Jam Haiti benefit Saturday in Denver

From the Flobots web site -- a rockin' Haiti benefit that goes all night.

Legislature to address "cottage foods"

The Casper Star-Tribune featured an article by Joan Barron this week about a little-known issue that will undoubtedly bubble to the surface during the legislative session.

It's all about something called "cottage foods." Those are foods prepared in a cottage (or even a house) and sold at the local farmer's market or community bazaar. These could be potentially hazardous dishes, such as Uncle Joe's chili or Aunt Sue's lasagna. Selling stuff such as veggies and fruits and jams and bread and honey is already O.K.

That's where this gets a little sticky.

This will be the third legislative session the council has addressed problems raised in bills sponsored by Rep. Sue Wallis, R-Recluse.

The first year the bill to exempt so-called cottage foods -- those prepared in home kitchens -- from regulation failed to get through the Legislature.

Last year a modified version did pass. As of July 1 it allows sales of home-produced foods such as jams, cookies and bread at farmers markets and roadside stands without inspection or licensing.

Wallis plans to introduce a bill for the budget session that opens Feb. 8 to expand the cottage food exemption.

Although they have not seen the bill, the council members said they expect it to be the same as the original bills introduced by Wallis before they were modified.

"It would make it wide open," said the council's chairman, Robert Harrington, director of the Casper-Natrona County Health Department.

God forbid we make anything "wide open" here in the libertarian great wide open. What happens when the local foods movement runs up against government food inspectors? We must have safe food. That's a given. But cottage businesses are local businesses making local delicacies. The money stays in the community, unlike the dough you spend in the Wal-Mart grocery section. How will these small businesses, the politician's favorite kind of business, thrive?

I'm glad the legislature will be considering Wallis's bill. Maybe it can help to define ways that local food purveyors can bring real food back to our tables.

I've got those globalized food blues

I've written often on the subject of local food and local art and local politics.

I have a "local" fixation.

But why not? What has globalization wrought? Banks too big to fail that do. Corporations that have been granted the same rights as citizens. Bought-off members of Congress. Far-flung wars fought at the behest of oil companies and foreign oil suppliers. Tasteless food in corporate grocery chains. Publishing conglomerates that publish only sure-fire blockbusters by celebs posing as authors (Sarah Palin, etc.).

All that and more.

I'm just jumping on a bandwagon that has its roots in the farms and villages of our grandfathers. A movement that looks to alternative energy and backyard gardens and the neighborhood quilter and the farmers' market. Nothing big -- and that's the point. Big is bad. Big is too big.

So I keep observing local ideas taking root. In Cheyenne, we have two outdoor farmers' markets and a winter market just getting started. We have at least two organic/sustainable growers in northern Colorado -- Wolf Moon Farms and Grant Farms -- promoting their "Community Shares" program in southeast Wyoming. The Northern Colorado Food Incubator provides a focus for all the growers in the CO/WY nexus. Backyard gardens are sprouting all over, including in my backyard. I'm not the farmer my grandfather was, but I don't face feast or famine as he did in Iowa. I can grow some of my own fruits and veggies, and get the rest through farmers' markets and on trips to Albertson's or Safeway. Were I able to grow my own coffee, I would. I can at least buy the fair trade variety at the store.

This would all seem like so much aging Baby Boomer/naive Gen-X nonsense if it weren't for the many people engaged in local sustainability. I never talk politics with the guy from Brush, Colorado, who sells sweet corn out of his truck bed on September Saturdays. But we do talk sweet corn, and we agree on that. Small-scale tomato growers speak a common language. We speak tomato. Not tow-mah-tow. It's ta-may-tow, or maybe ta-may-ter or, simply, may-ter. I listen to other tomato growers because they most know more than I ever will.

We do have a common enemy in this country's corporate food system. It's making us sick. Not literally, unless you count the occasional tainted spinach or bad beef outbreaks. But it's short-changing our precious bodily fluids through processed foods. That food is also shipped long distances to our stores, burning fossil fuels and polluting the air and contributing to global warming.

Today, in Cheyenne, I saw cantaloupe on sale. August and September are cantaloupe months. That's when Rocky Ford varieties from southern Colorado come our way. I'll eat other High Plains cantaloupe. But in January, Albertson's features cantaloupe from Chile. It's summer in Chile. Chileans are whooping it up at the beach and eating cantaloupe. But how much did it costs to bring the fruit to Cheyenne, where the only beach we're frequenting in January is in our memories?

I received word today that a group of artists are getting together to talk about putting studios in the abandoned Hynds Building downtown. The building on the city's main drag has been sitting vacant for years. Various businesses, including one hotel conglomerate, have talked about buying and renovating the place. But then the economy tanked. If we can get artists in there in the meantime, all the better. Artists creating and providing some after-hours life to downtown. If you're interested in this downtown project, contact Rebecca Barrett at rebecca.barrett3@mac.com.

None of this is going to happen overnight. We only at the beginning of the (dare I say it?) surge.

But, to get this globalization monkey off our backs, we have to start somewhere.

After today's SCOTUS ruling -- SAVE DEMOCRACY!

Go to Save Democracy and sign this petition:

Dear Friend,

This morning, five Supreme Court Justices stabbed at the heart of democracy, our electoral system.

They overturned over 100 years of statute and precedent, and declared that corporations can spend all the money that they want to buy elections. In fact, these five men in robes declared, they have a constitutional right to do so.

Now, we have to fight.

That’s why I just signed Rep. Alan Grayson's petition to support his "Save Our Democracy" legislative package, because we cannot have a government that is bought and paid for by huge multinational corporations. We need a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

I hope you'll join me.

For they are brown and without belief -- or WWJD?

We salute Jesus' General -- he is always on the job:

For they are brown and without belief

'Jesus Guns': Two More Countries Rethink Using Weapons with Secret Bible References - ABC News

This is one of the oddest things I've read all week. Trijicon, a Michigan defense contractor, makes gun sights for the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army that include Biblical references. I'm all for providing good gun sights to our military. I have nothing against Biblical references, as long as they're kept out of the hands (and mouths) of hypocrites such as Pat Robertson and Republican senators. But in a gun sight? Don't you think that our Muslim allies might have a little problem with that?

"It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.

"It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said.

Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm[s] of Jesus Christ."

He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

Read the entire article at 'Jesus Guns': Two More Countries Rethink Using Weapons with Secret Bible References - ABC News

The hits just keep on coming

My Feedjit feed (see sidebar) keeps logging in hits for a two-year old post based on William Faulkner's quote: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” In it, I talk about the racism I experienced in 1960s Florida and what I saw during Obama's 2008 campaign in Wyoming. Racism is alive and well, I said in the summary.

I was wondering why it was showing up with such regularity. Then I recalled Martin Scorcese's acceptance speech tonight at the Golden Globes. He wrapped it up with the Faulkner quote. Since my post has been online for so long, it's at the top of the Google hit list. Near the top, anyway.

The post is especially relevant on the eve of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Day holiday.

To read the original: http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/for-faulkner-and-obama-past-isnt-past.html

Boulder museum stages "open wall" for artists

Saw this event promoted on Facebook. A twist on the open reading concept for writers and poets, although readings are sometimes followed by a book signing if any of us have books to sign. For this event, artists are invited to hang their work on the BMoCA's blank wall and then attendees bid on the art. The 50/50 split is also a great idea -- money for the museum AND the artists. I didn't see anything on the web site restricting entries to Colorado artists.

Here's more info from Elephant Journal:

Citizen Artists: If you would like to sell your piece, a silent auction will take place from 8-10 p.m. to raise money to support the museum… and to support you (a 50/50 split)!

Or, looking to purchase original, fine art? Our silent auction is a great way to support the museum and local artists, and uplift your walls.

Additionally, the museum’s upstairs gallery will feature elephantjournal.com’s selection of community artists. This specially curated space will also offer a grouping of eco-art pieces, complete with “do-it-yourself” tips for “greening” your studio.

The evening will include local music by Harper Phillips and her ukulele, as well as a cash bar. Admission is a $5 suggested donation.

Localarts. Localfunding. Localfun.

And, if we continue with the guidelines for local as locales within a 100-mile radius of Cheyenne, this probably counts. Boulder is 102 miles from Cheyenne. In some ways, "The Peoples Republic of Boulder" is a world away from home of the country's largest outdoor rodeo. In other ways, it's not. Artists and writers are always looking for new and interesting ways to market their work.

By the way, if you're looking for work by Wyoming artists, go to my WAC workplace blog at http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/. On the right sidebar are links to the state's arts orgs, folk artists, visual artists, performers and writers.

BTW: Cheyenne artist Georgia Rowswell tipped me off to this Boulder event. See her art at http://www.artfulhand.org/.

Wyofile receives Knight Foundation grant

Wyofile is a great source for Wyoming news. It announced this today:

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced Jan. 13 that it has awarded the Lander Community Foundation a $122,000 grant for the Wyoming news and public policy website http://www.wyofile.com/ to expand coverage of critical state issues.

The award from the Knight Foundation Community Information Challenge program adds to the $135,000 pledged to WyoFile.com by other sources. Major contributors include the George B. Storer Foundation Inc. of Saratoga, Wy.; Christopher Findlater, a Florida-based philanthropist with ongoing business interests in Wyoming, and the estate of the late Casper oilman, state legislator and U.S. Ambassador Tom Stroock.

“To increase the availability of information on complex state issues, this grant will support WyoFile.com , which examines Wyoming public policy and politics,” the Knight Foundation announced in a press release. “WyoFile.com will increase its staff and reporting budget to further engage Wyoming’s residents, lawmakers, educators and business people through an independent, alternative source.”

The Knight Community Information Challenge is a five-year, $24-million initiative to help community and place-based foundations find creative ways to use new media and technology to keep residents informed and engaged.

In an effort to supplement and support traditional news coverage in the state, WyoFile.com stories are offered at no charge as a public service to all Wyoming media.

“One of our goals in the coming year is to make it easier for state newspapers to use our stories, by offering shorter versions of our in-depth investigative reports and features,” said WyoFile editor Rone Tempest of Lander. “We will also encourage newspapers and other media to seek out help in covering important policy issues in their communities. The Knight grant will be a big help in this regard.”

In July of this year, WyoFile.Com applied to the federal government for non-profit 501 (c) (3) status with the Internal Revenue Service.

WyoFile’s board of directors are Anne MacKinnon (Chairman), Casper, a Western water policy writer, educator and former executive editor of the Casper Star-Tribune; Randall T. Cox, Gillette, an oil and gas attorney and bird wildlife author; Christopher Findlater, Miami, Fla., internet entrepreneur, co-founder and former CEO of NetQuote, an online insurance company; Kathyrn Hogarty, Laramie, attorney and Director of External Relations and Special Assistant to the Dean, Univeristy of Wyoming School of Law; and Jonathan Weber, Missoula, Mont., Publisher and Editor in Chief, NewWest.net.

A "Kangaroo System" documented in "Juvenile Justice in Wyoming"

This trailer is from a documentary by Laramie's Chris Hume.

AAUW: Rep. Cynthia Lummis is a zero

The Wyoming Democratic Party sends this:

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) one of the nation’s top advocacy groups for education and equity on behalf of women and girls, has given failing marks to all three members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. In an annual report analyzing the Congressional voting record for 2009, AAUW rated Rep. Cynthia Lummis with a 0% and both Senator Mike Enzi and Senator John Barrasso earned a rating of 13%, respectively.

The delegation’s poor performance on issues important to women is extremely distressing, according to Wyoming Democratic Party State Chair Leslie Petersen.

“This report drives home the point that on issues ranging from health reform to equal compensation, Rep. Lummis, Sen. Enzi and Sen. Barrasso are out of touch with the needs of Wyoming people,” Petersen said. “The rights of women, minorities and families are being shoved aside in favor of special interests, big business, and destructive partisanship. It especially saddens me that our lone female representative would continue to vote against her own gender.”

The AAUW’s scores were calculated based on support of issues that would address social inequalities, end discrimination, and support women and their families, among other considerations. This legislation, which received no support from any member of the Wyoming congressional delegation, included:

• Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 – Reopens the courtroom doors to further progress towards pay equity. Takes action on a 2007 court decision which required employees to file pay discrimination claims within 180 days of their employer’s last discriminatory decision and requires claims to be filed within 180 days of their last discriminatory paycheck.


• Paycheck Fairness Act – Strengthens the Equal Pay Act by empowering women to negotiate for equal pay, deters wage discrimination by strengthening penalties, and prohibits retaliation against workers who inquire about wage practices or disclose their wages. The bill also creates incentives for employers to follow the law and strengthens federal outreach and enforcement efforts.


• Healthy Families Act – Would provide accrued paid sick and safe days for employees and would require employers with at least 15 employees to guarantee workers seven days of paid sick leave annually. These days could be used for treatment, recovery, and activities necessary to deal with an incidence of domestic violence.


• Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act - Provides local law enforcement with resources to address hate-based violence and added perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to the categories protected under federal hate crimes law.

Contribute to Clinton Foundation for Haiti earthquake relief

Citizens and non-profits and gubment bring earthquake relief to Haiti

The always vigilant jhwygirl at 4&20blackbirds provides some great info on Haiti Relief. First, there's this Google link to donate to CARE and Unicef: http://www.google.com/relief/haitiearthquake/. Scroll down and click on Google Earth to view the Haiti devestation, just in case you listen to Rush Limbaugh and are an earthquake denier or a poverty denier or an Obama hater.

She also brings up the text messaging route. Text message “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts. Another org is Yonn Ede Lot, which works mainly with Haiti's rural poor. You can text message “YELE” to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti’s Earthquake Relief efforts. FMI: http://www.yonnedelot.org/.

According to today's New York Times, the Red Cross has collected more than $5 million so far via the texting method.

In other news, the U.S. government has entered the fray by pledging $100 million for relief, sending planeloads of supplies and dispatching an aircraft carrier loaded with helicopters and food and medical equipment. The Air Force's Special Tactics Squadron and its air traffic controllers have brought a semblance of order to the Port Au Prince airport. At the behest of the sitting U.S. president, two ex-presidents (still on the government payroll) are spearheading the public push for Haiti relief.


That darn gubment. Can't do anything right.

Wyoming GOP fires new executive director

The Wyoming GOP is all about change.

The Associated Press is reporting this:

The Wyoming Republican Party has fired its executive director after he served only about two months on the job.

Party Chairman Diana Vaughan says Randy O'Hara was fired on Friday.

Vaughan said Monday she could not comment on the reasons for firing O'Hara, saying it was a personnel issue.

But the Casper Star-Tribune reports that Vaughan said in an e-mail to Republican State Central Committee members that O'Hara's performance did not meet the party's standards.

O'Hara came to Wyoming from Utah where he most recently served as the political director of the Salt Lake County Republican Party in Salt Lake City.

Now who are they going to get? Dick Cheney has some times on his hands....

Study shows that highway stimulus funding does not reduce unemployment

Federal highway stimulus funding has been very, very good to Wyoming --

Nice map, courtesy of the WYDOT web site. Fetching color scheme.

Face it -- everyone likes good roads and bridges that don't fall down. So the Obama administration's highway stimulus funding efforts have been wildly popular among politicians, construction workers and -- once the construction is completed -- motorists.

But a new study shows that it hasn't made a dent in unemployment. The Seattle Times wrote about it today:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010762109_apusstimulusunemployment.html
Researchers from five universities compared unemployment stats in 700 U.S. counties that received these funds with 700 counties that did not.

No difference in the numbers.

What about Wyoming?

Between November 2008 and November 2009, Wyoming's unemployment rate rose from 3.1 to 7.2 percent, an increased of 4.1 percent. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most of that increase probably was in the oil and gas fields. But who knows? I'll keep looking for more stats.

The latest highway stimulus bill has already passed the House and will come up in the Senate later in January. I'm all for stimulus, but researchers say we need bigger and more expensive projects to move the employment numbers. High speed rail, for instance.

More later...

Hummingbirds are but a handy metaphor

Photo by twolf1 and plucked from Firedoglake

"Hummingbirds: Magic in the Air" premieres tonight on PBS. Any blog with the term "hummingbird" in it should be interested in this. But hummingbirds are but a metaphor to me. I like them well enough. Nothing like watching these birds flit around a summer mountain meadow. Now, if you replace the bird with a flitting brain, you have the "hummingbirdminds" metaphor, first coined by Internet pioneer and hyper-dude Ted Nelson.

Find out more about the making of the documentary and local air times at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnc1kHMDDo

UPDATE 9:53 P.M. MST: Watched the documentary and it was very cool. One question: why did PBS air a parental warning at the start of the show? Because it showed unorthodox hummingbird mating habits? Because the it included verifiable evolutionary traits linking flowers and birds? Anyone know?

Act locally and "Move Your Money"

Add "bank locally" to the long list of what all of us should do locally -- eat locally, shop locally, create (and appreciate) art locally, etc.

Wyoming residents interested in investing locally should consider putting at least some of their assets in credit unions or local banks.

This is spurred by a new cause advocated by Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post. Called Move Your Money, the Facebook fan page is racking up big numbers. The web site has some great info, and included a photo of George Bailey ("the good ol' Savings & Loan") facing off against megalomaniac banker Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life."

I'm a long-time credit union member. I patronize my local credit union: First Education FCU

Here's a list of Wyoming credit unions: http://www.cuawyoming.com/

And a list of Wyoming banks: http://us1.irabankratings.com/MoveYourMoney/IRACommunityZip.asp?affiliate=moveyourmoney&zip=82001&submit=Search

Sen. Barrasso and I agree on transparency

I suddenly find myself agreeing with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso.

He wrote a letter to Sen. Harry Reid calling on more transparency in the upcoming debates over the merging of the House and Senate healthcare bills.

Let's forget for a second that the Senator's letter is politically motivated and has more to do with opposition to Pres. Obama that healthcare reform. Sen./Dr. Barrasso has opposed reform from the beginning -- and has said so endlessly on Fixed News. And we had so much transparency when Repubs ruled the Senate roost.

Yet, it's a good letter and worth reading. On Thursday night, Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" skewered Pres. Obama for this very same thing. Stewart showed clips of Obama's campaign promises contrasted with the reality of closing off the hearings to C-SPAN.

Come on, Sen. Reid. Let's see these hearings.

Here's part of Sen. Barrasso's Jan. 7 letter:

To ensure that the American people have the ability to witness the on-going negotiations between the House and Senate, we ask that any negotiations regarding a final health care reform bill be conducted in the light of day. The Chairman of C-SPAN, the network responsible for broadcasting the deliberations of Congress, has offered resources to cover all negotiation sessions live. We urge you to take him up on this offer.

Read all of it at http://www.barrasso.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=0e9dac58-01df-7453-3ed3-5646c3eb1e98

"Cognitive Dissonance" tonight in Laramie

Laramie rabble-rouser (let's face it -- progressive-minded rabble need rousing) Meg Lanker sends this info about tonight's on-the-air affair on KOCA-FM:

Come check out the Cognitive Dissonance back to class edition!

My sparkling self will be on the air from 10 p.m. to midnight playing the best indie rock and hip-hop offerings. We'll also have local band Blue Routes at around 11:30, fresh off their appearance at Coal Creek Coffee in downtown Laramie from 8-11 p.m. Blue Routes is comprised of Micah Wyatt, Jascha Herdt, and Phillip Cleveland.

Angry Malcontent will be back and d-baggery will be called out. Fundits will frolic. It shall be a marvelous end to break.

We'll also be talking about new shows premiering on KOCA - I guarantee it'll be a good time.

Got a request or d-bag nomination? Deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday. Post it on the wall. Come pre-game it from 10-midnight at KOCA!

Location: 93.5 KOCA studios, 365 W. Grand, West Laramie. Call or text 307-752-7460.

Is this Micah Wyatt of the Blue Routes the same Micah Wyatt who once shaped young minds at the Young Writers' Camp near Story?

More info at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=155510164943&index=1

WPR: Gov. Freudenthal is not doing much fund-raising (2010-01-07)

WPR: Freudenthal's not doing much fund-raising

He's only raised a few bucks for a 2010 campaign. But won't he have enough time to do so even if he declares after the legislative session?

Stay tuned...

P.S.: Governor Freudenthal's Chief of Staff, Chris Boswell, will be the speaker at the Laramie County Democrats first meeting of the year on Monday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m. at the IBEW Hall in Cheyenne. Maybe Chris will drop a few hints as to "will he or won't he?"