Destroyers to the rescue?

According to the TV newsie, the US is massing destroyers off the coast of Syria to do a little 21sth century gunboat dipomacy. 
Destroyers?  The smallest warship that counts as a ship?  Smaller vessels are known as boats, not ships.  Either 21st century destroyers are a LOT bigger and meaner than 20th century destroyers, or the proposed strike on Syria is gonna be a lovepat.  I mean, we used to do this sort of thing with aircraft carriers, no destroyers need apply. 
    Actually, destroyers have gotten bigger and costlier over the years.  Used to be, a destroyer was only 2000 tons displacement.  Lately they have been pushing 5000-6000 tons.  Ships that big used to be called cruisers.  Now they are destroyers.  

Brits bail on Obama

They showed it on TV, the British Parliament in session, tight small room with everyone crammed in face to face.  Prime Minister on the front bench trying to talk the members into supporting the American plan to do something in Syria.  He tried hard, he thought he had the votes, but when the vote was taken, it was a vote to stay out and let the Americans dangle in the wind.
   This is the first time in a hundred years that the Brits and the Yankees haven't pulled together.  We were so tight during WWII that the rest of the world called us the "Anglo Americans".  Since WWII the Brits have stayed really close, Brit authors do best sellers, Brit singers hit the Top Forty, Savile Row tailors out swank NYC tailors, Britain is a top tourist destination, Brit sports cars have more class than Japanese.  The relationship is so close that the Brits could be the 51st state. 
   Could it be that repeated insults from Obama have finally turned off the Brits?  There was that business about returning a bust of Winston Churchill, failure to send anyone to Maggie Thatcher's funeral, and doubtless some other snubs that I don't remember but the Brits do.  Obama doesn't like the Brits and he lets it show.  It's payback time.  It's dumb to let people know you don't like 'em.  Makes it easier for them to dump on you.
   Anyhow, if we cannot get our closest ally, Britain, to go along with zapping Syria over poison gas use, good luck anywhere else.

So they gave Nidal Hasan the death penalty

Took 'em long enough.  He killed 13 people and wounded many more way back in 2009.  That's four years ago, four years of welfare for lawyers. 
   Now they are talking about doing appeals, twice, and taking more years before offing Hasan.  It's a good bet that as the red tape unwinds, Hasan will be spared, to live a long life in jail, at our expense.  He should have faced a firing squad four years ago.
  Justice delayed is justice denied.

Goldie Oldie still competitive

South Korea is shopping for 60 new jet fighter planes.  There were gonna buy the brand new F35.  But the Boeing salesman have been active and for the last round of Korean competition, the trusty F15, which first flew in 1972, is in the competition.  The Korean purchasing board has disqualified the F35 as being too expensive ($96 million), and disqualified the Eurofighter Typhoon for "bidding irregularities."
    The purchasing commission decision will be reviewed by a top bracket committee chaired by the South Korean defense minister.  Korean news media say that the Korean Air Force is unhappy, they wanted the newer F35, but the finance minister is holding firm on the budget which was $7.4 billion.  Some explaining is due here, 60 F35's at $96 million apiece comes out to $5.7 billion, well with in a $7.4 budget.  Either the $7.4 billion has to pay for a few things besides new fighters, or Lockheed Martin did a LOT of marking up.
   The "bidding irregularities" is difficult to understand as well.  The Koreans had agreed with Eurofighter to bid 45 single seaters and 15 twin seat models.  The Korean's beef is that Eurofighter changed the deal to 54 single seat and only 6 single seat models, with out telling 'em.  This was supposed to save money.   Any salesman worth his salt would know that changing the customer's specs on a bid is suicide.  I guess Eurofighter has a death wish.  Granted 2 seaters are more expensive 'cause you have to build two cockpits, which costs twice as much as one cockpit, but when we a doing a deal for 60 planes,  the extra cost is too small to jeopardize the deal. 

Syrian Intervention. For the credibility of Obama?

The Bashar Assad regime in Syria has used poison gas ("chemical weapons" is the nicey nicey name for it) on their own people.  Some time ago, Obama made a threat to do unspecified bad things to Assad if he used poison gas.  Well, Assad went ahead and gassed his rebels.  Now Obama is under pressure to make good on his idle threats.  New secretary of state, old Viet Nam war veteran, "Swift Boat John" Kerry is beating the drum for action against Assad. 
   Syria has a nasty dictator, Bashar Assad, under attack from Al Quada.  We don't own Assad a thing, and Al Quada is Al Quada.  Getting mixed up in the Syrian civil war is a choice between two repulsive sides.  Most Americans are would just as soon let the two sides fight it out, without absorbing any more US casualties in Mid East peace keeping actions. 
   Now, that Assad has crossed Obama's red line, Obama is finding that he doesn't have political support for military action in Syria. 
   This is something that most parents learn early.  If you make a threat to the kids, you gotta make good on it.  Obama has two daughters, he shoulda learned by now.  Or maybe he is a slow learner.

Eric Holder is racist

Poor Louisiana, still recovering from years of terrible schools and  Hurricane Katrina.  Louisiana set up a voucher program to allow kids from terrible schools or destroyed schools to attend  charter or private schools.  Now Eric is suing Louisiana to kill the program, despite the fact the 90% of the kids getting vouchers are black.
   His lawyers sited a single case where some five white kids used the program.  Holder claimed that allowing just five white kids to get  vouchers made some public school more black.  For this, Holder's people want to deny all the black kids the vouchers they need to get out of horrible public schools and get a decent education in a decent school.
   Say "Teacher's Union" to your self.  Holder is more loyal to teachers unions than to black kids.  Shame.

Whither the F-35 (Joint Strike Fighter)?

Budget cutting and sequestering is sniffing around the massive F-35 program.  F-35 is supposed to be THE jet fighter for the entire free world, for the next 25 years.  It's computerized, it's stealthy, it's almost operational.  And it costs like crazy.
   F-35 has three versions, F35A is the regular air force version, designed to operate off concrete runways.  F35B is the vertical takeoff version for the Marine Corps, and F35C is the carrier version for the Navy, essentially the Air Force version beefed up to survive carrier landings and catapulting.
   Aviation Week suggests saving money by cancelling the Marine Corps and Navy versions, and concentrating on the Air Force version.  The Navy could get by using  the F/A 18 Hornet (currently in service) and the Marines could keep flying their Harrier VTOL fighter.  In short, new fighters for the Air Force and let the Navy and Marines suck hind teat. 
   I don't know how this will fly in Congress, but the Navy and Marine viewpoint is not hard to imagine.