chucK

Hey, Since I can't seem to post on the cc.news section I just thought I'd post this here. Hey howza bout you put the NEW ROCK CLIMBING FORUM in the list of things that gets brought up in the "search last 25 TR posts" thingy?

We got like three ropes stuck today so once I climbed up to unstick it and it was stuck right next to two old slings. I almost went for it, on two old slings around a rattly chockstone. Hell I may get dead but at least I'll be 1.95$ richer. But then added a piece of webbing, cause what the hell...it was my partner's webbing . 3 sling day

I didn't even look at the link, but it appears you whiners are getting all up in arms about somebody selling something. Well, I'll tell you what, that's some sacred stuff here in America. You know here in America our fathers and their grandfathers etc. fought for the rights to sell stuff without government intervention. So if you're saying this guy shouldn't be able to sell stuff, then you're in the wrong place! I MAY NOT LIKE WHAT HE'S SELLING, BUT I'LL DEFEND HIS RIGHT TO SELL IT TO THE DEATH. Perhaps not with my life, but I'll at least support sending a bunch of other sad sacks (who signed up for this by the way) out into whereever they may need to go to defend our right to sell stuff, TO THE DEATH.

Breakfast angles the exact same way at the start (crux). So you guys seriously think the pull through the second roof is only 10a? I guess I haven't done it in a while (and never on lead), but I thought that part was pretty hard. Daryl's guide calls that part 10d, right?

PineyK, I talked to a guy about those toenail fungus pills. Turns out they are hard on your liver and they cost a sh*tload of money, as in hundreds of dollars! I'd say keep on whittlin'. Let me know though what your doc says about killing the nail. Seems like all those toenails do for you is get in the way anyway.

OK? Lots of plans last week. Lots of perfect climbing weather occured simultaneously with most people having two days off of work. What did you do?

Fast Food Nation surprisingly riveting!

Jay, You usually write some pretty intelligent comments but this shit full of misdirection, strawmen and fabrications is worthy of Rush. You got a future dude. Campaign contributions. It's all legal. Bush and his cronies are rich (I guess?), they don't need money (whatever?, though Cheney's 200K$/year from Haliburton and Haliburton's NO BID contract in Iraq smell pretty fishy in juxtaposition), but they do so love power! Big money entrepeners help out the politicos, the politicos return favors in form. All legal or at least so complicated that the implications are lost on 60% of Americans, unlike burglarly or lying about a sexual liason. And yes, Tony Blair is a right-wing hack serving oil interests.

Hey MisterE, Cool car! Do you still get a tax writeoff for it? I remember hearing that they were letting people write off a couple of grand for buying alternative vehicles, but only for a couple of years. Oh yeah, and where'd you get it, and what's it cost?

I don't think you've addressed your evil homonym j_b's point that your "net economic benefit" argument is "silly". It is not the oil companies and the reconstruction contractors who are paying the bills of military action. It is us. The "cabal" are the buddies of GW who stand to make money from the chaos, while we, the taxpayers, pay for the costs of access to the oil supplies and cleanup of the mess. I think you could explain it thusly. First, we had already gained complete control of the Kuwaiti oil. Second, leaving Sadam's government in power kept Saudi Arabia beholden to us. Thus, we got Kuwait's oil and were virtually guaranteed Saudi oil and so there didn't seem to be a big reason at that time to march right into what George JR has indeed shown us is an ugly shitstorm.

Umm, oh yeah. Ammend #1 to "without pulling on more than 14 bolts" .

Bet they feel pretty hornswaggled at finding out that "defending their country" has such a nebulous meaning.

Good list! I'll expand on "commitment to the route", by saying it's cool to have a partner who is independently working on what needs to be done and thinking about it the whole time; that is, doesn't act like he's being guided (by me). They pull their weight without having to be told to. Whachoo mean by "fucking around at the belay" exactly? You got any good stories?

Dwayner, you forgot to put "climbing" in quotation marks.[/i]

Find anything interesting?

OK, the top3 thread is pretty much played out (for this year). As a sequel let's discuss the "next level". Now that you've done these three bitchin' things, what does that set you up for next year (or month)? I'll go first. I am upping the ante as small as possible: 1. Climb Grand Wall without pulling on gear. 2. Climb complete N Ridge Stuart without having to bivy on top. 3. Bag peak with kids (the Tooth perhaps?! ).

Mattp, Aren't you gonna call anyone "fucko"?

Greg, You're right. The current personnel over there are volunteers and thus it seems reasonable to hold them to a commitment they made freely. I guess my comment was mostly to point out what a shitty situation those folks over there are in right now. The opinion piece was going a little further and saying that just for morale's sake that Bush et al should institute some kind of time limit thing. Sounds reasonable until you think carefully about the logistics. I don't know how they could make that promise (genuinely anyway) since they don't have unlimited manpower and they have no idea of how long this will go on.

The only time it ever really matters to rate yourself is when deciding what to climb. In that respect, jja's three points all come clearly into the picture.

I agree Matt. We're in there now. It'd be even more of a crime (and create a bigger mess) to cut and run now. Committed. So suck. I read an opinion piece the other day about how the GI's are getting screwed. The writer was in Vietnam and he made the point that in Vietnam kids were sent over there with a one-year time limit on their service. If they survived a year, they got sent home. According to the writer, this gave some hope in a hellish situation. Each day you didn't get killed, you checked it off on a little calendar, and were that much closer to salvation. The guys in Iraq have no such guarantees. They just have to wait around there with basically no idea of when the terror of getting picked off is gonna end. That's pretty harsh. Just the other day the paper talked about the national guard and reservists getting their terms extended to "at least" spring. That's right, no max date, just "you gotta stay longer". I'd say that the powers that be oughta do something about this, but, shit, I can't think of what they could do, short of starting up the draft. Which would of course be so suck. Nasty situation.

When I heard the news this morning, I figured that was the first time I can remember when I've actually felt truly affected when a show business person I don't know died. Here's to you Johnny . ETA agreed Greg. Poor choice, lyrics removed.

I think they're called "The 11c on the left" "The 12a with the roof" "The 13", ... etc.

Hehe guess you gave up on this one. Had to fall back on your old standby since you got nothing worthwhile to spout. By other countermeasures I assume you're talking about anti-missle missles, thus my comments on Patriots. Big ol' carriers are risky. One lucky missle and it's a jillion dollars down the drain. I think it'd be smarter to be diversified and stick with smaller ships packin' cruise missles.

Yeah right, an F-18 is gonna knock down a missle . Patriot missles are a sham. Public relations to make us feel safe. Or should I say, make us feel happy about sending our sons and our neighbors' sons out into the fray under nebulous pretenses.