Difference in attitudes

e-mailed from friend

[momf]

Wyoming News Bulletin

This text is from a county emergency manager out in the western part of Wyoming after the storm. Amusing, if it were not so true...

WEATHER BULLETIN

Last winter in Wyoming we recovered from a Historic event ---may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" ---with a historic blizzard of up to 52" inches of snow and winds to 80 MPH that broke trees in half, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed all roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10's of thousands.

FYI: George Bush did not come.... FEMA staged nothing.... No one howled for the government... No one even uttered an expletive on TV.... Jesse Jackson did not show up.... Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards..... No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House.... No one looted.... Phil Cantori of the Weather Channel did not come.... And Geraldo Rivera did not move in.

Nope, we just melted snow for water, sent out people on horseback to pluck people out of snow engulfed cars, fired up wood stoves, broke out oil lanterns and put on an extra layer of clothes because up here it is 'work or die'. We did not wait for some affirmative action government to get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude and west of 95 degrees West Longitude, 90% of the worlds social problems evaporate."

[Mulch]

no black "victims" = no media coverage

[COBOL2Java]

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude and west of 95 degrees West Longitude, 90% of the worlds social problems evaporate."

Until you get north of the 98th parallel, where the nanny state kicks in again...

[daviddennis]

The thing is ... stuff like this happens every year, no?

So you have to be prepared for it.

Personally, I'd rather be poor in Florida than wealthy in Wyoming, because I just plain can't stand the cold. I'm glad there are people who think differently than I, but I'm not about to join them :-).

Seriously, I think on an annualized basis, cold winters kill more people than earthquakes, hurricanes or any other natural disaster I could name. And they cause more damage, too - it's just gradual, and so easier to control and fix incrementally.

D

[thecabal]

"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 42 degrees North Latitude and west of 95 degrees West Longitude, 90% of the worlds social problems evaporate."

Obviously the author has never been to Oregon or Washington.

[HangnJudge]

Agree, and might I add

nothing bad ever happens in East Tennessee
and if they do, we have plenty of Volunteers

[Morgan in Denver]

Funny. Got this earlier this morning in e-mail, but with ND as the state. LOL

[McLynnan]

LOL, this is so true. I lived in Wyoming for 18 months and this Texas girl saw enough snow to last me a lifetime. And the wind! It blew constantly at 35-45 mph on a good day. On a bad day it was much stronger and gusted to 90 mph. This went on for months on end. Nobody there expected any national news coverage, they didn't wait for the National Guard to arrive, they didn't expect deliveries of bottled water, food, snow removal equipment, or firewood, and they didn't whine (ashamed to admit my southern blood did whine.) Salt of the earth people.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Yeah, in December, 1996, much of New Hampshire and Mssachusetts was without power for days (in my locale, 4 days) after a heavy, wet snowstorm brought down trees and powerlines.

No one brought us candles, generators, firewood, ...

No looting occurred.

No one complained. We didn't even think of going to the gubmint!

The ones who helped were the powerline crews from other states and from Canada.

[txroadhawg]

Yep, I loved there for ~3 years, I've seen enough cold to last me a life time.

When did it become the governments responsibility to rush to the scene of a disaster and make everything alright again? Seems like only last year people still provided for themselves and planned on at least 3 days without help from outside sources, now if FEMA isn't knocking on your front door within 12 hours giving you money for your pain and suffering, it's the evil governments fault.
To answer my own question, just this year the MSM started this spin to attack the Bush White House, no surprise there. It was very settle in a very obvious way.

[McLynnan]

I don't have the answers, but even a bird brain has enough sense to either feather or abandon the nest for winter (or hurricanes). There are climate challenges all across the U.S., and you need to be prepared. For you and me as Texans, we fear tornadoes and floods, and the majority of us keep emergency supplies and cash on hand. If it doesn't blow away, my emergency kit will keep me from dying of thirst or starvation for a few days. I don't put my faith in the government to arrive on a white steed in my moment of need.