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

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.

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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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Alan Waldman, Andrea Lowe, British Television, Criticism, DCI Banks, Rag Bloggers, Stephen Tompkinson | Leave a comment

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.

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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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Death and Dying, James McEnteer, Mortality, Philosophy, Rag Bloggers, Remembrance | Leave a comment

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.

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 in RagBlog | Tagged All Hallows Eve, Astrology, Ceremony, Halloween, Kate Braun, Metaphysics, Rag Bloggers, Ritual, Samhain, Spirituality | 2 Comments

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Metro Event Thursday! The Rag Blog presents ‘City of Quartz‘ author Mike Davis on ‘Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster.’

Posted in RagBlog, RagBlurb | Leave a comment

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.

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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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Angel Aguirre, Enrique Peña Nieto, Guerrero, Johnny Hazard, Mexican Massacre, Mexican Student Movement, Mexico City, Official Oppression, Rag Bloggers | 1 Comment

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.

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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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged City of Quartz, Marxist Scholar, Metro, Mike Davis, New Journalism Project, Political Activists, The Rag Blog, Urban Theory | Leave a comment

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 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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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Counter-terrorism, Cuba, Cuban Doctors, Ebola, Health Care, Humanitarian Aid, Medical Epidemics, Rag Bloggers, Tom Hayden, U.S. Foreign Policy, West Africa | Leave a comment

METRO | Lamar W. Hankins : The Supreme Court’s irrational Texas voter ID decision

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Justice Ginsburg called the law ‘purposely discriminatory’ and said it would disenfranchise ‘more than 600,000 registered Texas voters.’

Political cartoon by Nick Anderson / Houston Chronicle.

By Lamar W. Hankins | The Rag Blog | October 22, 2014

AUSTIN — The pre-dawn decision of a majority of Supreme Court Justices on October 18 to deny 600,000 Texans the right to vote in the upcoming election is among the court’s most patently irrational decisions since it declared George W. Bush the winner of the Florida presidential balloting 15 years ago by preventing the state from fairly counting all of the votes cast.

And make no mistake about this latest decision: it, too, is about votes — votes that the Republican majority on the Supreme Court worries will go overwhelmingly to Democrats. But it shouldn’t matter who receives the votes. What matters is that, in our system, the people should be able to vote without unnecessary and unjust interference from politicians in the legislatures and on the Supreme Court.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Greg Abbott, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Lamar W. Hankins, Metro, Rag Bloggers, Supreme Court, Texas Voter ID Law, Voter Fraud, Voter Suppression | 1 Comment

METRO | Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte : Are Texas legislators just slow learners?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Texas is not alone in its willingness to restrict its upscale education to a ‘possessive investment
in whiteness.’

Thousands marched on the Texas State Capitol in March 2011, to protest cuts in state education funding. Photo courtesy of Save Texas Schools Texas Public Radio.

By Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte | The Rag Blog | October 22, 2014

AUSTIN — The Texas legislature seems determined to govern with compulsive error repetition. Consider the recurring issue of education budgets and its subtext of directed disadvantage. This issue has ping-ponged between plaintiffs and state defendants for almost a half century.

The latest chapter came in August. District Judge John Dietz ruled that failing to provide enough money to educate all students adequately violates the state constitution. Dietz echoes rulings gaveled out years ago and repeatedly revisited.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Austin Schools, Class Segregation, De Facto Segregation, Diversity, Education, Gentrification, Mercedes Lynn de Uriarte, Metro, Public Schools, Racism, Rag Bloggers, School Finance, Texas Legislature, Texas Politics | 1 Comment

METRO | Steve Russell : Bee Czar News

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Central Texas Bee Rescue is dedicated to seeing that bees scaring humans with their natural swarming behavior will help pay for their own preservation.

Walter Schumacher is the “Bee Czar.” Image from The American Honey Bee Protection Agency & Central Texas Bee Rescue.

By Steve Russell | The Rag Blog | October 22, 2014

AUSTIN — Last year, there was an emergency around a public housing project in Georgetown, just up IH-35 from Austin. A swarm of honeybees had ensconced itself in a tool shed and the residents, mostly elders, were scared. One of the residents had an allergy to bee stings, and so for him a mishap could be fatal.

The Fire Department was called, Animal Control was called, and eventually the bees were dispatched with insecticide. Lots of people questioned that action at the time. Time had published a cover story back in 2013 warning that nearly one third of U.S. honeybee colonies had died or disappeared since Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) broke out in 2004. Most people who pay attention to the news have by now heard of CCD, even though the causes of it are still hotly disputed.
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Posted in Metro, RagBlog | Tagged Bee Czar, Bee Rescue, Central Texas, Colony Collapse Disorder, Honey Bees, Metro, Rag Bloggers, Steve Russell, Walter Schumacher | Leave a comment

Bill Meacham :
IDEAS | Mental parasites

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

Just as a parasitical lancet fluke can direct an ant to climb up a blade of grass, we are unknowingly manipulated by cultural memes.

Ant on leaf of grass. Free will or “fluke” of nature? Image from The Telegraph.

By Bill Meacham | The Rag Blog | October 21, 2014

What if your brain were taken over by a parasite and made you want something you would not ordinarily want? What if it took over your second-order thinking and made you want to want that thing? Would your will then be free?

This is not so far-fetched a scenario as it might seem. There are numerous examples of parasites infecting the brains of animals to make those animals act contrary to their own well-being. Here is one:
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged Bill Meacham, Cultural Memes, Free Will, Ideas, Lancet Fluke, Nature, Parasites, Philosophy, Rag Bloggers, Second-Order Volition | 2 Comments

Harry Targ :
On democracy: ‘Can we talk?’

Posted on October 21, 2014 by Thorne Dreyer

The United States’ political system, we are told repeatedly, is the gold standard for the world.

Image from Philosophers for Change.

By Harry Targ | The Rag Blog | October 21, 2014

Through her decades of entertaining on stage and screen, [Joan] Rivers developed numerous classic bits and catchphrases, but three small words stand above the rest: “Can we talk?” (Kelli Bender @kbendernyc, 09/04/2014, also at People.com)

I never liked comedienne Joan Rivers who died recently. But her famous one-line introduction to talk show interviewers and stand-up performances is a powerful reminder that certain subjects might be dangerous to discuss in polite company. Whether the United States’ political system is a democratic one is such a subject.

Everything we Americans have learned since infancy suggests that the United States is a democracy. In fact, the United States political system, we are told repeatedly, is the gold standard for the world.
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Posted in RagBlog | Tagged American Society, Campaign Finance, Democracy, Electoral politics, Harry Targ, Rag Bloggers, Voter Suppression | Leave a comment

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Justice Ginsburg called the law ‘purposely discriminatory’ and said it would disenfranchise ‘more than 600,000 registered Texas voters.’

Texas is not alone in its willingness to restrict its upscale education to a ‘possessive investment in whiteness.’

Central Texas Bee Rescue is dedicated to seeing that bees scaring humans with their natural swarming behavior will help pay for their own preservation.

Just as a parasitical lancet fluke can direct an ant to climb up a blade of grass, we are unknowingly manipulated by cultural memes.

The United States’ political system, we are told repeatedly, is the gold standard for the world.

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Texas is not alone in its willingness to restrict its upscale education to a ‘possessive investment
in whiteness.’