Charlie Cook: Dem situation has 'slipped completely out of control'Charlie Cook, one of the best political handicappers in the business, sent out a special update to Cook Political Report subscribers Thursday that should send shivers down Democratic spines. Reviewing recent polling and the 2010 election landscape, Cook can envision a scenario in which Democratic House losses could exceed 20 seats. "These data confirm anecdotal evidence, and our own view, that the situation this summer has slipped completely out of control for President Obama and Congressional Democrats. Today, The Cook Political Report’s Congressional election model, based on individual races, is pointing toward a net Democratic loss of between six and 12 seats, but our sense, factoring in macro-political dynamics is that this is far too low," he wrote. "Many veteran Congressional election watchers, including Democratic ones, report an eerie sense of déjà vu, with a consensus forming that the chances of Democratic losses going higher than 20 seats is just as good as the chances of Democratic losses going lower than 20 seats." Cook scrupulously avoided any mention that Democratic control of the House is in jeopardy but, noting a new Gallup poll showing Congress’ job disapproval at 70 percent among independents, concluded that the post-recess environment could feel considerably different than when Congress left in August. "We believe it would be a mistake to underestimate the impact that this mood will have on Members of Congress of both parties when they return to Washington in September, if it persists through the end of the Congressional recess." |
Saturday, August 22, 2009
This will make you stand proud... especially if you voted democratic... your man spent a week in Mexico not long ago, and look what he brought home..
Associated Press Writer
Prosecutors said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico's corruption-prone police from extorting casual users and offers addicts free treatment to keep growing domestic drug use in check.
"This is not legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater legal certainty," said Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general's office.
The new law sets out maximum "personal use" amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.
Espino del Castillo says, in practice, small users almost never did face charges anyway. Under the previous law, the possession of any amount of drugs was punishable by stiff jail sentences, but there was leeway for addicts caught with smaller amounts.
"We couldn't charge somebody who was in possession of a dose of a drug, there was no way ... because the person would claim they were an addict," he said.
Despite the provisions, police sometimes hauled in suspects and demanded bribes, threatening long jail sentences if people did not pay.
"The bad thing was that it was left up to the discretion of the detective, and it could open the door to corruption or extortion," Espino del Castillo said.
Anyone caught with drug amounts under the new personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, and for those caught a third time treatment is mandatory.
The maximum amount of marijuana for "personal use" under the new law is 5 grams—the equivalent of about four joints. The limit is a half gram for cocaine, the equivalent of about 4 "lines." For other drugs, the limits are 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams for methamphetamine and 0.015 milligrams for LSD.
Mexico has emphasized the need to differentiate drug addicts and casual users from the violent traffickers whose turf battles have contributed to the deaths of more than 11,000 people since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006.
But one expert saw potential for conflict under the new law.
Javier Oliva, a political scientist at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said the new law posed "a serious contradiction" for the Calderon administration.
"If they decriminalize drugs it could lead the army, which has been given the task of combating this, to say 'What are we doing'?" he said.
Officials said the legal changes could help the government focus more on big-time traffickers.
Espino del Castillo said since Calderon took office, there have been over 15,000 police searches related to small-scale drug dealing or possession, with 95,000 people detained—but only 12 to 15 percent of whom were ever charged with anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This makes sense, yes it does.... just imagine... if I can think of this, then anyone could have.. I wondered if they thought for one second about what happens whent the third time rolls around.. "Oh, this is your third arrest Mr. Druggie, so I Mr. Policeman will let you go if you give me 2500 dollars US!"... good God Almighty, how does this solve anything!! But makes it worse for them.. and now for us too... geeze.. and our fearless leader didn't call for a round table and "sit down and talk about this over a beer in his sans suit and tie... come on man.. you can heal the world "talking about it over a beer"...
and this helps america how... selling our american banks.. to foreign interests??? geezee louise.... we have GIANT idiots running this country??
Large Texas bank shut down by federal regulators
Aug 22, 5:19 AM (ET)
By MARCY GORDON
WASHINGTON (AP) - Guaranty Bank became the second-largest U.S. bank to fail this year after the Texas lender was shut down by regulators and most of its operations sold at a loss of billions of dollars for the U.S. government to a major Spanish bank.
The transaction approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. marked the first time a foreign bank has bought a failed U.S. bank.
The bank failure, the 10th largest in U.S. history, is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund an estimated $3 billion.
The FDIC seized Austin-based Guaranty Bank, with about $13 billion in assets and $12 billion in deposits, and on Friday sold all of its deposits and $12 billion of its assets to BBVA Compass, the U.S. division of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain's second-largest bank. In addition, the FDIC agreed to share losses with BBVA on about $11 billion of Guaranty Bank's loans and other assets.
Tell me HOW this helps american car makers??? and these idiots want control of YOUR health... I don't think so...
Toyota Corolla still Cash for Clunkers top seller
Toyota Corolla remains atop Cash for Clunkers top sellers list
- On Friday August 21, 2009, 5:27 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Toyota Corolla remained the top-selling vehicle under the Cash for Clunkers program, according to data released Friday by the government.
Asian automakers also continued to increase their share of sales under the government incentive program that offers car buyers rebates on new vehicle purchases of $3,500 or $4,500 in return for turning in older, less fuel efficient vehicles.
Toyota vehicles accounted for 19.2 percent of the 489,269 sales recorded through Friday morning, while General Motors had the second spot at 17.7 percent.
The Honda Civic was the second best-selling vehicle, followed by the Ford Focus in the third spot. The Ford Explorer was the most traded-in vehicle under the program.
Cash for Clunkers is scheduled to expire Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. As of Friday, the program had used up $2 billion of the $3 billion Congress set aside for it.
OH MY GOD... HERE IT COMES.... WONDERED WHEN THIS CRA* WOULD START!
Paterson Brings Up Racism for His Low Standing
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Gov. David A. Paterson said on Friday that the chorus of people who believe he should not run for election next year want to keep him out of the race because he is black.
“We’re not in the post-racial period,” said Mr. Paterson, according to an article posted on The Daily News Web site, which cited an interview the governor provided to a radio program hosted by Errol Louis, a Daily News columnist.
“My feeling is it’s being orchestrated, it’s a game, and people who pay attention know that,” he said. “We have a media that doesn’t report the news. We have a media that wants to make the news.”
Mr. Paterson — whose approval ratings and support even among fellow Democrats have dipped this year — also mentioned Deval L. Patrick, the Massachusetts governor and the country’s only other current black governor, and suggested that criticisms leveled against him are based on race.
“The reality is the next victim on the list, and you can see it coming, is President Obama, who did nothing more than trying to reform a health care system,” Mr. Paterson said.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe,
can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things
at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose,
and burning desire, can be translated into riches."
— Napoleon Hil
Pull the Plug on ObamaCare
It's the best cure for what ails the Obama presidency.
By PEGGY NOONAN
Looking back, this must have been the White House health-care strategy:
Health care as a subject is extraordinarily sticky, messy and confusing. It's inherently complicated, and it's personal. There are land mines all over the place. Don't make the mistake the Clintons made and create a plan that gets picked apart, shot down, and injures the standing of the president. Instead, push it off on Congress. Let them come up with a dozen plans. It will keep them busy. It will convince them yet again of their importance and autonomy. It will allow them to vent, and perhaps even exhaust, their animal spirits. Various items and elements within each bill will get picked off by the public. Fine, that's to be expected. The bills may in fact yield a target-rich environment. Fine again. Maybe health care's foes will get lost in the din and run out of ammo. Maybe they'll exhaust their animal spirits, too.
Summer will pass, the fight confined to the public versus Congress. And at the end, in the fall, the beauty part: The president swoops in and saves the day, forcing together an ultimate and more moderate plan that doesn't contain the more controversial elements but does constitute a successful first step toward universal health care.
That's not what happened.
It all got hotter, quicker than the White House expected. The many plans of Congress congealed in the public mind into one plan, and the one plan became a poison pool. The president is now immersed in it.
President John F. Kennedy walks with humility after his Bay of Pigs fiasco.
***
Here's another thing that didn't work. (I write as if health-care reform or insurance reform or whatever it's called this week is already a loss, a historic botch, because it is. Even if the White House wins, they lose, because the cost in terms of public trust and faith was too high.)
Every big idea that works is marked by simplicity, by clarity. You can understand it when you hear it, and you can explain it to people. Social Security: Retired workers receive a public pension to help them through old age. Medicare: People over 65 can receive taxpayer-funded health care. Welfare: If you have no money and cannot support yourself, we will help as you get back on your feet.
These things are clear. I understand them. You understand them. The president's health-care plan is not clear, and I mean that not only in the sense of "he hasn't told us his plan." I mean it in terms of the voodoo phrases, this gobbledygook, this secret language of government that no one understands—"single payer," "public option," "insurance marketplace exchange." No one understands what this stuff means, nobody normal.
And when normal people don't know what the words mean, they don't say to themselves, "I may not understand, but my trusty government surely does, and will treat me and mine with respect." They think, "I can't get what these people are talking about. They must be trying to get one past me. So I'll vote no."
***
In a more beautiful world, the whole health-care chapter could become, for the president, that helpful thing, the teachable moment. The president the past month has been taught a lot by the American people. It's all there in the polls. He could still step back, rethink, say it didn't work, promise to return with something better.
When presidents make clear, with modesty and even some chagrin, that they have made a mistake but that they've learned a lesson and won't be making it again, the American people tend to respond with sympathy. It is our tradition and our impulse.
Such admissions are not a sign of weakness. John F. Kennedy knew this after the Bay of Pigs. He didn't blame his Republican predecessor, Dwight Eisenhower, or the agencies that had begun the invasion's tentative planning under Ike. JFK made it clear he'd learned a great deal, which increased confidence in his leadership. His personal popularity rose so high that he later wryly noted that the more mistakes he made, the more popular he became.
I suspect the American people would appreciate seeing Barack Obama learn from this, and keep going. He's their president. He will be for the next few difficult years, which will no doubt contain moments he will have to lead us through. They also probably wouldn't mind seeing a wry, modest, very human and self-critical stance from a new president who doesn't strut and doesn't swagger but does have a level of 1950s cool, Old Vegas cool, of supreme and confident smoothness that one wouldn't mind seeing ruffled a bit by that old ruffler, reality. Critics of George W. Bush will say here, "Did he ever show wry self-criticism?" No, he didn't. And that's why it ended so well for him.
Modern presidents are always afraid to show anything so human as modesty or doubt. They're afraid of the endless cable-news loop of "I think I was wrong, I think I misjudged, I didn't get it right." They're afraid of death by soundbite. Which is understandable. But they should get over it, especially when it comes to a bit of self-criticism, and even a bit of self-doubt. Modesty is one of the prevailing moods of the moment, it's part of where the American people are and have been since at least a year ago when the economy tanked. We all lived through the abundance, made investments, not only financial ones, that turned out good or bad, made mistakes of judgment, and are wondering about the past decade, and its mistakes, and our part in its mistakes.
It shouldn't become a wallow, but there's nothing wrong with self-reflection and trying to learn from everything we did that was wrong, and right. It wouldn't be so bad to see a president echo this.
***
A final factor contributed to the mess of the health-care debate, and that the White House might ponder it. Looking back, what a lucky man President Clinton was to have—to help bring about after his own health-care fiasco—a Congress controlled by the opposite party. What a great and historic team Mr. Clinton and Newt Gingrich were, a popular Democratic president and a determined GOP leader with a solid majority. Welfare reform, a balanced budget, and a sense the public could have that not much crazy would happen and some serious progress might be made. If Mr. Clinton pressed too hard, Mr. Gingrich would push back. If Mr. Gingrich pressed too hard Mr. Clinton pushed back. Two gifted, often perplexing and always controversial Boomers who didn't even like each other, and yet you look back now and realize: Good things happened there.
Right now Mr. Obama's gift is his curse, a Congress dominated by his party. While the country worries about the economy and two wars, the Democrats of Congress are preoccupied with the idea that this is their moment, now is their time, health care now, "Never let a good crisis go to waste," the only blazingly memorable phrase to be uttered in the new era.
It's not especially pleasurable to see history held hostage to ideological vanity, but it's not the first time. And if they keep it up, they'll help solve the president's problem. He'll have a Republican congress soon enough.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
hummmm
Okla. City fire station catches fire
borrowed from Heather.... Andrew and Madison... heading off to school...
First Day of School!!
After three shoe changes this morning so that her flower on her big toes showed we ended up in sandles, I was praying that she did not want to change clothes :)Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Hank Williams Jr. Visits Old Ghosts at '127 Rose Avenue'
"A lot of the songs got written when I was out with my two Labradors and a hickory stick at 7:30 in the morning," says the legendary performer. "I don't think I've ever had a whole album where it came together this well and this quickly. It was, 'Here's the melody, here are the words -- bam! There it is.' There's a lot of magic here."
In addition to the topical single, 'Red, White and Pink-Slip Blues,' the disc features a collaboration with bluegrass band the Grascals on 'All the Roads.' Hank also reflects on his musical heroes and family legacy with songs such as 'Mighty Oak Trees' and 'Last Driftin' Cowboy,' a tune dedicated to the late musician Don Helms, best known as the steel guitar player in Hank Williams Sr.'s Drifting Cowboys band.
The album's ghostly title track is a reference to the boyhood home of Hank Sr., in Georgiana, Ala. -- although it's actually on Rose Street. Open to tourists, there are a number of the country legend's personal items on display. The town also hosts an annual festival at the Hank Williams Music Park, with Hank Sr.'s daughter, Jett Williams among the performers this year.
And speaking of daughters, on the same day Hank Jr. released his album, his daughter, Holly Williams released her latest, titled 'Here with Me.' And in August, Holly's half-brother Hank Williams III will unleash the latest album from his band Assjack.
Obama Goes Postal, Lands in Dead-Letter Office: Caroline Baum
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- “UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.” -- Barack Obama, Aug. 11, 2009
No institution has been the butt of more government- inefficiency jokes than the U.S. Postal Service. Maybe the Department of Motor Vehicles.
The only way the post office can stay in business is its government subsidy. The USPS lost $2.4 billion in the quarter ended in June and projects a net loss of $7 billion in fiscal 2009, outstanding debt of more than $10 billion and a cash shortfall of $1 billion. It was moved to intensive care -- the Government Accountability Office’s list of “high risk” cases - - last month and told to shape up. (It must be the only entity that hasn’t cashed in on TARP!)
That didn’t stop President Barack Obama from holding up the post office as an example at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last week.
When Obama compared the post office to UPS and FedEx, he was clearly hoping to assuage voter concerns about a public health-care option undercutting and eliminating private insurance.
What he did instead was conjure up visions of long lines and interminable waits. Why do we need or want a health-care system that works like the post office?
What’s more, if the USPS is struggling to compete with private companies, as Obama implied, why introduce a government health-care option that would operate at the same disadvantage?
Obama Unscripted
These are just two of the questions someone listening to the president’s health-insurance reform roadshow might want to ask.
Impromptu Obamanomics is getting scarier by the day. For all the president’s touted intelligence, his un-teleprompted comments reveal a basic misunderstanding of capitalist principles.
For example, asked at the Portsmouth town hall how private insurance companies can compete with the government, the president said the following:
“If the private insurance companies are providing a good bargain, and if the public option has to be self-sustaining -- meaning taxpayers aren’t subsidizing it, but it has to run on charging premiums and providing good services and a good network of doctors, just like any other private insurer would do -- then I think private insurers should be able to compete.”
Self-sustaining? The public option? What has Obama been doing during those daily 40-minute economic briefings coordinated by uber-economic-adviser,Larry Summers?
Capitalism Explained
Government programs aren’t self-sustaining by definition. They’re subsidized by the taxpayer. If they were self-financed, we’d be off the hook.
Llewellyn Rockwell Jr., chairman of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, and editor of LewRockwell.com, put it this way in an Aug. 13 commentary on Mises.org:
“The only reason for a government service is precisely to provide financial support for an operation that is otherwise unsustainable, or else there would be no point in the government’s involvement at all.”
Rockwell sees no “economic reason for a government postal system” and would abolish it.
Of course, there’s the small matter of the U.S. Constitution. Article 1, Section 8, grants Congress the power “to establish Post Offices and Post Roads.” A series of subsequent statutes gave the USPS a monopoly in the delivery of first-class mail. Congress thought that without such protection, private carriers would cherry-pick the high-profit routes and leave money-losing deliveries in remote areas to the post office. (In those days, the USPS covered most of its expenses with revenue.)
Less Bad Option
It was only through exemptions in the law that private carriers, such as UPSand FedEx, were allowed to compete in the delivery of overnight mail.
Short of a constitutional amendment or a waiver from Congress, we are stuck with the USPS.
But back to our storyline. Everyone makes a mistake or flubs a line when asked questions on the spot, including the president of the United States. We can overlook run-on sentences, subject and verb tense disagreement, even a memory lapse when it comes to facts and figures.
The proliferation of Obama’s gaffes and non sequiturs on health care has exceeded the allowable limit. He has failed repeatedly to explain how the government will provide more (health care) for less (money). He has failed to explain why increased demand for medical services without a concomitant increase in supply won’t lead to rationing by government bureaucrats as opposed to the market. And he has failed to explain why a Medicare-like model is desirable when Medicare itself is going broke.
The public is left with one of two unsettling conclusions: Either the president doesn’t understand the health-insurance reform plans working their way through Congress, or he understands both the plans and the implications and is being untruthful about the impact.
Neither option is good; ignorance is clearly preferable to the alternative.
(Caroline Baum, author of “Just What I Said,” is a Bloomberg News columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the writer of this column: Caroline Baum in New York atcabaum@bloomberg.net.
August 19, 2009
Mr. Stan and Ann Moffat
3333 East 68th
Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074
Dear Mr. Moffat,
Thank you for your email regarding the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454). Rest assured I strongly oppose H.R. 2454, and I appreciate you taking the time to share how this legislation will impact small business and farming.
Climate change legislation represents a major loss of liberty, and a vast expansion of the federal government. It would concentrate power and authority in the Administrator of the EPA and related climate change boards based in Washington, DC, in what would amount to the most dramatic shift towards centralized economic planning in our history. Assuming the most conservative estimate, the system proposed in the last Congress would have transferred $7 trillion into the hands of the Administrator of the EPA, who would have immediately assumed a position of tremendous influence in our economy.
I am gravely concerned with the direction and leadership of our country in general. Our government continues to expand - wielding more power and proposing more arbitrary regulations on business and individuals. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in particular often poses an enormous threat to our basic freedoms, especially in regards to its authority to regulate "greenhouse gases." EPA's increasing thirst for arbitrary regulatory authority in the name of saving the environment is growing at an exponential pace and must be stopped.
The economic well-being of Americans and the well-being of our environment are tied together; policies that do not recognize this fact are neither sustainable nor effective. The policies we create today establish a precedence that will continue to impact our lives and economy, thus it is imperative that we consider real science as we continue to debate environment issues.
We must do everything we can to protect our natural environment, but we must make sure these policies are actually necessary, effective, and within our constitutional authority. Cap and trade legislation will place an unbearable financial burden on consumers (much as it has in Europe) all based on a theory that is far from settled. While it is important to reduce harmful pollutants, it is not prudent to create far-reaching measures without scientific data that fully proves the dangers of global warming, especially if they have potentially disastrous economic consequences.
Though the debate on global climate change still rages on, the tide of sensationalistic global warming theories is actually beginning to turn as many scientists have spoken out against these scare tactics. In fact, many reports have claimed global cooling may be a greater concern. Although environmental extremists continue to claim imminent consequences if we do not quickly impose regulations, I am confident that science will disprove the idea that we must suffocate carbon-based industries.
Rest assured, under no circumstance will I support such a vast overreach of the federal government.
Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely, A
Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
United States Senator
Monday, August 17, 2009
San Jose Mercury News: Boxer could face re-election fight of her career against Fiorina
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The three-term senator's fate could be tied closely to voters' take on President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress come fall 2010. View Full Story
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Brian Stoner working on a preservation project to preserve the American Native language in song so youngsters can learn the old songs
of the Ponca Tribe. This is a wonderful idea. Hopefully this will catch on and more will do it regardless of nationality or race... much is being lost as time rolls on...
Looking north before I jumped in truck and headed home... sigh.. winds to 65 knocked down power lines in Stillwater and a friend of mine had 4 ft. dia
trees blown down along with the huge hi line poles that feed Stillwater from the east...
Friday, August 14, 2009
From a friend....
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Jeff Salantai is the first person living with hemophilia to summit Mount Rainier.
This is the real deal...We received tons of thoughts and prayers from many of you and we just wanted to say thank you to everyone who called or wrote wishing us luck.
We summited the mountain at 7:20am on Saturday at 14,410 feet….so wiped out we could barely function (only to realize we had about 7 more hours of continuous trekking to get back down) but we did it.
I’ve attached three pictures and below are some snippets about what we did if you are interested.
1^st picture (047) – this is a picture of the sunrise we took from the side of the mountain at about 12,500 feet. It was taken around 5am (although I’m not sure exactly when it was). At this point we had been on the mountain for about 21 hours (we started at about 8 or 9 the previous morning) with just one rest brake at 10,000 feet to grab a couple hours of sleep. It was breathtaking (literally) being above the clouds looking down at huge peaks below us and seeing the sun pop through the clouds. It was my favorite moment. At this point I would say we were both thinking “holy crap we still have 2 more hours to go and 2,000 feet of vertical elevation to the top…the hard work is still ahead of us!”.
2^nd picture (050) – this picture was taken from about 13,600 feet near the top of Emman’s glacier. We were about 1 hour from the top. You can see the peaks and other mountains around us more clearly and the cloud layer that was thousands of feet below us. In the bottom left of the picture you can see a climber heading back down and a little bit of the ice trail. By now we are having to force food into our body. I was feeling sick and trying to eat frozen energy gels, power bars or anything was horribly nauseating to me but our guides were berating us to eat. We were both wiped out by this time and were sort of on auto-pilot. I think we knew that by now with only 1 hour to the top we were going to make it. Everyone who was going to wash-out of the climb had already been taken off the mountain by guides.
3^rd picture – (065) This is a picture of Jeff and myself along with our lead guide, Dave Hahn. This picture was taken on Columbia Crest at 14,410 feet…the summit…the glory shot!. Jeff is in the red coat on the right, Dave is in the middle and I’m on the left. As it turns out our guide is a famous mountaineer legend who has summated Mt. Everest 11 times and still counting. He has summated Rainier 252 times. He has led expeditions to find the bodies of some of the early climbers on Mt. Everest and has filmed and been in numerous TV documentary’s about it. He guides Rainer trips now once or twice a summer for fun and we drew the lucky straw. The banner we are holding is a summit flag that Jeff had made. It has the BioRx logo on it and says “Summit for Someone” which is the charity we were raising money for. We got to rest for about 20 more minutes after this picture was taken before starting back down.
If you are interested here are a couple of snippets about what we did.
1. Mt Rainier is the tallest mountain in the lower 49 states (only
Alaska has a higher mountain). It is located just outside of
Ashford, WA..
2. About 30% (5 of 18) of the group that started with us did not make it
3. Jeff and I raised about $9,500 for at-risk youth in a program
called Summit for Someone. We additionally raised some money (we
don’t know how much yet) for Save One Life which provides factor
and financial support to people with bleeding disorders in 3^rd
world countries. BioRx is going to match the funds for Save One Life.
4. We both agreed that this is the hardest thing we’ve ever done.
I’ve run a marathon, done 4 more 23 mile runs, completed 5 Olympic
length triathlons, climbed 2 other 14ft mountains (no glaciers)
and raced in 100k road bike races Jeff likewise has done some
pretty spectacular physical challenges like climbing the 2^nd and
third largest mountains in the US, rock climbed some amazing
cliffs, and competing in 100mile bike races on a routine basis. We
both agreed that they all paled in comparison to the effort and
mental trial of this experience.
5. We were blessed with good support, great guides, lots of friend
and family like you wishing us the best.
Most spectacularly – we are 99% sure that Jeff is the first person living with hemophilia to summit Mount Rainier. There are certainly other higher mountains (Denali, K2, Everest) but Jeff is in a very elite group and who knows he may now hold a record for the highest summit in the world by someone with hemophilia …who knows….he almost certainly is the first to summit Rainer. We are going to try to fact check this and if we can confirm it we’ll publicize that fact. We know of one other hemophiliac who attempted Rainier two years ago but was taken off the mountain at 12,500 feet in an unsuccessful bid.
Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. This was a great experience that we’ll never forget and something I’m proud that our company participated in.
*Eric Hill*