JayB

By Marshall Plan, I assume you are referring to the WWII era program for the reconstruction of Europe. You are quite the historian. Better not argue with the likes of you anymore. Now tell me that we entered WWII because of the Monroe Doctrine. Or maybe the Treaty of Tordesilla. Oil and mining contracts in Somalia? Are you joking? With what legal entity would an oil company negotiate a binding legal agreement? The dudes motoring around Mogadishu on their Technicals? Here's a concise summary of what actually happened: Somalia is indeed an interesting case. After the coup in 1969 that put Siad Barre in power, the revolutionaries attempted to administer the Somali economy with "Scientific Socialism." In an utterly unsurprising development, the country soon began to have trouble feeding itself and began the long descent into chaos that we observe at the present. This situation was actually exacerbated by foreign aid, as the various warring factions obtained significant funding for their efforts through contracting their services to the UN and NGOs and embezzling money from them. Perhaps most significant was the disruptive effect of food aid, which the warring parties promptly stole and distributed amongst their loyalists. They sold the food in local markets, and in the process continously undercut the local farmers until they themselves became dependent on the food aid, and effectively under control of whichever faction controlled it. The situation ultimately became so chaotic and hopeless that the UN and the NGOs began to talk openly of pulling out, which would have effectively meant disaster for the factions, as they would be deprived of most of their funding. At this point they began to deliberately starve the population, and provide false information concerning the number of people that would perish without an immediate surge in international aid. As the humanitarian situation deteriorated, the images of the Somalis suffering under these conditions saturated the airwaves, and the world looked to America to do something. In the process of doing something the American millitary began to undermine both the economic lifeline, and the political control of the various factions, and the debacle commenced. There's a full account of this calamity in the Road to Hell" by Michael Maren. Somalia did have a modest refining capacity at one time, and may have petroleum reserves, but they have never been developed to any degree. There are plenty of other places with both proven reserves, a minimally viable infrastructure, and a functioning state with which to do business elsewhere in the world. Any oil or mining concern which is actually out to make money, which is all of them, will invest anywhere where the political risk is such that they risk losing their entire investment before turning a net profit on the operation. Strategic geopolitical considerations, which come in a variety of shapes and sizes, provide the rationale for most wars. To pretend otherwise is silly, but to pretend that every single US intervention can be explained in purely economic terms shows a positive disinclination to aquaint oneself with history, and a staggering disregard for the facts. For those that do read try "I Am Writing to Inform You that Tomorrow we Shall Be Killed Along with Our Families." By Phillip Gourevitch for the authoritative account of the slaughter in Rwanda.

This reminds me of a Monty Python skit in which no matter what the question the host presented to the contestants, the correct answer was always "pork." Swap pork for oil and you've got the functional equivalent of a debate with this representative of the far left. I'm looking forward to the identification of the commodities we sent our troops in to control in Haiti, Somalia, and Kosovo, and our subsequent exploitation of them. Triple bonus points if you use the terms "cabal," "multinational," "neoconservative," and "corporate interests" and one verb of your choice from the "Not in Our Name" homepage in the first sentence.

My buddy's car died about 1/4 mile from the Bedal Creek trailhead, and our unsuccessful efforts at compression starting the engine by rolling downhill ultimately deposited us back on the Mountain Loop Highway. Thankfully a fire truck rolled by and the FS Fire crew let us call an unforuntate relative with a large truck to come and tow us back to Darrington. From this point onwards we spent many hours napping, throwing rocks at beer cans, re-reading the Green Becky guide, and generally plumbing the dark depths of boredom instead of climbing Sloan . The Unfortunate-Relative-With-The-Large-Truck arrived a bit after 9:00, and we were home by midnight. Before spending the day engaged in mundane tasks best reserved for weekday afternoons, I made a small memorial out of climbing gear to mourn the passing of a beautiful summer weekend, killed in its infancy by the capricious hand of a faulty fuel pump.

It may be hard for someone outside of the field to believe, but pathogenic strains of bacteria and viruses are used all of the time, all over the globe, for reasons that have very little to do with creating biological weapons. Anthrax is endemic in most livestock around the world, and if one is attempting to determine the efficacy of various antibiotics on it, one would naturally need to have live cultures to test them on. Same is true of all of the other pathogens on the list. Was allowing companies to sell these cultures to Iraq when we knew that they were in the process of developing biological weapons extremely ill-advised? Certainly. But allowing companies to export pathogenic strains to Iraq for undetermined uses is one thing, and a deliberate effort to provide Iraq with a ready made bioweapons program is quite another. It is possible that the US was engaged in such an effort, but this document is far from proving any such thing. If you've got documents in which an agency of the US government explicitly endorses this policy goal and allocates the resources necessary to furnish Iraq with a biological weapons capability, post it. It seems to me that since the US had both the technology and expertise necessary to provide Iraq with all of the bioweapons it could ever possibly want, it would have been much more effective to simply ship them the cultures, reactors, and delivery systems along with the technical personnel necessary to put them into production immediately, rather than allowing the random export pathogens used for a variety of purposes in laboratories all over the world.

The article I provided the link to is a bit long, has lots of confusing charts that people with the annoying habbit of using real quantifiable data to support their arguments tend to like, and it is also positively riddled with factual information - so it may not be of any interest to you - but if you can take a break from bidding on the autographed Che Guevara poster on eBay long enough to read it, you may learn a thing or two about who actually sold what to the Iraqis prior to the outbreak of the first Gulf War. We are far from blameless, but the report makes it clear that virtually every European power of any consequence took a very active role in arming Iraq, and the total value of their arms sales to Iraq was an order of magnitude greater than our own. One conclusion that one can draw from this is that the governments in charge of virtually every western nation of any significance took part in arming Iraq. One can then further conclude that their was a broad international agreement that Iran posed a serious threat to their collective interests, and that taking Iraq's side in that conflict was the best way to neutralize it. In so doing the West nourished a monstrous regime. In your view the most ethical action for the West to take was to utter a collective "Oops! Our bad." and leave him in power to continue subjugating his people and threatening his neighbors. How doing so would in any way constitute "learning from our mistakes" is entirely unclear. It seems to me that if one accepts the proposition that the west is responsible for creating Saddam Hussein and keeping him in power, then the West should also assume responsibility for removing him from power and doing everything within our power to replace him with a more humane and responsible regime.

Same reason we sided with the Russians during WWII, then spent the remainder of the century in conflict with them. We made an unsavory alliance to neutralize the greater threat, as we percieved it at the time. Duh. This is not a new strategy, and its persistent recurrence throughout history suggests that when one is operating in the real world - hard choices and compromises are an something that one occaisionally has to contend with. I hate to be the one to break this profoundly disconcerting news to you, and regret that they exluded this and many other unpalatable aspects of reality from the curriculum at the Socialist Fanatasy Camp. We were hardly alone in arming Iraq, and our role was conisderably less substantial than the major European powers and the Soviets. Anyone interested in facts - which may well exclude a wide swath of the posters on this board - can find out exactly who sent what to Iraq, and when Here: Trends in Arms Exports to the Middle East Since the End of the Cold War.

and a hearty thanks to Beck and others for all of the hard work that they have put into organizing this year's event. You

Nothing that two consenting adults wish to do to, for, or with one another should be illegal so long as their conduct does not injure or infringe upon the rights of others. Gay marriage should not only be legal, but encouraged as a means of forming stable, long-term relationships (families) - a development which would benefit both gays and the remainder of society.

Confessions of an Anti-Sanctions Activist by Charles M. Brown On May 22, 2003, the United Nations (U.N.) lifted the sanctions regime it had imposed on Iraq twelve years earlier. The end of the economic embargo invites a review of the "peace" activism that was aimed at bringing down the Iraq sanctions while Saddam Hussein ruled. Anti-sanctions groups sought to relieve the suffering of the Iraqi people. In fact, they became; whether wittingly or unwittingly; mouthpieces for Saddam in the United States. I should know: I have the dubious distinction of having been one of them Rest of Article...

I wear a size 11 and I'm about two notches from the limit. I'd say you are in good shape if your feet are size 13 or smaller. When I bought them through overstock they shipped from climbaxe, so it would seem that they are basically just advertising for climbaxe on their site and taking a cut of the sale. These work pretty well for what I bought them for - long slogs on low angle slopes and approaches to spring snow climbs. They're light enough that the bring crampons/leave them behind debate is a thing of the past.

Great stuff Lowell. I'd love to read more about these guys and hear their stories. Just about every time I do an alpine route I think about what it would be like to do the same route with 100' of hemp rope, a bowline around the waist, and a few soft pitons. Humbling to say the least. Has anyone ever put together a compilation of their stories? That'd be an incredible read.

Another vote for Ramutas. Never a hint of delamination - stayed put until I wore a hole through the sole every time. I used to like Dave Page but they more or less told me to go elsewhere the last time I took shoes to them. The turnaround time was about four weeks. Lame. Ramuta's always has them ready in 2-3 days, and they seem to appreciate the business.

They are definitely weak (unless you get the 3.4L engine) but they last forever, have great clearance and 4x4 capability, and absolutely destroy every domestic truck manufacturer, hands down - when it comes to overall quality. "TOYOTA ON TOP. General Motors (GM ), which vaulted into third place with 130 problems per 100 vehicles, behind Toyota (TM ) at 107 and Honda (HMC ) at 113, posted a 30% improvement over the past five years. In rankings of individual model quality, Toyota swept 9 of 16 vehicle segments, including 6 of the 7 truck categories . DaimlerChrysler (DCX ) placed fourth at 141, with Nissan (NSANY ) and Volkswagen tied at 152. (Click here here to go to the rankings.) Poor quality in recent years contributed to Ford's $5.4 billion loss in 2001. Shoddy vehicles have alienated customers, and Ford's U.S. market share has fallen by three points, to 20.9%, since the end of 2000. Defects led to numerous recalls in the past two years and delayed the arrival of crucial new models, such as the 2002 Explorer and 2001 Escape SUVs. Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache estimates Ford's average warranty cost per vehicle at $650, vs. only $400 for Toyota. And because poorly made cars have lower resale values, auto makers usually have to kick in cash subsidies when owners trade in, further depressing profits. " You might buy domestic and get lucky, but the statistics don't lie, and Toyota wins every time.

Dustin: Just take the left turn onto the Kennedy Ridge trail and continue up the ridge and you'll run right into the toe of the Kennedy Glacier. Are you going to do the Glacier or the Ridge?

I still say that if anyone strong enough to boulder at that level sets their sites on cracks there's no stopping them. Put homeboy in Coach's hands for a few sessions at UW rock and he'll be crankin', guaranteed.

Yeah - my folks have one and it put me at 33% last time I got on it.

Haven't been up there but I'd guess that the snow patch that was covering the patch o' blue ice just below the summit on the FBR route is probably gone now. Might be worth taking along a third-tool and a couple of screws if you are taking that route.

If the mayor and/or city council in Squamish will cover my expenses I'll head up there, climb, and sing the praises of both the rock and the friendly local youths in every online forum out there...

Agreed. Ask the owner how long ago he replaced the timing belt. For my model year Toyota recommends changing the timing belt every 60,000 miles, so even if he'd gone by the book you are getting pretty close to the service interval for that part. Ditto for the water-pump, which should be replaced at 120,000. I'd also ask about the rotor, the plug-wires and the plugs. And - take a look at the CV boots on the front axle and see if they are showing signs of oxidiation or minor cracking. When those blow it'll run you about $300-350 per axle to get them replaced. If they are showing signs of imminent demise, have the guy lower the price by the cost of replacing them, or something close to it. Same for the timing-belt, water-pump, and other major items that are approaching the end of their recommended service-life.

I strongly disagree. If Canadians retorted with "Happy Canada Day" most US teenagers would be confused as it is commonly thougth that Canada is not even a nation, just that territory to the north of us. Or they would think it's a "cool" new band or something. Only climbing nerds know what Canada is - that place you go to get good deals on climbing stuff... I am with you there. It is unthinkable that most American teenagers -especially the kind that inhabit Monroe - would give 1/1000th of a shit about Canada, let alone resent it. But if the unthinkable happened and the scenario I mapped out actually occured, I think it would be a much bigger story.

Interesting Chapter in Mormon History.... Mountain Meadows Massacre - 1857 Great way to break the ice if you are travelling through Utah and want to chat with the locals.

I'd definitely give the KH a thumbs up. The guy did a great job of taking care of everyone despite being overwhelmed by the number of folks we brought in, and had a good attitude to boot. He also said that he'd bring in additional help and toss in a couple of free pitchers the next time we drop in. Defintitely gets my vote for a return. There's also the fact that it's only a few blocks from my house....

Anyone with an accent that thick is clearly an Al Queda operative. I say deport his haggis-eating, code-writing ass back to Scawtlund !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could be wrong, but I think that had the tables been turned, and 20 drunk American delinquents had beaten the shit out of 3 Canadian tourists after they had the audacity to say "Happy Canada Day" on the Fourth of July, the story would have gone global in less than 24 hours, and would have been immediately followed by a series of overwrought editorials condemning the American culture of violence, etc, etc, etc. I nominate Dru and Snoboy to start a Hoods-in-the-Woods (pronounced Hewds in the Wewds) program featuring compulsory offwidth climbing and turns pushing the Unimog uphill to turn around the at-risk youth in Squampton.

Word. I brought a small plastic garbage back with me on glacier, punched two leg-holes through the bottom, and rocketed down the glissade chutes without trashing my pants....