Washington State Referendum 71
Come Election Day this year (Nov 3), voters across the state will be voting to Approve or Reject Referendum 71. The general gist of the referendum is whether or not same-sex domestic partnerships
“Concise Description: This bill would expand the rights, responsibilities, and obligations accorded state-registered same-sex and senior domestic partners to be equivalent to those of married spouses, except that a domestic partnership is not a marriage.”....
The brief history of the Referendum is that there is a group of people in Washington who don’t think that all legal, official, committed relationships deserve the same rights and privileges as others. Those people brought this referendum up in an attempt to limit the rights of others. In an interesting political maneuver, they proposed and gathered signatures for a referendum they want to fail. Yes, the same people who put this Referendum on the ballot are the ones who are advertising for the voters to reject it. I suspect their intent was to use the fact that there is a Referendum on the ballot that deals with the issue of “domestic partnership” as a scare tactic to make gullible religious and conservative voters into thinking that there is some nefarious plot by gays to undermine the institution of marriage and somehow make it less meaningful.....
Many believe that if “domestic partnerships” are granted the same rights as “married” couples, it will somehow degrade the “marriage.” It’s hard for me to imagine how ensuring the same rights for all people jeopardizes anything. However, this is not the first time in American history that this mindset has been prevalent. Just prior to the Civil War, the Southern States feared that granting equal rights to slaves would degrade “white labor” by introducing a floor of laborers into the work force. Southern “Gentlemen” irrationally feared that black minority laborers would somehow take over the work force and infringe upon “white rights.” This same fear-the-minority mentality is the psychological engine behind the opposition to Referendum 71 and the anti-“domestic partnership” movement.....
Now it appears that the anti-domestic partnership movement can’t even address their concerns directly and straight-forward. The method by which they brought R71 to the polls clearly shows that their intent is not pure, but instead is a convoluted attempt to back-door the system and trick voters into voting against something without understanding the issue. Most of those who signatures they gathered didn’t even understand what the Referendum was about. When a group knows that its issue cannot pass legitimately its only recourse is deception.....
Much of the rhetoric advocating rejection of the bill comes from religious leaders who claim that because their religion is opposed to homosexuality, the government should also be opposed to it. Even more egregious is the fact that some of them willfully or ignorantly distort American History and the Founding Father’s intentions for the powers of government in order to sway their followers. Many claim that their religious texts only support their definition of marriage as “one man and one woman” despite the fact their texts say no such thing and in many cases demonstrate approval of a completely different definition.....
I expect that from the religious leaders. It’s their job to promote their viewpoint. What disgusts me is when politicians try to incorporate their personal religious beliefs into their execution of duties under the public trust. Everyone is entitled to their own religious beliefs – but none of those beliefs should be promoted or supported in government more than any other. It is exactly that desire for separation of religion and government that motivated many English settlers to make a dangerous journey across an ocean to an unknown and potentially dangerous land. It is that separation that the Founders sought when they drafted the Constitution and designated it as the Law of the Land. Whether or not the Founders believed in gods or deities is debatable – some did, some didn’t to be sure – but its also irrelevant. They would not have wanted their personal religious beliefs to influence the execution of a government’s duty to the people. Not then, not now.....
Friday, October 16, 2009
Friday, June 19, 2009
June Exploits in the Mountains
It was a quiet Thursday afternoon when we decided to see how far back into the Blue Mountains we could go. We had been up to where the real road ends in order to place a Geocache or two, but we hadn't gone more than 1/2 mile or so. On Thursday, we left the house at 1400 to find where the road ends.
Once on top, we had some sub-sandwiches for lunch and made sure our cache was still intact - it was. The cache itself is a birdhouse that is modified NOT to hold birds, but instead holds a little canister for do-dads, trinkets and log for others to sign. From the look of the cache, the birds were intrigued by the fake house and wanted in! Too bad, there was no vacancy.
At 1445 we arrived at our lunch spot by our Geocache "Birdhouse in Your Soul" which sits on a little hill top up in the mountains. Most of the road to it is hard packed dirt and is passable by any regular car. It's bumpy, but nothing more than that. The last 1/2 mile to the cache site is a bit rougher, requiring at least moderate clearance and traction (Subaru Outback? Maybe, if you're REALLY good). The start of the 1/2 mile is relatively steep and has a significant "tire-eater" washout the switches sides, making the "straddle" technique harder to employ. The Commander doesn't even work getting up the hill.
Once on top, we had some sub-sandwiches for lunch and made sure our cache was still intact - it was. The cache itself is a birdhouse that is modified NOT to hold birds, but instead holds a little canister for do-dads, trinkets and log for others to sign. From the look of the cache, the birds were intrigued by the fake house and wanted in! Too bad, there was no vacancy.
Next, we started our trip back into the mountains. The trail varies from relatively wide (Jeep and a half) to narrow (barely a Jeep). As we climbed up through the forest, we startled a black bear wandering on the road. He did a double-take looking at the Jeep and then scampered off into the woods. The trail appeared to have been moderately cleared earlier this year and there were numerous trees cut in half to allow passage down the trail. Early on, we found a few mud-holes to splash in and placed a "protective coating" of mud on the Jeep. The trail went up and down through over the mountain ridges.
The terrain on the trail varied between packed dirt and mud slicks in the lower areas, to knotty root covered trails heading up the hills to sharp, loose rocks near the tops. The inclines and declines exhibited the same terrain variances, ensuring that we were never bored. At no time did we require 4LOW to get up or down anything, but we did employ it in order to save on the braking. Sometimes, the trees reached out to touch the Jeep and would often poke their branches through the open windows to say, "Hello."
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2481/3639997203_6daeaace83.jpg
Some of the turns were tight and had us feeling tippy, but we managed to get by without rolling over. After a couple hours of weaving through trees, around sharp rocks, and over roots, we arrived at the top of yet another hill. It was a nice place for a campsite, but we weren't planning on staying overnight. We planted a Geocache to bring challenge some of the local cachers and then continued on up and down the road.
The trail narrowed as we headed down into a valley and there were dead trees all around us. The area we were in had been severely burned many years ago and the dead trees were like pick up sticks around us. Some had fallen across the road and been cut in half, others hung precariously over us as we motored through. I think the majority of the users of these trails were ATV riders, because there were times when the cut trees were just barely wide enough to allow us through. Too often, the overhanging branches would catch on the bunjee cargo net in the Surco roof rack - note for future reference: remove cargo net before going out into the forest.
It was in this area we experienced our first bit of trail damage. One of the overhanging trees - four inches in diameter - managed to hit the Jeep at just the right spot to slip UNDER the roof rack instead of sliding neatly over like the rest. The crunching and cracking sound alerted us to the problem, but the damage was done. The thick tree branch had popped some of the securing plates of the roof rack out and pushed the whole thing at a funny angle. We stopped the Jeep and got out. It wasn't pretty. If we tried to back out, the branch wanted to scratch the moon-roof glass because of the pressure it was under. We had no choice but to chop it off. With the combat axe, it only took a few minutes to get halfway through the tree, which was also cracking on its own because of the pressure against it. I had to be cautious because I knew that once I chopped through it, it would spring back a bit - and that could be dangerous.
I went around to the other side of the branch so that when it broke, it would push away from me. While I did so, my wife decided to help out and began chopping at it. She only gave it a few swing before it broke free and sprung back at her. Only her lightning-quick reflexes saved her from getting knocked-out - at best - or seriously injured by the branch. It didn't just spring back a few inches, but rather about two feet. She managed to lean back just in time to watch the branch go sailing over her head.
Having narrowly avoided much pain, we removed the offending branch from under the roof rack and did our best to get it back into place and not rattling. At least two of the bolts holding the rack in place were bent almost in half. Nothing was broke too bad and it doesn't even rattle.
Not too much further down the trail and we climbed up a steep incline to arrive at the top of small knoll. The view was fantastic all around. There was another trail leading down the opposite side of the knoll, but it was about 1900 and we had no idea where it went - it could have taken us back into town, or it could have just wound us around the mountains some more. Without camping gear and more supplies - and with three kids in back - we couldn't risk not getting back to civilization and so we turned back the way we came.
If you look close, you can see snow capped mountains under the Jeep in the background.
The trail was easier on the way back, although some of the inclines were rougher going up than coming down. While we were trying to avoid another wheel-eating washout, one fallen log took a swipe at the Jeep, putting some new scratches on the rear passenger flare, missing the tire, but punching the plastic behind the tire all the way to inside the bumper. I had to use the ax to pry it back out of there.
We arrived back home at 2200 after our little exploration into the hills. Next time, we'll leave earlier and bring camping gear - just in case. In fact, my biggest concern wasn't ever getting stuck, but ripping out one of the tires with a sharp stick or rock. I only have one of the original Forteras for a spare for the time being.
More trail damage!
This afternoon, after hosing the mud off, I noticed that my "Signal Frog" antenna topper lost his antenna!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Recovering a Dodge 4x4 from Blue Mountain
It's been a long winter, and we were itching to get out and explore Blue Mountain. We also had some caches to check on, so we planned for today to go out, check on our caches and have some fun in the mountains (aka find some trails). We packed up a pic-nic lunch after breakfast and headed for the hills. Blue Mountain is just south west of Missoula, MT and so it didn't take any time to get to the bottom of the mountain. There are numerous recreational activities on Blue Mountain, like folf in the Summer and sledding in the winter, but those areas of the mountain are right near the bottom and are usually full.
The real fun starts further up past the observatory (about nine miles from the bottom of the mountain). Usually the gate to the observatory is closed, but when we came upon it today, it was open! We were excited to get up there, but were soon stopped by the ice and snow covered road. Normally, a little slipping and sliding would be no big deal, but when you only have three feet on either side of the trail to play with, you take fewer chances. We plowed through one snowy section and the rear end of the Jeep slid sideways so we didn't continue on, decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this case, and backed out. Then we continued up Blue Mountain road towards the Woodman Saddle, an intersection of dirt roads that are used by the Forest Service and utility companies to maintain their areas. We didn't actually make it to the Saddle.
A few miles beyond the Observatory turn off, we came upon another part of the road that was snow and ice covered, but the road was wide enough to plow through. Our adventure was detoured by the sight of a red Dodge 4x4 perched precariously on the wet, muddy, edge of the trail. We stopped a safe distance away and went to investigate the truck and to see if we could render assistance.
The truck was empty and there was no contact information visible. It was dangerously close to sliding over the edge and down the ravine. It wouldn't have slid TOO far (maybe 50 feet), but it very well could have rolled over a couple times on the way and made for a very bad day for someone. We looked around the Dodge, with "Got God" plates, and decided that without the owner there, we couldn't really do anything. We could stabilize it with the Jeep and Bulldog 9k winch, but we had no way of knowing when the owner would be back. It was a tough decision to make because the ground was getting softer and more saturated with water from the runoff and the Dodge was slowly (very very slowly) slipping down the embankment. While we watched it, we could see and hear that the rear driver's side tire was slowly lifting out of the mud and off the ground.
We had wanted to go around the Dodge, but decided that it was too dangerous. If the back end slipped, like it had before, we could have bumped the Dodge, sealing it to "Total Loss" insurance claim and a HUGE recovery bill. Instead, we went back down the mountain about one-half mile and found a nice spot for lunch on top of a small hill. I left a note in our Jeep window in case the Dodge owner came back and happened to see it. Then we went and found a Geocache nearby and returned to the Jeep. Just to be certain we couldn't help, we decided to go check on the Dodge before heading home.
When we got back to the Dodge, there was another truck nearby and some people walking back from imperiled Dodge. I got out of the Jeep to see if they were with the stuck truck - and they were. The first thing they asked was whether or not we could give them a hand with our Jeep and winch. We agreed to help and moved the Jeep into position on some clear (not icy and snowy, but still muddy) ground behind the Dodge and hooked the winch up. My wife pointed out that they should probably stabilize the front end of the Dodge to an uphill tree, but they decided not to.
When I started to pull the Dodge back, the front end started to slide. THEN they decided that it might be wise to stabilize the front end to an uphill tree with some tow ropes. The Dodge owner first attached the ropes to his truck onto something behind the tire ("A" bracket?). My wife told them it wasn't a good place to attach the ropes to, but again, they knew best. With the truck stabilized, we winched backwards a few inches and realized we needed to move the stabilization point because the tow rope was putting a lot of forward stress on the front driver's side tire. The frame didn't have any good spot to attach a hook to, but I had the tow cluster in the Jeep too and was able to use that to hook the tow ropes up to some holes in his frame. With the Dodge stabilized, we just started winching it back. The Bulldog worked like a charm and pulled the Dodge back up onto the road. The Jeep slipped a little, so we stabilized it too. It was a bit worrisome at some points because the Dodge seemed almost certain to be heading over the edge. I was also concerned that it might try and take the Jeep with it, but, there were no other options (and I was ready to put the winch in free-spooling if I needed to).
(My wife's "told you so" look when they decided to stabilize the front of the Dodge and there is a similar one when they moved the attachment point).
After some scary moments, we finally got it back on solid ground. It was able to drive down the mountain under its own power. Today the mountain lost a Dodge meal, and the Commander once again comes out on top.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster saves the day!
How'd he get in that predicament?
For whatever reason, he tried to go up the trail at midnight on Saturday. He got stuck in the snow and when we tried to back out he slid across the road and to the edge. I don't know how he got down the mountain.
The real fun starts further up past the observatory (about nine miles from the bottom of the mountain). Usually the gate to the observatory is closed, but when we came upon it today, it was open! We were excited to get up there, but were soon stopped by the ice and snow covered road. Normally, a little slipping and sliding would be no big deal, but when you only have three feet on either side of the trail to play with, you take fewer chances. We plowed through one snowy section and the rear end of the Jeep slid sideways so we didn't continue on, decided that discretion was the better part of valor in this case, and backed out. Then we continued up Blue Mountain road towards the Woodman Saddle, an intersection of dirt roads that are used by the Forest Service and utility companies to maintain their areas. We didn't actually make it to the Saddle.
A few miles beyond the Observatory turn off, we came upon another part of the road that was snow and ice covered, but the road was wide enough to plow through. Our adventure was detoured by the sight of a red Dodge 4x4 perched precariously on the wet, muddy, edge of the trail. We stopped a safe distance away and went to investigate the truck and to see if we could render assistance.
The truck was empty and there was no contact information visible. It was dangerously close to sliding over the edge and down the ravine. It wouldn't have slid TOO far (maybe 50 feet), but it very well could have rolled over a couple times on the way and made for a very bad day for someone. We looked around the Dodge, with "Got God" plates, and decided that without the owner there, we couldn't really do anything. We could stabilize it with the Jeep and Bulldog 9k winch, but we had no way of knowing when the owner would be back. It was a tough decision to make because the ground was getting softer and more saturated with water from the runoff and the Dodge was slowly (very very slowly) slipping down the embankment. While we watched it, we could see and hear that the rear driver's side tire was slowly lifting out of the mud and off the ground.
We had wanted to go around the Dodge, but decided that it was too dangerous. If the back end slipped, like it had before, we could have bumped the Dodge, sealing it to "Total Loss" insurance claim and a HUGE recovery bill. Instead, we went back down the mountain about one-half mile and found a nice spot for lunch on top of a small hill. I left a note in our Jeep window in case the Dodge owner came back and happened to see it. Then we went and found a Geocache nearby and returned to the Jeep. Just to be certain we couldn't help, we decided to go check on the Dodge before heading home.
When we got back to the Dodge, there was another truck nearby and some people walking back from imperiled Dodge. I got out of the Jeep to see if they were with the stuck truck - and they were. The first thing they asked was whether or not we could give them a hand with our Jeep and winch. We agreed to help and moved the Jeep into position on some clear (not icy and snowy, but still muddy) ground behind the Dodge and hooked the winch up. My wife pointed out that they should probably stabilize the front end of the Dodge to an uphill tree, but they decided not to.
When I started to pull the Dodge back, the front end started to slide. THEN they decided that it might be wise to stabilize the front end to an uphill tree with some tow ropes. The Dodge owner first attached the ropes to his truck onto something behind the tire ("A" bracket?). My wife told them it wasn't a good place to attach the ropes to, but again, they knew best. With the truck stabilized, we winched backwards a few inches and realized we needed to move the stabilization point because the tow rope was putting a lot of forward stress on the front driver's side tire. The frame didn't have any good spot to attach a hook to, but I had the tow cluster in the Jeep too and was able to use that to hook the tow ropes up to some holes in his frame. With the Dodge stabilized, we just started winching it back. The Bulldog worked like a charm and pulled the Dodge back up onto the road. The Jeep slipped a little, so we stabilized it too. It was a bit worrisome at some points because the Dodge seemed almost certain to be heading over the edge. I was also concerned that it might try and take the Jeep with it, but, there were no other options (and I was ready to put the winch in free-spooling if I needed to).
(My wife's "told you so" look when they decided to stabilize the front of the Dodge and there is a similar one when they moved the attachment point).
After some scary moments, we finally got it back on solid ground. It was able to drive down the mountain under its own power. Today the mountain lost a Dodge meal, and the Commander once again comes out on top.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster saves the day!
How'd he get in that predicament?
For whatever reason, he tried to go up the trail at midnight on Saturday. He got stuck in the snow and when we tried to back out he slid across the road and to the edge. I don't know how he got down the mountain.
