Alice Embree :
Democracy and the frog in the well

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

If our democracy makes your eyes glaze over,
Chile offers a refresher course on the possibility
of change.

KevinsFrogMan

Vote Frog! Drawing from Character Design Class.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | October 1, 2015

A frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.  That Chinese parable is about a frog living within the walls of a well that is told by a turtle of a great ocean.  In junior high, I was that frog.

I was taught that democracy had a brand — U.S.A.  My government classes explained that democracy had been perfected within our borders.  The model was representative government with three branches providing balance — a Senate and a House in Congress, an Executive branch, and a Supreme Court. It was such a brilliant brand that it only made sense that we should export it to the world. And, if the rest of the world resisted, well we also had the most powerful military in the world.
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Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ is Brit series about romance between two 70-year-olds

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

British national treasure Sir Derek Jacobi and veteran actress Anne Reid shine in this wonderfully written six-episode comedy-drama.

lAST tANGO

Last Tango in Halifax is television of rare quality.

 By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | September 30, 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.]

Last Tango in Halifax is television of rare quality — funny, moving, engaging and utterly charming — so naturally it is British. In it, childhood sweethearts Alan and Celia, both widowed and in their 70s, fall for each other all over again when they are reunited over the Internet after nearly 60 years. As their lives collide for a second time, the couple laments what might have been.
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The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | ‘De Novo’ is gripping, insightful documentary play on immigration

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer
de novo 2

De Novo illustrates the experience of an undocumented immigrant youth.

Event: De Novo: A Documentary Play on Immigration
What: Theatrical performance and discussion
Date: Friday, October 16, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Where: Utopia Theatre in the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin
Address: 1925 San Jacinto, Austin TX 78712
Admission: Free and open to the public

AUSTIN —  De Novo, a documentary play on immigration, will be performed at 7 p.m., Friday, October 16, 2015, at the Utopia Theater in the UT-Austin School of Social Work, 1925 San Jacinto.

De Novo, a documentary theater piece written by Jeffrey Solomon and produced by Houses on the Moon Theater Company, was crafted from immigration court transcripts, letters, and interviews conducted by the theater company with so-called “alien” children (and their advocates) in immigration proceedings in New York, Arizona, Colorado, and Los Angeles.
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Elaine J. Cohen :
METRO | Vital statistics: Documentation and dignity

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

It is hard to conceive of dignity if one is stateless or forced to live in poverty, at the edges of abundance.

San Antonio birth certificate texas

San Antonio birth certificate.

By Elaine J. Cohen | The Rag Blog | September 24, 2015

A few weeks ago The Rag Blog‘s Alice Embree asked me if I had heard any first-hand reports about the denial of birth certificates to children born in the U.S. to mothers without U.S. documentation. I responded with an emphatic, “No.” The women and children I had visited at the Karnes Family Detention Center and with whom I continue to be in touch did not fall into this group. I had heard nothing from them or from women I have come to know at Posada Esperanza.

Days later I received an invite to the next Community Potluck hosted by Grassroots Leadership’s Detention Visitation Team. The guest speaker was Virginia Raymond, attorney and advocate for immigrants held in Immigration Detention. Her topic was about the current lawsuit about the refusal to give birth certificates to the parents of children born in the U.S. if the parents did not possess acceptable identification.
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Ken Wachsberger :
Joe Grant: Happy birthday and goodbye, friend

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Joe Grant, the publisher of ‘Prisoners Digest International,’ was one of the unsung legends of the underground press.

joe grant

Joe Grant. Photo courtesy of Jeff Scott Olson, 2015 / Azenphony Press.

By Ken Wachsberger | The Rag Blog | September 23, 2015

It’s always jarring to receive Facebook birthday reminders for friends who you actually know and love when you know that they died within the past year. September began that way for me.

Joe Grant was one of the unsung legends of the underground press. He was a dear friend and a hero. He also was a thief, a scoundrel, a hustler, a counterfeiter, and a liar. But he was lovable. He had a warm heart, amazing energy, a sharp mind, talent as a gifted artist, and a progressive politics. I loved him.
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Kate Braun :
The Fall Equinox celebrates the bounty of Mother Earth

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

This is a season to focus on balance, harmony, and prosperity in all the areas of life.

egg on black

While balancing the egg, contemplate its greater meaning.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | September 21, 2015

“…teach the world to sing in perfect harmony…”

Wednesday, September 23, 2015, is the Fall Equinox, also known as Mabon, Harvest Home, Second Harvest, and Cornucopia. This is a season to focus on balance, harmony, and prosperity in all the areas of life. It is a time to celebrate friends and family, a time to enjoy the season’s bounty, a time to recognize goodnesses in your life.

Decorate yourself and your celebratory area with autumn colors: red, orange, russet, maroon, brown, deep gold, and violet provide the range of choice available. Use gourds, pine cones, acorns, apples, autumn leaves, and ivy for further decoration. Cerridwyn is the Celtic water-oriented Goddess of Autumn. Her symbol, a cauldron, would serve well as a centerpiece. Filled with apples, nuts, and autumn leaves it will enrich the energies brought to the table.
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Hugh Grady and Thorne Dreyer :
METRO | Remembering David MacBryde, philosopher, activist, and friend

Posted on September 17, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

A sweet man of peace, The Rag Blog’s David
MacBryde passed away in Berlin, Wednesday, September 9.

David MacBryde in Berlin

David MacBryde in Berlin. Photo courtesy of Connie Moreno.

AUSTIN — I lost a dear friend last Wednesday and The Rag Blog lost its “man in Berlin.” David MacBryde, a warm and funny man who played an important role in the struggle for peace and justice in ‘60s and ‘70s Austin — and was a contributor to Austin’s original underground newspaper, The Rag — died of cancer, September 9, 2015, in Berlin, where he had been living since 1981.

David, who had roots in the Quaker Church and continued his social activism through all his years in Germany, studied physics and mathematics at Yale and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He was active with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and Austin’s Armadillo Press, an IWW print shop. He was a UT shuttle bus driver and helped organize a militant drivers’ union.
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Michael Simmons :
Steve Earle: ‘Mississippi, It’s Time!’

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

With this song, son-of-the-South Earle aims to help convince the Magnolia State to eradicate the Confederate symbol from its flag.

Steve Earl & the Dukes sm

‘Mississippi: It’s Time‘ is Steve Earle’s passionate musical response to the Confederate flag controversy.

By Michael Simmons | The Rag Blog | September 16, 2015

“It’s largely about empathy,” says Steve Earle of his mandate as a songwriter. “The job is about empathy whether you’re writing love songs or political songs.” The musician, author, actor, and activist’s newest song hit iTunes on September 11 and it clearly shows how empathy can be the prime motivation for the political. Entitled “Mississippi, It’s Time,” it’s his response to the Confederate flag controversy that flared following the church massacre of nine black Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, in June.

After photos of the serial killer brandishing said flag surfaced, both Alabama and South Carolina removed it from statehouse grounds. The last holdout is Mississippi which incorporates it in the design of their state flag. Son-of-the-South Earle is aiming to help convince the Magnolia State to eradicate the offensive symbol.
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Johnny Hazard :
Mexico’s missing students: Report debunks
official account

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The report documents local, state, and federal participation in the many hours of violence against the students.

relatives of students

Relatives and friends of disappeared Mexican students shown waiting for release of human rights report. Photo by Omar Torres / Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.

By Johnny Hazard | The Rag Blog | September 14, 2015

MEXICO CITY — The long-awaited report of the Grupo Interdisciplinario de Estudios Independientes, formed under the auspices of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, was released on Sunday, September 6, almost a year after the atrocities of September 26 and 27, 2014.

It belies almost all of the assertions of the Mexican government, including the theory that the students were burned in a landfill in the city of Cocula, adjacent to Iguala, after local police turned them over to drug gang members. The report documents local, state, and federal participation in the many hours of violence against the students.
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Roger Baker :
METRO | Risky business in Central Texas: The toll road bond gamble

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Wall Street won’t insure the new CTRMA toll road debt at an affordable cost because of its high risk.

Graphic from Investopedia.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | September 14, 2015

AUSTIN — The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, or CTRMA, is a toll road agency that solicits and bundles money from various sources and uses it to build and operate toll roads in the Austin, Texas, area. The main purpose of this essay is to take a closer look at an under-reported aspect of the CTRMA’s toll road policy, their toll road debt and its potential local risk.

Is the CTRMA road bond debt arrangement likely to work out as a good investment, benefiting both those who hold the bonds as well as Austin area taxpayers? I believe the risk of bond default is unacceptable.
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Roger Baker :
METRO | Is cheaper driving here to stay?

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Gasoline may stay cheap until we burn through the current market glut in perhaps a year.

Texas shale oil bust. Image from CNN Money.

Texas shale oil bust. Image from CNN Money.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | September 14, 2015

[This article was written as a companion piece to Roger Baker’s Rag Blog article, “Risky business in Central Texas: The toll road bond gamble.”]

AUSTIN — We are now seeing declining growth and a deflationary economic contraction globally. In fact, the current $40-plus a barrel oil price is by itself good proof of that. The global collapse in the price of oil shows that with global supply remaining roughly constant over time at about 95 million barrels per day. The current low oil price, together with a price slump in other industrial commodities like iron ore, is really an indication of a broad and deep contraction in the global economy, much like 2008-2009.

The Texas shale drilling industry was supposed to keep us driving normally forever, or at least until the economy could recover enough so we could afford to make a transition to electric cars, right? Everyone connected to Wall Street and its financial followers with any media influence were saying that only about a year ago. Then the global oil price gradually collapsed from over $100 a barrel in mid-2014, down to its current price of about $45.
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Alice Embree :
METRO EVENT | The ‘New Greek Tragedy’ is focus of panel in Austin

Posted on September 14, 2015 by Alice Embree
Greek Tragedy

The new Greek tragedy.

Event: “A New Greek Tragedy? Inequality, Human Rights and Democracy”
What: Panel discussion
Date: Monday, September 28, 2015
Time: 4:00-6:00 p.m.
Where: Sheffield Room (TNH 2.111), University of Texas School of Law
Address: 727 E Dean Keeton St, Austin, TX 78705
Admission: Free

AUSTIN — A colloquium on Inequality and Human Rights will focus on the Greek economic crisis from 4-6 p.m. on Monday, September 28, in the Sheffield Room of the University of Texas Law School. It is sponsored by the Bernard and Audre Rappoport Center for Human Rights and Justice and features University of Texas professor James Galbraith and Georgetown law professors Alvaro Santos and Philomila Tsoukala.
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