On one level the film serves as a corrective to the rah-rah rhetoric about Vietnam in such schlock entertainments as the 1980's "Rambo" franchise, in which Sylvester Stallone's veteran turned mercenary ritualistically wipes away the spit lobbed at him by a phantom antiwar protester. The image of the spat-upon Vietnam veteran, explains Jerry Lembcke, himself a Vietnam veteran and one of the persuasive talking heads who appears in the new film, helped maintain the important fiction that opposition to the war came strictly from outside the military.

John Kerry's bid for president proved that long after fighting in Vietnam came to an end, a war of words continues to rage. It's a war of words that finds Jane Fonda -- who performed for tens of thousands of troops in an antiwar revue, "Free the Army," and makes a passionate appearance in the film -- still labeled Hanoi Jane. "Remembered as a war that was lost because of betrayal at home," Mr. Lembcke has written, "Vietnam becomes a modern-day Alamo that must be avenged, a pretext for more war and generations of more veterans." In "Sir! No Sir!," Mr. Zeiger remembers that war and the veterans whose struggles against it are too often forgotten.

You really only have to write the reply once; the smears don't change over time.

FOX News Poll: Bush 33%

Desertions were on the rise, as were fraggings, named for the fragmentation grenades lobbed at superiors by their own men.

Oil prices settled at a record high for the third straight day on Wednesday after weekly government data showed a drop in U.S. gasoline stocks, raising worries that refiners don't have an adequate inventory cushion ahead of the peak summer season.

And the left: "Support for the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9AM to follow the growth of the antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and would struggle along with us .... those people represented the conscience of America .... part of it's war- making capability, and we turning that power in our favor." Bui Tin went on to serve as the editor of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Disillusioned with the reality of Vietnamese communism Bui Tin now lives in Paris.

I spent significant time with Mossad officials in Israel and also the equivalent of Iran-watching State Department INR types -- who work in Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They simply aren't as nervous about Iran as we are -- not because they don't think that Iran won't be a threat down the road but because they know the problem is not imminent and because they seem to have confidence that Ahmadinejad is being deserted by many on the Iranian right who are embarrassed by his brand of populism. The right strategy might be to act as if the Bush administration is getting wound up for a hot war with Iran -- and perhaps a dynamic will be triggered that helps get things on a more rational track. In other words, some irrationality could help. I just think it's important to note that there is a split among insiders, whereas most of these same people were on the same page about Bush's plans before the Iraq invasion.

Iran's military also includes holdings of 1,613 main battle tanks, 21,600 other armored fighting vehicles, 3,200 artillery weapons, 306 combat aircraft, 60 attack helicopters, 3 submarines, 59 surface combatants, and 10 amphibious ships."

The brain can process nine billion binary units with instant response, which is beyond any silicon chip. That's what the Wright brothers used to build their airplane. My attitude is that flight is a human endeavor -- so if it isn't manned, the hell with it.

"I think our strategy must be: 1. Regain control of the Congress. 2. Impeach Cheney or force him out...etc.."

I hope damnyankees never find out about it.

What I can figure out is why supposedly intelligent people can't figure out that our enemies see internal strife as bad for us and good for them. Then and now. Perhaps you can explain that to me.

...The invasion wasn't in our interests, it was in Iran's interest, Al Qaida's interest. Seeing America invade must have made Iranian leaders ecstatic. Iran's hostility to Saddam was hard to exaggerate. Iraq is now open to Al Qaida, which it never was before - it's easier for terrorists to kill Americans there than in the US....

The fact that the IAEA safeguard inspections are at play in Iran may in itself come as a surprise to most observers of the ongoing Iranian nuclear saga. Iran is still very much a member, in good standing, of the non-proliferation treaty, and all of its nuclear activities continue to be under the stringent monitoring of the IAEA safeguard inspectors... It takes an extraordinary stretch of the imagination to have Iran fabricating a nuclear weapon right under the nose of IAEA inspectors who today manage an inspection process that is not only technologically advanced, but seasoned after years of sleuthing after nuclear weapons programs in Iraq, North Korea, South Africa and Iran. To liken these professionals, as is the habit of many in the Bush administration today, to "keystone cops" is like comparing the US Marine Corps to the Boy Scouts. The IAEA inspectors are the best in the world at what they do. The fact that they have not found a "smoking gun" to back up what has been to date nothing more than irresponsible speculation concerning the existence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program should ease the fears of those politicians and pundits prone to panic. Unfortunately, this has not been the case, and as a result the world finds itself inching ever closer to a tragically unnecessary war between the United States and Iran.

"NEVER BELIEVE ANYTHING UNTIL IT HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY DENIED." --Muckracker Claud Cockburn; cited in John Pilger, "The Real Casualty of War" (antiwar.com, April 20)

Bush's approval ratings in recent polls have dropped into the mid-30s--twenty to thirty points lower than Bill Clinton's ratings during his tawdry Monica scandal. Bush may say he doesn't care about the polls, but other Republicans do, fearing that Bush has become a pair of concrete shoes for Congressional candidates running in November--some of whom are running away from joint appearances with Bush. Accompanying Bush's decline is a drop in Republicans' overall numbers. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll found that registered voters favor a House Democratic candidate over a Republican by 55 to 40 percent--the biggest Democratic edge since the mid-1980s. Given the gerrymandering of House districts and the GOP's ability to raise a tremendous amount of money and to demagogue Democrats on national security issues, Republicans don't need to panic yet. But any party would rather be swimming with the current than staring at an incoming wave. The only good news for Bush, poll-wise, is that he's ahead of Dick Cheney.

Peaches - I couldnt agree more; theres few things as satisfying to the body and soul as parenting a great garden.

(OBL - From his interview on 3/97 with CNN's Peter Arnett) So, the driving-away jihad against the US does not stop with its withdrawal from the Arabian peninsula, but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has concluded that "no sound scientific studies" support the medical use of marijuana, contradicting a 1999 review by a panel of highly regarded scientists.

But scientists studying marijuana said in interviews that the federal government has actively discouraged research into marijuana's benefits.

REPORTER: Mr. Bin Ladin, will the end of the United States' presence in Saudi Arabia, their withdrawal, will that end your call for jihad against the United States and against the US ?

but rather it must desist from aggressive intervention against Muslims in the whole world.