Coffee!!

Soros !! Froomkin !! RFK jr. !!

National parks to see? The Grand Canyon, of course. It’s a must see. Put it on your list.

How nice of CNN to lead off with John Bolton, whose re-nomination will soon be heard in the Senate.

Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, where Mount Fairweather rises to over 3 miles high and if you’re lucky enough to see it on a clear day from sealevel it is awe inspiring.

the eloi at 3 — that one I’ve seen. But it’s definitely a must do when our daughter gets a bit older and can appreciate the scenery a little more.

Diane at 4 — yes, I noticed that, too. Wonder if the WH had to beg, or if CNN offered?

I have always made National Parks my vacation destinations. I just stopped in Acadia Nat Park on the way home from Maine. It’s my favorite on the east coast.

My fear is that our illustrious preznit (and I mean Cheney) has some under-handed plans in the works for the Nat Park system. After chimpco made a huge wildlife sanctuary in the middle of the ocean, they can now say they created more then they destroyed when they build their highway system through some national parks.

Steve Clark at 5 — that sounds gorgeous! My husband lived in Alaska for a while when he was in high school (near Salcha — his dad worked at Eilson Air Force base), and I’ve heard lots of stories about his treks through Danali and other lovely areas (and how mosquito repellant isn’t all that helpful…) One of these days, we’ll do a big driving tour up there for certain. I’ve seen the gorgeous glass-domed train cars that go up part of the coast — I’ve always loved trains and we’ll probably look into something like that. (If anyone has done that, I’d love to hear whether you enjoyed it. I’ve also heard the cross-country one via Canadian National Railways goes through some gorgeous scenery…)

Yosemite! Yes. Being a native Californian and avid backpacker since I was 12, Yosemite is a great choice for a vacation. It has a full range of experiences from staying at the lodge, or renting a cabin to back country off-trail hikes where everything you have is on your back.

I also recommend Sequoia National Park and Sequoia National Forest, Kings Canyon NP, Inyo National Desert…the list goes on and on. I’ve climbed Mt Whitney (highest mnt in ConUs) 3 times and been all over California’s extensive park system. I highly recommend them all. A great post Christy.

Well, Christy, I live in redwood country, and we like to say that we live behind the redwood curtain. Below is a photo of a redwood grove, but I can tell you that no photo or video is like the religious experience of being deep in a redwood grove with streams of sunlight coming down. Even now, as I sit here, it makes the hair on my arms stand up.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/t…..set-20553/

Hey Christie – good thing to dumb it down for the AP. Speaking slowly and enuciating clearly helps as well. As for the parks in California, put Mt. Shasta on your list. One of those places you have to visit. Pictures just don’t even come close to conveying the majasty of the area.

The Sunday Globe gives some clues to Bush’s legacy, comparing him to Tricky Dick and more so to Warren Harding with his corrupt Teapot Dome Scandal…
I disagree with one aspect though. The Globe
writes “More important, Harding’s administration was rife with corruption – the most infamous example being the Teapot Dome Scandal — while Bush’s declining support is more a reflection of failed policies.”
Failed policies of course, but the sleezy Abramoff, CIA smear case, and NH phone jamming
incidents are a direct result of Bush’s corruptive forces run amok…

Jack

We’re going to Yellowstone in September for two weeks. I’ve never been.

Glacier was probably my favorite national park experience–wildlife ranging from a sleepy saw whet owl to mountain goats and black bears was part of it. But there were also some magnificent hikes up to torquoise lakes (at one of which, I swear, there was a wolverine poking around).

Great Smoky was probably the most disappointing–too many people, too many cars, too many concessions to close to the park.

Declining national park attendance? Not at the ones we just visited.

We just got back from a 4,500 mile road trip that included four national parks—Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Glacier—and one national monument, the Custer Battlefield.

Rocky Mountain NP was not crowded, but there were a *lot* of people there. Grand Teton was well-attended, but Yellowstone was positively crowded. Parking lots at all the visitor centers were generally full during the day. Glacier was the least-crowded. Yellowstone was, by far, the most interesting. Grand Teton was the most scenic.

We were surprised at the number of Rvs at all the places we visited, even with gasoline prices so high. And there were large numbers of overseas tourists, some in rented Rvs.

The trip was well worth it—our 40th anniversary trip to ourselves.

Kelven at 12

I love Shasta. Hard climb but worth it. Lake Shasta is the ‘houseboat capital’ of the world too. # days on ahouseboat is a nice way to unwind after a strenuous backpacking trip.

As for the parks in California, put Mt. Shasta on your list.

The trip to CA that included Shasta was great, but we never saw Shasta. It was completely enshrouded in cloud cover on a very rainy pair of days.

Christy Hardin Smith says:
July 23rd, 2006 at 6:10 a
Have heard all the same things you have, especially about the mosquito repellant.
I have also heard great things about the intercostal water way as an entry. Both are on my list.
OT thanks so much for this from you yesterday in the comments: “…Their view of the world and this nation is not mine, nor is it the perspective that most Americans take. Do not allow yourself to define this country by their actions — they bear responsibility for what they do, but they are not the whole of America. Words have strong meaning, and we need to be very careful what words we use in this — the neocons, the Bush Administration and their failed policies are not the best of America. Don’t define the whole by the parts that are failing the rest of us.”

If you’re in the Tucson area be sure to visit Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Meuseum. The museum puts on a birds of prey free flight demonstration that is a must-see for and raptor enthusiast or photographer — I happen to fall in to both categories.

sofistic, same cause and effect here. Long-lasting, too.

Christy,

I drove through Yellowstone in the summer of 1988 on the WORST day of the big fire there. I was on my way cross country from Boston to Portland OR to do my internship.

There was a brown cloud hanging over the park and surrounding area for miles and miles. Everything smelled of smoke in Cody and beyond. It was scary. Drove back through it the following summer on my way home and it looked devastated. Black on the ground, charred sticks remaining upright here and there. Then in summer of ‘96 moving back east from Seattle to Boston did it again and it was coming back to life.

That and the Grand Tetons are must sees, if the *ssholes in DC don’t destroy them first. Maybe we need to hurry to see all the parks before they are destroyed. No, don’t want to think about that happening. Gotta keep working on sending those clowns to another universe. GO NED and all of the others we have on the front lines.

Lotus: As I look out my office, I can see the 180 foot hemlock in our back yard, and if I go to the front porch, I can see redwoods, firs, and victorian houses with stately royal palms on each side of the walkways. I love this place!

Glacier in Montana (before the glaciers are gone). Try to drive the Road to the Sun at dawn–utterly spectacular

An important race to follow is Jerry McNerney in CA 11. He’s running against Pombo, who is trying to sell off the National Park system. He’s doing well but could use help. My mom is a volunteer for the campaign. Here’s a link to his weblog:

http://weblog.jerrymcnerney.org/

Rocky Mountain NP . . . ahhhh, how I loved it the summer I spent in Boulder (’67 — oh my).

RAM says at 6:16 am
I am extremely jealous.
Are you familiar with the (relatively) new archeological evidence about the Little Big Horn from Richard Fox? It integrates Gaul (Henryville) and Crazy Horse and the Sioux/Cheyenne battle accounts much more successfully imo than what existed before.
I am extremely jealous of your whole trip.

Denali is on my to do list also. The cruise/tour packages that are offered by Princess, Holland America and Royal Caribbean are all very tempting.

sofistic at 22 — you are making me seriously jealous. And I live in a beautiful state here in WV, with a little woodlands area just across from our house and some rather large hemlocks in our back yard. But being able to see redwoods out my windows…ahhh, that would be heaven.

Arches and Monument Valley. Monument Valley seen from the distance (if you can, arrange some fog) is even better than the GC, IMHO.

AP-Clueland:Blogger Christy Harden Smith recently captioned a photograph of Yellowstone Park with “trumpeter swans”. However, swans cannot play trumpets. Another Web 2.0 truism: bloggers are not always friendly with facts.

It’s days to visit a national park from here, but we make trips to our state parks all the time.

I’d like to see a comparison between the deficit and park attendance. I know that now, it’s cost prohibitive for us to take the kids to a park simply because of our lack of discretionary income (ok, and gas prices).

As I’ve been campaigning, it’s amazing how many people talk about simply not having enough money to get by, and how they feel the government isn’t doing anything to help them while big corporations make record profits.

Back on the talking heads thread: Little Bear has Duck babysitting ducklings and Father Bear shows Little Bear his instrument from when he played in a band. Maggie and the Ferocious Beast has “My Funny Smile”, “Guess Who I Am” and “A House For a Mouse”. Enjoy!

Christy: since you live in WV, go to the Hinton festival of the rivers and watch the cigar box guitar folks put on a rip snortin show. Labor day, I believe. And yes, you do live in a beautiful part of the world.

Prof. Foland at 29 — HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Good one!

Easy to get to for an Easterner and often overlooked is the Cranberry Wilderness in the Monongahela Nat’l Forest. Amazing canopy, clear water tributaries, old forest, mountain high vistas and down in the valley all in the same day.
http://www.trails.com/activity.asp?area=11206

Christy, my family drove and camped our way across America the summer I was ten years old, and we stopped and saw just about everything. That would have been 1971. It changed little worldview completely.

Yellowstone completely rocks. So do the Badlands and so does the Painted Desert. Pike’s Peak too, and the Royal Gorge and the Grand Tetons. No matter where we were, I expected to see dinosaurs of course, and I probably thought that I did more than a few times!

I agree with Kelvin at 12 about Mt Shasta. One of the best camping experiences I’ve had was around Mt. Shasta a long time ago…haven’t been back for a while, but it stands out even though I have been to many National Parks. I didn’t see a soul for 3 days. It was heaven!

One that hasn’t been mentioned is Zion National Park in Utah. It is unique in that it is closer to a desert rather than forest landscape, with truly astounding red rock formations. Bryce is also a must-see in that area, especially at sunrise or sunset. These are both easily accessible if you are on a trip from California to the Rocky Mountain west, and worth a side trip for a couple of days.

I live in Florida now and am making myself homesck, so I have to stop!!

as beautiful as trumpeter swans are (the mating dance is hypnotic) they aqre also really mean birds chasing others like geese or ducks that may be “in the neigborhood”. we have trumpeters in our back yard. fascinating to watch.

i hope to make it to glacier national park before all is said and done. i agree that the tetons and yellowstone will take your breath away. i remember cross country skiing from the crest of teton pass down to town. wow!!! thanks for causing me to remember

correction:

It changed my little worldview completely.

ahem.

highly recommended: Bryce and Zion – Utah

Jack at 13: Bush is similar to Harding in the area of cognitive functioning.

Israel’s “surgical strikes” only makes sense if your doctor customarily uses a chainsaw …

Another vote for Acadia – beautiful scenery, great hiking, and at night you can just about see every star in the sky. If you’re camping, though, watch out for the raccoons! They’re monsters!

A park that isn’t discussed too much: Theodore Roosevelt National Park. If anyone is going to make the trip to see Mount Rushmore, take the time to get to North Dakota to visit this park.

Also a hat tip to my native Michigan and Isle Royal National Park. It’s an amazing place. Backpacking and fishing were never so good.

I have to say that looking at my financial situation, my wife and I can’t really afford to road trip to the great National Parks like we did when we were kids with our families. Rather we visit more State Forests and and State Parks that are closer. They don’t offer the grandeur of the National Parks, but they’re still spectacular.

To sofistic @ 11:

Nice picture. The Redwoods are on my list. Many parks out in Cali I’d love to visit including Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary once I get my SCUBA certs.

RH–Glad you enjoyed it! Complete with misspelled name for added AP-realism :)

lina at 38: Let’s see if I get this straight: Bush has the cognative function of Harding, the economic policy of Hoover, and the ethics of Nixon. Did I get that right?

I spent a summer working in Yellowstone while going to college and have loved the place ever since. It does get crowded in the summer, but if you’re willing to get out and hike a bit you’ll lose ninety percent of the people, and see things they never see.

Also, drive the road from Old Faithful to Madison on a still day at either dawn or dusk, the geysers and rising stem make it an otherworldly experience.

My other favorite national park is Glacier. Techno’s advice about driving Going-to-the-Sun is spot on, but the best way to appreciate Glacier is to hike into the backcountry and camp overnight, it’s the most spectacular landscape I’ve ever been in.

sof at 43: Yes. And the fanatical support of Reagan.

Well, sofistic, even though I’m looking out on something very much like a [triple-jpg alert] Henri Rousseau, AKA “le Douanier” painting, and I love it, that description of your view brings the little green monster of envy to this frail mind.

lina at 38: Let’s see if I get this straight: Bush has the cognative function of Harding, the economic policy of Hoover, and the ethics of Nixon. Did I get that right?

… and the diplomatic skills of Attila the Hun …

And the Pentagon team of Lyndon Johnson. (although, at least LBJ knew when he was defeated.)

Somehow this popped in my head just now. A snippet from the roches (girl group, been around a long time)
“He was mean, he beat her up, he was a republican”

To lina:

I believe you were asking about the Webb/Allen debate yesterday. A televised version isn’t out there yet, but I hear it will air sometime soon. You can read the transcript of the debate here.

And now for some places completely different:
Everglades National Park; the Dry Tortugas (history and birds–spring is the best time), a boat trip from Key West; Audubon’s Corkscrew Sanctuary (800 year-old cypress trees littered with bromeliads and orchids); Merritt Island NWR and Canaveral National Seashore.
No craggy mountains or 300-foot trees (this is hurricane country!) here, but a very different set of landscapes. The scale and topography are tropical and subtropical and the beauty is in the details of flora and fauna. The bird life? Take a look at http://fosbirds.org
Anyone who wants to visit the un-Disney Florida can email me [jbuhrman AT aol dot com] for info.

grs: link?

Oops, don’t know why that link didn’t work. Try this.

grs at 41

Very cold. The waters in Monterey are freezing. I scuba and can’t bring myself to do that dive again. I’ve gone soft and now only dive in warm water. Alas.

Darksyde is good over at Kos this a.m.:

“Like a degenerate gambler that once got moderately lucky and cannot distinguish between fortune and skill, the neocons will spend the rest of their lives trying to convince themselves that they were right, that they were brilliant, and the world was wrong–about everything. George Bush, Dick Cheney, and the whole stinking crew will eagerly latch onto any ray of hope in Iraq or elsewhere while effortlessly dismissing reality, until their term ends.

So keep in mind when you watch the parade of neocon apologists on the news shows this fine Sunday morning, as they lie and evade and dissemble, what you’re seeing is not a conspiracy or a resurgence, it is a wake. The date of the funeral of neoconservatism has been scheduled, and the only people that don’t seem to realize the eulogy is in progress are the guests of honor still twitching in the metaphorical coffin. The real question–and a disturbing one to contemplate–is how many innocent people they will drag down into the grave with them when that casket is finally, thankfully, put to rest in the forgiving soil of the good earth.”

OT
but then, when is the Ned race ever OT here?

Gilliard Gets It. and writes it in a way that even the cocktail weenie set might understand.

I see we are in avoidance mode, the talking heads are just too hard to face some days, and nature is very soothing in troubled times.

concur with sofistic

Prof. Foland,
check your e-mail please.

A very entertaining thread this morning, I must say.

OK sofistic 57 , I’ll bite:

Two questions I’d like to see put to Administration officials today:

1. When is the last time a Sec. of State publicly stated they were against a cease-fire agreement? (Related question: has anyone in this crew ever so much as broken up a playground fight?)

2. Does President Bush believe these wars are signs of the End Times?

Ms ReddHedd,
Sedentary…I a here in RI with my Smithie mom. We are appalled. :-)

Pete, are you sure you don’t have mute swans? They are not native and notorious for their territoriality. The trumpeter is coming back from the brink of extinction (hunted for meat and feathers, and the heck of it), thanks to some excellent endangered species restoration work by the US and Canada. They are migratory and not generally found around people.

OfT: “Who’s Driving this War?”
by emptywheel
“Glenn Greenwald thinks this administration, still run by Neocons, is driving this war.

Neoconservatism is what brought us into Iraq, and there is no persuasive evidence that its influence in the administration has diminished.

Now, I agree that the Neocons are working hand in hand with Israel to conduct the war. But I think saying the administration’s actions are in line with the Neocons is too simple. As Juan Cole points out, Bush is working with a radically different understanding of what is going on than Rummy and Dick….”

sofistic at 56 — frankly, things are so heinous right now that I’m not sure I even know where to start. I feel like that primal scream painting, reading the news this morning.

Yikes Professor Foland, you have pierced our bubble. Do we really have to face reality? Please don’t make us do it.

Teddy Roosevelt National Park, in the badlands of North Dakota, probably one of the least visited of our national parks, is quite beautiful! We visited on our way home from Glacier and the Tetons.

DJ DrZ at 61 — Tell your momma hello from a fellow Smithie. (And thanks for the heads up on the typo…missed that one. Oooops!)

Someday I hope to take a month or six weeks, and drive from Glacier in MT over to the Olympic Penninsula, down to Yosemite and Joshua tree, then over accross to Grand Canyon, through New Mexico and eventually to the Texas Gulf Coast. Of course, I thought this trip up when gas was about $1.25/gallon….

Has anyone confirmed if Bolton’s arrogance is real or just a side-effect of the moustache?

Just tell me who to send the scissors to.

Zergle at 71 — it’s apparently real. He’s pals with Frank Gaffney, who I met briefly when I was in graduate school, and that one meeting was enough to put me off neocons for life. Blergh. (Let’s just say manners and respect for others…not so much.)

HopeSpringsATurtle @ 54

I imagine the dive itself at Monterey was worth the chill. Many places I look forward to exploring including many sites along the Great Lakes.

That was the first Meet The Press I’ve enjoyed watching in a long time – I thought Timmeh held Bolton’s feet to the fire…

Will do. And she says the spelling on my blog is just as bad.

I did scuba diving off of Monterey back in the late 80’s…do it, definitely do it!

Water is very very cold, definitely need the wetsuit. The diving (back then) was much better off of the Pacific Grove side of the peninsula, than right near metro Monterey.

I need to remember to run spell check on my posts more often, but I woke up late this morning and was in a rush. (And, frankly, this one was written prior to having any coffee, so I’m just happy it made sense. lol)

Christy @ 71 – Oh boy do I know the type. Bullies, bullies, bullies.

…and all because they have a pinky finger in the wrong place. *wink*

Well, the birthday party for Ms. Redshift went very well last night (her actual birthday is the 25th, for those who asked), despite the fact that our A/C conked out an hour and a half before the guests arrived. Fortunately it was late enough in the day that it didn’t get too warm in the house, but it made me drag myself out of bed at 8am! on a weekend to wait for the repair guy. (I am so not a morning person; I don’t get up that early for work!) Now, a couple of hours later, I am conscious enough to write rather than just skim comments…

Christy,
Crater Lake in southern Oregon is beautiful, and a dramatic learning experience about the power of volcanos. While your in the neighborhood there is Shakespeare in Ashland and Music Festival in Jacksonville, my favorite childhood vacation always included all three.

Yosemite and all the other National Parks in its vicinity in the Spring when the snow is melting and the falls are full. All along the coast of California.

And, a huge ditto to grs @ 41 for Isle Royale National Park out in the middle of Lake Superior. I was Artist-in-Residence there in July, 1998.

What a great place!! A wilderness of silence with moose and wolves, pilated woodpeckers and eagles, and hundreds of loons. The forests are lush like jungles and grow overnight. It takes more than 6 hours to get to via the National Park Service boat or you can fly in on a plantoon plane. But, bring the mosquito repellant!

grs, Monterey is awesome. I go to a meeting a Asilomar every other year, and I hope to get a Halliburton contract so I can have a hundred million dollar profit and move there.

Has anyone confirmed if Bolton’s arrogance is real or just a side-effect of the moustache?

and someone please tell me: is that a toupee, or is bolton’s hair just naturally crooked?

Great start for Timmeh, he’s going to have Thomas Ricks author of FIASCO on but even better, he’s
calling Israel’s attack on Lebanon a “humanitarian crisis.”
Bush, Rove, Cheney all threw shit at the teevee when they heard that.

Morning all. Lazy here *blush* after lovely, badly needed rains yesterday. Haven’t yet decided whether to listen to John Bolton or go outside & let the mosquitoes have at me. Latter goes down better at the moment. That awful fella GETS to me. Yuck!

Jack Walsh at 13

Thanks for the heads-up. I think it’d be helpful if we all tried to keep track of our local papers & share here when we see something like that.

How about a nice crisp letter-to-editor to the Globe, calling them to task for slithering past all those repub. scandals. It must just have slipped their minds, no?

I say we don’t let MSM get away with selective memory tricks/sloppiness. No more. NO!
Make ‘em open both eyes and report the news, ALLOFIT!

It’s depressing to see how many papers just pick up AP bulletins, which are getting sloppier & sloppier, & merely act as repeater signals.

Redshift at 79 — so glad the party went well. :) Sorry about the a/c — got an e-mail from a friend who has been without power for a couple of days in NYC. It’s a bad time of year for power issues and mechanical breakdowns.

Great column by Colin McEnroe this am re: Lieberman
http://tinyurl.com/m74rp

refshift @ 78 – Oh man…A/C outages on the weekend…the worst!

Speaking of which, anyone from CA around? I read earlier they are setting all kinds of new heat records.

…then there’s Queens. No power for days possibly. I can’t even imagine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207478.stm

UN appalled by Beirut devastation

The UN’s Jan Egeland has condemned the devastation caused by Israeli air strikes in Beirut, saying it is a violation of humanitarian law.

Mr Egeland, the UN’s emergency relief chief, described the destruction as “horrific” as he toured the city.

He arrived hours after another Israeli strike on Beirut. Israel also hit Sidon, a port city in the south crammed with refugees, for the first time.

In Haifa, two people were killed amid a volley of rockets on the Israeli city.

Fifteen people are reported injured by the rockets, launched by Hezbollah militants over the border with Lebanon.

kirby, whatever Colin’s smoking, I want some!

Christy – absolutely do take that ViaRail train trip through nothern BC – Prince Rupert to Prince George was the part I did, after BC Ferries from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. Oh my.

Trish at 78: I used to live in Oregon, and there are many beautiful places there, including silver falls and multnomah falls.

BTW, the reference to crater lake brought back memories of scenes in Koyaanisqatsi. I think I saw that flick over 50 times and never tired of it. Then I loaned it to someone and never got it back. It is now back in print, and I will get it.

Timmeh is hammering Joshua Boltern, Bush’s CoS.

Casper @ 91 – Any particulars? Is Tim using precision strikes or just lobbing cluster bombs?

Grand Canyon is a cliche, but it is the most spectacular. Go to the North Rim, it’s less crowded and absolutely surreal (although the South Rim is special in its own way). For the number of incredible, spectacular parks and varied scenery, Arizona is the state to head for. Zion in Utah is also awesome. Since you like birds, you might especially like Everglades or Saguaro National (how’s that for opposites). Skip the Sonoran Desert Museum and spend a few weeks camping in the desert to see the animals in their natural environment.

Back to parks for a sec.

I have to put my 2 cents in for Adirondack Park. Huge. Beautiful in some parts it’s impossible to find sign of prior human contact. Mountains, whitewater, bottomless lakes. You can hear the Almighty.

Timmeh just asked Bolten if this, Israel vs. Lebanon, is a “proxy” war?
According to Bolten, we have asked Israel to limit damage to Lebanese infrastructure, I guess that didn’t include the bridges, Israel bombed.
Timmeh quoting Ken Mehlman saying “Israel’s war is our war, today we are all Israel’s.”

I’m in CA, and yes it’s quite hot hehe. We’ve got very low humidity down here near Los Angeles, so even though the temperature is getting up to around 110 inland, it’s still not that bad in the shade. And even in the sun is ok as long as you drink plenty of water. We keep the windows open overnight for the nice breeze…it’s a bit of a warm breeze this last week, but still ok for sleeping.

Santa Monica of course is under 80, god I hate them! :)

McEnroe is certainly lobbing a few over the nets in that column ! Humorous…

Zergle at 86: I live in CA and the central valleys and socal are way hot and there are forest and brush fires. Fortunately, I live in coastal northern CA and it is cool and comfortable here on Humboldt bay.

Volcanos National Park in Hawaii. Memories of walking on freshly cooled lava at night and seeing a red glow from every crack beneath my feet.

Zergle, on balance I am incredibly impressed with Timmeh today. IMO, he’s got Bolten in full reverse and he’s doing it all with questions, which keeps him in his role as a journalist.
I don’t think anyone can argue with quality of Timmeh’s questions,jmho.

Christy

100,000 people in Queens ( bororugh of NYC) have been without power since (I think) Tuesday.

Con Ed (the power monoply) cannot figure out why one thing after another keeps breaking as they try to re electrify the grid. Some people who live in high rises don’t even have water.

I am amazed it is not getting more national press.

so KennyBoi is sending Likud press releases using the RNC blastfax system ?

I know the neocon administration thinks that another war would boost their poll ratings because it worked the first time, but it seems to me that it would have the opposite effect this time. Too many people have soured on the idea of war and the evil empire, even many Bush supporters. Is this just another example of how out of touch they are or an example of how out of touch I am?

I should put in a word about the Blue Ridge Parkway. If you haven’t made this drive, and stopped at some of the Appalachian towns along the way, then you are truly missing out on a gorgeous part of America.

http://www.nps.gov/blri/

Gorgeous. Especially at sunrise and sunset, the views are spectacular. If you can make the drive in the Fall, around the time that the leaves have started to change, you will never, ever forget it.

I say skip the Grand Canyon, especially if you will be traveling in summer when it is ungodly crowded, and go to Canyonlands NP. Similar topography, smaller scale, way less crowded, and if you don’t mind truly (truly!) dreadful roads and have a 4×4, you can also drive to the bottom of the canyon.

What’s going on with Timmeh and Tweety these days? Have they had some kind of conversion experience?

OT: Mid East Conflict

The talking heads today are all BS and nothing I can stand to watch. I’ve linked here to a great 30 minute video found courtesy of Nate at http://getintheirfaces.com on what you don’t get in the MSM about the conflict.
Here’s a link to the video,” Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land”

http://video.google.com/videop…..4384920696

Good to hear John. I find Timmeh goes in waves…one week he’s a push over, the next, an attack dog.

Overall though, you’d have to be a complete moron to buy into the Admin’s current BS. It’s so flagrantly pro-Israel (at all costs) it’s ridiculous. The good news is that people aren’t buying it much anymore.

The tweety show is going to discuss Big Dawg coming to campaign for holy Joe

Bolten keeps trying to parry questions to Rice with numerous repetitions of “I want to defer to the Sec’y of State.”
Now Timmeh is quoting democratically elected Lebanese PM calling Israeli attacks “criminal.”

Have to say, am watching Meet the Press right now as well, and Russert is doing a good job throwing quote after quote, piece of information after piece, at Joshua Bolten, who is now at a point where he is stammering to stall for time to come up with answers. He’s holding his own, but coming off as a bit weaselly and not at all convinced by his own arguments.

This is the best I’ve seen Russert do in quite a while. Whatever he had for breakfast, someone make sure he gets it next week, too. *g*

JokeLine is hanging it up on Cut’n Run Joe — that means the DC cognoscenti are dumping the chump (Looserman, that is)

Thanks for the sympathy, everyone. We’ve got a good heating/AC company (because they’ve been here too often, unfortunately), and I’m hopeful they’ll be able to get it fixed before the heat of the day. Plus, it’s cloudy and they’re predicting a high of 81 here today (which is cooler than it was in the house last night, though Ms. Redshift doesn’t tolerate even that much heat well.) So as long as it isn’t “we’ll have to order parts and it’ll take a week,” we should be okay.

I sat staring at the screen and trying to make an on-topic comment for about ten minutes, so I guess I’m still not awake enough. I have not yet seen any of the western parks yet except from the air, though I’d love to. I got to see quite a bit of Shenandoah a couple of years ago, though (on the way back from the state Dem convention in Roanoke; I’d only seen bits of it before), and it’s just gorgeous.

Jerry McNerney is probably the out-of-state candidate I’m following the most; Pombo is just evil.

I loved Glacier. The smell of the place is heavenly! Yellowstone was also delightful, but stinky with the sulfur! That was neat, though. It is a must-see.

For Glacier, be sure to stay at one of the lodges! I took the Empire Builder on Amtrak from Chicago to the park. I’d love to go back with my little daughter! I want to see Acadia, too. I was born in Maine and not back since I was a baby.

with Bolton coming up real soon for confirmation, seeing Timmeh slashing away at Bolton might be a good sign that the Senate hearings may continue to be contentious. The GOP will be hollering that what with the successful War on Terrorism in Lebanon, the US shouldnt be changing UN horses in mid-stream …

In my opinion, Colin is one of the funniest and smartest people writing today. You should check out his daily blog for entertainment. For those of you who might not be versed in Connecticut political history, republican Mayor “Phil” from Waterbury, the one who got the sheep and cow vote years back in one of our hinterland towns, is presently behind bars for the rest of his life for, among other atrocties, having sex with children on the floor of the mayor’s office. I kid you not.

Re: parks.

Both hubby & I came from families where daddy drove straight through, no stops, no nothin. Just GET THERE! Had to plead & plead, just for a pee stop.

Now WE’RE in charge. One of our very favorite things, when travelling, is to pack a sandwich before starting off in the morning and, before we get too hungry, we take a look at the map, searching for little state- or local parks not too far off the main highway for our lunch break.

We often have the place to ourselves, unless you count the time when Momma Wild Turkey decided to parade past our picnic to show off her peeps. I could bore you with many similar delightful experiences. Suffice to say, we take our binoculars everywhere with us.

As for bigger parks, how can one choose?! Now retired, we’re trying to get to as many as we can, not just to check them off a list, but to sit & savor & trek at our leisure. Spoiled brats, we are. If deadeyedick thinks he can just lay waste to them at will, he’s got another think comin’.

“This is the best I’ve seen Russert do in quite a while.”
Completely agree. I usually can’t stand to watch him. I put up barriers in front of the teevee, in anticipation of throwing things. I’m not taking the barriers down, but so far it sounds as though pumpkinhead has been reading FDL.

Redshift at 114

Check my link at 24

Thanks HOPESAT, I missed your original comment.

Have a good one Lakers…gotta go. Catch up later.

timmeh jusr starting here

why is he yalking in chopped phrases like john mc laughlin?

Timmeh is bludgeoning Bolten with all the “free-elections” that have taken place in the ME. The majority does not like us or Israel.

Timmeh, just switched to Stem Cell research and Pox News’ Tony Snow’s “murder” comment.

“100,000… people without power… Con Ed… not getting press…”

Not surprising. The people in Gaza have no electricity. The same in Lebanon. Who cares? Not Bush. Not Hillary. Not Lieberman. That’s for sure.

Adie:

Now WE’RE in charge. One of our very favorite things, when travelling, is to pack a sandwich before starting off in the morning and, before we get too hungry, we take a look at the map, searching for little state- or local parks not too far off the main highway for our lunch break.

This reminds me of the book “Blue Highways” by William Least-Heat Moon, where he looked at a map and decided to tour the U.S. on all the minor highways that were blue on the map. Good read.

jesus h. you know what, did Jane Hamsher write these stem cell questions for the Roman Catholic Timmeh?
“but the logic Mr. Bolten….”

For a spectacular park that’s off the beaten path try Big Bend National Park in Texas, along the Mexican border (full disclosure: I live and work there as a park scientist).
Great desert scenery, wooded mountains, and three deep river canyons for canoeing or rafting. Not too many visitors, because it’s not really on the way to anywhere, so plenty of solitude and wilderness.
Best weather is in winter, but avoid spring break as that is the busiest time. Birders: we have more species of birds than any other national park, including some seen nowhere else in the U.S. Check it out at http://www.nps.gov/bibe/home.htm

And yes, times are tough for us under this administration.

Good Morning All You Tree Huggers,

looking through the thread I see I am one lucky blogger – have been to most of the spots listed here and would be hard pressed to name a favorite – Christy, West Virginia may be the best kept secret.

Redshift – In the hierarchy of Repub evil, Pombo is a mere enabler, not smart enough to be evil on his own – am always reminded of the weasels in Roger Rabbit. He’s a shithead no doubt, but is all strings and no brain

I visited Redwood and stood there among those giants in the mist and literally throbbed with joy and wonder. We climbed a small mountain and were still dwarfed. That put everything in perspective for me. It is all worth saving and more majestic and ancient than we know– our time here is fleeting.

The battlefield in Manassas is a place I visited many times. I tiptoed and whispered while there. You can hear the screams, the pain, and the horror of many lives lost– brothers fighting one another. There is mist there, too. Ghosts of long ago dreams and a blood soaked earth that is sacrosanct.

I grew up just down the hill from the Blue Ridge Parkway and was a child surrounded by beauty. My favorite beaches in the world remain those of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

when I put on ABC and got British Open coverage (Sergio Garcia playing well, but looking like he’s scheduled to be a bridesmaid in some kind of bizarro wedding – all in light blue yesterday and in pale yellow today), I switched over to Fox News Sunday…how that show cannot be deemed propaganda, I will never know. Listened to Bolton for a few minutes and then…Denny Hastert, who thinks the GOP is on offense and all this hoo-ha over polls showing voters preferring Dems is just, well, hoo-ha. Methinks Mr. Hastert fears being Mr. Has-been, and is sleepless over the possibility of taking a back seat to either Pelosi or Murtha.

One disturbing story after another in the paper today. Number 1 on The Hit Parade for me was the article about Congress stripping the judiciary of the ability to rule on particular laws. I know that won’t stand even a rudimentary constitutional test, but the fact that we have elected representatives who think this is a good idea is giving me major heebie-jeebies.

Have a gazillion errands to run today – the ones I usually do on Saturday. Spent three hours getting highlights and a hair cut yesterday, and then, on the spur of the moment, met my daughter to look at wedding gowns…it was just going to be an initial scouting, but I think we foung THE dress. Going back on Monday with younger daughter to get her opinion, and look at bridesmaid dresses.

Have to say that this wedding stuff is way more fulfilling than reading the newspaper these days, or listening to the bobbleheads.

john casper
i think you are 1/2 hour ahead of me with timmeh

HopeSpringsATurtle at 119: Good for your mom! I’ve donated, and I’ve been voting for him in the various fundraiser contests (Warner’s, etc.) That’s about as much as I can do from here.

Bolten is losing it: “drawn the balance” he meant to say President has “drawn the line.”

Now Timmeh is killing Bolten with an obviously inaccurate quote from Rove.
The WH has to be absolutely apopletic with Russert now.

Timmeh certainly roasted Josh Bolten on stem cell research !

lhp –

how is the book coming along?

My favorite line from Revoltin’ Bolten as Pumpkinhead was trying to force him to take a position vis-a-vis embryos-

Karl (Rove)knows lots of stuff

even though neither Karl or Josh are “scientists.” Of course if this Administration’s policies aren’t nipped soon, the United States will be less scientifically advanced than Outer Mongolia or the Vatican.

lhp, I would appreciate it if you could temper any of the comments I made with greater accuracy if needed.
Every reporter at the WaPo and NYT’s and most big dailies in the U.S. are watching Russert. If they follow his lead, in the stories they right this week about Lebanon, the ME, and the War on Error, it could really help.

Christy, did you ever stop to think that the reason you can write so well now is your EB White experience?

I find writing easy and powerful. It may be because I sat in the middle of the first floor hallway with Charlotte’s Web in my lap for months reading and rereading it when I was eight.

My younger sister did the same with the Trumpet of the Swan. Stuart Little was too great a tragedy for my youthful sensitivity.

I think that White taught millions of children to write well.

As for National Parks, etc. I live in the Kootenays of British Columbia, nuff said!

joshua tree national park is another must-see treasure. the boulders, joshua trees, cacti, all are quite beautifu and surreal. it’s like being on jupiter. and it’s got world-class rock climbing. and a nice little town, as well.

Today we are all Israelis? Mehlman said that???

“I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree.”

twolf1 at 100

Gorgeous, fascinating place, but … Yikes!

Please, folks, … don’t do same thing!

Always, every trip, check with the rangers. And FOLLOW THEIR ADVICE TO THE LETTER! If you can see any glow underfoot, the whole thing could collapse under you at any moment, even if you’re nowhere near the visible surface lava flow.

Just sayin’. I don’t savor the thot of any firepups turning into instant shish kebabs.

Another safety hint: always take a flashlight with you. That tropical sun just plummets when it decides to set. And there is NO safe way to walk even on thoroughly cooled, hardened lava, if you can’t see where every step is going. Good way for even the most experienced hiker to break an ankle.

All cautions aside: DO go. It’s a fascinating, beautiful, unforgettable place! ;->

cbl at 129: lol at your characterization of Pombo. I agree he’s not world-class evil like Cheney, but I put him in with people like DeLay, people whose reasons for getting involved in anti-environmental politics are incredibly petty and selfish even by Republican standards (though with Pombo it’s questionable whether the personal reasons were ever real, or if it’s just a lie to cover his corporate shill work.)

Zion Nation Park in Utah is breathtaking. I haven’t been to national parls, out the few that I have been though, Zion is by the far the best.

ck
no progress so far this weekend. i was very burnt out from the trial ndtrying to finalize an appellate bried due wdnesday. went hiking yesterday instead. hope to get some done today.

Mehlman: a pimp for the times. Bush: a whore for the ages.

john casper

you comment never need tempering. you are one of the most even keeled commenters i have ever read

OK — well said.

“Today we are all Israelis? Mehlman said that???”
Josh Bolten didn’t deny it.
Isn’t Mehlman’s just a riffing off of JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

high praise lhp, and greatly appreciated.

Alison 140, I think you’re onto something there. (And the fact that my mama read me Winnie the Pooh while my daddy was subverting me with Pogo definitely explains much of what y’all hear from this corner.)

bushbehindbars, WOOT fer yer handle!

By the way, I just love saying WOOT! but have no idea where it comes from. Is it Fiona for “root,” er whut?

boy is josh bolton good at sticking to the talking points

how many times can he repeat the phrase “giving lebanon the chance to control its owm territory”

and my oher favorite “thats the sort of language you might expect to hear from X”

talk about trying to poison the well

Jim,#69,
When you get to the Olympic Peninsula, take a side trip north to Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. It is my most favorite city.
I want to take my bride on that trip you suggested starting with Glacier and the Going-to-the-Sun-highway. I remember one July, we started at Lake McDonald where the temp was about 80 degrees, rode one of the 1937 busses over the Continental Divide and we had to close the roof because it was snowing. Back down to Many Glacier, and it was 80 degrees again.
Working summers as a tour director for a bus company in my town.

MUCH THANKS to all who watched Timmeh & the mustache for me and reported in.

I just can’t stomach those guys in person today. Much easier to read your comments. I’m delighted to hear Tim’s getting tough with him.
Frightening fella to have tending to our bidness in the UN in these uncertain times.

The very thot of mrmustachio stammering — heck, I really SHOULD have watched, heh.

The Redwoods. Avenue of the Giants. The closet thing my imagination can come to, to imagining Eden.

You are weak, Bolten, and it shows: Hezbollah has woven itself into civilian populations and is using those civilians as human shields.

You are grasping at straws.

He is nervous and it is showing. Check out his lack of direct eye contact.

Le Tour is onto the Champs, I saw it come in several years ago, what a spectacle.

I do believe that “Meet The Press” replays at 10pm ET on M$NBC tonight … enjoy the verbal carnage ! and mourn the carnage elsewhere …

cheerful pic http://static.flickr.com/77/19…..c2c0cf.jpg

Muir Woods was amazing also, I felt like I was in a natural cathedral.

OT, great site here.
http://www.borndifferent.org

Let the animation play, and at the end, click on the words watch now.

Uncanny *ilson, you just anticipated my question on MtP replay — as ever, thanks.

More MTP, WaPo’s Rick’s says he thinks the chances are better that the US is less safe as a result of occupying Iraq.
Unfortunately Rick’s wants us to stay to protect all the Iraqi’s who put their faith in us and worked with us. FWIW, I think Iraqi’s figured out after the first year that we were not an “honest broker.”

OT, Russert as a practicing Roman Catholic took a huge swing at the Papacy today with his questions about stem cell research. Right underneath the surface were all the old “choice” that the Papacy has rejected as “murder.”

Heaven help me, I gotta write pumpkinhead a fan letter.

It is all indefensible and the rethugs are done– Josh was tossed out to try to make their case and cannot.

yay.

now we have to pick up the shattered world and try to fix what they have ruined.

Ricks should be interesting (in between wondering why most of his book didn’t find its way into his WP reporting) From Amazon, about “Fiasco”-

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondant Thomas E. Ricks’s Fiasco is masterful and explosive reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on the unprecedented candor of key participants.

The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ…..p;n=283155

Ooh, I forgot, I did go to Saguaro National Park. We had a company retreat at a resort outside of Tucson (one of the few great things about that company.) On the last day, there was a choice of activities, so of course I chose the horseback tour of the desert. Highly recommended — even though I’d seen pictures, it hadn’t really struck me that my concept of “desert” was rolling dunes, and I wasn’t prepared for the amount of plant life, and just how alien some of it is in adapting to the desert.

I had a good time birding the rest of the week (not so much when on horseback, though the Gila Woodpeckers weren’t scared off.) I picked up a local bird guide — the Mexican Cardinal was a striking contrast to the northern variety, the Gambel’s Quail were cute, and just once I caught sight of a spectacular Vermilion Flycatcher.

1,213 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN GOEZ ON AND ON AND…

Citizen Hardin Smith:

You simply must get to Yellowstone, and then Glacier and then Yosemite…and go with your child, no matter how young she is. Then, when you’ve driven north outta Yosemite and traveled thru the great redwoods, take a right and stop in Ely, Minnesota and get a couple a canoes inta the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (it’s the eighth wonder a the world up there).

I suggest this trip soon before all those national reserves are gone…it won’t be long. And take the little one, our experience is that from two years old on, there will be memories they can’t shake, and it’s a GREAT time with the toddlers to see their reaction ta lookin God in the eye.

We’re plannin ta take our 2 (soon ta be 3)grand daughters ta Glacier and then Yellowstone as soon as the new one ken sit up and drink warm coffee.

Thanx again for your gift of this site…it’s Sunday mornins like this when we ken look atta picture of a swan and think about the national parks and forests that make the politics of it all come inta focus.

KEEP THE FAITH, ALL THEY’VE GOT IS THE MONEY!!!

Clearly the whores are in full flight from BushCo.

They remind me of Billy Zane in Titanic

my favorite White quote –

“So Merlin sent you to me,” said the badger, “to finish your education. Well, I can only teach you two things — to dig, and love your home. …”

btw, in the yard this morning -

http://www.groundtruthinvestig…..allery.php

http://www.groundtruthinvestig…..allery.php

and to Don the Big Bend Ranger waaay upthread – AMEN to the natural bounty of Texas – we’re planning a saltgrass canoe trip near you in October

Some folks are confusing Josh Bolten, the new Chief of Staff to the idiot, with John Bolton, the Mustache that walks like a toad and tries to discredit the UN from the inside.

It was the Chief of Staff trying to defend the indefensible on Press the Meat this morning. He tries to come on all reasonable, but it’s difficult to be reasonable and defend the policies of the Bu$h Crime Family at the same time.

“You simply must get to Yellowstone, and then Glacier and then Yosemite.”
I agree.

Death Valley in the very early spring!

Bryce Canyon,Arches and Canyonlands are on my list,along with the Badlands.After reading Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire I’m inspired to just take off next Summer with the kiddo and see as much as we can see.

It is time to read “The fall of the Roman Empire” and see the correlation to the American Empire and its Pax Americana.

Did, really, the chimp want to win the war on terror, without the mobilization of the country and of the free world.

Now we are at the stage of mercenaries and proxies, one of the next ones will the “The huns at the gates.”

John Casper at 151:
Isn’t Mehlman’s just a riffing off of JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner.”

No, he’s riffing on the Le Monde headline after 9/11 “We Are All Americans.” That’s what makes it so much worse.

If you’re traveling to a NP with young ones check out the Junior Ranger program. Many of the parks have one. You get a book filled with activities to do around the park and then you get sworn in as a junior ranger by a real ranger. My two boys (ages 6 and 9) love it andhave collected 8-10 badges.

Anne @ 132 = Have a wonderful time with the wedding stuff. I married late, almost 40 (take that, Time magazine!@) and, although my mom and I were at loggerheads most of my adolescence and early twenties, the time we spent doing the wedding were the best, ever.

lotus, I looked WOOT up at urban dictionary. It comes from gamers, originally. It makes me smile, too.

I second the Joshua Tree National Park endorsement. My son’s school goes camping there for three days each fall. Great climbing, wildlife – there’s a poor human-habituated coyote who hangs out near the entrance. He chases the cars and if you don’t throw him food he will try to bite the tires – and the Joshua trees are beautiful. Go in winter, when the cactus is in bloom.

I want to visit Yellowstone and Glacier someday. Our Grand Canyon permit finally reached the scheduling phase and we are scheduled for a raft trip (3 f-ing weeks on the water!) for 2010, after 10 years of being on the list. Got that? 15 years from list to trip. Wonder if we’ll still want to go?

I love the pic at 7:54 *ilson.

Good girl angie at your 159

Makes my day! ;->

Hey! I’m an ignorant slob when it comes to world history & languages. Got a question…

Anybody else notice that all the anchors & newsreaders on this side of the pond suddenly switched to saying “Hizbollah” this past week,& all the reporters over in the Middle East are still saying “Hezbollah”?

in the past, such-like stuff served as nice little clue that the former were parroting white-house spin, & fellas on the ground in action were still trying to report the actual news. eh?

A very difficult and delicate balance says Bolten wrt stem cell veto.

(BS!)

No federal money for murder says Bolten.

(What are we doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Lebanon? Killing, murder, and more.)

Tim definately has Had Enough this morning– bless him for his hard questioning on stem cell research!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks RedShift, you’re right, much worse.

We are all falafels today ?

PSoTD: Ahh, yes. Death valley in the early spring. We had a wetter than normal spring a couple of years ago, and Death Valley bloomed like it hadn’t in years. I only got to see it second hand from the pictures on a photographer’s web site. (it is hundreds of miles south and east of our little place in the world)

If you get to Vancouver, be sure to take the SEA TO SKY hiway to Whistler. It can be a day trip and it is unbelievable. Also 2nd the Victoria B.C side trip. Stay in the harbour. Best trip ever.

We’re plannin ta take our 2 (soon ta be 3)grand daughters ta Glacier and then Yellowstone as soon as the new one ken sit up and drink warm coffee.

And THAT, you newcomers, is just one of the reasons we love our NorskeFlamethrower!

Oh-ho, NYT’s Amanda Hesser musta been looking in on us yesterday morning and got all inspired. Today she’s offering quite the disquisition on gazpacho.

wow.
Timmeh
is really calling bullshit on ole Josh an the inconsistancy in the Bushco stem cell position.

Laying into Rove spin. Boy od boy, Tim has bgrown both a set of gonads and facility for logical syllogism–all at the same time

who’duv thunk it?

Tim: I look forward to when you come back and talk about the deficit and the debt.

Bolten: All good stuff.

HUH?

It’s not a National Park, but driving the causeway to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, surrounded by water reflecting the sunset, is one of the great experiences in life (even if it does mean you’re running too late to get into the park, and have to turn around at the gate. *g* But we knew that, and got to go back later.)

BRYCE CANYON is absolutely spectacular. Like multi-colored church steeples rising from the bottom. Like the Grand Canyon, you view it from the top of the mesa. It is out of the way, but very much worth the trip. b.

don’t forget! One of Kobe’s richer minions, George Soros, will be with us this afternoon at 5pm ET to discuss his book, our life, the world and all that …

George Soros!!!

A giant among men.

We are all falafels today ?

Some of us a falafels; some of us are loofahs . . .

In the four corners region, I recommend Mesa Verde — we were not the first, nor the most determined.

Canyon de Chelly on the Navajo Resevation is very impressive, too.

Christy, When you bring the baby to Yellowstone, call me. And i will take a turn, too, reading E B White to her. Come when the elk are bugling. I love EBW more now, knowing the effect he had on your writing. Thanks for the swans and the tonsilectomy.

oh, don’t ever miss Yosemite and Sequoia! Bryce Canyon and Zion are gorgeous… Grand Tetons and Glacier….

Yosemite and Sequoia are particularly interesting to little kids…

Can you believe this place? Where would we be without it? In the local psych ward (at best)?

kinda OT

I keep seeing an ad for a World Trade Center movie? WTF? This is something to eat popcorn to?

Maybe it’s because it’s my hometown and I still have to live with the hole in the ground, but it seems WAY way too soon for some movie studio to be exploiting it.

maybe I’m oversensitive, I couldn’t bear the thought of the airplane movie either. There were rugby players from the NYAc on that plane, guys I’ve watched play and drank beer with. The idea of that movie made me sick. The idea of this one, makes me shudder.

It was difficult enough, but I thought necessary, to watch teh PBS documentary. Somehow a feature film,with actors, just seems so wrong

in exile,
You are in beautiful country. Canada Parks I’ve been to lately and highly recommend are: Banf, Lake Louise, drive the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. The Dinosaur Museum/Archaeological facilty at Drumheller (Northeast of Calgary, Alberta) is first rate. It is in the Badlands of Canada. From Vancouver, BC, I drove 20/30 miles east for salmon fishing on the Fraser River. Went north to Whistler, then on to Pemberton. All beautiful.

Mexico’s Copper Canyon is awe inspiring and fun. Take the 6 hour train trip from Chihuahua to the Canyon. Buy primero clase tickets. Some hotels are perched on the Canyon rim. I used Hotel Tarahumara. Meals included. No complaints.

It is wrong, lhp.

As a proponent of holding the Repubs accountable, may I just point out that TR created many of these beloved parks over the sputtering objections of his fellow-Repubs in Congress? He issued an executive order in the closing days of his administration.

So, in addition to minimum wage laws, health and safety laws, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, free public education, the antitrust laws, Clinton’s budget-balancing bill, the National Parks stand as yet one more liberal victory over the dark forces of conservatism. I say we should enforce the truth-in-advertising laws and make the Repubs adopt as their slogan: “Republicans: Never Right. Always Wrong.”

P.S. Don’t forget the great urban National Parks on the East Coast from Boston to Savannah. It ain’t just Yellowstone.

listening to Bolten – all this policy just sounds so nonsensical… and detached from reality…

lhp, that’s Oliver Stone’s latest contribution to our culture. I’ll be missing it.

It’ll be interesting to see if this new aggressiveness toward administration shills holds up in the next few weeks. It could be that the Beltway pundits are seeing which way the wind is blowing for the fall, and don’t want to get sucked down with the neocons when they sink (to extend the Titanic analogy.) I have a tendency to be optimistic, though, so I’m making myself wait and see for a while longer.

new thread: Christy on Press the Meat

Re: Ricks and “Fiasco”

Powell sacrificed his credibilty. The NIE was false. “I think this is one of the worst war plans in AMerican history”

“A war plan that was kind of a bannana republic coup de’tat”

They spent 90% of their time on 10% of the problem–getting to Bagdad.

LHP,
The movie is going to play in August. My first thought like you is that it is too early but then, we have to remind the masses that 911 changed everything. My feeling was that this is a hope for the GOP to show us why we need them to stay in charge of things. Ya, right.

Allison at 140 — aw, thanks — you know, every day I try to raise the level of my writing in some way. I read Strunk and White obsessively as a kid, at the urging of a fantastic but nitpicky English teacher, and if it shows even a little bit, then I’m so pleased. My whole life I wanted to be a writer, but ended up in law school instead, even with the scribbling on the side for years and years in notebooks and legal pads and such. That I get to get up every day and write now is such a joy — especially when someone else enjoys it, even a little bit.

ReneND… 186

And afternoon tea in Butchart Gardens…

Christy: When you’re out to Yosemite, drive through Tioga Pass (if it’s open) to Lee Vining and spend a day or two at/on Mono Lake. It’s a spiritual place as is Yosemite, but in a different way.

LHP: My father worked constuction and other jobs around Lake George in the late 1920s. I desperately want to visit the Adirondaks to reconnect with the happiest days of his life. He married late and was gone before I could get to know him as an adult. So this would be my only chance.

Fellow Death Valley Hike or Die trekkers: Stovepipe rules!!

Don at 129!

OOOOOOOooooooohhhhhhh! Hit a hot button.

We want SO badly to go to Big Bend, but can’t decide if we’re crazy or not.
We’re Sr.s, me w/ artificial knees – can trek with poles just fine on ‘reasonable’ slopes & minor bumps, but days of climbing over rough ground are over, period.

Can you tell give links to info. that might help us decide whether to try, or should we just dream & sigh?

Actually, I think there’s Elderhostel possibility there, and we’ve been on several of those elsewhere. We’re not natural “groupies”, but we haven’t been disappointed in one of them yet.

Still. Love to stay in touch & get advice, if you’re willing.
e: sorcutt at adelphia dot net ;->

lhp, I agree, it’s wrong. One of my co-workers was on the PA flight, that movie just made me ill. I was glad when it tanked. I really hate being subjected to yet another round of 9/11 images for a movie promotion.

McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial
The falls are great the camp is clean.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=455

Ao Nuevo
http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=523
If you go when the elephant seals are fighting it is will be a wild afternoon those big boys are HUGE!!

That’s

Kiddo
YES,YES. Buschart Gardens was fabulous. Isn’t it amazing what she did with that old mining(?) hole. Thanks for reminding me.

Al Scooter

If you decide to come to the adirondacks in the summer, there is a huge horse show in LAke Placid i July and the Candadian/American rugby tournament in Saranac LAke on the first weekend in August.

Even though I go all year round for the hiking and whtewater(and rugby) the very best time is the winter. The air sooooo clean. And even if you don’t ski, the snowshoing is magical

Hubby would tell you we were crazy, but I loved our trip to Everglades in June, several years ago.

Mosquitoes the size of 747s, all ravenous & readytorumble. Rangers all were wearing head-to-toe mesh clothing, which we would call mandatory if we ever try that again.

But we saw a Limpkin just “hangin’ out”. (goofy, snail-eating marsh bird almost no one ever gets to see, ever); momma alligator with all her newly hatched gatorlets chirping and sitting on her nose & floating around her – up close & personal (6′ away or so! us safely on fenced boardwalk), just the 2 of us and her with her little family; park ranger-led, quiet boatride (cut the motor at every wildlife sighting, just to hang out & watch) – there’s no forgetting, ever, the wild momma manatee who not only swam right up to the boat, but gently pushed her youngun’ up even closer to us, almost as if she were proudly showing him off to visitors.

Please don’t forget Florida when ya’ll go on your American cruise.

There are some wonderful visuals of Florida here:

http://floridahighwaymen.com/

Programming note;

John Dean is on CSPAN2 right now. Just beginning.

Talking about his book, Consevatives Without Conscience.

adie at 211

Check your email. Happy to help.

Mosquito tip:

I was given this tip by a fellow dog fancier a couple of years ago, and I tried it. I soon realized, however, that out here in the country we didn’t have any mosquitos. Scorpions, grasshoppers, crickets, flies – - yes. But we just don’t have mosquitos.

Anyway, you might try this. Take a white, ceramic plate or wide bowl, and fill it with water and a few drops of lemon dishwashing liquid. Whip it a little to make an emulsion.

You set this outside where your dogs won’t drink it and the mosquitos are drawn to it and then drown in it when they can’t escape the soap film.

It’s cheap and non-toxic, so you might try it.

Re: National Parks, how much do they cost to get into? The state parks in california are too expensive for me. Like everything else in American, only the rich people can afford access.

I want to second the mention of Big Bend in Texas, Christy. If you want to understand the Southwest, this is the closest place to you to get a taste. You might even meet a mountain lion on a trail…

I’ve been to Big Bend many times. Before you get down there, all the stations on your radio disappear. It’s a good feeling.

I love alpine scenery. For me, Olympic National Park is the most beautiful park of all. The view of snow-capped peaks and glaciers from Hurricane Ridge is incomparable. Quick. Before it melts!

I’ve seen hardly any of the western parks. I know they’re magnificent. When we evacuated New Orleans, we went to Alabama. The landscape in some areas there is not so much breathtaking as it is peaceful and comforting, with little pockets of awsome views waiting to surprise you. I took a few photos while I was there (about four thousand…all digital, of course) and posted a baker’s dozen for my family.

Oh yeah, Copper Canyon: I was there in 1968, at least at the lookout where the train stops. I was on a trip from Ojinaga to the Pacific Coast, which cost $18 (round-trip, I think) and took two days! Frightened teenaged Mexican troops boarded the train at every stop, looking for bandits and subversives. I saw parrots flying through the mist on the west side of the mountains. As for Copper Canyon itself, there were zero hotels in the canyon then. At the train stop, a few Tarahumara Indians were selling crude hand-carved fiddles, chunks of quartz, mystery-meat tacos, and chipmunks (chichimocos) inside little Coke-can cages. The price for any of these items was whatever you would give.

You know what would be interesting to map on a graph? The rate of attendance of national parks against the cost of gas, the national average mortgage interest rate, and the unemployment rate (real, not the crap the government is currently reporting).

I think there’s a relationship.

If you go to Shasta, go a bit west to the Trinity Alps. If you pack in, you may not see anyone for days, but you’ll think you’re on a different continent.

As for kids books: EB White lived down the road; personally I liked his essays more than his kids books. My childhood favorites were the original AA Milne Winnie the Pooh stories (NOT the crap that Disney churns out).

As for reading to kids: my absolute favorite is Make Way For Ducklings (McCloskey, who lived down the road in the other direction, and also made pupets for Jim Hensen). Absolutely every word is the precisely right word.

Zergle @ 87:

It’s been brutally hot in SoCal for almost the entire month of July. Yesterday was especially bad: record highs all over the place. I shudder to think about my next electric bill.

This morning, though, we had something that you almost never see in SoCal: a HUGE thunderstorm, complete with at least a half inch of rain in about 40 minutes. Here in central Orange County, it was quite a show (although it would have been even more spectacular at night, when you could actually have seen the lightning). Knocked the temp down a bit, but ran the humidity way up.

Anyone else see the thoroughly scary piece on independent.co.uk about the effect of drought on the Amazon rainforest? Al Gore’s truth is a lot more than merely “inconvenient.”

I recently spent a week in a sea-kayaking class out on the Olympic Peninsula, with the second half of the class out in Neah Bay, on the Makah Nation’s reservation… Olympic National Park is pretty spectacular all around.

Over the next few years, I’d like to take my son to some of the National Parks in WA & OR where there are visible fossil beds. I think he’d really like that.

Even though we’re on a new thread, wanted just to pop in here and answer Christie’s question:

Am reading FDL from the parking lot of Buffalo Run Campground, Island Park, Idaho, 14 miles due west of Yellowstone National Park as the bald eagle flies.

We are headed a few miles up the road to Big Springs, where we’ll drop off our canoe at the put-in, drive down to the take-out at Mack’s Inn, put on our life-jackets and stick out our thumbs for a ride back up to the put-in for a 2-3 hour paddle down the river. We’ll have our eyes out for moose, deer, bald eagles, great blue herons, osprey, and of course ducks.

We’re about 30 miles east of Red Rocks National Wildlife Refuge, the site of one of the success stories of recovering a species that humans had driven to the edge of extinction.

The species was the trumpeter swan, which Christie pictured here.

Getting online during travel is a matter of keeping an eye out for possible wi-fi locations. In this case, there was a sign for this campground so we pulled off the road and logged in. (We spent the night up in the mountains without another soul around, but we come down to civiilization (town with a pop. of 242) to get online, and then head back into the boonies.

Come on out with Peanut, Christie. You can even run FDL from the side of the road in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem!

Christy, when our peanut was 5 1/2 we took a road trip to Colorado from LA. It was wonderful and we tried to hit as many national parks as we could including the Grand Canyon. The state that surprised me the most was Utah, which boasted three remarkable parks that took our breath away: Zion, Bryce Canyon, and Capitol Reef. I’d recommend all of them. My daughter especially loved Zion.

It’s interesting… The NPS has been overloaded and/or underfunded for quite a while. A slake in visitorship isn’t such a bad thing in that sense. So many people have been going to the parks that it’s hard to really enjoy the experience for what it should be.

My favorite park is Dinosaur. It’s the quietest of the national parks, has rich outlaw history, is appealing to my inner geology nerd, and has that far-remote drive up to the Gates of Lodore/Brown’s Park unit, which is well worth it, especially if it’s migration time and you’re a birdwatcher. But most of all, it’s well worth it if you enjoy solitude.

Some of the photos in the link at 224 are a part of a national wildlife refuge in SE AL.

Volcanoes Nat’l Park. Nice pictures of lava flows at that link.

$25 bucks just to enter and take a peak at the Grand Canyon. That’s like paying to look out at your backyard. The price of NYC museums is up to $20 a head. Who can afford anything except a good view of the freeway these days. Billions spent on bombing the be-jesus out of little kids caught in the cross fire. Oh, dear, my pessimistic side is too close to the surface today.

What a wonderful topic, National Parks

My favorite Glacier Bay, AK the last two weeks of July ‘93
Kayak up John Muir Inlet with Humpbacks who you get to visit with several times a day, every day. Wake up in the morning with Humpbacks looking you in the eye from inside thirty yards, amazing! Highest mountain range in the world bordering the ocean. We had incredible weather that year, it only rained the last night we were there. Catch and eat salmon on the spot. Birds by the millions, bald eagles practically eating salmon out of your hands. One fine afternoon a huge squid, and I do mean huge, washed upon the shore. It was a fresh kill and we photographed it and our MD. friend went into dissection. The worst part was the ice cold baths! Our video footage was sold far and wide.

Yosemite for backpacking is fantastic. Half Dome in the Fall just before the end of season, when the infamous full moon is in place. El Capitan is a fantastic climb and a wonderful way to approach Yosemite Falls from behind. Tuolumne Meadows should not be missed.

Mt. Whitney, CA Has the best tasting brook trout at about 10 or 11k asl

I want to see more of the Gila Wilderness and Chaco Canyon, NM, but Bandolier with Gila Cliff Dwellings and Jemez Wilderness are amazing.

When in the area the only city in the US which is a National Park, Hot Springs National Park, AR has some wonderful areas and lots of water.

The first National River, Buffalo National River, AR is wonderful.

I think the best nights sleep in a park, Ladybird Johnson Redwood Grove, outside of Mendocino, CA at the base of a huge Redwood.

The White River National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Arkansas is not for the leisure minded, however it has fantastic wetlands and is truly a North American marsh / amazonian experience. Birds, Birds, Birds and lots of snakes! It is falling by the wayside quickly now with a new dam on the mouth of White and Arkansas rivers near completion.

So many Parks, so little time. Don’t Sell or Develop Our Parks!!! please…

On Copper Canyon, Mexico

I drove to the bottom in Feb 2003. W e dodged the shuttle crash in TX and went trough NM into Chihuahua MX, all back roads. Was a real cowboy experience. Don’t leave home without brand new brakes or you will be completely screwed.
Be sure you are prepared for all of your needs. Food, coffee, just about everything.
Copper Canyon is all that and a box of Grand Canyon. Very remote with few rustic amenities once you are in the canyon. NYT did an article a few months back and failed miserably in so many ways.
If you still like roughing it Go!

Olympia National Forrest, WA is on the top of my wish list.

Way late, and a dollar short, but had to post as we just got in from Yellowstone/Tetons yesterday. The chaos/brink of life and death of Yellowstone (Mammoth is drying up while some geysers are erupting again) v. the tranquil beauty of the Tetons (nothing like 3 hours in a canoe on a clear lake beneath Grand Teton). My daughter loved it at 4 and loved it again at 6. My folks work out there from April-Sept., and that can make for unique experiences. Two years ago my dad got us on top of the Old Faithful Inn to take down the flags as Old Faithful erupted, what a glorious 360 viewpoint of Mars on Earth! Otherwordly is definitely how I would describe Yellowstone. The various geyser basins are always a highlight. Also took our daughter on her first whitewater rafting experience which was her favorite part of the trip. Third time to the park and still no bear sightings (though I see them in my own backyard every fall), but caught our first male moose, plenty of elk, bison, deer, beaver, eagles, and waterfowl including those trumpeter swans. Park was crowded, but has been worse. Tetons, not nearly as crowded. Despite gas prices, still plenty of “mansions on wheels” – pulling cars, atvs, etc. Disgusting, self-indulgent America at its worst!

Closer to home, the Redwoods are awe-inspiring, Crater Park is absolutely majestic as is Shasta/Trinity/Lassen. Thing about the State of Jefferson is noone but us locals seems to know it exists. Here’s to hoping it stays that way.

Definitely get to Glacier before the 21 (and counting downward) glaciers are melted away. The Canadian Rockies are as beautiful a place as I’ve ever seen, right there with the Tetons! Yosemite was grand as well, but busy. I agree with others that getting backcountry is the best way to really experience a Natl Park.

I need to visit the Olympic Peninsula, BC and Alaska – then I’ll feel complete.

If you have the time to blunder up the west coast along the northern Calif coast, along the Oregon Coast into the Puget Sound, you will like it. You can go from the silky sands of Monterey to the stony beaches of the Olympic Peninsula, then catch a ferry to Victoria, perhaps The Inside Passage on the Alaska Marine Highway System. Many parks, both National and State along the way.

Christy, if you see Old Faithful at Yellowstone, you’ve seen its major highlight. The rest of the park is full of smelly sulphur pools. Instead, head to nearby Grand Teton NP, which is heavenly, and walk around the lake. Other favorites: Acadia and Shenandoah in the East, Going-to-the-Sun and Glacier in the West.
Enjoy your peanut! Mine grew so fast and is now getting ready for college. She plans a career as an activist. Look out, world!

Yellowstone Park is my favorite place in the world, and Firedog Lake is among my favorite websites, and I too loved E.B. White’s book, so I’m submitting my first-ever blog comment.

Go to Yellowstone. Go in mid-September when the crowds are down, the bull elk are bellowing, and the weather is magical. Dress in layers. Get out of your car and walk. Wear bear bells. There’s a nice Best Western motel/restaurant in Gardiner, MT — ask for a room that overlooks the river. Plan to spend at least four or five days — a week or more if you also want to visit Grand Teton National Park (try to get a cabin at the Signal Mountain Lodge and have the Rainbow Riser for breakfast) or the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, where there are more trumpeter swans.

Two tips that you might not see elsewhere when researching your trip:
The best introduction about the ecology of the park is the first chapter of “The Birds of Yellowstone,” by the park’s bird guy, Terry McEneaney. Besides, even if all you want to do is look at birds, you’ll need this book.
The coolest place in the park is a suspension bridge over the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Roosevelt Junction. You get there from a poorly marked trail access; ask for directions at Mammoth.

John Casper at 26:

Sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner; was painting the garage all day. It’s white once again, and so are my clothes.

I’ve watched most of the programs on The History Channel and Discovery about the archaeological findings at the Custer Battlefield. When we visited, I made a beeline for the book store and got a good overall survey of the work that’s been done since the first fire back in the 1980s. Unfortunately, I have loaned it to a friend who is similarly afflicted with a love of history and so can’t tell you the author, but it looks at all the digs and outlines all the theories, including that of Fox.

And it really was a great trip, although my wife spent a lot of the time while I was driving up and down narrow NP mountain roads with her eyes shut.

Jane:

I just got back from Yellowstone. My second vacation to a national park in two years. We loved the scenery, the wild animals, the passion displayed by National Park Service staff.

The kids (5 & 9) said the highlight was the ride on the luggage cart being pushed by the bellhop at Yellowstone Hotel.

Highly recommend the Sunset Photo Tour with Darla on a 1939 tour bus powered by propane.

Take the two hour horseback ride at Roosevelt Lodge. My nine year old did and spotted a cinammon bear.

Exit the park through Beartooth Pass. Bring your camera and lots of film.

Went to Sleeping Bear Dunes last year in Empire MI. Once again, was astounded by the passion that the park service peronnel have for the areas that they work in.

Hi Christy,
If you follow thebewilderness’s suggestion be sure to stop at some of the lovely little gem state and county parks along the CA coast. Butano State Park, a little north of Santa Cruz has some lovely, child-friendly day hikes in the redwoods and close by are some great beaches, my favorite being Bean Hollow. In near-by Pescadero, Phipps Ranch has a mini petting zoo and sells dozens of varities of dry beans as well as Ollaieberry vinegar which I stock up on ever trip back to CA. Nearby Duartes Cafe sells ollaieberry pie, artichoke soup and jalepeno soup which are all wonderful as well as fresh seafood.
Thanks for providing this oasis. You and Jane and all the others help me to keep on thinking free and in wonderful company.

Bryce & Zion are both great parks, and you need to do some hiking into them to get the full effect.
One place that is a bit off the main circuit that you might really like is Capitol Reef. It is quite beautiful with some places that are very remote, some interesting history (Butch Cassidy used to hide out there) and some great hiking through narrow magnificent canyons. Try to go in the spring or fall. The summer is quite hot and it is the desert. I used to love going there when I lived in Salt Lake.
I also went to the Custer Monument and found it fascinating; especially how the geography affected the battle. sometimes when you actually stand on the ground where the battle was fought the decisions the people made make more sense, even if they were mistakes.

I just returned from the superior national forest. (which is on fire as we speak). I hope others do not find their way to it. It is magnificent sitting on the coast of lake superior reaching up to canada. It is true wilderness. The closest large city is duluth which is a town of about a hundred thousand. The next closest cities are the twin cities of st. paul and minneapolis.

I love it up there. The rocks are so old. Sawtooth mountains, lakes, lakes and more lakes. No neighbor camping. I spent my usual lenght of time and my souls needs it every year. I wish I could go more often but I know it’s there and just knowing that it is available makes me feel sane. My kids left the computer games behind and did lots of hiking, swimming, chasing crawdads, finding cool rocks, fishing, running, and singing around the camp fire. I feel truly blessed that my parents made this such an important part of my upbringing.

katie

Glacier is my favorite national park. (Haven’t seen Yellowstone, though; need to.) One of the highlights of my life was standing on the Highline Trail back in 1983 when a flock of bighorn sheep calmly grazed their way right through where I was. For a few minutes, I was literally surrounded by bighorns.

Glacier has loads of great day hikes. Grinnell Glacier, Iceberg Lake, Avalanche Lake, Ptarmigan Tunnel – but my favorite will always be the Highline. It’s an easy trail for the distance, because it has very little elevation change. But even if you don’t see any bighorn sheep, the views are mindbogglingly spectacular.

The Highline’s at its best in the morning, with the sun coming over the Garden Wall to your east, and shining on the mountains to your west. I usually try to hit the trail between dawn and sunrise.

Go to Glacier. Hike the Highline. You’ll thank me later.