Buckaroo

I hate to be cynical but good luck on that one MattP I think since Kennedy, they get a pres in office and they sit him down and show him some footage of the Kennedy assassination from another angle, never seen by the public, then they ask "any questions?"

Where is the proof that torture works to obtain intel? How many of the 800 or so "detainees" in Gitmo have been proven to be "Al Qaida" (Al CIAduh) links?

LOLZ!!!!!

ann coulter, anorexic crack whore, better use the Crocodile Dundee crotch check before you go for that skank * The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet — it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars — that's the Biblical view. o Oil Good; Democrats bad; October 12, 2000 * God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, 'Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It's yours.' o Fox News; Hannity & Colmes; June 20, 2001

the truth of the matter is that when we first invaded Afghan we had a $5000 bounty for "terrorists". The warlords turned in anybody that was handy, the military didn't have time, resources or inclination to investigate if these "terrorists" were legit. Hence the 500 or so of the 800 at Gitmo that were released during Bush's term. There was no evidence against them. They were never tried or convicted of anything, they were never even charged. But some of them were randomly tortured. Many suspect that the ones they won't release were tortured more than others with the suspicion they can't be released because they will testify against their captors. Less than a dozen of the original 800 have even been charged and none have been tried in a real Habeas Corpus court.

The Feb 15, 2003 worldwide Iraq war protests were the largest in history. the graphic images of Iraq are out there, they're just not on the mainstream press. there were also further more extreme images from Abu Ghraib that we've been told about but never seen. I think you guys are missing the real story/reason for torture. and waterboarding is a euphemism, and even simulated drowning is inaccurate. This kind of torture is actual drowning, you actually think you are going to die, and people have died of drowning from it. And the inclination puts the carbon dioxide at the top of your lungs, causing your mind to go into instant overload. You could say it's just as bad as being killed because it ruins the rest of your life. You are never the same, victims typically can't shower and can't even go outside when it rains. Some have even committed suicide. Besides that at least 100 prisoners have been outright killed in US run detention camps. About 25 of them are being investigated as murder. back to the real reason for torture. Look at the timeline. There was no insurgency to speak of until Abu Ghraib. Then inside a supposedly secure prison 100's of photos and videos were allowed to be taken, then they got out of the secure area and published in the corporate owned media. Presto/chango, instant insurgency. Funny how everything they did was a case study of the things that most enrage the Arab mind. ever since the Russians folded the military industrial complex has been looking for an enemy to expend their $million dollar cruise missiles on. "terrorism" is the perfect enemy, and if one country gives up you just move it to another. They didn't torture for actionable intelligence, they don't care if we're going to be attacked, they want us to be attacked. They want to enrage the "enemy" so he will fight. Any expert on interrogation will tell you torture is not for reliable info, it's for intimidation and getting what you want to hear. They wanted to hear that Al Qaida was in Iraq. They wanted to hear that dirt camp terrorists masterminded 911. It's for getting the opposition to fight, because they know if they're captured they are going to be tortured. It's for creating a recruitment poster for the "enemy" to build them up so they'll have something to throw those $million dollar bombs against.

Nice TR, don't you EVER regret it. Sounds like yuv got sum moxy running it on thin gear. Don't let anyone on CC like this bother you, they're probably just jealous they didn't get out or sumthin... just let the positives outweigh the negatives...

ROTFLMAO!!! If there's enough room for a tent, you're not on a hard enough route. seriously now... free standing a little more usable, non a little lighter prefer single layer gore tex for less weight

hey, the occasional hyperbole, what can I say. I don't push like I used to on the falls, only at the crags. and the light stuff is because I'm a small person, can feel 5 more pounds pretty easily.

Under 5 days, GoLite Breeze 11oz. rated at 20 lbs but will do 40 with a little shoulder conditioning. on sale $40. (added a waist strap) over 5 days, GoLite Gust 1 lbs 6 oz. $80 Yes these will tear if abused but generally hold up and get repaired with the sewing machine if there's tears. Never any catastrophic tears, just little holes now and then. Sportiva Trango S, lightest of it's grade, the 1st gen did abrade easily but as already stated in the thread, shoe-goo or seam sealer repaired. will climb 5.10 edging. don't know about falling on skinny ropes other than some top roping action. Don't climb to fall in the alpine. Do go for the edge protection ropes regardless of size, but especially with the skinnies, you need edge rating for them. the only compromise of the new lite gear I see is more frequent repairs, but for an easier approach/climb and potentially more days food weight it's a good trade off. Have done a couple big climbs alpine style carrying everything up and over that wouldn't have been possible or as fun with older heavier gear. some exceptions are alum cramps and toy axes, don't like these on big mountains if you think there's possible ice.

Full NE Buttress of Slesse w/Crossover Descent, Liberty Crack, Outer Space, Drury Falls, Dreamer w/5.10 Slab Variation.

Middle Fork Road Closure, mile 1.4 http://www.wta.org/trail-news/news/middle-fork-snoqualmie-road-closure http://www.wta.org/trail-news/news/middle-fork-road-closed-through-summer-2009 went up to try and recon a walk-off for Mt Garfield Infinite Bliss. The road is closed with numerous washouts including the Taylor River Bridge

awesome photo

Looked at all my photos of this climb, have 2 of them where the right side is mostly touching down and 2 of them with it looking similar to your first pick, but none with the free hanging stuff looking quite as heavy. Also recall seeing chunks at the bottom.

I thought that had been done already? They put another one somewhere in another location on the rock, but they didn't take off the old defaced one. Or has someone damaged the new one already? I remember me and Yoder one time water/sand blasted all the graffiti. It was back on there within a couple of weeks. the 7 continents AKA 7 big rocks problem goes from the large rock on the left bottom of the main chimney then across the chimney up and right diagonally following the obvious largest rocks to finish near the top of the big easy ramp all the kids climb. You can't touch anything else but the 7 rocks hands or feet.

Damn, someone should have taken up Fairweather on that bet.

Ashley Todd, the poster girl for the 2008 repugs dishonest deceitful incompetent racist

the primary source of the Salon article is the Army Times, what's the matter, don't trust them either?

Actually when they took away guns in Australia, crime went up because criminals knew their victims were undefended.

Agree, if the repugs didn't do anything about abortion when they held all 3 branches for 6+ years, they are never going to do anything about it. Why? Because it gets votes.

You are making too many assumptions. First of all a fact is a fact regardless of where you get it. Don't trust Salon, try one of THESE. Secondly, I strongly support gun rights. I've owned numerous guns over the years and enjoy shooting. Like others on here I don't think you are going to hold off the swat teams if they really want you but guns may serve as somewhat of a deterrent to a fascist takeover. My main point is you guys blame Gore and Obama and whoever comes along from the dems for wanting to grab guns by legislation, which, even though they may want some sort of controls, is highly problematic given the NRA and blue-dog dems. In other words it's not going to happen. And at the same time you're blaming the dems the repugs under bush are in fact physically taking away guns on a trial balloon basis, preparatory to being able to do it on a larger scale. "So what is the difference between garrison soldiers and NorthCom deployed soldiers?" THEIR MISSION, why don't you read the article, afraid it might turn your faux news thinking on it's head? "If the posse comitatus act has been breached, then why oh why would you give up the only thing that stopped the british 225+ years ago? " EXACTLY. (Where did I say give up guns, I didn't) So quit worrying about just the guys with the D and start looking at the corporate R's too, where the real threat is coming from.

Where do you get your news? You should try to expand those sources. Bush has been working to dismantle Comitatus since he got into office. It's effectively already gone. In fact the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division is deployed in NA as we speak. Guess they don't report this stuff on Faux News ehh? Salon Article Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008 12:26 EDT Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"? (updated below - Update II) Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities." The article details: ..... For more than 100 years -- since the end of the Civil War -- deployment of the U.S. military inside the U.S. has been prohibited under The Posse Comitatus Act (the only exceptions being that the National Guard and Coast Guard are exempted, and use of the military on an emergency ad hoc basis is permitted, such as what happened after Hurricane Katrina). Though there have been some erosions of this prohibition over the last several decades (most perniciously to allow the use of the military to work with law enforcement agencies in the "War on Drugs"), the bright line ban on using the U.S. military as a standing law enforcement force inside the U.S. has been more or less honored -- until now. And as the Army Times notes, once this particular brigade completes its one-year assignment, "expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one." After Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration began openly agitating for what would be, in essence, a complete elimination of the key prohibitions of the Posse Comitatus Act in order to allow the President to deploy U.S. military forces inside the U.S. basically at will -- and, as usual, they were successful as a result of rapid bipartisan compliance with the Leader's demand (the same kind of compliance that is about to foist a bailout package on the nation). This April, 2007 article by James Bovard in The American Conservative detailed the now-familiar mechanics that led to the destruction of this particular long-standing democratic safeguard: The Defense Authorization Act of 2006, passed on Sept. 30, empowers President George W. Bush to impose martial law in the event of a terrorist "incident," if he or other federal officials perceive a shortfall of "public order," or even in response to antiwar protests that get unruly as a result of government provocations. . . . It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president's ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act. ....... The decision this month to permanently deploy a U.S. Army brigade inside the U.S. for purely domestic law enforcement purposes is the fruit of the Congressional elimination of the long-standing prohibitions in Posse Comitatus (although there are credible signs that even before Congress acted, the Bush administration secretly decided it possessed the inherent power to violate the Act). It shouldn't take any efforts to explain why the permanent deployment of the U.S. military inside American cities, acting as the President's police force, is so disturbing. Bovard: "Martial law" is a euphemism for military dictatorship. When foreign democracies are overthrown and a junta establishes martial law, Americans usually recognize that a fundamental change has occurred. . . . Section 1076 is Enabling Act-type legislation—something that purports to preserve law-and-order while formally empowering the president to rule by decree. The historic importance of the Posse Comitatus prohibition was also well-analyzed here. As the recent militarization of St. Paul during the GOP Convention made abundantly clear, our actual police forces are already quite militarized. Still, what possible rationale is there for permanently deploying the U.S. Army inside the United States -- under the command of the President -- for any purpose, let alone things such as "crowd control," other traditional law enforcement functions, and a seemingly unlimited array of other uses at the President's sole discretion? And where are all of the stalwart right-wing "small government conservatives" who spent the 1990s so vocally opposing every aspect of the growing federal police force? And would it be possible to get some explanation from the Government about what the rationale is for this unprecedented domestic military deployment (at least unprecedented since the Civil War), and why it is being undertaken now? UPDATE: As this commenter notes, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act somewhat limited the scope of the powers granted by the 2007 Act detailed above (mostly to address constitutional concerns by limiting the President's powers to deploy the military to suppress disorder that threatens constitutional rights), but President Bush, when signing that 2008 Act into law, issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize those new limitations. UPDATE II: There's no need to start manufacturing all sorts of scare scenarios about Bush canceling elections or the imminent declaration of martial law or anything of that sort. None of that is going to happen with a single brigade and it's unlikely in the extreme that they'd be announcing these deployments if they had activated any such plans. The point is that the deployment is a very dangerous precedent, quite possibly illegal, and a radical abandonment of an important democratic safeguard. As always with first steps of this sort, the danger lies in how the power can be abused in the future. -- Glenn Greenwald

Civil rights and liberties taken away under Bush posse comitatus Habeas Corpus warrant-less wiretapping (right to privacy) right to keep and bear arms New Orleans Katrina gun grab [video:youtube]

For the first time in my life I'm seriously considering moving to Canada. I'm between jobs and paying $400 mo health ins. Plus there's way more openings in Vancouver for my profession. Of course Canada is not too far behind the US, and if they implement the NAU like they want it will all be one country anyway.

The AP poll is a scam, their trying to deflect for when they try to steal it. the best poll is real clear politics, it takes all the major polls and keeps a running average, currently Obama by 7 LINK the only thing that matters though is the electoral college currently Obama 286, McCain 160 (270 to win) LINK