Why California Kicks Ass!!!
 

Here's a few off the top of my head...

• Largest economy of any state in America, and the 8th largest economy on the planet earth.
  
• The best looking women on the planet earth.
  
• Sunshine and perfect weather 300+ days of the year.
  
• Entertainment Capital of the World.
  
• Diverse culture of people from all over the world, speaking every language on earth, and all of them as American as anyone born here.
  
• Tolerant culture that treats all people equally under the law regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, etc.
  
• Healthy, good looking, tanned, and toned people everywhere you go, that respect the environment, and are socially responsible.
  
• Blue State
  
• The fact that I can proudly walk into a well-lit, clean, and professional establishment filled with a friendly staff that provides me with a menu of different types of marijuana and products that contain marijuana including food, lotions, etc.

:D ;) :joint: :fumette:

I met my wife in Monterey when I was stationed at Fort Ord. Best duty station in the world, ever.

I was born in Cali, I hear that being a native is a rare thing, on the whole.

I voted yes on the referendum to split the state into two, Northern California, and Southern California. I don't like SoCal. Even the surf sucks down there.

Unfortunately for you two, I've made a deal with Satan to have the next major earthquake break off California, and it's suburb of Oregon, and plunge it all into the Pacific Ocean.

Sorry guys.

This statistic has always seemed a bit odd to me. It's based on where lines are drawn on a map and nothing else. If you created a state about the same size as California on the East coast, from Massachusetts to NC, you'd have an even larger economy than California.

It's "the people's republic of california which is full of socialist idiots"

http://cellar.org/showpost.php?p=28505&postcount=35

All that Socialism must be having some sort of positive effect, no? Otherwise how can it be explained, radar?

Sounds like I need to check out what all the hoopla is about.

Many Seattlites will applaud.

Apparently we live in different Californias. The one I live in has people that are fat and lazy, half of them look homeless, they litter and don't give a shit about the environment. 'Perfect' weather would imply there is more weather than "Hot" "Not as hot" "Windy" and "Raining". There's an active KKK cell in the town twenty minutes east of me, and I've met more racist people since moving here than anywhere else in the country.

BTW- Did Bullit get out alive?

Don't forget the agriculture.... lots of fruits and nuts.

Is your California called, um, Rhode Island? ;) They must have good menu smoke!

Yay for you for loving the place you live Radar.
The weather sounds like hell to me though (as does being surrounded by beautiful women!)

Damn - you beat me to it S123

;)

I'm an ex-pat California born and bred.

too crowded.

Hates California cuz its cold and its damp. That's why the lady is a tramp.;)

You're damn skippy.

Left in 1990. From 1985 to 1990 (approx) I commuted from the Inland Empire to Los Angeles. By the time I left, you could have climbed up on top of the house at home and hopped from rooftop to rooftop and landed in the Pacific Ocean never touching the ground.

Too.Damn.Crowded.

Actually the economy thrives in spite of socialism, not because of it. If all the socialism were removed, California would jump to number 3 or 4 on the global economy list.

This is what we've been lacking - an us-versus-them thread.

I loved living in CA and I hope I can again sometime. Just too expensive now.

Actually, that's not what this thread is really about. I boldfaced the real reason. :)

So, since CA is clearly more, uh "Socialistic" than other states, it's primarily not the laws that cause its success, but the character of its people?

I visited California for the first time 3 years ago, and may be going back in October or November. Beautiful place, but I definitely wouldn't want to live there.

Until the fed.gov comes down on you like a ton of bricks.

I spend a lot of time in Cali. It definitely has its points but all in all I'd rather just go straight to Mexico. There are the same amount of Mexicans, just as much weed, the prices are lower, the water is warmer, and there aren't nearly so many stick in the ass socal-ians declaring how wonderful they are.

;) but seriously.

If only we had a governor with balls. If I were governor, I'd call out the national guard against the DEA if they tried to close down a medical marijuana clinic. At least with a Democrat controlled congress and whitehouse, we may be able to get marijuana off the schedule 1 list or better yet, end the failed drug war all together.

At the very least, they should decriminalize hemp for biofuel.

Radar, do you have to have a doctor's note to go to the marijuana stores?

Yes you do. And the police or the dispensaries will verify that you are under the care of a doctor. They have some strange rules in place too like if you go inside and look at the wares...and you leave. You can't come back for a day. You can't use your cell phone or camera inside. If you take a call, you have to leave and can't come back until the next day, etc.

Right now I could get pulled over by a cop with 8 oz of bud and if I show him my card, he'll let me go with my 8 oz....unless I'm driving under the influence. Then I'll be booked for DUI. They will return my medicine though.

Well cloud, the fact that you are no longer there is another reason it sucks ass.

Not yet. All done with the Basin Complex Fire, currently waiting outside San Jose for reassignment.

that explains a lot.

I think this speaks well of California.

The wild parts of CA are nice. Some good camping near me.

Also, I just haven't updated my location in a long time. I'm in the central valley now.

They're saying biggest fire season ever. I like my states a little wetter. Be safe Bro.

It's good to know you're OK, Bullitt.

I visited San Diego and it's beautiful. The Pacific Ocean blows the Atlantic out of the water (pun intended.)

Radar, I completely agree with you about decriminalization and the failed drug war. That money should go to something that might actually work. War on drugs. Drugs. War. I say no more money to stop drugs and no more money to start war. In fact, lets give G-dub a big old hooter and maybe he'll find a deeper consciousness. ;)

There's always money for war.
I say we go back to a War on Want.

I agree with Shawnee. Chill out, relax, keep our armed forces for defense not attack (OMG - do I agree with radar?!) and spend the money on education and healthcare (phew, no I don't).

Let people have access to drugs. Just teach them about it more effectively and look after those with addictive personalities better.

And have a big party with what's left over!
Why would anyone want to bomb us then?

Hurry up and invent soma I say.

Ahhh, education and healthcare, music to my ears. After all, what makes a society grow? Education. This could be our Intellectual Revolution, an era when we figure out what things we're doing wrong and in some cases doing a 180 because, hey, maybe the opposite will work.

Looking back, all the other revolutions seemed to go so smoothly. The industrial revolution didn't start with criminalizing everything related to gears and automation. ;)

We spend a ton on education and it just fails harder. We massively increased spending on education in the 80s and left the same teachers and administrators in the same dumb system. Griff can explain better.

Exactly. Trying to fix a system that is inherently flawed. Does not work. Let's spend money fixing the inherent flaw.

We don't get anywhere by not doing some stuff wrong in the first place. I'm saying let's try something different. Let's go out on a limb and actually change something. Let's realize that hitting your head on the same wall time after time only produces the same old headache. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Etc, and so on...

Before anyone says "Well, what do YOU propose, Miss Smarty Pants?" I must say I don't know. Let the people who get paid to know figure that out, and if they cant', let's pay someone else.

Saying "I don't know if this is going to work" is a far cry from "This shit ain't workin', perhaps we should try something else (see: War on Drugs, Just Say No faction.)

Well, Bush has attempted something new and different with his "No Child Left Behind" experiment.

It may be working for the students who had been left behind in the past, I don't really know. But it annoyed me that my daughter spent the last few weeks of the school year doing test preparation studying at school when she could have been actually learning new material.

No Child Left Behind is another failed attempt. It was at least an attempt but the results are laughable. Next...

How about No President Left Behind?

Homeschooling is working well for us at the moment. I'd like to see financial incentives and community based facilities and equipment that would make home schooling possible for more people.

We're seeing many more home-schooled students. I applaud parents who take that on, whatever their individual reasons may be, and would also like to see more resources and support for this educational alternative.

I don't think everyone is cut out to do home-schooling, but we need to recognize it is a viable option for many. Some of our home-schooled students are some of our best students.

Do home-schooled kids take those standardized tests as well, jinx?

In PA they are required to take a standardized test in 3rd, 5th, and 8th grades. Doesn't have to be the same test the school district uses. They can go to school and take the test with their grade every year if they want to.

Oh, btw, California tried to outlaw homeschooling. Not very kick ass....

I agree. I love healthcare, education, music, etc. far too much to allow government to be involved in them. We need to end all government funding or involvement in education, retirement, healthcare, arts, farming, businesses, etc.

It's a hypothetical. I can't afford that much weed and 8oz would be more than I'd use in a year. It's just nice to know I could.

One of the best things about California is all of the people who hate it so much and who have left. It's much nicer here without them. :)

truthfully I don't hate california. I visit quite frequently and always enjoy myself. San Diego beats LA hands down but they each have their points. San Francisco can disappear into the fog if'n you ask me though. but if you're asking if I'd ever consider moving there? hell no. I make the same money here as i would there but the cost of living is stupid there and their ideas on taxation... no thanks.

If I could make the same money but live somewhere cheaper, I'd do it, but my wife was born in Vietnam and there are few places in America hot enough to make her happy. The only place I know she'd move to is Florida.

Relax Radar I was kidding. I like that we can agree to disagree on just about everything - It keeps things interesting.

It's called Houston. Second biggest Vietnamese population in the world outside of Vietnam itself.

Actually, the 1st largest outside of Vietnam is 20 minutes from where I'm at now. I can't move to Houston though. Too many rednecks for me. I'd rather live in Beirut, Kabul, Karachi, or Bagdad than Houston.

I hate pickup trucks, big belt buckles, country music, people who say "y'all", line dancing, oil companies, rodeo, people who like George W. Bush or his insane war, rednecks, trailer parks, all Texas sports teams, and I especially hate the cowboys...both the team and actual cowboys, and I hate their fans too.

Texas might not work out too well for me.

Dude, you're among friends here. Come on, spill. Tell us how you *really* feel. You'll feel better, I'm sure of it.

I like line dancing

Wow and I thought you and LJ were close - lol.

Unfortunately, that seems to be going the other way. The Nanny State doesn't want us doing things that take money away from traditional institutions. Same deal with midwifery, especially here in Missouri. Who'd have ever thought it could be illegal to have a planned birth at home?

Just in response to this small section; in the deep dark days before we all had schools (public or otherwise) everyone home schooled (as we all know). As communities grew, some parents got together and used what might be described as community facilities to educate their kids which then led to the parents electing perhaps one of the parents to teach all the kids which of course then led to the development of the public education system as we know it today. So what I'm saying is, if you're homeschooling, then you're doing it to stay away from community based facilities such as ultimately lead to schools historically.

I don't really care either way, but I just thought it would be interesting to point out an obvious fact.

I know it's crazy isn't it - yet at this point it's the women who want a home birth that are considered crazy. My dad and all his siblings were born at home... it wasn't that long ago. Now it costs $20K to have a baby and our infant mortality rates are in the toilet. Progress. :rolleyes:

A local school district here spends almost $20K a year per pupil. I can do it for so much less...

Yes, and those $20k figures are the *only* reason that anyone even bothers to make home birth illegal and why lobbyists are constantly working to get homeschooling outlawed.

None of the people who are against these things give one shit about the parents or children involved. They only care about the dollars. Trust me, if there was more money in letting people die than there was in people continuing to live, killing us all would be the chief pursuit of some corporation.

Sorry if this sounds jaded or bitter, but I've been around for awhile now, and I see this all getting worse and worse with every passing day.

But this link says that last month Missouri finally made it legal to have a midwife. It doesn't specify, but seems to imply that it originally became illegal long ago in almost all states, and the trend for many decades has been to legalize it. Sure, Missouri is behind the times, but at least they're moving in the right direction, right?

The trend has been towards making home births illegal. Since lay midwives and hospitals don't mix - that leaves the certified nurse practitioners and other trained medical professionals to play midwife. So yes - there are more and more midwives delivering babies in hospitals as a trend.