Orange County Register’s Founder: 

Vox Populi Vox Moronus, 

Or Plain Folk Cannot Tell Right from Wrong.

May 29, 2006    

It is only fitting that on this Memorial Day when as Mallard Fillmore says in his political strip “it is the one day the media give our service man and women the respect they deserve every day” the Orange County Register runs an op-ed piece titled And now, a word from our founder, Freedom patriarch R.C. Hoiles explained his editorial policies

The preamble reads:  “The following statement was written in the 1960s by Freedom Communications, Inc. founder and longtime Orange County Register publisher R.C. Hoiles, who died in 1970.  This was recently found among his files”: 

Hoiles then goes on to explain that “..the following is an outline of our beliefs”

No one can determine right from wrong, without some starting point to reason.

Starting point:  

• No individual, no group has a right to initiate force or use coercion against another individual or group to get part of his life energy

·         Thou shalt not murder

·         Thou shalt not steal

·         Though shalt not cove anything that belongs to a fellow countryman

·         The starting point is included in the Golden Rule and Declaration of Independence

·         We know of no other US newspapers that use as a guide the theory that no man or group of man should initiate force.

Given Hoiles’ beliefs, the then holds his columnists and reporters accountable:

“Editors and reporters gain understanding by permitting their suggestions or ideas or statements to be questioned, and if they cannot defend them without contradicting themselves or facing a dilemma, they are evidently in error”

Hoiles’ Conclusions based on his starting point

·         We have to be against tax-supported schools, minimum wage, Social Security and any law that interferes with people making voluntary contracts and any law that interferes with an unhampered market.

·         We are against taxation

·         Governments should be supported on a voluntary basis.  If a man does not consent to voluntarily paying, he should not be compelled to pay.  The minute you compel him, you are violating moral principles and cannot tell the difference between that form of government and the compulsion  of communism other than by degree.

Our own conclusions based on this op-ed piece are:

• Given the disclaimer contained in the introductory paragraph “This was recently found among his files”, we are not sure if the current embodiment of the Orange County Register subscribes to Holies’ belief, or they simply run out of editorial material.

• We now understand why the OCR has perfected the concept of Adporting (advertising passing as reporting), As one of the OCR’s most common ad depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington  reads ”What made freedom of the press so important to the founders…… maybe it was the coupons – Newspaper Advertising” 

• From Hoiles’ description about reporter accountability,  we are led to believe that as long as reporters are questioned and presented with the facts, they will then admit (or not) to the errors of their ways.  However, we have sent documentation to the Freedom Communications’ Board of Directors demonstrating systematic erroneous reporting.  We have yet to hear from them!

• Holies cites the Golden Rule and The Declaration of Independence as a starting point to conclude that the “right” society is one where government is voluntary.  However, he fails to go further upstream.  If he had, he probably could find that you should “"Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

• It is now clear to us why OCR reporters have difficulty discerning right from wrong – Whereas  The New York Times revised Code of Conduct is provided to their  reporters and columnists for guidance, the OCR employees need to have a Starting Point!

RELATED STORIES:

OC REGISTER COMMUNITY JOURNALISM:  Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire! - Recently Michael D. Capaldi, a partner in the business law firm of Spach, Capaldi & Waggaman, LLP and a director of The Lincoln Club or Orange County asked a rhetorical question:  What is a liar?

CZ MASTER BOARD – 3^rd COMPLAINT FILED WITH CA ATTORNEY GENERAL -Excerpts from third complaint filed, in less than two years with the California Attorney General against the CZ Master Association Board of Directors.

CZ BOD - COMPLAINT FILED WITH CALIFORNIA BAR - The complaint against  involves failure to act, and collaboration with the CZ Master Association’s board of directors - responsible for managing/governing a roughly 13,500 resident gated community in South Orange County, CA, commonly referred to Coto de Caza - to create a repressive environment where civil liberties are being trampled upon; personal safety is being compromised, where the accident rates have doubled each year for the last three years and will set an all time record by the end of 2005 -  and assisting the board promote personal agendas beyond the scope of the association board of directors, such as converting the association into a city, as a priority over providing basic security.

CZ MASTERS BOD/ OC REGISTER CONSPIRACY – CZ MAFIA?  YOU BE THE JUDGE!   As CotoBuzz readers know, we have been working for some time on a model to help us understand the relationship between the CZ Board’s multiple breaches, and the output from the OC Register.  

EVIDENCE OF WMD  FOUND IN COTO DE CAZA! - Through effective use of the OC Register and a carrot and stick, the CZ BOD has convinced a number of followers that the only way in which the CZ board can provide traffic control, is by turning Coto into a City.   One month the board simply says, "The Sheriff is coming, the Sheriff is coming".  Then the next month the board argues that they cannot contract directly for patrol services  - instead, the residents need to approve Coto turning into a City.

DEPRAVED INDIFFERENCE - We have been asking Mr. Varo and this board to focus on association matters, rather than to pursue personal agendas.  Finally, in  the January 2006 issue the CZ Master Association’s President’s Letter, Mr. Varo recognizes that “It is important that while I and others on the board have our personal opinions on these subjects and the CSD process, the process must be driven by residents and not by the board…!  “Duuuuh

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