Enzi/Barrasso/Lummis pout -- and won't release stimulus details to Wyoming

On Sunday, Jared Miller of the Casper Star-Tribune wrote about Wyoming’s share of Pres. Obama’s national stimulus legislation.

One of the strangest aspects of the story is that the state doesn’t yet know how much money will come to us via the stimulus. Here’s why:

The Associated Press estimates that Wyoming's share of the funds will be roughly $400 million, including millions for education, weatherization projects, nutrition programs, grants for Internet crimes against children and other recipients.

Lynne Boomgaarden [Gov. Dave Freudenthal's point person on the stimulus package, who also serves as director of state lands and investments] said Friday she was working with a number of sources in Washington, D.C., to create a clearer picture of Wyoming's share of the federal stimulus funds. At this point, she said, the figures are largely speculative."I think when you are seeing numbers you are seeing people's best guesses at numbers," Boomgaarden said.

One reason for the lack of public information about the stimulus in Wyoming could rest with the state's congressional delegates.

Congress members from some other states released detailed lists of proposed stimulus spending after Friday's vote. U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso declined to provide information about Wyoming's share of the stimulus Friday night.

Enzi, Barrasso and Rep. Cynthia Lummis voted against the bill.

Enzi, in a news release, noted that the legislation is the "single most expensive bill in the history of the United States."

"Unfortunately, the legislation we have before us is partisan and reads like a list of liberal priorities bundled together that could not gain support individually," Enzi said in the statement.

Obama to sign stimulus bill in Denver

It's fitting that Pres. Obama is signing the new stimulus bill Tuesday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, just 100 miles down I-25 (which is closed right now due to blizzard conditions). The stimulus bill aims to put people to work (and back to work). It also features money for the National Institutes of Health and various other science and medical facilities.

Not sure why the president chose Denver. It is the site of his nomination as the Democratic Party's candidate for president. Without Denver's Democrats, Obama would not have carried Colorado on Nov. 4. O.K., Boulder contributed too. Denver is smack in the middle of Colorado and not far from the center of the nation. With a bit of a stretch, Denver might be able to claim "Heartland" status. It's also my birthplace, which doesn't count for much. I do love the place though.

I've spent hundreds of hours in the DMNS, first as a kid and later as an adult. We've taken field trips to the museum, mostly when our kids were young and impressionable. I loved the dinosaur skeletons that used to be the place's main attraction. The bones were dug out of formations in Colorado and Wyoming. Reconstructed in the museum as a brontosaurus, it had to be taken down and reassembled as scientists continued to uncover more info. That's the way it should be, right? Science marches on. Change happens.

When the economy needs a fix, you get started fixing it.

Rep. Lummis doth object too much

Wyoming's brand-spanking-new Rep., Repub Cynthia Lummis, is wasting little time learning how to tow the party line, especially when it comes to the economic stimulus legislation. She voted against it twice -- joining the rest of her naysaying right-wing brethren and sistren. For eight years -- four terms -- Lummis's predecessor, Barbara Cubin -- never met a spending bill she didn't like. The Repubs ran up a huge deficit and now they've rediscovered their fiscal conservative roots.

Anyway, here are the parts of the stimulus bill that Rep. Lummis found objectionable:

1. $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts;
2. $2 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Fund, providing funds to organizations such as ACORN, which has been accused of practicing unlawful voter registration in recent elections;
3. $8 billion for a High Speed Passenger Rail Program, after the House did not include any funding for the program and the Senate included $2 billion, which will fund at least one project from Las Vegas to Los Angeles
4. $1 billion for a Prevention and Wellness Fund, which can be used for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs at the CDC
5. $500 million to replace a 30-year old computer system at the Social Security Administration
6. $500 million for a health professions training program -- funding which an earlier committee report said were allocated because, “a key component of attaining universal health care reform will be ensuring the supply of primary care providers.”

Let's take these one at a time.

1. The $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts stipulates that the funding goes for grants to activities and projects “which preserve jobs in the nonprofit arts sector threatened by declines in philanthropic and other support during the current economic downturn," with 40 percent of the amount going to state arts agencies and regional arts organizations (“in a manner similar to the agency’s current practice”) and the remainder going out in competitive grants from the NEA. Matching requirements are waived.

So, if 40 percent of that total equals $20 million. and it's divided equally among 62 state/territorial arts agencies and regionals, that would mean $322,000 for the Wyoming Arts Council, where I work. That means a lot of grants to arts councils and schools and libraries. Also, the other 60 percent of NEA funding will go out in grants to organizations in all states, including Wyoming. That's a nice infusion of capital in tough times. Not to mention the fact that arts orgs in the state could apply directly to the NEA.

In her press release, Lummis didn't have to mount any specific objection to arts funding. Her Repub clan knows that "NEA" is a code word for "the agency that funds pornographic art." So, in Lummis-speak, $50 mill to that outfit is a big waste of taxpayer money -- and a slap in the face to all good fundies.

2. ACORN. Remember how Sarah Palin objected to community organizers, notably anyone involved with ACORN. Registering voters? What kind of commie crap is that? So, all the right-wingers have to see is ACORN and they go bat-shit crazy.

3. Railroads. Not sure why Republicans hate mass transit so much. Americans are crazy about their passenger trains, especially new light-rail systems that are springing up everywhere, notably in the cities of the West, e.g. Denver and Phoenix. Trains settled the West and drove off the buffalo and the Indians. Since Wyoming Republicans hate wolves so much, you'd think they'd come up with a plan to build a train through Yellowstone. But a top-notch train system would be great for the country and help make us more energy efficient. A high-speed rail line along the heavily traveled I-15 corridor from L.A. to Las Vegas could save us millions of gallons of fuel a year. Oh, now I see. Rail systems mean energy savings. No need for foreign oil. Or Texas oil companies. That will never do.

4. Why would Rep. Lummis be against disease prevention? Again, we're dealing with those right-wing code words. "Sexually transmitted diseases." Only "those people" gets STDs, you know, the darker-skinned populations. And the licentious ones, those people with no morals and no means. Non-Christians. Non-Republicans.

5. Social Security Administration? Is that thing still around? I thought Dubya banished it?

6. Uh oh. "Universal health care." Those are fighting words to Republicans. Again, it's code. Universal health care equals single-payer system equals socialized medicine equals "We're no better than the Canadians." A program to train more primary care providers would lead to a ready supply of doctors for rural and underserved communities, something desperately needed in states such as Wyoming. You'd think that Wyoming's lone U.S. Rep. would support a program that would get doctors out into small communities where they're really needed.

Gosh, I could go on and on but it's getting late.

We deserve better representation than this.

Shocker! Barrasso/Enzi vote against Senate stimulus bill

No surprise here. Wyoming's two Republican senators -- Mike Enzi and John Barrasso -- both voted against the $838 billion economic stimulus package in the U.S. Senate.

The bill passed the Senate anyway, by a 61-37 margin, mostly along party lines. All the "no" votes were cast by Republicans. What a bunch of naysayers.

In an AP story, Barrasso said that the legislation is not a stimulus bill but is a spending bill. He says the bill does little in the way to create jobs now. Enzi ridiculed the bill, saying it spends a lot of money without knowing whether it will work.

Wonder what else Congress spent a lot of money on without knowing whether it would work? The Iraq War, to mention one. Jury still out on that one. No Republicans (except Nebraska's Chuck Hagel) and some Dems voted for war bills over and over again, with nothing to show for it.

And what about Bush's crackpot plan to cut taxes for the richest Americans? That cost the U.S. treasury $1.3 trillion. It led to the current crisis. And Enzi and Barrasso want more of the same?

I wish I had someone in the U.S. Senate that represented me.

I attempt to explain U.S. history

While I blog, my daughter Annie sits next to me doing her U.S. History homework. The topic tonight is World War I.

"Who -- or what's -- The Big Four?" she asks.

I reel off names of three of the allied countries in the war: England, France, U.S. Can't think of a fourth. Russia?

"No, Italy." She's looking at a list in the book, "The Americans: Reconstruction to the Twentieth Century." The Big Four were the allied powers who assembled at Versailles on 11/11/09 to screw the Germans which led to the economic collapse of Germany, which led to Hitler, Blitzkrieg, The Final Solution and all the rest.

"No Man's Land?" She searches her text, which is the size of the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary. No wonder these kids have bad backs. Get them a couple good paperbacks about the war and toss out the text. I recommend "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Johnny Got His Gun," "The Good Soldier Svejk," and "Soldier of the Great War." Just pick two.

I Google "No Man's Land" and come up with some photos showing dead soldiers hung up on barbed wire. I tell her that No Man's Land was the hellish space between trenches where most of the dying took place.

"What kind of weapons were used?"

I see what she's doing. She knows I'm keen on history and knows, with little prompting, I will blurt out a very long and convoluted answer. "What kind of weapons do you think they had?" I ask.

"U-Boats."

Check.

"Tanks?"

They started out with horses, which were obsolete when the tanks appeared. Your great-grandfather's Iowa cavalry unit went to France with all their horses and never rode them into battle. Too dangerous, what with tanks and machine guns and barbed wire.

"Did the horses get hurt?"

This kid loves her animals. Not a kid anymore, 15 with a birthday in March. "I don't think the horses got anywhere near the front lines."

She nods, puts away her work sheet and closes the book. "I'm going to work out."

She heads to the basement treadmill, leaving me thinking about World War I. What a pointless slaughter that was. My grandfather was gassed and ended up spending a year in the hospital after the war. On the plus side, that's where he met my grandmother, an Army nurse. This union led to my father and then to me and, eventually, to my daughter.

High school history doesn't track the vagaries of people's lives -- just the big themes like weaponry, world leaders and treaties. Those books I mentioned earlier, that's where you get the individual stories that illuminate the big picture. Svejk just wants to make it through in one piece, but people keep trying to kill him. Those people tend to be on his own side, which also baffles American pilot Yossarian in "Catch-22."

As often happens, we have to leave the final word to the poets. Here's Wilfred Owen, who was killed a week before the Armistice: "My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity."

Praise the Darwin -- and put up a billboard

Darwin even looks a little God-like (in the Old Testament sense) on this billboard erected outside Grand Junction, Colo. Grand Junction was chosen, along with sites in Dayton, Tenn., and Dover, Pa., due to some anti-evolutionary nonsense perpetrated by these communities.

The Tennessee and Pennsylvania towns had landmark court cases about the teaching of evolution. In Grand Junction, the Freedom from Religion Foundation has complained to the Mesa County commissioners about denominational prayers in public meetings.

The foundation is made up of agnostics and atheists who fight government displays of religion.

I tend toward agnostic. I'd like to see one of these billboards in Wyoming, although don't want to suffer through any fundie creationist hoo-ha to get one.

"Red Dawn" Wolverines strike again

Some of you may recall this "Cold War" scare film that was set in Colorado after the Soviet invasion.

Thanks to crooks and liars.

Marriage defenseless in wake of bill defeat

House Joint Resolution 17, the so-called "Defense of Marriage" resolution, was defeated on a 35-25 vote after impassioned testimony from lawmakers.

"I look upon this state as the Equality State and I urge you to maintain that status as the Equality State," said Rep. Patrick Goggles, D-Ethete. Rep. Goggles was a delegate at last summer's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

But you can't kill a bill in our lopsided legislature without some Republicans going along for the ride -- sometimes even leading the charge.

Rep. Roy Cohee of Casper, an opponent of the bill, was mentioned in a story this evening on Wyoming Public Radio.

Rep. Roy Cohee says despite claims by fringe groups that the constitutional amendment is needed, he says he believes that the average citizen disagrees and feels that the public thinks they have much more important work to do.

Sen. Enzi: "Thanks for all the pizza"

Fed up with all the crazy talk about a trillion-dollar stimulus package, Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi and GOP Senate colleagues took time out today to accept delivery of dozens of pizzas delivered to the Capitol steps. The Senators were grateful to GOP PAC Americans for Posterity (motto: "No Stimulus Without Pepperoni") for its generosity in times of great stress. "Dig in, fellas," urged Enzi. And they did, with great relish.

Republicans: Crazy or loony?

After the past two weeks, I have to wonder if bipartisanship exists. Are Republicans merely being the opposition party? Or are they crazy?

Quote from John Cole's Balloon Juice at www.balloon-juice.com:

I really don't understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

Art teachers conduct civics lesson in legislative action

Some of my colleagues in the world of arts education have jumped into the legislative battles with both feet. HB0218 is designed to revise the Hathaway Scholarhips to include arts courses. The Hathaways are awarded to high school seniors attending the state's only four-year university or one of its community colleges.

I posted about this bill on Jan. 28. Here's the latest update from wyomingarts:

We had a very exciting day at the Legislature yesterday! The House Education committee was unanimous in their acceptance of the proposal to change HB0218 to reflect Fine and Performing Arts, and unanimous in their acceptance of the bill. Four teachers presented in support of the bill: Cindy Schmid, Cheyenne; Amy Simpson, Cheyenne; Sheila McHattie, Casper; and Kelly Bembry-Hennings, Cheyenne. Many other teachers, and some administrators, also attended to show their support.

The House Education committee made a number of supportive comments about this bill, and several representatives commented that they had received a lot of email on the topic. The committee was joined by the chair of the Senate Education committee (Senator Coe), and also Senator Dockstader. Senator Dockstader, who is married to an art teacher in Star Valley, was kind enough to give the presenting teachers advice on the process, and help us all by talking to a number of legislators. Superintendent McBride was also there and provided some comments on the bill.

This bill still has a number of hurdles to overcome before it is law, but it is well on its way.

What’s next?

The bill is waiting in line on the docket to be presented to the Committee of the Whole (the House). The Majority Floor Leader sets that schedule. The House Floor Majority Leader is Edward Buchanan (Torrington). The bill must be read by the end of the day on Monday, February 9 in order to continue through the process.

If it does get read by end of day Monday, February 9, it will then be voted upon by the Committee of the Whole (House). If it passes, it goes to second reading. It must be read and voted on by the end of the day on Tuesday February 10 to continue to its third reading. It must have its third reading and voted on by the end of the day on Wednesday, February 11. If it passes, it moves on to the Senate Education Committee. If it doesn’t pass, it is dead.

All House Bills must have achieved third reading by Wednesday, February 11, or they are dead.

These are the stages that must occur between now and the time the HB0218 is presented to the Senate side. So, still a ways to go before it becomes law.

You too can be an ozone monitor

Ozone alert:

Pinedale residents could wake up with unhealthy levels of ozone in the air this morning and should take appropriate precautions, state officials say.

Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality officials predicted weather and other conditions will be ideal for high ozone levels in the Upper Green River Basin.

The DEQ ozone advisory -- the first ozone alert of the winter season -- was announced Tuesday on the agency's Web site.

Ozone study alert:

University of Wyoming researchers are seeking volunteers in Sublette County to assist with an air quality monitoring study.

The six-month project will record ozone levels around Pinedale and at various sites in the Upper Green River Basin. It should provide researchers with much-needed data about the distribution of ozone in the basin.

A mobile air quality monitoring lab has been moved to Pinedale to measure ozone levels with state-of-the-art equipment, according to researchers.

Officials said passive ozone monitors are also being placed throughout the basin to map ozone distribution, and human exposure to ozone will be recorded by the volunteers as part of the project. Volunteers in the study will wear a clip-on, passive ozone sampler, which will record how much ozone he or she comes into contact with during an eight-hour time period.

Both of these stories by Jeff Gearino were in today's Casper Star-Tribune.

Stimulating debate needed on stimulus bill

GOP Senators issued a long list of things on Monday they hate about Obama’s stimulus bill:

• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Maryland.
• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million to lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

Some of these could stimulate the economy. Some are just wayward bills that never found a home. Some are just silly -- TV converter boxes? The total here is about $20 billion, give or take a few million (I’m too lazy to add them up).

That leaves about $800 billion in spending in the current stimulus bill. Are the GOPers O.K. with all that remains? What about the $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts? Why isn’t that first on the GOP hit list? It’s possible that Republican Senators finally understand that a healthy economy needs the stimulus of the arts. There was a time, back in the 1990s during Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America, that the NEA was under withering fire from the Religious Right and its political handmaiden, the GOP. Congress cut the NEA budget in half, but couldn’t kill it. The agency’s budget rose during Dubya’s two terms.

It’s also possible that the disgruntled Republican senators are listening to some of its senior members who’ve become part of the Senate Arts Caucus, people like Wyoming’s Mike Enzi. Although he’s pretty much a party line guy, Enzi has long supported the arts in his home town of Gillette and throughout Wyoming. He could be talking some sense into his colleagues. It’s possible.

It’s funny to see Republicans getting religion about spending. They didn’t bat and eye when they authorized the war in Iraq and ended up spending (so far) $600 billion in taxpayer funds. They sunk hundreds of billions more into Defense Department appropriations (separate from the war funding) and dried up the treasury with their generous tax cuts for the richest Americans. Now they see the light. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition – to Halliburton! But let's not spend a penny on youth programs or energy efficiency or disease control.

Palin the future brains of the GOP?

Rasmussen Reports features its latest political poll:

One thing for sure: Republicans and Democrats don’t agree on the future direction of the Republican Party.

Coming off a shellacking at the polls in November, the plurality of GOP voters (43%) say their party has been too moderate over the past eight years, and 55% think it should become more like Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in the future, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Just 24% think failed presidential candidate John McCain is the best future model for the party, and 10% are undecided.

Only 17% of Republican voters say their party has been too conservative, and 30% say its actions and positions have been about right, with nine percent (9%) not sure.

Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64%), however, say the Republican Party has been too conservative, and 42% think it should look to McCain for the future. Twelve percent (12%) of Democratic voters see Palin as a future role model, and 40% aren’t sure what’s best for their rivals.

Wow. Republicans think their party has been too moderate the past eight years? That's scary. Scarier still is The Return of Sarah Palin, Airborne Slayer of Wolves. The Republicans need to rename themselves the Lamebrain Party. First Bush, and then the possibility of Prez Palin? Let's hope that Barack Obama sets us on a course that honors intelligence and competence over stupid.

Sen. McCaskill reads riot act to "idiots"

Watch Claire McCaskill (D-MO) take apart the idiot financiers who got us into this mess: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt90KUwCCoE

This one is for my college chum Bob in Missouri.

Middle class revolutionaries on the march

I've been a card-carrying member of America's middle class all my life. I suppose my "card" is that wrinkled old original Social Security card I carry in my wallet. All of us have one of these, from the homeless man crashing at the local shelter to crazy ol' rich guy Bernie Madoff. But most of us are middle class, like it or not.

There was a time that we artsy types wanted to distance ourselves from suburbia. "Middle class" was a putdown among '50s beats and '60s hippies (and hippie wannabes). Odd thing is, the most vocal critics tended to be offspring of the upper classes rather than the sons of daughters of carpenters and insurance salesmen. Middle-class kids like me were raised to strive for better lives that our parents'. Most of us seemed to want that, too, although life has a way of playing tricks on your aspirations.

My father was an accountant and my mother, a nurse. My father was the first college graduate in his family, courtesy of the G.I. Bill. My mother's nurse's training was paid for by the U.S. Navy, although World War II ended before she could serve in the military. My parents' first house came through a no-down-payment, low-interest loan through the V.A. It was in Aurora, Colo., Denver's burgeoning eastern suburb. We lived just down the street from Fitzsimons Army Medical Center where Ike recovered from one of his heart attacks. Pres. Ike was married to Mamie, a middle-class girl from Denver.

My parents and millions like them made up the middle class. Their ungrateful kids wanted something else, something better, something....who the hell knows. Most of us claimed territory in our parents' socio-economic cadre, whether we wanted to or not. In the 1980s -- that "Me Decade" when TV's "Thirty-something" was all the rage -- we didn't grasp the fact that forces energized by the so-called Reagan Revolution were on a search-and-destroy mission. Target: me and my neighbors. Those forces took steroids during the Dubya Administration.

But now the Reagan/Bush/Bush tide is ebbing.

On Friday, Pres. Obama signed an executive order forming a Working Families Middle Class Task Force. Point man is Veep Joe Biden. Here's what he had to say:

"America’s middle class is hurting. Trillions of dollars in home equity and retirement savings and college savings are gone. And every day, more and more Americans are losing their jobs. President Obama and I are determined to change this. Quite simply, a strong middle class equals a strong America. We can’t have one without the other. This Task Force will be an important vehicle to assess new and existing policies across the board and determine if they are helping or hurting the middle class. It is our charge to get the middle class – the backbone of this country – up and running again."

Who would have thought there would come a time when being middle class was revolutionary?

The task force's first meeting will be in Philadelphia Feb. 27. I would have preferred a place closer to Middle America. Aurora, Colo., for instance. Or possibly Cheyenne, Wyo., or Omaha or Wichita. I formally invite the task force to Cheyenne. The Veep can stay in my guest room.

One thing that's encouraging -- you can submit your ideas to the task force here.

Contact your legislators about including the arts in Hathaway options

A bill modifying the requirements for Wyoming's Hathaway Scholarship was recently introduced by Wyoming Rep. Elaine Harvey from Lovell. The bill would allow a student to substitute two years of music education in grades 9-12 instead of foreign languages. The bill does specify "music" and not the larger category of "fine and performing arts."

The bill has been assigned the number HB0218 and is entitled Hathaway Success Curriculum. The bill (as of 1/31) can be read here. It has been referred to the House Education Committee. It is scheduled to be heard on Monday, Feb. 2. For updates on the status of the bill, go to: http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2009/Bills.htm.

The bill could be modified several times. It can be modified in committee, on the floor of the House, or -- if passed -- by the Senate committee or on the floor of the Senate.

Music teachers Cindy Schmid and Amy Simpson met with Rep. Elaine Harvey and Rep. Joe Barbuto last week. They were able to help them organize talking points for the bill, but did not feel they were successful in making the case to modify "music" to "fine and performing arts."

People in arts education have divided opinions about the bill. On one hand, it would be a great thing that students have options when it comes to scholarship-sanctioned courses. The bill would be a great entry point into the Hathaway program. Once legislators open the door to one art form, others are sure to follow later. The no-cost bill might be seen favorably by legislators wary of big ticket items during tough economic times.

On the other hand, once music is approved as an alternative, perhaps legislators might feel they've done their final bit of Hathaway modifying and close the door forever. That's a danger, although hard times don't last forever -- and neither does a seat in the state legislature. Educators in visual arts and theatre are concerned about this possibility.

Those who want to see the broader category of "fine and performing arts" in the Hathaway legislation suggest these talking points:

1) Wyoming does not have stand-alone standards in music; all of the arts are together under Fine and Performing Arts. Currently, students must gain proficiency in the arts in order to graduate with two of our three diplomas. Keeping it consistent with the current system is simpler for administration purposes, and for districts to advise students.

2) Not all students are good at music. If the purpose is to create successful students, providing as many avenues as possible for success is important. Changing the requirement to the Fine and Performing Arts allows students to select from music, art, dance or theatre.

3) All of the arts provide important benefits to students. A variety of studies has shown correlations between participation in the arts and the likelihood a student will stay in school. All of them develop higher order thinking and creative problem solving skills, which are in high demand in the workforce today.

4) People who participate in the arts are more likely to vote, volunteer and generally participate in public life.

These last two, of course, would also be a danger to Republican hegemony in Wyoming. Another great reason to throw the arts into the mix.

The members of the House Education committee are: Del McOmie (Fremont); Bob Brechtel (Natrona); Cathy Connolly (Albany); Bernadine Craft (Sweetwater); Ross Diercks (Niobrara/Weston/Converse/Goshen); Allan Jaggi (Uinta/Sweetwater); Thomas Lubnau (Campbell); Robert McKim (Lincoln); Matt Teeters (Goshen/Platte). Contact them through legisweb.state.wy.us/

Lummis says no to U.S. economic recovery

Here's Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis's statement explaining her vote against the stimulus package designed to rescue the U.S. from the recession:

Following her vote against the $816 billion economic stimulus package, U.S.Representative Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., issued this statement:

“The economy is in a downturn, and is in need of help – we are all feeling that reality. However, I believe this economic stimulus package will not deliver the shot in the arm we are looking for. We cannot borrow and spend our way back to economic prosperity.

“The stimulus package provides enough spending to give every man, woman and child in America $2,700, but will cost each and every household an additional $6,700 in debt.

“Huge amounts of government spending have never been an effective tool for economic recovery. It has been tried here and around the world before, and it has always been found wanting.

“This bill, meant to stimulate our economy, has among other crazy things, money for the National Endowment for the Arts, the 2010 census, and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. This is not stimulus – it is a bridge to bankruptcy – and it is not how tax dollars should be spent.

“That is why I have cosponsored alternative measures that cut taxes and give individuals and small business back the money they’ve earned. This is a true stimulus for the economy.“

The bill I support, the ‘Economic Recovery and Middle-Class Relief Act of 2009’ would cut income taxes 5 percent across the board, and permanently lower the capital gains, as well as repeal the alternative minimum tax.

“It would also include a 1 percent across-the-board budget cut for everything but defense and veterans – a first step in the right direction of true fiscal discipline. “While there are a variety of programs in the President’s stimulus package that I could support on their own merits, I hope to consider them in next year’s budget, and not in a stimulus free-for-all, like the one being considered in Congress now.”

Republicans brought us this economic crisis with their tax cuts for the rich and an unnecessary crusade in Iraq. That war alone has cost the U.S. almost $600 billion (see http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home). That could pay for the stimulus package that Lummis so blithely dismisses.

It's also good to know that Lummis is on record against funding for the arts. That's a continuation of her predecessor's ignorant anti-arts stances. Gives us something to use against her when she runs again in 2010.

Also, this release refers to an $816 billion stimulus package. The actual amount is $819 billion. That's a difference of $3 billion. And Lummis once was Wyoming's treasurer? Makes you wonder.

Guess which big square state is hopelessly Republican? (Hint: It's not Colorado)

A recent Gallup Poll shows Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Alaska as hopelessly Republican, with Nebraska as a runner-up due to one of its electoral votes going to Obama.

Wyoming was not the most Repub of states. Utah gets that honor.

But here's a weird thing. Oklahoma leans Democratic, yet all 77 of its counties voted for McCain. Of Wyoming's 23 counties, all but two (Albany and Teton) went to McCain. So which is the most regressive, politics-wise?

Artists and their communities

During his campaign, Pres. Obama talked about the importance of the arts, calling for a young “artist corps” to work in low-income schools and neighborhoods; affordable health care and tax benefits for artists; and efforts at cultural diplomacy, such as sending artist-ambassadors to other countries.

And according to a story in the Sunday New York Times:

Arts groups, meanwhile, are urging federal departments like Transportation or Labor to factor culture into their financing. A transportation enhancement program, for example, could pay artists for related public artworks; through the Labor Department displaced arts professionals could receive new training to stay in the work force. “Every one of these places is a vehicle through which the money is going to flow, and we want to make sure the arts is part of it,” said Bob Lynch, director of Americans for the Arts.

But what arts executives are most eager for, they say, is additional direct financing and a president who sends the message that art is important. The country’s 100,000 nonprofit arts groups employ some six million people and contribute $167 billion to the economy annually, Mr. Lynch said. “I don’t think of this as a bailout for the arts,” he added. “It’s an economic investment in the arts.”

Bill Ivey is director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University and a former NEA chairman. “There has never been an administration that looked at the cultural agencies as a partner in advancing big, overarching policy objectives,” he said in an interview. “That’s a real unfulfilled
opportunity and I think this administration is poised to do a better job.”

Arts groups said that they would seek to drive home the idea that culture is an economic engine. “Arts jobs are jobs,” said Marc A. Scorca, president and chief executive of Opera America. “We see opera companies cutting health care, administrative staff — these people are taxpayers and rent payers and mortgage payers, just like every other employee.”

“Arts jobs are jobs.” I like that quote. Six million people work in the arts and contribute billions to the economy. We could create more jobs in the arts, and that would be a start. What we really need are artists living and working in their communities. That means artists throwing pots in the garage or writing poetry in the garret -- and being actively involved in their communities. That’s Civics 101 stuff, those high school precepts that many of us have forgotten. It means engaging your neighbors on the arts. It also means finding ways to incorporate arts in the days to day doings of your town. Most arts groups in Wyoming were started by artists who learned budgeting and organizing and grant-writing skills via OJT. Most were -- and still are -- volunteers.

Last week, my son and I visited the Roosevelt Row Artists’ District in Phoenix. It’s been 13-some years since I was in downtown Phoenix. More buildings have gone up downtown, and the city is now serviced by a slick new light-rail system. The Arizona Arts Commission at Fifth Avenue and Roosevelt is a few blocks away from a light-rail stop. The AAC offices are in an historic building and used to be surrounded by derelict buildings and a few small arts organizations. People now actually live and work in the area.

East along Roosevelt is the artists’ district. We visited its Third Friday open house. Artists live and work out of old bungalows that a decade ago were abandoned wrecks and crack houses. There was a steady stream of people investigating the shops and galleries. The big crowds come on First Friday events, when vendors line the streets and local bands perform.

Greg Esser directs the Roosevelt Row district and was instrumental in getting it off the ground. In the beginning, he and his fellow artists spent a lot of time dodging crack dealers and deciphering arcane zoning regulations. These days they’re attending city meetings to find out how big budget cuts will affect the district. They also took time out to fight the city’s plan to build a football stadium right on top of their heads. The stadium was eventually built west of the city in Glendale. It was in the news last weekend as the Cardinals played for the NFC championship. Lots of Philadelphia fans in town for the big game, dressed in their greenish jerseys. I saw them crowding into the light rail and jostling each other in downtown bars. Economic development.

Cities love sports money almost as much as they like building new stadiums for fat-cat owners. A whale of a stadium can bring economic development to your neighborhood for the eight NFL home games and two NFL home pre-season games. There are college football games, too, and sometimes mega-concerts. But on most nights, the desert wind is whistling through the empty corporate skyboxes. Some of them will be empty next season, abandoned by bereft tycoons who laid off employees while investing in skyboxes and gilded umbrella stands.

The big irony in all this? Many of those same tycoons supported symphonies and art museums and other big-box arts entities. How will those places fare during this recession? The first thing I heard on my rental car radio in Phoenix was the governor's office announcing a $1.6 billion budget shortfall. The AAC had to slash its programs for individual artists -- for starters.

Once a city's residential and business district is established, it not only has activity 24/7, but it generates energy and tax income. It also keeps down crime. Sure, that tattooed guy with the nose rings and purple hair may look like someone you don’t want your daughter to bring home for dinner. But if you ask, you’ll discover he’s a working artist, a guy who renovated his old home on the Row, pays a mortgage, works by day in his studio and as a barista at night. He’s making your city a better place.

That goes for all towns and cities, whatever the size. I’ll have more to say about that in later posts.