Vietnam // Current TV

Sustainability commissioner/ethics advisor of 2012 London Olympics quits over DOW sponsorship

The London 2012 Olympic Games were embroiled in further controversy last night as... more

JanforGore
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14 days ago
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8 comments

The Antiwar Comic: Winter Soldier Trucks

The Winter Soldier event is something everyone should see.

TonyDiGerolamo
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1 month ago
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0 comments

Ruling leaves dioxin cleanup in Nitro WVa. OUT of Monsanto trial

-- As the trial begins in a major toxic pollution lawsuit against Monsanto Co., jurors... more

JanforGore
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1 month ago
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10 comments

Indian Olympic Association to lodge protest over DOW sponsorship of Olympic games

The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Thursday came out in open against Dow... more

JanforGore
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1 month ago
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5 comments

Newly-Discovered Species of Frog Sings Like a Bird

mongabay... . New species of frog sings like a bird Jeremy Hance... more

EthicalVegan
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1 month ago
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2 comments

Drop DOW Chemical as partner for London 2012 olympic games

Dow Chemical acquired Union Carbide as a wholly owned subsidiary in 2001. They are... more

JanforGore
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2 months ago
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17 comments

Occupy Wall Street and the History of Corporate Fascism

Humanity faces a daunting battle against corporate forces that have historically... more

madler28
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4 months ago
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0 comments

Vietnam War Casualties

Vietnam War Casualties. http://www.newsforage.com/2011/10/vietnam-war-casualties.html

orraz
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4 months ago
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0 comments

Worst Cambodian flood in a decade kills 167

Cambodia's worst floods in over a decade have killed 167 people, a disaster... more

JanforGore
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4 months ago
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16 comments

Days Of Protest Past - 1968

As much as things change is as much as they remain the same . . . . .

Gordonskene
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4 months ago
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0 comments

September 29, 1971 - Forty Years Ago Another War.

Vietnam then - just another day.

Gordonskene
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4 months ago
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1 comment

Is Hope Dead?

It's time to pick ourselves up and move forward.... more

Progresshiv
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4 months ago
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0 comments

michael moore excerpt from his book; Here Comes Trouble

Via Alternet; Thanks Mike.... more

percipi224
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5 months ago
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1 comment

August 4, 1978 - The Stock Market, But Different. | Newstalgia

Another day in history.

Gordonskene
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6 months ago
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0 comments

As The Cookie Crumbles (8/3): War Story

WWH) The difference between a war story and a fairy tale? Fairy-tales begin... more

joeeddy
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6 months ago
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As The Cookie Crumbles: Hippies

On the FB pages linked with this blog–and I gather also here, though not... more

joeeddy
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6 months ago
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0 comments

Capitalism in a Modern Communist Society: Hip Hop In Vietnam

In its brief history, it's easy to see why Hip Hop has quickly become the cultural paradigm that it is. With its visceral yet fragmented sonic aesthetics and verbally self-aggrandizing, masculinized freedom of expression, it correlated and accentuated precisely a new American perspective growing up and being groomed in a Reaganomics-MTV-Tech Age on the cusp of hitting next gear.

And we haven't looked back since. I mean, we have, but only to commodify and fetishize nostalgia. But that's for another time. Bad pun. Anyway, our way of life sped up and Hypercapitalism and Hip Hop were both the harbinger and beneficiaries of this culture shift. But times change and musical styles evolve self-reflexively.

Obviously, in America, we're relearning a little humility these days. And though the bravado is still there, because we are after all American, the best Hip Hop artist today (if you still even want to asininely categorize into genres) counter the next line with a self-effacing yearning. Kanye or Drake, for example. There's a wave of younger dudes doing it with an R&B tinge a la Frank Ocean and The Weeknd , and that softening points to a much welcome reactive tempering to the overt masculinization cultivated over the last 25 years.

But as Hip Hop has traveled the sea and trickled onto different shores, the influences have not necessarily varied. Rather, I suppose, like any other paradigm that has peaked and transcended boundaries, its reductive elements penetrate first.

Not avoiding anthropologically speculative generalization, there's distinctive qualities in which Hip Hop has reached and influenced different Asian regions. To note, it's fascinating in itself the susceptibility that Asian cultures as a whole are drawn to the Hip Hop bravado. But, perhaps, there is something enmeshed in each individual culture that draws out a different idiosyncratic manifestation. For the Japanese, is it similar to their sexuality, a means of outward expression in a traditionally repressed culture? In some way, most likely. And why is the love of basketball so closely intertwined with Hip Hop in Japan? (There is the obvious answer there. For that, simply watch ESPN's 30 for 30 on the Fab 5).

Juxtaposed with that is Vietnam. A country just unshackling some of its inhibitions. In their case, more ideological and economical. It's a little newer to the world game. The stringency of the older generations' (or at least those that subscribed the communism) are seeing their wall of economical status quo being 808'd by the sheer attractive force of Capitalism and, more importantly, its weaponization of Freedom of Expression.

So Hip Hop in an older form has taken center stage amongst Vietnamese youth today. And B-boy culture instead of Hoops is the intermediary. ... it's true, intrinsically, the Vietnamese just have more flava than most Asian cultures.

I don't have any conclusive argument here. I also apologize for how poorly written this is. A Saturday morning blurb. But, I do wonder about Freedom Of Expression moving forward. I wonder, with fingers crossed, as our society is moving away from Hypercapitalism to a yet-to-be defined sustainable model, if Freedom Of Expression in a world that has all the information at its distracted fingertips can find something sincere and extricate itself from all the saturated, unfiltered talk that hypercapitalism has allowed to infiltrate our train of thought.

I also hope that the many that are seen wearing Spike Lee a la Mars Blackmon tees go watch Spike Lee flicks. HollatchaboiiiiIn its brief history, it's easy to see why Hip Hop has quickly become the... more

eta
added this
6 months ago
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0 comments

Weekly Hippie Trivia

A new Trivia Question will be posted every Friday at 8:00 pm (EST). You can post... more

joeeddy
added this
7 months ago
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0 comments

July 1, 1973 - New Month - Old Mayhem. | Newstalgia

A week where bombs were dropping just about everywhere.

Gordonskene
added this
7 months ago
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0 comments

Public Housing Boys in Vietnam

http://www.publichousingstories.com/ The Vietnam War divides a public housing family.... more

publichousingstories
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8 months ago
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0 comments

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