Twenty bucks says Nancy Pelosi has never been to Jackson Hole (or even Wyoming for that matter) and Barrasso is just one scary dude. Bet you another twenty bucks he’s one of the next politicians to wreak havoc on the country, nevermind the state of Wyoming. There has been some scuttle-butt as far as how much money it cost to bring this year’s national Christmas tree from up the road to Washington, DC. I have mixed emotions about it.
To catch some people up to speed, the Christmas tree on the lawn of the nation's capital is from Wyoming and the Bridger Teton National Forest. (Pronounced "Tee-tin"...according to Pelosi.) More specifically, it is from Pacific Creek, which is on the right as you drive north of Jackson, past Moose and on the way towards Moran Junction. A truly beautiful part of the county in it's own right. The tree was spotted by a local resident and after it was deemed to be the nation's Christmas tree, it was "guarded" to avoid any harm being done to it. I'm not sure just how long, but most likely, a couple months. Rumor has it, it was being guarded so greenies wouldn't "spike it", which would make it very dangerous to cut down.
In true American fanfare, the tree was finally cut down in the beginning of November with all kinds of pomp and circumstance, and then strutted around the town square like a dead elk with it's blood and guts dripping on the pavement from the back of some hunter's pickup. (Ironically, a common site at that time of year as well.) The tree was then boxed up and given a scenic tour of the state of Wyoming, and then furthermore, transported hundreds of miles across the country on the back of a diesel guzzling tractor trailer. Lord knows how much money was spent on the entire operation, but much of the time, money and resources are reported to have been donated by some local and national business, including Encana. (I bet that makes you feel better...no?) Hard to say how much of the costs were actually covered by the donations, but i can't imagine it covered everything.
Now, as a Jackson Hole resident, it feels pretty cool to have the nation's Christmas be from where I call home. And I'm sure in towns like Tensleep, Manville and Bairoil, WY, it was probably the biggest event since, well, since the young Hansen boy drove down the street showing off his recently killed buck. (Ironic...no?) I'm sure it made lots of people feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and stoked the patriotic flame, so to speak. Well, maybe not lots, but a few thousand at the least. But at what cost?
It seems to be it would have been just as easy to cut a tree down from the nearest forest to the capital and stream the whole live on the web so the entire country could celebrate...no? I mean what's next...a tree from Alaska? Maybe we could get Sarah Palin to haul it down to DC on the top of her RV, have the Discovery Channel cover the whole trip and give Palin another $250,000 (what she make per episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska) to put in her coffer. That way when she wins in the next presidential election, she can team up with Barraso and "harvest" all of the forests, so at the next Christmas we can just buy a plastic pre-decorated tree at Kmart. Why not? The Capital Christmas Tree already has it's own website (one, two, three of them), Facebook page and blog. Bah, humbug!!!
Christmas – The financially fueled, purely symbolic celebration of a mythological deity on a day stolen from Pagans to force them to convert to a new belief system.
At least lots of living, oxygen giving trees are cut down to eventually end up in landfills.
What a pathetic, f***ing joke!
Again, I find it really hilarious that steve likes to judge others for wasteful actions but doesn’t see how taking a bout to Antarctica or a plane to new zealand could be viewed in the same light. You say they should have just cut a tree more locally, as you, surrounded by some of the best mountains on earth could ski more locally as well.
Not saying one is right and the other is wrong, just that we all have our priorities and we all need to stop judging everyone.
I read somewhere that the total cost for was around $400,000.00!
reg…i think the difference (or similarities?) is that when i go to antarctica, i’m spending my money, and with the christmas tree, the government is also spending my money. get it?
it is more about the $$$ than the planet.
how bout some more TRs and pics of sweet lines?
I thought this was a skiing blog. Where’s the skiing?
Steve, how much did each turn cost you down in Antarctica? New Zealand? I buy products from all your sites sponsors (BD, Dynafit, Arc, etc), so with your agruement, can’t I complain about how expensive your turns are? Obviously my dollars are supporting these companies which in turn support you and the website. If you just skied the Tetons, would the products I buy be cheaper because these companies don’t have to partially bankroll you?
I think you should be the last one to bitch about excessive habits.
it’s only mid december…chill.
i wish i could choose whether or not to pay taxes, or where/what exactly my taxes were spent on. kinda like buying outdoor gear.
i would agree with iahh and bs. i am not interested in politics or environmental debates when i look at this site. I can read the economist for that. With that said, and as constructive critcism, I do believe this site has taken a turn in the last 6 months or so. Much less of the real skiing stuff, tr’s and local teton information which was my initial draw years ago [and which was seemingly maintained in past off-seasons]. Seems like Steve has become a bit tired of maintaining the vigilance he exercised for several years, and is left to rely on tidbits, information or stories that frankly, some might not really care to read. I have thought Dawson’s site became boring [unless you are gear geek], and have suddenly become a bit bored of this one. Perhaps the big winter will change that, in the meantime, I will chill, and keep tuning in.
can’t please everyone everyday i guess…but thanks for the criticism.
“i wish i could choose whether or not to pay taxes, or where/what exactly my taxes were spent on.” Sounds like a conservative republican to me.
Like others said where is the skiing?
man…where you guys been? here’s some of my own (and other’s) recent creative. sorry, but i find powder skiing to be rather boring for TRs. and in case you didn’t realize it…it’s xmas season and i work in an outdoor shop…so it’s just a little busy.
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/did-i-poach-the-powderorsorry-mr-bighorn/
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/11/new-zealand-video-stoke-part-1/
http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/journal/ski/video/video-bd-athlete-steve-romeo-skiing-around-new-zealands-pioneer-hut-and-mount-aspiring
some humor…
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/dude/
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/coming-out-of-the-closet/
some gear…
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/risk-project-sky-step-binding-automatic-heel-lifter/
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/i-hate-high-heels/
some stoke…
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/12/freshfield-icefield-a-skiers-journey/
http://tetonat.staging.wpengine.com/2010/11/provo-bros-desert-spines-southern-utah/
I’m glad to see someone is willing to throw a little thoughtful religion and politics into their personal lives and past times. People want to brush this stuff under the rug and pretend it doesn’t exist in their “play time” ie visiting a ski blog. If you want mindless entertainment, turn on your TV. For me, I can’t seem to get away from all that crap, which is why I enjoy (backcountry) skiing and climbing with people who view life from outside “The Box”.
Seems like others here might be happier picking up their rightful role in a more traditional spectator “sport”, which would allow them a reprieve from the goings on in the rest of the world.
Can’t wait for mindless and wasteful consumer season to be over with, along with all the other shenanigans it brings with it.
Thanks for the post Steve!
I don’t come to this website for just the skiing stoke. If you do so, then you are missing something big. Websites like this put me in touch with the local community – the people, the land, the culture, and their interactions. JXN (as with most ski towns) is vibrant and brimming with people who care not only about playing in the mountains, but also the state of their local community and who go to courageous lengths to create awareness on injustices in their places. Steve happens to be one of these people….and what’s more who has actually stayed and now works his ass off to bring you your stoke. Lou D. doesn’t always post about his weekend adventures (check out his ’roundups’) yet he doesn’t receive this amount of criticism. Yeah, we all have our beliefs and our hypocrisies, and we all must choose our battles….blah blah blah.
It’s nice to see a local that gets off his high dynafits and decides to get his hands dirty. Thanks for the post Steve….and if I see Palin’s RV heading south towing a tree….I’ll make sure she swings through JXN….so the tree gets a proper tour. Have no fear though…everyone hates her up here!!
I’m with you Rando. Keep it up. Anyone offended should realize that politics (both sides) is a corrupt industry and the more closely one gets to any political dogma just implicates themselves as corrupt. Go big – and don’t feel guilty for having a conscience.
Steve the amount of money the government spent (IF ANY) is so small and so immeasurable that the idea you think this make any sense at all makes me second guess any of your opinions on anything. There is no doubt harvesting a tree from the east coast would have made more sense environmentally, been cheaper, along with saving a lot of donors a lot of money (This about money right? Not the environment?). However why not take a little pride in the fact that it came from a place that we all love and enjoy so much? A little awareness and promotion of our Natural Resources can never hurt. No one seemed to care or be as outraged when the tree came from Montana last year. As far as the guards being around the tree it was only for a month and they were there due to the same left wing BS you are talking about here. There is so much money wasted by both the right and left in our government that to single out something that was paid for by almost all donations is a little absurd. REG has it spot on and points out the hypocrisy in your views, and if it’s truly about money??? which is not what you post insinuates, then you need to start a political blog that rants about the real waste of “your money” in all the government agencies, but in regards to this post you couldn’t be further from the truth everything but forest service employees wages were dontated. FYI: Encana donated oak mats not a bunch of money, they were used to protect the forest floor while the tree was harvested, along with donating those same mats to the park service to do road construction in a “sensitive area” early this spring when it had nothing to do with PR or the tree. (Make you feel better… For me Yes actually it does.) You have right to your opinion but get the facts right.
pretty sure i said that a) I had mixed feelings on this one…and b) that it was cool that the tree was from wyo. granted the spin of this piece might lean towards one side…but…
Found out from my wife that her dad got to cut down 100 trees last month in Wyoming (where he used to be a state forester) for all of the senators in Washington. Goes right along with this national tree bull shit. I would think that there is an organization selling trees in DC to raise money for a good cause. I am hoping they want trees from the Steamboat area next year cause I will put in a bid to sell them some real pretty red trees as part of a beetle kill special.
Skiing has been great in NorCol.
Everyone feeling a little up tight today? I like a little personal/local perspective. Don’t like it, don’t read it.
So today I went boot shopping online, one of the boots I have been looking at was the Balck Diamond Quadrant. As I googled it Steve’s site came up with a review for them. It was a good review, helpfull, informative. and helped me make my choice.
Just wanted to say thanks Steve
Oh and about the Xmas Tree ! I am with Steve, in a time that people are short on cash, out of work, etc etc these nutjobs in office are so out of touch it is amazing ! And Pelosi can’t even pronounce Tetons ! They way she pronounced Teton made me cringe ( A pet peve ).
That I think was the point ! Showboating to the masses again …. like we are dumb sheep.
Thanks Steve for not being a mono-dimensional skier type and posting stuff to think about. Skiing is for on the mountains. Blogs are for ideas and words (and pictures).
To me there’s a huge difference between wasting public money and spending one’s own money. There is no comparison.
We have to pay tax because of a stupid, unrighteous system run by criminals wasting and stealing money…all because of the ignorance of the masses and/or their apathy. People have no clue that the debt in Canada and the USA is pure profits for the Rothschild empire and was always designed to be. Who does Obama, Pelosi and Bernanke work for? The people? HA,ha,ha,ha!!!!! In that sense this example you have pointed out is of importance as another drop in the bucket or should I say…another brick in the wall.
Thanks Steve.
I like to hear about stuff YOU ski and THINK. that s what a BLOG s all about no..
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all you purists just want to talk skiing….no need on a wet snow day (below 10k ft where most of you boot-packing, pass-centric chumps thankfully exist) to talk about a plastic politician and some real issues, right? (yes, applaud Randosteve for sticking to a single subject, AT skiing, more than any blogger in history yet still able to make the occasional deviation when relevant) Pelosi is an elected multi-millionaire clown, maybe her presence should be banned from your blog? Your choice bro, but though I’d rather talk about skiing most of the time, it is good to highlight hypocrisy when it touches the Tetons. Since you brought it up and I am sick of seeing stooges around town with raggedy Kerry-Edwards/Climbers for Kerry stickers, thus further rationale to divert a comment away from the high, cold, and steep. It would indeed have been a symbolic accomplishment for the privileged skiers of the Yellowstone Ecosystem to elect a billionaire zombie (whom I must add did honorably serve in the military) as Prez. and a philandering liar as VP (John, way to take care of the wife and family)…would this have been a triumph for Democrats in their 2004 choice of Political party leadership and philosophy? Let’s assume one or two of you have tread the real terrain in the Middle East in a deeper manner than a 3-week Eco-tour to see the Sphinx or engaging in teary-eyed empathy through an enlightening grad-school elective webinar taught by the staus quo (draft-dodging, pot-smoking department head at XYZ University), blaming the faux-spectre of Bush-Cheney is irrelevant at this point unless we’re sitting in a history class….it is sooooo yesterday, no?..but still an oft-employed foil for the current stumbling Administration and followers. The Republican bandidos are far from perfect but perhaps more honest about their philosophy and who they are…the lesser of two poseur evils? Maybe encourage rank and file Democrats to serve in the military (a novel concept) and compel Republicans to serve the Forest and Park services…maybe we’d see some more sense and comprehension with these two schools of fish out of their comfort zone. Take a real look at foreign policy decisions made in the last two years….any changes from the Bush plan?…I think not. Good blog, Steve….and may you return to Antarctica and New Zealand and elsewhere whenever your time/budget/intent allows. Peace out, and when I visit your hills, stay outta my skintrack, you exhaust-sucking freaks, I’m huntin’ for freshies, not breaking trail for the polluted masses.
Love this post. Just shows me how people dont get it. 400,000 isnt anything to our gov’t, I work for them and know what kind of waste we produce. I think its great that our country chooses different states to get the DC tree from, no matter what the cost. Since I am actually from this area, makes me even happier that it was taken from the BTNF. To mention how much carbon footprint it produced to cut and transport this tree is absolutely rediculous. We all drive, fly and buy food from stores that is trucked in from far far away places. Unless you grow your own food, produce your own electricity, make and ride your own bikes or walk everywhere, you are part of the problem. This whole "live green" thing is just a big selling point for companies anymore, and people here in Jackson think their shit dont stink. Well, it not only stinks, it reaks. We are all apart of this problem take it or leave it.
Love the SKIING part of your blog BTW!
I hate to muddle the whole issue with facts, but since it’s raining:
The American tax payer paid $0 for the tree lighting. The expense of the National Christmas Tree is paid entirely through donations. These donations are both corporate (This year Coke, GE etc.) and from private individuals. This process is over seen by the National Park Foundation, NOT the National Park Service.
Senators, in point of fact, do not and did not receive 100 trees from Wyoming or any other state to decorate their offices in Washington. As a general rule, all senators (and I would assume Reps, through I didn’t research that) arrange, with great pomp and circumstance I predict, to display trees from their home states.
While we can agree to disagree on the varying merits to the whole tree thing, perhaps we should through some facts into the mix. Though frankly, it’s way more fun to argue without them. 😉
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOOO Forest not facts they ruin everything, how will I push my illogical / radical / common senseless ideology? It sounds so much better when I just throw shit at the wall and see what sticks….. Someone will believe it right?
OM MANI PADME HUM OM MANI PADME HUM OM MANI PADME HUM
$0.00 for the tree lighting…what about everything else?
thanks lee…maybe it will help turn this day i’m having around.
I think the success or relevancy of a post on this site or any is measured by how many comments it gets or maybe it’s the rain.
I’m going to make a guess that Legit Profreshional is “Gorilla” Greg Collins. Just a guess. Free free to cyber bitch-slap me if you’d like.
For real relevancy, click Tony’s link in his comment about the doughnut post.
funny woodbury…but i’m pretty sure GC comments here under a different name. he could have slipped in under a different name for this post though…allowing him to let loose.
“Facts are stupid things” ……… Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the USA
Jesus LEE take the fucker off Caps lock! Or are you intending to scream yer meditation?
“The National Christmas Tree” funding is inclusive of all aspects of the tree. Finding, cutting, transporting, lighting…I assume take down and destruction, but I didn’t find that.
However, since it’s snowing again, I think we can all give this thread the middle finger and go ski some pow!
dave b i thought this was interesting http://visiblemantra.blogspot.com/2010/11/capitalising-mantras.html
That is great Lee! I love your excellent timing on this post and feel like we could all use a little more mantra in the realm of politics. An interesting article; nonetheless, yelling may be necessary as it seems to be the political norm.
Everyone is yelling so loud they can’t hear a thing. (working on this one myself).