Jim

I consider myself pretty informed but was taken aback by some of the items discussed in this Frontline series, of which Part II aired last night. Enlighting. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/ I generally knew about the extent of CDF peddling, but this was surprising. The bankers had a term "...ripping their face off" for when they sold a client a finance vehicle where the client didn't know WTF he was buying yet the bankers made a huge profit. Great. The bankers fanned across the US selling extremely complex vehicles to unsophisticated buyers - cities, towns, counties; help countries hide their debt for crazy interst rates (16% on millions)that they knew would crash and burn sooner or later. While I knew Geithner was a Wall Street man all the way, I did not know how hard he pushed to let the banks off scott free during and after the crash. Even Larry Summers was pushing for the break up of some of the large banks and dismissal of CEOs after they required tazpayer money. And - Obama blew it; possibly because of a combination of being distracted by health care and being naive. He did not push for change in the fianacial system when he had the banks on the ropes. Now - too late; and the bank lobbists are shredding the rule making for Frank-Dodd reform bill. So the banks are now even bigger - 5 of them carry 58% of the nation's wealth, there have been no real regulatory changes, and the change of another crash is looking 50-50. Looking for a big matress for my cash.

Manging pizza, the US economy, it's kinda the same thing. Just more.

Trifle

Unfortunately, not unprecedented. On White Friday, Dec 1916, an estimated 10,000 troops were killed by avalanches in Dolomites. Lots more cumulatively: During the three-year war in the Austro-Italian Alps at least 60,000 soldiers died in avalanches. [This conservative statistic comes from the research of Heinz von Lichem, in his outstanding three-volume study Gebirgskrieg 1915-1918] Ten thousand died from avalanches in the "lesser" ranges of the eastern half of the high front -- the Carnic and Julian Alps. In the "high" Alps to the west, the Ortler and Adamello groups, the Dolomites, avalanches claimed 50,000 lives. The only good to come out of it I suppose were some interesting via ferreta routes.

Best of luck on the adventure. Eyes open, head down. Take care and keep us posted. Oh - and no cultural blunders please. We don't want to read about anything on the English version of the al jezzera website.

Good luck with that one. I spend the better part of two recent summers along the Pend Oreille River near the border on field work - not a siting. They apparantly are pretty wary and uncommon. I did speak to some hunters up there who occassionally saw one. You never know. Did see wolves and a lynx swimming across the river!

Oh yea, big time. Chronic issue do to some back sturctural things. Chiropractors - despite their claim I've found them rather useless in this area - they all seem to revert to the same lay-on-your-side and wing away process, rather than actually diagnosing the sturctural movement of a particular issue. After a year of searching I found a PT who actually knew what he was doing. It's amazing the amoung of BS practioners out there who are willing to try anything w/o the proper background or skills. Anyway, this PT would look at the mechanics closely and slowly pop it back in place with subtle movements. Probably the best advice I can give is to regularly, several times a week, work on low back and core exercises. Mine is generally in check, but wigs out once in a while. Unfortunately that great PT moved to AZ and semi-retirement. I haven't found a similar one yet, but have a line on one I'm planning on seeing soon.

Duh! Missed that - thanks. Anywhere in town to check it or all mail order?

Heads up over there dude. Is this work or Reserve? If work, what are doing? You don't have to kill me if you tell me do you?

You meant this? http://www.backcountry.com/dmm-phantom-carabiner

That was well done! Thanks. Refreshing perspective. Awesome climbing.

I assume you prefer it because less chance of snagging/opening - ease of one-handed use? And worth the 6 gm over OZ?

FYI Xeon 38gm M Classic 36 Neutrino 36 Helium 34 Oz 28 M. Moses 27

Thanks all. I'll post weight difference of the rack after shopping.

Ok, I'm convinced after some recent trips I need to replace my stash of older mish-mash of ovals and Ds. What's good?

(II / AD) Aiguille Du Midi / Cosmiques Ridge - :tup: I vaguely remember one section of route decision-making, but not so bad. Then again I was young, not so experienced, and rope-monkey to two older Frenchy fries who were kind enough to pull me along. Slept for free in muddy Mere de Glace - but will second Ski Station - buddy was there last year. Car rental not a problem - as usual if you can speak some French it helps - then they will only treat you as half-ass instead of whole.

Have work visa for BC/Yukon. 1st vist, sluggy. Next half dozen - no problem, very quick. Some drive, some fly.

As usual, it depends on how you chop up the data, eh? [img:left]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Distribution_of_U.S._Federal_Taxes_2000.JPG[/img] Yes, nominal vs. actual should be taken into account. Which group do you think has the advantage using this metric, the bottom 5% or the top 5%. I'd say that answer easily reinforces the amount of political and financial power attained and used by the upper 5%. And value of transfers to the bottom end? Serioiusly? Compare that to say one metric of the top end - tax on capital gains compared to income - there's a real value transfer. No - there will never be a flat field for all to play on and that should not be the goal of fair (open to your interpretaion) society. That said, the financial benefits, political power, and corruption assocated witht he current concentration of wealth is a bit too much and needs to be curtailed with some moderate tax policy changes. IMO.

Well, I'm no expert but here's how I see it. You might be a bit more precise and accurate by asking the question "How does lowering the tax rate for the upper 5% to lows not seen since the guilded age and allowing for redistribution of wealth upward and increased concentration of wealth help the economy? Funny, the economy managed quite fine when marginal rates were higher - that BS about trickle down has been proven to be just that. Also - I believe in paying as you go, not borrowing as you go. The bottom line is the wealthy have very low taxes, you and me have low taxes. All the Bush era tax giveaways should be stopped and we should all pay for things we need as a society instead of borrowing. Didn't say anything of the sort. The primary problem with schools is the expectations we put on them. Expecting them to solve all the problems we have created outside the walls within a 7 hr school day. Public schools have to take all comers - kids who don't speak English, severe ADHD, Aspergers, severe discipline problems, fetal alcohol syndrome. Private schools do not. Poor districts get screwed, rich districts have great fund raisers. Frankly, I'll go with Ivan on this. I volunteer at a school regularly and the kids are sharp, engaged, and have promise. And they are not WASP. BS! You are out of touch if you think we have cast too wide a social safety net. Pick a vulnerable population - the mentally ill, the poor, the infirm, the lower end of the working class - all have seen drastic cuts in social services. What is your specific solution here? Get rid of medicare? Social security? Food stamps? No shit. And how do you suppose we pay for it? I partially agree. But savings banks are backed by the FDIC and deserve saving. Investment banks, however are a different animal. Unfortunately, thank to Glass-Steigel (thanks Clinton and Congress) the distinction is more fuzzy than it needs to be. Neither do I. i think its a complex problem that people are trying to boil down to a catch phrase and that isn't going to happen. And neither do I, nor I think do OWS folks. The issue is the political power they have, they way they have continued to leverage this power into protection of their tax havens, resources, and bought politicians.

That's kinda the nail on the head, there.

Where is Sarah when she is needed most? [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRbOcM1Cb3Q&feature=relmfu

If you're just lift skiing then I'd say not a big deal. Backcountry - big deal. On my teles going from mid fat (Crossbows) to fat with rocker (Coombacks) made quite a difference - powder, packed, deep cement -whoo, ripping. Long days touring and weight an issue, yes, still evaluating that and may go to the Drift.

Thanks Fern, beat me to it. It's complicated. I've seen propogation and runnout in old growth - and seen some pretty big trees twisted into pretzels. Hoping to extend my bc skiing into '60s and '70s and thus very conservative. You only have to guess wrong once.

Morons! People who don’t have money don’t understand the stress,” said Alan Dlugash, a partner at accounting firm Marks Paneth & Shron LLP in New York who specializes in financial planning for the wealthy. “Could you imagine what it’s like to say I got three kids in private school, I have to think about pulling them out? How do you do that?”

Again, I partially agree and you raise some inherent cultural issues. It's amusing that when asked, most folks somehow think they can possibly end up in the upper 10% income bracket. Sorry to break the news to you but.... and it affects how they see the rich and how they vote. Conversely, in the past 15 yrs or so the uber-rich have pushed down their tax rate and loosen financial oversight much to their advantage by having the politios on their leash. Historically this isn't the first time nor will be the last, but it's due for the pendulum to swing a bit the other way.