Shepherd Bliss :
FILM | Robert Bly: Tribute to a radical poet

Posted on January 6, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Robert Bly has made a big difference in the lives of many, bringing a contentious, creative presence into his prophetic work.

Robert Bly film

Poster for Haydn Reiss’ film about the radical poet, Robert Bly.

By Shepherd Bliss | The Rag Blog | January 6, 2016

Poet Robert Bly, now 89 years old, is a radical, by which I mean he returns to the roots. Haydn Reiss has captured him in his new, moving film “Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy.”

Watching the film was a trip down my memory’s lane, dating back to meeting the National Book Award-winning poet in the sixties. I was in boot camp training at Ft. Riley, Kansas, home of the Army’s First Division, the Big Red One. I intended to follow our family tradition, which gave our name to Ft. Bliss, Texas. I was on my way to the American War on Vietnam.
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Elaine J. Cohen :
METRO | Are the dreaded immigration sweeps coming to a city near you?

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

My friends trembled as they shared their stories of crossing the Rio Bravo and the desert, and hiding from ‘la migra.’

immigration detainees Houston sm

ICE Special Agents arrest suspects during a 2010 raid in Houston.
Photo Courtesy of ICE.

By Elaine J. Cohen | The Rag Blog | January 6, 2016

“Raids are planned in Dallas, Houston, El Paso, Atlanta, Boston, Baltimore, Charlotte, Memphis, Orlando, Miami, New Orleans, NYC, Chicago, Arlington, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and numerous other cities across the United States”
— Press  release from Jonathan Ryan, Executive Director, Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES)

AUSTIN — The Deportations have gone into an even higher gear. Recently I was one of six adults who sat around the pine table in one of the houses of Posada Esperanza. Three active children and one toddler played around us. They could see that the grown-ups were worried and talking in serious voices. Their play was not violent — but it slowly increased in pitch and velocity. Their play reflected our state of heart-mind.
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Kate Braun :
¡Aquí está cómo pasar una navidad genial!

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

Durante el solsticio de invierno esperaremos mucha energía vertiéndose sobre nosostros.

Yule log

Leño de Navidad. Imagen de Wikimedia Commons.

Por Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | 20 de diciembre, 2015

Traducido del inglés por Cecilia Colomé

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El lunes 21 de diciembre de 2015 es Navidad, lo cual usted quizá conozca como el Solsticio de invierno o Mediados de invierno. Ahora es cuando tenemos el día más corto y la noche más larga del año. La Dama Luna está en su segundo cuarto, llevándonos a la Luna llena en la navidad, también conocida como la Luna del Deseo el 25 de diciembre.

No solo estaremos esperando ansiosamente el comienzo de una nueva estación sino que también estaremos esperando con ansias a mucha energía vertiéndose sobre nosotros. No será inapropiado el usar la Luna del Deseo de navidad para desear sabiduría y guía espiritual que nos ayude a cosas nuevas para que nos podamos beneficiar de ellas.
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Philip L. Russell :
Mexico’s Peña Nieto at midterm

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

The president’s low ratings reflect not only his performance but also the inability of his government to address basic problems facing the country.

Pena Nieto caricature sm

Caricature of Peña Nieto by Armando Aguayo Rivera / Flickr.

By Philip L. Russell | The Rag Blog | January 4, 2016

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853px-Rag_radio2Listen to the Rag Radio podcast of Thorne Dreyer’s interview with Philip Russell, who discusses issues raised in this article. The Rag Blog‘s Alice Embree joins us in discussion of developments in Central America and Cuba. This show originally aired Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, 2-3 p.m. (CT), on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin. Find all podcasts and more about Rag Radio here.

  • Read Philip Russell’s earlier Rag Blog article on Peña Nieto’s first two years, here.

The poor are even poorer; the levels of violence and insecurity have shot up. The immaculately coiffed president has remained unmoved and overwhelmed by the national crisis. The job has been too much for him. — Elena Poniatowska, 2015

December 1 marked the halfway point in Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term. His first year in office was by far his best. On day two of his presidency he announced the Pact for Mexico — an alliance of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the center-right National Action Party (PAN), and his own Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI).
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Maxine Phillips :
Do Christians and Muslims worship the
same God?

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

For non-Muslims to understand diversity among Muslims seems to be a leap too far.

Muslims praying sm

Image from MuslimVibe.com.

By Maxine Phillips | The Rag Blog | January 3, 2016

In December, a tenured political science professor at evangelical Christian Wheaton College was placed on administrative leave for a posting on Facebook. Next to a picture of herself wearing a head scarf, she wrote,

I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay… [and] I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

True, three major religions in the world have one God as their source. But is it the same God?
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Swathi Narayanan :
METRO | Missing in action but not forgotten

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

A daughter continues her quest to find her father and other lost soldiers.

MIA 1

Karoni and her dad.

By Swathi Narayanan | The Rag Blog | January 2, 2016

AUSTIN — Karoni Forrester’s earliest memory of her childhood is sneaking into her grandfather’s study to call her father. She would keep dialing to see if she could reach him. “I got into trouble because of the very weird phone bills,” she said. But her father never answered the phone.

Forrester was two when her father, Captain Ron Forrester, a Marine pilot, was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA) in Vietnam. He was co-piloting a Grumman A6 Intruder attack plane on December 7, 1972, under orders to take down a bridge in North Vietnam.
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Kate Braun :
Here’s how to have a cool Yule!

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

At Winter Solstice we will be looking forward to much new energy pouring into us.

Yule log

Yule log. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2015

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Monday, December 21, 2015 is Yule, which you may also call Winter Solstice or Midwinter. This is when we experience the shortest day and longest night of the year. Lady Moon is in her second quarter, leading us to the Full Moon, also called a Wishing Moon, on Christmas, December 25.

Not only will we be looking forward to a new season beginning, we will also be looking forward to much new energy pouring into us. It would not be inappropriate to use the Christmas Wishing Moon to wish for the wisdom and spiritual guidance to help guide us into this newness so that we may benefit from it.
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Roy Casagranda :
Hey, ISIL! Here’s some unsolicited advice

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer
Women and children among Syrian refugees striking at the platform of Budapest Keleti railway station. Refugee crisis. Budapest, Hungary, Central Europe, 4 September 2015.

Syrian refugees, September 2015. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

By Roy Casagranda | The Rag Blog | December 16, 2015

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My advice to all the pro-ISIL forces in the United States:

  1. Keep bombing Iraq and Syria. This is how ISIL came into being in the first place. It makes sense that you would keep doing that.
  2. Refuse to work with the Russians and Iranians. They have the best chance of defeating ISIL.
  3. Avoid humanitarian aid at all costs.
  4. Encourage Israel to keep bombing Hezbollah forces in Syria. Hezbollah is fighting ISIL and Jebhat al Nusra (al Qaeda).
  5. Block entry to Syrian refugees. This will really hurt the Arabs as a people and put tremendous pressure on Europe. Whatever you do, don’t help your allies or the people who hate ISIL so much that they are risking death of their children to escape them. You can drive those people back into ISIL’s hands.
  6. Keep all the anti-Islam rhetoric at a shrill scream. It confirms to the world that the U.S. is really at war with Islam. That is why foreigners join ISIL. If you, for even a second, hint that you won’t be a bigot, that would really hurt their supply of foreign fighters.
  7. Keep flooding the oil markets to drive down oil prices. Iran, Russia, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are desperately reliant on oil sales for revenue. If you can break those four states, most of the resistance to ISIL will evaporate.
  8. Keep encouraging Turkey to shoot down Russian fighter jets. WWIII is a great way to give ISIL more power.
  9. For sure elect Trump or Cruz to be president. That will really help number 6.
  10. Track Muslims, make them wear armbands, and refuse their entry, reentry. In fact why not intern them like you did with the Japanese and the Native Americans? I think again that would really help number 6. Remember number 6 is very important.
  11. Overreact with anti-Islamic rhetoric and laws the next time that ISIL attacks. They are probably planning to attack as many times as they can before November 2016. Keep reacting exactly as they want; after all, they believe that they are creating the Apocalypse. A lot of you have been working for the very same goal.

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Harry Targ :
We must respond to 21st century violence with radical structural change based on community

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

In addressing the reality of killing in this century, history and context become profoundly important.

cooperative peace sign crp

CC0 Public Domain image.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | December 15, 2015

“When we humans see instances of violence, we are often quick to respond, sometimes with efforts to assist the victims, often with efforts to punish the perpetrators. It is important that we are able to feel the pain of each individual case. It is equally important to find out why there are so many cases. For this to take place it is important to examine what common underlying levers are causing the human family to engage in such protracted and recurrent violence.”

— Marc Pilisuk and Jennifer Achord Rountree, The Hidden Structure of Violence: Who Benefits from Global Violence and War

Peace research, education, and activism have been animated by concern about violence. For centuries, scholars, theologians, philosophers, and activists have studied the meaning and causes of violence in human affairs, primarily motivated by a desire to reduce or eliminate it.

Some have pointed out that, for the most part, human beings have engaged in cooperative forms of behavior. The vast majority of human interactions are designed to sustain life, maintain communities, and support individual development. But, it is true that the dark side of history manifests massive slaughter, starvation, enslavement, and destruction of natural environments.
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The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | It’s a Rag Blog/Rag Radio HO-HO-HAPPY HOUR!

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Rag holiday gathering Friday, Dec. 18, at Maria’s Taco Xpress, with featured guest Jonah Raskin.

Santa cartoon with champagne

AUSTIN — The Rag Blog and Rag Radio are inviting their community, friends, and followers to celebrate the holiday season at a “Ho-Ho-Happy Hour” — an informal gathering on Friday, December 18, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., at Maria’s Taco Xpress in South Austin.

Event: Rag Blog/Rag Radio ‘Ho-Ho-Happy Hour’
Date: Friday, Dec. 18, 2015
Time: 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Maria’s Taco Xpress
Address: 2529 S. Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
Food & Drink: Cash bar and Tex-Mex
Music: Leeann Atherton on patio at 7 p.m.
Admission: Free, and everyone is welcome!
jonah raskin austin 2

Jonah at Maria’s in 2011.

Special guest at the event is Jonah Raskin, a California-based activist, poet, critic, and educator, and the author of a dozen books including biographies of Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Jack London. Jonah, who is a contributing editor to The Rag Blog, is the former Minister of Information for the Youth International Party (Yippies).

Jonah Raskin will also be Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio earlier that afternoon — Friday, December 18 — from 2-3 p.m. (CST) on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin. Stream it live here.

Also joining us at the holiday festivities will be Middle East expert and overall good guy Roy Casagranda, who was our guest on Rag Radio, December 4 and 11, talking about Syria, Iraq, and the role of U.S. foreign policy in “setting the table” for ISIL.
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Ed Felien :
Santa Claus is an Islamic communist plot

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Dutch sailors saw men in beards and long coats giving gifts and candy to children and food and shelter to the poor.

Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas by Bram van der Vlugt / Wikimedia Commons. The Dutch sailors probably thought they saw the spirit of St. Nicolas.

By Ed Felien | The Rag Blog | December 10, 2015

The person we know as Saint Nicolas was born around 280 in Patara, Turkey, and died about 50 miles away in Myra in 343. He was a rich noble in a prosperous seaport, and he was known for helping the poor. He was made bishop in the new Roman Catholic Church. The Emperor Constantine established the Holy Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Nicea in 325 and there were opportunities for advancement for friends of the Emperor. Nearby Antioch was one of the five centers of the early Christian faith at that time.

Muslim Turks seized the town in 1084. The Crusaders’ Siege of Antioch conquered the city in 1098. But it finally fell to the Muslims in 1268.
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Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘The High Life’ is a zany Scottish airline comedy featuring a young Alan Cumming

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Cumming co-wrote and co-starred in this clever sitcom full of bitchy quips, elements of surrealism, and some theatrical song-and-dance numbers.

the high life 2

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | December 9, 2015

[In his Rag Blog 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, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD, Netflix and/or Netflix Instant Streaming, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

All seven episodes of Scottish airline comedy The High Life aired in the UK in Winter 1994-95, but it did not have a second season, because of co-star/co-screenwriter Alan Cumming’s burgeoning film career (Circle of Friends, GoldenEye, Emma, Romy, and Michele’s High School Reunion). Too obscure for Netflix, the complete daffy series is available on YouTube, including this episode.
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