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FIREWALL: Bill’s Excellent Government-Regulated Birthday Adventure

Firewall host Bill Whittle visits the Grand Canyon to share a few thoughts, including his ironclad logical proof that he is, in fact, 900,000 years old.

Firewall host Bill Whittle visits the Grand Canyon to share a few thoughts, including his ironclad logical proof that he is, in fact, 900,000 years old.

29 replies on “FIREWALL: Bill’s Excellent Government-Regulated Birthday Adventure”

When I lived in Fort Lauderdale, I was always shocked that there wasn’t a fence on the edge of the beach to keep people from drowning… like the little pool you build in your back yard. Our “world” is being protected by attorneys who have allowed stupid idiots who go too close to edges and fall into (pick the answer: Grand Canyon, You-Name-It-Bridge, etc.) and then sue/litigate the “owner” or venue perveyor. I am sorry that your birthday got “tainted” by this experience (happy belated birthday, btw) but get used to it. It is everywhere and until a comet hits the earth and resets everything, I don’t see it getting any better.

There. THAT made your birthday. (HEH)

J

Happy Birthday Bill and Natasha!
I have been to the Grand Canyon at least three times. One family vacation in ’69 we camped at both the South Rim and the North Rim (getting from one to the other was a day’s travel!) Some of my siblings went part-way down and back on the S. Rim, and I, my Dad and sister went down the N. Rim and camped by the river before coming back up the next day. An exhausting hike, even for a teen-ager (or maybe because of being a teen!)
The canyon is a marvel, however you look at it.

The last time I was where you were standing, there were no orange-vested prison guards preventing you from killing yourself (right down the trail to the east from where the train comes in, right?) In fact, there was snow on the ground and it wouldn’t have been very difficult to commit hurl-icide over the edge.

To the west of the main lodge is the trailhead down to the river. Not far from the top is a “little jump” to a spot in a hole (through a “spire” thingey). It was terrifying to jump over three feet or so of open space than went hundreds of feet down, but it was there, and they didn’t stop you.

Perhaps we’ve lost our country altogether since 9/11/01?

Happy Birthday Bill, from Bill (67)

I nearly fell from the edge of Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado as an adult.

Talk about making your butt pucker.

Hi Bill. Happy Birthday! I’ll be joining you soon. Did you know that a whole lot of water and a little bit of time created what you see behind you? If you want proof, visit Mt. St. Helens and you will see a one-tenth scale canyon that wasn’t there before she blew her lid. You will see the same kinds of stratification carved out of the earth that you see behind you. So, it doesn’t take millions of years to form canyons, just a lot of water and a little time. You need to stop putting your trust in the fallible theories of fallible men who weren’t there and don’t know everything. The phrase ‘The present is the key to the past’ is unverifiable, therefore unscientific. This kind of thinking is also what led to your jack-booted government trying to protect you from yourself.

Uh, the stratifications are dated by the fossils that are within them, that are themselves dated by a myriad of other methods. The dates on the Grand Canyon are accurate, as well as the fact that the rock at the bottom of it are 1.5 billion years old.

Yes, canyons can be cut more quickly, but that doesn’t mean that all of them are.

The best way to see the canyon is a river trip through it. The silence of the place, the amazing number of stars at night, the age of the rocks. They all combine to give you a feeling of what it must have been like to be a primitive human alone on the Earth. Nothing short of a religious experience.

Happy Birthday Bill and Natasha.

We went to the Grand Canyon in 1972. They didn’t have the catwalk then. I think we could look over the edge. I guess people were more sure-footed 47 years ago. I dunno, that catwalk doesn’t look as safe as the edge.

I’m not sure what Bill is talking about. I was just at that same exact location a few months ago and there was NOTHING stopping me from looking over the edge. In fact, I decided to lay on the edge, put my head and shoulders over the edge, and take a picture. While other locations at the Grand Canyon have rails to stop people (government parks), that spot is on an indian reservation and they purposely did NOT put any rails there. So I really have no idea what he’s talking about since there is nothing there to prevent him from looking over the edge.

I suspect things have changed due to a flurry of people falling to their deaths at the canyon recently (I seem to recall an article last week mentioning the sixth in like a month.)

Whoa! I didn’t know that. That makes a lot more sense. Yeah, if that’s the case, maybe they’ve made some changes.

My first trip to the Grand Canyon was in the early 70s when I was stationed in Tucson. I remember vividly at the first scenic overlook as you entered at the East end of the South Rim there was a chainlink fence which straddled a crevice that dropped 1200 feet or so. You could stand straddling the crevice with no problem from park officials. A couple of years later, the chainlink fence had been moved back a few feet from where the crevice was and you could no longer look down into the bottome of the canyon. However, there was never anyone preventing you from looking into the canyon along the South Rim, although there were many breathtaking points of view along the various trails.

Yes, it is a shame that we have to be protected from ourselves, and we are not allowed to expose ourselves to the liability of standing on the edge of a National Wonder, like the Grand Canyon and looking into the abyss. I suppose the the National Park Service does not want any lawsuits against them because you “slipped” and fell to your death.

Bill, I am so so happy that you are so so happy! Marriage suits you.Natalia…not sure of the spelling :)..is beautiful, has a beautiful heart and will take good care of you.

Happy Birthday and Welcome to our fair state! The guy in the orange vest is relatively new. People have been falling off for ages, one could look at it as a way of culling maroons from the gene pool. I’m sorry that you didn’t experience the thrill looking straight down, it’s an amazing sight.

I love your math, btw, too funny!

Happy birthday Bill! Just about the same day, 3/27 for me. At 60 there is still much to learn but have a pretty good accumulated knowledge base to source from. Don’t let our gray hair fool anyone. Reaction time is still great, wit is quick. A little slower at a 9 min mile but can still outrun, out shoot and out think any soy boy socialist out there. Just another patriot hoping we can get this country back on the right track. (in reality I think we are done, just a matter of time now) Thanks for all the hard work to you, Steve and Scott. Cheers. Oh and if someone does fall over the side of the grand canyon, at least you know they won’t be doing that again. Life lesson learned.

There are other parts of the Grand Canyon, like the North Rim, which are not so aggressively “guarded.” I highly recommend renting an RV and going there by yourselves for several days. Also, of course, you can take one of the tours down into the canyon on donkeyback.

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