Made in the USA? Good idea 'til greed got in the way

This is a 1983 song by Bob Dylan but it's even more relevant today. It reflects what's happening in Wisconsin and what Republicans are trying to do to all working people in the USA -- bring our wages down to the levels conglomerates pay labor in Indonesia and Latin America:

Union Sundown (excerpt)
Bob Dylan

Well, my shoes, they come from Singapore,
My flashlight's from Taiwan,
My tablecloth's from Malaysia,
My belt buckle's from the Amazon.
You know, this shirt I wear comes from the Philippines
And the car I drive is a Chevrolet,
It was put together down in Argentina
By a guy makin' thirty cents a day

Well, it's sundown on the union
And what's made in the USA
Sure was a good idea
'Til greed got in the way.

From Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams, edited by M.L. Liebler and published by Coffee House Press.

Ashes to ashes -- now take the bastards down!

So Ash Wednesday was yesterday. This marks the beginning of Lent. I wore ashes on my forehead for most of my life. I miss them, but I can no longer stomach the Catholic Church and its bigotry against the LGBT community and women. And hypocrisy on child sex abuse by priests. I do like the Pope's cool shoes.

As Lent begins, I also think of St. Patrick's Day and the holiday's importance in our Irish-Catholic family. Many of those memories involve drinking and toasts to The Old Sod where I've never been and to where my Irish grandfather never wanted to return. It'd odd to be nostalgic for a place I haven't visited. But it's in my blood and I grew up with the stories. I credit some of my storytelling and writing skills to DNA and a certain spirit that travels down the generations. My parents, both terrific readers, get a lot of the credit. So do the nuns and priests and public school teachers who educated this lad.

Irish have a creative side, a drinking side, a dark side, a feisty side. I was thinking of that when I watched this Dropkick Murphys song as accompaniment to videos of the worker protests in Madison, WI. "Take the bastards down." Has a good ring, don't you think? As a public service to me and my readers, I'm going to track down the origins of this song. The Murphs are known for their ass-kicking shows. Maybe this is an original. Maybe an old union song. I will let you know. Meanwhile, here's the vid:



UPDATE: Here's a post from the Dropkick Murphys web site (with cool T-shirt):

Hey Everyone -- the Dropkick Murphys would like to take a moment to acknowledge the struggles of the working people of Wisconsin and to pledge our support and solidarity by releasing the song “Take Em Down” from our upcoming album. We think it’s appropriate at the moment and hope you like it.

We have also created a limited edition “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt which will be available for sale shortly at www.dropkickmurphys.com/merch. Proceeds from the “Take ‘Em Down” t-shirt sales will benefit Workers’ Rights Emergency Response Fund (https://afl.salsalabs.com/o/4002/wi-response).

Drinking Liberally mixes with art appreciation for a hot Thursday night in Cheyenne

I'm going to miss this and am not happy about it. The first "Drinking Liberally" event in Cheyenne will be on Thursday, March 10, 6 p.m., at Shadows Pub & Brewery in the Historic Depot Building downtown. Good beers, good company, good conversation.

Here's a thought for all you Liberal drinkers -- on your way to the pub, drop by one of the fine art galleries sponsoring Art Design and Dine Thursday from 5-8 p.m. Participating businesses include Deselms Fine Art (where Wyoming Democrats' legislative reception was held two weeks ago), Rock Paper Scissors Gallery, a coop made up of local liberal artist entrepreneurs, Nagle-Warren Mansion with its basement gallery and long tradition of arts support, and Artful Hand Gallery & Studio in a house in the Avenues, run by Georgia Rowswell and family. Georgia is the force behind Art Design and Dine. She got it started and keeps it energized. For a full line-up of AD&D galleries, go to http://www.artdesignanddine.org (or click on poster at right).

Think of tomorrow evening as a chance to buy (or at least appreciate) fine art and Liberal politics. Not all art is created or sold by Liberals. But creation (small "c") is a progressive act. When you create something, you have some hope that you will be around the next day to finish it and the next day and so on. You hope that other people will be around to appreciate it. You're making a mark that may carry far into the future. Someone in the regressive frame of mind wants to spring backward -- or maybe even slouch there. Not a creative act.

Here's something progressive -- count me in for the next event! I'll be there.

Wyoming Progressives are gathering on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyoming-Progressives/145187445545047

Mark your calendars for Wyoming Writers, Inc., conference June 3-5 in Casper

I'm a member of this great writing organization. A fantastic summer conference is planned and I urge you to attend.

Here are some details:

Don't miss the 2011 Wyoming Writers, Inc., Conference

Ramada Plaza Riverside Hotel and Conference Center along the North Platte River in Casper, June 3–5

Presentations, Workshops, Agent Pitch Sessions, Contest, Book Signings, Open Mic! In case you're wondering, I'm the emcee for the open mic sessions on Friday and Saturday. 

Presenters:
Author Lucia St. Clair Robson
Poet Chris Fischbach
Peter McCarthy, Vice President of Marketing at Random House
Editor Katie Dublinski, Graywolf Press
Agent Peter Steinberg, Steinberg Agency

Register or get more info at http://www.wyowriters.org. Sign up by May 9 and pay only $155 for the conference ($170 for non-members). 

Conference: bowercorner@juno.com
Contest: phdugan@silverstar.com

Supported in part by a grant from the Wyoming Arts Council, through funding from the Wyoming State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

4&20 blackbirds: "The Tale of Two Rallies" in Montana

I've been missing a lot of good stuff happening in Montana because I haven't been visiting 4&20 blackbirds. But here's a great post by jhwygirl, former WY resident (she still occasionally sneaks over the border) and now a spur under the saddle of Montana knuckleheads.

Read her latest post at http://4and20blackbirds.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/if-it-isnt-clear-now-who-the-legislature-should-be-listening-to-it-should-be-still-more-national-attention/

With a great graphic:

Warning to Governors: Don't use publicly-employed Guard troops to quash dissent by public employees

I've had sidebar links for both Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and its older brother, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) for years. I am not a veteran but support them and their causes.

This time, they're standing with their fellow public employees. This sums it up:

We believe military service members are public employees too. It is dishonorable to suggest that military personnel should be deployed against teachers, health care providers, firefighters, police officers, and other government employees, many of whom are themselves serving in the National Guard.

It's true that U.S. Army and National Guard troops have sometimes been deployed to quash dissent. This happened regularly during the Vietnam War protests in the sixties and early seventies. I was a ROTC student at University of South Carolina in the spring of 1970 when the Guard was called out to police the campus after Kent State protests erupted. Some of the Guard guys were Carolina students, which made it strange. To my knowledge, none of them beat the crap out of their fellow students. It was a different matter with S.C. Highway Patrol troopers, who swarmed into dorms and beat up any longhairs they could find.

The Guard has been deployed by Governors to carry out racist and anti-union policies. In September 1957, Gov. Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to make sure that African-American students didn't enter the state university.

Arkansas National Guard commander blocks black students from entering their taxpayer-supported
university 

Only after Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the Guard and sent in the 101st Airborne, did these brave students (Little Rock Nine) get to attend the university that their tax dollars supported.

Does this seem crazy? I was six years old and don't really remember it. But I look back on it and am astonished that this happened in my country.

Here's another photo pitting soldiers against workers from the IVAW web site.

And, finally, a quote from the IVAW web site:

Troops have been called out in the past against worker strikes, campus protests, and urban uprisings. However, recent events in Egypt and numerous examples from U.S. history have shown that service members have the power to side with the people and refuse to use violence against their fellow citizens. Troops activated for duty in Madison, WI will have to decide if public sector workers are really the enemy. IVAW says they are not and that troops should support workers fighting for decent jobs, wages, and benefits.

Extremism goes mainstream in Wyoming politics

Lead article in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle by Josh Mitchell:

Extremism in Wyoming: Neo-Nazis are here. So is the KKK. A white supremacist group thinks this could be a great place to thrive. But when it comes to extremism in Wyoming, that's just the tip of the iceberg.

It's an interesting piece, but the reporting only goes so far. The Southern Poverty Law Center does great work investigating traditional right-wing extremist groups. It earned its chops fighting groups such as the KKK and the John Birch Society that were battling civil rights legislation in the fifties and sixties. Sure, these groups still spout hate and actively recruit new members. The Cheyenne KKK chapter came to the Capitol a decade ago to stage a protest against an issue that I can't recall. There are Birchers in Wyoming, says Bill Hahn, PR guy for JBS national HQ in Wisconsin. He's named in the WTE article, and says he won't give out membership info for Wyoming.

Sorry SPLC, but I don't fear these groups. I fear the mainstreaming of their ideas. The Tea Party is a contemporary offshoot of the John Birch Society. For the past two years, conservative candidates have been falling all over each other to curry favor with the Tea Party. At least one Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2010 spoke at a Tea Party rally in Cheyenne. That was Ron Micheli of notoriously conservative Uinta County. He said what a lot of Wyomingites wanted to hear in 2010 and came within a gnat's eyelash of winning his party's nomination. This was stymied by sensible Republicans and a horde of cross-over Dem voters in the primaries.

If you scoff at the idea that KKK and Bircher nonsense is now mainstream, you didn't pay attention to the recently completed session of the Wyoming Legislature. Gays, lesbians, immigrants, union members, teachers and public employees were all targeted by proposed bills. Very few made it into law. But this is just the beginning. As hate and discrimination goes mainstream, fueled by the Tea Party, with its "strains of extremism," and 24/7 Fox and right-wing radio, more and more legislators with these agendas will be elected. This is especially true in the rural areas of the state, where Democrats are rare but satellite antennae grow like prairie weeds.

This legislation will be supported (as it is now) by lobbyists from conservative think tanks and large corporate interests. Progressive and moderate Wyomingites will have their hands full working against discriminatory bills. We have passion but little money. We are fortunate that there are Republican legislators such as Cale Case who continue the state's strains of moderation. But their days may be numbered as they are targeted as RINOs (Republican in Name Only) by right-wing activists backed by outside funding.

The WTE article is worth reading. It adds to our understanding about the right-wing weirdness that has entered politics in the Equality State.

For the full SLPC report, "U.S. Hate Groups top 1,000," go to http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/us-hate-groups-top-1000

Last day at the Wyoming Legislature -- artful words and song overwhelm hatred and fear

I visited the lobby of the Wyoming House chambers on Thursday morning. The combative legislative session was winding down and House members were taking their final coffee break. I ran into local Democratic legislators I know and have campaigned for -- Mary Throne, Ken Esquibel, Floyd Esquibel. They appeared suitably relieved on the last day of official business. I also saw some Republican legislators who have championed some good bills and some that were terribly regressive and anti-human. HB 74, for example.

I thought it was telling that many of the Republicans were waylaid on their way into the chambers by Becky Vandeberghe of WyWatch Family Action. This ultra-conservative org was pushing hard to demonize the LGBT community. Big fail! WyWatch only succeeded in embarrassing The Equality State in the eyes of the nation and in rallying a disparate group of Dems and Repubs to oppose the bills. Some were conservative legislators Phil Nicholas and Cale Case. Take a look at this March 4 clip from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I really liked Sen. Case's amendment. He is, after all, a conservative economist who knows all about unforeseen consequences of dumb legislation.

There were regressive lobbyists and regressive politicians passing therough the lobby on Thursday. Mrs. Vandeberghe of WyWatch was handing out conservative Christian prayer books and clasping the hands of ultra-conservative lawmakers she had won over. "God Bless You," she said, staring deep into their eyes as if attempting to hypnotize them into submission for next year's session.

On the other side of the wood-paneled room, sitting in a comfy chair, was Wyoming's poet laureate, David Romtvedt. He was awaiting the summons to come in and read poems to House members. This is an annual tradition at the Legislature. On Wednesday, David read his poetry to members of the Senate but the House was overburdened with last-minute stuff and didn't have time for David. But he was back.

The House was called to order and began business with a hymn. You can look at a hymn as another form of poetry or as song or even as propaganda. Singing of the hymn fell to Rep. Bob Brechtel (R-Casper), who supported anti-gay legislation all the way. He sang every single verse of "How Great Thou Art." It was piped into the lobby via loudspeakers. Rep. Brechtel has a nice voice and might even have a music background. Wonder if he knows how many gays and lesbians make of the state's music community, or the arts community in general? As the hymn went on, I ran into House doorman Keith Rounds, an accomplished cowboy poet. I asked him if Rep. Brechtel was a preacher or a minister or just liked to sing. He's very religious, he said. Catholic I think. I responded: "What is a nice Catholic boy doing singing a Protestant hymn?" Growing up Catholic, we always sang Catholic hymns -- badly, and in Latin. Keith didn't know the answer to my question.

Meanwhile, as a right-wing Catholic sang God's praises and a right-wing activist handed out God's words, The Bettys showed up. They are a group of about a dozen young women who make up the University of Wyoming acapella singing group. They were getting a guided tour of the Capitol before they sang to the House. They wore black-and-white outfits with 40s-style poufy hats and pink high-heeled shoes. We invited them into the lobby and we all had a great time talking about singing and dancing and the arts. I'm surprised an alarm didn't go off in the lobby. "Warning, warning, lobby dangerously overloaded with arts types. Warning, warning!" David almost broke out his accordion to accompany The Bettys on "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie." But the music had to wait as the tour guide intervened and whisked the young women away to see the rest of the Capitol.

I had a meting to attend so couldn't stick around. I missed hearing David's poetry and music mixing with the strains of hymns and acapella boogie. But I bet if I wander into the empty House chambers on Monday, I'll be able to hear the lingering tones of the arts drowning out the razor-edged words of hatred and fear.

Hanging out in Cheyenne with the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud crowd

Marking the wrap-up of Wyoming Poetry Out Loud outside The Albany Tuesday. Pictured are (left to right) L.A. musician Peter Lewis, one of the founding members of Moby Grape; Mike Shay, no credentials to speak of; Detroit poet and musician M.L. Liebler, editor of new anthology "Working Words: Punching the Clock and Kicking Out the Jams;" Linda Coatney, poet and WAC coordinator or Poetry Ouit Loud; and daughter Annie Shay, poet and musician. Lunch was fab. So was POL.

Slob alert! Slob alert!

On MSNBC, Wisconsin Republican State Senator Glenn Grothman called protesting police and teachers and fire fighters and moms and college students "slobs." People with cameras looked and looked and could not find any slobs singing songs and carrying signs. There were, however, rumors of slobbish behavior in the Wisconsin Senate and on Fox "News." You be the judge.

Can You Find the Slob? (Photo Diary on Daily Kos)

CLTP announces 2011-2012 season at March 24 event

This will be a busy spring on the Cheyenne arts scene. Here's one event I won't miss:

Cheyenne Little Theatre Players will announce our

2011-2012 Season

with a 

Season Kick Off Presentation

Thursday March 24, 2011 @ 5:00pm

at the Historic Atlas Theatre.

Come join us and be one of the first to find out what fabulous shows we will be producing during 2011-2012,

Learn what exciting changes we have made to our Season Ticket Packages,

and Purchase YOURS that evening!

** Season Packages will be available through the

Box Office or online March 25, 2011.

  

If you have questions, please contact our

Box Office at 307-638-6543.

Imagine a protest with imaginative signs

My fellow progressive blogger at thepoliticalenvironment in Wisconsin had the following to say about free speech and protest. Pictured above is an example of the of the "angry, distasteful signs" on display at Saturday's rally in Madison.

Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary, on behalf of Gov. Walker, told a Madison judge Tuesday that the display of "angry, disdainful signs" was one reason that protesters should be denied access to the State Capitol.

Mean signs? Really? Should we pull up the Tea Party photo album?

No need - - as Wednesday the US Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that truly angry, disdainful signs displayed weirdly and offensively by anti-gay protesters at US military soldiers' funerals is legally protected free speech under the US Constitution.

Huebsch picked the wrong day to complain about signs.

Another miscalculation by the Walker Gang, and for now, the Capitol remains open - - though Huebsch and Co., in slowing down the flow of people through the doors, seem to playing fast and loose with the word "open."

Kevin the Climber, Part II

Vedauwoo photo from climbing site vedauwoo.org

This is a good day to be recalling some of my adventures with our son, Kevin. He’s flying in from Tucson today as a 26-year-old man who has a life of his own a thousand miles away. He’s a groomsman at a good friend’s wedding, and he taking an elongated spring break. He’s on the lifetime plan at a community college. But it’s his plan and I’m glad he has one. He doesn’t do much rock climbing any more, but it was his passion as a youngster growing up in Colorado and Wyoming. This post is the second installment of Kevin the Climber.

I watch my son Kevin as he clambers up the tumbledown boulder field of Vedauwoo in southeastern Wyoming’s Laramie Range during the summer of 1996.  There is something natural about this 11-year-old’s ease with the billion-year-old rock, the way he picks his way through narrow passageways and finds just the right finger hold to get up and over a house-sized chunk of Precambrian granite.  You could say that since he is a third-generation Coloradan, born within the magnetic fields of dozens of mountain ranges, he was destined to climb rocks.  He could just have easily been born to yodel country-western songs or snowboard naked or speculate in Aspen real estate or a thousand-and-one things Westerners seem compelled to do.  Kevin prefers rocks.

Where Kevin sees a ladder to the sky, I see a rocky barrier. I will climb until I get to the top or get stymied by a “radical vertical,” whichever comes first.   The rocks seem to beckon Kevin, to welcome him in ways foreign to me.  I have suggested that he should take rope-climbing classes, learn the traditional roots of the sport.  “Why would I want to do that?” he asks, as if it never occurred to him to place something as foreign as rope between him and the mountain.

It’s possible his rock worship might date back to our Druidic roots, our Celtic ancestors’ reciprocal relationship with the natural world.  It may just be that he likes free-climbing rocks the same way I loved surfing during my teen years on Florida’s Atlantic coast.  The Druid Surfer spawns the Druid Rockhead.  If we could jump back in time a million years or so, we could both be engaged in our separate passions right on this very spot.  He could be climbing Mesozoic rocks, still bursting from the earth’s crust, and I could be surfing the bitchin’ waves of the ancient inland sea.

Because Kevin has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, his love for rocks has physiological roots.  To concentrate is everything for this hyperactive kid.  He can’t do it for extended periods of time unless he is under the influence of Ritalin, a drug that helps him control an aggressive impulsiveness, one of the telltale signs of ADHD.  Right now, as he climbs toward the sharp blue Wyoming sky, the Ritalin, a central nervous system stimulant, is working on my son’s brain stem arousal system causing it to not be aroused.  Why is that?  Don’t look for any help from the medical texts.  Says thePhysicians’ Desk Reference:  There is no “specific evidence which clearly establishes the mechanism whereby Ritalin produces its mental and behavioral effects on children, nor conclusive evidence regarding how these effects relate to the condition of the central nervous system.”

Each time we climb, Kevin eventually disappears, leaving me to my own shortcomings as a climber.  I don’t mind.  Rocks offer him solace and solitude.  They do not call him names.  They do not mistake his energetic aura for anything else.  They are rocks and that is why we came here and why he will continue to climb long after I am sidelined by the aches of an aging Baby Boomer body.

Alone on the rocks, I get a chance to conduct my favorite climbing activity: sitting on a perch, watching the dark patterns that drifting cumulus make on the blue-green landscape.  Across the narrow valley, members of a rope-climbing class from University of Wyoming take turns rappeling down a cliff.  In the far distance on Sherman Hill, a line of trucks crawl along I-80 and a freight train crosses “The Gangplank” of the Laramie Range — a granite sheet that is a centuries-old thoroughfare for Cheyenne and Arapaho, pioneers, railroaders, vacationers and truckers, those transients that have been both boon and curse to the West.

I luxuriate in the feel of the cool breeze on my face, the tart taste of an apple on a July afternoon.  Hawks ride Vedauwoo’s complex air currents. A wonderful dream, to fly like a hawk.  Some time within the next hour Kevin will shout my name and I will look up to see him waving from a pinnacle, his lanky form etched against the blue sky. “Come on up!” he will yell, and I will return his wave and shake my head.

He goes some places where I cannot follow.

Cross-posted from easytolovebut blog. Way back when, this piece appeared in a longer and slightly different form in Montana’s now-defunct Northern Lights magazine.

Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems

Why oh why is a batshit crazy group of Utah right-wingers spending time and money in Wisconsin?

Because they are batshit crazy Utah right-wingers and they've run out of targets in Utah and its satellite states of Wyoming and Idaho and Arizona and are now spreading venom to Wisconsin.

The conservative American Recall Coalition, a group from Salt Lake City, Utah, is leading the charge to reel in eight Democratic Senators in Wisconsin who are among 14 lawmakers who left the state in protest of Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB).

The out-of-state group last week filed with the GAB website to recall the Senators, but initial filings did not have anyone from the local senatorial district as part of the recall requests.

"They didn't have any local people involved, so we contacted them and said they need to have one local person in each district," said GAB spokesman Reid Magney. "They withdrew those initial filings and made new ones and we are waiting for the signed paperwork."

Wisconsin senators targeted in the campaign are Lena Taylor, Spencer Coggs, Jim Holperin, Mark Miller, Robert Wirch, Julie Lassa, Fred Risser and Dave Hansen.

According to a Reuters report, the American Recall Coalition is also campaigning to recall Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Arizona, who drew conservative fire last month after linking the Tucson shootings that killed 6 and seriously hurt 13 people, including U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, to "political vitriol, prejudice and bigotry."

Read the rest at Workers' Uprising: Right-Wing Group from Utah Spearheading Effort to Recall Wisconsin Dems| AlterNet

SUPER CRIME STOPPERS -- Wisconsin/Wyoming Edition

Seen any suspicious characters lurking around Wyoming the past few weeks? Other than Republican legislators and oil company lobbyists at the State Capitol? If so, the Wisconsin governor needs you! SUPER CRIME STOPPERS wants tips on renegade Wisconsin state senators. Most people think they fled to Illinois, but valid tips have been flooding in from Tuscon to Tucumcari, Tehatchapi to Tonapah, Boulder to Birmingham, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. One tipster thought he saw one of these renegades at the McDonald's in Douglas. Turned out to be a jackalope. Other sightings have come in from Jeffrey City and Medicine Bow. A suspicious duo in a Prius were stopped for driving too slowly on I-80 outside of Evanston. They turned out to be the only two Democrats in Uinta County. They were hauled in anyway for preventive waterboarding.

The Wisconsin Governor welcomes all sightings. Call now! Click on the link below and call now! And watch the skies!

SUPER CRIME STOPPERS -- Wisconsin Edition | Crooks and Liars

Forget the MSM -- Russia Today covers Wisconsin

Remember when Pres. Reagan called the Soviet Union "The Evil Empire?" I do. This clip comes from "Russia Today" and takes a look at another Evil Empire -- Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his union-busting tactics. Link courtesy of our our fine friends at the Solidarity Wisconsin blog -- and others in the Wisconsin Progressive Bloggers Corps (and not the MSM).

Russia Today covers Wisconsin | Solidarity Wisconsin

On YouTube and in Wyoming: Jam with Peter Lewis and M.L. Liebler

Peter Lewis (left), one of the founding members of Moby Grape, and Detroit performance poet M.L. Liebler perform an impromptu jam in front of the deli counter during the 2010 Midwest Literary Walk in Chelsea outside Detroit. Peter and M.L. will be jammin' and workshoppin' from 2-4 p.m. today at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. No lox and bagels at the library, but lots of poetry and music. Bring your poetry and/or guitar. And it's free!

Wyoming Sen. Kit Jennings: Guns before people!

Republican Sen. Kit Jennings of Casper on Wyoming Legislature's concealed carry bill: "We kind of drew the line in the sand and said we're going to start here and start working back toward everybody having constitutional rights." He also said that Wyoming citizens and lawmakers sent this message with the passage of the bill: "Quit taking away our constitutional rights."

So why did he vote to strip constitutional rights from Wyoming LGBT citizens? Guns before people? Does he have a list of people he is going to eventually endow with constitutional rights? If so, gays and lesbians and teachers and immigrants must be way down at the bottom.

Check out his contradictory votes at http://legisweb.state.wy.us/

Workers rally on a Wyoming Saturday

Unnamed blogger at WY rally

A few words about yesterday's rally at the Wyoming State Capitol supporting public workers in Wisconsin...

About 100 people were there. Teachers, state employees (me and others), railroaders (among them Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne), many teachers, members of CWA, military veterans turned union members, Postal Service workers, a Wisconsin couple who had been in on the early days of the protests in Madison, peaceniks, a former Democratic candidate for Wyoming governor, artists, at least one filmmaker, and so on.

We started with the Pledge of Allegiance and a recitation (by memory) of the preamble to the U.S. Constitution.

"We the People!"

Many people spoke. We did call-and-response, not always in unison. But we were unified.

Rep. Ken Esquibel spoke about how his employer contributed money to his Republican candidate during his run for the Wyoming Legislature. It was something he used in his campaign. Barbara the teacher spoke about how her principal asked her, as a newbie to the red-state school and to the red-state town, how she was going to be involved in the community. He recoiled in horror when she said, "Join a union." She also mentioned something about being a Democrat. A double whammy!

I spoke about my union, the Wyoming Public Employees Association and its mission (written about in yesterday's post) and our mission to stop the the Corporate Right's war against the middle class. I also talked about social justice and quoted a refrain from Daniel Berrigan's poem he wrote from the picket line. "Love. In the end, love." And as the Egyptians said during their protests to bring down a despot: "Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful!"

Scott followed up by noting that Dan Berrigan had been arrested many times in support of workers, peace and justice.

We got honks and waves from motorists. No one-fingered salutes that I saw, but we did get a thumb's down. A guy in a truck kept driving by waving a big American flag from his driver's side window. We didn't know if he was fer us or agin' us. I appreciated his dedication to the cause, whatever that may be. It was a bit cold for waving things out of car windows.

All in all, a great day for a solidarity rally. Getting 100 of anyone out for a February rally is an accomplishment.

NOTE: TV, Radio and newspaper reporters were not there. There were assorted citizen bloggers.

Photos from Wyoming rally supporting Wisconsin public workers

Trio of WI supporters at WY State Capitol

At the WY State Capitol with 100 of my closest friends

On Wisconsin!

Democratic Rep. Ken Esquibel of Cheyenne

Visiting WI Dems tell about experiences at Madison protests