1000

"Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360" !!

Why us !

Mount Hood - I don't believe we will see those men again. They should release the pictures. It might be too painful to the families but they probably have already seen them. It would give the public who waited and hoped for so long to come to terms with what they were facing and why their climb went so much better than their return. They made it to the top. That was no minor accomplishment. It's upsetting to realize the hardest part was yet to come.

"The MLU was born out of tragedy right here at Mount Hood."

There needs to be some kind of regulation. To realize the loss of human life and the cost that went out to try to rescue these men is to realize a better way. I don't believe Mt. Hood is a national or state park. Probably wrong about that, but, there is a website that is somewhat troubling given the events of the last week or so.

Virtual Mt. Hood Climb

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/2483/virthood.htm

The pictures of the virtual climb are interesting BUT when one looks at the provisions that are stated are needed it gets a little upsetting.

Climb Smart!

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/2483/smart.htm


1. Topographic Map
2. Compass, altimeter
3. Flashlight/Headlamp, spare bulb & batteries
4. Food
5. Insulating Clothing layers & wind proof shell
6. Space blanket or bivy sack
7. Sunglasses
8. First aid, sunblock, & medications
9. Pocket Knife
10. Matches/Lighter
11.Helmet
12.Ice Axe
13.Crampons/snowshoes/skis
14.Water

That is a very sparse list. There is no tent, sleeping bag, ground cover and list goes on from there. Water supply, duct tape, there is no mention of climbing gear itself, not even a rope, a back pack capable of carrying 60 pounds of gear in potential weather conditions like this and it makes no mention of an MLU. $5.00 to rent one and somehow it's not required to climb that mountain. If I were going up the mountain there would be no doubt in my mind about not only renting one but making sure it was in good working order and what it took to keep it working well the entire trip. No doubt that this would be a necessity.

It's nearly impossible to stop people from embarking on a dangerous hike/climb up a mountain if they are that intent on it, but, at the same time when folks come into a store for equipment there needs to be some kind of certification before they purchase materials such as these. Crampons and ice axes aren't just your usual walk in the woods. If one is to scuba dive there has to be classes and certifications in order to purchase or rent equipment to facilitate that, it needs to be the same here...

There is The American Safe Climbing Association

http://www.safeclimbing.org/

...and they are backed by high end product manufacturers like Black Diamond. It's the only way to fly. These guys know what they are doing, you know?

The Iraq War

We never belonged in that country and we don't belong there now. There is some reality today that all of a sudden the Sadr folks are more powerful than al Qaeda in Iraq. That is bulloney. There is nothing different today than a year ago. The Shi'ites have armed themselves because they became a majority with power. To them that was security against being killed. I don't blame them. At all. 50,000 people were killed in 2002 and the Saddam jerks cut off the water to them and their wetlands. That is being completely at the hands of lunatics and there were pictures of Rumsfeld shaking Saddam's hand while instilling him into power. Then the USA invades the country illegally. What did Bush think would happen? Then he attacks the Mosque No forethought, just knee jerk Texas '...smoke 'em out...' lunacy.

And not to leave out the Sunnis, the USA military simply leveled Fallujah with complete abandon. What the heck was that all about and it sure didn't seem to accomplish anything.

Gates needs to realize an exist strategy for the troops and hold to it. He better do a good job, too. No 'last soldier out' scenario either, that dies on the rooftoop !!!

Ben Wedeman

Pretty scary in Palestine, huh? The 'authorities' are stating there is a cease fire. Abbas claims this time it's for real. It sure doesn't look that way on the Palestinian street, does it? You know the Hamas leader got caught at the border with a few suitcases full of cash and all of a sudden Abbas states there is a ceasefire that will hold. Ya, right. You think maybe he's trying to convince The Arab League to turn over the cash, Ben?

Here ya go, straight from Dubai. Our friendly neighborhood American Ports management firm. Way to go, Jihad, huh, babe:

Jihad will 'liberate Palestine'

Dubai - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a video aired by Al-Jazeera television on Wednesday that only jihad can bring about the liberation of occupied Palestinian territory.
"Any road other than jihad will only lead to loss. Those trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions or on decisions to surrender Palestine to the Jews will not liberate a grain of sand of Palestine," said Osama bin Laden's right-hand man.
On the contrary, "their attempts will lead to choking jihad and besieging the mujahedeen", he said.
Muslims will not win the West's approval if they retreat, irrespective of their skills in manoeuvring and talking, Zawahiri said.
It was not immediately clear when the videotape was recorded, and its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,9294,2-10-1462_2047199,00.html

Hey, ya know, when the going gets tough and it looks like The West might be right, call al Qaeda.

Fred Goldman

When it this ludicrous mess going to stop? When are women going to be safe in this country from violence and when will nice guys finish first? Ron was a nice guy.

It's Florida. What else is there to say? The illegal fortune of the Bush Family has to be safe somewhere. Maybe not that Jeb is out there might even be some reform to the laws that victimize families like the Goldmans.

Brook Anderson

Any relation to Pam, Andy?

You know what her new title is, don't you? Some circles are calling her "Mistress USA."

enough

Behold the rare lifelong Seattleite (click on)

When I do come across others who spent their formative years in the area, we tend to swap big knowing smiles like long-lost childhood pals. "You went to Camp Orkila too?" We nod and take turns trading local references from our childhood and teen years. Our transplanted peers, clueless about the Seattle of the '80s, let alone the '70s, watch in silence as we whisper in a secret code of bygone Seattle: "Almost Live! with Ross Shafer." "Aaron Brown on the local news." "Food Giant."

Aaron Brown

U.S. anchor discusses his Judaism

By JENNA ROSMAN
CJN Intern


TORONTO - When former CNN anchor Aaron Brown was 13 years old, his rabbi in Minneapolis, Minn., told him that a reporter’s job is “to give voice to the voiceless.”

“Think of our history and all of those centuries when no one heard us,” said the rabbi, whom Brown counts as a significant figure in his life. “Think of how different Jewish history would be if in all the times we had been stifled, someone heard us.”

It’s a principle the veteran U.S. journalist said has guided him throughout his career – and particularly as he’s covered the Middle East, even if it’s sometimes alienated him from his fellow Jews.

Both Palestinians and Israelis are entitled to a voice, he told the annual UJA Federation donor dinner, May 4 at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“I’ve done that knowing that neither side would embrace me, and that the rejection of one side, particularly, would be especially painful,” he said in a 30-minute speech to 450 guests. “In the end, we all want the love of our families, and I’m no exception. I want to be embraced by my people, because I’m one of them.”

Brown – who was once CNN’s lead anchor and host of Newsnight with Aaron Brown, but was replaced last year by Anderson Cooper – said he has often felt pressured by other Jews to stifle what could be seen as criticism of Israel.
“There is no tougher issue to report on than the Middle East,” he said.

Brown recalled doing a story about checkpoints in Israel that examined both the Israeli and the Palestinian positions.
Soon afterward, he received two e-mails almost simultaneously. The first was from “someone of Arab descent,” who wrote, “You are a Zionist pig. Just another tool of the Israelis.”

The second came from a Jewish doctor, in Denver, Colo. “‘You are,’ he said to me, ‘not better than a concentration camp kapo, selling out his people for money.’”

Brown wrote back: “‘At worst, what we have here is an editorial disagreement about the decision I made. That’s the worst thing that we have here, and your words were offensive beyond the pale.’ And to his credit, he wrote back and apologized, and we remain in touch today.”

Brown also spoke of growing up in Hopkins, Minn., near Minneapolis, as one of only a few Jews. “We weren’t particularly theologically Jewish, but we understood what it meant.”

His maternal grandparents came to the United States from Ukraine and settled in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
He said he’s made it a tradition to take his 17-year-old daughter each year to Ellis Island in New York City, where they sit in the Great Hall and talk about how his grandparents “came here, how they lived, how they made their lives, what it must’ve been like, the courage that they had, the fierceness it must have taken.”

He added, “Someday, I hope, she will take her children there and tell the story of her great-grandparents that she never knew.”

Referring to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Brown said that “the Israeli side is easier to understand,” since Israelis “see their future not in a pipe dream of a greater Israel, but in a two-state solution that will ultimately provide the security that they need and that they deserve.”

He said Hamas’ victory in recent Palestinian elections was not about most Palestinians favouring Israel’s obliteration, but rather about a desire for change in the Palestinian Authority, which was “rife with corruption, slow to deliver social services, health care, education… and had no security.”

Brown said the Palestinians voted for Hamas because of their situation, which they felt could not be worse.
“Of course, Hamas could be worse. And they turned out to be worse,” he said.

“How can it be that young Arabs find more hope in a suicide belt than in democracy?” he asked. “Hamas understands really well what it means not to be in power. Now all of a sudden, they own a store – they have keys to the store. They don’t know how to run foreign policy and they don’t know how to run a country either. They do know how to run social services, however, and they certainly know how to run suicide bombers.”

Speaking of the anti-Americanism, that is rampant in the Middle East, Brown said the Arab world hates the West because of its foreign policy, but not because of its freedom.

He noted that the United States has supported corrupt governments that have denied citizens basic rights.
“And that has to change,” he said.

Brown added that Iran has become further radicalized since 9/11, and “whacking Iran will make attacking Iraq seem like child’s play.”

In an interview after his speech, Brown said both Palestinians and Israelis have a common desire for peace, but “no one is quite willing to start the process.”

He added: “The end is quite clear. The Palestinians will get most of the West Bank and it will be less contiguous than it probably ought to be, certainly than they want. East Jerusalem needs to be dealt with. But by and large, I think both sides know what the final map will look like.

“It’s totally backwards to how every negotiation works. In every negotiation, starting is easy and ending is hard. This one, you know the end and you can’t start it.”

http://www.cjnews.com/viewarticle.asp?id=9291