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

METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : Birthing book linked to death of Pursley baby in East Texas cult

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The Texas Family Code states explicitly that parents have a duty to provide medical care to their child.

Kristen and Daniel Pursley with their three older children and the baby born after the death of Faith.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | November 10, 2014

“I have some grievous news. The Lord took her.”
– Daniel Pursley

WELLS, Texas — When I first wrote about the May 2012 death in Wells, Texas, of the three-day-old baby Faith Shalom Pursley (The Rag Blog, August 11, 2014), two related and unanswered questions kept occurring to me: (1) Why would people who usually accept medical care fail to provide medical attention to their new-born baby? and (2) What made Daniel Pursley, who had no training in birthing, want to deliver his own child without medical or even midwife assistance? Since then, thanks to information from several sources, I may have an answer to those questions.

Four books and publications are connected to the death of Faith Pursley: the Texas Family Code, the Texas Penal Code, the Bible (as interpreted by the “elders” of the Church of Wells), and Born in Zion, a book written by a former nurse from Tampa, Florida, whose ideas are on the extreme fringe of evangelicalism, home birth, and midwifery.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Born in Zion, Carol Balizet, Childbirth, Church of Wells, Criminal Justice, East Texas, Faith Healing, Faith Pursley, Fundamentalism, Lamar W. Hankins, Metro, Rag Bloggers, Religious Cult, Spiritual Midwifefry | 88 Comments

METRO/GUEST VOICE | Elaine J. Cohen : Cassandra’s curse and the usgov detention centers

Posted on November 10, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Briefly thought extinct, the idea of ‘family detention’ has returned to the horror of those who battled it at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas.

Cassandra: Seeing the truth.

By Elaine J. Cohen | The Rag Blog | November 10, 2014

AUSTIN — I recently watched an extraordinary segment of Democracy Now! — on the journalist, Gary Webb, who dug into the story about the collusion between the CIA, the contras, and the eventual crack attack on the ghetto. Webb suffered the fate of my beloved Cassandra: to see and tell the truth — but never to be believed. This curse was placed on Cassandra for spurning the amorous approaches of Zeus. Moves more resembling rape than sincere admiration and passion.

Thus the patriarchy would punish a woman for expressing her need for freedom of choice. And so the journalistic brotherhood poured down scorn and did everything they could to emasculate Gary Webb, who finally succumbed to suicide. He was a truth teller.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Central American Immigrants, Elaine J. Cohen, Family Detention, Gang Violence, Guest Voice, Immigrant Detention, Metro | 3 Comments

Tom Hayden :
Message to the president

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Now is the time to fight for a legacy you can be proud of, and to lay down a path to victory for your
coalition in 2016.

Plotting the post-election path. Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images.

By Tom Hayden | The Rag Blog | November 6, 2014

The Congressional losses which are being blamed on you by the Republicans and mainstream media were actually not as bad as they would have us believe. Ignored in the commentary are the huge losses, for example, suffered in off-year elections by Bill Clinton, Dwight Eisenhower, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Those presidents came back and are remembered well.

Now is the time to fight for a legacy you can be proud of, and to lay down a path to victory for your coalition in 2016.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2014 Elections, 2016 Elections, Midterm Elections, Obama Legacy, Obama Presidency, Political Strategy, Rag Bloggers, Tom Hayden | 7 Comments

Jack A. Smith :
Bury the bomb before it buries us

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The U.S. and Russia are modernizing, improving, and extending the longevity by decades of the three prongs of their nuclear war triad.

“Ivy Mike”: The mushroom cloud from the first test of a full-scale thermonuclear device, November 1952. Creative Commons photo.

By Jack A. Smith | The Rag Blog | November 5, 2014

A quarter century after the Cold War ended, the people of the world are now entering a dangerous era of improved and more accurate nuclear weapons and faster, more precise delivery systems at a time of growing antagonism between Washington and Moscow and potential antipathy between the U.S. and China.

All nine nuclear countries are upgrading their atomic weaponry, led by the United States and Russia — the two main nuclear states by far with 7,300 and 8,000 warheads of all kinds between them respectively, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The actually deployed weapons, long-range and strategic, are 1,600 for Moscow and 2,100 for Washington. Most of the rest are in storage for future use, upgrading, or are being dismantled.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Anti-Nuclear Movement, Jack A. Smith, Nuclear Disarmament, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Obama Foreign Policy, Rag Bloggers, Russian Nuclear Program, U.S. Nuclear Stockpile | Leave a comment

Harry Targ :
What to make of the elections – and what we should do next

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Progressives must engage in education, agitation, and organization around social and economic justice issues while fighting the politics of fear.

Mitch McConnell celebrates in Louisville. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite / AP.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | November 5, 2014

I am looking at exit poll data and, as in prior election seasons, more Democratic votes came from the young, women, African Americans, Latinos, voters with post-graduate degrees and educational levels at or below high school, and low income citizens. This national polling data comports with results from many individual Congressional and state races. These groups of voters (or comparable groups of non-voters) will stay the same or increase as a percentage of potential voters in 2016 and beyond.

This data speaks to the necessary expansion of electoral and “street heat” strategies that prioritize several issues. Progressives need to continue to combat racism and sexism in all its forms. This translates into reversing voter suppression laws and other tactics to stifle voting, renewing the Voting Rights Act, pursuing equal pay for equal work legislation, opening the doors for citizenship to all migrants to the United States.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2014 Elections, 2016 Elections, Campaign Finance, Harry Targ, Politics of Fear, Populist Economics, Progressive Politics, Racism, Rag Bloggers, Social Justice | 1 Comment

Harvey Wasserman :
The GOP/corporate coup d’etat is nearly complete

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Our electoral apparatus is thoroughly compromised by oceans of dirty money, Jim Crow registration traps, rigged electronic voting, gerrymandering…

Image from Texas Editor.

By Harvey Wasserman | The Rag Blog | November 5, 2014

The GOP/corporate coup d’etat is nearly complete.

The Republicans now control the major media, the Supreme Court, the Congress, and soon the presidency.

Think Jeb Bush in 2016.

All throughout America, right down to the local level, buried in a tsunami of cash and corruption, our public servants are being morphed into corporate operatives.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2014 Elections, Afghanistan Occupation, American History, Corporate Power, Democratic Party, Election Theft, Harvey Wasserman, Rag Bloggers, Republican Congress, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Imperialism, Vietnam War | 3 Comments

METRO PODCAST | Thorne Dreyer : Houston-raised actress Cindy Pickett was Ferris
Bueller’s mom

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The daughter of Houston acting teacher Cecil Pickett, Cindy starred in ‘Guiding Light,’ ‘St. Elsewhere,’ and Roger Vadim’s erotic thriller, ‘Night Games.’

Cindy Pickett on Rag Radio in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, Oct. 3, 2014. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | November 4, 2014

Our Rag Radio podcast features actress Cindy Pickett, whose father was the revered Houston director and acting teacher, Cecil Pickett.

Cindy may be best known for her role as Katie Bueller, Ferris’ mom in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. She also starred as Valerie St. John in Roger Vadim’s erotic cult film, Jeaux de Nuit/Night Games, and as Dr. Jane Norris in the sci-fi film, DeepStar Six, and had featured roles in the soap opera Guiding Light and the Emmy-winning series, St. Elsewhere
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Bellaire High School, Cecil Pickett, Cindy Pickett, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Film Actresses, Houston Actresses, Interview, Metro, Podcast, Rag Bloggers, Roger Vadim, Television Actresses, Thorne Dreyer, University of Houston | Leave a comment

Ron Jacobs :
BOOKS | ‘Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence’

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

This collection of essays, poetry, and art, much of it from the pages of CounterPunch, is provocative
and enlightening.

Much of the writing in Killing Trayvons was first
published in CounterPunch.

By Ron Jacobs | The Rag Blog | November 3, 2014

In 1771 in the North Carolina colony, Justice Martin Howard condemned a grand jury that refused to consider a murder charge after a white man was accused of the murder of his African slave. Apparently, the grand jury did not consider the killing by a white man of a Negro slave to be murder.

In 2012, the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman followed by Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal of the crime took much of white United States by surprise. These Americans had convinced themselves that Black men were treated the same as every other resident of the United States and, if they were killed for no apparent reason other than a white person’s fear, then justice would be done in the name of the wrongly murdered African-American. However, the murder of a Black man in the U.S. by a man considered white is apparently still not murder.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American History, Books, CounterPunch, Killing Trayvons, Racial Violence, Racism, Rag Bloggers, Ron Jacobs, Stand Your Ground, Trayvon Martin | 2 Comments

METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : The failure of Greg Abbott’s best arguments against marriage equality

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

It appears that the issue of marriage equality is less a matter of partisanship than it is of pandering to the religious right.

Abbott with family: The Ozzie and Harriet option? Image from OutSmart.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | November 2, 2014

Most lawyers are embarrassed to make worthless, senseless arguments to support their positions. But not so, apparently, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the heir apparent to the Texas Governor’s mansion, if recent polls are correct.

Time after time, Abbott has argued that marriage equality, barred officially by the Texas Constitution, is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. But this position has one great hurdle to overcome: the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 1967 case, found that prohibitions of interracial marriage were unconstitutional. In Loving v. Virginia, the court unanimously held that “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival….”
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Conservative Politics, Gay Marriage, Greg Abbott, Marriage Equality, Metro, Rag Bloggers, Same Sex Marriage, Supreme Court, Texas Constitution, Texas Politics | 1 Comment

Alan Waldman :
Britain’s ‘DCI Banks’ is a smart, engaging cop series set in the North of England

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Stephen Tompkinson leads a solid cast in this well-written skein.

Stephen Tomkinson and Andrea Lowe in DCI Banks.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | November 1, 2014

[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, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

In the 2010-2014 British crime drama series DCI Banks, tenacious Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks (Stephen Tompkinson) unravels disturbing murder and other serious crime mysteries aided by his feisty, ambitious young assistant, DS Annie Cabbot (Andrea Lowe) and other police.

To date, 20 episodes (10 two-parters) have been shot. Two of the four seasons are on Netflix and several episodes recently aired on 166 PBS stations and can probably still be seen at their website for free. PBS aired the two-parters as 90-minute single episodes.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Andrea Lowe, British Television, Criticism, DCI Banks, Rag Bloggers, Stephen Tompkinson | Leave a comment

James McEnteer :
Just passing through

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Three human beings, who have given my own life color and joy, are gone now, fallen like leaves from deciduous branches.

Lone horseman riding through Tucson, circa 1880. Photo by Ricardo Small. Image from Anywhen.com.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | November 1, 2014

My brother died last year. He was a gentle soul, devoid of personal ambition. He led a quiet life, leaving few footprints. When he could, he assisted people who sought his help. When he was no longer financially or physically able, none of those he helped came to his aid, but others did. His friends supported him lovingly, just because he needed it. Their generosity illuminated his final days. When those friends and I have passed on, all memory of my brother will disappear. Then he will be truly dead.

My friend Bill died eight years ago at age 60. It was amazing he lived so long because at nineteen he broke his neck. After two years in the hospital, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. From his mid-chest downward, his body was numb, useless flesh. He had limited use of his arms and couldn’t make a fist.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Death and Dying, James McEnteer, Mortality, Philosophy, Rag Bloggers, Remembrance | Leave a comment

Kate Braun :
Samhain, aka Halloween, is a time of transformation

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Shorter days and longer nights prompt us to turn our focus inward, to reflect and ponder.

Those trick-or-treating cats. Image from The Spooky Isles.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | October 28, 2014

“Cat monsters on the sidewalk / Cat witches in the air / Those trick-or-treating cats / Are around everywhere”

Friday, October 31, 2014, is Samhain, aka Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Third Harvest. On the Wheel of Life, this celebration marks the last of the year’s festivals. Mother Earth shall lie fallow, preparing for the coming year and the life it will bring forth. It is a time of transformation, a sort of spiritual hibernation during the “time of no time” that will last until Yule, the Winter Solstice.

We sense the changing seasons. Shorter days and longer nights prompt us to turn our focus inward, to reflect and ponder. In the Long Ago, Samhain was when the harvest was completed and garden tools were cleaned, oiled, and stored away; when no more crops would be harvested; when families hunkered down around the fireplace and listened to grandmother’s tales of the family history. So it is with your Samhain festivities: honor the past and let your remembrances open the door to your future.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged All Hallows Eve, Astrology, Ceremony, Halloween, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Samhain, Spirituality | 2 Comments

The Texas Family Code states explicitly that parents have a duty to provide medical care to their child.

Briefly thought extinct, the idea of ‘family detention’ has returned to the horror of those who battled it at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center in Taylor, Texas.

Now is the time to fight for a legacy you can be proud of, and to lay down a path to victory for your coalition in 2016.

The U.S. and Russia are modernizing, improving, and extending the longevity by decades of the three prongs of their nuclear war triad.

Progressives must engage in education, agitation, and organization around social and economic justice issues while fighting the politics of fear.

Our electoral apparatus is thoroughly compromised by oceans of dirty money, Jim Crow registration traps, rigged electronic voting, gerrymandering…

The daughter of Houston acting teacher Cecil Pickett, Cindy starred in ‘Guiding Light,’ ‘St. Elsewhere,’ and Roger Vadim’s erotic thriller, ‘Night Games.’

This collection of essays, poetry, and art, much of it from the pages of CounterPunch, is provocative and enlightening.

It appears that the issue of marriage equality is less a matter of partisanship than it is of pandering to the religious right.

Stephen Tompkinson leads a solid cast in this well-written skein.

Three human beings, who have given my own life color and joy, are gone now, fallen like leaves from deciduous branches.

Shorter days and longer nights prompt us to turn our focus inward, to reflect and ponder.

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Now is the time to fight for a legacy you can be proud of, and to lay down a path to victory for your
coalition in 2016.

This collection of essays, poetry, and art, much of it from the pages of CounterPunch, is provocative
and enlightening.