willstrickland

The solution is simple. You guys need to open a gym in close-in SE near where the old PRG was, charge a reasonable rate, and operate with good business sense. Either your new gym or the PRG will fold within 18 months. Work up a business plan and see if you can make the numbers crunch. Be your own boss, risk your own ass-ets. Personally, I think a reasonably savy person could pull it off. You already have a gift of price gouging at the competition. Charging what the market will pay is part of capitalism...but so is adding competition to the market and ruthlessly destroying your competition.

You present a disingenuous argument as your opening salvo. Weak. Refusing to compromise would have been chopping every bolt added to a line after the FA, without raising the issue for discussion, and doing it in secret. Then you say that you "are eager to help the majority stuck in the middle to find a common position and to help present a reasonable, measured climbing policy to the landowners" Do you not consider this to be a "reasonable and measured policy": Stop chipping Stop adding bolts Don't add gym holds to the wall fix the damage that has been done Seems like most people would agree that this is a fair policy. I don't doubt your interest and dedication, but your "title" and relation to the AF in no way lend more credibility to your position. In fact, I would expect advocacy groups to have a better understanding of the implications of setting precedent particularly with issues that have a high potential to inflame relationships with land managers and threaten closure. Surely a group titled the ACCESS fund understands the very real threats to access presented by chipping, wanton bolting, and artificial holds. A "what's done is done" stance, in my mind, only encourages stealthy flaunting of the accepted standards or policies dictated by the land managers. (See Todd Skinner et al stealth bolting in Hueco circa early 90s).

How do you figure that Schneider is "weak"? I'm curious, because I think of hard OW climbing as being very physical. Wasn't Schneider the one who climbed those .12 OW pitches while trying to free Excalilber. AFAIK, they are unrepeated.

So, there was speculation about Bush being wired for the first debate. I'm now thinking a back brace. Check out this pic from last night and tell me he isn't wearing something:

"Hung Over"

Of course. And I will make my own prediction. First note that all the incumbents in recent history who have been reelected have done so in virtual landslides. If it's close, the incumbent usually loses. Further, Kerry won 3/3 debates (if you don't believe he won tonight, wait until the press gets done showing the "I don't worry about Osama" Bush lies...polls of indies also show Kerry winning #3 about 60/40). There is alot of evidence that Dem voter registration in swing states has far outpaced GOP registration. Kerry has the momentum. The polls show a virtual deadlock, but two things to consider: These polls aren't sampling the new registrants (lots more Dems) and these polls aren't sampling cell phone users. My prediction: Kerry 306, Bush 232 Biggest surprise: Kerry takes Nevada. After party: Lawsuits in at least 3 states, most likely FL, OH, and WI.

I agree, My Faith was restored. A few other routes were too. And the editorial on the spiritual side of wilderness was empowering.

Well, just like Cheney lied about Saddam on national tv, the Chimperor LIED tonight. From the debate: KERRY: Six months after he said Osama bin Laden must be caught dead or alive, this president was asked, "Where is Osama bin Laden?" He said, "I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned." BUSH: Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations. Whaaaaa??????!!!!!!! Are you sure about that Georgie? Because I seem to remember this: BUSH AT MARCH 13, 2002 Press Conference: "I don't know where he [bin Laden] is.You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him."

Bob Sheiffer is the worst moderator in history. But this pic pretty much sums up the debate:

Damn, I'm gonna drop everything and get to the newstand chop-chop!

A little policy lesson for you: They don't need a specific bill to pass in congress to reinstate the draft, only a single page resolution. The President can go to Congress under the Military Selective Service Act, the current registration law, and ask for re-authorization of the Combat Draft. All Congress need do is pass a 1-page "trigger resolution" and the Combat Draft for men 18-25 is back. At the same time, the Medical Draft is automatically activated for men and women, 18-44, with no deferments for health reasons. Interested? Read on (and here's a link to the internal memo referred to below http://www.blatanttruth.org/selective_service091304.pdf ): We now know that on February 11, 2003, Charles Abell, the Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, and William Carr, Deputy Undersecretary for Military Personnel Policy, met with Lewis Brodsky, the Acting Director of the Selective Service, Flavahan and some other officials. This is the highest-level meeting you could have about the draft, outside of Rumsfeld and his inner circle. The proposed changes discussed in this meeting include: Allowing a non-combat draft for shortages in critical skills, without calling a combat draft. This non-combat skills draft would induct men and women ages 18 to 34. Fill labor shortages of all kinds throughout not only DoD but the Dept. of Homeland Security and other agencies as well, especially high-paying professionals like computer networking specialist or linguist. However, truck drivers, cooks and several hundred other skills are also considered "critical". Create a single-point, all-inclusive database, in which every young person would be forced to send in a "self-declaration"--like an IRS form--of all of their critical skills, chosen from a long list o f several hundred occupations like the Air Force Specialty Code with Skills Identifier. The usual penalties of imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine would apply to all non-registrants. Upgrade the Medical Draft so that it collected data on skill sets and other information in the same way the Skills Draft would. Reduce induction time from being able to deliver all inductees in 193 days down to just 90 days for skills and medical inductees. The Agenda document begins by declaring: "With known shortages of military personnel with certain critical skills, and with the need for the nation to be capable of responding to domestic emergencies as part of Homeland Security planning, changes should be made in the Selective Service System's registration program and primary mission." And goes on: "Defense manpower officials concede there are critical shortages of military personnel with certain special skills, such as medical personnel, linguists, computer network engineers, etc. The costs of attracting and retaining such personnel for military-service could be prohibitive, leading some officials to conclude that while a conventional draft may never be needed, a draft of men and women possessing these critical skills may be warranted in a future crisis, if too few volunteer." So the Agenda document proposes: "In line with today's needs, the SSS structure, programs and activities should be re-engineered towards maintaining a national inventory of American men and (for the first time) women, ages 18 through 34, with an added focus on identifying individuals with critical skills." The head of the Selective Service then explained to the Deputy Undersecretaries how the Skills Draft would work: "... In addition to the basic identifying information collected in the current program, the expanded and revised program would require all registrants to indicate whether they have been trained in, possess, and professionally practice, one or more skills critical to national security or community health and safety. This could take the form of an initial "self-declaration" as a part of the registration process. Men and women would enter on the SSS registration form a multi-digit number representing their specific critical skill (e.g., similar to military occupational specialty or Armed Forces Specialty Code with Skill Identifier), taken from a lengthy list of skills to be compiled and published by the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Individuals proficient in more than one critical skill would list the practiced skill in which they have the greatest degree of experience and competency. They would also be required to update reported information as necessary until they reach the age 35. This unique data base would provide the military (and national, state, and municipal government agencies) with immediately available links to vital human resources...in effect, a single, most accurate and complete, national inventory of young Americans with special skills." In short, if a Skills Draft and Medical Draft are authorized by Bush and the Republican Congress in 2005, nearly 40 million young people and a somewhat overlapping 13.5 million doctors, nurses and specialists ages 20-44 will have to go to their local Post Office and register with the IRS. The form will have on it a list of several hundred skills for the skills draft, and at least 61 medical specialties for the Medical Draft form, probably along with a host of other medical occupations, from dental lab technician to health forms processor. Under penalty of a $250,000 fine, these tens of millions of Americans will "self-declare" their name address and all of their skills--and they could be drafted for any one of them--by writing down the coded number for that occupation. Recently, the DoD asked the IRS to help them track down the whereabouts of 50,000 Ready Reserve soldiers they had lost track of, so not registering could be very problematic in 2005. But this new FOI-recovered document and the actions that the SSS admits they are taking in 2004 proves that at the very least, a Skills Draft and Medical Draft are being quietly readied for 2005--"just in case". From the FOI document, we now know at the end of the Feb. 11 Agenda document the Head of the Selective Service presented the Pentagon with three 3 Options. Option 1 was to maintain the status quo of male-only registration and the not-quite ready Medical Draft. Option 2 was to put the whole Selective Service into "Deep Standby" with reduced funding. From all indications, and from the statements of the SSS itself (see timeline above), the Pentagon has obviously decided to go ahead with Option 3a and Option 3b, which read: "Next Step A. #3. Restructure the SSS and shift its peacetime focus to accommodate DoD's most likely requirements in a crisis. Plan for conducting a more likely draft of individual with special and critical skills. a. Minimum requirement: SSS mission guidance and time lines must be redefined promptly by DoD to allow more relevant pre-mobilization planning and funding for the possibility of a critical skills draft at M+90 or sooner (M+ is the number of days from authorization of a draft to delivery of the manpower to the DoD -ed.). Peacetime registration of men 18 through 25 would continue, but consideration would also be given to identifying men with certain critical skills among these year-of-birth groupings. A post-mobilization plan would also be devised and computer programming accomplished for a full-blown critical skills draft. The HCPDS program is completed, brought to the forefront of SSS readiness planning, and tested through exercises... b. Expanded pre-mobilization requirement. SSS peacetime registration expanded to include women and men, 18 through 34 years old, and collects information on critical skills within these year-of-birth groupings..." Note that the memo is recommending that a minimum requirement for going forward would be a "post-mobilization plan would also be devised and computer programming accomplished for a full-blown critical skills draft. The HCPDS program is completed, brought to the forefront of SSS readiness planning, and tested through exercises" From all signs, the Selective Service was quietly asked by the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security, to undertake Option 3a and 3b of the Agenda memo over a year ago. The possibility of a Skills Draft or Combat Draft, and the apparent attempt of Donald Rumsfeld, Selective Service spokesman Amon and Acting Director Brodsky to mislead reporters and the public on this issue deserve full debate before the election. Now, does this mean they are planning a draft, or just revising and updating an inferior and outdated draft system to better focus on bringing the necessary skills on board in case of an emergency. IMO, a little of both. The existing draft method was from a time when the draft was about putting boots on the ground, basically filling grunt spots in the infantry. The modern military is much more technology oriented and has a greater need for advanced skills. So, yes, the changes were due..but still leaves the question: Why the need if we are 100% confident in an all volunteer armed forces? And why do it "on the sly"?

Have you tried http://www.rockclimbing.com ? Seriously though Griz, I think there is a Boulder version of the climbingmoab site. Climbingboulder.com or something similar, you should give it a look. The Moab version has pretty good beta.

Hard to tell from the pic, maybe that's Mike S.? In that case it would be commentary along the lines of "check out what the Washington homeboy is doing down south".

Shred, this is an awesome shot. Nice skills behind the lens man!

Actor Christopher Reeve, who was paralysed in a riding accident nine years ago, has died of heart failure, his publicist said. He was 52. Reeve, who became famous for his role as Superman, fell into a coma on Saturday after going into cardiac arrest while at his New York home and died yesterday. Reeve broke his neck in May 1995 when he was thrown from his horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, Virginia. With intensive therapy to allow him to breathe for longer periods without a respirator, Reeve emerged to lobby Congress for better insurance protection against catastrophic injury and to move an Academy Award audience to tears with a call for more films about social issues. He returned to directing, and even returned to acting in a 1998 production of Rear Window, a modern update of the Hitchcock thriller about a man in a wheelchair who becomes convinced a neighbour has been murdered. Reeve won a Screen Actors Guild award for best actor in a television movie or mini-series.

I climb on used and booty hardwear (but not ropes/slings/etc). Half my gear was previously-owned.

I'm getting a little tired of the misrepresentations of what Kerry's vote meant. He made it exceedingly clear in his Senate floor speech when the resolution was being debated. I know it's easier for some of you to parrot the party-line talking points, but c'mon it ain't that hard to go and find the actual speech. Here is an excerpt of what Kerry said: "When I vote to give the President of the United States the authority to use force, if necessary, to disarm Saddam Hussein, it is because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a threat, and a grave threat, to our security and that of our allies in the Persian Gulf region. I will vote yes because I believe it is the best way to hold Saddam Hussein accountable. And the administration, I believe, is now committed to a recognition that war must be the last option to address this threat, not the first, and that we must act in concert with allies around the globe to make the world's case against Saddam Hussein. As the President made clear earlier this week, "Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable." It means "America speaks with one voice." Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the President is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies. In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days--to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. If he fails to do so, I will be among the first to speak out. If we do wind up going to war with Iraq, it is imperative that we do so with others in the international community, unless there is a showing of a grave, imminent--and I emphasize "imminent"--threat to this country which requires the President to respond in a way that protects our immediate national security needs. "

Right Scott, I guess that physical influence come from the Quasimodo side of the family. This presidentin' is hard work!

I remember seeing one shortly after the debate, but I can't locate it. Here is a pic of Bush from "the ranch", you'll notice a similar protrusion on his back. Looks like kevlar or something. Or maybe he's wearing a back-brace...that might explain why he skipped his physical this year and why he was slumping over at the podium.

Largest deficit in history, dude. Huge trade gap with China + Chinese mass purchase of US debt + non-floating Chinese currency = retreat of the dollar The 51st state is just a peripheral beneficiary, but as usual, not a player of influence or significance End of discussion.

You cats sound alot like the Drudge bunch after the debate: Kerry pulled something from his pocket!! OMG!! What was it? Well, I think it's fairly obvious at this point. The round cylindrical object Kerry pulled from his suit jacket was clearly a... BIG 'OL CAN OF WHOOP-ASS. This conspiracy shit is funny. Although it is fairly widespread knowledge that Bush sometimes uses earpieces during speeches, he wouldn't try to cheat in the debate. Getting caught would guarantee defeat, it would be a Watergate moment. And besides, if you search out a shot of Kerry's back from the debate, he had the same box shaped lump on his back. Probably a mic batt pack (usually worn on a belt, but that would pull down your pants slightly and be unacceptable to pres candidates standing up) Bush does occasionally use an earpiece though. There is some scanner intercept from a thing he did w/ Chirac where they picked up someone reading his lines before he said them.

Paul, Lance_Granite is the one you want to PM, he's the Vegas resident cc.comer. The popular sporto areas are all really close to the road and involve minimal to zero elevation gain. Most are a ten minute walk, if that. The first and second pullouts on the loop road both have plenty of routes to fit your agenda. Calico Basin does as well, and is probably a little easier to find things. I don't think a guide is necessary at all if you have a guidebook and figure out where you want to go ahead of time. Someone mentioned the Black corridor, which is a crag at one of the pullouts. It's got fun stuff, but it's often 20 degrees colder in there than on the adjacent crags that get sun (literally a 2 minute walk away). I've not seen the Falcon guide, there are 3 or 4 RR guidebooks out there, but I can say I haven't been overly impressed with the Swain guide FWIW. I think it's often confusing. Oh yeah, congratulations!

Only if you're buying Cracked...oh wait a minute, not old enough to buy are ya? Old enough to get drafted though, funny how that works.

c'mon now Chuck, I've read the transcripts. As if everyone didn't know what Iffil was getting at? I can't really picture ol Gwen saying "So Mr. Vice President, everyone in the country now thinks you're a hypocrite for supporting this constituional amendment banning gay marriage when in fact your own flesh and blood, your daughter Mary, is a carpet muncher, who incidentally is in the audience tonight with her butch lesbian partner, Ms. Poe. How do you respond to that Mr. Vice President?"

Chuck, On the gay daughter issue: Edwards did not raise that issue, the MODERATOR asked that question. So would Cheney have punched Gwen Iffil? Probably so, the evil bastard, but the exertion would probably cause his stent to collapse or his pacemaker to shock him like cattle prod.