klenke

I was reading the paper today and there was a story about Barghouti possibly running for Palestinian president. Here is another story of the same. Strange situation. The guy is serving a long sentence in an Israeli jail for terrorism crimes. If he runs and wins, will Israel release him? Should they release him? If they release him it might go a long way toward peace. Or, he may just go about being a free terrorist again if he's released. If they don't release him, it may worsen the antinomy between the two sides. Because of this trilemma, if he does run, I predict he'll win because that's my view of how the Palestinians think. Then again, he might well turn out to be the best candidate, despite his murderous past. Only time will tell.

Let me help out Charles here...

I agree with Jgowans. I've seen reports of fatalities (exposure and falling) in winter. Fort William is at sea level. The "start" for climbs of Ben Nevis don't start much higher than that, so it's basically a 4,000-ft climb. In cold, windy winter conditions, it can be an interminable slog. The mountain is very alpine for a sub-5,000-ft peak--especially the east side. It's very similar to a N. Cascades peak, really. I climbed Ben Nevis in May 1997. I went up via Carn Mor Dearg on the east side of Corrie na Ciste (the vale below Nevis' east cliffs), looped around the horseshoe-shaped vale, then up the bouldery backside (southside)...to hordes of people at the summit. Carn Mor Dearg (4,000 ft) sees little traffic and provides an excellent view of the east side of Big Ben: The normal west side route sees lots of people and is well-cairned. In normal conditions it is easy, if a tad boring. In winter I can't say. There's not much steep terrain on that side. The Carn Mor Dearg loop trip starts a little east of Fort William on A82. Drive toward the little hamlet of Torlundy (but not all the way to Torlundy). I started near a fenced in compound (some sort of business with a large yard and warehouse near the mouth of the stream emanating from the Corrie na Ciste). It took me about 3 hours to reach Carn Mor Dearg (some bogs to negotiate to mount the ridge) then another hour or two to circle around to Big Ben's summit. I descended the easy route but cut back right (east) on Big Ben's north side to get to the Corrie na Ciste, taking the trail there back to my car. If you're more experienced at alpine climbing in winter, you may find this route more to your liking than the boring slog up the punter route. See the Ben Nevis page on Summitpost for winter pictures, et al. Also, be sure to venture over to Corpach across the loch from Fort William for a good view of Ben Nevis (if the ever-present Scottish clouds are on holiday):

"plowing up buses"?? Nice typo, Jon. One of the funniest typos I've seen in a while. I think we can all agree Arafat could have done more for his people than he did.

Discuss ad nauseum.

mome is an anagram of memo. Mome is what I are.

Dave, I'll send the Webster's, Random House, and Oxford English dictionaries your way. They're looking to update their entries under "mome."

Shoot! I f**ked up by not buying anything yesterday. Can I still celebrate Buy Nothing Day or am I disqualified?

I noticed Wallanding Creek was quite steep and plunging in parts, particularly this part. Did you kayak that part (probably not)?

Here's one thing I know the French do wrong: restaurants. Why does it take five times as long to get the food served than any other country's fare? All French restaurants are the same: 1. Takes 10 minutes to be seated even when the restaurant is empty 2. Takes 20 minutes for the server to come around for the first time 3. Takes 10 more minutes to order 4. Takes 60 minutes for the food to be served 5. Takes 20 minutes past the end of eating for the dessert menu to come 6. Takes 20 minutes past the eating of the dessert for the server to bring the bill. Might as well stay for breakfast, you'll be there all night anyway.

And in related financial news, the price of one share of man fell 20% today to close at $11.53.

Brian, the Constitution is now, has always been, and will always be a malleable and alterable document subject to interpretation by both viewpoints toward their own ends. That's what it is. The document initially had 10 "amendments" (back then only referred to as the Bill or Rights). Now, last I checked, there are 27. So that's 17 'changes' or 'add ons' to the document in 200+ years. Albeit, I do admit most of these amendments are for government workings (protocols for the Executive Branch, etc.). The funny thing about the Constitution is that it has to change (be fixed) to fit the times. It was changed in 1870 so that former slaves could vote. But women were still not allowed to vote. Another amendment (XIX) was passed in 1920 for that. And yet, I agree, it can't or shouldn't be used as a tool to advance an agenda that is not congruent with the meaning of the document. For me, an example would be an amendment banning gay marriage. I don't think or want an amendment for something like that, even though I admit there should be some sanctity to the meaning of 'marriage.' Call gay marriage by another name (legal unions, perhaps) affording more or less all the same rights and you can keep the meaning of marriage intact. This could appeal to both sides, as it would really just be semantics if the protections, rights, and benefits are the same for both.

CBS: couldn't help yourself, could you?

Aren't they called "illegal combatants?" Enemy combatants would cover both legal and illegal. Illegal combatants are those not associated directly with any government, who are not an organized military, people like terrorists.

Thanks. That's all I asked for, even if it wasn't from Distel. Now is that so hard? What's "Gitmo?"

YEAH! Leave the spelling errors to wirlygig and Dave Stult and Mufie.

I'm sorry, Luke, but you're losing credibility with me. First you say the, "the Constitution was already violated in the last four years, just pointing that out, thats all." But then when I ask for an example you choose to turn the issue around, into a waste of time and that I'm ignorant. Kind of insulting, don't you think? I wasn't necessarily going to disagree with you. I just wanted you to give an example. One example. If you can't do that, then it will be easy to relegate your opinions to the level of bullshit in general. I don't want to do that.

Why don't you send him a PM?

Yeah, when and where, Distel? (Maybe so, but I can't remember. Refresh my memory.)

Are we going to have 4 more years of this liberal drivel {hey, that rhymes!} on this site? Can't we call a four-month truce or something? Perhaps we should create a superspray politics forum.

Hey, look, it's like this. If you really think this is becoming a fascist state: 1. You are free to leave the country. No one's stopping you. Your problem will be getting into some other country. 2. You can vote out those who are making it so and...oh wait, that's what democracy is. :superrolleyes: I don't see any conservatives calling this a fascist state. If Kerry had won would you wussy ass liberals be spewing this garbage? And let me tell you garbage is exactly what it is. Give me (give us) a frickin' break, morons.

Yeah, wrath is unentrallable. Or is that imenthrallable? Or perhaps disenthrallable? These are snafuentrhallable:

Let's see, Sunday was a great day to be in the Cascades at least south of, say, Cascade Pass. The higher peaks were in the clouds but anything lower than 6,000 ft was clear. It was warm too. I'm kicking myself for not going climbing, though I did do outdoor activities. So, you see, often the forecast is not good at this time of year but the weather improves. Prepare yourself for improving conditions and go out if it does. If it doesn't, go out anyway...and suffer.

Did a little web search: A page about the inventor of the geosynchronous satellite.