Mtguide

Your point about people not taking the warning seriously unless the rating is high or extreme is a very widespread misunderstanding. In fact,even when the hazard is "low",that does NOT mean any absence of danger,just a lower possibility or likelihood.People have been killed on "low" hazard days.About the only rating you could give to denote no hazard would be "minimal" or "non-existent",and to be realistic,the only time that might be accurate would be in late,late spring thru summer,and on terrain either side of the critical hazard angles of between 25 and 50 degrees. Liability is a difficult,fuzzy area.The FS could also be held liable for injury or death in instances where it failed to provide warning; if there's an incident,you can be sure that lawyers will find some way to claim liability,one way or another.

Might be that you're swinging too hard;you want a good solid placement,but over doing it causes more dinnerplating in hard ice,makes it harder to remove your tools for the next placement,which cuts down your smoothness and speed,which in turn saps your strength,stamina and endurance,etc.,etc.All you need is enough of a swing to set the picks firmly enough to climb;that will vary depending on how steep or overhanging the pitch is. You may well be aware of all this; but I've been climbing for over 35 yrs and still find myself in need of a reminder at times from my partners when I slip into bad habits. -------------------------------------------------------------- "Relax your mind,relax your mind,you got to relax your mind...." -Country Joe and the Fish

Don't forget to slap yr bitch around,wear white socks,chew snoose,belt your kids if they sass,and be sure your truck has one a' them "Horn broken,watch for finger" bumper stickers.Personally, I prefer "Get in;Sit Down;Shut up,and Hang On".And pull out your hogleg from it's holster banded to the steering column if they jump out of their car and run up to your window screaming at the next light. Quiets 'em down in big hurry.But I don't eat the farmed salmon,that shit's bad for you,bad for the wild salmon,and taste and quality just don't even begin to compare.

Absolutely do take lessons;no sense wasting time trying to re-invent the wheel.Note that I said lessons,plural.One lesson will get you started,but there's quite a bit to it.QUITE a bit.A good way to do it is to really commit to it; go skiing as often as possible;start with a lesson,then go skiing by yourself three or four times( going just by yourself for at least your first few times will give you the uninterrupted focus and attention you'll need to feel and listen to your body,find your center,and let it all start to sink in) to digest and work on what you got from the lesson,then take another lesson,go another 3-4 times on your own,and so on,right through the season. It will be easiest if you go lift-served skiing on the groomed,for two reasons: it's going to take awhile to get your ski legs and conditioning anyway,and riding the lifts will give you a rest break after each run,allowing you to focus on just the skiing itself.Second,the groomed surface will be much,much easier to deal with until you develop the strength and technique for off-piste.Don't be in too much of a hurry to go backcountry until your basic skills are pretty well in hand.There's a lot going on with the terrain,avalanche hazard,navigation,weather,etc. that are pretty damned unforgiving if you're not yet up to the demands it can place on you.The mountain and the snow will still be there by the time you're ready.Patience,grasshoppa. Instructors?Unless your friends are expert skiers AND skilled,trained instructors,you really,really are FAR better off getting lessons from certified PSIA(Professional Ski Instructors of America) people.ESPECIALLY since you've never skied before.A good professional will be far more effective and efficient in taking you through the process in the correct sequence,and while they may eventually become your friend,to begin with they are completely professional, impartial,and endlessly patient in helping you through what can be very difficult and frustrating,and yes, dangerous,if you don't know what you're doing.They are there to see that your transition from ordinary human grub to the realm of the gods is as enjoyable and painless as possible, they're damned good at it,and they're not impatient to be off as soon as it looks like you're not going to break your neck, to go do their own skiing.Believe me,it is money well spent.Yvon Chouinard once said that all climbers are the product of their first 2 or 3 climbs.And if those were good experiences,it can make a huge difference in the kind of climber you become.That's equally true of skiing.There are too many sad stories of people whose friends took them out for their first time, and they wound up hating it,never doing it again,selling their skis.That is absolutely NOT necessary.And,after seven seasons,I still take at least a couple of lessons a year,and am planning to do the TeleClinic(mentioned below) again this June. I'm not sure what's available in or near Eugene,but the best instruction I've had(and who I first started with) is Wyeast Nordic of Sandy,OR. Shelly Butler is the owner/head instructor and she is just excellent,fantastic.Her instructors are the very finest,such great people,and many of them have become my good friends over the years.It would be worth the nickel to give her a call and see whom she could recommend around Eugene,I'm certain she could steer you to the right people.Get in touch with her at: Wyeast Nordic-Telemark,X-country (503)622-4841 email:wyeast@transport.com www.wyeastnordic.com Shelly also holds a summer Telemark Clinic every year for 4 days in both June and July,on Mt. Hood,and I've been to it three times,including the first two seasons I was learning to tele.You can't beat it: a dozen or more the world's best telemark skier/instructors of long experience,impeccable credentials,delightful personality and warmth,and diamond examples of the elegant beauty and freedom that you yourself can and will attain as a skier and ski mountaineer.And all for about $135 for the four days,plus you have to buy your own lift tickets,as well as lodging and meals.Class sizes are purposely kept small,so there's a lot of one-on-one with the instructors,plus you ski with several different instructors over the 4 days, to get a very complete ,well-rounded overview and evaluation.Most of the time there will be, at most only 5 or so other students in your class,and sometimes it's just you and 1 or 2 others,which is like getting an all-day private in-depth lesson.Also,they video you every day and everyone gets to review it all together at the end of the day.With this kind of focus,you can really learn a lot and make great progress in building your foundation skills;it won't necessarily feel like it right there in class, but the next time you get out on your own or with friends,you'll know right away that something is way different.YEEEEEEEHOOOAAAAH!!! is the best way I know of to describe what that feels like. OK,homework.Get the following books and just wear 'em out. Free Heel Skiing by Paul Parker--the best,the Bible. Ski The Whole Mountain by Eric and Rob DesLauriers--More adavanced,but it will quickly bring you up to speed on modern equipment and technique,and give you something to look forward to.Excellent chapter on backcountry. Allen and Mike's Really Cool Telemark Tips(109 Amazing Tips to improve your tele-skiing)--by Allen O'Bannon and Mike Clelland--Yes,it is really cool,very funny(great cartoon illustrations,very clear)and spot on solid. Allen and Mike's Really Cool Backcountry Ski Book-same authors;everything you need to know about becoming a sane,safe and saavy backcountry old salt. Guide books: Oregon Descents--by David L. Waag BackcountrySki! Oregon--by Christopher Van Tilburg These are both excellent,and give a good overview,as well as evaluation and ratings of difficulty of tours and routes.They'll keep you out of trouble so you don't get off into areas that are over your head before you've got the skills and experience to handle them. Magazines: Backcountry Couloir Off-Piste Abandon Also there are great websites such as TelemarkTips,Turns All Year,and others you can find through the Freshiez forum on another great website known as cascadeclimbers.com(!) Can't think of much else for now.Any further questions,feel free to PM or e-mail me.Best of luck,best of snow,hope to see you out there.

Jesus Christ, SC, it's 100 years later. We've made most tribes rich with the gambling industry. At some point they are going to have to make the cultural decision to look toward the future instead of the past, deal with some of their demons, and go forth into the melting pot! Poverty and attendant social problems still lay a heavy hand on many,many tribes in the country;we just had quite a powerful(and excellent) series of articles in The Oregonian, on child mortality on the Warm Springs Reservation in Central Oregon.The tribes who've done well with casinos have been those with proximity to urban or resort areas providing ready gaming clientele.The vast majority of reservations are way out in hardscrabble backwater areas bereft of marketable resources,or if the resources are there, the BIA and corporate interests have "leased"(read,"appropriated") them.Mineral,timber,grazing and water rights on reservations tend to be a hugely confused mess,with the lion's share of profits going to white/corporate interests.There are indeed some tribes who've managed to get control of their resources and become relativly stable and self-supporting,but even the larger and wealthier tribes such as Navajo,So.Calif.Chemehuevi(who own the land on which Palm Springs sits)Oklahoma's Kiowa-Comanche and so.Cheyenne(oil and gas),to name just a few, have a greatly disproportionate rate of poverty,alchohol and drug abuse,infant and child mortality,mental illnes, diseases such as tuberculosis,and accidents,compared to the general populace. I completely agree that all tribes have to come to terms with the past and move on,whining will get you nowhere.And many are in the process of doing just that.But they have big,big problems,and a very long way to go. "Never judge another man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins." -Cheyenne "The old men say, the earth,only, endures. They spoke truly; They were right." -Sioux

Probably the highly sensitive French fashion victim/haute coutoure/rudeness reflex that's been kicked into gear,here.Bot I mean,really, we just CAN'T have all zees weemen running around NOT buying ze Givenchy and Chanel and Estee Lauder and Elle,now CAN we,mon ami; bot of COURSE,zat would be so absolutely DISASTROUS,and WHY zey do not realize eet ees SO tacky,and oh,I must go lie down...(ah!;who ARE zees peeple!) ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Sacre bleu!Le pisseur Americain!!" Now,Peeyair,y'all ain't wonna them there sekyewlur hyewmnists are ya,there?

You don't give your age,which is an important factor in determining recovery time.But it can be fairly easy to slip into overtraining with leg work because the legs,being the largest muscle group in the body,work the entire body more than you might think. Training in the range of 3-4 reps a set is usually heavy weight,and recent research is that depending on age,body type(endo-,meso-,ectomorph;no one is strictly any of these,but they are general indicative types)and overall conditioning,it can take as much as 9 to 11 days to effect a full recovery from a(yes,that's just ONE) heavy leg workout.It depends on the number of sets you do as well. At any rate,the idea is to train,not over- or under-,but OPTIMALLY.Do what you need,but no more.After all,the muscles grow and stengthen when they rest,not while you're lifting.The workout tears muscle fiber down,and also has a very definite,identifiable(but temporary) effect on immune system function.Adequate recovery time is absolutely essential;my experience from over 25 years of doing my own training,as well as being certified(ACE) since 1992,is that most people tend to way overtrain,the younger the more likely to do so. So, a basic suggestion for those who are progressing with their development and want to add more power/strength benefit is to ease into it gradually and keep a careful watch on resting heart rate(lay in bed for 5 minutes when you first wake up,then check pulse;a rise of 8-10 beats per min is a sign to back off-you're on a slide into overtraining) and pay attention to any excessive muscle soreness or stiffness,as well as general energy/vitality level.As for the workouts themselves,an excellent principle is to alternate heavy days with light days; and I would generally go heavy on legs no more than once a week at the max,and usually adhere to the 9-day full recovery cycle.Then the next leg day would be the light one.And,"light" means no more than 70% of the weight you used on your heavy day,and it could mean fewer sets if you're still not feeling fully recovered. And when you do your heavy leg day also depends on what you're doing as far as climbing,skiing,etc.If you're going to go out on the weekend and do a backcountry ski tour with a fairly complete pack,or do a strenuous mixed alpine climb,you don't want to be doing your heavy leg day on Wed. or Thurs.,or even Monday of the week before;you will have done it no less than 9 days before your climb,if you want to be fully rested and up to snuff for the climb.Take a page from marathoners and ironman/triathlon elites,who taper off as they approach 2-3 weeks out from their event,with a week of almost complete rest,very very light,if any training at all,of the week immediately preceding the event.Read Peter Croft's little book,"Lightweight Alpine Climbing"(Stackpole Books,1996)for an excellent perspective on training,including his opinion of the value of weight training for climbing.Croft refers to the example of Reinhold Messner,who did very little power training--pretty hard to argue with that guy's success.But there's more to it than that,of course,so make sure to read the whole chapter on training. Another very,very important reason for alternating heavy and light days is physiological-mechanical,and that has to do with remembering what keeps the muscles where they are and enables them to do their job: tendons.Muscles,with their profusion of highly oxygenated tissue rich in red blood cells,tend to get stronger with low-rep,heavy weight training;tendons,composed of more dense and less well-oxygenated fibrous white tissue,require higher reps with lighter weight to gain and maintain strength,and they also tend to take longer to recover than muscle.So it's absolutely imperative to incorporate light days into the schedule to keep muscle strength from getting way ahead,which,if you allow it to continue,can result in tendonitis or even rupture. Recommended reading: The Outdoor Athlete-Steve Ilg Climbing:Training for Peak Performance-Clyde Soles Conditioning for Outdoor Fitness-Davi Musnick,M.D.& Mark Pierce,A.T.C. Extreme Alpinism:Climbing Light,Fast,and High-Mark Twight Flash Training-Eric Horst Well,hope this helps;pretty good stack of homework you got there,so get to studying,and believe me--sometime,somewhere,out there in the high and wild--there WILL be a quiz.

Not only are they "not very diligent",there's been a lot of outright lying and deception regarding the actual costs of the program;the report you might be thinking of came out in May.(The report isn't specific to the Wenatchee district,btw).Scott Silver of Wild Wilderness.org sent it out from his website on May 24 this year.Log on to GAO for the full report,or GAO for the highlights.Also see Scott Silver's website at wildwilderness What's going on is being done with malicious intent;these are not nice people.The goal is the privatization of public lands with the motorized and theme park recreation interests in control.We all need to really wake up and get more fully educated as to just how serious this threat is to our continued freedom of access to outdoor recreation on the public lands.

It's just Jim Bridwell and his understudies topping out a new route on a wall in Alaska or Baffin 30 years from now.

good luck dude, but its crazy once you meet 'em. Ah,yes,but is crazy goood,eh? Oh yes,I am thingking so verry much...

Won't argue there.

A woman with the looks and body of Mariah Carey(nice voice,too)the sass and bounce of Cyndi Lauper,the soul and creativity of women like Bonnie Raitt,Lorena McKennit,Joni Mitchell,Emmylou Harris,Tracy Gray and Enya,brains of Helen Caldicott(founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility)the pungent wit and trenchant politics of Molly Ivins,the classic good taste of Princess Di and Jackie Kennedy Onassis,the compassion of Mother Teresa,the love for climbing and athleticism of Araceli Segarra(great looks,too)Hilaree O'neill and Sue Nott,financial acumen of Suze Orman,the passion of Tina Turner,the talent for cooking of Julia Child,and well,ya know... just a nice,simple all around type o' gal.

Yeah,this is one of the primo trips on the mountain in winter;take a look at the route as it's described in Oregon Descents by David Waag.Looks pretty cool to me,and I'd definitely be interested in this one,some of my other bc buddies might also be up for it.

I was unaware of that.That sounds like an excellent reason for more signage at the trailheads to dangerous areas,and some kind of more serious educational effort to reach these groups of people.

Thanks for clarifying that point,regarding skiers in particular,as well as the risk zone on climb approaches.It reminds me that Alex Lowe's tragic death occurred in just such a circumstance,albeit in an arena of much greater scale than anything we encounter here in the Pac.NW. And it's absolutely true,both in the past and today,that highly skilled backcountry skiers incur the greatest risk,and in actual fact,the most incidents and fatalities due to avalanches.This is further confirmed by figures from accident reports that the demographic for avalanche victims is predominantly white males 17 to 38 yrs.old,with the numbers of women victims in the same age range beginning to show an increase in the last 15 years.

Although I don't know if it was aired as part of a video,there were newspaper photos of Saddam showing what he looked like AFTER they cleaned him up,shaved his beard,combed his hair,etc.,and those were right beside the "before" pictures of him with beard and matted hair.So I thought that was at least some attempt to show him as a human being,as well as to help verify his identity more forcefully for the benefit of the Iraqi public and to show the insurgents that yeah,we really do have your guy,fuckers. Anyway,my take on it was that it was considered so important as a morale booster for our troops and their families, the anti-Saddam Iraqi public,and US public,as well as a vindication and validation of the whole campaign to the international community,that it was worth taking the risk of outcries about violations of the Geneva convention,and to just get the news out there as quickly as possible. Obviously it hasn't put an end to the insurgency,but I think there's no doubt it had to discourage and dissuade at least some insurgents;hopefully it will save some lives of both soldiers and innocent civilians.And I think most important is the elimination of a huge,long term fear factor for ordinary Iraqi people.I remember during the war,columnist/war correspondent Thomas Friedman was asked what he thought it would take to convince Iraqis that Saddam was actually deposed and could no longer harm them.He said that either you'd have to capture him alive and show him in chains,with DNA and dental verification of his identity;or if he was killed,if the Iraqi people could actually see and touch his corpse and dip their hands in his blood,again with DNA/dental verification,then they MIGHT,he emphasized,might actually begin to believe that it was indeed true.But he said, in any event,after almost 3 decades of constant and brutal fear,it will probably take a long,long time,perhaps even a generation, of safety,peace and stability for the ordinary Iraqi people to feel truly free to go about their daily lives,to voice opinions or participate politically without fear of retaliation.Really,really sad.

Your point is well taken.I've heard it said that an expert climber or extreme skier on an extreme route can actually be safer than a novice on an easy route,due to the advanced level of skill,conditioning,preparedness and experience.

Thanks for the reminder;that's a bad writing habit of mine.Used to get those little paragraph symbols all over my papers when I was a kid in school--but then I started reading Kerouac,so I'mprobablyluckyallmywritingdoesn'tlooklikethis.

Guys,guys!!!!!Mary Lou has a right to her opinions and a right to express them,regardless of what they may be.That right is an absolutely essential part of what our nation is all about,and I heard it said by a recently retired general on the news this morning ,that he thought there was not a single soldier on duty right now in Iraq or Afghanistan who doesn't consider the right to freedom of speech,and the other freedoms granted in the Bill of Rights, to be a basic reason that they're over there doing what they're doing, for many of them a very important reason as to why they are even IN the military. And likewise,you guys,Griz,Trask,etc.,have that same right-to say what you want to say,however you want to say it.But it's worth considering that when that verges on just trying bash someone down in anger,intolerance,invective, and hatred,we begin to lose sight of the fact that the country works best when we honor each other as fellow citizens and fellow countrymen,and that the idea and vision of what America is,is still a work in progress,and that work and vision will keep us vital and strong and free only so long as it continues to grow in respect and tolerance for the freedom to dissent and to think critically.Dissent is critical to the maintenance of freedom;without it,tyrants such as Saddam have free reign.People like Saddam come to power when no has the guts to say,"Wait a minute,I don't know if I like what I see going on here",or even just "WHAT'S going on here?".Dissent is,if anything,MORE patriotic than continual and uncritical,unthinking acceptance and parroting of the majority line of thought,because it is an effort on the part of true patriots to help the ship of state correct its course and avoid the rocks and shoals of blind obedience or uncaring laziness and cynicism,greed for power,and corruption that all governments,nations and people are subject to.The next time you feel your anger rise in your chest and feel like smashing someone you disagree with,try(try) to remember Edmund Burke,one of the framers of the Constitution,who said,"I may disagree with what you say; but I will defend to the death your right to say it." We are all in this together,living in the midst of a huge,messy,imperfect,corrupt,hopelessly fucked up and yet at the same time,wonderful,amazing,beautiful and immensely successful and miraculous social experiment which has given and created more freedom ,diversity,and outrageous opportunity to more people than any other country in the history of the world.It's a great and roaring river,man; carrying us all along on a deep and thundering tide of energy and thought and spirit for one hell of a ride.Try to tie that down with the fear and rigidity of anger and hatred and you just muddy the flow; even the rocks eventually get worn away, because the river knows how to use the very stones to grind them down. In India,the common greeting is "Shanti",which simply means,"I salute the light within you." It's a recognition of the fact that,regardless of belief or language or race,we're all of the same dust,that we're all here by the grace of a Power or powers beyond us,and that to live and survive takes will,strength and spirit,and that that effort and love and committment is worthy of respect,no matter how poorly or imperfectly it may be accomplished. Quite a few years ago,I was a working cowboy on a sizeable cow outfit near Jordan,Montana.We all had about 10 horses in our personal string,and I had one big old ex-rodeo bucking horse named Hippo.They called him that because he was big(1400 lbs.plus),gray,and a yawner.He also was known to bawl like a grizzly bear when he bucked;when I arrived on the outfit and he was turned into my string,all the other guys told me me to watch him like a hawk or he'd be sure to buck my ass clear to Calgary and paw the moon down doing it.In the eight months I worked there,I never had so much as a crow hop out of Hippo;we got along fine.My last day on the outfit dawned clear,bright and very crisp and cold,the first hard frost of the season.We saddled up in the dawn light,with the steam pouring out of the horses' nostrils and the frost glinting on the ground.Weather like this will make cowhorses frisky,and we had a few little bucking horse shows as everyone got the kinks busted out;my mount for the day just happened to be Hippo.As I cinched him up,I thought for sure he'd be humping up and ready to do some cloudwalking,but he never gave a rustle.Until I hit the saddle,that is.No sooner had I gathered the reins and gained the off stirrup,when Hippo bogged his head with a savage jerk to one side,let out a bellow like a grizzly and cougar combined and launched us into the sky.I took a deep seat,held on to my hat and got ready for all hell on the hurricane deck as Hippo reached the crest of his giant arc,swept his massive front hooves along the sides of his head trying to paw off the entire headstall,and played a tune on my spurs with his hind feet,trying to kick my feet out of the stirrups.And now the ground,frozen hard as iron,was coming up fast,and I got set for the jarring,driving shock that would crunch my spine double and chip my teeth as I cracked my chin on the saddlehorn when Hippo came down with all four feet in a spot about the size of a dinner plate and launched off again....except that he didn't.Because Hippo,damn his sarcastic soul,landed like a ballerina's creampuff dream,threw his head up at just the right angle to watch a cow,and lit into a high reaching mile-eating trot that brought me up right beside the cowboss and the segundo.We were all laughing like hell and you could see old Hippo was mighty pleased with himself;and the cowboss looked over at me with a big grin on his face and said,"It's a great life,ain't it,cowboy?". It takes all kinds,boys; relax; enjoy the ride; don't forget to laugh---and let 'er buck!

You guys were smart. Since I first came to the NW in 1965,there have been a number of avalanche deaths in this same area,particularly as the regional population and popularity of outdoor activities has grown.One of the worst I remember was a father and son who died beneath Chair Peak about 6 years ago.This whole area of the Chair Peak/Snow Lake basins has been notorious for avalanche danger for many years,and it always amazes me to see that people still seem to take this area for granted as some kind of harmless winter wonderland playground.In his very first edition of Cascade Alpine Guide(1973 folks!!)in the three-volume format,Fred Beckey says, "Mean annual precipitation ranges from about 120 inches in the Snoqualmie Pass peaks to about 180 inches in the vicinity of Mt. Index.Heavy winter snows accumulate on countless avalanche slopes and slides often spread out to cover flat valleys and meadows with debris.The traveler should be especially wary of avalanches in winter and spring."And in the second edition in '87,he amended this to add, "Mean annual snowfall for Snoqualmie Pass is 398(!) inches;mean annual temperature is 51 degrees."He further adds,"The traveler should be especially wary of avalanche danger after heavy snowfall and during any unstable conditions. " Anyone who has even the most rudimentary understanding of what snow is,and how it is affected by temperature,should be able to at least get some kind of rough hint from these words,or,to coin an acronym, STHOOTMS!(StayTheHellOutOfTheMountainsStupid!)when it's deep,fresh,and warm. Also important to remember is that it doesn't take a whole mountainside of snow coming down to kill you; even a little 10 or 15 foot slope will carry more than enough snowload to sweep you off a rimrock ,into a creek, bury your ass upside down in a tree well,or gather enough speed to dislocate limbs or spine,or crack your skull like an eggshell against a rock or tree,not to mention just plain suffocating you.Anyone and everyone planning to venture into the mountains(yes,the Chair Peak group are actually real mountains,boys and girls) in winter should take a Level I avalanche course at the very least,should study terrain and learn to plan travel routes that avoid avalanche areas,and never travel alone or without transceivers and the ability to use them and all other avalanche equipment,anytime you're going into avalanche prone territory.Signs to this effect should be posted at trailheads,just as chain warnings are out on the highway.There are always those who insist on wanting to go solo,and I have no desire to impinge on anyone's personal desires or freedom of choice,but in the case of avalanche conditions and territory,solo backcountry travelers need to at least consider the very great risk they may bring to bear on rescuers, as well as the many tragic instances of family and friends left behind.It's plenty dangerous enough even with a group,but at least then you have a chance.If you travel solo in avalanche areas during unsafe conditions,you'd better have your affairs in order and best of luck.Even with a group,know how to travel so as to avoid exposing more than one person at a time to danger when crossing avalanche-prone terrain.This was the classic mistake made earlier this season with Rudi Beglinger's disaster in B.C.And another guide in the area commented at the time of that accident,remarking on Beglinger's many years of experience and extreme level of expertise,"If it can happen to Rudi,it can happen to anyone."Yes indeedy,be careful,and may you all have a great and safe season and many,many more.

If in fact you did really have everything,that would most likely mean you'd also have the place(s) to put it.

ASSHOLE OF SPADES TRUMPED There was a comment on Saddam's cowardice in the face of capture by the current Head of the Iraqi Delegation that "all tyrants are cowards",which is for the most part true from history.Imagine being in a position of being competely unable to trust anyone.After 24 years of living like that,even before the fall of his regime,he had to be a pretty unstable guy,to say the very least. There's been a lot of commentary on just what this will actually mean for the continued effort to bring the country and region into equilibrium.The concensus seems to be,including the best military opinion,that there will no doubt be some continued violence by die-hard fedayeen and other insurgents.But it's very significant in terms of eliminating an emotional and Baathist party rationale and rallying point for any hopes of the old regime somehow continuing a guerilla war of attrition,to eventually claw their way back to power,such as what eventually drove the Russians out of Afghanistan.(And of course that happened in combination with overwhelming financial problems that made the Russians unable to continue).There was an excellent program on the History Channel last week which documented the more than 10 year process of restoring Germany to some semblance of order and stability after WWII,and compared that to the present situation in Iraq.The very exact same problems occurred in post-Nazi Germany as those now taking place in Iraq,but on a much more widespread and more deeply rooted scale.Insurgency and the hiding of Nazi regime members,bombings and sabotage were largely supported by the general populace,and over the period from VE day to 1951,some 2700 American soldiers were killed due to ambushes,suicide bombings,and other sabotage operations.That's over 500 servicemen a year.It was not until almost 10 years later that the Germans were allowed to form their own representational government by the UN,and it's suspected that there are still a large number of former Nazi party members,military officers and operatives who simply vanished into the general populace and whose secrets were never revealed by family or friends.To this point,as difficult as it has been,things are actually proceeding on a much faster time scale in Iraq,although no one wants to make any projections on how long the US will be there,just yet. Finally,in regards to what Trask's buddy in the military said about the troops on the ground and the gritty foot-by-foot,day-by-day price they have paid to get things to this point,it was Dan Rather who made the point,not once, but 4 or 5 times in his live program this morning,that it has been ordinary soldiers,"boots on the ground" , who have carried out all these search and capture missions of the characters on the Deck of Cards,and it was just such a team who captured Saddam last night.I am only too happy that he didn't harm anyone else during his capture,and although there will probably be some discussion on just where and how he should be tried(there are a number of other countries who claim injury from Saddam's actions,and there will almost certainly be an effort to see that he's tried in an international court)I absolutely agree that he should have to answer to his own people on their own ground.And in spite of my disagreements with various aspects of the Bush administration's policies on not only the way this war was propogated,but many other domestic and international issues as well,this is one liberal who is more than happy to give credit where credit is due,to commend and honor the terrible sacrifices made by those in the military,and their families,and to celebrate the final demise of yet another tyrant.Now on to Osama!and may Iraq be free forever. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Heaven's net casts wide; though its' meshes are coarse,nothing slips through..." -Lao Tzu,Tao te Ching 658 B.C.