tvashtarkatena

A very sad and premature ending to what seems to have been a life fully lived. My condolences to TJ's friends and family. [video:youtube]7SXWDA0cyZI Panorama from the summit of Luahna

I got you something in a Baby Jesus motif.

Look at it this way: if we don't disarm, nuclear war is inevitable. Eventually, it will happen...again, I suppose I should say. It will happen for the very same reason we built nuclear weapons in the first place: because human beings suck. The sooner we disarm, the less likely that extremely bad outcome will be. To state that this will never happen is to accept the outcome of a nuclear armageddon. No thank you.

It's easier to bag more pelts that way.

I nuked you from space, Grandpa. Know why? For fun. Plus, I never knew either one of my Grandpas, so the concept means nothing to me. Human beings are capable of just about anything. I know Grandpas are supposed to say "It can't be done", it's their job, kind of, but everything is possible. If the correct answer is "no nukes", that's what you work towards. We all know that human beings suck. Nobody here needs a geriatric to fill them in on that little nugget of reality. But human beings are herd animals. Get a few people headed in the right direction for long enough and, every once in a while, the herd follows.

That was not my point of view, but I guess you had to take your requisite shot. Fortunately, some others here got my points a bit more accurately.

The lessons I took from this story, one of the most incredible I've ever read or seen, for sure, is this: 1) When the shit goes down, it's all about you, babe. Most of us don't realize what we're really capable of. 2) Never give up. If living for another hour becomes your only remaining goal in life, put everything into it.

I takes about a nano-second after reading the Klenke post to realize that the 'Thank you, nuclear weapons!' argument gets vaporized once nuclear nations actually go to war with other. The assumption that 'this would never happen' because people are too rational and machines are too reliable is ridiculous on its face for anyone who knows any people or deals with any machines. People who make this argument have not done their homework. The U.S. and the Soviets have come fantastically close to a nuclear exchange on several occasions. Had one person made one decision slightly differently, or had one military commander acted wrongly, none of us would probably be here today arguing about how great nukes are. Personally, that doesn't seem like a very 'secure' system to me. While in the Navy, we wargamed on computers with 'the Soviets' (teams populated by our colleagues, of course). Average time to a tactical nuclear escalation once hostilities begin: 5 minutes. Nearly all analysis of such conflicts strongly indicates that a tactical nuclear exchange would almost immediately escalate to full blown strategic nuclear war. Yeah, I'm feeling safer already. Then there's the reliability argument. We all know that the more complex the system, the more reliable it is. The Space Shuttle comes to mind. Star Wars provides another example. Perhaps the two can be combined for an even more reliable, space based defense system? And, finally, the coups de grace: the proliferation problem. All Cold War, pro-nuke arguments assume a) only large state actors will have the toys and b) the security of those toys is absolute. Pakistan. North Korea. The former USSR. Nuff said there. There is only one conclusion any sane person can come to regarding nuclear weapons: The only security from nuclear annihilation will come from the elimination of those weapons. It's not rocket science, folks.

It's not about maintaini ng peace. Gramps isn't sophisticated enough to grasp this, but then again, a whole lot of Americans stand, cow eyed, right alongside him. It's about maintaining our 'way of life', which means cheap goods and oil. That's what all the guns are for. With 40% of the world's weapons, and a defense expenditure that exceeds the next ten nations combined, any argument that it's about 'defense' is a fucking joke. Maintaining our 'way of life' through foreign military invasion and occupation is fascism, plain and simple. Gramps probably doesn't consider himself a fascist. Most Germans during the Reich wouldn't have characterized themselves that way, either, but they supported the cause, all if it, nonetheless. They were simply patriots who believed that national security was the state's paramount mission. Sound familiar? Germany imploded under the weight of their ambitions. America is undergoing that process as we speak, albeit in a somewhat less violent way...so far, anyway. Our collapse is more similar to the Soviets: Our addiction to military expenditures and other excesses have buried us, and, like any addict, we've gotten ourselves into an unserviceable mountain of debt in a failed attempt to keep the dream alive. And like the Soviets, our vast military power some of us get such a hard on about has turned out to be paper tiger, but even paper tigers are an expensive pet to keep. Cheap consumer technology and 60 years of a booming arms industry has created a world where a 15 year old with a garage door opener and stolen artillery shell can defeat a state of the art, 60 million dollar main battle tank operated by the most highly trained and well equipped army the world has ever seen. So much for the enemy shaking in its sandals in the face of our 'massive firepower' (Mr. MO-JO, RI-ZIN!). The internet and broadcast media has insured that there is an inexhaustable supply of those 15 year olds. Of coures, we could kill everyone who isn't American, which seems to be what Gramps would be willing to do if 'the shit went down', you know, to preserve our way of life...our 'freedom'. Because they hate us for that. It's all very much like a 1st grade writing assignment, I know, but this is the state of critical thinking across a huge swath of our population. The Gramps-of-America lap up the messaging, created by coke snorting 30 something Madison Avenue word warriors, and employed by politicians who would (and do) put a million of their crackerhead constituents out of their homes to get re-elected. Our Granpas need legitimacy for their bigotry, a vent for their seemingly inexhaustable supply of anger, and 'a cause', however amorphous, poorly defined, and mythical. Right Wing politics provides such services. It's the movement of instant gratification; no analysis or thinking required, go with your gut, celebrate your ignorance, and the pull tab says 'you win!"...nothing, of course. In most other civilized countries American style Right Wing conservativism has been appropriately marginalized to a minority of dunces and kooks, where it can do only limited damage to the populace at large. We should be so lucky.

12,000 Washington couples, including thousands of elderly folks who filed for domestic partnerships so as not to lose their pension and other benefits, will lose these benefits if this referendum isn't approved. A defeat here would deal a long term blow to today's civil rights movement. The polls are close on this one, and the opposing side is planning a well funded media blitz, full of lies, of course, the week before the campaign. Just as they did in California...successfully. If you believe that domestic partnership benefits (no, this bill referendum does not redefine 'marriage', as it's opponents keep claiming) should be granted to all Washingtonians, get out there in force and approve 71. It's one of the most significant and far reaching civil rights referendums in our state's history. Be an active part of that history. Ballots will be mailed Oct 16th.

Our fathers and grandfathers, MY father, didn't beat the NAZIs all the way back to Berlin only to have fascist fucks like you take over the joint and shit all over our ideals and constitution. I don't know what you think your way of life is, but MY way of life is to make YOUR way of life, or any other brand of fascism, disappear forever.

That's pretty much why the sane among us voted you kooky fascist fuckers out of office.

I know this a troll, but just for fun... ...yeah, yeah. Half of us here grew during the Cold War. I spent my entire childhood in a country involved in a shooting war. Most of us realized that the U.S., in it's post WWII belligerence, was half the problem, however. Most of us also didn't buy the military industry's sales brochure about the Cold War and a huge military as being a GOOD THING that KEEPS US SAFE: we're only still here today, after many very close calls, out of shear dumb luck and the thread-bare reasonableness of a few men...nearly all of them Russians, not Americans. If the American attitude had prevailed on both sides say, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, we'd all be dead.

That worked like a charm in Southeast Asia, and it's working even better in Iraq and Afghanistan. If our opponents just, you know, understand us clearly enough, about, you know, who's boss around here, we get whatever we want for Christmas, and maybe even for our birthday, too.

It's kind of funny to read folks here type in their "situation averted" assessments from their comfy ergo office chairs. Both the movie and book clearly depicted what was an obviously desperate situation: a belayer who is already slipping over a cliff edge on very steep terrain covered with a layer of unconsolidated snow (typical for those kinds of Andean flutings) at altitude with his partner's full weight on the rope. Simply whip out your picket and pound it into the...the...rock...um, sugar snow...uh...let's try cutting a bollard with my free hand (??????)...wait, now what did I do with that emergency bolt kit? Just a little different from that time you got out of your belay by clipping to the tree behind you during the Intermediate Climbing Course...while sitting on flat ground. And Simpson? He dropped his prusik because his hands were frozen after many hours in harsh conditions. What a dumbshit, Eh? I mean, this is all great for what-if-Mighty-Mouse-fought-Superman-speculation purposes, but come on. To those armchair critics of whom I speak: at the very least, try doing some comparable stuff first, then, by all means, pontificate away about the mistakes of others with your new found expertise to back you up.

The poi's the hard part.

I'd miss you, Choada.

Christianity. The longest lived case of "We'll show them" in history.

Sheeit. I sided with the Confederacy.

You could try knitting your runners into a sweater. They're fuzzy enough.

W T F??? plus... You can afford Walmart? Goodwill's my spending limit. Plus...how much quality gear do you need for the Jersey Pine Barrens? Mainly just lawn leaf bags...in case you trip over a body.

Heh heh

Far better to be gay and interesting than asexual and a dullard.

The moment evolution came up with alimentary canal, we all became scumbags.

You haven't seen Ivan jug a rope.