Pete_H

Lots of taste. Mostly bad.

It was more of a joke about the Tea Party. Sorry if I offended, but consider the forum.

Just don't have children and it won't be a problem.

He was just pissed off because Obama's trying to raise his taxes!

How would you read the Cold War then? - as the two big bullies on the block destined to butt heads? I suppose the Soviets could have been into Buddhism and we would have demonized it. Though clearly at least Stalin and Kruschev were actively trying to affect the downfall of the western govt's.

Norfolk State beat Missouri. But I thought that was a 13 and a 2.

True dat. The study of war is indeed the study of the history of humankind.

Vietnam: U.S. / South Vietnam v North Vietnam Korea: South Korea / U.S. v North Korea China got pretty heavily involved in both conflicts supplied a lot of arms to N Vietnam and had quite a few combatants in Korea. Sure, from our perspective these were cold war / proxy wars which adds another layer but still nation state v nation state. I'm not trying to argue that every conflict ever fought until Afghanistan was between nations, I'm just saying that in the last few decades non-state actors have become more prominent in international politics. I'm not smart enough to make this shit up, PHD's who teach college and shit did. So maybe I'm just trying to justify all the student loans from a 12-year-old poly sci degree.

Well, there was the war against the Barbary Pirates but that was probably a one-off.

bullshit. government and nation-states themselves are quite new inventions. more typically its been tribes/religions/sects/etc. that have divided warring group, and continous warfare has been the norm throughout history (and indeed, even advanced primates like chimps seem in constant combat w/ their neighbors) I think you can at least say the nation v nation paradigm has dominated since as long as the U.S. has been a nation, if not since the dawn of nation-states. Look at every war/conflict the U.S. has ever been involved in. Until Afghanistan (except for perhaps some covert and / or minor police actions in Latin America) every conflict has been against another nation.

I actually think Kev made a good point. It is important to distinguish between war and armed conflict if for no other reason that to highlight the fact that the nature of conflict is different now than it was historically. Conflict is now so much more likely to involve ideologies and non-governmental actors. The U.S.'s "war" against terrorism, Taliban, El-Quaeda, etc., for example.

Sounds like a good place to drink.

And the poor fuckers have to live in Tacoma.

My wife's cousin's husband has been deployed for the last 5 months, is coming home for 5 days, then leaves for another year. That bullshit might have something to do with it. Also that the military is fighting the longest war in U.S. history for an enigmatic purpose with goals that are probably unatainable. Really quite a tragedy.

Fawk. Just go to Squamish.

Of course you did.

The Sunshine Wall is actually pretty solid these days. Used to be a lot chossier and rockfall was very common. Most of the routes see a lot of traffic and have cleaned up quite a bit. Some of the cracks there are still pretty dirty, some aren't very parrelel sided and the gear just isn't very good. Semper vigilans.

Syria

Any time you'd save climbing up in plastic mountaineering boots you'd lose on the way down trying to ski in them. Sounds like the race (go up / go down) requires you to use AT gear. Sounds like you own AT gear. Not sure what your dilemna is.

Dude's got one of those PLO-style checkered scarves so he must know some important shit!

And what's more American the the good ol' college road trip?

The lady that makes this film The end of America seems to agree. Pretty interesting how she compares America to Nazi Germany, the similarities are quite striking if the content is true, which certainly appears to be the case. Wake up merica, your "freedom" is goin down! Yes. Contemporary America is the same as Nazi Germany. At least noone's wearing those silly small Hitler moustaches these days. Those are quite ugly.

Yeah, Vantage really sucks so quit going there! We almost had to wait in lines there in the sun yesterday! If you know what you're doing there really are some stellar sport lines there. If you don't know anything about it, you can get on some ugly stuff. What do you expect for a sunny warm weekend day in March at Sunshine Wall? As usual, the generic bolted 5.8's were crowded but most of the trad lines were free or saw minimal traffic.

We're headed to Cham at the end of the month to ski. We are renting a studio apartment for a week for $390 euros through homeaway.com. This was cheaper than any hotel I found and you get a kitchen.

I'd try Lake Powell or Daytona Beach. Don't forget to bring a bottle of flavored vodka and a video camera. Seriously though, why would you go the the PNW in March when you're right next door to the Utah desert, Red Rocks, Zion, etc.?