Has Landpoke or anyone else read

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Ok, I remember this person. She was the author of this lovely fair and balanced NYT OpEd from a few months back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/op...l?pagewanted=2

Rich out of stater's like Ms. Fuller can shove it. Her concern is solely for the views from her front window, not for the people of this state. Matter of fact I'll go so far as to say Ms. Fuller doesn't give two shits for the regular folk in this state. If she did she'd realize that for all the horrible destruction oil and gas rains down upon the state it returns to the people 100x in benefits. She'd further realize that this state would be West Virginia, economically speaking, if we had to rely on the mighty economic output of the saint-like ranchers. A place where regular working folk wouldn't be able to eek out even a moderately comfortable living. Which is what she ultimately desires, to have Wyoming for those who don't dirty their hands with honest work, the trust funders and the idle rich whose wealth makes it possible for them to deny that the world functions because of the work of the common man.

In short she's an elitist in populist's clothing and I have no time for her bullshit.

Awesome. Texas companies are pillaging Wyoming, with little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident.

I love it.

The problem with Wyoming is that there is just no work. You can't make it growing 50 acres of alfalfa. All the men have to travel 100+ miles for crappy work, and they wonder why people with means are buying up the land for their vacation homes.

it's a pretty place, but there is little work. And raping the land isn't the answer.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Depends. If you come in and tell us we're doing it all wrong and back in Texas/California/Africa we did it this way which is much better and you're all a bunch of know-nothing inbreds because you live in Wyoming and we'll tell you what's best for you, well that might not go over too well

your posts remind me that small staters fight amongst themselves as well as with outsiders.

i can hear your debates with ranchers and vice versa. In Nevada, we have miners arguing with ranchers, who argue with farmers, who argue with Sierra Nevada types, who then get arguments from those from out of state living in Vegas that have never set foot in the rest of the state.

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Awesome. Texas companies are pillaging Wyoming, with little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident.

Little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident? Outside of lower taxes, more money spent per pupil, new schools, top ten teachers salaries, roads, habitat improvement, low unemployment, high wages, health care etc. You mean beyond that?

Ms. Fuller is full of crap, she's an elitist who doesn't want her pretty view spoiled and she doesn't care how many lives she ruins doing it. She's entitled, after all. And all those people she'd have out of good high-paying jobs? Well it'll just mean her landscaping and house cleaning will be just that much cheaper when the unemployment rate is up.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Awesome. Texas companies are pillaging Wyoming, with little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident.

I love it.

The problem with Wyoming is that there is just no work. You can't make it growing 50 acres of alfalfa. All the men have to travel 100+ miles for crappy work, and they wonder why people with means are buying up the land for their vacation homes.

it's a pretty place, but there is little work. And raping the land isn't the answer.

Yes, you would definitely be an interloper. In fact, you might get your tires slashed once a month or so.

[Solon]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Depends. If you come in and tell us we're doing it all wrong and back in Texas/California/Africa we did it this way which is much better and you're all a bunch of know-nothing inbreds because you live in Wyoming and we'll tell you what's best for you, well that might not go over too well

I think I'd like living in Wyoming.

[creekster]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident? Outside of lower taxes, more money spent per pupil, new schools, top ten teachers salaries, roads, habitat improvement, low unemployment, high wages, health care etc. You mean beyond that?

Ms. Fuller is full of crap, she's an elitist who doesn't want her pretty view spoiled and she doesn't care how many lives she ruins doing it. She's entitled, after all. And all those people she'd have out of good high-paying jobs? Well it'll just mean her landscaping and house cleaning will be just that much cheaper when the unemployment rate is up.

This is exactly the tone and content of my Utah relatives (the ones that grew up outside of SLC).

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Little benefit for the avg. Wyoming resident? Outside of lower taxes, more money spent per pupil, new schools, top ten teachers salaries, roads, habitat improvement, low unemployment, high wages, health care etc. You mean beyond that?

Ms. Fuller is full of crap, she's an elitist who doesn't want her pretty view spoiled and she doesn't care how many lives she ruins doing it. She's entitled, after all. And all those people she'd have out of good high-paying jobs? Well it'll just mean her landscaping and house cleaning will be just that much cheaper when the unemployment rate is up.

If you had better weather, I could love the frontier mentality of Wyoming, which is something Nevada's had for a long time, but it's losing it with all the damn Californians moving here.

[MikeWaters]

I had read the second page of the Fuller piece, went back and read the first page....I think she has a point.

Of course I am much more environmentalist than I am like Daniel Day-Lewis in "There will be blood." So that is my bias.

The oil industry as the dominant economic force in a state is a dead-end. Texas discovered this in 1985, and ever since have not depended on energy sector.

Wyoming's crash, when oil crashes, will be something spectacular.

[landpoke]

As I said at the start, this is the sort of thing that tends to get me worked up. Not to change the debate too much, but does Wyoming need to diversify it's economic base? Without a doubt. And you're starting to see little things here and there. Not enough to make a difference right now, but hopefully the start of something bigger.

In the meantime why should we all be forced to live hand to mouth so that Ms. Fuller's delicate sensibilities aren't offended?

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I had read the second page of the Fuller piece, went back and read the first page....I think she has a point.

Any pretense of objectivity is lost immediately by the choice of artwork that accompanies that piece.