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That was my very first thought about this one ~ another McNamara ~ which reminds me about my bricks ~ my patio in back is made out of bricks McNamara had custom made for his mansion.

The builder was stuck with them ~ Mc wouldn't pay for them, and their strange design (yellow brick with sandy surface) made them unfit for most any other purpose, and then when people heard who bought them, they didn't want them around.

When this neighborhood was new several of us had trouble growing grass between the curb and our sidewalks. I'd decided that if I could get enough brick I"d just fill it in and give me a nice brick walkable edge to my sidewalk ~ all at the same height.

This was perfect, and then when I found out these were McNamara's bricks I realized that my sidewalk could become the very center of neighborhood society because all the guys ~ all of 'em were Nam Vets ~ would come down, bring a six pack, and just stand around hosing and joking, drinking beer, and letting the world know what we thought of McNamara.

Over time the story of the Viet Nam vets with the special platform spread, and next thing you know I had an order or two from Australia from vets there who sought at least one of these fine bricks to put to an appropriate use ~ similar to ours ~ starts out with Foster lager, ends up with a hose job on a brick.

Now mind you, I didn't go to Nam personally ~ but I went into the Army ~ and during that period of my youth lost 14 friends in Nam, so I hated this McNamara puke with a burning passion ~ still hate him. So I sent out the bricks and they probably still bring joy to many folks in Australia.

Around here I passed out a few of them, and even got in some Freeper requests. By then the contract Mexican road builders had come along and I had to remove the ceremonial bricks, which is why they're in the backyard patio.

Age and health has dictated I give up beer, and most of the vets here were in the Ethiopian Army fighting against AlQaida in Somalia ~ those guys drink coffee. Korean guy next door is a Nam Vet, and there's a Jamaican down the way, and a Marine, and a Vietnamese guy, and others ~ but they don't drink, are getting old, or they are not quite sure who McNamara was ~ so we don't hold the beer parties anymore ~ but there's the story.

Let me judge this woman ~ Flournoy could probably do worse but that's not likely.