California, Again

[EOD Guy]

When I was stationed in California in the 60's (RVN 68), I was told by my girlfriend's family that I had to have a CA License. Most states will let servicemen get by if they are licensed in their home state. I went in to the License office and asked about getting a CA License. I was a 2nd Lieutenant on orders for Vetnam and they told me that becaue I was under 21 I would have to write my parents for permission to get a CA license. Stupid, stupid, stupid...

California doesn't now and never has required military personnel from other states that are stationed in California to obtain California vehicle registration or drivers licenses.

If they purchase a vehicle in California and wish to register it in the state, they will only be charged a registration fee (now $25.00) and will not be charged the property tax.

 

[Correia]

50 Shooter,

I don't see this as a bashing thread. And it is civil rights related.

A bashing thread is when a bunch of people gang pile on something and start tearing it apart usually without any good first hand info, and a whole bunch of sound bytes.

In this case, most of the bashing is coming from THR members who are native Californians, or lived there long enough to formulate an intelligent opinion on the subject.

Sadly California does effect civil rights in the rest of the nation.

 

[ArmedBear]

The state is an engine, not a caboose

It used to be.

Some believe it still is, but I think the last gasp of the real "engine" was the dot-com boom, which was, of course, largely based on BS that people were feeding themselves and others. I'm in IT. I believe in technology, wholeheartedly, as well as the true value of the Internet. That's not what the "bubble" was really about. We're not the caboose, but we're not the engine we used to be, either.

See my post, and that list of legislation. California has done a great deal to make itself a broken-down engine, with its state legislature treating business as the enemy, higher ed doing its best to encourage racial divisions, and K-12 turning in atrocious results despite huge budgets. There are more and more people homeschooling around here, in town, where there are plenty of schools nearby. And much of the next generation isn't staying here.

For those who complain about illegal immigrants: yes, it's true, our welfare state becomes a bigger problem when people run across the border and benefit from it, and when the people vote to stop that but the Federal courts tell us we are not allowed to stop it.

But the illegals themselves are willing to work pretty damned hard for a dollar. When you drive by a few able-bodied men, who were born here and had every opportunity the place offered, with cardboard signs begging for money at the freeway offramp, then you drive by the Home Depot down the street with a bunch of men who stand on the corner, waiting only for an opportunity to bust their butts for a few bucks, and begging for nothing, you wish you could deport some of the natives and replace them with illegal immigrants. I'm ambivalent about it, as many here are, for the reason I just outlined.

Still, I think California survives largely on momentum and its image, forged over the past 150 years, when life was much different here than it's become lately. And of course, it has natural beauty in abundance.

As far as being the 7th or 8th largest economy, that puts us right there behind Italy, and way behind France. Neither country is a real mover and shaker in the world of business growth and innovation; I wouldn't call either of them an "engine". They just have relatively large economies, in part due to history. I wouldn't get too confident in California's ability to remain an "engine."

 

[ryoushi]

I've got family in NoDak. They are scared to death to come to PRK and visit forcing us to make the pilgrimage back every summer. Get this they, are afraid of our world famous earthquakes. They can't understand we, along with many in PRK live nowhere near a faultline.

Now we might get an earthquake now and then in PRK but these NoDak yokelsregularly put up with tornadoes and floods and from the way they talk, 25% of the NoDak's population are child molestors. Hysterical gossip aside, if the tornadoes and floods don't get you the humidity, mosquitoes or mind numbing boredom will. And I haven't even mentioned the Lunar winters they have up there.

I've got a good friend who moved here (Clovis, CA) from Indiana about six years ago. Granted he's not a firearms enthusiast but he has family that he misses dearly back in Indiana yet he told me after spending a couple mild winters here in the central valley, he could never move back to the Midwest.

All you people up in Southern Oregon I'd join you up there in a minute if I could find a decent job. Portland is almost as bad as San Francisco though as far as I'm concerned.

Ryoushi's secret Smallmouth hole somewhere in California

 

[50 Shooter]

Being a native Californian here's my view, this state started having problems when Easterners moved here. They brought their Liberal views and Lawyers with them, now look what we have. Most only stayed long enough to ruin the state and then moved on.

I've said it before, if you don't like Kali laws, move here and help out! Not everyone can pick up all their belongings/family and move. Some of us actually love the "state" of California and have chose to stay and fight.

If you don't vote in your own state to keep out Kali's political views then you're just part of the problem. I've voted since I was 18, I write letters and make calls, it might not change their minds but I'm doing my part.

I don't see how complaining about the insane housing prices and drivers licenses has anything to do with L&P? If his dad got a ticket back then and didn't get the job he should have torn the ticket up and never looked back. Same with him when he was here in the 60's getting ready to ship out to Nam, what judge "then" would've let the ticket stand on those grounds?

 

[ArmedBear]

I've said it before, if you don't like Kali laws, move here and help out!

...and pay taxes that help keep that system going, since a huge chunk of that money is required to go to the unions that run the state and support the permanent Democrat legislature that makes those laws...

Not everyone can pick up all their belongings/family and move.

Bad planning: nobody else's problem. It will be hard for us to move if we do, for a number of reasons. But that's my own damned fault, not yours. Not everyone has chosen to set their lives up so as to be so tied to this, or any, location.

Some of us actually love the "state" of California and have chose to stay and fight.

It seems to me that the only "victory" will happen when California is left with a population that is 50% public employee union members and 50% illegal aliens. Then they can figure out just how, exactly, they'll keep up their own standards of living.

The unfortunate Catch-22 of politics is that staying means paying: paying taxes to support the status quo. Staying here, when moving in America is pretty easy, and there are other places to go, is tacit approval for what the legislature is doing, on the whole, no matter what you feel about it.

 

[Mac Attack]

Go west young man! Well they did, now they need to return, whence they came. It will happen and that is good.

Don't you mean Go South young man! j/k

 

[ryoushi]

Original Statement:

I cannot understand why peope live in California.

ORAG, the beutiful views as you call them are merely my way of conveying the quality of life available in PRK, part of the reason why people choose to live here.

We've had to fight the Democratic Legislature and their lapdog the DOJ for every inch of ground out here but you know what? I had a great time a few weeks ago helping a friend sight in his .50 Barrett at 500 yards! I can open carry whenever I'm up in the woods and I even own an AR15.

They have horible gun laws and illegals up the yazoo in other states too, yet it's always California that people love to dump on. Personally I think the crappy laws start in Boston and spread west.

Honestly the way I think it will all go down is this way. Eventually the State will go broke. The CALPERS and other Union pensions and health benefits will bankrupt the state and then the counties will not be able to provide all the entitlements to the poor. When that happens the very communities that are responsible for all this BS (SoCal, Bay Area) will burn. Out here in the valley, up in NoCal we'll hunker down till the fires go out at that point maybe things can change for the better politically. If not, maybe a new allignment will be in order, one that allows us to keep our water and controll our political landscape better than the current configuration.

 

[dm1333]

Most of the CA bashers probably have never lived here

I have been stationed here for 3 years, have 1 year left and am looking at maybe a tour in San Diego. Yes, CA has a lot of problems and a lot of weird people. Yes, the cost of a house here is astronomical. And yes, I think there is way too much government and not enough real work being done. Having said that, it is not a bad place to live. There are a lot of regular people here. The gun laws are not quite as bad as everyone makes them out to be. I shoot on public land and there are a lot of active shooters (trap, skeet, IDPA) in the town where I live. There is a growing movement to take back the state from the politicians who have ruined it. Years from now I will look back on my time here with a lot of happy memories of the place and the people.

Ryoushi, don't be fooled by those pictures of Cannon Beach, OR. I lived in Tillamook which is about 15 miles south of there and the winters are long, gray and miserable. I used to make fun of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) but after 9 years in Oregon and Washington it ain't so funny anymore!