Hummingbirdminds interview tonight on "Progressive Blogosphere on the Air"

The Stonecipher Report's Michael Sweeney and Tyler Rippeteau will be interviewing me tonight on "Progressive Blogosphere on the Air" at 12:30 a.m. Chicago time, 11:30 p.m. MST (and 1:30 a.m. for you poor East Coasters). Listen at http://www.whpk.org/

Here's a little blurb on the interview from The Stonecipher Report blog:http://tinyurl.com/yj5axqd

More on shortage of primary care docs

Quote from "Wyoming on the Block" by Ben Cannon in the Dec. 22 Planet Jackson Hole:

Dr. Brent Blue, a Teton District Board of Health member, said the board has taken no position on the proposed legislation, but said the current version could benefit Wyoming by drawing more primary care doctors -- pediatricians, family practitioners -- in a state with “too many specialists.”

For more on shortage of primary care professionals in Wyoming, go to my previous post at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/12/med-licenses-up-full-time-doctors-down.html.

Barrasso votes against Defense bill but brags about bringing robotics funding to Camp Guernsey

It seems odd that Wyoming U.S. Senator John Barrasso would brag about bringing Defense Department dollars to Wyoming after voting on Dec. 19 against HR. 3326, or the Department of Defense Appropriations Act.

Am I missing something. Maybe it's kosher to claim credit for something in a Senate bill even if you don't vote for it.

But here's today's story from the Billings Gazette:

Camp Guernsey will get $3.76 million for robotics experimentation work as part of a defense bill signed into law by President Barack Obama.

Obama signed the $626 billion defense bill on Saturday. Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming requested the funding for the Wyoming Army National Guard Joint Training and Experimentation Center.

The work at Camp Guernsey is related to unmanned vehicles. The project will focus on four areas to support war fighter experimentation, according to Barrasso’s funding request.

The late U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas of Wyoming started the funding initiative for the joint robotics program in 2005.

The initiative has been a joint project of the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming National Guard and the Department of Defense.

Sen. Mike Enzi also voted against the Department of Defense Appropriations Act. Hey Senator -- is there any part of this awful, terrible and annoying bill that you want to take credit for?

Just asking...

The best and worst of everything in 2009

Not going to join the cavalcades of "best of" and "top ten" or "worst of" lists for 2009.

I'm going to steal from others.

Best politically-themed list from a prog-blogger is "The 50 Assclowns of 2009" at http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2009/12/assclowns-of-week-year-79-top-50.html. Guess who's number one? Hint: He started his long political journey in Wyoming.

In a rare bone thrown to conservatives, here is the list of the worst liberals of 2009 according to the stonecipher report blog (penned by two liberal radio personalities in Chicago): http://stonecipher.typepad.com/the_stonecipher_report/2009/12/stoneciphers-top-ten-worst-democrats-the-grudge-list.html?asset_id=6a00e552629a7888330128765ad625970c.

Roger Ebert rates the top ten films in mainstream and indie categories at http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/the_best_films_of_2009.html

This is a great one: Jenny Shank at New West has a list of funniest passages from 2009 books. Go to http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/funny_lines_from_2009_books/C39/L39/

Top ten 2009 Wyoming stories can be found at http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com/articles/2009/12/24/news/today/news04.txt. Not making the list is last summer's cross-border incursion by Colorado liberals and the outing of former state rep Dick Cheney. Surprised?

Best quotes of 2009? Thought you'd never ask. Yale University Librarian Fred Shapiro compiled a cool year-end list that includes a teabagger, Sarah Palin and an actual real hero. Go to http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/742831--best-quotes-of-2009.

Finally, Brit psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker makes his predictions for 2010. Among other things, quantum physicists will find a way to make energy from water and a celebrity will be cloned. Read the rest at http://www.psychics.co.uk/prediction/predictionsfor2010.html

Anatomy lesson needed

Not in the arm?

WYO med licenses up, full-time docs down

Here's the good news:

Wyoming granted a record number of medical licences in 2009...

And now, of course, the bad news

...but fewer newly licensed doctors are setting up full-time practices in the state, newly released figures show.

How can this be? Reporter Joshua Wolfson at the Casper Star-Trib explains it all for you

Of the 301 doctors who received licenses so far this year, only 18 percent reported working full-time in Wyoming, according to statistics from the state Board of Medicine. Industry experts say the figures reflect growth in telemedicine and the number of outside physicians who come to the state to fill gaps in coverage.

The fact that fewer new doctors are starting full-time practices in Wyoming concerns Dr. James Anderson, a Casper surgeon who serves as the board's president. A shortage of primary-care doctors creates the potential for error as patients are treated by different physicians each time they seek medical help.

"It increases the risk, having multiple people taking care of you, without some sort of electronic medical records to know what's going on," Anderson said.

The Wyoming Office of Rural Health release a report this year that showed 13 of the state's 23 counties had a shortage of primary-care doctors. It's shocking to hear that the majority of our counties don't have enough family doctors. Are these 13 counties the most rural?

The WORH June 2009 survey [http://www.health.wyo.gov/rfhd/rural/index.html] carries a few surprises. First of all, primary care physicians aren't just family practice and general practice docs. The WORH definition includes doctors practicing internal medicine, pediatrics and OB/GYN. It also includes non-physicians such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurse midwives. So, even if a rural county has no docs, it might at least have a nurse-midwife around the deliver a bay or two.

Washakie County in the Big Horn Basin hasn't a single primary care practitioner for its 8,000-some residents. No OB/GYN docs for healthy baby checkups. No pediatricians for when Johnny pokes his eye with a stick. No nurse practitioner to find out whether you have the flu or just a bad cold. Washakie County includes Worland, home to the new Washakie Museum (grand opening summer 2010), a sugar beet processing plant (major client: Pepsi) and a great cafe, the Brass Plum on Big Horn Avenue (great sandwiches and homemade potato chips)

I guess that Worland patients have to travel north to Lovell in Big Horn County which has two primary care people. They could go south to Hot Springs County, which actually shows a surplus of docs. Must be those healing hot springs' waters that draw the docs. Rounding out the counties in the Basin is Park, home to Cody and its small medical center adjacent to the much larger Buffalo Bill Historical Center, and Powell and its community college. But Park County is also showing a shortage primary care medicos. Most Wyomingites know that residents of the Big Horn Basin make frequent trips to Billings with its two hospitals and many docs. Bozeman, too. Over the Big Horn Mountains is the V.A. in Sheridan. Casper and its hospital isn't far either. Ditto Riverton in Fremont County.

But preventive medicine is very difficult when you have no family docs in the vicinity.

Rural areas all over the West have similar problems. Well-educated docs and their families aren't particularly attuned to remote small towns and their lack of amenities. Some of those are frivolous (what, no double-shot caramel mochiattos?) to important -- education, arts, hospitals and recreation. Yes, some pediatricians and nurse practitioners may love slow-paced and family-friendly Worland. But others may not like the fact they must drive 100 miles for shopping and surgery and symphony performances. Why not live in Billings if you go there every weekend?

I am not a small-town person. In my adult life, Cheyenne (pop. 55,000) is the smallest place in which I wish to dwell. Laramie County is the most populous in the state and it boasts the most primary care practitioners at 56 and that's not counting the specialists who fixed my knee and psychiatrists who regularly inspect my head for cobwebs and spiders. If I can't get the right specialist here, I can always cruise down I-25 to Fort Collins or Loveland or Greeley or Denver. On Tuesday, our family will take a little trip to Fort Collins to see my wife's endocrinologist for diabetes care. It will take us 45 minutes door-to-door unless we get snow and then it may take an hour or we may not get there at all so we'll have to reschedule. Chris wishes that there was an endocrinologist she liked in Cheyenne -- but there is not. So she doc-shopped and found one.

We have a choice because we have insurance and proximity. Worland citizens don't have proximity. What happens when they're also uninsured?

In the CST article, Dr. Anderson outlines some obvious problems

As challenges to addressing the shortage, the report noted rural doctors typically work longer hours and have lower incomes than their urban counterparts. They generally also receive lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements rates.

Wyoming's laws concerning medical liability also serve as a disincentive to doctors, Anderson said.

"That's going to drop us down on the list, being one of the states with minimal tort reform, basically none," he said.

The number of doctors being licensed in Wyoming rose 26 percent this year over 2008. That's attributable to a streamlined licensing processes put in place by the state Legislature earlier this year, Anderson explained.

There are signs the increase in doctors seeking Wyoming licenses may continue into 2010. More than 100 physicians have pending applications with the medical board.

The increase is having a positive effect, said Kevin Bohnenblust, the board's executive director. Traditionally, Wyoming's small population has made it difficult to support medical specialists. The new figures show more specialist are practicing in the state, albeit on a temporary basis. The state still needs to recruit more doctors, Bohnenblust said.

"Things are moving a lot in the right direction because we are getting more physicians who want to be licensed to provide care to Wyoming people," he said.
"That's a great thing. The trick is, we can't let up."

So, specialists are practicing here but living elsewhere. That's great when you're a local doc seeking a consultation with a neurosurgeon in L.A. or heart specialist in Houston. Dr. Anderson even mentioned a doc in Australia who recently received a Wyoming license so he could read X-rays remotely. And who knows how many of those newly-licensed docs are doing the same thing in India or Indonesia?

I'm obviously not a physician. I'm just a poor schlub in Cheyenne who needs the occasional check-up or operation. I'm going to have an easier time accessing healthcare than another 59-year-old who lives in Worland. There's something wrong with that. It's possible that technology and even the new healthcare reform bill may improve the situation. It's also possible that the current economic crisis that's hit the cities of the coasts may cause some docs to reconsider life in bucolic Wyoming. The "local" trend -- local eating, local working, local artmaking --may also boost the number of small-town healthcare providers.

Meanwhile, residents of Sweetwater, Carbon, Washakie, Big Horn, Park, Uinta, Albany, Converse, Lincoln, Weston, Crook, Niobrara and Platte counties will keep on logging those miles on visits to the family doc, many of them located across the Wyoming border in Billings, Rapid City, Fort Collins, Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls. That's not only tragic for efficient healthcare. It also costs Wyoming's economy. On Tuesday, we're going to Chris's specialist in Fort Collins and eating lunch out and Chris is having her Saturn serviced and my daughter Annie is spending her Christmas cash in Old Town. I may visit my favorite place in Old Town, Ben & Jerry's, for an infusion of Chunky Monkey.

Economic development for Colorado but not for Wyoming.

CST reporter Joshua Wolfson has a blog at tribtown.trib.com/JoshuaWolfson/blog

Help wanted: WyoFile seeks business manager

Saw this on New West web site:

Our friends at Wyofile, the very fine independent news site about Wyoming whose stories you often see here at NewWest.Net, are looking for a business manager. The site is now a non-profit, and recently received a grant from the Knight Foundation, and they’re looking to beef up their efforts. It sounds like a good gig for the right person in Wyoming. Here’s the job description:

The Wyoming non-profit, non-partisan, news and policy website http://www.wyofile.com/, seeks dynamic full-time resident marketing & development director to build membership, promote stories, direct fundraising, manage policy conferences and develop publishing opportunities. Applicants should have business and marketing experience, website administration skills and an appreciation of Wyoming and regional Mountain West policy issues. Must live in or be willing to relocate to Wyoming. Position, which begins Jan. 1, 2010, includes competitive salary and benefits. Please e-mail resume and references to Rone Tempest, Editor, rone@wyofile.com.

Dem Chair Leslie Peterson on today's historic vote on healthcare reform

Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen released the following statement today:

“Today’s vote marks an historic moment in the decades-long struggle to pass comprehensive health reform. This is the most significant development in domestic policy since Social Security was created – it is the largest expansion of coverage since Medicare and the greatest deficit reduction package passed in the last decade.

“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will end decades of unfair insurance industry practices that have hurt Wyomingites, provide quality, affordable options for the uninsured and will reduce costs for families, businesses and the country as a whole. It will expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans while reducing the deficit by more than $130 billion in the next 10 years.

“This bill is a clear victory for Wyomingites. It will deliver on the promises President Obama has made since the health care debate began – reducing costs, providing quality, affordable choices for the uninsured and providing stability and security for those who already have coverage.

"While the legislation received unanimous support from Democrats, it passed without a single Republican vote. Sadly, Senators Enzi and Barrasso and the Republican Party have shown once again that they will stop at nothing, and even vote against the best interests of their constituents, to see the President fail. Senators Enzi and Barrasso need to explain to voters why they chose to side with the health insurance executives over Wyoming families.

“So today we thank President Obama and Senate Democrats for their strong leadership on this issue and continue to offer our support as they move closer than ever to making comprehensive health insurance reform a reality for Wyomingites.”

How to make healthcare reform bill better

The always insightful mcjoan offers ways to make the healthcare reform bill better today on Daily Kos. Go to http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/24/818469/-Making-the-Bill-Better

We offer advice to WYO GOP Sen./Doc Barrasso: "Physician, heal thyself!"

From the Bible, Luke 4:23 (King James Version):

And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

Physician John Barrasso, one of Wyoming's two U.S. Senators, released his critique of the Senate's health care reform bill this morning.

He calls it the "Reid healthcare bill." One of the GOP talking points is to blame Democratic Sen. Harry Reid because he pushed and cajoled and ramrodded this bill. The GOP has its sights on Reid's seat in Nevada. They hope that by equating this bill with the senator from the tiny Nevada desert mining town of Searchlight, voters in the Silver State will see the error of their ways and vote him out. They want another senator as clean and pure of heart as Republican John Ensign, who cheated on his wife, tried to cover it up through sexual harrassment and may be guilty of violating campaign finance laws. Ensign was selected for Top Ten Scandals of 2009 by Citizens for Responsibilty and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Ensign also made the "50 Assclowns of the Year" list at http://welcomebacktopottersville.blogspot.com/2009/12/assclowns-of-week-year-79-top-50.html

But hummingbirdminds digresses (what else is new?). HM has always been flummoxed by Dr. Barrasso's negativity toward true healthcare reform. Here is a physician that most Wyomingites know through his television "Health Care Minute," in which he imparts his 25 years of medical wisdom in one-minute sound bites. We also know him as a key sponsor of health fairs around the state and emcee of the Casper site of the annual Labor Day weekend Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. He has a reputation as a pol with one eye on media exposure and one on public service. Can't fault any American for that. Usually you get one or the other. Those interested in All Public Exposure All the Time are usually vacuous celebrities whose only goal seems to be getting in front of the nearest camera. On the other hand, public servants don't necessarily crave the limelight but sometimes have it thrust upon them.

Sen. Barrasso might want to look inside himself to see which kind of human dwells within. He criticizes Reid and Dems for playing politics but says nothing about the underhanded tactics used by the Republicans during this process. At least Sen. Enzi, Wyoming's other senator and Gang of Six member, said early on that the Repubs' super-secret plan was to derail Obama. Who cares about healthcare reform? We want to sink Barack Obama.

So, before Sen. Barrasso gets all high and mighty on us -- "physician, heal thyself!" Look into your own heart and see if you are truly serving the Wyoming electorate or you are only towing the party line. You seem to love the TV camera, Sen. Barrasso. Is this vanity or service to your state? We wonder. So do Wyoming's 81,000 uninsured.

Here's Barrasso's statement from his web page:

“The Senate today passed a healthcare bill that represents politics at its worst. Promises of transparency, fiscal discipline and thoughtful policy debates were replaced with closed door meetings, billion dollar pay offs and partisan tactics.

“Instead of helping more Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care, this 2700 page bill cuts Medicare, increases taxes, raises insurance premiums and burdens our grandchildren with even more debt.

“There is no reason to rush legislation that will impact one sixth of our economy and affect the health of each American.

“After practicing medicine for over 25 years, I know that this bill will not deliver better care to folks in Wyoming and across America. As this legislation moves to the House, I will continue to speak out against it and do everything possible to ensure that Congress finally passes reform that will increase the quality, availability and affordability of healthcare in our country.”

Contact Sen. Barrasso at http://barrasso.senate.gov/public/

Keep this under your hats: Wyoming, the Cowboy Equality State, welcomes you

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Wyoming was the fastest-growing state in the country from July 2008 to July 2009 according to U.S. Census estimates.

And more people may be on their way.

Wyoming's estimated population in July 2009 was 544,270, according to the U.S. Census -- a jump of 2.12 percent from the 532,981 estimated to be living in the state at the same time last year. That's the highest growth rate Wyoming has seen since 1982, during the last year of a state energy boom.

This past year's population increase also came at the tail end of another energy boom, said Wenlin Liu, senior economist with the state's Economic Analysis Division.

Most of the state's population growth since July 2008, Liu said, probably came in the second half of 2008, when high energy prices made Wyoming's economy one of the few bright spots in an otherwise slumping national economy.

Wyoming was particularly attractive to job-seekers from hard-hit states such as Michigan, California, Nevada and Florida, he said.

But even though energy prices have fallen drastically in 2009, Wyoming probably won't see a population exodus like it did when the 1980s energy boom crashed, Liu said. That's because unlike 25 years ago, the entire nation is also suffering through tough economic times.

"Even if you want to move out (of Wyoming), there's almost no ideal place to go," Liu said.

This news has alarmed the Wyoming Republican Party. Some of these newcomers are bound to be Democrats or Independents. This could upset the delicate balance which has made Wyoming a one-party Republican stronghold since time immemorial or at least since 1890.

"We are thinking about putting up a fence," said GOP State Chairman Ryde M. Cowboy. "Although many of the new workers are good Republicans, we are convinced that some Democrats and Independents are sneaking across the border. Once they establish residency and register to vote, they might notice that the Wyoming Legislature has all the diversity of the Politburo under Stalin. Their votes may upset Wyoming's delicate balance."

No word yet on whether there is an anti-liberal fence bill slated for the next Wyoming Legislature, which convenes Feb. 8, 2010.

As if this wasn't enough -- there is more alarming news.

The Denver Post reports that the population influx into Colorado has slowed down but still continues.

Colorado's estimated population surpassed 5 million people for the first time as the state grew at the fourth-highest rate in the country amid the worst recession in decades.

U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today showed that the state's population hit 5,024,748 in July of this year, adding almost 90,000 people from last year.

As a result of the growth, Colorado has now grown by 16.8 percent since the 2000 Census, adding more than 700,000 people.

How will Colorado cope with 700,000 more people? This number is more than Wyoming's entire population, even if you throw in some antelope and deer. My guess is that most of those people are not heading to the wide-open spaces of the Eastern Plains, but destined for the Front Range corridor that stretches from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins. Fort Collins, of course, is dangerously close to Wyoming. Some emigrants moving to Fort Collins may discover that I-25 continues north into Wyoming. They may get on the interstate and take a trip into the Cowboy Equality State and discover an untrammeled wonderland.

They will find no personal income tax in Wyoming. How can this be, they may ask. They also may find housing prices below those in Colorado, California, Michigan and most other high-population states. They also may find that all Wyomingites are automatically cowboys due to the fact we're The Cowboy State. All those people who dreamed of being cowboys in their youth will have their wishes come true. Here's a little-known fact: each new permanent resident of Wyoming is awarded a horse, a cowboy hat and a new pair of boots without any horseshit on the heels.

Not many people know this, not even those in Colorado. But it's true. We welcome thee. Especially Democrats. We really need those.

But don't tell anybody. Our Republican Overlords are thinking of putting up a fence.

Dr. Sherard: "Medicaid and Wyoming"

Dr. Brent Sherard writes a guest editorial, "Medicaid and Wyoming: Why It Matters," in today's Cowboy State Free Press. Sherard is head of the Wyoming Department of Health and the State Health Officer. To read the entire article, go to http://thewyonews.net/2009/12/22/medicaid-and-wyoming-why-it-matters/.

Here's a sample:

Wyoming EqualityCare, our state’s Medicaid program, pays for the healthcare many of our state’s low-income and medically vulnerable citizens desperately need. Medicaid is roughly a 50-50 financial partnership between states and the federal government. The federal contribution is calculated every federal fiscal year using the relationship of Wyoming’s average per capita income to the national average per capita income.

Approximately 81,000 Wyoming residents qualified for the program in the last fiscal year, which represents 15 percent of our population. Wyoming EqualityCare accounts for about 12 percent of the entire budget of Wyoming’s state government, annually spending about $500 million.

Any big change to the program or adjustment to its budget affects us all in one way or another. The money does not just disappear down a bureaucratic black hole; it is spent with local doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare providers in every Wyoming community.

Included in the Senate health reform bill is a $1 billion Medicaid increase to states that provide visiting nurses and other in-home or community services to prevent low-income people from needing to be admitted to hospitals. Wonder if Wyoming will receive some of those funds?

We'll have to see how it all shakes out.

Rep. Sue Wallis (R-Recluse), locavore

According to an article in today's Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming's burgeoning local foods economy may be in for some trouble from the "food inspection bureaucracy:"

"I just feel like the bureaucracy, the food inspection bureaucracy, has gone completely overboard, and is infringing on our constitutional rights to produce things and sell things and consume things and buy things that they have absolutely no justification for doing," said state Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse.

Rep. Wallis, a legislator, rancher, cowboy poet and grandma from one of the most rural parts of Wyoming, wants to make sure that local growers and bakers and ranchers can market their products. She championed a bill last year that changed the way that food is sold across the state. Before the legislation, residents without food licenses could only sell homemade foods at religious or charitable events. Only foods deemed "not potentially hazardous" -- such as cookies, jams and baked bread -- were allowed. Earlier this year, the Legislature voted to loosen the restriction to allow sales of such foods at farmers' markets, roadside stands and private homes.

"I could bake two batches of cookies in the oven, take half of them to the church bazaar, and take the other half to the farmers' market, where I would be breaking the law," Wallis said.

She doesn't believe that fewer restrictions will affect the safety of consumers. Besides, she said, people can decide for themselves whether to buy homemade products.

"Any time you buy something from a farmers' market or a roadside stand, or a church bazaar, you know, as a consumer, that was made in somebody's kitchen," she said. "If you are concerned that it takes a government inspector's eyes before you feel safe, then don't buy it."

Yes, we all want our food to be safe. We don't want to be poisoned or doused with chemicals or felled by allergens. But in this age where people can get sick from eating corporate-grown spinach and corporate beef, it seems a bit ridiculous to bring the hammer down on bread coming out of our local baker's kitchen.

There is a principle of regulation and oversight that we really shouldn't lose," said Robert Harrington, director of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department. "We built a much better food system over the last 80 years, and we shouldn't allow minor concessions to a minor, minor segment of the food production industry to start weakening that system."

Harrington is clueless. This "minor, minor segment of the food production industry" is the one that's growing. People are growing their own and selling their own -- and they should be able to do it with the least amount of hassle from the authorities.

Man, I'm beginning to sound like a Libertarian.

But this is an important issue. Heavy-handed regulation could sink what's being called the "local foods movement." I've been writing about this for awhile now, prompted by my own return to backyard gardening and shopping at local farmer's markets. A few weeks ago I wrote about the winter market held at Cheyenne's Historic Depot. All food sold at the market was raised or made within 150 miles of Cheyenne. The handicrafts, too. Local, local, local. (Go to my Dec. 5 article at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2009/12/locavore-and-localart-and-even-localit.html.)

The food inspection bureaucracy should be working with local foodies and not against us.

Let's make sure we support Rep. Wallis when she comes to the next legislative session in February, just after her annual trek to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko Jan. 23-30.

Wallis plans to introduce a bill she offered last session that would allow cottage businesses to also sell "potentially hazardous" foods without a license, as long as the transaction doesn't involve a third party. Those foods include dairy products, canned foods and sauces.

The lawmaker doesn't think relaxing the rules would make the public less safe.

"If I know where my food is coming from, I trust it a lot more than I do the junk that comes out of the store," she said. "Because I know how it was produced, I know who the people are."

Contact Rep. Wallis at P.O. Box 71, Recluse, Wyoming 82725; 307-685-8248; 307-680-8515; sue.wallis@vcn.com.

Enzi & Barrasso of WYO continue to say "NO" to health care reform

The WyoGOP naysayers are still voting to please their corporate insurance overlords.

So what else is new.

WyoDems' Chief Bill Luckett sent along this press release today:

Delivering on the GOP’s pledge to try to kill health reform to break the President, last night Senators Enzi and Barrasso voted against health insurance reform. In the first of several votes in the Senate, both Senators voted against advancing legislation that would rein in unfair insurance company practices, expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans and reduce costs for families, businesses and the country as a whole.

With this latest vote, Senators Enzi and Barrasso, along with their Republican colleagues in Congress, have proven once again that they are willing to do anything to protect health insurance companies at the expense of health care for their constituents. Republicans in Congress are more interested in protecting special interests than in fixing our broken health insurance system and ensuring Wyomingites have access to quality, affordable care.

“Last night, in a historic vote on health insurance reform, Senators Enzi and Barrasso those to fall in line with the GOP and ignore the real need for reform in the state of Wyoming," said Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen. “Reform will bring greater access to Wyoming residents and greater support to Wyoming healthcare providers.”

The Senate proposal contains measures that would directly benefit Wyoming residents by allowing for greater competition in a very limited insurance market, focusing on increased access to rural areas, and protecting consumers from unfair insurance company practices. “We are very excited about a number of proposals in this legislation such as the ‘frontier states’ provision that would increase Medicare payments to rural areas, and the establishment of a National Health Service Corps to help attract young and talented health care professionals to underserved areas,” said Petersen. “It is a shame Enzi and Barrasso don’t realize there is more at stake than a reelection campaign; they are voting against the best interests of Wyoming’s people.”

Health reform bill boosts Medicare payments in frontier states

An article by Robert Pear in Sunday's New York Times explored items "buried" in the new health care bill. One of those hidden items may bring significant money to Wyoming and adjacent states:

Another item in the package would increase Medicare payments to hospitals and doctors in any state where at least 50 percent of the counties are “frontier counties,” defined as those having a population density less than six people per square mile.

And which are the lucky states? The bill gives no clue. But the Congressional Budget Office has determined that Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming meet the criteria.

In the 2000 census, Alaska boasted 1.1 person per square mile while Wyoming was the second-most frontier of frontier states, with 5.1 people per square mile. During the Bush-era energy boom, more people moved into the state than out, making Wyoming the 49th state in population density, with 5.4 per square mile. Alaska now has 1.2.

Since more than 50 percent of our counties have less than 6 ppsm, we qualify. While Utah has a whopping 32.2 ppsm (2007 census estimates), most of its southern and eastern counties are very rural, bringing down the big numbers for Salt Lake City. Same goes for the rest of those big Northern Rockies and High Plains states. The big numbers in Missoula and Billings and Bozeman are leavened by counties in Eastern Montana, where antelope and tumbleweeds are more prevalent that people.

In Wyoming, my county of Laramie has 30 people per square mile, which dwarfs the 1 ppsm in Niobrara County and 2 ppsm in Hot Springs and Weston counties. Because humans are packed like sardines in Laramie County, we rub up against other humans in new and interesting ways, causing us to either bolster our humaneness or flee to less-populated counties. Because of this, Laramie County is registering more Democrats (and winning more legislative seats) while northern and western counties continue their one-party status.

Speaking of Republicans... our good senators and lone rep should be happy with this frontier state designation in the health care bill they all oppose.

Barrasso/Enzi/Lummis all have taken the Repub party line (NO!) on health care legislation. They have advocated for higher Medicare payments. Lummis, in fact, spoke to a gathering of health care professionals at the hospital in Casper during last summer's "yell and scream at town meetings" craze. Most of the docs were upset about low Medicare reimbursement rates. Lummis also was upset. Now she will be happy and congenial, right? And what about Dr. Barrasso? Will he too be happy and congenial and vote for the final bill? Not bloody likely.

Hummingbirdminds also wonders about Sen. Enzi. He was one of the vaunted Gang of Six who steered the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill. He was joined by Committee Chair Max Baucus of Montana and Sen. Kent Conrad of North Dakota. While the Dems are voting for the bill, Enzi is not. Does that mean he does not want doctors and hospitals in his frontier state to receive larger medicare reimbursements? You can ask him via e-mail at http://enzi.senate.gov/public/

Frontier State Gang of Six members are getting what they wanted. So is Sen. Nelson of Nebraska. From the NYT article:

Nebraska, with help from Mr. Nelson, won a particularly generous arrangement under which the federal government would indefinitely pay the full cost of covering certain low-income people added to the Medicaid rolls under the bill.

Republicans derided this provision as the “Cornhusker kickback.” And they said it was typical of the favors Democrats had given to Mr. Nelson and a handful of other senators.

“You’ve got to compliment Ben Nelson for playing ‘The Price is Right,’ ” said Senator Richard M. Burr, Republican of North Carolina. “He negotiated a Medicaid agreement for Nebraska that puts the federal government on the hook forever. Not for six years, not for 10 years. This isn’t the Louisiana Purchase; this is the Nebraska windfall.”

I love how Repubs object to these sorts of specific earmarks buried in legislation. Defense bills are larded with funding for military bases and specific projects backed by Repubs. They even vote for the occasional Bridge to Nowhere.

Meanwhile, we can only marvel at the "Cornhusker Kickback." Sen. Nelson is a player. As a Democrat, he was in the game. While Sen. Enzi may have worked some frontier state items into the bill, our Repub senators are mainly left on the sidelines to stew and fume.

Perhaps some of that Nebraska Windfall will blow over the borders into Wyoming. But I forget that the prevailing winds blow from the West. From all those rural Republican Wyoming counties in the West.

Nothing new about religion in movies

Our local paper, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, featured an article by Robert W. Butler of McLatchy about the prevalance of religion (even "spirituality") in current Hollywood movies.

He went on to list these films: The Road, Avatar, The Blind Side, and The Invention of Lying. Because the photo accompanying the article comes from The Lovely Bones, one assumes that its imminent Christmas release is what prompted the article.

Baby Boomer Flashback...

I grew up with religious movies: Ben Hur, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Robe, Ten Commandments, Samson and Delilah. Biblical epics. All of them were based (sometimes loosely) on stories from the Bible. My parents considered it their duty to take us to these films. I am certain that they all had the imprimatur of the Catholic Legion of Decency. There were other films that did not, films that exhibited entirely too much female pulchritude (Marilyn!), explored teen angst (James Dean!), displayed the singer with the swiveling hips (Elvis!) and featured entirely too much violence. Then there were those rotten comic books and racy novels. Entirely too much indecency existed in the fifties. Nothing that a dose of an overlong Biblical epic couldn't cure.

If they seemed cheesy back then, their cheesiness has multiplied with time. The only one of the epics that isn't terrible is Ben Hur. Is saw it recently and the story is pretty good. The chariot race is still thrilling. Even though we remember Charlton Heston more for his NRA lunacy rather than his acting, he's not bad in this one.

There was another batch of movies in the late sixties that tackled religion. Lilies of the Field even took its title from the Bible. Sidney Poitier was the African-American handyman for a convent of traditionalist Catholic nuns. He was old-time religion and they were Papists. Everyone learned something about tolerance and human rights. The nuns at my high school took us to see this one.

...End of Flashback

Religion in movies is nothing new. Spirituality is another matter. Hollywood no longer is restricted to the Bible for its religious-themed movies. Organized religion's endemic intolerance (we have the answer and you don't) takes a shellacking in most recent movies. Doubt is a great example. It's also a good example of life's complications. Kevin Smith's Dogma took on religion in a big way. The image that remains with me is the smiling "Buddy Christ" promoted by Cardinal George Carlin.

Butler's McLatchy article named only one recent film -- The Blind Side -- that actually portrays devout Christians acting on their faith. The others are all metaphor and allegory usually helped along with a dose of sci-fi and/or fantasy. As are so many films that take on good vs. evil. I haven't seen the film version of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. But I've seen No Country for Old Men twice. Tommy Lee Jones' world-weary sheriff is perplexed by the scope of death and destruction that's been unleashed on his county. He can find no redeeming characters anywhere. He asks that eternal question: "Where is God?" And he has no answer.

Avatar is more Celtic mythology and Gaian philosophy than religion. The planet Pandora is a living thing. Earthers attempt to rape and pillage Pandora and she responds. It's an old scenario. Natives are outgunned and outnumbered. The call goes out to Mother Earth and she sounds the trumpet. The animals charge the automatic weapons and battle cruisers and emerge triumphant.

It rarely works that way in the real world. Maybe that's why we like the myth. The underdog wins due to its earth-centered spirituality. And some bitchin' flying dragons.

Samantha Bee blows the lid off of Obama's sinister Christmas Tree Ornament Plot

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama's Socialist Christmas Ornament Program
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Capturing our Christmas tree in the Snowies

The ceremonial capture of the Christmas tree in Wyoming's Snowy Range. Notice ravenous wolf in foreground attempting to take a bite out of daughter. Wife threw blue disk at wolf and scared it away.

War Made New: Don't Fire Until You See Those Shiny Transmitter Receptors

"If you're depressed, learn something."

That may or may not be the exact quote I came across years ago. It could be "when you're depressed, learn something." I remember quotes like I remember jokes -- badly.

I took the quote to mean that when you're depressed, learn something to take your mind off of it. If you're clinically depressed, picking up a book or plugging yourself into the PC is a daunting task. If you're in this state, you need more than book learnin'.

If you're garden-variety depressed, learning something gives you something to do. It focuses the mind, and by the time you exit the book, you will have forgotten -- temporarily -- about your depression. You may even feel better. One thing's certain -- you will have learned something. "Mopey" may be a constant state, but why not try being a mope with a head full of history or art or poetry.

I was thinking about this because I've been depressed due to Christmas and the sub-zero temperatures and various other things. So I checked out books from the library about depressing topics: bird flu, military history and Iraq. This might send another dysthymic over the edge. But to me, reading about sordid and complicated topics has a calming effect. I also sometimes medicate myself with films featuring sordid and complicated topics. But it doesn't have quite the same salutary effect.

The book on the avian flu, "The Fatal Strain: On the Trail of Avian Flu and the Coming Pandemic," gave me all sorts of info about viruses and epidemiologists, not to mention admiration for the craft of reporter and author Alan Sipress. His descriptions of the inner workings of the flu virus made me marvel at its existence. When I finished the book, I was (temporarily, at least) a wiser man. I bored several of my coworkers with descriptions on the spread of bird virus and the operations of the CDC germ detectives. After a few days of this, workplace absenteeism soared. I figured they had either caught the swine flu, thought that they'd been infected with avian flu, or were patiently waiting at home for me to finish the book and move on to other things.

I moved on to "Understanding Iraq" by William R. Polk. I'm now in the section where Polk documents "Revolutionary Iraq." This chapter covers the years between the fall of the monarchy in 1958 and continues through a series of dictators leading up to the late Saddam and up until 1991 and the First Iraq War. The U.S. has entered the picture at this point and there are ominous rumblings of what's to come. Iraq, of course, is a complicated country with a tumultuous history. I'm a bit late reading about Iraq, but better late than never. Too bad that U.S. neocons never understood the target of their nefarious plans.

I took a break from Iraq to dive into "War Made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History, 1500 to Today." Author is Max Boot. He takes us from a prologue about "the Blitzkreig of 1494," when a disciplined French army brought shock and awe to Italy, to "Humvees and IEDs: Iraq, March 20, 2003-May 1, 2005." The book was published in 2006. It's almost 2010 and we're still in Iraq. although the Humvee-IED battles have switched the Afghanistan. This will no doubt require a sequel.

Max Boot writes in an easy-going manner about some tough stuff. Right now, I'm at the end of the "Gunpowder Revolution" section with the Battle of Assaye, the Brits vs. the Marathas in 1803 India. I haven't read ahead, but the Brits might still have been sore about getting their asses beat by ragtag bands of American colonists. This brings to mind Stephen Colbert's Afghanistan history lesson on the Colbert report last night. He showed a complicated chart of U.S. plans in Afghanistan. Then he showed a chart of the simplified British plan when they fought Afghanistan: 1. Kill the bloody savages; 2. Win; 3. Drink tea. He then added this: 4. Oppress the Irish.

Simple plan. How difficult to put into practice (except the Irish part -- for awhile, anyway).

Here's the military's COIN strategy flowchart as seen on TV:



Mr. Boot's book has captured my attention. The rise of nation-states, bureaucracies, professional armies, improved weaponry. Those all could be deadly dull. But not here. Temporarily, I am more fascinated than depressed. Do to the technology of antidepressants, and the stimulation of learning something, my brain's neurotransmitters are overcoming the entrenched and outmoded tactics of the Dendrites. Here it is shown in the graphic below:

The Neurons, with daily reinforcements from the arsenals of Zoloft, may win this battle and -- ultimately -- the war.

NOTES: Shamelessly lifted the illustration from wikipedia. You may view the full "Colbert Report" episode noted above by going to http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=258256

Student loan bill could save billions

Headline for an editorial in the Dec. 7 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Give it the old college try: student loan bills could save billions of dollars"

It makes the case for the passage of the new student loan bill in Congress. A good counterpoint to the naysaying Wall Street Journal editorial opposing the legislation.

Here's an excerpt:

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act passed the House on a bipartisan vote of 253-171 in September, and the measure now is awaiting action in the Senate. It likely will be waiting until there is action on the all-consuming health-care reform bill, but opponents are busily lobbying against it.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09341/1019123-192.stm#ixzz0ZFpIvBK1