Is this the greatest country in the universe or what

[67 GT350]

California and New York are lost. Sad.

[557]

Cali. Is fine,thanks for your concern...

[67 GT350]

Cali. Is fine,thanks for your concern...

Really? Those pictures above are lies? Thanks for correcting me, I thought they had a homeless problem. I will look more into that for myself. Can you correct me also with the pictures I saw involving a train station where all the contents of boxes were all over the track? I thought that was somewhere in California? I do realize that It is a large State and maybe that is just a neighborhood like any State might have.

Oh and I am only concerned about the decline in our Country, to which, in our State we have this funny thing called inflation, I guess California does not have that? Our gas is crazy, it went from 1.65 a year ago to 3.09 on a good day, I think I call that inflation. And...I just cannot seem to think of anything that has gone down in price, can you?

UPDATE: I sincerely apologize for the above words....I by no means want to attack anyone on here. I still want my point to shown, that is why I did not just remove my post. On the other hand there are so many less fortunate people that have it hard, some will work to get out of their rut and some will choose not to get out of their rut. It is sad to see a Country that will choose to help some people that are not US citizens, but turn their backs ones that are. Understanding that not all want to be helped, as it might be easier to do nothing. (my 2 cents, as they say)

[557]

Land of milk and honey in my book.Everywhere has problems.

[shelbydoug]

Some things seemingly will never change? "One's" perspective varies simply on where they sit. In fact, there may be no right and wrong, only choices to make depending on one's own morality?

Some seemingly have none. Only a belief in their own entitlement to judge others?

There is a curse to truth. It is often painful



There are those who expect others to strive for a consciousness.  One that some are not ready to make or simply are unable to? Like a person permanently condemned to a wheel chair. They want to walk. They just are unable to.

Truth can be so paralyzing that it can be human nature to deny it because it simply can't be coped with. Like denying the "Holocaust".

Is truth the same as "historical fact"? Does it depend on who writes the history?



One of the most enlightened thoughts I've ever encountered is Dickens opening to a Tale of Two Cities. To me, it's right up there with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States, "We the People".

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

To me, it could be about today. Right now.



My generation is the beneficiary of the benefits of a Golden Age. Benefits of a gifted society. I realize that. Am I entitled to it? Entitled is not the word.

I don't necessarily have answers. Just observations. Just personal experiences that prove I have no entitlements.

Am I equipped with a wisdom to make God like decisions? No. Just a sometimes painful realizations that I have been overlooking some truths that have been so long right in front of me that I have been blind to.

Incredibly humbled by my own lack of foresight and realization that the era of entitlement that I grew up in may in fact be coming to an end or has even been over for some time...unnoticed?

Incredibly disappointed in my piers that they don't see it as well.



I think that as a group we expect the shelves to be always full? The level of gas in the tank to always be affordably adequate. The road to be eternally clear. That personal opportunity is never ending. That "we could be anything that we want". The truth hurts when we realize that was always fantasy. A self reinforcing delusion.

The strength of this image of the promise of America is so strong that it attracts others from other lands like a moth to a flame. To do anything to get to the "American dream" by any means available and we fear that just like the Titanic, there aren't enough life boats for everyone?


We live in a strong and passionate age, much like the era of which Dickens wrote. It likely has always been that way and likely always will? It may just be that the era of entitlement that we all grew up in, is over and the bill is coming due?

[557]

Also IMHO the glass IS "half full" in America(no matter where you live).We have it so much better here than the vast majority on the world in a multitude of ways.Still the envy of the world in my book.Sometimes it's better to look on the bright side instead of getting stuck in the mud.It's healthy.

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Shocking and saddening to see.  The last photo has a traffic sign that says "dip" as if foreshadowing things to come or things that have already happened.

It should read cliff

Cali. Is fine,thanks for your concern...

The mere fact you use the woke/millennial term of Cali brands you as one who does not remember CA in the 50s & 60s (really since the mid 1800s but those dreamers and empire builders are long dead). My wife's 3rd great grandfather succumbed to gold fever in 1849. When CA became a state in 1850 he was mining in Rough & Ready, CA. My parents came for the weather a hundred years later. After the family being in MI from the 1830s and spending WWII stationed in Alaska my parents had enough of crappy weather. Until the mid-late 70s anything was possible in CA. With the state turning blue (even our R governors have been RINOs since Ronnie) and free handouts to the illegals, homeless, etc we're circling the drain.

Retirement is on the horizon and then it's AZ for us. We considered NV but it's turning into east CA real fast with their copycat smog and gun laws.

[deathsled]

Neutron bomb?  But that would make the land uninhabitable for everyone.  Poison the water?  Naw, then it would be undrinkable for everyone.  I'm outta ideas, not that I make warranty either express or implied that any of my ideas are good.  They merely exist as ideas.  Good luck California.  I still think it was a dream when my dad and I went out there to get a Shelby waaaay back in 1994.  My eyes stung a bit as we drove down the freeway around Van Nuys I think it was (I attributed it to pollution but maybe tears of joy competed for the cause in fact), but I shook it off.  I mean we were in California, man!

[67 GT350]

NY and CA
Dumb and Dumber.

Sorry I could not resist.

[557]

Both have produced a ton of Nobel laureates,so.......

[TA Coupe]

Let's get this thread back on target ,meaning pickles. Here's a picture of a 2 and a 1/2 quart jar of them that only costs $2.79 at my local Food Maxx store. I usually try to keep a couple of them on hand..😺

        Roy

[FL SAAC]

Your missing the point and straighten out that jar before it spills.....

Let's get this thread back on target ,meaning pickles. Here's a picture of a 2 and a 1/2 quart jar of them that only costs $2.79 at my local Food Maxx store. I usually try to keep a couple of them on hand..😺

        Roy

[shelbydoug]

Your missing the point and straighten out that jar before it spills.....

Let's get this thread back on target ,meaning pickles. Here's a picture of a 2 and a 1/2 quart jar of them that only costs $2.79 at my local Food Maxx store. I usually try to keep a couple of them on hand..😺

        Roy

The point? It obviously has serious perverted sexual undertones if you ask me? Look at all those warts!

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Both have produced a ton of Nobel laureates,so.......

The Nobel is also headed over a cliff.
You do know that most of the prizes are basically PR stunts and political ploys bought and paid for by fans of the nominees.
There is a big reason why Gore's epistle on climate change got a literature award not a science one.

The award is meant to honor something you did - not to prop up your status in the world opinion. Why was the Nobel trying to prop up Obama?

Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to achieve what the committee hoped it would, its ex-secretary has said.

Geir Lundestad told the AP news agency that the committee hoped the award would strengthen Mr Obama.

Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.

"No Nobel Peace Prize ever elicited more attention than the 2009 prize to Barack Obama," Mr Lundestad writes.

"Even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake," he says. "In that sense the committee didn't achieve what it had hoped for".

[557]

Medical advances developed in the golden state have probably improved/saved the life of someone close to you,so there's that as well.World class research/educational facilities.Leaders in arts,entertainment etc.,etc.,etc.so as far as dumb..........