tvashtarkatena

Like most of PP's posts, this one really informs the debate.

Opponents to health care reform have thrown out a lot of obfuscating chaffe to confuse the issue: a standard mis-information tactic. Lt's get a little clearer on what's going on here and how we compare with the rest of the civilized world. Essentially, we have every system out there in operation right here already, so the 'what if' argument is pure shite. We already know. The problem is that we've got the African system (no money? you die) for more than a sixth of our population. Not very civilized, really. Every other developed nation on earth has decided that health care is a basic human right. The sad fact that we're still bickering on that point speaks volumes, and not good volumes, about the state of American cultural humanity. Finally, a clarifying analysis from TR Reid

Fees, and both NP and NF (RE the latter: another groovy sign kiosk or self-perpetuating enforcement job, anyone?) fees, are already high. As such, they have an inordinate filtering effect on those who aren't earning a steady living yet: teens. We've basically told an entire upcoming generation, on that is already challenged with the targeted marketing of fast food, sedentary entertainment, and the joys of shopping, that you've got to pay to fill the most basic human need: connecting with nature. That is a very, very bad thing culturally, and it will most likely not bode well for future environmental appreciation and, therefore, policy. I never paid to the state when I was a teen for roaming the hills and mountains, including the High Sierra. Those experiences were fundamental and necessary, not 'nice to haves'. Why are we working towards denying this essential part of being alive to those who will succeed us? As for NPS budget issues, they are purely political. If we wanted to fund the NPS tomorrow fully, AND eliminate entry fees altogether, we could...we've simply chosen to go on foreign adventures in the Middle East and Central Asia instead. That's a cultural choice we've made. How did we get here? Look in the mirror. Perhaps we'd be better off as a nation if we, as individuals, got a little dirt under our fingernails out in the woods more and bolstered our flagging self-esteem vicariously through the misguided exploits of a vastly bloated military from the safety of our couches a little less.

I'd love to hit the desert this year...haven't been in a long while.

The zombie apocalypse? It's already here, only they eat their own brains instead of ours.

Um...the Craggies Glacier is missing. I wonder if Google Earth might be able to provide an updated estimate of area for some of these glaciers, at least the ones in areas covered by higher rez (summer season) photos. Import pics from Google Earth (which are current to within 2 or three years as I recall) to any drawing program that can calculate square area, trace around the glacier, taking scale into account, and there you have it. An afternoon's work. Given the massive ongoing recessions, the differences in size between 71 and today should be huge.

when are we gonna get them 4' tall women with beer cozy ears that turn into a roast beef sandwich at midnight?

I reckon the proposed title "Soloing Sans Balls" isn't gonna fly, either.

They've learned to cry like lost children....

In those conditions WITH IVAN. Let's not minimize it.

Waking up every morning to engage in yet another day of unchecked douchery brings its own personal rewards, I suppose. Unless you're a psychopath. Then the playing field of possible human behaviors is delightfully flat. Some douches are compartmentalized enough to maintain calm and peaceful sanctuaries, free from their douche-dulgence, somewhere in their lives. I suspect these two are not in that category. It seems that just about every aspect of Palin's life, for example, is a train wreck. Her interior decorating comes to mind....

What, this doesn't appeal to you?

The more cornered and doomed an animal is, the more tooth and claw it shows. I was in an airport line last week listening to two business men...GOP poster children, from their appearance, rail against the state of health care in this country, lack of universal coverage, and skyrocketing costs. Game over, fuckers. You lost. Even dumb-as-a-post Merka has figured out that it's been getting screwed with a dry corn cob.

A real man would just go on up there. A real smart man wouldn't.

In the realm of the Angry Hairless Monkey, such constant douche-pressure produces an anti-douche-backpressure, whether it be in the form of an ethics investigation, less-than-stellar interview, or tell-all book deal. Douches such as these remain in the media because there are enough like-minded douches out there who need them to confirm that douchery is OK. It's our job to send such douches on down the road and make them someone else's problem...a douche maneuver in itself, but one which makes our lives a little more douche-free.

Romance without sex? Pointless.

General Relativity Law One: Douchebaggery has consequences.

Waiting for the wetter to clear. I've already done it Ivan style. First day of a decent window...next week sometime.

I have designed a personal robotic factotum to accompany me. A human can't be trusted. If you're serious, however, the launch will be next week, about 3 days after the weather clears a bit. It's a long space voyage for such a short hike, however. I'll be in the area on another mission...this would be a side trip.

yeah, I been there late season, but I don't remember when, all this shit's startin' to run together, I'm lazy, and I needed a quick answer, which you, my friend, have now provided. I'm taking a noob up and I don't want any complications. Hope things are going well which you.

clove hitch on a rope without redundancy is definitely good enough. It's faster (and therefore safer), easiest to set up (and therefore harder to screw up...safer), doesn't result in 'redundancy clusterfuck', which can cause more errors/accidents than not, and...um...how about that non-redundant rewoven figure eight you're depending on the rest of the time?

sleep low, climb high for short trips.

hazeferhorsez

The Dissappointment Cleaver or Emmons routes are the most straightforward. Recommend going with people who know about crevasses...and going a little bit later as previously suggested for better all around conditions. The Kautz Glacier route on that mountain was my first northwest climb. Have fun.