ivan

"remember, boys, flies spread disease...so keep your's closed!"

11/11 - my 30th day climbing at beacon since the sun of summer, and damn far from that it were - broken social connections, a total failure to rendezvous w/ the 'hound, so i shot out to beacon alone to see if he and his wouldn't eventually get it all sorted out (we planned to do the dynamite cave soon thereafter) a solo lap while waiting - frozen hands - slime snot suppurating out of many a rocky orifice - on the trail down met the boys hiking up, n' bryan and i headed off to do another, roped, lap sleet n' sheets of sleazy rain for much of the rest of the day, snow shitting out of the sky at the conclusion of the cave - cans of pabst n' pbr n' all sorta things to chuckle over deep in the foreboding bowels of the earth

thanks for the link - i'd never read old boy biddle's li'l take on the subject, and had to have a healthy gut-chuckle at his concluding philippic: "But it is a sad commentary on our civilization that a few among those who visit Beacon Rock seem to delight in doing all they can to destroy its beauty. Mosses and ferns are torn tip along the trail, the wild flowers picked, loose rocks rolled down, and names scratched at every available point. The perpetrators of these deeds, when called to order by the caretaker, often retaliate with the vilest abuse. When will the uncivilized element of our population he educated to the point that it will be content to enjoy beauty without trying to destroy it?"

BIAS ALERT!!!

flu vaccines...meh...most years i don't get one, some i do (they *are* free if the hmo that's porking me already won't charge me extra)...can't recall getting the flu in a decade or more? shit, ever since i was an adult? my steady diet of adventure and dangerous narcotics no doubt has been far more relevant as a nostum?

indeed, the arena's obvious in a # of those pix - no need to let facts get in the way of a good story, though, this is beacon, afterall

was free, so yes, why not?

i can't begin to conceive of a road-trip w/o the magic fast-forwarding medicine

unless the system collapses, which usually happens when it gets too top heavy. i think the constitution's got a good long life still in it, so not certain what "the system collapsing" would look like in anything near the distant future 2 party and multi-party systems share pretty much the same lamentable limitations, but both are clearly superior to single party ones, so we're all just gonna have to make do, 'least till the venutians come down to deliver us all to dog's everloving grace

pie-in-the-sky pondering at any rate - the odds of convincing 75% of the states to drop the electoral college are miiiiighty long, and the EC, established by the constitution, makes 3rd parties pretty much impossible

i think one big part of the problem is the two party winner take all system we have. parliamentary systems hardly blow ours out of the water, would you not agree? republics aren't panaceas...

lbj is evidence enough of how far a party and president can fall in just one term...

surely pink can't be bitter about the great state of colorado going to the chronic-side?

FELICITY spreadwell! (spreads very well) and that, right there, ladies n' uh...no gentlewomen, is why he needed to go! might say being head of the nations top spy operation when you've opened yerself up to being blackmailed ain't such a good thing...

good letter - short n' sweet, not unlike a top-notch hummer - doesn't sound like he was prepared to take "no" for an answer from b-ho HEADQUARTERS Central Intelligence Agency "9 November 2012 Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA. After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation. As I depart Langley, I want you to know that it has been the greatest of privileges to have served with you, the officers of our Nation's Silent Service, a work force that is truly exceptional in every regard. Indeed, you did extraordinary work on a host of critical missions during my time as director, and I am deeply grateful to you for that. Teddy Roosevelt once observed that life's greatest gift is the opportunity to work hard at work worth doing. I will always treasure my opportunity to have done that with you and I will always regret the circumstances that brought that work with you to an end. Thank you for your extraordinary service to our country, and best wishes for continued success in the important endeavors that lie ahead for our country and our Agency. With admiration and appreciation, David H. Petraeus"

And Obama should not have accepted the resignation and.....we're off!!!

can't open a bag of weed in public? "naw man, you can't just walk into a mcdonalds, roll a joint n' start puffing away. they want you to smoke in your home or certain designated areas."

ouch, judging by the pic of his wife from his swearing-in ceremony into the cia, i can imagine why a dude w/ such charisma and in such good shape might be awfully tempted to wander... i'm sure fox will find a way to critize obama for accepting the resignation, joe, rest easy

"if hitler had coke there woulda been jews in the bathroom w/ him" - dennis leary

that actually would be la yerba del diablo, jimson's weed, which perhaps ought be illegal given how fucked it makes you (and for how long, and how terribly!) - the fact that it grows wild and vociferously all over the southeast, like kudzo, would make it a bit of a bitch to eradicate though

i've met one iranian, back when i was first learning to climb, who is cool as hell - friendly, bold, totally pissed at the joke that is his government, yet simultaneously a great patriot who no doubt would fight anyone who invaded his home, for whatever reason...

like all the other secret shit every administration, republican or democrat, is doing in our name, we only occasionally catch wind of it - our relationship w/ iran is so deeply poisoned, and plenty through our own foolishness, i've not the first clue how to go about fixing it...

jesus, reverse the situation - if iran was routinely flying drones over our country we'd carpet-bomb tehran - sure, okay, maybe this time the drone wasn't over their turf, but that obviously ain't always the case, given that we admitted one crashed recently in iran, right?

x30 at the high school level

wtf?! you can't jerk out tuesday and not be ready for wendsday - cuz ya know what wendsday night is, amirite? it's bidness time! [video:youtube]