Who said avalanche?

Your fearless leader.

There was an avalanche up here last weekend. A lady died. What did I learn from that? Be careful, stay off those Northern to Eastern slopes that are greater than 30%. I almost lead us up one last night that was about 45%, but then I saw the breaks and slides higher up and thought better of it.
Last night was the monthly full moon snowshoe hike that I lead. Can you believe it? People are naive enough to follow me around in the woods, at night!
We started with six of us, including a 13 year old girl. We cruised up Bowman Lake road, off to Fuller Lake and out to an overlook where we could see Signal Peak, Hwy 80 and the valley around Spaulding Lake.

Here is a pic of a few of the folks that joined me last night. They include Dave, Erin and Adam.

Commuting / Communion

I'm exhausted.
Erin and I skied about 10 miles on Monday. I rode to work Tuesday and then rode about three hours that night. I rode to work again today. That was borderline "a chore." Coming up Red Dog Road was incredible strenuous today.
My commute to work goes along the Cascade Canal, a dirt double track that runs almost flat for 5 miles. At one point there is a great view of Nevada City, the hills West of that and then, about 90 miles across the valley to the snow covered mountains near Clearlake. A great view, a great way to start the day.

There is a great article in the new DirtRag about Wilderness. It's an arguement on how Congress did not intend to exclude bicycles, it's just they were not around when the Wilderness act was created. Check it out.
"Over the last decade, mountain bikers have become some of the nation's most sophisticated and savvy outdoors advocates, forming organizations that represent the interests of 45 million cyclists through more that 450 local advocacy organizations. Think of all of the energy currently harnessed to limit the impact of Wilderness on cycling if it could be used to fight for expanding Wilderness areas. The natural alliance between mountain bikers and groups like the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society would open up a whole new realm of lobbying for Wilderness support. It would be a new ball game and Team Wilderness would be stronger than ever."

And now for the Communion thing. Just when I was starting to like the Pope again... he was saying stuff like war is wrong, we need peace, etc. Good stuff man, good stuff. You go Pope! Then he went and said that gay marriage is evil.
I'm sure to not vote for him again.

George W Bush - A Worse Wimp Than His Dad

So, I'm not quite sure what to make of all this yet but some opinions are forming and I'd like to air them. I just read this article on the New York Times site about a friend of GW's recording his conversations prior to his election in 2000. What's so freakin amazing to me is that Bush comes off as a somewhat level headed guy about social issues. In one conversation he even says "I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays."

So, how does he reconcile that with the current climate in our country. The Reds have gone crazy on this issue. They're trying to erase all evidence that gays even exist (one more link here). The times article even provides some interesting political background (that I had forgotten about) on the time that the these conversations took place.

The first of the taped conversations Mr. Wead disclosed took place in the summer of 1998, when Mr. Bush was running for his second term as Texas governor. At the time, Mr. Bush was considered a political moderate who worked well with Democrats and was widely admired by Texans of both parties.

So, what happened?

Well, as far as I can see, the answer is in who the Prez was talking to during those taped conversations. As a former Assemblies of God minister, Doug Wead had been a liaison to evangelical Protestants for the president's father, and was helping GW to form his bridge to the Christian right. I guess since that bridge proved so successful the first time around, in 2004 they just knocked the thing down and stayed cozy on the right bank.

My whole point is this: If you say you're not going to play politics by picking popular sides because to do that shows weakness (as he hinted time and time again to knock Kerry's endlessly changing positions), how does it look when you violate your own beliefs just to win an election. Not only has Bush let himself down by his choice to abandon the middle, but he's thrown this country into the dark ages just to cling to power. He easily folded under pressure from the radical Christians. What a wimp.

The Reds aren't the only faithful folks in the world George. Look around and you'll see a growing division that some part of you knew would be morally wrong. At least when your dad was called a wimp, it was because he was pulling out of a war in Iraq, not stubbornly letting Americans die for a country that doesn't even protect all of it citizens anymore.

Oh well, who am I kidding, he ain't reading this. Well the good news is at least everyone will forget about this in a couple days.

The "Reds" Are Coming- A Finx Rant

Remember back in the good old commie hatin' days of the latter twentieth century when the real tough guys in the US would light up a stogie and talk about "gettin' those damn Red bastards"? How we all had someone clear to hate and fear? It seemed those were the days of clarity. A time when you knew exactly who might come and try to steal your babies away to be converted into Godless socialist monsters. Eventually, it lead to commissions being formed to weed out the subversives in our midst that were looking to change the American way of life into something heinous, or worse... equal.

So, thank God for those soulless commies bastard giving us something good to fight and demean. I mean, we won, right? No one's worried about the Reds showing up on their doorstep one day and telling them what to think and do, or what God they can or can't worship, right? Right?

I guess I would have to say I see it differently. You see, to me the threats have become far more subversive than some duck and cover cartoon of fear mongering, and the real problems of those societies are still alive and well today. Besides, communisim was never the real issue, control was.

No clear ideology can be blamed for the world's ills anymore. So, one might hope that without superpowers duking it out, the world would be focused on finding some way to get along on this tiny planet with out killing each other. But, not everyone is content with that idea. They're the ones are who always had the black and white of "us versus them" (commie vs. freedom lover) to fall back on when the shit hit the fan. The complexities of today's global environment are still lost on them. So, when someone acted out and took a swipe at "us", and there was no clear "them" to go after, what did they do?

They made a new "them".

The "thems" of the 21st century are now becoming clearer: The Non-Reds. Ever since the 2004 elections, one group as had an interesting color to rally around. They are the conservative Christians, the "red staters", and they allegedlly have the majority of power in the US right now (if you ignore exit polling data and at least 48% of the country). So, it's easy for them to deicide who the new "thems" are.

The funny thing is, most times there's no rhyme or reason to who they pick. Most times it's whatever they have on their agenda for the week. Maybe you're gay, or Muslim, or maybe even just an anti-war Christian, it doesn't matter, you're now counted among the ranks of evil-doers such as Saddam and... um, you know, that guy with the beard and the kidney problem we can't seem to track down? Anyway, my point is that if you're not towing the party line, you're now one of "them", and will be treated as the villain that you are.

Just reflect on all of the stories that you've read about people's civil liberties being trampled because their "actions" (read: "beliefs") were deemed threatening. Or, how about detaining and torturing people for no other reason than suspicion of intent to perpetrate a crime that hasn't yet happened with no charges filed in any federal court?

What I'm driving at here is, don't these tactics sound familiar to you? Well, they should, because those very same "Reds" of old are now role models for the new American government and it policies, which I'd aptly title: the "Red" States of America!

What's even stranger to me is how in bed we are with China, one of our most influential trading partners. If we Americans and our leaders are such freedom lovers and pious Christians, why would we condone such a country, known to repeatedly violate its people's human rights and freedoms (like freedom of religion)? My only guess is that it's because they are worshiping the God of capitalism. How can you fear and loathe those "Reds", if you're one of them?

So, I propose we take a page from the good book of progressives everywhere (who brilliantly labeled Christian extremists like Pat Robertson as "Mullahs" to shine a light on their lack of grasping irony) and refer to those on the radical right as the "Reds". No one likes to have their ugly skeletons drug from their closets for all to see. It seems appropriate that we label "them" as they have labeled so many others who chose simply to disagree with whatever Dogma suited them at the time.

Jesus, that was quite a post! I think I almost wrote a novel. Let's keep the irony up kids, the "Reds" won't know what hit 'em. If you're not exhausted please read vuduvgn's post below, it's a good one!

The daughter of conservative Republican Alan Keyes referred to herself Monday as a "liberal queer" and urged support for gay and lesbian young people who have been deserted by their families.
Nice, huh. A little poison in the blood of the red house. Politics are great as long as they don't involve family, well, besides declaring your family members' lifestyle as a sin and accepting their eternal damnation. If you decided your family member was damned, then, would that mean that the love for yourself and or the love of your god is stronger than the love for your family member?


A little closer to home.

I saw this dude on tv, he's, a little younger than me, tall, thin, well groomed and highly energetic. He's convinced that gays are living a sinful life and need to change their ways. He says they are sinners and has been displaying signs that have a picture of two guys kissing with the red circle and strike through it.

It's odd, I felt sympathy for him. Certainly no sympathy for his cause, but for him, for his humanity. It's clear that he thinks he is doing right by him and his God. He thinks he is helping people and contributing to the greater good. But, he's not. He is creating more division, calling people out for being different than him and judging them. I find that terrible. It's confusing. One one side, I want to console him and educate him, on the other side, I wish him harm. Clearly the correct choice is education and offering of goodwill, but it just so frustrating when people act like this.

Placerville has declared itself discrimination-free and a hate-free zone. It's kinda scary, we were thinking of moving there. I'm glad we didn't. I get pretty darn fired up about that kind of intolerance and ignorance. Jeez, I thought just the ignorant fuckers I grew up with were like this, sadly they are everywhere.