I'm just wondering why (slightly, and maybe determinatally) optimized versions 
of the python modules are checked into git and distributed with it?

I'm asking becasue there are a couple of problems with pyo files (vs pyc), 
namely they strip assert statements. The second concern is that the only 
benefit is that they will make a first run slightly faster, after that the 
user should be able to generate them themselves, and being binary git won't 
handle them well.