Obama puts the "O" in Offshore Oil drilling

Bizarre announcement today by President Obama. Oil drilling off the East Coast? The plan, Obama said in the New York Times, would "balance the need to produce more domestic energy while protecting natural resources." It would allow drilling along the Atlantic coast, just offshore from my old Daytona Beach haunts, all the way up the coast to the Delmarva Peninsula. There also would be more drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska. This signals the end of a moratorium on exploration from Delaware to Daytona, an area that covers about 167 million acres of ocean.

I've always been astonished that the McCain/Palin "Drill, Baby, Drill" crowd would want to see drilling along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf. I was equally astonished that Southern Congressional Republicans would want drilling in their own backyards. Do they really want all of those coastal Repub retirees stepping in globs of goo on their pristine beaches and then writing scads of complaining e-mails to D.C.? I think not. One thing you can count on with retirees: they complain and they vote. They also like their beaches free of goo.

Most Americans seem O.K. with oil drilling in the country's beachless locales. Wyoming, for instance. Oklahoma too. They also are very tolerant of digging coal out of Wyoming's cold, windswept prairie -- or blowing the tops off of West Virginia mountains. Who cares about those cowpokes in Wyoming and the hillbillies of Appalachia? If they really counted, if they were people with clout, they would live on North Carolina's Outer Banks or Georgia's Sea Islands or on Sanibel or even along Florida's Redneck Riviera.

So far, Repubs have been lukewarm to Pres. Obama's plan to "Drill, Baby, Drill." Perhaps they are just being their old obstructionist selves. Or perhaps they have nightmares of what could happen once the gooey byproducts of oil drilling hits the beaches. The envision legions of indignant golf-cart-driving codgers converging on D.C. They halt Beltway traffic and march on Congressional offices. They wave their putters and shout unintelligible slogans. They track oily black sneaker prints through the corridors of power. Security won't stop them, as the protesters look too much like their grandma and grandpa in St. Pete. In fact, they really are grandma and grandpa from St. Pete. "Get out of the way sonny -- those damn oil-drilling, goo-spilling politicians have to be stopped."

This offshore oil drilling plan may be a harder sell that Obama imagines.

Obama puts the "E" in Education Act

Great news for college students (and their parents).

Pres. Obama today signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. Here are some of the good things that the "Education" part of the legislation will do:

Eliminate wasteful subsidies to private bankers by switching to a system of direct lending of federal student loans.

Make historic investments in America’s workforce by making college dramatically more affordable – at no cost to taxpayers.

Invest $36 billion over 10 years to increase the maximum annual Pell Grant scholarship to $5,550 in 2010 and to $5,975 by 2017.

$68 billion for college affordability and deficit reduction over the next 11 years. The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act meets Pay-As-You-Go fiscally responsible principles and will reduce the deficit by at least $10 billion over 10 years.

Free speech at UW campus? Only if it's Dick Cheney doing the speechifying

Homegrown war criminal Dick Cheney spoke freely at the University of Wyoming campus. I guess it helps that he donated a big pot of money for international programs to teach students how to invade sovereign foreign counties with impunity.

Meanwhile, UW today cancelled a speech by educator Bill Ayers.

Here's the rationale (from a UW press release):

After a deluge of protests, the director of the Social Justice Research Center at the University of Wyoming has cancelled the scheduled appearance of Professor William Ayers. The director announced his decision to the UW administration late Monday evening and noted there are no plans to host Professor Ayers in the future.

In his communication to the administration, the director apologized to the university community for any harm that may have come to it and cited personal and professional reasons, including safety concerns, for the cancellation.

In response, Tom Buchanan, president of the University of Wyoming, said, “I appreciate the consideration for the university that the re-evaluation demonstrated.” Buchanan thanked the director for taking this initiative and for his willingness to respect the interests of the UW community, including statewide constituencies.

“Re-evaluation of this event was unavoidable. One way or the other, this event needed to be revisited, and I respect the director for being willing, on his own, to cancel this invitation. I’m satisfied with the outcome,” Buchanan said.

He continued, “Academic freedom is a core principle of any institution of higher education. But with that freedom comes an obligation to exercise free thought and free speech in concert with mutual respect and acknowledgment of broader resource and security impacts on the campus. The exercise of freedom requires a commensurate dose of responsibility.

“Observers in and outside of the university would be incorrect to conclude that UW simply caved in to external pressure. Rather, I commended the director of the center for a willingness to be sensitive to the outpouring of criticism, evaluate the arguments, and reconsider the invitation.

“The University of Wyoming is one of the few institutions remaining in today’s environment that garners the confidence of the public. The visit by Professor Ayers would have adversely impacted that reputation.

“During the past few days, controversy over Professor Ayers’s visit has been intense. While this episode illustrated an opportunity to hear and critically evaluate a variety of ideas thoughtfully, through open, reasoned, and civil debate, it also demonstrates that we must be mindful of the real consequences our actions and decisions have on others.”

Deluge of protest? This morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle counted 180 calls and e-mails to UW as of press time. Most were negative. Let's say all of them were negative. That adds up to .0034 percent of the Wyoming population. Deluge?

Here are some of the radical messages promoted by Ayers, according to today's Casper Star-Trib:

Reached by phone Monday, Ayers said his lecture would focus on two themes: the ethical and intellectual commitments of teaching and how teaching in a democratic society differs from teaching under other social and political systems.

Teaching in a democracy, he said, differs from, say, medieval Saudi Arabia, because, "our starting point is the incalculable value of every human being."

"We start with the ideal that everyone is of value and therefore everyone has an opportunity to learn and to grow in our schools," Ayers continued. "The reason that's true is we're not just preparing people to find their pigeonhole in the hierarchy of society -- we're training people, educating people, to be the masters of society. In a democracy, the people are sovereign."

Special anti-"Obamacare" legislative session just a nasty rumor

Phil Noble over at Cowboy State Free Press writes today that the state legislature probably won't call for a special session.

It was news to me that a special session was being considered. I didn't realize that there was an emergency to be addressed. Did the lege miscalculate the revenue stream? Is the Yellowstone volcano gonna blow? Did a pack of terrorist wolves attempt to bomb a gun show?

It was to do with health care. Wyomingites don't want to damn socialist healthcare. Not thre socialist healthcare legislation promoted by Oabama. They're O.K,. with Medicaid and Medicare and gubment-funded care provided by V.A. Hospitals.

A special session would attempt to blunt "Obamacare."

Phil Noble's story:

A Wyoming state senator wondered on his Facebook page over last weekend whether leaders of the legislature were openly discussing the possibility of a special session of the legislature.

Other legislators say there has been some talk about a special session to pass the healthcare freedom bill and to force Gov. Dave Freudenthal and his Attorney General to join the lawsuit to repeal healthcare.

Asked whether the talk of a special session was serious, Senate Majority Leader Jim Anderson said; “Things could change rapidly I suppose but at this stage I think it is mostly discussion. I think there is a lot of comparing of notes in an attempt to determine just where we are at this point and what the actual efects are likely to be.”
He said serious discussion “will begin when there are more actual facts and solid figures about the real and predictable outcomes of Obamacare. At the present people are talking among themselves to better determime what the appropriate response should be. In time things should become more objective in nature. Much is yet to be determined collectively.”

Wyoming Senate President John Hines says the Attorney General works for the Governor, and “we can’t tell him to do anything.”

As to a special session, Hines says “a special session must have a definite plan and goal and be pretty certain of success before a special session is called for. We are not at that position at this time so I am not supporting a special session.”

Freudenthal said last week the state would not join the lawsuit brought against the federal government by 14 other states “at this time.” He said Wyoming could enjoy the benefits of any outcome of the lawsuit without spending money bringing the lawsuit.

We love you, "Dirt," yes we do

Coming to a theatre near you? Probably not in Wyoming. But look for it in Fort Collins and Denver and Salt Lake City. The film features physicist/environmentalist Vandana Shiva, one of the speakers at the Shepard Symposium on Social Justice April 7-9 in Laramie. Shiva will discuss "Soil Not Oil: Food Security in Times of Climate Change" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the UW Fine Arts concert hall in Laramie. The event is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing follow the presentation.

Mcjoan explains new student loan bill

Mcjoan (Joan McCarter), Idaho native and one of the Big Kahuna Kossacks at Daily Kos, can take a complicated subject and make it sensible. Saturday on Kos, mcjoan explained the new student loan legislation. For all of it, go to http://mcjoan.dailykos.com.

What will the new student loan bill do for you?

If you're already paying student loans, probably not a lot. But if you're either soon needing to get loans, or to send your kids to college, it's good news. The government takeover of the federal student loan program is brilliant in it's simplicity. Thus far loan programs have been both direct loans, and federally-guaranteed loans from private lenders. The federally-guaranteed program means that the feds (us, the taxpayers) guaranteed loans made by private lenders, so the taxpayer has all the risk, and the bank makes all the profits. Now, all federal loans will be direct (the majority, 88% already are). The interest on those loans goes back to the federal government, and not to banks. All that extra money taking the remaining 12% of loans into the direct program will and not subsidizing the middle man banks goes into making college more affordable.

Hot time in ol' Laramie when Dr. William Ayers comes to town April 5-6

I hope that lots of demonstrators protest Bill Ayers' visit to UW in April. I won't be one of them. I hope to be inside the hall listening to the speech. Bill Ayers has just as much right to speak at UW as Dick Cheney or Angela Davis or all the environmental rabble-rousers due for the upcoming Shepard Symposium. Heck, I wouldn't even raise a ruckus if Sarah Palin was invited to speak at UW, although the university's pockets may not be deep enough for her.

Bill Ayers received more that his fair share of attention during the 2008 election. He's about to get more, this time at the local level.

It is controversial enough for UW Provost Myron B. Allen to issue a release in advance of Dr. Ayers' visit:

The Social Justice Research Center, a unit of the University of Wyoming, has invited University of Illinois - Chicago Professor William Ayers to speak on UW's Laramie campus on April 5 and 6. Support for Professor Ayers's visit will come from the budget of the Center, which is funded from an endowed gift made to the university by an anonymous donor.

Professor Ayers is a controversial figure, in part because of his association, four decades ago, with the Weather Underground. Many will remember that his name arose during the 2008 presidential primaries, when opponents of then-candidate Barack Obama criticized his contacts with Professor Ayers.

Ayers earned a doctorate from Columbia University in 1987 and now holds the title of distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago. His teaching focuses on issues related to social justice and educational reform. He has published and spoken widely. Furthermore, he currently serves as a vice president of the American Educational Research Association, a national professional society.

Professor Ayers is not the first controversial figure to speak at UW. He is not even the first UW speaker associated with past actions that some find deeply objectionable. With any luck, he won't be our last controversial speaker, on the left or on the right. An academic department's invitation to speak is not the same as an institutional endorsement: part of UW's mission is to provide a neutral forum in which to examine ideas. Of special interest are the ideas of people whose professional work has had impact on important areas of human endeavor.

The University of Wyoming has not distanced itself from controversy in the past and has been fortunate to host a range of speakers from a variety of backgrounds. It is clear to us that a university's role is to teach, not to indoctrinate. Some have insisted that UW cancel Professor Ayers's visit. We expect a higher level of discourse from our students and from the American public. And we are confident that the best way for our students to develop the judgment and independence of thought to evaluate ideas critically is to be exposed to a wide range of viewpoints.

Dr. Ayers public lecture will be held on Monday, April 5, 4 p.m., in the Education Auditorium, University of Wyoming. For more information, please contact the SJRC at sjrc@uwyo.edu.

Tea Party vs. Marijuana Party -- high times in front of the Wyoming Capitol Building

On my way to lunch today, I walked into a smackdown between local Tea Party protesters and activists from the Marijuana Party.

Wasn't much of a smackdown. The Marijuana Party had reserved the space in front of the State Capitol Building in Cheyenne. The Tea Partiers arrived out of nowhere to urge Gov. Dave Freudenthal to join in the lawsuit by some state attorneys general to "nullify" health care reform. Gov Dave has already announced that Wyoming will not be a part of such a loony stunt.

"Nullify" is a popular term with the Tea Party crowd. They want to nullify some federal powers except the ones that fund useless foreign wars, huge pointless aircraft carriers, spy satellites, V.A. benefits, police and fire protection, pothole-free highways, the Border Patrol, dozens of anti-commie nukes in their silos outside Cheyenne, Social Security and Medicare. Other than those few things, they don't want gubment intruding into their lives.

The Marijuana Party advocates for access to medical marijuana. Its members were a lot younger than the Tea Party folks. One of them held up a sign that read "Cannabis medicine is a civil right." A few feet away, a Teabagger sported a sign that read "Nullify Healthcare -- Special Session Now." Sign included a swastika, of course. On the sign's other side was a "Ron Micheli for Governor" sticker. Micheli is a right-wing Republican from southwest Wyoming running for Gov.

Tensions rose when Highway Patrolmen (Capitol Security) and Cheyenne cops arrived to confront the Pot Party people about an information table that was blocking Tea party access to the Capitol. A Tea Party protestor was fuming that the Pot Party hippie had called him an "MF." I assumed that meant "Motherf****r." But it could have been "My Friend."

The Channel 13 and Channel 5 cameras were rolling. I expected a melee to break out, or at least a scuffle.

Much to my relief, Joe Hippie broke out a big bong and everyone had a hit of Cheyenne Green. Even the cops. Pretty soon we were all singing Kumbayaa. The teabaggers and the hippies and the cops pulled out their Glocks and fired celebratory rounds, bringing down an errant black helicopter in the process. Motorists honked their horns in celebration. Gov Dave declared Friday a Day of Forgiveness and Reconciliation.

Next week we'll get back to name-calling and nullification.

More than one way to transform hate

Eran Thompson, Billings director of Not in Our Town, will be one of the speakers at the opening reception for the traveling exhibition of “Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate” at Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings, Mont., on Thursday, April 1, 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thompson is flanked by Jim Riswold’s “The Hitlermobile,” left, and Robbie McClaran’s print depicting terrorist bomber Timothy McVeigh. Get more info at http://www.billingsgazette.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/visual/article_59df83b6-385f-11df-9d02-001cc4c03286.html. Photo by Casey Riffe of the Billings Gazette staff.

Environmental issues the topic of this year's Shepard Symposium April 7-9 at UW

The Shepard Symposium on Social Justice brings knowledgeable speakers and talented artists and writers into Wyoming to address the big issues: human rights, tolerance, diversity and -- dare we say it -- social justice.

Social justice. Social justice. Social justice.

Lately, I can't get enough of that term.

This year's Shepard Symposium tackles another biggie -- environmental and economic justice.

When Glenn Beck gets wind of this, his head will explode.

The Matthew Shepard Foundation has been working with the University of Wyoming to present this event for 14 years. The foundation's work on behalf of human rights for LGBT people is becoming well known. UW also gets some credit for providing the venue and other support. Yes, it's what universities do -- put on interesting educational events. But UW is also the nexus of Wyoming's energy industry which is almost totally focused on oil and gas and coal. As we know, fossil fuels are the source of most global warming and the main reason we discuss environmental issues. Many of the West's oil geologists and landmen/women and other oil/gas company staffers are trained at UW. It's also the home of the Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources at www.uwyo.edu/enr/ienr/ New thinking arrives at UW almost as fast as they erupt worldwide. Wind power. Solar. Biomass. Coal gasification and carbon sequestration are big research items. Lets' give the scientists some leeway as their work continues. A big chunk of Wyoming's income comes from the digging and shipping and burning of fossil fuels. Drill, baby, drill. Dig, baby, dig. Just don't forget those excise taxes, baby.

So come to the Shepard Symposium. The events are free. This year's keynote speaker is internationally-known physicist and environmentalist Vandana Shiva. Shiva will discuss "Soil Not Oil: Food Security in Times of Climate Change" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 7, in the UW Fine Arts concert hall in Laramie. A reception and book signing follow the presentation.

Here's more info from a UW press release:

In her keynote address and in her most recent book, "Soil Not Oil," Shiva discusses socially-just and environmentally-sound principles for feeding the planet . She expands her analysis to broader issues of globalization and climate change, saying that a healthy environment and a just world go hand in hand. Shiva proposes a solution based on self-organization, sustainability and community rather than corporate power and profits.

"The Shepard Symposium has never highlighted environmental issues before," says Kate Muir Welsh, UW Department of Elementary Education professor and the event's chairperson. She says "eco-justice" includes issues of access to things that
sustain the world's population -- clean drinking water, inhabitable land, breathable air and plentiful, healthy food.

"Sadly more and more of the world's population do not have such access," Muir says. "This year's symposium and the many workshops and presentations will provide an opportunity for participants to exchange information and engage in dialogue about these social justice concerns."

A physicist, ecologist, activist, feminist, editor and author of many best-selling books, Shiva established Navdanya, a movement for biodiversity conservation and rights in India that supports local farmers, rescues and conserves crops and plants that are being pushed to extinction and makes them available directly to farmers. She is the founding director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, a network of participatory researchers specializing in ecology, health and sustainability.

Numerous concurrent sessions begin Thursday April 8, beginning at 9:35 a.m. and Friday, April 9, starting at 8 a.m. All sessions are in the Wyoming Union.

La Vida Loca, a one-man show that tells the story of a Mexican immigrant, will be performed by Carlos Manuel in the Fine Arts studio theater at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Chris Paine, director of the 2006 film "Who Killed the Electric Car?" and the forthcoming "Revenge of the Electric Car," is Thursday's keynote presenter. His presentation is at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Concert Hall.

A hip-hop event that features Molina Soleil and Aju is scheduled from 9-11 p.m. in the Wyoming Union Ballroom that evening.

UW faculty member Jessica Smith is the endnote speaker. She will discuss the
relationship between Wyoming's energy development and environmental social
justice at 11 a.m. Friday in the Wyoming Union Ballroom.

An event to benefit the Matthew Shepard Foundation in the Wyoming Union Ballroom that evening closes the symposium.

A complete symposium schedule is available at http://shepardsymposium.org/.

For more information, contact Sylvia Parker, UW Science and Mathematics Teaching Center, at (307)766-6671 or e-mail sparker@uwyo.edu.

Thirty years later: Remembering El Salvador's Oscar Romero

"A church that doesn’t provoke any crises, a gospel that doesn’t unsettle, a word of God that doesn’t get under anyone’s skin, a word of God that doesn’t touch the real sin of the society in which it is being proclaimed – what gospel is that? Very nice, pious considerations that don’t bother anyone, that’s the way many would like preaching to be. Those preachers who avoid every thorny matter so as not to be harassed, so as not to have conflicts and difficulties, do not light up the world they live in." -- Archbishop Oscar Romero, murdered by right-wing death squad, March 24, 1980, San Salvador

Romero button (at top) and quote from Pax Christi USA web site

"Play Ball!" -- and remember the sport's complicated history

My sister Eileen in Orlando sent me information about an Negro League Baseball exhibition at the University of Central Florida. She also sent a link to an Orlando Sentinel article about Orlando's strong ties to the Negro Leagues and to Jackie Robinson. Two years after breaking Major League Baseball's "color barrier" in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson played an all-star game at Orlando's segregated Carter Street Park. This was 10 minutes away from the whites-only Tinker Field. "10 minutes, a thousand miles and a thousand years," as Negro League player and civil rights pioneer Nap Ford once described it.

Twenty years later, I was playing basketball against teams from segregated high schools throughout central and north Florida -- including Orlando. You'd think history would move faster than that. Sometimes it just has to play catch-up. Jackie Robinson broke the minor league baseball color barrier in 1946 in Daytona Beach, where I played b-ball at Father Lopez High School. The town's baseball field is now called Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

The exhibition, co-sponsored by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the American Library Association, is "Pride & Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience." Read the Sentinel article by Joy Wallace Dickinson at http://tinyurl.com/yafdk5r

I'm not one who sees baseball as a metaphor for all things. But baseball in the 20th century did reflect the realities of American life. And not just in the South.

The University of Wyoming is hosting an exhibition about the history of the semipro baseball league that featured teams from southeast Wyoming, northern Colorado and western Nebraska. Nicknamed the "sugar beet league," it was made up of agricultural workers who worked the fields of the Great Western Sugar Company. Here's info about it, from a UW press release:

The University of Wyoming's Chicano Studies Program will host a public event April 1, celebrating Hispanic contributions to baseball at both the regional and national levels -- a start to the Major League Baseball season.

Adrian Burgos Jr., University of Illinois associate professor of history and author of "Playing America's Game: Baseball, Latinos, and the Color Line," will give a public lecture about sports promoter Alex Pompez at 5 p.m. in the Wyoming Union West Ballroom in Laramie. Pompez helped hundreds of young baseball players from the Caribbean make the leap from sugar cane fields to major league ball fields.

Following Burgos' lecture, Gabe and Jody Lopez, finalists for the 2009 Colorado Rockies Adult Hispanic Leadership Award, will open in Ross Hall their exhibit "From Sugar Beet Fields to Fields of Dreams: Mexican/Spanish Contributions to America's Favorite Pastime."

The exhibit documents the history of the Rocky Mountain Semipro Baseball League, which got its start among Hispanic agricultural workers in the 1920s and quickly spread throughout northern Colorado, southeast Wyoming and western Nebraska.

"It was dubbed the ‘sugar beet league' because it came out of the Spanish colonies built by the Great Western Sugar Company beet field laborers," says Ed Munoz, UW Chicano Studies Program director.

A reception and book signing will take place in Room 109 of Ross Hall, where books by Burgos and the Lopezes will be available for purchase.

"Mexican baseball teams helped solidify Chicano communities during the 20th century," Munoz says. "They provided a break from hard work in the fields or on the railroad and they also served as social and political outlets for the players and their fans."

Through research, the Lopezes have located information about Wyoming baseball teams in Albin, Bitter Creek, Burns, Carpenter, Casper, Cheyenne, Cody, Creston Junction, Hanna, Laramie, Lusk, Newcastle, Piker Spring, Pine Bluffs, Rawlins, Riverton, Sinclair, Superior, Torrington, Wamsutter, Wheatland, Worland and Yoder. The exhibit will be expanded to include some of this information.

"We invite the players and their families to the exhibit to relive their playing days," Gabe Lopez says. "We want to hear their stories."

Event sponsors are the Wyoming Humanities Council, the UW Office of Diversity, Multicultural Affairs, Sigma Lambda Gamma, MEChA, Associated Students of UW, the Social Justice Research Center and KOCA 93.5 FM La Radio Montanesa.

FMI: Contact the UW Chicano Studies Program at Chicano_Studies@uwyo.edu or 307-766-4127.

Photo: The 1943 Cheyenne Lobos played in the Rocky Mountain League.

Frontier States' provision included in health care reform bill

In a previous post, I wrote about the Frontier States' provision that had been inserted into the health care reform bill. I wasn't sure if that had survived the Congressional hubbub and hoopla and horse-trading of the past few months. But it did.

Here's info from the Wyoming Democratic Party:

One provision included in the health insurance reform legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday will increase Medicare reimbursement rates for rural states, including Wyoming. The Frontier States provision is designed to ease the burden on rural physicians and hospitals by significantly adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates.

The Frontier States provision applies to states that have 50% or more counties designated as 'frontier counties' - meaning a population density of less than six people per square mile. Under such criteria, the Congressional Budget Office has indicated that those states include Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Utah, and they will receive an estimated $2 billion among them over the next 10 years.

"This is one dramatic and tangible way that we will see health reform begin to almost immediately take effect in Wyoming. Increasing reimbursement rates for physicians and hospitals will offer much needed support to strained budgets and allow our health providers focus on exactly what they should be - the health and wellbeing of their patients," explained Leslie Petersen, State Chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party.

The Frontier States provision will go into effect in two phases. The first will raise the Medicare reimbursement rate for hospital outpatient services beginning on October 1, 2010. The second will increase the reimbursement rate for physician services and for hospital inpatient services beginning January 1, 2011.

Petersen continued, "Wyoming's people will soon begin to enjoy the many positive effects this legislation is going to immediately have, including: tax credits for small businesses of up to 35% of premiums, temporary high risk pools for adults who have been denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, a $250 rebate for Medicare recipients who fall into the Part D donut hole, and temporary reinsurance programs for recent retirees struggling to pay premiums.

Meanwhile, more blah-blah-blah from Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis

From the AP via the Billings Gazette:

Lummis says the bill is full of broken promises and most Americans don't want it. She calls the measure a "$1 trillion job-killing government takeover of the nation's health care system."

The House also passed a package of changes to health care legislation and sent them to the Senate. Republican U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso of Wyoming have said they're opposed to the Democratic plan.

WyoDems' Leslie Petersen: "Today we made history"

Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen of Wilson issued a statement last night after the passage of the health care reform package by the U.S. House:

"Today we made history. President Obama and Democrats in Congress achieved what Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt have attempted -- to pass comprehensive health insurance reform to help the American people. This is a victory for all Wyoming residents. With this landmark legislation, we will have a health care system that works for people in Wyoming, and not against them for the profits of insurance companies.

Find the full text of the release at http://www.wyomingdemocrats.com/ht/display/ReleaseDetails/i/1296108

There are provisions in the bill that don't take effect immediately, some stretching out to 2014 and 2016. But there are some good ones that we will see this year:

SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDITS - Offers tax credits to small businesses to make employee coverage more affordable. Tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums will be immediately available to firms that choose to offer coverage. Effective beginning for calendar year 2010.

FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER MEDICARE - Eliminates co-payments for preventive services and exempts preventive services from deductibles under the Medicare program. Effective beginning January 1, 2011.

ENDS RESCISSIONS - Bans insurance companies from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Effective 6 months after enactment.

NO DISCRIMINATION AGAINST CHILDREN WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS - Prohibits new health plans in all markets plus grandfathered group health plans from denying coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. Effective 6 months after enactment.

BANS LIFETIME LIMITS ON COVERAGE - Prohibits health insurance companies from placing lifetime caps on coverage. Effective 6 months after enactment.

BANS RESTRICTIVE ANNUAL LIMITS ON COVERAGE - Tightly restricts the use of annual limits to ensure access to needed care in all new plans and grandfathered group health plans. These tight restrictions will be defined by HHS. Effective 6 months after enactment.

FREE PREVENTIVE CARE UNDER NEW PRIVATE PLANS - Requires new private plans to cover preventive services with no co-payments and with preventive services being exempt from deductibles. Effective 6 months after enactment.

NEW, INDEPENDENT APPEALS PROCESS - Ensures consumers in new plans have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal decisions by their health insurance plan. Effective 6 months after enactment.

ENSURING VALUE FOR PREMIUM PAYMENTS - Requires plans in the individual and small group market to spend 80 percent of premium dollars on medical services, and plans in the large group market to spend 85 percent. Insurers that do not meet these thresholds must provide rebates to policyholders. Effective on January 1, 2011.

EXTENDS COVERAGE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE UP TO 26TH BIRTHDAY THROUGH PARENTS' INSURANCE - Requires new health plans and certain grandfathered plans to allow young people up to their 26th birthday to remain on their parents' insurance policy, at the parents' choice. Effective 6 months after enactment.

COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS - Increases funding for Community Health Centers to allow for nearly a doubling of the number of patients seen by the centers over the next 5 years. Effective beginning in fiscal year 2010.

PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SALARY - Prohibits group health plans from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that have the effect of discriminating in favor of higher wage employees. Effective 6 months after enactment.

All of these can be filed under "reform" and possibly even "empathy."

Get district-by-district info about Student Aid and Responsibility Act

Mike Kruger, Online Outreach Specialist for the U.S. House Committee on Education and Labor, sent this update:

More district-by-district information about the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act that will be included in the budget reconciliation package voted on tomorrow [Sunday].

District-by-district: http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2010/03/education-reconciliation-landm.shtml#more

More information on SAFRA: http://edlabor.house.gov/blog/2009/07/student-aid-and-fiscal-respons.shtml

So now you know exactly what is at stake for students and taxpayers when your Representatives vote tomorrow.

FMI: 202-226-1956; http://edlabor.house.gov/; http://www.twitter.com/edlabordems; http://www.facebook.com/EdLaborCommittee

GOP leaders never met a war or tax cut for the rich that they didn't like

Had to share this editorial comic on the day that Congressional Democrats pass the historic yet imperfect health care reform bill. Thanks to JC at 4&20 blackbirds up in Big Sky Country.

Good news: Tea Partiers spelling improves. Bad news: Language goes into the crapper

Curious bystanders yesterday noted that spelling on signs of D.C. Tea Party protestors had improved dramatically. Cleverness was even detected on some: "If Brown can't stop it, a Browning can." In case bystanders didn't know what a Browning is, this teabagger thoughtfully included an illustration. The drawing of the Democratic Party donkey isn't bad. But this artist will never get a federal creativity grant due to the fact he/she/it shows the head of the head of the gubment (Pres. Barack Obama) coming out of the donkey's ass.

This comes from yesterday's Washington Post:

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus said that racial epithets were hurled at them Saturday by angry protesters who had gathered at the Capitol to protest health-care legislation, and one congressman said he was spit upon. The most high-profile openly gay congressman, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), was heckled with anti-gay chants.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) issued a statement late Saturday saying that he was spit upon while walking to the Capitol to cast a vote, leading the Capitol Police to usher him into the building out of concern for his safety. Police detained the individual, who was then released because Cleaver declined to press charges.

--snip--

Protesters outside the Capitol hurled epithets at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.) as they left the building after President Obama delivered an 11th-hour speech on behalf of the health care bill. Carson told reporters that protesters yelled "kill the bill," then used a racial epithet to describe Carson and Lewis, who is a revered figure on both sides of the aisle.

According to observers, Frank was confronted by about 100 protesters inside the Longworth House Office Building, where Democrats were huddling for another meeting about the legislation. Some targeted Frank with anti-gay epithets and urged him to vote against the bill.

Democratic leaders and their aides said they were outraged by the day's behavior. "I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus," said House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking black official in Congress.

And Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said in a statement, "On the one hand, I am saddened that America's debate on health care -- which could have been a national conversation of substance and respect -- has degenerated to the point of such anger and incivility. But on the other, I know that every step toward a more just America has aroused similar hate in its own time; and I know that John Lewis, a hero of the civil rights movement, has learned to wear the worst slurs as a badge of honor."

"This is not the first time the congressman has been called the "n" word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans," said Rotert, Cleaver's spokesman. "That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name-calling and spitting."

Study shows health insurance crisis hitting middle class the hardest

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation released a study this week to coincide with "Cover the Uninsured Week." The report concludes that the recessions of the last ten years "have taken a tremendous toll on people's ability to pay for health insurance and employers' ability to offer it."

Joan Barron wrote about it in yesterday's Casper Star-Tribune:

Dan Neal, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center, a nonprofit advocacy organization, said the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study reinforces the argument for health care reform.

"It looks like the situation is bad and getting worse," Neal said Wednesday.

The study, he said, also shows the following about Wyoming:

-- Fewer Wyoming employees are getting insurance across the board, at all income levels. The change is worse among the working poor where 12,000 fewer people have job-based health insurance.

-- More people have public-funded insurance of some kind, probably because of the growth in government services -- with more people on state, city and school district insurance programs, or from safety net programs like Medicaid.

-- Fewer people can afford individual insurance and more middle- and upper-income families have been forced to the individual market probably because they can't get insurance at work.

-- Nearly twice as many middle- and upper-income residents have no health insurance coverage compared to 2000.

"I think all of these things add up to a clear description of the need for some sort of health insurance reform that makes insurance more affordable for people, and available," Neal said. "Some people apparently have dropped insurance and they are 'flying naked.'"

Who is "America's Greatest Unknown Writer?"

As a kid, I read everything in my path: books, comics, newspapers, newspaper inserts, cereal boxes, billboards, etc.

I'm one of those guys who accepts flyers from people on street corners. Never know when I might get a story out of some religious tract or political broadside or a come-on for aluminum siding. I also read my junk mail for the same reason. And for curiosity's sake.

Now I spend untold hours jumping from web link to web link to discover interesting and potentially useless information.

Combing through Daily Kos this morning, I came across a link to today's U.S. House floor schedule. The link took me to The Daily Leader on House Majority leader Steny Hoyer's home page. I figured that it would be loaded with items about health care reform legislation.

Instead, I got a reading tip about a writer I've never heard of.

Here are details about House Resolution 1040: "Honoring the life and accomplishments of Donald Harington for his contributions to literature in the United States."

The text (from http://democraticleader.house.gov/links_and_resources/whip_resources/dailyleader.cfm):

Whereas Donald Douglas Harington was born on December 22, 1935, in Little Rock, Arkansas;
Whereas at age 6, he attempted to write his first novel, `The Adventures of Duke Doolittle';
Whereas at age 12, Harington contracted meningococcal meningitis and as a result lost most of his hearing;
Whereas Harington graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in art in 1956, a master's degree in printmaking in 1959, and from Boston University with a master's degree in art history in 1959;
Whereas Harington taught art history at Bennett College in Millbrook, New York, from 1960 to 1962, and at Windham College in Putney, Vermont, from 1964 to 1978;
Whereas Harington had short-term teaching appointments at the University of Missouri Rolla, the University of Pittsburg, and South Dakota State, and taught art history at the University of Arkansas from 1986 until he retired in 2008;
Whereas Harington's first novel, `The Cherry Pit', was published in 1965 and over the course of his literary career he also published `Lightning Bug' (1970), `Some Other Place. The Right Place' (1972), `The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks' (1975), `Let Us Build Us a City: Eleven Lost Towns' (1986), `The Cockroaches of Stay More' (1989), `The Choiring of the Trees' (1991), `Ekaterina' (1993), `Butterfly Weed' (1996), `When Angels Rest' (1998), `Thirteen Albatrosses (or, Falling off the Mountain)' (2002), `With' (2003), `The Pitcher Shower' (2005), `Farther Along' (2008), and `Enduring' (2009);
Whereas in 1999, Harington was inducted into the Arkansas Writers' Hall of Fame;
Whereas in 2003, Harington won the Robert Penn Award for Fiction, and in 2006 received the first lifetime achievement award for Southern literature from Oxford American magazine;
Whereas writer Kevin Brockmeier expressed that `the signal feature of Donald Harington's novels is their tremendous liveliness. His books are not blind to suffering, featuring as they do murder, poverty, kidnapping, loss, and betrayal. Yet the mood of his stories is overwhelmingly one of celebration. He extends his sympathies so widely that even the trees and the hills, the insects and the animals, the criminals and the ghosts seem to sing with the joy of existence. He brings a tenderness and a brio to the page that prevents his characters from sinking beneath the weight of their troubles, and one finishes his books above all else with an impression of a robust, loving comic energy. You feel as if you have been immersed in life, both your own life and the particular lives of his characters, and that life, for all its misfortunes, is a pretty good place to be';
Whereas Entertainment Weekly called Harington `America's greatest unknown writer';
Whereas Harington was described in the Washington Post as `one of the most powerful, subtle, and inventive novelists in America';
Whereas Harington once said that his philosophy of writing was that literature, that all art, is an escape from the world that makes the world itself, when you return to it, more magical, bearable, or understandable; and
Whereas, on November 7, 2009, at age 73, Harington died in Springdale, Arkansas, from complications of pneumonia: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives honors the life and accomplishments of Donald Harington for his contributions to literature in the United States.

It's difficult to know who should get the honors for "America's greatest unknown writer." There are so many good writers in every corner of the country. Many are known locally or even regionally. Not sure if they all deserve renown. But I do know that they deserve a larger readership.

A modest proposal: Next time you're at the local library, seek out a book by an "unknown writer." This works for bookstores, too, especially those where you can grab a few titles and read the first chapter over a latte in the cafe. Take a crack at the book. It may not be your cup of coffee, but you won't know until you absorb a few pages. I've read some cool novels this way. Here are a few whose titles I remember: "Q Road" by Bonnie Jo Campbell; "When Bobby Kennedy Was a Moving Man" by David Boudinot; and "Gil's All Fright Diner" by A. Lee Martinez (just heard that it's being turned into an animated film). I may have been attracted by the titles or covers -- or both. I probably said to myself "This looks interesting." I know that I read a bit before I checked them out of the library or plucked down money at the bookstore.

It's a crap shoot, isn't it? Writers write the books, publishers publish the books and bookstores and libraries stock the books. New books don't get much shelf life at the stores these days. But almost all bookstores feature work by regional writers. Just sidle up to one of the clerks and ask "Who is Wyoming's (or Utah's or Mississippi's) greatest unknown writer?" And then: "Do you have any of his/her/its books?" This may stump the bookstore employee, as not all of them are as curious about literature as you are. But keep asking -- one of them will take the bait, maybe even view it as a challenge.

Then read, and keep on reading until you find that book that speaks to you.