Short Takes: News From All Over: February 2, 2006

By Staff and Utne.Com
Published on October 29, 2007

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<strong>They Always Shoot the Dog</strong>
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By Radley Balko, <em>The Agitator</em>
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Given the number of tragedies generated by America’s decades-long “war on drugs,” it’s easy to overlook the canine casualties of drug raids. Since invading police officers are rarely held accountable for animal injury or death, they can be quick to shoot dogs at the first sign of trouble, bereaving minor drug offenders, medicinal marijuana patients, or their unlucky neighbors. — <em>Brendan Themes</em>
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<a href=”http://www.theagitator.com/archives/026188.php”>http://www.theagitator.com/archives/026188.php</a>
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<strong>Write Myself a Letter</strong>
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By Staff, <em>FutureMe.org</em>
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Ever wish you could look back in a year, five years, ten years, and remember exactly what you were thinking at this moment? Now you can. The website FutureMe.org lets you type an email to yourself for future delivery on any date you set, through the year 2036. And in case your inbox changes, the site lets you update your email address any time, so your virtual time capsules never have to miss their mark. — <em>Leif Utne</em>
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<a href=”http://www.futureme.org/”>http://www.futureme.org/</a>
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<strong>Death and Taxes: A Visual Look at Where Your Tax Dollars Go</strong>
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By Nick Aster, <em>Triple Pundit</em>
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With 1090s and other tax forms landing in mailboxes across the country, it’s the time of year that many citizens start to wonder exactly where their tax dollars have gone. A deviantART member created this helpful chart to track discretionary government spending in 2004. We’ll have to wait for the 2005 version to see where Jack Abramoff fits in. — <em>Bennett Gordon</em>
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<a href=”http://tinyurl.com/8cgz5″>http://tinyurl.com/8cgz5</a>
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<a href=”http://www.deviantart.com/view/9410862/”>http://www.deviantart.com/view/9410862/</a>
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<strong>War News Radio</strong>
<br />
<em>A project of Swarthmore College</em>
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A group of students at Swarthmore College has stepped up to challenge mainstream reporting on Iraq. Using Skype (a free internet telephone service) the students have been developing contacts in Iraq and providing a much-needed alternative perspective on life there. (Thanks, <a href=”http://www.failuremag.com/”>
<em>Failure Magazine</em>
</a>.) — <em>Nick Rose</em>
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<a href=”http://www.warnewsradio.org/show/”>http://www.warnewsradio.org/show/</a>
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<strong>It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Airborne Wind Power</strong>
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By Jeremy Faludi, <em>WorldChanging</em>
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Massive energy production potential lies latent in the jet stream, and an intrepid few out there are looking for ways to harness it. Tethered to the ground while flying high into the atmosphere, these contraptions may look fantastical, even ridiculous. But the devices detailed in this roundup could turn out to be the answer to our rampant fossil fuel consumption. — <em>Nick Rose</em>
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<a href=”http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004052.html”>http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/004052.html</a>
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<strong>Dear Sheriff O’Connor…</strong>
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<em>Letter from Diane Wilson, via Chelsea Green Publishing</em>
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Diane Wilson started raising hell in Texas in 1989 when she learned that the Gulf Coast waters she worked as a shrimper were being massively polluted. This “unreasonable woman” — as her memoir is titled — has been causing trouble for corporations and politicians at home and abroad ever since. The CODEPINK co-founder is now in jail in Texas to serve a 150-day sentence for trespassing during a 2002 protest. (She was arrested in December during an action at a fundraiser for Rep. Tom DeLay.) Her activism continues, though. Wilson wrote this letter from her Victoria County cell to the sheriff there, decrying the conditions and degradations — like grossly inadequate health care — she says her fellow inmates are suffering. — <em>Hannah Lobel</em>
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<a href=”http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/unreasonablewoman/fromjail”>http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/unreasonablewoman/fromjail</a>
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