February 13, 2006 Issue

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February 13, 2006 Issue

Cover art by: Cover by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

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Features

The End of the Internet?

Telephone and cable companies are crafting strategies to transform the free and open Internet to a privately run service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online. Can we stop them?

Jeffrey Chester
Curing Fanaticism

Amos Oz reflects on the political and diplomatic implications of Hamas's recent victory and its impact on opportunities for peace.

Jon Wiener
For Pro-Life Bloggers, a New Hubris

Relishing Samuel Alito's impact on the Supreme Court, pro-life bloggers are already laying strategies to win hearts and minds in a transformed legal landscape.

Esther Kaplan
Credit Crunch

New federal guidelines for banks and credit card companies that boost minimum monthly payments have wreaked havoc on American families struggling to pay their bills and avoid bankruptcy.

Mark Winston Griffith
New Day for Bolivia

The inauguration of Evo Morales as Bolivia's first indigenous president opens a new era for Bolivia and a turning point for political, diplomactic and trade issues in the Americas.

Tom Hayden
The Party of Davos

American business elites in Davos for the World Economic Forum are far more interested in global markets and corporate investors than they are in ordinary Americans' needs.

Jeff Faux
The New Face of the Campus Left

Since the 1970s Republican conservatives have been the dominant political force on American campuses. But groups like Campus Progress, better groomed and better organized than their predecessors, are pushing back.

Sam Graham-Felsen
A Second-Line Revival

Storm-whipped New Orleanians returned to the city to join a joyful second-line parade, a revival of music that made real the triumph of the city's spirit.

Billy Sothern

Editorials

In Fact…

THE NEW LEADER: RIP

the Editors
UCLA’s Dirty Thirty

Negative media coverage has succeeded in undermining support among prominent conservatives for a UCLA alumni group that paid students to target and expose left-leaning faculty.

Jon Wiener
Truth, Fiction and Frey

James Frey's faux memoir exposes corporate publishing as an industry so starved for bestsellers that it is unable to protect itself from fraud.

Matthew Flamm
Storm Clouds Over Iran

The confrontation with Iran is a wake-up call to states that possess nuclear weapons: in a world of nuclear apartheid, multilateral disarmament is the only course of action that can succeed.

Richard Falk
Madness of King George

Democrats should follow Al Gore's lead and challenge the Bush Administration's ongoing surveillance of American citizens. If this illegal action goes unchecked, our liberties will be dramatically impaired.

the Editors
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Columns

Enron’s Enablers

As the Enron trial unfolds, it's depressing that Phil and Wendy Gramm, the company's political enablers, are going unpunished and uncriticized.

Robert Scheer
SpongeBob SquarePants, Health Risk

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is suing Kellogg and Viacom for using cartoon characters to brainwash kids into consuming mass amounts of junk food.

Nicholas von Hoffman
Prochoice Puritans

As prochoicers seek to reframe their arguments, injecting more moralism into the antiabortion debate will not keep abortion legal and accessible.

Katha Pollitt
Nick Kristof’s Brothel Problem

Nicholas Kristof produces a steady stream of titillating reports on child prostitution in the Third World. Better to focus on draconian economic reforms driven by the World Bank that create the conditions for prostitution.

Alexander Cockburn
On Roy Blunt’s Promise to Reform Lobbying Rules If He Becomes House Majority Leader

With plenty of friends on K Street, Roy Blunt is not as forthright as his name suggests.

Calvin Trillin
What’s Race Got to Do With It?

Socially conservative black churches may be ripe for exploitation by the Christian right on gay marriage. But that's only part of the story.

Gary Younge

Books and the Arts

Truth, Fiction and Frey

James Frey's faux memoir exposes corporate publishing as an industry so starved for bestsellers that it is unable to protect itself from fraud.

Matthew Flamm
A Second-Line Revival

Storm-whipped New Orleanians returned to the city to join a joyful second-line parade, a revival of music that made real the triumph of the city's spirit.

Billy Sothern
The Unquiet American

Reviews of Why We Fight, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

Stuart Klawans
The Master of Modernismo

Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, all but unknown in English-speaking countries, had a global impact on literature, ushering Spanish poetry into the modern era.

Roberto González Echevarría
Music for the End of Time

A new biography examines the life and work of composer and theorist Olivier Messiaen, who moved French music out of the cafes and back to the cathedrals.

David Schiff

Letters

NYU–No More Ivory Tower

New York City

Scott Sherman and Our Readers

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February 13, 2006 Issue

Features

Telephone and cable companies are crafting strategies to transform the free and open Internet to a privately run service that would charge a fee for virtually everything we do online. Can we stop them?

Amos Oz reflects on the political and diplomatic implications of Hamas's recent victory and its impact on opportunities for peace.

Relishing Samuel Alito's impact on the Supreme Court, pro-life bloggers are already laying strategies to win hearts and minds in a transformed legal landscape.

New federal guidelines for banks and credit card companies that boost minimum monthly payments have wreaked havoc on American families struggling to pay their bills and avoid bankruptcy.

The inauguration of Evo Morales as Bolivia's first indigenous president opens a new era for Bolivia and a turning point for political, diplomactic and trade issues in the Americas.

American business elites in Davos for the World Economic Forum are far more interested in global markets and corporate investors than they are in ordinary Americans' needs.

Since the 1970s Republican conservatives have been the dominant political force on American campuses. But groups like Campus Progress, better groomed and better organized than their predecessors, are pushing back.

Storm-whipped New Orleanians returned to the city to join a joyful second-line parade, a revival of music that made real the triumph of the city's spirit.

Editorials

THE NEW LEADER: RIP

Negative media coverage has succeeded in undermining support among prominent conservatives for a UCLA alumni group that paid students to target and expose left-leaning faculty.

James Frey's faux memoir exposes corporate publishing as an industry so starved for bestsellers that it is unable to protect itself from fraud.

The confrontation with Iran is a wake-up call to states that possess nuclear weapons: in a world of nuclear apartheid, multilateral disarmament is the only course of action that can succeed.

Democrats should follow Al Gore's lead and challenge the Bush Administration's ongoing surveillance of American citizens. If this illegal action goes unchecked, our liberties will be dramatically impaired.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter and we'll send you a FREE gift.

Columns

As the Enron trial unfolds, it's depressing that Phil and Wendy Gramm, the company's political enablers, are going unpunished and uncriticized.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is suing Kellogg and Viacom for using cartoon characters to brainwash kids into consuming mass amounts of junk food.

As prochoicers seek to reframe their arguments, injecting more moralism into the antiabortion debate will not keep abortion legal and accessible.

Nicholas Kristof produces a steady stream of titillating reports on child prostitution in the Third World. Better to focus on draconian economic reforms driven by the World Bank that create the conditions for prostitution.

With plenty of friends on K Street, Roy Blunt is not as forthright as his name suggests.

Socially conservative black churches may be ripe for exploitation by the Christian right on gay marriage. But that's only part of the story.

Books and the Arts

James Frey's faux memoir exposes corporate publishing as an industry so starved for bestsellers that it is unable to protect itself from fraud.

Storm-whipped New Orleanians returned to the city to join a joyful second-line parade, a revival of music that made real the triumph of the city's spirit.

Reviews of Why We Fight, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.

Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío, all but unknown in English-speaking countries, had a global impact on literature, ushering Spanish poetry into the modern era.

A new biography examines the life and work of composer and theorist Olivier Messiaen, who moved French music out of the cafes and back to the cathedrals.

Letters

New York City