H8TN CA

OK, I can live with the fact that our schools are some of the worst in the nation, and our homes are some of the most unfordable, and our air is pretty darn bad to boot. But if there is one thing in which California ranks tops in the USA, I would have sworn it was in personalized, vanity license plates.

Maybe it's just because I spend so much more of my time on the road here (sigh), but I've never seen so much vehicular personalization anywhere as I have in the Golden State. And it's not just the plates. It's also the license-plate frames (including such charmers as that classic, "I hate Barbie, that b---- has everything!"), window decals (the urinating Calvin seems to be ubiquitous in these parts), and, of course, bumper stickers (actual sticker I saw this morning: "My kid sold your honors student all the right answers to the test!").

For better and -- quite often -- for worse, Californians, ever an individualistic bunch, make vehicular expression an art form.

So I'm surprised -- and quite skeptical of -- this survey that finds that among all 50 states, California ranks only #22 it terms of the percentage of registered vehicles with personalized plates. Twenty-two? When has California ever ranked in the middle (and not the bottom or the top) of anything?

I blame East Coast bias for this faulty "study." This is an indignity, an affront, and an outrage. To the researchers who came up with this nonsense, the people of California have only one thing to say: