nonanon

I figured it this way: 2 years at 730 26 weeks at 182 Last I checked that was 912 Either way, close enuf for terrorist work...

And the bad math...

The FDP was originally pitched as a way to pay for the USFS’s maintenance “back-log.” The funds were supposed to stay at the point of purchase. (Remember the 80% hype?) So say I buy this $85 pass and then spend every weekend climbing at Beacon Rock SP. Think either Beacon Rock or the Wa. State Parks will get my $68? Guess again. Even if Beacon Rock did get my money, (which they won’t) wtf did they do to deserve it? Is the WSP system replacing rap anchors now? The FDP isn’t a reasonable funding alternative. It’s a rip-off.

Andrew Denton: You said you didn't want to die alone. Did you have any sense of God? Joe Simpson: My mother was Southern Irish, and I was brought up as a devout Catholic. In fact, at one point I thought I'd become a priest, but I'd have made an appalling priest anyway… At 16, I asked all these monks some serious questions and they didn't come up with the answers, and I just decided I didn't believe in God. And I always thought, you know, if everything hit the fan, then I might turn around and say, you know, a couple of Hail Marys, "Can you get me out of here?" And in all those days, I never did once, not even in the crevasse. I never thought of some God or some omniscient being that'd lean down and give me help, and I feel, actually, if I had believed that, I just would've stopped and waited for it, and I would've died. And so in a way, that's why that loneliness, I think, came in. I was 25, I was fit, strong, ambitious. I wanted to climb the world and I was dying. There was no afterlife, there's no paradise, there's no heaven. It's just dead. And I really didn't want to lose that. I've got immense respect for other people's religions, be it Christian or Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim. I just…I don't happen to have a belief, and I've tested that atheism, so, um, I respect my own lack of belief now. Before, I was never quite sure.

Thanks for the skinny, Smoke. All that's left is the route? Three guys, climbing for 18 months, they're on 31 feet of top-rope ending on a ledge. I'm gonna guess it was Classic Crack. The first report said that he'd just finished the route and shouted, "Yeah!" Whatta way to go.

Bend would be better suited if your list items were reversed. You'd also have to include welded mud under the "rock" heading...

Either way we'll probably end up with both...

Twisp. No question.

OMG, it's The Passion of the Penguins!

Must of been pretty scary for their Moms and Dad.

Nice pic, Ursa. Brings back olde memories... from last Sunday! "Free your heels and your ass will follow!" -- Buttdawg

"THE PASSION": JESUS IN SUB-SPACE I first encountered "traditionalist" Catholicism back in the 1970s. As a teen, I went shopping for religions, or at least tried to sample all the selections before retreating into generalized cynicism. One evening I found myself listening to a lecture given by a man I'll call Father Pierre, a fellow who seemed to believe in anything and everything -- bleeding communion wafers, Our Lady of Fatima, splinters of the True Cross, you name it. Everything, that is, except the legacy of the Vatican II conference, which had tried to drag the Catholic Church into the modern age. The modern age held no charms for Father Pierre. My attention drifted to the small aviary of young-ish ‘nuns' who flitted about the handsome Father Pierre, tending to his every need. "Oh, he's so spiritual this evening!" one cooed to the other. "Yes, yes," replied her sister. "So spiritual. Filled with power and spirit..." These gals were gushing. In more ways than one. They practically left snail trails on the carpet. (I was hardly surprised to discover, many years later, that accusations of ‘impropriety' swirled around Father Pierre.) Nothing ushers you into cynicism faster than a youthful encounter with the subterranean sexual underpinnings of extreme religiosity. Watching Mel Gibson's well-crafted but unmoving "The Passion of the Christ" reminded me of that long-ago evening. My initial fears that evangelicals would find this film a potent recruiting device have proven groundless. By exposing the psychopathology underlying his version of traditionalist Christianity, Gibson has made the worst possible argument for his faith. "The Passion" strips Jesus of his message, ignores (for the most part) both his humanity and his spirituality, and reduces him to a suffering cipher. In Gibson's hands, Jesus becomes the central figure in a work of blood-soaked homosexual pornography. This film is a two-hour-long BDSM session, with Jesus playing "bottom" for a Jerusalem teeming with ruthless gay Doms. I do not object to the level of violence. I object, in part, to the fact that violence is all this film has to offer, just as sex is all that a sex film has to offer. First and foremost, I object to a filmmaker so lacking in self-awareness that he cannot admit, either to his audience or to himself, the true motives underlying his obsessions. BDSM explores primeval areas of sexuality and self-worth, and many who feel drawn to the imagery of erotic torture can never acknowledge this attraction on a conscious level. Mel Gibson, obviously, doesn't have the courage to look into this mirror. However, as Father Pierre's ‘nuns' taught me, religion can offer an outlet for the repressed and unacknowledged side of one's sexuality. Those who've read about BDSM, or spoken to anyone involved with the lifestyle, will recognize the flagellation scene in "Passion" for what it is: A hyperbolized version of the sort of activity that thousands of men and women experience in makeshift "dungeons" across the world, sometimes even paying for the privilege. The punishment we see on screen has little to do with actual Roman justice; forget about the traditional 39 lashes administered by bored soldiers just doing their jobs. The soldiers onscreen here relish their duties with a flagrantly sexual glee. In most BDSM scenes, the flogging slowly increases in intensity. The session starts with the lighter instruments of torment, then proceeds to the heavier, more sanguinary implements. When the "bottom" has achieved an altered state of consciousness called "sub-space," the "Top" turns him over to administer flagellation on the more sensitive front side of his body. "The Passion" follows this time-honored sequence, differing from offerings of fetish pornographers only in the quantity of its bloodletting. The Roman flagrum, I've read, had small bits of metal or animal bone embedded into the tails. That's not good enough for Gibson, who provides huge meat hooks which dig deep into the flesh. What we see on screen is not just the record of a "normal" BDSM scene; this is a born masochist's vision of the ultimate in submission. Before the first time they administer the whip or the cane, Tops are admonished to keep all strikes between the shoulder blades, never hitting the sensitive sides of the abdomen. Many sadists, however, long for the forbidden, and the more extreme Tops dream about finding a bottom who consents to being flogged anywhere, even in the proscribed zones. Similarly, the most extreme bottoms take an odd pride in their lack of limitations. Once we understand this sexual dynamic, we can better understand why the flagellation in "Passion" builds to a climactic shot in which the flagrum cuts deep into the side of Jesus' flesh. The camera records this blow in clear, pornographic detail. Jesus reacts with an agony tinged with ecstasy. A few subs dreamily consider extending their suffering to its logical conclusion -- the final submission. The Gospel story has spawned many a necro-erotic vision; a few underground BDSM clubs have featured live crucifixions. These extreme sexual fantasies, founded on guilts and self-hatreds many share but few confess, may well be the hidden source for orthodox Christianity's barbaric theology of blood substitution and human sacrifice to appease a primitive deity. When Gibson's lifeless Jesus receives the spear in the side, resulting in a (Biblically justifiable) gusher of blood and liquid, a Roman soldier gets sprayed in the face. Anyone one who has ever watched an adult video will recognize this moment as the film's cum shot. Having spent himself on Golgotha, Gibson cannot bother with the entombment, the anointing, the garden encounter, the angels in the tomb or the other details of the Resurrection. The empty tomb doesn't arouse him. The Ascension bores him. Mary Magdalene? Pheh. She's so vanilla. Now we know why Gibson gave his film a title with an obvious double meaning. Now we know the reason for his well-known discomfort with homosexuality. Now we know why images of torture permeate so many of his films. Even Bill O'Reilly's recent television interview with the fidgety, manic Gibson inadvertently revealed this film-maker's pathological masochism. My cathode ray tube has hosted few images more obscene than that of Mel Gibson whining about the sufferings and persecutions he has undergone. In a world teeming with unfortunates beset by genuine poverty and oppression, this widely-loved, world-famous mega-millionaire has the audacity to claim HE is the one undergoing "persecution" -- simply because some people dared to criticize his movie. What stupefying audacity! Gibson carried this audacity to further heights when he spoke of loving his persecutors. In doing so, he displayed an obnoxious condescension -- but he also let us glimpse a carefully occulted truth. On a certain plane, he does indeed love his persecutors. Or rather: He loves the idea of being persecuted. Gibson has bragged about the fact that, on screen, his is the hand that drives the first nail. We are told that he made this gesture to emphasize his own sense of sin. Yes, Mel, we know. You've been a bad boy. You've been a VERY bad boy. -- Martin Cannon (This text, if unaltered, can be reproduced anywhere.)

Just smart politics is all that is. But now I’m interested in hearing how one of "the most fundamental institution(s) of civilization" can come to be viewed as NOT a basic human right. “If you prick them, do they not breed”, just isn’t gonna cut it for much longer.

The other side of the triangulation coin is that fluffing up the gay marriage issue forces Dems to choose sides. While the Bush camp isn’t afraid of comin’ right out and saying they’re agin’ it, what will Kerry (or whoever) say? Dems have more votes to lose by taking a stand on either side of the gay marriage issue. In fact, I’d say they even have votes to lose by having a nominee waffling on it. It’s almost the perfect red herring for right now.

I'm too good a person to have looked... (yeah, that's the ticket!)

That was YOUR wallet??? Wow, small world! So, how much cash did you have in mind?

Think they might wanna pass the ERA first? IMO, this whole amendment line is just so much smoke up the ass of the religious right. The only votes this admin loses by supporting it might be a few log cabin Repubs. It'll never pass, but at least they'll go down looking like they're trying to shaft the gays for god's sake. In the meantime, I'm happy for all of those couples down in the City. Poor Suckers!

Just listen.

Brown-eyed girl was the best music in that movie. oops! wanna add: "uh-huh? life's like this..."

Don't forget your dust mask...

AND EYYYEEEE... WILL ALWAYS LUV UUUUUUUUUUU!!!

Love the Da!!! GO SEE THEM WASHINGTON! I'm thinking of going up for the Tacoma show. What kind of place is Fenders???

Happy Birfday, Timmay. Here's hoping somebody special gets you that iPod!

Dada -ed at the Roseland last night! Michael Gurley is a God. This week's tour dates in Washington are: Wendsday at Studio 7, Seattle. Thursday at Fairhaven Pub Bellingham Friday at Fender's in Tacoma. Saturday at the B-Side in Spokane.

The US Outdoor Store doesn't sell the FDP Forest Pass. As far as I'm concerned that makes them one of the better shops in town.