't know my wines like I know my beers.

The garden grows well. Tomatoes appearing on the vine and they'll be ripening eventually. Lettuce and rocket and spinach galore. Wait for the rest. That's what high-plains gardeners do a lot of -- waiting.

I'm a gardener in training, spending every summer learning more about what grows best. I'm also nurturing my soil with lots of compost -- can't have too much of that. Soon my soil will be comparable to those in the more hospitable growing climes, places like eastern Iowa and Missouri. I'll live so long...

The rains have been a Godsend but my garden needs a bit more hot days to really produce. That's what we lack -- long, hot days for the tomatoes and beans and squash. I wither under that kind of heat but mid-summer garden veggies thrive.

Now if we can just keep the hail at bay...