Haven't read this book yet, but was drawn to the cover, which shows the devastation caused by the pine bark beetle. Scene on the cover looks like Colorado's Lake Granby. Also, one of the contributors is the very fine writer Laura Pritchett from Fort Collins.
"Don't Ban NO PLACE FOR HATE banner" petition now up at http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/NoBanningTheBanner
Democrats will gather in Cheyenne on Saturday, Feb. 27, for the 2010 Nellie Tayloe Ross Banquet. Hear from Democratic Party leaders, the annual NTR Award winner, and special guest speakers to be named soon. Come rally with other Democrats as we celebrate diversity in politics during the Legislature's budget session.In a letter today to Platte County School Board members, Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Mountain States Regional Director Bruce H. DeBoskey said:
We write to express our outrage and dismay that your School Board voted to ban the display of No Place for Hate® banners at West Elementary School and Wheatland High School because they include the logo of the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado, a major sponsor of this free program. As a result of your decision, we are compelled to withdraw the No Place for Hate® program from the schools in
your District.
The No Place for Hate program is designed to teach young people the values of respect and inclusion for everyone in the school community, and we cannot continue to offer the program in your District if you will not permit the display of a banner (hard-earned by many dedicated students, teachers, and community members) that includes the words “gay and lesbian.” To continue our program in light of your decision would be the height of hypocrisy, turning a blind eye to intolerance and repudiating the principles of inclusivity and respect that our program teaches.
The No Place for Hate® program has been embraced by dozens of schools in Colorado and Wyoming as a successful way to make schools safer and more inclusive, by providing anti- bullying training and promoting respect for all students. At schools where this program has been implemented, attendance is up and disciplinary actions are down. Students have reported that they feel safer and more welcome at school because the students, teachers and community have worked together to make their schools respectful, and inclusive. The safer schools are, the more students will attend, and the more opportunities they will have to learn. It is a shame that your decision will impede the important progress that has already been made on these important issues.
As you heard at the School Board meeting on January 18, this program has been in effect for over a year at one of your schools and for several months at the other school. The Wheatland students who have participated have enthusiastically supported it, believe they have benefited from it, and want it to continue. It saddens us greatly that your decision will send a message to these students that adults in Platte County openly endorse bigotry against the gay and lesbian members of your community.
If you should change your position at any time and permit the banner to be displayed as designed, we would be happy to return our program to your schools.
Unless and until your position changes, however, we must reluctantly and immediately end the No Place for Hate® program at West Elementary and Wheatland High School.
Everything was going along swimmingly in Wheatland. Both West Elementary and Wheatland H.S. had signed up for the "No Place for Hate" campaign, sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League. Posters like the one above were hung on the chimneys with care. Jews and Gentiles were engaging in peaceful coexistence. Lions were lying down with lambs, and dogs and cats were living together. Even the off-white citizens were getting along with the egg-shell white and slightly freckled denizens of Wheaterville.Platte County School District 1 trustees voted 4-3 this week to reject a request to keep the Anti-Defamation League’s “No Place for Hate” banners at Wheatland High and West Elementary. District administrators removed the signs after parents and school board members raised concern because the banners list the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado as a sponsor. Some students requested that the banners be replaced, but the board refused.
Wheatland, a southeast Wyoming town of about 3,300 residents, is "an ultraconservative community,” said school board member Lee Dunham.
“If this is the way one chooses, then they can lead this particular lifestyle, but I don’t believe it needs to be publicly displayed in a school,” Dunham said.
School board member Joe Fabian said he believes the Anti-Defamation League is pushing an “agenda that is pro-gay marriage” and that the community of Wheatland is not supportive of that.
“They wouldn’t want the organization, the Anti-Defamation League, dictating to their children that an alternate lifestyle is a normal lifestyle,” he said.
The district intended to allow the anti-discrimination campaign to continue, Superintendent Stuart Nelson said. But the Anti-Defamation League won’t allow the Wheatland schools to participate without the presence of the banners, said Bruce DeBoskey, mountain states regional director for the group.
The Anti-Defamation League “will no longer allow the program if it’s not being honored and used in its fullest intent,” he said.
DeBoskey said there are many Wheatland residents who support the anti-discrimination campaign, and he urged them to speak up.
“The (league) is extremely concerned that this whole program — which is designed to teach young people to respect the differences among us — has been derailed by people who appear to have biases,” he said.
Linda Burt of the Wyoming chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also criticized the board’s decision, saying it’s “extraordinarily unfortunate and extraordinarily shortsighted.”
“Does that mean this is a place for hate?” she asked. “Does that mean this is a place for discrimination?”
From the Flobots web site -- a rockin' Haiti benefit that goes all night.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.
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.
"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."
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.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.
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.
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.
According to today's New York Times, the Red Cross has collected more than $5 million so far via the texting method.
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.
