JoshK

God what bullshit that is. Checking vehicles is one thing, but actually stopping people to check is horseshit.

If I had 6 days off work I'd rather do something more interesting than hang out on mt baker for 6 days straight.

6 days on baker!? good lawd...

How can you too, who claim Bush is a good president, honestly call somebody else stupid?

There is one guy near my house who has started guilt tripping people. If it weren't for the fact that I'd make his day by beating his ass and giving him reason to sue I would beat his ass.

This sentence sums up what I have thought for quite a while: "Mr. Bush's credibility rides on finding W.M.D.'s, but America's future, and the future of the Mideast, rides on our building a different Iraq." The best scenario I see coming out of this is an improved, progressive Iraq and no WMDs found. The results will (hopefully) be complete embarrasment of the bush cartel and his removal from office in the next election, along with benifit for the rest of the world from a.) an improved iraq and middle east situation b.) no bush.

Because We Could By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN he failure of the Bush team to produce any weapons of mass destruction (W.M.D.'s) in Iraq is becoming a big, big story. But is it the real story we should be concerned with? No. It was the wrong issue before the war, and it's the wrong issue now. Why? Because there were actually four reasons for this war: the real reason, the right reason, the moral reason and the stated reason. The "real reason" for this war, which was never stated, was that after 9/11 America needed to hit someone in the Arab-Muslim world. Afghanistan wasn't enough because a terrorism bubble had built up over there — a bubble that posed a real threat to the open societies of the West and needed to be punctured. This terrorism bubble said that plowing airplanes into the World Trade Center was O.K., having Muslim preachers say it was O.K. was O.K., having state-run newspapers call people who did such things "martyrs" was O.K. and allowing Muslim charities to raise money for such "martyrs" was O.K. Not only was all this seen as O.K., there was a feeling among radical Muslims that suicide bombing would level the balance of power between the Arab world and the West, because we had gone soft and their activists were ready to die. The only way to puncture that bubble was for American soldiers, men and women, to go into the heart of the Arab-Muslim world, house to house, and make clear that we are ready to kill, and to die, to prevent our open society from being undermined by this terrorism bubble. Smashing Saudi Arabia or Syria would have been fine. But we hit Saddam for one simple reason: because we could, and because he deserved it and because he was right in the heart of that world. And don't believe the nonsense that this had no effect. Every neighboring government — and 98 percent of terrorism is about what governments let happen — got the message. If you talk to U.S. soldiers in Iraq they will tell you this is what the war was about. The "right reason" for this war was the need to partner with Iraqis, post-Saddam, to build a progressive Arab regime. Because the real weapons of mass destruction that threaten us were never Saddam's missiles. The real weapons that threaten us are the growing number of angry, humiliated young Arabs and Muslims, who are produced by failed or failing Arab states — young people who hate America more than they love life. Helping to build a decent Iraq as a model for others — and solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — are the necessary steps for defusing the ideas of mass destruction, which are what really threaten us. The "moral reason" for the war was that Saddam's regime was an engine of mass destruction and genocide that had killed thousands of his own people, and neighbors, and needed to be stopped. But because the Bush team never dared to spell out the real reason for the war, and (wrongly) felt that it could never win public or world support for the right reasons and the moral reasons, it opted for the stated reason: the notion that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction that posed an immediate threat to America. I argued before the war that Saddam posed no such threat to America, and had no links with Al Qaeda, and that we couldn't take the nation to war "on the wings of a lie." I argued that Mr. Bush should fight this war for the right reasons and the moral reasons. But he stuck with this W.M.D. argument for P.R. reasons. Once the war was over and I saw the mass graves and the true extent of Saddam's genocidal evil, my view was that Mr. Bush did not need to find any W.M.D.'s to justify the war for me. I still feel that way. But I have to admit that I've always been fighting my own war in Iraq. Mr. Bush took the country into his war. And if it turns out that he fabricated the evidence for his war (which I wouldn't conclude yet), that would badly damage America and be a very serious matter. But my ultimate point is this: Finding Iraq's W.M.D.'s is necessary to preserve the credibility of the Bush team, the neocons, Tony Blair and the C.I.A. But rebuilding Iraq is necessary to win the war. I won't feel one whit more secure if we find Saddam's W.M.D.'s, because I never felt he would use them on us. But I will feel terribly insecure if we fail to put Iraq onto a progressive path. Because if that doesn't happen, the terrorism bubble will reinflate and bad things will follow. Mr. Bush's credibility rides on finding W.M.D.'s, but America's future, and the future of the Mideast, rides on our building a different Iraq. We must not forget that.

Independent of this conversation, camping on the snow is great, but it's the time of year when I really really appreciate a non-snow place to sit and cook. Nothing like warm rock to chill out on.

Whoa...so you are saying that trask is really that "visions of a cheesburger" guy!??!

I did baker for the first time the other day (granted, by the NR, not C/D) but I can't see the logic in doing it as an overnighter. That heliotrope ridge trailhead puts you pretty close to the mountian. I'd do anything I could do avoid hauling overnight crap up there.

The Myo series? Besides looking really gay and being expensive how do they compare with the gemini?

Keeping polls open for those who have already arrived at the polling station to register a vote is perfectly legal last time I checked. Illegally harassing LEGAL BLACK CITIZEN VOTERS for a second piece of ID in order to raise the bar for voting is NOT LEGAL. GWB is the president, and it's a shame, but the fact remains that what went on in Florida was the most sinister corruption of presidential voting that has EVER taken place in this country, and the one instance in which the actions of a few VERY LIKELY changed the course of an entire presidential election. Relax, fairweather, you repubs got your way. You got a bunch of nice new tax cuts that benifit the middle and upper classes and screw the poor to prove it. Just be thankful.

Again, I said US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. Also, please elaborate on your claims. The Miami Herald settled nothing in my opinion. What katherine harris pulled in floriday, not even touching the disenfranchisement (is that a word?) of less than wealthy and many non-white voters in that state was a fucking disgrace.

250,000 LEDs.

mmm...16 year old blonde chick with 36-24-32...

I bought a 3,000,000 candle power spotlight from the local car part store and smply use that. 20 minutes on full power, 40 minutes on half power. sure, it's not that long but I can fuckin' melt my way out of a crevasse if need be.

What the fuck do we need commerical guiding in the stuarts for!? Any jackass that can't backpack up to the enchantments without the help of a paid guide has no business being there anyway.

It must be the wonderful dental practices in that part of europe that attracks the ladies...

The monte cristo area s

Cool, thanks for the advice guys. This backs up exactly what I was thinking, esp. in regards to going up that hellhole that is downkey+bachelor creek. I'd rather do that in a delierious daze than have to start out the trip on that admittidely bad note. Another question for those more familliar with the route: Do you think this year's meager snow pack will have a negative impact on the ability to ski the route? I'm thinking most of it is above 5k so early-mid june should still be good for skiing, even this year. I would assume the low spots (basically the exit and exterance) are walked most years anyway, huh?

Hey, for all of you that have done the ptarmigan traverse, did you go north->south, or south->north? From what I can tell, it seems north->south is the more popular direction to go. Is there a particular reason why one direction is more preferred? Also, what all peaks are easily bagged with minimal gear? I'd like to get away with a lightweight rope and probably just a picket a piece, so anything that doesn't require rock pro or a second tool is good.

Metallica.