The Dish

After that stunning Afghanistan shot, a reader sends in some pictures taken by his son-in-law, who was a major and a Blackhawk pilot for the Army’s Special Forces in the Middle East:

More pics after the jump.

Another reader writes:

Regarding the picture of the helicopter rescue. I cannot confirm what was going on there other than to say it would look very routine to anyone who spent much time in the Marine Corps infantry. I don’t mean a high-speed Ricky Recon type either but your average, everyday line company grunt attached to your average, everyday helicopter squadron.

During the Desert Storm era I fast-roped, repelled or jumped out of the back of CH-53s onto the top of a building or a moving ship more times than I can count.  I don’t say this as as a braggart but rather to assure you that while you are right to be astonished, you should be even more so to realize that the boys in that picture are, much like me, average as grits.

The pilot, on the other hand, is probably an ego-maniacal jackass.

It’s one of the ugliest buildings on the planet. Mercifully, there are pans to humanize it.

A good reason to set your phone to vibrate.

Over a hundred entries so far:

There once was a man named Romney,
Whose hair was an election anomaly:
His opponents were balding,
His attack ads were scalding,
And he spoke with robotic autonomy.

They searched for the next Reagan in vain.
The support for hizzoner did wane,
Fred’s attempt didn’t take,
And Mitt is so fake,
They shrugged and said, "Maybe McCain?"

More here, here, and here. The limerick that started it all is here.

John Cloud writes with sometimes painful candor about the break-up of his seven-year relationship and explores the still-largely-unknown world of comparative studies of gay and straight marriages. There is so much we still don’t know, and without the support of civil marriage, we’re not dealing with apples and apples. But even now, there are some interesting findings:

Gottman, Levenson and their colleagues found that gays and lesbians who exhibit more tension during disagreements are more satisfied with their relationships than those who remain unruffled. For straight people, higher heart rates during squabbles were associated with lower relationship satisfaction. For gays and lesbians, it was just the opposite. Gays conduct their relationships as though they are acting out some cheesy pop song: You have to make my heart beat faster for me to love you. For gays, it is apathy that murders relationships, not tension. Straight people more often prefer a lento placidity.

Father Juan Manuel Villar touches the nose of a Carlino dog with an aspergillum while he blesses the dog during the feast of San Anton, the patron saint of animals, at the San Anton church on January 17, 2008 in the center of Madrid, Spain. San Anton is honored by many Catholic churches in Spain where thousands of animal lovers flock to their nearest place of worship to have their animals blessed. By Jasper Juinen/Getty Images.

The usual distortions of what Obama actually said. Maybe someone will point out this endorsement that she features on her website. Money quote:

Her list of favorite presidents – Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, Truman, George H.W. Bush and Reagan – demonstrates how she thinks. As expected, Bill Clinton was also included on the aforementioned list.

Then this:

Hillary and I will always remember President Ronald Reagan for the way he personified the indomitable optimism of the American people, and for keeping America at the forefront of the fight for freedom for people everywhere…

Whatever works. I have no idea who is going to prevail in Nevada and South Carolina. But the Clintons are acting as if they think they could lose.

Two moving posts about his dog here and here. My sympathies. Dusty just turned ten. Mercifully, she’s as ornery as ever – and ever-so-slightly more affectionate than she used to be. Mellowed by marriage, as I’ve been. I can’t imagine burying her. Losing a dog is a tough business – even for stone-hearted Tories like Derb.

Damian Lanigan:

We need to ask the ex-Governor a straight question: don’t you think, at the very least, that the issue of consent is a major difference between adult homosexual relations and sex with animals? Does he know how difficult it is, for instance, to get a rabbit to go for a drink with you, let alone to persuade it to come back to your place for coffee and a parsnip? Has he tried hooking up in a petting zoo?

The very least you’re going to need a lasso and gritty determination. Some people have even had to resort to Rohypnol. Llamas don’t go down easy, you know.  I’ve heard that human / avian wedding arrangements are particularly difficult: it doesn’t matter how many times you ask a budgie whether they’d like a civil or religious ceremony, they just repeat the question and keep pecking away at the old millet sock.

I’m sure I could think of other differences between human gay relationships and human / animal ones, but I have to go: my wife’s stuck up the neighbours’ tree again.