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

METRO | Melanie Scruggs : Houston’s regressive trash burning proposal

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The global Zero Waste movement is actively opposing Houston’s proposed ‘One Bin for All.’

Rally to Recycle, Houston City Hall, February 25, 2014. Photo by Caitlin Murphy.

By Melanie Scruggs | The Rag Blog | May 14, 2014

HOUSTON — The environmental community in Texas has organically cultivated an unofficial division of labor that allows us to collaborate on issues while specializing in different areas of research and advocacy: some of us work on water conservation, others on renewable energy or food policy. Others focus on environmental justice and how pollution affects communities of color and concentrates health problems in high-risk areas.

I work in the movement called “Zero Waste,” devoted to reforming how we manage municipal solid waste, sustainable product and packaging design, and diverting waste from landfills and incinerators through waste reduction, recycling and compost programs. Anything trash-related is the focus of my organization’s full-time work and advocacy as we do our part to curb pollution and protect natural resources.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Environmental Activists, Houston, Melanie Scruggs, Metro, One Bin for All, Rag Bloggers, Recycling, Renewable Energy, Waste Disposal, Zero Waste | 1 Comment

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

METRO | Melanie Scruggs reports that Houston environmentalists are trashing a regressive ‘One Bin for All’ plan.

Posted in RagBlog, RagBlurb | Leave a comment

Jonah Raskin :
BOOKS | Gordon Young’s ‘Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City’

Posted on May 13, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

‘Teardown’ has the kind of heart that once made Flint, Michigan, a center of trade union and labor activism.

Teardown is a grim portrait with heart.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | May 13, 2014

[Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City by Gordon Young (June 2013: University of California Press); Hardcover; 288 pp; $29.95]

Gordon Young’s book about Flint, Michigan, Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City, might have been a depressing read. After all, the facts and the figures about crime and about poverty are likely to keep any sensible family from moving there. They might also persuade longtime residents to get out when they still can and locate somewhere else. Like San Francisco, where Young himself now lives.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Books, Flint, Gordon Young, Jonah Raskin, Michigan, Rag Bloggers, Rust Belt, Teardown | Leave a comment

Bob Feldman :
People’s History of Egypt, Part 24, January-February 11, 2011

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

In early February 2011, massive street protests opposed Mubarak and called for democratization and economic justice.

Sunset on Tahrir Square, February 2011. Image from c-Blog.

By Bob Feldman | The Rag Blog | May 12, 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.]

According to James Gelvin’s 2012 book, The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs To Know, in Egypt “youths between 15 and 29 make up…30 percent” of the population and “youth unemployment in Egypt is 43 percent.” The same book also noted:
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Arab Uprising, Bob Feldman, Egyptian History, Egyptian Revolution of 2011, Hosni Mubarak, People's History of Egypt, Rag Bloggers, Tahrir Square, World History | Leave a comment

Jean Trounstine :
Mother’s Day in prison

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Many wonderful articles appeared about mothers in prison as we celebrated this Mother’s Day.

Photo by Lucy Nicholson / Reuters.

By Jean Trounstine | The Rag Blog | May 11, 2014

Nancy Mullane, on the blog she co-founded, The Life of the Law, interviewed Veronica Martinez at Folsom Women’s Prison in California. There you can listen to or read about Martinez, to learn how she was shackled during birth and had to give up her baby after three days — luckily to her family. In spite of that horrendous experience, Martinez also points out the amazing support of the other women in the jail where she was at the time:

My bunkie had a collage of babies pasted. She had pasted it with toothpaste, cause that’s what we used. In the county jail, you don’t have tape or glue or any of that so she took toothpaste and she pasted all these pictures of cutout magazines and baby feet and babies and stuff. And she made a little sign, ‘It’s a Girl’ on my bunk.

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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Incarceration, Jean Trounstine, Mother's Day, Mothers in Prison, Prison Reform, Rag Bloggers, Women Behind Bars | Leave a comment

Alan Waldman :
‘Hamish Macbeth’ is a very charming small-town Scottish comedy starring the incomparable Robert Carlyle

Posted on May 11, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Suspense, comedy, drama, and delightful locations mix in this Caledonian TV gem.

Robert Carlyle stars in Hamish MacBeth.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | May 11, 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.]

Hamish Macbeth is a Scottish comedy-drama TV series that ran for three seasons (1995-1997) and 20 episodes, 19 of them on Netflix, including this one. The series was nominated for a BAFTA Best Drama Series award, and star Robert Carlyle was nominated for four Best Actor Awards, winning those from the UK Royal Television Society and the Scottish BAFTAs.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Criticism, Hamish MacBeth, Rag Bloggers, Robert Carlyle, Scottish Television, Shirley Henderson, Vintage Television | 3 Comments

James McEnteer :
The devil went down to Georgia

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

After Georgia’s new gun law, euphemistically called the ‘Safe Carry Protection Act,’ takes effect July 1, all bets are off.

Political cartoon by Mike Luckovich / Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Image from Sky Dancing.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

“Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire, I hold with those who favor fire.” – Robert Frost 1920

“We have met the enemy and he is us.” – POGO Walt Kelly 1970

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” – Barack Obama 2008

Georgia’s new gun law goes into effect July 1, allowing firearms in bars, nightclubs, and government buildings without security checkpoints. Georgia churches can permit parishioners to come armed to services.

Euphemistically called the “Safe Carry Protection Act,” the new law lifts restrictions on individuals convicted of certain misdemeanors from obtaining a gun permit. Gun dealers are no longer required to keep sales records. A stand-your-ground law will expand and police will not have the right to ask armed citizens whether they have a license.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Society, Georgia Gun Law, Gun Culture, Gun Laws, James McEnteer, Rag Bloggers | 1 Comment

Alan Pogue and William Michael Hanks :
VIDEO | Dan Rather and Robin Rather in lively, far-ranging, and funny Rag Radio interview

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Video captures the legendary newsman and the pioneering Austin environmentalist in their first father-daughter interview.

Video by Alan Pogue and William Michael Hanks.

By Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

Alan Pogue and Mike Hanks have just posted this excellent video filmed during my Rag Radio interview with legendary newsman Dan Rather and Austin environmental activist Robin Rather. The show — their first-ever father-daughter interview — is one of my all-time favorites from the six-year history of Rag Radio.

The incisive, far-ranging, and frequently very funny session was originally broadcast on September 27, 2013, on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, Texas. The video was shot by internationally-known documentary photographer Alan Pogue, who was staff photographer for the original Rag, Austin’s pioneering underground newspaper, and was edited by award-winning filmmaker and writer William Michael Hanks. The video can also be found on YouTube.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Pogue, Austin History, Broadcast Journalists, CBS News, Corporate Journalism, Dan Rather, Environmental Activists, Houston History, Interview, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, Robin Rather, Save Our Springs, Television News, Thorne Dreyer, Video, William Michael Hanks | Leave a comment

David McReynolds :
On becoming a living fossil

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

David may have been ahead of his time, but he was late to pick up Muriel Lester.

Radical pacifist Muriel Lester.

By David McReynolds | The Rag Blog | May 7, 2014

NEW YORK — This past Friday I went up to a Unitarian Church here in Manhattan to take part in a series of interviews for a film project of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, which is about to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Virginia Baron had been there just before me, and Leslie Cagan was arriving as I left. The chances are good I may have been, at 84, the oldest of those interviewed.

On the way up I had thought of a story involving the late Muriel Lester, but as I got to the church her name had escaped my mind. I realized, as I sat waiting while the lights were adjusted, that none of those working the cameras would have the slightest idea of whom I might be thinking. They were all young, and Muriel was long dead. (She has an all-too-brief entry in Wikipedia and Richard Deats, whose health has recently not been good, edited a book about Muriel several years ago).
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American History, David McReynolds, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Mahatma Gandhi, Muriel Lester, Nonviolence, Pacifism, Rag Bloggers | 1 Comment

Robert Jensen :
Rape, rape culture, and the problem of patriarchy

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

I don’t believe feminists are unfair or crazy. In fact, I believe the only sensible way to understand these issues is through a feminist critique of patriarchy.

Image from Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER).

By Robert Jensen | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014

By the end of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, two key questions were on the table for those who not only are aware of rape but would like to end men’s violence against women.

First, do we live in a rape culture, or is rape perpetrated by a relatively small number of predatory men?
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Society, Feminism, Male Dominance, Patriarchy, Rag Bloggers, Rape, Rape Culture, Robert Jensen, Sexual Violence | 6 Comments

Thorne Dreyer :
PODCASTS | Gregg Barrios, Bruce Dancis, and Betsy Leondar-Wright on Rag Radio

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

A noted poet-playwright and critic, a Vietnam draft resister and pop culture journalist, and an economic justice advocate join us in three lively podcasts.

Poet-playwright Gregg Barrios in the KOOP studios in Austin, Texas, April 25, 2014. Photo by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interviews by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | May 5, 2014

Gregg Barrios, the noted San Antonio-based writer, filmmaker, and critic; Bruce Dancis, author of Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War; and economic justice advocate Betsy Leondar-Wright were our recent guests on Rag Radio.

Rag Radio is a weekly hour-long syndicated radio program produced and hosted by long-time alternative journalist and Rag Blog editor Thorne Dreyer. The show is produced at the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM, a cooperatively-run all-volunteer community radio station in Austin, Texas. It is broadcast live on KOOP every Friday from 2-3 p.m. (CST) and streamed live on the web.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Authors, Betsy Leondar-Wright, Bruce Dancis, Chicano, Class Analysis, Critics, Draft Resistance, Economic Justice, Gregg Barrios, Interview, Mexican-American Writers, Playwrights, Podcast, Poets, Rag Bloggers, Rag Radio, SDS, Sixties, Thorne Dreyer | 1 Comment

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

METRO UPDATE | More from Roger Baker on the continuing Texas drought crisis, the latest science and, of course, Texas politics!

Posted in RagBlog, RagBlurb | Leave a comment

The global Zero Waste movement is actively opposing Houston’s proposed ‘One Bin for All.’

‘Teardown’ has the kind of heart that once made Flint, Michigan, a center of trade union and labor activism.

In early February 2011, massive street protests opposed Mubarak and called for democratization and economic justice.

Many wonderful articles appeared about mothers in prison as we celebrated this Mother’s Day.

Suspense, comedy, drama, and delightful locations mix in this Caledonian TV gem.

After Georgia’s new gun law, euphemistically called the ‘Safe Carry Protection Act,’ takes effect July 1, all bets are off.

Video captures the legendary newsman and the pioneering Austin environmentalist in their first father-daughter interview.

Video by Alan Pogue and William Michael Hanks.

David may have been ahead of his time, but he was late to pick up Muriel Lester.

I don’t believe feminists are unfair or crazy. In fact, I believe the only sensible way to understand these issues is through a feminist critique of patriarchy.

A noted poet-playwright and critic, a Vietnam draft resister and pop culture journalist, and an economic justice advocate join us in three lively podcasts.

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