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Category Archives: RagBlog
Texas’ Dr. Death : Executing the Mentally Retarded
Daniel Plata, a mentally retarded criminal saved from execution in Texas, is shown in picture on a bookshelf at his home. Photo by Michael Stravato / The Texas Observer.Cruel and unusual in Texas:Executing the mentally retarded ‘When you have junk … Continue reading
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Tagged Capital Punishment, Criminal Justice, Mental Retardation, Texas, Texas Death Row, Texas Observer
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Haiti : Anger and Courage in the Ruins
Haiti: Surveying the damage. Photos from AFP (top) and Reuters.As aid efforts flounder,Haitians rely on each other By Ansel Herz / January 15, 2010 PORT-AU-PRINCE — The roof of Haiti’s national penitentiary is missing. The four walls of the prison … Continue reading
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Tagged Charity, Disaster Relief, Earthquake, Haiti, Natural Disasters
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Her Crime? Sex Work in New OrleansMore than half of the people on Louisiana’s Sex Offender Registry – which was designed for rapists and child molesters – are indigent women convicted of sex work By Jordan Flaherty / The Rag … Continue reading
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Textbooks in Texas : Rehabilitating Joe McCarthy?
Sen. Joseph McCarthy displays one of his many reports on Communists he found in the woodwork. Photo from Wisconsin History.What did you learn in school today?Efforts to vindicate commie-hunting senator By Justin Elliott / January 15, 2010 See ‘Who stays … Continue reading
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Tagged American History, Censorship, Conservatives, Diversity, Education, Henry Cisneros, Joseph McCarthy, McCarthyism, Religious Freedom, Republican, Texas, Textbooks
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Jonah Raskin : Tom Hayden, Abbie Hoffman’s Ghost, and ‘Dirty Water’
Bill Sharpsteen’s Dirty Water:How a community took on City Hall and won By Jonah Raskin / The Rag Blog / January 14, 2010 [Dirty Water: One Man’s Fight to Clean Up One of the World’s Most Polluted Bays, by Bill … Continue reading
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Tagged Abbie Hoffman, Books, Community Organizing, Environment, pollution, Social Activism, Tom Hayden
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Haiti and American Colonialism : The Story Behind the Story
A member of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier’s Tonton Macoutes death squad, center, with Haitian soldier to his right. Note the look of terror on the woman vendor’s face. Image from Latin American Studies. How did Haiti become so poor?Haitian earthquake: … Continue reading
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Tagged American Colonialism, American History, Haiti, Imperialism, Natural Disasters, Political Corruption, Poverty
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Partners in Demise By Carl R. Hultberg / The Rag Blog / Life has a strange way of intertwining existences in ways that defy human reason. Like puns or anagrams that seem to reveal hidden meanings, passings away are also … Continue reading
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Scientists : Dolphins are ‘Non-Human Persons’
Bottlenose dolphin Delphin and her baby Dolly at a zoo in Duisburg, western Germany. Photo by AP.Behavior studies:Dolphins are second smartest animal ‘The neuroanatomy suggests psychological continuity between humans and dolphins and has profound implications for the ethics of human-dolphin … Continue reading
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Tagged Animals, Behavior, Dolphins, Intelligence, Psychology, Scientific Research, Zoology
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Richard Lee FUCK A DUCK ANYTHING FOR A BUCK By Richard Lee / The Rag Blog / January 10, 2010 BOCAS DEL TORO, Panama — I’m watching the financial channel here in Panama, in Spanish, in the middle of the … Continue reading
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‘TV Everywhere’ : Pulling the Plug on Web-Based Video?
Say goodbye to free online television:Comcast launches ‘TV Everywhere’By Josh Silver / January 6, 2010 On Monday, public interest groups called on federal authorities to investigate a plan by the largest cable, satellite and phone companies that threatens the future … Continue reading
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Tagged Cable Television, Comcast, Digital Media, Internet, Monopolies, Television
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Life During Wartime : Courts Release Terrorists!
CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE Political cartoon by Joshua Brown / Historians Against the War / The Rag BlogThanks to Dr. S.R. Keister /The Rag Blog
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Tagged Blackwater, Iraq, Joshua Brown, Mercenaries, Political Cartoon, Political Satire, Terrorism
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