Home blogging -- Off and on and off again...

Blogging has been sporadic during the past few weeks. First, the home PC is on the blink. Can't get the PC and the Broadband to talk to one another. IP address seems to be missing. Replaced the Bresnan modem and I got connected a few times, but then it was the same old miscommunicating. Any of you IT geniuses out there know what's going on?

Meanwhile, I hit the library's bank of computers sporadically. I love libraries. I used to just love them for the books but now I love them for all kinds of reasons.

More later...

Getting Melodramatic...

Old-fashioned Melodrama can can dancers and cast gather with Director Andy Dennis at Superday.

Good day to politic outdoors

Dems gather publicly at Cheyenne Superday
Callback #: 307-630-1722

All these boring summer weekends

Too bad there is nothing to do this weekend.

If that sounds like a bored teen, that's because I just heard one say this.

I just spent an hour staring at the PC marveling at the weekend's events. Superday in Lion's Park all day Saturday. Music and vendor booths and food and brew and lots of sun, at least that's what the weatherpeople told me this morning. I grew so weary from our elongated winter/spring that I am thankful for each ray of Sol that hits my very sensitive Celtic skin. I wear layers of sunscreen. All the pols will be out promoting their various agendas. An election year, don't forget.

Speaking of Celts, the Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival takes place all weekend on Cheyenne's Depot Plaza (see previous post). Highlight will be The Elders from K.C., but also lots of other bands. One thing about these Celtic festivals -- Scots seem to dominate. They lord it over us Irish, them and their stinking tartans and their skirling pipes and their caber-tossing and Robert Burns look-alike contests. What do we Irish have? Music, with our sets of pipes and whistles and fiddles and such. Poetry. Writers by the score. Drinking, too. Can't forget that double-edged sword. We have swords too. And I.R.A. bomb-makers, although most of them are either dead, still in prison or riding The Celtic Tiger, selling I.M.I.R.A. T-shirts (Euros only).

And then there are all the mountain activities, including hiking, camping, fishing and a variety of folk and music festivals. Casper has its NIC Fest, where I always spend too much money on art for my crowded walls. The Jackson Hole Writers' Conference is in Jackson.

At home, there's gardening and reading novels under my oak tree.

I'm not bored.

Last weekend we were all volunteering at Juneteenth. Only a handful of pols showed for that one. They all got to speak. Dem Gov candidate Pete Gosar was there with a retinue. I liked his T-shirt, in UW Cowboy colors. On back it says "Walk On!" As a one-time jock and sports reporter, I know what that means. He was a walk-on player at UW. I asked him about this and he said he had to go head-to-head with about 100 walk ons his freshman year. After day after day of full pads and sun and screaming coaches, the field was narrowed to ten. Gosar eventually earned a scholarship and lots of playing time.

Walk on. He will be doing more running this summer than walking. Primaries in August!

The Elders headline Friday events at Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival

June 25-27, 2010, is the fifth year for the Cheyenne Celtic Musical Arts Festival on the downtown Depot Plaza. Organizers say that "every year this festival gets a little bigger -- and I think it gets even better!" Events are free.

The Elders will be headliners on Friday, June 25, 9-11 p.m.

Full schedule: http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/_pdfs/2010/celtic%20sched.pdf

All this Republican talk about slashing state spending is giving me a headache

Jeremy Pelzer reported an astonishing fact in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune -- Republican Gubernatorial candidates want to cut the state budget.

Some more than others.

Can you say Ron Micheli?

According to Pelzer, Micheli sees the budget as a growing threat. Kind of on the order of nuclear annihilation, unstoppable oil spills, F5 tornadoes, and another eight years of a Democrat in the Gov's seat.

On the campaign trail, Republican gubernatorial candidate Ron Micheli has aimed his sights on what he says is a growing threat -- the Wyoming state budget.

The state budget's tripled in the past seven years, he warns in forums and campaign stops around the state, and the current level of spending is simply unsustainable.

"I just know that we cannot sustain the level of growth of government that we have now," he said. "And I don't know what the answer is. Should it be cut in half? I don't know that. Should it be cut 30 percent? Again, I don't know that."

Micheli points to a 2009 report by the ideologically conservative but non-partisan American Legislative Exchange Council that concludes Wyoming's state spending trends can't continue on a sustained basis given current revenue levels.

To reduce spending, Micheli said, he would appoint fiscal conservatives to head state agencies, offer incentives to state agencies and employees to find ways to cut costs, and move to a "zero-based" budgeting process in which every new state budget is drawn from scratch instead of starting from the previous budget's spending levels.

Any major budget reduction would likely require cutting the state's employee payroll. Micheli said he favors reducing state jobs through attrition instead of layoffs -- though he hasn't ruled the latter out.

Full disclosure here -- I'm a state employee. When Micheli talks about layoffs, he's talking about me and my colleagues. So I take it personally. When he talks about appointing fiscal conservatives to head state agencies, I cringe. What does he means -- fiscal conservatives? His own coterie of hitmen from the ranks of the Tea Party? Most of the heads of state agencies that I know already are fiscal conservatives. Many are Democrats but most are not. If you wanted each Wyoming state agency headed up by a Dem, we'd still be waiting for slots to be filled eight years after Gov Dave took office.

We all know what Micheli means -- he wants Republicans who hate gubment to be in charge of the government. Remember how well that worked out under eight years of George W. Bush and Cheney and all of his gubment-hating, oil-slurping pals? I can refresh your memory if you forget. Not sure if I have enough time or enough electrons to do so in this space. But I can try.

What do Micheli's three opponents on the Repub side say about budget-cutting?

"I think that we are in pretty good shape right now, although I think that there's always room to take a look at individual agencies and see how we're doing," said GOP gubernatorial candidate Matt Mead. "It's maybe easy to talk about it in terms of political rhetoric, but it's much more difficult when you actually have to get there and make a decision."

House Speaker Colin Simpson has proposed a "sunset advisory commission" that would evaluate the policies of and need for each state agency. Similarly, GOP candidate Rita Meyer touts increasing the number of audits of state agencies and programs.

--snip--

Colin Simpson said even Micheli's assertion that the state budget has tripled since 2003 is misleading. While state revenues have tripled during that time, Simpson said, the Legislature put much of that money toward savings and one-time capital projects.

"Taken out of context, budget numbers can be dangerously deceptive," said State Auditor Meyer. "So you have to be very thoughtful when you're looking at budget numbers, when you're talking about growth."

Read more about Wyoming politics and government at http://tribtown.trib.com/wypolitics.

I wonder how many times Micheli will talk about slashing state budgets and eliminating state employees and wasteful government spending when he talks to Cheyenne audiences? I did hear him speak on the steps of the Capitol a month ago and he did indeed talk about cutting state government. But that was a Tea Party crowd. They know that gubment on all levels is wasteful -- and probably sinful.

Now where my Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and veteran's benefits at?

Love & hate along the Pridefest parade route

At Denver Pridefest Parade with Chris, Annie and Brandon. Biggest surprise is large number of churches in parade. No surprise to see protester with misspelled sign.

Never been to Pridefest before. Might not have gone to this one if it wasn't time for a Father's Day excursion (a family tradition) and Annie's gay friend who had been in Cheyenne too long and had never seen a "Pride" parade.

I was impressed. Biggest parade I'd ever seen. Young woman standing next to me said that it was one of the biggest outside of San Francisco. Not sure about that. But it lasted about two hours. The Denver Post said that some 100,000 people saw the parade. Dang, and it didn't even have any marching bands. Music was provided mainly by sound systems on the floats. Club music, mostly, and some hip hop.

Annie and Brandon disappeared, as teens do, and Chris and I fell in at the end of the parade and walked down to the Denver Civic Center.

We passed a van that was all about God hating gays. My favorite sign read "Diversity is Perversity."

That's what it's all about, isn't it? O.K. to hate gays because they are different from you and me in this too-diverse society? O.K. to pass anti-immigration laws to keep the "Others" away from us.

"Diversity is Perversity."

Tea Partiers and born-again zealots should wear that on signs around their necks. Then we can see them coming.

Gardening in Wyoming

Garden, with water and sunset (black blob in background is our mutt chewing on bone).

Juneteenth in Cheyenne

Juneteenth committee member, community organizer, YMCA maven (and loving spouse) Chris Shay serves as emcee at Cheyenne event.

Rep. Jim Byrd introduces Juneteenth

Democratic Rep. Jim Byrd speaks about the history of Juneteenth during the celebration at Martin Luther King, Jr., Park in Cheyenne.

Y as in _ _ _ _

Y Guy and Annie S at the "Music on the Plaza" event in Cheyenne Friday evening. At last, the sun...

Send Rev. Mooney your bibles, your torahs, your korans, your atheist texts, your dog-eared W.S. Merwin books...

I receive the weekly newsletter from the Capitol Heights Faith Communities in Denver. Two communities share one building in one of Denver's oldest neighborhoods. One is Capitol Heights Presbyterian and the other is the 10:30 Catholic Community. My family and I were members of the latter. Our son was baptized at 10:30, which had one weekly mass -- at 11 a.m. The explanation is too longto get into now.

It's been awhile since I was an active member but I like to keep up by reading the e-mail "open letter."

This week's issue had info on a unique art project:

Rev. Tim Mooney is the pastor at People's Presbyterian Church and an accomplished artist. For the Biennial of the Americas Celebration in July, he is constructing an art installation at the Space Gallery. The installation will be an American Flag made from some 4000 bibles, torahs, talmuds, korans, vedic texts, etc. - the scriptures/texts of all the major religions/belief systems in proportion to the percentage each religion/belief systems represents in our country's population. Through the installation he hopes to create a visual picture of who we are, and add to the ongoing conversation about religious, spiritual, and even atheistic beliefs that influence and affect us. The installation will be accompanied by a looping audio track with recorded prayers/hopes for our country based on the various perspectives. You can help by sending old bibles and other religious texts, preferably but not exclusively hardback to him. Red and white are particularly needed. Based on the PEW reports latest statistics he will need about 2000 bibles (protestant Christians), 1000 bibles with apocrypha (catholic and orthodox), 70 books of Mormon, 30 writings from Jehovahs Witnesses, 70 Torahs or Talmuds, 30 Sutras or Tibetan books of the Dead, 25 Korans, 15 Vedic scriptures, 70 books on atheist writings, 20 new age books, and about 300 poetry or philosophic books that cover a percentage that are unaffiliated. If you can send books, please e-mail him at timmooneystudio@aol.com and let him know the quantity and kind of book(s) you're sending. He would also gladly receive funds to support this project.

Chris and I have some old Catholic perayer books and Bibles we can send. We have Chris's father's pocket Catholic missal (sp) that he carried through WWII. I also have a Book of Mormon I can part with (I have an extra). Quite a few philosophy tomes, too, that I probably can part with.

I want to contribute. Artists should be encouraged. And this one will be chock full of messages -- subtle and no so subtle.

Contemplating Flannery O'Connor this summer in the Wind River Mountains

I stumbled upon the Ring Lake Ranch site today. It's a retreat center near Dubois. I looked at their summer schedule as was bowled over by some of the offerings.

Here's one I especially like:

Bishop Will Willimon presents "Haunted by God with Flannery O’Connor," August 1-7.

Some commentary by Director Carl Koch from the web site:

Flannery O'Connor may have been haunted by God. She was a devout Catholic who beleived it heaven and hell. I used to be cut from that same cloth. But now am no longer a practicing Catholic. However, I am still haunted by the remnants of my faith. Reading Flannery O'Connor pushes all my buttons.

I have sometimes wondered in recent years about how many mainline Protestants and Catholics consciously raise the issue of their redemption or salvation. I must confess that “Will I be saved?” doesn’t keep me up nights – and it isn’t because I’m all that good. Even so, my recent bout with cancer turned my attention to last things – but only until my tests after treatment came back clear.

On the other hand, one still hears people on opposite sides of many issues – abortion, the death penalty, gay rights, war – condemn their opponents to damnation, in effect claiming that folks on their side will be saved.

Like Flannery O’Connor, my family and I were Catholics raised in a pre-Vatican Council church that seemed a lot clearer about who would and wouldn’t be saved. Good Catholics would make it into heaven – that was a given.

But, there always was some doubt that I still carry with me.

In one of my previous lives I was a professor of American Literature. Naturally I taught Flannery O’Connor’s works from time to time. In virtually every story, O’Connor placed her characters in a situation in which they faced a moral decision – a decision between salvation and damnation. They were given a “moment of grace” during which they had the power to select the good. O’Connor didn’t allow wiggle room either. At the end of the story, the reader knew the fate of each character.

So, who can be saved? How do we recognize our “moment of grace?” Bring your musings about and stories around redemption. This should be a provocative session with a master preacher and teacher who has clearly tackled this subject from many perspectives.

Wyoming's Organizing for America holds June 15 meeting in Cheyenne

From the Laramie County Democrats:

I am happy to announce that Kathy Everingim will be hosting a house meeting on Tuesday, June 15, beginning at 6 p.m.

Her address is 1717 East 22nd St., Cheyenne.

Please bring a little beverage or snack to keep the mood festive and the taste buds guessing!

At this meeting I would like to focus on a couple things that needs to happen in order for Wyoming to keep moving forward.

1. 2010 voter outreach to that large number of 2008 first time voters in Laramie County. There was over 5,000. That's a lot of votes, especially then you consider that in 2006 only 33% of eligible Wyoming voters actually casted a ballot.

2. How to host phone banks and community canvasses

3. I would also like for us to meet some candidates, so let us hope they show up

4. There will be specific plans of action conducted, because that is where the fun happens.

Bryon Lee
Organizing for America - Wyoming
State Director
(307) 752-5972
leeb@dnc.org
http://www.facebook.com/ofa.wy

Please, take a couple minutes to check out this Recovery and Reinvestment Act Benefits video: http://www.barackobama.com/recovery/video.php?source=feature

Bad company -- Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis and staffer Johnnie Burton

From today's Casper Star-Tribune:

CHEYENNE -- Wyoming's 2010 congressional race heated up recently, as Democratic candidate David Wendt blasted incumbent U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., for employing the controversial former director of the federal Minerals Management Service.

Lummis' campaign fiercely denounced the accusation, in what could be the start of a contentious election campaign for the state's lone U.S. House seat.

In a letter sent last week, Wendt demanded Lummis explain why she employs Johnnie Burton, who came under fire during her five years as head of the MMS, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling and revenues from energy exploration on federal lands.

Burton, who served with Lummis in the state Legislature in the 1980s and was also director of the Wyoming Department of Revenue, serves as a Cheyenne-area field representative for the congresswoman, helping constituents with issues such as receiving veterans' benefits or obtaining travel visas.

As MMS director, Burton oversaw the agency plagued with what one federal investigator later called a "culture of ethical failure." Agency workers were caught taking bribes from, having sex with and using drugs with energy industry employees. Burton also promoted a now-defunct royalty-in-kind program that allowed energy companies to avoid making billions of dollars in payments to the government.

She also was criticized for not acting quickly enough to correct blunders on offshore energy leasing contracts that cost the federal government billions of dollars in royalty payments.

Read all about the scandals that plagued the MMS during Burton's tenure in the Denver Post's investigative report from September 2008 at http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_10431998

And read this scary post at emptywheel: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2010/06/02/dick-cheneys-wyomings-face-at-mms/

There's more. So much more. And you thought that the Gulf of Mexico was oily.

Ken McCauley comes calling -- in the rain

Ken McCauley stopped by my house yesterday. Surprised to see him as it was raining and there's still time enough to campaign for the 2010 Wyoming primaries in August.

But he's new to political campaigning and thought he'd get an early start. I invited him in but he said he had a lot of territory to cover. He handed me a flyer. We talked outside in the drizzle.

Democrat for House District 8. My previous rep was Democrat Lori Millin, who's parlaying her two terms in the Wyming House to a campaign for the Wyoming Senate. Both House and Senate need all the Dems it can get. Wildly outnumbered in both houses. Still, there's always hope.

I walked the neighborhood for Lori in 2006 and will probably do the same for Ken. Lori beat long-time House Repub Larry Meuli in 2006 and newcomer Bob Nicholas in 2008. Both were squeakers. In 2008, results on KGAB Radio had Millin the loser. She ended up winning by a handful (documented at the time on this blog -- I forget the number).

Ken has a similar challenge. I've seen him working up to this for some time. He's a fellow traveler in the Laramie County Democrats. We were both handing out Gary Trauner flyers in the dark on election eve 2008, urging people to get out to vote for a good cause, albeit a losing one.

His campaign material displays his name underlined by an A-10 and its contrail. Ken flew A-10s in the USAF and is a combat veteran. He now flies big jets for United. That alone shows dedication and skill. Military service carries with it a mantle of patriotism. But that's not enough, at least for me. Many ex-military politicians have deserved votes. Others have not. I know some of Ken's politics and will research the rest and go to his public appearances. His significant other, fellow writer Joanne Kennedy, thinks a lot of him and that's probably enough for me. Still, an informed voter gets to win the arguments.

For the rest of you -- Ken deserves your attention. And, once you learn about his person and his politics, your vote.

Five Democrats in the Wyoming Gov race

The WyoDems' site lists the following Democrats in the Governor's race:

Pete Gosar, 1774 Coughlin Street, Laramie, WY, 82072
Phone: 307-760-3219. E-mail: gosar4gov@gmail.com

Al Hamburg, 4705 Road 70Y, Torrington, WY, 82240
Phone: 307-532-7710. E-mail: TBD

Leslie Petersen, PO Box 1147, Jackson, WY, 83001
Phone: 307-413-5004. E-mail: leslie@peopleforpetersen.com
http://www.peopleforpetersen.com

Rex Wilde, 1910 E. 22nd Street, Cheyenne, WY, 82001
Phone: 307-274-5450. E-mail: rexwilde2010@gmail.com

Chris L. Zachary, 1015 Warren Ave., Cheyenne, WY, 82007
Phone: 307-514-2891. E-mail: chrislzachary@yahoo.com

Leslie Petersen of Jackson, recently the party chair, is deemed front-runner by those in the know and bloggers, not necessarily the same group. I've been following Mr. Gosar on his Facebook page. His photo is a shot of him on the gridiron. Not a bad thing. I am a prog-blogger but as a one-time jock I don't automatically dismiss former football, basketball and baseball players as viable candidates. Hockey players, maybe.

One problem -- most ex-jocks tend to be Republicans. Sen. Bill Bradley is a notable exception. Maybe it's the legacy of St. Reagan's turn as George "The Gipper" Gipp in the movies. That forever tainted jocks making the transformation from gridiron to backroom politics.

Is there something about sports that makes conservatives? When I think of sports heroes, I think of the hard-chargers and risk-takers. I think of Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and Joe Namath and Pete Maravich and Dan Issel and Roberto Clemente and Muhammad Ali and John Elway and George Brett and so on. Champions.

Maybe it's the big money of pro sports that makes conservatives. If you make a million dollars a minute, are you going to be radical in your politics? Can you afford it? Probably not.

I wish Mr. Gosar the best. But I do think that Ms. Petersen is going to take the primary and be our candidate for the November election.

What are her chances against Colin Simpson or Matt Mead? Not good. Simpson and Mead are moderates, as is Petersen. When two moderates face off in the Governor's race, the Republican always wins. Repub voters outnumber Dems in Wyoming two to one.

However, when the Dem is a smart moderate with great Wyoming creds (Dave Freudenthal), and is going up against a cuckoo Repub, as happened in both 2006 and 2010, the Dem wins.

I do not put Rita Meyer in the cuckoo category. She is savvy and may end up as the Republican candidate. But Ron Micheli is definitely in cloud cuckoo land. Right winger. Tea Party fave. Wants to cut state government by 40 percent.

Peterson can beat him in the race.

I'm a confirmed Dem. But I could see myself voting for Simpson, possibly Mead. But there is much danger in a Petersen/Micheli face-off. We live in strange times. Anything can happen.

That's why many Dems will switch to the Republican side in August to vote against Micheli. Think about it...

Great news for Cheyenne locavores

This comes from Cindy Ridenour:

Summer Farmers' Market Season officially opens on Tuesday, June 8 as the Wyoming Fresh Market opens.

Wyoming Fresh Market

3:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Tuesdays, June 8 - October 12

Yellowstone Road in front of Sutherland's

"Eat Local. It's thousands of miles fresher."

Opening the Season with:

Fresh Garden Produce,

Grassfed Beef and Bison, Ready-to-eat BBQ, Smoked Salmon and Chowders,

Gourmet Pasta,

Baked Goods,

Local Jams, Honey, and Peanut Butter Spread,

Garden bedding plants and hanging baskets, house plants,

Natural Body Care Products

To come in the following weeks:

Tortillas and Chips, Salsas,

Grassfed Lamb,

Free-range eggs,

Colorado Tree Fruits, starting with cherries - perhaps end of June,

More Fresh Produce and body care vendors,

and more...

Dem Gov hopeful Pete Gosar participates in Energy Expo Gubernatorial Debate

From a press release:

Democratic Party Gubernatorial candidate Pete Gosar will be in Casper on Tuesday, June 8, 2010, at the Democratic Men’s Meeting. The meeting will take place at the Parkway Plaza at noon.

Pete will also attend the Energy Expo Gubernatorial Debate in Gillette. The debate is being
held at from 4-6 p.m. at the Cam-Plex Multi Event Facility.

Pete will be available at both events to answer questions and discuss issues facing Wyoming.

Contact: Pete Gosar, 307.760-3219, gosar4gov@gmail.com

Tales about Heart Mountain -- and the "Octopus in the Freezer"

Photo shows the interpretive walk on the site of the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp between Cody and Powell. Photo taken by Lee Ann Roripaugh on her family's tour of the site yesterday before a presentation at the WWInc conference. (from Facebook)

Lee Ann and Bob Roripaugh presented a fantastic reading last night at the WWInc conference in Cody. They took turns reading poems from Lee Ann's book, Beyond Heart Mountain. Readings were accompanied by slides from the internment camp, provided by Dave Reetz of Heart Mountain Foundation. Very moving.

Lee Ann read the poetic monologues that were in women's voices. Bob, her father, read the men's voices.

Lee Ann is Bob's daughter. Bob is Wyoming Poet Laureate Emeritus and retired University of Wyoming professor. Lee Ann teaches in the creative writing program at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

Lee Ann talked about growing up in Laramie. Back then, the university town was very, very white -- still is. Life wasn't easy for a shy non-white kid. Her mother, Yoshiko, met Bob when he was serving with U.S. Army occupation forces in Japan.

Bob grew up in west Texas where WWII bomber crews trained at the air base outside town. Meanwhile, in Japan, Yoshiko was a school girl whose town was pounded regularly by those very bombers.

In Japan, they met and fell in love and married and moved to the U.S. Bob taught English and wrote about his experiences. Bob's story "Peach Boy" was published by the Atlantic Monthly in 1958. This led to enquiries by editors. According to Bob, one letter asked if he was working on a novel. "I told him I was, even though I was really working on a book of short stories."

This led to a published novel. It's also a useful tip for short story writers. If an editor or agent ever asks if you're working on a novel, say yes.

In Cody on June 4, 2010, Bob read about one of the internment camp's No-No Boy who refused to serve in the U.S. Army and was sent away from his family to another camp. He read about the Isei building a mini-internment camp for the horned toads he found around the camp.

Lee Ann read in the voice of the camp nurse. She read about a Nisei woman whose son interrogates Japanese prisoners of war. She read in the voice of a young girl who has to listen to the snores of the old lady on one side of her thin barrack's walls (they don't go all the way to the ceiling) and the couple on the other side who fight and then make strange noises like the hooting of owls.

Each of the writers then read samples of their own work. Bob read a part of "Peach Boy" and the poem "Yellow Willow," both based on his experience in Japan. Lee Ann read some poems about growing up in Laramie: "pearls," "Antelope Jerky" and "Octopus in the Freezer." I've heard Lee Ann read "Octopus" before. But it was good to hear again because it alternates between horrifying and hilarious. Lee Ann's mom had bought an octopus at a Denver market and it was stored in the freezer. Lee Ann heard bumps in the night and the clanging of a furnace and thought it was the octopus banging around in the freezer. Not sure which of Lee Ann's three books this is in, but buy them all and pay special attention to "Octopus." A new twist on childhood fears of a monster hiding under the bed.

Lee Ann, Bob, Max McCoy and two literary agents will be conducting workshops and presentations all day today. More info at http://www.wyowriters.org/