loveliberate

Hello All! This is one of my favorite subjects of discussion and/or daydreaming. I'vr traveled around the US quite a bit, plus a little in Canada & Mexico. I'm constantly reading about places that interest me... Anyway here are my top picks: #1. Cascadia! In all my travels & reading, I have not found a place that beats this region - at least for my particular lifestyle & interests, etc. The exact borders vary a bit depending on who you talk with but at a minimum it includes the land from the top of the Cascade mountains west to the coast, plus outlying islands. NW California is on the southern end and SW British Columbia is up top - Oregon and Washington are the core. Others extend Cascadia north to Alaska and south to the Bay area in Cali and inland to anywhere in the Columbia river drainage. Elsewhere in North America: - Asheville & Western North Carolina or just the southern Appalachians in general is my favorite part of the SE US. - In the NE, the Vermont & New Hampshire / Northern Appalachians region is nice. - Heading west, I like the highlands of the SW: Colorado, New Mexico & Arizona plus NW Sonora in Mexico. I hate Phoenix, most other cities & towns are nice. - The Northern Rockies in western Wyoming & Montana are really nice - Missoula would be my first pick for a town to live in. - In Canada, I really want to explore BC & Alberta more. Both appeal to me in different ways as a place to live. In Latin America: - Costa Rica & Argentina sound nice. Maybe Venezuala? And Beyond: - New Zealand - SW Europe: Switzerland, France & Italy I hope this thread keeps going!

Hola, In response to the original question. If I were ever to date again, I'd strongly prefer Vegans and dont think I'd want to be in a long-term intimate relationship with a meat-eater for sure. That said, with 3 kids and my wife and I having just celebrated our 10th anniversary it's pretty much all theoretical for me anyway! Rob, If I do become available and you're on the market... well we can talk then! I'm definitely more about substance than image - but that orange hat would have to go.

Emails & calls probably wont do the job by themselves but they will definitely help. The more attention this gets and the more the jailers know that people who care are watching, the better!

A great idea but it rarely works that way - the cops are likely to claim that it would be a security risk & that they cant be giving Chris "special treatment". Also, it would not change the underlying problem - jails & prisons need to provide nutritionally adequate vegan options.

All, I have a bunch of stuff that I'd like to turn into cash or at least stuff that I need/want more. Prices are flexible and I'm very open to trades. I'm in Portland, Oregon but can probably ship this stuff anywhere. I do not have a digital camera but may be able to get pictures. Please let me know if you have any questions! Here's a partial list of what I have to offer: *Clothes: - Marmot Windstopper Microfleece vest, Size: Men's Medium, Color: Cobalt Blue/Black, Used in excellent condition. $25 - The North Face fleece vest, Size: Men's Large, Color: Dark Blue/Black, Used in excellent condition $12 - Eastern Mountain Sports fleece vest, Size: Women's Medium, Color: Dark Blue, Used in excellent condition $8 - Columbia Sportswear packable wind/rain jacket, Size: Men's Large, Color: Yellow/Black, Used in excellent condition, $8 - Patagonia shorts, Organic Cotton, Women's Size 6, Light Gray, $6 - I have several more fleece, gore-tex & capilene items, mostly men's medium or large tops that I'll probably post later. Please let me know if you're looking for anything specific! * Books, all are used in great condition: - Where There Is No Doctor (missing first couple of pages including part of Table of Contents): Retail: $22, Here: $6 - Roadside Geology of Montana, Retail: $18, Here: $5 - Montana Impressions, (Montana photobook, mostly nature shots) $2 - Montana Native Plants and Early People's, Retail: $9.95, Here: $3 * Packs & Tent: - Jansport Hiking top-loading pack, frameless w/ padded back, medium capacity (maybe 2500-3000 cubic inches), Purple & Black, $12 - Lowe Alpine "Dash", Black w/ Dark Blue, padded back, shoulder & wasit strap. This is a small hiking or day back or a large joggers pack. Used in great condition. $10 - Lowe Alpine waist/butt pack, Older style, Large w/ exterior attachment points & straps, internal pockets & elastic straps, Used in great condition, $3 *** THINGS I'LL TRADE FOR: *** Here's a partial list of stuff that I'd like to have: * Outdoor clothing: - Preferred Sizes: Men's Medium to large - Preferred colors: olive, green, brown, dark gray - Preferred brands/types: Carhartt, BDU/EMT type, Dickies * Backpacks: - Preferred colors: olive, green, brown, dark gray - Preferred brands/types: hydration & 3 day, Camelback, Blackhawk, Eagle * Bicycle: I'm looking to get a mountain bike & gear but dont know much about the subject - suggestions? * Nutritional Bars & Meal powders, etc: All must be: vegan, unused in sealed containers and unexpired. Here are examples of suitable products: - Bars: Clif, Clif Builders, Odwalla, Luna, Organic Food Bar, Vega - Powders: Spirulina, Peaceful Planet's Supreme Meal, The Ultimate Meal, Vega * Weightlifting/Fitness Equipment: I'm very open to suggestions. I'm interested in Kettlebells & Clubbells * First Aid / Emergency Medical Supplies * Lights: Headlamp, Surefire brand or similar * Batteries: CR123 * Defensive tools & accessories, esp. firearms - please contact me directly with specifics. * Gun, Knife & other training replica's such as Airsoft, ASP "Red Guns" & similar, Simunitions & similar * Knives & training knives, I prefer plain (non-serrated) edged knives. Contact me directly for specifics but some knives I'm looking for come from Becker, Spyderco, Emerson, Benchmade & Cold Steel. I'm also interested in knives with broken tips or damaged blades that I can make into training knives. * Books & videos from Gabe Suarez, Andy Stanford, Dog Brothers, SouthNarc, John Farnam & similar folks What else you got? If you have something to trade that you think I may be interested in, please tell me about it!

Hola, Jeff definitely seems like an interesting and thoughtful person who shatters many stereotypes. His hometown is not that far from my own - I hope to meet him in person sometime.

Are you familiar with Chris's case, being in jail or the US legal system? Chris is in jail because he has been *accused*, not convicted, of doing Earth Liberation actions. Whether or not the government considers those actions criminal is besides the point until he has at least gone through a fair trial and been convicted. If he is convicted, that does not mean that he has done anything illegal or wrong. The US government / legal system has convicted many innocent people, often intentionally. Even if Chris did what he is accused of, many people would consider his actions justified, regardless of legality. Laws cannot dictate morality. Beyond those issues, all human beings have the right to be treated fairly, regardless of whether or not someone considers them to be a "criminal". Being able to eat nutritious food that does not violate your personal beliefs is about as basic of a human right as there is. I dont know of anyone who's seen what it's like in any jail or prison that would consider it to be a "vacation resort".

Halo i Dobrodošli na!

Ok, I just wasn't sure if it was that, a general dislike of the sport, disagreeance with Jeff's politics' or something else entirely.

Sorry to hear that you feel that way. I think this is a personal call and Eric should be supported for making a choice that's for the greater good. If Eric dies - it's the jailers fault for not giving him an adequate diet and the governments fault for putting him behind bars in the first place. For ways to help Eric, please see: http://www.supporteric.org For more info on the "Green Scare", please see: http://www.greenscare.org

Thanks for doing this! I just added myself and hope lots more folks will too - it'd neat to see where folks are from. Robert, I didnt see you on there.

Oi e Bem-vindo!

Why frightening JW?

** Wild Earth 2006: Resisting Ecocide ** Action training and networking, June 15-18 in the forest near vancouver, b.c. Coast Salish Territory A four-day campout featuring workshops, training, music, and visioning for future campaigns. Wild Earth is an inclusive gathering, dedicated to forging alliances across boundaries of race, class, gender, and age. Join us for hands-on training in non-violence and civil disobedience tactics, tree-climbing, blockades, primitive skills, and more. Network with activists for environmental and social justice, share skills and learn from each other. for the latest info on the gathering sign up for the listserve: https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wildearth-l interweb: http://wildearth.resist.ca

All, I wasnt sure where to post this. I dont know anything about his diet but I'm glad to see an Anarchist getting all of this exposure. The Ultimate Fighting Anarchist - In These Times - April 21, 2006 By Gabriel Thompson He is, without a doubt, the toughest subscriber to In These Times. Standing 5' 9" tall, weighing 240 pounds and sporting a shaved head, Jeff "The Snowman" Monson looks like a cartoon ready to pop, a compressed giant of crazy shoulders, massive biceps and meaty forearms. When he sneers, people shudder. When he sweats, they turn away. When he's angry, your best bet is to run. He's angry right now, even though his combat career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) -- an often-bloody tournament that combines martial arts disciplines like Brazilian Jujitsu and Muay Thai Kickboxing -- is taking off. In February's pay-per-view event, Monson easily beat his opponent with a chokehold in the first round. If things keep going this way, he could have a title shot in the heavyweight division, against the explosive Andrei "The Pit Bull" Arlovski. So no, it's not his future career prospects that have him pissed. It's the state of the world. "I'm not some sort of conspiracy theorist," Monson says of his political leanings. "I'm not talking about how the government is trying to hide UFOs. I just want to do away with hierarchy. I'm saying that our economic system, capitalism, is structured so that it only benefits a small percentage of very wealthy people. When I was traveling in Brazil, they had us staying at a really posh hotel. Outside the hotel there was a mom sleeping on the sidewalk with her two kids. That's when reality hits you. What did that woman ever do? Who did she ever hurt?" Monson wears his politics on his sleeve, as well as the rest of his body. An anarcho-syndicalist star is tattooed on his chest, an anarchy sign on his back and another "A" on his leg. While he loves his sport, he also feels a responsibility to use whatever exposure he receives for a larger purpose. "I don't think I'm more important than anyone else, but since some people are paying attention, then I'm going to use this as a vehicle to express myself," he says. Some fans have labeled him anti-American, but he shrugs off such criticism. He was slightly taken aback, however, when three Secret Service agents showed up at his gym in Olympia, Wash., last fall. A t-shirt prompted the visit. While Monson was preparing for a fight in Portland, a film crew came to the gym and recorded his outfit that day, which included a tank top that read "Assassinate Bush." When he entered Portland's Rose Garden for the fight, a video clip of him training in the shirt was played on the Jumbotron, and after he finished offhis opponent in the first round, he was more interested in speaking to the post-match media about the devastation of Hurricane Katrina than his fight career. He mentioned his anger that the Bush administration had diverted $76 million from the Army Corps of Engineers for the levies, and that the National Guard were in Iraq instead of Louisiana and Mississippi. "I was making a political statement, trying to open people's eyes," says Monson of his t-shirt and post-fight comments. Not long after, he had three sets of open eyes walking through the doors of his gym. "The Secret Service told me that they wanted to search my gym and my house. They said that if I refused, they would have a warrant within an hour." They poked around the gym and then headed over to Monson's house. "I told them that they could go to my house if they wanted, but that I was going to stay here and finish my workout," Monson says, not sounding the least bit intimidated. "They haven't bothered me since." The UFC fighting style is called Mixed Martial Arts, but at times it looks more like a barroom brawl, especially to non-practitioners who miss the technique and strategy. It's easy to poke fun at the event: heavily muscled and tattooed men wearing skimpy skin-tight trunks, celebrity models in the stands beside drunk frat boys wearing wife beaters with their caps on backwards. Its popularity has skyrocketed, thanks in part to the self-styled "first cable network for men," Spike TV, which has a UFC-based reality show. Tickets can go for nearly $1,000, and sell out quickly. But the sport is more than mere show. Monson works hard to maintain his gargantuan body. When preparing for a match, he'll train six days a week -- lifting weights, running, boxing, grappling -- and though a veteran at 33, he feels like he's just now reaching his prime in what he believes is the hardest sport in the world. "I would describe it as the evolution of unarmed combat," Monson says. "You have to know kickboxing, jujitsu, wrestling. If you don't know how to do even one of them, you'll be beaten bad." Despite his build, Monson is more technician than brawler, and in 1999 and 2005 he won the Abu Dhabi World Submission Championship, held annually in that tiny country recently making headlines, the United Arab Emirates. He takes each UFC fight very seriously. "You can use any technique, and you have to be in great physical shape. You're facing a guy that's trying to knock you out or submit you, so it's no joke." Monson sees no contradiction between his radical beliefs and his full-time occupation. "What I do is completely different than war, because everyone wants to be there, and it's a competition. There's no victim. We're all entertainers," he explains. "If there is any contradiction, it's that we're part of the capitalist machine, and I'm really just a wage slave. You know, we don't make any money without fighting, and if I win I get more; if I lose I get less. But it's simply a sport. Sure, it's somewhat like a gladiator sport, but it's voluntary." Monson grew up middle class in Minnesota. His mother still works as a nurse, and his late father worked at a penitentiary. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he wrestled, and then received his Masters in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. During his graduate work, Monson had his political awakening -- a course entitled Community Psychology. "Oh man, that class really opened my eyes," he says. "Just looking at the way the world is run, the way that the people that might be disabled or have mental issues are left behind. How education and general welfare are not a priority, and how the elite run everything for their own benefit. Then I started reading a bunch of stuff -- Animal Farm, the International Socialist Review, Chomsky -- and I started thinking in a different way." Monson the Ultimate Fighter uses Plato's allegory of the cave to describe the experience. After graduating from Minnesota, he moved to Washington State, where from 1997 to 2001 he counseled the mentally ill for Lewis County; his primary responsibility was to determine whether an individual needed to be institutionalized. "I started right when they were pushing through welfare reform, and so we had all of these huge cuts in money for mental health and welfare. It's the same basic idea with No Child Left Behind. The government tells you that you have to cut your programs, cut your money for books, cut the money for teachers, but then you are expected to somehow do better. It's a brilliant strategy, really, from their perspective." Despite being a world-class competitor, Monson finds time to remain politically engaged. In 2003, he marched against the Iraq War in Seattle, and protested the Free Trade Area of the Americas in Miami (where the notoriously aggressive cops wisely left Monson alone). He is also a member of the Industrial Workers of the World, and despite the controversy that surrounds him, continues to engage people within the fighting community about politics. So what lies ahead for "The Snowman"? At the moment his focus is on his next big fight. On April 15, he'll be back in the Octagon -- the distinctive eight-sided ring of the UFC -- hoping to make quick work of Marcio "Pe de Pano (Sugarfoot)" Cruz. Then, if all goes well, a title shot. "But this is not my whole life," Monson says of fighting. "I've got children and a girlfriend, and I like to be with my family. I try to remain involved in political events. After my next fight, I'll be taking my son to Montreal. They're having an Anarchist Book Fair, and they invited me to come up and do a workshop." The topic: self-defense.

Thanks for posting this!

From: [email protected] hi all, m*a*m*a (mothers alliance 4 mutual aid) is looking for articles/essays for a zine about forming childcare collectives that (hopefully) communities can use as a resource in addressing the lack of childcare options. please send submissions by June 1 to [email protected]. pls forward to anyone who might be interested. thx! ______________________________________________ a-parenting mailing list - [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/a-parenting free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org

Hello & Welcome!

Sorry to hear that your contest here got canceled Robert. A Portland meet-up sounds great - I'll be happy to help organize it if you like. I'm a member at People's (All Veggie!) Co-op and can reserve the community room there sometime for a meet-up... A new job working for Vega? Good for you! What will you be doing with them? Do you happen to know if they have or will have any positions coming open? After checking out their products while visiting BC, I've been considering contacting them about job possibilities.

Hello & Welcome! It's great to see someone from Roseburg - what's the vegan scene like there?

Thanks for the welcomes everyone! Robert, I'm always up for helping with cool projects. I'm still waiting for info on the cost, time and address for your BB competition but we're planning on being there. Anyone else from here coming out for that? I'll also be active here on these forums as much as my limited time permits. One of these days, I'd like to come down and check out the Corvallis area - I'd love to hear suggestions of things to do and see, places to meet folks, etc. Bye for now!

Hola! Thanks for having such great forums! I live in Portland, Oregon, usa - stop by & visit if you are in the area! By the way, how many folks here are from Oregon, Washington or BC? I'd love to meet folks from here in person! About me: 28yo, vegan since 14 - my partner & 3 kids (ages 7,4,2) all vegan - the kids since before birth. We lean towards organic, natural &/or raw foods. I love to travel, explore new places & meet new folks. I enjoy being outdoors & would love doing more outdoor sports: hiking, mtn. biking, skiing, snowshowing, canoeing, rafting, kayaking, rock-climbing and similar. I'm also into most everything related to self-defense, Please feel free to ask me questions! Bye for now.