Of Independence Days Past

Today I reminded myself of a particular July 4th, 1951 I think it was, in which I really enjoyed the holiday for the first time--even though I had no idea of the political or historical issues implied by the day.

We had a picnic at the park in Larimore, where we lived at the time, after which we all went home to wait for dark, and fireworks. Uncle Jim brought a long trough, made of two 1x4 boards nailed together in a 10-ft long V. He leaned it against his truck, at a steep angle and tied it off to part of the bed.

He brought out the rocket. It was a foot or so long with a two-ft stick trailing behind. "This better work" he said. I could only afford one," he said as he lay it into the trough.

Some of the neighbors came over and brought their fireworks with them. Then, we fired bottle rockets, burned sparklers, fired off firecrackers and Roman Candles. We had a few fountains and some of those little helicopter fliers. Being not quite seven at the time, I had to content myself running around with sparklers--kind of a thrill at the time--and watching the other stuff.

Finally, we started seeing the high-flying rockets going up all around town. Uncle Jim shouted, "Ok! Here we go!" As we all gathered around, "not too close," as my Dad and other parents kept saying, Uncle Jim lit the fuse of the big rocket. The fuse burned for what seemed like minutes, but was really just a few seconds. Suddenly, there was a whoosh of sparks blowing out the bottom of the rocket, which quickly turned into a roar as the rocket flashed up the trough and into the sky. We followed the lengthening trail of burning powder until it looked like it was higher than the moon. Then the rocket exploded with a slightly delayed boom into a vast, multicolored umbrella of fire. Oohs and aahs escaped the lips of everyone there.

Well, it only lasted a few seconds--well under a minute. I watched the trail of smoke, in the light of the moon, until it drifted away and dissipated.

We stayed outside for a while longer, watching fireworks of neighbors, and other high-flying ones still going off around town.

That particular Independence Day sticks with me to this day, I guess because it was the first, very exciting fireworks of my young life. I feel for the kids born in other places, and more recent times, who miss the joy of the family/neighborhood Independence Day celebration with the picnics, softball games, followed by a fireworks show of which the kids are really a part.

How many of today's kids get to use ordinary firecrackers to "shoot the anvil," the anvil in this case being just a plain inverted empty tin can?

Those times are gone in this part of the country, for a number of reasons: Perversely over-protective parents. A government that wants us to forget our heritage. Lazy and authoritarian police and fire departments (they could teach kids how to use fireworks safely, not just ban them). Those times are forgotten by many, and never known by the young.

As adults work ever more toward the attempted creation of a nerf-world to keep the kids safe until they (the adults) die, many of the kids will grow up utterly unable to face the dangers--great and small--of value-seeking. The attainment of anything of value requires risk, and kids are learning to avoid risk at all costs, of they are simply not learning to deal.

The adventure of risk taking to attain goals is what built America, and it will slip away--it is slipping away--as America's parents produce more geldings in lieu of stallions.

Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

What Once Was and What Might Be Redone, Better

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

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

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

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

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The American Holiday

As I relax, letting my Thanksgiving dinner settle in, and feel the drowsiness brought on by my tryptophan fix, I find myself contemplating the meaning of the day. I'm old enough to remember having been taught that Thanksgiving was a celebration of the success of the Plymouth Colony, having a bountiful harvest after giving up communal farming in favor of private farms. The guards at the government's children's prisons don't teach that anymore. They'd have us all drown in a sea of altruism.

I've just finished reading two excellent columns about the day, as published on the Atlasphere website. The first is by John Stossel, the well-known co-anchor of the ABC newsmagazine, "20/20." It briefly outlines the beginnings of the holiday and points out the problem solved by the Pilgrims by having privatized their farming efforts.

The second column is by Debi Ghate, of the Ayn Rand Institute. In it, she describes the rational pride we all ought to feel in our work, as productive individuals. She points out that Ayn Rand referred to Thanksgiving as "a producer's holiday."

Both columns are well worth a read.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

HAPPY MEN-OF-THE-MIND DAY!

"Several centuries ago, providing the basic necessities for one's survival was a matter of daily drudgery for most people. But Americans today enjoy conveniences undreamed of by medieval kings. Every day brings some new useful household gadget, or a new software system to increase our productivity, or a breakthrough in biotechnology. So, it is worth asking: Why do Americans have no unique holiday to celebrate the creators, inventors, and entrepreneurs who have made all of this wealth possible--the men of the mind?"

- Fredric Hamber of the Ayn Rand Institute

We have the upcoming Labor Day holiday that salutes men-of-muscle, why not a day to commend those who create the places in which these men and women work? How about the brainiacs who create the things that're fabricated in the factories? What about the capitalists who invest in the creator's vision?

While I have minor issues with the Ayn Rand Institute, I wholeheadedly agree with most of their positions regarding the scientists and inventors who create the technology that keeps us schlubs from having to look under rocks for our supper.

Tip o' the battered grey fedora to Chuck Muth

Playing with fire will cook your steaks.

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

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

Wishing Productive Individuals A Happy And Prosperous 2007!

As a fairly good 2006 draws to an end, I propose a toast to the productive among us, and to those who work for and advocate a free society. May you continue to do so for a long, long time in peace, health and happiness.

For those who possess the capacity to enjoy it, Happy New Year!!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Season's Greetings

Because I grew up in one of the many and various tradition-sets included in the Christian religion, I suppose a rousing "Merry Christmas" is in order. So, Merry Christmas!

I see it more as a relaxing moment in which we can reflect on the past year, rejoice in our successes and make plans to repair our failures. It's a time to visit with loved ones and celebrate the year together, and plan for the one coming.

I've never been overly comfortable with the gift-giving part of the season--who can better buy for one than oneself? A visit and a lovely dinner trump gift-giving anytime.

Cards are another matter. I love Christmas cards. What better way to communicate (in the old-fashioned way) with those friends you don't often see. Cards can be clever, they can be funny, they can be inspirational and they can be beautiful.

Though I find more rationality in celebrating the fact that we're about to begin a period of increasing daylight and warmer days and nights, I'll wish all of you a very merry Christmas, a happy and prosperous New Year, happy Hannukah. For those of you who don't do either Christmas nor Hannukah, and whose New Year is another time of the year, I'll offer best wishes for the season.

'Tis the season for reason.

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Happy Thanksgiving!

Best wishes to you all for a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful season!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Dumbing Down the Kids

Trey Givens wrote a short bit about a woman's reaction to some youngsters lighting off some fireworks. It reminded me of something I've been thinking of, off and on, for years.

I raged on about the fact that the nanny state has severely limited the availability of the really fun fireworks here, last year. This, though, is different.

When I was a little kid, my parents did the fireworks. My uncle Jim once put up a twelve-foot length of rain trough against the back fence and put a skyrocket in it. He pointed it steeply upward, and lit it. 'Twas one of those starburst thingies, and at the time, it was the best shot I'd ever seen. Soon thereafter, the state made certain fireworks illegal, including big skyrockets, but we still could get bottle rockets, those helicopter thingies, Roman candles and all manner of pinwheels.

As my dad lit off the fireworks each year, sometimes in the company of the neighbors and their kids, they'd hand us lit sparklers to swing around in between the larger items. The neat thing was that we always were shown how to light the fireworks and were taught safe use of them. We all knew we'd be able to do it ourselves when we were older.

I was a newsie from the time I was ten years old, and so I always had some money. Rather than trying to buy big fireworks for the 4th each of those wonderful years, though, I preferred fire crackers and bottle rockets. Cheap, quick and capable of being used in many ways.

Oh, I wasn't the only one. Far from it. Most of my friends did the same thing. Sometimes we'd work together, or in competition, to see who could get the biggest bang by tying several firecrackers together or pouring the powder from several firecrackers into a pile and wrapping it in newspaper and masking tape. The thing is, we used our heads and nobody got hurt.

Attendez!

In the Eighteenth Century, 10-12 year-olds handles horses, did farm work, fixed fences and roofs--did all kinds of work, and did it well.

In my childhood, in the 1950's, my brother and I used to climb on slow-moving trains, we'd run across the top of the boxcars and climb along the flatcars and tankers and try to get off the train at the caboose, at the location where we got on at the first boxcar.

Friends and I banked up snow in the empty lot between our house and the house next door, then took the garden hose and made our own ice rink. We went down to the slough in the summer and built a raft 'pon which we floated out on the water. We built treehouses in the woods outside of town.

I took $75 of my saved newsie money and bought a car when I was twelve. 'Twas a 1950 Chevy sedanette. The guy I bought it from drove it home for me and handed the bill of sale to my dad. He registered it for me, in my name. I drove it back and forth down the driveway (I couldn't drive it on the street) and wrenched on it to try to make it run better.

I never owned a gun, other than a bb gun, but some of my neighbors did. 'Twas nothing to see a couple of 12- or 13-year-olds walking or biking to the edge of town with .22 rifles, to shoot cans and stuff.

When my elder son was four, I'd take him out in the street and instruct him on how to cross the street safely. I showed him how to push the button for the walk signal, and watch traffic as he crossed. A little later, I showed him how to make himself a sandwich and warm up some soup, and do various other simple kitchen things.

We went ice skating together a couple of times a week for several years.

When he was about twelve, I taught him to handle handguns safely and to shoot a little Ruger Bearcat .22 revolver.

Since I was a single dad, he learned to do many things on his own, and had plenty of time to adventure with his friends.

Contrast this to the way most youngsters grow up these days. They're driven to their local government childrens' prison by Mom, and picked up after. They're driven to the park to play little league. If the parents are wealthy enough, they live in gated enclaves, and rarely get to interact with outsiders. They're rarely unsupervised and hardly ever get to just go out and have an adventure. They can't work until they're at least sixteen, and can't drive until they've had the ultra bland childrens' prison version of driver ed.

Now, at long last, I'm finally getting to my point.

Today's kids can't do anything!

They live uninspired, fully supervised, fully programmed lives, then are sent out into the world virtually experience-free.

No wonder they drink and get into drugs.

No wonder they live at home until they're thirty (or more).

No wonder they go plumb crazy when they go to college.

No wonder they grow up to be empty-headed socialists who have no idea how the world could be and ought to be.

I'm having the horrible vision of the world John Spartan encountered when he was revived in the movie "Demolition Man." A world in which every off-color word is heard, and your citation pops out of a nearby wall, and every restaurant is a Taco Bell.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Happy Independence Day!

Today is the Republic's 230th birthday.

While all of the numerous reasons for concern I cited in last year's entry still exist, I've decided to take a more optimistic attitude, based 'pon the fact that I know more individuals that see the problems more or less as I do, and who work toward similar solutions.

Politicians and bureaucrats are held in far less esteem than in the past, indeed, in general contempt. I see that as healthy, as long as the main mission of government seems to be placing more and more limits 'pon the rights of Americans.

I doubt that any return of American liberty will come from government, since their incentives lie elsewhere, but as more and more Americans resist the restrictions imposed by our increasingly oppressive government, It'll become more and more difficult for them to continue tightening the shackles.

Enjoy the day, and remember those who fought for the freedom we're currently losing. Perhaps the fight for freedom can continue!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag Clifornia

An Excuse for a Civil Service Day Off

I admire Dr King in retrospect, but I didn't always. While I recognized that his thoughts on the need for equality of all before the law, regardless of race, I always wondered how and why such an intelligent man could be so conflicted. He was a preacher. A rational man shouldn't be a preacher. He seemed very far over on the left, politically. The left is no help to black people, nor of any of the so-called disadvantaged. I hope I don't have to make that case for anyone--it's been made so many times by better writers than I.

Yet his desire to put an end to American racism was sincere. I was and am fully in sympathy with that desire.

His intellectual heirs, though, seem not to be. Looking at the body of work and writing of Jesse Jackson, Kwazy McFume and others similarly inclined (to the left) , it appears that they'd rather prolong and promote racism, rather than to continue Dr King's work to end it. Sort of a "job security" attitude.

Edward Hudgins of The Objectivist Center has written an excellent tribute to Dr King. It describes my take on King's quest far better than I can.

Monday, January 16th, is the holiday designated by the feds to honor Dr King. Seemingly, it's the only thing the feds want to do toward racial equality.

The Civil Rights Act serves mainly to limit free association.

President LB Johnson's "War on Poverty" seems to have been designed to keep the poor poor.

For decades, politicians have worked to undo the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The genesis of this movement has come from a fear of armed black people. Early gun control laws were specifically aimed at disarming blacks. Even in recent years, gun control advocates have targetted inexpensive firearms--firearms that a poor family might acquire for self defense in bad neighborhoods. These laws are clearly directed at poor minorities.

"Affirmative Action" laws not only work in utter opposition to Dr King's desires, but are clearly intended to assert the basic inferiority of black people, other racial minorites and women, and to keep them in a suspect position in society. Proof that these individuals don't deserve this superficial kind of catagorization is obvious by the observation that there are many, many self-made successful people in these groups.

Whenever one sees a $350-an-hour black attorney telling his tale of woe about the way black people have no chance, one sees this individual's case being utterly undone by his/her very existence.

Monday is the day we honor Dr Martin Luther King, but democrat politicians have done nothing but work to trash his movement toward racial equality. Republicans have enthusiastically helped make things more difficult for minorities.

I was in the post office yesterday, waiting in one of those DMV-type lines. I heard a customer mention needing to come in again Monday. The clerk told him the post office will be closed Monday. The customer asked why. The clerk replied, "Holiday. I think it's a president's birthday or something." That seems to emphisize the regard many government employees have toward minorities, whatever their stated positions.

There are good guys and bad guys in any group. Properly, we deal with each individual according to the way he presents himself. We associate with those whose acquaintance enhances our lives in some way. Nothing matters less than the race to which they belong or the hue of their skin.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Happy Safe 'n' Sane New Year!

Debbie and I are relaxing and watching New Year coverage on our "we report, you decide" news station. To resist utter boredom, I'm also reading my recently-purchased unabridged copy of Tom Paine Maru, by L Neil Smith, downloaded from Payloadz.com through a link found here. The original, pubished by Del Rey in 1984, was edited by a heavy, non-libertarian hand.

While covering the mass party in Times Square in New York, it was mentioned that the partying millions filling the streets are not allowed to smoke or drink!?!

NOT ALLOWED TO SMOKE OR DRINK??? On the public streets of New York City on New Year's Eve?

I guess I know where I'll never be spending New Year's Eve. Or for sure I'll be spending it indoors at a party.

Of course, I quit cigarettes many years ago, but I do like an occasional nip o' the Irish. Or the odd bottle of Blue.

It's downright disgusting how far we've gone toward some shrivelled-up old fogey's idea of political correctness.

Anyway, here's to you all. Have a happy and prosperous New Year!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Bill of Rights Day - December 15, 1791

I think it's time I wrote a little about the Bill of Rights, since it's the Document that makes the United States the economically powerful and relatively free nation it is today. I say relatively free because that's merely a comparison to other countries around the world. When compared to a model of ideal freedom, or even when compared to the freedom Americans enjoyed a century ago, we're not free. Not even close.

The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. It came into being at the behest of the delegations of several of the original thirteen states, who refused to join the union without it.

Now, after many decades of government schooling of children and the attending redefinition of the role of government in our lives, most people are only peripherally aware of the Bill of Rights, and have very little knowledge of its content and purpose. We also have to suffer the news media, the politicians and high-profile legal "experts" redefining Americans' rights and the proper relationship between us and our servants in government.

Thus, we have Bill of Rights Day. Many freedom-loving individuals, beginning (for me) with Aaron Zelman of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO), have suggested an annual recognition of this day. A part of his site details his views on the promotion of Bill of Rights Day.

Here are the Ten Amendments that are our Bill of Rights, with a very brief addendum for each by yours truly.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or preventing the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This is seemingly the only Amendment of which ACLU is aware, and toward which they invest nearly all of their efforts. On the other hand they are, more often than not, on the wrong side of the Amendment. Colleges and universities, once bastions of free speech and free inquiry, have become the worst violators of the free speech clause. Conservatives take great glee at enumerating the limitations on free speech. They are always wrong. Disgusting speech, or speech with which we disagree, is still protected by the Amendment. Government itself violates the right to free assembly in many, many cases. After all this and more, the First Amendment is where most of our freedom resides, and is nominally still respected--at least when it's convenient to do so.

Amendment II

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Freedom-loving individuals face a constant battle against government to keep this Amendment intact. There are thousands of (unConstitutional) laws that limit the right to arm and defend oneself, and more limitations appear fairly often, but the Amendment stands. Many individuals keep illegal weapons surreptitiously, in defiance of these illegal laws, within their rights as individuals. More power to 'em!

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner prescribed by law.

While the government takes more than enough money to supply our military with quarters, it could be suggested that, since they've militarized the nation's police agencies, separated them from the general population and started referring to them as other than civilians, the case can easily be made that they become an army, quartered among us. No law-abiding American feared the beat cop in blue; everyone fears those nazi-esque storm troopers in black armor that pop up at virtually any excuse (remember the Democrat and Republican Party Conventions a little over a year ago?) and terrorize neighborhoods. That's the steep part of a very slippery slope.

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the person or thing to be seized.

Well, what can I say? This one has been so roundly violated that it might as well be stricken from the document. The real violations came with the so-called War on Drugs. Violations have increased by orders of magnitude with the addition of the horribly misnamed War on Terror--the portions of which are directed against the population of the United States. Search warrants are mass-produced in tear-off pads, already signed and sealed. Objects of the warrants are forbidden to disclose that they've been served (if, of course, they were actually told about the search themselves!).


Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, of property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation.

The main difficulties here are with government's (both police and the courts) utter disregard for due process, particularly in drug and other contraband prosecutions and more recently, in the cases arising from the "War on Terror." Pundits and government spokesmen cite the urgency of the situation, but thrashing through the rights of both alleged violators of the (not usually rational) law, and uninvolved bystanders, is no substitute for good police work.

Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed; which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witrnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

The speedy trial has gone out the window many decades ago. As the number of (mostly irrational) possibilities of violations of the sensibilities of the government increases exponentially, and the numbers of accused criminals mounts alongside, pressure on the courts to handle these cases, along with the demands of attorneys, means an accused individual might wait years with a sword over his head before the arrival of his day in court. Government-inspired irregularities caused by inconsistencies between the law and the Constitution generally go in favor of law enforcement, at the expense of the individual.

Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Thanks to government's inflation of the money supply, particularly over the past eighty years or so, twenty dollars doesn't mean much anymore. Nonetheless, the right to a jury trial has become more difficult and tenuous--particularly in cases in which government is the plaintiff. Judges and prosecutors practice jury tampering routinely, lying to juries about their legal responsibilities, prerogatives under the law, and duties.

Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Setting of bail has deteriorated to an amount based upon the ability of the accused to pay, rather than the severity of the crime, as often do fines imposed. This had largely come about as a result of the so-called "War on Drugs."

Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or desparage others retained by the prople.

When conservative pundits proclaim that there is no right to privacy, they're dead wrong. This Amendment is where that right (among others) resides. The source of the denial of the right to privacy began with the unConstitutional beginning of the federal income taxes (Amendment XVI doesn't even begin to address the Constitutional problems of this imposition) and carrries through to include any personal information the individual doesn't want known by government. Government's seeking out of private information released by the individual to private concerns for private purposes is as unConstitutional as their raiding and searching that person's home and effects without a duly executed warrant.

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

What this catchall Amendment tells us is that government can do nothing, except what is specifically enumerated in the Constitution. Nothing. When the infamous and illegal Federal Bureau of Investigation was founded, the proper thing to ask was, "does the Constitution authorize the founding of a national police force?" No, it doesn't. Nor does the Constitution authorize any of the many other national police agencies that have been illegally created in the past few decades. Nor FEMA. Nor the Dept of Education. Nor any of the other big-spending bureaucracies created by various would-be dictators in Washington DC. The authorizations might be achieved by Constitutional Amendment, but wasn't. Laws might be implemented to allow easier communication and cooperation between the police departments of the cities and states, and private crime laboratories could be used for the sophisticated investigations. Private charities and accreditation firms might take on most of these other tasks, as well. Unfortunately for the constantly overburdened taxpayer, that was not the way government, in its compulsive desire to grow and involve itself in private affairs, decided to go.

Thus, I plan to mumble many obscenities on the 15th day of December, as I reflect upon freedom lost. I'll wear my Scott Beiser "Bill of Rights Enforcement" t-shirt, and generally be a pain in the ass to all, on the subject. May Thomas Paine have mercy on my soul.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Holiday Which Shall Not Be Named

As the PC gang attempts to generically rename everything that has a "white American" or "white European" name or tradition, in its self-destructive rush to destroy anything that reminds the world of Euro-American and particularly American mastery of nature and the happiness and well-being of the individual, we see, among many other things, an attempted denial of our many heroes, climactic events and traditions. Government schools (aka children's prisons) downplay or eliminate the teaching of history, particularly the parts of it of which Euro-Americans can be and ought to be most proud. Many US government children's prisons start the teaching of US history with the War Between the States--its PC name: the "Civil" War, and the reconstruction. That is, they start US History with the beginnings of the expansion of the federal government.

The segment of PC of which I speak today, however, is the renaming and general denouncement of the favorite holiday of many, particularly christians: Christmas. Christmas is, on the one hand, a celebration of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The giving involved is said to commemorate the gifts brought by the three Magi kings and others to Jesus on the day of his birth. I have no idea how much of this story is historically accurate, but I conditionally accept it that far (and not much farther). On the other hand, an older celebration is the pagan observance of winter solstice. Jews observe Hannukah in the same time period and Black Americans have popped out with a largely irrelevant celebration they call Quanzaa, not to be outdone.

Thanks to the PC gang, everyone has to give extra thought to whether and how they publicly celebrate the season. Childrens' prisons have to be careful about the nature of their Christmas pageants, and many convert the shows in which the students participate to generic celebrations of....nothing in particular. Others eschew such celebrations entirely. Merchants wonder how to advertise. Nativity Scenes can no longer be placed in public areas (ok, so maybe that's all right--there is, after all, the Establishment Clause, with which I agree), and we have to ask whether the tree is a Christmas tree or a Holiday tree. And whether we'll be sued by the ACLU if we make the wrong choice.

My celebration of the season notes the significance of winter solstice: the shortest day of the year and the beginning of lengthening days--and an anticipation of the arrival of spring, but really centers on the uniquely American celebration of Immaculate Consumption. We give because we can. We like to give neat things to our loved ones and we like them to see the degree of our success. I like to get together with friends and family during the period surrounding Christmas and New Year's Day. I don't usually get gifts for many, mainly the kids, but I enjoy the get-togethers, the food, the drink (in moderate quantities, of course) and all of the extravagance that goes with it.

What the PC gang seems to dislike is our affluence. They dislike success. In the end, they dislike life. Perhaps the roots of the so-called "War on Christmas" originate with that.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Bitter-Sweet Thanksgiving

The bad part was my fault, really. We're not really given to spending most of the day cooking and baking, so some years we find a nice restaurant to have Thanksgiving dinner. That's what we tried to do this time.

My mother, and recent years my sister, are unbeatable as far as great Thanksgiving dinners go. I'll stack 'em up against anybody. They all went to my brother's new digs in the Zone this year, and I wasn't able to get away.

Debbie got together with my old hot rodding pal from El Cajon, and he and his wife decided to drive up and join us for dinner at a restaurant. As far as the restaurant went, we made an unfortunate choice.

We had a wonderful visit; talked about many things. We really don't do it often enough, and that's really my fault. I'm the busy one who often works six days a week and has more other interests than I have time for. Nonetheless, it was a good afternoon and a great visit.

Now, for the bad news. The restaurant we chose (most restaurants being closed for the holiday) was a touristy sort of European village place that was having a special Thanksgiving buffet. Since it was a special deal, they set it up in a dance hall which, in the daylight, devoid of the dance hall decorations and lighting, had all the ambiance of a small airplane hangar.

The food was.....ok. Unfortunately, our reservation time was fairly near the end of their day, so some of the items on the buffet were in short supply. The serving people were anticipating closing time, so they had their minds elsewhere.

In short, the dinner was a less than satisfactory experience. I'll know better next time. I don't think Old World Village will see me tippy-toeing over their threshold for a long, long time.

The visit from our friends saved the day. As time goes by, I appreciate the time spent with good friends more and more.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Tin Man is On the No-Fly List

Here it is, the dreaded Holiday season once again. Time to go over the river and through the woods, to visit loved ones for Thanksgiving, then on its heels will come Christmas and a plethora of other holidays that just happen to fall on Winter Solstice (which is the real reason for the season). I'll have to avoid driving too close to the malls for a while.

The one-horse open sleigh is obsolete, at least partly because most grandmas live more than five or ten miles away. They're as likely to want to meet at a ski resort as at their homes.

So we fly. We fly to meet them at their cabin in South Lake Tahoe or their Manhattan apartment.

The temptation now, is to remind everyone of the barbarity of the very intrusive and unConstitutional searches that happen every day at airports, and that one now has to have government approval to fly. This while the baggage that is checked into the cargo space in the plane gets virtually no scrutiny at all. So much for resisting temptation.

Well, I won't be flying. If the airlines want my money, their corporate officers will have to grow spines, and tell the Evil Emporer to remove his thugs and "we'll take care of our own security, thank you very much."

So, I'll drive my 275-horse open sleigh. It works just fine.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Have a Happy and Reflective Independence Day

In spite of my negative assessment of the direction of the government toward a high-tech police state, I still love the country, both the land and the society. The government, well, I regard it as a peculiar sort of occupying force.

Yeah, these thieving bastards were elected (not sure by whom), but they've effectively insulated themselves from any meaningful challenge by anyone who could actually effect change toward liberty.

The schools are run by and for government.

The corporate structure is built to supply and bolster government.

The healthcare system is being increasingly designed to keep government informed, and is being run by government direction.

The social welfare system is being run by government to keep people in their place.

Tranportation systems are fully controlled by government to direct the movement of both goods and people.

And the electorial system is run by government.

In light of all this we should enjoy Independence Day (which sould really be July 2nd, not July 4th) both as a fun day of BBQ's and fireworks, but as a day of reflection. It's a day to read the Declaration of Independence and take note of the grievances addressed against the British Crown at that time. One might also observe that all of those grievances have been committed by the current federal and local governments against us.

And think about whether you like that.

Happy Independence Day!

They've killed Freedom! Those Bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

It's fun to watch fireworks on Independence Day, but we have to remember that the fireworks commemorate the colonies' fight for freedom.