Hiking Can Be Dangerous!

Todays hiking news is not good: eighth and last body found, body found in Houston, and remains found in Hot Springs. The first link is pretty strait forward, hikers caught in a flash flood. The second, could be the body was dumped near a road. (Map) The third is just strange.

Around 11:00 a.m. Monday, the hiker went off the trail chasing a cat. The man discovered scattered bones, female clothing and other item around a ravine.

Scattered bones is just strange. It makes me think of bizarre occult rituals. Scary.

Krugman

Winter of Discontent.

The unemployment rate in 1998 was only slightly lower than the unemployment rate today. But for working Americans, everything else was different. Wages were rising, yet inflation was low, so the purchasing power of workers’ take-home pay was steadily improving. So, too, were job benefits, including the availability of health insurance. And homeownership was rising steadily.

It was, in other words, a time when Americans felt they were sharing in the country’s prosperity.

Today, by contrast, wage gains for most workers are being swallowed by inflation. In fact, the reality for lower- and middle-income workers may be worse than the official statistics say, because the prices of necessities like food, transportation and medical care are rising considerably faster than the Consumer Price Index as a whole. One striking statistic: the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner was 11 percent higher this year than last year.

Go read the rest.

Trent Lott

It appears Trent Lott is resining. There is speculation that he wants to cash in but maybe it has to do with this.

Republican Primer

This should help you decide which repulican to vote for.

Joe Klein Republican Tool

The problems with todays news is that the opinion makers are all republican tools, whether they realize it or not. Glenn Greenwald takes apart Joe Klein.

In other words, Klein's GOP source(s) blatantly lied to him about what the bill does and doesn't do in order to manipulate him into uncritically feeding Time's readers the Rush Limbaugh Line -- namely, that Democrats are giving equal rights to Terrorists and preventing the Leader from eavesdropping on foreign Terrorists. And Klein dutifully wrote down what he was told in Time without bothering to find out if it was true and without ever bothering to talk to any of the bill's Democratic proponents.

What a republican tool.

That is the real story here. That's how our political system works. Scheming GOP operatives feed whispered lies to their favorite, most gullible, most slothful and/or dishonest Beltway journalists. Gleeful and grateful that they have been chosen for this dirty task, these journalists then scamper and write down what they were told and think that, by doing so, they are engaged in what they call "original reporting" -- which means uncritically passing on what they're told by government sources. As a result, they continue to obfuscate every key political issue and mislead Americans by doing the opposite of what journalists are supposed to do.

Read the rest.

Beware the Plethodon Nettingi

Cheat Mountain Salamander (4), originally uploaded by kwixted0.

There is an article in the Herald-Mail in Hagerstown Md, entitled "At Dolly Sods Beware the Plethodon Nettingi" The picture above is the dreaded plethodon nettingi. Lyn Widmyer ends with this graph:

I can deal with bears and mortar shells, but please, I prayed, don't let me wake up in the middle of the night with a Cheat Mountain Salamander in my sleeping bag.

I do not know about you but I am not worried about a salamander.

Malibu Fire

Malibu Fire II - Nov. 24th 2007, originally uploaded by sharky h. towers.

That is the sun coming up not the fire itself.

Full Moon

Full Moon 1st July 2007+, originally uploaded by cindytoo.

Scott Williamson

scott williamson finishes his 2nd pct yoyo, originally uploaded by peahix.

I met Scott at Crater Lake National Park, on my thru hike in2004. We had breakfast at Bascom Lodge. He was on his first successful yoyo of the PCT. He was very unassuming, laid back, and down right nice. Most of the hikers I have met that due big miles have big egos. Scott said he never did big days. Just thirty five miles a day.It was not cocky or any thing. Just a matter of fact. After breakfast he ate every bodies left over butter and did shots of syrup too. You really need calories to due those thirty five mile days.

Important Election Coverage

Alice's Restaurant

I was going to embed Alice's Restaurant but it has been disabled. I suppose everyone would have put it up today. So how about a song about Turducken.

Enjoy

Immoral Christians

Gotta love the mega church.

The shocking results of the paternity test are speeding up a transformation already under way in the church after more than a decade of sex scandals and lawsuits involving the Paulks, D.E. Paulk said.

Cotton Kills

Hiker suffering from hypothermia rescued from Appalachian Trail in Maine.

Senecal said hypothermia resulted from the combination of snowy conditions, dropping temperatures and the hiker's clothes being wet from sweat.

"This is just a warning that people need to be prepared and take the proper clothing," he said.

I do not know if he was actually wearing cotton but the expression has truth to it in certain situations.

Flying Spaghetti Monster

FSM_obey1, originally uploaded by ~C4Chaos.

The Church is going mainstream. I am surprised there is not a FSM pool at flickr.

Indeed, the tale of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its followers cuts to the heart of the one of the thorniest questions in religious studies: What defines a religion? Does it require a genuine theological belief? Or simply a set of rituals and a community joining together as a way of signaling their cultural alliances to others?

Nascargot

Last race of the season.

Baltimore Jack

Baltimore Jack, originally uploaded by myers2653.

The backpacking world is pretty small. There just are not that many of us but the world of politics is huge. Imagine my surprise when the two worlds collided this morning. I was reading at this at the Carpetbaggers Place and who should show up in an article but Baltimore Jack Tarlin.

Jack Tarlin, an independent voter, stood and told McCain that the polls show he would have the best chance of any of the Republican candidates to beat Clinton. “The news isn’t getting out right now,” he told McCain. “We don’t have a whole lot of time left till January.”

The Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckerman thinks this might be a planted question like the one Hillary got caught with the other day. I think the Carpetbagger is pretty astute here:

Zuckman seemed skeptical, which is perfectly understandable given the circumstances. But I can’t help but wonder: maybe a lot of Republican audiences are just naturally sycophantic?

I have met Jack and he is a McCain supporter. I can tell you he is working to get McCain elected. To be clear, he is not working for McCain. He most likely wanted advise to help McCain win the primaries. I sent a link of the swampland article to him. I would like to see his reaction to this speculation.

No Sex Ed

How is that working in Alabama. Abstinence is not working down in the bible belt.

e age group most affected by chlamydia and gonorrhea is 15 to 19 year olds, followed by 20 to 24 year olds.

It seems that abstinence only for the past seven years is paying dividends.

Immoral Republican

Adultery is a republican value.

Immoral Christians

Southern Baptist Style.

Republican Tools

Matt and Josh are far more insightful than I am. They see the same things I do but nicely. Josh has this to say:

Obama also had a moment when he went after Blitzer over his constant invocation of the presumption that no significant problems can ever be solved. But it was too fleeting.

S#%t he should have told him off but it was nice to see Obama call Blitzer out. Matt says what I think about Blitzer, but politely:

Wolf Blitzer's main interest is in asking questions designed to put Democrats on the wrong side of public opinion,

Oh it gets better

The point, after all, is to force a choice -- piss off an interest group, or say something that could be used in a GOP attack ad.

Josh has some of Wolf's questions at the end of his post that are just wrong.

1. Do you believe there are any times when abortion is killing a baby? Yes or No?

2. If a million people die in the next 9/11, would you be willing to chill out about torture? Yes or no?

Those last two questions are not asked to help the public make informed decisions. They are gotcha questions.