No drug tests for Wyoming welfare recipients or for legislators

The Wyoming Senate, showing more sense and sensitivity that the Wyoming House, defeated a bill yesterday that would have mandated drug tests for some welfare recipients.

The vote was 17-13. Democrats led the charge to defeat this so-called "punish the poor" bill (so-called my me) and were joined by moderate Republicans. All the votes in support of the bill were cast by Tea Party Republicans.

Sen. Kit Jennings (Tea Party-Casper), co-sponsor of the bill, supported the House-originated bill and the Senate's amended version, which stipulated random drug tests for adults instead of drug tests for all welfare recipients. In the Casper Star-Tribune, he said that 

it would have provided an answer to the many constituents he hears from who ask why they have to get drug-tested for their jobs but welfare recipients get a pass.

No word from Jennings about why it's a good idea for state government to get into the drug-testing biz.

But Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, said the bill would do more harm than good. He said the most likely result is that a small number of people would choose not to apply for the benefits because of the testing. 

“This is a program that is designed to help children,” he said. “The outcome of this randomized experiment is going to be that 1 or 2 percent won’t show up and their kids will probably go hungry.” 

Sen. John Hastert, D-Green River, said there were constitutional problems with the bill since the state has no probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the people it is testing are drug users. 

“By singling out this specific program, there is a sense of discrimination,” he said. “Why not drug test other forms of public assistance that we have? Like should we require drug testing for any type of subsidy?”

As the bill was debated in the House, Rep. Jim Byrd (D-Cheyenne) tried to attach an amendment mandating drug tests for legislators. It failed, but it was one heck of a good idea.

Next year, when ultra-conservatives bring up other punish the poor bills, it should be mandated that legislators also comply with drug tests. There must be some mood-altering substance responsible for the addled behavior of Tea Party Republicans.

Read more at http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2012/03/06/news/01top_03-06-12.txt

Four years after: Word comes about Barack Obama speeches in Casper and Laramie

2008 button for Barack Obama's visit to Laramie

On this day in Wyoming four years ago...

Barack Obama's campaign announced that he would speak in Casper and Laramie on Friday, March 7. The basketball arena was reserved for the Friday evening speech at UW in Laramie. It ended up being a good choice -- the place was SRO that Friday. Read more at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2012/03/jim-coppoc-leads-poetry-workshop-at.html

Meanwhile, Democratic Party leaders were grousing about the continuing battles in the primaries and caucuses. I warned them to back off and let the process play out in those areas of the country (Wyoming, for instance) that the DNC doesn't seem to care about. Read it at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/back-off-man-im-political-scientist.html

On-again, off-again funding for UW performing arts building now off-again

The Wyoming Legislature is changing its mind about taking $30 million in temporary funding from one-time highway funds. On Tuesday, the money came out of the highway funding bill. Said Senate President Phil Nicholas:

"All we're doing is Band-Aiding [highways] for two years, and then we're losing some enormously important opportunities.

These opportunities included funding a new engineering building and the extensive renovation of thew performing arts building.

On Thursday, the Senate took back the money.

It's getting tough to keep up. Try to keep track at http://legisweb.state.wy.us

Four years after: WY finds out that former President Bill Clinton will stump for Hillary in Wyoming

Wyoming was all atwitter four years ago this week when news came via MSNBC that former President Bill Clinton was coming to Wyoming to stump for Hillary Clinton in Riverton, Rock Springs and Laramie. Read all about it at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/bill-clinton-coming-to-wyoming.html

LCCC chorus brings to life the music of South Africa and African-American spirituals

My daughter Annie sings in the LCCC Collegiate Chorus. This was her first performance. Here she's shown (center) with proud Dad and Mom.

Nancy Cornish (front) is the director of the vocal music program at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne. On Sunday, she directed the Collegiate and  Kantorel choruses in a program at King of Glory Lutheran Church featuring the music of South Africa and African-American spirituals. It was a great show. 

Jim Coppoc leads poetry workshop at Cheyenne library

Performance poet and musician Jim Coppoc of Ames, Iowa, leads a writing workshop on Sunday at the Laramie County Public Library in Cheyenne. Jim is in town to judge the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud competition Monday, 7 p.m., at the Atlas Theatre. 

REMINDER: Cheyenne Little Theatre Players' Mardi Gras Bash is tonight at the Atlas

Grassroots filmmaking bringing classic novel by Montana's James Welch to the screen

"Winter in the Blood" directors Andrew and Alex Smith answer questions with documentary filmmaker Tracy Rector, left, at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival at the Wilma Theatre Saturday evening in Missoula. Rector's documentary "Visionary Insight" showed the behind-the-scenes story of the Smith brothers grass-roots film. Tribune photo by Michael Beall.

These grass-roots filmmakers in Montana show us how it’s done in the Rocky Mountain West. From a successful $67,000 Kickstarter campaign to donated food to volunteer sweat equity, the Smith Brothers found new and interesting ways to make a home-grown film based on James Welch’s classic novel, “Winter in the Blood.” Read the details in this excellent Great Falls Tribune story by Michael Beall. I read about it first on the 4&20 Blackbirds blog. Thanks for the tip, Lizard! 

WY ACLU: "Religious Freedom or an Assault on Women's Health Care?"

From the The Republican War on Women Facebook page. 

Methinks it's the latter. So does the Wyoming ACLU. To read the grisly details, go to http://acluwyomingchapter.blogspot.com/2012/03/religious-freedom-or-assault-on-womens.html

Four years after: Getting out the vote in Wyoming for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

Four years ago, Obama supporters in Wyoming were brimming with hope. We also were making scads of phone calls to Democratic voters, urging them to get out to the March 8 county caucuses.

In my March 3, 2008, blog post, I regaled my readers with tales of our split household. My wife Chris, whose feminist roots go back to the Equal Rights Amendment and Patricia Schroeder's Colorado campaigns, was a Hillary Clinton supporter. I had migrated from Dennis Kucinich to John Edwards (remember him?) to Barack Obama. Obama operatives had parachuted into enemy territory on a dark January 2008 night. We now worked with them on an aggressive ground game.

Chris and I fought very little over the use of our home phone. We reached an agreement that divided time and space and responsibility, much like the agreement between Barack and Hillary that gave the former the White House and the latter the rest of the world.

Step back in time with me at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/phoning-cheyenne-for-barack-and-hillary.html

Republican war on women -- illustrated version

From Daily Kos

Birthers rear their ugly heads (again) in Montana Legislature

Some of Montana's Republican legislators are even crazier than the ones we have in Wyoming (from Montana Cowgirl):

One of America’s top TEA Party imbeciles has called for President Obama to prove that he is eligible to be on the Montana ballot, or else have his name removed from it.

Bob Wagner, the Montana state representative who once told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that a person is ineligible to run for president unless both parents were born in America, is back at it again. Reviving Birtherism, Wagner has sent a letter to the Montana Secretary of State (she oversees elections), commanding her to

“prove that Obama is eligible to hold the office he usurped in 2008, or take him off the ballot.”

Wagner believes that Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud; and that even if the certificate were authentic, Obama would still not be a true American citizen because his father impregnated his mother while visiting America.

LCCC Chorus performs "The Music of Africa" March 4 in Cheyenne

Enjoy "The Music of Africa" on Sunday, March 4, 3-4 p.m. at the King of Glory Lutheran Church, 8806 Yellowstone Road in Cheyenne. This will be "a festive display of the sights, songs and dances of Africa performed for you by Laramie County Community College Collegiate Chorale, the Kantorei Singers and the Men’s Ensemble. Refreshments will be served in the fellowship hall following the concert so you can visit with the performers. Admission is free. Donations will be accepted for the Veterans Administration Medical Center." Our daughter Annie is in the chorus and this will be her first public performance since starting at LCCC in January. As always, your proud parents will be in the audience, Annie. Hope that doesn't make you nervous....

Find the music in your poetry at free March 4 workshop in Cheyenne

Poet and musician Jim Coppoc will give a free public workshop on Sunday, March 4, from 2-4 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library in downtown Cheyenne. The workshop will focus on bringing out the musicality in poems. Anyone interested in writing and performing poetry is welcomed to attend.

Coppoc, a poet, spoken-word artist and musician from Ames, Iowa, teaches English and American Studies at Iowa State University and creative writing in the low residency M.F.A. program at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Balancing poetry, pedagogy, play writing, music and performance in his varied career, Coppoc’s publications include Manhattan Beatitude, 1997 (One Small Bird Press, 2010), Reliquary (Fractal Edge Press, 2010), and Blood, Sex & Prayer (Fractal Edge Press, 2005). Coppoc received four Pushcart Prize nominations in 2011.

Jim is in town to serve as a judge for the Wyoming Poetry Out Loud state competition that will take place in Cheyenne on Monday and Tuesday, March 5-6.

The competition begins at 7 p.m. Monday at the Historic Atlas Theater in downtown Cheyenne. Joining Coppoc as judges are Pat Frolander, Wyoming Poet laureate from Crook County, and writer and arts educator Diane Panozzo from Tie Siding, Wyo. It’s free and open to the public. Come out and see some great poetry recitation by some talented high schoolers from around the state.

Four years after: Tracking Barack Obama's path through Wyoming in March 2008

Four years ago today, my fellow Dems and I were canvassing the county for Barack Obama, a relatively unknown politician from Chicago.

I'm reminded of this today as I watched Pres. Obama's speech today in NYC in front of some of his supporters. He sounded confident. He looked presidential. And not only in comparison to the clowns running on the Republican side.

In March 2012, I'm going to look back at what was happening in Wyoming four years ago. On March 1, me and my fellow canvassers were looking ahead to to the March 8 Dem caucuses which ended up having record turnouts. We also attended rallies by Hillary Clinton in Cheyenne and an SRO speech by Barack Obama at UW in Laramie on March 7.

So travel with me back to the days when an Obama candidacy was in its infancy. Go to http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/iowa-gov-rounds-up-wyo-support-for.html

Local Democrats hold Mardi Gras Casino Night fund-raiser March 24

http://www.laramiecountydemocrats.org/

John D'Agata to read from his new book March 7 in Laramie

On Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m., John D’Agata will give a reading from his new book, The Lifespan of a Fact, at Second Story Books, located at 105 Ivinson Avenue, Laramie. This event is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a book-signing. For more info, visit the UW MFA Creative Writing Program web site at www.uwyo.edu/creativewriting or contact Gwynn Lemler at cw@uwyo.edu or 766-6453.

The acclaimed author of About a Mountain (W.W. Norton 2010) and Halls of Fame (Graywolf 2003), D’Agata has also edited The Next American Essay (Graywolf 2002) and The Lost Origins of the Essay (Graywolf 2009). During his two-week residency at the University of Wyoming, he will visit university classes, consult on manuscripts with graduate students in creative writing, and discuss the writing life with a wide range of campus members.

D’Agata’s latest project is The Lifespan of a Fact (W.W. Norton 2012), which reproduces the extensive correspondence between D’Agata and Jim Fingal, a fact-checker for The Believer. Publishers Weekly describes the book as “very apropos in our era of spruced-up autobiography and fabricated reporting,” adding that “this is a whip-smart, mordantly funny, thought-provoking rumination on journalistic responsibility and literary license.” The Kirkus Reviews suggests that “[The Lifespan of a Fact] will be eagerly devoured and loudly discussed by creative-nonfiction writers and readers who thrive on books about books.”

Wyoming House Republicans sing rousing chorus of "Every Sperm is Sacred"

Know Nothings in the Wyoming House want to turn back the clock on women’s health with its Joint Resolution No. HJ7, "Resolution-conscience rights." It passed third reading in the Wyoming House on Tuesday and has now been referred to the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee.

Rep. Mary Throne, a Cheyenne Democrat and one of the few women in the Wyoming State Legislature, spoke against the resolution, saying women have a fundamental right to decide whether to get pregnant.

Let’s see if the Know Nothings in the Wyoming Senate, overwhelmingly Republican and male, will decide if women’s contraception decisions will be left to the whims of their employers.

Here’s an update from Sharon Breitweiser, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wyoming:

HJ7 -- http://legisweb.state.wy.us/2012/Introduced/HJ0007.pdf -- calls upon President Obama to reverse a rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requiring insurance coverage of all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods as well as sterilization without a co-pay or deductible.  The rule excludes churches/houses of worship and makes accommodations for religiously affiliated employers such as universities and hospitals.

HJ7 would put the Wyoming Legislature on record as opposing health insurance coverage of contraception and sterilization. 

Talking points:

·         The HHS rule on essential services is not about government mandates.  This is about the importance of reproductive medical care and women's health.  HHS heeded the findings of an independent panel of experts, the Institute of Medicine, which recommended that birth control be included as a preventive health care benefit. 

·         Forcing women to pay out-of-pocket for contraceptives puts an unfair, discriminatory cost burden on a certain segment of society, and women may choose not to use the most effective form of birth control due to cost concerns. 

·         Birth control pills are sometimes prescribed and used for many other medical conditions.  Allowing employers to exclude contraceptives from health insurance plans could also prove costly to individuals with such conditions. 

·         Contraception helps prevent unintended pregnancies, improves the quality of women's lives, and reduces the need for abortion.  

Please contact the five members of the Senate Labor, Health Committee and ask them to vote "NO" on HJ7:

Senator Charles Scott, Committee Chairman, charlesscott@wyoming.com

Senator Dan Dockstader - ddockstader@wyoming.com

Senator Marty Martin - mmartin@wyoming.com 

Senator Leslie Nutting - lnutting@wyoming.com 

Senator John Schiffer - jschiffe@wyoming.com

Wyoming Senate votes to fund crucial renovation of UW performing arts building

Good for you, Sen. Phil Nicholas, Republican from Laramie (and I don't say that often):

The Wyoming Senate voted Tuesday to take $30 million proposed for one-time highway projects and put it toward renovating and expanding the University of Wyoming performing arts and engineering buildings. 

Supporters said the money is needed for UW’s performing arts program to avoid losing accreditation and to renovate one of the school’s oldest buildings for engineering. 

Opponents said the Wyoming Department of Transportation needs every cent it can get just to maintain the state’s vital highway system. 

State Sen. Phil Nicholas, the Laramie Republican who sponsored the amendment to switch over the money, said AML funding shouldn’t be used as a short-term solution to fund highways while lawmakers continue debating a long-term funding source. 

Instead, he said, AML funds should be used by the state to diversify its economy. With 64 percent of state revenues coming from minerals, he said, one way the state can achieve that goal is to ensure the school of engineering is in “tip-top shape.” 

“All we’re doing is Band-Aiding [highways] for two years, and then we’re losing some enormously important opportunities,” Nicholas said. 

Read more: http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-senate-moves-aml-cash-from-roads-to-university-of/article_12ff5cc0-9651-5ffc-b1b1-aebe90326fa6.html#ixzz1nmvW0DCq

Kind of amazing to note that the Legislature, with this amendment, considers the education of performing artists/teachers on par with educating engineers. Perhaps our state leaders are beginning to recognize the importance of the arts in Wyoming, now and for the future. We'll see what happens -- more votes ahead.

One of my essays in new "Companions in Wonder" anthology from MIT Press

I’m happy to report that one of my personal essays, “We Are Distracted,” is included in a new anthology from MIT Press. “Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together” features work by some of my favorite writers: Rick Bass, Alison Hawthorne Deming, Barry Lopez, Robert Michael Pyle, Joseph Bruchac and Scott Russell Sanders. I’m looking forward to reading their work. Editors are Julie Dunlap and Stephen R. Kellert. I’ve been an editor of an anthology and it’s no easy task to assemble the authors, get the work, secure the rights, edit it all and get it to the publisher on time. Thanks, Julie and Stephen. The book is in the spring 2012 catalog. Here’s an excerpt:

Rachel Carson’s classic 1956 essay “Help Your Child to Wonder” urged adults to help children experience the “sense of wonder” that comes only from a relationship with nature. It’s clear we haven’t succeeded in following her advice: eight-year-olds surveyed in the United Kingdom could identify more Pokémon characters than common wildlife species; and Richard Louv’s recent best-selling book Last Child in the Woods identifies a “nature deficit disorder” in children around the world. But today a growing number of environmentally minded parents, teachers, and other adults are seeking to restore nature to its rightful place in children’s lives. This anthology gathers personal essays recounting adventures great and small with children in the natural world.  The authors--writing as parents, teachers, mentors, and former children--describe experiences that range from bird watching to an encounter with an apple butter-loving grizzly bear. Rick Bass captures fireflies with his children and reflects on fatherhood; Michael Branch observes wryly that both gardening and parenting are “disciplines of sustainability;” Lauret Savoy wonders how African American children can connect to the land after generations of estrangement; and Sandra Steingraber has “the big talk” with her children, not about sex but about global warming.  By turns lyrical, comic, and earnest, these writings guide us to closer connections with nature and with the children in our lives, for the good of the planet and our own spiritual and physical well-being. Booklist Online says this:  Editors Dunlap and Kellert have assembled a stellar collection of essays by exceptional nature writers about adults and children enjoying the outdoors together…[T]his is a striking celebration of nature’s role in sustaining family bonds.

To order “Companions in Wonder,” go here. It’s a $21.95 trade paperback. ISBN-10: 0-262-51690-X; ISBN-13: 978-0-262-51690-7