Some Photos from the Mount Hood Area

 Here are more pictures from the group hiking program in the Mount Hood area:

Little Crater Lake

Mt. Hood from TimberlineLodge

Mt. Jefferson from Timberline Lodge

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Timberline Lodge

Timothy Lake

Umbrella Falls

 Last week as part of an organized hike in the Mount Hood area, I visited beautiful Umbrella Falls, which is located on the east side of Mount Hood.  The day was a rainy day, and some people went further than I did in the rain.  The falls were worth it, however.

The gray jays were especially adept at eating  food out of people's hands.

This was a picture of a chipmunk that happened to go into a Ziploc bag in search of food!

News Briefs

This is the latest about the search for the two missing Mount Hood climbers:

The massive search effort to locate a pair of stranded climbers high on Mount Hood stretches into its fourth day today with no sign or clue of the young man and woman.

Volunteer searchers are convening about 7 a.m. for their first meeting of the day. They are expected to review the weather forecast for the mountain and decide whether to dispatch search and rescue crews up the mountain to find Katie Nolan, 29, of Southeast Portland; and Anthony Vietti, 25, of Longview, Wash., who headed toward the summit early Friday morning and were never seen again.

Unlike the past three days, when the Black Iron Grill in the Wy’East Day Lodge was filled with mountain rescuers, this morning it is empty. Outside a steady snow continues to fall at Timberline Lodge. The lack of activity marks a significant change from the past few days.

Officials with Portland Mountain Rescue and the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office are expected to make an announcement at 10 a.m. about future search efforts.

Suffice it to say it doesn't look good.
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What kind of deal, if any, was cut for Senator Lieberman to do a complete turnaround regarding expanding Medicare coverage for those 55 and over?

And if a deal is cut, then there is no doubt at all it will benefit the Republican Party, which yours truly has NEVER written off as irrelevant or on the fringe. A bad penny always returns, you know.
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Whether or not Obama cheated on his own report card, my grade for his first year is hovering around a C-minus overall, and a flat-out "F" for education.
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There's been a big deal made out of a case of a frustrated teacher who cut a first-grader's braid after the girl was playing around with it.

The teacher will be disciplined by the school district, but no, there will be no criminal charges brought.

She was fined $175 for disorderly conduct.

More is here.

News Briefs

More deaths on Mount Hood. Two climbers are still missing.

Nobody ever found the bodies of those two climbers who presumably lost their lives there a couple of years ago.

More here. A helicopter search is about to start to look for the missing climbers.
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In an interview with AP, Amanda Knox says she is scared:

"OK, thanks. How are you guys?" said the American student, who had been sentenced eight days earlier to 26 years in prison for the murder of her British roommate. But minutes later, Knox confided, in answer to a question from an Associated Press reporter in her cell: "I am scared because I don't know what is going on."

The 22-year-old, who is a cause celebre in the United States among those who contend she was wrongly convicted by the Perugia court, received a 10-minute visit inside the cell by two Italian lawmakers, prison officials and a pair of reporters in Capanne prison on the outskirts of Perugia.

Knox has been jailed for two years since she was arrested a few days after the slaying of Meredith Kercher in the house the two students shared in this medieval town.

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The lawyers will have a field day with this case:

Two Warner Robins Middle School students who allegedly engaged in oral sex in a classroom while a substitute teacher and other students were present are facing additional charges.

Along with the public indecency charges first reported in The Telegraph on Friday, both students are being charged with sodomy and disruption of public school. The male student will also be charged with solicitation of sodomy and violation of probation, said Capt. Jerry Stewart of the Juvenile Division of the Houston County Sheriff’s Department.


Both students are being detained at the Crisp Regional Youth Detention Center, said Stewart, who has been working with Sgt. Porter Wood, school liaison officer for the Warner Robins Police Department, on the investigation.

The two students have a hearing scheduled in Houston County Juvenile Court Monday, Stewart said.

As the World Turns.

While Velvet was the hero in the latest Mount Hood rescue, experts say dogs should be left at home.
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The nutroots needs to shut the fuck up about politicians who may not fit in with their notions of what is a "Democrat." We can't afford to purge people out of the party.
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Great news for disability rights activists, as the AMA has buckled under pressure and met with the groups regarding the vile "Ashley treatment."

After a protest outside the AMA building last month and repeated phone calls and faxes demanding that the AMA listen to their concerns, five activists from the grass-roots groups met Tuesday with Dr. Michael Maves, AMA's chief executive officer, and Dr. Cecil Wilson, chairman of the AMA's board of trustees.

While Maves and Wilson made no promises during the meeting at AMA headquarters, the groups said just getting the nation's largest group of doctors to hear their concerns was a victory.

"It was definitely a victory to at least have the dialogue that we had," said Donna Harnett of the Feminist Response group, who attended the meeting.

As the World Turns.

Three mountain climbers stranded on Mount Hood are alive. They also have a dog with them.

Edit: All were rescued this afternoon, including the dog.
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China has some competition in the female infanticide/abortion contest as India is apparently engaging in mass eugenics.

But it's "freedom of choice" regardless of the sexism and demographic catastrophe sex-selection entails.
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Heather Mills is no longer considered a cash cow, so PETA has severed its ties to her.
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Secretariat's jockey Ron Turcotte, 65, will be honored at the 16th annual Sports Legends Awards which benefits spinal chord research.

Since he was paralyzed in a racing accident in 1978, he has lived in Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Ron Franklin, whose sensational rise and fall as jockey of Spectacular Bid has been chronicled on this blog, seeks to have his license reinstated by the Maryland Racing Commission.

I don't know why he bothers at this point. He is 46, way past his prime.
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