Fairweather

I don't think the mainstream media is ignoring the story at all. They have attempted to drive the story home by repeatedly leading their nightly newscasts with it a few weeks back. Apparently the story didn't have any "traction" with the American public as a whole. If it had teeth, the media would have stayed with it. While this story means everything to you, and many here, the American public was/is apparently willing to accept that they were "misled" to one degree or another. Frankly, I am too.

The mainstream media sees FOX News ratings going up, and up. They don't want to lose market share. FOX is telling the majority of the American people what they want to hear in the post-9/11 world....that we are kicking/going to kick some ass. The rest of the media wants to emulate FOX. This effect is now fading, as the American public loses its stomach for payback, and I think you'll see the mainstream media slowly turn back into the sniveling, disrespectful, whiners that they once were. (IMHO ) ....just a theory.

Actually, I find myself listening to NPR more and more frequently. Something about the sounds they incorporate into their stories give them life, and I can only imagine that family gatherings around the radio in the 1940's were something like this. I find most of the stories fascinating, but some , while balanced on the whole, were obviously selected to appeal to a liberal audiance.(again... IMO.) Just to clarify, I don't mind liberal stories that are obviously editorials...like some of the absolute CRAP written/read on NPR by Daniel Shore. (Some balance would be nice too, but I guess that's why there is Limbaugh and Medved.) What irks me is editorial undercurrent woven into actual news. I don't find this much anymore in NPR's top-of-the-hour news. Maybe that is why I am finding it so much more digestible. Maybe they got the word that the big (17%) taxpayer cow was a-'gonna-dry up real soon if they didn't change their ways. ?? As for the "mainstream media", no I don't believe there are ANY conspiracies afoot, just a common ideal amongst reporters that leans hard to the left.

Matt, Are you sure you read the same book I did? (Or for that matter, did you just skip the book and go straight to the liberal published reviews/retort?) I just skimmed the chapter in question once again and can see dozens of examples/quotes relating to this topic. "Light on facts, heavy on whining"? What more do you require? " The conservative Media Research Center found that in 1990, when George Bush was president, there were 71 homeless stories on ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN evening newscasts. But in 1995, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, the number had gone down to just nine!" ...."a Village Voice study that showed that in 1988 the New York Times ran fifty stories on the homeless, including five on page one. But a decade later, in 1998 the Times ran only ten homeless stories, and none on page one." "An ABC World News Tonight story just three weeks after Goerge W Bush was sworn in.....reporter Bob Jameson said, 'In New York City the number of homeless in the shelter system has risen above twenty five thousand a night for the first time since the late 1980's'". Note that the number of homeless did not necessarily decline during the Clinton years, just the number of network stories about their plight. The chapter is literally stuffed with example after example of this bias. How about the voting records/patterns of Washington DC journalists: 89% said they voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 7% said George HW Bush. 2% Ross Perot Do you honestly believe these reporters put aside their idealology ...not just when writing a story, but when choosing a topic? Matt, I can tell you don't like to be challenged, but are you sure we read the same book? NPR ... too conservative? Good lord, it may be too late to help you.

U2 Joshua Tree Supertramp Crime of the Century The Who Quadraphenia Alan Parsons Project Pyramid Wow. Am I old, or what?

"Trust". Yes, it is important in any marriage. But it is not a firewall that will sheild either of you from human nature. To deny that we are all programmed with certain "desires" is not realistic. Sure, a strong relationship/love will override extramarital desires 99.99% of the time, but why expose yourselves to such temptation? (Especially where alcohol is involved.) My wife and I are both on the same page with this one. The only female friends I keep are those who are also good friends of my wife's. My wife does not sleep in a tent with another man, nor do I with another woman. Play by any rules you want, but don't preach at me.

It may surprise many here to learn that the constellation Pleiades was once known as "The Seven Hot, Naked Sisters." While you all gaze upward tonight at the man-god of war, and ERock probes the sky for super-massive black holes, and Nerco explores the chin-string nebula, I'll be in heaven with my harem.

Thread drift... A wire bundle that actually ran inside the center fuel tank shorted/sparked and ignited the fuel vapors inside the half empty tank. The explosion that resulted severed the foreward section off of the 747, and the back 2/3 of the decapitated aircraft continued to fly for several minutes. I think the missile theory has been debunked, but over 1000 eye witnesses, including pilots in the airspace at the time, swear they saw something streaking into the sky toward the plane. I watched this horror unfold on the TV monitors as I waited to board my plane in Juneau.

I've been married to the same wonderful woman for 18 years...together for almost 20. She does not climb, and never did. Tennis and skiing (alpine) are the only sporting interests we share. She likes camping and dayhikes, and that's ok. We have always given eachother lots of "space" but I've tried not to take advantage of her liberal outlook re: my climbing activities. I've never tried to pressure her to come along even though she's in awsome shape and would probably kick ass. (...and since someone asked, climbing with an unattached member of the opposite sex is strongly discouraged.) Our kids are definitely the "glue" for us, and the focus of our lives together, but we have childless friends who have been married just as long. Both my kids were introduced to the mountains at a very young age, but only my son has continued with an interest in climbing and he travels with me often. Just my .02.

HOLY SHIT! Are they rioting again over at The "WTA"? ...Thanks for considering the book and taking the time. As promised I have picked up a copy of "Blinded by the Right" and will read it just as soon as I plow through "Spy On The Roof of the World". You're right about the "whining" in Bias. Especially in the Foreward of the paperback edition. But regardless of your final conclusions, maybe a seed of media-skepticism is now germinating in your thought.....or not. Hope your expedition went well! I'll give you my thoughts on your "literary recommendation" soon.

I suspect that, like you, the BMW/Hummer driver has no agenda either. Nerco. You, sir, are a prick.

....Let me guess. You drive a Subaru?

A SUBARU or a VW MICROBUS is to an enviro/liberal as a HUMMER or BMW is to a yuppie. ....It's all about fittin' the image/validating the stereotype. ....and one group is no different (or better) than the other.

The "older ones" are rusting away in junkyards, their horizontally opposed pistons long ago fused to their low grade aluminum blocks. So exactly whom does that leave?

Cancelled my Olympic Mountain plans and took the kid over to the Goat Rocks. We planned to climb Curtis Gilbert via Meade Glacier but upon our arrival at Rimrock Lake we discovered the So Fork Tieton Road was blocked 14 miles from the trailhead. ("Closed due to fire danger" ) We then drove around to Chambers Lake trailhead and hiked to just below Snowgrass Flats with our goal of climbing Curtis Gilbert unchanged. (Yes, I know Bypass Camp is closer, but we wanted the views.) Friday morning we hooked up with the PCT and hiked in a steady rain to Cispus Pass. The "trail" down from here shown on Beckey's map is mostly obliterated and difficult to follow, but after a 600' descent from the pass we crossed two spur ridges, two beautiful alpine basins, and climbed up a 1000' steep gully to Klickton divide in improving, but windy weather. We followed the broad ridge along the edge of the Meade Glacier and scrambled 3rd class (maybe some 4th) up the summit block. Nice views of other Goat Rocks summits from the top, but Rainier was lost in clouds, and only the lower half of Adams was visible. Warm and Surprise Lakes looked inviting below....and a lot closer than our camp back at Snowgrass. The descent took almost as long as the climb, carefully dropping down the gully, and climbing back up to Cispus Pass, then dropping again to 5800', and climbing back up to 6400'. We packed up Friday night and hiked back to the car under headlamps. Nice trip with my son!

Thanks for the info JayB, My understanding of the supply manipulation is that it's indeed the "just in time" refining. The gasoline suppliers almost hope for a problem with capacity as this spikes profits dramatically. I never claimed OPEC was involved. (By the way, I'd like to see that communist, soon-to-be-dictator Chavez in Venezuela, rotting in jail where he belongs.) Supply and demand are clearly at work here. The question is manipulation of supply and tacit collusion between refiners who all know how this game is to be played. And it obviously has little to do with a free market.

Absolutely. The role of govt is to make sure we all play by the established rules that ensure a free market thrives. Please don't conclude that I support new onerous government regs, just enforcement of existing law. But then, how does the USA (or The Crown) enforce their rules on a multi-national?

not a free market

anti-trust

=

supply manipulation

TV too often gets a bad wrap. If you can sort through the 98% that is pure garbage, what's left is a beautiful window to the world capable of taking us to parts of the globe/universe we are unable to see with our own eyes. The History Channel Discover Channel PBS (Frontline rocks!) UW TV C-Span OLN (Outdoor Life Network) ....and of course, FOX News. (They report. I decide.) Of course, I am occasionally drawn to "Comedy Central" and "The Sci-Fi Channel" (Those B-Grade movies are great!), but I think these two fall into the afore mentioned 98% category.

Anyone who would actually pay for a hummer probably has issues..........oh wait, we're talking about that truck aren't we.

Uh, Catbird, I believe the big north slope merger (BP,ARCO) took place and was approved under WJ Clinton/Ron Brown. Democrats. Any fact to support this blame-the-Republicans claim? Or are you just goin' by what your friends at school told you 'bout those evil Republicans?