California, most polarizing state ever?!!!

[Deaf Bob]

Yeah nobody I ever met who blew me off when I first did so exactly went on to greater things.

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I was so impressed w/ my parents' home state when we visited...gosh, all that open room so beautiful. Mom said don't be fooled, every square inch of land I
saw out there was owned by someone...if I looked carefully I'd see all the barb wire fence stretching to infinity. In my twenties I was OK with living in a tiny room or industrial office or with whoever or even in the car a couple times, when I had the mountains, beach, or desert where I was free to go wherever I wished each an hour away. Not to mention the night life when it was time. Now I have all that plus my own space. I miss when the state was more industrial-oriented and do not like the politics (primarily the ones from San Francisco) plus the public employee unions have absolutely raped us, but that's not what I'm worried about day-to-day.

Edit: Not demeaning any one else's state at all, I've been to most of 'em. Just sticking up for my own.

(pics from last Sept, travelling around NE portion of state. Usually we camp at the beach but Gail wanted lakes/pine trees this time)

Lake Shasta?

[Loren]

First pic on Eagle Lake BLM land, we had the whole place to ourselves. Second from a campground at Almanor, where for beer you go up to Chester and hit the Buzz Mart. This frame has some of the nicest drives I've been on. Campground-staying-at is recommended to do in Sept. after school is in.

Of-course CA has cities, congestion, crime...hey, I'm from Los Angeles, am familiar with all of it. There's no rule that says you have to pick the crummy spots and sit there.

More lakes, same trip. This one Mono Lake in Eastern Sierras, where L.A. 400+ miles away gets a portion of it's water from, much of it through pipes and canals built over 100 years ago by the self-taught engineer William Mulholland in his glory years. A polarizing issue at the time and since as the diversion of mountain snow runoff wiped out local agriculture. He would later build the St. Francis dam that failed spectacularly and ended his career. A little CA history there.

[Dan Barlow]

Your history is correct .Of course not being a californian I had to learn it on the history channel.

[RockJustRock]

Leave it alone Jake, it's Chinatown.

[Big Dave]

No doubt Cali has great scenery and have seen some first hand as I worked out of Bakersfield for several years. However every state has it's own scenery and it's all beautiful. But getting back to topic Cali has issues, a declining middle class, growing poor class, probably the most homeless of any state and taxes out the wazoo. From what I'm hearing the state is on the verge of bankruptcy, which is no surprise. I think Illinois is already there but Cali will soon be there. Louisiana isn't a panacea, we have our own set of problems but we do a pretty good job of putting corrupt politicians in jail and not re-electing others. So I bid you folks good luck out there but don't hold out much hope that things will improve with the on slot of illegals flooding the state.

[RockJustRock]

Most of what you're hearing is wrong. People have been predicting disaster for California for over 40 years. Just because it is "ruined" to them. Some guy stood in front of a Convention and said ALL major cities were messed up. How has THAT been working out? And what is SO bad about taxes?

[Loren]

Because of the weather, So. Cal. will always have a built-in homeless problem, whatever system we put in place will immediately adjust to over-capacity, no matter what that capacity is (the skeptical say it's like feeding pigeons). We hosted a family from Louisiana out of a San Diego shelter for a while in '05 after the hurricane, a LA state program paid for their bus tickets out here and that's one way they were dealing with their own homeless problem, thanks. As far as the illegals, in my opinion United States citizens' support of the drug trade is the core of 80% of the problems south of the border, we have to control immigration just like when my own ancestors came here (no papers, get back on the boat) but on a case-by-case it's hard to not feel empathy for anyone trying to get-the-hell out of that mess we are helping create every time someone here buys some Mexican weed or meth, or a gram of coke.

Speaking of meth, that must have been what the all-American flag-waving white guy out in front of my yard making biker-gang threats at me last weekend was on, after I shut down his illegal off-roading on private property. Sorry the rest of you out there in America have gotten this stupid meth problem too, there is a place I would use the word onslaught.

Yep, how it goes. At-least we are not actually on the verge of bankruptcy, not among the worst five states financially (those are somewhere else) but tax and grab is how they do it here.

[fatguyzinc]

.

Speaking of meth....... Sorry the rest of you out there in America have gotten this stupid meth problem too, there is a place I would use the word onslaught....

yep, here in hawaii something like 67% of people arrested for ANYTHING test positive for meth.
its an epidemic of unbelievable proportions, and the only way it will ever stop
is MASSIVE jail time for anyone caught once, and a firing squad for repeat offenders.

we could fix all of americas $$$ problems if we just drug tested anyone who
gets welfare or assistance of any type. test dirty? out for 3 yrs. test dirty twice?
out for 5 yrs. 3rd strike and youre out permanantely, you can never get aid again.

hey, you or i gotta pee in a cup to get hired, work and pay into the system--
shouldnt they be required the same to take money out?

and how do we pay for all that drug testing, you ask? easy--the 70+ percent who
will bomb it, their 'assistance' money that we no longer will be giving them
will cover the cost 10 times over, with the rest as 'profit'--maybe we can use
it for something good, like school programs, meals on wheels for seniors, etc..
instead of the politicians giving themselves yet another raise...............

[RockJustRock]

Right now the scene is switching from meth to crack. The signs of meth use are too obvious. The behavior. The physical aspects like losing one's teeth. Crack is stepped on SO hard it is a celebrity style buzz in a convenient $10 rock container. No more crazed crackheads. Smoking rock has gone acceptable. Tweakers are spurned. O.K., back to politics.

[Monster]

I'm about ready to polarize all these polarizing threads into one polar ice pack and lock them up as tight as a polarized cap at the North Pole.

[Loren]

Is it becoming too much to polar....bear?

[RockJustRock]

*I* am ready to move on......

[RockJustRock]

Is it becoming too much to polar....bear?

[SuperBuickGuy]

I'm about ready to polarize all these polarizing threads into one polar ice pack and lock them up as tight as a polarized cap at the North Pole.

So they're going to go.... dark

[corvettedad]

Bye Bye