THE MOUNTAIN OBSERVER

Vol. 3                                                   Issue 3                                    05/02/03

A FREEWHEELING CONSERVATIVE COMMENTARY DEDICATED TO THE DEFENSE OF FREEDOM, THE

NEXT GENERATION, AND THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE.   READER DIALOG ENCOURAGED.

Produced occasionally when I decide to do it.  J. E. Sohmer, P. O. Box 129, Jefferson, CO 80456

Flyover country, where the air is thin and the hunting and fishing are good.

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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.)

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      Victory in Iraq

Blowing off steam:

On April 9, 2003, the Iraqi residents of Baghdad discovered freedom.  The second most important thing that could happen would be the public display of Saddam receiving an anal exam by way of the barrel of an M1A1 tank probing his rosy red rectum.  Fire!  More importantly, I wish we could find Navy Lt. Cmdr Michael Scott Speicher.  Pray for him.

The serious effort to pin down the status and location of weapons of mass destruction is only now beginning.   Expect Iraqi help, which has been generous, to improve with the disposal of Saddam and his sons, who, it now appears, are still alive.  Is the now captured Tariq As Is telling the truth?  The fear continues.

I would suggest that opposition in Iraq to our continued presence comes from two sources.  First, there is  a wounded pride on the part of Muslim Arabs with respect to the rapid undoing of the Iraqi regime by Western Judeo-Christians, pro Saddam for obvious reasons, anti Saddam, perhaps in part, because of some sense of humiliation at not having been able to solve the problem on their own.  Secondly, among the pro Saddam population, one must assume that it includes the rapidly dissolved remnants of military units that chose to disappear rather than fight.  In the days ahead the reappearance of a political/military 5^th column is quite possible.  Watch out for whom our own Democrats support.  As for our own sincere efforts to promote “democracy”, I have always been a skeptic, but it would be irresponsible of the Administration not to make an effort.  Unfortunately, Iraq is an artificial nation into which three different cultures were force fitted after WWI., which is the basis of my skepticism.   Mistakes will be made and it will be painful to watch, but we must do the best we can.  We must remember that our primary purpose was the removal of a threat to our national security.  It is not the purpose of the Marine Corps, or the Army, to teach good manners.  At some point Iraqis have to assume responsibility for themselves, and I suspect that there are Iraqis who are genuinely grateful for what we have done.  Much of this ambiguity will be resolved with the actual public disposition of Saddam himself.  Meanwhile, the actual links to al-Qaeda have been documented.

The United Nations can go straight to hell.   And so can the French.   The five permanent members of the Security Council were, and are, a historical accident, reflecting post war politics in 1946.  The fact of the matter is that the U.N. surrendered its moral authority in 1956 on the streets of Budapest.  As an American Nationalist Conservative, I want the United Nations out of the country.

So it is that the Bush Administration now feels compelled to roll out a so-called road map for Israel and the Palestinian Authority to settle their affairs.  It is dead on arrival.  The new Palestinian “Prime Minister” Mahmoud Abbas is a fake and a fraud and an Arafat toady.  So is most of his new cabinet.  This initiative hangs on the false premise that there are occupied territories,  as opposed to captured territories, and that the Palestinians are actually able to coexist with Israel.   It is not in our interest, let alone that of Israel, to continue to indulge the Arab world with their sophomoric notions of driving Israel into the sea.  The killing will continue as the politicians continue their minuet and Colin Powell sways to the music.  Our mistake is to regard Yasser Arafat any differently than we have regarded Saddam Hussein; they were both popped out of the same mold.  The test is not of Israel.  The test will be of internal Palestinian politics, and we know where that will go.  It is difficult for me to believe that the President actually thinks this thing is going anywhere.

Liberals now complain about looting; a month ago they were indifferent to torture.  Now, somehow, it is the duty of the American military to tutor Iraqis in good manners.  Perhaps naïve Liberals should consider what exactly happened to thousands of Iraqi military personnel who vanished into thin air rather than fight.  Is it possible that some of the crowd beginning to voice concern about our continued presence have recently changed their clothes ?  Given the hostile mindset toward the war of the establishment American press, it is difficult to get proper perspective on this issue.

So called Americans who continue to dissent against our efforts against terrorism are making no objective sense.   If our victory in Iraq marks the beginning of a new American empire, it is the strangest empire in history.  Beyond that, the Left Wing P.C. Police have managed to turn the terms “empire” and “cowboy” into pejoratives.   I’m getting a bit tired of that.   Both the United States and Israel have the right to defend themselves, and their defining cultures.  Either you are on board or you are not.  We are in for a long battle, both at home and abroad, in a struggle that will frequently devolve into guerrilla warfare.

I am, of course, very disappointed with Turkey.  The recent election of a government mildly disposed toward an Islamic perspective was ill timed for all involved, but that is how democracy works.  They have managed to get themselves caught between France, which is antagonistic to Turkish membership in the EU, and an Anglo-American coalition which may be tempted to rethink its own policy with respect to the Kurds.  The real losers are secular Turkish policy makers, concentrated among the military, who are caught on the horns of a dilemma.  Muslim introspection, worldwide, must be very strained.  Again, I think with respect to Turkey, a decent interval of patience is called for.    Stay tuned.

Corrections:

Tony Blair is not pole driven, rather, he is not poll driven.  How embarrassing.

Bush Score Card:

            Excellent:

Our armed forces, under your leadership, have been magnificent.   The achievements in Afghanistan and Iraq were accomplished, in spite of the damage done to our defense establishment by your predecessor, by a remarkable team of people.   The battle to consolidate the results has only begun, and the Left, and probably Pat Buchanan, will battle you all the way.  It appears that more Americans are beginning to understand this.  God Bless our armed forces.

Not So Good:

So now we are offering a “road map” for a comprehensive Middle Eastern settlement that revives the premise of moral equivalence.  As a political stratagem, it might make some sense, but I have a moral problem with miss-leading people.  I can only hope that the standards that you hold for Palestinian performance are as high as what is to be expected of Israelis.   I don’t like this game playing.  I think Israel can take care of itself if we would just get off their back.

Terrible--or even worse:

Why don’t you nominate Robert Bork to the Ninth Circuit just for the hell of it ?   Better yet, just appoint him.    This judicial confirmation process is driving me nuts!  I want to see Ted Kennedy have a fit.

Wall Street & Main Street:

The American Airline unions are absolutely correct in their outrage against AMR CEO Don Carty for his attempt to sneak past them executive compensation packages amounting to millions while asking the troops for huge sacrifices.  What in the hell was this man thinking?  The unions and I were on a different page about what they were getting paid in the first place, but contracts are contracts.   The willingness of the unions to back off of those contracts was statesmanlike, and necessary, under the circumstances.   The behavior and actions of the AMR management was slimy and disgraceful.  The situation has since been rescued by the Board’s firing of Carty, and the unions again are bowing to reality.  New CEO Gerard Arpey has his hands full.  The question at hand is: can the carrier survive the result?  It will take years to repair labor relations at AMR, and the union folks need to realize that they will never recover everything they have lost if the airline is to survive.  Since 9/11, the economics of the airline industry have permanently changed, and no, it is not a taxpayer problem.

It appears that the witch hunt into the behavior and actions of the investment banking industry, conducted by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, is nearing some sort of conclusion.    In-so-far as his query into possible law breaking was concerned, the effort was proper.  In-so-far as the process has devolved into an imposed reorganization of the investment banking industry by a politically motivated AG, Spitzer, and the system that indulges him, are out of line.  Corrective actions should be originated in the legislatures, state and federal, with appropriate jurisdiction.  What we are witnessing here is another classic example of our elected representatives defaulting their responsibilities to another Liberal Northeastern Know-it-All on the loose.  I see nothing in the proposed “settlement” that is likely to change anything.  It is all mush and a candy dish for lawyers.   But Spitzer has done a good job of jury tampering as a set-up for the civil suits that will inevitably follow.  Again, it’s us vs. the Trial Lawyers.   Reminder: when you “invest”, it is your money, and you are responsible for the quality of any advice that you choose to solicit.  If you lose out, you did it.

It is appropriate, at a time of collapse of French credibility that the Concorde should also die.   Perhaps there were those who loved this expensive toy, but from the beginning everyone knew it was an indulgence for the very rich made possible only at the expense of British and French taxpayers.  The Concorde was a monument to Statist socialism and soft economic fascism; it could never defend itself in a free marketplace.  Sooner or later socialist experiments generally die, if not pushed, by their own economic exhaustion.  What I find most troubling is the names of many on the passenger manifests who apparently found no moral dilemma with enabling this experiment in tax fund confiscation.

Notice how Enron has largely disappeared from the headlines.  This is partly because it all got a little too close to Democrats.

Should Allen Greenspan be re-appointed?   Actually, it doesn’t matter.   The market will find its own way.

The point that I have continually dwelled upon about commie/Libs converting to the fascist economic model rears its head in Illinois.    Democrat Governor Rod R. Blagojevich is actually proposing to literally confiscate the profits of all the casinos, and to hire the operators to run them for a fee.  Whatever you think of casinos on a moral basis is not pertinent.   The proposal, as a practical matter, amounts to the outright confiscation of private property by the State of Illinois.  Does anybody care ?

Ad Nausium:

Tony Blair still apparently doesn’t “get it” with respect to the EU.  Insofar as relations with the United States are concerned, there is little chance of putting humpty dumpty together again.  The EU is on a full socialist/statist course about which the bureaucrats in Brussels appear to be determined, and their design does not include accommodating the United States.   Like the Soviet Union, they will eventually crash and burn.  If we could only get Bill and Hillary to move to Germany, they would fit right in.

The Administration takes the fate of all our POW’s and MIA’s very seriously, of course.  However of particular interest is the condition and fate of Navy Lt. Cmdr Michael Scott Speicher, taken down in the 1991 war.

The right folks are looking into the possibility that the SARS outbreak in China was actually a bio-warfare project that accidentally got loose.  Stay tuned.

It appears now that Syria may have nominated itself to the Axis of Evil. They are certainly inviting our attention.

American Democrat Party leadership, and their 5^th column masses, have been exposed as the subversives that they are.  God save our MIA’s.

A new terminology, “Anglosphere”, has crept into the policy dialog, to which, apparently, one must credit one James Bennett.  It has to do with the natural cultural affiliation of English speaking nations, and others related by past historical imperial links, as a more stable foundation for international association than, for example, the arguably more artificial foundation of NATO. My initial reaction to a discussion along these lines is sympathetic, although I would be concerned that a failure to recognize the constructive acceptance of cultural affiliation is one thing, and an artificial bureaucratization is another.   Marriage based on friendship can backfire; and you can take that from an expert.  I will always be an American Nationalist.  More to follow.

Keep a close eye on the activities of Ahmad Chalabi, the Administration (except for the State Dept.) candidate to head the interim government of Iraq.  He will have to sell himself to his countrymen.

The 3 French Hens (Southern Fried Chickens) AKA Dixie Chicks have returned to Texas where they are sounding like the stupid little airheads that they are.  May their careers crash and burn.

In Modesto California Scott Peterson has been charged with two counts of first degree murder.    Watch certain Liberals go after him while continuing to defend the right of women to murder their babies.   Of course he should be prosecuted, but then so should the leadership of NOW, and Joe Lieberman, for the deaths of 1.3 million kids each year.

What will come to separate the United States from Britain, in the long haul may be the existence of a written constitution vs. a constitution only of tradition.  On a number of issues, including multiculturalism, the British are truly collapsing upon themselves.  Meanwhile, we at least have something on paper, including the 2^nd Amendment.

Conservatives were right during the Cold War about the positive efficacy of “roll-back” as opposed to “containment”.   Whether as a tactical military doctrine or a foreign policy framework, those who would threaten American national security, foreign or domestic, should be made to understand that we are coming straight at them.  The American Left is not equipped to understand this, and clearly cannot be trusted in the Oval Office.

Pat Buchanan has so overused the word “neo-con” that it is losing its meaning except to suggest a problem with Jews.  Meanwhile, on Iraq and Islam, he is hiding under his own bed sheets and having nightmares about Israel.  I find it sad, because on the issues of immigration, multiculturalism and “free trade”, we are pretty much in agreement.  For the life of me, I cannot understand his concern about our relationships with the EU and the UN as at all being consistent with the Conservative imperative of American interests first.  He has too many Bush haters on his staff.  It would be interesting to know more about the actual political affiliations of the various contributors to his new magazine, which I think is misnamed.

This constant attempt by professional Israel haters to hang UN Resolution 242 around the necks of Arial Sharron and George Bush betrays a self-serving agenda.  In vague terms, what 242 says is that Israel and the Palestinians should kiss and make up.  References to “occupied land” that Israel should give up leave the details and definition up to negotiation, and references to Arab and Palestinian obligations, with respect to a guarantee of security for Israel, are routinely ignored.  The USA is not mentioned in 242 at all.  The whole thing is a political football and a fraud.

Again, among many reasons I cannot register as a Republican, or directly support the party, is the grumbling and “inconvenience” claimed by many in the party over the confirmation process of Miguel Estrada.   Rather than bitch and complain, why don’t you guys put away your golf clubs long enough to get really hardnosed and rough about this matter ?  The Republican Party is a bunch of pansy pickers.  We can’t seem to get anywhere on real tax cuts either.

I continue to be more and more impressed with Condoleezza Rice.  This woman is a damned good analyst with all the right instincts.   What is unfortunate is that she appears to support reverse racism, which in my book undoes much of the rest.  I need clarification.

Russian objections to our efforts in Iraq are not only framed by their illegal commercial interests with the Hussein regime, but also by a fear of a re-invigorated Chechnyan Islamic nationalism.

I would suggest that Hans Blix’s primary complaint with the Bush Administration is that the career he envisioned for himself, as a lifetime weapons inspector in Iraq, was cut short.  As inspectors, the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps appear to be better qualified and more productive, but that is what one expects of Americans.

Prediction:

The day will come when, upon re-examination, a clear link will be established between Middle Eastern terrorists and two events that occurred in this country during the ‘90’s:

-The Oklahoma City bombing

-The destruction of TWA 800

It will remain for the mainstream press, and the government, to explain themselves.

Heartland rebellion update:

People in the heartland, and the South, overwhelmingly support our President, those in the coastal states do not. Note: Florida is hard to figure. Except for the panhandle it is an annex of New York.

CURRENT READING RECOMMENDATIONS

1.)  USEFUL IDIOTS: HOW LIBERALS GOT IT WRONG IN THE COLD WAR AND STILL BLAME AMERICA FIRST                                                                                            

            MONA CHAREN

            REGNERY                                             308 PGS                                   $27.95

2.) THE WAR OVER IRAQ: SADDAM’S TYRANNY AND AMERICA’S MISSION

            LAWRENCE F. KAPLAN & WILLIAM KRISTOL 

            ENCOUNTER                                        153 PGS                                   $25.95

3.) GOODBYE, GOOD MEN: HOW LIBERALS BROUGHT CORRUPTION INTO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

            MICHAEL S. ROSE                                                      

            REGNERY                                             276 PGS                                   XXX

                                                                  God Bless America

                                                                  JIM SOHMER           

                                                                  AMERICAN NATIONALIST CONSERVATIVE

                                                                  JEFFERSON, CO 80456

Always aim high in life; aim low, and you will never hit anything.  G. Gordon Liddy.

                                                                        IN GOD WE TRUST