METRO UPDATE | More from Roger Baker on the continuing Texas drought crisis, the latest science and, of course, Texas politics!
Thorne Webb Dreyer, Editor
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BOOKS | C.L.R. James: Back in style, black in style
‘C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain’ opens up the issue of the Third World struggle in an elegant and memorable way.
Author’s note: This marks the first appearance of excerpts from C.L.R. James, a Graphic History, a comic art book in process, drawn by distinguished African-American artist Milton Knight, edited by Paul Buhle. The excerpts — young Trinidadian James grows to self-consciousness and emigrates to London, writes a play about Toussaint Louverture, with Paul Robeson starring — are easily understood.
[C.L.R. James in Imperial Britain by Christian Hogsbjerg (2014: Duke University Press): Paperback; 312 pp.; $24.95.]
This year marks a quarter-century since the death of Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-89). His obituary in The New York Times, putting aside many other interests and qualities of a long and productive life, mainly described him as the last giant of Pan-Africanism.
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Posted in RagBlog
Tagged African-American, Black Intelectuals, Books, C.L.R. James, Comics, Cricket, Graphic History, Historians, Marxism, Milton Knight, Pan-Africanism, Paul Buhle, Rag Bloggers
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METRO UPDATE | Roger Baker : The continuing Texas drought crisis
Roger Baker’s three-part Rag Blog series, “Can Austin survive the current Texas drought,” garnered much attention and was reposted widely, including by the highly-influential Resilience.org. Roger wrote the following update for The Rag Blog‘s Metro Page.
There are two tracks of policy response involved when discussing Austin’s drought crisis — the science and the politics. The situation the Austin Climate Action Network faces really amounts to a new climate reality coming into conflict with Texas politics — over Austin’s shrinking water supply.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog
Tagged Austin Water Supply, Climate Change, Global Warming, Metro, Rag Bloggers, Roger Baker, Texas Drought, Texas Drought Series, Texas Politics
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The dishonesty of Clemson and its football coach
Not only does coach Dabo Swinney use his personal Christian beliefs to recruit, he also uses religion to manipulate, control, and motivate his players.
Clemson defensive end Shaq Lawson: “Jesus Christ is my Savior.” Photo by Tamika Moore / The Chronicle of Higher Education.
For the last half-century, Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina, has been a coeducational, public institution. Lately, however, Clemson has seemed more like a private religious school.
Clemson’s head football coach, Dabo Swinney, recruits players based on his philosophy that being a Christian means that he has good values, so he lets all of his recruits and their families know that he is a devout Christian of the Baptist persuasion. Not only does Swinney use his personal Christian beliefs to recruit, he also uses religion to manipulate, control, and motivate his players.
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METRO | Lamar Hankins reports that the investigation into Rick Perry’s handling of the Lehmberg affair just may have legs.
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METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : Rick Perry investigation may have legs
Did Governor Perry try to strong-arm Rosemary Lehmberg into resigning? Upon reflection, some of the criminal complaints against Perry may have a legitimate basis.
Rick Perry image from PoliticusUSA.
AUSTIN — When they were first announced, I was skeptical of the criminal complaints lodged against Rick Perry by Texans For Public Justice. I began to get more interested when Perry hired, at taxpayer expense, a $450-an-hour attorney to represent him. When Thorne Dreyer asked me to examine the allegations closely, I agreed to do so. Looking at the four criminal charges made me realize that some of the charges may be reasonable.
Last summer, Governor Perry threatened to veto funding for the Public Integrity Unit (PIU) of the Travis County District Attorney’s office unless District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg resigned from office. Perry “believed” she had lost the confidence of the people after she behaved atrociously immediately after her arrest and while being booked, pled guilty to DWI, served a 45-day jail sentence, and paid a fine.
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Sipping lattes on the edge of a Volcano
What do Palestinians, human rights workers, progressive Israelis, and Israeli settlers have to say about daily life in an occupied land?
A security barrier in the West Bank city of Hebron, where a Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli soldiers in March.
Part two of two.
The international news coverage of the Israeli-Palestine conflicts often dwells on the disputes among diplomats or dramatic actions in the street. What’s missing, however, are the realities residents face as they go about their daily lives.
Even as the United States-prompted negotiations between the country’s leaders grow uncertain in the face of an April 29 deadline, those in the region — including human rights workers, elected officials, intellectuals, and government workers — don’t anticipate that the personal consequences of occupation will diminish anytime soon.
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Celebrating Beltane lets you see beyond the veil
It is a fire festival and marks the return of vitality and passion to Mother Earth.
Decorate the area with May poles.
“Have you walked around your parks and towns
so knife-edged orderly?
While the fires are burned on the hills upturned
in far-off wild country?
Come a Beltane. Come a Beltane.”
Whether you choose April 30 or May 1, you will be celebrating Beltane, a cross-quarter celebration that, like Samhain, provides an opportunity to see beyond the veil that separates the mundane world from the spiritual realm. Beltane honors the union of God and Goddess. It is a fire festival, the last of the three spring fertility festivals. It marks the return of vitality and passion to Mother Earth. It is a time to celebrate Life.
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Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Astrology, Beltane, Celebration, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Spirituality
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Workers’ Memorial Day: What is needed?
Remembering those who died on the job and continuing the fight for a safer workplace.
This year’s events will highlight demands to address contemporary issues of concern.
The stench is vomit-making as never before. The fat and plucks, the bladders and kidneys and bungs and guts, gone soft and spongy in the heat, perversely resist being trimmed, separated, deslimed; demand closer concentration than ever, more speed. A helpless, hysterical laughter starts up. Indeed, they are in hell; indeed they are the damned. Steamed, boiled, broiled, fried, cooked. Geared, meshed.
In the hog room, 108 degrees. Kerchiefs, bound around their foreheads to keep the sweat from running down into eyes and blinding, become saturated; each works in a rain of stinging sweat. Almost the steam from the vats seems cloud-cool, pure, by contrast. Marsalek falls. A heart attack. (Is carried away, docked, charged for the company ambulance.) Other hearts pound near to bursting. Relentless, the conveyor paces on.
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Tagged AFL-CIO, Harry Targ, International Workers Day, OSHA, Rag Bloggers, Working Conditions, Workplace Safety
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People’s History of Egypt, Part 23, 2006-2011
With 30 percent unemployment and 44 percent of its people in poverty, Egypt saw an eruption of strikes and other protests.
A wave of worker protests rolled through Egypt. Image from libcom.org.
[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.]
According to James Gelvin’s The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs To Know, “in Egypt…about 40 percent of the population lives on less than two dollars a day,” and as recently as 2008 The Economist magazine noted that under Mubarak’s regime “44 percent of Egyptians still” counted “as poor or extremely poor, with some 2.6 million people so destitute that their entire income cannot cover basic food needs” and “the average wage” was “less than $100 a month.”
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‘Cold Feet’ was engaging British dramedy about the triumphs and tribulations of three couples
In only five seasons the show garnered numerous awards and nominations, and the cast went on to many other fine TV achievements.
[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.]
Cold Feet is a well-written, -directed, -produced, and -acted comedy-drama that significantly changed the topics British entertainment programs could deal with, although it engendered a lot of angry mail while doing so.
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Tagged Alan Waldman, British Television, Cold Feet, Criticism, Rag Bloggers, Vintage Television
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