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| Ralph Dungan in Chile, 1966. Photo from The Washington Post. |
The October obituary of Ralph Dungan, one of President John F. Kennedy’s top aides who later served as ambassador to Chile, reminded me of my one-time experience with this man referred to by a historian as a “good liberal.”
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| Image from The L Magazine. |
“The only thing that stops a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun.” — Wayne LaPierre, National Rifle Association
Paul Anthony Ciancia believed he was that good man. He believed he was a warrior against the traitors who were taking over our government, bankrupting our currency, and trying to establish a New World Order.
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[One Game at a Time: Why Sports Matter by Matt Hern (2013: AK Press); Paperback; 176 pp; $10.63.]
Earlier this fall the Boston Red Sox baseball team blew most preseason projections of their season all to hell when they bested the St. Louis Cardinals four games to two and won Major League Baseball’s World Series.
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| The abominable Straw Man argument. Image from Linda’s Bees. |
The Internet is a marvelous tool when used honestly and correctly, and with recognition of its limitations. Not a week goes by that I don’t find in my email inbox ridiculous and false political narratives about some atrocity or other going on in Washington or directed by Washington. Our politicians are purveying plenty of nonsense without anyone making up stories about what they do.
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| Police crack down on strikers in Mahalla, 1947, killing three workers. Image from Hossam el-Hamalawy / Flickr. |
[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.]
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| Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013. |
One of the ironies of 21st century historical discourse is that despite significantly increased access to information, historical narratives are shaped by economic and political interest and ideology more than ever before.
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| Two men, Uptown Chicago, 1966. Photos by Michael James from his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul. |
[In this series, Michael James is sharing images from his rich past, accompanied by reflections about — and inspired by — those images. This photo will be included in his forthcoming book, Michael Gaylord James’ Pictures from the Long Haul.]
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Waldman’s film and TV
treasures you may have missed:
British national treasure, Roy Clarke, created and wrote all 295 episodes of this droll series about three elderly Yorkshiremen with too much time on their hands.
By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | December 3, 2013
[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, and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]
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| Me gustan los estudiantes. This painting by Austin’s Carlos Lowry is the cover art on the Fall 2013 NACLA Report on the Americas. |
“[T]he battle over memory is a struggle over meaning…” — Steven S. Volk, “The Politics of Memory and the Memory of Politics,” Fall 2013 NACLA Report on the Americas.
On Sunday, November 17, Socialist Michelle Bachelet received 47% of the vote in a field of nine Chilean presidential candidates. She will go into a December 15 run-off with a candidate from the hard right, Evelyn Matthei, who received 25% of the vote. Bachelet will likely serve a second term as president of Chile. Continue reading
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| Event organizer Larry Yurdin at the 1970 Alternative Media Conference at Goddard College. Yurdin, who later managed Pacifica radio station KPFT in Houston, also attended the 2013 conference. Image from goddard.edu. |
Returning to the scene…
A tale of two alternative media conferences
In 1970, the keynote speech was delivered by Ram Dass, the delightfully stimulating spiritual teacher. The 2013 event began with a celebration of the original conference.
By Paul Krassner | The Rag Blog | November 20, 2013
“In the time when new media was the big idea that was the big idea.” — Lyric from U2 song, ”Kite”
In June 1970, a charter flight was on its way from San Francisco to the Alternative Media Conference at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. The passengers consisted entirely of attendees. Larry Bensky, then KPFA news anchor, recalls, “It was one of the craziest trips ever taken by anyone, anywhere, I’m sure. Many on the plane were tripping on acid.”
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| Slaid Cleaves in the studios of KOOP-FM in Austin, Friday, November 1, 2013. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog. |
Rag Radio podcast:
Acclaimed Austin-based
singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves
Slaid spins some yarns, tells how his study of philosophy, the inspiration of Woody Guthrie, and his stint as a busker on the streets of Ireland have influenced his music and his life. And he performs live for the Rag Radio audience.
By Rag Radio | The Rag Blog | November 19, 2013
Singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves was our guest on Rag Radio, Friday, November 1, 2013. He joined us in discussion and performed live on the show.
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| The STEM ‘crisis’ and the ‘fear of falling behind’ meme. |
The tyranny of the meme:
Commies, the arms race, and now STEM
The threats of the United States falling behind some fictional adversaries is a similar ‘meme’ to those that have been articulated by economic, political, and military elites at least since the end of World War II.
By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | November 19, 2013
A spokesperson for Purdue University testified before a Congressional research and technology subcommittee on November 13 warning that the United States is “losing a cadre of innovators that will never come back.” The university spokesperson was echoing warnings that have been coming from his university and major research universities all around the country.
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Thorne Webb Dreyer, Editor
