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                                 ISSUES, PEOPLE, OBJECTS & POLICIES- CLOSE UP                           

 
                           Vol. 05                           Issue 01                                   January/February 2005

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:

The marketing of airline passenger service, as well as the marketing of all transportation services, has always fascinated me.  I think all the major traditional US carriers are walking corpses; it is only a matter of when.  Southwest Airlines is the model of the future, not only in the US, but around the world.  However, I think there is another fiasco in waiting, and that would be the new Airbus A380 Super Jumbo.  I think Boeing's pull back from attempting to compete at that level will ultimately prove to be a very wise decision.  The future of the 747, upgraded or otherwise, is murky at best.  Smaller fuel efficient, service, maintenance smart and small airport friendly aircraft are where the bucks will be placed for the foreseeable future.  The 737 will be around for a long time.   What I think we will witness with the A380 Airbus will be in many ways a replay of the SST fiasco, including the fact that back in the '70's, Boeing made a similar assessment of the economics and marketability of such high end aircraft.  The A380 is supposed to remedy that problem with its huge capacity, so perhaps I am wrong, but I don't think so.  Very few airports can handle it, or will be able to justify the expense of the necessary upgrades; and then there is the security issue.  A more likely application of this aircraft might be in the cargo business.   Once again, I think Boeing has exercised good business judgment, and nixed the temptation of national hubris.    JES

The court battle continues in Terri Schiavo's battle for life.  We watch intently to see if there is a judge in Florida willing to order her murder.  Stay tuned.    www.terrisfight.org        www.LifeNews.com  JES

The Bush trip to Europe makes it very clear that we are not going to tolerate a nuclear Iran, and are preparing to draw the line.  It was clearly the primary purpose of the trip to make this point, and to educate Europeans accordingly.  They were invited to get "onboard", which is to say that failure to do so, and the consequences thereof, would become an European problem in history yet to be written.  We are at war with Islamic Fascism, as we ought to be; those who fail to understand this are delusional.  Americans are not enthusiastic about foreign adventure, and properly so.  We are not imperialist by nature, nor is that our present purpose.  Americans do believe in the right to defend themselves from threats to hearth and home.  So it is that we have too patiently endured decades of violent incidents against us by Islamic Fascists mistaking our reluctance to respond for weakness.  However, September 11, 2001 was a step too far.  We have, as President, a real American, who can cut through the cloud of post modern nonsense that pollutes the minds of professors and their journalism students, and who knows how to call the bluff of international card sharks.  Jocko Shearock, Gearhard Showturd and the Iranian mullahs should understand that High Noon is approaching fast.  In a nuclear age, an age of missiles, shipping containers, international air travel and the internet, the luxury of hiding behind two oceans has disappeared.  On the American frontier, is has always been unquestioned wisdom that it is best to remove the rattlesnake's head before it is necessary to remove its fangs.  The fancy word on the east coast is preemption.  Meanwhile, Americans continue to not be about imperialism, but freedom.  God Bless cowboys, you know, the "stupid" ones.  JES

The oil embargo is now officially off Iraq, and Europe will now have to bargain anew.   Yes, in many ways the decisions about how the international "community" should have responded to Hussein's Iraq was about oil.  European oil supply providers, and the pockets of those with personal investments in the UN oil for food program, preferred the opportunities of corruption, and to ignore the torture.  No better case can be made for the termination of the United Nations, an organization totally useless and corrupt.  France and Germany still need oil.  Let them now bargain with a Free Iraq, and a people who they tried to screw.   JES

Tsunami victims continue to multiply needlessly, not from the original wave, but from the false pride of officials invested with political correctness against the use of DDT, the hugely successful, and only effective, weapon against malaria spreading mosquitoes on the loose in the wake of the devastation.  Actually this problem predates the tsunami by decades, but now the issue is out in the open.  Another example of Environmentalism run amok. JES

Tony Blankley, there you go again, wrecking the language.  In a recent column in the Washington Times:  ....."Keep in mind, the Pentagon has not denied the story; it has merely said that some of the facts are inaccurate." ......   Damit! if the "facts" are inaccurate, they aren't "facts", they're allegations, or alleged facts, or worse.   This constant butchering the word fact by a lot of people who should know better is driving me to distraction.  My own theory is that this is a byproduct of post modern deconstructionist relativism, and it seems to me that those who consider themselves Conservatives should know better than to facilitate their ideological enemies, which is why I think its an issue.  JES

The President visits Brussels Belgium to butter up the Brussel Sprouts.  Better than French cheese.  JES

On the matter of Vioxx, Bextra and Celebrex: Once again, you can feed a 1000 lbs of anything to a mouse and kill it.  People get a grip; life is not without risk, just read the directions.  JES

The recently reported "news" concerning Allen Greenspan's comments to Congress about Social Security reform are considered by this writer to be no news at all.  To anybody who has paid any attention what-so-ever to Greenspan and the more general debate about national fiscal policy in recent years, his comments were totally predictable, and correct.  Yes to SS reform by way of introducing private sector options, (there are no workable Government options) but start slow and proceed deliberately so as not to upset the market.  Anything you do will carry some measure of risk, but to do nothing eventually will guarantee calamity.  JES

The President directs the nomination of Ken Mehlman as the new Chair of the RNC.  Ken Mehlman comes across to me as a real street fighter, and friendly to the the Republican conservative base.  He will be the first RNC Chairman under Bush 43 that I feel good about going in.   We shall see.   Meanwhile, fellow Conservatives, do not get too alarmed by the nomination of Jo Ann Davidson of Ohio as co-Chairman.  It is a political payoff.  There are several legitimate hard headed political reasons why this should be a good move, including the fact that Ohio must continue to be regarded as a swing state going into 2008.   Davidson's efforts in 2004 were so important, that she might have made the difference, while her personal position on "choice" helps in the Northeast to inoculate the GOP from any charge of "extremism" such as the Democrats have fallen for on the opposite side.  I know this drives you nuts, as it does me, but I don't think she is any Christie Todd Whitless, and it is not her function to make, or even propose, policy.  Ken Mehlman is in charge, and it is his job to raise money and organize the base.   JES

We have more to be concerned about with the Chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee of Arlen Specter.  The Mountain Observer considers him to be a snake in the grass.  What we need in the federal court system is a lot less stare decisis (the Arlen Specter principle that precedent decisions are to be followed by the courts), and a lot more stare reversal (the Sohmer principle that a lot of unconstitutional mistakes need to be fixed).  JES

On the domestic front President Bush is leading off with exactly the right "flagship" issue with his proposals on Social Security reform.  He has caught Democrats at a weak point politically on an issue that has traumatized Republicans for decades, and his planning and strategy is perfect, dragging along federal spending and tort reform in the wake of what is really all the same decades old problem of Liberal Statist extortion.  If you don't "get it", I'll be happy to sit down with you and explain it all; it may take some time.  Until recently, I must confess that I never considered the possibility that all the first term spending might have been a deliberate "set up".  I still need to be convinced that that was the deliberate and calculated intention, but at this point, it certainly could function as a fulcrum.  Democrats, you complain about the deficit, you hypocrites who are primarily responsible for this Federal monstrosity that has been erected over the last 70 years.  Now your political golden goose Social Security, Ponzi scheme and fraud that it has always been, will either blow up in the face of your children, or be re-formatted by Conservatives toward a privatized path of individual self empowerment.  The cost of conversion, in competition with all the other Federal domestic spending baggage, will force us all to make choices, a situation not invented by George Bush, but to date buried by the public relations of politicians invested in the appeal of playing Santa Clause.  The problem will not be resolved by stalling tax cuts; more tax cuts are called for.  Government funding problems are the consequence of over-spending on misguided and un-Constitutional adventures in social and economic engineering, and the purchase of votes.    With the Generals standing behind me, and Congress dismissed, I could fix the deficit problem in 10 minutes; George W. Bush is necessarily more subtle, which is why he is President and I am not, and boy has he set you up.  You may politically defeat his effort, I am not making predictions.   There are too many soft headed Republicans running around loose.  One cannot fully appreciate the depth of the ideological struggle behind the public debate on social security reform, so full of code directed at perceived higher priorities.  It is a life and death struggle, not intended as a pun, second only to the keystone issue of abortion.

Remember this: if what the President proposes for social security fails to materialize, it will be only a matter of time before you come face-to-face with somebody like myself, and you will remember George W. Bush fondly, and with sorrow that he did not prevail.   JES

Corrections:

None

Bush Score Card:

Excellent:   

Your perseverance in Iraq.  Hang tough.

Your State of the Union speech was beyond excellent.

The Iraqi elections were a success, big time.

Congratulations on the new tort reform measure that pulls the "class action" stuff up into the federal court system.  This is an excellent start, however, there are additional items to be addressed, such as losers pay, for one.  Requiring lawyers in public to display a warning label on themselves, on the model of cigarettes, is recommended.

Next up, making the '03 tax cuts permanent.  These things must be made to happen.

Not So Good:  

The thrust of your immigration and border proposals are all wrong, and beyond repair by compromise.  The arrogance of certain initiatives and proposals of the Mexican government in this regard, clearly hostile to, and disrespectful of our sovereignty, are unacceptable.  You can call amnesty by any other name; it is still amnesty.  To condone lawbreaking as an initial step to citizenship is a peculiarity not understood by legal immigrants, or American citizens, competing in the marketplace for jobs and incomes.  This business about about "certain jobs Americans won't do" is an unproven thesis framed on the wishes of those unwilling to pay for an honest day's work.  The key to untangling this conundrum is to attack, reduce and eliminate regulations and tax barriers saddled on employers, including the minimum wage, that pervert employment decisions.  Perhaps the price of lettuce will double; so be it.  Perhaps in a properly ordered market climate, new technology will be inspired, creating new jobs that do not now exist.

The base of the Conservative movement will walk away from you, if you do not address these points.

Terrible- or even worse: 

Your policies and proposals on immigration and the border, and you have allowed "homeland security" to be trumped by political correctness, multiculturalism and a fear of profiling.

The absence of any apparent plan or strategy to deal with our balance of payments problem.  Herein lays the smoking time bomb of the future, and what is really at the bottom of the problem with jobs in this country.

You need to get control of the spending.  We need some genuine program cuts, and the elimination of some real unnecessary nonsense.  You have revealed yourself as a big government "Republicrat".  STOP THE SPENDING AND SHRINK THE GOVERNMENT!  In your State of the Union speech you promised budget numbers below the rate of inflation, which remains to be seen.  I do not doubt the sincerity of your intentions, and I recognize the limits of political reality, but it is not enough.  You could test your constitutional authority, ultimately, and refuse to release certain funding authorized by Congress.  Someday, I think this will have to happen, in a big way, and I believe you would be on sound Constitutional ground to do so for federal activities that are clearly beyond the authority of the Constitution of original intent.

Wall Street & Main St

The economy continues its march in the right direction, and tax receipts jump dramatically.  Its at the macro level of federal fiscal and trade policy that The Mountain Observer continues its pessimism.  The Federal Government is just too damned big and out of control, and the political cancer of dependency too pervasive for resolution at the ballot box.  The whole nation, at all economic levels, is addicted to pork.

Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina gets fired.  From the outside looking in, my impression is that HP's business plan was too broad and unfocused, as in trying to be everything for everybody and not doing real well at anything, except printers and printer ink cartridges.  I admired Carly for her grit and determination in the Compaq merger war, but, of course, there was always the question about the real value of a PC maker, already tanking, focused on making a product devolving into commodity status.  The HP Board itself is not exempt from criticism on these matters.  So it is probably time for a fresh start all the way around.

The Fed apparently plans to continue ratcheting up interest rates.  This may be useful in terms of encouraging continued foreign investment in our national debt, which is to say that the Fed continues to sidestep the real issue of our balance of payments problem.  To be fair, this is a matter primarily requiring Congressional action, as in STOP SPENDING, and revision of a number of tax laws that discourage saving and encourage the export of manufacturing.  Meanwhile, back at the Fed, one wonders at what point will they have taken this interest rate thing a step too far.  The economy, while headed in the right direction, is still pretty tender.

2005 Predictions:

-By the end of the year, Martha Stewart will be back in the saddle and doing well.

-U S Air is history, as it ought to be, even if it does not yet know it.   American unions need to wise up.  The planes will be re-painted under a different name, and may actually continue to fly, where there is a market.

-The Shia will come to dominate Iraq, not a tough call to make.  Less clear will be establishment of republican democracy.  The best barometer of this experiment will be the actions of the Kurds; already Christian Iraqis are taking flight.  Under any circumstances, Sunnis will face a tough period of redemption, if that is even possible.  The Shia relationship with Iran (mullahs or reformers?) will be the key, and this may turn on the fact that the United States will not allow Iran to deploy a nuclear armed missile.  How this will actually work out is too tough to call, but we need to do our best.

Heartland Rebellion Update:

As I predicted before it happened, on November 2, 2004, 12 years late, the American Heartland really began to wake up.  It still has a way to go.

Current Reading Recommendations:

 1.) UNDERSTANDING ANTI-AMERICANISM: ITS ORIGINS AND IMPACT AT HOME AND ABROAD

                PAUL HOLLANDER, ED                                                                          

                IVAN R. DEE                                              372 PGS                                $28.95

2.) THE CASE FOR DEMOCRACY: THE POWER OF FREEDOM TO OVERCOME TYRANNY AND TERROR

                NATAN SHARANSKY                                                                                         

                PUBLIC AFFAIRS                                        303 PGS                                $26.95

3.) RAID ON THE SUN: INSIDE ISRAEL'S SECRET CAMPAIGN THAT DENIED SADDAM THE BOMB

                RODGER W. CLAIRE                                                                                                   

                BROADWAY                                                288 PGS                                $24.95

                                                                   God Bless America

                                                                   Jim                           

                                                                    American Nationalist Conservative

                                                                    Jefferson, CO 80456