October 10, 2005 | The Nation

TEARS FOR NEW ORLEANS, AND US

Arlington, Mass.

Readers respond to poet Sharon Olds's decision to decline Laura Bush's invitation to dine at the White House.

New Orleans was top-of-mind for more than 100,000
peace advocates in Washington who delivered a clear and unified
message, protesting the Bush Administration's war in Iraq and its
callous indifference to the victims of the Gulf Coast hurricanes.

More than 7,000 people perished in a hurricane that
swept the Texas coast on September 13, 1900. In two unsigned dispatches,
The Nation described the scene. September 13 and September
20, 1900, issues.

The political chess match between the White House and Senate
Democrats over the future of the Supreme Court took on new complexity
as three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm
John G. Roberts Jr.

As political parties in Germany dance toward a coalition
following the stalemated elections, the country is in for a turbulent
month--and new elections are a serious option.

An agreement between the United States and North
Korea resolving longstanding differences on nuclear weapons and energy
programs at first was cause for celebration. But in fact, no real
breakthrough has occurred. There is only the appearance of an
agreement.

Chile's Supreme Court handed Augusto Pinochet both a victory and a blow
with its recent rulings on Operation Columbo and Operation Condor.

Long-awaited reform efforts at the United Nations have
fallen far short of Kofi Annan's original vision. But despite John
Bolton's antagonism, there has been progress.

It took a Gulf Coast hurricane to make Americans aware
of the poverty in their own backyard. Now it's time for public policies
that end racial segregation, so that the poor in this country will not
continue to suffer.

The waning political power of the Bush Administration
poses a huge opportunity for Democrats to revitalize the party and
challenge the President's flawed vision of hurricane recovery and
continuing involvement in Iraq.

Poet Sharon Olds writes an open letter to Laura Bush, explaining why she won't break bread at the White House.

The hurricane-driven windfalls for GOP-connected
businesses continues, and so do the scandals of widespread corruption
among George Bush's cronies. And the rest of us are played for suckers.

New Orleans was not an unpredictable disaster--it was
a model for the incompetence of the Bush Administration. And when the
next disaster comes, we will all be under water.

As the waters rise, how about a sea chantey for the
Bush Administration?

Four peace advocates were acquitted of federal
conspiracy charges in connection with a 2003 protest of the Iraq War.

Had your fill of spin and flimflam about the
greatness of corporate America? Here's the real truth about money, high finance and low, commerce,
clever tricks, globalism and globaloney.

When John G. Roberts Jr. counseled President Ronald
Reagan on AIDS policies, did he willfully perpetuate the myth that AIDS
can be spread by casual contact?

This is a list of "Pro-Free-Market Ideas for Responding to Hurricane
Katrina and High Gas Prices," circulated by the href="http://johnshadegg.house.gov/rsc/about.htm">House Republican
Study

The FBI--with apparent White House
approval--continues to seek the authority to bypass the court system in
pursuit of evidence against terror suspects.

As corporations consolidate, they grab power from the
public. Here are seven modest proposals to give power back to the
public and avoid another Enron.

Why are the poorest victims of Hurricane Katrina
being kept out of perfectly livable homes?

What began as an amateur porn site has become a magnet for graphic images of combat and derisive comments posted by US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But military officials are loath to condemn it.

With military and law enforcement forces combing New
Orleans in the wake of the storm, why did the federal government feel compelled to hire private security firms Blackwater USA and BATS to keep the peace?

Here's how we identified more than 11,000 empty, rentable homes in
New Orleans:

Tim Burton enlivens the dark and gloomy life of corpses
and aristocrats in Corpse Bride; Occupation: Dreamland
offers an unsentimental view of Iraqi soldiers.

A Rick Moody novel is generally about one thing and
that is Rick Moody's ability to write very long, occasionally graceful
sentences.

A womanizing gospel king and black-pride pop star, Sam
Cooke led a short life filled with contradiction.