Jack A. Smith :
Obama’s foreign policy bait and switch

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Obama focused on defending his policies from the warhawks instead of the ‘pivot’ to Asia and maintenance of unilateral global hegemony.

obama for pol speech

President Barack Obama deliverers  commencement address at West Point on May 28. Image from U.S. News.

By Jack A. Smith | The Rag Blog | June 22, 2014

President Obama chose to ignore the most important strategic aspect of U.S. foreign policy in his major address May 28 at West Point graduation ceremonies. It was perhaps thought politically wise to emphasize current events rather than military preparations for a possible major future confrontation with China.

Instead Obama mainly focused on defending his policies against mounting criticism from warhawks in both parties variously demanding that the U.S. attack Syria, or Iran, or Venezuela, and adopt more provocative measures toward Russia. He was even criticized for not being tougher toward China, which is preposterous, as we shall discuss in this article when deeds, not words, are examined.
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METRO | Alice Embree : Grassroots Leadership takes on the prison profiteers

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The group helped end immigrant family detention at T. Don Hutto private prison and is challenging Travis County Sheriff Hamilton’s deportation policies.

chief deporter crop

Grassroots Leadership is challenging Travis County Sheriff Greg Hamilton deportation policies.

By Alice Embree | The Rag Blog | June 22, 2014

AUSTIN — Grassroots Leadership says that Texas is “ground zero” with “more incarcerated people, immigration detention beds, and for-profit prisons than any other state.” That is why the national organization, founded in 1980 by activist and musician Si Kahn, moved its program operations to Austin in 2012.

I spoke with Executive Director Bob Libal about Grassroots Leadership and the group’s current organizing efforts in Travis County, Texas, and nationally. They have a solid track record of success. They helped shut down the notoriously bad Dawson State Jail, end the immigrant family detention at the T. Don Hutto Detention Center, and stop the expansion of the private prison industry. They also have an ambitious agenda for the future.
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Tom Hayden :
Are we seeing the ‘dismemberment’ of Iraq?

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The other Hayden says Iraq is ‘dead’ and will be replaced by three ‘successor’ states.

iraq advisers

Political cartoon by Patrick Chapatte / International New York Times. Image from The English Blog.

By Tom Hayden | The Rag Blog | June 21, 2014

Former CIA director Michael Hayden says Iraq is dead, “will not be reconstituted,” and will be replaced by three “successor states.” One of those, which Gen. Hayden calls “Sunnistan,” will become a safe haven for terrorists and should be treated like Waziristan, a zone of secret operations and drone strikes in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

The second, called “Shiastan,” should be shored up by recapturing the oil refinery north of Baghdad, and left in a sharply reduced space. The U.S. should “snuggle up comfortable” to Kurdistan, America’s only ally, where the pesh merga forces are competing for full control of the oil in Kirkuk.
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METRO | Marlo Blue : Pacifica Radio on the brink

Posted on June 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Money problems, political struggles, could lead to dismantling of iconic progressive radio network.

save pacifica crop

Pacifica Radio at war.

By Marlo Blue | The Rag Blog | June 21, 2014

HOUSTON — Once again the radio network for peace, Pacifica Foundation Radio, is at war. Plagued with lawsuits and unpaid bills, the enemy is “within” as factions line up to sell prime real estate on the Houston, New York, and Washington D.C., FM dials.

Pacifica has been called the “most powerful community radio network in America, and the only one devoted to an anti-establishment point of view.” Founded in 1949, it is a network of five politically progressive, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations — KPFK (Los Angeles), KPFA (San Francisco), WBAI (New York), WPFW (Washington, D.C.), and KPFT in Houston.
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METRO PODCAST | Thorne Dreyer : Visionary artist & storyteller Luis Guerra on Rag Radio

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

‘As the Huicholes of northern Mexico have demonstrated to me, art is (or should be) a way of praying, of making an offering to the gods.’

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Rag Radio guest Luis Guerra in the studios of KOOP-FM in Austin, Friday, June 13. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | June 20, 2014

Our Rag Radio podcast features the amazing Luis Guerra, a painter, sculptor, writer, storyteller, and mystic who divides his time between between Real de Catorce, San Luis Potosí, and Austin, Texas..

Listen to or download the podcast of our June 13, 2014, Rag Radio interview with Luis Guerra here:
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Jonah Raskin :
BOOKS | El Paso poet Bobby Byrd soars

Posted on June 20, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

In ‘Otherwise, My Life Is Ordinary,’ Bobby Byrd has taken ordinary things and people and turned them into something extraordinary.

otherwise my life is ordinary

El Paso resident Bobby Byrd founded Cinco Puntos Press.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | June 20, 2014

[Otherwise My Life Is Ordinary: Poems by Bobby Byrd (May 2014: Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso); Paperback; 121 pp; $15.95.]

British poet Tony Connor once told me, “A poet at 17 is 17. And a poet at 71 is a poet.” Connor published his first book of poetry, With Love Somehow, in 1962 at the age of 32. I met him in 1965 when he published his second book, Lodgers. His eighth book, Metamorphic Adventures, came out in 1996. Connor has stayed the course.

So has Bobby Byrd, the Memphis-born poet who has lived in El Paso, Texas, with his wife and children, since 1978. Soon after the Byrds arrived in El Paso, Bobby and his wife, Lee, founded Cinco Puntos Press, which has published half a dozen of Bobby’s books, including White Panties, Dead Friends & Other Bits and Pieces of Love; The Price of Doing Business in Mexico; On the Transmigration of Souls in El Paso; and most recently, Otherwise, My Life Is Ordinary. Son Johnny Byrd runs the press these days.
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Posted on June 20, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
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METRO PODCAST | Visionary artist and storyteller Luis Guerra joins Thorne Dreyer on riveting episode of Rag Radio.
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Lamar W. Hankins :
Bowe Bergdahl, the ‘universal soldier,’ and the true cost of war

Posted on June 19, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

As long as there are people who will agree to fight to kill others for the whims of a nation state’s leaders, we will continue to have war.

US soldier in Afghanistan

Universal soldier: GI in Afghanistan. Photograph by Max Whittaker / Corbis. Image from The Guardian.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | June 19, 2014

He’s five foot two and he’s six feet four
He fights with missiles and with spears
He’s all of thirty-one and he’s only seventeen
Been a soldier for a thousand years
— “Universal Soldier” by Buffy Saint-Marie

Reading about Bowe Bergdahl in the papers since his release from captivity on May 31, made me think of another soldier, whose memorial service I attended on June 9. Jack had been in Special Forces for many years. He had learned Arabic and Farsi as part of his training, which included joint operations with the British, the Saudis, the Australians, and others in parts of Africa he didn’t talk much about.

He did not serve in Afghanistan, but he was in both of the Iraq wars. From the time of the first Iraq war, the one that George H. W. Bush had the good sense to end as soon as its measured purpose — driving Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait — had been accomplished, Jack had neurological symptoms associated with what came to be called Gulf War Syndrome.
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METRO | Beverly Baker Moore : Austin’s Hippie Church is all celebration, no dogma

Posted on June 18, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

As the energy builds, others in the audience join the regular dancers, moved by infectious enthusiasm, some cosmic spirit… and the margaritas.

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Singer Leeann Atherton preaches to the choir during Austin’s Hippie Church, Sundays at Maria’s Taco Xpress, 2529 S. Lamar Blvd. Photo by Beverly Baker Moore / The Rag Blog.

By Beverly Baker Moore | The Rag Blog | June 18, 2014

AUSTIN — About noon on any given Sunday you can stop by Maria’s Taco Xpress on South Lamar and find a happy little celebration called “Hippie Church.” The “church” part derives from the Sunday timing and the gospel/spiritual themed live music; the “hippie” part comes from the dancing regulars. Officially it is billed as “gospel brunch.” There is no proselytizing, no tithing (although they do pass a tip jar for the musicians), and no dressing up. But there are margaritas.

The self-identified hippie dancers started doing their thing about 17 years ago and have been at it since. Back then some of the dancers, including current regular Bruce Patzke, had already been into ecstatic dancing in the neighborhood on Sunday mornings. Afterwards they would head over to Maria’s previous location (next door to the current spot)  for food.
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David P. Hamilton :
SPORT | Was the Spurs win a symbolic victory for the left?

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Besides the triumph of the Spurs’ collectivism over the Heat’s individualism, internationalism won over Americanism.

NBA: Playoffs-Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (from Argentina) practices his ballet during the NBA finals. Photo by Soobum Im / USA TODAY.

By David P. Hamilton | The Rag Blog | June 17, 2014

How is the victory of a major professional sports franchise, the San Antonio Spurs, a symbolic victory for the left?

First, however, for those of you who might have missed it, the reigning world champion Miami Heat were more than beaten. They were destroyed. The Spurs beat them mercilessly by almost 20 points a game over the last three games. Had it not been for some uncharacteristic missed free throws near the end of game 2, the Spurs would have swept Miami in four straight games, mostly routs.
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Posted on June 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
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METRO | Beverly Baker Moore reports that Austin’s ‘Hippie Church’ is all celebration, no dogma.
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Tom Hayden :
The madness in Iraq and the comeback of the neocons

Posted on June 17, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The original blame for this disaster is on the Bush administration, but also on all those who succumbed to a Superpower Syndrome, which claimed we could redesign the Middle East.

IRAQ-UNREST-VOLUNTEERS

Iraqi tribesmen gather to join Iraqi security forces in the fight against Jihadist militants. Photo from AFP / Getty Images.

By Tom Hayden | The Rag Blog | June 17, 2014

American activist anti-war networks are perfectly right in standing against renewed U.S. intervention in Iraq. So far Obama has been forced by events to send some 275 U.S. troops for embassy protection, while a decision on bombing is being mulled. The confused Congress needs to be called upon to be a counterweight against the hawks who want nothing more than to blame Obama instead of themselves for “losing” Iraq.

But there is far more to do. We are deep into the battle over memory.
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