Clavote

I like the current socialist wealth distribution scheme where wealth is distributed from the middle (because that is where the money is and we know you don't mind if we get bailed out by you) to the top. The fed and treasury have been really great about working with us and giving us your money. Even after the $700 billion was approved those guys at the fed and treasury are still finding ways to get more money for AIG and the rest of us. We are a little sensitive about the "socialist" label because, after all it's all for you. You want a new car or a new flat panel TV, right? Then you are going to need some credit. There is nothing like borrowing your own money and paying interest to us for it. Without this America would grind to a halt and flat panel tvs would just sit on store shelves. Sure we have a capitalist free market and a little socialist wealth re-distribution upwards does not make us commies. Hell, if anything it makes us more like our robber baron predecessors. Obama is not a socialist when he supports giving us money. It would only be socialist if he supported bailing out home owners with your money. Where else but America can we make obscene profits and then obscene losses and have the American taxpayer hold the bag for us. What a great country!

Cashews and teriyaki jerky mixed in a baggie. You can add dried blueberries, cherries or other fruit to it if you want. Peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Put them in a baggy you can use for trash and then stuff them in your pack so they get smooshed. I also like some powdered Gatorade along to flavor water and get some electrolytes.

We have lots of climbers with a few extra pounds, but when you see that obese guy in XXL skin tight goretex, ugh.... Next time I see that, I will have to take a discreet picture. It's really amazing to see all that new goretex use only once.

Uh... that sure is the impression that has been given in this thread, particularly by the poster with whom I was debating. ps. I will argue about pretty much anything that sounds interesting, whether or not you think it is an issue. Yes, well, those posters are morons. The issue is whether California can grant marriage licenses to same sex couples; once said license is granted churchs can choose whatever they want. Catholic churchs require marriage counseling before a service with questioning regarding such issues as premarital intercourse. A lot of Catholics in CA get married in a non-Catholic church after meeting with their parish priest for "counseling". Their policies actually have the effect of pushing people away from marriage in a Catholic church. I don't think marriage is the business of any religion or state. You can easily shack up and reproduce, but you don't get the tax benefits and legal whatnot of state sponsored marriage. Now, AK knows how to marry, straight, people. 3 day waiting time for a license. No questions asked (for all intents and purposes), and then any person who is the officiant (an it is easy to get a judge to make you one), can marry you. Most of the gay people I know who have had a marriage ceremony, before and after the court ruling, have done it outside a religious organization and have hired a non-denominational minister to do it. Now if you want to get married in the building of the organization that frowns on gay marriage and are willing to fight for that, well that is a pretty rough road to take and I wish you the best of luck. You will certainly be opening doors for those to follow. I still think it's a lot harder to get a divorce than to get married.

Better not book yet Sobo. The econo class passengers are required to blow the business class passengers for the 10 Euro fare.

I will participate in your gas out. I hope that filling up my car on the 28th will not defeat the purpose. I can also have my tree sitting friends occupy a gas station and sling feces at the arborists hired by Shelvronbpexx76 to remove them.

Our divorce business is going to go up! If heteros are any guide to the divorce rate, we can expect business to increase with the increase in gay marriages. No more just walking out the door with all your shit. Now you have to go to court and pay a lawyer to get half your shit. Thank you California Supreme Court!!!! I'm gonna get a new vacation home.

War again, awesome! I'm going to recommend we all get some of these Bofors Bonus 155 shells. These are the shit! Anything Bofors makes is gonna kill someone dead. I love the way they say "cost effective" the price of killing someone has never been lower!

I live here and I was watching this event while waiting for my car to be serviced. I only regret not taking a camera. After living in this area for almost a decade, I can tell you that there are a core group of people that organize and do this stuff all the time. I used to live with an organizer (for social issues, not for trees so he is cool), so I know how these "protest actions" work. I've joined my share of protest against the war, but not for trees. Most of the time it's a party: smoking weed, flirting and hooking up in the hippie gene pool is what normally happens. When the cops arrive, the hippies act like soccer players faking a broken femur at the slightest touch by a cop to move aside or move on. I have even been to seminars on how to act with the cops and they definitely want you to act like they are killing you. It's really quite entertaining overall to go to these things. For the most part these are middle class white kids with nothing better to do than save trees, turtles, the planet, add your own cause here. They generally don't give a rats ass about people that are not like them. They just appear to be "progressive". One more thing....these hippie types generally do smell unclean. I don't mean just at these actions but all the time. So "dirty hippie" is not just an insult.

I offer information if asked for it or I ask if they are OK, if they look distressed. This usually seems to be a polite way to start. Curiously, most young people don't ask for information.

The AAC is just as bad as the Sierra Club and Nature conservancy. They have become a group of elite ECO pimps. They scare you with their marketing to make you give them money. They buy up land and then close it off to everyone except themselves and their high rolling donors and then the rest of us can just go somewhere else. Then the big wigs at these organizations pay themselves fat salaries with health benefits that would break any of our check books. The president of my local United way makes $250K! and this is a non-profit!?! I stopped giving to the united way a long time ago after I learned how much of the donations go to salaries and benefits and how much actually goes to help people. These groups are nothing more than ECO PIMPS. They take your money and enrich themselves because their greedy human nature kicks in and they reveal themselves without integrity. Same old, same old.

I've just increased my carbon footprint. I was just informed that it's big.

I'm not worried about global warming. I do think it's real and humanity is probably a factor in the rapid changes that would otherwise take longer to occur. But I am taking the longer view of this and finding a silver lining. I'm buying property in areas likely to get warmer and that are now fairly cold. Can anyone imagine a warmer Alaska? I can and I think I am going to enjoy the warmer summers in my cabin. As far as polar bears, fuck them. They eat humans and are a damned bothersome to outdoor recreation or work. Yeah, I'll turn off the lights for an hour and I hope the city goes dark. I know it will make an impact and show how much more can be saved if everyone participates. At the very least we will save some of our devalued dollars on expensive energy for an hour. We can reduce emissions, but is it too late for the polar bear? Let's hope so.

I know it's their country and their laws, but the attitude of the US embassy just reeks of a bunch of submissive fucks. We can't even protest against the Saudis because the Bush administration has their nose too far up Saudis ass. We can't even complain when the men in dresses toss you into jail. Thanks US Embassy in Saudi Arabia for being so spineless. You could have protected that woman better, you could have done more. But noooooooo, working and drinking coffee with a man is OK in the office but taboo in Starbucks. Saudi Arabia is such a bullshit country. Saudi Arabia is not a democracy....but we're OK with "Freedom" not being there while at the same time Bush drops BILLIONS to bring "democracy" and "freedom" to Iraq and Afghanistan. Let's shock and awe Saudi Arabia and bomb all their fucking Starbucks to dust and effect regime change in Saudi Arabia. And let's start with regime change at the polls here at home. What good is a government that only protects the interest of corporations?

Danhelmstadter, thanks very much for the updates on Shasta. This year the reports from the USFS have been sparse due to the ranger, who reported on this, left. The Fifth season and USFS still do a good job, but nothing like the detail you are providing. I want to go climbing as soon as the snow pack stabilizes enough for me to feel secure going up on green butte ridge, so I will keep checking for your snow reports. Thanks again for your efforts and information. It is really appreciated and I wanted to say THANKS! Joe