Hilda Solis: Labor’s New Sheriff

The Secretary of Labor has hired a crew of smart and savvy deputies to enforce the nation's labor laws.

Esther Kaplan

What Really Happened to Welfare

 If there was ever a time for a serious "conspiracy" on behalf of the poor, this is it.

Peter Edelman and Barbara Ehrenreich

The Mad Tea Party

How Glenn Beck & Co. trumped up a vast left-wing conspiracy: the "Cloward-Piven strategy."

Richard Kim

Iraq After the Elections

 Despite signs that Iraqis are disenchanted with sectarian politics, the electorate's votes still broke sharply along communal lines.

Bob Dreyfuss

Immigrants on the March

 Current proposals for immigration reform might fall short, but massive protest turnout breathed new life into a movement that had fallen by the wayside.

Gabriel Thompson

Obama’s Israel Problem

It's time for Obama to confront Netanyahu's intransigence directly.

the Editors

Noted.

John Nichols on the public option, remixed; Frederick Deknatel on sanctioning Arab satellite providers; Clarissa A. Leon on resisting the Texas Board of Ed.

the Editors

Will ABC Let Amanpour Be Amanpour?

 ABC is in a position to break open a paradigm for the Sunday interview programs.

Eric Alterman

The Hidden Cost of DNA Banking

"Bio-prospecting" is unreflective--and unregulated.

Patricia J. Williams

A Guide to Discussing the News for Responsible and Serious-Minded Citizens

 Hot topics.

Calvin Trillin

To Curse and Fume

As our own yellow press goes from strength to strength, what can the history of slander and libel teach us?

Ruth Scurr

Shelf Life

Gary Wills's Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State; Elizabeth Arnold's Effacement.

John Palattella

Gramaphoons

A rock bottom, a bottom line, a body in extremis all make the poems of Graham Foust quaver and reel.

Ange Mlinko

The Crack-Up

The Latin American utopia has disappeared, says novelist and crackero Jorge Volpi, and he displays little nostalgia for it.

Ben Ehrenreich

Big Green: Outed and Outraged

Our Readers and Johann Hari

Puzzle No. 1295

Frank W. Lewis