Peter_Puget

hmm so I can bolt all I want if I "shred" the route quickly. But I must say thatI find excessive bolts ugly regardless of how long people work on a route. Dwayner, this quotes makes me realize just how far removed you are from real climbing as opposed to armchair pontificating. clean gear is easy to place That is simply not always true. Placing clean gear can be an art - one that is difficult to learn. If your missing this, think about what else you are missing! PP

Anyone ever climb Phoenix in Yosemite? Now there is a dumbed down weenie route if ever there one. Get this - the pro is perfect! Who cares if the jams are technical at one point and strenuous the whole way. It’s a total weenie route. Any old lady and her grandmother could (given enough time) red point that sucker. Come to think of it the same goes for Tales of Power or Supercrack, any pitch on Astroman and City Park! These climbs are all examples of the dumbing down of climbing. In fact any well protected climb is an affront to the very values that built this grand country! Ropeless is the only way to go and since I am prone to falling I am forced by my high minded ethical nature to become a pad person. PP

Aint enough time left in the life of the universe for that!

People grab pro on trad climbs too. It is not uncommon for people to yard from piece to piece on hard cracks. Heck how many people hang on Sentry Box? How many people grab a sling after a runout slab section? PP

I am so out of place. Not even Muffy likes me. The only place I feel at home is the NEW RO..... PP

The political emergence of Schwarzenegger is a wonderful development, and not just for hacks like yours truly who love a good story. Arnold is an "eagle": he's tough on terror, open-minded on cultural issues, fiscally conservative. He's also a brilliant politician. How do I know? Just rent "Pumping Iron," the legendary bodybuilding documentary of the 1970s. It captures Shwarzenegger's extraordinary ease with people, his irony, his composure, his wit, his gift with strategy and his determination. If I'm not mistaken, it also shows him lighting up a big fat joint after one of the contests. If ever there was a moment for that type of Republican, this is it. Arnold's my man.

What are you guys (& gals) crazy? The Mall is truly heaven on earth. I remember visiting my parents in the early 80’s after being a climbing bum for many months and visiting the mall. What a scene: A sea of cute girls walking in pastel skirts! The scents of various perfumes wafting thru the air! Heaven! PP

...that an extra-virgin oil can be called "Italian" even if it is only bottled in Italy. It's a scandal! PP

Right now Mary where are you!

Dwayner isn't this site lame at times? They should be lined up for a Big Wall Chat Room. I imagine that it will be progamed right after they finish the final tweaks on the NEW ROCK CLIMBING forum ! PP

Jarrod send an email here let htem know about the thread and ask what they think? Although i have not been on Canada for about 7 years (and then it was the Rockies) I have only had good dealings with businessmen, climbers, the police and other authorities. By the way I was once "jumped" near the Feather Rivcer Domes in Nor Cal and when the police became involved they joined in the fun and harrassed us for several hours before (and I kid you not) giving us a timeline as in a few minutes to get out of town!

Link

What big cam? Is that a come on? There are some groovy OWs in Leavenworth!

While it is less effective and less efficient until the wonderous day when the NEW Rock Climbing Forum is up and operational we must make do with subverting the elites by slipping rock talk into the other forums. Faster please. PP

At the base of Behind the Eightball...how was it? Forget political spray let's talk rock climbing! PP

I believe you mean to address Trask! Check this pic out! Bring on the revolution.

That goes for the new rock climbing forum too. This thread has opened my eyes.

Sabine Says: "Ce serait une bonne chose"

The Goat rules! I do not understand how he can put up with you guys tho. PP

"In the 15th century, a young woman named Joan rallied the people of France to revolt against their English oppressors. Today, another young woman named Sabine Herold is trying to do the same thing. Only she is not trying to save France from foreign invaders, but from itself. Herold is a 21-year-old college student who became the unlikely leader of a libertarian revolt in France when she spoke out against striking public sector unions. Protesting government plans to make them work 40 years to receive full pensions, as private-sector workers do, rather than 37 as they do now, the unions have severely crippled transportation and caused great hardship for ordinary people throughout France. In years past, people would have tended to sympathize with the strikers. But sparked by Herold, large numbers of Frenchmen seem to have decided that enough is enough. They are tired of having their lives disrupted and paying excessive taxes for the benefit of a few pampered government workers, for whom too much is never enough. Herold had no plans to become another Joan of Arc, but that seems to be what happened. As striking workers marched through her hometown of Reims, northeast of Paris, she spontaneously denounced them from the steps of city hall on May 25. Suddenly, there were 2,000 citizens cheering her on and listening intently to her attacks on the strikers, the federal government, and a loss of French dynamism, and entrepreneurial spirit. A star was born. The next thing Herold knew, she was the leader of a national movement. On June 15, she addressed a crowd of 18,000 in Paris with the same message. Beautiful, articulate, and willing to say things that no national leader has been willing to say in France in decades, Herold became a heroine to the oppressed middle class. Squeezed on all sides by taxes, high unemployment, slow growth, and an unresponsive political class, all they needed was a leader when she burst on the scene. Exactly 50 years ago a similar middle-class revolt arose in France led by a small town bookseller named Pierre Poujade. In the summer of 1953, he organized the shopkeepers in the town of St. Cere to go on strike against the tax collectors. As with Herold, Poujade suddenly found himself the leader of a national crusade. In 1956, his movement elected 52 members to the 544-member National Assembly. But the Poujadists quickly ran out of steam. Within two years their movement virtually ceased to exist. The reason seems to be that they had no real vision of reform, nor a program that went much beyond protest. In America, they would be called populists. Once given a bit of power, they didn't know what to do with it and so faded away. According to a report in Forbes magazine, France has the heaviest tax burden among the 47 countries surveyed. It had a score of 179.4 on the Tax Misery Index, which is calculated by adding together corporate and individual income-tax rates, and wealth, Social Security, and sales taxes. With enactment of the recent tax cut, the U.S. has a ranking of just 85.3. However, such a calculation overstates the French tax burden because evasion of the income tax is so pervasive. Consequently, France collects less revenue from personal income taxes than any other major country, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It gets just 18 percent of its total revenue from this source versus 42.4 percent in the U.S. However, sales and Social Security taxes, which are harder to evade, are much higher in France. It appears that the French channel their anger against high taxes into individual income-tax evasion, rather than political action for tax cuts. The government turns a blind eye because the taxes it really depends upon are still paid. This makes people feel they are getting away with something even as their total tax burden rises ever higher. It also diffuses pressure to reduce taxes. Thus it seems that France still successfully follows the maxim of Jean Baptiste Colbert, minister of finance to King Louis XIV in the 17th century. "The art of taxation," he said, "consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing." Herold has her work cut out for her. But unlike Poujade, she understands the need for a broader political philosophy upon which to base her movement. She is said to be reading the Austrian political philosopher F.A. Hayek and is a great admirer of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She will need the wisdom of the former and all the steely determination of the latter if she is to be successful." Nice essay by Bruce Bartlett PP

It will be less confusing when the NEW ROCK CLIMBING FORUM is set up!

From "benefited the few and damaging many" to "tempered by" is quite a change! Alpinek - Read this! PP

JG _ I was joking about the elites. Frankly I believe that the view of the elites controlling the world is an inferior religion that assumes that the world is more in control than it is. But this comment got me thinking: “Rather, it's a dilemma of a silent majority grappling with the fallout of a half century of selfish pursuit that has benefitted a few and damaged the majority” First I would suggest that they aren’t all that silent after all they have you a manipulated nonelite talking about “their” issue. But I as you to present an argument supporting your half century assertion. I think that America’s rise in the latter half of the 20th century certainly benefitted the entire world. Prove me wrong. But give me an argument not a listing of so-called “Facts” PP

JG – are these “elites” restrained by national boundaries? Is “hatred for America” merely amanipulated outlet provided by the elites to confuse us (non-elites)? PP