Lamar W. Hankins :
Fighting back against public officials who promote religion

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The Greece case is a victory for all Christians who need the government to endorse their religion, who have too much faith in the government and not enough faith in their chosen religion.

supreme court bldg

Heavens looking down on Supreme Court building, Washington, D.C. Photo by Saul Loeb / AFP / Getty Images.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | May 22, 2014

“The separation of church and state has been a cornerstone of American democracy for over two hundred years,” said Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority. “Getting rid of it was long overdue.” — Satire by Andy Borowitz in The New Yorker

SAN MARCOS, Texas — The U.S. Supreme Court has now given public officials in the U.S. clear permission to promote and propagandize for the religion of their choice (mostly Christian), as well as religion in general, while performing their public duties. Five justices, all Catholic (one other Catholic opposed the decision) made up the majority in Town of Greece v. Galloway, decided on May 5, 2014. How this ruling can afford equal protection for everyone has not been explained.
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Terry Dyke :
What’s left of liberals

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Contrary to the popular American usage, ‘liberal’ is qualitatively different from ‘left.’ It is a centrist position meant to preserve the status quo.

Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: Liberals pushing the envelope? Photos by Larry Downing and Joshua Roberts / Reuters.

By Terry Dyke | The Rag Blog | May 21, 2014

Ever since George Bush the Elder made his dismissive quip about “the L-word,” liberals have sought to rehabilitate the term and restore it to the connotation it enjoyed throughout its postwar heyday, when “western liberal democracies” were the embodiment of mankind’s progress up from the jungle, and to be liberal was to be evolved, humane, rational, grownup, and on the side of the future.

For a couple of decades, the political spectrum was essentially unipolar. Gradually, though, the “Conservative Revolution” picked up steam, and while it may not be the juggernaut now that it was in 1988 when Bush dropped his L-bomb, it definitely made the rightward end of the spectrum respectable in the public mind, or at least not as unspeakable as it was up until, say, the Carter administration.
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Mark Karlin :
VISUAL ARTS | ‘The Left Front: Radical Art in the Red Decade’

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Radical art is an act of uncompromising passionate resistance.

rad art - yes machine

Carl Hoeckner, “The Yes Machine,” c. 1935 (Lithograph: Courtesy of Mary and Leigh Block Museum, Northwestern University). Image from Truthout.

By Mark Karlin  | Truthout | May 20, 2014

Marxian playwright Bertolt Brecht declared of revolutionary art: “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Brecht’s artistic career in Germany (except for his exile during the Nazi era, after which he returned to found the Berliner Ensemble Theater company in East Berlin) spanned from the Russian Revolution to his death in 1956 — and his work illustrated that revolutionary art must avoid the pitfalls of becoming co-opted by propaganda or commercialization.

Brecht believed that to be a radical and revolutionary artist is to be defiant of any imposition of form or content by any economic system, artistic academy, or political status quo.
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Ron Jacobs :
BOOKS | Anand Gopal’s ‘No Good Men Among the Living’

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Through the lives of three Afghans, Gopal creates a vivid history of  the U.S. occupation and exposes the lies and misunderstandings the war is based on.

no good men among the living pic

Journalist Anand Gopal, author of No Good Men Among the Living, has reported from Afghanistan since 2001.

By Ron Jacobs | The Rag Blog | April 20, 2014

[No Good Men Among the Living by Anand Gopal (2014: Metropolitan Books); Hardcover; 320 pp; $27.]

The war and occupation of Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces has gone on for almost 13 years. The current war was preceded by another 23 or so years of war; first between the Soviets and U.S.-funded mujahedin and then between the various mujahedin factions, with the final result of that episode of war being the triumph of the Taliban.

That brings us up to October 2001 when U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan for harboring Osama bin Laden. The Taliban were vanquished, with many being killed, many captured, and most of the rest going back to their previous lives while Washington put its chosen people in power in Kabul and made deals with those warlords and Afghan factions it had hired to defeat the Taliban.
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Bob Feldman :
People’s History of Egypt, Conclusion, Section 1, February 12, 2011-2013

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The Egyptian military exercised special influence and after Mubarek’s removal became the sole authority, responsible for extensive human rights abuses.

egyptian military

The Egyptian military routinely responded to peaceful protests with excessive force. Photo (c) Mahmud Hams / AFP.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | May 19, 2014

[With all the dramatic activity in Egypt, Bob Feldman’s Rag Blog “people’s history” series, “The Movement to Democratize Egypt,” could not be more timely. Also see Feldman’s “Hidden History of Texas” series on The Rag Blog.]

Within Egyptian society, the U.S. government-funded Egyptian military has exercised a special economic and political influence for many years. As James Gelvin’s 2012 book, The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs To Know, recalled:
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Harry Targ :
Angela Davis featured at National Forum on Police Crimes at University of Chicago

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Police repression and ideological mystification are the glues that maintain structural violence.

angela davis rally

Angela Davis speaks at rally. Image from NAARPR.org / Third Coast Blog.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | May 19, 2014

Stop Police Crimes!
End Mass Incarceration!
Free All Political Prisoners!

(Rally with Angela Davis, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois, May 17, 2014).

CHICAGO — It was inspiring and informative attending the rally with Angela Davis and the celebration of the lifelong political work of Charlene Mitchell, the founder of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (NAARPR). The rally and award ceremony honoring Davis and Mitchell capped a two-day National Forum on Police Crimes at the University of Chicago.
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Alan Waldman :
‘Crossing Lines’ is an exciting global crime series

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Donald Sutherland and William Fichtner lead a fine ensemble in dramatic American-written, Franco-German series, shot mostly in the Czech Republic.

crossing lines

Crossing Lines is action-packed global drama.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | May 19, 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, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

Crossing Lines is an English-language French/German international crime series shot in Czechoslovakia. In 2013, the first series of 10 episodes aired in Turkey, Croatia, India, Iceland, Poland, Japan, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, UK, Germany, France, and in the U.S. as a Summer 2013 show on NBC. All episodes are on Netflix and Netflix Instant streaming. Here is one.
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Tom Hayden :
The conservative fear of ‘losing America’

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Obama is the first president to acknowledge, without quite saying so, that we live in a multipolar world and can no longer dictate our desired outcomes.

nuland cookies

Neocon Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland feeds cookies to protesters in Kiev as she pushes for regime change behind the scenes. Image from Compliance Campaign.

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

The national security pundits are all over President Barack Obama for apparently failing to preserve American military preeminence in the world. Maureen Dowd complains that he’s “whining,” “disconnected,” “adrift,” and that he should be like the NBA commissioner who, “in his first big encounter with a crazed tyrant, managed to make the job of NBA commissioner seem more powerful than that of the president of the United States.”

What? Though sometimes insightful, Dowd leads the pack in confusing Washington with Hollywood. Her evaluations of “Barry,” as she calls the president, should appear in the entertainment pages. But it’s not only Dowd, the gossip queen. The Sunday New York Times thought it necessary to devote three editorial pages defending him — sort of — from widespread criticism of his leadership. Republicans never cease, for example, to condemn his policy of “leading from behind” on Libya.
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Posted on May 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
rag radio - env group studio small crop
METRO PODCAST | Thorne Dreyer holds forth with Central Texas environmental activists Robbins, Cortez & Baker.
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METRO PODCAST | Thorne Dreyer : Central Texas environmental activists on Rag Radio

Posted on May 16, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Paul Robbins, Dave Cortez, and Roger Baker talk the Texas drought, climate change denial, Texas water politics, Keystone, fracking, and more…

rag radio - env group 2 crop 2

From left: Rag Radio’s Tracey Schultz, the Sierra Club’s Dave Cortez, environmental writer Roger Baker, Rag Radio host Thorne Dreyer, Rag Radio apprentice Ken Martin, and, seated, Austin environmental watchdog Paul Robbins. Photo by Greg Ciotti / KOOP Radio.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 16, 2014

Our Rag Radio podcast features prominent Central Texas environmental activists Paul Robbins, Dave Cortez, and Roger Baker. Among the topics discussed are the continuing Texas drought and Austin’s attempt to respond to it in the face of climate change denial in Texas politics.

Listen to or download the podcast of our May 9, 2014, Rag Radio interview with Robbins, Cortez, and Baker here:
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METRO | Roger Baker : The proposed Austin light rail plan as I see it…

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

…which clearly isn’t the way Mayor Leffingwell sees it, since he cut me off during the CAMPO meeting.

roger baker campo sharp crop

Roger Baker speaks at CAMPO meeting in 2011. Screen grab from video by Winter Patriot. Image from Austin Rail Now.

By Roger Baker | The Rag Blog | May 15, 2014

AUSTIN — I make it my regular habit, as a hobby and eccentric peculiarity, to speak at the CAMPO (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization) meetings held the second Monday each month at the Thompson Center, at the northeast edge of the UT-Austin campus.

The CAMPO Policy Board is comprised of 20 Central Texans, mostly politicians, who are federally granted the right to determine how Austin’s federal, state, and local transportation money gets spent, including a shrinking portion of state and federal funds. While funding is more and more a local responsibility, the rules remain federal, generating interesting politics.
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Posted on May 15, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
Margaret Webb Dreyer cropped
FRONT PAGE | Thorne Dreyer’s tribute: Maggie Dreyer played a major role in Houston’s emerging art scene, putting it ‘on the side of human rights and general soul.’
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