Showing posts with label foreboding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foreboding. Show all posts

Sunday, February 26, 2012

The United State of Wyoming


We better stop, hey, what's that sound
Everybody look what's going down


File under "Times, Sign of the":
State representatives on Friday advanced legislation to launch a study into what Wyoming should do in the event of a complete economic or political collapse in the United States.

House Bill 85 passed on first reading by a voice vote. It would create a state-run government continuity task force, which would study and prepare Wyoming for potential catastrophes, from disruptions in food and energy supplies to a complete meltdown of the federal government.

The task force would look at the feasibility of Wyoming issuing its own alternative currency, if needed. And House members approved an amendment Friday by state Rep. Kermit Brown, R-Laramie, to have the task force also examine conditions under which Wyoming would need to implement its own military draft, raise a standing army, and acquire strike aircraft and an aircraft carrier.

The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. David Miller, R-Riverton, has said he doesn’t anticipate any major crises hitting America anytime soon. But with the national debt exceeding $15 trillion and protest movements growing around the country, Miller said Wyoming — which has a comparatively good economy and sound state finances — needs to make sure it’s protected should any unexpected emergency hit the U.S.

Several House members spoke in favor of the legislation, saying there was no harm in preparing for the worst.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this room today what would come up here and say that this country is in good shape, that the world is stable and in good shape — because that is clearly not the case,” state Rep. Lorraine Quarberg, R-Thermopolis, said. “To put your head in the sand and think that nothing bad’s going to happen, and that we have no obligation to the citizens of the state of Wyoming to at least have the discussion, is not healthy.”


MAYBE we sense, sometimes, that something's afoot before we consciously realize something's afoot.

On the other hand, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what landlocked Wyoming would do with an aircraft carrier. Or how a state/nation with a population of 568,000 manages to have one, not counting its lack of a nearby ocean.

I mean, there are almost as many people in Douglas
County, Neb., as there are in all of the Cowboy State.