Remembering Sen. Ted Kennedy

I sent my condolences to the Kennedy family:

I met Sen. Edward Kennedy on the deck of the U.S.S. John F. Kennedy during a NROTC midshipman cruise in summer of 1970. Among the 5,000 other sailors and marines on the carrier, I had the honor of greeting him and shaking his hand as we steamed into Boston Harbor. When I worked in D.C. during the Clinton years, I had an opportunity to meet and talk to the Senator about the importance of the National Endowment for the Arts (where I worked). He was a champion for the arts and creativity. He championed all of those who sought justice. I've followed his career all of these years and supported many of the causes that he championed. I intend to honor his final battle for health care reform by continued advocacy for Pres. Obama's plans. My family and I in Wyoming send our most sincere condolences to his family.

Write your memories and condolences at http://tedkennedy.org/pages/share_memories.

Wyoming Democrats mourn Sen. Kennedy

Statement from the Wyoming Democratic Party on the passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy:

The Wyoming Democratic Party joins the nation in mourning the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

State party Vice Chair, Mike Bell, noted that Kennedy's death, while not unexpected, was still deeply felt across the country. "Ted Kennedy was such a force in American life for nearly fifty years, that it will take a while to get used to the fact that he is gone," Bell said.

Bell, a historian, pointed out that Kennedy had a real connection to the Cowboy state. He campaigned in the West for JFK and stood beaming amongst the Wyoming delegation, when the state put Jack Kennedy over the top for the Democratic presidential nomination at the 1960 convention.

Bell noted that Kennedy had an impact on millions of lives through his hard work in the U.S. Senate. "Kennedy was a driving force for change on immigration, education, health care and the rights of the mentally and physically challenged" Bell said. “Even his rivals would admit, that when it came to hard work, building real bipartisanship, and genuine concern for people, Ted Kennedy demonstrated again and again why he was regarded as one of the great leaders in the nation’s history.”

Wyoming Democrats send their deepest sympathy to the entire Kennedy family.

Wyoming Range Legacy Act Celebration

Kate Small McMorrow Wright of Wyoming Conservation Voters passes on this news release from Public News Service:

Lander, Wyo. -- A celebration of the Wyoming Range Legacy Act has turned into a bigger party than planned, with announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management that oil and gas leases on about 24,000 acres on the Bridger-Teton National Forest are being rescinded. Other leases may yet be canceled, while some are being eyed for donations or voluntary retirement.

Lisa McGee, national forests and parks director with the Wyoming Outdoor Council, says the BLM did the right thing, because development would have been too damaging to the area, and would not likely have resulted in much product. "We think it's a really great first step, and an indication that the rest of them will also be resolved."

McGee says there are still leases on thousands of acres on the range that need to be sorted out, and there are options for companies that hold the undeveloped leases."Those might include buyout, or trade, or donation if the company wanted to, so that area also remains protected."

The Wyoming Range Legacy Act bans future industrial development on most of the range, and ranchers, sportsmen, politicians, outfitters and conservation groups gathered last weekend to toast passage of the act.Opponents of cancellation of the leases say making oil and gas drilling off limits is wrong because the energy resources are needed for domestic supply.

Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/10241-1

Small state Senators -- scourge or menace?

Joan McCarter, writing under the handle mcjoan on Daily Kos, had a great piece today about the undue influence of small state Senators:

Wyoming's Senators are starting to talk tough on killing cap-and-trade legislation recently passed in the House of Representatives. That'll mean Mike Enzi will have to take some time out of his schedule killing healthcare reform, which he has been pursuing mightily for months, along with colleagues from North Dakota, New Mexico, Iowa, Maine, and of course Max Baucus from Montana. A handful of Senators, representing less than three percent of the nation's total population, have the ability to obstruct must-pass legislation that the rest of the nation is clamoring for. That is, unless another small state Senator, Harry Reid, decides to bypass them.

The nation's founders intended the Senate to be the deliberative body, the careful body that would provide the check on the unruly mob that the House would likely become on the one hand, and the potential tyrant the executive might become on the other. What we ended up with is the least democratic body in our republic. It means that, as Nate Silver points out, "A voter in Wyoming -- population 533,000 -- has about 70 times more ability to influence the Senate's direction than one in California -- population 36.8 million."

Read the entire diary at http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/23/1602/02722

Mcjoan is a Westerner, so I tend to take her comments more seriously than I would comments from some Coaster. She makes some great points. She nails Sen. Enzi and Sen. Barrasso on cap-and-trade and Sen. Enzi on health care reform.

Her main question remains: why do Senators that represent such small rural constituencies have such undue influence over legislation that affects 300 million Americans. Is it the Senate itself? The seniority system? Lopsided majorities of Republican voters in states such as Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho? All of the above? Or something else?

At last count, McJoan's post on Daily Kos had generated some 270 comments. A few were from Wyomingites -- but not many. Wyoming is a mystery to most liberals. Hell, Wyoming is a mystery to those of us who live here. So how to explain the impossibility of electing Dems to the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate?

My comment to McJoan's post:

After Wyoming Democrats got stomped in 2008, I decided I would no longer work on campaigns of Dems running for our two seats in the Senate and our lone U.S. House seat. Wyomingites voted the straight party line. Since registered Repubs outnumber registered Dems 2-1, we got our asses kicked.

My time spent working for Gary Trauner's race for the U.S. House would have been much better spent on Dems running for the state legislature. Our county is the most populous in the state and we have lots of registered Dems and some great legislative candidates. We're also on a winning streak.

My volunteer time would have would also have been better spent traveling with Dem pals to presidential battleground counties in Colorado: Weld and Larimer. As you know, Colorado went for Obama. He's now president. I keep waiting for him to say to Enzi and Baucus and Conrad: "You're irrelevant dinosaurs. We shall pass our progressive agenda without you."

What about it, Prez? When are you going to say -- and do -- what we elected you for?

Yes, people in Wyoming voted for you too. We were at your pre-caucus Laramie speech in which you spoke of real health care reform. "Change," in other words.

Wyoming progressives feel doubly cheated. Not only do we live in a red state with nobody representing our views in D.C. But we have a U.S. Senator holding up Obama's progressive agenda on health care reform.

A story to go with every zuke and tomato

Who put the loca on locavore? Dinner tonight was tomato sauce from homegrown tomatoes, steamed green beans and BBQ zucchini from the Shay garden and pasta from a package. Vegetarian too, which pleased my daughter Annie. Beer from Fort Collins (for me) rounded out the meal.

By the way, Jodi Rogstad's cover story, "Goal: Make a 100 percent local meal," in last Sunday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle was great. She scrounged up almost all the makings of a meal from local farmers and ranchers. No easy task in this windswept high-altitude place with a short growing season. She found veggies at Lucas Loetscher's huge garden off Railroad Avenue between Cheyenne and Burns. Lucas is 23 and sells his veggies each Saturday at the Cheyenne Farmer's Market. His great-grandfather homesteaded the land in 1918.

That was one of the great things about the article. A story to go with every foodstuff.

Clair Schwan is a self-sufficient Libertarian who lives north of Cheyenne. He calls himself a "thrivalist" instead of a "survivalist." Schwan gives Jodi a bag of summer squash and allows her to harvest some eggs from his chickens. Later, Jodi goes to Catherine Wissner's Wild Winds Sheep Company near Carpenter. Wissner, a horticulturalist for the UW Cooperative Extensive Service, raises lamb and turkeys and grows her veggies in a high tunnels which "makes life here on Mars possible." "Life on Mars" -- I like that.

Jodi wrapped up her article with recipes and a list of food for locavores. Some of the growers were down in Wellington and Fort Collins, Colo., within the 50-mile radius preferred by locavores.

Democrats in Casper: Pres. Obama's health care reform will benefit all Wyomingites

Here's a press release about Friday's Casper news conference on health care reform hosted by the Wyoming Democratic Party. I was at a board meeting in Star Valley and missed the proceedings:

President Obama’s goals for health insurance reform will provide several benefits to the people of Wyoming, even those who already have health insurance, according to several speakers at a Wyoming Democratic Party press conference on Friday.

Leslie Petersen, Wyoming State Democratic Party Chairwoman; John Hastert, Wyoming State Senator; Lorraine Saulino-Klein, RN and Laramie resident; and Jeri Calabrese, retired teacher and Wilson resident, stressed the urgency and real need for reform in Wyoming.

“The status quo is unsustainable. Since 2000 alone average family premiums have increased by 100 percent in Wyoming,” said Chairwoman Petersen. “Health insurance reform will build on our current system to bring security and stability to the people who already have insurance and give access to quality affordable care to those who don’t,” Petersen stated.

Lorraine Saulino-Klein drew on her experience as a registered nurse in Laramie to advocate for health insurance reform. “88,000 people are uninsured in our state and that doesn’t include the people who are underinsured, which means that they carry some coverage that they can afford. Often those people neglect health issues because they don’t want to find anything wrong, because they will lose the little bit of security that the limited coverage affords them. In my 40 years of varied work I have seen many wonderful, hard working people fall through the cracks and come to ruin,” Saulino-Klein said.

Jeri Calabrese shared her story about the struggle to afford healthcare during retirement, “We paid our house off before we retired so we would be in good shape for retirement and yet health care costs have risen to the point that they are almost what our house payment was – and for less care.”

Senator Hastert reminded, “Reform isn’t only about the people who don’t have insurance though– it’s about anyone who’s ever been afraid of losing their coverage if they become sick, lose their job, or change their job. Health insurance reform will hold the insurance companies accountable.”

Hastert also encouraged everyone to remember President Obama’s health insurance guarantees. Under the President’s Health Insurance Guarantees, everyone will benefit, even people who currently have insurance, because any legislation he signs will include will reverse years of unfair insurance company practices. President Obama has laid out these eight guarantees for reform...

See my Aug. 18 post for the list of "eight guarantees."

Change in LarCoDems speaker: education the topic of Aug. 25 meeting

Dave Lerner, communications director of the Laramie County Democratic Party, sends news that there's been a change in speakers for the meeting on Aug. 25. Instead of Dr. Brent Sherard, director of the Wyoming Department of Health, the LarCoDems speakers will be Kathryn Valido, president of the Wyoming Education Association to talk about a variety of education issues. Coincidentally, the new school year begins the next day in Laramie County.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 25, at the IBEW Hall, 810 Fremont Ave., Cheyenne. FMI: http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

While the topic of education is not as fiery as health care reform, there are a number of crucial issues. Before I pose some possible questions, let me say that I'm a union member and that both of my kids attended public schools. So, I've been on the side of public school teachers all of my life. But my personal dealings with schools on behalf of my kids revealed some flaws in the system.

So, some questions:

1. At UW and other U.S. universities, are students being trained for the schools of tomorrow or the schools of yesterday? If they're being trained for the schools of today, they're being trained for the schools of yesterday. No, we don't know what the school of tomorrow will look like. But technology and globalization and charter schools and magnet schools and home schooling and the needs of a new century will make them entirely different places. Are we ready?
2. Once we train effective and innovative teachers, why do we put them into buildings that look like prisons? McCormick Junior High in Cheyenne looks like the women's prison in Lusk. And vice versa.
3. When will the education establishment fully integrate the arts into the curriculum? Electives are fine, but we need creative thinkers in the 21st century and the arts are the best way to nurture them.
4. Should teachers be unionized? This is a tough one for me, the union guy. And teachers' unions are a big right-wing target, which makes me instantly suspicious. But this system protects bad teachers and doesn't provide enough incentives for the good ones. Maybe merit pay isn't such a bad thing?

That's a good start. Do you have questions you'd like to ask the head of the state's teachers' union? Come to the Aug. 25 meeting.

P.S.: No yelling and screaming. No signs showing teachers with a Hitler mustache. Fair warning.

Dr. Brent Sherard discusses health care issues at Aug. 25 LarCoDems meeting w/u

UPDATE: Dr. Sherard's presentation has been postponed to later in the year. Aug. 25 speaker will be Kathryn Valido, president of the Wyoming Education Association.

Dr. Brent D. Sherard, Director of the Wyoming Department of Health and State Health Officer, will be the guest speaker at the next monthly meeting of the Laramie County Democrats on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 7 p..m., at the IBEW Hall, 810 Fremont Ave., Cheyenne.

Topic of the discussion will be (what else?) health care reform.

For more about Dr. Sherard, please click here.

Wyoming Democrats urge focus on health care reform goals

From Brianna Jones, communications director of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

As the debate over health insurance reform becomes increasingly distorted, the Wyoming Democratic Party urges people to focus on the facts about President Obama’s goals for reform.

“President Obama has always been clear that his three principles for reform are: lowering costs, guaranteeing choice and ensuring all Americans have access to quality, affordable care,” said Brianna Jones, Communications Director of the Wyoming Democratic Party. “President Obama remains committed to signing legislation that includes those three principles.”

Under President Obama’s Health Insurance Reform guarantees, everyone will benefit, even people who currently have insurance, because any legislation he signs will include these eight iron clad guarantees - guarantees which will reverse years of unfair insurance company practices:

1. No discrimination for pre-existing conditions,
2. No exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, or co-pays,
3. No cost-sharing for preventive care
4. No dropping of coverage for the seriously ill,
5. No gender discrimination,
6. No annual or lifetime caps on coverage,
7. Extended coverage for young adults, and
8. Guaranteed insurance renewal.

“Health insurance reform will benefit every American and will hold insurance companies accountable and end their unfair practices,” Jones stated. “Everyone will benefit from the eight health insurance guarantees, whether you already have insurance or are one of the 47 million Americans – and the 72,566 Wyoming residents – without coverage.”

Jones said that there is a clear urgency for reform. Premiums continue to rise and more citizens and small businesses have to ask themselves if they can continue to pay for health coverage that they desperately need, she said.

Howard Dean urges individual action in health care reform fight

Governor Howard Dean, M.D., wrote this e-mail message to me and thousands of my closest friends:

Here's what I know: When we work together, we're unstoppable.

As my brother Jim said yesterday, the media has it wrong. The campaign for the choice of a public health insurance option will be over only if we quit or we've won. That decision is ours to make. Not the media's decision -- Not the insurance industry's decision -- It's our decision. We have the power and we're going to win.

Make no mistake, victory won't happen overnight. Just like President Obama's campaign for President, this campaign is a long haul. Congress returns in September for the final stretch to pass reform by the end of the year. We must have the resources to fuel this fight. If we raise $200,000 by Monday, we can hit back immediately. Congress will know we're not backing down in the face of pressure.

We're standing up to get the job done. CONTRIBUTE RIGHT NOW AND DELIVER THE RESOURCES TO WIN

Victory takes courage, conviction, and commitment. It takes you. The power to change America is in your hands. It always has been.

Sen. Enzi: If public option in health care plan, I'll hold my breath until I turn blue

Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, one of Montana Sen. Max Baucus's "Gang of Six," told the Casper Rotary Club today that he remains opposed to any public option in Pres. Obama's health care reform plans.

"As I've said from the beginning, a government-run option is not an option. I voted against the Democrat plan in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee last month and would do so again," Enzi said. "A government-run plan would increase health care costs, lessen service and add to our huge debt. The American people are doing a great job of getting this message across to the Administration and Congress.”

Enzi's been pushing his own 10-point plan for months. As you might guess, it's more of the same stuff we've heard from other Repubs -- and (unfortunately) some Dems.

Without a public option, there is no health care reform.

Who's been giving Wyo. Repubs a bum steer?

Wyomingites in Worland listen to Sen. John Barrasso explain why a physician is against affordable health care for all. Or maybe he's talking about fishing. Notice that there are no shouting wingnuts with indecipherable signs. It's good to be a Repub in Wyoming!

O.K., which one of you Dems is responsible for misleading Wyoming Republicans?

This press release appeared on both Sen. Mike Enzi's and Sen. John Barrasso's web sites. I'm puzzled buy it, but maybe one of my loyal readers can clear up "The Mystery of the Misleading Missives?" This release is from Sen. Barrasso's site:

U.S. Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, both R-Wyo., are urging constituents who want to meet with them or their staff to contact their offices directly and to read the fine print if anyone else is promising meetings with them.

A recent campaign by the Democratic National Committee has caused confusion for constituents who were under the impression a Web site could schedule meetings with Senator Enzi or Senator Barrasso. Drop-bys are always welcome during staff hours but meetings must be scheduled in advance directly through the senator’s offices, not through the Democratic National Committee or the Republican National Committee Web sites, according to the senators.

“I have five offices around Wyoming and one office in Washington to ensure myself and my staff are available to my constituents. I encourage people to contact me with their concerns and ideas and I don’t want anyone’s message to be lost because they were misled by a political Web site,” said Enzi.

“The Democratic National Committee is misleading people concerned about health care. People want to be involved in the health care debate. They have questions and they want their voice to be heard. It is unacceptable for a political group to send out fraudulent or misleading emails,” Barrasso said. “Giving people fake meetings is not how we treat people in Wyoming. There are a number of ways to get in touch with me – I’m holding meetings all across the state. On Friday, I had a town hall meeting in Worland. You can stop by or call any of my offices in Casper, Cheyenne, Riverton, Rock Springs or Sheridan. You can also go to my Web site, Barrasso.Senate.Gov, to e-mail me, or call toll free 1-866-235-9553.”

Laramie County Democrats meet Aug. 25

The next meeting of the Laramie County Democrats will be Tuesday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m., at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Hall, 810 Fremont Ave., Cheyenne. To view the agenda, go to the LarCoDems web site at http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/.

All are welcome.

Sunday afternoon in Wyoming

Note prog-blogger union member in foreground, ripening Victory Garden tomatoes in background.

On the ground in Montana and Colorado

A compendium of posts from prog-bloggers about Pres. Obama's stops in Montana and Colorado:

"On the ground in Belgrade:" guest post by Cynthia Wolken on 4&20 blackbirds at http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/on-the-ground-in-belgrade-a-guest-post/

On Daily Kos, Kossack laborlou talks about the body language of Montana Democrats' Gov. Schweitzer and Sens. Tester and Baucus at Obama's town meeting. Go to http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/15/767386/-Top-Ticket-Democrats-Judging-Obama

CU student Zach Lahn, who was praised by Obama in Grand Junction for having the guts to challenge the prez to a debate, is in reality a staffer for right-wing Colorado State Senator Greg Brophy. Go to http://www.coloradopols.com/diary/10079/sen-brophys-aide-gets-press-for-student-obama-debate-challenge

Photos of Obama family in Wyoming

TOP PHOTO: President Barack Obama, wife Michelle Obama, and daughters Malia Obama, 11, and Sasha Obama, 8, look at the Old Faithful geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon). BOTTOM PHOTO: Park Ranger Katy Duffy guides Pres. Barack Obama and family around Old Faithful geyser during Saturday's visit. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).

See more photos at http://tinyurl.com/ofkhh6

The Fourth of July Honor America Smoke-In and Gas-In -- not exactly Woodstock

I missed Woodstock. I had to work. Some surfer friends invited me to drive the 900-some miles with them to a field in upstate New York. They didn't have tickets but didn't see it as a problem. "Hendrix's going to be there, man -- and Santana!" I'd need money for gas and food. Take off a week from work. Sounded tempting, but I said no.

Class of 1969, working to pay for college. I had a ROTC scholarship but I still needed spending money. I needed clothes, too, because the ones I had bought over the preceding months had terminal smoke damage from the fire that burnt half of our house and infused the rest with clouds of smoke. I wanted to spend more time with my girlfriend before we headed off to separate colleges. I wanted to get in some storm surfing, too, as August can bring some big waves to Daytona. I was a hard-working lad, looking ahead with bright eyes and a sense of purpose -- with a bit of fear lurking in the background.

Over the next decade, I went to plenty of small music festivals and lots of concerts. I saw "Woodstock" the movie numerous times. I felt a twinge of regret that I didn't cast fate to the wind and just go. As it turns out, I missed so many of key cultural events of the 1960s and 1970s. I wasn't at Altamont, either. Don't hear too many Baby Boomers waxing nostalgic about that one. I never got to see Janis or Jimmy in concert, but I did see Woodstock performers Canned Heat and John Sebastian. Sebastian was on a concert bill with the Edgar Winter Group, which seems an odd match-up. Maybe that bad juju caused the riot that night at the Orlando Sports Stadium. That, and a group of people climbing the stadium fences to get in for free. We got tear-gassed and two of my friends -- including the driver of our concert vehicle -- were thrown in the slammer. We hitched a ride to the county jail and got the keys from Rick and got home around dawn.

Not exactly Woodstock.

I was tear-gassed at another concert. This was the "Honor America" concert during Fourth of July weekend 1970 on the National Mall in D.C. Paul from Notre Dame and I were on leave from our summer ROTC cruise and hitched from Norfolk to D.C., where both of us had college friends. Our original destination was the Atlanta Pop Festival, but we decided it was too far to go and, in D.C., there was a girl waiting for Paul. So D.C. it was.

Paul went to Alexandria, and I stayed with my friend Pat and his big Catholic family in northwest D.C. Pat and his brother and sisters and parents and grandma all went to the National Mall for the concert. Meanwhile, over the the Washington Monument, hippies were staging a smoke-in. As we settled in to enjoy the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, pray with Billy Graham and hear quips from Bob Hope, Pat and I thought we could smell the smoke drifting over from the monument. That's probably because we both were stoned, having earlier staged a much smaller smoke-in behind Pat's garage.

The crowd for "Honor America" was heavy on families. Who wouldn't enjoy the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and fireworks on the National Mall? We were all having a grand time until the tear gas arrived. Pat and I had been right -- prevailing winds had caused the smoke from the smoke-in to drift over to our crowd. That pissed off the cops and they dispersed the smokers with clouds of tear gas which immediately inundated us. Not too many of the Honor American crowd had been tear-gassed. Pat and I had the benefit of multiple gassings that spring during post-Kent State riots at University of South Carolina. We told Pat's family members to put a cloth over their faces. "Don't run," Pat said. "It only makes it worse."

They ran. Pat and I grabbed his grandma and guided her slowly back to the car. She was having difficulty breathing. You could see panic and tears on the faces of the escaping concert-goers. Later, over a joint with Pat and his brother, we laughed about it. "Welcome to the Fourth of July Honor America Smoke-In and Gas-In." "Our parents warned us about going to those concerts."

Not exactly Woodstock.

Not every concert ended in tear gas. In 1976 in Gainesville, I saw the wonderful Rolling Thunder Review tour with Dylan and Joan Baez and Roger McGuinn and Kinky Friedman. I was at the Eagles Hotel California concert outside in a different stadium in Orlando. I saw Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger at Red Rocks outside Denver in 1972 during a hitchhiking trip around the U.S. That same summer, I saw Quicksilver Messenger Service in Berkeley. I was at three Allman Brothers concerts with the original members, including the amazing Duane Allman.

None of them were Woodstock. But so what? I had fun at most of them. As for the rest -- they make great stories to tell our kids and grand-kids when they ask: "Dad (Grandpa) -- were you at Woodstock?"

Not at Woodstock, I say, but do I have some stories for you.

Author Don Delillo coming to Jackson Sept. 29

My first Don Delillo novel was "Running Dog." I picked up a hardback copy for a dollar at the annual Denver Public Library summer sale. It was subversive and wacky. Characters are pursuing a copy of Adolf Hitler's final movie, filmed in his underground bunker just before his suicide. A reporter from Running Dog, a sixties-style underground newspaper, is in a race to find the film.

I won't give away the ending. It's suitably Delillo. I went on to read almost all of his 14 books, including the National Book Award winner, "White Noise." "Libra" outlined an alternate history for the JFK assassination. For research, Delillo's read the entire Warren Commission Report, delivered to his house in multiple cardboard boxes. Earlier this year I read "Falling Man" which centers around the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.

Dark homor. Great stories. Memorable characters. What else do you need in a novel?

Delillo will be making a rare public appearance in Wyoming. Here are details from the Teton County Public Library in Jackson:

The University of Wyoming, Teton County Library Foundation and Jackson Hole Writers Conference present a rare evening with Don DeLillo, the author of 14 critically-acclaimed novels, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7:30-8:30 p.m. DeLillo is the winner of the 1985 National Book Award for "White Noise," and his novel "Underworld" was runner-up on the New York Times survey of best American fiction of the past 25 years. This is a free event at the Center for the Arts, Center Theatre. Contact: Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.

I'd travel 430 miles to see Don Delillo. And I may.

They're all bozos on this bus

Mike Dennison of the Billings Gazette reports that a gaggle of bus-riding anti-healthcare-reform people will drop into Pres. Obama's town hall meeting in Bozeman this Friday. They will come loaded with intelligent questions about health care reform. Or maybe just loaded.

Patients First, a project of Americans for Prosperity, is organizing bus tours in 13 states to promote opposition to health-reform proposals before Congress. One of those tours had been planned in Montana this week, and organizers slightly adjusted the schedule to have a stop in Bozeman on the day of the president's visit.

Jake Eaton, a former executive director of the Montana Republican Party and coordinator of the event, said the bus tour will feature speakers opposing the reforms as a "government takeover of health care," and will stop at pre-planned rallies in several cities, from Friday through Monday.

Americans for Prosperity is a nonprofit political group that promotes conservative causes or lobbies against liberal causes. It has ties to the Koch family, which controls Koch Industries, an oil-and-gas company and one of the largest privately held firms in the country.

Who is Koch Industries and why does it fund Americans for Prosperity? Media Matters had this:

Americans For Prosperity Has Strong Connections To Koch Industries. In a post titled "Americans For Prosperity Of Koch Industries," The Wonk Room wrote: "The group isn't just funded by an industry CEO, it was planted by one. David Koch, Executive Vice-President of family-founded multi-national conglomerate Koch Industries, is a founder of AFP and a financial supporter through the family-controlled and company-financed Claude R. Lambe Foundation. Koch Industries, Inc. and its sister company, Koch Holdings, LLC, own a group of companies invested in refineries, chemicals, minerals and so on." [The Wonk Room, 7/27/08]

Google shows that Koch has holdings in Wyoming. More research is needed. Anyone know where Koch has businesses and employees in The Oil/Gas/Coal State?

Americans for Prosperity also is one of those global-warming-denying outfits. No surprise there.

Great Falls Tribune reporter John S. Adams has the president's full schedule on his blog at http://mtlowdown.blogspot.com/

Health care horror stories across the U.S.

Pauline Bartolone sent this:

I just came across your blog, hummingbirdminds, and I saw that you have been posting about health care reform. I am a video producer at Consumers Union,the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, and I thought you might beinterested in some videos I've produced about residents in Wyoming and their access to health care.

Last summer, I drove around in an RV for 4 months gathering stories about everyday consumers' experience with the health care system. Wyoming was my favorite state in the lower-48! Seriously - it was just so beautiful!

Anyway here are a couple of the videos I did in Wyoming: Lori Donner in Cheyenne, who is uninsured with a thyroid condition. Go to http://bit.ly/12INcv. And Ken, an electrician in Thermopolis, who is uninsured and retirement age. Go to http://bit.ly/bsbur.

You can see the rest of the videos at: http://www.prescriptionforchange.org/video.html

Thanks, Pauline. Some hair-raising stories in Pauline's videos. Check them out. And keep working for a fair and just and affordable health care system.