chucK

right on

I like that conspiracy theory of yours. I really do. How about this one? A 'cabal' inside the White House wanted to invade Iraq since even before George Bush was president. And once they were in power they used lies and threats to hijack US foreign policy to satisfy their needs. Pretty kooky huh?

Talk about an attention-grabbing headline! "Restaurants are getting busy," she said. "We now have traffic to encounter to get to and from a location of his choise, followed by wait service from the restaurant staff, eating, etc. Thank you." Talk about clueless. linky

Most everything I've done there is good fun. Wasteland (8), Arribas Amoebas (9), Beeline (9), Warpath (9) are all really fun. Moby Dick (7) was, I thought, a bit overrated but still fun. We got shut down on Blood Brother (sandbag? broken hold?) East side is more developed camping. West Side more primitive. You could easily visit both sides with a week.

I am so stoked! For my birthday I finally got one. THE LEGENDARY TITANIUM SPORK!!!! What's not to like about that, eh!? (That was a rhetorical question all you haters. )

Awesome Op-ed! Check it out Peter Here's some highlights: "America's ability to cope with nuclear nonproliferation has also suffered. The contrast between the attack on the militarily weak Iraq and America's forbearance of the nuclear-armed North Korea has strengthened the conviction of the Iranians that their security can only be enhanced by nuclear weapons. Moreover, the recent U.S. decision to assist India's nuclear program, driven largely by the desire for India's support for the war in Iraq and as a hedge against China, has made the United States look like a selective promoter of nuclear weapons proliferation. This double standard will complicate the quest for a constructive resolution of the Iranian nuclear problem." [...] "At the same time, the direct and indirect costs of the war in Iraq are mounting, even beyond the pessimistic prognoses of the war's early opponents, making a mockery of the administration's initial predictions. Every dollar so committed is a dollar not spent on investment, on scientific innovation or on education, all fundamentally relevant to America's long-term economic primacy in a highly competitive world." [...] "It should be a source of special concern for thoughtful Americans that even nations known for their traditional affection for America have become openly critical of American policy. As a result, large swathes of the world - be it East Asia, or Europe, or Latin America - have been quietly exploring ways of shaping closer regional associations tied less to the notions of trans-Pacific, or trans-Atlantic, or hemispheric cooperation with the United States. Geopolitical alienation from America could become a lasting and menacing reality" He does actually suggest a course with which we could rescue ourselves. Hint: it involves bipartisanship. Talking to democrats!!? Ugh!

You suck donkey balls! The West Ridge is an excellent outing!

I found this graph someone did. It's not really very convincing to Olbermann's implicit allegations:

Sorry to interrupt this hilarity but here's a fun politics link: 0lberman

I guess it must just have been a big hoax (lie).

Wouldn't it be simpler to repeal the recently enacted Bush tax cuts (or even just the part Kerry wanted to repeal), instead of an extremely popular provision that's been around nearly 100 years? This would be much more popularly espoused, along with recouping somewhere like 3-4 times more lost revenue.

Sneaky freedom haters

They're with all that C4 that the insurgents stole from the unsecured Iraqi armories!

A correction that might make a difference to onlookers We didn't get started climbing on Epi 'til more like 10:30am (we left the campground around 9am). Epi is a real cruiser route as long as you don't get freaked out by easy chimneys. We topped out around 4:30, and we had plenty of time to lazily make our way back to the car before darkness hit @ 6:30. Otto is in error about us staying the previous night on the Strip. This may be of interest to onlookers as even though the Strip is much further away, we got much later starts from the windy campground. So Hotel room = earlier start. If you fly down there, it seems fairly easy to get a package where a couple nights hotel stay is basically thrown in for free. Also, he got his pitches switched around on the Prince of Darkness

You forgot to mention one of the highlights of the trip. Our descent from Black O via the gulley right of Solar Slab. A fun canyoneering experience!

Here's my recommendations: leavenworth climbing

West Ridge of Lundin is not a very long approach. It is comparable to the Tooth if you go in via Alpental (up the Snoqualmie Mountain trail then cut over). It has a comparable or much shorter approach than just about every climb Alex lists except for Guye, and it's a way shorter drive (from Seattle-Tacoma anyway).Lundin has got some great rock and you can link together/contive many little steps of climbing. Not near as exposed (and newbie impressing) as the Tooth, but avoids the nasty crowding problems. I think Forbidden and Thomson would not be the best choices for a day climb with a newbie! Long approach and non-trivial descent. Unless of course by "day" climb you mean 24 hour epic.

Another compelling theory for the huge drop in crime in the 90's: Roe v Wade

They are to release their findings in October, last I heard. Next week is October.

Is it open all year? If not, is it open now? If so, will it be open the next couple of weeks?

So I assume the camfire is gonna happen after the gear swap (for the cams noone wanted) But seriously, how much parking is available? Could someone show up unannounced and be reasonably sure of having a place to park and sleep? Or do some prior arrangements need to be made?

So is Santorum "grieving father" or "using his son's death"?

Found this in the Boston Globe: "In the ballroom of a Holiday Inn on Capitol Hill, about 350 ''jurors" sipped coffee and polished off desserts as they watched a mock trial of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, former CIA chief George J. Tenet and US Attorney General Albert Gonzales. The men were accused of violating US law and the Geneva Convention in supporting torture." This sounds exactly like JayB's style. You think his new job in Boston is writing for the Globe?