Category Archives: RagBlog

The Late Great Molly Ivins : What Would She Think?

Carlton Carl and Elna Christopher hug beside a portrait of Molly Ivins, during a memorial service for the late columnist and political sage, on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007, in Austin. Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez / AP.After Barack Obama’s 2004 speech … Continue reading

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Austin : Watch Out for Zombies

Austin road signs warn of zombies. Photo from KXAN.Construction signs warn of zombies:Hackers change public safety message.By Shannon Wolfson / January 29, 2009 See Video below. AUSTIN — Austin drivers making their morning commute were in for a surprise when … Continue reading

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Robert Scheer on Obama : Follow the Money!

Obama’s economic team, unveiled last November: the fixers helped create the problem. Photo by Sally Ryan / NYT.‘While the new president has already proved to be a brilliant and super-competent agent of change in so many ways, in matters of … Continue reading

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Dahr Jamail on Iraq : The Story Beneath the Story

A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, which the US military now uses for most of its patrols in Iraq’s Sadr City. Photo by Dahr Jamail / truthout. ‘The political divides across the country run deep, and this thin, fresh, external … Continue reading

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Cool News : Lesbian to Lead Iceland

Johanna Siguardardottir, Iceland’s social affairs minister, is set to become the country’s interim prime minister. A former flight attendant and union organizer, she is openly gay. Recent polls have showed Sigurdardottir, 66, to be the nation’s most popular politician. She … Continue reading

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Latin America’s Leftward Electoral Paradigm Shift

Leaders of Latin American nations. Photo: AP.Dirty Business, Dirty Wars: U.S.-Latin American Relations in the 21st CenturyBy Cyril Mychalejko / 27 January 2009 Much is being made across the political spectrum in the United States about Washington’s waning influence in … Continue reading

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Evidence of and Witnesses to War Crimes in Gaza

Halima Badwan stands before the ruins of the Ezbt Abed Rabbo apartment building, January 24, 2009, where he found his wife’s body after Israel’s Gaza Strip military campaign. Photo: Dion Nissenbaum/MCT.Israeli troops killed Gaza children carrying white flag, witnesses sayBy … Continue reading

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FBI: ‘We Knew That the Mortgage-Brokerage Industry Was Corrupt.’

Bank repossession, foreclosure and for sale signs sit outside a foreclosed home in Houston. Two retired FBI officials asserted that the Bush administration was thoroughly briefed on the mortgage fraud crisis and its potential to cascade out of control, but … Continue reading

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UN : Drug Money Used to Prop Up US Banks

‘The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime had found evidence that “interbank loans were funded by money that originated from drug trade and other illegal activities,”‘By Boris Groendahl / January 25, 2009 VIENNA — The United Nations’ crime and … Continue reading

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Gaza War is Teaching the Children to Hate

Palestinian peace activist Muhammad Abu Humus was arrested by Israelis in black ski masks for protesting the Gaza killings, while his children hovered in the corner of the room crying.Fuelling the cycle of hate: War is teaching the children of … Continue reading

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Family Values : ‘Living Fossil’ Becomes a Daddy at 111

Big Daddy! The tuatara looks little different from its Jurassic relatives. Photo by Frans Lanting / National Geographic.After 40 years of celibacy, grumpy centenarian reptile finally gets frisky.January 26, 2009 A rare New Zealand reptile has become a father, possibly … Continue reading

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The Conflicting Imperatives of Science and Law

Ed Abney, of Berea, Ky., has Parkinson’s disease after two decades of working with a solvent. He has had trouble proving a link. Photo: Carla Winn for The New York Times.Exposed to Solvent, Worker Faces HurdlesBy Felicity Barringer / January … Continue reading

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