Alpinfox

GriGrease?

That's because you understand so little about them. People always fear what they do not understand. PP, Could you please define "them". I don't know what you are talking about.

I'm sure that part of GWB's motivation for invading the middle east is to "make the world safer", but I believe economics, religion, the unifying/empowering nationalistic effects of war, and personal vendettas play a bigger role. PP, regarding your table, here is another: 1 Saudi Arabia 2 Iraq 3 Kuwait 4 United Arab Emirates 5 Iran 6 Venezuela 7 Russia 8 Mexico 9 Libya 10 US top 10 countries in terms of oil reserves.

According to a certain chemist/climber on this website, helmet sunscreen might not be a bad idea.

I believe GWB would very much like to invade Iran. The guy is crazy and is on a crusade to "democratize" (read: christianize and open to capitalist markets) the middle east. He would probably do so if he could get the draft up and running. As for Korea, they already have the bomb, so we gotta play nice.

You also weren't vociferously criticizing Clinton to the degree you do so w/r/t to Bush's policies, now were you? Seems the intensity of your indignation is directly proportional to partisan politics. As for your smart-ass comment about my use of the word "keen". I did criticize Clinton, but I assume by "you" you mean "Democrats" or "Liberals" or something. I think had Clinton invaded Sudan you would have heard just as much yelling and griping as you have seen re:Iraq. Since it was a surgical strike type operation, by the time the public knew about it, it was over. That's quite a bit different than dragging the country and hundreds of thousands of American troops into a multi-year long war, killing tens-of-thousands of civilians, toppling a government, costing the US trillions of dollars, tarnishing our world image, etc. Ah, but how often do we hear that there is "no threat from Iraq", implying "no national security" issue. One would conclude that this would be a litmus test for those making the argument w/r/t the necessary conditions for the use of military force. But you say there was "no ulterior motive" w/r/t Kosovo, just a "humanitarian mission". Meaning "no national security issue". That's the first point of hypocrisy. Then, when those who argue that the current mission in Iraq is a "humanitarian issue", that is shot down as a legitimate reason for our presence - "the Iraqis need to take care of their own problems". But, in Kosovo, a "humanitarian mission" was justification for the use of force. That's the second point of hypocrisy. The time to intervene for humanitarian reasons in Iraq was during the genocide of Kurds (mid 1980s I think?), not in 2002. There was NO threat to US national security from Iraq in 2002. We had Saddam in a tight little box where he could do no harm.

YOU miss the point. I, for one, would not have supported invading Iraq no matter who was president. I wasn't too keen on the use of military force in Kosovo either, but at least there we had a humanitarian mission and the support of the UN with little/no ulterior motive (that I am aware of anyway). I didn't support Clinton's air strikes of pharmaceutical factories in Sudan either. So your insinuation that political affiliation colors support of military action is incorrect, at least in my case.

Bullshit. Kosovo Kosovo wasn't/ain't Iraq.

"The three warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years." SOURCE Other signs of climate change: Most number of tornadoes/year in North America (most to least): 2004 (1717events), 1998 (1424), 2003 (1368) Figure 7t-11: Average number of tornadoes and tornado fatalities per year in the United States for the period 1916 to 1996. (Source: Oklahoma Climatological Survey). Warmest years on record for North America in order warmest to coolest: 2005 (projected), 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004 Yesterday while climbing at Lil' Si, I was bitten by a few mosquitos. I don't think they are supposed to be out in February? Western Washington currently has 25% of the normal snowpack for this time of year. It's going to be a bad year for salmon, forest fires, farmers, electicity prices, kayakers, etc.

Bullshit.

A GI Joe avatar once said: Wise words... yes indeed, wise words...

Whatever you do don't tangle his ropes You've been warned.... and don't keep him "too tight" on a TR from above. It's probably also best to steer the conversation away from anything like politics. Stick to climbing, sheep, polish vodka, and "how much those clownpuching jokers at cc.com suck".

none at the Seattle store.

Lil' Si was nice and dry So some climbin' I thought I'd try The brownstone was a warm up Mambo Jambo pumped us up Goddess was the bestest and Vudu Guru was nice too I think Miller I did see he has a girlfriend, very pretty Thanks Benighted.

Man, I thought shit like that only happened in Idaho.

It might be time for a new helmet if your's looks like this: or this: or this:

All that remains is for someone to mention a goat or sheep and we can pretty much put this thread to bed.

sho'nuff

Thread One Thread Two

That depends, how do you plan to use your certificate? Is your resume printed on eVENT or Schoeller?

I thought your jaws locked up on the rope in lead mode... Damn, I wish I thought of that one.

More so than a reverso? You are talking about when using it in lead belay (rather than autoblock) mode, correct?

Hey Jayson, Did you go out there today? Are you going on Thr as well? I sent you a PM.

Kong Gi-Gi If I were going to buy a new belay device, I'd probably check out the Mammut Matrix. It looks to be everything that the Reverso is, but perhaps a bit more durable (no sharp edge formation) and with smoother action. I've never seen one in person; anybody know of a place in Seattle that has them? I just remembered that I found an ATC in the Index parking lot that had been run over by cars a few times. The wire was bent at 90-degrees, but I picked it up, bent the wire back, and Szyjakowski said, "hey! I need a belay device, can I have that?" I think he is still using that one.

Ahhh.... I bet this has something to do with THIS. Have fun and take pictures of potential ice lines for us.