sobo

US Presidential rankings, both best and worst If ya believe the polls, GW takes it, hands down.

Thanks for the alternate vid, hafilax. That little guy is just brutal. What a killer!

Heeeeey!!!1 You broke into my gear closet, didncha?

Squeak the Socialist Snaffle is just here for the

And he carries his weight well. The Scottish Fold vid: "We're sorry, this video is no longer available."

Rocket is most definitely not fat. Not by any stretch of anyone's imagination, Mel.

Jeebus Christos, Bala, that sounds brutal! Hope you heal up well and soon. LD awaits us...

Welcome to the discussion, Pat. What took you so long?

Hoping like hell to stave it off, on the hunch that I might be wrong in my fatalism. But please remember, it is not I who makes the decisions in this war. What I think apparently makes no difference to the military nor the CIC. I am not into corporate welfare, especially the ill-gotten variety, with its attendant corruption, deal-steering, and money laundering schemes. I think that the perpetrators should all join Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling in the slammer. Well, maybe just join Skilling... Naaaaaah, let 'em join Lay, six feet under. That would be better. And of course I harbor the (forlorn) hope that we can help the "good guys" (whoever they might be) avoid or perhaps even win a civil war, if that's the way things go, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. I'm just not very optimistic about the outcome of the whole affair, given our recent history. Matt, you've been around at least as long as I have. One look at the Koreas, Cuba (Bay of Pigs), Vietnam, Central America (Sandanistas-Contras), Somalia (Aidid), Bosnia-Herzegovina, the first Gulf War, etc. will serve to demonstrate that whenever we've stuck our nose into someone else's business over the past 60 years, we've gotten it bloodied for no real purpose and in the final analysis failed to increase security for our interests. Well, maybe Vietnam turned out all right in the end, 30 years after. We have trade agreements with them, Americans (ex-pats as well as tourons) are welcome there, and at least the entire country isn't plotting to anhililate all of us.

I am not as optimistic as you, Matt, as I think civil war in Iraq is inevitable. Hell, there are those that say they're fighting one right now, but I dispute that. But I think it will be evident to all when it does eventually break out in full force. I never wanted to see that, and we never should have even been there to begin with.

That was my guess, but if I had said that publicly and it turned out to be wrong, I would have been so embarrassed.

Wow, and I thought I was the Arbiter of Old Skewl on this here board. I bow in humble reverence, O Old Skewl Master DH...

I was speaking for myself when I said "impose is too strong of a word." Clearly, my government does not think that way. As I said above, I would like for (and not have it imposed upon them) the Iraqis to take the lead on this one (setting up their own functional government so we can leave), but they do not seem inclined to take this step forward. There can be only one of two reasons for this: either they are unable to do so, or they are unwilling to do so. They want us to leave, but not today. But they want us to tell them when we will leave. But any date that isn't tomorrow is too late. No answer we give will appease them. It's a Catch-22. I agree that we cannot sustain the present troop levels and still maintain our interests in other parts of the globe. Drawdown is inevitable. But I am curious as to what you think the prognosis might be, depending upon whatever drawdown scenario is enacted...

Might wanna keep it separate from the RU festivities. The campground host at 8-Mile seemed to be a tad upset with us (although it really wasn't us with whom to be upset, but that's another matter entirely), and I reckon Larry the Tool would join in. Better to make it a Halloween trick or a New Year's Eve prank. That way, if anything goes wrong, we can blame it on the local high school boys.

I still suffer spontaneous bleeding from the ears whenever I hear it...

I think perhaps "impose" is too strong of a word. I would like for the Iraqis to work that one out on their own. They were almost there in mid-2004, when that fucktard Muqtada al-Sadr raised his head (and his militia). I'm with mkporwit on this one, Matt. Waste is waste wherever it occurs, here or there. But again, we cannot impose anything upon the Iraqis (or anyone else, for that matter) that they do not wish to have imposed upon them. I think we've already seen the outcome of those attempts. They need to decide to do this one for themselves. With all of their ethnic/religious bickering, that hope most likely remains a pipe dream...

Bold New ...You made it clear in your first post on this topic that you'd rather send that dollar elsewhere besides welfare. I get that. But are you SO against welfare that you actually support Iraq war spending more than social programs? Yes, as sad as that may be for you to hear, I do. We went in to Iraq on bad intel and a lust for oil, and now we are stuck there in another Vietnam quagmire. But I would rather spend that dollar getting our asses the fuck out of Iraq, on a footing/premise that we'll never have to go back there again, than on any new social programs. That answer your question for ya?

Is that thing endorsed by The Master?

replace the phrase "oil companies" for "George Senior" and I might agree with you:-) Howz this, Bill? "Oil companies, who owned George Senior and got him elected, cast their unfinished business to George Junior, also owned by Big Oil, who followed his daddy's advice to pick up the charge where his one-termer father left off."

What climb was that, John (GCC)? I'm not up my route acronyms...

Again, Matt, no I would not. TANF seems to be doing its job in that the statistics show that the poverty rate and the number of recipients are decreasing over the life of the program (slowly, nay, darn near imperceptibly in the case of the poverty rate, but a 70% reduction in the number of claims by recipients). Good job, Bill. Still, since it's working, I see no need to change it, and hence I would rather not see more of my money going to TANF at this time. Regarding the war in Iraq, I think that was an ill-conceived idea and resultant action, and that we never had a dog in that fight in the first place. However, the Taliban marauding all over Afghanistan destroying monasteries and other religious shrines, murdering members of religious or ethnic groups not in keeping with Taliban tenets, etc. was an entirely different matter. If we were going to be the savior of any nation, our energy should have been focused there, and not in Iraq. I believed it in 2003, and I still believe it today, that George Senior told Junior to finish the business that he never concluded way back in 1991. That was the price that Junior agreed to pay to be able to sit in the big chair.

No, I would not. I would rather see it spent on scientific research for cures for the many forms of cancer, an HIV/AIDS cure, stem cell research, functional bio-mechanical prosthetics, development of renewable energy sources other than the usual suspects (wind, solar, geothermal), increased veterans benefits, etc. I do not need to see one additional red cent of my paycheck go to welfare.

It's been TWO freakin' months!!!1 Time for another update pleez, carolyn. OKTHNXBAI!

I use my Trango's for ice cragging (single-pitch routes or short multi's), since they clamp on the harness. For alpine work, the daypack hip belt gets in the way of them. So for that, it's back to old skewl and racking screws on biners on a gear sling.

I've been using a pair of Trango Ice Clips for the past 8-10 years, a predecessor of the BD Ice Clipper. My wife got them for me for Christmas one year. I was skeptical at first, but... All metal construction (no plastic to snap off in the cold), and they are firmly attached to the harness by a plate and screws (no wiggling around when you're trying to fiddle a screw on or off the hanger). This attachment scheme required me to buy a separate harness for ice climbing (the BD Alpine Bod without the padding), but I needed the next larger size anyway to fit all of the fleece and shells under the belt. Despite what at least one other reviewer has said about the Trango, I've never accidentally lost a screw off the thing. And it's the easiest "off and on" that I've yet seen. No offense to your tech tip, Bob. Just supplying another option.