Riddle Me This.....

I got the following in an email from a friend, who prefers to remain anonymous. In many cases, I wouldn't regard this sort of thing important--just amusing--but there are a few reasons why I modify my view in this case. I'll comment further after you've read the riddle.

I was born in one country, raised in another. My father was born in another country. I was not his only child. He fathered several children with numerous women. I became very close to my mother, as my father showed no interest in me. My mother died at an early age from cancer.

Later in life, questions arose over my real name. My birth records were sketchy and no one was able to produce a legitimate, reliable birth certificate. I grew up practicing one faith but converted to Christianity, as it was widely accepted in my country, but I practiced non-traditional beliefs and didn't follow Christianity, except in the public eye under scrutiny.

I worked and lived among lower-class people as a young adult, disguising myself as someone who really cared about them. That was before I decided it was time to get serious about my life and I embarked on a new career.

I wrote a book about my struggles growing up. It was clear to those who read my memoirs that I had difficulties accepting that my father abandoned me as a child.

I became active in local politics in my 30's then with help behind the scenes, I literally burst onto the scene as a candidate for national office in my 40s. They said I had a golden tongue and could talk anyone into anything. That reinforced my conceit. I had a virtually non-existent resume, little work history, and no experience in leading a single organization. Yet I was a powerful speaker and citizens were drawn to me as though I were a magnet and they were small roofing tacks.

I drew incredibly large crowds during my public appearances. This bolstered my ego. At first, my political campaign focused on my country's foreign policy. I was very critical of my country in the last war and seized every opportunity to bash my country. But what launched my rise to national prominence were my views on the country's economy. I pretended to have a really good plan on how we could do better and every poor person would be fed and housed for free.

I knew which group was responsible for getting us into this mess. It was the free market, banks and corporations. I decided to start making citizens hate them and if they were envious of others who did well, the plan was clinched tight.

I called mine "A People's Campaign" and that sounded good to all people. I was the surprise candidate because I emerged from outside the traditional path of politics and was able to gain widespread popular support.

I knew that, if I merely offered the people 'hope' , together we could change our country and the world. So, I started to make my speeches sound like they were on behalf of the downtrodden, poor, ignorant to include "persecuted minorities" like the Jews. My true views were not widely known and I needed to keep them unknown, until after I became my nation's leader.

I had to carefully guard reality, as anybody could have easily found out what I really believed, if they had simply read my writings and examined those people I associated with. I'm glad they didn't. Then I became the most powerful man in the world. And the world learned the truth.

Who am I?



ADOLF HITLER.

WHO WERE YOU THINKING OF?

The parallels are very striking, though as I wrote above, I wouldn't normally attach much real-world importance to it.

The true importance here lies in the deception practiced by the supposed writer of the tract, which is very similar to many of the deceptive words and acts of certain candidates for public office in the here and now (and recent).

Bill Clinton was never forthcoming with his medical records, tax records or many other areas of his past while running for President of the US. He constantly lied about his personal philosophical and political tenets and the plans and policies he intended to put in place after he achieved office.

Hillory Clinton actively hid (and as far as I know, continues to hide) her university writings and papers, and also lied continually about her political philosophy while running both for the office of Senator, and in the Presidential Primary campaign.

B Hussein Obama has been even more secretive about his origins (his certified birth certificate has still not been made available) and the full extent of his hatred for the builders and achievers that make America stand out as the world's standard of liberty and a high standard of living is only now coming to light in the manner of his early pronouncements.

Look for the announcement of a scapegoat as these policies fail.

And look for further parallels between today's America and yesterday's Germany.

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." -Santayana

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Pulling Together As a Team (Of Really Stupid Oxen)

I knew he was going to do it. It was inevitable. It's been done by every petty dictator since the beginning of time.

Do what?

Today, in his phony State of the Union Speech....or was it a practice State of the Union Speech? Or was it yet another step down the short, steep slide into national socialism?

He played the "shared sacrifice" card. The only persons that play the "shared sacrifice" card are dictators. George W Bush did it. As did Jimma Carter. Add Bill Clinton to the list, along with Richard Nixon and Franklin Roosevelt. I could come up with a long, long list of dictators from other countries and times that fit into this category, who were, in their time and place, responsible for diminishing the enjoyment of the lives of their subjects, who were guilty of impoverishing them and murdering millions.

There are a few reasons why the above mentioned American dictators have been unable to wreak the same kind of havoc as have those dictators of other lands and times. Oh, wait! Some of them actually have. We all remember, or have heard/read about the wars in which these dictators involved innocent Americans.

Shared Sacrifice.

Isn't it funny how we all have to share the "sacrifice," but the dictators, and their henchmen, never seem to sacrifice anything.

Well, Mr Obama, bring on the pain. We can handle it. Again.

Maybe one of these days, when we're poor enough, and hungry enough, we'll remember that, as America's best ever President said, that "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

People should not be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of the people.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Emancipation Proclamation, Disassembled

I've seen this strip before, but today my pal KC reminded me of it. It's a graphic version of Friedrich A Hayek's book, The Road to Serfdom. It was originally published in Look Magazine not long after the end of WWII.

It looks like not too many people read that issue......

The strip takes on additional meaning in the light of our new charismatic empty suit. B Hussein Obama seems to have won the hearts (they certainly don't use their brains) of the airhead entertainers, surfer bums and welfare queens with his promise of a free home in every garage, and free money to buy their pot.

Chickens tend to come home to roost, though, and so do unpaid debts. When it's realized that Caesar can't run the printing presses forever, and eventually, we'll need a better Plan. If the plan turns off the money spigot, the welfare queens won't like it. And, well, the rest of the story won't be fun to experience.

Better to stop this drift into cannibalism now, while there's still a memory of the America that once was. Find the graphic The Road to Serfdom here.

People shouldn't be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum: TWC reminds me that the graphic strip was first published as a booklet as a part of General Motors' Thought Starter Series, then was published in Look Magazine.

Lies, Damned Lies And Filthy Lies

Yesterday, Guber Schwarzengroper was heard to say, "The budget problems plaguing Colliefornia are caused by the worldwide monetary crisis." (May not be a precise quote, but it's close.)

That, Ahnold, is a filthy lie. Colliefornia's budget problems go back for decades, and are exacerbated by each guber in his turn. Ahnold, your predecessor was recalled for overspending, and you've spent much, much more than he.

I don't want to leave out the State Legislature, as irrational a gang of thieves as can be seen this side of Washington DC.

The Stalag's War on Productivity is the real cause of most of Our fiscal woes. If the state would deregulate and cut taxes, entrepreneurial money would flow into the state in a flood, and the state would not only need less money, but would have more.

Much of this is not addressed by Michael Kaminski in his editorial comment in WSJ.com yesterday. While he recognizes that der Guber had a rare opportunity to bring some bit of responsibility to the Colliefornia tax-and-spend system, he cuts Ahnold quite a bit of line by suggesting that he was stopped at his first attempt--the ill fated popular referendum which would've imposed a "hard state spending cap, limit the unions' political buying power, tighten requirements for teacher tenure, and overhaul a gerrymandered state political map."

An ambitious first step, perhaps too sweeping for most of Colliefornia's short-attention-span entertainers, surfer bums and welfare queens, but it would've been better than worse. Perhaps one issue at a time might've been better.

After this single beating by the very large Colliefornia airhead caucus, macho man Ahnold spontaneously transformed himself into girlie-man Ahnold and slinked off to hide behind Maria's skirts. He metamorphosed into Algore while no one was looking.

While I'll freely admit that Ahnold wasn't wholly at fault--really, most of the blame goes deservedly to the Colliefornia State Legislature--he was the one, as Kaminski states, with the political capital who, with a tiny bit of clever posturing with the public and a small amount of ability to roll with the punch and emerge on his feet, could've succeeded in bringing the state budget back into a surplus situation.

He simply gave up the capital and decided he wanted to be liked. And like every other conservative or semi0-conservative in recent decades, he's still not liked by the left.

And Colliefornia is becoming France. As my pal The Wine Commonsewer might say, "we even have the top quality wine!"

There will be a number of ballot measures that, if passed, will seal our fates as wards of the state. They will be on ballot in a special election in May. Of course, those of us into self preservation will vote against them all. The only question will be whether there are more airhead entertainers, surfer bums and welfare queens--who actually vote--to lift another 10% or so of our earnings and transfer them into their pockets.

The Colliefornia Children's Prison System against those of us who think.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Guber Schwarzengroper, You're Fired!

A couple of weeks ago, an essay by L Neil Smith in The Libertarian Enterprise planted an idea in my mind. After a short germination, I wrote on my facebook page a quip to the effect that I'm ready to sign a recall petition to remove Guber Schwarzenegger from office. Some months ago, the state's prison guard union attempted a recall petition though: In spite of all the union's attorneys, the petition proved to be, according to the Guber's Attorney General, improperly formatted and thus thrown out of consideration.

I don't know what was the real reason behind the recall, but I would've signed it for the same reasons as those I hold now: He campaigned on a platform of cutting spending, cutting taxes and fiscal responsibility. After a couple of minor defeats by the state Legislature, he backed off, reversed course and started signing spending bills to a degree only dreamed of by his recalled predecessor, Grey Davis.

Today, it has occurred to me that Guber Schwarzenegger really should be removed from office. Once a very successful actor, he has reduced himself to sell-put, liar, cheat and thief. I've posted a group on my facebook page to that effect. Since I have no political expertise, and little money to invest in such an endeavor, I have no idea how far this will go. Or how much of myself I'm willing to invest in such a (ideally) needless pursuit.

People like the Guber should never be elected to political office. If more Californians made themselves economically and politically literate, they never would be.

People shouldn't be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Spoiled Brat in the White House

We all might have heard it it on Friday. It was on many tv stations--more than his predecessor typically got. I watched/listened to part of it, but who can actually listen to a thievin' politician's blather for more than a minute or two? A fairly good AP article can be found on Yahoo news here.

Seems the new Messiah has decided to combat the ill effects of nearly a century of deficit spending by doubling the spending(!). We "little people" know (even if we don't always follow the knowledge) that, if you run short of cash, you curtail spending until a more financially favorable equilibrium is reached. Obviously one of the qualifications for the job of President of the United States is that you be unaware of this fact.

Every President (rhetoric aside) in the past hundred years, with the willing collaboration of Congress, has engaged in, and touted the benefits of, deficit spending. The national debt climbs every year (with very few exceptions) and has been climbing like the fallacious global warming "hockey stick" in recent years. B Hussein promises to bring the handle of the hockey stick to near-vertical.

Obama has decided, after reading the Keynes book, How to Destroy a National Economy, to throw away a trillion dollars on wasteful bailouts of failed corporations and pork barrel spending on projects no sane entrepreneur would touch.

Pools are starting up all over the world as to when the bailed out corporations (corpses) will need to be bailed out again. Several of the pools were started up too late. Several failed financial institutions are about to receive further infusions of phantom federal money, having spent the first gift of billions on parties, retreats and bonuses.

The Republicans in the House (many of them) followed the Democrats like sheep. The Republicans in the Senate balked. No one has challenged the Keynes book, or the new Caesar's nonsensical assertions that this will be of benefit to Americans.

It will not.

But the Republicans in the Senate did, at least, vote against this preposterous construct.

Hence Caesar's foot stomping tantrum Friday, during the speech that followed his violin lesson. He screamed that "we don't want to let them (the Republicans) define us." Sorry, Your Majesty, but you've already defined yourselves--as economic morons and petulant thieves. I thought the Boomers were the spoiled brats of the 21st Century, but you children of the Flower Children have learned your "world owes us a living" lessons well.

We know from fifty years of recent history that the thing Republican office holders do best is fold under pressure, and I'm expecting that this will be no exception. The only question here becomes: Were republicans born spineless, or was the spine part of the payment for achieving office?

Unlike many, I don't think our children and grandchildren will have to pay these debts. I don't think they'll have the money. Well, check that: the ultimate repudiation of the national debt will likely be accompanied by another world war at which our descendants will pay the debt in blood and lives.

With states following very similar fiscal paths, I seriously expect that the face of the once-free country in which we live will be radically altered in our own lifetimes.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The American Leftist

I try very hard not to refer to leftists as liberals. First of all, I hate following the herd. Second, look! Thomas Paine was a liberal. Ben Franklin was a liberal. Thomas Jefferson was a liberal. These men are heroes of mine. And B Hussein Obama, you ain't no Thomas Jefferson.

Today's leftist is a very different animal. He begs for tolerance, yet he is intolerant to the absolute of any individual who lives to any degree by means of reason. He tolerates lying, stealing, interpersonal irresponsibility and sexual abuse to a very severe degree as long as it's a crony or a potential leftist voter doing it.

Bill Clinton was known to have many episodes of sexual misconduct in his past (and probably also in his present), yet these were tolerated and forgiven by all leftist feminist groups and, incredibly, by his wife (who has her own issues with power madness).

Yet, if a conservative has an affair, he's hounded by the left until he leaves public life.

Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor, "while acting as former President Clinton's designated representative to the commission investigating the attacks of September 11, 2001, illegally took confidential documents from the Archives on more than one occasion. He folded documents in his clothes, snuck them out of the Archives building, and stashed them under a construction trailer nearby until he could return, retrieve them, and later cut them up. After he was caught, he lied to the investigators and tried to shift blame to Archive employees."
--quoted from Real Clear Politics here.

Suspicion by Archives employees led to the discovery of Mr Berger's thefts, though in the end, Berger received a very light slap on the wrist and the left caused the entire episode to fade from public attention.

Where were the media's investigative reporters, such as Woodward and Bernstein? Hiding under the bed. Had they shown equal professional laziness during Nixon's crime time, he would've served out his second term and gone down in history as the poor to mediocre President he was, rather than having been hounded out of office.

Recent months, President B Hussein Obama has been promising a "transparent" Administration. Yet, news media members not of the leftist persuasion are being shoved "to the back of the bus" by Administration employees and in a recent case, manhandled while trying to ask a question of newly-appointed head of the CIA, Leon Panetta.

So much for transparency in Washington.

The new President said in a speech a couple of days ago that "his office door is always open." With that, I'm wondering if I walk into the White House intent 'pon going to the Oval Office to ask the President a question, how close will I get before I'm physically restrained.

Meanwhile, B Hussein rescinded the permits to search for oil granted by his predecessor--though I've searched through the US Constitution to find the mandate granting the Executive Branch the task of allowing or disallowing the exploiting of mineral resources within US territorial control, and been unable to find any such mandate--and we observe the price of gasoline is once again beginning to inch upward.

I don't think I'll have to wait long for the stories (not to be covered in the major leftist news media) of abuses, distortions, lies, usurpations, crimes and cover-ups to begin to unfold, and then be dismissed and excused by the left.

The left will be ever so tolerant.....except of any criticism of the left.

People shouldn't be afraid of their governments; governments should be afraid of their people.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Another Great American Hero (from England)

I'm just starting to read Christopher Hitchens' 2006 book Thomas Paine's Rights of Man. I regard Paine as one of my revolutionary heroes since having read his The Rights of Man some time ago.

In the early pages of Hitchens' book, I find reference to a parody of the British National Anthem, the melody of which is the same as our My Country 'Tis of Thee. According to Hitchens, the words to the parody were penned in 1771 by Joseph Mather, a radical file-maker from Sheffield.

The words to the parody are as follows:

God save great Thomas Paine,
His 'Rights of Man' explain
To every soul.
He makes the blind to see
What dupes and slaves they be,
And points out liberty
From pole to pole.

Thousands cry 'Church and King'
That well deserve to swing,
All must allow:
Birmingham blush for shame,
Manchester do the same
Infamous is your name,
Patriots vow.

Pull proud oppressors down,
Knock off each tyrant's crown,
And break his sword;
Down aristocracy,
Set up democracy,
And from hypocrisy
Save us good Lord.

Why should despotic pride
Usurp on every side?
Let us be free:
Grant freedom's arms success,
And all her efforts bless,
Plant through the universe
Liberty's Tree.

Facts are seditious things
When they touch courts and kings,
Armies are raised,
Barracks and Bastilles built,
Innocence charged with guilt,
Blood most unjustly spilt,
God stands amazed.

Despots may howl and yell,
Though they're in league with hell
They'll not reign long;
Satan may lead the van,
And do the worst he can,
Paine and his 'Rights of Man'
Shall be my song.

It's fairly easy for anyone to see that these lyrics fit today's burgeoning dictatorship in America, perhaps even more than they did that of George III, in the late 18th century--just as does Jefferson's Declaration of Independence.

We don't find any of this taught in the government children's prisons, either in the United States or in Britain. I seriously doubt if Mr Paine is anything more than a name mentioned in the footnotes of some American History texts, if at all. It's a necessity that if we ever wish to recover the liberty that once was, much less improve 'pon it, we must understand what was given us by those who once built the road to freedom, in order to clear it once again.

Those who don't remember the mistakes of the past are doomed to repeat them.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California