n.b. Another great trip. Interesting countries and seemingly always smiling gentle people. Much about which to think, digest, learn.
Traveling in Viet Nam from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, Da Nang, Hue, Can Tho, Saigon. Cambodia - Siem Reap, Phnom Penh. A part of the world which has been at war for 2000 years locally, regionally, and always China. Gave me a strong feeling of that powerful cry of hope and despair - why can't we all just get along? Sobering. Also it made me think more strongly than ever how fortunate we are that since the Civil War, for all the wars in which we've been, they have never been on our soil but in other countries whose people bore the tremendous destruction to culture, personal lives, infrastructure. I think that is a major reason why we're so willing to enter conflict/wars - it barely affects us personally.
Was there another example of US intelligence 'unexpected consequences' - training and supporting Ho and then throwing him 'under the bus' when the 'domino' policy of communist containment became strong? Repeated in Iraq and Afghanistan. Was Ho really a communist or simply trying to play Russia against China for Viet Nam independence? He lost his power when Russia 'disowned' him for apologizing to the Vietnamese for his land reform/confiscation but they're communist now as a government - success? - hardly. Could we have gotten to today's status without the tremendous war costs? What is the future for Viet Nam as every country/area tries to 'use' them as a buffer against China? Will they have the diplomatic ability/power to 'manage' the 'global politics'?
Cambodia - A feast of temples and Angkor Wat the largest religious structure in the world built in the same time period as Notre Dame in Paris. Commonality of human development. What is the purpose of such effort - submission? - reverence? - spectacle? - or is it really a power/control dynamic? The more I learn about religions the more I'm impressed with the commonality in their development and their addition of dogma and doctrine as a control mechanism. The influence/integration of Hinduism on/with Buddhism and with Confucianism aspects of ethical living in this area is interesting and essential to understanding the people/culture.
And the Khmer Rouge/PolPot? - genocide - Holocaust? - killing almost a quarter of your own people has to rank at the bottom of human depravity/inhumanity - but torture/inhumanity is always present and continues - Stalin/USSR - Hitler/Germany - Cambodia/PolPot - Rwanda/Tutsi/Hutus - Bosnia/Kosovo - Abu Grahib - GITMO - isolation in US Max Prisons - John McCain said that the isolation was the worse part of torture - and it is becoming US prison policy.
Lessons to be learned about the rise and fall of empires but we seem not to be interested in learning and progressing. Corruption and control is endemic in the area but then who are we to judge with our current political environment.
I hope to write more about the experience but it is a busy time, time passes too rapidly, and memory is short. Not having access to news for several weeks was nice and returning home was great but to the same political morass with no change makes me ready to leave again.
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I thought about and questioned the time spent on the Fltr but find it helps my info addiction but also feel it may be too negative. Please comment if you have thoughts and If you think it useful feel free to forward the email to others or put my webpage url (below) on your Facebook page or tweet it.
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>>>>>>> 'news' you may have missed <<<<<<<
"Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again."
--- Andre Gide, The Writer's Almanac
Thanksgiving - gratitude - makes you healthier and happier - I need to work on this ---
Good story - counterintuitive - things are getting better - I need to read something like this as I'm too immersed in the negative aspects of 'today' - probably because of info overload and availability ---
Good story - not new but I hadn't seen it - wins for progressives - losses for radical fundamentalists - some positives - hope ---
Foster parenting - crucially important - saving children at-risk - sacrificial - costly - and Congress wants to cut support - would that we would all read this article and pick up our pitchforks and go to Congress - humanity at-risk ---
Social Security Disability - problems - costly? - of course - what's important? - science? - accuracy? - no - 'timeliness' - whatever that means - numbers - measurable - helping vulnerable? - if it's not too costly - ethics? - morality? - why? ---
Judicial ethics? - SCOTUS - not - what can be done? - one would think that shaming them might help - but - they have no shame ---
Security paranoia - being a US citizen is meaningless - 'catch 22' - fascism? - getting here ---
More security paranoia - biometric info database - if you enter the country you're in it already even if you're a US citizen - fingerprints/face/iris(?) scans - and the military/intelligence is expanding their database for all citizens in Afghanistan and assisting other countries to database their citizens - what a gift to the next despot - a ready made database for control - Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin were born too soon ---
And this - be careful what you tweet - maybe the Pony Express would be more private ---
Cartoons:
We tried... ---
New pledge - patriotism ---
Kettle - pot? ---
Gingrich - kids should be janitors ---
Jobs are available - if ---
Dysfunction?
I think this illustrates the problem - what is the context? - perspective? - thanks A... - whiskey --- A great statesman if there ever was one...
In 1952, Armon M. Sweat, Jr., a member of the Texas House of Representatives, was asked about his position on whiskey. What follows is his exact answer (taken from the Political Archives of Texas):
"If you mean whiskey, the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean that evil drink that topples Christian men and women from the pinnacles of righteous and gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, shame, despair, helplessness, and hopelessness, then, my friend, I am opposed to it with every fiber of my being.
However, if by whiskey you mean the lubricant of conversation, the philosophic juice, the elixir of life, the liquid that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer, the stimulating sip that puts a little spring in the step of an elderly gentleman on a frosty morning; if you mean that drink that enables man to magnify his joy, and to forget life's great tragedies and heartbreaks and sorrow; if you mean that drink the sale of which pours into Texas treasuries untold millions of dollars each year, that provides tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitifully aged and infirm, to build the finest highways, hospitals, universities, and community colleges in this nation, then my friend, I am absolutely, unequivocally in favor of it.
This is my position, and as always, I refuse to compromise on matters of principle."
