Obama speech launches flood of Romnesia memes

Here's one, for example

Democrats' campaign events: Canvassing for Lee Filer and Mary Throne and chili dinner for all

Here are the Democratic Party campaign events planned for this weekend in Laramie County:
 

SATURDAY: 10/20 9:30 am Canvassing for Lee Filer HD-12. Meeting at Lee's Home 265 Bent Avenue. BREAKFAST WILL  BE SERVED. For more information contact campaign manager Calob Taylor at 307/640-3360

SATURDAY: 10/20 10 am Canvassing for Mary Throne HD-11. Meeting at Mary's home, 720 E. 19th Street. For more information or to support the campaign campaign manager, Kate Wright at 307/220-7447. 

SUNDAY: 10/21 4-7 pm. Annual Chili Dinner for Dems. Old Community House in Lion's Park. Bring side dish/dessert if able. For more information contact Linda Stowers at 307/220-1219. 

SUNDAY: 10/21 6 pm. Lee Filer Supporter House Party. 10/21 6 pm. 1602 Ragtime Drive.

State Archaeologist Dr. Mark Miller previews new book in Oct. 25 lecture in Cheyenne

This sounds great -- and I can't wait for the book by this fine Wyoming writer:

Dr. Mark Miller, Wyoming’s State Archaeologist, will celebrate National Archaeology Day with a lecture at the Wyoming State Museum, October 25 at 7 p.m.

From the earliest carved and painted images on stone cliffs to locations dating to the 20^th Century, Wyoming is dotted with hundreds of sites that bear witness to military activities. In his talk, Dr. Miller draws from his recently completed book, “Military Sites in Wyoming 1700-1920.”

The slide show and lecture summarizes a study of more than 300 sites that have been incorporated into this historic context, beginning with early evidence of military activity in Native American rock art.

FMI: http://wyomingarts.blogspot.com/2012/10/dr-mark-miller-speaks-about-military.html

When it comes to voting, the county clerk explains it all for you w/update

Everything you need to know about voting in Laramie County is available on the county clerk's web site at http://www.laramiecountyclerk.com/elections.aspx.

One thing I couldn't find is the cut-off date for early registration. While it is true that Wyoming allows you to register to vote on election day, there is a cut-off date prior to the Nov. 6 election so the clerk's office can compile the voter rolls used at the polling places. These are thick binders full of women -- and men too.

You can vote downtown on weekdays during business hours in the atrium located between the courthouse and the county admin building.

Couldn't be easier, could it? Then how come so many voters sit out elections? If you do, don't expect any of us voters to listen when you start complaining about the gubment.

UPDATE: Cut-off date for early registration in Wyoming is Monday, Oct. 22.

Iraq vet and writer David Abrams returns to Jackson with his novel "Fobbit"

I'm always a bit dubious when a new novel is compared to Catch-22 or M*A*S*H or is labeled "definitive." However, I am always ready for a new reading adventure, especially if the book features a darkly humorous take on war, any war, and the author is from Wyoming.

So here's some info on Jackson Hole H.S. grad David Abrams and his new novel, "Fobbit," and the author's upcoming appearance in his old stomping grounds:

The Jackson Hole Writers Conference & Teton County Library Present: David Abrams, 7-8:30 p.m., on Friday, Nov. 2. David Abrams, who graduated from Jackson Hole High School in 1981, spent 20 years in the Army and then came back to the states to write what is being acclaimed as the definitive novel of the Iraq War. His novel about the Iraq War, "Fobbit," was published by Grove/Atlantic in 2012. Location: Center for the Arts, Dancers Workshop, 240 S. Glenwood Street, Jackson, WY 83001. Free. Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135, odoherty@tclib.org. 

From the author’s web site:

In the satirical tradition of Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Fobbit takes us into the chaotic world of Baghdad’s Forward Operating Base Triumph. The Forward Operating base, or FOB, is like the back-office of the battlefield – where people eat and sleep, and where a lot of soldiers have what looks suspiciously like an office job. Male and female soldiers are trying to find an empty Porta Potty in which to get acquainted, grunts are playing Xbox and watching NASCAR between missions, and a lot of the senior staff are more concerned about getting to the chow hall in time for the Friday night all-you-can-eat seafood special than worrying about little things like military strategy. Of all the fobbits stationed at Baghdad’s Forward Operating Base Triumph, Staff Sergeant Chance Gooding is the fobbitiest. His M-16 is collecting dust, he reads Dickens and Cervantes instead of watching NASCAR with the grunts, and the only piece of Army intelligence he really shows an interest in is the mess hall menu. Gooding works in the base’s public affairs office, furiously tapping out press releases that put a positive slant on the latest roadside bombing or strategic blunder before CNN can break the real story. Another soldier who would spend every day at the FOB if he could is Captain Abe Shrinkle, but unfortunately for him he’s a front-line officer, in charge of a platoon of troops. Abe trembles at any encounter with the enemy and hoards hundreds of care packages, brimming over with baby wipes, foot powder, and erotic letters from bored housewives. When Shrinkle makes a series of ill-judged tactical decisions, he ends up in front of his commanding officers, and Gooding has his work cut out trying to make everything smell like roses--and that’s just the start of the bad news.

Divine Intervention the real source of Binders Full of Women

Meme seen on Binders Full of Women Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/bindersfullofwomen/?ref=ts&fref=tscaption

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meme: Romney still uses binders?

Meme from Kaili Joy Gray at Daily Kos

From tonight's debate:

CROWLEY: Governor Romney, pay equity for women?

ROMNEY: Thank you. And important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as governor of my state, because I had the chance to pull together a cabinet and all the applicants seemed to be men.

And I — and I went to my staff, and I said, "How come all the people for these jobs are — are all men." They said, "Well, these are the people that have the qualifications." And I said, "Well, gosh, can't we — can't we find some — some women that are also qualified?"

ROMNEY: And — and so we — we took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds that could be qualified to become members of our cabinet.

I went to a number of women's groups and said, "Can you help us find folks," and they brought us whole binders full of women.

Mitt has "binders full of women" -- and they're priced to sell!

Funniest line of this debate night -- Mitt Romney's "binders full of women" comment. Read more at Meg's Place: http://cognitivedissonance.tumblr.com/post/33752141771/i-still-cant-get-over-the-binders-full-of-women

This just in -- health care is a commie plot

Clueless in Montana (from the Button Valley Bugle)

Onward and upward (and sometimes downward and dumbward) as Wyoming lurches into the future

American Bison at Utah's Hogle Zoo

The following comes from a University of Wyoming press release that appeared on Friday. It talks about Wyoming's and UW's commitment to the future in the form of computing power and connectivity. It's refreshing to see such forward-thinking planning on the part of a university that last summer removed a campus sculpture that dared to question global warming ("Carbon Sink"). But it's also the same university that opened a huge new visual arts building at the end of last year, and began raising funds to match a legislative appropriation for a renovated performing arts building. And remember Bill Ayers, the firebrand education reformer and one-time antiwar radical that UW tried to stop speaking on campus a few years back?

Okay, UW has a split personality, not unlike Wyoming's.

You gotta love this place for that. And sometimes, well, you gotta think of Nobel Prize winning writer William Faulkner. As the story goes, Faulkner was at a book signing in Montana when a woman said that she wished that Montana writers loved Montana like Faulkner obviously loved Mississippi. Faulkner's reply: "Madam, I hate Mississippi."

That probably left her speechless.

You don't have to love a place to write well about it. And you don't have to love a place to wish it a fruitful future.

So the new NCAR Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) was dedicated today. Go out and visit the new education center, which is open to the public on weekdays. After this week, you won't be able to visit Yellowstone, the new supercomputer, unless you have an appointment or you're running for president.

This is only one of the surprising bits in this article. DYK that the huge fiber-optic cable that laid the ground for the NWSC is called the Bison Ring (not to be confused with Wagner's Ring Cycle)? See above images for an explanation. And that another big computer has been installed at UW in Laramie with the name Mount Moran, after a peak in the Teton Range? I kind of like this trend that attaches Wyocentric names to tangles of wires and metal and electrons. Microsoft is building a new regional data center in Cheyenne. Wonder what its computer will be called? I suggest "Vedauwoo." Or possibly "Crazy Horse."

Here's the first few paragraphs of the UW release:

It began with laying hundreds of miles of fiber-optic cable, much of it buried under the ground along stretches of interstate that traverse the mountains and plains of Wyoming. Next week, the state’s evolution from primarily pulling minerals out of the ground to a sky’s-the-limit outlook for supercomputing will be complete.

The $74 million NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC), with a primary focus of atmospheric research, is slated to open Monday, Oct. 15, with a ceremonial dedication. Located at the North Range Business Park in Cheyenne, the $30 million supercomputer, dubbed “Yellowstone,” will be used by multiple University of Wyoming researchers and their students to model detailed simulations of hydrology, carbon sequestration, planet formation, efficiency of wind turbines, and much more.

Read the whole thing at http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2012/10/supercomputer-opening-caps-years-of-effort.html

City News holds series of writing and publishing workshops in October

City News in downtown Cheyenne is hosting a series of writing and publishing workshops in October.

On Sunday, Oct. 21, noon-1:30 p.m., there will be a special workshop designed for children. According to a press release, it will "encourage young authors to expand their skills, put ideas into words, through fun exercises and sharing. Halloween costumes are encouraged."

A writing workshop for adults will be held on Sunday, Oct. 28, noon-1:30 p.m. Bring your finished writing or come in for ideas. Author and publisher Blaze McRob will be there to discuss the horror genre.

FMI: Alan or Audrey, 307-638-8671.

On Thursday, Oct. 25, City News will hold a free workshop from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Hear tips from author Patricia G. Stevenson ("The Dilapidated Man," "The Jezebel Bride"), artist N. Kay Stevenson and agent Carolyn Campbell. Come join the team as they workshop the steps in writing, designing and promoting a book. More info at patriciagstevenson.com.

Casper Star-Tribune explores UW cover-up in Carbon Sink sculpture removal

Good story about the UW "Carbon Sink" stink by CST business editor Jeremy Fugleberg (story also appeared in Billings Gazette):

Emails: University of Wyoming officials sped up, touted removal of anti-coal sculpture

You don't have to get scared this week to have a good time in Cheyenne

When you talk about fall arts events, you have to include several local haunted houses. It takes good theatrical skills to scare people. The Cheyenne Knights of Pythias "Nightmare on 17th Street" has been voted one of the scariest in the region and won't admit young children and pregnant women. The next performances at 312 1/2 W. Lincolnway will be Oct. 19 and 20, 7-11 p.m. A portion of the ticket price goes to local orgs such as The Boys and Girls Club.

If you don't want to get really scared but still want to be entertained, get out to the final performance of "Fiddler on the Roof" at 2 p.m today at the CLTP's Mary Godfrey Theatre. I saw it last week and it's terrific. In case you don't remember, the musical has a famous haunting scene, in which the ghost of Fruma-Sarah (played convincingly by Dana Heying) scares Golde into agreeing to let her daughter marry a poor tailor. Oy vey! Call 638-6543 for tix.

Also at 2 p.m. today (and on Oct. 19, 20 and 21) is "Cotton Patch Gospel" at Vineyard Church, 1506 Thomes Avenue downtown. I wrote about the musical here. It's free with a donation of food for the needy, but you have to call 638-8700 to RSVP.

Wyoming's opera shortage is partially alleviated today with "An Afternoon of Opera" from 3-5 p.m. today at the Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Ave. It features the Opera Colorado Young Artists Reception, concert arias and ensembles. Free but a $10 voluntary contribution is appreciated. FMI: 514-2236.

Next Sunday, Oct. 21, 3 p.m., my daughter Annie will join her fellow LCCC music students for the "American Tapestry" concert at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 1908 Central Ave. It features the LCCC Collegiate Choir, Cantorel and newly formed men's and women's ensemble. Free, but donations will be accepted for the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for veterans recovering from overseas deployments. FMI: 778-1158.

Gunshot shatters window of Obama office in Denver

Jason Payseno of EAP Glass installs plywood where a window was shot out Friday at an Obama campaign office on West Ninth Avenue near Acoma Street in Denver. (Daniel Petty, The Denver Post). Read more here

Tired of Republican attacks on teachers?

Please join us for a Democratic Party education candidate house party for Misty Heil (LCCC Board), Nate Breen (LCSD#1) and Gary Datus (HD-42).  

Brand House 

629 Oakhurst Drive, Cheyenne.

Sunday, October 14, 3-6 pm. 

Come meet the candidates!  Supporters can learn how they can help these great campaigns.  Education at all levels is a priority for Laramie County and attacks on teachers, other educators/faculty and academic freedom are rampant. Our candidates value good  teachers and strong policies to support them and their students. 

For more information, contact Lori Brand at 307-634-6977.

Laramie County Democratic Party chili dinner set for October 21

ANNUAL LARAMIE COUNTY DEMOCRATS CHILI DINNER

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2012

4-7 P.M.

OLD COMMUNITY HOUSE, LIONS PARK

MEET AND TALK TO CANDIDATES

RALLY THE TROOPS FOR THE FINAL WEEKS OF CAMPAIGN

BRING A DESSERT OR SALAD

CHILI, HOT DOGS, HAMBURGERS, BEVERAGES PROVIDED

DONATIONS WELCOME!

ALL PROGRESSIVE-MINDED PEOPLE WELCOME!

DEFY THE KNOW NOTHINGS -- VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

Out with the old and in with the new at Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center

Columbian Mammoth cast at new welcome center

Chris and I took a Saturday afternoon drive out to the new Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center at the High Plains exit south in I-25. We missed yesterday afternoon's official dedication due to too many workplace meetings. But we did read about it on the front page of this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. You can also read an earlier article I wrote about it here.

The welcome center is part highway pit stop, Wyoming Travel & Tourism Department offices, and historic museum. Its top-notch exhibits and dioramas show the state's history through dinosaurs digs, water projects, transportation, energy and outdoor recreation. Sometimes you experience it in many dimensions. The sloped walkway that takes you from the mammoth skeleton to the transportation exhibit is all about water: lakes, dams, waterfalls and fishing streams. You can hear the rushing water, and lights glimmer off the floor, giving you the feeling that you may be walking on water. Hallelujah!

The grounds are criss-crossed with trails marked with historic markers explaining it all for you. Multitudes of native deciduous trees and bushes have been planted. in about ten years, the place will have plenty of shade. There's a fenced-in pet walk area and a wetlands that drains the run-off from the highway. Berms have been added from the dirt remaining from construction of the center and the highway overpass. Along the top of the main berm is a series of five wind generators which were spinning today, powering the indoor exhibits.

This place is all about alternative energy and is powered by wind, solar and geo-exchange sources. Interesting to note that state taxes on coal and oil and natural gas paid for the bulk of construction costs while its operation will be powered predominately by renewable energy. Out with the old and in with the new. We are not really finished with the old, but places like this illustrate what the future holds.

It's also true that this place would not exist without the arts of architecture, design, photography, videography, literature, music and sculpture. A word about the music: no Muzak for this center, but it features western, C&W and Americana tunes. While there today, I heard a cowboy song by Wyoming's own Chris LeDoux and "Somebody Robbed the Glendale Train" by New Riders of the Purple Sage. Nice mix.

Stan Dolega's "Wind Code" outdoor sculpture not only uses steel beams patterned to look like Wyoming's ubiquitous snow fences, but also includes native rocks and is built to remind of us of the mountains we can see in the distance. It was put in place through the state's Percent for Art program.

Take a jaunt out to the new welcome center. It's functional and educational and pretty and fun. Sounds are good too.

Local author hosts B&N book fair to benefit Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

Cheyenne author Amanda Cabot will host a book fair at Barnes and Noble for her new novel Christmas Roses, on Saturday, Nov. 3. Proceeds will benefit the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens and Paul Smith Children’s Village. Come on out for a fun afternoon with Amanda and finish (or begin) your Christmas shopping at the same time. 

The following Saturday, Nov. 10, Amanda will join some of her fellow Laramie County authors for a publishing conference at the Laramie County Public Library. This conference is "designed to help you navigate the next steps toward publication of your novel." It will be held from 10:15 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Laramie County Public Library. Feel free to brown-bag your lunch or purchase it at the library cafe. The event is free. Authors will be selling and signing copies of their books. FMI: 307-634-3561.

Fab art at FABulous Women's Art Show at WOW in Laramie

Fabulous women artists exhibit their fabulous artwork at Works of Wyoming in Laramie. Opening reception is Saturday. Head over to WOW's new digs on First Street in downtown Laramie. Stick around for some fab vegetarian food next door at Sweet Melissa's and a pint of finely crafted ale at the brewpub.

Republican Paul Ryan: Heavy on certitude, light on Catholic social justice

As I watched the Veep candidates trade barbs this evening in Kentucky, I couldn't help but wonder what they were like in high school. Lori said that Paul Ryan was called a brown-noser in his high school yearbook. I don't know this to be true but I also don't doubt it. One only has to see his thin-lipped smirk and his beady eyes to know he was a brown-noser, the kind who has his face so far up the teacher's bum that, well, you know....

Joe Biden, on the other hand, was a wise guy, quick-witted and big-mouthed, who might also have been fun to be around. He may also have been the BMOC -- Big Man on Campus -- the guy who got the girls and wasn't too humble about it.

But there's one other thing. Paul Ryan has the certitude and rectitude that makes him unbearable. He's the kind of parishioner who's driven me from the Catholic Church. This is what the Catholic Church believes! I know it in my lily white soul! If you don't like it, you must be one of those cafeteria Catholics. Get out!

So I did. These type of Catholics are insufferable. Certainty has never been a Catholic trait. Joe Biden was right when he quipped that Ryan didn't learn much about Catholic social doctrine with his catechism.

Give me those feisty social justice street-fighting Catholics any day. Or those heady Unitarians or friendly United Methodists or angst-ridden Existentialists or fallen Catholics or Jack Mormons. People who've been through the fire and learned a few things in the process.

Biden has been kicked around some. Lost his wife and daughter in a car crash. Had his son deployed to Iraq. Experienced losses at home and in the Senate. He knows that there's no certainty in life or in politics.

Biden stuck it to Ryan tonight. He probably would have done the same in high school debate, although charm and a big smile doesn't always win points in competition.