JosephH

And will be so as long as we continue to misapply our military might as badly as we have for the past five years...

A perfect example, if ever there was one, of exactly how our rights are systematically eroded with the implicit assistance and approval of rightwing [and incredibly naive] nationalists. Either that, or you're just flat out too damn stupid to put your paw on exactly what has happened over the past six years. "Basic liberties"? I suspect you won't wake up so long as gun rights are the last right they strip from you. Just extrordinarily blind, clueless, or will be on the frontlines with the government if ever they do make such a move. And that threat will always come from the right in this country.

Hmmm, hard to believe it's already been a year since his funeral. Still fairly surreal to contemplate. Bill, thanks for bumping this and reminding us...

WTF? Why would anyone head out to paint Beacon Rock and then just paint something else entirely and call it Beacon Rock? Doesn't seem like he even needed to bother going our there to paint that picture. Nice painting and all, but - huh? Love the Connell one given how much time I spend down at the boat launch looking at that view while watching for the Peregrines.

I would say off hand that no one has disrespected America more than the folks who've been running the country for the past eight years. They've not only disrespected it at every turn; they've deliberately, repeatedly, and systematically violated the Constitution, Bill of Rights, rule of law, and the intent of the Founders of our nation. They'll get away with it without legal prosecution because the country just wants to move on. But you can bet your ass the shredders at the White House, Justice, Interior, Pentagon, and in the offices of most agency heads will now be working non-stop until the inauguration

Having replaced 64 anchor sets and checked, reset, and / or replaced most of the pins at Beacon I can categorically state the pins far and away out performed the [non-stainless] bolts there - by an overwhelming margin. One or both bolts were bad and / or spinners in 52 of the 64 anchor sets whereas only 1/4 of the pins needed to be reset and another 1/8 needed to be replaced. Oddly, the bolts from the 90's were in the worst shape. Most all the pins of all ages back to the 60's were bomb. But as Ivan said, YMMV by rock type and locale - in Beacon basalt the pins more or less permanently weld. That said, as far as I concerned [at Beacon], the only pins appropriate for fixing are medium and long Lost Arrows, Bugaboos, and Hard / Soft Euro pins. 99 times out of 100 pro fits where Angles were located, Knifeblades are too thin, and short version of any of the pins are just not robust enough to withstand both falls and environmental conditions over time. Personally, I'm guessing stainless only buys bolts parity or a slight improvement over the above-sized pins [at Beacon]. But what I learned having done that work over three years is that I'd rather clip a pin over a bolt any day of the week. Also, it's important to note that what fixed pins and bolts have in common is they both need to be actively maintained over time. Any assertion to the contrary is misguided and a misunderstanding of the nature of fixed pro in general. Bolts and pins both need to be checked at least every ten years and better every five years.

In the [almost] post-mortem I remembered I the thursday before last I took my parents for a flu shot and got one myself - could also have all been a bad reaction to that apparently...

The roots of the crisis extend back as far as our 'strategy' for outspending the Russians while not inconveniencing the middle class. Reagan and Bush Sr. were largely responsible for the run up to this crisis. W's people just put it into hyperdrive to cover the true economic impact of the Iraq war...

Me too! It kind of sucks spending 24 hours never being further than four feet from a defibrillator unit.

I suspect it will improve the break. This will be one of the more interesting experiments ever done when it happens...

Obama and Biden could get two terms and over the course of eight years of them in power you'd never see an example of the explicit [two trillion dollar] socialism directed to the wealthy, upper, and middle class that the Republicans have just engaged in. Republicans - Capitalists on the way up, Socialists on the way down, and hypocrites in either direction.

Docs said multiple EKGs and bloodwork were negative, I maxed out their stress tester, and the before & after ultrasounds of the ticker were good. They said I had a very strong heart. Good to know (or at least Rhoda was happy to hear it...). The only indicator of what might be wrong was an elevated white blood cell count. They said it looked like I got hammered by the dual onset of a virus and 'acid reflux' which simulated a heart attack - go figure. But I've never experienced a sensation like that for hours on end so it was pretty disconcerting. I ended up there as my step-sis is an ER doc in LA and when I called her about it she sent me to Good Sams. She said a younger doc friend hers went to a conference in Florida and ignored very similar symptoms and ended up dead the next day. Better safe then sorry, but I was unprepared for the level of triage and fuss! Had to basically rip the IV out of my arm and the monitor patches off to get finally get the discharge process moving or I'd still be there. I see I'm getting home just in time for the weather to go to hell - can't complain I guess as I've now been checked out for another year or two of climbing...

Out of the CCU and in LAX on my way home... Good going to you guys! I got in two full moon [roped] solos of YW this summer. I love being out there in the full moon - the whole place lights up so well I only need the headlamp at two brief spots on YW (in the Butthole and lower p3). I'd throw a squawking cat in with Bill's dogs...

am in LA and inadvertently wired up in a cardio unit near my conference with a dying cell - can't read or respond to pm's as the dropdown doesn't work on my phone. Will when out...

Which part of Jill's - below or above the rap...?

Good job Ivan! I can't believe I'm out of town on such a nice weekend...damn it!

The majority opinion in Gore v. Bush - it doesn't get any more activist (and anti-states rights) than that. Except possibly Roberts and Alito - two of the most activist judges ever appointed to SCOTUS and both staunch supporters of the Yoo Doctrine and unitary executive. In fact, it's not in any way a stretch to say they were both nominated solely because of their beliefs with regard to a unitary executive - something which could also backfire on the right. Two more appointments in their mold would pose a greater threat to our freedom than any external foe. Also, as a side note, many conservative legal scholars are now calling Heller a mistake because the individual rights logic employed by the majority will likely now bleed over to protect Roe (yes, even despite the fact the founders made no mention of abortion...).

Bill, I think in the end, for the whole guns-for-rights vs. guns-for-self-defense argument to be legitimate it has to be grounded in some remotely plausible mechanism or scenario for private weapons being used effectively against our government. And by that I mean in today's world, not 225 years ago. I just can't for the life of me envision a single scenario in today's America (regardless whether the setting is rural, suburban, or urban) where private weapons could be employed to effectively prevent or counter an out-of-control, dictatorial Executive. And as others have stated elsewhere in the thread, we've seen a deliberate and systematic attack on the balance of power as designed by our founders. Formerly-young Nixon and Reaganites, using John Yoo's 'doctrine' claiming unlimited and unrestrainable power of a unitary Executive have been the greatest threat to America since the South's succession from the Union in the civil war. What has flowed from that [Yoo] doctrine of an unlimited power of the Executive has been illegal wiretaps, illegal search and siezure of records (FBI 'Security Letters'), torture, rendition, a suspension of Habeas Corpus, and several attempts to eliminate or weaken the protection against the domestic use of the military as provided by the Posse Comitatus and the Insurrection Acts. Add to that this President's use of 'Signgin Statements' when signing legislation whereby the he claims [again and again] that the legislation 'signed', either whole or in part, is merely advisory relative to the President versus the law of the land and you have a frighteningly slippery slope to exactly the scenarios you claim to fear. In fact, Bush has used Executive signing statements more times than all the Presidents before him combined. At no time during the past eight years have gun owners, as a group, raised so much as a peep against those deliberate abuses. The Neocon's relentless attacks on the Constitution and Bill of Rights has not been resisted by the NRA or gun owners as a political group, but rather supported at every turn. I personally am not quite sure what to even make of it - gun owners as a group supporting the most systematic assault on the Constitution the nation has ever seen. What am I supposed to make of it other than to assume the majority of gun owners have to-date proven themselves part and parcel with attempts to overthrow the balance of powers so carefully designed by our Founders. It's really hard to come to any other conclusion but that gun owners as a class are easily manipulated and would likely be on the frontlines of any attempt by a nationalist, dictatorial Exective to sieze our government - and not on our side, but rather on the side of those siezing the government. If anyone thinks that's unlikely, think again, that's is exactly the scenario that played out in Yugoslavia/Serbia.

Actually, Bill did serve in the military. But I believe such things as a replay of the internment camps of WWII is not at all out of the question even for 'normal' Americans under the right circumstances. Divisiveness is not hard to take out to extremes and in that atmosphere have 'average' citizens responsible for inhuman behavior. Hell, swap an epidemic for politics and you'd see some pretty drastic and ugly behavioral changes overnight.

Well, if Palin follows in Cheney's boot prints, then if I were her friends I'd be very nervous whenever she's packing heat. She looks like a 12 gauge girl...

I don't know, I climb throughout the winter right up until the Feb 1st closure. Most of those days are screaming east winds that blow you off your stance up on the corner ridge. Not sure I've noticed any more rockfall. This year, though, we've had fairly steady rockfall from what I'm guessing is more or less the same spot up there.

Hmmm, there's still loose stuff coming down. I'm guessing it's all coming from one as yet unidentified spot up on that last, high wall. Bummer we can't seem to identify the source.

Would love to, but I'm leaving for LA in the morning - hopefully someone here can oblige you...

I look to Yugoslavia as a role model for the potential with them. I worry far, far more about an ultra-nationalist administration using fear to 'deputize' my neighbors with guns to provide for 'law and order' and 'community policing'. Extend the tactics and intent of this administration out not all that far and back it up with two more wack jobs on SCOTUS and you have a far scarier potential for a rightwing take over of the country - and one that would likely be supported by the NRA than opposed by it.

82nd Airborne against PDX's SE 82nd street - admittedly a tough call, and god only knows which has more firepower...