I'll just entertain myself

He lied about the war to get elected. (So did LBJ) Then kicked it into overdrive.

Friends, including my significant other, marvelous Maxine, have been to Viet Nam. She told me the local citizens in VN don’t refer to it as the Vietnamese war. They call it the American war. Quite a different perspective.

US military industrial complex fostered that whole conflict to test/demo and ultimately sell their wares and technology.however, US fought with skills and methods practiced in WWII. Whereas ,navies Congress ere skilled at fighting a guerrilla tactics.

I guess so. All they originally wanted was to be free from French colonialism but our government decided they were dominoes for communism. Hell of a reason to get millions killed.

And, they refused to read the tea leaves that they’re losing.

My ship never got close to there until some months after I went home. I am grateful to the fates that I didn't have an active hand in killing anyone over there.

I just love that man's voice, especially when he does things from the islands.

He's totally unique, Harry Belafonte is a force of nature.

I still have his vinyl records, some bought as early as 1958. I follow his daughter, Gina, on facebook.

I always loved Johnny Mathis' voice. The only Christmas album I had was his.

I don't usually like romantic music, but his tune 'chances are' makes me stop in my tracks. I have no idea what the lyrics are, I just love the music and his voice.

I have several Johnny Mathis albums. I spent about ten years looking for a record of his Hello Young Lovers. Finally got it on an album titled Heavenly.

Sometimes it’s just pure luck that we weren’t put in places we had to kill or be killed. I was stateside for my stay at Wichita Falls TX and Denver, Colo.

My older brother got drafted in the middle of the war but never left the country. They valued his carpenter skills at Fort Hood.

Just finished the street pick up. This is the first morning of the season I would describe the heat and humidity as brutal. That's pretty good for July. I just have to suffer with it now until sometime in either September or October. They took away a camera we had by the mailboxes to discourage heavy trash dumping, but it's no real loss. Once the trash dumpers figured out nobody looks at the monitor anyway, they resumed trashing everything as before. It wasn't so bad today. Just some fast food bags and cups and beer bottles. I like the composition of the messes they leave - fast food, alcohol, and tobacco because it means their lives are likely to be short and miserable as they age.

Never heard of a glass octopus.

Funny, my husband bought me a blown glass octopus that's hanging from the curtain rod in my living room

I'm getting my truck back today after over a week at the transmission shop. It was squirting fluid. Since they rebuilt the transmission last December I'm hoping at least a portion of the cost will be covered by the warranty. I hate haggling over such things, but I'm prepared to argue and even whine a little.

Gus once recommended two books to me. Loved them both. You Can't Win, Jack Black and The Tortilla Curtain. The first is an autobiography of a career criminal. He crosses paths with Bat Masterson at one point, to give an idea of the time period. The second tells the story of the intertwined lives of an illegal couple and an anglo, in California. Both are well worth the time.

Belafonte with South African musicians