tvashtarkatena

BUMP Eddie Bauer (Made by Karhu) Boreal 120 approach skis. $125 Get ready for winter approaches with a pair of these. 120 cm x 110mm, universal binding will take any boot, integral climbing skins. Way better than snow shoes. In great shape. Call 206.271.4153 if interested.

Actual stuff dropped, from the pack or on a route, by myself or a partner, over the years: ice axe (recovered) ski poles 3 ice screws (recovered) 2 belay devices biner, sling, piton 3 wired stoppers digital camera (Recovered...what was left of it) altimeter watch (FAWK! Now resting at the bottom of Prince William Sound) tent (recovered mid tely turn just before it rolled into a crevasse) various skis (recovered) Gear stolen by bushy tailed wood rats over the years: 1 pr light gloves fuel cup for MSR Whisperlite 1 pr jumars (THAT HURT)

I've dropped the hint that maybe we should get the fuck out of here a time or two.

Dearest, kindest sir, My name is May Akabogu-Collins, and I have come into a rare opportunity from which you could benefit....

The finger eater's getting a lot of play, though. As usual, the 'debate' centers around the fringe.

Yes, with some weird exceptions, but they shouldn't be the only ones. We already have a single payer program that works and has a high approval rating from patients. Why not open it to all? We also have a federal employee insurance program. Again, same argument. Is this really so hard? No, despite all the horseshit flying about 'Merka being divided' on the issue (um, no it isn't) and end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it, it isn't. Guess that would be TOO much socialism, which is really just a 'patriotic' way of saying not enough corporate cock sucking.

A public option means government run insurance, government run care , or a combination of both. Medicare is an example of government run insurance, private care. The VA is an example of both.

Health care reform without a strong public option is no health care reform at all, that is for sure. No other civilized nation on earth allows its health care providers and insurers to be for-profit companies. They recognized the obvious conflict of interest, and inequity in availability and quality of care between the rich and poor that we enjoy. Obviously the problem isn't the GOP. They no longer matter in the voting game.

THis would be an obvious 'no show' maneuver, but I question its veracity. You can read whatever you want in the blogosphere. Any seriously delayed implementation is simply a smoke screen for not doing anything, which is, after all, the GOP agenda.

Another anecdote: A guy in the rental car line in Cali who owns his own business pays $25,000, that's right, three zeroes, to insure his family. Um...that's an entire annual income for a sizeable part of our increasing poorer population. Nope. No problem here. Move on.

I actually climbed the route last spring, so I'm familiar with the raps, where to place that pink tricam, etc. Just needed the gulley conditions. Thanks.

The irony is that overall approval ratings for Medicare and other public health care systems in the US is actually quite high. They work, and people like them...just as they do in every other civilized country on earth. TR Reid recounted that the biggest policy debate insult around the world was a threat to 'go to the American system'. Everyone else knows our little clusterfuck is cruel, out of control, and getting worse. Like your employee sponsored program right now? How sure are you that you'll still like it 5 or 10 years from now? Not worried? You're an idiot.

...and this little pinky went to the Free Market....

Health care is rationed everywhere in some form. That's an inescapable reality of a limited resource. We choose to ration health care here by simply not providing it to tens of millions of men, women, and children. Our health care costs are twice, per capita, as expensive as other countries. Our administrative costs average 18% versus 5 in other countries. The Japanese more than twice as many doctor visits per year than we do, yet their per capita costs are still much lower. The message is that our clusterfuck is just that: it requires wholesale simplification and the benefits of economies of scale and administrative standardization that result. Here's a nice example for you from personal experience: The over the counter price of Crestor, a highly effective cholesterol lowering drug taken by millions of AMericans, is over $2400 dollars a year. One medication. Pay up or die of a stroke, fucker. Welcome to unfettered capitalism.

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.