SB with the little "guy" on Gog. (Rebekka calls it a camel) 

Sam lies in the mud of a drying up stream and slakes his thirst.  

Rebekka strolls towards Gog, with Cameron's Cone in backdrop.  

Magog, looking down from Gog. 

Gog: This little rock "guy" on the top looks like a person from way down below. 

The Cog Railway chugs up the Peak on its first run of the day. 

SB on Cameron's Cone today. Pikes Peak in backdrop. 

Many U.S. Cities Losing Battles To Preserve Their Burger Kings

Many U.S. Cities Losing Battles To Preserve Their Burger Kings: "CLEVELAND—Every day, 38-year-old Susan Tarsley takes a brisk walk through her tree-lined neighborhood. At each turn, she is reminded of the changes brought on by the march of progress: a TV antenna dismantled to make way for underground cable, passersby chatting on cell phones, a rusty tricycle abandoned for a Razor scooter.

But at the silent corner of Lark Street and Superior Avenue, Tarsley stops to mourn the passing of an especially treasured landmark. Her local Burger King is fading into memory. "

23rd Qualm

The 23rd Qualm

Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me in the paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control, they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health insurance runneth out
Surely megalomania and false patriotism shall follow me all the days of thy term,
And my jobless child shall dwell in my basement forever.

The Thought Project

The author of this web site interviewed 150 people of the street on what they were thinking at that moment.

Biden: Did Bolton Testify In Leak Investigation?

Biden: Did Bolton Testify In Leak Investigation?:

"July 27, 2005

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madame Secretary,

I write in connection with the nomination of John R. Bolton to be Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

On July 21, 2005, MSNBC reported that Under Secretary Bolton testified before the federal grand jury in Washington that is investigating the leak of the identity of Valerie Plame as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

I write to request that you or the nominee inform the Committee whether Mr. Bolton did, in fact, appear before the grand jury, or whether he has been interviewed or otherwise asked to provide information by the special prosecutor or his staff in connection with this matter, and if so, when that occurred. As you know, the Committee questionnaire, which the nominee completed in March, requires all nominees to inform the Committee whether they have been “interviewed or asked to supply any information in connection with any administrative (including an inspector general), Congressional or grand jury investigation within the past 5 years, except routine Congressional testimony.”

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,

Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
Ranking Minority Member"

National Geographic Adventure Mag: Skurka hikes sea-to-sea

Inspiring!

National Geographic Adventure Mag: Skurka hikes sea-to-sea: "On August 6, 2004, then 23-year-old thru-hiker Andrew Skurka set out solo from Cape Gasp�in Quebec's Forillon National Park on a 7,700-mile (12,291-kilometer) quest to christen the transcontinental Sea-to-Sea Route (andrewskurka.com). An unofficial linkage of the International Appalachian, Appalachian, Long, North Country, Continental Divide, and Pacific Northwest Trails, the Sea-to-Sea forms the mother of all routes."

Doonesbury cartoon from July 26th, 2005 that many newspapers refused to carry because of the reference to Karl Rove's nickname given by his peers in the White House. 

Check Treasongate.com for the latest on our friend Karl and Co. 

MetaEfficient: Product Reviews

MetaEfficient: Product Reviews: "An off-grid experimenter in Australia, Tom Chalko, has retrofitted a chest freezer to create a fridge that uses only 100 watt-hours (0.1 kWh) per day!"

The Rude Pundit

The Rude Pundit: "A Big Ol' 'Why?':

So let us say, and why not, that you've been tellin' everyone that you're gonna ask Margarita, your girlfriend, to marry you. You told Pablo, Raphael, Miguel, all the cholos down the block that you got a ring and you're gonna ask her for her hand. Word gets back to Margarita, except not in the way you want it. She comes up to you and says that Rico, her stepbrother's cousin who happens to be a jeweler, says you don't have a ring, that you been makin' that shit up, that your cheap ass couldn't afford no diamond.
"

t r u t h o u t - Innocent Civilians Being Killed by US Troops

Are we creating terrorists or preventing terrorists from coming to our shores?

t r u t h o u t - Innocent Civilians Being Killed by US Troops

" Innocent civilians, including people who are considered vital to building democracy, are increasingly being killed by US troops.

Baghdad - Three men in an unmarked sedan pulled up near the headquarters of the national police major crimes unit. The two passengers, wearing traditional Arab dishdasha gowns, stepped from the car.

At the same moment, a U.S. military convoy emerged from an underpass. Apparently believing the men were staging an ambush, the Americans fired, killing one passenger and wounding the other. The sedan's driver was hit in the head by two bullet fragments.

The soldiers drove on without stopping.

This kind of shooting is far from rare in Baghdad, but the driver of the car was no ordinary casualty. He was Iraqi police Brig. Gen. Majeed Farraji, chief of the major crimes unit. His passengers were unarmed hitchhikers whom he was dropping off on his way to work.

'The reason they shot us is just because the Americans are reckless,' the general said from his hospital bed hours after the July 6 shooting, his head wrapped in a white bandage. 'Nobody punishes them or blames them.'"

---

Salihee's widow, Raghad al Wazzan, said she accepted the American soldiers' presence when they first arrived in Iraq because "they came and liberated us." She sometimes helped them at the hospital where she works as a doctor. But not anymore.

"Now, after they killed my husband, I hate them," she said. "I want to blow them all up.

The Improbability of God

The Improbability of God by Richard Dawkins

An excerpt:

"Much of what people do is done in the name of God. Irishmen blow each other up in his name. Arabs blow themselves up in his name. Imams and ayatollahs oppress women in his name. Celibate popes and priests mess up people's sex lives in his name. Jewish shohets cut live animals' throats in his name. The achievements of religion in past history -- bloody crusades, torturing inquisitions, mass-murdering conquistadors, culture-destroying missionaries, legally enforced resistance to each new piece of scientific truth until the last possible moment -- are even more impressive. And what has it all been in aid of? I believe it is becoming increasingly clear that the answer is absolutely nothing at all. There is no reason for believing that any sort of gods exist and quite good reason for believing that they do not exist and never have. It has all been a gigantic waste of time and a waste of life. It would be a joke of cosmic proportions if it weren't so tragic."

Pikes Peak with about seven miles to go the summit on the Barr Trail. I run this trail multiple times each week and never grow tired of it. Over the length of its 12 miles or so one traverses several climate zones and ecospheres. It is unique in all the 54 14,000' peaks in Colorado in offering up such diverse scenery as it climbs from 6800' in Manitou Springs to Pikes Peak's summit at 14,110'.  

Pikes Peak summit is peaking out near timberline on the Barr Trail. 

Wierd landscape near timberline on the Barr Trail. What can I say? How can one justify wasting a Sunday morning on a hard boring pew when landscapes such as this are calling? 

The 11 miles of forested canopy I ran through to my turnaround point on this Sunday morning run. My church is the great outdoors. 

Major landmark on the Barr Trail: A-Frame shelter near timberline and close to the 3-miles to go sign on the Barr Trail up Pikes Peak. 

Shortly before the memorial to G. Inestine B. Roberts one comes on this rather large rock cairn. It is rumoured that she is buried here. 

SB at the highpoint of today's run up the Barr Trail. In between the 3-miles to go sign and the 2-miles to go sign is a memorial to G. Inestine B. Roberts, an adventurous spirit who died near here above treeline at age 88 on her 14th ascent of the Peak. 

Frank Rich: Eight Days in July - New York Times

Eight Days in July: "When a conspiracy is unraveling, and it's every liar and his lawyer for themselves, the story takes on a momentum of its own. When the conspiracy is, at its heart, about the White House's twisting of the intelligence used to sell the American people a war - and its desperate efforts to cover up that flimflam once the W.M.D. cupboard proved bare and the war went south - the story will not end until the war really is in its 'last throes.'"

t r u t h o u t - Dozens of Chemicals Found in Most Americans' Bodies

t r u t h o u t - Dozens of Chemicals Found in Most Americans' Bodies: "In the largest study of chemical exposure ever conducted on human beings, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that most American children and adults were carrying in their bodies dozens of pesticides and toxic compounds used in consumer products, many of them linked to potential health threats.

The report documented bigger doses in children than in adults of many chemicals, including some pyrethroids, which are in virtually every household pesticide, and phthalates, which are found in nail polish and other beauty products as well as in soft plastics."

Connecting the Dots

From an article reporting on media silence following Gen Wesley Clark's comments on NBC's Meet the Press in June of 2003:

Media Silent on Clark's 9/11 Comments:

"CLARK: 'There was a concerted effort during the fall of 2001, starting immediately after 9/11, to pin 9/11 and the terrorism problem on Saddam Hussein.'

RUSSERT: 'By who? Who did that?'

CLARK: 'Well, it came from the White House, it came from people around the White House. It came from all over. I got a call on 9/11. I was on CNN, and I got a call at my home saying, 'You got to say this is connected. This is state-sponsored terrorism. This has to be connected to Saddam Hussein.' I said, 'But--I'm willing to say it, but what's your evidence?' And I never got any evidence.'"

Waxman: 11 Security Breaches in Plame Case

Waxman: 11 Security Breaches in Plame Case

Factsheet published today cites multiple administration leaks.

Wily Coyote

This morning on my Saturday run north of Powers Blvd I saw a jack rabbit, a wily coyote, and a pronghorn antelope. This 3X4 mile or so stretch of meadows with fine views of Colorado's Front Range and Pikes Peak is slated to go under the plow, becoming single-family homes tightly squeezed together, big box stores, strip malls, and criss-crossed with roads. Development, Growth. Where are the animals going to go?

The Translation Guide

The Translation Guide offers 56 languages in their translation engine.

Timeline of Deceit from John Conyers

One true statesman, as opposed to politician, John Conyers has assembled a timeline to help us "connect the dots".

Media Matters for America: Right Wing Squares

Are Liberals angry and hateful? Always check www.mediamatters.org to correct the spin.

Media Matters for America: Right Wing Squares

On the Lewis River in between Lewis Lake and Shoshone Lake, Yellowstone. 

Mist Rainbow. 

Bekka running near Lewis Lake. 

Shoshone Lake on our early morning 11-mile trail run in our last day in Yellowstone. 

Bekka and upper Yellowstone Falls. 

Steve meets Bison. 

Bekka in Yellowstone 

Rebekka at Photographer's Point, Wind River Range, Wyoming, July 5th. The last time I was here was in July of 2000 when I climbed Wyoming's highest peak: Gannett Peak. 

Photographer's Point, Wind River Range, Wyoming.