CRYING GAME: Look for last-gasp pleas today...

CRYING GAME: Look for last-gasp pleas today from lawmakers in Washington trying to keep open local military bases, including El Toro Marine Corps Air Station and its 8,350 military and civilian jobs. Base proponents argue that closing El Toro will not cut costs, as the Navy contends. Expect a decision by July 1. . . . This is not the first time El Toro has faced extinction. When commissioned in 1943, it was intended to be a temporary training base for troops en route to the Pacific. Once the war ended three years later, Congress wanted to turn the facility back into a bean field. What saved it? The Korean War.

WINGS UP: There’s been a lot of talk in Orange County about what to do with the El Toro base if the military leaves. This week, those favoring an airport will get a boost from the Federal Aviation Administration, which will recommend that El Toro become a commercial or general aviation facility. With its two 10,000-foot and two 8,000-foot runways, the FAA’s Jim Motley said the base offers a “tremendous opportunity� as an airport.

NAME CALLING: The air station was named for its location at the mouth of what was once called Canada del Toro, or canyon of the bull. . . . And needing an insignia to match its name, officials went to Walt Disney in early 1943 and asked him to design the now-famous “flying bull� logo. . . . Not until Disney released the copyright did the logo make its first major appearance--in the December, 1944, issue of National Geographic.

THAT’S NO BULL: Talk of the base closure hasn’t been the only controversy on base recently. A patch depicting the cartoon character Bart Simpson in a khaki uniform has been banned from the base. . . . Briefly a hot sale item at the Marine Corps Exchange, the patch was removed because it lampoons a dark event in the Navy’s recent history--the Tailhook scandal, which centered on allegations of sexual misconduct. “They were not supposed to be sold to begin with,� a base spokeswoman said, and “the word apparently didn’t trickle down.� The patch depicts Bart disclaiming: “I Wasn’t There.�