We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2007 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:04:20 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2008 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Open post for those with something to share, updated through the day. New, complete posts come in below this one. Note: If trackbacking, please acknowledge this post in your post. That's only polite. You're advertising here, we should get an ad at your place... Time to add a new caveat, because from email it's not clear to some folks (mind you, if you don't read this it won't matter...) Being an open post, people (collectively, the Denizens) other than I post in the H&I. They sign their work (most of the time) - keep that in mind when you want... http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:41:51 -0600 Sorry, Maggie. But you are correct - on politics, Kevin is a lost cause from your perspective. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69915 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69915 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:13:50 -0600 (Cough, cough. Goodie, phlem this time and not a lung.) Only one issue with SJS, SM-3 isn't even a proven anti-air system much less bmd. It's gone great guns in test range situations, but it's never actually been put to the only test that matters. Not to be kicking the USN, but it isn't (and thank gawd it never was put to the that test, not that I think it won't work or nothin'). Great point about responsibility though. And, well, why have one reason for doing something when multiple works just as well? Cuba(or more appropriately Kat's China analogy). But China has found itself greatly changed by free trade. 20 years ago they didn't give a fig about the environment. THe people were too damn poor to care. Economic success wasn't something the CCP had to ensure to keep their own necks outta nooses before Deng Xia Peng came along and moved them some what market wise to build up their military. Now, Hu Jintao and the Boys absolutely have to worry about being lynched, by their own military if not just the general populace, if they don't deliver consistent 5% growth each year. Time frames matter. Be the tortoise, not the hare. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69909 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69909 Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:14:23 -0600 It wasn't Kat, it was me and I wasn't trying to set him up, I was trying to be nice. See what I get for that? Some crazy cigar lecture. This is why I don't often try to be nice, it never works for me. No worries Kevin, I don't smoke cigars and I don't wear diamonds. Unless you have some sad story about child labor or slavery in Hershey PA or the Coke plant in Georgia....I'm all set. Lesson learned...there's no making Kevin happy, so I'll stop trying. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69907 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69907 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:19:31 -0600 Well, if free trade had precipitated free information, then how come all those lovely Euros vacationing in Cuba and trading with them haven't yet created such a society? Or, in places like China where the internet still gets blocked to keep out info? Futile as that seems with all the end rounds. Yet, a little island remains the same with all that? I would say that the only time the embargo lifts is when Castro is really gone and free trade agreements include all the other free flows, too. Like info and education. Otherwise, I am in full agreement that free trade helps the flow of democracy and capitalism, even in a corrupt society. At least there you know who you can bribe to get what you want. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69905 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69905 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:54:14 -0600 IF you like Ashtons, try their new San Cristobal line. Where Ashton cigars were formerly only made by the Fuente family and were Dominican tobaccos, the San Cristobals are made by Don Pepin Garcia and are Nicaraguan. They are awesome smokes. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69904 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69904 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:23:39 -0600 I was always under the impression that some of the best Marines were guys who started off not exactly as boy scouts and alterboys. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69903 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69903 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:19:01 -0600 You can find as good, if not better cigars made by the Cuban exiles now living in the Dominican Republic, Honduras or Nicaragua (Danny-O take note) and not have to have the guilt of a blood cigar hanging over you. Well said, something I've been trying to explain to my semi-cigar enjoying friends. I'll stick with Ashton's myself ;) ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69902 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69902 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:09:05 -0600 Heh. Kevin makes a living selling cigars... Kat set him up for this one. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69901 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69901 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:46:29 -0600 that good anymore. Communist means of production has all but exhausted the soil, they can't keep up with the demand and are even importing tobaccos from Central America to put into 'Cuban' cigars. You can find as good, if not better cigars made by the Cuban exiles now living in the Dominican Republic, Honduras or Nicaragua (Danny-O take note) and not have to have the guilt of a blood cigar hanging over you. The mindset of the exiles is varied regarding Castro and what will happen after that regime finally falls. Some good, some bad, some unrealistic, some pragmatic. Some are determined to get back what was stolen from their families by the Communists. Others are more realisitic as evidenced by a conversation I had with one such political refugee. "What are we going to do? Go back to our land in Cuba and tell the campesinos who have been living there for almost 4 generations to get off our property?" The cigar industry will be in a flux. Brands that are only sold here in the US, such as 'our' versions of famous Cuban name brands, Cohiba, H. Upmann, Romeo Y Julieta etc will likely disappear. The exiles brought these brand names with them when they fled, but those are mainly sold in the US because we can't get the real Cuban brands. The real winners of the Cuban regime falling, aside from the people themselves, will be the lawyers... gag... the legal fights over naming rights, propriety information, claims to stolen property etc. will be long and expensive. The good news is, that 5-10 years after the regime falls, the world will be able to enjoy cigars of a quality never before heard of. By bringing in modern business practices, improving the quality of the product and restoring vitality to the worn out soil of Cuba, these new cigars will be awesome! If I was a millionaire, I'd hire a ro-ro container ship and be circling Cuba awaiting the fall of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Soon as it fell, I'd pull into harbor and start flashing cash. How much for that '48 Packard? How much for that Dusenberg? Etc. The classic car market will swoon. Sadly, though, none of this will come to pass as long as the Reds are running the show. After 40+ years of an obviously ineffective embargo policy towards Cuba, a new line of diplomacy, interaction and exchange is certainly warranted. ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69898 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69898 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:21:13 -0600 SERVING heads of states, retires". Funny how, those Socialist by the Thames define service. I hardly think that they would define Milosevic's reign over Serbia as service, wouldn't they?]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69892 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69892 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:21:39 -0600 You know there really are no new taxes here these days. Tax is such an ugly dirty filthy word isn't it? So much better with all the fees, levies and charges now isn't it? Soon they'll call them compulsory donations. http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69888 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/02/h_i_fires_18_fe.html#comment-69888 Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:26:28 -0600