Health Care, Even If It Kills

The one thing He-Who Shall-Not-Be-Named has promised that he intends to fulfill (even if it costs him reelection) is health care. He intends to fulfill it even if it trashes all his other campaign promises. You know, the promise not to raise taxes on the poor, to improve on GWB's economy, etc.

He wants a health care bill passed even if it costs the consumer more than the current system, if the health care deteriorates, if medical innovation becomes impossible, if care of the aged becomes a death gulag, if physicians and other health care workers resign their careers and even if doctors become witch doctors with their bleeding lancets, leeches and multi-colored rattles and feather headdresses.

It no longer matters what's in the health care bill, as long as it is big, thick and says Health Care on the cover page. It no longer matters whether or not it bankrupts the country or that it kills more than it saves. It has to be passed.

It's becoming clear that up to 20% of physicians will quit or retire if this bill passes. Some already have done so because of the heavy government and insurance regulations and reporting requirements mandated in recent times. Imagine how that will increase as government takes over the whole of the medical industry!

Prepare for a massive black market, in which real care and medicines will only available by word of mouth and with hard cash on the barrel head.

We have to do something--anything--even if it's wrong!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

C'mon! Let's Be Real!

I'm hearing all the standard moaning and groaning about the death of Ted Kennedy, and the recriminations against those who point out the many dangerous, irresponsible and downright evil things he's done. Don't speak ill of the dead.

I'm not going to attempt to list all the nasty and damaging things done by this man in life; it would make this entry unreadable in its sheer length. Nor will I attempt to list the relatively few good things in his legacy.

I'll rather address the fact that his admirers and partisans, deluded as they may be, are trying to suppress mention and comment on the man's many failings. Leaving aside the drunkenness and the philandering; the reckless partying that led to (at least) one death, he has been a parasite 'pon all those of us who actually work productively, and has diminished us all throughout his life.

As a Senator from one of the most politically corrupt states in the country, he has worked tirelessly for decades to separate earnings from those who work productively. Simultaneously, he has tried to leave no means unutilized to harass and shackle those who would be productive and innovative.

If there has ever been a tax hike Kennedy has opposed, I've never heard of it. If Kennedy has ever stood up against the excesses of a teachers' union or an industrial union, it has slipped right past me. If Kennedy has ever stood up for the rights of the individual, it's never been recorded.

That I've been able to find.

Kennedy, like all socialists, was an expert at piling individuals into groups, and pitting each group against the others for his own aggrandizement.

But if Ted Kennedy's death ends his personal tapping of the country's wealth, even that will help. Sadly, he will soon be replaced by another just like him, and a once-free country will continue to sink into the dark hole that is national socialism.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Reasons To Fear B Hussein Obama

I guess I stepped away from politics for a while, out of utter disgust for the speed with which the once free United States are being thrust into collectivism by one one would be dictator after another. Not only is the slope slippery, but it's getting steeper, fast!

The Patriot Depot, from whom I bought a couple of Gadsden-style car window flags, has brought a well-written letter to my attention. It's an open letter to B Hussein from Lou Pritchett, a former vice president at Proctor & Gamble. The letter pretty well captures many of my thoughts about the most dumbed down national election in US history, and the absolutely hideous results thereof. Have your blood pressure medicine handy while you read it.

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America, and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and "class," always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the "blame America" crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer "wind mills" to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use "extortion" tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Reillys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

I don't know if this will hit you the way it hit me, but it pretty well covers all the bases--until I find more. It looks like a rough four (let's work to see that it's not eight) years, boys and girls. Hide your valuables and keep your powder dry!

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Hidden Bonus In This Election

This past weekend, John & Ken, a pair of local talkers on KFI-AM radio in El Pueblo de Los Angeles, held a party/protest out at Tom's Farms, a sort of farmer's market complex outside of Corona, Calif. It was a protest against Guber Schwarzengroper's tax & spend referenda 'pon which some of us voted yesterday. The set of referenda were sniggeringly sold as a way to help balance Stalag California's budget, but would really have served to hand billions more dollars to the Stalag's administrators to wantonly spend on wasteful things the embattled residents of the state neither want nor need.

Reports from The Wine Commonsewer and others indicated that it was a good-natured (if angry) group of protesters as much making fun of the Guber's (and the state legislators') actions as being critical. It seems to have worked, since the event got a fair amount of media coverage and helped point much of the voting portion of the Stalag's population toward fiscal good sense (for a change). The worst five of the six referenda were defeated resoundingly.

Guber Schwarzengroper just happened to be in Washington DC, home of the slickest and most accomplished thieves and murderers our nation can manage to produce, hat in hand, begging for Mr. Thompson President Obama to loot the other forty-nine states and give him the money. The trip had the added bonus of placing the Guber farther from the humiliation of having lost again.

We're all, those of us with even the least regard for our personal well-being and some small amount of pride in our ability to produce and our desire to live independently, are pleased that more and more people are beginning to understand that the looters will take all of your money if they aren't stopped. These insatiable parasites will never be satisfied until they've starved their hosts to death and then will go looking for more.

Michael Chrichton once observed, within the pages of his marvelous novel, Andromeda Strain, that a successful parasite never takes so much from his host that the host's life is endangered. An unsuccessful parasite kills its host by his greed, finally endangering the parasite himself, which must then quickly find another host before he, himself, starves.

Boys and girls, the state is rapidly becoming an unsuccessful parasite.

My congratulations and thanks go out to all who fought, voted against, and ultimately defeated this round of foolishness.

And thanks to John and Ken for making a lot of noise, saying the right things at the right time.

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Facebook, Your Agenda Is Showing!

Rep. Jeff Flake (R Ariz), who appears to have been named after his personality, has been selling himself as a fiscal conservative, bordering 'pon libertarianism, for longer than I've known of him (a couple of years or so). He has been hyped as being tight-fisted with taxpayer dollars and has signed on to the Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge and who says on his website “[t]he last thing this economy needs is a tax hike."

Some of the conservatives on my friends list on facebook recommended adding him, which I did. Not paying a lot of attention to politicians, I didn't think much about Flake until I read this article on Freedom's Phoenix about his having introduced a carbon tax bill, and realized he's just another spineless, tax-and-spend socialist like everyone else in Washington DC. Now, I ll have to remove him from my friends list and write on the blackboard 10,000 times, "I will never believe a lying sack-of-shit politician again!"

Apparently Flake has signed onto the algorian notion (which is to say, psychotically ludicrous notion) that carbon, 'pon which our very own bodies are based, is a pollutant. Algorians are, of course, self-hating fools, but writing this nonsense into law is suicidal!

Well, I made that decision many years ago, but I have a severe weakness of trusting people too much. I just momentarily forgot that Flake is, first and foremost, a thievin' politician and once one goes down that road, one can never come back. Am I disillusioned? Maybe a little. It's unfortunate, though, that one is disillusioned hundreds, if not thousands of times in a lifetime. You get used to it.

The reason I entitled this entry for facebook is that I wrote a somewhat scathing message (no profanity) to Flake's facebook page, then watched it disappear from the screen. That tells me that the fine folks at facebook are good with an all-powerful, ever growing government. But hell, who isn't? Just us couple of million libertarians trying to fly under the Luftwaffe radar.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,
Col. Hogan

Plenty of Money For Guns, None to Fix the Ravaged Streets

For months we here in and around El Pueblo de Los Angeles have been regaled by Antonio Vinaigrette, el alcalde, with his song of woe regarding the city's financial shortfall--never once blaming himself for his dozens of wasteful and useless programs. Listen to any local news broadcast and you'll hear of proposals to cut programs--never the useless ones which give millions to people whose main characteristic is that they don't feel like working for a living, but rather to lay off teachers and police officers.

Laying off a few of the useless layers of management and administration is never suggested, but just those who do the work--however poorly.

Drive the length of Wilshire Boulevard , if you dare. Everywhere along its length--from downtown to the Miracle Mile financial district to wealthy Westwood and on into wealthier Brentwood, and you'll find yourself bouncing and banging about like a medieval farmer in an oxcart over a cobble road, fighting to miss the bigger and deeper potholes and rough, poorly done patch jobs.

There are a couple of exceptions: As one drives to the west, he'll eventually find himself entering the city of Beverly Hills. It's easy to tell you're entering Beverly Hills. Suddenly Wilshire Boulevard is a smooth, asphalted throughway, virtually devoid of irregularities. Keep driving. Soon, as Rod Serling used to say, There will be a signpost. It says: "Welcome to Los Angeles." The sign isn't necessary, as the street immediately becomes bumpy and full of cracks and potholes again. Like flipping a switch.

To one who lives in el pueblo, it's embarrassing. It's entirely the fault of el alcalde, who likes to lavish city taxpayer money 'pon the gang thugs with whose parents he once lazed on the sidewalks of East LA. Sidewalks which were in much better repair then, than now.

Alcalde Vinaigrette has, acording to this story broadcast on KCAL-TV, recently announced a new wasteful plan to throw away city funds: another gun buyback campaign. KCAL, affiliated with CBS News, appears to approve of this scam, and reports it in glowing terms.

A number of pickup points have been established at which one can take his $600 Glock, turn it in for a certificate worth $100 worth of groceries. What a deal! Your really mean-looking $1500 rifle or carbine is worth $200 in groceries.

El pueblo, ever looking for new ways to throw away money, isn't even going to resell these little treasures to honest citizens to turn a profit, but they're going to destroy them. So they say.

The Invisible Man could undoubtedly sneak into the dens of any of several of el alcalde's pal's and find the best of the weapons that will be scammed from the more stupid gunowners who will go for the groceries.

Better yet, it's all "no questions asked!" Any criminal can steal a gun, kill a member of a rival gang, then have his girlfriend turn the gun in for some groceries. The murder will never be solved.

There are actually people (not many) who will give up a perfectly good gun for $100--el pueblo has no shortage of really dumb people--though most of the guns they get will be useless old chunks of metal that no prudent individual would dream of trying to fire.

But Wilshire Boulevard will remain bumpy and full of potholes. As will Santa Monica Boulevard, Imperial Highway, Ventura Boulevard, La Brea Boulevard and countless others. El Pueblo de Los Angeles will remain in dire financial straits as this alcalde and the next continue to waste money on all manner of scams and boondoggles, filling their own bank accounts as part of the deal.

Remember: VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENTS!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum:

This past Friday night, the Street Department actually repaved a few blocks of Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. They did an excellent job, which shows that they can. Oddly, or not so oddly, all the local news shows made a super big deal about it, including interviews with local denizens, a couple of workers and (predictably) even a couple of City officials. What this tells me, is that this is rarely done, and is cause for special notice whenever it happens.

In a city like Los Angeles, a crew should be working on one street or another full time, year after year. We have no shortage of streets that desperately need repaving. Programs like the gun buyback simply waste money that could help pay for things like this.

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

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

The Most Predictable Fumble of the Century--So far....

It was as if it was planned to be a huge mass screwup from the start. Hundreds of thousands of hippies outatime converging 'pon the Woodstock of 2009, there to see, and perhaps even to touch the hem of their messiah's robes.

Buzzing about the various chatrooms and message lists of the less-in-touch-with-reality from all over the country and abroad was the talk of tickets to the coronation inauguration of America's first god-king people's President. It promised to make the introduction of Elvis Presley or the Beatles seem as subdued as a cemetary, by comparison.

The glorious event fulfilled its promise in many ways. Washington DC was awash in humanity; throngs of worshippers like no Pope has ever witnessed.

Ah, but those tickets.....some were genuine and some were counterfeit. No one knew the difference. No one really cared. This was Woodstock 2009!

But, alas! As the day's festivities, and the events that drew these hundreds of thousands of worshippers to Jerusalem Washington were about to commence, it became apparent that all was not well in New Camelot. Thousands of worshipers well-wishers and fans of the new messiah were left stranded in tunnels and at locked security gates, waving their tickets to the blind eyes of a 42,500 strong security contingent with no head. I mentioned--dare I say predicted--the likelihood of severe difficulties here, just the other day.

According to a detailed story by George Loper here, the troubles didn't end with the lockout of thousands of ticket holders left freezing in lines outside the security gates, but continued as saddened and disgusted travelers attempted to catch their flights back home. The chaos found its way into the airports (no doubt with the enthusiastic help of TSA thugs), causing missed flights and hours-long delays.

Add all this to the climaxing SNAFU's: both the chief of the Supremes, John Roberts and the new King of the Universe President, B Hussein Obama, flubbed their lines. As any actor will tell you: take your rehearsals seriously. They didn't apparently. So, they had a redo, but no one thought to bring a camera or a tape recorder (although someone happened to have a hand-held voice recorder in his pocket.

Stalag California Senator Diane Feinstein is livid. She's calling for a full investigation to learn why the inauguration went so incredibly poorly. I honestly think it's commendable that, every time the federal government screws something up, one of our fine Senators is right there to call for a commission to investigate the reasons why things went so incredibly wrong. It helps keep out-of-work party hacks out of the poorhouse.

Washington would make a great sitcom, if it didn't kill so many people and cost so much money.

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Coronation by Another Name.....

One thing government does well: it stages great fiascoes.

I find myself wondering what it might've been like to attend the inauguration of President Thomas Jefferson. There was no FBI, BATFE, Homeland Security, According to an article on the PBS website, Jefferson "walked from his boardinghouse along Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, where he would be the first president to take the oath of office there. He dressed in the casual clothes of an average citizen, as one account puts it, "without any distinctive badge of office" (Nash, pg. 267). Federalist Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office, and a corps of local militiamen gave the new president a 16-gun salute."

According to Bartleby,

The outcome of the election of 1800 had been in doubt until late February because Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, the two leading candidates, each had received 73 electoral votes. Consequently, the House of Representatives met in a special session to resolve the impasse, pursuant to the terms spelled out in the Constitution. After 30 hours of debate and balloting, Mr. Jefferson emerged as the President and Mr. Burr the Vice President. President John Adams, who had run unsuccessfully for a second term, left Washington on the day of the inauguration without attending the ceremony.

One account tells us that Jefferson went to a tavern for a meal after his inauguration. The place was packed, and none of the patrons saw fit to give the new President their table. He had to wait.

So, in those times, there was a United States divided sharply along party lines between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans--much like the divide between Democrats and Republicans today. Yet, the new President was able to walk the streets of Washington DC without concern (and probably carried a weapon in his clothing to defend himself if necessary).

So, we go from that simple, unassuming tale of the succession of office in a young Republic to the outrageous, ostentatious wastes of millions of taxpayer dollars 'pon coronations designed to make European successions look like a child's clown, ice cream and cake birthday party by comparison.

Further, according to a Bloomberg story, B Hussein Obama's coronation party organizers plan to have a 42,500-strong security force comprised of members of every one of the unConstitutional alphabet soup federal jackbooted thug police agencies, not to mention the Army, the National Guard and members of several local police agencies from across the country.

Protesters will be beaten up and jailed. People who don't fit the mold of sheep in men's clothing will be harassed, scrutinized, searched and perhaps further assaulted by federal thugs. One can only guess at the number of instances of abuse of the Founding Documents will be perpetrated by these mindless subhumans in the days of this stunningly offensive fete!

Not singling out the current Kings Presidents, going back at least as far as Nixon.

I'd be fine with a large hall dinner and a roast of the new dictator President, provided the check is divided equitably among the attendees, and provided not taxpayer money is used, nor any bribes from lobbyists.

There's mainly a single, solitary reason why the fuhrers Presidents in recent decades are so despised, and it has to do with administrations stepping outside their boundaries and interfering so egregiously into the affairs of others, either foreign or domestic. Were the various government officials to mind the business of administration of a small government, designed to only operate within the constraints of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, most folks would treat him much like early Americans treated President Jefferson--just another one of us.

Wouldn't that be cool?

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag Califorina

Constitution! Constitution? We Don't Need No Steenking Constitution!!

Article I, Section 6. Paragraph 2. "No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shell have been encreased during such time, and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

I don't know how many times this clause has been violated by Presidential appointments of Senators to Cabinet posts and other high-level positions in government, but I suspect it's many.

But, neither Sen Clinton (the smartest woman in the world) nor President-elect Obama (the one true leader) appear to have noticed this clause. Which means neither of them has read the US Constitution, or that neither of them take it seriously. Not that they're alone in this--according to the text of the majority of legislation that's passed in each legislative session, it's clear that nearly all Congressmen and Senators are largely ignorant of the actual text and historical meaning of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and in many cases, the law itself.

The thing that allows these failings to endure unpunished is that all elected officials are either guilty of gross violations of their Oaths of Office, or blindly going along to get along, and are afraid that if a spade is called a spade, any and all of them could be found guilty of these violations.

So, they all ignore the Constitution and pretend that they are acting lawfully, and that none of the unwashed masses are intelligent enough to point out the obvious.

Consider it pointed out.

Tip of the battered grey fedora to James Babb for his alertness.

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Two Wolves and a Lamb.....

I'm watching the tv news coverage of an estimated 1200 demonstrators protesting against the referendum to change the impossibly complex California state Constitution to require that marriage be only between one man and one woman. While I don't think government has any role to play in this area, other than possibly as an arbiter regarding the contractual issues involved in a marriage, I see the traditionalists' point. I also wonder what possible difference it could make to me who or how many get married. I just don't think it's a government issue. I voted against the measure.

But, taking it a step or two from there, don't most of us accept the notion that the majority rules?

Well, I certainly don't, but nearly everyone else seems to......at least until they lose.

One wonders why, as vehemently as most folks stand in favor of pure democracy against all reason, can't accept the verdict of the statewide vote.

For bond initiatives and other tax increases, and referenda that have predictable costs, I have a suggestion: Stalag California is the home of many thousands of software wizards, among whom there should be some that can do this. That is, develop software that tells our beloved franchise tax board who votes yes on these costly referenda. They should bill them and only them. Seems like it would be a relatively simple thing.

That way, the bullet train from Campo to Crescent City, to be paid for by a 1/2% addition to the sales tax, should be paid only by those who vote yes on the measure.

It's only fair.

It would make democracy an even more beautiful thing.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Guy Fawkes, Where Are You When We Need You?

"Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gunpowder treason and plot. We see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot!"

Today is the fifth of November, and today we have a new king. For decades now, our four year- and eight year kings have been progressively leading us in the direction of less and less liberty, and King Barry will be no exception.

Many's the time I've awakened after the election thinking that the only cure might be thirty-six well-placed barrels of a certain charcoal/sulfur/saltpeter blend under a building at a moment in which the king, his court and the whole of Parliament are all under one roof.

Then I think, as I sip my self-levitation potion, that even this probably impossible task were accomplished, there would emerge hundreds more parasites to take their places.

I think I'll just sit back and wait for my middle-class tax cut to kick in while the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are declared over and all the troops are returned home, and the Homeland Security Act and the Patriot Act are repealed so that our horribly violated rights are once again restored. And so that we can fly on the airlines again without having our persons accosted by subhuman thugs at the airports.

Sigh.

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan

Stalag California

Voting According to Race

With the very tardy arrival of candidates of races other than caucasian, the the specter of racism has lifted its ugly, and wholly erroneous, head. Nonetheless, there will be those who vote based 'pon race. It's the theory of myself and many others that there'll be far more who vote for Obama because he's half black than will vote against him for that reason.

In my opinion, Obama should be defeated. If Obama is elected, he'll advance the destruction of what little remains of the free market in America. He'll tax business--those who create jobs--to a higher degree, which will cause layoffs and business closures--high unemployment. He'll spend on social programs and pet projects, more than even GW Bush. He'll cripple what remains of business and manufacturing by means of environmental regulation and other nonsense. He'll socialize medicine, causing the best medical people to drop out of the industry and a general deterioration and ultimate rationing of services.

There will be many other negatives based on Obama's projected meddling in the market, not to mention the increased corruption that always accompanies increases in government power.

Obama will increase the foreign entanglements the Founders warned against, to our detriment.

To be fair, life under the McCain dictatorship probably won't be much better. Where Obama would socialize medicine, McCain would make a compromise with the Democrat Congress to a socialized medicine with copays. McCain would similarly compromise in other areas to like effect.

But, this is about race.

Imagine that Obama is elected. After his term as President, he will leave a legacy of having advanced the destruction of America's free market system (Such as it is after the assaults of every President since Roosevelt--you decide which Roosevelt) more than any previous administration. American liberty will be a memory.

And many will be very angry. There could be attempts to secede, and there could be civil war.

How long do you think it'll be before there'll be another black individual elected President?

I'd vote for a black man (or woman) for any office, in a second--as long as that individual was pro liberty, pro free market and in favor of the right of every individual to self ownership, self determination and self defense.

Individuals of the stature of Walter E Williams and Thomas Sowell come to mind.

Tip of the battered gray fedora to Scott Schneider for the idea leading to this entry.

Here comes the new boss, same as the old boss.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Putting Priorities In Order

Never accustomed to making suggestions as to how local governments prioritize the spending of the money they steal from productive individuals, I tiptoe in with a degree of discomfort. My normal train of thought goes toward the notion that government officials have no bloody idea what they're doing, and they simply attempt to appease the loudest whiners, and to increase their personal power.

After many decades of at-will tax increases and criminal mismanagement by elected and appointed officials, followed by some meager but partially effective resistance measures by a majority of the productive electorate, many local officials are finding it increasingly difficult to leach off a productive class that's increasingly voting with its feet, and leaving high-tax cities.

Now, according to many news stories like this one in the Wall Street Journal, cities are facing bankruptcy largely because of a sliding economy caused by government mismanagement, and are trying to cut budgets. Sadly, and stupidly, as one might expect of those who have no idea what they're doing, they are cutting the budgets of the least expendable agencies first.

Rather than trimming non essentials and areas in which city governments have no business or expertise (but represent numerous feel-good schemes and appease noisy special interests) these officials are looking to cut the budget for law enforcement.

They aren't dropping their arts programs or selling off excess real estate. They aren't considering privatizing their parks and libraries. They won't consider selling the schools to private operators or privatizing the fire departments.

Public safety, that is, police departments are taking the hit. Public safety is unarguably the most important reason for the existence of local government. And that's the first place to cut, according to the bloated city hall officialdom!

Done right, that ain't all bad. They could disband the costly and largely unnecessary SWAT teams. They could lose the vice, anti drug and anti gang teams and put their police back in blue uniforms and give them neighborhood beats. They could have their detectives actually investigate and solve real crimes. They could drop the quasi military posing and scrap the black body armor and ski masks, and act like local citizens doing a job, as is closer to reality.

And, most important, they could trust the people of the town to arm themselves for purposes of self defense.

That would save a lot of money. My overview estimate is that any city can live on around 10% of current levels just by streamlining law enforcement and the courts, dropping non-essential spending boondoggles and privatizing everything that can be privatized.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Lesson In Obamanomics

Doug Powers, writing in World Net Daily, explains redistribution of wealth from Joe the Plumber's point of view. As for me, I'll just sit back and let you enjoy the column.

Tip of the battered gray fedora to Kent C for tipping me off and yet again for the photo.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan