Category Archives: RagBlog

Life During Wartime : Barack’s Xmas Nightmare

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

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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Lester ‘Red’ Rodney : The Sportswriter Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Line

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Sportswriter Lester “Red” Rodney, September 2007. Photograph by Byron LaGoy / Wikipedia Commons.More than a sportswriter: Lester ‘Red’ Rodney: 1911-2009By Dave Zirin / December 24, 2009 It didn’t make SportsCenter, but one of history’s most influential sportswriters died this week … Continue reading →

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FILM / Cheap Thrills? ‘Avatar’ Kicks Butt

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Avatar is shallow, predictableAnd totally awesome! By Pollyanna O’Possum / The Rag Blog / December 24, 2009 Avatar, the new, multi-million dollar James Cameron’s 3-D sci-fi flick, opened to mixed reviews on Dec. 18, with some criticizing the film’s length … Continue reading →

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Some ‘Renaissance’ : Big Win for ‘No Nukes’

Posted on December 24, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Nine Mile Point nuclear facilities in Oswago, New York, near the shore of Lake Ontario, at sunset . A new facility, to be built by UniStar, has been delayed. Photo by Mike Greenlar / The Post-Standard.Success for grassroots movement:Nuclear power … Continue reading →

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James Howard Kunstler : A Blue Christmas with Avatar and Tiger

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Blue Christmas What is most amazing about Mr. Cameron’s holiday blockbuster is the explicit message that America is a society that deserves to be punished (and humiliated!) by others who manage their own relations with reality better than we do. … Continue reading →

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Supremes : ‘Suspected Enemy Combatant’ no Longer a ‘Person’

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Portrait of a non-person. Image from girloftomorrow.Dred Scott redux:Enemy combatants denied legal standing …once again, 144 years after the Civil War, we have established as the law of the land and the policy of the United States government that whole … Continue reading →

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Honduras : Anti-Coup Gay Activist Assassinated

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

LGBT activist Walter Tróchez was murdered this week.He documented homophobic violence:Honduran gay activist Walter Tróchez murdered By Doug Ireland / December 18, 2009 Walter Tróchez, 25 years old, a well-known LGBT activist in Honduras who was an active member of … Continue reading →

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Listen Up, Senate : Health Care Bill Needs Costs Reduction Amendment

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Cartoon from the Chattanooga Times Free Press.How to save the health care bill:Add a medical costs reduction amendment By Sherman DeBrosse / The Rag Blog / December 17, 2009 Dr. Howard Dean, a true progressive and advocate of health care … Continue reading →

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Changing Climate : Denmark Becoming Police State?

Posted on December 15, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Above, a Danish policeman arrests a demonstrator at Copenhagen climate change summit. Photo from AP. Below, detained demonstrators are seen lined up on a street during mass arrests. Photo by Thibault Camus / AP.Changing winds in Denmark:Preventive detention and the … Continue reading →

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PTSD and the Military : Soldiers Go AWOL to Get Help

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Photo illustration by Jennifer Clampet / USAG Wiesbaden Public Affairs.Military health care inadequate:GI’s go AWOL for PTSD treatmentBy Dahr Jamail / December 13, 2009 MARFA, Texas — With a military health care system over-stretched by two ongoing wars in Afghanistan … Continue reading →

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Grisly Calculus : Fudging on Civilian Casualties in Afghanistan

Posted on December 11, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Sar Bland, an Afghan man who was injured in a rocket attack in Tagab, lies on bed at a hospital at the U.S. base at Bagram, Afghanistan. An official said the death of civilians in U.S. rocket attacks presumably aimed … Continue reading →

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Comcast-NBC Merger : Controlling Content and Delivery

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Thorne Dreyer

Image from ZeroPaid.The Comcast-NBC marriage:The importance of Net Neutrality With a monopoly on delivery, what’s to stop a new breed of ISPs/cable providers from dictating content to customers? By Jared Moya / December 10, 2009 See ‘Internet war: The fight … Continue reading →

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