Slammin' on a Cheyenne Saturday night

So many things to choose from last night during Cheyenne’s first warm-and-sunny spring weekend. The Ozymandian Theater –"Wyoming’s only improv comedy group" – was on stage at the Atlas downtown conducting a fund-raiser for the historic theatre’s $5 million renovation. The Wyoming Brewers Festival was on tap a block away on the Depot Plaza. At the Civic Center, Hands in Harmony gave a "thank you" concert for all those people and organizations who contributed to a recent emergency fund drive. At the mall multiplex, The Incredible Hulk was getting incredibly angry about something.

Over at the library, we were slammin’. Two performance poets from Denver’s 2006 national champion Poetry Slam team – Ken Arkind and Panama Soweto – took turns on stage with two of Laramie’s finest – Craig Arnold, a poetry professor at the University of Wyoming and winner of the Rome Prize Fellowship in literature, and Luke Stricker, a recent graduate of the UW MFA program and organizer of poetry slams in Laramie.

Saturday's event was part of the Wyoming Humanities Council’s summer program paying tribute to the beatniks. This was the final stop on a Wyoming mini-tour that included Casper, Lusk and Cheyenne.

Arkind and Soweto have been performing together for several years. Arkind’s a skinny long-haired white guy who wears John Lennon specs. Soweto’s a lanky black guy with a buzz cut who wore a "Where the Wild Things Are" T-shirt. The two perform as a duo (bought their CD, "The Dynamic Duo") and separately. The evening really caught fire when they launched into their performance piece "Uhuru," which they’ve performed at Red Rocks and on Denver radio. They warned the 30-some audience members that this was the "political part of their program." "Stand up," was the refrain. By the end of the piece, they had us all standing up. "Uhuru!"

I kept wondering: "How did this one go down in Lusk?"

Arkind and Soweto describe themselves as nerds, guys who spent their youth not getting dates but playing endless rounds of video games. Arkind had a poem, "Life is Like Mario Brothers," which received big cheers from the teens and twenty-somethings. I made a note to buy this CD for my 23-year-old nerdy son, who still stays up late playing the games he grew up on – and some new ones, too.

The duo performed together on another gamer piece. It’s possible our generation misjudged all of our pimply-faced gamers who spent too much time in the basement in front of the TV console. These guys are fine performers. Nerds gone public. What caused them to jump from their musty confines of youth and jump onto stage. Politics? Maturity? Love of the spoken word? Maybe all of those things. My son, Kevin, also loves the stage. Last year, he and his girlfriend were in the Euripides’ play, "Electra." Maybe it was the role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons that bit them with the performing bug.

After the talented people performed, the rest of us were enlisted in a "haiku slam." We were challenged to write haiku based on a random idea shouted from the audience. You’ve seen this done in improv on "Whose Line is It, Anyway." The five competitors (including me, representing the AARP set) had five minutes to write a poem. Five judges gave us scores, as we were vying for some very exciting prizes that Craig Arnold found at garage sales and in his basement.

First haiku theme was "wood." I scored pretty low on that one. Next was "the circus." I immediately got an image of George Bush, so I had to run with it. Here’s my haiku:

George Bush, ringmaster
sticks head into lion’s mouth;
we cheer the lion

I received a 10 from one judge, nine-point-somethings from three others. A guy my age named Chris said, "I can tell I’m in a room with a bunch of Libs." He gave me a 1. Fortunately, the emcee drops the high and the low scores for the final tally. At the end of the second round, I was in the lead.

We all were challenged by the final round’s topic: "Arnold Schwarzenegger." Sara creates a scene in which "tiny Maria" faces sex with Arnold in the missionary position. Wild cheers erupt – and a perfect 10. Amanda and Xon and Colin all get good scores. And, finally, it’s up to me. I try it with an Americanized Austrian accent:

Ah-nold Schwarz-en-eg
ger, too many syllables
for such a small man

That clinched it. I claimed my first prize of a plastic horse with a Farah Fawcett mane. Also a collection of work by the Nuyorican Poets Café. Amanda said she really wanted the horse so I traded that for a 1970 manual on sandal making. Not a bad haul for a prose writer. I’ve judged a lot of slams and this was the first time I’d entered one. It was a strange sort of slam, more improv than the standard variety of writing and memorizing and performing your own poems.

That said, I shall treasure my prizes.

To view a performance by Ken Arkind, go to http://www.podslam.org.

Did Rep. Millin switch political parties?

NO!

This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle ran an article by reporter Michael Van Cassell that identified Rep. Lori Millin of District 8 as a Republican. I wondered how such a thing could happen. Did the Wyoming political universe shift course overnight? After all, Rep. Millin snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the 2006 election against an entrenched Republican incumbent. She's married to Dr. John Millin, head of the Wyoming Democrats' central committee. I have her son Patrick on film carrying a Gary Trauner banner at the Democratic State Convention in May.

Then I realized that the paper had made a mistake. A revelation. So I dashed off a letter and sent it to Mr. Cassell -- and copied to my fellow Dems. You can e-mail your own letter to mcassell@wyomingnews.com. Here's mine:

Dear Mr. Cassell:

FYI: Rep. Lori Millin is a Democrat and not a Republican, as you so mistakenly note in your June 14 article. She's been a great state representative for us in District 8. She knocked on every door in the district in 2006 and won the general election against long-time incumbent Larry Meuli (Republican) by a mere nine votes. A quick look at her legislative priorities focusing on families, children, at-risk youth, affordable health care, workforce safety, minimum wage, etc., reveals that she could only be a Democrat. She puts people first!

I hope you give this correction a suitably visible spot in the newspaper.

Sincerely, Michael Shay

UPDATE: Michael Van Cassell e-mailed me that a correction ran in the June 16 WTE.

On Father's Day, be a mensch

"What separates the men from the boys....is the size of their toys."

You’ve seen that phrase on the bumpers of king-cab pickups, or maybe on fancy boats plying the waters at the reservoir. Maybe you heard it on a Father’s Day commercial urging you to buy something big for that big boy in your life. A mega gas grill or riding mower or tool set.

But maybe we should work on a new slogan. "What separates the men from the boys...is the size of their consciences."

Doesn’t rhyme, I know, but I couldn’t think of a good one to get my point across. Which is: a man is supposed to have a mature conscience, while boys can be forgiven for immature thoughts and actions. A teenager, for instance, might wield his sexuality in a reckless way. It may lead to unwanted consequences, such as the pregnancy of his partner. A man, on the other hand, has the ability to use discretion when it comes to sex. Don’t laugh – the opposite is just as possible. But a man can think through the rush of testosterone to its inevitability. Gee, maybe I should ask her if she’s on the pill or has had any STDs or maybe I should check out the condom aisle at Walgreen’s before doing this. Consequences!

But if we’re all just overgrown boys, then what’s the point? We’re only fit for playing with toys, whether young or old or in-between. That’s all we see on TV commercials. Poor saps can’t be counted on to take care of the kids or figure out the new cellphone or shop for groceries.

But I propose that the measure of a man is not in his pants or in the garage. It’s in his heart and mind. We’re part of the animal kingdom, that’s true, but we also possess higher brain functions that determine behavior. We can judge the ethical and moral implications of a situation and can act accordingly.

This also makes us political animals, too. We should be able to tell when another human being is lying to us. We should be able to tell when condescension raises its ugly head. We should be able to determine when a politician is up to no good with his/her policies, foreign and domestic.

So, you’re immature if you say "I can’t believe George W. Bush lied to us about Iraq." You’re a boy if you back Bush on his Iraq policies because he's our elder statesman and it's wrong to question your elders in time of war. The facts are out there. By ignoring the facts about life in the adult world of politics, you’re not a man but a boy. You're unable to look beyond the wants of the present to the possibilities of the future. You're a boy.

American conservatives seem to be stuck in an eternal boyhood. Gimme our tax breaks now! Gimme our guns now! Gimme answers now! Gimme our SUVs now! Gimme cheap gas now! Why do they (the terrorists) hate us? Why can't those Liberals quit whining and let us get on with mindless consumption?

Liberals (especially Baby Boomers) are not blameless. They too have been caught in a twilight world of adolescence. We love to bitch and moan and say we're going to change the world. But if it doesn't work out our way immediately, we take roll up our protest banners and go home -- or to law school. The inability to see things through is also a sign of immaturity. Another reason we are in this current mess.

Men, be a mensch, as they say in Yiddish. Or work to become one. Here's how columnist Paul Krugman put it in the New York Times:

'Be a mensch,' my parents told me. Literally, a mensch is a person. But by implication, a mensch is an upstanding person who takes responsibility for his actions.

The people now running America aren't mensches.

When in doubt, check it out

This was reported by Michael Falcone yesterday in the New York Times:

A new web site created by the Obama team, called “Fight the Smears,” is designed to systematically dismantle Internet rumors by letting users see both “the smear” and, the campaign’s response. The site already features sections fact-checking rumors that Mr. Obama refuses to say the pledge of allegiance, or has written racially incendiary remarks into his books or that he is a Muslim.

Recommend this to your friends and colleagues who seem to believe everything they read on the Internet.

Gary Trauner spreads the WyoDem message in San Francisco

You learn all kinds of things spending hours and hours each day skimming the blogs. A post today in Daily Kos held this announcement:

Bay Area Kossacks: WY-AL (and Orange to Blue) candidate Gary Trauner is going to be in town these weekend. Come meet him at the rooftop bar at Medjool Sunday evening. Date/time: Sunday, June 15th from 5-7 Location: Medjool, 2516 Mission Street (24th/Mission BART station. Medjool is located three blocks north on the left hand side of Mission Street between 22nd and 21st Street).

"Kossacks" are what Daily Kos correspondents call themselves. I never did, even when I was posting there regularly. But it's clear that any blog with a posse has got to be doing something right.

But just what is Gary doing in San Fran? He's either gathering funds or media coverage, or both. He may be hanging out in the Mission District for the same reason that politicians of all persuasions go to Jackson, Wyo. -- money! They carry it around in wheelbarrows up there. Well, not everybody. Some people have to make the wheelbarrows and fix the wheelbarrows and load the wheelbarrows and...well, you know what I'm saying.

Wheelbarrows may be a bit gauche for Medjool. But Gary takes checks, ya'll.

Just checking out the Medjool web site made me hungry. It has a restaurant, lounge and rooftop terrace with views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It serves tapas, small plates featuring interesting combinations. Here's one from the Southern European category: "Seared Sea Scallops with Preserved Lemon Gremolata and Sunchoke Puree ($14)." Here's a Middle Eastern offering: "Date Palm Sugar Crusted Quail, Cippolini Onions, Basmati Rice -- Golden Raisin Stuffing ($15)." They capitalize their menu items like book titles. But who can blame them? The place has been featured on local TV and was recently named the city's top gathering place. If you have to schedule a meeting in San Fran, you may as well hold it at a great place with good food and a view.

It occurs to me that this type of setting goes against the grain of modern American politics. Every time we saw a presidential candidate during primary season, he or she was either chomping on corn-on-the-cob at a county fair in Iowa, or swilling cheap whiskey with teamsters in downtown Cleveland. Not once did I see Hillary or Mike Huckabee or John Edwards sitting down to a petite plate of Date Palm Sugar Crusted Quail with all the trimmings, sipping a fine Napa Valley wine, and gazing off at a fog-encrusted bridge. It's elitist, don't you know, and would bruise the delicate sensibilities of Middle America.

I wish Gary a productive weekend in San Francisco. How about bringing home a quail-crusted doggie bag for the Wyomingites you left behind?

How many more, Mr. Bush?

The web site icasualties.org lists 13 deaths and 101 wounded from Wyoming thus far in the Iraq War. Total U.S. deaths are 4,096 and 29,978 wounded.

The latest grim news came from an Associated Press story that appeared in this morning's Casper Star-Tribune:

A soldier from Saratoga who died in Iraq this weekend was remembered by his mother as a dedicated serviceman who looked forward one day to retiring to the Wyoming mountains.

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Wednesday that Staff Sgt. Tyler E. Pickett died Sunday in Kirkuk Province. He was killed by enemy forces using an improvised explosive device.

Pickett was assigned to the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y.

Pickett's mother, Saratoga resident Sheri Peterson, said her 28-year-old son was killed in a suicide bombing that also injured 18 other people. Pickett was on his second tour in Iraq and had also served in Afghanistan.

Pickett is survived by his wife, Kristy, of Antwerp, N.Y., and her two children, Peterson said. The couple celebrated their second anniversary in February.

Pickett was born in Rice Lake, Wis., and moved to Saratoga, in south-central Wyoming, at the age of 14. He graduated from Saratoga High School in 1999 and enlisted in the military about a year later, Peterson said. She said serving in the military was always a part of Pickett's plan.

Pickett's survivors include his father, Ed Pickett, of Rice Lake, and other family members in Wyoming. Peterson said funeral services are planned in Saratoga, Antwerp, N.Y., and Minnesota.

When dinosaurs ruled the nation

Another dinosaur/politician from Wyoming, V.P. Dick Cheney, finds himself staring into the past rather than gazing into the future.

On Wednesday, Cheney spoke to the very conservative U.S. Chamber of Congress. He proposed revolutionary solutions to America's problems. They included tax cuts, unlimited free trade, and drilling for dead dinosaur goop in untrammeled places, such as the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and, if necessary, the property of any Democrats who could be located in Wyoming.

He blamed the "recent headwinds" from skyrocketing gas and food prices to "the turmoil in the credit and housing markets." The phases of the moon are also to blame, as well as wars that have mysteriously broken out in the Middle East.

Here are some actual quotes from an AP story:

Cheney said the recent tax rebates sent to about 130 million households should help, but he also urged Congress to take swift action to extend President Bush's first-term tax cuts, some of which are set to expire in 2010.

Letting the tax cuts expire, Cheney said, would be huge blow to all Americans. "The tax rate for every single income tax bracket would be increased," he said.

Not one to take such nonsense lying down, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responded (for real):

"The Republicans' answer to the real, deep, serious economic pain American families are feeling is to continue the Bush-Cheney economic policies that are destroying the middle class... At a time when Americans are facing so much economic uncertainty in their lives, George Bush, Dick Cheney and John McCain want to give more tax cuts to the top 1 percent of the wealthiest people among us."

To help ease gas prices, Cheney advocated increased U.S. oil exploration and called on Congress to allow it. He said he also would consider using his super-secret time machine to send all imprisoned Islamicists 60 million years into the past, bury them along Wyoming's ancient sea bed where they would burble and suppurate, forming new deposits of crude which 21st century oil companies could then pull out of the ground and sell for ridiculously high prices, adding to Cheney's already incredible wealth.

"It's a grandiose plan, but difficult times call for grandiosity," roared Wyoming's favorite (son) dinosaur.

U.S. energy policy in the wrong hands

Kucinich web site attacked following his introduction of Articles of Impeachment

The Dennis Kucinich web site was one of the first I linked to when I began blogging in earnest in 2005. Now it's June 2008 and Kucinich is no longer running for president but still performing brave and amazing acts to defend the U.S. Constitution. I already noted how he stood up and introduced 35 Articles of Impeachment against George W. Bush. And then something mysterious happened. This comes from the Committee to Re-elect Congressman Kucinich:

Under circumstances that can best be described as "suspicious," the http://www.kucinich.us/ website was crippled early this morning a few hours after Congressman Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 extensively documented Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush.

Until we can restore the website and implement additional security measures, you can find the full list and detailed Articles at http://www.democrats.com/files/amomentoftruth.pdfand http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf

If you would like to show your support for the Congressman's efforts, please go to myinfo.kucinich.us to offer your comments and provide us with contact information so that we can continue to keep you informed.

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Rep. Barbara Cubin: "Best and Brightest?"

That's the question many Wyomingites were asking when we read that Cubin earned the "Best and Brightest" award. She has rarely been accused of being the brightest bulb in the pack. As for the "best" label, her own party has been working feverishly to unseat her during the last two election cycles. She eked out a victory against Democrat Gary Trauner in 2006, with many Republicans crossing over to vote against her.

Even though Rep. Cubin owns the worst attendance record in Congress, the American Conservative Union (ACU) gave Cubin its "Best and Brightest" award over the weekend. The reason? Rep. Cubin's stellar conservative voting record (when she does show up). She earned a perfect score of 100 (and a gold star) for voting according to the tenets held dear by the ACU. You can probably guess what they are. Cubin voted against funding for stem-cell research and Planned Parenthood. Any vote for stem-cell research is obviously a vote for science, which is roundly opposed by the Right Wing, especially the Rapture Right. Scientific inquiry can lead to questions about the very nature of our existence: "You mean that T-Rex and Noah didn't walk the earth together?"

Planned Parenthood is another Right-Wing target. Family planning is a personal issue, they say, best left up to wise counselors such as the Man of the House, the male ministers who run the local 10,000-member evangelical church, and God himself, who speaks directly to church leaders on these matters. Planned Parenthood gets in the way, with all its pills and potions and (Help me Jesus!) abortion advice.

Lest you think that Cubin spent all her time voting no, the ACU points out some of its favorite issues that she supported. She supports the border fence, which is designed to be stout and tall so that illegal immigrants (a.k.a. "Mexicans") can't knock down the fence with tanks borrowed from al-Qaeda and steal U.S. jobs in the very popular and competitive fruit-picking industry. Rep. Cubin also earned the eternal thanks of the ACU by voting for bills establishing English as the official U.S. language.

As you can see, the world may change but the Right Wing holds on tightly to issues that have no relevance in a world where energy costs are sky-rocketing, food shortages run rampant, global warming threatens our future, and dingbats push us into needless wars. As we speak of dinosaurs, we should note that the age of political dinosaurs is nearly over. Good-bye, Rep. Cubin. Good-bye, George W. Bush. Good-bye, Rapture Right. So long -- it hasn't been good to know you.

Kucinich pushes Bush impeachment

Dennis Kucinich, the tallest person in the U.S. House of Representatives, presented articles of peachment this evening. Here's a clip from the Chicago Tribune story:

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, a former Democratic presidential contender, said Monday he wants the House to consider a resolution to impeach President Bush. Speaker Nancy Pelosi consistently has said impeachment was “off the table.”

Kucinich, D-Ohio, read his proposed impeachment language in a floor speech. He contended Bush deceived the nation and violated his oath of office in leading the country into the Iraq war.

Kucinich introduced a resolution last year to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. That resolution was killed, but only after Republicans initially voted in favor of taking up the measure to force a debate.

Send Dennis your regards at http://kucinich.house.gov/

"Wild and Scenic" Snake could be a bipartisan effort

Some updates on my June 4 post about the differences between the Wyoming GOP platform and the Wyoming Dem platform....

The WYO GOP platform opposes "Wild and Scenic River" designation for the Snake. During its convention in Jackson May 23-24, the Wyoming Democrats did indeed approve a plank supporting this designation. While some may see this as a case of WyoDems being bewitched by the hoodoo of Jackson Hole tree-huggers and whitewater lovers, it's bigger than that. One of the Snake's champions was the state's late great conservative icon, Sen. Craig Thomas, who hardly ever hugged a tree. Said the Casper Star-Tribune in a June 3 editorial, "Wyo. GOP shows it's at odds with leaders:"

This stance [by the WYO GOP] ignores the fact that the late Republican Sen. Craig Thomas championed a bill to declare 387 miles of the Snake River system as wild and scenic. The bill, introduced by Thomas' successor, Sen. John Barrasso, and supported by GOP Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, is even named the Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act of 2008.

One of the major non-Wyoming opponents of this bill is Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, a member in good standing of the Flat Earth Society. He contends that a W&S Snake will cause Idaho to lose water rights, a claim that has been debunked almost as often as Sen. Craig has been in the headlines the past few years.

Wyo. for Obama thanks Fla. for Hillary

The Florida for Hillary campaign is sending me press releases. Actually, they only sent one so far, and that was today. Here are the contents:

FLORIDA FOR HILLARY ANNOUNCES ENDORSEMENT OF SENATOR BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

FLORIDA HILLARY SUPPORTERS COMMITTED TO ELECTING DEMOCRAT TO WHITE HOUSE

FLORIDA STATEWIDE - Florida for Hillary, the statewide campaign that was largely responsible for her big win in the Florida Primary announces its endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President.

"Throughout this historic campaign and her incredible life, Senator Clinton has fought for issues that the people of Florida care deeply about, including the expansion of children's health care, the creation a national catastrophic insurance fund and the protection of Israel," said Ana Cruz, Co-Founder and spokesperson for the group. "Senator Barack Obama will fight for these same important causes as President, and we look forward to working with him to make sure that Florida voters are heard."

Florida for Hillary is an organization of Democratic elected officials, party leaders and activists from across the state who mobilized grassroots support to ensure a victory for Senator Clinton in the Florida Democratic Primary on January 29, 2008.

The group now turns its energy and attention to electing Senator Barack Obama the next President. Florida for Hillary will work hard to ensure that every single Floridian who cast their primary vote for Senator Clinton now votes for Senator Obama in November.

"The differences between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are small, but the differences between Democrats and Senator John McCain are enormous," said Co-Founder of Florida for Hillary Alan Clendenin. "John McCain wants to continue the failed policies of the Bush administration. Barack Obama will deliver the change this country desperately needs."

I like this final paragraph the best. Yes, the differences between Democrats and Sen. John McCain are enormous. That's because electing McCain as president would be exactly like electing Bush to a third term. Perhaps you're getting tired of hearing Democrats saying that. If so, you can also listen to McCain say it during his speeches, such as the one he delivered from a shack in Louisiana last Tuesday night. He used it to coax laughter from his audience, which consisted of a half-dozen very bored McCainiacs.

I'm happy to see that Florida for Hillary is communicating with Wyoming for Obama's Cheyenne chapter. We do need unity among Democrats to send Bush and McCain packing in November. There's much to do (stop Iraq War), many things to fix (Constitution, highways, Supreme Court), so we can't waste time quarreling.

This one-time resident of Daytona Beach and Gainesville welcomes further communication from Florida Dems. Don't be scared -- Dick Cheney doesn't live here any more (he visits his mountain redoubt near Jackson occasionally) and we are sorry that we unleashed his evilness into the world. But you Floridians still have to answer for Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush. I'd say we're about even.

The day that Bobby Kennedy died

"Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality of those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change."

Robert F. Kennedy said this in a speech in Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966. Today is the 40th anniversary of his assassination.

I was 17 when RFK was killed. I was snoozing away in the room I shared with three of my four brothers. We always slept with the radio on -- couldn't get to sleep without the Beatles or Doors or Motown. The windows were open and, if it was quiet, could hear the surf breaking on Daytona Beach a half-block away. But it wasn't quiet. The radio was on and lulled us to sleep and the next thing I remember was waking up to a news report. Robert Kennedy had been shot in L.A. Another Kennedy shot! Didn't seem real but I was awake. I got up and walked to my parents' room. "They shot Kennedy," I muttered. My mother mumbled and went back to sleep. My father said something about Kennedy getting shot a long time ago. "Bobby Kennedy," I said. "In California." My father looked at me like I was nuts. "Go back to bed," he said.

They both had to work the next day -- my father at NASA and my mother as a hospital nurse. It was tough to support nine kids, even in those pre-inflation times of 35 cents/gallon gas and four loaves of bread for a dollar.

In the bright light of a Florida June morning, my parents were distressed. JFK's assassination had devastated them. This was shocking, but not on that same level. They both were moving away from the Democratic Party and into the hands of Nixon and, later, Reagan. It had mattered to them in 1960-63 that JFK was the first Irish-Catholic president. He was a war hero, too, and had solid anti-commie credentials. Bobby, though, was a radical. He was soft on Vietnam and hippies and civil rights agitators.

At school, the day before the nuns released us into the summer, we went to mass to pray for Bobby's recovery, which seemed very unlikely. Most of us were in a funk. But at least one of my classmates noted that Kennedy was a "N----- Lover" and would probably die and never be president. He voiced what others thought. This was the South, after all. Our high school was located between white and black neighborhoods. Black kids south of the school went to Campbell, the all-black high school. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., two months earlier, this part of town erupted in riots. White homeowners north of the school sat up all night, guns at the ready. At least that's what the newspapers said a few days later. I don't doubt it.

Another Kennedy was dead. King was dead. Lots of Florida boys were destined to die in Vietnam.

Things were falling apart. And it was going to get worse.

WYO GOP doesn't buy climate change

Anyone who doubts the differences between Wyoming Republicans and Democrats only need look at a few planks in their respective platforms.

The AP reported that a plank adopted at the state Republican Convention in Rock Springs last Saturday opposes any new laws or regulations related to the "hypothesis of man-made climate change."

Contrast that with the following planks that came out of the platform committee at the May 23-24 Democratic Party convention in Jackson (there may be some revisions to the wording, as contentious Democrats discussed and amended the platform ad nauseum at the convention).

In "The Environment" section under "Confronting Climate Change:"

1. Wyoming Democrats believe that our country must address climate change by working with others at local, state, national, and global levels to reduce greenhouse gases.

2. We call for development of alternative, renewable energy resources, including solar and wind power, through federal and state incentives.

3. We insist that government policy work to increase energy-use efficiency throughout our economy, including raising the fuel efficiency of the nation’s vehicles.

The Democrats have moved way beyond the hypothesis of global warming to cold, hard facts. That approach is supported by most of the climatologists in the known universe.

At their convention, Republicans also decided to oppose a federal designation of any Wyoming stream as a Wild and Scenic River. This is in response to the efforts in Teton County to declare the Snake as a Wild and Scenic River, providing it special protections under federal law. I believe a plank to that effect was added to the platform (I have to keep better notes). If not, it should have been.

Walk blocks with Democrat Nick Carter

Nicole Novotny, secretary for the Laramie County Democrats, sends notice that U.S. Senate Candidate Nick Carter is looking for volunteers to help him walk door-to-door in Cheyenne this weekend, June 7-8. Carter is running against Republican John Barrasso for a U.S. Senate seat (first, he has to win the Aug. 19 primary). Volunteer times for Saturday are flexible and volunteers walking on Sunday have been asked to meet at the Lions Park amphitheater at 9 a.m. Carter will host a barbeque on Sunday to thank volunteers who helped out. To volunteer, please contact Kyle at 307-640-1028 or you e-mail nick@nickforsenate.com.

Thoughts on the final "Super Tuesday"

On Tuesday, Wyoming super-delegate Cynthia Nunley pledged her support to Sen. Hillary Clinton. Nunley was the last of the state's six Democratic Party super-dee's to commit. The other five had already come out for Sen. Barack Obama.

This makes the final delegate count for Wyoming 12-6, Obama.

Also on Tuesday, Obama clinched enough delegates and super-dees to become the party's presumptive nominee. He won Montana handily, and logged enough votes in South Dakota to claim some of those delegates.

I watched all the speeches last night. Obama looked and sounded presidential in the St. Paul, Minn., convention center. Crowd was estimated at 17,000 inside the building and 15,000 outside. Those are the same numbers we'll see when the Republican party gathers for its convention in September. There will be 17,000 Repubs inside, trying to work themselves into a lather for McBush. Outside will be 15,000 protesters, already worked into an anti-McBush lather. Could be a combustible mix.

Clinton spoke to a large appreciative crowd. She didn't concede, however. That will probably come soon.

McBush spoke before a group of semi-awake bystanders in what looked like a high school gym in Kenner, Louisiana. He called for "the right kind of change," which includes more war on the Iraqis and the U.S. middle class. He contended that he was the candidate for change and not Obama. McCain says that he wants to revamp the entire government so that it's leaner and meaner and more accountable to the American people. Of all things, he brought up Hurricane Katrina as an example of how bloated government fails its people.

Here's a news bulletin for McCain: Bloated government didn't fail New Orleans. It was government in the hands of Bush-appointed, government-hating flunkies. If you remember, government in the form of the U.S. Coast Guard performed heroically. In Iraq and Afghanistan, government in the form of the U.S. military does its job every day, despite the odds. And the most successful program in U.S. Government history, Social Security, provides a safety net for millions of Americans. Ironically, it's one of those "bloated" programs that the Republicans want to dismantle.

Remember that McCain voted with Bush 95 percent of the time during the past year. It's tough to distance yourself from someone you hold so close.

I eagerly await the first Obama-McCain debate.

Closing in on the prize

By the time polls in Montana at 8 p.m., Barack Obama will have enough delegates to call himself the Democratic Party nominee for president. Montana's votes for Obama will put the icing on the cake.

Keep your eyes on the blogs (see below).

John McBush McCain has a big speech planned from Louisiana (just beginning on the TV tubes). Says McCain: "I will bring the right (wing) kind of change."

Barack Obama has an even bigger speech planned in the Twin Cities convention hall where the Repubs will make a mockery of politics this summer.

Stay tuned....

Look to SD and MT blogs for June 3 results

We prepare for the last two contests of the primary/caucus season in neighboring South Dakota and Montana. While the usual MSM outlets will be gearing up to cover the results Tuesday evening, many of us will be looking to blogs for results mixed with first-person dispatches from the trenches (and some wise-ass commentary).

I was dismayed to learn that Ed Kemmick is giving up the City Lights blog he writes for the Billings Gazette. And Matt Singer at Left in the West out of Missoula has fried his hard drive during the feverish run-up to June 3. He's still blogging, courtesy of the local library and his wife's computer, but that can be frustrating for a blogger just itching to get his/her hands on his/her own keyboard.

LITW remains the go-to blog for politics. 4&20 Blackbirds, too. As the polls close tomorrow evening, check out those two purveyors of prog news in Montana.

I have to admit that I haven't paid sufficient attention to South Dakota blogs. I'm a new fan of Madville Times. Great place to read about stops in Madison and other S.D. locales by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and their surrogates. Photos, too.

Another S.D. source is Badlands Blue, the blog of the S.D. Democratic Party. Great political coverage and links.

Daily Kos, of course, covers national politics like a big blue blanket. The search engines tease out DK posts by state and many end up on Lefty Blogs. Go to the site and click on your favorite state on the left sidebar.

Hardly any politics during mountain trek

Spent the weekend camping with the family in Rocky Mountain National Park (view from the campground above). The first real weekend of summer weather. The sky blue, creeks full, and most of the trails free of snow. I barely thought about the big DNC meeting on Saturday where the fate of the Florida and Michigan delegates were being decided. I got my answer when we dropped out of the mountains into Estes Park this afternoon and saw the Sunday headlines: "Delegate count decided; rancor remains." The lede said that the Clinton camp is unhappy with the one delegate-half vote decision, as well as elimination of up to four delegates. The Clintonites, apparently, are prepared to take the fight all the way to the streets of the Mile High City. I haven't scanned the blogs since Friday, so I look forward to staying up until the wee hours to catch up.

My first thought: good thing they reached a decision. Second thought: bad thing they reached a decision. Nobody seems happy, although the Obama people seem semi-O.K. with it. So, now we await the decisions of the voters in South Dakota and Montana, who likely will side with Obama. But will probably not provide an end to this long march.

Who won Puerto Rico? Bet it was Hillary.

One more thing. For our camping trip, we left the minivan at home and jammed everything into Chris's Saturn Ion. We don't backpack anymore (bad knees!), surviving the weekend on granola and cooking on a stove so tiny it can fit in the palm of your hand. We're not "roughing it" campers, either, just a step up from that. We're car campers, which means that we assemble everything in the basement that looks like camping gear, throw it into the car and take off. No TVs or electronic devices except for the cellphone that my wife needs for work. This plan works well when you're using the minivan which also has a car-top carrier we can use for overflow.

We don't have the luxury of space in the car. We can put a small cooler or a box of food in the back seat with the kid and dog. The rest has to go in the trunk. I had to do triage as we hauled stuff from the house. Yes to the sleeping bag, yes to the roll-up ground pad, no to the gigantic inflatable mattress, no to the camp chair with the cup holder. Yes to the battery-powered lantern, no to the propane lantern and propane canisters and extra mantles. A hue and cry went out every time a tough decision was made. "Dad -- I need that huge air mattress." Says I: "Then the dog has to stay home." Pouting ensued. My wife usually likes to bring about 50 pillows but I requested a two-pillow limit. Fine, she said, I'll use yours. Which she did.

We wanted to prove that a family can go camping without the minivan or the SUV. The family can, but it's a pain in the ass. We saved money on gas, as the Saturn gets 35 mpg on the highway to less than 20 for our Dodge Caravan. We can send the savings the the Democratic Party candidates and causes of our choice. Less fuel used, less carbon in the atmosphere. And we can feel superior to all the SUVs and Hummers on the road. We can feel vastly superior to the RV users, as they are driving the dinosaurs of the open road.

But most of what I felt this weekend was gratitude for national parks and outdoor spaces. And for family. The jury's still out on the dog....