Jim

Orange/red something like this one. I'll check the photos I have at home of the climb. Thanks.

Shit!!! This may be my buddies helmet! About 12 yrs ago we climbed the north ridge. After a long day of waiting behind a group of 4 that would not let us pass we simu climbed past. In fading light he lead up a harder portion of the final wall and took a fall about 25 ft from the top and dislocated his shoulder. Long story short - he had to be helied out, I walked out. Me and another party hauled him to the summit after some fancy rope work. His helmet popped of the back of his pack to who knows where. It was an orange Joe Brown. He's mt biking in CO this week - I tell him about it when he returns. F****** A!

Never been there. Have about 8 days driving from Seattle looking for a lower key backpack/scramble trip that me esposa can participate in. She can climb up to 5.9 on the second but has been a bit rusty since becomming a teacher. Would prefer some scrambles. Anything come to mind? Thanks.

More lies. Group says that Bush undermines science for politics By Earl Lane Newsday WASHINGTON — A scientists' group yesterday leveled new charges that the Bush administration has undermined the integrity of science in policy-making, including asking proposed appointees to science advisory panels what they thought of President Bush and whether they voted for him. The report by the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group based in Cambridge, Mass., is a follow-up to a similar report by the scientists' group in February. That one was dismissed by White House science adviser John Marburger III, who said Bush supports science and wants the highest scientific standards. During a news briefing on the report, Dr. Gerald Keusch, former director of the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health, said his nominees for a science advisory panel had been promptly agreed to by the Clinton administration. Under Bush, he said, superiors at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) balked at many of his nominees. Keusch said he had been told by administration officials that Torsten Wiesel, a Nobel laureate in medicine, had been disapproved because "he had signed too many full-page letters in The New York Times critical of President Bush." William Pierce, an HHS spokesman, said appointments to the Fogarty center advisory panel are made by HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and names sent forward by Keusch were recommendations only. "We are forced to make choices and decisions," Pierce said. He said he had been unable to verify the comment about Wiesel. The report cites some cases already reported in the press, including a charge that the Interior Department disregarded extensive federal an state studies in an environmental impact statement on mountaintop-removal mining, a process in which mountain ridges are removed to expose coal seams. The report says the department proposed no alternatives to soften the worst environmental consequences of the mining process. "We were flabbergasted and outraged," said a high-ranking U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientist quoted in the report. The February report by the Union of Concerned Scientists accompanied release of a statement signed by 62 prominent scientists, including 20 Nobel laureates and former senior advisers to administrations of both parties, that called for "restoring scientific integrity in policy making." Kurt Gottfried, a physicist who is chairman of the board of the scientists group, said more than 4,000 scientists now have signed the statement, including 48 Nobel laureates. Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company http://www.ucsusa.org/news/press_release.cfm?newsID=405

Shouldn't be a problem. I recevied a permit from a friend who had a similar conflict. Was checked on the trail by the ranger who just wanted to make sure we had the correct number of people on the correct dates.

That's a respectable time. It took us about 3 hrs longer rt but we started from the lake near the trail and had some major detours on the glacier and ugly melt-out slabs to downclimb. Ha! but we did make a week of it and got up Maude, TFJ, and Fernow. Good job, that one is a bit of work to get to.

Actually it was under UN guard. Until we got there and promptly forgot about it(?).

This from the woman who calls a democratic opposition "Traitors". I'm glad she has found such an honerable profession.

R&D costs are high for drugs, but the money makers are the fad-of-the-week drugs for social anxiety, hearburn, an erections. How much do you think the drug companies spend on advertising, sponsoring medical junkets, and giving out samples and perks to docs to get them to push their wares. The recent medicare bill shows what influence the drug companies wield. Great clause in the bill NOT allowing medicare to negoiate rates based on their bulk buying power. Wonderful.

So I pulled the tube out of the closet hoping to find a summary of the day's Tour events. I managed to find a sports show but they covered the annual Coney Island hot dog eating contest but not the Tour! I don't have cable, but some of my friends do. So is there a nightly half-hour summary of the Tour on some cable show somewhere, or when is the whole stage broadcast?

Jamal's case I'm not impressed with, seems like he's guilty to me. But an eloquent guilty guy. Pielter's case is quite a bit more shakey. For starters pick up a copy of "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" by Peter Matthisian. He was sued by the Govenor of ND and by the Attorney General of the state for libel for pulblication of the book - they lost. There was quite a bit of fishy business being conducted on the Ogola Souix Reservation by the FBI and the State back then. Peilter may be guilty of some criminal activity, but from what I've read the state's murder case was lame. And you have to look a the judge's actions in that case. They previously lost the cases of the two other defendants and so had to rachet things up for the Peilter case. Do a bit of research on this one, and please, not the internet.

Both

I think that is a good point. We don't want to use the barbarians as a yardstick (meter stick for Dru) on how we conduct ourselves.

Did anyone catch his testimony in front of the prison abuse Congressional Panel? He just flat out denied to release the justice department memo to the White House regarding the justification of torture. The panel members, Republicans and Democrats were seething! They asked him if he was refusing on the grounds of Executive Privilege or if the documents were classified. He refused to answer their direct questions and went on about his opinions. One of the members cut him off and said the panel wasn't interested in his opinion - what was the legal justification. He refused to answer the question. WTF? This is the head of the justice dept. The documents finally were leaked a couple days later. Sen. Bidden made an excellent point while trying to get Ascroft to answer. He said the US doesn't torture prisioners because we want our service men and women treated decently. He added he wanted his son, who is in Iraq, protected under the treaties we have signed. Ascroft is an arrogant SOB. He'll be out soon enough.

Had a fun ski in the Tatoosh after several cancelled weekends. Scrambled up Castle Peak for the view. One friend had his couple of snow-boarding kids along and they had a blast. Good thing to do on Father's day. Saw two parties of three walking up between Pinnicle and Castle all roped up(?). Practice for something. They had helmet on in the parking lot.

Maybe they think Canada is OK because they don't fund dictators all over the world or hire thugs to implement the latest coup.

Whew, thanks, it does not appear that my friend was up there. Someone gave me the number of the rescue hotline (thank you) and they give the climbers from the missing party there. Hopefully they've got the parties figured out correctly of who is who. But since the party awaiting rescue has a cell phone it looks like this is likely. The hotline said they are calling off the rescue efforts because of hazardous conditions. Will still look for missing person (assumed deceased) via helicopter.

Unfortunate but true. While the Bushies are good at this the lack of critical analysis by most Americans is appalling.

I saw a previous note that someone stated that one of the deceased climbers was a North Cascade climbing ranger. Does anyone have any information on this? A friend of mine has one of these postions and I've not been able to contact him. Hopefully his in the hills doing his job.

No - that title would likely be "Girls Gone Wild in Tongass"

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bipartisan measure late Wednesday night to end federal funding for logging roads in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Sponsors say the amendment, if approved by the Senate, will save taxpayers $35 million, the amount the Forest Service estimates it loses annually on Tongass timber sales. Critics see it as a backhanded attempt to shut down the Tongass timber industry. House lawmakers approved the amendment to the Interior appropriations bill on a 222-to-205 vote. The measure would bar the Forest Service from spending any money next year on designing or building new logging roads in the 17-million-acre temperate rain forest in the Southeast panhandle. The Forest Service and the timber industry say new roads are needed to reach old-growth stands located in remote reaches of the Tongass. Logging opponents say the Forest Service has a huge maintenance backlog and can't take care of the existing roads. (06/17/04) Anchorage Daily News House Votes to Limit Tongass Road Subsidies (06/17/04) EMS

If that last essay is an example of "experts in the field" I'd suggest you cast a wider net.

I din't think it possible to have "clash of clivizations", "..fall like dominos", "Great Caliphate", Jimmy Carter, "Great Jihad", and other sweet nothings in the same essay. Bravo! Great piece of satire!

A miniature statue of David for the living room? Cute.