SO Much to Read Today!

But not here at EIP, Gentle Reader. Nope, I'm talking about the Big Story of today, and yesterday... this “new” National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) concerning Iran and its nukes. I’ve seldom seen as many links on a subject, any subject, as memeorandum had on this one yesterday…and today, too. There are SO many people commenting on this latest NIE and they’re smarter than me, for the most part. As for me…I’m totally perplexed. To begin with, we’re only seeing a very small part of the overall document, the Key Judgments (pdf alert). God Only Knows (well, Him and the intelligence community) what the rest of the document says, and more importantly, what information/intelligence was used to prepare the findings…and the sources of this information.

Then there’s the not-inconsequential matter of timing. Everyone acknowledges this document has been around for the better part of a year. Why release it now? Do domestic politics play a part? Are we courting the Iranians in some way? Is this the administration’s way of defusing all the “imminent war” talk vis-à-vis Iran? What the HELL is going on here?

As I said…I’m confused. I’ve read a lot on this subject over the past 24 hours or so and I still don’t know what’s going on.

Oh Hell, let’s do something FUN! Right Wing News has put up its “The 2nd Annual Worst Quotes From The Daily Kos (2007 Edition),” and it’s a doozy. This may or may not be your idea of “fun,” Gentle Reader, but I got a BIG kick out of it. It’s much more entertaining than trying to figure out this NIE stuff. OTOH, the “winner” is just SO damned offensive it’s hard to believe an actual American wrote it. To wit:

1) "But do I still support the individual men and women who have given so much to serve their country? No. I think they’re a bunch of idiots. I also think they’re morally retarded. Because they sign a contract that says they will kill whoever you tell me to kill. And that is morally retarded.

Friends, the most important moral decision a man makes in the course of a day is "Who am I going to kill today?" That’s a decision you should agonize over, dream about, rehearse in your mind for hours, not just leave up to some hare-brained President you didn’t even vote for.

A man’s killing list is a very personal matter. It should be between him and those persistent voices in his head. So to sum up, I don’t like our troops, I don’t like what they’re doing, I don’t like their fat, whining families, and yet, I support them. Thank God I live in a free country. Thank You." -- AWhitneyBrown

I guess I’m just morally retarded. Good to know, that.

My Buddy Ed in Florida sends the following:

I didn't snoop this but it's probably true
July 8, 1947

Many of you will recall that on July 8, 1947, approximately 60 years
ago, witnesses claim that an unidentified flying object (UFO) with five
aliens aboard crashed onto a sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell,
New Mexico. This is a well-known incident that many say has long
been covered up by the U.S. Air Force and other Federal Agencies and
organizations. However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of
March 1948, nine months after that historic day, the following people
were born:

Albert A. Gore, Jr. (March 31, 1948)
Hillary Rodham (October 26, 1947)
John F. Kerry (December 11, 1943)
William J. Clinton (August 19, 1946)
Howard Dean (November 14, 1948 [close enough])
Nancy Pelosi (March 26, 1940)
Dianne Feinstein (June 22, 1933)
Charles E. Schumer (November 23, 1950)
Barbara Boxer (November 11, 1940)

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?

I certainly hope this bit of information clears up a lot of things for you.

OK…the red guys were born outside the stated envelope, so this shoots this theory all to Hell. I didn’t account for multiple UFO visits, though. Anything is possible, and Ed could still conceivably be right. It would clear up a lot.

/snark

All y’all no doubt know there were two important elections in other parts of the world this past Sunday. Important in the sense the electorates in Venezuela and Russia were being asked to sign away what little bits of democratic government remain in those benighted countries. The Venezuelans rejected Chavez’ bid to rule for life; the Russians apparently think Vlad I makes a fine tsar. And we Americans are left scratching our heads. “What in the Hell are those Russkies thinking?”, we ask. Enter the WSJ:

The phenomenon in which masses of people enthusiastically sign away their democratic rights is not new: It happened in Germany and Austria in the 1930s. But it's one that Americans especially have a hard time coming to grips with. The freedom agenda may no longer be in vogue, but most Americans implicitly endorse George Bush's view that "eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul." When it doesn't--when, in fact, it is consciously and deliberately spurned--we rationalize it in ways that go only so far in offering a persuasive account of the dark allure of tyranny.

Culture is one rationalization. The word is invoked by everyone from self-described Burkean conservatives to left-wing cultural relativists to explain the supposed failure of some benighted corners of the world to adopt and sustain democratic norms. In this view, Africa and the Arab world are too tribal; the Muslim world makes no distinction between the divine and the mundane; Latin America cannot find a stable middle ground between populism and paternalism; the Chinese are too used to emperors and mandarins, the Russians too used to czars and bureaucrats. And so on.

But cultural determinism often runs afoul of reality: The example of China is counterexampled by Taiwan; Zimbabwe by Botswana; Jeddah by Dubai; President Chávez by President Àlvaro Uribe in neighboring Colombia. Like baseball statistics, culture has a way of explaining a lot until it suddenly explains nothing.

The editorial goes on to speculate that the real reason people sign their rights away is because they want to…it’s human nature. You may agree or disagree, but it’s an interesting concept and one I have no real difficulty believing. I’d love to say I don’t think it can happen here, because we Americans are too used to having our freedoms. But…times are good. It all changes, including the political environment, when times are bad. There are always people waiting in the wings to “make things better” when the bread lines start forming. With any sort of luck we won’t see that sort of thing happen in this country again.

I have my fingers crossed. Now, about Russia…

Cynthia over at Gazing At The Flag put up a post today about a project the VFW has going on… to wit:

Brighten the holidays for wounded heroes at the James A. Haley Veterans Hospital in Tampa, Florida by signing the biggest Christmas Card ever!

And how big IS it, you ask? Well, last year’s card was big enough to hold 20,000 signatures. This year the VFW is going for 25,000. But you have to act fast…the deadline is the 10^th of this month. Go here to sign the card…and toss a few bucks in the pot, too, if the spirit moves ya. It’s a small gesture, to be sure, but one that is well and truly appreciated by those who have given so much.

Monday

Pssst! Hey Buddy! Yeah...you. Wanna know a secret? The VALOUR-IT fund raising deadline has been slipped 24 hours to include all of today. But don't tell anyone, just slip over to that "Donate" button on the right and...ya know... HIT IT! That way we can maybe be a lil less embarrassed and fulfill half our goal, like the Ground-Pounders and Jarheads have done. If you help, of course.

A Cold War Secret…Revealed. In today’s NYT:

He had all-American cover: born in Iowa, college in Manhattan, Army buddies with whom he played baseball.

George Koval also had a secret. During World War II, he was a top Soviet spy, code named Delmar and trained by Stalin’s ruthless bureau of military intelligence.

Atomic spies are old stuff. But historians say Dr. Koval, who died in his 90s last year in Moscow and whose name is just coming to light publicly, was probably one of the most important spies of the 20th century.

On Nov. 2, the Kremlin startled Western scholars by announcing that President Vladimir V. Putin had posthumously given the highest Russian award to a Soviet agent who penetrated the Manhattan Project to build the atom bomb.

Dr. Koval might have been born in the USA, but he was Soviet/Russian to his core. And he did a lot of damage. No message here, other than the fact the article is an interesting read from a bygone era.

And while we’re in the NYT, here’s a comment to an entirely lackluster editorial bemoaning the care provided to our returning veterans:

The best way I feel you can thank me as a combat veteran is not simple. It is not "benefits for life;" How does that thank our Heroes who are no longer alive to enjoy those benefits? The best way to say "thank you" is to answer the call of duty yourself and thus reduce the load I and especially those 22 year old Heroes who have returned to War three or more times face. Hard fact to acknowledge that we have Americans who only know War in their young adulthood. God Bless them! I do appreciate the little benefits we have as veterans, and I appreciate the "Thank-you's" and I appreciate the kind woman buying me coffee at Starbucks on the Jersey Turnpike, but there is more that Americans can do for their country. Just please give that some thought. Thank you.

— Scott, Florida

The emphasis is mine, and I agree with Scott in Florida. More to the point, Middle and Upper-Class America: change your mindset and encourage your sons and daughters to serve. You know, like your parents and grandparents did. Actions DO speak louder than words. They always have.

More of this, please:

At "Hockey 'n Heels" night, 88 women joined a behind-the-scenes tour of the arena, and talked about the challenges of being a female fan after a panel discussion with local media personalities. Many of the women heard about the event from announcements before other Penguins' games or on the Penguins' Web site. The $130 ticket included a meal and box seats for last night's game. Sarah Swartz, marketing coordinator for the Penguins, said the team wanted to reach an untapped market.

[…]

The break down for season ticket holders is now 50-50 men to women, she said. Swartz said the overwhelming response to the first "Hockey 'n Heels" event will lead to many more; there's "something in the works" to make the event even bigger, she said.

It’s the 50-50 season ticket holder bit that surprised me. Other than that? Not so much. After all, I’ve been to waaaay more than a few Wings games, and the women fans in Detroit are legion...as in: numerous. And vocal. The women fans I’ve known know their hockey. And lemmee tell ya sumthin: women hockey fans are HOT. Especially the Deetroit variety; case in point to the right. That’s probably true elsewhere, as well, but I have…um…an affinity for gals wearing Winged Wheel jerseys. Shared interests and all that.

Speaking of Deetroit…and the Wings…here’s Bill Clement, former NHL’er and hockey analyst for Versus and NBC, writing at MS-NBC:

Count on the Red Wings making a 17th straight playoff appearance as this team is driven to win its first Stanley Cup since 2002. And come June they certainly could be living that dream.

Detroit, which broke from the gate by winning 12 of its first 15 games, has the right pieces in the right places. The Red Wings don't fear any opponent, and if the playoffs started today they could beat any team. On coach Mike Babcock's roster are the best all-around forward and best defenseman in the game plus a whole lot of other talent.

Clement knows from whence he speaks, seeing as how he has a couple of championship rings from the Broad Street Bullies days. And I’d sure like to see ol’ Billy’s speculation come true. We missed the Cup last year by just this much (Visualize my thumb and index finger millimeters apart). I think the Wings might be hungry enough this year to win it all. That happens when you get close. Let’s hope they stay healthy, which is probably the longest pole in any team’s play-off tent. We’ve got a long way to go until May/June...but we're off to a brilliant start!

Saturday Stuff

Via Blog Buddy Morgan (and FARK, which has a comments thread on the video that’s only a lil bit unhinged)…Hell MS-NBC Freezes Over. Or, KO apologizes! S'true:

Coincidence, I’m sure (heh)…but why did I think of this while watching the Olby “apology?” And btw... have I ever told you how much I dislike Olbermann, Gentle Reader? Oh, yes...I have. Sorry.

Anyhoo. That IBD link was gonna get a post all its own, but it’s sorta like saying “In other news, the sun rose in the east this morning…” Nothing you didn’t already know, Gentle Reader. Except the media bias study IBD is on about was done at Harvard. Now that’s news.

Can’t you just imagine the faculty/advisor/team meetings that went down before Hah-vahd published the study’s findings? I’ll bet those meetings were…um… “interesting.” To say the VERY least.

My non-military readers might find this discussion over at Q&O about roles and missions of the four services interesting…or at least enlightening. The discussion takes place in the context of replying to a moonbat’s Liberal Lefty’s post about abolishing the Air Force (linked only for context, although the comments are rather amusing in that “Jane, you ignorant slut!” kinda way.), and as such primarily focuses on / discusses USAF roles and missions. It’s been pointed out before that the General Public is often unaware of what the military actually does with all that high-priced hardware you buy us with your tax money. The discussion at Q&O goes quite a ways towards fixing that.

Good stuff. And there’s more in the same vein here. Which coincidentally is the site where that “Abolish The AF?” post originally appeared…

(h/t: Mike)

Today’s Pic: Apropos of nothing, here’s The Lovely and Talented Miss Zukiko in all her glory, right after a wash and rub-down about a week ago. And…in a departure from my normal practice…I haven’t resized the pic for posting purposes, all the better for you to take in some of the marvelous details on her lithe frame and body parts.

Or: Bike Pr0n!

Note, too, the exhaust pipe on the forward cylinder is beginning to acquire some “character.” And that’s a good thing. Motorcycle exhaust pipes used to exhibit such coloring, which can vary from shades of blue to various bronze tones, back in the days before double-walled chrome exhaust tubes. As I said: that was a mark of character. It could also be an indication that carburetion was screwed up mightily, too. But we won’t go into that. Besides that, Miss Zukiko sports fuel-injection, doncha know. I like that.

October 24. P-Ville. Click for larger.

War Story

Dunno if you’ve been following it or not, Gentle Reader, but Blog-Buddy Mushy has been posting a series of reminisces about his life as a Security Policeman in the USAF back in The Good Ol’ Days, which would be circa 1964 (or so) and onwards. It’s good stuff, especially if you happened to be in the service during that time…and even if you weren’t.

While Mushy and I have a couple of things in common… to wit, the time period during which we served and Keesler AFB (he was permanent party, I was a student in radar school)… Mushy has a much better memory than I do when it comes to remembering people, places and things in the waaay-back. I’m not sure why my memory is… uh…less than sharp, but I strongly suspect it has something a lot to do with what I will euphemistically describe as “bad habits” in my past lives. Highly entertaining bad habits, but bad nonetheless. But I digress.

I went into the Air Force in 1963, a scant 18 years after the end of Big Bang II. So, it stands to reason there were still more than a few career types on board who had served in WW II. Like every general and colonel in the Air Force at that time, most lieutenant colonels, and quite a few majors as well. Not to mention the guys in the senior NCO ranks. And there was also another phenomenon one ran into once in a while in those days: former officers who had been RIF’ed into the enlisted ranks.

The late 50s and early 60s were hard times, relatively speaking, for the military. The Air Force had gone through some pretty serious personnel Reductions In Force (RIF) prior to the Vietnam build-up. As I recall, officers who were tagged for involuntary separation as a result of a RIF action and had 16 years (or more) service were offered the “option” of enlisting as E4 and continuing on active duty until they reached that magic 20 year point, at which time they could retire at the “highest grade held,” which was usually captain or major. In other cases, officers on the RIF list who had held a prior enlisted grade higher than E4 before being commissioned were allowed to “revert” to that grade and continue on until they hit 20.

The first First Sergeant I ever had was in the last category. He was the First Sergeant of the 3383^rd School Squadron at Keesler AFB and was one of the sharpest looking NCOs I had ever seen, bar none. He was a distinguished looking Master Sergeant with white hair and ramrod straight posture that made him look like he was on the parade ground even while just walking from his car to the squadron orderly room. And I never, ever saw the man in anything but his Class A silver-tans (pic on the left), a uniform that was being phased out but was still “optional” at that time. My First Sergeant also had a chest full of ribbons on his Class As as well, more than any other man in uniform I’d ever seen up close and personal at that point in my very brief career. And that impressive collection of ribbons was topped by something highly unusual for a noncom: command pilot wings.

Keep in mind, Gentle Reader, I was but a jeep airman with one-stripe on my sleeve and all of perhaps three months in the service. But, being fresh out of basic with a head full of force-fed, drilled-in military history, customs, and courtesies (and having acquired some beneficial military knowledge as an Air Force brat), I knew sergeants didn’t fly airplanes. (As a general rule—there were exceptions.) And, believe me, back in that day a one-striper student airman just didn’t walk up to a Master Sergeant and say “Hey Sarge! What’s the story on the wings?” Not if he wanted body and soul to stay joined. Or unless he had some sort of unnatural desire for hours upon hours of extra duty. Nope, you stayed out of those guys’ way, period. You tried your best to be invisible.

Still, I was curious. So I brought it up with my Red Rope…a student leader… who brought it up with the Yellow Rope, and so on. Let’s take a minor digression here. About “Ropes.”

USAF technical schools are also military training environments, with the usual marching, drill, KP, parades, inspections, and the like. Many hundreds of trainees are assigned to individual school squadrons on a given training base, squadrons whose sole purpose in life is to move these students through the “pipeline” as quickly and efficiently as possible, while maintaining military discipline.

The personnel complement in a school squadron is divided between the students (transients) and “permanent party,” guys who are on three year (average) tours at that base. The permanent party organization in a school squadron basically consists of a commander (usually a lieutenant or junior captain), a first sergeant, an admin function, and a Military Training function, staffed by two Military Training Instructors (MTIs— usually staff or technical sergeants)…professional drill sergeants, in other words.

The MTIs are the guys who are actually in charge of the troops, and they have a cadre of student leaders working for them. Each squadron is organized into three shifts…A, B, and C. Each shift is led by a White Rope, and is organized into smaller sub-units of about 40 men, led by a Yellow Rope. And those sub-units go down to the lowest element of about ten men, led by a Red Rope. Ropes were students and were almost always Airmen Second Class, or two-stripers. Their authority was limited, but it was authority…and Ropes had small perks and privileges, one of which was exemption from actual physical labor…they “supervised.” Rather long digression, eh?

So. Back to my First Sergeant. It turned out, the story went, that this guy was indeed a command pilot and a former major who had flown B-17s in WW II. He had been caught up in a RIF action a couple of years before and reverted to his old rank of Master Sergeant, which he had held before being selected for pilot training during WW II. It was said he had one year to go before he retired. We, my Red Rope and myself, had this story passed down to us from the senior Ropes, who got it from the MTIs, who worshipped the First Sergeant. As a matter of fact, the story had it that our First Sergeant wielded more power… not just in our squadron, but on the base itself… and knew more people than any collection of six student squadron commanders. That story wasn’t particularly hard to believe. One would assume “the network” remains intact, even if your status changes. These sorts of bonds are strong, Gentle Reader, in ways you cannot imagine.

I wish I could have gotten to know that First Sergeant, whose name I cannot recall. But times were different then. The military has a strong caste system although it’s gotten kindler and gentler, especially in the Air Force, over the years. Back in 1963 it was unthinkable for a one-striper to engage a senior NCO in casual conversation, especially conversation of a personal nature. And speaking of that caste system… ponder, if you will, Gentle Reader, what it must have meant for my First Sergeant to go to work one day as a major and then go back to work the following day as a Master Sergeant. Granted, one wouldn’t remain in the same unit, or even on the same base. Such a transition in status was always softened by a change in physical assignment. Still and even, it had to be hard. I’ll bet my First Sergeant had some great war stories in that space. Many and varied, too.

Consider also what it must have been like for those other unfortunates who were RIFed and had no higher enlisted rank to return to. Those guys went to being E4s… Airman First Class at the time… a grade that didn’t have NCO status. Now those guys had it hard, comparatively speaking. But in the end they laughed all the way to the bank…their retirement checks contained substantially more money than any sergeant’s. I’m sure it was worth the price they paid.

It's Just Another Brilliant Day...

Via Chap… here’s an especially powerful piece by Christopher Hitchens. The introduction:

I was having an oppressively normal morning a few months ago, flicking through the banality of quotidian e-mail traffic, when I idly clicked on a message from a friend headed "Seen This?" The attached item turned out to be a very well-written story by Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times. It described the death, in Mosul, Iraq, of a young soldier from Irvine, California, named Mark Jennings Daily, and the unusual degree of emotion that his community was undergoing as a consequence. The emotion derived from a very moving statement that the boy had left behind, stating his reasons for having become a volunteer and bravely facing the prospect that his words might have to be read posthumously. In a way, the story was almost too perfect: this handsome lad had been born on the Fourth of July, was a registered Democrat and self-described agnostic, a U.C.L.A. honors graduate, and during his college days had fairly decided reservations about the war in Iraq. I read on, and actually printed the story out, and was turning a page when I saw the following:

"Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him … "

I don't exaggerate by much when I say that I froze.

Mr. Hitchens goes on to describe meeting Lt. Daily’s family and getting to know the young soldier through their eyes, and through Lt. Daily’s writings. To say the piece is moving is understatement of the highest order. Mr. Hitchens gives us yet another story that makes us ask "Where do we get such men?"

From the sublime to the ridiculous football… It was good yesterday, wasn’t it? Better than good, actually: it was frickin’ GREAT. I watched three games yesterday, and they just kept getting better and better as the day went on, beginning with Illinois’ upset of Number 5 Wisconsin, to the Red River Shoot-Out, and finally with LSU’s triumph over Florida.

Playing as a top-ranked team in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 1959, LSU was in serious trouble much of the game. Their top-rated defense was shredded by Florida's double-threat quarterback, Tim Tebow, who led the Gators to a trio of 10-point leads.

But they couldn't hold off the Tigers.

No, they couldn’t. But they sure as Hell gave it their best shot. This game simply has to rank up there among the best I’ve ever seen. Both teams played with an intensity seldom seen in any game, and not just for a quarter, or a half…but for the entire game. As I said in the comments to the post below following the game: This was more like a knife fight than a football game. You really missed something if you missed this one.

Footnote: It’s ironic (for me…the die-hard ND fan) no one televised, at least in my viewing area, what could be Notre Dame’s sole win this year. And they won convincingly over UCLA by a score of 20-6, aided by the fact UCLA’s starting QB went out with an injury in the first quarter. I caught Charlie’s comments on SportsCenter last evening talking about the win:

Coach Charlie Weis obviously was relieved.

"When you're 0-5, everyone in the country is laughing at you," Weis said. "The only thing you can do is do something about it on the field. I'm really happy for the kids.

"We never had a better week of practice since I've been here. I said good things will happen, and it happened."

But Charlie was all I saw. Too bad, that.

In other sports news… the Wings lost last night to Chicago in their second straight shoot-out. Two games, two shoot-outs. I don’t like the way the season is beginning…but it’s only the beginning, nu?

It’s dead calm outside this morning, which is a welcome relief from the past two days of unrelenting wind. While the wind hasn’t been destructive in nature, it’s certainly been annoying. And hot, too. Not to mention dusty, which is always the corollary to wind here on The High Plains. But today looks like it’s gonna be perfect for a ride out to parts unknown. After the coffee’s been consumed, of course.

Today’s Pic: Something similar (but not identical) to a pic previously posted…SN3 and me just before we took off on a jaunt into the foothills of the Front Range near Fort Collins, CO.

Late May, this year.

We Remember

A B-52G named "NYPD"

A B-1B with "Let's Roll" Nose Art

An A-10 with "Let's Roll" Nose Art

Art work by Aviation Structural Mechanic 3rd Class Jeff Jarvis, on F/A-18E Super Hornets embarked on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Sailors and Marines assembled on the flight deck of the USS Belleau Wood (LHA 3).

Credits: Nose art photos from Talking Proud and official USAF photos. Aircraft carrier image from wtc-terrorattack.com.

A Desultory Saturday…

If you’re a real hockey fan you’ll want to follow the Adventures of Stanley this summer…

Join hockey's most prized trophy as it parties throughout the summer of 2007. Each member of the Anaheim Ducks assumes possession of the Stanley Cup for 24 hours, and you'll get an insider's view through exclusive stories and photographs as the Stanley Cup visits locations around the globe.

The STANLEY CUP JOURNAL is updated every Tuesday and Friday from the last game of the Stanley Cup Final through to the end of summer. This is followed by additional accounts thereafter up until the official engraving and ring presentation. (Ed: Emphases in original)

The Stanley Cup has made some amazing journeys during its storied history. International travel is not uncommon in this day of star Russian, Finnish, Swedish, etc., etc., NHL players. As an example, the last time the Wings won the Cup it traveled to the Czech Republic, Sweden, and Russia…just to name three countries. There’s a great photo essay of the Cup’s 2002 travels with Red Wings team members here.

One would expect 2007 to be much the same.

Ever the contrarian, Jules Crittenden feels bad for Paris Hilton. Really. Me? Not so much. I haven’t been paying that much attention. I mean, you can’t ignore her…that’s not possible if you have a TeeVee or surf the ‘net. But Mr. Crittenden’s article is about the only one I’ve actually read. And I suppose I’d have to agree that watching a full-grown woman having a total breakdown in public would be a lil bit heart-rending.

General Peter Pace will step down as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs in September. SecDef Robert Gates has nominated Admiral Mike Mullen, the current Chief of Naval Operations, to replace him. The ostensible reason for not re-nominating Gen. Pace for a second term is to avoid a brutal re-confirmation hearing* in the Senate, if you believe the official rationale delivered by Gates yesterday. There’s an awful lot of “what does this mean” talk in the media concerning Gen. Pace’s non-continuation as Chairman…much of it centering around speculation that Pace was “too close” to Rumsfeld, Pace didn’t push back against Rumsfeld enough, Pace was a leading architect of the “failed” Iraq war plans, and that Gates wants “his own man” as Chairman. I even heard one pundit characterize the action as Pace being “fired.” Gen. Pace is the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs to only serve a single two-year term since 1964; so, yeah, relieving him is highly unusual.

I tend to agree with one pundit, whose name I cannot recall (but it might have been David Brooks on The News Hour), that it’s ironic to have troops in the field dodging bullets, mortar shells and IEDs, yet the JCS Chairman is perceived to be incapable of dodging hard questions from a few senators. I think General Pace would have done just fine at his re-confirmation hearing, based upon the performances I’ve seen him deliver in committee hearings in the past. It’s a shame that such a fine officer with 40 years of dedicated service will retire under a cloud. But that’s Washington, I suppose.

* There’s some truth to this…John F’n Kerry says:

“It is a sad state of affairs when this Administration withdraws a general they believe is qualified simply to avoid having to publicly defend their failed Iraq policy,” Senator Kerry said. “Congress has an obligation to ask tough questions about Iraq, and the architects of this war have an obligation to answer them openly and honestly. We will continue to hold this Administration accountable on Iraq. The next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff must tell Congress and the American people the truth about this war.”

What was that the Jack Nicholson character said about the truth in “A Few Good Men?” Seems to me it applies here…

The cover story in tomorrow’s NYT Magazine is all about pretty-boy presidential candidate John Edwards. And the story is good…very good. Less for its extensive coverage on Edwards than for the author’s rational and pragmatic explanations of the underpinnings of Edwards’ much-publicized “Two Americas” campaign…including brief profiles of past attempts by politicians to address/eliminate poverty in America, beginning with Johnson’s “Great Society” and the accompanying “War on Poverty” (which was a gigantic failure, IMHO). The story is a rather lengthy read, and is written in a remarkably neutral tone, oftentimes descending into what I would call “less than favorable” opinions on Edwards and his views. At any rate I came away with a refreshed and somewhat better appreciation for my own economic views, which are decidedly Reaganesque. I’m also more thoroughly convinced than ever that Edwards’ economic views are wrong. Surprised?

Today’s Pic: More plane pr0n from the Hill Aerospace Museum…this time it’s the nose of a B-17 named “Short Bier.”

Last month…at Hill AFB.

D-Day

Today is the 63^rd anniversary of D-Day. The folks at Real Clear Politics have published Ronald Reagan’s speech “The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc,” delivered on June 6, 1984 in Normandy, in its entirety. If you’ve never seen, heard, or read the address I recommend you do so now. And remember those heroes from so long ago. Too few of them are left, and those that are left are leaving us at a rapid rate. We owe them so much…

Via blog-buddy Morgan…How NOT to Use Powerpoint. Lord, how I wish this video had been around back in my day! Anyone and everyone who’s in management, be it civilian or military (and I hear the military is QUITE bad, in this respect) has been there and done that…sitting through an interminable PowerPoint presentation where some dolt literally READS all his slides to you, cheerfully ignoring the fact that his audience can read quite well on their own, thankyouverymuch. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I’m sure you’ll relate, Gentle Reader…

More Politically Correct BS…this time it’s the British Ministry of Defense and the RAF, banning nose art.

In killer heels and little else, they have a definite deadly charm.

But the risque images of women that have decorated warplanes since the First World War have been scrubbed out.

The Ministry of Defence has decreed they could offend the RAF's female personnel.

Officials admitted they had no record of any complaints from the 5,400 women in the RAF.

[…]

Nose art enjoyed another surge in popularity during the 1991 and 2003 Gulf Wars, when risque images appeared on many British warplanes.

The decision to ban the images followed a visit by glamour models to southern Afghanistan before Christmas. During the trip they signed paintings of themselves on RAF aircraft.

Commanders decided the images were sexist and insisted there was no place for them in the modern armed forces.

There was also concern that they could cause offence in a muslim country where until 2001 all women were forced to wear the head-to-toe burkha in public.

Glamour model Lucy Pinder, 23, who visited the RAF detachment at Kandahar last November and signed a painting of herself on a Harrier jet, said such images were only "harmless fun".

No complaints from RAF women, you’ll note… but a fear of offending muslims.

Good grief.

Network issues… You may recall, Gentle Reader, that stopping by Yucca Telecom to get the story on the long-anticipated but yet to be delivered fiber connection was one of the tasks I was going to address yesterday. I got part of the story, which is the fiber still hasn’t been turned up in my part of P-Town. Less clear was why my on-premise equipment hasn’t been installed. I was promised a call-back with an explanation but have yet to receive it.

Coincidentally, my network speed dropped off to dial-up rates last evening and then disappeared altogether this morning after a period of steady degradation. I was dead in the water from about 0700 until 0845 hrs, but the service is still painfully slow. I am NOT a Happy Camper today!

Today’s Pic(s): Are you tired of Arches yet? No? Well…here’s two more…

The first pic was taken at the first viewpoint on the park road, overlooking the Visitors Center (which isn’t visible in this pic). I shot the picture for a couple of reasons; firstly to illustrate the nature of the road, which is wonderfully curvy as it climbs about a thousand feet in a mile or three; and secondly because of the colors in the rocks juxtaposed against the brilliant blue of the sky. Oh yeah, and to get the ‘Zuki in the picture, too.

The second pic is taken from the same vantage point but one can see the Visitors Center far below, as well as the highway leading into Moab. The highway, by the way, runs right on top of the Moab Fault.

As always, click the pics for the larger versions...which are actually 50% of the originals.

A Blast From the Past. Literally.

Here’s a great lil story about Bob Probert…one of my past heroes (until he got busted for transporting cocaine in his underwear from Windsor into Detroit…but that’s another story altogether).

Bob Probert, the former Detroit Red Wing and Chicago Blackhawk from Windsor, returned home Monday after joining a group of National Hockey League alumni on a tour to visit Canadian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan.

While there, he got an up close and personal view of what Canada's fighting best deal with on a daily basis.

"Our second night in Kandahar, they took us over to see the spy planes," Probert said. "We were in the one of the rooms getting briefed on the spy planes and all of a sudden the sirens start going off."

"They came in an escorted us right to the bomb shelter. The bunker, they called it."

While there, Probert looked around at his fellow retired NHLers and spied Dan Daoust, Mike Pelyk, Lou Franceschetti, Dave Hutchison, Dave (Tiger) Williams and Kevin Maguire, all of them former Toronto Maple Leafs and decided to add a little levity to a tense situation.

"I said, 'Apparently, they found out the Maple Leafs were here,'" Probert said. "That didn't go over too well."

As for the missiles, they missed their target.

Good on Probie. And I’ll bet those ex-Leafs kept their peace when Probert cracked wise about the Leafs being in Kandahar. There’s one thing you DIDN’T do back in the day, and that’s piss Probert off. I’ll give you a dollar to a donut that it’s still true. Why?

There was absolutely, positively no one, and I mean NO ONE, who could best Probert back in the day when he was known as The Heavyweight Champion of the NHL. I’ll quote the Wiki:

Probert will always be remembered as one of the NHL's toughest players, and many enforcers considered him the toughest and most feared fighter in the NHL.^[1] Several web sites, such as Hockeyfights.com, chronicle his long list of fights with other league enforcers. He saw it as his job to protect his teammates, especially Detroit captain Steve Yzerman. In a recent news story, he recalled a time that he sucker-punched enforcer Kevin Maguire of the Buffalo Sabres while Maguire was fighting with Yzerman.^[7]

Some fights in Probert's career:^[5]

· Two long fights with Craig Coxe of the Vancouver Canucks in the mid-1980s.

· A career-spanning series of battles with Tie Domi of the New York Rangers and other teams.

· A memorable fight on December 17, 1993 with former teammate Joe Kocur of the Rangers, during a brawl involving several players from both teams. Probert and Kocur had grabbed the nearest opposing player without realizing who it was, and continued trading punches even after they identified each other.

· A fight on February 4, 1994, against Marty McSorley, then of the Pittsburgh Penguins, lasting nearly 100 full seconds.

In his career, Probert took part in many other classic hockey fights against noted enforcers such as Todd Ewen, Troy Crowder, Tony Twist, Donald Brashear, Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson, Bob McGill, Dave Semenko, and "Big" Jay Caufield.

It would have broken my heart to watch Probert and Kocur mix it up. Those guys were known as “The Bruise Brothers,” back in the day when they were Detroit’s top enforcers. And what memorable days those were… Nobody ran the Wings’ stars in those days. The price to be paid for that was simply too frickin’ high.

But. It’s good to see Probert has grown up a bit and that he’s giving back. As for me, IF I were still in the Air Force, and IF I were in Afghanistan, I’d have been pissed to find out Probie was visiting the Canadian troops and not us fans from Detroit. And believe me, Probert had legions of fans in Detroit. Just sayin’.

AARs, Crime, Rain, and Ducks!

Laurie is back from the MilBlog conference in Dee See and has a narrative and pictures. Good stuff, there! It seems like all I’ve been doing this morning is reading After Action Reports from the conference. Lex has a good narrative, too, and lotsa links to others writing their own reports, as well. Partying went on well into the night this past Friday! Dang! Wish I woulda been there!

Damn. I committed an “eco-crime.” And what would that be, you ask? I have three children…one more than is good for the planet. How uncaring of me!

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a 4x4 car and failing to reuse plastic bags, according to a report to be published tomorrow by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust (OPT) will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family’s carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: “The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights. An extra child is the equivalent of a lot of flights across the planet.

“The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child.”

In his latest comments the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences. “The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account,” he added.

Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

So. There you have it. I wonder if there’s a statute of limitations? Coz I committed my crime in the way-back (well, two out of three, anyway). Back then we were worrying about an impending Ice Age, not so much about global warming climate change. So I think I should get a dispensation. But then there are those plastic bags…

Watching the WX Channel with one eye while I take care of my Daily Reads with the other…it’s been raining—hard—all morning. I was awakened this morning by the sound of rain on my roof, which, as I’ve mentioned many times in the past, I dearly love. I drifted in and out of sleep for about an hour once I awoke since the rain was steady and not of the pounding variety. Bad move, that. I should have gotten up immediately…because then I could have prevented the soggy mess that is my bathroom. Yep…that pesky roof vent in the bathroom was wide-open. Again. No real damage, mind you. Just terribly, terribly soaked. Everything.

So anyway…that line of intense rain (the bright red bits) to the east of us is apparently causing quite a bit of havoc. No tornadoes (Thank God!), but 55 mph wind gusts. And VERY heavy rain. We’re under a flash-flood watch, and I’ll bet P-Town is awash. As usual. It’s a great day for ducks.

Speaking of Ducks…

The Ducks last faced the Red Wings in the first round of the 2003 playoffs. At the time, Detroit was the defending Stanley Cup champs and there was talk of dynasty in Hockeytown. But that talk was indefinitely put on hold after the Ducks, under then-coach Mike Babcock, swept the Red Wings. Babcock, of course, is now behind the Detroit bench and has helped the Wings beyond the second round for the first time since the team's last Cup win in 2002.

To get here, the Wings had to dispose of a San Jose team many picked to win the Cup. They did it without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, who broke his wrist early in Game 5 on Saturday, and did it with relative ease. It's a testament to the sand this Red Wings team possesses.

This series will feature three of the finest defensemen of their generation in Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger of Anaheim and Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom. Then, there's Chris Chelios, who was one of the finest defensemen of the last generation, but refuses to acknowledge time and continues to be effective at age 45.

Both teams possess great goaltending in Hasek and Jean-Sebastien Giguere, and both are deep up front. In other words, this one should be a dandy.

Last night’s game was a dandy…the Wings were “large and in charge” from the moment the puck dropped at the beginning of the first period right up until the horn sounded at the end of the third. And Ladies and Gentlemen…what you see in the third scene in the video below is one of the finest defensive plays I’ve ever seen in hockey…bar none. Simply brilliant.

I’ll defer to Mitch Albom’s description of what happened in the vid above:

Here's what happened: The Sharks' Mike Grier chased a loose puck down the ice, with Lidstrom following in hot pursuit. The crowd rose. Goalie Dominik Hasek came out and swept the puck behind him, but Grier got to it and swooped around from behind the net, which was now as empty as a beggar's pocket.

And then Lidstrom. I don't know how he does it. Somehow he stretched that reedy body and surged his stick across the mouth of the goal a shaved instant before Grier released the puck. It hit Nick's stick and frittered away, and the Sharks' optimism frittered away with it.

"So you play goalie, too?" Lidstrom was asked in the locker room afterward.

"I try to help out a little," he said.

“I try to help out a little.” The defensive play of the century and it’s “helping out a little?” But that’s hockey players for you: supremely modest. Oh, and by the way…the rest of Albom’s column is very good today.

So now it’s the Ducks. Most all of the hockey writers are probably going to call this series for Anaheim…but haven’t we heard that one before, and recently, at that? San Jose was too big, too fast, too young for Detroit, right? And now the Sharks are lining up tee times while the Wings prepare for the Conference Final. To steal a football quote from Berman: “They could…go…all…the…WAY!!”

Let us pray.

Today’s Pic: One lonely iris blooming in the flower bed outside the door of El Casa Móvil De Pennington. That flower bed used to be a riot of color in late summer…until the “gardeners” came through last Fall and ripped out ALL of the perennials that previously graced my premises. Those idiots didn’t have the slightest idea about what they were doing…taking “weeding” to an entirely new, uninformed, and undeserved level. So now I’ll get weeds, and only weeds, later this year. Twits.

Yesterday. P-Town.

Update: Replaced the hockey video (originally from TheNewsRoom) with a highlight video I found on YouTube. I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I couldn't get the previous video to play consistently; the YouTube vid works fine. Lidstrom's play is now the third scene in this four-minute video...plus you get to see both Detroit goals, several saves by Hasek, and at least one brilliant save by Nabokov.

Catching Up

So…during the first “drain and refill” operation after taking today’s pic I discovered, much to my chagrin, that the roof vent in my bathroom was wide open during that tropical rain squall that blew over El Casa Móvil De Pennington this morning. Which, of course, led to an impromptu mopping up operation. I now have a spotless (but still soggy) “facility.” It’s truly amazing just how much water can pour through a 12-inch square opening in the roof in such a short time. “Stupidity R Us…”

It’s pi$ing down rain as I type, yet again. But: the vent is closed now. This is a good thing.

Captain Ed, writing in response to this article in the NYT:

The Democrats thought they rode to power on a wave of anti-war sentiment, but they have discovered that their victory had much more to do with Republican failures than with Democratic platforms. Most of their new members come from center-right districts where Democratic messages about corruption and abuses resonated -- but where they see Congress' role in Iraq as limited at best. Boren represents a typical Democratic pickup district in that respect.

Now that the Democratic leadership has gone on record as wanting to limit options for victory in Iraq, Nancy Pelosi and company find that these new representatives will not play along with them. The Blue Dogs understand that timetables represent nothing more than defunding efforts under another name. They will not vote for anything that smells of defeat and retreat, and their numbers indicate that the Democratic supplemental -- even filled with hometown pork for those on the fence -- will likely fail.

[…]

On top of that, the Out of Iraq caucus threatens the bill on the Left because it gets too cute with its defunding efforts. The Left wants a clean break -- complete defunding and an end to the deployment now. Maxine Waters has assumed the leadership of this faction, and her threat to withhold support of the supplemental would also doom the bill on just that basis alone. The Democrats have only a fifteen-seat majority, and while they may get a handful of Republicans to cross the aisle for this bill, they cannot hope to make up for the losses from the Blue Dogs and the antiwar caucus.

A lot of us have been writing that the “mandate” on the war, as claimed by Madame Speaker and Harry Reid, is ephemeral at best, and non-existent outside of the ultra-Liberal Left wing of the Democratic party, at worst. And Representative Boren (more or less) proves that point. Thank the Lord for those Blue Dog Dems. I suppose I should offer thanks for the twisted logic and/or rationale being used by the “Out of Iraq” caucus against this bill, too. But I just can’t.

Both Captain Ed and that NYT articles are worth your time…here are the lead grafs from the NYT:

WASHINGTON, March 21 — Representative Dan Boren is a Democrat, but after visiting Iraq last week he announced a decision that puts him at odds with his party’s leaders: he intends to vote against their plan to set a deadline for troops to leave Iraq.

“A timeline, in effect, is cutting off the funds,” said Mr. Boren, a conservative second-term lawmaker whose territory covers the eastern swath of Oklahoma, from the bottom of Kansas to the top of Texas. “That is not the solution.”

His views have barely caused a ripple in his home district, but the House Democratic leadership has been working to keep Mr. Boren’s views from spreading through the party’s jittery conservative wing. At the same time, the leaders are trying to persuade liberals to support the legislation, even though it does not end the war nearly fast enough for their liking.

As the House prepares to vote Friday on a $124 billion Iraq spending bill, which calls for American troops to come home before Labor Day of 2008, an intensely private and anguishing debate has played out for many lawmakers through handwritten letters, telephone calls and conversations. Dozens of representatives have traveled to Iraq, even as antiwar activists staged protests in their district offices or at their homes.

The consternation among Democrats on the left and the right has made the outcome of the vote far less certain than leaders had hoped, particularly after respected figures like Representative John Lewis, a liberal Georgia Democrat, declared his opposition, saying, “I will not and cannot vote for another dollar or another dime to support this war.”

It’s getting pretty danged ugly, ain’t it?

Smash is posting a series of articles (up to Part III, now) about his adventures in infiltration. That would be him as covert operator inside last Saturday’s Moonbat March in Washington. Great writing, great pictures. Great big Brass Ones, too. Moonbats can be violent if provoked, so Smash infiltrated the march with a certain disregard for his safety. Do go read if you haven’t already been.

It didn’t get past me that Algore testified before Congress about global warming climate change yesterday. I watched a lot of his testimony (if you wanna call it that) on C-SPAN last evening, as a matter of fact. And I was pleased as punch that House and Senate Republicans didn’t just give Big Al a pass:

Al Gore, star of an Academy Award-winning film, was in town for a double feature on Capitol Hill yesterday. But instead of giving another screening of "An Inconvenient Truth," the former vice president found himself playing the Clarence Darrow character in "Inherit the Wind."

"You're not just off a little -- you're totally wrong," Joe Barton (Tex.), the top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told the former vice president at a hearing on global warming yesterday morning.

"One scientist is quoted as saying, 'This is shrill alarmism,' " said Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.). The reviews only grew more savage when Gore crossed over to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in the afternoon for a second hearing. "You've been so extreme in some of your expressions that you're losing some of your own people," announced Sen. James Inhofe (Okla.), the committee's ranking Republican and the man who has called man-made global warming "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people."

Senator Inhofe is rapidly becoming one of my heroes where this subject is concerned. He’s outspoken on the issue and brooks no fools, especially world-famous, Academy Award-winning and Nobel-nominee sorts of fools. Algore’s stuff may wash well in Hollyweird, but I’m not too sure how well his message plays on Main Street. Especially when there’s serious economic constraints waiting in the wings if Algore’s recommendations are accepted and implemented. The “freeze” on greenhouse gases is specifically worrisome, from my point of view. It reads and sounds like a freeze on new economic activity…pure and simple. Do we need that? I think not.

Just More...uh...Stuff

A Comparison of Live Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail. The money graf:

Overall we prefer Gmail over all other webmail applications because performance (speed) is consistently fast, and emails can be tagged making search much more effective. They also offer more storage and other features, and it’s free. However, Yahoo and Live Hotmail offer more mainstream Outlook-like user interfaces (although Live Hotmail does not allow you to access other email accounts from their application), whereas Gmail takes some time to get used to. If you are looking for speed and tagging is important, Gmail is for you. If you are looking for the closest thing to Outlook online, go with Yahoo Mail.

There’s a neat three-way comparison chart of available features, too.

Envy:

Everyone suspected that the investors, founders and early employees of YouTube made tidy sums when it was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion in stock late last year.

[…]

A founder and YouTube’s chief executive Chad Hurley received 694,087 shares of Google and an additional 41,232 in a trust. Based on Google’s closing price yesterday of $470.01, the shares are worth more than $345 million.

Another founder, Steven Chen, received 625,366 shares and an additional 68,721 in a trust, for more than $326 million.

[…]

When the deal was announced in October, YouTube was less than two years old and had about 70 employees. Several of the early employees are listed in the filing statement as owning thousands of Google shares.

That’s a lot of beer. And a Ferrari. Or three. Assuming the stock recipients are selling their stock. And they are.

So…I’m a little slow sometimes (ed: sometimes? How about MOST of the time? Shuddup!). I’m watching C-SPAN this morning, and Gen. Peter Schoomaker, the Army Chief of Staff, is testifying before the House Appropriations Defense sub-committee. He’s looking pretty sharp in his new Army Dress Blues. “Dress Blues?” Yep. Complete with Civil War era rank epaulettes. I didn’t realize the Army has changed its uniform, but they did—last summer. You can see it here.

Lileks to the rescue! I’m fond of describing myself as socially moderate and conservative when it comes to fiscal and national defense matters. But…what exactly is a “social moderate,” anyway? James provides the definitions, thusly:

Social liberal: believes Howard Stern should be able to say the F word not just on satellite radio, but broadcast as well.

Social moderate-liberal: same as above, but wishes Howard wouldn’t say it so much.

Social moderate: believes Howard Stern should not say the F word on broadcast radio, but has no desire to control the content of satellite channels to which people freely subscribe.

Social moderate-conservative: Howard should definitely not say it on broadcast radio, and while he probably has the right to say it on satellite, Senate hearings into decency on cable and satellite stations isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Social conservative: doesn’t believe Howard Stern should say the word, and if you subscribe to satellite radio, you’re supporting Howard Stern, and have no right to call yourself a social conservative.

Yep. That’s me!

He kept them…but you probably already know this. The NYT:

Mr. Edwards announced on Thursday, after 36 hours of deliberation, that he would keep on his campaign staff two liberal feminist bloggers with long cybertrails of incendiary comments on sex, religion and politics.

Deliberations over the fate of the two bloggers, Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, created a crisis in Mr. Edwards’s nascent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and illuminated the treacherous road ahead as candidates of both parties try to harness the growing power of the online world. The case of the two women had left Mr. Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, with difficult choices.

Difficult choices, indeed. On the one hand, if Edwards had fired them, the nutroots would have had his head, figuratively speaking. They were already going down that road. On the other hand, his disingenuous rationale for keeping them just reinforces his hypocrisy, and that of the two bloggers in question. Marcotte’s and McEwan’s “apologies” said, basically, “it was just satire, we weren’t serious.” In pig’s eye. They were damned serious, and that’s the frickin’ problem. Jeff Goldstein says it best:

Of course it was her intent. Just as it was McEwan’s intent. And worst of all, Edwards knows it. That he has pretended to take the two at their word, in an ostentatious gesture of “trust,” is precisely the kind of staged treacle that makes people doubt the sincerity of politicians; and that both Marcotte and McEwan have assured their own personal Patriarch that they’ll behave, now that he’s promoted them to the grownups’ table, is, to put it bluntly, one of the most pathetic public surrenderings of personal integrity I’ve ever seen.

Seriously. We should feel bad for them.

That is, were we to actually believe they meant any of it. Because how this plays out for the netroots is this way: either they are cheering on an ideological sellout, or they are knowingly and happily embracing an opportunistic liar. So. Congrats to them. Once again, they’ve covered themselves in white hot sticky glory!

What he said.

Today’s Pic: More Adolphus. The pic on the right is an interior shot of the ex-girlfriend in front of one of those Flemish tapestries, and the exterior (at the top) is a more-detailed shot of some of the stonework on the façade.

Lou mentioned in yesterday’s comments that she would post about the Adolphus on her blog. And she has. Great story, that!

Still February of 2004. Still in Dallas. As always, click the pic for the larger version(s).