tvashtarkatena

thought the same thing before i even saw yer post It's not. It's Francis Dormand.

The U.S. is exactly like Mexico and Switzerland, except for the guns. Or we don't have as many guns. Or something like that.

The only sketchy encounter I've had in the wilderness involving another human in 40 years of backcountry travel was spotting a lost and obviously confused hunter in the Jefferson Peak area who appeared to be high as a kite on something aiming his .306 at my chest. Damn, I know I could have gotten a shot off first had I only had the means. The assumption posted here over and over again is "those who carry legally aren't the ones you need to worry about". Yeah, I don't buy that at all. Sure, there are plenty of responsible permit carriers out there, blah, blah, but let's face it; it's laughably easy for just about any bozo to get a permit to carry. Furthermore, screening for such permits has been watered down by the lobbying efforts of the very same folks who make this claim. Sorry, guys, basic conflict of interest = zero credibility. Furthermore, isn't just a little ironic that those who are paranoid enough to want to carry in a National Park also want to maximize the potential lethality of the other folks they claim to be so worried about? I'm with Ivan; the gun fetish indicates some inner wrongness that I don't pretend to understand but that I also certainly don't trust. Guns attract kooks like moths to a flame. Go to a gun show and, Woah Nelly, you'll see what I'm talking about. When I see someone packing in our PNW wilderness 'for personal safety' (hunting's a different story, of course), I interpret it as a either a) the aforementioned weirdness or b) a lack of experience...at least until interaction with the individual proves otherwise. Statistically, nearly everyone who owns non-hunting guns claim its for personal safety. And statistically, these are the very folks who do the lion's share of shooting family members, friends, and themselves, either violently or by accident. Statistically, you and those around you are far less safe if their's a handgun in the house. That's what the numbers say...your mileage my vary.

"Blood in the streets"? Yeah...own your own bullshit. As for bears, there was a fair bit of discussion here about them before you arrived on the scene to deliver a few misconceptions. Worried about your gun being stolen out of your car? Own that, too. In what whiny universe would that ever be the National Park Service's problem? Planning a trip that includes a National Park visit and worried about leaving your gun in your car? Here's some ideas: a) Keeping worrying. b) Leave the gun at home, or c) skip the National Park. It's just not that hard.

I would say that having the option to shoot yourself rather than die of exposure is might come in handy once you've broken your ankle trying to negotiate a mossy creek bed with your sixty pound pack complete with gun, ammo, bowie knife, snake bite kit, tre-bark jumpsuit, trip wires, night vision goggles....

Several gun proponents have posted things on this thread that are just plain wrong. That you couldn't carry a gun in your car into a national park prior to the rule change (you could). That hunting was and is allowed in National Parks (it isn't). That pistols are effective bear guns (they aren't). This this is a states rights issue (it's not). I realize that the gun lobby tends to play pretty fast and loose with the facts; that seems to be a cultural thing regarding that issue and those who make it a priority. If you care enough to defend your rights on a public forum that isn't hosted by the NRA with any credibility, however, then please care enough to do a little homework beforehand.

As anyone familiar with even rudimentary constitutional law knows, the 2nd Amendment is as subject to statutory and judicial restrictions as the rest of the Bill of Rights. From prohibitions on automatic weapons to the banning of guns in bars, the 2nd Amendment is limited in many, many ways. As in other areas of life, the devil is in the details.

What do Federal rights have to do with a State? It may be a National Park but its within a state. Limiting the power and scope of the Federal Government is never bad, it keeps New Yorkers from telling Alaskans what they should or should not do and vice versa. If this turns into an issue then the states can control it, one hot spot should not effect the rest of the country. We don't live in a black and white world, lets not force each other to use broad brushes. We have entirely too much of that already. Again, I don't expect this to change anything, there won't be ice cream trucks selling AK's as a result. Just go about your business, I bet you'll still find the same accommodating outdoors-men (and women) you always have. a) Hunting is not allowed in National Parks NPS From the site: "National Park: These are generally large natural places having a wide variety of attributes, at times including significant historic assets. Hunting, mining and consumptive activities are not authorized." b) Regulations in National Parks is not a states rights issue. Both federal jurisdiction and preemption apply in those areas.

Ah, yes, the mass graves in the woods. It's what people of your political philosophy do best. My people are Irish. We don't have woods, but we do tend to view any suggestion that we attend mass gravely. OH, we'll blow up a British pub or two on occasion, but we generally leave the bigger killin projects to more serious minded cultures. I will admit that seeing a few, OK, quite a few, conservatives knee capped would put an impish grin on my face.

Yeah...you might try learning more about bear behavior and the history of bear/human interaction if you're gonna schwak that much. I think you might discover how unwarranted your fears are...and save yourself carrying a piece of unnecessary gear that weighs as much as a sleeping bag all the time. OH, and BTW, the recommended bear gun is a 12 gauge with slugs. Good luck toting that around, wielding it effectively on a moment's notice, and being a good enough shot under stress (nasal cavity) not to make a predictable weekend warrior's mess of things. Stay within cell phone range to handle the likely eventuality that you shoot your partner...if you can find one willing to take a chance on going out with you.

It's common knowledge that conservatives who are not confined to celibacy by the kind of sexual dysfunction so common in that neck of the gene pool will fuck anything that moves and many things that don't; any great, fat pie wagon or 15 year old boy will apparently do. As long as the situation is highly fucked up; restraining orders, child molestation, full employment for crack whores; conservatives are pulling their plentiful weight. Don't expect atheists to 'out pro-create' this mangy excess population, however. We all know they eat their young.

spend some time at a climbing gym ...and don't look down.

It's interesting to note that, during the Reagan years, the Rcuntz at least tried to support their bullshit with the detritus of academia...the Laffer Curve comes to mind. About the mid 90's the Rcuntz stopped bothering, and just starting outright lying without any supporting rationale or theory whatsoever. 2000 was a watershed year for that particular sea change; they've never even attempted to go back to any semblance of integrity. Obama's biggest mistake so far has been to try to live out his fantasy of bipartisanship. He should have commenced stomping all over these shitheels from day one. It's a political movement that clearly needs to be extinguished.

Because the system that serves some of us (it does not serve 84% even close to satisfactorily) suffers from skyrocketing costs...unlike about 30 or so other national models. It's doomed. Even if 84% was an accurate figure...that's not good enough if you're one of the other 16% who might as well live in Botswana.

It is to laugh!

Canadian women's curling...deeeee-licious.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/1617572255.html I'm totally gonna score one a these chick magnets.

Kyl's the same guy who co-filed a falsified amicus brief to the Supreme Court in Hamdan v Rumsfeld in support of Congressional suspension of the right of habeas corpus enacted as part of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005. The amicus brief included fabricated 'floor debate', created after the act had already been signed into law, that Kyl had backdated and inserted into the congressional record, complete with fake 'interruptions' and 'your time is up' reminders. Kyl's shenanigans did not go unnoticed by the high court, however. For a variety of reasons, including Kyl's subterfuge, his side lost.

someone needs to de-gibberish this sentence Forcing employers to pay someone that can only generate $5 per hour in output $5.50 per hour in wages = guaranteed unemployment. Quite a few of the least skilled, least educated people in the US fall into this category. so lets fire up the death camps and get rid of them! Or promote them to run a hedge fund, because your assertion is comically asinine - because the laziest workers I've ever encountered were in healthcare and the massively bloated US healthcare industry Fastest growing job market in the U.S? medical coder...a job which is almost unique to our particular American brand of health care fuckedupedness. So much for the 'efficiency' argument. But hey, how about those pancreatic cancer outcomes? LOL

Having said all this, if your partner sprains an ankle slipping on some stupid wet log 20 miles from the car, you should definitely be allowed to shoot them.

It's no secret that American policing at all levels has become extremely militarized, and NP Rangers are no exception. In the case of park rangers, this came as a response to several shooting incidents that, um, wouldn't have happened had the shooters...you know...not had firearms. This new policy will only serve to increase the level of militarism and heavy handedness that some of us would argue don't quite fit in a national park setting. Thank you gun toters. So glad you feel safer out there.

Whenever the gun thing pops up here, as it cyclically does, and somebody invariably cites 'grizzly danger' as a reason for packing, I'm reminded of a conversation I had with our game warden and guide in South Africa's Hluhluwe Umfolozi National Park (HUNP) while on a walking safari there back in 1995. Steve was his name, as I recall. HUNP has a rich population of dangerous animals, which includes black and white rhino, elephants, cape buffalo, lions, and leopards, hyena, hippos, crocodiles, cobras, and black mambas, to name a few. Poaching, particularly of rare white rhinos, is a constant concern, so all game wardens are required to have prior military training. If a poacher is detected in the park (basically, any unaccounted for human prints), all game wardens deploy with fully automatic weapons and are authorized to track them down and shoot on sight. It's assumed that the poachers are heavily armed and will shoot first. They do. Steve himself, had been involved in a fierce firefight with poachers not two years prior. Game guides also carry .458 rifles (elephant guns) while on safari. Steve, obviously no stranger to the use of firearms, was also an ultramarathon runner who trained regularly in the park...unarmed. "If you bother to learn the habits of the wildlife here, you don't need a weapon, you just need your brain and your senses" he told us. I asked him how many animals had been shot in emergency situations by game guides in the park's then 45 or so year history. "Two, both by the same warden. Both killings were deemed unnecessary; he was finally fired." Like many attitudes in America, any feeling of increased security one gets from being armed in a national park is based on myth and a lack of knowledge about both the wildlife and largely non-existent crime in those areas. It's the Lazy Boy approach: buy the appliance, get that manly, 'protector' feeling. Back on planet earth, however, the danger from wildlife in our national parks is a statistical joke, particularly when compared to the tooth, claw, and poison running around a park like HUNP. Despite this rather glaring fact, some of us continue to harbor significantly more selfish and paranoid cultural attitudes towards this kind of non-existent threat than do, say, most South Africans, who, by all rights, should be a lot more worried. Unfortunately, this indulgence comes at the expense of the security of wildlife and other park visitors; a sacrifice many 'no exception' gun toters are perfectly willing to make for everyone and everything else. For some, its not about visiting and respecting a wildlife habitat that, after all, isn't YOUR home. Its not about sharing a national treasure with other citizens. It's about 'exercising your rights' and making yourself feel good at the expense of pretty much everyone and everything around you. There will likely be a few shootings in national parks in the coming years; bears mostly, but just as likely the occasionally brush bashing night hiker or disgruntled campground neighbor, some likely fueled by booze, as such incidents often are. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out after a few inevitable and avoidable firearms related deaths occur.

For durable goods, much of globalization is a luxury byproduct of cheap energy that will diminish over time as we run out of fossil fuel and suffer the consequences of burning too much of the same. Automation will continue to make jobs involving moving bits around a screen more transferable and therefore less valuable compensation wise, but businesses involving the production of actual objects, particularly low value added bulk items, have likely seen the peak of globalization. Even the least expensive mode of transport, bulk shipping, is cutting way back. For example, Maersk, one of the largest bulk shipping companies, just announced that they're cutting average fleet speed in half: from 24 to 12 knots. The majority of the world's cheap labor has already been exploited, particularly during the Chinese Miracle, which is now slowing down for good after its unsunstainable, record setting growth rates. Most of the opportunities for globalization were exploited when oil was $10 a barrel. At $70 a barrel and climbing, combined with the collapse of the credit bubble, the world is beginning to look like a very different place.

That's a cross section of KKK's surgically constructed member. It's a medical marvel.

If you can stomach some killing, Somalian piracy sounds like a great life style in an even better climate.