Harry Targ : Revisiting ‘American Exceptionalism’

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Beacon to the world? Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Was Putin right?
Revisiting ‘American exceptionalism’

A better future and the survival of the human race require us to realize, as Paul Robeson suggested, that what is precious about humanity is not our differences but our commonalities.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | September 17, 2013

Continued study and research into the origins of the folk music of various peoples in many parts of the world revealed that there is a world body — a universal body — of folk music based upon a universal pentatonic (five tone) scale. Interested as I am in the universality of (hu)mankind — in the fundamental relationship of all peoples to one another — this idea of a universal body of music intrigued me, and I pursed it along many fascinating paths. — Paul Robeson, Here I Stand, 1959.

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Michael James : Heart of Illinois in the Summer of ’64

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Boys in a pickup truck in front of the Fulton Democrat in Lewistown, Illinois, in the summer of 1964. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.

Pictures from the Long Haul:
Heart of Illinois in the Summer of ’64

Hanging with this band of old dudes I learned to roll smokes. I played guitar and sang with them, and in the process acquired some finger-picking guitar riffs and a staple of country tunes. I chipped in change and took regular slugs from half-pint bottles of Jim Beam.

By Michael James | The Rag Blog | September 17, 2013

[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about — and inspired by — those images. This photo will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.]
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RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : Award-Winning Novelist and Screenwriter Stephen Harrigan

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Noted Texas writer Stephen Harrigan in the studios of KOOP-FM in Austin, Texas, Friday, September 6, 2013. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Rag Radio podcast:
Award-winning novelist, screenwriter,
and journalist Stephen Harrigan

The author of the New York Times bestseller, The Gates of the Alamo, Harrigan has been selected to write the initial title and centerpiece work in an ambitious 16-volume history of Texas to be published by the University of Texas Press.

By Rag Radio | The Rag Blog | September 17, 2013

Award-winning author, screenwriter, and journalist Stephen Harrigan was our guest on Rag Radio, Friday, September 6, 2013.
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Jean Trounstine : Education in Prison Works

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Image from audaciousideas.org.

So are we listening?
Study proves education in prison works

The largest ever meta-analysis of prison education and its overwhelming positive effect on recidivism was released in August, so what are we going to do about it?

By Jean Trounstine | The Rag Blog | September 16, 2013

It was barely six months ago when I first wrote about the battle to bring back Pell Grants for prisoner education programs across the country. Pell grants are those all-important grants that my college students rely on and that once funded prisoners — 1 percent of those who received such grants across the country.
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Kate Braun : During Fall Equinox Give Thanks for Earth’s Bounty

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Honor Mother Earth on Fall Equinox. Image from Seeds of Good Fortune.

Fall Equinox:
A time to seek balance in all things

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | September 16, 2013

“Come, ye thankful people come
Raise the song of harvest home…”

Sunday, September 22, 2013 is the Fall Equinox, aka Mabon, Harvest Home, Second Harvest, or Cornucopia. Hours of day and night are equal on this day. As you concentrate on rituals for protection, prosperity, security, self-confidence, and harmony, seek balance in all things.
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HISTORY / Bob Feldman : A People’s History of Egypt, Part 9, 1924-1930

Posted on September 14, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Mural shows Saad Zaghlul, first Egyptian prime minister, giving the finger to the military council. Image from Egypt 2011 and Beyond.

A people’s history:
The movement to democratize Egypt

Part 9: 1924-1930 period –The Wafd government and the repression of communists.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | September 16, 2013

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman’s Rag Blog “people’s history” series, “The Movement to Democratize Egypt,” could not be more timely. Also see Feldman’s “Hidden History of Texas” series on The Rag Blog.]

After an Egyptian constitution was promulgated in 1923, martial law was abolished, an election was held, and Saad Zaghlul, the leader of the Egyptian landowning elite’s nationalist Wafd party, became prime minister in January 1924.
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Alan Waldman: ‘New Street Law’ is a Dramatic English Legal Series

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer

 

Waldman’s film and TV
treasures you may have missed:

Scottish actor John Hannah heads a strong cast as two competing law firms seek justice.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | September 9, 2013

[In his weekly column, Alan Waldman reviews some of his favorite films and TV series that readers may have missed, including TV dramas, mysteries, and comedies from Canada, England, Ireland, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

New Street Law was a compelling, well-made Manchester, England, legal series that aired 14 episodes in 2006-2007. All 14 are on DVD and Netflix.
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Lamar W. Hankins : ‘Masters of War’ Target Syria

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
“Masters of War.” Art from Society of Wood Engravers.

U.S. foreign policy:
The ‘Masters of War’
are firmly in control

Diplomacy and fairly negotiated economic agreements have taken a back seat to violent military action as the primary way to deal with the world.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | September 5, 2013

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
— Bob Dylan, from “Masters of War”

The news this past week seems to confirm that “Masters of War,” the phrase from Bob Dylan’s 1963 song of that title, are firmly in control of U.S. foreign policy. Diplomacy and fairly negotiated economic agreements have taken a back seat to violent military action as the primary way to deal with the world.
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Robert Jensen : Truce at the UT Factory

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
East Mall fountain, University of Texas at Austin. Photo by Frank Jaquier / Flickr.

With truce at the UT factory,
time to face tough choices

More than ever we need a university that refuses to serve power and instead focuses its resources on the compelling questions of social justice and ecological sustainability.

By Robert Jensen | The Rag Blog | September 5, 2013

AUSTIN — A truce seems to have been negotiated in the long-running skirmish between the University of Texas and its conservative critics. The Board of Regents’ new chairman has toned down the rhetoric and signaled he wants to reduce tensions that have built over the past two years, which suggests that UT president Bill Powers may keep his job, at least for now.
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Johnny Hazard : Mexico City Rocked by Massive Teacher Protest

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Teachers mobilize in Mexico City, Wednesday, September 4, 2013. Photo by Alejandro Mancilla / The Rag Blog.

Militant teachers’ strike:
Massive protests continue in Mexico

The actions were a continuation of protests against an education ‘reform’ package first passed by Congress on new President Enrique Peña Nieto’s first day in office.

By Johnny Hazard | The Rag Blog | September 5, 2013 

MEXICO CITY — Thousands of teachers, mostly members of the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), remain camped out in the center of Mexico City after having initiated a series of protests that have included blocking the airport for a day, blockades at the two major television networks in demand for equal time (they received three and five minutes, respectively), and marches that have forced the closure of various major thoroughfares and Metro stations.
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RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : Chicago’s Mike Klonsky Fights for Public Education, ‘Small Schools’

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Chicago education activist Mike Klonsky in the studios of KOOP Radio, Austin, Texas, Friday, August 20, 2013. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Rag Radio podcast:
Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky is fighter
for ‘Small Schools’ and democratic education

A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement and the struggle against the War in Vietnam, Mike has been involved in community and labor organizing as well as the fight for democratic education.

By Rag Radio | The Rag Blog | September 4, 2013

Former SDS leader Mike Klonsky, now a Chicago-based public education activist and advocate for “Small Schools,” joined us on Rag Radio, Friday, August 30, 2013.
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Rabbi Arthur Waskow : Drop Gas Masks, Not Bombs

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Thorne Dreyer
Think out of the box. Digital art by Neho / deviantART.

Act out of the box:
Drop gas masks, not bombs

Use the power of the U.S. in nonviolent, non-military, nonlethal ways to counter Assad’s (or the rebels’) possible use of chemical weapons.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow | The Rag Blog | September 4, 2013

If moving to the right is violently destructive and moving to the left is disgustingly immoral, then something is wrong with the box we are in.
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