From: "Strong, Lee" <StrongL at MTMC.ARMY.MIL>
To: "'WSFA members'" <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Alternate United States
Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 11:01:57 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

	Are you sure that the 1969 New York City proposal was for a free
state or independent country?  I thought it was to become a 51st state.  I
know that Jimmy Breslin explored a mayoralty campaign with that theme.
	Didn't the religious Conchies invent the "Conch if you love Jesus"
bumper sticker?

-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Smith [mailto:sgs at aginc.net]
Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 10:53 AM
To: WSFA members
Subject: [WSFA] Re: West Virginia

"Strong, Lee" wrote:
>
>         Yes, obscure history is very much fun!

In my somewhat cynical opinion, the *only* kind of history that's any
fun.

Coupla more data points.  In 1982, Key West "seceded" from the US to
form the Conch Republic (Motto:  "We seceded where others failed").  See
http://www.keywestparadise.com/republic.html for details.  This was a
"theatrical" response to a legitimate beef, and it worked.
(Essentially, the US Government set up international border-type
checkpoints on the bridge to Key West to look for drugs.  This was
lethal to the tourist industry -- would *you* want to vacation in a
place that took 8 hours to get in or out of, and run the risk of having
your car disassembled?)

New York City has talked about seceding a number of times, most recently
in 1969.  Idea was to become a "free city", a la Singapore.  The idea
quietly sank when somebody pointed out what would happen if NYC was cut
off from funds coming in from the Federal and State governments ...

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."