This again:
In some ways I'm amazed that a body lead by a far right wing Evangelical zealot who formerly conceived of himself as a latter day Moses has time to do anything other than Trump's bidding.
But this yet again.
Harriet is apparently having none of it. She stated:
The Sunshine Protection Act robs Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight and ensures the first hours of a student's day is in darkness, The government isn't funded, our elections aren't secure, and Wyoming's legacy industries need help.
I will not vote for a time-wasting bill that puts Wyoming in the dark.
That's the sort of nasty attitude that some Wyomingites have come to love about Harriet. Sure, she'll say bad things about their educational level, but she's mean.
Um, anyhow.
The line about our elections not being secure is 100% pure bullshit and Harriet knows that. She's willing to lie for Trump if it gets her votes. She never really said the 2020 election was stolen, as she couldn't bring herself to lie that big, but lying gets easier for people over time. Now she's willing to lie about election security. That's reason enough to retire her from politics right now.
If she's sent home (she won't return to Wyoming, I'd wager) she might want to familiarize herself with agriculture again. Hageman is from a ranch/farm, but her comment about robbing "Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight" is flat out stupid. I've been around agriculture my entire life, and it's one of those occupations that doesn't pay any attention to the clock at all.
A lot of big agriculture activities start "when it gets light". Light comes, when it comes. It doesn't matter what the clock says.
For that matter, generally, what actually happens is people get where they need to be an hour to 30 minutes before the sun comes up and drink coffee until it comes up, then they start working. That isn't impacted by the official time schedule at all. Generally, if you are working cattle, you start when you are sure you can see them.
I've never ever heard a rancher or farmer say "oh gosh, look at the time".
The concern about school children, however, is more merited. The experiment with lengthened daylight savings time under 1974's Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Conservation Act, done to conserve energy, did prove to result in increased early morning deaths, including deaths and injuries to school children. When you start to get as far north as Wyoming you are starting to put kids out for school in the dark already.
Additionally, people flat out hated it.
I can remember the experiment from the 1970s, because I can recall walking to grade school in the dark. We walked, but I only had .2 of a mile to go and I didn't have to cross any dangerous streets. Still, I wonder if parents today would regard simply walking that distance too risky.
Not that it would matter today. At that time we went to the school within our boundary and if parents didn't like it, their option was to look for one of the very few religious schools there were, with St. Anthony's being the biggest one. Interestingly, while my extended family is a large Catholic family, none of us went there. I was told my parents had thought about enrolling me there, but there wasn't room at the time.
I frankly don't think going on year around Daylight Savings Time is a good idea. I'd like the natural time, year around, and I don't see a good reason not to return to it. Daylight Savings Time doesn't save any daylight, it just makes you start an hour earlier in the day than nature would provide.
Still, I can't help but find Hageman's Grand Master Crab Blaster response amusing. "We control Congress and cut taxes and now we're bankrupt and I have elections that I want to help steal. .
Things that would be best done in the dark.
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