The Rag Blog: Assessing the Success of the Surge

06 August 2008

Assessing the Success of the Surge

The Guardian's Ghaith Abdul-Ahad went back to Baghdad to see the effects of last year's troop escalation ("surge"). He argues that the US military's blast walls and forcible division of the city into isolated micro-neighborhoods are the cause of the reduction in deaths, not extra troops.

Source / Informed Comment / The Guardian

The Rag Blog / Posted August 6, 2008

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Tom Hayden : Progressive Dems See Opening for New Politics by Tom Hayden / The Rag Blog. The sight of progressive Democrats shaming and exposing the Wall Street-funded "Third Way" Democrats is a sign of a powerful new opening for progressives on the American political spectrum.
Jack A. Smith : Climate Change Confab Brings Too Little Too Late by Jack A. Smith / The Rag Blog. The sharply increasing scientific indicators of impending disastrous global climate change have failed to motivate the principal developed countries to accelerate the lackluster pace of their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Lamar W. Hankins : Opportunist Narvaiz Takes On Doggett Again in Gerrymandered 35th by Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog. Former San Marcos mayor Susan Narvaiz, who is again challenging U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett in Texas' gerrymandered 35th district, is a political chameleon who says what she needs to say to protect herself from political accountability.
Steve Horn : Keystone XL's Houston 'Fork in the Road' by Steve Horn / DeSmogBlog. The southern half of TransCanada's Keystone XL tar sands pipeline includes a "Houston Lateral Pipeline" that is leading the LyondellBasell refinery to retool itself for the looming feast of tar sands crude and fracked oil bounty.
RAG RADIO / Thorne Dreyer : November Guests Include Spiritual Counselor, Citizens' Advocate, Singer-Songwriter by Rag Radio / The Rag Blog. Thorne Dreyer's guests in November included a Methodist minister and longtime social activist, a noted citizens' advocate, two staffers from the original Rag, the author of a book about the 'movement that started the civil rights movement,' and an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Listen to the podcasts here.
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Rabbi Arthur Waskow : Israel, Hillel, and Idolatry by Rabbi Arthur Waskow / The Rag Blog. Hillel International, the "home" for many Jewish college students of diverse backgrounds and beliefs, has been beset with controversy about when uncritical support among American Jews for Israel becomes "idolatry of the State."
Paul Krassner : Is There a Doctor in the House? by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. The Coachella Valley in Southern California hosted a massive four-day health clinic that helped more than 2,500 uninsured patients. Krassner points out that California leads the nation in people without health insurance and says that "the insurance industry has a preexisting condition known in technical terminology as greed."
Kate Braun : Winter Solstice Falls on Saturn's Day by Kate Braun / The Rag Blog. Our celebrations during the Winter Solstice take from many traditions, including the Roman Saturnalia, Druid customs, the German "Yule," and the birth of Jesus; and it was Queen Victoria who popularized the lighted Christmas tree.
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Lamar W. Hankins : Right-Wing Rants and the Abominable Straw Man by Lamar W. Hankins / The Rag Blog. The Internet is a marvelous tool when used honestly and correctly, and with recognition of its limitations. But it is also home to angry rants, often from the far right, that make ridiculous claims -- like the one (that actually originated on a satirical site) saying that the Obama administration was setting up gasoline stations to provide free gas to low-income [read: black] people.
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Alan Waldman : ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ Has Kept Millions Laughing for 37 Years by Alan Waldman / The Rag Blog. British national treasure, Roy Clarke, created and wrote all 295 episodes of this droll Britcom about three elderly Yorkshiremen with too much time on their hands.
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Paul Krassner : A Tale of Two Alternative Media Conferences by Paul Krassner / The Rag Blog. Paul remembers the original Alternative Media Conference in June 1970 at Goddard College in Vermont -- and it was a wild and wooly affair headlined by the likes of Ram Dass, Harvey Kurtzman, and Art Spiegelman -- as the college hosts another conference keynoted by progressive radio host Thom Hartmann.
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06 August 2008

Assessing the Success of the Surge

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