Tea Parties and unity: Where were they?

Photo: Protesters at the 9/12 Rally in Washington D.C., organized by FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Credit - www.huffingtonpost.com and the AP

Tea Parties and unity: Where were they?
Robert Roten
Sunday, September 13, 2009 12:46 PM MDT

Where were they?

The Wyoming 912 Coalition rally at Conwell Park in Casper yesterday was supposed to be about uniting the country and remembering the way it was united on 9/12/01, but it was really about divisiveness and about forgetting what happened on 9/12/01.

The rally was supposed to be about freedom, but it really wasn't about freedom at all. It was about giving up freedom and power, including the right to choose our health care, and giving that power instead to soulless corporations.

People carried signs that read, “Who gave unelected czars authority over us?” and “Freedom did not need change,” according to an article in the Casper Star-Tribune. The article quoted Casper resident Nancy Rinn as saying: “I think the people in Washington are stomping on the Constitution; they're trying to pass laws that are unconstitutional.”

Where were they, these tea party protesters, when George Bush and Dick Cheney were tearing up the constitution? Where were they when the government was listening in to their phone conversations with illegal wiretaps? Where were they when the government was reading their emails? Where were they when the government suspended habeas corpus and threw people into prison, “disappearing” them in the same way Josef Stalin used to make people vanish without a trace? Where were they when the United States government illegally tortured and killed prisoners of war?

Dave Kellett of Powell, president of the Wyoming 912 Coalition, reportedly said at the rally, “We were all Americans.” Kellett added, “There were no Republicans or Democrats, whites, blacks, Hispanics or Arabs,” on that day. The Arabs disagree with that, like the poor guy who was mistaken for an Arab (he was actually an Indian Sikh) and murdered by Americans in that spirit of unity that prevailed after 9/11. The Arabs were immediate suspects in the 9/11 attacks and anyone of Arab descent, or anybody with dark skin who looked like an Arab, was in for a tough time after the attacks. Arabs in America are still not above suspicion.

Just ask Cat Stevens about that supposed post-9/11 unity of Americans. They wouldn't even let the “Peace Train” singer back in the country. Judging by what I saw on TV of the crowd in Casper yesterday, there weren't a lot of blacks, Hispanics or Arabs among the tea-party people there, or at the big march in Washington, either. It is pretty much a pure white, far right, Fox News-watching bunch. Dave Kellet's idea of national unity is not what I'd call “fair and balanced.”

That's not the only thing about the post-9/11 climate the tea party people seem to have forgotten. They forgot the nation was united behind their president, George Bush, despite the fact that 9/11 happened on his watch. They must have been watching Fox News back then when wingnuts like Bill O'Reilly were saying that anybody who criticized President Bush was a traitor, or words to that effect. Fox News and the rest of the right-leaning news establishment bullied anyone who dared criticize our beloved President George Bush, and they said he did nothing wrong. They still claim he was damned near perfect to this very day.

Where were these Tea Party people when the Bush Administration let the country down and failed to prevent the 9/11 attacks? After all, it was pretty spectacular failure that would seem impossible to top, but Bush managed to do just that, with Katrina and the Iraq War. Through all those disasters, all those deficits, all those illegal acts, all the loss of all those personal freedoms, the Tea Party people kept silent. Where were they?

So why all those anti-Obama signs at the Wyoming 912 Coalition rally? Where is that old spirit of unity? What happened to that unity where everybody stood behind the president and you were a called a traitor if you did not? Obama has only been in power a few months and has yet to initiate any disasters like the ones that Bush did on an almost monthly basis. On the basis of protecting the country alone, he's already 100 percent better than Bush was. How could they forget the unity of 912 on this occasion? How could they keep quiet when this nation was literally falling apart and only now, when the country is starting to get back on track, they suddenly want to protest their very own president?

Why? What has gotten them stirred up? Health care reform? They actually like the fact that their insurance company can drop them from coverage when they get sick? They like the fact that they have to stick with a job they don't like, or face losing their coverage or paying sky-high COBRA payments? Do they enjoy being jerked around by insurance companies that are not held accountable by anyone, including their own government? They ought to be protesting outside insurance companies, not protesting the guy who is trying to fix this mess. The Tea Party people act as if they are being directly paid by the health insurance industry to put a stop to health care reform.

The Wyoming 912 Coalition people are also very concerned about the federal budget deficit. They are afraid they will have to pay for health care reform with higher taxes, and that might be true, but where were they when the Reagan Administration and two Bush Administrations ran up deficits in the trillions? Where were they when the Bush Administration cut trillions of dollars of taxes on the wealthy, and started two wars at the same time? Where were they when the Bush Administration started a war in Iraq that would end up costing trillions of dollars, and paid for it with deficit spending?

The Tea Party people cheered when Rep. Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at President Obama, and they put that proudly on their signs, even though Wilson, not Obama, is the liar here. Where were they when President Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq? None of them had the courage to stand up and call President Bush a liar, even though he was. Fox News, the rest of the media and most of the American people just went along for the ride. Now they stand up, but what do they really stand for?

Now, after more than 4,000 soldiers were killed and trillions of dollars have been wasted in the Iraq war, now, they finally stand up for principles they completely abandoned for the past 20 years. Now, they stand up to avoid paying for the health care of poor people. That's not what you'd call noble, or Christian, or Muslim. They are willing to finance the death of hundreds of thousands of people and spend trillions of dollars for war without complaint, but they don't want to spend a nickel to pay for the health care of needy citizens of the United States of America, including those wounded fighting for this nation. Shame on them.

The tea party people weren't concerned when our soldiers died for nothing. They weren't concerned about a war that made this nation less secure, rather than more secure. They weren't concerned with the mounting deficits caused by deeply irresponsible government fiscal policies. They weren't concerned when the government did little to avert the Hurricane Katrina disaster and did less to alleviate the suffering of Americans afterward. The tea party people were silent then.

Now that the nation has been brought back from the brink of another Great Depression, thanks to government fiscal intervention, now that the United States is once again gaining some respect in the world for more rational foreign policies, after being a laughing stock and a pariah for the past eight years, now, the tea party people are protesting. They want to get rid of Obama and all he stands for. They want to return to the good old days of George W. Bush, the good old days of letting insurance companies decide who will live and who will die.

God help us all if they get what they are wishing for.

Robert Roten is a journalist with over 25 years of newspaper experience, including 20 years as a reporter, editor, photographer, columnist and editorialist at the Laramie Daily Boomerang. Since retiring from the Boomerang in 2000, Roten has been president of the Laramie Film Society and the Laramie Astronomical Society and Space Observers (LASSO). He has operated his own movie journalism web site, Laramie Movie Scope, for the past 13 years. He also has a weekly movie show, Laramie Movie Scope News, on KOCA radio in Laramie. He is also a member of the Online Film Critics Society and contributes frequent movie reviews to rottentomatoes.com. He is a former member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Society of Environmental Journalists. Roten is a resident of Laramie, Wyo.

UW to dedicate Cheney International Center

UW to dedicate Cheney International Center
Meg Lanker
Sunday, August 30, 2009 10:24 PM MDT
Update: Monday September 7, 1:21 AM MDT

Dick and Lynne Cheney will return to Laramie next month to dedicate the newly-constructed Cheney International Center at the University of Wyoming.

The dedication is scheduled for Sept. 10 at 10:30 a.m. according to University of Wyoming Director of Institutional Communications Jessica Lowell.

The naming of the building generated nationwide controversy but Lowell said the university followed an “identified policy and process” for the naming the building. “That process was followed in this instance,” said Lowell.

According to the "University of Wyoming Named Gift Criteria," approved by the UW Board of Trustees in 2006, the criteria for approving the naming of a pre-existing building is the amount of the monetary gift.

The reports states: "Previously constructed facilities, which are unnamed, can be named by a donor or a donor's representative through a substantial contribution of 50 percent or more of the renovation cost of the facility."

The Cheney family's gift “created for UW the largest single-university endowment dedicated to study abroad support,” said UW President Tom Buchanan in a news release Sept. 7, 2007. The total endowment of $1.8 million was matched by state funds.

According to the UW Foundation's annual report, much of the initial donation went to fund the renovation of the Student Health building and the necessary renovations to add the Cheney International Center.

In November 2008, UW Board of Trustees President Chuck Brown and President Buchanan issued a joint statement to Fred Vanden Heede and Suzy Pelican, both of Laramie, which ran in The Casper-Star Tribune as part of a letter to the editor. In the statement, Brown and Buchanan explained the rationale behind the naming of the building.

“In 2006, UW President Tom Buchanan, Vice President for Institutional Advancement Ben Blalock and former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson visited with the Cheney family at the White House to discuss the intended purpose(s) of the gift. At that meeting, the Cheney family emphasized its desire to focus the gift on students and on international programs at UW,” said Brown and Buchanan.

They also said UW responded with a plan for international scholarships and a “bricks-and-mortar” proposal for the center.

In a September 2008 letter which appeared in UW’s student-run paper, The Branding Iron, Heede and Pelican said, “UW and its international programs cannot avoid being identified with the ideology behind and approach to U.S. global politics championed by the Bush-Cheney administration.”

The controversy is expected to re-ignite with the dedication.

Sunday's Casper Star-Tribune featured an editorial authored by Buchanan in which he cited a list of people opposed to the Cheney International Center and said, "It came as no surprise that, having lived in Wyoming for more than 30 years, I know many of those objecting to UW's decision."

"The list includes some good friends and colleagues who have previously admonished the UW administration to support greater diversity and increased tolerance for all views," said Buchanan. "So it is ironic that they show so little of it when confronted by a situation that challenges their own comfort zone."

Buchanan did not mention the planned dedication.

A group of Laramie students and community members dismayed by the center's naming are planning to protest the dedication with a march to campus and signs with various messages for Cheney and the UW administration. Organizers of the demonstration are emphasizing the need for peaceful assembly.

The “UW Students Against the Cheney International Center” Facebook group was created by Daniel DePeyer, a graduate student in the international studies program. The group allows students to post their thoughts on the naming of the center and to get information on its construction and eventual dedication.

"I recently helped to organize a conference at UW which focused on the subject of human rights. The conference chair made it adamantly clear that he did not want 'Cheney International Center' to appear as a sponsor on any of the program material," DePeyer said in a statement to The Underground Monday.

DePeyer said the Cheney family's endowment was "laudable" and acknowledged that many students have benefited from the opportunities presented by the scholarships. He also said the benefit was not without its risks.

"I went to Tunisia for six weeks as part of a UW sponsored cultural exchange program," said DePeyer. "I do not know if any Cheney money was used to help fund the program, however, I do know that if the Tunisian government or even some of the Tunisian students we interacted with had found out that we were funded by 'blood' money, our lives could have been at risk."

DePeyer said although the program will benefit future students, the "future implications will undoubtedly hurt the University of Wyoming's credibility and ability to attract world renowned scholars for faculty positions, conferences, speeches, and panels."

Other Laramie residents echoed DePeyer's concerns. “I feel sorry for the University of Wyoming and the state of Wyoming when they have to change the name after he’s indicted,” said Nancy Sindelar, a Laramie peace activist helping to organize the demonstration. Sindelar referenced the ongoing investigations into what the previous administration called “enhanced interrogation methods.”

Recently released and declassified White House documents detail actions that may have been authorized by or known to Cheney in interrogations conducted by CIA members, including mock executions of prisoners and threats of rape directed at the family members of detainees.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder authorized investigations into alleged abuses this week. In an interview with Fox News’ Chris Wallace Aug. 30, Cheney said Holder’s investigation “offends the hell out of me” and called Holder’s actions “an outrageous political act.”

Cheney also questioned President Barack Obama’s ability to lead the nation in difficult times. “I have serious doubts about his policies, especially, about the extent to which he understands and is prepared to do what needs to be done to defend the nation,” he said.

UW previously faced criticism from within the state when the decision to name the building after Cheney was announced. Numerous editorials have appeared in Wyoming newspapers since the naming was announced – both for and against the decision.

In the Casper Star-Tribune Sept. 24, 2008, Donal O’Toole of Laramie suggested the university look into “other initiatives from hitherto untapped sources,” including, “[T]he Beelzebub's College of Theology, Enron's Institute of Business Ethics, the Tom Ridge Observation Center, the Michael Vick Dog Shelter, and the Kim Jong Il School of Hairstyling.”

In a letter to the Tribune Sept. 14, 2008 Lowell defended the decision and said, “The university has a procedure in place, and university officials followed that procedure and accordingly recognized this very generous gift for a laudable educational purpose.”

According to Lowell, the event is open to the public. She did not say whether or not the administration is aware of any planned demonstrations. The dedication will take place in front of the new Cheney International Center on Dick and Lynne Cheney plaza.

The UW Police Department will coordinate with the Secret Service to provide security for the event.