December 19, 2005 Issue

Cover art by: Cover by Gene Case & Stephen Kling/Avenging Angels

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Feature

Spring Hill: Another Utopia Bites the Dust

General Motors is dimming the headlights on its industrial utopia in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The cutback at the visionary Saturn plant, where workers and managers once shared decision-making and cooperated as equals, is the latest affront to US autoworkers and American self-esteem.
Nicholas von Hoffman
The Silencing of Carlos Delgado

The New York Mets’ squelching of first baseman Carlos Delgado’s longstanding protest of the war in Iraq during the seventh-inning stretch speaks volumes about how the rules of the game have changed on political dissent.
Dave Zirin
Anybody Want to Buy a Newspaper?

Under pressure from Wall Street, newspaper journalism is being frog-marched out of the media marketplace. And once it’s gone, how will we know anything?
Nicholas von Hoffman
Ban Torture or Protect Torturers?

A showdown looms in Congress this week over two competing measures involving bedrock human and legal rights: John McCain’s legislation to ban all forms of torture and Lindsey Graham’s proposal to strip federal courts of the power to hear habeas corpus appeals by terror suspects.
Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith
The Iraq Index

The tragedy that is Iraq can never be told in numbers alone, but the hard facts–every loss, every life, every dollar–only strengthen the arguments against this brutal war.
John S. Friedman
Overcoming Apartheid

Apartheid education is alive in America and rapidly increasing in hyper-segregated inner-city schools. And though it’s now fashionable for policy-makers to declare integration a failure, effective programs across the country still survive–and deserve to thrive.
Jonathan Kozol
Titans of Trash

Gas-guzzling SUVs take a lot of blame, but landfills make stealthy stealthy contributions to climate change. While they should be developing innovative waste disposal strategies, corporate-owned landfills use techniques that generate heat-trapping methane that accelerate global warming.
Heather Rogers
Can the Democrats Win the Ground War at Home?

Progressive groups that mobilized for the 2004 elections are now dismissed as failures. But though they were unable to defeat Bush, grassroots activists are creating waves across the country. They may be the ticket to Republican defeat and the creation of a new movement.
Chris Hayes

Editorial

In Fact…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUGUSTO
The Editors
The War on Al Jazeera

A top-secret memo detailing George W. Bush’s proposal to bomb Al Jazeera is not “outlandish,” as the White House claims. The Bush Administration had been threatening, insulting and imprisoning Al Jazeera staffers and other unembedded journalists long before Bush reportedly floated the idea to Tony Blair.
Jeremy Scahill
The Abramoff Effect

The controversy surrounding conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff is creating headaches for red-state and swing-state Republicans and opportunities for Democrats to turn a national bribery and influence-peddling scandal into political paydirt.
John Nichols
Anatomy of a Victory

George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security is dead, thanks to a remarkable mobilization by progressive groups. Much can be learned from the way The Campaign for America’s Future, labor unions, MoveOn.org and others worked together to inform citizens and arouse opposition to the plan.
The Editors
Dr. Bird Says

Rick Meyerowitz
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Column

Democracy for Sale

A trove of new documents detailing the corruption and influence-peddling by Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and Tom DeLay is sweeping the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution off their pedestals.
Robert Scheer
The Putsch at Public Broadcasting

With professionals at the top forced out and replaced by GOP fundraisers, the right-wing takeover of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is now plain to see. Though CPB’s Inspector General has exposed former chair Kenneth Tomlinson’s ethical transgressions, what else are they hiding?
Eric Alterman
Killing the Messenger

It’s one thing for our State Department to plant phony stories in the media or jam broadcasts in Cuba. It’s quite another for conservative policy analyst Frank Gaffney bolster’s George Bush’s grudge against Al Jazeera by arguing that it was “imperative that enemy media be taken down.”
Patricia J. Williams
Reprehensible

Dick Cheney channels Nat King Cole in an unforgettable rendition of the meaning of the word “reprehensible.”
Calvin Trillin

Books & the Arts

The Putsch at Public Broadcasting

With professionals at the top forced out and replaced by GOP fundraisers, the right-wing takeover of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is now plain to see. Though CPB’s Inspector General has exposed former chair Kenneth Tomlinson’s ethical transgressions, what else are they hiding?
Eric Alterman
Studs Terkel on Music

Still going strong at 93, Studs Terkel has produced yet another oral history, And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey.
The Nation
Nancy Has Two Mommies

Nancy Drew has been a fixture in young girls’ lives since 1930. But the continuing appeal of this spunky American icon–never sad, wrinkled or misunderstood–is both heartwarming and a little scary.
Brenda Wineapple
Letter of the Law

America’s Constitution: A Biography examines America’s obsession with the Constitution–its origins, evolution and interpretation.
Jack Rakove
The Chosen People

The Jewish Century defies the conventional view of Jews as outsiders and traces their symbiotic relationship with Christians. A History of the Jews in the Modern World follows the impact the multitude of journeys that Diaspora Jews have taken on countries in the modern era.
Daniel Lazare
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Letters

Letters

BUSH: INDICTABLE CO-CONSPIRATOR?

Aiken, SC
Our Readers and Elizabeth de la Vega

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December 19, 2005 Issue

Feature

General Motors is dimming the headlights on its industrial utopia in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The cutback at the visionary Saturn plant, where workers and managers once shared decision-making and cooperated as equals, is the latest affront to US autoworkers and American self-esteem.

The New York Mets’ squelching of first baseman Carlos Delgado’s longstanding protest of the war in Iraq during the seventh-inning stretch speaks volumes about how the rules of the game have changed on political dissent.

Under pressure from Wall Street, newspaper journalism is being frog-marched out of the media marketplace. And once it’s gone, how will we know anything?

A showdown looms in Congress this week over two competing measures involving bedrock human and legal rights: John McCain’s legislation to ban all forms of torture and Lindsey Graham’s proposal to strip federal courts of the power to hear habeas corpus appeals by terror suspects.

The tragedy that is Iraq can never be told in numbers alone, but the hard facts–every loss, every life, every dollar–only strengthen the arguments against this brutal war.

Apartheid education is alive in America and rapidly increasing in hyper-segregated inner-city schools. And though it’s now fashionable for policy-makers to declare integration a failure, effective programs across the country still survive–and deserve to thrive.

Gas-guzzling SUVs take a lot of blame, but landfills make stealthy stealthy contributions to climate change. While they should be developing innovative waste disposal strategies, corporate-owned landfills use techniques that generate heat-trapping methane that accelerate global warming.

Progressive groups that mobilized for the 2004 elections are now dismissed as failures. But though they were unable to defeat Bush, grassroots activists are creating waves across the country. They may be the ticket to Republican defeat and the creation of a new movement.

Editorial

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AUGUSTO

The controversy surrounding conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff is creating headaches for red-state and swing-state Republicans and opportunities for Democrats to turn a national bribery and influence-peddling scandal into political paydirt.

George W. Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security is dead, thanks to a remarkable mobilization by progressive groups. Much can be learned from the way The Campaign for America’s Future, labor unions, MoveOn.org and others worked together to inform citizens and arouse opposition to the plan.

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

Column

A trove of new documents detailing the corruption and influence-peddling by Jack Abramoff, Ralph Reed and Tom DeLay is sweeping the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution off their pedestals.

With professionals at the top forced out and replaced by GOP fundraisers, the right-wing takeover of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is now plain to see. Though CPB’s Inspector General has exposed former chair Kenneth Tomlinson’s ethical transgressions, what else are they hiding?

It’s one thing for our State Department to plant phony stories in the media or jam broadcasts in Cuba. It’s quite another for conservative policy analyst Frank Gaffney bolster’s George Bush’s grudge against Al Jazeera by arguing that it was “imperative that enemy media be taken down.”

Dick Cheney channels Nat King Cole in an unforgettable rendition of the meaning of the word “reprehensible.”

Books & the Arts

With professionals at the top forced out and replaced by GOP fundraisers, the right-wing takeover of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is now plain to see. Though CPB’s Inspector General has exposed former chair Kenneth Tomlinson’s ethical transgressions, what else are they hiding?

Still going strong at 93, Studs Terkel has produced yet another oral history, And They All Sang: Adventures of an Eclectic Disc Jockey.

Nancy Drew has been a fixture in young girls’ lives since 1930. But the continuing appeal of this spunky American icon–never sad, wrinkled or misunderstood–is both heartwarming and a little scary.

America’s Constitution: A Biography examines America’s obsession with the Constitution–its origins, evolution and interpretation.

The Jewish Century defies the conventional view of Jews as outsiders and traces their symbiotic relationship with Christians. A History of the Jews in the Modern World follows the impact the multitude of journeys that Diaspora Jews have taken on countries in the modern era.

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

Letters

BUSH: INDICTABLE CO-CONSPIRATOR? Aiken, SC

BUSH: INDICTABLE CO-CONSPIRATOR?

Aiken, SC