Oh yeah, Iraq

What the fuck is going on in Iraq right now? We have become so accustomed to stories of 20 civilians killed by a bomb, masked gunmen shooting down 40 people, or 30 people being abducted that we are becoming completely desensitized to the situation. US soldiers are now being charged with raping a young woman (14 years old if you ask the doctor) and then killing her and her family and burning the bodies. Plus, the haditha massacre still hasn't been resolved. The US has completely lost the minds and hearts of the majority of the Iraqi people. We don't want to say that a civil war has started, but if it isn't a civil war, what should we call it? The United Nations reported Tuesday that nearly 6,000 civilians were slain across Iraq in May and June. That is close to the same number of casualties from the 30 years of confilct in Northern Ireland. Maybe it isn't called a civil war yet, because the Kurds haven't been fully drawn in to the fighting. No matter how you look at the situation, the US invading Iraq could be one of the biggest blunders in US history. I can't see any positive change occuring until after we pull out our forces and let the Iraqi people resolve the situation (likely through more bloodshed) or we get competent leadership in this country in 2008. Can the Iraqis wait that long?

Multi-Tasking

Some people can't pat their head and rub their stomachs at the same time. Eddie Griffin has a different kind of problem. On March 30, Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin was reportedly drunk, watching porn on his in-dash DVD player, and masturbating when he crashed his Escalade into a parked Suburban, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday by the man whose Suburban was hit in the crash. You can read the full story and watch the news coverage here.

14ers

As most of you know, climbing a mountain over 14,000 feet is a pretty big deal for people in Colorado. There are many peak baggers who climb them just to say that they climbed a fourteener. Depending who you talk to, there are 53+ fourteeners. According to 14ers.com to be ranked, a peak must rise at least 300 feet above the saddle that connects it to the nearest 14er peak (if another exists nearby). The following peaks are not ranked because they do not fit this criteria, but are on many fourteener lists because they are named and recognized on USGS maps:

Mt. Cameron - rises 138 feet above its saddle with Mt. Lincoln
El Diente - rises 259 feet above its saddle with Mt. Wilson
Conundrum Peak - rises 240 feet above its saddle with Castle Peak
North Eolus - rises 179 feet above its saddle with Mt. Eolus
North Maroon Peak - rises 234 feet above its saddle with Maroon Peak

I was born in the state and didn't climb a fourteener until about three years ago, Mount Bierstadt. I climbed my second one, Quandary Peak, two weekends ago. I must say that I have climbed other mountains that were just as beautiful and enjoyable, but they were only twelve or thirteen thousand feet high. There is just this strange status idea in Colorado about climbing a fourteener. I think that I will continue to climb them in the future, but I won't end up climbing them all. There are too many other fun things to do in this state during the weekend.