The Flobots to receive Mayor's Award for Excellence in the Arts

Congrats to The Flobots:

We’re honored to be receiving the Denver Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts on Wednesday, February 17. On the eve of a new album, the band will perform at the February 17 award ceremony.

It’s a big week for The Flobots. The Denver band has been selected as one of four recipients of the 2010 Mayor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, an honor bestowed by Mayor John Hickenlooper and the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs. The Flobots share this honor with fellow recipients El Centro Su Teatro, Access Gallery and Jeffrey Nickelson, the late founder of Shadow Theater Company.

Flobots were selected on the strength of their artistic and commercial successes, including winning over audiences around the world with a bombastic and inspiring live show. Their major-label debut, Fight with Tools, sold more than 300,000 copies, and the hit song “Handlebars” was one of the biggest songs of 2008. The Mayor’s award also recognizes Flobots’ social activism and civic engagement, values that they promote from the stage and practice through their non-profit organization Flobots.org.

In a ceremony on February 17, Flobots will perform a track from their upcoming record Survival Story, which is due on Universal Records in mid-March. The album’s first single, “White Flag Warriors,” is now in rotation on radio stations around the country. The song features vocals by Tim Mcllrath of Rise Against. Long-time Flobots friend and collaborator Matt Morris also appears on the record.

Sixty years gone -- my parents' wedding

My parents were married on Feb. 18, 1950 --- 60 years ago this week.

The ceremony was at St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church on South University Blvd. near Washington Park in southeast Denver. That's a pricey chi-chi neighborhood now. Yuppieville. Then it was full of Irish immigrants such as my grandfather, Martin Hett, and his wife, Agnes. Grandpa immigrated from the U.K. in 1917 after leaving home in County Roscommon, Republic of Ireland, when he was 12. Agnes McDermott grew up in rural southern Ohio, the Appalachian part of the state that butts up against Kentucky. She and her sister and two woman friends drove from Ohio to the Rockies during the summer of 1920. Agnes McDermott loved the mountains. She and her sister returned to Ohio, packed their bags, and returned to Denver for good.

Those were my mother's parents. Anna Marie Hett was a wonderful person, the second of three children. The Navy paid for her nurse's training, but she didn't have to serve due to the fact that by the time she graduated, the war was over. That war, anyway.

My father, Thomas Reed Shay, a World War II veteran, grew up in Park Hill. His father was Raymond Shay from Iowa City, oldest of nine children from a long line of Micks with big families. But he married a Protestant, Florence Green of Baltimore. A mixed marriage. Both families were ticked off at the young couple.

But when my Mom and Dad joined hands at the altar on that wintry February day, my father had gone Catholic in a big way. He had a choice -- Baltimore Presbyterian or Iowa Catholic? He chose Catholic because that was my mother's faith and he was so in love with her. He'd been studying ethics and religion with the Jesuits at Regis University, paid for by the G.I. Bill. He liked Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine and the rigor of the church. Most of his friends were Catholic, all of then World War II vets in various states of post-traumatic stress.

This matters to me because I was born 10 months to the day after my parents' wedding. Born at Denver's Mercy Hospital where my mother worked as a nurse. I am a product of the mid-century in the middle of the U.S.A. I have absorbed all of the religiosity and ethics and love and craziness from the people who came before me. That's why I write. That's why I blog. That's why I care about what happens to my country.

I miss my Mom and Dad. My mother died from a virulent case of ovarian cancer in 1986. That's almost a quarter-century ago. I miss her so. My father died in the spring of 2002. On his deathbed, we were still arguing politics. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I am not a practicing Catholic any more. I figure I've had enough practice and now I'm a pro and can retire in peace. Who knows? I do know that I live on in the genetics and the intangibles that made up these two people who were my parents.

U.S. still trying to create a "Little America" in Afghanistan

Article from the Morris Knudsen newsletter about the company's 1950s Afghanistan project

Just spent the last hour reading Jim White's post (and linked articles) at Firedoglake, “Little America” in Afghanistan: Is the US Repeating a Failed 1950’s Experiment in Social Engineering?

It tracks the U.S. development projects that were tried out in Afghanistan during the Cold War. With U.S. backing, the Morris Knudsen engineering firm was brought into Helmand Province in the 1950s to create a "Little America" for those wandering Pashtun tribesmen who have been such nuisances to invaders. The idea was to transform them from roving fighters to sedentary farmers. The village was Lashkar Gah and to visiting Brit writer Arnold Toynbee, it was like an American suburb has been dropped out of the sky and into the desert.

I'm amused that the title "Little America" was used to describe the project. Little America was the name of a series of outposts in Antarctica, the first one established by Robert Byrd in 1929. Many of those outposts have now been carried out to sea on the backs of melting icebergs.

Little America is also the name of an oasis in the Wyoming desert along I-80 between Rock Springs and Evanston. It's an actual Census Designated Place (CDP) with a population of 56, most of whom work at the Little America hotel and restaurant and gas stop. It's part of a bigger hotel chain, with hotels in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. It's also the title of a satiric novel of the same name by Rob Swigart which is set at the Little America in Wyoming's Sweetwater County.

Helmand, site of the now-decaying "Little America," is now the scene of the current U.S. offensive. Those wandering tribesmen never settled down. They fought the Russians, became Taliban and now fight the Coalition. All our technical and social engineering came to naught. Maybe it will succeed this time. Keep your fingers crossed.

One of the FDL links led to a 2009 BBC Online article "The Lost History of Helmand" written by documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis. It tracks these Cold War projects in Afghanistan and includes lots of documentation. The most bizarre is a 1961 project led by a group of American woman who were the wives of executives running the Afghan airline. The project's goal was to teach Afghan tribal women how to make American fashions and wear them properly. It culminated in a fashion show. The Afghan government at the time was getting rid of the burqa and promulgating a new westernized dress code for women.

We all know how well that turned out.

All this is so bizarre that it must be true. One big problem -- where are the big satiric novels about this? Evelyn Waugh would have had a field day if dropped into Helmand's "Little America." He did such a fine job with the mess that was Ethiopia in the 1930s. I do not know if Republican Lounge Lizard P.J. O'Rourke is traipsing through war zones any more, but he could do the same job with Afghanistan and Iraq that he did with Nicaragua and Lebanon back in the day. I couldn't think of a better project than sending T.C. Boyle off to Afghanistan for his next scathing novel.

I was listening to "Catch-22" on CD during a long Wyoming drive last weekend. Such scathing commentary on "The Good War." And so wildly funny. This was Heller's war. Maybe we should be asking this question: "Where are the Catch-22's of the 21st century?" There is certainly plenty of material. And what about "Slaughterhouse Five" and Vonnegut's blast against the same technocrats that were Americanizing Afghanistan in "Cat's Cradle?"

Last week, the New York Times had a piece about books penned by veterans coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Most are quite tame compared to books by the vet writers of the Vietnam War. The reviewer chalked that up to the all-volunteer military and the need by soldiers not to criticize their own while the wars continue to rage. Tim O'Brien noted that his Vietnam classic, "Going After Cacciato," didn't come out until 1978, three years after the evacuation of Saigon. "The Things They carried" came out even later. "Catch-22" was published in 1962, 17 years after V-J Day.

There is plenty of time, dear readers, for satire. Let's hope it arrives soon. Meanwhile, we continue to scan the web for posts like the one above in FDL.

Make calls for health care reform 2/24-25

ADL Director asks to address Wheatland school board meeting

Amber Ningen writes in the Platte County Record Times e-edition on Feb. 10:

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Mountain States Regional Director Bruce H. DeBoskey has asked to address the Platte County School District #1 Board during their Feb. 15 meeting.

In a recent press release issued by the ADL, DeBoskey stated the ADL has requested an opportunity to address the Board in order to urge its members to "reverse its decision to prohibit banners for ADL's No Place For Hate program."

DeBoskey said he has yet to hear from any of the Board members on whether or not the ADL may address the School Board during their meeting.

Read the entire article at http://www.pcrecordtimes.com/v2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=1517&page=72

Also check out the letters on the opinion page. Interesting.

In case you're interested in attending, the school board meeting will be held Feb. 15, 7 p.m., in the Administration Office, located at 1350 Oak St. in Wheatland.

Artist dies due to lack of health insurance

Artist Tom Fowler "died because he didn't go to the dentist and didn't go to the doctor because he was trying to be an artist and didn't have health insurance and didn't think it would kill him."

But it did. Writer Cary Tennis wrote about his artist friend's death yesterday in Salon. Read the full story (reposted on Michael Moore's site) at http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/must-read/how-lack-health-insurance-kills-artists

Tennis's main point is that artists need to create. Most of us artists and writers and performers work full-time jobs to support our habits. Those jobs have health insurance. Everyone should have health insurance but if you're a self-employed artist, it's too expensive -- even if you can qualify. Many artists live on the margins where health insurance doesn't exist.

"Get a job." That's what we used to yell out car windows at street people. I was a kid then and stupid, not realizing that that disheveled guy walking down the street could be a schizophrenic off his meds or a war veteran with PTSD or any number of things, including an itinerant artist. It can have been me or one of my rowdy friends. We could have been looking at our futures.

We appreciate the artist's work when it's hanging on our wall or playing on the iPod. But we don't appreciate the artist's struggle. Sure, on every Grammy telecast there's a millionaire performer telling the sad story about growing up on the streets but now he owns the street and all the houses on it. Great story. The artist struggled and made millions.

But the majority of artists in the U.S. don't even make minimum wage. They don't have health insurance. It might not matter when they're young, but youth fades into the infirmities of age. And then, in this country, you die.

Tennis continues:

A just and wise society would care for its artists. A just and wise society would recognize that on the margins of its norm live its geniuses, and though they are strange and sometimes difficult, they must be cared for, for they are the treasures of our time, and they produce the treasures of our time.

But our society is not just and wise. Still, the artists in our society choose to do their work and find a way to survive somehow, sacrificing things such as health insurance and paid time off. That is what my friend Tom Fowler did. He admitted that he was an artist and the only true thing to do was to paint and see how he could get along. So he painted and saw how he could get along.

"A just and wise society would care for its artists."

In a just and wise society, everyone would have health insurance. Even artists.

Tea Party-supported measure dies in House

Brianna Jones of WyoDems sends this:

Yesterday, Wyoming House Democrats, voting together, defeated a proposed amendment to the Wyoming state constitution. The measure was a national initiative brought through the far right tea party movement and designed to reject nationwide health care solutions. The proposal failed with a vote of 38 in favor, 19 opposed, and 3 excused. A two-thirds majority or 40 votes are required to introduce a bill during the budget session.

Minority Floor Leader Patrick Goggles of Ethete said, “This is a premature proposal. We haven’t seen any national health plan and this isn’t the right time to take the drastic step of amending our constitution. I don’t think many have looked at the far reaching consequences this could have on Wyoming’s health care system.”

“Wyoming’s health care would be seriously jeopardized by such a constitutional amendment. Wyoming currently receives more than $500 million in annual Medicaid matching funds and other programs such as mental health services, foster care, food stamps, and Head Start would be at risk. At a time with seriously strained budgets we should not further hamper the delivery of care,” said Rep. Cathy Connolly of Laramie.

AARP Wyoming Director Tim Summers argued that this move would remove consumer protections, increase uncompensated care, and harm existing programs.

The proposal was strongly opposed by the Wyoming Hospital Association, Wyoming AFL-CIO, AARP Wyoming, and the Wyoming Health Care Association. These groups assert that this resolution was designed to create litigation and that health care decisions do not belong with the courts, but with the individual.

The legislation was sponsored by Reps. Lubnau, Buchanan, Quarberg, and Simpson and Sen. Bebout.

They are all Republicans.

Legislature ditches living wage but okays carrying guns anywhere we damn please

From a WyoDems press release:

Members of the Wyoming House voted today to not introduce a bill that would raise the minimum wage for tipped employees, such as waitresses and bartenders, from $2.13 per hour to $5.00 per hour. The bill failed on a vote of 23 in favor and 35 against; a bill requires 2/3, or 40 votes, for introduction during a budget session.

The bill was introduced by Rep. George Bagby of Rawlins, who was discouraged the bill did not reach committee. “This is not a fight we are willing to give up. There are too many Wyoming residents who are in this situation and too intimidated about losing their job to ask their employer to make up the difference when the tips don’t.”

“This is a common sense bill that would do so much good. It would bring greater economic stability to many more Wyoming workers and would not slow business growth or harm our small businesses,” commented Rep. Stan Blake of Green River.

Rep. Mary Throne of Cheyenne noted that this bill would have helped combat the gender wage gap in Wyoming. "The overwhelming majority of tipped wage workers are women and the failure to act on this issue perpetuates the gender wage gap in Wyoming--the worst in the nation. We talk about this problem, but when the opportunity arises to help hard-working women--we fail to act,” said Throne.

Rep. Joe Barbuto of Rock Springs said, “It is a disservice to the people of Wyoming to not even give them the chance to testify on something that would have such an
overwhelming impact on so many of their lives.”

According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP) the minimum wage for tipped workers in Wyoming has been the same since 1996 and has not been adjusted for inflation. In an August 2009 report NELP estimated that if the wage had kept up with inflation it would be approximately $4.90.

Rep. Mike Gilmore of Casper pointed out, “These men and women deserve to make a living wage. Basing an entire salary upon tips, because honestly $2.13 cannot be called a salary, makes a whole sector of our population very susceptible and with this economy I would think we would want everyone to be on the best footing possible.”

Rep. Bagby introduced the legislation and plans to bring it back in the future.

Meanwhile, any damn one will be able to carry their damn guns into any damn place.

Let's hope these less-than-minimum-wage employees don't get any ideas:

Rep. Lorraine Quarberg (R-Thermopolis) introduced a bill giving concealed weapon authority to Wyoming residents over the age of 21. This would do away with the current requirement that residents show knowledge of firearm use and register and receive a concealed weapon permit from the state of Wyoming. This proposal changes the standard considerably by making the requirements to carry a concealed weapon limited to “not suffering from a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a firearm,” not being a convicted felon, not being an abuser of controlled substances or alcohol.

This bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.

PETA in pool bed at Capitol

PETA protestors canoodle in an inflatable bed in front of the Wyoming State Capitol. Media was intrigued; bystanders puzzled.

Baby it's cold outside.

And don't you just love it when the Legislature comes to town?

Meanwhile, smiley-faced anti-abortion protest on Wyoming Capitol steps

Suffragette Esther Hobart Morris shows her back to Cheyenne anti-abortion protestors.

More good news from the legislative session

Another dumb bill failed to advance during the Wyoming State Legislature's 20-day budget session. This dumb bill was based on the recent anti-democratic Supreme Court ruling endowing corporations with the rights of citizens especially the right to buy any election they want.

Here's the info, via Jeremy Pelzer's story in the Casper Star-Tribune:

State representatives on Wednesday voted down a proposal that would have erased state restrictions on independent political spending by corporations, labor unions and other groups.

The rejection keeps Wyoming's election law at odds with a recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision and could make the state the target of lawsuits this election season.

Currently, corporations, labor unions and other groups are not allowed to make independent expenditures on behalf of political candidates in Wyoming. But last month, the Supreme Court ruled that such bans on the federal level violated corporations' First Amendment rights to free speech.

------

Ben Barr, a Maryland-based constitutional attorney with the Wyoming Liberty Group who wrote a legal brief cited in the Supreme Court decision, said a corporation or other group could resort to a lawsuit to overturn the state rules.

"The Legislature does need to act on this, otherwise Wyoming is in a way being a renegade and quite frankly unlawful after the Supreme Court has spoken on the issue so definitively," Barr said.

Yes, Mr. Barr, the Supreme Court spoke definitively and its five reactionary judges are beyond the pale on this issue. They're not so much renegades as Palin-style mavericks pretending to be populist champions but really being stooges for multinational corporations. Congress is working on legislation to block the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling.

Why would Wyomingites want to turn over their elections to big corporations? Aren't Wyoming Republicans concerned about the right of individual citizens? We know that they are very concerned about second amendment rights (more legislation coming up on that topic). But what about the all-important first amendment?

And who is this Mr. Barr? Another darn outside agitator? Doesn't he know that Wyoming likes being a renegade? Much better than being mavericky.

"Health Freedom of Choice" resolution voted down on first reading in Wyoming Senate

Don't you just the love the names that Repubs give to legislation that announce the exact opposite of what they really mean.


From Cowboy State Free Press:

The Wyoming Senate today voted down on its first reading a bill that would have “sent a message to Washington,” according to it’s sponsors, to not impose it’s health care changes on the state.

Senate President John Hines, R-Campbell County, proposed the “Health freedom of choice,” as a resolution, which stated, “the federal government shall not interfere with an individual’s health care decisions.” The bill also called for “prohibiting any penalty, fine or tax imposed because of a decision to participate in or decline health insurance, or to pay directly or receive payment directly for health care services.”

The bill failed its introductory reading by just three votes.

Denver classical concert Feb. 20 to raise funds for Haiti earthquake relief

This announcement comes from the online newsletter from my old church -- the 10:30 Catholic Community/Capitol Heights Presbyterian in Denver:

HAITI BENEFIT CONCERT AT SAINT JOHN’S CATHEDRAL, DENVER, ON SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 7:30 P.M.

Responding to the devastation in Haiti, Saint John’s Cathedral and many Colorado musicians are planning a benefit classical concert for the people of Haiti. This event will be held at Saint John’s Cathedral, 1350 Washington St., Denver, on Saturday, February 20, at 7:30 p.m. Saint John’s Cathedral has a longstanding and rich musical history in Colorado and also has been actively engaged with the Colorado Haiti Project as part of its many community outreach programs.

FMI: http://www.coloradohaitiproject.org/ or http://www.sjcathedral.org

"Wyoming School’s Anti-Hate Program Reveals Intolerance"

In today's New West, Michael Pearlman wrote about the Wheatland "No Place for Hate" controversy:

Wyoming School’s Anti-Hate Program Reveals Intolerance

Keep gubment out of our health care decisions!

Wonder if this has anything to do with the Democrats' health care reform efforts:

S.J. 0001 to be considered when the Wyoming Legislature convenes tomorrow:

Sponsored By: Representative(s) Hallinan and Lubnau and Senator(s) Anderson, J. and Bebout and Case and Hines

A JOINT RESOLUTION proposing to amend the Wyoming Constitution by creating a new section specifying that the federal government shall not interfere with an individual's health care decisions and prohibiting any penalty, fine or tax imposed because of a decision to participate in or decline health insurance, or to pay directly or receive payment directly for health care services.

Yes, we only want health insurance conglomerates to interfere in our health care decisions.

Go to http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2010/Introduced/SJ0001.pdf for full text of bill.

The "Tumbleweed Connection" rolls on

Listened to Elton John's "Tumbleweed Connection" as I drove through snow showers last night. Returning from a meeting in Casper and I was thinking I might see a tumbleweed roll out of the night and into the grill of my Ford. But the wind was strangely absent. Tumbleweeds were idling in the fields; the only thing rolling along was the country-rock on the CD player.

I wondered why Elton John and Bernie Taupin tackled the American West in this CD. I tracked down this Feb. 18, 1971, Rolling Stone review by Jon Landau:

Tumbleweed Connection centers around and is structured by Bernie Taupin's lyrics. Like the Band and Creedence, both of whom have influenced him, Taupin writes about the mythical American south and west and seems to prefer the past to the present as a subject. "There Goes a Well Known Gun" is about an outlaw on the run; "Country Comfort" concerns the pleasures of the farm. One of its verses brilliantly announces the coming of industrialization:

Down at the well they've got a new machine
Foreman says it cuts manpower by fifteen
But that ain't natural, well so old Clay would say
You see he's a horse drawn man until his dying day.

"Son of Your Father" is a moralistic tale which, after describing a fight between friends that leaves them both dead, concludes that "... charity's an argument that only leads to harm."

Violence is very much a part of the vision Taupin has created here. Besides in "Well Known Gun" and "Son of Your Father," it recurs in "My Father's Gun," which is distinctly reminiscent of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."

I'm also a big fan of The Band and Creedence -- grew up with them. That's one reason I like the John/Taupin album so much. So it has something to do with nostalgia. Travel, too. Rolling through Wyoming on a February evening, listening to a country-rock album by a man who's now a "Sir," and considered by most people to be as far away from country as, say, Snoop Dog or Yo Yo Ma.

A year before this album, Bob Dylan recorded "Nashville Skyline" with Johnny Cash. In this case, Dylan was a folk singer and rocker from the Midwest and Cash was a country musician from the South who loved Rock 'n' roll -- was considered a rocker in the early days. So their roots are a bit more clear cut than are those of the two Brits.

Still, imagination is imagination. You don't have to live the life to write or sing about it. Dylan was a nice Jewish kid from Hibbing, Minn., who could sing convincingly about the plight of coal miners and hobos. Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones can play Robert Johnson's blues.

I've liked so many of the rock and country music collaborations. Recently, there was Jack White and Loretta Lynn, and Allison Krauss and Robert Plant. I go way back with the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers and Poco and Little Feat. The Americana artists of today (Jayhawks, BoDeans, Wilco, Son Volt, Old '97s) continue the tradition. Wish there was a way to get the Cheyenne Frontier Days entertainment committee to book some of this alt-country instead of country pop like Taylor Swift. Steve Earle playing Townes Van Zandt at Frontier Days! Now you're talking.

Burn down the mission, if you want to stay alive...

Iraq vet from Pine Bluffs appears in VoteVets ad blasting Sen. Barrasso

Benjamin Cossel from Pine Bluffs served in the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004-2005. Now he's in a VoteVets ad blasting the short-sighted policies of Wyo. Sen. John Barrasso, global warming naysayer and friend of multinational corporations who do business with Middle East shiekdoms.

Barrasso's spokeswoman said this about the ads in a story by Bill McCarthy on wyomingnews.com:

"The liberal, out-of-state special interest group paying for this ad does not represent Wyoming," Barrasso said Wednesday through his spokeswoman.

Dagnabit. Not those outside agitators again. There are some outsiders Wyomingites like -- oil and gas and coal companies, for instance, and the Republican National Committee. And some they don't like -- the Anti-Defamation League and the Gay and Lesbian Fund of Colorado (see previous posts on the Wheatland controversy) and MoveOn and VoteVets, to name a few.

But Jon Stoltz, co-founder and chairman of Votevets.org, responded this way to Barrasso:

"That's just childish."

Stoltz said the issue is whether the U.S. should continue sacrificing lives of the military and spending a fortune to maintain an unsustainable dependence on foreign oil that causes climate change.Liberal and conservative labels are irrelevant, Stoltz said.

Climate change hampers agricultural production and diminishes water supplies, and that can lead to unstable governments and the dislocation of large populations, according to organizations such as Secure American Future.

Stoltz said that is a national security issue.

Watch the ad. And spread the word.

A strange calm has descended on Wheatland "No Place for Hate" Wyoming

Wheaterville sums up the current state of calm in Wheatland:

Quotes and commentary from the School Board Four are sadly lacking, as are statements from the three who voted to keep the banners up. Why is that? If you haven’t had a chance to ask any of the seven personally why they voted as they did, why not? Ask. Sunlight Disinfects.

Plan on attending the school board meeting on Monday, Feb. 15th. Come early. It doesn’t look as if the School Board is planning to make any accommodations whatsoever for the crowd that they know will be there. Why not?

See you Feb. 15 in Wheaterville.

Mike Mansfield and the 18-year-old vote

Ian Marquand wrote a guest opinion for the Feb. 3 Billings Gazette about the role Montana Sen. Mike Mansfield played in granting voting rights to 18-year-olds.

I turned 18 in December 1968 while a senior in high school. I registered for the military draft, yet I couldn't drink legally and couldn't vote.

That began to change 40 years ago in March when Sen. Mansfield made an historic speech on the Senate floor:

“I happen to think that Congress believes that those between 18 and 21 are excluded unreasonably from the ballot box,” Mansfield said. “I happen to think that the record of such discrimination is clear beyond doubt.”

Mansfield also argued that the 14th Amendment provided Congress with the power to change the voting age on its own, a position supported by legal scholars. His fellow senators agreed and tacked on the voting age provision as a “rider” to the Voting Rights Act. It cleared both the House and Senate and received Pres. Nixon’s signature.

Soon after, the states of Oregon and Texas challenged the voting age provision in federal court. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the law would apply only to federal elections.

On March 10, 1971, almost a year to the day after Mansfield’s floor speech, the Senate approved a constitutional amendment making 18 the legal voting age nationwide. The House soon followed suit and within four months, 41 states ratified the 26th Amendment. Americans between the ages of 18 and 21 finally could vote, anywhere, anytime.

Mansfield’s quickness in recognizing an opportunity and then seizing the initiative drew praise from his fellow senators. Michigan Democrat Philip Hart called the Montanan’s action “boldness and creative politics at its finest,” while Maryland Democrat Joseph Tydings declared, “This was Senator Mansfield at his best.”

I didn't get to vote until 1972, when I was 21 and living in Boston. A Democrat from Montana's (and Wyoming's) neighbor, South Dakota, took an historic drubbing in that election. I'm still glad that I cast my first presidential vote for another courageous senator, George McGovern.

I haven't missed a presidential election yet. And I'm proud to say that my son Kevin voted in the 2004 elections as a 19-year-old. I was working at the precinct when he came in to cast his vote. A proud day for Pops.

Thanks, Sen. Mansfield. Those young voters helped turn the tide in 2008. My hope is that they stay involved. There will be many disappointments along the way. Hell, I lived through Nixon, Reagan and Dubya. I suffered many disappointments at the hands of my own party. We saw good times in '08, and now we're seeing some of the bad. Hang in there!

2011 budget as corny as Kansas in August

The New York Times provided some much-needed budgetary visuals with Obama's 2011 Budget Proposal: How It's Spent

The checkerboard graphic shows blocks of spending in earthy colors. It looks like what you see flying 30,000 feet over Kansas on a clear summer day. On the upper left, is the huge field of corn that's defense. On the bottom left is the equally big swath of wheat that represents Social Security.

On the bottom right are the teeny tiny boxes for science and energy conservation programs.

The $161.3 million proposed for the National Endowment for the Arts comes in a square so tiny that it can't be seen. It's as if my summer garden were tucked into the far southeastern corner of Kansas, somewhere east of Baxter Springs. I couldn't see it from six miles high.

Check out the graphic. Very sobering.