Posted on 04/17/2011 5:01:48 AM PDT by reaganaut1
GILLETTE, Wyo. — Many economic signs are looking bright for Wyoming right now, and this red-knuckled city of coal miners and oil field mechanics is leading the charge.
“Things are picking up,” said Cody Chase, 24, who had just finished an overtime shift at a coal mine north of here and was having a 7 a.m. burrito and beer at a downtown breakfast joint. Hours at the mine are up, said Mr. Chase, who makes $26 an hour after less than a year on the job, and new workers have started coming on.
It is the sort of talk that should warm the hearts of political leaders, including President Obama, as he prepares his re-election campaign. He might even expect to get a little boost from it.
But that does not appear to be in the cards in Wyoming, where he received only 32.5 percent of the vote in 2008, his weakest performance in the nation.
Republicans, who dominate Wyoming politics and culture, are loath to give Mr. Obama credit for good economic news. And environmentalists, who filed a lawsuit this month challenging the entire coal-leasing system, say they think he has failed to live up to his promises on carbon and climate change.
The bottom-line message is that the climb out from this recession, if Wyoming is any measure, could be as politically turbulent as the descent.
Economists say administration policies to reduce imported energy, along with higher commodity prices, are bolstering what Wyoming has to offer — natural gas and oil, coal so near the surface it can be harvested without underground mines and endless wind for electricity turbines.
Just last month, Mr. Obama’s interior secretary, Ken Salazar, came to Wyoming to announce the timetable for billions of dollars in new coal leases near Gillette
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Those Wyoming hicks don’t realize...
Maybe you don’t realize it, but people from Wyoming are not “hicks.”
They are not NE urban liberal trash, either
I believe reaganaut was being sarcastic and simply pointing out how the NY Times liberals feel about the folks in Wyoming.
I don’t consider them hicks and did use a sarcasm tag. I do think NYT writers consider them hicks.
Anyone who questions that liberalisn is truly perverse and indeed mental illness, needs to look no further than the title of this article. How sick must one be where people doing well in life is seen as detriment or challenge to a liberal politician?
Translation: Wyoming is helping to improve the economy, which is good for Obama. But the Wyoming boom is making Republicans prosperous, which is VERY bad.
Ping!
The chaf is usually the re-located liberal looking for clean air dragging their liberal baggage along.
These days, there is NO story too ridiculous for the NYT, as long as it in some fashion serves the socialist agenda.
Supermarket checkout stand tabloids are better sources of ACCURATE news.
The New York Times is in favor of strip mining as long as it keeps their guy in power. Notice the propaganda loaded term "harvested" being used for coal strip mining. The Times would never be so kind to a conservative President.
Oh when oh when will the NY Times finally crash and burn?...what a piece of liberal trash....just like this administration....
“People out west the natives just want to be left alone”
We all want to be left alone. That is the core belief of being a conservative.
I live right in the middle of it and us Wyoming hicks know how to vote. My county is 80% Republican.
We need some Wyoming people here in Colorado to dilute the liberal influx of people from California and the East Coast !
However, there is a large problem. These states are sparsely populated, and the largest employer is government (schools, post offices, and the burgeoning “help” agencies from welfare to drug treatment to therapists). Many people in these states are being lured into dependency just like the rest of the country.
The system is rigged to concentrate power in the federal government, and when push comes to shove, governors will cave in to the pressure to obey.
80% Republican conservative?? Is this heaven? You mean when I walk the street like here in L.A., I will not meet a fag, liberal who has a big chance of calling me a racist when describing Obama as an imbecile president? You are lucky.
“benefactors” Ya just what we need- Some one in government has to bestow blessings on us so we can do well. How did Wyoming get so blessed by Obama. We need to be more like the people of Wyoming I guess.
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