hummingbirdminds

• Progressives bring opposing P.O.V. to Casper teabagger rally

  Casper progessives joined with a contingent from Laramie to present an opposing point of view at a teabagger rally Saturday across the street from Wyoming Medical Center. According to Laramie's Meg Lanker, the Casper tea party rally was co-sponsored by the Wyoming 9/12 Project, Wyoming Watchdogs [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:14pm EST
  

• Letter from D.C. -- and my response

  Letter from Wyo. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, with her comments in red and mine in blue:
  
  Dear Michael:
  
  Thank you for contacting me regarding healthcare reform. It is good to hear from you.
  
  Congressional Democrat leaders are working to create a new government-forced healthcare system that would put [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:17pm EST
  

• CIGNA -- can you hear me now?

  This comes from Badtux the Snarky Penguin (via Skippy the Bush Kangaroo), a blog that's new to me. Then again, lots of things are new to me. Oh brave new world that has such blogs in't! And I'm always partial to prog-blogs with animal names.
  
  CIGNA denies [...]
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  Posted: November 20, 2009, 11:46am EST
  

• Dear Rep. Lummis: You'll be known by the company you keep

  Rep. Cynthia Lummis toes the Republican National Committee line on most issues. She's consistently voted against health care reform, health insurance coverage for children, climate legislation and equal rights for gays. She loves the Department of Defense yet despises the gubment's role in almost all other things. So odd how [...]
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  Posted: November 19, 2009, 9:52pm EST
  

• Enzi tours Wyoming to probe minds of voters

  Brianna Jones at the WyoDems sends this:
  
  This is a heads up that Senator Enzi’s staff will be holding sessions in the following communities over the next few weeks and starting tomorrow. Please share this information!
  
  Buffalo – Thursday, Dec. 10 – Town Hall – 11 a.m.-12 [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 6:46pm EST
  

• Learning something new from "WWII in HD"

  B-17 Stratofortress, B-24 Liberator, M-1 rifle, dogface, Tarawa, D-Day, Kasserine Pass, Patton, Mt. Suribachi, panzer, blitz...
  
  And so it goes.
  
  Watching "WWII in HD" on the History Channel, I realized that all these terms -- and many more -- are etched permanently into my brain. Chris and I [...]
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  Posted: November 18, 2009, 7:08am EST
  

• Cheyenne Zonta Club announces "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence"

  Mona Pearl at the Zonta Club of Cheyenne sent out this announcement today:
  
  The Zonta Club of Cheyenne is again participating in 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. The campaign formally kicks off on Nov. 25. Proclamation signings by Governor Dave Freudenthal and Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen will [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 10:11pm EST
  

• An issue of morality -- "Healthcare For All Americans"

  [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 3:10pm EST
  

• Cheney/Palin in 2012? How about Palin/Cheney?

  The talking heads were having fun this morning over at Fixed News Sunday. Did I watch it? No. I was working on my own fiction in the form of a new book of short stories. I prefer fiction that comes out of my head (and heart) to that manufactured by [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 2:25pm EST
  

• Montana progressive org hiring director

  This comes from the always-alert jhwygirl at 4&20 blackbirds
  
  Forward Montana (FMT), a homegrown organization dedicated to training, mobilizing, and electing a new generation of progressive leaders based in Missoula, Montana, and Forward Montana Foundation, dedicated to engaging young Montanans in civic life, seek an energetic Managing Director [...]
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  Posted: November 14, 2009, 1:59pm EST
  

• Got wood? A modest proposal from Digby

  Digby is the Jonathan Swift for our times:
  
  I have a moral objection to paying for any kind of erectile dysfunction medicine in the new health reform bill and I think men who want to use it should just pay for it out of pocket. After all, I won't' [...]
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  Posted: November 13, 2009, 8:58pm EST
  

• Rep. Millin and WyoDems thank veterans

  Representative Lori Millin, Democrat of Cheyenne, is my rep in the Wyoming House. She issued the following statement to mark Veterans Day:
  
  “On Veterans Day, the Wyoming Democratic Party would like to take a moment to thank the past and present service members who have selflessly devoted their lives [...]
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  Posted: November 11, 2009, 10:34am EST
  

• Instead of imagining "Medicaid cheats," Wyoming legislators should ensure mental health coverage

  More on the Wyoming Medicaid situation by Wyoming Tribune-Eagle reporter Bill McCarthy:
  
  
  Bob Peck, Wyoming Department of Health chief financial officer, met with the Wyoming Legislature's Joint Appropriations Interim Committee last week.
  
  Without federal money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he said, the' [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 9:25pm EST
  

• Increased demand stresses Wyoming Medicaid funding

  A story in Monday's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle addressed the state's Medicaid and CHIP programs.
  
  The number of children on Wyoming Kid Care CHIP is declining, but the number of children on Medicaid is going up.
  
  Bob Peck, chief financial officer for the Wyoming Department of Health, said one explanation [...]
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  Posted: November 09, 2009, 7:52am EST
  

• Mental health issues, in war and in peace

  I am not a military veteran, and only know about war second-hand.
  
  But I do know depression first-hand. I know how DNA and bad juju can combine to make a potent cocktail of melancholia. It can lead to extensive funks or something worse. Suicide, even murderous rampages.
  
  Vietnam [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:33am EST
  

• Shame on CIGNA, my health insurer

  This comes from Buzzflash:
  
  On the same day Cigna posted a 92 percent increase in 3rd quarter profits, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) released the following statement condemning Cigna for its opposition to health care reform.
  
  "Cigna opposes urgently needed health care reform, and today we know why." [...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:45pm EST
  

• Health care reform bill passes U.S. House

  And as if you didn't know -- Wyoming lone Rep., Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne, continued her role as a Republican Know-Nothing and voted against the bill. She did vote for an earlier amendment that would limit women's right to choose. Busy day for Rep. Lummis.
  
  FMI: [www.nytimes.com][...]
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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 9:36pm EST
  

• Follow health care reform as it happens

  This info comes to hummingbirdminds from Mike Kruger, online outreach specialist, U.S. HOuse Committee on Education and Labor:
  
  

  Dear Michael:
  
  As I’m sure you’ve heard the House plans to vote on the Affordable Health Care for America Act - H.R. 3962 this weekend. I thought you and the [...]

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  Posted: November 07, 2009, 8:30am EST
  

• Mental health care for Wyoming teens is usually far from home

  Let's say that your 16-year-old daughter announces in the dead of night that she wants to commit suicide. It's nothing to trifle with. You rush her off to the local hospital emergency room. The staff psychiatrist, psychologist and social worker assess her and decide that she needs to be evaluated [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 8:50pm EST
  

• In Cheyenne, the uninsured are up the creek

  Great series of health care articles by Michelle Dynes in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. The headline for the front-page article was "Resources shrink for uninsured." The main resource that is shrinking for the local uninsured is the Cheyenne Community Clinic, which will close on Dec. 31 for lack of funding. [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 4:15pm EST
  

• Names of the Dead on the Day of the Dead

  
  [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 8:34am EST
  

• Wyoming Democrats support public option

  The Wyoming Democratic Party is asking state residents to support the public option in health care reform. You can go to the WyoDems' web site and print out a petition calling for the public option. Get ten supporters to sign on and send it back to the WyoDems so they' [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 7:42am EST
  

• High school football ...

  

  High school football chicks. Central beat Laramie and advances to the next round. [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 12:38pm EDT
  

• Free speech is for people, not for corporations

  
  
  I'm a big fan of street theatre -- all theatre, really. Earlier this month, activist actors who call themselves "Yes Men" pulled off an amazing bit of theatre when it held a fake press conference. The "characters" wore the guise of suits from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.' [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 9:17am EDT
  

• Wyoming Winds tracks homeless issues

  Each month, Virginia Sellner at the Wyoming Coalition for the Homeless, sends me the organization's Wyoming Winds newsletter. It used to be a print publication and now it's online only. It includes articles about the WCH's Welcome Mat shelter and other local issues that affect homelessness. The WCH is now' [...]
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  Posted: October 31, 2009, 11:39pm EDT
  

• Rep. Lummis signs on to House resolution praising Fox News-sponsored T.E.A. Party

  Array of signs from 9/12/09 D.C. teabagger march from Jon Perr's "10 Lessons for Tea Baggers" Sept. 15 post on Crooks & Liars
  
  It's good to know that some U.S. House members have nothing more pressing on their agendas than U.S. House Resolution [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 9:30pm EDT
  

• Matthew Shepard bill signed by Obama

  Bill Luckett, E.D. of the Wyoming Democratic Party, said this about today's news release detailing the signing of the Matthew Shepard bill:
  
  
  Eds, please take note of the statement below, and please also incorporate by reference the press releases Wyoming Democratic Party Communications Director Brianna Jones issued over' [...]
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  Posted: October 28, 2009, 7:54pm EDT
  

• CST's Joan Barron writes about last week's health care forum in Cheyenne

  Casper Star-Tribune columnist Joan Barron was in the audience last week during the health care forum at LCCC in Cheyenne sponsored by the Wyoming Democratic Party.
  
  She wrote about the gathering in Sunday's paper. Read "A good panel interrupted" at [www.trib.com]
  
  I was there, and documented' [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 11:25pm EDT
  

• "Games are the new form of narrative"

  I attended a lecture at last week's Wyoming Humanities Conference by University of Minnesota professor and researcher Brock Dubbels. He designs classrooms that use virtual worlds and video games to improve learning. This is probably nothing new to you gamers, but Dubbels says that "games are the new form of'" [...]
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  Posted: October 27, 2009, 11:18pm EDT
  

• Sen. Mike Enzi receives "public option" health care -- but doesn't want other Wyomingites to have it

  From Think Progress (via Crooks & Liars): Rep. Weiner Identifies 55 Republicans On Medicare Who ‘Steadfastly Oppose’ The Public Option
  
  Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) office today released an internal study showing that 151 members of Congress “currently receive government-funded; government-administered single-payer health care — Medicare.” Of those 151 [...]
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  Posted: October 26, 2009, 11:14pm EDT
  

• Write your op-eds and take your lumps

  It's usually equal parts enlightening and depressing to see the comments for an opinion column in the Casper Star-Tribune. That is the case in the comments following Kim Floyd's 10/21 op-ed piece promoting the public option in health care reform legislation. Kim is the executive secretary of the Wyoming AFL-CIO. [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:42pm EDT
  

• We will -- meow meow meow meow -- you!

  This has been on the blogs and in the news for almost a week now. But just in case you’ve been hiding in your bunker, hunting in the Winds, or somehow cut off from all electronica – what do these songs, performers and TV characters have in common?
  
  David [...]
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  Posted: October 25, 2009, 12:23pm EDT
  

• Free online college textbooks? Shazam!

  Crooks & Liars explores the burgeoning world of online educational resources, especially for college students. A great option for middle-aged working people thrown out of their jobs and wanting (at long last) to get their degrees.
  
  For more, go to [crooksandliars.com] [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 9:45pm EDT
  

• Why do Enzi and Barrasso hate the troops AND equal rights for gays (and Obama)?

  Matthew Shepard's parents Dennis and Judy with Pres. Barack Obama, a noted humanist
  WyoDems' communications director Brianna Jones sends this release:
  
  The Wyoming Democratic Party today expressed disappointment in Senator Mike Enzi and Senator John Barrasso for their votes against the Matthew Shepard and James' [...]
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  Posted: October 24, 2009, 9:20pm EDT
  

• "How old will you be in 2050?"

  A recent Grist post talked about climate change sparking a grassroots movement that will cross borders:
  
  The prospects for a borderless protest movement will be put to the test on Saturday, selected by grassroots group 350.org as a “day of global action” with some 3,000 events around the [...]
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  Posted: October 23, 2009, 10:13pm EDT
  

• CIGNA logo before -- and after

  The image at the top is the official CIGNA logo before Sick for Profit and Ryan O'Connell got their hands on it...
  
  The one on the bottom is an artist's version of CIGNA's soul. Which is the most realistic?
  My vote is' [...]
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  Posted: October 22, 2009, 9:38pm EDT
  

• WyoDems: "Health care professionals address reform and the state's needs‏"

  Brianna Jones, the WyoDems' communications director, just issued this release about last night's health forum:
  
  Four Wyoming health care providers addressed the health insurance reform proposals going through Congress, their experiences as health care providers, the state of health care in Wyoming and what reforms the state needs' [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 12:27pm EDT
  

• Cheyenne health care forum: H1N1 vaccine

  Dr. Brent Sherard, the state's chief medical officer, spoke last night about another big issue that I forgot to mention.
  
  Before the forum's major interruption, Mike Bell asked Dr. Sherard about certain rumors circulating on the web and on at least one major media outlet (guess which one?) that [...]
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  Posted: October 21, 2009, 11:48am EDT
  

• Health Care Forum tip: consider your retorts carefully

  So not everyone in Cheyenne knows the meaning of "teabagger."
  
  When I say "teabagger," I'm referring to the prog-blog meaning of the word. A handy label for people who attend local and national anti-Obama tea party rallies, such as the ones organized and energized by Glenn Beck and' [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 9:35pm EDT
  

• Noah: "This ark ain't gonna float if we have to put one more pair of dinos on it"

  The new 20,000-square-foot Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum in Montana includes sculptures of T-Rex skeletons, murals of ancient mountains and a diorama of dinosaurs walking two-by-two into Noah’s Ark.
  
  Yes, just when you thought it was safe to venture back to eastern Montana, a creationist museum opens up.
  
  [...]
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  Posted: October 20, 2009, 10:31pm EDT
  

• Blessed are the meek with pre-existing conditions -- insurers love you!

  [twitpic.com] (thanks to almightygod on Twitter)
  [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 9:19am EDT
  

• You couldn't pay me to read Palin's book

  Doc2 on Daily Kos wonders how far prices will drop before Sarah Palin's book, "Going Rogue," actually hits the stands Nov. 17.
  
  The listed retail price for a handcover copy of "Going Rogue" is $28.99.
  
  According to doc2, here are the bargain prices:
  
  Borders: $17.39.
  [...]
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  Posted: October 19, 2009, 9:04am EDT
  

• Wyoming MoveOn supporter to Sen. Hatch: I dare you to kick my teeth in

  Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah is going to kick MoveOn.org in the teeth. MoveOn members picketed his D.C. office to protest the fact that he has sold his everlasting soul to the health insurance industry.
  
  Sen. Hatch must be mature enough to know that he's too old to [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 10:23pm EDT
  

• Read my lips: Public option!

  The health care reform debate or argument or shouting match -- whatever you want to call it -- is heating up. On the local scene, health care professionals will gather at the Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne for a panel discussion.
  
  It will take place in the [...]
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  Posted: October 17, 2009, 10:05pm EDT
  

• Why should anyone anywhere ever listen to anything said by a Cheney?

  Some Wyomingites defend Dick Cheney because they knew him in Casper or met him during his stint in the state legislature. This is a pretty chummy state, after all, which more antelope than people. If you alienate your neighbor, you just might not have anyone to talk to all winter. [...]
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  Posted: October 16, 2009, 10:04pm EDT
  

• Dear CIGNA CEO: Why are you afraid to meet with Dawn?

  CIGNA, my health insurance company, is waiting to hear from you.
  
  Go to its Facebook page at [www.facebook.com].
  
  Ask CIGNA CEO H. Edward Hanway why he has two gold umbrella stands in his $24 million mansion but he won't sit down and talk to Dawn Smith, the' [...]
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  Posted: October 15, 2009, 9:13pm EDT
  

• Power outage shuts down Cheyenne

  Power went out around town today just as I was returning from lunch.
  
  No power at work. Traffic lights out. Called my wife on the cell and no power on the east side of town. Called my daughter, home from school for a teacher planning day, and she was [...]
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  Posted: October 13, 2009, 9:39pm EDT
  

• The West's gazillionaires, billionaires and pikers

  David Frey writes in New West about the Rocky Mountain region's richest people, at least according to Forbes Magazine. I'm a bit ashamed of Wyoming's lack of gazillionaires. True, there is at least one high roller in Jackson. Make that a family of high rollers: Christy Walton of Wal-Mart' [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 8:07pm EDT
  

• Render unto the city that which is the city, and to heck with the county

  Latest local issue is whether rural residents, those people who moved to unincorporated Laramie County so they wouldn't have to pay for city services, should be able to vote in city elections.
  
  My immediate response was, "You're kidding, right?"
  
  This issue arose out of the City Council's cellphone [...]
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  Posted: October 12, 2009, 7:48am EDT
  

• Lummis shames Wyoming -- again

  From the Wyoming Democratic Party:
  
  The Wyoming Democratic Party said today that they are ashamed that Representative Cynthia Lummis voted against the Matthew Shepherd Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
  
  "It is extremely disheartening to see that our lone Representative has taken a stand
  against such" [...]
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  Posted: October 10, 2009, 8:43pm EDT