Let Them Eat Sprouts

One of the reasons, I guess, that I stay in El Pueblo de Los Angeles is the drama. Home of Hollywood, Surf City, Beverly Hills and the famous San Fernando Valley, LA seems to be the place from which all the nuttiness that sweeps the world springs. It's hip! it's happenin'!

It also seems to be the fount of all the big government meddling scams that sweep the several state capitals and, finally, Washington DC.

• The anti-air pollution movement? started in LA.
• Hippies? Right here.
• Anti-nuclear power? LA, again.
• Freeways? LA.
• Smoking bans in bars? El Pueblo.
• Chain cosmetic surgery? Our own Beverly Hills.
• Health food craze? Still, LA.
• Anti-obesity? See above.
  

The list could go on, but I'll be merciful.

This time it's the LA City Council. I don't think anyone other than a far-left loon could get elected to the LA City Council even if he got to count the votes.

This last, the anti-obesity thing, is the excuse the LA feudal lords and....no, calling them ladies would be way too much stretch....for calling a moratorium on fast food in South-Central LA. See the sordid story here.

It used to be called South-Central. In yet another moronic move by the City Council a few years ago, 'twas decided that changing the name of the district from South-Central LA to simply South LA, would wholly change the character from a poor, crime-ridden racial ghetto to a pleasant, tree-lined suburb. Well, it's still a poor, crime-ridden racial ghetto. And, it's still called South-Central by nearly everyone but the LA City Council.

They won't actually do anything about the street crime, because it might offend someone.

Businesses won't relocate or set up branches in South-Central because they'll be vandalized and robbed, and there are relatively few buyers and employable workers there.

There is, however, no shortage of fast food stores and liquor stores.

The sages at City Council have, at times, threatened to close down the liquor stores, as if that constitutes a cure for alcoholism. In the linked story, they apply the same (none dare call it) logic to repair the largely imaginary obesity problem.

Yet, a majority of those misguided individuals who vote for City Councilfolk keep returning these incredibly dysfunctional idjits to the Council term after term. They do nothing but make speeches that say nothing, dedicate horribly tasteless art projects at municipal parks and buildings and call for higher taxes.

In the dreamworld in which a Ruth's Chris will open at Crenshaw and Imperial, who in that neighborhood will have a hundred fifty dollars or so to treat his date to a steak dinner. Well, there are several crack sellers that might, but they spend their leisure time on Rodeo Drive or in Westwood. Nobody'll open a Ruth's Chris in South Central.

It'll be Church's and McDonald's for most of those folks--not that I think there's anything wrong with them--even if they have to take a bus to Inglewood for it. That is, until that same dreamworld City Council lightens up on their tax load so they can afford to improve themselves.

All government can do is take things away.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Nation of the Flies

I often wonder what the world will be like a century from now, or even twenty years along. I'm observing that the government children's prison system and the media are seem to be doing everything they can imagine to keep children from full adulthood--by de-emphasizing the need for personal responsibility and critical thinking, and many other activities to which man (in Dirty Lab lingo, man is an abbreviation of human, which is a species of critter that has a female sex--woman--and a male sex--man--and is inclusive) must attend if he's to even begin to fulfill his potential. One can only conclude that the individuals who operate these institutions want to see mankind stunted and mentally/psychologically crippled to remain a sort of world of children throughout their lives.

Another trait these elitists are trying to destroy is that of defiance. As I've mentioned in the past, the only reason for this is that the elitists want a subdued, compliant populace to follow quietly along the elitists' path toward a new feudalism. Most of us are already in the mindset of serfdom already, after decades of conditioning and propagandizing. We can see it wherever we go.

Since the children's prisons seem to be teaching mainly compliance and subservience. Any teaching of that which is necessary for children to become adults must come from the parents. In addition, it has to be hoped that there's some spark of individualism left with the parents, they already having been bathed in humanity-robbing propaganda during their own school years. One bit of evidence that young people are failing to reach adulthood is the relatively common phenomenon of adult children living in their parents' homes well into legal adulthood--presumably with their teddy bears.

The failings of many of today's parents include the inability or lack of desire to:

• Teach their children the work ethic.
• Teach critical thinking.
• Teach time management.
• Be parents.
• Teach children to dress properly.
• Teach children common courtesy.
• Teach them to defend themselves.
  

Many parents fail to allow their children to learn for themselves by:

• Never allowing them to be alone.
• Never letting them set their own goals.
• Never letting them achieve their goals on their own.
• Never letting them achieve self reliance.
• Never letting them have adventures.

Or even:

• Letting them walk to the places they go.
• Letting them go to a public rest room by themselves.
  
• Letting them go to summer camp without their cell phones.
• Letting them find work, earn money and spend it as they will, on their own.

I became a streetcorner newsie when I was ten. It was wonderful, having my own money.

Years ago, I had a job in which I hired kids. I'm not sure if that could still happen today. I tried to instill in them responsibility and pride in a job well done. I tried to teach them to make change properly--something the children's prison hadn't done. We didn't have cash registers with pictures on the keys in gas stations back then.

They'll have kids of their own by now. I hope a little of what I tried to teach stuck.

The road to serfdom is all downhill.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Chimp Made A Monkey Out Of The Zookeeper

I don't think I ever saw anything so pathetic--or funny--in my life......well maybe, but not recently.

According to a story on Metro.co.uk, with video having been shown on tv news programs everywhere, a chimp stepped out of his cage, which was left open. This happened in the Ishikawa Zoo in Japan. A zookeeper with a trank dart gum went to subdue the chimp, and this is where everything went wrong.

The zookeeper looked like he's never held (much less fired) a gun of any kind in his entire life. He didn't know how to hold it or aim it. He was afraid to fire it. He didn't have a good grip on it.

Now, believe me when I tell you, this stuff can't be made up. As the venerable Mort Sahl used to say, "The true stuff is the funny stuff."

The wily 42-year-old chimp reached down and took it away from him. The chimp simply dropped it to the ground but I, truth be known, was hoping he'd shoot the stupid zookeeper with it. It'd do the little idiot a lot of good, to take a long enforced nap. Perhaps he'd wake up realizing that he'd better learn how to do his job.

Now, I know Japan has no history of the use of firearms, with the exception of those few years leading up to and including WWII. This fellow is far too young for that.

Perhaps they're having problems with quality in Japan's children's prisons, too.

The inmates are taking over the asylum.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The International War On Hunger

So I'm watching Fox News, more listening than watching the continuing coverage of the comments of various thieves, power-mad politicos and pundits about the untimely death of Tony Snow. Snow was one of the nicer and smarter DC denizens, even despite the fact that he'd fallen in with a bad crowd. Compared to most of the thugs that inhabit Washington DC, he seemed to stand out as an honest, intelligent and rational individual (to the extent of my observation).

But, the passing of Mr Snow isn't what I'm writing about, today.

One of the thievin' thugs being interviewed by the Fox News talking head was Mike Huckabee, one of the unsuccessful Republican candidates for the party's nomination for President. Despite a few areas of grudging agreement, I'm happy that he didn't get the nomination.

Somehow, like most Republicans, Huckabee waxed altruistic (is it altruism when a man wants to give away money stolen from others? Of course it is!), and applauded the notion of the federal government "helping" in the fight against world hunger.

There are many problems with this idea, none of which will be addressed in the rush to take more and more money out of the control of those who produced it, and giving it to those who produce nothing.

• The entire notion of forcing goods from their producers to give to non-producers destroys the philosophically required principle, and very American tradition, of one's right to one's life and the products of that life.
• There is no Constitutional justification for "foreign aid" of any kind--in fact, the founders warned us in their writings about avoiding foreign entanglements.
• Much of the money stolen from its producers will end up in the pockets of American politicians and bureaucrats, rather than the hungry people we're (sneeringly) told are to benefit.
• Almost all the rest of the money will help fill the private bank accounts of the dictators in the countries whose people would supposedly help.
• The few truckloads of actual food to be given to the hungry people will exist mainly to provide photo opportunities for the partially complicit and/or very gullible world news media.

Huckabee is an evangelical preacher, and hence a class I altruist, whose altruistic ardor has led him to the other half of the Dark Side--politics. All the faith and force you can imagine, all wrapped up in one somewhat charismatic fellow. Given his deepest wishes, he'd have all of our hard-won production at his disposal--not for himself, mind, but for the ever growing numbers of others. Not that he'll stint on his own creature comforts, of course.

They never do.

What has to be done to end world hunger is to make the parts of the world in which poverty runs rampant become productive. That requires freedom. It requires recognition of the individual's right to his life and the products thereof.

That's not the prerogative of the federal government of the various United States. It falls to the people in the areas affected to right things for themselves--though interested individuals might find ways to help.

The world is smothering itself in an orgy of altruism.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Sambo's: Murdered By Overly Sensitive Victocrats

A blog entry at TF Stern's Rantings reminded me of a pancake house I used to frequent back in the early 1970's. Sambo's. I don't remember what their lunch and dinner menus were like, but I do recall that their breakfasts were very good and not terribly expensive.

Stern's rant comes as a result of a couple of incredibly stupid Dallas politicians (who are black, and apparently of the racist persuasion) who took offense at the fact that ".....someone said the county's collections office, Central Collections, has become a black hole." Better these thievin' bureaucrats should quit raping the productive residents of Dallas than make silly racial connections.

It brings to mind the true tale me of the equally moronic Washington bureaucrat who took offense at the use of the word "niggardly."

Stern wisely recalled the fact that the children's book Little Black Sambo has been pulled off the shelves of the libraries of most (if not all) government children's prisons because of the complaints of other stupid, overly sensitive black racists, in spite of the fact that the story is very complementary of the intelligence of the protagonist (who happens to be black).

Having read Stern's entry brought the late Sambo's to mind. Sambo's had about 1200 restaurants in 47 states by 1979. After the bad press caused by these bigoted individuals, and after various moves in the attempt to save the firm, Sambo's went bankrupt in 1981 and soon disappeared from the American landscape.

Well, I just learned the news: there is still one Sambo's left. It's the first and only remaining store, is located in Santa Barbara, and is owned by the grandson of one of the founders of the firm.

I guess I'll have to make it a deliberate place to visit every time I happen to be in Santa Barbara.

It takes better men to build than it does to destroy.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

I Can't Drive 55!

The 55mph national speed limit has once again reared its ugly head, and once again, it's leftists, in the guise of algorians, wearing their frightful mask. As one of the many unworkable plans to keep American oil companies from actually adding to the available petroleum supply, including solar power (which is still in its primitive stages,and will be for years to come) and windmill generators (which kill large numbers of birds and are too unsightly to be employed along the Massachusetts coastline) algorians now suggest that we "save" our existing, largely imported oil supplies by driving slower.

That's the "solution" the leftists of the day tried to apply to the government manufactured gasoline shortages of the Jimma Carter years--even more evidence that a B Hussein Obama Presidency will be Carter's second term.

There were many problems with the 55mph speed limit back then.

• The US Constitution has no language to allow a mandated national speed limit.
• No one observed that speed limit anyway.
• Cross-country driving took much longer than necessary.
• The cost of transporting goods by truck increased.
• State and local governments used the speed limit as a cash cow, stepping up enforcement to help fill government coffers.
• Commuters' drive time was increased, lengthening the time of their exposure to possible collisions and breakdowns.

It's an easily observable fact that Guber Schwarzengroper is looking for ways to lessen the state's deficit without actually cutting spending. CHP is already leaving non-injury collision victims to duke it out for themselves while they write citations. Thanks to a relatively new law allowing the doubling of fines for traffic violations in construction zones, virtually all of the Stalag has become a construction zone.

Two cities I spend a lot of time in, driving, are Culver City and El Pueblo de Los Angeles. There's no question that they've stepped up traffic enforcement. Parking enforcement is a growth industry, as well. Lovely Rita is working overtime.

LAPD sets up a ticket factory a couple of times a week near my work area, and CCPD has a truck checkpoint they set up, complete with portable scales, once or twice a month.

What's next? A 40 mph speed limit? Freeway bicycle lanes? Increased license fees for vehicles with engines of over a liter (61 cubic inches, in American) displacement? The algorians really want to see us looking under rocks for food.

Anything at all, to avoid the rational solution: Drill now, drill here and drill fast!

Drill, ye tarriers, drill!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

What Once Was and What Might Be Redone, Better

Two hundred thirty-two years (and two days) ago today, arguably the greatest political document in history was ratified in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I was contemplating a well-crafted, scathing reminder of our lost freedom (anybody who still thinks America is a free country, I have a parcel of beach front property in Chad I'll sell you) when I stumbled across this article the freedom-oriented newspage, Freedom's Phoenix. Since L Neil Smith, freedom writer emeritus, says what I want to say far better than I can, here's the link.

Nonetheless, I celebrate Independence Day with more attention and reflection than any other of America's scheduled holidays. I miss fireworks. I don't attend those public fireworks shows--a poor substitute for neighbors touching off various types of rockets, fire showers and pinwheels in the street, together--although sometimes I see them from afar. As with most things, Disney does it better.

Each year, I reread the Declaration of Independence and marvel at the man, Thomas Jefferson and many of his contemporaries.

How great is this land, America, and how much greater it might have been!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California