Consider this parable:

"If real estate developers built like programmers write code the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization."

I consider myself lucky to have been able to meet, and listen to, Aubrey Davis - via transportation civic activity late in his life. Mr. Davis biggest accomplishment was with Group Health, a pioneering approach to medical care where he was both a founding member and early CEO.

Here's a link to the Seattle Times article.

Okay, in the winter this really is not a super tough climb - but given I'm knocking on 50 years of age, and well past 350 pounds in weight I ask you to pander to my delusions of toughness.

Regardless, this is a classic hike, especially in the Winter, the only sane time to visit this furnace of a biome. It climbs 3200 odd feed over 5.5 miles, one way. Unfortunately, the trip is also a good example of the failures of Federal Public Land Management so much in the news these days.

Yeah, there is a great trail head, even a bit overbuilt with railing and concrete parking blocks - but it is pretty much hidden - as sort of a private reserve only for the friends of the rangers. There is basically no signage out on Hwy 160 and what signage that is there is misleading. There are detailed interpretative displays, but none that give credit to the miners that built the trail and what mention of them is disrespectful of their entrepreneurial spirit, not to mention damn hard work.

The freedom of homelessness can be terrifying, but that freedom gives one the ability to advocate the truth without fear of further loss. Those that control society have built a psychological construct of manipulation upon the fear of loss of home, seeding the inner devils of destructiveness upon those who can see no other way. These individuals end up serving the masters of this unlawful and unconstitutional construct – their lives serving as nothing but poster children of fear for the normal, the domesticated, the housed.

This article is about taking ownership, as citizen, of the law, and the recourse it is supposed to provide.

The construct of fear used by the powerful, the 1%, is the law, the rational side of the social mind, the flip side to the emotional, religion. The written parts of the law are only one cog in a larger wheel that has existed even before written history, that wheel that makes us social beings.

Occupy the Law by Douglas Tooley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.motleytools.com/blog/2013/03/taking_charge_of_the_law_chang.html.

As some of you may recall I currently have a self-represented appeal of a camping ticket I received in SW Colorado, during June of 2010. That case is now before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. I've recently put out a Press Release, click through for the text.

UPDATE: A decision was issued March 20, unfavorable - the 10th Circuit continuing to refuse to answer to my arguments, nor to take responsibility for the consequences of the lower court's failure. Here's the Court's decision: 10th Circuit Decision on Camping Ticket

This is the San Juan River, at Mexican Hat, frozen, January 2013 - a reminder of the potential dangers of spring and early summer whitewater. For what it is worth, the San Juan is normally a great bet for for early and late season paddling.

Like war in the Middle East, southern border violence has permeated the otherwise satiated and obese American mind. We have been presented a consistent set of perspectives, but is it really the truth?

Among the educated and still thinking citizenry criticism of American actions in the Middle East is well known, such as the moral hypocrisy of the state of Israel. Once the victims of a genocidal holocaust Israel has become the perpetrators of an identical atrocity against the Palestinian people.

In a recently released video the BBC's Arabic Desk, in conjunction with the Guardian website, details the counter-insurgency tactics of the US in Iraq. BBC and the Guardian allege a divide and conquer effort utilizing Shia militias to battle Sunni resistors, utilizing specialized strategies and personnel developed in El Salvador and Vietnam, including the infamous 'Death Squads'

My question for you: Is the American Military, and whomever actually controls it, is engaging in an ongoing relationship with the Drug Cartels of Mexico creating a holocaust zone of genocidal death on both sides of the US border?

This is a work in progress in the Aztec Arches area of northern New Mexico, just south of Durango, Colorado. My Indian Caves trail is the first of these. Both of these trails are of more regional interest as opposed to the internationally known spans of Natural Bridges or Arches national monuments.

These trails do make an important point about BLM land use which appears ignorant of the variety of quality on their public properties - all too often the property is managed exclusively for resource extraction or over-protective wilderness, when much of their property would be managed with a mix of these goals, like the National Wild, Scenic, and Recreational river program.

Follow the jump for a description and a few more pictures.