Fastest Thumb in the West

Back in my hitchhiking days, as related in this earlier entry, mainly in the early 1960's before the hippies ruined it, I used to be able to outrun the Greyhounds on my thumb. I did so many times. Often, my rides came from truckers who wanted a conversation to help pass the time. Sometimes I'd ride in a truck all night long, talking with the driver about roads, cities, past adventures and even politics. He'd often spring for breakfast to boot, even though I'd try to talk him out of it. 'Twas I who owed him, and sometimes I'd manage to talk him into letting me take the tab.

Once, when hitching from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Waukegan, Illinois to Grand Forks in winter, I was dropped off at about midnight in the outskirts of Bemidji, Minnesota (Curling capital of the United States). It was cold. Very cold, and still. The air was so cold it couldn't move. I was in Navy blues (wool) with just a peacoat. I knew that if I didn't get a ride soon, I'd have to find shelter or I'd freeze.

There was very little traffic.

I kept my eyes on a nearby building, a meeting hall of some sort. It was all lit up. The plan was to go over there if I got dangerously cold. Or, if the lights started going out.

After about an hour, I knew I couldn't last much longer. Did I mention it was cold?

A truck appeared and I shifted to make sure I was in his headlights. He stopped!

Man, did that warm cab feel good! I thawed. Soon, I could move my knees and elbows without hearing the creaking of my joints.

There were two drivers in the truck--one in the coffin and one driving. They were Canadians. Because of the relative quality of American highways, Canadians often opted to use them instead of braving the northern highways, even with the additional miles. These guys were coming from somewhere near Ottawa and headed for Winnipeg.

The driver said he thought I might be in trouble. I told him I was about to start knocking on doors.

The guy in the back joined in, and we talked about Canada. I was kind of interested in Canada, because Grand Forks is only 75 miles from Winnipeg and I'd go up there once in a while. They had some great coffee houses there, in which there was poetry reading and folk singers. I never could understand beatnik poetry (I think I was too rational to get it), but I liked the folk music of the time. The Kingston Trio were among my favorites, and this one coffee house had a copycat trio.

I digress.

In the end, the guys said that I could visit Canada as much as I want, but I should stay in the US. They stopped at a truck stop in Crookston, where they were turning north. After a break and a hot cup, I bid the guys thanks and farewell, and they drove off as the first glow of morning appeared in the east.

Crookston is only about 15 miles from Grand Forks, and I got a ride pretty quickly. I hit the streets of town at about 8am Saturday, according to the First National Bank's time/temperature clock. The clock also flashed 30 degrees below zero (F).

Later, the tv declared that it had been 56 below in Bemidji overnight.

Little wonder that Babe is a blue ox!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Barbara Bouncer's Ice Cube Melts in Her Drink: "Global Warming," She Cries!

I've always thought Senator Bouncer was kind of stupid. She earned her "name" by having been caught up in the House check-kiting scandal of about 8-10 years ago when she was a Congressfool. She, and several other then-Congressfools, had a slush-fund, to which they voted plenty of cash from the general fund. They wrote checks on the fund for quick cash (like an ATM, I guess). A certain several, including now-Senator Bouncer, wrote checks for cash and never covered them.

As one might expect from a Bay Area politician, she's a complete loon (moonbat, in Australian) and is so out of touch with reality that she's actually been observed bumping into things, being unsure whether they actually exist.

This weekend, according to a story in the Orange County Register, the Honorable Ms Bouncer led a bipartisan (aren't they always?) group of ten colleagues, on a flight over Kangia Ice Fjord, a 500-mile-long glacier in Greenland, considered to be the fastest moving glacier on Earth. The fact that this glacier moves (relatively) quickly southward to where it begins to melt is somehow supposed to prove not only that the Earth's climate is warming, but that American SUV's are causing it. How do we know all this by simply flying over this 500-mile-long ice rink?

The news story gives us all the answers, from the Bouncer's mouth: Reports from (government funded) scientists and Algore's movie. I wonder how many scientific reports she has actually read.....I wonder how many times she's watched Algore's hokey movie.

Rush Limbaugh says, and I agree that in many cases, the world's history begins on the day one is born. Yet, the Honorable Ms Bouncer would have to be even more stupid that I think she is, to really not know that Greenland was far warmer during the centuries of its occupation by the early Vikings than it is now, or will likely be if I drive my hot rod all around LA for the rest of my life. But, she and the other algorians will never admit this, or they'll find trained scientists to prove that those selfsame Vikings each drove around in two Hummers, one for each foot.

The story also states that the hapless Greenlanders kneel and bow before Her Worship and beg that she will make us stop.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says that if the House sends him a Hunter-Gatherer Society Creation bill, they'll be sure to find time to debate it.

Since the Republicans seem not to want to do anything to endear themselves to their constituents and remember their past pro-property rights tradition (such as it was), the Hunter-Gatherer Bill might very well be passed in 2009 by a heavily algorian Congress.

All in the name of a hoax, begun on the muddy foundation of another hoax--the politically-inspired "pollution crisis."

There is no man-made global warming.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Tangerines Are On The No-Fly List

The global warming insaniacs are raising the bar a mite, trying to outdo each other listing the many things we all do that are anti-algorian. According to Ben Smith, Elizabeth Edwards believes that tangerines are the new heroin--but not in quite the same way. No one claims that tangerines are un-nutritious or that they create homicidal maniacs of their aficionados, but rather that they have to be transported in carbon producing planes, trains, ships and trucks.

She says that she will "probably never eat a tangerine again," because they aren't grown locally and must be shipped. Note that she inserted the word "probably." Yet another case of the inability of politicians to make an absolute statement. Note here, where John Edwards did the same thing about a hamburger restaurant.

Well, according to Mrs. Edwards' "logic," a lot of individuals will have to severely change not only their their eating habits, but many habits. No more bananas. No more pineapples (except for Hawaiians). Very little rice (unless you live in the deep south). No more Hondas or Lexi. Or BMW's, Mercedes. No more Italian shoes. No more French wine. No more salmon unless you live in the Pacific northwest. No more caviar, fer cryin' out loud.

The list could go on for pages and pages.

Of course, what the Edwards family, and the rest of the wealthy, hypocritical algorians will do is take one of their private planes to Russia when they want caviar, and to Hawaii when they want pineapple.

Life is good when you don't have to live with the consequences of your actions.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

That's Not A Knife. This Here's A Knife!

Seems there's a little confusion in paradise. That is, the small part of paradise we call Stalag California. The confusion is about state law. The confusion is so all-encompassing that it even includes California's Finest, those we select to enforce the law.

According to a story in Orange County's Register, Miguel Ramos bought a knife in The Block shopping center in Orange, thinking it was a legal item. Police found the knife during a routine traffic stop, probably during an unConstitutional search, and arrested Ramos.

Prosecutors observe that it's the duty of each individual to know the law. "Ignorance of the law is no excuse" is the bromide to which we were all introduced in children's prison. I wrote an entry on that topic here.

The problem in this case, and many others like it is this: The law in question, 653k of the Penal Code, has been revised several times in recent years. Most police officers aren't up to date. If the police can't figure it out, along with the hundreds of thousands of other laws on the books in our once-free collection of states, how are we to expect, let alone require, the average young man, just out of high school, to know them all?

More important by far, is the fact that 653k stands in violation of Amendment the Second to the US Constitution. "....The Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be Infringed." is a pretty absolute phrase. Nowhere within is it specified what kind, caliber, range, length, weight, composition nor configuration the arms must be.

My recommendation is that 653k, and all the other tens of thousands of laws designed to make self defense all but impossible, be scrapped and forgotten, but not before their proponents are removed from positions of civil responsibility and publicly labelled Criminal Enablers.

"Every human being, by his nature, is free." --Rose Wilder Lane

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Does Not Compute

Sadly, at least for me, there will be a few days' delay until my next entry: my computer is ailing and will be on sick leave until I can get it to a geek store and have it repaired. I'll return as soon as I can--probably just a few days.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan

Stalag California

Algorians Sealing Their Own Doom

I've just finished reading probably the best description of the theories of global warming (remember, they are just theories!) as seemingly espoused by the Chicken Little Squad. According to Gary Jason, in his Liberty Magazine article, Global Warming, Stifling Debate, there are two theories.

The first is the "Narrow Theory," which is basically the facts as presented by partisan "scientists," which are rationally plausible, but which I largely disagree. Since I'm no expert in this area, my opinion is subject to modification as more is learned and corroborated.

The other, with which any rational individual must disagree vehemently, for a host of reasons, Jason calls the "Grand Theory." The Grand Theory not only contains the Narrow Theory, but also includes the moral assumptions and the policy prescriptions, that is, the Religion of Global Warming. The Grand theory is the source of almost all of the contention, since it also includes an assault 'pon the American system, 'pon the relative liberty enjoyed by the people of most of the industrialized world, and, indeed, 'pon sentient life on this planet.

The logical result of the application of the tenets of the Grand Theory would be a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As recorded in ancient history--mostly through archaeological examination--the planet can only support a few million very hardy individuals in this way. None of them will enjoy very long lifespans.

Interestingly, the transitional period between the adoption of the wishes of the algorians and the beginning of a stabilized hunter-gatherer world, in which current technology is gradually used up and forgotten, is called the "die-down." There'd be hoarding, robbing, killing, hiding, cannibalism, slavery and epidemics. It would not be a very enjoyable time to try to exist.

What's the worst thing that would probably happen if the tenets of the Narrow Theory actually occurred? Some useless land might be flooded by changes in the level of the seas, and there'd be a more-or-less equal increase in land that would be arable.

Algore, in his self-styled holiness, has not thought far enough ahead to realize that should his world-wrecking dreams come to fruition, he will be one of the early victims.

The Ice Age cometh.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Hey, Rube!

Just the other day, I started getting Turner Classic Movies Channel on my cable. I really like old movies, and with AMC moving toward newer movies and other programming, I wasn't getting my fix. I've wanted the station for a long time, and finally called the evil cable company to get it (there are easily twenty-five channels I'd give up for that one--hands down).

The other night, I watched an old romantic comedy, Road Show (1941, Hal Roach) a kind of obscure movie about a rich playboy who, afraid of marring a gold digger, has an attack of catatonia. He wakes up in a loonie bin.

Unable to talk his way out, he soon runs into a resourceful manic with whom he escapes to a down and out travelling carnival. They work at the carnival while our hero and the young blonde carnival owner fall in love. It was a nice, if light and predictable movie.

What all this leads to is the recollection conjured up by this movie, of a traveling carnival that came to my town, many, many years ago.

I grew up on North Dakota. While we were all aware of tv, and wished we had one, there was not yet a broadcasting station close enough to send a signal we could receive. Thus, there were no tv's in our town.

Dad was a telegraph operator for the Great Northern Railroad. He was still paying his dues at the time, so we moved from one town to another from time to time. I went to second and third grade in a little farm town called Larimore, North Dakota.

We kids were pretty free, in those days, to run around and get into any trouble we could. One summer day, I was walking on a street near the edge of town, I noticed some unusually frantic activity. There were several trucks being unloaded by more than a dozen men, and a few women. Huge stakes were being pounded into the ground, in an orderly manner.

Interested, I moved closer to watch.

It soon became apparent that they were erecting a huge, colorful tent. There was also a row of booths going up alongside and much other activity, the nature if which I didn't understand. Turned out, it was the midway, through which you had to pass to get to the big top. There would be attractions, such as games of chance and sideshows along the midway.

A short, chubby man saw me and waved me over.

"Kid, I'm Oscar." I told him my name. "This is a carnival. You want some free tickets to the show?" "Sure." He took me over to a big tank in the back of a truck. "Here's a bucket, here's a dipper. Fill the bucket with water from this faucet and carry it around to the men, so they can get a drink." "Ok." "Don't get too close to the work, and watch the hammers."

I carried the bucket from one work area to another and let the men drink, refilling it as it emptied. The men were kind of rough, but friendly, as were the women. I worked for two or three hours, all the while watching the big tent go up. When the tent was finally up, Oscar stopped me and said that was good enough. The workers were going to break for dinner.

Oscar handed me a handful of tickets. "Give these to all your friends, and one for yourself. They're for the show tomorrow night at seven. And here's a dollar for your work."

Now, at the time a dollar was a lot of money. I left there a happy kid.

I now know that the tickets were a ploy to get us to bring our parents, who would have to buy tickets, and that was ok with me. It was a good show (though not nearly to Barnum & Bailey standards, as I later learned), with a trapeze act, horses, a couple of elephants and a lion act. There were clowns and acrobats, etc.

My friends and I had a great time. I think I spent the whole dollar there in the midway.

The carnival was called "Little Oscar's" and I've never heard of it since. I've seen the big circuses several times but, even though they were bigger and slicker, none has been quite as exciting as Little Oscar's.

That time.....is past.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Addenda:

After thinking about my memories of this incident, I spent a little time pondering. I haven't thought about it in a really long time until the viewing of this film brought it back.

Freedom. This was a time when you could travel freely about and ply your trade without needing permits, licenses and permissions. Presumably, the principals of the carnival paid taxes and chatted with the local police in each town, but I suspect that the only permission they needed was from the owner of the field 'pon which they planned to set up.

The roustabouts probably came and left as they pleased, hooking up with a carnival as they needed money. Because this casual kind of work is no longer available, many of these are among those we currently call "the homeless." Carnival owners probably picked their schedule strictly according to where they thought they could make money--subject to a sort of coordination with their competitors.

These carnivals could never exist, given the nature of local government corruption and intervention--not to mention the evil and unConstitutional Homeland Security thugs.

Thoughts on my personal danger: In the 1950's midwest, harming children was unheard of. It was for New York and other big cities. My recollection of detail is sketchy, but I recall some of the men were pretty rough and rowdy. It was, though, broad daylight in the middle of a wide open field.

Today, parents would shudder over such a thing.

This is one of many recollections that make me think I grew up in the best possible time in history.

Dr Ron Paul's Anti-Tax Amendment

Dr Ron Paul (R-Texas), a candidate for President of the United States, has written and submitted HJ Resolution 23, Proposing an amendment the Constitution of the United States relative to abolishing personal income, estate, and gift taxes and prohibiting the United States Government from engaging in business in competition with its citizens.

I'm not optimistic enough to think this resolution will become an actual Amendment to the Constitution, but I applaud Dr Paul for introducing it and I'll watch to see who supports and opposes this Resolution. So far, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Maryland) and Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Florida) are co-sponsoring the Resolution.

The Catholic church, with its opulent cathedrals around the world, its little churches in small towns, its monasteries and convents, its missionary programs and the extravagance that is the Vatican, are all maintained by the donations of its members. No one can convince me that a reasonable government can't be financed the same way.

Define a reasonable government: well, a reasonable government would contain a defensive military, defensive being the operative word. It would operate higher courts--lower courts should be private and financed by those who use them on a fee for service basis. Government would, in the US, do absolutely nothing that isn't specifically authorized in the Constitution. Nothing.

Taxation is theft. By definition. Since "government derives its power from the consent of the governed," how can the governed give government powers that it does not have--like the right to extort money/property from others, at the point of a gun?

I wasn't aware of Dr Paul's proposed Constitutional Amendment to abolish the income tax, the gift tax and to prohibit government from competing with the private sector. That's more than cool. I'm mulling the possibility of sending Dr Paul a campaign contribution--something I haven't done for any political candidate since the early years of the Libertarian party.

George Bush's greatest failure is that he declared war on terror, and didn't include IRS on the enemies' list.

Tip of the battered grey fedora to Aurora at The Midnight Sun .

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Declaration of Independence

Today is Independence Day. We celebrate Independence on July Fourth, as the day the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the thirteen American Colonies.

The fight for independence from the British Crown was initiated by a resolution presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. He presented a resolution proposing a Declaration of Independence on June 7th, 1776. The resolution follows:

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

The Declaration of Independence was actually adopted by the Continental Congress on July 2nd, 1776. The final text of the Declaration, as written (primarily) by Thomas Jefferson, was adopted on July 4, and off we went.

The interesting thing about the full text of The Declaration is that it details a large number of grievances against atrocities committed by the British Crown against the Colonies. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that every one of these atrocities has been perpetrated against the people of the United States of America by the various layers of our own government.

It's a sort of backward tribute to America's children's prison system that the vast majority of the public has been dumbed down to the extent that they not only aren't aware of government's disregard for their rights, but are utterly apathetic about that disregard. In fact, a significant minority of Americans aren't even aware of their loss of freedom and the way their rights are being trampled by an out-of-control government.

I've though for many years that we're due for a second Declaration of Independence--a declaration that today's several layers of government have rendered Americans slaves to a system whose oppressiveness is only diminished by its ponderous incompetence. Unfortunately, a general apathy on the part of television-mesmerized America leaves me in the role of Lone Revolutionary.

All I'd really like to see is that those in government who fail to uphold their Oath of Office--you know, the one in which the appointee/electee promises to uphold the Constitution of the United States--are removed from office for failing to do so, and are replaced by individuals who will.

I'd also like to see any government employee, convicted of lying during the performance of his duties, face a mandatory public execution for his crime.

These are some of the things I think about while pondering the meaning of Independence Day each year. I'm at once thankful for the bravery and uncompromising desire for liberty of the individuals involved in attaining independence from the British Empire, and angry that we've let it largely slip away.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

At Last! An End To Global Warming!

If an individual is going to accept the algorians' assertion that the actions of human beings is causing the climate of the planet to warm, one has first to conclude that human action, of the sort of which mankind is currently capable and in which we are involved, can cause climate change. If we are capable of causing global warming, we should also be able to cause global cooling.

According to Vin Suprynowics, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in this column, we need first figure out how global cooling was achieved in the past. Suprynowics begins by deftly deflating the comic seriousness of the algorians thusly:

"If warming continues at the present rate, the most significant impact is likely to be a small increase in the amount of previously frozen ground on which people could grow wheat."

He then continues onward to point out the circumstances which have caused planetary cooling in the past:

"How about examining the historical record for the approximately 200 years for which we have reliable weather data? Look to see if there was a period when the weather cooled down, all of a sudden, and what caused it.

"Google "Year Without a Summer." From April 5 to 15, 1815, Mount Tambora on the island of Sumbawa in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) blew up, ejecting 40 cubic kilometers of volcanic ash (more than twice as much as the 1883 explosion of Krakatoa) into the upper atmosphere."

And the result:

"That stuff stayed up there, in the jet stream, for more than a year. Sunlight was reflected off that orbiting cloud of crap and had trouble getting through. The 'Year Without a Summer,' known colloquially as 'Eighteen hundred and froze to death,' was 1816, in which severe summer climate abnormalities destroyed crops in Northern Europe, the American Northeast, eastern Canada and even China."

The solution is obvious:

"Clearly, if anyone believes Earth is warming catastrophically and that we need to do something, the only proven solution is to start throwing as much crap into the atmosphere as we possibly can, right now.

"Clean nuclear and natural-gas-fired power plants must be shut down and immediately replaced with coal plants burning the softest, dirtiest coal -- peat would be better -- that can be found. "Smog inspections" will take on a new meaning as our cars will be checked regularly to make sure each is pouring out the densest possible cloud of carbon particulates and lifesaving black soot.

"Since every little bit counts, we may also have to make tobacco smoking mandatory for everyone above the age of 10."

Obviously, Suprynowics is taking the entire algorian hoax with the entire grain of salt it deserves, as am I. This is why I drive a big old pre-smog device V-8 station wagon and use only incandescent light bulbs in my house. I'd even take up smoking, if I could afford it after buying thirty-six gallons of gas a week.

One must do his part in the war against global warming.

Tip of the battered grey fedora to Rush Limbaugh, who observed that "a columnist from LVRJ" wrote the column, but never credited Mr Suprynowics by name.

Remember, you can't trust any air you can't see.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Deniers No Longer Frozen Out of Global Warming "Debate"

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

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

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Rocky & Hoodwinkle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards.

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Could It Be Any Worse?

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

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

This happens time after time after time.

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

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

"Far from perfect" isn't good enough.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

How They Die

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

The number two cause of death is suicide.

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

Old age.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Lord Stanley's Cup Finally Finds Stalag California

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go! Ducks! Go!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

It's Easy to Be Stupid

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

FCC: Protecting Our Ears From Evil Words

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

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

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

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

I think I'm gonna be sick!

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

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

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

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

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Colonel Hogan
Stalag California

Hillary Explicitly Endorses Marxism

From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

According to an AP story, widely reported on much of the alternative media, "We are all in it together" says the evil Mrs William Jefferson Clinton. I didn't see the accompanying photos, but I'm sure she had shackles and chains at the ready to enforce her edict.

Instead of an "On your own society," the Gorgon who would be President quipped, we should promote a "We're all in it together society."

There is only one way this can be translated, and such a society has ultimately had the same result every time it's been tried: First, eat the rich. Then, the starvation sets in. Then, kill the (scapegoats) dissenters as enemies of the revolution.

It's the beginning of the next phase of the federal government's War on Productivity.

Well, you might say, it won't be that bad. It probably won't, but only because America has enough riches that they won't be exhausted in the elitist twit's two-four year terms. After all, President after President since the time of the disgusting Abe Lincoln have been trying to bleed America's riches, and we're still pretty well off.

How long will we last? Until Atlas shrugs.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Remembering Sara

Another Memorial Day, and along with the thoughts toward those military men and women who have died in the various wars in which the United States have been involved, I always remember my own military experience. Mine was a generally easy enlistment, but there were several very tense days.

I was an engineman aboard the USS Saratoga. Part of my job was to run and maintain the compressors that supplied compressed air throughout the ship for various purposes, perhaps the most important of which was to return the catapults to their set positions after the launch of a plane, in preparation for the launch of the next one.

At general quarters, my job was to feed a foam machine for fire retardation. Usually that meant a plane crash on the flight deck. It happened once during the time I was there. Six men lost, five planes.

That was another story, one about which the Navy never really saw fit to fully inform those of use who worked below decks. I only saw the scorched and twisted metal that used to be airplanes, after the fire was out and the men were in sick bay or.....

Back to the current story, we left our berth at Mayport on what was (to most of us) just a routine cruise through the Caribbean. Some flight ops and a chance to buy tax-free smokes. The Cuba situation was in the news, but it wasn't mentioned as we returned from liberty and found out we were steaming in the morning.

It turns out, we learned later, that we were to be involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

We noticed the difference almost immediately. No sooner were we out of sight of land that the drills started. Fire drills and general quarters. one after another, sometimes three or four a day--or night, more likely. This in addition to your regular job and your watch duty.

There was no news, of course. We couldn't have distracted sailors, could we? But there were rumors. There could be a nuclear attack on the US from Cuba at any moment. USSR was setting up missile launch sites, and they were shipping in more missiles.

We were there to see that no more USSR ships reached Cuba, the President was to negotiate the removal of those already there.

Fortunately, USSR blinked first, and after a couple of weeks of tension and continual general quarters drills, we returned to routine sailing and made our way to Guantanamo for a couple of days of refueling, and a spot of liberty within the confines of the Gitmo base. Drinking happened.

We spent some more time steaming around the Carib, and finally returned to Mayport.

I never heard if there was a medal for that little skirmish, and certainly nobody gave me one. I wasn't really into medals as my enlistment neared its end, I just bought an old car for the drive home, and left when they handed me my DD214.

I think about it mainly on days like Memorial Day and Veterans' Day. A lot of guys had it worse than I did, and that continues to this day. I take this time to remember them, as best I can, never having looked into the eyes of an enemy soldier.

Like it or not, agree or not, there is a little difference in the way one looks at it, if he was there.

If the United States were free, like in times past, it'd seem more worth it, maybe.

Winning on the battlefield, losing in the Capitol.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

April Showers Bring May Blizzards

As Congress' Bimbo of the House and first-tier algorean San Fran Nan Pelosi flies to Iceland, Germany and Belgium with her rock-star entourage of socialist Democrat cronies and one token spineless Republican, in her brand spanking new Air Force Three (leaving a trail of prime lignite carbon across the skies over the Atlantic, we're all waiting on pins and needles, in our parkas and Hudson's Bay coats, for global warming to begin. Reportedly, she is no longer wearing the head scarf she wore on her trip to Syria recently.

As shown in this news story, the group plans to meet with "scientists" of the socialist variety to find ways to further enslave their countries' people with anti-technology propaganda that's somehow related to the presumption that the temperature of the Earth has gone up a degree or so in the past century--most of it prior to the our ability to measure such things accurately.

After all, if we'd never developed this degree of technological advancement, we wouldn't have the means to know we're doomed.

One might note that the Congressfools did not put Bismarck, North Dakota on their travel agenda. According to another news story from KFYR-TV in Bismarck, some two hundred miles from my home town, there's been a significant snowfall. Residents woke up on May 26th to a winter wonderland of heavy, wet snow causing tree branches to break and fall on houses and cars. Bismarck authorities haven't yet declared a state of emergency, nor has FEMA been called.
Looks like the kids put their sleds and skis away a little too soon.

Fiddling while Washington burns.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Visit to the Bookstore

This afternoon the Hollywood Freeway, US 101 through Hollywood, had a Sigalert. A sigalert is an unplanned lane closure on a California freeway that lasts more than thirty minutes. They're usually caused by a serious collision of a nature that take some time to clean up. As I was driving home from a little Saturday overtime work, I heard the announcement that two southbound and one northbound lanes were closed because of "police activity." I've heard no further explanation so far. I suspect there was a Dunkin' Donut truck spill. They've been known to keep the California Highway Patrol tied up for hours.

Since I knew that would probably mean at least an extra half-hour of excruciatingly slow driving, I opted to take the I-5 freeway up to the valley instead. It's an extra three or four miles, but that distance at 60mph is better than the shorter distance at five mph.

As I kroozed past the huge and lovely Griffith Park, I recalled that I'd been putting off a trip to Barnes & Noble to shop for a copy of Newt Gingrich & William Forstchen's new historical novel, Pearl Harbor, and S.M. Stirling's alternate history novel, A Meeting at Corvallis.

I drove to the Burbank Shopping Center.

The first thing I saw at the "New Arrivals" case just inside the door of the Burbank B&N curdled the contents of my stomach and the first thirty-two feet of my small intestine. Six rows of books showing a plain white dust cover 'pon which were printed, in plain New Times Roman, the words "The Assault on Reason." Not terribly threatening, one might observe, written perhaps by Robert Bidinotto or Leonard Peikoff. But, No! Below the title of the book, was the name of the alleged author: Al Gore.

Now, boys and girls, if there is anyone on planet Earth that should be disallowed from using the word reason, that person would be Algore. Not only does Algore never use his ability to reason, limited as it appears to be, but he doesn't understand the meaning of the concept at all! I ran screaming from the store.

In my head.

What the people around me in the B&N store saw was a mere rustle in the front of my shirt, partly concealing the turning of my stomach, as I immediately began searching for the bathroom for a safe place to deposit the contents thereof.

The left have already coopted the words liberal and progressive to mean their direct opposites. Now, what are they going to do with the word reason?

I quickly bought the books I came for and hurried home, to try to forget.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Modest Proposal

Mexico is a very wonderful, beautiful and resources-rich country of about 110 million population. It has one of the more corrupt governments in this hemisphere, which manages to keep almost all of its people poor, and without much hope for self-improvement within the country's legal system (such as it is).

The only hope for a reasonably comfortable life for many Mexicans is to go north, to one of the United States, in hopes of finding menial, though somewhat steady, work at several times the salary they can earn in their home country. Estimates are that around 12 million illegal aliens, mostly Mexicans, have entered California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas in the past twenty-five years. Many have moved north and east to other states, and and can be found anywhere.

Working. Doing menial and lower-paid jobs that most Americans, used to the quasi-benefits of the US welfare state, will not deign to accept.

Accurate estimates are difficult, because of the illegal nature of their entry. Many of them work "off book" and few records exist on their histories and whereabouts. Also, many "compassionate" civil agencies, in accordance with their employees' quest to actually do less and less work, take care not to learn whether a particular Hispanic-looking individual is here legally.

Because most of these individuals are leading a sort of "black market" existence, it follows that they pay relatively little in taxes, compared to their legally employed neighbors. They pay sales tax, of course, when they make retail purchases, and vice taxes for cigarettes and liquor, and they pay assorted other taxes that exist as part of retail purchases. They often don't pay income taxes, payroll taxes nor property taxes.

This becomes problematic for money-hungry bureaucrats as they realize that some of these people have families here, with children, all availing themselves of public education, emergency medical care and the many subsidized services that are covered by public funds.

Estimates are that each illegal alien in any of the United States receives as much as $20 thousand more each year in public services than he pays in taxes.

America's federal politicians, not to mention a large minority of state and local office holders, seem to want to ignore these losses out of "compassion" which in Political Speak equals votes.

My proposal is as follows:

Since the approximate number of Mexican who reside and work in the various United States is approximately 12 million, or roughly a tenth of the entire population of Mexico, I propose that the federal government annex approximately a tenth of the physical area of Mexico, as territory of the United States, to perhaps become one or more States of the United States.

For reasons both practical and humanitarian, I propose that the federal government allow current residents to stay or leave, at their own convenience and pleasure. I further propose that private property owners retain title to their property, to keep or sell. Public property within the territory should be sold by the US federal government to the highest bidder, the money used to pay down the government's debts. Development of these lands will stimulate America's economy very nicely.

I propose that the lands selected be Mexican states bordering along the edge of US States, for example, the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur, which are south of California, along with Tamaulipas, which is south of Texas, are equal to just over a tenth of the just over a tenth of the area of Mexico.

If Mexican citizens continue to enter the various United States illegally, the federal government could then select other bordering Mexican states to help offset the costs of transitioning those individuals and families into our way of life.

It seems like it'd be good for both the United States and Mexico, since American entrepreneurs are constantly looking for investments, and since Mexico seems to have difficulty controlling various parts of its territory. It will ease the financial and societal burdens incurred by the transition of these individuals and families into our society. Conversely, it'll ease the burdens on the government of Mexico.

It seems like a win-win transaction!

Warm regards,

Jonny Quick, Guest Blogger.

Planes, Trains, Guns and Automobiles

I've long known that the real, deep down reason why collectivists hate technology is that they hate life. They hate our increasing success at life. They hate our love of life. They will expend any effort to sabotage that which we, each of whom is successful at enjoying his life, his efforts to enjoy it and the products thereof.

It's difficult to examine the motivations behind the destructive efforts of collectivists in a short article, and their reasons. There is a short answer: Envy. Collectivists envy the happiness of the independent individual and, unable or unwilling to ask and answer the questions necessary to achieve any degree of happiness, their only consolation lies in attempts to destroy the happiness of others.

This is the source of government regulation of business and industry. It's the source of blue laws, vice laws and other "victimless crimes." It's the reason for movies, novels and stories that cast achievers as villains and industrialists as predators. Today, it's the source of this "global warming" foolishness. And, it's the source of the federal government's unjustifiable notion that we are to be the world's policeman.

Ayn Rand writes to expose collectivists as the saboteurs of human happiness, as do L Neil Smith, Robert A Heinlein and a host of others.

Today, I'm trying to catch up on my subscription to The New Individualist. I'm reading the Soliloquy column, by Robert Bidinotto, which is entitled, "Cheerleaders for American Defeat." Now, I'm not a fan of the war, if one can properly call it a war, in Iraq. 'Twas the evil al queda who were behind the attack 'pon America's most recognizable trade and military buildings, and it should be al queda against whom our military efforts ought to be directed.

In spite of denials, I think attacking Iraq was an unnecessary sidetrack; a personal, and not-very-well-thought-out vendetta on the part of the President. He has often said that the "War on Terror" will not be won quickly nor easily. It's my opinion that his actions are designed to make sure of that.

But, I digress.

My opinion of the war doesn't excuse Bidinotto's "cheerleaders." His point is that the only kind of war in which the US ought be involved is of the altruistic variety--in which there is no national interest to the United States, and in which some third world dictatorship hopes to extract more money from the productive members of the United States by creating a crisis only we (the world's policeman) can solve.

Another aspect that Mr Bidinotto points out is that "manifestations of self-assertion and self-interest--guns, the automobile, space exploration, big businessmen, material luxuries, economic profits, cities, the capitalist system itself--are so widely damned" by the left. As the tools for, and products of our productivity, they're detested by the world's parasites because we've worked for them and we've earned them--which they're unwilling or unable to do.

That's why I smile when I see a Rolls or a Bentley cruising along the road. It's nice to know such things are possible, and that they could be possible for me!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Dumb Blue Line

A little more about the May Day rally at MacArthur Park near downtown Los Angeles. Now that Chief Bratton has had a chance to put his foot in his mouth a number of times and events have begun to sort themselves out, we learn that things are even worse than we thought.

LAPD has a fifty-year (and more) reputation for wearing out nightsticks 'pon citizens' heads. Back in the early 1970's, I knew a CHP officer who transferred from LA to San Diego, because he didn't like having to work with LAPD. This all goes back a long time so, you'll pardon me if yet another pledge to put officers through further training leaves me unimpressed.

According to a story in today's LA Times, the police made just about every mistake in the MacArthur Park incident, that could be made.

• Instead of isolating the agitators and dealing with them away from the demonstrators, LAPD pushed them into the larger crowd, thus bringing innocents into the fray.
• LAPD failed to set up an area in which the media could operate. Instead, they herded the reporters and cameramen along with the protesters, injuring a few.
• There was an LAPD speaker truck nearby. It wasn't used. Instead, the orders to disburse were given from helicopters. The bad news: the helicopters were too far away and too high in elevation. Few people heard them.
• Metro Division reinforcements were untrained in crowd control.
• Commands to the public were given only in English, despite the predominately Hispanic crowd.
• Supervisors were too far away from the skirmish line, leaving untrained officers on their own.

Every time one of these things happen, the current Chief vows to set up a new training program or a touchy-feely campaign of some sort--and it works until some cop beats the crap out of a drunk or a car thief (who probably deserves it) with his two-foot-long cast-iron flashlight.

To truly solve this we, as individuals or voluntarily-formed neighborhood groups should hire our own patrol organizations, and be given relief from local taxes to pay for these patrols. Thus, entities can choose patrol organizations from among those available on the free market. The city should do away from all impediments to individuals right to self defense.

Meanwhile, it'd help if police can be weaned from their us-versus-them attitude and return to a form of community patrolling in which police actually know the neighborhoods they patrol and some of the people who live in them. It'd help (and it's the law) if police observed due process and the US Bill of Rights to the letter. It'd help if municipalities would ban lying and secret-keeping by their elected officials and civil servants on pain of firing-in-disgrace and complete loss of pay and benefits.

Turning the police into paramilitary organizations is not helpful.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Long Live the King!

Today, Nicolas Sarcozy was elected President of France, defeating Socialist Segolene Royal by a wide margin. Story here. "You can count of France as a friend," Sarcozy said to America during his victory speech.

I find that comforting.














One thing I noticed: the defeated Mme Royal bears a uncanny resemblance to a certain American socialist: Ms Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, what one might consider a very leftist-oriented political magazine, and the woman for whom the famous New Orleans Hurricane was named.

I wonder if they're actually both the same person....

France's loss is the world's gain.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag Califorina