Lame Duck Congress Victories Lame Duck Congress Victories
The repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," the passage of a landmark food safety bill and the narrow defeat of the DREAM Act all prove that organizing and educating across issues reall...
Dec 22, 2010 / The Editors
The Case of Julian Assange The Case of Julian Assange
The response to the allegations against the WikiLeaks founder prove that when it comes to rape, the left still doesn't get it.
Dec 22, 2010 / Column / Katha Pollitt
Letters Letters
…but Were Afraid to Ask Eugene, Ore. In "Ten Things You Should Know About Slow" [Dec. 13] Dian Duchin Reed considers endeavors that are common to all of us (eating, socializing) or to just some of us (driving, shopping, parenting). She forgets, however, another key slow endeavor that concerns us all: sex. Yes, there is slow sex, a delightful practice, sometimes known as karezza or tantric sex. This practice of generous touch is relaxing and fulfilling rather than fiery and consuming. Read Cupid's Poisoned Arrow by Marnia Robinson and Tantric Sex for Men by Diana and Michael Richardson. LAURA AND JOHN HOFER The Divine Sarah Stirling, N.J. Melissa Harris-Perry's thoughtful arguments in "The Misunderestimation of Sarah Palin" [Dec. 13] confirm my thinking. An inveterate blogger and writer of letters to the editor, I've repeatedly said, "underestimate this woman at your peril." Month by month she gains in stature and popularity while a chorus from the left wing of our national stage excoriates her. I don't care for her either, but I see how the media are buffing her luster. She will wind up with more electoral cred than she ever deserved. L.E. ALBA Rapid City, S.D. Melissa Harris-Perry says people will regret their "mocking" and "dismissive" attitude toward Sarah Palin. She is wrong. Jana Prikryl has it right a few pages on in "The Dirty Halo," where she describes Palin as a "glossy, unflappable" figure who sashays "her degraded political slapstick" onto the national scene and gets the attention of the talking heads. "Photogenic star power" does not qualify her as anything more than an attraction, kind of like Disneyland. Is that "dismissive," or a true grasp of reality? ELIZABETH COOK-LYNN New York City I intend to adopt the Republican strategy of "starving the beast." I will not click through any story that reports on, quotes, analyzes or otherwise pays attention to Sarah Palin. Please, I implore you, ignore her. D. MACLEOD Chariot of Fire Findlay, Ohio I was stunned by Anne Carson's translations "[3 fragments of Mimnermos]" [Dec. 13]. I had never heard of Mimnermos. Indeed, little is known of him other than that he died around 600 bc. What I found remarkable were the lines from "[that lucky old Sun]": "already tomorrow goes riding his bed of daysided/gold goes skimming/sleep countries from west to east…" If I interpret this correctly, the image appears to be that the earth is moving (rotating) from west to east! Otherwise, if the sun were revolving around the earth, it would be "skimming" from east to west. That such an image appears some 350 years before Aristarchus was allegedly the first to claim that the earth revolves around the sun is what I find remarkable. Carson is a classics scholar and has made her translations freely into modern English, so perhaps this is not an exact replication of Mimnermos' imagery. But if the translation does reflect his image, we may have to re-evaluate our understanding of when the geocentric theory was first challenged. JIM FLECHTNER Carson Replies Brooklyn, N.Y. I thank Jim Flechtner for his sensible question about my translation of Mimnermos fr. 8. The text is conveyed to us by a Hellenistic author named Athenaios, who says: "Mimnermos says in the Nanno that it is in a golden bed made for the purpose by Hephaistos that the sun, while he is asleep, crosses to the east, with riddling reference to the hollow of the cup…." I take this to mean that the sun has to get back from the west to the east each night in order to ride from there in his cup each morning, so he accomplishes this covertly while everyone is asleep and the lights are out. The "skimming" is this nightly transit, not his diurnal journey in the conventional direction. ANNE CARSON Charity Robs the Treasury San Mateo, Calif. Hoo-rah for David Nasaw's "The 'Giving' Season" [Dec. 6]! Charitable contributions do often directly or indirectly benefit the donors. Nasaw also raises the question of who should "make basic decisions about our schools, healthcare institutions and cultural priorities." I strongly support his preference for such decisions being made by a democratically elected body. Let me add that this deduction is even more regressive than he said, because wealthy donors may contribute appreciated assets. These contributions get special treatment: the donation is deducted from ordinary income at appreciated value with no capital gains tax paid. DONALD T. ELLIOTT Baton Rouge, Louisiana David Nasaw obscures important issues by equating "every $100 donated to charity" with "$35 less to the Treasury." Those of us working toward the Gulf Coast's recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the BP disaster know that the nonprofit sector does work that the government either will not or cannot do. In the immediate aftermath of the storms, small community organizations and faith-based groups were first on the scene. While state and federal governments were still strategizing, local (underresourced) nonprofits were rescuing the stranded and feeding the hungry. Without the nonprofits—most of which rely on funding from large foundations—which aid low-wealth communities and racial/ethnic minorities, the policies developed to rebuild and repopulate the gulf would have left tens of thousands (and more) behind. Granted, this work falls mostly into that meager "10 percent of charitable giving" that "goes to the poor and needy," as Nasaw says. But since these are our most vulnerable populations and do rely heavily on the nonprofit sector, it is essential that this sector not be incapacitated by efforts to curb wealthy power blocs. Thank you for your top-notch journalism—it is an oasis! JESSICA MCKELVIE KEMP Drip, Drip, Drip Boynton Beach, Fla. I see the drawn faces of poverty in puddles on rain-soaked streets. Victims of trickle-down economics. STEPHANIE LANGSON Clarifications Christian Parenti's "Green Strategy Now" [Dec. 20] may have created the impression that the Environmental Defense Fund accepts donations from the fossil fuel industry. It does not. Due to a production error, the version of Eric Alterman's "Liberal Media" column that went to press last week was not the final version. The final version is here.
Dec 22, 2010 / Our Readers and Anne Carson
Gays, Lesbians Can Openly Slaughter Afghans: Quote of the Day Gays, Lesbians Can Openly Slaughter Afghans: Quote of the Day
Quote of the Day: “As one special operations warfighter said during the Pentagon’s review—this was one of my favorites… “We have a gay guy in the unit. He’s big, he’s mean, he kills lots of bad guys.” —President Obama, speaking at the signing ceremony for the law repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Obama cited gay military heroism from the past, though he didn’t mention if there were any gays or lesbian American soldiers at My Lai or the fire-bombing of Dresden. However, if the United States decides to bomb the living daylights out of Iran, it’s entirely possible that gay and lesbian American air force pilots can openly take part in it. Like this Blog Post? Read it on get the Nation's free iPhone App, NationNow.
Dec 22, 2010 / Bob Dreyfuss
Obama in the Age of Accommodation Obama in the Age of Accommodation
When considering Obama's presidency in the long view, remember that history provides many more examples of thwarted resistance than it does of sweeping social change.
Dec 22, 2010 / Column / Melissa Harris-Perry
Shelf Life: On Philip Guston, Carolee Scheemann and Ilya Kabakov Shelf Life: On Philip Guston, Carolee Scheemann and Ilya Kabakov
The truly consequential choices an artist makes are never experienced as choice but as necessity.
Dec 22, 2010 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky
Fix the Filibuster Fix the Filibuster
The most important vote of the 112th Senate will likely be its first.
Dec 22, 2010 / Chris Hayes
The Top Seven ‘Edge of Sports’ Moments of 2010 The Top Seven ‘Edge of Sports’ Moments of 2010
Here we have what are indubitably and without argument, the top seven collisions of sports and politics in 2010 that didn’t involve an elbow and Barack Obama’s mouth. W...
Dec 22, 2010 / Dave Zirin