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

Philip L. Russell :
Mexico’s Peña Nieto at midterm

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

The president’s low ratings reflect not only his performance but also the inability of his government to address basic problems facing the country.

Caricature of Peña Nieto by Armando Aguayo Rivera / Flickr.

By Philip L. Russell | The Rag Blog | January 4, 2016

Listen to the Rag Radio podcast of Thorne Dreyer’s interview with Philip Russell, who discusses issues raised in this article. The Rag Blog‘s Alice Embree joins us in discussion of developments in Central America and Cuba. This show originally aired Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, 2-3 p.m. (CT), on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin. Find all podcasts and more about Rag Radio here.

Read Philip Russell’s earlier Rag Blog article on Peña Nieto’s first two years, here.

The poor are even poorer; the levels of violence and insecurity have shot up. The immaculately coiffed president has remained unmoved and overwhelmed by the national crisis. The job has been too much for him. — Elena Poniatowska, 2015

December 1 marked the halfway point in Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto’s six-year term. His first year in office was by far his best. On day two of his presidency he announced the Pact for Mexico — an alliance of the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), the center-right National Action Party (PAN), and his own Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI).
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Maxine Phillips :
Do Christians and Muslims worship the
same God?

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

For non-Muslims to understand diversity among Muslims seems to be a leap too far.

Image from MuslimVibe.com.

By Maxine Phillips | The Rag Blog | January 3, 2016

In December, a tenured political science professor at evangelical Christian Wheaton College was placed on administrative leave for a posting on Facebook. Next to a picture of herself wearing a head scarf, she wrote,

I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay… [and] I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God.

True, three major religions in the world have one God as their source. But is it the same God?
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Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog | Tagged Diversity, Islam, Larycia Hawkins, Maxine Phillips, Muslim Reform Movement, Rag Bloggers, Religion, Theology | 1 Comment

Swathi Narayanan :
METRO | Missing in action but not forgotten

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Thorne Dreyer

A daughter continues her quest to find her father and other lost soldiers.

Karoni and her dad.

By Swathi Narayanan | The Rag Blog | January 2, 2016

AUSTIN — Karoni Forrester’s earliest memory of her childhood is sneaking into her grandfather’s study to call her father. She would keep dialing to see if she could reach him. “I got into trouble because of the very weird phone bills,” she said. But her father never answered the phone.

Forrester was two when her father, Captain Ron Forrester, a Marine pilot, was officially declared Missing In Action (MIA) in Vietnam. He was co-piloting a Grumman A6 Intruder attack plane on December 7, 1972, under orders to take down a bridge in North Vietnam.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Karoni Forrester, Metro, Missing in Action, POW/MIA, Rag Bloggers, Swathi Narayanan, U.S. Military, Veterans, Vietnam War | Leave a comment

Kate Braun :
Here’s how to have a cool Yule!

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

At Winter Solstice we will be looking forward to much new energy pouring into us.

Yule log. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | December 20, 2015

Leer este artículo en español

Monday, December 21, 2015 is Yule, which you may also call Winter Solstice or Midwinter. This is when we experience the shortest day and longest night of the year. Lady Moon is in her second quarter, leading us to the Full Moon, also called a Wishing Moon, on Christmas, December 25.

Not only will we be looking forward to a new season beginning, we will also be looking forward to much new energy pouring into us. It would not be inappropriate to use the Christmas Wishing Moon to wish for the wisdom and spiritual guidance to help guide us into this newness so that we may benefit from it.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Astrology, Celebration, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Winter Solstice, Yule | Leave a comment

Roy Casagranda :
Hey, ISIL! Here’s some unsolicited advice

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Women and children among Syrian refugees striking at the platform of Budapest Keleti railway station. Refugee crisis. Budapest, Hungary, Central Europe, 4 September 2015.

Syrian refugees, September 2015. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

By Roy Casagranda | The Rag Blog | December 16, 2015

Leer este artículo en español

My advice to all the pro-ISIL forces in the United States:

Keep bombing Iraq and Syria. This is how ISIL came into being in the first place. It makes sense that you would keep doing that.
Refuse to work with the Russians and Iranians. They have the best chance of defeating ISIL.
Avoid humanitarian aid at all costs.
Encourage Israel to keep bombing Hezbollah forces in Syria. Hezbollah is fighting ISIL and Jebhat al Nusra (al Qaeda).
Block entry to Syrian refugees. This will really hurt the Arabs as a people and put tremendous pressure on Europe. Whatever you do, don’t help your allies or the people who hate ISIL so much that they are risking death of their children to escape them. You can drive those people back into ISIL’s hands.
Keep all the anti-Islam rhetoric at a shrill scream. It confirms to the world that the U.S. is really at war with Islam. That is why foreigners join ISIL. If you, for even a second, hint that you won’t be a bigot, that would really hurt their supply of foreign fighters.
Keep flooding the oil markets to drive down oil prices. Iran, Russia, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are desperately reliant on oil sales for revenue. If you can break those four states, most of the resistance to ISIL will evaporate.
Keep encouraging Turkey to shoot down Russian fighter jets. WWIII is a great way to give ISIL more power.
For sure elect Trump or Cruz to be president. That will really help number 6.
Track Muslims, make them wear armbands, and refuse their entry, reentry. In fact why not intern them like you did with the Japanese and the Native Americans? I think again that would really help number 6. Remember number 6 is very important.
Overreact with anti-Islamic rhetoric and laws the next time that ISIL attacks. They are probably planning to attack as many times as they can before November 2016. Keep reacting exactly as they want; after all, they believe that they are creating the Apocalypse. A lot of you have been working for the very same goal.

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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Iraq Intervention, ISIL, ISIS, Middle East, Rag Bloggers, Roy Casagranda, Syria | Leave a comment

Harry Targ :
We must respond to 21st century violence with radical structural change based on community

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

In addressing the reality of killing in this century, history and context become profoundly important.

CC0 Public Domain image.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | December 15, 2015

“When we humans see instances of violence, we are often quick to respond, sometimes with efforts to assist the victims, often with efforts to punish the perpetrators. It is important that we are able to feel the pain of each individual case. It is equally important to find out why there are so many cases. For this to take place it is important to examine what common underlying levers are causing the human family to engage in such protracted and recurrent violence.”

— Marc Pilisuk and Jennifer Achord Rountree, The Hidden Structure of Violence: Who Benefits from Global Violence and War

Peace research, education, and activism have been animated by concern about violence. For centuries, scholars, theologians, philosophers, and activists have studied the meaning and causes of violence in human affairs, primarily motivated by a desire to reduce or eliminate it.

Some have pointed out that, for the most part, human beings have engaged in cooperative forms of behavior. The vast majority of human interactions are designed to sustain life, maintain communities, and support individual development. But, it is true that the dark side of history manifests massive slaughter, starvation, enslavement, and destruction of natural environments.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 21st Century Violence, American History, Community, Cultural Violence, Harry Targ, Rag Bloggers, Social Change, Structural Violence | 1 Comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | It’s a Rag Blog/Rag Radio HO-HO-HAPPY HOUR!

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Rag holiday gathering Friday, Dec. 18, at Maria’s Taco Xpress, with featured guest Jonah Raskin.

AUSTIN — The Rag Blog and Rag Radio are inviting their community, friends, and followers to celebrate the holiday season at a “Ho-Ho-Happy Hour” — an informal gathering on Friday, December 18, from 4:30-7:30 p.m., at Maria’s Taco Xpress in South Austin.

Event: Rag Blog/Rag Radio ‘Ho-Ho-Happy Hour’
Date: Friday, Dec. 18, 2015
Time: 4:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Maria’s Taco Xpress
Address: 2529 S. Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
Food & Drink: Cash bar and Tex-Mex
Music: Leeann Atherton on patio at 7 p.m.
Admission: Free, and everyone is welcome!

Jonah at Maria’s in 2011.

Special guest at the event is Jonah Raskin, a California-based activist, poet, critic, and educator, and the author of a dozen books including biographies of Allen Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and Jack London. Jonah, who is a contributing editor to The Rag Blog, is the former Minister of Information for the Youth International Party (Yippies).

Jonah Raskin will also be Thorne Dreyer’s guest on Rag Radio earlier that afternoon — Friday, December 18 — from 2-3 p.m. (CST) on KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin. Stream it live here.

Also joining us at the holiday festivities will be Middle East expert and overall good guy Roy Casagranda, who was our guest on Rag Radio, December 4 and 11, talking about Syria, Iraq, and the role of U.S. foreign policy in “setting the table” for ISIL.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Jonah Raskin, Maria's Taco Xpress, Metro, Rag Blog Happy Hour | Leave a comment

Ed Felien :
Santa Claus is an Islamic communist plot

Posted on December 10, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Dutch sailors saw men in beards and long coats giving gifts and candy to children and food and shelter to the poor.

Sinterklaas by Bram van der Vlugt / Wikimedia Commons. The Dutch sailors probably thought they saw the spirit of St. Nicolas.

By Ed Felien | The Rag Blog | December 10, 2015

The person we know as Saint Nicolas was born around 280 in Patara, Turkey, and died about 50 miles away in Myra in 343. He was a rich noble in a prosperous seaport, and he was known for helping the poor. He was made bishop in the new Roman Catholic Church. The Emperor Constantine established the Holy Roman Catholic Church at the Council of Nicea in 325 and there were opportunities for advancement for friends of the Emperor. Nearby Antioch was one of the five centers of the early Christian faith at that time.

Muslim Turks seized the town in 1084. The Crusaders’ Siege of Antioch conquered the city in 1098. But it finally fell to the Muslims in 1268.
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Posted in Rag Bloggers | Tagged Ed Felien, Eid al Fitr, Rag Bloggers, Saint Nicolas, Sinterklass | 1 Comment

Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘The High Life’ is a zany Scottish airline comedy featuring a young Alan Cumming

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Cumming co-wrote and co-starred in this clever sitcom full of bitchy quips, elements of surrealism, and some theatrical song-and-dance numbers.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | December 9, 2015

[In his Rag Blog 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, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD, Netflix and/or Netflix Instant Streaming, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

All seven episodes of Scottish airline comedy The High Life aired in the UK in Winter 1994-95, but it did not have a second season, because of co-star/co-screenwriter Alan Cumming’s burgeoning film career (Circle of Friends, GoldenEye, Emma, Romy, and Michele’s High School Reunion). Too obscure for Netflix, the complete daffy series is available on YouTube, including this episode.
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Posted in Rag Bloggers | Tagged Alan Cumming, Alan Waldman, Criticism, Rag Bloggers, Scottish Television, The High Life, Vintage Television | Leave a comment

Ken Wachsberger :
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the ’60s underground press. Part II: The Fifth Estate

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The paper, which quickly became Detroit’s cutting-edge news source, is the longest-running underground newspaper from the Vietnam era.

Former Fifth Estate staffers, supporters, and reunion organizers. In the back with raised fist is Peter Werbe; to his left is Leni Sinclair and to his right, Laura Grimshaw; and seated, in blue sweater, is the paper’s founder, Harvey Ovshinsky.

By Ken Wachsberger | The Rag Blog | December 8, 2015

[This is the second of a three-part series written for The Rag Blog by underground press historian Ken Wachsberger. Part I was about the 50th reunion of the Berkeley Barb.]

The Fifth Estate was founded by Detroit-area high school graduate and now award-winning filmmaker Harvey Ovshinsky after an inspirational summer work adventure with the Los Angeles Free Press.

It didn’t take long for the paper to become Detroit’s cutting-edge news source on issues surrounding the local antiwar and Civil Rights movements, feminist and LGBT issues, the emerging youth counterculture, and dissident GIs, all issues that the mainstream press was ignoring or relegating to insignificant locations of back pages.
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Posted in Rag Bloggers, RagBlog | Tagged Alternative Media, Anarchist Publications, Counterculture, Fifth Estate, Ken Wachsberger, Rag Bloggers, Sixties, Underground Press, Underground Press Series | Leave a comment

Qiling Wang :
METRO | Nicols the psychic found his future

Posted on November 25, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Austin’s Nicols says he grew up with the ability to find information hidden from the normal senses.

Nicols the psychic. Photo by Qiling Wang / The Rag Blog.

By Qiling Wang | The Rag Blog | November 25, 2015

AUSTIN — Three tungsten lamps light a back room in the Austin home of Joe Nicols. With the windy, cold weather outside, the room exudes coziness and warmth. A wood shelf with a dazzling array of folk art stands at the left of the door. Some were collected from India, some from China.

Next to the shelf is Nicols’ desk — where he carries out his palm reading and psychic consultations.

“You used to get tight in your throat when you had to talk back to authority when you were a kid,” Nicols says to Vivian Chen.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Joe Nicols, Metro, Psychics, Qilig Wang, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment

David P. Hamilton :
What is to be done in the Middle East (as soon
as pigs fly)

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Creating an actual anti-Islamic State alliance would require thinking entirely outside the currently existing conceptual boxes.

David’s flying pig. Image designated for noncommercial reuse.

By David P. Hamilton | The Rag Blog | November 25, 2015

“In the name of realism, men are quite mad, and precisely what they call utopian is now the condition of human survival.” — C. Wright Mills

The United States has successfully created a hotbed of instability and dysfunction in the Middle East. There are now wars in Iraq, Syria, Israel/Palestine, Turkey/Kurdistan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. Weapons are now hemorrhaging across the Sahara from Libya into Chad, Mali, and Nigeria, areas of Africa where the U.S. is busy establishing new military bases. There is a welter of conflicting alliances with diverse and contradictory goals, especially in Syria, the current epicenter of conflict.

This conceptual chaos is typified by the U.S. being the member of a coalition to fight the “Islamic State” [ISIS], which includes the principal parties who provided ISIS with its motivating ideology, Wahhabism, and which created, funded and provided weapons to this same Islamic State since its inception, (i.e., the Gulf Sunni dictators in Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, and especially Saudi Arabia).
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bashar al-Assad, David P. Hamilton, Islamic State, Middle East, Rag Bloggers, Syria, U.S. Foreign Policy | 8 Comments