ivan

did a roundtrip drive up to seattle for a conference through the darkness and pouring rain, seeing jesus the whole damn way

them isis fellers won't know to shit or go blind when that sam-feller smacks'em

you can't out-fatalist me, damn you

the House Un-American Activities Committee

does that even mean anything?

So Obama made good on his promise to fuck up Iraq. Well, OK. i feel your pain - democracy ain't all it's cracked up to be, but it's the best we've got (though them isis-fellers suuuure do disagree )

kinda hard to play chess w/o reacting to your opponents moves - strategy's nice n' all, but humans often don't do what you want or expect the rapprochements with both iran and cuba have not been mere reactions - neither seemed at all likely w/ a bomb'em-into-the-stone-age conservatard at the helm either

i think you're right there tvashie, in that we were already slowly creeping towards another middle eastern full-on quagmire (and are likely on the eve of a new republican presidency which of course reveres the rashly swung hammer and will do it's best to be stupid on steroids) - yes the isis caliphate will fall shortly afterwards, and this of course is what differs them isis boys from AQ - the AQ types were wise enough not to declare claim to a particular chunk of territory b/c they knew there's no way they could hold it in the face of full western fury and yet, as i said above, muslim fundamentalism will not, and can not ever, suffer a final defeat - it's displayed remarkable resilience over the past millennia, capable of enduring the worst that despots could bring against it, despots who didn't have one iota of the democratic qualms our civilization rightly holds - what hostile ideology has ever really been stricken from the landscape? communists and anarchists, though they have faded from the height of their horrific glory in the late 19th through mid-20th century, still remain. christian psychos too as you mention. survivalists and millennialists of all stripes. it's always a fine time to be shit crazy best we can do is keep shit to shoe-level - it's near the knees now i reckon

smacks of the nazi "stabbed in the back" propaganda obama prominently campaigned on leaving iraq and won overwhelmingly - the democratic sentiment of the nation, which you are free to dislike, clearly was we needed to get the fuck out of that shitty little sandbox as i'm sure you know, the iraqis demanded the right to try american soldiers in their own courts if we stayed any longer - i doubt you would have stomached that - yet to have ignored this understandable demand, which americans themselves made in the wake of the boston massacre, and for good reason, would have branded us a nation of hypocrites - again, that might be fine for you, but most of us don't dig on that the left has no international policy strength? i wasn't aware that either side was characterized by anything other than incompetence in that regard, but that said, wasn't the greatest war in human history, a war that demanded a high degree of alliance-building and managing, fought and won by a leftist president? half the presidents of the cold war too were lefties, yet somehow the house didn't burn down? in hindsight, lefty clinton's take on iraq was a good deal better than bush's too.

nice redefinition of persecution Ivan. how so? to be sure i went for a word w/ proper alliteration - perhaps you feel persecution always infers the persecuted is innocent? swap in prosecution if you prefer

'cuz pogroms have such a stellar rep, amirite? as much faith as i have in paris' resilience, so too i have faith in religious lunatics ability to persevere in the face of persecution

random chance, but this coming week is the near 1000th anniversary of the west proclaiming it's intent to create a christian-caliphate in syria and the surrounding environs - funny how things don't much change... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Clermont

i have amazing confidence in the ability of the french people to absorb this most recent round of madness n' keep trucking on france has withstood onslaughts of saracens since at least the battle of tours - they'll get through this too what species of fanatic hasn't found fault w/ fair france at some point over the past 10 centuries? she's seen them all into the ground.

still in for another dead-whores crawl, skert as i am - can't do this weekend though as i got gubiment bidness to attend to - how 'bout round t-giving? would prefer jensens if'n its good wedder

the bridge of khazad-dum!

i'm ready for cassin tomorrow

11/11/15 - big rick's 53rd bday - four years in, it's a tradition that's becoming time honored, so i hope that heady-feeler don't tick off around the horizon too soon a mere 5-spot this time - rick, geoff, steve, new-olde-guy todde n' meself - rawdneezvouzed near trout lake n' formed a 3-car convoy for the crawl in - glorious glowing mt adams, festooned n fresh snow - great grim grey clouds n' piercing sun though it all - reached the sodden parking lot in a pretty appreciable situation - no rain, the road reasonably bare - a rare-old gut-laff accomplished along the way - never seem to have a straight-face w/ good old geoff, much as i might want to effect a fatwa upon his dumb ass from time to time forgot a 4th rope was worth porting along - we rambled down to just above the final tube n' found ourselves a bit perplexed - seemed too hare-brained to try down-soloing, seem to recall last time we rapped down but easy scrambled back up? many beers below ground at any rate - the atmosphere soaked with smoke n' cold body-sweat - breathing a big no-no if'n you want to walk and see where it is yer wending - fungus forming on old discarded food - it's always like a late saturday night in vegas down in that slick vaginal sick hole... here's to 53 more years for our hero

t-giving time is a very popular one for getting the chop on our big hill...

kewlest ranger i ever met was at RMP - that said, yup, pretty much a clutch of deep-fried kawk-sawkers across the country, generally speaking...

a circumnav back to cloud cap sounds nice n' all, but i sure preferred drinking beers in the timberline lodge n' awaiting for the calvarly to arrive (w/ the credit card no less )

11/3 n' 9 - days 38-9 - 2 straight solid scratches, the scorching flight, senses season-addled - the dim-dead light of the lying sky fading fast as i screech out, streaming out ribbons of bitter badness - the world is dying, my raison d'etre diminishing w/ each flagging day the rock a streaming slippery disaster - i treasure my skin too much to sally out either time, but i bound on down for a good look-see n' good-sense to sip down beer n' bid my time - today i figure why not set a base time for a bipedal ascent from the start of the sodden corner, walking much as i'd wander up by my hands, unconcerned w/ the clock, concentrating just on capturing the buzz - 20:20 to the top of uprising, 23:45 to the true corner railing, 28:00 to the summit - now if only a long stretch of dryness could set in so i could do some adventurous ambling comparisons...

adam, you got time to come w/ on wensday?

crazy. 1st time i did it was halloween of '03 in single digit temps - s side descent was beyond nutty

heresy. i'm pretty certain jim can't be topped on that account. steve's ned fucking flanders by comparison

ditto, but when? tomorrow's a bit short order this wendsday's our rick's b-day i know and i got it off as always - would dig some rainy day adventure...