Are the Republican dinosaurs awakening?

Aaron Owens, head honcho of the Gary Trauner campaign, send us all a letter today contending that the Republican dinosaurs that rule Wyoming are waking up to the threat Trauner poses to the established order. Here's the letter:

Dear Fellow Trauner Supporter:

We need your help! And no... I'm not asking for money. I'm asking for time.

We all know that career politicians think they are entitled to any office they choose, and Republican Party leaders are having a rough time this year accepting that Wyoming favors Gary Trauner for our lone U.S. House seat. They are looking for anything to discredit and defeat Gary.

Gary has been campaigning non-stop for several months now, winning votes (from Republicans, Independents, and Democrats, alike) at every VFW hall, American Legion, senior center, and school campus he visits.
It is clear from the reactions of voters of all political stripes that Wyoming is ready for change, ready for a fighter who puts our country back on the right track.

It is clear that two more years of career politician leadership just like Barbara Cubin will leave us in a heap of trouble.

Now the Republican Party leadership is waking up and seeing a mass exodus of their former supporters - Republicans, Independents, and even some conservative Democrats who are fed up with the Republicans same old career politician tricks. So how are they fighting back? By mobilizing their base, making phone calls, knocking on doors, and attending events on behalf of Republican candidates. More and more signs are appearing, more and more floats are appearing, and more and more phone calls are being made. Republicans are running scared, and they are running hard. They will not let Gary into our U.S. House seat without a fight.

Now for the GOOD NEWS...

Team Trauner has MORE supporters calling, MORE supporters knocking on doors, MORE donors, MORE floats and event booths, and MORE passion! Here in Cheyenne, we are launching Phase 3 of our campaign today.

YOU are the core of Phase 3, because 90% of our energy and efforts will have to come from volunteers like yourself.

Bryan and I will be calling you to listen to you about where your interests are, and how you will help send Gary to Congress.

We have a field campaign schedule that we will use for the next few weeks. Please consider where you might fit in. Can you join one shift a week? Maybe even two or three?

We are looking forward to hearing about your interests and passions in this campaign. Talk to ya' soon!

All Great Things,
Aaron Owens
Senior Field
Organizer
Trauner For Congress
307-399-0898
aaron@TraunerForCongress.com

I just donated $25 for Trauner so he can claim my grassroots support for the year's second quarter. You can do the same. Think about it -- you have until midnight.

Trauner volunteers were out in force Saturday in Cheyenne for SuperDay. Aaron and his young cohorts, and a cadre of Boomers. We signed up volunteers for the campaign, and gave out Trauner stickers to entire families. Most people willingly accepted a sticker from a Democrat, although a few drew back in horror. I wandered over to the Rick Kaysen for Mayor table. Rick's a Republican with a solid business background. His wife Diane is a moderate Republican (we used to work together at the Wyoming Arts Council) and their daughter is an unabashed Obama supporter. Rick has some good ideas for growth and wants to see a thriving downtown. I agreed to haul around a Rick Kaysen for Mayor water bottle, mainly because I was thirsty. But I also enjoyed talking to him.

Two other mayoral candidates were on hand -- Joe Dougherty and Jayne Mockler. Joe's my neighbor. He used to work for Mayor Pando and now runs the city's bus system. His signs are an appealing green and they bear a shamrock. They are propagating like weeds around the neighborhood and I'm betting that Joe will be dropping by before long to see if I want one for my lawn.

Jayne Mockler's a Democrat and just spent her last term in the Wyoming State Legislature. She gave away packages of peanut M&Ms with her fliers, which immediately got my attention. She's a serious candidate, with some good ideas for proving up Cheyenne. But I'm taking a serious look at all six mayoral candidates. I'm not opposed to voting for Republican for local offices. Mayor Spiker's an evangelical and a Republican and he's done a pretty good job of running the city.

I have until the Aug. 19 primaries to decide.

Live from Jackson: It's "Meet the Govs"

As Tom Brokaw wrapped up this morning's "Meet the Press" interview with Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Gov. Bill Ritter, he reminded the audience that the show was not filmed on a set. Out the window was a view of the Tetons -- the real thing. A gorgeous blue-sky image, with just a hint of a haze from Western wildfires burning in Colorado and California.

"Meet the Press" is in Jackson Hole for the annual Western Governors Association conference, which starts today. Ritter and Freudenthal were up first, and then Brokaw promised us Rep. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger from California later in the show. The theme of the day was the West's possible influence in the 2008 elections. To point out the political oddity that the West has become, Freudenthal pointed out that Schwarzenegger, the Republican, was more liberal that most of the Democrats elected as governors in the Intermountain West.

But back to the environment. Wildfires are not exclusively a Western issue -- just look at what happened last year in Georgia and Florida. But summers in the West means fires, whether we're in the midst of a drought or one of the wettest years in recent memory. Periodic fires existed here long before people did, and climate change, drought, and booming populations just make them worse, or at least more spectacular to the media.

Land use issues include wildfires, oil & gas drilling, water rights, wildlife management, and a host of others. As Freudenthal said this morning, the states have been cooperating on these issues for a long time, but "there's no federal partner. With this administration, the only resources they want to maximize are oil and gas."

They're maximizing them at a heady rate, with new wells going in daily in sensitive environments around the West. Oil companies are anticipating a change in the regulations with the November elections. Those changes may be huge.

Brokaw asked about V.P. Dick Cheney, who lives in Jackson Hole. Do his low approval numbers nationally hold true in Wyoming?

"Wyoming people ask, 'What happened to Dick Cheney?' " said Freudenthal. He noted that Cheney had a strong reputation as an able state legislator and U.S. Congressional rep. "His standing has declined in Wyoming," he added.

Cheney's not exactly persona non grata -- this is his home state -- but when he returns, he's not exactly treated like a homeboy hero. He's shuttled from place to place in armor-plated vehicles surrounded by Secret Service. Last week in Casper, he dropped in out of the sky to a Republican fund-raiser and then was whisked away back to his secret bunker somewhere in D.C. He comes with all the security trappings of a Third World dictator.

But Thermopolis-born-and-raised Freudenthal, more a native son than Cheney who was born in Nebraska, knows that political realities can change over time. "We'll end up being proud of Dick Cheney," he told Brokaw.

I've never been proud of Cheney and his Neanderthal politics. But Freudenthal is in this for the long haul. As he noted earlier in the interview, the state is 67 percent Republican and the last Democrat Wyoming voted for in a presidential race was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Freudental received a lot of Republican votes in his two election runs and he'll also need those votes if he ever runs for the U.S. House or Senate. Don't know if he will, but who can tell?

Gov. Dave and Gov. Bill on "Meet the Press"

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Tom Brokaw will interview Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. Some of the show will be taped today at Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Resort.

"The West: Battleground 2008," is the topic of the show. Freudenthal and Ritter -- both Democrats -- will be discussing crucial issues in the November election. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican governor of California, will also be on the show but his part will be taped at another location.

The govs are in Jackson for the annual Western Governors Association meeting, which begins on Sunday. Brokaw will be speaking at the conference.

While the WGA includes governors of both parties, it is cool to note that all the govs on the Rocky Mountain Front are Democrats: Freudenthal, Ritter, Schweitzer (Mont.), and Richardson (N.M.). While that doesn't necessarily translate into a Democratic victory in November's presidential race, it does mean that Dems in those states have an ally in the state house. And all of these governors know how to work with the opposition because they have to. That goes double for Wyoming.

FMI: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3898804/

War spending includes G.I. Bill funds

Was it worth it?

Congress has passed a new funding bill for our foreign misadventures and Pres. Bush says he will sign it. It funds the Iraq War until this time next year, when Pres. Obama will have to deal with it.

On the plus side, the bill includes funding of Sen. James Webb's 21st Century G.I. Bill. Sen. Webb did a fine job assembling supporters from both sides of the aisle, although that didn't include Sen. John Barrasso and Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming. They voted for the war spending bill, but they had to, didn't they? They've supported Bush's war from the beginning and they're not about to waiver now, even when it includes "extras" such as the G.I. Bill.

Here's Sen. Webb's statement on the legislation:

“Today, the Senate took a final historic step toward a modern and fair educational benefit for the men and women who have served honorably since 9/11. This bill properly responds to the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country—those who moved toward the sound of the guns—often at great sacrifice.

“Eighteen months ago, we began with the simple concept that those who have been serving since 9/11 should have the same opportunity for a first class educational future as those who served during World War II. Today, we have accomplished that goal.

“I would like to emphasize that this is not simply an expansion of veterans’ educational benefits. This is a new program, a deserved program. It has now been nearly seven years since 9/11 -- seven years since those who have been serving in our military began earning the right for a proper wartime GI Bill.

“We have delivered this new, robust GI Bill with a great deal of collaboration and cooperation among members of the Senate, members of the House, and with the guidance and support of all of our nation’s leading veterans’ groups.

“There are no politics here. This is about taking care of the people who have taken care of us. I am looking forward to the President living up to his word, and
signing this legislation at his earliest opportunity.”

To download an audio clip of Senator Webb at today’s GI Bill press conference, please go to: http://demradio.senate.gov/actualities/webb/webb080626.mp3

Sen. Webb is being a bit disingenuous. Of course the bill was all about politics. Bush & Co. have shamelessly neglected our veterans. Remember the Walter Reed Medical Center fiasco? And the rash of suicides by combat veterans? The G.I. Bill was a way to get veteran's educational benefits out of an administration that finds oodles of money for warfare but can't be bothered by its aftermath. So, we have the irony of an appropriations bill that funds more international mayhem while it allows its military survivors to receive a proper education.

This legislation also signals the dismal failure of the Democrats in the House and Senate to end this war.

Obama office to open in Wyoming?

Politico.com reported on Wednesday that presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plans to set up offices in Wyoming and other red states "that would otherwise be written off as lost causes." This according to Obama's deputy campaign manager, Steve Hildebrand.

"Hildebrand's plans underscore the unusual scope and ambition of Obama's campaign, which can relatively cheaply extend its massive volunteer and technological resources into states which won't necessarily produce electoral votes," according to Politico.com. The tactic probably won't persuade the two-thirds of Wyoming's registered voters who are Republicans to cast their ballots for the first-term Illinois senator.

Rather, it's intended to inspire Obama's supporters to work for federal, state and local Democratic candidates in the state, Wyoming Democratic Party Director Bill Luckett said Wednesday.

We have lots of Democrats running for office on all levels. It may be true, as Bill Luckett said, that an Obama presence in Wyoming could have a coattail effect. But I think it goes farther than that. Obama can win the popular vote and our state's measly three electoral votes. We registered 3,000 new Democratic voters before the statewide caucuses. We need to get them all out to vote in the primary Aug. 19 and in the general election. Obama's team that dropped into the state last winter showed us the way.

The State of the Nation is horrible. Bush and Cheney (Wyoming's favorite son) put us in the hole we're in. His allies in this cause were Wyoming's Congressional delegation, all Republicans. They all need to be voted out.

SuperDay brings out the candidates

My wife, daughter, and I will be staffing the Gary Trauner booth Saturday at the 26th annual SuperDay in Cheyenne's Lions Park. Not sure where the booth will be located, but just keep wandering and you'll find us. I expect that all of Gary Trauner's Republican opponents also will have booths. The odds seem to favor Cynthia Lummis as Gary's Repub challenger for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat.

My guess is that there may be more political booths than those selling wind chimes. We have six mayoral candidates as well as a slew of people running for the state legislature. Both U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs, so the challengers (all Dems) may be on hand. The primary will be held Aug. 19. By my count, that makes for 52 days of campaigning. It goes fast....

Victory Garden 2008 Update

Finally transferred my three tomato plants (a.k.a. "Victory Garden 2008") outdoors Saturday. I'd repotted them and placed them outside the first time on the first 80-degree day of the spring, only to see them buffeted the next day by 60-mile-per-hour winds that pushed the wind chill to freezing. A handful of leaves froze, some stems snapped, so I transferred the plants back to the kitchen window.

I waited until I was sure the winds and the cold was over, and then sneaked them outside under cover of a moonless night. I have a couple small tomatoes on the Gold Currant bush, and a few blooms popping out on the others. Now comes fertilizer, water, TLC, and the ever-loving sun. But not hail. Let's hope there's no hail.

I ran into Karen McManus of Wolf Creek Farms at today's farmers' market in Cheyenne. She's the one who sold me the tomato plants a month ago. She had more plants, cherry tomatoes, with lots of fruit popping out all over. I was tempted to buy them all, but I have my hands full with the three I already have. I did buy some of her spinach, which she picks off her plants daily and hauls to various markets. She also sold me some garlic tops (can't remember the formal name), the part that she used to clip off the garlic plant and toss away until they became the hot new thing in the modern chef's kitchen. She advised me to chop them up and use them instead of chopped garlic cloves. "Great flavor," she said. I'm in favor of that.

She will soon have peas and beans on her Wellington, Colo., farm. She advised that I keep popping in on Tuesday to see what's next on the menu. I bought some baguettes and cheddar-onion rolls from Sara's Breads, the best subversive bakery in these parts. She's hosting Massachusetts folk-rock duo Sweet Wednesday during their Rocky Mountain tour, and they were on hand playing for the hungry multitudes. They played this morning on Wyoming Public Radio. Music to fit a farmers' market.

"Elephant Tipping Made Easy"

There's a new activity in town for all of you Wyoming Democrats who thought that cow tipping was the ultimate in contact sports.

Elephant tipping is sweeping the nation and has finally come to the Cowboy State. On Tuesday, June 24, 7 p.m., Mike Bell will discuss "Elephant Tipping Made Easy" at the monthly meeting of the Laramie County Democrats at the Historic Plains Hotel in downtown Cheyenne.

Learn the five foolproof ways to get the drop on your local pachyderm. Most Dems mistakenly try to sneak up on elephants -- the stealth approach. As it turns out, the direct head-on encounter is best. Stare the beast in his beady eyes and be aggressive, even when the elephant lashes out with his trunk or tries to crush you with his massive feet. Stand your ground and bellow "E Pluribus Unum" at the tops of your lungs. That -- and eye contact -- will make the beast back down. He will be gentle as a lamb, and you can tilt him over on his backside as if he were made of feathers. He will jump up, tuck his tail between his legs, and retreat into the jungle from whence he came, never to bother civilized society again.

If I give too much away on these pages, you won't bother to come out and learn the other skills involved in "Elephant Tipping Made Easy." See you Tuesday night.

NOTICE: No elephants were hurt during the composing of this blog post. No donkeys, either. The Laramie County Democrats and the Wyoming Democratic Party do not condone the so-called sport of cow tipping or elephant tipping or any other kind of pastime in which an animal is upended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: No harm to actual animals was intended. All references to elephants are purely metaphoric.

Denver demonstrators: Don't tase me, bro!

Black helicopters sighted circling downtown Denver.

Denver police stocking up on pepper-spray guns and extended-ray tasers.

Not just the bad dreams of lefty conspiracy wonks. These stories come from the headlines of Denver daily newspapers. According to The Denver Post, Blackhawk helicopters conducted a drill over Denver the other day, shocking Yuppies sipping espresso on their rooftop patios. And then there's the police order for "88 Mark IV launchers and projectiles." The weapon fires plastic balls filled with a substance "like a combination of cayenne pepper and baby powder." A spokesman for the manufacturer says that this can incapacitate people like pepper spray, but it avoids some of the "more severe reactions."

Not to mention you could use the cayenne pepper to spice up your burrito and the baby powder can soothe skin chapped by the eruption of your tear ducts and mucous membranes.

All this for the August gathering of Democrats -- and street demonstrations planned by groups such as Recreate 68.

This was in the Rocky Mountain News:

The city received a $50 million federal grant for security. A senior adviser to Mayor John Hickenlooper has said the city plans to spend up to half that amount on equipment, with the rest going to pay officers.

But the city has refused to disclose how it is spending the money, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union last month to file a civil lawsuit.

The court filing alleges the city is violating the Colorado Open Records Act.

City officials say releasing the information is "contrary to the public interest" because it could disclose important tactical information, potentially jeopardizing security.

A city spokesperson could not be reached for comment Monday. Meanwhile, speculation about what the city is buying has run rampant.

Some organizers of protest groups believe police are buying extended-range Tasers and weapons that incapacitate people with high-intensity sound.

The Denver Police Department is notorious for snooping on peaceniks. This goes a few steps beyond that.

I've been pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed, and neither was any fun. Most of the time I was a not-quite-innocent bystander, but not always.

This is going to be one exciting time in Denver. Glad I'll be there recording it via my blog.

Good turnout for Trauner open house

Good turnout at the open house yesterday for Gary Trauner's downtown Cheyenne office at 211 W. 18th St. I waited around for a half hour, expecting Gary to show up at any time, but then had to head off to another meeting. My wife Chris stayed, and said that Gary did show and fielded some tough questions about health care, the war in Iraq, and other pressing issues.

The offices have plenty of room for field organizers and volunteers. Many phone calls will be made from this spot in the next 130-something days until the general election when Trauner is elected to be the first Democratic U.S. Representative in many decades. Much work to do in D.C., much work to undo the mischief that's been wrought in the past eight years.

I was surprised to learn from Senior Field Organizer Aaron Owens that Gary has seven field organizers for the 2008 campaign. How many did he have in 2006? One. These organizers are young and fired up, which is encouraging. Aaron just moved to Cheyenne from Laramie two weeks ago and seems to be plunging right in.

As I munched a cookie, I chatted with a guy about my own age wearing a cap that read "Play it Again, Sam" and below that the name of a town in Maryland. As a one-time Marylander, I introduced myself and asked him about the cap. He said it came from a coffee house in Chestertown in northeastern Maryland, and that he lived across the border in Delaware. He'd just driven across the U.S. to deliver his son to the Trauner campaign. His son was a student at Skidmore near Albany, N.Y., in 2006 when he got involved in the campaign of a Democrat running against an entrenched Republican for the U.S. House. Against all odds, the Democrat won (I'll look up the name later), and the man's son was bitten by the political bug. When he heard about the Trauner campaign, the situation in Wyoming sounded somewhat similar so he joined up.

Stories like these keep me fired up.

FMI: 307-399-0898

Repub Dinos want to drill seabed near you

More news from the dinosaurs who run the Republican Party:

Bush to Congress: Embrace Energy Exploration Now (Denver Post)

McCain: Allow oil drilling off coast (Miami Herald)

Whether it's the saltwater playground of the Gulf of Mexico, or the ancient inland seabed of Wyoming, Repubosaurus Rex wants to get its tiny claws on the oil that is like an elixir to his kind.

This is not likely to happen. Gulf-state Republicans whose cottages and manses line the beaches from Corpus Christi to Sarasota won't permit it.

Trauner Cheyenne office open house today

This e-mail invitation comes from Aaron Owens at the Trauner for Congress office:

Hello fellow Laramie County Democrats. I am a recent transplant from the Albany County Democrats, and I'm in town on staff with the Gary Trauner campaign.

I wanted to make sure to extend a personal invitation to each of for tonight's Cheyenne office opening with Gary. It will be very laid back, and we'd love if you could stop by on your way home from work to meet (or re-meet) our next Congressman, Gary Trauner.

Gary will be here, as well as 7 of our 9 staffers, and most of our County Leadership Team. We're going to be bugging you A LOT over the next few months, so stop by now before we become really annoying. :) I'd love a quick RSVP to team@TraunerForCongress.com if you haven't already called, emailed, or been called by one of our staffers/volunteers. This is so we can be sure to have enough room opened up for you to be comfortable.

WHO: All supporters of Gary Trauner... and potential supporters (i.e. ,BRING FRIENDS, PLEASE!)

WHEN: Wednesday, June 18 @ 5:15 p.m.

WHERE: 211 W. 18th St, Cheyenne (between Carey and Capitol)

Thank you. See you in a few hours.

All Great Things,

Aaron Owens
Senior Field Organizer, Trauner for Congress
307.399.0898
aaron@TraunerForCongress.com

Juneteenth celebrations in Wyoming

Juneteenth celebrations are held in two Wyoming communities -- Cheyenne and Casper -- on Saturday, June 21. While Juneteenth is no novelty in most parts of the U.S., the Cheyenne event is just eight years old. Local NAACP Director Thomas Rudolph was the guiding force for Juneteenth, but sought some organizational help from the Cheyenne Family YMCA six years ago. My wife, Chris, heads up the YMCA efforts and serves on the planning committee. This Saturday's celebration starts with a 10 a.m. march from the Wyoming Capitol Building at 24th and Capitol and will go to Martin Luther King, Jr., Park along Crow Creek near Missile Drive. Festivities get underway at 11 a.m. and will go to 4 p.m. There will be events and kids, and a 3-on-3 basketball tourney will be held for teens and adults. A full line-up of music, hip-hop and dance groups will performing. The Laramie County Democrats will staff an information table, as well as the Gary Trauner for Congress campaign. Food vendors, too. Last year I ate some great barbecue cooked by Gloradean Stephenson and her husband. For more info, call the YMCA at 307-634-9622.

Also on Saturday, Casper will hold its Juneteenth celebration. Featured will be food, vendors, entertainment, games, barbecue, art displays, and a 1865 costume contest. Festivities begin at 4 p.m. at Riverview Park (north side). FMI: Pastor William, 307-267-3902, 237-0831.

Juneteenth is officially celebrated on June 19. It marks the day in 1865 that federal troops entered Galveston, Texas, and reissued the declaration that freed the slaves. Although Pres. Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation on Sept. 22, 1862, and it took effect Jan. 1, 1863, black slaves in the South knew little about it. Once the news spread, African-Americans in Galveston celebrated in a big way, and the date went down in history as Juneteenth. It's an official state holiday in some places, but celebrated in most of the U.S. with weekend celebrations such as the ones in Cheyenne and Casper.

Victory Garden may yet yield fruit

My Victory Garden is off to a rocky start.

It’s not much of a garden, just three tomato plants that I bought at the Cheyenne plant sale a month ago. But that’s three more tomato plants than I’ve planted since we moved to high, dry and windy Wyoming in 1991.

This is an auspicious year to plant tomatoes. First of all, there’s the salmonella scare. And rising gas prices are boosting food costs. It takes a lot of diesel fuel to truck tomatoes from Texas or California to Wyoming. And when they arrive, they’re not so good. Local agriculture is in, veggies from Chile are out. Farmer’s markers are in, supermarkets are out. And, as we know, there’s a war on (several wars, in fact) and we need to be aware of our precarious position within the world’s food and petroleum supply chains.

So, in mid-May, I went to the spring sale and bought three six-inch-tall plants from an organic gardener out of Wellington, Colo., about 30 miles south on I-25. She called them heirloom varieties: Zapotec, German Striped, and Gold Currant. I wasn’t familiar with the term as it relates to tomatoes. When I Googled it, I discovered that heirlooms are non-hybrids that trace their origins to pre-World War II farms and gardens. They’re tougher to grow than modern hybrids, and the plants take up lots of room with their fast-growing stems. But they have cool names, and the fruit can be very funky-looking. The Black Krim is chocolate-colored. Zapotec is really called Zapotec Pleated because (as you might surmise) it has more pleats that a pair of Zoot Suit pants (see photo). They are indigenous to Mexico.

I placed the three plants on a table in front of my south-facing kitchen window. They grew like crazy, 18 inches high before I could get to the local nursery. I bought three big pots and potting soil and cages. On an 80-degree June afternoon, I assembled all the pieces in my backyard. I watered the plants, admired my handiwork, and went inside with an intense feeling of superiority.

That night, the temperature dropped, the north wind freshened, and in the morning I had tousled plants with frozen leaves. I hauled the plants back inside and put them on the floor in front of the south-facing window and the furnace vent. I cursed the elements. I remembered why I haven’t tried tomatoes in Wyoming.

After a few days of stewing about it, I fertilized the plants and began to hope that they would bear some pleated fruit before the next cataclysm struck. I’m keeping them inside until the arrival of the first official day of summer, or maybe longer. I have them in pots so I can move them under the porch roof in case of hail storms. We’ve had two already, and more are sure to come.

Much too early to declare victory for my garden. Or even "Mission Accomplished."

Trauner takes on four Republicans at forums

This comes from the June 12 Jackson Hole News & Guide via jhwygirl in Montana:

The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce this month will host the first in a series of five congressional candidate forums in Wyoming. The forum, from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, June 19, at the National Museum of Wildlife Art, was organized through partnerships with the museum and in collaboration with the chambers of commerce in Cheyenne, Casper, Gillette and Rock Springs.

Republican and Democratic candidates running for the lone U.S. House of Representatives seat in Wyoming will be present to answer questions and address issues, concerns and interests of Jackson Hole, the rest of the state and the nation. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin has already announced she will not seek an eighth term. Republicans Michael Holland of Green River, Bill Winney of Bondurant, Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne and Mark Gordon of Buffalo have filed to run for Cubin’s seat. W. David Herbert has filed to run as a Libertarian.

Wilson Democrat Gary Trauner announced in October he would try for the second consecutive election to win the seat. No Democrats have filed to challenge him. In 2006, Trauner lost by 1,012 votes to Cubin in his first race for statewide office. A panel of four will pose questions to candidates in this first opportunity for the public to learn the candidates’ positions on important issues.

Moderators for the panel will be Jackson Mayor Mark Barron, Jackson Hole News & Guide Editor Angus Thuermer, Planet Jackson Hole Editor Sabra Ayres, and M.J. Clark of the Wyoming Business Report.The panel will also take questions from the audience.

For information, contact Tim O’Donoghue, executive director of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, at 733-3316, ext. 25, or tim@jacksonholechamber.com.

Keith Goodenough opens Casper HQ

Keith Goodenough's "Weekly Underdog Report" of June 15 contained this news:

The Casper campaign office is finally ready to occupy, and we have our first gathering there tomorrow night. It’s a small place, but has the advantage of being next to the Federal Courthouse. So when I have a gripe with the Federal court system, they’ll be able to get the message by just looking out the window and reading my slogans. If I need bail money, I’ll send a note.

When he says tomorrow night, he must mean tonight, Monday. No time was given but you can e-mail Mr. Goodenough, a Democrat, at citizen@citizengoodenough.com. I'd tell you to go to his web site but it's in the process of being updated.

Goodenough is running against Gillette's Nick Carter for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Casper Republican John Barrasso. They will face off in the Aug. 19 primary.

Slammin' on a Cheyenne Saturday night

So many things to choose from last night during Cheyenne’s first warm-and-sunny spring weekend. The Ozymandian Theater –"Wyoming’s only improv comedy group" – was on stage at the Atlas downtown conducting a fund-raiser for the historic theatre’s $5 million renovation. The Wyoming Brewers Festival was on tap a block away on the Depot Plaza. At the Civic Center, Hands in Harmony gave a "thank you" concert for all those people and organizations who contributed to a recent emergency fund drive. At the mall multiplex, The Incredible Hulk was getting incredibly angry about something.

Over at the library, we were slammin’. Two performance poets from Denver’s 2006 national champion Poetry Slam team – Ken Arkind and Panama Soweto – took turns on stage with two of Laramie’s finest – Craig Arnold, a poetry professor at the University of Wyoming and winner of the Rome Prize Fellowship in literature, and Luke Stricker, a recent graduate of the UW MFA program and organizer of poetry slams in Laramie.

Saturday's event was part of the Wyoming Humanities Council’s summer program paying tribute to the beatniks. This was the final stop on a Wyoming mini-tour that included Casper, Lusk and Cheyenne.

Arkind and Soweto have been performing together for several years. Arkind’s a skinny long-haired white guy who wears John Lennon specs. Soweto’s a lanky black guy with a buzz cut who wore a "Where the Wild Things Are" T-shirt. The two perform as a duo (bought their CD, "The Dynamic Duo") and separately. The evening really caught fire when they launched into their performance piece "Uhuru," which they’ve performed at Red Rocks and on Denver radio. They warned the 30-some audience members that this was the "political part of their program." "Stand up," was the refrain. By the end of the piece, they had us all standing up. "Uhuru!"

I kept wondering: "How did this one go down in Lusk?"

Arkind and Soweto describe themselves as nerds, guys who spent their youth not getting dates but playing endless rounds of video games. Arkind had a poem, "Life is Like Mario Brothers," which received big cheers from the teens and twenty-somethings. I made a note to buy this CD for my 23-year-old nerdy son, who still stays up late playing the games he grew up on – and some new ones, too.

The duo performed together on another gamer piece. It’s possible our generation misjudged all of our pimply-faced gamers who spent too much time in the basement in front of the TV console. These guys are fine performers. Nerds gone public. What caused them to jump from their musty confines of youth and jump onto stage. Politics? Maturity? Love of the spoken word? Maybe all of those things. My son, Kevin, also loves the stage. Last year, he and his girlfriend were in the Euripides’ play, "Electra." Maybe it was the role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons that bit them with the performing bug.

After the talented people performed, the rest of us were enlisted in a "haiku slam." We were challenged to write haiku based on a random idea shouted from the audience. You’ve seen this done in improv on "Whose Line is It, Anyway." The five competitors (including me, representing the AARP set) had five minutes to write a poem. Five judges gave us scores, as we were vying for some very exciting prizes that Craig Arnold found at garage sales and in his basement.

First haiku theme was "wood." I scored pretty low on that one. Next was "the circus." I immediately got an image of George Bush, so I had to run with it. Here’s my haiku:

George Bush, ringmaster
sticks head into lion’s mouth;
we cheer the lion

I received a 10 from one judge, nine-point-somethings from three others. A guy my age named Chris said, "I can tell I’m in a room with a bunch of Libs." He gave me a 1. Fortunately, the emcee drops the high and the low scores for the final tally. At the end of the second round, I was in the lead.

We all were challenged by the final round’s topic: "Arnold Schwarzenegger." Sara creates a scene in which "tiny Maria" faces sex with Arnold in the missionary position. Wild cheers erupt – and a perfect 10. Amanda and Xon and Colin all get good scores. And, finally, it’s up to me. I try it with an Americanized Austrian accent:

Ah-nold Schwarz-en-eg
ger, too many syllables
for such a small man

That clinched it. I claimed my first prize of a plastic horse with a Farah Fawcett mane. Also a collection of work by the Nuyorican Poets Café. Amanda said she really wanted the horse so I traded that for a 1970 manual on sandal making. Not a bad haul for a prose writer. I’ve judged a lot of slams and this was the first time I’d entered one. It was a strange sort of slam, more improv than the standard variety of writing and memorizing and performing your own poems.

That said, I shall treasure my prizes.

To view a performance by Ken Arkind, go to http://www.podslam.org.

Did Rep. Millin switch political parties?

NO!

This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle ran an article by reporter Michael Van Cassell that identified Rep. Lori Millin of District 8 as a Republican. I wondered how such a thing could happen. Did the Wyoming political universe shift course overnight? After all, Rep. Millin snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the 2006 election against an entrenched Republican incumbent. She's married to Dr. John Millin, head of the Wyoming Democrats' central committee. I have her son Patrick on film carrying a Gary Trauner banner at the Democratic State Convention in May.

Then I realized that the paper had made a mistake. A revelation. So I dashed off a letter and sent it to Mr. Cassell -- and copied to my fellow Dems. You can e-mail your own letter to mcassell@wyomingnews.com. Here's mine:

Dear Mr. Cassell:

FYI: Rep. Lori Millin is a Democrat and not a Republican, as you so mistakenly note in your June 14 article. She's been a great state representative for us in District 8. She knocked on every door in the district in 2006 and won the general election against long-time incumbent Larry Meuli (Republican) by a mere nine votes. A quick look at her legislative priorities focusing on families, children, at-risk youth, affordable health care, workforce safety, minimum wage, etc., reveals that she could only be a Democrat. She puts people first!

I hope you give this correction a suitably visible spot in the newspaper.

Sincerely, Michael Shay

UPDATE: Michael Van Cassell e-mailed me that a correction ran in the June 16 WTE.

On Father's Day, be a mensch

"What separates the men from the boys....is the size of their toys."

You’ve seen that phrase on the bumpers of king-cab pickups, or maybe on fancy boats plying the waters at the reservoir. Maybe you heard it on a Father’s Day commercial urging you to buy something big for that big boy in your life. A mega gas grill or riding mower or tool set.

But maybe we should work on a new slogan. "What separates the men from the boys...is the size of their consciences."

Doesn’t rhyme, I know, but I couldn’t think of a good one to get my point across. Which is: a man is supposed to have a mature conscience, while boys can be forgiven for immature thoughts and actions. A teenager, for instance, might wield his sexuality in a reckless way. It may lead to unwanted consequences, such as the pregnancy of his partner. A man, on the other hand, has the ability to use discretion when it comes to sex. Don’t laugh – the opposite is just as possible. But a man can think through the rush of testosterone to its inevitability. Gee, maybe I should ask her if she’s on the pill or has had any STDs or maybe I should check out the condom aisle at Walgreen’s before doing this. Consequences!

But if we’re all just overgrown boys, then what’s the point? We’re only fit for playing with toys, whether young or old or in-between. That’s all we see on TV commercials. Poor saps can’t be counted on to take care of the kids or figure out the new cellphone or shop for groceries.

But I propose that the measure of a man is not in his pants or in the garage. It’s in his heart and mind. We’re part of the animal kingdom, that’s true, but we also possess higher brain functions that determine behavior. We can judge the ethical and moral implications of a situation and can act accordingly.

This also makes us political animals, too. We should be able to tell when another human being is lying to us. We should be able to tell when condescension raises its ugly head. We should be able to determine when a politician is up to no good with his/her policies, foreign and domestic.

So, you’re immature if you say "I can’t believe George W. Bush lied to us about Iraq." You’re a boy if you back Bush on his Iraq policies because he's our elder statesman and it's wrong to question your elders in time of war. The facts are out there. By ignoring the facts about life in the adult world of politics, you’re not a man but a boy. You're unable to look beyond the wants of the present to the possibilities of the future. You're a boy.

American conservatives seem to be stuck in an eternal boyhood. Gimme our tax breaks now! Gimme our guns now! Gimme answers now! Gimme our SUVs now! Gimme cheap gas now! Why do they (the terrorists) hate us? Why can't those Liberals quit whining and let us get on with mindless consumption?

Liberals (especially Baby Boomers) are not blameless. They too have been caught in a twilight world of adolescence. We love to bitch and moan and say we're going to change the world. But if it doesn't work out our way immediately, we take roll up our protest banners and go home -- or to law school. The inability to see things through is also a sign of immaturity. Another reason we are in this current mess.

Men, be a mensch, as they say in Yiddish. Or work to become one. Here's how columnist Paul Krugman put it in the New York Times:

'Be a mensch,' my parents told me. Literally, a mensch is a person. But by implication, a mensch is an upstanding person who takes responsibility for his actions.

The people now running America aren't mensches.

When in doubt, check it out

This was reported by Michael Falcone yesterday in the New York Times:

A new web site created by the Obama team, called “Fight the Smears,” is designed to systematically dismantle Internet rumors by letting users see both “the smear” and, the campaign’s response. The site already features sections fact-checking rumors that Mr. Obama refuses to say the pledge of allegiance, or has written racially incendiary remarks into his books or that he is a Muslim.

Recommend this to your friends and colleagues who seem to believe everything they read on the Internet.