The Rag Blog | The Latest in News and Views from the Progressive Front

David P. Hamilton :
What is to be done in the Middle East (as soon
as pigs fly)

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Creating an actual anti-Islamic State alliance would require thinking entirely outside the currently existing conceptual boxes.

David’s flying pig. Image designated for noncommercial reuse.

By David P. Hamilton | The Rag Blog | November 25, 2015

“In the name of realism, men are quite mad, and precisely what they call utopian is now the condition of human survival.” — C. Wright Mills

The United States has successfully created a hotbed of instability and dysfunction in the Middle East. There are now wars in Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, Turkey/Kurdistan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. Weapons are now hemorrhaging across the Sahara from Libya into Chad, Mali, and Nigeria, areas of Africa where the U.S. is busy establishing new military bases. There is a welter of conflicting alliances with diverse and contradictory goals, especially in Syria, the current epicenter of conflict.

This conceptual chaos is typified by the U.S. being the member of a coalition to fight the “Islamic State” [ISIS], which includes the principal parties who provided ISIS with its motivating ideology, Wahhabism, and which created, funded and provided weapons to this same Islamic State since its inception, (i.e., the Gulf Sunni dictators in Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, and especially Saudi Arabia).
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bashar al-Assad, David P. Hamilton, Islamic State, Middle East, Rag Bloggers, Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy | 8 Comments

Ann Lucas :
UT-Austin confab addresses Eurozone austerity

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Alice Embree

Participants warned of dire economic, social, and political consequences from austerity policies.

By Ann Lucas | The Rag Blog | November 24, 2015

The LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin hosted a two-day conference, November 2-3, on “The Eurozone and the Americas: Debt and Democracy” that brought in an array of noted global policy experts.

The conference followed up on questions posed in 2013 at a similar conference, “Can the Eurozone be Saved?” Guests included current and former elected officials, labor leaders, experts in financial policy, and leaders of prominent anti-austerity forces from Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Ecuador. Learn more about the conference and the participants, here.

Dr. James K. Galbraith, Professor and Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government and Business Relations, The University of Texas at Austin, was the primary organizer of the conference; he also gave opening remarks, and chaired a panel on “What is the Future of Europe?”
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Ann Lucas, Economic Austerity, Eurozone and the Americas, James Galbraith, Rag Bloggers, UT-Austin | Leave a comment

Thorne Dreyer :
RAG RADIO PODCASTS | María Martin, Michael Hoinski & Ben Sargent, Carl Davidson, James K. Galbraith

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

We visit with a pioneer of public radio; discuss the fine printing of O. Henry’s lost manuscript; get some help understanding all the political madness; and visit with one of the world’s leading economists.

Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Ben Sargent on Rag Radio, November 20, 2015 . Photo by Greg Ciotti / KOOP Radio.

Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | November 24, 2015

The following podcasts are from recent Rag Radio shows. The syndicated Rag Radio program, produced in the studios of Austin’s cooperatively-run KOOP-FM, has an international audience and has become an influential platform for interviews with leading figures in politics, current events, literature, and cutting-edge culture.

♦ Public Radio Legend María Martin, Founder of Latino USA

Read the show description and download the podcast of our November 27, 2015 Rag Radio interview with María Martin, joined by Mercedes de Uriarte, here — or listen to it here:

♦ Michael Hoinski & Ben Sargent on the Publishing of O. Henry’s Lost Manuscript

Read the show description and download the podcast of our November 20, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Michael Hoinski and Ben Sargent here — or listen to it here:

♦ Leading Leftist Thinker Carl Davidson Helps Us Make Some Sense of the Political Madness

Read the show description and download the podcast of our November 6, 2015 Rag Radio show with Carl Davidson here — or listen to it here:

♦ World-Renowned Economist James K. Galbraith on Greece, the Austerity Movement, and ‘The End of Normal’

Read the show description and download the podcast of our October 30, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Margaret Randall here — or listen to it here:

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Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog | Tagged Ben Sargent, Carl Davidson, Interviews, James Galbraith, Michael Hoinski, Podcasts, Rag Radio, Thorne Dreyer, Tracey Schulz | Leave a comment

Kate Braun :
Welcome in the new during third quarter moon

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The closer we come to the end to 2015, the more rapidly change will happen.

Third Quarter Moon. Image from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | November 23, 2015

Third quarter moons are times to release the old in order to welcome the new. This aspect of moon-energy work offers a good focus to take in November as 2015 is a year to resolve and conclude things so that changes will engage us more easily, whether we anticipate them or not. It makes sense, therefore, to put our time and energies in the remainder of 2015 toward making room for the New that is sure to come.

With this in mind, recognize what you have been keeping that no longer needs to be kept. This can be an attitude, a habit, friendships, jobs, furniture, anything that has outgrown or outlived its usefulness in your life. This can also apply to home repairs that have been on your to-do list for many months.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Astrology, Ceremony, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Third Quarter Moon | Leave a comment

Miranda Mason :
METRO | Women’s hygiene heartache in local homeless shelters

Posted on November 21, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Underfunded and undersupplied feminine hygiene products cause serious health risk.

Homeless in downtown Austin. Photo by Miranda Mason / The Rag Blog.

By Miranda Mason | The Rag Blog | November 21, 2015

AUSTIN — While life on the streets is far from easy, most people in need know where to go to find their next meal or a place to sleep. Shelters frequent most cities and many organizations reach out to help those who have no place to call their own.

But when it comes to the taboo issue of feminine hygiene, so many women are left without a place to turn for supplies or support.

The struggles around menstruation are tough for many women to deal with — regardless of their walk of life — but they undoubtedly add much more heartache for those who do not have access to supplies or places to help them maintain good hygiene during that time of the month.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Feminine Hygiene, Homeless Shelters, Homeless Women, Mero, Miranda Mason, Women's Health | Leave a comment

Elaine J. Cohen :
METRO EVENT | Women, fair trade… and tamales

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Alice Embree

Refugiados. Acrylic on canvas by Carlos Lowry.

By Elaine J. Cohen | The Rag Blog | November 20, 2015

Event: Women and Fair Trade Festival
Date: Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 21-22, 2015
Time: Saturday, 10-6 p.m.; Sunday, 1-6 p.m.
Where: Howsen Hall, First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin
Address: 4700 Grover Ave., Austin, TX 78741
Admission: Free, and everyone is welcome!

AUSTIN — The twelfth annual Women and Fair Trade Festival, hosted by Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera, takes place Saturday and Sunday, November 21-22, 2015, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 4700 Grover Avenue in Austin. The festival is an annual Austin marketplace that hosts artisan producers from women’s cooperatives around the world.

The event will also include live music and on Saturday from 3-4:15 p.m., Austin poets Sarah Rafael Garcia, Chloe Chon, Loyce Gayo, and Kimberly Alidio will read from their work.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Austin Tan Cerca, Casa Marianella, Fair Trade, Metro, Posada Esperanza, Women and Fair Trade Festival | Leave a comment

Lamar W. Hankins :
Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s unpatriotic view of Syrian refugees

Posted on November 18, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The governor wants to bar the ‘golden door’ to freedom, rather than light the pathway for those who most need to find it.

“The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.” Photo by Brian Auer / Flickr / Creative Commons.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | Nov. 19, 2015

I have always considered the stirring words of Emma Lazarus to be the most patriotic ideal for which America stands:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

If ever there were people who are tired, poor, homeless, wretched, and tempest-tost, it is the Syrian refugees who have made their tortuous way into Europe trying to escape the barbaric Muslim-extremist violence of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The religious nihilism of ISIS followers has made civilians powerless against the capacity for violence ISIS has demonstrated countless times, as deadly in Paris as in Iraq and Syria.
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Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog | Tagged Greg Abbott, Immigration Policy, Islamophobia, Lamar W. Hankins, Rag Bloggers, Syrian Refugees, Terrorism, Texas Politics, Xenophobia | Leave a comment

Jonah Raskin :
Vietnam postscript: Activists remember the cause that shook an empire

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

For baby boomers who watched the Vietnam War on the nightly news, the war has never really ended.

Chicago 8 defendant Rennie Davis became a follower of the Guru Maharaj Ji. Rag Blog photo.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | November 17, 2015

BERKELEY — Remember the War in Vietnam? Indeed, how could anyone who lived through that era forget napalm, tiger cages, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail? How could anyone forget the rag-tail army of pacifists, GIs, hippies, self-styled revolutionaries, Catholics, Buddhists, rock bands, and just plain crazies who took on the Pentagon, the White House, and the “War Machine”?

For baby boomers and their parents who watched the Vietnam War on the nightly news year after year, the war has never really ended. Images of burning villages, napalmed children, and B-52s dropping bombs were seared into the consciousness of a nation. They’re still there, though the U.S. has gone to war in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere in the 21st century and new images of carnage, death, and destruction have spewed from the media.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Chicago 8, Divine Light Mission, Frank Joyce, Guru Maharaj Ji, Jonah Raskin, Judy Gumbo Albert, Peace Movement, Rag Bloggers, Rennie Davis, SDS, Sixties, Vietnam War | 1 Comment

Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘Lilyhammer’ is a quirky gangster-out-of-water dramedy set in
small-town Norway

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Springsteen sideman Steven Van Zandt produces and stars as a tough Mafioso hiding out with weird locals among the snowy fjords.

Steven Van Zandt is Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | November 17, 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.]

In several dozen columns over the past two years I have always reviewed excellent TV series and films from English-speaking lands (except for the exciting French cop series Spiral). Today is another wonderful exception to that rule: Lilyhammer, a Norwegian/American comedy/gangster series that’s 60% in English and 40% in subtitled Norwegian.
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Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Criticism, Lilyhammer, Norwegian Television, Rag Bloggers, Steven Van Zandt | Leave a comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | Walking the walk for immigrant families

Posted on November 17, 2015 by Alice Embree

Image from Workers Defense Project.

Action: Three-Day Pilgrimage for Immigrant Families
Event: Rally for Immigrant Rights
Date: Saturday, November 21, 2015
Time: Noon
Where: Across the street from the Governor’s Mansion
Address: 1106 Lavaca Street, Austin, Texas 78701
Admission: Public welcome

AUSTIN — A three-day Pilgrimage for Immigrant Families will culminate in a Rally for Immigrant Rights at noon, Saturday, November 21, 2015, across the street from the Texas Governor’s Mansion, 1106 Lavaca Street, in Austin. The rally will be joined by marchers coming from Taylor and Pflugerville, with a request that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott meet with immigrant families.

Speakers at the Saturday rally will include State Sen. Sylvia Garcia, union leaders from Education Austin and the Service Employees International Union, and members of the faith community. Kiko Villamizar and Cecilia and the Broken Hearts will provide music.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Family Detention, Greg Abbott, Immigrant Rights, Metro, Social Action, Workers Defense Project | Leave a comment

Carl Davidson :
My two cents on the Democratic forum hosted by MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Maddow did a good job of posing open questions and trying to get decent answers.

Rachel meets Bernie. Photo by Chuck Burton / AP.

By Carl Davidson | The Rag Blog | November 10, 2015

Listen to Thorne Dreyer’s Nov. 6, 2015 Rag Radio interview with Carl Davidson, who helps us make some sense out of all the political madness, here:

As advertised, it was a forum not a debate. I’m talking about MSNBC host Rachel Maddow’s November 6 interviews in a South Carolina auditorium with Martin O’Malley, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, in that order.

The event lasted two hours, with some 3,000 people in the room.
Unlike the GOP spectacle-debates, few sparks flew, no “gotcha” questions were posed, and no personal insults were hurled. And Maddow did a good job of posing open questions and trying to get decent answers. Only with Hillary did she seem to lose some control and allow herself to be put in a passive situation.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2016 Elections, Bernie Sanders, Carl Davidson, Democratic Forum, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, Podcast, Rachel Maddow, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment