Thorne Webb Dreyer, Editor
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Author Archives: Thorne Dreyer
Republicans Blocked Pandemic Preparedness from Stimulus Bill
Susan Collins brags that she led the fight to strip the stimulus bill of pandemic preparednes. Here she shares inanities with President Bush in 2008. Photo by Ron Sachs / Getty Images North America.GOP Know-Nothings Fought Pandemic Preparedness Every discussion … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Congress, Economic Stimulus, Public Health, Republican Party, Swine Flu
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Tancredo Confrontation at Chapel Hill : An Inside View
Former Republican Conressman Tom Tancredo is confronted by demonstrators at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill campus Tuesday night, April 14, 2009. Photo by Sam Wardle / IndyWeek.com. Vocal demonstrators in Chapel Hill, N.C., shut down a campus appearance by … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Campuses, Racism, SDS, Social Protest, Student Activism, White Supremacists
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From the Iraqi-Turkish Border : Airstrikes or Apples?
Survivor surveys results of Turkish air strike against Kurdish PKK in northern Iraq, this from April, 2008.Airstrikes or Apples? Merkegia, and neighboring villages in this region have been beset by cross-border airstrikes and shelling by Turkey that have destroyed orchards, … Continue reading
Even Genghis Kahn Knew Torture Doesn’t Work
Genghis Kahn. Art from Chinese Culture / Brooklyn College.Torture and the complicity of the physician By Dr. Stephen R. Keister / The Rag Blog / April 27, 2009 Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Thomas Cooper in 1823: “Man … Continue reading
Bridging the Gap : US Sponsors Forum on Che
“Guerrillero Heróico.” This iconic photograph of Che Guevara by Alberto Korda is said to be the most reproduced of all time. Image from artdaily.org. The forum was a creative way to reach out to the Argentines (and other Latin Americans) … Continue reading
Pete Seeger and our Progressive Culture
Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sing “This Land is Your Land” at the Barack Obama inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Jan.18, 2009. Photo by Mandel Ngan / AFP / Getty Images. The culture provides a way … Continue reading
Conspiracism, Right Wing Populism and Alex Jones
Art by Andy B. Clarkson / Kenny’s Sideshow The following column by John Zorabedian on the mushrooming and quite frightening growth of “conspiracism” was passed along to us by Carl Davidson. It was first published on Examiner.com on April 11, … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Conspiracy Theories, Populism, Racism, Right Wing, Right Wing Media, Talk Radio
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Obama’s First 100 Days : Now a Piggy Pandemic?
Graphic by Larry Ray / The Rag Blog. The implications of a global flu pandemic superimposed upon the USA at this point in our history are staggering. By Larry Ray / The Rag Blog / April 26, 2009 As President … Continue reading
Roger Baker : Should the Left Diss the Tea-Baggers?
Sign at Tea Party protest in Wichita, Feb. 27, 2009. Photo from Voice for Liberty in Wichita. The tea baggers versus Obama formulation should be seen as opportunistic political theater that avoids a serious examination of the important issues. By … Continue reading
Posted in Rag Bloggers
Tagged Obama Administration, Populism, Progressives, Tax Protests, The Left
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Jim Hightower : Texas’ Governor Goodhair is One Pandering Goober
Texas’ Panderer-in-Chief, Gov. Rick Perry, covers his lovely locks with a gimme cap at the Texas tea party rally April 15, 2009 at the state capitol. With him is Michael Quinn Sullivan of Texans for Fiscal responsibility. Photo by Harry … Continue reading
BOOKS / ‘Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America’
What I found striking in this volume is the extent to which advances in behavioral science and pedagogical experience have played almost no role in the evolution of corrections: Sentencing policies and prison conditions stem from basic, often religious and … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged American Society, Books, History, Incarceration, Prison Reform, Prisons
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Life During Wartime : Stress We Can Believe In
Political cartoon by Joshua Brown / Historians Against the War / The Rag BlogThe Rag Blog
