Born in N.Y., lived in New Orleans, Philadelphia, NYC, Monterey, Ca., Oklahoma City (hometown), Stillwater, Ok. (college), Tulsa, Ft Worth, Dallas, Huntsville, Al., Austin, Tx, San Antonio, Tx., currently working in Indianapolis, In. Much of Calif. is pretty, like where I lived. My son spent 10 years growing up in Burbank before he came to Texas and didn't want to go back. I do not think that the entertainment industry is the least bit important to daily life, I don't watch network TV and went to two movies in 2000, none this year. In the grand scheme of things with U.S. troops in Kosovo, U.S. military personel being held by China, and the market drop in the last few months, who is going to win $1 million on Survivor or who wins the World Weries or Super Bowl is really not the least bit important. A co-worker just spent the last week in San Fran and found gas to be $2.39 per gallon. He is glad he got it over with so he doesn't have to go back. You are correct that 33 million have chosen it as home, but 240 million Americans have chosen not to.
Amycat you are correct, not all the 33 million are idiots, my father lives there for one and I know a couple of real live rocket scientists at Edwards AFB, but it is the majority who voted for the politicians who have put you into this mess. The protestors did it for me. I don't hear of any of them protesting China holding U.S. hostages, but heaven forbid their electric bill should go up, now that is worth protesting. What I see from Calif. is a huge number of people who want the govt to give them as much as possible so they have to do as little as possible for it. One reason your population swelled so much was due to you having the largest welfare payout in the entire U.S. The state attempted a two tiered system where a person receiving welfare that lived in the state for more than one year would receive the standard amount, but a newcomer would receive a reduced sum for the first year. Fortunately the ACLU fought that on 14th amendment grounds violating equal protection and the law was overturned. I will admit that you have a great climate in most areas and many pretty areas (PCH is one of my favorites), but the people tend to be shallow, self-centered, and selfish. For example, a boat and/or an expensive car is an easy way to pick up women in the Laguna Beach area. Yes, that does happen some in Dallas, but you don't see it at all where I live down in Austin. As far as my food source, it is primarily from Texas, the oranges I bought today came from Florida and most, if not all, of our other fruit and veggies come from South America or Mexico. I don't know of anything that I eat that comes from Calif.
More on your power problems. The power industry suggests an 18% reserve capacity, Calif is at times as much as 2%. In Texas we have a power commission that monitors power use, we are the second in population to Ca. and growing picking up 3 new congressional seats from the 2000 census, and we are at a consistent 23% power reserve. I flew Southwest Airlines this past weekend and there is an ad in the SW magazine for another new power facility being built in Odessa, Tx. We have facilities scheduled for construction for the next 9 years to support the expected growth. By contrast in Calif. a few years ago Marin County refused to expand its' water distribution system in an attempt to restrict growth. Everything was fine until the first hint of drought and the residents started screaming to the govt for more water. They expected the govt to fix a problem that they themselves caused. Pure idiocy in my book. An emergency line was run to pump more water in, it probably became a permanent fixture. When dealing with infrastructure I am reminded of the movie 'A Field of Dreams'. Build it and they will come, then reality sets in, don't build it and they will come anyway. Calif doesn't have a lock on the idiot market by any means, Austin had an attack of 'anti-growth' two years ago when they declined a guaranteed water supply for 50 years, but Calif,being the most populous state, they certainly have the lead. The people in Wa, Or, Az, Co, and Tx just wish they would quit moving and stay in Calif.
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