"Manifest Hope" through your creativity

Creating a work of art is an act of hope. The artist has something to say, maybe has a vision for the future or is recalling a past event. He/she may be painting the view from the kitchen window.

Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy is also an act of hope. That's where MoveOn got the idea for the "Manifest Hope" art contest. Anyone can enter -- but the deadline's Aug. 18, so you have to get cracking.

Here are the details:

Barack Obama's historic candidacy has sparked an unprecedented artistic outpouring. Now, in partnership with Shepard Fairey and his Obey Giant collective, we're offering a new way for artists—anyone with a pen and paper qualifies—to share their talents and help elect Barack Obama at the same time.

It's called "Manifest Hope," and it's a new Obama art contest for 2D and 3D art, from painting to photography to sculpture. The winners will be shown at the Manifest Hope Gallery online and in Denver during the Democratic convention alongside works from dozens of established and influential artists.

Anyone can enter. You don't have to be Picasso, you just need to be inspired by Barack Obama and willing to donate your creativity and time to the cause.

But you need to get started soon. The final submissions deadline is August 18 at 11:59 a.m. ET. That's not much time to conceive and create a piece of art, so get started today.

All submissions will be judged by a distinguished panel of judges—artists from Obey Giant, contemporary art curators, and multi-talented musicians. Finalists will be asked to auction off their pieces, and donate the proceeds to progressive organizations.

Denver will be buzzing during the convention, but this gallery is going to be one of the coolest places to visit there. Plus, the gallery's going to have an amazing party with live performances by Death Cab For Cutie, Moby, and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah.

Submit your artwork at http://pol.moveon.org/mh/enter/index.html

Dear Son: Enjoy Wyoming's wind energy

Dear Beloved College Son in Tucson, Ariz.:

I am sending you 2,000 megawatts of wind-generated electricity to power your air conditioner, PC and X-box. You can thank me later, around 2014, to be exact. That's when the huge wind farm in Carbon County will be ready. This is also the target date to build a $3 billion 3,000- megawatt high-voltage transmission line. This line, according to an article in this morning's paper, will be 900 miles long and link up with sites in Arizona, Nevada, and California. Once again, Wyoming will be the energy exporter and the growing cities of the Southwest will be the beneficiaries of our largess, not to mention we get to look at the thousands of scenic wind generators atop our mountains and transmission towers marching across our prairies.

Currently, we burn coal in power plants and send the electricity to you to keep the lights burning in Scottsdale and Lake Havasu City. We dig the coal out of the Wyoming soil so it's only natural that we pollute our air to send you power. We also send you natural gas, although we need pipelines for that, lots of pipelines. We're pumping the gas out of the ground like there's no tomorrow -- or like there are changes a-brewing in Washington, D.C. Dick Cheney's been kind enough to open up all of our public lands to energy exploration. Can't wait to thank him when he moves back to Wyoming in January.

We send you water, too, I can't forget that. Our Wyoming and Colorado mountains reach to the sky to gather the winters snows so that the golf courses of Tucson and Phoenix can remain green year-round. We don't mind sending you the waters of the Green and the Yampa and the Colorado when we have it. Lots of water this year due to terrific winter storms. As you know, we've been struggling with a drought for the previous decade or so. If the snows keep up, your city fathers might want to invest in a few dozen additional golf courses. There will be so much water that you can take a shower twice a week! Imagine that. Your girlfriend will appreciate this.

Now, this is the United States of America. We help each other out in lots of ways. So what if Wyoming is the energy exporter of the West and the rapidly growing cities of the Southwest are the importers? Not every state is lucky enough to be located atop millions of tons of low-sulphur coal and directly in the path of the westerlies. But I do wonder what Arizona will send us in return. John McCain is not enough! Besides, we won't be hearing much from him after Nov. 4. We have appreciated the books of your fine writers, such as Barbara Kingsolver (loved "High Tide in Tucson") and poet Alberto Rios. I gladly will trade Arizona a few megawatts of wind energy for a good book.

Arizona has provided refuge for thousands of Wyoming retirees. We're grateful. My former Cheyenne neighborhood emptied out each November as the snowbirds headed south. Once all those huge RVs hit the road, we could once again see the night sky. So many stars!

Yes, you gave us Arizona Iced Tea and the Arizona Diamondbacks, which have become a nuisance to us Colorado Rockies fans. I like cactus, but there's just so many cacti we can put in our window garden.

Somehow, I think you get the better end of this deal. But, we'll keep doing our job up here in Wyoming as long as you keep studying. I know you like Tucson, but we would love to have you complete your education and return to Wyoming to teach. Let Arizona be the exporter this one time.

Have a great school year.

Love, Dad

WyoDems blog again!

Bill Luckett has resumed posting on the Wyoming Democratic Party blog at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ht/d/Blogger/pid/273375. We missed you, Bill! He's been doing other things since March, such as running the state party, traveling Wyoming's vast distances, hiring people, etc. The blog also has a feed from Wyoming newspapers, Wyoming Public Radio and news-oriented web sites such as wyofile.

In other news, the WyoDems have hired a communications director. Her name is Lauri Elbing and she just moved to the state from Michigan. To begin communicating, e-mail her at lauri at wyomingdemocrats.com.

Post a haiku for the next president

Ruby's Crush on Obama blog has challenged prog-bloggers to write ten positive posts on Barack Obama in the next ten weeks. I've already posted a good number of pro-Obama essays, especially during the Wyoming winter caucuses. I've also taken a few jabs at McCain, which he deserved.

But Aug. 1 begins a new month, a new attitude and a new concept -- Obama haiku:

Barack Obama
wise face on new dollar bills
looks presidential

Obviously a reference to Sen. Obama's comments about those faces on dollar bills not looking like him. A comment that drove McCain crazy.

O.K., here's another:

The rough road of hope
cuts through the Wyoming wilds;
purple becomes us

Hey, Wyoming is solidly red, but tending toward purple. McCain has a 13-point lead over Obama, which is not so much.

One more time:

Boomers blast Barack
"no experience" they say
and half McCain's age

Haiku of hope.

Write one and send it in.

Dem bloggers in Rocky Mtn. News story

Great piece yesterday in Denver's Rocky Mountain News about us bloggers going to the Democratic National Convention Aug. 25-28. The piece focuses on SquareState.com out of Denver.

Aaron Silverstein and John Erhardt entered the blogosphere a few years ago, eager to have their voices heard and to motivate fellow Democrats as President Bush settled into a second term. Their liberal blog, SquareState.net, was one of 55 given credentials to sit with delegations from their state for a front-row seat to what is being billed as a historic convention. SquareState is hardly overwhelmed with traffic, with about 17,000 unique visitors in June. But that's about to change.

"We want to be both a gateway into the convention for our readers as well as eyes inside to bring stories out," said Silverstein, 41, who left a job at the Denver coffee shop Scooter Joe's and is now a staffer at Democrats Work, an organization that promotes community service.

I read SquareState occasionally, and it's amazingly rich and complex. It has a number of correspondents, one of them an Iraq War veteran Rafael Noboa. There's a lot to cover in Colorado, and these bloggers do it with a fine Liberal bent.


As one of those 55 convention bloggers, I'm a bit concerned about my traffic count. The Rocky says that SquareState "is hardly overwhelmed with traffic" with its mere 17,000 visitors in June. Gulp. Hummingbirdminds had quite a bit less that 17,000 visitors in June, even if I count my Uncle Bill the Republican and old college chums. I am a lone wolf (dangerous in Wyoming -- I could get shot) in this field, so it takes some time and effort to cover all the news that I see fit to print. But maybe that's the way a prog-blog in Wyoming should be. I do have to point out that I too joined the world of blogs in 2005 after Bush was elected for the second time. Although I jumped right into blogging against the Iraq War, it took me a little longer to broaden my horizons. I now regularly pick on Wyoming's own Dr. Evil, Dick Cheney.

In the article, I do like what Democracy for New Mexico blogger Barbara Wold says about newspapers. She said that "she relies on the 'mainstream' media," which we bloggers in the know refer to (usually disdainfully) as MSM.

"How could we function without them?" Wold asked. "Personally, I'm sorry to see newspapers struggling. That's our material."

The New Mexico blog, which has raised around $5,000 for Democrats in the past couple of years, is not afraid to blast Democrats and has not been pressured by party officials, Wold said.

As a former print newspaper reporter, I too rely on many online newspapers for my material, usually as a jumping-off point for my Liberal nattering. I read the online version of the Casper Star-Tribune -- a great web site, by the way. I read the print version of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, hoping to find some good stuff to launch my morning blog. Its web site is lousy. There's the usual scan of the top-notch New York Times web site and a perusal of the Billings Gazette in Montana, which covers Wyoming. This takes time, of course, and sometimes makes me late for work.

I also have to say that I haven't been pressured by party officials. This isn't the Pravda of the Soviet era, although I sometimes get a bit of a samizdat rush. I've been active with the Laramie County Democrats since, as a newbie, I walked into the 2004 county convention and was immediately made a delegate to the state convention because the Dems were short of warm bodies. I've served as secretary to the party, and also attended many boring meetings in the past four years. But "boring" is a word best left to teens. There's a lot of grunt work to be done before you can attain glory as a blogger at the Democratic National Convention.

Read the full text of the RMN article at http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jul/30/bloggers-gaining-more-acceptance-dnc/

Laramie County needs election judges

Here's a follow-up on the July 27 post about the need for election workers all over the U.S.


Laramie County desperately needs election judges. There will be training next week for the rapidly approaching Aug. 19 primary and for the Nov. 4 general election. Judges get paid, so it's worth your while to take a day off from work to perform this act of engaged citizenry. You will learn a lot too.

To sign up, go to http://www.laramiecountyclerk.com/index.asp

Wyo. Republicans puzzled by bad economy

Can four supposedly serious candidates for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat gather to talk about the nation’s economic troubles and not once mention the Iraq War?

They can if they’re Republicans. Monday’s Casper Star-Tribune featured a long story about the Republican candidates’ forum Sunday in Cheyenne.

See if you can find any mention of the billions and billions and billions of dollars we have sunk into Iraq in the past five years. We’re in trouble because we’re wasting our treasure on Iraq. Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. Don’t these dinosaurs know this?

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

The Republican candidates for Wyoming's lone U.S. House have vastly different views on how to solve the nation's economic troubles -- and who is to blame for the slowdown.

"We didn't stick with sound business practices, and all of a sudden it all came tumbling down around our ears," said candidate Bill Winney, who blames the mortgage meltdown and higher fuel prices for much of the economic trouble.

Former state Treasurer Cynthia Lummis said out-of-control spending, the mortgage crisis, national debt and the balance of trade all played a role in the downturn. But the biggest factor, she said, was the decision long ago to purchase the nation's fuel abroad, while foregoing opportunities to develop natural resources at home.

See any mention of the Iraq quagmire yet? And who has been in charge of the U.S. Government the past eight years, a time when our only energy policy was "buy more oil?"

Keep reading....

Mark Gordon, a rancher and businessman from Buffalo, said the economic exuberance of the last decade pushed the nation off course economically.

He said the question now is whether taxpayers should be required to "backstop" the poor judgment of some consumers and lenders. He said they should not.

Michael Holland, a physician from Green River, said the root of today's economic challenges can be pinned on bad lending and investment practices, which he said are largely controlled by a group of private bankers who have their own interests in mind.Congress is also to blame for delegating the power to regulate money to groups like the Federal Reserve. The nation needs to return to fundamentals of good finance, Holland said, and Congress needs to take back the power to regulate the financial system. The Fed should be eliminated, he said.

"It's time to chase the money changers out of the temple," Holland said.

Mr. Holland, maybe it’s time to chase the war profiteers out of the temple. Start with Dick Cheney and his Halliburton pals. Maybe then we can bring some stability to our economy.

Democrats are having a picnic Aug. 2 -- and you're invited

You're invited to a "Meet the Candidates Picnic" on Saturday, Aug. 2, 3:30-7 p.m. at the shelter by the Municipal Pool in Lions Park in Cheyenne. Sponsor is the Laramie County Democratic Grassroots Coalition. Members (you know who you are) are asked to bring a salad, side dish or dessert. The LCDGC asks each person attending the picnic for a $10 donation to go into the Dem campaign war chest as we draw near to the Aug. 19 primary election and (less than 100 days from now) the general election. Candidates for city, county and legislative offices will be on hand to answer your questions.

FMI: 307-635-3464.

Carter's ads hit the tube (and YouTube)

Nick Carter has a series of campaign ads running on TV. But you don't have to wait for those annoying breaks during your favorite show to watch them. Due to the miracle of the Internets, you can plug in at http://nickforsenate.com/index.php?page=videos&vid=18.

Carter is challenging Republican Sen. John Barrasso on a number of issues. In the ad I saw this morning, the subject of "pork" came up in relation to Barrasso's support of the latest farm bill. The bill passed, but is considered a failure because it didn't address subsidies to corporate farmers. So the ad juxtaposes the head of Barrasso with that of a pig -- or porker, if you prefer.

One man's pork-barrel spending is another man's necessity. But the Republican-controlled House and Senate from 2000-2006 were very piggish indeed, at least when it came to shoveling taxpayer funds to defense contractors, oil and gas companies, and the very rich (through tax cuts). I look forward to Carter's ads on those subjects.

Uncle Sam wants you -- at the polls

The Associated Press reports that the Federal Election Assistance Commission wants to recruit "2 million poll workers for the November election to help handle what could be a record turnout for the presidential election."

"We have seen historically high voter turnout during the primaries and continued high registration rates this year," Rosemary Rodriguez, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, said Thursday.

"Election officials throughout the nation anticipate high voter turnout to continue in the general election," said Rodriguez, Denver's former clerk.

"Preparation for high turnout includes extra ballots and voting machines, but most important, we must have as many poll workers, including bilingual poll workers, as possible to prevent long lines."

To volunteer as poll workers of election judges at a Wyoming precinct, contact your county clerk. The Laramie County Clerk is Debbye Lathrop and you can get more info at http://www.laramiecountyclerk.com/index.asp. I've been a poll worker and an election judge. I was paid for my judging capabilities, and even paid for the training session that preceded the 2006 primaries and general election. This is a great way to understand the election system in all its glory and inglory.


I especially encourage young people to volunteer as poll workers, as we could use a little lowering of the average age. Right now, I'd say that it hovers somewhere around 70, with me being on the lower end of the scale and almost everyone else on the higher end.


Who wants to be around a lot of old people, you might say. Well, we can impart some hard-earned wisdom. Also, the snacks at the precinct on election day are beyond the usual doughnuts and rotgut coffee you might expect. I hate to be sexist, but many of the women volunteers actually bake coffee cakes and strudels and lunchtime casseroles (it's a long day at the polls). So, there are some benefits....


As Democrats, we need to be at the polls to make sure that all election proceedings are conducted legally. We've all heard about the voter suppression tactics practiced by Republicans. Don't let them get away with it!

Meanwhile, over at the Pepsi Center...

The Democratic National Convention Committee announced this today:

Marking one month until the start of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, members of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes of Colorado performed a Native American blessing today outside the Pepsi Center, where Democrats will gavel open the Party's Convention on August 25th in Denver.

"Colorado has a rich Native American heritage, and the Democratic National Convention is an opportunity to showcase that heritage for all the world to see," said Colorado Lieutenant Governor Barbara O'Brien. "Both the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes can trace ancestral roots in this region that long pre-date Colorado's statehood. Native Americans have deep roots in the culture of this state --in its past, present and future."

Today's blessing ceremony included the burning of sage, chants, songs and prayers. A feather was used to "smudge" the smoke around the place of blessing. Native American leaders prayed both for delegates and for citizens across the country whose lives will be impacted by work accomplished during the Convention.

"With all that goes into planning a Convention, there is tremendous value in spiritual grounding in the home stretch. Our Native American brothers and sisters have a deep understanding of spirituality and its place in our lives," said DNCC CEO Leah Daughtry. "The rich Native American traditions of the West are an important part of our country's history and will be an important part of this historic Convention -- set to open right here in just one month's time."

"As a Native American and an active Democrat, I see two important facets of my life coming together," said Frank LaMere, Chair of the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) Native American Caucus. "In one month, there will be talk of Democrats, Republicans, politics and polls. However, I offer that the Creator cares most about heart, commitment, and those who will give voice and care for the people, and who will change things in our country."

During the upcoming Convention, the Democratic Party's Native American caucus will meet on Monday, August 25 and Wednesday, August 27 at the Colorado Convention Center.

McBush and I have an outing in Denver

John McCain and I were in Denver today. Not in the same place at the same time. He was at the downtown Hyatt, addressing the American G.I. Forum convention. I was three blocks away at an arts conference in the kitschy Curtis Hotel across from the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

McCain imparted these nuggets of disinformation about Sen. Barack Obama to the oldest Hispanic organization in the U.S. (according to Reuters):

"Had his [Sen. Obama's] position been adopted, we would have lost both wars" in Iraq and Afghanistan, McCain said in a speech to a veterans' group in Colorado."We rejected the audacity of hopelessness, and we were right," the Arizona senator added in a pointed reference to the title of Obama's second book, "The Audacity of Hope."

McCain, crystallizing his arguments over the Iraq war in his strongest language to date, warned that pursuit of Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq over the next 16 months while boosting forces in Afghanistan could have disastrous consequences.

"We face another choice today. We can withdraw when we have secured the peace and the gains we have sacrificed so much to achieve are safe," McCain said. "Or we can follow Senator Obama's unconditional withdrawal and risk losing the peace even if that results in spreading violence and a third Iraq war."

While McCain was babbling on in a gust of sound and fury, signifying nothing, I was listening to Greg Esser from the largest city in McCain's state talk about how he and other young artists established an "artists' district" in Phoenix's downtown. They bought and leased squatters' houses and crack dens on the urban fringe and renovated them as live-in and exhibit spaces for the city's artists. They spent months unraveling arcane zoning and building regulations, stalwart even in the face of insufferable bureaucracy. Now the Roosevelt Row artists' district puts on First Friday and Third Friday Art Walks, with thousands of arts collectors and arts students and Yuppies and the merely curious venturing into a former dead zone.

Phoenix young people were reinventing downtown, spending their own money and time and sweat equity to bring life to an Arizona city. Urban pioneers, young capitalists with the kind of moxie that would make both Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (who's attended the Art Walks) and the late Barry Goldwater proud.

Meanwhile, Arizona's John McCain was trying to numb a Denver audience back to the Stone Age. That's what some Repub dinosaurs do.

Join Trauner Cheyenne Army on July 26

This message comes from Aaron Owens of the Gary Trauner campaign:

Dear Fellow Trauner Supporters,

This is the most important announcement I have shared with you so far in the campaign. I would appreciate a reply from each and every person who reads this, please. We have set up a local team to handle your replies. You can reach the team at southeast@traunerforcongress.com.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has issued a challenge to its top-tier Congressional races for this Saturday, July 26. The challenge is to GET THE MOST VOLUNTEERS active on that day: calling, knocking on doors, walking in parades, etc.

When we win this Saturday's competition, the DCCC will ask everybody on its 3-million donor list to contribute to our campaign for change. People all over the country are starting to notice the Wyoming Democrat who bucks the system, doesn't follow party lines, and is a fighter for his state instead of his party... Gary Trauner! Let's give them an opportunity to support his campaign to put America back on the right track.

Of course, Gary is winning this campaign with hard work and 1-on-1 contact with all voters in all 23 counties. The money we raise helps Gary focus on the 1-on-1 grassroots campaigning that has won him the reputation as a fighter for real Wyoming people.We need your help this Saturday more than ever! If you are receiving this email, Gary and I are expecting you to chip in... just 30 minutes. If you can't chip in 30 minutes, there is an alternative way to help below. We need each of you to help out in some way, though. Thank you, in advance!

HOW YOU JOIN THE TRAUNER CHEYENNE ARMY ON SATURDAY, JULY 26:

1) Decide which event you want to help with on Saturday:
* Calling Voters -- We will give you a list of about 30 voters to call from home on Saturday.
* Door-to-Door -- We will meet at the Trauner Office and give you a list of 30 homes to visit in your neighborhood.
* Frontier Days Events -- You will join us at Frontier Day events around town (parade, cook-off, etc.) to welcome visitors and meet voters.
* Volunteer Coordinator -- You will join our County Leadership Team all day and be responsible for an entire event's activities.

2) You send a confirmation email to southeast@TraunerForCongress.com letting us know which task you prefer (calling, door-to-door, or events, coordinator).

3) We will prepare your volunteer packets and contact you to find the best way to deliver them on Friday or Saturday.

4) Your Volunteer Coordinator will pick up your packet Saturday or Sunday.

IF YOU CANNOT GIVE 30 MINUTES:

We need cell phones with unlimited night/weekend minutes for volunteers in the office and around town to use for Saturday. Contact me for more details if you can go a day without your cell phone and want to count yourself in our Cheyenne Trauner Army on Saturday!I look forward to hearing which event you would like to help with. Please be in touch as soon as possible so we can prove to the entire country how powerful your grassroots Trauner Team is in Wyoming!

All Great Things,
Aaron Ross Owens
Senior Field Organizer
WY Coordinated Campaign
307.399.0898
aaron@TraunerForCongress.com

Ehrenreich explores nation's "great divide"

Montana has nurtured many fine writers -- Tom McGuane, Richard Hugo, James Welch -- but Montanan Barbara Ehrenreich is a writer and activist with a pissed-off populist bent. I'm reading her latest book, "This Land is Your Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation." She no longer lives in Montana, but does spend a few weeks each year in the Rocky Mountain West.

I need to see vast expanses of water, 360-degree horizons, and mountains piercing the sky -- at least for a week or two of the year.

As a Westerner sojourner, she is suddenly confronted with those changes that we residents see day-by-day, such as the morphing of small scenic towns into playgrounds for the rich. Driggs, Idaho, for example, where she and a friend rented a small house.

At that time, Driggs was where the workers lived, driving over the Teton Pass every day to wait tables and make beds on the stylish side of the mountains. The point is, we low-rent folks got to wake up to the same scenery the rich people enjoyed and hike along the same pine-scented trails.

But the money was already starting to pour into Driggs... I haven't been back, but I understand that Driggs has become another unaffordable Jackson Hole. Where the waitstaff and bedmakers live today I do not know.

I don't know either. I do know that plenty of people still commute to Jackson over the pass from Driggs and Victor, and up from Alpine, Afton and Thayne to the southwest and Pinedale to the southeast. Long commutes, especially with the winter we had this year. The super-rich are replacing the just-plain-rich, and the locals keep searching for affordable housing. Some has been built, but more is needed. Meanwhile, the waitstaff and bedmakers and coffee baristas and white-collar workers get hit the hardest by growth and the sputtering economy. That drive over the pass in that second-hand SUV just gets more and more expensive.

Ehrenreich's book is full of pithy examples of the growing inequality between the haves and the have-nots. Read it -- and prepare to get as ticked-off as she is.

McCain a hypocrite on Social Security

MSNBC (and other media outlets) reported this on July 17:

Although Republican presidential candidate John McCain has called Social Security "a disgrace," he still cashes his own retirement check every month.

"I'm receiving the benefits, the system is broken and, unfortunately, my children and grandchildren, according to the trustees of the Social Security system, will not have the same benefits the present retirees have," McCain told reporters Thursday on his campaign bus.

McCain's 2007 tax return shows Social Security benefits of $23,157 for the year, an average of $1,929.75 a month. He said he started receiving the payments "whenever I was eligible."

It's a good thing that John McCain receives a Social Security check. He paid into the system for 40-some years, so he should receive the same guaranteed payment that I expect in 2015. It's a safety net for all American workers.

However, McCain says the system is "a disgrace" and that it is "broken." If it is broken, blame it on him and his fellow Republicans. George W. Bush poisoned the term "Social Security reform" when he attempted to privatize it during his first term. For most of us, "privatize" translates into a transfer of wealth from the middle class to the corporate entities (Bush's pals) that would handle the privatization. Remember who made the money when Bush jobbed out some functions of the military? Halliburton and friends (e.g., Dick Cheney).

So, if John McCain has a plan for Social Security reform that doesn't include a windfall for his Republican pals, I'll listen to it. But it has to include a rollback of the tax cuts for the rich that the Republicans initiated in Bush's first term (such mischief they got away with in the early part of this century). Those tax cuts have funneled more money to the wealthy and left less funding for domestic programs such as Social Security. If they're going to get Social Security checks to ease their retirement, make them pay their fair share into the system.

Letter writer SHOCKED that Trauner is supported by prog-bloggers

It seems that Daily Kos wields a lot of influence in Wyoming.

Martin Halverson from Etna, Wyoming, wrote a letter to the editor in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. He is shocked SHOCKED to find that Daily Kos, an admitted prog-blog run by Liberals, supports Gary Trauner, the only Democrat running for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat, a seat being vacated by the already vacant Barbara Cubin.

Here's a sample from the letter:

Mr. Trauner, according to the Daily Kos editors, is "a Daily Kos favorite;" the editors brag that "a majority of Mr. Trauner's funding came from us;" they further remark that "it's nice to know the DNCC sees what we see in Trauner."

Mr. Halverson (if that is his real name) from Etna (if that is its real name) is shocked SHOCKED that Democrats, even the online out-of-state variety, are supporting other Democrats. Apparently, Wyoming Republicans have never done this. All of the donations to Barbara Cubin's many campaigns have come from nickels and dimes collected by orphans in Etna.

Mr. Halverson has checked Gary Trauner's FEC filings and found "no fewer than 28 labor union donations to his campaign. Could it be that Wyoming is a Right to Work state and the hugely profitable union industry hopes to change that?"

I, for one, am glad to see that 28 labor unions still exist. The Republicans have done their best to destroy unions and to pass anti-union legislation. I happen to belong to one, the Wyoming Public Employees Union, and know that the WPEA has worked hard to boost wages and benefits of the thousands of state workers in Wyoming. Because Wyoming is a Right to Work state, you don't have to belong to a union to work in state government or in the oil fields or anywhere else. You don't have to belong to the union to benefit from their advocacy. In fact, you can even be a Republican, as are at least two-thirds of the registered voters in Wyoming. I happen to know many non-union Republicans in state government. They get the same pay and benefits I do. I pay dues, they don't. I work with the union to better our lot (for all of us) and they just glide along. Some of them even donate to Republicans whose deepest wish is to banish unions forever. Odd, isn't it?

Mr. Halverson signs off this way:

It amazes me that Daily Kos "favorite" Gary Trauner asks us, with a straight face, to believe that he can represent Wyoming in Congress with all that "liberal," "progressive," and union money under his belt. Fact is -- he can't.

If the man had done his homework, he'd find that Gary is raising money from Wyomingites at an unprecedented level. Why, just last month this Liberal blogger from Cheyenne donated some of his hard-earned union wages to Trauner's campaign. I was joined in this activity by 499 other Wyomingites during the second quarter of 2008. Some of them may be Republicans, Libertarians or Greens. We all realize that Wyoming -- and the country -- need new leadership with new ideas. Trauner can represent Wyoming. And will. With a straight face.

Victory Garden becomes e-garden

I may have to rethink the term "Victory Garden." Victory gardens were grown on the home front during WWII so people could supplement the food they could get at the store via ration coupons. It also was an attempt to free up food to go to GIs overseas. We were a much more rural nation then, many more of us were farmers who had their own 60-acre-plus victory gardens.

But movement to the cities had begun. Southerners streamed up from Appalachia and the cotton-growing Delta to make tanks in converted Detroit auto plants. Dust Bowl refugees had escaped Oklahoma and Kansas for southern California and moved from picking fruit as day laborers to defense workers. All these were farm people who knew how to grow tomatoes and corn. So up popped victory gardens. "V" (as in "Veggies") for Victory!

What kind of victory am I looking for in my garden? Victory from salmonella-laced tomatoes? As it turns out, that may have been a false alarm. Victory from rising produce prices? I've already spent enough on plants and containers and water to buy dozens of store-bought kinds, even organic ones. Am I freeing up food supplies for military MREs? Not likely.

A week ago on NPR's Science Friday, hot-shot gardeners Barbara Ellis and Rosalind Crasy talked about e-gardens. Those are environmentally-sound gardens, veggies grown pesticide-free using drip irrigation or "gray water" from sinks and bathtubs. They offered so many tips that I started to take notes and then realized they both had written books. They are long-time gardeners and find themselves on the cutting edge of a green revolution. It's part of a national effort to replace lawns with Xeriscaping and fruit trees and vegetable-bearing plants. It's a trend in the burbs and in the cities, where roof-top gardens not only produce beans and tomatoes, but clean up the air. Green rooftops can cut down the energy it takes to cool the building. And some architects are even planning green high-rises with gardens that cover the entire surface, not just roofs.

Meanwhile, back in the small city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, my tomatoes are growing. I popped a few Gold Currant cherry tomatoes into my mouth yesterday and I tasted the sun. Tomatoes are popping out all over. My German Striped and Zapotec plants are blooming. I am using way too much water on them, as it hasn't rained for a month. So maybe I will continue to label my growing efforts with a small "e" for e-garden.

Next summer, I'm tearing out my grass (the real water hog) and replacing my entire yard with a real E-garden and low-water plants and rocks. Lots of rocks.

Judge puts stop to wolf killing in Wyo.

This is big news from the wires:

A federal judge in Montana has restored endangered species protection for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, putting a halt to legal wolf killing in Wyoming and derailing plans by it and two other states to hold public wolf hunts in the fall.

500 new Wyo. donors for Gary Trauner

Adam Ruff, campaign manager for Trauner for Congress, reported today that Gary raised $322,578.45 during the second quarter of this year. With cash in hand of more than $700,000, that gives the campaign a war chest of a million-plus. More than 500 new Wyoming donors kicked into the pot this quarter, adding up to 1,000 donors inside the state.

Trauner for Congress raised a big chunk of change two weeks ago when Ruff put out a call for donations on June 30, the last day of the quarter.

We told you that we were just over $7,500 short of reaching our goal for the quarter. You stepped up. You stepped up in a BIG way. In the next 12 hours we raised $35,143.63 online! When we asked for help, you showed what support Gary Trauner has in this state and the nation.This quarter – Gary not only out-raised every other opponent – he out-raised every other opponent COMBINED.

I was one of them, making a modest donation (no, it wasn't the 45 cents part of $322, 578.45). But it's important for Wyomingites to make modest donations to Trauner's campaign. The Republican opposition has tried to paint Gary, a Democrat, as an elitist "Coaster" who moved to Jackson Hole -- and you know how liberal that place is! The more support we throw behind Gary, the weaker that weak argument appears. At least one of the four candidates running on the Republican side -- rancher Mark Gordon -- has "donated" more than $400,000 of his own dough to his campaign. Gordon also picked up the endorsement of Malcolm Wallop. This name rings a bell with Wyomingites, as Wallop served as one of the state's U.S. Senators. Newcomers won't know him from Adam, and Democrats don't care.

While we have raised almost 1 million dollars to date – this race will be expensive and competitive. Our opponents have, and will likely continue to, dump in their own money. The other side will fund television, radio, newspaper ads and mail against us. We need to make sure we are able to compete. Please continue to help in any way you are able.

So, keep those sawbucks rolling in. And when Gary comes to town, walk door-to-door with him in your neighborhood. You may have trouble keeping up, but you'll learn a lot about him -- and your neighbors.

UPDATE (7/19): Republican Mark Gordon, the rancher from Johnson County running for the U.S. House, has donated $648,000 to his campaign, not the $400,000 I mentioned above. That's a lot of dough. Ranching been bery bery good to Mr. Gordon.

Dave Plouffe, close personal friend, asks for support (and five bucks)

David Plouffe, campaign manager for Obama for America, sent me another personal e-mail message this morning. To me and millions of his closest friends and advisers. The messages usually carry good news, which is nice. There's a slightly ominous ring to this one. The Republican National Committee and the McCain campaign, according to Dave (may I call you Dave?), "finished June with nearly $100 million in the bank." And that's just the spare change that Cindy McCain found rummaging around in her purse!

Democrats are trailing, money-wise. And Dave, I hope we don't have any accounts with IndyMac Bank. Obama supporters raised $52 million in June, helped significantly by my $25. If you add all that to the DNC's account, "we now have nearly $72 million in the bank. That's a very strong financial position to be in. But we remain at a massive disadvantage to our opponents."

Dave is asking me and my compatriots to donate $5 online now. The least I can do. A million people donating $5 apiece adds up to $5 million more in the bank. To contribute, go to https://donate.barackobama.com/junenumbers.

Here's how Dave sums things up:

I know this isn't the first time we've asked you for financial support, and it won't be the last. We have developed a strategy -- a very aggressive strategy -- that will only work if our millions of supporters continue to contribute their time and their money. That strategy will work, and it has to. The stakes are too high and the need for change too great. But victory is only possible with your continued help. We can't do this without you.

I'm fine with that. The stakes are high -- couldn't be any higher -- and money talks in all election campaigns, but talks the loudest every four years.

The Obama campaign is never shy about asking for money. I noticed that during the winter when the Obama operatives parachuted into Wyoming in advance of the March caucuses. They arrived organized and motivated, with armloads of U.S.-made "Wyoming for Obama" T-shirts for sale. I like it when I hear the word "aggressive" spoken by Democrats. I like the fact that Sen. Obama responds immediately to Republican slime attacks. I like the Dems new in-your-face style. I wish that Al Gore and John Kerry had used the same tactics instead of listening to the namby-pamby wing of the party.