wyobilzfan

Word. I just finished reading this article elsewhere and was going to post it here. Thought the article was right on, and throwing more money at Buffalo will only make the problems worse. Shoot, if they are going to throw away $1B... build a new domed stadium to keep the Bills in Buffalo. That would be a better use of the money than spending it on programs that will be run by corrupt politicians. Heaven forbid they do anything creative like LOWERING THE TAX BURDEN and cutting spending on entitlements. Part of the reason that 29% of the people living in the city of Buffalo are below the poverty level is because of the high % who are living on government assistance. The suggestion of bringing in the FBI to investigate a la Cleveland is a great idea. Wish I could say I was surprised that 30 years after leaving WNY, the EXACT SAME conversations are going on that led me to leave in the first place but I'm not a bit surprised.

LOL! Really? Now that would be a shocking thing to the People's Republic of Wyoming (/sarcasm). We propose a LOT of bills in our state legislature just to rattle the fed's chains. No intention of passing them, but we do get a sort of perverse pleasure out of taunting them.

Again, we see this through a similar lens. Since this is a different forum... it's time for me to resurrect my strong belief that HEALTH CARE REFORM will turn out to cause the biggest divide in this nation since the Civil War. I believe the time has come for a Constitutional Convention. This country is ripe for it on so many levels, but this issue of the federal govt trying to control everything from health care mandates to eroding the Second Amendment has got to stop and be re-evaluated. In the US "Outback" of Wyoming, there was a recent bill (unfortunately failed because it was poorly written) in the last legislature that would allow the State of Wyoming to OFFICIALLY declare that residents did not have to recognize federal agents as legitimate "authority" figures (paraphrasing but that IS what they were proposing). We were also one of the first states (I believe FLA got theirs in first while we were changing governors) to file a lawsuit against the Heath Care Reform Act as unconstitutional. The word Transparency comes to mind. Seriously, what issue faces 100% of the population the way health care does? Most will stay ignorant on the issue, but ESPECIALLY after THIS Supreme Court basically ruled that corporations (lobbyist groups) can be considered "individuals" and be treated the same with regard to political donations... what do you think they are capable of doing to health care reform? That one is still making me shake my head. Those who do not bother to be informed on the issue should just STFU when it comes decision time. This is something that ALL Americans better get a grip on, including the reality that health care is not a RIGHT, is already being rationed (ever hear of precertification by insurance co's), and there will HAVE to be more rationing because people cannot and most cases WILL NOT be sensible about over-utlizing the system unless they HAVE TO PAY for what they want out of their own pockets. The first thing that needs to happen is to allow ERs to refuse to treat people who use the ER as a source of primary care. WORD! And to those who remain ignorant, they should STFU when we ALL get our dose of reality. Health care is going to bankrupt this country faster than any other single issue, and I'm continuously stunned by the ignorance of the general public on the most basic issues that need to be corrected in our health care system as it "dysfunctions" today. Applaud. We also have to get past the notion that everyone is "entitled" to unlimited amounts of subsidized health care. Why should this be a news flash now to the "99%"that the 1% will ALWAYS be able to afford more advanced and expensive treatments. Gotta love those who believe in capitalism but can't handle it when it means they can't get what others can afford to get. I say "get real". If you can't afford to pay for some outrageously expensive medical treatment, then you don't get it. You might have to settle for "Plan B" which is less expensive, or obtainable via a rationed system. For those that don't know me, my bias is what it is because my spouse was an ER doc for >20 years, and I've was a nurse and psychotherapist for 35 years. We both were "in the trenches" and know from the inside how rotten and corrupted the health care system is today. Americans are the most stupid%

He WAS lunch.

Nice to know there are others here who were alive at the same time as Danny Kaye and Ed Sullivan. You know how we old bitches don't like change...

You should see what happened to the last guy that told me that

A fair question, but today I must ask if the same thing were true of Happy Valley, PA at the moment? Wyoming (generally) DEFINITELY has a problem with the entire LGBT lifestyle and there are two camps; those like me who are more libertarian and accepting of anyone's right to life the way they wish, and those who are oppressive haters that think their way is the only way. We had/have our homophobes exposed in all their glory in the horror that was Matthew Shepard's last moments of life years ago. It is a shame and stigma we carry everywhere we go as Wyomingites. For the benefit of those who don't know me as well as some of you, I have spoken at several conferences over the years on the subject. The narrow-mindedness of how a person's lifestyle choices or the color of their skin is still far more prevalent here than I like. Some of the veterans to this board are going to experience the same confusion about how to "label" me, like some of you did back in the other political forum. I'm not an "anything"... left, right, whatever. I tend to be libertarian on social issues that pertain to lifestyle choice, and a strong fiscal conservative. But basically, I welcome the challenge to respond to the questions about gay rights/acceptance of said lifestyle in Wyoming. Been down this road many times, and my view is still the same.

Oh, all right. I'm just enjoying the pleasure of this experience because it's a level playing field for me here. If the little shoe fits...

Ooooooooooo.... I likey and am very interested in what you are doing. This is the only way that cost reduction can actually occur; along with forcing medical establishments to publish their prices like every other competitive industry and make it simpler for people to make a choice based upon factual data and not all the crap being spewed now with the horrible software designs you are talking about... seen some of them and they just make me shake my head.

LOL! You're such a pretty little squirrel. Wahhhhhhhhh. Boo hoo. You lost your play pen and you brought your toys over here to try and make fun of me. My feelings are so hurt I might not be able to make it through the day. Bwhahahahahahahaha! Good thing here is that I get to dish it right back atcha, baybee.

Thanks for the reply, Larry. We have gone around and around about the meaning of statistical outliers on this very topic in the past. Let me be clear about one thing, I do not think Wyoming has exclusivity on a "work ethic" or that the residents here are any "better" than anywhere else. Trust me, because I do live here and have a clear understanding of the linear thinking and the blatant (and they can be) attempts at running off of not only individuals, but companies and anyone who has "ideas" that "THEY" don't approve. VERY 'redneck' in many ways. One of the things I find most frustrating about living here is the lack of cultural diversity, and the narrow-mindedness that goes along with the general way of thinking in this region. BTW, we have by our standards massive influxes of people all the time here. It's called a "boom and bust" economy for a reason. We've gone through what much of the Marcellus Shale folks and the Bakkan folks in ND are going through now with all the coal bed methane drilling and hydro-fracking. Been there, lived it, and we wrote the book on how that contentious relationship between the environmentalists and the oil and gas industry works. We probably handle "massive" influx of workers about as well or as poorly as any other place, you are right about that, for sure. I can tell you that massive influxes and exits are a way of life here. Jobs come, people come. Jobs go (or those who can't handle them), people go. It is what it is here. There are powerful people who intend to try and preserve our "Code of the West" way of life here. However, I never stated it doesn't have its drawbacks, and I certainly do not think anyone in Wyoming is a "better" or "worse" group of people that live anywhere else. I live here because it works for us. We don't want to live around masses of humanity for all the reasons you described. I don't want to live like a sardine in a can with all the infrastructure, noise, traffic, and general distance from what I consider a more natural way of life. I guess it's still a good thing that we don't have to have passports to go from state to state. Yet. LOL.

You betcha. Gotta do whatcha gotta do! Hey Badger, Great to see you here. I cannot stop watching Wisconsin now. LOL! I don't watch basketball because I am a hockey fan, but the Badgers hockey team totally hooked me last year. (I can't help but feel for the alums of Penn State either. Yeesh.)

Yea, and unfortunately for those who couldn't care less about our 'ways', it's all good. We like it that way. Let us carry our guns, leave us alone, and as long as people stay the hell out of our business, we would be more than happy to steer clear of all the sucking sounds coming from Washington DC. LOL... I can spew more useless crap about Wyoming than you will ever want to know. It's the most hilarious state I've ever lived in... out of WNY, NM, OR, MT, and wyo for almost the last 20 years. The gun and the t-shirt come when you come out here and show me that you can shoot a rattlesnake from 30 yards in the head with a pistol. Those are the harder shots. Most of the rattlesnakes I've killed are in the yard and an easy shot if I can spot them before they spot me. Fact is, they are wimpy and much prefer to run than strike. If it weren't for our dogs, I wouldn't bother killing them, but now I've developed a collection of rattles, so that's kept me shooting them. These prairie rattlers are tame compared to the big nasty's in the southeast (eastern diamondbacks).

Now Larry, Most of this makes sense except you strip out the part where you consistently and conveniently leave out that since the state is over half owned by federal land, we have NO CHOICE but to count on the payroll. There are many of us who would like to see the federal govt get the hell out of the BLM, ESPECIALLY WOLF MANAGEMENT, intrusion into forcing us to buy health care insurance when the POTUS PROMISED that states could pool together to lower their costs (but no one wants us because our type of jobs have high injury rates among other things), so we are in fact UNDERSERVED. Anyone who has taken a course in Stats 101 knows you can't use that lame argument when you are talking about a population of state that has more antelope than people. We are statistical outliers, and you are smart enough to know what that means in terms of your argument that %wise we take the most federal money. That's because our population base is so low, fcol!!! So you can't have it both ways. You can't blame us for federal money being FORCED upon us (and I do mean forced). At last count, I think we had over $12B in our "rainy day fund" and we don't WANT a huge influx of population here. This may come as a shock to you, but our state govt is funding a PRIVATE study to see how we might implement our own health care plan and drop out of Medicare and Medicaid COMPLETELY. So if you read my post, then you can see that we are in agreement that there are different objectives that states have... all we want is our right to control our own tax money and if the damn government would just move out of our way, we would be very happy to turn the money back that is given to run the BLM, and all the federal entities here. We don't want a starbucks on every corner, and we don't want all the crap that comes with densely populated states. And guess what else the majority of us don't want? We don't want the govt to tell us how to deliver health care in a state whose needs are completely unrelated to more heavily populated areas. And sorry, but the "way of life" here does have more of an impact upon who stays and who goes. You don't live here, so trust me when I tell you there is a very different "work ethic" and mentality here than in other places. And I never romanticize this in any way because this place is considered a hell hole to a lot of people who have different needs and desires in terms of lifestyle. We understand that we are different, why can't you?

Snore. Take it to PM to me on the other board. I'm not here to discuss my rage modes or whatever you believe to be the persona of the day. Or heaven forbid, whatever your infraction history is on that board. Here I am Bills fan having some jollies. If you read my post history (spare yourself), you'll find plenty of self-deprecating comments. It's part of my schtick. Like others here, you've made a few leaps of "conspiracy theory" based upon things people may have said to you that may or may not be true. Either way, I'm just an average Joan here trying to get through the day like anybody else.