THE MOUNTAIN OBSERVER ON-LINE                                

                ISSUES, PEOPLE, OBJECTS & POLICIES- CLOSE UP

                Vol. 04                                              Issue 06                              September 30, 2004

A FREEWHEELING CONSERVATIVE COMMENTARY DEDICATED TO THE DEFENSE OF FREEDOM, THE NEXT GENERATION, AND THE WAY THINGS OUGHT TO BE.   TO UNDERSTAND THIS NEWSLETTER, IT IS NECESSARY THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO READ AND TO THINK.

Updated occasionally on this website when I decide to do it.                             

 J. E. Sohmer   Jefferson, CO  Flyover country, where the air is thin, the heavens bright, and the hunting and fishing are good.

Serious Considerations:

09/24/04

It's all over.  Bush in a landslide. JES

09/21/04

The current conventional wisdom among Liberal policy elites is that pre-emption as policy is now dead.  As long as we have a President Bush, I would hope not.  Without the option credibly on the table we will have conceded defeat to the terrorists, and their sponsoring states.  Two thirds of the Axis of Evil, Iran and North Korea, are serious and growing threats.  It is likely that in the end they will both need to be surgically disassembled before the nuclear genie, and the means to deliver, is out of the bag.  Remember, however that the attacks on September 11 were accomplished with knives, not bombs.  JES

09/21/04

It is reliably reported that this past June the United States quietly removed approximately 2 tons of low grade uranium ore from Iraq.   The full circumstances surrounding this matter remain to be fully reported.  JES

09/19/04  Upon his re-election, I would urge the President to make the changes necessary to sort out the battle between the State Department and the Department of Defense.  It is one thing to be able to draw on a range of perspectives; it is not productive if the result is policy inconsistency and a fractured effort on public display.  Any President will have problems with an entrenched "professional" bureaucracy, but it should not surface, publicly, at the cabinet level.   JES

09/12/04  It has been a long standing working premise by interested analysts that 20 years arbitrarily defines a generation.   Within the limits of obvious shortcomings this is a useful tool to examine the fragility of civilization overall, and its constituent parts.  All of the accumulated knowledge and experience of history must be re-learned on this cycle, or civilization dissolves to zero.  This fact is softened only because the starting gun is birth, which is ongoing annually.   Yet the deterioration and corrosion of knowledge within a cultural sub-set can continue to unfold incrementally with the passage of time, and accumulate.  In the western context of the Enlightenment this process is frequently confused with "progress", a notion that conveniently excuses the absence of thoughtful skepticism, which is hard work, and a distraction from more immediate trivial pursuits.  JES

Europe today has an immigration problem, driven hard by collapsing domestic birthrates and social policies which propel increasingly heavy dependence on government programs encouraging parasites, both foreign and domestic.  It is primarily the Islamic world which is filling the demographic vacuum, carrying with it the seeds of discontent that collide with a withering private sector economy slowly being sucked to death by government tax and regulatory extortion, and the collision of irreconcilable cultures.  The logical conclusion of this process, by the end of this century, is not good for anybody.   It is in this context that American Conservatives make the case for American Exceptionalism, and preemption, as required, in our national interest.   It is in this context that the American Left is leaving America, and is suspect in their interest in actually defending America as a nation.  The American Left cannot be trusted to properly oversee American national security interests, and American Conservatives are faced with the huge task domestically of repairing years of social destruction caused by progressive relativism, collectivism and secular hubris.  A successful future cannot be framed without an examination and understanding of the past, and the processes of ideological creep that has produced our own current moment.  JES.

Corrections:

None

Bush Score Card:

Excellent:

Generally, it seems, you are running a good campaign.

Not so good:

On hold.

Terrible:

I'm giving you a pass until after the election.

Wall Street & Main Street:

The financial markets will go nowhere pending an election result.

Ad Nausium:   Go to GREAT THOUGHTS FOR FREE Great Thoughts . 

Prediction:

Expect every effort on the part of the bad guys to provoke a Spanish result in our election.   That is exactly what is going on now in Iraq, not only with respect to our election, but with respect to theirs coming up after the first of the year.   At least until November 2nd, we are at an elevated danger here.  If John Kerry wins it will intensify as a challenge to an announced appeaser; the Vice President was absolutely correct.  There is nothing to negotiate with Fascists; they are Evil, and must be destroyed. 

In last month's letter I somewhat jokingly proposed Vice President Cheney as a candidate for 2008.  On a more serious level, I will be taking a hard look at Rep. Tom Tancredo R-CO.  He takes the border issue seriously.

It's all over.  Bush in a landslide.

Heartland Rebellion Update:

It is beginning to appear that the American people are figuring out the proper priorities of this election campaign, and that a landslide for the President is possible.   The big losers will be ABC, NBC, CBS, The NY Times, Dan Rather, and American Academia, all of who are overpaid and under worked.  It's all over.  Bush in a landslide.

Current Reading Recommendations:

1.) THE FRENCH BETRAYAL OF AMERICA              

                KENNETH R. TIMMERMAN

                CROWN FORUM                              309 PGS                                $25.00

 2.) RUNNING ON EMPTY: HOW THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN PARTIES ARE BANKRUPTING OUR FUTURE AND WHAT AMERICANS CAN DO ABOUT IT

                PETER G. PETERSON                                                                                                                      

                FARRAR, STRAUS & GIROUX          233 PGS                                $24.00

 3.) IF IT’S NOT CLOSE, THEY CAN’T CHEAT: CRUSHING THE DEMOCRATS IN EVERY ELECTION AND WHY YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT

                HUGH HEWITT                                                                                                                                

                NELSON                                               259 PGS                                $19.99

                                                                   God Bless America

                                                                   Jim                           

                                                                    American Nationalist Conservative

                                                                    Jefferson, CO 80456