tvashtarkatena

I was picturing six tiny little boots... For the weight of the options you mentioned, you might just go with Scarpa Charmoz or the equivalent - they climb snow/moderate rock pert good and are about as versatile as you can get.

Coupled with the D's congress refusal to cut their programs during said buildup. Since then... military cuts big time in the wake of the fall of the Communist block, bases closed, taxes raised twice (read my lips + Bubba), then more spending under W and 2 wars, W on anything under the sun, and B-HO on all the latter and more. But let's keep it simple and just say "Reagan". Umm yeah. And let's not forget the "War on Poverty" (how's that coming along, btw?), and Vietnam. The War on Poverty had some successes and failures, but it probably beats the present, psychopathic War on the Poor. We all know Reagan's military spending continued under a number of administrations...but that would have been a lot less likely had Reagan not kicked it off, no? Like Nixon's War on Drugs.... I think the 'architect' of a failed policy deserves a healthy share of the credit...AM I WRONG? AM I WRONG?

Yes, you are wrong. The "empty space" in a helmet is there to compress when the helmet is hit so that the velocity of the falling object is not transferred to the skull. Filling the empty space means greater head trauma to you. Only if you're sportin' one of those old school hardhat styles. Get a hipster styrofoam lite helmet and it doesn't matter. You won't be able to fit that can o beans in there anymore, though. Be sure to add lotsa sticker logos to it, though, to hold that rice paper outer shell together longer.

Um...Reagan's military build up? You know, the one that was supposed to show the world how big our Johnson was after our Vietnam era display of flaccidity (in the doe eyes of most Reaganauts). It would be cool if we could stop defining the entirety of our National Character and Pride using wars as the sole measure. Not that war isn't good boyish fun and all.... We'd be REALLY good at fighting WWII again, though. That much can be said. Only this time we'd have air conditioned Burger Kings at the front.

Randy conservative asset rapers on baroque financial instruments: "The bitch was askin' for it."

You forgot "buyer beware". This is a Randian movement (Or, HEY GANG: Let's run the nation based on the kindergarten ideas of a shitty pulp writer who displayed a Soviet toaster's level of understanding of actual human nature). Financial regulation? Buyer beware! Let's pit Harvard MBAs against Ma and Pa Kettle and see who wins! Class action suits? Nope: Buyer beware! Personal responsibility is a great thing...if it applies to everyone. In this wealth concentration movement, it clearly doesn't. Anyone actually serious about budgeting would slash the sacred military cow SEVERELY and scale back a failed world hegemonic mission we never could really afford...and tax the living hell out of those who are sitting prettier than at anytime in history. Call it what it is: wealth redistribution for a healthier, more sustainable, and less stressed out future. Until an angry mob burns some Medinites or Gross Pointites out of their McMansions, though, I fear this bullshit will continue. Oh, and BTW, FUCK YOU to your not-so-veiled pro fundy agenda, Tea Baggers, ya lying, dysfunctional fucks. Ebbybody have a nice day!

Bullshit, that's not freedom. Candidate Obama may have spewed a lot of things which President Obama he doesn't follow and extra wars is one more thing we don't need right now. Candidate Obama express the need to get our budget balanced, and President Obama is causing to to go ballistic into the strategist. It's a horrible thing that will cause all kinds of big issues d0own the road. I'd be fine if they bumped the taxes for everyone in a fair way AND AT THE SAME TIME brought the incredible amounts of spending back under some semblance of control. Of course the typical yammering about big corporations not paying any money, but no examples and specifics. Don't address the huge issue in the room which is the government spending like an out of control drunken sailor. Of course it CANNOT continue, and what that means is that you, joe average, eventually gets to foot the bill of what appears to be near unlimited wasteful government spending which we will borrow to spend. Trust me on this, it won't be the big corp. on who's back this heavy burden will be placed - it will be yours. You can pay it back sometime in the future, don't worry. Hey, it won't even be you, we'll make your kids pay it. The oppressive's want to kill the Goose that lays the golden eggs and are thinking that maybe they'll get rich in the process. Uhhh, that's not the way the real world works outside of the government mindset in the real world and it's not going to happen that way. We need to do it now, not later. Less spending, now. Take a break from your kookblogz and just read a reglar ole news rag (just about any national rag will do) once in a while and you might find that people ARE talking very specifically about how corporations aren't paying their fair share. Just because you're clueless doesn't mean the rest of us are.

How does your helmet know whether its got a wind shirt stuffed in it or not? Hmmmm....

Seattle only (have to try em on...) Thanks

Damn it, Gene, we've glutted the aider market!

Our national legislative and bidness leaders hard at work earning those somewhat higher than minimum wage paychecks!

Dear Phil: Thank you for your genuine, heartfelt concern about our recent solicitation and your request for clarification. Indeed, the form letter and follow-up solicitation you received was a staff error. However, the bigger and more troubling mistake is the long political history of your employer, the Koch Brothers. As a (former?) Democrat, perhaps your time would be better spent looking into their efforts to privatize Social Security or their opposition to expanding the children’s health insurance program. Or maybe, you can post a list of all of the anonymous contributions they have made to right-wing smear campaigns across the country. If you’d like to share voicemails from all the shady groups asking you for millions of dollars, we’d happily listen to those as well. So, I write to make it clear that your invitation was an error and has been rescinded. Sincerely, Guy Cecil Executive Director Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

The best idea here lately is to weaponize space. Rumsfeld pushed it, so you know its good. When it breaks, we can just thumb a ride up with the Russkies. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to help us secure our astro-hegemony if we help spring for the gas. Military personnel will always be the last in the budget line because they pretty much have to shut up and put up while in the service. Defense contractors? Not so much. Plus, bennies are BORING. Death rayz from space? You don't have to be Anthony's Weiner to spring a woody over that shit. Get some dumb ass cracker congressman from Tay-haus or Bama in a 'working lunch' situ and they'll start drooling over all that hi tech, cost plus pork before the jalapeno poppers arrive. Just push a button and all your terrorist worries literally evaporate...no unintended consequences or local knowledge required! And hey, we can even sell the boyz ridin' those joysticks at Langley some flight suits... It sucks if you're the dood sportin' 70+ lbs of expensive crap in 105 degree heat - most of which the grunt would gladly trade for some financial/health security, but it's always been this way.

I'm drinking a cup of coffee that promises to turn my alimentary canal into a straight section of surgically clean stainless steel pipe right quick. Drink it more than 20 feet from the john at your peril....

This past year a lawsuit filed in WA state ended Don't Ask Don't Tell. Gay marriage lawsuits in several states caused the DOJ to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act. WA state now has a marijuana legalization initiative which, if it passes, will most certainly lead to copycats in other states...and probably an end to the federal ban on the substance. States Rights are very much alive...and quite useful. Working directly at the federal level is typically a losing strategy these days. Too many kooks, too much limelight, not enough reason.

More like used motor oil. A gathering of meth/fortified wine aficionados, nothing more - with the typical mountain of garbage and human waste as a lasting testament to their celebration. Stringy haired, kkinny drunk chick at the lake yesterday: "They just wanna say bad shit about everything. Burning a Duralog is prolly better than a real, actual log, cuza all the smoke it puts out...yeah, gimme a little burger - I jus' spent the last 3 weeks without meat at the Rainbow thing" In other words, 100 starry eyed commune dwellers and 9,900 free loading trailer dwellers.

You must now swear eternal fealty to me and my progeny, should the latter ever come into being.

State politics are where the action is, anyway. The kooks are close enough to the fire to get their asses branded when they step out of line too far. Federal's a hopeless clusterfuck. They lost even the remotest sense of reality a long time ago. The only hope with that sludge is to pour is to let it drain in the direction the states are going.

Hey, JayB's statnastics still have plenty cred here. Billcoe, where are ya, buddy!?

Or Michele...

That's nice Bill. On planet Earth, however, you may have any president you like, as long as its Mitt or Obama.

Which part about Obama mobilizing grassroots support, running a left campaign on "real hope and change you can believe in", winning by a large margin as a result and then governing as a conservative all while taking in record amounts of corporate cash did you forget? Give me a break. Knee jerk reference to Obama, as always. Yawn. Obama's just the latest kid on the block, but you know that. Try some real discussion some time. You might like it.

You can't separate 'civil libertarian' issues (like they're a 'nice to have') from 'economic issues'. The War on Drugs alone has cost all of us trillions. It has cost its direct victims their entire quality of life, including the ability to work productively - which costs the rest of us more. Since 50%+ of all busts are for drugs alone, the 3 to 1 discrimination pattern against blacks in the criminal justice system, from arrests to sentencing, is primarily fueled by the War on Drugs. For the life of me, I can't figure out why supposedly 'progressive' folks remain so clueless to this obvious, direct connection between civil liberties and class.

I don't "seem to think" anything. I state pretty clearly what I think.

I like the whole "arc of history bends toward justice" thing and certainly colossal strides have been made in terms of both the legalistic definition of equality under the law (the actual operation of the "justice system" however is questionable, yes I know your position on the war on drugs) and the improved cultural acceptance of difference (as long as it doesn't challenge consumer capitalism). What isn't addressed is how the concentration of wealth, marketization, and the hardening of class structures hollows out and limits the actual exercise of freedoms in a meaningful way. Yes, America has witnessed rising inequalities and concentration of power before (not to mention the fact that the country was founded by waves of immigrants seeking to escape rigid class-bound Europe), but how many lost generations are we going to need to see before the liberal left starts to address class in America while getting thrown a bone or two in the form of paper rights the exercise of which are dependent almost solely on the ability to pay? First off, it's not the 'liberal left's' problem to solve. It's everyone's. This isn't a Dem v Rfuck thing - although framing it that way, while tres fashionable, gives one an excuse to do nothing because nothing can be done with two bowsers for parties, no? Second, some organizations climbed into the ring a long time ago and have been hitting hard ever since. Your message is that no one's doing anything. Social justice advocacy organizations are doing more now, more effectively, with more money, and more people, than ever before. Anyone who's actually involved in the fight knows that. Finally, you speak as if this is the WORST PERIOD IN AMERICAN HISTORY!!! Today is positively cushy compared to most of the past. Your opinion is born from a background of relative comfort. Economic equality is an inherently tougher issue because it involves people getting off their asses and making it happen. Helping the weaker among us is one thing, erasing class differences is quite another. They are not the same objective. Has our government been sucking too much corporate cock in terms of EZ taxes and lack of regulation? Absolutely. Has that cock been way, way too greedy? (read this week's WSJ on executive pay increases during this 'economic crisis', for example). Fuck yeah. Have voters screwed themselves repeatedly in this regard? Right again. And therein lies the rub. No organization can force voters not to fuck themselves. That's the tough part. Perhaps things have not gotten bad enough for voters to get over their apathy, wake up, and smell the coffee. Perhaps they never will - and those who are disadvantaged and who refuse to help themselves come election time aren't worth saving after all. Blaming the victim? Always. Voting is pretty easy. The 'other side' seems to have no problem with it. Hell, I don't know. Personally, I'll continue to work on concrete, civil libertarian issues with definable objectives, and leave erasure of class differences to our loftier thinkers.