Thorne Webb Dreyer, Editor

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Author Archives: Thorne Dreyer
Health Care Hypocrisy : The GOP’s Nutty Screaming
“Wait Times!” Cartoon by Matt Bors.The GOP’s health care nuttinessAnd the insurance industry backstory The problem the right has with health care reform is not that it represents intrusive government (it doesn’t). It’s that it doesn’t represent the kind of … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Republican Party, Socialism
3 Comments
Agriculture : The Uses of Biotechnology
Genetic science in agriculture:The uses of biotechnology By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / November 22, 2009 I recently wrote about GMO’s on The Rag Blog (“The Future of Agriculture: Genetics and the Limits of Oil“) and I want … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Agriculture, Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering, Global Warming, Medicine, Science
3 Comments
Val Liveoak : Remembering the ‘Tope’ in El Salvador
Mural at the University of Central America in San Salvador depicts martyred Jesuit priests and suggests complicity of the nation’s business and political leadership. Slain Jesuit priests honored in El Salvador In El Salvador, six Jesuit priests are being honored … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Central America, El Salvador, History, Latin America, Revolutionary Movements
1 Comment
Bart Stupak and the Family : The Power of C Street
Above, the Fellowship’s house on C Street in Washington, D.C. Photo by Olivier Douliery / Abaca Press / MCT. Below, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak. Photo by Susan Walsh / AP.The Fellowship on C Street:Bart Stupak and the impact of the … Continue reading
A Modest Proposal : Eat the Rich!
Photo by chrisjfry / Flickr.Serve the people!Carve up Wall Street By Alex Knight / The Rag Blog / November 20, 2009 See Amy Goodman’s interview with Robert Scheer on Wall Street and the economy, from Democracy Now!, Below. Yesterday, Democracy … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Banking, Broadcast Media, Capitalism, Democracy Now, Economy, Obama Administration, Poverty, Wall Street
5 Comments
Robert Jensen : How I Stopped Hating Thanksgiving
“The First Thanksgiving,” painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930) / Wikimedia Commons.How I stopped hating ThanksgivingAnd learned to be afraid This is a society in which even progressive people routinely allow national and family traditions to trump fundamental human … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged American History, American Indians, Genocide, Indigenous People, Ritual, Robert Jensen, Thanksgiving
18 Comments
Lily Keber : Putting Families in Jail in America
Putting children in jail:T. Don Hutto and family detention in America As hope for change in Obama immigration policy dwindles, activists speculate on the fate of family detention. By Lily Keber / The Rag Blog / November 20, 2009 See … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged ACLU, Criminal Justice Reform, Documentary, Family Detention, Filmmakers, Hutto Prison, Immigrant Detention, Immigration, Private Prisons, Texas, UT-Austin, Video
4 Comments
Rogues and Centrists : How Media Frame the World
The symbolic uses of politics:The Gipper and the Rogue By Harry Targ / The Rag Blog / November 20, 2009 Moderate Republicans — yes, they are not extinct, though most are in hiding — scoff at Sarah Palin and wish … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Alternative Media, Media, Political Opinion, Populism, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Sociology
1 Comment
R.I.P. Bill Narum : Legendary Artist of the Texas Counterculture
Below, cover of Space City!, June 1, 1971. Illustration and design by Bill Narum. Bill Narum was a dear friend of The Rag Blog and my personal friend and colleague for more than four decades. He was art director at … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Art, Artists, Austin, Counterculture, Deaths, Graphic Design, Houston, People, Psychedelic Rock, Sixties, Space City, Texas, Underground Culture, Underground Press, Underground Radio
8 Comments
The Future of Agriculture : Genetics and the Limits of Oil
Agriculture, genetics and a sustainable future… …the oil requirement for U.S. food production and transportation will no doubt loom as a much bigger factor, forcing a restructuring of the food industry. By Roger Baker / The Rag Blog / November … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Agriculture, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Genetic Engineering, Peak Oil, Sustainability, Transportation
2 Comments
Minsinformation and the Economy : The Games Republicans Play
The independents are jumping ship…Republican misinformation and economic realityBy Sherman DeBrosse / The Rag Blog / November 18, 2009 By persistent obstructionism and using endless false information, the GOP pulled off some big wins in the 2009 elections. Worse still, … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Economic Recovery, Economic Stimulus, Economics, Republican Party
3 Comments
Crazy for God : Frank Schaeffer on the Rachel Maddow Show
[There was a remarkable segment on last night’s Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC (Nov. 17, 2009). Former evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer described for Maddow and her audience some genuinely frightening activity that is occurring on the fringes of the religious … Continue reading
















