Winter

Vaclav Havel's signature on that passage has done more to convince me of war than any war mongering president.

I thought Locke's speach on his grandfather showed a much better connection to our domestic issues than GW could ever demonstrate. "I remember back in the day when my father was trying to pull us by our bootstraps, selling wepons to Osama bin Laden and Afghani rebels through the Carlyle Group. We made it, and now I'm dictat ... uhhh ... President. That's the American dream!"

Last sumnmer I got a pair of Garmont Stickyfingers or something like that. Kristin just got a very similar pair at Next Adventure for $60. They rock.

This quote is taken from the Blue Ribbon Coalition Web Site: In areas, such as Wilderness and developed sites where funding is inadequate to maintain recreation experiences, and funding is not available from other user-supported programs, we support the implementation of user fees, subject to the following: * Fees should be for a specific facility or discrete physical area, not just access to public land in general. * Fees should be returned to the area from which they are collected. * Distribution of funds to various projects should be done with full public involvement. The Blue Ribbon Coalition is one of the leading groups advocating for ORV interests. It appears that they support user fees. As for this whole discourse on arogance and climbers, I have to respectfully disagree with the argument that climbers and hikers are more arogant than the rest of the backcountry users. That argument holds little more weight than the typical conservative argument that liberals all want to impose their values on others, while the conservatives want to tell everyone how government should be run. The hikers and climbers are not the only arogant or most arogant user groups. The ORV'ers, snowmobilers, horseback riders, mountainbike riders, hunter, fishermen etc. all display levels of arrogance, and they ain't all liberals. I think there should be two guiding principles behind manging competing user groups: 1. Manage to minimize environmental impacts; and 2. Manage to protect the integrity of the experience for all user groups.

Dude, get a platter. Sheesh ... for a self-proclaimed liberal you're pretty narrowminded about your mexican food.

La Calaca Comelona also kicks some Mexican ass on Belmont. Used to be on 12th and Hawthorne.

Winter, what you end up getting for skis? Ahhhh ... I kicked down because the Oregon State Bar refunded me $900 I had overpaid on my malpractice insurance. The BD Miras. Whoa boy. Went down to Sunriver last weekend, but the conditions absolutely sucked and I climbed at Smith. I can't wait to get out on them, but I still need to get 110 skins.

I'm riding the Garmont GSM and they kick ass. I got them cheap from gear.com or something like that, but I think its outta biz.

Nope. I ain't part of no posse. I was in Red Rocks last year with about 10 folks ... half guys half girls. Groups dynamics chafe me when I'm trying to squeeze in as much climbing as possible in a short period of time. As for Tex Mex ... Esparzas is the place to be. Nothing beats La Serenita for the authentic except maybe the burrito place on the corner of SW 5th and Oak St.

DFA - That's the worst "Mexican" food on the east side after that place on Hawthorne and 38th. And I don't mind the gym climbing ... I'll be there tonight as a matter of fact ... its the sport climbers that really piss me off.

That and the margaritas are about the only reason to frequent that place. The food sucks! Didn't know refried beans tasted lilke cardboard.

Ditto. Got some skis from them recently. If you don't see what you want on the web site, call or e-mail.

One of my friends drank untreated water from a drainage ditch in Ghana and came down with amoebic disentary. Man he looked like shit. I thought there was a debate over whether filters even worked for tiny viruses that slipped through the microfilters. PUR was putting out warnings, recommending that people treat filtered water with iodine if they thought there was a risk of virus.

This site makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Anal sex sets a new low for thread drift.

Better yet, anyone goin down this weekend? I'll be in Sun River and may want to climb.

Hey guys, good work.

Actually I think its BD, as the US distributor for other companies, that has come down hard on the Euro web retailers. BD, I believe, has also come down hard on the Euros for undercutting BDs retail price on their own gear. There has been a lot of discussion on this board and others, and I haven't seen anyone else involved other than BD, although I'm sure they're out there.

Its "unpatriotic" to even question the propriety of American policy in the Middle East. Wasn't that what got Cantwell ... or was it Murray ... in so much hot water? The public demands unquestioning support and devotion to the dictator ... uhh ... president!!

Here's one that ain't a myth. Bush Sr. was business partners with Osama's father. Daddy bin Laden invested heavily in the Carlyle Group, Bush Sr.'s arms dealing business. Daddy bin Laden pulled out of the Carlyle Group shortly after 9/11 because it "looked inappropriate." Hmmm ... Bush Sr. and Osama Sr. sell weapons together ... and Bush Jr. and Osama Jr. are shooting 'em at each other. The Bushes are rich and powerful and the bin Ladens are rich and powereful. EVERYONE WINS!!

I'm looking for something to do on Saturday. I'm supposedly recovering from hepatities, so human lungs need not apply. St. Helens or Hood or some BC skiing. I need to get out. - Chris

I think Minx is on to something. Maybe a control would be in order. Take a sampling of blacks and whites who all had equal exposure from parents or roll models and then check out the results. I was born in a house built by a Whitaker. Pops hung with Hornbein and had Ome Daiber working on the house ... drove me to Alaska in a VW van for 6 weeks when I was 7. My girlfriend blames him for my addictions.

DFA - I was the youngest of 2 until my father split and had too more youngens 21 years later. I personally love the little wankers. It took many years to chase those demons from my head. You could try therapy. My suggestion is to drink heavily, go to as many dead shows as possible and remember as little as possible. Then again, the doctor says my liver is malfunctioning (what the hell are ALTs?).

Damn was I the only person painting my house and NOT climbing Hood this weekend?

That means the DFA is the alpine hardman he always said he was.

B-Rock - How do you like the Shuksans? I'm trying to get a pair of BD skis from T-P, but they delisted them from the English site, because they aren't supposed to sell to Americans. I'm trying to buy from the French page to see if I can get around it.