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Songwriter John Fogerty was drafted in 1966 and though he served less than a year as a supply clerk, the bitter experience of being drafted would inspire the lyrics of "Fortunate Son" a few years later. During that time, John saw that politicians were actively supporting the Vietnam conflict while also doing all in their power to insure their children avoided that draft, while poor saps with no connections like him got drafted to fight it.

So while the song got released in 1969, the origins of the song are squarely in the era of LBJ. Those trying to tie it to the Nixon Administration in any way do not know what they are talking about. Nixon campaigned on ending the war, which he would eventually accomplish a few years later (he ended the draft as well).

Nice video!

Yes, the Grateful Dead encouraged recording of their concerts and therefore you can find a quality recording of nearly every Grateful Dead concert ever performed on the Internet, including soundboard recordings that the band themselves put out there, free for the taking.

Now that may be a good or a bad thing depending on how you feel about the band!

I don't consider myself a super fan but I do randomly listen to their concerts from time to time. Each concert is unique and there are usually pleasant surprises, be it an extended jam of a familiar song or a cover version of another song you never imagined they'd cover, such as "Iko Iko" by The Dixie Cups.

I believe circulating "free" recordings of live concerts help promote the band and thus actually increase their record sales as well as concert attendance.

I like to think of Laika endlessly circling the Earth, looking down on us with her sad eyes.

Does anybody remember when The Doobie Brothers did the "What's Happening" sitcom in “Doobie or Not To Doobie” back in 1978?.

It was a double-episode and was very cringe-worthy.

The plot centered around the What's Happening gang going to a Doobie Brothers concert and the rotund character Rerun was convinced by bootleggers to conceal a cassette recorder in his clothing.

During the concert, the overly enthusiastic Rerun was dancing in the aisles like a maniac and suddenly the cassette recorder clattered to the floor, completely stopping the concert as the "shocked" Doobies looked on in acute disappointment from the stage.

The rest of the episode devolved into this overly long and cringe-worthy lecture by the Doobies to Rerun and his sad cast of friends (Dwayne, Roger, Dee, etc) about the evils of bootlegging.

No doubt the RIAA arranged for this lame appearance. In those days, there was much controversy over blank cassette tapes and the easy ability for people to record music on them that was not paid for. The average album in those days retailed for about $8.98.

This double-episode was intended to shame the nation by exposing the loss of revenue to music bands through bootlegging.

But wouldn't circulated bootlegged concert tapes produce more fans of a given band, and thus propel album sales?

We may never know for sure. But Rerun was certainly humiliated by the experience and was never the same again.

Laika the Space Dog.

She shall aways be circling our large planet and shall never be forgotten.

It's Varuca Salt everybody...not Varuka Salt.

Stop being so dumb.

If there are more than three ingredients in any packaged or canned food, it is almost always unhealthy for you.

Yes, none of this matters without perp walks.

Yes, many people do not have any kind of savings and are vulnerable to large repair bills they cannot afford to pay, thus putting it on a credit card which only worsens their ability to save as all their extra money gets sucked up servicing their debt.

Having enough money in the bank where you can happily turn down all these extended warranty offers because you can pay out of pocket for repairs later if you need to, is a great feeling. You will definitely come out ahead with that approach.

You can probably expect DC tourism to surge starting now.

That would be the best indication of success in my opinion.

Indeed, several problems solved at once.

Nobody but federal employees should be living in DC and even in that case, the residency is transitory. Of course the POTUS and VPOTUS.

Assign the civilian residential areas to either Virginia or Maryland.

We won't need those silly DC license plates that read "taxation without representation" as they'd be getting either VA or MD plates.

Extended warranties are almost 100% pure profit for those that sell them.

Wear and tear is never covered and good luck getting anything actually covered under that extended warranty you paid for.

Better off putting the money you would have spent on an extended warranty in the bank and use it for any repairs you might need

I had fatigue after just 2 minutes of this.

I always think about this because I like going swimming really deep, whether in the ocean or a lake. I am way over my head, sometimes in 100 feet of water or more. But I'm very comfortable just floating and doing free-style swimming. The deep water doesn't scare me at all as I can float for hours.

However, if I was to have a heart attack or something while out there, I guess that would be the end of me.

I've been in riptides before. Just swim perpendicular to the shore and you will come out of it. People who panic and swim for shore are the ones that die.

They definitely need to slice the private parts off these perverts. Not to make them women but to make them harmless to everybody else.

If any nation thinks it is a good idea to supply Iran with nuclear bombs, it should be wiped off the face of the Earth.

I've been here at Free Republic since the very beginning.

I came here as a fairly young man and now I'm coming up to retirement age! I have become one of the cranky old bastards that I used to complain about many years ago.

I don't post here quite as often as I used to but I'll never write an opus. They never go over well!

I have my own issues with this site, which is why I pulled my monthly contribution after many, many years of contributing, but if they ever get bad enough for me not to come back, I'll just disappear.

That said, I never experienced the anti-semitism here you point out. Maybe I just don't read those particular threads.

Anyway, this site has now been a part of my life for nearly 28 years now (I was here in 1997 under a different username). Lot of great times here and hopefully the site gets back to it's old form one of these days. I think the main problem here is that we are mostly a bunch of old people. We need an influx of youngsters. Without younger people, this site eventually will go away because we will all be dead.

I want to see a long line of 150 low-flying B52H Stratofortresses. Each accompanied by a half-dozen fighter jets.

Do we still have that many left?

If Bannon used Olaplex, his hair would look better.

I say that as a man with long hair.