What Are You Reading?

[Janet Harrington]

The first time that I even knew we were in a war in Viet Nam, I was in the car with my mom and heard something on the radio about the war. I have no idea how old I was, but I looked at my mom and said, "We're in a war?" Mother told me, yes, we are. then it really didn't hit home until I went to college right out of high school and met some of the vets that had come back from there.

That book, "The Matterhorn" was an excellent book. I truly enjoyed reading it. I am going to borrow the next on, "What It Is Like To Go To War" when Amazon will let me borrow it on my Kindle. I can borrow one book a month and that is the next one on my list.

Even though Matterhorn was a novel, I truly believed everything that Lt. Marlantes said happened. I remember the vets talking about jungle rot and trying to keep your feet healthy.

My hats off to all who served in Viet Nam.

[jarhead]

Janet, not all things were serious in Nam. At my expense some seem to think something that happened to me was humorous. When I first got there I was issued a used set of jungle utilities. About a month out in the bush the threads rotted. The inseam ripped from ankle to ankle . One of the first thing you ditched were skivvies so I was kinda just "hanging out" if you catch my drift. thought it was kinda "cool" until went on on LP. Now an LP is a Listening Post where 3 guys go off a finger of whichever hill was base camp. Go out right at dark, away from the lines for 50 meters or so, get set in and set there all night as quiet as you can to be an early warning system if someone come diddy bopping up the trail. Not a problem except we must have been real close to an ant hill. That is one night I never so much as nodded off for a second. I spent the night pinching ants as they converged on places I won't mention. The next morning I had to have relief so word went out over the hill if anyone had a spare pair of pants. Eureka !! someone from 3rd platoon had a pair. I humped over the hill and retrieved them from a jolly type guy. I thought he was just happy looking at me in my long legged mini skirt. Put them trouser on and immediately felt little stickers poking me. After a while the "stickers " softened up but then I got to smelling something really, really bad. Peeled them puppies off and the previous owner apparently had , had a bad case of dysentery. I went back to my ripped trousers until a re-supply chopper brought out some clothes. I never saw "smiling boy" again but if I had---lets just say that would explain why there were fraggings in Nam.
Now, if Teresa so much as cracks one wise ass comment about my misfortune---lets just say I aint never hit a woman but I aint too old to start !!!

[Janet Harrington]

I just finished reading "What It Is Like to Go To War", by Lt. Marlantes. It was a good book. However; I wish he had told more stories in it. He did do a lot of explaining about what it was like to go to Vietnam. Again, good read if you want to read it. I borrowed it from Amazon on my Kindle or else I would loan it to you. Really enjoyed "The Matterhorn" book more.

[Teresa]

I don't have to crack a comment about it jarhead.....
You already put what comment I could have said in everyone's mind.. LOL

[Warph]

Ah, the middle of February.  We all know what that means: Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue has arrived.

And that means some folks, such as those in the American Decency Association (ADA), will voice concerns about exploitation of women.  "Sports Illustrated DISRESPECTS women by displaying demeaning stereotypes of female sexuality," says the ADA's website.  "The swimsuit issue features women models posed not as athletes of strength, skill, and endurance but as playthings ... ."

That may be true, but here's what is also true: We men are also being exploited here.  Look, it's the middle of winter.  We men have suffered a couple of weeks without football.  With free time on our hands, we find ourselves lost in self-examination.  We fret over our winter flab.  We wish we'd chosen different career paths.  We fear we'll never amount to anything worthy.

The Sports Illustrated people understand our woes all too well.  They know we're down in the dumps.  They know we're vulnerable.  They know we'll cough up our hard-earned dough for a momentary escape to exotic beaches, where we can pretend to prance about with bikini-clad babes.  Every year, the swimsuit issue uses the same simple formula to exploit us: stunning babes who roll around in the sand, dance on the beach and cling to their skimpy duds and curvy parts as they are hit by waves.

Sure, in our overly sexualized culture, these female models may be suffering exploitation.  But aren't they exploiting us men, too?  Many of the women who pose for the magazine are thrust into supermodel status.  The ones who make it onto the cover earn a fortune in endorsements.  And many of them go on to date and marry some of the world's richest men.

But what do we average fellows get out of the deal?  We get the satisfaction of knowing that we'll never marry, let alone talk to, such world-class knockout beauties.

That makes us even more depressed.

So we go to cheesy restaurant chains where waitresses wear short shorts and low-cut shirts and exploit us all the more.  The coy lasses touch our arms delicately.  They give us flirtatious glances.  They talk softly and sensuously, the way women do when they know men are about to hand them gobs of money.  One of my poor, baldheaded friends, Iggy, falls for this ruse at least four times a month.  Despite being coated in hot-wing sauce and stale beer, he is convinced his waitress digs him.  His waitress encourages this fiction and is rewarded with a 50 percent tip.

I think I speak for average fellows everywhere when I say I resent that.  I resent that some women deliberately target us for our money and are so good at parting us from it.  I resent that some waitresses can so easily take advantage of hapless, simple-minded men by plying us with a few beers.  I resent that Sports Illustrated packs its swimsuit issue with photos of some of the most physically beautiful women in the world, knowing that's all the magazine has to do to get us to buy it.

Yeah, our culture places way too much emphasis on physical beauty and sexiness. Young girls are taught by the media that the chief way to win a male's attention is through provocative clothing.

None of this is good.

And neither is it good for my fat, hair-challenged friends to be taken advantage of by big media outlets and big restaurant chains with their skimpy-dressed waitresses.

Yeah... It's no wonder I am so disgusted when I purchase the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue every year.

[Janet Harrington]

So, I take it you are reading the Sports Illustrated magazine at this time? LOL

[Warph]

The Book:  The Thomas Sowell Reader

"In this wide-ranging interview marking the publication of his new book, The Thomas Sowell Reader, Thomas Sowell, the Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at the Hoover Institution, discusses, with Hoover research fellow Peter Robinson, his life, Barack Obama, class warfare, Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, and the influence of Milton Friedman."

As interviews go, It doesn't get any better than this, people.  Dr. Thomas Sowell is a man of learning, an educator and social commentator of exceptional distinction.  Don't be lazy... watch this wonderful interview with one of the most prolific writers of today.  You will be surprised!

I have requested the book from the library.  Can't wait.
...Warph 

               

[larryJ]

In anticipation of the upcoming reunion, I was at the store and found a book....Robert Ludlum's "Bourne Dominion."  I don't think I've read this one.  Knowing me and how I am, I bought a second book.....Lee Child's "The Affair."  I did that because I knew that I would probably read one over the weekend. 

Larryj

[Wilma]

Has "Bourne Dominion" been made into a movie?  And if it has, has it made TV yet and does Matt Damon star in it?  I want to see it.

We just recently bought the "One For the Money" movie.  Watching it was just like reading the book again.  I hope they go on with the series.  I thought the characters were accurately portrayed right down to Debbie Reynolds as "Grandma".

[Mom70x7]

Jim and I are both reading John Patterson's "Private Games" - about the 2012 Olympics.