Category Archives: RagBlog

PTSD Meds: Killing Soldiers When the Battle’s Over

Veterans’ families question cause of deaths: Post-traumatic stress syndrome treatment citedBy Julie Robinson / March 1, 2009 CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Stan and Shirley White’s son Andrew, a Marine reservist, died at home 2 1/2 years after he returned from Iraq. … Continue reading

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Online Porn : Conservative Americans are Biggest Users

‘Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,’ says Benjamin Edelman of Harvard. By Ewen Callaway / February 27, 2009 Americans may paint themselves in … Continue reading

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America’s Unpleasant Tendency to Bury the Past

Agent Orange Landscape. This area was defoliated with dioxin at the request of the South Vietnamese. The VC were attacking their training bases nearby from the hills. It now looks a bit like Scotland. Photo source.Obama please note: Those who … Continue reading

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US Iraqi Refugee Program: Not Exactly Successful

Tarek Darwish kisses his wife Nahida Mahmoud goodbye outside the family’s apartment. For for Iraqi attorney Tarek Darwish, his wife Nahida Mahmoud and their 5 children, the hope of obtaining the “American Dream” was quickly fleeting in the five months … Continue reading

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Cole: Financial Trouble in the Newspaper Industry

The End of Newspapers? Or is there a Journalism School Model?By Juan Cole / March 1, 2009 You wonder if the last front page article in the last newspaper will be about the demise of the newspaper? I especially regret … Continue reading

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Ni’lin: Opposed to Israeli Occupation, But Sympathetic to the Suffering of the Jews

A Ni’lin anti-Wall protest (PIC, 12/17/08).And Now For Something Completely DifferentBy Rebecca Vilkomerson / February 28, 2009 For a change of pace from our usual dose of death and destruction, an inspiring story: The village of Ni’lin has paid a … Continue reading

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NATO Has Developed a Strict Scenario to Convey Its Positive Message

A US soldier poses with a dead Afghani man in the hills of Afghanistan.Truth in Reporting: Meaningless to NATO in AfghanistanBy Richard Jehn / The Rag Blog / February 28, 2009 Thanks to Wikileaks, we now know with certainty that … Continue reading

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Beckett on the Two-State Solution

A Palestinian man sits next to a whimsical stenciling on Israel’sseparation barrier in the West Bank village of A-Ram.Too Late for Two-State? The Battle for the Future of Palestine and IsraelBy Paul Beckett / The Rag Blog / February 27, … Continue reading

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If Not Now, When? Ending the Drug War

Wizard’s culture-jammed version of a print ad for a popular cleanser envisions potential benefits of medicinal cannabis, still illegal in 36 states, if US researchers were freed of prohibition-mandated limitations.IF NOT NOW, WHEN? Ending the drug warBy Mariann G. Wizard … Continue reading

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Bageant Goes Trippin’

Skinny Dipping in Reality: A coot’s account of the great hippie LSD enlightenment search partyBy Joe Bageant / February 17, 2009 There’s nothing better that 250 mics of good acid to kick start the cosmic coonhunt for Enlightenment. It takes … Continue reading

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Afghanistan: Not Winning Hearts and Minds

Wounded Afghans recover after air strike bombings.Losing the People: The Cost and Consequences of Civilian Suffering in AfghanistanBy Erica Gaston / February 26, 2009 For the last year, I have been living in Afghanistan interviewing civilians harmed in the conflict … Continue reading

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Bryan Burrough : Still Dissin’ Texas: The Fall From Power

Texas will rise again, of that I have no doubt. I don’t know when, and I don’t know who, but it will. Remember Santa Anna. He thought he’d stomped the Texans at the Alamo, yet it took barely two media … Continue reading

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