Grand designs

Admittedly, this post will begin somewhat morose. But take heart, Dear Reader, for hope will be renewed. Read on...

A few weeks ago, I caught the beginning of the movie "Final Destination." It begins with a class of students boarding a plane for France for a student trip. One of the students has a vision of the plane exploding. Already seated on board, he begins to panic and manages to get off the plane, along with 5 or 6 other students who are disturbed by his display. Once they are off the plane, it takes off and...you guessed it...explodes just off the runway. The rest of the movie is about Death picking off the rest of his quarry, one-by-one.

Death, as the prescient student determined, had been cheated, and was now finishing the job.

This premise is developed a bit later in the film when we meet an undertaker named Mr. Bludworth (it is a horror movie, remember). He, who has spent so much of his life dealing with death, unravels the Grand Design for us:

"In Death there are no accidents. No coincidencess. No mishaps. And no escapes.

"From the minute you're cut loose from the womb...it's a one way ticket on a trip to the tomb.

"Every single move we make, from the mundane to the monumental... the red light we stop at, or run; the airplane we ride, or walk out of... is all a part of Death's sadistic design leading to the grave."

"Death is like big Milton Bradley game of "Mouse Trap." The day you're born is just the boot, hanging from the streetlamp, kicking the marble to get things rolling. Growing up is only the marble rolling down the curving chute. You feel immortal having survived school, sex, drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll, but you've really only upset the big hand holding the steel ball that falls into the bathtub. Marriage and kids and career seem to make it all worthwhile until the ball hits the see-saw and flips the diving man into the big barrel. In the old folks home or the hospital you just see the big cage rattling down until it captures the mouse. Game over."

(OK, the depressing part is over, you can open your eyes...)

Whoa! Sounds like Mr. Bludworth has a bad case of the-glass-is-half-empty downers! I have to admit, there are times when my attitude is dismal and my output as bleak. I'm sure most people have asked at some point: "What's it all for, when the end is the same, and inevitable?" It's easy to get caught up in the realm of the self and ignore the big picture.

I believe there are dark forces at work in the world, constantly pushing it towards increased hatred, violence, oppression, and other such intangibles rooted in selfishness. But I believe, also, that there are good forces at work here, too. I think another movie can be referenced here to illustrate this: The Lord of the Rings. (I'll quote the movie, since I have yet to find the patience for the novel.)

Frodo Baggins is on a journey to destroy the One Ring which was forged in evil, hatred, oppression, and all those other forces mentioned earlier. At one point, Frodo laments that such a thing exists and that such a task has fallen on him. How, with all the bad around, with Sauron's and Sauromon's armies gathering to destroy freedom-loving Middle Earth, can there be any hope for him, the smallest of the small?

His friend Gandalf assures him: "There are other forces at work in this world Frodo besides the will of evil."

Our lives are not meant only for the grave. Each of us is meant to accomplish great things to the benefit of our fellow man. And there are forces in place to help us get there. I believe it is God who sets up certain coincidences in our lives...the people we meet, the person we marry, the children we have. I know that I have the friends that I do for a reason. These people have all played an important part in who I have become and who I am becoming, whether they know it or not. I know that they are important to me and to the work that God has ready for me sometime in the future.

Think about it for a minute. How did you come to know your spouse (assuming you're married)? If you think about it long and hard, you'll determine that certain things happened just so in order for you to meet.

Beyond personal relationships, though, everything we do and everything that happens to us can be meant for a greater good. Perhaps I can rephrase Mr. Bludworth's lament:

"In Life there are no accidents. No coincidencess. No mishaps. Everything happens for a reason.

"From the minute you're born into this world...God has a great plan for you.

"Every single move we make, from the mundane to the monumental... the red light we stop at, or run; the airplane we ride, or walk out of... is all a part of God's grand design leading you to great things.

True, we only have a limited time here. But that limited time is time enough to make a big impact. The game can be wonderful and rewarding, or it can be dismal and bleak. Learn to see the truth of the two forces that are really running this world, and leading your life; and understand that there is hope in a powerful ally.

Just what is the Constitution for anyway?

Today, the US Senate effectively filibustered the effort to amend our Constitution with a law defining a marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

I have grappled long and hard with this issue. Being a born-again Christian (is there any other kind?), and believing the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God, I consider homosexuality to be a sin. (To explore my views fully on this issue is for another time and another post, but that about sums them up.)

As a believer, I also know that the Bible defines marriage in God's eyes to be between one man and one woman (Deuteronomy 17:17). This, too, is for another post. Suffice it to say that any Biblical man who has taken multiple wives has met with disaster.

Now that I have defined my religious stance on the subject, I must also look at it from another angle. The fact that I am an American weighs in heavily on this matter. The freedom that we Americans can boast is no small matter; it is huge. It is nearly everything. We enjoy the freedom to assemble, the freedom to worship (or not) as we choose, the freedom to express opinions contrary to our leadership without fear of retribution, the freedom to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nowhere else in the world is such an abundance of freedoms enjoyed. Why not the freedom to choose with whom we would like to spend the rest of our lives?

Regardless of your beliefs or mine, the one thing that is crystal clear is that this amendment would have been bad for our Constitution and for our nation. The strength of our nation, and the resilience of our freedom and our democratic republic, rest solely on the foundation defined in our Constitution. It is easy to forget that the Constitution exists, in its original design, not to limit the freedoms of citizens through laws, but to restrain the power of government over our lives. In this sense, such an amendment that would effectively outlaw gay marriage is wholly counterproductive to the purpose of that document.

My sister has a bumper sticker that reads "Keep your laws off my body." Exactly. In successfully filibustering the issue of Senate Joint Resolution 40, the Senators stayed faithful to the true purpose of the Constitution: increase the freedoms for America's citizens, not diminish them.

-SY

quotes from Michael Moore

After reading some of these and the venues in which they were originated, it's not hard to understand why he won the top award at Cannes for his "documentary" Farenheit 9/11. The European sophisiticates must absolutely love this guy.

"If someone did this [9/11] to get back at Bush, then they did so by killing thousands of people who DID NOT VOTE for him! Boston, New York, D.C., and the planes' destination of California -- these were places that voted AGAINST Bush!" -- Michael Moore On 9/12/2001

"There is no terrorist threat in this country. This is a lie. This is the biggest lie we've been told." -- Michael Moore, October 2003

"In terms of marketing (Fahrenheit 9/11), Front Row is getting a boost from organisations related to Hezbollah which have rung up from Lebanon to ask if there is anything they can do to support the film. And although Chacra says he and his company feel strongly that Fahrenheit is not anti-American, but anti-Bush, 'we can’t go against these organisations as they could strongly boycott the film in Lebanon and Syria.'"

"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."

"I'm sorry, but the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end."

"Unfortunately, Bush and Co. are not through yet. This invasion and conquest will encourage them to do it again elsewhere. The real purpose of this war was to say to the rest of the world, "Don't Mess with Texas - If You Got What We Want, We're Coming to Get It!"

"I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a 'deserter.' What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar, and a functional illiterate. And he poops his pants"

"(Americans) are possibly the dumbest people on the planet ... in thrall to conniving, thieving, smug pr*cks. We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don’t know about anything that’s happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing.”

"DO YOU FEEL like you live in a nation of idiots? I used to console myself about the state of stupidity in this country by repeating this to myself: Even if there are two hundred million stone-cold idiots in this country, that leaves at least eighty million who will get what I'm saying..." -- P. 85 of "Stupid White Men"

"(T)he dumbest Brit here is smarter than the smartest American". -- Michael Moore At London’s Roundhouse Theater

"On his North American tour in support of Dude, Where’s My Country, Moore substituted Canadians for Britons, telling audiences that the “dumbest Canadian” in attendance could surely outwit 'the smartest American.'" -- Moorewatch

"Should such an ignorant people (Americans) lead the world?" -- Michael Moore in an open letter to the people of Germany

"There's a gullible side to the American people. They can be easily misled. Religion is the best device used to mislead them."

"I like America to some extent." -- Michael Moore's response after being asked "You do not seem to like the U.S., do you?"

"Moore wrote he'd once been "forced" to listen to my comments on a TV chat show, The McLaughlin Group. I had whined "on and on about the sorry state of American education," Moore said, and wound up by bellowing: "These kids don't even know what The Iliad and The Odyssey are!" Moore's interest was piqued, so the next day he said he called me. "Fred," he quoted himself as saying, "tell me what The Iliad and The Odyssey are." I started "hemming and hawing," Moore wrote. And then I said, according to Moore: "Well, they're . . . uh . . . you know . . . uh . . . okay, fine, you got me--I don't know what they're about. Happy now?" He'd smoked me out as a fraud, or maybe worse. The only problem is none of this is true. It never happened. Moore is a liar. He made it up. It's a fabrication on two levels. One, I've never met Moore or even talked to him on the phone. And, two, I read both The Iliad and The Odyssey in my first year at the University of Virginia. Just for the record, I'd learned what they were about even before college." -- Fred Barnes

"You know in my town the small businesses that everyone wanted to protect? They were the people that supported all the right-wing groups. They were the Republicans in the town, they were in the Kiwanas, the Chamber of Commerce - people that kept the town all white. The small hardware salesman, the small clothing store salespersons, Jesse the Barber who signed his name three different times on three different petitions to recall me from the school board. F*ck all these small businesses - f*ck 'em all! Bring in the chains. The small businesspeople are the rednecks that run the town and suppress the people. F*ck 'em all. That's how I feel."

"White people scare the crap out of me. … I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord … never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, never had a black person bury my movie, and I've never heard a black person say, 'We're going to eliminate ten thousand jobs here - have a nice day!'"

"It was when Moore went into a rant about how the passengers on the planes on 11 September were scaredy-cats because they were mostly white. If the passengers had included black men, he claimed, those killers, with their puny bodies and unimpressive small knives, would have been crushed by the dudes, who as we all know take no disrespect from anybody." -- From an article by Yasmin Alibhai-Brown describing a Michael Moore show in London

"Since September 11, the Bush Administration has used that tragic event as a justification to rip up our constitution and our civil liberties. And I honestly believe that [with] one or two September 11s martial law will be declared in our country and we're inching towards a police state."

"The Patriot Act is the first step. "Mein Kampf" -- "Mein Kampf" was written long before Hitler came to power. And if the people of Germany had done something early on to stop these early signs, when the right-wing, when the extremists such as yourself (Bob Novak), decide that this is the way to go, if people don't speak up against this, you end up with something like they had in Germany. I don't want to get to that point."

"The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich."

"I think (Bin Laden is under the protective watch of) the United States, I think our government knows where he is and I don't think we're going to be capturing him or killing him any time soon." -- Michael Moore in an interview with Bob Costas

Trip Report: Moore's Wall: June 28, 2004

Summary:

Joe leads Sentinel Buttress!
Zoo View proper falls!
Joe leads Wailing Wall!
TR Red Point acheived on Quaker State!

Detailed:

Joe and I played hooky on Monday to head out to Moore's and do some climbing. The weather report wasn't glowing (30% chance t-storms), and we hit rain in Greensboro, but we ended up having a great day.

After reading the recent approach issues on CCC website regarding a local protecting his private land on Tory's Den Road with a gun, we decided to hike in. OK, the real reason was that even though we each have an SUV in our names, we ended up driving my little purple Honda Civic...no match for that road.

We started off on Sentinal Buttress (5.5) with Zoo View (5.7) being the ultimate goal. Joe felt confident leading the pitch. I was a bit hesitant since I hadn't had a whole lot of time to go over the finer points of placing pro, building anchors, etc. But I knew the pitch was far below his ability level (and mine) and I hate leading Sentinel, so he went for it.

He did a fine job; the pro was good (for the most part). His best piece, by far, was a red tri-cam resting in a pocket. It was so good that we almost had to leave it there for y'all to see later on. It was my first time climbing Sentinel when the rock was dry...it is actually a very fun climb!

From the Crow's Nest, I set out on the left traverse of Zoo View. Ever since my first attempt at this route a year ago, I had been envisioning making the crux moves. (Flashback: On my first attempt, for which Joe was a party, too, I reached a ledge under the crux roof and decided against pulling up through the roof, opting instead for bypassing it on the left.)

I remembered one mistake of the previous attempt was that I wasted a lot of energy placing a lot of gear (hey, that traverse is scary!) and that all that gear also created a great deal of rope drag. With this in mind, I placed 3 pieces up to the roof. There I slotted the #2 camalot just under the roof and, with a big breath, set off. Right hand on the bug jug, left hand to the big jug. Right hand big jug. Legs dangling over the void. Pull through two or three massive holds and end up on top of the roof. What a feeling! What a cool sequence! The move is actually easier than the roof move on the 3 Bears wall at Pilot since the feet are better, but the exposure is killer and provides quite a rush.

The rest of the route is fairly mundane, a quick 5.4 scramble to the top, gear every 30 feet or so.

We rapped off Sentinel and decided to get over to the Amphitheater. It took us a long time to get over there as we spent some time doing some route finding on the Central Wall. But we finally got there and Joe racked up for Wailing Wall (5.6). This lead of his was very strong, with near-perfect gear placements and great rope direction. His 35' runout on the wall itself was a bit unnerving (Bolt-Skipper strikes again!) but the route was, again, well within his ability. At the top, we celebrated his 5.6 lead by eating some wild blueberries. :p

Per tradition, we set up a top rope in Quaker State (5.11a). Joe had tweaked his wrist a bit on Wailing Wall, so wasn't up for giving it a go, so I went. One of my goals was to red-point this route (if that term can be applied to TR ascents). My previous time I came off once. After sending it straight through this time, I can definitely see the 5.11a rating. It is far more sustained than Sunshine (5.10b) at Seneca, and has one or two harder moves. I think the moves don't get harder than 5.10c/d, but the endurance definitely pushed it into easy 5.11 terrain. I think that's my favorite route.

We headed back to the Central Wall and Joe racked up to do Washboard (5.6), a route neither of us had done before. Just after I put him on belay, we heard thunder. Being quite conservative, we decided we were happy with our day and hiked on out. Good thing too, because while we had been thinking it was 4:30, it was really 6:30 (no watches that day).

Four routes, four milestones. A very good climbing day and the best Monday I've had in a long time. ;)

 

Beyond the Headlines

If one were to look simply at the headlines in the major media outlets these days, it would be easy to conclude that the current administration deliberately misled the American public in its casus belli against Iraq. Apparently (at least this is what we are being told), there were two reasons given for invading Iraq: First that Saddam had amassed a deadly stockpile of so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction (or WMD as has become popular) including Anthrax, Sarin gas, mustard gas, et alii. Second, that our primary new foe in the War on Terror, al Quaeda, was nursing a relationship with Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

The inability of coalition forces to find any actual WMD in Iraq has allowed those in the media, and elsewhere, to claim that there never were any there in the first place. Some even claim that Bush and others in the administration knew this ahead of time and fabricated the evidence. This past Thursday, the appointed bi-partisan "9-11 Commission" printed, in their 15th Staff Statement, that there is "no credible evidence that Iraq and al Quaeda cooperated on attacks against the United States." So much for the administration's second justification for going to war.

So now, with both said reasons for war unfounded, the media has opened the flood gates of attacks on Bush and his crew. You can read it and hear it everywhere you turn, insistence that Bush now does not have a leg to stand on, that the war is criminal, that Bush is a criminal, that the American public was misled. Various individuals have called for the appointment of an independent counsel to determine how much Bush really knew and what he manufactured (an independent counsel a la Kenneth Star...touche!).

If you believe the headlines, Bush is a criminal and he did lie to us, the American public. However, the whole story often lies beyond the headlines. Those who have enough of a distrust of the quick information sources such as the evening news, or the morning "news" shows, to dig for further information will find that the story is much more complex and less clear-cut. In fact, in this case, one would find that much information has been selectively ignored by those reporting it. Indeed, if it were reported, those headlines would have to change.

I will spend the next several posts looking beyond the headlines.

(Let me just say that I am skeptical of what I read from any news source and will take it with a grain of salt until I can corroborate any claims with other stories on the same subject from other journals. I am equally as skeptical of what I hear on CNN as I am of Fox News. Many of these posts will probably end up being reactions to discrepencies between the truth and what is reported. That is sad to say, but it's important that the microwave media be seen as a questionable source on which to base your conclusions. Always look deeper, because there is almost always more to the story.)