The great Texas populist commentator and political gadfly is interviewed by Thorne Dreyer on Rag Radio. Podcast posted at Truthout.

Listen to the podcast!

(via Ted McLaughlin : Wendy Davis, Energized Dems Deal Blow to Texas GOP and War on Women)

David Amram, a virtuoso composer and jazz musician who has been a trailblazer in the American arts scene for decades and was a pioneer of what became known as the Beat movement, was in Austin for the September 29 Texas premiere of This Land is Our Land, his folk-inspired Symphonic Variations on a Song by Woody Guthrie. Read Thorne Dreyer’s Rag Blog article about the 82-year-old Amram -- who was called “the Renaissance Man of American Music” by The Boston Globe -- and listen to the podcast of the Rag Radio interview.

Jim Simons reflects on his life and times with former law partner, Cam Cunningham, who died earlier this month, and their work defending Movement activists, anti-war GIs, and others in the heady late '60s and '70s. In 1971, Jim remembers, "we cleaned out our firm bank account" and went to the May Day action in Washington to "shut down D.C. in protest against the Vietnam war," but "wound up lawyering to get our comrades out of jail."

In an attempt to reinvent the Vietnam War, President Obama and the Pentagon have launched a "multi-year national public relations campaign to justify, glorify, and honor Washington's catastrophic, aggressive, and losing war against Vietnam." Jack Smith lays bare this cynical attempt at revisionist history, including the fabricated and long-debunked claims of widespread mistreatment of Vietnam vets by antiwar forces.

"The major sin of the big oil companies," Roger Baker tells us, "was to get their customers addicted, to set up lobbies to keep them addicted, and to deny the looming shortage problem, including the threat of global warming." In this excellent feature article, Baker says that "the United States has been a nation addicted to a continuous supply of cheap imported oil for at least the last 35 years" and he calls on President Obama "to be honest about the true gravity of our current situation."

Austin native Marilyn Buck, who spent 25 years as a federal political prisoner, wrote this collection of "spare... but flagrant" poetry -- much of it about "how the human mind can escape the sterility of prison" -- while "racing against uterine cancer until her death." Her long-time friend and fellow poet and political activist Mariann Wizard says the serving of 63 often jazz-cadenced poems presents Buck as "much more than a one-dimensional icon" and "will give general poetry lovers their first real opportunity to savor her body of work."  Mariann's review includes samples of Buck's increasingly-celebrated work.

Author Chris Mooney surgically dissects the "Republican Brain," tapping impressive new scientific research ranging from social psychology and cognitive neuroscience to genetics. According to Mooney, "Political conservatives seem to be very different from political liberals at the level of psychology and personality." Conservatives "view the world in black and white," Mooney said. "They think that there's only two sides, and that they're on the right side." Mooney is the author of "The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science -- and Reality." This article includes a podcast of Thorne Dreyer's hour-long interview with Mooney on Rag Radio.

In a fascinating intersection of history, real estate, and the legacy of a 1960s guru, Ivan Kuper tells the story of the Heaven on Earth Inn, an abandoned hotel in downtown Houston that was purchased by former Beatles spiritual guide, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, for use as a santuary for the Transcendental Meditation movement. But the hotel fell on rough and seedy times and eventually came to resemble -- and be called -- Houston's "Beirut Hilton."

The Beats are back! Allen Ginsberg biographer and former Yippie activist Jonah Raskin profiles and interviews Jack Kerouac scholar Gerald Nicosia as three new Beat movement-inspired movies are in the works, including Walter Salles' version of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." Raskin and Nicosia talk about "Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and their friends and lovers."

Bill Neiman -- a leader in the movement to conserve natural resources and restore the heath of the environment in Texas -- was Thorne Dreyer's guest on Rag Radio, Friday, April 13, originally broadcast on KOOP-FM in Austin. Neiman is also an environmental landscaper and his Native American Seed is the principal supplier of native wildflower and grass seeds in Texas. An advocate of the use of native species of vegetation in landscaping, Neiman warns that we must have a paradigm shift in our relationship to the land. Listen to the podcast of the interview at this post.

Beginning with words from Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" -- "The horror! The horror!" -- Mike Hanks takes us first through the darkness -- the horror and futility of the U.S. drug war in Mexico -- and then we move towards the "spark of light" Diego Huerta has created with his ambitious photographic project, "31K Portraits for Peace," on exhibit at Austin's Mexic-Arte Museum, which features thousands of striking and poignant photos of ordinary Mexican citizens holding origami doves of peace. The post includes a gallery of photos from the exhibit.

A remarkable tribute to a remarkable man. Retired physician, Dr. Stephen R. Keister, who gained a big following with his reporting for The Rag Blog about health care reform and the state of American Society, died in hospice Friday, April 6, in Erie, PA, at the age of 90. This is a report on his unique life and commitment to social change -- and the post includes a final dispatch from Steve Keister, who shares his thoughts about hospice and the process of dying.

According to Jim Hightower, "even the smallest dog can lift its leg on the tallest building." Jim -- who is perhaps our most celebrated contemporary champion of the common folk -- believes we are in a "populist moment" in the United States. As Thorne Dreyer's guest on Rag Radio, he discussed his philosophy and his generally positive take on the state of progressive activism in the country. Includes highlights from the interview, a player for listening to the podcast, and Jeff Zavala's video of the show.

Article from The Rag Blog with podcast of Rag Radio interview with David Bacon, posted by Truthout.

Alice Embree reports from San Antonio on that city's 22nd annual Women's Day celebration, organized by a coalition of "fierce 'mujeres'" from community and social justice organizations, including union organizers and advocates for reproductive choice and LGBTQ rights. The event, which "crossed boundaries of race, age, class, national origin, and sexual orientation," included a lively dose of political theater provided by CodePink and others. Includes a great gallery of photos from the event.