🚀 go-pugleaf

BA wrote:
> 
> Murray Cooper wrote
> 
> > >     Ahistorical? Of course it began under St John. Or under General
> > > Eisenhower, depending on how far back you want to go.
> >
> > Nope.  Combat involvement began under St. John.
> > > ----------------------------------------
>      ER recently recommended a book that traces the setup further back.
> > > ----------------------------------------
> > >     Oh. I misspelt "Johnson." Apparently you didn't look it up, or
> remember.
> > > ----------------------------------------
> > I did remember.  You didn't just misspell it, doofus.
> > You added a whole extra letter.  YOU didn't know the
> > correct name.
> > > ----------------------------------------
>     Thank God I don't have to any more. And what's this name-calling on your
> part? I thought I was on your side. Have you not yet been surrounded and
> outnumbered?

That book was "Patriots: The Vietnam War From All Sides," and is mostly
an oral history told by participants at every level of that sad sick and
sorry debacle, from Alexander Haig to American grunts to NLF grunts and
one-time government officials from both Vietnams.  

Until a friend was so insistent that I read it that he sent me a copy, I
was certain I'd read every word I wanted or needed to about that
particular war.  I cannot recommend it highly enough.  
So far as history repeating itself, watch the next election.  And I
won't cross-post again, but _everybody_ oughta know about this book.

Nixon, elected as a "peace candidate" with no real legacy, put in place
policies that kept the killing going until 1975, mostly because he
couldn't figure out a way to extract American troops without looking, in
his own mind, like a wuss.  

It could happen again.  

I'm wondering how the man-power numbers are gonna work out if the
country is stupid enough to truly elect Shrub.  (And it might be: it
did, after all, re-elect Ray-gun.)  It's hard to see how the current
level of adventurism can be maintained without a draft. . .

--
There's a place on this earth
My people call Home
There's hills and hollers everywhere
And lots of room to roam.
We're noted for our hard times
And God's great creation
We are the people
Of the Hillbilly Nation
   --- Charlie Gearhart, "Goose Creek Symphony"
-- 
"Bearskin to Holly Fork: Stories From Appalachia"
 is now available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, 
or your favorite local bookstore.  

Fiction, poetry, essays
New MP3: "Second Cousin"
http://www.bobsloansampler.com/

Most recent Lexington "Herald-Leader" column: Political Dead Duck as
Scapegoat
http://www.bobsloansampler.com/col06.htm