LCCC Dems host presentation by author Andrea Batista Schlesinger Oct. 18

The Laramie County Community College Democrats in Cheyenne kicked off their first semester of existence this week with a successful bake sale (loved those brownies).

Next up: A presentation by Andrea Batista Schlesinger, author of "The Death of 'Why?': The Decline of Questioning and the Future of Democracy." It will be held in the LCCC Student Lounge on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public.

On Oct. 8, we Occupy Denver, site of the Democratic Party's 2008 convention -- was that only three years ago?

The arts, especiaslly the graphic arts, are laying a huge part in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  This event's right down the  road in my hometown of Denver. www.occupywallstreet.com

Van Jones explains it all for you

What happened to our agent of change, our Obama?

2008 seems so long ago...

The first post on this blog to carry the label "Obama" was on Feb. 6, 2008, "March 8 Dem Caucus Could Carry Clout." Read it at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/02/march-8-democratic-caucus-could-carry.html.

I was late to the Obama cause. In 2004, I was a Kucinich delegate to the Wyoming State Convention. We lost. In 2008, I still was rooting for antiwar champ Kucinich, but switched over to John Edwards and, as Mike-come-lately, joined the Obama ranks as he started picking up steam in the early primaries.

My wife Chris was none too pleased with this. She was a Hilary Clinton fan from the beginning and she never wavered. We had some words over this. She made her calls for Hilary in one room and I made my calls from Barack Obama in another. She went out to the local community college to hear Hilary speak and I traveled over the mountain to see Obama raise the roof at the UW basketball arena. I was an Obama delegate at the Wyoming State Convention in Jackson and she was a Clinton alternate. Obama carried the day. I blogged from the convention and you can read about it here and here. I was an embedded blogger at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. You can read about it here and here.

I can be naive in my beliefs. All of us can. I have been disappointed in times with Pres. Obama but he is the clear-cut rational choice when compared with the kooks on the other side.

But if he abandons Democratic Party principles now, that's it for me. I will not be in his corner in the 2012 elections if he caves to the Republicans on The Big Three: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is the so-called Social Safety Net that we all count on, Dems and Repubs and Indies and Greens and Tea Party and even the unaffiliated and noncommittal. This will spell the end of an America that makes sense.

Life will go on. I will continue my snarky posts and my ongoing feud with Tea Party Slim. But it won't be the same. The fire will have gone out. I will putter in the garden and write the occasional letter to the editor wondering what happened to our champ, our agent of change, our Obama.

Who needs Rainbow Family Rocky Mountain gatherings when you have the Koch Brothers Platinum Lovefest?

A brave coterie of protesters gathered outside the recent Koch Brothers Right Wing Lovefest in Vail, Colorado. CommonBlog has a list of corporate aircraft that flew Right-thinking corporate CEOs and pundits to the conference. Thanks, planespotters. Target is on the list. See if your favorite corporation is there. For more, go here.

Plea to DNC: Don't forget Wyoming as you plan for the 2012 50-state strategy

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz at a 2009  town hall meeting in Florida 

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), new chair of the DNC, spoke at the noon keynote. She wanted to let us know that Howard Dean's 50-state strategy will return for the 2012 election. In fact, she will meet with Howard Dean next week to talk about that very thing. She also said this:

The Netroots brought the nation together for Pres. Obama in 2008. Our top priority for next year -- ramping up the participation of the Netroots. We can't do it without you.

It's great to be valued. The DNC dropped a field team into Wyoming prior to the 2008 Democratic caucuses. Every county reported record turnouts. Thousands of new voters registered in Laramie County. They voted that year but then quickly disappeared in 2010. Big question: how do we get back those voters and keep them engaged?

I'm here looking for some answers....