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

Murray Polner :
Who is Eric Fair and what did he do?

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

With all our folk tales about our innate goodness and freedom-loving ways, the Real America has always tortured when it wished to do so.

Screen grab from The New York Times.

By Murray Polner | The Rag Blog | February 2, 2015

Before we Americans become bored with all that talk about torture and move on to our next distractions about celebrity breakups, sex, and political scandals, and the arrival of Republican demolition crews dedicated to wrecking Obama’s timorous and second-rate presidency, a few barely noted references to our gambol with torture are in order.

Quick, My Fellow Americans: What, specifically, are “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” (EIT) the officially-approved euphemism CIA apologists and its defenders have been proclaiming without bothering to define them? What was it before it was “enhanced?” Stuffing a man inside a tiny box for eleven hours? Dressing him in women’s underwear? Feeding him rectally?
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Abu Ghraib, American History, American Society, CIA, Enhanced Interrogation, Eric Fair, Murray Polner, Rag Bloggers, Torture | Leave a comment

Kate Braun :
Candlemas celebrates Lord Sun’s renewal

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Candlemas falls on the day before the Full Moon, which could add the energy of “making things happen” to your event.

Candlemas image from Winchelsea Church.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | January 31, 2015

“Spring Fever, spring is here at last/Spring Fever, my heart’s beating fast/Get up, get out, spring is everywhere.”

Monday, February 2, 2015, is Candlemas, also called Imbolc, Candalaria, and Brigit’s Day; a fire festival celebrating Lord Sun’s renewal and vigor. In 2015, Candlemas falls on the day before the Full Moon, which could add the energy of “making things happen” to your event.

The same date as Groundhog Day, Candlemas celebrates spring in all its forms. Notice the sprouting bulbs. In my garden, it’s narcissus; in other parts of the country it could be crocus or other spring-bloomers. You may use representations of these flowers in your decoration, but you should not include cut flowers as it is taboo to pick or cut any plants on Candlemas Day. You may also include Corn Dollies, Candle Wheels, and Brigit’s Crosses in your decorating scheme.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Astrology, Candlemas, Ceremony, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Spirituality | Leave a comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | It’s a Rag Blog Happy Hour! With special guest, author/activist Jonah Raskin

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Rock out with us at Maria’s, Friday, Feb. 6 — and also catch Jonah earlier that day when he joins host Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio.

Jonah Raskin dances at Maria’s at Rag Blog Happy Hour in 2011. Photo by James Retherford / The Rag Blog.

AUSTIN — Please join the Rag Blog/Rag Radio community at an informal Happy Hour gathering Friday, February 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Maria’s Taco Xpress in Austin. It’s free and everybody’s welcome.

Event: Rag Blog/Rag Radio Happy Hour
Guest: Author, activist & former Yippie Jonah Raskin
When: Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Maria’s Taco Xpress
Address: 2529 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
Cost: Free
Who can come: You!

Our special guest is Jonah Raskin, who will sign copies of his latest book, A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature, which has been called the first work of cultural criticism to look back at writing in the United States from the perspective of the contemporary environmental crisis.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged A Terrible Beauty, Jonah Raskin, Literature, Metro, Rag Blog Happy Hour, Rag Radio, Yippies | Leave a comment

William Rogers :
METRO | ‘Fight for $15’ comes to UT-Austin

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

One reason workers aren’t making a living wage at UT is that there has not been an across-the-board cost of living pay increase in more than 10 years.

Members of Texas State Employees Union rally for State Services and Higher Education at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Jan. 13, 2015. Photo from David Ramirez.

By William Rogers | The Rag Blog | January 26, 2015

On opening day of the 84th biennial session of the Texas Legislature, about 50 members of the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) stood together in front of the Capitol grounds to deliver a message to lawmakers: stop privatizing state services, give all state employees a fair pay raise, and fully fund the state employee pension fund.

Some union members also carried signs demanding that the University of Texas at Austin raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

TSEU is part of the UT Save Our Community Coalition, a student and community coalition that is bringing the Fight for $15 to the UT campus, located a few blocks north of the Capitol.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Anne Lewis, Fight for $15, Living Wage, Metro, Minimum Wage, Rag Bloggers, Shared Services, Texas State Employees Union, UT Save Our Community, UT-Austin, William Rogers | 1 Comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | Acclaimed documentary ‘Shadows of Liberty’ to screen at UT-Austin

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

‘Shadows of Liberty’ reveals the extraordinary truth behind the news media: censorship, cover-ups and corporate control.

AUSTIN — The University of Texas at Austin Journalism School and the Texas State Employees Union are presenting a free screening of the internationally acclaimed documentary film, Shadows of Liberty, Tuesday, January 27, 2015, from 6-7:45 p.m. at the Belo Center for New Media on the UT-Austin campus.

Event: Screening of ‘Shadows of Liberty’
What: Documentary film about failures of corporate journalism
When: Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015, 6-7:45 p.m.
Presented by: UT-Austin Journalism School & Texas State Employees Union
Where: Belo Center for New Media, 2.106, UT Campus
Address: 300 Dean Keeton St. W, Austin 78712
Price: Free & open to the public

According to the film’s website:
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Corporate Media, Documentary Film, Journalism, Metro, Shadows of liberty, Texas State Employees Union, UT-Austin | Leave a comment

James McEnteer :
Dog days in Quito

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Terrified by the noise of the fireworks, Suki had panicked and bolted over the fence and down the street.

Suki before her road trip.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | January 21, 2015

QUITO, Ecuador — Our dog ran away on New Year’s Eve. We didn’t notice. We were watching the dozens of firework displays in the sprawling urban areas visible from our house overlooking the valley. Bright, colorful explosions, large and small, burst high up in the chilly mountain dark before, during, and after the midnight hour. Our dog, Suki, a large, long-haired brown-and-white Akita with the face of a panda, often roamed around at night. We didn’t think to look for her.

The next morning we were still not alarmed when she didn’t come immediately to breakfast. But by noon with her still a no-show, we got concerned. We called her. That was usually enough to bring her bounding back home. But not this time. By nightfall we were genuinely alarmed. What could have happened? Where could she be? Was she hurt? We prowled in the dark with flashlights, calling her name.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Dogs, James McEnteer, Quito, Rag Bloggers | 3 Comments

Jonah Raskin :
INTERVIEW | Author and teacher Peter Richardson dissects California themes, memes

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

In his last two books, Richardson offers potent narratives about California in the era of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, Bob Scheer and Warren Hinckle.

Peter Richardson today

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | January 20, 2015

∗ Jonah Raskin is Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio, Friday, February 6, 2-3 p.m. (CST), on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin and streamed live. Jonah also joins us for a Rag Blog Happy Hour that Friday, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Maria’s Taco Xpress in Austin.

“The Grateful Dead’s status as counterculture heroes masks an even more important source of their popularity. Although they offered a fully formed alternative to America’s sober, God-fearing, and profit-maximizing ways, a large part of their appeal arose not from their resistance to American culture, but rather from an uncanny ability to tap into its inexhaustible utopian energies.”
— Peter Richardson

Blame Berkeley in the 1960s. The era and the city worked their powerful brand of magic on Peter Richardson who grew up there, then, and who now teaches popular culture at San Francisco State University to students without memories of the Beatles or even of Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged A Cultural History of the Grateful Dead, Books, California, California Literature, Carey McWilliams, Grateful Dead, Interview, Jonah Raskin, Peter Richardson, Popular Culture, Rag Bloggers, Ramparts, Sixties | Leave a comment

Johnny Hazard :
The turbulence in Mexico continues

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Omama blames drug dealers for what happened to the students at Ayotzinapa, but Mexican protesters still say, ‘Fue el estado: it was the government.’

Protester paints grafitti on wall during protest by members of the State Coordinator of Education Workers in Chilpancingo, Guerrero, January 7, 2015. The grafitti says: “No to elections. Organize and fight. Ayotzinapa Lives.” Photo by Luis de la Cruz / EFE.

By Johnny Hazard | The Rag Blog | January 20, 2015

Parents confront the army before Christmas and demand that their sons be freed
Evidence of federal involvement in every facet of the attack on the students
Disturbing accusations of the existence and possible use of military crematoria
Urban activists kidnapped by federal police
Activists will actively boycott elections
Economic crisis deepens
Family members and students crash the gates at army fort on January 12
Obama refuses to recognize the real causes

MEXICO CITY — Mexican activists look to rekindle the movement to find the 43 missing education students of the normal school (teacher training school) at Ayotzinapa, Guerrero after the very long holiday period (which still hasn’t ended for many schools) and in light of very shocking information and allegations.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Ayotzinapa, Guerrero, Johnny Hazard, Mexican Massacre, Mexican Protests, Mexican Student Movement, Mexico, Miguel Ángel Mancera, Official Oppression, Rag Bloggers, Sandino Bucio | 1 Comment

Robert Jensen :
MEDIA | Journalist launches online archive to document diversity of rural India

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

P. Saimath’s People’s Archive of Rural India aims to make the ‘invisible India’ both visible and audible, not only to urban Indians but to the whole world.

Worshipping a steel rath in the state of Orissa, India. Image from People’s Archive of Rural India.

By Robert Jensen | The Rag Blog | January 19, 2015

P. Sainath started building the People’s Archive of Rural India only a couple of years ago. But the passion behind the innovative online project that mixes journalism and oral history, which was launched last month to overwhelming acclaim, goes back more than two decades.

As a young journalist in the early 1990s, Sainath helped focus India’s attention on rural poverty by traveling 100,000 kilometers to report stories for The Times of India. Born into an urban political and intellectual culture, Sainath found his professional calling in a countryside that many in the country’s rising middle class wanted to ignore in the era of the government’s “India Shining” public relations campaign.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged India, Indian Society, Journalism, Media, Oral History, P. Saimath, People's Archive of Rural India, Rag Bloggers, Robert Jensen | 1 Comment

Steve Weissman :
We are all Charlie, even as political hacks steal Charlie’s soul

Posted on January 18, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Within days, the French political elite and their international allies were using the tragedy to sell new policing measures.

A tearful cartoonist Luz (Renald Luzier) shows Charlie Hebdo cover at press conference in Paris, January 13, 2015. Photo from Getty Images / CBS News.

By Steve Weissman | Reader Supported News | January 19, 2015

∗ French-based journalist Steve Weissman joined legendary satirist Paul Krassner and The Rag Blog‘s David Hamilton as Thorne Dreyer’s guests on Rag Radio, Friday, January 16. The topic: “Blasphemy, Satire, and Charlie Hebdo.” Listen to the podcast here:

DORDOGNE, France — The Islamist terrorists who killed 12 cartoonists and journalists of Charlie Hebdo took only their lives, which was more than horrific enough. But within days of the massacre, the French political elite and their international allies added to the crime, setting out to steal the soul of an incomparable group of free thinkers in an effort to sell new policing measures.

Proudly left-wing, anti-racist, and against all forms of authoritarianism, the mischievous French anarchoids at Charlie Hebdo have long embodied the real meaning of free speech — and not some abstract notion that loses all meaning when mouthed by people who hate what the satirical weekly represents.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 9-11, Charlie Hebdo, Charlie Hebdo Massacre, Espionage, Francois Hollande, Free Speech, Freedom of Press, French Politics, Islamic Extremists, Political Repression, Rag Bloggers, Satire, Steve Weissman | Leave a comment

Rabbi Arthur Waskow :
Is murder a ‘sacred practice’ in ALL religions?

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Why are there streaks of both blood and love in the histories of religious communities?

“Saracens and Crusaders.” Illuminated manuscript from Les Grandes Chroniques de France.

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow | The Rag Blog | January 18, 2015

The murderous attacks in France last week have called forth a mixture of horror, outrage, disgust, and fear — all legitimate responses.

One response has been to claim that Islam is — uniquely — a religion of violence, terror, and war. Another has been to claim that the perpetrators of these murders, though they claimed they were acting for the honor of God and of Islam, were acting falsely, betraying the Islam that is entirely a religion of peace.

Both these responses evade the truth.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Charlie Hebdo, Cultural Sensitivity, Islam, Islamic Extremists, Nonviolence, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Rag Bloggers, Religious History, Religious Violence | 2 Comments

Dan and Christy Foster :
METRO | The unforgettable voice of John Clay

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

John Clay, whose unique musical vision reflected a vicious honesty tempered only by his darkly innocent sense of humor, is dead at 74.

John Clay performs on the UT-Austin campus in 1965 at a rally for Gary Thiher, SDS candidate for student body president. Photo by Jim McCulloch.

By Dan and Christy Foster | The Rag Blog | January 14, 2015

AUSTIN — Austin lost its most unique and unforgettable voice when John Clay died Wednesday, December 17, 2014, at the age of 74. Intense, direct and fiercely distinct, with a vicious honesty that was tempered only by his darkly innocent sense of humor, John had an innate ability to capture so much of life in such a very few words even though many of his songs, like “West Texas Memories,” were notorious for length.

Epic numbers like that brought listeners along for a seemingly endless ride through the flatlands of memory that in the end turned out to be over much too soon. Some, like “Mr. Bowly’s Still” or “The Meter Reader” were deliciously compact vignettes, like Thurber with a southern accent, or cummings with capitalization, set to music.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Austin History, Austin Music, Counterculture, Dan and Christy Foster, Deaths, Folk Music, Folksingers, Janis Joplin, John Clay, Leo Sullivan, Lost Austin Band, Metro, Powell St. John, Rag Bloggers, Remembrance, Sixties, Songwriters, Texas Ghetto, UT-Austin, Waller Creek Boys | 10 Comments

With all our folk tales about our innate goodness and freedom-loving ways, the Real America has always tortured when it wished to do so.

Candlemas falls on the day before the Full Moon, which could add the energy of “making things happen” to your event.

Rock out with us at Maria’s, Friday, Feb. 6 — and also catch Jonah earlier that day when he joins host Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio.

One reason workers aren’t making a living wage at UT is that there has not been an across-the-board cost of living pay increase in more than 10 years.

‘Shadows of Liberty’ reveals the extraordinary truth behind the news media: censorship, cover-ups and corporate control.

Terrified by the noise of the fireworks, Suki had panicked and bolted over the fence and down the street.

In his last two books, Richardson offers potent narratives about California in the era of Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter, Bob Scheer and Warren Hinckle.

Omama blames drug dealers for what happened to the students at Ayotzinapa, but Mexican protesters still say, ‘Fue el estado: it was the government.’

P. Saimath’s People’s Archive of Rural India aims to make the ‘invisible India’ both visible and audible, not only to urban Indians but to the whole world.

Within days, the French political elite and their international allies were using the tragedy to sell new policing measures.

Why are there streaks of both blood and love in the histories of religious communities?

John Clay, whose unique musical vision reflected a vicious honesty tempered only by his darkly innocent sense of humor, is dead at 74.

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