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Category Archives: Rag Bloggers
FILM / ‘Harry Brown’ : Shallow Pastiche Mirrors the News
Michael Caine in Harry Brown.What is Harry Brown trying to tell us? It thrills and titillates without any socially redeeming value. It blames the kids on the streets for the drug war and ignores the manufacturing of violence happening in … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Ed Felien, Film, Jamaica, Michael Caine, Organized Crime, Police Tactics, Vigilante Justice, War on Drugs
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VERSE / Larry Piltz : New Atlantis and Banglateche
“Earth could not answer; nor the Seas that mourn…” Illustration by Adelaide Hanscom and Blanche Cumming (1905) for “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam,” tr. Edward Fitzgerald / Wikimedia Commons. New Atlantis and Banglateche By Houma Cayenne Here beside my breathing … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged British Petroleum, Ecology, Environment, Gulf Coast, Larry Piltz, Literature, Louisiana, Oil Spill, Poetry
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Worse or Worser? : Barrier Grief in Louisiana
An oil soaked brown pelican attempts to takes flight on Louisiana coast. Photo by Gerald Herbert / AP.Worse or worser?Gulf grief, contractors, and media mania By Greg Moses / The Rag Blog / May 29, 2010 Shock and awe, misdirection, … Continue reading
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Tagged Bobby Jindal, Broadcast Media, Cable News, CNN, Ecology, Environment, Greg Moses, Gulf Coast, Louisiana, Oil Spill, Politics
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The ‘Nation-Building’ Mirage : A Trillion Dollars and Counting
U.S. Marine in Afghanistan. Photo by Goran Tomasevic / Reuters.From anti-terrorism to ‘nation building’:Paying dearly for Bush’s wars By Ted McLaughlin / The Rag Blog / May 28, 2010 In October of 2001, President Bush invaded Afghanistan. About a year … Continue reading
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Tagged Afghanistan, Bush Legacy, Iraq Occupation, Military, Peace Movement, Ted McLaughlin, U.S. Foreign Policy
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Vietnam and Afghanistan : Still Waist Deep in the Big Muddy
American soldiers carry a wounded comrade through a Vietnam Swamp. Photo by Paul Halverson, 1969. Image from The Veterans Hour.Afghanistan, and the specter of Vietnam:Waist deep in the big muddy By Harry Targ / The Rag Blog / May 27, … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Afghanistan, American History, Counterinsurgency, Harry Targ, U.S. Foreign Policy, Vietnam
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Ray Mungo : The Pope is Toast
Pope Benedict on Palm Sunday. Photo from AP / examiner.com.Pope is Toast, Boy Diddley, and Me By Ray Mungo / The Rag Blog / May 26, 2010 The ongoing circus of revelations pinning responsibility for covering up boy-diddling by priests … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Catholic Church, Child Abuse, Pedophilia, Pope Benedict XVI, Ray Mungo, Sex Scandals
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David P. Hamilton : Our Corporate Rulers and their Bankrupt Drug War
Image from Democratic Underground.Why our leaders wage war on drugsAnd why this war is doomed By David P. Hamilton / The Rag Blog / May 26, 2010 Ted McLaughlin recently wrote an article for The Rag Blog (“Prohibition II: A … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Criminal Justice, David P. Hamilton, Hemp, Marijuana, Medical Marijuana, Ruling Class, War on Drugs
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Dick J. Reavis : Texas Monthly’s ‘Where I’m From’
Erykah Badu (right) at nine years, with her sister Nayrok, six, in Dallas in 1980. Badu contributed to Texas Monthly‘s special edition. Photo from Texas Monthly.Signs of a new inclusiveness?Texas Monthly‘s special edition By Dick J. Reavis / The Rag … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Dick J. Reavis, Diversity, Erykah Badu, Journalism, Latinos, Media, Rick Perry, Texas, Texas Monthly
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Charlie Loving : Ciudad Acuña on Life Support?
Ciudad Acuña in 2001. Image from michaelbluejay.Ma Crosby’s and Ciudad Acuña:A slow death on the border? Today we were the second customers all day at Crosby’s. A Freddy Fender song in the background trailed into Shawn Sahm doing his version … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Charlie Loving, Dining, Economy, Mexican Border, Mexico, Travel
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Houston Alternative Media : Telling It Like It Was
Underground in H-Town. Art by Shelby Hohl / Museum of Printing History.Underground [history] in H-Town:Veteran journalists compare notesOn counterculture and alt media By Raj Mankad / May 24, 2010 [Raj Mankad is the editor of Cite magazine, the “architecture and … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Alternative Media, Counterculture, Culture, History, Houston, Journalism, Journalists, Margaret Webb Dreyer, Museums, Raj Mankad, Sixties, Space City, Thorne Dreyer, Underground Press
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Bob Feldman : A People’s History of Afghanistan / 7
Demonstration at Kabul University, late 1970. Photo by Louis Dupree / BBC.Part 7: 1968-1976A People’s History of Afghanistan By Bob Feldman / The Rag Blog / May 14, 2010 [If you’re a Rag Blog reader who wonders how the Pentagon … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Afghanistan, Bob Feldman, South Asia, Student Activism, U.S. Foreign Policy, World History
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Marc Estrin : Wagner — Oi!
The giants seize Freya. Illustration for Wagner’s Das Rheingold by Arthur Rackham (1910).WAGNER — OI! By Marc Estrin / The Rag Blog / May 24, 2010 I didn’t begin “getting into” Wagner till I was 30ish. Who had the time … Continue reading
