California | - Part 2

Coot’s News Service Bi-Continental Edition

Posted by Ralph at 18:09 Uncategorized

Jul 292014

Image via Wikipedia

The Coots News Service does bi-coastal one better this week. CNS is going bi-continental with a news story from our home in California and one from Venice Italy where we will be vacationing for the next few weeks. (Can’t be sure about CNS for this interlude. Bob says become a foreign correspondent and deduct the trip. I’m not sure. It is a vacation for Pete’s sake and maybe Bob will actually have to to some work around here. You will just have to wait in eager anticipation. Even I don’t know.) Both stories are bad news but let’s start with the one close to home. It’s an example of just how looney things can get in these modern times . Usually looney and California are associated very closely together but parts of California are more prone to looniness than others. What stands out with this story is that the town considering this new ban is located in the most conservative county in the state. If there is reason and principal anywhere in California, it ought to be in Placer County.

Rocklin California is upper middle class suburban lifestyle personified in a county that consistently votes conservative. That the City fathers would even consider a city-wide smoking ban just demonstrates how far the demonization of smoking has gone and how insane the anti-smoking people are. The issue was initiated by a woman who claims that her house is infiltrated with second hand smoke from her neighbors who just happen to smoke in their own yard.

It is, of course obvious that this woman is a nut job of monumental stature. She clearly has lost any ability to reason or use logic. She has been indoctrinated by the health wackos about the dangers of second hand smoke to the point of obsession. What is terrifying for the future of California is that elected officials are paying any attention to her. The woman is a laughing stock and should be publicly ridiculed. Instead they are considering infringing on property rights by criminalizing smoking on your own property. Is this America or the Soviet Union? Will we let crazy people control what we do? Apparently the City fathers in Rocklin will not protect us from loons.

CALIFORNIA TOWN CONSIDERING TOTAL OUTDOOR SMOKING BAN — EVEN ON PRIVATE PROPERTY

interior of the airport of Venice, Italy

Crowds in the Marco Polo Airport Image via Wikipedia

On the other side of the pond in Venice, Italy where my wife and I will be spending the next two weeks, City fathers are happy to welcome more airline connections with Marco Polo Airport. Venice is highly dependent on tourists to keep itself above water but enough is enough. In high season, the city is overrun with people trying to see all the sights. It is hard to see how adding more will make the economy better. At some point, people will say no more and go elsewhere. Already the city is trying to get control over the huge tour ships that dock in Venice. Why encourage more planes?

Venice launches 9 new international flights

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Let California fail

Posted by Bob@HayleStorm Interactive at 04:14 Plain 'ol Cantankerous, rants

Jun 112014

Yesterday voters sent a message to Washington: “Change course, or the price will be worse next time.”

Sure, the slaughter could have been worse…indeed many wished it had been…but the reality is the change was historic. I’ll cover the post-mortem over at JuicyMaters.com later today, but here and now I’d like to make one point:

It’s time to cut California loose and let the self-destruction be theirs to deal with.

Californians, with skyrocketing unemployment, home foreclosure rates far above the national average, and a border war with Mexico being sabotaged by sanctuary city after sanctuary city, had a choice. They could continue with the single most partisan senator in congress, Barbara Boxer, a woman who is more concerned with being called “senator” instead of “M’am”, a woman who considers feeding at the government trough high cuisine, a woman who has never had to make a payroll or create a job, or…

They could choose Carly Fiorina, a proven CEO of a major tech company, who actually created jobs (despite lies told by the Boxer campaign) and who understands living within a budget and not spending money you don’t have.

They could choose “Governor Moonbeam”, a governor from the history books whose failed policies in the past were a large part of the start of the state’s present woes, a classic tax and spend big government liberal, or…

They could choose Meg Whitman, another female former big company CEO whose business background would serve California well these days.

In both cases, Californians chose the big government, big tit to suck, alternative. Fine. Let them rely on the nanny state…but let their nanny state be their own, not the rest of the country.

Republicans now control the purse strings in congress. When California comes begging for the inevitable bail out, congress should tell them “folks deserve help when they first help themselves, and you didn’t, California.”

“You are on your own. Tell Jerry and Babs to fix it.”

Bob@HayleStorm Interactive

Bob comes to us with a skeptical attitude and a full cup of Cantankerousness. He also writes about homesteading and yurts over at JuicyMaters.com and rants about politics at Common-Sense-Conversation.com Most of the time, though, you'll find him at HayleStorm.net, cranking out great websites for clients OR writing tutorials teaching them to build their own sites.

So what about those May flowers?

Posted by Ralph at 10:51 Down with

Apr 252014

lkjlkj

The poem is just a fantasy

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers according to the poem. It’s usually a bit different in California but his year it’s all messed up. The May flowers are here but those April showers keep on coming and you can’t get outside to enjoy the flowers.

So what’s up with the seasons this year.? In the California foothills, Winter is relatively cold and rainy when compared to Southern California where I lived for so long. I’ve only been here for ten years so I hardly qualify as an expert but usually if there is a pleasant month around here, May would get the most votes. Most years it stops raining by May and it’s just too early for heat. Not this year.

We’ve had heavy rainfall which translates to heavy snowfall up the mountains and instead of stopping, the precipitation has continued way into Spring. The Spring flowers are trying to work their magic but when it’s cold and the rain keeps turning into hail, it’s hard to appreciate them. Last week there was a day or two of warm weather where sitting outside was pleasant until another string of storms swept past.

Just like California is a fantasy

The roses are starting to bloom just as the iris are finishing. Meanwhile the storms just keep on rolling through. It’s hard to complain about rain after a bunch of dry years and political correctness that pours stored water into the bay to save fish while cutting off water to farmers. Maybe it’s worthwhile to give up Spring if it means that farmers can make money for a change. Still, it would be nice to enjoy the outdoors and the fabled May flowers if only for a few days

Avoiding the hail

Still, maybe I expect too much. These days the dream of California is being replaced by the reality. The perfect weather image of California is a myth no more real than the idea that the economy would continue to boom even as the entitlement mentality sucks it dry. The natural state for weather in non-coastal California is extreme. It’s either cold and wet or hot and dry. If we are lucky there might be a few days of something moderate and pleasant during the transition. It usually happens in May. Not this year. Maybe it’s time to return to the real world where seasons really matter and people expect to work for their rewards.

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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Special Coot’s Alert – California dying: last rites said in Spanish!

Posted by Ralph at 10:42 rants

Feb 152014

I’m livid today. I have seen something I never dreamed of and it demonstrates the terrible peril our great country is in. California has a competitive race for governor this year. What this means is that regular Californians have noticed how bad things have gotten and are thinking for a change. The evil cabal of union thugs, political hacks and public employees that runs California is scared for a change. It is just possible that they may get whacked. But like any resourceful parasites they won’t let go- until they kill their host.

I’m infuriated at the party in control of California but my contempt for the challengers is even greater. Those losers haven’t done any better and yesterday they proved that representative government in California is dead. Both political parties sold the people of California down the river yesterday when the second of the debates between the candidates for governor was held- in incomprehensible Spanish.

There wasn’t much hype about this second debate – except that one candidate fired a wetback who had lied about being a legal resident. It shouldn’t be an issue – anywhere but California where 20% of our voters can’t be expected to understand English. So how to resolve the problem? How about a campaign debate on a Spanish language television network conducted entirely in Spanish with no translation. No, of course the candidates spoke English but we weren’t allowed to hear what they said because a Spanish translation was piped in. I have no idea what they said and my only recourse is the interpretation of the Sacramento Bee. Like I can trust them!

I don’t have much hope for California. The number of thinking voters who aren’t on the public dole – or the government payroll shrinks more each year but when both political parties will pander to citizens of another country in a foreign language who inexplicably seem able to vote and are valued by the political hacks of both parties, California might as well be dead. The economy is dead. We are poised to legalize pot and speakers of Spanish carry more weight than English speakers. It is all over! Let’s cut our the pretense. It won’t matter who wins the governor’s race this year. California is headed for third world status where voters are pawns for the politicos to play with.

If you don’t live in California, this is no time to be smug. California is the canary in the coal mine. If you care about this country then look at what is happening in your state and wake up before it is too late. You too may be speaking Spanish.

Ralph

Ralph is the inspiration for Cantankerous Old Coots and is our Grand Duke of Cantankerousness

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I finally see the truth…

Posted by Justin at 12:17 Coot Smirk, rants

Feb 012013

I was just looking at some numbers here on the ol’ Coots blog and I found something interesting. It seems our tweet out when posted plugin is not working. At all. Looking further, there are no updates, the plugin blog post on the developer site is from 2008. Finally, I have switched plugins.

twitterverse (Photo credit: birgerking)

That in itself is not big news, what is surprising is this, the past 2 posts that have gone out this week have had 11 and 17 views. The two before that have had 42 and 37 views. That tells me there are not many people actually reading these posts on their own and Twitter is a huge tool in the promotion of this blog. This particular post should go out into the Twitterverse and lets see just how many hits it generates.

Now, I have read volumes of stuff about how to make blogs happen and get bigger. Twitter is good but sharing, out there with people, gets more people here to read our stuff. If this is your first time here, good deal. Share with your friends using those nifty buttons at the bottom.

If this blog is your guilty pleasure and you don’t want people to know you read it, sneak some links out and about for us. We won’t tell.

If you are so inclined, add something to the comments! We love to hear ~~inane babble~~ er, constructive comments from our readers. Ralph has been the main writer here for far too long and maybe you are just getting tired of him and his rants about traveling the world and all of the hardships associated with living in California. Apparently, he is losing his ranting mojo as evidenced by this post earlier in the week.

Or maybe you are just excited to get some Bob back into the cantankerousness with his last two posts, part 1 and part 2. Maybe you just don’t care. But, with 2013 fast dwindling we need to raise our alexa score so that we can get some advertising to help pay for this adventure.

Please, share, comment, blast us with incredulity, or find your own cantankerousness and write a guest post. You will not be sorry.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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