Gratuitious War Porn

The Great El-ahrairah just got back from a northern suburb of Tijuana, Mexico otherwise known as San Diego, California. While I was there, I was able to go to one of the better military museums that I have ever seen. The US aircraft carrier Midway has been restored as a floating museum and is open to the public. For the paltry sum of $7 for four hours of parking and $15 for admission, I was able to spend three and hours wandering thru the ship, feeding my addiciton to "war porn".

The visit to the ship includes a self-guided audio tour so you can actually see what life was like on-board. The first thing that struck me was juts how small the areas below deck are. I've been on-board ship a few times, but I don't remember the spaces being so small ('cept the heads).

I had to stoop down constantly and since I'm as talk as my sainted father was at 22 years old, I have new-found respect for him wanting to be in the US Navy and put up with living like this on-board ship. There are also many displays of Navy aircraft (no whussy Air Force stuff here) and since this is an aircraft carrier, the flying prowess of naval aviators is recounted and the difficulty of carrier landings explained. Air Force pilots might be good, for naval aviators, they are only the Navy's rejects.

Anyone who happens to visit San Diego should take the time to visit the Midway. I'm sure they will be glad they did (unless they are some kind of anti-military idiot) and will come away with a profound appreciation of the United States Navy (which is funny coming out of a former-Marine's mouth).

Toys for the war-mongering dictator in all of us

Over at the Corner, there is a link to a Lego toy competitor which shows who really knows what little boys like. Go to the webpage and click on the Army-Desert link on the right-hand side. Next, click on the picture, fourth from the top on the left. What do you have? A SCUD missile and launcher in all it's LEGO-ish glory. The caption states that "the set will build one large ballistic missile launch vehicle with ballistic missile. Featuring: two fully accessible driver cabs, side access doors, retractable launch pad with stabilizing legs, one support personnel jeep, five soldiers in full camoflage uniforms, decals/transfers and scale weapons." And it's just in time for Christmas.

What I like is the smile on the face of the kid playing with the toy. He's probably thinking about how he will launch an pre-emptive strike on Barbie's Beach House before Barbie signs a mutual defense pact with G.I. Joe.