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        <title>Comments for NR Cruise Report</title>
        <description>We&apos;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 2003-2010</description>
        <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html</link>
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            <title>NR Cruise Report</title>
            <description><![CDATA[Day 1 (Embarkation)

Never having done this before (at least not on a ship not painted Haze Grey) it has all been interesting. I was especially fascinated, as a former operations andlogistics planner, to observe how efficiently Holland America processes passengers and baggage off the ship, and a new set onto the ship, offload trash and sewage, and take on new comestibles, water, and fuel. Theorganizatino of it allis impressive. Not that I expected it wouldn&rsquo;t be &ndash; these people have to make money, after all.

We&rsquo;re currently dashing (for a cruise ship) across the Atlantic north of the Bahamas. I say dashing because they usually make this passage at 15 knots or so, and we&rsquo;re doing it at 22 knots, which is full-bore for Eurodam. The reason we are doing this is Hurricane Paloma, tracking south of Cuba as I type. We in clouds and small squalls right now, but the Captain Mercer assures us we&rsquo;ll make Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, early and will avoid the storm. If Paloma doesn&rsquo;t behave, we&rsquo;ll apparently skip Providenciales and head for San Juan, Puerto Rico, where we&rsquo;ll commune with Denizen Boquisucio&rsquo;s peeps.

A word on Captain Mercer, who is, I&rsquo;m sure a fine mariner, having had his Masters&rsquo; ticket since 1979 and captaining large vessels for many years &ndash; nonetheless&hellip; we&rsquo;re on Monty Python cruise lines. I look for the Crimson Permanent Assurance to appear as we move through the formerly piratical waters of the Caribbean. Why? Because the master of our ship sounds, over the intercom, just like Eric Idle. Who knows, we may have a witch-burning at some point.

As for the &ldquo;National Review&rdquo; part of the cruise thus far, let&rsquo;s just say if you&rsquo;re a fan of the magazine and it&rsquo;s writers, you&rsquo;d be in heaven. Last night Jonah Goldberg and I sat at the bar knocking back Mojitos and trying to outdo each other on Monty Python triva &ndash; Jonah was relieve he wasn&rsquo;t the only one who thought Eric Idle walked the bridge. In small groups I talked Iraq and Afghanistan with Bing West and Bernard Lewis &ndash; money comment from that was Bing talking about Barney Frank&rsquo;s looking for a 25% reduction in the Defense budget &ndash; &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve been fighting a &ldquo;rich war&rdquo; in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we&rsquo;re going to have to continue doing so &ndash; good luck with that, Congressman!&rdquo; I chatted briefly with Mark Steyn (and yes, Wendy, he still reads your email). I mostly listened as Jonah talked the Politics of Palin (thus far, people on the cruise prefer her to Peggy Noonan 12-0).]]></description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 07:41:07 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Comment from MaryAnn on 2008-11-10</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[Very cool, John! I look forward to reading more updates.&nbsp;]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80267</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80267</guid>
            <pubDate>Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:25:34 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Comment from caltechgirl on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[Sounds like fun!&nbsp; HAve a great time and give SWWBO a hug from me!<br />]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80261</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80261</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:37:54 -0600</pubDate>
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            <title>Comment from Maggie on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[FM,<br />
<br />
John doesn't have to worry, there is no troop berthing on Holland America.]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80259</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80259</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 15:58:02 -0600</pubDate>
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            <title>Comment from Attila of Argghhh! on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[&nbsp;I AM&nbsp;NOT&nbsp;WORTHY! I AM&nbsp;NOT&nbsp;WORTHY! ;)<br />
<br />
You are my hero.<br />
<br />
Don't puke.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Attila]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80257</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80257</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:20:42 -0600</pubDate>
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            <title>Comment from Oldloadr on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[Not bad for a retired artilery field-grader!&nbsp; IMHO, you are doing all of us a service by being there and showing the big guys that we didn't serve for 20+ years just because we were too dumb to get a real job (yeah, I know that was 4 years ago, but it still comes to mind...).]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80256</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80256</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:17:13 -0600</pubDate>
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        <item>
            <title>Comment from Fishmugger on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[Hey Maggie,<br />
<br />
Did you send them a little note on what you learned on YOUR last cruise??]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80251</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80251</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:57:37 -0600</pubDate>
        </item>
        
        <item>
            <title>Comment from Maggie on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[This is great!&nbsp; I hope you both have a wonderful time.]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80250</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80250</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:49:43 -0600</pubDate>
        </item>
        
        <item>
            <title>Comment from Boquisucio on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[If upon approaching El Morro Castle, you see a greyish white plume rising like <a href="http://www.spanamwar.com/sanjuan2.JPG" rel="nofollow"><strong>THIS</strong></a> - DUCK!<br />]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80249</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80249</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 11:49:24 -0600</pubDate>
        </item>
        
        <item>
            <title>Comment from Alan Briley, RN on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[&nbsp;Enjoy, learn, relax, refuel. And kiss SWWBO!&nbsp;]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80245</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80245</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:53:10 -0600</pubDate>
        </item>
        
        <item>
            <title>Comment from BillT on 2008-11-09</title>
            <description>
                <![CDATA[<em>By far the most fruitful discussion personally was with K-Lo. Your humble scribe&rsquo;s scrivenings may soon appear in The Tank...</em><br />
<br />
That should keep JMH off your case, anyway...<br />]]>
            </description>
            <link>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80243</link>
            <guid>http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2008/11/nr_cruise_repor.html#comment-80243</guid>
            <pubDate>Sun, 09 Nov 2008 08:00:31 -0600</pubDate>
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