Wyoming Republicans look to the future with Dick Cheney as keynote speaker

Watching the inauguration festivities on Monday in D.C. made me feel old and out of it. A wonderful African-American First Family with their two beautiful daughters and Richard Blanco reciting a poem celebrating the 21st century in America and a huge crowd of people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds and origins. This is the future and this old guy wants to be a part of it as long as possible. The Republicans, on the other hand, have proved themselves to be the political party of old ideas and old ways and selfishness. There may be hope to Repubs in the likes of Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal and those who look ahead instead of back into the previous century. Even some of the young leaders are burdened with the hatreds and prejudices that were born in the pre-Civil Rights era, back when I was a kid growing up in the American South. Nothing says outdated and old like having a remnant of the latest Repub administration as the keynote speaker at your annual banquet. Here's news from the Wyoming Republicans:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will be the guest speaker at a Wyoming Republican Party dinner next month.  

Cheney will speak Feb. 9 at the dinner being held at the Little America Hotel in Cheyenne. The party says the event is open to the public. 

Tickets are available by contacting the party's office in Casper at 307-234-9166.

"In the Shadow of the Buddha" author to be keynote speaker at WY Dems' Nellie Tayloe Ross banquet

Matteo Pistono will be the keynote speaker at the Wyoming Democratic Party's Nellie Tayloe Ross banquet on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne. A cocktail reception starts at 6 p.m., followed by dinner, awards ceremony and keynote at 7. Get more info at http://wyodems.org

For more than a decade, Matteo Pistono has lived in Nepal and Tibet, and worked in the fields of human rights and religious freedom. Matteo Pistono has been heralded as "The James Bond of Tibetan Buddhism" and has worked with some of the world's greatest teachers, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Sogyal Rinpoche, and the late Khenpo Jikmé Phuntsok.

President Obama's inaugural address aimed at all of us progressives who elected him

It's worth watching again...

UW Days of Dialogue features screening of film about civil rights pioneer Bayard Rustin

The Martin Luther King, Jr., Days of Dialogue at the University of Wyoming in Laramie features a full slate of events Jan. 21-25. On Tuesday, Jan. 22, 6:30 p.m., there will be a screening of the film, "Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin." It will be followed by a reception with the Cheyenne NAACP. Location: Wyoming Union West Ballroom. FMI: http://www.mlkdod.com/

Celebrate Mardi Gras without leaving Cheyenne

The Cheyenne Little Theatre Players will raise some funds and have a great time on Feb. 2 at the Atlas Theatre downtown. Get a little taste of New Orleans at the Mardi Gras Bash.  

President Obama: “We are going to need to work on making access to mental health care as easy as access to a gun”

This is but a small part of President Obama's Plan to Protect our Children & Communities, which was announced this morning. I'm including it because mental health is one of my blog's key issues. And tackling the many gun parts of the document is too much to bear. Read more here.  

IMPROVING MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES 
Though the vast majority of Americans with a mental illness are not violent, we need to do more to identify mental health issues early and help individuals get the treatment they need before dangerous situations develop. As President Obama has said, “We are going to need to work on making access to mental health care as easy as access to a gun.” 
• MAKE SURE STUDENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS GET TREATMENT FOR MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES: Three quarters of mental illnesses appear by the age of 24, yet less than half of children with diagnosable mental health problems receive treatment. To increase access to mental health services for young people, we should: o Provide “Mental Health First Aid” training to help teachers and staff recognize signs of mental illness in young people and refer them to treatment. o Support young adults ages 16 to 25, who have the highest rates of mental illness but are the least likely to seek help, by giving incentives to help states develop innovative approaches. o Help break the cycle of violence in schools facing pervasive violence with a new, targeted initiative to provide their students with needed services like counseling. o Train 5,000 more social workers, counselors, and psychologists, with a focus on those serving students and young adults. 
• ENSURE COVERAGE OF MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT: The Affordable Care Act is the largest step to increase access to mental health services in a generation, providing health coverage for 30 million Americans, including 6 to 10 million people with mental illness. The Administration will take executive actions to ensure that millions of newly covered Americans, and millions more who already have health insurance, get quality mental health coverage by: o Finalizing regulations to require insurance plans to cover mental health benefits like medical and surgical benefits. o Ensuring Medicaid is meeting its obligation to cover mental health equally.

Glad to be here after brush with heart failure

I began the year with heart failure.

On Jan. 2, I was rushed via ambulance to the emergency room. I couldn't breathe. Pain radiated down my sides and into my stomach. Vitals and X-rays confirmed congestive heart failure. The cardiologist wanted to take me to the cath lab but I couldn't lie flat for the procedure because my lungs were clogged. Two days later, I was in the lab getting a stent in my main trunk artery which was blocked. This is the LAD artery, sometimes melodramatically known as "The Widowmaker."

I'm lucky to be here to tell the tale. Credit goes to the the skills of Dr. Chapman and Dr. Khan and staff of the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center's cardiac unit. After a week of excellent hospital care, I went home last Wednesday wearing a LifeVest, which monitors my heart and will shock it back into rhythm, if need be. I have a sackful of medications to help my heart heal.

I have no history of heart disease. My family has no history of heart disease. I dropped 40 pounds this year by swimming three times a week at the YMCA and eating right. Annual blood tests did show high cholesterol levels, something I never paid much attention to. That may have led to the plaque build-up and blockages that almost killed me.

So glad to be here. So glad to be anywhere.

During my hospitalization, the Wyoming State Legislature lurched into session. I missed most of the fun the first week and now will be playing catch-up. It may be difficult to duplicate the zaniness of last year's session -- or will it?

Listen live tonight as Radio Meg counts down the top 25 albums of 2012

Meg's fab tunes & prog-talk now available from Boulder to Birmingham, Tehatchapi to Tonapah:

Tune into 93.5 KOCA tonight, 10 p.m.-1 a.m. and keep your dial locked for fab music + Legit Conservative + d-bag o' the week. Our special guest tonight is fellow music aficionado Cameron L. Maris, who will help us count down the Top 25 Albums of 2012! Oh, and don't forget to send The Legitimate Conservative some questions -- it IS the last show of the year! Listen online and talk to us in the live chat! Check out http://myradiostream.com/cognitivedissonance to listen at 10 PM and http://chat.myradiostream.com/FSHs11p6864/ for the chat! Taking your requests for songs, dedications & d-bag nods til 8 PM. Laramie Civic Center, rm #255

In the pink, but still a bit blue

I've been off the blog for more than a week. I do have a good excuse: pneumonia. Gave new meaning to the term "sick in bed." Racked with pain and weak as an overcooked noodle. I was going to say "weak as a kitten" but then thought of all the kittens I've ever known. They may be small but weak? I think not. It's sobering to be sick for both my 62nd birthday and Christmas. This aging road may be as rocky as they say. I've spent the last nine months losing weight, eating better and swimming laps three times a week at the Y. And one tiny no-see-um bacterium sneaks into my lungs and knocks me down. Thank God for antibiotics and health insurance and good doctors and helpful pharmacists and my loving wife and good friends and understanding coworkers.

I've watched a lot of movies, not all good. I did finally see "The King's Speech" and really enjoyed it. Geoffrey Rush was brilliant as an engaging, irreverent speech therapist to a king. I'm no friend to the British Royal Family, but I wanted to belt out a few huzzahs for Colin Firth's tongue-tied Edward VI as he made his first war speech. I watched a number of films set in wartime. "Joe and Max" was a biopic about the Joe Louis and Max Schmeling boxing matches of 1936 and 1938. Joe was America's "Brown Bomber," knocking out one white fighter after another on his way to the championship. The entire time was being ripped off by his white promoters. Schmeling's Jewish-American promoter got the fighter a match with Louis in New York. Herr Goebbels calls in Schmeling to dissuade him from the fight, wondering how it would look if a fighter from National Socialist Germany got beat by a negro. Max would have none of it; he figured he was bigger than the Nazis and could do what he wanted. In a way, he was right. He won the match by decision with the American crowd shouting "Max" instead of "Joe." He returned home a conquering hero. When the crowd yelled "Heil Hitler" and raised the Nazi salute, so did Max. He wasn't a member of the party and didn't think it mattered. That all changed two years later. To get permission to go to America, Max has to sign a manuscript, "Boxing as a Race Matter." It's a racist screed against non-white athletes. This time in New York, he'd beset by anti-Nazi protests that turn very personal. The crowd is pro-Joe this time and Joe KOs Max. Nobody's waiting at the airport for Max when he returns this time.

The two fighters both serve in the war. Joe fought bouts to sell war bonds. Max served in combat. They kept up a relationship until Joe passed away in 1981. Joe was broke from millions in IRS debts, so Max paid for the military funeral. Max was pretty well off, working for Coca Cola in Germany from the 1950s until retiring in 2000 at the age of 95. Max Schmeling says drink more coke, ya'll!

Dear Mr. President: Don't capitulate on "fiscal cliff" negotiations

Kos on Daily Kos posted tonight about President Obama's capitulation on the so-called "fiscal cliff" negotiations. There's an e-mail petition to sign if you've a mind to. I did. This is what I said, which is part DK boilerplate and part me:

Mr. President: As of today, I am three years away from retirement. I expect to find my investment in Social Security intact when that day comes.

Please don't cave in to Republican blackmail. Stop proposing cuts to Social Security.

Social Security does not contribute even $1 to the deficit, and is 100% solvent for over 20 years according to even the most pessimistic projections. It should not be a part of the fiscal showdown negotiations.

Please live up to your campaign promise of not balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class. 

"Creating science from sewage" is one benefit of new Cheyenne zero-carbon Data Plant

Science! It's a gas -- biogas, that is. The City of Cheyenne and UW and Microsoft and Fuel Cell Energy Inc. are building a pilot project east of Cheyenne to see if methane produced from sewage treatment can provide efficient zero-carbon power. A $7.5 million Microsoft Data Plant is the test case. The plant will use 200 kilowatts of energy from the fuel cell to power 200 computers. Any excess energy will go back to the Dry Creek Water Reclamation Facility to defray its electric bills. After an 18-month test period that will begin in the spring, Microsoft will give the facility back to the city and the university to use as a teaching lab. This is part of the deal, as Microsoft has to provide a "public benefit" in trade for taxpayer funding that's going to the project. Sounds like a win-win to me, a great public-private partnership. Read more about it here. 

The Western Research Institute is housed in the Bureau of Mines Building on the University of Wyoming campus in Laramie. WRI CEO Don Collins was instrumental in landing the project for the state. Said Collins:

“Microsoft is developing it as the first zero-carbon Data Plant in the world, and it will be in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Even Bill Gates had a tweet about how excited he was about this project.”

When Bill Gates tweets, people pay attention. 

Collins also said that:

...CO2 that comes out of the fuel cell can be captured and used for enhanced oil recovery in the state.  Wyoming currently does not have enough CO2 for such operations, he says. A company using a fuel cell in this manner could sell its CO2 at $25-$30 per ton to oil companies and make approximately $2.25 million, Collins says. That business scenario could make it more attractive for more fuel cell use in Wyoming.

“There might really be a strategic advantage for Wyoming for all energy-intensive companies that sell CO2 to cut costs,” Collins says. “Our goal is to turn CO2 into a valuable asset rather than something that must be disposed of at a high expense.”

At a recent meeting Collins attended in San Jose, Calif., Microsoft indicated its desire to keep the Data Plant in Cheyenne “as a long-term demonstration facility,” Collins says.

Use of a demonstration facility enhances opportunities for UW and WRI to secure competitive funding from the federal government and the Wyoming Energy Conversion Technology Fund, Collins adds.

Your taxpayer dollars at work. And I'm not being snarky. This sounds like an excellent use of state and federal funds.Microsoft may eventually use this technology for its cloud computing centers that are springing up all over the U.S. The City of Cheyenne and the State of Wyoming could do worse than having Microsoft for a partner.

Equality State Policy Center offers Citizen Lobbyist Training Jan. 9 in Cheyenne

Once again, the Equality State Policy Center will offer its Citizen Lobbyist Training. It's a great opportunity to learn the inner workings of the legislature and arm yourself with some effective lobbying tools to stymie any crackpot bills that rear their ugly little heads. 

This year's Citizen Lobbyist Training will be conducted Jan. 9 starting at 8 a.m. at the Plains Hotel in Cheyenne. Participants in the training learn how a bill becomes law. Experienced lobbyists who work for ESPC member organizations outline the attributes of an effective lobbyist and teach attendees how to testify before a legislative committee. Other presentations outline how citizens can get the attention of legislators and affect their policy deliberations from home. Sitting legislators offer their perspectives on lobbying and discuss approaches that work -- and that don't work -- with them.

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The training fee is $50. The fee helps us defray the cost of lunch and snacks on site. We offer a discount to $25 for attendees affiliated with ESPC groups.

The fee is not meant to be prohibitive, however, and we offer scholarships to participants who need assistance. If you need a scholarship or have other questions about the Citizen Lobbyist Training, please contact Dan Neal at dneal@equalitystate.org or call 307-472-5939.

Regressive bills to watch out for during the 2013 Wyoming Legislature w/update

Gregory Nickerson at wyofile does a great job of outlining the possible social issue bills that will emerge during the upcoming legislative session, which begins Jan. 8. The usual players (those that survived the recent election, anyway) on the Republican side will offer up the usual regressive anti-gay and anti-woman legislation. They will try to force pregnant women to undergo invasive ultrasounds. They will attempt a demonize the LGBT community. For those of you who thought that the recent national election showed once and for all that America believes in a progressive social agenda, think again. This just about sums it up:

“Wyoming’s quite a little bit different than the rest of the country,” said Curt Meier, the longtime Republican senator from LaGrange. “You see that in the last presidential election. We’ve got a different idea about what America should be than what it is right now.”

I'm always amazed that some Republicans think that we don't live in an interconnected age, where lamebrain policies concocted in LaGrange won't end up on the national stage. We have the Internet Tubes now, Sen. Meier. When Wyoming thinks it needs an aircraft carrier or silencers on hunting rifles, it goes viral and people laugh at us from sea to shining sea. And lest you think that tourism will keep us afloat, that backwards policies won't affect the stream of visitors to gawk at the Tetons, think again. Word gets around.

There may be another way to look at this. Perhaps Wyoming, if it regresses far enough, will actually become a worldwide curiosity. People might say, "Let's go see those strange natives who live in that almost-square state sandwiched between Colorado and Montana." Wyoming already is somewhat of a oddity to urban dwellers on the coasts. That could end up being a big draw as the rest of American moves forward and we keep lurching backward.

One of the best things about Greg's article -- he names all the possible players on these issues. Wyoming Equality, led by Jeran Artery, is a force to be reckoned with on LGBT legislation, notably marriage equality. My wife Chris and I are Wyoming Equality members and plan to get behind the organization 110 percent during the legislative session. The org has 650 members and can be very persuasive when energized. To borrow a phrase from Anonymous -- Expect us!

UPDATE: Just received my Wyoming Equality United Voice newsletter in the mail. WE plans to expand its lobbying force for the upcoming legislature. If you're interested, get more info at the Wyoming Equality Web site.

Newtown, Conn., may be the next location for "Angel Actions"

As funerals begin for those murdered in Newtown, Conn., words comes that Fred Phelps and his Band of Weirdos from Westboro "Church" are planning to spew their venom against first-graders and their families. On Facebook, people were posting about ways to protect mourners should this occur. Military veterans have already figured this out, with a motorcycle honor guard that provides a buffer between the WBC and funeral-goers. Before that, it was the LGBT community who had a fine answer with "Angel Actions."

The first Angel Action against Fred Phelps and the WBC took place in Laramie, Wyoming, at memorial services (and subsequent trials) for murdered gay UW student Matthew Shepard in 1998. WBC had also protested at Shepard's funeral in Casper nine days after the murder. In Laramie, LGBT activist Romaine Patterson, a Wyoming native and friend of Matthew's, came up with the idea of dressing as angels to protect mourners from WBC's hatred. Similar actions have taken place whenever Fred and his crew show up to protest showings of "The Laramie Project," a play (and later a movie) by Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theater Project. There was an Angel Action in Tucson in January 2011 when the WBC threatened to show up (but didn't) at the funerals of those killed in the shooting that wounded Gabrielle Giffords. It appears that an Angel Action may next be required in Connecticut.

While it's easy to get angry and Phelps and his crew, it's hard to come up with peaceful ways to blunt the hate.

This post has been updated.  

Meditations on cloudy December afternoon

Odd and ends on a cloudy December Sunday (as the Broncos lead the Ravens 34-17 in Baltimore):

The always interesting Larry Kurtz at Interested Party offers more info on Menards and its right-wing owner. The Cheyenne store isn't open yet, but it's not too early to plan not to shop there.

All 31 pro-gun U.S. Senators refuse to appear on Meet the Press. Funny, but our Sen. Barrasso usually isn't camera-shy. Go here to see how much he and Cynthia Lummis received from the NRA during their 2012 reelection campaigns.

Senate Dems plan to introduce assault weapons ban in the new year. 

SNL opens last night's show with a "Silent Night" sung by a children's choir.

My beautiful daughter sings in the LCCC Choir's Christmas concert, "Unto Us a Child is Born."

"Misguided austerity policies" by conservatives lead to people falling through the cracks

I've written before about how right-wing ideology in Wyoming is driving budget cuts for mental health care. After another senseless massacre, we need to take a serious look about the lack of funding and services for those diagnosed with some form of mental illness. States have cut $4.35 billion in public mental health spending from 2009 to 2012, according to the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD). Wyoming will join their ranks in 2013.

We recently had a case in Casper, Wyoming, where a young man murdered his father and his father's girlfriend and then committed suicide. No guns were involved; lethal weapons in this case where a compound bow and a hunting knife. The young man drove all the way from Connecticut to Casper to do this deed. That takes planning. The deed itself takes rage and focus and something else that we can't name.

What's at stake? Lynn Parramore writes in Alternet:

Thanks to the misguided austerity policies embraced by conservatives, more people are falling through the cracks. There are not enough psychiatric beds, treatment services or community support programs. Medication is expensive, and insurance companies routinely leave patients inadequately covered (the Affordable Care Act will hopefully address this problem by finally putting psychiatric illnesses on par with other health issues).

Mental healthcare workers have been laid off. Vulnerable people are neglected until their situation becomes acute – often after it’s too late. Many are incarcerated, often subjected to solitary confinement because prison officials don’t know what to do with them. Others are homeless –- as many as 45 percent of the people living on the streets suffer from mental illness.

"Misguided austerity policies" have caused the Republican-dominated Wyoming Legislature and Governor Mead to slash the state's healthcare budget. Let's hope they're prepared for the consequences.

Gallatin County, Montana, borders Yellowstone. Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin speaks about some of those budget-cutting consequences in the March 22, 2012, report to Congress by the NASMHPD:

Police forces are experiencing a significant increase in psychiatric emergencies, which is a direct result of mental health funding reductions. In Gallatin County, Montana — an area twice the size of Rhode Island, encompassing Bozeman and part of Yellowstone National Park — Sheriff Brian Gootkin oversees 48 deputies. He said his force is “experiencing a significant increase” in psychiatric emergencies, which he said was a “direct result of mental health funding reductions” and that his officers have become an involuntary component of the State of Montana’s emergency psychiatric response teams.

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He pleaded to federal lawmakers in Helena and in Congress to stop cutting funds for community-based mental health services. He reiterated that people in psychiatric crisis need to receive community-based mental health services staffed by licensed professionals — not in the back of a patrol car.

Sheriff Gootkin’s fear is that if we continue to go down this dangerous path, both public safety in Gallatin County and access to emergency medical care will be compromised. He concluded, “The result will have a huge impact, not only on people with mental illness, but the entire community.”

If Tea Party Slim had a pair of spurs, he'd wear them to the farmer's market to rattle veggie-eating Liberals

Tea Party Slim and I sip coffee and talk about progress.

“I don't want to see Cheyenne get any bigger,” he says. “It will lose its Old West character.”

I sip my latte. “Old West character?”

He nods. “You know, Cheyenne Frontier Days, rodeo, country-western music, steaks as big as my cowboy hat, Old West shootouts, horses and cattle, boots and spurs.”

I look at Slim. He was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. His UW ball cap rested on the table. On the way in, I saw that he wore sensible shoes. “Nobody's trying to take away your boots, Slim.”

He shakes his head. “All of these people moving into Laramie County,” he said. “They'll change the place. It will lose its conservative character.”

I thought about the recent election. Wyoming's lone Republican House member and one of its Republican senators were reelected by wide margins. Democrats lost one of their 14 legislative seats (out of 90). Tea Party types were elected to the county commission. The state gave Romney his second-biggest margin (after Utah) over President Obama. Meanwhile, our southern neighbor Colorado legalizes marijuana and goes even more blue and it's one of the battleground states that hands Obama the victory.

“So you expect an invasion of Colorado Liberals any day?” I ask.

“We have a new supercomputing center west of town and Microsoft is building a data center right next door. Microsoft is also building a test site east of town to see if biogas from our waste treatment plant can power computers.”

“What's wrong with that,” I say. “Isn't that economic development? Don't you want your kids and grandkids to find good jobs in Wyoming?”

“But we give these companies millions of dollars in financial incentives. Why do the taxpayers have to foot the bill? Microsoft owns the damn planet.”

“That's Google that owns the planet, and maybe Facebook.” I smile. I know that Slim is on Facebook a lot with his pet rants. I've been tempted to unfriend him but don't want to hurt his feelings.

“And downtown? Why does the city have to subsidize downtown development. Let the free market decide what businesses go downtown.”

“The free market turned downtown into a ghost town. It wasn't until the legislature provided funding and the city matched it that we were able to save the train depot and turn it into a gathering place and a museum and that wonderful outdoor plaza. I've seen you at the downtown farmer's market.”

“You can have a farmer's market anywhere. A Wal-Mart parking lot, for instance.”

“Why isn't it at the Wal-Mart parking lot?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Maybe Wal-Mart fears the competition? Maybe it doesn't like vegans and assorted Liberals wandering around its parking lot?”

“It's no competition to Wal-Mart. They're even building another Super Wal-Mart east of town. I love shopping at Wal-Mart because I know it irritates you Lefties.”

He had me there. “What would you do about downtown, Slim? How would you deal with all of those absentee landlords who are holding on to their properties so they can maximize their investment when commercial real estates improves.”

“I have no problem with that. People should be able to do what they want with their property. We don't need the U.N. coming in a taking away our God-given right to own a building or a piece of land.”

“Even when doing so damages the livability of your town?”

Slim puts down his coffee. “Livability. There you go with some of that U.N. Agenda 21 lingo.”

“I'm just talking about making my town a nice place to live. Isn't that what you want?”

“I want to live in a place where a man's home is his castle and he can protect it any way he wants. I don't need some urban city planners coming in spouting about social justice and environmental justice, telling me I can't burn wood in my fireplace or park my RV out on the street.”

I'd read an interview in our local paper with new county commissioners M. Lee Hasenauer and Buck Holmes. They are both fixated on Agenda 21 and urban planners spouting off about social justice. They want to keep Laramie County western, whatever that means. “You're against planning for the future?”

“I'm against big city experts coming in and doing the planning,” says Slim.

“You don't want any planning?”

“Let the free market decide.”

I drain the last of my coffee. “What would you do, Slim?”

He looks pensive as he stares into his cup. “Not a thing,” he finally says. “I like this place the way it is. Conservative. Gun rights protected. Governor fights the feds. I can park my RV where I want.”

Slim has a hulking RV. It blocks out the sun when he parks it in front of my house.

“Why would the U.N. Want to tell you where to park your RV?” I ask.

“That's what they want. They want to tell us where to live and what to drive and the width of our streets and what kind of energy we can use.”

“And they want to take away our boots and spurs. Do you have boots and spurs Slim? If I remember correctly, you grew up in suburbs somewhere in Ohio.”

He shifts in his chair. “That may be, but I'm a Wyomingite now. I don't need any spurs but I have five pairs of boots and I wear them.”

“When you go shopping at Wal-Mart?”

He levels his gaze at me. “I'll wear them any damn where I please.”

“Even to the downtown farmer's market?”

“Especially the downtown farmer's market. My cowboy hat, too, and my Wranglers, and my gun because I have a concealed carry permit. If I had spurs, I'd wear those too, so you pantywaist organic-farming Liberals would hear them jingle-jangle-jingle as I walked toward you.”

“They might quiver in their Birkenstocks, Slim. Then they'll sell you some organically-grown local produce and some home-baked bread and some grass-fed bison steaks and locally roasted coffee sweetened with unpasteurized goat's milk.”

Says Slim: “Those are some Old West traditions I can get behind.”

Deadlocks and Jalan Crossland perform Dec. 21 for Save the Hoback benefit

The Deadlocks and Jalan Crossland perform a benefit for Save the Hoback on Dec. 21 at the Center for the Arts in Jackson. Money will go to a fund to stop energy exploration in the Wyoming Range south of Jackson, which is home to the Hoback headwaters. Tickets are $20 or $100 for VIP with food and cocktails. More info at jhunderground.

Shop locally for the holidays at UUCC WinterMart this weekend

Gifts made by artists, crafts people and other vendors of handmade wares can be found at the annual Unitarian Universalist Church of Cheyenne WinterMart, 3005 Thomes Avenue, December 14-15, Friday 4:30-6:30 pm, Saturday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Lunch and baked goods will be available. Proceeds benefit programs supported by UUCC. FMI: Terry at (307) 214-3932, UUCC at (307) 638-4554.

Books about vanishing glaciers and wildlife art make WY Outdoor Council''s "best of" list

Dr, Janice H. Harris is the former chair of the Women's Studies Department at the University of Wyoming. As president of the Wyoming Outdoor Council board of directors, she offers her list of best books for 2012 on the subjects of natural history and the environment. Sad to say I haven't read any of the books on her list, but plan to remedy that in 2013. 

She has high praise for an art book, Bob Kuhn: Drawing on Instinct, edited by Adam Duncan Harris (University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 978-0806143019). Dr. Harris adds the caveat that the editor is her son, a curator at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson. But there's no caveat when it comes to quality. We have this book in our office and it's a beauty. Bob Kuhn spent a long lifetime sketching and painting animals. He also served as mentor to scores of wildlife artists in Wyoming and elsewhere. The museum has a lot of Kuhn's work -- drop in and visit next time you're in The Hole.

Another of her selections with Wyoming ties is Ice: Portraits of Vanishing Glaciers, James Balog and Terry Tempest Williams (Rizzoli, ISBN 0847838862). This features photographs from the Extreme Ice Survey along with observations by noted environmental writer (and part-time Wyoming resident) Williams. This should be mandatory reading for any Wyoming global warming deniers. Williams was writer in residence at UW a few years ago and ruffled a few feathers with her enviro town meetings held at various locales around the state. 

The one I plan on reading first is Eating Dirt: Deep Forests, Big Timber, and Life with the Tree-Planting Tribe, Charlotte Gill, (Greystone Books, ISBN 978-1-55365-977-8). Here are Dr. Harris's reflections on the book:

One of first things you notice when you start reading Charlotte Gill is her wit. Given the title and the cover of the book, she had me initially skimming here and there to see where these dirt-eating, tree-planting folks live. I figured remote Brazil. Not at all. When not planting trees in Cascadia, from February through October in the Pacific Northwest, Gill lives in Vancouver writing award-winning short stories. It shows. I loved Eating Dirt. I now want to read Ladykillers, winner of the British Columbia Book Prize for fiction. How can a book about being wet, filthy, bitten, and exhausted be such a joy to read, such a page turner, such a rich introduction into the history and current practices of the timber industry of the northwest? This is a gem.

Gill is a fellow short story writer, and she has wit -- what's better than that?