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An amendment to strike the part denying Habeas Corpus was just narrowly defeated, 51-48. The article mentioned the main bill will probably be voted on this afternoon. Thus speed is probably of importance in getting word to your senators. I would suggest suggesting a filibuster, since that would be effective versus a 51-48 majority.

The current senate bill supposedly gives the president the right to hold US citizens without trial. HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?? Are the republicans so numb, so out of touch, that they think it's for our own good to have no recourse to imprisonment on mere suspicion? Wake up you Republican dumbshits. This is consolidation of power. We are allowing ourselves to be tied up. "BURIED IN THE complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights." See the complete article

So you only want your training to compensate for the extra weight a pack brings, but not for the interference with movement (and sweat?) that it brings? Maybe on odd days you can wear the chain, and on even days you can climb with your arms inside your shirt?

I don't think constant military pressure directed speicifically at terrorists is a bad idea. It might actually work pretty well. Unfortunately what our govt. applied was/is indiscrimate military pressure. The initial invasion of Iraq was not targeted at terrorists. Rounding up people and putting them in Abu Gahraib knowing that 70-90% of them are innocent (and then mistreating them) is indisriminate. A good portion of those wrongly imprisoned and mistreated are going to look much more closely at devoting the rest of their life getting revenge. As are all the people who've had their family members killed by collateral damage. Also, invading a country with plans to democratize it and make its citizens free and prosperous seems like a pretty postive way to promote stability (and inhibit terrorism). However, this is a difficult job that requires expertise and hard work. Unfortunately the Bush administration staffed their mission with friends of the party instead of bonafide experts (a la FEMA debacle) and totally screwed up the whole thing, in Iraq AND Afghanistan. Sorry, I don't have any solutions, except for maybe firing our incompetent leaders (accountability is a Republican buzzword right?) and see if we can get some leadership that's amenable to hiring qualified and experienced experts regardless of whether they were significant donors to the GOP.

Awesome TR! ... and the climbing looks like a pretty cool adventure from those pictures.

Shouldn't this be in the ClusterF... thread? Anyway...with parties stacked up behind, taking a 1/2 hour break at a route constriction would seem to be blowing it. However, it is conceivable that they may have been trying to let people pass. Library Ledge is not really a route constriction. In fact, it seems like a perfect place to pass. It's a nice big ledge with room for many people, and it's below a pitch that has two alternate starts. How come nobody passed them when they were just sitting there? The plot thickens...

Nice job Otto-man! After we did Clean Break my partner also took a horrifying cartwheel in that talus field (but was also relatively unscathed). Can it possibly be a coincidence? I think not. Some sort of strange magic there perhaps.

I seriously doubt a larger rack is going to significantly slow people down on a crag climb like Outer Space. However, a leader sketching and searching way too long to find a placement that just ain't there is a real good way to seriously slow down a team. Plus, if a leader is sketching, there may actually be a nontrivial probability of the climber falling. Thus, I posit that, in this case, more gear may mean less slowly AND more safety.

Get some inspiration for your flame here

With respect to TP orientation, it does seem more common and useful to have it rolling over the top. However, new and expectant parents take note: With small children around, the preferred orientation is to have the TP rolling out the back. Little kids like to spin the roll quickly just for whatever reason little kids do stuff (probably same thing that causes them to flick lights on and off and reprogram your VCR). Usually the kids spin the roll from the top down. If you have the TP set in the top down orientation, you are left with a BF mess, and/or a large TP bill, and often end up yelling at sweet little sugarkins (and feeling terrible later). With the out-the-bottom orientation, the kid just gets to have fun and noone gets hurt.

At least we don't have the TV's that watch us, a la 1984, .... yet. (I don't think)

With respect to clipping gear to the harness: I clip my own damn gear to my own damn harness!!! I don't want some fruitcake climber rousting around down there . But seriously folks... when clipping to harnesses, or more pertinently, to gear slings, one should always clip with the gates facing out. That is way that I do it. Anybody who does it any other way is incorrect and an inconvenience to me. However, *sigh* , we all know the world is not perfect and I must often climb with people who are incorrect in their perceptions as to the proper gear-clipping orientation. Here is what I do to fight against the tide of mediocrity: Before setting out on my lead, I quickly check each piece clipped to the gear sling and turn any errant biners around to the correct orientation (that is facing out, by the way, if you missed it before). This sometimes takes in excess of 15 seconds, but usually not. With respect to which way the quickdraw biners face, I subscribe to not using those deadly dogbone draws! Floppy, draws that allow you to orient the biner to whatever direction you want in a heartbeat or two are the way to go. If you are climbing with those deathtrap draws with the elastic thingy holding the biner rigid, you are inevitably going to be faced with using some that have the biners in the INCORRECT orientation; because, as well all know, 98% of people don't know what the fuck they are doing. When climbing with one of these imperfect individuals, if the draws are rigid, you're stuck. No way out. Might as well be soloing. So, in summary, do not using these deadly dogbone draws please. Thank you.

Climb: Mt. Hubris-Cosmic Wall Date of Climb: 9/12/2006 Trip Report: Cosmic Wall - "Das Toof of Dunsmuir" Last week I needed to make a spur of the moment drive down to CA. I decided to break up the drive and check out Castle Crags, just off of I-5 in northern California. Armed with beta from summitpost.org, and mountainproject.com I thought I'd try checking out the Cosmic Wall (5.6). Left Seattle around 6am, arrived at Castle Crags State Park (exit #724) around 2:30 pm, was hiking by 3 and when I checked my watch upon arrival at the base of the climb it was exactly 4:20 . It was hot as hell there, but I guess I timed it right and got shade for much of the hike and the climb. The climb turned out to be easy enough, though it appears you might be sketching if you wanted gear very often. The rock is clean, well-featured and solid. All that black stuff in the pictures is not lichen. The crux of the climb may be a short traverse over onto a nice bolted belay ledge (top of p2) and then back off of it. But since I wasn't needing no stinkin' belay ledge I was able to bypass those moves! Apparently the original route skirts the summit arete on the left then smears up a groove, but I went straight up the highly featured arete. Many giant holds. No good gear perhaps, but way more aesthetic than the chimney/groove looked (plus I didn't see much in the way of gear that way either). Beautiful pointy summit. Looking out on all those other craggy crags and Mt. Shasta. The summit register contents were all wadded up like used snotrags, but one piece of notepaper had a nice sketch of a mountain and a poem: We sit together The mountain and me Until only the mountain remains -Li Po Cosmic! Gear Notes: Rock shoes, running shoes for approach. Single 60m rope for rappel off backside. Approach Notes: Great trail until 1/4 mile of manzanita at end. To find the good but windy path through the manzanita, head up and just over ridge between Castle Dome and Mt. Hubris. Look upridge for the path. It travels directly beneath obvious 30-foot high snag. looking up pitch 2 from top of pillar (middle of pitch 1) pitch 2: steep but with amazing features looking up the final summit arete pitch summit register contents

Mt. Hubris, Castle Crags Wilderness, CA

...so long as you`re not a terrorist Well, and if you aren`t muslim... "Arar, now 36, was detained by U.S. authorities as he changed planes in New York on Sept. 26, 2002. He was held for questioning for 12 days, then flown by jet to Jordan and driven to Syria. He was beaten, forced to confess to having trained in Afghanistan -- where he never has been -- and then kept in a coffin-size dungeon for 10 months before he was released, the Canadian inquiry commission found. O'Connor concluded that "categorically there is no evidence" that Arar did anything wrong or was a security threat."" full story here (Washington Post)

I think Gary has exceeded Chaps for the title of troller extrordinaire.

How do you get photos to display in your posts?

I think abusing newbs is lame, and it seems like most people agree lately. There seems to be remarkable restraint lately on the behalf of the hoodlums in terms of not picking on newbs. Of course, we're talking newb posters here. Big difference in terms of abusing newbs who aren't here (e.g. Mounties). There seems to be a big increase in new faces the last couple of months, and with a few exceptions I think they've not been harassed. With respect to hijacking, there are definite degrees. Spray sees a lot hijacking, but you're warned there to have a thick skin. TR's see more subtle hijacking (obvious ones are quickly deleted by mods usually), like say a TR about a really cool route in the Bugaboos getting derailed by someone coyly suggesting that they've been to the Bugaboos too and know other people who have been there. What the hell does that have to do with the Howser Tower? Ooops, getting sidetracked ..... But anyway, as with all threads of this nature I will end with DLTDHYITA! (Don't let the doorknob hit you in the ass)

A declassified report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence revealed that U.S. intelligence analysts were strongly disputing the alleged links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda while senior Bush administration officials were publicly asserting those links to justify invading Iraq. Far from aligning himself with al-Qaeda and Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Hussein repeatedly rebuffed al-Qaeda's overtures and tried to capture Zarqawi, the report said. Tariq Aziz, the detained former deputy prime minister, has told the FBI that Hussein "only expressed negative sentiments about [Osama] bin Laden." The report also said exiles from the Iraqi National Congress (INC) tried to influence U.S. policy by providing, through defectors, false information on Iraq's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons capabilities. After skeptical analysts warned that the group had been penetrated by hostile intelligence services, including Iran's, a 2002 White House directive ordered that U.S. funding for the INC be continued. complete story in Washington Post

Devil with the blue dress, blue dress, blue dress, Devil with the blue dress on... repeat 2,718 times

Here's some recent discussion involving the NW Buttress descent linkage more linkage

If your circulation gets cut off, then perhaps you should tape a bit more loosely. Flex your hands when applying the tape. I'm not sure about taping to avoid aching wrists. I think most people tape hands in rock climbing to avoid abrasion. Tape also seems to make most handjams more secure.

I don't think you need a permit for bivying on the ridge. The entire route is devoid of water. Are you planning on climbing the entire North Ridge, from the actual bottom as opposed to starting at the Notch? If you are competent enough to do the lower part of the ridge, then you are probably competent enough to do the Gendarme pitches and thus bypass the rap off the buttress. But anyway, I can't really fathom how rapping off of a fixed rap station could be that tricky. Perhaps I misunderstand something here.

Tatoosh is rad, huh? Were the loose-blocks of imminent death still around?

Who do you think you are, the fucking beta-morality police?