JayB

1. N.R. Stuart.(with Slothrop) 2. Glacier Slog-o-Rama. (with Lurkers) 3. Monkey Face, Pioneer Route. (with mattp and leejams)

What!!?? Oh so you drop the capital gains tax, the inheritance tax, and the tax on the upper 10% (which bushie has done) and they pay more?? Yes, I would like to see documentation on that magic. Maybe it's the folks that are making $30K or less that are weasling out of the inheritance tax and capital gains? Link with figures that back this claim up... Highlights: " Since 1984 the JEC has provided factual information about the impact of the tax cuts of the 1980s. For example, for many years the JEC has published IRS data on federal tax payments of the top 1 percent, top 5 percent, top 10 percent, and other taxpayers. These data show that after the high marginal tax rates of 1981 were cut, tax payments and the share of the tax burden borne by the top 1 percent climbed sharply. For example, in 1981 the top 1 percent paid 17.6 percent of all personal income taxes, but by 1988 their share had jumped to 27.5 percent, a 10 percentage point increase." "The share of the income tax burden borne by the top 10 percent of taxpayers increased from 48.0 percent in 1981 to 57.2 percent in 1988. Meanwhile, the share of income taxes paid by the bottom 50 percent of taxpayers dropped from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 5.7 percent in 1988. A middle class of taxpayers can be defined as those between the 50th percentile and the 95th percentile (those earning between $18,367 and $72,735 in 1988). Between 1981 and 1988, the income tax burden of the middle class declined from 57.5 percent in 1981 to 48.7 percent in 1988. This 8.8 percentage point decline in middle class tax burden is entirely accounted for by the increase borne by the top one percent. Several conclusions follow from these data. First of all, reduction in high marginal tax rates can induce taxpayers to lessen their reliance on tax shelters and tax avoidance, and expose more of their income to taxation. The result in this case was a 51 percent increase in real tax payments by the top one percent. Meanwhile, the tax rate reduction reduced the tax payments of middle class and poor taxpayers. The net effect was a marked shift in the tax burden toward the top 1 percent amounting to about 10 percentage points. Lower top marginal tax rates had encouraged these taxpayers to generate more taxable income. The 1993 Clinton tax increase appears to having the opposite effect on the willingness of wealthy taxpayers to expose income to taxation. According to IRS data, the income generated by the top one percent of income earners actually declined in 1993."

Jim: I would have to go searching for documentation to back it up - don't have time to google at the moment - but I recall reading a few papers which demonstrated that every time the top marginal tax rates have been lowered, the percentage of all taxes paid by the wealthiest Americans has increased, rather than decreased (maybe PP has a link).

Word. Far be it for me to talk shit about a 15 year old cranking 13s. I wasn't even climbing until I was almost eight years older than the was. She may burn out, she may turn into a well rounded alpinist - who knows. Pretty kick ass accomplishments for a 15 year old IMO.

Do you believe in the Area 51 conspiracy, too? No but I believe that after getting PMs with threats from certain people after mentioning 1) east face of Mox Pk and 2) SW face of Spectre Peak that there are a group of climbers in Washington who are into the whole black-book keep-it-a-secret don't-let-Colin-find-out-about-it type of BS. You should out whoever is making such threats. Seriously. Trying to guard alpine lines on public land. What a crock(!) – not only can you not claim that you should be granted deference for the cost and effort that has gone into establishing the route, or that you do not want the line publicized because it hasn’t been cleaned thoroughly enough for a leader competent at the grade to ascend safely, etc, etc – you are essentially trying to “win” a race in which you are the only contestant. Pathetic.

I think we are saying the same thing - the exterior surfaces freeze first....

I have seen this too. I think that differential cooling on the exterior creates internal pressure that forces the liquid H20 out through small fissures in the surface, at which point it freezes. I think that this dynamic probably occurs anywhere ice envelops liquid water... But water expands as it freezes. It's actually most dense at 4 deg C when it's in this weird slushy kind of icy kind of state. I guess I don't understand. Ice-cubes freeze from the outside in, and the expansion - I would bet - creates additional pressure on the liquid water in the interior....

I have seen this too. I think that differential cooling on the exterior creates internal pressure that forces the liquid H20 out through small fissures in the surface, at which point it freezes. I think that this dynamic probably occurs anywhere ice envelops liquid water...

We also make better use of our available workers. Lower unemployment, longer working lives. I'm all for the Euro approach to work, but it does come at a cost, and in my view it will not be sustainable in the face of intensifying global competition. The structural unemployment level is about 10% in Europe, and will only trend higher if they fail to make meaningful reforms in the very near future. That will result in a significant percentage of the workforce taking involuntary, multi-year vacations on benefits that are significantly less generous than those enjoyed today.

Study of Euro vs US Economic Performance Interesting reading.

I'm in.

I may be down for some more Smith Action this weekend. When is the BHAM Posse leaving town? I am definitely down with the carpoolage if you want to take an old guy along for gas $$$ and a big rack (of cams) to fondle If there's no room in the van I can probably swing by and pick up someone in PDX. jlag - let's get that keg going, amigo.......

No leakage problems to speak of, been using them for 6 years or so. Best hydration system out there IMO....

Are you sure Junebug is a woman?

Necro would probably be willing to give you a ride in the "cargo" portion of his white Ford Econoline van with no windows in the back ......

10:00 it is. Word. I can see the V1's quaking in fear already.....

Never underestimate the power of the placebo effect.

Why the obsession with Arnold my Evil Homonym? Did Arnie grope you? Would you like to talk about it?

Seriously...

Settle this like men at the 1st Inaugural Distel32 Bouldering Tour. Contestants will attempt to construct an equalized, multidirectional gear anchor while locking off on a sick sloper/toe-cam/knee-scum prob...

Funny - virtually all of the groups attacking Schwarzenegger on this issue spared nothing in their efforts to excuse Clinton of the same conduct. Weak. Again "A stife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55221-2003Oct7.html

In a recent survey, 9 out of 10 people who were located and dug-out by their partners after a beacon search concluded that the cash that they shelled out for a beacon was money well spent. Of those respondents who were buried with their beacon and died anyway, 100% concluded that the buying the beacons was indeed a waste of money.

Not only was everything I said taken with the utmost seriousness, everyone was asking where they could get their own Fox News LogoWear, and mattp kept asking me to score him a Fox News sticker for his helmet all weekend. Uncle Tricky also wanted one for his van. The cc.comers who are into yoga were also peppering me with questions about getting their own Fox News Zen/Yoga mats so that they might incorporate the balance that Fox brings to its reporting into their ruminations about life’s big questions during their Zen sessions. Seriously. I also got quite a few compliments on the Kermit avatar.

I want to go on the 1st Inaugural Distel32 Bouldering Tour on my hung-over day as well.