tagged w/ American culture
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This Full-length American Tall-Tale may be the best ever.
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wej7
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11 days ago
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By Milva Matseva,WWH/CJE-The man is in his forties, tapping his finger on the counter, head tilted to the right. Petia Yankova smiles and takes a breath.
“And your Zip Code, please?”
“What?” the man almost shoutsBy Milva Matseva,WWH/CJE-The man is in his forties, tapping his finger on the counter,... more
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Betty Fussell: "It's as clear as Blu-ray that 'connection, connection, connection' has replaced that old real-estate canard about 'location.' Time and place, as I've known them for eight decades, have gone in a twinkle. Now linkage is all and, believe me, I'm all for it. In fact, thank you Steve Jobs, for linking the Whole Earth Catalogue to a microchip and for naming your first global-revolutionary techno device for a fruit. Whatever the actual story behind the company's naming, we know that this was the fruit named in a major fateful story about man's original Garden."Betty Fussell: "It's as clear as Blu-ray that 'connection, connection,... more
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"There are always discussions which are important, that often get dominated by, or can't prevent the inclusion of, people who not only have no idea what they're talking about, but also who can't manage to construct a linear thought. The Internet has been a godsend to these people. Beforehand, they could only interrupt and annoy their families, and friends, if any. Now they can interrupt an annoy everyone..."
American Culture, Arts & Literature, Internet, Telecom & Social Media, Journalism, Media & Entertainment, Politics, Law & Government, United States"There are always discussions which are important, that often get dominated by,... more
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Cabal
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1 year ago
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ABDUL BEYAH, SADRUDEEN SABREE, BILAL HASAN KEY are graduates of the Clara Muhammad School, Queens. They report on their accomplishments and difficulties... being away from the protected environment of home and high school. /// Difficulties being Muslim on college and university campus /// Guest share views on current events. YUSUF RAMADAN is the host. Produced by WILLIAM KAREEM.ABDUL BEYAH, SADRUDEEN SABREE, BILAL HASAN KEY are graduates of the Clara Muhammad... more
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The piece connects individual alienation, anomie, depression with damage (overt and subtle) wrought by US corporate capitalism i.e., its degradation of US landscapes and individual mindscapes...to the destruction this mode of living inflicts on the global ecosystem.The piece connects individual alienation, anomie, depression with damage (overt and... more
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On US Interstates, we meet the US empire coming towards us. In this evocative video, we meet confederate ghosts and demons of consumer emptiness. We travel down the highway, propelled by engines of extinction, towards empire's end, where we find ourselves bearing much grief yet are stranded amid ferocious beauty.On US Interstates, we meet the US empire coming towards us. In this evocative video,... more
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On US Interstates, we meet the US empire coming towards us. In this evocative video, we meet confederate ghosts and demons of consumer emptiness. We travel down the highway, propelled by engines of extinction, towards empire's end, where we find ourselves bearing much grief yet are stranded amid ferocious beauty.On US Interstates, we meet the US empire coming towards us. In this evocative video,... more
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When asked about the impact of her draconian policies on British society, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is reported to have said, "There is no such thing as society."
The current U.S. budget confrontation raises the same issue: Is there such a thing as an American society? The Oxford dictionary defines society as: "the sum of human conditions and activity regarded as a whole functioning interdependently" and as "the customs and organization of an ordered community."
The current confrontation between parties and ideologies is over the role of government. But even more deeply it is a foundational disagreement over whether we are a society, a community, or whether we are a collection of individuals inhabiting the same geographical space.
If we are all "in this together," then we share more than just an interest in collective security. And if we have collective interests, the instrument by which we pursue and promote those interests is the national government, not Wall Street or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
As we learned in 1929 and 2008, markets can fail, usually through greed and lack of regulation. Although a rising tide lifts all boats, a falling tide lowers all boats, except for the gilded yachts.
The Goldwater-Reagan-Gingrich-Tea Party revolutions all called into question whether we are a society and therefore whether we act through our national government to pursue our common interests. Though virtually all mature democracies have basically resolved this question decades ago, the people of the United States seem unable to do so. Many Americans continue to believe we can have the public services a very large majority wants without paying very much for them. Thus the "waste, fraud, and abuse" of the Reagan years. Or a recurring vocal minority continues to argue that we should do away with those services altogether and devil-take-the-hindmost.
It would be an interesting, though destructive, experiment to see how many Americans would like the nation the Tea Party seeks to construct.
The current, and perpetually recurring, confrontation is only symbolically about "spending." Public programs flow from policies. Policies flow from partisan ideologies. Ideologies flow from political philosophies. So long as the question of whether we are a society, a national community as Franklin Roosevelt believed, remains contested, so will budget wars continue carried out by factions waving one banner or another mostly decrying the evils of government.
Thomas Jefferson wanted our government to do only those necessary things that individuals could not do for themselves. That is quite a large territory. It includes transportation systems, public safety and judicial systems, public education, and national security, among many other undertakings. The real confrontation is over the social safety net constructed between the age of Roosevelt and the age of Johnson. Overwhelmingly, the American people wish to maintain this safety net. They simply do not wish to bear its costs, nor do they wish to accept its demise, which would involve taking our grandparents back into our homes.
In a perfect world we would have a great debate throughout the nation, not just in Washington, over the issue of whether we are a society, a national community, and, if so, what role we wish the national government to bear in maintaining that community. Alas, we do not live in a perfect world. So we let our elected officials struggle over budget cuts that are but symbols of our deeper dilemma and our unresolved definition of who we really are. Two hundred and twenty years should have been enough time to have resolved this question.When asked about the impact of her draconian policies on British society, then Prime... more
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Cartoon on American culture.
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Below are three paintings prominently featured in the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, NC along with interpretations sent to us by a listener. This fresco was created by artist Benjamin F. Long.
Benjamin F. Long’s first secular fresco, and his largest work to date, consists of three panels composed for the dedication of the Bank of America Corporate Center dominating the lobby as no other artwork could, the panels present the themes of making/building, chaos/creativity, and planning/knowledge in an daring blend of abstract and realism, set off with touches of gold.
The interpretations below were sent in by a listener. Please comment below with your interpretations of what your take is of these fresco.
This is the first of three in the order of timing of events. You see the classic Masonic checkered floor as part of the landscape that they control. You see the classic blond-haired, blue-eyed Arian “youth” in the classic Masonic heel-to-heel 90 degree stance. Take note to the burning bush blowing dead West. I see this as the Western World being burned and this is the current state of the dismantling affairs of the U.S. while Americans (in general) go unaware. I see this because of the white man right next to the burning bush and he is wearing a red sweater and blue jeans. Red, white and blue. He represents the majority of unaware Americans and remains distracted via the book he is reading while the bush (which again represents the Western World) is burning to the ground right next to him. Now, take a look at the female puppet on strings being controlled. Could this mean that the next President will be a woman? Most important is the group of characters at the bottom-left. This clearly shows a colonial forefather arguing with modern day “suits”. This is highly suggestive of constitutionalists arguing with the “New World” unfolding. Notice they are pointing to the Masonic Arian as the subject at hand? This suggests the Tea Party Movement and the fight against the coming-out of World Government. This is (now) in the first of these three key time eras.
READ MORE: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/prophetic-art-in-bank-of-america.htmlBelow are three paintings prominently featured in the Bank of America Corporate Center... more
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What had happened to that rebellious Yankee spirit and the American mind? Could it have been the food that overstuffed and immobilized them?
The Pop-Tarts® and Egg McMuffins® washed down with Coke® for breakfast? The Baconator® Triple, The Whoppers®, The Big Macs®, the $5 Foot-Long Subs, the bucket-of-chicken and 32oz. Big Gulp®? Too many trips to the All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet or The Never Ending Pasta Bowl®? Or was it the Slurpees, tubs of ice cream, or boxes of donuts grabbed at the convenience store?
Could it have been the factory-farmed, battery-raised, hormone implanted, antibiotic-laced, pesticide sprayed, genetically modified beef, fish, chicken, eggs, dairy, vegetables, grains that were used in the highly processed, synthetic, ultra pasteurized, artificially sweetened, colored and flavored “product” passed off as food?
What drove a nation with a relatively well-off and well-educated population to inflict such suicidal behavior upon itself? It was easy to point to the poor for buying cheap and eating stupid. But what excused the smartest of the smart and the richest of the rich from buying cheap and eating stupid?
A case in point: celebrated for “powering his way through the day with a punishing Diet Coke regimen,” even Obama’s chief economic advisor – the always “brilliant” Larry Summers (who brilliantly jumped the sinking ship of state when his “brilliant” economic strategy to rescue America failed brilliantly) – was too stupid to eat smart.
A look around the cabinet, survey of Capital Hill, AMA, ABA, PTA or powwow of American Indian chiefs proved he was not alone. America had become one big “Mike & Molly” sitcom. Yet, even though just about everybody knew better, just about everybody made the same excuse for abusing the body and deadening the mind: it was cheap and/or it was convenient.
Sure, money was tight and time was precious, but plenty of people were still going to the malls and spending big on hi-tech, high-end running shoes, taking vacations, eating out and buying new cars. Even low-end shoppers at Dollar Stores – while saving a buck – were filling their carts with junk snacks, junk soft drinks and junk “Made in China” bric-a-brac.
Or was it something in the polluted air and fluoride-treated water that deadened individual pride, courage, passion and self respect? Could it have been the quadzillions of tons of chemical mix poisoning the planet that made everyone susceptible?
Or could it have been the medicine chests full of Lipitor®, Oxycontin®, Xanax®, Celebrex®, Paxil® … or the Ritalin® force-fed to kids and gobbled down like M&Ms® that deadened heir minds or whacked them out? Whether prescribed indiscriminately as quick fix, symptom-relief solutions by legal “pushers” (a.k.a. doctors) or unwittingly washed down with a glass of municipally doctored “pharma-water,” voluntarily or involuntarily, a large segment of the populace was doing drugs.
Drugs Found in Drinking Water
A vast array of pharmaceuticals – including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones – have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. (AP, 10 March 2008)
READ MORE: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/whats-stopping-revolution.htmlWhat had happened to that rebellious Yankee spirit and the American mind? Could it... more
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“When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative [enough] to wake a person up” -- Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoch, 1939-1987
When we don’t exercise our bodies, our muscles become weak. When we do not exercise our minds, what has the potential to be a steel trap begins to rust and it’s springs lose snap.
Our conscience, that regulates our morality, also becomes rusty and weakens if not used. Ignore your conscience long enough and you might lose your soul.
A soul-less being has no empathy for others. Lose your empathy, and you’ll know you’ve lost your conscience, on the way to losing your soul.
My use of the word “empathy” here goes deeper than the concept of mere pity, as pity has a condescending connotation.
Empathizing with another does not, however, mean being a patsy, a pigeon, a doormat; one can practice “tough-love” while being empathetic, as one would practice tough-love on oneself.
Empathy, according to my dictionary, is a complete understanding, so intimate that the feelings, thoughts, and motives of one are readily comprehended by another. I believe we are all connected at a spiritual level, but lose sight of that as we fall from spiritually by a loss of empathy; a spiritually we can regain with a growing empathy for others.
READ MORE: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/wanna-lose-your-soul.html“When we talk about compassion we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is... more
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In my day, Just Say No was Just Don't Say Anything. Moms and Dads, more often than not, didn't have "the talk" because of their own shocking lack of knowledge or because they were too embarrassed. Of course, that left teens to their own sexual education.In my day, Just Say No was Just Don't Say Anything. Moms and Dads, more often... more
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If you still have a job and you can put food on the table and you still have a warm house to come home to, then you should consider yourself to be very fortunate. The truth is that every single month hundreds of thousands more Americans fall out of the middle class and into poverty. The statistics that you are about to read are incredibly sobering. Household incomes are down from coast to coast. Enrollment in government anti-poverty programs sets new records month after month after month. Home ownership is down, personal bankruptcies are way up and there are not nearly enough jobs to go around. Meanwhile, the price of basics such as food and health care continue to skyrocket. Don't be fooled by a rising stock market or by record bonuses on Wall Street. The U.S. economy is not getting better. After World War II, the great American economic machine built the largest and most vigorous middle class in the history of the world, but now America's middle class is disintegrating at a blinding pace.If you still have a job and you can put food on the table and you still have a warm... more
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Supporters of Arizona's immigration law say the Obama administration should be going after local jurisdictions that have proclaimed themselves relatively safe places for illegal immigrants
Critics of the Obama administration's decision to sue Arizona over its new law to control illegal immigration accuse the government of overlooking a more obvious target: the dozens of cities that called themselves a "sanctuary" for immigrants.
"Everyone has noticed the hypocrisy of the government going after Arizona and ignoring the sanctuary cities," said Bob Dane, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. "They have it exactly backwards. Arizona is applying federal law, and sanctuary cities are violating it."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration-sanctuary-20100725,0,7894293.storySupporters of Arizona's immigration law say the Obama administration should be... more
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In Massachusetts police say fifteen-year old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked and harassed from September until her suicide on January. Phoebe, unable to deal with the constant verbal assaults over her beautiful appearance, walked into (her closet)* in despair and hung herself. Nine teens are charged in the bullying of a teenage girl - to death.
As a victim of extreme sexual harassment myself in school, I was horrified but not surprised that 9 "kids" have been arrested in this case. People think that beautiful girls have it easy, but in our sick culture - it often times makes you the focus of pathetic people who are just trying to make themselves feel better through trolling or verbal harassment. Has anyone seen Mean Girls? What is wrong with our country and the PARENTS of these kids who don't teach their kids to have self-esteem - so they try to steal it from kids that do. As a victim of this sort of crime, which often times is not prosecuted because the kids want to "deal with it themselves" - which for me included violence toward some of my trolls - I feel that this is an unseen epidemic.
To the Bullies: It is not her fault that she was beautiful and made a room light up with her great spirit. It is not her fault that you had no self esteem and it crushed you every time your crush forgot about you to talk to her. She was a wonderful girl, and you hated her for it. So much that you wanted her to have a bad life - when she was just trying to get an education. The only person you have to blame for you is YOU.
We need to figure out how to make people in America feel good about themselves without acting like rabid cheerleaders.
*May actually be a different location since another girls death was similar and was confused in some articles. (Her staircase)In Massachusetts police say fifteen-year old Phoebe Prince of South Hadley was stalked... more
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Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Olympic snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo is the talk of Japan. Not for his athletic ability -- but for his appearance.
The 21-year-old member of Japan's national team unwittingly caused outrage from cabinet-level government lawmakers to the patrons at the corner pub when he arrived in Vancouver for the winter games.
Kokubo was wearing the team-issued uniform, which consisted of a suit, shirt and tie. But he wasn't wearing it quite right.
Kokubo's shirt was untucked, his pants hung low below his hips, and his tie was loosened revealing an unbuttoned shirt. Kokubo sported dark glasses indoors and double nose piercings. He also wore his hair down, revealing a mane of dreadlocks.
Japan's Minister of Education, Tatsuo Kawabata, was not a fan of the hip hop twist to the national uniform, to say the least.
"It's extremely regrettable that he dressed in a totally unacceptable manner as a representative of Japan's national team," said Kawabata, on the floor of Japan's parliament. "He lacks the awareness that he is participating in the Olympic Games as a representative of our country with everyone's expectations on his shoulders. This should never happen again."
The Japan Ski Association decided to punish Kokubo, along with his snowboard team manager Fumikazu Hagiwara and two coaches, keeping them from attending the Olympic opening ceremony as a show of regret.
...(go to the link to read the rest)
I'm going to refrain from making too many comments, I'll let the Current Community chime in first.Tokyo, Japan (CNN) -- Olympic snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo is the talk of Japan. Not... more
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As farmers leave the land in record numbers, agribusiness and the associated industrialization of agriculture continue to expand. The consequences—intended and unintended—of this rapid restructuring of our food system reach well beyond the boundaries of what we think of as “the family farm.” The award-winning documentary short, AS WE SOW, documents the stories of survival and failure in the real heartland, a struggle pitting family against family, neighbor against neighbor, citizens against their government, and small, independent farmers against the giants of global agribusiness. At the center is the land itself: who will control it and how, and at what cost to people and communities, to our health and our environment, and, ultimately, to our democracy.
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This is an American tragedy not only in regards to destroying agriculture as we know it, but also in regards to destroying the culture and heritage of America.As farmers leave the land in record numbers, agribusiness and the associated... more
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About The Third Jihad
The Third Jihad, the newest offering from the producers of the captivating documentary film, Obsession, explores the existence of radical Islam in America and the emerging risk that this “homegrown jihad” poses to national security, western liberties and the “American way of life.”
The film, which is narrated by devout Muslim American Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, opens with the following statement: “This is not a film about Islam. It is about the threat of radical Islam. Only a small percentage of the world's 1.3 billion Muslims are radical. This film is about them.”
In 72 minutes, the film reveals that radical Islamists driven by a religiously motivated rejection of western values cultures and religion are engaging in a multifaceted strategy to overcome the western world. In contrast to the use of “violent jihad” and terror to instill fear in “non-believers,” The Third Jihad introduces the concept of “cultural jihad” as a means to infiltrate and undermine our society from within.About The Third Jihad
The Third Jihad, the newest offering from the producers of... more
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