THE MOUNTAIN OBSERVER

Vol. 2                                       Issue 4                                             11/06/02                                                                                                                                                  

 A FREEWHEELING CONSERVATIVE COMMENTARY DEDICATED TO THE DEFENSE OF FREEDOM AND THE NEXT GENERATION.  READER DIALOG ENCOURAGED.

Produced occasionally when I decide to do it.

J.E. Sohmer P O Box 129, Jefferson, CO 80456

Fly over country, where the air is thin and the hunting and fishing are good

*********************************************************************************

SECOND AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES:  "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."                      (It's not about hunting ducks)

*********************************************************************************

Blowing off steam:

President George W. Bush won this election, and created the political environment in which Conservatives, qualified by the cloture rules, may finally be able to get to work.  If the results play out as it appears they might on this day after, the real signal in this process will be who the Republicans choose to be Majority Leader of the Senate  If Trent Lott stays on, then one can reasonably expect Republicans to be themselves and squander their victory with guilt for winning.  It would be significant if they elevated Tom DeLay.  

California continues to separate itself from America.

The major domestic opportunity presented is for major surgery on the federal court system.  There is a possibility we might actually restore a Conservative Supreme Court.  Stand by.

Democrats nationally have two fundamental problems:

            1). No constructive ideas

            2). No leadership.

They might consider starting over and dealing with the real world.  I know, intellectual and moral honesty has not been their habit.

Pat Buchanan has long complained about Israel.  Without fully understanding his concern, or the root cause of his concern, I will withhold judgment as to the thinking or motives of a man with whom I otherwise agree with on so much.  Unfortunately, in so far as I can determine, his anti-Israeli orientation seems to be what colors his assessment of what constitutes legitimate American interests in the middle east.  His prejudice against Israel seems to lead him into the left-wing trap of imagining the moral equivalence of Israel and the PLO, a process that, for a conservative and a Christian, I find bizarre.  He needs to enlighten me further.  In previous letters I have clearly stated my thinking on this matter. 

So it is that there is a split shaping up with some conservatives about what to do with Iraq post Saddam.  Some are against the war to begin with, fearing a slide into an American imperialism.  They choose not to see an actual current threat to America from Saddam.  Others see an opportunity, with the disposal of the current Iraqi regime, to build a general Middle East stability which envisions a Israeli-Palestinian settlement and an open oil production market.  I have problems with both of these perspectives, but today I believe a failure to neutralize, what is to me, a clear Iraqi threat would be criminal. The United States need not to apologize to anyone for pursuing a policy of preemption. The policy of containment and MAD (mutual assured destruction) worked against the Soviet Union for 30 years because the Russians are a rational people. In the Middle East we are dealing with Muslims for whom it is an honor to die for Allah.  Any rationality on the part of Baathist Saddam will consist of arming radical Muslims to do his dirty work for him.

Israel has no need to apologize for its existence and has a right to defend itself.  In addition to an extended moral obligation, the United States has a national interest in policies that do not sabotage Israel's right to self-defense.  In-so-far as an ultimate resolution of the PLO-Israeli conflict is concerned, I agree with those who think the key may be the defeat of the hostile and undemocratic regime in Baghdad.  As I perceive it, the route to Jerusalem is through Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus.  The "War on Terrorism" has many subtle side-bars.

One thing, as an American Nationalist Conservative, that I will not accept, in the course of this process, is to have American policy and choices dictated by non-Americans.  To propose that because Benjamin Netanyahu has some ideas with which I may agree as an American does not invalidate the ideas as inconsistent with good American national policy. 

Yes, Pat, there is a long list of things to fix, and this Administration won't get us there, but there is a limit to what one can reasonably expect of George W. Bush in 18 months, especially after 8 years of OJ Billyboy mayhem.  It took 70 years to defeat communism in the Soviet Union.  It could easily take as unraveling the traveling Liberal train wreck.  At the end of the day, one thing he might succeed at is persuading some Americans in the "mushy middle" that all Conservatives don't wear horns.  Meanwhile we need to continue making the case for a real Conservative agenda.

As for Iraq and the Middle East today I have serious differences with the William Kristol types about some of the end objectives, but those differences do not argue against the need to sanitize the Hussein regime and his WMD.  There are risks, and no guarantees as to the consequences, but inaction is not an option.  Baathist Arabs and Islamic fundamentalists, whatever their mutual conflicts, share a determination for our destruction, and they will feed off each other if left to do so.   Furthermore, a failure to take a stand sends the wrong message to the Red Chinese and their covey of groupies.  Like Israel, with Israel, we have a responsibility to defend ourselves, and it is the primary responsibility of the President of the United States to provide the leadership to do so.  Meanwhile, as Conservatives, we must work together to jack ourselves backwards out of the commie/Lib pit of international collectivism, one step at a time.

I share with many Conservatives a concern about the obsession of the Bush family with the "New World Order", a concept, as I have previously explained in detail, which I see as having fundamentally left-wing Statist roots.  The Mountain Observer has frequently alluded to those concerns which are the basis of my characterization of a National Conservatism as distinct from the neo-con variety.  I have serious problems with the Bush perspective on immigration and the defense of our borders, especially to the south.  While I firmly support the economic concept of "free trade", I believe it must be qualified by national security interests and an aggressive requirement of economic reciprocity.  Perhaps I am not qualifying "free trade", but am describing real free trade.  I believe American participation in NATO is obsolete and American troops should be pulled from Europe.  I believe all our foreign commitments should be reviewed, and that with the conclusion of the cold war we find ourselves frequently over-extended.  I believe, for example, that the Russian problem with Chechnya is their business and beyond the scope of our legitimate national interest.  Finally, I believe that a long-range policy of reducing American dependence on foreign oil is essential, and our status as a debtor nation must be reversed.   I also believe any policy that attempts to accommodate statism is self defeating, e.g. the federal income tax.   However, I also believe that George W. Bush is a hell of a lot better than OJ Billyboy / Al Gorbachev, and that, in fact, without him this discussion would be academic.

I think conservative critics of the idea of war with Saddam Hussein may be failing to understand the partisan/guerrilla nature of the international threat posed against us, and its domestic component.  The recent problem with the so-called "sniper" comes to mind.  There is a fifth column incubating in prisons, inner city slums, suburban malls and southwestern barrios that all share in common the goal of destroying traditional American culture and values, and even our actual borders.  We must face up to the question of what the black Muslim "movement" in America is really all about.  It is especially curious, given that Muslim cultures overseas have traditionally been the primary incubators of black slavery, and, indeed, remain so to this day.  Meanwhile, watch the Democrats cozy up to Al Sharpton in their experiment with "diversity" and multiculturalism.  We don't need that crap.  We need to reconstruct the long lost melting pot.  

I recognize all the fears about the threats of a provoked "Arab street", but then again I found myself sort of provoked last September 11th.  You don't bargain with goons, you take them out.  To temporize with cultural extortionists is to become complicit with their game.  The continuous attempt to do so is a symptom of the dysfunction of modern Liberalism.

To me there are clear connections between the behavior and interests of the Baathist regime in Iraq and the al Qaeda cells all over the place.  I think there is a threat to us that is real and that a failure to take action will only guarantee disaster.. We have ignored this Islamic threat for years, capped by 8 years of truly disgraceful foreign policy ineptitude under OJ Billyboy, and now we are paying the price. To hide in fear of confronting these problems is only to embolden further extortionist behavior.  Enough is enough.

Corrections:

I apologize. In my last letter I was too nice to Al Gorbachev and Tom Dashabout.  However, it would now appear that the voters have neutralized their poisonous ideas.

Bush Score Card:

            Good Job:

            You won.

Not So Good:

You are back-sliding again with the UN.  Perhaps you never should have gone there.  Your "negotiations" with them only serve to legitimize the authority they think they have over our sovereignty.  Let's stop playing footsey and get on with the job.

Terrible, or, even worse

When are you going to get serious about immigration and our borders?  This issue is at the heart of the war on terrorism.

Wall Street & Main Street:

It may prove to be the case that the wild-eyed dreams of one-worlder "free traders" will come crashing down with the election in Brazil of Luiz Inacio Lulu da Silva, a leftist, as President.  The Brazilian economy is on the edge of collapse, and is decidedly not in need of left- wing "fixes".  Citibank, coupled with its own array of current domestic problems (big news coming ahead), may never see their money again.  The Brazilian economy, together with Argentina (already collapsed), dominates the South American market.  You and I, as American taxpayers, keep shoveling these people out through the International Monetary Fund.  More accurately, it is Citibank, and other major American banks, that we actually shovel out, which continues to encourage new bad loans to cover the old bad loans.  Both Democrats (remember Robert Rubin?) and Republicans in Washington have been complicit in this scam for years, and it can only continue indefinitely.  So it is that the mobs in Rio de Janeiro have their hands in your wallet and instruct us on our foreign policy.  Put the Japanese fiasco in the mix, and I would suggest to you that the day may not be far off when there are stacks of unused shipping containers everywhere.  Go plant a garden.           You see, successful free trade requires that everyone pays their bills, but it doesn't happen.  Remember that it is the purpose of the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and, in large measure, the Federal Reserve System, to bail out the banks from bad decisions on their part.  The discipline of bankruptcy is lost and you and I pay the bill.  Remember that the next time you buy that cheap TV down at Walmart, and remember that it is the American Taxpayer who has been set up to back up and pay for the whole enchilada.  As these institutional protections from failure are gradually extended from the the banking sector out to various corporate segments a Statist system of fascist economics is being incrementally assembled.  I see no "plot" in this process, just intellectual shortsightedness.    I          consider the political and economic implications of all this at sometime down the road to be truly horrific, and this is central to my concern about un-checked Libertarianism, which tends to support international consolidation, as much as the mob of the totalitarian Liberal Left.  (Previously I have written about how, since the failure of the Soviet Union, commie/Libs, both foreign and domestic, have been morphing their Statist economic agenda into a fascist format.  If ownership of the means of production doesn't work, just capture the private sector through regulation and taxes.  This is why Hillary is dangerous.)  What we need is a re-awakened recognition of the beauty of the American Founder's concept of a representative Republic built on the foundation of sovereignty from the bottom up. The catch is that this requires citizen interest, knowledge and participation, i.e., citizenship, sorely lacking in recent years.  What is needed is a revived understanding of our original national premise and purpose of one Nation, under God, with Liberty and Justice for All based on individual initiative and responsibility.  That does not mean free checks from the government for anyone.  It means standing on your own two feet, being the best    that you can be and defending the Nation that has made it possible.  Individual Americans who choose to shrug their shoulders and walk away from the challenges of informed citizenship deserve to have their liberties disappear and their wallets plucked.  How will they explain that to their children?  The Congress should be composed of farmers and tradesmen, not lawyers, and the 16th Amendment must be repealed. When confronted by a poisonous snake, you wack off its head.

I would advise young people getting started with their civilian careers to carefully consider not aligning themselves with any company or industry that is dependant upon, or receives significant support from taxpayer funding, directly or indirectly.  This may be difficult, but the problem you are facing is that sooner or later the problem of continued public funding of social security, Medicare, Medicaid, middle class housing and various corporate welfare schemes is going to blow up.  At least on the side, acquire, develop and maintain a trade skill for which there will always be a private market demand.  Good electricians, plumbers, welders, carpenters and mechanics will always be in short supply.  Real capitalism is found on Main Street.  I am serious about this.

Why is the Federal Trade Commission spending taxpayer money on the issue of further consolidation of the premium ice cream market?  Who gives a damn?  Its premium ice cream, not exactly a fundamental commodity essential to the survival and health of our economy.  Get out of the way, let the mergers happen and let a free market sort it all out.  Actually, the best ice cream I very had anyway was made by my mother at home.   Another perfect example of why the 16th Amendment needs to go.

If one was to measure the health of "Japan Incorporated" by U.S. banking law and American accounting standards, one would discover that Japan, as a nation, is bankrupt.  This fact is rarely discussed in the mainstream American press because of the huge implications for the world economy and international "free trade".  I have no such inhibitions.

Ad Nausium:

I would hope that the occasion of the Wellstone "memorial" (Democrat political rally) would cause the message to sink in with at least a few Republicans that Liberal Democrats are, in fact, truly mean people.  Politics in America, for some time, has been a civil war by other means.  These across the aisle buddy buddy deals are as phony as it gets. Wake up, grow up, and understand that, as Conservatives, we are in a battle for the survival of the nation.                       

There is a significantly heightened risk of Red Chinese misadventure in the Straights of Taiwan to which we will be exposed when things get hot in Iraq.  That this is so is but one of many similar problems arising from 8 years of neglect, abuse and arguably actionable subversion of our national defense capabilities indulged in by the previous administration. Red Chinese links and campaign contributions to the OJ Billyboy power structure were not without effect.  Again, among a long list of items, was the sale of stage separation and guidance technology that has substantially improved the Red Chinese (and North Korean) ability to harass the Republic of China, Japan and ourselves.  Selling military secrets to a hostile foreign power was once considered, in this country, to be grounds for throwing a rope over a tree limb.  Now the North Koreans have asserted themselves, having learned that tantrums work.  Today, left wing "Americans" yawn and wonder about the loss of respect for our nation around the world.  Who did you vote for?

I have been asked, on occasion, about my thoughts concerning Rush Limbaugh.  While Rush challenges people to think about political issues in his own way, he is not what I would consider to be an original conservative source on substance. Yes, out on the road I enjoy Rush for a "heads up" on the current news, always subject to corroboration, as I do multiple talk show hosts in my travels around the country.  However, the talk show format is not conducive to engaging in "in-depth" examination and understanding of the issues.   In my view, talk radio's principal contribution has been to jolt the mainstream Liberal/Left establishment with a hard dose of what most people in the Heartland take for granted, and it is able to do so because the medium is interactive.  The better AM talk show hosts also force people to think and have clearly forced competition on       the liberal mainstream press in the marketplace of ideas.  However, a serious student of these ideas must dig a lot deeper. 

In Rush's case, his unique verbal skills are most effective when he is trashing Liberalism, somewhat akin to shooting fish in a barrel, but he more than occasionally stumbles on analyzing conservative substance.  He is      good at analysis of retail politics.  However, the "EIB Network" is not so much about conservatism as it is about Rush.

If you are of a different generation, it is, perhaps, easier to recognize that what a lot of "Boomers" share in common, irrespective of their politics, is an enormous public fascination with themselves.

American lefties need to realize that if the mainstream American press, electronic and print, was functioning properly there would be no national-level Rush, and that there will never be a left wing Rush, San Francisco excepted, for the simple reason that the left wing is intellectually bankrupt.  That Rush has become so effective says a lot about the left wing drift of the networks.  Rush has a major personal investment in the continuance of left wing idiocy. 

In addition to some personal credentials on these matters, I maintain multiple source contacts, some of which are alluded to at the end of this letter, and some of which you, or Rush, will never know about.  However, I don't consider myself to be anyone so special or unusual.            Perhaps the best way to leave it, at this time, is to paraphrase Ronald Reagan's Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Conservative." 

Congratulations are in order for www.worldnetdaily.com, a conservative "webzine", after a major battle with the liberal Standing Committee of Correspondents.  www.worldnetdaily.com has been granted credentials to cover the U.S. Congress.  This required an appeal to the Senate Rules & Administration Committee, on the basis of a denial of due process, equal protection and freedom of the press, to get their Correspondents Committee back in line. You see, in the view of Liberals, the 1st Amendment applies only to themselves.

Gun control in England, building since 1920, reached the final objective of a total ban on the private ownership of all guns in 1997.  What has happened since has been an explosion of crime and violence, with guns, which was fully predictable. This again establishes the fact that an armed society is a polite society.

            The Aussies have a similar problem.

With the beltway Snipers we are witnessing the absence of the glue of a single coherent culture and the wisdom of the melting pot.  So much for multiculturalism.  I trust you understand that this (these) incident(s) around D.C. are only the tip of the iceberg.  What you can expect to happen now is that our enemies, foreign and domestic, will observe what has happened and refine their tactics.  What happens to these guys in Court won't matter.  The possibilities for our enemies are endless.  Meanwhile, congratulations are in order to the various law enforcement jurisdictions, and a truck driver from Kentucky, for bringing this matter to an end.  I am sure this whole experience will be reviewed by professionals, in detail, to improve law enforcement tactics for future reference. 

Incidentally, it would seem to me that a .223 is a strange choice for a "sniper".  It would seem to indicate no training in sniper work by the Army, but that's only my guess at a distance.

            Richard Helms, an American spook who knew how to do it right, is gone.

On October 13, Margaret Thatcher was 77.  Other than Winston Churchill, she had the biggest set of balls of any British Prime Minister in the 20th century, and so far, in the 21st.

North Korea has been publicly caught with its hand in the cookie jar.  The OJ Billyboy legacy will haunt us for years.  The totally numbskull decision in 1994 to supply North Korea with nuclear technology has just publicly ripened as an additional problem for a Republican administration to resolve. Totally predictable, and predicted, by Conservatives, from the beginning.

Prediction

The results of this election will re-inspire and invigorate heartland Conservatives, who politically are much more astute than they were 10 years ago. We expect positive results in Washington, which means a reversal of Federal growth just for starters.

Heartland rebellion update:

            I told you so.  Watch it continue.

CURRENT READING RECOMMENDATION:

1.) COMMIES: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE OLD LEFT, THE NEW LEFT, AND THE LEFTOVER LEFT 

            RONALD RADOSH

            ENCOUNTER                                        216 PGS           $24.95

2.) GUS AND VIOLENCE: THE ENGLISH EXPERIENCE            

JOYCE LEE MALCOLM

            HARVARD PRESS                                XXX                 XXX

3.) .BAD ELEMENTS: CHINESE REBELS FROM LOS ANGELES TO BEIJING              

            IAN BURUMA

            RANDOM HOUSE                                  367 PGS           $27.95

Over the years, out on the road through 48 states, it has been my privilege to get acquainted with the USA.  So far, over 1.5 million miles, all since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the documentation of how complicit the American left has been.

God Bless America

JIM

            JIM SOHMER    jes@outdrs.net

            AMERICAN NATIONALIST CONSERVATIVE

            JEFFERSON, CO 80456

Addendum        

For the record, those in Congress who voted against authorizing the use of military force in Iraq are as follows:*                                

SENATE:        (77-Yes, 23-No)

Boxer, D CA     Graham, D FL     Akaka, D HI     Inouye, D HI     Durbin, D IL     Mikulski, D MD 

Sarbanes, D MD   Kennedy, D MA    Leven, D MI     Stabenow, D MI     Dayton, D MN  Wellstone, D MN    Corzine, D NJ    Bingaman, D NM     Conrad, D ND    Wyden, D OR    

Chafee, R RI    Reed, D RI    Jeffords, I VT    Leahy, D VT   Murray, D WA    Byrd, D WV  Feingold, D WI  

HOUSE:          (296-Yes, 133-No, 3 MIA, 3 vacancies)

Hilliard, D AL    Pastor, D AZ    Snyder, D AR    Baca, D CA    Becerra, D CA    Capps, D CA  Condit, D CA      Davis, D CA    Eshoo, D CA     Farr, D CA     Filner, D CA   Honda, D CA      Lee, D CA     Lofgren, D CA       Matsui, D CA    Mill/McD, D CA    Miller, Geo, D CA   Napolitano, D CA     Pelosi, D CA      Roybal/All, D CA     Sanchez, D CA    Solis, D CA       Stark, D CA      Thompson, D CA     Waters, D CA       Watson, D CA         Woolsey ,D CA 

DeGette, D CO     Udall, D CO     DeLauro, D CT    Larson, D CT     Maloney, D CT     

 Brown, D FL     Hastings, D FL     Meek, D FL     Lewis, D GA     McKinney, D GA

Abercrom, D HI   Costello, D IL  Davis, D IL   Evans, D IL  Gutierrez, D IL  Jackson, D IL  Lipinski, D IL    Rush, D IL    Schakowsky, D IL    Carson ,D IN    Hostettler, R IN 

Visclosky, D IN     Leach, R IA      Allen. D ME     Baldacci, D ME    Cardin, D MD  

Cummings, D MD     Morella, R MD      Capuano, D MA     Delahunt, D MA

Frank, D MA     McGovern D MA     Neal, D MA     Olver, D MA     Tierney, D MA     Bonior, D MI

Conyers, D MI     Dingell, D MI     Kildee, D MI    Kilpatrick, D MI     Levin, D MI    Rivers, D MI Stupak, D MI     McCollum, D MN     Oberstar, D MN     Sabo, D MD     Thompson, D MS 

Clay, D MO   McCarthy, D MO     Holt, D NJ    Menendez, D NJ     Pallone, D NJ    Payne, D NJ  Udall, D NM   Hinchey, D NY    Houghton, R NY     LaFalce, D NY     Meeks, D NY    

Nadler, D NY     Owens, D NY     Rangel, D NY    Serrano, D NY     Slaughter, D NY

Towns, D NY    Velazquez, D NY    Clayton, D NC    Price, D NC    Watt, D NC    Brown, D OH Jones, D OH     Kaptur, D OH    Kucinich, D OH    Sawyer, D OH    Strickland, D OH   Blumenaer, D OR    DeFazio, D OR     Hooley, D OR    Wu, D OR    Brady, D PA    Coyne, D PA  Doyle, D PA    Fattah, D PA    Langevin, D RI       Clyburn, D SC    Duncan, R TN    

Doggett, D TX     Gonzalez, D TX     Hinojosa, D TX    Jackson, L, D TX     Johnson , E, D TX  Paul, R TX            Reyes, D TX     Rodriguez, D TX    Moran, D VA    Scott, D VA    Baird, D WA

Inslee, D WA    Larson, D WA    McDermott , D WA    Mollohan, D WV    Rahall, D WV  

Baldwin, D WI    Barrett, D WI     Kleczka, D WI        Obey, D WI 

 The USA Today, 10/11/02

                                                         IN GOD WE TRUST