Bug

I vent in your general direction.

You break it, you fix it....call it a moral obligation I would agree if there were any hope of fixing it like we did in Japan. Unlike Japan, there are factions within Iraq that would destroy everything we build. There is also a great deal of support from neighboring countries for these destructive factions. Their goal is to keep us from building another Israel/western enclave in the middle east. With htis in mind, what are really accomplishing? I submit, we are staving off the inevitible sweep of Isamic fundamentalism in Iraq. This is the single biggest reason I have been apposed to the war in Iraq from the start. We have kicked a mean sleeping dog without even checking to see how big it is. By invading Iraq, we give Islamic fundamentalists a focus. We were already struggling to maintain credibility with moderate Islamic nations and peoples due primarily to our hard line support for Israel. Israel took Palistine from the Arabs after how many hundreds of years. Now Arabs have every reason to fear that we (the west) want more. And frankly, I think that is exactly what this invasion was about. If we really want to contribute to rebuilding Iraq, we should pull out and offer billions in aid through specific avenues such as heavy equipment, materials, and technology. Until we do that, we are just another wave of Christian invaders. So shut up and climb already.

What I don't understand about your support for McCain is his willingness to spend billions on rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq at the expense of our own infrastucture here at home. We have levees failing, bridges collapsing, and congested highways compounded by poor public transportation. How do you justify rebuilding Iraq and not putting more federal money into basic maintenence of our own infrastructure? We are not rescuing anyone. Like McCain said, "we may be in Iraq for a hunderd years". What you see over there right now is what you get. Do you think it is ever going to be any different than the struggle between Israel and Palistine? Why?

The last time we hired a sventy-something to run the country, we later found out that he had been suffering from alzheimers and that someone else had been running the country. Yeah sure. Lets roll those dice again.

While there is no way to completely remove all objective hazards, experience can go a long ways toward mitigating those hazards. My only real point here is that "going for it because it is mostly luck anyway" is hopefully NOT what Decristo is advocating.

OMG! Not socialism. Next thing you know they are going to want to socialize Highways, military, and sewer. What a travesty! I would much rather see all of that under the control of the same people who control big tobbacco, oil, and the huge pharmeceuticals. They really do have our best interests in mind and would screw over their stockholders in a milisecond if it meant making us better off. I do hope you understand sarcasm.

Swweet. What you save on gas you will pay twice in speedin gtickets. Enjoy.

I admire you perserverence Matt. You are still trying to get these guys past "Republican good. Democrat bad". It takes a true optimist.

Hmmm. Interesting. I will have to crawl back in for more recon.... Thanks guys.

ok, so the article says 79 million people have problems paying medical bills. That makes over 30% of population! On top of that there is even greater number of people who manage but still have to make cuts. And you say that system is OK? and your initial post about rats in a hospital? go and see facilities in NYC and see if there aren't any roaches? you are obviously blind fo facts of life. and the fact of life is we can the shittiest health care for the money it costs. Biggest part of the problem are drug companies and insurance companies promoting illness. There is no insentive to be healthy. If your insurance rate was like car insurance- the situation would be easier. However with 60 plus percent of obesity and 20% morbidly obese there is no system that can afford to provide coverage. you must understand that this was deliberate action of food, drug and insurance industry, creating life time of permanent consumers. and the trend continues. there is still no talk about preventive medicine. the insurance company will pay for gastrac bypass and weight loss pills, but will not pay for nutritional counsellings! how stupid is that? so yes, the health care is already shitty and is going to get even more shitty. and the reason is that people in this country don't even know how to feed themselves and how to take care of themselves.

It has not been tested but we did have a building inspector look at the house before we bought. He listed it as a fix we should do. It is code now in King county. But since the house was built in 76 it is grandfathered as is. But thanks guys. I will look into having it tested. We plan on spending quite a few years there. And Fairweather is right too That was another thing the inspector listed plus just mildew releif in case there is any dripping or condensation.

So my fiance and I bought a house built in 76 that has no vents for the crawl space. Looking around the perimeter, there is only one place to vent without cutting through the foundation. So how am I supposed to cut a vent hole through the foundation? I could drill some holes easily enough but how do I connect the dots?

"What did you say this red button does?"

Anybody remember that story about dead nuns?

All I could see was the first page and it said akhalteke was the only one viewing. That was when I knew the brownshirts were coming and I boarded up my windows and loaded all my guns. Is it safe to come out yet?

Fox News

Speak for yourself. You know nothing about me. Shove your hints up your ass. I will debate you until it is clear your brawn overpowers your ability to reason. We are currently chasing terrorists into the most valuable countries we NEED alliances with. Once there we are alienating them with corrupt practices and brute force. If we are not going to chase them everywhere, and we definately should not, then we should not say we are going to, which GW did say. My "solution"? in hostile territory find them and hit them and get the hell out. In allied territory, joint operations or tactical deployments. "Fight fire with fire". Fast and light. That has been the strategy being developed for the last 30 years. Why it keeps getting left behind in favor of huge deployments makes no sense to me. We cannot control the governments of the world. We cannot be the policemen of the world. But we can pour much more money into intelligence and covert operations and surgically hit targets thereby minimizing "collateral damage". Reagan's attack on Tripoli is one such example. I did not like the man or the president but that strike was very effective and we didn't have to occupy anybody to acheive a high degree of success. Saddam was harder to find but we gutted our intelligence operations in Iraq under Carter and that kind of intelligence take decades to build. Decades we will now spend "rebuilding" Iraq with questionable long term success. It is NOT rocket science. It takes consistency. The roots of our failures abroad are in the polarity of our politics at home.

Mine is made up. We should not say we are going to do something we have no intention of doing and we should not start something we have no idea how to finish. Invade Pakistan? No. Joint venture crammed down the crooked bastard's throat, yes. Maybe you are just playing with words but your posts seemed to strive for some sense of real discourse for awhile so I caution you, just because there are several of us who do not agree with you does not mean you should treat us the way you treat Kevbone. If you want to have some real discourse then ignore those you don't respect and keep your dander down. Otherwise, you are just an ankle biter. Sure you can come back and beat me up but you will still just be a mean dog with no substance to your arguements.

Lame. Clearly we SHOULD be concerned about whether our government's actions are making us safer or not, and we SHOULD NOT rely upon the "intelligence community" to tell us the answers. Has there been a terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11? What was the pattern of terrorism on US soil before 911? Has there been any real change? 911 was preventable by many accounts but there were mistakes made by both the Clinton and Bush administrations' handling of information. Perhaps things have tightened up but did they have to include loss of liberties or would truely objective adherence to existing policies have sufficed? And if we are really chasing terrorists outside the US, find Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and present the bastard's head to the world. But "NO", there are mitigating circumstances that prevent us from entering Pakistan. Bullshit! What did Bush say when we entered Afganistan, "We will pursue these terrorists anywhere they go and regard there hosts as part of the problem" or something like that. Another lie made up by a good propogandist. It serverd a purpose, to persuade the public, but was never intended to have any real truth associated with regard to any country outside the oil states. Terrorists still play hopscotch in Pakistan while we get bombed in Afgahnistan and Iraq. Terrorism and terrorists outside our borders matter little to this administration other than to be used as a mechanism for social control. Follow the money.

Rain is predicted through the week.

Guides are a great way to get started if you have the money. I used the Lowe Alpine School "Intermediate Rock Climbing" course when I was 17. It was in Eldorado Canyon. It was well worth it. From there, I had a good solid base of what the range of styles and safety margins for different people were. I was ablr to strike out and travel and climb with strangers in the Valley, JT etc. I also had friends in Missoula that I climbed with. They were kind of sporty though. Safety seemed like a problem at times and I was getting nervous. But that was mostly due to the fact that we were all in highschool. Once in College, I met several other good climbers and refined my skills with them. In short, the guide school was a really good jumping off point. But it will also depend on the instructor you get there. Good luck!

Oh. That's right. The shrooms are sprouting.

Ike was right.

I hate this fucking bullshit patriotic line. Total crap. Not everyone can be an astronaut. Not everyone can be president. Not everyone can do what they want to do. You notice the only people who say shit like that are the lucky few who actually get to do what they want to do? You are my inspiration for living rob. I want a couch just like yours.

How's that mustache Minx?