Fairweather

Oh, I agree. But you won't like the replacements either.

Be more like these... Less like these...

Now there's a great reason to amend your standards and ethics. Sounds like you'll make a great addition to Seattle's growing faux-bavarian suburb someday. I hear they grant "local" status on day one!

Rob, you seem to reply to almost every challenge to your worldview with phallic or homoerotic imagery. It's very strange. Seriously.

I guess it's easier for you to continue playing the hyperbolic race card than it is to acknowledge even the slightest bit of D-hypocrisy. Don't you think it's the least bit odd?

"The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a Sign that the US Government cannot pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. ...Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and Grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." Senator Barack Obama - March 2006

No real dog in this fight, other than I just think it's sad a guy like Mark Webster--loved and respected by many--is shouted down by so-called Leavenworth locals for voicing an opinion grounded firmly in ethics and common courtesy. No matter. I guess what I really find disturbing is that in a sport becoming more and more imbued with youthful arrogance, narcissism, privilege, and ego, a new low has quite possibly just been reached with "Verticolor's" message to the world. Truly stunning statements, IMO:

Attn to all of the Seattle-area ex-pats who now call themselves "Leavenworth Locals": Unless a crag is on private property, it doesn't belong exclusively to you.

Bingo! There is a certain irony in that this Icicle vandalism is the first post of its kind here--and closely follows the ass-handing that LMA got right here on this very site for bringing in the federal cavalry to manage "their" local crags. Not saying this is some sort of local false flag operation, but the timing of this little anecdote is curious, to say the least. Russian-yellow paint, speed-climber vandalism on public property has the locals howling--even as these same locals celebrate a more permanent type of vandalism on Castle Rock...

If the playing field is level, I don't think too many on either side would mind tougher rules. Who's gonna blink first? And given Citizens United, does it really matter? Strange how both sides are angry about Supreme Court rulings that didn't go their way.

Do you believe in unlimited campaign contributions made by public employee unions?

I haven't said what I believe.

I don't know any righties who would disagree with you--particularly your last sentence. Welcome to the dark side. I heard the Cock brothers are particularly worried about campaign finance. That issue has already been settled as free speech. In any event, Koch contributions dwarf those made by the American Federation of Teachers who gave 100% of their $$ to Democrats. Talk about an unholy alliance! http://www.opensecrets.org/overview/topcontribs.php http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/after-demonizing-koch-brothers-dscc-asks-them-money_576420.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/william-koch-chart_n_3749554.html

Wow, I don't think I've seen a study that makes so many assumptions and takes so many liberties with definitions in a very long time. More proof that social scientists are particularly adept at producing reports that tell them what they already believe. Of course, with only 19,000 visitors annually it's hard to believe NCNP staff face the same LE problems that plague a park like Yosemite.

I don't know any righties who would disagree with you--particularly your last sentence. Welcome to the dark side.

http://www.noparkexpansion.blogspot.com/

To be clear; I don't necessarily support pulling NCNP from the national park system. But I know people who do. I think that the folks who administer the park and work there should be a little more accommodating--and not feel that they are carrying out a constitutional imperative on par with the post office or the military. There are, after all, at least seven "former" national parks in the U.S. By remembering the NPS's dual mission, the folks in Marblemount may eventually regain some of the support they have lost from the outdoor recreation community--and the surrounding towns they have too-often betrayed.

Good to have you back. Give me a call if you're still riding. My number hasn't changed. Meanwhile, I hear ski bums from around the globe will soon be flocking to this new resort: http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_24257228/north-korea-rushes-finish-lavish-ski-resort

I think you're missing the point--which is total visitation and the ability of a more diverse public segment to experience the national parks they pay for. The fact that you're only interested in backcountry users is telling. I suspect that you'll find use at ONP and MORA much higher in this category too. It would be fairly easy to compare wilderness permitting levels in our three local national parks--if the NPS hadn't shut down their website in yet another display of the "we'll show them" strategy.

Here's a good piece that got a lot of attention in the region: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/connelly/article/Thanks-for-Saving-Washington-s-Wild-Places-1368131.php As for my numbers: I'm using the NPS's own stats. The vast majority of motorists who drive across Wa/Rainy Pass are east<-->west commuters--not park visitors. In any event, the area they traverse is part of the Ross Lake National Rec Area, not the national park. Why would they be counted as visitors? The hikers and climbers you refer to certainly are counted in the total.

The rangers at NCNP seem especially prone to this mindset. Maybe its time this underutilized park was returned to the people and withdrawn from the national park system? (Not a suggestion, just a thought for now.) It should be obvious that park rangers are following orders from above. I suggest you take the time to get to know some of the NCNP rangers before you make comments like this. Why is it incumbent on me to establish personal relationships with NCNP rangers before I convey an informed opinion about their actions and behavior? Especially when our friends in Marblemount have a well-established (and deserved) reputation for inflexibility or outright contempt for the people they serve? I'm thinking specifically about the ranger who forced two of the posters here to march back to Marblemount to get properly permitted rather than issuing them an available permit on the spot. Or, more recently, the ranger who chopped the rappel bolts on Forbidden Peak just before a fatal accident. NPS rangers do, in fact, have a great deal of latitude when it comes to enforcement of rules. And while my suggestion that the 1968 NCNP Act be rescinded was deliberately provocative, I think it's important to look at the reasons that the proposed expansion of the park has fallen flat. Access. (Or, more accurately, shrinking access.) Here are some facts: Olympic NP 2011 visitation: 2,966,502 Mount Rainier NP 2011 visitation: 1,038,229 North Cascades NP 2011 visitation: 19,534 That's right, only nineteen thousand visitors. With numbers like this, I would think the rangers at NCNP would be going out of their way to encourage visitation to this public park by protecting the environment in a way that still facilitates its use. Depending on the year, this is the seventh least-visited park in the system--and the least visited park in the lower 48. This is what makes it special, yes, but gimme a break. The rangers at NCNP need to lighten up or they're going to erode support for the very thing they strive to protect.

The rangers at NCNP seem especially prone to this mindset. Maybe its time this underutilized park was returned to the people and withdrawn from the national park system? (Not a suggestion, just a thought for now.)

I got through a labral separation about five years ago with PT and no surgery. According to my ortho, these are hard to see on an MRI, so he wanted to do an "exploratory" surgical trip into the joint before the big event. I declined and went with PT. At its worst, I was unable to lift my arm to 90 degrees. Even putting deodorant on was a task. Took about three months of weekly sessions. The strengthening exercises actually made the pain worse at first, but the payoff eventually came. How did I injure it? Crossfit. Repeatedly hanging from a single, totally relaxed and extended arm while resting at the top of an inverted PVC/Rope ladder is not something I would recommend for shoulder health. Eventually, I felt something "move" inside the joint. Good luck with surgery. Every case is different.

isn't this why the founders choose to make us a republic instead? Indeed. "Well, what have we got doctor, a monarchy or a republic?" "A republic, madam, if you can keep it." At least that's the apocryphal tale about what Franklin said to a passerby after emerging from the Constitutional Congress. Whenever I think of that quote, I'm usually reminded of this one: "When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic. -Thomas Jefferson. I think that the public discovered that it could vote itself money sometime between 1862 and 1913 and the republic seems to have held up pretty well since then, so right-wing hatemongers like myself should probably bear that in mind before playing chicken little over the ACA (nevermind Wickard vs Filburn, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc) - but I think for the first time I've started to feel like I should give "The Anti-Federalist Papers" a look and see if they anticipated any of the more grotesque abuses of Federal power that have been the bathwater we've had to tolerate in exchange for the Constitutional baby....like paramilitary law enforcement kicking in doors and shotgunning black-labs for the sake of confiscating some stale bong-resin, a gajillion dollars worth of subsidies being snarfed down by the corn-ethanol lobby, etc, etc, etc, etc. That's one of the best thoughts I've heard, and I'm due for my first complete read of the Anti-Federalsit as well. Not sure that a guy who couldn't be bothered to even show up for the convention should be looked to for answers 225 years later, but he is a paradox that I come to appreciate more and more with each passing year. Just a trivia question that I don't know the answer to: The Supreme Court has actually cited The Federalist more than 200 times in its rulings; has it has ever reached into the Anti for guidance?