Who's the "Bull Goose Loony" among Wyoming Congressional Republicans?

Congressional Republicans ponder the "Repeal Amendment" while waiting for their meds 

O.K.. "looniness" isn't a word, at least according to Webster's. You can be loony or looney. I can be loonier that thou, or even the looniest one in the bunch. I can imagine myself as the non-politically-correct "Bull Goose Loony" in an imaginary mental ward ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") or be a member of the "Looney Tunes" stable of animated characters -- Daffy Duck comes to mind.

But looniness is a good descriptor for the legislation issuing forth from Congressional Republicans these days. Wyoming's Congressional delegation was once known as a moderate bunch. Sure, they were all Republicans, but senators such as Al Simpson and Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi usually avoided siding with the Far Right on their looniest causes.

There were causes for concern. During his first term, Mike Enzi sided with Sen. Dr. Bill Frist on Terry Schiavo's right to live a long and healthy life in a vegetative state. Sen. Dr. Frist contended that he could diagnose Mrs. Frist via video and, apparently, that was good enough for Sen. Enzi. It was a tempest in a teapot, like so many of these Far Right causes. Education system not working? Blame unionized teachers and their fat paychecks. Don't like abortion? Force women to view ultrasounds of their fetus -- or charge them with murder after the fact. Budget deficits? Cut taxes for the wealthy and kill Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

As I said, looniness.

Now Sen. Enzi and Sen. Dr. John Barrasso (we don't need no universal health care!) and Rep. Cynthia Lummis (a.k.a. seventh-richest member of Congress) are touting the so-called "Repeal Amendment" which would allow states to get rid of federal rules and regulations they don't like. This is a favorite bugaboo of the Far Right. That damn federal gubment is out to get them with needless regulations about wolves and black-footed ferrets and guns and oil drilling and health care and Gays. Wyoming Tea Partiers, many of whom haver never seen a live wolf, call wolves terrorists and want to be able to shoot them on sight if they wander into their ranchette to munch on Fluffy. But that darn gubment keeps getting in their way.

Meanwhile, as rivers flood and tornadoes drop from the sky or rain refuses to fall, these same people holler for federal disaster relief and scream even louder if they don't get it immediately.

Wyoming is one of those states that pays in fewer taxes than it gets in federal funding. It also has a fair amount of federal land. We have two national parks, Yellowstone being the first in the U.S., and some national monuments, including the first in the U.S. in Devils Tower. We have the huge Wind River Indian Reservation and nuke central at F.E. Warren AFB -- I hear reveille sound every morning from the base's loudspeakers. We have the huge national training base at Camp Guernsey. We have national grasslands and reclamation projects and many millions of federal dollars in our interstate highway system and airports. Wyoming relies on energy and tourism, both heavily subsidized by government infrastructure.

Wyoming will wither up and blow away to Nebraska without federal funding from U.S. taxpayers.

All three members of the Wyoming Congressional delegation will be in Platte County this week. Check out the Platte County Democrats' blog to see the schedule. I am not sure if they also will be in Laramie County. Looked for Sen. Enzi's travel schedule on his web site and couldn't find anything up-to-date.

The Casper Star-Tribune had an excellent editorial today about the loony "Repeal Amendment." Here's the opening:

The last time a coalition of states decided it had the power to nullify federal laws was in 1860, when 11 Southern states objected to the ban on slavery and seceded from the union. We all know how that turned out.  Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who has decided to ignore history and steer the current states’ rights bandwagon, is sponsoring the so-called Repeal Amendment, the ultimate anti-federal measure. It has almost no value beyond scoring some political points with the tea party crowd and the far right fringe of the Republican Party.

Read the rest here

Next up on the Republican/Tea Party agenda: secession

From the Casper Star-Tribune:

All three members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation have signed on as co-sponsors to a proposed constitutional amendment allowing states to veto federal laws and regulations they dislike.

Sponsored by U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, the proposal states that any federal law or regulation would be repealed if two-thirds of the states — or 34 states — vote against it, according to an op-ed by Bishop published by The Daily Caller, a conservative news web site.

If the two-thirds majority is reached, the law or regulation would then be sent back to Congress, which could vote to override the repeal and pass it in finality, according to Bishop’s op-ed.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., will be co-sponsors of the legislation, according to spokeswomen for the two lawmakers.

“I am fighting to return to the rightful owner — the states and the individuals — the power that the federal government has grabbed,” Lummis said in a media release Wednesday. “That is what our founders envisioned, what our Constitution requires and what the people of Wyoming demand.”

Though the idea has been championed by many within the conservative tea party movement, Bishop said the check would appeal equally to Republicans and Democrats.

“It is not a partisan issue,” he stated in the op-ed.

However, Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Bill Luckett called the bill “disturbing” and “nothing short of an attack upon the very heart of our Union.”

“It’s sad for Wyoming that both of our U.S. Senators are so caught up in anti-government tea party hysteria that they are endorsing a piece of legislation that would dismantle the Union our Founding Fathers created,” Luckett said in an email.

Public/private partnership brings music treasures to a PC near you

From Voice of America (VOA) comes news about a great public/private partnership:

Grammy-winning performer Harry Connick, Jr., was on hand recently to help the Library of Congress launch a website that offers 10,000 rare and historic sound recordings to the public in digital format for the first time - at no charge.

The massive collection includes popular music, opera and early jazz as well as poetry and famous political speeches. Al Jolson, Arturo Toscanini, Enrico Caruso and George Gershwin are just some of the musical giants featured in the collection.

The site, called National Jukebox, is a collaborative project between the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment. It offers online access to a vast selection of music and spoken-word recordings produced in the U.S. between 1901 and 1925.

James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, characterizes the collection as a “vast treasure trove of recordings produced in the U.S. prior to the end of 1925.”

"It includes early jazz, famous speeches, poetry, humor, opera, dance music with authoritative production information for each recording," says Billington.

The Library of Congress holds the largest collection of historic sound recordings in the United States. They're stored and digitally preserved at a special facility in the state of Virginia. The Jukebox recordings come from that facility.

Richard Story, president of the Commercial Music Group of Sony Music Entertainment, says the remarkable collection traces the roots and development of American music and includes the work of “some of the most influential, most important artists ever."

Are those predator wolves or trophy wolves flying jets over Wyoming?

"Wolves Flying Jets" is a song by Greenhorse. Are these predator wolves or trophy wolves? And can they be hunted while flying jets over Wyoming or Montana or Idaho?

Ask Greenhorse when the group (with Wyoming origins) performs tonight at the WYO Theater in Sheridan.

The song --



Wolves Flying Jets by Greenhorse

"To End All Wars" -- not by a long shot

Almost a century after it started, World War I continues to fascinate. I read the favorable New York Times review by Christopher Hitchens and the author's introduction to "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918,” by Adam Hochschild (illustrated. 448 pp. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $28).  Hitchens has many good things to say about, although he notes that "no single narrative can do justice to an inferno whose victims still remain uncounted." 

Indeed. When I was born in 1950, the end of The Great War was only 32 years in the past. In contrast, the end of World War II, which we now acknowledge as a continuation of the first, was a scant five years in the past. The U.S. was already engaged in another one in Korea, and my generation of boys was busy being hatched for Vietnam. My country has spent the 21st century at war in Afghanistan and Iraq, with scores of "little wars" raging all over the globe. 

"The war to end all wars" was Pres. Wilson's phrase. Many in Wilson's Democratic Party felt betrayed when Wilson, who campaigned in 1916 on the motto "He kept us out of war," plunged the U.S. into the inferno. He instituted a military draft and came down hard on anti-war groups. Still, he was part of the Progressive Movement and instituted many progressive programs during his first term. He was also an internationalist, an egghead with a Ph.D. One of the best and the brightest. When have we heard that term before? I remember. It referred to Kennedy's architects of Vietnam, as described in David Halberstam's book.

Pres. Obama, a Democrat, didn't get us started down the path to endless war. A Republican, George W. Bush, ordered the attack on Afghanistan, considered by many (me included) to me justified. He also launched the pointless war in Iraq, which I staunchly opposed. It seems that the U.S. has inherited endless war along with its claim as Lone World Super Power.

Super Powers can be brought low, too. In the first chapter, Hochschild describes the incredible pomp and circumstance of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee celebration in 1897. What a party it was. England ruled the waves and almost one-quarter of the earth's land. Troopers in full dress uniform from India, Burma, Canada, Australia, Trinidad, South Africa, and others marched in the parade. Scores of congratulatory notes were sent, many from the U.S. They all praised Britain's supremacy in the world. Here's an amazing and silly one:

...across the Atlantic, the New York Times virtually claimed membership in the empire: "We are a part, and a great part, of the Greater Britain which seems so plainly destined to dominate this planet." 

World War I spelled the beginning of the end of England's supremacy.

Now that I've been teased by the opening chapters, I'm off to get a copy of the book. Read the review and excerpt here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/books/review/book-review-to-end-all-wars-by-adam-hochschild.html?nl=books&emc=booksupdateema2

Casper Star-Trib: "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children"

We agree with the Casper Star-Tribune editorial, "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children."

Wyoming Department of Health has cited budget constraints as the reason it will no longer provide free vaccinations against influenza, meningitis, Hepatitis A and human papilomavirus to needy children. The change will take effect in July. 

Undoubtedly there are places where the state needs to trim its budget and cut unnecessary spending. The vaccination program isn’t one of them. 

When it comes to providing for the public health needs of children whose parents can’t afford the immunizations, we think most Wyomingites would agree that we could sock away a little less into our state’s rainy-day accounts to pay for it.

Fortunately, the state will still provide vaccinations required for children to attend public school. But that still leaves families with children who don’t qualify for a federal vaccination program unable to pay for immunizations against four diseases.

The CST urges Gov. Mead to use some of his discretionary funds to fill in the gap until the legislature can address this issue in 2012. It's a public health issue. It's also the right thing to do. Read the entire editorial at http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/article_97d5faa8-ea58-5b6b-8824-05a7974015ba.html

New study links fracking with water contamination

The Wyoming Outdoor Council reposted a long article by ProPublica about a new study on fracking by four researchers at Duke University. This has been a big issue in Wyoming after the E.P.A. discovered methane gas and fracking chemicals in water wells in Fremont County near Pavillion. The E.P.A. still is investigating. That controversy also was featured in the documentary "Gasland" that was screened in Cheyenne a month ago. Our neighborhood in southeast Wyoming is in the Niobrara oil play where fracking will be the rule rather than the exception.

Read the article here: Fracking Linked to Water Contamination

Republicans attempt to "piratize" special education

Excellent post by AnnieJo at Daily Kos on "Piratizing Special Education in Wisconsin." You don't have to be a Wisconsin parent of a special needs child to realize the problem behind legislation such as AB110. In fact, if you live in states with Republican legislative majorities, you soon will be seeing this type of bill.

So what does AB110 propose? Chip away further at the public schools by letting the funding flow to the private schools... who aren't required to abide by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act!  Yes, that's part of the con.  As outlined in an excellent piece by Disability Rights Wisconsin, called Special Needs Scholarships: Myths and Facts about AB110, "AB110 does not even require that private schools which accept special needs scholarships have a single special education teacher or therapist on staff!"   Further, "using a special needs voucher to attend private school means that parents and children give up ALL their state and federal rights to special education."

My Mom was a Democrat even when she voted Republican

I wonder who my mother would vote for in 2012 if she were still alive.

It's Mother's Day today. I've spent 25 of them without my own mother, who died too young at 59.

She worked as a nurse her entire life. She sometimes took time off to have a kid, but then was back to work. She had so many kids (nine), that I wonder if she felt like those mythical women of old, who just delivered their newborns onto the fields and kept on harvesting while breast-feeding the baby and riding herd on the rest of her brood. Jimmy -- put down that rattlesnake! Janie -- keep hoeing those potatoes! 


My mother was made of sturdy stuff. We talked about many things, including politics. But I don't know whom she voted for. I know that she voted. But she kept it to herself. My father did, too, but I knew his politics from our many arguments and/or debates.

It wasn't as clear with my Mom. As both a nurse and a human being, she had deep reservoirs of empathy. Her nine kids turned to her for solace and advice. So did our friends and neighbors. I sometimes wonder if the cancer that killed her so quickly wasn't from a build-up of ingested sorrow.

She had no tolerance for cruelty. Some teasing was inevitable in a large household. But Mom drew the line when teasing wandered over the line into cruelty. She didn't like it in her home or out in the world. She devoted her life to the alleviation of suffering. She suffered along the way, but rarely spoke about her own travails.

No political party has a corner on kindness or cruelty. They are public beasts, focused on accumulating power. They nurture and encourage some, steamroll others.

But the current crop of Republicans possess a rare brand of self-centered cruelty. They seem to have no qualms about enriching the rich and engendering their selfish needs. They also go out of their way to target the powerless, the elderly, women, and "The Other," which includes people of color and non-Christians.

We now know the details of Republican priorities laid out in the Paul Ryan budget passed by the U.S. House. Permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and even further tax cuts down the road. Cuts to Medicaid, which serve the least among us. Privatizing Medicare for the retired. The end of Social Security. If Mom were alive, she would have turned 85 yesterday. Happy birthday, Mom! She would be receiving Social Security and using Medicare for the inevitable ailments of old age.

In Republican-majority states, we see attacks on unionized public sector workers. This is done in the name of "fiscal responsibility" but really is a war against working people. People like me. People like my mother. Many of these same people are Republicans who've been manipulated into siding with Repubs on social issues. Meanwhile, their taxes pay subsidies to businesses so send their jobs overseas.    

Empathy is a dirty word to these people. We've heard that over and over again from the talking heads at Fox, and from Tea Party types.

Empathy was not a dirty word to my mother. She lived her life by it.

Who would she vote for in 2012?

It's easier to list who she would not vote for. They all have an "R" after their names.

Tour the iconic landscapes of the threatened Red Desert June 18 with the Wyoming Outdoor Council

The Wyoming Outdoor Council has published its brochure of 2011 events. Here's one of the highlights:

June 18: Red Desert Rendezvous

The Outdoor Council is providing support for this event as part of our efforts to raise awareness of Wyoming’s spectacular Red Desert. This weekend rendezvous will offer at least three phenomenal guided tours: (1) A plein air painters’ campout (Friday night) near the Honeycomb Buttes. (2) A journey into colorful Adobe Town. (3) An iconiclandscapes loop with stops at Boar’s Tusk, the Killpecker Sand Dunes, and the White Mountain Petroglyphs. RSVP by Friday, June 3.

Register now for "Walk in My Shoes" fund-raiser for WY Coalition for the Homeless

A good cause and some exercise:


Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, Walk In My Shoes?  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

On May Saturday, pondering the future of Cheyenne

Riding around Cheyenne on this beautiful May morning. Errands to run, people to deliver. The Decembrists' "The King is Dead" pumping out of the speakers and out the open windows. Doesn't get much better than this, a spring Saturday after a horrible winter.

I was asking myself big questions: What is that squeak coming from the left front wheel? (Note to self -- call "Click & Clack.") When should I plant my crops -- Mother's Day, May 15 or -- as the High Plains gardening gurus recommend -- Memorial Day weekend? Is "The Decembrists' "Why We Fight" about war or relationships or both, and why is the video so lame? What is Cheyenne's future, especially with the oil play boom on the horizon?

I spent most of my pondering on the last question. We've lived in Cheyenne for 20 years, with two years off in D.C. for good behavior. Lots of changes during that time. But never as many as I've seen in the past several years.

Population is rising. It's not due strictly to oil field jobs. There are new jobs in manufacturing and construction. Many service industry jobs in restaurants and retail. Those latter jobs don't pay well but we need loads of them to keep our young people gainfully employed while they decide which college town or big city they will flee to. Federal and state government employment seems to be holding steady. That will change if U.S. House Republicans get their way with their Draconian budget. We shall see...

As I drove around, I took a few shortcuts to see what's happening. I ventured out to High Plains Road on I-25 South. The interchange went in first and it's a step up from the usual concrete-and-steel overpasses. Decorative iron railings and brick and rock used in the design. It's flanked by two roundabouts with plenty of directional signs for the roundabout-phobics amongst us. There are many, judging the letters to the editor in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The anti-roundabout crowd is really up in arms over a roundabout planned for one of the stupidest intersections known to humankind -- Pershing/Converse/19th Street. They've redesigned that three-way tangle many times but still it's one of the most dangerous intersections in town (along with Converse and Dell Range). Can't leave it the way it is. Some of the landowners, notably Frank Cole of Cole Shopping Center don't want to see changes. Stay tuned for more loony letters to the ed.

High Plains Road is the site of the new State of Wyoming Visitors Welcome Center. This will replace the old welcome center and rest stop on the west side of I-25 at College Drive. Many have wondered why the old center was built on the wrong side of the highway and is so hard to get to. It's nice, and has great views of the prairie and the Laramie Range. I sometimes hang out there and write to get some peace and quiet and inspiration.

But, as new truck stops and motels arose, it was harder and harder to access. There are no lights or dreaded roundabouts there to speed the flow of traffic. On a typical summer day, it's a madhouse of semis and RVs and lost tourists trying to find the entrance to the rest stop. Maybe this is next on the Wyoming Department of Transportation construction agenda.

The new visitors center is cool-looking and energy efficient. It's also on the east side of the highway which should make it easier to access. Here's a description from the RMH Group:

The new $16.6 million, 27,000-square-foot Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center will offer restroom facilities to travelers and will house the offices of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, which has expanded and now requires more space. The RMH Group provided energy-efficient mechanical and electrical design for this new facility. The Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center's mechanical and electrical systems are designed to limit energy demand while emphasizing the responsible use of on-site resources. Daylight harvesting will reduce electrical demand, and on-site solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines will utilize renewable resources to generate building power. A ground-source heat-pump system, featuring horizontal "slinky" geo-exchange coils buried beneath the project site will efficiently heat and cool the building. Public portions of the center will be conditioned by an in-floor radiant system coupled with displacement cooling and ventilation, further supporting the building's low-energy use profile. Construction of the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center is anticipated to be completed in late summer 2012.

Construction crews are clearing the site now.  From High Plains Road, you can look down on it and appreciate the view I-25 motorists will have of the facility as they cross into the state from Colorado. Man, what a cool building -- and energy efficient to boot. Let's go there and discover ways to spend all of our vacation money in Wyoming.

Also from High Plains Road, you can look to the west and see construction cranes working on a series of buildings in the business park. Not sure what's destined there. If you look a bit to the north, you can see the growing ranks of white wind turbines that are fueling a bit of the energy I use for my laptop ramblings. Coal trains head south along the railroad tracks that pass just to the east. The coal comes from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Further to the east oil drilling sites rise up out of an ancient ocean bed.  

Exciting times. There are many risks, especially with the fossil fuels Wyoming provides to the world. Global warming and poisoning of air and water. This will require governmental monitoring which is exactly why Republicans want to kill the E.P.A. No regulations mean more profits for those people who seemingly have enough profits. But that's the Republican plans. Screw the rest of you.

It's up to every one of us to see that we don't get screwed royally.

P.S.: I tried to find an image of new welcome center but failed. Anyone know where I can go to get one? I did find images of the ground-breaking but not very interesting. Seen one ground-breaking, you've seen them all. 

Register now for Walk in My Shoes fund-raiser

Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, "Walk In My Shoes?"  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

Points to ponder for Wyoming's Congressional delegation during Children's Mental Health Week

During National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, May 1-7, here are some points to ponder on the subject. I challenge Republicans to reconsider their rash moves to decimate Medicaid, which is crucial to the states for children's mental health care. This is a specific challenge to Wyoming's Congressional delegation, all three of whom have marched in lockstep with those who have no problems with cutting funds for children and families and working people but are quick to defend tax cuts for millionaires and continuing bloated U.S. defense budgets that channel money to outdated weapon systems and away from veterans' health care. Let's name the names: Sen. Mike Enzi, Sen. John Barrasso, and Rep. Cynthia Lummis.

The following info comes from the National Federation for Children's Mental Health. Find detailed documentation of the following at the org's web site.

2011 Prevalence of Mental Health Challenges & Extent of Service Use

Most children with mental health challenges do not get the help they need.

• 1 in 3 adolescents (aged 13 to 18) with mental disorders receive services for their diagnosis
• Half of adolescents with severely impairing mental disorders never receive treatment
• Service rates are highest for adolescents with ADHD (59.8%) and behavior disorders (45.4%)
• Fewer than 1 in 5 adolescents with anxiety, eating, or substance use disorders receive treatment for those disorders
• Hispanic and Black adolescents are less likely than their White counterparts to receive services for mood and anxiety disorders

Mental health is a nationwide public health issue.

The mental health and well-being of Americans are critical issues affecting each individual’s quality of life and the health of our communities, business and economic stability. It touches everyone– regardless of race, gender, class or religion.

• Half of all lifetime cases of mental and substance use disorders begin by age 14 and three-fourths by age 24
• Adults who began drinking alcohol before age 21 are more likely to be later classified with alcohol dependence or abuse than those who had their first drink at or after age 21
• More than 34,000 Americans die every year as a result of suicide—that’s approximately one every 15 minutes
• One estimate puts the total economic costs of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among youth in the United States at approximately $247 billion
• Racial incidents can be traumatic and have been linked to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms among people of color
• LGBT individuals experience violence and PTSD at higher rates than the general population
• More than 6 in 10 U.S. youth have been exposed to violence within the past year, including witnessing a violent act, assault with a weapon, sexual victimization, child maltreatment, and dating violence. Nearly 1 in 10 was injured
• In a 2008 study by RAND, 18.5% of returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans reported symptoms consistent with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression

Mission accomplished... for reals!

From Daily Kos

Mission actually accomplished. Obama bags Osama

In reference to my previous blog about the non-accomplishment of an earlier mission...

Daily Kos: Mission actually accomplished. Obama bags Osama

Will the "Circle of Protection" be unbroken?

On yet another Sunday morning when I don't go to church, I ponder a spiritual appeal called "Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor." Long title for a simple document that asks Pres. Obama and our Congressional leaders not to balance the U.S. budget on the backs of the poor.

I read this copy of the proclamation on Sojourners, a site where I go to find solace and inspiration and talking points for my blog. Sojourners is all about social justice. The statement below carries signatures of 50 religious denominations and organizations. On the list is Jim Wallis of Sojourners. I signed a copy and sent it off to Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis, the seventh-richest member of Congress, who already has voted for the Draconian cuts in Rep. Paul Ryan's bill. Also sent a copy to Dr. Sen. John Barrasso, who was one of the Republican talking heads on TV this morning nattering on about the need to immediately slash Medicare and Medicaid. I am always amazed by The Good Doctor's audacious denial of his Hippocratic Oath: "I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm." Some points to ponder, Doc. Sen. Mike Enzi received a copy so he can contemplate his upcoming votes to enrich corporate healthcare companies at the expense of elderly Americans. Pres. Obama also got a copy, just in case he's thinking of backsliding in his push-back against radical Republicans.

I urge you to sign "Circle of Protection" and send it off to your Congressional delegation. And don't forget the Prez.

Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor.

As people of faith, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad. 

1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.

2. Programs focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. They should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.

3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.

4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.

5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.

6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect "the least of these." "What would Jesus cut?" "How do we share sacrifice?"

7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.

8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus.

Wyoming Democrats move 2012 county conventions to April 14

News from Bill Luckett, executive director of the Wyoming Democratic Party:

The Wyoming Democratic Party State Central Committee convened today Casper College in the Sharon Nichols Auditorium, to elect state officers finalize the delegate selection plan for 2012 state and national conventions.
 
Central Committee members elected, by acclamation, the following leadership for a two-year term and to lead the party through the 2012 election cycle:
        Chuck Herz of Moose as State Chair
        Jodi Guerin of Laramie as Vice Chair
        Sherry Shelley of Riverton as Secretary
        Leslie Petersen of Wilson as Treasurer  
 
The Central Committee amended the 2012 Delegate Selection Plan to hold County Conventions on April 14, 2012, in every county seat across the state. The selection of this specific date will make Wyoming eligible to earn two bonuses in the size of its delegation: one by virtue of waiting until April to hold its “first-step” events in the presidential selection process, and the other for holding its events on the same date as neighboring states. The Nebraska Democratic Party is currently planning to hold its event on April 14, and the Democratic parties of Kansas and Idaho are also considering whether to schedule their events on the same date, pending votes by their respective state committees.

After approving the amendments, the Wyoming Democratic State Central Committee today voted to formally adopt and submit the plan to the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee for approval.  Under the plan Wyoming will elect 19 delegates and 2 alternates to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. In addition, the state should be eligible for four bonus delegates, pending the formal approval of the plan by the DNC.
 
The Wyoming Democratic Party Central Committee is composed of the Chairs, Vice Chairs, State Committeemen, and Committeewomen from each county, State Chair and Vice Chair, State Secretary and Treasurer, National Committeeman and Committeewoman, Legislative Representatives selected by the House Caucus and Senate Caucus, and the Young Democrats Chair, Vice Chair, State Committeeman, and State Committeewoman.  

Support your local libraries -- and read "Catch-22"

"Saturday Night Live" head writer and actor Seth Myers wants you to read. "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller is one of my favorite novels. A great satire on the organizational mind, specifically the military, and the U.S.A. Falling-down funny in parts and full of horror in others. The book opened up new worlds for me. Isn't that what reading is supposed to do?

"Mission Accomplished" -- eight years later

I wish I could say that I look on this photo with nostalgia. But it's more like horror.