Fairweather

Are we to believe then, that the avy hazard is 100x greater on the day of the full moon than it is on the last day of a waxing gibbous phase?? Or the first day of the waining?

Who's cosmic string is that hanging from your chin?

Matt, WTA supported closure of the Middle Fork Road. Their position is part of the public record regarding this matter. They actually tried to convince their membership that this road closure would provide for more hiking opportunities! (I guess I don't understand the math.) ALPS sued the USFS to prevent use of chainsaws after the winter of 99' when hundreds of miles of trails were buried beneath fallen trees. When asked about the effect this action would have on hikers and climbers, the spokesman for ALPS reply was 'too bad'. ( I understand ALPS only relented when the local Forest Supervisor pointed out that it was perfectly legal to use hand drills and dynamite to clear the windfalls!) As for user limits in National Parks, most are a direct result of the 'solitude' provisions in The Wilderness Act, or an indirect result of lawsuit pressure brought by environmental groups under this arbitrary concept. The Wilderness Society has even threatened to sue the Mt Hood National Forest for their failure to impose a 25 climber per day limit on Mt Hood. Limits at Mount St Helens are not for resource protection, but rather to maintain an ill-defined 'experience' for the user. I agree however, that climbers need to get organized and speak up for access. The Access Fund is, in my opinion, the only group that speaks for true balance in this regard.

Those issues aside, and from a purely selfish point, the only 'interest groups' that I see limiting, or attempting to limit my access to mountain areas, are so-called environmental organizations like ALPS, Sound-to-Mountains Greenway, WTA, Wilderness Society, etc. This Alpental issue is, in fact, a non-issue IMHO. The industries you cite above represent a seperate debate. BTW, my original post was just a general reply. It was not directed at you personally, I just hit the 'reply' link to advance the thread.

Just a few personal observations: A I don't see the big deal with an extra 5 minutes to access the 'normal' start. Parking at the lower lot is the standard start for Mt Snoqualmie/Cave Ridge. Do you all cry 'foul' when access is denied for avalanche control there? B Some of my favorite access roads: Westside Road, Carbon River (MRNP), and, now The Middle Fork are/will soon be closed. These closures are much more than a FIVE MINUTE inconvenience! It's funny how 'access' only becomes an issue when it comes home to your favorite spot(s). I'm having a hard time finding sympathy for the complaints posted here. C I'm seriously not trying to sound insensitive here, but I can't help but note that this controversy was partly precipitated by a snowshoe party that decided to head up the valley during what were reported as (at least)'high' avalanche conditions. Sometimes our (questionable?) actions have consequences beyond the risks we are willing to accept at the personal level. We should consider how the ultimate failure reflects on the sport and how it effects all of those involved, such as rescuers/searchers, family (of course), and other back country enthusiasts.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man Commits Suicide to Escape Nagging Wife DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuters) - A Tanzanian man killed himself by drinking a chemical used in cattle dips, leaving a suicide note saying it was to escape a nagging wife, police said on Wednesday. The body of the 32-year-old was found in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam on Sunday with the suicide note and a glass containing traces of the chemical, used for killing insects on livestock, regional police commissioner Alfred Tibaigana told Reuters. "I've decided to end my life," Tibaigana quoted the suicide note as saying. "I am fed up with the constant nagging of my first wife." Police did not have any further details about the man's death in the east African country, where polygamy is common.

Wow! That is an incredible suggestion. Especially given your expressed disdain for Republicans who take money from 'special interests'. I won't say it, but you know the word that applies here....

...or to kill a cow in a slaughterhouse.

Good info, Catbird. I've been drastically reducing my beef intake for a couple years now (almost to zero now anyway) and this just about settles it for me. It seems that the beef industry hasbeen negligent in not wholly stopping the use of animal renderings in cattle feed. If they can't get their shit together - and it seems now that they never will - I won't allow my kids to eat it (in their school lunches) either. Fish: PCB's and heavy metals Chicken/Poultry: Irradiated (The jury's still out on this) Pork: The other white meat Beef: Brain wasting disease DAMN! I swore I'd never go 100% vegetarian, but I'm giving it serious consideration.

Looks like you just shot your '90% luck' argument to hell! Education and hard work are indeed what made your father wealthy, and hopefully happy too. Can you now address the original intent of your (assinine) 90% luck premise?

Will, Don't you think 'hangin' out' with an existing enemy just a few months before that enemy slaughtered thousands, is somewhat different than shaking hands with an ally several years before you were at war? I'm sure I could dig up that famous photo of Roosevelt and Stalin together too! This, even as Stalin was purging his officer corps and starving 10 million Ukranians to death. Alliances change. Sad, but true. However, Ratko Mlodik(sp?) was our enemey at the time this photo was taken!! And Clark and he are jovially exchanging gifts!

Here is a good photo of Democratic candidate Wesley Clark. Looks like he has a new friend. This friend,Mladic, slaughtered over 8000 men and boys in the UN-declared 'safe haven' of Srebranica. Photo: (August 27, 1994) Lt. General Wesley Clark meets and exchanges hats with Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic. Clark accepted as gifts from Mladic a hat, bottle of brandy and a pistol inscribed in Cyrrilic. A US official complained of Clark’s unauthorized visit: “It's like cavorting with Hermann Goering.

Works when I click it. Are you using a Mac or somethin'? Oh yeah....Asswipe.

I guess your daddy is just 'lucky' that he can afford to take junior on a trip to New Zealand? I support higher taxes to pay for those less fortunate among us right here on CC.com! This revenue would cover the cost of private spelling tutors and economics lessons for folks like.....JoshK and Dave Schuldt. Major social undertakings for sure.

For starters, the 'warm period' that lasted through the 1500's and was ended by 'the little ice age'. And this.... http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=mars+global+warming&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26amp%3BrequestId%3Dc2a4e25f47667eb3%26amp%3BclickedItemRank%3D1%26amp%3BuserQuery%3Dmars%2Bglobal%2Bwarming%26amp%3BclickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fabcnews.go.com%252Fsections%252Fscitech%252FDailyNews%252Fmars011207.html%26amp%3BinvocationType%3D-%26amp%3BfromPage%3DNSCPTop&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fabcnews.go.com%2Fsections%2Fscitech%2FDailyNews%2Fmars011207.html Do you propose that humans are responsible for Mars global warming too? Could solar activity/cycles be at work in both cases? Throw yet another liter o'jet fuel on the fire my young 'Russian Hardman in Training'. WOW! That was a long link!

First place:Peter Puget! For his views! second place: Off-White For his balance.

Yes, I believe 'militant' religion should be suppressed, as should 'militant' communism, or 'militant' secularism. I think Chirac's view that headscarves are somehow militant is way over-the-top though. Now, boys wearing 'saggy britches' to school.....that's another story!

I think this guy agrees with that notion: Now, I'll admit that your original, complete sentence was wholly balanced, but I strongly disagree with the liberal notion that secularism is in any way a more peaceful path for the masses.

1.) Nowhere does the story cite human activity as the cause for the current warming trend. Have I ever denied that global warming is real? No, just that human activity cannot explain the phenomenon. 2.) At least 15,000 of the deaths in western europe were elderly French citizens who died in their nursing homes while the state-run medical program was on their annual 5-week August 'holiday'. I guess French government doctors don't carry pagers while their patients are dying of heatstroke. Nice try Dru.

Why would you wish communist oppression on the world? Do you like riding in boxcars more than luxury jet liners? Master Josh, Calm down, relax, and toss another liter of kerosene on the fire.

Hey all you posters out there who would like us to be a more 'enlightened' nation.....like France? Radical secularism, or plain old French style intolerance?: Friday December 5, 05:00 PM Chirac stokes Muslim veil debate By Sophie Louet TUNIS (Reuters) - President Jacques Chirac has denounced Muslim headscarves on schoolgirls as offensive and expressed concern about Islamic fundamentalism as momentum builds up in France to bar all religious symbols from public schools. Speaking on a visit to Tunisia on Friday, Chirac said the strictly secular French state could not let pupils wear what he called "ostentatious signs of religious proselytism" and saw "something aggressive" in the wearing of traditional Muslim veils. Chirac's comments to pupils at the French lycee in Tunis sharpened the shrill headscarf debate in France, which has seen diffuse popular concerns about Islam, women's rights and Muslim immigration develop into a broad movement to ban the veil. More than 60 prominent French women, including actresses Isabelle Adjani and Emmanuelle Beart and designer Sonia Rykiel, issued a petition on Friday, urging a ban on "this visible symbol of the submission of women". "We cannot accept ostentatious signs of religious proselytism, whatever they are and whatever the religion," said Chirac, who is due to receive a special report on enforcing secularism next week in preparation for a possible ban. "In our public schools, a veil has something aggressive about it which presents a problem of principle, even if only a small minority wears it." Critics say banning a bit of cloth ignores the root cause of problem, the failure to integrate France's five million Muslims -- mostly of North African origin -- into French society. Muslim women and girls argue that banning them would infringe on their freedom of religion. Only a handful of schools have expelled girls for insisting on wearing veils, but polls show a majority of voters favour a ban and parliamentarians are ready to pass one into law. Referring to Islamic fundamentalists, who many anti-veil activists say pressure girls into covering their heads, Chirac also spoke out against "certain schools of Islam that are not compatible with secularism". He said all religions had known in their history "times when suddenly there is a deviation or drift that leads to excesses that stoke useless fights and totally oppose the essence of religion, which is love and respect for others". Chirac stressed he had no dispute with the large majority of French Muslims, many of whom are born in France and have full French citizenship, and admitted that Paris had to do more to ensure they are better integrated into French society. Political momentum against the veil picked up on Thursday when 30 parliamentarians came out in favour of an even more explicit ban than Chirac hinted at, substituting the word "visible" for the more debatable term "ostentatious". Some conservative politicians are wary of a total ban on religious symbols since it would also bar neck chains with a Christian cross or Jewish kippa skullcaps.

Answer: No. He enjoys the benefits of US citizenship, and this includes access to our judicial system. GW is wrong on this one.

I almost forgot about this actress. Dianne Lane

SC, "Native Americans"?? Hmm. I'd better go back and review my anthropology textbooks.