August 1-8, 2011 Issue

Cover art by: Cover design by Milton Glaser Incorporated

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Feature

A Creditable Left

To recover lost ground, progressives should focus more on civil society than electoral politics.
Richard Sennett
Like Water for Gold in El Salvador

Activists are risking their lives in the fight against US and Canadian mining companies.
Robin Broad and John Cavanagh
ALEC Exposed

A trove of documents reveals the vast procorporate strategy of this powerful right-wing group.
John Nichols
ALEC Exposed: Business Domination Inc.

Wisconsin is just one front in ALEC’s most recent war against against revenue and labor unions, part of an ongoing mission to privatize everything.
Joel Rogers and Laura Dresser
ALEC Exposed: Sabotaging Healthcare

To a former health insurance executive, ALEC’s fight against “Obamacare” looks familiar—and straight out of the corporate playbook.
Wendell Potter
ALEC Exposed: The Koch Connection

Untold sums of cash poured into ALEC by Charles and David Koch have been an effective investment in advancing their worldview.
Lisa Graves
ALEC Exposed: Starving Public Schools

Aggressively pushing voucher programs, ALEC is calling on states to “transform the system, don’t tweak it" in a large-scale assault on public education.
Julie Underwood
ALEC Exposed: Rigging Elections

Looking toward 2012, ALEC is peddling “Voter ID” laws to disenfranchise voters least likely to support their right-wing candidates.
John Nichols
The CIA’s Secret Sites in Somalia

Renditions, an underground prison and a new CIA base are elements of an intensifying US war, according to a Nation investigation in Mogadishu.
Jeremy Scahill
The Shelters That Clinton Built

Structurally unsafe and laced with formaldehyde, the "hurricane-proof" classroom trailers installed by the Clinton Foundation in Haiti came from the same company being sued for sickening Hurricane Katrina victims.
Isabel Macdonald and Isabeau Doucet

Editorial

Noted.

David Cole on a favorable ruling for the Affordable Care Act, Marc Kilstein on a narrow torture investigation and Britney Wilson on racism in sentencing
Various Contributors
Debt Ceiling Delusions

Republicans walked away from a budget deal not because cuts weren’t steep enough but because they included tax increases on the wealthiest. If they’re drawing a line in the sand, President Obama must, too.
The Editors
Trading Against Colombia

A new trade deal with Colombia will flood the country with cheap US agricultural products, devastating rural farmers.
David Callahan and Lauren Damme
Sky Falls on Rupert Murdoch

As stunning revelations break daily in the hacking scandal, Rupert and James Murdoch withdraw News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB. But the inquiry into Murdoch’s para-corporation shouldn’t end here.
D.D. Guttenplan
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Column

Slouching Towards Faux

From Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Casey Anthony to Rupert Murdoch, the media are debasing the public conversation—and therefore our democratic process.
Patricia J. Williams
The Twilight of Social Democracy

Academics flocked to a Paris conference in Tony Judt’s memory—but solutions to the growing anti-government absolutism he warned of were scarce.
Eric Alterman
A Summary of Public Response to the News That a Tabloid Hacked the Phones of a Missing Girl and of Families of Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

The Girl From F&B: A Portrait of the New India

Esther studied botany and biochemistry, and ended up serving Cokes to arms dealers in Delhi’s Hotel Shangri-La. She is a station holder, occupied and rootless. Welcome to India Shining.
Siddhartha Deb
Raisin

Gregory Pardlo
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Letters

Exchange

“Science vs. Blatherskite”
Our Readers and Gary Greenberg

Crossword

Puzzle No. 3201

Joshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto

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August 1-8, 2011 Issue

Feature

To recover lost ground, progressives should focus more on civil society than electoral politics.

Activists are risking their lives in the fight against US and Canadian mining companies.

A trove of documents reveals the vast procorporate strategy of this powerful right-wing group.

Wisconsin is just one front in ALEC’s most recent war against against revenue and labor unions, part of an ongoing mission to privatize everything.

To a former health insurance executive, ALEC’s fight against “Obamacare” looks familiar—and straight out of the corporate playbook.

Untold sums of cash poured into ALEC by Charles and David Koch have been an effective investment in advancing their worldview.

Aggressively pushing voucher programs, ALEC is calling on states to “transform the system, don’t tweak it" in a large-scale assault on public education.

Looking toward 2012, ALEC is peddling “Voter ID” laws to disenfranchise voters least likely to support their right-wing candidates.

Renditions, an underground prison and a new CIA base are elements of an intensifying US war, according to a Nation investigation in Mogadishu.

Structurally unsafe and laced with formaldehyde, the "hurricane-proof" classroom trailers installed by the Clinton Foundation in Haiti came from the same company being sued for sickening Hurricane Katrina victims.

Editorial

David Cole on a favorable ruling for the Affordable Care Act, Marc Kilstein on a narrow torture investigation and Britney Wilson on racism in sentencing

Republicans walked away from a budget deal not because cuts weren’t steep enough but because they included tax increases on the wealthiest. If they’re drawing a line in the sand, President Obama must, too.

A new trade deal with Colombia will flood the country with cheap US agricultural products, devastating rural farmers.

As stunning revelations break daily in the hacking scandal, Rupert and James Murdoch withdraw News Corporation’s bid for BSkyB. But the inquiry into Murdoch’s para-corporation shouldn’t end here.

GET UNLIMITED DIGITAL ACCESS FOR LESS THAN $3 A MONTH!

Column

From Dominique Strauss-Kahn to Casey Anthony to Rupert Murdoch, the media are debasing the public conversation—and therefore our democratic process.

Academics flocked to a Paris conference in Tony Judt’s memory—but solutions to the growing anti-government absolutism he warned of were scarce.

Books & the Arts

Esther studied botany and biochemistry, and ended up serving Cokes to arms dealers in Delhi’s Hotel Shangri-La. She is a station holder, occupied and rootless. Welcome to India Shining.

The stakes are higher now than ever. Get The Nation in your inbox.

Letters

“Science vs. Blatherskite”

Crossword