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

Harry Targ :
Should we make more war? Where? How?

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Obama’s foreign policy reflects the contradictory approaches of U.S. leadership since the country’s emergence as a superpower.

How to play it: A fan dressed as Captain America at the 2014 World Cup. Image from New Statesman / Getty.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | February 17, 2015

Both unity and contradiction are reflected in the history of United States foreign policy from the industrial revolution to the present. The unity of policy in time and space is reflected in the drive to maximize the opportunities for U.S. capital to expand; to acquire more and more wealth, and to seize land, extract resources, and accumulate profits derived from cheaper and cheaper labor.

An example of a significant historical moment reflecting this unity can be seen in the 1890s as the United States seized former Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and the Philippine Islands. Over the next 30 years the U.S. military invaded and occupied Caribbean, Central American, and Latin American countries at least 30 times.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Hegemony, American History, Harry Targ, Obama Foreign Policy, Peace Movement, Rag Bloggers, U.S. Foreign Policy, U.S. Imperialism, U.S. Military | 1 Comment

Chellis Glendinning :
The third inauguration: Evo Morales and nine years of paradox in Bolivia

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

‘Evo is a loaf of bread fresh from the oven,’ he said. ‘We’ll find out how it tastes.’

Shhhh! Don’t tell them how it turns out. Image from LibertadDigital.

By Chellis Glendinning | The Rag Blog | February 16, 2014

La Paz, 22 January 2006. Evo Morales Ayma was born Aymara and poor in the department of Oruro. For lunch he and his father would scrounge the thin meat from orange peels cast from the windows of passing autobuses, and his most ambitious childhood dream was to ride in a bus.

During his life he worked as a baker, bricklayer, farmer, trumpet player, and soldier; then rose up through the ranks of coca farmer unions to become a leader of El Comité de Coordinación de las Seis Federaciones and finally of the Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS).

It is for such humble beginnings that his election to the presidency of the poorest country in South America was of so much interest to Tom Hayden that he convinced me to travel to the transmit del mando in 2006. The truth is I didn’t want to go, although I admit that I was impressed: between the election and the inauguration Evo was already traveling the globe lining up potential allies — and doing so garbed in the ratty old red-and-blue pullover that he became known for. His vice president had been a guerrillero in the Tupak Katari Guerrilla Army, and his First Lady would be his sister, a vegetable vendor.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bolivia, Bolivian Politics, Chellis Glendinning, Evo Morales, Indigenous People, Latin America, Morales Inauguration, Rag Bloggers, South America | 2 Comments

Jonah Raskin :
NBC’s Brian Williams and the causalities of war

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Brian Williams helped to further wound the already wounded U.S. news media. Healing those wounds will take a long time.

Brian Williams fudged the facts. Image from ET Canada.

By Jonah Raskin | The Rag Blog | February 10, 2015

Most of us exaggerate and embellish at some time or another. We say that we run faster and further than we have actually run. We claim to be better, richer, wiser, and more experienced than we are.

It seems to be part of the human DNA, though news anchors and reporters aren’t supposed to magnify their roles in the making and unmaking of contemporary history. They’re supposed to hew to the facts and tell the truth.

So it came as something of a shock recently when it was revealed that Brian Williams, NBC’s anchor and the managing editor of the nightly news, had fudged the facts about his experiences in war-torn Iraq. He did it again and again for more than a decade as though no one would catch him, as though he was invincible.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Brian Williams, Broadcast Media, Independent Media, Jonah Raskin, NBC News. Journalism, Rag Bloggers, War Reporting | 1 Comment

James McEnteer :
The Tardy Boys and the Secret of the
Haunted Castle

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

After a while the castle lifted off from the planet
and we shot into the galaxy.

Gillette Castle during a bad trip! Tricked up image from Pinterest.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | February 9, 2015

The spring of 1967 was gorgeous in Connecticut. We’d been going crazy the entire school year. The college was buzzed, high on drugs and youth and the ’60s. Now we could finally get back into nature, busting out lush and verdant around us, bright flowers here and there among the trees coming back to life. Connecticut’s back roads wind around villages, woods and water. Ian and I got in the car and took off into it all. It was way too nice to go to class.

In wooded hills above the Connecticut River we came to the gate of Gillette Castle State Park. A locked chain hanging across the road had a sign that said: “Closed for the Season.” The road disappeared ahead into the green woods. We parked the car and followed it. Intense smells of the forest waking up woke us up.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Acid Trip, Gillette Castle, James McEnteer, Memoir, Rag Bloggers | 1 Comment

Alan Waldman :
TELEVISION | ‘Artful Detective’ is highly enjoyable Canadian historical mystery series

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Set in Toronto, circa 1895-1901, and featuring a clever police inspector who often invents techniques to fight crime, this long-running skein is a real treat.

Detective Inspector William Murdoch devises forensic techniques that were radical for the time.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | February 8, 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.]

Originally titled “Murdoch Mysteries,” but currently called “The Artful Detective,” on the Ovation cable channel, this turn-of-the century police inspector series is great fun, not only for the clever crime cases but because its plots weave in famous historical figures.

In some of its 112 episodes over eight seasons (airing 2008-2015 — 103 of which had been shown in the U.S. as of October 2014 — we met Arthur Conan Doyle, Buffalo Bill Cody, Harry Houdini, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, Winston Churchill, Annie Oakley, H G Wells, Jack London, Queen Victoria, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Henry Ford, and possibly the real Jack the Ripper.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Canadian Television, Criticism, Murdoch Mysteries, Rag Bloggers, Television, The Artful Detective | 4 Comments

James Retherford :
LITERATURE | Wild things

Posted on February 4, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Jonah Raskin’s ‘A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature’ is a fresh look at American letters from the bottom up.

Arrival of the developers! “Kindred Spirits” by Asher Durand, 1849.

By James Retherford | The Rag Blog | February 4, 2015

Like a true nature’s child
We were born
Born to be wild
— Steppenwolf, “Born to be Wild”

Native Americans in Sonoma County … tell me that their ancestors didn’t understand how and why white men were able to cut down sacred forests and not be struck down dead. Global warming, they tell me, is nature’s revenge.
— Jonah Raskin, A Terrible Beauty

in a world gone crazy
Everything seems hazy
I’m a wild one
Ooh yeah I’m a wild one
— Iggy Pop, “Real Wild Child”

To many, and I do not necessarily exclude myself from this group, American literature, taken as a whole, can seem like something of an oxymoron, and its feckless treatment at the hands of friends and frenemies has done little to dispel the notion.

Lampooned and lambasted, fawned upon and mythologized, deconstructed and reconstructed and unreconstructed again and again, so much mind-numbing jargon has been heaped upon the corpus of American letters that the subject has all but drowned in critical excess. Even America’s own writers have been guilty of piling on.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged A Terrible Beauty, American History, American Literature, American Wilderness, Cultural Criticism, Environment, James Retherford, Jonah Raskin, Literature, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment

Jack A. Smith :
Have Obama and the Democrats actually
become liberals?

Posted on February 3, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Wow, this is like Christmas every day for the next two years! Of course, none of it will happen.

President Barack Obama In Boston For Fundraising Event At Symphony Hall

The fire-breathing Obama with Elizabeth Warren at the 2015 State of the Union Address. Photo from Getty Images.

By Jack A. Smith | The Rag Blog | February 4, 2015

Has the 2015 center-right Democratic Party transmuted literally overnight into its old center-left visage of the mid-1960s — the party of Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, poverty programs, voting rights, desegregation, and more?

As he begins his seventh year in office, with negligible accomplishments behind him, President Barack Obama suddenly appears to have transformed into the candidate liberal voters thought they had elected in November 2008 — the candidate of “Yes we can!” and “Change we can believe in.” The liberal Nation weekly even headlined its editorial in the February 6 edition: “Obama Gets His Mojo Back.”
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged 2015 State of the Union, 2016 Elections, Barack Obama, Center-Right Politics, Democratic Party, Electoral politics, Inclusive Capitalism, Jack A. Smith, Obama Legacy, Obama Presidency, Progressive Democrats, Rag Bloggers | Leave a comment

Michael Corcoran :
Crisis at Pacifica Radio

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

The iconic Pacifica Radio network, one of the last remaining broadcast outlets for progressive voices, is facing an increasingly uncertain future.

Marchers carry WBAI banner at NYC People’s Climate Justice March, September 20, 2014. Photo from The City Project.

By Michael Corcoran | Truthout | February 2, 2015

Pacifica Radio, one of the most iconic and last remaining outlets for progressive voices on the radio, is facing an increasingly uncertain future.

The network, which consists of five radio stations and dozens of affiliates across the country, has been full of dysfunction in recent years. The dysfunction has been caused by heated infighting caused by two factions vying for control of the network, the loss of important grant money, dwindling listenership, and near-constant fundraising and accounting hiccups.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Amy Goodman, Bruce Hough, Corporate Media, Crisis at Pacifica Radio, Democracy Now, Gary Null, Media Consolidation, Michael Corcoran, NPR, Pacifica, Progressive Radio, Summer Reese, WBAI | 1 Comment

Murray Polner :
Who is Eric Fair and what did he do?

Posted on February 2, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

With all our folk tales about our innate goodness and freedom-loving ways, the Real America has always tortured when it wished to do so.

Screen grab from The New York Times.

By Murray Polner | The Rag Blog | February 2, 2015

Before we Americans become bored with all that talk about torture and move on to our next distractions about celebrity breakups, sex, and political scandals, and the arrival of Republican demolition crews dedicated to wrecking Obama’s timorous and second-rate presidency, a few barely noted references to our gambol with torture are in order.

Quick, My Fellow Americans: What, specifically, are “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques,” (EIT) the officially-approved euphemism CIA apologists and its defenders have been proclaiming without bothering to define them? What was it before it was “enhanced?” Stuffing a man inside a tiny box for eleven hours? Dressing him in women’s underwear? Feeding him rectally?
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Abu Ghraib, American History, American Society, CIA, Enhanced Interrogation, Eric Fair, Murray Polner, Rag Bloggers, Torture | Leave a comment

Kate Braun :
Candlemas celebrates Lord Sun’s renewal

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Candlemas falls on the day before the Full Moon, which could add the energy of “making things happen” to your event.

Candlemas image from Winchelsea Church.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | January 31, 2015

“Spring Fever, spring is here at last/Spring Fever, my heart’s beating fast/Get up, get out, spring is everywhere.”

Monday, February 2, 2015, is Candlemas, also called Imbolc, Candalaria, and Brigit’s Day; a fire festival celebrating Lord Sun’s renewal and vigor. In 2015, Candlemas falls on the day before the Full Moon, which could add the energy of “making things happen” to your event.

The same date as Groundhog Day, Candlemas celebrates spring in all its forms. Notice the sprouting bulbs. In my garden, it’s narcissus; in other parts of the country it could be crocus or other spring-bloomers. You may use representations of these flowers in your decoration, but you should not include cut flowers as it is taboo to pick or cut any plants on Candlemas Day. You may also include Corn Dollies, Candle Wheels, and Brigit’s Crosses in your decorating scheme.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Astrology, Candlemas, Ceremony, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Spirituality | Leave a comment

The Rag Blog :
METRO EVENT | It’s a Rag Blog Happy Hour! With special guest, author/activist Jonah Raskin

Posted on January 30, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

Rock out with us at Maria’s, Friday, Feb. 6 — and also catch Jonah earlier that day when he joins host Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio.

Jonah Raskin dances at Maria’s at Rag Blog Happy Hour in 2011. Photo by James Retherford / The Rag Blog.

AUSTIN — Please join the Rag Blog/Rag Radio community at an informal Happy Hour gathering Friday, February 6, 5:30-7:30 p.m., at Maria’s Taco Xpress in Austin. It’s free and everybody’s welcome.

Event: Rag Blog/Rag Radio Happy Hour
Guest: Author, activist & former Yippie Jonah Raskin
When: Friday, Feb. 6, 2015, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Where: Maria’s Taco Xpress
Address: 2529 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704
Cost: Free
Who can come: You!

Our special guest is Jonah Raskin, who will sign copies of his latest book, A Terrible Beauty: The Wilderness of American Literature, which has been called the first work of cultural criticism to look back at writing in the United States from the perspective of the contemporary environmental crisis.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged A Terrible Beauty, Jonah Raskin, Literature, Metro, Rag Blog Happy Hour, Rag Radio, Yippies | Leave a comment

William Rogers :
METRO | ‘Fight for $15’ comes to UT-Austin

Posted on January 26, 2015 by Thorne Dreyer

One reason workers aren’t making a living wage at UT is that there has not been an across-the-board cost of living pay increase in more than 10 years.

Members of Texas State Employees Union rally for State Services and Higher Education at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, Jan. 13, 2015. Photo from David Ramirez.

By William Rogers | The Rag Blog | January 26, 2015

On opening day of the 84th biennial session of the Texas Legislature, about 50 members of the Texas State Employees Union (TSEU) stood together in front of the Capitol grounds to deliver a message to lawmakers: stop privatizing state services, give all state employees a fair pay raise, and fully fund the state employee pension fund.

Some union members also carried signs demanding that the University of Texas at Austin raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

TSEU is part of the UT Save Our Community Coalition, a student and community coalition that is bringing the Fight for $15 to the UT campus, located a few blocks north of the Capitol.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Anne Lewis, Fight for $15, Living Wage, Metro, Minimum Wage, Rag Bloggers, Shared Services, Texas State Employees Union, UT Save Our Community, UT-Austin, William Rogers | 1 Comment