Copyright 2014 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Featured Movie: Noah and epic film coming to theaters March 28, 2014
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Brunos European Restaurant
Brunos European Restaurant
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Parkland, Washington
A little piece of Europe in Tacoma with traditional dishes of German and Polish cuisine. We serve also the finest European wines and beers.
closed Sundays & Mondays
Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion
July 6-8, 2012
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Parkland, Washington
closed Sundays & Mondays
foursquare review | **** Review @ yelp.com
Shamrock Tavern Parkland, Washington
Seattle Center Fisher Pavilion
July 6-8, 2012
Source;
http://bit.ly/LeblX8
Copyright 2012 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Honor the war dead, and the living
Honor the war dead, and the living
Monday, May 28, 2012Tour Normandy, France in photos!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Each day, 18 U.S. veterans commit suicide, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Memorial Day will be no different.
Regrettably, for many who have served in our armed forces, solitude dominates much of their lives. There are days when pain creeps up, moments of memory that foster unconscionable dread. Some veterans resist sharing these recollections, even among themselves.
On this day of remembrance, the day when we duly memorialize those who have died in our nation's service, pause to reflect on the cemeteries with the rows upon rows of somber white crosses and solemn stone markers that honor those souls who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
Then, take a moment to share your life with a living veteran, if only an honest thank you. Let the light shine upon them.
Jerry Wilkerson; Tucson
Source;
http://usat.ly/LvRxNU
Copyright 2012 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Ron Mills: Sentimental Me 2011
Ron Mills
Sentimental Me
2011
Ron has just released his new CD titled Sentimental Me and has added his voice to most of the arrangements. It's a very enjoyable CD to listen to anytime of the day.
I enjoy each and everyone of his songs and I think you will too.
Order a CD by phone 253.987.6261, post a message or send an email.
Sentimental Me
2011
Ron has just released his new CD titled Sentimental Me and has added his voice to most of the arrangements. It's a very enjoyable CD to listen to anytime of the day.
I enjoy each and everyone of his songs and I think you will too.
Order a CD by phone 253.987.6261, post a message or send an email.
Ron's 1st. CD Just Piano | Book Ron for your event here! | Fridays with Ron Mills | more...
Source;
http://bit.ly/Hyinzy
Copyright 2012 Atkins & Assoc. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
House Lawmaker Brings In GAO To Referee Abrams Tank Plant Debate
InsideDefense.com
March 19, 2012
House Lawmaker Brings In GAO To Referee Abrams Tank Plant Debate
A senior House lawmaker has enlisted the Government Accountability Office to enter the debate on the Army's plans to mothball the only Abrams tank plant in America.
"We're asking GAO to do the best they can in 30 days to advise us," Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) told Inside the Army in a March 16 interview. "We think they will have something meaningful for us in that time frame."
Senior Army leaders, citing fiscal reasons, have steadfastly stood by their plans to temporarily shut down an Abrams plant in Lima, OH, until the beginning of scheduled tank modernization work in 2017. Service officials say it would be less expensive to shut down the plant and re-start it than to pay to keep production lines "warm" until 2017.
But Abrams contractor General Dynamics Land Systems has complained that such a stall would result in lost industrial base expertise and eliminate countless subcontractor jobs.
Bartlett, the chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee, said he agrees with GDLS. "If we shut down that line, much of our industrial base -- these second- and third-tier subcontractors -- are just going to go away," he said. "We do not have the luxury in our country now of riding on a big industrial base. These people are going to get another job; they're going to lose their skills. We'd have an increasing number of our subcontractors shipping their stuff in from overseas somewhere."
Bartlett said GAO's analysis of the situation should arrive in time to inform the House's mark-up of the fiscal year 2013 defense budget authorization bill.
Army Secretary John McHugh has said it would take 70 tanks per year to sustain the Lima plant. Earlier this month he asserted that the Army's plan to shut down and restart the production would cost between $600 million and $800 million, while sustaining it at a build-rate of 70 annually would end up costing $3 billion.
"The cost analysis is that the closure costs far outweigh keeping it open," he told members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee during a March 7 hearing.
Meanwhile, GDLS last week began pitching a compromise plan on Capitol Hill calling for lawmakers to insert more than $180 million in unrequested funding into the Army's FY-13 budget to pay for 33 Abrams M1A2 System Enhancement Packages, according to a GDLS presentation provided to Congress and obtained by ITA. The proposal also asks that lawmakers "include language requiring the Army to fully fund continued Abrams production at levels necessary to secure and retain other workload to bridge to Abrams modernization."
Bartlett said he was open to GDLS proposal and voiced doubts about the Army's Abrams numbers, especially considering how challenged the service has been in presenting its case. Hence, his tasking the GAO to study the issue.
Congressional sources have also criticized the Army's efforts to provide detailed and accurate information.
"There is no detailed, objective, transparent, reliable sensitivity analysis by anyone -- GD or Army -- with respect to what the true minimum sustainment requirement is for the plant," a Hill source said.
The Army has commissioned the RAND Corp. to study the issue and provide a detailed analysis. This comes after the service earlier requested the same thing of the Institute for Defense Analyses, but later terminated the study. It is also the second time the Army has asked RAND to look into the issue since the first study was deemed too vague, according to congressional sources.
According to Army spokesman Matthew Bourke, "the studies assessed different aspects of the [Lima plant]." The IDA study considered "cost-effective solutions for sustaining required industrial base capabilities during the production gap," while the RAND study "assessed the costs and benefits of stopping or continuing tank production," he wrote in a Feb. 17 email.
A House staffer told ITA the Army's newer RAND study won't even be done until this summer -- too late to be considered during the House Armed Services Committee's mark-up. The delay, according to the source, is partly due to the Army's ongoing force-mix analysis, which will determine how many vehicles the service needs and in which brigades they will reside.
"Congress does not have the benefit of seeing the force mix analysis; Congress does not have the benefit of seeing a detailed industrial base impact study," the source said. "I'm not saying who's fault it was, but what IDA produced wasn't what the Army thought they were going to get. So the Army goes to RAND and asks that they do a quick look at their numbers. RAND didn't go anywhere -- they just looked at the sheets that the Army gave and the sheets that GD gave. They didn't make any side visits. There was a lot of disclaimers in there that said they hadn't had time to really look at all this stuff."
As previously reported by ITA, the Army is working with GDLS to set up foreign military sales involving Saudi Arabia and Egypt that might sustain the Lima plant, and Bourke said last week that the service was "open to reviewing" GDLS' new 33-tank proposal.
But Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno has said the service has a state-of-the-art tank fleet and does not need any more upgrades. "The conundrum we have is that we don't need the tanks," he told House appropriators on March 7. "Our tank fleet is two-and-a-half-years-old on average now. It's been recapped, it's been reset, we're in good shape, and these are additional tanks that we don't need. So, that's the other problem we have in keeping this line open."
Odierno mentioned FMS as a possible answer. "We think that this could be a solution to us keeping the line open if we're successful," he said. "But again, it's not a done deal yet, and so there's still a lot of work that we have to do."
Bartlett said he doesn't think that the future of America's tank industrial base should rest on potential FMS deals. "There's no guarantee we're going to have enough military sales to keep the line open," he said.
###
end
March 19, 2012
House Lawmaker Brings In GAO To Referee Abrams Tank Plant Debate
A senior House lawmaker has enlisted the Government Accountability Office to enter the debate on the Army's plans to mothball the only Abrams tank plant in America.
"We're asking GAO to do the best they can in 30 days to advise us," Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) told Inside the Army in a March 16 interview. "We think they will have something meaningful for us in that time frame."
Senior Army leaders, citing fiscal reasons, have steadfastly stood by their plans to temporarily shut down an Abrams plant in Lima, OH, until the beginning of scheduled tank modernization work in 2017. Service officials say it would be less expensive to shut down the plant and re-start it than to pay to keep production lines "warm" until 2017.
But Abrams contractor General Dynamics Land Systems has complained that such a stall would result in lost industrial base expertise and eliminate countless subcontractor jobs.
Bartlett, the chairman of the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces subcommittee, said he agrees with GDLS. "If we shut down that line, much of our industrial base -- these second- and third-tier subcontractors -- are just going to go away," he said. "We do not have the luxury in our country now of riding on a big industrial base. These people are going to get another job; they're going to lose their skills. We'd have an increasing number of our subcontractors shipping their stuff in from overseas somewhere."
Bartlett said GAO's analysis of the situation should arrive in time to inform the House's mark-up of the fiscal year 2013 defense budget authorization bill.
Army Secretary John McHugh has said it would take 70 tanks per year to sustain the Lima plant. Earlier this month he asserted that the Army's plan to shut down and restart the production would cost between $600 million and $800 million, while sustaining it at a build-rate of 70 annually would end up costing $3 billion.
"The cost analysis is that the closure costs far outweigh keeping it open," he told members of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee during a March 7 hearing.
Meanwhile, GDLS last week began pitching a compromise plan on Capitol Hill calling for lawmakers to insert more than $180 million in unrequested funding into the Army's FY-13 budget to pay for 33 Abrams M1A2 System Enhancement Packages, according to a GDLS presentation provided to Congress and obtained by ITA. The proposal also asks that lawmakers "include language requiring the Army to fully fund continued Abrams production at levels necessary to secure and retain other workload to bridge to Abrams modernization."
Bartlett said he was open to GDLS proposal and voiced doubts about the Army's Abrams numbers, especially considering how challenged the service has been in presenting its case. Hence, his tasking the GAO to study the issue.
Congressional sources have also criticized the Army's efforts to provide detailed and accurate information.
"There is no detailed, objective, transparent, reliable sensitivity analysis by anyone -- GD or Army -- with respect to what the true minimum sustainment requirement is for the plant," a Hill source said.
The Army has commissioned the RAND Corp. to study the issue and provide a detailed analysis. This comes after the service earlier requested the same thing of the Institute for Defense Analyses, but later terminated the study. It is also the second time the Army has asked RAND to look into the issue since the first study was deemed too vague, according to congressional sources.
According to Army spokesman Matthew Bourke, "the studies assessed different aspects of the [Lima plant]." The IDA study considered "cost-effective solutions for sustaining required industrial base capabilities during the production gap," while the RAND study "assessed the costs and benefits of stopping or continuing tank production," he wrote in a Feb. 17 email.
A House staffer told ITA the Army's newer RAND study won't even be done until this summer -- too late to be considered during the House Armed Services Committee's mark-up. The delay, according to the source, is partly due to the Army's ongoing force-mix analysis, which will determine how many vehicles the service needs and in which brigades they will reside.
"Congress does not have the benefit of seeing the force mix analysis; Congress does not have the benefit of seeing a detailed industrial base impact study," the source said. "I'm not saying who's fault it was, but what IDA produced wasn't what the Army thought they were going to get. So the Army goes to RAND and asks that they do a quick look at their numbers. RAND didn't go anywhere -- they just looked at the sheets that the Army gave and the sheets that GD gave. They didn't make any side visits. There was a lot of disclaimers in there that said they hadn't had time to really look at all this stuff."
As previously reported by ITA, the Army is working with GDLS to set up foreign military sales involving Saudi Arabia and Egypt that might sustain the Lima plant, and Bourke said last week that the service was "open to reviewing" GDLS' new 33-tank proposal.
But Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno has said the service has a state-of-the-art tank fleet and does not need any more upgrades. "The conundrum we have is that we don't need the tanks," he told House appropriators on March 7. "Our tank fleet is two-and-a-half-years-old on average now. It's been recapped, it's been reset, we're in good shape, and these are additional tanks that we don't need. So, that's the other problem we have in keeping this line open."
Odierno mentioned FMS as a possible answer. "We think that this could be a solution to us keeping the line open if we're successful," he said. "But again, it's not a done deal yet, and so there's still a lot of work that we have to do."
Bartlett said he doesn't think that the future of America's tank industrial base should rest on potential FMS deals. "There's no guarantee we're going to have enough military sales to keep the line open," he said.
###
end
Monday, March 19, 2012
DOD Site Seeks Military Spouse Bloggers
Welcome to Milblogging.com
Medal of Honor recipient launches military blog
Sunday, March 18, 2012, 11:25 AM
DOD Site Seeks Military Spouse Bloggers
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 06:48 PM
Are you a military spouse who already runs their own blog?
The DoD is recruiting for The Blog Brigade.
According to a story published earlier today by the American Forces Press Service, the DoD is seeking military spouse bloggers.
Here’s a look at the story:
Officials are seeking established military spouse bloggers to feature on the Defense Department’s Military OneSource Blog Brigade.
Officials are hoping spouses will share their knowledge and experiences about everything from military life and deployment to education and careers. “Military spouse bloggers are the influencers in the blogosphere, and it’s time to tap into their military life experiences,” they said on the site.
To qualify for the Blog Brigade, bloggers must own a personal blog that’s more than six months old and post original content to their blog at least once a week. Content should be relevant to the Military OneSource mission to support military members and families.
The Blog Brigade also features program updates from DOD leaders and guest posts from staff bloggers. To find out more, including the submission criteria, visit the Military OneSource Blog Brigade.
Sources;
http://bit.ly/Gzsio7
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=67452
###
end
Medal of Honor recipient launches military blog
Sunday, March 18, 2012, 11:25 AM
DOD Site Seeks Military Spouse Bloggers
Wednesday, March 7, 2012, 06:48 PM
Are you a military spouse who already runs their own blog?
The DoD is recruiting for The Blog Brigade.
According to a story published earlier today by the American Forces Press Service, the DoD is seeking military spouse bloggers.
Here’s a look at the story:
Officials are seeking established military spouse bloggers to feature on the Defense Department’s Military OneSource Blog Brigade.
Officials are hoping spouses will share their knowledge and experiences about everything from military life and deployment to education and careers. “Military spouse bloggers are the influencers in the blogosphere, and it’s time to tap into their military life experiences,” they said on the site.
To qualify for the Blog Brigade, bloggers must own a personal blog that’s more than six months old and post original content to their blog at least once a week. Content should be relevant to the Military OneSource mission to support military members and families.
The Blog Brigade also features program updates from DOD leaders and guest posts from staff bloggers. To find out more, including the submission criteria, visit the Military OneSource Blog Brigade.
Sources;
http://bit.ly/Gzsio7
http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=67452
###
end
Bluegrass Music for the Soul
Bluegrass Music for the Soul
March 19, 2012
I look around the world today and there's very little resemblance of what the world was like 35 to forty years ago. What do I mean by that exactly? It's a number of things but most noticable are the automobiles, clothing styles and rude people. My teen age years occured during the 70's.
The one thing that takes me back to brighter days is bluegrass music. One of my foundest memories was enjoyed at an outdoor concert in Stumptown, West Virginia. We were attending the Aunt Minnie's bluegrass festival and there I was sitting on the ground in the front row watching Bill Monroe singing the blues. It still gives me goose bumps just thinking about that day. I don't remember any of the other bands that played but Bill Monroe. I assume this bluegrass festival is still ongoing and back in the day it lasted the entire week.
I've seen some cool stuff and visited some famous places in my day but I somehow knew that on that day it would become a treasurable moment so I savored it just like a juicy steak dinner.
Now everytime that I hear some great bluegrass music I'm taken back to a day that saw things much simplier than the weares of today.
On the Sea of Life by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver
Uploaded by Glass232499 on Nov 7, 2010
We are on the sea of life
Sailing to a better home
Where the saved of all the earth shall abide
Leaving all our trials here
Many pleasures wait us there
When we cross the foam and reach the other side
(Chorus)
We are (Sailing on) sailing onward, sailing , sailing o'er the foam
We are talking to the captain as the angry billows hum
Soon yes (Sailing to) soon we'll reach the harbor and we're safely o'er the tide
We are going onward to the other side
Many millions now abide
In that home beyond the tide
Where the reassumed pilgrims wade free from care
There is room on board for all
Who will head the captain's call
And take ship for Heaven's country bright and fair
###
end
Godsped,
Philip Atkins
Tacoma, Washington
253.987.6261
March 19, 2012
I look around the world today and there's very little resemblance of what the world was like 35 to forty years ago. What do I mean by that exactly? It's a number of things but most noticable are the automobiles, clothing styles and rude people. My teen age years occured during the 70's.
The one thing that takes me back to brighter days is bluegrass music. One of my foundest memories was enjoyed at an outdoor concert in Stumptown, West Virginia. We were attending the Aunt Minnie's bluegrass festival and there I was sitting on the ground in the front row watching Bill Monroe singing the blues. It still gives me goose bumps just thinking about that day. I don't remember any of the other bands that played but Bill Monroe. I assume this bluegrass festival is still ongoing and back in the day it lasted the entire week.
I've seen some cool stuff and visited some famous places in my day but I somehow knew that on that day it would become a treasurable moment so I savored it just like a juicy steak dinner.
Now everytime that I hear some great bluegrass music I'm taken back to a day that saw things much simplier than the weares of today.
On the Sea of Life by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver
Uploaded by Glass232499 on Nov 7, 2010
We are on the sea of life
Sailing to a better home
Where the saved of all the earth shall abide
Leaving all our trials here
Many pleasures wait us there
When we cross the foam and reach the other side
(Chorus)
We are (Sailing on) sailing onward, sailing , sailing o'er the foam
We are talking to the captain as the angry billows hum
Soon yes (Sailing to) soon we'll reach the harbor and we're safely o'er the tide
We are going onward to the other side
Many millions now abide
In that home beyond the tide
Where the reassumed pilgrims wade free from care
There is room on board for all
Who will head the captain's call
And take ship for Heaven's country bright and fair
###
end
Godsped,
Philip Atkins
Tacoma, Washington
253.987.6261
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