THE MOUNTAIN OBSERVER ON-LINE                    

                        ISSUES, PEOPLE, OBJECTS & POLICIES- CLOSE UP

                   Vol. 04                                              Issue 07                                      October 31, 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:

Charles A. Duelfer, Chief U S Weapons Inspector, Iraq Survey Group, released a damning report (10/06/04)linking the mystery of the missing WMD to the corruption of the "United" Nations Oil for Food program, which clearly indicts the Coalition of the Bribed, as in France, Germany, Russia and the "United Nations".  Go to www.cia.gov and read the full report for yourself. Here we find the pieces of the puzzle that fully explain the configuration of the foreign policy of the Bush Administration, which has been absolutely correct all along.  This is a fairly complex matter.  If you seriously want to understand the situation with respect to Iraq, and the overall War on Terror (I think more precisely the War on Islamic Fascism), then you will need to understand what is actually in this report, which you will never see in the New York Times.  After you have studied this report, if you need help connecting the dots, I invite you to ask me for help.  My e-mail is MountainObserver@2ndAmendment.net .  If your priority is political partisanship, forget it.  If you are an American, I welcome your thoughts, and constructive dialog.   Meanwhile, the Iraq Survey Group continues to plow through mountains of captured files and ammo dumps for continuing information.  If you are a loyal American, and can read Arabic, Uncle Sam wants you!  

I approach my next point with great caution because an enormous amount of damage has already occurred in the dialog about the correctness of our policies in Iraq.  My point has to do with so-called Paleo-Conservatives in general, and Patrick J. Buchanan in particular.  I don't think that the discussion can be fully understood without recognizing the this particular slice of the political spectrum is directly rooted to the America Firsters of the 1930's.  America First/Paleo-Conservatives distinguish themselves from the broader Conservative movement with an ongoing insistence on hard core and absolute isolationism, or perhaps more precisely, non-intervention, in foreign affairs.  It has been the conventional wisdom for many that the utility of this perspective assumed instant room temperature on the morning of December 7th, 1941.  It is quite evident that that is not the case.  Now the fact of the matter is that as the American Nationalist Conservative that I consider myself to be, I have a great deal of intellectual sympathy for this perspective, and any careful reading of the Mountain Observer over the past several months documents that fact.  My problem with the Paleo position is that it has hardened into total rigidity at the expense legitimate national security concerns that must be addressed by any responsible Commander-in-Chief in the modern world.  Yes, over the years the nation has mistakenly allowed itself to become too dependant on foreign sources of energy, and this needs to be corrected.  But the fact is that modern economies function on oil, and oil is a legitimate and fungible international commodity.  It is also a fact that Israel legitimately and properly exists, and has every right to defend itself against those who would destroy it.  It is furthermore a fact that the United States, and in my opinion the entire western world, has a stake and responsibility to ensure the ability of Israel to defend itself and survive in the face of those who would destroy her.  However, more is at stake than oil and Israel.  The whole of western culture is under assault by an Islamic Fascist cancer that has been mutating for years.  The source of this cancer is not oil or Israel, but an Islamic ideological rejection of western freedom, American, in particular.   They simply hate us for existing, which is a challenge to their world view.  God is innocent; this is a matter among mankind.  We did not provoke this, and this would continue to be true even if Israel was to disappear, but perceived weakness on our part certainly invites depredation and in the modern age, technology makes us vulnerable.  We have a choice.  We can stand by and wait to be hit first, or we can proceed preemptively to lance the infection.  As a Conservative, with nationalist concerns, I prefer the latter course of action, without apologies to others who have their own interests and agendas.  To stand by and await attacks is not only suicide, but it is also complicity with Evil.  So it is that we come to the issue of the hated Neocons.  I do not intend here to get into the origins or background of the species, other than to point out, Pat, that they represent a perspective that sheds a somewhat different light on the matter.   We all know they are very Wilsonian, bright eyed and bushy tailed about democracy in every corner of the earth,  not a particularly conservative line of reasoning, and not always consistent with American interests.  In the Middle East, however, there is a catch.  Just as in the 20th Century we found ourselves compelled to defend ourselves against statist Fascism (I know in the 1930's you didn't want to do it, and you've been mad at FDR on this point, and Churchill ever since), so it is today that we find ourselves challenged by Fascism in a new format.  We are confronted by stateless Islamic terrorists, but there is a catch, and that is that they cannot function without state sponsorship (fish out of water).  Hence, the Axis of Evil, a list too short.  Israel has been forced to confront this same phenomena since its inception, and the cycle of violence has been un-ending.  The problem is that one cannot reason or negotiate with terrorists; in self defense, they must be killed.  At the same time, there would seem to be peacefully inclined portions of the Muslim/Persian world that might be neutralized by different tactics.  This remains to be seen, although the election results in Afghanistan, however flawed, are encouraging.  The outcome in Iraq remains to be seen.  My point to my Paleo friends is, a). we cannot hide anymore, protected by two oceans, b). the types of people who will fly planes into buildings must be dealt with, c). sponsoring states of terrorism (yes, Iraq has been a sponsoring state) must be dealt with, and d). western notions of democracy might just put a dent in the mindset.  You cannot arbitrarily foreclose any options.  What is really disturbing to me, Pat, is that if George W. Bush should lose this election, then it would seem to me that you must share some direct responsibility.  Certainly you must realize that a far Left American government, which is what we would get, will eventually invite real disaster.   You have been flirting with Michael Moore, and encouraging absurd conspiracy theories, which is bazaar, and which has caused permanent damage irrespective of the outcome of this election.  That fact is simply not constructive, or in my opinion Conservative.  I am not interested in spreading democracy for the sake of democracy, an idea with problems of its own.  I am receptive to using the proven tools of western (read American) thought as utilities in the protection of our national security interests, and at times that may include the notion that ballots are better than shredders, and female voters are better than Uday and Qusay Saddam in guiding a resolution of Iraqi torments.  Not all of these initiatives may work, but, then again, one might be surprised.  In any event, the entire region will never be the same again, which at the very least is the basic idea.  Finally, I would stipulate that there is a moral component in all of this that, as a Catholic, I am compelled to observe.  Inaction or temporizing and failure to take account can be a form of complicity with Evil; there is debate within the Church itself on this matter.   God Bless George W. Bush.

Corrections:

None

Bush Score Card:

Excellent:   

Excellent job in that 2nd debate, better yet in the third.  Substance trumps show boating every time.

Not So Good:  

On hold.

Terrible- or even worse: 

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

Wall Street & Main Street:

I made some predictions some months ago about how the economy would wind up this year, specifically, my comments in Mountain Observer Letter FMOLWEB 128 LETTER 04-02.  One item that I listed as a possible disruption to economic recovery was a sudden rise in oil prices.   Oil has just broken the $50.00 level for a combination of reasons, in addition to the ongoing uncertainties of Iraq.  The mix that has closed in on us:

-Uncertainties of surrounding the legal status of Yukos Oil in Russia.

-The rapidly expanding, and hard to predict impact, of both the Chinese and Indian economies.

-The rapidly deteriorating political situation in Nigeria.

-The recent election results in Venezuela.

-The production slam suffered in the Gulf of Mexico from the recent hurricanes.

-The now seasonal self imposed disruptions caused by regulatory restrictions domestically on our        regional refining specifications that greatly complicate and restrict the movement of refined supplies of gasoline, diesel and heating oil.  This in addition to the imposed disincentives to build new refining capacity.

This all adds up to high prices and expanding dependence on foreign supplies.  It is also really going to stall economic recovery.   What we need to do:

-Rationalize the "environmental" restrictions on refining.

-Remove the political disincentives to build new refining and distribution capacity.

-Remove the political disincentives on domestic drilling, including Alaska and certain offshore locations.

-Prioritize the start up of the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada.

-Remove the disincentives in the way of the nuclear power industry.  The biggest single opportunity in the immediate future (20 years) to take a big chunk out of our dependency on petroleum, and foreign sources, is a vigorous conversion to nuclear power generation.  A healthy economy, and the jobs everybody wants, including fevered Democrats, demands energy, and our national security requires a shift away from foreign sources.  JES.

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

Prediction:

Shortly after this election, especially if John Kerry wins, expect Israel to undertake a heavy air strike against the Iranian nuclear reprocessing facilities.

Heartland Rebellion Update:

Its called an American election

Current Reading Recommendations:

1.)GIVE ME A BREAK: HOW I EXPOSED HUCKSTERS, CHEATS, AND SCAM ARTISTS AND BECAME

        THE SCOURGE OF THE LIBERAL MEDIA

                JOHN STOSSEL                                                                          

                HARPERCOLLINS                                          294 PGS                            $24.95

 2.) STATECRAFT: STRATEGIES FOR A CHANGING WORLD

    MARGARET THATCHER                                                                            

    HARPER COLLINS                                         486 PGS                            $34.95

 3.) SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

    PHILIP HAMBURGER

    HARVARD                                                     560 PGS                            $49.95

                                                                   God Bless America

                                                                   Jim                           

                                                                    American Nationalist Conservative

                                                                    Jefferson, CO 80456