slothrop

None of the top-level members of the Bush Administration served in Vietnam. Such draft-dodging pro-war people are commonly referred to as chickenhawks. These people let their grand vision get in the war of practical matters, such as fighting an effective war. Perhaps their lack of experience with actual war has jaundiced their vision. Professionalism does not correspond to competence and there are many appointed officials (i.e., not vetted by a vote of the people and subject to cronyism) involved here. It's hard not to see how Iraq is similar (note: not necessarily the same) to Vietnam. Armed insurgents are killing lots of our people and stifling "democratization" of the country. We don't have an exit strategy. I'd say that sounds like either war.

1) They were overruled by their superior, who I named. Some, like former White House economic adviser, Larry Lindsey, were fired when the estimated the cost of the war (accurately) at $100-200 billion (it was $150B as of April). 2) I have no idea what you're trying to say. How many ohms of impedance are we talking about? If you would rather have a dictatorship, I suggest you move to where that's an acceptable form of government. Or gather up a few wives and guns and set up your own in the hills of Idaho.

1) 20/20 hindsight 2) who do you think prevented this spending from happening? the man who voted for the 82 billion before he voted against it. Anyways sir, this is no vietnam. In any shape or form. 1) Not according to the advice of some in DoD. Rumsfeld was all about sending minimal troops. And then Bremer opened up the borders to enable "free trade"--no inspections, no tariffs, etc. Surprise, out goes the looted goods and in comes the contraband! 2) 87 billion. And Kerry's vote didn't change the fact that the bill passed both houses on Oct. 17, 2003.

http://www.democrats.org/about/2000platform.html http://www.gop.com/GOPAgenda/ It seems to me that the RNC convention has had a lot more Kerry-bashing than the Dems' convention had Bush-bashing. The Democrats have a platform, a lukewarm candidate, and plenty of enraged disorganized liberals, while the GOP has an anti-Kerry smear campaign, lots of mindless flag-waving, and good ol' dead Ronnie Reagan.

Get a room, you two.

That's far out, man.

How does one debate this point of view, Greg?

I believe that a large amount of authority is mindless. It eventually serves no purpose other than to undermine personal freedom.

Sounds like a great climb. You can walk off the summit clockwise from the south side of the summit boulder.

What about the confused kids signing up for military service because they think the Neverending Global War on Terror is a good cause? Or the unstable nutcase kids, like gotterdammerung, who just like guns 'n stuff? Should we question their motives, even though their service, on its face, is honorable?

Remember that scene in Forrest Gump where the flag-shirt-clad hippie jackass guy drags Forrest on stage to give a speech at a rally in DC? Was that supposed to be Abbie Hoffman?

Good god, I'm so tired of hearing this. Plenty of "lefties" said plenty of things when Clinton's draft-dodging was relevant. In the news article posted above, a "lefty" said something about Clinton's draft-dodging. Now that it's UTTERLY IRRELEVANT, just like it would be pointless to bring up Ronald Reagan's lack of combat experience during World War II, can we please stop bringing it up?

No matter how many times Dwayner recycles the fruity Peter Pan guy, it's never funny every time! That BLT picture is sweet, though. Kinda like "aid climbing superstars":

M-16 rounds are relatively small, light, and very fast, AFAIK. Perhaps the rounds would just go right through a body at short range, thus not much stopping power?

Planned on Index Saturday, but we drove through to 11worth when the mist hit the windshield. We didn't have a guidebook, so went to familiar ol' Castle Rock. Climbed Fault/Catapult/Bone and MF Overhang (my friend Dan finally led it clean). Some guys had tied a TR anchor directly to the last links in the chain anchor on top of Jello Tower, so we escaped via Midway in one pitch. Dan convinced me to try The Nose. I flailed and cursed and lowered off. We retrieved my gear by rapping from the top after climbing the South Face. I convinced Dan to lead Damnation, which he reports "took ten years off my life". Good day. Sunday was more epic. Dan, Ned_Flanders, my girlfriend Betsy, and I climbed the West Ridge of Lundin. We got a noontime alpine start, ate lots of blueberries, and pitched out some of the climb, so by the time we were rapping toward the eastern gully, it was about 7pm. The best part of the next four hours was walking in the stream because the brush sucked so much. We finally found the PCT and hiked its endless flat pointless stupid switchbacks back to the road. Woohoo!

We can only hope that when the research is complete that establishes industrial chemical X as the cause of the recent rise in peanut allergies, X is banned and not peanuts. Why not pay the kid's family to have him home-schooled? Sounds like a reasonable compromise.

About this much (late July last year): Er, nevermind. This is the approach for the partial North Ridge. Duh.

Hott. Lots of butt-slapping going on between teammates, too. The opponents of those two gave each other long, tender hugs after every point they scored. It was a little creepy, actually.

Werd. I hope the basketball team gets their asses handed to them. I sure wish I had Bravo so I could watch the soccer finals.

Whoa. I think you want this thread, Jay.

That Russian gymnast, Nemov, is a pretty classy guy. Why do reporters feel the need to interview runners who haven't even had time to catch their breath? Let them walk a lap to cool down first, sheesh. The post-race interview is the lamest thing ever, anyway, but it's even worse when done with oxygen-starved runners.

How helpful could the little red line really be? This could be anywhere:

mr. radon, I believe JosephH is saying that he was, in fact, there. Kerry was there, too. For two tours. My dad was in Vietnam, too, commanding a LRRP platoon. He has no problem with John Kerry's activism against the war. Somehow he takes no offense to the idea that the Vietnam war was a mistake and that there were atrocities committed by US troops, probably because the truth of both statements has been proven by documented historical fact. Reporting that Americans committed atrocities is not the same as calling every American servicemember a baby killer. I don't get why this is so hard to understand. You can say that America has the highest per capita murder rate without implying that every American is a murderer. Just because Jeffrey Dahmer is American doesn't mean every American is a serial killer. It's not the truth-tellers who impugned the honor of America in Vietnam, it's the dishonorable troops who committed the atrocities or allowed them to go unpunished.

Sorry to keep things on topic, but after losing my Black Diamond Bullet pack (containing my fav Patagonia R2 jacket) on the North Buttress Direct of Bear Mountain the other day, I was thinking about, you know, gear 'n stuff. I asked around and got this response: So there you go. If you'd like any photos or beta on Godzilla, just drop me a PM!

South America? I thought the World Bank "strongly suggested" those countries liberalize their economies. How 'bout them steel tariffs? And soft-wood tariffs? And closing foreign countries out of bidding on defense-related contracts? Is that not protectionism? I'm sure there are reasons for all of those things, but they nonetheless amount to US gov't interference in the well-oiled machine of the world free market.