Category Archives: RagBlog

New Film ‘The Help’ Whitewashes the Civil Rights Struggle into a Heartstring-tugging Hallmark Card By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd / AlterNet / August 14, 2011 This week, disgusted by The Help’s revisionist history, scholar and pundit Melissa Harris Perry began livetweeting … Continue reading →

Writer and progressive organizer Carl Davidson looks at the summer rebellions in the impoverished communities in London and other industrial centers of the UK — as well as the Arab spring uprisings — and, taking into account our current situation, … Continue reading →

hey, marilyn From august through Black augustthe drum beat usall black and blueand back againwhere we liveinside shadowswith you * Here on the sad fuming planet comes a laughing ghostbeloved fugitiveour first anniversary spun from these burning strands our sensitive … Continue reading →

Nature bats last: Notes on revolution and resistance, revelation and redemption by Robert Jensen [An edited version of this talk was presented to the Veterans for Peace conference in Portland, OR, on August 4, 2011.] My title is ambitious and … Continue reading →

ROTC Resurgent By Jay D. Jurie Carrying an upside-down U.S. flag tacked onto a short wooden pole, a student at the head of a column of anti-Vietnam war students marching onto a University practice field was tackled by several pro-war … Continue reading →

Texas became part of the State of Coahuila and Texas in 1824. Image from the Texas State Library and Archives Commission.Texas’s hidden history:Part 1: The pre-1821 years By Bob Feldman / The Rag Blog / August 9, 2011 [This is … Continue reading →

Human rights advocate and Presbyterian minister Jim Rigby believes that the “use of the governor’s office to promote one religion in a country with such rich religious diversity is obviously unhealthy politics” — but that, “if one takes the Christian … Continue reading →

Professor Jensen interviews Will Potter, author of “>Green is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege.” Jensen and Potter tell us how corporations, politicians, and law enforcement increasingly see environmental activism as a threat (especially … Continue reading →

Molly Ivins called the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) the “Pentagon of Texas.” The Texas road lobby has unrivaled power, and in this state roads are seen as a form of “publicly funded entitlement” — “welfare to subsidize suburban sprawl … Continue reading →

image from New Traffic Builder Coming soon:Peak oil, peak driving, peak cars Part IV: The Texas road lobby meets peak oil. By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / July 28, 2011 [This is the fourth and final part of … Continue reading →