Harry Targ :
What to make of the elections – and what we should do next

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Progressives must engage in education, agitation, and organization around social and economic justice issues while fighting the politics of fear.

mitch mcconnell celebrates

Mitch McConnell celebrates in Louisville. Photo by J. Scott Applewhite / AP.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | November 5, 2014

I am looking at exit poll data and, as in prior election seasons, more Democratic votes came from the young, women, African Americans, Latinos, voters with post-graduate degrees and educational levels at or below high school, and low income citizens. This national polling data comports with results from many individual Congressional and state races. These groups of voters (or comparable groups of non-voters) will stay the same or increase as a percentage of potential voters in 2016 and beyond.

This data speaks to the necessary expansion of electoral and “street heat” strategies that prioritize several issues. Progressives need to continue to combat racism and sexism in all its forms. This translates into reversing voter suppression laws and other tactics to stifle voting, renewing the Voting Rights Act, pursuing equal pay for equal work legislation, opening the doors for citizenship to all migrants to the United States.
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Harvey Wasserman :
The GOP/corporate coup d’etat is nearly complete

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Our electoral apparatus is thoroughly compromised by oceans of dirty money, Jim Crow registration traps, rigged electronic voting, gerrymandering…

people have spoken

Image from Texas Editor.

By Harvey Wasserman | The Rag Blog | November 5, 2014

The GOP/corporate coup d’etat is nearly complete.

The Republicans now control the major media, the Supreme Court, the Congress, and soon the presidency.

Think Jeb Bush in 2016.

All throughout America, right down to the local level, buried in a tsunami of cash and corruption, our public servants are being morphed into corporate operatives.
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METRO PODCAST | Thorne Dreyer : Houston-raised actress Cindy Pickett was Ferris
Bueller’s mom

Posted on November 4, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The daughter of Houston acting teacher Cecil Pickett, Cindy starred in ‘Guiding Light,’ ‘St. Elsewhere,’ and Roger Vadim’s erotic thriller, ‘Night Games.’

cindy pickett 1 sm crop

Cindy Pickett on Rag Radio in the studios of KOOP 91.7-FM in Austin, Oct. 3, 2014. Photos by Roger Baker / The Rag Blog.

Interview by Thorne Dreyer | The Rag Blog | November 4, 2014

Our Rag Radio podcast features actress Cindy Pickett, whose father was the revered Houston director and acting teacher, Cecil Pickett.

Cindy may be best known for her role as Katie Bueller, Ferris’ mom in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. She also starred as Valerie St. John in Roger Vadim’s erotic cult film, Jeaux de Nuit/Night Games, and as Dr. Jane Norris in the sci-fi film, DeepStar Six, and had featured roles in the soap opera Guiding Light and the Emmy-winning series, St. Elsewhere
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Ron Jacobs :
BOOKS | ‘Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence’

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

This collection of essays, poetry, and art, much of it from the pages of CounterPunch, is provocative
and enlightening.

killing trayvons

Much of the writing in Killing Trayvons was first
published in CounterPunch.

By Ron Jacobs | The Rag Blog | November 3, 2014

In 1771 in the North Carolina colony, Justice Martin Howard condemned a grand jury that refused to consider a murder charge after a white man was accused of the murder of his African slave. Apparently, the grand jury did not consider the killing by a white man of a Negro slave to be murder.

In 2012, the murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman followed by Zimmerman’s subsequent acquittal of the crime took much of white United States by surprise. These Americans had convinced themselves that Black men were treated the same as every other resident of the United States and, if they were killed for no apparent reason other than a white person’s fear, then justice would be done in the name of the wrongly murdered African-American. However, the murder of a Black man in the U.S. by a man considered white is apparently still not murder.
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METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : The failure of Greg Abbott’s best arguments against marriage equality

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

It appears that the issue of marriage equality is less a matter of partisanship than it is of pandering to the religious right.

greg abbott family

Abbott with family: The Ozzie and Harriet option? Image from OutSmart.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | November 2, 2014

Most lawyers are embarrassed to make worthless, senseless arguments to support their positions. But not so, apparently, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the heir apparent to the Texas Governor’s mansion, if recent polls are correct.

Time after time, Abbott has argued that marriage equality, barred officially by the Texas Constitution, is not protected by the U.S. Constitution. But this position has one great hurdle to overcome: the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 1967 case, found that prohibitions of interracial marriage were unconstitutional. In Loving v. Virginia, the court unanimously held that “Marriage is one of the ‘basic civil rights of man,’ fundamental to our very existence and survival….”
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Alan Waldman :
Britain’s ‘DCI Banks’ is a smart, engaging cop series set in the North of England

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Stephen Tompkinson leads a solid cast in this well-written skein.

dci banks

Stephen Tomkinson and Andrea Lowe in DCI Banks.

By Alan Waldman | The Rag Blog | November 1, 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, New Zealand and Scotland. Most are available on DVD and/or Netflix, and some episodes are on YouTube.]

In the 2010-2014 British crime drama series DCI Banks, tenacious Detective Chief Inspector Alan Banks (Stephen Tompkinson) unravels disturbing murder and other serious crime mysteries aided by his feisty, ambitious young assistant, DS Annie Cabbot (Andrea Lowe) and other police.

To date, 20 episodes (10 two-parters) have been shot. Two of the four seasons are on Netflix and several episodes recently aired on 166 PBS stations and can probably still be seen at their website for free. PBS aired the two-parters as 90-minute single episodes.
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James McEnteer :
Just passing through

Posted on November 1, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Three human beings, who have given my own life color and joy, are gone now, fallen like leaves from deciduous branches.

just passing through

Lone horseman riding through Tucson, circa 1880. Photo by Ricardo Small. Image from Anywhen.com.

By James McEnteer | The Rag Blog | November 1, 2014

My brother died last year. He was a gentle soul, devoid of personal ambition. He led a quiet life, leaving few footprints. When he could, he assisted people who sought his help. When he was no longer financially or physically able, none of those he helped came to his aid, but others did. His friends supported him lovingly, just because he needed it. Their generosity illuminated his final days. When those friends and I have passed on, all memory of my brother will disappear. Then he will be truly dead.

My friend Bill died eight years ago at age 60. It was amazing he lived so long because at nineteen he broke his neck. After two years in the hospital, he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. From his mid-chest downward, his body was numb, useless flesh. He had limited use of his arms and couldn’t make a fist.
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Kate Braun :
Samhain, aka Halloween, is a time of transformation

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Shorter days and longer nights prompt us to turn our focus inward, to reflect and ponder.

black cat

Those trick-or-treating cats. Image from The Spooky Isles.

By Kate Braun | The Rag Blog | October 28, 2014

“Cat monsters on the sidewalk / Cat witches in the air / Those trick-or-treating cats / Are around everywhere”

Friday, October 31, 2014, is Samhain, aka Halloween, All Hallows Eve, Third Harvest. On the Wheel of Life, this celebration marks the last of the year’s festivals. Mother Earth shall lie fallow, preparing for the coming year and the life it will bring forth. It is a time of transformation, a sort of spiritual hibernation during the “time of no time” that will last until Yule, the Winter Solstice.

We sense the changing seasons. Shorter days and longer nights prompt us to turn our focus inward, to reflect and ponder. In the Long Ago, Samhain was when the harvest was completed and garden tools were cleaned, oiled, and stored away; when no more crops would be harvested; when families hunkered down around the fireplace and listened to grandmother’s tales of the family history. So it is with your Samhain festivities: honor the past and let your remembrances open the door to your future.
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Posted on October 27, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer
Mike Davis graphic vertical
Metro Event Thursday! The Rag Blog presents ‘City of Quartz‘ author Mike Davis on ‘Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.’
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Johnny Hazard :
Government evasion continues in Guerrero massacre case

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Parents of the ‘disappeared’ warn of more drastic actions if no results in 48 hours.

saving, slaying mexico crop

Enrique Peña Nieto’s “Saving Mexico” Time magazine cover has angered many (a change.org petition has more than 12,000 signatures). “Slaying Mexico” was more fitting for one Twitter user. Image from Fox News Latino.

By Johnny Hazard | The Rag Blog | October 27, 2014

MEXICO CITY — On Wednesday, October 23, after a day of marches including one with hundreds of thousands of participants in Mexico City, parents of the 43 missing education students kidnapped by police in Iguala, Guerrero, on September 26 issued an ultimatum: if there were no real results in 48 hours, they would take more drastic actions.

The 48 hours passed with no governmental action except the apparent resignation of Ángel Aguirre, governor of Guerrero. “Apparent,” because he really asked for a leave of absence, a common tactic for Mexican politicians who want to see if they will be favored eventually by a forgive and forget policy. Carlos Navarrete, president of Aguirre’s (formerly) center-left party, the Partido de la Revolución Democrática, defended the governor effusively till the day before his resignation.
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METRO EVENT | The Rag Blog : Celebrated Author & Urban Theorist Mike Davis in Austin this Thursday

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Marxist Scholar Davis, author of ‘City of Quartz,’ will speak on ‘Texas vs. California: Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster’ at 5604 Manor in Austin.

Mike Davis graphic vertical

The Rag Blog presents Mike Davis at 5604 Manor in Austin. Photo © Don Usner. Poster graphic by Carlos Lowry / The Rag Blog.

“If it’s apocalypse you want — and frankly who doesn’t, because how else to explain the mess we’re in — nobody does it better [than Mike Davis].” — The Guardian

“Davis remains our penman of lost souls and lost scenarios: He culls nuggets of avarice and depredation the way miners chisel coal.” — The Nation

Event: The Rag Blog presents scholar/author Mike Davis
Subject: “Texas vs. California: Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster”
When: Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014, 7-9 p.m.
Where 5604 Manor Community Center
Address: 5604 Manor Rd., Austin, Tx 78723
Benefiting: New Journalism Project
Suggested donation: $10

AUSTIN — The Rag Blog presents City of Quartz author, urban theorist, Marxist scholar, historian, and political activist Mike Davis — speaking on “Texas vs. California: Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster. A California perspective on Texas-as-the-future” — on Thursday, October 30, 7-9 p.m. at the 5604 Manor Community Center in Austin.

A discussion and informal gathering will follow — with food, beer, and wine available. The event benefits the New Journalism Project, the Texas nonprofit that publishes The Rag Blog and sponsors Rag Radio. Suggested donation is $10.
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Tom Hayden :
Battling Ebola: Cuba leads while U.S. lags

Posted on October 26, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The U.S. has 550 military personnel in Africa on counterterrorism missions while over 5,000 Africans have succumbed to the non-military threat of Ebola.

cuban doctors

Cuban doctors on their way to West Africa to fight Ebola, October 2014. Photo by EFE via telesur.

By Tom Hayden | The Rag Blog | October 26, 2014

In what a New York Times editorial called “Cuba’s Impressive Role on Ebola” [Oct. 19], hundreds of Cuban doctors and nurses are being dispatched to West Africa to battle Ebola, train medical personnel, and create isolation and treatment centers. The Cubans are playing “the most robust role” of any country in battling the Ebola plague, which has erupted virulently because of a broad failure, according to the Times, “to produce medicines and vaccines for diseases that afflict poor countries.”

The U.S. has 550 military personnel in Africa on counterterrorism missions while over 5,000 Africans have succumbed to the non-military threat of Ebola. Cuba is taking action in part because Ebola, unchecked, will spread to the Caribbean, but also out a consistent sense of humanitarian duty which Washington fails to comprehend.
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