The Green Swastika

According to a memo written by the US Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, dated October 11, 2006, Grist Magazine staff writer David Roberts has written an article advocating Nuremburg-style trials of members of the global warming "denial industry."

This is pretty remarkable, in view of the fact that most of those advocating the erroneous notion that there is a warming trend in the earth's climate and that the actions of mankind are the cause are largely agenda-driven "scientists" whose findings determine the size and scope of the grants they may receive. Lest there has been any doubt at all, this shows very clearly that Hitlerian fascism still lives, and that one of its homes is in the environmental wacko clubhouse. It's also interesting when advocates of a failing program attempt to elevate it to a "war" status--which is what this "war crimes" ploy tries to suggest--to attempt to give it further credence.

It fails completely and begins to illustrate the degree of desperation to which a psychotic will descend as he realizes the errors in his carefully-laid plan have finally been exposed. Watch for the advocation of even wilder acts of craziness in the near future

When simple logic shows that a single volcanic event, such as the Krakatoa eruption in 1883, threw more greenhouse gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere than all the actions of mankind in its entire history, one has to wonder how there can be any reasonable advocates of mankind-caused climate change.

I'm not sure if this places me in Green Kangaroo Court legal jeopardy, but I'll consider myself successful when the Green Meanies come knocking on my door to haul me off to trial. I'll be in pretty good company, I think.

As I've written here, and in previous entries to this site, the public advocates of this imaginary phenomenon, largely the of Hollywood airhead set and the political way far left, are much less interested in the climate than in effecting political change. And, they ain't advocating capitalism, boys and girls.

They aren't exactly saying, but logic indicates that they're in favor of some variant between a feudal and a hunter-gatherer society--with them, of course, cast in the role of the aristocracy. Else, why the condemnation of technology in general, and labor-saving devices in particular? Why the utter disdain of private (read liberty-fostering) conveyances and the accompanying freedom of movement they provide?

Well, we had a relatively short heat wave that ended about a month ago, and currently the days are cool and the nights are cooler. I bet that torques 'em off!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Writer's Block....

I've been trying to write an entry about the Republicans' utter failure to do anything other than continue the destruction of the Bill of Rights and attempt to remain in power (presumably to finish the nullification of the rest of the Constitution), but it wasn't quite working. Meanwhile, I wasn't getting anything posted.

I'm gonna write some easier stuff for a bit.

Like, today. I started to watch Hannity and Colmes on Fox. Unremarkably, they spent the first several minutes talking with the very shady Col. Oliver North about North Korea. They were saying the predictable things about strengthening the ill-conceived "Patriot Act," and getting the do-nothing UN to write yet another resolution or something.

The really annoying thing--the thing that made me change to AMC (which is playing Fargo, a movie that reminds me of the part of the country in which I grew up--they really do talk that way up there!), was that once again, over and over, ad nauseum, they played that same hackneyed old footage of thousands of presumably North Korean soldiers goose-stepping in a way guaranteed to wreck their backs in no time. I think those clips were really put together by George Lucas on his Industrial Light & Magic, Inc computers at the Skywalker Ranch.

I did a little marching when I was in Boot Camp in the Navy. I have a good memory. You can't march like that.

And I can't watch those computer-generated stooges hippity-hopping past the reviewing stand even one more time.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

You've Done a Lame Job....Take the Rest of the Year Off

Ain't it nice to have a job in which you can spend millions--nay billions of stolen money every year, go to money's-no-object dinner parties paid for by others, make decisions involving the lives and deaths of millions? Ain't it nice to go through life with the ability to control the lives of a nation of people and no responsibility for mistakes?

These are the politicians we duly elect and entrust with our safety and our well-being.

They're taking the rest of the year off. They're taking the rest of the year off for the sole purpose of conducting a campaign to get re-elected. How many contractors (private individuals who work for finite terms and have to negotiate to renew or extend their contracts--or make entirely new contracts--get the luxury of stopping work and working on the new contract with full pay and benefits paid by the old contract?

Let's require these drones to eschew campaigning on our time and either continue the work they're supposed to do right up to the end of their term, or (better yet!) suspend their pay and benefits from the end of the Congress term until the new term begins. This, of course, to include the pay and benefits of all staffers, who are also working on the re-election campaign.

Some will suggest that while the Congressdrones are campaigning, at least they're not enacting new legislation that will further limit our freedom and our lives. That sentiment, with which I fully agree, really says a lot about their perceived value, doesn't it?

Why not just allow that their re-election is dependent 'pon their deeds while in office? Another idea: One term, and never again.

Some say they need more than one term to gain the experience to be effective in Washington. I'd rather they never gain that kind of experience.

We forget, and they make a point of forgetting, that their job is to erect and maintain a government whose sole task is to protect the rights of Americans, within the limits set by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The federal government is so utterly overextended that Congress has no idea how to manage it anymore. No one knows where the money goes. No one knows how much money is coming in nor how much is being spent by whom. Each legislator has a number of pet projects that he attempts to fund (with money stolen from you and me) without consideration of prior projects that require ongoing maintainance.

No legislator is interested in limiting himself to his Constitutional role, even though every legislator swears an oath to protect and uphold the document. One wonders how many of them have actually read it.

I hate to seem pessimistic for the Republic, but it's hard to imagine how the wonderful idea that was America can ever be reconstructed.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Tragedy of the Commons--Again

My car is suffering from brake problems, and I took it to a garage this morning. Rather than have Debbie pick me up, I elected to leave the car at the garage and walk the two-plus miles home. Sherman Oaks, a suburb that is within the city limits of El Pueblo de Los Angeles, is actually a very nice area in which to walk. Residents, whether they happen to own their houses or live in the many apartment buildings nearby, generally take care of their surroundings and keep their places up.

There are nicely groomed yards and plenty of shade trees along the somewhat narrow streets. Alternatively, I can walk along Van Nuys Boulevard, Ventura Boulevard or any other of the major streets in the area and peer in the windows of the many storefronts lining that street for miles in either direction.

Today, as I walked along Van Nuys Boulevard, I paid attention to the buildings which housed the businesses I passed. Most were pretty well maintained. Many were older, with the inevitable faded paint and sometimes grafitti on broader walls. All in all, though, it's a nicer commercial street than many I've seen--as is nearby Ventura Boulevard.

What stood out negatively is the area around the freeway. Where the on- and off-ramps open into the street, they've erected very aesthetically pleasant low masonry walls to contain the trash and rubble that might roll down the slopes from the freeway. Between the wall and the sidewalk, they've placed paving stones rather than vegetation.

Now, this is all very nice, and CalTrans is to be commended for designing an aesthetically pleasing , as well as very efficient freeway system.

But.....politicians love to set up plans and programs, preferably with their names attached. They love to spend millions of dollars they could never have earned, on projects that may or may not be economically logical. There's never any thought given to long term maintenance. These were my thoughts as I paused to look at the well-crafted masonry, and the inches-thick layer of leaves both behind and in front of the retaining wall; the piles of trash mixed therein, the fast food bags tossed out of car windows as they exited the freeway, some obviously having lain there for weeks.

Nobody cleans it up. It lies there until wind blows it onto private property, then the property owner cleas it up. The politicians who spend the millions didn't think of, or arrange funding for maintenance and clean-up. I could bring up the fact that, when there were merely 160 million Americans, and the vast majority of those 160 millions paid less than 10% of their income in taxes to government at all levels, the US was a much cleaner, shinier and better maintained--even government property, if you can believe it!

Today, with nearly twice as many people, most working individuals pay on the order of 50% of their income to all levels of government. Property that's controlled by government is mostly shabby, unkempt, unmaintained. Government employees are unresponsive and undisciplined. Their laziness rivals that of career welfare recipients. They can't be terminated.

Nothing gets done.

Anywhere one travels in the great USA, one finds that (in general) private property is clean and well-maintained, and government property is filthy and in rugged condition.

I've long been an advocate of the privatization of....well, everything. Not only will it be far more just, but it'll make our part of the world a cleaner place! Individuals care for what they own.

This just in: in today's news on radio here in the Stalag, a study (I'll try to find the story in print) concludes that streets and highways in El Pueblo de Los Angeles are in the worst shape in the state, with the exception of those in San Jose. Knock me over with a feather! I drive on these alleged streets and highways every day. I have a big car with a soft suspension. I can only imagine how truck drivers and Yugo drivers manage, bumping down these cobblestone-like roads.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Great Man Passes

Jeff Cooper, regular columnist and Editor-at-Large for Guns and Ammo magazine, passed away at home in Gunsite, Arizona, on the afternoon of September 25, 2006.

Off and on, over the past thirty-odd years, I've been reading and enjoying Col. Cooper's columns in Guns & Ammo magazine. I wrote to him once through the magazine, and have a wonderful personal reply from him, which I've saved.

I couldn't begin to list the number and nature of that which I've learned from his writings. He's made shooting sports more rewarding and more enjoyable for me in ways I can't begin to enumerate.

A gentleman's gentleman.

RIP, sir. You left the world a better place.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

America's Most Victimized (so far) Generation

I'm very proud, as many of you know, to be a huge fan and an acquaintance of Mr L Neil Smith. El Neil has written over twenty novels, every one of which I've read, most more than once. To me, he's second only to Ayn Rand, and a lot more fun.

Neil is still writing, and I eagerly await the publication of his next.

I've exchanged emails a few times with him, and have spoken to him on the phone a couple of times. A couple of years ago, I bumped into him at the Freedom Summit in Phoenix, and we had an hours-long conversation.

In spite of much of his fiery writing, such as that in the article I'm linking, He's an affable, mild-mannered fellow whom I'd be more than proud to call a friend. In fact, in spite of my very limited contact with him over the past several years, I will call him a friend!

I won't go into Neil's personal philosophy here, except to say that he's a libertarian's libertarian, and one of those current-day intellectuals who helps define the term.

Neil has just lost his mother, and has written a tribute to her, in his unique style, as well as to his previously deceased father and other members of their generation.

Please accept my deepest condolences for your loss, Neil.

My own limited ability to describe this essay compels me to merely link it, that you may judge for yourselves.

Death of a Generation, by L. Neil Smith

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Life's Strange and Winding Paths

Having read Philosophical Detective's tale of the unusual twist in an old friend's life-path, I'm reminded of a somewhat similar if maybe slightly more common situation in my own experience.

I have a friend (since we were ten) who, after several years married and two kids, came out several years ago. I learned this from another childhood friend, after I went to my 35th anniversary high school reunion in North Dakota. He told me that Chuck (NHRN) had been in town that weekend, but hadn't taken part in the reunion festivities.

Since Chuck was living in Winnipeg, and I had flown in from the Stalag, I was a mite miffed that he hadn't made his presence known. I'd, of course, spent time with several of my other high school friends, rehashing old times and bringing each other up to date, telling lies and promising to keep in touch, but Chuck was one of those I really would like to have seen.

I had visited Chuck once during my biker years, back in the '70's. I rode up to Grand Forks on a vacation and visited a couple of friends. I got Chuck's phone number and gave him a call. After getting his address, I rode on up to Winnipeg.

The dopey Canadian border people made me leave my pistol with them at the checkpoint, but I was able to retrieve it on my way back. I don't know what Canadians have against self defense, but I swear they have a sheepish quiver in their voices and that they grow their own personal wool against the winter cold.

Chuck had a moral objection to the draft, and moved up to Canada right out of high school--and stayed there. I had the same objection, but solved it by joining the Navy. Being anti-authoritarian in the extreme, I had a rugged time with military discipline, but had a good experience with my time in service all the same. One hitch, though, and both I and the Navy had had quite enough of each other.

Back to my tale, I had a nice visit with Chuck and his family in Winnipeg. I got the impression of a very staid, conservative family man, whereas I was anything but that. I might've seemed like a bit of a wild man, riding up on a clattering motorcycle packed to the gunwales with camping gear, souvenirs and not-too-clean clothing.

Since then, according to my other classmate, he got divorced, and came out--all while being a very successful executive in a medical profession. I don't know what happened to his family.

He doesn't seem to want to communicate with me now. I'm guessing he might think I won't accept his orientation. Well, it does seem strange, but this is Stalag California, home of the fruits and nuts, and one can't live here too long without making acquaintance with the odd gay man. I've come to terms with that circumstance many years ago.

It'd be nice to be in touch with Chuck, but I guess it's not to be.

We had a lot of good times, back in the days of twenty-five cent-a-gallon gas and nickel candy bars.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Where There's Smoke There's Ire

In their seemingly never-ending crusade to make certain no one, anywhere can ever enjoy himself, we see yet another small portion of the surface of planet Earth 'pon which the smoking of tobacco will no longer be allowed by the smoking nazis. (The Orange County Register, Sept 14, 2006 print)

Orange County's beaches. Outdoors. Where the weather is generally relatively cool and breezy.

Now, I realize smokers are, in large measure, their own worst enemies. If I had a buck for every butt I've observed tossed out of a car or just dropped on the ground, I could've retired years ago. Some--in fact, maybe most--smokers are incredibly careless with their butts and their smoke.

One of the reasons for the thus-far proposed ban is a distaste by the public for cigarette butts in the beach sand--not to mention the possibility of one's stepping on a still-smouldering butt in the sand, with bare feet.

It might be speculated that there'd be a lot less anger at smokers by non-smokers were smokers more careful with their by-products.

When I was a younger man, I had the opportunity to spend some time 'pon the beaches of southern France, Italy and Greece. One of the things I recall especially is the fact that the beaches of Cannes and Nice are segmented by cute little fences and had controlled access. I don't know if they were privately-owned or merely leased by private operators, but there was an admission fee to enter the beach. Once inside, you selected a spot 'pon which there was a parasol provided. Waiters came around taking drink orders, or you could just lie in the sun and read, or swim, etc.

Part of what was paid for admission paid people to clean the beaches up, presumably, daily. I use the past tense because it's been many years since I observed all this, and it may not now be the same.

The point is, what we have here in the beaches of the Stalag is the tragedy of the commons. The beaches are public, they belong to all, which means they belong to no one. And that's exactly who takes care of them. What's the government's solution? The same as their solution for most things: heavy fines and lax enforcement.

What you bring to the beach, stays at the beach: your soda cans, cigarette butts, spare change that falls from your pockets, candy wrappers, tanning lotion bottles..... Who's going to pick them up? No one.

You don't think the lifeguards, the police, the parks & rec drones (civil welfare recipients, all) are going to, do you? The only reason the "public" beaches are as clean as they are is that many folks clean up after themselves. But many don't.

Other than the general hatred of many at seeing others enjoying a cigarette 'pon the beach, the biggest reason for wanting a law against smoking there is the cigarette butts--which no one will clean up. That's actually not a bad reason, but attend: there are never any cigerette butts laying around at Disneyland, nor at Knott's Berry Farm--even in the marked smoking areas. They are private property. Their customers pay to be there. The staff uses part of the admission fee to hire people to keep the place clean and free of litter.

We all expect that.

Throw down a paper napkin at Disneyland and step back and watch it. Within a very few minutes, there'll be a cleanly uniformed employee along to sweep it up.

The caretakers (?!) at the "public" beaches couldn't care less. They'd step on or over the napkin and walk on, and probably throw a hot dog wrapper on the sand alongside of it.

So, what am I saying? Well, I'm saying what I always say: Privatize. The foolish notion that the beaches will be better as "public" property is best tossed into the same trash can into which all thinking people have tossed the insane idea that farms and factories should be publicly owned. We, all of us who are civilized and rational, know it was a bad idea then and a bad idea now.

Who wouldn't pay a few bucks to have access to a clean, maintained beach with various amenities such as food and drink waiters and his own mini-cabana? With security against the well-known and often observed beach louts, thieves and drunks.

Why can't some of these private beaches allow smoking, and others not? Why can't some offer alcoholic beverages, and others not? Why can't some allow children, and others not? Pets? Volleyball? Surfing? Imagine the possibilities!

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

In the World of the Unarmed, the Armed Maniac is King

At first, I said to myself: "Wait, this is Montreal! Canada! They don't have guns in Canada!

Stupid as it seems, there aren't supposed to be any guns among the beer-and-donut crowd in the Great White North. Something about their having descended from British Tories and French socialists, I'd guess.

So, you understand why I was skeptical about the veracity of this story, early on. A hockey stick-swinging incident would be more likely, I thought, except that it's a little early in the year for that kind of thing.

Seems someone, using what the uneducated call an "automatic rifle," shot up the Dawson College campus in Montreal. According to this story on Canada.com, as reprinted from the Montreal Gazette. This deranged young man, dressed to look like the Columbine killers, made his way to the campus' second floor cafeteria, then started shooting indiscriminately at the students crowded therein. He shot twenty people, six were injured critically. Sadly, one of the six later died at the hospital.

Early reports indicated that the deranged individual then took his own life, but later it came out that he was killed by police. I sincerely hope that the officer is not prosecuted.

After I reiterate that Canada has outlawed personal firearms for almost all individuals, I'm certainly going to point out that such laws place the law abiding individual at a severe disadvantage.

Since it's now apparent that the killer was shot by a police officer, one might ask how long it took for the police to arrive, and how many might not've been shot had the officers arrived sooner. Those kinds of questions come up at every shooting in memory: where were the police? Why didn't they get there sooner?

I'll go a (big) step farther. How many might not've been shot if a number of those in the cafeteria had been armed, and had trained themselves in the use of their weapons? How many of these kinds of incidents would just never happen because the prospective killer would have to expect armed resistance and would probably be killed before he got very far?

I recall, many years ago, a man entered a McDonald's in San Ysidro, Stalag California, with a semi-automatic rifle and started shooting people indiscriminately, including several children. I remember thinking: how little these parents must think of their children, to be so completely unable to protect them. Had even as few as one or two of these parents been armed and competent with his weapon, several lives would very likely have been saved.

The 9/11 highjackers would've failed miserably to take over the aircraft had a number of the passengers been armed. What a load of trouble that would've saved us! I'm very suspicious that government enacts all the anti-self-defense laws specifically so that there'll be victims, thereby reinforcing their psychotic fantasies that they are needed by us.

But, when we actually do need help, are they there? Not unless you happen to be near a donut shop or a strip club.

For that very reason, one of the things muggers, robbers, burglars and killers count on is unarmed victims.

For that very reason, we all owe it to ourselves and our families to be armed and capable of handling our weapons.

They've killed freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Conspiracies and Lies

Every time there's a major catastrophy, and sometimes a minor one, we hear accusations of conspiracy. They're usually directed at the President, high-ranking members of a governmental agency, or at times, a powerful individual or group outside of government.

I've read viable theories claiming that the GWB administration 1) started the war in Iraq to continue his father's plans, 2) knew about the WTC and Pentagon attacks in advance and did nothing, 3) actually had the buildings packed with explosives to cause an implosion collapse, 4) is deliberately fighting the war not to win, but to make it last for years and, no doubt, more.

President Clinton (I still hate putting those two words together) is accused of having conducted his entire foreign policy to cover up his White House peccadilloes. The Clintons were thought by some to have been involved in the death of Vince Foster, and even that of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. There was also the mysteries of the FBI files, the firings of the White House Travel Office. There was Mrs Clinton's foolish health care plan and her mysterious "earnings" in commodities speculation, both of which remain mysteries to this day.

Without getting bogged down in what would be a never-ending list--the illegal and knowingly unConstitutional acts by government officials are being committed much faster than I could even type them, even If I could keep track of them all!

There is a solution to all this. In fact, it's a solution to much that's wrong with government. It was first suggested to me in L Neil Smith's The Libertarian Enterprise, in an article entitled "The Boys Who Cried 'Terrorist.'" There ought to be a law, applicable only to government "—making it an offense punishable by public hanging for any government employee, at any level, to lie to any individual for any reason."

We often forget that government employees and elected and appointed officials are our servants--not the other way around. They work for us. There is never a valid reason to allow an employee to lie to his employer.

Remember, too, that these are not special people. Any one of us, within certain Constitutional limits, could become a Representative, a Senator, or yes, even President. Believe me, if a bumpkin like Jimmy Carter can become President, anyone can!

But the point is, there is no reason for government to keep secrets from Americans, nor to lie to them. The reason--the only reason--government employees lie to Americans is that they're doing something they ought not be doing: something unConstitutional or otherwise illegal.

I'd make it a capital offense.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Laurel or Hardy

I'm reading a Breitbart story I found on Drudge. The story claims that girls as young as the age of five are concerned about weight, and that they might become overweight. The story details many of the problems girls and women have that can be attributed to overweight. Many corresponding , but not quite similar problems invade the lives of boys and men because of overweight, as well.

MyWay also has a story on Drudge that calls American obesity a pandemic. first, let me say that I wrote what I think about "pandemics" here. It's become a news media buzzword designed specifically to increase the state of fear in American society.

The MyWay story seems to be written specifically to alarm the non-svelt. Like myself.

Well, I ain't buying it.

The chief reason why we're, many of us, packing on the poundage is very simple: Food these days is just so damn plentiful, inexpensive and, well, delicious. It's been only for the past couple of centuries or so that most of the industrialized world has had enough good food to eat. It's only been for about this past century that food has been good, plentiful and inexpensive.

I'm thinking it's the same people that are trying to turn Americans against technology, against science and against wealth in general, are trying to force and propagandize us away from the kinds of food we like to eat. People who hate life and for whatever reason, want to inflict their psychosis on the rest of us.

Meanwhile, those same miserable psychotics rail against those who have managed to keep their slender, sometimes athletic bodies by condemning dieting and corrective surgeries.

The real difficulty we all face is, in the face of an unprecedented plenty, learning to moderate and partake all these wonderful foods and drinks in reasonable quantities. Since there are a number of level-headed thinkers studying these and other problems that bother those of us who have difficulty living in a land of plenty, I'm sure the solutions will be there soon, if not already.

I regard our plight far easier to live with than that of our ancestors.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Settling In

I never mowed lawns as a youth in my neighborhood; I was a newsie. 'Twas many years before I learned the joy of mowing. I've lived in apartments most of my life, and generally, my life has been lived more outside home than in it.

I did buy a house in Costa Mesa many years ago, but I was young, a biker and had spending money. I spent most of my non-working time riding up and down the length of California, and going to libertarian meetings, such as the many-years-defunct Libertarian Alternative, where a couple of dozen or so libertarians got together monthly to plot, plan and execute getting libertarian ideas into print and on the air.

The Libertarian Alternative was the brainchild of Charlie Barr, who moderated the proceedings and kept the group of very disparate individuals, who had only the then-somewhat-nebulous notion of libertarianism in common, on mission. Herding cats, as it were. No easy task, but Charlie handled it well. I hear he's escaped the Stalag and is now living in Las Vegas. Libertarian Alternative has been turned by party member Mark Selzer, into a publicity seeking arm of the California Libertarian Party. He produces a tv series for public access tv in several markets.

Back to the message, I spent a lot of my time in the kind of pastimes that kept me away from home , and regarded home as "a box in which to keep my stuff" (thanks for the line, George).

Debbie and I bought this house in 1993. We moved in, at the time, with Debbie's mom Maxine, having decided that this was a good place to live in the LA area. 'Twas more Debbie's decision than mine, but I soon decided it was a good one, for reasons I mentioned here.

We left in 1994, because of the quake, while awaiting repairs to the place. We decided we also liked Orange County (and, I was working there at the time) so we stayed and placed this house on the rental market. It worked out well.

A few weeks ago, when our not-so-conscientious property manager told us that our tenant was bailing, we made the decision to move back. Because of the evil tax code, it seems we're required to occupy the place for two years (to legally change the property from an income property back into a private residence) to avoid the theft of a goodly portion of the proceeds from the eventual sale of the house, by the despicable drones of the feral government.

So, we're here. Death, where is thy sting? (thanks, Bill).

In spite of the oppressive heat of this part of the year, I'm enjoying being here. I'd partially forgotten the charms, and the negatives. The streets are more crowded than OC, they seem narrower and buildings in commercial areas are smaller and closer together. Parking lots are smaller, when they exist at all. The parking enforcement cops (meter maids) are neither lovely, nor compassionate.

Yet, in many ways, the Valley has many of the positives of New York City. Wonderful restaurants, including some near-New York quality delis. Little theaters. Funky shops along Ventura Boulevard. I could, at the risk of boring y'all to tears, go on.

I've been helping Debbie tear out the atrocious landscaping left (against the rules laid out in the lease) by our most recent tenant. Debbie's been finding stuff in boxes and setting up the kitchen and the bathrooms, etc, and I've been unpacking my books and VHS/DVD collection, and setting up my library/office.

Back when we originally bought the place, I acquired a reel mower, being more familiar with that kind than any other, and not desiring to deal with temperamental power mowers. Besides, being a poster child for the government's unreasonably intrusive, futile and stupid anti-obesity campaign, I can use the exercise.

I mowed the lawn several times with the mower, back in those days, and found it agreeable, and so I decided that I'd continue the method, now that we're back.

What better day to get out there and mow the lawn with a reel push mower than Labor Day! I got out there at about 8AM (to beat the heat) and got the job done in a little over an hour, including a short break to give a few peanuts to neighborhood tree squirrels.

It's good to be back!

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Tomorrow's Engineers, Today

When I first arrived in wonderful California in 1965, as a mere lad, I was stunned by all that seemed possible here. There were clean, pleasant cities with wonderfully bizarre-looking buildings and wide, well-maintained streets and freeways, good-paying jobs and the widest variety of types of terrain/scenery one could imagine. There were beaches, mountains, deserts, rivers and lakes, all close enough for a weekend outing, at most.

Cities were similar, yet different, and all jammed together so that it was hard to tell exactly what city I was in at any given moment, while driving. There was also air I could sink my teeth into--that would sometimes burn my eyes and catch in my throat.

A price worth paying, I thought at the time.

I found a job quickly: there were many jobs available. After the first year, I'd left the first job for a higher paying one. Finally, after a little over a year, I got the job I'd been after: a surveyor-apprentice with what was then known as the California Division of Highways. I was involved in building freeways!

One thing I've remembered for all these years: every one of my employment interviewers commented that I had an incredible advantage, having gotten my schooling outside of California. Even back then!

The photo with this entry comes from The Orange County Register, September 1, 2006. It leads a story about California's government children's prisons. The headline: "More Schools Meet Federal Goals," and is a mostly self-congratulatory story apparently written, or at least coached, by a member of the state's Dept of Education, about the improved scores "achieved" by Orange County's children's prisons. Seems they've generally improved a bit over last year.

Pardon me while I hawk up an expression of doubt.

Since the mid-seventies, I've had the opportunity on numerous occasions to interview prospective employees and make hiring decisions regarding these individuals. Though I have no formal schooling in personnel matters, I think I'm a better than middling judge of character. I'm generally happy with the decisions I've made. The one common thread I was able to observe, though, was that high school graduates seem incredibly under-educated to me. On the other hand, the two college grads I had a hand in hiring seemed far better. They were graduate geologists that worked in my lab for a couple of years, then moved on to jobs that made better use of their education and talents.

The high school grads I dealt with, while intelligent lads all (or I wouldn't have hired them), seemed to be deficient in the knowledge of stuff that ought to be taught them in school.

Which brings me back to this newspaper article. The photo shows a quite atrocious construct that looks to me to be a kindergartener's work. I guess it's supposed to be a bridge. In the photo, it's falling over under a load. Good thing the photo's caption tells me this, or I'd never have guessed.

These are sixth graders!!

When I was in seventh grade, lo! these many years ago, we had a science fair at Valley Junior High School in Grand Forks, North Dakota. No science maven, I, so I had no entry in the science fair. A girl for whom I felt fondness at the time was, however, so I attended the science fair.

The recollection that has relevance here, is the fact that one of the thirteen-year-old exhibitors at the Valley Jr science fair built a bridge out of popsickle sticks, string and Elmer's glue that not only looked like a real bridge, but was able to support the weight of the HO-scale cars, trucks and miniature people figurines which he placed 'pon the bridge.

Today's kids aren't stupid--I know some of them. But, they're being horribly shortchanged by the children's prison administrators and teachers.

And here, in spite of the criminally poor job they're doing, they have the gall to congratulate themselves on having improved minutely over the period of a year. They ought to be ashamed!

Why aren't these sixth-graders reading Aristotle? America's Founding Documents? Ayn Rand?

Why aren't they working in algebra? Geometry? Trig?

Why can't they diagram sentences? Why, for cryin' out loud, can't they, any of them, spell?

Why can't they make change? Write a check? Balance a checkbook?

I fear for the Republic.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

He Almost Made an Absolute Statement

He caught himself in mid-sentence. Just in the nick of time.

'Twas John Edwards, the once and future failed candidate for President of the United States. Yup, the same John Edwards who almost made John Kerry look good. The hack shyster who has made life miserable for obstetricians throughour the country by using criminally sleazy tricks to fool juries into making huge awards to mothers with real and imagined problem births and overly lengthy labors. His quasi-legal arguments have served to increase malpractice insurance premiums to impossible levels for obstetricians all around the country.

Just moments before he was exposed for the sleazeball he is by his critics, he stepped aside to attempt an even sleazier career, that of another kind of quasi-legal theft: politics.

His lackluster run that ended up with his accepting the Vice-Presidential nomination of the evil Democrat Party and that campaign's subsequent failure, seems to have taught him nothing. He's in Iowa again.

Eschewing the Iowa State Fair (a major blunder in its own right), he's kissing hands and shaking babies elsewhere in the state.

Now, I may have the name of the restaurant wrong--I didn't hear it clearly, but the important thing is, Williams sad the following:
"[Butterman's] has the best....one of the best burgers on the planet."

Almost a huge blunder. Almost an absolute statement. How could he ever again offer an insincere complement to another burger joint had he said what he almost said? "[Butterman's] has the best burgers on the planet."

Boy, I'll tell ya, that lawyer training sure saved his bacon that time! Shows you just how hard a job it is, running for the job of thievin'-parasite-in-chief of this country.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

....Because We Said So!

An old socialist in my virtual acquaintance, who seems to buy into the blatherings of the likes of Algore, Robt Kennedy, Jr and their sort wrote the following, when pressed about their personal extravegances, and I quote:

"And if he travels by [private] jet to educate millions of people on green living, the accumulated impact overcomes the amount of energy he consumes."

Now, I've written about some of this before here, and again here, and here.

I am getting a mite tired of all this global warming crap and maybe lost my patience with the man. I sent out the following rant, which reads not too badly, if I say so myself....I have to say so myself, nobody else will.

Quote:

"That's what the gods of totalitarianism always say. Hitler and his generals lived luxuriously while German citizens went hungry. Lenin ate caviar while Russians starved. Castro wears custom-tailored fatigues while Cubans wear rags originally sold during Batista's time.

"Wannabe courtiers and apologists forgive it in the hopes of gaining favor with His Worship, and perhaps they really do think the dictator is better than they. Perhaps he is. But he's not better than I.

"Those who see clearly know that the dictator is but a smooth-talking con man, with delusions of grandeur and a psychotic need for power over others.

"There is no man-made global warming nor anything of the sort.

"Those who are familiar with the concept, "The Big Lie," know that if you repeat a falsehood loud enough, often enough and put a lot of pseudo-authority behind it, pretty soon many easily-led folks will believe it.

"Once the "True Believer" makes the lie his, it's virtually impossible to change what's left of his mind. "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it." as I've heard said.

"I will never be green, in any way the evil Ralph Nader--or Algore--means. I will probably wear green on (or near) March 17th each year. The odd pint of beer will accompany the wearin' o' th' green.

"Meanwhile, I'll drive my three classic cars, all of which have V8's and 4-bbl carbs. I'll keep my HVAC pegged at 74 and I'll keep enough lights on to light my way. Algore can roll that up into one of his very own home-grown cigars (grown on his own tobacco farm) and stick it into whichever personal orifice he deems proper."

I know that the earth will get along just fine without my help; it has done so for untold millions of years. I don't quite get the irrational self-importance involved in these "green" idiots actually thinking that their use or non-use of air conditioners and automobiles will actually have an effect on the workings of the planet, but I think there's lotsa work for a psychiatrist within their pointy little heads.

Planet Earth is going to last for millions of years still, and if we humans should somehow manage to wear it out, we will have long since found other new planets to use.

They've killed freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Going Full Circle

In the spring of 1992, I was laid off from a very good job in San Diego. After floundering about for a few months, I got what I thought was a reasonably good job in Huntington Beach. 'Twas a killer commute, that 90 mile-each-way drive, so Debbie and I resolved to move north.

Eliminating some details, we ended up buying a house in Sherman Oaks--about 50 miles north of Huntington Beach. Very nearly the worst fifty mile commute in the known solar system.

However, I loved Sherman Oaks! Our house was about two blocks from Ventura Boulevard, a major boulevard lined with dozens of hip restaurants, coffee shops, little theaters, cute shops and chain stores. It's a delightful area, great for walking, close to many cool San Fernando Valley hot spots.

In fact, it's even close to the Universal, Warner Bros and Disney studios and, more importantly, it's not far from the venerable Pickwick Ice Center!

Well, the fun ended on January 17, 1994 with the Northridge Quake. Now, the quake didn't do really serious damage to our house, but it fairly devastated the neighborhood. The opposite side of our street has several small 3-story apartment buildings, many of which were destroyed. Most of the single-occupant homes weren't seriously damaged. Part of our house was shifted slightly on its foundation. There was some stucco damage. A wooden property line fence fell over and worst of all, our water heater fell over--in spite of its restraints--and I had to shut off the gas.

A number of people were injured on our street, but none killed that I know about. I had to rescue an elderly lady from a third floor apartment, who couldn't get out because the stairs were damaged. It turned out that, though the stairs looked deadly, after a bit of empirical testing (I jumped up-and-down on 'em), they turned out to be better than they looked. I had to carry the lady out of her apartment, because she was a knick-knack collector. She had dozens of glass and crystal and ceramic items on and in glass cases. All of it lay in bits and shards on the floor and she couldn't even get to her shoes.

Well, we got down to the street before the next aftershock, and she was fine except for a few minor cuts, which which were handled by another neighbor who had medical experience.

We found out later that it would be days before we could get the water heater and the gas lines repaired and possibly weeks before the gas company could inspect it. They had to inspect everything for many miles around.

So since I was working in Huntington Beach, and our insurance paid for our displacement costs, we took an apartment here in Santa Ana, where we remain to this day.

After several difficult weeks of repair work, in which we also had some unrelated work done at the same time, we placed the house on the rental market. We were able to get rent about double what we've been paying here in the OC (for an apartment). This is why we've stayed. Well, Orange County has its fine points, too.

Our current tenant gave us notice she was moving a few days ago.

We've decided that the time was right to move back.

My writing might get a bit sporadic soon, as we get into the serious throes of packing and moving. Right now, we're involved in making the place habitable for our own fine selves. Paint, new carpets, a few repairs, etc.

The commute will still be bad, but I now work somewhat closer to Sherman Oaks than I used to. I think it's gonna be fun!

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Would Isolationism Really Be Worse Than This?

The United States has helped just about every nation on earth, one time or another, and sends aid money to many "developing" nations (read primitive totalitarian dictatorships). We're there to help in every natural disaster with both public and private aid. We try to humanely intervene in international struggles and help sooth the disagreements.

It never works. Most of the nations of the world regard United States to be arrogant and controlling. The United Nations, a body that wouldn't exist without our efforts, is basically anti-American. Even countries which would no longer exist, but for our help, side against us more often than not.

I don't entirely blame them.

A hundred years or so ago, the United States of America was a country to be emulated by emerging countries all around the world. We had very nearly perfect liberty. Our government protected our rights, but was not intrusive. Individuals could determine their own futures to a degree never seen on earth before or since. Advancements were being made by these same individuals, in both technology and philosophy, to a degree we can't equal today.

In spite of all that, we've become the country 'pon which blame for all the earth's ills have been affixed. Some of it is justified. Most of it isn't.

Face it. The United States federal government is and has been for over 100 years, unbelievably inept at international relations. Like one might imagine of the antiMidas, everything we've touched has turned to sh(fecal matter)t.

Our dipsh(fecal matter)tlomats get us into wars, both trade and shooting, without exception, with every alliance or treaty signed or attempted. No nation should ever regard itself a super power or a world leader.

It's been the height of arrogance on the part of the neocons that, since Reagan put a well-deserved end to USSR--for which we deserve the world's thanks--they think our intelligence agencies, our state department, our diplomatic corps and our military are infallible, omniscient, godlike.

Meanwhile, everything they touch turns to sh(fecal matter)t.

I propose that the federal government tend to the internal affairs of the United States exclusively and not communicate in any way with foreigners. I propose that the US military and all intelligence agencies suspend foreign adventure and devote all of its resources to protecting the United States from attack by foreigners--either governments, individuals or groups.

In the interest of trade, I propose that the private firm that wishes to conduct international trade, do so in the absence of any government action, and at their own risk. What problems they get themselves into, they must get themselves out of.

If individuals wish to travel outside the borders of the US, they must do so at their own risk, and get themselves out of any trouble in which they find themselves.

I suspect that those nations that want to engage in trade or that favor international tourism will take steps to make their country receptive to foreign visitors.

Our government has botched things so badly that we ought to look into criminal prosecutions of those incompetents who can be shown in a court of law to have caused difficulty.

I'm up to here with the criminal negligence that resides in Washington DC.

These people need to be looked after!

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

But....It's For the Children!

According to a story on C-Net, Congress is dead serious about controlling access to social network sites to minors. These sites include MySpace, Livejournal and Facebook. I'm behind the bell curve on these sites, only having visited a couple of friends' sites on MySpace. While youngsters will still be able to access these sites on their own computers, they will be blocked from doing so on computers in government children's prisons and government libraries.

Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick, a Neocon Republican from Pennsylvania, along with the fat and waffling Rep. Dennis Hastert and other unscrupulous Republicans are pushing a bill called the Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA. It's rather an apt acronym, because it describes both the Act and its proponents.

One of the many problems with this proposed law is that it's very broadly written. It would include Blogger.com, as well as AOL and Yahoo's instant messaging features and the XBox 360, which allows in-game chat, for example.

Thanks to Laura Ingraham's radio show, I hear that the bill has been voted 'pon in the House and passed with a large majority (who's going to vote against the children in an election year?). Remember, though, congressfools, that these same children will be voting in a few years, and they just might remember!

Sadly, and tellingly, Ms Ingraham (donning her very own neocon cloak), supports this distressing proposed new law, once again illustrating her own unease with the Bill of Rights in particular and human liberty in general. Wasn't it conservative Republicans, not too many years ago, who often voiced the sentiment, "why don't they understand that 'Congress shall make no law' means 'Congress shall make NO LAW?'"

This new proposed law, "DOPA," is obviously a blatant violation of the First Amendment. We can't predict, totally, what the unintended consequences of this new law might be. I mentioned the (maybe remote) possibility that today's youths might vote their anger, a few years hence. More seriously, it almost certainly will drive young students away from public libraries during the exact time in their lives when they ought to be acquiring the habit of using them.

Another important intended consequence is that this intrusion takes even more of a parents' rights away from them and places them in the hands of government. It's very sad if the parents resent this, and even more so if they don't.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Getting Wacko In Waco

I guess there was a delay in getting this to the news. Delays are only one of many weird (never good) things that happen when the feral government is involved.

According to a story released by KCEN-TV in Waco, Texas, in the wee hours of July 21, Special Agent John Lewis of the US Secret Service was being rude to other customers at the Crickets Bar. When the bar manager asked him to leave, Lewis became agitated and banged the door open so hard that he cracked it.

Two off-duty Waco police officers attempted to arrest Lewis and he resisted. He was tasered in order to make the arrest. After a medical checkup he was jailed, then released on $1000 bond.

Not mentioned in the story is the fact that often proves to be a factor in clashes between federal police agencies and the local police: Federal police think they are in many ways superior and have more power than do local cops. They often try to run over them and use the federal "big stick" to move local law enforcement officials out of their way.

It reminds me of the scene in the movie "Blade Runner" in which the police chief regards non-police citizens as "little people."

One has to wonder what current or past official of the US lives in Waco, who needs the protection of the Secret Service.

One wag suggests that perhaps they are lagging there to shoot David Koresh again, should he arise from the dead.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Baseball Fan No More

When the Grand Forks Chiefs, a second-tier minor league Team were playing in Grand Forks Stadium, lo those many years ago, I was not only one of their die-hard fans, but a fan of the major leagues as well. I was a Yankee fan. I won't say I knew the stats of all the ball players, but I did pay attention to the more famous players.

I was a member of the Knothole Gang (bleachers along the third base line in the outfield, fifty cents for every home game for twelve-year-olds and under), then I sold ice cream sandwiches in the grandstand, just to be there.

Then, I observed (from afar) the move of the Dodgers and the Giants to the west coast. It seemed strange. at the time. These teams had been in New York forever, then suddenly, they were gone.

I've been to only one Dodgers' game in LA, though I've seen a few on TV.

My disenchantment with baseball started in the early 1980's. Seems a couple of ball players, leaving the stadium in street clothes after a game, thought it'd be funny to throw a cherry bomb into the crowd of fans waiting to watch the players depart--possibly in the hopes of getting an autograph. The cherry bomb exploded in the air near a small child who was being held in her mother's arms. The little girl suffered some hearing damage from the explosion.

I think the Dodgers organization reached a settlement for a payment for damages over the incident, but the sleazy part of it was the half-assed "politician's apology" that the Dodgers' spokesman gave the news people, and the fact that they lawyered up before saying or doing anything.

The thing that really did it for me though, happened much earlier. I learned about it several years ago and haven't been able to think positively about baseball since.

Seems the city of Los Angeles, back in the late 1940's/early 1950's, was nearly as corrupt as it is now. The city wanted to create a housing project for the poor. They chose Chavez Ravine, I guess because there were only about 2000 Hispanics living there, some in run-down houses. The city condemned the area setting off a series of protests, acts of resistance and fights that lasted ten years.

After the "Better Dead than Red" crowd declared the public housing project a socialist idea (which, of course, it was) it was decided to use the property to lure the Dodgers to LA. The rest is history.

Read the story of The Battle of Chavez Ravine.

I don't know how deeply involved Walter O'Malley, the then owner of the Dodgers, was in the theft of the Chavez Ravine, but his shenanigans with Brooklyn officials left little doubt as to his desires.

So, after 2000 Mexican-Americans, some of whom were recently home from fighting in WWII, were forcibly removed from their homes, Los Angeles acquired a Major League baseball team.

I suppose this kind of story has been repeated several times around the country, with many big-league sports teams and many criminal city officials, but I still despise the notion of Eminent Domain.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Ok, So Call Me Spoiled.

I recognize that seventy-five or more years ago, nobody ever heard of air conditioning, and that when it was hot, it was just hot.

We've gone beyond that now, and but for wacko environmentalists, will go a lot farther. One book I read, The Probability Broach, suggested air conditioned and heated cloaks to wear out in the street. That could be done in the very near future.

Meanwhile, if we work, play or wait for the bus outdoors, we live with the elements.

Such was the case yesterday. I was out on one of my long drives through urban Orange County. I do these partly because I love to just drive, and I like seeing various parts of the area in which I live. And partly because I now have a really cool car in which it's fun to cruise.

The temperature here yesterday ranged from 85 degrees at the beach to close to 100 in the Anaheim Hills. 'Twas also quite humid. I ran the car's a/c for a while, but I really like to drive with the windows down, so I soon turned it off.

I enjoyed a drive through Cypress, Westminster, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Santa Ana (where I live), then thought I'd stop for a spot of lunch.

I like to stop at the one-off mom & pop eating places pretty often, but this time I opted for a pretty good chain Mexican place, Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, because their food is very good and very consistent. And, I like it.

What I have I spot of trouble with, is that for a Mexican restaurant, they tend to be kind of pc and even a mite green. Like Starbucks, they seem to follow leftist pop trends a little too much.

Apparently, they don't use air conditioning. I hadn't noticed it before, I guess because I'd never been there when it was hot.

After working for eight hours, then spending two more cruising in the heat, I was looking forward to stepping into an eating place to sit down and cool off. After I ordered, I sat and started reading my current book. After a bit, I realized that I was sweating and that it was bloody hot in there!

I considered for a moment, then decided that I didn't want to sit there sweating and eating, eating and sweating. I went to the cashier and asked for my money back.

She referred me to the shift manager, who seemed unable to understand my complaint. I finally said, "if you can't make it twenty degrees cooler in here right now, I want my money refunded."

I went a couple of doors down to a Subway and got a pretty good (better than I expected) Italian sandwich and it was cool!

We're hearing a lot about what a strain this heat wave is on the state's power grid, and I guess it is. Governor Davis the Grey was fired for having totally screwed up the state's power systems a few years ago. Our current Governator Schwarzeneggar has done absolutely nothing to even begin the construction of new power plants.

Let me hasten to add that it's an unfathomable travesty that state government is involved with the generation, distribution and sale of electrical energy at all, and that everyone doesn't have a choice of at least a half-dozen energy sellers from which to choose, but facts are facts, state government has a good deal of control over what Edison does, and they're stopping Edison from doing what needs to be done.

Instead, Davis the Grey initiated a program for we, the great unwashed, that he called Flex Your Power. Basically, the program tells Californians to turn everything off and slowly sweat in the dark.

Well, Davis, you butthead, and Schwarzeneggar, you George Bush neocon wannabe, I absolutely, positively refuse to "Flex my power." My thermostat stays where I want it: 74 degrees. If we have a brownout, it'll still be at 74 when the power comes back on again. Six bits says it's at 74 degrees at the governator's mansion right now.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Cool regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A Substitute For Good Police Work

In what still stands out to me as an astounding disregard for the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Orange County (Stalag California) Superior Court Judge Daniel Didier "....signed a preliminary injunction restricting the activities of more than 150 suspected gangs members...."

See story here.

The injunction "....prohibits gang members from associating with each other in a designated area of Santa Ana and drinking alcohol in public....."

"It enjoins people from doing things that are completely legal," (Defender Tony) Ufland said. "Things like wearing certain colors, drinking in places where it is legal to drink, associating with people of your choosing. They are looking for a brass ring and going well beyond what the law says is constitutional in this injunction."

Within the limits of Mr. Ufland's quote, he's right. The Constitution says what it says, and if we're going to get back to being a Republic of laws, not of men, we have to limit our arresting, prosecution and punishing to those individuals who actually break the law.

Maybe each and every member of the Santa Nita street gang has broken the law any number of times each, and maybe they should all be in prison, but according to the rules, they each have to be tried for his specific crime in a court of law, and if found guilty, sentenced.

We never, in the United States of America, should be saying that because an individual belongs to a particular group, he's guilty of a crime. That's unAmerican, not to mention immoral by any philosophical system for which I have any respect.

My opinion? I think the Santa Ana police are lazy. First, I shouldn't single out the Santa Ana police--the Los Angeles police have been following a similar path for some time now. Lazy.

I remember my hard-boiled detective stories. You identify a crime. You inspect the site, gathering clues and reconstructing the crime. You identify, locate and question witnesses and other involved persons. Eventually, you identify one or more suspects. You investigate them, question them, and with any luck, you can make an arrest and assemble the information to be used by the prosecutors.

Never having been a cop, I may not have all the details, but I think it's fairly close.

Sometimes it comes fairly easily, and other times not. Maybe some criminals don't get caught. That's unfortunate, but it's a better situation than arresting people willy-nilly, based mostly on the color of their shirts.

Perhaps we should force all suspected members of street gangs to pin some kind of a badge on their shirts?

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

Pssst! Hey Kid! Smarties! Fifty Cents a Pack!

Cicero, over at To the People, reminds us of yet another stunt the government childrens' prisons are initiating to avoid actually having to teach anything. I've been hearing a quite a bit, over the past few months, about yet another war.

One might think we're involved in enough wars at present, most of them both stupid and futile, without having to start yet another.

Cicero points us to an article that shows what some childrens' prison administrations are doing and planning--in part at the behest of the feral government. Yes, that George W Bush.

Now. Let me tell you, mes enfants, how it's gonna be.

When I was a kid, it was squirtguns. We wanted to have water fights at every opportunity, and the screws were constantly looking for the squirtguns to confiscate them. There was no end to the inentive ways we had of concealing these weapons, to be drawn and fired at any opportunity.

It'll start with recloseable plastic bottles of soda in their backpacks, along with candy bars and potato chips. Prison officials will counter by having random backpack searches. Older brothers will hand candy through the chain-link to kids in the yard, and these kids, in turn, will sell candy to their hungry classmates. We'll see children concealing candy bits in their clothing.

Janitors will find tofu smeared onto the undersides of the tables and vegetable medleys clogging the drinking fountain drains. Rival smuggling gangs will evolve, and there'll be fights over who can sell candy to whom. The more enthusiastic of the screws will discover flops of steaming broccoli in their desks and soured milk in the coffee pourers in their staff rooms.

Gang members will unplug the drink machines to leave the drinks unchilled.

It could get nasty. Fruit and vegetables in the cafeteria could be destroyed or contaminated. Childrens' prison officials could call for a no sweets zone within a mile of every prison. Daily universal strip-searches could become the daily routine. Punishment for possession, smuggling, and attempts to sell illicit confections could include felony punishment and mandatory minimum sentences.

Meanwhile, the teaching of academic subjects would suffer and eventually cease, as enforcement efforts take up more and more time.

Youngsters would graduate, not only unable to read and work basic arithmetic, but looking like Auschwitz survivors.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

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

Yes, But Is It Really Funny?

With exceptions, I usually don't like comediennes. Most of them are really full of not-too-repressed anger, which reaches their audiences more as outrage than humor.

An LA-based radio talk show hostess, Stephanie Miller, does a better job of controlling this and going for really clever humor, than most. I occasionally listen for the humor--but not for the commentary. There is almost no serious political commentary, in spite of the show's being billed as a "progressive" talk show.

Incidentally, I really hate their having co-opted the word "progressive." to mean socialist. Once, they were proud to call themselves socialists. Jack London proudly called himself a socialist. Eventually, "socialist" became a pejorative term, so they started calling themselves "liberals." This in spite of the fact that free marketeers had been calling themselves liberals for decades. Now, if you refer to A. J. Nock as a liberal, people assume you mean socialist. Recent years, the term "liberal" has become pejorative.

People now know a "liberal" is a socialist. After experimenting with words like "communitarian," which most people (correctly) confused with communist, socialists have finally begun to call themselves "progressives." How we can apply the term "progressive" to a group comprised of "environmentalists," who want to put an end to technology and reduce mankind to roaming bands of hunter-gatherers, and wealth redistributors, who want to take wealth from the productive and turn it over to the non-productive, is well beyond my ability to understand.

They're not liberals. They're not progressives. They are socialists.

And I have digressed.

Back to the very lovely and quite talented Stephanie Miller. She's clever, she's quick, she's funny and she's interesting. She is not informative. She very rarely actually gives a rational discourse on any part of the Democrat agenda, rational reasons for hating GW Bush (there are many), alternatives to his programs, the Democrat platform or anything! Her radio program is basically a three-hour standup routine--with numerous commercial breaks.

Today, however, she slipped up. She actually allowed a bit of real "War on Terrorism" news to slip through, along with an actual rationally formed conclusion. 'Twas a welcome event!

Apparently, the Afghan drug trade is very business-as-usual, in spite of the efforts on the Iraq-depleted US forces there. It's coming out that the money from this trade is financing a resurgance of the Taliban. This, in turn, is making the job of our Afghan-stationed forces even harder and more dangerous. By the way, does anyone know what is the current job of our forces in Afghanistan?

Y'know? (sez Col. Hogan, not Miss Miller) This wouldn't even be possible, but for the other really stupid war the feds are waging: The War on the Bill of Rights.....er the "War on Drugs."

One of the major effects of the "War on Drugs," other than:

• Huge amounts of land, money and property stolen from their rightful owners as "booty" in the "WOD."
• Competing, often warring drug gangs throughout the nation.
  
• Increasing numbers of innocent bystanders killed and injured in battles between drug gangs and the police.
• The romanticization of drugs to rebellious young people.
• The paramilitarization of local police forces, separating them from the local people.
• The creation of a non-productive drug subculture dependent 'pon social welfare programs.

Is the fact that drug prices increase to the point where such monsters as the Taliban can make huge profits on the trade; enough to re-energize the organization which served to repress the Afghan people for these past many years.

So, as the very clever and somewhat oblivious Miss Miller has inadvertently revealed, the federal government is once again working at cross-purposes with itself.

It's not making the President and his Administration look very good.

Remember, VOTE FOR NO INCUMBENT!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

A New Global Climate Crisis

Scientists are beginning, as more and more evidence piles up, that the real global crisis we face is not global warming, or even global cooling.

It's Global Climate Stagnation.

Scientists are gradually coming to the conclusion that, as our methods of measuring such things become increasingly sophisticated, that the world's climate isn't actually changing at all. Whenever it gets hot and sultry here, there's a complimentary cool and windy period there. Where it's dry in Arizona, it's very wet in the Yucatan. When the ice cap melts in the Arctic, it gets colder in the Antarctic.

Animal species are dying off, becoming extinct. Ecologists say it's because of the encroachment of man into their habitat. Not so, say zoologists. Animal species are dying of boredom.

We don't have chinooks any more. Never heard of a chinook? A hot, dry west wind across the Canadian Rockies that turns winter to summer for a day or two, melting the snow and making the trees think it's spring? I guess they still happen occasionally in Saskatchewan, but I recall a couple of them from my childhood in North Dakota. Not in the past fifty years!

Global Climate stagnation.

Ever see a second story door on a farmhouse in Manitoba or North Dakota? A door with no stairs to the ground? Sometimes the snow would pile up that high, and folks used that door to walk out of their houses. Not any more. Of course, that much snow is more curse than blessing, but it's an indicator that the climate is getting more mundane.

Global climate stagnation.

The Northern Lights? Aurora Borealis? The phenomenon still happens in Alaska, Norway, probably northern Canada and other near-arctic regions. We used to see it fairly often in the northwestern states.

We are having more hurricanes and tornadoes than in the recent past. Some think that's a prelude to the deterioration of the Gulf Stream. This would normalize weather in the British Isles and Scandinavia, with the rest of the world at those latitudes.

Global climate stagnation.

We won't like it. Do you think your teenagers are complaining of being bored now? Wait until even the weather is predictable as the phases of the moon.

Global Climate Stagnation could be the end of the world as we know it.

And I feel fine.

They've killed Freedom! Those bastards!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California

The Day's Best Fireworks Show

The US Shuttle Discovery just launched from Cape Canaveral. 'Twas a beautiful, textbook launch that was a joy, once again, to behold.

I'm hoping that private interests will take the reins and move space exploration forward at a faster rate. It's past time we were living in Moon cities and mining the asteroids.

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

Nobody Deserves It More

My friend Ice Scribe has been writing and submitting short stories for some time now. She's sold a couple. The first one to see publication is called "Professional Courtesy," and appears here. It's a delightful read!

Write on, Ice Sribe!

Warm regards,

Col. Hogan
Stalag California