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Believe it or not 1968 was worse

2018-06-25T22:52:54Z

DollyCausey:

By Maurice Isserman July 12 (Reuters) - According to the Chinese Zodiac, 1968 and 2016 are both the Year of the Monkey. But maybe we should call this the Year of the Ghost Monkey of 1968. From the presidential primaries to the convention platform battles to bloody mayhem in the streets, 1968 is the go-to, default metaphor for [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh 5 ngày 4 đêm] what we seem to be reliving. This year, like 1968, is certainly one of bitter conflict and wrenching change. And why is that a surprise? Some things don't change. A nation of several hundred million people, drawn from all over the world, can never exactly become a peaceable kingdom, a beloved community. Creeds differ, values clash; rival factions, communities and priorities compete. Harmony would be nice - and an end to bloodshed is a goal to which most Americans can subscribe. But bear in mind that it has always been through conflict that Americans have decided who they are as a nation, discarding old [http://Scp-Knowledge.org/?s=assumptions assumptions] and redefining identity and mission. I've been thinking about one of my favorite 1960s writers, the remarkable Vietnam War correspondent Michael Herr, who died two weeks ago. He covered the Vietnam War for "Esquire" in 1967-68, and his book, "Dispatches," remains one of the greatest works about that troubled conflict. (Herr also contributed to the screenplays of two iconic Hollywood movies about the war, "Apocalypse Now" and "Full Metal Jacket.") "Dispatches" is more than a war memoir, however. It offers genuine insight into American history and the American character. "There was such a dense concentration of American energy there," Herr wrote of Vietnam in the late 1960s. "American and essentially adolescent, if that energy could have been channeled into anything more than waste and pain it would have lighted up Indochina for a thousand years." I can't think of any other American writer who has managed to pack into one sentence so much love for his country - and so much [http://rt.com/search/everywhere/term/disdain/ disdain] for the folly in which, in that instance, it was engaged. Another passage in "Dispatches" also came to mind last week. Herr describes the first time he went on a mission with a company of Marines, and ended up caught in a fire-fight, hugging the ground for hours, "listening to it going on, the moaning and whining and the dull repetitions of whump whump whump and dit dit dit, listening to a boy who'd somehow broken his thumb sobbing and gagging, and thinking 'Oh my God, this f-ing thing is on a loop!...'" Here's last week's loop: Tuesday, "whump whump whump," black man in Louisiana pinned to the ground by police officers then shot to death. Wednesday, "dit dit dit," another black man, this time in Minnesota, shot and killed in the front seat of his car as, his girlfriend said, he tried to produce the driver's license demanded by a police officer -- she sat in the seat beside him, her young daughter in the back seat. Thursday night, "dit whump dit," five Dallas policemen targeted and murdered by a vengeful rooftop sniper, seven others wounded. Senseless death of innocent victims, brought home in disturbingly graphic detail via cable news and social media. Is it apocalypse now in the streets of America? And all this in the context of recent years of fervent protest over issues of racial injustice, in a nation beset by repeated acts [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] of violence, both random and targeted, in the midst of a presidential campaign running off the tracks, with one candidate in particular displaying an ability to stir up as much rancor and discord as possible. If history is on a loop, are we back in the world of "Dispatches"? Is this 1968 redux? Do we really have to sit through this movie again? Not likely. Fifty years have indeed changed America. The country is more diverse, ethnically, racially and religiously. There is a far more substantial black middle class than in 1968. (While at the same time the problem of black poverty, and for that matter white poverty, seems more intractable than ever.) Although it's sometimes hard to remember with all the noise generated by polarizing politicians, the United States is more tolerant than it was a half century ago - when the idea that there would someday be a black president seemed impossibly remote, and the notion of gay marriage unimaginable. In 1968, the nation was still adjusting to the U.S. Supreme Court's wonderfully named decision "Loving v. Virginia," issued the previous June, which overturned laws that banned interracial marriage. Until then, nearly one-third of American states had such laws on their books. Today at least 12 percent of all new marriages in the United States unite interracial couples, and the trend is expected to expand as millennials, least concerned of all Americans about race, reach marriage age. Reminded by the Iraq invasion of the consequences of national hubris in international affairs, a lesson learned and then forgotten after Vietnam, Americans are again skeptical of "boots on the ground" scenarios for remaking the world in their own image. The fact that this skepticism, even in the absence of a draft, is shared across the generational spectrum - and is, to some extent, bipartisan - is another important difference between 1968 and today. Americans are also asking important questions about economic policies and decisions taken in Washington and corporate board rooms, that have increased income inequality to levels not seen since the 1920s. Americans as a people, many of them anyway, are more self-aware and thoughtful in this second decade of the 21st century than has been the case for some decades. It's true that the presumptive presidential candidate of the party of Abraham Lincoln wants to make America "great again" by turning back the clock to the imagined splendor of an era of racial and ethnic homogeneity. But come November, after all the shouting and posturing, there will come a great moment of clarity, when the diverse population of America votes. Speaking of clarifying moments in American history, in his first speech as president in March 1861, the first Republican president of the United States beseeched his fellow countrymen to listen to the "better angels of their nature" and avoid the looming Civil War. That did not, Lincoln assured Southerners, mean the end of slavery, at least in the short run. His appeal fell on deaf ears. But just two and a half years later, in a November 1863 address at Gettysburg, Lincoln proclaimed a "new birth of freedom," carrying on and transforming the meaning of the American experiment, in which there no longer was a place for human servitude. And, in doing so, changed the nation. History was not on a loop in the 1860s. Nor in the 1960s. In a Memphis church on April 3, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. reflected on the possibility of his own death. He had been nearly killed by a deranged assailant in 1958, and he explained why he was glad to have survived - and not just because he loved life. "I wouldn't have been around here in 1960," King recalled, "when students all over the South started sitting in at lunch counters." What those students were doing, he said, was making America great again by setting out to challenge and change its injustices: "They were really standing up for the best in the American dream, and taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution." Lincoln and King lived in difficult times, as we do. It is in just such eras that Americans have rediscovered and refashioned the best traditions bound up in our national experience. Can we resolve in the years that follow the tumultuous election year of 2016 to listen to the better angels of our nature, and turn the dense concentration of American energy away from waste and pain - and use it instead to light our world? (Maurice Isserman) Advertisement

A expedition with Indochina Sails 1 June 2008

2018-06-25T16:55:35Z

DollyCausey:

We got off the bus and were greeted by a guide with Indochina sails.� We were taken inside a building to wait for our boat to be ready.� We were given cold towels at the door, you know your entering luxury when you get a towel to freshen up.� We waited for about a half hour, while our luggage was taken to the ship.� We then were put on a small boat or the "tender" and taken to the ship.� As we were drawing close to the ship, one staff member on the boat was playing a drum, it was a bit odd, feeling like your in a King Kong movie or something. We were greeted by [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] a female staff member and were brought to the dining room on the 2nd level of the ship.� There was 13 people including ourselves.� We were given the safety speech and told a bit about our itinerary.� Then we were given our key and told to settle in a bit then return to the dining room for lunch at 1pm.� We had a room on the 2nd floor, which I think would have been better than the 1st level.� We had a fantastic view of the bay and our room was amazing.� Definitely one of the best showers we've seen.� It was like a 4 star hotel room. We settled in and looked at our in tin a bit closer, then headed to the dining room.� We had a set lunch, which included cream of pumpkin soup, papaya salad, prawns, fish, chicken, spring rolls and fruit salad.� Overall it was really good quality.� The prices for drinks wasn't actually too bad and they had a really good selection.� After lunch we were told we would cruise to a fishing village with 400 floating houses.� The bay is as stunning as everyone says it is!� The legend behind it involves a family of dragons that were sent by the gods to help protect the coast during times of war with China, the dragons spit out jade and emerald which turned into the islands around the bay.� After the war the family of dragons decided to stay and the mother settled into Ha Long bay and the children in other near by bays.� The islands do have an amazing dense green to them, like nothing we've ever seen.� I can see why it is a UNESCO world heritage site. We cruised for about an hour and a half before we reached the fishing village.� We all hopped on the tender and were taken around the Cua Van village by the guide.� The village is supported by the government these days and the people are provided with a basic education and health care within the village.� There were a lot of children around, some around 6-9 years old, rowing their own boats.� There was a squid fishing boat, the primary school and even a local cafe for relaxing.� It was really interesting.� After our tour we headed back to the boat and doubled back to Ti Tov beach.� We opted to go kayaking for $10 each.� We had to wait for them to bring the kayaks to the boat, which set us back a bit on our itinerary.� I've never been kayaking before, so this was going to be interesting. We got in and were on our way, everyone except one couple went.� We ended [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] up going quite a ways to the east of the boat, a good 2km.� We came upon Bat cave, which was a opening to a otherwise closed off section, which the guide called a lake (which it wasn't).� It was cool to just drift though the cave.� The section past it was so serene and peaceful.� We drifted around for about 20 minutes then our guide took off, so we figured we should go too.� Kayaking is hard work, especially when there is a fairly strong current.� We had to pause a lot on our way back, but it was nice to really soak up the experience.� Eventually we made it back and were directly taken by the tender to the beach. The sun wasn't out but we figured we might was well go in the water.� You could climb to the top of the island, some 400 steps, but [http://www.ehow.com/search.html?s=kayaking kayaking] was enough for us.� The other two girls who were on our bus told us the water was actually pretty warm, they were both from B.C...� So we swam around for about 20 minutes, chatting with them and a couple from Australia.� Then we were all herded back on the tender to the ship We had some time to get ready for dinner at 7:30.� You could do a wine tasting before dinner, which was tempting but we passed.� We relaxed in our room for a bit and freshened up.� The sun, what sun there was, went down quick and it became pitch black out.� We went out to the top deck, the weather was actually quite pleasant.� Some staff was fishing for squid off the front of the boat, so we watched them catch a few.� Then we headed to the dining room for dinner, which was a set menu as well.� I had a relish glass of red wine, a rarity in Asia I think.� We had vegetable soup, shrimp and grapefruit salad, calamari and beef with potatoes and veggies.� The main course was a bit unimpressive, especially when you are used to Alberta beef.� We had chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner we could watch a movie (which was a Vietnamese dubbed classic), fish for squid or a few other activities.� We opted to try the squid fishing.� We were both unsuccessful, but other people caught a couple.� They use a bright light to attract the fish that the squid eat.� They were pretty cool, they were little and they'd squirt ink when they were caught.� It was funny to watch.� They had a 2 for 1 happy hour on all drinks from 9 to 11pm, so we had a couple beers while fishing.� Then we went up to the top deck and sat in the lounge chairs.� It is so peaceful here.� The manager told us that we were anchored at an exclusive spot.� All the other tour boats anchor somewhere else, there can be up to 50 of them when its busy.� There were 3 other boats around us.� I'm happy we're at the exclusive spot.� We took in the beautiful night, then decided we better head to bed.� We have another early start tomorrow and we were pretty exhausted from the day.� I am so ready for a comfy bed!� Ciao for now! Source: Travelpod

Bombed and looted ancient Cambodian city poised for rebirth

2018-06-24T21:56:08Z

DollyCausey:

Sambor Prei Kuk, which means 'the temple in the richness of the forest', boasts nearly 300 brick temples and heaps of ruins across a 25 square kilometre (nine square mile) compound It has survived centuries of monsoon rains, a US bombing campaign and rampant looting. Now the ancient temple city of Sambor Prei Kuk in Cambodia is finally ready for a renaissance -- and is teasing tourists to its forest-cocooned ruins. Cloistered by trees and linked by winding dirt trails, the site has played second fiddle to its much bigger cousin to the west -- Angkor Wat -- Cambodia's top tourist destination. But in July it gained a listing by the UNESCO World Heritage, promising a tourist bonanza that could breathe new life into a once-thriving 6th [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] and 7th century metropolis. "We have already seen more and more local and foreign tourists flocking to visit our site," said Hang Than, an official who manages the compound, as he strolled towards one of several temples spectacularly wrapped in tree roots. For now the tourist infrastructure is basic. The ancient city in [http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/search?q=central central] Kampong Thom province lies down a pot-holed road where a few food hawkers cluster beneath umbrellas in the dusty parking lot. Several tour guides lounge around a small booth servicing a growing fleet of tour buses that arrive, for now, mainly on weekends. "We are very happy and we were so surprised that this site has been listed," said 45-year-old Mao Sambath, who has been making the hour-long motorcycle ride to sell a spread of tropical fruits to backpackers and Chinese tour groups. "Today we have even more vendors than yesterday." - Trees and looters - Sambor Prei Kuk, which means "the temple in the richness of the forest", boasts nearly 300 brick temples and heaps of ruins across a 25 square kilometre (nine square mile) compound. The temples of Sambor Prei Kuk were rediscovered by French scholars in the 1880s and it took decades to pare back tree roots and lumps of earth that had consumed the monuments over the centuries The city, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) north of Phnom Penh, was once the seat of the Chenla kingdom that flourished in the 6th and 7th centuries before the height of the Khmer Empire that raised the mega-city of Angkor. The temples were rediscovered by French scholars in the 1880s when Cambodia was part of France's Indochina empire. It took decades to pare back tree roots and lumps of earth that had consumed the monuments over the centuries. "At first they only found 16 temples, but then they started to clean the sites," explained Hang Than, an archaeologist by training. But the excavation halted as Cambodia fell into [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] war, with a [http://imgur.com/hot?q=hailstorm hailstorm] of US bombs hitting the area during the Vietnam War in the 1970s, leaving behind hundreds of craters. Destruction continued [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] under Cambodia's ruthless Khmer Rouge regime, whose soldiers still held the area into the 1980s as looters ransacked heirlooms from the site. After the violence subsided in the late 1990s, restoration efforts were rebooted. With help of Japanese partners, conservationists spent decades hacking back trees and stabilising the structures. The painstaking work was rewarded with the UNESCO listing, which carries fresh funds to preserve the temples and manage the impact of tourism. "It was very different when I first started to work in this area," said Lay Alex, a baby-faced 24-year-old who began leading tours a decade ago. "I don't think seven guides is going to be enough anymore," he said with a smile. Advertisement

Tuesday March 15

2018-06-22T11:22:48Z

DollyCausey:

Today is Tuesday, March 15, the 75th day of 2016. There are 291 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 44 B.C. - Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] of Roman senators including Cassius and his friend Brutus. Caesar had been forewarned of the 'Ides of March.' 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere. 1603 - Samuel de Champlain, French navigator and explorer, sails for the New World. 1776 - U.S. Congress resolves that authority of British Crown should be suppressed. 1848 - Hungarian intellectuals stage bloodless revolution in Budapest against Austro-Hungarian empire. It is put down by Russian troops the next year. 1874 - France assumes protectorate over central Indochina region of Annam, which breaks off vassalage to China. 1875 - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City, John McCloskey, is named the first American cardinal by Pope Pius IX. 1894 - France and Germany agree on boundaries between French Congo and Cameroon. 1903 - British conquest of northern Nigeria is complete. 1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson holds the first open presidential news conference. 1916 - U.S. force of 12,000 soldiers under Gen. John Pershing is ordered to Mexico to capture revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. 1917 - Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates after humiliating defeat by the Germans. The Russian state and military begin to dissolve. 1919 - The American Legion is founded in Paris. 1937 - The world's first blood bank is established at Chicago's Cook County Hospital by Dr. Bernard Fantus. It is a breakthrough for surgical procedures and emergency treatments. 1938 - Nazi Germany seizes Czechoslovakia with little resistance, after having [https://Www.flickr.com/search/?q=annexed annexed] the Sudetenland, with its fortifications, the previous year. 1989 - Soviet Union's President Mikhail S. Gorbachev calls for rapid measures to ease chronic food shortages. 1991 - Serbian President Borisav Jovic resigns after the collective presidency fails to declare a nationwide state of emergency. 1992 - A second earthquake in a short time strikes eastern Turkey, killing an estimated 800 people. 1993 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin offers, after a meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton, to surrender part of the Golan Heights to Syria. 1999 - Rosemary Nelson, a Northern Ireland attorney who represented Catholic clients in several high-profile cases, is killed by a car bomb. The outlawed anti-Catholic group Red Hand Defenders claims responsibility. 2003 - Rebels led by ousted army chief General Francois Bozize capture the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, and the international airport while President Ange-Felix Patasse was out of the country. Bozize declared himself president. 2005 - A French court convicts six men in an alleged plot to send a [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] suicide bomber into the U.S. Embassy in Paris, wrapping up a trial that shed light on the spread of Islamic radicals in Europe. 2006 - A Spanish boat recovers the bodies of 24 people believed to be African migrants floating in waters off the coast of Mauritania, hundreds of miles (kilometers) south of the Canary Islands. 2012 - Dozens of Iranian banks are blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear weapons. 2014 - Malaysia's leader says the jetliner from his country missing for more than a week was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after [http://Www.Ourmidland.com/search/?q=severing%20contact severing contact] with the ground. 2015 - Philippine troops capture the leader of a Muslim rebel group in the south who had been linked to bombings and a beheading and accused of protecting two terror suspects wanted by the United States. Today's Birthdays: Andrew Jackson, U.S. president (1767-1845); Charles de Montalembert, French author (1810-1870); Jules Chevalier, French priest/founder of Sacred Heart Missionaries (1824-1907); Henri Saint Cyr, Swedish equestrian/Olympic gold medalist (1902-1979); Harry James, U.S. bandleader (1916-1983); Judd Hirsch, U.S actor (1935--); Sly Stone, U.S. singer/musician (1943--); will.i.am, U.S. rapper/musician (1975--); Eva Longoria Parker, U.S. actress (1975--). Thought For Today: Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose - Billie Holiday, American singer (1915-1959). Advertisement

User:DollyCausey

2018-06-19T08:09:40Z

DollyCausey: Created page with "My name is Dolly Causey but everybody calls me Dolly. I'm from Germany. I'm studying at the college (2nd year) and I play the Trumpet for 10 years. Usually I choose songs from..."

My name is Dolly Causey but everybody calls me Dolly. I'm from Germany. I'm studying at the college (2nd year) and I play the Trumpet for 10 years. Usually I choose songs from my famous films :). I have two sister. I love Volleyball, watching TV (The Vampire Diaries) and Gongoozling. My web-site ... [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh]