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Category Archives: RagBlog
Michael Pollan: What’s Really Wrong with Health Care in America – Corporate Agribusiness
Big Food vs. Big InsuranceBy Michael Pollan / September 9, 2009 TO listen to President Obama’s speech on Wednesday night, or to just about anyone else in the health care debate, you would think that the biggest problem with health … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Agriculture, Alternative Health Care, Food Production, Health Care, Obama Administration
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Beyond Hutto : Reforming Immigrant Detention
Demonstrator at T. Don Hutto detention facility on World Refugee Day, June 20, 2009. Photo by Melissa Del Bosque / The Texas Observer.Beyond Hutto:Activists reflect on the continuing struggle against immigrant detention centers. By DC Tedrow / The Rag Blog … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Austin, Criminal Justice Reform, Hutto Prison, Immigrant Detention, Immigration, Political Action, Social Justice, Texas
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Juan Cole: Labor Day in a Kleptocracy
Where have All the broad Shoulders Gone? Or, Labor Day in a KleptocracyBy Juan Cole / September 7, 2009 The unemployment rate as I write is inching toward 10 percent nationally, and that is only counting people who were still … Continue reading
Firefighters: Mostly Paramedics in Some Places
Firefighters from Company 10 responding to an emergency call in Washington in late August. Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times.Firefighters Become Medics to the PoorBy Ian Urbina / September 3, 2009 WASHINGTON — Peeling off his latex gloves after treating … Continue reading
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Tagged Health Care, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Public Health
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Alberto Gonzales, the Tragic Opera
Alberto Gonzales, the Opera, Hits StageSeptember 4, 2009 A graduate music student has taken the political theater of Washington, D.C., one step further this summer. She’s turned it into opera. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ congressional grilling in April 2007 … Continue reading
Net Neutrality : Next Target of Astroturf Groups?
“WWIII Propaganda Posters: Support Net Neutrality” by Brian Moore / Flickr.Will ‘Astroturf’ groups block Net Neutrality reform? It’s no secret the five biggest telecom companies want Net Neutrality to disappear. All just happen to be members of a ‘pro-consumer’ group. … Continue reading
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Tagged Astroturf Groups, Freedom of Information, Health Care Reform, Internet, Net Neutrality, Right Wing, Telecoms
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Chomsky: Global Crises and Dealing with Them
Crisis and Hope: Theirs and OursBy Noam Chomsky / September 2009 Perhaps I may begin with a few words about the title. There is too much nuance and variety to make such sharp distinctions as theirs-and-ours, them-and-us. And neither I … Continue reading
Journalism at its Best : Rachel Maddow Takes on Tom Ridge
Rachel Maddow leaves Tom Ridge begging for Homeland Security In what essentially amounted to a seminar on left-leaning critiques of the Bush administration, Maddow asked pointed questions on the gamut of security issues… By Joe Coscarelli / September 2, 2009 … Continue reading
Posted in RagBlog
Tagged Broadcast Media, Cable Television, Homeland Security, Journalists, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow
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Celebrated Novelist Elmer Kelton : A Man of West Texas
Elmer Kelton, celebrated Texan and author Elmer wrote Texas as it was and is with a true ear for dialogue and phrase, his writing far above that of authors who try too hard to write like Texans. By Judy Alter … Continue reading
The Afghan War Is Winnable ?
Soviet helicopter brought down by locals in Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.A question, does the following give a true picture? The Afghan War is winnable,The facts, perhaps, are spinnable,Karzai’s intent’s not sinnable,Our General now states. A Soviet Gen’ral said the same,His … Continue reading
Victor Agosto Released from Bell County Jail
Holly Baker of Georgetown and Col. Ann Wright of Honolulu, Hawaii, look at the arm band of Victor Agosto, who was sentenced to a month in jail and stripped of his Army rank for refusing orders to deploy, during a … Continue reading
