December 12, 2005 Issue

Cover art by: Cover art by Steve Brodner, cover design by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

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Feature

The Fight to Save Stanley Tookie Williams

As the clock ticks down to former gang leader Stanley Tookie Williiams’s scheduled execution on December 13, football great Jim Brown is helping lead the fight to convince Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency.
Dave Zirin
Eggs vs Ethics in Stem Cell Debate

Reports of ethical breaches in the harvesting of human eggs for stem cell research in Korea has focused attention on the need to protect the health and welfare of women who might be pressured into becoming donors.
Marcy Darnovsky and Emily Galpern
Did Bush Really Want to Bomb Al Jazeera?

Given the Administration’s record of attacking Al Jazeera verbally and militarily, is it conceivable that President Bush tried to convince Tony Blair to bomb its international headquarters? Only publication of an explosive memo will prove it.
Jeremy Scahill
In Praise of John Murtha

With 457 blunt-spoken words, John Murtha broke the spell that had held the country captive to the misguided adventure in Iraq. It suddenly became respectable to talk of a pullout. It was his finest moment: For the first time, there is hope this war may end.
Nicholas von Hoffman
Dictionary of Republicanisms

Compassionate conservativism n. An expensively cultivated phrase created by a decades-old and well-funded Radical Right program of Orwellian doublespeak.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Mismanaged Care

Tennessee once had a visionary health care plan for that left only 14 percent of residents uninsured. But with federal cuts and a governor’s misguided attempt to privatize Medicaid, Tennessee is just another state unable to protect its citizens.
Trudy Lieberman
The Real McCain

John McCain is a war hero, a sometime Democratic ally, a crusader for campaign finance reform. But the centrist maverick will most likely take a turn to the right if he wants to get to the White House.
Ari Berman

Editorial

The Fall of the One-Party Empire

Unmaking the empire of fantasy and fraud that the Republican Party has created will not be done quickly and the outcome is uncertain. But historians may one day write that the fake American empire was the Achilles’ heel of the one-party state the Bush Administration failed to build.
Jonathan Schell
Minority/Majority

While Steny Hoyer seeks to “make himself the first contact for K Street,” Nancy Pelosi and George Miller are pressing forward with their crackdown on lobbying and ethics abuses.
David Sirota
In Fact…

BURYING PLAN B
The Editors
Undermining Haiti

Democracy is being destroyed in Haiti, openly and with the support of the United States and United Nations. If the farce election set for December 27 by unelected government takes place, it will be a huge step backward.
Mark Weisbrot
Waist Deep in Big Oil

While political pressure is mounting for a pullout from Iraq, the subject of total withdrawal remains unbroachable within the political establishment. Control of the Iraq’s oil reserves, from the beginning, was the Bush Administration’s real reason for this war.
Mark LeVine
Alito’s CAP Connection

Samuel Alito once boasted he was a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which opposed bemoaned the impact of co-education and affirmative action. What does this say about his character and the kind of place he would like America to be?
Eyal Press
The Murtha Moment

John Murtha is right: The American public has turned against the war. Democrats and Republicans must put aside politics and work together to bring the troops home quickly and focus on the real work to stabilize Iraq.
The Editors
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Column

Bush’s Iraq Outdoes Saddam

Ethnic cleansing, chemical weapons, self-appointed executioners: Sound familiar? The US occupation in Iraq has created conditions just as bad–if not worse–than Saddam Hussein’s ruthless regime. And the increasingly isolated George W. Bush insists on staying the course.
Robert Scheer
Cheney’s Trouble with the Truth

No other modern politician has come so close as Dick Cheney has to perfecting the theater of the absurd. Even as he protests his innocence of lying about matters of state, he lies about matters of state.
Robert Scheer
Ho-Ho-Holiday Donations, Early Edition

Tsunami. Hurricane. Earthquake. War. Poverty. Injustice. It’s been a tough year, but here’s a list of extraordinary groups who deserve a place on your holiday gift list.
Katha Pollitt
The Truth About the War

The truth about the Iraq war may be clear to John Murtha and 60 percent of the American people, but not to the three Democratic senators interested in becoming President in 2008.
Alexander Cockburn
Cheney, Speaking From Experience

Cheney maintains tough guys never run: They stick. Well, don’t they, Dick?
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

Marxism and Form

Perry Anderson’s Spectrum journeys through the abstract worlds of conservative and liberal intellectual thought, and leaves in its trail insights on the substance and style of ideas.
Stefan Collini
The Best Intentions

Syriana disappoints; The Boys of Baraka documents the lives of inner-city kids transported to the wild beauty of Africa; and Punishment Park zeroes in on injustice in America.
Stuart Klawans
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Letters

Letters

SCHADENFREUDEAN SLIP

Orinda, Calif.
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December 12, 2005 Issue

Feature

As the clock ticks down to former gang leader Stanley Tookie Williiams’s scheduled execution on December 13, football great Jim Brown is helping lead the fight to convince Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to grant clemency.

Reports of ethical breaches in the harvesting of human eggs for stem cell research in Korea has focused attention on the need to protect the health and welfare of women who might be pressured into becoming donors.

Given the Administration’s record of attacking Al Jazeera verbally and militarily, is it conceivable that President Bush tried to convince Tony Blair to bomb its international headquarters? Only publication of an explosive memo will prove it.

With 457 blunt-spoken words, John Murtha broke the spell that had held the country captive to the misguided adventure in Iraq. It suddenly became respectable to talk of a pullout. It was his finest moment: For the first time, there is hope this war may end.

Compassionate conservativism n. An expensively cultivated phrase created by a decades-old and well-funded Radical Right program of Orwellian doublespeak.

Tennessee once had a visionary health care plan for that left only 14 percent of residents uninsured. But with federal cuts and a governor’s misguided attempt to privatize Medicaid, Tennessee is just another state unable to protect its citizens.

John McCain is a war hero, a sometime Democratic ally, a crusader for campaign finance reform. But the centrist maverick will most likely take a turn to the right if he wants to get to the White House.

Editorial

Unmaking the empire of fantasy and fraud that the Republican Party has created will not be done quickly and the outcome is uncertain. But historians may one day write that the fake American empire was the Achilles’ heel of the one-party state the Bush Administration failed to build.

While Steny Hoyer seeks to “make himself the first contact for K Street,” Nancy Pelosi and George Miller are pressing forward with their crackdown on lobbying and ethics abuses.

BURYING PLAN B

Democracy is being destroyed in Haiti, openly and with the support of the United States and United Nations. If the farce election set for December 27 by unelected government takes place, it will be a huge step backward.

While political pressure is mounting for a pullout from Iraq, the subject of total withdrawal remains unbroachable within the political establishment. Control of the Iraq’s oil reserves, from the beginning, was the Bush Administration’s real reason for this war.

Samuel Alito once boasted he was a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which opposed bemoaned the impact of co-education and affirmative action. What does this say about his character and the kind of place he would like America to be?

John Murtha is right: The American public has turned against the war. Democrats and Republicans must put aside politics and work together to bring the troops home quickly and focus on the real work to stabilize Iraq.

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

Column

Ethnic cleansing, chemical weapons, self-appointed executioners: Sound familiar? The US occupation in Iraq has created conditions just as bad–if not worse–than Saddam Hussein’s ruthless regime. And the increasingly isolated George W. Bush insists on staying the course.

No other modern politician has come so close as Dick Cheney has to perfecting the theater of the absurd. Even as he protests his innocence of lying about matters of state, he lies about matters of state.

Tsunami. Hurricane. Earthquake. War. Poverty. Injustice. It’s been a tough year, but here’s a list of extraordinary groups who deserve a place on your holiday gift list.

The truth about the Iraq war may be clear to John Murtha and 60 percent of the American people, but not to the three Democratic senators interested in becoming President in 2008.

Cheney maintains tough guys never run: They stick. Well, don’t they, Dick?

Books & the Arts

Perry Anderson’s Spectrum journeys through the abstract worlds of conservative and liberal intellectual thought, and leaves in its trail insights on the substance and style of ideas.

Syriana disappoints; The Boys of Baraka documents the lives of inner-city kids transported to the wild beauty of Africa; and Punishment Park zeroes in on injustice in America.

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

Letters

SCHADENFREUDEAN SLIP Orinda, Calif.

SCHADENFREUDEAN SLIP

Orinda, Calif.