Tuesday, 28 Dec I made an attempt on Grizzly Peak, 13,988'. It was a difficult climb in loose unconsolidated snow. I broke trail most of the way sinking 6-8 inches even with snowshoes. I reached 13,740' before I turned around.
Here is My Trip Report.
Friday, December 31, 2004
A Little Fast Food, A Big Risk to Health
A Study published today in the British medical journal The Lancet shows that just two to three trips a week to a fast food outlet results in significant weight gain and risk of diabetes.
Thursday, December 30, 2004
Lying Liars
I'm reading Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them: A Fair and Balanced look at the right. It's spot on. Right-wingers: please try and refute it.
Sick or Well?
Faced with the question, "Do you want to be SICK or WELL?" most people would answer, "WELL, of course!" Unfortunately, faced with these same two words as a dietary choice, most Americans unknowingly select the SICK diet.
In Plant Roots: 101 Reasons Why the Human Diet is Rooted Exclusively in Plants, author Rex Bowlby turns SICK and WELL into acronyms.
SICK stands for Self-Induced Carnivorous Killer.
WELL represents Wholly Eating Leaves to Live.
In Plant Roots: 101 Reasons Why the Human Diet is Rooted Exclusively in Plants, author Rex Bowlby turns SICK and WELL into acronyms.
SICK stands for Self-Induced Carnivorous Killer.
WELL represents Wholly Eating Leaves to Live.
1066: Regime Change
The BBC has a three part program on the William the Conqueror's invasion of England and its aftermath. Listen to it here: THE NORMAN WAY
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Our Dear Leader in N. Korea
Ain't it wunnerful? Be sure and listen to "A letter from my home". Must be nice in the People's Paradise.
Monday, December 27, 2004
Saturday, December 25, 2004
Election Fraud update
Kerry preparing grounds to UNCONCEDE. Kerry is about to file a formal declaration of fraud in the Ohio recount.
This is BIG.
This is BIG.
North Colorado Springs
Today I ran again north of my house and into the pasture land between Colorado Springs and Black Forest. After I reached the Briargate Blvd extension I crossed the North/South fence and followed the newly graded road. We came up on a black dog with a rope still dangling from its collar. It ran into the distance, occasionally stopping to monitor our progress. Once it stopped and barked before turning to run again.
After running as far as they have completed the road north and east, we turned and ran back all the way to Union Blvd on the under-construction road, to where Briargate Blvd now ends. It's now apparent that the entire pastureland will be filled with houses and roads and very soon.
With the houses will come big box stores: Walmarts, strip malls, fast food. This is how we live today.
After running as far as they have completed the road north and east, we turned and ran back all the way to Union Blvd on the under-construction road, to where Briargate Blvd now ends. It's now apparent that the entire pastureland will be filled with houses and roads and very soon.
With the houses will come big box stores: Walmarts, strip malls, fast food. This is how we live today.
Friday, December 24, 2004
How now Mad Cow?
One year after a single mad cow was discovered en route to our food supply Alternet.org posts an article decrying the utter lack of any further safeguards to prevent it from happening again. In Japan they test EVERY cow. In our current fascist regime, where business calls the shots and regulation is bad, Big Cattle stonewalled and our heavily bribed congress and government folded.
What can we do? Don't eat beef. That's about it. Our government is not going to help.
What can we do? Don't eat beef. That's about it. Our government is not going to help.
Morning sub-zero run
Sam the Wolfdog and I ventured out this morning for a run in temperatures hovering around zero. I live on what is now the northeast edge of Colorado Springs. North of my home is a three-mile expanse of fenced pasture land that culminates at the Black Forest--a forest in name only as it is mostly subdivided into 2-5 acres tracts and dotted with homes. They are rapidly building roads across the pasture lands and I avoid going out there unless there is no activity. Coloradans are very techy about trespassers. So, I took this opportunity on Christmas Eve in frigid temperatures to monitor their progress.
I crossed the new extension of Powers Blvd (in construction), then we squeezed through the barbed wire fence and into the pasture land. After about a mile we reached what I believe is the graded extension of Briargate Boulevard. Looking east I noticed three coyotes--well aware of our presence. They were down wind from us, so Sam was unaware. Where will these coyotes go once the road is completed?
I thought about the little red fox I often saw wandering in our neighborhood. A few months ago I heard someone racing around late at night. The next morning I saw the lifeless body of the fox at a 4-way stop a block from our house. I haven't seen any more foxes around here.
I crossed the new extension of Powers Blvd (in construction), then we squeezed through the barbed wire fence and into the pasture land. After about a mile we reached what I believe is the graded extension of Briargate Boulevard. Looking east I noticed three coyotes--well aware of our presence. They were down wind from us, so Sam was unaware. Where will these coyotes go once the road is completed?
I thought about the little red fox I often saw wandering in our neighborhood. A few months ago I heard someone racing around late at night. The next morning I saw the lifeless body of the fox at a 4-way stop a block from our house. I haven't seen any more foxes around here.
Top Ten Most Outrageous Statements of 2004
Media Matters posts their top ten list:
Rush Limbaugh on the Abu Ghraib photos: "I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?"
Ann Coulter: "[Senator John] Kerry will improve the economy in the emergency services and body bag industry."
Tony Blankley called philanthropist George Soros "a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust."
Michael Savage: "When you hear 'human rights,' think gays. ... [T]hink only one thing: someone who wants to rape your son."
Oliver North: "Every terrorist out there is hoping John Kerry is the next president of the United States."
Pat Robertson on gays and lesbians: "[S]elf-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America."
Pat Buchanan: "[H]omosexuality is an affliction, like alcoholism."
Bill O'Reilly to Jewish caller: "[I]f you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel."
Bill Cunningham (Clear Channel radio host who appeared as a guest on The Sean Hannity Show): The election is over because "Elizabeth Edwards has now sung."
Jerry Falwell: "And we're going to invite PETA [to "wild game night"] as our special guest, P-E-T-A -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. We want you to come, we're going to give you a top seat there, so you can sit there and suffer. This is one of my special groups, another one's the ACLU, another is the NOW -- the National Order of Witches [sic]. We've got -- I've got a lot of special groups."
Rush Limbaugh on the Abu Ghraib photos: "I'm talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You ever heard of need to blow some steam off?"
Ann Coulter: "[Senator John] Kerry will improve the economy in the emergency services and body bag industry."
Tony Blankley called philanthropist George Soros "a Jew who figured out a way to survive the Holocaust."
Michael Savage: "When you hear 'human rights,' think gays. ... [T]hink only one thing: someone who wants to rape your son."
Oliver North: "Every terrorist out there is hoping John Kerry is the next president of the United States."
Pat Robertson on gays and lesbians: "[S]elf-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America."
Pat Buchanan: "[H]omosexuality is an affliction, like alcoholism."
Bill O'Reilly to Jewish caller: "[I]f you are really offended, you gotta go to Israel."
Bill Cunningham (Clear Channel radio host who appeared as a guest on The Sean Hannity Show): The election is over because "Elizabeth Edwards has now sung."
Jerry Falwell: "And we're going to invite PETA [to "wild game night"] as our special guest, P-E-T-A -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. We want you to come, we're going to give you a top seat there, so you can sit there and suffer. This is one of my special groups, another one's the ACLU, another is the NOW -- the National Order of Witches [sic]. We've got -- I've got a lot of special groups."
Thursday, December 23, 2004
George W. Bush in an increasingly typical pose. Talk about character. Can you imagine George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy or, even, Richard Nixon ever doing this publicly? Why is this man's obvious mental imbalance, intemperance and lack of propriety not apparent to every American? This is precisely the image of America now held by the rest of the world.
Stem Cell Research in the world
We are going to be left behind on account of our idiotic evangelicists/fundamentalists (read: neandrathals) who have the ear of our prez.
With the many restrictions on stem cell research in the U.S. and in some
other countries, it's worth noting what a team of the UK's best stem cell
researchers (quite well supported in the UK) had to say when they
recently visited several Asian countries:
"[The] UK delegation ... found a staggering level of technology and
commitment being put into stem cell research. The group of UK science
types visited Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Singapore in September,
and what they saw left them picking their jaws up off the floor. "I
came back blown away by the whole thing," one said. "It was
mind-boggling to everybody.""
[Comparing stem cell work in the UK and the U.S. to what they found in
Asia]: "We're talking; they're doing."
"Stem Cells In Asia"
The Scientist, Nov. 22, 2004
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/nov/upfront_041122.html
With the many restrictions on stem cell research in the U.S. and in some
other countries, it's worth noting what a team of the UK's best stem cell
researchers (quite well supported in the UK) had to say when they
recently visited several Asian countries:
"[The] UK delegation ... found a staggering level of technology and
commitment being put into stem cell research. The group of UK science
types visited Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Singapore in September,
and what they saw left them picking their jaws up off the floor. "I
came back blown away by the whole thing," one said. "It was
mind-boggling to everybody.""
[Comparing stem cell work in the UK and the U.S. to what they found in
Asia]: "We're talking; they're doing."
"Stem Cells In Asia"
The Scientist, Nov. 22, 2004
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/nov/upfront_041122.html
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Election Fraud
An excellentslide show convincingly lays out the case for an investigation into voter fraud in the 2004 election. To investigate an election requires one senator and one congressman to step forward. So far 14 congressmen but no senators have done so. Call your elected representatives in Congress and encourage them to support the GAO investigation of the election – 1-800-839-5276 or 1-202-224-3121.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
Ute Trail to Waldo Canyon Run
Joined the Incline Club for one of our classic runs today: Manitou Springs--Ute--Waldo--return. Ran it about 15 minutes faster than the last time we did it three weeks ago--2hrs29min. Feeling fit! Rebekka also made a massive improvement, running the circuit in 3hrs3min--12 minutes faster than three weeks ago!! 12 minutes is massive!
Our government has attempted to keep the true situation in Fallujah under wraps. After declaring the operation finished a week after the offensive began in early November, they stopped saying soldiers were dying in Fallujah, but instead have been saying Anbar province. Conveniently, Fallujah lies inside Anbar province so they are not technically lying. Do you find that sneaky and less than above board? Read this shocker:Tomgram: Michael Schwartz on America's Fallujan dystopia
Our government has attempted to keep the true situation in Fallujah under wraps. After declaring the operation finished a week after the offensive began in early November, they stopped saying soldiers were dying in Fallujah, but instead have been saying Anbar province. Conveniently, Fallujah lies inside Anbar province so they are not technically lying. Do you find that sneaky and less than above board? Read this shocker:Tomgram: Michael Schwartz on America's Fallujan dystopia
Saturday, December 18, 2004
More on Election Fraud
Wow! Stolen Election is a good place to start if you are new to the emerging story of the year. Be sure and click on the link Exit Polls. Truly shocking!
Theft of the Election, Redux is a thoughtful analysis of the 2000 and 2004 elections from BuzzFlash.
Theft of the Election, Redux is a thoughtful analysis of the 2000 and 2004 elections from BuzzFlash.
Interview with Whole Foods founder, John Mackey
John Mackey speaks out on Whole Food's initiatives to set standards for the ethical raising of animals for food. If people knew what goes on in our factory farms they would be forced to become vegan or simply look away in denial. Whole Foods may provide another alternative: ethically raised animals for food.
Friday, December 17, 2004
Rep Feeney implicated in Voting Fraud
The mainstream press has a hold of this story now. And get this! It's Feeney's hometown newspaper the Seminole Chronical who is breaking it!!
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Morning Run up Cheyenne Canyon
What a great run this morning! Woke up to 3" of snow and snow falling as I headed out at 0515 to meet fellow CRUD members at the Starsmore Discovery Center parking lot. This is the first time I've made it to one of their Thursday morning club runs since January--last winter! They do a staggered handicap start, so I set off at 5:58. It is only a four-mile run, but it's steady uphill as you climb up the canyon. Running in the dark on phosphorescent fresh snow--it was cold, but a nice cold. I reached the top in 42:04 as the orange glow from the incipient sun glowed over the city. Moments like this are the time I feel most alive.
Election Fraud update
Take a look at Brad Blog for the best updates on the ongoing investigation of voter fraud in Florida and Ohio. The programmer, Curtis has testified under oath before the House Judiciary Committee that he developed a prototype to alter results from e-voting machines for Rep. Feeney prior to the 2000 elections in Florida. Ohio Secretary of State, Kenneth Blackwell refuses to acknowledge the authority of the special House committee investigating voter fraud, stonewalling their requests for information.
Evidence that this story has gone beyond the "Tinfoil hat" realm and into the mainstream media are yesterday's articles in the Washington Post and the New York Times . The Washington Post article is their most-emailed article!
I'm headed for North Cheyenne Canyon to run with CRUD at 0600 this morning...
Evidence that this story has gone beyond the "Tinfoil hat" realm and into the mainstream media are yesterday's articles in the Washington Post and the New York Times . The Washington Post article is their most-emailed article!
I'm headed for North Cheyenne Canyon to run with CRUD at 0600 this morning...
Tuesday, December 14, 2004
From Drudge: KERIK LOVE NEST FACED GROUND ZERO PIT
An apartment near the World Trade Center site, that former Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik used to engage in an extramarital affair with publisher Judith Regan, was originally donated for the use of weary police and rescue workers who were helping after 9-11. One bedroom faced the pit of ground zero... Developing...
Colorado Springs Gazette sometimes posts liberal letters to the editor...
We do have some intelligent life here in Colorado Springs. Here is a most eloquent letter to the editor from Dec 11th, interspersed with the gun nuts and the creationists.
IVORY TOWER Academics not liberal, just more enlightened
Syndicated columnist George Will and the people he cited think academics (I am one) are lacking in diversity of political thought (“Campuses not diverse in political beliefs,” Other Voices, Dec. 4). He quoted a professor who says that “the ‘first protocol’ of academic society is the common assumption that, at professional gatherings, all the strangers in the room are liberals.”
That’s not the first protocol. The first protocol of academic society is that academics are trained investigators who rely on evidence and method, as opposed to mere received opinion, authority and faith, in their professional work. We can be as prejudiced as others in our private opinions, but we have real and enforceable standards of professional ethics.
That academics aren’t, in the main, politically in agreement with the conservative coalition now in control in Washington, is, as Will emphasizes, no surprise. But he’s tendentious about the reasons.
It’s time to get past conservative-liberal labeling. President Bush now leads, and the pundits of the right cheer on, a radical — not a conservative — experiment: unilateralism and aggression in foreign and military affairs, deregulation and privatization to respond to environmental and social problems, re-engineering family life based on selective Biblical norms, a big policy tilt toward the interests of corporations and the wealthy, and politics ahead of science wherever they conflict. The fragmented opposition now represents what hope we have of holding on to the traditional — conservative as well as liberal — values of international law, government intervention to soften social inequality, environmental stewardship, respect for labor and science, and toleration of the lifestyle choices of others. Colleges and universities are, along with some of the mainline churches and non-profits and the remnants of the labor movement, a crucial and imperiled institutional base for rebuilding an America we can be proud of.
Owen Cramer
Colorado Springs
IVORY TOWER Academics not liberal, just more enlightened
Syndicated columnist George Will and the people he cited think academics (I am one) are lacking in diversity of political thought (“Campuses not diverse in political beliefs,” Other Voices, Dec. 4). He quoted a professor who says that “the ‘first protocol’ of academic society is the common assumption that, at professional gatherings, all the strangers in the room are liberals.”
That’s not the first protocol. The first protocol of academic society is that academics are trained investigators who rely on evidence and method, as opposed to mere received opinion, authority and faith, in their professional work. We can be as prejudiced as others in our private opinions, but we have real and enforceable standards of professional ethics.
That academics aren’t, in the main, politically in agreement with the conservative coalition now in control in Washington, is, as Will emphasizes, no surprise. But he’s tendentious about the reasons.
It’s time to get past conservative-liberal labeling. President Bush now leads, and the pundits of the right cheer on, a radical — not a conservative — experiment: unilateralism and aggression in foreign and military affairs, deregulation and privatization to respond to environmental and social problems, re-engineering family life based on selective Biblical norms, a big policy tilt toward the interests of corporations and the wealthy, and politics ahead of science wherever they conflict. The fragmented opposition now represents what hope we have of holding on to the traditional — conservative as well as liberal — values of international law, government intervention to soften social inequality, environmental stewardship, respect for labor and science, and toleration of the lifestyle choices of others. Colleges and universities are, along with some of the mainline churches and non-profits and the remnants of the labor movement, a crucial and imperiled institutional base for rebuilding an America we can be proud of.
Owen Cramer
Colorado Springs
Ohio Voter Fraud Update
The recount began yesterday. Meanwhile, Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee met in Columbus to hold a hearing into election malfeasance and manipulation in the 2004 vote. This election was stolen.
The Brad Blog exclusive on the programmer who developed a voting machine hack to flip the vote count for a Florida congressman. Here's the afidavit he filed. I heard on the Ed Schultz show on the way home today that he is in D.C. answering questions with the F.B.I. Also someone shot and killed his dog. He has received threats as well. Here's where the programmer posted his allegations before he went to Brad Blog.
This story is about to get real BIG. Hang on to your hats...
The Brad Blog exclusive on the programmer who developed a voting machine hack to flip the vote count for a Florida congressman. Here's the afidavit he filed. I heard on the Ed Schultz show on the way home today that he is in D.C. answering questions with the F.B.I. Also someone shot and killed his dog. He has received threats as well. Here's where the programmer posted his allegations before he went to Brad Blog.
This story is about to get real BIG. Hang on to your hats...
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Running to Barr Camp
We ran with the Incline Club to Barr Camp and back from Manitou Springs today. Temperature was mild at around 40 when we left from Memorial Park around 8 AM. We climb 3300' though to reach Barr Camp (half way up to the summit of Pikes Peak) and as we neared the "camp" the wind was brisk and I put my coat back on.
Barr Camp has a couple permanent residents. I joined fellow club members inside the main cabin to warm up before heading back down. About 15 miles round trip, the circuit took me about 2hrs45min.
Yesterday Rebekka, Jose, John, and I ran for two hours on the Santa Fe Trail -- from Woodmen north onto the Air Force Academy grounds and back.
We often solve the problems of the world on our long runs. Running is indeed a great social venue. Nietzche once said that he distrusted any thought he didn't come by when walking.... Running/walking frees the mind and lets creative original thoughts flow...
Barr Camp has a couple permanent residents. I joined fellow club members inside the main cabin to warm up before heading back down. About 15 miles round trip, the circuit took me about 2hrs45min.
Yesterday Rebekka, Jose, John, and I ran for two hours on the Santa Fe Trail -- from Woodmen north onto the Air Force Academy grounds and back.
We often solve the problems of the world on our long runs. Running is indeed a great social venue. Nietzche once said that he distrusted any thought he didn't come by when walking.... Running/walking frees the mind and lets creative original thoughts flow...
History Lesson
If [the] failure to change the political balance was not realized in Washington, it was understood by many in Saigon, particularly among the Vietnamese military, and it was certainly understood in Hanoi. There Bernard Fall, the French historian, was visiting in early 1962 on a rare visa. He was granted an interview with Prime Minister Pham Van Dong, and instead of finding Dong upset by the newest infusion of American aid, Fall saw that he was rather amused by it all. Poor Diem, Dong was saying, he is unpopular. And because he is unpopular, the Americans must give him aid. And because the Americans must give him aid, he is even less popular, and because he is even less popular, the Americans must give him even more aid... At which point Fall said he thought it sounded like a vicious circle. "Not a vicious circle," Dong said, "a downward spiral."
--David Halberstam, The Best and The Brightest, p. 183
--David Halberstam, The Best and The Brightest, p. 183
Saturday, December 11, 2004
To our military families and their heroes
From a friend: play it with the volume up. I'm in tears. In honor of sacrifice
The Army you have:
Peter Scoblic shreds our SECDEF. "You go to war with the (h)Army you have..." statement would have been appropriate immediately following Pearl Harbor--not a year and a half into a war that had been planned for at least a year...
Friday, December 10, 2004
Today's Papers:
From Slate's Today's Papers:
The Post's Scott Wilson files on Page One after having spent a few days patrolling with GIs in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. His unit ran into repeated ambushes, and Wilson writes "elections have barely registered in the frightened day-to-day life of most people" there. No voter education offices have opened in the city. And Iraqi security forces are "in shambles." About 90 percent of Mosul's police have deserted. One American sergeant described the Iraqi soldiers accompanying his unit as "our biggest liability. "These guys are awful."
Post op-ed columnist David Ignatius also files from Mosul and backs up Wilson's conclusions.
The Post's Scott Wilson files on Page One after having spent a few days patrolling with GIs in Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city. His unit ran into repeated ambushes, and Wilson writes "elections have barely registered in the frightened day-to-day life of most people" there. No voter education offices have opened in the city. And Iraqi security forces are "in shambles." About 90 percent of Mosul's police have deserted. One American sergeant described the Iraqi soldiers accompanying his unit as "our biggest liability. "These guys are awful."
Post op-ed columnist David Ignatius also files from Mosul and backs up Wilson's conclusions.
Thursday, December 09, 2004
Coming Shiite dominance
Juan Cole has a perceptive analysis of the future of the Middle East that we have created. Iran will come out on top.
Wednesday, December 08, 2004
Voting Fraud
A symposium on Voting Fraud in Ohio was held today in the nation's capital. I listened to parts of it on Air America radio this morning. It really is appalling. It's not "shenanigans", let's call it what it is: Fraud. Blackboxvoting.org , which is run by Bev Harris has her entire book "Blackbox Voting" on the web site in PDF format.
The Black Box refers to these voting machine computers that don't have a paper trace and are imminently hackable. A former voting machine programmer explains just how easy this is. As he puts it "a 3-year-old could write the script to flip votes".
Read the book Blackbox Voting. It will amaze and infuriate you. If we don't do anything about this then the president might just as well be King. He won't be accountable to anyone but the one's who pay his ticket.
The Black Box refers to these voting machine computers that don't have a paper trace and are imminently hackable. A former voting machine programmer explains just how easy this is. As he puts it "a 3-year-old could write the script to flip votes".
Read the book Blackbox Voting. It will amaze and infuriate you. If we don't do anything about this then the president might just as well be King. He won't be accountable to anyone but the one's who pay his ticket.
More proof that Republicans are not the taxpayer's friend:
An amendment to the Omnibus tax bill that would have stopped subsidies to Big Timber in the Tongass National Forest was taken out. This really steams me. Bad policy for the environment and my tax dollars are subsidizing it! Unbelievable. It will continue though with the worst president in our history.
Where do we go from here?
10 Biggest Challenge Facing the West -- and how we might get the Bush Administration to take them seriously. From the High Country News.
Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Books I read in 2004
"What's the Matter with Kansas" by Thomas Frank
"The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush" by Peter Singer
"Bushwacked" by Molly Ivins
'"Crimes against nature: How George W. Bush and his corporate pals are plundering the country and hijacking our democracy" by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"In Denali's Shadow" by Jon Waterman
"The Open Space of Democracy" Terry Tempest Williams
(This book was the number best seller of Blue Hill Independent Book Store in Blue Hill, Maine when I visited there in Oct -- thought I should read it to get a pulse on "Blue America")
"The Age of Sacred Terror" Benjamin Nelson
"An Hour Before Daylight" Jimmy Carter
Former president is ever humble. His hard scrabble beginnings to later success are an inspiration. What a great American.
"Official Report of the 9-11 Commission"
Required reading for EVERY American citizen. 'Nuff Said.
"Desire and Ice: Searching for Perspective atop Denali" by David Brill
Great armchair reading for high mtn climber wannabe's.
"The Trouble with Islam" by Irshad Manji
Her audience (Islamists) don't read nor do they think. Sad.
"Against All Enemies" by Richard Clarke
Devastating indictment of the current administration. No wonder they immediately attacked this patriot's character...
"Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle" by Moritz Thomson
Timeless piece on his stint in Equador in the '60's.
"A Season on the Matt: Dan Gable" by ? I needed to get an update on where my greatest hero of all time was now... A living arthritic wreck...But a towering figure....nevertheless....
"Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" by Bernard Levy
Complicated tale -- probably the intel service of Pakistan....
"So Long See you Tomorrow" by William Maxwell
Read this on rec from my brother Doug. Glad I did.
"The Iron Road" by James Mawdreley
Wow. This guy allowed himself to be arrested in Burma to protest abuses by the gov't. He spent over a year in prison.
"Crazy Horse" by Larry McMurtry
"The Food Revolution" by Tim Robbins
The book my kids used to convert me to Veganism
"My Invented Country" by Isabelle Allende
I love everything this woman writes
"Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts
Trying to get it straight before I retire...
"The Price of Honor: Women from the Islamic World break the silence" by Jan Goodwin
Read this and you will realize that there is no compromise with evil.
"Me against my Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda" Scott Peterson
"The President of Good and Evil: The Ethics of George W. Bush" by Peter Singer
"Bushwacked" by Molly Ivins
'"Crimes against nature: How George W. Bush and his corporate pals are plundering the country and hijacking our democracy" by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"In Denali's Shadow" by Jon Waterman
"The Open Space of Democracy" Terry Tempest Williams
(This book was the number best seller of Blue Hill Independent Book Store in Blue Hill, Maine when I visited there in Oct -- thought I should read it to get a pulse on "Blue America")
"The Age of Sacred Terror" Benjamin Nelson
"An Hour Before Daylight" Jimmy Carter
Former president is ever humble. His hard scrabble beginnings to later success are an inspiration. What a great American.
"Official Report of the 9-11 Commission"
Required reading for EVERY American citizen. 'Nuff Said.
"Desire and Ice: Searching for Perspective atop Denali" by David Brill
Great armchair reading for high mtn climber wannabe's.
"The Trouble with Islam" by Irshad Manji
Her audience (Islamists) don't read nor do they think. Sad.
"Against All Enemies" by Richard Clarke
Devastating indictment of the current administration. No wonder they immediately attacked this patriot's character...
"Living Poor: A Peace Corps Chronicle" by Moritz Thomson
Timeless piece on his stint in Equador in the '60's.
"A Season on the Matt: Dan Gable" by ? I needed to get an update on where my greatest hero of all time was now... A living arthritic wreck...But a towering figure....nevertheless....
"Who Killed Daniel Pearl?" by Bernard Levy
Complicated tale -- probably the intel service of Pakistan....
"So Long See you Tomorrow" by William Maxwell
Read this on rec from my brother Doug. Glad I did.
"The Iron Road" by James Mawdreley
Wow. This guy allowed himself to be arrested in Burma to protest abuses by the gov't. He spent over a year in prison.
"Crazy Horse" by Larry McMurtry
"The Food Revolution" by Tim Robbins
The book my kids used to convert me to Veganism
"My Invented Country" by Isabelle Allende
I love everything this woman writes
"Vagabonding" by Rolf Potts
Trying to get it straight before I retire...
"The Price of Honor: Women from the Islamic World break the silence" by Jan Goodwin
Read this and you will realize that there is no compromise with evil.
"Me against my Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda" Scott Peterson
Response to my Dad:
I pondered it. I'll take a secular humanist who actually thinks about ethics over a fundamentalist hypocrite any day.
Europe is not dying. I just got back from there. They are thriving.
The Iraq War was our creation. Has little to do with the "War on Terror". We know that most of the insurgency is Sunni former regime people. They are fomenting civil war with the others. We are stuck in the middle.
The author is comparing apples and oranges. He is not addressing the "why" of why the rest of the world is angry with us. He's just getting on his little self-righteous high horse and talking in his echo chamber to people like you who agree with him.
----- Original Message -----
From: jim Bremner
To: stevebremner
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 10:28 AM
Subject: Fw: An Open Letter to Europe
Something to ponder
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 9:07 AM
Subject: Fwd: An Open Letter to Europe
Note: Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council. His DVD on The Siege of Western Civilization is a nationwide best-seller.
November 11th, 2004
Are you nuts?
Forgive me for being so blunt, but your reaction to our re-election of President Bush has been so outrageous that I'm wondering if you have quite literally lost your minds. One of Britain's largest newspapers ran a headline asking "How Can 59 Million Americans Be So Dumb?", and commentators in France all seemed to use the same word - bizarre -- to explain the election's outcome to their readers. In Germany the editors of Die Tageszeitung responded to our vote by writing that "Bush belongs at a war tribunal - not in the White House." And on a London radio talk show last week one Jeremy Hardy described our President and those of us who voted for him as "stupid, crazy, ignorant, bellicose Christian fundamentalists."
Of course, you are entitled to whatever views about us that you care to hold.(And lucky for you we Americans aren't like so many of the Muslims on your own continent; as the late Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh just discovered, make one nasty crack about them and you're likely to get six bullets pumped into your head and a knife plunged into your chest.) But before you write us off as just a bunch of sweaty, hairy-chested, Bible-thumping morons who are more likely to break their fast by dipping a Krispy Kreme into a diet cola than a biscotti into an espresso - and who inexplicably have won more Nobel prizes than all other countries combined, host 25 or 30 of the world's finest universities and five or six of the world's best symphonies, produce wines that win prizes at your own tasting competitions, have built the world's most vibrant economy, are the world's only military superpower and, so to speak in our spare time, have landed on the moon and sent our robots to Mars - may I suggest you stop frothing at the mouth long enough to consider just what are these ideas we hold that you find so silly and repugnant?
We believe that church and state should be separate, but that religion should remain at the center of life. We are a Judeo-Christian culture, which means we consider those ten things on a tablet to be commandments, not suggestions. We believe that individuals are more important than groups, that families are more important than governments, that children should be raised by their parents rather than by the State, and that marriage should take place only between a man and a woman. We believe that rights must be balanced by responsibilities, that personal freedom is a privilege we must be careful not to abuse, and that the rule of law cannot be set aside when it becomes inconvenient. We believe in economic liberty, and in the right of purposeful and industrious entrepreneurs to run their businesses - and thus create jobs - with a minimum of government interference. We recognize that other people see things differently, and we are tolerant of their views. But we believe that our country is worth defending, and if anyone decides that killing us is an okay thing to do we will go after them with everything we've got.
If these beliefs seem strange to you, they shouldn't. For these are precisely the beliefs that powered Western Europe - you -- from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, on to the Enlightenment, and forward into the modern world. They are the beliefs that made Europe itself the glory of Western civilization and - not coincidentally - ignited the greatest outpouring of art, literature, music and scientific discovery the world has ever known including Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Bach, Isaac Newton and Descartes.
Europe is Dying
It is your abandonment of these beliefs that has created the gap between Europe and the United States. You have ceased to be a Judeo-Christian culture, and have become instead a secular culture. And a secular culture quickly goes from being "un-religious" to anti-religious. Indeed, your hostility to the basic concepts of Judaism and Christianity has literally been written into your new European Union constitution, despite the Pope's heroic efforts to the contrary.
Your rate of marriage is at an all-time low, and the number of abortions in Europe is at an all-time high. Indeed, your birth rates are so far below replacement levels that in 30 years or so there will be 70 million fewer Europeans alive than are alive today. Europe is literally dying. And of the children you do manage to produce, all too few will be raised in stable, two-parent households.
Your economy is stagnant because your government regulators make it just about impossible for your entrepreneurs to succeed - except by fleeing to the United States, where we welcome them and celebrate their success.
And your armed forces are a joke. With the notable exception of Great Britain, you no longer have the military strength to defend yourselves. Alas, you no longer have the will to defend yourselves.
What worries me even more than all this is your willful blindness. You refuse to see that it is you, not we Americans, who have abandoned Western Civilization. It's worrisome because, to tell you the truth, we need each other. Western Civilization today is under siege, from radical Islam on the outside and from our own selfish hedonism within. It's going to take all of our effort, our talent, our creativity and, above all, our will to pull through. So take a good, hard look at yourselves and see what your own future will be if you don't change course. And please, stop sneering at America long enough to understand it. After all, Western Civilization was your gift to us, and you ought to be proud of what we Americans have made of it.
Herbert E. Meyer
Europe is not dying. I just got back from there. They are thriving.
The Iraq War was our creation. Has little to do with the "War on Terror". We know that most of the insurgency is Sunni former regime people. They are fomenting civil war with the others. We are stuck in the middle.
The author is comparing apples and oranges. He is not addressing the "why" of why the rest of the world is angry with us. He's just getting on his little self-righteous high horse and talking in his echo chamber to people like you who agree with him.
----- Original Message -----
From: jim Bremner
To: stevebremner
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 10:28 AM
Subject: Fw: An Open Letter to Europe
Something to ponder
Sent: Monday, December 06, 2004 9:07 AM
Subject: Fwd: An Open Letter to Europe
Note: Herbert E. Meyer served during the Reagan Administration as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA's National Intelligence Council. His DVD on The Siege of Western Civilization is a nationwide best-seller.
November 11th, 2004
Are you nuts?
Forgive me for being so blunt, but your reaction to our re-election of President Bush has been so outrageous that I'm wondering if you have quite literally lost your minds. One of Britain's largest newspapers ran a headline asking "How Can 59 Million Americans Be So Dumb?", and commentators in France all seemed to use the same word - bizarre -- to explain the election's outcome to their readers. In Germany the editors of Die Tageszeitung responded to our vote by writing that "Bush belongs at a war tribunal - not in the White House." And on a London radio talk show last week one Jeremy Hardy described our President and those of us who voted for him as "stupid, crazy, ignorant, bellicose Christian fundamentalists."
Of course, you are entitled to whatever views about us that you care to hold.(And lucky for you we Americans aren't like so many of the Muslims on your own continent; as the late Dutch film maker Theo van Gogh just discovered, make one nasty crack about them and you're likely to get six bullets pumped into your head and a knife plunged into your chest.) But before you write us off as just a bunch of sweaty, hairy-chested, Bible-thumping morons who are more likely to break their fast by dipping a Krispy Kreme into a diet cola than a biscotti into an espresso - and who inexplicably have won more Nobel prizes than all other countries combined, host 25 or 30 of the world's finest universities and five or six of the world's best symphonies, produce wines that win prizes at your own tasting competitions, have built the world's most vibrant economy, are the world's only military superpower and, so to speak in our spare time, have landed on the moon and sent our robots to Mars - may I suggest you stop frothing at the mouth long enough to consider just what are these ideas we hold that you find so silly and repugnant?
We believe that church and state should be separate, but that religion should remain at the center of life. We are a Judeo-Christian culture, which means we consider those ten things on a tablet to be commandments, not suggestions. We believe that individuals are more important than groups, that families are more important than governments, that children should be raised by their parents rather than by the State, and that marriage should take place only between a man and a woman. We believe that rights must be balanced by responsibilities, that personal freedom is a privilege we must be careful not to abuse, and that the rule of law cannot be set aside when it becomes inconvenient. We believe in economic liberty, and in the right of purposeful and industrious entrepreneurs to run their businesses - and thus create jobs - with a minimum of government interference. We recognize that other people see things differently, and we are tolerant of their views. But we believe that our country is worth defending, and if anyone decides that killing us is an okay thing to do we will go after them with everything we've got.
If these beliefs seem strange to you, they shouldn't. For these are precisely the beliefs that powered Western Europe - you -- from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance, on to the Enlightenment, and forward into the modern world. They are the beliefs that made Europe itself the glory of Western civilization and - not coincidentally - ignited the greatest outpouring of art, literature, music and scientific discovery the world has ever known including Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Bach, Isaac Newton and Descartes.
Europe is Dying
It is your abandonment of these beliefs that has created the gap between Europe and the United States. You have ceased to be a Judeo-Christian culture, and have become instead a secular culture. And a secular culture quickly goes from being "un-religious" to anti-religious. Indeed, your hostility to the basic concepts of Judaism and Christianity has literally been written into your new European Union constitution, despite the Pope's heroic efforts to the contrary.
Your rate of marriage is at an all-time low, and the number of abortions in Europe is at an all-time high. Indeed, your birth rates are so far below replacement levels that in 30 years or so there will be 70 million fewer Europeans alive than are alive today. Europe is literally dying. And of the children you do manage to produce, all too few will be raised in stable, two-parent households.
Your economy is stagnant because your government regulators make it just about impossible for your entrepreneurs to succeed - except by fleeing to the United States, where we welcome them and celebrate their success.
And your armed forces are a joke. With the notable exception of Great Britain, you no longer have the military strength to defend yourselves. Alas, you no longer have the will to defend yourselves.
What worries me even more than all this is your willful blindness. You refuse to see that it is you, not we Americans, who have abandoned Western Civilization. It's worrisome because, to tell you the truth, we need each other. Western Civilization today is under siege, from radical Islam on the outside and from our own selfish hedonism within. It's going to take all of our effort, our talent, our creativity and, above all, our will to pull through. So take a good, hard look at yourselves and see what your own future will be if you don't change course. And please, stop sneering at America long enough to understand it. After all, Western Civilization was your gift to us, and you ought to be proud of what we Americans have made of it.
Herbert E. Meyer
Monday, December 06, 2004
Got Milk?
John C. Dvorak always has something pithy to contribute:
Mmmm.. I see you've supersized it for me! The media is the massage! Keep eating those fries! Super size me!
Mmmm.. I see you've supersized it for me! The media is the massage! Keep eating those fries! Super size me!
25 days ago these American patriots were alive
How would you like it if your loved one was the last to die for a mistake?
How we live today
I live in the suburbs. I have next to no contact with my neighbors. I live in my box, enter my box through my garage with remote control direct into the house. I leave my box, enter my car-box, turn on my car tunes drive to strip-mall with store boxes. Teenybobbers blast hip-hop from their car-boxes in an attempt to invade my car-box.
The World sees things differently...
From yesterday's NYT some perspective from Roger Cohen: An Obsession the World Doesn't Share. To the rest of the world methinks the War on Terror is growing thin.
More on Kerik:
Josh Marshall is on to Kerik's abreviated stint in charge of training Iraq's police forces just after "hostilities ended" in 2003. It appears that he was fired.
Sunday, December 05, 2004
Further investigation of the Bush administration's abuse of science
From the Union of Concerned Scientists:
Scientific Integrity in Policymaking
An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science
I'm telling you these guys are ignorant, evangelical, born-again neandrethals. They want to abolish Evolution in the schools, roll back science in favor of their political agenda, deny Global Warming, cut down the forests, pollute our common air, water, destroy every last vestige of wilderness remaining to line the pockets of the few. This is not MORAL. I don't believe that you think it is moral either.
Scientific Integrity in Policymaking
An Investigation into the Bush Administration's Misuse of Science
I'm telling you these guys are ignorant, evangelical, born-again neandrethals. They want to abolish Evolution in the schools, roll back science in favor of their political agenda, deny Global Warming, cut down the forests, pollute our common air, water, destroy every last vestige of wilderness remaining to line the pockets of the few. This is not MORAL. I don't believe that you think it is moral either.
Fascism in the USA
If you have lost your ability for critical analysis and independent thought (i.e., mainlining R. Limbaugh) then please don't bother to read this:
Otherwise, if you are capable yet of reflection and analysis, read it and prepare for dark days.... Fascism -- if not here now, is right around the corner -- in the good ole USA.
Otherwise, if you are capable yet of reflection and analysis, read it and prepare for dark days.... Fascism -- if not here now, is right around the corner -- in the good ole USA.
Kerik not up to the job:
This administration just gets worse and worse. The latest addition to the Cabinet, to head up the largest bureaucracy in our government, the Dept of Homeland Security, is Bernard Kerik. Would you believe his highest level of education is a High School Equivalency GED?! See this news story from today's NYT: For Kerik, a Blunt New Yorker, a Complex Washington Task
Education is important as a foundation, and continuing education; master's degrees, doctorates, fellowships... are important as one moves through life and assumes ever higher positions of responsibility. The guy doesn't even look very smart. I guess our prez feels more comfortable with peers closer to his level....
Education is important as a foundation, and continuing education; master's degrees, doctorates, fellowships... are important as one moves through life and assumes ever higher positions of responsibility. The guy doesn't even look very smart. I guess our prez feels more comfortable with peers closer to his level....
Longs Ranch Road Run:
Today the Incline Club ran the infamous Longs Ranch Road. It's been a while since I ran it, but the memory remains strong. Following the five killer hills of the Ute Trail we turn up Longs Ranch Road for a brutal 40-50 minutes of uphill running (in the snow today!), eventually joining the Barr Trail (the 13 mile trail up Pikes Peak from Manitou Springs), from where we descended back to our starting point at Memorial Park. I did the circuit in 2hrs15min. Rebekka in 2hrs42min.
Saturday, December 04, 2004
Religious Right: very strange
As we ran this morning we hit on many topics as is our wont. One of the topics was the religious right. Well, our good prez is about as fundamentalist as they get and one of his happy initiatives is to promote "Faith Based" programs to the tune of $170M for this year. Fortunately we have some congressional leaders who smell stink. Henry Waxman (D - Calif) called for a study of these bible-thumping cranks trolling for federal dollars and came up with some pretty eye opening results.
These people are teaching our children that "HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread through sweat and tears", "A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person", "Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse".
Bill Moyer recently accepted an award for environmental reporting and lamented on the Religious Right and their contentment to "wait on the rapture". No worries. God will provide. Don't concern your body over the environment. Biblical prophesy says... It's a Bizarro World.
These people are teaching our children that "HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread through sweat and tears", "A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person", "Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse".
Bill Moyer recently accepted an award for environmental reporting and lamented on the Religious Right and their contentment to "wait on the rapture". No worries. God will provide. Don't concern your body over the environment. Biblical prophesy says... It's a Bizarro World.
Running the scar
Woke up this morning with no real plans; checked my email and saw a post from my good friend, Jose asking where I planned on running this morning. He said he would check his email at 0700 to see my answer. Well, I called my girlfriend, Rebekka and asked if she would like to go run at Glen Eyrie with Jose at 0830. Sure thing. Emailed Jose and proceeded to get ready. Called Jose at 0730, since he hadn't responded to my email, his wife Cynthia answers in a sleepy voice. After greetings she hands the phone to Jose, coming out of a dead sleep. Well, long story short we met at Glen Eyrie shortly after 0830.
Glen Eyrie is a christian retreat just north of the Garden of the Gods, immediately west of Colorado Springs. Set in a box canyon it sports a grand castle, and several cabins and condos to give christians the opportunity to reflect on God's bounty and the beauty of creation (I suppose). Until a few short years ago they blocked access to some of the great trails leading into Queen's Canyon, Glenview Canyon, and even up along the edge of the canyons to the "scar" and beyond into the Pike National Forest. They now allow access to these trails if you sign a liability waiver at the entrance. This is wonderful. They are to be commended for this community service.
I sure wish more property holders would be so enlightened. I have travelled and lived all over the world and Americans are the worst I've seen for their steadfast insistence on strict limiting of access to private property. In Europe for instance, people are free to go just about anywhere so long as they don't trample crops in a field. The country roads and lanes are open for hiking or ambling about. One feels much more free as a result, and one doesn't notice the dense population as much either.
The trail rose steeply out of the box canyon, through fantastic red rock and limestone formations. It really is a wonder living here in Colorado Springs. There are so many beautiful trails to run so close in to town. Our destination this morning was "the scar". After a mile or so we turned off at a signpost for the "Overlook", referring to viewpoint high above Queen's Canyon. Jose said "I can tell we're almost done climbing because I can see blue sky". I didn't want to burst his bubble, but I knew we had a lot more climbing to go.
The trail leads into a road that switchbacks ever higher along the edge of Queen's Canyon. A couple months ago Rebekka and I ran up here, but from a different entrypoint. On that run we came upon the herd of 20 or so Bighorn Sheep that make the "Scar" their home. The story goes, some years ago they were being transported from one habitat to another, but something happened along the way (either the vehicles broke down, or there was a winter storm, I don't recall), but for whatever reason they were let out here and here they have remained ever since, prospering. On that day, a couple months ago, Rebekka and I kept going past the high point on the "scar" road, finding a trail that I had searched for without result on several other runs. The trail continues along the ridge, eventually reaching a mountain top of around 9,000 feet ele., then circles back down Douglas Creek and into the Flying W Ranch.
Today we stopped at the high point and turned back.
Glen Eyrie is a christian retreat just north of the Garden of the Gods, immediately west of Colorado Springs. Set in a box canyon it sports a grand castle, and several cabins and condos to give christians the opportunity to reflect on God's bounty and the beauty of creation (I suppose). Until a few short years ago they blocked access to some of the great trails leading into Queen's Canyon, Glenview Canyon, and even up along the edge of the canyons to the "scar" and beyond into the Pike National Forest. They now allow access to these trails if you sign a liability waiver at the entrance. This is wonderful. They are to be commended for this community service.
I sure wish more property holders would be so enlightened. I have travelled and lived all over the world and Americans are the worst I've seen for their steadfast insistence on strict limiting of access to private property. In Europe for instance, people are free to go just about anywhere so long as they don't trample crops in a field. The country roads and lanes are open for hiking or ambling about. One feels much more free as a result, and one doesn't notice the dense population as much either.
The trail rose steeply out of the box canyon, through fantastic red rock and limestone formations. It really is a wonder living here in Colorado Springs. There are so many beautiful trails to run so close in to town. Our destination this morning was "the scar". After a mile or so we turned off at a signpost for the "Overlook", referring to viewpoint high above Queen's Canyon. Jose said "I can tell we're almost done climbing because I can see blue sky". I didn't want to burst his bubble, but I knew we had a lot more climbing to go.
The trail leads into a road that switchbacks ever higher along the edge of Queen's Canyon. A couple months ago Rebekka and I ran up here, but from a different entrypoint. On that run we came upon the herd of 20 or so Bighorn Sheep that make the "Scar" their home. The story goes, some years ago they were being transported from one habitat to another, but something happened along the way (either the vehicles broke down, or there was a winter storm, I don't recall), but for whatever reason they were let out here and here they have remained ever since, prospering. On that day, a couple months ago, Rebekka and I kept going past the high point on the "scar" road, finding a trail that I had searched for without result on several other runs. The trail continues along the ridge, eventually reaching a mountain top of around 9,000 feet ele., then circles back down Douglas Creek and into the Flying W Ranch.
Today we stopped at the high point and turned back.
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