Deniers No Longer Frozen Out of Global Warming "Debate"

In several arenae it's become fashionable to speak of global warming as an established, noncontroversial fact. California's idiotic, Davis-the Grey inspired "Flex Your Power" energy conservation program is just one example. Instead of letting Edison build new generators, they're trying to talk individuals into using less electricity. It's analogous to Skippy telling peanut butter users how to spread peanut butter more thinly over your bread, instead of growing more peanuts.

Now, they've taken to including "helping global warming" as another reason to conserve electricity. The current catch phrase is that one should use those weird fluorescent light bulbs, and that "if everyone replaces four regular bulbs with energy-efficient bulbs, it's the same as taking 400,000 cars off the road." I'm still waiting for my drive to work to get easier. Edison (and the "Flex Your Power" gang are fully in bed with the notion that there's actually human-caused global warming about which we can do something by turning ourselves into a hand-to-mouth hunter-gatherer society.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Yet another news story, written by James M Taylor of the Heartland Institute, as printed in the Chicago Sun-Times points out the fact that there are many scientists whose research shows disagreement with this algorian hoax.

"For example, Gore claims that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking and global warming is to blame. Yet the September 2006 issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate reported, 'Glaciers are growing in the Himalayan Mountains, confounding global warming alarmists who recently claimed the glaciers were shrinking and that global warming was to blame.'

"Gore claims the snowcap atop Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro is shrinking and that global warming is to blame. Yet according to the November 23, 2003, issue of Nature magazine, 'Although it's tempting to blame the ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain's foothills is the more likely culprit. Without the forests' humidity, previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.'

"Gore claims global warming is causing more tornadoes. Yet the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in February that there has been no scientific link established between global warming and tornadoes.

"Gore claims global warming is causing more frequent and severe hurricanes. However, hurricane expert Chris Landsea published a study on May 1 documenting that hurricane activity is no higher now than in decades past. Hurricane expert William Gray reported just a few days earlier, on April 27, that the number of major hurricanes making landfall on the U.S. Atlantic coast has declined in the past 40 years. Hurricane scientists reported in the April 18 Geophysical Research Letters that global warming enhances wind shear, which will prevent a significant increase in future hurricane activity.

"Gore claims global warming is causing an expansion of African deserts. However, the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, 'Africa's deserts are in 'spectacular' retreat . . . making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa.'

"Gore argues Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and that this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, 'the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain.' In late 2006, researchers at the Danish Meteorological Institute reported that the past two decades were the coldest for Greenland since the 1910s.

"Gore claims the Antarctic ice sheet is melting because of global warming. Yet the Jan. 14, 2002, issue of Nature magazine reported Antarctica as a whole has been dramatically cooling for decades. More recently, scientists reported in the September 2006 issue of the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society Series A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, that satellite measurements of the Antarctic ice sheet showed significant growth between 1992 and 2003. And the U.N. Climate Change panel reported in February 2007 that Antarctica is unlikely to lose any ice mass during the remainder of the century."

So, we see that the real scientific evidence is building up very convincingly (for individuals who accept the evidence of their senses and analyze it by means of reason) that there is no human-caused climate change. The algorians are merely trying to use the Big Lie to political advantage in the cause of increasing the power of the state over the individual.

Note also that the elite algorians do not and will not follow their own admonitions and trim their own energy use, or alter their own lifestyles, at all. It's only the productive among us who are to be shackled. This is always the way of socialism.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Rocky & Hoodwinkle

As if El Pueblo de Los Angeles didn't have enough problems, what with el alcade Antonio Vinaigrette being divorced by his loving wife and being dumped by thirteen of his mistresses, and his difficulties controlling his police officers, now we learn that the Pueblo's City Attorney is up to his neck in "petty theft."

According to this story in the Los Angeles Daily News, along with several others in the LA Times and on radio and tv, Senor Delgadillo, the petty thief's facilitator, henchman and co-conspirator, his wife, Michelle, has been on a petty theft rampage for at least five years.

Michelle's first antic (about which we were informed) was her 2004 accident while driving Senor Delgadillo's city-owned vehicle. City government does not allow employees to allow others to drive its vehicles. Senor Delgadillo attempted to cover up the incident until it became impossible to do so. According to Steve Lopez, an LA Times writer, Michelle had no auto insurance at the time, and was driving with a suspended driver's license.

"How inconvenient that this news broke just as Delgadillo was ripping Sheriff Lee Baca for springing (Paris) Hilton so soon after she was locked up for driving on a suspended license, of all things," writes Lopez.

Soon after, it was finally noted that Mrs Delgadillo has an outstanding warrant for her having failed to appear in court to answer for having been cited, in 1998, for driving on an expired Montana license, in her maiden name, and driving a car with expired plates, and with no proof of insurance.

Then, because all the above caused an abnormal degree of focus 'pon Senor Delgadillo, stories began to leak out about his use of his staff to run some of his personal errands and to babysit his two children during business hours.

Then, just the other day, it was disclosed that Michelle ran a home-based corporation for three years, from 2002 through 2005, without going through the trouble and expense of obtaining a city business license nor filing state income tax returns. This part of the story is detailed here.

Now I'm, as many of you know, opposed to the entire series of notions involving mandatory forced financing of government at any level. I don't consider it a state prerogative to issue licenses or otherwise decide who is to be allowed to pursue any particular professional endeavor. These ought to be done by voluntary means between consenting individuals. Qualification to drive or otherwise travel 'pon streets and highways should be the prerogative of the owners of the streets and highways, who should not be the state. Damages for mishaps should be the responsibility of the individuals who cause the mishap, or their insurance carriers.

Senor Delgadillo, by actively trying to cover up his wife's disdain for the law and lying about his own misuse of his office staff, places himself in the category of Corrupt Civil Servant. He should resign. He should be fired.

Actually, I advocate that any elected office holder or any civil servant convicted of lying--any lying during the performance of his job--be publicly hanged by the neck until dead. Of course, that'd thin their ranks dramatically, which could be nothing but good for the productive segment of society. I nominate Rocky Delgadillo for an early court date.

Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. --Lord Acton

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Two, Three, Four, What're We Votin' For?

It's almost a year and a half before the next Presidential election, and the campaign is already in full "cover up past flip-flops, lies and scandals" swing. I keep wondering whether this election will be our last. Each President that's elected acts more and more like he wants to "take over" than his predecessor, and each President gathers more power around himself than his predecessor.

When this President used the destruction of the World Trade Center as an excuse to tighten security, eliminate personal privacy and create a vast travel control bureaucracy, I started wondering if this is going to be it. George W. Bush, President for Life.

I kind of don't think it'll happen yet though. The country is too polarized, and I think GWB will want to get shut of Washington DC as soon as he can. He's mucked up entirely too much, and everyone knows it.

Yet, between the evil Internal Revenue "Service," and the plethora of recently-created, unConstitutional federal quasi-military police agencies, the misnamed "War on Drugs," actually the War on the Bill of Rights, and the militarization of local police agencies, we see that everything is in place to turn the country into a complete dictatorship.

Almost no elected officials have read or understand the US Constitution, as it was written. Whether they understand it or not, few of them agree with it. Witness the foul conservatives constantly saying that there's no right to privacy in the Bill of Rights (the Ninth Amendment.) To follow the rules set thereon would cramp their style.

In view of the above, Election Day seems almost meaningless. In all likelihood, the two nominees for the Office of the President will be philosophically identical and it won't matter at the end of the term which one will have won.

It's for this reason that I'm going to reiterate and reinforce, with slight modification, my voting recommendations for this election day.

I used to recommend that, one should simply "Vote For No Incumbent," thinking that if he couldn't stomach the challenger, he might simply vote for a candidate from an alternative party--Libertarian, Natural Law, or even Green--unless your candidate happens to be very, very good. Fat chance.

While I still think it's crucial that one should not vote for the incumbent, I'm thinking it might also be important to vote for his direct opponent--the one that's most likely to win. This means, that if the sitting Senator in your state is a Democrat, vote for the Republican.

Of course, in the opposite case, many will hold their noses at the prospect of voting for a Democrat, in spite of their own Senator being one of those cowardly Republicans. If you are, for example, a Mississippian who has to listen to the blatherings of Trent Lott, you might say, "Why not vote for a better Republican?" To which I might answer that, if the challenger looks better than the incumbent in the Primary, fine. I plan to vote for Ron Paul in the Primary for President, but should he not win the nomination, I know of no other Republican worth my vote. I wonder whether I'll have the intestinal fortitude to vote for Clinton or Williams. Scary, but if the alternative is Giuliani or Romnney, what difference would it make, really?

Best, in my opinion, will be if every sitting elected official is voted out of office. Every one. It'll let the fools know that their constituency is paying attention, and we want not just change, but change for the better. The less government intrusion into our lives, the better.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards.

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Could It Be Any Worse?

"It's far from perfect, but it's a good start."

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that whenever Congress (or the State House, or the City Council) approves a new program--usually one that limits individual rights even more than before--whoever is speaking invariably recites a variation of the above quote. What this always means is that the problem the legislation is allegedly supposed to solve will not be solved, but the increasing impositions 'pon the rights and lives of We The People will happen anyway.

This happens time after time after time.

In the future, what I want my servants in Congress and other legislative bodies to do is: hold off on enacting the program until it is perfect. That is to say, that it will solve the problem it's supposed to solve, and that it will not impose 'pon the rights and property of any individual.

You Congressmen, State legislators and City Concilmen get extreme pay and benefits, and get treated with a lot more respect than most of you deserve. The least you ought to do is take the time and effort to get it right.

"Far from perfect" isn't good enough.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

How They Die

According to the Department of Corrections of the People's State of Stalag California, the number three cause of death among death row inmates in the Stalag's stalags is by execution.

The number two cause of death is suicide.

The number one cause of death among death row inmates in Stalag California's stalags is......are you ready for this.......?

Old age.

There are currently 656 condemned prisoners in California's prison system, and the vast majority of them will remain there until they die of cancer, heart failure or boredom. Since the late 1970's, when five of nine decided that execution is a legal way to dispose of murderers after all, only fourteen of California's condemned have actually been executed. And this in the midst of hundreds of whiny protesters.

While I'm not actually in favor of the state imposed death penalty, for reasons to be stated below, I wonder at the unique California combination of angst, guilt and indecisiveness that allows hundreds of individuals, who have been lawfully condemned by the state's laws, to be left to rot in a cell for decades with no certain fate.

Among those convicts not on death row, life is much more exciting. California's stalags contain groups of individuals that are constantly at each other's throats. California's stalags allow homosexual rape--part of their punishment, many think. California's stalags have a thriving drug culture, in spite of (some say with the help of) the guards. Guards aid the strife by allowing ethnic groups to form gangs that are allowed to posture, threaten and occasionally fight each other.

This has to be intentional, in view of the fact that the guards have total control over the inmates and can withhold exercise yard privileges from any individual or group that is disruptive. They have total control of everything that enters or leaves the walls of the prison.

My solution? Start by holding guards and supervisors individually and personally financially responsible for injuries caused by inmates under their control. Next, courts should be directed toward sentences that cause victims to be made whole as a result of the sentence, wherever possible.

The reason why I'm opposed to the death penalty as administered by government agencies is that government agents are both incompetent and corrupt. An execution carried out in error can never be undone. In short: I don't trust government to get this or anything else right, and neither should you. The only proper death penalty is the one administered by the intended victim against his assailant, before the thug can complete his crime.

Individual rights to self defense should be fully enforced by the legal system. Individuals' rights to carry and use weapons of self defense should be affirmed and enforced. Initiation of force by either government agents or anyone else should never be tolerated, either by law enforcement or by individuals.

People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Lord Stanley's Cup Finally Finds Stalag California

I discovered ice hockey only after I moved from the Great White North to the Stalag. Sure, others were swinging hockey sticks all around me as I grew up in frigid North Dakota, but I was way too interested in cars and driving to pay much attention.

I was in my late twenties, bringing up a strapping young son by myself, when I began casting about for something that would interest us both, that we could do together. In the "winter" of 1969, I took him to a Los Angeles Kings hockey game and we were both hooked.

There was a public ice rink, Klondike, not far from our apartment in Santa Ana, and I decided that we should learn to skate. I had skated a little as a kid, but not much. Still, it didn't take either of us very long, and we were scooting around the ice like the best of the rinkrats. We went skating two or three times a week for several years, as he grew up. We also attended the occasional LA Kings game, when time and money permitted.

When I relocated us to San Diego, after the couple of years it took me to rebuild my career there, Jim drifted more into friends and his own interests, and I had time on my hands. Hanging around an ice rink in El Cajon, I fell in with a group of guys in their thirties and forties, some of whom were very good hockey players. I bought a set of hockey gear and flopped about on the ice while learning to play the game. I played with that same group of guys for about fifteen years. I was able, during this time, to begin to learn the game as a player.

During this time, I followed professional hockey as best I could. I met and made friends with Willie O'Ree, the first black player to play in the NHL. One day, Goldie Goldthorpe, a minor league player who was the inspiration for Ogie Oglethorpe, an outrageous hockey goon in the movie Slap Shot, guested with our team. Also, on several occasions, brothers Chris and Steve Chelios guested with us.

Since I've moved back up to Orange County, and now, El Pueblo de Los Angeles, I haven't returned to playing. Not only am I a mite old, but I have become horribly out of shape. I still skate occasionally at a rink in Van Nuys, but I'd have to work a lot harder than I do to be able to play again--even with guys my own age......

Meanwhile, I had season tix for the Kings during three seasons while Wayne Gretzky played here, and Anaheim Ducks tix for one season (their second). I've followed these teams records for all these many years, in the hopes one of them would win the Stanley Cup. Of course, I've been a Kings fan a lot longer that the Ducks have been in existence, so I had hoped it'd be the Kings who won the Cup first. They, unfortunately, failed to cooperate.

So, the Stanley Cup resides in the Honda Ponda in Anaheim.

Go! Ducks! Go!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

It's Easy to Be Stupid

When the Nanny State proclaims that its job is to protect everyone safe from everything; to make the country child-safe; to create a nerf-nation, it's very easy to be stupid. And many brain-challenged Americans becoming just that.

According to a story in the Costa Mesa, California Daily Pilot, a 19-year-old child (you can't call a fool who does something like this a man) shot himself through the thigh and foot while examining a pistol he was considering buying.

Now, there are a host of problems with this story, indicating stupidity, or perhaps dishonesty on the part of many individuals.

First, police said that "Sanchez was looking at the pistol when it discharged...." Well, folks, pistols never just "discharge" when someone just looks at one. Never. Everyone with a brain knows that the first thing you do when you pick up a gun is: keeping it pointed in a safe direction, open it up and check to see if there are any cartridges inside. If so, unload the weapon immediately before doing any further examination. And never, ever point it at anyone or anything you don't plan to shoot.

Second, according to California law, handguns cannot legally be sold from person to person. I, of course, strongly disagree with this law as both an infringement 'pon individual rights and as a violation of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.....but, it is the law. Handguns must be sold through a licensed gun dealer, who must verify that the buyer is a legal buyer, and who must do the song and dance of pretending to do a background check, making certain of the identity of both the buyer and the seller and doing a safety examination of the buyer (to make sure he knows how to use the weapon).

Third, the story states that the owner of the pistol is unknown. If the above hazing had been accomplished on the owner of the weapon, any police officer should be able to determine the owner of the weapon after about thirty seconds of tapping on his car's computer.

And finally, there's the fact that no charges were filed by the police. Well, no charges should've been filed. California laws that seem to apply on this matter are clearly unConstitutional, as are the federal laws. Sanchez ought to have to pay for his medical costs and the costs of the police response in full, as well as for any damage he caused to the home in which he committed his careless acts.

I haven't yet mentioned that, according to the news story, all this occurred at a party. Most adult parties include the drinking of adult beverages, and there's no mention of whether Sanchez had been partaking, or to what extent. That likelihood would add a whole new level to the foolishness that occurred.

Children should be taught firearm handling and safety by their parents and in their schools from the time they begin to be capable of taking serious instruction. Had this Sanchez fellow been given such instruction, this event would never have happened.

State and federal law seems to be designed not to preserve and protect individual rights, but rather to protect idiots like this Sanchez kid from his own stupidity--to protect us all from ourselves.

It will not work. But it will destroy our liberty.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

FCC: Protecting Our Ears From Evil Words

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, in a divided decision, said that the U.S. Federal Communications Commission was "arbitrary and capricious" in setting a new standard for defining indecency." Says a Reuters story, sending the recent "arbitrary and capricious" standards for defining decency back to the unConstitutional Federal Communications Commission for clarification.

Republican FCC Chairman Kevin Martin angrily retorted that he found it "hard to believe that the New York court would tell American families that 'shit' and 'fuck' are fine to say on broadcast television during the hours when children are most likely to be in the audience."

"If we can't restrict the use (of the two obscenities) during prime time, Hollywood will be able to say anything they want, whenever they want," Martin said in a statement.

Oh, my!! Wouldn't that be awful. People could say anything they want! We certainly can't have that!

I think I'm gonna be sick!

Hollywood says a lot of obscene things already, many of which have nary an "obscene" word within. The obscenity of most of their theses and philosophical/political comments are only exceeded by their internal stupidity.

That's ok;. Each and every one of us has a brain containing the potential for rational thought and critical analysis. Every tv set has an off switch and a channel selector.

Where the evil lies, and where the FCC becomes an immorally coercive organization, is in the fact that the US Constitution makes no allowance for government regulation of speech and expression, and the First Amendment to the Constitution, in the Bill of Rights, specifically forbids it.

The FCC is a rogue department of a vastly overinflated federal government. All government officials who advocate its continuance and/or don't act to eliminate this assault on free speech are in violation of their oaths of office and should be removed from office and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Colonel Hogan
Stalag California