Some joke that in Wyoming folks extend a helping hand so they have something to hold on to – an anchor to keep from blowing away in the wind! But we know the truth. Extending your hand is simply how you get the big chores done.
I want to applaud Matt Micheli, former chairman of Laramie County Republican Party, for his Jan. 21 op-ed, that tries to guide the his party out of its negative view of the world, by of course, bashing Democrats. His attempt can be commended, but just like all the GOP members across the coun…
Every hostile nickname that Mitch McConnell gets is further confirmation of his effectiveness.
This past week has been an interesting time for Wyoming politicians Liz Cheney, Cynthia Lummis, and Foster Friess.
For the kiddies, it’ll be necessary to start this rant by explaining that there was an immensely popular TV show called “Dallas” that ran from 1978 through 1991. It traced the escapades of a grossly dysfunctional Texas family dynasty. Now we have the soap opera about a grossly dysfunctional …
An oft-quoted parable warns those who are inclined to overestimate their impact on the world. Feeling important? Follow these instructions and be humbled. Put your hand, up to the wrist, in a bucket of water. Pull it out. Look quickly if you want to see how completely your imprint disappears.
Sometimes I read things or see things in the newspaper and simply shake my head in disbelief. I know I am getting older, but do people really believe some of the things that come out of their mouths?
You’re excused if you didn’t hear about the latest impeachment “bombshell” that exploded in the media on Wednesday.
Early Tuesday morning, a day before the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth, a small army of police, sheriff’s deputies and a tactical SWAT team with a military robot laid siege to a house in Oakland, California. The threat they were confronting? Women and children nonviolently str…
If you follow the Wyoming Legislature, you’ve probably seen bills introduced that opponents derisively call “solutions in search of problems.”
More than 200 legislators from both parties recently filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court. Wyoming’s entire congressional delegation (Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, and Rep. Liz Cheney) signed on. The brief challenges the plaintiff’s standing and asks SCOTUS to uphold the ov…
I spend a good portion of my job advocating and conducting field work for the endangered black-footed ferret, along with the protection prairie dogs, which ferrets depend on for survival. Meeteetse, Wyoming, was where ferrets were first rediscovered, after they were thought to be extinct. An…
Acts of war, perfidious sneak attacks, like Pearl Harbor or 9-11, followed by the justified revenge and total victory of a great nation. Now that we are at war with Iran, let’s review the acts of war between our two nations:
Let’s deal with the letter “I.” No, it’s not because we are run by a bunch of self-involved leaders, including the narcissist in chief, President Donald Trump. It’s because, for whatever reason, much of our news right now involves “I” words.
The most substantively outrageous presidential campaign in American history has some serious chance of success.
With your arms around the future; And your back against the past — the Moody Blues
With the Wyoming Legislature set to convene next month under a cloud of dismal revenue projections, we can expect plenty of creative tax increases to be trotted out. But raising revenue through taxation does nothing to decrease spending. Indeed, taxation arguably makes budget deficits worse,…
2020 is optometry-speak for great vision. 2020 is the year we’ll learn whether voters, elected officials and judges have any vision at all.
After months of back and forth, Albany County District Court Judge Tori Kricken recently ruled that the University of Wyoming must turn over, within 30 days, numerous records related to former UW President Laurie Nichols to the Laramie Boomerang, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, the Casper Star-Tr…
Donald Trump isn’t George W. Bush.
It’s been a quarter-century since Wyoming voters decided, by an enormous margin, they did not want to restrict access to abortion.
Last year in Wyoming, our legislature captured the nation’s attention as we fell only a handful of votes shy of repealing the death penalty. While this may have come as a surprise to outsiders, it didn’t to anyone familiar with the Cowboy State and our deep commitment to fiscal responsibilit…
Last month, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, successfully steered the passage of a provision that provides lifetime healthcare benefits to coal miners, such as those in Kemmerer, whose employers have filed for bankruptcy. Conspicuously missing from the list of supporters of the bipart…
The holiday season is a special time of year, when we celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the New Year, Festivus and, apparently, the approval of a massive spending package in Congress.
I can see clearly now — the year 2020 could emerge as one of the most important years in Wyoming’s history as various trends emerge.
With the dawn of a new year, we naturally look to the future and express our hopes and expectations for the coming year. Now is a good time to do the same for Wyoming politics, as our state’s voters and elected officials will have important decisions to make in the next 12 months. The decisi…
Dear Sen. Enzi,
The end-of-year/New Year holidays seem to whiplash us from one extreme to the other: eat, drink & be merry vs. the customary New Year's resolutions: reduce social media, reduce weight and embrace a plant-based diet!
Thanks to Harlan Edmonds for his thought-provoking column on party politics and polarization (Dec. 31).
I need to express an alternative view to the recent article on bicycle safety in Wyoming.
After Christmas dinner, a family friend declared that President Donald Trump “will never be impeached.”
In the early 1990s, a woman entered my office who was struggling. She had two little boys and an ex-husband who refused to pay child support. I sat her down, discussed her options for assistance, and asked a question I asked many young women who entered my office – “What are you going to do …
Ever since I joined the Bureau of Land Management in mid-July, things have been pretty hectic here in Washington, D.C. Around this time, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced the relocation of the BLM, leaving many Washington insiders asking, “Why?”
The story of our country is often told by the decades that define it. With the end of this decade so close at hand, it can often be tempting to imagine what the last 10 years will be remembered for. Or for that matter, the last year alone.
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If students don’t get angry and rise up at the ballot box soon (as in, really soon) they will eventually face the largest tax burden in economic history—and make no mistake it will have a profound effect on everything from affording a house to taking a vacation. Because while students prepar…
My favorite professor, Dr. Potthoff, used to say about our frenzied world:
An old joke about the weather:
Complaints about the inadequacies of the American political system have been with us for a long time. But after a year like 2019, said complaints are more about the dangers of polarization and partisanship.
As 2019 ends, some Wyoming politicians have put the state on a path toward socialism. Contrary to GOP talking points, it’s not Democrats.
Dear Laramie Residents:
A majority of Albany County commissioners have been reluctant to believe the results of multiple studies documenting elevated nitrate concentrations in the Casper Aquifer beneath and adjacent to East Grand subdivisions. These studies attribute the elevated nitrate to domestic septic systems.…
I enjoy the Wellness Wyoming magazine. The articles are informative and generally well written.
Imagine it’s time to pay your bills and there is less money in your bank account than you’d expect. Someone who owes you money hasn’t paid up. What would you do?
In 129 years, Wyoming has made a great name for itself. I am proud to live in such an outstanding state. However, there are some things about Wyoming that I am not proud of.
On Christmas Day, with nothing better to do than intrude into the closed and dusty basement of the University of Wyoming’s Physical Sciences Building, what did I find but a top-of-the-line PBR-endorsed mechanical bull, covered with cobwebs!
The year 2019 will go into the Cowboy State’s history books for a great many reasons – many of them not very pretty.
Having lived in Wyoming most of my life, you’d think I would know that winter is a terrible time to move. That holds true whether it’s across the street or, as in my case, the windy, snowy and icy 180-mile trek down I-25 from Casper to Cheyenne.
‘Twas the time around Christmas and through Mar-a-Lago,
The great performer Bing Crosby reached the height of his stardom about 80 years ago, but every Christmas season he makes a triumphant return to American radio and malls and other public places.
As 2019 – and the decade – come to a close soon, people all over the world will be taking stock of their lives and readying themselves to tackle a new year.
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