July 31, 2007 - When John Kennedy was killed in Dallas the US military deployment to South Vietnam stood at 16,000 troops. He had confided in his Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara that he intended to withdraw the American contingent following the 1964 election. Kennedy understood what his successors would not. It was not America’s war to win. It was South Vietnam’s war and the Vietnamese people would determine whether it was won or lost. He did not make it to the 1964 election.

We are again involved in a war that is not our war. The comparison to Vietnam is admittedly not exact. But the issues are similar and the situation on the ground is enough like that of four decades ago to obscure the differences that do exist. In Vietnam we thrust ourselves between the antagonists; the Republic of Vietnam on the one hand and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with their Viet Cong surrogates on the other. In Iraq the identity of the antagonists is less clear. The alliances among the antagonists are in a constant state of flux. On the surface it seems a sectarian conflict between the Shia dominated Al-Maliki government on the one hand and the Sunni insurgency on the other. But beneath the surface Iran’s surrogate Mehdi Army is independent of and frequently opposed to the Al Maliki regime as rival factions of the Shia. Sunni tribal leaders array themselves against the foreign fighters of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia but continue to defy the Al Maliki government and its Army of Iraq. It is into this boiling cauldron of shifting antagonisms that America’s soldiers are thrust. Who is the enemy? One had just as well have asked what day it is for today’s attack may come from any direction .......click here for entire article

July 5, 2007 - Peter, Paul, and Mary where are you? Where have you gone, Pete Seeger? The last time we were hip deep in the Big Muddy and the damn fool said to go on you were there. You were there to call on our reason; to call on our consciences and to remind us that the score was National Guard – Four and Kent State – Nothing while the flowers had all gone to Vietnam. There were 12 riders in the gloom when The Limeliters brought the First Battalion home. Where are the new protest songs now that we are neck deep in the Big Muddy and a new damn fool Texan is in charge? Oh sure, there are the Dixie Chicks but they are fighting their own battles with their songs. Yes, there is Larry McMurtry but he only sings about economics mentioning the war only in passing. Nobody is asking, “War! What’s it good for?” The Boss records the Seeger Sessions and it is only nostalgia. Where are the patriots of protest today?.......click here for entire article

July 4, 2007 - My wife is 61 and I am 8 years older. We went to our community’s Annual Fourth of July Ice Cream Social and Independence Celebration last evening. It was held at the historic Virginia Theatre. The Park District owns and operates the facility. Built in 1921 it is a 1500 seat house that in former days hosted vaudeville, so called legitimate theatre and the latest first run offerings of the film industry. Its style befits a Twenties movie palace. Slowly but at a steady pace the Park District is restoring the house to the way it looked in its heyday. Restoration is a pricey process and it takes every cent the Theatre takes in from the shows and concerts that are jobbed in; community theatre offerings; and the vintage movies shown every Tuesday and Thursday evenings just to meet the operating costs.

The Virginia a rarity, has an operating Wurlitzer Theatre Organs and the program began with the bouncing ball sing-along that I remember from my childhood and Linda does not. As the organ played a Sousa March and the instrument sank from sight the Concert Band of Central Illinois tuned up. Then we went on the air. You see the Park District and our local 5000 Watter teamed up to re-create an old time remote radio broadcast, direct from the stage of the Historic Virginia Theatre. If you are old enough to remember “remotes” you would have fit right in with the audience. Lin and I were among the youngest in attendance. The Greatest Generation and the first of the Baby Boomers were there but Generations X and Y were occupied elsewhere......click here for entire article