Because I linked to Gerad Jones' site
His comment, "It takes awhile for people to find your blog but if you keep saying stuff worth saying, they will." left me with more questions than answers.
One thing that matters is this: When I began this blog (August 17) I added links to icasualties.org where they link to the Department of Defense confirmations of US Casualties in Iraq. The death toll was at 2607. Today it is at 2621. What matters to me is no matter how much news we watch or read I don't think we are aware of the daily death tally. (At least I was not aware of it.) No matter our political proclivities I think it's essential to consider the consequences, the reality for their families and our own good (or bad) fortune as it relates to this creepingly exponential news. Maybe it's time to re-read Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun" Here's an excerpt
7 comments:
There's a Vietnam War Memorial Wall with 58,000 names on it...I guess they didn't have room for the 3,000,000 Vietnamese. It'll take awhile for Google to get you indexed, then things like Technorati and Alexa and the other four trillion bloggers out there will start referring to what you say...and it grows exponentially I think is the word. Or not. People are pretty much wrapped up in themselves. G.
"Sure, I was a little wrapped up in myself. I’ve always been a little wrapped up in myself. Who isn’t a little wrapped up in himself or herself? We’re all a bunch of fucking water spiders, skimming over the surface of everything, face to face with nothing but our own stupid reflections. All I had to do was look. All I had to do was listen. But I didn’t. I had this appointment, see."
Protesting in the 60's
American dead - 58,169
Vietnamese killed by American military - 1,165,000+
The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, also known as The Wall, is 493 feet long, or almost 1/10th of a mile. A Vietnamese equivalent to this memorial, including both North and South Vietnamese military and civilians who were killed by the American military, would be 9,903 feet, or almost 1.9 miles, long. This does not include disease and starvation deaths, injuries, or South Vietnamese killed by the North Vietnamese Army.
(copied from rationalrevolution.net)
Ah, let us not quibble...I didn't say 3 million killed by US troops. I'm sure many of the 58,169 on the memorial weren't killed by Vietnamese "troops," either. You're not in Google yet, by the way. You will be. G.
I picked up another link today from CG Invoicer - the fine people at Chicken Girl Software. Still I admire your integrity having so many million hits per month and not charging for your site. Speaking of integrity I ordered your book through my amazon search link.
And in regard to your comment I might quote the line from Alvy Singer where he says "My analyst says I tend to exaggerate my childhood memories..." The weird thing is it took me a while to find that rationalrevolution site. If you google the Viet Nam war you get a BUNCH of sites quoting Westmoreland saying
The facts are:
91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served [Westmoreland]
74% said they would serve again even knowing the outcome [Westmoreland]
(from http://www.vhfcn.org/stat.html .... At some point I will memorize the html code to insert these links.Earlier I wrestled the comment box trying to get a phoito into it...)
Anyway that 74% sounds really hard to believe.....
I had a friend who joined the Special Forces in 1962 and went to Vietnam a few months later. The story of how that happened is in Chapter Six of my free little fifteen hour audio book. He wasn't among Westmoreland's 91%. I do everything for free 'cause you can't be free if you don't. G.
I lived in Hawaii in the early 70's. In Waikiki there was a clean cut, but not redneck, kinda guy who drove the streets in his VW Bug. He painted a sign on each of the car doors. It said 'Free Taxi' If you were lucky enough to spot him you could get a ride almost anywhere on the island. You could, of course, tip him. I had a feeling his free services generated more in tips than the regulated cabs. Also he probably avoided all kinds of business taxes.
Your book is due to arrive anytime. I haven't started the audio book, I've been obsessed with templates, code, colors, site indexing with google and updating this place.
and finally regarding those Westmoreland stats... I worked with a few guys who had just returned to civilian life after Viet Nam. They seemed none to excited to return to duty. I have a feeling had I asked the question 'Would you do it again?' may have gotten me decked.
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