Kos Katalogue: Call for artists, crafters, authors

The holidays are coming! Here's a great way to find -- and buy from -- like-minded artists. Find out how to submit your handmade/homemade work to Kos Katalogue

Call for submissions: Art Works poster contest

Sample poster from the Obama campaign

From a press release:

The Obama campaign is seeking poster submissions from artists and designers across the country to convey why we support President Obama's plan to create jobs now, and why we'll re-elect him to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years. You can make your poster about that broad theme, or focus on a specific aspect: why we've got to rebuild and modernize our roads and bridges, help veterans find work once they've returned home from service, support the small businesses that are the engine of our economy, make sure teachers can stay in their classrooms, and so on. The posters should include the words from one of the suggested slogans below or visually interpret the concepts they represent. 

The campaign will choose 12 finalists once the submission period closes on November 4, 2011, and then put the finalists to a vote. 

Finalists will be chosen based on the following criteria: 

· Adherence to stated theme: Why you support President Obama's plan to create jobs now and his re-election campaign to continue fighting for jobs for the next four years.
· Appropriateness of tone: Conveying determination and strength
· Creativity and aesthetics
· Quality of workmanship 

Three winners will get a framed print of their poster signed by President Obama and a limited edition of their poster will be sold in the campaign store with proceeds benefiting the campaign. 

· Deadline: November 4, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Submissions after November 4, 2011 will not be eligible.
· Poster designs should be 16” x 20”.
· Posters may be graphic, typographic, illustrated, collaged, or include photography taken by the designer.
· Posters must include the following URL: www.barackobama.com/jobsplan
· Posters can be produced by litho, digital, or silk-screen print.
· Posters must be viable for reproduction by digital printing.
· You hereby represent and warrant that all equipment, materials, and facilities used to produce your poster are owned by you and were not provided by a corporation, labor union, foreign national, or federal contractor. Any disposable materials purchased specifically to produce the poster will be treated as in-kind contributions to Obama for America.
· Each person may submit no more than five submissions.
· All submissions will become property of Obama for America.
· When you've finished your design, please upload a PDF or JPEG of finished poster for the site on barackobama.com/artworks. (At least 380px x 480px, please.) Upload size cannot exceed 10 MB. Please also include the title of your poster, your name as you'd like it to appear, and a short paragraph about your poster. 

Suggested slogans: 

• Fighting for jobs 

• Get America back to work

• Rebuilding America

• Made in the USA

• More jobs for veterans

• Hire America's veterans

• Support small businesses

• Every child deserves a great school

• More jobs for teachers

• Put teachers back in the classroom where they belong

• Tax cuts for the middle class

• Support the middle class

• Ask millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share

• We believe in the American dream

• Out-build, out-educate, out-innovate

SUBMIT A POSTER HERE

Van Jones explains it all for you

Many ALEC funders do business in Wyoming

The list of ALEC funders include names of corporations that do business in Wyoming. One of them, BP, brags that Wyoming is the site of its largest onshore oil and gas holdings (Sweetwater and Carbon counties). Not sure why Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF) needs to fund an organization that is vehemently anti-union. Perhaps the company's CEOs resent the salaries paid to those who keep the company running. Peabody digs tons of coal from the Powder River Basin and loves the cozy relationship it has with our Republican legislators. Some of the richest members of the Walton Family Foundation live in Wyoming. Union Pacific Railroad -- shame on you. No more black-and-white 1950s TV shows named after you! Encana has huge energy extraction holdings in the state.

That's just the beginning.  

Thanks to Infinity at Daily Kos for providing the names of ALEC funders. More info at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/18/1008120/-ALEC-Boycott!


PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL

BP
Reynolds American
Takeda Pharmaceutical

CHAIRMAN LEVEL

Allergan
Altria
American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
American Electric Power
AT&T
Bayer
Chevron
ExxonMobil
EZCorp
Lumina Foundation
Peabody
PhRMA
Shell
State Farm
State Policy Network
UnitedHealthcare
Visa
Walmart
Walton Family Foundation

VICE-CHAIRMAN LEVEL

CashAmerica
Entergy
FedEx
Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity
Freepont-McMoran Copper & Gold
Intuit
Johnson & Johnson
Koch Industries
LouisDreyfus Commodities
Louisiana Seafood
McMoran Exploration
National Rifle Association
Pfizer
Sanofi
TogetherRX Access
UPS

DIRECTOR LEVEL

Amazon.com
Atmos Energy
BlueCross BlueShield Association
CenturyLink
Chesapeake Energy
ConocoPhillips
Dow
Encana
Energy Transfer
Gulf States Toyota
International Paper
Jacobs Entertainment
LouisianaTravel.com
NetChoice
QEP Resources
StateNet
TimeWarner
WellPoint

TRUSTEE LEVEL

American Federation for Children
BlueCross Blue Shield of Lousiana
BNSF
Cleco
CN
Cox
CSX
Genesee & Wyoming Inc.
Harris Deville & Associates
HP
Kansas City Southern
Kraft Foods
Lilly
Louisiana Chemical Association
Louisiana Railroads Association
Louisiana Realtors
Merck
Norfolk Southern
RestoringFreedom.org
Society of Louisiana CPAs
Southern Strategy Group
Spectra Energy
The Capitol Group
Union Pacific
USAA
Walgreens


For all the latest info on how ALEC brings right-wing muscle to bear on your state legislature, go to http://www.alecexposed.com

Summer Saturday notes on gardening and farmers' markets

I woke up today thinking about the Saturday farmers' market. Was I imagining this, or could I smell Hatch peppers roasting? Probably just my imagination. It may be too early in the season for those fine crops from New Mexico.

Corn is what I'm really interested in. Some corn vendors will be up from Colorado. I will be looking for other things too. Peaches from Utah and Colorado. Too far away to be considered local (grown within 150 miles) but juicy and delicious, far superior to the shipped-green varieties at the grocery story. Since my tomatoes may never come in due to hail and Cheyenne's short growing season -- I may have to buy some. I have plenty of herbs, sheltered as they are under my porch roof. But I may need to find some other ingredients for marinade for the grass-fed beef I'll also be buying.

One bit of news for shoppers at Cheyenne's Saturday market -- credit, debit and EBT cards now are accepted. Community Action of Laramie County, which runs the market, applied for and received a $1,500 grant for the service from the Wyoming Business Council. According to a story in this morning's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, the grant will pay for the cards' fees.

The Cheyenne farmers' market and the People's Farmers Market in Jackson Hole are the only two in the state taking the cards. The Cheyenne market is the only one in the state to use a grant for the service, says the WBC's Kim Porter.

Looks to me like a great public-private partnership. Taxpayer funds helping people to eat better. People in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program run by DFS can use their EBT cards to buy fruits and vegetables to supplement grocery story purchases. This part of the program may take awhile to catch on. SNAP clients may think (and rightly so) that farmers' market goods are more expensive than those at Albertson's and Safeway. It may take a new forays to the market to find the bargains. When I'm down there today, I'm going to check out the prices and see how far $50 could go. I'll take notes.

But that's only part of what a farmers' market brings to a community. Local vendors have a place to sell their wares and find new customers. Shoppers get the opportunity to find good food and even get a few tips on cooking and grilling. It enlivens downtown on sleepy Saturday mornings. Some people hang around to eat lunch at the brewpub or the Albany. The local galleries will be open. And the staffers at Ernie November know their music CDs.

In other food news -- the South Cheyenne Farmers' Market opens this weekend from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. in the Outlaw Saloon's parking lot on South Greeley Highway. This one is free to vendors, for now, at least. It will be open through mid-October.

And don't forget the Tuesday market at the Depot Plaza. I was there this past week and the fresh food offerings were a bit sparse. Let's hope things pick up as the harvests come in. I did buy some nice cherries, though, which I shared with my work colleagues.

Speaking of colleagues... We were in Lander this week for the Wyoming Arts Council's quarterly board meeting. On Thursday evening, we ate at Cowfish. This is a Lander destination, located strategically as you enter town after those long drives from Muddy Gap or Farson. Often the first stop is the brewpub next door, but once you're eating, it's usually a fine experience. Cowfish has its own garden. The veggie d'jour was zucchini, cooked nice and crisp with herbs. The zuke is kind of a workingman's veggie -- easy to grow, easy to cook, easy to overcook. Cowfish chops theirs into thumb-size chunks (no thumbs in mine, thankfully) and probably steams them briefly. They were as good as the trout, as refreshing as the Hefe and the Rye brews from the bar.

On my way out of town the next day, I visited the Cowfish garden. Surprised there wasn't a menacing cowfish sculpture in the middle to ward off crows and other pesky critters. The restaurant's logo is the skull of a cow with the tail of a fish. There's a big metal one hanging in the front of the place and I have one on a T-shirt. I get lots of comments about the shirt and often people just see it and nod wisely, as if they remember their most recent Cowfish meal. The restaurant's garden takes up a city lot. Looks as if the Cowfishers have harvested most of the early stuff with bushy zucchini plants erupting at the far end and rows of onions in the foreground. Be well, mighty zukes. Live long and prosper. I don't need to say the "prosper" part, as they mighty zucchini is prolific.

On a final note, my garden is still struggling post-multiple hailstorms. I am going to get some tomatoes -- already harvested a few with many more on the vine but time drawing short. Lots of snow peas and beans. Summer squash waiting for tonight's barbecue. Not much, but O.K. considering our summer weather. I keep telling the tomatoes -- one more month, one more month. Not sure if they're listening.

Dammit, Janet, Jackson Hole isn't a planet but a real place with real people (and the Cheneys)

Planet

Jackson Hole (Ansel Adams photo)

Lander's Bill Sniffin knows Wyoming almost better than anyone in the state. He knows newspapers from the inside as a publisher, editor and columnist. He once ran for governor. These days, he spends much of his time traveling and writing about it.

That's why it was disappointing to read in today's syndicated column that Jackson is the perfect name for Jackson is Planet Jackson Hole, the title of the local alternative online newspaper. This distant planet is famous for only two things: the most expensive real estate in the U.S. and the residence of Dick and Lynne Cheney. You might think that the Cheneys own the richest real estate in the U.S., what with the riches the former Veep reaped from Halliburton, both before, during and after his stint in public office. But the richest spread is owned by Richard Fields of the Coastal casino company. His house and 1,750 acres is worth $175 million and it's for sale.

I went to Planet Jackson Hole to get more info. While Fields and his agent tout the hunting and fishing and scenic properties of the spread, its real value is this: it can be divided up into as many as 35 ranchettes. Now we're talking valuable valley real estate.

Planet Jackson Hole

Mr. Sniffin spends quite a bit of ink praising Lynne Cheney for her service to humanity. She recently received the Louisa Swain Foundation annual award. As far as I can tell, the foundation exists to honor Wyoming women, a worthy goal. In 2010, former First Lady and Democrat Jane Sullivan was presented the award at a ceremony in Casper. This year the award went to Mrs. Cheney.

Lynne Cheney is a strong women -- no doubt about that. But her efforts to support other women is up for debate. She's a powerful Republican who spends more of her time and effort supporting her party's reactionary agenda targeting women's rights, workers' rights, voting rights, immigrant rights, etc. She's a Rightie working hard to abrogate the rights of everyone else. That's one way to be a powerful woman.

Lynne Cheney has worked for years to kill the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was director of the NEH from 1986-1993. Here's how the Swain award wording puts it:

"As chairman of the NEH from 1986 to 1993, she wrote and spoke about the importance of teaching children about the leaders, events and ideas that have shaped our world."

Her P.O.V. has always been colored by her conservative politics. It's telling that she wrote her many books as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. I would say that her history is the polar opposite to Howard Zinn's, but that would be giving her too much credit. Zinn actually did research. Mrs. Cheney read AEI policy papers. In her view, our founding fathers could do no wrong and American foreign policy was always noble.

Here's a sample from a Conservative Book Club review for her children's book, America: A Patriotic Primer:

America: A Patriotic Primer will help you impress upon your children what makes our country great. C, for example, is for "the Constitution that binds us together." Mrs. Cheney doesn't let multiculturalist revisionism stop her from pointing out that "the Constitution of the United States has inspired constitution-writers around the world." Likewise, under "F is for Freedom and the Flag that we fly" she includes instructions on how to fold a flag with the proper respect, and how to say the Pledge of Allegiance! H is for Heroes, I for Ideals, P for Patriotism, and V is for Valor! Those are by no means the only elements in this colorful book that will make liberals blanch. G, proclaims Mrs. Cheney, "is for God in whom we trust. Freedom to worship God as they chose brought people to America. Freedom to worship God as we choose sustains our country today." She also includes capsule profiles of America's heroes: J is for Jefferson, L is for Lincoln, M is for Madison, and W is for Washington!

The book passes the conservative litmus test. America good, rest of world bad. Conservatives good, Liberals bad. White culture good, multiculturalism bad. God-fearing Americans good, non-God-fearing Americans bad. And so on.

Tea Party people like Lynne Cheney's books. Her bugaboos are also theirs: multiculturalism, immigration, peaceniks, populists, eggheads, etc. Excerpts from her books would be (and probably are) welcome in any Texas Board of Education textbook. 

Mrs. Cheney could be a poster person for the conservatives of 2011. Except for one thing -- she publicly opposes the Defense of Marriage Act constitutional amendment. The Cheneys have a lesbian daughter and their personal knowledge of the LGBT world has caused them to rethink this aspect of the conservative agenda.

Perhaps their views also would change if they came out of their mountain redoubt and mingled with some of the Hispanic service workers at Jackson's many hotels and resorts. Jackson has been a trailblazer in bilingual services for its Spanish-speaking newcomers. The Teton County Public Library offers bilingual services and books and programming. The city and county has worked hard to find affordable housing for service workers. 

Maybe if Dick and Lynne came down from the mountain to talk to some of the 4 million tourists that come to the area each year. Might open their eyes to the hardships faced by ordinary Americans, hardships that will only get worse as the Tea Party Congress continues their assault on wages and unions and the social safety net. Dick and Lynne might learn a lot about ordinary Americans if they spent a summer as a campground host in one of the National Park Service's many fine campgrounds. Well, they're fine now but won't be once Republicans finish their dismantling of government services.

Planet Jackson Hole is a place where real people live. The Cheneys might want to take some time out to meet some of them and hear their stories. It might change their world view. Dick may be too far gone. But Lynne? She was an English major just like me. There must be some liberal arts flexibility remaining in that doctrinaire mind.

Al Simpson interview: Obama smarter than those "trying to hammer him"

Denver Post political editor Curtis Hubbard landed a great interview with former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson. Some highlights are in today DP with the whole interview appearing on Sunday. Go to http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2011/08/05/simpson-guys-trying-to-hammer-obama-ought-to-give-it-up/35502/

Here's my favorite quote thus far:

This guy (Obama) is a little bit smarter than some of the guys who are trying to hammer him. They ought to give it up.

This one, illustrating the reason that Pres. Obama didn't publicly endorse the Simpson-Bowles commission findings, is pure Big Al:

So along came (Rep. Paul) Ryan (R-Wis.), who’s got guts, too, and Ryan knew, he’d been on the commission, and the biggest extraordinary engine that will eventually just eat up America is Medicare. And it doesn’t matter if you call it Obamacare or Elvis Presleycare or I-don’t-give-a-damn-care. It can’t work. It’s totally on autopilot, so, Ryan said, ‘Well, I know I’m going to get ripped, but I’m going for the jugular, of the mastodon in the kitchen,’ and he got ripped. That’s exactly what would have happened to Obama.

"Obamacare or Elvis Presleycare or I-don’t-give-a-damn-care." Good one, Big Al.

Sitting on the dock of the Potomac, life seems pretty good

I've been in D.C. less than 24 hours and I've seen more sunburned tourist skin than dark suits.

Congress is on vacation, you see. They are back on their home turf staging town meetings. Guys like Tea Party Slim are mad as hell at Congress for agreeing to raise the debt ceiling. They are going to raise Cain at town meetings. Meanwhile, guys like me will be haranguing Congressional reps for being such babies before agreeing to raise the debt ceiling.

These town hall meetings are sure to sparkle with wit and charm.

Watching CNN yesterday in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, I noticed that the Dow fell 512 points, give or take. That's a big chunk, 512 points. Add that to the losses suffered the day before, the DJIA erased a year's gains in the blink of an eye. The wink of John Boehner's eye.

But in Dupont Circle, the citizenry still spends money. As I sat in a window seat at Kramerbooks Afterwords Cafe and Grill, I watched an unending stream of humanity quaff beer and munch on soft shell crab sandwiches. It's Friday night! Everyone be of good cheer!

A group of Boy Scouts trooped by the Kramerbooks' window. The kids looked pretty healthy. They seemed to be having a good time. In the store, people bought books. Young people partied in the bars and in the streets. They didn't appear overly worried about the fate of our nation.

Sometimes, looks can be deceiving.

UPDATE: While I was writing this, I hadn't yet seen the news that Standard & Poor's had reduced the U.S. credit rating for the first time in history. Its main reason was the recent debt ceiling fight. Thanks Sen. Enzi and Sen. Dr. Barrasso. Next time I'm thinking of putting you two in charge of our country's credit rating, I'll think twice.

UPDATE: From the New York Times:

“The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” China’s official news agency, Xinhua, said in a harshly worded commentary.

Next time we need a loan, better call Don Corleone.

"Red Hawaii" for Wyoming state legislators

Wyoming legislators are off to Hawaii!

I'm not one to begrudge anyone a business trip to the Aloha State. I've been looking for a Hawaii junket for decades but just haven't been in the right place at the right time with the right budget.

This morning's Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle reported that one-third of the state's legislators will be attending the Council of State Governments-West Conference in Hawaii. One-third of 90 is 30. There are 14 Democrats so I estimate that as many as five Dems will accompany 25 Republicans. Let's hope my political party is not being cut out of the surf-sand-and-suds action.

I agree with Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, when he says this:

"They are a beneficial way to talk with other state legislators and find out what is happening in their states. You can't do anything in a vacuum."

Sen. Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne, said that out-of-state

"conferences allow state leaders to share ideas, such as successful legislation, and develop regional partnerships."

Attending national gatherings is crucial for people working in a rural state such as Wyoming. We need to compare notes with our peers. They, in turn, often need to hear from us about what works successfully in Wyoming. This exchange of ideas is healthy for everyone. You could also file it under the heading of "professional development." Each job carries with it room for improvement. Judging by the most recent legislative session, there is plenty of room for improvement.

Which brings me to my point. The Governor's office has requested cuts in state employee travel budgets. State employees have been told that in-state travel must be crucial for their jobs. As for out-of-state travel, well, that must be beyond crucial into absolutely g-d necessary. Even then, much paperwork must be submitted and special dispensations requested.

Meanwhile, our state legislators are hitting the beach at Waikiki.

Something doesn't add up.

Ligorano/Reese "temporary monument" illustrates plight of the melting middle class

On June 18, 2011 artists Ligorano/Reese presented a temporary monument in the garden of Jim Kempner Fine Art in NYC called "Morning In America." The installation was witnessed by hundreds and lasted a total of 8 hours throughout the hot day.

...A THOUSAND CUTS is a timelapse video of the event. The soundtrack was inspired by an excerpt from Senator Bernie Sanders 8 hour filibuster on the U.S. Senate floor against the extension of the Bush tax cuts and the effects on the middle class. It is orchestrated to music by composer/violinist Michael Galasso.

Special Thanks
Dru Arstark, Anthony Caputo, Dan Walworth, Okamoto Studio, Postworks NY

The entire text of Senator Sanders speech is available as a book, published by Nation Books, The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class,

For more information about Michael Galasso's music and soundtrackshttp://michaelgalasso.com.

For more information on the artists, see http://ligoranoreese.net

This video is licensed under Creative Commons,
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

Thanks to Brooklyn artist Nancy Bowen for tipping me off to this project.

Hurry up with those flying cars -- Wyoming roads going to hell!

I thought I was seeing things when I read in last Friday's Casper Star-Tribune that Wyoming's roads are going to hell.

The road to hell may be paved with good intentions, but good intentions won't pave the roads through Wyoming.

Money will pave the state's roads, or else they will go to hell for decades without a substantial increase in funding...

Nice lede by reporter Tom Morton. His interview with Lowell Fleenor, district engineer for the central Wyoming division of WYDOT, yielded some great quotes:

"At current funding levels, there is no way the system will not deteriorate."

And...

"Due to funding constraints, WYDOT is moving from a transportation improvement program to a pavement preservation program."

This is bad news for all of us who depend on our roads to get from one place to another. Until jet packs and flying cars assume their rightful place in Wyoming garages, we will remain dependent on driving our four-wheeled personal mobility devices on paved roads.

There are several causes. Decline in federal revenue. Lack of Congressional action on a national highway bill. Low state fuel taxes, with Wyoming's 14 cents a gallon the lowest in the Rocky Mountain region. No action by the state legislature on raising fuel taxes or turning I-80 into a toll road or on retrofitting our cars with anti-grav devices.

Just kidding on that last one. Although that may happen before the legislature ever approves an increase in the fuel tax. Can't even say the "T" word in Wyoming.

So our roads go to hell.

Interestingly enough, Gov. Matt Mead has been talking up the importance of infrastructure. He’s proposed predictable, long-term revenue streams to fund municipalities and highways. His proposals have been rejected by the state legislature. The Governor’s motto is “Wyoming First.” At the Wyoming Association of Municipalities conference in Sheridan, he reiterated that and added that now is the time to invest in the state.

“I go the National Governors’ Association convention and Wyoming is in a much better place than almost every other state. We’re in competition with other states and they can’t do this now. Now is the time for Wyoming to do this. Our municipalities need this. Maintenance and building of infrastructure does not get cheaper with time.”

“If you want healthy economic development, you must have infrastructure.”

For more on this subject, read the CST's editorial in the July 6 edition: "Lack of Wyoming highway funding an emergency."

UPDATE: House GOP plans to cut $15 billion from transportation budget. See story at http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fiery-words-over-gop-proposal-to-cut-transportation-funds/2011/07/07/gIQAm6fo2H_story.html. Guess we'll have to make do with travel on horseback over rutted trails. Back to the good ol' days!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Not too interested in this $250,000 flying car: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2011/07/the-flying-car-is-now-cleared-for-highway-use.html

Bob LeResche: "Wyoming needs to raise mineral royalty rates"

A good column by Clearmont, Wyo., rancher Bob LeResche about mineral royalty rates in Wyoming. It's not a subject I know much about so appreciate the insight by a man who was Alaska's Commissioner of Natural Resources from 1976-81, during which time he rewrote that state’s oil and gas leasing statutes and engineered many successful lease sales. Here's a snippet:

Wyoming is known throughout industry as a pushover when it comes to regulating and permitting exploration and production. CBM producers are allowed almost unfettered pollution rights to discharge produced water — and everybody knows it. Eminent domain takings by industry for pipelines and powerlines are easy in our state. We join industry to fight federal attempts to enforce the Clean Water Act, the Clean Drinking Water Act, the Air Quality Act, and the Endangered Species Act when they affect the energy industry. Wyoming collaborates with industry to fight Montana’s water quality rules. Our environmental and permitting policies are worth many millions to industry. We should not add to our largess by charging below-market royalties.

Read the rest on the CST web site

A shame that the State of Wyoming is so cozy with the energy industry that it works against itself and its own citizens. 

Republicans make up their own stats about Medicaid in Wyoming

Great article on the Equality State Policy Center blog by Barb Rea about the May 9-10 Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee meeting in Evanston.

Committee Co-Chairman Sen. Charles Scott, R-Casper, felt the need to add his personal interpretation to almost every piece of information presented. He painted Medicaid as a perennial problem in the state, and assured the committee that the new federal health care law, which he dismissively terms “Obamacare,” will be repealed or at least defunded. He also continues to portray his pet project, Healthy Frontiers, as a viable program which could be used to replace both Medicaid and the benefits offered in the new legislation.

First, one has to wonder why so many wacko Republican legislators come from Casper. Second, one has to wonder why Sen. Scott feels he has to bully other members of the committee. Third, why does Sen. Scott have such an unhealthy interest in the very flawed Health Frontiers program? Right, it’s his pet project and he is single-minded in pursuing that over any other alternative to rising health care costs and the stone-cold fact that thousands of Wyomingites are uninsured.

But Scott wasn’t the only one with a suspicious agenda.

The state’s new Director of the Department of Family Services, Steve Corsi, who made a stunning assertion that 30% to 40% of people who enroll in Medicaid in Wyoming, come dressed like he was (black suit and new haircut) and driving an Escalade, “and there is nothing we can do about it.”

Senator Scott let the committee’s disgust percolate until Wyoming’s Medicaid Director, Teri Green, was able to question the validity of Mr. Corsi’s numbers. Mr. Corsi later apologized for using an inflammatory example and a “guesstimate.”

Later we learned from another presenter, that nationally less than 10% of Medicaid payments are claimed fraudulently, and in Wyoming the figure is less than 6%. Moreover, research tells us most of the fraud by far (80%) is committed by providers (primarily medical-device and pharmaceutical companies). Less than 10% of the fraud is committed by patients.

Mr. Corsi’s hysterical assertions seem to be cut from the same cloth as the “Welfare Queens” of the 1980s, those mythical creatures who drove up to welfare offices in their Cadillacs to rake in the big welfare bucks. What nonsense. A director of a state agency should know better.

At this point, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that our family has benefited from the Wyoming Medicaid Children’s Waiver. This program fills in the insurance holes when your son or daughter needs long-term care for mental health diagnoses or drug and alcohol treatment.

Our daughter benefited from the tax-supported program on several occasions. I will have to note that she is now 18 and a healthy contributing member of society and is currently working and her taxes go to help other young people in Wyoming who have experience health care emergencies. She doesn’t seem to mind.

And I also have to admit that I had a new haircut the last time I filled out the paperwork for the Medicaid Waiver. I have always admired Mr. Corsi’s tonsorial discipline and thus was inspired to follow his example. I wasn’t wearing a black suit as I didn’t want to be mistaken for a bureaucratic blockhead (note to self: no name-calling) such as Mr. Corsi. And I left my Escalade at home. Mr. Corsi may be able to afford to Escalade on his director’s salary, but most of us state employees have to make do with four-year-old Fords and Chevy compacts.

UPDATE: AT last night's Laramie County Democratic Party meeting, I learned that Mr. Corsi was referring specifically to the state's S-CHIP program in his good haircut/dark suit/Escalade remarks. Our family has never been involved in the S-CHIP program. A good thing, considering my lack of attention to hair, clothes and gas-guzzling personal mobility devices.

Read the entire Equality State Policy Center post at http://equalitystatewatch.blogspot.com/2011/05/medicaid-is-helpful-and-should-be.html

Casper Journal op-ed: Stimulus money a success

Kimberly Holloway, member of the Casper City Council, chastises Dr. Sen. John Barrasso about his recent disparaging remarks regarding Pres. Obama's stimulus spending in Wyoming. Barrasso is from Casper. Read Halloway's remarks here

Casper Star-Trib: "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children"

We agree with the Casper Star-Tribune editorial, "Wyoming can provide shots for needy children."

Wyoming Department of Health has cited budget constraints as the reason it will no longer provide free vaccinations against influenza, meningitis, Hepatitis A and human papilomavirus to needy children. The change will take effect in July. 

Undoubtedly there are places where the state needs to trim its budget and cut unnecessary spending. The vaccination program isn’t one of them. 

When it comes to providing for the public health needs of children whose parents can’t afford the immunizations, we think most Wyomingites would agree that we could sock away a little less into our state’s rainy-day accounts to pay for it.

Fortunately, the state will still provide vaccinations required for children to attend public school. But that still leaves families with children who don’t qualify for a federal vaccination program unable to pay for immunizations against four diseases.

The CST urges Gov. Mead to use some of his discretionary funds to fill in the gap until the legislature can address this issue in 2012. It's a public health issue. It's also the right thing to do. Read the entire editorial at http://trib.com/opinion/editorial/article_97d5faa8-ea58-5b6b-8824-05a7974015ba.html

Register now for "Walk in My Shoes" fund-raiser for WY Coalition for the Homeless

A good cause and some exercise:


Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, Walk In My Shoes?  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

On May Saturday, pondering the future of Cheyenne

Riding around Cheyenne on this beautiful May morning. Errands to run, people to deliver. The Decembrists' "The King is Dead" pumping out of the speakers and out the open windows. Doesn't get much better than this, a spring Saturday after a horrible winter.

I was asking myself big questions: What is that squeak coming from the left front wheel? (Note to self -- call "Click & Clack.") When should I plant my crops -- Mother's Day, May 15 or -- as the High Plains gardening gurus recommend -- Memorial Day weekend? Is "The Decembrists' "Why We Fight" about war or relationships or both, and why is the video so lame? What is Cheyenne's future, especially with the oil play boom on the horizon?

I spent most of my pondering on the last question. We've lived in Cheyenne for 20 years, with two years off in D.C. for good behavior. Lots of changes during that time. But never as many as I've seen in the past several years.

Population is rising. It's not due strictly to oil field jobs. There are new jobs in manufacturing and construction. Many service industry jobs in restaurants and retail. Those latter jobs don't pay well but we need loads of them to keep our young people gainfully employed while they decide which college town or big city they will flee to. Federal and state government employment seems to be holding steady. That will change if U.S. House Republicans get their way with their Draconian budget. We shall see...

As I drove around, I took a few shortcuts to see what's happening. I ventured out to High Plains Road on I-25 South. The interchange went in first and it's a step up from the usual concrete-and-steel overpasses. Decorative iron railings and brick and rock used in the design. It's flanked by two roundabouts with plenty of directional signs for the roundabout-phobics amongst us. There are many, judging the letters to the editor in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The anti-roundabout crowd is really up in arms over a roundabout planned for one of the stupidest intersections known to humankind -- Pershing/Converse/19th Street. They've redesigned that three-way tangle many times but still it's one of the most dangerous intersections in town (along with Converse and Dell Range). Can't leave it the way it is. Some of the landowners, notably Frank Cole of Cole Shopping Center don't want to see changes. Stay tuned for more loony letters to the ed.

High Plains Road is the site of the new State of Wyoming Visitors Welcome Center. This will replace the old welcome center and rest stop on the west side of I-25 at College Drive. Many have wondered why the old center was built on the wrong side of the highway and is so hard to get to. It's nice, and has great views of the prairie and the Laramie Range. I sometimes hang out there and write to get some peace and quiet and inspiration.

But, as new truck stops and motels arose, it was harder and harder to access. There are no lights or dreaded roundabouts there to speed the flow of traffic. On a typical summer day, it's a madhouse of semis and RVs and lost tourists trying to find the entrance to the rest stop. Maybe this is next on the Wyoming Department of Transportation construction agenda.

The new visitors center is cool-looking and energy efficient. It's also on the east side of the highway which should make it easier to access. Here's a description from the RMH Group:

The new $16.6 million, 27,000-square-foot Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center will offer restroom facilities to travelers and will house the offices of Wyoming Travel and Tourism, which has expanded and now requires more space. The RMH Group provided energy-efficient mechanical and electrical design for this new facility. The Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center's mechanical and electrical systems are designed to limit energy demand while emphasizing the responsible use of on-site resources. Daylight harvesting will reduce electrical demand, and on-site solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines will utilize renewable resources to generate building power. A ground-source heat-pump system, featuring horizontal "slinky" geo-exchange coils buried beneath the project site will efficiently heat and cool the building. Public portions of the center will be conditioned by an in-floor radiant system coupled with displacement cooling and ventilation, further supporting the building's low-energy use profile. Construction of the Southeast Wyoming Welcome Center is anticipated to be completed in late summer 2012.

Construction crews are clearing the site now.  From High Plains Road, you can look down on it and appreciate the view I-25 motorists will have of the facility as they cross into the state from Colorado. Man, what a cool building -- and energy efficient to boot. Let's go there and discover ways to spend all of our vacation money in Wyoming.

Also from High Plains Road, you can look to the west and see construction cranes working on a series of buildings in the business park. Not sure what's destined there. If you look a bit to the north, you can see the growing ranks of white wind turbines that are fueling a bit of the energy I use for my laptop ramblings. Coal trains head south along the railroad tracks that pass just to the east. The coal comes from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Further to the east oil drilling sites rise up out of an ancient ocean bed.  

Exciting times. There are many risks, especially with the fossil fuels Wyoming provides to the world. Global warming and poisoning of air and water. This will require governmental monitoring which is exactly why Republicans want to kill the E.P.A. No regulations mean more profits for those people who seemingly have enough profits. But that's the Republican plans. Screw the rest of you.

It's up to every one of us to see that we don't get screwed royally.

P.S.: I tried to find an image of new welcome center but failed. Anyone know where I can go to get one? I did find images of the ground-breaking but not very interesting. Seen one ground-breaking, you've seen them all. 

Register now for Walk in My Shoes fund-raiser

Have you registered yet for the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless fundraiser, "Walk In My Shoes?"  It is only a little over a month away and now is the time to sign up as a walker, ghost walker or sponsor.

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/walkregis11.htm to register as a walker or ghost walker

Go to http://www.wch.vcn.com/sponsorregis.htm to register as a sponsor

This year the Walk is on Saturday June 11 -- registration starts at 8:00 a.m. and the walk goes at 9:00 a.m.  Registration prior to the day of the walk is $15.00 on the day of the Walk it is $20.00

There will be food, fun, door prizes, music.

Love them budget cuts -- except when it affects "our park"

Put this under the heading of "we don't need that darn federal gubment."

All of us in the West love the national parks and national forests. Some on the Right believe that parks such as Yellowstone -- a national treasure and international heritage site -- takes care of itself, that you just push the self-clean button when all the tourists go home in September and it takes care of itself.

Yellowstone visitation is up over the past two summers. Here are some 2010 numbers from the NPS: 

It has been a record-breaking summer for Yellowstone National Park. Visitation figures for June, July, and now August, have all shattered previous records. Yellowstone hosted 854,837 visitors in August. It is the first time August visitation has passed the 800,000 mark, and is up more than 81,000 from the previous August record of 773,307 visitors set back in 1995. Visitation for the 3 summer months topped 2.5 million. Visitation for the first 8 months of the year was almost 2.87 million.  

With gas prices climbing above $4 per gallon, this summer looks to be another blockbuster for national parks in the West, including my favorites -- Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain. Meanwhile, Republicans in the House want to cut budgets on all domestic spending. 

There's an irony here. Energy exploration is the number one industry in Wyoming followed closely by tourism with agriculture a distant third. Our U.S. Congressional delegation want to cut domestic spending but seem to be O.K. with us spending freely in Iraq and Afghanistan. And $4 billion in tax breaks for oil companies? That's fine with them too. But what about keeping the toilets clean and the roads repaired in Yellowstone? Forget it!

So the National Park Foundation is raising money to make up the shortfall:   

Dear Friend, Imagine for just one moment a world without our national parks…no Yellowstone, no Grand Canyon, no Yosemite. No opportunity to share these great treasures with your children, to build memories together that would last a lifetime. We need your help! Our parks are constantly facing the threat of budget cuts and shortfalls. This year alone our parks faced a final budget cut of more than $132 million. This has had a dramatic impact on the nearly 400 national parks spanning 84 million acres of stunning scenery and historical shrines. We can’t sit idly by while America’s national parks are being compromised. Help us to ensure that our national parks continue to receive the resources they need to protect fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats, restore and maintain hundreds of miles of trails, fund educational programs that introduce children to our parks, and support thousands of volunteers that assist our park rangers and the millions of visitors the parks see each year. Now is the best time to show your support for our national parks. Thanks to the generosity of National Park Foundation Board member Jay Kislak, if you donate now, your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $50,000! America’s national parks belong to you. Please make a generous donation today to NPF. Only you can guarantee the future of our national parks.  

Karoli reports on "ADHD Nation's" reaction to budget bill

I like to share links with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) in their headers. This is a good one on karoli's blog at Crooks & Liars. Go to "Republicans Suddenly Worried About Scaring Seniors? ADHD Nation Take Two."