In the Golden Heart

Let me correct one small item from KTUU's recent press coverage of Donald Rumsfeld's trip to Alaska:

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be in Alaska this weekend. He's expected to meet with the families of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Fort Wainwright Saturday.

The Pentagon says he's also planning to discuss North Korea's nuclear program with the Russian defense minister Sunday. It's part of a four-day trip to Alaska.

The SecDef will also be holding a media availability on Sunday and then speaking at the opening of the Lend-Lease Memorial. KNOM AM/FM Nome will be present. Suggestions for probing questions?

I must say that I really am enjoying Fairbanks. Not only is it far superior to Anchorage, it is just so much closer (if I can use that word non-spatially) to the Alaska that I have come to know and love in Nome. You could pick up Anchorage and put it down pretty well anywhere in the Lower 48 and it wouldn't look or feel that out of place. That's not true of Fairbanks, I think (with the exception of certain parts).