tomcat

Bomb Saddam .. please the peace-lovers later. Much love.

What would have been gained by belly dancing and peace protests? Absolutely nothing .. not a damned thing. Saddam laughs at these peace lovers when he sees them and probably has videotapes of peace marches sent to his office in Baghdad for entertainment for his committee meetings. I have yet to see a legitimate argument why we shouldn't start dropping bombs. For every so called "legitimate" argument I get from a peace-lover, I have 2 or 3 legitimate arguments for rebuttal. Do you really think that by going to war with Iraq that the people over there (who are already pissed enough to commit suicide bombings) will be any more angry? Even if your answer is yes, you can't sit around in a corner being afraid all the time! I say bomb the SHIT out of Saddam. Freedom isn't FREE!

Exactly.

Being in Iraq for ten years beats being terrorized by Saddam's regime for a lifetime.

It sure beats the alternative.

If you go in late season in a low snow year like geordie said, I'd take screws. We would have liked some more protection even in August, but we only had pickets and we weren't turning around! The night before the ascent my water bottle froze to the core (this was in August), so the glacier was pretty solid in the morning. Upon descent it was slush. Do it over a nice stretch of weather in late July .. I think this would be the perfect time.

It's not always that black and white. People join the military because they want to serve this great country. That means taking the good with the bad .. fighting conflicts you don't believe in as well as those you do. You can't just choose to fight for one belief and belly dance your way out of another .. it just doesn't work that way. So even if you don't agree with the reasons behind the war, you have to support the US troops who are going in there to risk their lives for YOU and YOUR way of life. Just because you don't feel you or your way of life is being threatened during this particular conflict, it doesn't mean you or your way of life never will be threatened in the future. I'll bet you any amount of money that you'd be praising the troops up and down when such an event happens. So let's not be half assed, let's support our US troops who are doing us as American citizens a favor. If Saddam sent over a super germ over here and the US never acted to rid the world of Saddams regime beforehand, you'd be wondering why the hell we didn't know about this .. why we weren't able to do anything to prevent it beforehand. This is exactly what happened after September, 11. People questioned why we were ever friends with Bin Laden and sold arms to him, etc. etc. and why we never took them out when they bombed the navy vessel down in Yemen. It's becaue people were too busy belly dancing and living off in dream land thinking that peace is the answer. Sometimes in this world you must take a stand, and people aren't always going to agree with your reason behind taking that stand. That's fine, but I suspect many of the belly dancer crowd will be thanking their lucky stars when more facts become known about all this .. when we go into Iraq and find thousands of gallons of Vx Nerve Agent or some super germ. Then again, maybe the belly dancers will never get it until everyone's dead. Interesting how this new "mysterious" strain of pneumonia that the WHO issued a travel advisory for is noticed just weeks before a planned attack on Iraq. I just hope it's not already too late.

Snoboy, the second part of my post wasn't directed at you, but rather a general comment on my opinion. The reason I quoted Greg_W's response to you is because I also agree with his point. It probably should have been two different posts.

Well said. I don't LIKE war, but sometimes it's a necessity. I think there's more to this situation than people realize, and I also think it has to do with something biological or similar. Saddam is an evil man, I'm sure you won't find too many people who will dispute that .. and given the opportunity, I think he would do anything in his power to bring himself into Martyrdom. He's getting old, his days are numbered, and he knows that -- and I think he feels a sense of urgency to do something real bad to the US and its allies. If you sit around and wait for this to happen, you risk possibly millions of lives. If he spreads a super germ that nobody knows about until it's too late because the incubation period is 3 weeks, then there's going to be a whole lot of suffering going on .. a whole lot more than any war in Iraq could offer. To prevent this, you must destroy the regime .. take away their control, and thereby there major source of income is eliminated. There are only a few ways of destroying the regime. The only way I can think of is dropping bombs .. if you've got a better idea let's hear it. But if you sit around all day long every single day for twelve years talking yourself blue at UN Council meetings and belly dancing, you're wasting your time, and aiding the enemy. You can bet your ass Saddam is going to take advantage of the time wasted by keepin on keepin on .. which includes making more weapons, killing more people, corrupting more government officials, etc. ad nausem .. and most importantly, he'll be developing technology to destroy the US and its allies -- technology that may very well hurt you and your way of life. Let's face it here, Saddams not wasting his time building schools or fixing up potholes. If we don't do something, it is my opinion that he's going to do something huge .. way bigger than anything we saw on September 11, 2001. This is just my opinion.

I saw that too .. wow 1/8 of the yearly total in one dump!

PLEASE STOP POSTING THAT PHOTO! IT IS DISTURBING.

stormking*

I agree, I don't think you'll be climbing around here that soon. If you do go, be careful -- Rainier is a big mountain and a lot can go wrong .. especially at this time of year.

Oh for sure.

nevermind the photo didnt work

ANOTHER CORRECTION Instead of 4835' that should be 4220'. After thinking about it a while more, I determined this is the bench I was referring to.

I am hereby predicting the official start of the war (marked by the President's address to the nation) will be either Monday or Tuesday night (night in Iraq).

Yeah, I forgot about that until you said something, and I remember now that some of the negatives were reversed when I got the photos back. That's what I get for developing my film at Rite-Aid. Upon further inspection, the only 2 photos that aren't reversed are the picture of Primus and Tricouni on the approach, and the pic of Logan and Snowking. I'm still laughing at your I hate to be a nitpicker line .. I know you better than that Klenke! I wouldn't consider it nitpicking, though, I'd consider it getting it right!

There's quite a flow in Thunder Creek .. at least when we were there. I wouldn't have wanted to cross it without a bridge! Plus where it crosses there are large polished slabs that create quite a bit of turbulence, and the creek seems a lot narrower here than it is further down. I wanted to complete the traverse to tell you the truth, whether we had to climb in the dark or not, but I simply couldn't convince the two gentlemen I was with (56 yrs old, and 65 yrs old) to go along with it.

LOL .. I like your graphic Dru .. where on earth did you find that?

http://www.lapdonline.org/bldg_safer_comms/holiday_safety_tips/4th_July.htm What do you get when you cross an armchair Physics degree and a gun on fourth of July? One dead sexual_chocolate. I find it hard to belive that you believed what you were saying .. a bullet fired at 1800f/s muzzle velocity automatically loses energy and falls at terminal velocity? I'm no Physics major, but something there just doesn't click. France .. terminal velocity .. are we seeing a connection here?

EDITED BY TOMCAT

Why would I make that up? You should try it, and report back.

I don't know how the laws of physics apply here, but a couple of fourth of Julys ago someone died from this very thing .. only with a smaller bullet. Went through the roof of the person's house first too. So if you're relying on physics to pull you through something like that, I'd think about taking a refresher course.

Did anyone see the short Beckey interview on the Channel 13 news this morning? It was pretty good considering how short it was. The guy who did the interview said he had been trying to get an interview with Mr. Beckey for 15 years. I didn't learn anything I hadn't already known, but I am always fascinated to catch a glimpse of the elusive and reclusive Beckey.