Pres. Obama takes Sen. Barrasso to the woodshed today at Health Care Summit

Something weird happens to physicians when they're elected to the U.S. Senate. Especially Republican physicians.

I thought Sen. Barrasso's remarks at today's Health Care Summit would be just as thoughtful and as succinct as Sen. Enzi's. They are both conservative Republicans from Wyoming -- Barrasso from Casper and Enzi from Gillette. They have both been in lockstep opposing Pres. Obama's health care reform ideas. As U.S. Senators, they both dwell in a higher income bracket than you and me.

But there are differences. And these may be issues of class and income bracket, possibly even empathy.

Anyway, Sen./Dr. Barrasso said some bizarre things today.

More from Washington Post transcripts (in entirety):

MCCONNELL: Yes, Mr. President, Dr. John Barrasso is going to make our opening statement...

OBAMA: OK.

MCCONNELL: ... on (inaudible).

OBAMA: And then I will call Henry Waxman, and we'll just go back and forth.

BARRASSO: Thank you very much.

OBAMA: And because we are short on time, let's keep our remarks relatively brief.

BARRASSO: Thank you very much, Mr. President.

For people who don't know me, I practiced medicine in Casper, Wyoming for 25 years as an orthopedic surgeon, taking care of families in Wyoming. I've been chief of staff of the largest hospital in our state. My wife is a breast cancer survivor. Bobbi's been through three operations, a couple of bouts of chemotherapy. We've seen this from all the different sides of -- of care.

And this discussion needs to be about all Americans because everyone is affected, not just people that don't have insurance. And I've had dozens and dozens of visits to senior centers and town hall meetings and visited at -- at service clubs. And if you go to any community in America, and you ask the question, do you believe that this bill up here, that this bill will, if it becomes law -- do you believe you will pay more for your health care, you personally, every hand goes up.

And then you say, do you believe, if this bill becomes law, overall health care and the spending -- and spending in the country will go up, every hand goes up.

And then you ask the most personal question of all, do you believe, if this bill becomes law, the quality of your own personal care will get worse? Every hand goes up.

And most worried of all are the seniors, when you go to the senior centers, because they know there's going to be $500 billion taken away from those who depend upon Medicare for their health care. And it's not just Medicare Advantage. It's hospitals; it's the doctors; it's the nursing homes; it's home health, which is a lifeline for people that are home alone; hospice, for people in their final days of life.

That's all going to be cut. That's why the seniors are most concerned. And even the White House's own actuary says, if this goes into play, one in five hospitals, one in five nursing homes will be operating at a loss in 10 years. That's what we're looking at.

Now, for 25 years practicing medicine, I never asked anybody if they were a Republican or a Democratic or an independent and asked if they had insurance or not. I took care of everybody. And many, many doctors -- and I know Dr. Coburn, Dr. Boustany -- do that. We take care of everyone, regardless of ability to pay. Doctors work long hours. Nurses work long hours.

And, Mr. President, when you say, with catastrophic plans, they don't go for care until later, I say sometimes the people with catastrophic plans are the people that are best consumers of health care, in using -- the way they use their health care dollars.

Because a lot of people come in and say, you know, my knee hurts; maybe I should get an MRI. They say -- and then they say, "Will my insurance cover it?" That's the first question.

And if I say yes, then they say, "OK, let's do it." If I say no, then they say, "Well, what is it going to cost?"

And "What's it cost?" ought to be the first question. And that's why, sometimes, people with catastrophic -- catastrophic health plans ask the best questions, shop around, are the best consumers of health care.

But to put 15 million more people on Medicaid, a program where many doctors in the country do not see them, as Grassley said -- you know, you say, how are going to help those folks?

And, Mr. President, you know, when I talk to doctors, I say, I have a way; put all the doctors who take care of Medicaid patients under the Federal Torts Claims Act. That will help them, because they're not getting paid enough to see the patients. But if their Medicare -- if they accept those patients and then their liability insurance is covered under the Federal Tort Claims Act, I think you have a lot more participation in that program.

I do believe we have the best health care system in the world. That's why the premier of one of the Canadian provinces came here just last week to have his heart operated on. He said it's my heart; it's my life; I want to go where it's the best, and he came to the United States.

It's where a member of parliament, a Canadian member of parliament with cancer came to the United States for their care. They all have coverage there, but they want is care. So coverage does not equal care.

What we heard from Senator Conrad is actually -- is also right. Half of all the money we spend in this country on health care is on just 5 percent of the people. Those are people, for the most part, that eat too much, exercise too little and smoke. And as a result, we need to focus on those people.

So the focus ought to be on the best possible care. People are happy with the quality of care they get and the availability, but they sure don't like the affordability because it's not affordable.

And, you know, Mr. President, the first week in medical school, we got our stethoscopes, and the professor of cardiology, who just died this past year -- he said this is to listen. This is to listen to your patients, listen to their heart, listen to their lungs. But it's a constant reminder to listen to them, listen to what they are telling you. And it means to listen to the other people in the room.

If you're seeing a child, listen to what the mother is saying. If you're with an elderly person, listen to what their -- their adult child is saying. And it's a constant reminder to listen.

And I have great concerns that people around this table are not listening to the American people and are fearful of the consequences of this large bill, which is why only one in three people of American support what is being proposed here. And that's why so many people, Mr. President, are saying it's time to start over.

OBAMA: The -- I mean, let me just -- there's one thing I've got to -- there are a number of issues, as usually, that I've got significant difference with.

I just am curious. Would you be satisfied if every member of Congress just had catastrophic care? Do you think we'd be better health care purchasers?

I mean, do you think -- is that a change that we should make?

BARRASSO: Yes, I think -- I think, actually, we would. We'd really focus on it. You'd have more, as you'd say, skin in the game...

OBAMA: Because...

BARRASSO: ... and especially if they had a savings account...

(CROSSTALK)

BARRASSO: ... a health savings account. They could put their money into that and they'd be spending the money out of that.

OBAMA: Would you feel the same way if you were making $40,000 or you had -- that was your income?

Because that's the reality for a lot of folks. I mean, it is very important, when you say to listen, to listen to that farmer that Tom mentioned in Iowa, to listen to the folks that we get letters from.

Because the truth of the matter, John, is they're not premiers of any place. They're not sultans from wherever. They don't fly in to Mayo and suddenly, you know, decide they're going to spend a couple million on the absolute best health care. They're folks who are left out.

OBAMA: And this notion somehow that for them the system was working and that if they just ate a little better and were better health care consumers they could manage is just not the case. The vast majority of these 27 million or 30 million people that we're talking about, they work, every day. Some of them work two jobs. But if they're working for a small business they can't get health care. If they are self-employed, they can't get health care.

And you know what? It is a scary proposition for them.

And so we can debate whether or not we can afford to help them, but we shouldn't pretend somehow that they don't need help. I get too many letters saying they need help.

And so I want to go to...

BARRASSO: Mr. President, having a high deductible plan and a health savings account is an option for members of Congress and federal employees...

OBAMA: That's right, because members of Congress get paid $176,000 a year.

(CROSSTALK)

BARRASSO: ... 16,000 -- 16,000 employees take advantage of that.

OBAMA: Because they -- because members of Congress...

(CROSSTALK)

BARRASSO: It's the same plan that the -- that the park rangers get...

OBAMA: John...

BARRASSO: ... in Yellowstone National Park.

OBAMA: John, members of Congress are in the top income brackets of the country, and health savings accounts I think can be a useful tool, but every study has shown that the people who use them are folks who've got a lot of disposable income. And the people that we're talking about don't.

So... (CROSSTALK)

As always, CROSSTALK gets the last word...

Now we know what Sen. Barrasso believes. If all of us middle class Americans just had catastrophic coverage -- better yet, no insurance at all --- we'd all be better shoppers of health care.

Transcript of Sen. Enzi's remarks at Health Care Summit

Since I've been jabbering on about Wyoming's obstructionist GOP senators, I thought it would be wise to reprint in full Sen. Mike Enzi's remarks today at the Health Care Summit in D.C. This was billed as an exercise in bipartisanship, so it was interesting that Sen. Enzi took the theme seriously (see boldface section) and recounted ways he worked together with the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, as liberal as Enzi is conservative.

From transcripts on the Washington Post web site:

ENZI: Thank you, Mr. President, colleagues.

When we're -- when we're talking about insurance reform, we haven't really talked about, but Representative Slaughter kind of opened the door on it, and that's Medicare.

Seniors out there are really nervous. Seniors are the ones objecting the most to the program, and it's because they see half a trillion dollars coming out of their program.

If Medicare were separate, and any savings that we did in Medicare reform went back into Medicare, it would do a lot to relieve the tension that's out there. It'd even be a way to pay for the doc fix.

So I'm hoping that can be a piece of what we're doing.

I really appreciate this exchange. It would have been helpful had we had this nine months or a year earlier and had it in even more detail and for more days.

What we were presented with in the HELP Committee of course was a bill that was already half drafted, and we started the markup on it, and then we got the other half later, and since we had not had any input to the drafting we're credited with 150 amendments. Well, 17 of those amendments were Senator Murkowski where she was inserting Native Americans and tribal in 17 different places. I had 11 of them where we put in a thing that required agencies to cooperate.

So the ideas that we had -- when Senator Kennedy and I were working bills, we'd set down some principles and then put some detail in, and then draft the bills together. And I hope that that's something that we go to on future bills. It works. In a three-year period, he and I got 38 bills signed by the president. In the last year I've gotten two that I've gotten pens from this president. And the way that we've done those has been through that kind -- that kind of a process, and unless we go through that kind of a process, I don't think we're going to -- I don't think we can get to the bipartisan thing, and that's what the purpose of this meeting is, is to kind of get all these ideas together and see how they gel.

In insurance reform, small-business health plans, that's different than the AHPs, which is what they were talking about, and it covers some of the problems that were talked about.

One of the problems is mandates. And Olympia Snowe contributed to that part. She had a provision that if 26 of the states adopted a mandate, it would be a mandate nationwide. And as other mandates became 26, they would be included with it, too.

We talked about health savings accounts. I don't think that meets some of the federal minimum standards that the federal government might put on it, and that's going to disappoint some of our employees, because that is one of the options that federal employees have, is health savings accounts.

And it's particularly good for the younger, healthier people. They can get that. They've got catastrophic coverage. If they put the amount of money that they would have spent on a Blue Cross plan or some other plan, the difference between the two, into a savings account, in three years they've covered the huge deductible, and they can continue to do that tax-free. So it's a -- it's a process that would be really objected to if it's excluded or changed.

I like the exchanges, and the reason I like the exchanges is it's kind of a form of bidding, it's more transparency, people can see what they're buying, and that would be a big help. When we were in the shoe business, my wife used to -- after 10 years she decided she'd bid out our insurance.

We didn't know there was that much flexibility in insurance. She saved a bunch. And then, of course, she didn't -- since we were selling shoes, it's kind of a fixed price, so she didn't really take the low bid and then go back to somebody else and say, "Can you make this a little lower?" But that insurance company we'd been with for 10 years came to us and said, "We could have done a better deal." She said, "You should have when I was buying the insurance." And we got much better -- much better bids the next year.

So these exchanges can be good. But what I would hope you would consider is having the exchanges to list anybody's insurance that wants to put in on there, and then mark the ones that meet the federal minimum standards so that people can decide really what's out there in the market, and I think it would pull up some of the ones that are lower down up into the category, and at the same time everybody could see what all is on the market out there, and hopefully regardless of states.

Thank you, Mr. President.

OBAMA: Thank you very much, Mike. And thanks for (inaudible) succinct. Thank you very much. And I thought you shared some important ideas there.

Repubs shut out of health care reform debate? I think not...

Anyone who doubts that Repub ideas have been included in Pres. Obama's health care reform proposal -- check this out:

It’s clear that the American people want health insurance reform. They aren’t interested in Democratic ideas or Republican ideas. They’re interested in the best ideas to reduce costs, guarantee choices and ensure the highest quality care.

They’re interested in ideas that will put them back in control of their own health care.

Throughout the debate on health insurance reform, Republican concepts and proposals have been included in legislation. In fact, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted during the committee mark-up process. As a result, both the Senate and the House passed key Republican proposals that are incorporated into the President’s Proposal.

Here is one that I especially like:

Community Mental Health Centers. The President’s Proposal ensures that individuals have access to comprehensive mental health services in the community setting, but strengthens standards for facilities that seek reimbursement as community mental health centers by ensuring these facilities are not taking advantage of Medicare patients or the taxpayers. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

I just read Sen. Enzi's ten-point plan for reforming health care. I even went to the extended version incorporated into a Senate bill. I now have a headache. I can't find anything about "comprehensive mental health services in the community setting." Very important issue in rural Wyoming with its shortage of mental health professionals for children and teens -- and shockingly low Medicare reimbursement rates.

Nothing for my headache but to turn on CSPAN-3 and listen to today's health care summit at the Blair House in D.C.

Lamar Alexander speaking. Now I have a whopper of a headache.

Next up: Know Nothing Republican Physician Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. When Coburn refers to government, he says "gubmint."

Both of Wyoming's GOP obstructionist senators will be at health care summit

Hope spring eternal, eh?

From the Wyoming Democrats:

The Wyoming Democratic Party calls on Senators Mike Enzi and John Barrasso to make honest efforts to negotiate in good faith with Democrats to find solutions to the health care crisis during the White House summit on Thursday.

Senate Republicans announced Tuesday that Enzi and Barrasso would be two of the seven senators the party will send to the summit scheduled by President Obama to break through the congressional log jam on health care reform.

"We encourage Senators Enzi and Barrasso to go to the summit with open minds, bring their own plans for comprehensive health insurance reform, and engage in honest negotiations instead of playing politics," said Wyoming Democratic Party State Chair Leslie Petersen. "The people of Wyoming and this nation demand and deserve nothing less."

Petersen noted that a poll released Tuesday by the widely respected Kaiser Family Foundation revealed that key components of health reform legislation receive broad, bipartisan support and that 58 percent of the public would be "angry" or "disappointed" if Congress failed to pass health reform.[http://mlist.orchidsuites.net/lists/lt.php?id=KkoGBAJTVAFQBx4BC1dWSgACBlNb]

The poll showed that 76 percent of Americans support "reforming the way health insurance works," while more than two-thirds support providing tax credits to small business, creating a health insurance exchange/marketplace, helping close the Medicare "doughnut hole," expanding high risk insurance pools, and providing financial help for low/middle income people.

"There is strong support for many aspects of health insurance reform, and a a widespread expectation that Congress must act now on health reform," Petersen said. "We urge Senators Enzi and Barrasso to rise above the petty partisanship of those who calculate that it's better for them politically to block solutions than to address this crisis. As President Obama said in his Inaugural Address, quoting Scripture, 'The time has come to set aside childish things.'"

In Wheatland, the students are the ones who make sense

Susan Greene wrote a column in today's Denver Post about the now-infamous banning of the ADL's "No Place for Hate" banners by the Platte County School Board in Wheatland. This is the first place where I've seen the term "Hategate." I, for one, am disappointed that we've come to the point where this incident is now a "-gate." I thought we'd all outgrown Watergate and Plamegate and Troopergate and Gategate (made up that last one).

The column ends with a thoughtful quote from a Wheatland High School student. Many of the most incisive protests against the school board's decision have come from students. They are learning a valuable lesson in "How the Real World Works." Let's hope they use this hard-earned knowledge to lead Wyoming forward rather than backward into a dark past.

Here's the comment:

Abbie Geringer, an 18-year-old Wheatland High senior, said she regrets that Hategate is giving her town a bad name.

"The world is looking at us now like we all hate gay people," she says. "Removing the banner reflects the opinions of the school board, not the student body. The world is changing. Board members are way behind the times in that respect."

Geringer is a well-known family name in Platte County. Jim Geringer was governor before Dave Freudenthal. Not sure if Abbie is an offspring of the former Republican Governor, but some parents up there know how to teach their children well -- as the song says.

Read entire Denver Post article at http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_14451599?source=commented-#ixzz0gMxXaiEJ

Wyoming Democrats celebrate diversity Feb. 27 at Nellie Tayloe Ross banquet

This comes from Bill Luckett, WyoDems E.D.:

Nearly 200 Democrats from across the state will gather in Cheyenne on Saturday, Feb. 27, for the 2010 Nellie Tayloe Ross Banquet, the state party’s annual celebration of Diversity in Politics and Government.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Colorado State House Speaker Terrance Carroll, a dynamic speaker who is both an ordained minister and an attorney from Denver. He is the first African-American to hold the position of Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives.

Among the other event highlights will be the announcement of the Nellie Tayloe Ross Award for outstanding contributions to the state and the Democratic Party.

The dinner follows a 1 p.m. meeting of the Wyoming Democratic Party Central Committee at the Plains Hotel at the corner of Lincolnway and Central Avenue. No-host cocktails begin at 6 p.m., followed by the dinner at 7 p.m., also at the Plains.

Tickets are still available for the dinner. They are $75 per person. People can reserve tickets by calling 800-729-3367, or by visiting http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/. A very limited number will also be available at the door.

The annual event honors Nellie Tayloe Ross, who was elected to fill her husband's unexpired term as governor following his death in 1924. Campaigning in a "dignified and honest manner," Ross' straightforward approach helped her win against the Republican nominee, who was caught up in a special interest scandal. The state party's dinner honors that example and our shared Democratic values. In her first speech as governor, Ross reflected those values calling for "government assistance for poor farmers, banking reform, and laws protecting children, women workers, and
miners."

Livingston provides a model for local foods movement in Wyoming

Great idea I read about in the Billings Gazette:

The Western Sustainability Exchange of Livingston will provide information on the production, distribution and purchase of local foods during a workshop from 1-5 p.m. Monday at the Mansfield Health Education Center at St. Vincent Healthcare in Billings.

The organization’s Local Foods Commerce Day is advertised as the state’s premier training and marketing event for simplifying the processes involved in supporting locally grown foods. The event will feature a panel of producers, distributors and chefs who are already successfully buying, selling and using local foods. The first half of the workshop is open to the public.

Registration is $25 for nonmembers and $10 for members. The “Speed Dating” session, which consists of fast-paced meetings between producers, buyers and distributors, is reserved for members who have passed sustainability criteria. For more information, call 406-222-0730.

I like the phrase "simplify the processes involved in supporting locally grown foods." It is a bit confusing trying to find out what's local and where you can get it. Two farmers' markets in Cheyenne. Many vendors are within-100-miles local, and some aren't. Still, I like the fruit that comes from Utah. As far as I know, no part of Utah is within 100 miles of Cheyenne. There's canteloupe from Rocky Ford and peaches from Fruita. I would rather buy those at the Depot Plaza Market than tasteless varieties at the grocery store. Fruit from California and Texas. But Utah and Colorado closer than Salinas, California.

The Livingston folks seem more interested in really local -- the food grown around their fair city. And connecting local producers and distributors and chefs. Last week on Facebook, someone suggested that all of us should ask our waiters and waitresses for dishes that are made from local foods. I have never done this in Cheyenne.

Me: I want to eat only locally grown food tonight.

Waitress: Blank look. Crickets chirping in background.

We have a burgeoning local foods movement. We're a bit handicapped by the fact that our growing season is short and the soil is not soo good. But more of us are growing at least some of our own food.

What we need now is a way to connect us all.

Wyoming's new "Code of the West"

A couple of lawmakers were sitting around the Wyoming Capitol Building.

Lawmaker 1: What we need is a new Code of the West.

Lawmaker 2: We already have a Code of the West.

Lawmaker 1: But that's an old Code of the Old West. We need a new Code of West, one that seems old but also is up to date.

Lawmaker 2: What's wrong with the old one? If it ain't broke...

Lawmaker 1: Just seems like some of those old values and traditions are slipping away from us. We need reminders of the way things used to be.

Lawmaker 2: Like that bumper sticker: "Wyoming is what America was."

Lawmaker 1: Just like that.

Lawmaker 2: Maybe there's something in the old code that would be useful.

Lawmaker 1: Don't spit into the wind?

Lawmaker 2: That's more common sense than code.

Lawmaker 1: Never draw against a man named Doc?

Lawmaker 2: Never sit with your back to the saloon door?

Lawmaker 1: Those are both good. But I was looking at something a bit more generalized. Some wise saying a modern cowboy might utter.

Lawmaker 2: "Better smile when you say that, pardner."

Lawmaker 1: Still a bit too specific. I like Owen Wister and The Virginian. If we had an official state book, that would be the one.

Lawmaker 2: I think I see what you're getting at. Universal truths, as in the Bible. Do unto others, etc.

Lawmaker 1: That's right. Words to live by.

Lawmaker 2: I got one: take pride in your work.

Lawmaker 1: That's great. Write it down.

Lawmaker 2: Ride for the brand.

Lawmaker 1: Sure, just like the old cowboys. Be loyal to your employer, even if you're paid a dollar a day like cowboys were.

Lawmaker 2: They got beans for dinner, didn't they?

Lawmaker 1: I see your point. Ride for the brand -- and don't complain.

Lawmaker 2: Ride for the brand -- and don't complain. I'll write that down.

Lawmaker 1: Erase the last part. Some people will complain about it.

Lawmaker 2 (erasing the last part): What's next?

Lawmaker 1: Remember that some things are not for sale.

Lawmaker 2: Do you think that's wise? Won't the oil and gas and coal companies get mad? We've sold them just about every square inch of land that we can.

Lawmaker 1: Yeah, damn federal government. If they didn't control half the state, could have sold those parts too.

Lawmaker 2: Damn federal government -- is that part of the code?

Lawmaker 1: Better leave that one out. Wyoming gets more in federal funds than we pay in taxes.

Lawmaker 2: Maybe we can put that in the footnotes.

Lawmaker 1: Can't have a Code of the West with footnotes. A Code of the West has to be simple and pure of heart, like the people of Wyoming.

Lawmaker 2: Simple and pure at heart -- does that go in?

Lawmaker 1: Better say it this way: Talk less, say more.

Lawmaker 2: I like it. What else?

Later that same day.

Lawmaker 1: The code is finished. We now have ten good points on the list.

Lawmaker 2: It's a fine code. Our colleagues will like it. The Governor will like it. Cowboys should like it.

Lawmaker 1: Energy companies will like it.

Lawmaker 2: You betcha. It's a kind of code that can change history.

Lawmaker 1: Prog-bloggers may not like it.

They both laugh hysterically.

Lawmaker 2 (harumphing loudly): Prog-bloggers! There ought to be a law.

Lawmaker 1: Or a code. We'll work on that one tomorrow.

FOOTNOTE: On Thursday, the Wyoming Senate passed a bill authorizing a new state code. The votes were almost unanimous, with one nay from Sen. Bruce Burns, a Republican from Sheridan. What's with that? Sheridan (according to its web site) has been "voted in the Top 25 Cities & Towns with the Best American Values and No. 1 Western Town in America!" A town of the West certainly needs a Code of the West. When this new code becomes law, Sen. Burns shall be dealt with by the proper authorities. I hope everyone in the state gets deputized to enforce the new code. Can't wait to "Get Western" on some of my neighbors.

Here's the new state code, as derived from the book, "Cowboy Ethics," by James P. Owen:

(i) Live each day with courage
(ii) Take pride in your work
(iii) Always finish what you start
(iv) Do what has to be done
(v) Be tough, but fair
(vi) When you make a promise, keep it
(vii) Ride for the brand;
(viii) Talk less, say more;
(ix) Remember that some things are not for sale
(x) Know where to draw the line.

Among Baby Boomers, there are many visions -- and plenty of non-visions

On Keith Olbermann the other night, guest commentator Christian Finnegan made an interesting comment about Tea Party attendees (a.k.a. teabaggers) who happen to be white and middle-aged and elderly and angry, etc. He called them "a bunch of Baby Boomers scared that the world has passed them by."

I've been thinking about this. I'm a Baby Boomer that is quite certain that the world is passing me by. Obama's election confirmed this notion. He was elected by youngsters and ethnic minorities and aging Liberals and Raging Grannies and disaffected veterans and gun-toting union members and transsexuals and people of all ages fed up with the status quo. People like me.

Baby Boomers were in there somewhere. After the 2008 election results came in, I texted my son in Tucson, thanking him for voting and getting his friends out to vote. They will continue to vote for change because change is what they know. My Tucson son looks at his fellow Arizonan, John McCain, fulminating against liberals and gays and Obama and change and he thinks: "Why is that old guy yelling at me?" And then this: "This angry old guy expects me to vote for him?"

I'm just guessing what my son thinks. He's full of surprises.

People get scared when life speeds up so much that they can't keep up. People get scared when someone who doesn't look like them gets elected president. People get scared when answers to their questions aren't readily available.

I'm scared, too. But I can't slow down the world. I am along for the ride. More than that. I have hopped on the intergalactic bandwagon and I'm on for the long haul.

Diabetics in rural Wyoming on their own

From an AP story (via Billings Gazette):

The Wyoming Department of Health reports that the number of Wyoming adults with diabetes more than doubled in the past 13 years.

The department said Thursday that more than 7 percent of Wyoming adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, up from 3 percent in 1997.

Diabetes prevention and control manager Star Morrison said the disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the state.

From July 2006 to June 2007, diabetes led to 615 Wyoming hospitalizations costing $7.5 million, according to the department.

Washakie County has the highest rate of adult diabetes at 9.3 percent. Teton County has the lowest rate at 2.4 percent.

Morrison said the prevalence of diabetes is expected to increase as the state's population ages.

Let's see. Wyoming's population is aging. The diabetes rate is climbing. Our family knows something about diabetes. Chris was diagnosed with Type II diabetes 17 years ago when she was pregnant with our daughter. She sees an endocrinologist in Fort Collins across the border in Colorado. Each month, she goes to her diabetes educators (also in Fort Collins). She is careful about what she eats. She monitors her blood sugar. Our local pharmacist knows her and her prescriptions. In short -- it takes a team to manage diabetes. Family physician, specialist, nurses, educators, pharmacists.

Last year, the Wyoming Office of Rural Health release a report that showed 13 of the state's 23 counties had a shortage of primary-care doctors.

I posted this on the blog Dec. 26:

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.

Or diabetes.

Star Morrison at the Wyoming Department of Health has her job cut out for her. "Aging" is just one factor. Lack of proper medical care in rural areas is another.

Will national healthcare reform address these issues? Perhaps we should ask Senator and physician John Barrasso. He and his Republican cohorts have done their best to derail healthcare reform. Why? Don't he and Sen. Enzi and Rep. Lummis have any empathy for the rural residents of this state? They say they do. But saying and doing are two different things.

Barrasso practiced medicine and politics in Casper, Wyoming's second largest city. Enzi lived in Gillette, booming coal capital of the nation. Lummis is from Cheyenne, the largest city in the state and the capital.

All of these places have hospitals. All have family physicians and specialists. Sure, some of us with insurance still go out of state for better care. We have that option.

But what are rural residents to do?

Suffer, I guess. Live with the fact that if they get diabetes, they're on their own.

Big Al Simpson appointed to deficit commission by Pres. Obama

Alan "Big Al" Simpson, a senator from Wyoming back in the day when GOPers and Dems would sometimes lie down together, lion-and-lamb-like, has been named by Pres. Obama as co-chair of a commission on reducing the federal deficit. His Dem co-chair is former Clintonian Erskine Bowles.

I sighted Sen. Simpson Friday evening at the annual Governor's Arts Awards in Cheyenne. Big Al is a big arts supporter, sitting on the board of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. His wife Ann has been such a solid arts supporter statewide that the University of Wyoming Art Museum named its roving Artmobile program after her. Big Al was at the annual arts awards event because one of his fellow board members, Naoma Tate, was being honored. Half of Cody was at the event, it seemed.

Progressives don't seem to know if this commission is the real thing or just one of those "inside the Beltway" exercises. But it is good to see Sen. Simpson back in the saddle in D.C.

Bloomberg had more info (via Cowboy State Free Press):

“Erskine and I have a philosophy that’s very simple: We’re going to move this issue forward,” Simpson said in a telephone interview from Wyoming. “We’re going to say, you’re entitled to all of your emotion and guilt and fear and whatever you want to throw in to the game, but you’re not entitled to your own facts.”

Meanwhile, emotion- and guilt- and fear-mongers Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio "declined today to say whether the party would participate."

“Blue-ribbon commissions are fine and dandy, but we’re still waiting for a response from the president on our proposal to start cutting spending right now,” Boehner’s spokesman, Michael Steel, said.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a Maryland Democrat, said earlier this month Obama would name other Republicans, “perhaps former members” of Congress, if they chose not to participate.

Obama may call. But it will be interesting to see if any Repubs (other than Sen. Simpson) answer. As you know, the present-day GOP is The Party of N-O Spells No.

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?