Glennbeckistan casts its fundie eyes on Wyoming

Why is Glenn Beck casting his crazy eyes at the southwest corner of Wyoming?

Could it be that one of the Republican Party candidates for Wyoming Governor is right-winger and potential Tea Partier Ron Micheli from Uinta County? Is it a coincidence that southwest Wyoming once was part of Utah Territory until it was taken away in punishment for LDS polygamy?

Methinks that Ron Micheli is a card-carrying member of Glennbeckistan.

For more info on this strange and amazing country, go to Chip Ward's article on truthout at http://www.truthout.org/welcome-glennbeckistan58079

Cheyenne's Art Design & Dine featured local art & local food and local friends

I had a great time during Art Design & Dine on Thursday in Cheyenne.

Eight local Cheyenne art and design venues were open for what was billed as "an evening of art, food and fun."

Agreed.

My first stop was Georgia Roswell's Artful Hand Studio and Gallery on the corner of First Avenue and House. It's across the street from the house of my first boss in Wyoming, Joy Thompson. Georgia and Dave Rowswell ventured out from Georgia to live and work in Cheyenne -- and we're glad they did. Georgia incorporates paints and old jeans and cheesecloth and okra into her work. Yes, okra. I'm not a fan of okra unless its teamed up with Andouille sausage and shrimp and tomatoes in gumbo. But Georgia has found a cool new use for this heretofore slimy vegetable.

Georgia has a great new piece showing an aerial view of the Florida Keys (in photo, "The Keys," mixed media, 7"x24"). She's spent a lot of time in Siesta Key. Not my favorite Keys' locale. But she's done a fine job incorpirating cheesecloth and paints in this piece. Made me homesick for the beach. Any beach.

Artful Hand also featured work by local artist and librarian Meghan Cochrane. Meghan spoke about her quilting technique using aerial photographs. She was able to salvage discarded black-and-white aerial photos from the 1940s. She cuts them apart and weaves them by hand and sewing machine to make intriguing photo paper quilts.

Local artist Win Ratz also had work in Artful Hand.

Georgia served up some of her delicious baked goods.

Rebecca Barrett's Link Gallery also featured art and food. The food came from 901, the hot new downtown drinking and dining establishment. Naturally, I haven't been there yet as I'm about as "with it" as black-and-white photos from the forties.

Lots of people in the Link admiring regional art and watching a performance by a local punk/spoken word band. Alan O'Hashi was on hand to announce the line-up for the Cheyenne International Film Festival.

I only managed to visit two of the evening's eight galleries before I launched into a coughing jag. I've been sick all winter, and now have a cough that won't go away. Doctor tells me to take more vitamin C and D and get more sleep. I have a feeling I need some beach time. But the closest I'm going to get for now is ogling the Florida Keys hanging on the wall of the Artful Hand.

Sustainability Summit April 12-13 at UW

UW has had some bad luck of late with speakers. First Bill Ayers gets the ax and then Vandana Shiva cancels her keynote speech at the Shepard Symposium.

But this event is coming up next week and it looks like a winner:


This Sustainability Summit is intended to provide a forum for local leaders and interested citizens to learn about environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The Wyoming Sustainability Summit will provide a venue for sharing information about challenges and successes with sustainability initiatives and how to successfully address these issues in residences, businesses, and communities. We hope this summit will stimulate conversation within and between Wyoming communities. The Summit will include panel discussions, keynote presentations, and round table discussions between community leaders and citizens.

General public registration is now closed. Walk-ins are welcome on the day(s) of the conference for $25, if seating remains. Meals/snacks will not be available for walk-ins.

Contact: Jill Lovato, Co-Chair, UW Campus Sustainability Committee, and Haub School/Ruckelshaus ENR Project Coordinator, (307) 760-4149, or mailto:jillberg@uwyo.edu?subject=Wyoming%20Sustainability%20Summit.

Speakers:

Kick-off Speaker - Taylor Haynes MD, UW Trustee, Owner/President of Thunderbasin Land Livestock & Investment Company, and member of the Ruckelshaus Institute Board. Haynes will discuss organic beef ranching and holistic resource management.

Keynote Speaker - Bob Dixson, Mayor of Greensburg, Kansas. Mayor Dixson will discuss Greensburg's GreenTown program, which is an effort to provide support, resources, and information to residents on creating a model green building community and sustainable principles for rebuilding processes.

Synthesis Speaker - Duke Castle, The Castle Group. Castle will discuss Oregon-based the Natural Step Network, a nonprofit organization that he founded in 1997 to show business and community organizers how they can move toward creating a sustainable society while maintaining a healthy economy.

Lunchtime Speaker (April 12) Brian Kuehl - Managing Partner of the law firm, The Clark Group. Kuehl will discuss how engaging the whole community contributes to sustainability. His talk will include case studies from around the United States to explain how the act of bringing together traditional adversaries is essential for sustainability.


Accommodations:
Hilton Garden Inn and other lodging (click here). Discounted rooms ($99) are available at the Hilton until March 12, on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please indicate that you are attending the "Wyoming Sustainability Summit" when you reserve your room, or contact for Breann Tolman at (307) 721-7570.

UW cancels Ayers' speech, but he still gets paid

From the AP today:

The director of a University of Wyoming center that invited a former 1960s radical to campus says he canceled the event because of safety concerns and because the event's purpose was lost.

The invitation to William Ayers to speak drew hundreds of protests.

Ayers was invited by Franciso Rios, director of the UW Social Justice Research Center.

Rios says he and other UW officials received hostile e-mails and telephone calls about Ayers' scheduled speech on Monday.

Rios says Ayers had originally been invited to speak about educational issues, but controversy over Ayers' personal history had overshawdowed that.

Rios says Ayers will be paid a $5,000 speaking fee. The money comes from the center's private endowment funds.

In praise of indie bookstores supporting local authors in Rocky Mountain states

Hummingbirdminds saw this post on the Rocky Mountain Authors at the Tattered Cover Facebook page. While it was written with Colorado authors in mind, I think it can easily be revised to reflect an interest in writers from a Big Square State other than Colorado.

Here's my revised version:

There are lots of good reasons to read work by local Rocky Mountain authors. Here are a few, and feel free to add your own good reasons to this list!

1. Buying a book by a local author from your local Tattered Cover Book Store helps to keep money in the State of ColoradoWyoming, instead of sending it off around the country where ColoradoWyoming residents can't benefit from sales taxes or business incentives. Money spent in ColoradoWyoming, ON ColoradoWyoming, STAYS in ColoradoWyoming.

2. By supporting local authors, you help diversify the knowledge that can be distributed through the written word in the Rocky Mountain region. We write lots of books here in the Rockies that can be found nowhere else on Earth (except perhaps online on the Tattered Cover website! http://www.tatteredcover.com/).

3. When you buy a local author's book, you are helping to nurture the artistic and intellectual community of ColoradoWyoming. Studies show that great cities and great communities are great not because of their technology or industry, but because of their arts and cultural offerings. Every time you buy a locally written book you add another brick to the cultural palace of the Rocky Mountains!

Other states in the Rocky Mountain West may want to do some customizing of their own. What say you Montana and New Mexico and Utah and Arizona and Idaho?

Now go investigate other regional writers at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Denver-CO/Rocky-Mountain-Authors-at-the-Tattered-Cover/351469358952?ref=nf

I noticed a very fine section of Rocky Mountain writers (past and present) during a visit last week to Lander's Book Basket on Main Street. I know that the bookstore disguised as a barn at Sweetwater Junction packs plenty of heat by local and regional writers. I didn't stop there during my recent trip due to the fact that I couldn't see the turnoff in the blizzard. I could go on and on about fantastic bookstores in unexpected places. You can find a long list at the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association page.

Check out Bill Ayers' letter on Meg's blog

Meg Lanker, Laramie rabble-rouser and radio personality, printed a letter from activist Bill Ayers on her blog, http://www.wyomingnewsunderground.com/2010/04/doublespeak-at-university-of-wyoming.html.

This was in response to his invitation and then disinvitation to speak at the University of Wyoming. It's a long letter so I won't reprint it here. But I welcome you to read it and then spread it far and wide like tumbleweeds of truth unleashed by a righteous Wyoming cyclone of social justice.

Discussion on Ayers' cancellation at UW today

The University of Wyoming is hosting a panel discussion on the recent cancellation of a speech by William Ayers. It will take place in the Wyoming Union Center Ballroom in Laramie on Tuesday (today!), 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Perhaps someone from the UW administration can explain how the cancellation of a speech by an educator and one-time sixties radical Bill Ayers can be seen as a display of academic freedom.

Just asking...

A short lesson in "Teabonics"

Prog-bloggers looking for an array of Tea Party protest signs with "creative" spelling and grammar need look no further than Flickr. Pargon has compiled a "Teabonics" sampler at http://www.flickr.com/photos/pargon/sets/72157623594187379/

More about Jim Corbett, Sanctuary co-founder and "goatwalking" guru

Fie on all writers who introduce me to new people and places and things on a quiet Sunday morning when all I want to do is sip coffee and make snarky Facebook comments.

I just spent the past hour looking up info on Jim Corbett (see previous post). I discovered his 1992 book, "Goatwalking," published by Penguin. I found out that "goatwalking" is now a part of the environmental and social justice worlds. A philosophy, too, one that challenges us to see with "desert eyes." Corbett, alas, had no easy answers. He was a Quaker and a goatwalker and a member of the National Rifle Association until cancer claimed him in 2001.

Find out much more at http://www.amazon.com/Goatwalking-Wildland-Living-Jim-Corbett/dp/0140122478/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

And now I have another book to read....

Remembering Wyoming's connection to the West's Sanctuary Movement

Cheyenne's Jack Pugh wrote a great column from Tucson for this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. It focused on the Sanctuary Movement of the 1980s. Members of Sanctuary gave aid to refugees from U.S.-supported right-wing goverments in Guatemala and El Salvador. Many churches in the West were part of Sanctuary's "Underground Railroad," including mine in Denver -- the 10:30 Catholic Community.

Jack wrote about some little-known history. Jim Corbett, one of the founders of Sanctuary, was born in Casper, Wyoming. His father, George Corbett, was a lawyer and Wyoming legislator who got into deep kimchee when he defended conscientious objectors during World War II. It's dangerous to go up against conventional wisdom, but defending a CO during "The Good War" must have been more than daunting. His political career ruined, he moved his family to a ranch in southeast Arizona.

His son, Jim, became a Quaker and traveled the Arizona wilderness with his goats.

"Jim Corbett led refugees across the Sonoran Desert to safety with his goats, sustained by goat's milk and foraging."

I knew the name of Jim Corbett but had no idea of his history or his Wyoming connection. People in the Sanctuary Movement were brave, truly motivated by deeply held Christian principles. I met some of them -- and those they rescued -- at my Sanctuary Church during the 1980s.

People don't understand how tough it is to act on your beliefs. It's one thing to wave signs and shout slogans. I've done my fair share of that. It's another to live your principles, day in and day out, especially when your life and livelihood are in jeopardy.

"In 1985, the U.S. government indicted 16 Sanctuary workers in Arizona for violation of immigration laws. Eight of them were convicted and received probation."

I wish I could send you to Digital WTE to read the rest of the story. But it's not on-line -- I checked. Guess you'll just have to shell out $1.25 for the printed Sunday paper. Jack's column alone is worth the price.

Setting Sen. Enzi straight on the facts

On Friday, the Cowboy State Free Press ran a piece about the response of the Wyoming Democratic Party to some of Sen. Enzi's scarifying non-facts on health care reform and student loan legislation.

Here are some excerpts:

In a statement on Mar. 31, Sen. Enzi suggested a list of bold numbers in relation to health reform, but there are a few numbers Sen. Enzi forgot to mention, according to Wyoming Democratic Party Communications Director Brianna Jones, some of which are:

128.8% – Increase in health insurance premiums for working families in Wyoming from 2000-2007.

27.9% – Increase in Wyoming worker’s wages between 2000-2007, a difference of almost 100% from the previous figure

71,000 – The number of uninsured in Wyoming as of 2008

$40 billion – Under reform, amount of tax credits available to small businesses to help them offer coverage beginning in 2010

$40 billion – The investment which will be invested in Pell grants to help low income students attend college under the reconciliation legislation.

$2 billion – Investment in community colleges in the next four years, which today serve more than 6 million students.

Sen. Enzi’s rhetoric does not fit with reality and we see that time and time again, She said. For example:

RHETORIC: Wyoming residents will pay higher taxes.

REALITY: It is agreed by economists that by taxing the highest cost plans this provision will lead insurance companies to be more efficient and provide quality care to consumers at lower prices. [White House blog, 12/16/09; PWC, 2009; CBO 2009]

RHETORIC: Wyoming residents who have insurance will see their premiums rise.

REALITY: For a vast majority premiums would go down 14-20 percent as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Subsidies will lower costs for as much as 59 percent for 18 million people buying their own insurance, said the CBO. [Wall Street Journal Washington Wire, 2/25/10; New York Times, 12/4/09; Bloomberg, 12/1/09]

RHETORIC: Medicare enrollees will see decreased access to care because of cuts.

REALITY: Health reform strengthens Medicare by cutting wasteful spending. The doughnut hole is closed and affordable coverage will be more attainable, says AARP. [AARP letter to Sen. Harry Reid, 12/15/09; FactCheck.org, 11/3/09; CMS Report, 12/10/09]

RHETORIC: Health insurance premiums for Wyoming’s small businesses will rise.

REALITY: $40 billion worth of tax credits will be available to small businesses to help them offer coverage starting in 2010. According to a study by The Third Way Economic Program, “Over the next 15 years, American businesses would collectively spend $637 billion less on their share of health insurance premiums, and their workers would save a collective $177 billion. [Time Magazine, 2/22/10, Bending the Curve: 12 Ways Health Reform Will Tackle Runaway Costs, 1/12/10]

RHETORIC: Medicare Advantage enrollees will see their benefits reduced by half.

REALITY: Reforms to Medicare Advantage will end wasteful subsidies to health insurance companies without affecting benefits and would reduce or eliminate the difference in part by introducing a competitive bidding system to pay the plans [AP, 9/22/09; Boston Globe, 9/24/09]

RHETORIC: Wyoming will be burdened by Medicaid expansions.

REALITY: Health insurance reform will pay for 100% of Medicaid expansion for states through 2017, then 95% for 2018-2019, and then 90% for 2020 and beyond. [White House, 2/22/10]

RHETORIC: Wyoming college students will pay more on student loans to fund health care.

REALITY: Student lending reform will make higher education more achievable and will increase Pell grants, cap repayments, and invest in community colleges. Before students payed 6.8 percent on their unsubsidized federal loans and will continue to pay the same rate. [Politifact, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10; New York Times, 3/30/10]

Obama puts the "O" in Offshore Oil drilling

Bizarre announcement today by President Obama. Oil drilling off the East Coast? The plan, Obama said in the New York Times, would "balance the need to produce more domestic energy while protecting natural resources." It would allow drilling along the Atlantic coast, just offshore from my old Daytona Beach haunts, all the way up the coast to the Delmarva Peninsula. There also would be more drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska. This signals the end of a moratorium on exploration from Delaware to Daytona, an area that covers about 167 million acres of ocean.

I've always been astonished that the McCain/Palin "Drill, Baby, Drill" crowd would want to see drilling along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf. I was equally astonished that Southern Congressional Republicans would want drilling in their own backyards. Do they really want all of those coastal Repub retirees stepping in globs of goo on their pristine beaches and then writing scads of complaining e-mails to D.C.? I think not. One thing you can count on with retirees: they complain and they vote. They also like their beaches free of goo.

Most Americans seem O.K. with oil drilling in the country's beachless locales. Wyoming, for instance. Oklahoma too. They also are very tolerant of digging coal out of Wyoming's cold, windswept prairie -- or blowing the tops off of West Virginia mountains. Who cares about those cowpokes in Wyoming and the hillbillies of Appalachia? If they really counted, if they were people with clout, they would live on North Carolina's Outer Banks or Georgia's Sea Islands or on Sanibel or even along Florida's Redneck Riviera.

So far, Repubs have been lukewarm to Pres. Obama's plan to "Drill, Baby, Drill." Perhaps they are just being their old obstructionist selves. Or perhaps they have nightmares of what could happen once the gooey byproducts of oil drilling hits the beaches. The envision legions of indignant golf-cart-driving codgers converging on D.C. They halt Beltway traffic and march on Congressional offices. They wave their putters and shout unintelligible slogans. They track oily black sneaker prints through the corridors of power. Security won't stop them, as the protesters look too much like their grandma and grandpa in St. Pete. In fact, they really are grandma and grandpa from St. Pete. "Get out of the way sonny -- those damn oil-drilling, goo-spilling politicians have to be stopped."

This offshore oil drilling plan may be a harder sell that Obama imagines.

Obama puts the "E" in Education Act

Great news for college students (and their parents).

Pres. Obama today signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. Here are some of the good things that the "Education" part of the legislation will do:

Eliminate wasteful subsidies to private bankers by switching to a system of direct lending of federal student loans.

Make historic investments in America’s workforce by making college dramatically more affordable – at no cost to taxpayers.

Invest $36 billion over 10 years to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $5,975 by 2017.

$68 billion for college affordability and deficit reduction over the next 11 years. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act meets Pay-As-You-Go fiscally responsible principles and will reduce the deficit by at least $10 billion over 10 years.

Free speech at UW campus? Only if it's Dick Cheney doing the speechifying

Homegrown war criminal Dick Cheney spoke freely at the University of Wyoming campus. I guess it helps that he donated a big pot of money for international programs to teach students how to invade sovereign foreign counties with impunity.

Meanwhile, UW today cancelled a speech by educator Bill Ayers.

Here's the rationale (from a UW press release):

After a deluge of protests, the director of the Social Justice Research Center at the University of Wyoming has cancelled the scheduled appearance of Professor William Ayers. The director announced his decision to the UW administration late Monday evening and noted there are no plans to host Professor Ayers in the future.

In his communication to the administration, the director apologized to the university community for any harm that may have come to it and cited personal and professional reasons, including safety concerns, for the cancellation.

In response, Tom Buchanan, president of the University of Wyoming, said, “I appreciate the consideration for the university that the re-evaluation demonstrated.” Buchanan thanked the director for taking this initiative and for his willingness to respect the interests of the UW community, including statewide constituencies.

“Re-evaluation of this event was unavoidable. One way or the other, this event needed to be revisited, and I respect the director for being willing, on his own, to cancel this invitation. I’m satisfied with the outcome,” Buchanan said.

He continued, “Academic freedom is a core principle of any institution of higher education. But with that freedom comes an obligation to exercise free thought and free speech in concert with mutual respect and acknowledgment of broader resource and security impacts on the campus. The exercise of freedom requires a commensurate dose of responsibility.

“Observers in and outside of the university would be incorrect to conclude that UW simply caved in to external pressure. Rather, I commended the director of the center for a willingness to be sensitive to the outpouring of criticism, evaluate the arguments, and reconsider the invitation.

“The University of Wyoming is one of the few institutions remaining in today’s environment that garners the confidence of the public. The visit by Professor Ayers would have adversely impacted that reputation.

“During the past few days, controversy over Professor Ayers’s visit has been intense. While this episode illustrated an opportunity to hear and critically evaluate a variety of ideas thoughtfully, through open, reasoned, and civil debate, it also demonstrates that we must be mindful of the real consequences our actions and decisions have on others.”

Deluge of protest? This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle counted 180 calls and e-mails to UW as of press time. Most were negative. Let's say all of them were negative. That adds up to .0034 percent of the Wyoming population. Deluge?

Here are some of the radical messages promoted by Ayers, according to today's Casper Star-Trib:

Reached by phone Monday, Ayers said his lecture would focus on two themes: the ethical and intellectual commitments of teaching and how teaching in a democratic society differs from teaching under other social and political systems.

Teaching in a democracy, he said, differs from, say, medieval Saudi Arabia, because, "our starting point is the incalculable value of every human being."

"We start with the ideal that everyone is of value and therefore everyone has an opportunity to learn and to grow in our schools," Ayers continued. "The reason that's true is we're not just preparing people to find their pigeonhole in the hierarchy of society -- we're training people, educating people, to be the masters of society. In a democracy, the people are sovereign."

Special anti-"Obamacare" legislative session just a nasty rumor

Phil Noble over at Cowboy State Free Press writes today that the state legislature probably won't call for a special session.

It was news to me that a special session was being considered. I didn't realize that there was an emergency to be addressed. Did the lege miscalculate the revenue stream? Is the Yellowstone volcano gonna blow? Did a pack of terrorist wolves attempt to bomb a gun show?

It was to do with health care. Wyomingites don't want to damn socialist healthcare. Not thre socialist healthcare legislation promoted by Oabama. They're O.K,. with Medicaid and Medicare and gubment-funded care provided by V.A. Hospitals.

A special session would attempt to blunt "Obamacare."

Phil Noble's story:

A Wyoming state senator wondered on his Facebook page over last weekend whether leaders of the legislature were openly discussing the possibility of a special session of the legislature.

Other legislators say there has been some talk about a special session to pass the healthcare freedom bill and to force Gov. Dave Freudenthal and his Attorney General to join the lawsuit to repeal healthcare.

Asked whether the talk of a special session was serious, Senate Majority Leader Jim Anderson said; “Things could change rapidly I suppose but at this stage I think it is mostly discussion. I think there is a lot of comparing of notes in an attempt to determine just where we are at this point and what the actual efects are likely to be.”
He said serious discussion “will begin when there are more actual facts and solid figures about the real and predictable outcomes of Obamacare. At the present people are talking among themselves to better determime what the appropriate response should be. In time things should become more objective in nature. Much is yet to be determined collectively.”

Wyoming Senate President John Hines says the Attorney General works for the Governor, and “we can’t tell him to do anything.”

As to a special session, Hines says “a special session must have a definite plan and goal and be pretty certain of success before a special session is called for. We are not at that position at this time so I am not supporting a special session.”

Freudenthal said last week the state would not join the lawsuit brought against the federal government by 14 other states “at this time.” He said Wyoming could enjoy the benefits of any outcome of the lawsuit without spending money bringing the lawsuit.

We love you, "Dirt," yes we do

Coming to a theatre near you? Probably not in Wyoming. But look for it in Fort Collins and Denver and Salt Lake City. The film features physicist/environmentalist Vandana Shiva, one of the speakers at the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice April 7-9 in Laramie. Shiva will discuss "Soil Not Oil: Food Security in Times of Climate Change" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the UW Fine Arts concert hall in Laramie. The event is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing follow the presentation.

Mcjoan explains new student loan bill

Mcjoan (Joan McCarter), Idaho native and one of the Big Kahuna Kossacks at Daily Kos, can take a complicated subject and make it sensible. Saturday on Kos, mcjoan explained the new student loan legislation. For all of it, go to http://mcjoan.dailykos.com.

What will the new student loan bill do for you?

If you're already paying student loans, probably not a lot. But if you're either soon needing to get loans, or to send your kids to college, it's good news. The government takeover of the federal student loan program is brilliant in it's simplicity. Thus far loan programs have been both direct loans, and federally-guaranteed loans from private lenders. The federally-guaranteed program means that the feds (us, the taxpayers) guaranteed loans made by private lenders, so the taxpayer has all the risk, and the bank makes all the profits. Now, all federal loans will be direct (the majority, 88% already are). The interest on those loans goes back to the federal government, and not to banks. All that extra money taking the remaining 12% of loans into the direct program will and not subsidizing the middle man banks goes into making college more affordable.

Hot time in ol' Laramie when Dr. William Ayers comes to town April 5-6

I hope that lots of demonstrators protest Bill Ayers' visit to UW in April. I won't be one of them. I hope to be inside the hall listening to the speech. Bill Ayers has just as much right to speak at UW as Dick Cheney or Angela Davis or all the environmental rabble-rousers due for the upcoming Shepard Symposium. Heck, I wouldn't even raise a ruckus if Sarah Palin was invited to speak at UW, although the university's pockets may not be deep enough for her.

Bill Ayers received more that his fair share of attention during the 2008 election. He's about to get more, this time at the local level.

It is controversial enough for UW Provost Myron B. Allen to issue a release in advance of Dr. Ayers' visit:

The Social Justice Research Center, a unit of the University of Wyoming, has invited University of Illinois - Chicago Professor William Ayers to speak on UW's Laramie campus on April 5 and 6. Support for Professor Ayers's visit will come from the budget of the Center, which is funded from an endowed gift made to the university by an anonymous donor.

Professor Ayers is a controversial figure, in part because of his association, four decades ago, with the Weather Underground. Many will remember that his name arose during the 2008 presidential primaries, when opponents of then-candidate Barack Obama criticized his contacts with Professor Ayers.

Ayers earned a doctorate from Columbia University in 1987 and now holds the title of distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. His teaching focuses on issues related to social justice and educational reform. He has published and spoken widely. Furthermore, he currently serves as a vice president of the American Educational Research Association, a national professional society.

Professor Ayers is not the first controversial figure to speak at UW. He is not even the first UW speaker associated with past actions that some find deeply objectionable. With any luck, he won't be our last controversial speaker, on the left or on the right. An academic department's invitation to speak is not the same as an institutional endorsement: part of UW's mission is to provide a neutral forum in which to examine ideas. Of special interest are the ideas of people whose professional work has had impact on important areas of human endeavor.

The University of Wyoming has not distanced itself from controversy in the past and has been fortunate to host a range of speakers from a variety of backgrounds. It is clear to us that a university's role is to teach, not to indoctrinate. Some have insisted that UW cancel Professor Ayers's visit. We expect a higher level of discourse from our students and from the American public. And we are confident that the best way for our students to develop the judgment and independence of thought to evaluate ideas critically is to be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints.

Dr. Ayers public lecture will be held on Monday, April 5, 4 p.m., in the Education Auditorium, University of Wyoming. For more information, please contact the SJRC at sjrc@uwyo.edu.

Tea Party vs. Marijuana Party -- high times in front of the Wyoming Capitol Building

On my way to lunch today, I walked into a smackdown between local Tea Party protesters and activists from the Marijuana Party.

Wasn't much of a smackdown. The Marijuana Party had reserved the space in front of the State Capitol Building in Cheyenne. The Tea Partiers arrived out of nowhere to urge Gov. Dave Freudenthal to join in the lawsuit by some state attorneys general to "nullify" health care reform. Gov Dave has already announced that Wyoming will not be a part of such a loony stunt.

"Nullify" is a popular term with the Tea Party crowd. They want to nullify some federal powers except the ones that fund useless foreign wars, huge pointless aircraft carriers, spy satellites, V.A. benefits, police and fire protection, pothole-free highways, the Border Patrol, dozens of anti-commie nukes in their silos outside Cheyenne, Social Security and Medicare. Other than those few things, they don't want gubment intruding into their lives.

The Marijuana Party advocates for access to medical marijuana. Its members were a lot younger than the Tea Party folks. One of them held up a sign that read "Cannabis medicine is a civil right." A few feet away, a Teabagger sported a sign that read "Nullify Healthcare -- Special Session Now." Sign included a swastika, of course. On the sign's other side was a "Ron Micheli for Governor" sticker. Micheli is a right-wing Republican from southwest Wyoming running for Gov.

Tensions rose when Highway Patrolmen (Capitol Security) and Cheyenne cops arrived to confront the Pot Party people about an information table that was blocking Tea party access to the Capitol. A Tea Party protestor was fuming that the Pot Party hippie had called him an "MF." I assumed that meant "Motherf****r." But it could have been "My Friend."

The Channel 13 and Channel 5 cameras were rolling. I expected a melee to break out, or at least a scuffle.

Much to my relief, Joe Hippie broke out a big bong and everyone had a hit of Cheyenne Green. Even the cops. Pretty soon we were all singing Kumbayaa. The teabaggers and the hippies and the cops pulled out their Glocks and fired celebratory rounds, bringing down an errant black helicopter in the process. Motorists honked their horns in celebration. Gov Dave declared Friday a Day of Forgiveness and Reconciliation.

Next week we'll get back to name-calling and nullification.

More than one way to transform hate

Eran Thompson, Billings director of Not in Our Town, will be one of the speakers at the opening reception for the traveling exhibition of “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate” at Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., on Thursday, April 1, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thompson is flanked by Jim Riswold’s “The Hitlermobile,” left, and Robbie McClaran’s print depicting terrorist bomber Timothy McVeigh. Get more info at http://www.billingsgazette.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/visual/article_59df83b6-385f-11df-9d02-001cc4c03286.html. Photo by Casey Riffe of the Billings Gazette staff.