Rev. Rodger McDaniel's Labor Day sermon: "Cesar, Samuel, Shanker & Moses"

The Rev. Rodger McDaniel is one of my fellow progressive bloggers. While none of us take any pledges as bloggers, Rodger has pledged a lifetime of service to God. As pastor at Highlands Presbyterian Church in Cheyenne, he has taken to heart the old adage, "to comfort the afflicted to to afflict the comfortable." Newspaper reporters used to believe in that, although in today's media, it seems as if that gets turned on its head to become "to comfort the comfortable and to afflict the afflicted."

That carries over into politics. Republicans make no secret of their disdain for working people, especially the working poor. They spent all last week comforting and praising their rich-boy presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who aims to gut government programs for working people while giving more tax breaks to his rich pals.

This week, the Democratic Party will showcase a different philosophy. While the Dems sometimes are beholden to the same corporate interests that own the Republicans, there is a clear-cut difference in their policies. They will speak in Charlotte about health care, liveable wages, protecting Social Security and Medicare, education, environmental policies and that nebulous thing known as "the future." It's up to us to hold them accountable once the convention is over. This is good to keep in mind on this Labor Day as we remember the workplace sacrifices of our ancestors.

In his Labor Day sermon reprinted on his Blowing in the Wyoming Wind blog,  Rodger reminds us that our religious traditions have a long history -- going back to Moses -- of standing up for working people. He also notes that our modern churches must do more than conduct the occasional holiday food drive, that they must actively champion the rights of people to receive a living wage and fair benefits. Read his sermon: "Cesar, Samuel, Shanker & Moses"

Live from the hummingbirdminds bunker -- not-so-live coverage of the DNC from Charlotte

To my readers:

You may have noticed that I did quite a bit of posting last week about the Republican National Convention in Tampa without the bother of leaving home. Many thanks to Meg Lanker-Simons at Cognitive Dissonance out of Laramie, who scooped all of us with interviews with former Repub Chair Michael Steele and NBC's Chuck Todd, and that post-convention Q&A with Clint Eastwood's chair. Also thanks to Progress Florida, who maintained a web site about goings-on in the streets during the RNC.

I'm gearing up to provide the same service during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Last night in Denver, I bade adieu to several Wyoming Democratic Party delegates on the eve of their departure for the convention. Jeran Artery, Kate Wright and Ken McCauley promised to keep in touch via the usual e-means. I have no reason to suspect that they won't keep their word, although once they hit the ground in Charlotte, time will speed up and they will be caught up in a wave of speeches and floor votes, not to mention the sea of  hors d'oeuvres they will be forced to consume at the endless flurry of receptions sponsored by unions, conservation groups, feminist organizations, civil rights activists and other nogoodnik socialists.

But they will keep us posted because they are Democrats and they will make sure that the blog posts get through, come hell or high water or mounds of Carolina BBQ ribs.  

You can get the news feed from Netroots Nation (9 a.m.-4 p.m. EST, Tues.-Thurs.). The NN folks are live-streaming from Charlotte. NN promises this:

We’re teaming up with Democracy for America this week in Charlotte to provide a live studio where progressive leaders, pundits, and your favorite bloggers and reporters will join us for progressive conversations. You’ll hear from folks like Rep. Keith Ellison, Rep. Donna Edwards, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen. Jeff Merkley, Van Jones, Lizz Winstead, The Nation’s Ari Berman, Gov. Howard Dean and more.

The live coverage will be hosted by Cliff Schecter, founder and president of progressive public relations firm Libertas LLC, best-selling author (2008′s The Real McCain), nationally syndicated columnist and regular pundit on such shows as The Young Turks on Current TV, The Majority Report with Sam Seder and Take Action News with David Shuster. Cliff is also a co-founder of Washington DC’s progressive radio station, We Act Radio (AM 1480).

If you want to test your knowledge of N.C. (the Old North State), you can take this quiz here. I didn't do too well, although I did get the trick question about Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt. I grew up with NASCAR, y'all. BTW, if you Dems get bored, the NASCAR Hall of Fame is located in Charlotte.

More later...

Call for entries (kids only!): International Peace Poster Contest

"Children Know Peace," 2011-2012 grand prize winner

I know Lions Clubs best for its sight programs. Club members collect old eyeglasses and provide glasses for people who need them but can't afford them. The club also sponsors an eye bank and vision screening. But the Lions apparently have other visions for us all:

Each year, Lions clubs around the world proudly sponsor the Lions International Peace Poster Contest in local schools and youth groups. This art contest for kids encourages young people worldwide to express their visions of peace. For 25 years, more than four million children from nearly 100 countries have participated in the contest.

The theme of the 2012-13 Peace Poster Contest is "Imagine Peace." Students, ages 11, 12 or 13 on November 15, are eligible to participate.

Each year's art contest for kids consists of an original theme incorporating peace. Participants use a variety of mediums, including charcoal, crayon, pencil and paint, to express the theme. The works created are unique and express the young artists' life experiences and culture.

Twenty-four international finalists are selected each year, representing the work of more than 350,000 young participants worldwide. Posters are shared globally via the Internet, the media and exhibits around the world.

To learn more about the Lions International Peace Poster Contest, please view our brochure, contest rules and deadlines, call 630-203-3812 or contact the Lions Clubs International Public Relations Department.

Call for entries: Peace Song Contest

My K.C. pal and old college roomie (Go Gators!) Bob Page sent me this call for entries from his old friend, musician Karen Dunning:

Karen Dunning sponsors $500 Peace Song Contest.

Contestants from around the world are invited!  

Submit up to three original songs about peace in mp3 format to:  Karen@karendunning.com

The winner receives $500.  TRI Studios is donating audio and video recording for the winner at TRI studios in San Rafael, CA (the studio of Bob Weir of Grateful Dead fame).

Thank you for contributing to world peace!

Details:

Submissions close September 21, 2012 -- World Peace Day.

Artists may submit up to 3 songs in mp3 format up to 20mg/song

Songs must be original music and lyrics.

Songs must be original to the artist submitting the song.

Each song must include a short vision statement from the artist/s.

Please submit each song to karen@karendunning.com and put your song title and Peace Song Contest in the subject line

Artists retain rights to their songs, and grant Karen Dunning rights to play the submitted songs for promotional uses to raise awareness for peace.

Artists are responsible for their own travel and lodging expenses.

Amidst the convention hoopla, Republicans take time to praise arts education

Sometimes you have to depend on a city's alternative press to get the story behind the story. From Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's RNC web site:

Officials from varying levels of government talked on the importance of arts and arts education in a panel discussion moderated by former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at the Tampa Theatre Tuesday afternoon.

“Arts education is fundamental , not ornamental,” said Art Keeble, executive director of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County. He said those who will prosper and succeed in a new economy will be those who “think like artists.” He predicts MFA's will soon be as sought after as MBA’s.

In conjunction with the Arts Council and Tampa Theatre, the discussion was hosted by the non-profit Action Fund of Americans for the Arts, an organization which supports arts education within communities and schools. Americans for the Arts has about 200,000 members throughout the country. According to the Action Fund's website, students with an arts-rich education have higher GPA’s, better scores on standardized tests, and lower drop-out rates.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert said that the benefits of arts education extend beyond the classroom. He said supporting the arts has economic benefits, too, since creative people are keen problem-solvers and able to develop better solutions to market needs.

He added that arts education requires a two-pronged approach, combining reinforcement in the home and a comprehensive curriculum for arts appreciation in schools.

 “Frankly, I’m one who believes that a good balanced approach to education includes an appreciation of art and opportunities to be taught,” said Herbert.

MFA's as sought after as MBA's? Possibly. But MFA education will have to change to incorporate aspects of the MBA curriculum, don't you think? Artists are becoming (or expected to become) artrepreneurs, but have very little training in the entrepreneurial arts. That needs to change. And it's possible the MBA candidate would benefit from some visual arts, performing arts or creative writing courses.

Read the entire article at Creative Loafing Tampa Bay : Former Governor Huckabee moderates art education forum at Tampa Theatre

On the mean streets of Tampa with Meg from Cognitive Dissonance

Laramie's Meg Lanker-Simons interviews former Repubican Party Chair Michael Steele yesterday at the RNC in Tampa. Michael is dressed Repub casual (blazer and tennies) for the humid-hot Tampa day. Meg also interviewed Chuck Todd and Lawrence O'Donnell. Re-posted from Cognitive Dissonance.

Transitions Artisans hold an art show and sale Sept. 9 at Carnival Antiques

The Transitions Artisans create art as part of the healing process, as they transition from inpatient mental health care to a home environment. Sales of their work will go toward buying arts supplies and equipment for the CRMC-sponsored program.

AFL-CIO imagines "Mitt Romney's America"

Something fun to do in Tampa tomorrow:

“Welcome to Mitt Romney’s America” Parade: Sponsored by AFL-CIO. Tampa official parade route The event is called “Welcome to Mitt Romney’s America” and will look a lot like a carnival but will showcase what will happen to America if he is elected President in November. Contact: Cheryl Schroder at 813-368-7124 or cschroeder@wcffl.org or Joshua Anijar at 850-228-9841 or janijar@flaflcio.org.

RNC dispatches from my secret bunker in Cheyenne

So why is Mike Shay at hummingbirdminds covering the RNC in Tampa, Florida, from his bunker in Cheyenne, Wyoming?

I'm not. But I think that my landlocked readers are interested in all of the anti-RNC goings-on around Tampa Bay. You won't get it on the TV networks. You may get some of it from MSNBC and NPR and CSPAN. But you need to dial into the blogs to get the view from the street.

One other thing: I spent my formative years in Florida. I surfed its beaches and canoed its creeks and rivers. Traveled the state with my high school basketball team. Voted here in many elections and met the candidates, including Ronald Reagan during his unsuccessful 1976 campaign (apparently he learned a few things along the way). I am a Florida Gator, which gives me carte blanche to act like a fool during football season and to like Tim Tebow, no matter whom he plays for.

I haven't lived in Florida for 34 years but my roots are there, and so are my seven brothers and sisters and most of their offspring. Thirty years ago, my one and only marriage took place at a Catholic Church adjacent to the beach, salt-water scent drifting through its open windows. 

It's a wonderfully crazy place, a battleground state, pitting Miami Liberals vs. Panhandle Right-Wingers. If you know the place by reading Carl Hiaasen's novels and Miami Herald columns, you know some of its quirky nature.

Besides, things are quiet here in Wyoming -- for now. Our Republicans are battling each other, CROW vs. the RINOs. The Dems are struggling to keep the few seats we have in the state legislature. It will get much more interesting come October, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, from Florida, there is this and that.  

RNC in Tampa due for a direct hit from Hurricane Meg

The Tampa Bay area may have received only a glancing blow from Hurricane Isaac, but it's about to be hit with the full impact of Hurricane Meg. On Monday, Meg Lanker-Simons of Cognitive Dissonance interviewed Libertarian candidate for prez and former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. He's disgruntled with the Republicans and crony capitalism, among other things. Listen to the interview here.

Forget the networks -- get live video and on-the-street blogging from the Republican National Convention

We're beginning to get a sense of who will be covering what at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Forget the major networks and their talking heads -- they'll miss all of the important stories. CSPAN will have unedited feeds of the proceedings, and may even catch some of the action on the streets. My attention will be tuned to Laramie's Meg Lanker-Simons and her Cognitive Dissonance blog, whose irreverent take on the world is always refreshing. Go to http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/. Reporting live feeds from the Romneyville encampment a mile from the convention center will be Mobile Broadcast News. Go to http://mobilebroadcastnews.com. 

Progress Florida offers the Progressive's Guide to the RNC at  http://progressflorida.org/rnc/

To be continued...

Interested Party blog: Bakken pipeline could mean the end for Wyoming sage grouse

Our blogging pals at Interested Party out of South Dakota had a post this morning about the Bakken Pipeline.

If completed, it would transport raw natural gas liquids (NGLs) south through easternmost Montana and Wyoming into northern Colorado, where it will connect to the existing Overland Pass Pipeline.

It may also spell the end of the threatened Wyoming sage grouse, and endanger equally tenuous (and drought-plagued) water supplies. The pipeline's projected path through Laramie County takes it west of Burns and Carpenter and east of Cheyenne. Did you know that? I didn't.

Read the rest at interested party.

Thanks IP!

Magical thinking makes the GOP go 'round and 'round and 'round... like a hurricane

Neat column by Beau Friedlander on the Huffington Post:

While I was reading commentary about Rep. Todd Akin's overshare regarding abortion, the female body and the dark night of the GOP's soul, it occurred to me that the same attitude that allowed him to say what he said (call it ignorance, anti-intellectualism, magical thinking) has been at work in the GOP fight against Dodd-Frank, gay marriage, food and product safety, government spending and all the other GOP panic button social issues that have been causing a bottleneck in Congress since Obama took office.

Akin is today's GOP. The grease that moves things is magical thinking, whether we're talking about "self-regulating" businesses that can make or break the world economy or federal roads that build themselves or schools that somehow have everything they need to prepare kids for life without much in the way of tax revenue. What Akin thinks matters, because his thinking reveals a lot about the cultural conservative movement in the United States. It's the dunderheaded certainty of a religious person who believes God is not only concerned with individuals in a granular way, but that He will quite literally provide. This is a version of God that assures his followers there is no cause for alarm with regard to climate change (after all God knows what He's doing). This is a God that says, "Truly I say unto thee, shopping is beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. Nothing to see here. Get back to work."

Rest the rest at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/beau-friedlander/while-i-was-reading-comme_b_1821617.html

REMINDER: Dem Picnic Today!

The Laramie County Democrats will hold its annual 

Meet the Candidates Picnic on Saturday, Aug. 25, 1-4 p.m.,

at 2218 Champion Drive, Cheyenne. Meet and hear from

our candidates. Get fired up for November!

Hamburgers, hot dogs, beer, sodas and water will be provided.

Please bring the following:

Last name A-I: Dessert

J-Q: Salad

R-Z: Covered dish

Cool conversations will abound! 

Donations will be accepted.

Sod Farm Festival organizer takes page from Vaudeville to raise funds for Nicaraguan schools

Speaking of creativity:

Music lovers in Sheridan County will be able to get their fill with 16 acts set to take the stage at this year's Sod Farm Festival to benefit Project Schoolhouse, which builds schools and water systems in Central America. This year's goal is to raise $35,000 for an entire school in Nicaragua. 

Event Organizer Tab Barker says that in order to get through 16 acts in the allotted time, he's taken a page from the retro-Vaudeville acts he's seen at Sheridan's WYO Theater. Listen to his unique method. 

Event headliner is the band Seu Jacinto from Austin, Texas, which Barker is a member of.

The Sod Farm Festival will take place from 3 to 10 p.m. at the Green Carpet Sod Farm West of Sheridan. To get there take Big Goose Road until you hit Owl Creek Road, then take a right and follow the road until it ends Tickets for the Sod Farm Festival are $20 and can be purchased in advance at the WYO Theater, or at the gate Saturday evening.

Soldier-writers bare "The Soul of America" -- and they're coming to Wyoming this fall

Lance Corporal Nicholas G. Ciccone by Michael D. Fay, a portrait drawn during their duty in Afghanistan. Ciccone committed suicide in 2003. Courtesy of the Art Collection, National Museum of the Marine Corps, Triangle, Virginia.

I'm constantly amazed with the creative ways that humans confront their many challenges. Not surprising that many of those responses involve the arts. The arts allow us to express our deepest emotions, such as fear, anger and love. Where would we be without the poetry of love expressed in a Shakespearean sonnet? The anger expressed in a Bob Dylan or Green Day protest song? What about the pain expressed by the warrior in "All Quiet on the Western Front" and "Habibi Hlaloua," a modern dance production about choreographer and dancer Roman Baca's U.S. Marine platoon in Iraq? If they didn't exist, we would have to invent them and, amazingly enough, we are always finding new ways to do just that.

Yesterday I was reading the quarterly magazine of the National Endowment for the Arts. It's dedicated to the military and the arts. Researchers have discovered that writing or creating an artwork about a painful experience, such as trauma experienced in battle, stimulates the same part of the brain -- the right hemisphere -- that is activated with "traumatic recall." This also helps unlock the speech center in the left hemisphere that shuts down when presented with a painful memory. 

This is why veterans such as Ron Capps have found healing in creative writing, and why he went on to found the Veterans Writing Project. Capps has enlisted a slew of talented writers workshop leaders. Some are veterans (Tobias Wolff, Joe Haldeman, Brian Turner) but many are not (Bobbie Ann Mason, Mark Bowden, Marilyn Nelson). Some understanding of the battlefield is a plus, but it's more important to be an effective teacher and a writer who possesses more than the usual quota of empathy. Bobbie Ann Mason wrote a terrific novel about soldier returning home from Vietnam, "In Country." Jeff Shaara never served a day in the military but he puts his readers in the middle of the fighting at Antietam and Vicksburg and, more recently, Normandy and The Battle of the Bulge. You can see and hear some of these writers in the terrific documentary, "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience." Brian Turner is featured in a segment "What Every Soldier Should Know."Vietnam veteran and novelist Tim O'Brien also is interviewed.

Coincidentally, Turner and O'Brien will be in Wyoming this fall. If you'd like to take a free writing workshop with O'Brien (and who wouldn't?), he will be conducting one on Friday, Oct. 5, as part of the Literary Connection at LCCC in Cheyenne. He is one of three workshop teachers that day from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. -- the others are outdoor writer John Calderazzo from Colorado State University (one of my mentors from my CSU days) and Cat M. Valente.

Turner will be featured at the Equality State Book Festival in Casper Sept. 14-15. On Friday at 1 p.m., he will be reading from his work along with the three winners of the Wyoming Arts Council's poetry fellowship competition. On Saturday at 10 a.m., he will discuss the role of the soldier-writer with fellow Iraq War veteran Luis Carlos Montalvan. The panel moderator will be veteran, poet and Casper College professor Patrick Amelotte. Turner also will be signing copies of his books, "Here, Bullet" and "Phantom Noise" throughout the weekend.

How did these writers translate their experiences into written form? Come on out to these events and find out. They're both in the vicinity, as Casper is only a few Wyoming interstate highway miles away from your Cheyenne neighborhood. 

Rodger McDaniel: Welcome to UW, the un-university

Rodger McDaniel writes today about the un-University of Wyoming in Laramie, a place where academic freedom is only an afterthought (if that). Read Rodger's take on the "Carbon Sink" artwork debacle at http://blowinginthewyomingwind.blogspot.com/2012/08/uw-censorship-is-more-emblematic-of.html. And tune in tomorrow to his blog to read about UW's dark history of censorship.

Obama for America Wyoming off to Fort Collins

President Barack Obama will be speaking next Tuesday night at CSU in Fort Collins. A major get-out-the-vote effort is on the agenda for this weekend. precedes This comes from Obama for America Wyoming:   Obama for America Wyoming will be conducting a major export canvass to help our friends in Fort Collins. Colorado is a major swing state in this election, and a victory there will help us get one step closer to 270. We'll be meeting up at the Organizing for America office in Fort Collins at 10:00 a.m. Hope you can join us! If you need a ride down to Fort Collins, contact Nigel Latham at 307-772-1551. Start: Saturday, August 25, 2012 End: Saturday, August 25, 2012 Host: Janet Whitehead Location: OFA-CO office in Fort Collins (Fort Collins, WY) 401 South Mason Street Fort Collins, WY 80521

Voter turnout high in Laramie County -- and it shows

Pleased to see that Laramie County voters had the foresight to approve all of the infrastructure propositions on the Aug. 21 ballot. Voters will get a new Botanic Gardens building, along with road improvements to the park and vicinity. The municipal pool will get much-needed upgrades. The old airport building will be replaced by something that resembles a facility that serves the state capital and its largest county. Downtown's 17th Street will get a makeover, and we will construct a new building for the Cheyenne Police Department. And then there are all those county flood control and sewer and water projects that are not flashy but necessary. All good stuff. And it looks as if Laramie County had the highest voter turnout in the state with almost 65 percent. The statewide numbers were dismal, coming in at less than 50 percent, the worst in 30 years.

What to make of the defeat of the recreation center and the Archer Complex facility? I have no good advice except this: back to the drawing boards, people! Come back to us when you have better plans.

Literary Death Match: Ayn Rand vs. J.R.R. Tolkien

Saw this on Facebook (via writer pal Pamela Painter) and had to share. I read both novels at about the same time, in my early 20s (I matured late). I read "The Fountainhead" too. Ayn Rand provided some good reads and, for a short while, food for thought. But I read the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy twice, and the stories stayed with me, feeding my standing-in-line-on-opening-night obsession with the LOTR movies by Peter Jackson. I like orcs, and they scared me too.