Yeah, I know, I put in a cute comment about arendt's use of "Mr. Burns" -- standard academic writing would have been "Burns" or "Ken Burns." Apologies to arendt.

Well, I was certainly not expecting real history. I watched to see the pictures.

Real history? In the first episode, they interview Donald Gregg, whom they caption only as "CIA". (factoid: Gregg joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1951. He served in Japan from 1964 to 1973.) He voices the opinion that Viet Nam was a mistake.

Yeah, that Donald Gregg:

Iran-Contra

Doug Henwood's Facebook page had this paragraph emblazoned upon it today:

"The first casualty when war comes is truth."
Hiram W Johnson

Governments and the media lie to get us into wars.
Once the war is started they lie to get us to support it.
These are not controversial statements.

The Vietnamese National Assembly last Tuesday approved a revision to the Civil Code that includes a new provision of recognition of the right to have one's gender reassigned. The measure received 77% support in the Assembly (282-84).

Congratulations to all of us, after years of sweat and tears.

--Tran Khang Di, Ho Chi Minh City

The law is an attempt to “meet the demands of a part of society … in accordance with international practice, without countering the nation’s traditions.

--report from the parliament