Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy -- BFF. Does that mean that Hatch will now support Kennedy's favorite cause?

I watched Orrin Hatch's comments today at Ted Kennedy's memorial. I wondered: who is this conservative LDS raconteur who was Teddy's best friend? Was he affable and humorous up there on the podium, or is it just me? I have to hand it to him: he showed up and spoke. Would Ted Kennedy have been welcomed at a memorial for Orrin Hatch? Possibly. Depends on how many of the senator's ultra-conservative brethren and sistren showed up shouting slogans and carrying signs.

Sen. Hatch said that some of his Republican compatriots disliked his working with Sen. Kennedy. Hatch came to the Senate in 1977, long after Kennedy but way before close-minded ultra-conservatives such as Bill Frist (now gone) and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John Coryn of Texas and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. Hatch and Utah Mormon colleague Sen. Bob Bennett have spouted off in public against liberal programs but still have worked in the Senate to support the arts and -- dare I say it -- federally-funded children's health care. Our own Sen. Enzi worked on legislation with Ted Kennedy. Too bad that some right-wingers have berated Enzi for just such bipartisan spirit. An now we have Enzi admitting this week that he's really not such a great bipartisan player with health care reform.

Oh for those golden days of Orrin Hatch and Ted Kennedy making music together. Of Republican Sen. Al Simpson of Wyoming and Democratic Sen. George Mitchell working together across the aisle.

All that's left now is the Kennedy clan to ask Sen. Hatch if he will recreate those halcyon days of yesteryear by voting for Pres. Obama's health care reform package, whatever (and whenever) it may be. A heartfelt eulogy is a fine thing. But his actions will speak louder than any words.

Pick up the phone, thank Sen. Enzi (for nothing)

From WyoDems on Facebook:

Wyoming Democratic Party Senator Enzi -- "If I hadn't been involved in this process as long as I have and to the depth as I have, you would already have national health care." Tell him why you don't appreciate this!

Call Sen. Enzi and thank him for being an obstacle in the way of affordable and sensible health care reform. Does this have anything to do with all the money he gets from insurance companies? Nah.

Sen. Enzi's contact info:

Washington D.C. Office:379A Senate Russell Office BuildingWashington, DC 20510 Main: (202) 224-3424Fax: (202) 228-0359Toll free: (888) 250-1879

Gillette (Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Niobrara, Sheridan and Weston Counties) Office:400 S. Kendrick Avenue, Suite 303Gillette, WY 82716 Main: (307) 682-6268Fax: (307) 682-6501

Cheyenne (Albany, Goshen, Laramie and Platte Counties) Office:Federal CenterSuite 20072120 Capitol AvenueCheyenne, WY 82001 Main: (307) 772-2477Fax: (307) 772-2480

Cody (Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park, Washakie and Yellowstone Counties) Office:1285 Sheridan AvenueSuite 210Cody, WY 82414 Main: (307) 527-9444Fax: (307) 527-9476

Jackson (Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, Teton and Uinta Counties) Office:1110 Maple Way, Suite GPost Office Box 12470Jackson, WY 83002 Main: (307) 739-9507Fax: (307) 739-9520

Casper (Converse, Fremont and Natrona Counties) Office:100 East B Street, Room 3201P.O. Box 33201Casper, WY 82602 Main: (307) 261-6572Fax: (307) 261-6574

A year later: DNCC in Denver

This is what I was doing this time last year (August 28) in Denver. Blogging from the DNCC. In this photo, it appears as if I'm holding up the Wyoming delegation flag. In truth, the flag was holding me up.

How do I feel a year later? Still blogging. Still working for the Democratic platform. In for the long haul.

Sen. Enzi just another Republican obstructionist from Wyoming

From Ryan Grim at the Huffington Post:

Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.

"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.

Don't you wish you had free health care courtesy of U.S. taxpayers and delivered by the dreadfully inept U.S. gubment? Sen. Enzi of Gillette gets a cough, he gets a free health check-up. Sen. John Barrasso of Casper, M.D., gets a hitch in his getalong, he sees a doctor for free. Rep. Cynthia Lummis from Cheyenne has to undergo an operation (as she did recently) and she can recover in peace. No deductible to worry about. No bills from the hospital and later, when the payment is a few days late, no collection notices or annoying phone calls.

Ah, peace of mind. Don't you wish that you had a stake in that?

Jim Wallis at Sojourners remembers Sen. Kennedy

Jim Wallis remembers Sen. Kennedy's cause in a Sojourners' piece, "Honoring the greatest commitment of Sen. Edward Kennedy's life." Here's a sample:

On the occasion of his death, I pray that God may now move us as a nation to address the greatest commitment of Sen. Kennedy’s life — the need for a comprehensive reform of the health-care system in America — as a deeply moral issue and one that calls forth the very best that is within us. May we honor the life and death of Sen. Edward Kennedy by laying aside the rancor, lies, fear, and even hate that has come to dominate the health-care debate in America this summer, and regain our moral compass by recovering the moral core of this debate: that too many Americans are hurting and suffering in a broken and highly inequitable health-care system, and that it is our moral obligation to repair and reform it — now.

Read the entire column at http://blog.sojo.net/2009/08/26/honoring-the-greatest-commitment-of-senator-edward-kennedys-life/

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