A Bulldog No More

I'm English by ancestry, but American by birth. While I'm often very critical of the US federal government (rightfully so, say most), I remain a defender of the America that might be and ought to be. I'm a veteran of a short, not overly distinguished career in the US Navy, of which I'm proud. I've felt embarrassed for our Navy and the rest of our military on a very few occasions.

The first in memory was the USS Pueblo incident in 1968. It still seems like dereliction that a nearly unarmed naval vessel (two .50 caliber machine guns) was sent into potentially hostile waters with no backup. The Korea Navy captured Pueblo after some attempts to maneuver away, and some shooting by the Koreans, in which one American sailor was killed. It seems even worse that the government went to Korea hat-in-hand to "begotiate" for the return of the crew. The Pueblo remains in Korea to this day.

Next, (not including our politicians' blundering into and embarrassingly out of Viet Nam) was the Iran hostage event in 1979. President Carter stumbled around for over a year before newly-elected President Reagan finally brokered a deal to get the hostages released.

I know I've omitted an number of other politically-inspired blunders, many of which resulted in many innocent people being killed and maimed. All of them cost taxpayers a lot of money.

My British acquaintances could undoubtedly tell of many similar blunders committed by their government, though in recent decades, I doubt any of theirs reaches the size and scope of ours. I'm sure that many British folks have been killed, maimed, impoverished and embarrassed by the stupidity of their politicians.

I'm thinking that the capture of the fifteen Royal Navy sailors and marines by Iranian Navy "pirates" in the Persian Gulf falls into this category. The sailors and marines were attached to British frigate HMS Cornwall, and were patrolling in small boats when they were captured by the Iranians.

Tales from British history lead us to think that the Royal Navy isn't a force one should take lightly. Not the case any more, apparently.

I'd have thought that Cornwall would've blown the Iranian savages out of the water before they could capture the patrol boats, and then dropped a few bombs 'pon the nearest Iranian Navy base to teach them a lesson. Looks like Tony Blair is more of a yipping terrier than a bulldog.

Fitting everyone in Europe for burqas.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Patriot Act Abuse

I'm not sure how many times we've all been assured that the evil Patriot Act won't be abused by using its provisions against Americans, but I know we've been thusly assured somewhere approaching the number of times the Act has been abused. We'll never, for obvious reasons, be told how many times, against whom and in what ways our sovereign individuality has been assaulted by government thugs by means of the provisions of this destructive and unneeded attack on the US Constitution and those who live under its withering protection, but the assaults are many, deliberate and designed to diminish our control of our individual lives.

I'm not sure how this cat escaped its bag, but according to this and other recent news stories, the unConstitutional FBI has been abusing its alleged power and collected a so-far unspecified amount of data on an unspecified number of Americans and foreigners.

Ironically, the congressfools that are taking the FBI to task for their illegal activities are the same ones that violated their oaths of office to vote to destroy our Constitutional rights. Where were they when the President decided that the way to fight the islamic savages was to attack the US Constitution?

Now, we have to examine the sincerity of these same congressfools: How many of the guilty FBI thugs have been indicted so far? How many fired? How many even suspended!?

One has to wonder at the way our perverted government works when two Border Patrol officers are quickly jailed for trying to do their job and many FBI thugs are merely scolded for betraying the Bill of Rights.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Environazi Jihad, or alGorea Fatwa

In light of the oft-stated desire on the part of the alGorean fundamentalists to destroy the lives of Global Warming Deniers (an unofficial club in which I've proudly become a member), we find it advisable that Global Warming Cool Heads go into hiding. Rumor has it that alGorea death squads are forming up to search out heretics and shut their mouths permanently.

The dirty little secret? Funds raised by those Carbon Vouchers about which we often hear are being used to train and equip hit squads in hidden desert camps in strategic areas of the world.

University of Copenhagen Professor Bjarne Andresen has placed himself at risk by declaring that "the currently used method of determining the global temperature -- and any conclusion drawn from it -- is more political than scientific," according to a story here.

This entire new course by the alGorean fundamentalists got its start with derisive comments by Robert F Kennedy, as reported here. It became a bit more serious as a result of threats by various global warming mullahs, including Dr Helen Cullen, of the Weather Channel, who called for all meteorologists who don't toe the Global Warming religion to be decertified.

In the light of the truth, and the emergence of more and more viable commentaries finding fault with the mullahs of Global Warming, desperation is setting in, calling for more drastic measures, such as the silencing of heretics. Professor Andresen ought to exercise caution when travelling into hotbeds of alGoreans. As for myself, I find it illuminating to hide amongst them, right in the belly of the beast, in one of the many centers of the alGorean jihad. Helps me to keep my edge.

It gives us even more reason to patronize the products of Denmark, as Danes emerge as the world's leading heroes in the fight against crazed fanatics of all sorts.

Save a tree. Exhale.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Perpetual Politics

With the mid-term Congressional elections a mere three-and-a-half months past, the 2008 Presidential election season is already in full bloom--and has been for.....three-and-a-half months. Since several states, including the Stalag, have moved their primaries up to early February (Our governator reportedly will sign the Stalag California version of the move tomorrow). This means that those candidates who will face primaries early next year (including many incumbents) must start raising campaign money now. And they are.

Sadly, some of next year's Presidential candidates have already sullied portions of the Stalag with their presence and their audio pollution.

If there's any good to come of it, I find myself obliged to mention hopefully that the time that sitting incumbents spend campaigning is time they won't be picking our pockets. We can also enjoy the many unbelievable promises and funny verbal missteps we have to look forward to laughing at.

Otherwise, the news is quite bad: we're already inundated with radio and tv talk show speculation and the advocating of various candidates, and all too soon we'll find the airwaves and cable stations saturated with political ads.

Didn't we just get past all this crap?

Even worse: we're virtually guaranteed that each and every one of those to be successfully elected will waste no time figuring out new ways to get into our wallets and bank accounts.

Too bad we don't have a "None of the Above" box on our ballots.

Remember! VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENTS!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

1957

1957 was quite a year. Eisenhower was President, Nixon was VP. The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. The average American's income was $4494, a stamp was three cents and a loaf of bread was nineteen cents.

Fifty years ago, I was in the second semester of my seventh grade of school. I had a newspaper route and a car (a 1950 Chevy, which I couldn't yet drive on the street, but which I enjoyed wrenchin' on and driving it up and down the driveway). I was in love with a very lovely girl who was a lot smarter than I.

In Grand Forks at that time, anyone--boy or girl, man or woman--could walk down any street, any time of day or night, without fear of being accosted by either thug or police. I occasionally went for late-night walks to think and enjoy the peace.

It was a wonderful year, and a wonderful time.

Thinking about 1957 caused me to develop what I call "The Ten Times Rule." Everything costs about ten times today what it cost in 1957. I made up that rule about ten years ago, when I realized that a nickel candy bar then cost fifty cents and a loaded 1957 Chevy Bel Air hardtop that cost about $2500 whereas a 1997 Chevy Impala was priced at over $20,000 and a Camaro Z28 could cost over $30,000. A bottle of Coke cost a nickel; a can of Coke in 1997 cost around fifty cents.

Gasoline sold for 20 to 30 cents a gallon, depending 'pon in what state 'twas purchased, and in recent times tends to hover just below $3.00. A Colt 1911A1 pistol cost around $100 in 1957, in 1997 it could be had for around $500 or so; somewhat an exception to the "Rule."

One has to be pretty careful about applying the "Rule" as products have changed a lot over the intervening decades. In addition, this isn't 1997 any more. I'd have to call it "The Twelve Times Rule now. In fact, perhaps I will. It'll require slightly more difficult mental calculation, but I'll try to measure up to the task.

There are a lot of factors causing these increases. There've been major changes in manufacturing methods and materials and business practices. There has been great technological advancement. These differences, one might argue (convincingly) would tend to keep prices low.

Well, one might ask, then why are prices twelve times higher than they were in 1957? Well, dear friends, here comes the not-too-surprising answer: There are three primary reasons why prices have increased punishingly in the past fifty years. They are 1) government, 2) government and 3) government.

1) Draconian and confiscatory increases in taxes 'pon individuals and business--which, of course, end up being paid by individuals. My dad told me, years ago, that his total taxes, federal, state and local, totalled around ten percent of his income. My current tax load is over fifty percent of my income--not including a lot of hidden taxes that are not known to me.

2) Mindless and unneeded regulations 'pon individuals and business. Government regulation is so much a spaghetti bowl of tangled and undecipherable, not to mention often contradictory hodge-podge of safety, accounting and "moral" rules that the only way any of us can function is to ignore most of them and hope we're not noticed. Even after that, these regulations cost each of us an incalculable amount of time and money.

3) Government manipulation of the money supply. Prior to the formation of the evil and manipulative Federal Reserve, American money was gold and silver. While, even then, government wrongfully pegged the "value" of these commodities in dollars, our money was very stable and could be predicted from year to year. Since that time the Fed, acting 'pon government orders, adjusts the money supply to suit government purposes. In bad times, the value of our money decreases three percent or so annually. In worse times, money value has decreased at rates up to ten or twelve percent per year, and more. In the worst times, money is simply revalued by a factor. Devaluing is always a surprise and instantly robs the money holdings of individuals and corporations instantly and severely.

Intelligent estimates are that, in the absence of the above, each hour of the productive work of each individual would be worth six to eight times what it is, under the handicap of the hobbles forced 'pon us by government.

Why do we put up with them, the parasites that so severely and deliberately place limits 'pon our ability to function? 'Twas a frog-in-the-kettle sort of story. Had government tossed a frog into a kettle of hot water, it would've jumped out quickly to escape the pain. Government has tossed us into a kettle of cool water, and is very gradually turning up the heat, and we're complacently enjoying the warming water--not yet noticing that it's becoming uncomfortably hot on the way to boiling us to death.

How long are we going to put up with it?

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Mission Accomplished!

I don't know if most large cities are as utterly dysfunctional as is El Pueblo de Los Angeles, but it seems to be following a pattern set by the state, originally seen (in this country) in the US federal government. Since these governmental entities attract power-mad controller types, these individuals see the way to increased power (over others) is to control as much of the infrastructure as possible.

Trouble is, these little fascists are neither very smart nor very imaginitive. To them, it's a one-size-fits-all world. Ultimately, their grandiose control schemes fail. Today, el Pueblo de Los Angeles is failing, the state of California is failing and the federal government of the United States is failing. Various petty little dictators are biting off way more than they can chew and trying to control far more than can be controlled.

In this case, I'm spotlighting the LA Unified School District and the LA Police Dept.

Seems there's a children's prison down in South Central called the Santee Education Center. There is also a severe gang problem in the area. Many youngsters ride the LA Metro buses to school, which stop at an intersection two blocks from the children's prison. The kids have to walk the remaining two blocks.

Seems that local gangsters often prey 'pon the kids, harassing them about gang affiliation and/or robbing them of cash and valuables. Finally, officials of el pueblo decided to do something. They added another bus stop only one block from the children's prison.

Patience, my friends, it gets better from here.

According to stories in the LA Times, including this one, at the inauguration of this new bus stop, a bus carrying Antonio Vinaigrette, el alcalde del Pueblo de Los Angeles, schools Supt. David Brewer and Santee Principal Vince Carbino, a posse of LAPD officers and news reporters (an unconfirmed rumor states that the new bus stop cost $7 million) was tagged by a student!! Tagging, for those of you in south Indiana, is scribbling graffiti 'pon the outside of the vehicle with spray paint or a magic marker.

The lad, wearing a gray hoodie and looking very mean, wrote his handle, "Zoner," on a bus window. He bolted when he realized that a news reporter was taking pictures of him through the very bus window 'pon which he was scribbling. El Alcalde, who reportedly was quite angry, wanted the police to catch and arrest the kid, but cooler heads prevailed as they realized they might cause a traffic problem in the street. Mr Carbino was sure he could locate the youngster through school records.

I would have loved to have seen the Keystone Kops chase routine that might've erupted at that point. Too bad; a great opportunity was missed.

A tip of the old battered fedora to Doug McIntyre, talk show host at KABC-AM in LA, for asking why the city isn't, instead of creating a new bus stop, going after the gangs, arresting those who commit crimes.

Meanwhile, children's prison officials battered each other trying to get at the mike to be first to say that they don't want this tagger punished; his action is a "cry for help."

I wonder if Charles Manson's 1969 Tate-Bianca murder spree was a "cry for help."

I fear for the life of the Republic.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Let Them Eat Cake

Jolly Prince Charlie went on the record here as being opposed to MacDonald's burger joints in Great Britain, apparently not for the first time. He thinks his subjects, especially the children, ought to eat a balanced diet. He wants to ban the Big Mac, which is about as nutritious as a plate of fish & chips (if not as tasty).

The general decline of the British economy, caused by the increasing degree of government intervention creeping into the economy, makes it difficult for many of the working class, not to mention the out-of-work class, to be able to eat according to the standards of royalty.

Hence, I declare Charles, Prince of Wales the winner of the First Occasional Marie Antoinette Foot-In-Mouth Award. May he find a conspicuous place for it 'pon his chest with all his fake military medals.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Clever, These Parasites....

This past November, we (those of us who haven't yet decided that voting is futile) voted in the election that turned Congress back over to Socialist Party A, dealing a blow to Socialist Party B's plan to pursue The Forever War.

More relevant to many of us here in the Stalag, was the then-current installment of bond issues up for a vote so the state parasites can spend a bunch more money without having to raise taxes.

It's been said that much of California's budget goes to pay interest on past bond issues.

Proposition 1B of 2006 is a proposed bond issue to pay for needed work on the state's highways and freeways to alleviate traffic bottlenecks. A little more research that I want to do right now, will expose the fact that there was another bond issue just a few years ago, to accomplish precisely that same task. One might wonder where those billions went, since they apparently didn't go to the state's highways then.

Since Stalag Califonia is a sort of floating ponzi game, Prop 1B passed handily. CalTrans now has $20 billion to spend on who-knows-what, and to line any number of thieving pockets.

The California Highway Commission, a group appointed by the Governor, has just come out with its list of recommendations as to how the $20B should be spent. It turns out that a relatively small amount of the bonanza will be spent in El Pueblo de Los Angeles.

Antonio Vinaigrette, el alcalde, stands beside himself. What about I-405 through the Sepulveda Pass? What about the I-605/I-10 interchange?

I have personal knowledge about the deplorable condition of I-405. I don't even go there anymore, even though it used to be the easiest way to get to the OC from here. Not anymore.

I can't vouch for I-605/I-10 one way or the other. I only rarely venture out that way at all, because, well.....everyone knows there's no intelligent life east of I-5.

Here's the clever part, folks. This'll crack you up. One of the Los Angeles area State Assemblymen, one Fabian Nunez, Democrat, Los Angeles, says he'll propose yet another highway bond proposition to address these areas.

As one of the all-time great stand-up comedians, Mort Sahl, said on more than one occasion, "The true stuff is the funniest stuff, folks."

You just can't make this stuff up!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Two Great Graphic Novels

I've mentioned this to some folks, and CC also mentioned it recently: Big Head Press has begun serializing a number of graphic novels, each of which is continued each week. Two of the stories are by L Neil Smith, my favorite Sci-Fi author.

The first is Neil's first novel, The Probability Broach. It's been over ten years since I first read the print novel, but the graphic novel, drawn by Scott Bieser, is a lot of fun.

The second, not yet released in print, is Roswell, Texas. This one, like TPB, is an "alternate universe" story. It's set in a universe in which Texas remains an independent nation, which requires its citizens to carry a sidearm for personal protection, unless they declare themselves conscientious objectors.

Both novels are a lot of fun, and offer the reader a view of a possible libertarian society.

I await each week's installment of each story with a great deal of anticipation, much as many of you ladies wait for the next episode of As The World turns.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm Regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Parasites--Same the World Over

I always thought the state legislature here in the Stalag was the single most useless body of wasted humanity 'pon this planet, next to the (nearly) whole of Washington DC. It may still be the case, but I'd like to enter, for your consideration, the North Dakota State House. Much smaller and less opulently endowed than that of the Stalag, it still manages to waste money (extorted from others) to a degree that, I'm sure, holds its own on a per-capita basis.

In a story on the BusinessPortal24.com site (with additional commentary from Ole Bjugstadt of Finley, North Dakota), we find that, in a rare show of restraint, the North Dakota State House rejected a measure to honor Bono, of the rock band U2, for his efforts to relieve the debt of third world countries (presumably debt to us, here in the United States).

Bono, who has worked very hard throughout his youth to make a success of the band U2, and who now is enjoying the bountiful fruits of his labors, has been hob-nobbing with Hollywood "philanthropists," and has learned from them the means of becoming well thought of in the larger society (outside of the world of rock 'n' roll).

You simply announce that you wish to help the poor, then you talk other people into doing it with their money. Then, you take credit for the whole thing.

An Assemblyman from Fargo submitted the bill to the august body, even though Bono has no connection whatever with the State of North Dakota and, to my knowledge, has never even been in North Dakota. One Assemblyman was heard to say that he thought they meant the late Sony Bono.

Some say U2 gave a concert in Fargo once, but the truly savvy know that it was actually Babe's Bitch, a garage band from Brainerd, filling in for them on an occasion in which they accidentally booked two locations on the same night. After they costumed themselves in "depressing European suicide rock band" drag, each of the members of Babe's Bitch drank a pint of Canadian Club before the concert to be able to truly look convincing in the role.

Major music critics have yet to weigh in on the success of the concert, and many Fargo concert attendees said they enjoyed the music, though one fan who traveled down from Winnipeg said he thought the singer sounded Norwegian.

Fortunately, a majority of the state's Assembly didn't hit the Canadian Club on this occasion and cooler heads prevailed. Bono will have to, for the time being, remain "just another Irishman" in the records of the North Dakota State Assembly.

Yet another thing for Europeans to hold against America.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Another Case of Not Enough Guns

According to a story on BusinessPortal24.com--and many other places--the trench-coated Sulejmen Talovic would've killed several more people in the Trolley Square shopping Center in Salt Lake City, had Ken Hammond, an off-duty officer from nearby Ogden, not confronted the murderer. I applaud Mr Hammond for his valor.

Talovic killed five individuals and wounded four more, in a rampage that could've been far worse had Mr Hammond not been nearby and willing to get involved.

My opinion? Because the vast majority of Americans are complacent about the possibility of violence, and no longer find it fashionable to be capable of defending ourselves, and since some have extended this attitude into law, this majority staggers through life as sheep at the mercy of the first criminal who will do them harm. Even the police urge individuals to give the evil-doer what he wants and do what he orders.

Bow meekly before the asshole who, through force of arms, holds my life in his hands? I don't think so!

Had several others within the shopping center been armed as this fool began his rampage, the situation might've been controlled much like Scott Bieser's 'toon about the Sept 11, 2001 hijackings. At the very least, someone might've been able to stop this fool before he killed anyone.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Politician With Common Sense?

I never thought I'd see the day.

I don't think much of politicians and political leaders. Not much at all. I only bring this up because it is (to my knowledge) unique. In a Drudge story, it seems the President of Czech Republic is another one of those evil Global Warming Denier.

Mr Vaclav Klaus, in an interview for "Hospodárské noviny", a Czech economics daily, says, "IPCC is not a scientific institution: it's a political body....." of the green variety. Asked why none of the world's senior statesmen share his views, he says, "Other top-level politicians do not express their global warming doubts because a whip of political correctness strangles their voice."

I particularly enjoyed reading Mr Klaus' doubts as to the sanity of Algore.

Refreshing.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Prince of Phallic Symbolism

It might seem like I'm stuck of talk show hosts, and maybe I am, but I just have to write about this, since it at once stands out as irrefutable proof that the christian taliban right is obsessed with sexual symbolism, if not with the sex itself.

I watched the HyperBowl game yesterday, and enjoyed it, in spite of the fact that I'm not that much of a fan of foopbaw. I've always rather enjoyed the game played under inclement weather conditions. It's interesting to see how the players deal with rain, snow, cold and/or a muddy field. In yesterday's game, the main problem was a steady rain that lasted troughout the game. One of the reasons my interest in the game has flagged, is the proliferation of covered stadia. Traditionally, foopbaw is an outdoor sport.

Debbie and I watched the halftime show with a high degree of enthusiasm, both being Prince fans. While I might've picked a slightly different playlist, I still enjoyed it thoroughly. As did Debbie. I commented that this was one of the only halftime shows that actually worked, in several years.

This morning, on the infamous Laura Ingraham talk show, I found out how wrong I was. I didn't notice this, I was enjoying the show: seems that, at one point, Prince used a wind machine to blow a large, white cloth sheet to a vertical, flapping, moving screen 'pon which the lighting caused his shadow to be displayed as he sang and played his guitar. For a brief moment, Price turned so that the shadow of his body hid the guitar body, and the neck of the guitar appeared to be sticking out of the front of his pants. As he ran his hand up and down the frets, well, you can imagine how that looked.

Ms Ingraham, sexually repressed individual that she appears to be, jumped 'pon that image like Miss Balbricker in the shower scene in the film Porky's.

Ms Ingraham spent a large portion of her show discussing this, bringing up the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake show a few years ago. It seems we can see which kind of individual is sex-obsessed.

One of the excuses Ms Ingraham (and others--Hannity, O'Reilly, et al) uses for her fixation 'pon these kinds of images is that of protecting the children.

We have to protect the children.

I don't think it's the job of the christian taliban right to make the world child-safe. I don't want the world to be child safe, nor is it its nature to be so.

Parents, care for your children. Love your children. What you teach them in their first four years will go far toward their psychological makeup throughout their lives. What you teach them in the next ten or so years will make young men and women out of them.

And, for the sake of their safety and future sanity, keep them out of the government's children's prisons!! They're getting more and more dangerous and more and more destructive of the uniqueness of the individual.

No one has ever been able to convince me that casually observed sexual images are destructive to children. Usually, they elicit an attack of curiosity--normal and healthy for a child. You tell the youngster the truth--just enough to satisfy his curiosity. You can tell him more later, as he gets older.

"Protecting" a child from his own adulthood is far more destructive than any casually observed sexual images he might encounter. If you can manage to protect your children from sexual abuse--a formidable enough task--that'll do. That'll do, along with his education and your love.

Government schools are child abuse.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

It's Not Only the Islamists

This afternoon, I was watching Fox News. A program called "Heartland, with John Kasich" was on. I don't often watch this show, because Kasich seems such a stupid man. A topic on his show caught my eye.

He was interviewing a couple of women on the subject of teaching "exotic dancing" to teenage girls. One of the women conducts classes on exotic dancing, and offers reasons why a teenage girl might want to learn the techniques. The other, obviously, thinks this is stupid. Or rather, in today's typical non-judgemental speak, not helpful.

Kasich is downright hostile. Clearly, he thinks any mention or suggestion of anything sexual to any girl under the age of, say sixty, is robbing a girl of her childhood.

Well, unlike John Kasich, I was a child once, and though I had a pretty good childhood, at the time, I was continually wishing it was over so I could go out and do real stuff. Childhood, though a carefree time of learning and playing (ideally) seems vastly overrated.

What could be wrong with teaching young girls to dance, in any manner, when they've decided that they would like it?

I know from previous experience that Kasich is a christian conservative. He was in Congress for a short time and, fortunately for all of us, is no longer there. As far as his opinions on the subjects of girls, women and sexuality, Kasich falls in the same category with other christian conservatives like media personalities Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Laura Ingraham and others. Put girls in burqas and keep them from any knowledge of things sexual until marriage. Put the boys in uniform and send them to war.

Girls ought to be educated by their parents gradually, as they express curiosity about things sexual--especially the dangerous aspects--and then guided as they grow up. Then, they should be trusted to behave intelligently as they attain adulthood.

Most parents are way too protective of their kids, for far too long. It often leaves them unprepared to deal with the world as they become adults.

Kids are always smarter (in many respects) than adults think they are.

We should let them be adults.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Blame Canada!

I don't know. I don't find anything wrong with this.....well, there is one thing, which I'll mention later. According to this story from BBC, and this story from Telegraph.co.uk, the small town of Herouxville, about 100 miles northeast of Montreal, has adopted a resolution detailing certain kinds of behavior that immigrants to the town shall not be allowed to do. The resolution reads: "We consider it completely outside norms to... kill women by stoning them in public, burning them alive, burning them with acid, circumcising them etc."

The resolution adds: "....That women are allowed to drive, vote, dance and own their own homes."

It further states, "The rules ban Sikh children from carrying ceremonial daggers to school...."

Here's where the City of Herouxville and I part company. Canadians, like most other British Commonwealth states, are not very smart with regard to the notion of self defense. Presumably, because in the end, the British Crown regards all of its subjects to be its chattel. It can't allow the serfs the right of self defense, since the serfs might someday realize that their worst enemy is, indeed, the Crown.

So, in the event of a robbery or an attempt at murder or rape, the Crown wants its serfs to simply lie down and die.

I don't accept that and, at least in a ceremonial way, neither do the Sikhs. I'll allow them their daggers, whether ceremonial imitations or real, sharp, steel daggers. I'll allow them sidearms, swords, blackjacks, nunchuks or brass knuckles--so long as they use them only to defend themselves and not to initiate force.

As to the former, islamists are notorious in their hatred for women. I have no idea how they manage to multiply--how women in islamic societies put up with their savagery.

I think it would serve all of Western Civilization well to require civilized behavior of all their immigrants.

Thanks and a tip of the battered gray fedora to Thaddeus Tremayne at Samizdata.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Children's Prisons Under Siege

I was reading the story through the plastic window of the vending machine. It was the Los Angeles Daily News, a leftist-run newspaper that I don't purchase because of its bias.

Later, I found the story (containing a lot of leftist spin) on the net.

The story tells us that students at several San Fernando Valley High Schools are experiencing an increasing number of violent attacks in recent times. I might wonder how this could possibly be, in light of the fact that LA children's prisons are legally "safe school zones," in which there are high penalties for possession of a weapon or committing various other crimes within the area.

David Brewer, the superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, neatly sidesteps the issue by claiming it's "the community's fault." He pledges to work closely with Antonio Vinaigrette, el alcalde del Pueblo de Los Angeles to reduce gang activity.

El alcalde, a member of MEChA, a latino power organization, is failing miserably in the battle against criminal gangs, partly because he refuses to acknowledge the racial aspect of gang dynamics, and partly because he refuses to recognize the means of their funding: illegal vice. He further casts a blind eye 'pon anything that might actually lessen their power. His idea of fighting gangs is with negotiation, and attempts to learn more about their grievances so he can find a way to satisfy them. "I feel your pain," or the like.

I have news for you, Senor Alcalde: They want money and they want power over others. Just like you do. Just like the city council does. Just like the federal government's elected officials do.
They, and you, want the unearned. You want respect and adulation even if you have to get it by force of arms.

I know this is the farthest thing from your mind (such as it is), but if you really wanted to do away with gangs, here are three things that will go a long way toward a solution:

• Repeal all of the municipal gun laws. All of them. This is the most important, and would be the most effective of this entire list. One of the biggest reasons for the success of gangs in El Pueblo is the fact that most of their victims have no way of effectively defending themselves.
• Repeal all municipal drug laws. The enforcement of drug laws is far more harmful to the populace than are the drugs themselves. If the drugs to which we refer as "recreational" were readily available at drug stores (or even head shops) at market prices, gangs will have lost their primary source of revenue, not to mention power.
• Withhold tax payments to the state and federal governments. They are doing nothing to help the problem. Their actions seriously aggravate these and many other local difficulties, and they deserve no payment for their lack of effective effort.
• Permanently suspend any and all mandatory taxes, and solicit donations from the public to fund police and court activities. The poor can't afford to pay your confiscatory taxes; the better off could afford to invest in businesses that could offer honest work to ex-gangsters and the honest unemployed alike. Offer all municipal services on a fee-for-service basis at market prices.
  
• El Pueblo should divest itself of all services that can be offered on the free market. Fire fighting and prevention, education, health services, utilities, public transportation, routine police patrolling, construction inspection and even streets and highways can be privately owned and operated. It'd be done far more efficiently and at less expense outside of municipal control.

The only reason that these solutions won't be considered is that, in the deepest analysis, Senor Vinaigrette, the City Council, the Chief of Police and the heads of the various municipal departments are a gang in their own right, and will only mount a serious battle against street gangs if they actually challenge the power of city government itself.

....And that could happen, amigos mios. It could happen soon.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum:
As I write this, according to a story in the Long Beach Press Telegram, four of nine gang thugs who beat up three young women of another race in nearby Long Beach this past Halloween because they are of another race, were sentenced to probation and house arrest for their actions. These women are not yet recovered from their injuries. This is a perfect example of municipal governments' inability (of lack of desire) to deal with gang activity.

'E's A Clean Young Man

The 2008 Presidential election, still more than 21 months away, is already starting to draw verbal fauxs pas. Today, Senator Joe Biden, on the heels of his announcement as a candidate, spoke to the press at a diner near his Delaware office.

According to a Jason Horowitz story in the New York Observer, Biden's message included criticisms of the leading announced Democrat candidates, mainly Senators Clinton, Williams and Obama. Sen. Biden doesn't think any one of these candidates has a viable plan regarding the ending of the conflict in Iraq. He's conceded by many to be an expert in foreign policy.

While discussing the shortcomings of these candidates, he paused to pay Senator Obama a complement: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," he said. "I mean, that’s a storybook, man."

One is left to assume that all of the other Black Legislators in Washington are none of those things. A few of those I've observed speaking in the House and Senate chambers has led me to agree, at least on their ability to articulate clearly.

Sen. Biden has since apologized to Sen. Obama. I wonder how long it'll take him to get around to apologizing to the rest of them.

It's occurred to many, including myself, that this is a more severe insult than that of Sen. Lott 'pon the occasion of the infamous Strom Thurmond 100th birthday event. But not to any Democrat.

Hypocrisy is not a rare commodity in Washington DC.

I fear for the health of the Republic.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

LA Road Warrior

Fortunately, I was going in the right direction today: luck o' the draw.

There's an old joke. Why do Mexicans like to deal in cash? Because it's hard to sign a check with a can of spray paint.

Apparently, this morning, one of those dopey Mexi-gang types spray painted a pretty large--and I'd guess a pretty undesirable--message 'pon a bridge abutment wall on the southbound I-5 freeway just south of Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights is a pretty heavily latin (self-imposed) ghetto just southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Mexi-gang lingo graffiti is abundantly visible throughout the area.

As I mentioned, the graffito must've been kind of nasty, though I couldn't tell for sure because I was passing at 60mph, and there was a Caltrans drone painting it out with gray paint. They usually just leave it until someone else comes along and paints over it. About all I could tell from the uncovered portion was that it was Mexi-gang in nature.

The bad part of this whole scene wasn't so much the fact of the graffito. The bad part is as follows: While the painter was working with a paint roller to cover the "art," and his partner had a flat-bed truck alongside in the right traffic lane, a highway patrol idjit had all four lanes of traffic stopped dead, waiting for the painter to finish(!).

As I said at the beginning, I was going in the right direction. All those on the southbound side were stopped, waiting while a civil servant is painting a bridge! Thousands of gallons of gas and diesel fuel were being wasted, costing every driver money for the added wear on his vehicle, not to mention time lost in the life of each and every individual sitting there breathing the concentrated exhaust fumes of all those vehicles while watching paint dry.

Here we have even more proof that freeways ought to be taken out of the hands of the blundering state and given (sold to pay off Guber Ahnold's burgeoning deficit) to those who can operate them efficiently.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Pig in a Burqa

This morning, on her radio show, Laura Ingraham mentioned that, in China, officials have forbidden advertising depicting pigs. Seems that muslims, tender beings that they are, are offended by the beasts. They regard them to be unclean animals.

True, pigs dig in the ground for food, but so do ground sloths, and so do dogs, 'pon occasion. So do potato farmers. To the more rational among us, it's been discovered a long time ago that if something's dirty, you wash it. muslims, still living in the Seventh Century in their minds, apparently haven't yet discovered this technique.

Nonetheless, being creatures of most tender sensibilities, muslims must not be offended. An offended muslim has been known to suddenly explode, often in a bus or an inhabited building.

We don't want to offend muslims.

Trying to create a parallel the sentiment and relate it to herself and other christians, Ms Ingraham, a very devout christian with easily observed severe sexual hangups (common to the breed) asked rhetorically, why don't we, in America, refrain from using images of scantily-clad women in advertising?

Laura, do christians regard beautiful women to be unclean animals?

Well, as Steve McQueen said while portraying the character, Nevada Smith, in the movie by the same name, upon seeing a crucifix for the first time in his character's life, "That looks worse'n hanging."

Perhaps it's religion that's the filthy animal.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Elizabeth Caldwell! Paging Miss Caldwell!

Diving way, way back into ancient memory files, I occasionally recall a girl for whom I felt a degree of juvenile fondness. I've stumbled across many of my childhood friends, in recent years, thanks largely to Algore's Internet, but Miss Caldwell still manages to elude my efforts.

It was she who was the seventh-grade science fair whiz about whom I wrote here.

I was in the same class with her in 5th and 6th grades at West School in Grand Forks. I was just beginning to realize that girls were just possibly worthy of our attention. In junior High, both of us attended Valley, and I had a few "dates" with her. The dates consisted of my visiting at her home in the presence of at least one of her parents. Since I was a very naive young lad, and utterly ignorant of the ways of the world, I found this quite satisfying.

Elizabeth had dark, nearly black hair and very light skin. I though she was beautiful and, in my mind's eye, I still think so.

We had a date or two in high school and had a couple of classes together, but her path was toward the university and an academic life; mine was more technologically bent. She did science projects and played the French horn and I made mischief and worked on my car. And drove it.

Elizabeth graduated early, at the Senior mid-term, I graduated at the end of the Senior year. Two weeks after graduation, I joined the Navy, and completely lost track of her and all my other hometown friends--except those few who also joined the Navy.

On occasion, I've asked some of my friends what happened to others. I've located many of them. All I've learned about Elizabeth is that she went to University of North Dakota, and later I heard that she was a French language professor at Valparaiso. Since I don't know of her marital status, I don't know her surname.

Other than idle curiosity, I'd like to learn more about her because she was the individual, among all my friends and classmates, who seemed like she'd go the farthest.

Or, maybe she's just shrugged.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Never-Ending Campaign

It's only been eleven weeks since the Congressional election, and less than three weeks since the new Congressdrones have been sworn in--to an Oath of Office which has certainly already been violated by every single one of those having taken it, if this is a typical year. Welcome, New Parasites; time to start campaigning for the next election. The 2008 Presidential campaign season is already well underway.

With at least a dozen candidates already announced, and more sure to come, let's look at the near future. With the exception of the Honorable Doctor Ron Paul, every single candidate, announced and yet to announce, is devoted to increasing the role of government and diminishing the prerogatives of the individual. Even Dr Paul has a couple of issues with which many libertarians will disagree, including myself. While Dr Paul is an extreme long shot for the Republican nomination, he would be far and away better than any of the others. I will vote for him, given the opportunity.

Even though, as I wrote above, the prospects for a return to governmental respect for the freedom, sovereignty and dignity of the individual look quite dim, one can still, perhaps, find some enjoyment in the humor and spectacle of the upcoming events 'pon the scene political. Playing the fiddle as the Republic burns, as it were.

There are a number of things to observe, both good and bad, in the coming protracted campaign season to which we'll have to look forward.

First, the bad news:

• The news will be (already is) so completely cluttered with statist-spun stories about sad, sorry individuals who will never, have never actually lived a productive day in their lives, and who presume to be able to take care of us (by making it impossible for us to take care of ourselves), that time and column space for any news we might actually find informative, will be less available.

• Our mail (both e- and snail-) will be jammed full of what will prove to be untruthful brochures and letters, filled with unachievable (fortunately) programs and goals, and solicitations for campaign funds.

• Radio and tv stations will bore us with annoying and untruthful campaign ads for two full years!
  

• Politicians, having two full years to campaign, will be out shaking babies and kissing hands when they ought to be doing their jobs (this is a very mixed negative).

• Streets and highways will occasionally be closed to allow motorcades filled with high-powered politicians to pass unimpeded and flights will be delayed while government planes land and take off, and to allow for Presidential haircuts on the taxiways.

• We'll be continually bombarded with poll results from various pollsters, and analyses by hundreds of pundits, to the exclusion of entertaining programming.
  

Now, the good news:

• Jay Leno et al will have an abundance of new material with which to delight their audiences.

• Since virtually everything Congress passes into law becomes detrimental to the productive individual, keeping politicians on the road campaigning and fundraising, instead of "working" in their offices and 'pon the floor of Congress, can only be a good thing.

• Many wealthy but foolish individuals will have their wealth diminished to the extent of their donations to campaigning politicians. Conversely, catering firms, hotels, hookers and other entertainers will be enriched by the foolish spending of campaign managers and the inevitable camp followers.

As for us, while there are few prospects of anything close to an enhancement of freedom in American society, we have to acknowledge that we can look forward to two full years of often-entertaining gaffes and missteps, charges and countercharges, and sometimes the exposure of the lies and hypocrisies of the political animals.

While the future looks bleak to freedom-loving individuals, at least we have bread and circuses to enjoy while the once-wonderful Republic of the United States of America is turned into just another two-bit people's state by the traitors who inhabit the nation's Capitol.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum:

This just in--Past Presidential candidate and junior Senator from Taxachussetts, John Kerry, has announced that he will not enter the race for the Democrat Party's nomination this year. He will return to his normal job as one of the statues on Easter Island. Thanks and a tip of the battered grey fedora to Dennis Miller.

Journalism 101-1/2

I took a couple of journalism courses at Fullerton Junior College long enough ago that you can actually see the difference in the government school dumbing down process from then to now. The first rule that was taught, in the reporting of a story, is to find out and include the who, what, where, when and why. I assume that's still the case.

Leaving aside all the allegations of spin and bias, and just sticking to the straight reporting of the story as it exists, I still find many things lacking in many news stories. Case in point: A recent LA local CBS news story about a woman who called police, having been shot. Police found the woman wounded and a man dead inside the store, both shot.

We aren't told the woman's condition. We aren't told who shot whom, whether it was a robbery in which one of these individuals was robbing the store and was shot by the storekeeper, who was shot simultaneously. There was conjecture that it was an attempted murder-suicide, but no indication of a relationship between the two. No names. Only a very sketchy police statement with little useful information.

At FJC, in the journalism class I attended, the story would get a failing grade and a lecture about stayng on the story until you have the facts. It wouldn't have been a pleasant lecture to have to endure. Shame on CBS2-LA and its reporter for a shoddy job of reporting.

Somehow, most of today's working news reporters, seem to be content to go to the press conference, listen to the speeches, get in a question or two and take the handout. The story is written from that, and only from that. What the politician, his hack, or the police spokesman says becomes the whole of the story.

The romantic in me recalls the stories of fast-talking reporters who interview witnesses, politicians, who finds a way to interview the principals involved, and who finds a way to remove the spin and find the truth. If the politician lies (now, who'd believe that's possible!), if the police are covering something up, or if a criminal is hiding something, the good reporter will find a way to ferret the truth out.

Today's news reporters are at worst, bought and paid for and at best, slackers.

Brenda Starr, where are you?

Warm regards,
Col. Hogan

Baby, It's Cold Outside--and Inside!

It's a bad time to have the heater go out. We've had a couple of people out to look at it, but they both told us very different stories about what's wrong with it. We're having a third outfit look at it Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all we have to heat the house is four of these electric room heaters. Hey, they work! As long as you're sitting within a few feet of one.

You might say, Dude! you live in Stalag California, where the sun shines all the time. Well, it doesn't shine at night. It was well below freezing last night. One of the squirrels for which Debbie sets food was ice skating on the water pan in the back yard this morning.

I moved here to get away from all that ice and snow crap.

If this happens one more night, I'm going to call for Aid from FEMA. Seems to me like I could get a $2000 Visa card and maybe an expenses paid couple of weeks in New Orleans. Der Governator has already done his part by declaring a State of Emergency, so I only hope we can hold out until Aid arrives.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting in front of my heater, waiting for my Visa card. I wrote an email to Algore, in hopes he'll find a way to hurry Global Warming (might as well keep all the options open), and one to Santa Claus, in case he might be able to give me any cold weather tips.

Now, I'm off to the rink. I've heard it's warmer there.

Chilly regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Woman, Back To The Kitchen!

Ok, I've been ragging on the Socialist Party B (Republicans) for some time now, and deservedly so. Once a Republican gets elected to any office, he checks his spine at the door. Fine.

That doesn't mean I like Socialist Party A (Democrats). There is no reason within the Democrat Party. None at all. The Democrats are all emotion, and have been so for my entire life--and that's a long time.

Today, the extremely leftist Senator from Stalag California, Barbara "Bouncer" (so named because of her proclivity for floating "bad checks" in the House slush find while in office as a Representative, not for any other reason) Boxer, raised eyebrows and dropped jaws throughout the feminist community by asserting that, since Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has no children, she has no possibility of personal loss in the war. Presumably, one might be able to infer her meaning as being that she's thus unqualified to be Secretary of State. Read a NY Times story, with Ms Rice's comments here, a NY Post editorial here, and further comments in a Fox News article here.

The Senator said that she wouldn't pay a personal price in Iraq because her children are too old, and her grandchildren are too young. Ms Boxer added that Ms Rice also wouldn't pay a personal price (Ms Rice is unmarried) either. The utterance seems to imply that a single woman is unqualified to make decisions that bear on military matters, since she has no family members at risk in the conflict.

One would think this kind of statement would draw howls of anger from the various feminist organizations and individuals, but so far, there is silence with regard to Ms Boxer's seeming opinion that a woman's place is in the home, barefoot and pregnant. Had a member of Socialist Party B made this kind of statement about someone in Socialist Party A, not only would the entire Congressional membership of Socialist Party A be calling for this individual's immediate resignation, but nearly every news organization be editorializing a similar condemnation, and every feminist in the country would be marching on the Capitol.

On top of that, the rest of the members of Socialist Party B would help oust the poor sap.

As it stands now: a few weak mutterings that that isn't what Ms Boxer meant from the left, and a lot of talk from right wing talk radio. Even the cowardly Congressional membership of Socialist Party B is largely silent.

Some of the stuff that happens in Washington DC would be hilariously funny, were it not for the confiscatory taxation we, the few, the proud, the productive must bear. That and the police state that's being erected by the power-mad members of both parties.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Child Prodigy or Child Abuse?

I think the conversation started with regard to Donald Trump and the Miss USA Pageant, and the controversy surrounding Tara Conner's recent antics. The point was made that Miss USA is simply a beauty contest. I suggested that it could be termed a high-priced wet t-shirt contest, for which I was pelted painfully with peanut M&M's.

Then someone observed that in the Miss America Pageant, the contestants compete on the basis of their ability to entertain, as well as their beauty and poise, and their desire to help achieve peace on earth.

Somehow, the conversation turned to the late JonBenet Ramsey. Someone repeated the oft-mentioned opinion that poor JonBenet was being victimized (before her untimely death, of course) by her parents for training her so rigorously for these pageants, from such a young age. What kind of childhood could she have? Or could she have had, but for her tragic murder?

We used JonBenet as the example because her case happens to have been running through the news in the past couple of months, and we spoke of her in a manner of projection, as if she had not been murdered, and were still following the plan set for her by her mother--a past contestant and pageant afficionada.

JonBenet would have faced a childhood of dance training, tutoring in poise in front of audiences, as well as child pageants. She would graduate to cheerleading and teen pageants, and go on to the adult pageants, if all had gone according to her parents' plans. One has to guess that JonBenet found all this enjoyable as well, since she appeared to be enjoying herself and appeared to be applying herself.

Where she would've gone from there as she reached adulthood, would've been up to her.

Most media people who've spoken to this issue and this case, all the way back to the time of JonBenet's tragic murder when her story rose to prominence nationally, have spoken from an assumption that hers was to be a tragic life of all work and no play. The tone seemed to be (without anyone having actually said so) that her death was a merciful release from a projected unfulfilling life.

Some of my friends seemed to lean in that direction. I emphatically disagree.

No one can see the future, but we can make projections based on the lives of others and on the lives of those in analagous life paths.

Wayne Gretzky started skating at the age of two. He drilled and trained and played hard throughout his childhood. He played youth hockey on local teams with boys years older than himself. He went on to Canadian Major Junior hockey and finally, into professional hockey at the age of seventeen.

Gretzky had a full career as a professional hockey player, is considered one of the game's premier stars of all time, and continues his career as an owner of the Phoenix Coyotes National Hockey League club.

Two of his brothers also had professional hockey careers. Brent, the youngest, still plays in an east coast minor league team.

I cited the Gretzky family because of my knowledge of their careers, but I might also have cited any of a host of olympic athletes--gymnasts, figure skaters, skiers, etc, not to mention musicians many others.

It's almost always true that the best at any endeavor is the individual who began learning it in his childhood, who loves it and continues to refine his skill throughout his life. The parents' job in this area is to teach the child the need for goals and how to select them, then to help the child select goals, guide and help motivate the child toward what appears to be his early goals, and see that he has the tutoring, coaching, equipment and encouragement to allow him to achieve these goals to the best of his ability.

In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, I have to assume that this was what the Ramseys were doing with JonBenet, prior to her death. Admittedly, I didn't follow the story closely at the time, and there might be details I missed in the news coverage, but my opinion stands: when a child shows promise and aptitude in any reasonable endeavor, one ought, as a parent, to give all possible aid and encouragement.

Teach your children well.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Of Blizzards and Self-Reliance

I grew up in the Great White North in the 1950's. I often tell friends that I think that was probably the very best time in history to be a child, though I'll admit that I'm looking through Wayne-colored glasses. The period just before World War One might have been a better time (as long as certain illnesses were avoided), but I don't have a clear vision of that time.

We actually walked to school in those days, carrying our Gene Autry lunch boxes filled with goodies made by Mom and bought by Dad. We weren't carried to a chain-link surrounded prison-like structure sixty miles from home by an evil-smelling retard driving an ill-maintained black smoke spewing yellow death trap, or even in a bullet-proof four-wheel-drive rebodied pickup truck with heated seat cushions and a HDTV screen in the back.

Sometimes it was cold. As I've told my friends here in the Stalag, we had to slog four miles through waist-deep snow in -20 degree temperatures, and it was uphill both ways. That's a bit of a stretch, but we did walk and some days it was -20. The good part was that we were free to experience little adventures of many kinds, within the constraints of getting to school on time and getting home in time for dinner. Today's kids don't get that.

The main reason I bring all this to your attention is that this may be a part of the difficulty I'm about to discuss.

There were some really cold and miserable winters in North Dakota in the 1940's and 1950's. Added to that, technology was far less advanced than it is now. I'm not saying that winters are milder now. Winters and short periods within winters are very severe, where others are less so. No change there.

The change is, however, in how the "victims" handled severe weather then, as opposed to now. People rarely died in blizzards in the '40's and '50's. We made sure we had a basement full of coal or a tank full of fuel, and replenished it well before we ran out. Our winter clothing may not have been pretty or stylish, but it was warm. People didn't trust their cars: everyone realized that the car might not make it, and so we carried chains and shovels in the trunk. We had outdoor clothing with us in the car (usually, we were wearing it--the car heater often wasn't enough!).

This winter, and numerous times in recent years, there are news stories about individuals dying in cold and blizzard conditions. I won't try and tell you that this never happened in those earlier decades, because it did. What I will say, is that many of the recent freezing deaths ought to have been, and could 've been, avoided.

Herein lies the problem. We (most of us) trust our cars. We tend to let our technology do our thinking for us. That and, as I often say: today's younger people don't know how to connect actions with possible consequences.

The news reported, over a period of days last month, the plight of a family that got stuck in Oregon, in very cold weather and far from a town or any help. Fortunately, mother and child were rescued before they succombed, but Dad, having left the car to try to walk to a place in which help could be found, died.

In the chatter about the heroism if the dad in his sadly failed, but valiant attempt to find help for his family, the fairly long list of errors that led to their predicament was hardly mentioned.

There was no emergency clothing in the car. Nor were there any emergency tools or survival gear. Having missed a turn, they took an unknown road shown on a map, and got stuck when it turned out that the road was unmaintained in winter.

A series of small errors that proved fatal.

So, are we (many of us) getting too soft? Are we of the opinion that "something" will take care of us? Why is it that so many of us step off into very dangerous situations, unprepared, thinking we'll make it, somehow?

Or, is it that we know that, in the end, we're gonna die anyway?

Ponder it, if you dare!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addendum, Jan 7:

Today, I was just made aware of a "weather bulletin," an unattributed news story from the state in which I lived in my childhood. I've read something like this before, and I don't know if it actually appeared in the news (no names of officials nor actual locations), but I've lived through situations much like this myself, a couple of times. In essence, it is truthful.

This particular version appears in "Tibor's Place on the Web," Tibor Machan's website on MSN.

The Thugs of Surf City

Huntington Beach, aka Surf City, is a scenic, sleepy, mostly upscale town along the Pacific coast between Newport Beach and Long Beach. Huntington Beach is the town about which many of the Beach Boys' and other surf bands' songs are written. Hundreds of bikers and hot rodders can be spotted kroozin' up and down Pacific Coast Highway through Huntington Beach on any nice weekend afternoon. Thousands of beautiful young bikini-clad woman can be seen tanning, swimming and playing on the miles of perfect beach, along with an equal number of young men doing the same things, and families and elders each enjoying the sun, surf and fine Stalag California summer weather in his/her own way.

There is a dark cloud over Surf City, though, and it hovers over the city civic center. Specifically, it's centered over the out-of-control Huntington Beach Police Department.

As a long-time resident of nearby Santa Ana, and other nearby towns, I was able to observe the radicalization of the HB police as it built up. It seems to have started with those old wild-and-wooly Fourth of July street parties of the 1970's (they may be even older than that, but this is my recollection). Given the moral laxness of the hippie years, there was a lessening of enforcement of civic ordnances, combined with the usual large number of visitors from other towns, abundant liquor and other intoxicants, the tendency was for this partying to get more and more outrageous.

We more cautious individuals who had enough sense to stay away from Huntington Beach heard tales of drunken brawls and vandalism, bonfires in the streets using items stolen from vandalized businesses for fuel, even asssaults and muggings.

The citizens and business owners of Huntington Beach, alarmed by the sheer insanity of the bacchanalia, not to mention the destruction, naturally complained to the city.

The police were ordered to toughen up.

Devoid of any philosophical background, respect for property rights nor even any respect for the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, the unofficial attitude of the HBPD soon became, "Let's go out and kick some ass!"

I'm not sure of the degree of officiality of the clampdown, but it's gotten to the point where the most benign gatherings can be broken up, the most peaceful drinking parties can face arrest for public drinkenness, and it's even illegal to have a beer in one's own front yard while mowing the grass!

More recently, according to an article by Steven Greenhut of the Orange County Register (Commentary, Dec. 17, 2006), police have taken to brutalizing their victims for even the most trivial offenses (both real and suspected). Greenhut cites the police as having tossed a loaded pistol into the trunk of a DUI suspect's car, not in an attempt to enhance the prosecution based on the presence of that weapon, but merely to frighten the hapless suspect as to the degree of his legal trouble.

The officers admitted their folly as the suspect identified the weapon in detail in open court, and attempted to pass it off as some sort of training exercise for the officer. More recently, a contractor for the Register, who operates coin operates sidewalk newspaper racks in parts of the OC, was violently rousted by HB police, not giving him an opportunity to explain that they were his news racks. The man was held at gunpoint, forced to prostrate himself, painfully handcuffed him and angrily yelled at him abusefively. Allegedly, as they say.

Whenever the HB goon squad is called on this sort of behavior, the complaints apparently end up in the round file, officially called "official confidentiality." "Exempt from the public records act."

What the HB thug squad apparently has forgotten, and no one seems to have the stones to (forcefully) remind them, is that they work for us. They're our employees. They have to do what we say.

As author L Neil Smith often admonishes, and I fully second, "no more secrets, no more lies." Any one of us might, under the correct circumstances, be elected to any office in the land. It's to be presumed that, any one of us, in other words, is trustworthy enough to be privy to any and all of the records and acts of our "civil" employees.

In a free society, that's how it must be.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California