Thursday, April 12, 2007

Anti-War Radio Check the archives. Lots of listening available!

Media Matters chronicles a whole host of right-wing talk jock's bigotry: It's not just Imus

The New Yorker: John Colapinto reports on his visit to the Pirahã tribe in the rain forest of northwestern Brazil. Slide show

NetTrends '08: The online race for the Whitehouse

ProgressNowAction: 1 in 5 soldiers returning to Fort Carson has "brain trauma"

Blogs that make you think:

wood s lot "the fitful tracing of a portal"
No Blood for Hubris
Blognonymous
Welcome to Pottersville
Jesus' General
Here is the next scandal. And it promises to be a doozy! Maybe Cheney will take the fall.

White House Stonewalls Waxman’s Inquiry Into Cheney-Linked MZM Contracts

On March 26, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote a letter to White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten demanding “all contracts, subcontracts, and task orders between MZM, Inc. and the Executive Office of the President.”

As ThinkProgress has reported, there is good reason to believe fired U.S. attorney Carol Lam was targeting the White House’s connections to MZM contractor Mitchell Wade, who pled guilty to paying more than $1 million in bribes to former Rep. Duke Cunningham. Despite no record of having ever received a federal contract, Wade’s firm received a $140,000 contract in 2002 to provide a system to screen the President’s mail.

Jesus Camp

Watch the full movie here if you want to understand the mind of the Religious Right. It is downright scary!
Google Earth Maps out Darfur Atrocities

Mark Fiore: MC Rove animation

DailyKos: Breaking! --- The Earth (VIII) (Roundup up Environmental Stories)

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

"Karl Rove, Voter Suppression and the Cashiered U.S. Attorneys" by Scott Horton

Robert Novak says a bipartisan deal on the supplemental appropriations bill to finance the Iraq war appears to be in the books, with less talk now of a presidential veto and a subsequent crisis over funding the troops in the field. The final version probably will contain the benchmarks opposed by President George W. Bush, but with no cutoff of funding.
Live the dream in Barcelona - Europe's most vibrant city

TomDispatch: Six Crises in Search of an Author How the Bush Administration Destabilized the "Arc of Instability" By Tom Engelhardt


The Independent: Robert Fisk: The American Plan for Iraq: Divide and Rule Revealed: a new counter-insurgency strategy to carve up the city into sealed areas. The tactic failed in Vietnam. So what chance does it have in Iraq?

Kurt Vonnegut dead at 84.
What a great soul. He was very popular in my high school in the early 70's. I loved him then. Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five...

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Mayor of Salt Lake City: Tell it Rocky!
Colbert Report: Katrina van den Heuvel defends the Nation's coverage of the Iraq debacle, "We never lost our head -- while too much of the media gave head".

Spike Lee Talks of War, Gangsta Rap, Making Films and Setting Goals

Brad Blog: Reporting on the Voter Fraud scandal at the heart of the U.S. Attorney purge

I caught this last night on C-Span's Run for the White House: Romney and the NRA Guy... He is toast. Just like McCain is toast... Political Death watch
David Corn: Jeane Kirkpatrick, Neocon Godmother Considered Iraq War a Mistake

Each year, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression gives out Jefferson Muzzle awards to “the most egregious First Amendment violators.” This year’s winners: the Bush administration (for censoring scientists on climate change) and the Defense Department (for its “investigations of organizations that conducted peaceful anti-war protests”).

Sunday, April 08, 2007

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Try copying the below text (select and Ctrl C) and pasting (Ctrl V) in address bar.

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.getElementsByTagName("img"); DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=(Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5)+"px"; DIS.top=(Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5)+"px"}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0);

SB and JC last Summer at Barr Camp -- training on Pikes Peak

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Pikes Peak Cog Railway Terminal, Manitou Springs, Colorada



My house is just up the canyon from here hidden in the white mist.
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Friday, April 06, 2007

Old Sam outside my house this last winter. I miss you old boy...
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William Rivers Pitt: The American Tragedy of John McCain (He once was my favorite Republican)
Vanity Fair: Texas Chainsaw Management

by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"The verdict of history sometimes takes centuries. The verdict on George W. Bush as the nation's environmental steward has already been written in stone. No president has mounted a more sustained and deliberate assault on the nation's environment."

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Christophe Glibert Photo Art
War in Iraq: The Media's Fault?
Oil Quiz -- Test Your Knowledge

Fox News Reporting on April Fools in America

Funniest double indictment of Fox News and GWB ever!!!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

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Rocky Mountain Ranger, Rick Tosches on the new Grand Canyon Skywalk: Tired Tribe takes grandeur out of canyon Skywalk. Thanks Rick. I think I'll pass after hearing that less than rave review... I would rather do a rim-to-rim run of the canyon anyway... now that is definitely on my list of someday must do's...

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

I thought these things might be clues

Daily Show: John Kerry talks to Jon Stewart about the important work that RFK Jr's Waterkeepers is doing to combat the Bush Administration polluters and his new book: This Moment on Earth: Today's New Environmentalists and Their Vision for the Future

London Review of Books: The General in his Labyrinth (Musharaf's last days ruling Pakistan...apres moi le deluge)

Important for the revival of Mongolian Tibetan Buddhism: The Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition.

Watching John Edwards on C-Span's "Road to the White House"... I am gravitating towards him as my candidate... I like Dennis Kucinich and Wes Clark, but they probably don't have much of a chance... John Edwards is a decent man and he has put forth detailed plans for health care and energy.

Monday, April 02, 2007

High Country News: Disposable Workers of the Oil and Gas Fields

If you don’t have a college degree, it’s the best job in the West. Unless you die, unnoticed.

Researchers using nanotechnology have taken a step toward creating an "optical cloaking" device that could render objects invisible by guiding light around anything placed inside this "cloak."

Grieving Couple commit suicide after pet dog dies

Chernobyl: "There is only one healing force, and that is nature." Arthur Schopenhauer

Good advice: Getting Rid of your debt without worrying about the "Latte Factore"

Tom Waits- Chocolate Jesus

What better response to this:

NYC Chocolate Jesus Exhibit Canceled After Outrage

than Tom Waits singing Chocolate Jesus...

Habeaus Corpus, R.I.P.

Andrew Sullivan cites the views of Winston Churchill -- whom Bush followers love to trot out (manipulatively) as their prop to symbolize endless warfare -- expressed when Churchill was, as Sullivan puts it, "fighting a war against the greatest evil imaginable, when the very survival of Britain as an independent and free country was in the balance":

The power of the executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him judgement by his peers for an indefinite period, is in the highest degree odious, and is the foundation of all totalitarian governments whether Nazi or Communist.


The extent to which this current version of the Republican Party is hostile to our most basic constitutional traditions and defining political principles really cannot be overstated. They simply do not believe in them.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

BradBlog: "Evidence Suggests U.S. Attorney Firings May Have Been Part of White House Scheme to Help Game 2008 Election"
Why would Rove put his boy into the Arkansas seat? To reopen investigations on Hillary? Do you think? We know from the New Jersey election that Chris Christie, the former Bush ''Pioneer'' who is now the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, issued subpoenas for corruption charges on Bob Menendez two months before the 2006 election -- and news of the subpoenas was quickly leaked to local news media. The charges were bogus and later dropped.

The other attorney replacements are all Rove boys, who are charged with investigating the canard of voter fraud, which really means the Repug tactic of voter suppression.

Friday, March 30, 2007

George: The Intervention

Roves Powerpoint slides targeting Dems for defeat in 2008 (at taxpayer's expense) Why are we paying his salary?

Goodle: Good News

George Orwell: Politics and the English Language

A Musical Nudist Colony
JibJab: What we call the news


The Girl from Ipinema


Goat: A High Country News Blog: Confirmation of yet more Bush administration meddling: Julie MacDonald, a political appointee in the Interior Department, routinely overruled decisions made by Fish and Wildlife Service scientists, according to a just-released report from the Department’s inspector general

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Incredible first ski descent of Thunder Pyramid, Elk Range

Hats off to Iskibc for the first winter ski descent of a seldom climbed high 13er: Thunder Pyramid.

Why do I hate Republicans? Let me count the ways...

....at least until they regain their equilibrium and reject Bushevism...


Politicizing the GSA

Salon uncovered the details of a secret Interior Department plan to gut the Endangered Species Act without consulting Congress, by implementing a set of drastic new regulations which would:

* Eliminate the basic goal of the act: recovery of endangered species;
* Allow projects to proceed that have been determined to threaten species with extinction;
* Allow destruction of all restored habitat within critical habitat areas;
* Prevent critical habitat areas protecting species against disturbance, pesticides, exotic species, and disease;
* Severely limit the listing of new endangered species;
* Allow states to veto endangered species introductions.

Tom Englehardt: The Other Surge

AG Gonzales: It get worse

The AG covers up pedophelia

I thought he was staying on the job to "protect the children".

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Peanut Butter: The Atheist's Nightmare

You Tube: Religious nuts seek to ban Fahrenheit 451

Monday, March 26, 2007

The End of the World: Exploring Greenland, the blankest spot on the map--and not a moment too soon

KurzweilAI.net: Will machines become conscious?

Conservationists will fight to overturn Grizzly Bear Decision.

NBC NEWS: Gonzales: Firings were not improper... Liar

Happy Birthday Richard Dawkins: Voice of Sanity
Daily Kos: Meteor Blades: Wonderful piece on High Country News

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Friday, March 23, 2007

What is killing the bees?

High Country News: The Silence of the Bees

Der Spiegel: Are GM Crops Killing Bees?


Denver Post: Hives Holding a Secret: Colorado Beekeepers Stung by mysteriously vanishing colonies

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Albert Einstein

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Huffington Post: Jane Smiley: Conservatives Cost a Lot of Money

NY Review of Books: George Soros: Bush's latest blunder

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

New Species of Leopard found

New Species of Leopard found in Borneo and Sumatra

Solo Winter 1-day ascent of Capitol Peak

In Memory of Sam the Wolfdog, R.I.P. click picture for trip report
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Monday, March 12, 2007

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Beyond Quagmire

Retired Air Force General and former Chief of Staff of the Air Force Tony McPeak:

"This is a dark chapter in our history. Whatever else happens, our country's international standing has been frittered away by people who don't have the foggiest understanding of how the hell the world works. America has been conducting an experiment for the past six years, trying to validate the proposition that it really doesn't make any difference who you elect president. Now we know the result of that experiment [laughs]. If a guy is stupid, it makes a big difference."

And retired Army Maj General Paul Eaton:

"Republicans Are ‘Absolutely The Worst Thing That’s Happened’ To The U.S. Military"

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Sam the Wolfdog, R.I.P.


Sam during an attempt on Capitol Peak in 2001.

Sam climbed 52 of Colorado's 54 14,000 foot peaks during the course of his ten years on this planet. I will take his ashes to the summit of the two peaks he didn't make it up and scatter them there.

Noble friend, loyal companion.
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Department of Injustice

DailyKos: Krugman: The Real Scandal is the U.S. Attorneys who WERE NOT fired.

Link to Krugman's editorial.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Back from Barcelona

Back from Barcelona.

Sam the Wolfdog died. The nine wonderful days in Barcelona are now black. My world is black. My soul mate is gone. He was cremated this afternoon. I will scatter his ashes on the two 14er's he did not ascend -- Capitol and Eolus. Noble dog, you lived a full life.

My house is flooded after bursting water pipes. "Mitigators" have ripped out carpet and the humidifiers are blasting....

Life goes on...

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Team CRUD on High Drive: Tony, Paul, Ted, Rick

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Running High Drive this morning; Sunrise and Will Rogers Shrine over Co Springs

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Barcelona!!

Fear grows over US Iran War mongering in Britain.

Mother Jones: The Iraq Effect: The War in Iraq and its effect on Terrorism.

The Nation: A Trial for Thousands denied Trial: The case of Jose Padilla, an American citizen held for over four years without charges being brought against him.

I fly to Barcelona tomorrow to run the Barcelona Maraton!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Monday, February 19, 2007

NYT: A Film Star in Kampala -- Forest Whitaker, star of The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin, makes a big hit in Uganda. We watched the movie last Saturday in the theater. Powerful movie.
Barcelona here we come! This is where we're staying for nine days.

NPR: Is America too damn religious?

What Happens When a Country Gives Up Religion? as Spain Shows, Nothing Much

Science Mag: Meeting the Asteroid Threat

DailyKos: The Half Hour I will never get back: Fox News Half Hour for Nitwits
Pastor Ted Update

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Microsoft 1978 (In 1982 as an employee of Bank and Office Furnitures of Bellevue, WA I delivered furniture to the fledgling company known as Microsoft)
Senator Bill Clinton?
10 Totally Stupid Online Business Ideas That Made Someone Rich

Cherokee Moons

Green House


I love this little Green House that perches on the hillside above Memorial Park in Manitou Springs.
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Rattlesnake Gulch


Rattlesnake Gulch, the start of the Ute Trail as it leaves Manitou Springs.
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Williams Canyon

Williams Canyon and Manitou Springs from the vantage point of the Intemann Trail. The Cliff House is the large green building in the lower right hand corner.
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Pikes, Incline, Manitou


Pikes Peak, The Incline, and some of the unique homes of Manitou Springs as seen from the Intemann Trail on this morning's run.
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Rep Tim Ryan Iraq Debate

Congressman Tim Ryan calls out Repuglican hypocrits on who is really "supporting the troops".

Saturday, February 17, 2007

The 111 Greatest Anglo-American Folk Artists

Running upper Crystal Park on "Palmer Trail Road" this morning. We tried to find the Palmer Trail without success. Our plan had been to run back down the trail and join up with the Section 16 trails. Instead, we turned around to run back down the Crystal Park Road. I made the mistake of deciding to slide down to the Cog Railway from the second big switchback. I thought the snow would be loose and easy to plunge step down the slopes. That turned out to be true. What I hadn't reckoned on was a solid sheet of ice beneath the new snow. That side of Eagle Mountain never sees the sun this time of year. I made it down, but the tips of my fingers are still somewhat numb -- three hours later.
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I snapped this photo of my house through the tree at 6:45 A.M. as I left for this morning's run.
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DailyKos: Good tour through the "radical left" of the last 50 years or so.

Playboy is doing some great reporting on PTSD.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Bill Maher on HuffPost has a New Rule:

Pinot Noir: An Introduction.
Graphing the importance of Religion by country to a nation's IQ

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ): "history and fact will not be kind to the decision-makers and deciders of this war" You can watch his statement to Congress on his web site.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Swiss Erdhaus

Earthship Swiss-style
Fox News tries a right-wing comedy show. You judge. Are they funny?

Booman Tribune: Creeping Fascism or just a simple dictatorship?

Intelligence Leaks: Cheney's Call

Tony Snow: "I'm not sure anything went wrong in Iraq".

Please listen to tonight's session on Democracy Now! Greg Palast on Vulture Capitalists taking windfall gains from poor African nations, The Dixie Chicks, and more. It is a great program this evening.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Who is this man, Wes Clark?

From the 'Frontline' four-page series on the media Interviews: Carl Bernstein on Nixon vs. Bush Excerpt: It's very difficult, as a reporter, to get across that when you say, "This is a presidency of great dishonesty," that this is not a matter of opinion. This is demonstrable fact. If you go back and look at the president's statements, you look at the statements of the vice president, you look at the statements of Condoleezza Rice, you go through the record, you look at what [counterterrorism expert] Richard Clarke has written, you look at what we know -- it's demonstrable.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Ted Haggard Update
Somebody is no longer a Repuglican.
Ken Silverstein of Harper’s is running a three-part series of discussions with experts on the likelihood of a U.S. attack on Iran. The first part is up here.

Hat tip to Tom Tomorrow and This Modern World.

41 has a heart to heart with 43

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Jane Smiley: The End is Nigh

Monday, February 12, 2007

Gore Vidal's questions from the year 2002 still require answers.
Wes Clark has a highly intelligent assessment on whether: Is War with Iran Inevitable?

Anarchist News

Barcelona in 60 seconds

Bush Backed Shiite group receiving weapons from Iran. How is that for a confusing factor?

Longest time for a jailed journalist: Josh Wolf: Why? Democracy Now! asks why?


Walter Pincus reveals Ari as leak source.

Escalation - A Film by Ward Kimball

Short film from another war, another escalation (Viet Nam 1968)

Sunday, February 11, 2007

The best of The Asian Times' Pepe Escobar on Iraq and Iran follies.

WaPost: Between the lines of the Iraq Intelligence Estimate

Lt Gen (ret) William Odom: Victory is not an option.

Daily Kos: I think that we are now ready to impeach Dick Cheney

Daily Kos: I think that we are now ready to impeach Dick Cheney:

Saturday, February 10, 2007

CRUD Run


This morning's run above Williams Canyon. Cameron's Cone in backdrop.
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TWO OHIO ELECTION OFFICIALS CONVICTED FOR RIGGING 2004 PRESIDENTIAL RECOUNT!

Will be Questioned by Special Prosecutor Before Sentencing to Learn if Higher Ups Involved

Anthony Weiner Rips the Republic Party

Friday, February 09, 2007

Rumsfeld/Bolton 2008: Republican Dream Ticket

Blogs you should be reading

50 Things Everyone should know

TomDispatch: Over the Cliff with George and Dick
NPR: "Miss Sunshine" Directors recommend serious DVDs

TomDispatch warns of impending war with Iran

American Torture website

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Refreshing Candidate: Mike Gravel's Campaign for the 2008 Presidency

I just signed up for the Bighorn Trail 100-mile race on June 15th.

Other races on the schedule so far for 2007:

Barcelona Marathon, March 4th

Big Sur Marathon, April 29th

Barr Trail Race, July 15th

Grand Island Trail Marathon, Michigan UP, July 28th

Pikes Peak Double (Marathon and ascent), August 18 and 19

Colorado Relay, Sept 21 - 22

More Clues to what is coming if we are not vigilant

From the Wonderful Folks Who Brought You Iraq By Craig Unger
Vanity Fair March 2007 Issue

The same neocon ideologues behind the Iraq war have been using the same tactics-alliances with shady exiles, dubious intelligence on WMD-to push for the bombing of Iran. As President Bush ups the pressure on Tehran, is he planning to double his Middle East bet?


The Pentagon's not-so-little secret By Sidney Blumenthal

As the president and Republicans continue to hype the surge -- and stifle debate about it -- Bush's own war planners are preparing for failure in Iraq.

And, another marveously insightful look into the twisted psyche of "The Decider":

Why Bush's Inner "Reality" Has Poisoned His Own Troop Plan
By John P. Briggs, M.D., and JP Briggs II, Ph.D.



Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Video: Peace Protest, Washington D.C.
Ersatz Apocalypto: Slaughter and Spin in the Battle for Najaf

Monday, February 05, 2007

Can Washington get smart on science?

Cheney's Fund Manager attacks... Cheney

PROBE THIS: Sen Bob Graham said two 9/11 hijackers had direct ties to Saudi intelligence

Joe Scarborough is getting angry with Bushevism.

Huff Post: Artifact from the Future: GoreBama

Very Weird story: Space shuttle astronaut arrested at OIA on attempted kidnapping, battery charges.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net. Learn how words associate.

National Intelligence Estimate: WaPost: U.S. Has little control in Iraq anymore

Update on U.S. Attorney firings: Set for Congressional Showdown. Good. The Bush Crime Family no longer has a rubberstamp politburo for a Congress.

Must Read: John Pilger: Iran, A War is Coming

Frank Rich: Timeline of Deceptions. He has an excellent post in today's Times, available on Times Select if you have it. Update: Truthout has the complete article with links.

Booman Tribune: Traitorgate: Dick Cheney was briefed by CIA on Niger

Worse than Satan !

Saturday, February 03, 2007

What is your favorite building?
Is the prez going to get his self-fulfilling prophecy and secret wish? That the terrorists bring the war to the U.S.?

NYT: Iraq’s Shadow Widens Sunni-Shiite Split in U.S.
Keith Olbermann: Bush Shoots for "Jaws", Delivers "Jaws 2"
Juan Cole has analyzed the salient details of the 4 abducted US soldiers and concludes that it could not have been Iran behind it.

Tomgram: Chalmers Johnson, Nemesis on the Imperial Premises
Blame Iran Campaign stumbles on reality.

John Genet stopped by my house this morning after running the Incline to recommend this thoughtful piece by Nick Bromell: Scooter Libby and Me. Subtext: A longtime friend of Scooter Libby's shares the questions he wants to ask of his old touch football buddy, and as the trial begins, wonders whether to hope for Scooter's acquittal or conviction.

It goes a long ways towards elucidating the difference between the fundamentalist mindset that has had a stranglehold on America public policy throughout these long and dark six years and the tolerant, openminded perspective that represents liberalism.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Zbigniew Brzezinski will offer this to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It is so refreshing to have a Congress that is actively seeking answers and solutions to our debacle instead of rubberstamping delusional quasi-dictator/deciders.

Spencer Ackerman on Admiral Bill Fallon: Not very admirable

Francis Fukuyama has this in yesterday's Guardian.