Bastet

Voting off What Kind of Day Has It Been 1. Celestial Navigation 2. In the Shadow of Two Gunmen 3. Bartlet for America

During the U.S. occupation of Iraq following 9/11, I was often reminded of the attitude instilled in - and, let's be real, embraced by - many of the American soldiers in Vietnam. Know absolutely nothing about the culture of the people you are fighting alongside, let alone against, view everyone in that area of the world as one in the same, and racistly reduce them to something sub-human in order to justify your actions. Part five illustrated that, no better than when Musgrave said that after his first kill, he vowed never to kill another human being in Vietnam -- but he'd kill every [insert choice of ethnic slur here] he could. Ah, LBJ, sliding further and further away from the parts of him that were good. "We talk too damn much about civil liberties." Screw you. And shuffling McNamara off to the World Bank because he expressed increasing doubt, but screw him, too, because he kept quiet about his change of heart for 30 years instead of speaking up when it could have done some good to hear one of the primary architects the war say, "Wait; this has all gone terribly wrong." The number of fatalities and serious injuries per incident is truly staggering by this point. And things like their rifles routinely jamming, or them being sent on a trail that includes a bridge their equipment is incapable of crossing, forcing a retreat right into ambush, or being sent in to retrieve the bodies (always the body count) of enemy soldiers they knew were just bait to lure them in, their own planes dropping bombs on them, etc. - of course that led to thinking, "I'm never getting out of here alive." I think Harris' conversation with his mom summed it up best, when he told her they were losing the war, people were dying right and left, and he was likely not coming home, she told him he'd be okay because he's special, and he told her, "Everybody's mother thinks they're special; I'm putting pieces of special people in bags." The number of people who wrote Musgrave off as unable to be saved - and for him to be lucid, hearing it all - is really something. As is the story of how he got out, with an 18-year-old fellow Marine in his first firefight, having watched the first guy who tried to drag him out get killed for his efforts, and jumping in to take over. Is the two-minute mention of rape as a war crime all we're going to get on the subject? I think I need some sleep before I delve into the Tet Offensive.

“She got pregnant accidentally [by our other dog].” If you have a male and a female, don’t get either one of them fixed, and don’t separate them with something close to a wall of fire, she’s going to get pregnant. That’s not an accident, that’s an inevitable result of your negligence. Grrr. At least she wound up at Planned Pethood, where she had to let them spay poor Lucy after the c-section. I watched another episode where people brought in two puppies with Parvo, because, of course, they hadn’t fully vaccinated them (the puppies had been given only one of the three necessary rounds). That’s a completely avoidable disease! This is why, when my vets told me I should become a vet (because I already know a good deal more about veterinary medicine than the average bear, I have a knack for diagnostics, and I love animals), I always said I couldn’t do it – I could probably develop the level of detachment necessary to euthanize an animal without bawling, but I couldn’t control my anger at irresponsible owners. Okay, now that I've vented, I shall carry on with the episode, but I had to stop and complain. Lucky you.

Hm, beating the Cowboys definitely helps in my ongoing quest to actually care about the Rams. Which would be particularly helpful if the Giants are going to continue sucking like a Hoover this season. (But, yeah, good gods - those helmets!)

Are you thinking that's Matthew Lillard? Once you mentioned Scream, I could see a resemblance, but unless I'm way off, that's not him.

Citrus is my exception, too - the only pies I like, other than a strawberry pie where the strawberries are raw, are lemon meringue and key lime.

What Kind of Day Has It Been Bartlet For America - Simply because I can't vote for any of the others yet. I think this was actually a better episode than The Indians in the Lobby, but their storyline was so much more important to be told that I can't do it.

I'm not sure whether I'm looking forward to or dreading the episode that covers "Hanoi Jane," because people still being fired up about Jane Fonda, especially when they don't show anywhere near the same degree of enmity for the, I don't know, thousands of people who committed far worse acts without ever taking responsibility for them, baffle me. But while reading an article on a completely different subject, I saw a link to this article from IndieWire:

Indeed you did; sorry about that - by the time I got around to watching, I had forgotten some of what I'd read back when it first aired. And, yes, if we hadn't viewed communists as a monolith, things would have been different. Ho Chi Minh started out (and somewhat remained) far more about his country's independence, not international communism. Part four was particularly good - and brutal. Oh my gods, it should not take until 1966 for President Johnson to learn Le Duan's name (not to mention his role, his degree of power, and what his policies and tactics are)! It's one thing for the American public to know fuck all about Vietnam, but for the guy deciding to go over there and engage in war to not even know the major players, let alone the basic culture ... ugh. He was trying to prop up a government in Saigon, hoping for leader that would earn the loyalty of the people, but how was that ever going to happen when it was just a revolving door of crazy generals who were strangers in their own country -- people who've spent generations under colonial rule aren't going to embrace a puppet. Our major international allies said over and over, no, we're not sending any of our troops; you want help with peace talks, we are there for you, but hell no we're not joining in this disaster of a war. Despite media coverage that was still heavily slanted, and majority public support for the war, increasing numbers of Americans were taking to the streets in protest against it. Kennan's testimony before Congress laid out clearly how misguided our presence and tactics in Vietnam were. Yet LBJ plowed ahead with a war of attrition. It's quite telling to show all these white men talking about how they enlisted because they'd been raised in military families, they wanted to be a hero, they wanted to fight communism, etc, and then the black man say he was hoping a football scholarship would be his ticket out of a gang-ridden neighborhood, but when that didn't pan out he saw the military as a way he could pay for college - and if he died, at least his momma would get a financial benefit. And for that one man to say he grew up in segregated towns, so until boot camp he had never met a black, Latino, or Jewish guy, but when they got to talking he realized they were all fundamentally the same - working class and poor. Three million people - one-fifth the population - made homeless by "seek and destroy" bombings in 1966 alone. Three million tons of explosives dropped on just the Laos portion of the Ho Chi Minh Trail - a million more than on Germany and Japan during all of WWII. Thirty thousand draftees called up each month. The numbers are mind boggling. Speaking of numbers, someone said perfectly of the whole metrics thing: "If you can't count what's important, you make what you can count important." Thus, the obsession with the enemy body count. And, as one journalist said, the possibility of turning otherwise honorable soldiers into liars, and worse - if the enemy body count is the measure of success, then you use indiscriminate tactics/firepower and count every Vietnamese body as an enemy. I got a laugh of sorts out of hearing the Marine call the anti-war protestors spoiled kids when seconds before we'd been shown footage of protestors carrying signs like "No Vietnamese ever called me [n-word]," "Big firms get rich/GI's die," and "Black People: 53% of the dead, 2% of the bread." And I take exception to classifying the anti-war movement as shifting from a moral one to a self-interested one when the military started drafting middle class kids, that it was driven by kids who didn't want to go. Is the fact it was both - people didn't want to go because they didn't want to be killed AND they didn't want anyone to go because they thought it was an unjust war in which atrocities were being committed - really that difficult a concept to grasp? Claiming protestors were organized and planted from the outside, attacking their patriotism, breaking the law to spy on them, inciting violence to make them look bad -- sound familiar? I doubt there's any way to ever have an honest accounting of how many American soldiers were like the guys who happily set fire to villagers' houses and destroyed their food supplies (and far worse) and responded when asked, "Why would I feel pity for them?" because they saw all Vietnamese as the same - the other, even if they didn't specifically classify civilians as the enemy - and how many were like the guys who were very uneasy with those orders and sometimes even defied them. What's clear is that people on both sides did horrible things, were asked to do horrible things, saw horrible things, and were permanently affected in profound ways. Such loss and devastation all around. I can't even begin to imagine how scared and demoralized those guys became, but the changing tone of Mogie's letters was an effective way of telling that story. The efficiency of the North Vietnamese was pretty incredible (and obviously not something for which we were prepared) -- constructing enough underground shelters to house pretty much everyone? A million people working around the clock to undo the bombing damage? Putting up pontoon bridges overnight to replace bombed out bridges and keep supplies/traffic moving? They were seriously underestimated.

I just watched episodes two and three, and it doesn't become any less astounding to me with repetition that both Kennedy and Johnson knew this was one giant mess - they both acknowledged privately that our military plans were for shit and we weren't going to get out with anything resembling a victory, but they feared the political toll (in terms of American voters, and international action) if they retreated from Communists, so they just kept doubling down. At a horrifying cost. The dichotomy between the positive impact of Johnson's domestic programs and the negative effect of his foreign policy - both of which continue to this day - is staggering. Maybe if he hadn't come into the presidency so insecure in his understanding of/abilities in foreign affairs (not to mention the circumstances under which he took office), he wouldn't have just retained Kennedy's advisors, and a thoughtfully-selected team could have gotten through to him. When he was VP, and thus just another advisor weighing in, he opposed the coup overthrowing the Diem government, since as awful as he was, there wasn't anyone to replace him. He knew that was going to make a bad situation worse, and thus advised against it. But once he was the one taking advice and making the final call, he resented the hell out of the fact the Vietnam mess was taking time away from the more important things he wanted to do here at home, and just wanted someone to give him a (mythical) strategy that would kill enough of the Viet Cong that they'd give up. And then, of course, he was being challenged by Barry Goldwater, whose entire campaign was about how weak Johnson was against those damn commies. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution gave him an overnight 30 percent bump in his favorability rating. And then as time went on, Johnson and Westmoreland just went fucking nuts. Excellent job in part three of juxtaposing footage of the U.S. military napalming the shit out of the country with Johnson's address about how we come in peace. Ugh, all the lies. Like the one Marine interviewed said, it was one thing back when Eisenhower and Kennedy were trying to figure things out, and made some bad decisions out of noble hearts, but by this point, Johnson and his gang knew unequivocally that the war was unwinnable yet kept throwing more and more bodies at it - and then lied to the servicemen and the American people at large about it - and that was disgusting. I knew exactly how it was going to unfold, but it still disgusted me to to hear about the entire battalion of South Vietnamese being sent into certain ambush to retrieve the bodies of four dead Americans, costing twelve of them their lives, and when the U.S. helicopter arrived, they took the four American bodies and left the twelve South Vietnamese bodies behind. Not to mention looking at that memo listing U.S. aims - 70% to avoid a humiliating US defeat, 20% to keep the territory from falling into China's hands, and 10% to help the people of South Vietnam. I've always wondered how things would have played out if the U.S. government had dealt with Ho Chi Minh back when he first started reaching out. Because so much changed over the years, in terms of his degree of power, the competing influence on Hanoi of the Soviet Union and China, the North Vietnamese leaders' favored tactics, etc., and we wound up with Le Duang instead. Whoever it was in part two who said America thought history doesn't apply to us was spot on, and that attitude hasn't diminished much.

18th and Potomac What Kind of Day Has It Been - Because, in actuality, it's only a solid episode that gets bumped higher on my list by my memories of practically falling off the couch as we faded to black on "We've got people down. Who's been hit, who's been hit?"

The officiating in the USC/Washington State game sucked. A defender has hold of a receiver’s jersey, and they call OFFENSIVE pass interference? But USC played like ass, instead of overcoming the bullshit calls. The Trojans’ first drive seemed to indicate Darnold’s talk with himself about calming down and dealing with his sudden-onset confidence issues had worked wonders, but then he was back to this season’s inconsistent self and stayed there. It’s a big issue, and I have no idea why such a smart, technical player – a contender for the first round pick! - is suddenly making such stupid decisions this year. An interception setting them up five yards from the goal line, and they have to walk away with three? That was a huge moment, and I was on edge from that moment on. I figured this would be a tight game coming in – two undefeated, ranked opponents who are in the same conference?! - but it was harder on my blood pressure than anticipated. An offensive line consisting of three back-ups. Darnold’s issues. And then, holy shit, Washington State’s drive to end the first half nearly caused me to lose my voice screaming at the USC defense – they just escorted them down the field into the end zone, ten yards at a time. The second half was equally ugly for the Trojans. The defense couldn’t wrap people up, repeatedly, and gave up a 35-yard run. And injuries and a tough schedule – this short week, no bye until Thanksgiving, etc. - mean a season full of close calls aren’t sustainable; you can’t hang a season on fourth-quarter offensive surges (yeah, picking up the first on 4th and 13 after the world’s stupidest play call on 3rd down is beautiful, but you can’t keep putting yourself there). When the Cougars went up by a TD five minutes into the fourth quarter – after the USC defense gave up a must-stop fourth down conversion – I knew that was it. Then under two minutes left in the game with no timeouts to tie with a FG? Not happening. And then the turnover. Fuck this game. How USC comes back from this loss will tell all, because this was every weakness they have on display.

I didn't think I'd ever "like" a post with the word bitch in it, but you've done it, @walnutqueen.

I appreciated the Seahawks' statement on Sunday, rooting their decision not to participate in the national anthem not simply in pushing back against Trump's attack on a player's right to protest, but expressly as a statement against the injustice the protests addressed. Today, "in an effort to create lasting change and build a more compassionate and inclusive society," they announced the formation of the Seahawks Players Equality & Justice for All Action Fund, "to support education and leadership programs addressing equality and justice."

Yes, but I have a bath pillow that attaches via suction cups, so I'm not resting the back of my head or base of my skull against cast iron. I think I'm pretty stereotypical when I take a bath - other than the fact the bubble layer is not five feet thick, doesn't last for hours, and doesn't have the ability to keep my breasts covered no matter how I move. But I have wine and a lot of candles. Which I have to make sure my cat doesn't mess with (the candles, not the wine) -- they don't usually show that part on TV.

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet 18th & Potomac Heh. Yeah, I'm voting off episodes I love at this point, based on their few bad moments, but The State Dinner was not in the running yet for me; I think it's one of the best episodes at weaving together multiple storylines.

I didn't even initially register that they were wearing different uniforms.

I'm pretty confident in Burns and Novick's integrity, and Koch has helped fund other programs that haven't wound up with his stink on them, but he and his brother control this country in so many ways, his name always gives me pause. Especially on a documentary about a subject as politically contentious as this one. I just have to come back to Burns' and Novick's track record.

I finally had a chance to start in on this. Seeing David H. Koch on the list of major sponsors certainly has me nervous, but I'm in. I watched the first episode, and thought it was a nice introduction. There is a lot of background to cover, and they could have had even more time for it had they not cut to '60s footage, but I think it was an effective technique - an "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again" message delivered visually - and I think they gave a nice overview/outline of that background. I came away from it disheartened by the same things that got to me when I studied it in college (a long time ago, but a lot came back to me as I watched) -- how the U.S. government got it so fundamentally wrong, and how many opportunities there were for things to have played out so very differently had they got it right (and not been quite so damn hysterical about Communism). I'm looking forward to digging into more details with subsequent episodes, and hope to be able to watch a couple of them tomorrow night.

I loathe cheesecake, too, and am thus thankful I've never been served a key lime pie that tasted like one. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how that would happen.

Let Bartlet Be Bartlet - The stench of the Mandy's Memo storyline permeates, bringing down an otherwise great episode 18th & Potomac - Josh is an idiot, Sam is an ass, and Donna gets lionized for reacting so much better than the rest of them to the MS news, ignoring the fact that, gee, do you think that's maybe because she has a hell of a lot less on the line than the others?

Many years ago, Jane Fonda published her account of the infamous trip to Hanoi; it's good reading.

The "What, you guys watch on closed-circuit TV?!" faux surprise is annoying on regular episodes, and even more here -- they should have had the contestants give talking head interviews about how they know they're being watched and making wink-wink comments on the floor to josh Anne and Rachael. But, then again, they have terrible writers ("producers" who serve as writers), so it wouldn't have been any funnier than this was. Coming in, Melissa and Nora were the two I liked the most, and I like Anne, so I should really be enjoying the red team right about now, but the material is so bad (and the delivery doesn't help) I'm just thinking about lost potential rather than being entertained. Gee, do you think that in the next episode it will be one of Anne's contestants going home so that we wind up with one from each team for the finale?

Yep, canned pumpkin is a common way of adding fiber to a pet's diet. I had a cat who needed extra fiber, and he loved canned pumpkin, so I didn't even have to mix it in with his food, I could just feed it to him plain. But it was a lot cheaper and less wasteful to just add psyllium, so I switched to that. Getting back to the commercial where the parents dress the poor dog up like a lion so their stupid kid isn't scared of him, I obviously - by use of "poor dog" and "stupid kid" - do not respond to it the way the advertising team intended.

Awful. I liked the Cagney & Lacey reunion movies, but otherwise pretty much every time there was a reunion TV movie for a show I'd liked, it was bad. Astoundingly bad in the case of the sitcoms, especially when it was a two-hour deal.