billcoe

As if on cue, while the "Budget Supercommittee" dithers and can't come up with cuts or taxes in a coherent manner. As the Fed is privately owned, doesn't it make you wonder where they got all that money? (hint, your pocket). Hopefully no one tells those occupy folks - they'd totally go off. Think of it as your legacy to your kids. ..and their kids.... and their kids kids.....lets borrow another billion dollars for "stimulus". not Looks like the next election will clearly define if we go "Tax and Spend" in the classic dem mode or just "borrow and spend" like Bush and Obama. Nothing to see here. USA PASSES CHINA "November 16, 2011 (CNSNews.com) - At the close of business on Tuesday, the debt of the federal government exceeded $15 trillion for the first time--with the largest single owner of the publicly held portion of that debt being the Federal Reserve. Over the past year, as the Federal Reserve massively increased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and entities in China marginally decreased theirs, the Fed surpassed the Chinese as the top owner of publicly held U.S. government debt. In its latest monthly report, the Federal Reserve said that as of Sept. 28, it owned $1.665 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. That was more than double the $812 billion in U.S. Treasury securities the Fed said it owned as of Sept. 29, 2010. Meanwhile, as of the end of this September, entities in mainland China owned $1.1483 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities, according to data published today by the U.S. Treasury Department. That was down slightly from the $1.1519 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities the Chinese owned as of the end of September 2010, according to the same Treasury Department report. Thus, at the end of September 2010, the Chinese owned about $339.9 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Fed owned at that time. By the end of September 2011, the Fed owned about $516.7 billion more in U.S. Treasury securities than the Chinese owned. The U.S. Treasury Department divides the federal government’s debt into two general categories: debt held by the public—the type owned by the Chinese and the Federal Reserve—and “intragovernmental debt,” which consists of what essentially are IOUs the Treasury gives to government trust funds such as the Social Security trust when it takes and spends their money on other things. The current total national debt of $15.0336 trillion, reported by the Treasury today, consists of approximately $10.3145 trillion in debt held by the public and $4.7191 trillion in intragovernmental debt. The combined $2.8133 trillion in U.S. government debt held by the public that is now owned by the Federal Reserve and the Chinese equals more than 27 percent of all U.S. government debt held by the public. Currently, foreign entities, including those in China, own $4.6603 trillion of the U.S. government debt held by the public. These foreign entities, together with the Federal Reserve, own a combined $6.3253 trillion of the U.S. government’s debt held by the public. That $6.3253 trillion in Federal Reserve-and-foreign-held debt equals more than 61 percent of the U.S. government’s publicly held debt."

Nothing in the constitution that says you have a right to smoke in a car. And now that all citizens will be paying for smokers healthcare - I suspect they'll think that they get a vote.

Super committee epic fail? http://www.dailykos.com/ Anyone preparing for a 2nd credit rating re-appraisal? It's probably Bush's fault. Not to worry, you got your babe Patty Murray in there as co-chair, she'll fix us all right up.

LOL, or young Andrew. Nowadays I try and pick one I can ass jam. The cracks I do this too seem to be getting wider and wider as time goes on. ______________________________________________________ Nice find Rad. Amazing some of the slopers and tiny holds on steep walls those guys hang on with impunity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15591350

No worries, it's gonna be "trickling down"....

You're going to finally try and retire and leave the position vacant? Congrats

Ditto that Lee. Keep up the good work. I ran the PSU outdoor program for 2 years (like @ 29 years back LOL) and can relate to what goes into these efforts.

Jay, thanks for the posting of real info throughout this thread. It is clearly distinguished as it stands out dramatically from the significant amounts of drivel on the rest of the thread:-)

Jay, linky no worky.

Stoke! Those dudes have to be so brutally strong.....

Bravo gentlemen! GREAT TR! WOOT! Thanks man, that's some 5.14d writing there Kirk.

I started out loving them. Love the range. Love the large surface area where the cam touches rock. Love how they hold. They seem more prone to getting stuck to me, and they are a tad heavy. But my love affair started to end when had 1 of them have the cable derail which caused the cam lobes to jam. ie, not work. The cable could be pushed back to the center, but it would slip back within a few pulls of the triggers. I figured "what the heck", it can happen, traded it for a new replacement. Not before Adam and Ujahn had borrowed it and had it screw up on Epinephrine 1-2 years back or so. (this was the large size and it's perfect for that climb) The love affair ended when Ujahn, Adam and I had one have the cable pull right out. It actually pulled out on Adam while Adam was leading the long middle 2nd 5.10 pitch of Wild Turkeys just a few weeks back. The large size again. Much mirth and cackling from the peanut gallery who were not dealing with any issues.... until the cam had to be removed of course:-) Stud like Adam it might not matter at all cause he just keeps cranking and is solid on that stuff. Doesn't need pro he won't fall. If you are an old, fat, out of shape office worker cough* cough* looking at a cam that doesn't work in the off-fist size crack and you are panting like a dog while the sweat rolls off your fingers on a hot day, it's not heartening or a pretty sight at all. At all:-) Imagine carrying one up something like Epinephrine, say, 2000 feet of climbing, as a doorstop or a penalty weight, not as an actual piece of pro because it doesn't work. All the way up, all the way down. Not used. Boat anchor. The love affair will end. LOL! It make you think about it, and it certainly would piss you off if you were pushing your limits on some other climb and didn't have the key piece work at the spot you needed it to plug into, but you got to carry the extra weight anyway. Heartening is taking an old chewed up one back to REI and getting a brand new one. It's rare for a Wild Country, 4 cam Metolius, Wired Bliss or a Camalot to have that kind of issue, it looks more common for the Supercam. Metolius supports their products though. (the story above is the first time I've ever heard otherwise). Have you seen the Supertopo discourse on Chinese made cams? http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=1664162&tn=0&mr=0

No way he'll get the nomination, let alone get elected. What kind of a nut job wants peace? As you know, I have an ounce of gold bet that a gallon of gas will exceed $5.00 before 2012 ends. I suspect that an attack on Iran, which Obama, Michelle Bachman, Romney etc etc all support, will be the trigger. The Russian view, of interest in and of itself in that they would be a beneficiary of an attack vis a vis gas exports: http://rt.com/usa/news/paul-waterboarding-torture-cain-321/ (story below) "Ron Paul has distanced himself from the other GOP hopefuls on practically every platform. While it’s to be expected that each candidate campaigns with their own agendas, he's been the only to say something that should resonate with most of America: Peace is good. During the most recent Republican debate, Paul was only awarded 89 seconds over the span of 90 minutes to voice his opinion on America’s foreign policy. In just that minute and a half, however, Congressman Paul had no problem separating himself from Romney, Cain, Perry, Bachmann and Gingrich by shutting down not just America’s ongoing wars, but the egregious practices that the US military employs on detained prisoners of war. Both Bachmann and Cain used last week’s debate to voice their support for waterboarding detainees in order to drain them of intelligence. Paul, however, was quick to call out the practice as torture and condemn the country’s use of it during times of war. "Anybody who has actually read about and understands the practice of waterboarding would say that that is torture. And that's not something we do — period," said the congressman. Cain tried to distance himself from the topic of torture during the debate, arguing that he “would trust the judgment of our military leaders to determine what is torture and what is not torture." In his opinion, however, waterboarding was a legitimate practice and if it was up to him, the practice would be continued. Could Cain lose the GOP nod, Americans might expect the White House to continue approving waterboarding as a legitimate technique. In an interview with conservative radio host Michael Savage in the days after the debate, Cain entertained the idea of serving the country as Secretary of Defense, “to help the generals and commanders on the ground to get what they need, to do what they do best, and that is kick the you-know-what out of everyone in the world.” Elsewhere on the foreign policy front, Cain recently flubbed on the name of America’s powerful Asian ally Uzbekistan, telling the Christian Broadcasting Network, “And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?” Aside from Paul and fellow hopeful Jon Huntsman, other candidates came in support of waterboarding. According to Paul, however, it is wrong on many levels. “It's illegal under international law and under our law. It's also immoral. And it's also very impractical. There's no evidence that you really get reliable evidence. Why would you accept the position of torturing 100 people because you know one person might have information? And that's what you do when you accept the principle of torture. I think it's uncivilized and has no practical advantages and is really un-American to accept on principle that we will torture people that we capture,” said the congressman. Waterboarding has become a hot topic since it was revealed that the practice — which emulates the effects of drowning on detainees — was being employed during the George W Bush administration. White House deputy spokesman Tony Fratto stated in 2008 that the Bush administration did in fact encourage counterterrorism agents to use waterboarding in order to gain intelligence in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. At the time Fratto said that the issue of waterboarding “was brought before the Department of Justice and they made a determination that its use under specific circumstances and with safeguards was lawful.” Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsefled, however, went on the record to say that waterboarding did nothing to help obtain information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, arguably the biggest counterterrorism success America has had during the past decade. During the last debate, Representative Michele Bachmann argued otherwise, however, saying that as a counterterrorism technique, "I think it was very effective.” Ron Paul also separated himself from the other candidates by backing-away from any attacks on Iran as talks of the country’s nuclear program become more common. “I'm afraid what's going on right now is similar to the war propaganda that went on against Iraq. And, you know, they didn't have weapons of mass destruction. And it was orchestrated and it was, to me, a tragedy of what's happened these last 10 years, the death and destruction, $4 trillion in debt. So no, it's not worthwhile going to war,” said Paul. Aside from Paul, Huntsman’s campaign agenda most severely critiques America’s current foreign policy tactics, and perhaps he should know best — of all the GOP hopefuls, he has the most experience on the matter, having previously served as an ambassador to China. He has polled poorly in recent weeks, however, leaving Paul with perhaps the only chance to be a Republican nominee opposed to ongoing American wars a viable chance at the White House. "

This is excellent advice. In fact, some real hard climbers have answered already with some real good advice. Certainly personal preference is a consideration. I've seen pics of Dean Potter climbing with U-stem cams, and pictures of him with BD C3s. Someone explained to me that it can often be a route based choice. Furthermore, your needs are most likely very different than what Dean Potter needs on a consistent sized desert splitter crack and what some of these folks posting need based on what they are doing. I suspect that any of the major cam Mfg will do the trick for you. Both Metolius and Wired Bliss are real sweet cams, but the nice thing about getting a set of Black Diamonds is that most partners you will pick up will have solid familiarity with the color scheme and be able to pluck the right one out of the crowd fast when they need it. BD has made them in China for some time about as close to error free as anyone can make a cam anywhere. You can google and find some alleged "failures" of BD cams, but I don't believe that is actual Mfg issues. So that issue really should come down to if you want to support made in China products over US made stuff. Personal call there. BTW, the only 2 things I might counter above: Lighter with less range. http://www.clydesoles.com/Front/Camsbrand.html Of note to others: Wired Bliss is coming out with some big cams for Wyde stuff. They have a #5 now (3.25"-5" weight 10.5oz)and will be coming out with up to a #9 soon. Expect it to be smoother and cheaper than a valley giant. http://www.facebook.com/WiredBlissCams?sk=wall&filter=2 And 2nd,the DMM cams suck in comparison to the BD's. Not just because they cost more either. I love DMM products in general as they usually make kick-assed things. (Wild Country Heliums Woot!) I was reading a Layton rant on CC.com about how extendable slings SUCK, and didn't really click on how that was (the few extendable slings I'd encountered like on the Aliens worked pretty sweet) until Adam brought his brand new DMM Dragons down to Red Rocks. The slings are longer than I had encountered with other extendable sling cams, and as a longer extended sling will get in your way when high stepping, you tend to want to rerack the sling in the non-extended position. Try and re-rack an extended sling with one hand when you locked off and are pumping out with the other -wow! Turns to hate in short order:-) Due to the sling suckage all of us significantly preferred the Camalots over the DMMS for longer/harder routes and we didn't really use the DMM'S. Certainly your mileage may vary and personal preference rules here, if you are doing long easier routes and can generally re-rack on a nice stance, you may love that feature. However, Bill Bellacourt of Black Diamond pointed out something else on the slings of importance to you as it relates to climbers generally being lazy: he asked me, "how many times have you replaced your slings on your cams".... I thought back, well, I might have retied a new piece of 1" tubular on a 20-30 year old Wild Country solid stem Friend...or not, but really, the correct answer was *cough* cough* "close to never". The phat BD slings will go maintenance free until you get tired of looking at them and pawn them off on a buddy so you can buy new ones and the slings will still be safe to take a screamer, whereas you WILL be replacing the 8mm Dyneema sewn skinny slings on the DMM's regularly or they will be failing when they get older. I've heard of people re-doing their slings, but don't believe I have many in real life. LOL. We tend to be a lazy bunch. The other reason the DMM cams stayed home is that the cams themselves are made of narrower material so as to make it lighter, but they really didn't lighten the weight much, and skinny is not something I want in sandstone and softer rock. (Red Rocks is generally pretty solid rock with a few softer rock bands up higher in spots, but we had the Camalots so we took them instead). You might consider looking for a used deal as well. Stuff pops up here and on Mt Project for a pretty reasonable price on occasion. Good luck!

MERCENARIES! OMG THEY ARE HIRING MERCENARIES! (Blackwater edition noted, tax license, dealer prep and undercoating is optional) NEXT UP IS THE ZOMBIES!

Thanks for that visual Kirk! Well written diatribe!

Is that @10' of penalty slack in that first photo? Dude just had his kidney taken out fer #@X$$!!!

I just saw this stuff tucked away back here. Wow! Ken's too young to be having health issues. Wishing him the very best: TO KEN! http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1034201/Going_under_the_knife#Post1034201

Ken, just saw this thread. I'm glad that you shared and my thoughts and wishes are with you buddy. Hope you've got it licked by now and are on the path to good health! Better times, warmer clims.... Remember bumping into each other in Vega couple years back?! Woot! You and Jlac at the blackjack table with the hotties dealing, I see Jlacks Prana top and comment, "you dudes must be climbers"...you shout out "BILL COE!!!" I was WTheck? I apologize again for not recognizing you with a beard! LOL! ha ha ! Good times.

No way man. Those kids looked pretty damn brave. Not running, not fighting, just standing there all insistent. I'd put my money on them if they had nightsticks. I would have gotten the hell right out of there, I dislike having people beat on me with sticks, pool cues, beer bottles and the like.

China goes Teabagger, disses USA USA: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/nov/9/beijing-blueprint/ "They say fawning by U.S. political leaders seeking re-election has created an “entitlement culture” where the public has grown dependent on government largesse. Now, with the United States facing monumental economic and debt problems, the political system has been unable to curb generous entitlement programs or counter the economic downturn."

Mmmmmm, finish up down there Barak....ahhhhh