Hillary Explicitly Endorses Marxism

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

According to an AP story, widely reported on much of the alternative media, "We are all in it together" says the evil Mrs William Jefferson Clinton. I didn't see the accompanying photos, but I'm sure she had shackles and chains at the ready to enforce her edict.

Instead of an "On your own society," the Gorgon who would be President quipped, we should promote a "We're all in it together society."

There is only one way this can be translated, and such a society has ultimately had the same result every time it's been tried: First, eat the rich. Then, the starvation sets in. Then, kill the (scapegoats) dissenters as enemies of the revolution.

It's the beginning of the next phase of the federal government's War on Productivity.

Well, you might say, it won't be that bad. It probably won't, but only because America has enough riches that they won't be exhausted in the elitist twit's two-four year terms. After all, President after President since the time of the disgusting Abe Lincoln have been trying to bleed America's riches, and we're still pretty well off.

How long will we last? Until Atlas shrugs.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Remembering Sara

Another Memorial Day, and along with the thoughts toward those military men and women who have died in the various wars in which the United States have been involved, I always remember my own military experience. Mine was a generally easy enlistment, but there were several very tense days.

I was an engineman aboard the USS Saratoga. Part of my job was to run and maintain the compressors that supplied compressed air throughout the ship for various purposes, perhaps the most important of which was to return the catapults to their set positions after the launch of a plane, in preparation for the launch of the next one.

At general quarters, my job was to feed a foam machine for fire retardation. Usually that meant a plane crash on the flight deck. It happened once during the time I was there. Six men lost, five planes.

That was another story, one about which the Navy never really saw fit to fully inform those of use who worked below decks. I only saw the scorched and twisted metal that used to be airplanes, after the fire was out and the men were in sick bay or.....

Back to the current story, we left our berth at Mayport on what was (to most of us) just a routine cruise through the Caribbean. Some flight ops and a chance to buy tax-free smokes. The Cuba situation was in the news, but it wasn't mentioned as we returned from liberty and found out we were steaming in the morning.

It turns out, we learned later, that we were to be involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We noticed the difference almost immediately. No sooner were we out of sight of land that the drills started. Fire drills and general quarters. one after another, sometimes three or four a day--or night, more likely. This in addition to your regular job and your watch duty.

There was no news, of course. We couldn't have distracted sailors, could we? But there were rumors. There could be a nuclear attack on the US from Cuba at any moment. USSR was setting up missile launch sites, and they were shipping in more missiles.

We were there to see that no more USSR ships reached Cuba, the President was to negotiate the removal of those already there.

Fortunately, USSR blinked first, and after a couple of weeks of tension and continual general quarters drills, we returned to routine sailing and made our way to Guantanamo for a couple of days of refueling, and a spot of liberty within the confines of the Gitmo base. Drinking happened.

We spent some more time steaming around the Carib, and finally returned to Mayport.

I never heard if there was a medal for that little skirmish, and certainly nobody gave me one. I wasn't really into medals as my enlistment neared its end, I just bought an old car for the drive home, and left when they handed me my DD214.

I think about it mainly on days like Memorial Day and Veterans' Day. A lot of guys had it worse than I did, and that continues to this day. I take this time to remember them, as best I can, never having looked into the eyes of an enemy soldier.

Like it or not, agree or not, there is a little difference in the way one looks at it, if he was there.

If the United States were free, like in times past, it'd seem more worth it, maybe.

Winning on the battlefield, losing in the Capitol.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

April Showers Bring May Blizzards

As Congress' Bimbo of the House and first-tier algorean San Fran Nan Pelosi flies to Iceland, Germany and Belgium with her rock-star entourage of socialist Democrat cronies and one token spineless Republican, in her brand spanking new Air Force Three (leaving a trail of prime lignite carbon across the skies over the Atlantic, we're all waiting on pins and needles, in our parkas and Hudson's Bay coats, for global warming to begin. Reportedly, she is no longer wearing the head scarf she wore on her trip to Syria recently.

As shown in this news story, the group plans to meet with "scientists" of the socialist variety to find ways to further enslave their countries' people with anti-technology propaganda that's somehow related to the presumption that the temperature of the Earth has gone up a degree or so in the past century--most of it prior to the our ability to measure such things accurately.

After all, if we'd never developed this degree of technological advancement, we wouldn't have the means to know we're doomed.

One might note that the Congressfools did not put Bismarck, North Dakota on their travel agenda. According to another news story from KFYR-TV in Bismarck, some two hundred miles from my home town, there's been a significant snowfall. Residents woke up on May 26th to a winter wonderland of heavy, wet snow causing tree branches to break and fall on houses and cars. Bismarck authorities haven't yet declared a state of emergency, nor has FEMA been called.
Looks like the kids put their sleds and skis away a little too soon.

Fiddling while Washington burns.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Visit to the Bookstore

This afternoon the Hollywood Freeway, US 101 through Hollywood, had a Sigalert. A sigalert is an unplanned lane closure on a California freeway that lasts more than thirty minutes. They're usually caused by a serious collision of a nature that take some time to clean up. As I was driving home from a little Saturday overtime work, I heard the announcement that two southbound and one northbound lanes were closed because of "police activity." I've heard no further explanation so far. I suspect there was a Dunkin' Donut truck spill. They've been known to keep the California Highway Patrol tied up for hours.

Since I knew that would probably mean at least an extra half-hour of excruciatingly slow driving, I opted to take the I-5 freeway up to the valley instead. It's an extra three or four miles, but that distance at 60mph is better than the shorter distance at five mph.

As I kroozed past the huge and lovely Griffith Park, I recalled that I'd been putting off a trip to Barnes & Noble to shop for a copy of Newt Gingrich & William Forstchen's new historical novel, Pearl Harbor, and S.M. Stirling's alternate history novel, A Meeting at Corvallis.

I drove to the Burbank Shopping Center.

The first thing I saw at the "New Arrivals" case just inside the door of the Burbank B&N curdled the contents of my stomach and the first thirty-two feet of my small intestine. Six rows of books showing a plain white dust cover 'pon which were printed, in plain New Times Roman, the words "The Assault on Reason." Not terribly threatening, one might observe, written perhaps by Robert Bidinotto or Leonard Peikoff. But, No! Below the title of the book, was the name of the alleged author: Al Gore.

Now, boys and girls, if there is anyone on planet Earth that should be disallowed from using the word reason, that person would be Algore. Not only does Algore never use his ability to reason, limited as it appears to be, but he doesn't understand the meaning of the concept at all! I ran screaming from the store.

In my head.

What the people around me in the B&N store saw was a mere rustle in the front of my shirt, partly concealing the turning of my stomach, as I immediately began searching for the bathroom for a safe place to deposit the contents thereof.

The left have already coopted the words liberal and progressive to mean their direct opposites. Now, what are they going to do with the word reason?

I quickly bought the books I came for and hurried home, to try to forget.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Modest Proposal

Mexico is a very wonderful, beautiful and resources-rich country of about 110 million population. It has one of the more corrupt governments in this hemisphere, which manages to keep almost all of its people poor, and without much hope for self-improvement within the country's legal system (such as it is).

The only hope for a reasonably comfortable life for many Mexicans is to go north, to one of the United States, in hopes of finding menial, though somewhat steady, work at several times the salary they can earn in their home country. Estimates are that around 12 million illegal aliens, mostly Mexicans, have entered California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in the past twenty-five years. Many have moved north and east to other states, and and can be found anywhere.

Working. Doing menial and lower-paid jobs that most Americans, used to the quasi-benefits of the US welfare state, will not deign to accept.

Accurate estimates are difficult, because of the illegal nature of their entry. Many of them work "off book" and few records exist on their histories and whereabouts. Also, many "compassionate" civil agencies, in accordance with their employees' quest to actually do less and less work, take care not to learn whether a particular Hispanic-looking individual is here legally.

Because most of these individuals are leading a sort of "black market" existence, it follows that they pay relatively little in taxes, compared to their legally employed neighbors. They pay sales tax, of course, when they make retail purchases, and vice taxes for cigarettes and liquor, and they pay assorted other taxes that exist as part of retail purchases. They often don't pay income taxes, payroll taxes nor property taxes.

This becomes problematic for money-hungry bureaucrats as they realize that some of these people have families here, with children, all availing themselves of public education, emergency medical care and the many subsidized services that are covered by public funds.

Estimates are that each illegal alien in any of the United States receives as much as $20 thousand more each year in public services than he pays in taxes.

America's federal politicians, not to mention a large minority of state and local office holders, seem to want to ignore these losses out of "compassion" which in Political Speak equals votes.

My proposal is as follows:

Since the approximate number of Mexican who reside and work in the various United States is approximately 12 million, or roughly a tenth of the entire population of Mexico, I propose that the federal government annex approximately a tenth of the physical area of Mexico, as territory of the United States, to perhaps become one or more States of the United States.

For reasons both practical and humanitarian, I propose that the federal government allow current residents to stay or leave, at their own convenience and pleasure. I further propose that private property owners retain title to their property, to keep or sell. Public property within the territory should be sold by the US federal government to the highest bidder, the money used to pay down the government's debts. Development of these lands will stimulate America's economy very nicely.

I propose that the lands selected be Mexican states bordering along the edge of US States, for example, the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, which are south of California, along with Tamaulipas, which is south of Texas, are equal to just over a tenth of the just over a tenth of the area of Mexico.

If Mexican citizens continue to enter the various United States illegally, the federal government could then select other bordering Mexican states to help offset the costs of transitioning those individuals and families into our way of life.

It seems like it'd be good for both the United States and Mexico, since American entrepreneurs are constantly looking for investments, and since Mexico seems to have difficulty controlling various parts of its territory. It will ease the financial and societal burdens incurred by the transition of these individuals and families into our society. Conversely, it'll ease the burdens on the government of Mexico.

It seems like a win-win transaction!

Warm regards,

Jonny Quick, Guest Blogger.

Planes, Trains, Guns and Automobiles

I've long known that the real, deep down reason why collectivists hate technology is that they hate life. They hate our increasing success at life. They hate our love of life. They will expend any effort to sabotage that which we, each of whom is successful at enjoying his life, his efforts to enjoy it and the products thereof.

It's difficult to examine the motivations behind the destructive efforts of collectivists in a short article, and their reasons. There is a short answer: Envy. Collectivists envy the happiness of the independent individual and, unable or unwilling to ask and answer the questions necessary to achieve any degree of happiness, their only consolation lies in attempts to destroy the happiness of others.

This is the source of government regulation of business and industry. It's the source of blue laws, vice laws and other "victimless crimes." It's the reason for movies, novels and stories that cast achievers as villains and industrialists as predators. Today, it's the source of this "global warming" foolishness. And, it's the source of the federal government's unjustifiable notion that we are to be the world's policeman.

Ayn Rand writes to expose collectivists as the saboteurs of human happiness, as do L Neil Smith, Robert A Heinlein and a host of others.

Today, I'm trying to catch up on my subscription to The New Individualist. I'm reading the Soliloquy column, by Robert Bidinotto, which is entitled, "Cheerleaders for American Defeat." Now, I'm not a fan of the war, if one can properly call it a war, in Iraq. 'Twas the evil al queda who were behind the attack 'pon America's most recognizable trade and military buildings, and it should be al queda against whom our military efforts ought to be directed.

In spite of denials, I think attacking Iraq was an unnecessary sidetrack; a personal, and not-very-well-thought-out vendetta on the part of the President. He has often said that the "War on Terror" will not be won quickly nor easily. It's my opinion that his actions are designed to make sure of that.

But, I digress.

My opinion of the war doesn't excuse Bidinotto's "cheerleaders." His point is that the only kind of war in which the US ought be involved is of the altruistic variety--in which there is no national interest to the United States, and in which some third world dictatorship hopes to extract more money from the productive members of the United States by creating a crisis only we (the world's policeman) can solve.

Another aspect that Mr Bidinotto points out is that "manifestations of self-assertion and self-interest--guns, the automobile, space exploration, big businessmen, material luxuries, economic profits, cities, the capitalist system itself--are so widely damned" by the left. As the tools for, and products of our productivity, they're detested by the world's parasites because we've worked for them and we've earned them--which they're unwilling or unable to do.

That's why I smile when I see a Rolls or a Bentley cruising along the road. It's nice to know such things are possible, and that they could be possible for me!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Dumb Blue Line

A little more about the May Day rally at MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles. Now that Chief Bratton has had a chance to put his foot in his mouth a number of times and events have begun to sort themselves out, we learn that things are even worse than we thought.

LAPD has a fifty-year (and more) reputation for wearing out nightsticks 'pon citizens' heads. Back in the early 1970's, I knew a CHP officer who transferred from LA to San Diego, because he didn't like having to work with LAPD. This all goes back a long time so, you'll pardon me if yet another pledge to put officers through further training leaves me unimpressed.

According to a story in today's LA Times, the police made just about every mistake in the MacArthur Park incident, that could be made.

• Instead of isolating the agitators and dealing with them away from the demonstrators, LAPD pushed them into the larger crowd, thus bringing innocents into the fray.
• LAPD failed to set up an area in which the media could operate. Instead, they herded the reporters and cameramen along with the protesters, injuring a few.
• There was an LAPD speaker truck nearby. It wasn't used. Instead, the orders to disburse were given from helicopters. The bad news: the helicopters were too far away and too high in elevation. Few people heard them.
• Metro Division reinforcements were untrained in crowd control.
• Commands to the public were given only in English, despite the predominately Hispanic crowd.
• Supervisors were too far away from the skirmish line, leaving untrained officers on their own.

Every time one of these things happen, the current Chief vows to set up a new training program or a touchy-feely campaign of some sort--and it works until some cop beats the crap out of a drunk or a car thief (who probably deserves it) with his two-foot-long cast-iron flashlight.

To truly solve this we, as individuals or voluntarily-formed neighborhood groups should hire our own patrol organizations, and be given relief from local taxes to pay for these patrols. Thus, entities can choose patrol organizations from among those available on the free market. The city should do away from all impediments to individuals right to self defense.

Meanwhile, it'd help if police can be weaned from their us-versus-them attitude and return to a form of community patrolling in which police actually know the neighborhoods they patrol and some of the people who live in them. It'd help (and it's the law) if police observed due process and the US Bill of Rights to the letter. It'd help if municipalities would ban lying and secret-keeping by their elected officials and civil servants on pain of firing-in-disgrace and complete loss of pay and benefits.

Turning the police into paramilitary organizations is not helpful.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Long Live the King!

Today, Nicolas Sarcozy was elected President of France, defeating Socialist Segolene Royal by a wide margin. Story here. "You can count of France as a friend," Sarcozy said to America during his victory speech.

I find that comforting.














One thing I noticed: the defeated Mme Royal bears a uncanny resemblance to a certain American socialist: Ms Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, what one might consider a very leftist-oriented political magazine, and the woman for whom the famous New Orleans Hurricane was named.

I wonder if they're actually both the same person....

France's loss is the world's gain.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag Califorina

El Alcalde del Pueblo de Los Angeles Returns For a Brief Visit....

....During his self-directed, taxpayer-paid world tour. Seems, while he was gone, his paramilitary police agency roughed up some demonstrators and a few news reporters and camera operators. Story here.

Seems that Senor Antonio Vinaigrette was interrupted during his visit with El Presidente de Mexico, to come back to LA and be alcalde for a couple of days. What a pain. El Alcalde is not happy.

Seems what had all day been a peaceful demonstration at LA's MacArthur Park (according to news reports), turned into a melee when a few dozen leftist professional agitators began attacking the police with rocks and frozen water bottles. The police called for assistance, then decided to end the event.

I, of course, wasn't there. My tastes don't run toward purposeless protests. I'm having to go by msm news reports and talk radio/tv; tenuous at best. My first though was that, since these agitators were wearing ski masks and the police were aware of their purpose, why didn't they flank them and direct them away from the main demonstration? Isolated, the agitators would be powerless.

Instead, the agitators were allowed to melt into the main demonstration. The police reinforcements, many of whom were cementheads from the LA SWAT detail, joined in to move the demonstrators out of MacArthur Park.

Somewhere in the melee, the police forgot that most of the demonstrators were peacefully advocating immigration reform. Most of them were Latin American immigrants, some illegal, and some were sympathetic Americans. The police started forcefully pushing everyone along, in front of their skirmish line.

According to video recordings of the events, the police used beanbag guns and rubber bullets liberally, and attacked stragglers with nightsticks. Many peaceful demonstrators were injured simply because they didn't move fast enough. Some news reporters and cameramen were attacked, not having moved out thinking they were within their job description to record the proceedings. Several witnesses indicated that they had not heard the police orders to disburse, and were simply caught up in the violence by surprise.

In the end, the professional agitators got what they wanted: a lot of footage of swinging truncheons and police in riot gear firing (beanbag) shotguns into the crowd. The LA police made enemies of the local news people, and generally made themselves look really bad. There will be lawsuits and settlements.

LAPD Chief Bratton, the hired gun from NYC and Philly who was brought in to reform the department, then limited by el Alcalde in a host of politically correct ways, said the police tactics appeared troubling. Among other things, Chief Bratton has been ordered not to ask an arrestee's citizenship--even if he's suspected of a felony. One wonders how a handcuffed police chief might be able to effect any meaningful reform. It's to be expected, though, under an alcalde who is a member of M.E.Ch.A. , an organization dedicated to returning the entire American Southwest to Mexico. Los Angeles law enforcement will be skewed to favor criminals and criminal gangs for as long as this is the case.

In the end, only a few were injured in the altercation, none severely. There was only one arrest.

But, el Alcalde's world tour was interrupted. Heads will roll.

There'll be investigations and inquiries.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum: May 7, 2007

According to the LA Times, Alcalde Antonio Vinaigrette visited MacArthur Park yesterday and addressed those present, saying that MacArthur Park is a safe place to play or march in safety. He visited with those present while cameras were clicking.

One might have even thought El Alcalde wer sincere, had he not remained surrounded by his posse, which included armed police officers, through the entire photo op.