BOREAL by D.L. Butterfield in front of Hunter Museum. This is a bronze sculpture with a patina that makes it appear to be wood. Chattanooga is populated with an amazing array of public artworks.

Artsy cloud at sunset over Tenn. River looks like a big-headed dog. Maybe it's just my imagination -- but that's the point, isn't it?

Entrance to the Hunter Art Museum. Public art is everywhere. And the museum collection is pretty good, too.

Canvass for Lori Millin Sept. 21

Rep. Lori Millin is organizing a district-wide canvass on Sunday, September 21, in Cheyenne. She needs your help to distribute new campaign literature to every house in her district (No. 8).


Meet at Lori's house, 308 Stetson Drive, at 12:30 p.m. and walk the neighborhoods from 1-4 p. We will provide all the supplies and feed everyone after we are done. All you need to do is show up in comfortable clothes and good walking shoes. If you, or someone you know, are able to help please let me know. Thanks!

Poll: Nick Carter closing in on Barrasso

This good news comes from the Nick Carter for Senate campaign:

The Public Policy Group, an independent polling company out of North Carolina, conducted a poll of over 1,600 Wyomingites over the course of two days asking likely voters about where they stood on the issues and who they would be voting for in November.

I am encouraged by the results: John Barrasso: 42%; Nick Carter: 39%; Undecided: 19%

This tells me two things:
1. Nick Carter is just three points away from kicking out John Barrasso and bringing real solutions to the people of Wyoming;
2. With 19% of Wyoming voters undecided, we all have work to do to convince as many of those 19% to vote for Nick.

This means knocking on doors, talking to your neighbors, and making phone calls for the campaign on our easy and convenient virtual phonebanking system. The poll also confirmed what Nick Carter have discovered through knocking on doors, visiting senior centers, and spending time with veterans at VFW halls: the people of Wyoming are sick of the culture of corruption in Washington and they see Senator John Barrasso as an emblem of that corruption. Wyoming voters are a very intelligent and independent group of people who do not want those who represent them to vote straight party line.

Unlike my opponent, I will work with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to solve tough issues like energy, the economy, and immigration. We have a real shot at this, but we need your help to close the three point gap.

John Barrasso has raised over $2 Million from lobbyists and Washington D.C. special interests and is ready to use it. I need your help to show those 19% of undecided voters that we need serious change in Wyoming.

Multi-faith 9/11 event in Laramie

This comes from the always energetic Nancy Sindelar in Laramie:

Thursday, September 11, Laramie: Multi-faith Peace Prayer Procession and Potluck. People of the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and those of any or no faith are invted to walk in prayer to mark the seven years since September 11th, 2001. Bring food and a prayer. 6:30 PM, Peace Pole at Washington Park on the Sheridan St. side for procession, 7 PM, Mayor's proclamation, Islamic Center, 7th & Garfield Sts., 7:25 PM, Sunset and breaking bread. Info: Sally, 742-0471, RevSal@compuserve.com, Sadrul, ulas@uwyo.edu, 721-3065, Wendy, 745-0840. Free

Morons 'R' Us: O'Reilly & Rove

From The Daily Show:

"Jesus was a community organizer"

This great quote comes from the blogs RK and Anonymous is A Woman in Virginia, and is a reference to Republican slams against community organizers, a term Repubs utter with a sneer:

"As a committed Christian, I was deeply offended by Sarah Palin and the Republican delegates mocking and belittling community organizers the other night. Jesus was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a Governor." -- Diane Rehm Show, 9/5/08

Sojourners' Jim Wallis also weighs in on this issue with "Palin owes some good people an apology." To read his Sept. 5 column, go to http://blog.beliefnet.com/godspolitics/2008/09/palin-owes-some-good-people-an.html

Long's Peak Scottish-Irish Festival in Estes Park Sept. 7

Prickly Pair & The Cactus Chorale from Dubois traded western duds for Scottish tartans at the Scottish-Irish Festival in Estes Park. Les Hamilton (left) is a fourth-generation fiddler with Scottish roots from Wyoming's Big Horn Basin. His wife, Locke, plays guitar, sings and writes some of the songs, while Norman Winter plays bass. Sitting in with the group is Denis Sullivan from the Denver Celtic group Gobs o' Phun. Prickly Pair plays vintage Western, old-time fiddle and cowboy folk tunes. They also play -- and talk about -- the Celtic origins of early cowboy and fiddle tunes of the Northern Plains.

Prickly Pair plays a hybrid of country-western and traditional Scots-Irish folk songs. They performed a song about Irish and Scottish soldiers who fought (and died) with Custer's Seventh Cavalry, one about a Wyoming cowgirl and a Scottish bagpiper who meet and fall in love (based loosely on Les and Locke's own lives), a song by Lori Lewis from the point of view of a fiddle dreaming of his previous life as a tree, and a ballad about Scotsmen driving the last working team of Clydesdale horses across their land. According to Locke, some ranchers in the West still use these "gentle giants" on their spreads.

For more on Prickly Pair, go to http://www.thepricklypair.com/

A competitor "throws the weight" during the Highland Games at the Scottish-Irish Festival. The goal of this event seems to be two-fold: 1. Throw the 56-pound weight over the bar; 2. Try not to get conked on the head when the weight falls earthward.

Cheyenne Scot Ron McIntosh tosses the caber at Scottish-Irish festival. As for me, I could barely lift the caber much less toss it so it lands at 12 o'clock.

Haven't seen so many flag-waving white people in one place since the Republican Convention .

Pipers in the lead, Scottish-American regiments advance on ragged hordes of Celtic festival-goers.

Calling all insects: make war, not love

Author and entomologist Jeff Lockwood will read from his latest book, "Six-Legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War" on Saturday, October 18, 5 p.m., at Second Story Books, First and Ivinson in Laramie. A reception will follow, with the author signing copies of his books, including intriguing earlier books on locusts and grasshoppers. The event's co-sponsors include the UW Ecology and Philosophy departments, and the MFA program in Creative Writing.

Jeff is a Professor of Natural Sciences and Humanities at University of Wyoming, and teaches in both the philosophy and creative writing programs. His spring 2008 course, "Interstellar Message Composition" (writing for terrestrials, in Trekkie language), was underwritten by the Wyoming NASA Space Grant Consortium and featured in the Christian Science Monitor and on ABC's web site at <http://www.abcnews.go.com/story?id=4873966>.

"Six-Legged Soldiers" is published by Oxford University Press. Here's a description of the book taken from amazon.com:

Beginning in prehistoric times and building toward a near and disturbing future, the reader is taken on a journey of innovation and depravity. Award-winning science writer Jeffrey A. Lockwood begins with the development of "bee bombs" in the ancient world and explores the role of insect-borne disease in changing the course of major battles, ranging from Napoleon's military campaigns to the trenches of World War I. He explores the horrific programs of insect warfare during World War II: airplanes dropping plague-infested fleas, facilities rearing tens of millions of hungry beetles to destroy crops, and prison camps staffed by doctors testing disease-carrying lice on inmates. The Cold War saw secret government operations involving the mass release of specially developed strains of mosquitoes on an unsuspecting American public--along with the alleged use of disease-carrying and crop-eating pests against North Korea and Cuba. Lockwood reveals how easy it would be to use of insects in warfare and terrorism today: In 1989, domestic eco-terrorists extorted government officials and wreaked economic and political havoc by threatening to release the notorious Medfly into California's crops. A remarkable story of human ingenuity--and brutality--"Six-Legged Soldiers" is the first comprehensive look at the use of insects as weapons of war, from ancient times to the present day.

Can you oppose New G.I. Bill but still support veterans?

Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso did not support Sen. James Webb's New G.I. Bill for post-9/11 military veterans. But I found this curious item in Sen. Barrasso's Aug. 27 e-mail newsletter. Kind of odd that you can vote against veterans' benefits yet still claim to support Wyoming's veterans. Anyone know what this means?

GI Bill Education Benefits Can Transfer to Family Members

I recently joined Senate colleagues to force changes to the “GI Bill” to allow Wyoming military members to transfer their education benefits to their families. We won the day for the things Wyoming veterans told me were most important to them. Wyoming veterans wanted to be in a position to help their families. The transferability of education benefits will be a tremendous help to our service members and a great comfort to our military families.

As a matter of principal, it does not make sense to penalize service members who decide to make the military their career. The transferability provision provides the right incentive to our men and women in uniform. Service members can transfer their education benefits to their spouse and children. This recognizes the sacrifices made by both the military family and the service member. Studies show it will bolster recruitment and encourage service members to continue their military careers. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the original legislation would have hurt reenlistment by 16 percent.

McCain=Bush=More of the Same

Palin story slams into Banned Books Week

I received the following timely ALA press released promoting "Banned Books Week" at about the same time I heard that Republican Veep hopeful Sarah Palin tried, as the new mayor of Wasilla in 1996, to get the librarian to remove controversial books from the shelves. The Palin story is a bit more complicated than it first appeared, but it is clear that her fundamentalist Christian bent got in the way of free speech. This happens often. You can read a comprehensive report on Palin and book-banning at the Anchorage Daily News web site at http://www.adn.com/. Time magazine also did a piece on it.

One of our county librarians told me the other day that she met a librarian from Converse County checking out a book by C.J. Box. This mystery writer's books face removal from the Converse County Library due to what's called a challenge. Objectionable language and content, stuff not fit for reading -- at least according to the challenger. So the librarian had to go somewhere other than her own library to get a book.

C.J. "Chuck" Box of Cheyenne writes the Joe Pickett mystery series set in Wyoming. Chuck has won tons of awards (nominated for an L.A. Times award for his first novel!) and his books are read by all kinds of people because they're set in Wyoming and the protagonist is a game warden. I was at a book signing at City News three years ago. Ahead of me in line were teen boys (very rare at readings and book signings), elderly couples, entire families, guys that looked like actual cowboys, a few pinko Liberals such as myself, and one biker wearing colors. Chuck told me later than the biker gushed about being a big fan. Chuck asked who to sign the book to. "Mouse," said the biker.

Wonder how Mouse would react to people telling him what NOT to read.

I have to mention here that Chuck is a Republican, owns (with his wife) his own international travel business, is a member of the high-falutin' Cheyenne Frontier Days committee (no pinkos allowed), and is a dedicated supporter of free expression, books and writers. His book jacket photo shows him in a black cowboy hat. He has his own horses and the entire family rides.

That's the great thing about Wyoming. Just as you've worked up a stereotype about someone, he or she blows it all to hell with something unexpected.

Here's the ALA press release:

The American Library Association (ALA) opposes book banning and censorship in any form, and supports librarians whenever they resist censorship in their libraries. Since our society is so diverse, libraries have a responsibility to provide materials that reflect the interests of all of their patrons.

Each year, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom receives hundreds of reports on books and other materials that were "challenged" (their removal from school or library shelves was requested). The ALA estimates the number reported represents only about a quarter of the actual challenges.

In support of our efforts to fight censorship, the ALA annually celebrates Banned Books Week – a national celebration of the freedom to read. Observed during the last week of September each year, Banned Books Week reminds Americans not to take the precious democratic freedom to read for granted. This year, Banned Books Week will take place September 27–October 4, 2008.

The American Library Association is a nonprofit, 501(c) (3) educational association that supports quality library and information services and public access to information. As such, it is not allowed to take a position on political candidates and strives to be nonpartisan in its
activities.

To learn more about book challenges and Banned Books Week, please visit http://www.ala.org/bbooks.

Nick Carter challenges Barrasso on energy

This comes from the Nick Carter for U.S. Senate campaign:

United States Senate Democratic Nominee Nick Carter pointed out John Barrasso's contradictions and politics as usual approach to our country's energy crisis today. "With the price of gas hovering at four dollars per gallon and working families worried about the next price spike, John Barrasso offers contradictory views on drilling and no long term solution for our dependence on foreign oil."

"Out of one side of his mouth, Barrasso says he supports drilling in ANWR and offshore while out of the other side of his mouth he doesn't think Wyoming oil producers can safely produce oil and gas in the Wyoming Range," Carter said. "This type of political double talk by Senator Barrasso is exactly the kind of pointless pandering that our country can no longer afford."

Carter laughed out loud when he found out that Barrasso said that the "real" energy supplies were not to be found in Wyoming. "I've been watching working folks come home from the rigs in Wyoming since I was 6 years old and it sure looked like they were drilling for something 'real' to me."

"The sad thing is that without a comprehensive energy policy that is dedicated to freeing us from oil dependence, it is only a matter of time before Senator Barrasso is clamoring to drill in the Wyoming Range because gas is six or seven dollars per gallon. Remember, John McCain and George Bush Sr. were opposed to offshore drilling until recently. The only way to preserve our environment and our economy is to make tough decisions on a nationwide energy policy. Anything else is just political doublespeak."

"Remember, Senator Barrasso voted against Wind Energy in Wyoming while taking a half a million dollars from big oil. He neither wants energy independence nor protection of the environment. Now he also wants any drilling jobs to go out of state. You can't trust him with the environment. You can't trust him with your job. You can believe I'll work toward a solution to our energy problem -- not just political talk."

Carter will be sweeping through the state over the next week, speaking with energy companies, veteran's groups, and senior centers. Unlike Barrasso, Carter claims, he is making a genuine connection with the people of Wyoming so he can truly represent their interests in Washington.

New public art in my neighborhood

This is not a great photo, but I took it with my cell phone camera out of the driver's side window of my minivan. It's a four-engine C-130 aircraft used by the Wyoming National Guard at its base just south of my neighborhood. It looks a bit smaller than a C-130. Maybe it's something else?

A Korean War-era Starfighter stood on this site until a few months ago. It disappeared mysteriously overnight (Chicoms spirited it away?) and now we have this public sculpture, which is a better representation of the Guard's mission.

By the way, I'm not complaining about this new addition. I'm a fan of airplanes. Once, during the Guard base's open house, I was exploiring a C-130's cargo bay and a young woman in uniform asked if I had any questions. "You fly one of these things?"

She gave me a nervious grin. "Yeah, I'm the one making all the racket for the neighbors."

I shrugged. "I like the sound of airplanes."

She seemed a bit surprised by this, and said the base gets a lot of complaint calls, especially at night. I said that I wasn't one of them.

I wonder if the Guard gets any complaints about their choice of public art.

I have to get a better photo of it. Keep posted.

THERE IS "CHANGE" WITH A CAPITAL "C"...

...and then there is change that is almost invisible to the naked eye.

"Change is coming," quoth John McCain to the Repub multitudes. He and his loyal minions are going to drive the moneychangers out of Washington, D.C., temples of government.

Why would the moneychangers want to banish themselves from power? Great questions. But that's what the McCain campaign says it will do if elected. Do you believe that?

Maybe what McCain meant is that "your change is coming," referring to all those 72 cent rebates (in celebration of his 72nd birthday) he promised to his contributors. "Where's my change?" ask the pink-faced Republican multitudes. "See my running mate," says McCain with that eerie smile of his. "She's the change agent."

As Jon Stewart mentioned on "The Daily Show" last night, what you see at the RNC is not always clear. The other night, the convention stressed "service." Conventioneers were handed signs that read "service" and then speakers spoke about service. But Stewart pointed out that Palin and Huckabee and others then went on to dis those people who actually provide service -- community organizers.

So Stewart assumed that the "service" signs were meant to get some food and beverage service for all those hungry and thirsty delegates in the Xcel Center stands. "Get your red hots here!" "I'll take three -- heavy on the mustard!"

The McCain-Palin idea of change is to get elected so that they can replace (or change location of) the current holders of the presidency and vice presidency with themselves. They will look differently, but sound and act and legislate the same. McCain, as senator, voted with Bush 95 percent of the time.

He seeks change with a very tiny "c" that will be almost invisible to most of us.